The first item of business this afternoon is portfolio questions and the portfolio on this occasion is education and skills. Usual reminder, members wishing to ask a supplementary should press the request-to-speak buttons during the relevant question, and I call question number one, Stuart McMillan. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I also want to ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the SQA in relation to the consistency of national 4 and national 5 preliminary examination papers. Well, prelims can be valuable preparation for final national 5 exams and a useful guide on pupil progress. They are not compulsory and the decision on whether to set prelims rests with individual schools or colleges. As they are not a formal part of the process for awarding SQA qualifications, SQA does not have any role in the delivery of prelim exams. National 4 qualifications are made up of units, including an added value unit, with no final external examination. They are internally assessed as pass or fail and are externally quality assured by the SQA. Therefore prelims are not commonly used at this level. Stuart McMillan. I thank the cabinet secretary for that reply. The quality and consistency of the prelim exam papers becomes important to students who find themselves in the need of an appeal, particularly through that process, if they are unable to actually sit the SQA final exam. Certainly that has been the situation with one of my constituents who got an A in the prelim, but on appeal got a B after the SQA said that the marking criteria had not been consistently applied and that the level of demand of the assessment that generates the evidence was less than the course assessment. Would the cabinet secretary consider it to be better for students if they all sat the same prelim exam or one that the SQA agreed was equal to the course assessment? I thank the member for his question. I think that it is worth reiterating that the SQA does not have any role in the delivery of our prelim exams. However, it is also worth saying that, since the introduction of the, as they were then, new national qualifications back in 2013-14, apart from the temporary pandemic arrangements, in any alternative evidence have not formed part of the appeals process. However, I am the view that the appropriate evidence to inform the appeals process is obviously a matter for the new qualifications body and it is something that they should keep under review. Of course, the SQA does look at alternative evidence for exceptional circumstances, so those are for pupils who might have been unable to sit their exam or whose performance was impacted due to illness, for example. The SQA gives extensive guidance for centres around what constitutes valid evidence in those circumstances, including, of course, prelim evidence. The SQA also gives a range of support to centres around about understanding standards, to support teachers in setting assessments and understanding the level for the learner against the national standard. Fundamentally, there is a wider programme of education reform that is currently under way, and I believe that that will require to consider approaches to assessment in much more detail, as part of any changes to the qualifications that might come forward. In the meantime, I would encourage Mr McMillan's constituent to discuss this matter directly with their school or local authority. I'm very grateful, Deputy Presiding Officer. When we look at the role of the SQA in qualifications, we look back at 2022 when a generous approach was used to grading. Last year, exams, it was a sensitive approach to grading. With the change coming with regard to the SQA and, actually, very pertainly to the question that's been asked with regard to appeals, what approach will the SQA take this year? I thank the member for his question. Of course, this year, for the first time, we reintroduced the qualification requirements that existed prior to the pandemic and the arrangements around the appeals process mirror those that existed prior to the pandemic. Of course, this or last academic year, I should say, as the member has intimated, there are a range of different measures that the SQA took in relation to being sensitive to the grading approach that they applied. As I understand it, they have returned to the approach that was applied prior to the pandemic, and the arrangements have returned to normal, although I'd be more than happy to write to the member directly on this issue to confirm that directly with the SQA. That is certainly my understanding of the approach that they are taking this year. No teacher, member of staff or pupil should have to suffer abuse in our schools. Last week concluded the final stage in the behaviour summits, with a wide range of stakeholders on behaviour in our schools. The behaviour in Scottish schools research was also published last week, which provides the accurate national picture in relation to behaviour in Scotland's schools. Although the bitter research set out that the majority of our pupils are well-behaved, there has been a marked increase in disruptive behaviour since the research was last carried out in 2016. I have been clear that it is unacceptable and it will require a co-ordinated response, which recognises that schools cannot manage the shift in behaviour on their own. In my statement to Parliament last week, I confirmed that a multi-year plan is in development to tackle instances of challenging behaviour, working with local authorities, trade unions and others. The SNP is entirely responsible for trashing Scotland's education system. A key reason for our children being so badly failed is that classroom discipline has collapsed with teachers and pupils suffering unprecedented levels of violence. However, just as we see with the SNP's weak justice system, those responsible know that there is no punishment and no deterrent. What does the education secretary have to say to teachers who just want to do their jobs and to pupils who just want to learn in safety? I am sorry to say to Mr Finlay that the way in which we approach our education system is very different from the way that we approach our justice system. One of the ways that I was keen to sit out in my statement to the chamber last week is that we work with our local authorities on recognising the importance of having a national approach to supporting better behaviour in our classrooms. I have been absolutely clear in my statement last week, Presiding Officer, that the changes that we have seen in behaviour over the course of 2016, when the research was last carried out, are unacceptable. They are unacceptable for our teachers and our young people. I set out a five-point plan to Parliament last week to tackle behaviour in Scotland's school. I recognise very much all the challenges that exist here, but the point that I was making to the member in my initial response is that schools cannot do this on their own. We need a co-ordinated response that looks to engage, for example, our health professionals in speech and language provision. We heard contributions from other members to that point last week, but also that helps to support consistency in relation to how behaviour management policies are applied. That is actually a matter for our teachers, who I trust to deliver behaviour management policies in our schools. I have got a number of supplementaries that are trying to get them all in. First, Bill Ken. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Cabinet Secretary, last week's BISSR highlighted that poverty can have a clear impact on behaviour at secondary level. Does the cabinet secretary share my concern that the extension of sanctions regime that was announced by the chancellor last week and the continued commitment of the Westminster parties to austerity could have a knock-on impact of how some of the most vulnerable young people fare at school? Cabinet Secretary, I think that the member is absolutely right. Having talked to hungry children, I know exactly how poverty interacts with our education system. It is a damning indictment on the way in which the UK Government has organised its approach to supporting some of our most vulnerable, and it is impacting in our classrooms. We saw that bear out in the PISA evidence published. Well, I hear shuntering from the Conservative benches, Presiding Officer, but I have to say that the actions taken by their Government in Westminster is harming the outcomes of our young people in schools in Scotland today. The Government is taking action that we can to protect our young people from poverty. That is why we are investing in the game-changing Scottish child payment as part of a package of measures that means that an estimated 90,000 fewer children will live in poverty in Scotland this year. We also have the most generous free-school meals provision in the UK. That is something that I wish other parts of the UK would echo. I think that that support has been pivotal to some of the progress that we have seen in relation to our young people. However, those are the SNP's values in action, Presiding Officer. They could not be starker in contrast to the actions of a Tory Government driving more and more of our children into poverty. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The cabinet secretary, of course, mentioned PISA. The results this week really must be a wake-up call. The crisis in behaviour in schools is impacting attainment, causing standards to drop, and it is no longer just about young people feeling safe, but it is about the future of our entire education system. The Government said that they needed to listen before they acted, and pupils, teachers and parents have spoken. Yet the Government response is lacking. It blamed teachers but abandoned pupils and its sideline parents. Can I ask the cabinet secretary when does she intend to get serious about this issue, show the leadership of our education needs and come back to this chamber with specific actions to further address behaviour in schools? I have to say to the member that I am somewhat disappointed by her response. This is not going to take one parliamentary statement to solve. We need parents to be part of the solution, which is exactly why I have been engaging with the National Parents Forum on this very issue only last week. She talks about engagement with the profession. I met with our trade unions yesterday. We had a good discussion about some of the action collectively that we can take together. I have to say to the member that the Government cannot do this on our own, but I accept my responsibility as cabinet secretary in setting out a national action plan. I very much hope that the member will work with me to that end, recognising that we will need to have a co-ordinated response to the challenges presented in relation to behaviour. I think that she is right in relation to her point on PISA. We need a co-ordinated response that recognises the challenge and does not accept that as the new normal in our education system. Can we listen to the questions and, indeed, the answers? This week, I met with a head teacher who, with over 20 years' teaching experience across different areas of Scotland. She told me about the violence and abuse from pupils and parents and its impact on other pupils and all levels of staffing. She spoke of the enormous workload, budget cuts, low staff morale, unable to meet children's needs and feeling helpless in a system that she says is broken and she is now resigned. The Scottish Government's response is more training for teachers. Does the education secretary really think that a teacher of that experience just needs more training? I do not know if Beatrice Wishart was actually in the chamber last week when I gave my response to the BISA research—that was not my response at all. We did provide additional funding for those who work in learning support because, of course, the BISA research talked about our learning support assistance asking for that additionality through that independent research. I want to point to that. This is not just about staff training, but about a societal shift. It is not just happening in our schools post-Covid. There are challenges playing out in all our communities and all our constituencies that we are all very well aware of in relation to anti-social behaviour, for example, on some of our buses and some of the challenges that we face on our justice network. This is not just about school. We should be mindful of societal shifts since the pandemic. We are trying to work with our local authority partners in relation to the changes that we have seen in relation to our young people and their behaviour. She spoke about some of the violence. I think that some of the most shocking parts of the BISA research that was published last week were some of the challenges and some of our youngest children. We know, for example, that the transition for some of our youngest from the early years into primary has been extremely traumatic. Those are the young people who were out of formal education during national lockdowns. They were also out of education during industrial action, so their education was disrupted. To Ms Duncan Glancy's point, I think that some of the impact is now playing out in relation to PISA. We need a holistic response to that. I am very sorry, I have to say, to hear about the story that Ms Whisher has outlined today about the professional who has left the teaching profession. We need more people who work in Scotland's schools to help support our young people. I commit to Parliament to come back next week to give a fuller update in relation to the PISA response. Question 3, Polly McNeill. To ask the Scottish Government what work it is doing in schools to educate boys to prevent violence against women and girls. The Scottish Government is clear that harassment or abuse in any form, whether in the workplace, schools or in the home or in society, is completely reprehensible and must stop. The conduct and behaviour of perpetrators must change if we are to end harassment and abuse. I am concerned by the findings of the behaviour in Scottish school research, echoed, of course, by surveys undertaken by some of our teaching unions about rises in misogyny in our schools. The Government will shortly publish a national framework for schools on preventing and responding to gender-based violence. That will help to ensure consistent messages on sexual harassment and gender-based violence for everyone working with children and young people. It will also support our commitment to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. As she says, that misogyny is unfortunately still rife in our schools and many young women still report sexual harassment at school at an alarming level. Scottish Labour's consultation on violence against women and girls found that developing educational resources on gender-based violence for all boys and young men in Scotland should be a key priority if we have to effectively tackle violence against women and girls. Will the Scottish Government commit to introducing bespoke workshops that specifically teach boys and young men about healthy relationships and interactions with girls and young women, and will they consider rolling them across the whole curriculum? I thank Pauline McNeill for her question. I think that she raises a really important point. I intimated in my initial response that we will be publishing very shortly the gender-based violence framework that will set out the national approach. I think that the proposal that she has brought to the chamber today is an interesting one. I commit to working with her on this matter, recognising that that support in our schools I think will be needed absolutely on the front line to tackle some of the challenges that we see borne out in the bespoke research, but also a number of our teaching unions have carried out some really detailed research on this issue. It doesn't just affect female pupils, but it affects female members of staff. Our teaching population is majority female, so we need to be mindful of the shifts that are happening in relation to some of the trends that are playing out. Anecdotally, we have also seen the rise of individuals such as Andrew Tate. I think that some of that is impacting on behaviour in our schools, so we absolutely need a co-ordinated approach. That is what the framework will set out in more detail. I will take Ms McNeill's idea away from today's portfolio questions and speak to officials about whether or not we might be able to support the approach that she is outlining. There is a lot of interest in supplementaries. I am going to try and get them all in, but they will need to be questions, spare us the preambles and the responses will need to be relatively brief too, first, Jim Fairlie. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Does the cabinet secretary agree with me that while we work to educate boys in schools it is very important that there are programmes like Bold Girls Ken in my constituency who are working across campuses to tackle gender-based violence through an understanding of what consent means, but also that this is a much wider societal issue that needs society-wide solutions and, in particular, from men taking their responsibility in seriously calling out male behaviours that lead to violence against women and girls? I agree with the member, and I welcome his contribution. It is absolutely vital that men call out instances when they see misogyny and male behaviours that could lead to violence against women and girls. I spoke in my statement last week about our teachers highlighting the toxic impact of certain social media figures in influencing young boys and promoting intolerance of women, and I think that all of us in the chamber would be concerned by that. While education has absolutely essential parts to play in teaching our children and young people about gender equality, much like behaviour, it cannot do so in isolation, we need wider societies to play its part in supporting our efforts to eradicate violence against women and girls. Does the cabinet secretary agree with me and the zero tolerance charity that greater bureaucracy or Government directives or indeed national frameworks are not what is required to tackle the issue, but action? For her question, I have seen some of the response from zero tolerance to the BISR research, and I would be very keen to engage with them directly on this issue. I think that it is important to say that through the action plan we are working with various organisations, and I want to work with zero tolerance on this matter to ensure that we get this right. She talks about action, of course. I think that it is worth remembering, and I put that on the record last week in the statement to Parliament. The Government does not directly run our schools, so there are responsibilities here for our local authorities. We need to see consistency in responding to this issue. I think that that is why the framework is quite helpful, but to Ms McNeill's point, we need to see practical action, so I am more than happy to engage with Education Scotland on how we might be able to deliver that in our schools when we make the difference. Building on what the cabinet secretary said already, does the Government agree with me that, as well as men speaking with boys about gender justice and gender-based violence in school settings and teachers speaking in school settings, we need all men who are in positions of leadership engaging with boys, whether that is in youth clubs or in sports clubs, to engage on this issue so that, together, we can tackle gender-based violence in Scotland? I think that the member makes a very important point. As I mentioned in my previous answer, we need that societal approach to eradicating violence against women and girls, and public support for men in positions of power. I should say that positions of public life are really important. I know that the First Minister has taken a key role in tackling the problem of toxic masculinity, and I hope that every man in this chamber would look to do the same. I wonder what we are teaching our boys when you look at the research on the NASUWT union that says that almost a fifth of female teachers in Scotland's schools are being assaulted several times a week by pupils. What are we teaching our boys when their behaviour in respect to female teachers meets with no sanctions and no consequences? That is not right, is it? I think that the member makes an important point. We talked yesterday in my meeting with the trade unions about having that consistent approach to behaviour that is not acceptable, and I think that we need to set that out at national level. The member is absolutely correct to talk about consequences. That was a key theme that came from the research. What we also saw in the research—I should say, Presiding Officer—are various approaches in relation to the implementation of behaviour management policies, an attention between promoting positive behaviour and where we need to see consequences. I accept, as a former teacher, that we need a role for responsibilities in our classroom. I think that he is absolutely correct to highlight the link here with Misogyny 2, as I intimated in my response to previous members who will set out the framework in that respect in the coming weeks, I hope, before the end of the year. However, that challenge is not going away. We need to have more of a balance in relation to behaviour in our schools, and I hope that the member hears from me my commitment to come back in relation to that national plan to set out exactly our expectations at a national level. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out regarding any impact of UK immigration policies on universities in Scotland. The UK Government's latest attacks on immigration could have a devastating impact on our universities and risks. The economic, social and cultural contribution that international students make not only to campuses but to Scotland. We want to attract more people to live, work and study here, not fewer. The simple fact is that, with independence, we can devise a principled approach to migration that delivers for our economy, our public services and our universities. Last time we published plans for a new Scottish Corrections visa post independence, which would allow international students to live and work in Scotland for five years after their studies and could lead to Scottish citizenship. I thank the minister for his answer. A recent meeting with the University of Stirling, which is based on my constituency, one of the issues that were discussed was the potential impact of the policy that was recently introduced by the UK Government, which restricts many international students from bringing their dependents. There are real concerns that, without the ability to bring their families, many overseas students will choose to go elsewhere. Does the minister agree with me that hostile immigration policies have the ability to harm the international standing of universities and that the UK Government should devolve immigration powers to the Scottish Parliament, notwithstanding the complete silence and the MSP benches from the Tories in this Parliament, to ensure that Scotland remains an open and welcoming destination for international students, where their contribution to the economy and the social and cultural diversity of our country is very much welcomed? The UK Government's latest doubling down on the hostile environment means that, not only could we see fewer international students studying in Scotland, it could also make it harder for our universities to attract international staff. The changes relating to dependents are particularly pernicious. Evidence shows that the ability to bring family members to Scotland encourages migrants to stay long-term, and the additional controls mean that families risk being torn apart by the most restrictive family reunion policy of any high-income country in the world. That approach runs contrary to the one that we should have, which is to welcome people who are making Scotland their home, and to choose to live, work or study here. In discussing the student make-up of universities' data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, it shows that the number of Scottish students studying in England has risen by about 11 per cent. Harriet Wat figures suggest that retaining those 2,000 students would keep about £19 million in Scotland. What is the Scottish Government doing to review its arbitrary cap on students attending our universities? What an act of deflection that was. Seriously, we are dealing with an issue that is actively impacting our students through the immigration policies of the UK Government, and I will take no lectures for the Tory party on that. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reports of Aberdeenshire secondary school parent councils calling for changes to the teacher induction scheme. We recognise that there is a challenge around the recruitment of teachers in certain areas of Scotland and in certain subjects. The Government is considering what immediate improvements can be made to the allocation of probationers on the teacher induction scheme, which will take up placements in August 2024, particularly those who have opted for the preference waiver scheme. The strategic board for teacher education is also undertaking work to ensure that we have the right number of teachers in the right places with the right expertise. With regard to the north-east in particular, I met with Aberdeenshire councillors and the director of education yesterday to discuss their concerns about recruitment and probationary allocation in the north-east. I am glad that the cabinet secretary found the time to meet with Aberdeenshire council yesterday, and they look forward to her returning in the new year to further explore solutions and meet with some of the parents who wrote. Aberdeenshire only received 12 of the 66 secondary probationary teachers they requested and remained chronically short. Local authorities are now worried about the teacher's census and that they will be unfairly penalised for staff shortages. Will the cabinet secretary answer what she would not answer yesterday and confirm that local authorities will not be punished for her poor performance? I thank the member for his question. I think that he suggested that Aberdeenshire had been allocated 12 probationers. As far as I understand it, it was 18, however I will check that with my officials. There were a number of key areas that came from the meeting yesterday, which I did find extremely helpful in relation to the challenges that Aberdeenshire in particular is facing. One of the challenges, of course, the member will accept that some probationers are not taking the box to choose Aberdeenshire council as a local authority. That is part of the challenge that we face post Covid, because we know that probationary teachers are now less likely to move to rural parts of Scotland than they were before the pandemic. However, there are a number of short-term actions that we will be taking on the back of yesterday's meeting, which include reviewing the TIS approach and a short-term approach that will look at how we can introduce measures to ensure that more people who do tick the preference waiver box are sent to more rural locations such as Aberdeenshire. We are also going to engage directly with the GTCS on this, who, of course, administered the TIS scheme and to that end in the meeting with—well, I can hear the member crunching, but if the member would respect, I am trying to answer his question. Minister, can you resume your seat? Mr Burnett, you have asked the question. You are going to listen to the response, and not heck all the way through it, but minister, you are going to have to conclude your response. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am sure that Conservatives want to support good behaviour in the chamber, given their views on that matter. The Scottish Government, of course, will look to work with the GTCS, and that is why, in my meeting with Aberdeenshire Council, I said to the elective members and the director of education that I will visit Aberdeenshire in the new year, along with the chief executive of the GTCS, to work with them on this challenge. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to support student mental health and wellbeing. Mr Graham Day. Over four academic years from 2019-22-23 as part of our programme for government commitment, we supported institutions to introduce more than 80 additional councils to help their students with a total investment of almost £16 million. That commitment was successfully delivered and concluded. In addition, for this academic year, the Scottish Government confirmed a further standalone investment of £3.21 million to support the important and necessary transition to a future position where student mental health and wellbeing is fully embedded as a shared commitment between institutions, the Scottish Government, NHS Scotland and other partners, which meets student needs and integrates with local services. Aspiration and money might be a fine thing, but research from the Mental Health Foundation found that 64 per cent of college students in Scotland had low mental wellbeing. Despite that, the Government has moved the goalposts on their student mental health plan time and time again. The working group last met in December, then the plan was to be published in the spring. It was then still being developed in May, then delayed again in June, and then to be published at some point after the mental health strategy delivery plans, but there is still no sign of it. Do the Scottish Government still plan to deliver a student mental health plan? If so, when? We will be consulting with members of the student mental health and wellbeing working group on the student mental health plan very shortly. In a recent Mental Health Foundation Scotland survey, 54 per cent of college students reported to have moderately severe symptoms of depression. In another survey, 92 per cent of students experienced loneliness at some point during their time at Scottish universities. With more than half of Scottish students reported to have experienced depression and over nine in 10 experienced loneliness, does the minister accept that the steps being taken by the Scottish Government to support student mental health and wellbeing are failing? I do not use that. That is a misrepresentation of the situation. There is a societal problem in this space. It is not simply characterised in universities and colleges, but what we are doing and what we have been doing is working very close through the institutions to develop the plan, which we will consult upon very shortly. It is important that where students present with significant issues, there are clear pathways to allow them to access centralised mental health services, and that is what we are working towards. 7. Was not lodged. 8. Was drawn. That concludes portfolio questions on education and skills. There will be a brief pause before we move to the next item of business to allow front benches to change.


I'm probably going to start my day tomorrow after 10 o'clock. I want to see a trend, right? I want to see something develop that's going to give me more clarity of which way we want to trade the market again. Welcome to Access a Trader, the number one community for those who are committed to taking control of their trading in order to achieve success, profitability, and longevity. Thank you for joining us. Here's Dan Shapiro to help you find your edge, master your process, and own your future. Hey, guys, gaming everybody. Welcome to another edition of the Access a Trader.com Nightly Rapper Show. Unfortunately, this update's going to be very, well, at least on the shorter side, my son was asked to play with another team today. There were short guys. Anyway, so I got to literally just get out of here after I'm done. So let's talk about the tape. So we know we've been going linear, right? We know we've been going linear for quite a while over the last week. So the idea that we got pulled today was not a surprise, right? I don't think that's anybody's surprise, because we always talk about, especially for the last x amount of weeks, especially, don't buy anything, right? The moves, the stocks that have gone bonkers of how they're big, big moves, there's no value in them, right? There's absolutely no value. The stocks have made their move. And any time that gravity kicks in, they're the first ones to get hit. And what wasn't surprising that they did pull the market today, and they pulled it pretty aggressively, and you can see the 60-minute view, you had literally one, two, three, four. You had five candles in a row of pretty aggressive selling. And what was surprising about today's selling, at least in the beginning, number one, how easily it went through the five-day moving average. And you see it right over here. Again, five-day is a shortest-term sentiment. What was also very, very unusual today that they went through the 10-day moving average very, very quickly as well, without putting up a real fight. And the reason why I say it was so odd that it happened today, well, as you can see here by the news, this was a Super Bowl, right? Today it was like the Super Bowl of earnings.  So the idea was that it was very hard to kind of mentally register that they were gonna sell down these stocks into the hole ahead of their numbers, because you're always thinking to yourself, where there's always going to be pension funds, mutual funds, the index funds bidding for stock, right? For longer-term plays. So there's not gonna be any level of fear. So the idea that they took today to kind of get down the market, or quote unquote, at least NASDAQ 100, was very, very surprising. The most amazing part about today's session was, once they started hitting these stocks initially, my first thought was, well, there's no way mentally I can wrap my head around starting selling these stocks over and over and over and over, especially what we just talked about ahead of earnings. All it takes is one uptick in the future is a reload bottom buyer at the bottom of the range, and you're getting squeezed just like every single time anybody tried to do that over a longer period of time that started, if you watch the broadcast, four and a half, almost five years ago, going into spilling over to a different presidency. So we kind of knew that. What was crazier about today's session was, how they kind of came back and reclaimed macro level. So if you look at, you had five consecutive candles. These are all hourly candles.  I'm talking about, if you look intraday, you see Amazon got really, really hit. Amazon, Roku was basically just giving up its whole move and they just kept on coming one by one by one. Now you had a lot of names that were reporting earnings tonight. We also had names like Tesla that started getting hit or hit very, very aggressively, Tesla successfully 150 day moving average and rallied. And not only for the bull's point of view, not only did they reclaim the 10 day moving average, they reclaimed everything. They reclaimed the five as well. And I thought today after we were gonna get the earnings from the Google, from the AMDs, Microsoft and Apple and so forth and so on, I thought the reaction on earnings is probably going to give us more clues going into tomorrow's session. And they all started out pretty good, right? You had Google was up like, Google was up 50, 70 points after the close at one point and then they came back and now it's starting to get its focus, right? They sold off Microsoft pretty aggressively. They sold off Microsoft. You had Starbucks and again, I'm guilty. I'm an addict to Starbucks. They sold off Starbucks. They sold TDOC, right? They sold that as well. AMD is basically up like a buck, right? Basically up a buck. Apple is pretty flat. And again, you can go through, you can go through one by one and all these stocks and kind of review their earnings. But the point was everything that I wanted to kind of settle, right? To at least kind of get my brain flowing and start mentally preparing for tomorrow's session. Nothing basically happened, right? Nothing basically settled today. We're getting a lot of mixed bag into earnings. You're even getting a name like Shopify that accessed the debt market. They did a debt offering after the closed as well. Excuse me, a mixed shelf offering after the closed as well. So you're kind of up in the air. And I know I see a lot of people talking about, well, we're definitely selling tomorrow. We sold today, right? We sold today. You can't talk about what we're doing tomorrow. We sold today. The queues, if you look at the queues, right? If you look at the queues, the queues literally went from today from 368 to 360. This was the selling. And now when you look at a lot of charts tonight, and this is where it's gonna be a little bit challenging, but when you're looking at charts right now, everything's at the middle of the range, literally. Everything's at the middle of the range. And if you look at a market that just bounds back off and reclaim macro levels, and now you have very lackluster, kind of a mixed bag of earnings, well, you're kind of put into the, well, let's guess for tomorrow. I don't wanna guess, right? I'm not that smart.    We can't guess tomorrow. Right now, if you look at every single stock today from the point of interest within their channels, everything is stuck. And now we're gonna need a lot more clues going into tomorrow's session. I personally think tomorrow is gonna be one of those days that you probably wanna let the 10 o'clock channel turn tomorrow. And what I mean by that, there's only six candles of the day, okay? When I trade 60 minute candles, there's only six candles of the day. I think that first candle is going to need to give us some sort of rhyme or reason, some sort of foundation of what we think is gonna happen for the rest of the day. And you talk about charts and you talk about clarity, but when you have this type of aggressive move today, and this was a very, very aggressive move, basically anybody who shorted the market today in the first three hours of the day, especially on the index side, got run over literally on one candle. So it's a tricky, tricky situation going into tomorrow. Usually when you do your chart work, you have a very definitive stance for the next day. You have a very strong opinion and all you're looking to do for that trading day is wait for your conviction or wait for your research to kind of play out. Tomorrow, we're in a very unusual place that the market is really gonna have to show us which way the wind is gonna blow. At least now we understand the bottom of the range here and the top of the range here. We get that. What I'm hoping doesn't happen is we're gonna be playing ping pong within that range, within that tight range for the next couple of days. And it's really gonna need to see some sort of leadership for tomorrow. I get that Microsoft is lower, right? I get that Starbucks is lower. So it's going to put a lot of pressure, it's going to put a lot of pressure on the Nasdaq 100 names. Even Apple, who's not down a lot, right?  Can it get down to 43.5, 44? Yeah, absolutely, why not? But it doesn't really screen sell the market. So I think tomorrow's session, you have to be really, really patient, like incredibly patient. I think if you're one of those hyper ADD or personalities, you might wanna take tomorrow off, okay?  But the problem is when you have a bottom range that just got put in today, but you're $5 off that bottom range and now after the closed stocks starting to drift right back close to that bottom range, you're going to be faced with a lot of tight channels, a lot of volatility in that tight channels. And when you have a lot of volatility in tight channels, usually not a lot of good things are gonna happen. So going into tomorrow, you know, I'm 50-50. I usually don't say that. I have a very definitive opinion here. I'm probably gonna start my day tomorrow after 10 o'clock. I wanna see a trend, right? I wanna see something develop that's gonna give me more clarity of which way we wanna trade the market. Again, I'm not naive, we get it, right? Linear market, we don't need a reason for the stock market to go down. Gravity, right? This is gravity. People are gonna turn around and say, well, that was the top. It's not the top. Okay, don't be naive.  Why don't we just call it the market had a really good run and the market went down today, right? Nothing more, nothing less. This is not the end of the world. This is not the end of the bull market. All it is is a market that had a phenomenal move, did very, very well on the long side. The earnings were, right? Very meh, they're okay, but the point is we wanna see the reactionary view after the earnings a couple of days ahead and let's see what happens long term. Remember, you're always thinking long term. You're not thinking about tomorrow. Tomorrow, we understand what's in front of us, right? We're not gonna be shocked when we're sitting there at 10 o'clock and say, well, which way we're gonna confirm?  I won't be shocked doing that because again, I already went through the charts. I already see what's what. So I get the idea that you're not gonna have the smoothest day. Can something wake up tomorrow ahead of its own earnings and start confirming channels? Sure, we talked about that TTD yesterday. We talked about how everybody should watch this thing above that 82, 75, 83 level stock trade to 85 today. Listen, can this thing have a day to run? Sure, why not, right? This thing looks good, expedient. Can it have finally run? We talked about this channel that didn't confirm it. Could it possibly have a run? Sure, absolutely. So there's still individual names that could do very, very well, but based on what I'm seeing today, and again, I really encourage everybody to put in the time every single day to look at charts. When you do your dediligence today and put in the research, you're not gonna be shocked of what I'm saying. You're gonna see exactly what I'm talking about. And the last thing you wanna do is be very, very pigheaded or be very, very motivated to, right? To click a mouse when stocks are in the middle of their range. So guys, have an open mind tomorrow, right? Have an open mind, don't have a bias, maybe wait for that 10 o'clock channel to kind of see which way the weather's blowing. And if we get some expansion channels, you know what? That's what we're here to do and we take advantage of. If not, what's the worst case scenario? We trade the next day, right? Again, guys, it's very, very important to understand. We don't trade when the market is open. We trade because we have value. Tomorrow looks like we're starting the day with a three-nine offsuit. Will we get a better hand? We'll see, right? As the blind man said, we shall see. Guys, have a blessed day. I gotta get to my son's basketball game and with God's help, I'll see you all tomorrow. Take care.


Welcome to the Fandall hurry up. I'm Ariel Epstein joining us today. Number fire in Fandall's Jim Zahn is to talk teams that are going to make the playoffs in the NFL. Thanks for joining us Jim. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah. It's exciting to be positive here. We're talking about the good side of the NFL talking about teams that will make the playoffs positive This week potentially circling back with the downsides next week in teams that'll miss the playoff. I like you're giving us some positive energy first. Let's start with the Dallas Cowboys who are minus one fifty six to make the playoffs. The Cowboys went six and ten last year. They lost their starting quarterback Dak Prescott to an ankle injury week five. How come you believe that the Cowboys are going to make the playoffs this year. It kind of goes what you said where I do think that the injuries getting the guys are getting back not just Dak but also the offensive line the entire offensive line effectively that's going to bode well for them. They are plus one ten to win the division. I think that's also a pretty good number. So if you want the plus juice go there but this number does give you some leeway in case we see a team like Washington leap up make a good run across this new year with Ryan Fitzpatrick. But right now my wind total projections have Dallas at ten point one. Nobody else in the NFC is at eight point zero. So it's a pretty healthy cushion. So getting Dallas at minus one fifty six just to make the playoffs in general to me is a really good number. We're they're going to get some competition at West because there are a lot of teams there pushing for the playoffs. But at minus one fifty six that the Cowboys here given the health of their offense given how good Dak Prescott is and given how many points are likely to score. I'd expect this to be a very advantageous number that I want to get now before we realize how good that offense is when helping taking advantage of some closing line value. Also the Cowboys best odds in the NFC East at plus one ten to win the division. Another team you feel is going to make the playoffs. The Los Angeles chargers. This one's in plus money plus one twenty six. Why is Justin Herbert the quarterback of the Chargers going to be more successful in year two because the team around him is better this year specifically around the along the offensive line. They've made a lot of big improvements there which can help Justin Herbert help unlock this offense in their first year without Anthony Lynn. I think that Herbert with the new offensive line should look pretty good. But also a lot of toys on defense or Brandon Stanley to play with. I think that's enticing here. I do think this is the best market for the Chargers because I can't stomach betting them to be Patrick Mahomes in the division. But at plus one twenty six to make the playoffs. I think that they are they are a pretty good bet. My wind total projections factor in the fact they're facing hands city twice. They haven't been at nine point seven. That is the highest among the teams not projected to win their division right ahead of Miami and Cleveland.  I think this is the best market to get the Chargers at. I think they should be a team that puts up a lot of wins this year. It should be in contention for a wildcard spot even though I don't expect them to be a true contender to push the cheese in the West. The Chargers went seven and nine straight up last year. Yet seven of their nine losses were all by one possession. Last one another plus money play for a team to make the playoffs. You're going with the Minnesota Vikings. How much of this has to do with the potential of Aaron Rodgers and not being the quarterback in Green Bay. Absolutely. That is definitely part of it here. That could happen. I think that's something you should be factoring in throughout these bets. And I'm not entirely basing it off of that because right now I am assuming that Rogers does play for Green Bay. That's my win total projections that Rogers is there. And even right there the Vikings ranked eighth in the NFC and win total projections at nine point two. So if you take away Aaron Rodgers that increases their division odds and also increases their win total projection because they do have two games versus Green Bay. So a couple of things could work in their favor there. It's a second year. Justin Jefferson their defense last year was bad but it was also very young. You give those young guys a second year under Mike Zimmer. I'd expect some improvement from them defensively. So I like getting in on this one now before we see what happens with Rogers. I wouldn't expect it to get a lot worse if it's confirmed that Rogers will play for Green Bay this year. So I take it now and get ahead of things just in case Rogers does get dealt. The Vikings went seven and nine last year just falling one spot short of making the playoffs in the NFC. That's it for us here on the Vandal. Hurry up with Jim Zanis. I'm Ariel. I've seen good luck to your bets and we'll see you next time.


Hi, this is Dr. Ruscio and let's discuss the question, can you obtain adequate probiotics from probiotic rich foods like fermented foods, sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, kefir? The answer is yes, these are definitely an important aspect to a healthy diet in my opinion and should be at least attempted to be routinely consumed. As long as one does not have any kind of symptomatic reaction when consuming a given fermented food, these do seem to be healthy and health promoting because of the bacteria that they contain and the fact that these bacteria tend to have a favorable impact on our digestive systems. These include being anti-inflammatory, potentially anti-leaky gut and also providing or assisting in creation of certain vitamins. So consuming fermented foods and the bacteria, the life cultures they contain is a good health practice and something that seems to have dropped off in Western societies, even though more traditional cultures do appear to have made fermented foods a routine part of their diet. Now, a deeper question is, can you obtain a clinical dose or can you consume enough? So how we define enough is a challenge because there's not necessarily one magical intake of probiotics in the diet that is going to be right for everyone. So perhaps another way we can look at this is to pose the question such a way that if you have an imbalance or symptoms in your gut, if you have irritable bowel syndrome, if you have reflux, if you have a presumed overgrowth of bacteria or fungus or even a diagnosed imbalance of such or potentially something like inflammatory bowel disease, can you get a clinically impactful amount of probiotics from your diet? This is where the answer leans in the direction of no. When you look at most of the research studies that have used probiotics supplementally, the amount contained in these trials is actually significantly north of what you can obtain from foods. Now, this is not to say that we should just throw the foods out the window. This is a foundation, but as a supplement used for a term to try to overcome imbalances, then a supplemental probiotic does seem to have merit. Let me put up on the screen for you an actual breakdown so you can see a given food, the bacteria contains, the amount of bacteria, and then the amount of bacteria in a like probiotic supplement. And this is quite enlightening when you look at this. So looking at sauerkraut, we have a few different strains and the amount to a per serving per cup of sauerkraut, about three billion CFU or colony forming units. Now, how much would be found in a typical probiotic capsule? So in our lactobifidoblend probiotic, so one cup of sauerkraut equates to one eighth of a capsule. When we start seeing this, we see that we're really not quite getting a clinical dose, knowing that one may use anywhere from two to four capsules in a day. One cup of sauerkraut equaling one eighth of a capsule falls a little bit short of what may be needed in order to really have a robust clinical effect for a rebalancing, healing, and helping with someone's symptoms. And let's look at yogurt. With a cup of yogurt, 2.5 billion, equivalent to about a tenth of a capsule, lactofermented pickles per pickle, 1.3 billion, and that is about 0.05 of a capsule. Kiefer, 2.5 billion, again, about a tenth of a capsule. And Kim, she actually comes in as the winner here with a half cup containing 11.5 billion CFUs or colony forming units, and that's equivalent to about one half of a capsule of our lactobifidoblend probiotic. So certainly these foods are part and promoting of a healthy diet and a healthy gut. However, we may not be able to get everything that we need, at least from a perspective of trying to remedy, rebalance, and heal the gut from food. And this is where, at least in the short term, considering a probiotic supplement may really kind of compound on top of what you should be doing dietarily. And with the addition of the supplement will have enough impact, hopefully, to combat something like small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, to remedy the symptoms of IBS, to help reduce leaky guts, to help facilitate healthy intestinal mortality, or to help to support balance in the microbiota of one of the many different mechanisms that probiotics can positively impact. So we wanna do both, but it does look like for a clinical effect that foods may fall a little bit short from ideal. And I think it's reasonable to say, start with bringing these fermented foods into your diet and then reevaluate. If you're not feeling better, then consider adding, in addition to that, a well-formulated probiotic supplement. This is Dr. Ruscio, and I really hope this helps you get healthy and get back to your life.


All right. Good morning. Thank you for coming. I know it's a little bit early, but you can think of where the kids going to school even at an earlier hour, so that can be a relief if you want to find excuse for your being here this hour. Well, as I said in the previous session on Tuesday we will be meeting for several weeks for four hours a week, two plus two on Tuesdays and Fridays, so in order to be able to make up for the possible loss of classes because of my participation in some of the conferences. One that will be taking place in Cairo, specific on Middle East security issues and that will be followed by another meeting in London, right after Cairo, and I will be participating in an important program, so to speak, in Israel for about a week, where I will most possibly be meeting with statesmen, politicians, community leaders, and this is a special program arranged for a number of experts on Middle East issues. So we will be missing several hours and therefore in order to make up for this losses that will be taking place toward the end of the semester, now we are going to meet for four hours, so sort of for any convenience this may cause you, but in my absence you can take your time to read some other stuff and maybe if you are sort of waking up early on Fridays these weeks you may not have to do so. Last week I distributed syllabus, is there anybody here right now who was not in the class on Tuesday and who is now here and therefore would like to have a syllabus? Well we can get copies after the class if you like or I can pass a couple of copies for those who are not here, please take one and we had a brief introduction, by the way, which one of these, is this okay? This screen should come. Well I'm not going to go into the substance today and at least at least for this first hour because I want to make sure all of you got it right, what I expect from you in terms of all paid writing and also the simulation sessions that will be held at the end of the semester. OPED is one of your assignments and simulation will be again, will constitute part of your grade, approximately one-fourth of your grade will come from your participation and performance during the simulation in terms of teams and you will be making up teams like Iraq, Iran, Syria and US, Russia, US, etc. Countries that will be taking part in the simulation and also OPED will be making approximately one-fourth of your grade, overall grade, together with your participation, of course midterm exam and final exam, plus there is this 5.5% additional bonus if you are willing to review the chapter by Faso Saj in his book Learning with Music. Well I wonder if any one of you just for some reason had a curiosity to get to know what exactly OPED is. Did you Google what OPED means? Where does this OPED thing come from? Anybody? Well this is something a little bit debated and then there is this debate some people don't even accept that there's a debate and they say no, OPED doesn't mean opinion editorial and this abbreviation comes from according to their explanation actually something interesting opposite editorial. Opposite editorial means the page opposite to the page where there are editorials in newspapers. Well editorial is something actually these are opinion pieces of course which reflect the opinion of one or more people who work in this particular in any newspaper which could be written by one or more people and they do not necessarily carry any name at the end. I mean it is kind of anonymous. Therefore the author is not known for sure and these kind of editorials are written at times of important developments. There might be some sort of economic crisis or political debate whereby the newspaper columnist or the authors in the newspaper may individually or in group may wish to express a certain opinion in order to have an impact on the public opinion. I mean we have seen such editorials in many newspapers are brought in Turkey but OPEDs carry a name and you know who is the author unless this is a fake name and in most cases newspapers do not allow people to use fake names and they want their real names to be used and to be put at the end of the article as a signature. So the explanation as to where this OPED abbreviation the shorthand notation of this comes from you know goes back to several decades and when people really wanted to know as to where this does come from and they made a search and they figured out that at some point in 1920s someone who first of all leaves some space or left some space for this kind of opinion pieces in his newspaper as the editor of the paper and therefore that person says well when I wanted several people or certain people to have their opinions I left the page opposite the editorial page of the newspaper for this kind of pieces articles or short opinion pieces and of course the other sort of explanation is as you use opinion editorial well both make sense what matters to us actually is not where this comes from but what makes sense for us is that you should understand what exactly an OPED is and you should of course toward the end of the semester you should be able to write one because as I said this will constitute more or less one-fourth of your overall grade and this is something important yes please. Well actually what I would like you to do is at the beginning I mean when you decide on its subject on a topic I would like you to consult with me because I want OPED subjects OPED topics that you will be writing be compatible with the purpose of this course I mean we should write I mean you should be writing something which was within the confines within the sort of boundaries of this course middle-aged security so I'm sure you will all understand as to what middle middle-aged security means and you will not come up with topics that will be irrelevant but this is the first step that I would like you to suggest and in order to decide on the subject of course you should not only have a certain degree of interest but of course after sometime throughout the semester as we go you should be able to accumulate some knowledge because OPEDs cannot be written without any knowledge and as I said and I will explain again in detail OPEDs are different than term papers require a different type of research as well as writing skills and therefore this is important but and in due course if you believe at some certain point you would like to consult with me as to how you proceed I mean what it what you write down sort of full physical requirements of an OPED you're always welcome I mean during my office hours and also we can just drop an email you can attach the draft OPED that you have done already and I can just have a look at it and say well that will be better if you did this and that or maybe if you've already done a good job then I can congratulate you so this is important OPED writing is something in some sense pretty simple but for those who know a certain subject very well because it requires people to express their opinion in a in a rather relatively less number of words the ideal sort of number of words will be as I try to explain last time is somewhere in between 700 to a thousand words well something a little less more than this or a little less than that it's still okay but as you go to the far right end of this spectrum let's say that means you have difficulty in explaining yourselves in in rather short sort of space this is important because one thing that is essential in OPED is that you have an opinion you have you have a view you have a certain argument and you express it in such a way to make it sort of a or in some sense you express your opinion by way of arguing something you you have you you endorse something you are of course debating something you are either against or for something you may be criticizing something maybe promoting something but yet what is important is that you have a clear idea you write something to the point it is not where you can elaborate at length extensively some subject by way of introducing a certain dimensions to it and then taking up another part well this is this is something that you can do and you have time and space for research papers term papers this is something else but in OPED you have a quick opinion short precise and you deliver this to the other side to the reader in in a very concise manner right you go to the heart of the matter and you explain your opinion and in order to capture the minds of the people I mean especially if you are writing an OPED in a newspaper you want it to be read by as many people as possible and therefore you should attract the attention of the reader at first you should introduce the subject as to what you exactly are going to talk about and what you are arguing this piece at the very beginning and of course you express your opinion it is something that allows you to somehow defend something this is this is necessary it's not just wavering between two ends of an idea and whether this is the writing or whether this is wrong to know you say well here in this case here is my point and here are the reasons why and if necessary and it is necessary in most cases here are my sort of solution or you know other sort of propositions as to have to overcome if there's any difficulty for instance a political trouble problem economic crisis situation etc you present your idea as well as a solution so this is important and what what matters here is that you express your views in as sort of a few number of words as possible this is necessary of course there's not one specific guideline to follow for OPEDs I mean depending on different schools of thought all pets might be written in different ways I mean but of course having some common denominator some common alphas but on the other hand there are also some fundamental principles that you should need you should follow and of course as students you may find it difficult and this assignment might be somewhat a difficult assignment for you when compared to term paper I don't know which one is more difficult or which because I'm not going to assign term papers and you can compare and contrast if other professors assign term papers this semester as to which one would be more difficult but this is something not at all easy for even professors like us I mean even if we teach the subject and even if you're supposed to be experts on a particular issue when it comes to writing an OPED I can tell you that this not a very easy thing either and I was just trying to figure out if there was anything that I could suggest for you to follow I just I mean you can find it find this yourself as well let me just try to find this again here oops that might be no this is I'm trying to figure here an email which I sent to myself yes no not yet again I'm going to show these pictures in a moment anyway there we go tips for OPED writing this link look this an interesting link Duke University is one of world's best universities as you probably know and I was just looking for whether there was any specific sort of guideline for OPED writers and Duke University for their own faculty members they prepare a kind of program or just a package and they also of course want their faculty members to be in consultation with the communications office you don't have to take note because I will send this by email and as you can go and see here for instance there are certain specific there are certain specific suggestions here such as well this is something that doesn't apply to you because you're not going to wait for something to break out and take advantage of this in order to be able to promote something that you want to publish well because this this suggestion actually for the faculty members to when is the best time to write the newspapers in order to have higher chances for whatever OPED and they may write to be published but starting from here first of all the Duke University people even make pretty much the same suggestions limit yourself to 750 words of course all pets are not only published in daily papers well maybe the origin might be coming from newspaper publications but now there are specific websites which sort of solicit I mean ask from authors experts scholars and other people to write all pets and as I will show you in a moment and there are examples of all pets that are not necessarily newspaper articles newspaper pieces but they are published on websites and in this respect they may be a little bit longer because our readers in a sense are ready to sort of read anything that is supply there but in daily papers the maybe the reason behind as to why all pets are sort of suggested to be limited maybe up to seven seven hundred and fifty words is because in readers of daily papers may not be willing to ring longer read longer articles so therefore this is a suggestion again that maybe you should not bother yourself and of course at your level we can tell tolerate a little bit more number of words like a thousand or twelve hundred well this past summer school I asked from my students to write all pets well of course because all pets require a certain time for getting yourself familiarized with a subject reading accumulating knowledge and then digesting that knowledge and then you become capable of writing this thing then of course the summer school period was not perfectly suitable for op-ed writing and therefore I did not set my expectation pretty high so I lower my expectation but some of my students I would say I guess 29 or 30 students during the summer school some 25 of them were willing to write an op-ed and I would say one third of them were quite good I mean they could be published anywhere because they had followed my instructions and sort of made concise research but again as I said in your case I can tolerate a little bit more number of words like a thousand or twelve hundred provided that you are not sort of walking around the subject but go to the heart of the matter this is important this is something that I kept saying my students in last summer and also on Tuesday as you will remember you should make a single point I mean an op-ed is not a piece where you can discuss or debate more than a number you know two or three issues and it is better if you could just confine yourself to one particular issue and promote one single thing and or discuss one one issue properly what is important here as I will show some examples from my own op-eds again you are centering your piece you're writing around a certain specific point here this is again more less for newspaper op-eds and if you follow the same principle it's good even for our op-eds here but it is not that sort of indispensable and put your main point on top I mean because newspaper readers I mean people when they just pick up newspaper in the morning or whenever they just have a chance to read and when they just look at the newspaper articles items etc they should be attracted to your piece the title is one way of making it attractive attractive and also the first couple of sentences again they are very important in order for the reader to follow suit I mean to go on reading it so unless you make yourself clear so what you're going to talk about in the paper and if the reader is confused or doesn't get the point he or she may very well drop your article and then your sort of op-ed might not be read by as many people as you would like to be read again this is something that is in connection with the previous point as to why people should read when for instance my students who are writing MA I'm a master thesis a PhD dissertation the introduction is very very important because I mean you should tell me as to why I should sit and read your 300 pages as a PhD doctoral I mean doctoral dissertation or 100 pages of master thesis so the introductory part is in any writing in any piece of written material is extremely important you should definitely make the reader sort of aware of what he or she is going to read so this is again important then as I mentioned at the beginning this is not a piece of written material where you can just debate certain things without making specific recommendations it is necessary that you make recommendation here unless you do so the purpose of op-ed will not be fulfilled this is important well again there are some tips for making op-ed more attractive such as using short sentences this is always important in any type of writing unless you write a novel or a play script whatever depending on the style things may differ what is important here is in my opinion this point here I mean this is something that that is suggested to the faculty members by the university administration is to have to you know write an op-ed but to me an op-ed is not an op-ed without carrying your personal view personal opinion and that's why people might sort of say it's opinion editorial instead of opposite editorial which is possibly the truth origin of this op-ed abbreviation anyway but what is essential here is that you have an opinion you defend a view you have to defend certain view you should not just leave things in limbo I mean you should not say okay this is right this is also right so here is the middle ground no you are defending something again from examples that I will show you with this from my own you can sort of see how it should be well again this is something that is applicable for people like us I mean faculty members avoid jargon jargon is something is a shorthand notation for certain things that may be understood only by those people who may be knowledgeable about the subject and others may not at all understand and sometimes they may create confusion so therefore for simple readers I mean those who do not know the subject it is recommended that the op-ed should avoid jargon but again this is for newspaper articles and newspaper op-eds and other stuff so I will send this email this link for your perusal I mean just and you can also make your own personal research let me let me sort of here let me show you something you may be worrying so what I'm writing here bitter lemons why is that oops sorry well this is this a website which is read by millions of people around the world every year they have more than a hundred thousand subscribers and well bitter lemons international.org it is as far as I know it is a website maintained by an Israeli and a Palestinian intellectual and the main idea is to promote Arab Israeli peace and they invite people to contribute with their op-eds with their short opinion pieces which I would qualify as op-ed and every time I mean depends on the frequency of events or the sort of a necessity they invite people the last one was published pretty much a month ago and since then this sort of a set of op-eds stay there sometimes they stay at least a week and sometimes they may be staying as long as a month as you can see here well for those interested you can go here search by water and if you write a name familiar to you which is my name well I must have written quite a bit well this is excuse me there are some they do not belong to me some yeah okay let's drop Mustafa part and just search with Qibar I don't think there's another Qubar all in the Middle East who write on these security issues at this for the time being all right here is well this one for instance I mean where you sort of a promote a specific idea you defend it it is an assertion it is an argument and you of course substantiate with certain if possible facts figures and also with some substantiating argument well let me just give you some preliminary information before we discuss this particular one and whenever you want to sort of read these and others you can go to the bitter lemons international.org website and read as many op-eds as possible and of course this is not only something that will help you figure or not as to what you should be writing about but also how to write things and additionally you will have learned many things about the Middle East as part of this course because this website which I pretty follow pretty closely and so far I have not seen anything published there which did not appeal to me or which I found unnecessary I mean all of them are quite relevant pieces and those who maintain the website ask from people you do not send pieces there they ask from you to contribute if you are willing to do so and in most cases they send these request one or two days before the deadline and so you are kind of under the pressure of time where you have to express your opinion in a very short sort of space and concise manner. Well for those who may not have followed by Dennis to what was going on after the integration of US President Barack Obama and prior to that actually when most people were almost certain that Barack Obama would win the race the presidential race in the United States and from his close entourage people from his among his advisors there were some information leaking to the press that if and when Obama won the race and became the US president in a very short time after his integration he would pay a visit to a country in the Islamic world and he would appeal to the Islamic world and people were sort of even had started to bet as to which country that would be a people some people suggested it will be Malaysia some others said in Asia some others suggested Egypt and when he decided to come to Turkey only after some 70 or so days 70 plus days after his inauguration which in my opinion was an unprecedented event I mean no American president so far had paid a visit to Turkey after some two months following his inauguration well of course Turkey is a very important country and its importance has heightened over the last several years because of the developments in this part of the world in the world especially in the aftermath of 9-11 and the Iraq war so these developments have elevated Turkey's profile to a very high level but yet again it is customary for the US presidents to pay their first visit which he did actually as if I'm not mistaken to Canada well this is kind of tradition in the US politics form policy implementation they have a special relationship and also pretty much to countries like United Kingdom and Israel which are known as United States strategic partners the term strategic partners truly applies to this kind of relationship I mean the one between United States and Israel and also United States and United Kingdom but Turkey has not been on the list of countries at least so far which would be visited in the at least first couple of years of the US presidents after becoming president but this time after some 7 or 5 or so days following his integration he paid visit to Turkey and I said and as I also argued in this short piece that was the visit that was mentioned before by his advisors and then something and information information that leaked to the press from his entourage that you know where he would appeal to the Islamic world well of course we are very sensitive I mean Turks are very sensitive with respect to not being categorized as an Islamic country yes an overwhelming majority of our population is Muslim this is correct we believe in Islam by way of faith but on the other hand Turkey politicians intellectuals men in the street and many people should at least display the sensitivity as to not to be categorized but of course there are people who like to see Turkey categorized as such well after all this is something that is open to everyone's own assessment but anyway what there I said that was the visit or that would be the sort of occasion for the US president to appeal to the Islamic world and he came to Turkey for this very specific purpose because he wanted the Islamic world countries in the Islamic sort of realm in the Islamic part of the world to adopt certain principles that are embedded in Turkish republics sort of way of life so to speak and in this article as you can go ahead and read if you are interested I discuss here in a rather few sentences I don't know how many words but it was approximately thousand words or so and as you can see here I say here explain the reasons why he did this I paid this visit at this early stage of his presidential sort of job here so there are also a couple of other examples that I can show you for instance let's take this one these are also available on my personal website I don't know if anyone so far had a chance to visit my website I don't charge anybody it's for free and it is specifically designed for you let me just go from here and feminize yourselves help this me of course not this is something that comes with the best website I didn't have any choice well this is my office for those they've not visited already you're welcome the door is open here are the articles that might be of interest to you and these are some of them are chapters some of them are articles and etc here some of my op-eds are uploaded to my website and for for you to read for instance after this incident tragic incident in the estimated training the Israeli matrix attack on mavi marmarship you know what happened and the actually in my opinion the Turkish Israel relations have hit the bottom and as a as a scholar who pays attention to the well-being of this relationship not only between Turkey and Israel but of course between Turkey and all of its neighbors and as many countries as possible I make some recommendations as to how to sort of resuscitate or revitalize these relationships this is important and the question actually op-eds request Omar the person's name Omar Karmie is sending emails Omar sends me it's a very short topic says a serve would you be willing to write on this particular issue deadline is Wednesday afternoon and he writes this email most possibly on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning so you have only a few hours to think about it and just sit and write well again this is some that increase your adrenaline level and then maybe you're writing a better piece maybe this is the tactic that they follow but the the subject here was whether Turkish Israel relations could be saved from the point where they were at the moment and that was right after and if you just look at here June 10th this is only 10 days after the incident 31st of May and then so and that was when the Turkish as well as of course and more specifically Israeli politicians from the highest levels were making such bitter statements that would not really leave any room for even thinking of any possibility to sort of recover from the level where the Turkish Israeli relations had hit as I said the bottom here and again there is a certain argument here which I sort of base my sort of arguments on certain specific issues and make some recommendations so here are some examples as I mentioned here and by the way please familiarize yourselves with this website and I'm not as I said promoting for any reason because it is something that might be essential and some of your readings which belong to me will be available on this website so you don't have to go to the library and check to reserve or make photocopies these are already available here so I hope this point is well understood because op ed as I said will be constituting one significant proportion of your overall grade I wonder if you have any questions so far if there's anything that I may have missed or not clear or something that requires further explanation any points any comments or are you satisfied with all these explanations or do you feel like ready to at least think about writing an op ed because in the next hour after this break like 10 minutes I'll be talking about simulation which is another requirement well and I want to talk about all this before going into the heart of the matter which will be starting with this most possible on Tuesday next week I want to all know about the requirements of this course because this is not a mass course this an elective course you have become my students voluntarily nobody forces you to do so but since you have taken the decision you should be ready to follow the instructions in terms of how to be successful how to get good grades and by the time of the end of the day 27th I guess Monday this the end of the ad drop days you should be able to know what is awaiting you in the future throughout the semester all right so let's give a break and come back in like 10 minutes