As the school year abruptly came to an end, Appalachian State University’s Outdoor Program (OP) staff prepared to part ways. For some that meant a few days, weeks, or months, but for others that might have meant for life.For their last hurrah of the semester the OP had a BBQ potluck dinner at Appalachian State University’s Camp Broadstone located in Valle Crucis. This facility is located 7-miles from campus on the Watauga River. It offers a bouldering cave, a full ropes course, walking trails, recreational fields, and a totally secluded space away from campus and Boone.I had the pleasure of catching the end of this send-away party and talking with some of the staff members. Many students on the OP Staff were graduating just a week after their send off and moving on to bigger and better things.I talked with one staff member who was moving to Alaska after graduation to be an adventure guide for the remainder of the summer before settling down and figuring out his life plans. Having never been to Alaska he was both excited and anxious for the journey to come. Many other graduated OP staff members had similar plans of traveling and exploring before settling down with a full-time job.As a send off gift for the seniors, a variety of maps were placed around the shelter on the picnic tables for other OP staff to write memories and messages of good luck.After catching up and meeting some folks we enjoyed the remainder of the evening by throwing a Frisbee, playing a game of horse, and an unusually intense round of foursquare. Unfortunately, a quick spring storm rolled in and cut our outdoor fun a little short.Best wishes to all graduates who are going on to further explore the world and themselves. And, good luck to all the graduates who are being thrown into the adult-world of office jobs. May you always be able to go outside and play.
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Trump praises US police, rejecting protesters’ cries of racism
He did explore some of the deeper causes of racial disparities in the world’s richest country, saying that more would be put into healthcare and the ability to raise business capital in minority communities.Later, in an interview with the generally friendly Fox News network, he described the “horror” of watching Floyd’s death on cellphone footage shot by a witness.But critics say he is incapable of embracing broader public fears, pointing to the contrast between shows of empathy from previous presidents during crises and Trump’s instinct for fighting and insulting foes, even in the midst of calamity.”For weeks we’ve seen President Trump run away from a meaningful conversation on systemic racism and police brutality. Instead, he’s further divided our country,” Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday.”Today’s trip to Texas won’t change any of that. President Trump is more interested in photo ops than offering a healing voice as our nation mourns.”Despite his poll numbers being underwater five months ahead of election day, Trump is betting that he needn’t change tack.His base has remained loyal throughout the extraordinary turmoil, and he has made clear his priority is getting back on the campaign trail.Immediately after his remarks in Dallas, the president heads to his first campaign fundraiser since the COVID-19 lockdown began — a $580,600 per couple event. Then he flies to his golf course resort in New Jersey for the weekend, another post-COVID first.On June 19 he will restart his mothballed series of rallies — raucous, often two-hour love fests between Trump the entertainer-in-chief and thousands of his most loyal supporters — with an event in Oklahoma. “We have to work together to confront bigotry and prejudice wherever they appear, but we will make no progress and heal no wounds by falsely labeling tens of millions of decent Americans as racist or bigots,” Trump said.The Republican has struggled to find the right tone to address the explosion of protests over the last two weeks in the wake of the death of an unarmed African-American man, George Floyd, as he was arrested in Minneapolis.That crisis, coupled with the economic devastation of the COVID-19 shutdown — and the fact that the pandemic continues to kill up to 1,000 people a day — has left the country crying out for healing.Trump, whose political style is built largely on fierce division and exciting his right-wing base, faced pressure to encourage unity in Dallas. Magnet for controversy Some Americans may want calm after months of rancor, but that’s one thing the former reality TV star is not giving.Even the choice of Tulsa, Oklahoma, for his resumption of rallies generated controversy.June 19 is known as “Juneteenth,” the day marking the end of slavery in the United States. Tulsa, however, is notorious as the site of a 1921 massacre of African-Americans.As he left for Dallas, Trump lambasted Democratic leaders of Washington state, where he said “domestic terrorists” had taken over Seattle, referring to protesters.He also doubled down on his latest culture wars battle, insisting again he will refuse demands to change the names of US military bases honoring leaders of the slave-owning, rebel South during the Civil War.Back in Washington, there were new tensions between the White House and the military when the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Mark Milley, apologized for appearing alongside Trump during a controversial walk to a church on June 1, minutes after police violently dispersed protesters.”I should not have been there,” Milley said in his unexpected comments. Hitting the trail The choice of Texas for Thursday’s trip was notable because the state — Republican for decades — is turning in to a battleground. Trump won narrowly in 2016 and a Quinnipiac poll last week put him only one percentage point ahead of Biden.In 2016, polls and politics watchers in general got it wrong about Trump, who ran a chaotic campaign against the ultra-professional Hillary Clinton yet still scored a famous electoral college win.This has left many election watchers gun-shy. Even so, current polls make grim reading for the Republican.The FiveThirtyEight average shows Trump’s approval rating at just 41 percent, having taken a big hit from his handling of the COVID-19 and racism crises.The RealClearPolitics average for a presidential election match-up puts Biden at 49.8 to Trump’s 41.7.Worse for Trump — given his hope of repeating his electoral college win, even if losing the overall popular vote — Biden leads in almost every swing state.
Topics : US President Donald Trump on Thursday rebooted his flagging reelection campaign with a speech starkly rejecting nationwide protesters’ claims of police racism, saying only a “few bad apples” are to blame.Far from reaching out to demonstrators’ searing anger, he offered only a vague proposal to “encourage” officers to meet “the most current professional standards for the use of force.””You always have a bad apple, no matter where you go,” said Trump, who is making law and order a new keystone of his bid to win a second term on November 3. “There aren’t too many of them in the police department.”
US, China clash anew as top officials meet on tensions
The United States on Wednesday pressed China over its treatment of Uighur Muslims and Hong Kong as the two powers stood firm in high-level talks in Hawaii on soaring tensions.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with senior Chinese official Yang Jiechi at a Honolulu military base, in the two countries’ highest-level meeting since the coronavirus pandemic sent tensions skyrocketing, a State Department official said.They met away from media as excerpts came out from an explosive memoir by former US national security advisor John Bolton, who said President Donald Trump asked President Xi Jinping for assistance in his re-election. Pressing on pandemic The United States was cooler in its assessment, saying Pompeo told Yang the two nations need “fully reciprocal dealings.””He also stressed the need for full transparency and information sharing to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and prevent future outbreaks,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said.Pompeo has been in the forefront of denouncing China, saying in recent remarks that it was “truly hostile” to the United States and “ruthlessly imposes communism.”The conservative former congressman has taken the lead in promoting a theory, discounted by mainstream scientists, that the coronavirus came out of a Chinese laboratory.Susan Thornton, a career diplomat who served as the top State Department official on East Asia earlier in the Trump administration, had voiced skepticism that the meeting would produce much.”My own view is that the United States and China both face serious crises, as does the rest of the world from COVID-19 and the consequent economic meltdown,” said Thornton, now at Yale Law School.”It seems to me that talking about US-China rivalry in this environment is out of touch with the reality that people are facing.”Whether the United States and China reach any rhetorical truce could become clear quickly. Pompeo is set to speak Friday at a Danish forum, where the State Department says he will discuss “threats to democracy around the world.” Explosive charges With Trump under fire at home over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, his Republican Party has increasingly cast China as the villain ahead of November elections.But Bolton’s book — which the administration is trying to block — tells another story, saying Trump asked China to boost his election prospects by requesting that it buy more farm produce.Bolton, according to an excerpt published by The Washington Post, also said that Xi explained the Uighur camps to Trump, who replied that they were “exactly the right thing to do.”Activists say China is forcibly homogenizing minorities in a brainwashing campaign with few modern precedents. Beijing counters that it is running vocational educational centers that offer an alternative to Islamic extremism.Yang reportedly sought the meeting with Pompeo, following a similar quiet encounter with him in New York in August to address tensions.China’s state-run People’s Daily, which said Pompeo and Yang also met the night before, called the talks “constructive.””Both sides agreed to continue maintaining contact and communication,” it said. Just as Pompeo met Yang, Trump signed into law an act that authorizes sanctions for Chinese officials involved in the detention of some one million Uighur Muslims and other Turkic Muslims.Beijing quickly responded that the law “maliciously attacks” China and threatened consequences.China will “resolutely hit back and the US will bear the burden of all subsequent consequences,” the Chinese foreign ministry said.And Pompeo and his counterparts from the other Group of Seven major industrial democracies put out a joint statement voicing “grave concerns” about a draft security law in Hong Kong.
Topics : “We strongly urge the Government of China to reconsider this decision,” said the joint statement by Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.China is moving ahead with a law that would prohibit subversion and other perceived offenses in the financial hub, to which Beijing promised autonomy before taking back the British colony in 1997.In response, Yang said at the meeting with Pompeo that Beijing’s “determination” to introduce the law was “unwavering”, according to a statement on the foreign ministry website.Yang said China “resolutely opposes the statement made by the G7 foreign ministers on Hong Kong-related issues,” according to the statement.
Arsenal target Kieran Tierney should cost more than Aaron Wan-Bissaka, says Celtic boss Neil Lennon
‘£50m for Wan-Bissaka is a lot of money and we feel that Kieran is a far more experienced and rounded full-back at this juncture in his career.‘He’s an asset for us and we do have a value for the player and we rate the player very highly.‘So disrespectful is the wrong word but we’re certainly not going to be pushed over in any negotiations, and we’re in a very strong position with regard to a number of our assets in the team.’ Arsenal have failed with two bids for Celtic full-back Kieran Tierney (Picture: Getty)Celtic manager Neil Lennon has argued that Kieran Tierney should be worth more than Aaron Wan-Bissaka following Arsenal’s failed £25million offer for the full-back.Unai Emery, who reportedly has a measly £45m budget to spend on reinforcements, has prioritised a move for a left-back and has identified Tierney as his first-choice target.The Gunners failed with an opening £15m offer for Tierney last month and their second bid of £25m was also rejected by Celtic, with the Scottish champions driving a hard bargain 22-year-old Scotland international.Manchester United shelled out £50m on Crystal Palace’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka, 21, earlier this summer and Lennon believes Tierney is ‘a far more experienced and rounded full-back’ at this stage of his career.AdvertisementAdvertisementADVERTISEMENTMore: FootballRio Ferdinand urges Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to drop Manchester United starChelsea defender Fikayo Tomori reveals why he made U-turn over transfer deadline day moveMikel Arteta rates Thomas Partey’s chances of making his Arsenal debut vs Man City‘We can’t do anything about what clubs do in England,’ Lennon said. Advertisement Arsenal target Kieran Tierney should cost more than Aaron Wan-Bissaka, says Celtic boss Neil Lennon Advertisement Manchester United spent £50m on Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Picture: Getty)Lennon stressed that Arsenal and Celtic were still some way from reaching an agreement for Tierney with less than a month remaining of the transfer window.‘The club’s valuation of Kieran has not been met and until then we don’t have a discussion to make,’ he said.Asked whether he expects Celtic to receive a third offer for Tierney, Lennon replied: ‘I don’t know what Arsenal’s financial state is.‘I know what ours is and we are quite comfortable with the situation at the moment.‘There has been a second bid, the bid has been rejected and it’s as you were.’ Manchester United spent £50m on Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Picture: Getty)Former Arsenal and Celtic star Charlie Nicholas believes Tierney would be a welcome addition to Unai Emery’s squad.‘I thought Kieran Tierney would want to stay at Celtic,’ Nicholas told Sky Sports.‘He’s a die-hard Celtic fan, they’ve got eight in a row wrapped up, they want to go and do nine, and I thought if Kieran really wanted it, if he does nine then he’ll want to do 10 and get in the history books.‘But the stories I’m hearing here in Glasgow is that he might be keen to move on to the bigger league. That’s really what it’s about, a bigger league‘Will it make him a better player? Probably. There is a question mark about his defensive frailties. But then again, he would be an improvement for Arsenal – there’s no doubt in my mind about that.’More: FootballBruno Fernandes responds to Man Utd bust-up rumours with Ole Gunnar SolskjaerNew Manchester United signing Facundo Pellistri responds to Edinson Cavani praiseArsenal flop Denis Suarez delivers verdict on Thomas Partey and Lucas Torreira movesNicholas added: ‘He’s power. He’s got a lot of power. The greatest Celtic full-back I ever came across was Danny McGrain and he’s the closest we’ve ever had to him.‘Danny could play right-back and left-back, but Kieran is just one-footed, his left foot. He’s got real power, real pace going forward.‘And of course in Glasgow, in Scotland, in the SPFL, that’s domination. His final ball could be a bit better, but I think it has improved.’MORE: Atletico Madrid enter the race to sign Tottenham playmaker Christian Eriksen Comment Metro Sport ReporterTuesday 16 Jul 2019 2:35 pmShare this article via facebookShare this article via twitterShare this article via messengerShare this with Share this article via emailShare this article via flipboardCopy link846Shares
Tell Us What You Think About Hoverboards, Ferries, the Environment, Accessibility…
Facebook2Tweet0Pin0Submitted by Thurston Regional Planning Council Thurston Regional Planning Council is updating the What Moves You Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). The RTP considers what our community’s transportation needs may be over the next 25 years and how to prepare to meet them.Please take a short survey – just 13 questions in 5 minutes – and tell us your views on passenger ferries, autonomous vehicles, hover boards, and toll lanes. How important are these to you? And what kind of impact will they have on how you travel in the next 25 years? Do you think drone deliveries will positively or negatively impact you? How important is maintaining our existing infrastructure, improving intersections, and adding bicycle and pedestrian facilities? Every member of your family can take this easy, online survey – a great way to engage your kids about the world they want to live in. TRPC’s website has interesting information about the Plan and factoids about what we might face between now and 2045 with a growing population, new technologies, and changes to our environment. Visit www.trpc.org/rtp to learn more about the Plan and to take the survey.you’d like this survey translated into a language other than English, please let us know.