text:
Innocent Spouse Relief
You Are NOT Responsible for the Misdeeds of Your Spouse… If You Know What Steps to Take.
You're in luck! The IRS has provisions for an "Innocent Spouse".
"Innocent Spouse Relief provides you relief from additional tax you owe if your spouse or former spouse failed to report income, reported income improperly or claimed improper deductions or credits." – IRS Topic 205
Under certain circumstances, you may be resolved of any misdeeds of a spouse or former spouse involving income tax fraud.
Most married couples file their tax returns jointly. There are certainly benefits to this, but if there were certain "errors" or "mistakes" on your joint return and it was your (present or former) spouse's fault, you could be in luck. There are provisions in the Tax code that will let you out of a tax burden that was not your fault. But, it will need to be proven. We can help.
To ensure yourself the best possible outcome, it is best to take action as soon as you realize there is a problem.
We can review your situation and help you determine your options and file for Innocent Spouse Relief when necessary.
Ready to come in for an appointment?
Click here to schedule a time to meet with us. We will NOT make dealing with a tax professional as painful as it's been in the past!


text:
ModemManager care and feeding
Updating modemmanager-next from upstream. ModemManager is an actively-developed project, and we're currently tracking their git master and working with the upstream team on new features. As such, we need to integrate code from upstream with some regularity.
Setup: Have a repo set up as follows:
Check out upstream:
$ git clone git://anongit.freedesktop.org/ModemManager/ModemManager
Add the ChromiumOS repo as a remote:
$ git remote add chromiumos https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/third_party/modemmanager-next.git
This repo can be reused for multiple updates.
Each time you want to update from upstream:
$ git fetch
$ git co origin/master
$ git co -b merge-${DATE} # the branch name is arbitrary, I found this pattern handy
$ git fetch chromiumos
$ git merge chromiumos/main
Resolve any conflicts.
Test that the new source compiles and works. (I generally did this by
moving aside the src/third-party/modemmanager-next directory and
moving this working repository into its place).
Test that dependencies (currently, Shill) compile and work, since
they're sensitive to the MM DBus API.
Push to the chromiumos repo
$ git push chromiumos merge-${DATE}:refs/heads/main

subset: commoncrawl


text:
- Share
Heatwave alters marine hotspot ecosystem
Warmer waters A record-breaking Indian Ocean heatwave off the Western Australian caost has shown how global warming might trigger marine ecosystem change.
Marine ecologist Dr Timothy Langlois, of the University of Western Australia, and colleagues, report their study online ahead of print publication today in the journal Nature Climate Change.
"Using these sorts of data sets we can predict the sorts of things that are going to happen with climate change," says Langlois.
Extreme climatic events, such as heatwaves, are predicted to increase as the globe warms but little is known about their impact on marine ecosystems.
Previous studies have found that heatwaves can have extensive effects on specific species, for example on giant kelps in North America.
But a heatwave off southwest Australia last year has given an insight into how such events can trigger ecosystem-wide changes.
The heatwave occurred in a 2000-kilometre stretch of water that is regarded as a global biodiversity hotspot.
"We've got some of the greatest diversity of seaweeds and seagrasses in the world there and a lot of endemic species of fish that aren't found anywhere else in the world," says Langlois.
Above-average temperatures
In early 2011 the seawater along this coastline experienced the highest temperatures on record - 2 to 4°C above average - for more than 10 weeks.
The warming was due to an influx of tropical warm water southwards, that accompanied an increase in the flow of the region's main Leeuwin ocean current due to an unusually strong La Niña.
When the heatwave hit, Langlois and colleagues had been monitoring the natural variability in species in the hotspot waters, off both Jurien Bay and Hamelin Bay, 500 kilometres to the south.
"The water was murky green in some places we went to. It looked like it was turning into a bit of a soup," says Langlois.
After the heatwave peaked the researchers returned and found changes in Jurien Bay, where temperatures had been highest.
"We were really blown away that the algal assemblages had really changed a lot," says Langlois.
He says a drop in seaweed cover freed up "real estate" for a host of new seabed species and there was a "tropicalisation" of fish communities.
There was a 10 to 15 per cent increase in warm water fish including the lined dottyback (Labricinus lineatus), says Langlois.
Extreme events can result in the breaching of temperature thresholds when it becomes no longer possible for organisms to adapt.
When this happens, the ecosystem can change suddenly and this leads to serious consequences - including the possible decimation of commercially important species.
Previous studies have found some marine communities recover from heat waves rapidly but others don't.
Langlois and colleagues plan to check their study area later this year to see what changes have persisted after temperatures have cooled again.
Commercial fisheries
Interestingly, the researchers did not measure a decline in temperate fish species but, says Langlois, there was evidence that commercial species, not monitored by the researchers, were affected by the heatwave.
He says the fisheries department reported decimation of a commercial abalone population and numerous fish and lobsters being washed up dead along the coast.
Langlois says long term monitoring of marine communities, of the kind he and colleagues have been involved in, is essential in understanding risks faced by commercial species.
"It's possible that such studies can disentangle the effects of climate change or fishing on marine ecosystems," he says.


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So here's how the top Senate Republican is describing his party's latest plan to help Americans.
MITCH MCCONNELL: So we have one foot in the pandemic and one foot in the recovery. The American people need more help. They need it to be comprehensive, and they need it to be carefully tailored to this crossroads.
GREENE: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said his party's new proposal for coronavirus relief adds up to about $1 trillion and includes more direct payments to families, legal protections for businesses, money for schools and much more. Claudia Grisales covers Congress for us in NPR, and she's with us this morning. Hi, Claudia.
CLAUDIA GRISALES, BYLINE: Hi, David.
GREENE: I want to start with one benefit that so many people in the country have been watching so closely. Many who are out of work have been getting this extra $600 every week from the federal government that's expiring at the end of this week. What does this Republican proposal do with that looming expiration?
GRISALES: Well, they want to lower that amount dramatically. They want to see that supplemental payment fall to $200 a week under the plan and stay at that level through September. Then starting in October, they would install an amount that would replace 70% of lost wages. They would do this through a formula created from states who would implement this. But our understanding is that this would be very difficult to execute, a lot of work to get this done.
GREENE: This comes from the argument from some Republicans that they feel like these $600 payments have been a disincentive for some people to actually returned to work because they've been making more money.
GRISALES: Right, exactly. That's been the concern. So they want to bring that down because they feel that some workers aren't going back because of the $600 weekly payment.
GREENE: OK. Take me through what else is in this GOP plan.
GRISALES: So other items in the plan include new legal protections for businesses impacted by the pandemic, and there's more direct payments of $1,200 to Americans. There's also money for schools, more than $100 billion there. And the administration also had some say in this proposal.
There was a surprise provision in there to fund a new headquarter building for the FBI. They appropriated this at about $1.75 billion. But even McConnell reacted with some surprise when he was asked about this during a press conference yesterday, and later he and other Republicans seem less than enthused about the idea. So it's very possible we won't see this go very far in the bill.
GREENE: How different is this bill from the one the Democrats passed in the House back in May?
GRISALES: Very different. At least $2 trillion different because the Senate proposal clocks in at about $1 trillion, and the Democrats plan is at about $3 trillion. And they say their asks have grown since they passed this proposal in the House more than two months ago. They're focused on continuing these extra unemployment payments at their current level of $600 a week. And then there's a lot more funding for schools and state and local governments in the Democrats' proposal.
GREENE: And what's been the initial response from Democrats to this new plan from the Republicans?
GRISALES: They are very unhappy. Democratic leader Chuck Schumer was on the Senate floor yesterday talking about this. Let's take a listen.
CHUCK SCHUMER: In short, the Republican plan is too little, too late. The Republican plan is weak tea when our problems need a much stronger brew.
GRISALES: Schumer and Pelosi said the two parties remain far apart. And Pelosi said she was against a separate bill only extending some of these extra unemployment benefits.
GREENE: Which is - which leaves a lot of people who are out of work wondering what's going to happen with this expiration. I want to ask you, Claudia, before I let you go, some other news. Attorney General Bill Barr testifying before the Democratic-controlled House Judiciary Committee today. I'm sure Democrats have a lot of questions.
GRISALES: A lot of questions, indeed. This is the first time that he appears before this committee and a lot of past issues here. Last time the AG was supposed to testify in front of this panel, it was a no-show situation, and the chairman, Jerry Nadler, was very unhappy with that, so today is kind of a do-over. Democrats say Barr's acted to protect the president and shown preferential treatment for his associates like Michael Flynn and Roger Stone, and they question his independence.
Democrats have also said they want a congressional investigation into the use of federal law enforcement agents and the use of force against protesters in cities like Washington, D.C., and Portland, Ore., so expect those questions to be directed at Barr today. And lastly, this hearing takes place less than 100 days before the next election. Barr has claimed without evidence that a foreign country could counterfeit mail-in ballots, and that will likely be a focus for Democrats. But in the meantime, you can expect these Republicans to deliver a full-throated defense of Barr and his actions.
GREENE: All right. NPR's Claudia Grisales. Thanks so much, Claudia.
GRISALES: Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


text:
15 dA soft answer turns away wrath,
but ea harsh word stirs up anger.
2 The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,
but fthe mouths of fools pour out folly.
3 gThe eyes of the Lord are in every place,
keeping watch on the evil and the good.
4 hA gentle1 tongue is ia tree of life,
but jperverseness in it breaks the spirit.
5 kA fool ldespises his father's instruction,
but mwhoever heeds reproof is prudent.
6 In the house of the righteous there is much treasure,
but trouble befalls the income of the wicked.
7 nThe lips of the wise spread knowledge;
8 oThe sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
but pthe prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.
9 The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
but he loves him qwho pursues righteousness.
10 There is rsevere discipline for him who forsakes the way;
swhoever hates reproof will die.
11 Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the Lord;
how much more tthe hearts of the children of man!
12 uA scoffer vdoes not like to be reproved;
he will not go to the wise.
13 wA glad heart makes a cheerful face,
but by xsorrow of heart the spirit is ycrushed.
14 zThe heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,
but the mouths of fools feed on folly.
15 All the days of the afflicted are evil,
but athe cheerful of heart has a continual feast.
16 bBetter is a little with the fear of the Lord
than great treasure and trouble with it.
17 cBetter is a dinner of herbs where love is
than da fattened ox and hatred with it.
18 eA hot-tempered man fstirs up strife,
but he who is gslow to anger quiets contention.
19 The way of ha sluggard is like a hedge of ithorns,
but the path of the upright is ja level highway.
20 kA wise son makes a glad father,
but a foolish man despises his mother.
21 lFolly is a joy to him who lacks sense,
but a man of understanding mwalks straight ahead.
22 nWithout counsel plans fail,
but with many advisers they succeed.
23 To make an apt answer is a joy to a man,
and oa word in season, how good it is!
24 The path of life leads upward pfor the prudent,
that he may turn away from Sheol beneath.
25 The Lord tears down the house of qthe proud
but rmaintains sthe widow's boundaries.
26 tThe thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord,
but ugracious words are pure.
27 Whoever is vgreedy for unjust gain wtroubles his own household,
but he who hates xbribes will live.
28 The heart of the righteous yponders how to answer,
but zthe mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.
29 The Lord is afar from the wicked,
but he bhears the prayer of the righteous.
30 cThe light of the eyes rejoices the heart,
and dgood news refreshes3 the bones.
31 eThe ear that listens to flife-giving reproof
will dwell among the wise.
32 Whoever gignores instruction hdespises himself,
but he who listens to reproof igains intelligence.
33 jThe fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom,
and khumility comes before honor.
16 The plans of the heart belong to man,
but lthe answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
2 mAll the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
but the Lord nweighs the spirit.1
3 oCommit your work to the Lord,
and your plans will be established.
4 pThe Lord has made everything for its purpose,
even qthe wicked for the day of trouble.
5 Everyone who is arrogant in heart is ran abomination to the Lord;
sbe assured, he will not go unpunished.
6 By tsteadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by uthe fear of the Lord one vturns away from evil.
7 When a man's ways please the Lord,
whe makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
8 xBetter is a little with righteousness
than great revenues with injustice.
9 yThe heart of man plans his way,
but zthe Lord establishes his steps.
10 aAn oracle is on the lips of a king;
his mouth does not sin in judgment.
11 bA just balance and scales are the Lord's;
all the weights in the bag are his work.
12 It is an abomination to kings to do evil,
for cthe throne is established by righteousness.
13 dRighteous lips are the delight of a king,
and he loves him who speaks what is right.
14 eA king's wrath is a messenger of death,
and a wise man will fappease it.
15 gIn the light of a king's face there is life,
and his dfavor is like hthe clouds that bring the spring rain.
16 iHow much better to get wisdom than jgold!
To get understanding is to be chosen rather than ksilver.
17 The highway of the upright lturns aside from evil;
whoever guards his way preserves his life.
18 mPride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.
19 nIt is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor
than to odivide the spoil with the proud.
20 Whoever gives thought to the word2 pwill discover good,
and blessed is he qwho trusts in the Lord.
21 The wise of heart is called discerning,
and sweetness of speech rincreases persuasiveness.
22 Good sense is sa fountain of life to him who has it,
but the instruction of fools is folly.
23 tThe heart of the wise makes his speech judicious
and adds persuasiveness to his lips.
24 uGracious words are like va honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and whealth to the body.
25 There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.3
26 A worker's appetite works for him;
his xmouth urges him on.
27 yA worthless man plots evil,
and his speech4 is like za scorching fire.
28 aA dishonest man spreads strife,
and ba whisperer cseparates close friends.
29 A man of violence dentices his neighbor
and leads him in a way that is not good.
30 Whoever winks his eyes plans5 edishonest things;
he who fpurses his lips brings evil to pass.
31 gGray hair is ha crown of glory;
it iis gained in a righteous life.
32 jWhoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
33 kThe lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is lfrom the Lord.
17 mBetter is a dry morsel with quiet
than a house full of feasting1 with strife.
2 A servant who deals wisely will rule over na son who acts shamefully
and owill share the inheritance as one of the brothers.
3 pThe crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
qand the Lord tests hearts.
4 An evildoer listens to wicked lips,
and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.
5 Whoever mocks the poor rinsults his Maker;
he who is sglad at calamity will not go tunpunished.
6 uGrandchildren are vthe crown of the aged,
and the glory of children is their fathers.
7 Fine speech is not wbecoming to a fool;
still less is xfalse speech to a prince.
8 yA bribe is like a magic2 stone in the eyes of the one who gives it;
wherever he turns he prospers.
9 Whoever zcovers an offense seeks love,
but he who repeats a matter aseparates close friends.
10 A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding
than a hundred blows into a fool.
11 An evil man seeks only rebellion,
and ba cruel messenger will be sent against him.
12 Let a man meet ca she-bear robbed of her cubs
drather than a fool in his folly.
13 If anyone ereturns evil for good,
fevil will not depart from his house.
14 The beginning of strife is like letting out water,
so gquit before the quarrel breaks out.
15 He who hjustifies the wicked and he who icondemns the righteous
are both alike an abomination to the Lord.
16 Why should a fool have money in his hand jto buy wisdom
when he has no sense?
17 kA friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity.
18 One who lacks sense gives a pledge
and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor.
19 Whoever loves transgression loves strife;
he who lmakes his door high seeks destruction.
20 mA man of crooked heart does not discover good,
and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity.
21 He who nsires a fool gets himself sorrow,
and the father of a fool has no joy.
22 oA joyful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit pdries up the bones.
23 The wicked accepts qa bribe in secret3
to rpervert the ways of justice.
24 sThe discerning sets his face toward wisdom,
but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.
25 nA foolish son is a grief to his father
tand bitterness to uher who bore him.
26 vTo impose a fine on a righteous man is not good,
nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.
27 Whoever wrestrains his words has knowledge,
and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.
28 Even a fool xwho keeps silent is considered wise;
when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.
18 Whoever yisolates himself seeks his own desire;
he breaks out against all sound judgment.
2 A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
but only zin expressing his opinion.
3 When wickedness comes, contempt comes also,
and with dishonor comes disgrace.
4 The words of a man's mouth are adeep waters;
the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.
5 It is not good to bbe partial to1 the wicked
or to cdeprive the righteous of justice.
6 A fool's lips walk into a fight,
and his mouth invites da beating.
7 eA fool's mouth is his ruin,
and his lips are a snare to his soul.
8 fThe words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;
they go down into gthe inner parts of the body.
9 Whoever is slack in his work
is a hbrother to him who destroys.
10 iThe name of the Lord is ja strong tower;
the righteous man runs into it and kis safe.
11 lA rich man's wealth is his strong city,
and like a high wall in his imagination.
12 mBefore destruction a man's heart is haughty,
but nhumility comes before honor.
13 If one gives an answer obefore he hears,
it is his folly and shame.
14 A man's spirit will endure sickness,
but pa crushed spirit who can bear?
15 An intelligent heart acquires knowledge,
and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
16 A man's qgift makes room for him
and brings him before the great.
17 The one who states his case first seems right,
until the other comes and examines him.
18 rThe lot puts an end to quarrels
and decides between powerful contenders.
19 A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city,
and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.
20 sFrom the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach is satisfied;
he is satisfied by the yield of his lips.
21 tDeath and life are in the power of the tongue,
and those who love it will eat its fruits.
22 He who finds ua wife finds va good thing
and wobtains favor xfrom the Lord.
23 The poor use entreaties,
but ythe rich answer roughly.
24 A man of many companions may come to ruin,
but zthere is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
19 aBetter is a poor person who bwalks in his integrity
than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.
2 Desire1 without knowledge is not good,
and whoever cmakes haste with his feet misses his way.
3 When a man's folly dbrings his way to ruin,
his heart erages against the Lord.
4 fWealth brings many new friends,
fbut a poor man is deserted by his friend.
5 gA false witness will not go unpunished,
and he who hbreathes out lies will not escape.
6 Many seek the favor of a generous man,2
and everyone is a friend to a man who gives igifts.
7 jAll a poor man's brothers hate him;
khow much more do his friends go far from him!
He pursues them with words, but does not have them.3
8 lWhoever gets sense loves his own soul;
he who keeps understanding will mdiscover good.
9 gA false witness will not go unpunished,
and he who hbreathes out lies will perish.
10 nIt is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury,
much less for oa slave to rule over princes.
11 pGood sense makes one slow to anger,
and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
12 A king's wrath is like qthe growling of a lion,
but his rfavor is like sdew on the grass.
13 tA foolish son is ruin to his father,
and ua wife's quarreling is va continual dripping of rain.
14 wHouse and wealth are inherited from fathers,
but a prudent wife is xfrom the Lord.
15 ySlothfulness casts into za deep sleep,
and aan idle person will suffer hunger.
16 Whoever bkeeps the commandment keeps his life;
he who despises his ways will die.
17 cWhoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord,
and he dwill repay him for his edeed.
18 fDiscipline your son, for there is hope;
do not set your heart on gputting him to death.
19 A man of great wrath will pay the penalty,
for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again.
20 Listen to advice and accept instruction,
that you may gain wisdom in hthe future.
21 iMany are the plans in the mind of a man,
but jit is the purpose of the Lord kthat will stand.
22 What is desired in a man is steadfast love,
and a poor man is better than a liar.
23 The fear of the Lord lleads to life,
and whoever has it rests msatisfied;
he will nnot be visited by harm.
24 oThe sluggard buries his hand in pthe dish
and will not even bring it back to his mouth.
25 qStrike ra scoffer, and the simple will slearn prudence;
treprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge.
26 He who does violence to his father and chases away his mother
is ua son who brings shame and reproach.
27 Cease to hear instruction, my son,
vand you will stray from the words of knowledge.
28 A worthless witness mocks at justice,
and the mouth of the wicked wdevours iniquity.
29 Condemnation is ready for rscoffers,
and xbeating for the backs of fools.


text:
It is almost impossible to avoid writing work that can be read as racist. If you're writing about people, you're writing about identity, and a huge part of identity is race.
We are all seen through the lens of race. We all see through the lens of race.1 Whether we're conscious of it or not. If you're a writer you really need to be conscious of it. Because if you don't think you are writing about race, you can wind up writing things visible to your readers that are not visible to you.
Often that is a not good thing.
When our work is accused of racism we writers tend to curl up into foetal position and get defensive: I AM NOT RACIST. I AM A GOOD PERSON. HOW CAN THEY SAY THAT?
First of all—no matter what the actual wording—it's our work that's being called racist, not us. The reviewer does not know us—only what we have written.
Secondly, we live in a racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, classist etc. world. The odds of none of that leaking in to our work is zero. No matter how good our intentions. Besides intentions don't count for much. If it's not there on the page how is any reader supposed to guess what was in your head? On the other hand, there is no way you can completely bulletproof your work against criticism. Nor should you want to. Criticism will make you a better writer.
Thirdly, it's not about us. It's about the reader/reviewer's life and experiences, about what they bring to the text in order to make meaning. This is how we all read and this is why we all have such different views of the same texts. It's why I think Moby Dick is the worst, most boring piece of crap I've ever endured and why many people, even some whose views I respect,2 think it is a work of genius.
We writers have to accept that despite due diligence, despite how careful we are, readers' responses to our work are exactly that: their responses. They will not always read our carefully crafted, thoughtful words the way we want them to. Sometimes they will find meanings in our work we did not intend them to find.
What follows is a discussion of how I have dealt with having my last solo novel, Liar, criticised for racism and transphobia. If you have not read Liar there are spoilers, though I have kept them to a minimum. But here's a cut anyway:
Racism and Liar
Liar was largely well-reviewed and won a bunch of awards, including one I'm extremely proud of,3 the Carl Brandon Kindred Award, which is given to a book "dealing with issues of race and ethnicity."
It meant a lot to me because throughout my career, in every novel, every story, I have consciously written about identity and race. I spend a lot of time reading and thinking and listening and writing and talking about race and racism.4 Those conversations, that reading, shaped Liar. Here was an award from a wonderful organisation recognising my hard work. And bonus: it was named for a novel by one of my favourite writers, Octavia Butler: Kindred.5
However, even if you are consciously writing about racism, in order to show how bad and wrong it is, your work can be read in ways you did not intend. This is especially likely if you are unfamiliar with the history of the people you are writing about, or the history of representation of that people.
Take a look at the outcry around Victoria Foyt's Saving the Pearls. From reading the first chapter and looking at the promotional video I feel fairly confident in saying the author knows little about the history of blackface, or racial role reversal stories, or, indeed, of writing about race, racism and identity. Her intentions may well be good but she managed to step into every conceivable offensive stereotype. If you are unfamiliar with those stereotypes deploying them is almost inevitable.
Then again you can be familiar with those histories and debates and still stuff things up.
I was fairly certain when I wrote Liar that I had not stuffed things up. The book was vetted by many smart, knowledgeable writers, black and white, who I trusted to point out said stuff ups. For instance, we had long discussions about whether Micah would use the word "nappy" to describe her hair and if it was okay for me as a white writer to deploy the word. We agreed it was absolutely the word Micah would use.
It's a word that many black people have come to embrace, which is why there are salons like Oh My Nappy Hair. However, just as many hate the word. It has a long history of being used as a negative, derogatory descriptor of black hair. Just think of what Don Imus said. It is particularly problematic when used by a white person.6 So while Micah is black, I'm not. I kept taking the word out and putting it back in right up to publication.
I'm proud of what I achieved and Liar is a book that has been important to many people. More than any of my other books people—of colour and white—have written to thank me for writing it, thanked me for representing them in ways they had never been represented before. Being thanked like that is extraordinarily heartening. It makes me feel like what I do is worthwhile.
But Liar also hurt people. If I take credit for the people for whom it worked then I also have to take blame for the people it harmed.
They, mostly, do not write to tell me so. I know about it because I have found, or others have pointed me to, blog posts about my book, which talk about Liar's racism. These are reviewers who know nothing about me or my politics, who have not read my blog where they would find that I write often about racism, that I think about it. They've picked up my book randomly with no context for me—other than my author photo—or the kind of books I write, and found it racist.
But, you know what, that's how most people read books. Hell, that's how I read books too. I rarely have any idea about the politics or ethics of the author. Not unless I've met them or have been reading them for years and read their blog, essays, interviews. But a brand new book I picked up? Not so much.
Books have to be able to stand on their own. I am a white woman who wrote a book about a black teenage girl who is a liar. There are a whole set of obvious assumptions about the book that stem from that fact. Assumptions that I was conscious of while writing the book and that I worked hard to counteract.
But for some readers I failed.
As we predicted my use of the word "nappy" was criticised. But not nearly as often as I thought it would be. Even so when I see people saying that the word hurt them I wish I hadn't used it. Even though I still believe that it is absolutely the word that Micah would use.
Sapphires, Jezebels and the Tragic Mulatto
Some people were enraged by the cover image with the word LIAR emblazoned across a black woman. That's one of the many reasons I did not want a representational cover for the book. In fact, that was the main criticism the book faced. Liar has an unreliable, lying, sexually active, possible-murderer protagonist who is a black woman. Here we go again. Why is it always black women who are liars? Who are violent, angry, and highly sexualised? Why are they always Jezebels or Sapphires?
Those are question I thought about a lot while writing the book. That's one of the reasons all the main teenage characters are of colour. The murdered boy, Zach, is Hispanic. His best friend, Tayshawn, is African-American. So is Zach's girlfriend, Sarah.
I also made sure Micah, Liar's protagonist, was not highly sexualised. When the book starts she's (maybe) had sex with one person: Zach. Sex is important to the story, but I was very careful to make Micah no more sexualised than most teenage girls. She thinks about sex. She's attracted to some people. She's also way less sexually active than the two main male characters, Zach and Tayshawn. If anyone is slutty in my book it's Zach, not Micah.7
I ran into the problem that the bar for being considered sexualised is way lower for a woman than for a man. And even lower for a black woman.
There is also the running metaphor about Micah and her family being an animal/beast. Again this has a long horrible history in depictions of black men and women. Which is why I made it something that comes from the white members of Micah's family and why I made her mixed race. The other members of her family who identify with animals are her white grandparents and cousins and uncles and aunts. Not her black father. There is in particular one white character, not a relative, who also identifies with animals in the same way that Micah does. I wanted to be very clear that this animality is not because Micah is black.
I also wanted to make it clear that part of her understanding of her sexual drive comes from her identification with those animals and how she imagines their sex drive to be. Again it's not because she's black.
But despite the fact that I did what I could to address those criticisms there were still those who read Micah as a racist caricature in a direct line of descent from the Jezebels and Sapphires.
There have also been a few readers who were struck by Sarah, the official girlfriend, being lighter-skinned than Micah the unofficial girlfriend. Except Sarah isn't lighter-skinned than Micah. I worked hard to make it clear that Sarah is darker skinned than Micah for precisely the reasons those readers outline. I absolutely was not going to feed into the noxious notion that the darker your skin the more animal you are; the lighter your skin the more virtuous you are.
But they did not read the book that way despite my efforts.
When I first saw that criticism I was inclined to roll my eyes and complain about their crap reading skills. But is it their fault?
In Liar I was writing against centuries of racist misrepresentations of sexually-active, strong black women. We've been taught to read those women as having darker skin than the good girls. To value them less than the light-skinned girls.
To turn that on its head I had to be very, very careful and very, very clear. I went far enough for some readers but not for all. I'm the one who needs to do better. When you're working on toxic ground created by centuries of racism you have to be very, very careful.
I believe it's incredibly important to write against these stereotypes. If we give in and make sure that all black women characters are asexual, gentle, and kind we wind up with another set of stereotypes. Plus why can't women of colour have as wide a range of representations as white men? No one looks at a book about a white man who's an habitual liar and assumes that it's a comment on all white men. I've never heard anyone complain that, say, Patricia Highsmith's Ripley is an indictment of all white men and clearly means they're all psychopathic liars.8 White men never have to stand for their entire community.9
Then there's the myth of the tragic mulatto, the mixed race woman who can pass as white, who is torn between two worlds, who is constantly victimised and has almost no agency, and always dies at the end of the story. She has to give up her black family and identify solely as white, though because she is not white, she can never truly succeed: and that is her tragedy.
This myth is entirely the creation of white writers. We white writers have been unhealthily obsessed with the tragedy of passing for centuries.
Any white person writing a character who passes white, really needs to think long and hard. They need to know everything they can about the myth of the tragic mulatto. They need to immerse themselves in black writing about identity. Funnily enough in novels by black writers where passing is part of the narrative the character who passes does not always have to give up all connections to black communities and family and they don't always have a tragic end.10 For a fabulous YA example read Sherri L. Smith's Flygirl where the woman passing does so, not because she really wishes she was white, but for practical reasons: she wants to fly. Passing is the only way she can. She does not leave her family behind. Seriously, read Flygirl, it's wonderful.
I was very determined that Micah not line up with the tragic mulatto. Micah's father has a black father and a white mother, but he identifies as black largely out of a desire to have as little to do with his crazy white family as possible. Micah's mother identifies as white though there are hints that she may not be entirely. She is estranged from her family.11
Micah is relatively light-skinned, but unlike the tragic mulatto she cannot and would not pass as white. She identifies as black, not mixed race, or biracial. (This identification, like her father's, is partly fuelled by her rejection of her extended white family's illness and animal identification.) She is not torn between the world of whiteness and the world of blackness. She does not long to be white. She is not a passive victim. Spoiler: She does not die at the end of the book.
Yet some have read her that way despite all those lengths I went to in order to prevent that reading. Clearly, I need to go further and write clearer and better.12
It's Much Harder for Black Writers
I'd like to point out that my black writer friends cop way more criticism for all of this than I do.13 They are constantly being asked why their books can't be more uplifting. Why do they have to depict the negative aspects of black life? Why can't the girls they write about be good girls? And the boys dutiful, law-abiding, and church going? Why do these black writers hate their race?
No one has ever asked me why I've written white characters who are not perfect: who lie and steal and murder. I've never once been asked why I hate my race.
No one reads Moby Dick and wonders why all white men are obsessed with killing whales.14
This is why it's such a huge problem that there are a million more books about white people than about black and brown people published in the USA and Australia.15 It means every single character of colour bears the weight of representing their entire race. If there were more representations, more variety in those representations, and if there were way more books by people of colour, it would be way less of a big deal.16 This also applies to movies and television and pretty much all art, ever.
If we lived in that world Micah would not be read as standing for all black girl teens. She'd just be Micah.
One set of criticism of Liar that I did not anticipate and therefore did nothing to address was that Liar depicts a trans character who is a liar, mentally unstable, and identifies with animals and that therefore Liar is transphobic. There is a long history of trans characters being depicted as psycho killers. A famous example is Gore Vidal's Myra Breckinridge.
This reading concludes that Micah is a trans character because early on in the book she pretends to be a boy. She does this because she is mistaken for a boy and thinks why not go with it?17 Within two days she's found out and she only lasts that long because she stays out of most people's way. After she's found to be a girl—again because she's not good at passing—she claims to be an hermaphrodite.
I intended both lies to be opportunist, plucked-from-the-air lies. As is her next lie that her father is an arms dealer. Micah gets more pleasure from people believing fantastical lies than from relatively easy lies.
She also makes this claim very early on in the novel:
I'm undecided, stuck somewhere in between, same way I am with everything: half black half white; half girl half boy; coasting on half a scholarship.
I'm half of everything.
This is the main passage that gets quoted by people who read Micah as trans.
Here's what I intended with that passage: I meant it to be read as Micah being self-aggrandising and overly dramatic. Very much part of the m.o. of an habitual liar.
She start with the claim of being "half black half white" then moves to "half girl half boy." Those are large claims in terms of identity: our race and our gender are two of the fundamentals. But where does she go next? To class? Ethnicity? Sexuality? Religion?
No, to the fact that she doesn't have a full scholarship. Which is not only not the same kind of claim. It undoes the drama of the previous claims. It's as if she were to say, "I'm strong! I'm smart! I collect tiny tea cups with lizards painted on them!" One of these is not like the others. It was meant to be wryly funny. I am aware that very few people got that joke. I failed.
A friend, who was a scholarship kid, read Micah's claim as being very matter of fact. As shorthand for saying she was halfway between the rich kids and the poor kids. Which is a very big claim about identity, specifically about class.
I'm embarrassed I didn't see either of those alternative readings.
I did not intend to write Micah as someone who feels like a boy trapped in a girl's body. Micah strongly identifies as a girl, just one who is not especially good at fitting the various stereotypes of femininity. And, yes, that is something I took from my own life. When I was a teenager I felt the same way.18 I was also once mistaken for a boy. Micah, like I was, is amused that anyone would think she was a boy. She thinks it's fun to run with it to see how long she can get away with the trick. She gets away with it longer than I did. I was busted as soon as I said something.
Notice, of course, that I'm talking about what I intended. Readers are not privy to my intentions. They're not mindreaders. They're coming to my work with their own life experiences.
As someone who is not trans, and has known very few trans people in my life, and none of them particularly well, it did not cross my mind that anyone would read Micah as trans. My cisgendered privilege made me completely unable to see that reading of my novel until it was pointed out. I could see only what I intended.
Were I to write Liar now I would write that part of it differently. Not because I want to lock in one true reading of the book—that's not possible or desirable—but because clarity is always worth striving for.
A singular reading is not desirable because art exists only in the interaction between the text—whether that text is a poem, a book, a graphic novel, a song, a sculpture, a painting, a movie, or whatever—and the reader. If everyone responded to our work in exactly the same way we would be living in a blasted cultural hellscape of total boredom.
Those readings of Liar and the anger and hurt expressed has made me find out more about trans politics.
I was familiar with some of the absurd arguments around whether transwomen can be part of feminism or not given that some feminists argued they were not "real" women and thus could not understand patriarchal oppression because once they were patriarchal oppressors. Pro tip: any argument that employs the word "real" to qualify identity is always going to be a rubbish argument, whether they're trying to define who's a real woman/man/black/white/Star Trek fan/gamer or whatever. But I knew little beyond that.
Three years ago, when Liar was published, I was unfamiliar with the term "cisgender." When I was at university the term used was "gender normative" and, from what I can tell, it did not have the range or nuance of "cisgender." I still feel awkward using it because it's still a new term for me.
I have been reading and talking about feminist and sexual and racial politics for decades now. I feel confident about writing across that terrain though I am, of course, still stuffing up, still learning. I do not have anywhere near that level of knowledge or comprehension when it comes to trans politics.
I will be reading and listening for a long time to come.
In Conclusion
For those of you have not thought much about any of these questions, I hope laying out these examples, showing you my thinking in writing them, and the critiques that have been made, give you a sense of what is at stake and why it matters. Why you should be thinking and reading about identity and politics.
No matter how thoughtful you are about race, gender, sexuality, class etc. etc. there will always be readers who will read your work in exactly the ways you were working hard to avoid. If you write racist characters their actions and words will be read by some as proof of you-the-writer's racism.
But that's good. It keeps us writers awake to just how hard our job is, just how much work has to be done to change the world we live in to make those readings impossible.
We cannot use "it's too hard", "I'll be criticised" as an excuse not to write ambitious books, not to write thoughtfully about thorny issues of identity. Doing so is our job. Yes, even when writing comedy. Yes, even when writing a book with only white people in it. White is a race. White has a history. So does white supremacy. There is, in fact, a whole field of study: "whiteness studies" that you should have a look at. Toni Morrison's collection of essays, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination is a great place to start.
Always do your research. Here's a page of links to useful posts on writing about race. If you're writing about black people, even if you are black, read black writers. As Chauncey de Vega puts it:
Please people, I am begging you, stop mentioning that damn essay [Peggy McIntosh's "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack of White Privilege"]: deferring to white people's expertise when talking about racism is itself an act of white privilege and white supremacy. Start with Du Bois, and other people of color before you become giddy with the "discovery" of white privilege. Black and brown folks were doing it better, first, and many years before the Invisible Knapsack of Privilege first circulated on these Internets.
On the other hand, it's also good to know our limits. I will not be writing a trans character any time soon because I simply do not know enough. As I said I'm very early in the research phase and I'd love to get more recommendations for good books by trans people.
None of this is easy. We all get it wrong. I hope my examination of Liar above shows you just how hard it is. But I hope, too, you can see how worthwhile it is. And how getting defensive and putting your head in the sand helps no one least of all the writer that you aspire to become.
For me that is the joy of what I do: striving always to be a better writer.19
TL;DR: When writing about identity you will stuff up about race/gender/class/sexuality/etc etc. Do not let that stop you doing due diligence. Write the best you can, as thoughtfully and well-researched as you can. Be ambitious. Learn from your mistakes. Listen to criticism. Keep writing.
- Yes, even if you think you don't see a person's race. [↩]
- Hello, Megan! [↩]
- Which is not to say I wasn't proud of the other awards. I was and am! [↩]
- I touch on why I have so doggedly wrestled with issues around race and racism in these posts. [↩]
- If you haven't read Kindred or any other books by Butler, DO SO. Genius. [↩]
- Though it is by no mean only white people who get called out for using the word. Look at the controversy over Carolivia Herron's book, Nappy Hair. [↩]
- I kind of wanted to hug the readers who commented on that. [↩]
- Co-incidentally—or not, really—Highsmith was a big influence on Liar. [↩]
- Yes, there are many more than one white community. But, guess what? There are loads of different black communities too. [↩]
- In Nella Larsen's Passing for instance the character passing has a double who does not pass, which cuts across the grain of the familiar white version of the story. [↩]
- Putting it like that I suddenly realise that perhaps Micah's mother qualifies as a tragic mulatto. Crap. [↩]
- That sentence DOES NOT break grammar rules. And even if it does I did it ON PURPOSE. #stupidpedants [↩]
- And to make it doubly unfair, white writers like me also tend to get more praise for writing black characters than they do. [↩]
- Or with writing overly long really boring books about men who are obsessed with whales. With white whales no less. [↩]
- The two countries I know the most about. [↩]
- Notice the "of" there in "it would be way less of a big deal"? That's a USian extraneous "of" what we Australians don't use. See? I am a USian-Australian! Bilingual, me. [↩]
- It was also a sly reference to Scott's Leviathan books, which he was writing at the same, where Derryn is passing as a boy in order to serve in the armed forces. Having grown up on books like Georgette Heyer's The Masqueraders, I have always wanted to write the classic girl-pretending-to-be-a-boy-in-order-to-do-something-cool novel. So far Liar's as close as I've gotten. [↩]
- Sometimes I still feel that way. [↩]
- Thank you, Doselle Young, for your notes on this post and for the conversation over the years that led to it. You are the best. [↩]


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The Dallas Morning News
Toyota plans to discontinue production of electric versions of the RAV4 compact crossover, called the RAV4-EV. The Japanese automaker did not say why it decided to no longer pursue the EV project.
But the company has expressed concerns in the past about battery-powered electric vehicles, TheDetroitBureau.com noted.
Toyota has been far more successful with hybrid vehicles – those powered by gas engines and electric motors – than with pure electrics.
In addition, the decision to end RAV4-EV production may raise questions about Toyota's relationship with California electric-car manufacturer Tesla, TheDetroitBureau said.
Tesla provided the batteries and drivetrain for the RAV4. Moreover, Telsa plans to offer its own electric-powered SUV next year.
Toyota, meanwhile, is preparing to launch a new hydrogen-powered vehicle.
"Our contract called for Tesla to supply approximately 2,500 battery-electric powertrains for the RAV4-EV," said John Hanson, national manager of advanced technology communications. "We anticipate that volume will be achieved this year."
Hanson said the relationship between Toyota and Tesla remains good and that Toyota "will evaluate the feasibility of working together on future projects."
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Permalink: https://goo.gl/h7QGzm
In this two-day course, we'll get you up to speed on the incredible array of services and applications that Google provides to teachers and students for free. If you have Chromebooks in your classroom, this workshop will open your eyes to the possibilities and realities of a paperless classroom, as well as having a place to showcase student work, collaborate with experts in the outside world, and managing your limited time in a more effective way.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the course, participants will:
- Create a Google Site to provide information to students and parents, highlight classroom activities, and showcase exceptional student work.
- Create a collaborative Google Slides presentation, and publish it to their Google Site.
- Be able to effectively use Google Classroom for assigning and collecting student work digitally.
- Create a lesson plan utilizing additional Chromebook apps where students will create a project, demonstrating strategic and/or extended thinking.
Day 1:
- Welcome and Introductions
- Get Signed into my Google Classroom – Access Google Classroom here
- Google Apps Scavenger Hunt
- You may want to review the Google for Eduction Blog later on
- Google Cast for Education in YOUR Classroom
- Mastering Gmail and Google Search
- Have a lot of "Bacon?" Try Unroll.me
- What Else Besides Gmail? Rundown of:
- Google Calendar, would this be helpful (YouCanScheduleMe)?
- Google Keep – Chrome Extension, iOS and Android apps
- Google Jamboard from URSA Conference
- Google Sites
- Task: Create an About Me Teacher Google Site
- Take Your Pulse – Google Docs Experience Level
- Google Drive Basics
- AirServer app to view iOS/Android devices on your teacher computer
- Sharing & Collaboration in Drive
- Task: Create a Google Slides Presentation, focusing on highlighting the 5 best things they've learned today
- You may want to try SlidesCarnival.com
Day 2:
- Cool Detours
- Google Sheets in Depth
- Google Hangouts and YouTube Live Streaming. Hangouts is changing (slowly) to Google Meet (Hangouts is more for consumers, Meet is more for business-type meetings). Don't have your own YouTube Channel? Here's how to set it up. You can also take a look at Jing and SnagIt. Don't forget about Utah's Online Library with educational videos in eMedia!
- Anyone interested in storytelling with 360˚ photos? Learn more about Google Street View (app downloads on upper right of new window) and StorySpheres.
- Google Classroom Overview
- Quizzes in Classroom with Forms
- Share to Classroom Chrome extension – one more reason to use Classroom!
- Task: Create a class in Google Classroom, including class rules/expectations, syllabus, links to frequently used websites and creating a class discussion topic and assignment. Invite teachers from class to participate as students in their classes and turn in assignments. Use Screencastify or Screencast-O-Matic to record a tour of your Classroom.
- Google Docs: Media Research Assignment
- Optional Task: Create your own themed Google Docs Research Assignment
- Useful Chrome Extensions
- Creative Chrome Apps for Depth of Knowledge Levels
- Task: Create a lesson plan using a creative Chrome App or any other G Suite tool that we have learned about in our class. Please include in your plan a student-created project or activity, aligned to a core area of yours, aimed at DOK level 3 or 4. You can submit a Google Doc, a video, or any artifact that illustrates and demonstrates to me how you will use these tools with your students in your classroom.


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During an eye exam, Dr. Babak Kamkar will ask you questions about any symptoms or issues you are experiencing, medications you are currently taking, any blurry vision, your work environment, and your overall health. Family history and previous eye or vision conditions will also be discussed during this part of the examination. Dr. Kamkar will consider this information when determining any treatments or recommendations.
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"When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? (7) The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. (8) Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk."[1] [John 5:6-8]
This story is read on the 4th Sunday of Pascha.
Christianity is to make one whole. Baptism is for all men, not just for one man, at one time in the season.
And the man said to Christ, when Christ said, "wilt thou be made whole?" he said, 'I have nobody to help me." And he was looking at the Man who would help him; he was looking at the God-man who would help him, and he didn't know who He was yet.
Christ asks us this question continually. "Wilt thou be made whole?" And for the most part we answer him with a resounding "No." To some extent we've answered "yes"; we've come to the waters of baptism, we make an effort to fast, to come to the services - sometimes, unfortunately, a very poor effort to come to the services and I must mention that again. Don't lose your zeal; some of you are in very great danger of losing your zeal.
We make our small efforts, so yes indeed we say, to some extent,
"Yes, I want to be made whole, O Lord!"
But for the most part we say,
"No, I don't want to give up what I'm doing; I don't want to give up the sweetness of sin, or the sweetness of complaining, or the sweetness of excuses."
They're so sweet, aren't they? But they cover up bitter, bitter poison. So we must answer this question completely and totally,
"Yes, I want to be made whole!
"I want to be cleansed of all my sins, and I don't blame Thee, the Lord, or my friends, or my family, or anyone else for my sins and for my afflictions; they are mine and mine alone, and they are my fault. But Thou canst heal it; Thou art the man that can bring me into the water and can refresh me."
He is the One. We don't fully recognize that, either - oh, we believe it with our minds, with our lips, but if we really believed it we'd make much greater effort in living the Christian life.
And another thing jumps out, when Christ said:
"Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more."
Christianity is a constant process of becoming whole, but it involved two free wills - God's, who is perfectly free, and ours, which should be free but has become enslaved to passions and lusts and corruptible things. But we were made to be free. It was our purpose. God made us to have perfect freedom. You know the Gospel of John where it says: "he will go in and out and find pasture"? The sheep, being able to go in and out, go wherever they wish, perfect freedom, but freedom in godliness, freedom in purity, freedom in perfection.
This is the purpose of our life - perfect freedom!
So we have to answer Christ, when He asks us the question "wilt thou be made whole?", "Yes!" And any portion which answers "no" we must confess with bitter tears.
Stop making excuses for yourself. Don't make excuses for not being able to say your prayers, for not being able to come to church, for not being able to come to confession, for not doing this, for not doing that, for this reason, for that reason, for why you do this and why you do that. You know it's all a lie. I know it is a lie in my own life, so I strive to be honest concerning these things also. It's a lie.
And every time you make an excuse, you are saying "NO." You're saying "I don't want to be made whole. I like laying in the gutter, I like laying in filth. I like wallowing in my sins."
Don't allow yourself to do this. That's why the church has an order. This order is not rules and regulations, it is for our benefit. That's why I must speak of it over and over, and especially during this season, because during this season is the most likely time for a person to fall away. Part of that is because God has given us such great grace on Pascha, and we hardly accepted it; we accepted a few things, we accepted some of the sweet meats, but we didn't accept and take into ourselves the resurrection. We couldn't bear it and so, because of unthankfulness, we're starting to fall away. I don't really know anybody who is honest who doesn't say that this happens to them during the Paschal season. It happens to me, but I struggle against it.
So I beseech you, my brothers and sisters, struggle against this; don't make excuses, don't let your life be in the way of eternal life. Don't let your temporal life impair you, don't make excuses, don't say NO.
excerpt from https://www.orthodox.net//sermons/pascha-sunday-04_1999+the-paralytic.html
Many sermons about the Paralytic are here: https://www.orthodox.net//sermons/index/html#The_Paralytic
Priest Seraphim Holland 2013 St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas
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Our parish is being encouraged to read the Gospel
of John during the Pentecostarion period. If we read 1/2 chapter a day plus the
remainder (about 2 chapters) the day before Ascension, we will finish in forty
This small essay is a prayerful meditation on some part of the "assigned" reading. REMEMBER - read the scripture to apply it to yourself. This is all important. There may be parts you do not understand, but there will always be something that touches your heart if you read it prayerfully.
If you have comments about this verse or another in this selection (John 5:1-15), please add them in the comments, or email them to me.


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Activist Erica Garner has died, after suffering brain damage following a heart attack. She was 27 years old.
Her official Twitter account announced her death Saturday morning.
She entered the public eye in July 2014 when her father, Eric Garner, died after being put in a chokehold by a New York City police officer. Eric Garner was seen on video saying, "I can't breathe" 11 times before he died.
Erica Garner had been in a coma since Dec. 23, when she had an asthma attack that triggered a heart attack, according to the New York Daily News.
"When her son was born in August, she named her newborn after her father," the newspaper reports. "Garner suffered her first heart attack shortly after the delivery, with doctors saying the pregnancy stressed her already enlarged heart."
Erica Garner became a prominent figure calling for an end to police brutality, as her father's last words became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement. She began staging weekly "die-ins" on the sidewalk in front of a beauty supply store in Staten Island, the site where the New York City police officer put her father in the fatal chokehold.
A grand jury did not indict any officers in Eric Garner's death, sparking more protests across the country. The coroner's report lists his death as a homicide, but no officer has ever been charged in the case. In 2015, the city of New York settled with his family for $5.9 million.
In 2016, Erica Garner endorsed Bernie Sanders for president and was the focus of a video ad for the candidate. She told NPR's Rachel Martin that she supported the Vermont senator because of his record of standing with black people.
"He's been, basically, a protester his whole career," she said. "He's not scared to go up against the systematic racism that exists in America today."
In the Sanders video, Garner explained why she became an activist.
"I'm just trying to get the truth out there to tell his side of the story," she said of her late father. "He was being a loving, caring man that he was, and he was murdered. For a whole year, I've protested every Tuesday and Thursday. I feel like a representative for people throughout this whole nation because I'm doing this, I'm speaking out, me being his daughter. And that's what I want to do, I just want to tell my truths."
Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.


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Cash flow is the lifeblood of most businesses. In the ideal world, it circulates smoothly. Customers pay their bills regularly which builds positive cash balances in your books. This cash is the money used to pay your suppliers, employees, and to fund your growth. That in turn, keeps your customers buying and paying.
However, there are many twists and turns with the cash flow process. That is why it is important to know how to utilize it best to keep your business solvent and thriving.
Basics of Cash Flow and Definitions
It is helpful to understand the terms used when accountants, bankers, and business owners talk about the cash flow process.
- Cash flow: Quite simply, this is the way funds move in and out of your company.
- Negative cash flow: This occurs when the cash outflow is greater than that coming in. This typically represents an unsatisfactory situation for any business.
- Positive cash flow: This occurs when cash inflows from sales, accounts receivables, or other sources are greater than cash outflows from salaries, accounts payable, or other expenses. This is a healthy situation for any business.
- Inflow: The movement of funds in to your cash account, usually from sales and accounts receivable.
- Outflow: The movement of funds out of your accounts, usually from payroll, accounts payable, and overhead.
- Cash flow analysis: A process of monitoring expenses and incoming funds to ensure your business has enough cash on hand each month to keep your company operating.
- Profit: At the most basic level, profit equals revenue minus expenses.
- Cash flow gap: When you need more money for current expenses than you have on hand, you have a cash flow gap.
- Successful cash flow management: Keeping cash coming in on a steady, reliable basis, while delaying outflows as long as you can.
- Cash flow worksheet: Represents a way to track your cash flow. Quickbooks and other accounting software make it an easy step-by-step process to put together a cash flow statement.
Comparison of Cash Flow to Profit
Profit is different from cash flow. You may realize a healthy profit at year end, yet face an unhealthy cash flow at various times of the year. Understanding your business finances is not as simple as just looking at a profit and loss statement.
Fundamentally, profit is simply your revenues minus your expenses. However, cash flow depends on a broad range of factors including:
- Accounts receivable
- Inventory
- Accounts payable
- Capital expenditures
- Debt service
In essence, profit refers to income and expenses at a point in time. It is static in this regard. On the other hand, cash flow is dynamic. It involves the timing of the movement of money in and out of the business.
Tips to Improve Cash Flow
A healthy cash flow is an integral part of any successful business. Implement these suggestions as applicable to help you manage and improve the cash flow of your business.
- Collect your receivables in a timely manner. Consider using a lockbox from a bank or credit union, to process payments more quickly. Offer discounts for quick payment. Suggest customers use depository transfer or pre-authorized checks.
- Tighten the credit you offer. Research your customers, don't offer credit to everyone. Ask them to fill out a credit application. Take credit cards.
- Increase your sales. Run a promotion to attract new customers. Offer additional products or services to your current list.
- Apply for a short-term loan if needed.
- Don't pay all your bills at once. Space them out, according to projected cash flow throughout the month.
- Pay with the cash you have on hand, not on expected sales.
- Don't use sales tax to pay other bills. This can backfire.
- Consider using a payroll service. They know how to collect and pay payroll taxes, simplifying your business accounting.
- Build a relationship with a bank, credit union, or reputable credit company that provides working capital. Do this before any cash flow gap happens.
Remember, cash flow is the heartbeat of any business, large or small. Monitor it regularly, and do what it takes to keep a smooth flow of money circulating through your company.


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September 30, 2015
Contact: Andrew Jerome, 202-314-3106
WASHINGTON (September 30, 2015) – Congress and the administration need to insist that enforceable language against currency manipulation be included in all trade deals moving forward, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), argues National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson in a Huffington Post guest column.
"Currency manipulation has become our trade competitors' favorite maneuver for skirting massive trade deals as soon as they sign them, and it's about to happen again," notes Johnson. "Before these trade deals become effective, some of our trading partners devalue their currency, immediately reducing the cost of their goods to us and everyone else, and increasing the cost of our goods to them."
Johnson explains that while politicians on both sides of the aisle rally behind trade agreements because of claims that they will reduce or remove tariffs and export subsidies, large regional pacts, like the TPP, are also about setting fair rules for trade.
A significant portion of the TPP, for example, pertains to non-tariff barriers and includes chapters on the environment, labor rights and intellectual property. "Currency manipulation should be included as its own chapter since it is one of the most fundamental non-tariff barriers to trade. Unfortunately for the TPP, that is not the case," he says.
Johnson notes that as a result of currency manipulation in past trade deals, it's nearly impossible for the U.S. to get a fair shake in these deals. "In fact, if you look at the data from trade deals we've already entered, the strongest correlation you can make is that the more trade deals we sign, the more jobs we lose and the higher our trade deficit grows."
Johnson points out that the notion of currency manipulation is not speculation. "In August, Vietnam – one of the participating countries in TPP – devalued its currency in response to a major devaluation by China earlier this summer," he said, adding that Malaysia and Singapore have also intervened in their currencies by increasing reserves by an unprecedented amount. "There's nothing stopping others in the agreement from manipulating their currencies as well."
A recent report by the International Monetary Fund demonstrated the power of devaluation of a currency, showing a 10 percent fall in the value of a nation's currency can increase exports by an average of 1.5 percent of GDP. "At that point, the playing field is no longer level, and trade is not free or fair," said Johnson.
"The TPP agreement must include a chapter on currency manipulation that establishes enforceable rules and procedures to address currency manipulation. If it does not, TPP will not be worth the paper it is written on."
National Farmers Union has been working since 1902 to protect and enhance the economic well-being and quality of life for family farmers, ranchers and rural communities through advocating grassroots-driven policy positions adopted by its membership.


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Campaigning in Ohio recently, Rick Santorum opened a new front in the religious and culture wars by declaring that President Obama espouses a "phony theology." He explained later on Face the Nation that the theology he neglected to initially name was radical environmentalism. Specifically he attacked "this idea that man is here to serve the Earth, as opposed to husband its resources and be good stewards of the Earth."
Over at The Christian Century blogs, Steve Thorngate took a little comfort in Santorum's choice of words. "It's telling that Santorum—pro-coal, climate-change-denying Rick Santorum—didn't say that people should 'subdue' the earth or 'have dominion' over it, language (yes, biblical) that tends to conjure up mindless degradation" of the environment, Thorngate pointed out. At Religion Dispatches, Julie Ingersoll reported that Santorum's casting of environmentalism as its own religion, inimical to Christianity, is "widespread on the religious right and especially in the Christian right wing of the homeschooling movement of which Santorum is a part."
If ecological consciousness is a sort of religious outlook (and why would it be any more or less so than, say, supply-side economics?), then its main doctrine, according to Santorum, is that human beings are meant to serve nature rather than the other way around. The presidential hopeful also said people are supposed to "care for the Earth," which to me evokes the idea of service. But the substance of his argument was really that "radical environmentalists" see the human person as subservient to the rest of creation.
That may be a tendentious view of environmental activism, not to mention Obama's pragmatic bent on these matters. Santorum's remarks, however, are not completely beyond the orbit of legitimate questions at stake in debates over religion and the environment. Where do human beings stand, in the hierarchy of the universe? Is there a radical, ontological chasm between human creatures and all other living beings? Is there no essential bond between them?
The biblical and theological sources don't necessarily offer the predisposed answers that would please Santorum, but they're illuminating in any case.
It's all "Very Good"
To start with, it's fair to say that in the Judeo-Christian tradition, human beings have a unique place in the divine scheme of things. "You have made him [the human person] little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor," the Psalmist says in a song of praise to God's creation. Praise is given to the Lord for "the work of your finger," the moon and the stars, sheep and oxen, beasts of the field and all manner of things. The Psalmist is awed by creation, but equally amazed that God would give man and woman so lofty a place—only a little below the angels—in the created order (Psalm 8:6).
That said, the mountains and beasts have an inherent value of their own, quite apart from their usefulness to human beings. In Genesis we read that after fashioning the universe, "God looked at everything he made, and he found it very good." Religious people have often taken this to mean simply that the creation of man and woman was deemed good, but most theologians agree that "everything" refers to a cosmic reality—the whole of the universe. It's all very good and worthy of respect.
In the same vein, Christians often speak as if Christ's redemption extends only to humanity. The New Testament, however, states that all of creation was redeemed, that Christ "reconciled to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the Cross" (Colossians 1:20-21).
As depicted in these and other spiritual sources, there's a creaturely commonality across the universe. St. Augustine explained that nonhumans and humans alike could sing together, "We did not make ourselves." The great philosopher also speaks of a natural world that (like its human counterpart) is intended to pay witness to divine reality:
Ask the loveliness of the earth, ask the loveliness of the seas, ask the loveliness of the wide airy spaces … ask the living things which move in the waters, which tarry on the land, which fly in the air…. Ask all these things, and they will answer: Yes, we are lovely. Their loveliness is their confession.
Diving into Dualisms
Let's give this the Santorum spin. Are human beings "here to serve the Earth," or does nature exist purely to service human needs and wants? If you're coming from a theocentric perspective, a good answer would be "no" on both counts. In an enlightened Judeo-Christian reading, nature isn't there simply to accommodate humans, or vice versa. Its value is intrinsic, not just instrumental. From that perspective, both human beings and the natural world exist to serve a transcendent God, to fulfill divine purposes. And they are mutually interdependent.
People are unique, but they're still part of creation and share that existential bond with other creatures, according to a broad interreligious consensus today. By that light, our uniqueness is not an invitation to try to stand above the created world, a status that belongs strictly to the Creator. It is, rather, a call to cooperate with God in the care of creation.
But it's hard to find the right balance when you're diving headfirst into dualisms, insisting on a stark choice between "man" and "the Earth." …read more


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Friday, June 11, 2010
Enough to make this bitch's 'fro ache…
She was engaged to marry.
She got married.
She found out she was pregnant.
She went to administration to let them know she'd need maternity leave.
The school administration asked when she got pregnant.
She told them the truth...that she conceived three weeks prior to her wedding but didn't know she was pregnant until afterward.
The school fired the woman for fornication.
Pause…sip coffee…continue.
The school then told students and parents the woman's personal bitness...specifically when she conceived and why she was fired.
The woman sued.
ABCNews.com posted an article.
A bitch read the article…and it made my 'fro ache.
Rewind to them asking the teacher when she conceived…
What the fuck?
I wouldn't have answered that shit…'tis none of their damn business and, short of hacking her doctor's computer, they wouldn't be able to find it out any other way.
But okay…clearly we're dealing with one of those super honest people and she probably didn't anticipate the school doing the math and then condemning her as a fornicator in the town square.
Let's move on to the school telling everyone and their dawg this woman's business...
Oh, hell no!
I don't give a hot damn what religious blah, blah, blah a school is associated with – they are still subject to basic privacy laws and there ain't no way in hell to spin that kind of disclosure as legal.
And now to the pesky issue of faith in the classroom.
If a woman who becomes pregnant and marries loses everything for fornication…
…does that promote abstinence, lying about when a pregnancy was conceived or termination of pregnancy should marriage not be an option?
If you're damned either way, what way do you go?
Pause...sip more coffee...continue.
But hey, the church in question managed to attack a lovely family in their efforts to defend so-called family values – way to sell us heathens on the joyous benefits of faith in the classroom!
17 comments:
Shark-Fu, you make my day. Even when the news is bleak and sad, reading it from you-- written in your voice-- makes my day.
- LisaMJ said...
This country is losing its collective damn mind! Seriously.
- Jeffrey Ricker said...
Now, I'm not one to advocate violence, but I read a story like this and wonder if I'd shed a goddamn tear if someone burned down that church....
- Shark-Fu said...
Tisk followed by task, Jeff - one does not lead the ig'nant to enlightenment through terror..
- Joanna said...
Hmmm.... I wonder if they would ask a male teacher who is recently married and whose wife is expected when HIS child was conceived... somehow I truly doubt it!
This is absurd!
- NC17 said...
well she did have pre marital sex and she works at a Christian school. How is she going to teach those young jesus lovers about respecting god's word if she's clearly broken a big rule of the faith. Next time she should play it like those catholic priest who sleep around, DON'T SAY ANYTHING.
- Elusis said...
Hey, I give this school props for at least being consistent. The whole angsty letter from the Catholic Church about how terrible it would be if ENDA passes because then they'd have to hire people who have sex that Catholics don't approve of? Pisses me off a treat not only because it's WRONG and BIGOTED, but because I'm pretty sure the CC doesn't refuse to hire straight people who live with their unmarried partners, had sex before marriage, have affairs, masturbate, use contraception, got married in a church other than the CC, etc. The inappropriate focus on GLB people's sex lives when the CC lets straight employees act in non-Church-approved ways makes me furious. So hey, at least this school isn't playing the double standard game.
(Obviously I'm furious about what happened to her and think it's wildly inappropriate and hope she sues the living shit out of them.) - 1:59 PM
- Kit (Keep It Trill) said...
Over half a century ago, something similar happened to my mother when she conceived my brother. The priest told her to sneak to a relative's place in the country, put the baby up for adoption, and return like nothing happened. Instead, she married my father who had been divorced. The same priest started the paperwork to have her excommunicated.
It's deplorable that similar kinds of rigid, religious fanaticism and bigotry goes on today right here in our own backyards.
And like another commenter said, would they have done this had the teacher been a male? - 7:12 PM
- MomTFH said...
Elusis, I have to disagree. Would they fire a male employee for fornicating? Would they fire them for disobeying any other commandment? What if they did work on the sabbath, or ate shellfish?
She is punished for being pregnant. If she used birth control and fornicated, she would have a job. If she had an abortion, she would have a job.
If she broke every commandment except for murder, she would still have a job.
This is about controlling women's sexuality, not about enforcing biblical law. - 9:28 AM
I'd like to think that my reply to their inquiry would have been "Gosh, I'm really not sure when it happened. Maybe it was the day when that angel appeared and told me that I was pregnant."
Liberty and justice for all, huh? Good for her for filing suit. - 10:04 AM
Not only ridiculous, but stupid. I mean, seriously, they MUST have known they are asking for a lawsuit. One which they cannot even dream of winning. In what kind of mind did this ever seem like a good idea? These religious ideologues/educators don't even have basic self-preservation skills.
Trudy - 3:29 PM
I agree with the previous poster. The way the administrators behaved is grounds for a lawsuit, and I sincerely hope the teacher in question files one. Unfortunately, many of us who work for private entities - myself included - encounter the risk for such abuse on a daily basis. Additionally, we teach and work in the absence of a union, and, in some cases, a legit. HR department. Therefore, knowing one's rights is necessary and important.
- Mr. C said...
Nobody involved wants to admit two things.
1) If it were the husband who was teaching, he would NOT have been fired.
2) If it were not an interracial couple, she would NOT have been fired.
These folks are uncomfortable with interracial couples, and were just looking for an excuse to get rid of her.
St. Cloud, Florida isn't the most progressive place in the land... - 6:45 AM
- spuddley said...
Most organized religions seem to have begun with good intentions, anyhow. Keep that higher ground.
I gonna listen again to the Temptations - Ball Of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miZWYmxr8XE - 8:40 AM
- Museling said...
Ironic considering they worship a man who was conceived out of wedlock.
- JT said...
There's a part of me that celebrates when stuff like this goes down (Though it's gotta suck for all involved). It's like the fatwah's issued from Islam encouraging women to breast feed their co-workers so they can be unveiled and unescorted around these men. It's something so absurd that it has to send a wake up call to people...why are you listening to what these men have to say?
And one of the most absurd things...she said she had conceived the baby 3 weeks before the wedding. It's not like it was a shot-gun wedding. And it's not like it was even conceived in some "Hey, you finally popped the question!" celebration sex...Just some, "Wow, we're practically a married couple going about our lives" sex.
Get yourself a hobby religious folk. The "Other People's Sex Lives" show has run its course and you've all seen the boink'n without your magic ceremony and approval episode enough to be bored with it. - 1:54 PM
The Gumdrop Stage of Grief ...
So many of you have shared condolences and support after the death of my beloved brother Bill from COVID-19. I wish I could thank you indiv...
I was slightly illish this weekend and took to my bed Saturday, but I did rally for Brother Rob Thurman's fantabulous cookie decorating part...
Okay, so most of you know that this bitch has some evil assed fibroids . Most of them were successfully murdered with full premeditation se...
So many of you have shared condolences and support after the death of my beloved brother Bill from COVID-19. I wish I could thank you indiv...


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Sun, Oct 29
|Brick at Blue Star
Brick Sunday Market
Markets at Brick are a Southtown staple. Celebrate Sunday funday with some amazing local artists, makers, and sustainable small businesses.
Time & Location
Oct 29, 2023, 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Brick at Blue Star, 108 Blue Star, San Antonio, TX 78204, USA
About the event
Every Sunday (Lord willing and the creek don't rise) 12-5pm.
We've got bell bottoms, bracelets, and baubles galore. Beer, babies, bottles, and more!
Grab a 'mosa at the bar and hang out with us!
Interested vendors can email email@example.com for info
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