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Things to know about Trump Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh
WASHINGTON (AP) - Judge Brett Kavanaugh is the embodiment of the Republican legal establishment: an Ivy Leaguer who worked for the justice he has been nominated to replace, investigated a Democratic president, served in a Republican White House and now is an influential member of what is often called the second most powerful court in the country.
The 53-year-old Kavanaugh was even born inside the Beltway and has lived there virtually his entire life.
"He can still recite the section and seat numbers of the upper deck seats his dad had at RFK (Stadium) for the Redskins," said Travis Lenkner, a former Kavanaugh law clerk, of the Washington Redksins' home field until 1997.
President Donald Trump said Monday that he is nominating Kavanaugh to replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. If confirmed, Kavanaugh is likely to be a reliable conservative vote who could weaken or imperil abortion rights, beef up support on the court for capital punishment and clamp down on the power of regulatory agencies.
He is expected to face strong opposition from Democrats, who already have called Kavanaugh and the other court finalists too conservative. They are hoping to persuade Republican Senate moderates to vote against Kavanaugh. Some Republicans, certain to support Kavanaugh, had hoped Trump would choose someone seen as a stronger social conservative.
The nominee is an only child who credits his mother for his career path. Martha Kavanaugh taught high school history before returning to school for her law degree. She later became a prosecutor and a judge in Maryland. "My introduction to the law came at our dinner table when she practiced her closing arguments," Kavanaugh said at the White House after Trump introduced him as his nominee.
He is the father of two girls and coaches their basketball teams. Like Kavanaugh, his wife, Ashley, is a veteran of the White House during George W. Bush's presidency. Their first date was the night before the Sept. 11 attacks, he said. She now serves as the town manager of their village in a Maryland suburb just north of the capital.
Kavanaugh's professional life has been a succession of jobs that have raised his profile in legal circles. After earning undergraduate and law degrees at Yale, he was a Kennedy law clerk in the early 1990s before joining independent counsel Kenneth Starr's team, where Kavanaugh co-wrote the report that served as the basis for President Bill Clinton's impeachment. Kavanaugh worked on the effort by Bush's campaign to halt the recount of votes in Florida in the disputed presidential election between Bush and Al Gore in 2000. He worked in Bush's White House for five years, including nearly three as Bush's staff secretary.
"My most vivid memory of Brett was his thoughtful approach to an issue, not impulsive, not off the cuff. He had a very engaging ability to discuss both sides of an issue when we had to resolve something," said Mark Tuohey, who hired Kavanaugh in Starr's office.
Kavanaugh has written roughly 300 opinions in his 12 years as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, penned several law review articles and spoken at law school and Federalist Society events across the country. Kavanaugh is a member of the conservative legal group and was on a list of potential nominees that it helped compile for Trump.
Kavanaugh already is very familiar to his prospective future colleagues on the Supreme Court, who also all have Ivy League law degrees. Several of his opinions were dissents that eventually were vindicated when Supreme Court majorities saw the issue the same way he did.
He has joined with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito to serve as judges in mock trials to benefit the Shakespeare Theatre Company. More than three dozen former Kavanaugh law clerks also have gone on to work for every justice, except Ginsburg. Justice Elena Kagan, who was then dean of Harvard Law School, hired Kavanaugh to teach there, he said.
His former clerks recall Kavanaugh as a demanding boss, but one interested in their personal lives. Jennifer Mascott, a law professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School in Virginia, said she naturally reached out to Kavanaugh after her father died. "He made a point at the start of my clerkship to invite my parents down for a visit and that made such an impression on my dad," Mascott said.
He has tutored children at a Washington, D.C., elementary school, volunteered for Catholic charity groups and is a regular participant in services at his Catholic church.
An avid runner, Kavanaugh lists his two Boston Marathon finishes on his court website biography: 3:59:45 in 2010 and 4:08:36 in 2015. His team, D.C. Circuitry, regularly wins medals in an annual 5K charity race along the Anacostia River.
It can seem as if Kavanaugh has been getting ready for this moment for some time. He regularly teaches law school classes. "One thing he asked the class was if you had an interview with a person and were considering them for a Supreme Court nomination, what questions would you ask?" recalled Kirby Thomas West, a 2015 Harvard Law School graduate.


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Betel Leaf Salad with Shredded Carrot
This recipe combines the healthy, naturally pepper-flavored betel leaf and the classic sweet, sour and hot sauce typical of Thai "yum" salad.
For 4 Person(s)
- 2 Teaspoons Tamarind Concentrate Mixed with 5 teaspoons water
- 1 Tablespoon Palm Sugar, Shavings
- 1/2 Tablespoon Fresh Lime Juice
- 1 Tablespoon Thin Soy Sauce
- 1 Fresh Thai Peppers, Sliced
- 2 Tablespoons Roasted Peanuts, Crushed in a mortar and pestle
- 2 Cups Fresh Betel Leaves, thinly sliced
- 1 Cup Shredded Carrots
- 1/4 Cup Fresh Mint Leaves
- Optional Dried Shrimps
Method for Betel Leaf Salad with Shredded Carrot
In a small mixing bowl add tamarind juice, palm sugar, lime, and soy sauce; mix together. Fix the taste sweet or sour as you prefer, by adding more of each ingredient, and taste as you go. Be careful not to add too much lime juice. We recommend letting tamarind juice take the lead with the sauce, it will be more delicious.
Put betel leaves and carrot in medium mixing bowl pour the tamarind mixture over, follow with peanut, chili, mint leaves, and dried shrimps (if you are not vegetarian) mix well, then serve.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Nashville Diesel Engine Repair
Your local diesel engine repair pros are ready to help! We handle any and all issues surrounding diesel engines. Our repair team is comprised of experienced mechanics with expert knowledge of all types of diesel engines – small, medium and large.
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When you need diesel engine repair, we've got you covered! We have diesel technicians ready to handle roadside engine repair, maintenance, fleet service and more.
- Heavy Duty Engine Repairs
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- Oil Change
- Engine Water Damage
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- Injector Pump
What type of diesel maintenance is available?
We offer many different maintenance services to keep your truck in great shape for the long haul. Our truck maintenance services include oil changes, filter cleaning and replacement, general tune ups and more.
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We offer maintenance and repair for diesel trucks of all makes and models. Heavy duty, commercial, semi, RV, bus and more – We fix all diesel engines!


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It's no secret that Americans love salt. But our uses for it extend well beyond the kitchen: It turns out we dump so much of the stuff on our roads that a lot of it ends up in our freshwater rivers and streams. Thanks again polar vortex.
See, sodium chloride's not only our favorite rock to eat, it's still the best way to deal with slick sidewalks and streets in the face of the dreaded wintry mix. Salt is cheaper and just works better at unsealing the bond between road and pavement than alternatives like calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, or potassium chloride. After getting pounded with storm after storm this winter, municipalities in the Northeast and Midwest had little freak-outs when they thought they wouldn't be getting enough of the stuff (you know things are getting desperate when towns turn to cheese brine, beet juice, or, heaven forbid, pickle juice for alternatives, not to mention when 80 tons of salt crystals mysteriously "disappear").
But the subtext behind the salt shortage is that we've used more of it this year than we normally do. And when our total last year came to 17 million tons — 109 pounds per person in the U.S. — well, that's more than just a dash.
And what goes on to our roads must end up ... where? That's a question that no one thought to ask until a few years ago. The answer's not pretty: In 2009, one group of scientists reported that 70 percent of the road salt applied in the Twin Cities gets retained in their watershed, leaving freshwater critters in increasingly saline situations. And similar studies conducted in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Indiana show the problem to be relatively widespread.
Now, there's evidence of dozens of "chloride impaired" bodies of water throughout the U.S., in which chloride levels are at or above the EPA fit-for-drinking standard of 250 milligrams per liter. While there are also other sources of chloride, Eric Williams, of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, says road salt is the main culprit behind his state's list of 46 too-salty water bodies.
And while these are the metrics used for what's best for humans, it takes less for some freshwater species to start to feel overbrined. Williams says that even chloride concentrations kept at 230 mg/L — just a teaspoon of salt for five gallons of water — for four days can be deadly to aquatic life.
The excess salt messes with certain sensitive fishes and amphibians' osmotic balance. If you'll recall your high school chemistry (no, not that kind): When some aquatic animals experience more salt outside their bodies than inside, their cells expel water to try to get the equation right — but it generally results in them shriveling up and dying. Hardly sounds like the way to go.
"They're not used to living in that kind of water, and so it's toxic," Williams says. "Like any other kind of toxic chemical might be to an animal or tree or human, chloride can be toxic if it's in too high of a concentration."
It makes sense that chloride concentrations typically peak in freshwater systems during winter and spring runoff. What's more troubling is that the salt seems to stick around: Even in summer months, scientists sometimes measure chloride concentrations 100 times greater than what occurs in unimpacted forest streams.
Gloomy as that may be, the worst is yet to come, says Stuart Findlay, of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. "We're seeing almost the beginning of the problem, not the end," he says. "[In New Hampshire] salt concentrations are increasing even though there aren't new roads and we're not applying more salt to the roads we already have."
Even cities with best intentions find cutting salt from their diet easier said than done. Environmentally conscious Seattle tried, and you can see how halting the salt worked for them:
That's why there's a Salt Guru.
When vehicular mayhem hangs in the balance, most city officials won't abandon salt entirely — which makes it all the more important to come up with ways to reduce road salt inputs through more efficient application of it to our roads.
Minnesota, the frosty land of 10,000 lakes, is one of the states taking the lead. Since 2006, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has trained 4,000 salt applicators in how to get the most out of their spread. By using techniques such as pre-wetting, which helps the salt stick to the road, or just by being more intentional in where and how much salt is spread, MPCA's Andrew Roncha says "those that are trained easily can reduce their salt usage by 50 percent."
If more states can implement the same straightforward fixes as Minnesota, we could be looking at a win-win-win: less chloride in our streams, municipal cost savings, and roads that are just as safe. And the next time precious salt cargo gets held up on its way to a frozen state, it might not hurt so much (here's lookin' at you, Jersey).


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Preparing for your accountant
Thank you for allowing us, at Makesworth Accountants, to provide you with a service in the Harrow area. Whether we are producing your accounts or carrying out tax compliance work, being prepared for us will ensure our work is carried out smoothly and efficiently and with the minimum disruption to yourselves. We highlight the ways in which you can help.
You may also be able to help by preparing some of the routine schedules for us. This will mean our time can be better spent advising you on the running of your business.
We highlight below many of the ways in which you can help.
It is however important for you to discuss these ideas with us since all of the suggestions may not be applicable.
Setting the scene
Keeping us informed
We will be better prepared ourselves if we know of any changes within your business which could affect our work. These could include changes in your:
- product or market
- business strategy eg pricing policy
- bookkeeping system
- key personnel.
What we need
If you know what information we need to be able to complete our work you can make sure it is available.
We can decide together what you can prepare for us and what we will need to prepare for ourselves.
Better communication between us will help to minimise misunderstandings and avoid unnecessary work.
We need to agree a suitable timetable in advance. This gives us both a chance to be properly prepared.
However, if you find yourself behind schedule let us know as soon as possible so that the timetable can be rearranged if necessary.
How you can help
Books and records
Setting up and maintaining your books in an organised manner will help us to extract quickly and easily the information needed to prepare or audit your accounts. It will also enable you to see at a glance the state of your business.
Consideration of the following points may improve the organisation of your records:
- totalling and balancing your books at regular intervals will help you spot and correct any mistakes
- analysing your payments and receipts so that information can be easily extracted
- filing your invoices in a logical order (numerical, alphabetical or date) to make it easy to find any one of them.
By establishing and maintaining certain procedures you will be able to keep a better control over your records and your business. It will also mean we can cut down on the work we need to do which may save you some money.
We can help you set up these procedures initially and once established you will be able to carry them out yourself. These procedures will include control accounts, reconciliations and stocktaking.
Control accounts
Control accounts record the movements of cash, debtors and creditors by using the monthly totals from your cash book and sales and purchases summaries.
The cash control account will show how much cash the business has at the end of each month.
The debtors or sales ledger control account will show how much your customers owe you at the end of each month.
The creditors or purchase ledger control account will show how much you owe your suppliers at the end of each month.
Reconciliations help to ensure that the figures in your books are complete and accurate. Therefore if produced on a regular basis they will help you spot any errors which can then be corrected before we examine your records. Some of the records which will need reconciling are:
- bank accounts
- control accounts
- supplier's statements.
If your business carries any stock you will need to count it at least once a year. To ensure that the count is carried out efficiently and accurately you should consider the following points:
- stock items should be stored neatly and logically to make counting easier
- all staff involved in counting should be given clear instructions
- try to minimise the movement of stock during the count. If possible deliveries in and out should be withheld until the counting has finished
spot checks should be performed during the count.
If you hold large amounts of stock we may need to attend the stocktake and perform our own checks.
There are a number of schedules which have to be produced in order that the accounts can be prepared and/or audited. We can prepare all of these schedules ourselves but obviously if you were to produce them it would save time and money.
You may wish to consider the preparation of some of the following schedules:
- a detailed list of additions and disposals of fixed assets with a copy of the appropriate sales and purchase invoices attached
- schedules showing each item of stock held, the quantity, unit value and total value. Indicate any stock items which are old or damaged
- a list of your debtors at the year end including how much they owe you and how long they have been outstanding. Indicate any which are unlikely to pay you
- a schedule of all bank and cash balances at the year end, together with all the bank statements for each bank account
a list of creditors which should include HMRC as well as the usual business suppliers.
Not all of these schedules will be applicable to your business and therefore before doing anything you may wish to discuss this with us.
How we can help
There are undoubtedly many advantages to be gained if you are better prepared before we commence our work.
We will be able to complete our work in less time. This will mean less disruption to you and your staff. In addition we will be better placed to provide you with useful and constructive advice regarding the development of your business.
However, perhaps the most rewarding of all these advantages will be the fact that your books and records will provide you with more useful information which will help you make better informed business decisions.
If your business is in the Harrow area and you would like to discuss these procedures any further or would like us to provide further
Need Accountancy Support?
For information on bespoke training, or if you have any other questions for Makesworth Accountants, please fill in your details below


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Update on Intel Sapphire Rapids in 2022: Q1 for Production, Q2 for Ramp, H1 Launch
by Dr. Ian Cutress on June 29, 2021 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- 10nm
- Xeon Scalable
- PCIe 5.0
- Sapphire Rapids
In the news cycle today, Intel is announcing an update to its planned deployment of its next generation Xeon Scalable platform known as Sapphire Rapids. Sapphire Rapids is the main platform behind the upcoming Aurora supercomputer, and set to feature support for leading edge technologies such as DDR5, PCIe 5.0, CXL, and Advanced Matrix Extensions. The announcement today is Intel reaffirming its commitment to bringing Sapphire Rapids to market for wide availability in the first half of 2022, meanwhile early customers are currently operating with early silicon for testing and optimization.
In a blog post by Lisa Spelman, CVP and GM of Intel's Xeon and Memory Group, Intel is getting ahead of the news wave by announcing that additional validation time is being incorporated into the product development cycle to assist with top tier partners and customers to streamline optimizations and ultimately deployment. To that end, Intel is working with those top tier partners today with early silicon, typically ES0 or ES1 using Intel's internal designations, with those partners helping validate the hardware for issues against their wide ranging workloads. As stated by former Intel CTO Mike Mayberry in the 2020 VLSI conference, Intel's hyperscale partners end up testing 10-100x more use cases and edge cases than Intel can validate, so working with them becomes a critical part of the launch cycle.
As the validation continues, Intel works with its top tier partners for their specific monetizable goals and features that they've requested, so that when the time comes for production (Q1 2022) and ramp (Q2 2022), and a full public launch (1H 2022), those key partners are already benefiting from working close with Intel. Intel has stated that as more information about Sapphire Rapids becomes public, such as at upcoming events like Hot Chips in August or Intel's own event in October, there will be a distinct focus on benchmarks and metrics that customers rely upon for monetizable work flows, which is in part what this cycle of deployment assists with.
Top tier partners getting early silicon 12 months in advance, and then deploying final silicon before launch, is nothing new. It happens for all server processors regardless of source, so when we finally get a proper public launch of a product, those hyperscalers and HPC customers have already had it for six months. In that time, those relationships allow the CPU vendors to optimize the final bits to which the general public/enterprise customers are often more sensitive.
It should be noted that a 2022 H1 launch of Sapphire Rapids hasn't always been the date in presentations. In 2019, Ice Lake Xeon was a 2020 product and Sapphire Rapids was a 2021 product. Ice Lake slipped to 2021, but Intel was still promoting that it would be delivering Sapphire Rapids to the Aurora supercomputer by the end of 2021. In an Interview with Lisa Spelman in April this year, we asked about the close proximity of the delayed Ice Lake to Sapphire Rapids. Lisa stated that they expected a fast follow on with the two platforms - AnandTech is under the impression that because Aurora has been delayed repeatedly, and that the 'end of 2021' was a hard part of Intel's latest contract with Argonne on the machine for key deliverables. At Computex 2021, Spelman announced in Intel's keynote that Sapphire Rapids would be launching in 2022, and today's announcement reiterates that. We expect general availability to be more within the end Q2/Q3 timeframe.
It's still coming later than expected, however it does space the Ice Lake/Sapphire Rapids transition out a bit more. Whether this constitutes an additional delay depends on your perspective; Intel contends that it is nothing more than a validation extension, whereas we are aware that others may ascribe the commentary to something more fundamental, such as manufacturing. It's no secret that the level of manufacturing capacity Intel has for its 10nm process, or particularly 10nm ESF which is what Sapphire Rapids is built on, is not well known beyond 'three ramping fabs' announced earlier this year. Intel appears to be of the opinion that it makes sense for them to work closer with their key hyperscaler and HPC customers, who account for 50-60%+ of all Xeons sold in the previous generation, as a priority before a wider market launch to focus on their monetizable workflows. (Yes, I realize I've said monetizable a few times now; ultimately it's all a function revenue generation.)
As part of today's announcement, Intel also lifted the lid on two new Sapphire Rapids features.
First is Advanced Matrix Extensions (AMX), which has technically been announced before, and there is plenty of programming documentation about it already, however today Intel is confirming that AMX and Sapphire Rapids are the initial pairing for this technology. The focus of AMX is matrix mutliply, enabling more machine learning compute performance for training and inference in Intel's key 'megatrend markets', such as AI, 5G, cloud, and others. Also part of the AMX disclosures today is some level of performance – Intel is stating that early Sapphire Rapids silicon with AMX, at a pure hardware level, is enabling at least a 2x performance increase over Ice Lake Xeon silicon with AVX512. Intel was keen to point out that this is early silicon without any additional software enhancements on Sapphire Rapids. AMX will form part of Intel's next-gen DL Boost portfolio at launch.
The second feature is that Intel is integrating a Data Streaming Accelerator (DSA). Intel has also had documentation about DSA on the web since 2019, stating that it is a high-performance data copy and transformation accelerator for streaming data from storage and memory or to other parts of the system through a DMA remapping hardware unit/IOMMU. DSA has been a request from specific hyperscaler customers, who are looking to deploy it within their own internal cloud infrastructure, and Intel is keen to point out that some customers will use DSA, some will use Intel's new Infrastructure Processing Unit, while some will use both, depending on what level of integration or abstraction they are interested in.
Yesterday we learned that Intel will be offering versions of Sapphire Rapids with HBM integrated for every customer, with the first deployment of those going to Aurora. As mentioned, Intel is confirming that they will be disclosing more details at Hot Chips in August, and at Intel's own Innovation event in October. There may also apparently be some details about the architecture before that date as well, according to today's press release.
Realted Reading
- Hot Chips 33 (2021) Schedule Announced: Alder Lake, IBM Z, Sapphire Rapids, Ponte Vecchio
- Intel to Launch Next-Gen Sapphire Rapids Xeon with High Bandwidth Memory
- Intel's 2021 Exascale Vision in Aurora: Two Sapphire Rapids CPUs with Six Ponte Vecchio GPUs
- Intel Updates ISA Manual: New Instructions for Alder Lake, also BF16 for Sapphire Rapids
- Intel's Full Enterprise Portfolio: An Interview with VP of Xeon, Lisa Spelman
- Intel 3rd Gen Xeon Scalable (Ice Lake SP) Review: Generationally Big, Competitively Small
34 Comments
View All Comments
ThereSheGoes - Tuesday, June 29, 2021 - link
Sounds like someone is drinking the marketing cool aid. Late is late is late. -
at_clucks - Tuesday, June 29, 2021 - link
No, they're launching the totally marketable tech that boosts performance right up until they finish selling the generation, discover that was a massive security hole, deactivate it wiping out years worth of performance increases, and then launch the new generation Crapfire Rapids CPU which will bring some totally marketable tech that boosts performance right up until they finish selling the generation... -
lilo777 - Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - link
Too many folks here recently have been working hard trying to turn AnandTech into wccftech. -
at_clucks - Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - link
Is it working? -
at_clucks - Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - link
Clearly not... as disgusting as the Disqus commenting system is, at least it has an edit button.
On a different topic, Intel has a propensity towards touting various performance improvements that will make everything great again only to later realize they were half-assed and sacrificed security for a short lived benchmarking gain (that stuff that looks good on those marketing slides everyone eats up). The customers are left holding the castrated chips that they paid top dollar for, and are encouraged to go for the new generation which has the next generation of various performance improvements that will make everything great again only to later realize... But I'm sure AMX and DSA on SR won't have the same fate. ;)
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&a... -
mode_13h - Thursday, July 1, 2021 - link
> Crapfire Rapids
I'll probably start referring to Sapphire Rapids as "Tire Fire Rapids" or maybe "Sapphire Tar Pits", if it starts to go the same way as Ice Lake SP. -
Gondalf - Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - link
Being better than AMD offering by a wide margin, it is not late.
AMD have not an answer since Zen 4 will come out at the end next year. -
mode_13h - Thursday, July 1, 2021 - link
AMD could surprise everybody with a Zen3 EPYC that has stacked SRAM cache and new IO die. Not saying they will, but there are options besides Zen4. -
Qasar - Thursday, July 1, 2021 - link
" Being better than AMD offering by a wide margin, it is not late. " until its released, its just opinion and speculation, specially if gondalf posts anything about it, or intel, is usually just anti amd BS from him anyway. -
arashi - Tuesday, July 20, 2021 - link
Gondaft is just Dylan Patel's smurf.


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Highlights :
Model Code | JADHU2-BLUE |
Fabric | Rayon |
Sleeve Length | Three-Quarter Sleeves |
Neck | Round Neck |
Ornamentation | Printed |
Top Color | White |
Top Length | Long |
Top Type | Gown |
Pattern | Floral |
Dupatta | Yes |
Wash garments only when necessary.
We strongly recommend Hand Wash of our products.
Do not put them in a washing machine or dryer.
Do not soak any cotton dress and do not wash with another garment.
Dry inside out in shade.
Drying your clothes under the sun causes color-fading. Therefore had them out to dry in evening or in shade.
Our focus is complete customer satisfaction. In the event, if you are displeased with the services provided, we will refund back the money, provided the reasons are genuine and proved after investigation. Please read the fine prints of each deal before buying it, it provides all the details about the services or the product you purchase.
In case of dissatisfaction from our product and service, Customer have the liberty to cancel their Order and request a refund from us. Our Policy for the cancellation and refund will be as follows:
Cancellation Policy
Please login your account and go into order tab and click on cancel order request. This option only allow before product dispatch from our warehouse.
For Cancellations please contact the us via contact us link.
After Product Shipped, we are not able to cancellation order.
Refund Policy
We will try our best to create the suitable design concepts for our customers.
In case any Customer is not completely satisfied with our products we can't provide a refund but for your feedback most welcome and you can mail us. we can try improve our products.
If paid by credit card, refunds will be issued to the original credit card provided at the time of purchase and in case of payment gateway name payments refund will be made to the same account.
We Working with No Refund Policy [ Expect Some Issue Like Product out stock , Delivery Not Possible, Any Emergency etc. ]
*So Please Any Refund Related Issue Contact Us. We Provide Best solution as possible.
Return Policy
We claim No return policy in skin care , electric items, computer accessories, laptop and desktop, kitchen appliances, grocery items etc.
We Offer 7 Days Easy Return Policy* :-
This is only valid for Clothing (Men's wear, women) Categories. This is return cum replacement or exchange policy. If you got wrong item, size issue, color issue, item missing than we provide exchange or replacement of product. In case product out of stock and unavailable than we provide Refund. Don't worry we care our valuable customer. Our team investigation your issue and provide best of possible solution. This is not valid for under discounted or offer products. It is not valid for fabric issue, minor color difference , fabric quality. your feedback is important for our improvement.
Return and Refund T&C :-
Return will be create after our team investigation if we found valid reason or as per our policy terms.
Product will be original condition as we dispatched (like Unwashed, Unused, tags, accessories etc )
Refund initial after return parcel delivered and QC approved by our team.
COD Charge / Shipping charges are non refundable. If Customer return product and want to refund due to size / damage / other issues we will be charge 149/- INR or Exchange and Replacement items No charges paid by customer.
Refund process via payment partner with same source of payment or if you have order with COD than please share Bank details along with return ticket mail/whatsapp.
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For Return please contact the us via contact us Page.
*In Case you received wrong item, Damage Product, Item Missing Please Register Complain with us. We Find Out Best Solutions.
*Please Contact Us For Cancellation & Return Process.
Mail Us : firstname.lastname@example.com


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En Bref
- The pandemic has turbocharged adoption of online grocery by shoppers, and we forecast that 35%–45% of the spending surge will survive the easing of lockdown measures in 2020.
- Between 2020 and 2025, online grocery penetration could as much as double in select markets. All markets we analyzed have seen a two- to five-year acceleration in penetration that could massively dilute retailer profits without action to improve the poor economics of the channel.
- Grocers can defend themselves against this threat by optimizing their omnichannel network, diversifying revenue streams and removing unsustainable channel subsidies.
For more than two decades, food shopping has been slowly migrating online. Now Covid-19 has radically accelerated this digital transition in the space of a few months. Around the world, shoppers are breaking with lifelong habits by ordering groceries through the Internet instead of visiting a supermarket, while earlier converts to the web are heaping their virtual baskets with extra items.
This unexpected surge poses a threat to the industry, even though mainstream e-commerce adoption has been on the horizon for so long. For the vast majority of grocers, home delivery and curbside pickup are structurally less profitable than in-store transactions—and in many cases, each order comes at a loss. When an in-store transaction migrates online, it erodes or destroys what was already only a slim profit. Do that a few hundred thousand times a day and you're in trouble.
Macro Surveillance Platform
For more detail on the business implications of coronavirus from Bain's Macro Trends Group, log on to the Macro Surveillance Platform. Learn more about the platform >
Before the pandemic, many retailers hoped that consumers' unhurried embrace of online grocery would give them a few years to develop a business model that wasn't so dilutive. Now they need to find a much more rapid fix for the broken economics of the channel—and at the same time ramp up their e-commerce capacity to meet the surging demand.
The stakes are high. Those that choose not to expand online will avoid short-term earnings erosion, but their resulting lack of digital infrastructure could leave them uncompetitive in the long term. Grocers that scale up through a third party to meet demand will be similarly vulnerable if the partnership ends and leaves them without e-commerce operations. Yet according to our modeling, a grocer that ramps up its own online arm without structural reform could see its overall profitability fall by 50–80 basis points over the next five years depending on the rate of online growth. And those that raise fees to cover the cost of the service they provide could face a backlash if the public misconstrues their actions as profiteering.
In spite of these pitfalls, we think it is possible to ramp up online grocery for the post-Covid age without destroying the bottom line. Executive teams can find their way to breakeven and beyond by heeding three calls to action: Optimize your omnichannel network, diversify revenue streams and remove unsustainable channel subsidies. It won't be an easy transformation, given the operational challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, but it's one that can't be put off any longer.
How much of the surging demand will stick?
Covid-19 has turbocharged grocery e-commerce internationally, and the increase in penetration is even more striking when you consider that in-store sales spiked at the same time. In the US, the online channel accounted for 5.1% of sales at the end of 2019, before the pandemic emerged. At the peak of the crisis, penetration had risen to 6.6% (see Figure 1). UK penetration peaked at 12.4%, up from 8.1% pre-Covid. In France, it jumped from 6% to 10.2%. In Italy, even more of an online grocery laggard than the US, penetration more than doubled to 4.3%. In Germany, which has been wedded to in-store shopping, online grocery went from 1.5% to 2.9%. In Asia, meanwhile, penetration has also been growing, albeit from a much higher base in countries such as South Korea and China.
Uptake had been low, so adding a percentage point or three to the penetration rate is a big deal
It's worth bearing in mind that many shoppers were unable to find an online grocer with the capacity to process their order during the lockdown demand surges—so the figures most likely understate the public willingness to embrace web-based ordering around the world. For instance, when Bain & Company surveyed 7,500 shoppers in Western Europe in May, we found that a fifth of those who had wanted to buy groceries online in the previous four weeks had been unable to do so.
How much extra spending will stick? In the short term, that depends on several factors, such as customer experience, whether a grocer excels at selling fresh produce online (if not, many newbies will go back to brick-and-mortar), its ability to scale up capacity in order to fulfill orders reliably and quickly amid the continuing stampede, and how quickly politicians lift distancing measures that deter in-store shopping. In 2020, our best estimate is that online grocery will hang on to 35% of the Covid-related spending surge in Italy, 40% in the US and France, and 45% in the UK and Germany.
That would be a major advance for online grocery. In the US, Germany, France, the UK and Italy, for instance, we estimate that there are going to be about 350 million more online grocery orders in 2020 than there were in 2019, swelling the channel's sales by about $36 billion year over year. Strategically, it's like someone pressing the fast-forward button on the industry by several years. During the pandemic, online grocery penetration in the UK, France and Germany peaked at levels we hadn't expected until well after 2025. In Italy and the US, the comparable acceleration was as if 2024 and 2023 had come early.
To recalibrate our medium-term forecasts for the coronavirus age, we modeled three scenarios (see Figure 2). The first is the most favorable for online grocery demand but the worst for humanity; it assumes that Covid-19 restrictions end quickly—only to be reinstated after six months or so because of a fresh wave of infections. In this "second wave spike" scenario, a vaccine wouldn't be ready until mid-2021 after 18 months of development, further encouraging shoppers to rush to home delivery or curbside pickup, while grocers scale up fast enough to keep up with the next surge in demand, better serving both new and existing customers than in the first wave.
Our middle scenario—the "faster shift online"—anticipates a slower but more stable exit from restrictions, arrival of a vaccine within 12–14 months, grocers keeping up with most of the increased demand and a better customer experience than in the early stages of the pandemic (but still with room for improvement). The lower-growth scenario ("rapid return to traditional grocery") anticipates a more modest acceleration of demand thanks to best-case management of the virus (a rapid removal of restrictions, no second wave of infections and a vaccine within 12 months), a patchier customer experience and a struggle on the part of some grocers to keep up with demand.
If the "second wave spike" scenario prevails (and we sincerely hope it doesn't), online grocery penetration could over the next five years soar to almost 14% in the UK, 13% in France, 11% in the US, more than 8% in Italy and 4% in Germany. That's about one-and-a-half times the pre-Covid forecast in these countries—or even more. Yet even in the lower-growth scenarios, online grocery penetration is poised for a forecast-busting advance between now and 2025. Grocers are indeed running out of time to make e-commerce pay its way.
Three ways to fix online channel economics
When they moved online, most traditional grocers cut-and-pasted their in-store value proposition to the web, layering new capabilities and costs on top of their existing operational infrastructure. The in-store value proposition tends to generate an operating margin of 2%–4%. Yet replicating that online adds the hefty costs of picking orders on behalf of customers and providing home delivery or click and collect services—without removing significant store costs. Although these online services improve customers' lives (to the extent of being a lifeline for many during lockdown), few grocers charge enough to cover their cost, if they charge at all. Even fewer have fully exploited the new revenue-raising opportunities created by the sector's digital migration, such as selling online advertising space or monetizing customer insights.
Consequently, traditional grocers that do their own online order picking from their physical store network (and provide delivery without any customer fees) are typically suffering a negative operating margin of about –15%, or –11% if they pick from a "dark" store that's not open to the public. If a third party (such as Instacart in the US) does the picking from a regular store, the margin is likely to be about –5%. The bleeding is less severe for click-and-collect services, because they avoid the "last mile" logistics challenge that bedevils delivery services. The margin is likely to be about –5% for a grocer that does its own picking from a regular store without charging a fee. Click-and-collect orders picked from a dark store or by a third party should break even.
The broken economics of the channel have barely evolved over more than 20 years, but they don't have to take decades to fix. By taking short- and medium-term action, executive teams can neutralize the dilutive threat posed by today's online boom. We find it helpful to group these actions into three areas: optimizing the omnichannel network, diversifying revenue streams and removing unsustainable channel subsidies. Not all the actions will be appropriate for every retailer: Grocers need to select those that match their value proposition and refine their approach through experimentation. In all three areas, companies should also consider partnering or buying in expertise through M&A as a way of accelerating progress.
Optimize the omnichannel network
The acceleration of e-commerce during the pandemic is likely to force almost all retailers to rethink their physical store network. Because they remained open during lockdown, grocers have been able to move quicker than other retailers in this regard, finding fresh ways to knit online and offline retail into a more seamless omnichannel whole. For instance, Whole Foods and Kroger were among the grocers converting traditional stores into "dark stores" tailored to satisfying increased demand for home delivery or pickup.
Grocers should continue to find substantial opportunities to stem their online losses during this omnichannel overhaul. Consider a grocer at the least mature end of the online grocery scale, one that manually picks its own orders from its own stores. We calculate that its operating margins could be boosted by between 2 and 12 percentage points through an optimization push that involves tweaking current methods of manual picking and delivery, moving to more automated fulfillment methods to serve the densest areas of high demand and changing some outlets to dark stores or automated fulfillment centers.
Automation is likely to yield the biggest optimization gains (see Figure 3), both at centralized fulfillment centers (CFCs), such as those operated by Ocado in the UK, and micro-fulfillment centers (MFCs), which offer similar robotic picking from a much smaller site, potentially within an existing store or dark store. MFC technology is nascent, but its relative portability and the rapidity with which it can be deployed is attractive: One European grocer rolled out a pilot facility in about three months rather than the two years that a CFC would have required. However, such technologies require meaningful capital expenditure, which grocers will need to allocate by making trade-offs against other investment opportunities.
Automated fulfillment requires heavy capital expenditure but can transform online grocery profitability, especially when customers are charged fees, too
Diversify revenue streams
Now that online orders are beginning to generate a more substantial chunk of sales, grocers need to think more about the specific characteristics of the online channel as they manage their vendor relationships: How can they build new models of digital retailing that create mutual, long-term benefits for both grocer and vendor? These models are already starting to evolve in some corners of the industry, highlighting opportunities for grocers to diversify their revenue streams online.
Vendors can be encouraged to fund brand activation initiatives that leverage the possibilities created by this virtual setting (without confusing or annoying shoppers in the process). Those initiatives might include selling banner ads on your website or app and allowing branded manufacturers to drop a sample into a customer's basket for a fee. Grocers can auction prominent space in category pages and in search results for a particular product, while also charging a fee for vendor-branded pages and services such as a "shop the recipe" feature. They can sell consumer packaged goods companies insights from their data (such as basket mix and size, as well as the frequency and substitutability of purchases, or effectiveness of various activation tactics).
With an individual vendor, it might make sense to separate elements of the online negotiations from the talks covering the physical store estate. A new approach to negotiating cost of goods sold, listing fees and promotions for the online channel could help stimulate demand and unlock incremental growth and profit for both retailers and suppliers, thus contributing to covering the costs of the heavy software and analytics investments needed to realize the online channel's full potential. Overall, we estimate that diversifying revenue streams while maintaining traditional trade terms could add up to six percentage points to a grocer's online operating margin, without causing online channel economics to deteriorate for vendors.
Remove unsustainable channel subsidies
The grocery executives we meet tend to doubt their ability to raise the price of online grocery. It's true that, when you've been charging too little for a valuable service for two decades, there's no easy fix—and Covid-19 has increased the risk of backlash. The pandemic has not only damaged purchasing power, it has also given online deliveries and click-and-collect the aura of an essential social service, a utility almost.
Without minimizing the challenges and sensitivities, we think that pricing can be part of a broader reset of online grocery economics. Consider the boom in home deliveries of hot food during lockdown: Unlike many grocers, the likes of Uber Eats don't deliver for free, and customers are happy to pay for the convenience the service brings. By the same token, Instacart is growing while charging delivery fees starting at $3.99 plus a 5% service fee—on top of item markups.
If a grocer is today fully subsidizing its value-added online services (either delivery or pickup) without any additional customer charges, we think there is room to improve margins by 15–20 percentage points. The combined measures that could achieve this include increasing the minimum basket sizes, charging a delivery fee if one is not in place already, introducing a picking fee for click-and-collect, operating a monthly or yearly membership scheme, varying delivery fees according to time-slot popularity and tilting the mix of purchases more toward private label products and other higher-margin items. In practice, the available levers, and thus the achievable savings, will be limited by the grocer's starting point, its value proposition and the expectations of local consumers, but they can still help it break even at the very least.
Executive teams must manage the risk to their brand of even modest charges, of course. They'll need to dazzle online customers in the key fresh produce category and avoid disappointing them with out-of-stocks and random substitutions. They'll have to factor in the delivery needs of vulnerable customers long after lockdown eases. They might need to give customers choices over what they are willing to pay for (dynamic pricing that varies with urgency or time of day can help with this). Yet as they feel their way toward a viable long-term charging model, grocers can draw on the localized nature of their industry, which gives them room to test and refine new fee structures with a small pool of customers before a riskier large-scale launch.
Twenty years on, a chance to banish the ghost of Webvan
Next year marks a significant date in the history of online grocery: the 20th anniversary of the collapse of Webvan, the California-based grocery delivery service that badly misjudged the economics of what was then an entirely new sales channel and in July 2001 became a symbol of the US dot-com bust.
Over the coming months, online grocers around the world have an opportunity to banish the ghost of Webvan by tackling the financial weaknesses that still permeate the channel it helped to pioneer. Executive teams can draw on a range of actions spanning their value proposition, their revenue model and their operations.
Postponing this already long-delayed e-commerce overhaul isn't an option, however. Many of the consumers who tried online grocery for the first time out of necessity during the pandemic will stick with it out of preference in calmer times. Those companies that can find a way to offer them a differentiated service and manage to be profitable are likely to thrive in the post-Covid world.
The global Covid-19 pandemic has extracted a terrible human toll and spurred sweeping changes in the world economy. Across industries, executives have begun reassessing their strategies and repositioning their companies to thrive now and in the world beyond coronavirus.


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Regular price
Type: Sheet, Pillowcase & Duvet Cover Sets
Material: 100% Silk
Application Size: 1.5m (5 feet)
Application Size: 1.8m (6 feet)
Application Size: 2.0m (6.6 feet)
Application Size: 2.2m (7 feet)
Application Size: 2.5m (8 feet)
Thread Count: ≥600s
Fabric Count: 80
Quantity: 4 pcs
Fabric Density: 200 * 200
- Do not put your silk in the washing machine (Dry Clean & Hand-wash Only).
- To hand-wash, place your silk in cold water with a mild Silk-friendly detergent.
- Leave to soak (No more than 5 minutes).
- Swish silk slowly and gently (Do not squeeze, twist or rub your Silk).
- Rinse with fresh cold water.
- To help keep your silk hydrated, use a fabric conditioner in the final rinse (No more than 5 minutes).
- Rinse well in cold water.
- To remove excess moisture ball your silk together (wringing your silk will damage its fibres), lay it flat and roll it in a towel to absorb any lingering moisture.
- Lay flat to dry (Never put your silk in a dryer or expose to direct sunlight).
- Set the iron to low heat or silk setting.
- Iron your silk only once its dry and be sure to put a cloth between your silk and the iron.
- Do not spray or wet your silk while ironing, you may get water-stains.
To avoid ironing, store your silk by hanging it in a cool dry place - silk creases, so do not fold or leave it bunched up for long. If storing your silk for a long period of time, make sure it's clean and stored in a breathable fabric.
Store your silk away from the sun to avoid fading of colours and weakening of fibre. Silk is a protein, this means it can attract moths, so if you add a natural moth repellent into the bag or storage your silk will be sure to thank you


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Benjamin Adler has not received any gifts yet
I've been taking private lessons for a year. I advanced very quickly. I also play many sports so i have natural athletic ability and am very fit. I'm sure i'll be just fine.
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Business cards, designed for photography related business.
Zip File contains 2 PSD File layered, print ready CMYK at 300dpi. Size: 3.5 inc X 2 inc
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Material - Polyester 94%, Spandex 6%.
Design - Dye-sublimation printing, Personalized all-over print hoodie for men. Each panel is cut and sewn together to ensure a flawless graphic. Features drawstring hood, long sleeves, front kangaroo pocket, elastic sleeve cuff and waistband.
Sizes: S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL. Calculate your size from the measurement chart below please.


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When I recently was at the thrift store and saw a pair of ice skates next to a kick-scooter, it got my mind going. "What would a scooter look like with skates in place of wheels!?"
The next time I was at the Makerspace, I saw my old electric scooter over on the Hack Rack. This was a scooter I originally rescued from a dumpster. Although it didn't have batteries, just adding power and a little tinkering got it up and running again. A few of the EV Club and PowerWheels Racing guys played around with the scooter a bit, but eventually the controller got toasted, and who knows what happened to the front wheel.
Oh well, I'd be replacing that front wheel with an ice skate anyways.
Turns out that the heel of an ice skate is actually sturdy enough to drill right through and use as a mounting point. I simply drilled through the skate, inserted a spacer, and then ran a 3/8″ bolt through the skate and the front fork of the scooter. I finished it off with a couple of washers and a nut.
Then next thing to fix was to get the motor going again. Turns out that it's a brushless motor. While I have a fair amount of experience now with BRUSHED motors, this was my first experience with brushless. I did a little research, and then ordered a 24V, 250 watt generic brushless controller from a mail-order scooter parts company. Unfortunately, it used a different style of throttle than what was already on the scooter, so I had to order a throttle to match.
Connecting the controller was pretty easy, three wires to the motor and the black and red one to power. I first bench-tested it with an old printer power supply, and once everything was working right, bit the bullet and bought a brand new pair of 12ah SLA batteries. The two batteries are wired in series, along with a 20 amp fuse, and then go to the controller.
I still needed a deck for the scooter. I dug through some scrap materials and found a pair of cabinet doors that were about the right size. I cut them down just a bit and bolted them to the scooter. I even re-mounted a cabinet door handle to have as an attachment point for towing a sled.
With that, I was ready to go for a test ride, so it was off to the lake. Once I was on the ice, I turned on the scooter and gave it a go! What fun! It really zipped along, but it was almost impossible to steer, as the back tire would slip right out from under me! Time for more traction!
I decided to make a spiked tire. I removed the rear wheel, then disassembled the two-part rim and removed the tire and inner tube. I stuck 1/2″ self-tapping, pan-head, sheet-metal screws through the tire from the inside, so that their points stuck out. I evenly spaced out 24 screws and alternated them to be slightly off-center side to side. Next, I put some old scrap bicycle inner tube over them as a liner to protect the scooter tire inner-tube. After that, it was just a matter of reassembling everything.
Now for test #2 out on the ice. Remembering how much it hurt to fall on the ice, I was prepared this time by wearing my motorcycle jacket (which has padding built-in) and my helmet. Good thing too, as I would learn while steering with one hand and holding a GoPro camera in the other…. (Note to self, keep both hands on handlebars at all times.)
Overall, the Ice Scooter works great! I still have a few little things to do on it. For example, the motor is running "sensor less", and I'd like to learn about how brushless motors use the sensor system. I'd also like to get a small 24V dedicated charger. As it is right now, I have to remove the deck and manually charge with a little 12V charger.
From thrift store idea, to hack rack, to life on the ice, it's always fun to see what you can do with just a little ingenuity. I hope you like this project. If you want to see more on it, please check out the write-up I did on Instructables. It's even in a few contests there, and I'd love your vote!
Keep on Making,


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The affiliate's leaders are known to be mostly in northern Mali, where they have seized a territory as large as Texas following a coup in the country's capital
WASHINGTON The White House, under political pressure to respond forcefully to the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, is readying strike forces and drones but first has to find a target.
And if the administration does find a target, officials say it still has to weigh whether the short-term payoff of exacting retribution on al Qaeda is worth the risk that such strikes could elevate the group's profile in the region, alienate governments the U.S. needs to fight the group in the future and do little to slow the growing terror threat in North Africa.
Details on the administration's position and on its search for a possible target were provided by three current and one former administration official, as well as an analyst who was approached by the White House for help. All four spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the high-level debates publicly.
In another effort to bolster Libyan security, the Pentagon and State Department have been developing a plan to train and equip a special operations force in Libya, a senior defense official tells The Associated Press.
More in After the Arab Spring
The New York Times, citing internal government documents, says such a unit would be "a commando force to combat Islamic extremists like the ones who killed the American ambassador in Libya last month and to help counter the country's fractious militias."
The efforts show the tension of the White House's need to demonstrate it is responding forcefully to al Qaeda balanced against its long-term plans to develop relationships and trust with local governments and build a permanent U.S. counterterrorist network in the region, the AP says.
Vice President Biden pledged in his debate last week with Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan to find those responsible for the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others.
"We will find and bring to justice the men who did this," Biden said in response to a question about whether intelligence failures led to lax security around Stevens and the consulate. Referring back to the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last year, Biden said American counterterror policy should be, "If you do harm to America, we will track you to the gates of hell if need be."
The White House declined to comment on the debate over how best to respond to the Benghazi attack.
The attack has become an issue in the U.S. election season, with Republicans accusing the Obama administration of being slow to label the assault an act of terrorism and slow to strike back at those responsible.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday night that the security of State Department operations was her responsibility.
The White House is "aiming for a small pop, a flash in the pan, so as to be able to say, 'Hey, we're doing something about it,"' said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rudy Attalah, the former Africa counterterrorism director for Defense Department under President George W. Bush.
Attalah noted that, in 1998, after the embassy bombing in Nairobi, the Clinton administration fired cruise missiles to take out a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan that may have been producing chemical weapons for al Qaeda.
"It was a way to say, 'Look, we did something,"' he said.
On the subject of developing a special operations unit, U.S. officials received approval from Congress well before the Benghazi attack to reprogram some funding in the budget that could be used for the commando program in Libya. But the details are still being discussed with the Libyans and also must get final approval from Congress, according to the defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The initial cost is estimated at about $6.2 million.
The defense official said U.S. leaders have recognized the need to train Libyan commando forces, but details such as the size, mission and composition of the forces are still being finalized.
A Washington-based analyst with extensive experience in Africa said administration officials have approached him for help in connecting the dots to Mali, whose northern half fell to al Qaeda-linked rebels this spring. They wanted to know if he could suggest potential targets, which he says he was not able to do.
"The civilian side is looking into doing something and is running into a lot of pushback from the military side," the analyst said. "The resistance that is coming from the military side is because the military has both worked in the region and trained in the region. So they are more realistic."
Islamists in the region are preparing for a reaction from the U.S.
"If America hits us, I promise you that we will multiply the Sept. 11 attack by 10," said Oumar Ould Hamaha, a spokesman for the Islamists in northern Mali, while denying that his group or al Qaeda fighters based in Mali played a role in the Benghazi attack.
Finding the militants who overwhelmed a small security force at the consulate isn't going to be easy.
The key suspects are members of the Libyan militia group Ansar al-Shariah. The group has denied responsibility, but eyewitnesses saw Ansar fighters at the consulate, and U.S. intelligence intercepted phone calls after the attack from Ansar fighters to leaders of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, bragging about it. The affiliate's leaders are known to be mostly in northern Mali, where they have seized a territory as large as Texas following a coup in the country's capital. The Maghreb is a region of northwest Africa that stretches from Libya to Mauritania.
But U.S. investigators have only loosely linked "one or two names" to the attack, and they lack proof that it was planned ahead of time or that the local fighters had any help from the larger al Qaeda affiliate, officials say.
If that proof is found, the White House must decide whether to ask Libyan security forces to arrest the suspects with an eye to extraditing them to the U.S. for trial or to simply target the suspects with U.S. covert action.
U.S. officials say covert action is more likely. The FBI couldn't gain access to the consulate until weeks after the attack, so it is unlikely it will be able to build a strong criminal case. The U.S. is also leery of trusting the arrest and questioning of the suspects to the fledgling Libyan security forces and legal system still building after the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
The burden of proof for U.S. covert action is far lower, but action by the CIA or special operations forces still requires a body of evidence that shows the suspect either took part in the violence or presents a "continuing and persistent, imminent threat" to U.S. targets, current and former officials said.
"If the people who were targeted were themselves directly complicit in this attack or directly affiliated with a group strongly implicated in the attack, then you can make an argument of imminence of threat," said Robert Grenier, 토토 생중계 former director of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center.
But if the U.S. acts alone to target them in Africa, "It raises all kinds of sovereignty issues … and makes people very uncomfortable," said Grenier, who has criticized the CIA's heavy use of drones in Pakistan without that government's support.
Even a strike that happens with permission could prove problematic, especially in Libya or Mali, where al Qaeda supporters are currently based. Both countries have fragile, interim governments that could lose popular support if they are seen allowing the U.S. unfettered access to hunt al Qaeda.
The Libyan government is so wary of the U.S. investigation expanding into unilateral action that it refused requests to arm the drones now being flown over Libya. Libyan officials have complained publicly that they were unaware of how large the U.S. intelligence presence was in Benghazi until a couple of dozen U.S. officials showed up at the airport after the attack, waiting to be evacuated — roughly twice the number of U.S. staff the Libyans thought were there. A number of those waiting to be evacuated worked for U.S. intelligence, according to two American officials.
In Mali, U.S. officials have urged the government to allow special operations trainers to return, to work with Mali's forces to push al Qaeda out of that country's northern area. AQIM is among the groups that filled the power vacuum after a coup by rebellious Malian forces in March.
U.S. special operations forces trainers left Mali just days after the coup. While such trainers have not been invited to return, the U.S. has expanded its intelligence effort on Mali, focusing satellite and spy flights over the contested northern region to track and map the militant groups vying for control of the territory, officials say.


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Warner Bros. Pictures Group Earns Triple Crown for 2010
The Studio Takes This Year's Top Spots in Domestic Market Share with $1.884 Billion; International Market Share with $2.930 Billion; and Worldwide Market Share for the Second Consecutive Year with $4.814 Billion
BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Warner Bros. Pictures Group broke the all-time industry worldwide box office record with a 2010 gross of $4.814 billion, which surpasses the prior record of $4.010 billion (set by Warner Bros. in 2009). The announcement was made today by Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group.
Setting new benchmarks for both the international and global box office grosses in 2010 and retaining the domestic box office number one ranking (after achieving a record gross in 2009), the Studio now holds the industry record in all three categories. Additionally, Warner Bros. surpassed its own worldwide gross from the previous year by $800 million to earn the number one position in worldwide market share for the second consecutive year and for the sixth time in the past 10 years, also an industry record.
"We are so proud of these incredible accomplishments, which were made possible through the global efforts of an exceptional group of people who collaborated to create, produce, market, and distribute more than two dozen films this past year," said Robinov. "We have a terrific leadership team behind these efforts, including Sue Kroll, Dan Fellman and Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, and, along with Barry Meyer and Alan Horn, I applaud everyone who contributed to this year's record-breaking success."
Warner Bros. Pictures' domestic gross is estimated at $1.884 billion, making it number one in domestic market share for 2010. This is the third year in a row the Studio has held that crown and is the only studio to exceed the $1 billion threshold domestically for 10 consecutive years. Warner Bros. has been ranked either one or two domestically for seven of the last 10 years. The Studio had five films gross over $100 million domestically in 2010 – "Inception," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1," "Clash of the Titans," "Valentine's Day," and "Due Date."
"Our tentpole strategy combined with a remarkably diverse overall slate has once again proved enormously profitable at the box office," said Dan Fellman, President, Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures. "We could not be more proud of the Studio's achievements this year."
Warner Bros. Pictures International set a new industry record in overseas box office with an estimated $2.930 billion year-end gross, breaking the previous industry record of $2.450 billion in 2009. This is the tenth consecutive year the Studio has exceeded $1 billion and third time it has surpassed $2 billion in international box office receipts. The Studio has had seven films gross more than $100 million internationally in 2010 – "Sherlock Holmes" ($264 million, for a total of $315 million, including 2009's take); "Valentine's Day" ($106 million); "Clash of the Titans" ($330 million); "Sex and the City 2" ($193 million); "Inception" ($531 million); "Due Date" ($100 million); and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1" ($611 million, and still in release).
"We're elated to reach these incredible numbers internationally," said Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President, Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures International. "This achievement is a testament to the company's strategy to make event films with global appeal, and it would not have been possible without the hard work and innovative thinking from our outstanding marketing and distribution teams around the world."
Among the Studio's 2011 releases are "Red Riding Hood," directed by Catherine Hardwicke; the Zack Snyder-directed action fantasy "Sucker Punch"; "The Hangover Part II," the sequel to the 2009 breakout hit; "Green Lantern," the highly anticipated adaptation of the popular DC Comics title, starring Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively; the conclusion of the most successful film franchise of all time, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2"; "Crazy, Stupid, Love." starring Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling; Steven Soderbergh's thriller "Contagion," with an ensemble cast led by Matt Damon; "Happy Feet 2," the sequel to the 2006 Academy Award®-winning animated musical hit; New Line Cinema's "New Year's Eve," an all-star ensemble romantic comedy from director Garry Marshall; and "Sherlock Holmes II," Guy Ritchie's follow up to the 2009 hit, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.


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Daily Readings for Thursday, February 1, 2024
- Morning Psalms 116; 147:12-20
- First Reading Genesis 23:1-20
- Second Reading Hebrews 11:32-12:2
- Gospel Reading John 6:60-71
- Evening Psalms 26; 130
Morning Psalm 116
1 I love the LORD, because he has heard
my voice and my supplications.
2 Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
4 Then I called on the name of the LORD:
"O LORD, I pray, save my life!"
5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
6 The LORD protects the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
7 Return, O my soul, to your rest,
for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling.
9 I walk before the LORD
in the land of the living.
10 I kept my faith, even when I said,
"I am greatly afflicted";
11 I said in my consternation,
"Everyone is a liar."
12 What shall I return to the LORD
for all his bounty to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD,
14 I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
16 O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.
You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice
and call on the name of the LORD.
18 I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD!
Morning Psalm 147:12-20
12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
he blesses your children within you.
14 He grants peace within your borders;
he fills you with the finest of wheat.
15 He sends out his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool;
he scatters frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down hail like crumbs —
who can stand before his cold?
18 He sends out his word, and melts them;
he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.
19 He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
they do not know his ordinances.
Praise the Lord!
First Reading Genesis 23:1-20
1Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years; this was the length of Sarah's life. 2And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3Abraham rose up from beside his dead, and said to the Hittites, 4"I am a stranger and an alien residing among you; give me property among you for a burying place, so that I may bury my dead out of my sight." 5The Hittites answered Abraham, 6"Hear us, my lord; you are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places; none of us will withhold from you any burial ground for burying your dead." 7Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. 8He said to them, "If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me Ephron son of Zohar, 9so that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as a possession for a burying place." 10Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city, 11"No, my lord, hear me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it; in the presence of my people I give it to you; bury your dead." 12Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. 13He said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, "If you only will listen to me! I will give the price of the field; accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there." 14Ephron answered Abraham, 15"My lord, listen to me; a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver what is that between you and me? Bury your dead." 16Abraham agreed with Ephron; and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.
17So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, passed 18to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, in the presence of all who went in at the gate of his city. 19After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20The field and the cave that is in it passed from the Hittites into Abraham's possession as a burying place.
Second Reading Hebrews 11:32-12:2
32And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. 36Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented 38of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
39Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
Gospel Reading John 6:60-71
60When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?" 61But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, "Does this offend you? 62Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But among you there are some who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. 65And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father."
66Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" 68Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." 70Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil." 71He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
Evening Psalm 26
1 Vindicate me, O LORD,
for I have walked in my integrity,
and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
2 Prove me, O LORD, and try me;
test my heart and mind.
3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
and I walk in faithfulness to you.
4 I do not sit with the worthless,
nor do I consort with hypocrites;
5 I hate the company of evildoers,
and will not sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands in innocence,
and go around your altar, O LORD,
7 singing aloud a song of thanksgiving,
and telling all your wondrous deeds.
8 O LORD, I love the house in which you dwell,
and the place where your glory abides.
9 Do not sweep me away with sinners,
nor my life with the bloodthirsty,
10 those in whose hands are evil devices,
and whose right hands are full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground;
in the great congregation I will bless the LORD.
Evening Psalm 130
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications!
3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the LORD!
For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
8 It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.


text:
Mom and Dad were watching TV when Mom said, "I'm tired, and it's getting late. I think I'll go to bed."
She went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for the next day's lunches, rinsed out the popcorn bowls, took meat out of the freezer for supper the following evening, checked the cereal box levels, filled the sugar container, put spoons and bowls on the table and started the coffee pot for brewing the next morning.
She then put some wet clothes into the dryer, put a load of clothes into the wash, ironed a shirt and secured a loose button. She picked up the newspapers strewn on the floor, picked up the game pieces left on the table, watered the plants, emptied a wastebasket and hung up a towel to dry.
She yawned and stretched and headed for the bedroom. She stopped by the desk and wrote a note to the teacher, counted out some cash for the field trip, and pulled a textbook out from hiding under the chair. She signed a birthday card for a friend, addressed and stamped the envelope and wrote a quick note for the grocery store. She put both near her purse.
Mom then washed her face, put on moisturizer, brushed and flossed her teeth and trimmed her nails. Hubby called, "I thought you were going to bed."
"I'm on my way," she said.
She put some water into the dog's dish and put the cat outside, then made sure the doors were locked. She looked in on each of the kids and turned out a bedside lamp, hung up a shirt, threw some dirty socks in the hamper, and had a brief conversation with the one up still doing homework.
In the bedroom, she set the alarm, laid out clothing for the next day, straightened up the shoe rack. She added three things to her list of things to do for tomorrow.
About that time, hubby turned off the TV and announced to no one in particular "I'm going to bed,", and he did.


text: The Physical Therapist evaluates and provides support to students who need instruction in gross motor control, basic mobility, and balance. The Physical Therapist advises staff in understanding the student's physical capabilities and limitations. Physical therapy may include assisting a student with the use of adaptive equipment or instructing staff as to the safest way to lift or transfer a student. Physical therapy requires a prescription from a physician. Physical therapy gives a student increased support to achieve motor goals related to educational tasks within the classroom environment.