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The history of the band responsible for today's selection needs more explanation than I care to give. Thankfully, Wikipedia has a lengthy explanation behind the phenomenon that is AKB48. For those too lazy to delve into the full version, here's the short of it:
AKB48 is a girl group with 64 members based on the concept of "idols you can meet." The girls, who are from ages fourteen to twenty and over, are broken into four teams of 16 and they perform live every day at their own theater in Akihabara, Tokyo (btw, it's the source of their name A-K-B). They have become insanely popular in Japan and the concept, and the girls, are expanding worldwide.
This week's selection is AKB48's seventeenth single from 2010. Enjoy!
Their appeal really is a mystery, isn't it?


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Meet The Two Leaders of the Anti-Abortion Crusade
The landmark Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, turned 41 years old Wednesday. Each year, on the anniversary of the legal foundation of abortion rights, the anti-abortion squad holds an annual March for Life rally in Washington. And now that the ruling has reached middle age, it might come as a surprise that two of the women at the forefront of the anti-abortion fight are only in their twenties.
Profiled in the Washington Post's Style section, Kristan Hawkins, 28, and Lila Rose, 25, have been described as leaders of the resurgence of the pro-life movement. As an ideology that has often been represented in the media by the bumbling statements of older white men — Todd Akin and Trent Franks, anyone? — Hawkins and Rose represent a big shift.
"Both of them are absolutely pivotal in the shifting tide of the pro-life movement," David Bereit, founder of the organization 40 Days for Life, told the Post. "Until recently, many of the people who formed organizations shortly after the Roe v. Wade ruling were still running the movement."
Hawkins describes herself as an "abortion abolitionist," and has drawn comparisons between her work and the fight against slavery in the 1800s. She's president of Students for Life of America, which bills itself as the largest youth pro-life organization in the country.
"Just like the slavery abolitionists, we're talking about an issue most don't want to discuss," she said while walking through her Manassas office last week with her 6-week-old son, Maverick, strapped to her chest.
She argues that there is no difference between fighting against the holding of men and women in chattel slavery and fighting "to save the pre-born."
"I think they're extremist," she said of supporters of abortion rights. "We have to believe it in our heads that abortion can be abolished."
When Hawkins was just 15, she started volunteering at a pregnancy help center in Steubenville, Ohio, counseling women not to get abortions. Since she took the helm of Students for Life in 2006, the organization has grown from 180 chapters on college campuses to 780.
Hawkins is a very active Twitter user and outspoken commenter on national television, supporting pro-life ideals (like the contested belief that fetuses can feel pain) and railing against Obamacare.
Lila Rose, who founded the organization Live Action when she was 15 years old, relies on a different sort of tactic to get her ideas out there: She sneaks hidden cameras into Planned Parenthood clinics. Rose got her start in the world of undercover video recording with James O'Keefe — whose heavily edited hidden camera footage led to the defunding of liberal political organizing group ACORN — when they secretly filmed a college health center nurse encouraging a "pregnant" Rose to have an abortion.
Rose also exposed Planned Parenthood center staff for pushing her to give false birth dates and ages so that police didn't have to be involved. Planned Parenthood has called her actions "unethical."
In 2008, she raised about $45,000 from council donors to take her undercover stings to several states. She bleached her hair, wore glasses, put on Hannah Montana shoes, and pretended to be 15 and involved in a relationship with an older man.
On video, she caught a clinic staffer saying, "I don't want to know the age." The staff member was later fired, according to news reports.
Rose has a huge following on social media, but was criticized last year for comparing her fight for human life to Malala Yousafzai's quest for peace and education. (Fast-forward to the 14:40 mark in the video.)

subset: commoncrawl


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Driving in New York is a pain enough for most - don't add to it by getting tangled up with a complicated leasing broker who doesn't have your interests in mind. At LeaseCarNY, our revolutionary online broker system allows you to take control of the auto leasing process.
If you are in the market for a new car, truck, minivan, or SUV, leasing may be the ideal option for you. Our auto leasing services allow you to drive a great new vehicle, without the high monthly price typically associated with buying new. Our team of leasing experts can answer all your questions, find you the vehicle of your dreams, and help make sure you don't have any issues at all. No matter what type of car you need, we will find it for you and get your riding in style in no time.
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Hyssop begins at the bottom with just a few stitches, and increases to a wide top edge, after which stitches are picked up along the side edges of the triangle and are worked in a garter border. The lace-and-garter diamonds create a cushy fabric in Aran weight Osprey.
76" [193 cm] wingspan and 30" [76 cm] deep at center
osprey / storm 104 / 5 skeins
32" circular in size US 9 [5.5 mm]
12 sts and 20 rows = 4" [10 cm] in stitch pattern, after blocking
Long-tail cast on, picking up stitches, increasing, decreasing. Line-by-line instructions included.
Note: Pattern is not available for individual sale.


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Cross+Morse stock Classical Series Timing Belts in sizes XL (1/5"), L (3/8") and H (1/2") in most standard widths and lengths. Our pulleys are available in a number of stock widths and large selection of tooth sizes for maximum versatility, in pilot or taper bore form.View Product Download PDF
Timing Belt Drives
Cross+Morse Timing Belt Drives take their place in industry as a highly efficient, job proven medium for mechanical power transmission. Because these drives combine many important exclusive characteristics, they present an entirely different concept in the transmission of power.


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To place your ad, email email@example.com. Ads start at $1 per day, minimum seven days.
Former Wilmerding Y to Reopen as Community Center
By Richard Finch Jr.
The Tube City Almanac
January 22, 2019
Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
The Wilmerding YMCA was expanded in 2006 at a cost of $750,000. (Photo copyright Penner & Associates.)
The former Wilmerding YMCA is scheduled to re-open early this year as the new Wilmerding Community Center, Inc., according to Peter McGinty, the center's executive director.
The center, located on Ice Plant Hill Road, features a fitness center, swimming pool, child care day camps and the Silver Sneakers program.
At Wednesday's meeting of the North Versailles Twp. commissioners, McGinty said the new community center will need the support of all of the area communities.
"That's why I'm here at North Versailles," McGinty told the commissioners. "I met with the school district, I spoke with the East Allegheny Business Association and met with (state Sen.) Jim Brewster and (state Rep. Joe) Markosek."
The center will be applying for funds from the state and working on additional fundraising as well, he said.
The YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh closed the Wilmerding Y in August 2018 as a result of the Y's reorganization in federal bankruptcy court, which began last May.
"We formed a corporation to undertake the process of reopening what was the YMCA, after the YMCA of Pittsburgh moved out of the facility," McGinty said. "We anticipate opening the facility in full capacity sometime late March or early April."
One of the programs the community has missed is the Silver Sneakers program, which provides fitness classes for older adults. McGinty called it "a component of what this community really needs and desires."
Wilmerding Borough owns the building and will lease the facility to the community center. McGinty said the center applied for federal tax-exempt, charitable status under 501(c)(3) of the tax code.
"We expect to have that (status) very shortly, so we can accept donations," McGinty said.
McGinty said the borough will use the building as collateral to help with equipment, the pool will be repaired, and a parking lot lease is being worked out.
"Adult membership fees are expected to be about $30 per month, which is very competitive to what it was, and will include (fitness) classes and so forth," he said.
"We're excited that we can bring the facility back (open) to the community," McGinty said.
Richard Finch Jr. is a freelance writer who covers news from McKeesport Area School District and North Versailles Twp. for Tube City Almanac. He may be reached at email@example.com.
Originally published January 22, 2019.
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