Lauren Durham Arts & Entertainment Editor

Now that the days of watching lectures and tuning into awkward class zooms are behind us, whats next?

Youve already baked banana bread (a few times), downloaded a fitness app, and if you take your dog for one more walk around your neighborhood, you might just lose it.Thats where I am. I was describing myself.

Between searching for a part-time job and napping, Ive started a few new hobbies that I would never have had time for otherwise, including leisurely reading. Have you ever been so bored that your parents suggested you read a book? Again, I have.

I took my parents advice and opened a book or two most of which Ive wanted to read for awhile but havent had the time to do so. Heres a list of my favorites that not only make for good quarantine/summer reads, but they might also add a bit of positivity to your monotonous routine.

Becoming by Michelle Obama

Former first lady Michelle Obama eloquently describes her life starting from her childhood through the inauguration of her husbands successor. She details everything from how she met Barack to the redecorating of the White House.

The book was recently turned into a documentary on Netflix thanks to its success. Although the memoir is lengthy, I highly suggest reading it whether you are a huge fan of Michelle or not. Hearing events from her perspective provides an interesting outlook of the country, especially at a time when a lot of us were too young to fully understand what electing a black man into office truly meant.

I laughed, cried, and mostly just missed the Obamas.

Tip: If you can get the book as an audiobook, do it. Michelle is the narrator, and her voice adds a whole other level of intimacy and intrigue to her stories.

The Subtle Art of Giving a F*** by Mark Manson

Typically, the title of this book catches peoples attention right away, including mine.

Author Mark Manson describes his second book saying, Its the self-help book for people who hate self-help. Its as much a pat on the back as a slap in the face. Its the first truly no BS guide to flourishing in a crazy, crazy world. https://markmanson.net/books/subtle-art

Being the people-pleaser that I am, the idea of not caring so much sounded pretty good to me. So far, the book has not disappointed. If youre looking for a little motivation or just want to stop feeling sorry for yourself, give it a go.

Educated by Tara Westover

This memoir blew my mind when I read it last summer. My boyfriend, best friend, and grandma all happened to read it around the same time as me. I debriefed the book with each of them multiple times afterward.

Author Tara Westover details her childhood of seclusion from the modern world one where schools are not to be trusted and the only useful medicinal remedies are herbs. Westover educated herself, which eventually propelled herself into the world of prestigious academia. Her compelling tone and incredible journey are both thrilling and endearing.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Whos watched this on Hulu? Its nearly impossible to read the book without picturing Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington as the two female leads, but Im not complaining.

This novel explores motherhood, race, and wealth during the 1990s, but the themes are ever-so-relevant today.

If youre a Clevelander or are familiar with the city, you may recognize the novels setting of Shaker Heights. My grandma, who grew up in a nearby suburb, promises that author Celeste Ng describes the area to a T.

Cravings by Chrissy Teigen

Chrissy Teigens cooking videos on Instagram and Twitter convinced me to read her infamous cookbook, and I was not disappointed.

Cravings has everything from French Toast Casserole with Salted Frosted Flakes to Actual Drunken Noodles. My personal favorite is Teigens Lemony Arugula Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe. Pasta, pancetta, parmesan, and lemon whats not to like?

If youve already read Cravings, feel free to graduate up to her second installment, Cravings: Hungry for More.

Tip: If youre not willing to pay almost $20 on the cookbooks, she sometimes posts recipes on her social media accounts. Keep an eye out.

Happy reading and happy summer.

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5 books to read this summer Flyer News: Univ. of Dayton's Student Newspaper - Flyer News

More hospital customers are choosing digital self-service. A promising trend emerging from the COVID-19 crisis

LAFAYETTE, Calif. (PRWEB) June 03, 2020

Because of COVID-19, the nature of the healthcare marketplace in America is changing. What were merely developing trends among patients and payers a few long months ago have quickly become realities. Assumptions about the economics of healthcare delivery have been rendered invalid. The healthcare marketplace emerging from the COVID-19 crisis is more dependent on patient choice, more technology-driven and better able to absorb unpredictable events such as those the crisis continues to throw healthcares way.

In research published recently by Forrester, analysts noted that, Consumers have long awaited a better way to understand where to go for care. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated this problem on a national stage. Yet self-triage solutions which provide actionable recommendations to users on what to do next are poised to become a mainstay of the digital front door in healthcare. Their findings go on to point out that as, organizations optimize these tools, its imperative for them to design experiences that reassure consumers, use clear and concise language, and provide seamless and actionable recommendations

The digital front door this research refers to is healthcares equivalent to any other consumer-facing companys website - more specifically their customer portal. With detailed descriptions of the products and services offered, pricing for those products and services and links to the reviews of other consumers, digital front doors give consumers the information they need to make informed choices about who their healthcare provider will be and how their care will be delivered.

For many of these consumers, financial matters will be nearly as important as medical considerations when choosing a healthcare provider. Even before the pandemic crisis, healthcare provider performance had been negatively impacted by the industrys growing reliance on patients as a principle source of revenue. With more than one third of industry revenue now coming direct from patients pockets, many providers were dealing with the financial consequences of lower patient volumes and higher patient bad debt. With more than forty million now newly unemployed, those consequences are likely to get much worse.

Hospitals and other providers write off billions in patient bad debt each year. Additionally, they risk alienating patients (and their recurring revenue potential) by outsourcing patient debt collection to early-out and other vendors whose commitment to patient/customer care may not measure up to patients expectations of their healthcare provider. Because providers existing revenue cycle systems were built for an age when most provider revenue came from insurers, many institutions lack the systems and know-how to effectively engage with their patients financially. In the new healthcare marketplace, that model must give way to more customer-centric models in order to compete and survive, let alone prosper.

For healthcare, financial sustainability will depend on providers ability to step up to their patients expectations. Expectations that have evolved rapidly during the COVID-19 crisis. The explosive growth of telehealth resulting from the crisis is an apt example of just how rapid. According to a CNBC article published in April, 2020, The adoption of telehealth shifted into hyper-drive over the past month, with virtual healthcare interactions on pace to top 1 billion by years end. It goes on to point out that, Analysts now expect general medical care visits to top 200 million this year, up sharply from their original expectation of 36 million for all of 2020."

Many other segments of the American economy have been transformed by digital customer engagement - driving additional revenue streams, larger wallet share and meaningful opportunities to extend brands into profitable adjacencies. Healthcare, on the other hand, has been slow to respond to the digital customer/patient engagement revolution. They point to the relatively low engagement experienced on their existing patient portals, concluding that healthcare consumers dont expect or care to engage with their providers digitally. That conclusion is distorted by the simple fact that many provider portals simply fail to deliver the customer experience patients have grown to expect.

COVID-19 Accelerates the Digital Consumer Engagement Trend

According to survey research recently published by the Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP), The ongoing public health crisis is causing an unprecedented shift in the way Americans view and access healthcare. These shifts include widespread aversion to in-person visits to a doctors office and delays in seeking care - over the last three months and into the future. One bright spot noted in the patient survey results is that 28 percent of respondents have used some type of virtual care in the past three months, nearly tripling previously documented averages. Importantly, 89 percent of these telehealth users were satisfied with the experience.

For decades, healthcare has held itself apart from other consumer industries, assuming that it was immune to the competitive and market pressures that were commonplace in automotive and retail among others. For a long time, that assumption appeared to be sound. But as healthcares dependence on patient-directed revenue has soared, so has the impact of patient preference and behavior on healthcare operating performance - from increased patient bad debt to ever-higher revenue cycle costs and a growing susceptibility to pressures from competitors. Some old, some new. Many offering better value and convenience. These include powerful new entrants to healthcare such as CVS Health, Walgreens, Walmart and others.

Again, we believe it is essential for healthcare providers to consider not just their primary solutions - medical care - but all the other patient deliverables associated with the delivery of that care. In that light, for the reasons listed above, patient financial experiences must be included in providers digital engagement strategies. This is especially true now during the COVID-19 crisis, as providers face potentially disastrous disruptions in costs and revenue. Why? Because, as timely as these digital solutions are in meeting the demands of patients/customers, they also hold the potential to immediately begin saving hospitals and health systems millions in unnecessary, often overlooked expenses.

Our company, Loyale Healthcare, routinely analyzes healthcare provider revenue cycle performance to calculate potential savings for companies that convert to digital patient financial engagement. These companies consistently show cost take-outs in the tens of millions per year. These are savings that begin to accumulate in as little as 90-days following adoption. Better still, digital revenue cycle systems give providers the flexibility and scale theyll need as more ordinary operations begin to ramp up. Longer-term, digital patient financial engagement gives providers an enduring competitive advantage with the adaptability to conform to evolving patient expectations.

Under the formidable threat of COVID-19, the American healthcare industry has demonstrated an astonishing capacity for innovation. Embracing new ideas, leveraging technology and working tirelessly at breakneck pace - health systems, hospitals and the caregivers they employ have been a highlight in a troubling time. Its time to extend the lessons learned from these experiments into the next phase - making the most of what healthcare has learned to improve every dimension of the patients healthcare experience - today and ten years into the future.

Kevin Fleming is the CEO of Loyale Healthcare.

About Loyale

Loyale Patient Financial Manager is a comprehensive patient financial engagement technology platform leveraging a suite of configurable solution components including predictive analytics, intelligent workflows, multiple patient financing vehicles, communications, payments, digital front doors and other key capabilities.

Loyale Healthcare is committed to a mission of turning patient responsibility into lasting loyalty for its healthcare provider customers. Based in Lafayette, California, Loyale and its leadership team bring 27 years of expertise delivering leading financial engagement solutions for complex business environments. Loyale currently serves approximately 12,000 healthcare providers across 48 states. Loyale is proud to have an enterprise-level strategic partnership with Parallon which includes the deployment of Loyales industry leading technology at all HCA hospitals and Physician Groups.

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To Recover After COVID-19, Healthcare Providers Must Advance Tools for Patient Self-Help - Industry Analysis by Loyale Healthcare - PR Web

The world today is grappling with an unprecedented health crisis, forcing people to stay in their private spaces. India has also finished the fourth phase of its Covid-19 induced lockdown. As the World Bank has warned that India might see the lowest growth rate this fiscal since the liberalization of 1991, the devastating economic impacts of the lockdown have received much attention.

However, the lockdown has had some unexpected social impacts as well. This article analyses these social impacts with a specific focus on the physical autonomy of women in India. While domestic violence is an outcome of deep-rooted gender issues, the lack of physical autonomy has also increased it manifold. The United Nations agency for sexual and reproductive health (UNFPA) has estimated that there would be 31 million more cases of domestic violence worldwide if lockdowns continue for another six months. Closer home, the data provided by the National Commission of Women (NCW ) in mid April, suggested an almost 100 per cent increase in domestic violence cases during the lockdown. There are a number of reasons why reduced physical autonomy results in increased domestic violence cases.

The victims, unlike in the prelockdown period, are unable to move out of their homes in cases of an attack. They are unable to go to their friends or return to their maternal homes when in need of help or protection. As they are forced to constantly share a common space with their abuser, they are unable to make distress calls to NGOs or government help lines. In a number of cases, women are unable to alert the authorities even when they can because most women do not have access to internet. Lockdown has cancelled out the possibility of physically meeting an NGO or the police. This can be attributed as a major reason for reduced number of cases being reported in certain states and from specific strata of the society.

Lack of movement has resulted in reduced access to the public space. Women are now unable to be part of their Self Help Groups, Mahila Mandals or Chaupals. Those working as daily wage labourers or domestic workers have been left unemployed. This has resulted in a loss of economic independence for these women. With nothing to contribute to the family income, women are facing issues of reduced self esteem and loss of voice in family decisions. With no participation in these women groups, they have also lost an emotional support group. They have been left alone to handle issues of physical, mental and sexual abuses, further resulting in reduced self confidence. Collective women organisations had a positive impact on the level of women empowerment; sudden loss of access to these organisations can have a reverse impact of subordination. Under the present circumstances, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has expressed the possibility of 7 million unwanted pregnancies, if the lockdown lasts for 6 months.

Sexual abuse by intimate partners is on a rise. However, with reduced physical autonomy due to the lockdown, womens authority to take a reproductive decision has gone down. This is because there is an inverse relation between autonomy and fertility rates. According to Davis and Moore (1983), wherever women were offered greater autonomy to earn or participate in decision making the fertility rate was comparatively lower. In addition to this, a study published in the International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health states that collective gatherings of women, either as SHG or Mahila Mandals, provide a platform to enhance their health through increased knowledge and access to contraceptive tools under various government and NGO initiatives. The access to these contraceptives has reduced manifold due to the lockdown.

With financial pressures in the family, it is highly unlikely the family will spend on contraceptives or abortions. This can further result in unsafe abortions and an increased maternal mortality rate. The restricted physical autonomy is thus robbing women of their fundamental human right, the right to reproductive control. Also, since regulation and control over womens sexuality and reproductive capabilities is the basis of patriarchal ideology, women are, thus, left exploited, helpless and increasingly subjugated. It is this subjugation that develops a sense of insecurity among women. As a result women are left bound to home, felling economically exploited and socially suppressed. This leaves them dependent on men, thus giving the ideology of patriarchy a base to grow upon.

(The writers are, respectively, a postgraduate student at Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics and a Junior Research Fellow at International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai)

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Virus hits autonomy of women - The Statesman

SPRINGFIELD Parents in local communities are facing a common conundrum during the COVID-19 pandemic: how can they manage their childrens emotional and social needs while maintaining responsible social distancing practices?

Mental Health Recovery Board of Clark, Greene & Madison Counties (MHRB) recommends parents focus on building resiliency in their children.

Our childrens mental health is also being impacted because our daily lives have changed drastically during the pandemic, but for their physical safety we must continue to observe social distancing measures. For parents, that can feel like an impossible situation, especially with warmer weather and young people wanting to spend time with friends or playing sports, said Greta Mayer, CEO of MHRB. We know that children feel stress and take their emotional cues from adults. Without a way to talk about it and manage it in healthy ways, childhood stress can negatively impact a persons health and mental well-being well into adulthood. But fortunately, learning how to be resilient from an early age can do the opposite: promote both physical and mental health now and in the future.

Mayer shared these actionable ways parents and guardians can help their children become more resilient while staying at home:

1. Build strong emotional connections

Having a strong social network can help support your children through their inevitable disappointments and hurts. Its important to promote both the development of new relationships (like making friends) and strengthening of existing ones (as with parents and relatives). Encourage kids to reach out to a classmate they dont know very well, maybe to play a video game together or chat. While it is stressful to manage both work and family from home, putting down the smart devices occasionally and interacting one-on-one releases feel-good chemicals in the brain and helps us feel more connected.

2. Be a helper

Just like adults, children can feel empowered by helping others. Ask them for assistance with a task they can master or have them brainstorm ways they can help a friend or neighbor while observing social distancing like delivering cookies on a rainy day or mailing a happy note.

3. Stick to a regular routine

Maintaining a daily routine can be comforting for young people and families which creates consistency and feels reassuring. But too rigid of a schedule can be stressful too, so its OK to teach kids to step away when things get overwhelming, like taking a break from a challenging task to go outside, do something creative or physical.

4. Demonstrate self-care and mindfulness

Remembering to eat, drink water, exercise, and sleep is tough enough for adults, but its no secret that children learn by example. Parents can improve their own mental health while helping their kids learn the importance of self-care by making time to eat together, play outside and relax. Practicing and teaching mindfulness, such as deep breathing and grounding exercises, can also help children cope with bouts of anxiety or stress.

5. Encourage healthy risk-taking and self-discovery

A healthy risk pushes a child to go outside of their comfort zone but results in very little harm if they are unsuccessful. Taking a healthy risk at home like trying a new hobby can help kids discover new interests and embrace their strengths. Embrace the moments that dont go well, too learning to see their mistakes as a learning experience helps kids develop a growth mindset.

6. Teach problem-solving skills

Your child should know that its OK to ask for help, and that they have help when they need it. But parents can help their child gain a sense of self-confidence during stressful times by engaging in the process of solving problems, such as brainstorming possibilities and exploring the pros and cons of different solutions.

7. Always maintain hope

Its OK to acknowledge the negative feelings your child might be experiencing. Noticing when your child seems distressed, being a careful listener to find out what has led to these feelings, and by talking about it, helps children begin to recognize their own feelings and learn how to express negative emotions in a healthy way. But parents can nurture optimism in their child by helping them view the situation in a broader context and keep a long-term perspective.

Change can be scary, even for grown-ups, and its important for children to know that, said Mayer. But its also important for children to see that change is a normal part of life and that there are healthy ways to cope, such as setting new goals when old ones become unattainable.

For more information about mental health and substance use resources in Clark, Greene and Madison counties, visit the MHRB website at http://www.mhrb.org.

https://www.beavercreeknewscurrent.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/49/2020/06/web1_MHRB.jpg

Building resilience key for long-term mental health, physical wellness

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MHRB shares 7 ways to help children cope with stress - beavercreeknewscurrent.com

Ann Coulter went on an early Sunday morning Twitter tear, calling President Donald Trump the most disloyal actual retard that has ever set foot in the Oval Office.

The far-right media pundit and former Trump defender was triggered by the presidents Friday tweet in which he called for Alabama voters to not trust Jeff Sessions and instead put their support behind Sessions Republican Senate seat challenger, football coach Tommy Tuberville.

3 years ago, after Jeff Sessions recused himself, the Fraudulent Mueller Scam began. Alabama, do not trust Jeff Sessions. He let our Country down. Thats why I endorsed Coach Tommy Tuberville (@TTuberville), the true supporter of our #MAGA agenda!, Trump tweeted.

And that set off Coulter, who called Trump a moron, retard and lout, who was incapable of pretending to be a decent, compassionate human being.

Also Read: Trump Rails Against Fox News As Latest Poll Shows Him Down

Also Read: Trump Says He 'Tested Positively' for Testing Negative for Coronavirus

Coulter capped off her rant by affirming the issues that Trump stood behind as a candidate but that she feels he has abandoned since entering the White House. The commentator, who published a book in 2016 titled In Trump We Trust, added that she regrets once believing in this shallow and broken man.

Also Read: MSNBC's Joe Scarborough: Trump Is Acting Like He Doesn't Want to Be Re-Elected (Video)

During the 2016 presidential primary and into Trumps early years in the White House, Coulter championed the real estate mogul and his political agenda. She has since distanced herself from him over immigration policies, an issue which prompted her to support Sessions, who served as Trumps first attorney general.

In February 2019, Trump declared a national emergency at the Southern border, while pushing himself away from Coulter. She responded by saying that the only national emergency is that our president is an idiot.

Jim Carrey has made his disdain for the current state of politics an artform... literally. The Oscar-nominated actor-turned-artist's series of drawings depict all that he believes to be wrong in D.C., from foreign policy to immigration to the GOP in general. But his biggest gripe goes right to the top with President Trump himself. Here are just a few of his many objets d'art that lay out his discontent for all to see.

May 14, 2020

"When America needed masks Fox 'News' gave them blindfolds"

May 11, 2020

"Grim Reaper officially jealous of Trump and GOP's ability to double the death toll"

April 29, 2020

"Trumps next medical breakthrough: 'Want COVID out? SHOUT IT OUT!'"

March 26, 2020

"Trump is willing to risk countless lives to save his economic record. He has fully become the mayor from Jaws."

March 24, 2020

"As cases of COVID-19 double every three days in NYC, the President reassures Wall Street that he can handle the important tissues."

Dec. 18, 2019

"That night, Donald had a very strange dream."

Dec. 4, 2019

"Like Captain Ahab, obsessed by a white whale of earthly dominance, Trump beckons all those who enable his madness to their doom. Will we awaken to the truth or ignore our own senses and blindly follow a maniac into the abyss? Me? 'They call me Ishmael!'"

Nov. 21, 2019

"His reign will soon be over. Woe to the loyal subjects of this counterfeit king."

Nov. 19, 2019

"Just another profile in cowardice."

Nov. 18, 2019

"#GOPU"

Nov. 14, 2019

"#GOPU"

Nov. 11, 2019

"Hope you had a great Veterans Day! I pray in the future that our soldiers will have a real leader, not a coward or a lying thieving draft dodging pirate with tiny man parts [ALLEGEDLY]! But hey, maybe next year - if justice prevails."

Oct. 26, 2019

"SCIF of Fools"

Oct. 6, 2019

"The Fraudfather made Zelensky 'an offer he couldnt refuse.'"

Sept. 27, 2019

Rise up! Rise up armies of darkness! Bring me the whistleblowers, that I might suck the marrow from their bones and build my border wall with their traitorous skulls!!! If you wanna call that witness intimidation, fine.

Sept. 26, 2019

"Yippie-ki-yay MF!"

Sept. 13, 2019

"Hey, Nancy Pelosi: Theres something on the wing! Some THING! You may wanna grit your teeth and cross your fingers while this gremlin rips the engines apart - but the rest of us want to live. START THE HEARINGS! IMPEACH THIS ANIMAL!!"

Sept. 11, 2019

"Who will be the new National Security Advisor? Will it be The Hamburglar, or is he better suited to take on climate change? When it comes to horrible options, Trumps bench runs deep. BTW youre paying for the burgers."

Sept. 5, 2019

"#sharpiegate"

Sept. 4, 2019

"10,000 gun deaths in 2019 and the year is far from over. What Osama bin Laden did to us was terrible but he doesnt hold a candle to Mitch McConnell."

Sept. 3, 2019

"United Sadists of America."

June 30, 2019

"Guilty Loser Donald Trump isnt rich. Being heartless, untrustworthy and made of dirty money is the worst kind of poverty there is. So cast your vote like youre worth something and let the angels dispose of this waste."

June 18, 2019

"Go ahead McGahn...throw your body on his grenade. Sacrifice your integrity (assuming you have any) while he publicly calls you a liar and perjurer. John Dean helped bring down a criminal President. Ask yourself if your face is worth saving."

April 28, 2019

"You let us down Mr. Mueller. You saw obstruction and washed your hands of it. Not indicting a President is a memo, not a law. You let a tyrant skate with 'I dont remember.' You gave the enemy a leg up. Live with that...'PROSECUTOR'"

April 24, 2019

"Lets all drink a toast to the new king of lies, and the minions who help him while democracy dies, and our kids wholl be taught that the wicked are wise because Potus was Jack from Lord of The Flies. How much poison are you willing to swallow?!"

April 18, 2019

"It's not illegal for Trumps head to spin around while he vomits copious amounts of green bile either, but hes definitely not fit to be President, hes definitely not exonerated and Barr definitely couldnt go any lower."

March 17, 2019 "Innocent people are now being slaughtered, families ruined and childrens' lives destroyed. All in his name. If the Craven Republican Senate allows this vile miscreant to continue encouraging devisiveness, the 'Trump Presidency' will become an EXTINCTION LEVEL EVENT."

Feb, 27, 2019 "If Trump makes a nuclear deal w/ North Korea, it's a FRAUD: China and Russia trying to keep their Prize Pony in the White House. When there's a Nobel Prize for cowardice and moral desolation Trump will be the first to receive it."

Jan. 30, 2019

"The New American Dream! Get rid of this filth and bring our blue skies back."

Jan. 10, 2019

"34 journalists were murdered last year because tyrants like Trump demonized them for doing their jobs. Maybe this year he'll get a new bone saw for his bday from his pal, the Saudi Slayer, and they can chop up the next body together. That's what 'fiends' are for!"

Jan. 8, 2019

"When Trump tries to frighten and decieve the nation tonight, remember to follow every sentence that comes out of his mouth with, "HE LIED!" (7000 + so far) Don't let him turn you into a clown, too busy juggling his lies to see the edge of the cliff."

Dec. 31, 2018

"One last tweet about this Stinker for 2018. Remember -- no matter what #PresidentNeverWas says in the New Year... THIS IS NOT A PIE. Happy New Year, Everyone!"

Dec. 21, 2018

"WE'RE LOSING HER!"

Dec. 14, 2018

"Now an innocent seven-year-old girl has died of medical neglect because of Trumps sadism at the border. If theres a Hell..."

Dec. 13, 2018

"Oh oh, Domino!"

Dec. 2, 2018

"Ain't nuthin but a G-20 thing, baaaabay!"

Nov. 15, 2018

"As the California death toll rises our Sadist-in-Chief is spending $220 million to send troops to the border for nothing. Thats one way to get rid of Democrats. This is no longer politics. This is manslaughter."

Nov. 11, 2018

"Guess who cut the funding for fire management in California then blamed the fires on mismanagement? How do YOU spell infantile?!"

Nov. 6, 2018

"Shameless lies. Endless indictments. The rise of racist hate groups. Kidnapped children. Contempt for rule of law - and quite possibly TREASON. Let's end this ill-wind that's blowing America off-balance and turning us against each other. VOTE DEMOCRAT!"

Oct. 30, 2018

"The GOP are now completely invested in Trump's economy of LIES. They say they're gonna give you HEALTHCARE while working to destroy it. They make up lies about refugees while KIDNAPPING INNOCENT CHILDREN! Vote Democrat. Help save the future. DON'T FOLLOW THE RED HAT TO HELL!"

Oct. 12, 2018

"From the bowels of the White House he shrieked, hurled curses and tweeted bile -- because that's what demons do. YOU are the Exorcist. Vote Democrat for goodness' sake."

Sept. 25, 2018

"The monster is out of control. Vote for your lives!"

Sept. 2, 2018

"Donald Trump is now inciting civil unrest at his rallies, threatening the safety of our citizens. A real President doesnt do this. A real congress wont allow him to."

Aug. 21, 2018

"Manafort, GUILTY! Cohen, GUILTY! Flynn, Guilty! Gates, Guilty! What's happening to All the Best People? 'Ladies and Gentlemen! Children of all ages! Can the Great Spewdini spew enough lies to escape the straight-jacket of his un-Presidented criminality?'"

Aug. 18, 2018

"Down and down they went. Lower than any administration in history. Arthritic knees creaking and burning, Giuliani's hammy thighs chafing in the wet heat of his Master's crypt. It seemed like the bottom was nowhere in sight."

Aug. 17, 2018

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Ann Coulter Turns on Disloyal Actual Retard Trump in ...

Even racists are criticizing President Donald Trump's responseor lack thereofto the murder of unarmed Black man George Floyd by police.

With unrest overtaking the United States in response to the murder, Trump referred to protestors as "thugs" before ultimately turning off the exterior lights of the White House and hiding in the underground bunker.

Trump's eagerness to recede from public in the face of demonstrations in front of the White House prompted far-Right author Ann Coulterwhose own racism has given her notoriety in Republican circlesto tweet a cheeky rebuke of Trump.

Coulter jokingly mused that Trump had secretly resigned.

On Monday, Trump chastised governors for being what he described as "weak." He then called for the imprisonment of protestors for as much as 10 years.

Ironically enough, Trump's own responsecowering in an underground bunker of a darkened White Housewas considered the actual weak response.

For once, people found themselves agreeing with Coulter.

Though some are surprised at Coulter's criticism, she's actually been a critic of Trump for some time now. While most people criticize Trump for stoking the flames of racism and bigoted anger, Coulter criticizes him for not being racist enough, especially when it comes to his failure to build the long-promised wall at the southern border.

She wasn't the only one who felt Trump's response was weak.

Where is the President?

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Ann Coulter Perfectly Mocks Trump's Absence of Leadership in This Time of Crisis With Savage Tweet for the Ages - Second Nexus

Antifa shortfor"anti-fascist" is the name for loosely affiliated, left-leaninganti-racist groups that monitor and track the activities of local neo-Nazis. The movement has no unified structureor national leadershipbut has emerged in the form of local bodiesnationwide, particularly on theWest Coast.

Some of the groups, such as the 10-year-old Rose City Antifa in Portland, the oldest antifa group in the U.S.,are particularly well-organized andactive online and onFacebook,while its members are individually anonymous.

President Trump has singled out antifa as part of what he calls the alt-left in his initial claim that "many sides" were to blame for violence in Charlottesville the weekend of Aug. 12, not just the neo-Nazis, KKK and white nationalists.

How is it pronounced?

"AN-tifa" with the emphasis on the first syllable, which sounds more like "on" in English than "an."

When did it start?

Anti-fascist groups, particularly in Europe, have been around for many decades, notably in Italy, against Mussolini, and in Germany, against Hitler. In the postwar period, antifa groups resurgedto fightneo-Nazi groups, particularly in Germany. In the U.S., the anti-fascist movements grew out ofleftist politics of the late '80s,primarily under theumbrellaof Anti-Racist Action.

What does the movementwant?

Theprimary goal is to stopneo-Nazis and white supremacists fromgaining a platform rather than to promotea specific antifa agenda. The antifa groups aredecidedly anti-racist, anti-sexistand anti-homophobia, but also by and large socially leftistand anti-capitalist.

How do the groupsoperate?

Mark Bray, a lecturer and Dartmouth andauthor of the new book Antifa: The Antifascist Handbook,says the groups "organize educational campaigns, build community coalitions, monitor fascists, pressure venues to cancel their events, organize self-defense trainingsand physically confront the far right when necessary."

A main goal is to try to deny fascists a public forum, which is why they turn out in numbers to physically confrontneo-Nazis, the KKKand white supremacists atpublic demonstrations. They also step in to protect counter-protesters at such events.

In addition, antifa is particularly active in"doxxing," or identifying neo-Nazis and like-minded individuals and disseminatingthat private information to the public and employers to discourage people from joining their ranks.

Is antifaviolent?

Memberspointedly do not eschew violencebut rather see themselves as engaging in "self-defense," protecting other protesters and primarily confronting neo-Nazis and white supremacists to deny them a platform to publicly spread their views.

"We are unapologetic about the reality that fighting fascism at points requires physical militancy, Rose City Antifas Facebook page reads. Anti-fascism is, by nature, a form of self-defense: the goal of fascism is to exterminate the vast majority of human beings.

Political activist and author Cornel West, speaking to Amy Goodman on the program Democracy Now about the clashes in Charlottesville, saidantifa intervened when the "neofascists" move against his group of protesters."We would havebeen crushed like cockroaches if it were not for the anarchistsand the anti-fascists," he said.

Bray says the riseof fascism in the 1930s demonstrates that it wasa mistake to allow such groups to air their views in hopes that public opinion would blunt their growth."We should be wary of those who are more distressed about alleged violations of the speech of fascists than the actual violence they perpetrate," he says.

Where has the movementdemonstrated?

In addition to Charlottesville, antifa forces, whooften dress inblack and wearmasks, have confronted or clashed with far-right groups in such places as the University of California at Berkeley,where protests by West Coast antifa forces, some of whomsmashedwindows and setfires,forced the cancellation of aspeech by alt-right activistMilo Yiannopoulos in Februaryand another by conservative commentator Ann Coulter in April.

In June, antifa forces turned out to protest a pro-Trump free-speech in Portland. Some antifa counterprotestersbegan throwing objects at police, who responded with flash grenades and pepper balls, according to the The Oregonian.

Antifa was also out in force in Juneto confrontPatriot Prayer, a free speech groupprotesting political correctness and hatred at Evergreen State Collegein Olympia, Wash.

Read more from the original source:

What is antifa and what does the movement want? - The Glen Rose Reporter

Go is considered the most challenging board game ever devised by man. Invented in China near 3000 years ago, it also remains one of the most popular. Although it may appear like a deceptively simple version of chess at first, the game demands an incredible intensity of concentration, smarts, strategy and intuition. The variations of game play are infinite. Its challenges represent much more than a game of play in many circles; some consider it a great art and a defining human endeavor. As one of the world's most intellectually demanding games, Go constitutes a major goalpost in the world of artificial intelligence as well. AlphaGo is a thrilling feature-length documentary which chronicles the first match-ups between a human champion of the game and an AI opponent.

The computer program known as AlphaGo was devised by Deep Mind Technologies. Their efforts to master the game through artificial intelligence is about much more than mere fun and games; they hope they can apply these same self-learning technologies to resolve more meaningful issues and challenges that mystify and trouble the human species. But first, in order to prove its competence, they must put their program through the ultimate test.

Enter Lee Sedol, a South Korean Go champion of unparalleled skill. Seen as "the ultimate human versus machine smackdown", the match generated a global media frenzy. Sedol is a creative player of great ingenuity and instinct. He entered the match with extreme confidence while the designers of the program expressed uncertainty of the outcome. The film depicts the journey to that outcome with all the nail-biting tension of a Rocky film.

In the lead-up to the championship bout, the film traces the origins of Go and its consistent prominence around the world today, and how it defines the lives and philosophies of its players. We also follow the efforts of programmers and designers in crafting a more efficient and competitive form of AI.

By the conclusion of this captivating documentary, AlphaGo raises even deeper issues about our relationships to these technologies, how they challenge us to make more of ourselves or question the limitations of our own species. What can we learn from them and vice versa?

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AlphaGo - Top Documentary Films

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AlphaGo: Trailer 1

With more board configurations than there are atoms in the universe, the ancient Chinese game of 'Go' has long been considered a grand challenge for artificial intelligence. On March 9 2016, the worlds of Go and artificial intelligence collided in South Korea for an extraordinary best-of-five-game competition, coined The Google DeepMind Challenge Match. Hundreds of millions of people around the world watched as a legendary Go master took on an unproven AI challenger for the first time in history. AlphaGo chronicles a journey from the halls of Cambridge, through the backstreets of Bordeaux, past the coding terminals of DeepMind in London, and, ultimately, to the seven-day tournament in Seoul. As the drama unfolds, more questions emerge: What can artificial intelligence reveal about a 3000-year-old game? What can it teach us about humanity?

Rating:

NR

Genre:

Documentary

Directed By:

In Theaters:

Sep 29, 2017 limited

Runtime:

90 minutes

Studio:

Reel As Dirt

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AlphaGo (2017) - Rotten Tomatoes

Google Deepmind head Demis Hassabis speaks during a press conference ahead of the Google DeepMind Challenge Match in Seoul on March 8, 2016.

Jung Yeon-Je | AFP |Getty Images | Getty Images

In 2016, DeepMind, an Alphabet-owned AI unit headquartered in London, was riding a wave of publicity thanks to AlphaGo, its computer program that took on the best player in the world at the ancient Asian board game Go and won.

Photos of DeepMind's leader, Demis Hassabis, were splashed across the front pages of newspapers and websites, and Netflix even went on to make a documentary about the five-game Go match between AlphaGo and world champion Lee SeDol. Fast-forward four years, and things have gone surprisingly quiet about DeepMind.

"DeepMind has done some of the most exciting things in AI in recent years. It would be virtually impossible for any company to sustain that level of excitement indefinitely," said William Tunstall-Pedoe, a British entrepreneur who sold his AI start-up Evi to Amazon for a reported $26 million. "I expect them to do further very exciting things."

AI pioneer Stuart Russell, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, agreed it was inevitable that excitement around DeepMind would tail off after AlphaGo.

"Go was a recognized milestone in AI, something that some commentators said would take another 100 years," he said. "In Asia in particular, top-level Go is considered the pinnacle of human intellectual powers. It's hard to see what else DeepMind could do in the near term to match that."

DeepMind's army of 1,000 plus people, which includes hundreds of highly-paid PhD graduates, continues to pump out academic paper after academic paper, but only a smattering of the work gets picked up by the mainstream media. The research lab has churned out over 1,000 papers and 13 of them have been published by Nature or Science, which are widely seen as the world's most prestigious academic journals. Nick Bostrom, the author of Superintelligence and the director of the University of Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute described DeepMind's team as world-class, large, and diverse.

"Their protein folding work was super impressive," said Neil Lawrence, a professor of machine learning at the University of Cambridge, whose role is funded by DeepMind. He's referring to a competition-winning DeepMind algorithm that can predict the structure of a protein based on its genetic makeup. Understanding the structure of proteins is important as it could make it easier to understand diseases and create new drugs in the future.

The World's top human Go player, 19-year-old Ke Jie (L) competes against AI program AlphaGo, which was developed by DeepMind, the artificial intelligence arm of Google's parent Alphabet. Machine won the three-game match against man in 2017. The AI didn't lose a single game.

VCG | Visual China Group | Getty Images

DeepMind is keen to move away from developing relatively "narrow" so-called "AI agents," that can do one thing well, such as master a game. Instead, the company is trying to develop more general AI systems that can do multiple things well, and have real world impact.

It's particularly keen to use its AI to leverage breakthroughs in other areas of science including healthcare, physics and climate change.

But the company's scientific work seems to be of less interest to the media.In 2016, DeepMind was mentioned in 1,842 articles, according to media tracker LexisNexis. By 2019, that number had fallen to 1,363.

One ex-DeepMinder said the buzz around the company is now more in line with what it should be. "The whole AlphaGo period was nuts," they said. "I think they've probably got another few milestones ahead, but progress should be more low key. It's a marathon not a sprint, so to speak."

DeepMind denied that excitement surrounding the company has tailed off since AlphaGo, pointing to the fact that it has had more papers in Nature and Science in recent years.

"We have created a unique environment where ambitious AI research can flourish. Our unusually interdisciplinary approach has been core to our progress, with 13 major papers in Nature and Science including 3 so far this year," a DeepMind spokesperson said. "Our scientists and engineers have built agents that can learn to cooperate, devise new strategies to play world-class chess and Go, diagnose eye disease, generate realistic speech now used in Google products around the world, and much more."

"More recently, we've been excited to see early signs of how we could use our progress in fundamental AI research to understand the world around us in a much deeper way. Our protein folding work is our first significant milestone applying artificial intelligence to a core question in science, and this is just the start of the exciting advances we hope to see more of over the next decade, creating systems that could provide extraordinary benefits to society."

The company, which competes with Facebook AI Research and OpenAI, did a good job of building up hype around what it was doing in the early days.

Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman, the intellectual co-founders who have been friends since school, gave inspiring speeches where they would explain how they were on a mission to "solve intelligence" and use that to solve everything else.

There was also plenty of talk of developing "artificial general intelligence" or AGI, which has been referred to as the holy grail in AI and is widely viewed as the point when machine intelligence passes human intelligence.

But the speeches have become less frequent (partly because Suleyman left Deepmind and works for Google now), and AGI doesn't get mentioned anywhere near as much as it used to.

Larry Page, left, and Sergey Brin, co-founders of Google Inc.

JB Reed | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were huge proponents of DeepMind and its lofty ambitions, but they left the company last year and its less obvious how Google CEO Sundar Pichai feels about DeepMind and AGI.

It's also unclear how much free reign Pichai will give the company, which cost Alphabet $571 million in 2018. Just one year earlier, the company had losses of $368 million.

"As far as I know, DeepMind is still working on the AGI problem and believes it is making progress," Russell said. "I suspect the parent company (Google/Alphabet) got tired of the media turning every story about Google and AI into the Terminator scenario, complete with scary pictures."

One academic who is particularly skeptical about DeepMind's achievements is AI entrepreneur Gary Marcus, who sold a machine-learning start-up to Uber in 2016 for an undisclosed sum.

"I think they realize the gulf between what they're doing and what they aspire to do," he said. "In their early years they thought that the techniques they were using would carry us all the way to AGI. And some of us saw immediately that that wasn't going to work. It took them longer to realize but I think they've realized it now."

Marcus said he's heard that DeepMind employees refer to him as the "anti-Christ" because he has questioned how far the "deep learning" AI technique that DeepMind has focused on can go.

"There are major figures now that recognize that the current techniques are not enough," he said. "It's very different from two years ago. It's a radical shift."

He added that while DeepMind's work on games and biology had been impressive, it's had relatively little impact.

"They haven't used their stuff much in the real world," he said. "The work that they're doing requires an enormous amount of data and an enormous amount of compute, and a very stable world. The techniques that they're using are very, very data greedy and real-world problems often don't supply that level of data."

See the article here:

Why the buzz around DeepMind is dissipating as it transitions from games to science - CNBC