Tag: tells

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Health

As Virus Instances Pace Up, Seoul Tells Fitness center Customers to Sluggish Down

As Virus Cases Speed Up, Seoul Tells Gym Users to Slow Down

Kang Seung Hyun, a teacher and former rugby player preparing for a fitness photo shoot, said his gym decided to turn off the treadmills instead of imposing the slow pace. However, the bikes remained open for reasons he did not understand.

“So we can’t run or use the treadmills, but we can ride bikes? It seems strange to me, ”he said.

Ralph Yun, a CrossFit instructor who has been teaching for five months, said listening to music at a pace similar to your heart rate can improve performance, but it doesn’t necessarily make you harder.

“You could listen to slow music and train just as intensely,” he said.

Costas Karageorghis, a professor at Brunel University in London who has studied the effects of music on training for 30 years, was amused by the recommendations and called them “ridiculous”.

“If people are motivated enough to train at high intensity, the music can’t stop them,” he said.

However, research has shown that music can make significant changes to exercise even if it wasn’t what the Korean authorities intended.

Dr. Karageorghis said the sweet spot for aerobic exercise, like running on a treadmill or cycling, is 120 to 140 beats per minute. Music can distract the mind from feelings of fatigue, diminish your perception of how hard your body is working, and improve your mood. Loud music above 75 decibels can make a workout more intense, although very loud music carries the risk of hearing problems such as tinnitus.

He said he was not surprised that health officials chose 120 strokes, as research has shown that this was, in some ways, a “key break.” It’s about twice the lower end of a healthy resting heart rate, and 120 steps per minute is a common walking pace, he said. Wedding DJs have told him they’ll use a 120-beat song to get people onto the dance floor (Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” checks in at around 120).

Categories
Politics

F.B.I. Is Pursuing ‘A whole bunch’ in Capitol Riot Inquiry, Wray Tells Congress

F.B.I. Is Pursuing ‘Hundreds’ in Capitol Riot Inquiry, Wray Tells Congress

WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. is pursuing potentially hundreds more suspects in the Capitol riot, the agency’s director told Congress on Tuesday, calling the effort to find those responsible for the deadly assault “one of the most far-reaching and extensive” investigations in the bureau’s history.

“We’ve already arrested close to 500, and we have hundreds of investigations that are still ongoing beyond those 500,” Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, told the House Oversight Committee.

His assurances of how seriously the agency was taking the attack by a pro-Trump mob came as lawmakers pressed him and military commanders on why they did not do more to prevent the siege despite threats from extremists to commit violence.

“The threats, I would say, were everywhere,” said Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, a New York Democrat who is the chairwoman of the Oversight Committee. “The system was blinking red.”

Ms. Maloney confronted Mr. Wray with messages from the social media site Parler, which she said referred threats of violence to the F.B.I. more than 50 times before the attack on Jan. 6. One message, which Ms. Maloney said Parler had sent to an F.B.I. liaison on Jan. 2, was from a poster who warned, “Don’t be surprised if we take the Capitol building,” and “Trump needs us to cause chaos to enact the Insurrection Act.”

“I do not recall hearing about this particular email,” Mr. Wray replied. “I’m not aware of Parler ever trying to contact my office.”

In hearings before two congressional committees on Tuesday, lawmakers sought new information about the security failures that helped lead to the violence.

At one hearing, Ms. Maloney presented her committee’s research into the delayed response of the National Guard, which showed that the Capitol Police and Washington officials made 12 “urgent requests” for their support and that Army leaders told the National Guard to “stand by” five times as the violence escalated.

“That response took far too long,” Ms. Maloney said. “This is a shocking failure.”

Documents obtained by the committee showed that, beginning at 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 6, top officials at the Defense Department received pleas for help from the Capitol Police chief, Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington and other officials. But the National Guard did not arrive until 5:20 p.m., more than four hours after the Capitol perimeter had been breached.

“The National Guard was literally waiting, all ready to go, and they didn’t receive the green light for a critical time period, hours on end,” said Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California and a member of the committee.

Lawmakers had tough questions for Gen. Charles Flynn, who commands the U.S. Army Pacific, and Lt. Gen. Walter E. Piatt, the director of the Army staff, both of whom were involved in a key phone call with police leaders during the riot in which Army officials worried aloud about the “optics” of sending in the Guard, according to those involved. It was the first time lawmakers had heard from either general.

In their testimony, they described the frantic call in which the chiefs of the Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police became agitated as they tried unsuccessfully to get military support while rioters attacked their officers at the Capitol.

“Both speakers on the phone sounded highly agitated and even panicked,” General Flynn recalled.

By contrast, he said, General Piatt was a “calm” and “combat-experienced leader.”

General Piatt has defended his caution in initially advising against sending in the National Guard, telling the committee that he was “definitely concerned” in the days before Jan. 6 “about the public perception of using soldiers to secure the election process in any manner that could be viewed as political.”

He told the committee that National Guard forces were “not trained, prepared or equipped to conduct this type of law enforcement operation.”

“When people’s lives are on the line, two minutes is too long,” General Piatt said. “But we were not positioned for that urgent request. We had to re-prepare so we would send them in prepared for this new mission.”

General Flynn is the brother of Michael T. Flynn, President Donald J. Trump’s disgraced former national security adviser who has emerged as one of the former president’s biggest promoters of the lie of a stolen election.

In submitted testimony, General Flynn said he had not participated in the call but merely overheard portions of it when he entered the room while it was in progress. He said that he had not heard any discussion of political considerations with regard to sending in the Guard.

“I did not use the word ‘optics,’ nor did I hear the word used during the call on Jan. 6, 2021,” he said.

The panel did not hear testimony from the acting chief of the Capitol Police, Yogananda D. Pittman, who declined to attend, citing her need to hear testimony at the other hearing, before the House Administration Committee. Republicans were quick to criticize her decision and repeatedly referred to her absence during the session, which stretched into the evening.

Ms. Maloney said she was also “disappointed,” but she added that Chief Pittman had committed to testifying on July 21.

In a simultaneous session on Tuesday afternoon, the House Administration Committee heard testimony from Michael A. Bolton, the Capitol Police inspector general, and Gretta L. Goodwin, the director of homeland security and justice for the Government Accountability Office.

Mr. Bolton testified about his fourth investigative report into the failures of Jan. 6, which found that the department’s tactical unit did not have access to “adequate training facilities” or adequate policies in place for securing ballistic helmets and vests (two dozen were stolen during the riot); the agency’s first responder unit was also not equipped with adequate less-lethal weapons, among other findings.

Mr. Bolton’s reports found that the Capitol Police had clearer warnings about the riot than were previously known, including the potential for violence in which “Congress itself is the target.” He also revealed that officers were instructed by their leaders not to use their most aggressive tactics to hold off the mob, in part because they feared that they lacked the training to handle the equipment needed to do so.

About 140 officers were injured during the attack, and seven people died in connection with the siege, including one officer who had multiple strokes after sparring with rioters.

“It is our duty to honor those officers who have given their lives but also ensuring the safety of all those working and visiting the Capitol complex by making hard changes within the department,” Mr. Bolton said.

Ms. Goodwin said that some of the command-and-control issues had been flagged by her agency in 2017. But the Capitol Police Board, which oversees the operations of the force, had not acted on the Government Accountability Office’s recommendations or responded to its requests for progress reports.

“As of today, the board has not provided us with any substantive information consistent with the practices noted above,” she said.

At previous hearings on the attack, some House Republicans used the opportunity to try to rewrite the history of what happened on Jan. 6, downplaying or outright denying the violence and deflecting efforts to investigate it.

On Tuesday, some Republicans on the Oversight Committee tried to redirect the inquiry into other topics, calling for investigations of Black Lives Matter protesters or the Biden family.

“I would love to ask about the Durham report, Hunter Biden’s laptop, Hunter’s business dealings in China and a host of other things,” said Representative Jody B. Hice, Republican of Georgia.

The hearings came as Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, highlighted on the Senate floor an assessment from the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security that concluded that adherents to the pro-Trump conspiracy theory QAnon were likely to try to carry out violence, “including harming perceived members of the ‘cabal’ such as Democrats and other political opposition.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said on Tuesday that she was considering moving forward with a select committee to further investigate the Capitol riot.

Ms. Pelosi said her preference was for the Senate to approve a bipartisan commission, but that no longer seemed possible after Senate Republicans blocked it.

“We can’t wait any longer,” she said.

Emily Cochrane and Glenn Thrush contributed reporting.

Categories
Politics

GM Tells White Home It Agrees to Tighter Emissions Guidelines

GM Tells White House It Agrees to Tighter Emissions Rules

General Motors on Wednesday told the Biden administration that it would agree to tighter federal fuel economy and tailpipe pollution rules, along the lines of what California has already agreed to with five other auto companies.

The move is a step by the nation’s largest automaker away from its position during the Trump administration, when G.M.’s chief executive officer, Mary Barra, asked President Donald J. Trump to relax Obama-era auto pollution rules.

President Biden is seeking to reinstate those restrictions as part of his efforts to cut climate-warming pollution, and he hopes to propose new draft auto pollution rules as soon as next month.

Ms. Barra stopped short of endorsing Mr. Biden’s desire to fully reimpose or strengthen the Obama-era auto pollution standards, which to date stand as the strongest policy ever imposed by the federal government to fight climate change. And she also asked the administration to augment the federal rules with provisions that would give incentives to auto companies that are investing in electric vehicles, although she did not specify what those incentives should be.

Just weeks after Mr. Biden’s election, Ms. Barra dropped her company’s support of the Trump administration’s efforts to nullify California’s rules on tailpipe emissions. And days after the new president’s inauguration, she announced that after 2035 her company would sell only vehicles that have zero emissions, a target in line with Mr. Biden’s pledge to cut the United States’ emissions 50 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

This week, in a letter to Michael Regan, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Ms. Barra wrote, “G.M. supports the emissions reduction goals of California through model year ’26,” adding, “the auto industry is embarking upon a profound transition as we do our part to achieve the country’s climate commitments.”

The Obama-era climate rules, which G.M. sought to loosen, required automakers to build vehicles by 2025 that achieve an average fuel economy of 54.5 miles per gallon. The rules would have eliminated about six billion tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide pollution over the lifetime of the vehicles. Mr. Trump rolled back Mr. Obama’s standards from 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 to 40 miles per gallon and revoked California’s legal authority to set its own state-level standard.

California reached a separate deal with Honda, Ford, Volkswagen, BMW and Volvo under which they would be required to increase their average fuel economy to about 51 miles per gallon by 2026.

Ms. Barra said that her company would now support those standards at the federal level — alongside a program to give some form of credit or incentive to electric vehicle manufacturers like her own company.

Negotiations on the new auto pollution standards are ongoing alongside White House talks to reach a deal on infrastructure legislation, which Mr. Biden hopes will include generous spending on tax credits for electric vehicle manufacturers and consumers, as well as direct government investments in 500,000 new electric vehicle charging stations.

Nick Conger, an E.P.A. spokesman, said in an email that Mr. Regan had spoken this week with leaders from auto manufacturers and that the “conversations have been constructive as the agency moves forward on actions to address emissions from cars and light-duty trucks.”

Categories
Politics

Colonial Pipeline paid $5M ransom someday after hack, CEO tells Senate

Colonial Pipeline paid $5M ransom one day after hack, CEO tells Senate

Joseph Blount, JR., President and Chief Executive Officer, Colonial Pipeline is sworn in as he attends a hearing to examine threats to critical infrastructure, focusing on examining the Colonial Pipeline cyber attack at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., June 8, 2021.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | Reuters

WASHINGTON — Colonial Pipeline’s CEO told a Senate committee on Tuesday the company paid the $5 million ransom one day after Russian-based cybercriminals hacked its IT network, crippling fuel deliveries up and down the East Coast.

Joseph Blount Jr. told members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in prepared remarks that the company learned of the attack shortly before 5 a.m. on May 7, when an employee discovered a ransom note on a system in the IT network.

The note said hackers had “exfiltrated” material from the company’s shared internal drive, and it demanded approximately $5 million in exchange for the files.

The company was attacked by a ransomware program created by DarkSide, a cyber criminal group believed to operate out of Russia.

Blount said that shortly after discovering the ransom note, the employee notified a supervisor and the decision was made to immediately shut down the entire pipeline.

“At approximately 5:55 A.M. employees began the shutdown process,” Blount wrote. “By 6:10 A.M., they confirmed that all 5,500 miles of pipelines had been shut down.”

The decision to shut down the entire pipeline was driven by “the imperative to isolate and contain the attack to help ensure the malware did not spread to the Operational Technology network, which controls our pipeline operations, if it had not already.”

The shutdown caused major disruptions to gas delivery up and down the East Coast, as trucks struggled to restock gas stations, and long lines developed at pumps, especially in the Southeast. Airline operations also were disrupted.

Blount’s testimony revealed just how quickly the company decided to suspend operations, and it provided new details about the first few days after the attack.

The company believes attackers “exploited a legacy virtual private network profile that was not intended to be in use,” Blount told senators.

But he admitted that the account was not protected by multifactor authentication, which is currently the company standard in most of its operations. Blount said the password was complicated, though. “It was not a ‘Colonial 123’-type password.”

Blount also testified about the approximately $5 million in ransom that the company paid to the DarkSide hackers. He revealed that Colonial Pipeline paid the ransom one day after the attack.

“I made the decision that Colonial Pipeline would pay the ransom to have every tool available to us to swiftly get the pipeline back up and running,” Blount said in his opening statement. “It was one of the toughest decisions I have had to make in my life.”

“At the time, I kept this information close hold because we were concerned about operational security and minimizing publicity for the threat actor,” he said.

In response to a question about whether the company paid ransom to an entity under U.S. sanctions, Blount said the company checked the sanctions list maintained by the Office of Foreign Asset Control before making the payment.

The day before Blount testified, U.S. law enforcement officials announced that they were able to recover $2.3 million in bitcoin from the hacker group.

Blount also told senators that the company contacted the FBI within hours of discovering the attack.

This story will be updated throughout the Senate hearing.

Categories
World News

In Guatemala, Harris Tells Undocumented to Keep Away From U.S. Border

Kamala Harris dio un mensaje claro en Guatemala: ‘no vengan’

GUATEMALA CITY – During her first trip abroad as Vice President, Kamala Harris said the United States would step up its investigation into corruption and human trafficking in Guatemala while sending a clear, blunt message to undocumented migrants hoping to reach the United States: “Don’t ! Come.”

Ms. Harris issued the warning during a trip that was an early but crucial test for a Vice President currently in charge of the complex challenge of breaking a cycle of migration from Central America into a region plagued by corruption, violence and poverty invested.

While President Biden campaigned to lift some of the Trump administration’s border restrictions and allow migrants to seek asylum at the U.S. border, Ms. Harris reinforced the White House’s current stance that most of those crossing the border should , would be turned away and would instead need to find legal recourse or protection in the vicinity of their home country.

In discussions about corruption with the Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, who was criticized for his political agenda and the persecution of corruption fighters, she did not shy away from harsh language.

“We will try to eradicate corruption wherever it exists,” said Harris, adding that the government will support an anti-corruption unit in the attorney general’s office in Guatemala that has been criticized by Mr Giammattei. “That was one of our highest priorities in terms of focus that we set here after the President asked me to take on this topic of focus on this region.”

Mrs Harris, whose own ambitions for the presidency are clear, has been tapped by Mr Biden to invest in Central America to deter the weak from the dangerous journey north. Mr Biden was criticized by Republicans and some moderate Democrats during the early months of his tenure for the rising number of unaccompanied minors converting along the US-Mexico border.

But the Biden administration has continued to use a Trump-era rule to reject most adult migrants, sparking backlash from human rights groups.

Rachel Schmidtke, the Latin America attorney for Refugees International, an immigrant-friendly group, said in a statement Monday that the organization was concerned.

The Vice President’s top aides have tried to differentiate her role from the political landmine of border management, instead saying her focus is on working with overseas governments to strengthen the Central American economy and create more opportunities for people who are now To flee to the United States see states as their best option.

Ms. Harris announced new steps in the effort on Monday. The Biden government will deploy homeland security officers to Guatemala’s northern and southern borders to train local officials – a tactic similar to previous governments’ migration deterrence tactic. The State Department and Justice Department will also set up a task force to investigate corruption cases linked to Guatemala and the United States while training Guatemalan prosecutors.

“We had a very frank conversation about the importance of an independent judiciary,” said Ms. Harris. “We had a conversation about the importance of a strong civil society.”

For his part, Mr Giammattei described the allegations against him as “misinformation”.

He also said that during a meeting with Ms. Harris, he again asked the Biden government to temporarily exempt some Guatemalans from deportation by providing safeguards that normally apply to those fleeing natural disasters or war, and referring to hurricanes who hit Central America last year. When he questioned Ms. Harris in front of reporters on the matter, she did not respond directly.

The Biden administration also outlined a $ 48 million investment in entrepreneurship programs, affordable housing and agricultural businesses in Guatemala, part of a four-year plan of $ 4 billion to invest in the region. Ms. Harris last month announced the commitment of a dozen private companies, including Mastercard and Microsoft, to develop the Central American economy.

But hanging over these programs is how to ensure that US aid goes to those who need it most, not just the contractors recruited by the United States or Guatemalan officials.

In 2019, Guatemala identified a United Nations-backed anti-corruption body called Cicig, which worked with Guatemalan prosecutors to bring cases of corruption but was also accused by conservatives in the country of having a political agenda.

Ricardo Zúñiga, Mr Biden’s special envoy for Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, described such independent anti-corruption bodies as “very successful efforts”. However, Ms. Harris’ team did not say that Guatemala needed an independent body to investigate corruption.

“The point is that there is no specific model,” said Mr. Zúñiga. “It’s about supporting the people within government or within the institutions, mainly judicial authorities, who have the will and the ability to move these cases forward.”

Ms. Harris made a point in her opening remarks to focus on encouraging potential migrants to stay closer to their homes while they apply for entry into the United States and await responses. Days beforehand, their top assistants announced that they would be building a new center in Guatemala where people in Central America can find out about asylum protection or refugee status instead of traveling to the US border.

“Most people don’t want to leave the place where they grew up. Your grandmother. The place where they prayed. The place where their language is spoken is familiar to their culture, ”said Ms. Harris. “And when they leave, there are usually two reasons: either they are fleeing damage or they simply cannot meet their basic needs.”

In Chex Abajo, a mountain village 255 miles from Guatemala City, where Ms. Harris was speaking, Nicolás Ajanel Juarez said that despite promises made by various American presidents, his community was unable to cater for such necessities.

The village of indigenous corn farmers embodies the daunting task the Vice President faces. Mr. Juárez, a member of the local leadership, said many of the 600 residents watched their homes blow away in two cyclones. Profits from corn harvests are no longer reliable as climate change has prolonged the dry season.

Many families in the village depend on remittances from relatives in the United States. Those whose standard of living has been raised by US wages have larger cement and iron houses marked with stars and American flags. The main street in the village is called Ohio because of the many migrants who have found work in landscaping in the state.

Mr Juárez, who crossed the border three times in the past two decades, said migration to the United States will continue until community members have stable jobs.

“It would be best if aid could come direct rather than through the government because it will be lost there,” Juárez said against the music played for a nearby ceremony commemorating a member of the community who lived in two years ago entered the United States and died. “Politicians don’t know because they don’t come here to see people’s needs with their own eyes.”

After meeting with Mr. Giammattei, Ms. Harris met a group of women who have organized development programs for indigenous communities or organized training courses for those looking to acquire business skills.

Before that, however, she recognized the symbolic weight of being the first female vice president and making Guatemala her first overseas destination in that office. While a group of protesters with signs against Ms. Harris’ visit stood near an entrance to the military airport, a number of families, including many women, stood by another fence hoping to catch a glimpse of the Air Force II landing in To catch Guatemala.

“As far as I can influence because of my gender and the fact that I am the first, I welcome that,” said Ms. Harris, adding, “You may be the first to do it, but make sure you do it is not. “the last.”

Pedro Pablo Solares contributed the coverage from Guatemala City.

Categories
Politics

Biden tells Netanyahu U.S. expects ‘a major de-escalation at the moment’ in Gaza

Biden tells Netanyahu U.S. expects ‘a significant de-escalation today’ in Gaza

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks out on COVID-19 response and vaccination in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on May 17, 2021.

Nicholas Comb | AFP | Getty Images

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden said in a call Wednesday morning with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he expected “a significant de-escalation today on the way to a ceasefire”.

During Wednesday’s call with Netanyahu, the fourth conversation since the violence broke out, Biden discussed the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s campaign to dismantle Hamas, according to the White House.

“The President has informed the Prime Minister that he is expecting significant de-escalation on the way to a ceasefire today,” the White House ad read.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he speaks during a briefing with ambassadors to Israel at a military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, on May 19, 2021.

Sebastian Scheiner | Reuters

The violence between militants from Israel and Hamas has been going on for more than a week. According to local authorities, Israeli strikes in Gaza have resulted in at least 219 Palestinian deaths. Israel has said more than 3,400 rockets bombed its cities. At least 12 people have died in Israel.

The latest round of fighting marked the worst outbreak of violence since the war between Israel and Hamas in 2014. On Tuesday, the European Union became the youngest international power to call for a ceasefire as the civilian death toll in Gaza rises.

Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike on a building in Gaza City on May 18, 2021.

Mohammed Salem | Reuters

“We have received over 60 calls from the President with senior leaders in Israel, the Palestinian Authority and other leaders in the region,” Karine Jean-Pierre, White House Assistant Secretary, told reporters aboard Air Force One.

“The president has been doing this for a long time, for decades, he believes this is the approach we need to take. He wants to make sure we end the violence and suffering we have seen for the Palestinian and Israeli people” said Jean -Pierre added.

When asked for further details of the call, Jean-Pierre said she would “let the formal ad” speak for itself “.

Biden, who is due to speak to the country’s newest Coast Guard officers on Wednesday, told Netanyahu earlier this week that the US was supporting a ceasefire in Gaza.

“The president reiterated his firm support for Israel’s right to defend itself against indiscriminate rocket attacks. The president welcomed efforts to crack down on inter-municipal violence and calm Jerusalem,” said a White House reading.

People look at an unexploded missile dropped by Israel in the neighborhood of al-Rimal while Israeli fighter jets continue to conduct air strikes in Gaza City, Gaza, on May 18, 2021.

Ashraf Amra | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Biden also urged Israel to ensure the protection of innocent civilians during the conflict.

On Sunday, Israel went on strike that leveled several houses in the Gaza Strip. At least 42 people were killed in the deadliest strike to date in the ongoing conflict.

Netanyahu defended a punitive air strike on Saturday that collapsed a 12-story building filled with international media. Hamas used part of the building to plan terrorist attacks.

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Categories
Entertainment

What Is an On a regular basis Ballerina? A Luminous New Memoir Tells All.

What Is an Everyday Ballerina? A Luminous New Memoir Tells All.

Gavin Larsen said she first felt herself to be a writer in an artist residency in New Mexico in 2015. She was there, not as a dancer, but to work on a book about her dance career. And she was surrounded by musicians, writers and visual artists who knew nothing about ballet.

“They were full of questions,” she said. “And then I really said, ‘Oh my god, people are interested in ballet who are not ballet dancers.'”

Larsen puts this theory to the test in Being a Ballerina: The Power and Perfection of a Dancing Life, now published by the University Press of Florida. Her poignant book, narrated in first and third person, is both a personal account and a universal account of the life of a professional ballet dancer. It’s not what you might have learned from the horror film “Black Swan” or the recent sex and drug series “Tiny Pretty Things” held at a ballet academy.

During her own student days at the School of American Ballet, Larsen learned lessons that she would carry throughout her dance life, including the moment she realized that being uninteresting as a dancer was worse than being wrong. Larsen writes: “The dancer-beast that was stuffed inside her came out roaring. She would let it push her now, but also train it, watch it grow, and ride it for the rest of her life. “

Ballet is tough, and Larsen doesn’t gloss over her experiences, including dancing with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Alberta Ballet, the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, and the Oregon Ballet Theater, from which she retired as headmistress in 2010. She describes the tiredness of reaching the three-quarters mark in George Balanchine’s “Allegro Brillante” as “like trying to type after going outside without mittens on the coldest winter day”.

Despite the pain, Larsen’s words convey the glory of the body in motion from the perspective of what she calls an everyday ballerina or a blue collar ballerina. “My own abstract ballet career isn’t that interesting,” she said. “I wasn’t an international star. I did not come from difficult circumstances. I didn’t have any unusual hurdles or obstacles to overcome in order to make it. “

There are many like her. Rebecca King Ferraro and Michael Sean Breeden, retired ballet dancers who host the Conversations on Dance podcast, identify deeply with the book. (You interviewed Larsen twice.) “She writes it for dancers,” King said. “Maybe that’s an assumption, but it feels like it was written for us and that an audience and an audience can still enjoy it.”

Who doesn’t love a biography of a star like Allegra Kent or Edward Villella, two great New York ballet dancers? However, their experiences are rarely widespread. At one point in Larsen’s book, part of it is taken away from her. “She has to scratch herself back and like to find this resilience in herself,” said Breeden. “It’s so relatable. It’s everyone’s story. “

“Being a ballerina” is about commitment. It has its roots in Toni Bentley’s “Wintersaison: Ein Tänzerjournal” (1982), an intimate glimpse into the life of its author at the City Ballet. But it can also be seen as a companion piece to the latest documentary series “On Pointe”, which followed students at the School of American Ballet, in which Larsen studied from 1986 to 1992.

Larsen is 46 years old and lives in North Carolina, where she teaches at the Asheville Ballet Conservatory. She recently spoke about why she wanted to put her life on paper, the connection between writing and dancing, and how great it can be to be ordinary. Here are edited excerpts from that interview.

One reason you wanted to write this book was to dispel ballet myths. What bothers you about the way it is portrayed in popular culture?

It’s just so wrong. It highlights the parts that are arrogant and not important to dancing. They are only tools. The drama of dancing is dancing itself – the relationship between dancers and their craft and what they do with their body and soul. And all of us who have lived this life realize that we live with this drama every day.

Is that why you want to address people outside of the dance world?

One of my beliefs is that the more you know about something, the more interested you are. So I want to keep talking about it. And that’s why I want this book not to be seen as something for dancers, even though I love the way it resonates with other dancers.

I think this is a way for a non-dancer to look at their own inner passion. Perhaps that will light the same inner flame within them or light a pilot light that has become inactive.

You almost called the book “The Everyday Ballerina”. Why do you like this description?

I’ve danced some fabulous ballets and fabulous roles. Yet there are hundreds more like me – maybe thousands. We could be exceptional in one way: you have reached the highest level of your career and you have those high points on stage. But at the end of the day we’re all a gang. We’re all a crew, we’re all a group of ballerinas. For the non-dancing audience, you hear the word ballerina and think, “Oh my god, superstar.” In certain moments maybe, but not the next moment. And that’s what I wanted to express. Everyday life, the habit of being extraordinary.

Is writing a different way of dancing?

Absolutely. I think it is just as liberating as it is to be a great, brave and courageous dancer. You have to be brave on stage to be an effective performer, and to be an effective communicator in words is the same thing. I could be all alone at the computer and just pour it out. I wouldn’t let myself wonder who could read it. It felt like being on stage. It felt like I was doing my biggest, boldest Grand Jeté. Throw it out there! And then you go back to the sample and shape it and refine it and work on your technique. They are working on your delivery.

You cannot edit a performance at the same time.

There is no time buffer when dancing. The moment you do it, people see it. But having that buffer with writing felt a lot like being on stage with an audience. They can’t touch you. With this book it is done. My words are out there. It’s like going on stage: as soon as the curtain rises and the music starts, nobody can stop you. It’s just you

Categories
Business

United Airways tells employees it is hiring a whole bunch of pilots for journey restoration

United Airlines tells staff it's hiring hundreds of pilots for travel recovery

A United Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft lands at San Francisco International Airport.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

United Airlines announced Thursday that hundreds of pilots will soon be hired – a process the airline had to stop when the coronavirus pandemic destroyed demand for travel last year. This comes from an internal email that has been checked by CNBC.

The Chicago-based airline is the first of the major US carriers to announce that it will resume hiring pilots. This is the latest sign that she is preparing for a recovery. The airline will begin hiring approximately 300 pilots who had contingent vacancies or training scheduled last year before the airline abandoned the hiring.

Over the past year, airlines, including United, have urged thousands of workers to take advantage of buyouts, early retirement packages, and leave of absence in an effort to cut costs during the pandemic. United and its pilots union – the Air Line Pilots Association – reached an agreement last year to avoid vacation with their pilots, including reduced hours for some junior pilots, even though they face lower guarantees due to government aid.

Congress included a third round of federal airline payrolls that bans job cuts through September 30 as part of the $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package last month. As of March 2020, lawmakers have provided $ 54 billion in grants and loans to airlines to pay workers during the crisis.

US airlines combined lost $ 35 billion last year, but expect bookings to grow steadily as more people are vaccinated and more comfortable boarding planes.

“With vaccination rates increasing and the demand for travel increasing, I am pleased to announce that United will resume the pilot recruitment process that was halted last year,” wrote Bryan Quigley, United’s senior vice president of flight operations on Thursday in a staff note watched by CNBC. “We’re starting with the 300 or so pilots who either had a new recruitment class appointment that was canceled, or who had a conditional vacancy in 2020.”

The demand for air travel has increased recently. The Transportation Security Administration examined an average of 1.2 million people a day last month, up 15% from last year when the pandemic and stay-at-home orders halted almost all travel.

Last month’s volume is still below half of March 2019 levels, with business and international travel still largely stalling, but demand for recreational activities is starting to rise. Scott Kirby, United CEO, told an industry conference on Wednesday that domestic leisure demand has recovered almost entirely.

“I’m particularly excited that we were able to protect our people during this disaster,” said Todd Insler, chairman of the United Chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association and United captain of the pandemic. He said if the company had been on vacation it would have been much harder to capitalize on the recovery of the trip.

Like United, other airlines see a need for additional staff, especially pilots, whose training is costly and time-consuming.

Spirit Airlines announced last month that the hiring of pilots and flight attendants was resuming, while other low-cost airlines, Allegiant Air and Sun Country Airlines, are also anticipating hiring this year.

Categories
Health

‘I completely disagree with you,’ Fauci tells GOP senator in fiery change over masks

'I totally disagree with you,' Fauci tells GOP senator in fiery exchange over masks

The Chief Medical Officer of the White House, Dr. Anthony Fauci, urged Republican Senator Rand Paul back on Thursday that people are not at risk for Covid after their recovery or vaccination.

In a fiery exchange during a Senate hearing examining the country’s efforts to respond to coronavirus, Paul told Fauci that Americans should not wear masks after vaccination due to the likelihood of getting Covid-19 is “practically 0%”.

“Isn’t it just theater?” The Kentucky junior senator, an ophthalmologist, asked during a hearing on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

“You’ve been vaccinated and you hit around in two masks for the show. You can’t get it back,” Paul said. “There’s practically a 0% chance you’ll get it, and you tell people who had the vaccine have immunity – you defy everything we know about immunity by telling people they are wearing vaccinated masks should.”

In response, Fauci said: “Here we go again with the theater.”

“”All I can say is that masks are no theater, “said Fauci.” I totally disagree with you. “

The emergence of new, highly contagious variants poses a threat to people who have recovered from Covid or have been vaccinated, he said.

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing on the federal response to the coronavirus March 18, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Susan Walsh | Pool | Getty Images

It has been shown that new variants, especially the strain B.1.351 identified for the first time in South Africa, escape the protection of vaccines.

“In the South African study of [Johnson & Johnson]They found that people who were wild-type infected and exposed to variant 351 in South Africa felt like they had never been infected before, they had no protection, “Fauci said.

Fauci agreed that it was unlikely that anyone would become infected with the original strain for at least six months. “But we in our country now have variants.”

The exchange took place a little over a week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published new guidelines that those who are fully vaccinated can safely visit other vaccinated people indoors without a mask or social distance.

However, the CDC also recommended that vaccinated individuals should continue to wear masks in public settings, when meeting with unvaccinated individuals from more than one different household, and with individuals at increased risk of developing serious illnesses.

While growing body of evidence suggests that people vaccinated against Covid are less likely to spread the disease to others, it is still not known how long a person’s protection could last or how effective the shots are against emerging variants said the CDC on March 8th.

Categories
Politics

Trump tells donors to offer cash to him, not Republicans ‘in title solely’

Trump tells donors to give money to him, not Republicans 'in name only'

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando, Florida on February 28, 2021.

Joe Raedle | Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump is competing with the GOP’s fundraiser and beating its members, further complicating his status as the Republican Party leader.

“No more money for RINOs,” Trump said in a donation email Monday night, referring to “Republicans on behalf only,” a term used to beat up moderate GOP politicians accused of how Rule Democrats.

Trump, without specifying his goals by name, claimed that they “are doing nothing but violate the Republican Party and our large electoral base – they will never lead us to greatness.”

In an overt attempt to clarify this, Trump made a follow-up statement Tuesday afternoon in which he said, “I fully support the Republican Party and key GOP committees, but I do not support RINOs and fools.”

Trump added that “it is not their right to use my likeness or image to fundraise” – a reference to his growing feud with the Republican Party over the use of his name and likeness in their fundraising drives.

Both statements were sent by Trump’s Save America Political Action Committee, and both statements urged his supporters to donate to this PAC. “So much money is being raised and completely wasted by people who do not have the interests of the GOP in mind,” said Trump’s latest statement.

These inquiries reflected Trump’s recent Orlando speech – his first public statement after the presidency – in which he told a crowd of supporters that his own PAC was the only way to vote America First Republican Conservatives.

Redirecting Republican cash flow into his own war chest, if successful, could help Trump gain a grip on the party in order to undermine his perceived enemies therein. However, experts say promoting his own PAC could bring other benefits for Trump as well.

PACs like Save America can raise funds for political expenses like supporting candidates, and Trump could use it to lay the foundation for a presidential campaign in 2024. But they “can be used for almost anything else,” said Brendan Fischer. Director of the Federal Reform Program at the Campaign Legal Center.

“Given the amount of money raised, it is entirely possible that Trump could use Save America to maintain control and influence over the Republican Party and to personally help himself and his family members,” Fischer said in an interview with CNBC.

The Associated Press reported in early March that Save America had more than $ 80 million in cash.

Trump, who never officially admitted defeat to President Joe Biden, has barely resigned from politics since his tenure ended on Jan. 20. Trump has now presented himself as the de facto leader and future of his party at his Palm Beach, Florida home, while regularly targeting prominent Republicans who are still in office.

Even if Trump teases a possible 2024 presidential campaign on the Republican ticket, he is urging the Republican National Committee to stop using his name and image in their donation messages.

Trump’s attorneys sent cease and desist letters to the RNC, the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senate Committee on Friday, NBC News reported.

On Monday, RNC chief attorney J. Justin Riemer denied the request, telling Save America attorney Alex Cannon that Trump and RNC chairman Ronna McDaniel had settled the dispute.

“We understand that President Trump has reaffirmed this [McDaniel] over the weekend he approves the RNC’s current use of his name for fundraising and other materials, including our upcoming Palm Beach donor retreat event that we look forward to seeing, “Riemer wrote in a letter to Cannon.

The letter, passed on to CNBC by the RNC, stated that the committee “has not sent or used his image on President Trump’s behalf or used his image since he left office, and would not do without his prior consent.”

Riemer added, “The RNC has, of course, the right to refer to public figures when it comes to a key political speech protected by First Amendment, and will continue to do so in pursuit of these common goals. “

Trump’s Monday night email deciphering “RINOs” and asking for donations to the Save America PAC appeared to contradict Riemer’s claim that Trump and McDaniel had reached an agreement on the matter.

A Trump spokesman did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the back and forth with the RNC. A contact for the Save America PAC did not respond to a request for comment.

The Republicans lost the White House and the Senate majority after Trump’s presidency. But the Republican Party and many of its leaders have allied themselves closely with Trump, whose popularity continues among huge segments of the GOP electorate.

Some Republicans have openly condemned Trump for his behavior before and after the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol, which resulted in five deaths and forced a joint session of Congress to go into hiding. Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 Republican in the House, said in late February, “I don’t think so [Trump] should play a role in the future of the party or the country. “

But more Republicans have avoided criticizing Trump even after the invasion, which appeared to have little impact on the former president’s general support at his base. Others who initially distanced themselves from Trump after the deadly uprising, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, later reiterated their support for him.

Even Senate Minority Chairman Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Who convicted Trump of false conspiracies for election theft, recently said he would “absolutely” support Trump if he became a GOP candidate in 2024.

Meanwhile, numerous other Republicans who allegedly have presidential ambitions appear to have taken steps to launch their own campaigns while being careful not to cross Trump.

Former Vice President Mike Pence is reportedly heading to South Carolina, a major state on the president’s main map, next month to deliver his first public address since leaving office.