BALTIMORE, Maryland April 29, 2014 - Donald Sterling is a racist. Possibly the most assuredly true statement anyone can make on this 29th day of April, 2014 is that Donald Sterling is a racist. He is and he has been, and the problem for the NBA, now that it has done away with Sterling, and to a lesser extent, the problem for the NAACP, now that Sterling has been made persona non grata, is that this is not breaking news. That Donald Tokowitz Sterling is a racist is not a secret; anyone with any sense has known it for some time. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that this is and has been an open truth. One of the oldest tricks in the book for racists such as Donald Sterling, who own real estate, is to attempt to keep minorities from purchasing a subdivided unit in that real estate. Say you own an "upscale" apartment house, like Donald Sterling does. And say you want all of the folk renting units in the building to be white, like Donald Sterling did. You direct your agents, who are showing the units to prospective renters or buyers, to make one kind of sales pitch to white folk and one kind of sales pitch to persons of color. But the sales pitches are not the same. The ones made to white folk are intended to get them to buy or rent. The ones made to persons of color are intended to make them go away and live somewhere else.
The federal government sued Donald Sterling for doing this. It was quite public. And Donald Sterling knew he was going to lose, so he settled the case for half of the national debt. You do not cough up the kind of money Donald Sterling did to settle a suit brought by the federal government unless you are pretty darn sure you are going to get hammered in court. Wikipedia reports this about the two cases: "The suit alleges Sterling once said he did not like to rent to Hispanics because they "smoke, drink and just hang around the building," and that "Black tenants smell and attract vermin."[15] In November 2009, ESPN reported that Sterling agreed to pay a fine of $2.73 million to settle claims brought by the Justice Department and Davin Day of Newport Beach that he engaged in discriminatory rental practices against Hispanics, blacks, and families with children.[16] In addition, Sterling was also ordered to pay attorneys' fees and costs in that action of $4,923,554.75. In granting the attorney's fees and costs Judge Dale S. Fischer noted "Sterling's' scorched earth' litigation tactics, some of which are described by the Plaintiffs' counsel and some of which were observed by the Court. The Court has no difficulty accepting Plaintiffs' counsel's representations that the time required to be spent on this case was increased by defendant's counsel's often unacceptable, and sometimes outrageous conduct."
In Baltimore, the respected Civil Rights Organization Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. has for years combatted this type of old racist activity by sending testers to such units. The first couple to go in will be white. They will express interest and inform the showing agent that they want to rent a unit. They then make sure and certain notes of what is offered. Later, a black couple that is exactly the same as the white couple - save for the color of their skin - goes to the same apartment house and asks for the same thing. If they aren't offered the same thing, you get a pretty good idea that the owner is a racist.
So the cat was out of the bag for Sterling. In his world he paid black people the going rate, but he didn't want them to come all that near to him. He didn't want "his women" to be seen with them. He was a despicable hypocrite. I'd like to get sick when I heard this jerk on that tape acting like he was the one who was bestowing riches on the lads who played on his team. They were making him rich. It really wasn't the other way around. If Sterling wasn't the owner, fifty other guys were waiting in line to do the same thing. It was nothing but an ego trip, and then he talked down to the people making money for him. Scoundrel. And now, a scoundrel without a place to show off.
I do have some questions for the NBA and the NAACP. We get it that he is a racist and we applaud the NBA for their swift action. But if the NBA is putting the boom down now, what were they doing when the federal government was suing him for being a racist in the housing market? Were they confused about why he was being sued? Did they know he was being sued and did they know why? I hope they missed the boat and didn't know. That's pretty bad, but it's better than if they knew but didn't do anything. Same goes for the NAACP. They were about to give Sterling a "lifetime achievement award." Did the NAACP not know that the federal government hammered him for openly discriminating in housing? I hope not.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Monday, April 28, 2014
Ukraine Crisis: The Leader and Up To Half of Soldiers in Pro-Russian Separatist Unit are Not Ukraine Citizens
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 27, 2014 - The man in charge of a leading group of anti-Ukraine armed insurgents has admitted that up to half of the men-at-arms in his unit are not Ukrainian citizens. And the leader himself is said to be a Russian Operative.
Identifying himself in a publication available to the west for the first time, Igor Strelkov told a Russian newspaper that the men in his unit - which works out of Slovyansk, was put together in Crimea after Russia invaded it in early March. As many as one-half of the men in the unit are not Ukrainians, Steikov admitted. This admission supports charges by the Kiev Government that Russia is behind the violence in Eastern Ukraine, and is supplying much of the manpower for it. It also challenges Moscow's line that it has done what it could to end the occupation of Government Buildings in the eastern sector of Ukraine.
Speaking in a video interview with the Moscow-based Komsomolskaya Pravda, Streikov said that as many as two-thirds and at least one-half of the men in his unit are Ukrainian volunteers. Streikov himself is a Russian operative, according to the Interim Ukraine Government in Kiev. It is also a very difficult to accept statement: the leader doesn't know for sure how many of his soldiers came from Russia with him.
It is Streikov's group that is holding seven independent observers from the OSCE after releasing one hostage - a Swedish man - on Sunday. Late reports say that the release of the Swedish hostage occurred when a team of negotiators from the OSCE arrived to speak with Separatist Leaders. The remaining captives, from Germany, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Poland remain in the hands of pro-Russia separatists in Slovyansk where militia leaders have indicated they intend to swap them for members of their own movement currently imprisoned by Ukraine. The men, part of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, were paraded in front of the reporters Sunday where, under armed guard, they said they had not been mistreated. Western leaders were outraged. "The public parading of the OSCE observers and Ukrainian security forces as prisoners is revolting and blatantly hurts the dignity of the victims," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. To date, Ukraine's interim government has refused to negotiate with the separatists who they accuse of being puppets of Russia trying to destabilize the country.
All of this occurred against a backdrop of an impending ramping-up of sanctions against Russia imposed by the United States and the EU. Sanctions that include the freezing of assets of persons in Putin's inner circle, but not Putin himself, President Obama said today. Meanwhile, the blog "War is Boring" reports that the Ukraine Military is scrambling to prepare for possible hostilities with Russia. One sign of this has been the painting of unique markings on Ukraine Air Craft to make it easier for ground forces to determine if a helicopter or plane is Russian or Ukrainian. Almost all of Ukraine's aircraft were made in Russia. The sad fact also is that most of the aircraft is old.
In another stunning development, unknown gunmen have shot and critically wounded the Mayor of Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine. The Mayor opposed the Kiev demonstrations that ousted the former President of Ukraine. Hennady Kernes, the mayor of Kharkiv, was shot Monday morning and was in surgery "fighting for his life," according to city officials.
Despite his opposition to the protests in Kiev early in the year, USA today says Kernes has changed his tune of late. In a recent interview he said he does not support the separatists and their building-seizing in the east. And, Kharkiv was the scene of the first efforts by the Ukraine government to retake buildings.
On Saturday, separatists in the city of Gorlivka — also in the restive Donetsk region — captured three members of Ukraine's elite Afla team, a special forces unit of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
The commandos had reportedly been trying to apprehend the suspected murderer of a politician found dead and mutilated last week. But the Alfa team was overwhelmed by separatist gunmen and later paraded bloodied and bandaged in their underwear before pro-Russia TV channels.
Still on his Asian trip, President Obama asked today why "everybody is so anxious to use military force." He was responding to the many newspaper columns and comments by observers who believe he has exhibited weakness in the face of provocative military steps by Russian Strongman Vladimir Putin.
Putin has almost exclusively used military force in gaining the upper hand in Ukraine and other parts of Eastern Europe, including Georgia.
Identifying himself in a publication available to the west for the first time, Igor Strelkov told a Russian newspaper that the men in his unit - which works out of Slovyansk, was put together in Crimea after Russia invaded it in early March. As many as one-half of the men in the unit are not Ukrainians, Steikov admitted. This admission supports charges by the Kiev Government that Russia is behind the violence in Eastern Ukraine, and is supplying much of the manpower for it. It also challenges Moscow's line that it has done what it could to end the occupation of Government Buildings in the eastern sector of Ukraine.
Speaking in a video interview with the Moscow-based Komsomolskaya Pravda, Streikov said that as many as two-thirds and at least one-half of the men in his unit are Ukrainian volunteers. Streikov himself is a Russian operative, according to the Interim Ukraine Government in Kiev. It is also a very difficult to accept statement: the leader doesn't know for sure how many of his soldiers came from Russia with him.
It is Streikov's group that is holding seven independent observers from the OSCE after releasing one hostage - a Swedish man - on Sunday. Late reports say that the release of the Swedish hostage occurred when a team of negotiators from the OSCE arrived to speak with Separatist Leaders. The remaining captives, from Germany, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Poland remain in the hands of pro-Russia separatists in Slovyansk where militia leaders have indicated they intend to swap them for members of their own movement currently imprisoned by Ukraine. The men, part of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, were paraded in front of the reporters Sunday where, under armed guard, they said they had not been mistreated. Western leaders were outraged. "The public parading of the OSCE observers and Ukrainian security forces as prisoners is revolting and blatantly hurts the dignity of the victims," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. To date, Ukraine's interim government has refused to negotiate with the separatists who they accuse of being puppets of Russia trying to destabilize the country.
All of this occurred against a backdrop of an impending ramping-up of sanctions against Russia imposed by the United States and the EU. Sanctions that include the freezing of assets of persons in Putin's inner circle, but not Putin himself, President Obama said today. Meanwhile, the blog "War is Boring" reports that the Ukraine Military is scrambling to prepare for possible hostilities with Russia. One sign of this has been the painting of unique markings on Ukraine Air Craft to make it easier for ground forces to determine if a helicopter or plane is Russian or Ukrainian. Almost all of Ukraine's aircraft were made in Russia. The sad fact also is that most of the aircraft is old.
In another stunning development, unknown gunmen have shot and critically wounded the Mayor of Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine. The Mayor opposed the Kiev demonstrations that ousted the former President of Ukraine. Hennady Kernes, the mayor of Kharkiv, was shot Monday morning and was in surgery "fighting for his life," according to city officials.
Despite his opposition to the protests in Kiev early in the year, USA today says Kernes has changed his tune of late. In a recent interview he said he does not support the separatists and their building-seizing in the east. And, Kharkiv was the scene of the first efforts by the Ukraine government to retake buildings.
On Saturday, separatists in the city of Gorlivka — also in the restive Donetsk region — captured three members of Ukraine's elite Afla team, a special forces unit of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
The commandos had reportedly been trying to apprehend the suspected murderer of a politician found dead and mutilated last week. But the Alfa team was overwhelmed by separatist gunmen and later paraded bloodied and bandaged in their underwear before pro-Russia TV channels.
Still on his Asian trip, President Obama asked today why "everybody is so anxious to use military force." He was responding to the many newspaper columns and comments by observers who believe he has exhibited weakness in the face of provocative military steps by Russian Strongman Vladimir Putin.
Putin has almost exclusively used military force in gaining the upper hand in Ukraine and other parts of Eastern Europe, including Georgia.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Missing Malaysian Jet: A Leading Malaysian Politician Blasts Boeing, and Different Theories About What Happened
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 27, 2014 - Once again last week hopes were raised that some tangible connection to the missing Malaysian Airlines Jet with 239 people on board had been discovered. Debris washed up on shores in Western Australia, and local police were so sure it had come from the missing jet that they cordoned off the beach, took custody of the debris and rushed photographs of it to the Joint Agency task force that was coordinating the search in the Southern Indian Ocean. But it all turned out to be another false lead, another dead end. So irked were Chinese relatives of some of the missing plane's passengers that they briefly "kidnapped" Malaysian Airlines officials who had gone to Beijing to brief them on the search's progress and direction. In many ways all of this is predictable when, in a time when earth-orbiting satellites can identify a human being on the ground, a huge Boeing 777 Jet simply disappears off the face of the earth and the best minds in the world can't find it after nearly two months.
Last week, a thoughtful albeit reactionary column by the man who led Malaysia for some 20 years appeared in some newspapers, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere. The respected Australian Newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald, has an extensive description of the piece at http://www.smh.com.au/world/former-malaysian-pm-lays-blame-on-boeing-for-mh370-disappearance-20140427-zr0cz.html#ixzz30625wmRt
In the article, Mahathir Mohamad, who from 1981 to 2003 served as Malaysia's Prime Minister, placed much of the blame for the jet's disappearance on its American Manufacturer, Boeing. At first glance, placing blame on the manufactuerer of such a high-tech, universally praised jet seems ludicrous. But Mohamad's point - that the complete disabling of an airliner with that many people on board should not have been possible in so short a period of time. For the first 42 minutes of the jet's scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China, nothing appeared out of place or abnormal. Then, suddenly, air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane and, within the next 30 minutes, so too did military radar. Searchers have used so called "handshakes" between the plane's data transmitters and earth-orbiting satellites to track the plane over what appeared to be a seven to eight hour flight south into the remote and uncharted Southern Indian Ocean, where the "handshakes" stopped. Because the stop occurred when technicians on the ground said the jet had to be about out of fuel, searchers have concentrated the international effort to find the plane on this area of the Southern Indian Ocean. Mohamad does not accept the fact that the plane is in the ocean, especially so far from land. He does not accept the fact that it sank to the bottom of the ocean without leaving debris. But most of his ire is saved for Boeing, who he believes is negligent for marketing a plane that could have all methods of tracking it disabled is so short of a time frame.
“Even if the pilot wants to commit suicide, the co-pilot and the cabin crew would not allow him to do so without trying something,” the 88-year-old still-powerful Malaysian leader wrote, first in his personal blog, then in a column picked up by many newspapers south of the Equator. “Can it be that the plane remained intact on crashing and sank with no trace and no one launching the lifeboat doors, as we are told all these aircraft are equipped with?” he asked. “Can one believe this plane quietly floated down into the raging sea and sank conveniently in the deepest part (seven miles deep) of the Indian Ocean?”
According to Mahathir, even if the Malaysian pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, wanted to disable the plane, “The co-pilot would notice and for his own life he would have tried to do something … was he disabled? Were all the crew members and the passengers disabled?”
The answer to all of these questions, Mahathir reasons, is that Boeing produced a plane that, against all common sense, was easily disabled by one person. “The loss of the plane is due to the makers, Boeing. How can Boeing produce a plane that is so easily disabled?” he said. “Either Boeing technology is poor, or it is not fail-safe.”
“I would not like to fly in a Boeing aircraft unless Boeing can explain how all its system can fail or be disabled.” He called on Boeing to demonstrate publicly "possible ways for the communication system to be disabled”.
“Boeing must accept responsibility for building an aircraft that can disappear in mid-air so completely,” he wrote.
Boeing has not responded to Dr Mahathir's comments.
The Sydney Morning Herald and other media outlets have reported that Malaysia plans this week to release a preliminary report into the disappearance. But people familiar with the findings of the report say it will contain nothing new, and will shed little light on what could have happened. Meanwhile, the respected aviation blog, Plane Talking, published in Australia by Crikey and authored by Ben Sandilands, reported today that the focused search of the ocean floor by the unmanned submersible, Bluefin-21, is now 95% complete with the final dive, its 15th, scheduled to begin today. The 13th dive was aborted for reasons connected to the vehicles software, a not unexpected development, Mr. Sandilands said.
When the focused search is complete, it is expected that the sub will begin searching areas deemed the next most likely for the plane to be at. But one of these next most likely sites includes one that the lead ship, the HMS Ocean Shield, identified after picking up a ping from what was believed to be the missing plane's black boxes.
Last week, a thoughtful albeit reactionary column by the man who led Malaysia for some 20 years appeared in some newspapers, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere. The respected Australian Newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald, has an extensive description of the piece at http://www.smh.com.au/world/former-malaysian-pm-lays-blame-on-boeing-for-mh370-disappearance-20140427-zr0cz.html#ixzz30625wmRt
In the article, Mahathir Mohamad, who from 1981 to 2003 served as Malaysia's Prime Minister, placed much of the blame for the jet's disappearance on its American Manufacturer, Boeing. At first glance, placing blame on the manufactuerer of such a high-tech, universally praised jet seems ludicrous. But Mohamad's point - that the complete disabling of an airliner with that many people on board should not have been possible in so short a period of time. For the first 42 minutes of the jet's scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China, nothing appeared out of place or abnormal. Then, suddenly, air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane and, within the next 30 minutes, so too did military radar. Searchers have used so called "handshakes" between the plane's data transmitters and earth-orbiting satellites to track the plane over what appeared to be a seven to eight hour flight south into the remote and uncharted Southern Indian Ocean, where the "handshakes" stopped. Because the stop occurred when technicians on the ground said the jet had to be about out of fuel, searchers have concentrated the international effort to find the plane on this area of the Southern Indian Ocean. Mohamad does not accept the fact that the plane is in the ocean, especially so far from land. He does not accept the fact that it sank to the bottom of the ocean without leaving debris. But most of his ire is saved for Boeing, who he believes is negligent for marketing a plane that could have all methods of tracking it disabled is so short of a time frame.
“Even if the pilot wants to commit suicide, the co-pilot and the cabin crew would not allow him to do so without trying something,” the 88-year-old still-powerful Malaysian leader wrote, first in his personal blog, then in a column picked up by many newspapers south of the Equator. “Can it be that the plane remained intact on crashing and sank with no trace and no one launching the lifeboat doors, as we are told all these aircraft are equipped with?” he asked. “Can one believe this plane quietly floated down into the raging sea and sank conveniently in the deepest part (seven miles deep) of the Indian Ocean?”
According to Mahathir, even if the Malaysian pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, wanted to disable the plane, “The co-pilot would notice and for his own life he would have tried to do something … was he disabled? Were all the crew members and the passengers disabled?”
The answer to all of these questions, Mahathir reasons, is that Boeing produced a plane that, against all common sense, was easily disabled by one person. “The loss of the plane is due to the makers, Boeing. How can Boeing produce a plane that is so easily disabled?” he said. “Either Boeing technology is poor, or it is not fail-safe.”
“I would not like to fly in a Boeing aircraft unless Boeing can explain how all its system can fail or be disabled.” He called on Boeing to demonstrate publicly "possible ways for the communication system to be disabled”.
“Boeing must accept responsibility for building an aircraft that can disappear in mid-air so completely,” he wrote.
Boeing has not responded to Dr Mahathir's comments.
The Sydney Morning Herald and other media outlets have reported that Malaysia plans this week to release a preliminary report into the disappearance. But people familiar with the findings of the report say it will contain nothing new, and will shed little light on what could have happened. Meanwhile, the respected aviation blog, Plane Talking, published in Australia by Crikey and authored by Ben Sandilands, reported today that the focused search of the ocean floor by the unmanned submersible, Bluefin-21, is now 95% complete with the final dive, its 15th, scheduled to begin today. The 13th dive was aborted for reasons connected to the vehicles software, a not unexpected development, Mr. Sandilands said.
When the focused search is complete, it is expected that the sub will begin searching areas deemed the next most likely for the plane to be at. But one of these next most likely sites includes one that the lead ship, the HMS Ocean Shield, identified after picking up a ping from what was believed to be the missing plane's black boxes.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Burnley Stops Ipswich Town, 1-0, as Kightly Scores Again
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 26, 2014 - It ended today for Ipswich Town. Needing a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, the Tractor Boys instead watched as Michael Kightly scored a goal in his third consecutive match and Burnley's defense did the rest in the Claret's 1-0 victory. As more than 14,500 of the Claret's faithful roared their approval, Kightly hit the back of the nets in the 54th minute for Burnley. It was the Claret's first match since securing promotion to the Premier League for the upcoming campaign.
The win left Burnley with 92 points in 45 games. Leicester now has 99 points after their win today over Huddersfield Town. Each has one match remaining, meaning Burnley can no longer catch Leicester. That was actually true going in to today's games. Both teams have kept up a phenomenal pace since the beginning of the season. Leicester has a chance to go over 100 points with a victory in its final match. Burnley has lost only 5 times throughout the campaign, in 45 matches. No team, including Leicester, has so few losses. And the Claret have lost only once at home.
Here is a look at the Championship Standings as the league counts down the days to the end of the regular season on May 3.
1. Leicester City: 99 points, 30 wins, 9 draws, 6 losses
2. Burnley: 92 points, 26 wins, 14 draws, 5 losses
3. Derby County: 84 points, 25 wins, 9 draws, 11 losses
4. Queens Park Rangers: 77 points, 22 wins, 11 draws, 12 losses
5. Reading: 70 points, 19 points, 13 draws, 13 losses (goal differential: 14)
6. *Wigan Ath.: 70 points, 20 wins, 10 draws, 14 losses (goal differential: 13)
7. Brighton and Hove Albion: 69 points, 18 wins, 15 draws, 12 losses
8. Blackburn: 67 points, 17 wins, 16 draws, 12 losses
9. Bournemouth: 66 points, 18 wins, 12 draws, 15 losses
10. Ipswich Town: 65 points, 17 wins, 14 draws, 14 losses (goal differential: 5)
11. Nott. For.: 65 points, 16 wins, 17 draws, 12 losses (goal differential: 4)
12. Middlesboro: 61 points, 15 wins, 16 draws, 14 losses
13.*Watford: 60 points, 15 wins, 15 draws, 14 losses
14. Bolton: 58 points, 14 wins, 16 draws, 15 losses
15. Leeds: 56 points, 16 wins, 8 draws, 21 losses
16. Sheffield Wednesday: 53 points, 13 wins, 14 draws, 18 losses
17. Huddersfield Town: 50 points, 13 wins, 11 draws, 21 losses
18. Blackpool: 46 points, 11 wins, 13 draws, 21 losses
19.*Charlton: 45 points, 11 wins, 12 draws, 21 losses (goal differential: =25)
20. Millwall: 45 points, 10 wins, 15 draws, 20 losses (goal differential: =29)
21. Doncaster: 44 points, 11 wins, 11 draws, 23 losses
22.*Birmingham: 43 points, 11 wins, 10 draws, 23 losses
23. Barnsley: 39 points, 9 wins, 12 draws, 24 losses
24. Yeovil Town: 37 points, 8 wins, 13 draws, 24 losses
All teams have played 45 games, except those with an * preceding their name; those teams - Wigan Athletic, Watford, Charlton Athletic and Birmingham City - have played 44 matches. The regular season ends after next Saturday's matches, by which time each team will have played 46 games. The four teams that have two games left to play will play a game Tuesday night. Watford will play Charlton Athletic and Wigan Athletic will play Birmingham City.
Under league rules, the first and second place teams are automatically promoted tk t Leicester and Burnley will have already clinched those positions. Also, the teams that end in places 22, 23 and 24 will be relegated to League One. The teams that finish in places 3, 4, 5 and 6 will enter a single elimination tournament with the other teams finishing in those four positions. The winner of that tournament will also be promoted to the Premier League; the other three teams in the tournament will remain in the Championship League. We'll take a look at that tournament later this week and then again one week from Sunday, when we will know exactly how the teams finished.
The win left Burnley with 92 points in 45 games. Leicester now has 99 points after their win today over Huddersfield Town. Each has one match remaining, meaning Burnley can no longer catch Leicester. That was actually true going in to today's games. Both teams have kept up a phenomenal pace since the beginning of the season. Leicester has a chance to go over 100 points with a victory in its final match. Burnley has lost only 5 times throughout the campaign, in 45 matches. No team, including Leicester, has so few losses. And the Claret have lost only once at home.
Here is a look at the Championship Standings as the league counts down the days to the end of the regular season on May 3.
1. Leicester City: 99 points, 30 wins, 9 draws, 6 losses
2. Burnley: 92 points, 26 wins, 14 draws, 5 losses
3. Derby County: 84 points, 25 wins, 9 draws, 11 losses
4. Queens Park Rangers: 77 points, 22 wins, 11 draws, 12 losses
5. Reading: 70 points, 19 points, 13 draws, 13 losses (goal differential: 14)
6. *Wigan Ath.: 70 points, 20 wins, 10 draws, 14 losses (goal differential: 13)
7. Brighton and Hove Albion: 69 points, 18 wins, 15 draws, 12 losses
8. Blackburn: 67 points, 17 wins, 16 draws, 12 losses
9. Bournemouth: 66 points, 18 wins, 12 draws, 15 losses
10. Ipswich Town: 65 points, 17 wins, 14 draws, 14 losses (goal differential: 5)
11. Nott. For.: 65 points, 16 wins, 17 draws, 12 losses (goal differential: 4)
12. Middlesboro: 61 points, 15 wins, 16 draws, 14 losses
13.*Watford: 60 points, 15 wins, 15 draws, 14 losses
14. Bolton: 58 points, 14 wins, 16 draws, 15 losses
15. Leeds: 56 points, 16 wins, 8 draws, 21 losses
16. Sheffield Wednesday: 53 points, 13 wins, 14 draws, 18 losses
17. Huddersfield Town: 50 points, 13 wins, 11 draws, 21 losses
18. Blackpool: 46 points, 11 wins, 13 draws, 21 losses
19.*Charlton: 45 points, 11 wins, 12 draws, 21 losses (goal differential: =25)
20. Millwall: 45 points, 10 wins, 15 draws, 20 losses (goal differential: =29)
21. Doncaster: 44 points, 11 wins, 11 draws, 23 losses
22.*Birmingham: 43 points, 11 wins, 10 draws, 23 losses
23. Barnsley: 39 points, 9 wins, 12 draws, 24 losses
24. Yeovil Town: 37 points, 8 wins, 13 draws, 24 losses
All teams have played 45 games, except those with an * preceding their name; those teams - Wigan Athletic, Watford, Charlton Athletic and Birmingham City - have played 44 matches. The regular season ends after next Saturday's matches, by which time each team will have played 46 games. The four teams that have two games left to play will play a game Tuesday night. Watford will play Charlton Athletic and Wigan Athletic will play Birmingham City.
Under league rules, the first and second place teams are automatically promoted tk t Leicester and Burnley will have already clinched those positions. Also, the teams that end in places 22, 23 and 24 will be relegated to League One. The teams that finish in places 3, 4, 5 and 6 will enter a single elimination tournament with the other teams finishing in those four positions. The winner of that tournament will also be promoted to the Premier League; the other three teams in the tournament will remain in the Championship League. We'll take a look at that tournament later this week and then again one week from Sunday, when we will know exactly how the teams finished.
A Death in My Family
SCRANTON, Pennsylvania April 26, 2014 - My Aunt died. I tell you this because for the first time in a long time, I have not posted regularly over the last week, and more than a day went by in between the posts I did make. I have been in Scranton for the funeral. My Aunt was 24 days shy of her 100th birthday when she passed. She lived a full and active life; we all recalled in the last week how she continued cutting her lawn with an old hand-pushed mower well into her nineties. Until she broke her hip about five years ago, and had to take up residence in a facility here that most of us would call a nursing home, she prided herself on doing things for herself. Her attitude changed when the people that loved her got her to take up residence in a facility here that was called a nursing home but run like a spa. The people that live here and work here insisted on this. I've been in nursing homes all over the place, and the facility here was not one of those. It was bright and fresh and clean as a whistle and the employees inside, no matter when you came, were cheerful and engaging. My Aunt never wanted to leave because it was like a giant vacation for her after the many years of taking care of herself and her family. For the last five years of her life, people took care of her.
My Aunt was the oldest child of a Polish immigrant coal miner and his wife. When she died one week ago, I was in a car with my parents heading north through the northern Appalacian Mountains. My father, Aunt Ruth's youngest brother, had hoped to arrive in time to see her one more time. Instead, we continued on and spent the day making final arrangements. My Aunt outlived three of her younger siblings; only my father and my Aunt Edna survive her and they 87 and 90. Aunt Ruth was born in May, 1914, when her parents lived in a basement apartment on Reese Street, close enough to the coal mine which employed my grandfather that he could walk to work each morning. When my Aunt was three, the owner of that house bought a farm. He would sell the house to make the downpayment. My grandparents rented a second floor apartment one block away on Greenbush Street, They didn't know it at the time, but that house would be the home of the Trotz family for the better part of the next century. Five other children followed my Aunt. At some point in the next decade the owners of the Greenbush Street home also purchased a small farm near the New York State Line, but instead of moving again my grandfather scraped together enough money to buy the Greenbush Street house. It was so near the mines that cave ins occurred all around it for the better part of the next 75 years, including one in the house's back yard. A chicken and turkey coop disappeared one night in the 1930's, and only a daring rescue saved the birds, The coop was gone for good. An unthinkable calamity hit our family in 1931, when my Aunt was 17 and my father was five. A long strike had ended at Scranton's coal mines and on the first day that my grandfather and the other coal miners returned to work, a huge boulder dislodged from the roof of the coal vein he was working, and fell on top of him, crushing his pelvis and legs, spine and everything else. He survived three days of hell before expiring. John Trotz, born in Suvalki in Poland, was 43. There were no benefits and no life insurance, and the United States was already locked in the economic morass we now call the Great Depression. Along with my Grandmother, who was ten years younger than my grandfather, my Aunt Ruth and my Uncle John quit school and found jobs at a factory that rolled cigars. Between that income, a bank that allowed them to pay only the interest on the mortgage for a spell, and a bit of public assistance, they somehow managed to keep the house, and keep together the family that lived in it.
Where anthrocite coal was mined across Pennsylvania, the landscape would soon become dotted with huge mountains of so-called "slag" ore. These mountains of rock were what was left of the earth the miners took out of the mines after most of the coal was extracted. A sharp eye could see the bits of coal left in those mountains of waste rock. My father recalls spending many days each year, as soon as he was old enough, pulling a small wagon to the base of these huge mountains of "slag" and picking the remaining coal out so that it could be burned in the family furnace. It saved enough money during Scranton's interminable winters to make a significant contribution to the family finances.
Somehow, despite the economic pressure they lived through, and maybe because of it, my Aunt Ruth and the rest of her brothers and sisters grew up with a wonderful air of selflessness and perpetual optimism. It came to define them. I knew Aunt Ruth always as a living saint on the Earth because of this selfless modesty and perpetual optimism. She brightened any room she entered and could find a dozen positive things about anything she laid eyes on. Aunt Ruth helped so many people, most of the time without being asked, and brightened so many lives, that she was constantly inundated by personal visits and phone calls from those who had benefitted in some way by her deeds or even just her words. All summer long farmers and gardeners brought fresh produce to her home for her and my grandmother. In the winter, she received prepared food from dozens of others. She had a fabulous gift for handmade decorations applied to cakes and tapered candles. For the candles she gathered twigs and berries from the fields and meadows near her home, then coated them and, along with the leaves and other natural forms she created by hand, applied them to candles. She hand-decorated cakes with other edible mediums that amazed even professional decorators. Her skills were so advanced and so fabulous that, had she wished, she could have made a living selling them. Instead, she did her work either for free or at such a low price that she actually took a loss on the projects. The most selfless thing she did was refusing the many marraige proposals she received over the years in order to stay at home with my grandmother, who herself had kept her family together, fed and cared for against almost impossible odds. In her later years my grandmother lost her eyesight and my Aunt became not only her companion, but also her nurse, cook and maid. She never complained, never acted sour or morose. She often told us that it was a privilege for her to care for my grandmother. Although at my grandmother's death the Greenbush Street home passed to all six of her children, they all deeded their share to my Aunt without even thinking about it. Scranton, in the winter, is often a nightmare to visit. The main highway to the City, Interstate 81, runs across the ridges of the Appalacians and Poconos, and anyone who has traveled that highway in the winter knows how dangerous the road can be. Everyone has a story about spinning around on the ice on that road, or getting caught in an October blizzard at the top of one of the mountains. Generally, the trips home by our family ended at Thanksgiving and began again at Easter. We always tried to get my Aunt to come to Baltimore, where a large chunk of her family moved, at Christmas. But she wouldn't have anything of it. The one year after my Grandmother passed that we succeeded is one of the best holidays I remember. Most years she spent the holidays with this family or that family in Scranton. Knowing her beloved family couldn't come home, they made a point of inviting her for Christmas dinner. When spring had barely started, the trips home began again. My old photographs are inundated with Easter shots taken during snowstorms in the front yard on Greenbush Street on Easter morning.
The church where all of the people in the neighborhood attended was just around the corner from Greenbush Street. It was constructed by the people who lived there at the time. For reasons having to do with the Prussian incursion into northeastern Poland in the century after the Protestant Reformation, the people who came to this City from Poland were all Lutheran, even though some had German names and some had Polish names, and all of them spoke Polish. The church held one service in Polish until about 20 years ago. My grandfather had a German name but lived in Poland and spoke Polish. The one German thing about him and everybody else in this area is their religion. Most of the people whose ancestors came here from Suvalki, in the Lake District of Northeastern Poland, are Missouri Synod Lutheran. Most have a lot of explaining to do when people ask. Like my grandfather, almost of all of them came in the first and second decade of the twentieth century. Most of the men took jobs as coal miners even though none of them were coal miners, or even miners, back in Poland. Most were farmers. It was all of their intentions to make some money here then return home to Poland. But hardly any did. Their life ambition switched from going back to Poland to saving enough money and buying a farm here. My father has pointed out a certain farm to me that his mother and father were saving to buy until the awful day that he lost his life in the mine. When the second world war started my uncle immediately enlisted. My father was only 15 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, beginning World War II for the United States. The day after he turned 18 he, too, enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He was in boot camp when VE day occurred. Instead of being deployed to the Pacific, however, the army air corp sent him in with the occupying force in Germany. All of these stories have been revisted in recent days. The little church where my Aunt's funeral was held, the one the immigrants built, is easily the brightest church I have ever been in. It has always struck me that it was built that way to be an exact opposite of the subterranean world the men lived in five and six days a week. The church cemetary is on the top of one of the nearby Mountains; this one the local people call Bell Mountain. From it you can see the entire mountain valley where Scranton is built. The view on a clear day like Friday was is completely breathtaking. My family is buried on this mountain, from one end to the other. In the Trotz lot are my grandparents, two of my father's sisters and one of their husbands. My father's brother is to the right and one of his other sisters to the left. After my aunt is interred my cousins all split up and wander to the graves of their parents. Then we all go back to the church where they have made lunch for us. Memorabilia from my Aunt's life is displayed on one of the tables. In one photo, she poses, smiling, with a huge cake she decorated for some milestone in the church's history that happened about ten years ago. In the photo, my Aunt is wearing her favorite dress, the same one she was buried in Friday.
My Aunt was the oldest child of a Polish immigrant coal miner and his wife. When she died one week ago, I was in a car with my parents heading north through the northern Appalacian Mountains. My father, Aunt Ruth's youngest brother, had hoped to arrive in time to see her one more time. Instead, we continued on and spent the day making final arrangements. My Aunt outlived three of her younger siblings; only my father and my Aunt Edna survive her and they 87 and 90. Aunt Ruth was born in May, 1914, when her parents lived in a basement apartment on Reese Street, close enough to the coal mine which employed my grandfather that he could walk to work each morning. When my Aunt was three, the owner of that house bought a farm. He would sell the house to make the downpayment. My grandparents rented a second floor apartment one block away on Greenbush Street, They didn't know it at the time, but that house would be the home of the Trotz family for the better part of the next century. Five other children followed my Aunt. At some point in the next decade the owners of the Greenbush Street home also purchased a small farm near the New York State Line, but instead of moving again my grandfather scraped together enough money to buy the Greenbush Street house. It was so near the mines that cave ins occurred all around it for the better part of the next 75 years, including one in the house's back yard. A chicken and turkey coop disappeared one night in the 1930's, and only a daring rescue saved the birds, The coop was gone for good. An unthinkable calamity hit our family in 1931, when my Aunt was 17 and my father was five. A long strike had ended at Scranton's coal mines and on the first day that my grandfather and the other coal miners returned to work, a huge boulder dislodged from the roof of the coal vein he was working, and fell on top of him, crushing his pelvis and legs, spine and everything else. He survived three days of hell before expiring. John Trotz, born in Suvalki in Poland, was 43. There were no benefits and no life insurance, and the United States was already locked in the economic morass we now call the Great Depression. Along with my Grandmother, who was ten years younger than my grandfather, my Aunt Ruth and my Uncle John quit school and found jobs at a factory that rolled cigars. Between that income, a bank that allowed them to pay only the interest on the mortgage for a spell, and a bit of public assistance, they somehow managed to keep the house, and keep together the family that lived in it.
Where anthrocite coal was mined across Pennsylvania, the landscape would soon become dotted with huge mountains of so-called "slag" ore. These mountains of rock were what was left of the earth the miners took out of the mines after most of the coal was extracted. A sharp eye could see the bits of coal left in those mountains of waste rock. My father recalls spending many days each year, as soon as he was old enough, pulling a small wagon to the base of these huge mountains of "slag" and picking the remaining coal out so that it could be burned in the family furnace. It saved enough money during Scranton's interminable winters to make a significant contribution to the family finances.
Somehow, despite the economic pressure they lived through, and maybe because of it, my Aunt Ruth and the rest of her brothers and sisters grew up with a wonderful air of selflessness and perpetual optimism. It came to define them. I knew Aunt Ruth always as a living saint on the Earth because of this selfless modesty and perpetual optimism. She brightened any room she entered and could find a dozen positive things about anything she laid eyes on. Aunt Ruth helped so many people, most of the time without being asked, and brightened so many lives, that she was constantly inundated by personal visits and phone calls from those who had benefitted in some way by her deeds or even just her words. All summer long farmers and gardeners brought fresh produce to her home for her and my grandmother. In the winter, she received prepared food from dozens of others. She had a fabulous gift for handmade decorations applied to cakes and tapered candles. For the candles she gathered twigs and berries from the fields and meadows near her home, then coated them and, along with the leaves and other natural forms she created by hand, applied them to candles. She hand-decorated cakes with other edible mediums that amazed even professional decorators. Her skills were so advanced and so fabulous that, had she wished, she could have made a living selling them. Instead, she did her work either for free or at such a low price that she actually took a loss on the projects. The most selfless thing she did was refusing the many marraige proposals she received over the years in order to stay at home with my grandmother, who herself had kept her family together, fed and cared for against almost impossible odds. In her later years my grandmother lost her eyesight and my Aunt became not only her companion, but also her nurse, cook and maid. She never complained, never acted sour or morose. She often told us that it was a privilege for her to care for my grandmother. Although at my grandmother's death the Greenbush Street home passed to all six of her children, they all deeded their share to my Aunt without even thinking about it. Scranton, in the winter, is often a nightmare to visit. The main highway to the City, Interstate 81, runs across the ridges of the Appalacians and Poconos, and anyone who has traveled that highway in the winter knows how dangerous the road can be. Everyone has a story about spinning around on the ice on that road, or getting caught in an October blizzard at the top of one of the mountains. Generally, the trips home by our family ended at Thanksgiving and began again at Easter. We always tried to get my Aunt to come to Baltimore, where a large chunk of her family moved, at Christmas. But she wouldn't have anything of it. The one year after my Grandmother passed that we succeeded is one of the best holidays I remember. Most years she spent the holidays with this family or that family in Scranton. Knowing her beloved family couldn't come home, they made a point of inviting her for Christmas dinner. When spring had barely started, the trips home began again. My old photographs are inundated with Easter shots taken during snowstorms in the front yard on Greenbush Street on Easter morning.
The church where all of the people in the neighborhood attended was just around the corner from Greenbush Street. It was constructed by the people who lived there at the time. For reasons having to do with the Prussian incursion into northeastern Poland in the century after the Protestant Reformation, the people who came to this City from Poland were all Lutheran, even though some had German names and some had Polish names, and all of them spoke Polish. The church held one service in Polish until about 20 years ago. My grandfather had a German name but lived in Poland and spoke Polish. The one German thing about him and everybody else in this area is their religion. Most of the people whose ancestors came here from Suvalki, in the Lake District of Northeastern Poland, are Missouri Synod Lutheran. Most have a lot of explaining to do when people ask. Like my grandfather, almost of all of them came in the first and second decade of the twentieth century. Most of the men took jobs as coal miners even though none of them were coal miners, or even miners, back in Poland. Most were farmers. It was all of their intentions to make some money here then return home to Poland. But hardly any did. Their life ambition switched from going back to Poland to saving enough money and buying a farm here. My father has pointed out a certain farm to me that his mother and father were saving to buy until the awful day that he lost his life in the mine. When the second world war started my uncle immediately enlisted. My father was only 15 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, beginning World War II for the United States. The day after he turned 18 he, too, enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He was in boot camp when VE day occurred. Instead of being deployed to the Pacific, however, the army air corp sent him in with the occupying force in Germany. All of these stories have been revisted in recent days. The little church where my Aunt's funeral was held, the one the immigrants built, is easily the brightest church I have ever been in. It has always struck me that it was built that way to be an exact opposite of the subterranean world the men lived in five and six days a week. The church cemetary is on the top of one of the nearby Mountains; this one the local people call Bell Mountain. From it you can see the entire mountain valley where Scranton is built. The view on a clear day like Friday was is completely breathtaking. My family is buried on this mountain, from one end to the other. In the Trotz lot are my grandparents, two of my father's sisters and one of their husbands. My father's brother is to the right and one of his other sisters to the left. After my aunt is interred my cousins all split up and wander to the graves of their parents. Then we all go back to the church where they have made lunch for us. Memorabilia from my Aunt's life is displayed on one of the tables. In one photo, she poses, smiling, with a huge cake she decorated for some milestone in the church's history that happened about ten years ago. In the photo, my Aunt is wearing her favorite dress, the same one she was buried in Friday.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Searchers Examining Debris Washed Up on Western Australia Shore
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 23, 2014 - Debris Washed Up on Shore in Western Australia Being Examined for Connections to Missing Malaysian Jet carrying 239 People Debris has washed up on shores in one or more Western Australia locations, and the international team searching for a missing Malaysian Airlines Jet carrying 239 people are studying it to see if it might be from the lost plane. This, on a day when the aerial search of the Southern Indian Ocean has been suspended because of a passing Cyclone. The respected aviation blog, Plane Talking, authored by Australian Ben Sandilands, says one piece of debris of interest to the international team being coordinated by Retired Air Chief Marshal August Houston, is a sheet of plastic similar to those found in the cabin of the missing Boeing 777. Other sources say another piece of debris is a piece of sheet metal with rivet holes in it.
The debris is described as plastic sheets which may, according to one expert, be from the cabin of the missing jet, but no confirmation has been made. And there are other reports of debris washing up in a different location, with that debris being described as sheet metal with holes for rivets. There has been no reported confirmation that the debris was either from the missing jet, which lost contact with air traffic controllers about 40 minutes into its scheduled six hour flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China. After air traffic controllers lost contact with the jet in the extremely early hours of March 8, military radar followed the plane for another 30 minutes, give or take, and saw that the plane had turned dramatically off course. When radar also lost the plane, it continued to emit data that was detected by earth-orbiting satellites for between seven and eight more hours. High-tech analysis of the so-called "handshakes" between the plane and the satellites have convinced searchers that the plane went on a mysterious journey that ended in the Southern Indian Ocean some 1500 kilometers west northwest of Perth, Australia. That portion of the Indian Ocean is remote from any land, and is between one and four miles deep, with swells of some 30 feet. And with the cyclone called "Jack" passing in the vicinity of the search area, the conditions have worsened. Ships searching the surface for debris have continued to look, but airplanes involved have been ordered back to their bases, Likewise, the submersible Bluefin 21 has begun its ninth mission looking for debris in the area determined by the search team to be the most likely area to find the planes two black boxes. The entire high profile area will have been searched in the next 48 hours, the search team has said.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said this week that the search will continue even if the Bluefin-21 Seach comes up empty. The first eight missions have not found any debris or possible parts of the missing jet. In fact, other than the four instances when pings or pulses were detected that might have been from the missing jet's black boxes, no confirmed sightings of anything connected to the missing jet have been discovered. The four instances of audible pings from the black boxes were at the correct reading on the sound dial that the black boxes would have emitted their pings at. But the pings have stopped, which in and of itself is not a bad sign since the batteries in the black boxes are such that they emit their locating pings for between 30 and 40 days before going dead.
The debris today was found east of Augusta, the town nearest Cape Leeuwin, the southwestern tip of Australia, according to the Sandilands blog. The blog reported that police at Brussleton have secured the area on the shore where the debris was located, photographed the debris, and sent those photos to the search team headquarters in Perth and also to Kuala Lumpur, where the overall search is being directed. During a press briefing in Kuala Lumpur today, the Malaysian Authorities admitted that they were initially intrigued by the discoveries, but have become less intrigued as time went by.
The objects were found on the day the aerial search for floating debris had moved closer than ever to the Western Australian coastline, but at a location more than 800 kilometers northwest of Perth, in the Indian Ocean, rather than the northern reaches of the great Southern Ocean where the remnants were found, Mr. Sandilands reported.
The debris is described as plastic sheets which may, according to one expert, be from the cabin of the missing jet, but no confirmation has been made. And there are other reports of debris washing up in a different location, with that debris being described as sheet metal with holes for rivets. There has been no reported confirmation that the debris was either from the missing jet, which lost contact with air traffic controllers about 40 minutes into its scheduled six hour flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China. After air traffic controllers lost contact with the jet in the extremely early hours of March 8, military radar followed the plane for another 30 minutes, give or take, and saw that the plane had turned dramatically off course. When radar also lost the plane, it continued to emit data that was detected by earth-orbiting satellites for between seven and eight more hours. High-tech analysis of the so-called "handshakes" between the plane and the satellites have convinced searchers that the plane went on a mysterious journey that ended in the Southern Indian Ocean some 1500 kilometers west northwest of Perth, Australia. That portion of the Indian Ocean is remote from any land, and is between one and four miles deep, with swells of some 30 feet. And with the cyclone called "Jack" passing in the vicinity of the search area, the conditions have worsened. Ships searching the surface for debris have continued to look, but airplanes involved have been ordered back to their bases, Likewise, the submersible Bluefin 21 has begun its ninth mission looking for debris in the area determined by the search team to be the most likely area to find the planes two black boxes. The entire high profile area will have been searched in the next 48 hours, the search team has said.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said this week that the search will continue even if the Bluefin-21 Seach comes up empty. The first eight missions have not found any debris or possible parts of the missing jet. In fact, other than the four instances when pings or pulses were detected that might have been from the missing jet's black boxes, no confirmed sightings of anything connected to the missing jet have been discovered. The four instances of audible pings from the black boxes were at the correct reading on the sound dial that the black boxes would have emitted their pings at. But the pings have stopped, which in and of itself is not a bad sign since the batteries in the black boxes are such that they emit their locating pings for between 30 and 40 days before going dead.
The debris today was found east of Augusta, the town nearest Cape Leeuwin, the southwestern tip of Australia, according to the Sandilands blog. The blog reported that police at Brussleton have secured the area on the shore where the debris was located, photographed the debris, and sent those photos to the search team headquarters in Perth and also to Kuala Lumpur, where the overall search is being directed. During a press briefing in Kuala Lumpur today, the Malaysian Authorities admitted that they were initially intrigued by the discoveries, but have become less intrigued as time went by.
The objects were found on the day the aerial search for floating debris had moved closer than ever to the Western Australian coastline, but at a location more than 800 kilometers northwest of Perth, in the Indian Ocean, rather than the northern reaches of the great Southern Ocean where the remnants were found, Mr. Sandilands reported.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Burnley Clinches Promotion to Premier League With 2-0 Win Over Wigan Athletic; Barnes Scores Winning Goal; Kightly Scores in Second Straight Game
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 22, 2014 - The suspense has now ended. A remarkable run through the English Championship by a team everyone described as barely adequate to make a serious run came to a wonderful conclusion Monday at venerable Turf Moor when Burnley defeated Wigan Athletic, 2-0, to clinch promotion to the Premier League. The Claret, who still have lost only five games on the season, not only survived the kind of injury jinx everyone feared, but seemed to actually profit from it when it reared its ugly head at a time of the campaign when they seemed most vulnerable. Monday, Ashley Barnes, who seemed like so much wasted effort when he was acquired in January, and Michael Kightly, on loan from Stoke, put home the two goals Burnley wanted to make this clinching match the celebration of so remarkable an accomplishment.
When Burnley lost its fourth game of the season on March 29 at Leicester City, and in the process lost Sam Vokes, one of their two leading scorers, it looked like Burnley had finally run out of luck. They would now go through a stretch of matches without either Vokes, who was lost for the season, and Danny Ings, who had been injured a few matches earlier and was no where near ready to return. They were already without Kieran Trippier, the midfielder who set up many of their goals, Dean Marney, the veteran midfielder, and Junior Stanislaus, the proverbial 12th man who came into games in the second half to jump start their offense. Despite these setbacks, the Claret continued on, figuring ways to win when no way seemed possible. Even with those players out, the Claret were 3-1-1, although, to be honest, all of the missing players trickled back onto the pitch after the Leicester game save for Vokes. In the match after Leicester, Burnley was behind late at Watford when Scott Arfield scored in the 86th minute to salvage a point. In the game after that, Ashley Barnes scored in the seventh minute as the Claret beat Barnsley, 1-0. They lost at home to Middlesbrough, but any thought that they were in trouble was quickly eliminated when they rebounded last Friday night to win at Blackpool. Then, last night, they clinched.
When Burnley lost its fourth game of the season on March 29 at Leicester City, and in the process lost Sam Vokes, one of their two leading scorers, it looked like Burnley had finally run out of luck. They would now go through a stretch of matches without either Vokes, who was lost for the season, and Danny Ings, who had been injured a few matches earlier and was no where near ready to return. They were already without Kieran Trippier, the midfielder who set up many of their goals, Dean Marney, the veteran midfielder, and Junior Stanislaus, the proverbial 12th man who came into games in the second half to jump start their offense. Despite these setbacks, the Claret continued on, figuring ways to win when no way seemed possible. Even with those players out, the Claret were 3-1-1, although, to be honest, all of the missing players trickled back onto the pitch after the Leicester game save for Vokes. In the match after Leicester, Burnley was behind late at Watford when Scott Arfield scored in the 86th minute to salvage a point. In the game after that, Ashley Barnes scored in the seventh minute as the Claret beat Barnsley, 1-0. They lost at home to Middlesbrough, but any thought that they were in trouble was quickly eliminated when they rebounded last Friday night to win at Blackpool. Then, last night, they clinched.
Terps Take 2 of 3 from Tech; Frustrated at Losing Sweep Chance
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 22, 2014 - Maryland rode the outstanding starting pitching of Jake Stinnett and Mike Shawaryn to victories in the first two games of this past weekend's home series with Georgia Tech, but couldn't close the door on the Yellow Jackets even when they had a two-run lead halfway through yesterday's series finale. The Sunday game ended up going 12 innings and Georgia Tech exploded for seven runs in the 12th to win, 13-6. Maryland led, 5-3, after five innings, before Tech scored three in the top of the sixth to take the lead. Maryland tied the game in the sixth inning when Charlie White raced home on a double play grounder, and the score stayed tied until the top of the 12th. The very hard luck losing pitcher was Bobby Ruse, who entered the game in the top of the seventh and shut down the Yellow Jackets for the next five innings on two hits. Sadly, the Terrapins were also spinning their wheels. Truth is, they should have won the game in the sixth when they loaded the bases with nobody out but only managed the one run. Then in the bottom of the seventh they had two runners called out at home. Truth is, only one of them was actually out. The umpire blew the call on the second play, but such is life, one supposes (one supposes also that these kind of mistakes happen to the benefit of the home team, but Maryland is apparently an exception to that rule). In the win on Saturday, Mike Shawaryn struck out nine Yellow Jackets, and Tim Lewis singled through a drawn up infield to score an important insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning as Maryland won, 4-1. Georgia Tech loaded the bases against Maryland closer Kevin Mooney in the top of the eighth, but got out of the inning on a double play ground ball.
The Terps play today at West Virginia at 6 pm. They return home tomorrow to take on George Mason. Here are the up-to-the-minute ACC Standings:
Atlantic Division
1. Florida State: 16 wins, 5 losses, .762 pct, 30 wins, 9 losses
2. Clemson: 12 wins, 8 losses, .600 pct, 3.5 games behind, 24 wins, 15 losses
3. Wake Forest: 12 wins, 9 losses, .571 pct, 4.0 games behind, 25 wins, 17 losses
4. Maryland: 9 wins, 11 losses, .450 pct, 6.5 games behind, 24 wins, 14 losses
5. North Carolina State: 7 wins, 14 losses, .333 pct, 9 games behind, 21 wins, 17
losses
6. Boston College: 5 wins, 16 losses, .238 pct, 11 games behind, 14 wins, 26 losses
7. Notre Dame: 4 wins, 17 losses, .190 pct, 12 games behind, 16 wins, 23 losses
Coastal Division
1. Virginia: 16 wins, 5 losses, .762 pct, 33 wins, 7 losses
2. Miami: 16 wins, 5 losses, .762 pct, 28 wins, 13 losses
3. Duke: 12 wins, 9 losses, .571 pct, 4 games behind, 24 wins, 17 losses
4. Georgia Tech: 11 wins, 10 losses, .524 pct, 5 games behind, 25 wins, 16 losses
5. North Carolina: 10 wins, 11 losses, .476 pct, 6 games behind, 23 wins, 17 losses
6. Pittsburgh: 9 wins, 12 losses, .429 pct, 7 games behind, 17 wins, 22 losses
7. Virginia Tech: 7 wins, 14 losses, .333 pct, 9 games behind, 18 wins, 20 losses
The Terps play today at West Virginia at 6 pm. They return home tomorrow to take on George Mason. Here are the up-to-the-minute ACC Standings:
Atlantic Division
1. Florida State: 16 wins, 5 losses, .762 pct, 30 wins, 9 losses
2. Clemson: 12 wins, 8 losses, .600 pct, 3.5 games behind, 24 wins, 15 losses
3. Wake Forest: 12 wins, 9 losses, .571 pct, 4.0 games behind, 25 wins, 17 losses
4. Maryland: 9 wins, 11 losses, .450 pct, 6.5 games behind, 24 wins, 14 losses
5. North Carolina State: 7 wins, 14 losses, .333 pct, 9 games behind, 21 wins, 17
losses
6. Boston College: 5 wins, 16 losses, .238 pct, 11 games behind, 14 wins, 26 losses
7. Notre Dame: 4 wins, 17 losses, .190 pct, 12 games behind, 16 wins, 23 losses
Coastal Division
1. Virginia: 16 wins, 5 losses, .762 pct, 33 wins, 7 losses
2. Miami: 16 wins, 5 losses, .762 pct, 28 wins, 13 losses
3. Duke: 12 wins, 9 losses, .571 pct, 4 games behind, 24 wins, 17 losses
4. Georgia Tech: 11 wins, 10 losses, .524 pct, 5 games behind, 25 wins, 16 losses
5. North Carolina: 10 wins, 11 losses, .476 pct, 6 games behind, 23 wins, 17 losses
6. Pittsburgh: 9 wins, 12 losses, .429 pct, 7 games behind, 17 wins, 22 losses
7. Virginia Tech: 7 wins, 14 losses, .333 pct, 9 games behind, 18 wins, 20 losses
Monday, April 21, 2014
Search for Missing Jet by Submersible Craft Coming Up Empty; Change is Search Method Under Consideration
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 21, 2014 - Easter has passed and the search for the missing Malaysian Jet carrying 239 passengers has still not generated any certain results. The search and mapping operation of the ocean floor being carried out by the unmanned submersible craft Bluefin-21 is said to be halfway through the first planned phase. The area being mapped was decided using what are thought to be pulses or pings from the black boxes on the missing plane. They were "heard" some four times near what would have been the end of the battery life of the two black boxes. The pings or pulses indicate that the jet is in a relatively small area of the floor of the Indian Ocean some 2000 to 2322 kilometers west northwest of Perth, Australia.
So far, the submersible craft has completed seven of its planned dives. As this article is posted at 11:40 am on Monday, April 21, 2014, the eighth planned dive is underway. So far, neither the sonar or photographic capabilities of Bluefin 21 has produced a positive result. The entire first phase should be completed by midweek, according to a release by the Australian Joint Agency Coordination Centre in Perth. Retired Chief Air Marshal Angus Houston is the head of that multi-national group.
Late last week the respected Aviation Blog "Plane Talking," authored by Ben Sandilands in Australia, said there were signs that searchers were about make somewhat dramatic changes in the direction of the search. The searchers have not lost faith in the major tenet of the search; that is, that the jet, which was on a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China when it was lost by radar and lost contact with air traffic controllers between midnight and 1:00 am, local time, on March 8, 2014, then made a dramatic turn, going completely off course, and eventually flying for between seven and eight hours in a southerly direction before running out of fuel and diving into the Southern part of the Indian Ocean in the area where searchers are now concentrating. The method used to track the jet here are so called "handshakes" the plane's on-board data transmitters made with earth-orbiting satellites. On each mission, searchers say that the Bluefin-21 is mapping about 25 square kilometers.
The Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, said last week, according to the Financial Review, that the surface searches for debris fields from the missing Jet will be changed, and other submersible vehicles brought in. In particular, according to the Financial Review, the submersible used to locate the Air France Jet that crashed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 is said to be available, and may be requested by the search team.
So far, the submersible craft has completed seven of its planned dives. As this article is posted at 11:40 am on Monday, April 21, 2014, the eighth planned dive is underway. So far, neither the sonar or photographic capabilities of Bluefin 21 has produced a positive result. The entire first phase should be completed by midweek, according to a release by the Australian Joint Agency Coordination Centre in Perth. Retired Chief Air Marshal Angus Houston is the head of that multi-national group.
Late last week the respected Aviation Blog "Plane Talking," authored by Ben Sandilands in Australia, said there were signs that searchers were about make somewhat dramatic changes in the direction of the search. The searchers have not lost faith in the major tenet of the search; that is, that the jet, which was on a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China when it was lost by radar and lost contact with air traffic controllers between midnight and 1:00 am, local time, on March 8, 2014, then made a dramatic turn, going completely off course, and eventually flying for between seven and eight hours in a southerly direction before running out of fuel and diving into the Southern part of the Indian Ocean in the area where searchers are now concentrating. The method used to track the jet here are so called "handshakes" the plane's on-board data transmitters made with earth-orbiting satellites. On each mission, searchers say that the Bluefin-21 is mapping about 25 square kilometers.
The Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, said last week, according to the Financial Review, that the surface searches for debris fields from the missing Jet will be changed, and other submersible vehicles brought in. In particular, according to the Financial Review, the submersible used to locate the Air France Jet that crashed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 is said to be available, and may be requested by the search team.
In Eastern Ukraine, Tensions Higher Than Ever; At Least 3 Killed in Gunfight in Separatist Stronghold of Slaviansk
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 21, 2014 - On Holy Thursday a peace accord was reached at the Four-Party Summit in Geneva. It was unexpected and unplanned and apparently one of the parties at the talks - Russia - did not have the ability to speak for some of the factions it represented that it could speak for. In brief, the peace accord called for Russia to use all of its influence to have the government buildings occupied in the eastern part of Ukraine to be returned the the parties who owned the buildings, whether they be a local government or the national government of Ukraine in Kiev. In return, Ukraine agreed to grant the Eastern part of the country a much greater degree of autonomy. It was also agreed that all persons involved in the demonstrations and even the fighting be granted immunity and amnesty. Within a few hours of the peace accord being made public it was clear that those occupying buildings in nearly a dozen Eastern cities would not willingly abide by the accord. The losely associated groups in the respective cities had had the one tie between them - the Russian Military - broken by the accord. At least for the moment, the Russian Security Services and Military operatives that were nominally in charge in Eastern Ukraine pulled back in keeping with the terms of the accord. That left the actual Separatists - mainly ethnic Russians actually domaciled in Eastern Ukraine - on their own. They were pitted against the so-called ultra nationalists: mainly ethnic Ukrainians doing everything in their power to push the country toward the EU.
Early Easter morning the pot boiled. According to reports, a number of vehicles approached a manned security checkpoint on the outskirts of Slaviansk. When it came near the Separatists manning the road block, gunfire erupted. Both sides claim to have inflicted casualties and sustained them. A Reuters Photographer who was there said he saw two bodies. But both sides said that three were killed. It wasn't clear whether they meant three killed on each side or three altogether.
Meanwhile, Separatists have kidnapped a Ukrainian Journalist, Irma Krat, and a Russian Web Site showed a video of a blindfolded woman, identified as Irma Krat, being taken before a "news conference" on Monday. The blindfolded woman said that he detainers were going to review a list of her on-line posts to decide when to release her. Three other journalists are said to have been detained and questioned, then released. On Friday, separatists in Donetsk circulated fliers that ordered all Jewish folk in Donetsk to "register," pay a $50 fee, and reveal all of their assets.
The Ukrainian government in Kiev has proposed a number of steps to curb the tensions in the eastern part of the country. Besides the steps taken with regard to increased autonomy, the government announced that no operations to free buildings occupied by separatists would be undertaken over Easter weekend. But there we few signs the Government could mount any kind of sustained military action in the eastern part of the country, reports said.
Early Easter morning the pot boiled. According to reports, a number of vehicles approached a manned security checkpoint on the outskirts of Slaviansk. When it came near the Separatists manning the road block, gunfire erupted. Both sides claim to have inflicted casualties and sustained them. A Reuters Photographer who was there said he saw two bodies. But both sides said that three were killed. It wasn't clear whether they meant three killed on each side or three altogether.
Meanwhile, Separatists have kidnapped a Ukrainian Journalist, Irma Krat, and a Russian Web Site showed a video of a blindfolded woman, identified as Irma Krat, being taken before a "news conference" on Monday. The blindfolded woman said that he detainers were going to review a list of her on-line posts to decide when to release her. Three other journalists are said to have been detained and questioned, then released. On Friday, separatists in Donetsk circulated fliers that ordered all Jewish folk in Donetsk to "register," pay a $50 fee, and reveal all of their assets.
The Ukrainian government in Kiev has proposed a number of steps to curb the tensions in the eastern part of the country. Besides the steps taken with regard to increased autonomy, the government announced that no operations to free buildings occupied by separatists would be undertaken over Easter weekend. But there we few signs the Government could mount any kind of sustained military action in the eastern part of the country, reports said.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Orioles Whack Red Sox, 8-4, at Fenway; Schoop Gets Four Hits; Tillman Goes Five To Pick Up Second Win
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 19, 2014 - The first game of the season in Fenway Park was no trouble for the Orioles. It wasn't any problem for rookie Jonathan Schoop, either. The rookie infielder went 4 for 5 and knocked in two runs to pace the Birds, who moved over .500 for the first time since winning on opening day. Chris Tillman wasn't perfect or even close to it tonight, but he had enough to survive five innings in Fenway and earn his second win of the season, both over the Red Sox. Brian Matusz and Darren O'Day took over from there, with Matusz pitching a career high 2 and two-thirds innings of relief and O'Day pitching the final inning and one-third, and giving up no hits to earn his first save. The Birds outhit the home team, 15-11.
The Orioles broke on top in the first inning when Nick Markakis led off with a disputed double, moved to third when Chris Davis grounded out, and scored on an infield hit by Adam Jones. The Red Sox alleged that the ball hit by Markakis was foul and the umpires took a look at the replay and declined to change their original "fair" call. The Oriles made it 4-0 in the third with another Markakis double playing a key role. Schoop led off with an infield hit and immediately scored on the Markakis double. After Delmon Young flew out to center, Chris Davis walked and Adam Jones got his second infield hit of the night to load the bases. Nelson Cruz then plated two runs with a solid single.
Boston got a run back in the fourth inning on a single by Brock Holt that scored Mike Carp, who had led off with a double. Each team then scored twice in the fifth, leaving the score at 6-3, Orioles. Matt Wieters and J.J. Hardy knocked in the runs in the Oriole fifth, while Dustin Pedroia and A. J. Pierzynski plated Boston's runs. Baltimore scored an insurance run in the seventh on three consecutive two-out hits. Hardy and Steve Lombardozzi each singled after two were out, and Hardy then scored when Schoop doubled. But the Red Sox got the run back in their half of the seventh, and might have gotten more were it not for an outstanding throw by David Lough, who only entered the game as the Sox were coming to bat as a defensive replacement for Delmon Young in left field. Mike Napoli doubled to lead off the Boston seventh. Then, with one out, Xander Bogaerts singled sharply to left, scoring Napoli. But Bogaerts raced around first and tried to stretch his hit into a double. He was out at second, however, when Lough fielded the hit and fired a strike to Lombardozzi. Baltimore did get an insurance run in the ninth on another Schoop double, which scored Lombardozzi, who had singled.
The series continues tomorrow at 1:35 pm. Here are the American League East Standings up to the minute:
1. New York Yankees: 10 wins, 7 losses, .588 pct
2. Baltimore Orioles: 8 wins, 7 losses, .533 pct, 1 game behind
3. Toronto Blue Jays: 9 wins, 8 losses, .529 pct, 1 game behind
4. Tampa Bay Rays: 8 wins, 9 losses, .471 pct, 2 games behind
5. Boston Red Sox: 7 wins, 10 losses, .412 pct, 3 games behind
In other American League East games Friday, the Rays beat the Yankees, 11-5; and Toronto beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-2.
The Orioles broke on top in the first inning when Nick Markakis led off with a disputed double, moved to third when Chris Davis grounded out, and scored on an infield hit by Adam Jones. The Red Sox alleged that the ball hit by Markakis was foul and the umpires took a look at the replay and declined to change their original "fair" call. The Oriles made it 4-0 in the third with another Markakis double playing a key role. Schoop led off with an infield hit and immediately scored on the Markakis double. After Delmon Young flew out to center, Chris Davis walked and Adam Jones got his second infield hit of the night to load the bases. Nelson Cruz then plated two runs with a solid single.
Boston got a run back in the fourth inning on a single by Brock Holt that scored Mike Carp, who had led off with a double. Each team then scored twice in the fifth, leaving the score at 6-3, Orioles. Matt Wieters and J.J. Hardy knocked in the runs in the Oriole fifth, while Dustin Pedroia and A. J. Pierzynski plated Boston's runs. Baltimore scored an insurance run in the seventh on three consecutive two-out hits. Hardy and Steve Lombardozzi each singled after two were out, and Hardy then scored when Schoop doubled. But the Red Sox got the run back in their half of the seventh, and might have gotten more were it not for an outstanding throw by David Lough, who only entered the game as the Sox were coming to bat as a defensive replacement for Delmon Young in left field. Mike Napoli doubled to lead off the Boston seventh. Then, with one out, Xander Bogaerts singled sharply to left, scoring Napoli. But Bogaerts raced around first and tried to stretch his hit into a double. He was out at second, however, when Lough fielded the hit and fired a strike to Lombardozzi. Baltimore did get an insurance run in the ninth on another Schoop double, which scored Lombardozzi, who had singled.
The series continues tomorrow at 1:35 pm. Here are the American League East Standings up to the minute:
1. New York Yankees: 10 wins, 7 losses, .588 pct
2. Baltimore Orioles: 8 wins, 7 losses, .533 pct, 1 game behind
3. Toronto Blue Jays: 9 wins, 8 losses, .529 pct, 1 game behind
4. Tampa Bay Rays: 8 wins, 9 losses, .471 pct, 2 games behind
5. Boston Red Sox: 7 wins, 10 losses, .412 pct, 3 games behind
In other American League East games Friday, the Rays beat the Yankees, 11-5; and Toronto beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-2.
Stinnett Throws Complete Game 5-Hitter, Terps Beat Georgia Tech, 7-2; With ACC Standings
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 18, 2014 - When your starting pitcher throws 141 pitches, you better have won. In an age when even big league pitchers rarely top 110, Jake Stinnett rared back and threw 141, which comes to a complete game, 7-2 ACC Conference victory over a red hot Georgia Tech team. Stinnett allowed single runs in each of the first two innings, then slammed the door shut on the Yellow Jackets. Maryland was slow getting started, and this game was a nailbiter until the seventh, when Jose Cuas ended the suspense with one swing of the bat. That swing was his fifth homer of the season and second in as many games. It came in the seventh inning with two Terrapins on base, and turned a close 4-2 game into a not close at all, 7-2 game. The Terps improved to 8-10 in the ACC and 23-13 overall. It goes without saying that this is Maryland's best showing in the ACC in a very long time. Georgia Tech fell to 10-9 in the conference and 24-15 overall (the Terps and Yellow Jackets are not in the same division within the ACC).
Tech took a 1-0 lead in the first on two singles, a wild pitch and an infield ground out. They made it 2-0 in the top of the second on a hit batsman, a bunt and a single up the middle by their leadoff hitter, Daniel Spingola. Spingola was a thorn in Stinnet's side all night, going 2-3 and getting on base two other times on walks. But Spingola was the only player who had more than one hit off of Stinnet. The Terps battled back within one run in their half of the second when Blake Schmidt singled with one out, stole second after two were out, and scored on a single by Tim Lewis. Then the pitchers took over. Tech starter Josh Heddinger ended up pitching into the seventh inning, giving up only four hits. He walked two and hit two Terps, with the latter fact being part of his undoing. Neither team scored until Maryland broke through in the bottom of the seventh, forcing Heddinger, now 2-2 on the year, out of the game.
Schmidt again got the inning started with a single. This time he moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jose Cuas. Once again, Tim Lewis got Schmidt home with a single. That tied the score, 2-2. This time, however, the Terps were just getting started. Kyle Convissar was hit by a pitch, moving Lewis to second and bringing Tech coach Dan Hall out of the dugout to get Heddinger. The new pitcher, Sam Clay, immediately plunked another Terp, Mike Rescigno, who was pinch-hitting for Anthony Papio. Now Maryland had the bases loaded. Terp Coach John Sfezc then called for a "safety squeeze," a play in which the hitter squares to bunt and the runner at third breaks for the plate immediately upon the ball hitting the bat. Clay charged the bunt but mishandled it, allowing all runners to advance with White taking first. White was also credited with an RBI. Brandon Lowe then put Maryland ahead, 4-2, with a sacrifice fly that scored Convissar.
The game was still tight when the Terps came to bat in the eighth inning. Jose Cuas made sure it didn't stay close. He had homered Wednesday against Navy. On Friday the victim was an ACC opponent. Kevin Martir and Schmidt had each drawn walks to start the eighth and were given a free ride home when Cuas connected.
Stinnett, despite the pitch count, looked strong in the 8th and 9th. He struck out ten Yellow Jacket hitters and surrendered just five hits. What's more, two of the strike outs came in the 8th inning and two more came in the ninth. Stinnett improved to 4-5 and he remains the ACC leader in strikeouts, now with 84 on the season. The series with Georgia Tech continues Saturday afternoon at 2 pm.
Elsewhere in the ACC, No. 1 Virginia edged North Carolina in Charlottesville, 3-2; No. 5 Florida State whacked Wake Forest, 7-1 in Winston-Salem; No. 21 Clemson won at Pittsburgh, 3-2, in eleven innings; Duke edged Virginia Tech, 3-2, in twelve innings at Blacksburg, and North Carolina State beat back Boston College, 5-1, in Raleigh. The Miami-Notre Dame series at Coral Gables starts tomorrow and continues Sunday and Monday night.
Here are the up-to-date ACC Standings, with conference records given first and overall record last.
Atlantic Division
1. Florida State: 15 wins, 4 losses, .789 pct, 29 wins, 8 losses
2. Clemson: 11 wins, 7 losses, .611 pct, 3.5 games behind, 23 wins, 14 losses
3. Wake Forest: 11 wins, 8 losses, .579 pct, 4.0 games behind, 24 wins, 16 losses
4. Maryland: 8 wins, 10 losses, .444 pct, 6.5 games behind, 23 wins, 13 losses
5. North Carolina State: 7 wins, 12 losses, .368 pct, 8 games behind, 21 wins, 15 losses
6. Notre Dame: 3 wins, 15 losses, .167 pct, 11.5 games behind, 15 wins, 21 losses
7. Boston College: 3 wins, 16 losses, .158 pct, 12 games behind, 11 wins, 25 losses
Coastal Division
1. Virginia: 15 wins, 4 losses, .789 pct, 32 wins, 6 losses
2. Miami: 14 wins, 4 losses, .778 pct, 0.5 games behind, 26 wins, 12 losses
3. Georgia Tech: 10 wins, 9 losses, .526 pct, 5 games behind, 24 wins, 15 losses
4. Duke: 10 wins, 9 losses, .526 pct, 5 games behind, 22 wins, 17 losses
5. North Carolina: 9 wins, 10 losses, .474 pct, 6 games behind, 22 wins, 16 losses
6. Pittsburgh: 8 wins, 11 losses, .444 pct, 6 games behind, 16 wins, 21 losses
7. Virginia Tech: 7 wins, 12 losses, .389 pct, 7 games behind, 18 wins, 18 losses
Tech took a 1-0 lead in the first on two singles, a wild pitch and an infield ground out. They made it 2-0 in the top of the second on a hit batsman, a bunt and a single up the middle by their leadoff hitter, Daniel Spingola. Spingola was a thorn in Stinnet's side all night, going 2-3 and getting on base two other times on walks. But Spingola was the only player who had more than one hit off of Stinnet. The Terps battled back within one run in their half of the second when Blake Schmidt singled with one out, stole second after two were out, and scored on a single by Tim Lewis. Then the pitchers took over. Tech starter Josh Heddinger ended up pitching into the seventh inning, giving up only four hits. He walked two and hit two Terps, with the latter fact being part of his undoing. Neither team scored until Maryland broke through in the bottom of the seventh, forcing Heddinger, now 2-2 on the year, out of the game.
Schmidt again got the inning started with a single. This time he moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jose Cuas. Once again, Tim Lewis got Schmidt home with a single. That tied the score, 2-2. This time, however, the Terps were just getting started. Kyle Convissar was hit by a pitch, moving Lewis to second and bringing Tech coach Dan Hall out of the dugout to get Heddinger. The new pitcher, Sam Clay, immediately plunked another Terp, Mike Rescigno, who was pinch-hitting for Anthony Papio. Now Maryland had the bases loaded. Terp Coach John Sfezc then called for a "safety squeeze," a play in which the hitter squares to bunt and the runner at third breaks for the plate immediately upon the ball hitting the bat. Clay charged the bunt but mishandled it, allowing all runners to advance with White taking first. White was also credited with an RBI. Brandon Lowe then put Maryland ahead, 4-2, with a sacrifice fly that scored Convissar.
The game was still tight when the Terps came to bat in the eighth inning. Jose Cuas made sure it didn't stay close. He had homered Wednesday against Navy. On Friday the victim was an ACC opponent. Kevin Martir and Schmidt had each drawn walks to start the eighth and were given a free ride home when Cuas connected.
Stinnett, despite the pitch count, looked strong in the 8th and 9th. He struck out ten Yellow Jacket hitters and surrendered just five hits. What's more, two of the strike outs came in the 8th inning and two more came in the ninth. Stinnett improved to 4-5 and he remains the ACC leader in strikeouts, now with 84 on the season. The series with Georgia Tech continues Saturday afternoon at 2 pm.
Elsewhere in the ACC, No. 1 Virginia edged North Carolina in Charlottesville, 3-2; No. 5 Florida State whacked Wake Forest, 7-1 in Winston-Salem; No. 21 Clemson won at Pittsburgh, 3-2, in eleven innings; Duke edged Virginia Tech, 3-2, in twelve innings at Blacksburg, and North Carolina State beat back Boston College, 5-1, in Raleigh. The Miami-Notre Dame series at Coral Gables starts tomorrow and continues Sunday and Monday night.
Here are the up-to-date ACC Standings, with conference records given first and overall record last.
Atlantic Division
1. Florida State: 15 wins, 4 losses, .789 pct, 29 wins, 8 losses
2. Clemson: 11 wins, 7 losses, .611 pct, 3.5 games behind, 23 wins, 14 losses
3. Wake Forest: 11 wins, 8 losses, .579 pct, 4.0 games behind, 24 wins, 16 losses
4. Maryland: 8 wins, 10 losses, .444 pct, 6.5 games behind, 23 wins, 13 losses
5. North Carolina State: 7 wins, 12 losses, .368 pct, 8 games behind, 21 wins, 15 losses
6. Notre Dame: 3 wins, 15 losses, .167 pct, 11.5 games behind, 15 wins, 21 losses
7. Boston College: 3 wins, 16 losses, .158 pct, 12 games behind, 11 wins, 25 losses
Coastal Division
1. Virginia: 15 wins, 4 losses, .789 pct, 32 wins, 6 losses
2. Miami: 14 wins, 4 losses, .778 pct, 0.5 games behind, 26 wins, 12 losses
3. Georgia Tech: 10 wins, 9 losses, .526 pct, 5 games behind, 24 wins, 15 losses
4. Duke: 10 wins, 9 losses, .526 pct, 5 games behind, 22 wins, 17 losses
5. North Carolina: 9 wins, 10 losses, .474 pct, 6 games behind, 22 wins, 16 losses
6. Pittsburgh: 8 wins, 11 losses, .444 pct, 6 games behind, 16 wins, 21 losses
7. Virginia Tech: 7 wins, 12 losses, .389 pct, 7 games behind, 18 wins, 18 losses
Friday, April 18, 2014
Burnley Wins at Blackpool; Premier Now So Very Close!
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 18, 2014 - You've run a marathon or maybe two marathons in succession. You come around the final bend and allow yourself just a peek forward. And now for the first time you can see the glory you have come so far for. If that approximates what Burnley is working for, then you get the picture. Right now, the glory of success is within touching distance for the understated Claret. After Michael Kightly's sublime score four minutes past half, giving Burnley at 1-0 victory over Blackpool, they are now eight points clear with three matches remaining. And now, only one of the pursuers remain. Derby County also won tonight, beating back Doncaster, 2-0. Queens Park doesn't play until tomorrow, but for Burnley, the Rangers no longer matter. Their chance to earn automatic promotion ended with Burnley's victory tonight.
Kightly nearly scored in the first half when he snuck in and stole a back pass, but his shot went right at Matt Gilks, the Blackpool keeper. In the second half, after a pass from Dean Marney, the on-loan player (from Stoke) didn't miss. The side-footed shot curled past Gilks. The BBC called the entire match a one-sided affair, so dominant was Burnley, but few shots were taken by either side. Over 94 minutes, the Seasiders had 10 shots, not one of them on goal. The Claret managed the same number of shots, but six were on target. One glorious shot made it to the back of the net.
In the 53rd minute, the home crowd of over 16,000 put on a demonstration. Tennis balls galore rained down on the pitch, so many that play had to be stopped. The crowd is angry at Club Chairman of the Board Carl Oyston, and they chose the 53rd minute because it was Blackpool's victory in the 1953 FA Cup that the Fans consider Blackpool's finest hour. Only in England. Later, an assistant coach was booted off the pitch by the referee because he lost his temper at a Blackpool sub, waiting to come in the game, and put a hand to his face.
Monday night the Claret are at Turf Moor to play Wigan Athletic.
Kightly nearly scored in the first half when he snuck in and stole a back pass, but his shot went right at Matt Gilks, the Blackpool keeper. In the second half, after a pass from Dean Marney, the on-loan player (from Stoke) didn't miss. The side-footed shot curled past Gilks. The BBC called the entire match a one-sided affair, so dominant was Burnley, but few shots were taken by either side. Over 94 minutes, the Seasiders had 10 shots, not one of them on goal. The Claret managed the same number of shots, but six were on target. One glorious shot made it to the back of the net.
In the 53rd minute, the home crowd of over 16,000 put on a demonstration. Tennis balls galore rained down on the pitch, so many that play had to be stopped. The crowd is angry at Club Chairman of the Board Carl Oyston, and they chose the 53rd minute because it was Blackpool's victory in the 1953 FA Cup that the Fans consider Blackpool's finest hour. Only in England. Later, an assistant coach was booted off the pitch by the referee because he lost his temper at a Blackpool sub, waiting to come in the game, and put a hand to his face.
Monday night the Claret are at Turf Moor to play Wigan Athletic.
Separatists Balk at Surrendering Buildings in East Ukraine
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 18, 2014 - Could it be that President Obama is getting to know the real world of foreign policy? Immediately after the "breakthrough" agreement reached yesterday in Geneva between the Russians, the Ukrainians, the EU and the United States, the President told a reporter that he was taking a wait and see attitude toward whether the crisis has, in fact, been solved. Instead of jumping on board his secretary of State's bandwagon and praising the Geneva agreement as the inevitable outcome of good faith negotiations, he reminded the public of Russian Strong Man Vladimir Putin's penchant for saying something convenient and then not following through on it.
"I don't think we can be sure of anything at this point. There is ... the prospect that diplomacy may de-escalate the situation and that we may be able to move toward what has always been our goal, which is to allow Ukrainians to make decisions about their own lives," Obama was quoted as saying by London's The Guardian. "We're not going to know whether in fact there's follow-through on these statements for several days. My hope is that we do see follow... I don't think given past performance that we can count on that."
Obama was also quoted as saying this about Russia and about Putin: "My hope is that we do see follow... I don't think given past performance that we can count on that." Later, when Obama spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkle, the two agreed that they had to be prepared to move forward quickly with ramped up sanctions if Russia did not uphold its end of the signed agreement. The White House has emphasized several times that Russia actually signed the agreement. According to reports, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov put his signature on the Joint Statement.
Events quickly showed the wisdom of Obama's words and of the cautionary stand taken by him and Ms. Mwrkle's cautionary attitude. Separatists in Donetsk, the reputed "Capital" of eastern Ukraine, have out-and-out refused to hand over the buildings they have occupied. One even said he wouldn't leave his building until the new Government in Kiev left theirs.
There was similar belligerance in Donetsk, which is the center of belligerance by ethnic Russians. Until yesterday, that belligerance had the stamp of approval and active encouragement of Putin. In fact, it had Russian manpower in its ranks and running its show in many instances. Reporters documented how uniformed and heavily armed soldiers would storm a building in a manner that gave irrefutible proof that they were trained and drilled to perfection long before taking on the task at hand. Yesterday in Russia, Putin freely admitted for the first time that exactly similar soldiers in Crimea were Russian. The only news about his statement was that he was making it for the first time, the question about who these troops belonged to had not been a mystery for many weeks.
Reporters yesterday in Donetsk interviewed Denis Pushilin, who says he is the leader of the People's Republic of Donetsk. He brashly told those listening, according to the International Business Times, that the Geneva Agreement did not bind his people to anything. Speaking specifically of Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, Pushlin said Lavrov "did not sign anything for us. He signed on behalf of the Russian Federation." According to IBT, Pushlin said his people would not capitulate and would not surrender weapons unless the Kiev government agreed to a Crimea-style referendum on whether the Donetsk region would remain a part of Ukraine or join the Russian Federation.
It was the same Denis Pushlin who yesterday admitted it was his people who distributed the leaflets in Donetsk that instructed all Jewish people older than 16 to register with the government and pay a $50 fee. This particular activity has been criticized all around the world. It reminded many of the runup to the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.
In the city of Slaviansk, another leader of the Separatists, who told Reuters his name was "Alexi," admitted that the Geneva agreement definetly changed things. It left the Separatists feeling like the rug had been pulled out from under them. They had no inkling that such an agreement was possible going into those talks. "It turns out Vova doesn't love us as much as we thought," he said, using a diminutive term for Putin, who is viewed by many of the separatist militias as their champion and protector.
Or maybe Putin is just biding his time, making it appear as if there were peace. What then is to be made of Thursday's appearance by Putin on Russian TV, where he was anything but a peace maker. It was an extraordinary event for Russians to watch their leader sit and talk to them for over four straight hours. The New York Times has an outstanding summary of the event that is well worth reading in its entirety. But in brief, the Times said this: "Even as the world’s top diplomats were gingerly drafting a tentative accord to “de-escalate tensions” in Ukraine, President Vladimir V. Putin was on national television here, brashly declaring Russia’s historical claims over Ukrainian territory, reiterating a threat to use military force and generally sounding a defiant, even mocking, tone toward the United States.
Mr. Putin, appearing cool and confident during a four-hour question-and-answer show, referred repeatedly to southeast Ukraine as “New Russia” — a historical term for the area north of the Black Sea that the Russian Empire conquered in the 1700s. And, he said, only “God knows” why the region became part of Ukraine in the 1920s, signaling that he would gladly correct that error." The web site for the entire Times piece is: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/world/europe/russia-ukraine.html?_r=0
"I don't think we can be sure of anything at this point. There is ... the prospect that diplomacy may de-escalate the situation and that we may be able to move toward what has always been our goal, which is to allow Ukrainians to make decisions about their own lives," Obama was quoted as saying by London's The Guardian. "We're not going to know whether in fact there's follow-through on these statements for several days. My hope is that we do see follow... I don't think given past performance that we can count on that."
Obama was also quoted as saying this about Russia and about Putin: "My hope is that we do see follow... I don't think given past performance that we can count on that." Later, when Obama spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkle, the two agreed that they had to be prepared to move forward quickly with ramped up sanctions if Russia did not uphold its end of the signed agreement. The White House has emphasized several times that Russia actually signed the agreement. According to reports, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov put his signature on the Joint Statement.
Events quickly showed the wisdom of Obama's words and of the cautionary stand taken by him and Ms. Mwrkle's cautionary attitude. Separatists in Donetsk, the reputed "Capital" of eastern Ukraine, have out-and-out refused to hand over the buildings they have occupied. One even said he wouldn't leave his building until the new Government in Kiev left theirs.
There was similar belligerance in Donetsk, which is the center of belligerance by ethnic Russians. Until yesterday, that belligerance had the stamp of approval and active encouragement of Putin. In fact, it had Russian manpower in its ranks and running its show in many instances. Reporters documented how uniformed and heavily armed soldiers would storm a building in a manner that gave irrefutible proof that they were trained and drilled to perfection long before taking on the task at hand. Yesterday in Russia, Putin freely admitted for the first time that exactly similar soldiers in Crimea were Russian. The only news about his statement was that he was making it for the first time, the question about who these troops belonged to had not been a mystery for many weeks.
Reporters yesterday in Donetsk interviewed Denis Pushilin, who says he is the leader of the People's Republic of Donetsk. He brashly told those listening, according to the International Business Times, that the Geneva Agreement did not bind his people to anything. Speaking specifically of Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, Pushlin said Lavrov "did not sign anything for us. He signed on behalf of the Russian Federation." According to IBT, Pushlin said his people would not capitulate and would not surrender weapons unless the Kiev government agreed to a Crimea-style referendum on whether the Donetsk region would remain a part of Ukraine or join the Russian Federation.
It was the same Denis Pushlin who yesterday admitted it was his people who distributed the leaflets in Donetsk that instructed all Jewish people older than 16 to register with the government and pay a $50 fee. This particular activity has been criticized all around the world. It reminded many of the runup to the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.
In the city of Slaviansk, another leader of the Separatists, who told Reuters his name was "Alexi," admitted that the Geneva agreement definetly changed things. It left the Separatists feeling like the rug had been pulled out from under them. They had no inkling that such an agreement was possible going into those talks. "It turns out Vova doesn't love us as much as we thought," he said, using a diminutive term for Putin, who is viewed by many of the separatist militias as their champion and protector.
Or maybe Putin is just biding his time, making it appear as if there were peace. What then is to be made of Thursday's appearance by Putin on Russian TV, where he was anything but a peace maker. It was an extraordinary event for Russians to watch their leader sit and talk to them for over four straight hours. The New York Times has an outstanding summary of the event that is well worth reading in its entirety. But in brief, the Times said this: "Even as the world’s top diplomats were gingerly drafting a tentative accord to “de-escalate tensions” in Ukraine, President Vladimir V. Putin was on national television here, brashly declaring Russia’s historical claims over Ukrainian territory, reiterating a threat to use military force and generally sounding a defiant, even mocking, tone toward the United States.
Mr. Putin, appearing cool and confident during a four-hour question-and-answer show, referred repeatedly to southeast Ukraine as “New Russia” — a historical term for the area north of the Black Sea that the Russian Empire conquered in the 1700s. And, he said, only “God knows” why the region became part of Ukraine in the 1920s, signaling that he would gladly correct that error." The web site for the entire Times piece is: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/world/europe/russia-ukraine.html?_r=0
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Agreement Reached for Ukraine Peace in Geneva
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 17, 2014 - On the same day that Russian Strong Man Vladimir Putin referred to Eastern Ukraine as "New Russia," the four sides represented at talks in Geneva, Switzerland agreed essentially, to a dramatic end of the standoff, a return of all occupied buildings to either the Ukraine central government or the local government of the city where the building lies, a surrender of arms, and other points. A joint statement by the negotiators, including representatives from Russia, the EU, the Ukraine, and the United States. Secretary of State John Kerry represented the United States. All sides agreed on a joint statement announcing their agreement. A text of that statement in its entirety follows:
Putin made his remarks away from the talks, which he was not attending. At the same time he conceded that the soldiers in Crimea were, in fact, Russian. It was the thinnest of charades that the heavily armed and smartly uniformed troops were not Russian and many news organizations had stopped calling them "unidentified" soldiers.
At the Geneva talks - where observers thought there was little chance of a breakthrough - the four sides emerged saying that much was accomplished and a statement by the four would follow. It now has been issued and a text is provided below. The key points, however, include immediate return of all government buildings to local government or federal control, depending on which building is being returned, immediate and full amnesty to all protesters, immediate cessation of all hostilities and a surrender of arms by protesters. Whether this means arms stolen from the Ukraine Military or all arms is unclear. Even more important, the agreement today could also lead to a pullback of the tens of thousands of heavily armed Russian troops massed on the Russia-Ukraine border. Kerry said that Russia says they have already withdrawn one batallion and that more would follow. This is the joint statement:
"The Geneva meeting on the situation in Ukraine agreed on initial concrete steps to de-escalate tensions and restore security for all citizens.
All sides must refrain from any violence, intimidation or provocative actions. The participants strongly condemned and rejected all expressions of extremism, racism and religious intolerance, including anti-semitism.
All illegal armed groups must be disarmed; all illegally seized buildings must be returned to legitimate owners; all illegally occupied streets, squares and other public places in Ukrainian cities and towns must be vacated.
Amnesty will be granted to protestors and to those who have left buildings and other public places and surrendered weapons, with the exception of those found guilty of capital crimes.
It was agreed that the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission should play a leading role in assisting Ukrainian authorities and local communities in the immediate implementation of these de-escalation measures wherever they are needed most, beginning in the coming days. The U.S., E.U. and Russia commit to support this mission, including by providing monitors.
The announced constitutional process will be inclusive, transparent and accountable. It will include the immediate establishment of a broad national dialogue, with outreach to all of Ukraine’s regions and political constituencies, and allow for the consideration of public comments and proposed amendments.
The participants underlined the importance of economic and financial stability in Ukraine and would be ready to discuss additional support as the above steps are implemented."
Putin made his remarks away from the talks, which he was not attending. At the same time he conceded that the soldiers in Crimea were, in fact, Russian. It was the thinnest of charades that the heavily armed and smartly uniformed troops were not Russian and many news organizations had stopped calling them "unidentified" soldiers.
At the Geneva talks - where observers thought there was little chance of a breakthrough - the four sides emerged saying that much was accomplished and a statement by the four would follow. It now has been issued and a text is provided below. The key points, however, include immediate return of all government buildings to local government or federal control, depending on which building is being returned, immediate and full amnesty to all protesters, immediate cessation of all hostilities and a surrender of arms by protesters. Whether this means arms stolen from the Ukraine Military or all arms is unclear. Even more important, the agreement today could also lead to a pullback of the tens of thousands of heavily armed Russian troops massed on the Russia-Ukraine border. Kerry said that Russia says they have already withdrawn one batallion and that more would follow. This is the joint statement:
"The Geneva meeting on the situation in Ukraine agreed on initial concrete steps to de-escalate tensions and restore security for all citizens.
All sides must refrain from any violence, intimidation or provocative actions. The participants strongly condemned and rejected all expressions of extremism, racism and religious intolerance, including anti-semitism.
All illegal armed groups must be disarmed; all illegally seized buildings must be returned to legitimate owners; all illegally occupied streets, squares and other public places in Ukrainian cities and towns must be vacated.
Amnesty will be granted to protestors and to those who have left buildings and other public places and surrendered weapons, with the exception of those found guilty of capital crimes.
It was agreed that the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission should play a leading role in assisting Ukrainian authorities and local communities in the immediate implementation of these de-escalation measures wherever they are needed most, beginning in the coming days. The U.S., E.U. and Russia commit to support this mission, including by providing monitors.
The announced constitutional process will be inclusive, transparent and accountable. It will include the immediate establishment of a broad national dialogue, with outreach to all of Ukraine’s regions and political constituencies, and allow for the consideration of public comments and proposed amendments.
The participants underlined the importance of economic and financial stability in Ukraine and would be ready to discuss additional support as the above steps are implemented."
Major League Baseball: American League East Up-to-the-Minute
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 17, 2014 - Credible and Incisive will attempt, going forward, to present the American League East Standings, every day current to the time stated. The time as I prepare to post this is 11:42 am.
American League East
1. New York Yankees: 9 wins, 6 losses, .600 pct
2. Toronto Blue Jays: 8 wins, 6 losses, .571 pct, 0.5 games behind
3. Baltimore Orioles: 7 wins, 7 losses, .500 pct, 1.5 games behind
4. Tampa Bay Rays: 7 wins, 8 losses, .467 pct, 2 games behind
5. Boston Red Sox: 6 wins, 9 losses, .400 pct, 3 games behind
Scores From Wednesday, April 16
Baltimore Orioles 3, Tampa Bay Rays 0
New York Yankees 3, Chicago Cubs 0 (First Game of Doubleheader)
New York Yankees 2, Chicago Cubs 0 (Second Game of Doubleheader)
Boston Red Sox 6, Chicago White Sox 4
Toronto Blue Jays at Minnesota Twins, Postponed, Snow
Schedule For Thursday, April 17
Toronto Blue Jays at Minnesota Twins, 1:10 pm EDT (Day/Night Doubleheader, Game 1)
Toronto Blue Jays at Minnesota Twins, 7:10 pm EDT (Day/Night Doubleheader, Game 2)
New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 pm
Boston Red Sox at Chicago White Sox, 8:10 pm
No Game Today: Baltimore Orioles (Next Game is Friday, 7:10 pm at Boston Red Sox)
American League East
1. New York Yankees: 9 wins, 6 losses, .600 pct
2. Toronto Blue Jays: 8 wins, 6 losses, .571 pct, 0.5 games behind
3. Baltimore Orioles: 7 wins, 7 losses, .500 pct, 1.5 games behind
4. Tampa Bay Rays: 7 wins, 8 losses, .467 pct, 2 games behind
5. Boston Red Sox: 6 wins, 9 losses, .400 pct, 3 games behind
Scores From Wednesday, April 16
Baltimore Orioles 3, Tampa Bay Rays 0
New York Yankees 3, Chicago Cubs 0 (First Game of Doubleheader)
New York Yankees 2, Chicago Cubs 0 (Second Game of Doubleheader)
Boston Red Sox 6, Chicago White Sox 4
Toronto Blue Jays at Minnesota Twins, Postponed, Snow
Schedule For Thursday, April 17
Toronto Blue Jays at Minnesota Twins, 1:10 pm EDT (Day/Night Doubleheader, Game 1)
Toronto Blue Jays at Minnesota Twins, 7:10 pm EDT (Day/Night Doubleheader, Game 2)
New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 pm
Boston Red Sox at Chicago White Sox, 8:10 pm
No Game Today: Baltimore Orioles (Next Game is Friday, 7:10 pm at Boston Red Sox)
Four Party Talks Go Forward in Geneva; Joint Statement Said to be Possible; Three Separatists Killed in Shirmish with Ukrainian Military Units; Jews Ordered to Register in Donetsk
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 17, 2014 - The so-called four party talks vetting the Ukraine situation and looking, supposedly, for peaceful solutions, were held today in Geneva, Switzerland. The United States, the EU, Russia and the Ukraine all sat at one square table. ABC News reported that the four sides are attempting to hammer out a joint statement about the talks, and this might be a stroke of genius. If all four can agree on anything it'd be a step forward. Meanwhile, three separatists were killed in the town of Maiupol after gunfire broke out between Ukrainian Military Units and Pro-Russian Separatists working with Russian Military Operatives. Ukrainian Acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a Facebook post that 13 other people were wounded in the skirmish. He also said 63 separatists were "detained."
USA Today, meanwhile, has reported that the so-called Peoples Republic of Donetsk, a breakaway Republic declared by Separatists in Eastern Ukraine, has begun handing out leaflets that purport to Order Jewish people to register with the new government. Jewish folk leaving a Synagogue in Donetsk were handed the leaflet this week. A leader of the Separatists whose name is on the leaflet admitted his group printed and distributed the document, but disavowed its content. The Separatist whose name is on the leaflet and admits he is one of the leaders of the so-called People's Republic is Denis Pushilin. He said he is chairman of the new temporary government of the People's Republic.
The leaflet instructs all Jewish people to go to an administration building occupied by Separatists, and there, be prepared to give over to the new government "ID and passport are required to register your Jewish religion, religious documents of family members, as well as documents establishing the rights to all real estate property that belongs to you, including vehicles." There will be a registration fee that is equivalent to $50.
USA Today said the document came into its possession after a Jewish person in Donetsk sent a copy to a friend in Israel via Facebook, and that person forwarded it to USA Today. Jews who refuse to do as the leaflet instructed risk having their citizenship revoked and face deportation. They will also have all of their assets confiscated. The reason that this step is taken for Jewish persons, Pushlin said, is because the leaders of the Jewish community of Ukraine supported Bendery Junta, a reference to Stepan Bandera, the leader of the Ukrainian nationalist movement that fought for Ukrainian independence at the end of World War II, "and oppose the pro-Slavic People's Republic of Donetsk," a name adopted by the militant leadership.
The BBC has an outstanding page devoted to the situation in Eastern Ukraine, including a large map with the cities identified where buildings have been occupied. See this page at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27012612.
USA Today, meanwhile, has reported that the so-called Peoples Republic of Donetsk, a breakaway Republic declared by Separatists in Eastern Ukraine, has begun handing out leaflets that purport to Order Jewish people to register with the new government. Jewish folk leaving a Synagogue in Donetsk were handed the leaflet this week. A leader of the Separatists whose name is on the leaflet admitted his group printed and distributed the document, but disavowed its content. The Separatist whose name is on the leaflet and admits he is one of the leaders of the so-called People's Republic is Denis Pushilin. He said he is chairman of the new temporary government of the People's Republic.
The leaflet instructs all Jewish people to go to an administration building occupied by Separatists, and there, be prepared to give over to the new government "ID and passport are required to register your Jewish religion, religious documents of family members, as well as documents establishing the rights to all real estate property that belongs to you, including vehicles." There will be a registration fee that is equivalent to $50.
USA Today said the document came into its possession after a Jewish person in Donetsk sent a copy to a friend in Israel via Facebook, and that person forwarded it to USA Today. Jews who refuse to do as the leaflet instructed risk having their citizenship revoked and face deportation. They will also have all of their assets confiscated. The reason that this step is taken for Jewish persons, Pushlin said, is because the leaders of the Jewish community of Ukraine supported Bendery Junta, a reference to Stepan Bandera, the leader of the Ukrainian nationalist movement that fought for Ukrainian independence at the end of World War II, "and oppose the pro-Slavic People's Republic of Donetsk," a name adopted by the militant leadership.
The BBC has an outstanding page devoted to the situation in Eastern Ukraine, including a large map with the cities identified where buildings have been occupied. See this page at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27012612.
Maryland Explodes Late to Defeat Navy, 11-4.
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 16, 2014 - In College Baseball, there are weekend games and there are weekday games, and they are about as far apart in importance as a practice and a "real game." Almost. For the most part. Mostly, weekend games are conference games, mostly played in the form of three-games series. The weekday games provide an opportunity to get everybody some at bats, keep the bullpen at its peak, and stay competitive. Teams generally use their number one starter in the first game of every conference series, and at a lot of schools, the numbeer one pitcher is the "Friday Night Starter."
But there are exceptions. Generally, a weekday game that means a lot is against a non-conference opponent that is ranked, or against a team you have a rivalry with but isn't in your conference at the time. Sometimes, an important weekday game is against a school that, no matter what the sport, always seems to bring out the best in your school's team. A great example of this latter type of important mid-week game is today's game at College Park between Maryland and Navy. The school's are about 30 miles apart. But they are very far apart in the way their students go about things. Navy is known for its elite esprit de corps, its honor, its rigid discipline. Maryland is known for its, well, its beligerance. Some 50 years ago, give or take, in the early 1960's, a football game between the two was so heated and nasty that the two athletic directors decided they wouldn't play each other for a bit. That bit ended up being decades.
Anyway, Maryland and Navy played baseball on Wednesday in Collge Park. It was cold. At gametime the temperature was struggling to get out of the 30's. It was windy. Maryland, for the first time all season, was struggling. They had lost 3 out of their 4 games, including 2 of the 3 games last weekend at Virginia Tech, and last Wednesday's game in College Park against Mount Saint Mary's, a 3-2 loss in which they stranded 17 baserunners and left the bases loaded in all three of their final at bats.
But against Navy yesterday, the Terps seemed to work out their demons. After falling behind, 1-0, they struck for four runs in the fourth to move ahead, 4-1. After the Midshipmen got one back in the top of the fifth, Maryland scored five times in the seventh to bust the game wide open en route to an 11-4 victory. Navy used an astonishing eight pitchers in an attempt to keep Maryland under control, but it wasn't going to happen yesterday.
The big hit in the fourth inning uprising was Jose Cuas' two-run homer, his fourth of the season, which leads the Terps. In the seventh inning the key blows were a two-run single by Cuas and RBI doubles by Blake Schmidt and Kevin Martir. For the day, Cuas was 2-4 with 4 RBI's, Blake Schmidt was 3-5 with 3 RBI's, and Nick Cieri, who was 3-4. Zach Morris pitched five innings to pick up his first win of the season. He held Navy to two run, only one of which was earned, and five hits.
In other ACC scores from Wednesday, No. 1 Virginia routed William and Mary, 11-2, Duke ripped North Carolina Central by the same 11-2 score, No. 20 Miami edged Florida Atlantic, 2-1, North Carolina rallied to beat Elon, 5-4, Notre Dame beat Toledo, 4-3, Wake Forest downed Appalachian State, 4-2, Boston College got by Massachusetts-Lowell, 7-6, in 10 innings, and Kent State downed Pittsburgh, 4-1.
But there are exceptions. Generally, a weekday game that means a lot is against a non-conference opponent that is ranked, or against a team you have a rivalry with but isn't in your conference at the time. Sometimes, an important weekday game is against a school that, no matter what the sport, always seems to bring out the best in your school's team. A great example of this latter type of important mid-week game is today's game at College Park between Maryland and Navy. The school's are about 30 miles apart. But they are very far apart in the way their students go about things. Navy is known for its elite esprit de corps, its honor, its rigid discipline. Maryland is known for its, well, its beligerance. Some 50 years ago, give or take, in the early 1960's, a football game between the two was so heated and nasty that the two athletic directors decided they wouldn't play each other for a bit. That bit ended up being decades.
Anyway, Maryland and Navy played baseball on Wednesday in Collge Park. It was cold. At gametime the temperature was struggling to get out of the 30's. It was windy. Maryland, for the first time all season, was struggling. They had lost 3 out of their 4 games, including 2 of the 3 games last weekend at Virginia Tech, and last Wednesday's game in College Park against Mount Saint Mary's, a 3-2 loss in which they stranded 17 baserunners and left the bases loaded in all three of their final at bats.
But against Navy yesterday, the Terps seemed to work out their demons. After falling behind, 1-0, they struck for four runs in the fourth to move ahead, 4-1. After the Midshipmen got one back in the top of the fifth, Maryland scored five times in the seventh to bust the game wide open en route to an 11-4 victory. Navy used an astonishing eight pitchers in an attempt to keep Maryland under control, but it wasn't going to happen yesterday.
The big hit in the fourth inning uprising was Jose Cuas' two-run homer, his fourth of the season, which leads the Terps. In the seventh inning the key blows were a two-run single by Cuas and RBI doubles by Blake Schmidt and Kevin Martir. For the day, Cuas was 2-4 with 4 RBI's, Blake Schmidt was 3-5 with 3 RBI's, and Nick Cieri, who was 3-4. Zach Morris pitched five innings to pick up his first win of the season. He held Navy to two run, only one of which was earned, and five hits.
In other ACC scores from Wednesday, No. 1 Virginia routed William and Mary, 11-2, Duke ripped North Carolina Central by the same 11-2 score, No. 20 Miami edged Florida Atlantic, 2-1, North Carolina rallied to beat Elon, 5-4, Notre Dame beat Toledo, 4-3, Wake Forest downed Appalachian State, 4-2, Boston College got by Massachusetts-Lowell, 7-6, in 10 innings, and Kent State downed Pittsburgh, 4-1.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Gonzalez, Britton, Hunter Combine to Whitewash Rays, 3-0
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 16, 2014 - The Winter that Would Not End lingered still in Baltimore today; at game time at sun-drenched Camden Yards it was just 39 degrees. Miguel Gonzalez, Zach Britton and Tommy Hunter paid tribute to the notorious Baltimore weather by keeping the bats of the Tampa Bay Rays in the deep freeze. Limiting the Rays to just six hits, the three Baltimore hurlers helped the Orioles reach the .500 mark for the first time since the second game of the season as Baltimore beat the Rays, 3-0. Gonzalez, who picked up his first win of the campaign - he is now 1-1 - gave up only three of those hits over the five innings he pitched.
Three different Oriole hitters knocked in runs as Baltimore improved to 7-7 after starting the season 1-4. Although the Baltimore bats were not much better than Tampa Bay's - the Orioles also managed only six hits - the home team managed to bunch theirs in critical situations. As the two teams celebrated Jackie Robinson Day one day late due to yesterday's rainout, the Birds broke on top in the fourth inning when they struck for two runs. Nelson Cruz led off with a walk and moved to second when Chris Davis singled to right field. The Orioles then loaded the bases when Adam Jones nudged a bunt down the third base line that he was able to beat out. That brought the Orioles hottest hitter, catcher Matt Wieters, up to bat. Wieters smacked a fly ball that Ray centerfielder Desmond Jennings caught at the centerfield wall; it was plenty deep enough to not only score Cruz from third, but also allow Davis to take third base and the speedy Jones to scamper into second base. This alert base running paid almost instant dividends when shortstop J.J. Hardy hit a slow ground ball to the first base side of the pitcher's mound. Tampa pitcher Jake Odorizzi jumped on the ball and was able to retire Hardy at first, but Davis raced home on the play for the second Baltimore run. Hardy was credited with an RBI.
The Birds made it 3-0 in the fifth inning. Ryan Flaherty coaxed a walk from Odorizzi and moved to second when Nick Markakis hit an opposite field single to left. After Nelson Cruz popped out to Ray first baseman James Loney, who ranged into foul territory to make the catch, Davis worked Odorizzi for the second walk of the inning, this one loading the bases. That brought up Jones, and for the second time in as many at bats he sent a slow ground ball in the direction of third base. Longoria and Odorizzi decided to let the ball roll, hoping it would go across the foul line; instead the ball cozied up to the chalk on the fair side. Flaherty, of course had sped by the crowd to score the Orioles third run. Odorizzi was able to wiggle out of the jam by getting Wieters to again fly out to centerfield.
Gonzalez left after retiring the Rays in the fifth, and Oriole Manager Buck Showalter summonsed Zach Britton from the bullpen. Britton came in with an ERA of 0.00, and he also left with it three innings later. But not without some very uneasy moments in the seventh when the Rays loaded the bases with only one out. In previous years, Britton might lose his cool in such a situation, but it seems as if that might now be a thing of the past. The Tampa threat started when, with one out, Logan Forsythe, who was pinch hitting for left fielder David DeJesus, worked Britton for a walk. Yunei Escobar followed with a single to right, with Forsythe moving to second base. Jose Molina, the Rays' catcher, followed with a slow roller to the third base side of the pitcher's mound. Flaherty, playing third base, went to the bag believing Britton would field the ball and throw there to get the lead runner on a force out. But Britton couldn't get to the ball quick enough to make a play on it and now the bases were loaded with just one out. Britton did not seem alarmed. He quickly threw a fastball past Ben Zobrist to get ahead on the count, 0-1. Quickly enough Zobrist hit a routine ground ball to Flaherty, who gobbled it up and fired to Wieters at home to get the lead runner for the second out. Wil Myers was next and Britton didn't fool around. He struck Myers out on a swinging strike three.
The Orioles are off on Thursday, then fly to Boston to open a four-game weekend series on Friday. The series will include an 11 am game on Monday to commemorate Patriot's Day. Boston will be abuzz Monday, with the Red Sox playing at Fenway and the Boston Marathon being run downtown.
Three different Oriole hitters knocked in runs as Baltimore improved to 7-7 after starting the season 1-4. Although the Baltimore bats were not much better than Tampa Bay's - the Orioles also managed only six hits - the home team managed to bunch theirs in critical situations. As the two teams celebrated Jackie Robinson Day one day late due to yesterday's rainout, the Birds broke on top in the fourth inning when they struck for two runs. Nelson Cruz led off with a walk and moved to second when Chris Davis singled to right field. The Orioles then loaded the bases when Adam Jones nudged a bunt down the third base line that he was able to beat out. That brought the Orioles hottest hitter, catcher Matt Wieters, up to bat. Wieters smacked a fly ball that Ray centerfielder Desmond Jennings caught at the centerfield wall; it was plenty deep enough to not only score Cruz from third, but also allow Davis to take third base and the speedy Jones to scamper into second base. This alert base running paid almost instant dividends when shortstop J.J. Hardy hit a slow ground ball to the first base side of the pitcher's mound. Tampa pitcher Jake Odorizzi jumped on the ball and was able to retire Hardy at first, but Davis raced home on the play for the second Baltimore run. Hardy was credited with an RBI.
The Birds made it 3-0 in the fifth inning. Ryan Flaherty coaxed a walk from Odorizzi and moved to second when Nick Markakis hit an opposite field single to left. After Nelson Cruz popped out to Ray first baseman James Loney, who ranged into foul territory to make the catch, Davis worked Odorizzi for the second walk of the inning, this one loading the bases. That brought up Jones, and for the second time in as many at bats he sent a slow ground ball in the direction of third base. Longoria and Odorizzi decided to let the ball roll, hoping it would go across the foul line; instead the ball cozied up to the chalk on the fair side. Flaherty, of course had sped by the crowd to score the Orioles third run. Odorizzi was able to wiggle out of the jam by getting Wieters to again fly out to centerfield.
Gonzalez left after retiring the Rays in the fifth, and Oriole Manager Buck Showalter summonsed Zach Britton from the bullpen. Britton came in with an ERA of 0.00, and he also left with it three innings later. But not without some very uneasy moments in the seventh when the Rays loaded the bases with only one out. In previous years, Britton might lose his cool in such a situation, but it seems as if that might now be a thing of the past. The Tampa threat started when, with one out, Logan Forsythe, who was pinch hitting for left fielder David DeJesus, worked Britton for a walk. Yunei Escobar followed with a single to right, with Forsythe moving to second base. Jose Molina, the Rays' catcher, followed with a slow roller to the third base side of the pitcher's mound. Flaherty, playing third base, went to the bag believing Britton would field the ball and throw there to get the lead runner on a force out. But Britton couldn't get to the ball quick enough to make a play on it and now the bases were loaded with just one out. Britton did not seem alarmed. He quickly threw a fastball past Ben Zobrist to get ahead on the count, 0-1. Quickly enough Zobrist hit a routine ground ball to Flaherty, who gobbled it up and fired to Wieters at home to get the lead runner for the second out. Wil Myers was next and Britton didn't fool around. He struck Myers out on a swinging strike three.
The Orioles are off on Thursday, then fly to Boston to open a four-game weekend series on Friday. The series will include an 11 am game on Monday to commemorate Patriot's Day. Boston will be abuzz Monday, with the Red Sox playing at Fenway and the Boston Marathon being run downtown.
ACC Baseball: Terps entertain Navy today; With ACC Standings and Weekend Conference Matchups
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 16, 2014 - Maryland's game with Towson - the first of two games in the Ripken Cup - was cancelled yesterday and will not be made up. But the second game, set for May 7, is still scheduled. The Terps, meanwhile, will play today in College Park against Navy. The game will begin at 3 pm. On Friday, Maryland begins a three-game weekend set with ACC rival Georgia Tech. The first game is set for 6:30 pm.
Here is an up-to-the-minute look at the ACC Standings, with conference records listed first and overall record to the far right:
Atlantic Division
1. Florida State: 14 wins, 4 losses, .778 pct, 28 wins, 8 losses
2. Wake Forest: 11 wins, 7 losses, .611 pct, 3.0 games behind, 23 wins, 15 losses
3. Clemson: 10 wins, 7 losses, .588 pct, 3.5 games behind, 22 wins, 14 losses
4. Maryland: 7 wins, 10 losses, .412 pct, 6.5 games behind, 21 wins, 13 losses
5. North Carolina State: 6 wins, 12 losses, .333 pct, 8 games behind, 20 wins, 15 losses
6. Notre Dame: 3 wins, 15 losses, .167 pct, 11 games behind, 14 wins, 21 losses
7. Boston College: 3 wins, 15 losses, .167 pct, 11 games behind, 11 wins, 24 losses
Coastal Division
1. Virginia: 14 wins, 4 losses, .778 pct, 30 wins, 6 losses
2. Miami: 14 wins, 4 losses, .778 pct, 25 wins, 12 losses
3. Georgia Tech: 10 wins, 8 losses, .556 pct, 4 games behind, 25 wins, 12 losses
4. North Carolina: 9 wins, 9 losses, .500 pct, 5 games behind, 21 wins, 12 losses
5. Duke: 9 wins, 9 losses, .500 pct, 5 games behind, 20 wins, 17 losses
6. Pittsburgh: 8 wins, 10 losses, .444 pct, 6 games behind, 16 wins, 19 losses
7. Virginia Tech: 7 wins, 11 losses, .389 pct, 7 games behind, 18 wins, 17 losses
These are the ACC matchups for the coming weekend:
Georgia Tech at Maryland
Florida State at Wake Forest
Clemson at Pittsburgh
North Carolina State at Boston College
Virginia Tech at Duke
Notre Dame at Miami
North Carolina at Virginia
Here is an up-to-the-minute look at the ACC Standings, with conference records listed first and overall record to the far right:
Atlantic Division
1. Florida State: 14 wins, 4 losses, .778 pct, 28 wins, 8 losses
2. Wake Forest: 11 wins, 7 losses, .611 pct, 3.0 games behind, 23 wins, 15 losses
3. Clemson: 10 wins, 7 losses, .588 pct, 3.5 games behind, 22 wins, 14 losses
4. Maryland: 7 wins, 10 losses, .412 pct, 6.5 games behind, 21 wins, 13 losses
5. North Carolina State: 6 wins, 12 losses, .333 pct, 8 games behind, 20 wins, 15 losses
6. Notre Dame: 3 wins, 15 losses, .167 pct, 11 games behind, 14 wins, 21 losses
7. Boston College: 3 wins, 15 losses, .167 pct, 11 games behind, 11 wins, 24 losses
Coastal Division
1. Virginia: 14 wins, 4 losses, .778 pct, 30 wins, 6 losses
2. Miami: 14 wins, 4 losses, .778 pct, 25 wins, 12 losses
3. Georgia Tech: 10 wins, 8 losses, .556 pct, 4 games behind, 25 wins, 12 losses
4. North Carolina: 9 wins, 9 losses, .500 pct, 5 games behind, 21 wins, 12 losses
5. Duke: 9 wins, 9 losses, .500 pct, 5 games behind, 20 wins, 17 losses
6. Pittsburgh: 8 wins, 10 losses, .444 pct, 6 games behind, 16 wins, 19 losses
7. Virginia Tech: 7 wins, 11 losses, .389 pct, 7 games behind, 18 wins, 17 losses
These are the ACC matchups for the coming weekend:
Georgia Tech at Maryland
Florida State at Wake Forest
Clemson at Pittsburgh
North Carolina State at Boston College
Virginia Tech at Duke
Notre Dame at Miami
North Carolina at Virginia
NATO to Deploy Troops in Eastern Europle
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 16, 2014 - More Fighter Jets, More Battleships, and More NATO Troops are heading to Europe in an expedited manner, and the difference on the ground in the troubled area will be noticed "in a matter of days," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said today in Brussels, Belgium after a meeting of the Alliance in Stuttgart, Germany.
Despite the deployment, NATO stopped short of establishing a permanent forward presence in the region, the military publication, Stars and Stripes, reported today. Rasmussen conceded that a decision on a more sizable troop deployment is pending.
The announcement came even as President Obama's former ambassador to Iraq, James Jeffrey, urged NATO to also deploy in Ukraine if that is what it took to deter Russian Strong Man Vladimir Putin. Jeffrey, currently a fellow at the Washington-based Institute for Near East Policy, was critical of his former boss' response, to date, to Russia's open aggression. He warned that a failure to respond with strength would endanger other Eastern European allies.
“We will have more planes in the air, more ships on the water, and more readiness on the land,” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters after a meeting of the North Atlantic Council.
Among the measures to be taken include an intensification of NATO air policing missions over the Baltic region and more allied ships bound for the Baltic Sea, eastern Mediterranean and other regions as required, Rasmussen said.
“Military staff from allied nations will deploy to enhance our preparedness, training and exercises,” Rasmussen said. “Our defense plans will be reviewed and reinforced.” Rasmussen announced that other measures will follow if they prove to be necessary.
“Our decisions today are about defense, deterrence and de-escalation,” Rasmussen said. “They are entirely in line with our international commitment.”
The opinion article by Ambassador Jeffrey is at http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/us-should-send-ground-troops-to-ukraine/2014/04/15/aa40b238-c408-11e3-bcec-b71ee10e9bc3_story.html
Despite the deployment, NATO stopped short of establishing a permanent forward presence in the region, the military publication, Stars and Stripes, reported today. Rasmussen conceded that a decision on a more sizable troop deployment is pending.
The announcement came even as President Obama's former ambassador to Iraq, James Jeffrey, urged NATO to also deploy in Ukraine if that is what it took to deter Russian Strong Man Vladimir Putin. Jeffrey, currently a fellow at the Washington-based Institute for Near East Policy, was critical of his former boss' response, to date, to Russia's open aggression. He warned that a failure to respond with strength would endanger other Eastern European allies.
“We will have more planes in the air, more ships on the water, and more readiness on the land,” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters after a meeting of the North Atlantic Council.
Among the measures to be taken include an intensification of NATO air policing missions over the Baltic region and more allied ships bound for the Baltic Sea, eastern Mediterranean and other regions as required, Rasmussen said.
“Military staff from allied nations will deploy to enhance our preparedness, training and exercises,” Rasmussen said. “Our defense plans will be reviewed and reinforced.” Rasmussen announced that other measures will follow if they prove to be necessary.
“Our decisions today are about defense, deterrence and de-escalation,” Rasmussen said. “They are entirely in line with our international commitment.”
The opinion article by Ambassador Jeffrey is at http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/us-should-send-ground-troops-to-ukraine/2014/04/15/aa40b238-c408-11e3-bcec-b71ee10e9bc3_story.html
Aggression in Ukraine Mauls Russian Economy
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 16, 2014 - Russian Strong Man Vladimir Putin might seem oblivious to sanctions imposed by western nations, including the United States, but the cold hard facts coming out of Moscow show that his efforts to intimidate and control - if not actually overrun - Russia's western neighbor, Ukraine, are having a profoundly negative effect on Russia's economy. Prior to the invasion of Crimea by the Russian Army and Navy in early March of this year, economic forecasters inside and outside of Russia had predicted that the sprawling nation's Gross Domestic Product rate would grow by 2.5%.
But this week, Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev told parliament that growth was just 0.8 percent in the first quarter. This is a stunning fall back from economic predictions.
Ulyukayev made absolutely no effort to hide the reasons for the failure. The Economic expert attributed it to "the acute international situation of the past two months" as well as "serious capital flight." The last reference is to the wholesale withdrawl of money in the Russian economy by western investers. The first is a reflection of the pessimism gripping Russian businee because of the Ukrainian invasion. They all are fearful of continued and even harsher economic sanctions and continued capital witndrawl.
Russia's economy was not in the best of shapes to begin with. It has been buoyed by increased exports of energy products such as oil and natural gas. But these exports are directly threatened by Russian military operations in Ukraine, because Ukraine is criss-crossed by pipelines running from Russia to Western Europe.
But this week, Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev told parliament that growth was just 0.8 percent in the first quarter. This is a stunning fall back from economic predictions.
Ulyukayev made absolutely no effort to hide the reasons for the failure. The Economic expert attributed it to "the acute international situation of the past two months" as well as "serious capital flight." The last reference is to the wholesale withdrawl of money in the Russian economy by western investers. The first is a reflection of the pessimism gripping Russian businee because of the Ukrainian invasion. They all are fearful of continued and even harsher economic sanctions and continued capital witndrawl.
Russia's economy was not in the best of shapes to begin with. It has been buoyed by increased exports of energy products such as oil and natural gas. But these exports are directly threatened by Russian military operations in Ukraine, because Ukraine is criss-crossed by pipelines running from Russia to Western Europe.
Ukrainian Forces Retake Airport in Eastern Ukraine; United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Warns Russia of Long Term Consequences of Aggression; Some Ukrainian Military Troops Defect, Hoist Russian Flags on Armored Vehicles; Russian Commanders Tell Separatists to 'Shoot to Kill'
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 16, 2014 - Ukraine's Military routed Russian Troops holding the airport on the outskirts of the Eastern Ukraine City even as the Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom said the behavior being engaged in by Russia will radically change the way it is treated by western nations for a decade. Foreign Secretary William Hague in his annual Mansion House speech, said: "In recent days Russia has deliberately pushed Ukraine to the brink, and created a still greater risk of violent confrontation.
"But that does not entitle Russia to send in its armed groups, thinly disguised, to spearhead the occupation of buildings in multiple Ukrainian cities, to try permanently to destabilise the country and dictate the terms of its constitution.
"My message to Moscow is that if anyone thinks they can do these things without serious long-term consequences they are making a grave miscalculation. "Russia must choose whether it is open to diplomacy and de-escalation, and if it decides otherwise, we must be ready for a different state of relations with Russia in the next 10 years than in the last 20. Ukraine can be a bridge between East and West and be able to have good relations with Russia."
An airport on the outskirts of the eastern Ukraine city of Kramatorsk was surrounded by Ukrainian troops who arrived in military helicopters. In a short time the facility was back in Ukraine hands. Reporters saw military jets swooping low over the facility.
A Reuters correspondent in Kramatorsk saw four military helicopters over the airport. Two of these landed and when troops stepped out and walked across the field, locals manning a barricade shouted "Shame! Go back home!"
But if the retaking of the airport was good news for the government in Kiev, other reports from the region were just the opposite. In Slovyansk, western reporters said they saw a column of military vehicles, including tanks and armored personnel carriers, all displaying Russian flags. When reporters were able to interview the people on the vehicles, they said they were "former" Ukrainian military personnel who had switched side to the pro-Russians in the Donetsk area. And while the airport was freed, a mob took over another building in Donetsk.
In another development, Ukraine's security service said they had intercepted a message from Russian commanders to separatists in the Donetsk area that they were to begin shooting to kill government sympathizers.
"But that does not entitle Russia to send in its armed groups, thinly disguised, to spearhead the occupation of buildings in multiple Ukrainian cities, to try permanently to destabilise the country and dictate the terms of its constitution.
"My message to Moscow is that if anyone thinks they can do these things without serious long-term consequences they are making a grave miscalculation. "Russia must choose whether it is open to diplomacy and de-escalation, and if it decides otherwise, we must be ready for a different state of relations with Russia in the next 10 years than in the last 20. Ukraine can be a bridge between East and West and be able to have good relations with Russia."
An airport on the outskirts of the eastern Ukraine city of Kramatorsk was surrounded by Ukrainian troops who arrived in military helicopters. In a short time the facility was back in Ukraine hands. Reporters saw military jets swooping low over the facility.
A Reuters correspondent in Kramatorsk saw four military helicopters over the airport. Two of these landed and when troops stepped out and walked across the field, locals manning a barricade shouted "Shame! Go back home!"
But if the retaking of the airport was good news for the government in Kiev, other reports from the region were just the opposite. In Slovyansk, western reporters said they saw a column of military vehicles, including tanks and armored personnel carriers, all displaying Russian flags. When reporters were able to interview the people on the vehicles, they said they were "former" Ukrainian military personnel who had switched side to the pro-Russians in the Donetsk area. And while the airport was freed, a mob took over another building in Donetsk.
In another development, Ukraine's security service said they had intercepted a message from Russian commanders to separatists in the Donetsk area that they were to begin shooting to kill government sympathizers.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Unmanned Submarine Searching for Missing Malaysian Jet Aborts First Dive After Six Hours; Second Dive Planned ASAP
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 15, 2014 - The unmanned submarine that the international search team is counting on to actually find the missing Malaysian Airlines Jet that went missing March 8 with 239 people on board automatically aborted its first dive from its current mother ship after on-board sensors detected that it had gone deeper than its maximum safe depth of 4500 meters. The first dive lasted six hours and apparently gathered at least some useful data, but the search team must download and analyze that data before finding out exactly what was learned. A second dive for the submersible vehicle is planned for as soon as conditions permit.
The HMS Ocean Shield, an Australian Navy vessel, is the ship that deploys the sub, known as the Bluefin-21. The Ocean Shield is ensconced within a zone mapped out using pings from what are believed to be the black boxes on the missing plane. The pings were monitored on several occassions over a several week period before the batteries powering the black boxes apparently gave out. Those batteries are supposed to last at least 30 days, and, in fact, pings were picked up by surface vessels and even an airplane, for more than 30 days before they came to a complete stop about one week ago. Before they stopped, searchers were able to map out what they call a "manageable area" where the missing jet might be. The respected Aviation Blog known as "Plane Talking" said today that the benefit of the first six hour sub dive will be, at a minimum, to "tell the Joint Agency Coordination Centre which is managing the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 how well the instruments and systems on board worked, and give it the first on site test of its download and analysis procedures." Anything else picked up by the sub will be a bonus.
The HMS Ocean Shield, an Australian Navy vessel, is the ship that deploys the sub, known as the Bluefin-21. The Ocean Shield is ensconced within a zone mapped out using pings from what are believed to be the black boxes on the missing plane. The pings were monitored on several occassions over a several week period before the batteries powering the black boxes apparently gave out. Those batteries are supposed to last at least 30 days, and, in fact, pings were picked up by surface vessels and even an airplane, for more than 30 days before they came to a complete stop about one week ago. Before they stopped, searchers were able to map out what they call a "manageable area" where the missing jet might be. The respected Aviation Blog known as "Plane Talking" said today that the benefit of the first six hour sub dive will be, at a minimum, to "tell the Joint Agency Coordination Centre which is managing the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 how well the instruments and systems on board worked, and give it the first on site test of its download and analysis procedures." Anything else picked up by the sub will be a bonus.
Ukraine Situation Deteriorates; Obama and Putin Confer
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 15, 2014 - This is a roll call of the Eastern Ukraine Cities taken over by, well, what will you call them? Separatists? The word separatists at least infers that somebody that is part of something wants to separate from it. But the people leading and, more and more, actually manning the takeover of buildings are Russian Military personnel trying to convince people that they are Ukrainians who don't want to be Ukrainians any longer. It is a ruse. Acknowledging a ruse might be the first step in figuring out where the two sides of this intensifying struggle stand. So let us acknowledge the obvious. They look like Russian Soldiers because they are Russian Soldiers. That has been perfectly clear for the last two weeks. These soldiers have uniforms, but they have been cleansed of referrals to Mother Russia. They have high-tech equipment and coordianted actions. Would simple factory workers angry at the national government do or act like these men. Of course not. Since when was the takeover of local Government buildings the best way to convince the national government that the "people" are unhappy. The plain fact, as has been reported in almost every newspaper or wire service with reporters on the ground in Ukraine is that the people in Eastern Ukraine don't want Russia rolling into their homeland. They have lived under Russian rule for decades. It was a miserable and dehumanizing experience. As long as Putin was merely giving the pro-westerners something to worry about, everything was fine, but do not think for a moment that the people of Eastern Ukraine are salivating for the next Russian takeover.
Until March, the elected leader of Ukraine was a Russian loyalist, Viktor Yanukovych. He was in power for several years and a lot of the employees of his government, especially in the volatile Donetsk region on the country's eastern border, were loyal to him. A lot of them were ethnic Russians. When he was sacked by the Euromaidan Movement that wants Ukraine to tilt West, the government employees in the East stayed on. Things have happened so fast that the new pro-west government now calling the shots hasn't exactly streamlined its operations. The new government knew that the elite police forces based in Kiev were rife with pro-Russians; they were on the other side when the elite police force took to the streets to battle the Euromaidan demonstrators. When violence broke out - up to 100 died in violent protests in late February and early March - it was again the elite police against Euromaidan. The new government doesn't exactly trust the police yet. In the east, when the pro-Russian mobs surround the police stations, a lot of the police officers simply come outside and join with the demonstrators. Some of the ones that didn't got beat up. When Russia invaded Crimea with up to 40,000 regular troops - again, going with the line that they weren't regular Russian troops because their uniforms had been stripped of Russian nomenclature - a lot of Ukraine's best soldiers found themselves surrounded and confined to base, with little instruction from Kiev except not to fire their weapons, because Russia would use that as an excuse to fire their weapons. The Ukraine Military was humiliated in Crimea. Their ships and their one submarine were stolen by the Russians. Even their ground-breaking dolphin-training program - only the United States has done the same thing - was thieved away by the Russians. These days the Kiev government is trying to put together a force to take back their buildings, but they are quite obviously having trouble because they have given ultimatums to leave to the separatists in those buildings, but the deadlines have passed and there are no Ukraine military forces ready to do battle.
Let us also be honest about the West. Newspapers and media reporters everywhere carry the same two truths about the West. They are angry about what Russian Strong Man Vladimir Putin - Putin these days is Russia - has done in Ukraine and Georgia, but the only thing they are somewhat willing to do is impose economic sanctions of a sort. The ones imposed so far have been confined to freezing the assets of some Russian bureaucrats and businessmen (but not Putin), and cancelling some military weapons contracts made with western weapons manufacturers. There have been no economic sanctions that go across the board against the Russian nation. All of this tepid behavior is due to the fact that the western nations in Europe all get energy of some sort from Russia, and the United States is in this phase under President Obama where it wants Europe to handle its own problems. And it isn't going over too well in Europe or, for that matter, in the United States, where his approval ratings have fallen into the 30-39 percent range. But he is the President, and with regards to foreign policy, he does call the shots until 2016. It is pretty clear at this point that Putin thinks he can push Obama around. Has anything happened to convince him otherwise? Obama wanted everyone to believe that Putin was a new and modern leader ready to govern in the new millenium. Under Obama's view of things, a leader in the new millenium NEVER resorts to military force to attain national goals or settle international disputes. When Putin did exactly what Obama said he could not do, Obama became, well, discombobulated (mixed up and confused). He is only now coming to the realization that Putin is very comfortable using his military to get what he wants. He was held back for a long time by the ineptness of the military coming out of the collapse of the Soviet Union. As a young but integral player in the old Soviet Union, Putin had a lot of faith in strong man tactics where you decide what you and your nation want and then use your military to get it. For years, the Soviet collapse took that away. But the energy boom that Russia has enjoyed has permitted Putin to modernize and improve that military, and it is now capable of doing his bidding. And now that Putin has found himself matched with an American leader who is loathe to use the only military on Earth that can still administer a severe whomping to the Russian military, he is on the warpath, literally. Obama is only now showing signs of understanding the full import of what he faces in Putin. He needs constant reminders of this fact, constant reinforcement. He is, as we have explained countless times here, a dyed in the wool uber leftist who hates using military force against anything other than domestic enemies. He thinks when he uses the American military he starts to resemble a Republican or old-time Democrat like the heroic John Kennedy. He doesn't want that. In fact, just as Russia started to invade Crimea, Obama announced, victoriously, that he was slashing the United States Military budget to the bone. But now he is getting to the point where he either has to put up or, well, sit there in Washington and watch Putin trounce all over Ukraine. And if Putin does that to Ukraine, you can only imagine what is next. If Putin crushes the pro-west government in Ukraine while the West sits and watches, everybody in the world will start to compare Obama to Neville Chamberlain, the former British Prime Minister who allowed Hitler to walk all over countries in Eastern and Central Europe on his way to crushing all of Europe during World War II. We in the west can only hope Obama doesn't want to go that route. I wish I were more sure. In fact, a good start for Obama would be to announce that he is not going to slash the United States Military Budget. A good second step would be to announce that the anti-ballistic missles the USA already had promised to install in Poland and the Czech Republic, before Obama broke the promise to please Putin, would now be installed after all. A good third step would be to send a hefty NATO contingent to all of the European NATO members who are within marching distance of Russia. I'm not holding my breath. But they seem like solid steps for a President who is generally against military intervention. They are steps that do not guarantee war, and in fact, might make war a lot less likely.
Until March, the elected leader of Ukraine was a Russian loyalist, Viktor Yanukovych. He was in power for several years and a lot of the employees of his government, especially in the volatile Donetsk region on the country's eastern border, were loyal to him. A lot of them were ethnic Russians. When he was sacked by the Euromaidan Movement that wants Ukraine to tilt West, the government employees in the East stayed on. Things have happened so fast that the new pro-west government now calling the shots hasn't exactly streamlined its operations. The new government knew that the elite police forces based in Kiev were rife with pro-Russians; they were on the other side when the elite police force took to the streets to battle the Euromaidan demonstrators. When violence broke out - up to 100 died in violent protests in late February and early March - it was again the elite police against Euromaidan. The new government doesn't exactly trust the police yet. In the east, when the pro-Russian mobs surround the police stations, a lot of the police officers simply come outside and join with the demonstrators. Some of the ones that didn't got beat up. When Russia invaded Crimea with up to 40,000 regular troops - again, going with the line that they weren't regular Russian troops because their uniforms had been stripped of Russian nomenclature - a lot of Ukraine's best soldiers found themselves surrounded and confined to base, with little instruction from Kiev except not to fire their weapons, because Russia would use that as an excuse to fire their weapons. The Ukraine Military was humiliated in Crimea. Their ships and their one submarine were stolen by the Russians. Even their ground-breaking dolphin-training program - only the United States has done the same thing - was thieved away by the Russians. These days the Kiev government is trying to put together a force to take back their buildings, but they are quite obviously having trouble because they have given ultimatums to leave to the separatists in those buildings, but the deadlines have passed and there are no Ukraine military forces ready to do battle.
Let us also be honest about the West. Newspapers and media reporters everywhere carry the same two truths about the West. They are angry about what Russian Strong Man Vladimir Putin - Putin these days is Russia - has done in Ukraine and Georgia, but the only thing they are somewhat willing to do is impose economic sanctions of a sort. The ones imposed so far have been confined to freezing the assets of some Russian bureaucrats and businessmen (but not Putin), and cancelling some military weapons contracts made with western weapons manufacturers. There have been no economic sanctions that go across the board against the Russian nation. All of this tepid behavior is due to the fact that the western nations in Europe all get energy of some sort from Russia, and the United States is in this phase under President Obama where it wants Europe to handle its own problems. And it isn't going over too well in Europe or, for that matter, in the United States, where his approval ratings have fallen into the 30-39 percent range. But he is the President, and with regards to foreign policy, he does call the shots until 2016. It is pretty clear at this point that Putin thinks he can push Obama around. Has anything happened to convince him otherwise? Obama wanted everyone to believe that Putin was a new and modern leader ready to govern in the new millenium. Under Obama's view of things, a leader in the new millenium NEVER resorts to military force to attain national goals or settle international disputes. When Putin did exactly what Obama said he could not do, Obama became, well, discombobulated (mixed up and confused). He is only now coming to the realization that Putin is very comfortable using his military to get what he wants. He was held back for a long time by the ineptness of the military coming out of the collapse of the Soviet Union. As a young but integral player in the old Soviet Union, Putin had a lot of faith in strong man tactics where you decide what you and your nation want and then use your military to get it. For years, the Soviet collapse took that away. But the energy boom that Russia has enjoyed has permitted Putin to modernize and improve that military, and it is now capable of doing his bidding. And now that Putin has found himself matched with an American leader who is loathe to use the only military on Earth that can still administer a severe whomping to the Russian military, he is on the warpath, literally. Obama is only now showing signs of understanding the full import of what he faces in Putin. He needs constant reminders of this fact, constant reinforcement. He is, as we have explained countless times here, a dyed in the wool uber leftist who hates using military force against anything other than domestic enemies. He thinks when he uses the American military he starts to resemble a Republican or old-time Democrat like the heroic John Kennedy. He doesn't want that. In fact, just as Russia started to invade Crimea, Obama announced, victoriously, that he was slashing the United States Military budget to the bone. But now he is getting to the point where he either has to put up or, well, sit there in Washington and watch Putin trounce all over Ukraine. And if Putin does that to Ukraine, you can only imagine what is next. If Putin crushes the pro-west government in Ukraine while the West sits and watches, everybody in the world will start to compare Obama to Neville Chamberlain, the former British Prime Minister who allowed Hitler to walk all over countries in Eastern and Central Europe on his way to crushing all of Europe during World War II. We in the west can only hope Obama doesn't want to go that route. I wish I were more sure. In fact, a good start for Obama would be to announce that he is not going to slash the United States Military Budget. A good second step would be to announce that the anti-ballistic missles the USA already had promised to install in Poland and the Czech Republic, before Obama broke the promise to please Putin, would now be installed after all. A good third step would be to send a hefty NATO contingent to all of the European NATO members who are within marching distance of Russia. I'm not holding my breath. But they seem like solid steps for a President who is generally against military intervention. They are steps that do not guarantee war, and in fact, might make war a lot less likely.
Orioles Rout Rays, 7-1; Chen with Quality Start, Improves to 2-1
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 15, 2014 - Wei-Yin Chen threw 6 and one-third innings of 5-hit baseball, and Ryan Flaherty knocked in two runs as the Orioles pulled back to within one game of .500 with a 7-1 rout of the Tampa Bay Rays Monday night in Baltimore. J.J. Hardy and Matt Wieters each had three hits and three other Orioles had two hits apiece in the easy win. The Orioles scored in four of their first five at bats in opening a 7-0 lead. The Rays scored their only run in the sixth inning. After Chen started, Evan Meek and Darren O'Day finished the game without giving up a run. Both Meek and O'Day have ERA's of 0.00.
The Birds got on the board in their very first at bat. Nelson Cruz singled with one out and moved to second on a walk to Chris Davis. Cruz later scored on Wieters' RBI single. In the second inning the Orioles scored three more times. J.J, Hardy led off with a double and moved to third on a ground out by Steve Lombardozzi. Hardy scored on a single by Flaherty. Flaherty then scored on a long double by Cruz. Cruz quickly scored himself when Chris Davis followed with another very long double to straight-away center field that narrowly missed being a home run. Chen, meanwhile, retired the first nine hitters he faced.
Baltimore struck for two more runs in the third inning. Wieters led off with a double to left field. He scored one out later on a double by Hardy. The next hitter, Lombardozzi, knocked in Hardy with a single to center field. Tampa got its first base runner in the fourth inning when Desmond Jennings walked with one out. But Jennings never moved off of first as Chen retired the next two hitters in order. Tampa got its first two hits of the game in the fifth inning in the form of a James Loney double and an infield single by Brandon Guyer. But Chen worked right out of the situation when Yunel Escobar grounded into a double play.
Baltimore scored what proved to be its final run in the fifth. Wieters led off with a single to left and moved to second one out later when Hardy also singled to left. With two outs, Flaherty singled to left, allowing Wieters to score from second base. The Rays finally got on the score board in the sixth. With one out, Ben Zobrist drew a walk and moved to second base on a single by Jennings. With two outs, Evan Longoria singled to left, scoring Zobrist and sending Jennings to third. Longoria took second on the throw to third. Chen, in serious trouble for the first time in the game, got out of it when Wil Myers lined to center fielder Adam Jones. Rays' starter Chris Archer left after the Orioles' batted in the fifth, and Brad Boxberger, recalled earlier in the day from Durham. Chen pitched into the seventh.
The Orioles improved to 6-7 on the season, and pulled to within one-half game of the Rays and one game of the division-leading Blue Jays and Yankees. Here are the American League East standings up to the minute:
1. New York Yankees: 7 wins, 6 losses, .538 pct
1. Toronto Blue Jays: 7 wins, 6 losses, .538 pct
3. Tampa Bay Rays: 7 wins, 7 losses, .500 pct, 0.5 games behind
4. Baltimore Orioles: 6 wins, 7 losses, .462 pct, 1 game behind
5. Boston Red Sox: 5 wins, 8 losses, .385 pct, 2 games behind
The Birds got on the board in their very first at bat. Nelson Cruz singled with one out and moved to second on a walk to Chris Davis. Cruz later scored on Wieters' RBI single. In the second inning the Orioles scored three more times. J.J, Hardy led off with a double and moved to third on a ground out by Steve Lombardozzi. Hardy scored on a single by Flaherty. Flaherty then scored on a long double by Cruz. Cruz quickly scored himself when Chris Davis followed with another very long double to straight-away center field that narrowly missed being a home run. Chen, meanwhile, retired the first nine hitters he faced.
Baltimore struck for two more runs in the third inning. Wieters led off with a double to left field. He scored one out later on a double by Hardy. The next hitter, Lombardozzi, knocked in Hardy with a single to center field. Tampa got its first base runner in the fourth inning when Desmond Jennings walked with one out. But Jennings never moved off of first as Chen retired the next two hitters in order. Tampa got its first two hits of the game in the fifth inning in the form of a James Loney double and an infield single by Brandon Guyer. But Chen worked right out of the situation when Yunel Escobar grounded into a double play.
Baltimore scored what proved to be its final run in the fifth. Wieters led off with a single to left and moved to second one out later when Hardy also singled to left. With two outs, Flaherty singled to left, allowing Wieters to score from second base. The Rays finally got on the score board in the sixth. With one out, Ben Zobrist drew a walk and moved to second base on a single by Jennings. With two outs, Evan Longoria singled to left, scoring Zobrist and sending Jennings to third. Longoria took second on the throw to third. Chen, in serious trouble for the first time in the game, got out of it when Wil Myers lined to center fielder Adam Jones. Rays' starter Chris Archer left after the Orioles' batted in the fifth, and Brad Boxberger, recalled earlier in the day from Durham. Chen pitched into the seventh.
The Orioles improved to 6-7 on the season, and pulled to within one-half game of the Rays and one game of the division-leading Blue Jays and Yankees. Here are the American League East standings up to the minute:
1. New York Yankees: 7 wins, 6 losses, .538 pct
1. Toronto Blue Jays: 7 wins, 6 losses, .538 pct
3. Tampa Bay Rays: 7 wins, 7 losses, .500 pct, 0.5 games behind
4. Baltimore Orioles: 6 wins, 7 losses, .462 pct, 1 game behind
5. Boston Red Sox: 5 wins, 8 losses, .385 pct, 2 games behind
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