June 24, 2016


News and Views


HISTORIC DAY FOR BRITAIN FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-cameron-resigns-uk-referendum-vote-to-leave-eu-european-union/

Leaderless U.K. stares down uncertain future outside EU
CBS NEWS
June 24, 2016, 4:45 AM

Play VIDEO -- What happens if Britain leaves the European Union?
Play Video -- Why Brexit Matters


LONDON -- Britain has spoken, and its people want out of the European Union. Within several years, it will be a reality.

It would be hard to overstate the shock and the consequences of the vote -- and not just in Britain, and not just in Europe.

The British currency, the pound, fell like a rock Friday, witnessing its biggest one day fall ever, before rebounding slightly. Stocks markets plunged, but also managed to recovered a little. And Britain's prime minister -- a beaten man -- announced his resignation.

How will "Brexit" actually happen?

"The British people have made a very clear decision to take a different path, and as such I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction," said Prime Minister David Cameron, announcing that he would resign his role within three months.

One by one, as the voting districts reported overnight, the shocks started to come. People inside Manchester Town Hall cheered as their votes tallied up to a result in favour of the "Leave" camp. The scenes would be repeated across the country.

The opinion polls had suggested a close race, and even a narrow victory for the campaign to "Remain" in the EU. They were wrong.

The City of London, Britain's booming financial district, and financial markets across the world, had bet on a vote to remain in the union. They were wrong.

Only voters in London and Scotland favored staying in, elsewhere, people wanted out.

And David Cameron, thoroughly defeated, felt he simply had only one option -- to go.

"I will do everything I can as prime minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months," he said, "but I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination."

Those who argued to leave said the predictions of gloom were scare mongering. We'll see.

The most recognizable face of the Leave campaign, former London Mayor (and possible next prime minister) Boris Johnson, was jeered as he left his house this morning.

Others could barely contain their glee, including the leader of the UK Independence Party Nigel Farage.

"June the 23rd needs to become a national bank holiday," he said on Friday, "and we should call it Independence Day."

Both sides used fear in this campaign; fear of economic decline by those who argued to stay in, and fear of being overwhelmed by immigration from the rest of Europe by those wanting out. The latter proving the more powerful.

The Bank of England has stepped in in an unprecedented way, saying effectively: Take a deep breath. The economy can handle the shock. We'll see.



http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21701257-results-paint-picture-angry-country-divided-class-age-and-region-country-divided

The Brexit vote reveals a country split down the middle
Jun 24th 2016 | Britain
The results paint a picture of an angry country divided by class, age and region

Related: The Brexit vote reveals a country split down the middle
The implications of Brexit for the Bank of England
Scotland votes to stay in the EU—but is dragged out by England
The culpability of Jeremy Corbyn
UK Independence Party
London
David Cameron
European politics
Elections and voting


THOUGH the result remained too close to call four hours after polls closed, it is already clear that a referendum on whether to stay in the European Union has triggered an angry revolt by millions of British voters against their government, the leaders of the main political parties, big business and experts of all stripes. First returns and television interviews with voters and (slightly shell-shocked) political grandees painted a picture of a United Kingdom divided sharply along lines of region, class, age and even—in the case of Northern Ireland, where such Roman Catholic areas as Foyle voted Remain while Protestant areas like North Antrim went for Leave amid much higher turnout—by religious denomination. If the public had quietly weighed the costs and benefits of EU membership, it was often hard to hear that analysis through a din of stuff-the-lot-of-them rage from the Leave camp, and the first growls of mutual recrimination among Labour and Conservative politicians backing Remain.

As the night began it appeared that “Leave” camp had done better than expected in rain-lashed, post-industrial northeastern towns with names from a George Orwell story, like Sunderland and Hartlepool, or gritty corners of Essex. Remain had its early strongholds, such as Orkney and Clackmannanshire in Scotland, but turnout in such places underperformed. Leave won in Sunderland by 22%, while Newcastle—a larger city with many students—voted for Remain by a margin of 1%, which was tighter than predicted.

Turnout was reported to be lower than Remain campaigners had hoped in London, a city expected to provide deep reservoirs of the sort of higher-income, better-educated and non-white voters who have consistently told pollsters they want to stay in Europe. The capital suffered heavy rain and transport chaos on referendum day, which probably did not help. Against that, some of the first London boroughs to declare, such as Wandsworth, showed a stronger-than-expected 75% vote for Remain. At least going by first results, Wales seemed to have parted company with its Celtic brother, Scotland. Labour-voting former mining valleys and blighted post-industrial towns seemed to be swinging towards Leave.

The jumpy mood was felt in financial markets. Currency traders being an impatient bunch, they were quick to celebrate after voting stopped at 10pm, as a YouGov opinion poll was released showing Remain ahead by four percentage points. Nigel Farage, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), said Remain seemed likely to “edge it”—a semi-concession that he later retracted. The pound rose to $1.50, its highest level since December, only to plunge as the first results began to trickle in, showing a stronger than expected Leave vote in the gritty northern English city of Sutherland, at one point dropping by more than 3% to below $1.43 in a few seconds.

Referendum night felt all the odder because the Remain and Leave camps are themselves internally incoherent. Voting had barely ended when Douglas Carswell, a romantic, libertarian former Conservative member of parliament who defected to UKIP, denounced his own party leader, Mr Farage, for a poster unveiled a few days ago, which showed dark-skinned refugees crossing a field in eastern Europe, beneath the slogan “Breaking Point”. Mr Carswell said: “I think it was morally the wrong thing to do. Angry nativism doesn't win elections in this country.”

But if anything the Remain camp was even less united. David Cameron, the Conservative prime minister, only agreed to hold this referendum in 2013 in a moment of political weakness before the most recent general election, as his own members panicked about the threat of UKIP and agitated for a chance to vote on a European Union that most rank-and-file Conservatives dislike or actively loathe. Mr Cameron is no instinctive lover of the EU and struggled to make a positive case for continued membership. Having offered unrealisable promises to reduce net immigration into Britain to tens of thousands a year, he was unable to defend the free movement of workers and people that is one of the EU’s founding pillars. Instead of pointing out that migrants make a positive contribution to the British exchequer, he had to argue that leaving would cause a self-inflicted recession. That may have been true, but did nothing to inspire enthusiasm among voters trying to make up their minds.

As voting ended, the Conservative parliamentary party mounted a display of unity. More than 80 Tory members of parliament who want to Leave, including such leading Brexit campaigners and rivals as Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London, signed a letter saying that Mr Cameron should remain as prime minister. But if Britain does vote Remain, the prime minister will be able to use that letter to light his firing-squad cigar, as his party—metaphorically—takes him out and shoots him. Labour also seems likely to tear itself apart, after its hard-left leader, Jeremy Corbyn, campaigned half-heartedly for Remain and the party’s leaders were forced to confront their abandonment by English working-class voters fired up by Leave’s message of anti-globalisation and haul-up-the-drawbridge nativism.

After an often ugly campaign on the Leave side, full of untrue warnings about Turkey joining the EU, bringing 76m Turks into the union, and made-up figures about the sums that Britain pays into European budgets, politicians who have worked for years to pull Britain out of the union seemed strangely muted as results flowed in. Their shock is appropriate. Something enormous is happening in Britain—a country that scorns its rulers and is done with deference. Whatever the final result, divisions have opened that will take a long time to heal.



http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/284751-sanders-on-brexit-global-economy-isnt-working-for-everybody

Sanders on Brexit: Global economy isn't working for everybody
By Jesse Byrnes
June 24, 2016, 08:14 am

Bernie Sanders on Friday sidestepped questions on whether he supported Britain's vote to leave the European Union, but emphasized that the "global economy is not working for everybody."

"What worries me very much is the breaking down of international cooperation," Sanders told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

"On the other hand, I think what this vote is about is an indication that the global economy is not working for everybody," he continued.

"It's not working in the United States for everybody and it's not working in the UK for everybody."

The Democratic presidential hopeful has focused much of his campaign on economic inequality and criticized international trade agreements the U.S. has engaged in. On Friday, he called for more international cooperation but added that "we do not forget about the people left behind."

Sanders's remarks came after Britain stunningly voted to leave the EU, prompting immediate global financial uncertainty and a plunge in value for the British pound.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who advocated remaining in the EU, said he would step down amid speculation over the U.K.'s future.

Sanders on Friday also said that he would vote for Hillary Clinton, his Democratic presidential rival, in November. It was an apparent acknowledgement that Clinton will be the party's nominee. Sanders has not explicitly suspended his White House campaign.



http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/what-do-the-brexit-movement-and-donald-trump-have-in-common

WHAT DO THE BREXIT MOVEMENT AND DONALD TRUMP HAVE IN COMMON?
By John Cassidy
JUNE 23, 2016

Photograph -- On Thursday, Britons will vote on whether to leave the European Union, an option supported by Nigel Farage, the leader of the U.K. Independence Party. PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS RATCLIFFE / BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY


If things go as expected on Thursday, British voters will reject the option of leaving the European Union. Likewise, if things go as expected come November, American voters will reject the option of electing a President Trump. Both outcomes would be reassuring, but they wouldn’t mean the end of right-wing populism on either side of the Atlantic—they may merely represent new high-water marks.

When the Brexit referendum is done, tens of millions of Britons will likely have registered a vote against the liberal vision of European unity and assimilation. In this country, even after the disastrous past few weeks Donald Trump has had, a new opinion poll, from Quinnipiac University, indicates that in crucial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania he remains statistically tied with Hillary Clinton.

Why is this happening? Trump and his counterpart in Britain, the U.K. Independence Party (ukip) leader Nigel Farage, didn’t emerge from nowhere. Both are wealthy men who affect an affinity with the common people, and who have skillfully exploited a deep well of resentment among working-class and middle-class voters, some of whom have traditionally supported left-of-center parties. Certainly, a parallel factor in both men’s rise is racism, or, more specifically, nativism. Trump has presented a nightmarish vision of America overrun by Mexican felons and Muslim terrorists. ukip printed up campaign posters that showed thousands of dark-colored refugees lining up to enter Slovenia, which is part of the E.U., next to the words “breaking point: The EU has failed us all.” But racism and nationalism have both been around for a long time, as have demagogues who try to exploit them. In healthy democracies, these troublemakers are confined to the fringes.

Historically, transforming radical parties of the right (or left) into mass movements has required some sort of disaster, such as a major war or an economic depression. Europe in the early twentieth century witnessed both, with cataclysmic results. After the First World War, the introduction of social democracy, the socioeconomic system that most Western countries settled on, delivered steadily rising living standards, which helped to keep the extremists at bay. If prosperity wasn’t shared equally—and it wasn’t—egalitarian social norms and redistributive tax systems blunted some of the inequities that go along with free-market capitalism.

But in the past few decades Western countries have been subjected to a triad of forces that, while not as visible or dramatic as wars and depressions, have proved equally destabilizing: globalization, technical progress, and a political philosophy that embraces both. In the United States, it is no coincidence that Trump is doing well in the Rust Belt and other deindustrialized areas. A one-two punch of automation and offshoring has battered these regions, leaving many of their residents ill-equipped to prosper in today’s economy. Trump is exploiting the same economic anxieties and resentments that helped Bernie Sanders, another critic of globalization and free trade, carry the Michigan Democratic primary.

“There is no excuse for supporting a racist, sexist, xenophobic buffoon like Donald Trump,” Dean Baker, an economist and blogger at the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research, in Washington, noted recently. “But we should be clear; the workers who turn to him do have real grievances. The system has been rigged against them.”

Similarly, it is not an accident that ukip is popular in the former mill towns of northern England, in the engineering belt of the West Midlands, and in working-class exurbs of London. “Children emerging from the primary school next door, almost all from ethnic minorities, are just a visible reminder for anyone seeking easy answers to genuine grievance,” the Guardian’s Polly Toynbee wrote, last week, after a visit to Barking, in Essex, which is close to a big car factory owned by Ford. “As high-status Ford jobs are swapped for low-paid warehouse work, indignation is diverted daily against migrants by the Mail, Sun, Sunday Times and the rest. . . . This is the sound of Britain breaking.”

For the past half century, the major political parties, on both sides of the Atlantic, have promulgated the idea that free trade and globalization are the keys to prosperity. If you pressed the mainstream economists who advise these parties, they might concede that trade creates losers as well as winners, and that the argument for ever more global integration implicitly assumes that the winners will compensate the losers. But the fact that such a sharing of the gains has been sorely lacking was regarded as a relatively minor detail, and certainly not as a justification for calling a halt to the entire process.

If you are reading this post, the likelihood is that you, like me, are one of the winners. Highly educated, professional people tend to work in sectors of the economy that have benefitted from the changes in the international division of labor (e.g., finance, consulting, media, tech) or have been largely spared the rigors of global competition (e.g., law, medicine, academia). From a secure perch on the economic ladder, it is easy to celebrate the gains that technology and globalization have brought, such as a cornucopia of cheap goods in rich countries and rising prosperity in poor ones. It’s also tempting to dismiss the arguments of people who ignore the benefits of this process, or who can’t see that it is irreversible.

But, as Baker points out, “it is a bit hypocritical of those who have benefited” from this economic transformation to be “mocking the poor judgment of its victims”—especially now that the forces of global competition and technological progress are reaching into areas that were previously protected. In a world of self-driving cars and trucks, what is the future for truck drivers, cab and limo drivers, and delivery men? Not a very prosperous one, surely. And the creative destruction that the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter celebrated won’t stop there. With software that can transfer money at zero cost, medical robots that can carry out the most delicate of operations, and smart algorithms that can diagnose diseases or dispense legal advice, what is the future for bankers, surgeons, doctors, lawyers, and other professionals?

There is no straightforward answer to this question, just as there is no easy answer to the question of what can be done to help those who have already lost out. One option is to strengthen the social safety net and, perhaps, to move toward some sort of universal basic income, which would guarantee a minimum standard of living to everybody, regardless of employment prospects. The political enactment of such solutions, however, is contingent on the existence of social solidarity, which the very process of economic and technological change, by heightening inequalities and eroding communal institutions, undermines.

Lacking grounds for optimism, and feeling remote from the levers of power, the disappointed nurse their grievances—until along come politicians who tell them that they are right to be angry, that their resentments are justified, and that they should be mad not just at the winners but at immigrants, too. Trump and Farage are the latest and most successful of these political opportunists. Sadly, they are unlikely to be the last.


John Cassidy has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1995. He also writes a column about politics, economics, and more, for newyorker.com. MORE



EXCERPTS LEADERLESS -- “The British currency, the pound, fell like a rock Friday, witnessing its biggest one day fall ever, before rebounding slightly. Stocks markets plunged, but also managed to recovered a little. And Britain's prime minister -- a beaten man -- announced his resignation. How will "Brexit" actually happen? …. The City of London, Britain's booming financial district, and financial markets across the world, had bet on a vote to remain in the union. They were wrong. Only voters in London and Scotland favored staying in, elsewhere, people wanted out. …. Those who argued to leave said the predictions of gloom were scare mongering. We'll see. The most recognizable face of the Leave campaign, former London Mayor (and possible next prime minister) Boris Johnson, was jeered as he left his house this morning. Others could barely contain their glee, including the leader of the UK Independence Party Nigel Farage. "June the 23rd needs to become a national bank holiday," he said on Friday, "and we should call it Independence Day."


EXCERPT ECONOMIST – “If the public had quietly weighed the costs and benefits of EU membership, it was often hard to hear that analysis through a din of stuff-the-lot-of-them rage from the Leave camp, and the first growls of mutual recrimination among Labour and Conservative politicians backing Remain. …. Turnout was reported to be lower than Remain campaigners had hoped in London, a city expected to provide deep reservoirs of the sort of higher-income, better-educated and non-white voters who have consistently told pollsters they want to stay in Europe. …. Having offered unrealisable promises to reduce net immigration into Britain to tens of thousands a year, he was unable to defend the free movement of workers and people that is one of the EU’s founding pillars. Instead of pointing out that migrants make a positive contribution to the British exchequer, he had to argue that leaving would cause a self-inflicted recession. …. Labour also seems likely to tear itself apart, after its hard-left leader, Jeremy Corbyn, campaigned half-heartedly for Remain and the party’s leaders were forced to confront their abandonment by English working-class voters fired up by Leave’s message of anti-globalisation and haul-up-the-drawbridge nativism. After an often ugly campaign on the Leave side, full of untrue warnings about Turkey joining the EU, bringing 76m Turks into the union, and made-up figures about the sums that Britain pays into European budgets, politicians who have worked for years to pull Britain out of the union seemed strangely muted as results flowed in. Their shock is appropriate. Something enormous is happening in Britain—a country that scorns its rulers and is done with deference. Whatever the final result, divisions have opened that will take a long time to heal.”


EXCERPT SANDERS -- “What worries me very much is the breaking down of international cooperation," Sanders told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "On the other hand, I think what this vote is about is an indication that the global economy is not working for everybody," he continued. …. "It's not working in the United States for everybody and it's not working in the UK for everybody." The Democratic presidential hopeful has focused much of his campaign on economic inequality and criticized international trade agreements the U.S. has engaged in. On Friday, he called for more international cooperation but added that "we do not forget about the people left behind."


EXCERPT TRUMP -- “Why is this happening? Trump and his counterpart in Britain, the U.K. Independence Party (ukip) leader Nigel Farage, didn’t emerge from nowhere. Both are wealthy men who affect an affinity with the common people, and who have skillfully exploited a deep well of resentment among working-class and middle-class voters, some of whom have traditionally supported left-of-center parties. Certainly, a parallel factor in both men’s rise is racism, or, more specifically, nativism. …. In healthy democracies, these troublemakers are confined to the fringes. Historically, transforming radical parties of the right (or left) into mass movements has required some sort of disaster, such as a major war or an economic depression. Europe in the early twentieth century witnessed both, with cataclysmic results. After the First World War, the introduction of social democracy, the socioeconomic system that most Western countries settled on, delivered steadily rising living standards, which helped to keep the extremists at bay. If prosperity wasn’t shared equally—and it wasn’t—egalitarian social norms and redistributive tax systems blunted some of the inequities that go along with free-market capitalism. …. But in the past few decades Western countries have been subjected to a triad of forces that, while not as visible or dramatic as wars and depressions, have proved equally destabilizing: globalization, technical progress, and a political philosophy that embraces both. In the United States, it is no coincidence that Trump is doing well in the Rust Belt and other deindustrialized areas. A one-two punch of automation and offshoring has battered these regions, leaving many of their residents ill-equipped to prosper in today’s economy. Trump is exploiting the same economic anxieties and resentments that helped Bernie Sanders, another critic of globalization and free trade, carry the Michigan Democratic primary. …. For the past half century, the major political parties, on both sides of the Atlantic, have promulgated the idea that free trade and globalization are the keys to prosperity. If you pressed the mainstream economists who advise these parties, they might concede that trade creates losers as well as winners, and that the argument for ever more global integration implicitly assumes that the winners will compensate the losers. But the fact that such a sharing of the gains has been sorely lacking was regarded as a relatively minor detail, and certainly not as a justification for calling a halt to the entire process. …. But, as Baker points out, “it is a bit hypocritical of those who have benefited” from this economic transformation to be “mocking the poor judgment of its victims”—especially now that the forces of global competition and technological progress are reaching into areas that were previously protected. In a world of self-driving cars and trucks, what is the future for truck drivers, cab and limo drivers, and delivery men? Not a very prosperous one, surely. And the creative destruction that the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter celebrated won’t stop there. With software that can transfer money at zero cost, medical robots that can carry out the most delicate of operations, and smart algorithms that can diagnose diseases or dispense legal advice, what is the future for bankers, surgeons, doctors, lawyers, and other professionals? …. One option is to strengthen the social safety net and, perhaps, to move toward some sort of universal basic income, which would guarantee a minimum standard of living to everybody, regardless of employment prospects. The political enactment of such solutions, however, is contingent on the existence of social solidarity …. along come politicians who tell them that they are right to be angry, that their resentments are justified, and that they should be mad not just at the winners but at immigrants, too. Trump and Farage are the latest and most successful of these political opportunists. Sadly, they are unlikely to be the last.”


Will QEII be the last British monarch? That question has been in the air for decades. A guaranteed income and government run housing, schooling, medical care and more would solve some problems. The anti-immigrant feeling and a step away from world trade can’t really solve problems, though. As man is not an island, neither is Western Democracy. In the US, we have fewer immigrants than in Europe, but those who are here are unwelcome to a large minority of our population, and the old nationalistic isolationism is growing.

I don’t know about a coming depression, but it is true that we still need more jobs for the undereducated people especially, and that is over 50%. According to Politifact, 70% of Americans do NOT have a college degree. What if we instituted a Sanders style free education program right now and increased the number of those with at least a two to four-year professional degree (including things like accountants, computer techs, medical assistants, paralegals) free of charge. That still won’t create more industry jobs, but since most jobs now are either service or white collar it would help.

Perhaps there is a way to make it easier for private individuals to start their own small businesses. Years ago people used to say of England that it is “a nation of shopkeepers,” which I thought was said by Churchill, but Wikipedia says that it is much older than that and may go back to Napoleon. Whatever. It remains a way for a citizen to make money without working for someone else and competing for scarce low wage non-professional jobs.

Sanders’ comment above about the overall economy appears to me to be accurate, and the fear of the outsiders which is growing worldwide, is a part of that social and financial insecurity among so many. It is true that both Sanders and Trump have seen the drawback to the trade agreement of recent years, which have taken away good reliable industrial jobs and sent them to China, while moving from manual and even service labor to robots and computers.

In the 1990s we had the housing price boom leading Americans to overinvest and borrow too much, and then the bust which bankrupted many middle class people who unfortunately had too little stuck away in their retirement funds. A dangerous number scrambled for other housing and even food aid as they had been living on credit for years. There has also been a frightening dearth of jobs, and the ranks of the Middle Class have diminished in size for decades.

Personally I understand why so many working people around the world are losing faith in the globally based economic systems, the wealthy classes who are profiting from the situation, and our duly elected politicians. I use that word because they have long since lost in my eyes the moniker “statesmen.”

So, while a true democracy in Britain might be a welcome a change from the status quo, I do fear the growth of the already surfacing neoNazism and degrading of our world culture to a very crude level, and I do think this "nativism" is crude and dangerous. I also fear the ever-increasing chance of another world war, as in 1939. Whatever happens to Britain, I hope they remain safe, an ally of ours and that they keep their monarchy intact if possible -- just because it is a beautiful tradition -- although I understand that keeping up the Royals and their life style must be expensive and I certainly wouldn’t want poor people to go without food to support such an anachronism, elegant though it may be.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/brexit-result-shocks-voters-uk-leave-european-union/

Brexit result shocks some voters who wanted U.K. to leave European Union
By ALEX SUNDBY CBS NEWS
June 24, 2016, 2:50 PM

Play VIDEO -- David Cameron stepping down after U.K. votes to leave EU
Photograph - Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron speaks after Britain voted to leave the European Union, outside Number 10 Downing Street in London June 24, 2016. REUTERS/STEFAN WERMUTH
40 Photos -- Global reactions to Brexit


Millions voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union in Thursday's historic referendum known as Brexit, but some voters on Friday expressed shock after finding themselves on the winning side and watching the U.K. start to withdraw from the bloc.

The campaign to leave the EU won with 52 percent of the vote, and the national election produced a high turnout, with 72 percent of the more than 46 million registered voters casting a ballot. On Friday, Prime Minister David Cameron, who campaigned to remain in the EU, said that he would resign, and the vote has sent shockwaves throughout the global financial markets.

One voter told the BBC that he didn't think his vote to leave the EU would matter.

"I'm a bit shocked to be honest," the voter, identified as Adam from Manchester, England, told the broadcaster. "I'm shocked about both. I'm shocked that we actually voted to leave. I didn't think that was going to happen. My vote, I didn't think, was going to matter too much because I thought we were just going to remain."

He also didn't expect Cameron to resign: "The David Cameron resignation has blown me away to be honest. I think it's been- the period of uncertainty that we're going to have for the next couple of months, I think that's just been magnified now. So, yeah, quite worried."

Adam may not be alone.

After the result was announced, the top question on the EU that was asked on Google in the U.K. was "What does it mean to leave the EU?" the company said on Twitter.

The second top question: "What is the EU?"


View image on Twitter
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GoogleTrends ✔ @GoogleTrends
"What is the EU?" is the second top UK question on the EU since the #EURefResults were officially announced
7:25 AM - 24 Jun 2016


Another voter told British broadcaster ITV that she was "really disappointed about the results" even though she voted for leaving the EU.

"This morning, I woke up and the reality did actually hit me," the voter, identified as Mandy, told ITV. "But if I had the opportunity to vote again, it would be to stay."

Time found other voters on Twitter who expressed regret over their votes to leave.

Urm I think I kinda regret my vote, I had no real reason to pick what I did!!

— Tom Walker (@thomaswalker93) June 24, 2016
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khembe @rambogiblet
I personally voted leave believing these lies and I regret it more than anything, I feel genuinely robbed of my vote😡😤😭 5:35 AM - 24 Jun 2016 · Bury Saint Edmunds, England, United Kingdom
100 100 Retweets 52 52 likes

On Friday, an effort was launched to give them and other voters another chance. An online petition to Parliament asked for a second referendum, noting that neither side received 60 percent of the vote and that turnout was less than 75 percent.

As of Friday night in the U.K., the petition received more than 160,000 signatures, requiring Parliament to consider the measure for debate.

British newspaper The Independent, which reported that the petition site was "completely inaccessible" at one point during the day, noted: "Of course, a second referendum would almost certainly be rejected, as referenda are not the sort of thing you get a second crack at."



Eh?? We do need to think seriously before we vote on anything. That’s like fishing for a whale. What are you going to do with it if you catch it?? One thing that seems true to me, though, is that there really has been a hidden volcano of feeling about economics, the Royals, funny looking foreigners and the state of the world in general these days, in order for this to have happened. Whenever an angry crowd becomes a lynch mob or turns viciously against Jews, this is the cause.

The way this vote turned out wasn’t brought about at the hands of just a few individuals. I’ve heard of group hysteria, and I think some of that was going on, but there is also such a thing as inner thoughts that are unrecognized. Everybody has some of those. A man who is a little under-confident loses his job one day and goes home where his wife is late getting supper on the table, and he knocks her against the wall, breaking her jawbone. That’s unrecognized thoughts. I wish more people would take introspection more seriously as an important way of “cleaning house,” because these unforeseen events have real world results.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/brexit-leave-why-uk-exit-from-eu-is-so-scary/

Why Brexit is so scary
By ANTHONY MIRHAYDARI MONEYWATCH
June 24, 2016, 2:26 PM

Play VIDEO -- U.S. markets plunge post-Brexit vote
Play VIDEO -- What's next for Britain after Brexit?


Global markets were under historic pressure Friday after voters in the United Kingdom surprised the world with a decision to leave the European Union.

And by all accounts, the pressure is set to continue as the eight-year-old bull market faces its most existential threat yet. This despite aggressive efforts by central bankers and other economic policy officials to bolster investor sentiment overnight with promises of dollar-swap liquidity and vague reassurances to lean against chaotic currency market volatility.

To say this result was unexpected -- a rejection of the post-war era of globalism driven by anger over immigration, stagnant economies and unaccountable bureaucrats in Brussels -- is a massive understatement. Betting markets had the odds of a "remain" vote at around 90 percent on Thursday. The Dow Jones industrials average enjoyed a surge back above the 18,000 level into the close, before the Brexit vote had ended.

By early Friday morning, the smell of panic was in the air.

The British pound dropped to levels not seen since the mid-1980s. A slipslide in U.S. equity futures was briefly halted as circuit breakers kicked in. European bank stocks, the epicenter of all of this because of their European bond holdings and exposure to the newly defined local economy, were crushed. A surge in the Japanese yen smashed popular currency carry trades and torpedoed the Nikkei 225 index to a loss of 1,286 points or a stomach-churning 7.9 percent in mere hours.

Greek stocks lost nearly 16 percent, while Italian stocks were down 12.5 percent. Italy is seen as a prime candidate to consider an independence referendum (along with France and the Netherlands) as pro-nationalist political sentiments rise. A breakdown in the European Union would threaten Greece's bailout programs, since a smaller Euro area would put the rescue burden on fewer countries.

The policy elites are in a serious bind with a situation that looks, in some ways, worse than the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

For one, all the obvious policy easing levers have already been pulled.

The Federal Reserve has only raised interest rates once this cycle, leaving the federal funds rate in a range between 0.25 percent and 0.50 percent. So there isn't much room to cut rates from here. Aggressive asset purchase stimulus programs have already been deployed, with the Fed holding nearly $4.5 trillion in assets vs. $900 billion back in 2008.

The Bank of Japan is buying stocks via exchange-traded funds. The ECB is buying corporate bonds. Both have deployed negative interest rates with calamitous effect as that has pressured bank profitability by narrowing net interest margins. What is left? The outright purchase of individual stocks? In the case of the Fed, this would be an illegal act.

Two, this comes at a time of global economic vulnerability.

Here in the United States, we're in the midst of an outright profits recession with S&P 500 earnings down for the last four quarters in a row, driven, in part, by strength in the U.S. dollar. Deflation is a real threat, made worse by elevated public debt-to-GDP ratios in the developed world. Spain, Poland, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and the euro area as a whole are all in outright deflation. France, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, the U.K., and Finland all have inflation rates near 0 percent.

Italy, a too-big-to-fail EU country, is among the worst off, suffering from an 11.7 percent jobless rate and a 133 percent debt-to-GDP ratio. Spain has a 21 percent jobless rate and is carrying a 99 percent debt ratio. Even France has a 96 percent debt ratio, with a 10.2 percent jobless rate.

In Asia, China is contending with a slow-burn credit crisis by attempting to manage down its currency in an effort to bolster exports. A collapse in the British pound and the euro threatens that, which could unleash outright currency manipulation and charges of a mercantilist foreign exchange war. Japan is a mess, with a 229 percent debt ratio, a 6 percent budget deficit, deflation, and an economy on the verge of contraction as officials obsess over keeping the yen weak in a similar effort to bolster exports.

And three, any policy response is likely to only deepen the problem.

If central bankers support markets here -- keeping stocks in the low-volatility sideways crawl of the last three months, capping a three-year consolidation near Dow 18,000 -- it will prove hollow all the pre-Brexit fear mongering and will encourage pro-independence votes in Italy and elsewhere.

But if they let markets fall, volatility will begat [sic] volatility as one of the few bright spots in the global economy darkens. Years of central bank intervention and easy gains have encouraged risk taking and leverage accumulation.

The collapse could be swift and severe. Much depends on the movements of the currency markets. A rise in the dollar and the yen, if sustained and powerful, would be a sign that the problem is deepening as policymakers struggle with the one thing they can't control: The will of the voter.



EXCERPT -- “But if they let markets fall, volatility will begat [sic] volatility as one of the few bright spots in the global economy darkens. Years of central bank intervention and easy gains have encouraged risk taking and leverage accumulation. The collapse could be swift and severe.”

I was born in 1945, the year we dropped the first atomic bombs and devastated two Japanese cities; an earlier dramatic event has likewise clouded my mental outlook forever, and especially at times like this. That event, of course, is October 29, 1929. The result is well known. One of these domino style market crash events proceeded to move like a nuclear chain reaction, which brought the US and a good part of the rest of the world to our knees. I wasn’t born yet, but my parents were a young couple just starting out. Daddy couldn’t get a job in NC. He went to DC to live with his cousins there, and still didn’t get work until he finally went to the WPA New Deal works as a groundskeeper. Before that, however, he said he worked as a “sandwich board,” which is a primitive way of advertising that some businesses still use today. It’s a man with two large signs hung around his neck, one on the front and the other on the back. He was ashamed of it, but too poor to turn it down. I can only hope that this kind of thing doesn’t happen now.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-not-endorsing-brexit/

Bernie Sanders explains why he's still not endorsing Hillary Clinton
By REENA FLORES CBS NEWS
June 24, 2016, 9:10 AM

Play VIDEO -- Donald Trump praises Brexit vote during Scotland trip

Despite declaring that he would vote for Hillary Clinton in November's general election, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders maintained that he still isn't ready to endorse his primary race rival.

Asked what it would take to throw his support behind Clinton, Sanders told "CBS This Morning" that "it's not a question for me. We got 13 million votes, we got in virtually every primary and caucus the vast majority of young people - people 45 years of age or younger, and what those voters are saying to the establishment, to Secretary Clinton -- 'Hey are you gonna stand up for us? Are you gonna raise the minimum wage in fact to 15 bucks an hour?'"

When pressed why he hasn't endorsed her yet, the Vermont senator responded: "Because I have not heard her say the things that I think needs to be said."

He then laid out three positions Clinton, who has already clinched the necessary delegates to win the Democratic nomination, could stake out to win his endorsement.

"I want her to say among other things, we have a crisis in higher education -- public universities and colleges should be tuition free. Raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour," Sanders said. "I believe that healthcare should be a right of all people. I would love her to say that and I would love her to move aggressively to make that happen."

He noted that his campaign has "sat down" with Clinton's campaign to discuss the positions.

"We're talking," he told "CBS This Morning" host Charlie Rose. "I would hope that that would happen or it may not happen. It's not just me. Charlie, what this campaign has been about is people wanting to transform America."

The Democratic candidate also weighed in on the recent British vote to exit the European Union.

"I think it's a decision for the British people but I have concerns," Sanders said. "I have concerns you know when we think back over the last 100 years and the horrible wars, the kind of blood that was shed throughout Europe -- the idea of the countries coming closer together is something that we want to see."

But, he added, "a lot of people are being left behind in this global economy."


“Asked what it would take to throw his support behind Clinton, Sanders told "CBS This Morning" that "it's not a question for me. We got 13 million votes, we got in virtually every primary and caucus the vast majority of young people - people 45 years of age or younger, and what those voters are saying to the establishment, to Secretary Clinton -- 'Hey are you gonna stand up for us? Are you gonna raise the minimum wage in fact to 15 bucks an hour?'" When pressed why he hasn't endorsed her yet, the Vermont senator responded: "Because I have not heard her say the things that I think needs to be said." …. "I want her to say among other things, we have a crisis in higher education -- public universities and colleges should be tuition free. Raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour," Sanders said. "I believe that healthcare should be a right of all people. I would love her to say that and I would love her to move aggressively to make that happen." …. "I think it's a decision for the British people but I have concerns," Sanders said. "I have concerns you know when we think back over the last 100 years and the horrible wars, the kind of blood that was shed throughout Europe -- the idea of the countries coming closer together is something that we want to see." But, he added, "a lot of people are being left behind in this global economy."


One of the characteristics of Western society is that we are very, very nationalistic. Sometimes we make good laws, the Bill of Rights, for instance, but at some time in the future the built-in aggression takes over again. I hope this won’t be one of those times. Unless we can all come to a point at which competition is no longer the defining principle, we will tend to move toward war. Not only is that competition built into our economic system, it is built into our bones and sinews. The teachings of Christ and Buddha and some others have HELPED, but we are still the same scrappy creature who invaded the Middle East a million years ago and methodically eliminated all the Neanderthals. Did you ever see two tomcats go at it when there is a beautiful lady cat around? That’s the kind of creature we are.



AND NOW FOR A LITTLE LEVITY – THREE ARTICLES


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/orlando-shooting-prosecutor-fired-facebook-posts/

Orlando shooting: Prosecutor fired for offensive Facebook posts
CBS/AP
June 24, 2016, 9:28 AM

Image capture -- Florida Assistant State Attorney Kenneth Lewis speaks at an event in this image capture from video obtained by CBS Orlando affiliate WKMG-TV. WKMG-TV
Play VIDEO -- Man claims he had sexual relationship with Orlando gunman
Photograph -- Antonio Davon Brown was one of the victims of the shooting massacre at the Pulse nightclub of Orlando, Florida, on June 12, 2016. HANDOUT FROM MILITARY SOURCE
Play VIDEO -- Orlando shooter's 911 call transcripts released
Play VIDEO -- Orlando in healing: "I don't want to choose fear"
Photograph -- Friends and family members embrace outside Orlando police headquarters during the investigation of a shooting at the Pulse nightclub, where a gunman carried out the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, in Orlando, Florida, June 12, 2016. REUTERS/STEVE NESIUS
Play VIDEO -- Thousands attend Orlando vigil one week after massacre
Play VIDEO -- How Broadway's biggest stars came together to help Orlando
18 PHOTOS -- America's deadliest mass shootings


ORLANDO, Fla. -- A prosecutor in the state attorney's office in Orlando is being fired for making Facebook comments after the Pulse nightclub shooting in which he said downtown Orlando was "a melting pot of 3rd world miscreants and ghetto thugs."

Assistant State Attorney Kenneth Lewis was told Thursday that he will be terminated at the end of the month.

State Attorney Jeff Ashton says Lewis violated his office's social media policy.

Lewis also said in his June 12 posts that downtown Orlando should be leveled, and he stated that all nightclubs "with or without random gunmen they are zoos."

Hours earlier, 49 patrons were killed at the Pulse gay nightclub near downtown Orlando.

Lewis was initially suspended last week for his remarks, CBS Orlando affiliate WKMG-TV reports.

Lewis said in his disciplinary response that the policy violates his free speech.

In another development, about two dozen media organizations including The Associated Press, CNN and The New York Times filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking disclosure of city of Orlando phone recordings stemming from the shooting.

The city, meanwhile, claimed in its own court filing that the recordings are exempt under Florida public records law and that the FBI insists releasing them may disrupt the ongoing investigation.

The media lawsuit contends city officials are wrongly withholding recordings of dozens of 911 calls as well as communications between gunman Omar Mateen and the Orlando Police Department. Mateen was killed by police.

A death certificate issued Thursday shows that Mateen's body was buried at the Muslim Cemetery of South Florida in Hialeah Gardens near Miami. It doesn't say when the burial took place.

Also Thursday, a new assistance center for shooting victims opened, and an evening street party was planned by the Pulse nightclub owner as a way to show the community's resilience. The party was Latin-themed, because it was "Latin night" at Pulse the night of the shootings.

"This is important because it reunites some of our staff and our Latin community. It gets them to be together again, which they're all yearning for, just to be with one another," said Pulse owner Barbara Poma as she stood on a street that had been blocked off and festooned with rainbow-colored balloons, a stage for a band and booths selling Pulse T-shirts to help raise money for the staff of the gay nightclub. She said she hadn't decided anything about Pulse's future.

The media lawsuit filed in Orange County Circuit Court says the public needs to fully understand how events transpired that night, including the timing and tactics of police, and any indications from Mateen about the motivations behind the attack. The audio recordings would likely give clues to the tone and demeanor of those on the calls, including some calls possibly made by hostages during the three-hour standoff.

"There is strong public interest in fully evaluating how first responders and police reacted during the most critical phases of this incredible tragedy," the media organizations contend. "To be sure, the news media do not approach this petition with any preconceived notion that the city somehow acted inappropriately. Indeed, the audio recordings may well serve to substantiate and justify any action taken."

In its own lawsuit - which names only the AP as a defendant - the city claims the FBI doesn't want the recordings released to protect its investigation. The FBI has released a partial written transcript of Mateen's calls to police, but a letter from the Tampa FBI chief to Orlando officials makes clear the bureau wants the recordings sealed for now.

"The FBI considers information obtained from state and local law enforcement agencies in furtherance of its investigation to be evidence, or potential evidence," says the letter dated Monday from Paul Wysopal, special agent in charge of the FBI Tampa field office.

The FBI and city claim the recordings are exempt from disclosure under Florida public records law because they pertain to the ongoing investigation, could endanger witnesses and might disrupt any possible future prosecutions. The city also cites other exemptions, including any recording that depicts "the killing of persons" that may include gunshot sounds and victim voices.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said in a statement that the city supports the FBI's need to protect its investigation but also must "balance that with our responsibility to be transparent" and comply with state and federal law.



“A prosecutor in the state attorney's office in Orlando is being fired for making Facebook comments after the Pulse nightclub shooting in which he said downtown Orlando was "a melting pot of 3rd world miscreants and ghetto thugs." Assistant State Attorney Kenneth Lewis was told Thursday that he will be terminated at the end of the month. State Attorney Jeff Ashton says Lewis violated his office's social media policy. Lewis also said in his June 12 posts that downtown Orlando should be leveled, and he stated that all nightclubs "with or without random gunmen they are zoos." …. Lewis was initially suspended last week for his remarks, CBS Orlando affiliate WKMG-TV reports. Lewis said in his disciplinary response that the policy violates his free speech. …. The city, meanwhile, claimed in its own court filing that the recordings are exempt under Florida public records law and that the FBI insists releasing them may disrupt the ongoing investigation. The media lawsuit contends city officials are wrongly withholding recordings of dozens of 911 calls as well as communications between gunman Omar Mateen and the Orlando Police Department. Mateen was killed by police. …. The media lawsuit filed in Orange County Circuit Court says the public needs to fully understand how events transpired that night, including the timing and tactics of police, and any indications from Mateen about the motivations behind the attack. The audio recordings would likely give clues to the tone and demeanor of those on the calls, including some calls possibly made by hostages during the three-hour standoff. The FBI and city claim the recordings are exempt from disclosure under Florida public records law because they pertain to the ongoing investigation, could endanger witnesses and might disrupt any possible future prosecutions. The city also cites other exemptions, including any recording that depicts "the killing of persons" that may include gunshot sounds and victim voices.”


This Assistant State Attorney sounds unwise in the extreme in his use of words given his position of trust. In fact, I wonder if he was half drunk when he said it. I am not sorry to hear that he was fired. “… downtown Orlando should be leveled, and he stated that all nightclubs "with or without random gunmen they are zoos." Wow!! “Third world miscreants and ghetto thugs,” is not diplomatic language either – “thug” being a modern code word for black men -- which I do expect of a highly respected person such as himself. See also the OTHER outrageous things Lewis has said (Daily Kos.)

As for the way the police have dealt with the matter, unless there is some belief that police unlawfully and unconscionably withheld support because the nightclub was gay, which I haven’t heard, I think it is not unreasonable that it took three hours to subdue the shooter. Police have to approach gunmen with hostages very carefully. They tried to “talk him down,” before storming the building. Finally, they used something like a battering ram to break through the bathroom wall and took out the killer. I have looked on Google several times now to find what Lewis’ political party is, and there nothing there. Actually there’s nothing at all about him in Wikipedia, which pretty much means that he is small fry, politically. I can only conclude from what I do see of his statements and beliefs that he is NOT a Democrat!


See the following on the subject of the firing by Daily Kos:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/6/18/1540166/-Florida-Assistant-State-Attorney-Kenneth-Lewis-Suspended-For-Offensive-Anti-Orlando-Facebook-Rant

Florida Assistant State Attorney Kenneth Lewis Suspended For Offensive Anti-Orlando Facebook Rant
By durrati
Saturday Jun 18, 2016 · 3:06 PM EDT

Photograph -- MUST SEE! –Lewis yelling with fists clenched

Florida Assistant State Attorney Kenneth Lewis was has been [sic] suspended for being an idiot. And a homophobe. And a misogynist. And a bigot. And not knowing anyone can read your idiot, homophobic, misogynistic, bigoted brain diarrhea on your Facebook page…..

"Downtown Orlando has no bottom. The entire city should be leveled, it is a melting pot of 3rd world miscreants and ghetto thugs. It is void of culture. If you live down there you do it at your own risk and at your own peril. If you go down there after dark there is seriously something wrong with you." Lewis ranted.

Lewis served in Florida’s 9th Ninth Judicial Circuit, which includes Orlando.

This is not the first time he’s been caught with his Facebook down…

In 2014 Lewis sorta apologized for posting this:

"Happy Mother's Day to all the crack hoes out there. It' never too late to turn it around, tie your tubes, clean up your life and make difference to someone out there that deserves a better mother."
Lewis said that he "used a poor choice of words".

Ya think?

In May of that same year he had these deep thoughts about the first Latina to serve on the Supreme court:

A May 6 post that accompanied a picture of Sotomayor, saying: "Reason enough why no country should ever engage in the practice of Affirmative Action again. This could be the result. Where would she be if she didn't hit the quota lottery? Here's a hint: 'Would you like to supersize that sir?'"

His boss at that time, Ninth Circuit State Attorney Jeff Ashton, didn't reprimand Lewis for his comments because his office did not have a social media policy banning them.

Those posts are still active on his Face Book Page.

But Lewis was temporarily reassigned and forced to undergo sensitivity training in 2014.

Your tax dollars at work…

Update: I just read this:

Another post about a 19-year-old arrested for breaking into a home argued that the suspect should have been "executed on the spot" with a gunshot to the head.
An Assistant State attorney? And he’s still working?

Christ on a moped.


KENNETH LEWIS – 2014

http://www.wesh.com/news/prosecutor-who-made-crack-hoes-comment-reassigned-temporarily/26230060

Gail Paschall-Brown By Gail Paschall-Brown
BIO
Prosecutor Ken Lewis who made ‘crack hoes’ comment reassigned temporarily
Ken Lewis to undergo sensitivity training

UPDATED 5:59 AM EDT May 30, 2014


ORLANDO, Fla. —Ken Lewis, the Orange-Osceola prosecutor who sparked controversy when a post on his Facebook page using the term "crack hoe" surfaced, will undergo sensitivity training and has been reassigned until an internal investigation is done, said the office's chief assistant and executive director, Richard Wallsh.

The prosecutor will shift from his current assignment in major crimes to general felonies, Wallsh said.

PROSECUTOR SAYS 'CRACK HOES' POST WAS MISINTERPRETED

State prosecutor Ken Lewis explained his Facebook post using the term "crack hoe" on Thursday.
MORE
PROSECUTOR'S COMMENTS COULD LEAD TO PROFESSIONAL...

A comment about "crack hoes" on a Facebook page is creating controversy for one of the top prosecutors in Orange and Osceola counties.
MORE
Video: Prosecutor addresses 'crack hoes' comment

Lewis drew criticism for a Mother's Day message posted on his personal Facebook page saying: "Happy Mother's Day to all the crack hoes out there. It's never too late to turn it around. Tie your tubes. Clean up your life and make a difference to someone out there that deserves a better mother."

Wallsh said Lewis has been informed that he will be reassigned as soon as he is clear from his current caseload.

“At this stage it’s temporary but is indefinite,” Wallsh said. “We are going to do a review of his cases, we don’t know how long that will take.”

Ashton has decided that Chief Assistant State Attorney Linda Drane Burdick – who prosecuted the Casey Anthony case alongside him – will head up the Lewis review.

Lewis said last week that his Facebook post was meant to start a dialogue about ending the cycle of drug use, while at the same time saying his remarks were only meant for his inner circle of friends.

He apologized for the comment last week at a press conference called by State Attorney Jeff Ashton.

Full video: Prosecutor discusses controversial 'crack hoes' comment

"I used a poor choice of words by using the term 'crack hoe,' instead of 'drug addict,'” Lewis said. “But my message is the same, and I regret that it was misinterpreted by some. For those I unintentionally offended, I offer them my deepest apologies, but I believe anyone can be saved if they no longer make bad choices."

Lewis also defended his remarks at the time, saying: "I use hyperbole and sensationalism to get reactions from people to start discussions.”

Wallsh said the State Attorney’s Office currently has no policies or procedures in place governing social media use for its employees. But that could change.

“At some point, we probably have to look at office wide social media policies.” Wallsh said. “At this stage, we’ve been focusing in on corrective action in regards to Mr. Lewis.”

Video: Prosecutor's Facebook comments could lead to professional consequences



I HOPE NO ONE MINDS IF I CALL THIS MAN A CON ARTIST.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-than-30-burned-during-famous-motivational-speakers-hot-coal-walk/

More than 30 burned during famous motivational speaker's hot coal walk
CBS/AP
June 24, 2016, 10:34 AM


Fire officials say more than 30 people attending a Tony Robbins event in Dallas have been treated for burns after the motivational speaker encouraged them to walk on hot coals.

Yesterday started with Robbins tweeting, "Good morning Dallas, Texas! Welcome to Unleash the Power Within!" to his 2.81 million followers. But for many, the day unleashed pain and injury.

Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans says five people were taken to a hospital Thursday night.

The hot coals were spread outside the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, where Robbins' "Unleash the Power Within" seminar was taking place.

CBS Dallas reported that ambulances were lined up outside the convention center just after 11 p.m. Those who were more seriously injured were taken to the Parkland Hospital Burn Center.

Members of Dallas Fire-Rescue also asked that a Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) bus be used as a staging-area for between 30 and 40 people who were less seriously hurt.

A statement issued by Robbins Research International said, in part:

"In Dallas tonight, someone not familiar with the fire walk observed the event and called 911 erroneously reporting hundreds of people requiring medical attention for severe burns. While we are grateful to the quick and robust response from Dallas emergency services, only 5 of 7,000 participants requested any examination beyond what was readily available on site. We are pleased to have completed another successful fire walk for 7,000 guests and look forward to the remainder of an outstanding weekend with them."

On tonyrobbins.com, the event schedule includes the "Turn Fear Into Power" portion of the event, detailing the importance of overcoming the roadblocks of fear. "Storm across a hot bed of coals," the web site encourages. "Once you start doing what you thought was impossible, you conquer the other fires of your life with ease."

Tad Schinke, the head trainer for the Robbins' organization, said the event went as planned.

"I've been doing events with Tony for 23 years, and while it may not look like that way, this was a successful event."

More than 7,000 people participated in the fire walk without injury, and the organization does plan ahead to help people who have some level of pain or discomfort as a result, Schinke said.

The coal-walking venue was set up on a parking lot to the north side of the convention center. The injured could be seen limping back to the convention center to seek treatment, according to people on the scene.

It's not the first time people have been hurt at Robbins' seminars. In July 2012, nearly two dozen people reported being burned after a fire-walking exercise at a Robbins' event in San Jose, California.

The event continues through Sunday.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewalking

Firewalking
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photograph -- Firewalking in Sri Lanka

Firewalking is the act of walking barefoot over a bed of hot embers or stones.

Firewalking has been practiced by many people and cultures in all parts of the world, with the earliest known reference dating back to Iron Age India – c. 1200 BC. It is often used as a rite of passage, as a test of an individual's strength and courage, or in religion as a test of one's faith.[1]

Modern physics has explained the phenomenon, concluding that the amount of time the foot is in contact with the ground is not enough to induce a burn, combined with the fact that embers are not good conductors of heat.[2]

History[edit]
Walking on fire has existed for several thousand years, with records dating back to 1200 BC.[3] Cultures across the globe, from Greece to China, used firewalking for rites of healing, initiation, and faith.[3]

Firewalking is also practiced by:

… Indians in South Asia and their diaspora in Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Réunion, South Africa, Malaysia and … … Singapore who celebrate the Thimithi festival.
… The Sawau clan in the Fijian Islands[4][5]
… Eastern Orthodox Christians in parts of Greece (see Anastenaria) and Bulgaria (see nestinarstvo), during some popular religious feasts.[6][7]
… Fakirs and similar persons.
… !Kung Bushmen of the African Kalahari desert. (The !Kung use fire in their healing ceremonies.)
… Little girls in Bali in a ceremony called Sanghyang dedari, in which the girls are said to be possessed by beneficent spirits.
… Japanese Taoists and Buddhists.
… Some tribes in Pakistan as a justice system, wherein the accused is asked to firewalk. If he does firewalk and is unharmed, he is deemed innocent; otherwise, he is considered guilty.
… Tribes throughout Polynesia and documented in scientific journals (with pictures and chants) between 1893 and 1953.[8]
… People of San Pedro Manrique in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain, as part of Saint John's Eve celebrations. Walkers generally carry someone on their shoulders, since the extra weight helps avoid combustion.
… People from South India especially Mangalore, Bhootaradhane,Ottekola worship of demi-gods is one of the distinct cultures of the coastal region. Though rituals vary from region to region, the people’s dedication coupled with fear is omnipresent.

Persistence and functions[edit]

Social theorists have long argued that the performance of intensely arousing collective events such as firewalking persists because it serves some basic socialising function, such as social cohesion, team building, and so on. Emile Durkheim attributed this effect to the theorized notion of collective effervescence, whereby collective arousal results in a feeling of togetherness and assimilation.[9][10][11] A scientific study conducted during a fire-walking ritual at the village of San Pedro Manrique, Spain, showed synchronized heart rate rhythms between performers of the firewalk and non-performing spectators. Notably, levels of synchronicity also depended on social proximity. This research suggests that there is a physiological foundation for collective religious rituals, through the alignment of emotional states, which strengthens group dynamics and forges a common identity amongst participants.[12][13][14]

Explanation[edit]

When two bodies of different temperatures meet, the hotter body will cool off, and the cooler body will heat up, until they are separated or until they meet at a temperature in between.[15] What that temperature is, and how quickly it is reached, depends on the thermodynamic properties of the two bodies. The important properties are temperature, density, specific heat capacity, and thermal conductivity.

The square root of the product of thermal conductivity, density, and specific heat capacity is called thermal effusivity, and tells how much heat energy the body absorbs or releases in a certain amount of time per unit area when its surface is at a certain temperature. Since the heat taken in by the cooler body must be the same as the heat given by the hotter one, the surface temperature must lie closer to the temperature of the body with the greater thermal effusivity. The bodies in question here are human feet (which mainly consist of water) and burning coals.

Due to these properties, David Willey, professor of physics with the University of Pittsburgh, says he believes firewalking is explainable in terms of basic physics and is not supernatural nor paranormal.[16] Willey notes that most fire-walks occur on coals that measure about 1,000 °F (538 °C), but he once recorded someone walking on 1,800 °F (980 °C) coals.[3]

Additionally, Jearl Walker has postulated that walking over hot coals with wet feet may insulate the feet due to the Leidenfrost effect.[17]

Factors that prevent burning[edit]

Water has a very high specific heat capacity (4.184 J g−1 K−1), whereas embers have a very low one. Therefore, the foot's temperature tends to change less than the coal's.

Water also has a high thermal conductivity, and on top of that, the rich blood flow in the foot will carry away the heat and spread it. On the other hand, embers have a poor thermal conductivity, so the hotter body consists only of the parts of the embers which are close to the foot.

When the embers cool down, their temperature sinks below the flash point, so they stop burning, and no new heat is generated.

Firewalkers do not spend very much time on the embers, and they keep moving.

Risks when firewalking[edit]

People have burned their feet when they remained in the fire for too long, enabling the thermal conductivity of the embers to catch up.

One is more likely to be burned when running through the embers since running pushes one's feet deeper into the embers, resulting in the top of the feet being burnt.

Foreign objects in the embers may result in burns. Metal is especially dangerous since it has a high thermal conductivity.

Embers which have not burned long enough can burn feet more quickly. Embers contain water, which increases their heat capacity as well as their thermal conductivity. The water must be evaporated already when the firewalk starts.

Wet feet can cause embers to cling to them, increasing the exposure time.

Firewalking is frequently held to imply that the feat requires the aid of a supernatural force, strong faith, or on an individual's ability to focus on "mind over matter".[18]

Since 20th century, this practice is often used in corporate and team-building seminars and self-help workshops as a confidence-building exercise.[19][20]



Pardon me while I just do a little quiet centering instead. I don’t want my religious activities to be that exciting.



http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/06/23/483245084/a-protein-that-moves-from-muscle-to-brain-may-tie-exercise-to-memory

A Protein That Moves From Muscle To Brain May Tie Exercise To Memory
Heard on All Things Considered
JON HAMILTON
June 23, 2016 1:33 PM ET

Photograph -- Researchers have long known that exercise is good for the brain. An enzyme produced by muscles might help explain why. Monalyn Gracia/Corbis/VCG/Getty Images


Researchers have identified a substance in muscles that helps explain the connection between a fit body and a sharp mind.

When muscles work, they release a protein that appears to generate new cells and connections in a part of the brain that is critical to memory, a team reports Thursday in the journal Cell Metabolism.

The finding "provides another piece to the puzzle," says Henriette van Praag, an author of the study and an investigator in brain science at the National Institute on Aging. Previous research, she says, had revealed factors in the brain itself that responded to exercise.

The discovery came after van Praag and a team of researchers decided to "cast a wide net" in searching for factors that could explain the well-known link between fitness and memory.

They began by looking for substances produced by muscle cells in response to exercise. That search turned up cathepsin B, a protein best known for its association with cell death and some diseases.

Experiments showed that blood levels of cathepsin B rose in mice that spent a lot of time on their exercise wheels. What's more, as levels of the protein rose, the mice did better on a memory test in which they had to swim to a platform hidden just beneath the surface of a small pool.

The team also found evidence that, in mice, cathepsin B was causing the growth of new cells and connections in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that is central to memory.

But the researchers needed to know whether the substance worked the same way in other species. So they tested monkeys, and found that exercise did, indeed, raise circulating levels of cathepsin in the blood.

Next, they studied 43 people who hadn't been getting much exercise.

"The people were university students that were couch potatoes — they didn't exercise much," says Dr. Emrah Duzel, a neurologist and team member from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Half the students remained sedentary. The other half began a regimen of tough treadmill workouts several times a week.

"Within four months, we really made them fit," Duzel says.

And, just like mice, the students who exercised saw their cathepsin B levels rise as their fitness improved. They also got better at a memory task: reproducing a geometric pattern they'd seen several minutes earlier.

But the clincher was the link between memory improvement and cathepsin levels, Duzel says.

"Those individuals that showed the largest gains in memory also were those that had the largest increase in cathepsin," he says.

Of course, cathepsin is probably just one of several factors linking exercise and brain function, van Praag says.

"I don't think we have fully explained how exercise improves memory," she says, "but I think we've made a significant step forward."

Also, cathepsin has a dark side. It's produced by tumor cells and has been linked to the brain plaques associated with Alzheimer's. So, trying to artificially raise levels might not be a good idea, van Praag says.

However, van Praag says she's trying to keep her own cathepsin levels up naturally by jogging — when she can.

"It takes a lot of time and effort to do all this research," she says. "So sometimes the exercise regimen suffers a little bit."



EXCERPTS -- “When muscles work, they release a protein that appears to generate new cells and connections in a part of the brain that is critical to memory, a team reports Thursday in the journal Cell Metabolism. …. They began by looking for substances produced by muscle cells in response to exercise. That search turned up cathepsin B, a protein best known for its association with cell death and some diseases. Experiments showed that blood levels of cathepsin B rose in mice that spent a lot of time on their exercise wheels. What's more, as levels of the protein rose, the mice did better on a memory test in which they had to swim to a platform hidden just beneath the surface of a small pool. The team also found evidence that, in mice, cathepsin B was causing the growth of new cells and connections in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that is central to memory. …. But the clincher was the link between memory improvement and cathepsin levels, Duzel says. "Those individuals that showed the largest gains in memory also were those that had the largest increase in cathepsin," he says. …. Also, cathepsin has a dark side. It's produced by tumor cells and has been linked to the brain plaques associated with Alzheimer's. So, trying to artificially raise levels might not be a good idea, van Praag says.”


My second ex-husband used to like to come home and say, “I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. Which do you want first?” There’s just enough hope in this article to make me try to exercise more and on a daily basis. I’ll be happier, though, when they figure out how to create this in the lab, and sell it by prescription. I looked just now to see if proteins can be dried and still retain any potency, and apparently there are some kinds of “protein pills,” and of course there is dried gelatin which is protein. I have other reasons to exercise too, though, specifically bone, muscle and joint pain reduction.