News for today's 2018

Charlottesville: Trump Winery's Eric Trump nominated as rising star

10:38 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaUHlpFC2tJxq4aoegFGXxCbqy63HQMHuoSlpStxvCr8gMQoJnNHNf72KxmwuYqVPKjx4aHv-ZjfxDo71_5-8oC9irM956hE43Q7BaAstABh9Mcyenvp2cO8iZfssRbD_UmOlcpRQpGHsw/s1600/Trump+wine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaUHlpFC2tJxq4aoegFGXxCbqy63HQMHuoSlpStxvCr8gMQoJnNHNf72KxmwuYqVPKjx4aHv-ZjfxDo71_5-8oC9irM956hE43Q7BaAstABh9Mcyenvp2cO8iZfssRbD_UmOlcpRQpGHsw/s1600/Trump+wine.jpg" /></a></div><br />There's celebrating going on at the <a href="http://www.trumpwinery.com/">Trump Winery</a>, located in the shadow of Mr. Jefferson's mountain outside Charlottesville, Virginia. Eric Trump, 29-year-old son of famed real estate mogul Donald Trump, familiar face from NBC's "The Apprentice," and president of the winery, is in no danger of hearing the words, "You're fired!" anytime soon. He's up for a prestigious wine industry award.<br /><br />Since acquiring the 1,300-acre vineyards in along the historic Monticello Wine Trail two years ago through the bankruptcy of Patricia Kluge, Trump Winery under the leadership of Eric has defined and perfected the art of marketing a Virginia wine. Distribution now covers twenty states and Trump wines can be found in such unexpected places as the Loft Mountain gift shop in Shenandoah National Park. They also export to three countries.  Along the way they have picked up gold medals and top awards at international wine festivals and even received the highest rating ever of a Virginia wine in early 2013.<br /><br />All that detail has not been missed by those in the industry. He has been nominated by <a href="http://www.winemag.com/"><i>Wine Enthusiast</i> magazine</a> for the 2013 Rising Star award to be presented in January 2014 in New York City.<br /><br />Governor Bob McDonnell, who was at Trump Winery for its grand opening in October 2011, and has been a big supporter of Virginia's wine industry, noted Eric's nomination:<br /><blockquote>“Eric Trump is truly a  rising star in the global wine industry and could not be more deserving  of Wine Enthusiast's Rising Star Award nomination.  We are very pleased  that he and his family  decided to invest in Virginia's wine industry.  It was clearly the  correct decision for both Eric and the Commonwealth.  In just two short  years, Eric has significantly expanded the distribution of Trump wines  both nationally and internationally, while elevating  the overall integrity of the wines.  I'm confident that Eric and the  team at Trump Winery will continue to raise the bar for Virginia wines  in the coming years.  I wish him good luck at the award ceremony in  January.”</blockquote>Eric's plans are to continue building and widening Trump Winery's reach, <a href="http://www.trumpwinery.com/public/w6507/Press%20Releases/Eric%20Trump%20nominated%20for%20Wine%20Enthusiast%20Wine%20Awards.pdf">commenting</a> on the website:<br /><blockquote>"We're going to continue to grow; we are going to continue to plant vines, we are going to continue to expand our distribution. People love the Trump brand and our wines. They love what we stand for, what we're doing, and most importantly, we're having a lot of fun doing it. There is a lot more to come from Trump Winery."</blockquote>I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's good to have the Trumps in Virginia's wine country.

Charlottesville: Trump Winery's Eric Trump nominated as rising star

There's celebrating going on at the Trump Winery , located in the shadow of Mr. Jefferson's mountain outside Charlottesville, Virgin...

This Teamster shop steward righted a wrong

10:33 AM Tukiyooo 0

<i>Clay Morrison brought justice for a worker who was punished by his employer after he suffered the loss of his child. He is a shop steward for Teamsters <a href="http://www.teamsterslocal1205.org/" rel="nofollow">Local 1205</a> at the Baumann Bus Co. on Long Island.  This is his story, which was published in the Fall 2013 issue of the<a href="http://driveupstandards.org/" rel="nofollow"> Drive Up Standards</a> newsletter. To see his story and others, check out the newsletter <a href="http://www.teamster.org/sites/teamster.org/files/091713SchoolBusNewsFall2013.pdf">here</a>.</i><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaeBPvoUX1fIAU5SkcdTfBHhPlxj2dhD28tlGOADTHzTzziM0zT5k0x_0VMAAWFI77UX9j68_go7brLIjcQJFWyRL4UA_iNQGBv7AQzOxpyfBuNJixVoPwRNTFA8knclnJ0gNq5CjCJieB/s1600/Clay+Morrison+pic.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaeBPvoUX1fIAU5SkcdTfBHhPlxj2dhD28tlGOADTHzTzziM0zT5k0x_0VMAAWFI77UX9j68_go7brLIjcQJFWyRL4UA_iNQGBv7AQzOxpyfBuNJixVoPwRNTFA8knclnJ0gNq5CjCJieB/s200/Clay+Morrison+pic.JPG" width="200" /></a>What can a shop steward do outside of the normal grievance process? Can anything be done when an employee is unjustly penalized, even though the company is technically in compliance with the collective bargaining agreement?</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">I am a driver and shop steward at Baumann Bus’s Copiague, N.Y., yard. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">A driver who had worked at Baumann Bus for 12 years lost his seniority last year. He is an excellent employee and had never been disciplined during his career. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">He and his family were devastated to learn their son had a rare form of cancer. The son lived in Arizona and the driver wanted to be at his side during his treatment. The company agreed to a leave of absence, but he found he needed to stay in Arizona beyond the approved time frame. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"> He had exhausted his FMLA. He returned to work as a rehire, with a total loss of seniority. He had hoped the treatment would succeed; however, his son passed away. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">The employee asked for my help. We did not technically have a case and a grievance was not the route to go. I told him I would help him draft a letter to our union president, Timothy Lynch, describing the situation. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">This action exceeded our expectations. Timothy felt this was a moral and ethical issue. The penalty to the driver for staying at his child’s bedside was draconian, to say the least. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Mr. Lynch, with passion and logic, doggedly pursued the issue with the company. He represented the feelings of hundreds of us, and he did not give up. Within a few months, Baumann restored the seniority. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">It was a win-win for everyone—the driver, the workers, the union and Mr. Baumann, because he has retained a good employee. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">I am glad I could help this gentleman by speaking up. You have to right wrongs. For the shop steward, sometimes you just have to take the extra step.</blockquote>

school bus drivers stewards This Teamster shop steward righted a wrong

Clay Morrison brought justice for a worker who was punished by his employer after he suffered the loss of his child. He is a shop steward fo...

Results In Just A Few Days With Green Coffee Bean Max.

9:34 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawbyline'>By Marcella Gray</div><br /><br />  <div class='uawarticle'>It has been proven and tested to be a safe and very effective way to help you to lose weight.The green coffee beans themselves have several benefits. They are a natural antioxidant just like green tea and they also contain polyphenols. These help to remove unwanted toxins from the body to help your internal organs to function better. They also contain chlorogenic acid and these really help the liver to process fatty acids more efficiently. This helps to aid weight loss even further.<br />  <br />  Pure Green Coffee Bean Extract promotes Rapid Weight and Fat LossRecent studies on the green coffee bean were published in the Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity Journal followed a test group of 16 adults who used the supplement for 12 weeks. All of the subjects lost 17 pounds each. This happens without doing anything differently. The test group did not diet, or exercise, what they did do was lose pounds fast.<br />  <br />  Green Coffee Bean Max does not have any side effects whatsoever. It is simply filled with natural ingredients that have been proven to give lots of benefits to the body including allowing you to lose weight faster than if you weren't using the product. It will flush out unwanted toxins from the body, giving your internal organs and colon better functioning abilities.So Green Coffee Bean Max has so many benefits that it's almost impossible to ignore it. Why not try a bottle today and see just how much of a big difference it will make to your life.<br />  <br />  This ends up getting stored producing weight gain. But wait, there's more, the chlorogenic acid also boost the metabolism to the point of burning the fat in the liver. This powerhouse working together stops the absorption of fat and cause rapid weight and fat loss.<br />  <br />  You cannot get the same effects from your morning coffee, unfortunately. The Green Coffee Bean extract is not roasted. You do not want it roasted or it would be useless as I stated earlier the chlorogenic Acid would be gone and no weight or fat loss would occur. Here's what you can expect with the Green Coffee Bean Extract<br />  <br />  "Their calories were monitored," Vinson says. They were not put on diets. Calorie intakes stayed about the same during the study. They averaged about 2,400 calories a day -- by no means a weight reduction plan.They burned, on average, about 400 calories a day in physical activity, Vinson says. The study was done in India.The 17-pound loss was the average. Some lost only about 7 pounds; others about 26 pounds.Overall, body weight declined by an average of 10.5%. Body fat declined by 16%.<br />  <br />  The minerals that you may get inside that roasted beans is different then the additional one. And if you are bothering on the correct way you may possibly undertake it, then carry out not despair since you'll definitely not do almost anything except to go over the whole piece. You better know a lot more about green coffee bean extract. <br />  <br />  </div><br />  <div class='uawresource'><br />  	<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawabout'><br />  		About the Author:<br />  	</div><br />  	<div class='uawlinks'>Now you can use<a href="http://youtu.be/w3jDg8WDC9Y"> green coffee bean max </a>with no worries.</div><br />  </div><br />

Results In Just A Few Days With Green Coffee Bean Max.

By Marcella Gray It has been proven and tested to be a safe and very effective way to help you to lose weight.The green coffee beans the...

By Which Method To Generate Internet Traffic For All Weight Loss Websites

9:21 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawbyline'>By Clyde Johson</div><br /><br />  <div class='uawarticle'>Stress and obligations already fill your life. It can seem as if you are simply adding additional stressors to your life with the design of a diet tips and weight loss information website. You can find tune the focus, have a strategy for design and marketing efforts that will allow you to have a successful website with these guidelines. The process will not be as overwhelming.<br />  <br />  Always place the Search bar on the top right side of your diet tips and weight loss information website as the majority of the other websites do. If you have a small site with not much information then you can do away with the search bar.<br />  <br />  When you are running a successful diet tips and weight loss information website, you have to keep in mind that your color scheme is very important. Your color scheme should complement your logo and the images used on the website. Make sure that the colors used balanced appropriately against other elements on the site. You want it to look organized and professional for your visitors.<br />  <br />  The most popular way to pay for internet purchases is credit cards. Consumers have credit cards readily available so this option increases sales opportunities. Credit card information will not be given freely as a result of the amount of credit card fraud out there. Your diet tips and weight loss information website will appear more reliable, and offer safety, if Paypal or other methods highly secured to make payment are available.<br />  <br />  GIF animations are slow to load so get rid of them. If you want to use them, put them on dedicated pages with links that clearly designate what they are. When visitors click on those links, at least they will be expecting to wait a few seconds for the animation to load.<br />  <br />  Ensuring traffic will stay on your diet tips and weight loss information website can be done by having your pages load in an average of three seconds. Avoid heavy content that overloads your pages. Visitors will leave for similar sites in the same niche is the loading times are too slow.<br />  <br />  You have to make sure that before you make your site public, it is complete. If your diet tips and weight loss information website is incomplete by the time readers come on it, they will just leave. This will make them think that you are not committed to making a successful website and therefore, it is not worth their time.<br />  <br />  The text of a link should describe where the link is going, not just say 'click here'. Search engines note what the text of a link says, so this can help your search ranking. It will also improve the user experience because there will be no doubt as to where the link is pointing.<br />  <br />  The purpose of the diet tips and weight loss information website has moved away from being a mere source of information and is now more focussed on creating lasting relationships with the visitors. While developing the website, consider how you plan to create regular contact with your visitors through the use of mailing lists, events, podcasts, blogging, social media, RSS feeds and in-person events.<br />  <br />  </div><br />  <div class='uawresource'><br />  	<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawabout'><br />  		About the Author:<br />  	</div><br />  	<div class='uawlinks'>Be sure to visit your best search engine and look for <a href='http://www.bestfatreduceblog.com'>phen375</a> if you wish to improve your knowledge regarding <a href='http://www.bestfatreduceblog.com/knowing-the-advantages-of-supplement-from-phen375-reviews'>appetite suppressants</a>.</div><br />  </div><br />

By Which Method To Generate Internet Traffic For All Weight Loss Websites

By Clyde Johson Stress and obligations already fill your life. It can seem as if you are simply adding additional stressors to your life...

Meet Belviq Patient Mark Benjamin

8:54 AM Tukiyooo 0

Hi everyone, <br /><br />Wow, life (and work) got really busy.  So sorry for the lag in postings.  One of my wonderful twitter followers pointed it out!  LOVE my followers.  Follow me on twitter @ewenker  <br /><br />I want to introduce you to Mark Benjamin.  Mark is an actor/director who has an incredible Belviq story.  <br /><br />Here is what he had to say:<br /><br /><em>"I knew of Belviq before it came out and I wanted to try it because I am also a Type 1 diabetic since the age of 25 (31 years).  I maxed out on my weight at 210 and was not happy.  My insulin usage was 120 units per day.  So I was interested in both glycemic control as well as losing weight.  I started about the same time as you (June) and began losing weight immediately.  After 7 weeks I had lost the 30 pounds down to 180.  Get this...<strong><span style="color: red;"><u>my insulin usage dropped to 52 units from the 120 units.</u></span></strong>  I have never had better blood sugar control.  In the last couple weeks I am down to 175 pounds which is my target.  So I actually lost 35 pounds total.  As I want to keep my blood sugar under control.   I will continue to use Belviq and eat a little more to keep my weight at 175."</em><br /><em></em><br />HOW INSPIRING!!!!  Mark is a wonderful person I consider a friend.  I would LOVE for you to go to his facebook page and like his page and learn more about Mark.  In the "About" section, Mark talks about another health issue he overcame.  When you read his story, you will really be amazed!!!  So please, go visit his page (AND BE SURE TO LIKE) and tell him Ellie sent you! :)<br /><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-Benjamin/223451047724185">https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-Benjamin/223451047724185</a><br /><br /><br />I've hit a little plateau but I am keeping on.  PLUS the weather is starting to cool a bit here in Houston so now I have more energy to be more active (Heat really really takes a toll on me personally from a borderline heatstroke I had 23 years ago).<br /><br />More tomorrow!  Love you all!!

Meet Belviq Patient Mark Benjamin

Hi everyone, Wow, life (and work) got really busy. So sorry for the lag in postings. One of my wonderful twitter followers pointed it out!...

True stories from Walmart hell

8:53 AM Tukiyooo 0

<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/03/walmart-sales-energy-use-statistics" rel="nofollow">Walmart</a> abuses its employees, let there be no doubt. The world's largest retailer keeps wages at poverty level by fighting hard against union organizing. As a result, many <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/04/news/companies/walmart-medicaid/index.html">Walmart employees rely on public assistance to survive</a>. Call it corporate welfare.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/07/walmart-heirs-waltons-wealth-income-inequality" rel="nofollow">six Walmart heirs</a> -- Sam Walton's widow, Christy, Jim Walton, Alice Walton, S. Robson Walton, Ann Walton Kroenke, Nancy Walton Laurie -- <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jul/31/bernie-s/sanders-says-walmart-heirs-own-more-wealth-bottom-/" rel="nofollow">own more wealth than 42 percent of the American people</a>.<br /><br />If all that doesn't make you sick to your stomach, Hamilton Nolan's true stories from Walmart hell will. He posts them periodically to the online publication <a href="http://gawker.com/" rel="nofollow">Gawker</a>. Here are a few samples: <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Wal-Mart no longer pays a dollar above minimum wage; they start cart pushers and people greeters at minimum wage and everyone else based on what job they have. As a cashier, I am "level 3," so I started at $7.65 when minimum wage was $7.25. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">The worst part is the benefits. We have to work all holidays except Christmas, and we don't get paid any extra. ... They refuse to make anyone full-time, but I never work less than 32 hours, and frequently work 39. I don't complain because I need the money.</blockquote>Or this:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">...overtime was never and will never be approved, ever. If you should work any hours over 40 in one week, even if called in or requested or threatened by management that you must work, you will not get overtime pay. They will just cut your hours or say "take a 4 hour break today." which, for a 5 hour shift, was stupid and a waste of my own time at that point.</blockquote>Treatment of injured workers is about what you'd expect:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">I was loading boxes into a cupboard under a cash register at the front of the store one day when I caught my hand on an exposed nail or screw or something. I yanked out my hand in surprise and suddenly there was a huge pool of blood on the floor. The floor manager rushed over and immediately ushered me into a nearby washroom. "Get him away from the customers!" was the unspoken but obvious goal. We haphazardly swaddled my profusely-bleeding hand in paper towels and then the HR manager drove me to the hospital in her car, but not before they made me sign...something. Presumably promising that I wouldn't sue them. </blockquote>Sam's Club is just as bad:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Cashiers at Sam's club have it worse than cashiers at Wal-Mart as they are forced to make people upgrade their memberships. Sam's cashiers go through meetings called One on One's where the supervisor tells you how shitty you are doing. Those who fail to reach appropriate number of upgrades, renewals, etc. are usually yelled at. The worse part — you don't get any commission for convincing Wendy Whorebag to upgrade her membership. Sometimes management favors you with a reward — a McDouble from McDonald's, something that you can afford yourself....oh, that's right you can't afford a McDouble from McDonalds because you work at Sam's Club.</blockquote>It's comforting to know there are journalists like Nolan standing up for workers. Here's something he wrote last year, titled "<a href="http://gawker.com/5916267/why-we-need-unions" rel="nofollow">Why We Need Unions</a>."<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Companies know that unions represent a sort of power for their workers that their workers will otherwise never have. That power translates to better working conditions and higher wages. That, in turn, eats into a company's profits, as all expenses do. A union does not throw off the balance of power in the workplace—lack of a union does. The most basic sense of decency and respect for human rights dictates that there must be some mechanism by which the workers—the humans—can assert their interests. Otherwise, they will be crushed by the machine. It's all very plain to see. To despise unions is to despise workers. To despise workers is to despise people.</blockquote>If only all journalists believed that ...

low-wage workers unions walmart True stories from Walmart hell

Walmart abuses its employees, let there be no doubt. The world's largest retailer keeps wages at poverty level by fighting hard against...

U.S. House schedule for Wednesday, September 25, 2013

5:12 AM Tukiyooo 0

<a href="http://majorityleader.gov/">From Majority Leader Eric Cantor....</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH </b></u><br />                                <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_978907781" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">On Wednesday</span></span>, the House will meet at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_978907782" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">12:00 p.m.</span></span> for morning hour and <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_978907783" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">2:00 p.m.</span></span> for legislative business. Votes will be postponed until <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_978907784" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">6:30 p.m.</span></span></div><b>One Minute Speeches</b><br /><br />                                 <b>Legislation Considered Under Suspension of the Rules:</b><br />                                 <blockquote>                                <b>1) <a href="http://republicanleaderforms.house.gov/Components/Redirect/r.aspx?ID=366428-6846703" target="_blank">H.Res. __ </a></b>-  Providing for the concurrence by the House in the Senate amendment to  H.R. 527, Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act, with an  amendment<i> (Sponsored by Rep. Doc Hastings / Natural Resources Committee)</i><br />                                <br />                                <b>2) <a href="http://republicanleaderforms.house.gov/Components/Redirect/r.aspx?ID=366429-6846703" target="_blank">H.R. 1961</a></b> - To amend title 46, United States Code, to extend the exemption from  the fire-retardant materials construction requirement for vessels  operating within the Boundary Line<i> (Sponsored by Rep. Steve Chabot / Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)</i><br />                                <br />                                <b>3) <a href="http://republicanleaderforms.house.gov/Components/Redirect/r.aspx?ID=366430-6846703" target="_blank">H.R. 3095</a> </b>-  To ensure that any new or revised requirement providing for the  screening, testing, or treatment of individuals operating commercial  motor vehicles for sleep disorders is adopted pursuant to a rulemaking  proceeding, and for other purposes<i> (Sponsored by Rep. Larry Bucshon / Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)</i><br />                                <br />                                <b>4) <a href="http://republicanleaderforms.house.gov/Components/Redirect/r.aspx?ID=366431-6846703" target="_blank">H.R. 2600</a> </b>- To amend the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act to clarify how the Act applies to condominiums<i> (Sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney / Financial Services Committee) </i><br />                                 </blockquote><b>Special Order Speeches</b><br /><br />                                 <a href="http://republicanleaderforms.house.gov/Components/Redirect/r.aspx?ID=366432-6846703" target="_blank">Printable PDF</a>

Eric Cantor U.S. House of Representatives U.S. House schedule for Wednesday, September 25, 2013

From Majority Leader Eric Cantor.... WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH On Wednesday , the House will meet at 12:00 p...

Busy morning....

4:30 AM Tukiyooo 0

<span style="font-size: large;">I have an event on in work this evening so I needed to wear something nice.  I put on a dress that I had laid out last night but then I couldn't find the necklace I wanted to wear with it.  I tried on a few necklaces but none were quite right.  I then had to drive over to work early to buy a necklace before I started work.  I found this metal feather piece that will do the job.</span><br /><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">When I get to work I need to get the room and sound system set up and check on the catering for the event.  Oh and I have to write my speech.  Forget about busy morning it's going to be a busy day!!</span></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6HNjNt3wRtN6t3tflQ5GP5gghyphenhyphensRk9Z1KnroPG5H2q392B2uUVnV9QbXxMCgGPevFd4tX9QVV7OLasJJpvo8nd7y6_JJo_hQDlV17_tFM98_g0n7jUl3FRlpufIfcnKFINcrtBqYk-QFO/s640/blogger-image-978658334.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6HNjNt3wRtN6t3tflQ5GP5gghyphenhyphensRk9Z1KnroPG5H2q392B2uUVnV9QbXxMCgGPevFd4tX9QVV7OLasJJpvo8nd7y6_JJo_hQDlV17_tFM98_g0n7jUl3FRlpufIfcnKFINcrtBqYk-QFO/s640/blogger-image-978658334.jpg" /></a></div><br /></div>

Busy morning....

I have an event on in work this evening so I needed to wear something nice. I put on a dress that I had laid out last night but then I coul...

Another Story You Will Never See On An American News Station

3:27 AM Tukiyooo 0

They are too busy reporting the weather and fluff stories<br /><br />                              <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/09/24/Hero-With-A-Handgun-Saved-100-People-From-Islamists-In-Mall-Attack">  <b> Hero with a Handgun Saved 100 People from Islamists in Mall Attack</b></a><br /><br /><br />                     <blockquote>An Ex-Royal Marine with a handgun saved 100 people as Islamists attacked the Kenyan Westgate Mall. According to the Daily Mail, the former Marine was having coffee with friends in Westgate Mall when the attack began. Armed only with his handgun, he immediately began gathering people and getting them out of the building. <br /><br />One of his friends said, "He went back inside twelve times and saved 100 people. Imagine going back in when you knew what was going on inside."<br /><br />The hero with a handgun is a former Royal Marine who now lives in Kenya, but he cannot be identified for security reasons. <br /><br />Suffice it to say, "British military regularly [trains] and [operates] out of Kenya, and have been involved in tracking UK citizen involved with hardline Islamists in Somalia and Yemen."</blockquote><br />That is just  incredible.<br /><br />It's a crying shame not one news station manager in this entire country has enough balls to headline this story.<br /><br />Fucking weasels.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />H/t <a href="http://www.fark.com/">Fark</a> for the link.

Another Story You Will Never See On An American News Station

They are too busy reporting the weather and fluff stories Hero with a Handgun Saved 100 People from Islamis...

Watch America's Cup Final Race Live Online FREE

2:41 AM Tukiyooo 0

After almost 3 weeks of nailbiting and sometimes dreary itenerary and races - the America's Cup final race is here.<br /><br />In a few hours from now - <b>ORACLE TEAM USA will take on EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND </b>in a winners take all match. What is probably ironic is that Team New Zealand has been on the lead since last Wednesday and has watched an amazing comeback by the defending champion from USA.<br /><br /><b>Watch the final match of America's Cup Live Online Free</b><br /><br /><b>Oracle Team USA vs Emirates Team New Zealand Live Online  </b><br /><br />Get Live feeds, race highlights, current and past match replays at the official youtube America's Cup website<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/AmericasCup">http://www.youtube.com/user/AmericasCup</a><br /><br />The America's Cup Final will be broadcast Live on NBC Sports Network<br /><br />Find out the Broadcast Details of the America's Cup here. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.americascup.com/about/broadcast">http://www.americascup.com/about/broadcast</a>

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Teachers - Ideas of what to do during the September break

2:37 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"><i>This is a guest post from <a href="http://digitalclassroom.co.za/digitalclassroom/latestnews/416-what-to-do-on-your-holidays" target="_blank">Digital Classroom</a>,  which is the Vodacom portal for teachers around the country, telling teachers about the wonderful holiday opportunities that exist for this September break.  We read their excellent article on the Vodacom site and asked if we could use it for a guest post.  Thank you to Digital  Classroom</i></div><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">18 September 2013 – The short but welcome spring school holidays are upon us, a time to recharge the batteries and prepare for the challenges of the last term and final exams of the year.</div><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpAmVLPgg388Lx5IrWtHsZVH9SsLs5VPmI9xyztayml-g4aF1SwQoj-YJJf1pUX5pQ5hIdiphDoi9T-F9mOfEYoEg1ZTGnX9YoQNTkl6OeKr-Dl7QXU7zEKIgjZkJ-FnAGVAO6ootRuIo/s1600/Google+summit.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpAmVLPgg388Lx5IrWtHsZVH9SsLs5VPmI9xyztayml-g4aF1SwQoj-YJJf1pUX5pQ5hIdiphDoi9T-F9mOfEYoEg1ZTGnX9YoQNTkl6OeKr-Dl7QXU7zEKIgjZkJ-FnAGVAO6ootRuIo/s1600/Google+summit.jpeg" /></a>There are a number of activities and holiday schools and programmes geared towards keeping the younger grades occupied and interested in the sciences, as well as helping the matrics prepare for the last hurdle of their school careers.</div><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>International Science Fair Regional Expo</b></span></div><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">For starters, the <span style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.exposcience.co.za/index.php/about-us.html" style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">International Science Fair Regional Expo</a></span> takes place from 25 to 28 September at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng.</div><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">It is the final step in the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists, the only science fair for schoolchildren in South Africa, where they can exhibit their own scientific investigations. The fair is the result of regional expos held in each province through the year, the winners of which participate. Eskom Expo includes students, teachers, professional organisations and educational bodies and governments from all over Southern Africa.</div><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">In taking part, schoolchildren increase their awareness of the wonders of science and add to their knowledge and entrepreneurial possibilities, while broadening their scientific horizons, say the organisers.</div><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">Students can enter their own individual projects, or work with one other student on a two-person group project. There is a range of categories – 25 in all – from agricultural sciences through engineering: chemical, metallurgical and mining, microbiology and biochemistry, to social and psychological sciences, some of which are grade specific. But selection for the South African International Science Fair is restricted to grades six to 12.</div><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">Participants are judged and awarded gold, silver and bronze medals, and there are plenty of awards made by special interest groups. The Eskom Awards, for example, are made in:</div><ul style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 1em 1em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.2em;"><li style="border: 0px none; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Best development project;</li><li style="border: 0px none; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Best energy project;</li><li style="border: 0px none; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Best female project;</li><li style="border: 0px none; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">International trip to a science fair or science forum;</li><li style="border: 0px none; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A science lab for a rural primary and secondary school; and,</li><li style="border: 0px none; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Best energy efficiency project (energy and cost saving covered in all categories).</li></ul><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">And some finalists are selected to participate in international science fairs in other countries; however, participation in international science fairs is strictly for selected individual participants and invited Eskom Expo officials.</div><h3 style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Wonderful water</span></h3><span style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.sci-bono.co.za/index.php" style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Sci-Bono Discovery Centre</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> in Newtown, in downtown Joburg, is holding a Wondrous Water week, from 21 to 29 September. "We celebrate the blue gold that is one of the most precious and scarce resources on the planet," says the centre. "Although less than 1 percent of all water on the planet is fresh, it is an absolute necessity to sustain all life. Join us as we take you on a journey to discover more about our liquid planet."</span><br /><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">The programme will include interactive science experiments, starting at 10am every day. Participants will build their own steam boat and learn how steam can be used as a source of energy; build their own water rockets and see who shoots their rocket the highest. They will learn that hydrogen used in fuel cells can be used as a major source of clean energy in future, what fuel cell technology is, how it works, and how it may develop in the future – and then produce hydrogen from water to run a small hydrogen fuel cell car.</div><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">At 1pm each day, there will be an Aqua Spectacle Science Show in which the science of water will be explored further. Participants will learn more about bubbles, what holds them together and why insects can walk on water. Some of the workshops have a minimal entrance fee while others are free and are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis.</div><h3 style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><br style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="font-size: large;">Google in Education</span></h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Down in Cape Town, the first Google in Education South Africa Summit takes place at Parklands College on 26 and 27 September, hosted by </span><span style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.schoolnet.org.za/news/836/" style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">SchoolNet SA</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> and Google EDU Summit Team in South Africa. Targeting teachers and school administrators, it's a high-intensity event that focuses on deploying, integrating, and using Google Apps for Education and other Google Tools to promote student learning in school and higher education. The programme features Google certified teachers, Google Apps for Education certified trainers, practising administrators, solution providers, Google engineers, and representatives from the Google education teams.</span><br /><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">William Florance from Google is the keynote speaker, and each session will have anywhere from six to 13 breakout workshops from which to choose. They will range from "Getting Started" to "Getting Geeky", and each session will have workshops geared towards technical deployment and administrators using Google Apps for Education.</div><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">Still in Cape Town, the famed Two Oceans Aquarium in the V&A Waterfront runs a <span style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.aquarium.co.za/education/programmes_at_the_aquarium/young_junior_biologists/" style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">young biologist course</a></span> for Grade 10s who are passionate about the marine environment and are committed to making a change. It takes place from 23 to 29 September. The children will spend four days at the aquarium, and then three days at a camp. Once they have finished the programme, they must commit to at least 30 volunteer hours at the aquarium.</div><h3 style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Coastal clean-up</span></h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">In the midst of the course, on 21 September, the aquarium will host a clean-up of Strandfontein Beach from 10am to noon, as part of International Coastal Clean-up Day, which was established in 1986 and has since grown into a global initiative. Everyone is invited to volunteer.</span><br /><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">The clean-up is the world's largest volunteer effort to clean up waterways and the ocean. Volunteers get data cards and each item collected is recorded on these cards. Last year, 561 633 volunteers from across the globe collected 4 603 956 kilos of rubbish. The top 10 items found included paper bags at number 10, plastic drinking straws at number seven, plastic shopping bags at number four, and cigarettes and cigarette filters at number one.</div><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">The <span style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.mtnsciencentre.org.za/visit-holiday-programs.html" style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Cape Town Science Centre</a></span> also has activities during the holiday. From 21 to 30 September, there will be daily hands-on workshops, among them Edutraden design and make, Robotics, 3D animation and Scratch workshops, alongside the daily science shows, camera obscura tours and general fun.</div><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">In the Living Maths 3D Animation workshop, children will learn to use Blender, an open source 3D animation software programme. They will learn how computer generated graphics are linked to maths. And in the Scratch Programming workshop, participants will learn the basics of programming with Scratch, an award-winning animated programming platform. Scratch, a project from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, lets users programme their own interactive stories, games and animations, and share their creations online.</div><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">The centre also runs Lego WeDo Robotics clubs, where teens are taught to build and programme Lego Mindstorms robots and prepare for competitions.</div><h3 style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Exam revision</span></h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">And finally, there is </span><span style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.mindset.co.za/content/spring-school-exam-revision" style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Spring School Exam Revision</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> for matrics with Mindset. The school is well-placed between trial and final exams, giving pupils the help they need.</span><br /><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">Spring School runs from 23 to 27 September on DSTV channel 319 and features live and pre-recorded exam revision lessons. Participants are able to work through past exam papers with Mindset's expert teachers or interact with them at learnxtra on Facebook and Twitter. As always, free revision notes can also be downloaded for each topic.</div><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">The classes run from 9am to 6pm, and feature videos and notes. They cover everything from maths, maths literacy and accountancy, to the sciences, the humanities, business studies and economics. A detailed programme of what is on when, is<span style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.mindset.co.za/learn/xtra/revision/" style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">available</a></span>.</div><div style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">Previous <span style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.education.gov.za/Examinations/PastExamPapers/tabid/351/Default.aspx" style="border: 0px none; color: #333333; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">exam papers</a></span> are also available from the Department of Basic Education for extra revision.</div></div>

news Teachers - Ideas of what to do during the September break

This is a guest post from Digital Classroom , which is the Vodacom portal for teachers around the country, telling teachers about the wonde...

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 09/25/2013

2:30 AM Tukiyooo 0

<ul class="diigo-linkroll">      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="https://www.edtrips.com">edtrips | Beyond the classroom</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">I'm going to test this website. It manages class trips, permission forms, and communicates activities with the class. The idea of it sounds great. Yes, it is free. Of course, we'll have to dig down and see how the emails are used and the privacy settings but this is definitely something very needed!</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/field">field</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/trip">trip</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/app">app</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/eduapp">eduapp</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://www.outlinesoutloud.com/the-app/">The App | Outlines Outloud</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">This app converts study notes to speech. This might be an app that some of you are interested in trying out for your special needs students. "OutlinesOutloud takes the sting out of studying by converting your study outlines to spoken audio. Super-flexible playback controls let you vary speech rate; jump forward and backward with ease, skip rows or whole sections, loop—and more!"</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/spedchat">spedchat</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/apps">apps</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/eduapp">eduapp</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a></p>                                        </li>  </ul><p class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href='https://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.</p>

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 09/25/2013

edtrips | Beyond the classroom I'm going to test this website. It manages class trips, permissio...

Today's Teamster News 09.25.13

2:28 AM Tukiyooo 0

<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130923-907319.html" rel="nofollow">Teamsters, Horizon Air Reach Tentative Agreement</a>  Wall Street Journal   ...Horizon Air and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters today jointly announced a tentative agreement on a proposed five-year contract extension covering the airline's 280 aircraft technicians, fleet service agents and other fleet support positions...<br /><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/23/cnrailway-union-idUSL2N0HJ11020130923" rel="nofollow">CN Rail contract talks with Teamsters snagged on health, safety</a>   Reuters   ...Contract negotiations between <a href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=CNI&lc=int_mb_1001" rel="nofollow">Canadian National Railway</a> and the Teamsters Union appear to have stalled as CN demands changes that union officials say could jeopardize the health and safety of workers...<br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/19/us-income-inequality-ancient-rome-levels_n_1158926.html" rel="nofollow">U.S. Income Inequality Higher Than Roman Empire's Levels: Study</a>  Huffington Post   ...the top one percent of earners in Ancient Rome controlled 16 percent of the society's wealth. By comparison, the top one percent of <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105">American earners control 40 percent of the country's wealth</a>...<br /><a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/09/24/banks_find_appalling_new_way_to_cheat_homeowners_partner/" rel="nofollow">Banks find appalling new way to cheat homeowners</a>  Salon   ...servicers like Nationstar often failed to inform homeowners about the change in servicing rights when they are transferred, meaning that the homeowner kept paying the wrong servicer. This is a clever way to facilitate late fees; just don’t tell the customer where to send their money...<br /><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/09/23-3" rel="nofollow">Workers Set Factories Ablaze in Call for Decent Wage for Producing Globe's 'Cheap' Clothing</a>  Common Dreams   ...Bangladesh swept by a third day of protests that leaves nearly 150 injured...<br /><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-23/two-hundred-bangladesh-factories-shut-on-labor-unrest.html" rel="nofollow">Bangladesh Garment Protests Enter Fourth Day</a>  Bloomberg   ...Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan met last night with factory owners and labor leaders in an effort to end demonstrations that forced about 400 of the country’s 5,000 garment factories to close yesterday...<br /><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/09/24/greece-strike-idINL5N0HJ3LV20130924" rel="nofollow">Greeks public sector workers strike as lenders check reform progress</a>  Reuters   ...Greek public sector workers went on strike for the second time in a week on Tuesday, shutting schools and leaving hospitals with skeleton staff, as inspectors from Greece's foreign lenders checked if the country was meeting its bailout targets...<br /><a href="http://business.time.com/2013/09/24/u-s-trade-body-urges-india-to-play-fair/" rel="nofollow">U.S. Trade Body Urges India to Play Fair</a>   Time   ...An American manufacturing representative body is protesting against perceived discriminatory trade practices initiated by New Delhi ahead of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the U.S on Friday...<br /><a href="http://blackburnnews.com/windsor/windsor-news/2013/09/23/unifor-talking-right-to-work/" rel="nofollow">Unifor Talking Right To Work</a>  Blackburn News   ...The president of Unifor Local 444 in Ontario, Canada says his union is ready to fight Right To Work legislation. Dino Chiodo calls it “work for less” legislation, because that’s what he believes it will leave his members doing if it’s ever imposed on a provincial or federal level...<br /><a href="http://www.alternet.org/walmart-cut-employee-hours-so-drastically-they-cant-keep-shelves-stocked-losing-customers" rel="nofollow">Walmart Cut Employee Hours So Drastically They Can't Keep Shelves Stocked, Losing Customers</a>  Think Progress   ...Amid plunging sales and massive strikes, even Walmart has conceded it can’t run a business on a skeleton crew...<br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/23/government-shutdown-deadline_n_3974982.html?ref=topbar" rel="nofollow">Government Shutdown Deadline In One Week</a>  Associated Press   ...With a week left to hammer out a deal to avoid a government shutdown, some lawmakers seem resigned – if not rushing – to that end...<br /><a href="http://www.alternet.org/economy/robert-reich-we-can-save-economy-if-we-get-serious-about-taxing-rich" rel="nofollow">Robert Reich: We Can Save the Economy If We Get Serious About Taxing the Rich</a>  AlterNet   ...New documentary "Inequality for All," starring Reich explains how to fix America's income inequality...<br /><a href="http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/nowhere-hide-governments-massive-intrusion-our-lives" rel="nofollow">Nowhere to Hide: The Government's Massive Intrusion Into Our Lives</a>  Tom Dispatch   ...The NSA isn’t the only government agency exploiting technology to make privacy obsolete...<br /><a href="http://www.boston.com/business/news/2013/09/24/smithfield-shareholders-approve-shuanghui-deal/2WvrHGodrVA8380kXsBcNP/story.html" rel="nofollow">Smithfield shareholders approve Shuanghui deal</a>  Associated Press   ...Shareholders of Smithfield Foods Inc. on Tuesday approved a plan to sell the world’s largest pork producer and processor to a Chinese company...<br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/23/bank-of-america-racial-discrimination_n_3977581.html" rel="nofollow">Bank Of America To Pay $2.18 Million In Racial Discrimination Case</a>  Reuters   ...Bank of America Corp was ordered to pay $2.18 million to 1,147 black job applicants over racial discrimination in hiring that kept qualified candidates from getting jobs, said the U.S. Department of Labor...<br /><a href="http://www.alternet.org/economy/401k-revolution-and-inequality" rel="nofollow">How America’s 401(k) Revolution Rewarded the Rich and Turned the Rest of Us Into Big Losers</a>    AlterNet   ...It was a bad idea from the get-go, but new research shows that America’s 401(k) revolution has left us even worse off than we thought. Here’s a look at how we got into this mess, and where it will take us if we don’t wise up...<br /><a href="http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2013/09/saddle_river_valley_bank_to_pa.html#incart_river" rel="nofollow">N.J. bank fined $8.2 million over federal money-laundering violations</a>  Star-Ledger   ...Saddle River Valley Bank, a former community bank in Bergen County that once was controlled by private equity magnate J. Christopher Flowers, has agreed to pay $8.2 million to settle federal claims that it broke U.S. anti-money laundering laws... <br /><a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/chrysler-files-for-an-i-p-o/?_r=0" rel="nofollow">Union Push for I.P.O. Forces Filing at Chrysler</a>  New York Times   ...Chrysler filed for a public stock offering on Monday, acting only under pressure from its second-largest shareholder, a trust set up to provide medical coverage for 115,000 retired autoworkers and their relatives...

Today's Teamster News 09.25.13

Teamsters, Horizon Air Reach Tentative Agreement Wall Street Journal ...Horizon Air and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters today...

Exclusive: Cote de Pablo Talks About Her Decision to Leave NCIS

10:54 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://www.tvguide.com/">http://www.tvguide.com</a><br /><h1 style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; line-height: 26px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Exclusive: Cote de Pablo Talks About Her Decision to Leave <i>NCIS</i></h1><div class="nw-byline-w clear" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; width: 570px;"><br /></div><div class="img-w" id="imgCont" style="background-color: white; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: 15px 10px 5px 0px; padding: 3px 0px 0px; width: 210px;"><img alt="" src="http://static.tvgcdn.net/MediaBin/Content/130923/News/2_tues/thumbs/130924cote-depablo-ncis1_210x305.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="210px" /><div class="caption" id="imgText" style="background-color: #e6e6e6; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 4px;">Cote de Pablo</div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><strong>[Spoiler Alert: Don't read this story if you don't want to know Ziva's fate!]</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><em><a href="http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/ncis/100320" style="color: #0066bb; text-decoration: none;">NCIS</a></em> fans have long memories. They fondly recall the scene back in Season 4 when Ziva David, then still a visiting Mossad agent, announced to Tony DiNozzo, "I will kill you 18 different ways with this paper clip." So when the woman who so engagingly played Ziva for eight seasons, <a href="http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/cote-de-pablo/189721" style="color: #0066bb; text-decoration: none;">Cote de Pablo</a>, announced she was leaving the series, grief-stricken devotees sent paper clips to CBS in protest. But even that couldn't keep Ziva attached.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">"On a September day in New York, I'm looking out my balcony, and I still miss my family," says de Pablo, thinking about not being on the Los Angeles set in the fall for the first time since 2005. "But they're with me all the time, every day, and that won't change." De Pablo is speaking with <em>TV Guide Magazine</em>exclusively after her abrupt decision not to renew her contract just prior to the start of production on Season 11 (which kicks off Tuesday at 8/7c on CBS).</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">As for the fan outpouring, she says, "I was incredibly moved by the blind support people had without ever getting reasons as to why I left. People trusted that what I was doing was what I needed to do, and that's unconditional love from people who don't even know me. That's been the most beautiful thing out of this process."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The love de Pablo felt from fans is being returned in a farewell hour that airs Oct. 1 and is easily the most anticipated episode in the history of TV's top-rated drama. It will finally provide some clarity to the long-simmering feelings between Ziva and <a href="http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/michael-weatherly/166360" style="color: #0066bb; text-decoration: none;">Michael Weatherly</a>'s Tony DiNozzo. "As far as the 'Tiva' fans, they'll get a resolution they've awaited for years," she says. "There is a level of confession. And if it takes a big change like this to stir things up, it's all for the better. I'm a fan of the show!"</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Such mixed feelings may only deepen the mystery of why de Pablo left. Clearly, there was a last-minute impasse no one wants to discuss, beyond the network's insistence that money wasn't a factor. "As far as my decision to leave, that's a personal thing, and I'd rather leave it at that," she says. "The idea of leaving was not something I toyed around with for a long time. It was an overwhelmingly hard thing — at times terrifying."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">She has no grand scheme for doing a sitcom or movies. "Leaving <em>NCIS</em> was not planned, so there is no plan. If I were panicking now, it would defeat the purpose. I need to get really excited about something, because for eight years I was really excited about this character. I don't want to start anything unless it's like that."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><em>Bittersweet</em> is the word she inevitably uses to describe how it felt to wrap up her storyline at the -beginning of Season 11. "Did I want to leave under those circumstances? That's another story," she says. "But I'm not of the belief that you just take off and leave fans hanging. A lot of people don't get the privilege of going back to a set and being able to say goodbye to people. I left under my terms, and that was wonderful."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The final shoot was "a beautiful day — a quiet, intimate set," she says. "I'm horrible at saying goodbyes, because I've been saying goodbyes ever since I left my country [Chile] when I was 10, so even though I did not utter the word <em>goodbye</em>, I was able to hug them and let them know how much I loved them. And that's all that matters."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">"We wanted to give her the most graceful, emotional payoff we could," says exec producer <a href="http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/gary-glasberg/327602" style="color: #0066bb; text-decoration: none;">Gary Glasberg</a>. "It was a pretty magical moment. Cote took it and ran with it, and the emotion you'll see on screen is very real."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Ziva's most intimate moments were with Tony, and de Pablo enthuses over "getting to close things off with my partner in crime, Michael. My first scene ever in the bullpen was with Michael, and my goodbye scene was with Michael. I feel like that was a beautiful way of ending — for now, certainly — a beautiful chapter between these two."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Did she say "for now"? Although you get the feeling any reprise would be years in the future, de Pablo has a surprisingly hopeful, never-say-never answer when asked if she could ever return for a cameo or something bigger. "The greatest thing about this last episode is that Ziva doesn't die," she says. "As long as a character doesn't die, the character can always come back. Not that it would actually matter, because we bring back characters from the dead all the time on <em>NCIS</em>!"</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Notice her use of the present tense and the word <em>we</em>. De Pablo may be almost as reluctant to let go of Ziva as all those paper-clip wielders are.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><a href="https://w1.buysub.com/loc/TVM/articleURL" style="color: #0066bb; text-decoration: none;">Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!</a></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">(Full disclosure: TVGuide.com is owned by CBS.)</div></div>

Exclusive: Cote de Pablo Talks About Her Decision to Leave NCIS Exclusive: Cote de Pablo Talks About Her Decision to Leave NCIS

http://www.tvguide.com Exclusive: Cote de Pablo Talks About Her Decision to Leave NCIS Cote de Pablo [Spoiler Alert: Don't read this st...

What's Ted Cruz's deal?

10:37 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/">http://www.cnn.com</a><br /><h1 style="border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 30px; line-height: 33px; margin: 15px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">What's Ted Cruz's deal?</h1><div class="cnn_stryathrtmp" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 14px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="cnnByline" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By Leigh Ann Caldwell, CNN</div><div class="cnn_strytmstmp" style="border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">updated 9:42 PM EDT, Tue September 24, 2013</div><div class="cnn_strytmstmp" style="border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill on May 16." src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130924130644-01-cruz-0924-horizontal-gallery.jpg" /></div><div class="cnn_strytmstmp" style="border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Washington (CNN)</strong> -- <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/13/politics/natural-born-president/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Ted Cruz</a> says he wasn't elected to the Senate to stay quiet. And his refusal upon entering Congress to observe its protocol to sit back and learn like a freshman, as expected, rubbed some of his more senior colleagues the wrong way.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">And while he has angered much of his party over his crusade against President Barack Obama's health care law and the potential government shutdown it could cause, Cruz says he's standing for the same principles that got him elected.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">On Tuesday, he took that edict to the Senate floor in support of his plan to defund Obamacare, saying he would speak "until I am no longer able to stand."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">But his marathon appearance will not do anything to block Obamacare funding with a key procedural vote on the issue still scheduled for Wednesday. Instead, Cruz said his speech was to simply "make D.C. listen."</div><a href="" name="em1" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt cnn_strylftcexpbx" id="expand15" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; color: black; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 27px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="clickToPlay" id="clickToPlayvideoContainerexpand15" style="background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/video/416_player_Click_to_play_off.png); border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 42px; left: 45px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 27px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 136px; zoom: 1;"></div><img alt="" border="0" class="box-image" height="120" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130924192326-erin-dnt-bash-ted-cruz-government-shutdown-00001326-story-top.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="214" /><cite class="expCaption" style="background-color: black; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; bottom: 0px; height: 20px; left: 10px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.85; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 214px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: white; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; left: 4px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cruz: Speech to last until I can't stand</span></cite></div><a href="" name="em2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt cnn_strylftcexpbx" id="expand25" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; color: black; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 27px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="clickToPlay" id="clickToPlayvideoContainerexpand25" style="background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/video/416_player_Click_to_play_off.png); border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 42px; left: 45px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 27px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 136px; zoom: 1;"></div><img alt="" border="0" class="box-image" height="120" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130924075331-government-shutdown-navarro-cain-newday-00031127-story-body.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="214" /><cite class="expCaption" style="background-color: black; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; bottom: 0px; height: 20px; left: 10px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.85; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 214px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: white; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; left: 4px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Will Sen. Ted Cruz's strategy backfire?</span></cite></div><a href="" name="em3" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt cnn_strylftcexpbx" id="expand35" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; color: black; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 27px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="clickToPlay" id="clickToPlayvideoContainerexpand35" style="background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/video/416_player_Click_to_play_off.png); border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 42px; left: 45px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 27px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 136px; zoom: 1;"></div><img alt="" border="0" class="box-image" height="120" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130923204211-exp-erin-sot-bash-ted-cruz-threatens-government-shutdown-00013730-story-body.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="214" /><cite class="expCaption" style="background-color: black; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; bottom: 0px; height: 20px; left: 10px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.85; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 214px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: white; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; left: 4px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cruz: GOP must support filibuster</span></cite></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Critics question his motives, though — is this about his principles or about presidential aspirations?</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">CNN political analyst Gloria Borger said his Republican detractors think Cruz is putting his political career above all else.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"While many others have, no doubt, come to the Senate in the past as a springboard to the presidency, it's hard to recall someone who has created as much controversy within his own party," Borger said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cruz has been in Washington for less than a year, but his short stint has been an effective lesson in partisan politics. Only history will tell, however, if his tactics will be worth repeating.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Texas Republican's counterparts in the House of Representatives have tried 42 times to roll back Obamacare, but their efforts have gone nowhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cruz has upped the ante. His latest battle to disrupt Obamacare is tied to funding the government in the new fiscal year that starts on October 1. The House passed the measure last week. But Senate Democrats are not about to allow the health care bill to be unraveled, therefore putting at risk a government shutdown.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cruz's refusal to give up the fight has rankled many of his fellow Republicans, widening divisions in a splintered party. Democrats, meanwhile, are sitting back and watching the intraparty fight.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Who is this guy?</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">His effectiveness at political debate has landed Cruz in many successful places. He was elected to the Senate in 2012, after rebuking the Republican establishment and winning the Republican primary, paving the way to a general election victory.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Previously, he was the youngest solicitor general of Texas and has argued multiple cases before the Supreme Court. He got his start at Princeton as head of the debate team and then honed his skill at Harvard Law School.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">What's his fight?</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cruz did not take his Senate responsibilities lightly. As a freshman, he refused to stand on the sidelines until he's gained a measure of seniority, a common tradition in Washington. Instead, he was loud and opinionated.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I find it amusing that those in Washington are puzzled when someone actually does what they said they would do," Cruz told CNN in February. "At the end of the day, I was elected to represent 26 million Texans and to speak the truth. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/21/opinion/liu-ted-cruz/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You know, I think a lot of Americans are tired of politicians in Washington in both parties who play games</a>.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cruz was elected, promising to shrink government, especially the new health care law. That battle has been embraced by most Republicans in Congress, but his latest tactic has frustrated many.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Political novice..</strong><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">.</strong><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">?</strong></div><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; color: black; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylccimg300" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px 22px 20px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;"><div class="cnn_strylccimg300cntr" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 169px; margin: 0px 0px 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;"><img alt="Sen. Ted Cruz at anti-Obamacare rally" border="0" class="box-image" height="169" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130923193625-cruz-obamacare-rally-gi-story-body.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sen. Ted Cruz at anti-Obamacare rally</div></div></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York Rep. Peter King has been an outspoken critic of Cruz' latest crusade — at one point calling him a "fraud."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Whether it's Custer, whether it's kamikaze, or whether it's Gallipoli or whatever, we are going to lose this," the New York Republican said on CNN's "The Situation Room" last week.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">And Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee tweeted that he "didn't go to Harvard or Princeton" but that he "can count" that Democrats outnumber Republicans in the Senate.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph23" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">But Cruz said to let his critics talk.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph24" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"If you get outside of Washington, D.C., there is a frustration with Washington that is palpable. When you ask your constituents what are the problems you're facing, over and over again, the answer that comes back is Obamacare is killing jobs, is taking away my health insurance, is driving up my premiums, is causing small businesses to shrink, to go out of business. If we listen to the American people, that should be our priorities," he told CNN this week.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph25" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Still, Republicans are frustrated by his insistence at fighting a divisive, losing battle.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph26" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/09/23/ted-cruz-you-cloture-it-you-buy-it/?iref=allsearch" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">'Don't break filibuster'</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph27" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"We are giving Obama the escape out," Republican strategist Ana Navarro said on CNN's 'AC360.' "Instead of now focusing on the problems with Obamacare, everybody's focused on the civil war in the Republican party."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph28" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Navarro also noted that the numerous polls, including CNN's latest poll, that while the public is concerned with Obamacare, they don't support shutting down the government over it.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph29" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"If you want to fix Obamacare or repeal it or fix it or change it, the best way to do it is to elect more Republicans. And the political cost of a government shutdown is really going to affect any -- any possibility of electing more Republicans," Navarro added.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph30" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">...or </strong><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">p</strong><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">olitical genius?</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph31" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">While Cruz is ruffling the feathers of his colleagues in Washington, he is mobilizing the grassroots outside the Beltway.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph32" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Conservative groups are praising Cruz.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph33" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Senator Cruz came to Washington to advance conservative policies, not play by the same old rules that have relegated conservatives, and their ideas, to the back bench," Michael Needham, president of Heritage Action, recently said about Cruz.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph34" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">His group helps activate grass roots Republicans for conservative candidates and political causes.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph35" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">And Republican candidates running against Republican incumbents in the primaries are using Cruz' crusade in their races.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph36" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Matt Bevin, who is running for Senate to replace top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, said in a statement that he would support "conservatives like Sen. Ted Cruz in his fight to defund Obamacare."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph37" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/24/politics/obamacare-shutdown-answers/index.html?hpt=po_c2" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Obamacare: Can it be stopped?</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph38" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bevin bashed McConnell for coming out against Cruz' effort to shut down the government in order to stop Obamacare.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph39" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Like so many other crucial fights, Mitch McConnell has caved to (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid on Obamacare and is refusing to fight to defund this disastrous legislation."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph40" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">And long-time Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming came out in support of Cruz. He is facing Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, in a contentious primary.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph41" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Will Cruz be scarred or be a star?</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph42" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cruz could alienate his colleagues to a point where he becomes marginalized and completely ineffective in Washington.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph43" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">He has also hinted at a possible presidential run in 2016. If he has no support of the Republican Party, he risks being cut off from its resources and financing.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph44" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">On the other hand, Cruz' principled stand can help to grow a movement of disenchanted conservative voters. If a groundswell of conservative grassroots activists grows between now and 2016 -- and their financial support - Cruz could have carved out a path to the Republican nomination.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph45" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I think what Senator Cruz understands is that he has more to gain from adhering to his principles, staying in touch with the grass roots here and around the country than he does being friends with other senators," Brendan Steinhauser, a leading Texas tea party activist who worked to get Cruz elected, said.</div></div></div></div>

What's Ted Cruz's deal? What's Ted Cruz's deal?

http://www.cnn.com What's Ted Cruz's deal? By Leigh Ann Caldwell, CNN updated 9:42 PM EDT, Tue September 24, 2013 Washington (CNN) ...

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 5 Things You Need to Know

10:34 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://entertainment.time.com/">http://entertainment.time.com</a><br /><h2 style="text-align: left;">Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 5 Things You Need to Know </h2><br /><br /><header class="entry-header" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div class="entry-deck" style="color: #333333; font-size: 1.0625em; margin-bottom: 0.9375em; margin-top: -0.25em;"><br /></div><div class="entry-deck" style="color: #333333; font-size: 1.0625em; margin-bottom: 0.9375em; margin-top: -0.25em;">A quick briefing to make sure you go into the series opener with the right intel</div><div class="entry-meta" style="color: #797777; font-size: 0.8125em;"><span class="entry-byline" style="border-left-style: none; display: inline-block; height: 10px; line-height: 0.875em; margin-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px;">By <a href="http://entertainment.time.com/contributor/michael-roffman/" rel="author" style="color: #1b5288; text-decoration: none;" title="Posts by Michael Roffman">Michael Roffman</a></span><span class="entry-date" style="border-left-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; display: inline-block; height: 10px; line-height: 0.875em; margin-left: 8px; padding-left: 8px;">Sept. 24, 2013</span></div></header><br /><div class="entry-content" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 0.875em; line-height: 1.57143em; margin-bottom: 34px;"><br /><br /><figure class="entry-thumb entry-thumb-m  " style="float: right; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 20px 93.265625px; width: 1343.1875px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="MARVEL&#039;S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D" height="425" src="http://timeentertainment.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/131252_group_final_01_ful.jpg?w=360&h=240&crop=1" style="border: 0px; display: block; max-width: 100%;" title="MARVEL&#039;S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D" width="640" /></div><br /><div class="responsive" data-responsive=""></div><figcaption><small class="entry-thumb-credit" style="color: #888888; display: block; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.3; margin: 7px 0px 5px; min-height: 1em; text-align: right;">Bob D'Amico / ABC</small><div class="entry-thumb-caption" style="font-size: 0.85714em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">The cast of the new Joss Whedon drama, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD</div></figcaption></figure><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;"><span style="font-size: 0.875em; line-height: 1.57143em;"><br />Before you tune in, however, we insist upon a pre-ops briefing. The expansive world of Marvel Comics is as fun as it is confusing with new characters on every page and twice as many villains waiting to pounce in the next inked cel. Series creator Joss Whedon is wont to capitalize on this exhaustive mythology, so here are five things you need to know to start off sharp.</span>Get the popcorn ready. On Tuesday, Sept. 24, <i>Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. — </i>a new show that takes place in the world of last year’s box-office smash <i>The Avengers — </i>will join ABC’s fall lineup. Continuing the story arc last visited in the <i>Avengers</i> movie, Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) — yes, you read correctly — leads a small team of special agents who will investigate big cases and occasionally work with some of the world’s newest superheroes. All on a weekly basis.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">.</div><h2 style="margin: 0.83em 0px;"><span style="color: black;">1.  What is S.H.I.E.L.D.?</span></h2><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;"><i>From </i>Iron Man<i> (2008):</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;"><b>        Agent Phil Coulson:</b> I’m Agent Phil Coulson with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;"><b><b>        </b>Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts</b><b>: </b>That’s quite a mouthful.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;"><b><b>        </b>Agent Phil Coulson</b><b>: </b>I know. We’re working on it.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">Led by Gen. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), S.H.I.E.L.D. is a covert agency of non-superheroes, affiliated with the United States government, who often deal with superhuman activity across the world. (In the comics, however, they’ve been linked with the United Nations, as well.) Although Fury serves as executive director, he reports to a mysterious 12-member council whose identities are unknown even to him.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">A global operation with the most advanced technology at their disposal, S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps their eyes open everywhere. Its central headquarters is aboard the floating Helicarrier, as seen in <i>The Avengers </i>movie, with additional offices located in S.H.I.E.L.D. Central in New York City. Other intelligence hubs and key assets remain confidential, with only Fury knowing of their existence and locations.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">It’s General Fury, however, who is responsible for uniting The Avengers, which includes Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).</div><div class="entry-thumb mceTemp " style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; width: 852.46875px;"></div><div class="entry-thumb mceTemp " style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; width: 852.46875px;"><a href="http://timeentertainment.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/jackson-fury-570x359.jpg" style="color: #1b5288; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury" class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-3551891" height="402" src="http://timeentertainment.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/jackson-fury-570x359.jpg?w=240" style="border: 0px; display: block; max-width: 100%;" width="640" /></a><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"></div><div class="figcaption"><small class="entry-thumb-credit" style="color: #888888; display: block; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.3; margin: 7px 0px 5px; min-height: 1em; text-align: right;">Marvel Entertainment</small></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">.</div><h2 style="margin: 0.83em 0px;"><span style="color: black;">2.  Who’s Agent Coulson?</span></h2><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">For a while, Coulson was the glue that held together the Marvel Cinematic Universe, aka the string of films produced by Marvel Studios (e.g. <i>Iron Man</i>, <i>Thor</i>, <i>Captain America</i>, <i>The Incredible Hulk</i>, etc.) Portrayed by actor and director Clark Gregg, the quiet if not charmingly witty agent works alongside Fury and was instrumental in bringing together the Avengers. Although he wasn’t an original character in the comics, his popularity amongst the general fanbase has since made him part of the official Marvel universe, specifically with his appearances in <i>Ultimate Spider-man</i>. It should also be noted that Coulson owns an entire collection of rare, vintage Captain America trading cards.</div><div class="entry-thumb mceTemp " style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; width: 852.46875px;"><a href="http://timeentertainment.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/clark-gregg-the-avengers.jpg" style="color: #1b5288; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson in The Avengers" class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-3496464" height="426" src="http://timeentertainment.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/clark-gregg-the-avengers.jpg?w=240" style="border: 0px; display: block; max-width: 100%;" width="640" /></a><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"></div><div class="figcaption"><small class="entry-thumb-credit" style="color: #888888; display: block; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.3; margin: 7px 0px 5px; min-height: 1em; text-align: right;">MVLFFLLC. TM & Marvel</small></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">.</div><h2 style="margin: 0.83em 0px;"><span style="color: black;">3.  But wait, wasn’t Coulson killed in <i>The Avengers</i>?</span></h2><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">Whoa, spoiler alert much? Yes, Agent Coulson was killed by Loki (Tom Hiddleston, below) in The Avengers, an idea that director Joss Whedon — who’s killed a number of beloved characters in his TV shows and movies — originally conceived prior to Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. As he told NBC, “I absolutely killed him — this was not percolating.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">Still, this is the Marvel universe, after all, a place that has brought back to life many a character presumed dead. (I’m looking at you, Magneto.) Coulson is no different, although his resurrection is a mystery that will unravel as the show’s mythos continues to evolve. At this year’s SXSW, Whedon teased fans about his secretive Lazarus pit, stating, “I’ll tell you guys this, Heimlich.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">Online speculation has dug deeper, of course. <a href="http://screenrant.com/agents-of-shield-tv-coulson-death-explained-spoilers/" style="color: #1b5288; text-decoration: none;">Screen Rant highlights one theory</a>, provided by their own Deep Throat-esque source, that suggests Coulson’s death was a cover up used to unite the Avengers. They link this to a comment made by Gregg at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, who said: “It would be surprising to me if this was a world where there wasn’t some reckoning for the fact that it’d be … you know, some level of deception must have been perpetrated on the Avengers.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">In other words, we’ll see come Tuesday.</div><div class="entry-thumb mceTemp " style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; width: 852.46875px;"><a href="http://timeentertainment.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/the-avengers-loki.jpeg" style="color: #1b5288; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="The Avengers" class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-3539274" height="426" src="http://timeentertainment.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/the-avengers-loki.jpeg?w=240" style="border: 0px; display: block; max-width: 100%;" width="640" /></a><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"></div><div class="figcaption"><small class="entry-thumb-credit" style="color: #888888; display: block; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.3; margin: 7px 0px 5px; min-height: 1em; text-align: right;">Marvel Entertainment</small></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">.</div><h2 style="margin: 0.83em 0px;"><span style="color: black;">4.  Are we going to see superheroes?</span></h2><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">Yes. And no. Don’t tune in Tuesday night expecting to see Iron Man falling from the sky, or Captain America throwing his shield down for a coffee at headquarters. As <a href="http://splashpage.mtv.com/2013/01/11/joss-whedon-shield-details/" style="color: #1b5288; text-decoration: none;">Whedon insists</a>, the show’s “about the peripheral people” or those “on the edges of the grand adventures.” That explains its call sheet of relative unknowns: black ops specialist Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), pilot and martial artist Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), computer expert Skye (Chloe Bennet), weapons expert Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), and life scientist Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">Outside of the regulars, Whedon has confirmed that <i>The Avengers</i> star Cobie Smulders (below) will reprise her Maria Hill role for the pilot, and that actor Ian Hart has signed on to play Dr. Franklin Hall, who comic book aficionados should recognize as the villainous Graviton. (FYI: In case the name’s lost on you, the guy does wonders with gravity.) What’s more, Samuel L. Jackson has also expressed interest in tagging along, even if it’s a minor vocal addition a la <i>Charlie’s Angels</i>.</div><div class="entry-thumb mceTemp " style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; width: 852.46875px;"><a href="http://timeentertainment.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/131308_6559_ful-e1379953876506.jpg" style="color: #1b5288; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-3551797" height="426" src="http://timeentertainment.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/131308_6559_ful-e1379953876506.jpg?w=240" style="border: 0px; display: block; max-width: 100%;" width="640" /></a><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"></div><div class="figcaption"><small class="entry-thumb-credit" style="color: #888888; display: block; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.3; margin: 7px 0px 5px; min-height: 1em; text-align: right;">Justin Lubin / ABC</small></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">.</div><h2 style="margin: 0.83em 0px;"><span style="color: black;">5.  How will the show tie in with the movies?</span></h2><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">Since <i>Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.</i> exists within the parameters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans should look out for various references that relate to events from the ensuing film franchises.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">“It always starts with what’s best for the story – you never do an Easter egg for the sake of doing an Easter egg,” Jeph Loeb, head of Marvel’s television development, <a href="http://www.nbcbayarea.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/Agents-of-SHIELD-Bring-Marvel-to-the-Small-Screen-224605931.html" style="color: #1b5288; text-decoration: none;">explained to NBC</a>. “What we really try to do is just make sure that every single thing that’s in the script feels like it’s real, it’s grounded and that you don’t have to feel like you have to run to Wikipedia after you’ve seen an episode.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">In the same interview, references to <i>Iron Man 3</i> and Johansson’s Black Widow (pictured) are confirmed for the series premiere. Though, these little nods will be used sparingly, as Whedon added, “We don’t want to hurt the movies at all.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; margin-top: 16px;">So, if you’ve been debating to finally stream <i>Thor</i> or <i>Captain America: The First Avenger </i>on Netflix, now might be a good time to clear your queue.</div></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div>

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 5 Things You Need to Know Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 5 Things You Need to Know

http://entertainment.time.com Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 5 Things You Need to Know A quick briefing to make sure you go into the series opener...