Friday, January 9, 2015
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Thursday, January 8, 2015
Brainstorm Stem-Cell Therapy Continues to Show Treatment Effect in ALS Patients
Why isn't the NAACP bombing being covered?
BARBER SHOP EXPLOSION
Colorado Springs police officers investigate the scene of an explosion Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015, at a building in Colorado Springs, Colo. Authorities are investigating whether a homemade explosive set off outside the building that houses a barber shop and the Colorado Springs chapter of the NAACP was aimed at the nations oldest civil rights organization. (AP Photo/The Colorado Springs Gazette, Christian Murdock ) MAGS OUT
On Tuesday morning, an improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated next to the local offices of the Colorado Springs, Colorado, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) headquarters. While no one was harmed and the damage was minimal, the FBI found a gasoline can next to the bomb that failed to ignite and cause more damage.
The attack was disturbing to say the least, but what is more profound is the general lack of coverage it has received by major media outlets. It took CNN half a day to report on the bombing and nightly news networks gave little to no mention of story that night.
Many people were alerted to the bombing only after it became trending on social media platforms Twitter and Facebook, with many questioning why the story wasnt making headlines.
The day before the attack, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund publicly announced it was asking Missouri Circuit Court Judge Maura McShane to appoint a special prosecutor in the case against former Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson.
There are still plenty of questions surrounding the bombing.Was there a bias in coverage? What was the motive? Does the attempted bombing of an NAACP office building not fall under the umbrella of domestic terrorism?
For all intents and purposes, a suspected domestic terrorist on the loose in Colorado should have made some waves, even if thankfully, there were no casualties to speak of.
There was plenty of news coverage in 2001 of the shoe bomber who tried to detonate explosives on the American Airlines flight from Paris, France, to Miami, Florida. There was plenty of coverage on the man who tried to detonate a car bomb by Times Square in 2010.
So why should we ignore this most recent failed attempt of terrorism on our doorsteps?
Source: http://blog.sfgate.com/opinionshop/2015/01/07/why-isnt-the-naacp-bombing-being-covered/
Bangert: An awful thief called ALS
Jim Gardner of Fowler died Saturday after a year-and-a-half struggle with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrigs disease.(Photo: Dave Bangert/Journal & Courier)
During the height of the Ice Bucket Challenge frenzy, last summer's viral fundraiser that sent more than $100 million the ALS Association's way, I turned to Jim Gardner to make a ruling.
Was the fad legit or a scheme built on misplaced good intentions? Did all those progressively creative stunts with five-gallon buckets of ice water pour out hope or just douse an already bleak prognosis?
In other words, I asked Gardner, a friend in Fowler living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Are you OK with all this?
"Do it," Gardner wrote. "I think it's great. I am still gobsmacked that it is happening."
In fact, Gardner, diagnosed in August 2013 with the neurodegenerative condition known as Lou Gehrig's disease, already was laying out plans to do things one better.
He'd dug out a song he'd written, recorded and nearly forgotten in the late '70s, called "Get Wet" complete with references to Jacqueline Bisset in the movie "The Deep," and hailing from a time "when I still thought if I wrote enough beach-oriented songs that I could join The Beach Boys." Friends and family made T-shirts that paraphrased the chorus: "Get ready. Get set. Get wet." And they all made invitations to join with one more round of ice buckets in the name of #TeamJim.
"Now," Gardner said, "is the time I have."
And he was going to make of it what he could.
No surprise there.
Gardner, a friend from a local music scene of a different era, told the most touching story I heard all of 2014. I wrote about it just about a year ago now. Here's the short version.
Before ice buckets started to tip, he sent a note out of the blue under a subject line, "Hello, I Must Be Going." In it, he detailed how he was methodically contacting friends and acquaintances to tell them about his ALS diagnosis a disease the ALS Association estimates affects an estimated 30,000 Americans how it was progressing quickly and how he wanted to say "so long" on his own terms.
His note to me was prompted by a column I'd written a few weeks earlier about a Lafayette art installation called "Before I Die ".
Part of his farewell tour included assembling his sons, Ryland and Delaney, along with some other musicians and rushing into a Lafayette studio to record a love note to his wife, Melinda. ("As close to a bucket list item as I had," he said.) By the time he went in to record "I Married a Blonde," he was able to sing, but his fingers were unable to play the keyboards something he'd done since he started putting bands together in high school.
But the tribute to the marriage was recorded and pressed, as Gardner testified, "before I die "
After I wrote about the "I Married a Blonde" episode, several people wanted to clarify that ALS wasn't necessarily a death sentence. That the disease progresses at different rates for each person. That many people are able to continue with their lives, diminished perhaps, for years.
Gardner didn't seem to kid himself, acknowledging the speed and brutal efficiency of ALS as it took away motor skills.
Last summer, his family started reserving the bar and patio at the Benton County Country Club on the second Friday of the month for Gardner to get out and see friends. The September edition was set aside for the "Get Ready. Get Set. Get Wet" Ice Bucket Challenge.
That night, Gardner had the look of a man who had a million things to say. But secured in a motorized wheelchair, hands unable to move, he rolled his eyes at his impossibly slow delivery mind racing, trapped in a body unwilling.
In labored, almost gasping speech, each syllable a considerable effort, it took him what seemed like a minute to get this much out: "It's frus tra ting to see how ra pid ly my speech is de ter i or a ting "
This was a guy who I had at one point in our lives wasted about an hour like it was nothing, hashing out whether "Born Fighter" belonged among Nick Lowe's greatest songs. (I can't remember the verdict. But with Gardner, the testimony was always pure gold.)
At the head of a large round table in the country club dining room that night, his sister, Suzi Lundergan, took his cues, translating his shorthand into deep, rich stories about people who had been stopping by, old friends who'd sent him gifts, music he used to play and some dark humor about an urn someone wanted to make for him.
And how his family had come to his side when he needed them most.
Two days later, Lundergan's home church in Fort Wayne planned an Ice Bucket Challenge in her brother's name. The Rev. Derek Weber preached that day on his initial reluctance to get in on a silly stunt at Aldersgate United Methodist, questioning as I had whether it would do much good. But then he pivoted, reading from Lamentations, Chapter 3, about hardship, darkness and ultimate hope, and reading a letter Gardner dictated to church members about to get soaked.
The ice buckets too late for his own cure, Gardner figured had became one way he could frame the love, attention and care that came his way in his final year and a half.
That included all these people he didn't know personally, doing stunts to raise money for a research in his name.
Infinitely greater still, that included all the people he did know Melinda, his sons, his sister, the rest who set aside lives to do the most basic things for him, all while making sure he was an integral part of the family, not a patient.
"What has surprised me is that there can be anything apart from misery in this kind of existence," Gardner wrote to the congregation. "The remarkable aspect with my experience with ALS is how these others in my life, even those I don't know personally, have responded."
Jim Gardner died Saturday. He was 59.
The hope and faith he put into those millions of ice buckets last summer is some cold comfort.
But, man, ALS remains an awful thief.
Bangert is a columnist with the Journal & Courier. Contact him at dbangert@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @davebangert.
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Source: http://www.jconline.com/story/opinion/columnists/dave-bangert/2015/01/07/bangert-awful-thief-called-als/21418337/
Cavs Add Last Piece, Timofey Mozgov from Nuggets; We Pick Him Apart
The Cavaliers' long pursuit of a big man has come to fruition. The trade for Russian-born Denver Nuggets center Timofey Mozgov is something the Cavs have been pursuing since the summer, GM David Griffin confirmed last night. They got him for two first round draft picks, a very high ransom indeed in a market where its become rare to surrender even one. (Notice all the second round picks trading hands.)
Of course both the pick the Cavaliers picked up from Oklahoma City in the Dion Waiters trade and the one they secured in the Memphis trade are a lock to be in the bottom third of the draft, even if the OKC pick could be as high as 19. Its not like theyre surrendering lottery picks, but its still a lot to pay for a soon-to-be backup center. Yet Griffin felt this was the guy they had to have. The price says as much. So, why Mozgov?
Unlike Samuel Dalembert, Mozgov is a solid basketball player. Hes definitely not as good a shot-blocker or rim protector as the recently waived Knicks center, who its worth noting could be had for nothing. Mozgov played for Coach David Blatt on the Russian National team in the 2012 Olympics, and Blatt recommended him to Griffin, who already had the 28-year old big man on his radar.
Most importantly, perhaps: Mozgov is a legitimate space-eater at 7-1, 260 pounds, but he runs the floor and moves like a, well, like a European basketball player. That alone is high praise if we are to listen to Kobe Bryant who bemoaned the lack of fundamentals of AAU-playing U.S. teens. He helps explain his fluidity on the floor, though, clearly, hes just a good athlete who does not mind getting out and running.
We assembled a montage to highlight his skills.
Among the things you can see is that he will run and beat other smaller players down the floor.Last year he averaged 1.44 points per possession in transition, tenth best in the NBA, according to Synergy Sports, and shot 75.9 percent (41-of-54) in those situations.The other thing you can see is that he knows how to run the pick and roll game. Hes a willing screener and cutter. Coach David Blatt noted as much in the post-game press conference, noting his ability to set multiple screens. This may not seem big, but we have at least two guys who drive to the basket a lot. Having a big body to throw in front of their men whos then able to dive to the hole himself is a valuable thing.
In the Denver Posts post-season breakdown in May they noted that Mozgov would often set a screen and move, receive a pass, move it and set another screen. He was rarely seen standing still. They complimented his feel for when to roll to the hole and when to pop out, as well as when when to return the rock to the ballhandler.
His major weaknesses as they saw it was a lack of lower body strength that forced him into more of a finesse game in the post-up (where he also has a hook shot with his off/left hand) on offense, and easier to back down on defense. They also noted a predilection toward bad passes and other turnovers.
Yet hes cut his turnovers by a third this year and proven to be a pretty good rebounder, grabbing nearly 5 offensive rebounds and 10 defensive rebounds per 48 minutes. For comparison, Tristans numbers are 6.4/7.0, Varejao 4.3/8.0 and Love 2.7/11.2.
On the negative side, Mozgov only shot about 60% around the hoop the past year and a half, putting him in company of such mediocre finishers as Tiago Splitter, Samuel Dalembert, Kris Humphries, Brook Lopez and Omer Asik.
Though hes averaging the same 1.2 blocks he did last year, hes not shown the same rim protection. Last year he was among the (bottom of the) top 20 defenders inside 5 feet amidst names like Omer Asik, Robin Lopez, Taj Gibson and Joachim Noah. (In any case hed be better than a healthy Varejao or Thompson.)
Griffin described it as the last part of the three-way deal that sent Dion Waiters to the Oklahoma City Thunder and secured them the draft choice to send to the Nuggets. That trade filled their need for a perimeter defender (Iman Shumpert), and replaced Waiters bench scoring spark with J.R. Smith, whos excelled in that role as recently as two year ago. Smith also worked out with LeBron during the summers when he was in high school and James was playing for Cleveland, possibly mitigating his knucklehead reputation.
The Nuggets drafted Jusuf Nurkic, aka the Bosnian Beast, at 16th this year and the 6-11, 280 pound center has been scintillating in the past five games, during which hes averaged 12 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.2 blocks and 1.4 steals in 23 minutes/game. So they had reason to deal Mozgov, but as hes signed to a very reasonable contract ($4.65 million this year, $4.95 million next) the Nuggets didnt feel any need to deal him, forcing the Cavaliers hand.
The fact that Mozgov has a decent offensive game and can run the floor are key. LeBrons teams always run, and getting fastbreak points is the easiest way to win ballgames. h**l improve the defense but not to the extent that it needs. Mostly how he fits is by not mucking up the offense the way another big man might, mitigating the gain on defense. He has size, hes apparently coachable, and even at 28, he appears to have some upside. Hes not Brad Daugherty, but under the circumstances h**l have to do.
Overall, Griffin did a pretty amazing job of turning one discontent square peg and a 1st round pick into three rotation players including, in all likelihood, two starters. Its not caviar and champagne, but all the guys they acquired have some toughness about them, which the Cavs could use a little more of.
When everyone finally returns it will also have the domino effect of improving the teams lackluster bench. Mike Miller, Shawn Marion, Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith all players who started last year make a fine bench. Add Joe Harris and Dellavedova to that and youre in pretty good shape. They could probably still use another point or combo guard, and they have an open roster slot after waiving A.J. Price, so well see what happens.
As weve been saying all season, its a process, but at least weve got the right pieces on hand. Now we can see if theyll go together better than what weve seen since Anderson Varejao went down. The team lost to Houston after taking a lead into the fourth quarter. Theyd not lost a game that they had a lead going into the fourth quarter before losing to the 76ers on Monday, so this is two straight games.
However, the efforts been there for both games for about three quarters after which they ran down. It may just be the circumstances of a busy couple days where four of their mates were sent packing. While Alex Kirk, Lou Amundson and A.J. Price were bit players, theyd been here since training camp. Obviously Dion had friends in the locker room as well. (One didnt get the impression at any point or even from his comments that LeBron will miss him, just that he wont enjoy playing against him.)
Given the turmoil and the incipient West Coast road trip, all without LeBron James to fall back on, its perhaps not surprising their play has been so spotty. But there are bits of sunshine. The teams moving the ball better and playing scrappier on D. Last night they played an explosive Rockets team very tight before losing their focus and the lead as the fourth got going.
These reinforcements, added at the cost of one player who didnt fit, will make a difference for the team. When and how much will decide how far this team goes this summer. Consider the next three and a half months rehearsal time for the big show, and as such well try to be forgiving knowing that the real curtain doesnt come up until the end of April when the playoffs start. Whatever the naysayers suggest, thats the only real metric for this team, and as San Antonio showed in the West, seedings arent everything.
The Cavaliers kick off a 5-game West Coast road trip with a game against the NBA's best team, Golden State, on Friday night. Follow the action though my live tweets with video on twitter @CRS_1ne, and read the analysis on Saturday in the Scene blog.
Source: http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2015/01/08/cavs-add-last-piece-timofey-mozgov-from-nuggets-we-pick-him-apart