Fwd: Join us this Wednesday, May 23rd at Union Project! Learn how you can get involved with the year's Summit Against Racism.

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From: Summit Against Racism

Let's all step up to to create a more just Pittsburgh. We can't wait to see you soon!

View this email in your browser Ever wanted to get involved with the Summit Against Racism but don't know how? Pop by Union Project this Wednesday, May 23rd and mingle with this year's cohort of dedicated volunteers to learn about ways that you can plug in. We need you to help make the Summit the best it can be. Sign up to support our social media team, help recruit workshop presenters, cook food for the event, pitch in on the outreach committee or help us create youth programming! Those are just some of the ways you can be a part of racial justice organizing in Pittsburgh. We can't wait to meet you! When: Wednesday, May 23 6:30-9 pm Where: Union Project, 801 N. Negley Ave Please RSVP by clicking here.

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Mark Rauterkus       Mark.Rauterkus@gmail.com
Swimming and Water Polo Coach, Schenley High School, Pittsburgh, PA
http://CLOH.wikia.com
412 298 3432 = cell

Fwd: Every American should be required to watch this . . .

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From: John H

The linked episode of The Real News Network discussing the new film Killing Gaza is important.  More important is the film it touts.  Every American should be required to watch this film in order to understand just what it is that we support, pay for and provide the weapons for in the Middle East as directed and controlled by the Zionist monsters who run the Israeli government.  The actions of this government are the responsibility of all of us who live here and the vile evilness of this nation's actions stain us all with guilt!

https://therealnews.com/stories/killing-gaza-a-new-documentary-on-palestinians-under-siege

John

Fwd: Become an open water swimming coach: from Outdoor Swimmer on behalf of Institute of Swimming

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From: Outdoor Swimmer

Become an open water swimming coach Level 2 British Open Water Swimming (QCF) Coaching open water swimming is a great way to share your passion and give back to the sport you love. The Swim England Open Water Coaching course has been backed by all four home countries – Swim England, Swim Wales, Swim Ireland and Scottish Swimming. The course gives coaches the skills needed to effectively prepare, deliver and evaluate a series of open water training sessions. It's aimed at swimming coaches or triathlon coaches who want to acquire specialist knowledge in delivering open water swimming sessions safely to a range of participants. Level 2 swimming teachers are also welcome to attend the course if they have experience of swimming in an open water environment. Upcoming courses are: 19th May and 14th July - Chichester Watersports 26th May and 30th July - Harthill Reservoir, Sheffield 2nd June and 25th August - Stanton Lake, Stoney Stanton 21st July and 22nd September - Vobster Quay, Radstock August and September dates TBC - London. Register your interest. Sent from Outdoor Swimmer on behalf of Institute of Swimming

The Outdoor Swimmer team
6 Maida Vale Business Centre
Mead Road
Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 7ER
UNITED KINGDOM

Michael Diven and Wayne Fontana spent lots of money and paid plenty to printers and postmaster

Both Diven and Fontana ads were over the top. 

Election day was on May 17. It was a special election. Fontana won. Diven and then me.

Fwd: Volunteer with PUMP for OpenStreetsPGH - May 27th!

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From: PUMP

Join with us as we "takeover" an intersection for the day!

View this email in your browser Volunteer with PUMP for OpenStreetsPGH! PUMP will once again host an intersection for all three OpenStreetsPGH events to ensure a safe and fun experience for all participants.  Volunteer shifts are 2.25 hours long and leave time for you to participate in the event as well.  All volunteers receive an official OpenStreetsPGH t-shirt.  Join us!!  SIGN UP!  OpenStreetsPGH Dates and Routes May 27th - Downtown, Uptown, and South Side June 24th - Downtown, Strip District, and Lawrenceville July 28th - Shadyside and East End neighborhoods For complete information about OpenStreetsPGH, visit the main website HERE! Questions?  Please contact Jave Brown at PUMP at jave@pump.org or 412-338-2133 x18. Thank you to our sponsor! PUMP     PSL

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Mark Rauterkus       Mark@Rauterkus.com 

Executive Director of SKWIM USA, a 501(c)(3)
PPS Summer Dreamers' Swim & Water Polo Camp Executive Coach

Middle School Swim Coach at The Ellis School

Former Varsity Boys Swim Coach, Pittsburgh Obama Academy

Recent Head Water Polo Coach, Carnegie Mellon University Women's Club Team
Pittsburgh Combined Water Polo Team

http://CLOH.org

412 298 3432 = cell

Fwd: Panel discussion and good primer on neoliberalism

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From: John H

Attached is a very good and interesting panel discussion held at West Point involving a number of retired military personnel who are critical of the current state of endless war now engaged in by the United States all around the globe.  The panel is chaired by Andrew J. Bacevich, a retired Army Lt. Col. And military historian teaching at Boston College.  While the discussion is both interesting and important, it does fail to address what I believe is the core basis for this nation's otherwise inexplicable determination to wage war on just about every not already subservient to our military posture.  It now appears that our military interventions are completely out of political control and essentially operating on automatic pilot because so much of the U.S. economy is dependent upon military and security contracts and the sale of military hardware to other nations and terrorist groups around the world.  Furthermore, the areas of operation are largely determined by political submission to the will of Israeli Zionist radicals (including neocons here in the U.S.) who have essentially gained control of our political processes and are determined to have the U.S. wipe out any real or imagined adversaries in the Middle East and Northern Africa.

In this process the U.S. has intentionally created, supported and funneled weapons to a multitude of designated terrorist organizations which we simultaneously claim that we are determined to destroy.  The end result is a proliferation of terror groups which regularly attack military and civilian targets, thus further justifying the need for ever increasing military activities on our part and on the part of our NATO allies.  This results in an endless cycle of violence, mass casualties and refugees in those areas in which we intervene which quite naturally leads to the declared need for greater security measures and the concomitant loss of civil rights at home and abroad, as well as the rampant rise of right-wing nationalism in those nations (including ours) impacted by the refugee crisis. 

What is also often missed in this horrific assault on some of the poorest nations on earth, is how much of it is stoked by the simultaneous rise of neoliberalism as a political and ideological movement in lock-step with the militarization and the severe limitations on previously granted rights.  Neoliberalism, at its core, operates on the premise that only the "market" has rights; everyone is subject to market forces.  This leads to policies which effectively tie corporations which, under neoliberalism can do no wrong, directly into government which is charged with protecting the rights of corporations and those who manage them.  This leads to a situation where corporations become dependent upon government subsidies to prosper and survive and what better way to provide subsidies than through the Defense Department.  This, combined with the neoliberal financialization of virtually all aspects of economic life, leads to a situation where only the interests of powerful international corporations can be taken into consideration by government policy makers.  And so, war becomes the natural constraining force used to cow the populace into ultimate submission – because they convinced us that there is no alternative; or as Margaret Thatcher so cleverly put it, TINA.

This, as a result, is, almost without question, the single most dangerous time in human history…  Or, as the old Chinese curse is reputed to have augured, may you live in interesting times.  We surely seem to have found those times the curse referred to, and then some.   When combined with man-made climate change humanity is on a downward spiral which may well not be survivable during the lifespan of those now alive.

 John

Articles:

• Combat High, Panel Discussion on Military
• Yes, Neoliberalism is a Thing, PDF

Fwd: Water

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From: John H

If you think that water depletion and contamination by pollutants is not a world-wide problem, you're not thinking – you're dreaming.  Check out this article from today's Washington Post for some frightening information on depletion and then consider that a very high percentage of the water we drink, cook with and bathe in is being polluted by an unimaginable volume of pollutants, some visible and some not, injected legally and illegally by corporations and people on a daily basis.  Many of these chemical pollutants are not even acknowledged or identified.  But one strong indicator is the incredible spiking of the cancer rate in many areas of this nation.  It's long past time to stop this flagrant abuse of this critical resource for life. 

John

ARTILCLE: Humans are causing massive changes to the location of water all around the Earth

Fwd: Pittsburgh should be aware . . . Amazon

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From: John H

Pittsburghers should be very aware that becoming another Seattle could be incredibly damaging to the entire structure of the city and the region should they succeed in bribing Amazon to set up HQ2 in the 'burg.  Watch out what you wish for, since you may get more than what you want.

John

Link to article, Behind Seattle's Amazon Tax 

Fwd: Why Tim Urban's talk became such an instant success

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From: Neil Gordon

While most of the top TED talks have been around for many years, Tim Urban's talk "Inside the mind of a master procrastinator" went up more than a decade later. And it's easy to understand why – Tim's talk features a homemade construct of specialized terms that satirizes the dense intellectual work of social scientists and uses a series of goofy, poorly drawn stick figures as visual aids to illustrate this construct. His theme? Procrastination. He takes the audience through how his procrastination has plagued him his whole life, including waiting until the final two days before deadline to write a 90-page thesis paper back when he was in school. He explores other ways that people procrastinate as well, and even offers an interesting idea regarding the challenges of procrastinators when they don't have specific deadlines – that procrastination is undermining the work of entrepreneurship and other self-led endeavors. But one particular way that he relates to this quality in his own life is when he tells the story of the TED people approaching him to do the very talk he was giving right in that very moment. He described how he procrastinated in doing a talk on procrastination! What this meant, other than that he gave the audience a good laugh, is that he did something that has the potential to be very powerful when putting together content as a public speaker… He connected the theme of his talk to the experience they were sharing in the room in real time. Now, this might seem like a fairly obvious observation to make. But the implications can actually be rather profound. I recently had a conversation with a client who showed me an example of a speech he gave. He speaks on the value of taking risks and trying things out even if they might not work. In his video, he told a pretty ambitious story – which was a risk in its own right. And then he lost his place in the story, even though the speech was being delivered to thousands of people. The opportunity? In a moment like that, he can connect the theme of his talk – taking a risk even if it doesn't work out – to the experience they were sharing in the room in real time. What that might look like would be saying something along the lines of, "See? Right here and now I'm taking a risk. And a case can be made that it's not exactly working out the way I wanted it to." Then, he could go on and make the larger point that is anchored by the broader scope of his message. A unique feature of public speaking as a body of content is that there are people in a room with you experiencing that content in real time. This is a departure from a book, a filmed video, or even an email like the one you're reading right now. Because you're sharing an experience with them right then and there, you have an opportunity to connect some aspect of their experience with the very message you're there to share that day. If you're speaking on the significance of finding courage, you could tap into how courageous they do or do not feel at some point in the talk. If you're talking about how to respond to unexpected moments, you could simulate a moment that the audience wouldn't expect and then check in with them on how they feel right then and there. There's a huge variety of different ways that a speaker can relate their topic to that particular audience's experience in real time. And as long as it's in support of your message, it will reinforce the power and impact of their having seen you live. To view Tim Urban's talk, click here: https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_urban_inside_the_mind_of_a_master_procrastinator Sincerely, Neil neilcanhelp.com

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