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  • The Age of Holy War & Poetics of Solidarity – (Part 1)

    The Age of Holy War & Poetics of Solidarity – (Part 1)

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    Credit: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
    • Opinion by Azza Karam (new york)
    • Inter Press Service

    NEW YORK, Jun 24 (IPS) – “Holy War” is how the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church referred to the Russian war on the Ukraine, and indeed, on “the West”1 . “Holy War”, aka “jihad” is a foundational principle of “the Base” or “al-Qaeda”, which has grown into a non-state hydra with too many names and atrocities to list here (but if you are curious, one of the hydra faces is ISIS).

    In a recent opinion piece published in Foreign Policy, columnist Caroline de Gruyter noted that “Israel and Palestine Are Now in a Religious War”, in her attempt to argue why the Middle East conflict has been getting increasingly brutal, and increasingly hard to solve.

    The intersection between holiness and war is even more nuanced in Zvi Bar’el’s Opinion piece in Haaretz, when he notes that “the war in Gaza is no longer about revenge for the murder of 1,200 Israelis or the hostages.

    If they all die, along with hundreds of more soldiers, the price would still be justified for the Jewish Jihad waging a war for Gaza’s resettlement” . Hamas’ own name –the acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (Islamic Resistance Movement) – needs no elaboration. Neither does Lebanon’s Hizbullah (Party of God).

    In India, a report by the Indian Citizens and Lawyers Initiative (in April of 2023), entitled “Routes of Wrath: Weaponising Religious Processions”, notes

    Indian history is rife with instances of religious processions that led to communal strife, riots, inexcusable violence, arson, destruction of property and the tragic deaths of innocent residents of the riot-hit areas. There have been horrific riots and bloodletting caused by other factors too, most prominently the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984 and the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, but no cause of interfaith riots has been as recurrent and widespread as the religious procession. This is as true of pre-Independence India as during the 75 years since we became a free nation…Post-Independence, we have faced numerous communal riots in diverse parts of India, under different political regimes, and the vast majority of these have been caused by the deliberate choice of communally-sensitive routes by processionists, and the pusillanimity of the Police in dealing with such demands, or even their collusion and connivance in licencing such routes.2

    Already back in August of 1988, in an article entitled “Holy War Against India”, explicitly speaks of “Sikh terrorism” in the Punjab, noting that it “took about a thousand lives in 1987 and more than a thousand in the first five months of 1988.

    If it continues at the present rate, Sikh terrorism in the Punjab will have cost more lives in two years than the IRA campaign in Northern Ireland has cost in twenty.” 3 Speaking of Northern Ireland, the marching season remains a flashpoint among Catholics and Protestants.

    Politicised religion, or religionised politics – whence religious discourse is part of political verbiage, tactics, expedient alliances, sometimes informing foreign policy priorities, occasionally used to justify conflict – are not new phenomena. In fact, they may well be one of the oldest features of politics, governance – and warmaking.

    The Crusades against Muslim expansion in the 11th century were recognized as a “holy war” or a bellum sacrum, by later writers in the 17th century. The early modern wars against the Ottoman Empire were seen as a seamless continuation of this conflict by contemporaries. Religion and politics are the oldest bedfellows known to humankind.

    What is relatively new, is that after the 100-year war in Europe, and the subsequent moves towards secularisation or the so-called ‘separation of Church and State’ (again, really only in parts of Europe), provided a false sense of the dominance of secular governance in modern times.

    Yet, even in the citadels of secular Western Europe, a relationship binding Church and State always existed, for the religious institutions and their affiliated social structures, remain critical social service providers – and humanitarian actors – till today. A reality now understood to be relevant in all parts of our world.

    Nevertheless, what we are seeing today is a resurgence of religious politics, and the politics of religion, in almost all corners of the world. Before the Russian Orthodox Church proclaimed its “holy war” narrative, the reference to religion and politics almost always focused on Muslim-majority contexts, specifically on Iran, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.

    Other realities would often go unnoticed, or somehow deemed as ‘odd’ or one-time phenomena – for instance the fact that the 2016 US elections delivered a Trump administration with full and public backing by a significant part of the Evangelical movement (many of whom are backing a potential comeback of him now); or the fact that related Evangelical counterparts backed Bolsenaro’s rise to power in Brazil; or the fact that religious arguments against abortion remain a key US electoral feature for decades; or the fact that a number of right-leaning anti-immigrant political discourses and blatant white supremacist politics have religious backing in parts of Europe and Latin America.

    Was it perhaps that since these took place in ‘white’ and Christian-majority polities, somehow set these aside from being factored as part of the global resurgence of religious politics?

    Whatever the case may be, it is time to smell that particularly strong brew of coffee, now. And as we do so, we are also obliged to note that it is no coincidence that this ‘brew’ is taking place at a time of remarkable social and political polarisation in many societies.

    Indeed. we speak of multiple and simultaneous crisis (e.g. climate change, catastrophic governance, wars, famines, rampant inequalities, soaring human displacement, nuclear fears, systemic racism, rising multiple violence, drug wars, proliferation of arms and weapons, misogyny, etc.) and we also acknowledge the wilting multilateral influence to confront these. But as we acknowledge these, we must also recognise that social cohesion is a lasting and tragic victim.

    Some governmental, non-governmental and intergovernmental entities have turned to religion(s) as a possible panacea. Religious leaders are being convened in multiple capitals (at significant cost) in almost all corners of the world.

    Regularly touting the peacefulness and the unparalleled supremacy of their respective moral standpoints. Religious NGOs are being sought out, supported and partnered with more regularly to help address multiple crisis – especially humanitarian, educational, public health, sanitation, and child-focused efforts.

    Interfaith initiatives are competing among each other, and with other secular ones, for grants from governments and philanthropists in the United States, Europe, Africa, many parts of Asia (with the notable exception of China), and the Middle East. Engaging, or partnering with religious entities is the new normal.

    But just as the largely secular efforts we lived through (and some of us served for decades) in the 1960s to the 1990s, did not realise a brave new world, religious ones, on their own, cannot do so either. Especially not with the kind of historical baggage and contemporary narratives of holy war, we are living with now.

    It is time we re-consider, re-engage and re-envision a poetics of solidarity rooted an abiding adherence to (and re-education about) all human rights for all peoples at all times. What would that entail?

    1https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/88aug/obrien.htm
    2 Connor O’Brian, https://www.livelaw.in/pdf_upload/routes-of-wrath-report-2023-2-465217.pdf
    3 Connor O’Brian, https://www.livelaw.in/pdf_upload/routes-of-wrath-report-2023-2-465217.pdf

    Part 2 follows.

    Dr. Azza Karam is President and CEO of Lead Integrity; a Professor and Affiliate with the Ansari Institute of Religion and Global Affairs at Notre Dame University; and a member of the UN Secretary General’s High Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism.

    IPS UN Bureau


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    © Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • Unveiling the Dark Matter of Food, Diets and Biodiversity

    Unveiling the Dark Matter of Food, Diets and Biodiversity

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    We need help illuminating the dark matter in food and charting the intricate interplay between food, ecosystems, climate and health, argue the authors. Credit: Shutterstock.
    • Opinion by Maya Rajasekharan, Selena Ahmed
    • Inter Press Service

    Jun 20 (IPS) – This year, bee pollen has become a trendy superfood thanks to a wide range of potential benefits. Last year, sea moss led the superfood trends. Before that, it was turmeric.

    Invariably, these newly celebrated superfoods are never new; they have long been consumed by non-Western cultures. The inadequate research on their nutritional composition and health attributes almost always leads to a list of exaggerated benefits, from preventing cancer to overall vitality and longevity. They become a fad for a few years and then often take a back seat to the next “superfood.”

    Globally, half of all calories come from some form of wheat, rice or corn even though over 30,000 named edible species exist on our planet.

    Yet the frequent emergence of trending superfoods demonstrate that food biodiversity persists in many communities and regions around the globe. In a recent publication in Nature Food, we joined 54 colleagues in beginning to capture and prioritize this diversity, with a curated list of 1,650 foods.

    Strikingly, more than 1,000 of the foods on the curated food list are not included in national food composition databases — in other words, we don’t have easy access to what is in these foods, or science may not yet know what these foods contain. This suggests that dietary guidelines relying on national food composition databases miss the majority of humanity’s long and co-evolutionary history with food.

    Moreover, even the foods that are commonly consumed and included in national food composition databases are barely understood. An estimated 95% of the biomolecules in food are unknown to science — this is the “dark matter” of food, diets and biodiversity. We don’t know what these biomolecules are, or how they function in ecosystems and in our bodies.

    Mapping this dark matter is too large a task for any one laboratory, organization or country to achieve on its own. We need a united scientific movement, larger than the human genome project, with governments and researchers around the globe filling the gaps in our knowledge of the food we eat.

    A suite of standardized tools, data and training is now available for this effort, which can build a centralized database based on standardized tools for researchers, practitioners and communities to share their wisdom and expertise on food and its diverse attributes to inform solutions to our pressing societal challenges.

    Preliminary data from the first 500 foods analyzed reveals that many “whole foods” can be considered “superfoods,” with more unique than common biomolecules. Each fruit and vegetable, for example, has a unique composition of biomolecules that varies based on the environment, processing and preparation.

    Broccoli, which achieved “superfood” status several years ago for its antioxidants and its connections to gut health, has over 900 biomolecules not found in other green vegetables.

    We have identified the existence of these compounds through mass-spectrometry, but we have not determined the properties of these unique metabolites — we do not even have enough data to accurately name them, much less understand the roles that they play in our bodies and in ecosystems in the world at large.

    And these 900+ biomolecules — broccoli’s dark matter — are in addition to the biomolecules that broccoli shares with other cruciferous vegetables, which may help prevent a wide variety of illnesses, from colon and other cancers to vascular disease.

    Diet-related diseases such as diabetes, some cancers and heart disease are now the main cause of mortality globally. Yet the full scope of the links between diet and disease, soil microbes and gut microbes, climate change and nutrient content still remains shrouded in uncertainty.

    Regulatory bodies are calling for more science to guide policy decisions even as scientists are finding new connections between diet and health for conditions as varied as macular degeneration and blood coagulation disorders.

    The 20th century witnessed the simplification of agriculture, resulting in a narrow focus on yield and efficiency of a handful of cereal crops. Its successes were considerable, but they came at the expense of diversity, food quality and agricultural resilience. The superfoods — the trends, not the actual foods — are the collective poster child of this problem.

    Now food systems are at a crossroads. The 21st century can become the century of diversity, as the new cornerstone of science on food. But we need help illuminating the dark matter in food and charting the intricate interplay between food, ecosystems, climate and health.

    As we call for a globally coordinated effort to fill the gaps in the food we eat, we need to ensure these efforts do not create scientific disparities between countries and regions.

    We need capacity-strengthening efforts so that all countries can equally and inclusively participate and benefit from the knowledge of what is in our food, how it varies, and implications for the health of people and the planet.

    It is not enough to borrow superfoods from non-Westernized cultures and give them nothing in return. Today, it is time to start opening the black box of food and create more nourishing food systems for everyone.

    Selena Ahmed is Professor at the University of Montana and Global Director of Periodic Table of Food Initiative (PTFI) at the American Heart Association

    Maya Rajasekharan is PTFI Director of Strategy Integration and Engagement at Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT

    © Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • Opinion: Sirota’s ranked-choice voting amendment pushed back on monied interests

    Opinion: Sirota’s ranked-choice voting amendment pushed back on monied interests

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    Thank you, Rep. Emily Sirota for ensuring that Colorado voters and county clerks are not overwhelmed with massive election changes that moneyed interests hope to foist on us through the ballot box this November.

    Sirota’s amendment to Senate Bill 210, an election reform bill, will ensure the rollout of ranked-choice voting, should it pass by voter initiative, will be implemented thoughtfully. The amendment, which passed unanimously, would require a dozen Colorado municipalities of varying sizes and demographics to conduct ranked-choice voting before it goes statewide.

    The phase-in will allow cities to develop best practices before all jurisdictions are required to implement a complicated and wholesale change. Just as mail-in voting was phased in over several years, the Sirota amendment will give clerks time to develop policies, purchase software, train employees, and educate their constituents.

    It also gives voters the opportunity to see how ranked choice voting works and gives them a chance to repeal it after the new car smell fades and they see how confusing and unfair it is. This election, Alaska voters are looking to repeal the ranked-choice voting system they approved just four years ago. They would have saved themselves a lot of money and frustration if the system had been implemented in a dozen jurisdictions instead of going all in from the start.

    A ranked-choice voting system for Colorado is being sought by the wealthy former CEO of DaVita, a Denver-based kidney dialysis provider, Kent Thiry. His proposal, which has been approved for signature collection,  would impose an open primary and ranked-choice general elections on the state.

    Here’s how it would work: Anyone, regardless of party affiliation, could run in the primary with the top four contenders advancing to the general election. In the general, voters would be asked to rank candidates in order of preference.

    It’s a confusing system, so I’ll put names to an example. Let’s say that out of a gubernatorial primary former Sen. Cory Gardner, current Sen. Michael Bennet, former Rep. Ken Buck, and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston advance to the general.

    I vote in the general for Bennet, Johnston, Buck, and Gardner in that order. If nobody gets 50% of the statewide vote, the votes are retallied. Let’s say that in the first tally, Bennet gets the least number of votes and is eliminated. Johnston, my second choice will get my vote. If Johnston is eliminated in round two, Buck will get my vote and either he or Gardner will emerge from the final round.

    In some elections, after all the tallying is done the most popular candidate (the one most voters ranked first) will go home empty-handed. In the 2010 Oakland mayoral race, the candidate who received the most votes in round one ultimately lost the election after nine rounds of vote redistribution. How fair is that to candidates or voters?

    If you’re confused, imagine how much effort, time, and money the Secretary of State and county clerks will have to expend to educate voters. It is likely the complexity will persuade some voters to chuck their ballot. Then there will be less voter participation.

    Being confusing isn’t the only problem with ranked-choice voting. Let’s say you picked only Johnston and Bennet and neither of them made it to the third round; your ballot will be considered exhausted and tossed out. Only those who voted for Buck and Gardner in whatever order, will be counted in the final tally.

    This has happened. In Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, the candidate who got the most votes ultimately lost to the second-place candidate. The Maine Secretary of State threw out more than 14,000 exhausted ballots from people who did not vote for the top two candidates. Sound fair?

    Proponents of ranked-choice voting think that such a system will reduce the number of extremist candidates and help voters coalesce around a mainstream candidate. This is a solution looking for a problem that isn’t a problem.

    Colorado does not have a problem with extreme candidates or officeholders. I did not vote for either of the state’s U.S. senators, my congressman, my representatives in the Colorado General Assembly, the governor, the attorney general, the secretary of state or the treasurer. While they are wrong on most issues, not one of them is extreme. Not one. Fanatics do come along but the current system is self-correcting.

    Extreme Democrats like Reps. Elisabeth Epps and Tim Hernández face formidable primary opponents this year and extreme Republicans like Ron Hanks and Dave Williams are unlikely to win in their primaries. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert had to flee her home district because voters yearned for normalcy and were poised to turn her out in the primary or general.

    While we’re popping illusion balloons, the Sirota Amendment was not some sneaky last-minute ploy. County clerks and the Colorado Clerks Association approached Sirota with the concerns they have about implementing the Thiry proposal if it passed and she listened. Matt Crane, executive director clerks association, told me that organization “strongly support[s] the amendment and appreciate[s] Rep. Sirota’s willingness to include it in the bill.”

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    Krista Kafer

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  • Sustainable Development of 39 Small Island Developing States No Time to Wait

    Sustainable Development of 39 Small Island Developing States No Time to Wait

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    • Opinion by Palitha Kohona (colombo, sri lanka)
    • Inter Press Service

    COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Jun 18 (IPS) – Today Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and the environmental threats they confront require our urgent attention —and the global spotlight needs to be trained deliberately and maintained consistently on their concerns, in particular, climate change, marine biological diversity loss and sustainable development goals (SDGs).

    A world in which other pressing matters compete for attention, this challenge could easily be neglected.

    There is a significant community of small island states in the world. The United Nations recognizes 39 of them. The aggregate population of all the SIDS is 65 million, slightly less than 1% of the world’s population but nevertheless a population that requires our attention.

    https://www.un.org/ohrlls/content/list-sids

    They share similar sustainable development challenges, including small populations, limited local resources, including land, remoteness, susceptibility to frequent natural disasters, easy vulnerability to external shocks, excessive dependence on external trade and almost all are highly threatened by climate change.

    SIDS were recognized as a special case both for their environment and development challenges at the?1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development? in Rio de Janeiro.?

    High import and export costs will continue to be a factor in their economies, while their dependence on external markets due to the narrow resource bases make them particularly vulnerable. Since they control sea areas (in particularly the Exclusive Economic Zones),on average 28 times the size of their land mass, much of their natural resources come from the seas and oceans that surround them.

    Therefore, the seas and oceans are critical from their perspective. Vulnerability to exogenous economic shocks and fragile land and marine ecosystems make SIDS particularly susceptible to biodiversity loss and climate change.

    The Blue Economy, defined by World Bank as the “sustainable use of ocean resources to benefit economies, livelihoods and ocean ecosystem health” becomes particularly relevant to SIDS.

    Over 40 percent of SIDS are affected by, or are on the edge of, unsustainable levels of debt, severely constraining their ability to invest in resilience, climate action and sustainable development. This is why they have been recognised as a special group that requires concentrated assistance.

    The four main geographical regions in which SIDS are concentrated are the Caribbean, the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean.?

    4th International Conference on SIDS, 27 – 30 May, 2004

    In his opening address as the President of the 4th International Conference on SIDS, Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, forcefully underlined the importance of its theme — “Charting the Course Toward Resilient Prosperity”.

    Stressing that such States are “on the front lines of a battlefield of a confluence of crises — none of which they have caused or created” — he said that the small size of such States, limited financial resources and constrained human capital, place them at a marked disadvantage on the global stage. Further, their journey towards development has been repeatedly disrupted by monumental crises, among them the financial meltdown of 2008 and the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.

    Reflecting the sentiments of many, he called for urgent, multilateral solutions, and he observed that those present are gathered “not only to reiterate challenges, but also to demand and enact solutions”. The Global North, in particular, must honour its commitments — including providing $1 billion in climate financing to assist with adaptation and mitigation.

    Gaston Browne identified a clear gap in the oft expressed pious sentiments of the international community and actual action taken to implement these.

    SIDS Dependency on the Seas and Oceans

    Traditionally most small island states, surrounded by the seas and oceans, have been dependent on the oceans far more than bigger states for most of their needs. The seas provide a significant part of their food, including, fish, crustaceans, sea weed, etc, energy needs are imported across the seas, introduced and imported food, tourism which plays a considerable economic role, daily essentials and exports.

    Sea food is a critical source of protein for SIDs. Today lobsters, prawns, scallops, mussels, etc are also a major income source for fishermen and a critical foreign exchange earner.

    The income and protein source provided by the seas and oceans is threatened in some areas by overfishing, pollution, predatory and unregulated fishing by distant water fishers and, critically, by the impacts of climate change. The warming of the oceans is already having a devastating impact on coral reefs, so important as spawning grounds for myriads of fish and other economically important species.

    Warming seas are likely to cause some fish species to migrate away from their traditional habitats and others to become extinct. Tuna migration habits in the Pacific Ocean, for example, are changing due to the heating of the ocean. This could have an enormous impact on Pacific small island states whose food supplies and economies depend on the tuna catch, and could cause an estimated $140 million loss in average government revenue per year.

    Given the importance of the marine environment to small island states, it is vital that the exploitation of the resource takes place sustainably. Once a vital resource of this nature is lost, it is unlikely that it will recover in a short time, if ever. International agreements and arrangements in place at present with need to implemented with vigour and other arrangements may have to be put in place.

    International Action and Options for SIDS

    With their small economies, SIDS are at the mercy of the elements and with limited fall back options. A single hurricane could wipe out the economies of some small island states. Despite their minimal historical greenhouse gas emissions, SIDS face some of the most severe impacts of climate change, with serious loss and damage in the form of destroyed infrastructure, economic and cultural loss, loss of lives and livelihoods, loss of biodiversity and forced displacement.

    It is now widely acknowledged that the depletion of the resource of the seas and oceans will result in numerable and unpredictable consequences including, massive unemployment, increased poverty, malnutrition, overall negative economic impacts, economic migration which will have repercussions for neighboring countries and possible community unrest.

    Some international initiatives offer adaptation options to the SIDS.

    The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) established the Regional Seas Programme in 1974. (The Programme now administers this regional mechanism for the conservation of the marine and coastal environment to address the accelerating marine pollution). 18 regions participate in the Programme, of which 14 Regional Seas programmes are underpinned by legally binding conventions. The participating regions include, South Asian Seas, South-East Pacific, Western Africa and the Wider Caribbean where many of the SIDS are located.

    In January 2015, the General Assembly began the negotiation process on the post-2015 development agenda, essentially the post Millennium Development Goals agenda. The process culminated in the adoption, at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015, of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with 17 SDGs and 169 targets at its core.

    Following the adoption of Agenda 2030, the Regional Seas Programme seeks to assist Member States in achieving the ocean-related SDGs by coordinating national actions at the regional level. SIDS stand to benefit considerably from these programmes. Thus the Regional Seas programmes set the Regional Seas Strategic Directions (2017-2020) and decided to:

      1. Reduce marine pollution of all kinds in line with the SDG Goal 14.1.
      2. Create increased resilience of people, marine and coastal ecosystems, and their health and productivity, in line with the SDG Goal 13 and decisions made at the UNFCCC COP21.
      3. Develop integrated, ecosystem-based regional ocean policies and strategies for sustainable use of marine and coastal resources, paying close attention to blue growth.
      4. Enhance effectiveness of Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans as regional platforms for supporting integrated ocean policies and management.

    Under the Paris Accords of 2015, developed country Parties to the Accords agreed to provide financial resources to assist highly vulnerable country Parties with regard to both mitigation and adaptation consistent with their existing obligations under the Convention.

    The UNEP Adaptation Finance GAP Report estimates that adaptation finance needs in developing countries will reach $140 billion – $300 billion per year by 2030, and $280 billion to $500 billion per year by 2050. SIDS, if they are proactive in the search for funding, are expected to be a major beneficiary under this commitment.

    It is recalled that under the Paris Accords, developed countries reaffirmed the commitment to mobilize $100 billion a year in climate finance by 2020, and agreed to continue mobilising finance at this level until 2025. This commitment included finance for the Green Climate Fund, which is a part of the UNFCCC, and also for a variety of other public and private programmes. This amount has not been reached at all.

    The Paris Accords also recognize loss and damage. Loss and damage can stem from extreme weather events, or from slow-onset events such as the loss of land to sea level rise for low-lying islands and the warming of the seas. Tuna migration habits in the Pacific Ocean, for example, are changing due to the heating of the ocean.

    The push to address loss and damage as a distinct issue in the Paris Agreement came from the Alliance of Small Island States and the Least Developed Countries, whose economies and livelihoods are most vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change.

    At Cop 27 in 2022 countries agreed to establish a Loss and Damage Fund, which would provide financial assistance to climate-vulnerable countries. The fund was officially operationalized at Cop 28 in November 2023. The major beneficiaries can be the SIDS.

    In 2021, Tuvalu in the Pacific and Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean established a Commission for Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law. The intention is to take claims for loss and damage to international judicial tribunals.

    Vanuatu is also leading a campaign to ask the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on climate change. This initiative had its beginnings in2014 under the sponsorship of Mauritius.

    Now we have an additional development which should make us think deeper.

    June 2023, the United Nations adopted a new treaty under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (‘BBNJ’). Today, this is also known as the High Seas Biodiversity Treaty.

    During the negotiations on this treaty, while the developed North focused more on Marine Protected Areas, and these are important, the South was equally interested in the equitable sharing of the benefits of exploiting the mega genetic pool of the oceans.

    Properly managed, implemented in the right spirit, the sharing of benefits under this treaty could bring considerable material rewards to SIDS. They will benefit considerably if the sharing of benefits of the exploitation of BBNJ works well. It has been said that a single bucket of sea water could contain more genetic material than hectares of dry land.

    Already major pharmaceutical companies are producing drugs developed from genetic material recovered from the high seas.

    Dr Palitha Kohona is former Sri Lanka Ambassador to China and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN and one-time Co-Chair of the UN ad hoc committee on BBNJ.

    IPS UN Bureau


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    © Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • OPINION: There’s a promising path to get students back on track to graduation – The Hechinger Report

    OPINION: There’s a promising path to get students back on track to graduation – The Hechinger Report

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    Rates of chronic absenteeism are at record-high levels. More than 1 in 4 students missed 10 percent or more of the 2021-22 school year. That means millions of students missed out on regular instruction, not to mention the social and emotional benefits of interacting with peers and trusted adults.

    Moreover, two-thirds of the nation’s students attended a school where chronic absence rates reached at least 20 percent. Such levels disrupt entire school communities, including the students who are regularly attending.

    The scope and scale of this absenteeism crisis necessitate the implementation of the next generation of student support.

    Fortunately, a recent study suggests a promising path for getting students back in school and back on track to graduation. A group of nearly 50 middle and high schools saw reductions in chronic absenteeism and course failure rates after one year of harnessing the twin powers of data and relationships.

    From the 2021-22 to 2022-23 school years, the schools’ chronic absenteeism rates dropped by 5.4 percentage points, and the share of students failing one or more courses went from 25.5 percent to 20.5 percent. In the crucial ninth grade, course failure rates declined by 9.2 percentage points.

    These encouraging results come from the first cohort of rural and urban schools and communities partnering with the GRAD Partnership, a collective of nine organizations, to grow  the use of “student success systems” into a common practice.

    Student success systems take an evidence-based approach to organizing school communities to better support the academic progress and well-being of all students.

    They were developed with input from hundreds of educators and build on the successes of earlier student support efforts — like early warning systems and on-track initiatives — to meet students’ post-pandemic needs.

    Related: Widen your perspective. Our free biweekly newsletter consults critical voices on innovation in education.

    Importantly, student success systems offer schools a way to identify school, grade-level and classroom factors that impact attendance; they then deliver timely supports to meet individual students’ needs. They do this, in part, by explicitly valuing supportive relationships and responding to the insights that students and the adults who know them bring to the table.

    Valuable relationships include not only those between students and teachers, and schools and families, but also those among peer groups and within the entire school community. Schools cannot address the attendance crisis without rebuilding and fostering these relationships.

    When students feel a sense of connection to school they are more likely to show up.

    For some students, this connection comes through extracurricular activities like athletics, robotics or band. For others, it may be a different connection to school.

    Schools haven’t always focused on connections in a concrete way, partly because relationships can feel fuzzy and hard to track. We’re much better at tracking things like grades and attendance.

    Still, schools in the GRAD Partnership cohort show that it can be done.

    These schools established “student success teams” of teachers, counselors and others. The teams meet regularly to look at up-to-date student data and identify and address the root causes of absenteeism with insight and input from families and communities, as well as the students themselves.

    The teams often use low-tech relationship-mapping tools to help identify students who are disconnected from activities or mentors. One school’s student success team used these tools to ensure that all students were connected to at least one activity — and even created new clubs for students with unique interests. Their method was one that any school could replicate —collaborating on a Google spreadsheet.

    Another school identified students who would benefit from a new student mentoring program focused on building trusting relationships.

    Related: PROOF POINTS: The chronic absenteeism puzzle

    Some schools have used surveys of student well-being to gain insight on how students feel about school, themselves and life in general — and have then used the information to develop supports.

    And in an example of building supportive community relationships, one of the GRAD Partnership schools worked with local community organizations to host a resource night event at which families were connected on the spot to local providers who could help them overcome obstacles to regular attendance — such as medical and food needs, transportation and housing issues and unemployment.

    Turning the tide against our current absenteeism crisis does not have a one-and-done solution — it will involve ongoing collaborative efforts guided by data and grounded in relationships that take time to build.

    Without these efforts, the consequences will be severe both for individual students and our country as a whole.

    Robert Balfanz is a research professor at the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University School of Education, where he is the director of the Everyone Graduates Center.

    This story about post-pandemic education was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s newsletter.

    The Hechinger Report provides in-depth, fact-based, unbiased reporting on education that is free to all readers. But that doesn’t mean it’s free to produce. Our work keeps educators and the public informed about pressing issues at schools and on campuses throughout the country. We tell the whole story, even when the details are inconvenient. Help us keep doing that.

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    Robert Balfanz

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  • Caitlin Clark eventually got it right, but she needs to consider the agenda around her name

    Caitlin Clark eventually got it right, but she needs to consider the agenda around her name

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    INDIANAPOLIS — Athletes often speak in generalities as a defense mechanism. Rather than go in-depth on a potentially controversial topic, or even address the issue at all, they provide non-answers, using cliches and pre-programmed talking points to stay at a safe distance.

    A part of me would like to believe that that’s what Caitlin Clark did Thursday morning when I asked if she was bothered by fans using her name as a weapon in the culture wars dividing the country. The Indiana Fever’s star guard didn’t close the door on the subject; she refused to even open it.

    “No,” she declared. “I don’t see it. I don’t see it. That’s not where my focus is. My focus is here and on basketball. That’s where it needs to be, that’s where it has been, and I’m just trying to get better on a daily basis.”

    Clark backtracked five hours later, telling reporters that “people should not be using my name to push those agendas,” but the damage had already been done. Connecticut Sun wing DiJonai Carrington was among those who spoke out against her initial comments, saying on X: “Dawg, how one can not be bothered by their name being used to justify racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia & the intersectionalities of them all is nuts. We all see the sh*t. We all have a platform. We all have a voice & they all hold weight. Silence is a luxury.

    It’s not surprising that Clark would initially attempt to avoid the topic. She’s a rookie struggling to find her way on a new team in a new league, at a time when the shots that fell so consistently in college are now missing the mark with greater frequency. Instead of being the go-to closer, which contributed to her massive popularity at Iowa, she sometimes is on the bench in the waning moments because of turnover issues.

    But you don’t get to hide behind basketball when you’ve been anointed the transcendent, rising tide who will lift the WNBA to greater prosperity. And you definitely don’t get to do so when people are using your name as a means of pushing racism, misogyny, homophobia and other societal ills. To whom much is given, much is required, indeed.

    The subject is sure to raise its head again Sunday when the Chicago Sky come to town. Chicago players Chennedy Carter and Angel Reese have been targets of Clark supporters following separate incidents with Clark. Sky players said Carter and other team members were harassed at a team hotel days after leveling Clark with a dirty hip-check on June 1. And Reese has drawn ire from some Clark fans for mocking Clark during LSU’s national championship win two seasons ago.
    But they’re not the only Black women who have come under attack or been marginalized by those seeking to defend Clark. Teammate Aliyah Boston deleted one of her social media accounts because she was tired of being bombarded by “couch coaches,” many of whom sought to divert attention from Clark’s early struggles by pointing out Boston’s deficiencies.
    Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson is widely regarded as the WNBA’s best player and a high-character ambassador for the game and its players. But when she answered that race is a “huge” factor in why Black players have not received the same type of attention or marketing opportunities as Clark, social media went to work, with one person writing: “My advice to A’ja Wilson, instead of crediting this young lady’s popularity to race in a league where 60 percent of the players are Black, you should thank Caitlin Clark because without her, I wouldn’t know who you are or be talking about your sport.”

    There is a tradition in professional sports that high-profile rookies are to be tested. Veterans go at them hard to see what they’re made of. Doesn’t matter the sport or the gender. But when Carrington fouled Clark and mocked the rookie for what she perceived to be an embellishment of the contact, much of the social media commentary was predictable. “Caitlin Clark was targeted by black players again Monday, this time in Connecticut,” one person wrote. “Suns (sic) guard DiJonai Carrington violently checked Clark then mocked her after the blatant foul. The crowd booed. If the races were reversed Carrington would’ve been ejected.”

    Clark did not make the comments, but I was curious about her feelings about people using her name as a divisive tool. Her initial response Thursday morning: “It’s not something I can control, so I don’t put too much thought and time into thinking about things like that. And, to be honest, I don’t see a lot of it. Like I’ve said, basketball is my job. Everything on the outside, I can’t control that so I’m not going to spend time thinking about that. People can talk about what they want to talk about, create conversations about whatever it is, but I think for myself, I’m just here to play basketball. I’m just here to have fun. I’m trying to help our team win. … I don’t pay much mind to all of that, to be honest.”

    But is she being forthright? It must be said that Clark is 22 and dealing with tremendous demands and expectations. That definitely should provide her with a level of grace. Still, her comments were troubling because they lacked awareness and empathy toward Black peers who do not have the privilege of distancing themselves from the isms they are regularly confronted with.

    Carrington likened her silence to luxury. I see it as complicity.

    Perhaps she didn’t want to fully address it because of the sensitivity involved? Or maybe she was following the advice of her inner circle, including advisors who might believe it’s more profitable to say nothing? It worked well for Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, though it sent the message that money was more important than morality. But the initial unwillingness to stand against hate and harassment was always going to be problematic in a league that is predominately Black, and has a sizable LGBTQ+ population.

    By happenstance, her comments came on the same day the Women’s National Basketball Players Association posted a column on The Players’ Tribune that highlighted how proud its members are of their history of fighting against social injustices. “Our work has always been bigger than basketball,” it stated at one point.

    That’s why it was important that Clark revisited her comments late Thursday, an hour or so before tipoff against the Atlanta Dream. She ran the danger of losing the respect of some of her peers, particularly at a time when more and more prominent White players are speaking out as allies in the fight against racism and homophobia.

    It would have been conspicuous and problematic for a league that prides itself on inclusion and acceptance to have its most visible player standing silent on the sideline when legendary WNBA guard Sue Bird spoke out in a 2020 CNN piece, or UConn guard Paige Bueckers addressed it during her 2021 ESPYs acceptance speech, or former LSU guard Hailey Van Lith last March called criticism of her Black teammates racist, or with Los Angeles Sparks rookie Cameron Brink last week saying, “I will acknowledge there’s a privilege for the younger White players of the league.”

    No one is asking Clark to be a social activist or to be a prominent face in the fight for respect, but it is important for her to at least denounce those who might use her name to espouse hate and division.

    “It’s disappointing, it’s not acceptable …,” she said before tipoff of people using her name to push agendas. “This league is a league I grew up admiring and wanting to be a part of. Some of the women in this league were my biggest idols and role models growing up. … Treating every single woman in this league with the same amount of respect is just a basic human thing that everybody should do. Just be a kind person and treat them how you would want to be treated.”

    It may have taken her time to express those sentiments, but that should not overshadow that she ultimately got to the right place. It was a positive step for her and the league.

    (Photo: Greg Fiume / Getty Images)

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    The New York Times

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  • Denver bar offers high-brow cocktails in a low-key setting

    Denver bar offers high-brow cocktails in a low-key setting

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    Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems).

    I was in a bad mood the first time I set foot inside Yacht Club. It had been a long day and I didn’t feel like fighting my way through a crowd for a basic cocktail. It didn’t help that the interior of the little building was decorated in a style I was snarkily calling “kitschy hipster-chic dive-bar modern.”

    But it wasn’t that crowded on the day my wife and I sat at the bar and took a look at a menu with a long list of delicious-looking (and decidedly non-basic) cocktails.

    One, in particular, stood out to me: Changes in Attitude, which was made with Scotch, Madeira wine, pineapple, coconut, lemon, buttermilk and a giant ice cube. I asked the bartender about the wine and he pointed out that there is wine in almost every cocktail at Yacht Club. He also patiently explained the other ingredients and how some of the drinks were batched in advance.

    My wife and I ended up splitting three Changes in Attitude. It was that good.

    The banana daiquiri is a signature drink at Yacht Club, 3701 Williams St., in Denver. (Photo credit: Gottlieb)

    Over the next hour or so, I had my own change in attitude – not entirely surprising based on the Scotch – but also because Yacht Club began to grow on me. The decor now seemed more charming than overwrought; the bartender continued to be patient; the drinks were excellent and the music was good: an eclectic mix of yacht rock classics, ‘90s alt bangers and pop ballads.

    The second time I visited Yacht Club was even better, and the third time, I felt right at home.

    That feeling is just what Yacht Club owners Mary Allison Wright and McLain Hedges were hoping for when they opened in an old building at 3701 Williams St., next to Brasserie Brixton, in 2021.

    “We want to make people feel at ease,” Hedges said. “To make them comfortable.”

    The pair had a long time to think about how to do that. They first opened Yacht Club in a central area inside The Source food hall in the River North Art District in 2015. When their lease ran out four years later, they began looking for another home and finally found one in March 2020. Luckily for them, it fell through. Otherwise, the pandemic would likely have put an end to it.

    Instead, Hedges and Wright joined a “forced reckoning” in the restaurant and bar industry, spending their downtime asking themselves what they missed the most about bars and what they’d like to return to. The answers aligned perfectly with the space on Williams Street.

    But there was another challenge. How to create a dive-style neighborhood bar that didn’t seem “too precious” or overly manipulated,” Wright explained. Part of the solution was putting the bar staff to work actually building the bar, something that kept them employed during the pandemic-y days before opening. Eventually, Wright and Hedges decided on the following design ethos: If a yacht took a detour through a swamp and ran ashore, and you could only build a bar using what you had on board and what was available in the swamp, what would it look like?

    That now includes everything from prodigious plant life to year-round Christmas lights to nautical trinkets, funky decorations, a huge wine list and a healthy dose of Jimmy Buffett.

    “At the end of the day, you can’t just create a dive bar. They manifest themselves over time. But they usually start as neighborhood bars and that is where we are,” Hedges said.

    Mary Allison Wright and McLain Hedges (in chairs) eating hot dogs with staff of Yacht Club, a Denver bar that opened in 2021. (Photo credit: Shawn Campbell)
    Mary Allison Wright and McLain Hedges (in chairs) eating hot dogs with staff of Yacht Club, a Denver bar that opened in 2021. (Photo credit: Shawn Campbell)

    The desire to be “a melting pot” for the changing neighborhoods around them – Cole, Clayton, City Park, Whittier, Skyland, Five Points – is also how they came up with their menu, he explained. You can get cocktails for around $15 a pop or a shot and a beer for $7. You can get a bottle of French champagne for $250 or a Jack-and-Coke and a hot dog for $9.

    “Normally, people choose one or the other” when they start a bar, Hedges said. “But we wanted to remain accessible to the industry, the neighborhood and anyone who comes in the door.”

    Did I mention the hot dogs? A regular frank is $4, a chilidog is $6 and one with cheeseball spread is $7. There’s also a caviar, crème fraiche and pickled shallot dog for $20 (the ultimate “glizzy“).

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    Jonathan Shikes

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  • Rauw Alejandro and Peso Pluma Are Taking the Stage at Gov Ball — and It’s About Time

    Rauw Alejandro and Peso Pluma Are Taking the Stage at Gov Ball — and It’s About Time

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    Rauw Alejandro and Peso Pluma are set to take the stage at the 2024 Governor’s Ball in NYC between June 7 and 9. While Becky G and J Balvin performed at the music festival in 2022 and 2021, respectively, this year marks the first time that two Latin music acts are headlining on separate days. And it’s about time.

    Since the 1940s and ’50s, when cha cha and mambo took the US by storm, the mass appeal of Latin music has been undeniable. With its mix of West African and Spanish rhythms, the music is inherently danceable, which no doubt has helped genres like salsa and reggaetón break down the language barrier. You don’t need to know what Bad Bunny‘s saying to be able to move to the beat. And yet, for a long time, Latin and African artists could only be found at music festivals that catered to those demographics specifically. This is no longer the case, as major music festivals have recently started including more Latin acts in their lineups.

    In 2023, Bad Bunny became the first Spanish-language artist to headline Coachella, where Eladio Carrión and Anuel AA also appeared. That same year, iLe, PJ Sin Suela, and Los Rivera Destino performed at the SXSW Music Festival. In 2024, Coachella doubled down on the Latin acts, inviting both Peso Pluma and J. Balvin. And the trend doesn’t seem to be stopping.

    But why has it taken so long for major festivals to get the message that our music is so fire? Back in the 1970s, the Fania All-Stars proved that music sung entirely in Spanish can have global appeal. The reggaetón boom of the early 2000s became a cultural phenomenon that saw the genre play on both English and Spanish-language radio. So what gives? Well, I have a simple hypothesis: money.

    It’s no secret that Latin music has grown exponentially over the past decade, outpacing the overall growth of the music industry by a wide margin. While made for our communities, our music is no longer limited to them. I remember when I was a kid, watching all the new reggaetón videos would drop on mun2. Now, I go on YouTube, and all the latest music videos have English subtitles. It goes to show how far we’ve come when it comes to making commercially viable music. But more than that, having Latin and African headliners at major festivals taps into the power of the communities behind them, introducing some much-needed sazón. Not only does it bring in a more diverse audience to the festival scene, but given the current state of live music, it also grows these artists’ audiences while pumping up lagging ticket sales.

    Both Jennifer Lopez and Bad Bunny were trending recently due to lower-than-expected ticket sales. So, no, Latin artists aren’t immune to overall industry trends. Back in April, Coachella also made headlines for decreasing ticket sales. But I wonder if bringing Latin artists to music festivals might just solve the issue.

    Touring is inherently expensive. For successful artists to tour, they must invest a lot of money in visual effects, travel logistics, crew, and more. It’s part of the reason bigger artists are limited to perform at arenas and stadiums that pack 30,000-plus fans and charge exorbitant prices for tickets. The way festivals are set up, however, while the initial ticket prices might be higher, music lovers get multiple nights and experience multiple acts for the cost. This immediately expands the target audience and offsets the cost of the show. Latin and African artists get to perform in front of a mixed crowd of both die-hard fans and newcomers who are more open than ever to receiving their music, increasing the value of their brand without having to incur all the costs of putting on the show themselves. It’s a win-win for everybody.

    But apart from the monetary incentives, what Latin and African artists really bring to music festivals is unrivaled energy. Our cultures are predicated on all-night parties and dancing. Look at what Bad Bunny and Burna Boy did in their respective Grammy performances. Combining traditional cultural elements and instrumentation, catchy lyrics and melodies is a winning formula that our musical genres have perfected over decades. The result? A sound guaranteed to turn even the stuffiest festival atmosphere into a full-on vibe. I can only hope that the inclusion of these artists isn’t solely a fad, but a sign of greater diversity to come.

    Miguel Machado is a journalist with expertise in the intersection of Latine identity and culture. He does everything from exclusive interviews with Latin music artists to opinion pieces on issues that are relevant to the community, personal essays tied to his Latinidad, and thought pieces and features relating to Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican culture.

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    Miguel Machado

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  • The Never-Ending Trolling of Jennifer Lopez Is Deeply Rooted in Misogyny

    The Never-Ending Trolling of Jennifer Lopez Is Deeply Rooted in Misogyny

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    Jennifer Lopez‘s illustrious career in music and film has once again taken a backseat to her love life. Despite her blockbuster hits, platinum-selling albums, sold-out tours, and a Las Vegas residency, the Latina megastar continues to be chastised about her romantic relationships. Front and center today is her marriage to Ben Affleck, with various opinions and rumors swirling on social media. But all the chatter points to one thing: blatant misogyny from internet trolls and the media that places the blame on Lopez for her failed relationships. From the divorce rumors to the cancellation of her tour, Lopez is being kicked while she’s down, and the public seems thirsty for it.

    Today’s headlines paint a one-sided picture of Affleck navigating a tumultuous marriage to an overly ambitious, workaholic diva who can’t seem to get love right. These biased narratives seem to be one reason why Lopez released her film “This Is Me…Now” and its accompanying album by the same name, as well as the documentary that shows the behind-the-scenes of it all, “The Greatest Love Story Never Told.” Still, she can’t seem to break through the noise, the trolling, and the harassment bestowed upon her.

    On June 5, Lopez addressed the situation to fans via her On The JLo newsletter, where she wrote: “It may seem like there’s a lot of negativity out in the world right now . . . but don’t let the voices of a few drown out that there is soooo much love out there. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I love you all so much.”

    Let’s be clear: Lopez is being put through the wringer about her love life for two reasons. First off, she’s a woman — a powerful woman at that — and the second reason is because she’s Latina. The machismo culture is toxic and exists widely throughout Latin America and here in the United States. One 2022 study found higher rates of sexism among Latinos in the US and concluded that the reinforcement of the machismo narrative in the media is a misleading reproduction of harmful stereotypes against Latines. In other words, when the Latine community jumps to bashing J Lo, it leaves the door wide open for anyone else to join the bandwagon, forgetting that behind the hate is a woman, a mother, and someone who has never denied how much she loves love.

    When gossip about her relationships prevails, it obscures Lopez’s triumphant success story. Lopez was able to obtain the American dream ten-fold. Still, instead of being continuously celebrated for this, all the attention is focused on things going awry in her love life. The public discourse always seems to harp on what she did wrong. Maybe she didn’t pay enough attention to her man, or her career demands strained their relationship. Or maybe her global fame was overshadowing poor, poor Ben. Let’s be real: if Lopez were a man, Latine or not, would this still be the case?

    It’s not just Lopez. Take legendary actress and EGOT Rita Moreno, a Puerto Rican actress who was married to Leonard Gordon for 45 years until his death in 2010. But before that, Moreno was scrutinized for her love affairs with Hollywood royalty like Marlon Brando and music superstars like Elvis Presley.

    So, what are we telling little girls, Latine and otherwise, about being ambitious and successful? It’s similar to America Ferrera’s speech in “Barbie.” A woman can be successful but not too successful. She can shine like the brightest star as long as she isn’t blinding him or leaving him in the shadows. She can be strong but not appear stronger than her man in public. She can love herself, but not too much, because it will appear like diva-ish, self-centered behavior.

    The greatest love story Lopez never told is how much she has had to love herself through very public relationships and the breakups everyone seems to be waiting for. After all, how could a woman choose her career over love, right?

    Zayda Rivera is a POPSUGAR contributor. She has been a professional writer for more than 20 years. Z is a certified Reiki Master Teacher, yoga and Zumba instructor, mindfulness and meditation guide, tarot reader, and spiritual mentor.

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    Zayda Rivera

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  • Why the pregnancy speculation around Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga is dangerous

    Why the pregnancy speculation around Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga is dangerous

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    Sigh. In today’s edition of ‘people are still really obsessed with women’s bodies’, we need to talk about the recent social media frenzy surrounding Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga – all centred around whether or not the women are pregnant. Yes, seriously.

    Both were pictured simply not having an entirely flat abdomen – Taylor while performing during her Eras tour and Lady Gaga at her sister’s wedding with a paparazzi’s telescopic lens – and apparently this was seen as an open invitation for the world to question and discuss their fertility status.

    TikTok and Instagram quickly became dominated by frenzied speculation about the famous women, with even medical professionals giving their opinion: ‘Is Taylor Swift pregnant? An OBGYN weighs in’ was the title of one video.

    Taylor hasn’t addressed the rumours about herself but she has shared a message of support for fellow singer Lady Gaga, who denied the speculation in a TikTok video while referring to a lyric from Taylor’s song ‘Down Bad’: “Not pregnant. Just down bad cryin’ at the gym,” she wrote in the caption. Taylor rushed to the comments to defend the star: “Can we all agree that it’s invasive & irresponsible to comment on a woman’s body. Gaga doesn’t owe anyone an explanation & neither does any woman.”

    Spot on. The constant and often very public judgement of women’s bodies is totally unacceptable. It reeks of misogyny – I think we can all agree that body shaming disproportionately affects women and girls – and fatphobia. And, crucially, it’s dangerous. We know the negative impact that body shaming has on an individual: it has been shown to exacerbate and even lead to mental health issues including eating disorders, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and body dysmorphia.

    What makes this current situation even more sinister is the fact that Taylor has been vocal about the effect that judgement about her appearance has had on her mental health. During an interview with Variety in 2020, she addressed how a tabloid once claimed that she was pregnant as a teenager.

    “I remember how, when I was 18, that was the first time I was on the cover of a magazine,” she said. “And the headline was like ‘Pregnant at 18?’ And it was because I had worn something that made my lower stomach look not flat. So I just registered that as a punishment.” In her documentary Miss Americana, she also talked about struggling with an eating disorder, admitting that there have been times when she’s seen “a picture of me where I feel like I looked like my tummy was too big, or… someone said that I looked pregnant… and that’ll just trigger me to just starve a little bit – just stop eating.”

    Similarly, albeit much less recently, Gaga revealed her battle with bulimia. Back in 2012, while speaking at a conference for pupils in LA, she admitted she used to ‘throw up all the time in high school’, but ‘it made my voice bad, so I had to stop. The acid on your vocal cords – it’s very bad.’

    In apparent solidarity of their shared experience, in January 2023, Gaga reacted to a resurfaced clip of Taylor talking about her eating disorder, shared by a fan account on TikTok. “That’s really brave everything you said 🖤 wow”, she wrote.

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    Alex Light

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  • Nuggets Podcast: Who will stay, who will go for Denver this offseason, plus Luka Doncic vs. Nikola Jokic

    Nuggets Podcast: Who will stay, who will go for Denver this offseason, plus Luka Doncic vs. Nikola Jokic

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    In the latest edition of the Nuggets Ink podcast, beat writer Bennett Durando and sports editor Matt Schubert reconvene a day before the NBA Finals with plenty to talk about. Among the topics discussed:

    • The NBA Finals are here, with the Dallas Mavericks set to face the Boston Celtics. Is Luka Doncic the truth? Could he take the World’s Best Basketball Player title from Nikola Jokic if he beats the Celtics in the Finals?
    • The fellas hold a quick and informal draft of the top players in the NBA Finals. How many of the top eight players are Celtics? And who ultimately wins the series?
    • Looking ahead to free agency: Who is likely and who is completely unlikely to join the Nuggets this summer? Does Denver have any chance of bringing an impact player into the fold without trading one of its marquee starters?
    • Is Jayson Tatum a top-five player? Is Joel Embiid still in the conversation?

    Subscribe to the podcast
    SoundCloud | iTunes | Spotify | YouTube Music | RSS

    Producer: AAron Ontiveroz
    Music: “The Last Dragons” by Schama Noel

    Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.

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    Matt Schubert, Bennett Durando, AAron Ontiveroz

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  • What makes a game cinematic? The answer is changing

    What makes a game cinematic? The answer is changing

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    For two decades, the words “cinematic” and “blockbuster” have been, for most game directors, synonymous. During this window, which stretches back to the original God of War and Halo, we’ve enjoyed (or, for others, endured) big-budget video game creators aspiring to emulate their blockbuster film counterparts.

    If — somehow — you’ve never seen the films of Steven Spielberg or Michael Mann, you’ve nonetheless experienced them via contact highs from Uncharted, Grand Theft Auto, and practically every other Big Game released this millennium.

    But Indika, a game that sounds like a weed strain and plays like being stoned and scrolling through the Criterion Channel, has me hopeful that we’re approaching, with narrative video games, a turning point for what it means for a game to be “cinematic.”

    What fuels that hope is Indika’s creative similarities to a micro-budget indie horror film from the ’90s.

    The Blair Witch effect

    Is it possible for one game to change the look of an entire medium? And why would it be Indika, a game most readers haven’t played, or even heard of?

    25 years ago, The Blair Witch Project inspired countless parodies with a single shot. You know the one. You can see it in the trailer, the poster, or at the top of this story. The lead actress-slash-camera operator holds a cheap camcorder inches from her face. Tears well in her eyes, and a flashlight casts hard shadows across her dry skin.

    She’s terrified. She’s a mess. She’s barely in focus or even in frame.

    At that time, few commercial directors would film a shot so crudely, nor would a celebrity offer the audience such an intimate look inside their nostrils. Filmgoers expected movies to conform to a certain look, sound, and feel. But The Blair Witch Project didn’t resemble anything in theaters; it looked like a cheap documentary you’d find on the local PBS station. It looked real.

    Mike standing in a corner in The Blair Witch Project

    Photo: Haxan Films

    With that emphasis on “realism” above all else, the amateur camerawork accomplished its goal — scare the shit out of people — better than any expensive shot on an industry-grade camera could.

    The filmmakers had taken the empathic visual language of the documentary form and weaponized it. Look again at the shot. You don’t see an actress staring into the camcorder; you see a person. And so, as happens when you look someone in the eyes, a connection forms. This person, you think, could be you. Alone. In the woods. Something unknown stalking through the branches.

    The camerawork of The Blair Witch Project wasn’t cinematic, not in the classical sense. But in time, what audiences expected film and TV to look like would change to meet that image. Do we have the sprawling found-footage horror genre without it? Or the mega-popular docu-sitcoms like The Office and Modern Family?

    The creators of The Blair Witch Project, because of their limitations (no money! No sets! No actors!) looked for inspiration where others didn’t have to, and wouldn’t choose to. The film’s success then gave future creators big and small permission to follow its lead, forever changing what a Hollywood movie could look and feel like.

    Indika and the film school games

    Indika, the fantastic new adventure game from Odd Meter, tells the story of a young nun who loses her grip on reality in an alternate-history version of 19th-century Russia. Tortured by a voice in her head that may or may not be a demon, Indika partners with a sickly man who may or may not be divinely chosen by God. Together, they embark on a perilous road trip through beautiful forests, abandoned towns, and literalizations of biblical allegory.

    Indika is the latest — and one of the most impressive — examples of a sea change in the look and feel of cinematic games.

    You don’t have to play Indika to see what I mean (though, hey, you really should). In the announcement trailer, the game’s creators borrow liberally from filmmakers rarely associated with games. These directors, who can’t afford the spectacle and scale of big-budget filmmaking, rely on more audacious (and affordable) craft to distinguish their work.

    “We tried to use a standard limited set of [virtual camera] lenses to depict the limitations of inexpensive auteur cinema,” Indika game director Dmitry Svetlow told Polygon over email. He cited Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos, Russian filmmaker and slow cinema pioneer Andrei Tarkovsky, and former Monty Python member and infamous weirdo auteur Terry Gilliam as inspiration.

    Emma Stone as Bella Baxter in Poor Things dances wildly in a ballroom setting

    Emma Stone as Bella Baxter in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things.
    Image: Searchlight Pictures

    In Indika, the stark exterior landscapes and cold architecture resemble the striking but antiseptic sets of Lanthimos. In the game’s nunnery, a SnorriCam shot — in which the camera is strapped onto the actor and aimed at their face — recalls Blair Witch, of course, but also the works of ’90s music video director turned ’00s filmmaker Spike Jonze and Robert Webb’s comedy sketch series Sir Digby Chicken Caesar.

    Where Blair Witch borrowed the documentary aesthetic to force audiences to straighten their backs and pay attention, Svetlow and company are reaching into the toolbox of low-budget filmmaking to do something similar with games.

    Or, to put it crassly, Indika doesn’t just look like art films but feels like them. The story opens with the player inhabiting the habit of the titular young nun and fetching a pail of water from a well, then doing it again. And again. And again and again. Her steps up and down a grimy, snow-crunched slope in the abbey echo Tarkosvky’s long shots (like this one of a man carrying a candle for seven minutes) that were intentionally tedious, forcing us to feel time passing not just in a movie or a game, but in our life as we experience them.

    To make the game more cinematic, Svetlow wrote the team needed a “greater focus on dramaturgy, on the quality and depth of characters, as well as the necessary level of presentation of events.”

    In Indika, you don’t save the world or nail sick headshots. You accumulate poorly hidden collectibles and earn points, though they’re worth nothing and, by the standards of other games, a waste of time — something the game’s loading screens emphasize any chance they get. (“Don’t waste time collecting points, they are pointless.”) Sometimes Indika comes across a bench, and if you direct her to sit down on it, the game hands over the “film editing” to the player, allowing them to swap between different camera angles, some of which Indika doesn’t even appear in.

    You could move on, directing Indika to stand back up and continue about her business. Or you could let the camera rest, your mind wandering as your eyes lock onto a field of mud and snow. In a medium full of realistic 3D worlds rife with kinetic empowerment, Indika encourages you to indulge in a moment of peace and ceding of control.

    Change happens slowly and then all at once

    Can we be certain games like Indika will influence their big-budget peers? They already have.

    Here’s just one example: In 2009, Naughty Dog released Uncharted 2, a game rife with some of the most iconic blockbuster moments in the history of video games. Its opening, in which the hero climbs up a train that dangles off a cliff, may have inspired the latest Mission: Impossible, which ends with Tom Cruise doing something very, very similar.

    But tucked into Uncharted 2 is a sequence meant to contrast with these sorts of set-pieces. Around the midpoint, Nathan Drake hikes through a Tibetan village. He doesn’t climb any deadly cliffs. Nothing blows up. Nobody gets shot. This was, in its time, unusual — a moment in which the player could exist in a beautiful 3D environment without being required to destroy the village or its population.

    The Tibetan village sequence (and I swear this was acknowledged publicly, though now I struggle to find any quote) was cribbed from 2008’s The Graveyard, a short art game from the now-defunct micro studio Tale of Tales. In the game, an elderly woman walks the path of a graveyard, sits on a bench, reflects, and then returns from where she came. To younger readers, this will sound tedious. But to game critics at the time, this scene dropped into our minds like a new drug — a total shock to the system.

    Nathan Drake in Uncharted 2: Amont Thieves

    Nathan Drake in Uncharted 2.
    Image: Naughty Dog/Sony Computer Entertainment America

    With The Graveyard and Uncharted 2 and many other (mostly indie) games of that time period, the video game industry witnessed a surge in what would be dubbed “walking simulators,” a somewhat derisive term for a powerful idea: You make a beautiful, rich virtual space, then afford your players some time to exist within them.

    If The Graveyard could reshape the assumptions of cinematic video games, then why shouldn’t Indika help to bring the style of low-budget and arthouse filmmaking to Indika’s many peers?

    That’s the magic of this moment in video games: Indika isn’t alone in its ambitions to challenge our assumptions of what makes a game cinematic. Indie developers have been steadily pushing against the confines of what games look and feel like for over a decade. To the Moon. El Paso, Elsewhere. Disco Elysium. I could double my word count with nothing more than titles.

    But what’s different now, and what Indika reflects, is the independent games scene accelerating up an exponential hockey stick of creative output.

    A nun bathed in red light in arthouse game Indika.

    Image: Odd Meter/11 bit studios

    Much like The Blair Witch Project (and countless other indie films since its release) was made possible by the first boom of consumer-level cameras and filmmaking tools, Indika and its ilk reflect a new era of game production where a small team — thanks to cost-effective and ultra-powerful dev tools — can take a risk on a personal project. In fact, with modern game engines, indie game developers can accomplish visual feats indie filmmakers could only imagine.

    “We recreated a non-existent fairy-tale world; to do this for cinema would have cost an order of magnitude more,” Svetlow told Polygon.

    Since I finished Indika, I’ve played three more oddly “cinematic” games — Arctic Eggs, 1000xResist, and Crow Country — and it feels like every week another new game appears, its creators taking a bat to the expectations of what a game should look and feel like. Now and then the bat is bound to connect and pop open this medium, releasing an entirely new style that artists will pounce on, like kids grabbing candy from a smashed piñata.

    Perhaps Indika, in time, will reveal itself to be one of these special games. The Blair Witch of video games, launching a thousand projects that build on the arthouse aesthetic. Or perhaps this abundance of creativity will — not with one bold release or one inspirational aesthetic — radically change the idea of what makes a game “cinematic” to the point that we’re less worried about how a game can look like a film, and these interactive narrative experiences that we’d previously compare to great films can have a look that’s recognizably and thrillingly their own.

    I hope we get there. In the meantime, I’ll be grateful to play games that aspire to match ambitious and inventive directors, rather than playing yet another video game that could be mistaken for Free Guy.

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    Chris Plante

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  • To Tackle Climate Crisis, the World Bank Must Stop Financing Industrial Livestock

    To Tackle Climate Crisis, the World Bank Must Stop Financing Industrial Livestock

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    • Opinion by Carolina Galvani, Monique Mikhail (washington dc)
    • Inter Press Service

    WASHINGTON DC, May 29 (IPS) – Last week, the World Bank Group released a new report that highlights the urgent need to drastically reduce GHG emissions to address the climate crisis and calls on countries to act. However, while the World Bank’s acknowledgment of the damaging climate impacts of industrial agriculture is a crucial step forward, it’s simply not enough.

    To address the climate emergency, the World Bank must walk the talk and take action on its own portfolio – which currently has billions invested in livestock production – by halting all financing for the global expansion of factory farming.

    First, the climate consequences of industrial livestock are staggering. As the World Bank’s report points out, the global agrifood system accounts for approximately one-third of all global greenhouse gas emissions, and industrial livestock production accounts for the lion’s share of these.

    Research has shown that livestock production alone will consume nearly half of the world’s 1.5°C emissions budget by 2030 and a staggering 80% by 2050. The World Bank’s report aptly states that “the system that feeds us is also feeding the planet’s climate crisis.”

    The World Bank cannot effectively tackle the climate crisis without a significant shift in lending away from high-polluting industrial livestock and toward a more sustainable food system.

    Second, the World Bank’s continued financing for industrial livestock starkly contradicts its own commitments, spanning from the Paris Agreement targets to the Sustainable Development Goals to the Bank’s biodiversity policies, and even its own mission statement.

    The World Bank itself says that “the world cannot achieve the Paris Agreement targets without achieving net zero emissions in the agrifood system.” Yet, the Bank continues to finance the expansion of industrial livestock – putting the Bank’s financing at odds with its commitment to align its strategies, activities, and investments with the climate goals of the Paris Agreement.

    The Bank’s financial support for industrial livestock goes against other obligations as well, including the Bank’s commitment to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    A 2019 report from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development highlights the adverse human health and environmental impacts of industrial agriculture, including livestock and feed production, and the ways in which it undermines several SDGs, including poverty eradication (1), zero hunger (2), good health (3), clean water (6), decent work (8), responsible consumption and production (12), and climate action (13).

    Adding to this, despite the World Bank’s claim that it is “putting nature at the core of development efforts”, the Bank is continuing to undermine biodiversity by supporting the expansion of industrial livestock production when this sector, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), is the primary threat to over 85% of the 28,000 species at risk of extinction.

    Beyond global commitments, financing industrial livestock is also at odds with the World Bank’s own mission statement. World Bank President Ajay Banga took the reins at the World Bank a year ago with a mandate to help countries mitigate the climate crisis.

    As part of that mandate, the World Bank updated its mission statement, stating it will work “to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity on a livable planet.” To achieve this mission, the World Bank must reassess its investments and immediately cease financing the expansion of industrial livestock.

    Finally, like all development institutions, the World Bank has limited resources and must carefully choose the best projects to achieve its overall mission. In practice, this means that every dollar spent on industrial livestock is a dollar not invested in what the World Bank itself has acknowledged is the necessary just transition to a sustainable agrifood system. The Bank must redirect its support toward transitioning to a just and sustainable global food system.

    As the Bank rightly points out in its recent report, “he world has avoided confronting agrifood system emissions for as long as it could because of the scope and complexity of the task…now is the time to put agriculture and food at the top of the mitigation agenda. If not, the world will be unable to ensure a livable planet for future generations.”

    It’s past time for the Bank to heed its own warning.

    The World Bank must immediately cease its support for industrial livestock — a primary driver of climate change, biodiversity loss, public health crises, and food insecurity — and direct the Bank’s resources and considerable influence toward reforming and reshaping agriculture and food systems.

    Our future on a livable planet depends on it.

    Carolina Galvani is the executive director of Sinergia Animal, an international animal protection organization working in the Global South to end the worst practices of industrial animal agriculture. Monique Mikhail is the Agriculture and Climate Finance Campaigns Director at Friends of the Earth U.S. Sinergia Animal and Friends of the Earth are members of the Stop Financing Factory Farming coalition.

    IPS UN Bureau


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

    © Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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    Global Issues

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  • Grandma’s pasta salad recipe is a summer backyard bbq tradition

    Grandma’s pasta salad recipe is a summer backyard bbq tradition

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    Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we will offer our opinions on the best Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems).

    Growing up in my household, summer was synonymous with pasta salad.

    At every backyard barbecue, birthday or casual lunch, my grandma’s version is requested. And every friend that gives it a try begs for the recipe.

    Tri-color rotini pasta makes a bright base for a bounty of Italian toppings, (everything but the kitchen sink) like black and green olives, mozzarella, artichokes and pepperoni. The best part is seeing what ingredients picky people leave behind on their plates. My brother isn’t a fan of celery, while I usually leave the black olives behind. But each component is crucial to the formula.

    A couple of years ago, we made a cookbook featuring all of our grandmother’s recipes, and the most worn-out page is already the coveted pasta salad recipe.

    We pretty much eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and if one family member makes it for themselves, the rest come flocking with Tupperware in hand. I don’t remember a life without Anita Schneider’s pasta salad, and I don’t want to. So, if you want to be the MVP of your next summer party, test out the recipe below:

    Anita Schneider’s Pasta Salad:

    This recipe takes 40 minutes of prep time and 20 minutes to cook. Serves 8.

    Ingredients

    1 1-lb package of Tri-color Rotini Pasta (Pasta LaBella)

    1 can sliced black olives (3.8 oz)

    1 jar sliced green olives (10 oz)

    1 can quartered artichokes

    1 carton of grape tomatoes (halved)

    Small packaged sliced Pepperoni (mini if you can find)

    8 oz package of mozzarella cheese

    Chopped celery (1 or 2 stalks)

    Black pepper to taste

    1 bottle Creamy Italian salad dressing (Kraft)

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    Lily O'Neill

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  • Mueller: Has the NFL WR market reached a breaking point? How much is too much?

    Mueller: Has the NFL WR market reached a breaking point? How much is too much?

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    I’m not one for letting good players walk out the door.

    I know from experience that talent is too hard to replace, even with the best-hatched plan, without taking a step backward. So I understand that, at least sometimes, proven teams need to overpay slightly for the sake of continuity.

    But recent contracts for NFL wide receivers have forced me to at least question my philosophy. And that tells me that general managers and team-builders around the NFL are no doubt contemplating that question as well.

    It’s not because these receivers lack talent. They are all really good players. But the contract numbers are making the team-building equation more complicated than ever.

    The dilemma is twofold. First, if you’re going to pay a wide receiver more than $30 million per year, are you sure he’s a difference-maker and not just a guy who fits your system? And second, is it feasible to pay big salaries to more than one wide receiver on your roster?

    Ten years ago, the NFL’s top-paid wide receivers made about $16 million annually, equaling about 12 percent of the $133 million cap. Today, A.J. Brown leads the way at $32 million annually on a cap of $255 million. That’s still just 12.5 percent of the cap. But let’s look closer.

    In 2014, the two receivers making $16 million annually were Calvin Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald, the clear standard-bearers at the position. There weren’t enough top-of-the-heap receivers that every new contract would reset the market. Dez Bryant, Demaryius Thomas, Julio Jones and A.J. Green signed new contracts in 2015, but none exceeded $15 million per year. Fitzgerald’s and Johnson’s deals weren’t eclipsed until Antonio Brown hit $17 million per year in 2017 (a year after Johnson retired), just 10.2 percent of the $167 million cap.

    The receiver market has already been reset twice in the past month, and we are on the verge of another jump with Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb, Ja’Marr Chase and Brandon Aiyuk all up for new deals. All four could plausibly reset the market, so we might be looking at $35 million per year — which would be 13.7 percent of the cap — or more. That leaves the Minnesota Vikings, Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati Bengals and San Francisco 49ers with big decisions with implications across their rosters.

    GO DEEPER

    Justin Jefferson extension is now No. 1 priority for Vikings

    Teams must take a hard look at where this money will come from. How much is too much for a non-quarterback? Does it make sense for a position group other than QB to exceed 20 percent of a team’s cap? How would that affect decisions elsewhere on the roster?

    Jefferson is arguably the best receiver in the league, and Minnesota should certainly extend him. But the cost will tighten money to spend elsewhere, like on last year’s first-round pick, 22-year-old Jordan Addison, when his rookie deal ends. Of course, if the Vikings’ assessment of J.J. McCarthy proves accurate, a quality quarterback on a five-year rookie contract might be just what the doctor ordered. If I were running the Vikings, I would pay Jefferson and keep churning WR2 at the end of Addison’s deal.

    Jerry Jones and the Cowboys probably need to be much more creative in dealing with Lamb. Jones already has a $50 million-plus quarterback quandary on his hands, with Dak Prescott having all the leverage in an endless game of chicken. As long as Prescott is the QB, the Cowboys’ evaluation skills might be challenged beyond most as they seek value from other receivers to pair with Lamb.

    If I were the Bengals, I would probably sign Chase — who still has two years left on his deal — as soon as possible to avoid resetting the market after Lamb’s and Jefferson’s deals come in. Cincinnati already appears to be planning to let Tee Higgins walk after this season, which might necessitate another high NFL Draft investment at the position next year.

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    The Tee Higgins-Bengals crossroads, Part 3: Ja’Marr Chase extension and paying 2 top WRs

    The 49ers have a more complicated situation than the Bengals, having already paid Deebo Samuel ($23.8 million per year, $28.6 million against the cap in 2024) and with Aiyuk ($14.1 million against the cap in 2024) in the last year of his contract. Both players’ names have been popular in trade rumors this offseason. The Niners hedged their bet by drafting Florida receiver Ricky Pearsall in Round 1 last month, giving themselves options at the position.

    My crystal ball tells me this group will undergo a renovation after the 2024 season. Aiyuk and Samuel are set to count $42.7 million against the cap this season. Add Pearsall and tight end George Kittle and that’s more than $56 million against the cap (22 percent) for four pass catchers. Samuel is the NFL’s eighth-highest-paid wideout and might rank third in the 49ers’ position room when it comes to route running and ball skills. Something will have to give.

    Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel


    Will Deebo Samuel, left, or Brandon Aiyuk be elsewhere in 2025? (Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)

    Players deserve whatever they can get — I am not here to dispute this — but even NFL teams with the most creative capologists will eventually be forced to pay for their extensions of credit, just like you and I. So what will they do about the rising costs of receivers?

    When players get too expensive, nothing speaks louder than cheaper options.

    Teams selected 35 wide receivers in the 2024 draft. That’s not unordinary, but the total of seven picked in Round 1 grabbed my attention. Sure, it might just have been a year with several special talents available. But it also might speak to a few other factors:

    1. With experienced receivers becoming more expensive, teams need more cheap talent.

    2. In this era of seven-on-seven competitions and wide-open passing offenses in college, receivers have more advanced skills at a younger age.

    3. Good talent evaluators can identify and sequence receivers properly, with smoother projections to the NFL.

    If you can identify the traits — beyond stats, height, weight and speed — that lend to a reasonably high hit rate on prospects, you can find value. These would be my top three traits, which you can find if you watch enough tape, for a receiver to fit any scheme:

    • Create separation at the break point and/or change gears while underway in a route.

    • See and distinguish coverage with your mind and reactions (or instincts), pre- and post-snap.

    • Consistently extend to catch with your hands near defenders, allowing small guys to play bigger and big guys to be great.

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    How WRs’ new leverage is changing roster-building strategies

    The last few draft classes have been rich in receiver talent. Even in a watered-down free-agent pool this year, there were several good values. In short, you don’t have to pay top-notch to get value at wide receiver.

    Some teams, such as the Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills, have already picked a lane. (Of course, having a talented quarterback makes it easier for them to consider this road.)

    The Packers and Chiefs traded Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill before the 2022 season instead of paying them. Adams got $28 million from the Las Vegas Raiders, and Hill got $30 million annually from the Miami Dolphins. The Bills traded Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans this offseason, two years after signing him to an extension worth $24 million annually.

    Though the Adams trade has not exactly worked out for the Raiders, Packers GM Brian Gutekunst has reworked Green Bay’s receivers via the developmental route.

    Christian Watson, drafted in the second round in 2022, is a straight-line-fast long-strider who can eat up a cushion, take the top off defenses and catch when he’s covered. His game is similar to that of Jameson Williams, whom the Detroit Lions drafted 22 picks earlier. In Round 4 that year, the Packers took Romeo Doubs, who will make $1.1 million this year after catching 59 passes in 2023. Doubs’ ability to find soft spots and distinguish coverages resembles that of the Lions’ Amon-Ra St. Brown, at least stylistically.

    Last year, the Packers took Jayden Reed (64 catches as a rookie) in Round 2 and Dontayvion Wicks (39 catches, 14.9 yards per catch) in Round 5. Given his acceleration off the ball and out of breaks, Wicks might have more upside than any of the above.

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    Young Packers wide receivers creating major impact in present, excitement for future

    Sure, it requires conviction in your evaluations, but Green Bay should be lauded for overhauling this group almost entirely with draft picks (none in Round 1), as those four receivers will cost a total of $6.3 million against the cap in 2024. Other teams should try to copy this economic model.

    I’m not saying the Lions are wrong, but it’s a useful comparison. They reset the market by paying St. Brown $30 million per year even though he ranked 71st in the NFL in average air yards per target (7.75) and 39th in average yards per reception (12.7) last season. I understand the importance of keeping peace in the locker room and rewarding hard workers and leaders. He fits their system. But that signing might have ruffled a few feathers outside of the Lions’ front office and fans, who think it is money well spent. The Lions did let 29-year-old wideout Josh Reynolds walk, so they have shown they are willing to make tough choices, too.

    The Chiefs, no doubt aided by Patrick Mahomes’ presence, have thrived since bailing on the market and going young, like the Packers. The Bills, with Josh Allen, have taken a similar route this offseason, choosing quantity over quality with reasonably priced veterans in Curtis Samuel, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Chase Claypool and second-round rookie Keon Coleman, after trading Diggs and letting Gabe Davis walk.

    Of course, there are still teams on the opposite end of the spectrum. The Seattle Seahawks paid DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett a total of $41.3 million annually (they restructured Lockett’s deal this offseason), then drafted a receiver (Jaxon Smith-Njigba) in Round 1 in 2023. The Philadelphia Eagles paid Brown and DeVonta Smith this offseason a combined $57 million annually (22.4 percent of the cap), even after signing quarterback Jalen Hurts to a record deal last offseason.

    The Eagles made those investments after struggling to draft and develop receivers, missing on top-60 picks in Jordan Matthews, Nelson Agholor, JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Jalen Reagor. I can’t help but wonder: Was paying Brown and Smith a reaction to their previous struggles at the position?

    There’s not necessarily a correct way to handle the rising costs at wide receiver. If there is, I’m not sure we know it just yet. Many theories are still being tested.

    But here is something to consider: Teams will always have to pay great money for good players at positions where there is true scarcity, like quarterback. But I don’t see wide receiver, especially in the modern NFL, as a position of true scarcity. As a result, the sticker shock of recent contracts has given me pause.

    I’m still not for letting any good player walk, but with each market-setting deal, the costs are getting harder to justify.

    (Top photos of Amon-Ra St. Brown, left, and Justin Jefferson: Cooper Neill, Grant Halverson / Getty Images)

    The Football 100

    The Football 100

    The story of the greatest players in NFL history. In 100 riveting profiles, top football writers justify their selections and uncover the history of the NFL in the process.

    The story of the greatest players in NFL history.

    Mike Sando, Dan Pompei and The Athletic NFL Staff

    BuyBuy The Football 100

    Undeniable

    Undeniable

    Relive  the Kansas City Chiefs’ unforgettable 2023 championship season. Undeniable takes fans from training camp through the final whistle in Las Vegas.

    Relive the Kansas City Chiefs’ unforgettable 2023 championship season.

    Nate Taylor, Dan Pompei, Zak Keefer and The Athletic NFL Staff

    BuyBuy Undeniable

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  • One year after Jeff Van Gundy’s dismissal, ESPN’s NBA broadcasts are worse off

    One year after Jeff Van Gundy’s dismissal, ESPN’s NBA broadcasts are worse off

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    It was perplexing last summer when ESPN fired NBA Finals game analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson. It was part of the network’s layoffs that Disney seemingly goes through every couple of years, sort of like an NFL team pruning the books to provide room for future million-dollar spends.

    The Van Gundy salary dump particularly did not make sense, as he was maybe the best game analyst in sports with his gym-rat mentality and “Inside the NBA” quirkiness.

    In the wake of those moves, ESPN is not nearly as good as it was. With the venerable play-by-player Mike Breen, the Hall of Famer Doris Burke and an on-the-rise JJ Redick, in theory, ESPN should provide an excellent listen, but it takes time to develop NBA Finals-level chemistry.

    Breen, Burke and Redick don’t have it. With just four months under their belt together, they don’t come across like a team that should be advancing past the second round. But they will.

    Tuesday night, Breen, Burke and Redick will be in Boston to call the Eastern Conference finals before the main event next month, the NBA Finals. Suddenly, the future of what was a stalwart, steady booth for ESPN is again in doubt, as the current group lacks humor and flow. Hopefully, they will acknowledge the Indiana Pacers in this series.

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    On Sunday, from start to finish, ESPN turned its production of Game 7 of the Pacers-New York Knicks series into a Knicks home broadcast by showing “First Take” host Stephen A. Smith walking into the arena as if he were a player and then having him deliver a Knicks pregame pep talk. During the game, Breen and company focused too much on the Knicks and not enough on the all-time shooting performance by the Pacers. After ESPN showed the best of itself Friday with its Scottie Scheffler arrest coverage, the contrast of Sunday’s NBA performance was embarrassing.

    How ESPN got here and where it is going next is an intriguing broadcasting question. Especially with a framework agreement on a new TV deal with the NBA that is expected to keep the league’s biggest event on ESPN’s stage for the next dozen years.

    Breen, who turns 63 on Wednesday, remains the anchor. However, in the playoffs, he is too often left trying to do it all on his own, not fully trusting in his new teammates.

    With his familiar voice, Breen might be able to carry the trio late in close games, but he is not raising his partners’ levels. Evaluating what he has, he comes across as more of a shoot-first point guard, not only providing the play-by-play but often the analysis, too.

    Post-Van Gundy and Jackson, ESPN had a seemingly workable plan. Breen’s good buddy Doc Rivers was available after being fired as the Philadelphia 76ers head coach. With Breen and Rivers, there would have figured to be some strong built-in chemistry.

    With the history-making Burke, who will become the first female TV analyst on one of the traditional big-four league’s championships (NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL), top ESPN executives Jimmy Pitaro, Burke Magnus and David Roberts had a succession figured out. Roberts even named heirs apparent, as Ryan Ruocco, Richard Jefferson and Redick were anointed the No. 2 team with an eye on calling the finals one day.

    Though the NBA did not like Van Gundy’s criticism of its officiating — and complained about it to ESPN — there is no proof that the league ordered his banishment. One concern ESPN had, according to executives briefed on their decision-making, was that Van Gundy would jump back into coaching, which he had flirted with for years.

    Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen


    Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen talk before Game 2 of the 2022 Eastern Conference finals. The three called 15 NBA Finals together. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

    Van Gundy, though, never left during his 16 seasons with the network, while Rivers’ stay at ESPN was almost as short as Bill Belichick’s run as “HC of the NYJ.”

    While on the broadcasting job for ESPN, Rivers first started consulting with the Milwaukee Bucks in December, then left to become the team’s head coach in January, embarrassing ESPN after giving it a three-year commitment.

    By the All-Star break, Redick, who turns 40 in June, was moved in. He has had an incredible broadcasting run, making many millions as a podcaster and gambling spokesperson and through his ESPN game and studio work.

    But as evidenced by his latest venture, an inside-the-game podcast with LeBron James, Redick’s post-playing passion might mirror that of Rivers. His game analysis is more coach-like than conversational.

    After a brief flirtation with the Charlotte Hornets’ coaching job, he is a top candidate to join James’ Los Angeles Lakers. Following Van Gundy’s departure, ESPN has a second analyst who could go through with the broadcasting crime that Van Gundy was charged with but never committed. Until if and when Redick leaves, he is on the call with Breen and Burke.

    It doesn’t sound as if Breen, Burke and Redick dislike one another; they just don’t finish each other’s sentences. Heck, half the time it feels as if Burke and Redick barely start many of their own. It’s a lot of Breen.

    Breen, Van Gundy and Jackson called 15 NBA Finals, which allowed them to develop a comfort level with one another and the audience. Breen’s “Bang!” receives the shine — and it is a strong signature call — but it is his rhythm for the action and his inflection at the right time over 48 minutes, denoting whenever something special happens, that stand out.

    If you close your eyes and just listen to Breen’s emotion in his calls, you can tell where a play stands in excitement on a 1-to-10 scale. That is why, in crunchtime, ESPN should still be fine.

    It’s when the booth needs to shine in light moments or blowouts that Van Gundy and Jackson are missed.

    Jackson was far from perfect — last year, he inexplicably left Nikola Jokić off his All-Star ballot — but he had his schtick, most notably the phrase “Mama, there goes that man!” He could hit some 3s off the ball from Breen and Van Gundy.

    Van Gundy’s dismissal, though, was a head-scratcher. With a headset on, he was always in triple-threat position: keen analysis, a looseness to say anything and humor.

    Van Gundy has moved on and is now a senior consultant with the Boston Celtics. ESPN is still paying him. Maybe it could ask him to come back for a series or two.

    (Top photo of JJ Redick, Doris Burke and Mike Breen: Andrew D. Bernstein / NBAE via Getty Images)

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    The New York Times

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  • How Netanyahu Made the Creation of a Palestinian State Irreversible

    How Netanyahu Made the Creation of a Palestinian State Irreversible

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    • Opinion by Alon Ben-Meir (new york)
    • Inter Press Service

    NEW YORK, May 24 (IPS) – It is ironic how Prime Minister Netanyahu, who vehemently opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state, made it all but irreversible because of his misguided policies and extreme ideological bent.

    The way he conducted the Gaza war has not only sealed the prospect of a Palestinian state but his political demise

    The recent recognition of a Palestinian state by Spain, Ireland, and Norway is the latest blow to Netanyahu’s horribly misguided policy toward the Palestinians, which he pursued throughout his political career to prevent them from ever establishing their own state under his watch, as he stated time and gain.

    This recognition is in addition to the overwhelming majority of United Nations General Assembly member states that have recognized Palestinian statehood. In truth, none of the above should come as a surprise, as the writing was on the wall for decades, and it was only a question of time before this inevitability unfolded.

    The recent decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant against Netanyahu, charging him with war crimes, was another degrading rebuke of Netanyahu for his ruthlessness in the way he is conducting the Gaza war.

    The horrific death and destruction that has been inflicted on Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza as a result of Hamas’ October 2023 attack that resulted in the slaughter of 1,200 Israelis and the ongoing and unprecedented war against Hamas that killed 35,000 Palestinians, and the unspeakable human suffering has created a new paradigm.

    The establishment of a Palestinian state, which has been particularly resisted by Netanyahu for the past 16 years, has become front and center in the search for a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide could not have put it clearer when he stated: “The fact that this Israeli government, led by Netanyahu, has been so clear that it has no intention to negotiate with the Palestinian side and has been so accepting and even supportive of new illegal settlements, all that has contributed to the recognition decision. In some sense, it’s a reaction to that.”

    The tragic dimension of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that a majority of Israelis bought into Netanyahu’s false argument that a Palestinian state will pose an existential danger to Israel, and hence, the continuing occupation is necessary to prevent the Palestinians from realizing their aspiration for statehood. But what is the alternative to a two-state solution? After 57 years of occupation, even a fool would have concluded that the occupation is not sustainable.

    How much more death and destruction must both peoples endure before Netanyahu and his blindly misguided followers come to understand that if it takes a hundred more years and the deaths of a million Palestinians, they will never give up or give in on establishing a state of their own.

    What is further baffling is that the multitude of right-wing Israelis keep complaining about Palestinian violence. They ignore the elementary understanding that any people who have been living in servitude for decades under the harshest conditions would rise against the occupier, especially when they have a legitimate right to have their own state, enshrined by the same 1947 UNSC Resolution 194 that granted the Jews the right to establish their independent state.

    For 80 percent of all Israelis (those born after 1967), the occupation is a normal state of existence irrespective of the daily suffering and often inhumane mistreatment of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, to which they have been and continue to be subjected.

    On January 10, 2024, I wrote: “Sadly, it took the Israel-Hamas war to awaken both sides to their tragic reality. They must now realize there will be no return to the status quo ante. The circumstances that led to the Israel-Hamas war only reinforced the inescapable requirement for a two-state solution. Simply put, there is no other viable option other than continuing the bloody conflict for decades to come.”

    But then, what would it take for Netanyahu and his messianic ministers, especially Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, to wake up and realize that every day that passes without a solution, not only will more Israelis and Palestinians be killed in vain, but the conflict will become ever more intractable.

    It will exact a mounting price in blood and treasure from both sides without any prospect of changing the inescapable requirement for a Palestinian state to reach a sustainable, peaceful coexistence.

    The hurdles to reaching this noble goal are massive; there is the psychological dimension to the conflict that must be mitigated, territorial claims and counterclaims, the dispute over the administration of the Temple Mount (Haram al-Sharif), mutual concerns over security, the final status of Jerusalem, and more. But then, regardless of how obdurate these conflicting issues may be, they will become far more daunting and perilous short of peace based on a two-state solution.

    US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby recently stated: “The president still believes in the promise and the possibility of a two-state solution. He recognizes that it’s going to take a lot of hard work. It’s going to take a lot of leadership there in the region, particularly on both sides of the issue, and the United States stands firmly committed to eventually seeing that outcome.”

    Whereas I applaud President Biden’s position and sentiment regarding the requisite of a Palestinian state, he needs to move the needle further and warn Netanyahu that he can no longer take for granted the US position that the creation of a Palestinian state must emerge from direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

    While Biden may choose, for political reasons, not to follow the footsteps of the prime ministers of Spain, Ireland, and Norway by recognizing the Palestinian state, he should, at a minimum, permit the Palestinian Authority to reestablish its mission in DC, and reopen the American consulate in East Jerusalem.

    That is, if Biden is truly committed to that outcome, then he must demonstrate that by taking real action on the ground. This is the time when leadership is truly needed, and no head of state worldwide can demonstrate that more at this crucial hour than President Biden to bring closer the two-state solution to reality.

    Surely, Biden believes in what Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated: “This recognition is not against anyone; it is not against the Israeli people. It is an act in favor of peace, justice and moral consistency.” And I might add, it is a moral imperative on which Israel itself was founded.

    It is time for Netanyahu to pay the price for dragging Israel into this perilous morass. But then again, he who has resisted the creation of a Palestinian state with all his might made it now more likely than ever before.

    Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations, most recently at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU). He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.

    IPS UN Bureau


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    © Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • Small Island Developing States can be Nature-Positive Leaders for the World

    Small Island Developing States can be Nature-Positive Leaders for the World

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    • Opinion by Achim Steiner, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez (united nations)
    • Inter Press Service

    UNITED NATIONS, May 22 (IPS) – Small island developing states (SIDS) are scattered across the globe, dotting the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean, the west and east coasts of Africa and the Indian Ocean.

    These low-lying highly indebted countries are on the frontlines of climate change and natural resource scarcity, already facing the extremes of sea level rise, unpredictable weather events, and environmental degradation that millions more will face tomorrow.

    https://www.un.org/ohrlls/content/list-sids

    Yet they also are pioneers, innovating and demonstrating what is possible in a shift to a nature-positive future. Emerging technologies and solutions are re-setting economic and societal priorities to value and optimize natural resources and setting forth a path of thriving resilience.

    In three decades of working together supporting small islands states, these are the three critical success factors we see emerging from these trailblazing island states as the world looks to transition to a nature-positive future.

    One: Nature sits at the heart of this effort.

    Nature is the most effective solution to our interconnected planetary crisis and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. It can unlock new and quickly felt benefits of sustainable development.

    Ecosystem services underpin key economic sectors in all vulnerable small island states, from fisheries to agriculture to tourism, but these same sectors have historically imposed serious environmental costs. Transitioning these sectors from ‘highly damaging’ to ‘sustainable’, in ways that are investable and profitable while benefiting communities, sits at the heart of our work together.

    The new Blue and Green Islands Programme, for example, mainstreams the central role of nature and scales nature-based solutions to address environmental degradation across three target sectors—urban, food, and tourism—for nature-positive shifts in fifteen island states.

    Small islands are especially well positioned to benefit from nature-positive economies, counting among them some of the most diverse and unique ecosystems in the world. For them, a nature-positive economy is important not just to stabilize the security of their natural resources and ensure resilient and thriving futures; it assures their role as irreplaceable hosts to many of the world’s migratory and endemic species that make up our global planetary safety net.

    Two: Successful solutions touch all aspects of life and livelihoods.

    Tackling sea level rise isn’t separate from restoring protective coastal ecosystems, which isn’t separate from rapidly expanding new opportunities in sustainable tourism and sustainable fishing. These expanding opportunities drive sustainable development, bringing jobs, economic prosperity, and resilience.

    ‘Whole of island’ approaches are now tackling the conservation of land, water, and ocean resources as interconnected issues. These approaches are championing decarbonization and sustainable livelihoods, increasing access to sustainable energy, increasing the ability of communities to adapt to unpredictable or extreme weather, creating jobs, improving opportunities and wellbeing, and achieving sustainable development goals.

    The logic of integrated approaches is clear: our lives are deeply interconnected with our environment and our opportunities the world over. The challenge is adapting and shifting systemic norms that are out of step and out of date for the collective future we want. Whole of island issues demands ‘whole-of-society’ inclusion and coordination, across ministries and sectors, building on locally owned and existing structures and initiatives, and seeking private sector engagement and community empowerment at every level.

    Today, all our projects undertaken with island states promote integration and inclusion and are designed to ensure that multiple challenges can be addressed at scale and pace simultaneously.

    Early efforts through the Integrating Watershed and Coastal Areas Management (IWCAM), the Integrating Water, Land and Ecosystems Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (IWEco Project) and the Pacific Ridge to Reef Programme in Pacific SIDS, for example, helped to pioneer the integrated approaches we are seeing today under the global programs in SIDS.

    Three: Innovation is the accelerator.

    Successful projects demonstrate the disproportionate importance of innovation to turn our most urgent challenges into opportunities for sustainable development. Representing nearly 20% of the world’s exclusive economic zones, many of these islands are incubating new and investable nature-based solutions that can be scaled up to support successful transitions to nature-positive economic sectors and centres of excellence, both in the islands themselves and to the benefit of countries beyond.

    For example, with UNDP and GEF support, Seychelles issued the world’s first ‘blue bond’; Cuba mainstreamed nature into policies and practices to reverse degradation of the Sabana-Camagüey ecosystem driven by agriculture, livestock, fisheries, and tourism; and the GEF’s Small Grants Programme supported local communities to ban single-use plastics in the Maldives.

    New initiatives with innovative partners such as the Global Fund for Coral Reefs also seek to attract and de-risk private sector investment into local businesses to protect and restore important coral reef ecosystems. These initiatives offer opportunities for integration that are now inspiring similar examples across other islands.

    Nothing without partnerships.

    A broad and inclusive coalition of government, private sector, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and other partners is critical to further accelerate nature-positive transformation and increase impact.

    New partnerships with the private sector to identify and deploy new business models and instruments to support nature-positive outcomes are also a major part of this effort.

    Small Island Developing States have in front of them an opportunity to scale and replicate their successes and make outsized contributions to the implementation of environmental conventions including the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (The Biodiversity Plan), the Paris Agreement and the UNCCD Strategic Framework, as well as progress towards their sustainable development goals.

    In responding to the most pressing development needs of small island states, the nature-positive economic transitions that are emerging, sector by sector, taking an integrated, innovative and community-informed approach, offer answers to development challenges with applications far beyond their precarious and precious coastlines.

    Achim Steiner is Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); Carlos Manuel Rodriguez is CEO and Chairperson, Global Environment Facility (GEF)

    IPS UN Bureau


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    © Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • Keeler: If Nuggets coach Michael Malone, Calvin Booth aren’t on same page, they’ll burn another year of Nikola Jokic’s MVP peak

    Keeler: If Nuggets coach Michael Malone, Calvin Booth aren’t on same page, they’ll burn another year of Nikola Jokic’s MVP peak

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    Michael Malone didn’t just shorten his bench. He strangled it.

    Christian Braun played a valiant 20 minutes in that scarring, jarring Game 7, much of it spent badgering the heck outta Anthony Edwards. After that, though, the alms dwindled. Justin Holiday got nine minutes for the Nuggets; Reggie Jackson, five.

    The Timberwolves, meanwhile, received 22 minutes and 11 points from Naz Reid, a stretch-4-type post who gave Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic more real estate to defend. Nickeil Alexander-Walker played 17 minutes.

    Hindsight makes geniuses of us all, granted. But while Jokic huffed and Gordon puffed Sunday, Peyton Watson became more noticeable — by his absence. As Minnesota chipped away at a 20-point Nuggs lead, one of the best defenders on the roster was nowhere to be found.

    Now in a do-or-die, win-or-else Game 7, you could understand Malone’s reluctance to trust his second-year wing in a pinch. P-Swat was 0-for-7 from the floor in this series going into Sunday night. The Nuggets lined up the chess pieces as if they could afford only one true defense-first option down the stretch — and again, Braun brought plenty of juice.

    Malone said before Game 5 that this was about matchups, and that Minnesota’s defense demands shooters at every spot. That’s not in P-Swat’s arsenal right now, and Holiday brought flashes of brilliance, on the road, when Denver needed it most.

    Mind you, Watson also posted a plus-15.9 net rating over 23 minutes against the Wolves in a seeding showdown at Ball Arena last month, blocking six shots and grabbing four boards.

    Because as the eulogies are read and ballads sung and postmortems written about where a repeat run at an NBA title went sadly off the rails, P-Swat feels like something of a nexus point. Not just for what happened. But for where the Nuggets go from here. And how.

    Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth raised eyebrows this past October when he told The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor that he “want(s) dudes that we try to develop, and it’s sustainable. If it costs us the chance to win a championship (in 2024), so be it. It’s worth the investment. It’s more about winning three out of six, three out of seven, four out of eight than it is about trying to go back-to-back.”

    Booth walked back those comments (among others) later, but it sure did very neatly explain an off-season of attrition — no more Bruce Brown or Jeff Green, thanks CBA — that came on the heels of the first title in franchise history. If ’22-23 was the masterpiece, then ’23-24 would be the experiment. Namely, can we replace Brown and Green with kids and still reach the NBA Finals?

    Well, no. Heck, no. Not this year, at any rate.

    Booth’s stated masterplan was also curious given that Malone, a stickler for eternal verities such as defense and selflessness, suffers neither fools nor rookies gladly. If Malone doesn’t trust you, you don’t play. Period. The Minnesota series, which started with the Nuggets dropping Games 1 and 2 at home, threw development out a 35-story window.

    I’m not suggesting Malone and Booth aren’t on the same page here, although it’s fair to wonder. However, I would humbly advise the powers that be to pick a lane and stick with it going forward. For the window’s sake. For Joker’s sake.

    The MVP needs help. Now. Jokic, owner of the greatest hands in modern NBA annals, snatched 15 boards in the first half. He finished with 19. Following one misfire in the third quarter, what looked like four Minnesota bodies went up for the carom while No. 15 was stranded at the top of the arc. The Joker seemed positively crestfallen.

    Since April 1 through Game 7, the Big Honey logged 732 minutes in 19 games, or 38.5 per game. From April 1 through the end of the Suns series last spring, he’d played 467 minutes in 13 appearances (35.9 per tilt).

    The Nuggs danced with history last week. And landed on the wrong side of it, face-first. Malone’s had better days. He’ll have better ones in the future. But Game 7’s epic collapse felt an awful lot like coaching not to lose. Which, more often than not, gets you beat on this stage.

    The Wolves, meanwhile, were built by Tim Connelly to dethrone the dynasty he’d started in Denver. See KAT? See Ant, waving and mugging for the cameras? They’re the bar now.

    It’s on Booth and Malone to volley Connelly’s serve. Together. Because the Joker has a ton of MVP seasons left in him. But only so many springs of what-ifs. And only so many summers of doubt.

     

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Koreen: Let’s make NBA teams defend without fouling to finish a game

    Koreen: Let’s make NBA teams defend without fouling to finish a game

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    On Monday night, Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren knocked down two free throws with 9.4 seconds remaining in Game 4 against the Dallas Mavericks. They were huge makes, bringing the Thunder closer to evening the series.

    The Mavericks had no timeouts left. They had to rush up the court to get themselves back in the game. At that point, fans should have been wondering if they were about to witness a signature playoff moment. Would Luka Dončić shake off a rough night and lift his team? Would Kyrie Irving add to his formidable highlight reel of awesome playoff moments? Would Shai Gilgeous-Alexander strip someone in the backcourt, wrapping up a huge night for him? Would Holmgren come charging out to the 3-point arc off a switch and send a shot into the Dallas night?

    Instead, as the Mavericks moved the ball around to create a good look, Gilgeous-Alexander intentionally fouled P.J. Washington. The Thunder were leading by three points. It was the right move. Giving up a maximum of two points when leading by three made sense with so little time remaining. The Dallas forward split a pair of free throws with 3.2 seconds left, Gilgeous-Alexander hit both of his at the other end and that was that. Thunder win.

    Pretty anticlimactic, no?


    (Tim Heitman / Getty Images)

    Casual NBA viewers often criticize the ends of games for taking too long. Those complaints are justified, and the league has addressed them in part. Before the 2017-18 season, the NBA changed its rules to limit teams to two timeouts in the final three minutes of games instead of three timeouts in the final two minutes, as it had been previously.

    Well, here’s another problem: In the situation the Thunder faced Monday night, teams are not encouraged to defend without fouling. Free throws are among the least interesting and most time-consuming parts of basketball, and the nature of the rule is leading to more of them, not fewer. Worst of all, it is robbing viewers of potentially iconic moments.

    Let’s change the rules, then. Here are two proposals.

    1. If your opponent is in the bonus and you are winning by three points or more and you foul your opponent beyond the 3-point arc, your opponent gets three free throws.

    2. In the same scenario, there is an extension of the current “take foul” rule, with the trailing/fouled team getting an automatic free throw and possession. This is my preferred option.

    It might seem counter-intuitive to use the threat of more free throws to cut down on the number of free throws late in a game, but the free throw is the most efficient shot in the game. In the first proposal, a team would give the opponent a chance to tie the game at the free-throw line. In the second, it could set up a scenario in which the opponent could win with a made free throw followed by a made 3 (or tying it with a made free throw and a 2). No team is going to pursue those options purposefully.

    There are potential loopholes, which I will get to in a moment. The current rules encourage players and coaches to consider three scenarios that all defy the spirit of the game.

    1. Prioritizing fouling over playing defense without fouling. It makes for an interesting philosophical debate, but anything that moves away from settling the game while the clock is running is not optimal.

    2. If the trailing team thinks an opponent is trying to foul, its players might try to rise up for an unnatural shot while the leading team attempts to deploy the strategy. That is just another way of trying to bait the referees into a foul call with unnatural shot attempts, an activity the league is actively trying to curb.

    3. If, when trailing by three in the final seconds, a player hits the first of two free throws, he is then encouraged to try to miss the next one in a way that maximizes the possibility of an offensive rebound that produces another field goal attempt. Why do we have a system that promotes missing a shot on purpose? (On Monday, Washington missed the first free throw. Instead of trying to miss the second one to generate an offensive rebound and potential game-tying 3-point attempt, he made it.)

    There are counters here, and I am not claiming that either of the above proposals would be a perfect solution. Most notably, teams have 47 minutes and 36 seconds to avoid trailing by three points with the shot clock turned off. Speaking of free throws, the Mavericks missed 11 of their 23 attempts on Monday. The Thunder fouling Washington was not the primary reason Dallas lost.

    Additionally, what about the team that is leading? That team is intentionally fouled more often than the trailing team to extend the competitive portion of the game. Well, the second part of that sentence is the crucial bit, isn’t it? I have no problem with a rule that applies to one team but not the other given the specificity of the scenario.

    Finally, such a rule could encourage another type of grifting: a player for the trailing team creating unnatural contact to obtain the advantage afforded by yet another rule designed to help the team with the ball. That would just be exchanging one form of grifting for another, though. It is not a net gain in referee deception.

    There would naturally be other unintended consequences of any such rule change. I’m all for sniffing them out and trying to make the best rule possible. What I do know: Every basketball fan has a few buzzer-beating or last-second shots they will never forget. If anyone has a similar list of “best uses of a take foul to maintain a lead,” I’ve yet to meet them. I don’t really want to, either.

    (Top Photo of Luka Dončić after a late-game foul: Tim Heitman / Getty Images)

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    The New York Times

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