Category Archives: Views

Front Page: The New York Times – February 24, 2023

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‘It’s Complicated’: How Biden and Zelensky Forged a Wartime Partnership

The relationship between the two leaders has become critical to the future of the international order.

Bulgarian Factories and Secret Task Forces: How the West Hunts for Soviet Arms

Ukraine has long relied on Russian weapons for its armed forces. Now it is scrambling to get Soviet-era ammunition for those weapons, with the help of manufacturers even in rural corners of Eastern Europe.

Alex Murdaugh Admits Lying and Stealing, but Denies Murders

In choosing to testify on Thursday, Mr. Murdaugh took a gamble that could determine whether he is acquitted or sent to prison for life.

‘Woodstock’ for Christians: Revival Draws Thousands to Kentucky Town

Over two weeks, more than 50,000 people descended on a small campus chapel to experience the nation’s first major spiritual revival in decades — one driven by Gen Z.

Front Page: The New York Times – February 23, 2023

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Putin and Biden Shore Up Alliances in Dueling Appearances

On the surface, it looked like a reversion to the Cold War era. The reality was even more complicated.

How Poland, Long Leery of Foreigners, Opened Up to Ukrainians

The country, once one of the world’s most ethnically and culturally homogeneous, has accommodated far more refugees from neighboring Ukraine than any other nation.

Mexico Hobbles Election Agency That Helped End One-Party Rule

The changes come ahead of a presidential election next year and are part of a pattern of challenges to democratic institutions across the Western Hemisphere.

When the Movies Pictured A.I., They Imagined the Wrong Disaster

Instead of the chilling rationality of HAL in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” we get the messy awfulness of Microsoft’s Sydney. Call it the banality of sentience.

Travel Tours: Cross River State In Southern Nigeria

DW Travel (February 22, 2023) – Follow Nigerian YouTuber Tayo Aina on his trip to the southern Nigerian state of Cross River! From spectacular waterfalls to the dark history of slave trade and brutal ancient traditions, Cross River state is truly a destination for adventurers!

Video timeline: 0:00 Intro 0:12 Calabar 0:43 Agbokim Waterfalls 2:10 Slave History Museum, Calabar 3:47 Pandrillus Drill Ranch 5:05 Mary Slessor House

Cross River State is a state in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Named for the Cross River, the state was formed from the eastern part of the Eastern Region on 27 May 1967.

Front Page: The New York Times – February 22, 2023

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Biden Accuses Putin of Atrocities and Urges World to Rebuke Him

In sharply opposed speeches, President Biden said Vladimir V. Putin bore sole responsibility for the war, while Mr. Putin said Russia had invaded in self-defense. But they agreed the war would not end soon.

China’s Courtship of European Powers Hits a Russian Wall

Beijing, in urgent need of reviving its economy, wants to mend ties with Europe but is struggling to create distance between itself and Moscow.

‘Equality of Injustice for All’: Saudi Arabia Expands Crackdown on Dissent

The kingdom’s courts are meting out harsher punishments than ever to citizens who criticize the government, with prosecutions built on Twitter posts ending in prison sentences of 15 to 45 years.

In Vermont, a School and Artist Fight Over Murals of Slavery

Created to depict the brutality of enslavement, the works are seen by some as offensive. The school wants them permanently covered. The artist says they are historically important.

Front Page: The New York Times – February 21, 2023

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Biden’s Surreal and Secretive Journey Into a War Zone

President Biden traveled covertly to the besieged Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, hoping to demonstrate American resolve to help defeat the Russian forces that invaded a year ago this week.

In Biden’s Unannounced Visit to Kyiv, a Preview of an Increasingly Direct Contest With Putin

The vastly different world views of President Biden and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia will become vividly apparent in a rare split-screen moment on Tuesday.

They Were Married. They Shared a Trench. They Died in It Together.

Taras and Olha Melster signed up to help the war effort. Like many other urban professionals in Ukraine, they never expected to be sent to the front line.

In Mississippi’s Capital, Old Racial Divides Take New Forms

A plan by Republican lawmakers to set up a new court system served by a state-run police force for parts of mainly Black Jackson has become a flash point for racial and political divisions.

Cotswolds Tour: Cowley Manor Country House

The Cotswold Explorer (February 19, 2023) – Cowley Manor is a 30 bedroom contemporary country house hotel and spa located in the glorious Cotswold countryside surrounded by 55 acres of parkland, woods and meadows. The gardens feature natural springs, lakes and Victorian cascades.

Front Page: The New York Times – February 20, 2023

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U.S. Warnings to China on Arms Aid for Russia’s War Portend Global Rift

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken says Washington has indications that Beijing is strongly considering giving military aid to Moscow for the war in Ukraine.

One Year Into War, Putin Is Crafting the Russia He Craves

In Ukraine, President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion has met setback after setback. But its effect at home has been very different.

Biden Drawing Up a 2024 Playbook That Looks a Lot Like 2020’s

President Biden’s strategy is to frame the race as a contest between a seasoned leader and a conspiracy-minded opposition, while batting away concerns about his age.

A Fraught New Frontier in Telehealth: Ketamine

With loosened rules around remote prescriptions, a psychedelic-like drug has become a popular treatment for mental health conditions. But a boom in at-home use has outpaced evidence of safety.

Views: Devil’s Tower In Northeastern Wyoming

CBS Sunday Morning (February 19, 2023): We leave you this Sunday morning at Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, our first National Monument, so designated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. Videographer: Kevin Kjergaard.

Devils Tower is a butte, possibly laccolithic, composed of igneous rock in the Bear Lodge Ranger District of the Black Hills, near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River. It rises 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River, standing 867 feet from summit to base.

Views: Fjords, Mountains & Waterways Of Norway (4K)

With its steep fjords and mountains, vast plateaus and incredible shows of Northern Lights, Norway is one of the most breathtaking countries on Earth. “Ode to Norway” was captured through timelapse photography over several years in different seasons, with tens of thousands of photos and over 10,000 kilometers travelled.

Jasper Nebelsieck

Filmed and Edited by: Jasper Nebelsieck

Walking Tours: Village Of Bomarzo In Central Italy

Bomarzo is a town of the province of Viterbo (Lazio, central Italy), in the lower valley of the Tiber. Bomarzo’s main attraction is a garden, usually referred to as the Bosco Sacro (Sacred grove) or, locally, Bosco dei Mostri (“Monsters’ Grove”), named after the many larger-than-life sculptures,

Video timeline: 0:00 – [Drone intro🌐] 1:30 – [Walking tour begins👣 / Via del Castello (Castle Alley)🏰] 2:50 – [Statue of St.Anselmo – [Via del Castello (Castle Alley)] 3:33 – [Porta Nuova (New Gate)🏛] 5:00 – [Entrance to the old town📸] 6:20 – [Via Borghese & Borghese Palace] 7:40 – [Piazza Duomo⛲] 8:30 – [Duomo of Bomarzo / Church of St.Maria Assunta – *tour inside*⛪☀️] 12:33 – […re-used old roman funeral statues?🏺] 13:38 – [Via Regina Elena] 14:38 – [Via della Pace (Alley of Peace)🌹] 15:30 – [Piazza G.Pepe⛲] 15:55 – [Church of St.Anselmo – *tour inside*⛪☀️] 18:34 – [Via Daniele Manin] 19:40 – [Panorama on the valley⛺] 20:50 – [Via Vittorio Emanuele] 21:10 – [Charity Exhibit for less privileged people🎈] 22:30 – [Beware of the cat!🐱] 26:00 – [Piazza Garibaldi⛲] 28:18 – [Very charming narrow passage…📸] 29:50 – [Porta Nuova (New Gate)🏰] 32:30 – […descending to the eastern part of Bomarzo…👟] 35:46 – [Piazza della Repubblica⛲]

some sculpted in the bedrock, which populate this predominantly barren landscape. It is the work of Pier Francesco Orsini, called Vicino (1528–1588), a condottiero or mercenary and a patron of the arts. The park of Bomarzo was intended not to please, but to astonish, and like many Mannerist works of art, its symbolism is arcane; for example, one large sculpture is of one of Hannibal’s war elephants, which mangles a Roman legionary, and another is a statue of Ceres lounging on the bare ground, with a vase of “fruits of the earth” perched on her head. The many monstrous statues appear to be unconnected to any rational plan and appear to have been strewn almost randomly about the area, sol per sfogare il Core (“just to set the heart free”) as one inscription on an obelisk says.