WATERTOWN, New York: The images Spenser Rapone posted on Twitter from his West Point graduation were intentionally shocking: In one, the cadet opens his dress uniform to expose a T-shirt with a blood-red image of socialist icon Che Guevara. In another, he raises his fist and flips his cap to reveal the message: “Communism will win.”
Less than a year after Rapone’s images drew a firestorm of vitriol and even death threats, the second lieutenant who became known as the “commie cadet” is officially out of the US Army with an other-than-honorable discharge.
Top brass at Fort Drum accepted Rapone’s resignation Monday after an earlier reprimand for “conduct unbecoming of an officer.” Rapone said an investigation found he went online to advocate for a socialist revolution and disparage high-ranking officers. Officially, the Army said in a statement only that it conducted a full investigation and “appropriate action was taken.”
An unrepentant Rapone summed up the fallout in yet another tweet Monday that showed him extending a middle finger at a sign at the entrance to Fort Drum, accompanied by the words, “One final salute.”
“I consider myself a revolutionary socialist,” the 26-year-old Rapone told The Associated Press. “I would encourage all soldiers who have a conscience to lay down their arms and join me and so many others who are willing to stop serving the agents of imperialism and join us in a revolutionary movement.”
Rapone said his journey to communism grew out of his experiences as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan before he was accepted into the U.S. Military Academy. And those views only hardened during his studies of history as one of the academy’s “Long Gray Line.”
He explained that he took the offending selfies at his May 2016 West Point graduation ceremony and kept them to himself until last September, when he tweeted them in solidarity with NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who was taking heat for kneeling for the national anthem to raise awareness of racism. Many other military personnel also tweeted in favor of Kaepernick, although most were supporting free speech, not communism.
West Point released a statement after Rapone posted the photos, saying his actions “in no way reflect the values of the U.S. Military Academy or the U.S. Army.” And U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, called on the secretary of the Army to remove Rapone from the officer ranks.
“While in uniform, Spenser Rapone advocated for communism and political violence, and expressed support and sympathy for enemies of the United States,” Rubio said Monday, adding “I’m glad to see that they have given him an ‘other-than-honorable’ discharge.”
One of six children growing up in New Castle, Pennsylvania, Rapone said he applied to West Point, which is tuition-free, because he couldn’t afford college. He was nominated out of high school by then-U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire in 2010.
“He was an honors student, an athlete, a model citizen who volunteered in the community,” recalled Altmire, a Democrat. “During the interview, he expressed patriotism and looked just like a top-notch candidate. There were no red flags of any kind.”
But he wasn’t accepted to West Point, so Rapone enlisted in the Army. He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 and was assigned as an assistant machine gunner in Khost Province.
“We were bullies in one of the poorest countries on Earth,” Rapone said. “We have one of the most technologically advanced militaries of all time and all we were doing is brutalizing and invading and terrorizing a population that had nothing to do with what the United States claimed was a threat.”
Toward the end of his deployment, he learned West Point fulfills a certain quota of enlisted soldiers every year. Despite his growing disillusionment about the military, he applied and got in.
“I was still idealistic,” he said.” I figured maybe I could change things from inside.”
In addition to classic socialist theorists such as Karl Marx, Rapone says he found inspiration in the writings of Stan Goff, a retired Special Forces master sergeant who became a socialist anti-war activist.
Even while still a cadet, Rapone’s online postings alarmed a West Point history professor, who wrote Rapone up, saying his online postings were “red flags that cannot be ignored.” Rapone was disciplined but still allowed to graduate.
Greg Rinckey, an attorney specializing in military law, said it’s rare for an officer out of West Point to receive an other-than-honorable discharge. He added that it’s possible the military academy could seek repayment of the cost of Rapone’s education because he didn’t serve the full five-year service obligation required upon graduation.
“I knew there could be repercussions,” said Rapone, who is scheduled to speak at a socialism conference in Chicago next month. “Of course my military career is dead in the water. On the other hand, many people reached out and showed me support. There are a lot of veterans both active duty and not that feel like I do.”
US Army splits with West Point grad who touted communist revolt
US Army splits with West Point grad who touted communist revolt
- “I would encourage all soldiers who have a conscience to lay down their arms and join me and so many others who are willing to stop serving the agents of imperialism and join us in a revolutionary movement”
- Less than a year after Rapone’s images drew a firestorm of vitriol and even death threats, the second lieutenant who became known as the “commie cadet” is officially out of the US Army with an other-than-honorable discharge
Mmm, that looks yummy! The colors we see make a difference in the food we eat
- What food and drink look like, the colors we see, have mattered to people for millennia
- Over the decades, there’s been pushback and government regulation over just HOW food and drink have been colored
NEW YORK: You know you’ve said it. We all have. “Mmm, that looks so delicious — I want to try some!” That’s because when it comes to what we eat, it’s not just a matter of taste.
What foods and drinks look like — the colors we see before the first morsels or sips hit our tastebuds — have mattered to people for millennia. And nowhere has that been more blatant than the American food palate, where the visual spectrum we choose from includes not only the primary colors but artificial ones that nature couldn’t even dream up.
For well over a century, food manufacturers in the United States have used synthetic dyes in their products as part of their production and marketing efforts. Often, it’s been in hopes of making a mass-produced food look as fresh and natural as possible, reminiscent of the raw ingredients used in its production. In other cases, it’s been about making an item look interesting or distinctive from competitors, like candies or desserts in an electric blue or neon pink. Think “blue raspberry Slurpee” or “Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.”
It hasn’t been without controversy. Over the decades, there have been pushback and government regulation over just HOW food and drink have been colored, most recently with the decision last month from the federal Food and Drug Administration to ban red dye No. 3 from foods and oral-ingested drugs because of concerns over a possible cancer risk. But no one’s calling for food NOT to be colorful.
That’s because there’s no escaping the importance of what we see when it comes to what we eat, says Devina Wadhera, faculty associate at the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts of Arizona State University.
“Your first sensory contact, if your eyes are open, is going to be sight,” she says. “That’s going to be the first judgment we’re going to make.”
Visual appeal is pivotal
The food manufacturers of the late 19th century knew they had to get the visual appeal right. It was part of their marketing, as a shorthand to encourage brand recognition, to make consumers feel comfortable about quality and overcome worries (or realities) about spoilage as food production became industrialized, says Ai Hisano, author of “Visualizing Taste: How Business Changed the Look of What You Eat.”
Synthetic dyes helped overcome problems like foods losing color in the production process and helped make foods look more “natural,” she says. Then, over time, dyes were deployed to make foods look “fun” and appealing to audiences like young children. (That doesn’t mean manufacturers didn’t sometimes use colorants that could even be deadly — hence the reason there’s regulation.)
She pointed to the mid-20th century example of cake mixes, which reduced the amount of effort required to bake a cake at home because most of the ingredients were already included. Food companies began promoting colorful icing for the cakes as a way women baking at home “could kind of present their personality even though they are making a pre-mixed cake,” Hisano says.
We become conditioned to coloring
The connections we make between colors and foods are learned, Wadhera says. “Throughout our lives, we make associations which mean things. Cake is associated with birthdays. Ice cream is associated with parties and good times, so everything is associative learning. Color is one of those things that we have this tendency to learn about different flavor pairings.”
She gave the example of the spate of products like chips and other snacks that are marketed as having an extra kick. Often, “they’re super red because (companies are) trying to say, ‘Hey, this is going to be spicy’ because they’re trying to get to this sensation or perception that this is going to be really spicy — buy it.”
The connections that we make between color and taste can also change according to the context, says Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford. A blue liquid in a plastic cup in a bathroom? Could be minty mouthwash. The exact same color liquid, in a bar, held in a rocks glass? Could be bitter gin. Different cultures around the world also have different color associations, he says, although it’s fairly constant across geographies that the more vivid a color is, the more intense people assume the flavor will be.
It can even extend past the food itself to the colors involved in its presentation, Wadhera says, pointing to research showing people eating different amounts or preferring certain foods linked to the colors of the dishes used to serve them. And much of the time, she says, people aren’t necessarily aware they’re doing it.
“There’s a lot of things with color that you can manipulate and affect judgments,” she says. “You don’t think of it, though. ... We make automatic judgments on the food and we don’t even realize it.”
Italian politician says Trump Jr shot rare duck in Venice
- Donald Trump Jr: ‘This is actually a rather uncommon duck (pointing at a orange-brown duck, the rare Ruddy Shelduck) for the area. Not even sure what it is in English’
ROME: An Italian regional politician said on Tuesday he had reported the son of US President Donald Trump for allegedly killing a protected species of duck while hunting in Venice lagoon.
Veneto region counsellor and environmentalist Andrea Zanoni said an online video from Field Ethos — published by the younger Trump and marketed as a “premier lifestyle publication for the unapologetic man” — showed “some people, including Donald Trump, Jr, killing various ducks.”
“In the video, Trump Jr is seen with a Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea) in the foreground — a duck that is very rare throughout Europe and protected by the European Union Birds Directive and Italian wildlife protection law,” Zanoni wrote on social media.
Zanoni said killing the protected bird was a crime.
Neither Zanoni nor Trump Jr immediately responded to a request for comment from AFP.
In the video, republished by the Corriere della Sera daily, Trump Jr is seen shooting at ducks from a shelter before addressing the camera.
“Great morning, lots of widgeon, teal. This is actually a rather uncommon duck for the area. Not even sure what it is in English,” Trump Jr says, pointing to an orange-brown duck among at least six other dead waterfowl around him.
Zanoni said he had filed a question to regional authorities to know “what sanctions it intends to impose.”
He asked if these would include suspending or revoking the license of the wildlife shooting company “and those responsible for acts in violation of Italian and European regulations.”
Zanoni said the video was filmed recently in the Pierimpie valley south of the city of Venice, a special conservation area protected by European regulations that is known as the Middle Lower Lagoon of Venice.
Regional hunting and fishing counsellor Cristiano Corazzari told Italian broadcaster Rai that Trump Jr had been invited to hunt in a “privately-owned area” within the reserve, and had received permission.
“We have verified, the papers are all in order,” he said, without mentioning the shooting of a protected species of duck.
Italy’s Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin has requested a detailed report on the incident.
The Ruddy Shelduck spends the winter in South Asia and migrates to southeastern Europe and Central Asia to breed.
Nepal hikes Everest climbing fee by a third
Katmandu: Nepal has hiked the cost of an Everest climbing permit by a third, arguing it will help tackle pollution and boost safety on the world’s highest mountain, the tourism chief said Tuesday.
Fees for the peak spring climbing season will rise from $11,000 to $15,000 for a permit to scale the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak, Narayan Prasad Regmi, director general of the tourism department, told AFP.
“The cost had remained constant for a decade and it was high time to revise that,” he said.
Costs of climbing at less popular — and more demanding — times of year such as during winter or the monsoon rains have also risen at similar rates, including from $5,500 to $7,500 during the autumn season.
Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 peaks over 8,000 meters and welcomes thousands of climbers each year.
Foreign climbers already spend tens of thousands of dollars in their attempt to climb Everest, with more than 400 purchasing permits last year, bringing in around $4 million to government coffers.
The funds are put toward cleaning trash from the mountain left by climbers as well as search and rescue operations.
Mountaineering expedition companies hoped the price hike would not deter climbers, warning some might look to scale Everest through China.
“Some climbers might shift to Tibet where the facilities are much better,” said Mingma G Sherpa, who runs the Imagine Nepal mountaineering company, saying the fee must be spent on improving conditions.
“Our government just increases the royalty, but doesn’t do much,” he said.
“It needs to also provide support to the climbers and guides.”
Nepal has been criticized for allowing too many climbers on Everest while doing little to keep the peak clean.
Last year, the Nepal government ordered Everest mountaineers to carry mandatory trackers and carry bags to remove their excrement.
The fee increase was approved by the government in January, but was only published in the national gazette late Monday.
Think you can bellow like a stag? German hunters compete in a national deer calling championship
- Unique tradition goes back hundreds of years and was initially aimed at feigning a stag’s rival during the rutting season so the deer comes out
- A stag’s vocalizations are not only very diverse, but also vary according to age, state of mind and duration of the rut
DORTMUND, Germany: German hunters tried to convince the jury at a national stag calling championship that they can imitate a bellowing red deer most realistically.
The unique tradition goes back hundreds of years and was initially aimed at feigning a stag’s rival during the rutting season so the deer comes out. The trick gave hunters a chance to better assess the stag before deciding whether to shoot it.
The competition took place Friday at the Jagd & Hund, or hunting and dog, trade fair in the western city of Dortmund. There were no animals, only bellowing men wearing traditional hunters’ garb including green hats with a tuft of chamois hair.
The hunters used specially made ox horns, triton snail shells, glass cylinders, the hollow stems of the giant hogweed, and a number of artificially produced instruments to amplify the sound and resonance.
A stag’s vocalizations are not only very diverse, but also vary according to age, state of mind and duration of the rut, during which they become increasingly hoarse, as well as the mood of the herd, according to the organizers.
In Dortmund, the hunters were asked to compete in three disciplines: the call of the old, searching stag, the call of the dominant male in a pack of does, and the calling duel between two equally strong stags at the height of the rut. The members of the jury listened with closed eyes to make sure nothing would distract them from the sound.
“The stag calling for me, it’s the fascinating thing to play with the stags,” said Fabian Wenzel, who won the championship. “And maybe shoot an old stag after calling him — that’s the biggest thing for every hunter.”
Wenzel, a hunter from the small village of Nüdlingen in Bavaria, won the title for the fifth time in a row and will participate in the European Stag Calling Championships, which will take place in Lithuania in October.
Centuries-old Algerian indigenous tradition champions sharing
- Berbers are descendants of pre-Arab North Africans, whose historic homelands stretched from the Canary Isles and Morocco to the deserts of western Egypt
BEJAIA, Algeria: In a village nestled in the mountains of northeastern Algeria, locals and visitors gathered under a cold winter sky to celebrate Tamechrit, a centuries-old Berber tradition rooted in sharing.
Seeking to preserve a practice that faded during the Algerian civil war of the 1990s, villagers marked Tamechrit with Berber music and food on the occasion coinciding in January with the Amazigh new year.
The minority community of Berbers refer to themselves as the Amazigh, meaning “free people.” They have long fought for recognition for their ancient culture and language in modern states across North Africa.
Berbers are descendants of pre-Arab North Africans, whose historic homelands stretched from the Canary Isles and Morocco to the deserts of western Egypt.
“We hope to perpetuate this tradition during cultural or religious festivals,” bringing together different people from the village and even those who have left, Dahmane Barbacha, a 41-year-old from Ath Atig village, told AFP.
Children wore temporary Amazigh face tattoos at the event that dates back to the 13th century, according to historian Saleh Ahmed Baroudi.
Tamechrit means “offering” in Tamazight, the community’s language recognized as an official language alongside Arabic in Algeria.
It represents “an occasion for gathering, fraternity, and reconciliation between families” across Amazigh villages, said Baroudi, who teaches contemporary Algerian history.
Different regions of the country use other names for the custom, he added.
The merrymaking is also held to observe major Islamic events such as the fasting month of Ramadan, Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, and Ashura.
It is often held in Zawiyas, small places for worship and religious teaching, usually where a local saint or holy figure lived and was buried.
Baroudi said most of those sites are in mountainous regions, adding to the “spiritual dimension” of Tamechrit.
The festival begins days in advance, when men from the village collect donations to purchase cattle whose meat is later distributed equally among families.
During the event a communal meal — usually couscous prepared by village women — is served to everyone, regardless of social standing.
Ammar Benkherouf, a 36-year-old living in France, said he has been taking annual leaves in recent years to attend the ceremony.
“I can’t describe the happiness it brings me to help keep this heritage alive,” he told AFP.
By midday, the communal couscous is served to villagers and visitors while volunteers distribute the portioned meat around the village’s households.
Tamechrit had also been a tool for fostering solidarity during Algeria’s Independence War against French colonial rule from 1954-1962, according to Baroudi.
The ritual then faded during the country’s civil war between 1992 and 2002, a conflict between authorities and Islamist groups that claimed the lives of around 200,000 after the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) party won municipal and legislative elections.
Tamechrit then “made a comeback in the early 2000s” with the end of the civil war, said Baroudi.
Today, Tamechrit continues to bring together villagers and resolve conflicts between them.
Farhat Medhous, a 31-year-old who heads a cultural association in Ath Atig, said his group now looks to “restore women’s participation in these traditions inherited from their ancestors.”
He said that, traditionally, women held their own gatherings in a separate area from the men’s, but their involvement diminished even after the civil war.
In addition, he added, the association aims at teaching the younger generations Tamechrit values, meaning sharing and reconciliation.
He said this year’s festivity was organized by villagers aged 18 to 40.
“We have held activities for children to teach them the values of volunteerism and community,” said Medhous. “This prepares them to preserve these traditions as they grow older.”
