Obama: Same-sex marriage decision will strengthen our communities

The Supreme Court of the United States ruled Friday that same-sex couples have the right to marry.

"This ruling will strengthen all of our communities," President Barack Obama said in a speech after the ruling. "I know change for our LGBT brothers must have seemed so slow for so long."

"Today, we have made our union a little more perfect," Obama added. "Progress on this journey often times comes in small increments. Sometimes two steps forward and one step backwards."

Calling the ruling "a victory for America," Obama also said it "affirms what millions of Americans already believe in their hearts. When all Americans are treated as equal, we are all more free."

The Court ruled 5-to-4, with Justices John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissenting. All four justices wrote their own separate dissents.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, thought to be the swing vote on the ruling, authored the majority's opinion.

Following an administration that delivered on marriage equality and other inclusive strides, the LGBTQ community will face an uncertain future Friday when President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office.

Speaking at his final press conference at the White House on Wednesday, however, President Barack Obama appeared optimistic about the future of LGBTQ rights moving forward, noting that he didn’t think milestones like same-sex marriage would be “reversible” during Trump’s presidency, or beyond.

“American society has changed ― the attitudes of young people in particular have changed,” he said. Pointing to the ongoing struggle for transgender rights in particular, he added, “There’s still going to be some battles that need to take place [but] if you talk to young people ― even if they’re Republicans, even if they’re conservative ― many of them would tell you, ‘I don’t understand how you would discriminate against somebody because of sexual orientation.’ That’s just sort of burned into them in pretty powerful ways.”


While Obama said he “couldn’t be prouder” of the work he’s done on the LGBTQ community’s behalf, he wouldn’t accept full responsibility for it. “The primary heroes in this stage of our growth as a democracy and as a society are all the individual activists and sons and daughters and couples who courageously said, ‘This is who I am, and I’m proud of it,” he said.


It was a final, profound moment from Obama, who leaves behind a monumental legacy as far as LGBTQ rights is concerned, and could very well be the last time a sitting U.S. president speaks so directly to the queer community for a while.

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/26/supreme-court-says-constitution-gives-gay-people-right-to-marry.html

increments(n.)增加
affirms(vt)斷言
administration(n.)實施 行政 管理
courageously(adv.)勇敢地
profound(adj.)淵博的 深刻的

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer and activist. He is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century. From early in his career, Ali was known as an inspiring, controversial, and polarizing figure both inside and outside the ring.

Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1984 at the age of 42, three years after he retired with 61 professional bouts under his belt.

At the time, experts spoke of "dementia pugilistica" or "punch-drunk syndrome" to describe brain damage seen in sportspeople who sustain multiple concussions over the course of their careers.
"We cannot say anything decisively but there are strong suspicions," Andre Monroche, head of the medical commission of the French contact sports federation, told AFP.
"We know now that repeated blows alter the nerve cells, especially in a brain that has not been rested," he said.
Jean-Frangois Chermann, a neurologist at Leopold Bellan Hospital in Paris, is categorical.
In a 2010 book on the impact of knockouts, Chermann wrote that Ali "at the end of his training sessions let down his guard and asked his sparring partner to give him blows to the head to show he was the strongest."
"There is a link between his current illness and that kind of practice," Chermann wrote.
Medical studies have long warned about the consequences from boxing and other sports where the head receives frequent impacts.
A 2008 study by the University of Heidelberg in Germany scanned the brains of 42 boxers and 37 non-boxers. In three of the boxers, they found "micro hemorrhages" in the brain — the likely result of the sharp impact of blows in the ring that damage soft, swirling cerebral tissue.
"These changes are most likely precursors for later severe brain damage such as Parkinson's disease or dementia," the authors said.
In 2013, a probe published in the journal Scientific Reports found "profound abnormalities" in the brain activity of retired American football players.
Unusual activity in the frontal lobe, observed in former National Football League (NFL) players as they carried out a cognitive test, matched records for heavy blows they had received to the head while on the field.
Around 30 percent of boxers develop neurological difficulties after their career, according to Chermann. "The more knockouts you suffer, the greater the risks."
Amateur boxers are even more at threat, he said. "They have more fights, are monitored less and spend less time working on their defense compared to the pros," Chermann said.
Second Impact Syndrome
Knockouts are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to head injuries sustained in a range of sports, from rugby and ice hockey, to skiing, judo and horse-riding, to name but a few.
While in boxing, you see the blows being landed, in other sports the injury may go unnoticed, Monroche said.
"It could also be a footballer who heads the ball a lot. In boxing there's a referee. In other sports, no-one intervenes."
Since Ali hung up his gloves, research has shown the importance of at least five days' rest for athletes who suffer a concussion, to avoid "second impact syndrome" — a condition blamed for dozens of fatalities among sportsmen and women every year.
French rugby has taken the matter in hand, introducing neurological monitoring for professional players in 2013. In the U.S., American football and ice hockey players are also closely watched for head injuries.

concussions(n.)腦震盪
commission(vt.)授命 委託
categorical(adj.)絕對的
precursor(n.)前兆
cognitive(adj.)認識的 認知的

The life of a boxer who once convinced Muhammad Ali to open his fish and chip shop is to be celebrated at an exhibition in his hometown.

Jack Bodell, from Swadlincote, who died in November aged 76, famously beat Joe Bugner against the odds to be crowned British champion in 1971.

Mr Bodell invited his former sparring partner Ali, who died in June, to open his shop in Coventry in 1983.

South Derbyshire District Council said Mr Bodell was a "national hero".

The boxer, known as "Mr Swadlincote", won his first British and Commonwealth heavyweight championship in 1969 before losing it to Henry Cooper in his first defence of the title.

However, despite everyone writing him off, he won it back a few years later after defeating Joe Bugner.

Mr McArdle, the chief executive of the local authority, said: "Fighting people like Henry Cooper for Commonwealth and British titles is something we take for granted now.

"In those days it was quite special and there's an amazing amount of information we've assembled to celebrate his life."

Graham Nutt, from The Magic Attic, a local history archive, said: "[After] he sorted Bugner out... he arrived home the next day in an open top car and thousands of people lined the High Street."

Ken Land, a friend of Mr Bodell's, said it was his "down to earth" nature that persuaded Muhammad Ali to visit Knockout fish and chips, in 1983.

About 1,500 people visited the takeaway in Jardine Crescent on the day.

The exhibition is at Sharpe's Pottery Museum, in Swadlincote, until 4 February.

Keyword

Commonwealth

全體國民，全體公民[G]

sparring

vi.不及物動詞

拳鬥；輕拳出擊[（+with）]

persuaded

vt.及物動詞

說服，勸服[（+into/out of）

Introduction:

The news tells you about an another boxer's story and what he did after his boxer career.

CUBA (week 2)

Cuba's Communist government has survived more than 50 years of US sanctions intended to topple veteran leader Fidel Castro.

It also defied predictions that it would not survive the collapse of its one-time supporter, the Soviet Union.

Since the fall of the US-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959, Cuba has been a one-party state led by Mr Castro and - since February 2008 - by his chosen successor and younger brother, Raul.

Fidel Castro exercised control over virtually all aspects of Cuban life through the Communist Party and its affiliated mass organisations, the government bureaucracy and the state security apparatus.

Exploiting the Cold War, Fidel Castro was for decades able to rely on strong Soviet backing, including annual subsidies worth $4-5 billion, and succeed in building reputable health and education systems. But, at least partly because of the US trade sanctions, he failed to diversify the economy.

The US and Cuba agreed in 2014 to normalise relations.

Raul Castro, the world's longest-serving defence minister, took over as president in February 2008, succeeding his ailing brother Fidel, who had been in power for five decades.

After being re-elected by the single-party National Assembly in February 2013, Raul announced his intention to stand down at the end of his second term in 2018.

Fidel Castro brought revolution to Cuba in the 1950s and created the western hemisphere's first Communist state. His beard, long speeches, cigar, army fatigues and defiance of the United States earned him iconic status across the globe.

Raul, 76 at the time of this appointment, has been his brother's trusted right-hand man and was once known as an iron-fisted ideologue who executed Fidel Castro's orders - and enemies - ruthlessly.

Under his leadership, Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces became one of the most formidable fighting forces in the Third World with combat experience in Africa, where they defeated South Africa's army in Angola in 1987.

1898 - Cuba is ceded to the US which defeated Spain in war.

1902 - Cuba becomes independent under the protection of the US.

1933 - Sergeant Fulgencio Batista seizes power in a coup.

1959 - Fidel Castro leads a guerrilla army into Havana, forcing Batista to flee.

1961 - US breaks off diplomatic relations in response to the nationalization of US-owned properties, and later imposes a complete commercial embargo.

1961 - Cuban exiles backed by the US try to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, but are defeated.

1962 - The US and the Soviet Union have a showdown that almost touches off war after the US discovers Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba. The confrontation ends with the Soviets removing the missiles and the US agreeing never to invade Cuba.

1975 - Castro sends troops to Angola to help fight rebels backed by South Africa. It is the start of 15 years of war in which 300,000 Cubans will fight.

1991 - The Soviet Union, Cuba's biggest benefactor, collapses, touching off an economic crisis.

2006 - Fidel Castro provisionally turns over power to brother Raul Castro, who becomes president in 2008.

2014 - US President Barack Obama and President Castro announce moves to normalise diplomatic relations, severed for more than 50 years.

2016 - Fidel Castro dies, aged 90.

keyword:

apparatus(N.)裝置,器具,器官

bureaucracy(N.)官僚,官吏

normalise(vt.)使常態化；使合標準；使正常化

organisationsn.名詞

組織，機構，團體[C]

re-elected

• 再度當選

Introduction:

This new can let you know about some important things happened recently and before.

It can also tell you something about Cuba's leader.

The thing about Alpha go (week 1)

Google's artificial intelligence (AI) software will go head-to-head with the world's highest ranked Go player Lee Sedol, the firm has said.

It comes a week after the search giant announced that AlphaGo had beaten French Go champion Fan Hui.

That was seen as a pivotal moment for AI, similar to IBM's Deep Blue beating Garry Kasparov at chess.

The match will take place in Seoul, South Korea, and will be live-streamed via YouTube.

Demis Hassabis, head of Google's DeepMind lab, announced the news in a tweet.

Mr Sedol said in a statement that although AlphaGo appeared to be a strong player, he was "confident" that he could win the match.

Go is widely regarded as a more complicated game than chess, because of the larger choice of moves, making it a good measure of how AI technology is developing.

Computers have played Go and beaten amateurs but, before Google's victory against the French champion, experts had predicted that it would take another 10 years until a computer could beat the world's best Go professionals.

There has been a long tradition of AI software going head-to-head with human players.

In 1996, IBM's Deep Blue took on chess world champion Garry Kasparov and won, although Mr Kasparov went on to win three and draw two of the following five games.

Then in 2011, IBM's cognitive platform Watson took on the world's best Jeopardy players, a popular American quiz show and scooped the $1m prize.

Watson had access to 200 million pages of structured and unstructured content but was not connected to the internet during the game.

---

What is Go?

Go is thought to date back several thousand years to ancient China.

Using black and white stones on a grid, players gain the upper hand by surrounding their opponent's pieces with their own.

The rules are simpler than those of chess, but a player typically has a choice of 200 moves compared with about 20 in chess.

There are more possible positions in Go than atoms in the universe, according to DeepMind's team.

Go is played by more than 40 million people worldwide.

It can be very difficult to determine who is winning, and many of the top human players rely on instinct.

source:http://www.bbc.com/news/35501537

Keywords:

unstructured(a.)無社會組織的,未組織的

announced(v‧) 聲明

appeared(v)出現,發表,出席

measure(vt.)量,測量;打量,估量,衡量

determine(vt.)決定,決心;確定

introduction：

It tells us about an AI called Alpha Go. What it recently done and how many things it can do?

Tory donor threatens to stop funding over Brexit plans-Week 08

A major Tory donor has warned that he will stop funding the party if Theresa May's Brexit plans involve the UK coming out of the single market.

Sir Andrew Cook, who has donated more than £1.2m to the party, told The Timesthe country could "sleepwalk to disaster" if it made such a move.

The engineering firm chairman said at least one of his factories was almost "entirely dependent" on access to it.

Sir Andrew backed the Remain campaign in the EU referendum.

He told the newspaper that the "economic arguments of staying in the single market are overwhelming" and it would be a "catastrophe" if the country left.

"It is very difficult to make a political donation to a party when, although I support it ideologically, I do not believe that my interests and my ideology are ad idem with the principal Brexiteers," he said.

Theresa May has insisted that she wants firms to have the "maximum freedom to trade with and operate in the single market".

But the prime minister is due to confirm in a speech later this month that the UK will have two fundamental red lines in its Brexit negotiations - control of its borders and freedom from the European Court of Justice.

She has pledged to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty - so getting leaving talks with the EU under way - by the end of March. These can take up to two years, unless an agreement is reached to prolong the process.

In November last year, the Conservatives reported more than £2.8m in donationsin the three months after the EU referendum - the highest amount of the major parties.

.美同性婚姻合法：same sex marriage, legal, the U.S.

.美同性婚姻合法：same sex marriage, legal, the U.S.

On June 26, 2013, the United States Supreme Court in a 5 to 4 decision held Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to be unconstitutional. Same-sex couples are now entitled to the same marital federal benefits as opposite-sex couples. Thereafter, President Obama and Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, both welcomed the decision of the Court and promised that federal benefits for same-sex, legally married couples will be implemented swiftly, smoothly, and equally as opposite-sex spouses. On January 10, 2014, Attorney General Eric Holder stated with regard to Utah’s same-sex marriage ban: “Last June, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in United States v. Windsor, holding Americans in same-sex marriages are entitled to equal protection and equal treatment under the law. This ruling marked a historic step towards equality for all American families.”
Currently, same-sex marriage is legal in 16 states and the District of Columbia. For those who have endured prevalent discriminatory laws in the LBGT community, this decision is not merely a progressive symbol of equality for gay rights, but it has for the first time, enabled same-sex couples to apply for immigration benefits.
Until recently, obtaining immigration benefits, such as visas and green cards through same-sex marriage, was highly unlikely. Most same-sex marriage immigration benefit applications were rejected. The effect of the Windsor decision, however, was definitive. Four days after the Supreme Court’s decision, gay couple Julian Marsh and Traian Povov received their notice for green card approval. In another case, an American citizen applied for immediate family immigration for his spouse who was illegally present in the United States. The immigration court initially began deportation proceedings against the foreign spouse, but the removal proceedings were terminated after the repeal of DOMA.
Attorney Julie Oliver-Zhang explains that gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender same-sex couples are eligible for immigration benefits even if they reside in a state that has not yet legalized same-sex marriage. If one spouse is a green card holder or a U.S. citizen, then marriage in one of the 16 states or D.C. that has legalized gay marriage will meet the requirements for the application of immigration benefits. Same-sex couples do not need to establish state residency, but merely get married in a legal gay marriage jurisdiction to be immediately eligible for green card or visa benefits for foreign spouses and their children. Depending on the circumstances, even if the foreign same-sex partner has illegally entered or resided without documentation in America for a number of years, they may still qualify for a green card.
Same-sex partners of U.S. citizens who are living abroad are eligible for fiancé or fiancée visas that will allow them to quickly travel to the United States and get married. Once the foreign spouse obtains permanent residency and become American citizens, they can apply for immigration benefits for their immediate relatives, such as parents and siblings. With the change in the new immigration laws, foreign LGBT partners can finally be reunited with their families.
The new immigration rights are a positive step towards remedying a history of discrimination against same-sex couples, allowing those in the LGBT community to achieve the American dream through swift and effective immigration processing.” 


http://oliverzhanglaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Chinese-World-Journal-Op-Ed-Julie-2014.01.29.pdf