Houston Astros pitcher Collin McHugh went full Matrix on Tuesday night, bending backwards to avoid a line drive like Keanu Reeves dodging bullets in a feat of human flexibility.
McHugh’s impressive reflexes not only helped him dodge the line drive hit by Oakland’s Kendrys Morales (though the ball did reportedly graze McHugh’s hand), it also helped the Astros turn a double play.
After the game, home plate umpire Bob Guccione recounted what he saw, telling MLB.com, “it reminded me exactly of Keanu Reeves and The Matrix. And so I had to go out there and I told him, ‘Man, that was just like The Matrix.’”
McHugh’s moves come just one night after Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish managed to hit three people with just one pitch. A big week for Major League pitchers defying physics.
Heading into Season 8 of Game of Thrones, every fan has their favorite theories on what will happen, when, and to whom. Can Cersei take the Iron Throne? Will Arya finish off her kill list? Does Bran hold the key to ending The Long Night? The list goes on.
Of course, HBO is keeping a tight lid on the final secrets of Thrones‘ epic saga — and only time will tell which fan predictions, if any, are correct.
But there’s more to be learned from this song of fire and ice than who survives and who perishes. How you picture the ending of Game of Thrones says a lot about how you see the real world and the real people in it.
So, let’s take a look at some of the top theories floating around the fandom and what your favorites say about you. Enjoy!
Bran is the Night King
Image: hbo
The theory:
Brandon Stark has been cagey about what being the Three-Eyed Raven actually means, but the original tree dude teamed up with the Children of the Forest and seemed to be fighting against the Night King. This theory outlines that Bran will try to use his Raven powers to go back in time and stop the Night King from being created but will instead get trapped inside the mind of the man the Children of the Forest eventually transformed into his Icy Highness.
At that point, Bran would be obligated not to interrupt the flow of time and would have been acting as the Night King for the duration of Game of Thrones, perhaps lying in wait for a last-minute feint that would destroy the King and himself once and for all.
What it says about you:
You’re a stone cold logician.
Loose ends and unresolved loops bother you more then they do other people, mainly because you have a straightforward mind that takes comfort in knowing that things make sense. The Night King as of now has no known motivations, which makes him an unsatisfying villain in your eyes.
Bran using his timey-wimey magic to become the Night King makes the most sense of the theories you’ve heard or some up with, and you always try to appeal to good sense. You’re the person other people go to to sort out their more complicated problems, just like you solved the mystery of Bran’s purpose on this show.
Tyrion is half Targaryen
Image: hbo
The theory:
The prophesied “three-headed dragon” needs three riders. Of course, we’ve got Daenerys Targaryen, but who will ride alongside her? This theory asserts that Tyrion Lannister is secretly half Targaryen, the son of King Aerys Targaryen and Joanna Lannister. Many would argue, it is also the greatest support for Tyrion’s claim to the Iron Throne.
While Tyrion has had a rough go of it in Westeros (and will almost undoubtedly meet a horrible end in Thrones’ final hours), you’re holding out hope that there’s a happy ending for him. You don’t share your theory with friends often, but when you do, you have a wealth of Thrones research to back you up. Long live King Tyrion — and your delightful optimism.
Cersei becomes the Night Queen
Image: hbo
The theory:
George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books mention the legend of the Night’s Queen, a lady White Walker who ruled the lands above and below the wall alongside the Night King. The Night King in the book is different to the one in the show, but this theory hypothesizes that once Cersei realizes she can’t escape the coming war, she will ally with the Night King through marriage and become the queen of the White Walkers.
What it says about you:
You’re all about keeping order.
Cersei becoming the Night Queen would certainly be a twist, but from her perspective it could be the only way she gets to remain in power as Game of Thrones comes to a close. You’re the kind of person who would do somewhat unorthodox things if it meant that you could maintain the status quo, especially if the status quo is already benefiting the people you care about.
Just as Cersei would do anything to protect her unborn child, you’re not afraid of taking calculated risks and almost always make the right call at the right time.
Jamie kills Cersei
Image: hbo
The theory:
The “Jamie kills Cersei” theory is popular among book readers because of a line from the book that was omitted from the show. In the scene where a young Cersei has her fortune read, the woods witch Maggy prophesies that she will marry the king and have three children who will die, but adds in the book that Cersei will be killed by the “valonquar,” a Valyrian word meaning “little brother.”
Cersei has always interpreted valonquar to mean Tyrion, which is part of the reason she hates her younger brother so much, but people have noted that Jamie is technically a few minutes younger than his twin sister. Prophesies work weird in Westeros, so Cersei’s death at Jamie’s hand would wrap this one up nicely and ironically.
What it says about you:
You’re a moral paragon.
Honor and loyalty are more than just values to you, they’re how you live your life. Like Jamie, you’ve seen the consequences of duty and honor colliding and it’s probably one of the most stressful dilemmas you’ve ever come up against. You can always appeal to your better judgement, though, and take comfort in knowing that adhering to your moral code will usually point you in the right direction.
Arya kills Cersei
Image: hbo
The theory:
Arya’s been gunning to murder Cersei since the Lady Lannister had a hand in her dad’s beheading. Arya’s track record on crossing names off her murder list is pretty darn good, even if she’d made amendments to it as the show has gone on (shout out to Sandor for surviving her wrath).
Some people tie this theory into the “Jamie murders Cersei” theory and say that Arya will wear Jamie’s face while she kills the queen, while others thing she’ll do it as Arya, just so Cersei can know who’s really taking her down.
What it says about you:
You’re a defender.
Justice matters to you, no matter how it’s dealt. An eye for an eye is more than a maxim; it’s how you live your life. It bothers you when things don’t feel fair and you’re often compelled to remark upon or change things that feel uneven in your life, but only because you have a very strong sense of what’s right and what’s deserved.
Sam writes A Song of Ice and Fire
Image: hbo
The theory:
Subscribers to this theory believe that a scene in Season 7, Episode 2 reveals Sam Tarly to be the fictional author behind George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire,” making the books a historic account of the events of Game of Thrones told from Sam’s perspective.
What it says about you:
You’re practical.
Unlike other Thrones fans, you’re not focused on the gruesome ins-and-outs of the Battle for the Throne. You’re focusing on what the show’s many events as well as the looming fight against the White Walkers mean for the history of Martin’s universe, and where the story can and can’t go from here. Rather than getting in the weeds of who is going to win what, you’re focusing on tangible facts and their bigger implications.
But let’s not mistake your fact-mindedness as boring. Quite the contrary. Your ability to see the meta side of Thrones is reflective of your intuitive, detail-oriented nature. When it comes time to talk theories, you’re the one with real answers and not flimsy guesses.
Dany becomes the Mad Queen
Image: hbo
The theory:
This dark theory predicts that long-time Thrones heroDaenerys Targaryen will follow in the steps of her ruthless father King Aerys Targaryen, and become Westeros’s first Mad Queen. Although such a possibility was at one point unthinkable, Dany’s troubling behavior in Season 7 adds major credence to this heartbreaking prediction.
What it says about you:
You love Dany, but you’re realistic about where her many questionable choices could land her in the series finale.
As you picture the ending of Season 8, you can only imagine the lengths Dany will go to to get what she wants — and it’s not pretty. You admire her ambition and can almost relate to it. But you’re smart enough to see the limitations of fighting fire with fire and are fully prepared for this terribly pessimistic end to the fire and ice saga. In fact, you think it’s fitting.
Sansa and Gendry get together
Image: hbo
The theory:
A suitable partner for Sansa Stark has long been absent from the Thrones landscape — but the surprise return of Gendry, the unacknowledged son of King Robert Baratheon, in Season 7 may mean romance is in the air for the eldest Stark sister.
There’s strong evidence Gendry and Sansa have been fated from the start, and Season 8 could finally bring them together.
What it says about you:
You’re never short on imagination, particularly when it comes to romance.
Not only does the idea of Gendry and Sansa locking lips make you swoon, you also see a kind of cosmic justice in Sansa getting the happy ending she deserves. Since the very beginning of Thrones history, Sansa has wanted to be with a good man, and Gendry is unquestionably a good man.
That being said, you worry about the possibility of being let down by their love, and remain guarded about this theory’s limitations. You’re hopeful, but cautious in most aspects of life.
The Iron Throne melts
Image: hbo
The theory:
This theory predicts that no one will sit on the Iron Throne at the end of Season 8, the famed seat of swords having been melted down by Dany’s dragons in the final battle against the White Walkers.
What it says about you:
You’re not the average theorizer. Your predictions are specific, layered, and creative.
You’re practical enough to believe Dany will at least make it close to Thrones’ final moments, but confident that the meaning of the Iron Throne will have been substantially valued by the time credits roll. The melting throne theory is one of your favorite topics to drop into the middle of a Game of Thrones discussion. It’s bold and experimental, just like you.
Guwahati, Assam – Three months ago, Jadav Das was among the men from the northeastern state of Assam who staged a naked protest in front of the parliament building in New Delhi.
They stood, holding a banner that read, “No citizenship on the basis of religion. Scrap the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), 2016”, referring to the contentious bill pushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s government.
The bill that would grant citizenship rights to undocumented non-Muslim immigrants, sparked protests in the country’s northeast region that is home to a large immigrant population. Last year, nearly four million people were left out of the draft National Register of Citizens in Assam.
But critics say that Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – which runs the government both at the centre as well as in Assam state – wants to amend the citizenship law to accommodate Hindu immigrants.
Das, who runs a cloth business in Narayanpur, a town in Lakhimpur district in upper Assam, said the protest was so effective that the bill could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of parliament).
There’s no trace today of the anger that made him strip in the New Delhi winter. He is now an enthusiastic campaigner for the BJP. He left his organisation, the Anusuchit Jati Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJCP), which represents Dalit or Scheduled Caste students, and formally joined the Hindu nationalist party on April 6.
“We were brainwashed back then about the havoc of foreigners that CAB will wreak on Assam,” Das told Al Jazeera.
“But Bhaskar Gogoi [a senior state BJP leader], explained how CAB will not affect our jaati [community], bhasha [language] and sanskriti [culture],” he said.
The contentious bill
The contentious bill, which is one of the main promises in the BJP’s manifesto, seeks to provide citizenship through naturalisation to “persecuted” Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and Buddhists fleeing Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
But Assam’s indigenous population fear that the new bill will encourage more Hindu immigrants to come to India.
Political observers believe the CAB may backfire on the BJP but a sizable section of Hindu immigrants will back the right-wing party.
Bengali-origin Muslims, on the other hand, who form over one-third of the state’s 32 million population, have been dubbed “infiltrators” by supporters of the bill and more recently “termites” by the BJP National President Amit Shah.
Activists and opposition leaders say that citizenship based on religion contravenes the 1985 Assam Accord aimed at restricting the entry of undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh.
The Assam Accord was a culmination of a six-year-long state-wide agitation between 1979 and 1985 against immigrants, both Hindus and Muslims, who fled civil war in Bangladesh.
The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), once a powerful regional party born out of the anti-foreigner agitation of the 1970s and 1980s, recently walked out of a coalition government headed by the BJP in the state over the contentious bill.
But it walked right back into the alliance within two months, for the national elections. The AGP is now straddling the seemingly contradictory positions of being both pro-BJP and anti-CAB even as it faces internal rebellion.
One of the AGP’s most senior leaders and former chief minister, Prafulla Mahanta, said that the alliance is important for the BJP, not the AGP.
“People believe only the AGP can protect them, not any other regional or national party as Shah’s statement has proven. They can’t trust the BJP,” he told Al Jazeera.
‘Conscientious voters’
During the agitations for the Assam accord, many of the AGP’s leaders were young activists of the All Assam Students Union (AASU), which spearheaded the movement.
The AASU is one of the strongest critics of the BJP’s CAB and it wants all undocumented immigrants to be deported from the state, not just Muslims.
Bengali speaking Hindus rally in favour of citizenship amendment bill [Makepeace Sitlhou/Al Jazeera]
It led 70 civil society organisations against the citizenship bill earlier this year. Along with the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU), AASU activists have conducted door-to-door campaigns urging people to defeat the BJP and vote for parties opposed to the CAB.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, AASU leader Samujal Bhattacharya said that the BJP’s proposal that only Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians will be granted citizenship, dilutes clause five of the Assam Accord which says that all those who migrated after 1971 should be left out of the citizenship register.
Bhattacharya insisted that basic life and livelihood issues would influence voter behaviour and contested the claim that this election is a referendum on the CAB.
“In [a] democracy, it is [the] people’s right to vote who they want but they’re also observing the situation minutely. If anyone plays politics with us, we know how to react,” he said.
The growth of the right-wing BJP in the state has coincided with increased attacks on Muslims in the state, the latest being the incident where a Muslim “rice hotel” owner in Assam was beaten by a mob for allegedly selling beef and was forced to eat pork.
“Conscientious voters will vote against CAB but many voters here are being bought over by the sea of money that BJP is pumping into this election,” Dilower Hussain, Central Organisation Secretary of the AAMSU told Al Jazeera.
But Bhaskar Papukan Gogoi, a BJP worker, rejected the allegation saying that meetings and discussions with local community leaders have helped clear apprehensions about the bill. “Money may be able to buy one or two people but not the free-spirited people of Assam,” he said.
The BJP’s main rival in the state as well at the national level, the Indian National Congress, is looking to capitalise on the polarisation caused by the CAB to stage a revival in the state.
The Congress, which held power in Assam until it was defeated by the BJP in 2016, is hoping its promise to scrap the CAB will earn it favour not just from the state’s sizable Muslim population but also indigenous groups that hold the Assam Accord to be sacrosanct.
For Ujjwal Bhowmick, a pharmacist in the Bengali-dominated Maligaon area of Guwahati, all parties are capitalising on the fears and paranoia of different communities, whether Hindu Bengalis, Muslim Bengalis or Assamese.
“It’s not like Congress is offering any concrete solution to the problem of foreigners in Assam,” he told Al Jazeera.
ON THE TRAIL … NATASHA KORECKI in Iowa: BUTTIGIEG SHRUGS OFF ANTI-GAY HECKLERS: “South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg swept into Iowa on Tuesday, drawing some of the biggest crowds of the 2020 race so far in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. He faced anti-gay hecklers at two events, including in Des Moines where a man in the crowd shouted ‘remember Sodom and Gomorrah!’ just after Buttigieg talked about marrying his husband, Chasten, who attended the event.
“The man kept shouting but the crowd chants of ‘Pete! Pete!’ drowned him out. Buttigieg calmly looked on as security escorted away the individual. ‘The good news is, the condition of my soul is in the hands of God, but the Iowa caucuses are up to you,’ Buttigieg said to laughter and cheers.
“In all, three hecklers over two Iowa events were taken away and each time Buttigieg unflinchingly carried on after cracking a joke or commenting on freedom of expression. A campaign aide said it was the first time the mayor faced such security incidents since touring nationally.” Video
— BUTTIGIEG EDGE: “Two days after officially entering the presidential race, Buttigieg was expecting 50 people at a Polk County meet and greet. As RSVPs rolled in, organizers moved it from a small gym at Franklin Junior High to the large gym, to an auditorium and finally moving it outside. A good thing: a stunning 1,650 people showed up in the end.
“It isn’t just the number of people that stands out: Buttigieg has yet to staff up with organizers in Iowa, so this turnout was mostly organic. Buttigieg spoke to a progressive Iowa group in December and has visited the earlier this year but this crowd was exponentially larger.”
— MEANWHILE … “On the other side of town, SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-N.J.) was meeting with the Iowa Black Caucus, capping a tour through the state. The night before, he hosted a Sioux City town hall, before about 100 people. When it wound down, the New Jersey Democrat, having spotted a supporter wearing a Queen T-shirt, took her and her friends aside and called up on her phone a video of Axl Rose and Elton John performing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ at times singing along.”
Happy Wednesday. JAKE and ANNA will be on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” tonight on CBS, where they will talk about politics and their new book “The Hill to Die On.” Order here
IMMIGRATION LATEST … NYT’S MIKE SHEAR and KATIE BENNER: “In New Effort to Deter Migrants, Barr Withholds Bail to Asylum Seekers”: “The Trump administration on Tuesday took another significant step to discourage migrants from seeking asylum, issuing an order that could keep thousands of them in jail indefinitely while they wait for a resolution of their asylum requests.
“The order issued by Attorney General William P. Barr was an effort to deliver on President Trump’s promise to end the ‘catch and release’ of migrants crossing the border in hopes of escaping persecution in their home countries.
“The order — which directs immigration judges to deny some migrants a chance to post bail — will not go into effect for 90 days. It is all but certain to be challenged in federal court, but immigrant rights lawyers said it could undermine the basic rights of people seeking safety in the United States.” NYT
LESS THAN 24 HOURS after we wondered if he was bored with the 2020 field … the president (@realDonaldTrump) last night: “I believe it will be Crazy Bernie Sanders vs. Sleepy Joe Biden as the two finalists to run against maybe the best Economy in the history of our Country (and MANY other great things)! I look forward to facing whoever it may be. May God Rest Their Soul!”
THE INVESTIGATIONS … ANDREW DESIDERIO and KYLE CHENEY: “Mueller looms over Dem investigations”: “After three months in power, House Democrats have finally hit their investigative stride. They’ve teed up invasive probes of President Donald Trump’s finances, uncorked subpoenas, and set the stage for court battles that could consume Washington through the 2020 election.
“But everything could change Thursday when Attorney General William Barr releases a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s long-anticipated report on the Trump campaign’s links to Russia. Mueller’s findings — and whether they’re damning, benign or too heavily redacted to understand — are certain to be a major factor guiding the direction of Democrats’ probes.” POLITICO
MAYBE HE SHOULD’VE FOCUSED ON SAVING THE HOUSE! … “Trump moves to resist House inquiries, setting up fight over congressional subpoena powers,” by WaPo’s Tom Hamburger, Karoun Demirjian, John Dawsey and Rachael Bade:“The administration does not plan to turn over information being sought about how particular individuals received their security clearances, Trump’s meetings with foreign leaders and other topics that they plan to argue are subject to executive privilege, according to several aides familiar with internal discussions.” WaPo
CASH DASH — “Freshman Democrats rake in cash to protect the House,” by Laura Barrón-López and Sarah Ferris: “The most vulnerable House Democrats are off to a fast start defending their seats — and their party’s fragile new majority. Nearly three-dozen Democratic freshmen in battleground districts raised more than $300,000 for their campaigns in the first three months of 2019 — a barometer of early momentum in the seats that could determine control of the chamber in the 2020 election.
“Competing with a crowded Democratic presidential field and higher-profile Senate races, the new class of Democrats responsible for flipping control of the House have fought to sustain the torrent of campaign cash, much of it from small donors, that allowed candidates to outspend GOP incumbents in most of the contested House races last year. Now, as incumbents themselves, the eye-popping numbers could help fend off GOP challengers as Democrats attempt to hold their majority while waging war with President Donald Trump on multiple fronts.” POLITICO
SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO is speaking to reporters at 9:30 this morning at the State Department.
SWAMP UPDATE … AP: “Former U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is quickly parlaying his time in President Donald Trump’s cabinet into a lucrative private career.
“He’s landed a more than $100,000-a-year post at a Nevada mining company and is pursuing involvement in natural gas exports that have surged under Trump, Zinke told The Associated Press Tuesday.” AP
2020 WATCH — CHRIS CADELAGO and ALEX THOMPSON: “Warren bets big on mega-campaign”: “As Elizabeth Warren’s campaign developed its organizing strategy this winter, it spent big to bring on a whopping 161 staffers — nearly twice as many as her closest rival in the Democratic presidential primary.
“The early hiring spree, which cost Warren’s campaign nearly $1.2 million in salary plus more on related expenses, amounts to a big bet on what it will take to win the 2020 presidential race. The buildup had Warren spending money almost as fast as she raised at a time of year when presidential campaigns traditionally hoard their cash, according to new campaign finance filings.
“But the decision sheds new light on the priorities and strategy behind Warren’s campaign, which believes organization in the early-voting states could make the difference next year.” POLITICO
TRUMP’S WEDNESDAY — The president will participate in an “Opportunity Zone” conference with state, local, tribal and community leaders at 2 p.m. in the South Court Auditorium.
AOC’S MYSTERY BOOK — “Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) … was recently in talks to write a book … Multiple publishing industry sources told The Daily Beast that the freshman Democrat retained the talent agency CAA and took meetings earlier this year about writing a potential book. The project, one industry source said, was ultimately pulled, but for reasons that remain mysterious.” The Daily Beast
BONUS WOMEN RULE PODCAST — ANNA spoke with SUSAN TYNAN, founder of Framebridge, the direct-to-consumer online framing startup that has raised $67.1 million since its launch in 2014, at a live Women Rule podcast taping at the Manufacturing Institute’s “Step Ahead Initiative.” Listen and subscribe
TRUMP AND THE WORLD … ELIANA JOHNSON: “Japanese leader plans grueling D.C. dash for Trump face time”: “When Japan enthrones a new emperor on May 1, the country’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, might be feeling a little jet lagged. Just four days before one of his nation’s most important ceremonial events in a generation, akin to the election of a new Pope in Rome, Abe plans to jet around the world and back for a vital mission: maintaining his relationship with President Donald Trump.
“Abe’s 36-hour trip to a foreign capital 6,700 miles away — he tentatively plans to join First Lady Melania Trump’s 49th birthday celebrations on Friday, April 26, and golf with Trump himself the next day, according to two sources familiar with his plans — underscores the extraordinary lengths he has gone to cultivate the U.S. president.” POLITICO
— VETO NO. 2: “President Donald Trump on Tuesday vetoed a bipartisan measure to cut off U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen’s civil war, calling it ‘an unnecessary, dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities.’” POLITICO
— FOR YOUR RADAR … BLOOMBERG: “High on the list of President Donald Trump’s priorities as he tries to close a trade deal with counterpart Xi Jinping is making sure China faces consequences if it doesn’t live up to its promises. Yet in pursuing that goal Trump may also be giving China a new cudgel to use on American companies and striking another blow to the international rule of law.
“Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said the U.S. has made its own commitments to China and agreed that both sides will be subject to an enforcement mechanism. ‘This will be a two-way agreement in enforcement,’ Mnuchin said Monday, after saying over the weekend that the U.S. would be open to ‘certain repercussions.’ …
“If the U.S. allows China reciprocal enforcement powers, it would make China ‘judge, jury and executioner as to whether we have honored our obligations,’ said Daniel Price, who served as a senior economic adviser to President George W. Bush and is now at Rock Creek Global Advisors in Washington.” Bloomberg
NORTHAM UPDATE … AP: “Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has withdrawn from plans to be a commencement speaker at his alma mater, Virginia Military Institute, and won’t participate in any other graduation ceremonies amid the persisting scandal over a blackface photo.” AP
MEDIAWATCH — Many Democrats weren’t happy with Bernie Sanders’ decision to hold a town hall on Fox News, but it was a smash hit in the ratings: 2.55 million people watched Sanders on Monday, per Nielsen. That’s the most of any Democrat so far on any network — the previous high for any candidate was Kamala Harris, who drew 1.95 million viewers for her CNN town hall in January.
No wonder other candidates, including Pete Buttigieg, are considering holding Fox town halls of their own, per CNN.
— @realDonaldTrump with some media criticism: “Many Trump Fans & Signs were outside of the @FoxNews Studio last night in the now thriving (Thank you President Trump) Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for the interview with Crazy Bernie Sanders. Big complaints about not being let in-stuffed with Bernie supporters. What’s with @FoxNews?”
— AHEM: “Fox reached out to various political and local groups in the area and mined requests to attend after it publicly announced the event.” The Morning Call (via Brian Stelter)
— NEERA TANDEN’S MOM is firing back at the NYT, which interviewed her for a Tuesday story about the feud between the Center for American Progress chief and the Bernie Sanders campaign. The piece, by Liz Williamson and Ken Vogel, caught some flak from Tanden’s allies on Twitter.
Maya Tanden: “As a 78-year-old immigrant, I am so proud of my daughter for succeeding. … For the first time in my life, a reporter contacted me out of nowhere and said she wanted to talked to me for what I thought was a nice story about Neera. I didn’t understand my words would be used in the story and once I understood they could be, I called her back to clarify that. Only then did she tell me my words were ‘on the record,’ a term I’ve never heard before. I feel very misled.”
Brian Fallon (@brianefallon): “The NYT story on Neera Tanden should never have brought her mom into it. And whether you agree with Neera’s views or not, her aggressiveness is one of her biggest strengths and would be lionized if she were a man.”
We asked Williamson for a response, and got this from an NYT spox: “Our story focuses on ideological divisions in the Democratic party and the Center for American Progress, a think tank/political organization with a $60 million combined budget. The story provides an in-depth look at the center’s president, Neera Tanden. It includes accurate, on-the-record comments by Maya Tanden, Neera Tanden’s mother. Maya Tanden is knowledgeable about Democratic politics and her daughter’s career, and has been active in local Democratic politics.”
— THE LIBERAL MURDOCH … FT: “James Murdoch is set to invest about $1bn from the proceeds of the sale of his stake in 21st Century Fox to assemble a new portfolio of media companies that could include a liberal-leaning news outlet, according to people close to the billionaire investor. …
“People with direct knowledge of his plans said James Murdoch wanted to distance himself from the conservative media outlets controlled for decades by his father but had yet to decide how exactly he would invest in the news media.
“His options range from a liberal news website to a digital magazine focused on culture, society and lifestyle, they said, adding that no final decision had been taken as the new venture was at an early stage.” FT
— Nancy Gibbs, the former editor of Time, is the new faculty director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Per a note from Dean Douglas Elmendorf: “Nicco [Mele, the previous director,] will remain a lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School this fall and intends to focus on multiple book projects.” (hat tip: Reliable Sources)
SPOTTED Tuesday night at French Ambassador Gérard Araud’s final farewell dinner: UAE Ambassador Yousef Al-Otaiba, Adrienne Arsht, Bret and Amy Baier, Susan Blumenthal, Susan Rice and Ian Cameron, Eliot Cohen, Heidi Crebo-Rediker and Douglas Rediker, Susan Glasser, Chris Isham and Jennifer Maguire Isham, Jordanian Ambassador Dina Kawar, Robert Malley and Robert Shapiro. Andrea Mitchell also made an appearance at the end of dinner.
TRANSITIONS — Pia Carusone is joining the political media and strategy firm Left Hook as a partner. She most recently wrote and produced Arizona Senate candidate Mark Kelly’s announcement video and helped form the anti-gun violence group GIFFORDS and was its first executive director. … Eric Lausten is now a principal at Husch Blackwell Strategies. He previously was chief of staff for Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.).
WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Joshua Karp, a Democratic communications strategist and comms adviser to Andrew Gillum and an American Bridge alum, and Dorian Karp, senior advocacy and policy manager at Jewish Women International, on Monday night welcomed Eleanor “Ellie” June Karp, who came in at 5 lbs., 12 oz., and 18 inches. Pic
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Ieva Augstums, deputy VP for strategic planning and operations in public affairs at PhRMA and an AP alum, is 4-0. A fun fact about Ieva: “In an attempt to win scholarship money (I swear), in high school I applied for Miss Teenage America. I made it to the top three, and my picture appeared next to Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1997 issue of Teen Magazine. Props to anyone who can find it.” Playbook Plus Q&A
BIRTHDAYS: Jim Acosta, CNN’s chief White House correspondent, is 48 … Marty Obst, president of MO Strategies … Erika Soto Lamb, VP of social impact strategy at Comedy Central … Rep. George Holding (R-N.C.) is 51 (h/t Doug Heye) … Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) is 58 … Tom Giovanetti … Alex Kellner (h/t Rob Flaherty) … Jackie Whisman, VP at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (h/t the ITIF team) … Dean Lieberman, founder and principal at DKL Strategies (h/t Ben Chang) … Chris Durlak … POLITICO’s Angelica Botlo … Greg Lemon … Tom Hunt … Ryan Leppert …. Julie Almacy, celebrating in Paris (hubby tip: David) … Miri Belsky … Andrea Catsimatidis … Jennifer Laptook LaTourette … Greg Cairns (h/t Zack Roday) … NYT’s Julie Hirschfeld Davis …
… David Lindsey, executive editor of news and features at NatGeo … Joshua Tucker … Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) is 36 … Leslie Dach, founder and chair of Protect Our Care (h/t Jesse Ferguson) … Shelly Banjo of Bloomberg News … Adekunle Ogunfolu … Shaunna Thomas, co-founder and exec director of UltraViolet (h/t Matthew Butler) … Karina Carlson … Jon Simons (h/t Eric Reller) … Atul Shembekar … Valentina Cano, who recently married Lucas Farley — pic … Uber’s Susan Effler … Matt Aks, associate at Oliver Wyman and an Obama W.H. alum … Michael Myers … Ed Gilroy … NTSB’s Sean Dalton … Trait Thompson … Edelman’s Gregory St. Claire … Rachel Pryor … Clay Hanna is 41 … Chris Gilbert … Sandra Fluke is 38 … Brian Temple Smith is 4-0 … John Cahill … Micah Kleit … Benjamin Runkle is 47 … Gabrielle Porter … Robert Bateman is 52 … Ken Jost … Jessica Ehrlich … Eric Sayers, VP at Beacon Global Strategies
Mumbai, India – Teena, a 22-year-old mother, arrives late to her acting class in Dharavi, Mumbai, apologising and wiping the sweat from her forehead.
Her weekly, 10-hour round-trip from her home in Nashik to this acting school in the heart of India‘s biggest slum, is something of a pilgrimage.
Teena worships Bollywood, and is determined to be a star.
“I do it because I have a dream,” she says, “and I will do absolutely anything for it.”
The Dharavi acting school’s founder and sole instructor – the moustached Babarao Laadsaheb – says Teena’s dedication is shared by many.
Mumbai is home to the world’s biggest film industry, and many Indians are devotees: stars’ houses are treated like temples, and some fans have even built shrines for their heroes.
But the poor scarcely get a look in when it comes to starring roles: class and caste status, nepotism, fair skin, education, English language, and certain beauty ideals are at play.
Nevertheless, Bollywood “gives people hope,” says Laadsaheb. “People come to this city with nowhere to live, many live on footpaths” in their pursuit of a career in cinema, he says.
Laadsaheb opened his school 35 years ago and hasn’t missed a day’s teaching since.
At first, he didn’t charge anyone a single rupee; now, only those who can afford the classes contribute, and he covers trips to castings himself.
When I grow up, I want to play a gangster. Boys think girls are weak, but we’re not.
Manisha, 10-year-old actor
His biggest box-office casting to-date was Slumdog Millionaire in 2008. For some in the community, the film has become something like folklore, making a big break feel tantalisingly within reach.
Today, Laadsaheb’s one-room classroom above his own home, which he built himself, is a shrine to Bollywood.
Over the years, every inch of wall space has been filled with film posters, actors’ faces, and photos of Laadsaheb with celebrities.
The adults’ class begins with facial exercises; every student meticulously copying Laadsaheb’s expressions: elation, grief, shock.
Teena is one of two women in a class of eight.
Though Bollywood has always been male-dominated, Laadsaheb says it increasingly represents an important source of opportunity and independence for women.
“There are a lot more heroine-oriented films,” he says, “and women are also getting work behind the camera.”
“I feel happy when I have an audience,” Teena says after class, “when people like me, when they give me recognition and appreciation.”
Manisha leads a dance class. ‘When I grow up I want to play a gangster,” Manisha says. ‘Boys think girls are weak, but we’re not.’ [Gayeti Singh/Al Jazeera]
Teena married at 16 out of material need; in the wake of her mother’s death and enduring domestic violence, she had been fending for herself for years.
Her young family barely has enough money to get by, but Teena can attend the acting school for free.
“Lots of people tell me I’m wasting my time, they even tell me that I’m ruining my life.
“I feel that if I make something of myself, my family will have something to hold onto. We’ve had such a tough life, I want us to have pride.”
She also hopes that if she becomes famous, her sister, who went missing after their mother left her father, may get in touch.
Garbage in the alleys of the slum. Two signs advertise acting classes, and a poster features Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan [Gayeti Singh/Al Jazeera]
Laadsaheb tells the students, “If you have talent, you have everything.”
Teena has learned that isn’t always the case.
“I know I’ll never get a heroine role because I know a heroine has to look a certain way,” she says, “No one has to spell it out.” Leading ladies in Bollywood are often tall and slim, with fair skin and long, straight hair. They are also almost always from wealthy families.
In six years of lessons and many auditions, Teena hasn’t gotten any work.
“Experience has made me think that even if I give my best performance I will not be selected,” she says, “They see my face and they make up their mind.”
I feel women are stronger actors and I want to play lead roles.
Radhakumari, aspiring actor
The other woman in today’s acting class is Radhakumari.
The 18-year-old has attended the school for six months. Although there are “traditional, conservative mindsets”, in her village, she has her family’s support. They cover her 600 rupee-a-month fee ($8.70).
“My father told me to ignore what others say to hone my talent and to show it off,” she says. “Initially, I was scared that if I don’t make it, I’ve wasted time and money. But that feeling was quickly replaced by confidence, because I have my family’s encouragement.”
Months after joining the Dharavi school, Radhakumari landed her first job, dancing at a film premiere.
“I feel women are stronger actors and I want to play lead roles.”
Radhakumari, 18, has already secured an acting role [Gayeti Singh/Al Jazeera]
But Laadsaheb says Bollywood roles do not have to be the end goal. He takes students to castings for Netflix productions and one of his child students recently secured some work.
Ten-year-old Manisha whispers to her friends: “These journalists are here to talk to me because of Netflix.”
She says she never thought she’d be an actress, “but now, I think I’ll be famous.”
Manisha has been cast in an upcoming series that looks at caste dynamics in a dystopian near-future.
In real life, her five-person family lives in a 2.5-by-1.25-metre room, says her mother, who is investing the 80,000-rupee ($1,150) Netflix fee for five weeks’ work in Manisha’s education.
“I had never seen, or even imagined such big cameras and lights, or such a big hotel,” says Manisha.
She is giddy about her newfound taste of celebrity. “Does the whole world watch Netflix?” she asks. “I thought it was only in Mumbai!”
Manisha says the Dharavi acting school treats girls and boys equally, and doesn’t feel confined to a future playing traditional female roles.
“When I grow up, I want to play a gangster,” she says, “Boys think girls are weak, but we’re not.”
The film industry’s obsession with conventional beauty standards hasn’t passed the 10-year-old by, though.
“Heroines are thin,” she says. “I don’t eat because I want to stay thin.”
As Manisha picks at her lunch, Laadsaheb’s wife, Maya Narain Lad, says, “If [Manisha] gets lucky, she can leave the slum, otherwise she’s stuck here.”
‘I do it because I have a dream,’ Teena says about acting classes [Gayeti Singh/Al Jazeera]
The children who starred in Slumdog Millionaire, who played slum residents, for the most part, remained slum residents themselves – with one even losing her film awards in a fire.
As the school closes for the day, Rekha arrives to collect her five daughters.
She hopes the school will give them a chance at a life beyond the ordinary.
“Their fate isn’t to get married and sit at home, they should get ahead in life, stand on their own two feet,” she says.
For Teena, this hope is enduring.
“I’m crazy about this dream,” she says, and she’ll persist even if there’s a “tiny chance” of a career in Bollywood.
Best friends are undoubtedly, well … the best. They’re the first people you want to share exciting news with; the ones who know you better than anyone else. Having a new friend reach “best friend level” is an incredibly special moment that can only be expressed through this GIF:
Image: giphy
We meet our best friends at different points in our lives, and the longer we have those friends, the more likely it is that the friendship will become a long-distance one at some point, as either or both of you move for school or work or life. Theoretically, modern technology and social media should make being long-distance best friends easy, but there’s far more to it than that.
FaceTime, instant messages, and constant social media stories keep us connected to our friends, but staying connected isn’t quite the same as staying close. You may feel yourselves start to drift apart, and while this is completely natural, there are steps you can take to help keep that friendship fresh and present in your life.
The importance of intimacy
“One of the biggest drivers of who you’re friends with is just pure proximity,” says Theresa DiDonato, a professor at Loyola University Maryland and an expert in intimacy. But beyond proximity, intimacy is the secret to long-lasting friendships.
There are steps you can take to help keep that friendship fresh and present in your life.
“Intimacy is a function of self-disclosure — and you can do self-disclosure of facts or you can do self-disclosure of really important emotional stuff that you’re going through,” says DiDonato. It may be easier with nearby friends, who know the ins and outs of your day and how you feel about any given topic at any given time, just because you’re around them. But you can also create that intimacy with people you don’t see regularly.
Nobody talks about it. We don’t take it seriously, but long distance friendship is as hard and as beautiful as a long distance relationship. To have a friend, miles away, smiling in your joy, and crying in your pain is the biggest blessing
Some of my friends live a couple of states away; others are a few timezones away. We all do that thing you see in ’80s romcoms, where people pick up the phone and actually call each other. Scheduling times to do that, or even picking up the phone at random to dial a friend when you think of them, can be instrumental in keeping up your level of intimacy.
Texting is great and can be really convenient if you live in drastically different time zones, but there’s really no replacement for talking to someone. You’re able to convey so much more information through talk than through text, and hearing your friend’s voice in real time will make you feel closer to them than just reading their messages.
Having regular interactions keeps your friends present in your lives, even if what you’re talking about doesn’t seem that important. Telling someone about your day may not seem like it’s bringing you closer to someone, but having them know what you’re excited about or frustrated over allows them to know you better. That’s the intimacy part of things that the experts say is so important.
Take it from two besties: When they moved across the country from each other, Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman committed to scheduling weekly phone calls. Their talks about politics and pop culture and everything in between wasn’t just good for their friendship, it also turned into a hugely popular podcast called Call Your Girlfriend. Never underestimate the power of friendship!
Keep creating new memories with your best friend
It helps if you’re continuing to build new experiences with each other and focusing on creating new memories rather than dwelling on old ones. Reminiscing on old memories is great, but without building new ones your friendship isn’t able to move forward. To do that, think about what you enjoy and can do together, but also apart.
One great long-distance activity is keeping up with the same TV show, since it always gives you something new to talk about. Playing the same video game works too, whether it be an online game with voice chat capabilities or perhaps a good ‘ole game of Dungeons and Dragons with a group over FaceTime. For those who can’t do something at the same time, keeping up with the same book gives you something to text about.
Image: Vicky leta / mashable
There are plenty of apps that might help you feel closer through the digital void. Try Rabbit, a website that allows you to video chat and watch online content simultaneously. The Netflix Party Chrome extension will do the same thing, but for Netflix. WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger are really handy if your best friend is in another country.
One of my friends lives on the West Coast, and we keep a Google Spreadsheet of the shows we want to watch. We live text as we view them. I love having her recommend shows to me. It reminds me how similar our tastes are, and she introduces me to new things I know I’ll like.
It’s different for everyone, of course. The important thing is to find something that you can both commit to, and that helps you keep committing to your friendship.
Plan visits as often as possible
No matter where you are, you can’t stay in touch if you don’t put in the time. Make the effort to plan a yearly trip to see each other, whether you’re visiting each other’s towns or going somewhere new.
“There needs to be not only commitment but investment.”
As DiDonato said, “there needs to be not only commitment but investment.” The investment that you put into long-distance friendships is key to maintaining them. And there are some apps that can help you with this, too.
In the lead up to your next reunion, try using one of the many countdown trackers available to help you remember that distance doesn’t last forever. There’s a website called Time and Date that allows you to have a countdown on your desktop, and they have an app as well.
Journey is a journaling/mood tracker app. It can help keep you in a mentally healthy place if you find that all or most of your best friends are long-distance.
Be gentle with yourself and your friend
Remember to forgive yourself and your friend during times of lessened communication. There are friendships in which you don’t talk for months at a time — and then you pick up the phone as if nothing’s amiss — and that’s fine!
Just make sure you’re never hesitating to reach out just because it’s been a while. Sometimes life gets in the way. Your friend will understand, as long as you talk to them about it.
Keep in mind that your friends love and support you, that’s why they’re your friends. Reaching out to them when life gets chaotic and complicated is one of the best (and cheapest) forms of therapy; friends will help you through the bad, just as much as they make the good even better. So hold on to your friends, even when distance stands in the way.
Robots are taking over the garment industry in southeast Asia. And while these machines help companies make clothes quickly and cheaply, they also spell doom for a number of garment workers.
Enter Shimmy Upskill, a company trying to tackle the problem through an unexpected method: a video game that utilizes artificial intelligence. Using the game, the company wants to teach female workers skills that will help them run the technology in place at their jobs, ultimately helping them stay employed — and possibly make more money — even after automation.
According to a 2016 report from the International Labor Organization, more than half of all workers in five Southeast Asian countries — Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam — face a high risk of job loss due to automation in the coming two decades. Jobs in the garment industry are especially at-risk: 64 percent of Indonesians working in the textile, clothing, or footwear industry are at high risk of losing their jobs to automation, while in Cambodia that number climbs to 88 percent.
“These [women garment workers] really are not even considered for technical training when they enter the factories,” says Chisato Sakamoto, product manager at Shimmy Upskill. “They are not even in the pipeline, so through our software, we’re really trying to create that access and trying to chip away at some of the barriers that prevent women from even entering this pipeline.”
Shimmy Upskill’s game consists of four lessons: It teaches workers how to identify pattern pieces used to create different types of clothes, determine the number of pieces of each pattern required to make a piece of clothing, efficiently lay out the pattern pieces, and finally, lay down pattern pieces on a mannequin in order to teach 3D modeling. The lessons also teach workers how to navigate the cartesian plane — a skill that is necessary for any job that requires workers to program a robot or lay out material to be cut, says Sarah Krasley, founder and CEO ofShimmy Upskill.
The program uses voice recognition and videos to guide workers through the training, which is especially useful for those with limited literacy skills. Workers can either select Bahasa Indonesia (the official language of Indonesia) or Bangla (the official language of Bangladesh). The game also lets workers learn at their own pace and tells them whether their answer was right or wrong.
All the women who tested the pilot program recently in Bangladesh and Indonesia completed it. That’s important to Sakamoto, who says there’s a strong misconception that people who lack digital literacy aren’t capable of fulfilling technical jobs.
“We had to say, no actually, these workers are completely capable of using these technologies,” she explains.
“They just needed a design interface that was designed for them instead of shoving one in their face that’s not in a language they understand, that requires a master degree to operate, and requires a super expensive computer to run,” Krasley adds.
Once the women completed the program, Krasley says, every factory owner seemed surprised at how well the workers did.
Shimmy Upskill specifically hopes to fix gender gaps in the industry, operating under the assumption that female garment workers are especially vulnerable to automation. Factory owners, according to Shimmy, tend to prefer workers who can operate different types of machines, but women almost never get the opportunity to receive mechanical or technical training. For example, when Krasley and Sakamoto visited a Bangaldeshi factory, one technical position had a very masculine name: Marker Man.
Shimmy Upskill wants to prove that with the right training, women can fill any position.
“We are excited about the potential for this tool to show a factory owner a very gender-neutral view of their workforce and who can be promoted,” says Krasley.
The team has seen results. A factory owner in Indonesia told Krasley that he hadn’t considered some of the female workers for technical, higher paid positions before the training. Because they did well, he planned to give them the opportunity to train with new automated equipment, such as cutting machines. As Sakamoto explained over email, this would be a big step up because technical and mechanical jobs in apparel manufacturing generally pay higher than sewing machine operator positions.
“That [recognition] was extremely exciting for us because that’s what we want to do — we want to show them that women are just as good as men for these technical positions,” says Krasley.
Not everyone is as confident about the pilot program’s potential. When asked to comment, a representative from the Clean Clothes Campaign explained that there’s still a risk that female workers will be at the bottom of the totem pole. The Clean Clothes Campaign is a network of trade unions and NGOs looking to improve working conditions in the garment industry.
“The kind of work might have changed, but the end effect (doing repetitive digital tasks for very little pay) won’t be much different from doing manual tasks for very little pay,” Paul Roeland, the public outreach coordinator from the Clean Clothes Campaign, wrote in an email.
In an email, Sakamoto wrote that Shimmy Upskill is aware the software only addresses one, small piece of a larger puzzle. While Shimmy’s focus is to provide female garment workers with digital skills, the company hopes to work with grassroots labor organizations and the International Labor Organization to improve working conditions for all garment workers. The company also has plans to incorporate lessons on leadership development and workplace harassment
“We think many different types of solutions are necessary to address unfair wages in supply chains,” Sakamoto wrote. “Among these solutions, Shimmy Upskill is promoting fair wages for garment workers by protecting their access to jobs. After all, we can’t have meaningful conversations about fair wages if automation leads to massive unemployment among garment workers.”
Jakarta, Indonesia –Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is on track to win a second term as Indonesia’s president, with quick count results indicating a 10-point lead over long-time rival Prabowo Subianto.
Multiple quick counts from different election observers had Jokowi leading Prabowo, a former general, at 55 to 45 percent.
Jokowi said that “let’s be patient and wait for the official Electoral Commission results”.
Prabowo, however, contested the preliminary results, claiming that his own quick count showed that he was winning. He asked his volunteers to make sure there are no fraudulent counts at polling stations.
While results won’t be certain for weeks, the day went smoothly across Indonesia – an archipelago of thousands of islands. With over 800,000 voting stations, 187 million eligible voters, and five million election staff, these are the world’s biggest one-day elections.
In Kebon Kacang, central Jakarta, voters were split nearly down the middle. Three of the six polling stations were won by Jokowi and his partner Ma’ruf Amin, and three by Prabowo and running mate Sandiago Uno. Jokowi-Amin received 713 votes across the six stations, and Prabowo-Sandi 673 votes.
Kebon Kacang is located in Tanah Abang, one of the densest sub-districts in central Jakarta and home to big malls.
Queues began forming as early as 6.30am in Kebon Kacang (23:30 GMT on Tuesday). Voters munched on fried tofu or drank curry soup as they waited, and children ran about playing, giving the area a festive feel. It is not without reason that Indonesians refer to election day as a “democracy party”.
“I’ve been here since this morning,” said Ivone Whie, a Jokowi supporter. “I wasn’t able to vote for 12 years because I was outside my home area, so I’m very excited to vote this year.” Ivone was optimistic that Jokowi would continue as president, but told Al Jazeera with a laugh that both sides were confident of a win.
“Regardless of who wins, I hope everyone will be happy and accept the results.”
Prabowo’s team has repeatedly said that they will protest in the streets “if the vote is stolen”.
Voters wait for their turn to register at a polling station in central Jakarta [Kate Walton/Al Jazeera]
Smallgoods kiosk owner Juardini shrugged off the idea of protesting. “The important thing is that everything goes peacefully,” she said, adding that she voted for Prabowo-Sandi.
“Prabowo-Sandi will reduce the price of basic foodstuffs,” she explained, waving at a neighbour. “Recently, the prices have gone up,” she said as the women sitting either side of her nodded in agreement.
Reducing prices of everyday items like rice and chillies has been a key campaign promise of Prabowo-Sandi. Religion has also undeniably played a role, but only a handful of voters mentioned religion as a reason for choosing a candidate.
‘Too much emphasis on religion’
Security analyst Judith Jacob said that too much emphasis has been placed on religion in the 2019 election.
“The role of religion, while important in these elections, is only one part of the story,” she said. “There has been a tendency among many commentators and journalists to conflate concepts like religious piety, religious identity, and religious intolerance and violence together as well as a very simplistic and narrow definition of Islamism.”
Jacob said she believed that the economy is a very significant factor for voters, echoing Juardini’s concerns. “The weakness of the rupiah, concerns over the rate of economic growth, and a growing current account deficit, has given the opposition something substantive to criticise the administration,” Jacob explained.
While no major accusations of vote fixing or fraud had emerged by late afternoon, many had problems voting across the country, with their names not being on voter lists or their polling stations running out of ballot papers.
“I’m really frustrated,” young voter Pipit told Al Jazeera, holding her official voter letter in her hand. “My letter told me to come to this polling station, but now they tell me my name is not on the list and that I have to wait [to vote as an additional voter] until after mid-day.” She is worried that they would run out of ballots before then.
Pipit and others eventually managed to vote at 12.30pm, just half an hour before polls closed. Al Jazeera heard reports of similar problems across the country, with voters leaving polling stations frustrated in cities of Yogyakarta, Bogor, Sumedang and Bekasi.
Enggi Dewanti, an NGO worker from south Kalimantan who was visiting Jakarta for work, also eventually managed to vote after initially being refused by the committee. “I could only vote for the president, but it feels amazing to be able to vote,” she said. “Six of my friends cannot vote right now.”
Confusion
Voters are forbidden from wearing political attributes and taking selfies inside the polling stations themselves, but outside, many were posing for photos, holding their purple indelible ink-stained fingers in the air for the camera.
“I voted for Prabowo,” said Moli, a middle-aged woman in a flowing black hijab, a headscarf worn by many Muslim women who feel it is part of their religion, after taking a selfie with her husband. “I’ve known for a while now who I wanted to vote for. I followed our religious leaders’ advice.”
Indonesia’s elections are not only some of the world’s largest, but also the most expensive. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani reported that the government had allocated 24.7 trillion rupiah ($1.75bn) for 2019’s elections.
Part of the reason behind the huge cost is that this year both presidential and parliamentary elections were held on the same day. Like the previous elections, the day was designated as a public holiday to encourage higher voter turnout.
First-time parliamentary candidate Nadhila Chairanissa for central Jakarta said she hoped that people had made informed choices for their legislative votes.
“I hope they [decide] based on the candidates’ backgrounds and policies to see whether that certain candidate really can represent them,” Chairanissa told Al Jazeera via WhatsApp. “And not to be easily swayed by monetary promises.”
According to many reports, people felt overwhelmed and confused at the number of choices they had to make as they had to vote for presidential as well as parliamentary candidates at the same time.
“I don’t know any of these candidates,” one woman said to her friends as they read out the list for legislative elections in front of a polling station in Kebon Kacang. “We’re confused whom to choose. There are so many.”
Porto ? – ? Liverpool 
#COYS 
Mohamed Salah in 2018/19 for Liverpool = 
Mauricio: “We must think that it’s 0-0. There is still a lot of work to do.”
City 150
PSG 131
Barca 122
Bayern 109
Daily Trends Hunter 