I asked a friend for a three- to four-day summary of the German media, and for some reason, the news and comments seemed very familiar. Whatever the Turkish media's attitude toward German policies is, the position in Germany is the same in the opposite direction.

Turkey in German media

It appears that President Recep Tayyip Erdoan's statements, especially his comparison of the current German government to Nazis, have provoked the German media quite a bit.

One of the major German dailies, Bild, published the headline, When will Merkel's patience run out? She is being criticized for keeping her silence amid Erdoan'd harsh comments.

Bild is in favor of all Turkish politicians being barred from speaking in Germany. The tone used in the article is interesting: Why are these Turkish haters allowed to speak in our country? The newspaper is reacting toward Economy Minister Nihat Zeybeki's speech.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has also reached the verge of severing ties: Germany is not a country that is very dependent on Turkey. It has shown great patience until now.

Propaganda turning to violence in Europe

I guess if we were to review the Dutch, French and Austrian media, we would come across similar articles since Turkey has become the main talk in European election campaigns just as it was one of the main issues in the U.K.'s Brexit referendum.

This is called making foreign politics a matter of domestic politics, and it is extremely dangerous because its affects can turn into violence.

Migrants, Islamophobia and Turkophobia are currently the nerve toward which the European public is most sensitive. Politicians are gaining votes by touching this nerve. After a while, all the anti-Turkey and anti-Islam comments, statements and propaganda made to collect votes come back as violence.

Ninety-one mosques were set on fire in Germany in 2016 alone. As many as 40 percent of Germans are in favor of banning Muslims from entering the country.

A total of 48 percent of the people in the Netherlands want Muslims' citizenship rights revoked.

In 2016, there were more than 1,000 Islamophobia-related attacks in the U.K. As many as 60 percent of the attacks were aimed at Muslim women.

In the same year, more than 360 attacks took place in France.

There were 100 hate crime and violent attacks that targeted Muslims in the Netherlands, 30 in Sweden, 90 in Austria and 20 in Belgium.

The total number of Islamophobic and anti-migrant attacks in Europe in 2016 exceeded 2,000 (Source: @trdiplomasi).

Increase in number of people joining Daesh in Europe

As you can see, the more politicians increase their anti-Turkey and Islamophobic discourse, the more it reflects through society as violence. The more violence increases, the more radical approaches increase. And it is terrorist organizations that take best advantage of this.

According to a 2014 study by former FBI agent Ali Soufan, Daesh received recruits from 86 countries. The number of militants joining the terrorist organization from Western Europe doubled in the course of a year. As many as 5,000 militants have joined Daesh from Europe.

The higher these numbers reach, the more it becomes apparent that Daesh militants are from Europe and the more the hate and violence toward Muslims increases. This further instigates radicalization on the opposite side. In other words, Europe is struggling in a vicious cycle, with both sides feeding one another.

This propaganda, and thus the incidents of violence, are certainly expected to increase in the elections to be held within the next two years in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria and Hungary.

So, what are Muslim countries, and especially Turkey, doing to counter this?

UN: 'Islamophobia is the source of global terrorism'

In a speech he made in February 2017, newly elected U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres made a very sound observation: The cause of increased global terrorism is Islamophobia. However, the matter was never seriously brought up on the agenda in the U.N. Security Council or the General Assembly.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) did not include the problem on its agenda or try to influence public opinion either. Despite almost all of those attacked being Muslim, no solidarity, cooperation or joint action was formed.

Even though Turkish politicians voices the topic of Islamophobia and Turkophobia in their rhetoric, this rhetoric has not turned into concrete steps to remedy the situation.

The subject in Europe is also increasingly evolving toward Turkey. Reciprocal harsh statements due to the constitutional referendum in Turkey and elections in Europe are raising tensions.

Following Foreign Minister Mevlt avuolu's statement: I will come there, nobody can stop me, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Baheli raised the bar, saying: If Turkey reaches a boil, Berlin will burn.

Naturally, all of these statements have an opposite echo in Europe. Hence, an international problem turns into a subject of the domestic agenda, becoming even more difficult to solve.

The problem in Europe needs to be included on the global agenda

Yet, while the problem is one that concerns the entire world and, as stated by the U.N. secretary general, it instigates global terrorism, it is being turned into a fight between Europe and Turkey. This is wrong.

Turkey is obliged to influence public opinion on a more global scale, at the U.N. level, with all the Muslim countries that have been harmed by its side.

The U.N.'s uselessness is probably the first subject to come to one's mind. However, the matter should not be left here, and the fact that this situation is harming economic relations should be included second on the agenda.

The trade volume between Turkey and Germany is at 36.8 billion euros and in favor of Germany. Turkey ranks fifth among the countries with the greatest number of trade activities.

There is no need to state with how big of a difference the EU's trade ties with Muslim countries is in favor of the EU.

Europe has no conscience, it has interests.

Hence, Turkey must produce more global strategies and explain in a more powerful way that the problem in Europe is a problem that concerns the world in general, as the problem cannot solved through rhetoric.

Original post:
Anatomy of the fight with Europe - Yeni afak English

Unless you've ridden on top of 11,000 horsepower, Leah Pritchett has more stones than anyone one of us. She's a Top Fuel dragster driver and she holds the record for the fastest pass in NHRA history with a 3.658 run over the 1,000-foot distance at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. She set that record on February 24 at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Arizona.

Ken Block's Hoonigan crew happened to be on hand at the event to capture the action and produce the video above.

The video goes through all of the stages of prep: From suiting up, to climbing on board, to buckling in, to connecting the communications equipment, to reaction time practice.

That reaction time practice session apparently shows a slight that is quickly dealt with during a system check.

ALSO SEE: Why can't production cars reach 300 mph?

Next, it's time to pre-stage the car, wet down the tires in preparation for a burnout, prime that monster engine to start it, then fire it up.

Now the fun stuff begins. Leah nails the throttle and does a burnout through the starting line. She backs it up, her crew scrubs the pebbles off the tires, and she gets ready for the run.

That means checking the fuel, releasing the clutch pack, staging it, watching the tree, releasing the brake, and, BOOM, going like a bat out of hell.

The video shows plenty of countersteer on the tiny steering wheel and not a ton of visibility out of the fuselage-like cockpit.

In the end, we see a heck of a pass, but it may not be the 3.658 at 329.34 mph that set the record. It sounds like one of her crew says 67-7, which would indicate a 3.677 run, just off the pace from that record run.

No matter how fast she went, this video gives us a good idea of what the Top Fuel experience is like. Of course, video can't convey the emotional and crazy physical elements of this type of racing. The sound is louder than anything you've ever heard, and the feeling of the g forces hitting your body, well, maybe an astronaut could relate but few others could.

Still, this video is worth a watch, if nothing else to see how much cooler Leah Pritchett is than the rest of us.

_______________________________________

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Anatomy of a record-setting Top Fuel run - Motor Authority

Show/Episode: Greys Anatomy Season 13, Episode 15 Civil War

Date/Time: Tuesday, March 9 at 8 p.m. ET

Channel: ABC

Watch the Greys Anatomy Live Stream with: DIRECTV NOW (free 7-day trial), Sling TV (free 7-day trial)

Next Day, On Demand: Sling TV (free 7-day trial)

International Stream: Streaming options outside of the US

Civil War offers up a first-class case of hospital politics. April, Catherine, Jackson, and Richard all spend time on a difficult trauma case that is only made harder by in-hospital politics. Amelia comes to terms with how she feels about Owen. Meanwhile, Meredith ends up caught between Nathan and Alex because of a patient. If you cant wait to watch Greys Anatomy Season 13, Episode 15 online, you can learn how in the rest of this guide.

You can watch ABC online in a couple of different ways. The easiest way is by picking a live stream service. This means that youll be able to watch Greys Anatomy Civil War online when it airs on TV. There are two great, low-cost ways to watch Greys Anatomy Season 13, Episode 15 online and those are DIRECTV NOW and Sling TV. Even better, both options include free trials, so you can even watch Greys Anatomy online free! On-demand options are also available and will be discussed further in the article.

ABC is a channel offered in every DIRECTV NOW package. Package pricing starts at $35 each month and includes a minimum of 60 channels. ABC and other local channels are available in live stream in select cities or they are available on-demand nationwide. You also have FX, History, Food Network, USA, AMC, TNT, TBS, and Discovery. If you find you dont have enough channels you can choose a larger package or you can add channels like HBO for just a few dollars more each month.

DIRECTV NOW works on mobile and streaming devices and can be watched from almost anywhere with a WiFi connection. The DIRECTV NOW 7-day trial ensures that you can watch Greys Anatomy Season 13, Episode 15 online free! You can check out our DIRECTV NOW review if you want to learn more.

Like DIRECTV NOW, Sling TV also offers the ability to watch ABC online. The first thing you need to do is choose a package. The Sling TV Orange package only costs $20 a month and includes more than 25 channels. You will have access to TNT, AMC, A&E, ESPN, Disney, and many additional channels. From there, you need the Broadcast Extra package for an additional $5. This gives you access to ABC and select other channels. ABC is only available in live stream in select cities, but there is nationwide on-demand access, so youll be able to watch Greys no matter what! If youre interested in HBO that can be added to any package for $15/month.

Sling TV works on streaming and mobile devices from most locations. Perhaps the best news of all is that you can watch Greys Anatomy Season 13, Episode 15 online free with the Sling TV free 7-day trial! Our Sling TV review is available if you have any questions.

You can also watch Greys Anatomy S13, E15 online using on-demand services. Both Amazon Instant Video and Vudu are two of the most popular services. They both offer single episodes at $2 a piece and if you decide to order the season pass you can get them cheaper than that. Both services will allow you to watch online from a variety of streaming and mobile devices. You wont be able to watch the show in live stream, but each service does offer new episodes as soon as the day after they air on TV.

Still want to know how to watch Greys Anatomy Season 13, Episode 15 online? If so, any questions can be directed to our comment section. And if theres anything else youd like to know about Greys Anatomy streaming, our guide can fill you in!

Ashtyn Evans is a screenwriter and freelance writer from the Midwest. She owns nearly a thousand films on Amazon and holds streaming subscriptions to everything from HBO and Hulu to Showtime and Starz. Email her at ashtynevans@streamingobserver.com. Disclosure: Streaming Observer is supported by readers. Articles may contain referral links. For more information, see the disclosure at the bottom of the page.

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Grey's Anatomy Live Stream: Watch Season 13, Episode 15 Online Free - Streaming Observer News

This one is already making us tense. In "Grey's Anatomy" Season 13, Episode 17, "Till I Hear It From You," Maggie's mom will return, and Owen and Amelia will finally dig into whatever the heck is going on with them right now.

This Thursday, March 9 gives us Episode 15, "Civil War" -- with Meredith in an Alex/Riggs sandwich -- and then we have the Japril standalone episode in Montana on March 16. This Episode 17 with Owen and Amelia airs March 23.

Here's the synopsis from ABC:

"Diane Pierce (LaTanya Richardson Jackson) returns to Grey Sloan, but Maggie (Kelly McCreary) is still in the dark as to why she's really there. Owen (Kevin McKidd) and Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) hash out their problems as they work a trauma case together, and Bailey (Chandra Wilson) tries to mend her relationship with Richard (James Pickens Jr.)."

Poor Maggie is always the last to know everything, but she'll probably find out about her mom's cancer this week. It's going to take a lot for Bailey and Richard to patch things up. At this point, it's not clear how the Eliza (Marika Dominczyk) situation is going to play out, but we have a couple of weeks ahead of this episode to see what happens.

The promo photos ABC shared don't show Maggie's mom at all, but they do show Owen and Amelia, and also DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) and Stephanie (Jerrrika Hinton), who appear to be working with Owen on the case. There's also a shot of Jo (Camilla Luddington), with DeLuca behind her. Maybe he'll try to make a move on her, since he still seems to have a crush.

Episode 17 was directed by Kevin McKidd, who also directed the Japril standalone. In addition to LaTanya Richardson Jackson as Maggie's mom, the episode guest stars June Squibb as Elsie Clatch, and Hal Holbrook as Lewis Clatch.

"Grey's Anatomy" Season 13 airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

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'Grey's Anatomy' Photos: Owen & Amelia Hash It Out in Episode 17 - Moviefone

Mar. 6, 2017 at 6:38 PM

Why do some political scandals stick and others dont? At what point does a scandal do damage to the politicians involved? Brandon Rottinghaus, a professor of political science at the University of Houston who studies political scandals, joins the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast to talk about the questions surrounding the Trump administrations relationship with Russia.

Then, the 2018 midterms are still over a year and a half away, but that doesnt mean there arent elections to watch. Harry Enten shares the latest on the upcoming special elections, and discusses whether they say anything about the electoral direction of the country.

You can listen to the episode by clicking the play button above or by downloading it in iTunes, the ESPN App or your favorite podcast platform. If you are new to podcasts, learn how to listen.

The FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast publishes Monday evenings, with occasional special episodes throughout the week. Help new listeners discover the show by leaving us a rating and review on iTunes. Have a comment, question or suggestion for good polling vs. bad polling? Get in touch by email, on Twitter or in the comments.

Originally posted here:
Politics Podcast: The Anatomy Of A Political Scandal - FiveThirtyEight

wbur Commentary National Urban League President Vernon Jordan Jr., left, and William F. Buckley Jr., host and inquisitor of the public television show Firing Line, find something to laugh about at the 15th birthday celebration of the show in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 1981. Jordan was one of 48 guests on the show who had come to celebrate with Buckley. (Kaye/AP)

Now that congressional Democrats have settled on legislative total war on Trump, some progressives are worried the artillery is wreaking collateral damage on the presidents working-class base. [D]emocrats often sound patronizing when speaking of Trump voters, demonizing them along with their disdain-deserving leader, lamentsNew York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof.

For an example of what concerns him, check out the comments thread to a recent Cognoscenti column urging empathy for the president and his backers. A progressive backlash against preaching empathy for Trump is unsurprising; the anger in some comments against the uneducated people and forgotten men supporting him is something else. In a polarized era of neighbors, family members and protesters screaming at each other over Trumpism, another writer asserts, There is little doubt about our need to find language that illuminates the dark abyss separating those who approve of our new presidents words and executive orders and Cabinet appointments from those appalled by them.

...you might askwhich words should be weaponized to resist an anti-immigrant, anti-environment, anti-safety netchief executive, andshould they be fired at his supporters as well?

If youre in the latter camp, as I am, you might askwhichwords should be weaponized to resist an anti-immigrant, anti-environment, anti-safety netchief executive, andshould they be fired at his supporters as well? To answer this, I found an instructive model from a half-century ago, when another populist double-talker was confronted by a famous wordsmith.

In January 1968, William F. Buckley Jr. featured segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace on Buckleys "Firing Line" interview show. You couldnt have paired an odder couple: Buckley, the Yale-educated, sesquipedalian guru of modern conservatism, and Wallace, the farmers son whod futiley blocked the schoolhouse door five years earlier against black students at his states university. The mens' dust-up, broadcast as Wallace readied a third-party presidential bid, today plays like a toned-down foretaste of the long-runningpublic television program "The McLaughlin Group," with repeated interruptions and efforts to out-snark one another. (Said asmiling Buckley:Youre telling me stuff that I knew when I was 3 years old, governor.)

The program, archived byStanford Universitys Hoover Institution, corroborates the observationthat Wallace was Trump before Trump becameTrump, down to the surly, just-bit-into-a-lemon grimaces at what he calls the pseudo-intellectual Buckley. The latter, coolly, sometimes self-deprecatingly, but relentlessly swatting Wallaces denials of racism, was, admittedly, a problematic defender of racial equality. In 1957, hed suggested that the white South was entitled to thwart African-American aspirations ...because for the time being, it is the advanced race. Like Wallace, Buckleyopposed the 1960s civil rights legislation, a stance hed recant years later.

Destiny, if not Buckley, intended for the Wallaceinterview to beredemptive (the hosts stated goal was to expose Wallace as a non-conservative, not rehash his renowned racial views).

Ive never said that you should have segregation of the school system or any other, Wallace said.

What steps did you take to encourage the enfranchisement of the Negro back before the [federal] government got on your back?" Buckley countered. " Its a clear part of the historical recordthat the South not only didnt encourage its Negroes to vote, but encouraged them not to vote.

In another exchange, when Wallace defended his home region as more law-abiding than the North, Buckley parried that southern law enforcement techniques were, to say the least, unusualthe Ku Klux Klan, for instance...

What does this decades-old brawl teach us about handling Trump? The lesson for liberals seething at the president is that there are more ways to skin a strongman than just venting rage. As necessary as the outrage-fueled mass protests against Trump are, Buckley shows how calm reason andhumor can also dismantle a foe. Anger can go too far; smart liberals know that actions such as blocking Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from visiting a school only sink toTrumps puerile incivility and risk turning off some people who might be open to theirviewpoint.

For their part, Trump voters must understand that theydont get a pass just because theyre genuinely pissed. Wallaces voters sincerely feared their ebbing white privilege; Buckley still called out collective Dixie racism. Today, its fair game to note the data showing that too many Trump supporters are indeed bigots, their Wallace-like disclaimers notwithstanding.

Of course, they're not all bigots.Kristof reminds us that some Trump folks voted for Barack Obama. But their support is even more confounding.If Trump is a con man peddling preposterous promises (Mexico will pay for that wall; Obamacare can be replaced with equal but cheaper coverage; climate change is a dismissible hoax), how gullible can his voters be?

...it's fair gameto hold a reality-reflecting mirror to Trump's supporters when their views are abhorrent or just plain ignorant, as Buckley did with segregationists.

Democratic discourse depends on a common frame of reality among citizens of differing views. I spoke to one pro-Trump friend during the campaign, trying to understand her politics, only to find they relied on half-truths and misinformation.Buckley was right: The voters blow it sometimes, as he said in the Wallace interview.

Should the opposition emulate Trumps rudeness?No.But it's fair gameto hold a reality-reflecting mirror to Trump's supporters when their views are abhorrent or just plain ignorant, as Buckley did with segregationists.

Wallace found the KKK remark insulting to his people. It certainly was. But below-the-belt? I doubt African-Americans living under Jim Crow would have thought so.

Follow Cognoscenti on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for our twice-weekly newsletter.

Rich Barlow Cognoscenti contributor Rich Barlow writes for BU Today, Boston University's news website.

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Anatomy Of A Takedown: William F. Buckley Jr. Vs. George Wallace - WBUR

"Senate Bill 2243 creates a student loan reimbursement program for two teachers to work in a North Dakota school district or nonpublic school with fewer than 1,000 students," Forum News Service reported.

"The program will reimburse up to $4,500 per teacher in each of the first two years and up to $6,500 in the third year," with a maximum of $25,000 if the teacher is filling a critical vacancy.

So far, so good. SB 2243 now has passed the Senate and is being considered in the House.

But our point is to call attention to some of the prep work that made this billwhich is, after all, proposing new spending at a time of cutbacks everywhere elsesail through the Senate, 42-4.

Kirsten Baesler, state superintendent of public instruction, describes the process in her interview on this page. As Baesler recounts, it started with a North Dakota University System study of how well the NDUS is meeting the state's workforce needs.

Where training teachers is concerned, "what we learned is that the system graduates plenty of teachers," Baesler says.

"But if they don't get a job in Bismarck or Fargo or Grand Forks, they're choosing not to use that degree." For lots of would-be teachers, it's better to find alternative work in a bustling city than to go to work in a small-town school, especially considering the very modest salaries most rural school districts offer, it turns out.

That's solid and new information. Best of all, it's useful, too. It helped narrow down the policy-response possibilities, ruling out an attempt to, say, attract teachers from Minnesota or Wisconsin.

Then the state's leadership took the next step: They interviewed some of those Fargo and Grand Forks teachers-doing-other-things. So, what would it take to entice them to leave the bright lights and big city behind, and go to work in a North Dakota country school?

"A lot," said the teachers, as Baesler recounts. Specifically, it would take repaying their student loans, and through a much more generous program than the state currently offers.

Senate Bill 2243 was born.

To sum up, the supporters of this bill effectively researched the problem they were trying to solve, learned the particulars of that problem in North Dakota and crafted a policy that uses a targeted approach.

No wonder the bill passed the Senate. It should pass the House, too. And reformers of the future who are looking to pass laws should take a lesson from the history of SB 2243.

-- Tom Dennis for the Herald

See original here:
Editorial: Anatomy of a 'Do Pass' bill in North Dakota | Grand Forks ... - Grand Forks Herald

We have all quite rightly marveled at the rebirth of Federico Fazio this season. After bouncing between Spurs and Sevilla prior to moving to Roma, the accepted wisdom was that Fazio was just another in a long name of players long on talent and short on results. Based on his statuesque figure and technique, Fazio profiled as the ideal, albeit it a bit slow, centerback; one who could be the foundation upon which your backline was built.

For a variety of reasons, it took Fazio several years and several more changes of sceneries to put it altogether. Fortunately for us, Roma has been the beneficiary of that latent development, as Fazio has been, without a doubt, one of the best defenders in Serie A this season, so please do not take what follows as an overarching critique of Fazios abilities nor a harbinger of bad things to come. He simply goofed up, as well all do, and its been such a long time since weve dissected an individual play, I thought it might be interesting to analyze exactly what went wrong.

First up, the goal in total

As we discussed yesterday, this goal was partially a product of Fazios error mistiming Marek Hamsiks final pass, but as with most things, that only tells a portion of the story. First, Roma had to turn the ball over, then they failed to dispossess Napoli in the middle third, and lastly, and I would argue most egregiously, they gave Hamsik WAY TOO MUCH space to make that pass. It was simply a sequence of poor decisions and poor execution.

However, with all that in mind, the most visible error here was Fazios ill-timed and somewhat unnecessary attempt to intercept that pass and/or cut off the passing lane, so lets take a look at that sequence.

The thing Id like you to take notice of, besides Mertens breezing past the last link in Romas defense, is just how soon Fazio jumped on this pass. Notice how he breaks towards, and really past, Mertens before Hamsik even receives the ball. And yes, had he picked off the pass wed be hailing his aggressiveness and timing, I get that, but in this instance, with no one behind him or directly on Mertens hip, Fazios speculative attempt at stealing the ball was haphazard and completely ill advised.

Here it is in freeze frame:

At this point, Daniele De Rossi is close enough to Mertens to corral or at least obscure his path a bit, while also allowing Juan Jesus to close the gap on the left, making Fazios jump all the more hasty. Granted the angle of this photo may be misleading, but the point was simply this: Fazios gamble was completely unnecessary, had he simply held his ground and even allowed the pass to make it to Mertens, Fazio would still have been in position to make a tackle or at least commit a necessary and justified foul, and, as we mentioned, DDR and Rruan werent so far away they couldnt have closed Mertens down had Fazio held his ground

As it stood, Fazios gamble was ill-advised and poorly executed, he made a decision when he didnt have tohis choice to try and jump that passing channel ceded control to Mertens. If he held his ground, Mertens would have had to make the decision, not Fazio, and as we mentioned, with De Rossi and Juan nearby, had Fazio held firm, Mertens path to goal would have been virtually non-existent....but check this out:

Thats how agonizingly close Wojciech Szczesny was to actually saving this; a few centimeters and a couple fractions of a second. Football is nothing if not a game of inches.

Ultimately, this was a team error. From the poor play out of their back, to their inability to stop Napolis counter, down to Kostas Manolas keeping Mertens on side, this was a prime example of how a series of seemingly innocuous decisions or indecisions can doom you during a 90+ minute match.

So while Fazios error was the most glaring, he was by no means the lone culprit. And the mere fact that we can be so pedantic about his performance shows just how far he has come this season. However, as we so often warn, with the margins for error razor thin, moments like these can be devastating and quite costly.

Also, apologies for the poor quality of some of those stills and gifs, I had trouble finding decent clips.

Read this article:
Anatomy of an Error: Fazio & Mertens - Chiesa Di Totti

TheHoonigans the guys behind the popular Gymkhana series with Ken Block have recently teamed up with NHRA Top Fuel driver Leah Pritchett.

Pritchett is off to a great start in the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. She has won the opening two rounds of the season from the No. 1 qualifying position and has already been breaking records with her Don Schumacher Racing team.

During interviews, Pritchett always ensures she thanks the team that puts together her 11,000-horsepower Dragster, and in the above video from The Hoonigans you can see why.

The video shows what goes on from the time Pritchett hops into her car ahead of a run, all the way down to the finish line.

Pritchetts run captured above was a 3.677, which took place during preseason testing on Friday, Feb. 3 at the Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix.

Continue reading here:
The anatomy of an NHRA Top Fuel run - FOXSports.com

What I felt for her was profound and real. I felt every bit of it as much as the hunger that stings my stomach and as much as the anger that blinds me. Yes, it was that real and strong. I know how genuine it was

Mar 5, 2017- The intensity of your love defines the intensity of your heartbreak. The deeper your love, the more unfathomable is your heartbreak. The shallower your love, the more fleeting your heartbreak is.

Perhaps, my love was far too deep. If not, why would I take forever to recover from our abrupt end? Why would I take forever to move on? Why would I take this long to be the person I knew I was supposed to be in the real world? How would I even know my love was deep when, in fact, I wasnt even there? All there was is the love itself. I was the love. Yes, I was love itself.

A heart breaks when your grand expectation from someone seems impossible to be met. A heart breaks when the utopian universe inside your head starts collapsing before it even sees the light of the day. A heart breaks when you surrender your soul to someone who is utterly soulless. A heart breaks when your heart starts beating more for someone else, and less for yourself. A heart breaks when you start thinking and feeling more for someone else, and less for yourself.

A heart breaks when you handcuff yourself to your love, kneel down before your beloved and surrender yourself completely only to become disregarded. A heart breaks when your own existence escapes your memory. A heart breaks not because it is fragile, but because you have been clumsy with it. I have been clumsy, very clumsy.

For the first time in my life, I had developed genuine feelings for somebody. For the first time in my life, I was experiencing the joy of being and sharing my life with someone. For the first time in my life, I felt like if there was someone at all for me out there, it had to be her and nobody else.

What I felt for her was profound and real. I felt every bit of it as much as the hunger that stings my stomach and as much as the anger that blinds me. Yes, it was that real and strong. I know how genuine it was. Only I know how real those tears really were and how sweet that smile really was.

But, maybe she could never see the authenticity in my love. Perhaps, she also thought of me as someone fake.

It kills you when your unconditional love is unappreciated. It maddens you when your utmost care goes unacknowledged. It suffocates you when your admiration is mocked. It hurts you when you become a clown in the most beautiful pair of eyes you have ever seen.

And its all real, every bit of pain. It is as real as the air you are breathing now.

Every winter, as I soak in the snow standing in the middle of a street, hands spread wide open, head bent backward and my two little teary eyes looking into the sky, I think of her. I let her memory envelop me. Every single snow flake reminds me of her.

Even when I try to shake off the snow, there never is enough energy in my body. It just seems to escape me. As I get home, fully covered in snow, I cant help but collapse on my bed. The snow leaves my clothes to melt on the sheets, soaking it in all its glory. I feel like I am laying on a pond, perhaps drowning in one. It is then that I start bawling like a baby. Why should the snow melt into water? Why should anything leave its state of being to become something else? Why did love leave me so soon?

She loved snow. She loved watching snowfall from her balcony. She loved the sound of silence as the entire city quietly snuggled under a blanket of snow. She knew that it was a myth that no two snowflakes are exactly the same. She pretended that she knew all the hundred names that Eskimos had for snow.

She loved snow, just like I did. She knew of snow, as much as I did. It was the snow that brought us together. Our mutual fondness for it invoked conversations and sparked an untold chemistry between us. It was because of the snow that we started opening up to each other, little by little.

Yes, it is strange, but arent all the beautiful things?

When you heart breaks, your ego bruises too. What if my ego is steering my heart, telling it how to feel? What if it is not the heart, but the ego? What if it is not love, but my pride that has been torn apart?

If I tackle this mindfully, love shouldnt be so hard. Maybe there is no such this as a heart break. Hearts never break. Hearts dont hurt. Hearts function perfectly until they stop functioning altogether. Perhaps, when we talk of heartbreak we are talking of our imagination not taking shape. May be when we talk about heartbreak, we are talking of our subtle agendas regarding somebody not being met. Perhaps we are talking about the sudden collapse of our countless expectations and our incapability of loving ourselves in the first place.

Heartbreak has nothing to do with the heart or with love. Maybe even when we cant control how we love, we can decide how we feel about heartbreak. Love is inevitable, heart break is optional. So what should I do now, who should I blame?

It looks like with my heart still intact, heartbreak is just a notion I inventedan emotional play maybe? Is this heartbreak just another excuse to escape from the now, from the reality? Is it my way of justifying why I have failed to love myself in the first place? Is it my way of feeding my ego-telling myself nobody will ever love her like I did?

I have been thinking how she doesnt deserve my love; is this tool of superiority complex? Am I trying to prove something here? Am I demanding more than I should here? Should I demand or prove something at all? Do I really need to claim that I love someone; do I really need to seek for credit? Cant I just love-without any anticipation or greed? The answer escapes me.

Once upon a time, on a beautiful evening I remember saying to her: You are the wind that blows my mind and the silence that soothes my heart. You are the beauty that blinds my eyes and the beast that scares my soul. You are the root that grows underground and the branch that grows towards the sky. You are the question I ask and the answer I find. You are the chaos to my thoughts and the order of my heartbeats. You are the yin and you are the yang. You are the contradiction that confuses me, and the ultimate truth that relieves me. That is why you are so beautiful, so intriguing.

What happened to that statement and all those words? Did I even mean every single thing? Could they have been as meaningless and as empty as I feel right now? Perhaps, she understood it long before I did.

Come to think of it, she loved herself more than anyone else. She was so much in love with herself that my so-called unconditional love didnt amount to anything. She knew how to live every single moment of her life and on her own to the fullest. She was a free soul who didnt entertain any kind of entanglement. She was a rebel who questioned everything and enjoyed basking in the glory of lifes mysteries. She was someone who dared to be nave and perhaps just herself. She was someone who could maintain her curiosity passionately.

Thats the reason why her eyes always twinkled. She was utterly blissful in her own being. She was a peaceful soul.

Thats the reason why everyone around her experienced peace. She was always joyful and that is why being around her was so intoxicating.

She was a dream that you wanted to hold on to. Thats why I loved her, and thats why I lost her.

I remember how she always pushed me to love myself first, when all I wanted to do was love her. Maybe she waited for me to love myself while I thought I could only do so if she loved me back.

The power of your ego defines the intensity of your heartbreak. The deeper your ego, the more unfathomable is your heartbreak. The shallower your ego, the more fleeting your heartbreak is. Look! Its snowing again.

Published: 05-03-2017 09:09

Link:
The anatomy of heartbreak - The Kathmandu Post