A story of America is moving "forward." And, NOW that word "forward" happens to be the slogan of the very man; that, Republican Willard Mitt Romney is trying to unseat. America the Party of "NO" has a man who will insist to see your ID, Birth Certifi cate, but won't release his Tax Returns, at the least 5-6 of them, so the voting electorate will know how to trust him. There are many perfectly legal ways for all "weasels" to get out of paying taxes. Especially, if you can afford armies of "creative" accountants to find them all. In our own Country's Congressional Leaders there is: Nothing but, shameless lies and dishonor! That explains what's going on here. If election in November is to be decided on the several issues, "Robme" (the Romney) and (Ryan, the Lying) along with the remaining hostile Republicans should stay away from foreign policy this next four years. Even drifting into that realm risks reminding voters of Obama's clear advantage in leadership. America, "Bush has been out of offi ce for almost 4 years, are YOU really going to continue to blame him ?" This is what the Republicans are saying! Honestly, if that's were the blame lies, absolutely! It wouldn't matter; even if, it's been 100, 200, or 300 years since George W. "the Idiot" Bush has been out of office, there will STILL remain too many unanswered questions!

Highlighting American cultural and political contexts, this book provides an in-depth assessment of the breadth and magnitude of the United States' errors in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. An Unmitigated Disaster chronicles and explains the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Emergency management expert Robert O. Schneider considers the quality of U.S. pandemic planning and preparedness; the quality and effectiveness of national, state, and local response efforts; and the performance of national leaders during this historic public health crisis. The book culminates in an assessment of how a predictable public health threat became an unprecedented health, economic, and security disaster. Schneider convincingly shows that conscious decisions were made by governmental authorities, beginning with the president, to ignore expert information and security intelligence in pursuit of other objectives. In other words, Schneider argues, if the U.S. was ill-prepared for or slow to respond to the crisis, it was because its leaders consciously chose to be ill-prepared or slow to respond. Readers will be fascinated by this behind-the-scenes exposé of a pandemic year.

This book deals with the contemporary subject of perception of risk and its influence on accidents and disasters. The contents examine the conventional viewpoints on human errors, incubation of errors, complexity and organisational deviance as a cause for accidents. Work of Mary Douglas with regard to risk, Charles Perrow's work on the normal accident theory and Diane Vaughan's theory on normalisation of deviance are examined from a fresh perspective in this book. It also discusses prominent accidents in aviation, space, nuclear energy, automotive and healthcare, using the pandemic and Boeing 737 Max as a backdrop to study accidents and disasters. It further explores the background and similarities to these events and addresses the core issues such as the state of regulation, the worldview of the sociologists, and proposes that mental models of complex systems, avarice and risk for gain as other possibilities for accidents. Using the concept of nudge in behavioural economics and the Elinor Ostrom’s viewpoint on regulating for common good, it suggests a way forward through the High Reliability Organisation Theory (HRO) leading to enhanced risk perception. The book will be of interest to those who would like to understand the need to incorporate risk perception into regulation, engineers and scientists, professionals and policy makers working in the areas of disaster and risk management, technology areas like aviation, nuclear plants, space and healthcare, students of the sociology of risk and of course the general reader.

By investigating how laws, myths, national aspirations, and global relations have recast and, at times, distorted the key purposes of education, this pathbreaking book sheds light on the role of ignorance in shaping ideas, public opinion, and policy.

Words equal credibility. The more articulate a person is, the more seriously they will be taken—by everyone. On any given day, you might read “abrogate” used in a USA Today article; or “demagogue” or “fiduciary” used on CNN. You might hear “ensorcelled” and “torpor” in a TV drama; you’ll hear a political candidate described as “truculent.” You may hear “pedantic” used in a movie. How many of these words are part of most college students’ “arsenal of words”? Hopefully all of them, but if not, 499 Words Every College Student Should Know will provide them with what they need to become more articulate in their speaking and writing. It will also enhance their comprehension in their reading, ultimately culminating in what every student aspires to: earning better grades! 499 Words Every College Student Should Know teaches truly important vocabulary words and focuses on Professor Spignesi’s classroom-tested Trinity of Vocabulary Use. For each word, the vocabulary-enriched and educated student will be able to: Understand the word in their reading Use the word in their speaking Make good use of the word in their writing Using easy-to-understand, informative, and often humorous explanations of every word, 499 Words Every College Student Should Know also explores how to use the words in sentences, and in proper context. The majority of these words were individually chosen because they are fairly commonplace in media, books, online, and elsewhere, and students need to be able to understand them. Knowing them — in fact, using the words and making them part of their everyday language — will make any college student or those soon-to-be, more credible.

Case Studies in Disaster Mitigation and Prevention: Disaster and Emergency Management: Case Studies in Adaptation and Innovation series presents cases illustrating efforts to reduce human and material losses associated with disasters. This volume demonstrates that mitigation is an ongoing phase in which communities continually pursue long-term hazard resistance and reduction. Cases illustrate the importance of risk assessment in the development of mitigation strategies through hazard mapping and multi-hazard mitigation planning. Cases also illustrate approaches to reduction risk through structural and non-structural means, giving consideration to benefits or limitations of these strategies in different contexts. The contributions of different mitigation activities to disaster risk reduction efforts are examined using the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. - Presents in-depth cases studies in disaster mitigation, one of the phases of disaster management - Unites practice and research from multiple disciplines to highlight the complexity of disaster mitigation, including environmental and earth sciences, engineering, public health, geography, sociology, and anthropology - Examines policy and ethical dilemmas faced by decision makers in disaster situations