A Palestinian boy riding a bike during sunset at Al Khalde mosque, Gaza Strip, on the eve of Ramadan, which starts June 6, 2016. Majdi Fathi/Nurphoto/Zuma Press
Muslims praying at the Islamic Centre in Aceh, Indonesia, on the eve of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Fachrul Reza/NurPhoto/Zuma Press
A boy cleaning a mosque ahead of Ramadan in Peshawar, Pakistan, June 5, 2016. Arshad Arbab/European Pressphoto Agency
Decorations along a street in Hebron, West Bank, are viewed through an electronic device on June 5, 2016, ahead of the beginning of Ramadan. Wisam Hashlamoun/APA Images/Zuma Press
Two men trying to spot the first crescent of the new moon in Karzakan, Bahrain, on June 5, 2016. The beginning of Ramadan is calculated based on the sighting of the new moon. Mohammed Al-Shaikh/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
A vendor selling dates ahead of Ramadan in Peshawar, Pakistan, June 5, 2016. Arshad Arbab/European Pressphoto Agency
A Syrian man reading a copy of the Quran, the sacred text of Islam, at a book stall in a market in Damascus on June 5, 2016. Louai Beshara/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
A man and children play traditional drums in Beirut, as part of Musaharati, a Ramadan tradition where drummers wake people for the meal before the day"s fast. Jamal Saidi/Reuters
People visiting the graves of loved ones ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in Jakarta, Indonesia, June 4, 2016. Yudhi Mahatma/Antara Foto/Reuters
A customer trying on a traditional cap at a shop in Peshawar, Pakistan, on June 5, 2016, ahead of Ramadan. Mohammad Sajjad/Associated Press
A man taking a selfie under colorful umbrellas decorating a street in the Old City of the West Bank town of Nablus on June 5, 2016, ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Nedal Eshtayah/APA Images/Zuma Press
Men praying at Masjid Darul Faha in Bangkok on June 5, 2016, the night before the start of Ramadan. Jack Kurtz/Zuma Press
Traditional lanterns lighted up a market in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, on June 5, 2016. Mohammed Asad/APA Images/Zuma Press
Egyptian women dressed in traditional clothing walked along a street in old Cairo on June 2, 2016, during a celebration ahead of Ramadan. Khaled Desouki/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
All right, listen up, you shitheel cocksuckers, because Ian McShane is only going to say this once, unless of course he gets interviewed about it a bunch more times, which he almost undoubtedly will: Hed be f*****g thrilled to do a Deadwood movie, okay? In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor expresses enthusiasm for returning to the role of Al Swearengen, and not just because it will allow him to speak the way he likes to anyway, but without the shocked glances. Of course Id love to reprise that, McShance says, while somehow managing to not spit on the floor and knock out some g*******d bastards teeth. He goes on:
How could one not, when it was snatched away rather unjustly by a combination of forces well never know abouthubris or money or whatever. But [Deadwood] certainly finished too early. At the time, most of us working on the show were incredulous. Its been announced by HBO so its not like Im saying it. I know for a fact David is working on the script. Its been 10 years since it finished. [Star Timothy Olyphants] free from Justified. Im hoping theyll make the deal soon, for two or four hours, whatever they decide on.
This makes it sound like theres still some work to be done before HBOs official greenlight of the moviewhich was announced earlier this yearactually turns into a production. Still, McShane knows what he knows, you f*****g sons of b*****s, and is more than happy to speculate about what it will involve. Im sure David will decide to set it 10 years later, after the great fire or whatever happened in Deadwood. They havent done the deal yet. They [were planning] to do it late this year or early next year, he says. Hopefully it will have a better fate than David Milchs similarly shut-down-before-its-time Luck, as long as HBO can keep the horse deaths to a minimum.
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1. MYTH: D-Day was predominantly an American operation
REALITY: For many people, D-Day is defined by the bloodshed at Omaha -- the codename for one of the five beaches where Allied forces landed -- and the American airborne drops. Even in Germany, the perception is still that D-Day was a largely American show; in a German TV mini-series shown in recent years, "Generation War," there was a reference to the "American landings" in France.
But despite "Band of Brothers," despite "Saving Private Ryan," despite those 11 photographs taken by Robert Capa in the swell on that morning of June 6 1944, D-Day was not a predominantly American effort. Rather, it was an Allied effort with, if anything, Britain taking the lead. Yes, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme Allied commander, was American, but his deputy, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder was British, as were all three service chiefs. Air Marshal Sir Arthur "Mary" Coningham, commander of the tactical air forces, was also British.
The plan for Operation Overlord -- as D-Day was codenamed -- was largely that of Gen. Bernard Montgomery, the land force commander. The Royal Navy had overall responsibility for Operation Neptune, the naval plan. Of the 1,213 warships involved, 200 were American and 892 were British; of the 4,126 landing craft involved, 805 were American and 3,261 were British.
Indeed, 31% of all U.S. supplies used during D-Day came directly from Britain, while two-thirds of the 12,000 aircraft involved were also British, as were two-thirds of those that landed in occupied France. Despite the initial slaughter at Omaha, casualties across the American and British beaches were much the same. This is not to belittle the U.S. effort but rather to add context and a wider, 360-degree view. History needs to teach as well as entertain.
2. MYTH: American forces were ill-prepared
REALITY: By the end of World War II the United States had the best armed services in the world. The 77-day Normandy campaign did much to help them reach this point.
Northern France was a showcase for American tactical and operational flexibility. At the start of the campaign, the Americans found themselves fighting through the Norman "bocage," an area of small fields lined with thick, raised hedgerows and narrow, sunken lanes. They hadn"t trained for this; instead they expected that the Germans would quickly retreat after a successful Allied landing.
For the Germans, the bocage offered cover and ambush opportunities for mortar teams and machine guns. Even the American 30-ton Sherman tanks couldn"t get through these hedgerows. Then a U.S. sergeant came up with the ingenious solution of attaching a hedge-cutting tool built from German beach obstacles to the front of a Sherman. Gen. Omar Bradley, the U.S. First Army commander, was impressed; within a fortnight, the device had been fitted to 60% of all U.S. Shermans in Normandy.
This was but one example. During the campaign huge developments also were made in close air support, as well as in coordination between infantry, artillery and armor. Medical services advanced so much that one in four casualties returned to the battlefield after treatment, remarkable for 1944.
3. MYTH: The Allies became bogged down in Normandy
REALITY: In the pre-invasion estimates for the Normandy campaign, the Allies expected to be roughly 50 miles inland after 17 days, based on German retreats in North Africa and Italy. But Adolf Hitler ordered his forces to fight as close to the French coast as possible and not give an inch.
On paper it seemed that the Allies weren"t making much progress, but in reality the German strategy worked to the Allies" advantage as they pounded the enemy with offshore naval guns. For by 1944 the Allies had realized that German tactics -- which dated back more than 100 years -- were rigidly predictable. Striking back once the enemy had overextended itself was central to German DNA throughout World War II. The Allies soon realized that this penchant for counterattack meant that the Germans would eventually move into the open and get hammered.
By the end of the Normandy campaign the Germans were hemorrhaging men and machines, with two armies all but destroyed. True, a handful of Germans did escape the attempted encirclement around Falaise, but it was still a massive Allied victory. In the rapid advance that followed, the Allies moved more quickly than Germans had in the opposite direction four years before, during the invasion of France.
4. MYTH: German soldiers were better trained than their Allied counterparts
REALITY: At the start of World War II the best German units were more than a match for their Allied opposition -- but by 1944 that had changed radically. There were a few exceptions, such as the Panzer Lehr, but come D-Day most German units were not as well trained as the Allies.
Some Allied units in Normandy had been preparing for four years for this campaign. In contrast, many German troops had had little more than a few weeks" notice. The German ad hoc battle groups known as kampfgruppen are traditionally regarded as showcasing tactical flexibility, but even these were borne of extreme shortages and desperation toward the end of the war.
The German paratroopers, or fallschirmjger, were acknowledged to be among the best of their armed forces, yet one veteran I interviewed recalled how he had barely any training, save a few route marches and practice at laying mines. He never trained with a tank, had no transport and had to march 200 miles from Brittany when sent to the front. His case was not atypical: All infantry divisions in Normandy were expected to move by either foot or horse-drawn cart. The veteran I spoke to reached Saint-L, a major Normandy town, on June 12 with a company of 120 men. When he was captured on August 19 he was one of just nine men still standing.
The Germans had a doctrine during World War II called auftragstaktik -- best described as the ability to use one"s initiative -- which has been hailed as what set their soldiers apart. But the paratrooper I spoke to knew nothing of it. By that stage of the war, German training was so skimpy that it was impossible to implement.
5. MYTH: The Germans had stronger tactical skills
REALITY: The dogged determination of the Germans to fight during D-Day is often confused with tactical skill. It shouldn"t. The best analogy is with more recent conflicts like Afghanistan or even Vietnam, when Western forces had the best training and kit yet struggled to defeat a massively inferior enemy. As the Taliban have shown, it is very difficult to completely defeat your enemy if they don"t want to be defeated. The only way to do that is to kill them all.
This is why the Germans took so long to be defeated in Normandy and, subsequently, despite a lack of training, they were still a very dangerous and deadly enemy with plenty of powerful weapons and a fierce determination to keep fighting. This was for a number of reasons: n**i indoctrination, a profound sense of duty and the threat of execution for deserters. In World War I the Germans executed 48 men for desertion; during World War II that figure rose to 30,000.
6. MYTH: America and Britain got off lightly in World War II
REALITY: Allied frontline troops suffered horrifically during World War II. Democracies such as Britain and America tried to achieve victory with as few casualties as possible. For the most part, they did this very successfully using technology and machinery to shield lives wherever they could.
However, short distances still had to be won by the infantry, tank units and artillery. Although technology meant the Allies needed fewer forces than a generation earlier, those in the firing line still pulled the very short straw. Losses to frontline troops were proportionally worse during the 77-day Normandy campaign than they were during the major battles along the Western Front during World War I.
James Holland is a historian, writer and broadcaster, whose books include "Fortress Malta," "Battle of Britain," and "Dam Busters." He has written and presented BAFTA-shortlisted documentaries for the BBC and is currently working on a film about Normandy in 1944. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Holland is also co-founder of the Chalke Valley History Festival: several of his World War II interviews are available at griffonmerlin.com. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his. This article was originally published in 2014.
Following a 10-day time-out for bad behavior, veteran Chicago radio personality Dan McNeil returned to Hubbard Radio classic hits WDRV FM 97.1 on May 23. But since then, youd hardly know hes back.
To listeners of the morning show he had co-hosted with Pete McMurray since March 2015, McNeil has become a nonentity. These days he turns up once an hour to deliver a straight three-minute sportscast and thats it. He is never mentioned during the rest of the show, and he no longer interacts with McMurray or producer Scott Miller, who has assumed a larger role on the air since McNeil was cut back.
With McNeil, 54, believed to be pulling down $250,000 a year, its a cinch hes making more per minute of airtime now than anyone else in town.
If Hubbard Radio is trying to get him to quit by turning him into The Invisible Man, the strategy isnt working so far. As long as the mercurial McNeil keeps his cool and continues showing up to do his hourly sports reports, he will continue collecting his paycheck. The company could always buy out McNeils contract and send him home, but his bosses may be reluctant to do that as long as his association with The Drive can still generate revenue.
Dans a well-known personality in the marketplace, one insider said. Hes still worth money to us because of the advertisers and the sponsorships he brings to us. He does have a lot of people that like him in this market.
To others its clear that McNeil and The Drive are on a slow-motion collision course.
The dispute became public last month after Hubbard Radio forced out longtime corporate programming chief Greg Solk, the Chicago radio legend credited with creating The Drive and recruiting McNeil and McMurray as the morning team. McNeil was told he couldnt talk about his friend Solks departure on the air, sending him into a rage against program director Rob Cressman.
The whole thing was totally unnecessary and terribly mishandled, said a witness to the hallway confrontation. If theyd just let Dan say a few words about Greg at the end of the show, probably no one would have heard it and no one would have cared. . . . They had to know it would set him off and thats just what happened.
The combination of McNeils famously foul temper and his growing frustration with the direction of the show came to a head that Thursday morning, May 12. Meetings with management ensued, and McNeil was off the air the next day and the whole week after that. He also was conspicuously absent from The Drives 15th Birthday Concert May 20 at the Rosemont Theatre, the stations premier event of the year.
For once the normally talkative McNeil isnt talking. Like everyone else at The Drive, hes now under orders not to communicate with the media. While the muzzling of employees may be standard procedure for repressive companies like iHeartMedia or Cumulus Media, its unusual for Hubbard Radio, long known for openness and honesty with the press.
John Gallagher
John Gallagher, vice president and market manager of Hubbard Radio Chicago, insisted that the no comment edict is nothing new. I tell everybody and theyve known that from the day I walked in the door that you dont disclose internal information to anyone outside of the building about whats going on here without clearing it with management, he said.
Gallagher downplayed the issues with McNeil, saying The Drive was working on finding the right mix of personality and music for its morning show. The personality part is down and the music part is up, he acknowledged, but that could change.
Right now we have a golden opportunity to increase ratings on The Drive, he said. And were gonna try some different things and do some different things to make that happen. During the experiment, the last thing I want to do is give my competitors a heads up on what were trying to do. Id rather keep them guessing.
The pairing of McNeil and McMurray, two Chicago radio pros whod never worked together, was a risky proposition from the start. It marked a clear shift from the music-intensive morning show that defined the station for 14 years. The Drive has maintained a dominant classic rock position in the market for many years, Gallagher said at the time. The departure of [former host] Steve Downes offered us the opportunity to reevaluate our mission and once again bring something unique to mornings.
By the two metrics that matter most revenue and ratings its been a bust.
Last year revenue for The Drive dropped 11.2 percent to $12.1 million, the sharpest decline for any of Hubbard Radios three Chicago stations. (Hot adult-contemporary WTMX FM 101.9 remains the companys cash cow, with revenue up 3.1 percent to $31.8 million.)
Ratings for the morning show under McNeil and McMurray have been especially disappointing. In the last Nielsen Audio survey, The Drive ranked eighth overall with a 3.4 percent share of all listeners, while mornings tied for 15th with a 2.5 share. In the target demographic of men between 25 and 54, The Drive ranked second overall with 5.0 share while mornings were ninth with a 3.6 share.
A new Nielsen Audio survey, covering the period from April 21 to May 18, will be released Tuesday. Of the ratings, Gallagher said: Were monitoring them very closely.
Uber is often at odds with the very population that drives its business. To assuage resentment, the company announced a series of new features for its drivers today.Among the new features:
A product tested earlier this year in San Francisco, called "instant pay," allows drivers to replenish an Uber-provided debit card with their cash earnings whenever they want.
Drivers can pause an influx of ride requests to take a break, as well as locate riders while en route to a certain destination.
Drivers will now get paid for waiting on riders that take more than two minutes to hop in the car.
Uber is adding more physical locations where drivers can get in-person assistance from Uber staffers.
The app updates may not be enough to soothe riled drivers. For instance, Uber runs a car-leasing program for drivers with bad credit that theMotley Fool recently likened to predatory payday loans. The company"s penchant for slashing fares to beat out the competition also does a disservice to drivers by reducing their earningsa fact they"re keenly aware of. RR
