Hasta La Gadget!

* Little sign of Hong Kong protests flagging

* Nervousness around National Day flag-raising

* Atmosphere on streets resolute, but calm

* Torrential rain makes life uncomfortable for thousands (Updates after National Day flag-raising, paragraphs 1, 9-12)

By Donny Kwok and Irene Jay Liu

HONG KONG, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Thousands of pro-democracy protesters thronged the streets of Hong Kong early on Wednesday, ratcheting up pressure on the pro-Beijing government that has called the action illegal, with both sides marking uneasy National Day celebrations.

There was little sign of momentum flagging on the fifth day of a mass campaign to occupy sections of the city and to express fury at a Chinese decision to limit voters’ choices in a 2017 leadership election.

That was despite widespread fears that police may use force to move crowds before the start of celebrations marking the anniversary of the Communist Party’s foundation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The crowds have brought large sections of the Asian financial hub to a standstill, disrupting businesses from banks to jewelers.

Overnight thunder, lightning and heavy rain failed to dampen spirits as protesters sought shelter under covered walkways, while police in raincoats and hats looked on passively nearby. At dawn on Wednesday, protesters awoke to blue skies.

Riot police had used tear gas, pepper spray and baton charges at the weekend to try to quell the unrest but tensions have eased since then as both sides appeared prepared to wait it out, at least for now.

Protests spread from four main areas to Tsim Sha Tsui, one of the city’s most popular shopping areas for mainland Chinese, which would normally do roaring trade during the annual National Day holiday.

Underlining nervousness among some activists that provocation on National Day could spark violence, Hong Kong University students made an online appeal not to disturb the flag-raising ceremony that began at 8 a.m. (midnight GMT).

Proceedings went ahead peacefully, although scores of students who ringed the ceremony at Bauhinia Square on the Hong Kong waterfront booed as the national anthem was played.

Hundreds of protesters lined up to view the ceremony, with some organizing a human chain to create a buffer between about 100 police at the site and other demonstrators.

A beaming Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying shook hands with supporters waving the Chinese flag even as protesters who want him to stand down chanted “We want real democracy.”

The Hong Kong and Chinese flags billowed in the wind at the completion of the ceremony but one of the main protest groups said they marked the occasion “with a heavy heart.”

“We are not celebrating the 65th anniversary of China. With the present political turmoil in Hong Kong and the continued persecution of human rights activists in China, I think today is not a day for celebrations but rather a day of sadness,” said Oscar Lai, a spokesman for the student group Scholarism.

SOLIDARITY

Hundreds of demonstrators had gathered outside luxury stores and set up makeshift barricades from the early hours of Wednesday in anticipation of possible clashes. As in most parts of Hong Kong, the police presence was small.

M. Lau, a 56-year-old retiree, said he had taken to the streets of Hong Kong to protest in the 1980s and wanted to do so again in a show of solidarity with a movement that has been led by students as well as more established activists.

“Later this morning I will come back,” he said.

“I want to see more. Our parents and grandparents came to Hong Kong for freedom and the rule of law. This (protest) is to maintain our 160-year-old legal system for the next generation.”

The protests are the worst in Hong Kong since China resumed its rule of the former British colony in 1997. They also represent one of the biggest political challenges for Beijing since it violently crushed pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Cracking down too hard could shake confidence in market-driven Hong Kong, which has a separate legal system from the rest of China. Not reacting firmly enough, however, could embolden dissidents on the mainland.

China rules Hong Kong under a “one country, two systems” formula that accords the former British colony a degree of autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China, with universal suffrage set as an eventual goal.

However, protesters reacted angrily when Beijing decreed on Aug. 31 that it would vet candidates wishing to run for Hong Kong’s leadership.

Leung failed to meet an ultimatum from student leaders to come out and address them by midnight on Tuesday but has said Beijing would not back down in the face of protests.

He also said Hong Kong police would be able to maintain security without help from People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops from the mainland.

Communist Party leaders in Beijing worry that calls for democracy could spread to the mainland, and have been aggressively censoring news and social media comments about the Hong Kong demonstrations.

Hong Kong shares fell to a three-month low on Tuesday, registering their biggest monthly fall since May 2012. Markets are closed on Wednesday and Thursday for the holidays.

The city’s benchmark index has fallen 7.3 percent over the past month, and there are few indications that the protests are likely to end any time soon. Protesters have set up supply stations with water bottles, fruit, crackers, disposable raincoats, towels, goggles, face masks and tents.

“Even though I may get arrested, I will stay until the last minute,” said 16-year-old John Choi. “We are fighting for our future.”

MAINLAND CHINESE VISITORS WATCH ON

Mainland Chinese visiting Hong Kong had differing views on the demonstrations, being staged under the “Occupy” banner.

“For the first time in my life I feel close to politics,” said a 29-year-old Chinese tourist from Beijing who gave only her surname, Yu. “This is a historic moment for Hong Kong. I believe something like this will happen in China one day.”

A woman surnamed Lin, from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, however said the protesters’ demands for a democratic election were “disrespectful to the mainland.”

“Even though the government has brought a lot of development to Hong Kong, they don’t acknowledge this,” Lin said.

The message from Beijing has been clear.

The deputy director of China’s National People’s Congress Internal and Judicial Affairs Committee, Li Shenming, wrote in the People’s Daily: “In today’s China, engaging in an election system of one-man-one-vote is bound to quickly lead to turmoil, unrest and even a situation of civil war.”

The outside world has looked on warily.

British finance chief George Osborne urged China to seek peace and said the former colony’s prosperity depended on freedom. Washington urged Hong Kong authorities “to exercise restraint and for protesters to express their views peacefully.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will discuss the protests with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during talks in Washington on Wednesday, U.S. officials said.

The events have also been followed closely in Taiwan, which has full democracy but is considered by Beijing as a renegade province that must one day be reunited with the mainland. (Additional reporting by Farah Master, Diana Chan, Twinnie Siu, Yimou Lee, Kinling Lo, Charlie Zhu, John Ruwitch, Clare Baldwin, Diana Chan and Anne Marie Roantree; Writing by Paul Tait; Editing by Mark Bendeich)

Football and religion go together in America. This is precisely because football is a religion for many Americans. But there are times when football provides a kind of religious commentary by raising–if inadvertently–deep and disturbing theological questions.

Such was the case on Monday night. The Patriots suffered an embarrassing loss to the Chiefs and Kansas City safety Husain Abdullah had an end zone celebration that confounded the NFL and set the internet abuzz [http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2014/09/30/nfl-penalizes-muslin-player-for-praying-after-chiefs-touchdown/].

Driving into work the day after a Patriots’ game is usually a blessed experience in Central Massachusetts where I live. Radio commentators ritually celebrate another victory and look forward to more triumphs: play-offs are foreordained, the Super Bowl will see God’s purpose revealed in the majesty of a Patriots victory. That is the way the season should progress if the natural order of things is to be confirmed, since Patriots-nation and God’s kingdom must be in harmony. While I happen to be a Catholic, teaching at a Catholic college, in one of the most Catholic parts of the country, there’s a Calvinist quality to being a Patriots fan: we often think of our team as positively elected by God.

The Patriots’ defeat at the hands of the Chiefs has brought apocalyptic prophecies about the decline of Tom Brady and a once-proud organization. New Englanders are feeling a gnawing sense that what once seemed like certain election has turned into likely damnation. We Patriot fans are ready to put on sackcloth and ashes in order to regain God’s favor. If God’s kingdom is coming, the New England Patriots are on the outside looking in. Maybe the sins of Spy-gate are finally catching up with us.

But if a Patriots defeat seems like a curse to New Englanders, it appears to be taken as a blessing by the Kansas City Chiefs and their fans. Kansas City safety Husain Abdullah certainly felt so: he got down on his knees, and placed his forehead on the turf, after picking off a Tom Brady pass and running it into the end zone.

Then a flag came out.

Celebrating on the ground is against NFL rules. But Husain Abdullah was praying. And if Tim Tebow can pray in the end zone, why can’t Husain Abdullah? Of course, the referees didn’t recognize that Husain Abdullah was praying because he was praying in Muslim fashion–his prostration in the end zone symbolized his submission to God. The NFL does have an exception clause for end zone celebrations that permit prayer. In backtracking on the penalty flag, the NFL is belatedly recognizing that Muslims aren’t just religious: they’re actually Americans–Americans who play football, among other things.

The barriers to Muslims being considered full-members of American society do raise deep and disturbing questions about how pluralistic America really is. We can credit Husain Abdullah’s celebration for bringing this to our attention–gently and graciously.

But Husain Abdullah and Patriot fans such as myself still have to answer a deep and disturbing question of the theological kind:

Who does God root for?

I thought all along God was rooting for the Patriots. But now I’m asking myself: Did God invent the tuck-rule that saved the Patriots from the Raiders in 2001? Did a divine hand strengthen Adam Vinatieri’s nerve and foot for two Super Bowl winning kicks? When Husain Abdullah, or any other player, thanks God for a touchdown, is the implicit claim that God directed the ball to be intercepted or opened a hole in the defensive line? What do we really mean when we thank God for our success, especially when our success comes at the expense of someone else?

I wonder.

Perhaps Husain Abdullah’s response is the most fitting: a submission to the will of God–a will that often exceeds our human ability to grasp.

Philadelphia Orchestra conductor Nézet-Séguin (photo: DS / Philadelphia Orchestra)

With enthusiastic ease, Yannick Nézet-Séguin divides his time between musical directorships of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre Métropolitain (Montreal) not to mention as principal guest conductor at the London Philharmonic and in his spare time, The Metropolitan Opera. Late September, he was in to prepare for his 3rd season here and took a rare break between rehearsal to talk about his third season in Philly.

Does the musical globetrotting ever overwhelm him? “It’s actually really enriching,” he said, while on rehearsal break in a small rehearsal room with a grand piano “Working with one orchestra seems to help me solves things for the others. To work so much in Canada and Europe I feel makes me a better conductor here.”

Days before, at the invitation of the Global Sustainable Development Foundation, Nézet-Séguin lead an ensemble of Philadelphia Orchestra musicians and a chorale from the Philadelphia Singers performing the US premiere of composer Wang Ning’s “Ode to Humanity” at the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly. It echoed the impact of the Fab Phil’s expansive Asian tour earlier this year that reached remote regions in China as well as major cities there and in Japan. It was another leg of the orchestra’s historic ongoing musical-cultural exchange between the US and China.

Nézet-Séguin said that the tour and the event at the UN were all part of the same vision musical and otherwise “When I was there with them and saw how eager audiences were for the music and to connect with the musicians, but that the tours meant much more than just performing concerts…At the UN, I thought it was an opportunity to show the world what we are doing. We are inspired by music from different culture, but even more its power to break down barriers. “

A few days after the UN appearance, Yannick was on the podium in Philly with superstar pianist Lang Lang, who studied at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Lang Lang was knocking the house down with his entrancing keyboard virtuosity playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 17. After his performance, the orchestra followed suit with Strauss’ Alpine Symphony as the opening work of the season long 40/40 Project, orchestral works that for the most part, haven’t been performed by the orchestra for 40 years. And a way to celebrate the always buff looking maestro’s 40th birthday.

Widely acknowledged for his interpretive skills of great orchestral works and depending on who you ask in Philly, he is a Bruckner or Schumann specialist, but to others it’s Mahler or Tchaikovsky. Nézet-Séguin has shrewdly programmed much classical repertory that historically has been connected to the Philadelphia Orchestra’s storied ‘sound.’ He is also an aggressive proponent of classical orchestras doing work from living composers. The 40/40 Project is part of that. In programming. ” but he lends his own taste too “because I can’t help it,” he jokes, but guided by “what is really good for the orchestra to make them stronger and better. So that we keep evolving together.”

He is further looking to ‘erase’ the long held conventions of certain works for classical orchestras of selected repertoire for subscription audiences, for instance, that leads to a staid play list. “All orchestras should embrace every repertoire, when we play Bach, Mozart and Haydn, we play better on Mahler and Strauss. When we play new music and play jazz, we realize how the musical progression works and how it is all interconnected.”

In China, the orchestra performed Tan Dun’s Nu Shu: The Secret Songs of Women, that premiered in Philadelphia last fall, in anticipation of the China tour. It is ostensibly a harp concerto, but is a film multi-media concept that tells the story of a secret ritualistic language that was passed between generations of women, which was banned by the government decades ago. Tan Dun was able to honor them by composing a piece working with the last generation of women still knew its rituals.

Nézet-Séguin said the composer provided him with an important musical work but also “essential background about the ritual aspects” and effects of the composition. “If we hadn’t had that essential background, it may have sounded wrong in my just my hands,” he explained. “The performances there were very moving, we could feel how moved the audience was at hearing this music. we knew how important this was,” he recounts.

Working with living composers to fully realize a new classical composition is invaluable. “You can touch the essence of why something was written. It inspires us to research with that same approach to Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann and realize the intent of the composer.”

To building cross-over audiences for orchestra, Yannick has included multi-media concerts, with varying success. For this season, he looked for something special to cap things off and his artistic team suggested Leonard Bernstein’s controversial 1971 MASS: A Theater Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers that contemplates text from different religions.

The orchestra has most recently sold-out performances of the timeless requiems by Bach, Mahler, Brahms and others and Yannick was looking for a way to continue that series, “without it being called a Requiem. And we were searching for a way to getting closer to Bernstein’s music. He has ties with the Curtis Institute of Music and I’m very attracted to his music in general. And we were searching for a community element. I think the controversy at the time it was composed was more because it was visionary,” he said.

Nézet-Séguin will follow up in October conducting a program of Glazunov, Rachmaninoff and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet at the piano for theKhachaturian Piano Concerto. Two-weeks later the maestro kicks off the orchestra’s Art of the Pipe Organ series with performances of classical and contemporary works for organ. This winter it’s all Russian classics for the mid-winter St. Petersburg Festival with works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Shostakovitch, for starters and a new work by composer Anthony Turnage, that was inspired by jazz giant Miles Davis. .

For complete information about the current Philadelphia Orchestra 2014-15 season check~ http://www.philorch.org

Dan Sullivan, the Republican challenger for U.S. Senate in Alaska, was a Maryland resident for tax purposes from 2006 to 2008, according to the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation, even though he told the Federal Election Commission he had been a resident of Alaska for the past 17 years.

Maryland’s declaration came after supporters of Sullivan’s opponent, Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), inquired about Sullivan’s tax status during the two-year period. Sullivan lived in the Washington suburbs while he worked in the George W. Bush administration and for the Marines.

Begich has repeatedly tried to paint Sullivan, an Ohio native, as an outsider. Sullivan has pushed back on that claim.

“Mark Begich has made it abundantly clear he is willing to say or do anything to shamefully distort Dan’s record, and this time was clearly no different,” Sullivan spokesman Mike Anderson told The Hill. “Begich’s campaign has been one desperate attempt after another to distract from his failed record of telling Alaskans one thing, and then turning around and voting with Barack Obama 97 percent of the time.”

Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state during the Bush administration, appeared in an ad paid for by the outside group American Crossroads during the Republican primary that defended Sullivan’s decision to live outside of Alaska.

“Dan faces political attacks because he wanted his family by his side. Remember that serving our country required some time in our capital,” Rice said in the ad.

H/T The Hill

“You’re so vain, you probably want a selfie sombrero,” would probably be a line to the classic Carly Simon song if she wrote it in modern times. And indeed, you have to be pretty darn vain to wear something so ugly and so cumbersome solely to take pictures of yourself.