PAKET UMROH BULAN FEBRUARI MARET APRIL MEI 2018

APA GENERATOR SET ITU ?

saco-indonesia.com,

Apa yang di maksud dengan Generator Set ?

Genset atau kepanjangan dari generator set adalah sebuah perangkat yang telah berfungsi dapat menghasilkan daya listrik. Disebut sebagai generator set dengan pengertian adalah satu set peralatan yang tergabung dari dua perangkat yang berbeda yaitu engine dan generator atau alternator. Engine sebagai perangkat pemutar sedangkan generator atau alternator sebagai perangkat pembangkit listrik.

Engine juga dapat berupa perangkat mesin diesel berbahan bakar solar atau mesin berbahan bakar bensin, sedangkan generator atau alternator juga merupakan kumparan atau gulungan tembaga yang telah terdiri dari stator ( kumparan statis ) dan rotor (kumparan berputar).

Dalam ilmu fisikia yang sederhana juga dapat dijelaskan bahwa engine dapat memutar rotor pada generator sehingga timbul medan magnit pada kumparan stator generator, medan magnit yang timbul pada stator dan berinteraksi dengan rotor yang berputar akan dapat menghasilkan arus listrik sesuai hukum Lorentz (ingat pelajaran fisika SMA dulu).

Arus listrik yang telah dihasilkan oleh generator akan memiliki perbedaan tegangan di antara kedua kutub generatornya sehingga apabila dihubungkan dengan beban akan menghasilkan daya listrik, atau dalam rumusan fisika sebagai
P (daya) = V (tegangan) x I (arus),
dengan satuan adalah VA atau Volt Ampere.
Rumusan fisika yang lebih kompleks lagi dijelaskan bahwa
P (daya) = V (tegangan) x I (arus) x CosPhi (faktor daya) dengan satuan Watt.

Apa saja type genset?
Genset juga dapat dibedakan dari jenis engine penggeraknya, dimana kita kenal tipe-tipe engine yaitu engine diesel dan engine non diesel /bensin. Engine diesel telah dikenali dari bahan bakarnya yang berupa solar, sedangkan engine non diesel berbahan bakar bensin premium.
Di pasaran, genset dengan engine non diesel atau berbahan bakar bensin biasa diaplikasikan pada genset yang berkapasitas kecil atau dalam kapasitas maksimum 10.000 VA atau 10 kVA, sedangkan genset diesel berbahan bakar solar diaplikasikan pada genset berkapasitas > 10 kVA. Mengapa demikian ? Hal tersebut terkait dengan tenaga yang telah dihasilkan oleh diesel lebih besar daripada engine non diesel, dimana cara kerja pembakaran diesel yang lebih sederhana yaitu tanpa busi, lebih hemat dalam pemeliharaan, lebih responsif dan bertenaga. Selain itu untuk aplikasi industri dimana bahan bakar diesel (solar) lebih murah daripada bensin (gasoline). Tulisan lebih dalam tentang cara kerja engine diesel akan kami sajikan dalam tulisan-tulisan berikutnya.

Dalam aplikasi kita akan jumpai bahwa genset yang terdiri dari genset 1 phasa atau 3 phasa, apa artinya ini ? Kita akan jelaskan lebih dalam lagi, bahwa pengertian 1 phasa atau 3 phasa adalah telah merujuk pada kapasitas tegangan yang telah dihasilkan oleh genset tersebut. Tegangan 1 phasa artinya tegangan yang telah dibentuk dari kutub L yang mengandung arus dengan kutub N yang tidak berarus, atau berarus Nol atau sering kita kenal sebagai Arde atau Ground. Sedangkan tegangan 3 phase telah dibentuk dari dua kutub yang bertegangan. Genset tiga phasa dapat menghasilkan tiga kali kapasitas genset 1 phasa. Pada sistem kelistrikan PLN kita, kapasitas 3 phasa yang dihasilkan untuk aplikasi rumah tangga adalah 380 Volt, sedangkan kapasitas 1 phasa adalah 220 Volt.

Daya listrik dalam ilmu fisika juga merupakan besaran vektor, artinya besaran yang telah memiliki besar dan arah, tegangan dan arus yang telah dihasilkan juga merupakan gelombang sinusoidal dengan frekuensi tertentu. Di Indonesia, frekuensi tegangan dan arus telah ditetapkan sebesar 50 Hz, dimana hal ini mengikuti standar frekuensi di Belanda atau negara-negara Eropa, sedangkan di negara Amerika Serikat dan Kanada menggunakan frekuensi 60 Hz.

Editor : Dian sukmawati
Sumber : jualgenset.co.id

Asus Rilis Sebuah Tablet Android Murah

Saco-Indonesia.com - Asus belum mau berhenti meluncurkan produk tablet dengan harga terjangkau. Di ajang Computex 2013 Taiwan, Senin (3/6/2013), Asus merilis tablet yang dinamakan MeMo Pad HD 7.

Sesuai dengan namanya, produk yang satu ini hadir dengan bentang layar 7 inci. Jenis yang digunakan adalah IPS dan mendukung resolusi 1280 x 800 piksel.

Dari segi prosesor, MeMo Pad HD 7 menggunakan ARM Cortex A7 quad-core. Sayang tidak disebutkan berapa kecepatannya. Kapasitas RAM-nya pun belum dibeberkan.

Dikutip dari Engadget, Senin (3/6/2013), perangkat ini pun sudah dipersenjatai 2 kamera, 5 megapiksel di bagian belakang dan 1,2 megapiksel di bagian depan. Selain itu, MeMo Pad HD 7 hadir dengan Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, speaker SonicMaster, Bluetooth 4.0, dan GPS.

Ada dua versi perangkat yang akan dijual oleh Asus. Versi pertama memiliki media penyimpanan internal berkapasitas 32GB yang dijual dengan harga 150 dollar AS atau sekitar Rp 1,5 juta.

Asus juga menyiapkan versi yang lebih terjangkau lagi, yaitu 8GB dengan harga 130 dollar AS atau sekitar Rp 1,3 juta. Versi yang satu ini dikabarkan hanya akan masuk ke pasar berkembang (emerging market), mungkin termasuk Indonesia.

Ini bukan pertama kalinya Asus meluncurkan tablet 7 inci dengan harga terjangkau. Sebelumnya, perusahaan yang berpusat di Taiwan tersebut bekerjasama dengan Google dalam menghasilkan Nexus 7. Perangkat versi 16GB WiFi Only dijual dengan harga 199 dollar AS.

Asus juga pernah meluncurkan 'saudara' dari produk baru ini, yaitu MeMo Pad 7. Produk yang satu ini sudah beredar di Indonesia dengan harga Rp 1,5 juta.

FAEDAH TANAH HARAM MAKKAH

Tanah haram jika dimutlakkan secara umum yang dimaksudkan adalah tanah Haram Makkah. Inilah tanah yang dimuliakan oleh Allah dan Rasul-Nya shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. Jika disebut Haromain, maka yang dimaksudkan adalah Makkah dan Madinah. Ibnu Qayyim Al Jauziyah menyebutkan dalam Zaadul Ma’ad, “Allah Ta’ala telah memilih beberapa tempat dan negeri, yang terbaik serta termulia adalah tanah Haram. Karena Allah Ta’ala telah memilih bagi nabinya –shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam- dan menjadikannya sebagai tempat manasik dan sebagai tempat menunaikan kewajiban. Orang dari dekat maupun jauh dari segala penjuru akan mendatangi tanah yang mulia tersebut.”

Di antara keutamaan tanah haram Makkah disebutkan dalam beberapa ayat dan hadits berikut.

Pertama: Di Makkah terdapat baitullah

Sebagaimana Allah menyebutkan mengenai do’a Nabi Allah –kholilullah (kekasih Allah)- Ibrahim ‘alaihis salam,

رَبَّنَا إِنِّي أَسْكَنْتُ مِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِي بِوَادٍ غَيْرِ ذِي زَرْعٍ عِنْدَ بَيْتِكَ الْمُحَرَّمِ رَبَّنَا لِيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ فَاجْعَلْ أَفْئِدَةً مِنَ النَّاسِ تَهْوِي إِلَيْهِمْ وَارْزُقْهُمْ مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَشْكُرُونَ

“Ya Rabb kami, sesungguhnya aku telah menempatkan sebahagian keturunanku di lembah yang tidak mempunyai tanam-tanaman di dekat rumah Engkau (Baitullah) yang dihormati, ya Rabb kami (yang demikian itu) agar mereka mendirikan shalat, maka jadikanlah hati sebagian manusia cenderung kepada mereka dan beri rezkilah mereka dari buah-buahan, mudah-mudahan mereka bersyukur.” (QS. Ibrahim: 37).

Rumah pertama yang dijadikan peribadatan kepada Allah Ta’ala adalah baitullah sebagaimana disebutkan dalam ayat,

إِنَّ أَوَّلَ بَيْتٍ وُضِعَ لِلنَّاسِ لَلَّذِي بِبَكَّةَ مُبَارَكًا وَهُدًى لِلْعَالَمِينَ

“Sesungguhnya rumah yang mula-mula dibangun untuk (tempat beribadat) manusia, ialah Baitullah yang di Bakkah (Mekah) yang diberkahi dan menjadi petunjuk bagi semua manusia” (QS. Ali Imran: 96).

Dan baitullah inilah yang dijadikan tempat berhaji sebagaimana disebutkan dalam ayat,

وَلِلَّهِ عَلَى النَّاسِ حِجُّ الْبَيْتِ مَنِ اسْتَطَاعَ إِلَيْهِ سَبِيلًا

“Mengerjakan haji adalah kewajiban manusia terhadap Allah, yaitu (bagi) orang yang sanggup mengadakan perjalanan ke Baitullah” (QS. Ali Imran: 97).

Haji ini dijadikan sebagai amalan penghapus dosa yang telah lalu Dari Abu Hurairah, ia berkata bahwa ia mendengar Nabi shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam bersabda,

مَنْ حَجَّ لِلَّهِ فَلَمْ يَرْفُثْ وَلَمْ يَفْسُقْ رَجَعَ كَيَوْمِ وَلَدَتْهُ أُمُّهُ

“Siapa yang berhaji ke Ka’bah lalu tidak berkata-kata seronok dan tidak berbuat kefasikan maka dia pulang ke negerinya sebagaimana ketika dilahirkan oleh ibunya.” (Muttafaqun ‘alaih).

Sebagaimana shalat di baitullah juga dilipatgandakan. Dari Jabir, Nabi shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam bersabda,

صَلاَةٌ فِى مَسْجِدِى أَفْضَلُ مِنْ أَلْفِ صَلاَةٍ فِيمَا سِوَاهُ إِلاَّ الْمَسْجِدَ الْحَرَامَ وَصَلاَةٌ فِى الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ أَفْضَلُ مِنْ مِائَةِ أَلْفِ صَلاَةٍ فِيمَا سِوَاهُ

“Shalat di masjidku (Masjid Nabawi) lebih utama daripada 1000 shalat di masjid lainnya selain Masjidil Harom. Shalat di Masjidil Harom lebih utama daripada 100.000 shalat di masjid lainnya.” (HR. Ahmad 3/343 dan Ibnu Majah no. 1406, dari Jabir bin ‘Abdillah. Syaikh Al Albani mengatakan bahwa hadits ini shahih. Lihat Shahih At Targhib wa At Tarhib no. 1173).

Kedua: Tanah haram dijadikan tempat yang penuh rasa aman

Inilah berkat do’a Nabi Ibrahim ‘alaihis salam,

وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ رَبِّ اجْعَلْ هَذَا بَلَدًا آَمِنًا وَارْزُقْ أَهْلَهُ مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ مَنْ آَمَنَ مِنْهُمْ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآَخِرِ قَالَ وَمَنْ كَفَرَ فَأُمَتِّعُهُ قَلِيلًا ثُمَّ أَضْطَرُّهُ إِلَى عَذَابِ النَّارِ وَبِئْسَ الْمَصِيرُ

“Dan (ingatlah), ketika Ibrahim berdoa: “Ya Rabbku, jadikanlah negeri ini, negeri yang aman sentosa, dan berikanlah rezki dari buah-buahan kepada penduduknya yang beriman di antara mereka kepada Allah dan hari kemudian. Allah berfirman: “Dan kepada orang yang kafirpun Aku beri kesenangan sementara, kemudian Aku paksa ia menjalani siksa neraka dan itulah seburuk-buruk tempat kembali“.” (QS. Al Baqarah: 126).

Begitu pula disebutkan dalam ayat lainnya,

وَمَنْ دَخَلَهُ كَانَ آَمِنًا

“Barangsiapa memasukinya (Baitullah itu) menjadi amanlah dia” (QS. Ali Imran: 97).

Kaum Quraisy di masa silam juga merasakan rasa aman ketika safar mereka,

الَّذِي أَطْعَمَهُمْ مِنْ جُوعٍ وَآَمَنَهُمْ مِنْ خَوْفٍ

“Yang telah memberi makanan kepada mereka untuk menghilangkan lapar dan mengamankan mereka dari ketakutan” (QS. Quraisy: 4).

Ketiga: Rizki begitu berlipat di tanah haram.

Inilah juga berkat do’a Nabi Ibrahim ‘alaihis salam,

رَبَّنَا إِنِّي أَسْكَنْتُ مِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِي بِوَادٍ غَيْرِ ذِي زَرْعٍ عِنْدَ بَيْتِكَ الْمُحَرَّمِ رَبَّنَا لِيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ فَاجْعَلْ أَفْئِدَةً مِنَ النَّاسِ تَهْوِي إِلَيْهِمْ وَارْزُقْهُمْ مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَشْكُرُونَ

 “Ya Tuhan kami, sesungguhnya aku telah menempatkan sebahagian keturunanku di lembah yang tidak mempunyai tanam-tanaman di dekat rumah Engkau (Baitullah) yang dihormati, ya Tuhan kami (yang demikian itu) agar mereka mendirikan shalat, maka jadikanlah hati sebagian manusia cenderung kepada mereka dan beri rezkilah mereka dari buah-buahan, mudah-mudahan mereka bersyukur.” (QS. Ibrahim: 37).

Keempat: Tanah Haram tidak akan dimasuki Dajjal

Dajjal akan muncul dari Ashbahan dan akan menelusuri muka bumi. Tidak ada satu negeri pun melainkan Dajjal akan mampir di tempat tersebut. Yang dikecualikan di sini adalah Makkah dan Madinah karena malaikat akan menjaga dua kota tersebut. Dajjal tidak akan memasuki kedunya hingga akhir zaman. Dalam hadits Fathimah bin Qois radhiyallahu ‘anha disebutkan bahwa Dajjal mengatakan,

فَأَخْرُجَ فَأَسِيرَ فِى الأَرْضِ فَلاَ أَدَعَ قَرْيَةً إِلاَّ هَبَطْتُهَا فِى أَرْبَعِينَ لَيْلَةً غَيْرَ مَكَّةَ وَطَيْبَةَ فَهُمَا مُحَرَّمَتَانِ عَلَىَّ كِلْتَاهُمَا كُلَّمَا أَرَدْتُ أَنْ أَدْخُلَ وَاحِدَةً أَوْ وَاحِدًا مِنْهُمَا اسْتَقْبَلَنِى مَلَكٌ بِيَدِهِ السَّيْفُ صَلْتًا يَصُدُّنِى عَنْهَا وَإِنَّ عَلَى كُلِّ نَقْبٍ مِنْهَا مَلاَئِكَةً يَحْرُسُونَهَا

“Aku akan keluar dan menelusuri muka bumi. Tidaklah aku membiarkan suatu daerah kecuali pasti aku singgahi dalam masa empat puluh malam selain Makkah dan Thoybah (Madinah Nabawiyyah). Kedua kota tersebut diharamkan bagiku. Tatkala aku ingin memasuki salah satu dari dua kota tersebut, malaikat menemuiku dan menghadangku dengan pedangnya yang mengkilap. Dan di setiap jalan bukit ada malaikat yang menjaganya.” (HR. Muslim no. 2942)

Dan Dajjal tidak akan memasuki empat masjid. Dalam hadits disebutkan tentang Dajjal,

لاَ يَأْتِى أَرْبَعَةَ مَسَاجِدَ الْكَعْبَةَ وَمَسْجِدَ الرَّسُولِ والْمَسْجِدَ الأَقْصَى وَالطُّورَ

“Dajjal tidak akan memasuki empat masjid: masjid Ka’bah (masjidil Haram), masjid Rasul (masjid Nabawi), masjid Al Aqsho’, dan masjid Ath Thur.” (HR. Ahmad 5: 364. Kata Syaikh Syu’aib Al Arnauth, sanad hadits ini shahih)

Wallahu waliyyut taufiq.

@ Madinah An Nabawiyah, 14 Sya’ban 1433 H

Penulis: Muhammad Abduh Tuasikal

Sumber : http://muslim.or.id

Baca Artikel Lainnya : PENGETAHUAN UMUM IBADAH UMROH

SURVEY DAN FUNGSINYA

1. Pengertian Survey dan Pengukuran

2. Macam-macam Alat Survey dan Pengukuran

A. Peta Topografi

a). Pengertian

b). Kegunaan

B. Kompas Geologi

a). Pengertian

b). Kegunaan

c). Cara Penggunaan

C. Palu Geologi

a). Pengertian

b). Kegunaan

D. LUP

a). Pengertian

b). Kegunaan

E. Pita/Tali Ukur

a). Kegunaan

F. Kantong Contoh Batuan

a). Kegunaan

G. GPS

a). Pengertian

b). Kegunaan

Jangan lupa membawa batre cadangan ya, bisa berabe kalau tiba-tiba GPS mati ditengah hutan.

H. Larutan HCl

a). Pengertian

b). Kegunaan

Hati-hati menggunakan larutan ini ya ^^

I. Buku Catatan dan Alat Tulis

a). Kegunaan

J. Kamera

a). Kegunaan

Oia, jangan lupa juga bawa baterai cadangan ya ^^

K. Tas Lapangan

a). Kegunaan

5 Gejala Gangguan Mental Bagi Anak dan Remaja

Editor:Liwon Maulana

Baltimore Residents Away From Turmoil Consider Their Role

BALTIMORE — In the afternoons, the streets of Locust Point are clean and nearly silent. In front of the rowhouses, potted plants rest next to steps of brick or concrete. There is a shopping center nearby with restaurants, and a grocery store filled with fresh foods.

And the National Guard and the police are largely absent. So, too, residents say, are worries about what happened a few miles away on April 27 when, in a space of hours, parts of this city became riot zones.

“They’re not our reality,” Ashley Fowler, 30, said on Monday at the restaurant where she works. “They’re not what we’re living right now. We live in, not to be racist, white America.”

As Baltimore considers its way forward after the violent unrest brought by the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died of injuries he suffered while in police custody, residents in its predominantly white neighborhoods acknowledge that they are sometimes struggling to understand what beyond Mr. Gray’s death spurred the turmoil here. For many, the poverty and troubled schools of gritty West Baltimore are distant troubles, glimpsed only when they pass through the area on their way somewhere else.

Photo

 

And so neighborhoods of Baltimore are facing altogether different reckonings after Mr. Gray’s death. In mostly black communities like Sandtown-Winchester, where some of the most destructive rioting played out last week, residents are hoping businesses will reopen and that the police will change their strategies. But in mostly white areas like Canton and Locust Point, some residents wonder what role, if any, they should play in reimagining stretches of Baltimore where they do not live.

“Most of the people are kind of at a loss as to what they’re supposed to do,” said Dr. Richard Lamb, a dentist who has practiced in the same Locust Point office for nearly 39 years. “I listen to the news reports. I listen to the clergymen. I listen to the facts of the rampant unemployment and the lack of opportunities in the area. Listen, I pay my taxes. Exactly what can I do?”

And in Canton, where the restaurants have clever names like Nacho Mama’s and Holy Crepe Bakery and Café, Sara Bahr said solutions seemed out of reach for a proudly liberal city.

“I can only imagine how frustrated they must be,” said Ms. Bahr, 36, a nurse who was out with her 3-year-old daughter, Sally. “I just wish I knew how to solve poverty. I don’t know what to do to make it better.”

The day of unrest and the overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations that followed led to hundreds of arrests, often for violations of the curfew imposed on the city for five consecutive nights while National Guard soldiers patrolled the streets. Although there were isolated instances of trouble in Canton, the neighborhood association said on its website, many parts of southeast Baltimore were physically untouched by the tumult.

Tensions in the city bubbled anew on Monday after reports that the police had wounded a black man in Northwest Baltimore. The authorities denied those reports and sent officers to talk with the crowds that gathered while other officers clutching shields blocked traffic at Pennsylvania and West North Avenues.

Lt. Col. Melvin Russell, a community police officer, said officers had stopped a man suspected of carrying a handgun and that “one of those rounds was spent.”

Colonel Russell said officers had not opened fire, “so we couldn’t have shot him.”

Photo

 

The colonel said the man had not been injured but was taken to a hospital as a precaution. Nearby, many people stood in disbelief, despite the efforts by the authorities to quash reports they described as “unfounded.”

Monday’s episode was a brief moment in a larger drama that has yielded anger and confusion. Although many people said they were familiar with accounts of the police harassing or intimidating residents, many in Canton and Locust Point said they had never experienced it themselves. When they watched the unrest, which many protesters said was fueled by feelings that they lived only on Baltimore’s margins, even those like Ms. Bahr who were pained by what they saw said they could scarcely comprehend the emotions associated with it.

But others, like Lambi Vasilakopoulos, who runs a casual restaurant in Canton, said they were incensed by what unfolded last week.

“What happened wasn’t called for. Protests are one thing; looting is another thing,” he said, adding, “We’re very frustrated because we’re the ones who are going to pay for this.”

There were pockets of optimism, though, that Baltimore would enter a period of reconciliation.

“I’m just hoping for peace,” Natalie Boies, 53, said in front of the Locust Point home where she has lived for 50 years. “Learn to love each other; be patient with each other; find justice; and care.”

A skeptical Mr. Vasilakopoulos predicted tensions would worsen.

“It cannot be fixed,” he said. “It’s going to get worse. Why? Because people don’t obey the laws. They don’t want to obey them.”

But there were few fears that the violence that plagued West Baltimore last week would play out on these relaxed streets. The authorities, Ms. Fowler said, would make sure of that.

“They kept us safe here,” she said. “I didn’t feel uncomfortable when I was in my house three blocks away from here. I knew I was going to be O.K. because I knew they weren’t going to let anyone come and loot our properties or our businesses or burn our cars.”

Richard Suzman, 72, Dies; Researcher Influenced Global Surveys on Aging

At the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Suzman’s signature accomplishment was the central role he played in creating a global network of surveys on aging.

Ellen Turner Dies at 87; Opened Kitchen to Feed the Needy of Knoxville

Ms. Turner and her twin sister founded the Love Kitchen in 1986 in a church basement in Knoxville, Tenn., and it continues to provide clothing and meals.

Taiwan party leader affirms eventual reunion with China

BEIJING (AP) — The head of Taiwan's Nationalists reaffirmed the party's support for eventual unification with the mainland when he met Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping as part of continuing rapprochement between the former bitter enemies.

Nationalist Party Chairman Eric Chu, a likely presidential candidate next year, also affirmed Taiwan's desire to join the proposed Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank during the meeting in Beijing. China claims Taiwan as its own territory and doesn't want the island to join using a name that might imply it is an independent country.

Chu's comments during his meeting with Xi were carried live on Hong Kong-based broadcaster Phoenix Television.

The Nationalists were driven to Taiwan by Mao Zedong's Communists during the Chinese civil war in 1949, leading to decades of hostility between the sides. Chu, who took over as party leader in January, is the third Nationalist chairman to visit the mainland and the first since 2009.

Relations between the communist-ruled mainland and the self-governing democratic island of Taiwan began to warm in the 1990s, partly out of their common opposition to Taiwan's formal independence from China, a position advocated by the island's Democratic Progressive Party.

Despite increasingly close economic ties, the prospect of political unification has grown increasingly unpopular on Taiwan, especially with younger voters. Opposition to the Nationalists' pro-China policies was seen as a driver behind heavy local electoral defeats for the party last year that led to Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou resigning as party chairman.

G.O.P. Hopefuls Now Aiming to Woo the Middle Class

WASHINGTON — The last three men to win the Republican nomination have been the prosperous son of a president (George W. Bush), a senator who could not recall how many homes his family owned (John McCain of Arizona; it was seven) and a private equity executive worth an estimated $200 million (Mitt Romney).

The candidates hoping to be the party’s nominee in 2016 are trying to create a very different set of associations. On Sunday, Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, joined the presidential field.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida praises his parents, a bartender and a Kmart stock clerk, as he urges audiences not to forget “the workers in our hotel kitchens, the landscaping crews in our neighborhoods, the late-night janitorial staff that clean our offices.”

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, a preacher’s son, posts on Twitter about his ham-and-cheese sandwiches and boasts of his coupon-clipping frugality. His $1 Kohl’s sweater has become a campaign celebrity in its own right.

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky laments the existence of “two Americas,” borrowing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s phrase to describe economically and racially troubled communities like Ferguson, Mo., and Detroit.

Photo

 

“Some say, ‘But Democrats care more about the poor,’ ” Mr. Paul likes to say. “If that’s true, why is black unemployment still twice white unemployment? Why has household income declined by $3,500 over the past six years?”

We are in the midst of the Empathy Primary — the rhetorical battleground shaping the Republican presidential field of 2016.

Harmed by the perception that they favor the wealthy at the expense of middle-of-the-road Americans, the party’s contenders are each trying their hardest to get across what the elder George Bush once inelegantly told recession-battered voters in 1992: “Message: I care.”

Their ability to do so — less bluntly, more sincerely — could prove decisive in an election year when power, privilege and family connections will loom large for both parties.

Questions of understanding and compassion cost Republicans in the last election. Mr. Romney, who memorably dismissed the “47 percent” of Americans as freeloaders, lost to President Obama by 63 percentage points among voters who cast their ballots for the candidate who “cares about people like me,” according to exit polls.

And a Pew poll from February showed that people still believe Republicans are indifferent to working Americans: 54 percent said the Republican Party does not care about the middle class.

That taint of callousness explains why Senator Ted Cruz of Texas declared last week that Republicans “are and should be the party of the 47 percent” — and why another son of a president, Jeb Bush, has made economic opportunity the centerpiece of his message.

With his pedigree and considerable wealth — since he left the Florida governor’s office almost a decade ago he has earned millions of dollars sitting on corporate boards and advising banks — Mr. Bush probably has the most complicated task making the argument to voters that he understands their concerns.

On a visit last week to Puerto Rico, Mr. Bush sounded every bit the populist, railing against “elites” who have stifled economic growth and innovation. In the kind of economy he envisions leading, he said: “We wouldn’t have the middle being squeezed. People in poverty would have a chance to rise up. And the social strains that exist — because the haves and have-nots is the big debate in our country today — would subside.”

Continue reading the main story

 

Who Is Running for President (and Who’s Not)?

Republicans’ emphasis on poorer and working-class Americans now represents a shift from the party’s longstanding focus on business owners and “job creators” as the drivers of economic opportunity.

This is intentional, Republican operatives said.

In the last presidential election, Republicans rushed to defend business owners against what they saw as hostility by Democrats to successful, wealthy entrepreneurs.

“Part of what you had was a reaction to the Democrats’ dehumanization of business owners: ‘Oh, you think you started your plumbing company? No you didn’t,’ ” said Grover Norquist, the conservative activist and president of Americans for Tax Reform.

But now, Mr. Norquist said, Republicans should move past that. “Focus on the people in the room who know someone who couldn’t get a job, or a promotion, or a raise because taxes are too high or regulations eat up companies’ time,” he said. “The rich guy can take care of himself.”

Democrats argue that the public will ultimately see through such an approach because Republican positions like opposing a minimum-wage increase and giving private banks a larger role in student loans would hurt working Americans.

“If Republican candidates are just repeating the same tired policies, I’m not sure that smiling while saying it is going to be enough,” said Guy Cecil, a Democratic strategist who is joining a “super PAC” working on behalf of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Republicans have already attacked Mrs. Clinton over the wealth and power she and her husband have accumulated, caricaturing her as an out-of-touch multimillionaire who earns hundreds of thousands of dollars per speech and has not driven a car since 1996.

Mr. Walker hit this theme recently on Fox News, pointing to Mrs. Clinton’s lucrative book deals and her multiple residences. “This is not someone who is connected with everyday Americans,” he said. His own net worth, according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, is less than a half-million dollars; Mr. Walker also owes tens of thousands of dollars on his credit cards.

But showing off a cheap sweater or boasting of a bootstraps family background not only helps draw a contrast with Mrs. Clinton’s latter-day affluence, it is also an implicit argument against Mr. Bush.

Mr. Walker, who featured a 1998 Saturn with more than 100,000 miles on the odometer in a 2010 campaign ad during his first run for governor, likes to talk about flipping burgers at McDonald’s as a young person. His mother, he has said, grew up on a farm with no indoor plumbing until she was in high school.

Mr. Rubio, among the least wealthy members of the Senate, with an estimated net worth of around a half-million dollars, uses his working-class upbringing as evidence of the “exceptionalism” of America, “where even the son of a bartender and a maid can have the same dreams and the same future as those who come from power and privilege.”

Mr. Cruz alludes to his family’s dysfunction — his parents, he says, were heavy drinkers — and recounts his father’s tale of fleeing Cuba with $100 sewn into his underwear.

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey notes that his father paid his way through college working nights at an ice cream plant.

But sometimes the attempts at projecting authenticity can seem forced. Mr. Christie recently found himself on the defensive after telling a New Hampshire audience, “I don’t consider myself a wealthy man.” Tax returns showed that he and his wife, a longtime Wall Street executive, earned nearly $700,000 in 2013.

The story of success against the odds is a political classic, even if it is one the Republican Party has not been able to tell for a long time. Ronald Reagan liked to say that while he had not been born on the wrong side of the tracks, he could always hear the whistle. Richard Nixon was fond of reminding voters how he was born in a house his father had built.

“Probably the idea that is most attractive to an average voter, and an idea that both Republicans and Democrats try to craft into their messages, is this idea that you can rise from nothing,” said Charles C. W. Cooke, a writer for National Review.

There is a certain delight Republicans take in turning that message to their advantage now.

“That’s what Obama did with Hillary,” Mr. Cooke said. “He acknowledged it openly: ‘This is ridiculous. Look at me, this one-term senator with dark skin and all of America’s unsolved racial problems, running against the wife of the last Democratic president.”

Robert Patterson Jr., Lawyer and Judge Who Fought for the Accused, Dies at 91

Judge Patterson helped to protect the rights of Attica inmates after the prison riot in 1971 and later served on the Federal District Court in Manhattan.

Ruth Rendell, Novelist Who Thrilled and Educated, Dies at 85

Ms. Rendell was a prolific writer of intricately plotted mystery novels that combined psychological insight, social conscience and teeth-chattering terror.

Sid Tepper Dies at 96; Delivered ‘Red Roses for a Blue Lady’ and Other Songs

Mr. Tepper was not a musical child and had no formal training, but he grew up to write both lyrics and tunes, trading off duties with the other member of the team, Roy C. Bennett.

With Iran Talks, a Tangled Path to Ending Syria’s War

UNITED NATIONS — Wearing pinstripes and a pince-nez, Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations envoy for Syria, arrived at the Security Council one Tuesday afternoon in February and announced that President Bashar al-Assad had agreed to halt airstrikes over Aleppo. Would the rebels, Mr. de Mistura suggested, agree to halt their shelling?

What he did not announce, but everyone knew by then, was that the Assad government had begun a military offensive to encircle opposition-held enclaves in Aleppo and that fierce fighting was underway. It would take only a few days for rebel leaders, having pushed back Syrian government forces, to outright reject Mr. de Mistura’s proposed freeze in the fighting, dooming the latest diplomatic overture on Syria.

Diplomacy is often about appearing to be doing something until the time is ripe for a deal to be done.

Now, with Mr. Assad’s forces having suffered a string of losses on the battlefield and the United States reaching at least a partial rapprochement with Mr. Assad’s main backer, Iran, Mr. de Mistura is changing course. Starting Monday, he is set to hold a series of closed talks in Geneva with the warring sides and their main supporters. Iran will be among them.

In an interview at United Nations headquarters last week, Mr. de Mistura hinted that the changing circumstances, both military and diplomatic, may have prompted various backers of the war to question how much longer the bloodshed could go on.

“Will that have an impact in accelerating the willingness for a political solution? We need to test it,” he said. “The Geneva consultations may be a good umbrella for testing that. It’s an occasion for asking everyone, including the government, if there is any new way that they are looking at a political solution, as they too claim they want.”

He said he would have a better assessment at the end of June, when he expects to wrap up his consultations. That coincides with the deadline for a final agreement in the Iran nuclear talks.

Whether a nuclear deal with Iran will pave the way for a new opening on peace talks in Syria remains to be seen. Increasingly, though, world leaders are explicitly linking the two, with the European Union’s top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, suggesting last week that a nuclear agreement could spur Tehran to play “a major but positive role in Syria.”

It could hardly come soon enough. Now in its fifth year, the Syrian war has claimed 220,000 lives, prompted an exodus of more than three million refugees and unleashed jihadist groups across the region. “This conflict is producing a question mark in many — where is it leading and whether this can be sustained,” Mr. de Mistura said.

Part Italian, part Swedish, Mr. de Mistura has worked with the United Nations for more than 40 years, but he is more widely known for his dapper style than for any diplomatic coups. Syria is by far the toughest assignment of his career — indeed, two of the organization’s most seasoned diplomats, Lakhdar Brahimi and Kofi Annan, tried to do the job and gave up — and critics have wondered aloud whether Mr. de Mistura is up to the task.

He served as a United Nations envoy in Afghanistan and Iraq, and before that in Lebanon, where a former minister recalled, with some scorn, that he spent many hours sunbathing at a private club in the hills above Beirut. Those who know him say he has a taste for fine suits and can sometimes speak too soon and too much, just as they point to his diplomatic missteps and hyperbole.

They cite, for instance, a news conference in October, when he raised the specter of Srebrenica, where thousands of Muslims were massacred in 1995 during the Balkans war, in warning that the Syrian border town of Kobani could fall to the Islamic State. In February, he was photographed at a party in Damascus, the Syrian capital, celebrating the anniversary of the Iranian revolution just as Syrian forces, aided by Iran, were pummeling rebel-held suburbs of Damascus; critics seized on that as evidence of his coziness with the government.

Mouin Rabbani, who served briefly as the head of Mr. de Mistura’s political affairs unit and has since emerged as one of his most outspoken critics, said Mr. de Mistura did not have the background necessary for the job. “This isn’t someone well known for his political vision or political imagination, and his closest confidants lack the requisite knowledge and experience,” Mr. Rabbani said.

As a deputy foreign minister in the Italian government, Mr. de Mistura was tasked in 2012 with freeing two Italian marines detained in India for shooting at Indian fishermen. He made 19 trips to India, to little effect. One marine was allowed to return to Italy for medical reasons; the other remains in India.

He said he initially turned down the Syria job when the United Nations secretary general approached him last August, only to change his mind the next day, after a sleepless, guilt-ridden night.

Mr. de Mistura compared his role in Syria to that of a doctor faced with a terminally ill patient. His goal in brokering a freeze in the fighting, he said, was to alleviate suffering. He settled on Aleppo as the location for its “fame,” he said, a decision that some questioned, considering that Aleppo was far trickier than the many other lesser-known towns where activists had negotiated temporary local cease-fires.

“Everybody, at least in Europe, are very familiar with the value of Aleppo,” Mr. de Mistura said. “So I was using that as an icebreaker.”

The cease-fire negotiations, to which he had devoted six months, fell apart quickly because of the government’s military offensive in Aleppo the very day of his announcement at the Security Council. Privately, United Nations diplomats said Mr. de Mistura had been manipulated. To this, Mr. de Mistura said only that he was “disappointed and concerned.”

Tarek Fares, a former rebel fighter, said after a recent visit to Aleppo that no Syrian would admit publicly to supporting Mr. de Mistura’s cease-fire proposal. “If anyone said they went to a de Mistura meeting in Gaziantep, they would be arrested,” is how he put it, referring to the Turkish city where negotiations between the two sides were held.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon remains staunchly behind Mr. de Mistura’s efforts. His defenders point out that he is at the center of one of the world’s toughest diplomatic problems, charged with mediating a conflict in which two of the world’s most powerful nations — Russia, which supports Mr. Assad, and the United States, which has called for his ouster — remain deadlocked.

R. Nicholas Burns, a former State Department official who now teaches at Harvard, credited Mr. de Mistura for trying to negotiate a cease-fire even when the chances of success were exceedingly small — and the chances of a political deal even smaller. For his efforts to work, Professor Burns argued, the world powers will first have to come to an agreement of their own.

“He needs the help of outside powers,” he said. “It starts with backers of Assad. That’s Russia and Iran. De Mistura is there, waiting.”

In Baltimore, National Guard Pullout Begins as Citywide Curfew Is Lifted

David Goldman/Associated Press

National Guard soldiers boarding a truck in Baltimore on Sunday.

Baltimore residents prepared to resume the more familiar rhythms of their lives as days passed without new bouts of widespread rioting and as the National Guard began to pull its troops from the city.

In Baltimore, National Guard Pullout Begins as Citywide Curfew Is Lifted | PAKET UMROH BULAN JANUARI 2016

Betsy von Furstenberg, Baroness and Versatile Actress, Dies at 83

Ms. von Furstenberg made her debut in the movies and on the Broadway stage in the early 1950s as a teenager and later reinvented herself as a television actress, writer and philanthropist.

Gene Fullmer, a Brawling Middleweight Champion, Dies at 83

Fullmer, who reigned when fight clubs abounded and Friday night fights were a television staple, was known for his title bouts with Sugar Ray Robinson and Carmen Basilio.

Verne Gagne, Wrestler Who Grappled Through Two Eras, Dies at 89

Gagne wrestled professionally from the late 1940s until the 1980s and was a transitional figure between the early 20th century barnstormers and the steroidal sideshows of today

Suzanne Crough, Actress in ‘The Partridge Family,’ Dies at 52

Ms. Crough played the youngest daughter on the hit ’70s sitcom starring David Cassidy and Shirley Jones.

William Sokolin, Wine Seller Who Broke Famed Bottle, Dies at 85

The bottle Mr. Sokolin famously broke was a 1787 Château Margaux, which was said to have belonged to Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Sokolin had been hoping to sell it for $519,750.