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: Fear the Walking Dead
: Drama, Horror
: What did the world look like as it was transforming into the horrifying apocalypse depicted in "The Walking Dead"? This spin-off set in Los Angeles, following new characters as they face the beginning of the end of the world, will answer that question.
: Rubén Blades (Daniel Salazar), Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia Clark), Colman Domingo (Victor Strand), Danay García (Luciana Galvez), Garret Dillahunt (John Dorie), Lennie James (Morgan Jones), Maggie Grace (Althea), Jenna Elfman (Naomi), Alexa Nisenson (Charlie), Austin Amelio (Dwight), Karen David (Grace)
August 23, 2015 Season 1 6 Episodes April 10, 2016 Season 2 15 Episodes June 04, 2017 Season 3 16 Episodes April 15, 2018 Season 4 16 Episodes June 02, 2019 Season 5 8 Episodes
Please Sign Up To Watch Fear the Walking Dead Full Streaming!
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What the Technicals Say About Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (DKS)
Dicks Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 14th. It has underperformed by 18.05% the S&P500. Frontier Capital Management Co Llc decreased its stake in Cdk Global Inc (CDK) by 34.8% based on its latest 2017Q3 regulatory filing with the SEC.
Precision Drilling Corporation (NYSE:PDS) Swings Higher 6.63% For The Week
Precision Drilling Corporation is maintained at an average outperform rating by 22 stock analysts, and there are at least 3.39% of shares outstanding that are now legally short sold. After $-0.07 actual EPS reported by Precision Drilling Corporation for the previous quarter, Wall Street now forecasts 0.00 % EPS growth. Piper Jaffray and their recent TP would indicate a potential upside of 17.08 % from the company's last stock price.
GKN Denied The Bid From Melrose Industries
GKN rejected turnaround specialist Melrose's bid on Wednesday, saying that the terms of the paper-and-cash offer were "effectively unchanged" from a first private approach on January 8, which GKN also spurned. Shares in vehicle and plane part maker GKN rose by 1.3% on Wednesday morning, although they have subsequently lost most of that ground. It also told investors that it believed comments that its pension liability had increased were not accurate, while it also questioned Melrose's net ...
HUL net rises 28% to ₹1326 cr
Growth in household care was led by a strong performance by Vim. He, however, said there were early signs of commodity cost inflation and the company would further sharpen its focus on cost effectiveness programmes and manage business dynamically for competitiveness and sustained profitability.
Emirates announces US$16 billion deal for 36 Airbus A380s
Deliveries are scheduled to start in 2020. Al Maktoum and Leahy made the comments in a statement after the deal was signed in Dubai on Thursday morning. Earlier this week, Airbus COO, customers, John Leahy hinted that the manufacturer might have to stop building the A380 unless it received more orders, spelling doom for the once-popular large aircraft.
Ophir Energy's (OPHR) Hold Rating Reiterated at Canaccord Genuity
The firm also offers engineered fractional horsepower permanent magnet DC and brushless DC motors for a range of original equipment applications; and brushless DC motors, including servo motors, frameless motors, torque motors, high speed slotless motors, high resolution encoders, and motor/encoder assemblies for medical equipment, semiconductor, industrial, and aerospace and defense markets.
Under the Microscope We Place Shares of CoreSite Realty Corporation (NYSE:COR)
Palisade Capital Management Llc who had been investing in Coresite Rlty Corp for a number of months, seems to be less bullish one the $5.09B market cap company. ( NASDAQ:AMGN ), 11 have Buy rating, 0 Sell and 13 Hold. Therefore 77% are positive. Jefferies maintained the shares of COR in report on Monday, October 23 with "Buy" rating.
Today Analysts Focus on Facebook, Inc. (FB), Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO)
It has outperformed by 5.92% the S&P500. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp acquired 994 shares as Cisco Systems Inc ( CSCO)'s stock declined 7.50%. More interesting news about Cisco Systems , Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) for 9,975 shares. The institutional investor held 24.16M shares of the catalog and specialty distribution company at the end of 2017Q3, valued at $569.56M, down from 25.05 million at the end of the previous reported quarter.
Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI) Earns Daily News Sentiment Score of 0.15
Shares of Sirius XM Holdings I ( SIRI ) are moving on volatility today 1.12% or $0.06 from the open. To cut down amount of noise on price chart, shares of firm has 20 days moving average price of 0.14% from last close price of 5.38 and act as support or resistance of price limit.
Chelsea v Brighton preview: Alvaro Morata set to return from ban
The Chelsea boss also challenged Azpilicueta to add more goals to his game . "Now there might be reasons that we do not know - he might not train very well, because that is what you have to do at times , show willing, and that might be something he does not do well enough".
Whitbread's Costa Coffee and Premier Inn struggling with slow sales
The Costa Coffee and Premier Inn owner's stock is outperforming the benchmark FTSE 100 index which now stands 0.30 percent lower at 7,702.55 points. Analysts said the share price has reacted to positively to reports that activist investor Sachem Head has asked Whitbread to consider a break up of Costa from its hotels and restaurant businesses.
Can Corium Intl (CORI) Continue to Move Higher? Shares Climb 17.97%
Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC ) has risen 125.85% since January 16, 2017 and is uptrending. It has outperformed by 14.94% the S&P500. Robert Emil Zoellner increased its stake in Dish Network Corp (Put) (DISH) by 34.29% based on its latest 2017Q3 regulatory filing with the SEC.
DDR (NYSE:DDR) Rating Lowered to Hold at ValuEngine
Finally, King Street Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of DDR during the third quarter worth $44,884,000. 1st Global Advisors Inc. DDR Corp. (NYSE:DDR) now has a Weekly Volatility of 3.30% percent while its Monthly Volatility is at 2.64% percent. DDR (NYSE:DDR) was downgraded by ValuEngine from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday, December 31st.
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), bluebird bio, Inc. (BLUE)
Moreover, Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd Partnership has 0.16% invested in International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM ). It has outperformed by 34.08% the S&P500. The stock of Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) has "Equal Weight" rating given on Thursday, November 10 by Barclays Capital. The rating was maintained by UBS on Tuesday, October 20 with "Neutral".
Avis Budget Group Inc Institutional Investor Sentiment Worsened in Q3 2017
The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.24. The hedge fund run by Michael Moriarty held 275,250 shares of the consumer services company at the end of 2017Q3, valued at $10.48M, up from 192,550 at the end of the previous reported quarter.
Dow briefly tops 26000 mark
The Dow was at it again Tuesday, briefly soaring past the 26,000-point mark for the first time - but investors could've used seat belts for this roller-coaster ride of a day. After a recent check, GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK ) stock is found to be 1.00% volatile for the week, while 1.01% volatility is recorded for the month.
Research Report For Marathon Oil Corporation (MRO)
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock decreased 0.31% or $0.19 during the last trading session, reaching $62.02. (NASDAQ:ABAX) for 48,074 shares. Sure, the percentage is discouraging but better times are ahead as looking out over a next 5-year period, analysts expect the company to see its earnings go up by 3.23%, annually.
Primark owner AB Foods maintains guidance after quarterly sales rise
Soaring sales at Primark helped to boost revenue at Associated British Foods in the final four months of past year. WHITBREAD: Activist investor Sachem Head has asked Whitbread to consider a break up of its Costa Coffee chain from its hotels and restaurant businesses, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
London Police Open New Investigation Into Kevin Spacey
The subsequent investigation is the third against the actor. The man under investigation is the same person who is the subject of investigations related to a prior 2005 sex assault allegation as well as one in 2008 in the Lambeth part of London.
Pensionfund Sabic Takes $1.89 Million Position in Target Co. (TGT)
It has underperformed by 33.21% the S&P500. Analysts await Exactech, Inc. Therefore 60% are positive. Unilever NV had 11 analyst reports since September 25, 2015 according to SRatingsIntel. (NYSE:QTWO) for 46,476 shares. Moreover, Shaker Financial Services Llc has 0.84% invested in the company for 182,026 shares. Pinnacle Prtnrs Inc holds 0.17% or 88,696 shares.
Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. (DPS), Comerica Incorporated (CMA)
About 7.03M shares traded. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has risen 37.41% since January 17, 2017 and is uptrending. It has underperformed by 21.16% the S&P500. Avalon Advsrs Ltd Liability Company owns 0.03% invested in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:HCA) for 25 shares. Uss Inv Ltd holds 0.05% or 137,300 shares.
Energizer spends $2 billion to add Rayovac brand
Spectrum Brands Holdings had a net margin of 6.74% and a return on equity of 17.80%. Spectrum Brands (NYSE: SPB ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 16th. Walleye Trading holds 0.02% of its portfolio in Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc . There are 305 institutional holders with active positions, accounting for 27.84 million shares in total.
Comparable Company Analysis: Baxter International Inc. (BAX), QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM)
It has outperformed by 15.85% the S&P500. The hedge fund held 678,991 shares of the catalog and specialty distribution company at the end of 2017Q3, valued at $45.76M, down from 698,892 at the end of the previous reported quarter. Act Ii Limited Partnership stated it has 9.03% in Chegg, Inc. (NYSE: BAX ). 34,050 were accumulated by Neville Rodie & Shaw. Summit Creek Ltd Liability reported 172,299 shares.
Time Warner Inc. (TWX), Incyte Corporation (INCY)
The stock decreased 0.03% or $0.03 during the last trading session, reaching $91.89. About 1.73 million shares traded. It has outperformed by 20.12% the S&P500. After $1.82 actual earnings per share reported by Time Warner Inc . for the previous quarter, Wall Street now forecasts -19.78% negative EPS growth.
Sabra Health Care REIT, Inc. (SBRA)- Stocks Ensnare on Price Valuation
With their stock price now trading around $17.93, the firm has proven a solid track record of growth over the past few years. About 650,058 shares traded. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Sabra Health Care REIT by 22.0% during the second quarter. (NASDAQ:SBRA) for 49,500 shares.
Council Meet: Congress wants petroleum products under GST
He said no legislation should be passed without consultation with all stakeholders. With this, e-way bill now covers 10 states. "Frequent revisions in filing dates have completely shattered the faith in the sanctity of the GST reform", he said.
Pacer Advisors Inc. Has $1133000 Stake in Duke Energy Corporation (DUK)
Ametek now has $17.38 billion valuation. The stock increased 0.22% or $0.17 during the last trading session, reaching $78.59. Duke Energy Corporation (DUK ) has risen 8.31% since January 17, 2017 and is uptrending. Another trade for 357 shares valued at $18,361 was sold by ROGERS ALEXANDER H . The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.
The Hype Behind 8×8, Inc. (EGHT), Akers Biosciences, Inc. (AKER)
Alpha Beta Stock (ABS) makes sure to keep the information up to date and correct, but we didn't suggest or recommend buying or selling of any financial instrument unless that information is subsequently confirmed on your own . The company's stock has a Return on Assets (ROA) of 1.5 percent, a Return on Equity (ROE) of 3.6 percent and Return on Investment (ROI) of 2.7 percent.
How Have Institutional Investors Been Trading AbbVie Inc. (ABBV)?
Eagle Asset Management Inc who had been investing in Entegris Inc for a number of months, seems to be less bullish one the $4.63 billion market cap company. Credit Agricole S A holds 0.02% or 55,031 shares in its portfolio. GONZALEZ RICHARD A also sold $6.24M worth of AbbVie Inc. The Washington-based Coldstream Management Inc has invested 0.42% in AbbVie Inc.
EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) Earns Buy Rating from Piper Jaffray Companies
Capital Research Global Investors now owns 41,839,695 shares of the energy exploration company's stock worth $3,787,329,000 after acquiring an additional 5,368,941 shares during the last quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc., a Oregon-based fund reported 58,190 shares. North Star Inv holds 0.02% or 1,831 shares. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 80,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,576,259.75.
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Tag Archives: Peter Jackson
Authors, Non-fiction
Best Tolkien Movie Yet
March 7, 2019 Phil W Leave a comment
Jeffrey Overstreet calls Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old, a documentary on the war that shaped J.R.R. Tolkien the best offering of all of Jackson’s Tolkien-inspired movies.
Honoring these intimate archival recordings, Jackson reveals harrowing accounts of the misleading propaganda that summoned so many young men, the dehumanizing pressures of the war, the particular chaos and slaughter of the Somme, the burdens that the survivors would have to carry, and the betrayals, abandonment, and loneliness that awaited those few who returned. And as we listen, he fills the screen with highlights (that word sounds trite and inappropriate here) from more than 600 hours of material from the Imperial War Museum and BBC archives. Much of it is sharpened and focused, but then, as in Wings of Desire and The Wizard of Oz, its black-and-white footage suddenly blooms into color and detail that takes your breath away.
Tolkien fans: Peter Jackson saved the best for last
J.R.R. TolkienPeter JacksonWWI
December 20, 2016 Lars Walker 1 Comment
I’m still working through the Inklings book I’m reading. I must be getting near the end – most everybody’s dead now. Maybe there’s a long notes section at the end.
But for now, you’re stuck with my idle thoughts.
My reading today got me thinking about The Lord of the Rings, and my mixed feelings about the Peter Jackson films.
I remain a fan of the original movie trilogy. It has its flaws, but all in all (and this is my personal metric) the experience of watching the films is fairly similar to that of reading the books. So they get a thumbs up. The Hobbit movies are a different matter. I saw them in a theater, but hope never to watch them again.
Still, there are moments in the LOTR movies that should have warned me, I think, of what was to come with the Hobbit fiasco. I’m thinking primarily of the treatment of smoking.
It’s impossible for anyone who understands Tolkien’s life and culture, his friends and environment to understand the smoking in the LOTR books as being about anything but tobacco. Tolkien and the Inklings were inveterate smokers. No doubt we might have enjoyed their presence in this world longer if they hadn’t been, but the world was different then. Lewis is on record as disbelieving all the health warnings.
But in the very first movie, as Gandalf and Bilbo smoke together, they consistently refer to what they’re smoking as “weed.” That’s shorthand, of course, for “pipeweed,” which is what tobacco is called in the books. But the clear implication for the modern viewer is that they’re enjoying marijuana. This is reinforced later on, when Saruman taunts Gandalf, saying that his love of “the halflings’ leaf” has muddled his thinking.
Of course it’s a different world today. People today are taught to treat tobacco as if it were plutonium. It has almost become magical in its evil effects, in the public imagination. So Jackson, no doubt, thought he was helping Tolkien out by turning his beloved tobacco to cannabis. In so doing he changed the Shire, replacing Tolkien’s idealized agrarian English village with something that might be his own ideal – a 1960s California commune.
And that’s Jackson’s problem, it seems to me. He thinks he’s in a position to correct Tolkien. To explain to him how a story really ought to be told. In his view, he is the master, Tolkien the student. Tolkien is lucky to benefit from his storytelling genius.
And that’s what spoiled the Hobbit movies.
In my opinion.
J.R.R. TolkienPeter JacksonThe HobbitThe Lord of the Ringstobacco
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ZW25 Effective in HER2-Positive Cancers
A novel anti-HER2 therapy, ZW25 (Azymetric), is effective and well tolerated in patients with a variety of HER2-positive cancers, according to results presented at the 2018 EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Dublin, Ireland. In a phase I basket trial, patients treated with the drug—most of whom had gastroesophageal or colorectal cancer—had a high objective response rate with only mild side effects.
HER2 can be overexpressed in various cancers, including breast, gastroesophageal, colorectal, biliary, and salivary gland. However, although several HER2-targeted therapies have been FDA approved for HER2-positive breast cancer, trastuzumab (Herceptin; Genentech) is the only one approved for a HER2-positive cancer other than breast cancer: Its use is limited to first-line treatment of metastatic gastroesophageal cancer.
“There is an unmet need towards developing better treatment approaches for these other cancers that have a high expression of the HER2 receptor,” says Murali Beeram, MD, of the START Center for Cancer Care in San Antonio, TX, who presented the findings.
ZW25 is a bispecific antibody that simultaneously binds to two HER2 epitopes: ECD4, the trastuzumab binding domain, and ECD2, the pertuzumab (Perjeta; Genentech) binding domain. Preclinical research suggested that ZW25 has strong antitumor activity at a range of HER2 expression levels and may more effectively silence HER2 signaling than trastuzumab or pertuzumab. It also stimulates the immune system. Now, researchers are testing the agent in a phase I basket trial of HER2-positive cancers.
Researchers enrolled 24 patients with HER2-positive cancers other than breast cancer, including 10 with gastroesophageal, five with colorectal, and nine with other malignancies. Patients had received a median of three prior therapies, and 71% had previously received trastuzumab.
Overall, patients had a median progression-free survival of 6.2 months. Of 17 evaluable patients, seven (41%) had an objective response to the drug, and seven (41%) had stable disease, for a disease control rate of 82%. Diarrhea, infusion reactions, and nausea were the most common side effects, and most were classified as grade 1 or 2; no grade 4 or 5 side effects were observed.
“These are very exciting results, especially for the kind of tumors that we're talking about—if we can reproduce these results consistently in additional testing, it may mean an effective treatment for patients who, at this point, don't have a treatment option,” Beeram says. He notes that the trial is still ongoing, with expansion cohorts being added for gastroesophageal cancers. Planning is also under way for phase II trials that will test the drug alone and in combination with chemotherapy.
ZW25 is also under study in HER2-positive breast cancers. Results from the same phase I trial presented at the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL, indicated that six out of 13 patients with breast cancer (46%) responded to the drug.
To symposium co-chair Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, who is not involved in the research, ZW25 stands out due to its novel binding mechanism and strong early clinical data. “The fact that this HER2-targeted bispecific antibody has responses in a phase I trial, even in patients who have progressed on trastuzumab, is really remarkable,” he says.
Ribas adds that “these are promising results that warrant further clinical testing in HER2-positive cancers, and in particular, gastroesophageal cancers.” –Catherine Caruso
You are going to email the following ZW25 Effective in HER2-Positive Cancers
Cancer Discov January 1 2019 (9) (1) 8; DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-NB2018-162
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CONTE, Rick, of Stoughton, Mass., also affectionately known as Gus and Rocky, went home to be with our Lord on February 2, 2019. His wife and three daughters held his hands, hugged him, kissed him and never left his side. Rick was a devoted husband, proud father, loving Papa, cherished uncle and loyal friend. We are all so blessed to have had him in our lives.
Born in Old Forge, Pennsylvania, he was the son of the late Augustino and Mary (Amelia) Viscomi. He spent part of his childhood in Utica, NY before moving to Cambridge, Massachusetts at the age of 16. He graduated from Cambridge High and Latin and shortly thereafter enlisted in the United States Air Force.
Rick began his sales career at the age of seven when he began shining shoes. With an unrivaled entrepreneurial spirit, he opened his first replacement window company in his early 20’s. Full of tenacity, Rick always strived to be the top performer in his industry, winning countless awards for his sales numbers versus his competition. In 1984, Rick opened American Thermal Window, a company that remained in business until just last month.
According to his high school yearbook, Rick’s favorite exercise was laughing. A lover of corny jokes and Rodney Dangerfield, he was always the one who laughed the hardest at his punchlines. Magic tricks were his special connection with his grandchildren, and he would beam when they asked, “Papa, how did you DO that?”
If Rick wasn’t shopping for his 134th pair of pants (Literally! We counted.), he could be found with a camera in his hand and a Filet-O-Fish with extra tartar sauce on his plate. He would always be the first at the dessert table, asking for “just a sliver,” always coming back for enough slivers to fill a plate.
Rick and Rita spent their winters in Boca Raton, Florida. He was so proud of his condo and his exquisite taste in Tommy Bahama furniture. During a visit he would give you the grand tour, being sure to include the golf course he never stepped on and the pool he never swam in. He enjoyed evening walks in Mizner Park, always ending the night with his favorite; a scoop of cookies and cream ice cream. He was sure to be back in New England by April because he refused to miss a single game of any Red Sox season. He was obsessed with the Red Sox and pitching duels were his favorite kind of game to watch.
We will miss his “Dad-isms” such as; "Be aware of your surroundings at all times", "Don’t give up on something you haven’t tried" and "Never confuse an excuse with a reason". We will miss his nightly phone calls. We will miss his infectious smile. We will miss his laugh. We will miss his devotion to his family. We will miss him so much.
Rick leaves behind his loving and devoted wife of thirty-five years, Rita (Lefebvre) Conte, his three daughters Carlene Reardon and fiancé Brendan O’Hagan of Palm Coast, FL, Serina and husband Eric Ryder and Marisa Conte and husband Jeff Bone, all from Tewksbury, MA. Ten grandchildren; Robert, Matthew, Adriana, Blake, Quinn, Nathaniel, Andrew, Grayson, Desmond and Charlotte Amelia, great-grandson Koston as well as countless nieces and nephews whom he loved dearly, especially Ron Graziosi of Peabody, MA.
He was preceded in death and will now join in heaven along with his parents; sisters Mary Graziosi, Catherine Donati and Rose Pierro; and brothers Vito Sabetta, Thomas Viscomi and Joseph Sabetta.
All are welcome to attend a celebration of Rick’s life this Friday, February 8, 2019. Calling hours are 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Funeral service immediately following from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., both at Cartwright Funeral Home, 419 N Main Street in Randolph, followed by interment at Blue Hill Cemetery, 700 West Street in Braintree.
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President's Commission on the Status of Women
Student Enrollment from 1962-1972 Shows an Increase of Female Students
"Recommendations and Report on the Status of Women in the Academic Profession at Dickinson College" documents the information from a survey done from 1962 to 1972, which included a study of student enrollment during those years. In these ten years, female enrollment increased from 33.3 % to 43.2 %. On the other hand, male enrollment had increased as well. The downside to this information was that there was an increase of female students, but no increase in female faculty.
All terms: 1970-1979, Affirmative action, Faculty, Female Faculty, President's Commission on the Status of Women
The Commission on the Status of Women Faculty Survey
Data from a survey done from 1962 to 1972 about Dickinson College faculty revealed information about female faculty in the "Recommendations and Report on the Status of Women in the Academic Profession at Dickinson College" document. They discovered some interesting results, both positive and negative. Some negative aspects found from the survey were that women were underrepresented on the faculty, in the upper professional ranks and on the standing committees of the faculty.
Second Annual Report of the President's Commission on the Status of Women at Dickinson College (1973-1974)
In this report, the possibility of a Women's Center is mentioned. Opponents believed that this would be discrimination against men. While no center existed at the time, the Commission garnered its own bulletin board in the basement of Old West. , had an "open house" for its members and others, luncheons in HUB siderooms, and stressed the importance of getting all the Service Support Personnel who were women to be a part of the Commission.
All terms: 1970-1979, Affirmative action, Employment, Old West, Physical education, President's Commission on the Status of Women, Women's Center
Subcommittees on Women Investigate Sex Prejudice
The Commission on the Status of Women at the College formed four subcommittees to help investigate more deeply into several areas including recruitment and employment practices, attitude research, program and services, and community relations.
Professor Barbara McDonald, Commission chairwoman at the time, stressed the importance of the involvement of diverse individuals and any help offerred to the Commission will be appreciated.
All terms: 1970-1979, Dickinsonian, McDonald, Barbara, President's Commission on the Status of Women
Women's Center will soon open. "Women's Center will host feminist events"
This article, written by Marcy Feldman, describes the resources that will soon be available at the opening of the Women's Center on March 1, 1984. "The Women's Center, intended to provide a meeting place for women's groups on campus...will offer lectures and exhibits focusing on feminist issues. The Women's Center is also intended to raise women's consciousness of pertinent issues on and off campus."
All terms: 1980-1989, 222 Church Street, Banks, Samuel A., Carter, Patricia P., Convissor, Rena, Dedications, Dickinsonian, Dvorak, Kate, Equality for Females: Our Rights Today!, Freshman Women's Council, Morefield, Mary Anne, O'Brien, Sharon, President's Commission on the Status of Women, Rosenman, Ellen, Sanchez, Sonia, Women's Center, Women's rights movement, Zatae Longsdorff Organization
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Education & Public Affairs
Search begins for nursing and health sciences dean
September 18, 2018 Jared Verner
Provost Tom Christensen appointed an 11-member committee to assist in the search for a new dean of the Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
Susan Taylor, associate vice chancellor for undergraduate education and academic planning, Academic Affairs, will chair the committee of UCCS faculty and staff representatives, and community members. The committee is charged with reviewing candidates and recommending finalists. The position is the chief academic and administrative officer of the college, which includes approximately 1,400 students. Enrollment is projected to double in the college during the next five years with expansion in the areas of anatomy, nursing, physiology, exercise science and physical therapy.
Amy Silva-Smith, professor, Nursing Department, started as interim dean July 1. She replaced Nancy Smith, who retired June 30 after 10 years as dean and a nearly 50-year career in nursing practice, academia and teaching.
The priority deadline for candidates is Oct. 15, and applications can be submitted through CU Careers.
Taylor’s committee members are:
Carlotta Bell; manager of finance and administration; Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Melissa Benton; associate professor, Nursing Department; Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Amanda Elder; associate professor, Health Sciences Department; Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Art Hayes, employee relations and HR consultant, Human Resources Office
Molly Larson; executive assistant to the dean; Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Bill Lueck, co-executive director, William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center; Centura Health
Kay Miller, chief nursing officer, UCHealth Memorial Hospital
Jeff Spicher; associate dean for clinical affairs, DNP coordinator, and associate professor, Nursing Department; Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Andy Subudhi; professor and chair, Biology Department; College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Corrie West, associate director, Development
Department of Nursing
Helen and Arthur E Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences
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The west end of St Margaret's foreshore looking towards Ness Point. undated
Photocopied photograph of the west end of St Margaret's foreshore looking towards Ness Point. In the foreground on the beach there are several boats. The path to the top of the cliff can be seen with The Old Guard House and The Hermitage.
Undated but circa 1900
“The west end of St Margaret's foreshore looking towards Ness Point. undated,” St Margaret's History catalogue, accessed July 16, 2019, http://catalogue.stmargaretshistory.org.uk/items/show/2212.
St Margaret's Golf Club
It’s true! For just over forty years from 1899-1940 this village had a thriving 18 hole golf club with 250 members, its own club house, golf…
Portal House ( previously Morley House and Marine House)
Portal House is one of the oldest buildings in the village. Current research on its origins suggests that it may have been built as a private house…
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You are here: Home > Internet Gateway : History : New Zealand : Wars and Conflicts : World War I
Includes essays on the history of the day and the Anzac tradition, paintings from the National War Art collection, campaign maps, and biographies of a range people who served at Gallipoli. From nzhistory.net
Anzac Day @ Radio New Zealand National
Anzac.govt.nz
A guide to Anzac Day for New Zealanders
Cenotaph Database
A database of over 33,000 New Zealanders who served in war and conflict from the South African War to the present day, and who are now deceased. It is primarily a roll of honour of those who died as a result of war service, but also includes some personnel who have died since.
From Papanui to Passchendaele
WW1 involvement of soldiers from suburb of Papanui, Christchurch. Profiles individual soldiers. Backgrounds their home community and the war they fought in.
The Gallipoli Campaign
For nine months in 1915, British (including New Zealand) and French forces battled the Ottoman Empire - modern Turkey - for control of the Gallipoli peninsula. From nzhistory.net
Kua Whewehe Matou! Breaking up the Maori Contingent
An edited extract from Monty Soutar's essay Kua Whewehe Matou! Breaking up the Maori Contingent and the Ordering Home of Four of its Officers in the book How We Remember: New Zealanders and the First World War.
New Zealand and Le Quesnoy: the ties of war
This exhibition marks the anniversary of the liberation of Le Quesnoy by New Zealand troops on 4 November 1918, described as 'New Zealanders' most successful day of the whole campaign on the Western Front'. From nzhistory.net
New Zealand and the First World War - an overview
General introduction to the origins of the First World War and New Zealand's participation in it. From nzhistory.net
New Zealand Defence Force - Medals
Features the more common medals which have been awarded to New Zealand military personnel since the New Zealand Wars of the 1840s and 1860s. It does not cover medals which have been awarded to New Zealanders in small numbers or in unique military circumstances. Because the military history of New Zealand is linked with Britain, British medals awarded to New Zealanders have been included.
New Zealand Defence Force - Personnel Records
Provides information on who is entitled to apply for details from the records of ex-Service personnel (including medals), how to apply and lists the contact details for Personnel Archives.
New Zealand World War I History
From New Zealand Electronic Text Centre
New Zealanders in World War I
A guide to information about the men and women who served in the New Zealand armed forces during World War I.
Project Passchendaele
To commemorate the tragedy of Passchendaele, Auckland War Memorial Museum is undertaking Project Passchendaele as an online campaign seeking photographs, letters, personal papers and reminiscences owned by descendants of those killed or wounded in the battle. The war stories supplied may be published in a Project Passchendaele feature section on this website along with any accompanying images. Service record information will be used to update Auckland Museums Cenotaph database, a biographical record of deceased New Zealand service personnel.
Remembering Gallipoli, 1916
Collection of images from nzhistory.net
War Reference Guide - Archives New Zealand
A Reference Guide to commonly used records regarding the armed forces held at Archives New Zealand.
Find out about troopships - departures, destinations, the vessels, as well as details on troopship magazines. From the Auckland War Memorial Museum Library
WW1 Memorials Register
This register of 453 public WW1 memorials was compiled by Jock Phillips during the writing of the book he co-authored with Chris Maclean, The Sorrow & the Pride: New Zealand War Memorials (1990). From NZHistory.net.nz
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Dear Members and Friends of Countryside Community Church,
Your Board of Christian Outreach (BOCO) is pleased to share with you that Bethlehem House is the recipient of the 2019 Easter Offering. Founded in 2005, Bethlehem House provides emergency housing for women pregnant and in crisis. The community funded, faith-based non-profit provides social services, at no cost, to struggling families.
The Easter Offering will support the Family Life program. Once at the Bethlehem House, mothers experience structured programming and case management provided by trauma-informed staff. During their stay, women develop critical life skills such as accountability, financial literacy, parenting, addiction and recovery, faith formation and goal setting through the 12-course Family Life Program. Your contribution to the Easter Offering will support the mission of Bethlehem House and make a difference in the lives of struggling families in the Omaha community.
Thank you for your support,
The Board of Christian Outeach
About Bethlehem House
Bethlehem House provides the tools necessary for women to begin the demanding journey to cross the bridge out of poverty to self-sufficiency.
The modest campus maintains a residency rate of 8-11 families and more than 90 percent of graduates go on to thrive in newly established self-sufficiency. On average, families reside on campus between eight to twelve months.
The Bethlehem House mission of rebuilding and uplifting families exists because of strong community support. Thank you for supporting Bethlehem House and the worthy women who chose a better life for themselves and their families.
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Fr. Emil Schuwey, C.PP.S., 1921-2015
Fr. Emil Schuwey, C.PP.S.
November 12, 1921–October 20, 2015
Fr. Emil Schuwey, C.PP.S., died at 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, October 20, 2015, in the infirmary at St. Charles Center, Celina, Ohio. Fr. Schuwey, who was 93, had been in failing health.
He was born on November 12, 1921, in the small mountain village of Im Fang, Switzerland, to Henry and Marie (Jaggi) Schuwey.
Fr. Schuwey emigrated to Louisville with his family when he was six years old. He entered the Society of the Precious Blood in 1936 at Brunnerdale High School near Canton, Ohio, and was ordained on March 25, 1949. After his ordination, he served at St. Augustine Church in Minster, Ohio.
In 1953, Fr. Schuwey departed for South America, where he served in Purranque, Chile, until 1965, when he was elected treasurer of the C.PP.S. general council in Rome. There, he served two six-year terms.
Beginning in 1978, he ministered to Spanish-speaking people in Solothurn, Switzerland.
He returned to the United States in 1987 served for three years as pastor at Immaculate Conception Church in Hawesville, Ky., and St. Columbia Church in Lewisport, Ky. In 1991, he returned to Louisville, where he administered the diocesan mission appeals program. He spent 10 years there, also assisting at more than 30 parishes.
Fr. Schuwey retired to St. Charles Center in 2003, where he continued to help at many parishes as a substitute as long as his health permitted.
Fr. Schuwey is survived by four sisters: Lucy Lichtsteiner, Sabina Clan and Frieda Schuwey, all of Louisville; and Mary Hamer, Beavercreek, Ohio; and numerous nieces and nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.
He was preceded in death by his sister and her husband, Olga and Dennis Wiseman; a brother, Otto Schuwey, and his wife, Inga; and three brothers-in-law, Al Lichtsteiner, Jim Clan and Lee Hamer.
Fr. Schuwey was “very spiritual but always very funny,” said Mike Rembold, who is married to the daughter of Fr. Schuwey’s sister, Olga. “He was always ready to celebrate the good times, but he was also there in the bad times, when anyone needed support. He was always ready to be of service; in fact, his whole life was one of service.” His Swiss heritage was important to him and he worked hard to keep his family in the U.S. connected to his many cousins who remain in Switzerland.
Fr. Schuwey was a natural athlete who skied well into his 80s. He also had a gift for language, which was invaluable during his years as a Missionary. Fr. Schuwey spoke English, Switzer-Deutsch, German, Spanish and Italian. Also of great use to him was his adventuresome spirit, Mike said. He often regaled his family with stories of bouncing along rough country roads in Chile in a Jeep.
A Mass of Christian burial was celebrated on Friday, October 23, at 2 p.m. at St. Charles Center, with Fr. Larry Hemmelgarn, C.PP.S., presiding. Fr. James Seibert, C.PP.S., served as homilist. Burial followed in the Community cemetery.
Calling hours were held on Thursday, October 22, from 1-5 and 7-9 p.m. at St. Charles, with a prayer service at 7 p.m.
Memorial donations may be made to the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, Cincinnati Province.
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The Chainsmokers, EDM duo featuring Freeport native, won a Grammy last night
February 13, 2017 Listen up!
The Chainsmokers (Drew Taggart and Alex Pall) during the arrivals at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017. (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
A Maine native received a Grammy last night, and also accepted the award for Best Rock Song on behalf of the late, great David Bowie.
Freeport native Drew Taggart, who with Alex Pall makes up the electronic dance duo the Chainsmokers, won a Grammy for Best Dance Recording for their song “Don’t Let Me Down,” featuring vocals from singer Daya. The duo was nominated for two other awards, including Best New Artist, which they lost to Chance the Rapper, and Best Pop Duo Performance, which they lost to Twenty One Pilots. The Chainsmokers also presented the award for Best Rock Song, which was won by the late David Bowie. They accepted the award on his behalf.
Another Mainer was nominated for a Grammy as well — Richard Nickerson, a Windham High School music teacher and Houlton native, was up for the Grammy’s Music Educator of the Year. Sadly, he lost to California music teacher Keith Hancock.
← Waterfront Concerts announces Jack Johnson to play June concert in Bangor Rock band OneRepublic set for August show at Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion in Bangor →
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It is hard to believe that Dan Wolff would have ever been anything other than a musician, but it wasn’t until his college years that he seriously started playing guitar. Shy at first, he performed only within the confines of his Cornell University dorm room. It took nearly three years, and constant encouragement from friends and family, for him to begin performing publicly.
Beginning small, he cut his teeth playing acoustic guitar and singing backup vocals for various singers at open mics held by small venues in and around the city of Ithaca, NY. After some initial success, Wolff penned a number of original songs which were ultimately recorded and released under his own name at Big Time Studios in Interlaken, NY. Upon posting the songs on MySpace, he received further recognition through online resources wanting to reuse and market his demo material.
After moving to DC in 2009, Wolff continued to perform regularly and began recording his entire collection of original music which resulted in several more album releases through Ambiance Recording Studio, in Germantown, MD. As his following grew, Wolff began collaborating with an eclectic group of talented musicians and decided to form a band. Ultimately calling themselves The Muddy Crows, the group released a self-titled debut album in 2014. Twice voted ‘Washington DC’s Best Original Band,’ by The Washington City Paper Readers Poll, the band looked to expand their radius beyond the Mid-Atlantic region. Performing regularly throughout the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes regions, a trio of The Muddy Crows was even invited to perform 21 shows across Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands in 2016.
Since relocating to the nation’s capital in 2009, Wolff has performed over 500 shows and released 3 full length albums. While he is currently finalizing a few smaller EPs for release in 2018, Wolff’s efforts are focused on The Muddy Crows, whose summer schedule is booked with festivals all over the eastern seaboard. Please check the tour dates for an upcoming performance near you!
All contents © Dan Wolff, 2019 // Design by Electric Kiwi
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We are Fans of Paul Bracq
Recently, we purchased a Mercedes Benz 220 SEb, a vehicle in a line of cars on the W111 chassis. The simple, elegant styling of these 1960’s Benz, somehow both timeless and durable, is a prime example of cars we look for on a daily basis. So we did a little research on the car; who designed it, the audience, and some of the philosophy going on behind the scenes at Mercedes-Benz.
It turns out, a designer by the name of Paul Bracq designed our car. Bracq's name was familiar to us, but he wasn't someone we knew very much about. After looking through his portfolio, we realized we were already huge fans of his design and started seeing his work all over our garage.
A History in Design
Bracq is a Frenchman, born in 1933 in Bordeaux. After graduating from Ecole Boulle, a public applied arts school in France, he found work assisting Philipe Charbonneaux, best known for his automobile and television designs. While with Charbonneaux, Bracq assisted with designs for a Pegaso Coupé and Citroën’s French Presidential limousine design.
Mandatory military service interrupted Bracq’s time with Charbonneuax, and after three years in service to his country, Bracq took the lead design position at the Daimler-Benz Advanced Design studios in 1957.
In his ten years with Daimler-Benz, he lead the productions of the immensely luxurious Mercedes 600, the 200-series roadsters, and our very own 220S coupé, in addition to the W108 and W114.
After ten years with Mercedes-Benz, Bracq returned to France to work for Brissonau and Lotz, designing the TGV high-speed passenger train, while also prototyping a BMW 1600Ti-based sports car, and a Simca 1100-based coupé.
At the end of the 60’s, BMW hired Bracq as the director of design. Throughout the 70’s, Bracq designed such BMW greats as the 7-series and the 1973 Turbo concept car, for which the Revue Automobile Suisse awarded Bracq the Concept Car of the Year.
We mentioned earlier that we saw Bracq's influence all over the garage. He actually designed two of our BMWs, the E21 and the M6. We first noticed his design touch in the rear passenger window shaping and especially in the front ends of both cars.
Paul Bracq, the Artist
There's an advantage to design in that everything eventually becomes a tangible, concrete reality for everyone to touch, use and experience firsthand. We can go into our garage and see the 220SEb, feel the chrome, and take it for a drive.
An artists work, say a poster or an illustration, exists in a state of imagination, or concept, that you can only see and admire. You can't experience these first hand, like you might a design (no one is driving a poster around). Bracq, a true artist, knew how to take his artistic concepts and turn them into hard, concrete design.
You can see his design inclinations in every bit of his concept art. Each piece carries inertia and movement that communicates the same emotion you might feel sitting in the stands on race day.
Bracq is still working with cars at 82 years old. His vehicle restoration business specializes in 60’s Mercedes-Benz automobiles. http://www.paulbracq.com/en/
Video by BMW on Bracq's history with the company.
SortSeth Burgett September 2, 2015 OneComment
Functional Design from American Native Goods
SortSeth Burgett September 8, 2015 One
LIGHTSPEED PORSCHE
SortMike Butler September 1, 2015 One
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Tag Archives: Mozart in the Jungle
Westworld and The Crown head Golden Globe noms
December 14, 2016 The Writers RoomABC, American Crime, American Crime Story, Atlanta, Black-ish, Dan Fogelman, David Benioff, David Farr, DB Weiss, Donald Glover, Duffer brothers, FX, Game of Thrones, Golden Globes, HBO, John Ridley, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Mozart in the Jungle, NBC, Netflix, Peter Morgan, Richard Price, Steven Zaillia, Stranger Things, The Crown, The Dresser, The Night Manager, The Night Of, This Is Us, WestworldAndy Fry
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has revealed the nominations for its annual Golden Globe film and TV awards – the next edition of which will be held in February 2017.
Some TV shows on the shortlists seem to have become permanent fixtures, notably Game of Thrones, Transparent and Veep. But there will also be stiff competition from a range of excellent new shows.
Westworld’s viewing figures improved as the debut season reached its climax
A key contender in the Best Television Series – Drama category is HBO’s Westworld, which also picked up nominations in two other categories. Created by husband-and-wife team Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, the show has just finished its first season with an average of 1.8 million (same-day viewing). However, the most encouraging thing about the show is that its audience has been rising since episode five, with the finale achieving the show’s best ratings to date (2.2 million). All of which bodes well for the second, which is likely to air in 2018.
Also in the running is Netflix’s royal epic The Crown, which we discussed last week. Written by Peter Morgan, the show is up for Best Television Series – Drama as well as two acting gongs. It’s 10 years since Morgan received an Oscar nomination for The Queen, so perhaps now would be a fitting time for him to win a top award for his royal endeavours. With an IMDb score of 9.0 and superb reviews, it’s another incredibly strong contender.
Arguably the surprise package of the year has been another Netflix show, Stranger Things, which also finished its first season with an IMDb score of 9. Up for awards in two categories (including Best TV Drama), the show follows the disappearance of a young boy at the same time as the appearance of a girl with telekinetic powers.
The Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things was one of the hits of the year
The show was created by the Duffer Brothers, who featured in this DQ feature on 1980s-inspired TV. Commenting on the Netflix relationship, Ross Duffer said: “They have been incredibly supportive of our vision from the very beginning, and they’ve placed so much trust in us. We also just love Netflix as a platform, because it allows people to watch the show at their own pace. This story is not necessarily intended to be watched over eight weeks. The hope is that people will get hooked and the crescendo will feel even more impactful when it’s watched over a relatively short period of time. We want the audience to feel like they’re watching an epic summer movie.”
The Best TV Drama category is rounded out by the much feted Game of Thrones (David Benioff and DB Weiss) and This Is Us, the only one of the five shows that airs on a free-to-air network in the US (NBC). The latter has been one of the strongest-performing new shows of the 2016/2017 season and is very likely to be renewed for a second season.
It was created by Dan Fogelman, whose credits include Tangled, Cars and Crazy, Stupid, Love. Fogelman also wrote Fox’s new drama Pitch and is waiting to see if that show has done well enough to secure a renewal.
Dan Fogelman’s This Is Us
Battling it out for Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television are American Crime, The Dresser, The Night Manager, The Night Of and The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story.
ABC’s American Crime, recently commissioned for a third season, is the creation of John Ridley, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of 12 Years a Slave. It is pretty well regarded by critics but is unlikely to come out ahead of some of the other shows in this category.
FX’s American Crime Story: The People v OJ Simpson, winner of five Emmys, is probably the one to beat. Created by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, it has been nominated in three categories at this year’s Globes.
That said, the Golden Globes isn’t shy of choosing outsiders – as it did last year when it gave Mr Robot, Mozart in the Jungle and Wolf Hall the top drama awards. Wolf Hall’s success in this category last year provides encouragement for the British nominees – The Night Manager, written by David Farr based on the John Le Carre novel; and The Dresser, the latest adaptation of Ronald Harwood’s acclaimed 1980 play of the same name (written for screen and adapted by Richard Eyre).
David Farr
However, both of them will have to go some way to beat HBO’s The Night Of, created by Richard Price and Steven Zaillian. Of course, if The Night Of does win it will owe a debt to the Brits, because it is based on Peter Moffat’s excellent series Criminal Justice (BBC, 2008/2009).
As referenced above, Mozart in the Jungle was the surprise winner of Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy category at last year’s Golden Globes. So it’s hard to predict which show will come out on top this time out. Mozart, created by Alex Timbers, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and Paul Weitz, is in the running again, as are Jill Soloway’s Transparent and Armando Iannucci’s Veep, both of which are strong contenders.
This is, however, a category where the Globes could make a positive statement in favour of diversity, with both Atlanta and Black-ish on its shortlist.
Donald Glover’s Atlanta has been a success for FX this year, generating an 8.7 rating on IMDb and bedding in with a respectable 880,000 average audience for season one. ABC’s Black-ish is now in season three and hovers around the five million mark. Created by Kenya Barris, the show has been a solid performer but would be a surprising winner.
The five dramas that received nominations in Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama were Mr Robot, Better Call Saul, The Americans, Ray Donovan and Goliath. In other words, a completely different line-up to the overall best drama category. This contrasts with Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy, where the only divergence from the overall category was a nomination for Graves instead of Veep. This is explained by the fact that the heartbeat of Veep is Julia Louis-Dreyfus, nominated in the actress category. If there’s a conclusion to be drawn out here, it’s that there is generally closer alignment between creator and cast in comedy series.
In terms of shows that have been overlooked this year, the Globes didn’t pay much attention to Fox’s Empire and Netflix’s much-feted Orange is the New Black. The mood also seems to have moved away from Shondaland dramas for the time being.
In fact, viewed from the perspective of writers, it’s been a pretty poor year for women, with Lisa Joy and Jill Soloway the only two high-profile female figures to be involved in the headline categories. It’s a reminder that supporting diversity has many dimensions.
tagged in: ABC, American Crime, American Crime Story, Atlanta, Black-ish, Dan Fogelman, David Benioff, David Farr, DB Weiss, Donald Glover, Duffer brothers, FX, Game of Thrones, Golden Globes, HBO, John Ridley, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Mozart in the Jungle, NBC, Netflix, Peter Morgan, Richard Price, Steven Zaillia, Stranger Things, The Crown, The Dresser, The Night Manager, The Night Of, This Is Us, Westworld
Music shows strike a chord with networks
February 17, 2016 The Writers RoomAlex Timbers, Baz Luhrmann, Callie Khouri, Cameron Crowe, Courtney Kemp Agboh, Dan Charnas, Dr Dre, Jason Schwartzman, Lee Daniels, Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger, Mozart in the Jungle, Nashville, Power, Roadies, Roman Coppola, Seith Mann, Star, Stop! In the Name of Love, The Breaks, The Get Down, Tony Jordan, Vinyl, Vital SignsAndy Fry
As a childhood fan of The Monkees, I can vouch for the fact that TV series about the music business are nothing new. But there’s no question that the current success of Fox US’s hip-hop drama Empire has inspired an unprecedented array of music-related scripted shows. So this week’s column takes a look at the writers who are riding the crest of this compositional wave.
Star: After the success of Empire, the show’s co-creator Lee Daniels is planning another music-based scripted show. Working alongside Tom Donaghy, he is making Star, a series about three girls who form a band and their rise to the top. Like Empire, Star is for Fox, at which Daniels has an overall deal. Daniels is good at doing diversity. His band will comprise one white girl, one black girl and one mixed-race girl (half white/half black). There is also a transgender black/Latino central character called Cotton. Donaghy, meanwhile, is a playwright who is also known for having worked on The Mentalist and for creating ABC’s The Whole Truth.
Vinyl has just started airing on HBO (February 14) to pretty good reviews. Based on an idea by Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese, it tells the story of Richie Finestra, a record executive in the 1970s, played by Bobby Cannavale. The story credit goes to Jagger, Scorsese, Rich Cohen and Terence Winter, who also wrote the screenplay with George Mastras. As you’d expect with a project of this calibre, the writers are TV royalty. Winter, for example, was creator, writer, and executive producer of Boardwalk Empire, having previously worked on The Sopranos and written The Wolf of Wall Street. Mastras worked on all five seasons of AMC’s Breaking Bad and is also the author of a novel, Fidali’s Way. There are already reports that Winter wants to do a second season.
The Breaks has just been greenlit as a series by Viacom pay TV channel VH1, having debuted strongly as a TV movie in January. Based on the Dan Charnas book The Big Payback, it’s a history of the hip-hop business. The series story is being developed by Charnas and Seith Mann, with the latter writing, directing and executive producing. Mann’s credits include The Wire, The Walking Dead and Homeland. The story follows three young friends seeking to establish themselves as hip-hop artists in New York City in 1990.
Vital Signs is the new series Apple is reported to be making with rap legend and Beats Music co-founder Andre Young, better known as Dr Dre. The show will be a semi-autobiographical “dark drama.” Apple and Dr Dre have not yet commented on the nascent project, which means it is too early to know who will write it. One option might be Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff, the Oscar-nominated duo who wrote the screenplay for NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton – though both are embroiled in other projects. Berloff, for example, is writing Sleepless Night, a movie starring Jamie Foxx, whike Herman has been working on the Scarlett Johansson movie Ghost in the Shell.
Roadies is a comedy from Showtime that, as its name suggests, goes backstage with a group of roadies. Directed by Cameron Crowe, the show will give an insider’s look at “the reckless, romantic, funny and often poignant lives of a committed group of roadies who live for music and the de facto family they’ve formed along the way. The music-infused ensemble comedy series chronicles the rock world through the eyes of music’s unsung heroes.” Crowe is a writer/director, mainly known for films such as Jerry Maguire and We Bought a Zoo. Less well known is the fact that he’s a huge music aficionado. After leaving college, Crowe worked for Rolling Stone, where he interviewed the likes of Dylan, Bowie and Clapton. His second film, Almost Famous, was about a teen music journalist who goes on the road with a band in the early 1970s.
New Edition project: Viacom-owned BET is making a miniseries based on the 1980s R&B heartthrobs New Edition – marking the network’s first scripted music-focused TV movie. A three-parter, the show has the backing of five of the band’s members, but not the most famous of the group, Bobby Brown. The film will chronicle New Edition’s beginnings in Boston’s Orchard Park Projects to success with tracks like Candy Girl and Cool It Now. The script is being written by Abdul Williams, who previously wrote the movie Lottery Ticket (which included Ice Cube in the cast).
Nashville deserves a mention, even though it predates Empire by a few years. Now up to its fourth season, the show centres on the rivalry between country queen Rayna James and rising star Juliette Barnes. The show was created by Callie Khouri, who won an Academy Award in 1992 for the Thelma & Louise screenplay. Until Nashville, she mostly worked in movies, writing films such as Something to Talk About, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Mad Money. For season four, Khouri stepped back from writing but has directed some episodes. Writing was shared among a team of 10 writers, with the opening episode penned by Meredith Lavender and Marcie Ulin. The final episode, which will air this spring, is set to be written by Taylor Hamra, who was also involved in the recent TNT reboot of oil-industry soap Dallas.
The Get Down, which we discussed in a recent column, is a Baz Luhrmann music-driven drama that focuses on 1970s New York City: “broken down and beaten up, violent, cash strapped – dying.” It’s for Netflix, which says the six-part series is “a mythic saga of how New York at the brink of bankruptcy gave birth to hip hop, punk and disco – told through the lives and music of the South Bronx kids who changed the city, and the world… forever.” This is similar terrain to Vinyl, so it will be interesting to see how it pans out in comparison. Luhrmann’s creative team includes Oscar-winning designer Catherine Martin, hip-hop historian and writer Nelson George and writer Stephen Adly Guirgis. To date, Guirgis is best known as a playwright, having won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for drama for Between Riverside and Crazy. However, he does have a few screenwriting credits to his name, including an episode of NYPD Blue from 2002 and a couple of short-lived dramas called Big Apple (CBS) and UC: Undercover (NBC). He is also an actor, appearing in movies such as Birdman.
Stop! In the Name of Love is a four-part miniseries for the BBC that will incorporate numerous Motown songs (a la Mamma Mia). The UK drama follows six smart thirtysomething women as they deal with love, friendship, success and failure. The show is a joint venture between Tony Jordan (Dickensian, Life on Mars), Duncan Kenworthy (Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral), Antenna Group MD and former president of NBCUniversal International Peter Smith, and music consultant and former chairman of Universal Music UK John Kennedy. Jordan, who is writing the series, says it will “offer something completely different from any other show on television. The music of Motown is iconic and mirrors the rich gamut of human emotion and experience as well as exploring universal themes that all cultures and ages can relate to. The musical arrangements and cutting-edge choreography will give us a uniquely modern take on a timeless genre of music.”
Mozart in the Jungle is another show we’ve looked at recently following its Golden Globe triumph (Best Series – Music or Comedy). A quirky story of professional musicians working the New York concert circuit, Mozart is based on the memoir of an oboist called Blair Tindall. It was brought to the screen by a company called Picrow, with the pilot episode written by Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and Alex Timbers. Once the show was commissioned as a 10-part series, a further eight people were credited with either writing scripts or providing stories. The most prominent names among these were John Strauss and Paul Weitz, the latter also directing a number of first season episodes. Season two, which was released on December 30 last year, involved some of the same writers but there were also five new additions – giving the show an ensemble feel both on and off the screen. Since we last wrote about the show, it has been give a third season.
Power isn’t quite a music series but it has strong music connections. Created and written by Courtney Kemp Agboh, the series follows James St. Patrick, nicknamed Ghost. Ghost is the owner of a popular New York nightclub – but also a major player in an illegal drug network. The show, which is produced by rapper Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson has aired for two series on Starz and was recently renewed by the network for a third.
tagged in: Alex Timbers, Baz Luhrmann, Callie Khouri, Cameron Crowe, Courtney Kemp Agboh, Dan Charnas, Dr Dre, Jason Schwartzman, Lee Daniels, Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger, Mozart in the Jungle, Nashville, Power, Roadies, Roman Coppola, Seith Mann, Star, Stop! In the Name of Love, The Breaks, The Get Down, Tony Jordan, Vinyl, Vital Signs
Golden Globes makes bold TV selections
January 13, 2016 The Writers RoomAlex Timbers, Amazon, Golden Globes, Jason Schwartzman, John Strauss, Mozart in the Jungle, Mr Robot, Paul Weitz, Peter Straughan, Roman Coppola, Sam Esmail, USA Network, Wolf HallAndy Fry
Mozart in the Jungle’s writing team features a range of scribes from very different backgrounds
I’m not sure if bookmakers take bets on the Golden Globes. But if they do, they would have offered a long price on Mr Robot, Mozart in the Jungle and Wolf Hall winning the three TV drama categories.
That a cable series about hackers, an obscure Amazon original about classical musicians and a British series about Thomas Cromwell could come out on top is testament to the significant changes that are currently taking place in scripted television.
Mozart in the Jungle, which won Best Series – Music or Comedy, is perhaps the most surprising choice, particularly as it came out ahead of its much-praised Amazon stablemate Transparent. A quirky story of professional musicians working the New York concert circuit, Mozart is based on the memoir of an oboist called Blair Tindall.
It was brought to the screen by a company called Picrow, with the pilot episode written by Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and Alex Timbers. Once the show was commissioned as a 10-part series, a further eight people were credited with either writing scripts or providing stories. The most prominent names among these were John Strauss and Paul Weitz, the latter also directing a number of first season episodes.
Season two, which was released on December 30, 2015, involved some of the same writers but there were also five new additions – giving the show an ensemble feel both on and off the screen.
Jason Schwartzman has a writing credit on three episodes of Mozart in the Jungle
Among the key names, one of the best known is Roman Coppola – partly because of his famous father Francis Ford Coppola. However, Roman, like sister Sofia, has proved himself a genuine talent in his own right. In 2007, he co-wrote The Darjeeling Limited with Wes Anderson and Schwartzman and then, in 2012, he co-wrote Moonrise Kingdom with Anderson (securing an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay).
Mozart in the Jungle collaborator Schwartzman, still only 35, is better known as an actor than a writer, having appeared in a string of excellent, usually quirky, films dating back to Rushmore in 1998. He has since featured in the likes of Scott Pilgrim vs the World and The Grand Budapest Hotel, and is now a member of the Mozart cast. Aside from his involvement with The Darjeeling Limited, his only writing credits to date are the three episodes of Mozart that he has so far co-written with Coppola and/or Alex Timbers.
Timbers, who has written or co-written four episodes of Mozart, is a Yale graduate whose career to date has mostly involved writing and directing for Broadway. Twice Tony-nominated, his directing credits include Rocky The Musical and Peter & The Starcatcher.
The appropriately named John Strauss wrote three episodes of Mozart season one and is much more of a jobbing writer than the three who produced the pilot. Major credits go all the way back to TV series Boy Meets World in 1994, followed by movies such as There’s Something About Mary and The Santa Clause 2 and 3.
Weitz, writer and director on Mozart, is arguably the most feted of all the creatives behind the show. An experienced producer, director and writer, his many credits include American Pie (director), About a Boy (writer/director), Little Fockers (director), and Off Centre – a 2001 sitcom for The WB network about a couple of young guys having a crazy time in New York.
Sam Esmail’s Mr Robot has been given a second season on USA Network
Once you see the array of different talents involved in Mozart in the Jungle, you begin to get some sense of why it has been so successful. The above five bring film and TV experience, an array of skillsets and a deep love of New York to the table. That the series was ordered by Amazon just goes to show how much viewers are benefiting from the current SVoD revolution.
Mr Robot, a Universal Cable Productions show for USA Network, beat Narcos, Game of Thrones, Empire and Outlander to win the Best Television Series – Drama category, which is an extraordinary achievement.
There were six credited writers on the 10-part first season. But unlike Mozart in the Jungle, it’s clear who Mr Robot’s driving force is, with Sam Esmail writing five episodes including the story setup and the conclusion. He also directed three. Esmail, 38, had limited success before Mr Robot, which he originally conceived as a movie – but that has now changed.
Aside from his Golden Globe success, he was a winner at the 2015 American Film Institute Awards and is also nominated for the 2016 Writers Guild Awards.
USA Network has ordered a second season of Mr Robot, which Esmail will direct in its entirety, while Universal Cable Productions has given the writer a seven-figure TV deal under which he will write other series for NBCUniversal’s family of networks.
Wolf Hall won Best TV Limited Series
“Sam is a visionary and, although he might not use the term himself, a real mensch,” said Jeff Wachtel, CCO of NBCUniversal cable entertainment and president of Universal Cable Productions when announcing the deal. “Everything about Mr Robot has been a dream. We look forward to creating other shows with him.”
And then there is Wolf Hall, adapted from Hilary Mantel’s novel by Peter Straughan, which took home Best TV Limited Series at the Globes.
Before Wolf Hall, Straughan was best known as a movie writer, with credits including the superb Tinker Tailor Solider Spy (written with his late wife Bridget O’ Connor). Wolf Hall is his first major TV work but it’s unlikely to be his last if he can fit it in around his movie work. The latest reports suggest he is working on an adaptation of Donna Tartt’s award-winning novel The Goldfinch for Warner Bros.
tagged in: Alex Timbers, Amazon, Golden Globes, Jason Schwartzman, John Strauss, Mozart in the Jungle, Mr Robot, Paul Weitz, Peter Straughan, Roman Coppola, Sam Esmail, USA Network, Wolf Hall
GLAAD shines spotlight on LGBT progress
October 28, 2015 The Writers RoomAndrew Kreisberg, Arrow, Black Sails, Bryan Kirkwood, Coronation Street, Danny Strong, Empire, GLAAD, Greg Berlanti, Hollyoaks, Ilene Chaiken, Jed Whedon, Jeffrey Bell, Jenji Kohan, Jill Soloway, Jonathan E Steinberg, Jonathan Nolan, LGBT, Marc Guggenheim, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Maurissa Tancharoe, Mozart in the Jungle, Mr Robot, Orange is the New Black, Person of Interest, Red Oaks, Robert Levine, Rosewood, Sam Esmail, Sarah Kate Ellis, TransparentAndy Fry
Orange is the New Black ‘boasts more LGBT regular and recurring characters than any other scripted programme’
In the US, an organisation called GLAAD – formerly the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation – has spent the last 20 years tracking the number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) characters on television.
Each year it uses the data generated to create a comprehensive report entitled Where We Are On TV. The 2015/2016 edition of the report came out this week and shows that the TV industry is moving in the right direction – but still has a lot of work to do.
As GLAAD CEO and president Sarah Kate Ellis points out, fair representation of the LGBT community on TV isn’t just about the number of LGBT characters in TV dramas, but also how they are portrayed: “As each of us lives at the intersection of many identities, it’s important that TV characters reflect the diversity of the LGBT community,” she says. “
It’s not enough to include LGBT characters; writers must craft those characters with thought and care. They must reject outdated stereotypes and avoid token characters that are burdened with representing an entire community through the view of one person.”
So this week we’re taking a look at which shows and writers are making the most headway towards LGBT equality.
Empire’s Jamal Lyon is played by Jussie Smollett
US broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox, NBC)
GLAAD’s figures show that out of 881 regular characters on 118 primetime scripted series, 35 were LGBT. This is up from 32 characters last year. GLAAD counted an additional 35 recurring LGBT characters in the same pool of shows.
Gay men make up a slight majority, though lesbian representation is up 5% year-on-year to 33%. Perhaps surprisingly given the prominence of the transgender agenda, “there are currently no regular or recurring transgender characters expected on broadcast networks’ primetime scripted programming.”
The organisation singles out Fox hit Empire as one of the best performers in terms of its LGBT character credentials. With a writing team headed by Danny Strong and Ilene Chaiken, season two sees gay musician Jamal Lyon “taking on more of a business role as the head of the family music label, Empire,” says GLAAD. “Tianna, a bisexual artist signed to the label, was upped to a series regular this year. Several other gay, lesbian and bisexual characters will recur (during season two).”
There are also plaudits for Fox’s new show Rosewood, with a writing team headed by creator Todd Harthan: “While crime procedurals have long been a place where LGBT characters were most often included as villains or victims, this season introduces lesbian couple/pathology experts Pippy and TMI.”
GLAAD also singles out CBS sci-fi drama Person of Interest, created by Jonathan Nolan, for the burgeoning lesbian relationship between hacker Root and assassin Shaw. It also finds encouragement in the superhero genre, at least on TV – film is a disappointment by comparison.
“Arrow (developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg for The CW) will resurrect bisexual heroine Sara Lance before moving her over to mid-season series DC’s Legends of Tomorrow as a lead character, the White Canary. Her former girlfriend Nyssa will continue to recur on Arrow, and the series will add the recurring gay character Curtis Holt. ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (showrunners Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen and Jeffrey Bell) will introduce recurring gay character Joey Gutierrez, who has the power to melt metal.”
Penny Dreadful has killed off its Angelique character
US cable networks
The number of LGBT characters on scripted cable programmes continues to rise, says GLAAD, with 84 regular characters, up from 64 last year. This trend will presumably continue with the growing number of scripted shows being commissioned and the industry’s increasing awareness of the diversity debate.
Recurring characters were also on the rise, up to 58 from 41 previously. Echoing the situation in broadcast TV, gay men dominate, though in this universe lesbian representation dropped 3% to 22%. “Three characters are transgender,” says GLAAD. “Unfortunately one of these is the now-deceased Angelique on Showtime’s Penny Dreadful (created/written by John Logan).”
According to GLAAD, “the teen- and young adult-skewing ABC Family and premium channel Showtime are set to be the most LGBT-inclusive networks on cable, with each network boasting 18 regular or recurring characters (including all of the transgender characters counted on cable).
“The returning drama The Fosters, which follows a lesbian couple raising their biological, foster and adopted children, is ABC Family’s most inclusive show, with seven LGBT characters including trans teen Cole – played by transgender actor Tom Phelan.” The Fosters was created by Bradley Bredeweg and Peter Paige, who continue to be directly involved in the writing of the series.
GLAAD praises ABC Family for upcoming series Shadowhunters (which has Ed Decter as showrunner) and Recovery Road, in which gay actor Daniel Franzese will play a gay man struggling to combat an addiction. There is also a positive report for AMC’s The Walking Dead, which has a gay couple and a lesbian in its extended pool of characters. “The new season will also introduce Paul ‘Jesus’ Monroe, a gay character from the comic books series that provides the show’s source material.”
Toby Stephens as Black Sails’ Captain Flint
Other shows to get the GLAAD stamp of approval include Starz pirate drama Black Sails, where it is revealed that lead character James Flint has previously been involved with a man. Created by Jonathan E Steinberg and Robert Levine, the show also features a number of other bisexual characters.
USA Networks’ critically acclaimed new series Mr Robot, created by Sam Esmail, boasts “several LGBT characters,” says GLAAD, “including cybersecurity firm CEO Gideon, Evil Corp’s VP Tyrell, and hacker/activist Trenton.” It’s a similar case with BBC America’s Orphan Black (created by Graeme Manson and John Fawcett), which depicts a lesbian romance between Cosima and Shay, and FX’s American Horror Story: Hotel, in which Lady Gaga does her bit for the LGBT community by playing a character engaged in a same-sex relationship.
In terms of where the sector could do better, GLAAD wants to see “more racially diverse characters.” Of 142 regular and recurring LGBT characters analysed, 71% are white, which is a bit high for a country with the USA’s multiracial profile.
Jeffrey Tambor takes the lead in Amazon’s Transparent
Streaming content providers
This is the first year GLAAD has analysed Amazon, Hulu and Netflix. Due to the lack of defined seasons on such platforms, it looked at shows that premiered or are expected to premiere between June 1, 2015 and May 31, 2016. Across 23 series, GLAAD found “43 regular LGBT characters and an additional 16 recurring characters.” Lesbians had a higher representation than on broadcast and cable, while the transgender community is represented by four characters.
“Notably, two of these four characters are leads: Maura in Transparent and Nomi in Sense8,” says GLAAD. “Transparent show creator Jill Soloway also paid special attention to ensuring diversity both in front of and behind the camera by employing trans writers, crew members and several trans actors in recurring roles.”
Other LGBT-inclusive Amazon series include Mozart in the Jungle and Red Oaks, while Hulu’s most LGBT-inclusive series, interestingly, are imported British soaps Coronation Street and Hollyoaks. “The two series include 10 LGBT characters between them, with Hollyoaks, notably, including a gay character who is HIV-positive. Hulu also airs Australian series Neighbours in the US, which includes two gay characters.”
Kieron Richardson as Ste, one of a number of LGBT characters in Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks works with the Terence Higgins Trust charity on its HIV storyline. The show’s executive producer Bryan Kirkwood says: “We have wanted to tell this story for a long time and while HIV can affect anyone, infection rates in young gay men remain too high and to ignore that is to do the gay audience a disservice. Hollyoaks is in a unique position to talk directly to millions of young viewers and if the safe-sex message is not coming through education, we can help with that on screen and through multiplatform support.”
According to GLAAD, Netflix series Orange is the New Black (created by Jenji Kohan) “boasts more LGBT regular and recurring characters than any other scripted programme.” Other LGBT-inclusive Netflix shows cited include Sense8, Grace and Frankie, Degrassi: The Next Class, The Fall, Bojack Horseman, House of Cards, Master of None, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Wet Hot American Summer: “We’ll also be keeping an eye on upcoming series Jessica Jones,” says GLAAD.
Aside from the lack of racial diversity in LGBT portrayal, GLAAD noted that people with a disability are underserved. It also called for better representation of the HIV issue (keeping in mind the only HIV-positive character in the report is from a UK show).
GLAAD’s Ellis concludes: “We’ve witnessed tremendous progress, but there is still work to be done. We will continue to applaud networks and streaming services telling (LGBT) stories – and hold their feet to the fire when they don’t.”
Footnote: There isn’t anything like the GLAAD report internationally. But there are good examples of LGBT-inclusive shows. A classic case from the UK is the Russell T Davies 2015 trilogy Cucumber, Banana and Tofu. Also worth noting is the Norwegian drama Eyewitness, distributed internationally by DRG, and CBC’s Schitt’s Creek – a mainstream show that includes a pansexual character. Another standout example (mentioned briefly above) is Allan Cubitt’s The Fall, in which Gillian Anderson portrays bisexual detective Stella Gibson.
tagged in: Andrew Kreisberg, Arrow, Black Sails, Bryan Kirkwood, Coronation Street, Danny Strong, Empire, GLAAD, Greg Berlanti, Hollyoaks, Ilene Chaiken, Jed Whedon, Jeffrey Bell, Jenji Kohan, Jill Soloway, Jonathan E Steinberg, Jonathan Nolan, LGBT, Marc Guggenheim, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Maurissa Tancharoe, Mozart in the Jungle, Mr Robot, Orange is the New Black, Person of Interest, Red Oaks, Robert Levine, Rosewood, Sam Esmail, Sarah Kate Ellis, Transparent
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Rear Admiral (rtd.) Dr. Flachsenberg – ex CO U-71
“…only future times will be able to honour the true historical importance of the U-boat-Archive to crews, their dependents und their descendents…”
Mr. Jak Mallmann-Showell (british historian and author)
“…most certainly, this archive is the best monument for the German U-boat Force, memories are alive here…”
Mrs. Hedwig Breuer, depedent of a fallen submariner
“…I am deeply moved, here I found my only brother Rudolf Nett, here he has his home…”
Mr. Charles Christ, USA
“…it was a long way to here, but each mile was worthwhile. Horst, your work compiling the history of the U-boat Force will be more important day by day…”
Mr. Eberhard Möller, former Chief Engineer of U 530, U 867, U 2550, during research for a PhD
“…all expectations were well passed, even on the depth of the material so valuable to me…”
Mr. Knut Sivertsen, historian from Norway
“…I am admiring the work here, it is of utmost importance to historical research…”
Vice-Admiral (FGN) Helmut Kampe, Commander Allied Naval Forces Baltic Approches
“…am deeply impressed about that what has been achieved to keep the history of the U-boat Force…”
Captain Hannes Ewerth, Commander Submarines Federal German Navy
“…tradition is truely alive here…”
Rear Admiral (FGN) Franz-Dieter Braun, Commander-in-Chief Naval Office
“…would love to see a similar establishment for destroyer crews…”
A Japanese TV-Team during research on German-Japanese submarine cooperation
“..it was really worthwhile to come here from Tokyo, because you provided us with such an enormous amount of material…”
Mr. Peter Gerhardt, Director of the Naval Branch at the Wehrmacht Information Agency, Berlin
“…deserves highest appreciation. Hoping for further good and fruitful co-operation…”
Rear Admiral (rtd.) Eberhard Godt
…”…hits a former U-boatman right into the heart: what has been achieved here is clearly unique and admirable…”
Surgeon Captain (FGN) Dr. Werner Haag, Commanding Officer Armed Forces Hospital Bad Zwischenahn
“…a place for reflection, honouring the deaths, respecting the survivors…”
Visit by 18 members of the Veteran Association of U 71
…”…support should be given by all means…”
Mr. Ed Caram, US Naval Historian
“…this has got to be the best assemblage of U-boat historical material I have seen…”
Pierre Magot-Curvu, Vice-President of the Association of French Submariners
“…in full admiration of the powerful and wonderful work, being an example for us…”
Commander (FGN) Bernd Molter, Commanding Officer 3rd Submarine Squadron
“… I wish this spirit to live on in todays generation of submariners…”
Mrs. Gabriele von Arnauld de la Periere during research on her uncle Lothar von Arnauld d.l.P.
“…researching for years now in archives. It is a first time I have seen such a comprehensive compilation…”
Mr. Eberhard Rößler, Expert Author
“…already now the U-boat-Archive is the most important institution for documents on German UBoats, their fates and, above all, their crews. I am most grateful for having been able this year again to deepen my knowledge for my future work…”
Lieutenant Commander (FGN) Henry Püschel, Desk Officer Naval Staff
“…and last but not least the humane and comradely value is inestimable…”
Member of Parliament, Mr. Martin Oldenstädt, Lieutenant Commander (Naval Reserve)
“… will be supporting the work of the Archive to the best of my abilities…”
Mr. Franz Kurowski, Expert Author
“…was blessed to find new evidence about our U-boat Force…”
Professor Dr. Michael Hadley, University of Victoria, Canada
“…my three-day visit to the U-boat-Archive remains the highlight of my tour of research this year through the Federal Republic of Germany… to Naval Historians is provides for an impressive collection of the most valuable documents…being of real use to researchers, comprehensive, clearly arranged and easy accessible…”
Mr. Carl Emmermann, former Commanding Officer U 172
“…good for us, that this unique documentation will be maintained and taken care of by the living and the next generation…”
Mr. Harry Hutson, British Naval Historian
“…many thanks for the offer of co-operation and the exchange of U-boat-Information…”
TV-Team of FR 3 Television Francaise, Limoges
“…thanks for the help, support and provision of material for our project “The Battle of the Atlantic”…”
Mr. Charles Walker, British Merchant Navy Officer, sunk three times by German submarines
“…this is the best place on earth to get information on activities of both sides, the German and English,…after 40 years of research here I have finally managed to receive comprehensive information…”
Dr. Rüppel, Historical Advisor to the Naval Office, Wilhelmshaven
“…much is talk, less is real discussion and even lesser is action, here it is quite the opposite, might it be so furtheron…”
Mr. Timothy P. Mulligan, National Archive, Washington D.C. USA
“…an enormous amount of valuable material, a living monument for those men that served in the U-boat Force…”
Mr. Christopher Lowe, British Naval Historian
“…The archive must be kept alive for future generations, to inform the world about German maritime history…”
Captain (FGN) Ullmann, Assistant Chief of Staff Operations, Submarine Flottilla
“…thanks for the quick support of looking for material on the beginnings of the new German Submarine Force…”
Mr. Gero Kintzel-Hübner, Journalist and Chief Editor
“… this archive is extremely valuable and of unique kind. For historians it is a rich source of first class…”
Prof. Dr. Michael Gannon, Historian, University of Florida, USA
“…this archive is an important centre for scientific research and work by historians pursuing their aim of search for the contexts of World War II…”
Dr. Manfred Kehrig, Colonel (rtd) and Director of the Archive of the Military Archive of the Federal Archive, Freiburg
“…a day full of surprises, with an amazing amount of findings and impressions…”
Vice-Admiral (rtd.) Horst von Schroeter, former Commanding Officer U 123 and President of the Naval Officer Association
“…I found documents of great interest to me and I am impressed about the ongoing work on further archiving…” (Already third visit at the archive).
Commander (FGN) Hans-Gerrit Albers, Naval Communication School, Flensburg
“…we take along back to Flensburg valuable ideas and hints for our work on establishing a Communication Museum at the Naval Communication School…”
Mr. Manfred Dörr, Expert Author of the Biblio-Publishing House
“…Here I found ideal conditions for work and I only can strongly recommend other publishers which occupy themselves with the history of the U-boat Force to allow their authors to visit the U-boat-Archive…”
Note: The above citations stem from entrances to the archive´s guest book and letters to the archive between 1984 an 1987.
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ECOWAS Charges Member States To Implement Decisions Of The Community Court
Témoignages.re / 1 October 2012
The President of the ECOWAS Commission, His Excellency Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, has called for greater sensitization and awareness in the Member States to improve the execution of Decisions of the Community Court of Justice.
In an address read on his behalf by the Vice President of the Commission, Dr. Toga Gayewea McIntosh, at the opening of the Court’s 2012-2013 legal year in Abuja on Thursday, 27th September 2012, the President said the theme of the legal year: “The Community Court of Justice and the Effectiveness of the Implementation of ECOWAS
Community Law” was most appropriate at a time when justice, human rights and good governance are high on the Community’s agenda.
In addition, he said the theme would make Community citizens more aware of the Court, how to engage with it and the modalities for implementation of its Decisions in line with the Community’s Vision 2020 of an ECOWAS of the People.
“Armed with such knowledge,” President Ouedraogo said, “our citizens will be better placed to initiate, either by themselves or through their counsels, a writ before the honourable Court to express their grievances.”
He also highlighted the need for all parties to be knowledgeable about the Community’s laws, adding that the extent to which due respect and adherence is accorded to the decisions of the Court is linked to the level of knowledge and acceptance of the Court’s legitimacy in Member States.
The President pledged the readiness of the Commission’s new management team to support judges of the Community Court of Justice, and that in response to the Council of Ministers’ directive, the Commission will in its 2013 programmes, explore the possibility of establishing an appellate jurisdiction within the Court.
The Court of Justice as the principal legal organ of the Community was established pursuant to the provisions of Article 15 of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty of 1993.
Protocol A/P1/7/91 as amended provides that the primary function of the Court is the interpretation and application of the provisions of the Treaty, Protocols and Conventions annexed thereto as well as subsidiary legislation of ECOWAS, which forms the basis of the ECOWAS Community Law.
In the discharge of its judicial function, the Court is independent of the Member States and Institutions of the Community.
The opening ceremony affords the Court the opportunity to brief stakeholders on its judicial activities in the past year and to highlight its programme for the new legal year.
During the opening, one-minute silence was observed in memory of Ghana’s President John Evans Attah Mills, who passed away on 24th July 2012 at the age of 68.
Among those present at the opening ceremony were the President of the Court, Honourable Justice Awa Nana Daboya, six other judges of the Court and Mr. Tony Anene-Maidoh, the Court’s Registrar.
Barrister (Mrs.) Ima Okpongete, represented the Minister of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohamed, while Solicitor-General, Mr. Abdullahi Bala, represented the Justice Minister and Attorney-General of the Federation, Honourable Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN).
Also present were Julie Rose Ouedraogo, a Judge at the High Court of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Professor Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy President of Nigeria’s Senate and Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, as well as members of the Diplomatic Corps, and representatives of Bar Associations and other invited guests.
ABUJA, Nigeria, October 1, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)
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Department’s history, current state and development prospects
The period of organization, war and post-war reconstruction (1936 – 1950)
The Department “Electrification of industrial enterprises” was found in 1936 and since 1937 started the students admission.
Since 1945 – “Industrial usage of electricity”.
Since 1949 – “Electrical equipment of industrial enterprises”.
Since 1970 – “Electric drive and automation of industrial plants”.
After the war in 1941 began, the department was evacuated to the city Tashkent. The initial staff of the department: the Head of the Department, prof. M.M. Vasiliev, postgraduate student L.O. Radchenko, postgraduate student V.L. Nosov, senior laboratory assistant Y.L. Edelstein, and later S.O. Rebrov.
At the beginning of establishment, the area of training-laboratory premises was 140 m2, and in 1941 – 443 m2. The department had three laboratories: the electric drive, the management of electric motors and electrical equipment, and premises for scientific researches.
the Head of the Department, prof. M.M. Vasiliev
The employees of the department Rabinovych, L.O. Radchenko, S.O. Rebrov and Y.L. Edelstein were drafted into the army.
M.M. Vasiliev, Goltraf worked in the department AIS, Tashkent.
In September 1944, after returning of the Institute to Kyiv, began the department’s restoration in the energy wing of the 1st Corps. At the same time, the classes were held in all five courses. The postgraduate Rabinovych died in the war, all the others returned to work.
In 1948 there were 10 people in the department: the Head of the Department, prof. M.M. Vasiliev, docent K.V. Chertoryzhskyi, assistants A.P. Bezrodnyi, L.O. Radchenko (in 1949 defended his PhD thesis), S.O. Rebrov, Y.L. Edelstein, and also postgraduate students V.L. Volodymyrskyi, O.I. Petrov, senior laboratory assistant M.S. Galuzynskyi, mechanic Y.A. Pachentsev.
Scientific work: increasing the of power factor, energy consumption standards, rationalization of equipment.
By 1941, one PhD thesis (V.L. Nosov) was defended and two more were prepared for defense.
In 1949 L.O. Radchenko defended his thesis.
The period 1950 – 1974
At the beginning of this period, the main laboratories in the energy wing of the main building were rebuilt and staffed. Such graduates, members of the war came to the department: E.P. Krasovskyi, O.G. Shapovalenko, K.M. Yudin, and also industrial workers S.F. Drobiazko, B.M. Matsko.
In 1957, Cand.Tech.Sci, Docent L.O. Radchenko was elected as the Head of the Department
After the defense of candidate theses, they received the title of docents. In 1954, the graduate V.A. Gavrylyuk came to the Department. This period is characterized by direction displacement of the department of electrical control systems to electromechanical objects.
In 1957, Cand.Tech.Sci, Docent L.O. Radchenko was elected as the Head of the Department.
In 1971, with the active participation of the Department, a problem laboratory of electric linear motors was established (chairman S.O. Rebrov, Deputy O.G. Shapovalenko).
In 1973, the Department and the problem laboratory conducted the general union conference about electric drives with linear motors.
In 1974, the docent O.G. Shapovalenko and the senior lecturer V.A. Gavrylyuk were awarded with the medals of VDNKH USSR.
Scientific work:
Defended candidate theses: E.P. Krasovskyi, O.G. Shapovalenko, S.F. Drobiazko, K.M. Yudin, B.M. Matsko.
In 1950, the work on investigation of the powerful dredgers (to 5 thousand kW) started under the leadership of L.O. Radchenko.
Since 1957, the studies of gantry cranes modes were conducted.
Since 1959, the investigations of trolleybuses for the route Simferopol-Alushta were held under the leadership of L.O. Radchenko.
Beginning in 1962 a series of works on creation of a unique booth for accelerated tests of the road constructions, coating and car tires were carried out. The work was attended by: L.O. Radchenko, V.A. Gavrylyuk, O.V. Kovalchuk, A.O. Kryvak, V.I. Shvets, K.M. Yudin, E.V. Gorchynskyi and almost 50 students.
The booth exists until today.
In 1970, the booth received the Honorary Diploma of VDNKH USSR and the docent L.O. Radchenko together with the senior lecturer V.A. Gavrylyuk were awarded with the Medals of Honor.
The work on creating of electrical apparatuses for pre-flight aircraft service together with the Kyiv factory “Bilshovyk” under the leadership of S.V. Drobiazko began since 1963. K.M. Yudin and B.M. Matsko actively participated in work at this stage. In 1966, on three plants of the USSR began a serial production of launch airdrome APA-4 aggregates: “Budshlyakhmash”, Kyiv, “Bulding factory of electric locomotives”, Dnipropetrovsk, VO “Peretvoryuvach”, Novosybirsk. The modification of APA-4G provided a group launch of fighters.
In 1963, together with the Kyiv plant of electric transport, development and research of linear motors and electric drives with linear motors began (the Head S.O. Rebrov)
A monorail road with the length of 525 m with two linear motors of 5 kW each one was put into operation in 1967 on VDNKH, Kyiv. Linear electric drives of the ingot (24 kW) and towing drive of the research basin of the Institute of Hydrodynamics NAS of Ukraine were developed.
At 1974, the teaching staff consisted of 15 employees: 1 professor, Cand.Tech.Sci. (S.O. Rebrov), 6 docents, Cand.Tech.Sci. (L.O. Radchenko – the Head of the Department; S.F. Drobiazko, E.P. Krasovskyi, G.I. Golykov, O.G. Shapovalenko, K.M. Yudin), 3 senior lecturers (Cand.Tech.Sci. O.V. Kovalchuk, V.A. Gavrylyuk, A.O. Kryvak) – 5 assistants (Cand.Tech.Sci. B.M. Matsko, I.O. Kovalenko, V.V. Piven, O.M. Zholdak, O.V. Suchenko). At that time, nine lecturers of the Department had a scientific degree of candidate of technical sciences.
Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor M.G. Popovych
In 1975, prof. M.G. Popovych was elected on the post of head of Department and in 1975, he was appointed as the dean of the faculty of electric power, M.V. Pechenyk became his assistant. In the period 1975 – 1978, the department’s staff participated in hard work, connected with the construction of a new teaching and laboratory building, preparation of laboratory and educational-technical base for the transition to new premises and its update. During this period, there was a change in the specialty’s name; therefore, the department was named “Electric drive and automation of industrial plants”.
In 1975 – 1980, I.O. Kovalenko, V.V. Piven, M.V. Pechenyk defended the candidate theses. L.O. Radchenko got an academic title of professor and S.F. Drobiazko was elected to the post of professor.
In the period 1974 – 1977, V.I. Teryaev, V.M. Pyzhov, G.G. Voskanyan, S.M. Peresada, V.A. Lytvynov, A.A. Koykov came to the Department.
V.M. Pyzhov, V.I. Teryaev, S.M. Peresada became assistants in 1979 and defended the candidate theses in 1982 – 1983.
In 1979 there were 19 people in the teaching staff: doctor of technical sciences, professor – 1; Cand.Tech.Sci., professors – 3; docents – 8; senior lecturers – 3; assistants – 4. Number of teachers with academic degrees – 13 people (69%), without academic degrees – 6 (31%). The staff of Scientific Research Department has increased to 20 people with an annual amount of contractual scientific research works in 1977 – 234 thousand rubles.
In 1975 – 1979, three candidates of technical sciences were prepared at the department (V.V. Piksotov, Y.K. Lutsyshyn, M.V. Pechenyk, and scientific director – prof. M.G. Popovych).
In general, from 1975 to 1989 20 PhD theses were defended at the department.
The professors M.G. Popovych – (18) and V.F. Kudin – (2) were scientific directors of them.
The scientific part consisted of 30 employees, among them – 4 candidates of technical science. An average amount of self-financing activities in the period 1985 – 1990 is about 380 thousand rubles per year.
The graduates of its postgraduate studies, which after some time were elected as assistant professors (V.I. Teryaev, V.M. Pyzhov, S.M. Peresada) and senior lecturers (G.G. Voskanyan, S.P. Kolesnichenko, V.A. Lytvynov) entered the department. In 1989, the department consisted: 2 professors, doctors of technical sciences, 13 candidates of technical sciences, docents and senior lecturers (83.3%), 3 lecturers (16.7%) did not have scientific degrees.
Scientific pedagogical staff of the department:
In 1989, nearly 300 students of the daily form (there were 62 foreigners among them), 115 of the evening department, 56 at the extramural form studied at the Department on the specialty (0628 Electric drive and automation of industrial installations and technological complexes).
By the 1989, the Department prepared 5 candidates of technical sciences – PhD (foreigners).
During this period the department had a leading position in Ukraine, prof. M.G. Popovych was the Chairman of the subcommittee under the Scientific and Methodological Council in Automation at the Ministry of Education of Ukraine, and the docent O.V. Kovalchuk acted as the scientific secretary.
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the formation of independent Ukraine
This period was difficult for the department. There was an almost complete reduction of self-supporting subjects, which were financed by the institutions of USSR. This primarily refers to the direction of the military-industrial complex.
The staff of the Department also was changed: O.V. Suchenko was appointed as the Head of the laboratory; O.G. Gorbunov was eliminated from the Department. In 1993, the doctor of technical sciences, Professor S.O. Shmatok came to the Department. The lecturers G.G. Voskanyan, V.A. Lytvynov, O.M.Zheldak moved to other jobs. The graduates of the department’s postgraduate study M.Y. Ostroverchov, O.Y. Handogin, M.M. Bondarenko, S.V. Bozhko were enrolled to their places.
In 1996, seven postgraduate students studied in the department. In 1990 – 1996 the Department prepared six candidates of technical sciences: M.Y. Ostroverchov, Al-Galaini, S.V. Bozhko, O.M. Khalimovskyi, H.H. Melkon, B.I. Pryimak. After the staffing changes, 17 lecturers among 18 had the academic degrees of doctor of technical sciences and candidates of technical sciences. Specifically, 3 doctors of technical sciences, professors; 9 candidates of technical sciences, docents; 5 senior lecturers, among which 4 candidates of technical sciences; 1 assistant, candidate of technical sciences.
In 1997, the new name of the specialty “Electromechanical systems of automation and electric drive” was approved, that led to the change in the name of the department “Automation of electromechanical systems and the electric drive”.
In this period the graduates of the department’s postgraduate study S.M. Kovbasa (2002, defended in 2004), S.V. Korol (2002, defended in 2007), V.S. Bovkunovych (2009), S.O. Burian (2001) came to the Department.
As well as young scientists S.S. Dymko and M.V. Pushkar.
4 doctors of technical sciences, professors; 1 professor, candidate of technical sciences; 8 docents, candidates of technical sciences; 3 senior lecturers, candidate of technical sciences; 2 assistants without scientific degrees work on the Department.
Presently, the department has 9 postgraduate students, 1 researcher and 1 doctoral candidate.
During the period 2000 – 2011, 4 PhD thesis were defended: S. Kovbasa, S. Korol, O. Sokolovskyi, A. Toporov, and S.M. Peresada defended one doctoral thesis. The students of the Department took four first and three second prize places at the annual national competition of student’s scientific works: S.O. Burian, S.S. Dymko, A.B. Voronko, D.L. Prystupa, M.P. Buryk, T.V. Gryshchuk, O.I. Yaremov.
Over the last three years, some steps for modernizing the department were made:
the laboratory of electromechanical automation systems of common industrial arrangements was put into effect (V.I. Teryaev, O.I. Kiselychnyk, S.O. Burian, S.M. Kovbasa);
the training and consulting center ABB and NTU “KPI” “Modern technology in electromechanics” is ready for the opening (S.O. Burian, M.V. Pushkar, S.M. Kovbasa, V. Voroshchenko and other);
the training and consulting center EATON (Moeller) and NTU “KPI” “Modern Technologies in Automation” is ready for the opening (S.V. Korol, S.A. Goncharenko, M.V. Pushkar and other);
the scientific research lab of modern management methods in electromechanics, room 408 (S.M. Kovbasa, S.S. Dymko, A.B. Voronko, D.L. Prystupa, V. Voroshchenko);
the scientific research laboratory on study of digital signal processors and microcontrollers, room 406 (S.M. Kovbasa, S.S. Dymko, A.B. Voronko, D.L. Prystupa, M.P. Buryk);
completely functional offices were organized, where 11 lecturers and 2 employees work;
all nine postgraduate students are provided with completely functional workplaces with PC and access to the Internet;
there is continuous upgrading of laboratory base.
For today, there is a technology of creation of modern electromechanical systems on the Department, which includes: the construction and study theory of the vector control, emergency prototypal testing station, as well as real electric drives of its own production with their own controllers and software.
The main tasks
(Picture 11)
Resource support
Economically effective science
Solution of the staffing problem Modernization of laboratory base for the educational process and research
Optimization of educational process, reception and employment of students
Defense of the candidates theses: V.S. Bovkunovych, S.O. Burian – 2012, S.S. Dymko – 2013;
Defense of the three doctoral theses: M.Y. Ostroverkhov, O.I. Kiselychnyk, S.M. Kovbasa, within three years.
In 2016, the object is to conduct scientific and technical conference dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Department
2-nd conference IEEE UkrCon’19
03.07.2019 / in UKRCON, conference, Science, News
Project in THM (DAAD scholarship)
09.05.2019 / in DAAD, Admission, Study, Science, News, Cooperation, scholarship
Scientific conferences ELNANO and ESS’19
30.04.2019 / in ELNANO, ESS, conference, Science, News
Victory in the competition of student works-19
25.04.2019 / in contest, Study, Science, News, Дніпродзержинськ
Conference in Kyrgyzstan
19.04.2019 / in DAAD, conference, Science, News, Cooperation
Semester in Germany
17.03.2019 / in DAAD, THM, Study, Science, News, Cooperation, scholarship
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List of states with limited recognition
Title: List of states with limited recognition
Subject: Outline of Africa, Outline of Asia, Outline of political science, Outline of history, Asia
Collection: Lists of Countries, Unrecognized or Largely Unrecognized States
UN member states, not recognized by at least one other member
UN non-members recognized by at least one member
UN non-members recognized by UN non-members only
UN non-member not recognized by any state
A number of geopolitical entities have declared statehood and have sought recognition as de jure sovereign states with varying degrees of success. In the past, similar entities have existed. As of 2015 there are entities claiming independence, often with de facto control of their territory, with recognition ranging from complete non-recognition to complete recognition by all states.
There are two traditional doctrines that provide indicia of when a de jure sovereign state should be recognised as a member of the international community. The "declarative" theory defines a state as a person in international law if it meets the following criteria:
a defined territory
a permanent population
a government, and
a capacity to enter into relations with other states.
According to declarative theory, an entity's statehood is independent of its recognition by other states. By contrast, the "constitutive" theory defines a state as a person of international law if it is recognised as such by another state that is already a member of the international community.[1]
Several entities reference either or both doctrines in order to legitimise their claims to statehood. There are, for example, entities which meet the declarative criteria (with de facto complete or partial control over their claimed territory, a government and a permanent population), but their statehood is not recognised by one or more other states. Non-recognition is often a result of conflicts with other countries that claim those entities as integral parts of their territory. In other cases, two or more partially recognised entities may claim the same territorial area, with each of them de facto in control of a portion of it (as have been the cases of the Republic of China and People's Republic of China, and North and South Korea). Entities that are recognised by only a minority of the world's states usually reference the declarative doctrine to legitimise their claims.
In many situations, international non-recognition is influenced by the presence of a foreign military force in the territory of the presumptive, self-declaring independent entity, so to make problematic the description of the country de facto status. The international community can judge this military presence too intrusive, reducing the entity to a puppet state where effective sovereignty is retained by the foreign power. Historical cases in this sense can be seen in Japanese-led Manchukuo or German-created Slovak Republic and Independent State of Croatia before and during World War II. In the 1996 case Loizidou vs. Turkey, the European Court of Human Rights judged Turkey for having exercised authority in the territory of Northern Cyprus.
There are also entities which do not have control over any territory or do not unequivocally meet the declarative criteria for statehood but have been recognised to exist de jure as sovereign entities by at least one other state. Historically this has happened in the case of the Holy See (1870–1929), the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (during Soviet annexation), among other cases. See list of governments in exile for unrecognised governments without control over the territory claimed.
Criteria for inclusion 1
Present geopolitical entities by level of recognition 3
UN member states not recognised by at least one UN member 3.1
Non-UN member states recognised by at least one UN member 3.2
Non-UN member states recognised only by non-UN members 3.3
Non-UN member states not recognised by any state 3.4
Excluded entities 4
Women in Somaliland, wearing the colors of the Somaliland flag.
The criteria for inclusion means a polity must claim sovereignty, lack recognition from at least one UN member state, and either:
satisfy the declarative theory of statehood, or
be recognised as a state by at least one UN member state.
Some states do not establish relations with new nations quickly and thus do not recognise them despite having no dispute and sometimes favorable relations. These are excluded from the list. Some countries fulfill the declarative criteria, are recognised by the large majority of other nations and are members of the United Nations, but are included in the list here because one or more other states do not recognise their statehood, due to territorial claims or other conflicts. There are 193 United Nations (UN) member states. The Holy See and the State of Palestine have observer state status in the United Nations.[2]
Some states maintain informal (officially non-diplomatic) relations with states that do not officially recognise them. The Republic of China (Taiwan) is one such state, as it maintains unofficial relations with many other states through its Economic and Cultural Offices, which allow regular consular services. This allows the ROC to have economic relations even with states that do not formally recognise it. A total of 56 states, including Germany,[3] Italy,[4] the United States,[5] and the United Kingdom,[6] maintain some form of unofficial mission in the ROC. Kosovo,[7] the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic,[8] Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,[9] Abkhazia,[10] Transnistria,[10] Sahrawi Republic,[11] Somaliland,[12] and Palestine[13] also host informal diplomatic missions, and/or maintain special delegations or other informal missions abroad.
Present geopolitical entities by level of recognition
UN member states not recognised by at least one UN member
Other claimants
Republic of Armenia 1991 Armenia, independent since 1991, is not recognised by one UN member, Pakistan, as Pakistan has a position of supporting Azerbaijan since the Nagorno-Karabakh War. None Foreign relations, missions (of, to) [14][15]
People's Republic of China 1949 The People's Republic of China (PRC), proclaimed in 1949, is the more widely recognised of the two claimant governments of "China", the other being the Republic of China (ROC). The PRC does not accept diplomatic relations with states that recognise the ROC (21 UN members and the Holy See as of 2013). Most of these states do not officially recognise the PRC as a state, though some states have established relations with the ROC while stating they do not intend to stop recognising the PRC (Kiribati, Nauru).[16][17] Some states which currently recognise only the PRC have attempted simultaneous recognition and relations with the ROC and the PRC in the past (Liberia, Vanuatu).[18][19][20] According to United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, the PRC is the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations.[Note 1] Republic of China is considered the sole legal government over all of China under the Constitution of the Republic of China. Foreign relations, missions (of, to)
PRC's diplomatic relations dates of establishment [21]
Republic of Cyprus 1960 Cyprus, independent since 1960, is not recognised by one UN member (Turkey) and one UN non-member (Northern Cyprus), due to the ongoing civil dispute over the island. Northern Cyprus claims part of the island of Cyprus. Foreign relations, missions (of, to) [22][23][24][25]
State of Israel 1948 Israel, founded in 1948, is not recognised by [26] Syria claims Golan Heights. Foreign relations, missions (of, to)
International recognition [27][28][29][30][31]
1948 North Korea, independent since 1948, is not recognised by two UN members: Japan and South Korea.[32] claims to be the sole legitimate government of Korea. Foreign relations, missions (of, to) [32][33][34]
1948 South Korea, independent since 1948, is not recognised by one UN member, North Korea. claims to be the sole legitimate government of Korea. Foreign relations, missions (of, to) [35][36]
Non-UN member states recognised by at least one UN member
1999 Abkhazia declared its independence in 1999.[37] It has been UN member states (Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru, with Tuvalu and Vanuatu recognizing[38][39][40][41][42] but subsequently withdrawing their recognition[43][44][45]), and three UN non-member states (South Ossetia, Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh).[46][47] claims Abkhazia as part of its sovereign territory. Foreign relations, missions (of, to)
International recognition [48][49][50][51]
1912[Note 2] The Republic of China (ROC, usually called Taiwan), constitutionally formed in 1912, is recognised as the government of the state of China by 21 UN members and the Holy See as of 2013. All other UN member states do not officially recognise the ROC as a state; some of them regard its controlled territory as de jure part of the People's Republic of China (PRC) while some others have used careful diplomatic language to avoid taking a position as to whether the territory of the ROC is part of the PRC.[Note 1] Throughout the years, the ROC has adopted differing positions towards simultaneous recognition of the ROC and the PRC by other countries.[53] claims to be the successor of the former Republic of China and claims all of the territory under ROC jurisdiction as part of its sovereign territory. Foreign relations, missions (of, to)
Political status [54]
2008 Kosovo declared its independence in 2008. It is recognised by 108 UN members and Taiwan. The United Nations, as stipulated in Security Council Resolution 1244, has administered the territory since 1999 through the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, with cooperation from the European Union since 2008. It is a member of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, Venice Commission, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the International Olympic Committee, among others. claims Kosovo as part of its sovereign territory. Foreign relations, missions (of, to)
International recognition; Political status [55][56]
1983 Northern Cyprus declared its independence in 1983. It is recognised by one UN member, United Nations Security Council Resolution 541 defines the declaration of independence of Northern Cyprus as legally invalid.[57] The International Court of Justice stated in its advisory opinion on Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2010 that "the Security Council in an exceptional character attached illegality to the DOI of TRNC because it was, or would have been connected with the unlawful use of force" and "general international law contains no applicable prohibition of declarations of independence".[58] claims Northern Cyprus as part of its sovereign territory. Foreign relations, missions (of, to)
Cyprus dispute [59]
1988 The UNESCO.[65] It was accorded non-member observer state status at the United Nations by United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19. does not recognise the state of Palestine and controls areas claimed by Palestine.[63] Subject to the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian peace process. Foreign relations, missions (of, to)
International recognition, Political status, Proposals for a Palestinian state [79][80][81][82][83][84]
1976 Both the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and Morocco claim sovereignty over the territory of Western Sahara. The SADR, which declared its independence in 1976, has been recognised by 84 UN member states and is a member state of the African Union. 39 states, however, have since retracted or suspended recognition, pending the outcome of a referendum on self-determination.[85][86] Western Sahara is not recognised as part of Morocco by any state, but some states support the Moroccan autonomy plan. Moroccan "territorial integrity" is favoured by the Arab League. United Nations General Assembly Resolution 34/37 recognised the right of the Western Sahara people to self-determination and recognised also the Polisario Front as the representative of the Western Sahara people.[87] Western Sahara is listed on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. claims Western Sahara as part of its sovereign territory. Foreign relations, missions (of, to)
International recognition; Political status [88]
1991 South Ossetia declared its independence in 1991. It has been UN member states (Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru, with Tuvalu recognizing but subsequently withdrawing their recognition[44][45]), and three UN non-member states (Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Transnistria).[46][89] claims South Ossetia as part of its sovereign territory. Foreign relations, missions (of, to)
International recognition [49][50]
Non-UN member states recognised only by non-UN members
1991 Nagorno-Karabakh declared its independence in 1991 (roughly at the same time as Azerbaijan itself when the Soviet Union fell). It is recognised by three UN non-members: Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria.[89] claims Nagorno-Karabakh as part of its sovereign territory. Foreign relations, missions (of, to)
International recognition, Political status [90][91]
1990 The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (also known as Transnistria) declared its independence in 1990. It is recognised by three UN non-members: Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and South Ossetia. claims Transnistria as part of its sovereign territory. Foreign relations, missions (of, to)
Non-UN member states not recognised by any state
1991 Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991. It regards itself as the successor to the State of Somaliland. It is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. claims Somaliland as part of its sovereign territory. Foreign relations, missions (of, to) [90][93]
Excluded entities
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is a non-state sovereign entity and is not included, as it claims neither statehood nor territory.[94][95][96][97][98] It has established full diplomatic relations with 105 sovereign states as a sovereign subject of international law[99] and participates in the United Nations as an observer entity. Although it is not recognised as a subject of international law by France,[100] the order maintains official, but not diplomatic, relations with France and also with five other states: Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Canada.[101] Five more states maintain neither and do not recognise its passports: Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Iceland and Greece.[102]
Uncontacted peoples who are claimed by indigenous rights activists to be exercising varying degrees of de facto sovereignty over the areas under their control.
Entities considered to be micronations are not included.[Note 3] Even though micronations generally claim to be sovereign and independent, it is often up to debate whether a micronation truly controls its claimed territory.[Note 4] For this reason, micronations are usually not considered of geopolitical relevance. For a list of micronations, see list of micronations.
Those areas undergoing current civil wars and other situations with problems over government succession, regardless of temporary alignment with the inclusion criteria (e.g. by receiving recognition as state or legitimate government), where the conflict is still in its active phase, the situation is too rapidly changing and no relatively stable rump states have emerged yet.
Those of the current irredentist movements and governments in exile that do not satisfy the inclusion criteria by simultaneously not satisfying the declarative theory and not having been recognised as state or legitimate government by any other state.
Exclusive mandate
Flags of unrecognized and partially recognized states
Government in exile
List of active autonomist and secessionist movements
List of active separatist movements recognized by intergovernmental organizations
List of civil wars
List of historical unrecognized states
List of micronations
List of rebel groups that control territory
List of sovereign states
List of territorial disputes
List of rump states
Nation state
Territorial integrity
Unilateral declaration of independence
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
^ a b Both the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China claim sovereignty over the whole of China, stating China is de jure a single sovereign entity encompassing both the area controlled by the PRC and the area controlled by the ROC. The position of individual states on this matter varies. Several states fully accept the PRC's position that there is only one China and that the PRC is the sole legitimate representative of China. Other states merely acknowledge this position, while recognising only the PRC as a state. Some states recognise only the ROC as a state, but have expressed an interest in recognition and relations with both the ROC and the PRC.[52]
^ Date of constitutional formation.
^ Micronations are not included even if they are recognised by another micronation.
^ It is far from certain that micronations, which are generally of minuscule size, have sovereign control over their claimed territories, contrasted with the mere disregard and indifference toward micronations’ assertions by the states from which they allege to have seceded. By not deeming such declarations (and other acts of the micronation) important enough to react in any way, these states generally consider micronations to be private property and their claims as unofficial private announcements of individuals, who remain subject to the laws of the states in which their properties are located.
^ Thomas D. Grant, The recognition of states: law and practice in debate and evolution (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1999), chapter 1.
^ U.S. Department of State Websites of U.S. Embassies, Consulates, and Diplomatic Missions Retrieved 2011-02-03
^ Embassies and representative offices
^ Pakistan Worldview - Report 21 - Visit to Azerbaijan Senate of Pakistan — Senate foreign relations committee, 2008
^ Nilufer Bakhtiyar: "For Azerbaijan Pakistan does not recognise Armenia as a country" 13 September 2006 [14:03] - Today.Az
^ Lee, Meifang "Minister announces resumption of diplomatic ties with Nauru" Taiwan Today 2005-05-20 Retrieved 2011-04-29
^ "Kiribati president upbeat on conference, Taiwan" Radio Australia 21 June 2010 Retrieved 2011-04-29
^ Crocombe, Ron Asia in the Pacific Islands: Replacing the West University of the South Pacific. Institute of Pacific Studies 2007 p. 258 Online version available at Google Books
^ "Looking East: China-Africa Engagements Liberia Case Study" African Center for Economic Transformation, Monrovia December 2009
^ Chiu, Hungdah "The International Legal Status of the Republic of China (Revised Version)" Occasional Papers/Reprints Series in Contemporary Asian Studies Number 5 - 1992 (112), School of Law, University of Maryland ISBN 0-925153-23-0
^ European Parliament Directorate-General External Policies Policy Department "Turkey and the problem of the recognition of Cyprus" 20 January 2005 Retrieved 2011-02-03
^ European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs "The influence of Turkish military forces on political agenda-setting in Turkey, analysed on the basis of the Cyprus question" 18 February 2008 Retrieved 2011-02-03
^ Kim Murphy. "Israel and PLO, in Historic Bid for Peace, Agree to Mutual Recognition," Los Angeles Times, 10 September 1993
^ Vanuatu's initial recognition was invalidated after the Kilman government was annulled by the Supreme Court. Kilman was subsequently re-elected and its recognition was re-confirmed by its Foreign Minister in July 2011: Natapei withdraws recognition of Abkhazia, Vanuatu Daily Post, 19 June 2011
^ a b Russia recognises Georgian rebels - BBC, 2008-08-26 [1]
^ Taiwan cuts ties with Costa Rica over recognition for China
^ Bush III, Richard C. "The Role of the United States in Taiwan-PRC Relations", Taiwan: Beyond the Economic Miracle M.E. Sharpe, Inc. ISBN 0-87332-879-5 p. 358 Online version available at Google Books
^ Global Investment and Business Center, Inc. Staff Taiwan Foreign Policy and National Security Yearbook 2011 Second Edition International Business Publications, USA ISBN 0-7397-3660-4 Online version available at Google Books
^ [2], International Court of Justice, 2010-07-22, quotes from parag. 81.
^ a b :"Saeb Erekat, disagreed arguing that the Palestine Liberation Organisation had already declared independence in 1988. "Now we need real independence, not a declaration. We need real independence by ending the occupation. We are not Kosovo. We are under Israeli occupation and for independence we need to acquire independence".
^ "...the SADR was one of the first countries to recognise the state of Palestine."
^ a b Israel allows the PNA to execute some functions in the Palestinian territories, depending on special area classification. Israel maintains minimal interference (retaining control of borders: air,[66] sea beyond internal waters,[66][67] land[68]) in the Gaza strip (its interior and Egypt portion of the land border are under Hamas control), maximum in "Area C" and varying degrees of interference elsewhere.[69][70][71][72][73] See also Israeli-occupied territories.
[60][74][75][76][77][78]
^ Map of Gaza fishing limits, "security zones"
^ Israel's Disengagement Plan: Renewing the Peace Process: "Israel will guard the perimeter of the Gaza Strip, continue to control Gaza air space, and continue to patrol the sea off the Gaza coast. ... Israel will continue to maintain its essential military presence to prevent arms smuggling along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt (Philadelphi Route), until the security situation and cooperation with Egypt permit an alternative security arrangement."
^ Official website of the Palestinian National Authority at the Wayback Machine (archived April 4, 2006). The PNA has publicly acknowledged recognition from 94 states, including the former Yugoslavia.
^ Venezuela Pledges Support for Palestinian Statehood during Abbas Visit, November 2009.
^ "Costa Rica Recognizes 'Palestine'", The Journal of Turkish Weekly 26 February 2008 Retrieved 2011-02-07
^ Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly at its 34th session, United Nations.
^ a b (Russian) Вице-спикер парламента Абхазии: Выборы в НКР соответствуют всем международным стандартам: "Абхазия, Южная Осетия, НКР и Приднестровье уже давно признали независимость друг друга и очень тесно сотрудничают между собой", - сказал вице-спикер парламента Абхазии. ... "...Абхазия признала независимость Нагорно-Карабахской Республики..." - сказал он." English language translation from Microsoft Translator
^ a b c
^ BBC Country Profiles: Regions and territories: Nagorno-Karabakh. Retrieved 2009-09-14.
^ BBC Country Profiles: Regions and territories: Somaliland. Retrieved 2009-09-14.
^ English language translation "The Order of Malta, within the limits that are compatible with its actual position as a subject deprived of territory, is in the international community, a sovereign entity on par with the States, and the Prince Grand Master is comparable, from the point of view of international law, to the Heads of State."
^ Permanent Observer Mission of the Order of Malta to the United Nations in New York "The admission of Order of Malta to the United Nations also further solidified its legally recognized sovereignty ..."
^ Shaw, Malcolm Nathan International Law Fifth Edition Cambridge University Press 2003 ISBN 0-521-82473-7 p. 218 Searchable text, available via Amazon.com, "The Italian Court of Cassation in 1935 recognised the international personality of the Order, noting that ‘the modern theory of the subjects of international law recognises a number of collective units whose composition is independent of the nationality of their constituent members and whose scope transcends by virtue of their universal character the territorial confines of any single state.’ (Nanni v. Pace and the Sovereign Order of Malta 8 AD, p. 2. See also …)"
^ "The Senate and Chamber of Deputies of Argentina, in Congress assembled, enact as LAW: Article 1 – The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is hereby recognized as an international independent entity."
^ English language translation "[T]he clear territorial separation of sovereign areas that exists between the Italian State and the State of Vatican City does not exist between the Order of Malta and the Italian State, but neither can it be said that the treatment given to the headquarters of the Order (Aventine, Via Condotti) is, simply, that reserved for the headquarters of diplomatic missions accredited to the Italian State. In fact, the headquarters of the Order have diplomatic extraterritoriality (authoritarian acts of any kind – executive, acts of inspection, judicial – cannot take place inside), but in addition, the Italian State recognizes the exercise, in the headquarters, of the prerogatives of sovereignty. This means that Italian sovereignty and Maltese sovereignty coexist without overlapping, because the Order exercises sovereign functions in a wider area than occurs in the diplomatic missions of the States for, although [those diplomatic missions] enjoy extraterritoriality, the guarantees deriving from the privilege of immunity are constrained to a purely administrative area; the Order, instead, makes use of extraterritoriality to meet the very acts of sovereign self-determination that are the same as the States (legislative, judicial, administrative, financial acts)."
^ The Sovereign Military Order of Malta maintains embassies around the world and receives accreditations from foreign ambassadors.
^ Council of the European Union - Schengen Visa Working Party - Table of travel documents
Details concerning international recognition and foreign relations provided by the articles linked in parenthesis
UN member states
Partially unrecognised
Non-UN member
Recognised by at least
one UN member
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara)
Recognised only by
non-UN members
Unrecognised
Articles with Russian-language external links
Lists of countries
Unrecognized or largely unrecognized states
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The Fukushima prefectural government plans to refurbish an all-weather practice field of the J-Village national soccer training center to turn it into a multipurpose facility within the current 2019 fiscal year for use as a venue for music concerts and other events that are expected to attract large numbers of visitors, Fukushima Gov. Masao Uchibori said June 4 at a regular press conference. It will remove restrictions imposed by relevant laws and regulations on the use of the field for purposes other than sports by introducing extra equipment necessary for non-sport events.
Given the recent opening of a new railway station that has improved access to J-Village, straddling the towns of Naraha and Hirono, and the attention the training center has gathered as the venue for starting nationwide torch relays for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Fukushima government is seeking to improve the facility's ability to attract visitors through the planned diversification of its usage and thus boost spillover effects on adjacent areas. It will become possible for a remodeled all-weather field to host an event with an audience of up to 4,000 people.
Uchibori said an appropriation of 160 million yen will be included for design and revamping work in a supplementary general account budget for fiscal 2019 ending next March, to be submitted to a June prefectural assembly session. Under the plan, the status of the all-weather ground as specified according to the Building Standards Act will be changed from "a training field for sports" to "an assembly hall." It will be fitted with equipment required by the law and the Fire Service Act such as an emergency generator, lighting and broadcasting equipment.
In view of the torch relay start about 10 months ahead on March 26 next year and the full restoration of the disaster-ravaged JR Joban Line scheduled around the same time, the local government intends to embark on field design soon after the supplementary budget is passed in order to complete refurbishing work by the end of fiscal 2019. The expenses are to be covered by a national government subsidy.
The all-weather practice field went into operation in September last year as J-Village’s new core facility combining a new hotel, which opened earlier in July last year. The new field, housed in a steel-frame structure, has a total floor space of some 10,000 square meters. It can serve as a soccer or rugby pitch. Equipped with a membrane roof about 25 meters high, the ground can be used irrespective of weather. It was characterized as a practice field for sports under a post-disaster reconstruction and redevelopment plan mapped out in 2015 by the prefectural government and other parties concerned. Its use for large guest-attracting events was not initially expected.
The number of visitors to J-Village from July 2018, when it was partially reopened, to the end of March this year totaled about 210,000, short of the pace needed to attain an annual target of 600,000. In April this year, when J-Village was resumed on a full scale, visitors totaled 57,000.
The Fukushima government believes it will benefit from such tailwinds as the opening of the Joban Line's "J-Village Station," the nearest railway stop only 2 minutes' walk to the entrance to J-Village facilities, and its choice as the torch relay starting point. It also anticipates increased use by promoters of entertainment events. These factors have prompted the local government to remodel the all-weather field. Another incentive was a record single-day turnout of some 20,000 visitors who gathered on the day of J-Village's full resumption in April when commemorative events such as a music concert were held.
"We would like to see the all-weather field used for various events so that many people will gather in J-Village," Uchibori told the news conference.
J-Village opened in July 1997 as Japan's first national training center for soccer. It was suspended following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and ensuing nuclear accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Daiichi plant. Most facilities were resumed in July 2018 before fully reopening on April 20 this year.
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We use cookies on this website. If you continue to use this website, you agree to their use. Accept Cookies Decline Cookies Privacy Policy
Leas Lift
Originally installed in 1885, in Folkestone, Kent, the Grade II* Listed, Leas Lift is a funicular railway which carries passengers between the seafront and the promenade. It is one of the oldest water lifts in the UK
The lift operates using water and gravity and is controlled from a small cabin at the top of the cliff. It has carried more than 50 million people since it opened, in a process that is especially energy efficient. The lift has a very small carbon footprint, as it emits no pollution and recycles all of the water used to drive the cars.
The Folkestone Leas Lift CIC was set up with the intention that the Leas Lift be brought back into use, with a sustainable and long term future. We aim to return the building into a functional and safe condition and to restore the Lifts to its Victorian glory. The Directors of the CIC bring a range of skills and experience including engineering, marketing and finance.
Our goal is two-fold – to get the lift back into operation and, in the future, deliver something even more fabulous to Folkestone, which will be an iconic feature, much loved for generations to come.
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Mike Tyson and Iron Mike Productions hits the Sands Casino Resort
Gabriel J Gonzalez @GabeJGonzalez Wed, Feb 19 2014
DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. (January 30, 2014) - Hall of Famer "Iron" Mike Tyson is the youngest world heavyweight champion of all-time and in 1987 he was voted "World's Most Popular Athlete." The living legend became a boxing promoter last year, partnering with Garry Jonas to form Iron Mike Productions, which has announced its new monthly boxing series, "KO Kings of Tomorrow," starting February 22, at Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
To inaugurate the "KO Kings of Tomorrow" series one lucky ticket holder will be selected to sit ringside with "Iron" Mike.
Tyson also announced that he will perform his acclaimed one-man show, "Undisputed Truth," on Feb. 20 at Sands Bethlehem Event Center.
The IMP boxing series will be broadcast worldwide as low-cost pay-per-view events over Universal Streaming Network, live from Sands Bethlehem Event Center, for only $4.99 via http://www.ustream.tv/universalstreamingnetwork.
See Mike Tyson Sands Commercial Mike Tyson Commercial
The Feb. 22nd "KO Kings of Tomorrow" is loaded from top to bottom, featuring many of the top contenders and prospects in the world. World-rated featherweight Claudio "The Matrix" Marrero (14-1, 11 KOs) takes on Mexican invader Jose Angel "Pepe" Beranza (36-28-2, 28 KOs) in the 10-round main event. The World Boxing Association (WBA) rates Marrero, a native of the Dominican Republic, as its No. 9 rated 126-pounder in the world. The slick southpaw lost a close 12-round decision (116-111, 115-112, 114-113) in his last fight (August 23, 2013) to Jesus Marcelo Andres Cuellar for the WBA Interim title.
Two-time Dominican Republic Olympian Juan Carlos Payano (14-0, 8 KOs) faces battle-tested Mexican veteran German "Panteonero" Meraz (46-28-1, 25 KOs) in the 10-round co-feature. Payano had more than 520 amateur matches and he is currently the WBA's top-rated contender (No. 2, the top spot is unrated), as well as ranked No. 10 by the World Boxing Council (WBC) and No. 15 by the International Boxing Federation (IBF).
One of the best prospects in the world, Erickson "The Hammer" Lubin (2-0, 2 KOs), meets Mississippi's upset-minded Tirobio Ball (4-1-1, 1 KO) in a four-round Special Welterweight Attraction. Lubin, fighting out of Orlando (FL), was considered Team USA's No. 1 overall prospect for the 2016 Olympics prior to him signing a promotional contract with Iron Mike Productions last October 1 on his 18th birthday. The explosive southpaw captured a gold medal at the 2012 National PAL Championships, among his many significant accomplishments as an amateur boxer.
Cuban light heavyweight Humberto "El Don" Savigne (11-8, 8 KOs), fighting out of Miami, squares off against former world title challenger Tommy Karpency (21-4-1, 14 KOs) in another 10-round bout. Savigne is rated No. 4 by the WBA. Karpency is a local favorite from Adah, Pennsylvania, who took then-World Boxing Organization (WBO) 175-pound champion Nathan Cleverly the full distance in 2012.
Another powerful southpaw, Cuban-born super featherweight Alexei "The Mexican-Cuban" Collado (17-0, 16 KOs) puts his undefeated record on the line against tough Mexican veteran Edgar "Basuras" Riovalle (36-16-2, 25 KOs) in an eight-round match-up. The 25-year-old Collado, who defected to Ireland and now lives in Miami, has stopped all but one of his 17 opponents as a professional. Riovalle has been knocked out only once in his last 14 fights dating back to 2010.
Another standout IMP prospect, Orlando featherweight Dennis Galarza (2-0, 1 KO), plans to continue impressing in a scheduled four-rounder versus Jesus Gonzalez (1-1), of Mexico. Also fighting on the undercard in a six-round fight are a pair of unbeaten welterweights, popular Moossen (PA) resident "The Who Can Mexican" Samuel Vasquez (11-0, 7 KOs), the two-time All-Army and Armed Forces Champion, and Dominican Republic fighter Berlin "The Rock" Abreau (7-0., 5 KOs). Azerbaijan middleweight Farid Aghaev will make is pro debut in a four-round fight vs. an opponent to be determined.
All fights and fighters are subject to change.
Tickets priced at $200.00, $125.00, $75.00 and $50.00 are on sale and available to purchase at the Sands Event Center Bethlehem Box Office, or visit http://sandseventcenter.com/event/details/ko-kings-of-tomorrow-featuring-mike-tyson/, all TicketMaster outlets, www.ticketmaster.com, or call 1-800-745-3000.
Doors open at 6:15 p.m. ET with the first bout scheduled to start at 7:15 p.m. ET.
For additional information go online at www.IronMikeProductions.com or http://sandseventcenter.com/event/details/ko-kings-of-tomorrow-featuring-mike-tyson/
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NH Writers Project - Works Project Administration (WPA)
Visitors to the Manchester City Library can now read the original hand- and type-written works of local history, oral history, musicology, etc. from the NH Writers Project, thanks to a grant from the NH Conservation and Heritage License Plate Program.
The NH Writers Project was part of a national effort called the Federal Writers Project, one of many programs falling under the Works Project Administration (WPA). In 1935, President Roosevelt, as part of the New Deal, initiated programs like the WPA to put Americans back to work during the Great Depression.
In 1942 the Manchester City Library was chosen as the recipient for the NH Writers Project material. Some of the completed manuscripts include the History of Lake Winnipesaukee, History of Music in New Hampshire, Iron Industry in New Hampshire, My Old Village in the Province of Quebec and New Hampshire and Manchester Architecture. There are also numerous incomplete publications and unpublished research notes.
While valuable, the papers and photographs are too delicate to make available to the public. Being original materials, they are also irreplaceable. If the library were to microfilm the original material, then it could make the material available to the public while preserving and protecting it from damage. A microfilm copy would also allow us to digitize the material so that we could at some future time make the material available on our website.
Thanks to the efforts of Cynthia O\'Neil, our genealogy and local history expert on staff, recently retired, the library applied for and was awarded a Moose Plate grant. The NH Writers Project material took up nearly 6 linear feet of shelf space, and now resides on 15 reels of microfilm. Copies are available not only at the Manchester City Library, but also at the New Hampshire State Library, and the Dimond Library at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. The master negatives will be retained by the New Hampshire State Archives.
Managing Organization: Manchester City Library - New Hampshire Room >>
County: Belknap county, Carroll county, Cheshire county, Coos county, Grafton county, Hillsborough county, Merrimack county, Rockingham county, Strafford county, Sullivan county,
Time Period: Depression Era
Collection Size: 15 reels of microfilm
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Doug Casey Debunks Four Myths About Trump, Taxes, and the Economy
Thread: Doug Casey Debunks Four Myths About Trump, Taxes, and the Economy
Silver Seeker Senior Member Site Admin
International Man: For many years, President Trump has made no apologies for trying to pay the least amount of taxes possible. He’s clearly stated this in many interviews.
His desire to minimize his taxes has brought scorn from many in the mainstream media, and politicians from both sides of the aisle. These people are of the opinion that paying taxes is an honorable and necessary responsibility. It brings to mind the wrongheaded saying “taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society”, which came from US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Many people believe this.
But if that’s true, how come low tax locales like Singapore, the Cayman Islands, Monaco aren’t backward hell holes, but rather sophisticated and civilized?
Doug Casey: Almost any lie can be accepted as truth if it’s said often enough and with enough certainty. That absolutely applies to what Holmes said. It’s shameful how people don’t think about its meaning, but slavishly repeat it.
Taxes aren’t the price we pay for civilized society. They’re a sign of the fact that society is becoming uncivilized. A civilized society is based on voluntarism. Taxes are all about coercion.
People don’t seem to recognize or remember that before 1913 there was no income tax in the US. There was no reporting of any kind to the US government. It was a much more civilized and far freer country then.
As far as Trump minimizing his taxes, congratulations to him. The object should be to cut the size of the US government in half, and cut it in half again, and again. And along with it, cut the tax burden that it imposes on the average American.
Trump should be proud of himself for cutting his taxes. It's your patriotic duty as an American citizen to deny revenue to the State and the kind of people that are drawn to it and populate it.
The fact that some people resent others for not paying taxes is just evidence that they’ve been consumed by the vice of envy, which is one of the worst of the vices. Jealousy says “if you have something that I want, I’ll try to take it from you, just because I want it." Envy says “if you have something that I want, and I can’t take it from you, I’ll destroy it and hurt you."
It’s speaks poorly of the ethics of the average American, that they’ll self-righteously shame their neighbors for not paying “enough” taxes to the State.
International Man: We often hear from politicians and the media that some people aren’t paying their “fair share” in taxes. Who gets to define what “fair” is, and based on what justifications?
Doug Casey: Whenever you hear the word fair, start running the other way. Everybody has a different idea of what’s “fair”— it’s an arbitrary concept. People manipulate its definition to their advantage. The only way to determine what might be fair is voluntary mutual agreement. That’s not possible with taxes—there’s no voluntarism involved. They are, in fact, a levy enforced at the point of a gun.
The most creative and productive people tend to have the highest incomes—unless they’re crony capitalists, which means they’re basically using the government to steal from everybody else.
Productive people shouldn’t be penalized for supplying more goods and services to their neighbors—to the market. The money they give to the government in taxes would have otherwise been used to create more wealth for the whole world. When it’s taken from them by taxes it’s mostly squandered on welfare and warfare.
The bottom half of the US really doesn’t pay any income tax. They only pay Social Security taxes, roughly a flat 15%. It’s theoretically a pension program, although in fact it’s a Ponzi scheme. Social Security is bankrupt. If anyone gets it in the years to come it will be at the expense of future taxpayers—not because any capital has been set aside.
Social Security is, and always has been, a swindle. It makes it harder for people to save on their own. And makes them feel they don’t have to. But it’s not a real pension plan; it’s a highly politicized welfare program. People have been propagandized into believing not just what isn’t true, but actually believing the opposite of the truth. The situation is actually pretty hopeless from a philosophical point of view and it’s getting worse. The average American believes Social Security and the income tax are both moral and necessary.
International Man: Doesn’t this system—which diverts wealth from productive use into government, which is naturally unproductive—make everyone worse off? You would think the lower and middle classes would be clamoring for more wealth creation that would also benefit them. Instead, many are asking for more wealth to be destroyed.
It seems this sort of thinking helps solidify a backwards system.
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CENTRES OF RESEARCH EXCELLENCE (CoREs)
The CoREs were established to help produce innovative and excellent science and train a new generation of scientists, and have played a prominent role in the NZ research system. The CoREs are university-hosted, inter-institutional research networks, enabling scientists from CRIs, universities and other research organisations to work together on commonly agreed work programmes. Below lists the CoREs, with a brief description of their work and research focus:
ALLAN WILSON CENTRE FOR MOLECULAR ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
The Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology & Evolution undertakes research into New Zealand and Pacific plant and animal life, and human history in New Zealand and the Pacific, with a commitment to securing the future of our biodiversity, and improving human and environmental health through local engagement.
BIO-PROTECTION RESEARCH CENTRE
The Bio-Protection Research Centre brings together New Zealand’s leading plant protection scientists from four partner institutes. Multidisciplinary research and development focuses on the biosecurity and pest management needs of NZ’s plant-based primary industries and natural ecosystems. The Bio-Protection Research Centre is hosted by Lincoln University.
Brain Research New Zealand; Rangahau Roro Aotearoa
Brain Research New Zealand-Rangahau Roro Aotearoa aims to unlock the secrets of the ageing brain and develop new therapies and better clinical and community care to enhance brain health throughout life. This will be achieved by applying world class neuroscience research, in partnership with outstanding clinicians and our diverse relationships with the community, to develop a national, collaborative response to the increasing number of New Zealanders with ageing-related brain disorders. It is directed by Distinguished Professor Richard Faull, University of Auckland and Professor Cliff Abraham, University of Otago and is co-hosted by the Universities of Auckland and Otago, in partnership with Auckland University of Technology and the University of Canterbury.
GRAVIDA: NATIONAL CENTRE FOR GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Gravida: National Centre for Growth and Development brings together leading scientists from six partner organizations to address a single overarching question of what makes a healthy start to life. Their internationally-recognised research seeks to reveal how events in early life affect mammalian development, with both short and long-term consequences for health and disease.
MAURICE WILKINS CENTRE FOR MOLECULAR BIODISCOVERY
The Maurice Wilkins Centre targets major human diseases and focuses on cancer, diabetes and infectious disease. The Centre brings together leading biologists, chemists and computer scientists in a multidisciplinary network linking researchers from six Universities, three Crown Research Institutes and two private research institutes. As the national hub for molecular biodiscovery the centre provides a point of contact for a broad range of local scientific expertise. It cultivates collaborations with international researchers and research institutions and also engages with industry and the medical profession.
NGĀ PAE O TE MĀRAMATANGA – NEW ZEALAND’S INDIGENOUS CENTRE OF RESEARCH EXCELLENCE
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga consists of 16 participating research entities and is hosted by The University of Auckland. It conducts excellent research of relevance to Māori communities and is an important vehicle by which New Zealand continues to be a key player in global indigenous research and affairs. Its research is underpinned by the vision to realise the creative potential of Māori communities and to bring about positive change and transformation in the nation and wider world.
Te Pūnaha Matatini
Te Pūnaha Matatini - the Centre for Complex Systems and Networks - is a Centre of Research Excellence that will develop methods and tools for transforming complex data into knowledge about the biosphere, the economy, and the marketplace.
The purpose of Te Pūnaha Matatini is to bring together New Zealand’s leading researchers in physics, economics, mathematics, biology, computer science, operations management, statistics, and social science to study complex systems and networks. Our research is focussed upon three complementary themes:
Complex Data Analytics: To develop and apply advanced analytics methods including network analysis, methods from dynamical systems and statistical physics, graph theory, generative and agent-based modelling, advanced visualisation techniques and optimisation, to understand, manage, and utilise complex data.
Complexity and the Economy: To use organisational-level data sets to understand the role of innovation at a regional level in productivity growth, and to assess the importance of knowledge, network, and supply-chain spillovers on firm performance.
Complexity and the Biosphere: To understand the inter-relationships between species and how biodiversity depends on the environment, and to develop models that couple the interactions between biodiversity, the economy, and human decision-making.
Hosted by University of Auckland in partnership with Victoria University of Wellington, Massey University, the university of Canterbury and Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
Director: Professor Shaun Hendy
The Dodd-Walls Centre
The Dodd-Walls Centre is a world class collaborative research network building on New Zealand’s strength in the fields of quantum optics, photonics and precision atomic physics.
Our research centres around photonics, the manipulation of light at the most fundamental, quantum level, and the control and manipulation of matter at the atomic scale, through the use of light.
Our aim is to generate fundamental knowledge about how the physical universe is composed and behaves and to undertake cutting-edge research with the potential to underpin advanced technological development. Alongside this research focus, the Centre educates and mentors highly skilled individuals and provides pathways for commercialisation of research and career development.
The Dodd-Walls Centre has existed as a collaborative centre between the Universities of Otago and Auckland since 2006, and is named after two of New Zealand's pioneering researchers in quantum physics, Professors Jack Dodd and Dan Walls. The new Centre of Research Excellence is much larger, encompassing researchers from five universities as well as partners from government, local businesses and overseas research institutions.
THE MACDIARMID INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED MATERIALS AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
Hosted by Victoria University, The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology has leading researchers working towards a greater knowledge of Nano-engineered materials and Devices, Novel Electronics, Electro-Optic and Superconducting Materials, Conducting Polymers, Soft Materials and Advanced Materials.
The Medical Technologies CoRE
Hosted by the University of Auckland in partnership with the universities of Canterbury, AUT, Otago and Victoria and Callaghan Innovation.
Director: Distinguished Professor Peter Hunter
The Medical Technologies CoRE will apply bioengineering technologies to healthcare by producing new knowledge of physiological processes in health and disease, by developing novel bio-instrumentation and computational physiological models, and by designing innovative medical devices and technologies using these results to improve healthcare and to create economic opportunities for New Zealand companies.
THE RIDDET INSTITUTE
The Riddet Institute is hosted by Massey University, and brings together leading researchers from around NZ to carry out world-class research in foods and digestive processes. It is dedicated to the food industry, which is NZ’s most significant economic sector and accounts for over half of NZ’s export earnings.
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Công ty CP Bán Lẻ Kỹ Thuật Số FPT / Company infomation / FPT Retail’s Female General – Mrs. Nguyen Bach Diep: If behind a successful man is a woman who silently sacrificed, then behind a successful woman is a team that silently sacrifices.
FPT Retail’s Female General – Mrs. Nguyen Bach Diep: If behind a successful man is a woman who silently sacrificed, then behind a successful woman is a team that silently sacrifices.
As the Company’s leader, Ms. Diep acknowledged that over the past six years, she has put priority in work rather than her family and that she “is not perfect” in a woman’s favor.
Picture: Forbes Vietnam
In the event Women’s Summit 2018 on 18 October, Mrs. Nguyen Banh Diep – the Chairman and CEO of FPT Retail – is one of the female leaders appearing on the stage of Forbes Vietnam.
Like other successful women, Mrs. Diep is calm and energetic. Mrs. Diep is a big contributor in FPT Retail’s six years of growth, from 17 stores initially into Vietnam’s second largest smartphones retailer. The great thing about successful women is that they always mention the “backstab” that sacrificed for that success.
Mrs. Diep shared that: “If behind a successful man is a woman who silently sacrificed, then behind a successful woman is a team that silently sacrifices such as children, family, even colleagues, there is not only one person”.
“I should have cared for my children more”
In 2012, FPT Retail, with the trademark of FPT Shop, officially had the license to establish a joint stock company with the initial number of stores of 17. Coming after in an intense retail market, FPT Shop, especially the Board of Directors of this brand and Mrs. Diep must stand in front of “terrible pressure”:
“I have engaged in FPT Retail for only 6 years. In such 6 years, from the beginning, there are many big retailers in front of me – Mobile World, Vien Thong A. They had already had many years ahead, while I am just at the beginning”.
“It’s like the period of a startup,” she recalled.
“It’s like it is impossible to fail. We had to survive to keep the jobs for thousands of employees”, said the Female General.
Facing these challenges, as the Company’s leader, Ms. Diep acknowledged that over the past six years, she has put priority in work rather than her family and that she “is not perfect” in a woman’s favor.
“In the past, in principle, every women must fulfill her family role first: Educating children, taking care of them, taking care of their parents, doing the housework,” she said. “Being a leader makes a person have to spend much more time at work so it is obviously that that person cannot
accomplish everything perfectly.”
Mrs. Nguyen Bach Diep recalled that sometimes there was an event in her children’s school where the children would receive an award, but she could not come to encourage them because she was on a business trip.
“Even though she did not feel anything, but I myself feel guilty”
“I should have done better and cared for them more,” she confided. FPT Retail’s Female General called it a sacrifice of her children for her.
“Even though they did not feel anything, but I myself feel guilty”, she said.
It seems that because of that sacrifice, Mrs. Diep tried to take advantage of any free time of the day for her family and children.
Every day, every morning, the leader of 6,000 employees at FPT Retail still prepared breakfast for her family. “When I go to work, I always make use my time in the car to talk to my children,” she said.
Working until 7pm, Mrs. Diep shared that she often “come home, have dinner and after that, work with her children on their homework”.
“Many times when they already go to bed, I check emails for work then I go to bed,” she shared.
_ If there is an extra hour of the day, what would you spend that hour on?
_ Definitely for my children! – Mrs. Nguyen Bach Diep responded immediately.
“When I hit the job, I am just like…I’m going into a trance”
To her children, she always care for them, but to her colleagues and subordinates, she admitted that she had kind of “nasty temperament”. “When I hit the job, I am just like…I’m going into a trance”, she said. She once revealed with Forbes Vietnam that she is a high-tempered and fierce
person in work.
“People who have followed me have to accept my nasty behavior, and they have to meet every strict requirements from me,” she said.
However, it was not the only thing that her colleagues had to “accept” about her.
She mentioned another sacrifice: “Colleagues share their goals and aims with me, and then, they have to take the time and sacrifice their families for that”.
Therefore, Mrs. Diep said that under the role of a leader, it is necessary to “ensure the interests of those people.” That is, we have to lead the Company in the way that the followers can receive something significant.”
Speaking to be done, according to Mrs. Diep, is also a way for a leader – despite male or female – can gain trust from subordinates.
Family is on one hand, work is on the other hand. People always asked the female leaders about the “balance”. Which side is more important? Mrs. Diep said that “it depends on the point of view and each period of time”. And in her opinion, she must “focus to do the best” and “do not complaint” about her choices.
She quoted a foreign politician: “He said that we are the ones who choose our position: I choose to be the Prime Minister, so every morning I come out of the house, I have to smile and encourage my employees, even though my whole family had been arguing last night. I am in this position and I am supposed to do that.”
“When you have already chosen, it means that the Company have chosen you and you have agreed to be in this position, so you have to do your best there. If you are not interested in it, then leave. However, if you have chosen, then focus on doing your best, only then can you develop and grow”, she said.
According to Thao Thao – Cafebiz
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Home » Health Problems » Study finds lower death rates for TAVR centers that do more procedures
Study finds lower death rates for TAVR centers that do more procedures
Hospitals that perform the highest volume of transcatheter-aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures have significantly lower mortality rates than centers that do fewer of the minimally invasive surgeries, according to an analysis by a collaboration that included the Duke Clinical Research Institute.
The finding, published April 3 in the New England Journal of Medicine, comes as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is reconsidering the procedure’s coverage parameters, which established a center’s volume as a key criterion for reimbursement.
Approved in 2011, TAVR is largely performed on older patients insured by Medicare, and has grown into a multi-billion-dollar annual industry. As the number of procedures has escalated and the technique and devices have evolved, questions arose over the necessity of volume standards for CMS coverage.
“What we found is that there is still a very real relationship with annual volume and 30-day mortality at the hospital level, even taking into account the new devices and the learning curve that new centers face in the first 12 months of initiating a program,” said lead author and Duke cardiologist Sreekanth Vemulapalli, M.D.
“TAVR is different from most other cardiac procedures—it’s not a single-person effort,” Vemulapalli said. The procedure involves putting a replacement valve over a damaged aortic valve using a catheter rather than open-chest surgery, similar to the way a stent is placed in coronary arteries. “Patients are evaluated by a surgeon and an interventional cardiologist, and there is usually also a cardiac imaging specialist involved in the procedure. That team approach is very important, which is why we looked at the data from a hospital level.”
Even so, the authors said, the relationship between higher TAVR volumes and lower mortality was also evident at the individual proceduralist level, suggesting that repeated practice does improve outcomes.
Vemulapalli and colleagues launched their analysis last summer after CMS announced it would reevaluate coverage criteria. Using a database called the Transcatheter Valve Registry—which includes all of the commercial procedures in the United States, including those covered by Medicare—the researchers focused on volumes and outcomes from 2015-2017.
This timeframe rooted out earlier procedures that used outdated techniques and devices. The researchers also removed a hospital’s first 12 months of cases to account for the learning curve. More than 500 hospitals were included and segmented into four groups based on volume, from lowest to highest.
Among nearly 100,000 transfemoral TAVR cases included in the analysis, the researchers found that hospitals in the group with the lowest volume had the highest 30-day mortality rate, at 3.19 percent, compared to hospitals in the group with highest volumes at 2.66 percent. This represents a relative reduction in patient mortality of 19.45 percent between the lowest- and highest-volume centers.
“This was the most comprehensive analysis of the outcomes of more than 100,000 people recently receiving TAVR in the U.S.,” said John Carroll, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and director of Interventional Cardiology at the UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital.
“The results definitively reaffirm an inverse relationship between the volume of procedures and the risk of death following the procedure,” added Carroll, who is also the vice-chair of the STS-ACC TVT Registry Steering Committee. “The study’s conclusive data should be incorporated by CMS in their final coverage policy to provide Americans with the best results from this transformative non-surgical therapy for the increasingly common condition of aortic stenosis, one of the most serious valve disease problems.”
Population study finds striking disparities in health behaviors and screening in Indiana
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Research shows for the first time how we use others’ viewpoints to make decisions
← Patent-pending probiotic could disrupt Crohn’s disease biofilms
Boy or Girl? Amber Rose and Boyfriend A.E. Are Expecting Their First Child Together →
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Gilbert O'Sullivan in Concert - "Just Gilbert”
Enjoying one of the most creative and commercially successful periods of an outstanding career, Gilbert O’Sullivan has continued to look to the future while his famous back catalogue has won respect and adoration all over the world. His 2018 album reached the top 20 and he now returns for a solo show that will see him present new songs alongside classics such as 'Alone Again Naturally', 'Clair' and 'Nothing Rhymed' in an intimate and unforgettable setting.
Tickets from: £29.50 - £29.50
Starring: Gilbert O'Sullivan
Showing Times: Thursday 10th October at 7.30pm
First showing: 10/10/2019
Last showing: 10/10/2019
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Michael Biddle
Michael Biddle has lived in Croton on Hudson, NY most of his life. He studied art in Vienna and London after completing military service in 1958. His first interest was printmaking and he did many etchings and lithographs that show a humanistic point of view. Living in New York in the early 1960’s he did freelance magazine illustration and cartooning before turning seriously to painting and printmaking. Biddle began his teaching career in 1967 and taught at the Fashion Institute of Technology from 1972 to 2005. He was Chair of the Fine Arts Department from 2003 until his retirement in 2005. In the 1980’s Biddle experimented with computer graphics and received a New York Foundation for the Arts grant for work that he did with computers and printmaking. Around this time he made assemblage art with found objects and experimented with motorized kinetic sculpture and projected computer graphic images. Turning back to printmaking and painting in the early 1990’s, he produced a series of large monotypes with a humanistic imagery. Oil paintings done in the late ‘90’s gradually moved toward abstraction related to organic forms. The use of color was often restrained and the application of paint was sometimes thickly encrusted. His more recent work has shown a greater sense of imagery, and he has worked extensively in watercolor and silverpoint, and most recently fresco. Many of his paintings have been shown in venues in Westchester over the last several years, including Maxwell Fine Art in Peekskill, the College of New Rochelle where he received the Gallery Director’s Award, The Art Exchange in White Plains, and The Silvermine Guild of Artists where he received the Revington Arthur Award. He is married to the ceramic artist, Liz Surbeck Biddle and has two children. His son Jeremy lives in San Francisco and is a computer engineer. His daughter Megan recently lives in Philadelphia and teaches glass at Tyler School of Art.
Title: Cheetah
Artist: Michael Biddle
Son of famed social realist painter George Biddle, the 1966 “Cheetah” etching belongs to an early path in the artist’s career, taking on and shifting the thematic resonance's prevalent in his father’s work to a new generation, and looking to compare such an attitude with the social and cultural upheavals of the 1960s. The representation of a shifting human mass seems particularly Boschian in its recounting, simultaneously demonizing and relishing the chaotic and debaucheries collective space, which reveals itself slowly as a rock concert caught in spotlight.
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Tag - Phoenix
Don’t just stare, dare to discover DEAD SEA
Electronic, France, Indie Music, Videos
Dead Sea, a French four-piece who write, record and rehearse in the small apartment that they share above a café in Paris. The band just shared their new single titled...
WayHome 2017 Prediction: 56 Artists who we think will be there!
Alternative R&B, Australia, Canada, Electronic, Folk, France, House, Indie Music, London, ON, Los Angeles, CA, Montreal, QC, Music By City, Music by Country, Music By Genre, New York and Brooklyn, NY, Pop, Rock, Toronto, ON, United Kingdom, United States, Vancouver, BC
Listen to songs from all of our 56 predictions (please wait for page to load). The rumour mill is churning with speculation about who will be performing at this year’s...
New Music: PUBLIC ACCESS T.V. – “IN THE MIRROR” (Indie Rock / Pop) + Tour Dates
Indie Music, New York and Brooklyn, NY, Pop, Rock, United States
Public Access T.V. are a indie rock / pop band based out of downtown, New York City, U.S.A. Growing frustrated by the “boring and played out Manhattan music...
218 Live Bands in 2013 – Aaron of Indie Underground’s Full List & Favorites
2013 was one hell of a year for live music! My 2013 musical journey lead me to some magical places while meeting some incredible people to create memories that will stay...
New Video: PHOENIX – “Trying To Be Cool” (Indie Alt Pop / Rock)
Did you see Phoenix’s newest video for their single, “Trying To Be Cool”? I can’t take my eyes off of it – so many things to see. I think...
2nd New PHOENIX Track – “Drakker Noir” (Indie Pop/Rock)
France, Indie Music, Pop, Rock
Phoenix – Drakker Noir from the upcoming album Bankrupt!, to be released April 22nd.
New Song: PHOENIX – “Entertainment” (Indie Pop/Rock)
France, Indie Music, Pop, Rock, Videos
It’s the NEW PHOENIX SINGLE! Catch a listen and watch the lyric video, “Entertainment”.
COACHELLA 2013 Lineup ANNOUNCED – FIRST ROUND
Lot’s of good Bands were included in the 1st Announcement for Coachella 2013. Obviously it’s nice to see Phoenix releasing a new album and headlining the...
(MP3) Listen to: RAC REMIX of ESCORT’S – “Starlight” (Indie Electro/Funk)
Disco, Electronic, Indie Music, Pop, United States
RAC (Remix Artist Collective) recently remixed Escort’s Track, “Starlight”. It’s got an electro synthpop funky sound. Give it a listen and if you...
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Home Salon Roadblocks to the White House: 4 key times presidential nominees failed to gain Senate confirmation
Roadblocks to the White House: 4 key times presidential nominees failed to gain Senate confirmation
This piece originally appeared on The Conversation.
Republicans are rushed to begin confirmation hearings for Cabinet appointments even before the FBI has finished its background checks. For President-elect Donald Trump’s opponents, this makes uncovering flaws in his nominees all the more challenging.
As a scholar of U.S. history, I have studied the many cases in which presidential nominees, particularly judges, have failed to gain Senate confirmation. However, according to the Senate Historical Office, there were four cases since 1970 in which a Senate controlled by the president’s party did not confirm the president’s nominees.
In each case, the failed nominee had either ethical, financial or legal lapses in their records. Here’s a list of their roadblocks, which might give you an idea of potential obstacles to Trump’s nominees.
Four failed nominations
In 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Zoe E. Baird to be attorney general. Only five days later she asked Clinton to withdraw her nomination.
Her candidacy stumbled on the disclosure that she had hired undocumented immigrants and had not paid appropriate taxes on their wages. Particularly galling to opponents was the idea of the nation’s chief law enforcement officer having broken the law. As The New York Times put it, there “must be a natural fit between a job and the ethics, background, finances and talents of a nominee.” Clinton nominated, and the Senate confirmed, Janet Reno instead.
In 2001, President George W. Bush’s nomination of Linda Chavez to be secretary of labor was similarly short-lived. She had offered shelter and financial support to an undocumented immigrant.
Although she denied employing the immigrant, the revelation raised questions for senators and the public about her candidacy. Her nomination may also have been at risk due to the resistance of organized labor to her record on the minimum wage, affirmative action and sexual harassment. She quickly asked that her nomination be withdrawn under pressure about conflicting statements she made about her knowledge of the immigrant’s legal status. Elaine Chao, whom Trump has nominated to be secretary of transportation, served as Bush’s first secretary of labor instead.
George W. Bush ran into trouble again when he nominated Bernard Kerik to head the Department of Homeland Security in 2004. Unpaid taxes on domestic workers of unclear immigration status precipitated Bush’s decision to withdraw Kerik’s name. The Senate later confirmed Michael Chertoff as secretary of homeland security.
Given how many times employing undocumented immigrants has imperiled Cabinet nominees, the Trump transition team has presumably been attentive to the hiring records of its nominees.
But there are other issues the transition team may have failed to anticipate.
For example, President Barack Obama’s nomination of Senator Tom Daschle to be secretary of health and human services was sunk by unpaid taxes on a limo service as well as consulting income. Particularly troubling was the source of the car and driver — a political supporter, which may have been one reason his nomination failed. Observers also raised questions about Daschle’s close ties to the health care industry that the department hoped to reform. Kathleen Sebelius joined Obama’s Cabinet instead.
Nevertheless, unpaid taxes didn’t stop Timothy Geithner from becoming secretary of treasury in 2009. His confirmation suggests the timing and scale of an ethical lapse could make or break Trump’s nominees.
Opportunities in the coming weeks
Focusing on nominees whose qualifications do not correspond to the job description is one potential strategy for opponents. For example, Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon and author, seems a poor fit for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. But convincing Republicans to override their leader on this basis seems unlikely.
often, conflicts of interest, past statements or lapses in judgment preclude confirmation. Nominees’ ethical records could be where they are most vulnerable. For example, Sen. Jeff Sessions, nominee to be attorney general, has come under attack from former colleagues and observers in the press for omissions in a questionnaire he submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Ethics has been salient in Trump’s call to “drain the swamp,” and the recent flap over Republican efforts to downgrade the Office of Congressional Ethics. Ethical lapses, therefore, could jeopardize Trump’s nominees in the coming weeks and months. Although the president-elect has faced criticism for past and potentially future conflicts of interest, the voters elected him despite these concerns.
It remains to be seen if the Senate will hold Cabinet nominees, who can’t claim a popular mandate, to a higher standard.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to clarify that the analysis is based on the Senate Historical Office’s list of nominations that were officially filed with the Senate.
Sarah Snyder is an associate professor at the American University School of International Service.
Sarah Snyder.
Source: Salon: in-depth news, politics, business, technology & culture > Politics
Tags: confirmation, Failed, gain, House, nominees, presidential, roadblocks, Senate, Times, White
Jimmy Morales meeting with Trump at White House postponed
House GOP slams Democrats for effort to repeal 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force
House Dems pick party unity over ICE fight
Amy Klobuchar, 2020 presidential contender, rolls out plan for seniors
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Issue 5, 2013. October-November
SINGER GEORGIA: A TOUCH OF THE WEST IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE
Singer Sewing Machines, a rags-to-riches American success story, has deep roots in the South Caucasus where it was one of the largest Western foreign direct investments of its time.
Emil Avdaliani
Thousands of Machines, Millions of Rubles
Credited with ending women's servitude to sewing around the world, the Singer Sewing Machine also introduced production, sales, and marketing in the Russian Empire on a scale previously unknown in the region.
Singer Sewing Company was founded in the United States by Isaac MerrittSinger (1811-1875) who exhibited his first creation in 1851. In the 1880s the company spread its offices all over the continental Europe.
The sewing machine giant opened its first store in the empire in 1897 at a high point of Russian-American trade. Two years later the first Singer manufacturing plant opened near Moscow and, as it expanded, plants were opened in Tbilisi and Baku.
Singer was one of the largest foreign enterprises on Georgian soil: no other company had such a large number of workers — or agents, as they were known in the Russian Empire. According to statistics compiled just before the start of World War I, at the height of production, there were 30,328 Singer employees stretching the length of the empire - 800 of whom were in the South Caucasus, 388 of those in Georgia.
The Singer sewing machine was quick to catch on in Georgia, where people were eager to save time - and flaunt the fact they could afford the 75-83 ruble price tag — ordinary salary was just 3-4 rubles per month.
In 1905, the first year statistics were available, 8,344 sewing machines were sold — 586,317 rubles worth of sales — in the South Caucasus. By 1912, sales had nearly doubled in the region to 15,675 sewing machines, worth 1.38 million rubles.
The popularity of Singer sewing machines withstood even political instability - the uptick in demand was unabated despite political unrest that even threatened Singer management in Georgia.
Beginning in 1906, revolutionary views spread among the Singer workers in Tiflis (Tbilisi). Several German directors were forced to flee; one chief executive was murdered on December 12, 1906.
His successor managed to alleviate the situation. Nevertheless, the central Singer office in Hamburg decided to put the Tiflis department under its direct control. This continued right to the October Revolution of 1917 when Singer was forced out by the Bolsheviks.
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No, Facebook is NOT “Private” — Their Censorship Arm is Government Funded
Facebook is not private. They are partnered with a NATO backed think tank to censor their platform that is funded by the US government. by...
Censorship, Control, Recent Articles
http://humansarefree.com/2018/10/no-facebook-is-not-private-their.html
Facebook is not private. They are partnered with a NATO backed think tank to censor their platform that is funded by the US government.
by Matt Agorist
“Facebook is a private company and can delete any pages they want,” has been repeated ad nauseam since Alex Jones was wiped from its platform. While it is certainly true that a private company can and should be able to choose who they associate with, the idea that Facebook is private is not accurate.
For this reason, the recent purge of hundreds of alternative media sites, including the Free Thought Project, was not only questionable, but unconstitutional.
In May, after Americans were successfully whipped into a tizzy of Russian hacking and meddling, along with the fake news hysteria, the Americans begging for censorship craze came to a head when Facebook partnered with the Atlantic Council.
Facebook announced that it partnered with the arm of the council, known as the Digital Forensic Research Lab that was brought on to help the social media behemoth with “real-time insights and updates on emerging threats and disinformation campaigns from around the world.”
Apparently, Free Thought Project was one of those threats.
Facebook partnered with the Atlantic Council, so what, right? They can do whatever they want and hire outside third parties to help them police the platform they own, right? Yes, this is correct. However, the Atlantic Council is funded by government.
The Atlantic Council is the group that NATO uses to whitewash wars and foster hatred toward Russia, which in turn allows them to continue to justify themselves. It’s funded by arms manufacturers like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing. It is also funded by billionaire oligarchs like the Ukraine’s Victor Pinchuk and Saudi billionaire Bahaa Hariri.
The list goes on. The highly unethical HSBC group — who has been caught numerous times laundering money for cartels and terrorists — is listed as one of their top donors. They are also funded by the pharmaceutical industry, Google, the United States, the US Army, and the Airforce.
The “think tank” Facebook partnered with to make decisions on who they censor is directly funded by multiple state actors — including the United States — which voids any and all claims that Facebook is a wholly “private actor.”
Is this a private entity? pic.twitter.com/5oGABYjMqz
— Daniel McAdams (@DanielLMcAdams) October 12, 2018
The Atlantic Council wields massive influence over mainstream media too, which is why when this partnership was announced, no one in the mainstream press pointed it out as the Orwellian idea that it is.
Instead, headlines such as “US think tank’s tiny lab helps Facebook battle fake social media (Reuters)” and “Facebook partners with Atlantic Council to improve election security (The Hill)” were put out to spin the fact that a NATO propaganda arm is now censoring the information Americans see on Facebook.
They have even been caught engaging in the creation of actual fake news and no one in the mainstream has called them out on it.
As Bryan MacDonald so aptly noted, some of the stuff the Atlantic Council itself gets away with serves to show its power over the mainstream media.
For instance, when Ben Nimmo, a one-time NATO press officer, and Atlantic Council board member, himself ludicrously insisted grammar mistakes were “proof” that social media users critical of NATO were paid Kremlin trolls, and later when he smeared a British man by labeling him a Russian bot, the popular press didn’t bother to question whether he was a fit and proper person for Facebook to engage as a censor.
Even after the victim appeared on Sky News to prove he was a real person. Thus, what should have been a warning of the dangers of DFR Lab was essentially ignored.
At the time, after Nimmo, instead of apologizing, wrote “interesting to see the real face of Ian56789, rather than the David Gandy one, at last (referring to his Twitter avatar). Not a troll factory account. Rather, a pro-Kremlin troll(definition based on [sic] use of someone else’s picture, systematic use of Kremlin narratives, and repetitive abusive behaviour),”
WikiLeaks was the sole voice of reason, and challenged the lobbyist.
“You literally produced, with money from weapons companies and dictatorships, a fake news story that spread all over the world, defaming a very British retiree, who wants to reduce arms company profits, as a Kremlin bot,” they wrote. “So who’s the paid troll?”
You literally produced, with money from weapons companies and dictatorships, a fake news story that spread all over the world, defaming a very British retiree, who wants to reduce arms company profits, as a Kremlin bot. So who's the paid troll?
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 21, 2018
This is the group Facebook is now taking direction from in regard to who is allowed to post information on their platform.
The Atlantic Council has been proven to create fake news to slander people who have an antiwar stance in an effort to keep their pro-war weapons companies in the black. It is utter insanity. However, in today’s information war, it is to be expected.
Caitlan Johnstone, who has been a champion of calling out this censorship since the start, also pointed out several other reasons why Facebook is anything but “private.”
“Has not Facebook been inviting US government-funded groups to help regulate its operations, vowing on the Senate floor to do more to facilitate the interests of the US government, deleting accounts at the direction of the US and Israeli governments, and handing the guidance of its censorship behavior over to the Atlantic Council, which receives funding from the US government, the EU, NATO and Gulf states?
“How “private” is that? Facebook is a deeply government-entrenched corporation, and Facebook censorship is just what government censorship looks like in a corporatist system of government.”
Indeed, unless we fight back in the form of sharing information deemed “wrong think” by the censors, this problem will only continue to get worse.
We must continue to alert our fellow humans to this censorship before it becomes the norm. We must use this recent purge as our Streisand moment and turn this massive and blatant act of censorship around as a tool to expose the tyrants behind it.
Make no mistake, October 11, 2018 marked the day the battle over information became a war.
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Events Publications Join Us Delirious LA About Search
“Geothermal Futures Lab”: Mark Foster Gage
The LA Forum interviewed architect Mark Foster Gage about his current installation at SCI-Arc, “Geothermal Futures Lab.” Gage’s work has appeared in numerous publications, and his work intersects emergent technologies, computational aesthetics, and interdisciplinary collaborations. He is a tenured professor, and Assistant Dean at the Yale School of Architecture where he has taught since 2001. The exhibition is on view through March 4th. Gage will also speak next week at UCLA. See the calendar below for more information.
Tell us about the Geothermal Futures Lab you’ve set up inside SCI-Arc?
That particular installation is an exploration into the tools architecture has for producing the realities in which we exist. My friend David Ruy often says “Architecture is the first thing that tells us what reality looks like,” which is even more true now than it was historically. If you think about it, most of your life happens in architecture — it is the backdrop of your reality. Nobody is living in the woods anymore — we live and work in buildings. Always in buildings. Now while architecture has primarily concerned itself with buildings, in the past, it also now has other tools at its disposal which can be used to produce this backdrop—which is what this installation is about. It uses narrative, research data, fiction, historic references, new technologies, video, social media, technical drawings, photography, staging, and props to produce an immersive experience a full and complete reality. However, this full and complete reality is filled with “reveals” that tell you aspects of it are fictional — there are things like my little ponies in the technical drawings and bunny rabbits CNC milled into the machinery. This does two things — it tests the elasticity of architectures ability to fully form a given ‘reality’ but also invites as certain critical curiosity where people begin to question the reality they have been given.
The exhibit comes with a disclaimer: “This is an architectural public service announcement to be more aware of your reality and develop a healthier skepticism for information presented without proper journalistic or scientific verification, especially from architects.” This seems like a commentary on “fake news.”
Yes. Certainly — it is about revealing the elasticity of how architects frame reality, as well as a warning to be wary of, and critical of, these constructions. Architecture today is as much a discipline of marketing as much as it is a discipline of building. Characters like Bjarke Ingels are evidence of this — where the advertising and marketing of the work, or the architect, is far more important than the work itself. People should be unwilling to settle for an architecture of sound-bites. They should be invited to go deeper — this is what the installation is about. An invitation to curiosity about architecture rather than a sound bite that you can quickly understand and dismiss.
You talk about embracing shifts in technology and finding materiality in the virtual, but many architects and critics are talking about a return to history and even a return to “boring” buildings. How do you balance history and technologically-forward thinking?
I was trained as a classical architect. When, in 1997, I graduated from Notre Dame I got a job with Robert A.M. Stern. I told one of my professors and he said “Stern!, Why would you want to go work for that modernist!? “ I have a particular expertise in history that significantly informs my work. But buildings are not part of architectural history because they were merely good architecture — they are part of architectural history because they were significant in some way, conceptually, technologically, materially. The history of architecture is a history of innovations and anomalies — the opposite of boring things. Boring buildings don’t become part of history — so any use of history to produce boring buildings is pretty sad, and I would say, intellectually lazy.
How does humor and play inform your practice?
I write quite a bit about architecture, and, academically, aesthetic philosophy. Sometimes this, along with running my practice, can get a bit heavy. Humor is the pressure valve that releases some of the gravitas of the writing and work. It plays an important role as such. This would be the perfect place to say something funny, to end the interview. Did you hear about the new corduroy pillows? They’re making headlines.
© 2015 LA Forum for Architecture and Urban Design
© 2015 LA Forum
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Posts Tagged ‘Claudio Contreras’
Book Review: Sacred Headwaters By Wade Davis And Carr Clifton
Book Review of The Sacred Headwaters: The Fight to Save The Stikine, Skeena, and Nass by Wade Davis with Principal photography by Carr Clifton, Foreword by David Suzuki and Afterword by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Including Other Leading Conservation Photographers such as Paul Colangelo, Sarah Leen, Claudio Contreras, Gary Fiegehen, Brian Huntington, Tom Peschak, Joe Riis and Florian Schulz.
Landscape Photography Reader Note on Process, Life and Persistence:
Graystone Books released the first US Edition of The Sacred Headwaters in March 2012. In June, I wrote a rough draft of this review and by December I had written over five completely different drafts. Carr Clifton asked me to publish what I had on Landscape Photography Reader, but I told him I did not want to put up a blog post of the review as I still wanted to submit it to newspapers and magazines. Most publications of any significance will not publish work that has been previously published in any form elsewhere. I began work on a sixth draft in early 2013, but by then I decided it was too late to submit to newspapers or magazines. Most of them only accept reviews of books that have been out for less than six months. With life and other concerns and obligations intervening in the meantime, I also began reading a much larger body of books on the world water crisis and books about saving rivers. I have collected over 70 volumes about water and rivers to date, over 20 are large format coffee table style, and nearly a dozen are books with photographs by my father, pioneer conservation photographer Philip Hyde.
My idea was to someday publish a large review for a major publication. While that dream still exists in one form or another, it has simultaneously turned into a book-length project about books that have saved rivers to potentially include the work of such greats as John Muir, Wallace Stegner, David Brower, Edward Abbey, Ansel Adams, Dad, Eliot Porter, Martin Litton, Ken Brower, Wade Davis, Carr Clifton and many others. Please pray, do a dance, send good vibes and think supportive thoughts for me that life, death, or hard times will not intervene first. Despite external factors getting in the way and myself getting in the way, from time to time I am happy to find that my skills are improving. While I struggled with this review for more than a year the first time I tried to write it and abandoned that sixth draft only a bit over half finished, when I came back to it this week, all the disjointed, jumbled pieces either discarded easily or flowed together surprisingly well in just a few days. Sometimes once the old karma is worn out, the obstacles just melt away. My sincere apologies to Wade Davis and Carr Clifton for the delay in getting this in front of the world. Blessings and a thank you to my readers. Please enjoy the review and email or comment with any questions or thoughts you may have…
Threats to the Native Homeland and the Salmon Headwaters ‘Yosemite of the North’
Cover of The Sacred Headwaters: The Fight to Save the Stikine, Skeena and Nass by Wade Davis and Carr Clifton. (Click image to see larger.)
Harvard trained anthropologist-ethnobotanist and bestselling author Wade Davis represents National Geographic in up to 50 countries a year studying vanishing indigenous cultures. Indicators such as a decrease in the usage of the native language or loss of home through displacement signal the decline of a culture. Davis has seen the loss of a few houses in a native village, the loss of a whole village, or even a people’s entire homeland, but he never thought that his own home would be threatened.
Besides his house in Washington DC and his residences during research abroad, for 25 years Davis has considered his true home a fishing lodge on Ealue Lake at the edge of one of the World’s largest remaining intact wildernesses called the Sacred Headwaters in Northern British Columbia. Born in British Columbia, Davis also worked as a park ranger and hunting guide in the Sacred Headwaters during the 10 years before he built his fishing lodge. The native tribes of the Sacred Headwaters, the Tahltan First Nations, refer to their hunting and fishing lands as hallowed ground because by a wonder of geography three of the greatest salmon rivers of the Pacific Northwest, the Skeena, the Stikine and the Nass all are born in remarkably close proximity to each other in a land of jagged peaks, verdant valleys and forests abundant with wildlife and rushing water. In 2006, IBM Business Consulting sponsored an independent study that found the value of the salmon industry in the Skeena River alone to be $110 million annually.
The Tahltan could still lose this homeland to any of 41 different industrial proposals including large-scale fracking, open-pit mining and coal mining. Wade Davis’ fishing lodge on Ealue Lake lies just under Todagin Mountain, which would lose it’s top to Imperial Metals’ proposed Red Chris Mine. This open-pit copper, gold and silver mine would process 30,000 tons of rock ore per day for 28 years and pour toxic mine tailings directly into Black Lake, one of the nine lakes that form the headwaters lake chain of the Iskut River, the principal tributary of the Stikine. Besides the Red Chris Mine threat, Royal Dutch Shell’s exploration of coal bed methane gas extraction through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, with gas wells, access roads and pipelines, would criss-cross approximately 10 million acres. Also, Fortune Minerals’ open pit anthracite coal mine on Mount Klappan is currently in the environmental assessment process for a three million ton per year operation. Anthracite is an extra dense, extra hard, rare and energy rich type of coal. Because of these threats, the Sacred Headwaters of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine is number one on British Columbia’s Most Endangered Rivers list.
A National Geographic Explorer Unites With the Voices of the Tahltan Elders and Conservation Photographers
Woodland or Osborne Caribou on the Upper Slopes of Klappan Mountain, Skeena Mountains, British Columbia, Canada by Carr Clifton. Fortune Minerals seeks to locate an open-pit coal mine here to produce between 1.5 and 3 million tons of anthracite a year. (Click image to see larger.)
To protect their common home, Wade Davis gathered the voices of the Tahltan elders, his own moving narrative and photographs by some of the world’s leading conservation photographers today to publish The Sacred Headwaters: The Fight to Save The Stikine, Skeena, and Nass. While Davis has authored dozens of books, a handful of which have been bestsellers, he had never before produced a photography book, let alone a large format conservation book. To plan his book Davis researched the most significant coffee table landscape photography books.
Large format nature photography books became popular after 1960 when photographer Ansel Adams, conservationist David Brower and curator Nancy Newhall launched the Sierra Club Exhibit Format Series, which they intended to serve as “battle books” to defend US wilderness and help found national parks. The idea for the book series began in 1955 with This Is Dinosaur: Echo Park Country and Its Magic Rivers, the first book published for an environmental cause with two chapters by Pulitzer-winning novelist and conservationists Wallace Stegner with photographs by journalist Martin Litton and my father Philip Hyde. In the 1960s, my father, Ansel Adams and Eliot Porter became the primary illustrators of the Sierra Club Exhibit Format Series that brought the beauty of America onto coffee tables around the world, helped advance the momentum of modern environmentalism, saved the Grand Canyon from dams and helped establish Redwood National Park, Everglades National Park, North Cascades National Park and many others.
Many proponents including photographer Eliot Porter and David Brower, the Sierra Club’s first Executive Director, said that the large format books were largely responsible for the massive increases in the club’s membership. Other Sierra Club leaders, including Ansel Adams, worried that the Sierra Club might go bankrupt if it continued to publish such extravagant volumes. David Brower was asked to resign for overspending on publishing and other endeavors deemed reckless by a slight majority of the Sierra Club Board. The books were downsized and all but discontinued. Few volumes of similar quality were mass published until the digital era.
Today, 20 years into the digital revolution, photographic reproduction and book production quality have both advanced dramatically since the 1960s. With the right combination of participants, The Sacred Headwaters now shows it is possible to produce a book of similar quality to the classics in the genre from the 1960s.
The Need for A Large Number of Sweeping Landscape Photographs to Match the Terrain
Black Lake, Kluea and Todagin Lakes in Distance, Skeena Mountains, British Columbia, Canada by Carr Clifton. Three of the nine lakes that form the headwaters lake chain of the Iskut River, principal tributary of the Stikine. If the Red Chris mine went forward, the entire valley would be buried beneath a mountain of toxic tailings and waste rock, which would leach into one of the world’s most pristine and productive salmon watersheds below. (Click image to see larger.)
Wade Davis knew he could write a good text. He had done it before. He had also made good photographs for National Geographic before too, but he knew that to make the strongest statement possible, he would be wise to obtain help. He turned to the International League of Conservation Photographers, also known as the iLCP. The iLCP is a collection of leading photographers with a mission to “further environmental and cultural conservation through ethical photography.” Trevor Frost, iLCP photographer and home office staffer, helped Wade Davis raise funds for and organize a multi-photographer team to go to the Sacred Headwaters on what the iLCP calls a R.A.V.E. or Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition. R.A.V.E.s aim to achieve a full visual assessment of a threatened ecosystem in a short period of time.
The photographers represented in The Sacred Headwaters who initially joined the RAVE included Paul Colangelo, Sarah Leen, Claudio Contreras, Gary Fiegehen, Brian Huntington, Tom Peschak, Joe Riis and Florian Schulz. Most of these photographers are well known. They made a good number of high-quality images, but the project was still short on enough strong, cohesive photographs for a book, not to mention that it was heavy on wildlife and short on the giant, open and sweeping landscapes that characterize the Sacred Headwaters more than almost anywhere else on Earth.
Wade Davis decided to call on landscape photographer Carr Clifton, who had learned the art of the large format photography book as a protégé of my father and had produced a dozen photography books of his own, not to mention more magazine covers than any other living nature photographer. Most importantly large landscapes have always been Carr Clifton’s specialty. He has been photographing nature for over 40 years. He was one of the primary photographers during the heyday of the Sierra Club Desk Calendars that helped to popularize nature photography. He is also the primary illustrator of nearly a dozen books including Wild By Law, The Hudson, New York: Images of the Landscape, Wild and Scenic California, Justice on Earth, Sierra Club: 100 Years of Protecting Nature and others. Clifton is now one of the all-time most published landscape photographers.
In The Sacred Headwaters, Carr Clifton’s work from the helicopter, in particular, produced giant scenes that explode with color and show off Clifton’s awareness and mastery of how to capture light. The viewer of these pages is awakened to new possibilities in beauty, beginning with the cover photograph. These images depict the proverbial land of plenty, perhaps the last of its scope on Earth. The way Clifton uses unusual camera angles shows more of the land and more of the sky when it is interesting. Even in his Caribou image, he is not at their eye level, he is down at the height of their flanks…
Wildlife is not my forte. I was looking for landscapes when I saw those Caribou. I thought to myself that I had to photograph them as part of the story, but they are not something I would have gone after because I do not believe in bothering wildlife just for my own sake to get pictures. They are already pushed enough. Probably I crouched to hold the lens steady. It was a long lens. With landscapes, it’s not like I do it as a trick or a method. It’s just the way I see. Sometimes I get down really low and close to the subject. Otherwise, with a wide angle lens it looks like the object is down below the picture. When I get down low I can include more. I can get more of the sky and maybe something interesting in the foreground. With the Cotton Grass to show it properly you need to get close. If I shot it standing up, the grass heads would all be the same size. By getting down low and close to the nearest ones, you’re filling the frame with the Cotton Grass. If you are far back you are not going to have as much converging perspective. Still, I don’t think about all of that when I’m doing it. I’m just feeling. Just paying attention and tuning in to what surrounds me. At the same time, I don’t want the subject to take over the image, which is what happens a lot in wildlife photography. I like the design of the rectangle and that’s my art form. Just what is going on in the rectangle. I’m not trying to tell a story, though in this project the combination of the photographs as a grouping and the writing do together tell a story. But with individual pictures, I’m more concerned with the composition and the makeup of the rectangle, the deisgn of the whole, the feeling it portrays.
A Wildlife Garden of Eden or ‘Serengeti of the North’
Paul Colangelo, besides his also unusually arranged frames of moose, bear and other wildlife, also photographed the landscape and water features from the chopper. “The land has one of the largest intact predator-prey systems in North America,” said Colangelo. He said this earned the area the nickname, ‘Serengeti of the North.’ Canadian also call the large remote and roadless part of British Columbia simply, “’The North.’”
Canoeing, rafting and of course backpacking for miles were needed to access other locations, but the newest method for me was traveling by horseback. I stopped into a cabin to ask directions to a fishing camp and the next thing I knew I was joining the cabin’s owner on an eight-day horseback trip.
Todagin Creek, Todagin South Slope Provincial Park (right side of creek), Skeena Mountains, British Columbia, Canada by Carr Clifton. Todagin Creek flowing beneath the south slope of Todagin Mountain down valley toward Tatogga Lake and the Iskut River. (Click image to see larger.)
Carr Clifton logged thousands of four-wheel-drive miles on an old railroad grade that is the only ground access to the Sacred Headwaters. By air, on foot and in his truck, he covered a vast roadless wilderness of approximately 150,000 square miles. He not only participated in the summer 2011 RAVE, but also drove from California back to Northern BC in the Fall of 2011 with no compensation besides reimbursement for his expenses.
For perspective, Wade Davis compared the Sacred Headwaters to wilderness in the US:
In the lower 48, the farthest you can get from a maintained road is 20 miles. In the Northwest quadrant of BC, an area the size of Oregon, there is only one road, the Stewart-Cassiar Highway, a ribbon of asphalt that goes along the side of the coastal mountains to Alaska. It is a region where distances are measured by numbers of boots worn out, and on the roads in terms of the number of axles broken during the journey.
Wade Davis wrote that in the US only one river flows more than 600 miles uncompromised by dams, whereas the rivers of the Sacred Headwaters all run free. Davis opens The Sacred Headwaters with beautiful descriptions of the country supplemented by select observations from John Muir’s 1879 voyage up the Stikine River on his first journey to Alaska. By the end of his side trip, Muir was so moved by the country that he named his dog after the Stikine. He also gave the name to his most well known semi-autobiographical short story. In his smooth effortless prose, Davis vividly summarized Muir’s observations of hundreds of glaciers a day, eagles gathering by thousands to feast on salmon runs so rich they colored the sea, immense hemlock and Sitka spruce forests, mountains dazzling with waterfalls and ice, and how Muir climbed one rocky crag, Glenora, that rises 7,000 feet directly above the river. Muir’s journals described the Stikine River valley as a Yosemite 150 miles long.
Wade Davis sprinkles his text with concrete and entertaining statistics, his writing easily rising into the tradition of such greats as Marc Reisner, Aldo Leopold or John Muir himself.
The biggest canyon in Canada, the Grand Canyon of the Stikine, which most Canadians cannot even name, less than 100 people have gone through in all written history. No raft has ever made it. The first Kayakers survived it in 1985. Nobody has ever walked the rim of it. It is far less known than Utah’s Glen Canyon, ‘the place no one knew.’
Shell Used the Standard Ploy of Promising Jobs, but Coal Bed Methane Extraction is Nearly All Automated
Cascade Falls on The Iskut River, Natadesleen Lake, Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park, Skeena Mountains, British Columbia, Canada by Carr Clifton. Beyond and out of sight are Kinaskan, Tatogga, Eddontenajon, Kluachon, Ealue, Kluea, Todagin, and Black Lakes. (Click image to see larger.)
The corporations proposing the development of the Sacred Headwaters, as well as other mines and natural gas fracking elsewhere, often claim keeping oil development in North America is good for jobs. Davis disagrees:
Shell’s coal bed methane extraction proposal of over 10 million acres, would result in hundreds, probably thousands of wellheads connected by multiple pipelines. That system, once in place, would be virtually automated. This is not about job creation. That’s just a red herring. Even if you look at the Golden Bear Gold Mine owned by Goldcorp, Inc, that is now exhausted, but operated in Tahltan territory for a decade, they extracted $25 billion worth of gold and silver. In the Iskut community, none of the infrastructure improved. A few people have hockey rinks or swimming pools, but there is still no fund for the kids to go to school, no health center and so on.
Shell used the jobs ploy to help obtain approval in the U.S. for the lower half of the Keystone XL Pipeline. The company represents itself in the media as becoming more socially conscious, but spends millions annually to defeat clean energy legislation, said a Natural Resource Defense Council press release. In 2002, Shell moved toward being greener by buying Siemens Solar, the largest manufacturer of solar panels in the world. Rather than staying involved in the solar industry, Shell sold its solar manufacturing division in 2006. Shell is also presently suing 12 environmental groups including NRDC and Earthjustice over proposed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
“Shell has never commercially produced coal bed methane in British Columbia, not to mention in salmon-bearing ecosystems or vulnerable alpine environments,” said Shannon McPhail, Executive Director of Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition. “I don’t think the Sacred Headwaters and our wild salmon should be their guinea pigs.”
Tahltan Nation Briefly Divided, but Ultimately Standing United in Evicting Shell, Fortune Minerals, Imperial Metals and All Other Industrial Development
Davis tells the story of how a split in the Tahltan Nation led to the threats of mining and fracking on tribal lands. A construction company called the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation, founded in 1985 by Jerry Asp, stood to gain from industrial development by building the necessary roads and other improvements. Jerry Asp through deception got himself elected chief of the Tahltan and welcomed in Shell and other corporations. The Tahltan had to withstand lawsuits by Shell, remove Asp from office and set up a blockade to keep Shell out of their lands. The Tahltan have been largely alone in the fight, but because of the continued efforts of iLCP photographers, Davis and groups such as the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, Big Wild, Forest Ethics, the Suzuki Foundation and many others, momentum shifted before time ran out.
Sunrise and Rainbow Over The Headwaters of the Skeena River, Skeena Mountains, in the heart of the Sacred Headwaters, British Columbia, Canada by Carr Clifton. (Click image to see larger.)
Spearheading the campaign’s momentum, The Sacred Headwaters remained on the Canadian bestseller lists for over a dozen weeks, a remarkable result for a $50 large format photography book. Davis is known in Canada as a “real-life Indiana Jones,” though he is less of a swashbuckler and more a poetic writer, humanitarian, researcher and naturalist. He speaks to sold-out venues wherever he tours to support his most recent bestsellers. His meticulously researched Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest also came out in 2011 as Sacred Headwaters did. The Everest account also quickly became a national bestseller both in Canada and the US.
A reader of Davis’ Sacred Headwaters narrative does not so much begin to read, as dive into the fast-moving current of a river of ideas already established in his other bestselling books including The Serpent and the Rainbow, One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rainforest, The Lost Amazon, The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World, Light at the Edge of the World, Passage of Darkness, Rainforest, The Clouded Leopard: Travels to Landscapes of Spirit and Desire, Nomads of the Dawn, River Notes and many others. In his research and reporting on native cultures around the globe, he had already excavated a rich channel of knowledge and stories about the loss of native languages, herbal medicines, healing and customs under the advance of cultural domination. In Into the Silence, about the British first attempt to conquer of Mount Everest, Davis obtains a certain redemption by both chiding imperialism and making the compassionate realization that it is still within him, that it came from a less evolved self, his forefathers, our ancestors. In The Sacred Headwaters, he gave the Tahltan natives an opportunity to raise their own voices against economic imperialism as well, in addition to the many photographers and other collaborators he brought on board.
The combination not only worked as a book project, it also became the linchpin of a successful conservation campaign. By the end of December 2012, the Canadian Government, Shell Oil, and the Tahltan Central Council announced protection of the Sacred Headwaters from all oil and gas prospecting and drilling. In 2013 the British Columbia Liberal Party included a “Protection Plan for the Sacred Headwaters” in its election platform. Once the BC Liberal Government won the election, they succumbed to pressure and allowed Fortune Minerals a permit to continue coal exploration in the Sacred Headwaters. However, in July 2013, the Tahltan Central Council passed a unanimous resolution to protect their homeland from all industrial development. In August of that year, Tahltan community members gave Fortune Minerals an eviction notice from their exploration camp and blockaded their road access. In 2015, the Tahltan also blockaded Imperial Metals’ Red Chris Mine access on Todagin Mountain above Ealue Lake. Wade Davis’ lodge home and the sacred earth of the Tahltan are safe for now, but the threats will continue. My father, Philip Hyde, once said, “Environmental battles are never victorious. They have to be fought and won over and over and can be lost only once.”
For the announcement of Carr Clifton’s largest Sacred Headwaters Exhibition see the blog post, “Carr Clifton at Mountain Light Gallery.”
To read a guest feature by Paul Colangelo about his work in The Sacred Headwaters, the original iLCP RAVE and how NANPA, or North American Nature Photography Association honored him with the prestigious Philip Hyde Grant in 2010 see the guest blog post, “Big Wild, iLCP RAVE Sacred Headwaters by Paul Colangelo.”
Posted in Reviews
Tags: Alaska Ansel Adams Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Big Wild Brian Huntington British Columbia Canada Carr Clifton Claudio Contreras David Brower Ealue Lake Eliot Porter environmental Everglades National Park fine art photography Florian Schulz Forest Ethics Gary Fiegehen Glen Canyon Grand Canyon International League of Conservation Photographers Joe Riis John Muir landscape photography Martin Litton Modern Environmentalism mountain landscapes Nancy Newhall NANPA Nass River National Geographic North America North Cascades National Park Paul Colangelo Philip Hyde Redwood National Park Roadless Area Sacred Headwaters Sarah Leen Serengeti of the North Sierra Club Sierra Club Books Exhibit Format Series Skeena River Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition Stewart-Cassiar Highway Stikine River Suzuki Foundation Tahltan First Nation Tom Peschak Wade Davis wilderness Yosemite National Park
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EuroCham launches 10th edition of Whitebook in Hanoi
Friday, March 16, 2018 18:00
The European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) released the 10th edition of the Whitebook in Hanoi on March 15.
At the launching ceremony of the 10th edition of Whitebook (Photo: VNA)
The Whitebook is a collective expression of the views of EuroCham’s members on specific aspects of the business environment in Vietnam. The information and views put forward in the Whitebook are solely intended to promote a constructive dialogue and offer recommendations to the Vietnamese government for the improvement of European – Vietnamese business relations.
Speaking at the launching ceremony, EuroCham President Gellert Horvath said the new edition of the Whitebook was released on the occasion of the 20th founding anniversary of EuroCham.
He added that 2018 is a special year for EU-Vietnam relations as the two sides are preparing for the enforcement of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), which is expected to take effect this year.
The Whitebook includes a chapter on the EVFTA highlighting its significance to businesses and governments, he revealed.
Ambassador Bruno Angelet, Head of the EU Delegation to Vietnam, said the EU is a big investor in Vietnam, while Vietnam is a strategic partner of EU.
Vietnam remains an attractive market to the EU and a big exporter to the union with high-quality products, he said, adding that the Southeast Asian country has grown to become a middle-income nation.
This year will open up a new cooperation framework for the EU and Vietnam, Angelet said, noting that the EU could help Vietnam to achieve sustainable economic growth.
The diplomat expressed his confidence that the EVFTA will help promote the bilateral relations in the foreseeable future.
The recommendations in the Whitebook 2018 will create favourbale business environment for the two sides and ensure the effective implementation of the EVFTA, he added.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue showed his delight at the growth of EuroCham from 60 members in 1998 to nearly 1,000 members at present, saying that the figure demonstrated that Vietnam is an open market with numerous investment opportunities.
The Vietnamese government has gained a lot of benefits from the development of EuroCham, he said, adding that the government has always acknowledged the recommendations from EuroCham members over the past 10 years and is willing to take measures in the short, medium and long terms to meet their proposals, including the EVFTA.
He noted that with the support of businesses, the two sides concluded negotiations on the EVFTA in December 2015, then finalised legal revision procedures.
There are some technical issues that need to exchange more, however, with the will and determination of both sides, such matters will be addressed soon so that the agreement could be officially signed and approved this year, he said.
With two-way trade increasing to over 50 billion USD in 2017 from just 4 billion USD in 2000 and thousands of EU investment projects in Vietnam, the Deputy PM believed that the new, high-quality and comprehensive trade agreement will help optimise potential and bring the bilateral relations to a new height.
The signing and ratification of the EVFTA will deliver an important message to the world about the two sides’ determination to create and maintain an open environment for trade and investment, he added.
The two sides had done all possible things to build a comprehensive and high-quality agreement, meeting expectations of their businesses, Hue said.
He voiced his hope that EuroCham will actively push on the ratification of the EVFTA in EU nations to bring it into force as soon as possible.
The Vietnamese government will accelerate technical and necessary procedures according to the country’s regulations to speed up the signing, ratification and implementation of the EVFTA, he affirmed.
The pact is an important part in Vietnam’s international economic integration strategy, the Deputy PM stressed.
Along with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) signed by Vietnam and 10 other countries on March 8, 2018, the EVFTA demonstrates Vietnam’s determination to maintain a transparent, open, and friendly environment to foreign investors and obeying fundamental principles of the multilateral trade system, he noted.
European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) 10th edition Whitebook EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA)
Ca Mau looks to earn US$ 1.2 bln from aquatic exports
Taiwan’s tea chain Ten Ren's exits from Vietnam
Government encourages project to export one million of chicken per week
Solar power capacity hits 4,464 MWs
Japan invests nearly US$58 billion in Vietnam
Vietnamese rice exporters look for new markets
Credit institutions warned about P2P lending
Leather product, footwear exports likely to fetch US$ 21.5 billion
Vietnam's textile and garment industry has great opportunities in US
Work begins on new inland container depot in Binh Phuoc
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PM requests active preparation for key socio-economic tasks in 2018
VNS Saturday, December 02, 2017 13:59
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc underlined the importance of building a resolution on key socio-economic tasks and plans in 2018 at a cabinet meeting in Hanoi on Friday.
Oil drilling platforms of PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Service Corporation in Vietnamese territorial waters. In the 11 months to date, industrial production increased, according to figures announced at a cabinet meeting in Hanoi on Friday. (Photo: VNA/V
The Government leader said there is only a month left in 2017 and the workload is still very heavy.
The PM requested ministries, departments and localities to follow objectives outlined by the 12th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), the conclusion of CPV General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and the National Assembly’s Resolution on socio-economic development in 2018.
He asked cabinet members to consider solutions to prevent corruption and wastefulness along with issues relating to culture, security and national defence.
He also expressed concern over the unsynchronised political system and called for positive changes at the grassroots level.
In November, Vietnam suffered from devastating natural disasters, including typhoon Damrey that wreaked havoc across nine central localities, especially Khanh Hoa and Phu Yen.
The storm killed 45 people and damaged property, he noted, asking ministries, sectors, organisations and localities to continue to support the disaster’s victims. Meanwhile, the PM pointed out that in November and the first 11 months of this year, the macro-economy remained stable, with inflation controlled and economic balance ensured.
The consumer price index rose 0.13 percent in November and 3.14 percent in January-November. In the 11 months industrial production increased, with a 17.2 percent rise recorded in November, while total goods and services revenue increased 10.7 percent year on year.
Foreign arrivals reached 1.17 million in November, pushing the total figure this year to 11.65 million, up 27.8 percent against the same period last year.
At the same time, foreign investment hit US$19.8 billion, up 52 percent, along with $33.1 billion of capital to purchase shares in State-owned enterprises, a rise of 23.4 percent. Notably, exports grew to hit nearly $194 billion, up 21 percent, with the highest rise recorded in agricultural products such as vegetables (43.2 percent), rubber (38.9 percent), cashew (23.2 percent) and seafood (16.2 percent).
The country enjoyed a $2.8 billion trade surplus, noted PM Phuc.
Total budget collection recorded impressive growth at 14.2 percent, he added.
The Prime Minister highlighted that 116,000 new enterprises were set up in the 11 months, with the figure likely to hit 120,000 for the year.
Promises to voters should be upheld
During the meeting, PM Phuc urged cabinet members to uphold their promises to the National Assembly and voters and implement the NA’s resolutions.
He warned that ministries, sectors and localities should not feel satisfied with positive socio-economic achievements in the period from January to November and must continue better implementing their tasks, such as addressing the consequences of floods and storms and disbursing public funds.
The PM noted that drastic and comprehensive actions are needed in December 2017 and early 2018 to help storm-ravaged communities.
He stressed the need to intensify the fight against corruption, wastefulness and wrongdoing; focus more on social and cultural development; promote social equality and improve people’s living conditions; protect the environment and adapt to climate change; strengthen national defence and security and enhance the effectiveness of external affairs and international integration.
The PM asked the State Bank of Vietnam to keep a close watch on the currency, credit, interest and exchange rate market to make timely adjustments.
He noted that the electricity price increase has little influence on the CPI. He requested relevant sectors closely follow prices and the market and ensure sufficient supply of goods and services particularly during the year end month and New Year (Tet) holidays.
PM Phuc requested ministries, sectors and localities to strictly implement the roadmap for divestment at state-owned enterprises, especially at Sabeco, Habeco and other major businesses.
He also asked the Ministry of Public Security to investigate and settle recent cases of child abuse.
Ministers face the press
At a press conference following the meeting yesterday, ministers faced a barrage of questions on the EU’s ‘yellow card’ warning on Vietnamese seafood, the rise in electricity prices, controversies surrounding toll booths and other pressing issues.
Agriculture Minister Vu Van Tam said that of the nine demands made by the EU to lift the warning on Vietnamese seafood over illegal and unregulated fishing, there are three that needed more attention.
The first one was ensuring a legal framework and institution in line with international norms. These have been “incorporated as much as possible” into the amended Law on Fisheries newly approved by the National Assembly.
Tám said the agriculture ministry is also doing its best to issue guiding documents and decrees to ease the implementation of the law.
Secondly, on improving the capacity of State management and compliance by the fishermen, Tam said: “This is one of our worst weaknesses and cannot be resolved anytime soon, but the most urgent measures will certainly be carried out.”
Thirdly, steps were being taken to raise further the awareness of the political system, fishermen, and businesses on illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, he said.
On the sudden increase in electricity prices effective this month, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Do Thang Hai, said that electricity prices or prices of essential goods have “always received special attention from the government” as they have significant influence over macroeconomic aspects like Consumer Price Index (CPI) to microeconomic aspects like input-output costs and people’s livelihoods.
Hải said that since 2015 March, electricity prices had remained constant while production costs had risen considerably, prompting the latest price adjustment.
He said that the 6.08 percent increase would only pump CPI in 2017 by a marginal 0.08 percent and in 2018 by 0.1 percent.
He also said that in order to set up a transparent electricity pricing mechanism, the ministry has established a working group comprising representatives of the Finance and Labour ministries, the National Assembly, the Việt Nam Chamber of Industry and Commerce, as well as reputed international audit organisations.
Answering questions about the ongoing protests against the Cai Lay toll booth in the southern province of Tien Giang by drivers unhappy about the high toll fees and inappropriate location of the booth, Transport Deputy Minister Nguyen Nhat said an August inspection had revealed no faults in this project’s investment.
He also criticised “extreme drivers” who have intentionally sabotaged the traffic and caused severe jams and delays, and said that the Government would try to not let this situation go on for long or be repeated in other BOT projects across the country.
PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc key socio-economic tasks General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong
PM urges ministries to avoid power cuts
Vietnam pledges support for Singaporean investments: PM
80 percent of State-owned economic groups earn profits
Landslide displaces 5 families; 7 houses at risk
Vietnamese tourists stuck due to landslides in Nepal taken to capital
Top legislator’s China visit gives boost to bilateral partnership
Hanoi submits dossier to join UNESCO Creative Cities Network
Vietnamese NA Chairwoman meets top Chinese Party and State leader
Switzerland wishes to speed up negotiation between Vietnam and EFTA
NA leader meets head of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference
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Oscars: Factoids
NewsMorgan Rees
Oscars: fun facts about Hollywood’s biggest awards show
Lights, camera, Oscar!
1. It cost peanuts to attend the first Academy Awards
The Oscars are Hollywood’s glitziest and most exclusive star-studded event, but the very first ceremony in 1929 was a private affair held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel – and a ticket cost just $5.
(Sorry Oscar buffs: The awards show is still a private event, and tickets are not available for sale to the public.)
2. The Academy Award trophy has an official name – and a mysterious nickname
Everyone knows the statuette as “Oscar,” but it actually has an official name: Academy Award of Merit.
So how did it get to be called Oscar? According to the Academy, the origin story can’t be confirmed, but it’s widely believed that the trophy received its nickname from Academy librarian Margaret Herrick, who said that the little gold man looked like her Uncle Oscar.
The Daily News also has a connection to naming the famous statuette: The News' Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky was the first person to refer to the award as an Oscar while covering the 1934 ceremony, writing that Katharine Hepburn was not present to "receive her Oscar." In his 1975 memoir "Don't Get Me Wrong, I Love Hollywood," the columnist claimed he was the one to give the statuette its' nickname, which he said he based on the vaudeville joke line, “Will you have a cigar, Oscar?”
3. The Academy likes to hand out fake Oscars before the show
Prior to the Oscars, rehearsals are held where celebs show up to practice their lines, announce the winner and present an award.
Five sets of dummy envelopes with each nominee’s name is prepared to be used during the rehearsals. And since there are dummy envelopes, there are also dummy Oscars made of plaster to hand out to the “winners.” (For those curious to take a peek, producer Neil Meron tweeted a photo of the fake awards from this year’s rehearsals.)
4. The Oscars red carpet showcases the event’s history
For the past 14 years, the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles has hosted the Academy Awards, which seats 3,400 people. All of them will walk the show’s red carpet to reach the venue, which stretches a whopping 500 feet (beating out the Golden Globes’ red carpet, which extends to around 437 feet).
To spotlight the event’s long-running history, the red carpet is flanked by two pillars that bear the name of every Best Picture winner since the show’s inception. Incredibly, there’s enough room for the Academy to keep adding winners through 2071.
5. Want to be a seat filler? Too bad!
The only way for a regular Joe to score a seat to the Oscars is to work as a seat filler. But even then, he or she can’t be that “regular”: According to a seat-filler who worked at the 2003 show, the only way to score the (unpaid) gig is to know someone who works at the Academy or to be an employee of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm entrusted with tallying the votes.
6. Bob Hope is the Oscar emcee for the ages
Legendary entertainer Bob Hope holds the record for hosting the most Academy Awards, having emceed 19 ceremonies between 1940 and 1978. Hope began hosting prior to when the show was televised, and closed out his run on Oscar’s 50th anniversary.
On the opposite spectrum, this year’s host Jimmy Kimmel hopes to avoid the One and Done Club, the celebs who haven’t been asked back to host after their first time. Stars who have membership in this dubious club include Chris Rock, Seth MacFarlane, Anne Hathaway, James Franco and “Crocodile Dundee” star Paul Hogan.
7. Oscar winners used to be announced in advance of the ceremony
In the early days, the Academy kept a lid on the results, making an exception for newspapers so that that they could publish the list of winners at 11 p.m. on the night of the event.
Then The Los Angeles Times published the results in advance of the 1940 awards show, spoiling the winners before the ceremony got underway. The Academy responded the following year by sealing the results in envelopes, with their content kept secret until they are opened on stage.
8. There’s a contingency plan if the wrong winner is announced on stage
Remember those folks from PricewaterhouseCoopers? As part of being the only people on the planet who know the results prior to the show, the firm’s partners memorize the winners in all 24 categories. So if the wrong person is announced as the winner, they are authorized to go out onstage and stop the show. (Luckily, this has not yet happened at the awards show to date.)
9. The Oscar weighs more than you think
When someone wins an Academy Award for the first time, the winner usually comments on heavy the statuette feels. There’s a reason for this: It stands at 13.5 inches and weighs 8.5 pounds. To give some perspective, clutching an Oscar feels like holding a gallon of milk.
10. The Academy Awards was robbed – literally
When a front-runner loses the Academy Award, there are often cries that he or she was “robbed.” But the Academy was actually robbed in 2000, when two men stole packing crates filled with 55 Oscar statuettes. All but three of the trophies were recovered after the crates were found in the trash. (The third one was eventually discovered by FBI agents during a drug investigation three years later.)
For the original Post please visit:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/oscars-2015-10-fun-facts-hollywood-night-article-1.2123411
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Medicine and the Spanish Civil War
A historical survey of medicine in Spain during the Spanish Civil War
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 2002 March; 95(3): 147–150.
The Royal Society of Medicine
by Nicholas Coni, FRCP
The very moving exhibition ‘Dreams and Nightmares’ mounted by the Imperial War Museum from November 2001 until April 2002 reminds us all too appositely of the horrors of warfare. The loss of life suffered as a consequence of the Spanish Civil War has been estimated as perhaps half a million1 and the scale of mutilation and disease attributable to it was colossal. If the First World War was the first major war in which casualties inflicted by direct military action outnumbered those caused by disease2, the Spanish Civil War may well have been the first in which civilian losses exceeded those of combatants. One of the very few redeeming features of warfare may be that it can stimulate progress in various aspects of medicine and surgery. Although medical historians have cast doubt on this belief3, the Spanish Civil War may offer some support for it.
The uprising began with a military coup in which the Nationalist forces under General Francisco Franco soon gained control of sizeable areas of the country. The government (Republicans) responded by melding the militia columns into a popular army.
Apart from the army medical branch, which almost entirely supported the insurgents from the outset4, the majority of doctors continued to practise their profession wherever they happened to be located at the outbreak of hostilities, without distinguishing between the loyalties of their patients. A few were executed early in the proceedings—by the rebels because they were thought to be Freemansons, or by one or other of the government factions because they were thought to be Catholics. Some were called up, some volunteered, some continued in civilian practice, but the distinction between military and civilian medicine became very blurred: front-line army mobile hospitals accepted sick and wounded civilians, and wounded soldiers were often evacuated back to rearguard civilian hospitals5,6,7. Doctors not in uniform often found that the town in which they were working would fall to the opposing side, but victimization of this group was surprisingly uncommon in a war in which reprisals were swift and bloody: this was largely because of the impartial stance of the profession and the need for medical expertise.
BIAS IN SOURCES OF INFORMATION
In the UK the sympathies of the middle and working classes lay overwhelmingly with the various left-of-centre groups which comprised the Republic. This was generally true of English-speaking nations. Numerous writers and intellectuals were among those from all walks of life and from many countries who went to Spain to join the Republican army, in contrast to a minute number who, sometimes motivated by religious zeal, volunteered for the Nationalists. Among the former were many doctors and nurses, who often served with the International Brigades or with the ambulance units raised by the Spanish Medical Aid Committee or with the Republican army8,9,10. There was therefore no shortage of original papers, editorials, letters and news items sympathetic to the loyalists or written from a Republican perspective in the British journals. During 1936 to 1939, the British Medical Journal and The Lancet together carried some 56 such items, but only published 5 written from a Nationalist perspective and 7 which were neutral.
Although Germany and Italy lent massive support to Franco in terms of matériel and manpower, the German medical officers confined themselves to the treatment of their own nationals—probably because of the reluctance of the military junta to admit foreign medical workers8. There is an astonishing silence concerning the war in the principal German journal, Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift. Several memoirs indicate that medical practice in the Nationalist forces was very similar to that on the government side11,12, but the following account of some of the advances in medical practice emanating from the war relates almost entirely to the Republican side. This is not simply because of bias in the source of publication. In addition, Republicans experienced the first massive aerial bombardment of civilian populations; furthermore, Barcelona and Madrid, the two centres with the strongest traditions of scientific achievement in the country, remained in government hands until the closing stages of the war.
The four main areas in which medical science advanced during the Spanish Civil War are the treatment of wounds and injuries, the development of blood banks, medical diseases (especially in relation to malnutrition), and the organization of medical support to the armed forces.
INJURIES AND FRACTURES
The management of serious injuries is inescapably associated with the name of Josep Trueta Raspall, who at the outbreak of the war had just been appointed professor and head of a department of surgery at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona. In March 1938, Italian aircraft based in Mallorca bombed Barcelona every two hours for three days, and Trueta's hospital received 2200 casualties during this period; a single bombardment brought 300 casualties to another hospital in the space of fifteen minutes. Compound fractures of the long bones had previously been associated with appalling rates of gas gangrene, amputation and death. There were four main principles of the method devised by Trueta for their management.
* Prompt surgery: if at all possible, surgery should be performed within eight hours, so the organization of transport to surgical centres was vital. The surgery consisted of débridement, with bold excision of all dead, dying, contaminated, or damaged subcutaneous tissue and muscle but conservation of skin and bone where possible. The wound was exposed widely and left unsutured
* Cleansing the wound: this was done with soap and water and a nailbrush, a little tincture of iodine being applied to the skin. Although the war coincided with the introduction of sulphonamides, Trueta seems to have used sulphanilamide in only a minority of cases. These agents, he said, were never a substitute for good surgery
* Packing of wounds with dry, sterile gauze, and provision of drainage
* Reduction of fractures and immobilization in a plaster cast until union occurred. The cast was changed only if it became wet and soft or smelly (because of the smell, the patients were generally nursed on open balconies). Although it was only one of the planks of his ‘method’, the enclosure of the limb in plaster was the feature which attracted all the publicity.
The outcome in 1073 patients—only six deaths and 976 ‘good results’ in terms of limb conservation and function—was a dramatic improvement on any previous series13. This was subsequently the basis of Trueta's books The Treatment of War Wounds and Fractures and Principles and Practice of War Surgery. These generated considerable controversy including a question mark over the originality of his work. Earlier authors, however, had concentrated far more on the use of plaster than on débridement, had used the technique more for chronic osteomyelitis than for fractures, and had never achieved comparable results. His work was to revolutionize orthopaedic practice, and saved countless limbs and lives in the ensuing global conflict14.
With the fall of Catalonia in 1939, Trueta made the hazardous journey over the Pyrenees, and was lured to the UK from Perpignan for a ‘quick visit’ to advise on air-raid precautions. One of his first speaking engagements was at the Royal Society of Medicine on 14 July 1939 (in French). His visit lasted 28 years, 10 of them as professor of orthopaedic surgery in Oxford, until his return to Barcelona in 1967. His memoirs convey a flavour of medical life in his beleaguered city15.
Advances in blood transfusion have attracted less attention than those in traumatology, but are of no less importance. They too emerged from the bombing of Barcelona and Madrid and the fighting around Madrid and elsewhere. The Canadian communist surgeon Norman Bethune and the Reading general practitioner Reginald Saxton both did heroic work in making sure that blood was available for urgent use in Republican front-line hospitals and in administering it. But it was Trueta's fellow Catalan, Frederico Durán Jordá, who became seized of the crucial importance of large scale blood supplies from the outset of hostilities, and by the summer of 1938 he was in charge of a fine service in Barcelona with a list of some 14 000 donors, a figure which more than doubled by the end of the war. A total of some 9000 litres was collected during the course of the war, and the donors received certificates entitling them to extra food. Durán was able to test for syphilis and malaria, and even acquired an X-ray apparatus to avoid using people with tuberculosis as donors. The Lancet in 1939 drew attention to the ‘magnificent blood transfusion centres in Republican Spain... clearly a great advance on any system that has been advocated in this country’16. Durán's technique laid particular emphasis on an ampoule which he had designed to avoid a blood—air interface and thus to minimize the haemolysis due to the shaking which was unavoidable during transit17.
Like Trueta and innumerable others, Durán joined the ‘Catalan diaspora’ and moved to the UK to help organize the London transfusion centre. He then joined the staff of Ancoats Hospital as a laboratory technician: refugee doctors were received by the UK with the same cordiality in 1939 as they are in 2002. He later became a greatly loved and respected pathologist, and died in 1957 aged 52 of a blood dyscrasia.
Spain was at the time by no means in the forefront of the developed nations, and malaria seems to have been the main medical condition leading to admission to at least one frontline hospital5.
Nevertheless, there seem to have been surprisingly few major outbreaks of disease until late in the war. The 4000 Basque children who disembarked in Southampton in 1937 as refugees from the insurgents were remarkably free from malnutrition or disease other than body lice18. But after the fall of Barcelona, the health of the population of Catalonia was dire, with widespread nutritional deficiencies. By this time, the suffering was almost equally severe in Madrid, with 300-400 deaths from starvation daily. Useful studies were conducted in over 3000 cases of nutritional deficiency by Grande Covián in Madrid during 1937-3919,20. He noted that nicotinic acid was very effective for the cerebral manifestations of pellagra, and that the paraesthesia—causalgia syndrome caused by thiamine deficiency (later to be termed ‘burning feet’ by European prisoners of the Japanese during the Second World War) was very common. He also recorded the paraplegic condition known as lathyrism, which affected impoverished families who subsisted on gruel prepared from flour derived from peas of the genus Lathyrus. Scurvy never became prevalent because of the availability of oranges.
As already noted, the first antimicrobial agents, the sulphonamides, became available during this conflict. The Lancet noted that the head of Republican surgery, d'Harcourt, had used sulphanilamide with success in a small series of cases of septicaemia secondary to wounds for which nothing further could be done in the way of surgical treatment21,22. The randomized controlled trial would not evolve for another ten years.
The former professor of psychiatry in Barcelona, E Mira, gave a lecture in the psychology laboratory in Cambridge in 1939 in which he described some fairly brutal treatments for ‘hysterical fits with a selfish purpose’23. But his approach compared favourably in humanity with that of some British military psychiatrists during the First World War and seems to have been mirrored by Nationalist army psychiatrists24.
ORGANIZATION OF MILITARY MEDICAL SERVICES
Similar patterns seem to have developed on the two sides, with evacuation taking place from the battalion first-aid posts, via the divisional or regimental aid posts to the frontline hospitals known as hospitales de sangre; these were the precursors of the mobile army surgical hospitals later used by the US Army in Korea, and they undertook a great deal of emergency surgery as well as triage5,6,7. Patients not taken to theatre, and many of those recovering afterwards, were evacuated to the rearguard hospital, which was either a newly established military hospital or a preexisting civilian establishment. It was claimed by a surgeon who worked on both sides that the Republicans had the better surgeons but the Nationalists organized transport more effectively so that the wounded arrived in better condition—also, that the Nationalists deployed field vascular surgical teams to secure haemostasis, with the same objective25. The Spanish army in Morocco also seems to have pioneered the use of air ambulances during the 1920s, subsequently used by both sides during the Civil War and then by Allied and German airforces during the Second World War.
Medical activity flourished in the comparatively liberal atmosphere of the great Republican cities during the Civil War. Nationalist medicine, on the other hand, made very little impact in terms of scientific publications, despite the fact that the insurgents ultimately prevailed. Traumatology and transfusion medicine were beneficiaries of the suffering inflicted by Nationalist bombers. The Nationalist zone encompassed the major food-producing regions of the country, so that the government-held regions were more vulnerable to starvation, which facilitated nutritional studies. Finally, Madrid and Barcelona were firmly entrenched as the leading centres of Spanish scientific endeavour.
1. Thomas H. The Spanish Civil War, 3rd edn. London: Penguin/Hamish Hamilton, 1977.
2. Cooter R. War and modern medicine. In: Bynum WF, Porter R, eds. Companion Encyclopaedia of the History of Medicine. London: Routledge, 1993.
3. Deutsch A. Some wartime influences on health and welfare institutions in the United States. J History Med Allied Sci 1946;1: 318-29.
4. Anon. The war in Spain. BMJ 1939;i: 68.
5. Medical Diary of a Campaign Hospital, 1938. Valencia: Museum of Military History.
6. de Gregorio Jabato JL. Surgery in the Spanish Civil War [Doctoral thesis]. Madrid: Autonomous University of Madrid, 1992.
7. Garcia-Sabell D, ed. Los Médicos y la Medicina en la Guerra Civil Española. Madrid: Laboratorios Beecham, 1986.
8. Fyrth J. The Signal was Spain. London: Lawrence & Wishart 1986.
9. Anonymous. War surgery in Spain. Lancet 1939;i: 223-4.
10. Sinclair-Loutit K. An ambulance in Spain. Lancet 1936;ii: 1295-6.
11. Scott-Ellis P. The Chances of Death. Norwich: Michael Russell, 1995.
12. Mazo Burón L. Hospital de sangre de retaguardia. In: Garcia-Sabell D, ed. Los Médicos y la Medicina en la Guerra Civil Española. Madrid: Laboratorios Beecham, 1986.
13. Trueta J. ‘Closed’ treatment of war fractures: Lancet 1939;i: 1452-5.
14. Cid F. La Contribució Científica Catalana a la Medicina i Cirurgia de Guerra. Barcelona: Fundació Uriach, 1996.
15. Trueta J. Trueta—Surgeon in War and Peace. London: Gollancz, 1980.
16. Anonymous. The Barcelona blood transfusion services. Lancet 1939;i: 768.
17. Durán Jordá F. The Barcelona blood transfusion service. Lancet 1939;i: 773-5.
18. Maurice Williams HC. Four thousand Basque children. Lancet 1937;i: 383.
19. Grande Covián F. Deficiencias vitamínicas en Madrid durante la Guerra Civil. In: Garcia-Sabell D, ed. Los Médicos y la Medicina en la Guerra Civil Española. Madrid: Laboratorios Beecham, 1986.
20. Grande Covián F. Nutrition research in Spain. In: Rolander-Chilo B ed. International Research in Nutrition. Oxford: Pergamon, 1979.
21. Anonymous. Sulphanilamide and war wounds. Lancet 1939;i: 740.
22. Estelles Salarich J. La sanidad del ejercito republicano del centro. In: Garcia-Sabell D, ed. Los Médicos y la Medicina en la Guerra Civil Española. Madrid: Laboratorios Beecham, 1986.
23. Mira E. Psychiatric experience in the Spanish War. BMJ 1939;i: 1217-20.
24. Rojas Ballesteros L. Algunas notas de psiquiatría militar de la guerra Española. Acta Española Neurol Psiquiátr 1941;1: 35-49.
25. Zumel MF. Cirugía de guerra. In: Garcia-Sabell D, ed. Los Médicos y la Medicina en la Guerra Civil Española. Madrid: Laboratorios Beecham, 1986.
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UT Health Science Center Library > Uncategorized > Image of Research 2019
Image of Research 2019
2019 Image of Research Photography Competition Rules, Guidelines, and Details
Briscoe Library’s 2nd Annual Image of Research Photography Competition is an opportunity for UT Health San Antonio students from all five schools to capture, share, and present the essence of their research in a single visual image. This competition and its accompanying exhibition showcase students’ creative visual conceptualization of their research.
Individual Submission Form
Group Submission Form
Submission opens: February 18, 2019
Submission deadline: March 18, 2019
Announcement of the winners will occur at the end of March and there will be a reception and awards ceremony in April.
First Place: $400
Second Place: $300
Third Place: $200
IPE Award: $600
A multidisciplinary panel of judges will select one first, second, and third place winner, with a separate award for the Interprofessional Education category.
Entrants must accept the contest terms to be eligible for awards.
Awards will be presented at the awards ceremony and reception in April.
All images will be printed and displayed at Briscoe Library throughout the duration of the competition, at the awards ceremony, and after the competition.
Click here to view the winners from 2018.
Who can submit?
Entries can be submitted by all current UT Health San Antonio students, residents, and fellows. Individual and group entries are welcome.
Students may submit as individuals even if they are part of a research group.
Multiple students from the same research group may also submit as individuals, as long as they use their own photograph/image.
A group entry should consist of two or more students working on the same project. A separate award will be given for an Interprofessional Education category (two or more students from at least two different disciplines).
Click here for the Individual Submission Form.
Click here for the Group Submission Form.
What should the image be?
The image should represent students’ research, whether concrete or abstract. The submission will also include a brief narrative that articulates the connection between the image and your research. Your narrative should be written in a clear, concise manner that captures the attention and imagination of both specialists and general audiences.
The image, while in the format of still photography, may depict 2D, mixed media, or 3D content. Animation and/or video content is outside the scope of this competition and will not be accepted.
While all students at UT Health San Antonio perform research throughout their academic career, research takes place in multiple settings and is framed in a diverse manner. Broadly speaking, research is an iterative process that involves asking questions, seeking answers from multiple information sources, and remaining open to new or contradictory ideas. The way research and the research process are defined frequently vary by discipline. Image of Research welcomes submissions from novice to advanced researchers in any discipline reflecting any stage in the research process in any research that you’re involved with in some capacity.
The submission will be judged on three criteria:
Visual Impact
Connection between image, text, and research
Individual and group entries will be judged together to determine one first place, one second place, and one third place winner. A separate award will be given to one group entry for the Interprofessional Education category (a group of students from two or more disciplines).
The entrant must be principal creator of the image. Third party content can be used (for example, mixed with other content), but submitting a third party image unaltered is not permitted. Entrants are responsible for ensuring that any use of images or materials that are under copyright by a third party either falls under fair use or that relevant permissions have been sought, that no copyright has been infringed, and that any necessary release forms have been signed.
What is required for submission?
A title of less than 100 characters
A 100-200 word narrative that articulates the connection between the image and your research.
Images should be of the best quality and must meet the following requirements:
Maximum file size of 50 MB.
Minimum resolution of 300 ppi.
Image must be in JPEG, PNG, or other image file format.
Submissions that fail to meet these criteria may need to be changed.
Please keep in mind that all submissions will be printed and mounted for display and may be used for other functions in print or digital format.
If people other than yourself are present in your image, please provide a Model Authorization Release Form for each subject with your submission.
Download the Model Authorization Release Form here.
You must agree to the following license agreement that allows the University to display and provide access to your image:
I am entering a submission to The UT Health San Antonio Libraries’ Image of Research Photography Competition. For purposes of this Release, my Work consists of: my submission; title and description of my submission; my name; and my biographical material. I do hereby grant The UT Health San Antonio Libraries, and those acting pursuant to its authority, a royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable license to:
to reproduce the Work in copies;
to prepare derivative works based upon the Work;
to distribute copies of the Work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual Works, to perform the Work publicly;
in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic Works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual Work, to display the Work publicly; and
in the case of sound recordings, to perform the Work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.
I warrant that to the best of my knowledge my Work does not infringe any copyright, invade any right of privacy, or infringe or violate any other right of any person or entity. I further indemnify and hold harmless The UT Health San Antonio Libraries and its licensees, agents and assigns from any claim, suit, damage, loss or expense (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of any breach or alleged breach of any of the foregoing warranties and representations.
For any questions, please contact Kirsten Lorenzen – lorenzenk@uthscsa.edu
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Her Pimp, My Nemesis
Posted by H in her, me, them
I think that he's the one person I have actually troubles to deal with.
Not really because he calls late at night when he needs her and she's on call, but because:
A) he's also her drug dealer;
B) he'd like to fuck her.
C) she doesn't want me to meet him, and she doesn't want him to know I exist.
Bottom line I have a hard time trusting that guy when it comes to her safety.
The first point is a bit annoying for me. I don't do drugs. I am pro-legalization though, when it comes to light/soft drugs.
I'm less lenient on harder drugs, mostly because of the lack of control.
The funny thing, I have several friends working for enforcement agencies in different countries. The consensus is the same in most of them: don't go after the soft-drugs dealers. Because if you do, all the occasional drug consumers might fall into the hard ones, and boost their proliferation.
G. occasionally does Marijuana, which I'm OK with it. Not my trip, but really nothing against it, as long as it's not on a too regular basis.
I'm more concerned on cocaine, which she does too, on a less regular basis. Considering she has only a few providers for this, who go way back, I'm not too worried about the quality, but I've seen friends get down on their knees with that one. Metaphorically and literally.
And in a really rare occasions, she'd do ecstasy. Which she doesn't like, but just uses to socialize.
She's tried heroin once, had a fun trip, and never did it again.
I'm not too concerned about her drug habits, as she's definitely not on the path towards addiction, but having lost friends to these, I know they can come fast and hit you hard, in a really sneaky way.
And that her pimp is providing her with cocaine for free occasionally bugs me a little, I have to admit. Because that apparently doesn't pose a problem for him, and I don't want this to become too regular.
And I find it a bit dismissive too, like he's just throwing it at her.
You're depressed ? Let's have a line.
You feel tired ? Let's have a line.
Actually that's the first time she told me about him. Before I knew she was an escort, and he was her pimp. Just a friend, she said. Who buys drinks and offers cocaine, sometimes, and that she used to go out to meet when he called after 11pm, just for a drink. And she'd come back around 4 or 5.
Yeah, that kind of triggered the doubt, I have to say. Of course.
The second issue, well, that she would fuck him doesn't really matter to me, if she wants too. The thing is she doesn't really want too, but he tries to get it from her in exchange of him helping her out when she's in trouble.
She doesn't want to because she doesn't find him attractive and because she can't get around doing it with her boss.
(I know some people reading this blog will still argue that whether you find the guy attractive or not, you can still have fun. True, but you might still not want to do it at first. And secondly, I don't necessarily believe, like a commenter said, that when someone goes down on you you won't resist. I think mood is important, both for guys and girls. In the end it might work, but the lengths you have to go through speak for themselves and make the statement of the other's will in this case.)
Though, she said he's not a bad person, and actually from what she said he seems fairly OK. Right, he wants to do her, is a pimp and a junkie. He's high all the time and can't remember what the hell he talked about a few hours ago. But he doesn't force her. At least not directly, though trying to exercise pressure over someone is pretty much the same.
For the moment I just convince myself I shouldn't care. It seems natural that he takes care of his employees, and occasionally providing some entertainment is actually not that uncommon a practice in the business world, so I see no reason why it wouldn't apply in this one. You take the employees out to dinner after a hard month, or a hard rush. You give out free stuff, paid holidays and trips after a good year.
Then of course I also have a problem with the fact that he's a part of the whole industry, one of the gears in motion that make all this mess go round. But that too is not an uncommon fact.
Still, something in the guy makes me dislike him without really knowing him, and I don't like this feeling too much, because I'm usually quite indifferent.
If she wants to do him, fine. It's just sex.
I think I'm more worried about a more sneaky way of passive manipulation. Something that establishes itself over a few years. I think I don't like him because I recognize the tricks: when someone slowly prepares the field, booby-traps it, and puts cards up his sleeves. To be be sure he can have some recourse later and have you where he wants to.
The third issue is not really an issue, it is just something I did not really understand at first.
Well of course, when I didn't know she was an escort, there were those times where she would say that she had plans with friends and cancel them to be with me (then why not all meet together ? I won't bite them I promise... unless I really have to but I haven't done that since kindergarten I guess, so we should go through the night alright), and then that it would be nice if we could not hang out too long on the streets in the area so that they wouldn't see her. Hmmm? Yeah. Right...
After I knew the truth, and of course that she just didn't want anyone to see her because she had canceled a job or refused to take a call pretending to be sick or having her period or something (btw, having your period every 2 weeks is definitely fishy... doubt they buy it...but on the other it's also normal to give fake excuses in most business. No Mr Y, I can't do this right now, I'm really still busy on the file for the case W), she still wouldn't want us to go out with him, or if we did (but never did, it could just have happened), then she didn't want me to be too "friendly" in front of him.
I didn't really get it. Escorts are not allowed to have real-life partners ? It diminishes their performance or their credibility ? Or he really has feelings for her and she doesn't want to hurt him ? She's definitely not sleeping with him, so what ? Well, the thing is, apparently she just doesn't want to turn him *completely* down and take away his hopes of doing her one day, and think that would do it. I kinda like the reasoning actually, that's an inversion of control which is always good to have. Though I doubt it's as dangerous as the one he has over her.
She's a big girl, has been in there for years and knows what she's doing, and has known this guy for quite a while. Considers him as good as a friend as he can possible be, and moderately reliable. Good for what is good at: contacts and favors for emergencies.
I guess I just lack the experience in politics to grasp how all this fits together.
When I think about it all, it's actually strange to notice how much I changed since my childhood. I thought I'd hate anyone coming out as a pimp, for what he does to other people. Of course, some of the girls do it because they just want to. So is he to blame ? Well, yeah, he is. He still provides the framework for the business, and that's why they come it him. But on the other hand, this framework is definitely safer than the street.
Some evils are necessary.
no says Tuesday, August 25, 2009 at 7:46:00 AM PDT
i was dating an escort and the same thing happend but the dude would knock her out with drugs and have sex with her then his buddies would join in they wouldnt use condoms and she would come home with serious amounts of semen in her and soaked panties at first it was kinda hot but over time he got her hooked on rock cocain and then started shooting her up with speedballs(coke and heroin mixed)she doesnt use condoms anymore and shes a mess now and has sex just for dope so watch out
Advent says Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 1:39:00 PM PDT
(Basing my comment on what i've read of your blog all the way up to "Her Pimp, My Nemesis. I haven't read anything past that yet).
Dont you watch movies like Taxi Driver, True Romance, Boondock Saints? The prostitutes are never treated with real good intentions, and no matter how much they act, it's still working an industry that is shady, morally wrong, and physically taxing. And nobody cares when a hooker dies in movies, sadly, but true. (No offense)
I don't know about you, but i would've been told my girlfriend this quote from Robert DeNiro when he said in Taxi Driver:
"Iris: God, you're square.
Travis Bickle: Hey, I'm not square, you're the one that's square. Your full of shit, man. What are you talking about? You walk out with those fuckin' creeps and low-lifes and degenerates out on the streets and you sell your little pussy for peanuts? For some low-life pimp who stands in the hall? And I'm square? You're the one that's square, man. I don't go screwing fuck with bunch of killers and junkies like you do. You call that bein' hip? What world are you from?"
I mean, don't you realize that escorts and prostitutes die often enough from overdose or other bs in dangerous situations? No one truly gives a rat's ass about hookers and escorts and that's probably why usually they're not in a relationship cuz that person(in your case you) actually cares about them and their safety! She really can't afford to take a decent bartending job? Those pay pretty well and you get to have fun, and the attention, but you don't risk STDs, drugs, and abuse.
I don't think running away from the problem and leaving her is the best course of action, but if it comes to that because she cannot think of another means of income to live, then don't live with too much regret. She's putting your life at risk too because she's exposed to herpes, and other STDs that can be transmitted by oral sex, anal, etc and you never know if the condoms they use ALWAYS 100% of the time work, and NEVER break. Why go through all that trouble unless you've got really low self-esteem and/or never envision a long-term, marriage to this girl. Even in those cases, you could find a relationship that is healthier and less nerve-racking.
At the end of the day, you have to dig deep down and decide what really draws you close to G. I mean, every man ultimately wants a girl that he can claim as his own, his partner, his other self aka. soul mate. Not saying you and G. are even close to those discussions, but what do you WANT from her? If it's the sex, then you can definitely get that from a girl with less baggage. And if so, wouldn't you want the sex with her to be something more meaningful than her saying that "she treats business sex as just an act, and turns off herself to complete the job, etc". I mean, how does she express love? By sharing a component of what we humans use to express love with other scumbags, or cocaine-drugged up rich losers with you, by having pity with you and cuddling with you?
The intimacy that you share with her, she also happens to share with a random stranger. Not making your relationship foundations very unique.
You both have good qualities in keeping things honest, and trying to be concerned for one another's well-being, but that's not enough to want to make your relationship one that will last a lifetime. Besides, this kind of thing degrades the natural and underlying important component of sex in a developing relationship.
If you're staying with her for her beautiful personality, then you should really consider that there are plenty more girls with great personalities that will not bring these kinds of risks with them.
If it's because you're lonely without her then you should re-evaluate yourself and why you are so dependent on her.
My E-Mail Problems
Our Week-End Away
Their Luck
My Worries
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Our Apologies
My Black Tuesday
Her Views on Polygamy
My Views on Polygamy
My Reality, Your Reality
My Jealousy
My Acceptance
Her Views on Prostitution
My Views on Prostitution
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Your Time to Come Forward
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Fifa 12 Preview- So What’s New?
September 29th, 2011 by Jon Brown
It takes a long-running series like this a lot of effort and time to really try and change things up. The Fast and Furious film franchise managed to do this in the summer, when they decided they wanted Fast Five to be more than just an endless string of drags races, held together with plot so thin you could use it for dental floss. Instead, they managed to add in plot and character development between drag races, and actually managed to produce the best sequel in the franchise. Okay the film still isn’t the best piece of cinema ever, but my point still stands.
Anyway, getting back to the game at hand here, EA seem to have had the same idea process when putting together this year’s addition to the Fifa franchise. Instead of just doing what they’ve done every year, focussing on the minor graphical up-grades and including unnecessary add-ons to the game, for Fifa 12 EA have gone all out, essentially rebuilding the core mechanics of the game from the ground up. This in turn has lead on to the graphics being improved, but this was not the focus, merely the by product.
Fifa 11 saw the Career mode added, which lets you deal with the game Football Manager style, and Fifa 12 builds on that by forcing you to deal with injured players, tabloid slurs and the bickering that comes with looking after what is essentially a pack of massively overpaid toddlers. Oh come on, I can appreciate the game, but I still don’t like football, and Fifa 12 won’t change that, sadly. So I want to focus on the three redesigned elements of the game that have taken this series to the next level- the overhauled precision dribbling mechanic, the revamped player impact engine, and a rejuvenated tactical defence system.
The player impact engine is the most interesting, and indeed obvious, of the Fifa 12′s new features. With it’s advanced procedural animation system, tied into highly accurate collision physics, means that every movement and reaction occurs in real-time. Players will never act the same twice, and depending on the size and power of the player involved in collisions, tackles and chases, different reactions will occur. This adds a huge layer of depth to the gameplay that has never before been seen in a Fifa game. AI players in the background will react and collide and bump into each other, not just the player you are controlling at the time, meaning the game feels less static as well. You cannot just focus on one player any more, you essentially have to be on guard for what any of the 22 players on the field could be doing.
The precision dribbling system now adds a greater sense of pace to the game as well. No longer do you simply sprint or stop, as many have found it before, but you can jog at a slower pace with just a flick of the left trigger. Once you are jogging along, you can get the ball ahead of you and the next defender, allowing you to then sprint around them and meet back up with the ball. The top left bumper button allows the precision ball control to happen, and all this links together wonderfully, creating a true sense of ball control not before seen in any other football game.
The new tactical defence system sees you being able to put pressure on an opposing player when they have the ball, to try and get them to mess up, and also be able to defend yourself when you have AI players coming at you when you are on the ball. You can draw in your opponents to safe areas where they cannot tackle you, to allow you to find a way that you can get the ball out of your vicinity and onto a team mate. This is very reminiscent of those real life moments where a player is stuck in the corner surrounded by about three opposing players. What do you do? Try and knock the ball out of play? Hold your ground while you wait for someone to become open? Wait for one of them to make a mistake, leaving you a gap to get through and possibly go on to score? The possibilities, and the pleasure from playing, is endless.
It will definitely take some getting used to initially, and many people will soon want to master the nuances of the new systems, but undeniably, for those who are fans of the series, this is potentially the most exciting instalment in the series to date, and a must-buy for any sporting game fanatic.
Tags: Defence, Dribbling, EA, Fifa, PS3, Sports, Wii, xbox
This entry was posted on Thursday, September 29th, 2011 at 16:00 and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
2 Responses to “Fifa 12 Preview- So What’s New?”
Norfolk Jesus says:
I’ll tell you what’s new! The mighty Norwich are in it, that’s what new!!
Jon Brown says:
Well as an Ipswich boy I feel like I should boo or hiss or something. Instead I’m going to get on my tractor and just make a quick getaway! =P Haha!
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Home » Children »
Testimony: J.W.F.B.
Name: J.W.F.B.
Location: Al Arrub, West Bank
Accusation: Throwing stones
On 15 December 2018, a 15-year-old youth from Al Arrub is arrested by Israeli soldiers at 2:30 a.m. He reports that he was permitted to speak to a lawyer for a few seconds prior to interrogation but was not informed of his right to silence.
My mother woke me up at around 2:30 a.m. and told me Israeli soldiers had come to our house. Soon afterwards I heard loud banging at the front door and my father answered. About 10 soldiers entered our home.
The commander asked for me and told my father he wanted to take me to Etzion settlement for questioning and would send me home later the same day. He gave my father a document in Hebrew and asked him to sign it but my father refused to sign because he did not understand what was written in it. They allowed me to put my jacket on but did not allow me to say goodbye to my family.
Once outside I was tied to the front with one plastic tie which was tight and painful. The tie became more and more painful as the day went on and it left marks on my wrists. Then they blindfolded me and led me through the camp while the soldiers made more arrests. I was taken towards the military watchtower at the entrance to the camp where the soldiers made me sit outside on the ground for about 30 minutes.
After about 30 minutes I was taken to a military jeep where I sat on the metal floor between the soldiers’ feet. The soldiers were singing hysterically in Hebrew.
The jeep drove to the police station in Etzion settlement where I spent the night in a room. I was tied and blindfolded the whole time. I was not allowed to sleep; each time I tried to sleep a soldier would kick me and wake me up deliberately. I was allowed to use the toilet but I was not given any food or drink. At around 10:00 a.m. I was taken for interrogation.
As soon as I entered the interrogation room the interrogator removed the blindfold and then phoned a lawyer and allowed me to speak to him. The lawyer told me not to confess to something I did not do. The conversation lasted for a few seconds and the interrogator was listening. I was not informed of my right to silence by anyone. Then the interrogator removed the tie and then retied my hands to the chair I was sitting on.
The interrogator accused me of throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at soldiers two days before I was arrested. He told me there were confessions against me by other boys and he named the boys. Then he played a voice recording of the boys confessing against me. I asked the interrogator to show me their faces but he refused and told me I had to first confess against them and only then would he show me their faces. I refused to confess.
Another person was standing behind me and when I refused to confess he slapped me and swore at me and called me “a son of a whore”. Then the interrogator showed me documents in Hebrew and asked me to sign them and I signed because I was scared of him and I did not want to be beaten anymore. The interrogation lasted for about 2 hours.
Then I was taken outside where I waited for about 6 hours. I was not given any food or drink and I was very tired. Then I was taken into a cell where I was strip searched. I spent about 4 hours in the cell and then I was taken to Ofer. At Ofer I was strip searched again and a soldier ran a machine on my sensitive parts. Then I was taken into section 19 and that was when I ate for the first time since my arrest. It was around 9 or 10 at night.
The following day I was taken to Ofer military court. I was denied bail and the hearing was adjourned. In all I had about 12 military court hearings.
During the hearing before last the military judge asked me whether I wanted to confess to throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at a bus. I refused to confess.
The following day my lawyer explained to me that if I confess I would be released. So at the next hearing I confessed in a plea bargain and I was sentenced to 2 months in prison and fined 1,000 shekels. I was also given a 6-month suspended sentence valid for 6 years. This hearing was on the 4February 2019 and I was released on the same day.
My father and some of my friends met me outside prison and I went home with them. I arrived home after midnight. In prison I attended classes and studied Arabic, Hebrew and mathematics. My parents did not visit me in prison because they were not issued a permit in time.
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/ Formation by Gary Olivar
posted January 22, 2019 at 12:40 am by Gary Olivar
"They come along only once in a while."
Speaking recently at the 11th anniversary of the Bacolod-Silay airport, House Speaker and former President Arroyo pushed for the revival and expansion of the Roll-On, Roll-Off (RORO) transport system, an ambitious nautical infrastructure program she had championed in 2003 as president.
The Speaker plans to convene an oversight committee in the House to work with the Philippine Ports Authority and Department of Transportation to update the study done earlier by the Asian Development Bank, the original proponent of the program.
RoRo was intended to transport rolling-stock cargo not requiring the use of cranes. It was an important part of the 919-km Strong Republic Nautical Highway system launched by Arroyo to interlink the country’s major islands through two north-south and one east-west nautical highways.
ADB has said that RoRo significantly reduced transport costs and travel time. This in turn significantly reduced the prices of food and other basic commodities transported from rural to urban areas, thereby contributing to poverty alleviation.
The original plan was to build 72 RoRo projects throughout the country. Unfortunately, in 2011, PNot cancelled the vast majority—66—on grounds that only six were needed. He blamed overpricing and wasteful spending for his decision, without ever sharing with the public his comparative cost evaluations, cost-benefit calculations, or any other project and program feasibility metrics.
What really happened, as we now know, was the perverse PNot policy of under-spending especially on infrastructure. This was intended simply to boost fiscal and monetary liquidity in order to make the rating agencies happy. In other words, public monies were not spent on and for the public, but hoarded for the benefit of lenders and their raters, as well as being misspent on well-known budget anomalies like DAP, PDAF, and wholesale bribery of legislators in the Corona impeachment.
These days, with PNot finally on his way to well-earned obscurity, Arroyo wants to champion RoRo all over again. As her speakership draws to a close in June, she plans to conduct a “sentimental journey” to visit key RoRo sites, especially in the Visayas region where she wanted to interlink all those islands east to west. Duterte supports the revival of the RoRo program, so we can expect to see more ports and vessels in the coming years.
As a former BDO consultant on risk management who labored in the Sy family’s vineyard for six years, I was pleased with the overwhelmingly positive view of the family patriarch’s life and achievements as the public responded with sincere sympathy to news of Henry Sy’s passing last weekend.
At the ripe old age of 94, the old man was most likely no longer an active participant in the management of his vast family empire. But at least according to my parish priest’s Sunday homily, “Tatang” was still leaving his mark where it truly counted—by regularizing thousands of SM employees just last year in compliance with the government’s drive against labor-only contractualization.
Mr. Sy’s rags-to-riches story is by now the stuff of legends, starting with his decision at the age of 12 to remain in the Philippines after his immigrant father lost everything here and decided to return to China.
By dint of business smarts, sheer hard work, and an unwavering faith in his adoptive country through all its ups and downs, and with the support of an unusually competent and close-knit brood of children, Tatang built the country’s largest property developer, largest landlord, largest retailer, largest bank.
As the country’s richest man, everything he did was outsized. But so too was his philanthropy, especially in the field of education, the focus of his philanthropic championship. So many young men and women today that he sent through college owe him their futures.
I’d like to think that all those bonus years of life Henry Sy enjoyed were part of his Divine recompense for his generosity. And with his passing, I’d like to think as well that his family and associates will carry on, not only with his business success, but also with the philanthropic generosity that marks any truly great man.
Our hats are off for the umpteenth time to our inveterate boxing champion, Senator Manny Pacquiao, who retains his WBA welterweight title after a bruising match-up last Sunday with American fighter Adrien Broner.
In his first bout past the age of 40, the senator ended up chasing his opponent all over the ring, landing more than twice as many blows as Broner. The days of a quick knock-out may already be in Manny’s past. But nobody can question his quickness, his innate talent honed by the experience of so many fights, and most of all, the aggressiveness and sheer heart that pushes him to test the limits of his ageing body, time and again.
In the Senate, he’s also developing a reputation as a quick learner, a team player, and a politician who puts himself on the line no less than he does in the ring.
Many were impressed by his bravura performance speaking recently before an academic crowd in Oxford. True, the words had been crafted for him by someone else. But wordsmiths are a dime a dozen, while a Pacquiao, who can charm his audience with a speech, alternately brash and self-deprecating, that resonated with so much color from his life, comes along only once in a while.
Is the presidency somewhere in his future? I’m sure the fastidious crowd who banned him from moving into their Forbes Park enclave would be horrified. But that—if nothing else—is precisely the biggest reason why I would give him my vote.
Readers can write me at [email protected]
Topics: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo , Roll-On , Roll-Off , Philippine Ports Authority , Department of Transportation
Drilon defends De Lima
We need a strong president
Urgent climate emergency measures
Why was SEC absent in Medical City stockholders’ meeting?
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Mar 20, 2019 › Categories: Art, Featured
Honest Lies: Ilyus talks about getting to the truth through her poetry
by Kleo Sincere
“When I was 14, my therapist told me that I should write a poem about my feelings and immediately I was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ Eventually I did it, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is just therapy that doesn’t cost me an hourly rate.’ So I stopped going to therapy and just started writing poems instead.”
Ilyus Evander is a 23-year-old poet from Coventry, Rhode Island. I first met Ilyus five years ago at a poetry workshop in New Urban Arts. After doing some freewriting, Ilyus volunteered to share what they wrote, and I’ll never forget the way their words made me feel. I thought Ilyus must have been some big-shot poet around town, but I was completely wrong. Ilyus was as new to the scene as I was, but her words were of someone who had been doing poetry their whole life. This was five years ago, but Ilyus today remains humble and unaware of the talent they possess.
Like many Providence poets, Ilyus found their way into the slam poetry scene through Providence Slam at As220. Providence Slam, more commonly known as ProvSlam, is an open mic and slam poetry event that takes place every first and third Thursday of the month at As220. “I didn’t know ProvSlam existed,” said Ilyus. “I was walking to go hang out with my friend and there was the A-frame outside that said Providence Poetry Slam. I called my friend and was like, ‘Hey listen, I’m two minutes away, but also I’m not coming.’”
From there, Ilyus went on to be part of the 2014 youth slam poetry team, representing Providence at the international youth poetry slam, Brave New Voices. “My team as a unit introduced me to the idea of a chosen family. When I first came out as queer, my [biological] family was just not about it. Providence Poetry Slam immediately was like, ‘That’s my child now.’ ProvSlam essentially raised me in my queerhood.”
Ilyus was brought up in a born-again Christian household. When she first started writing, most of her poems tackled gender and the feelings behind existing in a space where you’re not accepted or understood. Ilyus said that throughout the years, she used “poems as a tool to explore” herself.
“I really love poetry because I can dig at my feelings and my identity without ever actually talking about my feelings or my identity. I can pick an object image or metaphor to represent what I’m thinking or feeling, and manipulate that instead.” For Ilyus, the art of manipulating an object in lieu of herself is an act of protection. It gives her the distance she needs to talk about a potentially painful topic, without putting herself in jeopardy. “I never really include me in my images. I talk a lot about other people directly. But I’m always a thing and not me, and that is like my safe space. To me, poetry means honesty through lies. Poetry is where I’m the most vulnerable, but also the most distant.”
Ilyus has started writing about things “other than gender.” She’s tackled her battle with mental illness and the relationship she has acquired with the mental health industry. She’s in the midst of a project that stabs “at the [mental health] industry and how they treat us in a way that keeps us sick so they can keep draining money.” Ilyus is also working on a book titled, Heavier Than Wait.
“Wait is that stretch of time where you know something is coming, but it’s not here yet and that’s all you can think about. In the book, wait is death. The idea that death is inevitable, and we’re all just waiting for it to happen, is the heaviest thought I can think of,” she said of her book.
In her book, Ilyus also talks of the weight of other emotions. “Heaviness is or can be described as anything that is a lot of something,” said Ilyus. “So anything can be heavy. There’s such a thing as heavy joy. Like yeah, I’m super fucking happy, but it’s also really overwhelming how happy I am right now.”
Ilyus is starting a new chapter of life by relocating to Boston, and is reminiscing about all the things the Providence poetry scene has taught her. “Providence taught me everything I know about poetry, slam and myself. Providence taught me what writing and image is. Providence taught me what manipulating that image is. Providence taught me how to love teaching more than I love poetry.” Not only has poetry made Ilyus realize her love for teaching, but it has helped her realize her purpose in life, too. “My mission in life is to bring people as much joy and success as possible, but it’s really a selfish motive because that makes me feel happy too.”
Ilyus said she spends a lot of time “thinking about love languages, about how people are capable of both giving and receiving love and how sometimes they don’t look the same. I consider myself a mother first and foremost, and learning how to care about other people in a way that they’re comfortable with is what I think motherhood is.”
Ilyus is touring for her upcoming book, Heavier Than Wait, which she hopes to have finished by the end of the year. You can see her featuring at Emerson College on March 25 or participate in the workshop she’s leading in Allston on April 1. If you will like to contact Ilyus for features, workshops or discussions, you can reach her on Facebook at Ilyus Evander Poetry.
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Carmen - Royal Opera Theatre Tickets
We do not curently have theatre tickets available for Carmen - Royal Opera. This could be because we have simply sold out or it could be that this show is no longer running. The information on this page remains purely for historical and informational purposes.
Carmen is the best-known work by French composer Georges Bizet, and one of the most famous operas in the entire art form numbers such as the Habanera and the Toreador Song have permeated the popular consciousness as little else has. The opera’s heady combination of passion, sensuality and violence initially proved too much for the stage, and it was a critical failure on its 1875 premiere. Bizet died shortly after, and never learned of the spectacular success his Carmen would achieve: the opera has been performed more than five hundred times at Covent Garden alone.
This ever-popular opera is given a fresh point of view in Barrie Kosky’s highly physical production, originally created for Frankfurt Opera. The Australian director is one of the world’s most sought-after opera directors, whose Royal Opera debut with Shostakovich’s The Nose in 2016 was greeted with delight. For Carmen he has devised a far-from-traditional version, incorporating music written by Bizet for the score but not usually heard, and giving a new voice to the opera’s endlessly fascinating central character.
The young soldier Don José intends to marry Micaëla, a girl from his home village. But when he meets the sensual and fiercely independent Carmen, he sacrifices everything to be with her.
Carmen grows bored of Don José and falls in love with Escamillo. Unable to bear her leaving him, Don José tracks Carmen down and murders her.
Theatre: Royal Opera House
Address: Bow Street, London, WC2E 9DD
(3 mins) The Royal Opera House is off Covent Garden piazza, which is visible from the tube station exit. There is a revolving door entrance at the piazza.
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How to be an Ethically Literate Photographer
Running 2-5pm Sun 14 July
An initiative of Savannah Dodd
Hosted by the Critical Academy
This is a discussion-based workshop on ethical literacy in photography. Photography ethics are complicated, and contingent on many variables. Everyone will answer ethical questions in their own way; based on their own life experience, personal judgments, and the situation at hand. The Photography Ethics Centre’s workshops do not focus on ethical checklists or guidelines. Instead, PEC teach photographers how to think critically about ethics in their own work.
It is extremely difficult to make ethical decisions in the moment, and often these decisions have to happen in a split second. PEC present example situations, stimulate discussion, and raise questions to ensure that photographers are better prepared to field ethical issues when they arise. Experience of working through difficult ethical dilemmas gives photographers very tangible tools to be more effective in their work. It helps photographers to build relationships, to communicate effectively, and to gain access to communities in a socially responsible way. It also prevents us from unknowingly breaching national or international laws and ethical norms about privacy and confidentiality, consent, and child protection.
The workshop will begin by exploring what ethics are and how we make ethical decisions in our photographic practice. Then key ethical principles will be discussed, including, but not limited to, empathy, integrity, and responsibility, and example situations will be looked at to understand how we might apply these principles in different situations.
About The Photography Ethics Centre
The Photography Ethics Centre is a social enterprise that aims to raise awareness about ethics across the photography industry and around the world. It was founded in 2017 in response to the pivotal role that photography has played and continues to play in global events like the migration of Syrian refugees across the Mediterranean and the surge of violence against the Rohingya community in Myanmar. Photographs shape how we view the world, and when we take and present photographs we are shaping how others view the world. This is an enormous responsibility. In order to meet this responsibility, photographers who are ethically literate are needed.
The Photography Ethics Centre does not aim to define what is unequivocally right and wrong. Instead, presenting examples, raise questions, and explain different ethical arguments in photography to encourage photographers to develop their own informed ethical stance.
Savannah Dodd is the founder and director of the Centre. She is a photographer and a PhD candidate in anthropology at Queen’s University Belfast. With the Centre, she has conducted workshops in international locations, including at Documentary Arts Asia in Thailand and at the Yangon Photo Festival in Myanmar. Savannah has also developed an online training programme in photography ethics in partnership with the Thomson Foundation. The Photography Ethics Centre has been recognised by a number of awards in the short time that since its founding, including being short-listed for the Howard Chapnick Grant.
photoethics.org
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Don’t ignore mental health problems: Camillian fathers
By Julianne Suarez on March 15, 2019
The Camillian Fathers, a Catholic congregation that serves the sick, calls on the public not to ignore mental health issues.
The patron of the order is St. Camillus de Lellis, the patron of the sick, health professionals and hospitals.
“In the Philippines, the stigma on mental health issues is still present. Unlike other regions, like Europe, if one is sad or feels a vacuum within himself or herself, they will automatically consult a psychiatrist for counseling,” said Fr. Rodel Enriquez, vicar provincial of the Camillian Philippine Province, during the press conference in line with the visit of the heart relic of St. Camillus de Lellis.
Enriquez noted that technology may have affected the connection among members of society that leads to the stigma.
“This is a lesson to each one of us, that in the modern world with the advent of technology, we have already lost our connection to each other. We all need someone to guide us and listen to us,” he said. “This is the challenge to everyone to go back to being listeners.”
He also called the public to “to find ways to have people who are expert in helping people go out of this vacuum of depression and anxiety,” noting that this is a serious problem already of the current times.
“Everyday, we hear young people who think about and even commit suicide. We call them not to make (depression) a dead end. Seek help from priests, counselors or psychiatrists because that is something that they could help with,” Enriquez said.
Enriquez announced that the Camillian Fathers have chaplaincies available for counseling.
“With the call of awareness on mental health, we also refer for counseling. It is really a high time for the church to focus on this. Our chaplaincy centers serve as a center for counseling for those who are depressed to have somebody to listen to them,” Enriquez said.
In Davao, the chaplaincies are located in the Southern Philippine Medical Center, J.P. Laurel Ave., Bajada and at San Pedro Hospital of Davao Inc., C. Guzman St.
On March 12, the City Council finally approved the Mental Health Code of Davao City, which seeks to “deliver appropriate services and interventions including provisions of mental health protection, care, treatment, and other essential services to those with mental illness or disability.”
Julianne Suarez
More from NEWSMore posts in NEWS »
DLPC to cover holes along C.M. Recto for Kadayawan
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Chancellor pulls bunnies from his hat, as he spends his fiscal windfall
Chris White sums up the last Budget before Brexit.
By the time the Chancellor sat down after nearly 70 minutes, watchers were furiously scribbling down the numerous spending pledges made in the course of the speech. In a way, it was a speech we have become unaccustomed to in the last decade, with Conservative Chancellors over the years repeating the same mantra that action was needed to restore sound finances.
The Prime Minister had raised expectations in her Conference speech that austerity would end, and the test for the Chancellor was whether he could meet them. We now know that the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) had provided updated figures to Downing Street showing a fiscal windfall in the days before Conservative Conference.
Reviewing the borrowing numbers for the next few years shows that they are very similar to those in the Spring Statement. Therefore the additional tax revenues have spent rather than helping to further reduce the deficit, which remains hovering around 1% of GDP. This windfall, described by the OBR as the “largest fiscal loosening at any event since [its] creation” has allowed the Chancellor to meet the Prime Minister’s challenge and say that “the era of austerity is finally coming to an end”.
The Chancellor was therefore able to pull a few small and medium sized rabbits out of the hat in a campaigning Budget that would have pleased many Conservative MPs. The largest rabbit was to increase the personal tax threshold to £12,500 and the higher rate threshold to £50,000 a year early, but also saw £420m for fixing potholes and freezing fuel duty, as well as beer and whisky duty.
He was also able to neutralise a number of attacks from the Opposition. For a long time Labour have criticised the Government’s lack of action on ensuring the digital tech giants pay their fair share of tax, and the Chancellor promised that a new ‘Digital Sales Tax’ would help to “update the rules of the game”, although the Institute for Fiscal Studies has pointed out that this is estimated to raise £400m against corporation tax revenues of £50bn. The Government also pledged to abolish any new PFI initiatives, and put cash back into work allowances, alongside an extra £1bn over 5 years to help with the transition to Universal Credit.
In what will probably be his last Budget, Philip Hammond delivered a Budget for the here and now that will be welcomed by MPs, the press and the JAMs (the ‘Just About Managing’s).
Yet there was barely a mention of the huge structural challenges facing the UK, in particular any major policies to address the Housing Crisis. Brexit itself was barely mentioned, other than a brief statement that should the UK face a no-deal Brexit, the Chancellor will upgrade the Spring Statement next year to a full fiscal event. Indeed, the OBR’s assessment of the Budget was entirely predicated on a deal being achieved.
So much depends on what happens outside of the Commons in the negotiations with the EU over the next two months that this Budget felt very surreal. We shall soon know if the Chancellor will have to come back to the House with an emergency Budget. If he does so, let’s hope he gets a new joke writer…
© Newington 2019
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Nurture Spa
Esports Arena
FANTASY Unveils New Numbers in Honor of 18th Anniversary
Emmy-Award Winner Mandy Moore Continues to Collaborate on Choreography
Tweet It!: .@FANTASYLuxor reveals new numbers, including one by award-winning choreographer #MandyMoore of #LaLaLand! #toplessrevue #Vegas #Baegas
LAS VEGAS (November 13, 2017) – FANTASY, the celebrated female revue at Luxor Hotel and Casino, has debuted new numbers, costumes and choreography in celebration of its 18th anniversary.
“FANTASY remains one of the top shows in Las Vegas through an extraordinarily talented, stunning cast and entertaining new numbers added to the show every year,” says Anita Mann, producer of FANTASY. “We are also fortunate to collaborate with some of the top choreographers in the business, including Mandy Moore, whose work on ‘La La Land’ has received widespread acclaim. She also received an Emmy Award this year for her work on ‘Dancing With The Stars.’”
Moore’s choreography is featured in the show’s new opening number, which is set to “Me Too” by Meghan Trainor and performed by the cast. She also choreographed FANTASY’s finale, set to “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” performed by Lorena Peril and the cast. In addition to her credits for “La La Land,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” and other major films, Moore’s choreography is featured in hit television shows including “So You Think You Can Dance” and “America’s Got Talent.”
Other new numbers include “Lady Marmalade,” performed by Peril and the cast, choreographed by Mann and Jennifer Preston; “Caliente Fantasy: CHA CHA” performed by Yesi, a FANTASY dancer and native Cuban, along with four other ladies from the cast, choreographed by FANTASY’s aerialist, Sonya; and “You’re My Fantasy,” a solo performance by Mariah from the show’s cast, choreographed by Mann and Mariah.
FANTASY recently debuted its 2018 “Black & White and Nude All Over” calendar, priced at $20, which is now available for purchase at various retail locations throughout Luxor, including the Atrium Showroom, and on FANTASY’s website, fantasyluxor.com. The ladies of FANTASY will host a series of calendar signings leading up to the holiday season, making the 2018 calendar a go-to gift or stocking stuffer.
About FANTASY
Celebrating 18 successful years on The Strip, FANTASY was named “Best Female Adult Show in Las Vegas” by InVegas in 2016, received the silver award for “Best Female Revue” in the 2016 Las Vegas Review-Journal’s “Best of Las Vegas” poll, “Best Showgirls” in the 2015 and 2012 Las Vegas Review-Journal’s “Best of Las Vegas” poll and a recipient of the Las Vegas Weekly “Best of Vegas 2014” awards. Dynamic lead singer Lorena Peril adds an exciting and unforgettable element with amazing powerhouse vocals, taking center-stage alongside a talented cast of beautiful dancers. Popular among singles and couples alike, the always-evolving, sexy production showcases 15 high-energy numbers set to a variety of today’s top music genres. While the gorgeous dancers lure guests into their wildest fantasies, comic relief Sean E. Cooper keeps audiences on its toes with his spot-on impressions of some of pop culture’s most recognizable personalities.
FANTASY (fantasyluxor.com) performs nightly at 10:30 p.m. in the Atrium Showroom at Luxor. Tickets start at $39, plus taxes and handling fees. Guests must be 18 years of age or older. Tickets can be purchased at the Luxor box office, online at www.luxor.com, or by calling 800.557.7428 or 702.262.4400. Fans may follow FANTASY on Twitter and Instagram @fantasyluxor or like FANTASY on Facebook at facebook.com/FantasyLuxor.
About Luxor Hotel and Casino
One of the most iconic hotels on The Strip, the Luxor pyramid invites curiosity while the inside rewards visitors with equal parts excitement and intrigue. The resort features a wide variety of entertainment including Blue Man Group, the hilarious comedy of Carrot Top, the provocative adult revue FANTASY and the exclusive LAX Nightclub. Combined with the 120,000-square-foot gaming area and eclectic restaurants, Luxor is an unparalleled travel destination. Luxor is a wholly owned subsidiary of MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM). For more information and reservations, visit luxor.com, call toll free at (877) 386-4658 or find us on Facebook and Twitter.
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Tag: Smithers
Missing Indigenous Women inquiry staff in Smithers on July 17 for preliminary meetings
The staff of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls will be in Smithers beginning on Monday, July 17 to consult with First Nations and other members of the Highway 16 communities.
The full Truth Gathering Process community hearings will begin in Smithers on September 25 for one week.
Skeena Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen commented, “The announcement that the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) will soon stop in Smithers is good news for families along the Highway of Tears who have lost loved ones to violence.
“It is absolutely essential for inquiry commissioners to travel to Northwest BC to hear directly from families along the Highway of Tears, Cullen said. “Reading statements and stories online or by letter does not have the same impact nor impart the very real dangers that First Nations women and girls face when travelling between remote, rural Highway 16 communities.”
In a news release July 6, (pdf) Chief Commissioner Marion Buller announced that “the National Inquiry is moving forward on the advice and guidance heard from families, survivors and grassroots organizations about how best to hear their stories of violence against Indigenous women and girls, including LGBTQ2S people. This next step is rooted in the knowledge gained from meetings that took place across Canada, with the latest being from the hearings in Whitehorse in May/June 2017.”
Complete schedule of MMIWG hearings (pdf)
At Smithers and other locations the preliminary meetings will allow staff to participate in community visits to lay the groundwork for the hearings as part of the National Inquiry’s Truth Gathering Process.
Community visits allow:
the health team and legal counsel to meet with family members and survivors to prepare them for the community
hearings;
the community relations team to meet with local organizations, Indigenous groups and women’s groups to learn more
about local issues regarding violence against Indigenous women and girls, including LGBTQ2S people
the logistics team to conduct site visits for the upcoming hearings;
National Inquiry staff to seek the advice and guidance from Elders and knowledge keepers so that when we return to the
community hearings we may respect and include local protocols and ceremonies.
For individuals and families who wish to participate in the hearings, the inquiry has set up a six step process that is outlined on their website.
How to participate in the MMIWG hearings (pdf)
Cullen says he hopes last Thursday’s announcement of the second round of community visits and hearings by commissioners opens the door to a more productive and collaborative process.
“There have been many challenges to getting the work of the inquiry off the ground, directly including families in the work, and developing a sufficiently broad mandate to allow real understanding of the deeper issues of violence against Indigenous women and girls,” he said.
“The inquiry’s recognition of the need to hold hearings in Smithers is very positive.
Author Robin RowlandPosted on July 10, 2017 Categories consultation, First Nations, MMIWG Inquiry, Politics & GovernmentTags Smithers
Kitimat chemo clinic closes for up to a year, staff shortages across the Northwest hampering cancer treatment
The Kitimat General Hospital Chemotherapy Clinic will be closed for the next nine to twelve months due to staff shortages and a proposed restructuring of cancer care across the northwest, Northern Health tells Northwest Coast Energy News.
Contrary to local rumour that the complete oncology clinic had closed, other aspects of the cancer clinic will continue to operate, according to Dr. Jaco Fourie, the Terrace-based medical lead for Northern Health oncology. Other cancer care procedures including blood work and other tests and local care by trained general partictioners will continue in Kitimat for the next year.
Dr. Fourie said that the chemotherapy clinic at Kitimat General actually closed about three months ago when the oncology nurse left due to health reasons. Kitimat patients are generally treated in Terrace or Prince George and sometimes in Prince Rupert or Smithers. Sources in Kitimat’s medical community says that in the spring a nurse would drive to Kitimat from Terrace for some chemotherapy procedures but that nurse is now not available.
Dr. Fourie said that staff shortages are a chronic problem in cancer care across Northwestern BC. Last week chemo procedures in Terrace had to be postponed or transferred due to a staffing problem at Mills Memorial Hospital.
Two sources on District of Kitimat Council confirmed to Northwest Coast Energy News that council has been discussing the problem of the chemotherapy clinic privately for the last couple of weeks and have requested a meeting with Northern Health in early September.
In the Northwest, the problem is that with just one oncology nurse in many locations qualified to administer chemotherapy, there is no back up in case that nurse is not available. As well, to maintain qualifications the nurses have to administer a minimum number of procedures and in some cases re-qualify as procedures are changed and updated.
The work pressure due to staff shortages is also intense across the northwest and many staff leave the northwest due to burn out, Dr. Fourie said.
Northern Health is now working on a new system where there would be at least three nurses in each location, one full time, one part time and one casual who could be on call. Some of those nurses would likely also have to work in other fields of medicine.
District of Kitimat and local medical sources say that the call for two nurses to be available is part of a province wide plan to upgrade cancer care and bring the northwest practices closer to the system used in the Lower Mainland and across Canada.
Dr. Fourie said that Northern Health is studying the cancer care situation in the northwest and will issue a report in the coming months.
At least one Kitimat medical source questioned the need for two nurses, especially given the problem of attracting staff to the region, noting that using one nurse has worked well for years (when staff was available). The source added that one oncology nurse in Kitimat would be better than none if the province insisted on having two or none at all.
The source also questioned the safety of sending chemotherapy patients to Terrace, especially during the winter months, given that for those without access to drivers, public transportation is not always an option to get to appointments in Terrace and back to Kitimat.
Dr. Fourie noted that Northern Health is concerned about the situation in Kitimat with a possible growing population if industrial development goes ahead and is looking at expansion of services in the District to meet those growing needs.
Author Robin RowlandPosted on August 24, 2015 August 24, 2015 Categories KitimatTags BC, cancer, chemotherapy, Kitimat, Northern Health, Prince Rupert, Smithers, Terrace
Kitimat: Do you know the way to Santa Fe? Time for some vision in development
The San Miquel Mission in Santa Fe, New Mexico, was built between 1610 and 1619. Santa Fe mandates that building in the city continues to reflect its historic heritage. (Robin Rowland/Northwest Coast Energy News)
Updated with additional links
“Is there a longterm vision for Kitimat?” Spencer Edwards, one of the public delegates, asked District of Kitimat Council Monday night, August 18, as there was yet another public hearing on the highly controversial development on Kingfisher Avenue.
If there is a vision for the future of development in Kitimat, it appears, to say the least, that both Council and the overworked Community Planning and Development division are struggling to find something. It is more likely that with the sudden increase in development, that both Council and staff just don’t have time to “do the vision thing.”
Clarence Stein’s Kitimat Townsite report
The growing objections to the Kingfisher development of either 40 or 53 townhouses and a second development Riverbrook Estates, that would be beside the Dyke Road off Kuldo near to the Riverlodge Tennis Courts, a mix of single family homes, townhouses and apartments, shows the vision gap.
Public delegations are demanding just that— a vision.
Download Clarence Stein’s Kitimat Townsite Report from the DoK website (large PDF file)
At council meetings over the past weeks, a number of delegates have referred to Clarence Stein’s original vision for Kitimat from the 1950s. A note to Council from the residents of Marquette Street presented in opposition to the Kingfisher development says:
This is not what the famous American Architect, Urban Planner and Founder of the Garden Cities movement, Clarence Stein had envisioned a modern town with a population of 50,000 resident when he designed Kitimat over 60 years ago. He would be turning inside his grave.
Stein asked the same question. In his plan for Kitimat (page 45) he said future councils, staff and developers must ask: “What do the people themselves want?”
It’s fairly obvious by now that what the people of Kitimat want is more housing—there is, after all, a housing shortage at the moment. It also crystal clear that the residents of Kitimat do not want cookie cutter town houses and apartments built, as the Marquette note says “as is happening in Surrey, Port Coquitlam and so many other places in the Lower Mainland.”
Spencer Edwards asked District of Kitimat Council on Monday, “Is there a strategic long term plan, long term vision for the development of Kitimat. Does it simply involve industry or a diverse range that’s in place, and if that plan is in place, is it possible to view it at some point.”
(Robin Rowland/Northwest Coast Energy News)
“Kitimat is full of hicks”
While developers (just like energy companies) come before Council and make presentations of their vision, with assurances of respect for this community, there is a dark side.
When the developer delegations left the Council Chambers Monday after their presentations, some of them were overheard by witnesses in the parking lot disparaging what had just gone on inside from both council members and citizen delegations, saying that “Kitimat is unsophisticated”….”doesn’t understand how things were done in the big city” and… “Can’t make up their minds.”
As one of my sources who overhead the conversation remarked, “They must think Kitimat is full of hicks.”
While it is uncertain which of the developer and real estate delegations made the remarks in the dark, it is clear if that is the real attitude toward development in Kitimat, then vision, not “let’s get on with it” must be the priority.
There must be strong development regulations to ensure that anyone building in the District must be held strictly to account to keep those assurances (and not be allowed to say market conditions have changed to get out of any commitments). More than that what Kitimat needs and needs now is an updated version of Stein’s vision, not the “motherhood” statements found in the current Official Community Plan.
So Kitimat, do you know the way to Santa Fe? (We’ll get there in bit).
Council and staff keep referring to the Official Community Plan (OCP) which some delegates complained was hard to find on the District website. (You can download it from the District website at http://www.kitimat.ca/assets/Business/PDFs/official-community-plan-2008.pdf )
Unfortunately the OCP is more of a motherhood document than a plan for the future of Kitimat. It’s also obsolete: a 2007-2008 rewrite of the original 1987 plan, updated with a few paragraphs in 2013 (as required by law, it is reconsidered every five years) There’s an already obsolete table predicting continuing decline of Kitimat’s population over the next quarter century (although a nearby graph does include possible population increases as well as declines).
On the future of Kitimat, the opening paragraphs read circa 2008
Kitimat’s population, after peaking in the mid-80s, has been in a general decline to fewer people than in 1956, primarily because of external factors beyond the control of the local municipality. Kitimat, like many other rural communities across Canada, is being affected by world markets and resultant demographic shifts as economic power and population is concentrated in major metropolitan centres. It is hoped that population will grow again and there are potential projects that would support this. New industry may locate here or existing businesses may expand based on the deep sea port, relatively low-priced land, and the proximity to natural resources. Kitimat’s future remains uncertain.
Even with the few updates in 2013, it seems no one expected the current building boom. That means the OCP can’t handle the boom, whether or not it continues or fades away.
The problem facing those who want development in Kitimat is that much of provincial law is pretty clear, a developer looks at the OCP, which has little specifics, then the zoning and then, if everything is in order, apply for a development permit, gets it and the goes ahead.
At Monday’s meeting, Edwards asked, “Is there any indication of what quality of development is being put in place?”
Deputy Administrative Officer, Warren Waycheshen, replied that the zoning plan for the Kingfisher development “allows what the setbacks are going to be, height, distances, it doesn’t set the building quality. That will come through the development permit stage.”
There have been the same arguments over and over in Kitimat in the past year, where a new developer or a developer doing renovations, often from out of town, were able to go ahead and do what they wanted, with little regard for the residents of Kitimat, its history and the vision of Clarence Stein.
This brings me to Santa Fe, how Kitimat can maintain Stein’s vision and how Kitimat can use the development permit process to ensure that happens. That means an urgent program of updating and strengthening the development permit system to reflect Stein’s vision across the district.
Santa Fe, New Mexico, was a crossroads of the Old West, home of the Pueblo First Nation which for centuries before the coming of Europeans built pueblos out of adobe. Adobe (not the software) is an old Arabic word meaning “mud brick” adopted into Spanish during the time of the Moors, brought to the New World and used by the Spanish in New Mexico, and taken up by the Americans who came via the Santa Fe Trail and then the railhead for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.
In 1912, New Mexico became the 47th US State; Santa Fe became the capital.
At the same time, the Santa Fe local government adopted the 1912 equivalent of a BC Official Community Plan,
Here from Wikipedia is a short explanation:
In 1912, when the town had only 5,000 people, the city’s civic leaders designed and enacted a sophisticated city plan that incorporated elements of the City Beautiful movement, the city planning movement, and the German historic preservation movement. It anticipated limited future growth, considered the scarcity of water, and recognized the future prospects of suburban development on the outskirts. The planners foresaw conflicts between preservationists and scientific planners. They set forth the principle that historic streets and structures be preserved and that new development must be harmonious with the city’s character.
As CBS News Sunday Morning reported earlier this year:
The end of the fabled trail of pioneer days, Santa Fe is today the oldest state capital city in our nation. And if its earth-tone structures hark back to the Pueblo originals, well, that’s by design….. Almost a century ago, city fathers mandated use of the style all over town, predicting — accurately, as it turned out — that it would be good for the tourist trade. Today, even fast food outlets and big box stores are clad in Santa Fe style.
That CBS report was right on. I visited Santa Fe a few years ago, and noted how much of the town, especially the famous art galleries reflected that adobe style. The big box stores and the fast food joints are the same—and who cares about corporate building branding; the familiar signs were all that was needed.
What struck me was a mall I saw on the outskirts of town while driving to the airport. It was a mall, in many ways no different from the boring cookie cutter malls you see in Surrey, Coquitlam or Nanaimo—with one exception. It was built in the Santa Fe Adobe Style and looked a whole lot better than the uniform malls you see from almost every highway in North America.
Editor’s Note: CBS News Sunday Morning is scheduled to repeat its special report on Santa Fe By Design, this Sunday, August 24. Due to sports programming Sunday Morning is usually pre-empted in the Pacific Time Zone. If you have cable or satellite and access to a CBS east coast station, watch or set your PVR from 0900 to 1030 ET (0600 to 0730 PT)
That is what “new development must be harmonious with the city’s character” means and that’s what Kitimat should do. Make sure all future development is truly harmonious with Kitimat’s character.
Not that there aren’t the usual tensions and disputes over what harmonious means. As the Wall Street Journal reported last year, there is now some resistance to the old style among residents, including those outside the municipality’s jurisdiction or away from the historic districts where the rules are the strictest.
As the Journal reports:
a new wave of contemporary homes is springing up around the city’s less regulated outer edges, transforming the once uniform landscape and pushing southwestern design in new directions. Glints of glass and steel are now dotting the city’s earth-toned desert surroundings
Some home owners want to be completely contemporary and get away from the adobe style. On the other hand, as the Journal reported, some architects are working on innovative designs that blend the adobe style with the ultra modern:
Some local architects aim to meld traditional and contemporary architecture in their designs. While traditional materials of adobe homes—stucco and plaster walls, for example—are still used in many contemporary homes, the lines on modern designs are crisp and clean instead of rounded. Many of the contemporary homes around Santa Fe are characterized by large expanses of glass, clerestory windows and skylights—sometimes in unexpected places, such as in laundry rooms and showers—and muted stucco exteriors accented with steel that blend into the landscape.
A vision for development permits
Note that these new buildings “blend into the landscape,” something that Clarence Stein emphasized for Kitimat.
Although Kitimat Community Planning and Development says on their website that Stein’s Townsite Report is a “must read,” it is doubtful that any of the developers have actually read it.
Note also that the Garden City concept that was the foundation of Kitimat was itself, in part, based on the now century-old City Beautiful movement that gave Santa Fe its character.
So there is a connection between the design of that desert city and this small town in the rainforest of the Northwest.
After Monday’s Council meeting, I asked Warren Waycheshen if there were any “heritage” or “look and feel” policies in British Columbia. Waycheshen told me that while it is difficult to mandate “harmonious character” and “blending into the landscape” at the zoning level, it can and has been done at the development permit stage in a few BC communities.
The closest example is Smithers which mandates downtown businesses be consistent with the town’s European alpine style. As well, both Whistler and Gibson’s have stringent development permit guidelines that do maintain the nature of both towns.
(And for those developers who think that wanting harmonious development is “unsophisticated,” well they can look at Santa Fe and Whistler)
Up until now in Kitimat, some in politics, some in the real estate and development communities have had an Oliver Twist approach, saying to every developer “Please, sir can we have some more?”
So far none of the designs presented before Council for any development have shown any innovation or imagination. None of them have any harmony with Kitimat’s character
. Even with the need for housing, there is time to slow things down and reconsider whether taking “off the shelf” projects originally designed for the land crowded Lower Mainland are right for Kitimat.
That’s because none of the Liquified Natural Gas projects are anywhere close to the Final Investment Decision Stage.
Many of the delegations to Council have warned about overbuilding and the possibility that slap dash, cookie cutter development could quickly deteriorate into slums if the boom doesn’t happen. There is some limited time to consider all the issues. Most residents who live around the Kingfisher development would prefer buildings with a higher quality that could be sold on the basis of its proximity to the golf course. There are fears that many developments, based on the Lower Mainland “build higher” philosophy would be inappropriate for seniors.
There is one consideration—that is the size of buildings. Both District Staff and developers cite changing demographics (average household size dropping from 3.2 to 2.4 persons) and the fact the large single family homes, such as the “berry” development by Oviatt Construction are too costly for young families who would prefer and could afford townhouses.
Do Kitimat planners consider the sometimes gloomy weather as Clarence Stein proposed. (Robin Rowland/Northwest Coast Energy News)
Harmonious townhouses
We have to ask what kind of townhouses? The original Stein report, in a chapter written by planning subcontractors Mayer and Whittlesey noted on page 220,
Larger-than-normal houses, for people will stay much indoors; covered terraces and breezeways where children can play. A large number of houses should have a cellar or attic space for workbench and game table. Provision of wood burning fireplaces should have special consideration, as a focus of interest and cheer in a rainy climate.
So smaller houses for affordability or larger houses so people can get through the fall and winter without getting cabin fever? Just how much Seasonal Affective Disorder happens in Kitimat? And beside the weather, people are staying indoors a lot of these days watching satellite TV, playing video games and on the Internet. All factors the developers aren’t considering.
Have Kitimat’s planners and builders ever considered how home design might help alleviate SAD?
Let’s throw out the boxes and have the architects go back to the drawing board or AutoCAD and design a townhouse that is right for Kitimat.
There are a lot of worries about snow clearing and parking in the narrow streets of the proposed developments. While district staff say the Kingfisher development meets “municipal parking standards” perhaps all those concerns by experienced long-time residents mean that those standards should be reconsidered rather than used as a rubber stamp.
It’s amazing that in the late 1940s and 1950s a bunch of men in New York (yes men, Stein, the man of his age, calls for planning by men) who at first had never been here, could imagine and create the Kitimat that became “the town of the future,” while today developers from Vancouver, Calgary or wherever do nothing more than pull an AutoCAD file off a hard drive, make a few tweaks and cosmetic changes and then try to convince residents, staff and council that this will be great for Kitimat.
Yes many of the original houses in Kitimat were “off the shelf” at the time but they were also often new and innovative for the 1950s. This is a chance to create a new vision but practical vision for the 21st century. The provincial government has mandated all community planning must consider climate change. There is no indication at all that the current development designs take climate into consideration.
I t’s time for Kitimat to rewrite the development permit standards, so that the original Stein vision is incorporated into every future development, whether residential, commercial, industrial or institutional. Some of the ideas will have to be updated from the 1950s to reflect changes in demographics, economics and technology. If Santa Fe, a modern hub of artistic and high tech innovation can do it, Kitimat can do it on a smaller scale.
Since time is somewhat tight, ask the current developers, on a voluntary basis, to submit new ideas that show their projects won’t be just another subdivision in Surrey, new designs compatible with Kitimat. If developers want to build here, now and in the future, they are going to have to use their imagination and skill to bring Stein’s vision into the 21st century. Tell the developers that now they have to prove to Kitimatians that they don’t really believe this is a hick town.
Update development rules and guidelines
District staff, Council members, the Housing Committee and other interested groups should take a crash look at development guidelines and development permit rules and as soon as possible update those that can act as a guideline for future changes that reflect the Stein vision.
Hire a District Solicitor
We recommended this during the Enbridge Northern Gateway Joint Review hearings and when the LNG companies began environmental review. All the problems with potential development again show the need for a full time District Solicitor who will be in the District offices working with staff and members of council and attending council meetings to understand the needs of the residents of Kitimat on all issues. Having a lawyer on retainer who is not involved with community is no longer an option.
Overhaul development rules and guidelines
Continue the work recommended for the short term and have staff, locally based developers and locally based engineering companies familiar with Kitimat form a task force to overhaul the development rules and guidelines so that developments fit into both an updated Clarence Stein vision and the uncertain economics of this region
Longer term
A new Official Community Plan
The current “maybe this, may be that” Official Community Plan is completely inadequate for the needs of Kitimat. It is little more than a collection of database copy and paste, motherhood bureaucrat speak with no significant reference to Stein’s original vision.
The community needs an OCP that has a strong, well-defined two track approach, one that assumes the LNG boom will go ahead, that Kitimat will grow, and a second that assumes that the new industry might pass us by and Kitimat may have to revert to planning diversification with an emphasis on tourism.
That also means looking for and hiring the Clarence Stein of the 21st Century, whether that person is in New York, Vancouver, London or Singapore.
The current OCP was largely written by Stantec, which seems to be the go-to consulting firm for everyone. While the involvement of Stantec may not have been an issue in 2008, Stantec is the same company that is now working for Enbridge and most of the LNG projects. That is a clear conflict of interest.
Kitimat needs a visionary who can build on what Stein and his colleagues did 60 years ago. While Stein was working for Alcan, what is needed in 2014 and beyond is truly independent consultant, not one serving a dozen different masters.
That includes maintaining harmony with the forested nature of the region. Without going completely the same way as Santa Fe, perhaps future construction in Kitimat should conform, within market conditions, to a style that reflects the demands of building in the northwest, like heavy snow loads and long days of dreary rain while at the same time is more reflective of the northwest natural environment. That means including the brilliant idea of sidewalks and green spaces at the back of houses, not just boxes on standard suburban streets. That doesn’t have to mean duplicates of First Nations’ longhouses or settlers’ log cabins.
A Kitimat “look and feel” should challenge architects to create a style that says Kitimat and the northwest while at the same time drawing plans that are economic for both the developer and the buyer, just as architects in Santa Fe are bringing a century-old vision into the 21st century.
If the current crop of developers think that Kitimat is unsophisticated, doesn’t understand what goes on big cities, and takes too long to make its mind, well we live here and you don’t and you won’t. If Kitimat does have a rosy economic future, it is highly likely that the community and district can find developers who aren’t in-and-out carpet-baggers but who will build something that will make a profit, be affordable for the buyer and be harmonious with the community and Stein’s vision updated for the 21st century.
As Stein asked, “What do the people themselves want?”
Editor’s note: My late father, Frederic Rowland, was Alcan’s assistant property manager in Kitimat, involved in town planning from Vancouver in the mid-50s and in Kitimat from 1957 to 1965 and thus one of the Alcan staff charged with implementing Stein’s vision.
Kitimat Daily
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Santa Fe proudly boasts its Pueblo-style architecture
Author Robin RowlandPosted on August 20, 2014 August 22, 2014 Categories BC, BC government, Canada, District of Kitimat, Politics & Government, SmithersTags BC, Clarence Stein, District of Kitimat, Gibsons, Kitimat, planning and development, Politics & Government, Santa Fe, Smithers, Whistler
Fossil hedgehog, tapir lived in ancient rain forest at threatened Driftwood Canyon Park near Smithers
About 52 million years ago what is now the Bulkley Valley was home to a tiny hedgehog and an ancient ancestor of tapirs, who lived on the shores of a placid lake surrounded by a lush upland forest.
The newly discovered fossils at Driftwood Canyon near Smithers are significant advance in the study of the ancient history of the region. That’s because while the Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park is known for beautifully preserved fossils of leaves, fishes and insects, these are the first mammalian remains found at the site.
An artist’s impression of the 52-million year old early Eocene rain forest around lake in what is now the Bulkley Valley. The tapiroid Heptodon drinks in the shallows, while the small proto-hedgehog Silvacola acares stalks a green lacewing(Pseudochrysopa harveyi). ( Illustration © by Julius T. Csotonyi. used by permission)
The fossil hedgehog and tapir are even more significant because at the time they lived near an upland lake, Earth was going through a period of rapid global warming, now called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.
In the past couple of years, climatologists and paleontologists have started to play closer attention to the Thermal Maximum period in hopes of understanding what could happen during climate change today.
Driftwood Canyon first became famous in 1977 with the discovery of oldest known ancestor of salmons, Eosalmo driftwoodensis, which lived in an Eocene lake at Driftwood Canyon.
Today’s study says the ancient hedgehog is a species hitherto unknown to science. It is named Silvacola acares, which means “tiny forest dweller,” since this minute hedgehog likely had a body length of only two to two and half inches or five to six centimetres, about the size of an adult human thumb.
“It is quite tiny and comparable in size to some of today’s shrews,” said Dr. Jaelyn Eberle of the University of Colorado, lead author of the study. She speculated Silvacola may have fed on insects, plants and perhaps seeds.
Did it have quills like contemporary hedgehogs? “We can’t say for sure,” Eberle said. “But there are ancestral hedgehogs living in Europe about the same time that had bristly hair covering them, so it is plausible Silvacola did too.”
The delicate fossil jaw of Silvacola was not freed from the surrounding rock as is typical for fossils. Instead it was studied using an industrial high resolution CT (computed tomography) scanner at Penn State University so it could be studied without risking damage to its tiny teeth.
Hedgehogs are no longer found naturally in North America. Modern hedgehogs and their relatives are restricted to Europe, Asia, and Africa. Hedgehogs have become quite the rage as pets in North America in the past several years. The most common hedgehog pet today is the African pygmy hedgehog, which is up to four times the length of the diminutive Silvacola.
The other mammal, about the size of a medium-sized dog, discovered at the site, is Heptodon, is an ancient relative of modern tapirs, which resemble small rhinos with no horns and a short, mobile, trunk or proboscis.
“Heptodon was about half the size of today’s tapirs, and it lacked the short trunk that occurs on later species and their living cousins. Based upon its teeth, it was probably a leaf-eater, which fits nicely with the rain forest environment indicated by the fossil plants at Driftwood Canyon,” Eberle said.
Most of the fossil-bearing rocks at Driftwood Canyon formed on the bottom of an ancient lake and are well-known for their exceptionally well-preserved leaves, insects, and fishes.
“The discovery in northern British Columbia of an early cousin to tapirs is intriguing because today’s tapirs live in the tropics. Its occurrence, alongside a diversity of fossil plants that indicates a rain forest, supports an idea put forward by others that tapirs and their extinct kin are good indicators of dense forests and high precipitation,” she said.
Forests, lakes, rivers
Fossil plants from the site indicate the area seldom experienced freezing temperatures and probably had a climate similar to that of Portland, Oregon, located roughly 1,126 kilometres or 700 miles to the south.
The current and previous studies have shown the hedgehog and tapid lived on the shores of a lake surrounded by a mixed conifer-broadleaf forest with redwoods, such as Metasequoia and Sequoia, cedars, fir, larch, golden larch, spruce, pine as well as rare ginkgoes. There were also broadleaf deciduous trees such as alder, birch, sassafras, elms, and relatives of the oak family. In the lake were Azolla, a floating fern, which are frequently found as preserved mats in the fossil shale of the cliff at Driftwood, which together with the fine preservation of the insects indicate a quiet water lake.
The remains on the hedgehog were found in the fossil lake bed while the tapir was found in river sediments.
The paleoclimate has been reconstructed suggesting the region had a mean annual temperature of between 10 degrees C and 15 degrees C, with minimal winter freezing and annual precipitation of about 100 centimetres a year. Today, the mean annual temperature for Smithers is 4.2 degrees C with 50.85 centimetres of precipitation a year
“Driftwood Canyon is a window into a lost world – an evolutionary experiment where palms grew beneath spruce trees and the insects included a mixture of Canadian and Australian species. Discovering mammals allows us to paint a more complete picture of this lost world,” said Dr. David Greenwood of Brandon University, a co-author of the study.
“The early Eocene is a time in the geological past that helps us understand how present day Canada came to have the temperate plants and animals it has today. However, it can also help us understand how the world may change as the global climate continues to warm.”
The Driftwood Canyon site is the northernmost of a series of Eocene lake sites spanning about 1000 kilometres that reach south from Smithers to Republic in northern Washington that the scientists call the Okanagan Highlands, with a mixture of temperate and tropical plants and animals and a high diversity of insects and plants.
While Driftwood Canyon is now among sites considered a key indicator of climate change 50 to 53 million years ago, the Harper government has cut almost all the funding for research into paleontology, not just at Driftwood Canyon but across the country, because looking for fossils doesn’t usually fit into the Conservative policy of only funding science that promotes industry.
“Within Canada, the only other fossil localities yielding mammals of similar age are from the Arctic, so these fossils from British Columbia help fill a significant geographic gap,” said Dr. Natalia Rybczynski of the Canadian Museum of Nature, a co-author of the study.
Other fossils of this age come from Wyoming and Colorado, some 4,345 kilometres or 2,700 miles to the south of the Arctic site of Ellesmere Island. In addition, sources have told Northwest Coast Energy News that the provincial budget for Driftwood Canyon, despite its significance, is the same as other small parks of that size, with virtually no security to prevent fossils leaving the park, either in the hands of professional looters or if they are picked up and taken home by visitors.
There are consistent reports that looted fossils from Driftwood Canyon are regularly showing up at fossil shows in the United States.
Sources have told Northwest Coast Energy News that the provincial government has ignored requests to improve security at Driftwood Canyon because it is considered a small (just 21 hectares) low priority park off the main tourist routes, rather than a significant fossil site.
The mammal fossils were discovered in 2012 before the budget cuts and are now in the Royal British Columbia museum in Victoria. The fieldwork was supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
The study “Early Eocene mammals from the Driftwood Creek beds, Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park, Northern British Columbia ” was published in the July 8, 2014 edition of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
The fossil-bearing sediments at the “North Face” fossil site in Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park near Smithers. The layers of shale are the remains of old lake beds. The grey area near the bottom of the cliff shows where volcanic ash settled on the lake. The scientist in the lower part of the picture are excavating the fossil hedgehog. (Dave Greenwood/Brandon University)
Author Robin RowlandPosted on July 8, 2014 Categories BC government, BC Parks, climate, Environment & Science, forest, Harper, Politics & Government, Skeena - Bulkley Valley, Study, Transport Canada, voteTags BC, Driftwood Canyon, Eocene, fossils, museum, Smithers, Stephen Harper
District of Kitimat calls for plebiscite on the Northern Gateway project
Councillor Phil Germuth listens as District of Kitimat Council debates his motion that would have required Enbridge to enhance monitoring of leaks on the pipeline in the Kitimat watershed. (Robin Rowland/Northwest Coast Energy News)
District of Kitimat Council voted Monday night to hold a plebiscite on whether or not the community supports the controversial Enbridge Northern Gateway project.
District council and staff will decide the actual question for voters and the date for the plebiscite in the coming couple of weeks.
A staff report described a plebiscite as “a non-binding form of referendum,” as defined by the BC Local Government Act.
The council decision comes after the Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel released its decision on December 16, that approved the pipeline and tanker project along with 209 conditions.
After the release of the Joint Review decision, the District of Kitimat issued a news release saying, “Kitimat Council has taken a neutral stance with respect to Northern Gateway. Council will take the necessary time to review the report in order to understand the content and reasons for the decision.”
On January 16, 2012 the council adopted a resolution “that after the completion of the JRP process, the District of Kitimat survey the residents of Kitimat regarding their opinion on the Enbridge Northern Gateway project.” After the JRP decision, the District reaffrimed that it would “undertake a survey of Kitimat residents to determine their opinions of the project now that the JRP has concluded its process.”
District staff had recommended hiring an independent polling firm to conduct the survey, pointing to a pollster’s ability to craft the appropriate questions and provide quick results.
Council quickly shot down the idea. A motion by Councillor Mario Feldhoff to use a polling firm did not get a seconder.
Councillor Rob Goffinet, who made the motion for the plebiscite, noted that even as a politician he doesn’t answer phone calls from unknown numbers. He said, “People do not want a pollster to phone them and do a check list how do you feel on a project. How can we be assured if someone in or out of their home will answer a call from a pollster? I would give total responsibility to every adult citizen of Kitimat who has a point of view to express it in a yes or no ballot.”
Councillor Phil Germuth added, “Those are the same companies that went out prior to the last provincial election and said one party was going to wipe it out and we know what happened there.” Germuth was referring to BC Premier Christy Clark’s come from behind majority victory which was not predicted in the polls.
Germuth told the meeting he believed an unbiased question could be posed in the form of a referendum on the Northern Gateway project. “I have full confidence in our staff that they will be able, along with some assistance from council, to develop questions that are not going to appear biased. It should be very simple, yes means yes, no means no.”
Councillor Mario Feldhoff, who earlier in the evening had, for the first time, declared that he is in favour of the Northern Gateway project, told council that he preferred using a polling firm because it could come back with a “statistically significant” result.
Council voted six to one in favour of the plebiscite. The lone dissenter was Councillor Edwin Empinado who told his colleagues that a mail-in ballot, another of the options presented by staff, would be more inclusive. Empinado said he was concerned that a plebiscite would mean a low voter turnout.
Warren Waycheshen, the district’s deputy chief administrative officer, told council that the plebiscite would have to be held under the provisions of BC’s Local Government Act which covers elections and referenda, but with the plebiscite the council would have more flexibility in deciding how the vote would take place. The act would still cover such things as who was eligible to vote and the use of campaign signs.
Councillor Mario Feldhoff reads a statement at council, supporting the findings of the Joint Review panel on the Northern Gateway project. (Robin Rowland/Northwest Coast Energy News)
The neutrality that council had maintained for at least the previous three years began to break down during Monday’s meeting meeting when Germuth proposed a motion that would have required Enbridge to install within Kitimat’s jurisdiction a detection system capable of locating small volumes of leakage from the pipeline, a measure that is likely beyond the recommendations of the JRP decision.
It was then that Feldhoff became the first Kitimat councillor to actually declare for or against the Northern Gateway, telling council, saying he agreed with the JRP, “The overall risk was manageable and the project was in Canada’s interest. On the whole I am in favour of the conditions and recommendations of the JRP… Not only am I a District of Kitimat Councillor, I am a Canadian. To my mind, opposition to the JRP Northern Gateway report at this stage is yet another case of NIMBY-ism, not in my backyard.”
In the end, at Feldhoff’s urging, the council modified the original motion, so that it called on the District to meet with Enbridge to discuss an enhanced pipeline leak detection system where a leak could “impact the Kitimat watershed.”
It’s not clear what Council will do with the result of the plebiscite, since it is “non-binding.”
In the past two years, Terrace, Prince Rupert and Smithers councils, together with Kitimat Stikine Regional District and the Skeena Queen Charlotte Regional District, all voted to oppose Northern Gateway. Those were all council votes, taken without surveying local opinion.
Most of the decisions are in the hands of the federal government which has 180 days from the release of the JRP report to approve the project.
Author Robin RowlandPosted on January 7, 2014 January 7, 2014 Categories BC, Canada, Enbridge, Environment & Science, Joint Review Panel, Kitimat, Kitimat Stikine Regional District, Northern Gateway Pipeline, Pipelines, Politics & Government, Prince Rupert, referendum, Skeena, Smithers, Stikine, TerraceTags BC, bitumen, economy, Enbridge, environment, hearings, Joint Review, Kitimat, Mario Feldhoff, Northern Gateway, Phil Germuth, Pipelines, Prince Rupert, Rob Goffinet, Smithers, Terrace
Kitimat-Stikine Regional District votes to oppose Enbridge Northern Gateway
Map showing the Regional District of Kitimat Stikine (RDKS)
The Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine voted on Sept. 14, 2012, to oppose the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. Eight of the twelve Regional District Directors of Kitimat Stikine voted to both to oppose the Northern Gateway project and to support resolutions of the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) on the pipeline.
Telegraph Creek director David Brocklebank, who originally proposed the motion, was supported by Dease Lake alternate director Joey Waite, Terrace municipal directors Dave Pernarowski (mayor) and Bruce Bidgood (councillor), Nass director (and regional district chair) Harry Nyce, Hazelton village mayor Alice Maitland, the Hazeltons and Kispiox/Kitwanga director Linda Pierre and Diana Penner (who was sitting in for the director Doug McLeod) for the rural area around Terrace and Kitimat.
Brocklebank had proposed the motion at the August meeting. It was tabled to allow for the directors who represent the various regions and municipalities time for consultation.
Voting against were Kitimat municipal director Corinne Scott, New Hazelton mayor Gail Lowry, Thornhill’s Ted Ramsey and Stewart municipal director Billie Ann Belcher.
Scott said she was voting against the motion, continuing the Kitimat council’s position that it remain neutral until the report of the Northern Gateway Joint Review panel. Ramsey also said Thornhill wanted to also remain neutral.
Other directors pointed to what they called the politicization of the Joint Review and how they believed it had been influenced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
While the District of Kitimat remains neutral, the Skeena Queen Charlotte Regional District, Prince Rupert, Terrace and Smithers have all voted to oppose the Northern Gateway.
Author Robin RowlandPosted on September 16, 2012 September 20, 2012 Categories BC, bitumen, Enbridge, Harper, Joint Review Panel, Kitimat, Kitimat Stikine Regional District, oil sands, Prince Rupert, Smithers, TerraceTags BC, bitumen, coast, Dease Lake, economy, Enbridge, environment, Hazelton, Joint Review, Kispiox, Kitimat, Kitimat Stikine Regional District, Kitwanga, Nass, Northern Gateway, Pipelines, Politics & Government, Smithers, Stephen Harper, Stewart, tar sands, Telegraph Creek, Terrace, Thornhill1 Comment on Kitimat-Stikine Regional District votes to oppose Enbridge Northern Gateway
Fishing report site calls on anglers to boycott towns, including Kitimat, that don’t stand against Enbridge
The Pacific Northwest Fishing Reports website is calling on anglers to boycott all communities, including Kitimat that haven’t taken an official stand opposing the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline.
The site run by someone called “Old Jake” covers DFO Region 6 and Region 7a “in an effort to give sport fishing enthusiasts more options when it comes to our wonderful sport.”
Its about page says:
What makes this website unique is that it is not run by professional fishing guides or anyone who profits directly from fishing, we are local sports fishing enthusiasts here simply because we love the sport. Why is this important to you? Because we don’t have to make a sale on our fishing reports.
The boycott notice was first posted by “Old Jake” on March 31, but only came to wider attention in the past weekend when the link was widely circulated among the angling and guiding community and by environmentalists on social media in northwest BC, some of it in reaction to the oil spill in Sundre, Alberta.
In the post, “Old Jake” says in the introduction:
[T]he deck is really stacked against our pristine lakes and rivers.
Support our boycott on all business in communities which are not willing to protect our environment in hopes of getting a financial handout from Enbridge. Let us send a clear message to communities who don’t respect our environment enough to protect it.
Please do not boycott small fishing businesses that reside outside of any community boundary, because they are as much a victim of those who support oil for greed.
The letter says, in part:
Greetings fellow sport fishing enthusiasts, I am writing this to all of you, all over the world because we desperately need your help on two major fronts, both could permanently extinguish fishing as we know it for our generation and that of our children’s and possibly much longer.
The first and foremost problem is the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project which the Prime Minister of Canada appears to be declaring a project that will go ahead regardless of the National Energy Board Hearings.
The second is Fish Farming, and its unregulated ability to hide scientific facts, its attacks on free speech and attempts to silence those who dare to speak out against them.
First Nations have done their part, they stood up and spoke, all against Enbridge and Alberta’s need to cash in on the horrific oil sands that are killing the Athabasca River, and sending this toxic mess into the Arctic Ocean….
Here is where we have a problem, the cities, towns and villages appear to want it both ways, they want your tourist dollar, and they also any dirty Oil Dollar they can get as well.
We need you; the people of the world to write to the majors of each community and ask them why tourists could come to a community that won’t protect its natural resources. Why should tourists come and spend their money if the leaders of these communities don’t take a stand in protecting our lakes and rivers from the worst threat ever in the history of British Columbia.
Ask these majors (sic probably means mayors) how many people will come to visit if we end up with a mess like they did on the Kalamazoo River.
Here is the list, where the author equates opposing Enbridge with supporting the environment
Prince Rupert – Supports our Environment (Visit this great community)
Terrace – Supports our Environment (Visit this great community)
Kitimat – Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Kitwanga – Supports our Environment (Visit this great community)
Hazelton – Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Kispiox – Supports our Environment (Visit this great community)
Moricetown – Supports our Environment (Visit this great community)
Smithers – Supports our Environment (Visit this great community)
Telkwa – Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Houston – Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Granisle – Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Burns Lake – Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Fraser Lake – Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Vanderhoof – Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Prince George – Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Author Robin RowlandPosted on June 11, 2012 July 20, 2012 Categories BC, Enbridge, environment, First Nations, Fisheries, Northern Gateway Pipeline, Pipelines, waterTags BC, Burns Lake, economy, First Nations, Fisheries, Hazelton, Kitimat, Northern Gateway, pipeline break, Pipelines, Prince George, Prince Rupert, Smithers, Terrace, Vanderhoof
BC NDP formally opposes Northern Gateway in letter to Joint Review Panel
The British Columbia New Democratic Party has written to the Northern Gateway Joint Review panel formally opposing the controversial pipeline project, while at the same time supporting the Kitimat LNG projects, as long as there are strong environmental controls on those projects.
NDP leader Adrian Dix (BC NDP)
A long letter from NDP leader Adrian Dix to the panel concludes by saying
as the Official Opposition, we have carefully weighed the risks and benefits of the NGP to British Columbia, and to Canada. After much consideration and consultation, we have come to the conclusion that the risks of this project far outweigh its benefits. We believe that the NGP will cause significant adverse economic and environmental effects and is not in the public interest. Therefore the NGP should not be permitted to proceed.
The letter also calls on the federal government to legislate a permanent ban on tankers for the west coast. The letter goes over the history of the Exxon Valdez spill
Eight of 11 cargo tanks were punctured, releasing about 258,000 barrels of crude oil, most of which was lost in the first eight hours. There were widespread ecological and economic impacts….To this day, vital shore habitats remain contaminated, the herring fishery has been closed for 15 seasons since the spill, and herring are not considered recovered. The clean-up costs alone are estimated at $3.7 billion…Wildlife and natural resource damages range from $8.5 billion to as high as $127 billion…. Related to the economic hardship felt by families and communities, a wave of social problems followed – alcoholism, high divorce rates and even suicides swept through the Sound’s small towns….
We simply cannot let this happen in British Columbia: the risk is just too great. Therefore, we are calling on the federal government to legislate a permanent moratorium on oil tankers and oil drilling activity on B.C.’s north coast to ensure the ecological integrity and economic and social vitality of the lands and waters of this unique region.
The letter also takes Premeir Christy Clark to task for not taking a stand on the Northern Gateway Issue
The Government of British Columbia agreed to the Joint Review Panel (JRP) process, limiting its ability to give voice to B.C.’s interests. In addition, the Province did not seek government participant status and has failed to exercise its intervenor status to fully represent the interests of British Columbians.
We note that other government agencies including an Alberta municipality, the Province of Alberta and Alberta’s Transportation Ministry, as well as the federal Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, Department of Justice, Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Natural Resources Canada and Transport Canada have registered as government participants in the JRP.
We also note that the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, and a number of local
governments have passed motions opposing the NGP. These include: the Village of Queen Charlotte, Sandspit, Masset, Port Clements, Prince Rupert, Terrace and Smithers.
As the Official Opposition, we take our responsibility to represent and to protect the interests of British Columbia and British Columbians seriously. We have listened to the concerns and diverse perspectives of constituents throughout the province and we have met with stakeholders and experts about the NGP.
The letter also expresses concern about the fairness of the Joint Review Process
Four New Democrat MLAs are actively participating in the JRP, as intervenors or as presenters. Three of these MLAs represent constituencies that will be directly impacted if the NGP proceeds. The fourth MLA is our environment critic. All of them, like the thousands of other British Columbians who are participating in the JRP, are doing so in good faith.
We are very troubled by statements of the Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources that have caused several commentators and JRP participants to question the objectivity of the process and ask if its outcome is predetermined.
Dix is quick to point out that the New Democrats are not against sustainable economic development.
The importance of sustainable economic development International trade and responsible resource extraction are essential to B.C. and Canada’s economy.
International trade creates good-paying jobs and vital communities. To this end, we are committed to building on our tradition of further developing trade relations with China and other Asia Pacific markets to build a strong B.C. economy.
Further, we have been clear about our support for the Kitimat liquefied natural gas project while emphasizing it comes with the serious responsibility to ensure strong environmental protections. We acknowledge that all resource development and extraction has inherent risks.
Other points in the NDP letter were:
The tanker traffic to ship Alberta oil to Asian markets will require lifting of the current tanker moratorium and the Tanker Exclusion Zone, and will put the British Columbia coastline at serious risk of devastating environmental and economic damage from potential oil spills;The NGP will traverse remote and highly valued areas of B.C., and will cross almost 800 streams. The risk of spills from the proposed pipeline will put these valuable
environments and species, such as salmon, at risk;The impact of an oil leak or spill would be most severely felt by First Nation
communities. As has been affirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada, First Nations must be consulted effectively and be respected on a government-to-government level;• The greenhouse gas emissions generated by NGP-related oil sands development will
contribute to the economic, social, and environmental costs of climate change;
The NGP provides few long-term and sustainable economic benefits for British
Columbia, while shipping raw bitumen forgoes important value-added economic
development opportunities involving upgrading and refining the oil in Canada;• The NGP is forecast to increase Canadian oil prices for Canadian consumers.
NDP BC news release
BC NDP caucus letter to Joint Review Panel (pdf)
NDP BC backgrounder on the Northern Gateway (pdf)
Author Robin RowlandPosted on April 30, 2012 April 30, 2012 Categories BC, Enbridge, First Nations, Joint Review Panel, Kitimat, Northern Gateway Pipeline, oil spill, Politics & GovernmentTags Adrian Dix, BC, Business, Enbridge, environment, First Nations, hearings, Joint Review, Kitimat, KM LNG, Liquified Natural Gas, LNG, Masset, National Energy Board, NEB, Northern Gateway, oil spill, Pipelines, Port Clements, Prince Rupert, Queen Charlotte, Sandspit, Smithers, tar sands, Terrace
Kitimat group launches anti-Enbridge petition/referendum
Danny Nunes at the District of Kitimat Council meeting, March 5, 2012. (Robin Rowland/Northwest Coast Energy News)
Danny Nunes, a candidate for mayor of Kitimat in the fall election, together with a group of volunteers, is launching a petition/referendum opposing the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline project.
Nunes was a gadfly candidate for Kitimat mayor in the fall election, gaining 85 votes. He is a Kitimat and Terrace based video producer and comedian, also known as Matt Mask.
Nunes pointed to a vote by Kitimat council on January 17, 2012, not to hold any council vote or referendum on the Enbridge project until after the Joint Review Panel has reported, sometime in 2013. In the meantime, Prince Rupert, Terrace and Smithers councils and the Skeena Queen Charlotte Regional District have all had votes opposing the Northern Gateway project.
“If they won’t hold a referendum, I will,” Nunes told Northwest Coast Energy News, referring to the District of Kitimat council.
He plans an old style paper petition, getting signatures by going to events or door to door, making sure that as many signatures as possible can match the voters’ list in the last municipal election. Matching with the voters’ list is one reason why Nunes says he is not going to use an online petition site.
Once he has signatures from all those Kitimat residents who oppose the Northern Gateway project– “we’ll know if the town is opposed or just a small minority” — he plans to present the petition to District of Kitimat Council, probably sometime in April.
Author Robin RowlandPosted on March 5, 2012 March 5, 2012 Categories Joint Review Panel, Kitimat, Northern Gateway Pipeline, Pipelines, Politics & GovernmentTags Danny Nunes, Enbridge, environment, Joint Review, Kitimat, Northern Gateway, Pipelines, Politics & Government, Prince Rupert, Skeena Queen Charlotte Regional District, Smithers, Terrace
Smithers council votes to oppose Northern Gateway, fourth council within a month
Smithers has become the third northwestern British Columbia municipal council to vote against the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, joining Prince Rupert and Terrace. Earlier, one regional district, Skeena Queen Charlotte, also voted against the controversial pipeline and tanker project.
The vote in Smithers was 5-1.
Smithers Councillor Phil Brienesse, in a statement posted on his Facebook page, said
I brought forth a new motion to oppose the Enbridge Northern Gateway project. The motion passed 5-1 after careful and considerable debate by council. My decision was based in part on new information that came out from recent decisions made in Terrace, SQCRD, and Prince Rupert that made it clear that local governments had the right and are clearly permitted to provide information to the Joint Review Panel. Since the previous motion was tabled with the reasoning being that it was felt we should not be influencing the JRP it seemed appropriate to bring forth a new motion at this time taking into consideration that we made the decision based on the information currently available.
Brienesse was quoted by CFJW on Tuesday night: “I hope this really brings our community together and in particular what it does, is it brings the north together so now we have Smithers, Terrace, Prince Rupert, and the Skeena Queen Charlotte Regional District all opposing Enbridge, in their own unique ways that makes sense to their community,” said Brienesse, adding “we have a united North, so I am very positive about this.”
CFJW said the only vote against the motion was from Councillor Charlie Northrup, who noted not all councillors were present for last night’s meeting — and he wanted to table it until everyone was there.
Enbridge spokesman Paul Stanway, speaking on CBC Radio, repeated what he said to Northern View after the Prince Rupert vote, that it was better for all communities to wait until the Joint Review Panel had finished the hearings and then make a decision based on all the evidence.
Author Robin RowlandPosted on February 29, 2012 March 7, 2012 Categories BC, Enbridge, Joint Review Panel, Northern Gateway Pipeline, Smithers, tankerTags BC, bitumen, Enbridge, environment, Joint Review, news coverage, Northern Gateway, Pipelines, Prince Rupert, Skeena Queen Charlotte Regional District, Smithers, tanker, tar sands, Terrace2 Comments on Smithers council votes to oppose Northern Gateway, fourth council within a month
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You Are Here > Home / News / World News / Greece storm: Six tourists killed as win...
Greece storm: Six tourists killed as wind and hail batter Halkidiki
Damage at a playground at a hotel in Porto Carras, Halkidki
Six tourists have been killed and at least 30 other people injured in a violent storm that swept across a region of northern Greece.
Gale-force winds, heavy rain and hailstorms lashed Halkidiki, near the city of Thessaloniki, late on Wednesday, officials say.
A Czech couple died when their caravan was blown away, and two Romanians and two Russians were also killed.
A state of emergency was declared and more than 100 rescue workers deployed.
Charalambos Steriadis, head of civil protection in northern Greece, described it as an "unprecedented phenomenon".
The storm followed a spell of very hot weather in Greece with temperatures soaring to 37C (98F) over the past two days.
Images and video posted on social media show trees toppled, cars overturned and buildings damaged.
"It is the first time in my 25-year career that I have lived through something like this," said Athansios Kaltsas, director of the Nea Moudania Medical Centre which treated many of the injured.
"It was so abrupt, so sudden," he said.
A witness quoted by broadcaster ERT said the freak storm had lasted only for about 20 minutes.
A Romanian woman and her child were killed when the roof of a restaurant collapsed at Nea Plagia, officials say, while a Russian man and his son were killed by a falling tree near their hotel in the seaside resort of Potidea.
Greece's minister for citizen protection, Michalis Chryssohoidis, is due to visit the region on Thursday.
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You are here: Home / Patient Profiles / The Future of Healthcare Within Our Genes
The Future of Healthcare Within Our Genes
Darius J. Adams, M.D.
Director, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Personalized Genomic Medicine Program
For decades, personalized genomic medicine has been utilized to detect genetic problems during pregnancy, identify genetic conditions prior to conception or reveal a family history of illness or disease.
“Now, as the number of genetic tests continues to grow, personalized genomic medicine is expanding to much broader applications that have the potential to transform the future of medicine entirely,” observes Darius J. Adams, M.D., director of Atlantic Health System’s Jacobs Levy Equity Management Personalized Genomic Medicine Program. “It will have a profound impact on preventive care. We can assess the risk of developing certain cancers and diseases later in life and minimize those risks before they become an issue.”
In 2012, for example, actress Angelina Jolie announced that she underwent a double mastectomy after genetic testing revealed that she was a carrier for BRCA 1 – a gene known to substantially increase the risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. Considering that there was a family history of the diseases (Jolie’s mother died of ovarian cancer at age 56), she chose to proactively minimize her risk.
“Of course, there are many ethical considerations that go along with genomic medicine,” cautions Dr. Adams, a clinical and biochemical geneticist. “Although we have the potential to unlock a person’s entire hereditary information, or genome, would you want to know every disease you are at risk for developing, including those with no known cure? It’s a very personal decision and requires very frank discussions with a geneticist or genetic counselor.”
Atlantic’s Personalized Genomic Medicine Program takes a thoughtful approach to the process, explains Dr. Adams, by applying technologies that yield the most benefit to patients. For example, personalized genomic medicine is increasingly being used at Overlook to customize pharmacological treatment plans. By analyzing genes as well as tumors to determine how they metabolize drugs and how the tumor cells grow, doctors can deliver drugs and dosages with more precision and better outcomes. This can dramatically reduce a patient’s adverse or allergic reactions to medications, and is particularly beneficial for cancer patients who are sensitive to certain chemotherapy drugs.
“Eventually, genomic medicine will be used to customize treatment protocols for many conditions that have genetic causes,” remarks Dr. Adams, adding that the program serves physicians and patients in many subspecialties, including cardiology, neurology, pediatrics and oncology.
In addition to participating in clinical trials for more advanced therapeutics, Atlantic’s Personalized Genomics Medicine Program serves as a Newborn Screening Referral Center, performing confirmatory testing for 47 out of 54 genetic conditions for which every baby born in New Jersey is tested after birth.
“There are quite a few centers in the U.S. offering genetic testing in the more traditional sense, focusing on maternal-fetal and pediatrics areas; but when it comes to personalized genomic medicine, few are as far along the path as Overlook,” Dr. Adams comments.
“It’s the dawn of a new era in medicine and I’m delighted that Overlook is looking beyond the horizon.”
For more information about The Jacob Levy Equity Management Personalized Genomic Medicine Program, call (908) 522-6289 or visit www.atlantichealth.org, keyword Personalized Genomic Medicine.
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Mr. Bowling Ball Arborvitae
Thuja occidentalis 'Bobazam'
Other Names: Eastern White Cedar
This tiny shrub just demands to be loved by all gardeners, with very unusual threadlike sage-green foliage and an extremely dwarf, compact form that requires no pruning to maintain its perfectly rounded shape; ideal for rock gardens and detail use
Mr. Bowling Ball Arborvitae has attractive grayish green foliage. The threadlike leaves are highly ornamental and remain grayish green throughout the winter. Neither the flowers nor the fruit are ornamentally significant.
Mr. Bowling Ball Arborvitae is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a more or less rounded form. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which should be used to full effect.
This is a relatively low maintenance shrub. When pruning is necessary, it is recommended to only trim back the new growth of the current season, other than to remove any dieback. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Mr. Bowling Ball Arborvitae is recommended for the following landscape applications;
Mr. Bowling Ball Arborvitae will grow to be about 30 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 30 inches. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 30 years.
This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selection of a native North American species.
Mr. Bowling Ball Arborvitae makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. It can be used either as 'filler' or as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, depending on the height and form of the other plants used in the container planting. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden. Be aware that in our climate, most plants cannot be expected to survive the winter if left in containers outdoors, and this plant is no exception. Contact our store for more information on how to protect it over the winter months.
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Part One: How to Speak With Your Fingers
Part Two: Writing and Coding
Part Three: The Ergonomic Argument
Part Four: Mobile and Wearable Computing
Part Five: Raw Speed
Part Six: CART, Court, and Captioning
Finally, the sixth and last installment of my What Is Steno Good For? series. The first five sections dealt with using steno in daily life, for conversation, prose composition and coding, injury prevention, typing while walking, and inputting text as efficiently as possible. Plover is being developed primarily with those five spheres in mind.
This section is different. It focuses on people who actually want to make a living as court reporters, CART providers, or captioners. It's also the category that the majority of the Plover Project's current testers, readers, and commenters belong to. In order for Plover to succeed, that proportion needs to change.
Steno as a career is skyrocketing. Official reporters (the ones who work in actual courtrooms) are facing layoffs, but in every other field -- deposition work, captioning, and CART -- there's far more demand than supply. Rates are relatively high (though down considerably from their peak in the '90s, and gradually continuing to decline) and work is plentiful. Certified realtime stenographers can make six figures a year, while setting their own schedules and maintaining autonomy as independent contractors. It's pretty much a dream job.
Steno as an academic-vocational discipline is dying. Steno schools continue to shut down across the country. The national dropout rate is 85%. Student machines cost over $1,000, and DRM-riddled student software runs about $500, so without even considering tuition, students are forced to pay a largely non-refundable $1,500 right out of the gate. Considering the 15% graduation rate and the variable length of study (which ranges from 1 to 6 years, but averages around 4 years of intensive daily practice to reach graduation speeds of 225 WPM), steno school is a fool's gamble for the vast majority of new students. Most schools are for-profit, so it's in their interest to accept large numbers of theory students, selling them their steno machines when the semester starts and buying them back at a steep markdown from the dropouts, who tend to leave around 120 WPM, just in time for the next crop of theory students to arrive. There's no incentive for schools to screen for English aptitude, physical dexterity, or self-discipline, because the students that are all but doomed to fail are potentially even more lucrative than the successful ones, due to the revolving steno machine sale-and-buyback scheme. This means plenty of profit in the short term, but in the long term it spells the death not only of these short-sighted schools, but of the steno professions themselves.
A market in which demand exceeds supply will hold out only so long. Eventually the vaccuum caused by the shortage of stenographers will collapse, and inferior but readily available substitutes such as electronic recording, undertrained voice writers, and non-verbatim notetaking systems will move in to claim the territory. Compounding the problem is that many people think that the career is less than a decade away from obsolescence; 30 years of Star Trek has put the idea into their heads that artificial intelligence is a nut we're close to cracking, and that a computer that can understand and transcribe everything we say to it is just around the corner. I've got lots and lots to say on this one, but let me just lay out the short and sweet version, and you can either take my word for it now or wait for the long argument to come later. (You might also want to read this article for some of the technical details.)
Without true artificial intelligence, there is no reliable speech recognition. Current speech recognition software works relatively well with good audio, clear speakers, and a somewhat restricted vocabulary. Dictation at 160 WPM or less can give good results, especially if the speaker puts in the effort to train themselves and their software, and providing that they have the luxury to stop the dictation and correct any errors made by the software before continuing on. In real-life situations, where the speaker being transcribed can't be induced to slow down, correct errors, or enunciate perfectly in American-accented English -- even with an intermediary "respeaker" repeating the dictation directly into a microphone, inserting punctuation, and correcting errors on the fly -- the software's verbatim realtime accuracy is significantly below that of a trained stenographer. The only respeakers that even approach the accuracy of realtime steno are true voice writers, who spend thousands of hours training their voices, figuring out ways to differentiate the pronunciation of homophones, and creating macros to resolve mistranscriptions. It is not easy to do. I compare true voice writing to beatboxing and steno to playing a drumset in my article Voice Captioning Versus CART. You can read it if you're interested in that sort of thing.
The trouble is that everyone keeps saying "Voice recognition software is constantly improving. It gets better with every new release. Soon it'll be perfect." The first two statements are correct. The third is a fallacy. The software is improving, but asymptotically. Its theoretical ceiling of improvement is far below what's required for consistent, reliable transcription. Speech recognition software doesn't parse language the way humans do. It has no ability to use context or meaning to change sounds into words. It records audio waveforms, breaks them up into little bits, and compares them to a database of other audio waveforms. It never finds a perfect match, because no two humans say the same word in exactly the same way each time. Instead, it tries to choose the closest match in its database of thousands of other tiny fragments of audio. All speech recognition software relies on probability-based algorithms to guess at what's being said. This means that the more common the phrase, the more variants of it will be found in the database, and the more likely it will be to be correctly transcribed.
But the converse is also true. In the architecture class I provide CART for, the phrase "sum of the forces" comes up several dozen times a week. But because the phrase "some of the" is so much more common in normal speech than "sum of the", the VR software would mistranscribe it unless the voice writer figured out a way to say "sum" that sounded completely different from the word "some" and defined it as a custom waveform. There are scads of these soundalike words and phrases in the English language, and the voice writer is at a disadvantage when trying to distinguish them. The steno writer has a number of options to resolve homophone conflicts or to compress a wordy phrase into a single stroke. They can add the asterisk, they can alter the vowels, or they can take a cue from the way the word is spelled. It's much harder for a voice writer to find an alternative way to pronounce a word or syllable, because not only must they pronounce it consistently so that the computer can recognize it each time, but it also can't sound like any other words or syllables that they might be called upon to speak. It's much easier to write a memorable nonsense syllable on the steno keyboard than it ever would be to speak it.
There's also the inherent uncertainty involved in decoding analog speech with a digital algorithm. Even with good amplification, the signal is always lossy to some extent, and the speech processing algorithms are essentially a black box that weigh relative probabilities and then just spit out the most likely one, without being able to incorporate any semantic or contextual calculations. The voice writer is never quite sure what the machine is going to make out of what they said, and no matter how cleanly they speak, they're forced to build in a lot more error correction time into their transcription process. Steno writers can write a word in half a second that took the speaker three seconds to say, and they know with certainty what will come up on the screen when they hit a particular chord. That's an advantage a voice writer will never have. Add in that a voice writer has to speak at the same time that they're trying to listen, and you see some of the difficulties they labor under.
There are some excellent voice writers out there, and I don't want to devalue their talent or the enormous amount of training that goes into the process of achieving accurate verbatim realtime using VR software. On the contrary; I think if people realized how much work it takes to do the job properly with the voice, they might balk a lot less at the idea of learning to do it with their fingers. Unfortunately, the shortage of CART providers, captioners, and court reporters has led to a widespread practice of companies hiring untrained voice writers, deciding that their output is good enough, and dropping both standards and wages accordingly. It's a sad situation.
Because voice recognition is perceived to be so much easier than it really is, and because learning it only requires about $200, a microphone, and a computer, it's much easier to find people willing to give it a chance. After all, if it doesn't live up to their expectations, they're only out $200, rather than the $1,500 albatross steno school dropouts find themselves trying to unload. Imagine if computer programming required a special computer that couldn't connect to the internet or run games or do anything else except write computer software, and that it sold for $1,500. What do you think the state of software development would look like? Maybe some rich kids' parents would buy them the machine, but they'd probably prefer that they become doctors or lawyers than programmers, which is a lot of work for not much prestige. Poor kids would be completely out of luck. Middle class kids might think that programming sounded fun, but they'd probably decide it wasn't worth the restrictive entry cost. Some few people might decide that programming was their best shot at making a good living, so they'd scrimp and save and take out loans to buy the special programming computer plus the lessons to go with it. And after all that, what if they didn't like programming? What if they didn't have an aptitude for it? They were out $1,500 and a lot of wasted effort. What kind of smart, inquisitive, curious kid would make that kind of gamble? What would the field of computer programming look like if this were the only way to write software?
It's the state of steno today, and I'm worried that if it goes on for much longer, the discipline will die out altogether. The only way we can build the next generation of realtime reporters, captioners, and CART providers is if we get people using steno for all sorts of purposes -- not just the ones that will make them an immediate profit. Once there's a pool of amateurs and enthusiasts all using steno in their daily lives, it will be evident how useful it can be and how outdated the qwerty interface has become. Kids will start learning it in their typing classes. Companies will start selling steno machines (hopefully ultra-portable ones!) at consumer prices. People who would feel awkward talking to themselves in public via VR software will embrace steno as the most efficient way to put their thoughts into words.
All of this holds true even if they're only writing at 120 words per minute. It took me a year and a half to graduate from steno school. In that time, I noticed that most of my fellow students dropped out when they were writing between 120 and 225 words per minute. Relatively few of them dropped out before their third semester. They would make fairly steady progress through theory and up to 120 WPM, then plateau. It seems that nearly anyone can get up to 100 WPM or so in less than six months, but that closing the gap between 100 and 200 seems to take much more work. You don't need to write at 225 WPM to reap the advantages of steno. Even 120 WPM is double the average qwerty typing speed, and steno has significant ergonomic benefits as well. Users can overtake their qwerty speed within the first few months of use, then gradually work their way up to higher speeds while using steno to perform their daily tasks, rather than spending 10 hours a week in grueling, boring dictation classes.
Inevitably, some of these people will find they have both a passion and a talent for steno. They'll push themselves to go faster and faster, and eventually they'll arrive at court/CART/captioning speeds. Much like programmers do today, they'll start out tinkering around with the free software, discover a passion and an aptitude for the system, possibly spend some time in a formal program polishing their technique, and discover one day that they're skilled enough to take paying work. These people are the future of our profession, and right now they hardly know it exists. The only way people will bother to learn steno is if the software is free, the steno machine costs less than $100, and the lessons are available online. The Plover Project is an attempt to meet those goals, and to secure the future of the work that I love.
Posted by Mirabai Knight at 10:08 PM
Great article! I agree that something has to be done to bring people into the industry, and what you're proposing might just be it! I linked to your blog from my new steno student blog, hope word about this gets around. We can all take it to our personal social networks and see what happens. I haven't tried your software yet, but I'd like to.
Mirabai, your observation about people's Star Trek-like expectations of capabilities of computers vis-a-vis speech reminds me of what Geoffrey Pullum, a well-known linguist, wrote about his attempt to find a short, easy-to-explain definition of linguistics for lay people. He decided to start telling people that linguistics is the sort of science that you would learn if you wanted to get computers to be able to understand and produce ordinary human language. He was surprised to find that many people's reaction to this was: "Hasn't that already been done?"
NeverLNG said...
That is really very interesting.
I tried reading your transcribed dictation to my own DragonNaturallySpeaking that I have been using for several months for medical transcription, and it was really almost entirely accurate up to maybe 160 WPM.
The Google speech recognition program is just a hoot -- and essentially useless.
I do agree, that speech recognition DNS style has a long way to go before it is generally applicable, and probably can't really be truly useful without putting a human into the computer box, but it works fairly well for me in a very limited application.
(I typed this on QWERTY keyboard -- I didn't try to dictate it)
Then I just read what I typed into DNS -- this is the output, without corrections -- it is close enough to be useful, but it missed "hoot."
I tried reading your transcribed dictation to my own Dragon NaturallySpeaking that I have been using for several months for medical transcription, and it was really almost entirely accurate up to maybe hundred and 60 words per minute
The Google speech recognition programs just and -- and essentially useless.
I do agree that speech recognition DNS style has a long way to go before it is generally applicable, and probably can't really be truly useful without putting a human into the computer box, but it works fairly well for me in a limited application
(I type this on the QWERTY keyboard -- I didn't try to dictate)
Tom Duncan
That really is quite good, Tom. Yes, it seems like for dictation, DNS can be very useful if properly trained. It's only when people insist that the leap from trained single voice dictation to multivoice natural language transcription is imminent and inevitable that I get skeptical. They're two very different settings, and the former is much easier to teach a computer how to do than the latter is.
need a second chance said...
I am trying to re-enter the field and would love a free or reasonable (no huge down payment) writer to start building my speed again. I can make monthly payments of $60. I eventually would like to get into captioning.
@need a second chance:
I was an RPR-CM many years ago, and I want to re-enter the field too. I purchased some used equipment on eBay and it should arrive next week.
Other than preparing for the RPR again, I am not sure what I will do after that. I'm interested in hearing about your plan. dsr
Just for the record, people think translation is also a solved problem. And it ain't, not by a long shot, for the same reasons you list for transcription.
I think what you are doing is wonderful. I am interested is seeing if I can get into the CART field (passed two 225 Q&A many many years ago; then did not want to work in the field). What may stymie me is that the requirements for CART or Captioning are much stricter than for taking down a dep not using realtime. So for the novice, they can get good clean copy with Dragon at 160 to 180 wpm easily. With sten it will not be easy to get to 160wpm or 180. Even if I get to 225 this time, it is unlikely I will meet the requirements for CART or captioning. Only 30 percent have the capability of reaching the speed to begin with; writing for CART or Captioning, I believe the capability may be 10 percent of the 30 percent who do graduate. You are truly one of the very elite, talented few who have the capability work in CART. As evidenced by your spectacularly short time spent in court reporting school before graduation. You are a natural. Very, very few writers, even those capable of graduating, can do what you do. That being said, I think your idea of bringing steno to the masses at a price they can afford is a labor of love they will be rewarded one day.
Oops... typing on my crappy netbook. I meant "a labor of love THAT will be rewarded someday."
P.Ray said...
Is this software capable of doing live broadcasting for captioning? I am a CART writer and I am trying to transition over to captioning but the software is $6995. I am just overwhelmed with all the prices of everything.
Plover is great for CART, but I'm afraid it's not set up to do television broadcast captioning. Sorry!
How well does this software work for doing depositions and producing transcripts? Is it capable of creating cover pages, auto indexing, certificate page at the end, etc?
Plover does none of those things. It's simply a conduit from your steno machine to your operating system. You'll need to use a text editor or word processor to do whatever transcript production work you need. I know nothing about transcripts, since I've never done any court reporting (and hope I never have to!), so I made a decision to keep Plover as streamlined as possible. It works beautifully for realtime captioning, but for broadcast captioning or transcript production, you might want to choose another steno engine.
bill livingston said...
Ok. Thank you for the quick response :-)
IHateGoogle said...
As a voice writer wannabe and new Dragon nerd, I have learned how to overcome those homophone issues-- "Sum of all things." Go into your vocabulary editor, erase "SUM",replace it with Sum-CO, train it and now every time you need to say SUM, you speak as SUM-COM and you will always get SUM.
Alternatively, you can create a conflict resolution in EclipseVOX and allow the AI to solve these issues.
I think that Steno writing is awesome but the learning curve is HUGE. I think that voice writing is much harder than people believe but if a person trains hard they can get to the 180s in 3-6 months.
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Created by the Institute of Historical Research in London and the History of Parliament Trust, British History Online is a digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. It is possible to combine a search for accessing primary and secondary sources using Geographical categories (East London, Midlands, North Scotland, South East, South West, Wales), Subject categories (Administrative and legal history, Ecclesiastical and religious history, Economic history, Intellectual, scientific and cultural history, Local history, Parliamentary history, Urban and metropolitan history) and Chronological periods (11th and 12th centuries, 13th century, 14th century, 15th century, 16th century, 17th century, 18th century, 19th century). Some important series of "parliamentary" sources are the following:
House of Lords, Journal
The official record of proceedings in the House (1509-1756, 1832-4). 33 volumes.
House of Commons, Journal
The official record of the House. Includes volumes 1-12 (1547-1699) & 85 (1830). 13 volumes.
House of Commons, Debates (Grey)
Debates (1667-94), collected by the Hon. Anchitell Grey, MP (10 vols). 10 volumes.
Statutes of the Realm
The full text of Statutes passed into law by the two Houses of Parliament. 3 volumes.
Rushworth, Historical Collections
7 volumes.
State Papers of John Thurloe
Collections of Thurloe, Secretary of State 1652-8, ed. Thomas Birch (7 volumes). 7 volumes.
Thomas Burton's Diary
The parliamentary diary of Thomas Burton, MP for Westmorland (1653-59). 4 volumes.
The Journals of all the Parliaments during the reign of Queen Elizabeth
Includes very detailed accounts of debates in both houses of Parliament from 1559 until 1601. Collected by Sir Simonds d'Ewes, knight and baronet of Stow Hall in Suffolk, they were revised and published in 1682 by his nephew, the lawyer and antiquary Paul Bowes.
Historical Collections:or, An exact Account of the Proceedings of the Four last Parliaments of Q. Elizabeth
Details debates in both Houses of Parliament from 1589 until 1601. Collected by the Shropshire MP Heywood Townshend, they were first published in 1680.
House of Commons, History and Proceedings of (Chandler)
Extensive verbatim accounts of Commons debates, 1660-1739, in 10 volumes. 10 volumes.
Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642-1660
The full text of legislation passed into law during the Interregnum. Contains over 900 pieces of legislation. ranging from that concerning the trial and execution of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury to the regulation of trade in currants, and from the propagation of the Gospel in the New World to the draining of the Great Fen. Originally published in three volumes, it is here given together, along with a table of acts passed and a substantial introduction.
Roger Whitley's Diary 1684-1697Bodleian Library, MS Eng Hist c 711
Diary of a Cheshire gentleman, Whig Member of Parliament for Chester in 1689-97 and landholder in Wales, covering a period in which he steered a difficult political course. Michael Stevens' transcription is published by permission of the Bodleian Library.
Committees for Repeal of the Test and Corporation ActsMinutes 1786-90 and 1827-8
The minutes of two committees of London Dissenters (ministers and laymen) for the repeal of these two Acts, the second of which was eventually successful. From MSS in the Guildhall Library, reproduced by permission of the London Record Society.
London Politics 1713-1717Minutes of a Whig club 1714-1717, London Pollbooks 1713
The minutes of a Whig political club in the City of London, from a MS in the Guildhall Library. The Pollbooks record the voters in the General Election for London of 1713, (MS: Dr Jeremy Mitchell.) By permission of the London Record Society.
Parliament Rolls of Medieval England - PROME (no free access) "This source consists of scholarly descriptions of every parliament held in England between 1275 and 1504. It covers 10 monarchs, from Edward I to Henry VII (since no parliament was held in the reign of Edward V, he is not included). The rolls for some of these parliaments, particularly the earlier ones, do not survive, but where they are extant have been fully transcribed; supplementary material about the business of the parliament is given in an appendix. Opposite the original text, which may be in Latin, Anglo-Norman, or Middle English, is a modern English translation."
The Calendar of Treasury Books. These calendars detail state income and expenditure from the Restoration up to 1718, in 32 volumes. This series complements two others on BHO: the Calendar of Treasury Papers and the Calendar of Treasury Books and Papers:
Treasury Books, Calendar
Treasury Papers, Calendar
Treasury Books and Papers, Calendar
Papal Documents The Calendar of Papal Registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland is made of 14 volumes covering the period 1198 to 1492, and thus the papacy of Innocent III through to that of Innocent VIII. These volumes provide a detailed insight into the relations of the papacy with Great Britain and Ireland in the medieval period.
Saturday, 17 March 2012 - 10:32pm
Select ratingGive British History Online 1/5Give British History Online 2/5Give British History Online 3/5Give British History Online 4/5Give British History Online 5/5
Evans Early American Imprint Collection – Text Creation Partnership
HyperHamlet
Science Gossip
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Government Studies on Chiropractic
There have been a number of large investigations conducted on chiropractic by the American, Canadian, New Zealand, Swedish and Australian governments over the last few decades. In all cases, their findings have supported the effectiveness and efficacy of Chiropractic.
Canada's 1993 Manga Report strongly recommended chiropractic care over medical care for the treatment and management of most low-back conditions. The 1994 AHCPR Study from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggested that chiropractic spinal manipulation was a conservative and safe treatment for many low-back conditions and should be utilized prior to any surgical interventions in most cases.
Doctors of Chiropractic have now become integral to the development of governmental guidelines for the treatment of back conditions in Canada and the U.S. In addition, many hospitals are extending privileges to chiropractors and referrals between medical doctors and chiropractors are becoming increasingly common.
US - "The Agency on Health Care Policy and Research Study"
CANADA - "The Manga Report"
NEW ZEALAND - "The New Zealand Commission Report"
SWEDEN - "The Sweden Report"
AUSTRALIA - "The Australian Report"
US - The Agency on Health Care Policy and Research Study
Acute Low Back Problems in Adults. Clinical Practice Guidelines. Bigos S, et al. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research Publication No. 950642 (1994) - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
CANADA - The Manga Report
NEW ZEALAND - The New Zealand Commission Report
This 377 page report, Chiropractic In New Zealand, was the most comprehensive and detailed independent examination of chiropractic ever undertaken at that time. The report withstood judicial hearings and extensive investigations by the Commission in New Zealand, the United States, Canada, England and Australia.
According to the researchers,
"We entered into our inquiry in early 1978. We had no clear idea what might emerge. We knew little about chiropractors. None of us had undergone any personal experience of chiropractic treatment. If we had any general impression of chiropractic it was probably that shared by many in the community: that chiropractic was an unscientific cult, not to be compared with orthodox medical or paramedical services. We might well have thought that chiropractors were people with perhaps a strong urge for healing, who had for some reason not been able to get into a field recognized by orthodox medicine and who had found an outlet outside the fringes of orthodoxy."
"But as we prepared ourselves for this inquiry it became apparent that much lay beneath the surface of these apparently simple terms of reference. In the first place it transpired that for many years chiropractors had been making strenuous efforts to gain recognition and acceptance as members of the established health care team. Secondly, it was clear that organized medicine in New Zealand was adamantly opposed to this on a variety of grounds which appeared logical and responsible. Thirdly, however, it became only too plain that the argument had been going on ever since chiropractic was developed as an individual discipline in the late 1800's, and that in the years between then and now the debate had generated considerable more heat than light."
"By the end of the inquiry we found ourselves irresistibly and with complete unanimity drawn to the conclusion that modern chiropractic is a soundly based and valuable branch of the health care in a specialized area..."
Their report includes the following findings:
Chiropractic is a branch of the healing arts specializing in the correction by spinal manual therapy of what chiropractors identify as biomechanical disorders of the spinal column - they carry out spinal diagnosis and therapy at a sophisticated and refined level;
Chiropractors are the only health practitioners who are necessarily equipped by their education and training to carry out spinal manual therapy;
General medical practitioners and physiotherapists have no adequate training in spinal manual therapy;
Spinal manual therapy in the hands of a registered chiropractor is safe;
The education and training of a registered chiropractor are sufficient to enable him/her to determine whether there are contraindications to spinal manual therapy in a particular case, and whether the patient should have medical care instead of or as well as chiropractic care;
Spinal manual therapy can be effective in relieving musculoskeletal symptoms, such as back pain and other symptoms known to respond to such therapy, such as migraine;
In a limited number of cases where there are organic and/or visceral symptoms, chiropractic treatment may provide relief, but this is unpredictable, and in such cases the patient should be under concurrent medical care if that is practicable;
In the public interest and in the interests of patients, there must be no impediment to full professional cooperation between chiropractors and medical practitioners;
It is wrong that the present law, or any medical ethical rules, should have the effect that a patient can receive spinal manual therapy which is subsidized by a health benefit only from those health professionals least qualified to deliver it;
The responsibility for spinal manual therapy training, because of its specialized nature, should lie with the chiropractic profession and part-time or vacation courses in spinal manual therapy for other health professionals should not be encouraged.
New Zealand Report. Hasselberg PD. Government Printer, Wellington - 1979.
SWEDEN - The Sweden Report
Up until the late 1980's, Sweden had no legislation regulating the practice of chiropractic, although there were approximately 100 chiropractors in Sweden educated in accredited chiropractic colleges. In 1987, a commission on Alternative Medicine in Sweden conducted a detailed investigation of chiropractic education. They had the scientific literature assessed by university medical faculty and additionally commissioned a demographic survey by Statistics Sweden. Subsequent to the report, the Swedish government passed legislation recognizing and regulating the chiropractic profession in Sweden. Then, together with the governments from Denmark, Finland and Norway, it established a school of chiropractic at the University of Odense in Denmark to provide a regional chiropractic college for students from those countries.
The reports findings included:
Doctors of chiropractic should become registered practitioners and be brought within the national insurance system in Sweden;
Training for Doctors of Chiropractic follows a 4-5 year course of university level training and was found to be the equivalent to Swedish medical training - chiropractors have "competence in differential diagnosis" and should be regulated on a primary care basis";
"Measures to improve cooperation between chiropractors, registered medical practitioners and physiotherapists are vital" in the public interest.
Ref 11 Supra.
In July of 1984 the Australian Federal Minister for Health asked their Medicare Benefits Review Committee to "consider requests for extending the scope of Medicare (government-funded health care) arrangements to provide benefits for certain paramedical services" - which included chiropractic services.
The Committee recommended funding for chiropractic in hospitals and other public institutions, and stated:
"We are aware of the very considerable organizational and professional obstacles... orthodox practitioners and, indeed, some chiropractors may initially find the experience an uneasy one, but we consider the differences that currently exist to be unreasonable and efforts should be made to bridge the gap."
"... the continuing schism between the two professions does little to help improve the health of the many Australians who might benefit from a joint chiropractic/medical approach to their problems."
Second Report Medicare Benefits Review Committee. Thompson CJ. Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra, Australia, Chapter 10 (Chiropractic) - June 1986.
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« Some notes on the I93 action
Charlie Hebdo, solidarity, bigotry, and protecting cartoonists’ freedom »
Little girls and soldiers: A protest in Nabi Saleh
January 10th, 2015 | Politics | Tags: hahrp2014, Israel/Palestine, street medicking, tw:police violence |
This is part of an occasional series about my experiences with the American Jews for a Just Peace Health and Human Rights delegation to Palestine in June 2014. You can read all posts in the series here.
After attending a weekly village protest in Bil’in, I was pretty happy to have the chance to go to and be an unmarked medic for another one in Nabi Saleh. Nabi Saleh is tiny, with only 500-600 people. It’s a pretty Fatah-loyal village that sometimes carries a Fatah flag out to protests. It joined the weekly village protests – what have sometimes been called the “white intifada” – after the nearby Israeli settlement of Halamish, which has a long history of staging attacks on Nabi Saleh, seized the little village’s spring to use as a spa. Unlike in Bil’in, where the marches move toward and then parallel with the Separation Wall, these marches usually proceed down the main road into and out of the village, toward a point near the spring and the settlement where the IDF will already be waiting.
The Nabi Saleh demonstrations were described to me as often being “intense.” Two demonstrators have been killed since 2009 – Mustafa Tamimi, shot in the face with a tear gas canister at close range in 2011, and Rushdi Tamimi, shot twice with live fire in 2012. Protest organizer Bassem Tamimi has been arrested a dozen times, and was once imprisoned without trial for three years. Many other demonstrators have been injured. I was told by a demonstrator that night raids against the village used to be a common response to the village protests, but had become less common as more international visitors had participated in homestays in the village.
I went to the protest with K, a Palestinian Red Crescent medic whose contact information I got from an activist that I met during our regular delegation activities, and T, an Israeli anarchist (as well as a few internationals that T was helping to wrangle). T and I had a great conversation in our Service (Palestinian shared taxi) about “manarchists,” and I taught her the word “brocialist” as its socialist counterpart, which she appreciated. She talked about obnoxious internationals who think it’s their place to decide whether to escalate a Palestinian protest, and how she’d had to tell off an American who started throwing rocks when no Palestinians had done so at that protest, telling him that if he wanted to throw rocks he could throw them in his own country. Bad “allies” are a problem all around the world, apparently.
We gathered in a shady area to prepare. I had been told that the Nabi Saleh protests have a very high level of participation and leadership from women and girls, something I noticed when looking at the gathering villagers. Some of the girls were very young indeed – I saw several who looked like they were in middle or elementary school, and a few I’m not sure were even school-age, like the adorable identical
Nabi Saleh girls, including the teeny blond twins, out front at a November protest. Photo by Bilal Tamimi.
twins, perhaps four or five years old, in the picture at left (those girls were at the demonstration with me, but that picture was taken months later, in November). With the village being so small, nearly all residents are related by blood or marriage, as indicated by the high frequency of a few surnames, like Tamimi. For some historical reason or other, many residents have very light complexions by Palestinian standards. There are a lot of light-skinned Nabi Saleh villagers with blond, red, or light brown hair, blue or green eyes. I cynically thought to myself that this village would be an ideal site for outreach to and humanizing of Palestinians in the US – look at the cute little white-appearing blond girls being attacked by soldiers!
As we started the march, perhaps 100 of us, the identical twin preschoolers trotting determinedly a few feet away from me, I mentioned to K and T how impressed I was that these teeny little kids kept coming out to these protests, which had to be awfully scary for them, week after week, looking calm and unafraid. T replied that many of the young kids, however tough they look at the protests, have a lot of psychological problems, like nightmares and bed-wetting, as a result of not only the violence toward them at the protests, but the raids and other incursions into the village. As we walked down the road toward the IDF’s staging area, teenagers put a line of rocks in the road to prevent military jeeps from crossing that line into residential areas. In the staging area, we could see a line of well-armed soldiers and a few armored jeeps and MRAP-type vehicles.
As with Bil’in, the tear gas started very early, apparently earlier than usual. The soldiers realized quickly that the breeze was strong and blowing the gas, and started firing sets of half a dozen canisters at a time onto the hill to the left of the road, which meant that we got hit with a lot more tear gas, but at least meant that the canisters weren’t coming close to hitting anyone except the few young men climbing around on the hill rather than marching in the road with the main group. As the demonstration continued in the face of the tear gas, the soldiers fired some canisters
Facing off with soldiers through a cloud of tear gas. One of my favorite photos that I took.
closer to us for good measure. It was very dry, maybe even drier than usual, and within a few minutes the canisters had set several brush fires. I went to see if I could throw some debris on one and stop it burning, but discovered the hard way that the fire smoke was full of tear gas, and decided that unless it became a real danger to any demonstrators or their property I would let it burn itself out.
That road is one of the main ones not only to get to Nabi Saleh, but several other small villages in the area, and anyone driving through the area would be likely to take it. Several Service taxis passed through the protest, slowing to avoid putting any marchers at risk, and the drivers and their passengers shouted and waved their approval. It must have been irritating for them, in multiple senses, to be tear gassed and maybe shot at with rubber bullets while going about their ordinary business and not protesting at all, but they were fully supportive.
Suddenly, one of the MRAPs started charging down the road toward the demonstrators. I wheeled and took off sprinting, convinced that we were about to be either run down or shot with live fire, yelling “Tank, tank!” (yes, I know it’s not really a tank, I didn’t think a bunch of non-native speakers would understand “MRAP”), which was entirely superfluous because at least ten other people were yelling similar things. Except for a few people who decided that staying as still as possible would make them look more nonthreatening, everyone else started sprinting like a bat out of hell at the same time as I did too. As we sprinted, yelling, back up the road, someone, possibly the soldiers in the MRAP, started firing canisters directly at the fleeing crowd. “I can’t see the canisters!” I yelped at nobody in particular, throwing my arms over the back of my head (news flash to past self: neither could anyone else since we were all running in the same direction). One brave guy, who had gotten out in front of the crowd, stopped and turned to watch the incoming canisters and yell to us which direction to move in to avoid being hit. The road is concrete, not a dirt road, and the “gas rocket” canisters, striking it at high velocity, bounced and skittered through the fleeing crowd for several seconds after landing. Not for the first time, I cursed myself for having brought only open-toed shoes to Palestine as a speeding 350+ degree canister bounced irregularly around by my feet. At least the canisters weren’t bullets.
We ran over the line of rocks that the teens had placed at the start of the march – remember that line, the
Catching our breath after running away from the IDF vehicle.
line to block IDF vehicles off from residential areas? – and then stopped, trying to catch our breath. The MRAP had stopped probably 100 or 150 feet before the line, and a couple of soldiers had gotten out. As we hyperventilated, they stayed there for several seconds, then got back in the vehicle and went back to the staging area. Some of the other demonstrators speculated that they’d been trying to draw stone-throwing so that they would have an excuse to escalate. Between the dryness and the sprint, I was at the point where I actually couldn’t speak or swallow because my tongue and mouth were too dry, so despite the warnings about drinking to soon after inhaling local tear gas, I took a swig of water, which was find and let me speak again. We went back over the rock line and back to protesting.
As the demonstration wound down, I noticed a teenage boy who was limping quite badly. He didn’t speak English, so I asked the boy next to him if he was all right. I learned that he had been one of the young men on the hillside and had fallen several feet off a ledge while dodging a flying canister. He didn’t want me touching him – many Palestinians have cultural taboos around being touched by strangers of a different gender – so I got K and told him what had happened. K talked to them, and then physically supported the injured boy, while I walked next to him on his other side without touching him in case he needed more help. He declined any other treatment.
We all walked to a gas station/convenience store in the main area of the village. Remembering how after the Bil’in protest my lungs had felt sort of bad for the rest of the day, I bought a one-liter bottle of Coke, because caffeine is a bronchodilator (i.e. it widens passages in the lungs and makes breathing easier). Which I had finished well before I got back to Abu Dis, where I was staying at the time, that evening. I was thirsty.
Since I was there, the Nabi Saleh villagers have continued their protests. In late November, three, including two teen boys and a 38 year-old woman, were shot with live .22-caliber fire. According to the account at that link, the woman was shot in front of her children and then left in the road by soldiers who did not provide first aid.
You can read more about Nabi Saleh’s demonstrations at the Nabi Saleh Solidarity blog.
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Stoned Driver In Officer’s Death Acquitted
Posted on July 7, 2012 by Venturi
VICTORVILLE—A jury this week acquitted a 20-year-old Las Vegas man of gross vehicular manslaughter and deadlocked on the lesser charge of negligent vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in regard to the death of California Highway Patrol Officer Justin McGrory.
Rafael Garcia was driving a car with four passengers in the early morning of June 27, 2010 as they were returning to Las Vegas from Los Angeles when the vehicle plowed into McGrory, who was conducting a traffic stop on the right shoulder of northbound I-15 roughly a mile south of Hodge Road.
In an interrogation by investigators after the accident, Garcia acknowledged he had smoked marijuana several hours before beginning the drive back to Las Vegas. A subsequent blood test showed there were cannabinoids in his system. Garcia said he had started to fall asleep at the wheel, but continued driving while using the car’s cruise control.
One of the passengers in the vehicle had a medical marijuana prescription and a search of the car turned up about two-and-a-half ounces of marijuana.
After deliberations lasting three-and-a-half days, the jurors made findings of not guilty of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated with marijuana, not guilty of gross vehicular manslaughter and not guilty of child endangerment of a juvenile who was in the car. The panel split 9-3 in favor of acquittal on a charge of negligent vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated
The jury did rule Garcia guilty of transporting marijuana after trial judge Eric Nakata refused to allow Michael Becker, Garcia’s attorney, to inform the jury that one of his passengers who had a medical prescription for marijuana was allowed to possess the drug under the terms of the Compassionate Use Act.
Becker, Garcia, and deputy district attorney Jill Gregory, who prosecuted Garcia, are due back in court on July 27 when motions from the district attorney’s office will be due on a decision of whether to proceed with a retrial of Garcia on the negligent vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated charge.
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Home › News › Carolina Sporting Arms • NSSF
Carolina Sporting Arms • NSSF
Behind the Firing Line: Carolina Sporting Arms
By Peter B. Mathiesen
Carolina Sporting Arms, Charlotte, North Carolina
This range and retailer, located in suburban Charlotte just off the Interstate 485 and the I-77 connection, was the first of its kind. The facility encompasses more than 21,000 square feet on two floors, and the 5,000-square-foot retail store carries an inventory of more than 2,000 firearms, with an additional stock of 137 rentals.
The range’s 14 lanes are split between two floors. Downstairs are handguns at 20 yards, while upstairs are rifle and tactical lanes at 25 yards. Each booth is four feet wide. There is a large customer waiting area, office space, a conference room, and classrooms.
Military memberships are $255 for individuals and $355 for military families. Individuals are $399 and families are $499. Corporate memberships are $599. Memberships include free rentals, a 10-percent discount on training classes, 50 percent off guest fees when using the same lanes and 50 percent off on gun cleaning. Other benefits include exclusive use of the first two hours on Saturday, member-only sales and access to use training rooms for corporate events.
When the shooter supplies their own equipment, lane fees start at $20 per day. A second shooter in the same lane is an additional $10 a day. Rental prices are a flat $20 per gun. Full-auto firearms are $65 per session.
Carolina Sporting Arms employs a staff of 23 full- and part-time employees. The facility operates six days a week: 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays.
As a Five-Star NSSF range, the facility meets best practices standards for its state-of-the-art design. This ensures a high level of safety and comfort for workers and customers. We interviewed David Drummond, Owner and President, for this column, with a focus on how it competes and attracts shooters in a crowded market and how it defines service to its customers.
Approaching the Range With a Retailer’s Mindset
Carolina Sporting Arms actually began as a retail gun shop. Through consistent growth over two decades, this range still has a definite retail focus. “We started as a gun shop, and we’re still a serious full-service firearms store,” said Drummond.
Over the years and during multiple expansions, though, this retailer learned one absolute truth about owning a range: There is simply no comparison when you have a range.
“That’s what drove us into the range business originally. You want to buy that gun? Let’s go shoot it and see how you like it. There are so many circumstances when a customer finds out they either love a gun or feel uncomfortable with it. We can ascertain the customer’s comfort level in just minutes. If there’s a better choice, we can redirect the sale to a product that’s more suited to the customer,” said Drummond.
This range owner’s retail mindset and strategy translate to greater range profits.
“It’s simple. If they like the gun, they’ll shoot the gun far more than if they were uncomfortable with it. That means we’ll sell more accessories, more ammo and more range time,” he said.
In North Carolina, firearms owners are required to store guns away from the reach of a minor. This is another area that generates sales, as well as a consistent focus on safe firearms handling and storage by the staff. This company’s sale of lockable storage is significant.
The Shine on the Floors
When Carolina Sporting Arms opened its range in 2012, it was the only such facility in town. Today, the range has three competitors. Drummond feels that the competition keeps them on their game. And while Drummond said he’s realistic about trading customers with his competitors, he knows that many of his best members drive past the competition to get to his range.
“Having competition is not a bad circumstance. First, it helps define our strategy and what sets us apart from the other ranges. We’re not the biggest, but we believe that we are the most customer-driven. We want to know our customers’ names and their interests. And we provide service to them with enthusiasm. While one of our competitors is considerably larger than our facility, we believe they don’t have the personal relationships we strive to foster,” he said.
Drummond said that a clean range is another one of the ways they separate themselves from their competitors.
“When I say clean, I really mean that we invest time and money in making this place sparkle. We are constantly evolving to a higher standard,” Drummond said.
Earning Their Way to Five Stars
One of the primary competitive benefits this range knows that matters is its Five-Star rating with NSSF.
“I would have to say that achieving it was a significant investment of time, construction and design. However, I’ve found it to be worth every penny. It defines best practice standards. That breeds health into our industry and protects us all,” he said.
Drummond, a retired FBI agent, acknowledged the cost and the paperwork that took a month to complete was intense. Yet, he said the rating makes him competitive and translates to a high-quality environment the customers can see and feel. He also noted that by creating a high-quality work environment for his employees, the NSSF standards improve their health and wellbeing.
Keeping the Community Involved
Like many ranges, Carolina Sporting Arms finds daily opportunities to be involved with community organizations. Drummond and his staff have dedicated time and research to establishing a strategy that makes responding to multiple inquiries simple.
“We get requests from charity organizations every day, so we needed to find a system and define criteria that allowed us to give an answer quickly and efficiently. We look at three factors: Does the request further our industry, does it have an affiliation with a local church, and will it benefit young adults? When we can say ‘yes’ to those three questions, we can usually respond with a donation,” he said. Drummond said that memberships provided for auctions are the most popular donation requests, and they’ve proven to be a benefit for both the supported organization and the range.
Carolina Sporting Arms has identified proven strategies to grow its business in a competitive environment. By focusing on building strong community ties and maintaining NSSF Five-Star standards and industrial cleanliness, while also fostering personal relationships with its clients, Drummond feels confident in the future of his business.
“Behind the Firing Line” works to accomplish two things. First, it recognizes ranges that have met the stringent requirements necessary to achieve NSSF’s Five-Star rating for excellence. Second, it works to explain how these ranges met specific criteria within the Star-Rating Range Program, so that other ranges working to make the grade can discover ideas and guidance for their improvement.
You may also be interested in: Behind the Firing Line: Bill’s Gun Shop & Range
Galco Gunleather bolsters holster selection with new fits for the Quick Slide
From Central Europe hails an over-engineered DIY pipe rifle (PHOTOS)
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Food Bank of the Rockies, Former Broncos Star Karl Mecklenburg and Empower Retirement team up to feed hungry school kids
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., Oct. 21, 2016 — A new collaboration between the Food Bank of the Rockies, a former Denver Broncos star and Empower Retirement will seek to assure that some metro Denver school kids have enough to eat during the school year.
The program, known as “Totes for Hope®,” is aimed at providing nutritious meals for students on weekends while they are not in school and might not otherwise have enough to eat. Empower is providing funding to feed 500 low-income children at five schools in the Denver area every weekend during the 2016-17 school year.
Every Friday, the “Totes for Hope®,” program provides children with a take-home tote bag filled with several pounds of nutritious food items. For many of these children, the totes are their main source of food on Saturday and Sunday. The program was established by Food Bank of the Rockies in 2006 and provides more than 228,000 totes annually to students in metro Denver.
The new collaboration, which kicks off on Friday, Oct. 21, includes the leadership of former Denver Broncos linebacker Karl Mecklenburg who will join Empower Retirement volunteers to pack and distribute the totes and help raise awareness of the program throughout the year.
“There’s nothing more heartbreaking than knowing that good kids in our community don’t have enough to eat,” said Mecklenburg, who uses his star power to support numerous community programs in Colorado. “It’s commendable that organizations like Food Bank of the Rockies and Empower Retirement can collaborate to address this problem and help give these kids the food they need.”
“We are excited and grateful to partner with Empower and Karl Mecklenburg to feed more children this school year. Nearly 1 in 4 Colorado kids lives in a household where they may not always have enough to eat. This generous contribution will provide hope to these children and their families and help them thrive,” said Kevin Seggelke, President and CEO, Food Bank of the Rockies.
“It’s unacceptable that childhood hunger is still prevalent in our community and we need to join forces to help stop it,” said Empower President Edmund F. Murphy III. “We are proud to partner with Karl and Food Bank of the Rockies to lend a hand.”
Empower, the nation’s second-largest retirement services provider, is a sponsor of three NFL teams including the Denver Broncos, New England Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs. The collaboration with the “Totes for Hope” program is one of a series of charitable outreaches Empower Retirement has made in 2016 aligned with its NFL sponsorships.
About Food Bank of the Rockies
Food Bank of the Rockies, a non-profit organization, distributed nearly 60 million meals last year through our direct service programs and partner agencies, serving clients in Northern Colorado, including Metro Denver, and the entire state of Wyoming. 1 in 7 Coloradans, including nearly 1 in 4 Colorado children, struggle with hunger. Since 1978, FBR has provided more than 566 million meals to people in need in our community. Food Bank of the Rockies is a member of Feeding America. For additional information, please visit www.foodbankrockies.org. “Like” FBR on Facebook and Instagram, follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our blog!
About Karl Mecklenburg
Keynote speaker and former Denver Broncos Captain Karl Mecklenburg has a long standing commitment to Colorado Charities. Through the years he has worked with the For Mercy Sake Sackem program, Paralympic Athletes, Karl Mecklenburg's Reach Foundation, Grassroots Aspen Experience, Colorado Youth Outdoors, and Taste of the NFL. Mecklenburg is pleased to join Empower Retirement and Food Bank of the Rockies making a difference here in Colorado.
About Empower Retirement
Headquartered in metro Denver, Empower Retirement administers $440 billion in assets for 8 million participants. It is the nation’s second-largest retirement plan record keeper by total participants (Pensions & Investments, April, 2016). Empower serves all segments of the employer-sponsored retirement plan market: government 457 plans, small, midsize, and large corporate 401(k) clients, non-profit 403(b) entities and private-label recordkeeping clients. For more information, please visit www.Empower-retirement.com.
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John Anthony Lennon
John Anthony Lennon has been commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Theatre Chamber Players, the Library of Congress, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, the National Endowment for the Arts Orchestral Consortium, the Fromm Foundation and many others. In addition to the Prix de Rome, Guggenheim, Friedheim and Charles Ives Awards, Lennon has been the recipient of numerous prizes, and has held fellowships at Tanglewood, the Rockefeller Center at Bellagio, the Camargo Foundation, Villa Montalvo, Yaddo, the Atlantic Center for the Arts and the MacDowell Colony as a Norlin Foundation Fellow. A professor of composition at Emory University, Lennon resides in Atlanta.
Reared in Mill Valley, California, Lennon earned a liberal arts degree at the University of San Francisco, and has a master's degree and doctorate from the University of Michigan where he studied with Leslie Bassett and William Bolcom.
Lennon is published by C.F. Peters, E.C. Schirmer, Dorn, Mel Bay, Columbia University Press and the Oxford University Press. Recordings are with CRI, Bridge Records, Capstone, and Open Loop.
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CQ Press
Edited by: John Vile, David L. Hudson & David Schultz
In: Encyclopedia of the First Amendment
Subject: American Political Thought, Law & Courts, American Political History
Vile, J., Hudson, D. L. & Schultz, D. (2009). Hate speech. In Encyclopedia of the First Amendment (pp. 559-559). Washington, DC: CQ Press doi: 10.4135/9781604265774.n647
Vile, John, David L. Hudson and David Schultz. "Hate Speech." In Encyclopedia of the First Amendment, edited by John VileDavid L. Hudson and David Schultz, 559. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2009. doi: 10.4135/9781604265774.n647.
Vile, J, Hudson, D L & Schultz, D 2009, 'Hate speech', in Vile, J, Hudson, DL & Schultz, D (eds), Encyclopedia of the first amendment, CQ Press, Washington, DC, pp. 559, viewed 16 July 2019, doi: 10.4135/9781604265774.n647.
Vile, John, et al. "Hate Speech." Encyclopedia of the First Amendment. Eds. Washington: CQ Press, 2009. 559. SAGE Knowledge. Web. 16 Jul. 2019, doi: 10.4135/9781604265774.n647.
The term “hate speech” is generally agreed to mean abusive language specifically attacking a person or persons because of their race, color, religion, ethnic group, gender, or sexual orientation. ...
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courts,
critical race theory,
First Amendment,
hate,
hate speech,
St. Paul,
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Remove This Item Author/s: Judit Polgar
Remove This Item Author/s: Max Illingworth
Quality Chess (3)
Dismantling the Sicilian - New and Updated Edition
A Complete Modern Repertoire for White
The Sicilian Defence is the most widely played chess opening, both at club level as well as among top grandmasters. Since Black gets dynamic play in almost all variations, black players of all levels will probably continue to play the Sicilian for a long time to come. It has been difficult for White to obtain any advantage in Sicilian sidelines, and this book therefore presents a complete repertoire for White in the most widely played main lines: the Open Sicilians with 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3.
Judit Polgar - A Game of Queens
Judit Polgar Teaches Chess - Volume 3
Catalog Code: B0103QT
Game of Queens completes the trilogy in which one of the greatest players of our time transforms her personal journey to the top into a roadmap for everyone who ever wanted to better themselves in the game of chess. This volume covers the period from 2001 until the present day. These were the years when Judit was in the Top Ten in the world, and facing the likes of Kasparov, Karpov, Korchnoi and Anand.
Judit Polgar - From GM to Top 10
From GM to Top Ten continues the unique project where one of the greatest players of our time transforms her personal journey to the top into a roadmap for everyone who wanted to better themselves in the game of chess. In this volume, Judit tells the story of her rise from teenage grandmaster to Top Ten superstar.Judit Polgar has been ranked 1st on the Women's rating list from 1989 to this present day. In 2005, she became the only women in chess history to participate in the World Championship final. The previous volume, How I Beat Fischer's Record, won the 2013 ECF Book of the Year Prize.
Judit Polgar - How I Beat Fischer's Record
In this very personal book Judit Polgar describes her early moments of success and the chess ideas she needed to master in order to achieve them.
The Sicilian Najdorf - GM Niclas Huschenbeth - 80/20 Tactics Multiplier
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The Bahamas – a member of The Executive Committee of The Commonwealth Foundation
The Bahamas is now a member of the Executive Committee of The Commonwealth Foundation for 2016/2017. The Bahamas’ membership nomination was put forth by Barbados and seconded by Antigua and Barbuda at the Board of Governors Meeting of the Commonwealth Foundation held 23rd June 2016. The decision for the Bahamas to serve on the Committee was finalized on 15th September 2016 by the Commonwealth Foundation.
Being a member of the Executive Committee will allow The Bahamas to be an influential voice to the further development of Civil Society, to address cross cutting issues in gender equality, education and youth affairs, health, and sustainable development in The Bahamas and the wider Commonwealth.
The Bahamas replaces Barbados as one of the representatives for the Caribbean Region and will be one of the eight contributing countries in addition to four higher contributing countries.The other countries that were nominated to serve on the Executive Committee are as follows:Nigeria and Australia as a part of the four higher contributing countries; and Ghana as a part of the eight other contributing countries. The other members of the committee are: Malta (chair of the EXCO); Canada, and New Zealand (Higher Contributing Countries); Uganda (Africa); Pakistan (Asia); Antigua and Barbuda (Caribbean); United Kingdom (Europe); and Papua New Guinea (Pacific).
The last time The Bahamas served as a member of the Commonwealth Foundation’s Executive Committee was in 2009. The Bahamas completed its tenure on the Grants Committee in June 2016, a sub-committee of the Executive Committee that assesses applications for grant funding, for projects for eligible civil society organizations and groups in member countries, three times a year.
The Commonwealth Foundation is a development organization with an international remit and reach, uniquely situated at the interface between government and civil society. Its main goal is to develop the capacity of civil society to act together and learn from each other to engage with the institutions that shape people’s lives. It strives for more effective, responsive and accountable governance with civil society participation, which contributes to improved development outcomes.
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Small Poole jar
Small Poole jar (mark)
Small Poole jar - 2¾" (69 mm) high. 1929-1941.
Poole, in Dorset, due to the abundance locally of good red clay, had long been a centre for the making of pottery when Jesse Carter bought James Walker's tile manufacturing company in 1873. In 1895, Carter & Co. took over the Architectural Pottery Company in Hamworthy. The wares produced then were mainly floor and wall tiles, architectural decorations, shop fascias. Owen Carter, Jesse's son, developed the production of art pottery with different glazes, and by the time of the first World War, the company was making a wide range of decorative wares.
Expansion followed and after Owen's death in 1919, his brother Charles found it difficult to meet the ever increasing demand for the company's products. He discussed the matter with his friend, Harold Stabler, and Stabler persuaded the Stoke potter John Adams to move down to Poole. The partnership of Carter, Stabler and Adams was born in 1921.
It could be said that the thirties were Poole's heyday. Some of the most memorable designs come from that time. Truda Carter, Charles's wife, and John Adams produced a succession of outstanding patterns that have become classics.
The forties were something of a black hole. Wartime restrictions curtailed production severely, and by the start of the following decade most of the original design team had retired or died. A new managing director, Lucien Myers, took the Poole Pottery into the fifties, and again the company was in the forefront with their new 'contemporary' designs that really characterized the Britain of the fifties.
The designs of the sixties and seventies were a complete departure from anything that had gone before. The paintresses were allowed a free hand, and their abstract patterns were, as in previous eras, exactly right for the time. These patterns defined the look of the sixties and were enormously popular. As with most extreme fashions, they were to become passé, and the bright orange, yellow and brown pieces were often hidden or discarded in the following decades. A revival of interest in the nineties, though, has seen the prices paid for these item rocket. Looking at the designs from a viewpoint where they are neither fashionable nor unfashionable, they are outstandingly good.
Poole Pottery continues to flourish and to produce wares that are right for the time. There is a thriving collectors' club, and interest does not flag.
Further Reading: Poole Pottery edited by Leslie Hayward and Paul Atterbury
Poole Pottery : Poole in the 1950s by Paul Atterbury
Poole Pottery by Leslie Hayward and Paul Atterbury
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Live / ( overs)
The Risers
Orange Army
Our Moments
SRH TV
ask SRH
IPL 2018: Sunrisers Hyderabad kick-start ticket sales for the season
Tue Mar 2018
Srinath
The 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad has officially kick-started the ticket sales for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League. One of the few teams in the IPL history to have a win-percentage in excess of 50%, the Orange Army managed to amass a decent fan base in a very short span of time.
Their stint in the IPL began in 2013 when the previous franchise from Hyderabad, the Deccan Chargers, were terminated from participating in the cash-rich league. In their debut season, they reached the final four and earned a reputation as a home for the best bowlers in the league. But their fate started to change ever-since they roped the likes of David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
After coming agonizingly close to entering the playoffs in 2015, the Sunrisers lifted the IPL trophy in a grandiose way in 2016. They also became the first time since the introduction of the playoff system to have won the championship coming through the Eliminator. They had a fairly decent 2017 season as well, once again reaching the final four of the tournament.
Ticket prices begin at Rs. 500
The Sunrisers Hyderabad’s official Twitter handle announced that the ticket sales have begun. The ticket prices begin at Rs. 500 for the North Pavilion Terrace 1 and 2. For the South Pavilion Terrace 1 and 2, the tickets have been priced at Rs. 781.25, whilst the East and West First Floor stands will cost Rs. 976.56.
The East and West ground floor stands have been priced at Rs. 1171.88 and the North and South first floor pavilions will be costing Rs. 2734.38. The costliest ticket at the Rajiv Gandhi Internationa Cricket Stadium this year will Rs. 3906.25 for the North Pavilion East Ground Floor. The ticket prices might vary for a few big games involving players like Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni.
Hyderabad‘s new recruit Manish Pandey also expressed his excitement to be donning the Orange jersey and urged the supporters to come out in big numbers. A similar message was passed on by the icon of the club, David Warner, who is currently busy in the South Africa tour. Sunrisers’ campaign will commence with the game against Rajasthan Royals on April 9th.
Looking forward to learning some variations ahead of IPL, says Basil Thampi
The story of the 2017 IPL was Gujarat Lions fast bowler Basil Thampi, who impressed everyone with his bowling, especially in the death overs, and went on to win the Emerging Player of the Tournament award.
IPL: SRH recruit Natarajan has his bowling plan charted out
Tamil Nadu left-arm pacer T. Natarajan catapulted into the limelight last year when Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) snapped him up for 30 times his base price of Rs. 10 lakh, making him the highest-paid uncapped Indian player in the 2017 auction.
IPL 2018: Ready to bat anywhere for Sunrisers Hyderabad, says Saha
Wriddhiman Saha prefers to bat at the top but the India Test wicketkeeper-batsman said he is ready to bat lower down the order for his new IPL side Sunrisers Hyderabad as they have a formidable duo of David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan to open the innings.
© Copyright , Sun TV Network Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Asst Prof Sabrina Luk Ching Yuen
Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences
Email: slukcy@ntu.edu.sg
Office: HSS 06 08 (PPGA)
Dr. Sabrina Ching Yuen LUK joined School of Social Sciences in July 2017. Prior to this, she was Adjunct Associate Professor at the Open University of Hong Kong (January-June 2017), Visiting Lecturer at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University SPEED (January-June 2017), and Associate Professor at Kunming University of Science and Technology, China (2013-2016). She holds both Bachelor of Social Science (First Class Honours) and M.Phil from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham, the United Kingdom.
Dr. Luk's research interests lie broadly in aging and healthcare reforms, e-government and governance in Asia, smart cities and cyber security, public administration, public policy analysis, and China studies. She was a recipient of the 2012 Michael O'Rourke PhD Publication Award at the University of Birmingham for her research contributions and publication record. She was also the Highly Commended Award Winner of the 2013 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards in the Healthcare Management Category.
Dr. Luk's selected publications:
A. Authored Book and Monograph
1.Sabrina Luk 2014 Health Insurance Reforms in Asia. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge.
2.Sabrina Luk and Peter Preston 2016 The Logic of Chinese Politics: Cores, Peripheries and Peaceful Rising, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
3.Sabrina Luk 2017 Financing Health Care in China: Towards Universal Health Insurance. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge.
B. Book Chapters
1.Sabrina Luk 2013 “E-government in China: Opportunities and Challenges for the Transformation of Governance in the Information Age”, in Bin Wu, Shujie Yao, and Jian Chen, eds. China’s Development and Harmonization: Towards a Balance with Nature, Society and the International Community. London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon, pp.191-206.
2.Sabrina Luk 2018 “Moving towards Universal Health Coverage in China: Challenges for the Present and Future” in Ben Fong, Artie Ng and Peter Yuen (eds.) Sustainable Health and Long-Term Care Solutions for an Aging Population. IGI Global,pp.19-45.
3. Sabrina Ching Yuen Luk 2018 “The Impact of Digital Health on Traditional Health Care System and Doctor-patient Relationship: The Case Study of Singapore” in Aroon P. Manoharan and James McQuiston (eds.) Innovative Perspectives on Public Administration in the Digital Age. IGI Global, pp.143-167.
4. Sabrina Ching Yuen Luk 2019 “Strengthening Cybersecurity in Singapore: Challenges, Responses and the Way Forward” in Ryma Abassi and Aida Ben Chehida Douss (eds.) Security Frameworks in Contemporary Electronic Government. IGI Global, pp.96-128.
5. Sabrina Ching Yuen Luk 2019 “A Human Rights Based Approach to Teenage Pregnancy Prevention in China” in Devi Akella (ed.) Socio-Cultural Influences on Teenage Pregnancy and Contemporary Prevention Measures. IGI Global, pp.95-116.
6. Sabrina Ching Yuen Luk 2019 “A Human Rights Based Approach to Bridge Gender Digital Divide: The Case Study of India” in Idongesit Williams, Olga Kretova and Roslyn Layton (ed.) Gender Gaps and the Social Inclusion Movement in ICT. IGI Global, pp.24-44.
C. Refereed Articles
1.Sabrina Luk 2009 “The Impact of Leadership and Stakeholders on the Success or Failure of E-government Service: E-Stamping Service in Hong Kong.” Government Information Quarterly, vol.26 (4), pp.594-604.
2. Sabrina Luk 2012 “Questions of Ethics in Public Sector Management: The Case Study of Hong Kong.” Public Personnel Management, vol.41 (2), pp.361-378.
3. Ying Zhou and Sabrina Ching Yuen Luk 2016 “Establishing Confucius Institutes: A Tool for Promoting China’s Soft Power?” Journal of Contemporary China, vol. 25 (100), pp.628-642.
4. Sabrina Luk 2016 “The Evolution of the Pharmaceutical Distribution System in China: Implications for Deepening Health-Care Reform”, China: An International Journal, vol.14 (4): 159-170.
Healthy aging and healthcare financing reforms
Comparative healthcare systems
E-government and governance in Asia
Public policy analysis
Dr. Luk is the leading contributor to the UNESCAP report on Evolution of Science, Technology and Innovation Policies for Sustainable Development: The Experiences of China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore. The report was officially launched on March 18, 2019. In March 2019, Dr. Luk presented her knowledge and expertise on STI policies for frontier technologies in the Training Workshop on Science, Technology and Innovation Policies for Sustainable Development in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which was jointly organized by UNESCAP and the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI) of the Republic of Korea, in collaboration with the Asia Research and Training Network on Science Technology and Innovation Policy (ARTNET on STI).
Public lecture:
‘Smart Cities in Asia’ (January 18, 2019), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Invited presentations
[1] Sabrina LUK (2019 April 11) ‘AI-powered Governance in China: Implications for the Asia Pacific Countries’, the 13th Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior National Security Officers (APPSNO), 8-12 April 2019, Singapore.
[2] Sabrina Luk (2019 March 19) 'Policy responses to frontier technologies from East and North-East Asia’, Training Workshop on Science, Technology and Innovation Policies for Sustainable Development in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Incheon, the Republic of Korea.
[3] Sabrina Luk (2019 March 18) ‘Policies for frontier technologies in China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore’, Expert Group Meeting on Science, Technology and Innovation Policies for Sustainable Development in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the UNESCAP East and North-East Asia Office, Incheon, the Republic of Korea.
[4]Sabrina Luk (2019 March 4) "The Creation of a Dementia-friendly Community in Singapore”,Seminar organized by the Centre for Ageing and Healthcare Management Research (CAHMR) at the School of Professional Education and Executive Development (SPEED), Hong Kong.
[5] Sabrina Luk (2019 February 8) “The Application of Artificial Intelligence in China: Current Status and Future Directions”, The workshop on “Unpacking Industry 4.0: The Limit of Digitalizing Everything”, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
[6] Sabrina Luk (2018 October 20) “The Past, Present and Future of HealthHub in Singapore”, Joint Conference on Medical Informatics in Taiwan and the Hospital Chief Information Officer Summit (JCMIT 2018).
[7] Sabrina Luk (2018 October 17) “E-government and Cybersecurity in Singapore”, Seminar organized by United Nations Students Associations Publication Wing,Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
[8] Sabrina Luk (2018 April 12) “Data, Security and Trust- The Case from China”, Gemalto Evolution 2018, Singapore.
[9] Sabrina Luk (2018 April 11) "The Social Credit System in China", ‘Public Service 2030 and beyond’, the UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence, Singapore.
[10] Sabrina Luk (2018 March 28) “The Financial Sustainability of the Health Insurance System in China: Challenges for the Present and Future”,East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore.
Sustainability of healthcare financing and the importance of healthy ageing: The case study of Singapore
Sabrina Ching Yuen Luk. (2019, June). AI-powered Governance in China: Opportunities, Challenges and the Way Forward. Paper presented at IIAS-Lien 2019 Conference "Effective, Accountable, and Inclusive Governance', Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Sabrina Luk. (2019, May). Exploring the Ethical and Social Implications of AI‐Powered Governance in China. Paper presented at Programme for NTU AI+X Symposium, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Sabrina Ching Yuen Luk. (2019, April). The Creation of A Dementia-friendly Community in Singapore. Paper presented at 9th International Conference on Ageing Research and Geriatric Medicine, London, the United Kingdom.
Sabrina Luk.(2019). Policies for frontier technologies. Evolution of Science, Technology and Innovation Policies for Sustainable Development: The Experiences of China, Japan, the Republic og Korea and Singapore(40-70). Incheon, Republic of Korea: The United Nations.
Xu-Dong Zhang, Sabrina Ching Yuen Luk, Yue-Hong Han, Gui-Rong Chen, Gui-Lei Zhang, Bao-Sheng Zhu, and Stanley Luchters. (2019). Ethical Considerations for Conducting Sexual and Reproductive Health Research with Female Adolescents Engaged in High-risk Behaviours in China. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare, 20, 46-53.
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Marcos, Arroyo, Villar: Three of a kind ZOOMING IN Rudy Romero 03/01/2010
Marcos, Arroyo, Villar: Three of a kind
Whenever I think of the candidate of the Nacionalista Party (NP) in this year’s presidential election and the things that he is doing and saying in furtherance of his candidacy, I am reminded of Ferdinand Marcos during the 1954 campaign and of Gloria Arroyo during the months immediate following her unconstitutional ascent to power. I realize that Manny Villar’s supporters will be greatly upset by the title of this piece, but it reflects precisely how I feel about President Marcos, so-called President Arroyo and wannabe President Villar. They are three of a kind.
I recall having bad feelings about Ferdinand Marcos as he campaigned for the presidency in 1965. True, he was a Bar topnotcher and he served in Bataan, but he carried into the campaign a lot of personal and professional baggage. He had been accused and jailed — though later acquitted — of the murder of his father’s political rival, Julio Nalundasan. It was widely believed in political and business circles that Ferdinand Marcos made such money from the import and foreign exchange controls that were in force until early 1962. Moreover, he had won the presidency of the Senate under controversial circumstances and is said to have bought his way to the presidential nomination of the NP to which he switched when incumbent fellow-Liberal Diosdado Macapagal insisted on running for reelection.
I thought, back then, that the victory of a man whose personal and professional record had been attended by so much self-indulgence and lust could not be good for the nation.... MORE
ALTERNATE URL: http://www.tribune.net.ph/commentary/20100301com3.html
Will the votes be counted?
Not God’s or bishops’ business
Mass groundswell for Erap
Indian festival goers warned about water wastage
New media, old tricks
Wading through the Net
New media, old tricks HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 03/01/2010
Aldrin Cardon
I would not have discovered Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Breslin, and in a way and through them, Gay Talese (the big ones of so-called new journalism), had I not bumped with Jim Bellows... Not in my present state of life, though, but through a book on sale, which I found sitting very lonely in some rack, in some store, and being offered for very little money any voracious but cash-strapped reader would not be in pain parting with.
Bellow’s memoir, ‘The Last Editor (How I saved the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times from Dullness and Complacency),’ which was also made into a PBS documentary, described his life as an editor of the New York Herald Tribune, associate editor of the Los Angeles Times, editor of the Washington Star, editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, managing editor of Entertainment Tonight, executive editor of ABC News: World News Tonight, positions at USA Today on TV, Prodigy, the Los Angeles Daily News, among a couple of positions in merging what was then a fledgling Internet with news and editorial.
The Washington Journalism Review,in 1992, described Bellows as the owner of the “longest resume in the history of journalism,” not even some of our present contemporaries who have switched papers and jobs with eerie regularity could rival.... MORE
Wading through the Net SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 03/01/2010
It’s true that you can get almost anything from the Internet these days. You can update yourself on news here and abroad, book your vacations, conduct banking activities, communicate with family and friends, do your shopping, and even get entertained by the antics of total strangers.
But, like any buffet, you have got to make judicious choices in order to emerge properly nourished and satisfied rather than suffering from indigestion. Indeed, too much information — not all of them relevant — can make you ill… or ill-tempered at the very least.
And in the light of all these technological highs and lows, the automation of elections has been causing plenty of conjecture and raised fears among various sectors of society. In fact, this is one of the main concerns about the big day, May 10, right up there with the issues big and small related to the candidates and their general trustworthiness.
If there are any doubts at all that the Filipino people have begun to grow in awareness and participation with regard to their rights and their stake in the future, then the unabated efforts by coalitions of various sectors to make the coming elections count should remove all that.
Today, various media are being used as vehicles for education and promotion, both by non-political and political bodies. While print and television entities continue to do their part by disseminating information about the coming elections and the candidates, updating the people and encouraging voters to make informed choices, additional campaigns are being done together with other groups... MORE
Marcos, Arroyo, Villar: Three of a kind ZOOMING I...
New media, old tricks HE SAYS Aldrin Cardon 03/0...
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Noynoy and his people power people EDITORIAL 02/...
Threatened by Erap’s hold over the masses? FRONTL...
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Another PAF dinosaur bites the dust BLURBAL THRUS...
The new politics: Money, media, market TABLETS OF...
Smartmatic is conducting the Philippine elections!...
Baghdad printers working flat out ahead of Iraq po...
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Jennifer Lopez Sued For $6.5 Million For Allegedly Stealing The Idea For ‘World of Dance’
The Shade Room TSR
We all know that Jennifer Lopez kills it when she’s on the dance floor. Which is why it made perfect sense for her to serve as not only a judge but also
Jennifer Lopez Sued For $6.5 Million For Allegedly Stealing The Idea For ‘World of Dance’ - The Shade Room
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by JadeApril 3rd, 2019
We all know that Jennifer Lopez kills it when she’s on the dance floor. Which is why it made perfect sense for her to serve as not only a judge but also an executive producer on the NBC show “World of Dance.” The show has been on the air for a total of three seasons, now someone is suing J. Lo for allegedly stealing the idea for the show.
In documents obtained by The Blast, Alvin Gray-El filed a federal lawsuit this week against J.Lo, NBC and legendary choreographer Debbie Allen, who has nothing to do with the show.
Alvin claims that he came up with the idea for a show called “Let’s Start The Dance” back in 2009. He reportedly claims that he faxed a letter over to Debbie Allen and her team to see if they had any interests in producing the show. He says that he never heard back from them and in 2010 he had the show registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.
Seven years later, he discovered that “World of Dance” was in the works at NBC and claims he tried to contact the network to let them know about the copyright infringement, however he claims he never heard back.
Alvin never explains how the idea was passed on from Debbie Allen to J.Lo and/ or NBC. Now he is looking for $5 million in actual damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages.
According to Page Six, a source says that “World of Dance” originated as an organization that existed prior to the show and NBC brought the idea over to J.LO.
Roommates, what are your thoughts?
Sources: https://theblast.com/jennifer-lopez-world-of-dance-lawsuit/
https://pagesix.com/2019/04/02/jennifer-lopez-sued-for-6-5m-over-claims-she-stole-idea-for-world-of-dance/
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You Are Here: Bendig, David
The Research Area
Innovation and Entrepreneurship (WIN)
Bendig, David
You Are Here:Bendig, David
External Doctoral Students
David Bendig
Room B421
Building: 3011
Kackertstr. 7
Fax: +49 241 80 92371
Email: bendig@time.rwth-aachen.de
Supervision of research projects
Conception and implementation of projects with third-party funding
Assistant Professor at the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Group (WIN), TIME Research Area, RWTH Aachen University (member since 2013)
Studies of Economics and Management at Ruhr University Bochum (B. Sc. with distinction), Baylor University Texas (GPA 4.0), Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (M. Sc. with distinction), and RWTH Aachen University (Ph.D., summa cum laude)
Working experience as a management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group GmbH in Düsseldorf and Hong Kong (2011 – 2013) and in various internships (e.g., ThyssenKrupp AG, Ernst & Young)
National and international teaching experience as lecturer (e.g., Tsinghua University, Beijing)
Participation in research project DFG Cluster of Excellence “Integrative Production Technology in High-Wage Countries”
TIME (Technology, Innovation, Marketing, Entrepreneurship), especially interfaces with…
Leadership and organization
(Empirical) operations management
Publication Award of the School of Business and Economics at RWTH Aachen University for outstanding publication achievements
Friedrich-Wilhelm-Award for outstanding scientific achievements
FGF Norbert Szyperski Technology and Innovation Management Award 2017 at the G-Forum 2017 (together with Nils Eiteneyer and Malte Brettel)
Borchers Badge Award of RWTH Aachen University for Ph.D. thesis
ThyssenKrupp Student Award – Best graduate of the faculty
Several scholarships (German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Hans Bilstein foundation, RWTH Aachen University)
Bendig, D., Willmann, D., Strese, S. and Brettel, M. (2018) ‘Share Repurchases and Myopia: Implications on the Stock and Consumer Markets’, Journal of Marketing, forthcoming. doi: 10.1509/jm.16.0200.
Bendig, D., Strese, S., Flatten, T. C., da Costa, M. E. S. and Brettel, M. (2017) ‘On micro-foundations of dynamic capabilities: A multi-level perspective based on CEO personality and knowledge-based capital’, Long Range Planning, forthcoming. doi: 10.1016/j.lrp.2017.08.002.
Skirnevskiy, V., Bendig, D. and Brettel, M. (2017) ‘The influence of internal social capital on serial creators’ success in crowdfunding’, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 41(2), pp. 209–236. doi: 10.1111/etap.12272.
Bendig, D., Strese, S. and Brettel, M. (2017) ‘The link between operational leanness and credit ratings’, Journal of Operations Management, 52, pp. 46–55. doi: 10.1016/j.jom.2016.11.001.
Schmidt, S., Bendig, D. and Brettel, M. (2017) ‘Building an equity story: The impact of effectuation on business angel investments’, Journal of Business Economics, forthcoming. doi: 10.1007/s11573-017-0868-2.
Schuh, G., Brettel, M., Reuter, C., Bendig, D., Dölle, C., Friederichsen, N., Hauptvogel, A., Kießling, T., Potente, T., Prote, J.-P., Weber, A. R. and Wolff, B. (2017) Towards a technology-oriented theory of production, Integrative Production Technology: Theory and Applications. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-47452-6_12.
School of Business and Economics
TIME Major
RWTH Research Manager
Entrepreneurship Aachen
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It was an interesting meeting of the East Kintyre Wind Farm Trust committee on Thursday evening, when they met to discuss applications for the autumn tranche of funding.
Both Peninver and Carradale village hall committees were requesting the second halves of their already agreed grants for renovations to their respective buildings. The amounts agreed for these two groups were �00 and �00 respectively.
Carradale Activity Play Park committee were asking for �0, being half of the amount required to pay for the fireworks for next week's bonfire night celebrations. This was granted in full.
Carradale Tourist Group had asked for �2 in respect of providing tubs and flowers around the village, which was also met in full.
Myself, in association with EKCC, had asked for �5 to purchase dispenser bags for the two dog litter bins at the western end of the village, and was pleased to be granted this amount. [GoatNote: These have now been ordered and are expected to arrive early next week.]
Carradale Golf Club had need of a replacement for their tractor, used to mow the course and greens. They wanted �00 towards a total cost of �87. In addition to being used by the golf club they were happy for it to be used for other community purposes such as maintaining the Bay Road, and were granted their full request.
Carradale and District Seniors Social Group were asking for �0 towards their running costs, which they were duly granted.
Two late applications were then considered, both outwith the immediate area:
Argyll FM wanted help with paying for repairs to their transmitter mast. The sum requested was �50 towards a total outlay of �00. It was understood that they would be applying to West Kintyre Wind Farm Trust for the other half. Discussion ensued as to whether a grant should be given in view of the fact that due to poor signal strength most people in the East and West Kintyre areas are unable to receive their broadcasts. It was eventually decided to grant them �5 with the understanding that they might receive the same from WKWFT and apply for the remainder from the Campbeltown Common Good Fund, where most of their listeners are located.
The final application was from Campbeltown Picture House who were asking for �00 (of a total of �00) to help pay staff wages during the period whilst the cinema is closed for roof repairs. Criticism was raised as to the nature of the application, with the suggestion it would have been more favourably looked-upon had it been for a different use. It was also raised that only a small number of people in the East and West Kintyre areas make use of the cinema, due to distance, and that it was the people of Campbeltown who would benefit the most. Agreement was eventually reached that they would be offered �0, rising to �5 if it were to be equally matched by WKWFT, and the balance to be applied for from the Campbeltown Common Good Fund.
Total grants made came to �,092 with the remainder being transferred into the Common Good Fund for future projects, bringing its balance to more than �,000.
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09: THE FLOWER KINGS - Space Revolver (2000)
Introduction by Niels Hazeborg
"How do you describe the effect that hearing The Flower Kings for the first time has on a young, impressionable mind? I was 14 and my musical world didn't extend much beyond what was on MTV. Suddenly, Tomas Bodin's Hammond and Roine Stolt's guitar, lead off the main theme of I Am The Sun in 7/4 time, changing my life forever.
The boundless energy, the unbridled creativity, and the mind-boggling musicianship all showed me that music could be so much more than I had ever imagined. It was long and baggy and pretentious and utterly undisciplined. I loved it.
And yet, it felt like I'd always known it, somehow. It felt warm and familiar, like something that was always waiting for me. More than an eye-opener; it was a homecoming. Today, Space Revolver still holds up as one of the definitive albums of the early 2000s. The DPRP review from that time was, as usual, bang on the money."
From the 2000 archives, read the original Round Table DPRP review and see what scores our three reviewers gave the album:
Watch the video for the track Rumble Fish Twist.
Watch the video here
The whole album is currently available on Spotify.
Listen to it here
11: RUSH - Rush in Rio (DVD) (2003)
08: FISH - Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors (1990)...
07: PURE REASON REVOLUTION - The Dark Third (2006)...
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HomeGovernmentThe biggest threat to U.S. national security is the U.S. Government
The biggest threat to U.S. national security is the U.S. Government
October 8, 2018 TFD Government 0
Eric Zuesse, originally posted at strategic-culture.org
A dictatorship does not represent the public but only the aristocracy that, behind the scenes, controls the government.
Jonathan H. Adler, Professor at Case Western University School of Law, noted, regarding George W. Bush’s secret policy for the NSA to access everyone’s phone-records, that “The metadata collection program is constitutional (at least according to Judge Kavanaugh),” and he presented Judge Kavanaugh’s entire published opinion on that. Kavanaugh’s opinion stated that the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution could be shoved aside because he thinks that the ‘national security’ of the United States is more important than the Constitution. Kavanaugh wrote:
The Government’s program for bulk collection of 2 telephony metadata serves a critically important special need – preventing terrorist attacks on the United States. …. In my view, that critical national security need outweighs the impact on privacy occasioned by this program. …
The Fourth Amendment allows governmental searches and seizures without individualized suspicion when the Government demonstrates a sufficient “special need” – that is, a need beyond the normal need for law enforcement – that outweighs the intrusion on individual liberty. …
In sum, the Fourth Amendment does not bar the Government’s bulk collection of telephony metadata under this program.
Kavanaugh said that since the 4th Amendment excludes only “unreasonable” searches and seizures (such as seizures of all of this private information from everyone), it doesn’t exclude the “bulk collection of 2 telephony metadata” (collection of both phone numbers in each phone conversation from and/or to anyone in the United States), because a “critical national security need [“preventing terrorist attacks on the United States”] outweighs the impact on privacy occasioned by this program.”
As a consequence, for each American, the U.S. federal Government knows everyone whom you call, and who calls you — it knows all of your phone-contacts — and it does so because everything in the U.S. Constitution can be overridden by any “critical national security need” such as “preventing terrorist attacks” such as occurred on 9/11, which attacks hadn’t at all been enabled by the then-existing lack of such police-state measures here. Kavanaugh’s opinion simply ignored that fact — didn’t even discuss it. Instead of that’s having produced the ‘intelligence failure’, the U.S. Government — especially the U.S. President — prior to 9/11, had refused to allow its agents to inform the U.S. President of the actionable information that they had found and that they were struggling to get to him prior to the attacks. Bush didn’t want to know, until the attacks had already occurred. He demanded deniability.
As regards the reason why this police-state procedure which Kavanaugh backs is needed now, after 9/11 — though it had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks (except for the latter’s having served in far-right-wingers’ propaganda such as Kavanaugh’s opinion, as being the alleged excuse for the ‘intelligence failure’), and though martial law hasn’t yet even been declared in the U.S. — no one has publicly said anything. But is it really “reasonable” that the Government permanently stores all of this telephone-data from everyone, even if a given citizen does not, and in many instances doesn’t get to see it even on the phone-bill? Who actually benefits from this? It’s a severe situation that isn’t seriously being publicly discussed; such discussion is effectively banned in at least all of the major ’news’ media (which pretend to be concerned about protecting citizens’ most-basic rights — and not only about their own).
Judge Kavanaugh was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by a President who has threatened to go to war against Russia if Russia follows through with its announced plan to exterminate the Al-Qaeda-led forces in the only province of Syria that is at least 90% in favor of Al Qaeda and/or of ISIS — the province that is well over 90% jihadists and their pre-war supporters; it’s by far the most-jihadist province in all of Syria. Consequently, this alleged opposition to “Radical Islamic Terrorism” on the part of candidate and now U.S. President Donald Trump, the President who appointed Judge Kavanaugh to the highest court in the land, is entirely and blatantly fake. Trump and his allies support Al Qaeda in Syria, just as Obama did.
Three nations have been prominently alleged to have been the secret cause of the 9/11 attacks. One of them is Shiite Iran, which is the only Government that is accused by the U.S. Government, and which the U.S. Government has fined billions of dollars as having been the cause of the 9/11 attacks, even though there’s no credible evidence that Iran had planned those attacks, nor that Iran had financed either the planning or the execution of those attacks. Iran is instead a Government which the U.S. Government had controlled during 1953-1979 and whose U.S.-installed regime of torture became overthrown in 1979 during the Iranian Revolution against the U.S.-installed Iranian regime, at which time both the fundamentalist-Sunni Sauds — the royal family who own Saudi Arabia — and the fundamentalist-Jewish aristocracy who control Israel, declared Iran to be an “existential threat” against themselves; and the U.S. Government has both of those Governments as allies to overthrow this post-U.S.-stooge Government of Iran.
In 1996, Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan al-Saud and his friend FBI Director Louis Freeh managed to blame the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia not on the fundamentalist-Sunni U.S.-and-Saudi-created Al Qaeda, which were widely thought to have done it, but instead on Iran, which both the U.S. and Saudi Governments hated; and the retiring Freeh then recommended Robert Mueller to replace himself, and the retiring Robert Mueller recommended James Comey to replace himself, and thus all three FBI Directors endorsed the Saudi accusation against Iran, that Iran was behind the Khobar Towers bombing, even though no reliable evidence has yet been supplied that Iran had had anything at all to do with it. Mueller himself had a long history as the aristocracy’s master of cover-ups designed to misdirect blame either sideways or else downward but always away from the actual culprits and especially away from the culprits at the very top of the given criminal or traitorous operation. He’s the master of ‘investigative’ deception, serving the aristocracy, not the public. Wherever there are aristocratic conflicts to be resolved by lawyers, it’s almost never good guys versus bad guys but almost always monsters versus monsters. The U.S. and its allies are simply bullies who lie, psychopathically.
All recent U.S. Presidents say that “Iran is the top state sponsor of terrorism”, even though (other than against Israel) all or nearly all Islamic terrorism has been perpetrated by fundamentalist Sunnis (such as Saudis), and virtually none by any Shiites at all.
Many Americans who oppose the U.S. Government, but who aren’t intelligent, say that instead Israel caused the 9/11 attacks, even though no reliable evidence has been cited for that allegation, either, and much of the ‘evidence’ that is cited for it is fraudulent or otherwise disprovable. Israel (like the Sauds) is an enemy of the American people, but (unlike the Sauds) it didn’t cause 9/11. Osama bin Laden’s financial bagman, when asked where the money came from to pay the “salaries” of all Al Qaeda members, said “Without the money of the — of the Saudi, you will have nothing” of Al Qaeda.
The evidence is overwhelming that the Sauds financed the 9/11 attacks and that George W. Bush and some of his friends were also involved in it but were careful to make sure they had deniability — ignorance of the advance details — so as not to be able to be nailed for their advance involvement in the arrangements that had been made for the attacks. Bush, of course, relied on a close staff that included not only FBI director Mueller but Brett Kavanaugh, the current Supreme Court nominee by Donald Trump — and Trump had been elected after a Presidential campaign in which he had pretended to loathe the Bushes and their — and Obama’s — policies. Trump overturns the least-bad of Obama’s policies, but is otherwise simply an even bolder fascist than those two Presidents had been.
This is entirely a bipartisan matter — the same U.S. aristocracy controls all American political Parties that have any chance of ruling the nation. For example, the opinion by Judge Kavanaugh was the only opinion that was published from any of the 11 judges though the ruling by the Court was unanimous. Among the ten other judges was the Chief Judge, Merrick Garland, whom President Obama subsequently appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court and the Republicans blocked from being considered by the full Senate. President Obama was a defendant in this particular case, and all 11 judges on it ruled in his favor. If the Chief Judge had been the lone one to rule against him, then perhaps the Chief Judge (Garland) would not have been appointed (exactly four months later, on 16 March 2016) by the President to the Supreme Court. Garland was rejected by the Republicans because the President who appointed him labeled himself with the competing brand. The minor differences between U.S. Supreme Court judges nowadays are the differences that separate the two political brands, not actually differences in basic beliefs or values, though the propaganda by the competing brands pretends to basic differences between them. Anyone who opposes the existing secret rule by the aristocracy won’t even be appointed, much less confirmed. This is today’s American ‘democracy’.
So, clearly, just as the U.S. regime and its ‘news’ media had lied to say that Saddam Hussein needed to be eliminated because he possessed and was building up “WMD” and even nuclear weapons; and just as Muammar Qaddafi was similarly slaughtered on the basis of U.S.-and-allied lies; and just as those and other U.S. invasions — such as in Syria and in Yemen — have made America and the world vastly worse-off except for the U.S. weapons-makers such as Lockheed Martin and the other U.S. ‘Defense’ Department’s contractors and the U.S. extraction firms such as ExxonMobil and Halliburton which gained new sources of lands to strip of their natural resources by means of such military invasions, the biggest threat to U.S. national security is the U.S. Government itself — and especially its military, which spends around half of the entire world’s military budget each year.
As part of this growing U.S. police-state, every phone call that anyone in the U.S. participates in is information that this regime has (since 9/11) been collecting on that individual. We are all ‘national security’ suspects, now. The U.S. Government isn’t only the chief enemy of Iraqis, and of Libyans, and of Syrians, and of Iranians, and of Yemenis, and of Afghans, and of Russians, and of Chinese, etc.; it is also the chief enemy of the American people (though it doesn’t cause us hell like it causes the residents in those target-countries). And it is the chief enemy of Europeans, too. More recently, the U.S. Government has, in effect, even declared economic war against Europe.
What are the signs of a dictatorship? High percentage of its public being in prison? Low level of approval by the public of the nation’s leader? Low level of trust by the public in the nation’s ‘news’ media? Near-zero impact of public opinion on the laws that get passed and that don’t? High percentage of the public who think that the “Deep State” rules the country — that, essentially, the country is a dictatorship? High level of terror among whistleblowers and potential whistleblowers that they’ll be imprisioned for their herosim as being a ‘national-security threat’ instead of venerated as their being the essential sunlight that’s needed in order to be able to reduce corruption? All of that describes today’s United States of America. How can such a nation — one that’s a dictatorship on each one of those measures — NOT be a dictatorship? But is it even worse if such a nation pontificates to the entire rest of the world, that it is a democracy, and that it, and it alone, is the world’s indispensable nation?
President Barack Obama said, and repeated many times, that the United States is “the one indispensable nation” — meaning that all others are “dispensable.” Adolf Hitler had said essentially the same thing about Germany; and, like recent U.S. Presidents, he acted accordingly. Today’s U.S. Government is the enemy of FDR’s U.S. Government, and is not only the enemy of America’s Founders, in these and so many other basic matters. Today’s America is the fascist United States Government. All “dispensable” countries deal with that top fascist one, in whatever way the given nation’s aristocracy chooses to deal with it. Most aristocracies choose to share, however they can, in the Empire’s (the U.S. aristocracy’s) loot from this military, propaganda, and extraction, system. But some other “dispensable” nations resist the U.S. aristocracy. And some others are quiet, on the sidelines, for as long as they can be there, to avoid their becoming targets themselves. Dealing with such a bully is difficult for everyone.
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
Saudi Arabia. Israel
US Aristocracy
US Dictatorship
“Wars And Rumors Of Wars”: The U.S., Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, India And Pakistan All Move Closer To Military Conflict
Declining Life Expectancy: Brought to You by Washington
The Relentless Push Towards War
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Deadly Week for Dump Truck Drivers
Two truck drivers; each driving a dump truck were killed Wednesday after a fiery head-on collision near Mattawa, Washington. The Grant County Sheriff’s Office said at about 9:30 am their deputies and other responders arrived at the scene at County Road O-Southwest and County Road 27-Southwest, about four miles southeast of Mattawa. There they found two dump trucks had collided and caught fire, killing both drivers instantly.
The sheriff’s office said investigators reported that a 2007 Peterbilt dump truck loaded with gravel and driven by Bruce Patnode, 53, of Yakima, was headed northbound on Road O-SW approaching Road 27-SW when it crossed the centerline and crashed head-on with a southbound 2000 Kenworth dump truck towing a dump trailer. The second truck was driven by Dale Peters, 45, of Selah. The sheriff’s office confirmed that both Patnode and Peters were ejected from their trucks and died at the scene. Both trucks had also burst into flames, almost immediately from the impact of the crash.
Next of kin have been notified and the Grant County Sheriff’s Office Motor Traffic Unit is investigating.
Just today another truck driver died in Rapid City South Dakota after his dump truck tipped to one side. Authorities say the incident occurred Thursday afternoon when the 74-year-old man raised the dump trailer that was filled with gravel and the load was too heavy, causing the truck to roll and fall onto a flat-bed trailer. The truck driver was transported to a local hospital where he was unfortunately pronounced dead. He has not been publicly identified pending notification of his family.
Fortunately last Friday’s dump truck incident turned out a lot better for the driver who was rescued after his dump truck ran off the southbound lanes of Garden State Parkway in New Jersey, and crashed into the bay. According to New Jersey State Police, a witness saw the construction dump truck lose control, hit the divider, and then careen off the bridge on the right. The dump truck plunged into the waters of the Great Egg Harbor bay below.
“His truck actually spun backwards like this, and hit the side of the bridge and it just flipped him right smack into the bay. It looked like a whale, actually, that’s how much of a splash it was. And then gone, we never saw the truck again,” witness, Mike Pagano said.
Thankfully, the truck landed right next to where crews were pulling apart the old Beesley’s Point Bridge and the quick actions of two construction workers (Jason Armbruster and Aaron Grace) saved the driver’s life.
You could see the guy in the window, like scratching at the window trying to get out. So I jumped in the water, and then Aaron — me and Aaron jumped in the water. I had a hammer, I smashed the window. I was trying to keep his face above water. But his face was like half in and half out of the water, so he couldn’t really breathe,” Armbruster said.
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Hilltops to find out who will be "the guy"
Cole Benkic was the CJFL's top defensive player in 2015.
When you’re the venerable Saskatoon Hilltops, a mass exodus of players equals opportunity.
The Toppers lost 16 players due to graduation from the Canadian Junior Football League championship squad from a season ago. A handful of others moved on to other teams namely in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport ranks.
As head coach Tom Sargeant and the rest of his staff look at their newcomers and returning players, they have to feel a little excitement, because you wonder who in that group will be “the guy.” They have to know someone new or a returning backup is going to be “the guy,” and that person might not necessarily be someone you expect.
Most of the Hilltops departing players were starters, but for a club that has won 18 national championships, rebuilding and reloading usually isn’t a very long process. The Toppers will be doing their best to be the first team to win six CJFL championships in seven years.
During the regular season, the Hilltops are always pretty good at getting all their players on the field in games where they are running away on the scoreboard. Thanks to those moves, backups are usually ready to jump into a starting role, when a starter graduates. As a result, you could have a number of players turn out to be “the guy.”
The Hilltops are always strong when it comes to recruiting, so there is always the possibility a rookie will step in right away and make an impact.
Quarterback Jared Andreychuk threads a pass down field for the Hilltops.
Even with that in mind, the cupboard isn’t bare. Fifth year star quarterback Jared Andreychuk is back to lead the offence, and linebacker Cole Benkic, who was last year’s CJFL defensive player of the year, is back for his final season to guide the defence. Both will provide a steady influence on their respective units.
Beast-type running back Logan Fischer returns for his fourth season, and fifth-year veteran receiver Tyson Sawatzky will be a key downfield target.
On the defensive line, Blake Hermann and Tom Schnitzler are both back from a unit that was outstanding a season ago. They will likely once again cause grief for the quarterbacks of opposing teams.
Besides containing Benkic, the Hilltops return some other strong linebackers in Cole’s brother, Adam Benkic, and Bobby Ehman. The secondary will be steadied by the leadership of James Vause, who will likely start full time at safety.
The Hilltops will have to find a kicker due to losing Brett Thorarinsson to graduation, and he handled all those duties last season.
Running back Logan Fischer powers his way up field for the Hilltops.
As the season moves on, the Hilltops will improve due to having one of the best coaching staffs you will find on any team. Sargeant has lots of support behind him in the likes of defensive coordinator Jeff Yausie, offensive coordinator Sheldon Ball and special teams coordinator Matt Yausie.
The Hilltops get things going for their 70th season as their main training camp opens on Monday at 1 p.m. at Ron Atchison Field. Their alumni game is set for Thursday at 7 p.m. at Saskatoon Minor Football Field, and they open the regular season on Aug. 14 at 1 p.m. at Saskatoon Minor Football Field against the Winnipeg Rifles.
It is always fun watching the Hilltops play on a Sunday afternoon at SMF Field during summer and fall, and it be cool to see if they can add another chapter to their storied history.
Will Rams versus Huskies draw at new Mosaic?
QB Noah Picton (#4) and the Rams will open new Mosaic Stadium.
The University of Regina Rams were successful in obtaining the right to host the first game at the new Mosaic Stadium in Regina, but you have to wonder if it will be the draw the Saskatchewan football community hopes it will be.
On Oct. 1, the Rams host the University of Saskatchewan Huskies at 2 p.m. in the inaugural game at the new Mosaic Stadium called the SaskTel Fall Classic. Ticket sales for the contest will be limited to 16,500, but you have to wonder if that game will reach that lofty attendance total.
Since the Rams joined the Canadian Interuniversity Sport ranks in 1999, they along with the Huskies have had various promotions to try and spike attendance for one game to the 10,000 mark, but have come up unsuccessful. Since 1999, the biggest crowd for a university level football game in Saskatchewan has been hosted by the Huskies, who crammed 12,567 spectators to the 2006 Vanier Cup at Griffiths Stadium. The host Huskies fell in that national final to the Universite Laval Rouge et Or 13-8.
Going into the 2016 campaign, the biggest selling point of the Oct. 1 match between the Huskies and Rams is the fact they will be playing in Regina’s new stadium, which will be best known as the home of the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders.
The Rams are coming off a dismal and from accounts in Regina a dysfunctional 2015 season, where they were 0-8. Their attendance for their final two regular season home games at the old Mosaic Stadium were far from spectacular.
On Oct. 17, 2015, the Rams drew 1,200 to their 49-46 loss to the University of Manitoba Bisons. The Rams closed the 2015 campaign drawing 1,100 to a 38-37 home loss to the Huskies on Oct. 30.
Those figures are far from what the Rams drew during the days they had quarterback Darryl Leason, slotback Jason Clermont and running back Neal Hughes on their roster in 2000 when they appeared in the Vanier Cup and in 2001.
Huskies RB Shane Buchanan hits a wall of Rams tacklers.
The Huskies 2015 campaign fell short of pre-season expectations, and they almost missed the playoffs for the first time since 2000. Had the Huskies lost their Oct. 30, 2015 clash with the Rams, U of S would have missed the post-season. The Rams led that contest 34-11 late in the third quarter before the Huskies rallied for victory.
Huskies fans usually follow their team down from Saskatoon to Regina for games, but U of S saw its home attendance slip during a 3-5 regular season campaign.
In 2015, the Huskies season high in attendance came in a 33-18 victory over the Rams on a Sept. 18 clash at Griffiths Stadium with 6,476 spectators. The Huskies drew 4,254 spectators to a 44-15 loss on Oct. 16 to the University of Calgary Dinos and 3,179 fans to a 41-36 loss to the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds on Oct. 23.
There is also a sizable minority among the Huskies supporters who heap piles of criticism on the team for going 1-10 in their last 11 playoff games, which includes a current seven game post-season losing streak. The notion that those supporters might make it to Regina to see the Huskies play is questionable. In Saskatoon, the Huskies receive the same level of scrutiny as a WHL team.
Social media posts and press releases about the SaskTel Fall Classic keep saying tickets for the Oct. 1, 2016 clash between the Rams and Huskies are expected to go fast. That statement is highly doubtful.
Personally, I would love to see the Rams and Huskies draw over 30,000 to SaskTel Fall Classic, but that is likely not reality.
One thing that might boost attendance is making that clash between the Rams and Huskies a doubleheader with the CJFL teams from Regina and Saskatoon. The defending CJFL champion Saskatoon Hilltops are slated to be in Regina on Oct. 1 to take on the Thunder. That contest is set for 7 p.m. at old Mosaic Stadium, and obviously, starts after the Rams versus Huskies game is slated to finish.
It might be prudent to get the Hilltops versus Thunder game moved to new Mosaic Stadium for a doubleheader and market everything as a football day in Regina. The chances of approaching an attendance figure of 16,500 would increase greatly if one had the chance to see all four of Saskatchewan’s post-secondary teams at one time.
Back in the Express with Kiselyk
Marci Kiselyk smiles after scoring a TD.
I was back in the Saskatoon Express this week with a feature story on Marci Kiselyk, who a star receiver for the Saskatoon Valkyries women’s football team.
Kiselyk reflects on the Valkyries 2016 Western Women’s Canadian Football League championship campaign and the fact she has played for the Valkyries in all six seasons of their existence. She joined the Valkyries after playing five seasons with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s basketball team.
The feature led into the fact that Kiselyk will suit up for Saskatchewan’s provincial team for the inaugural Senior Women’s National Championship that is being put on by Football Canada right now in Regina. Saskatchewan will face Quebec in the event’s championship game on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at old Mosaic Stadium.
On Thursday, Saskatchewan blanked New Brunswick 58-0 in a semifinal match. Kiselyk caught nine passes for 171 yards and scores three touchdowns in the win.
My Saskatoon Express story on Kiselyk can be found right here.
Schlenker off to “The Show”
Chris Schlenker will referee in the NHL.
It is official, Chris Schlenker, who won the Allen Paradice Memorial Trophy this past season as the top official in the WHL, is heading to the NHL.
CTV Lethbridge senior reporter Kaella Carr traveled to Medicine Hat to interview Schlenker, who is a member of the Medicine Hat Police Service, and he confirmed the news he has signed on to work in the NHL. He will take a leave of absence from the Medicine Hat Police Service starting at the end of August.
Schlenker, who is from Medicine Hat, played in the WHL from 2001 to 2005 with the Regina Pats and Prince Albert Raiders. Carr worked for CTV Prince Albert, when Schlenker was a member of the Raiders.
Both Carr and Schlenker were highly respected by the residents of Prince Albert during their time in that northern Saskatchewan city. Carr’s story on Schlenker heading to the NHL was outstanding. It can be found right here.
Labels: Chris Schlenker, CIS, CJFL, Cole Benkic, Marci Kiselyk, New Mosaic Stadium, NHL, Regina Rams, Regina Thunder, Saskatchewan Huskies, Saskatoon Express, Saskatoon Hilltops, Saskatoon Valkyries, Tom Sargeant, WHL
Pats standout Hobbs is finding his way to "The Sho...
Roughriders "Reign of Error" look needs to go
Schlenker going to "The Show?"
Nothing beats being there
Durant gives Roughriders hope
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Biggest conference games in 2019 FCS season
Princeton University football vs. Dartmouth, Princeton, NJ, November 3, 2018.
By CRAIG HALEY
STATS FCS Senior Editor
(STATS) - While wins count the same in the standings during a season, let's face it, some mean a lot more than others.
The most important during the long, winding conference schedule have the biggest impact with deciding titles and postseason bids.
Following is a quick look at the biggest conference games in the FCS this season (plus, a few rivalries that couldn't be ignored). Make no mistake, the list could go on and on with possibilities.
Biggest: Weber State at UC Davis (Oct. 26)It's disappointing this is the only matchup between last year's Big Sky tri-champs (Eastern Washington was the other), but maybe it's a prelude to some meetings in the FCS playoffs.
Three More Big Games: Northern Arizona at Montana State (Sept. 28), Eastern Washington at Montana (Oct. 26) and Montana at Montana State (Nov. 23)
Biggest: Monmouth at Kennesaw State (Nov. 2)
The winner is expected to claim the Big South's automatic playoff bid. Kennesaw State has won the first four meetings in the series by a combined 175-65.
Three More Big Games: North Alabama at Hampton (Oct. 5), Monmouth at Charleston Southern (Oct. 26) and Kennesaw State at Campbell (Nov. 9)
CAA FOOTBALL
Biggest: Towson at James Madison (Oct. 26)
Which conference game isn't big in the CAA? This one features 2018 CAA offensive player of the year Tom Flacco trying to pull an upset at the anticipated preseason favorite.
Three More Big Games: Towson at Maine (Sept. 14), James Madison at Elon (Sept. 28) and New Hampshire at Delaware (Oct. 19)
Biggest: Dartmouth vs. Princeton in New York (Nov. 9)
Apologies to Harvard-Yale, but last year's top teams - Princeton was 10-0 and Dartmouth 9-1 - are squaring off at Yankee Stadium just three days after the 150th anniversary of the first college football game between Princeton and Rutgers.
Three More Big Games: Yale at Dartmouth (Oct. 12), Harvard at Princeton (Oct. 26) and Harvard at Yale (Nov. 23)
MEAC
Biggest: North Carolina A&T at Florida A&M (Oct. 19)
Florida A&M pulled a road win over N.C. A&T last season and could be just as strong as the MEAC power this season. The disclaimer here is Florida A&M is ineligible for the postseason.
Three More Big Games: Howard at North Carolina A&T (Oct. 26), South Carolina State at Bethune-Cookman (Oct. 26) and Bethune-Cookman at North Carolina A&T (Nov. 16)
Biggest: North Dakota State at South Dakota State (Oct. 26)
Conference supremacy, the Dakota Marker trophy, a No. 1 national ranking, playoff seeding - it could all be on the line in this monster matchup. SDSU is the only program to beat NDSU more than once since the start of the Bison's first of seven FCS championship seasons in 2011.
Three More Big Games: Northern Iowa at North Dakota State (Oct. 26), Northern Iowa at Illinois State (Nov. 2) and South Dakota State at South Dakota (Nov. 23
Biggest: Central Connecticut State at Duquesne (Nov. 23)
A meeting on the final day of the regular season is appropriate for the two most recent NEC representatives in the playoffs.
Three More Big Games: Central Connecticut State at Sacred Heart (Oct. 5), Duquesne at Sacred Heart (Oct. 19) and Saint Francis at Duquesne (Nov. 2)
Biggest: Southeast Missouri at Jacksonville State (Oct. 19)
A year ago, the Redhawks and 2018 STATS FCS Buck Buchanan Award winner Zach Hall handed Jacksonville State its only conference loss in the last five years by a resounding 37-14.
Three More Big Games: Jacksonville State at Austin Peay (Sept. 28), Eastern Kentucky at Southeast Missouri (Nov. 9) and Eastern Kentucky at Jacksonville State (Nov. 23)
Biggest: Colgate at Georgetown (Nov. 2)
These two teams played for sole possession of first place on the final Saturday of October last year. Will they begin a November to remember with a similar scenario this year?
Three More Big Games: Lehigh at Colgate (Oct. 5), Colgate at Holy Cross (Oct. 26) and Lafayette at Lehigh (Oct. 23)
PIONEER LEAGUE
Biggest: San Diego at Dayton (Oct. 26)
San Diego has won 29 straight PFL games since falling 13-12 at Dayton in 2015. The Toreros will have a new starting quarterback, while Dayton returns Jack Cook, the league's offensive freshman of the year.
Three More Big Games: San Diego at Davidson (Oct. 12), Dayton at Stetson (Oct. 19) and Drake at San Diego (Nov. 2)
Biggest: Furman at Wofford (Nov. 16)
The SoCon title race was crowded last season and these were two of the three champs along with ETSU. They should be the top two picks this preseason, but a lot of jostling in the standings will occur prior to this late-season showdown.
Three More Big Games: Wofford at ETSU (Oct. 5), Western Carolina at The Citadel (Oct. 12) and The Citadel at Chattanooga (Nov. 16)
Biggest: Nicholls at Sam Houston State (Oct. 19)
The Southland was even crazier than the SoCon last year, and this midseason matchup will help shape the race. A defending co-champ is hardly the definition of a "cupcake" for Sam Houston's Homecoming Day.
Three More Big Games: Sam Houston State at McNeese (Sept. 28), Central Arkansas at Nicholls (Oct. 5) and Lamar at Incarnate Word (Oct. 19)
Biggest: Southern vs. Grambling State in New Orleans (Nov. 30)
The eight first-round playoff games last Thanksgiving weekend didn't combine to draw the FCS season-high 67,871 who attended the party known as the Bayou Classic. Grambling State holds a 23-22 lead in the game.
Three More Big Games: Grambling State vs. Prairie View A&M in Dallas (Sept. 28), Southern at Alcorn State (Oct. 26) and Alabama A&M vs. Alabama State in Birmingham (Oct. 26)
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← FTR #935 The Making of Donald Trump (Top Banana Republic), Part 4 | John Perry Barlow (Grateful Dead Lyricist, Dick Cheney Campaign Manager, George Wallace Voter), the CIA, and the Genesis of Social Media →
FTR #936 The Making of Donald Trump (Top Banana Republic), Part 5
Posted by Dave Emory ⋅ December 3, 2016Post a comment Email This Post Print This Post Tweet This!
Tags Clinton, Donald Trump, Felix Sater, GOP, Organized Crime
Dave Emory’s entire lifetime of work is available on a flash drive that can be obtained HERE. The new drive is a 32-gigabyte drive that is current as of the programs and articles posted by early winter of 2016. The new drive (available for a tax-deductible contribution of $65.00 or more.) (The previous flash drive was current through the end of May of 2012.)
WFMU-FM is podcasting For The Record–You can subscribe to the podcast HERE.
This broadcast was recorded in one, 60-minute segment.
Introduction: In the aftermath of the ascension of Donald Trump to the Presidency, we are doing something unprecedented in the long history of For The Record. Earlier in 2016, award-winning journalist David Cay Johnston published a very well-written and researched, yet relatively short and compact biography of Donald Trump–The Making of Donald Trump (Melville House [HC]; copyright 2016 by David Cay Johnston; ISBN 978-1-61219-632-9.)
For some weeks, we have been–and will be–reading most of the book into the record, to provide people with a measure against which to evaluate not just “The Donald,” as his first wife Ivana called him, but our society, its institutions and its citizens. We can’t recommend strongly enough that listeners buy this book, read it and use whatever means available to spread the word about it. (We note that neither Mr. Emory nor any of the stations that air this program get money from this book, its publisher or author.)
Although we originally planned to read the whole book into the record, the acceleration of events demands coverage and we will be turning to as much of those developments as we can highlight, under the circumstances.
The broadcast begins with another reading of the poem Be Angry at the Sun by Robinson Jeffers.
“Be Angry at the Sun” by Robinson Jeffers
That public men publish falsehoods
Is nothing new. That America must accept
Like the historical republics corruption and empire
Has been known for years.
Be angry at the sun for setting
If these things anger you. Watch the wheel slope and turn,
They are all bound on the wheel, these people, those warriors.
This republic, Europe, Asia.
Observe them gesticulating,
Observe them going down. The gang serves lies, the passionate
Man plays his part; the cold passion for truth
Hunts in no pack.
You are not Catullus, you know,
To lampoon these crude sketches of Caesar. You are far
From Dante’s feet, but even farther from his dirty
Political hatreds.
Let boys want pleasure, and men
Struggle for power, and women perhaps for fame,
And the servile to serve a Leader and the dupes to be duped.
Yours is not theirs.
This fifth and final installment of the series references the substance of an article that embodies the enormous and fundamental flaw in our political and civic process: a poll shortly before the election found that most of the prospective voters polled felt that Trump was more honest and trustworthy than Hillary Clinton. As our reading of Johnston’s excellent book unfolds, the grotesque, spectacularly fallacious character of this perception will become uncomfortably clear. “Donald Trump is currently tracking as the more honest of the two presidential candidates in a poll, although fact-checking of his statements during the campaign have shown he’s lied several times. The latest ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll reports that 46 percent of likely voters believe he is the more honest and trustworthy candidate, while 38 percent believed it was Hillary Clinton. This marks the biggest gap between the two candidates in five ABC News/Washington Post polls that asked the question, beginning in May.”
In the previous program, we opined that we all, in a sense, are enrolled in Trump University. By the same token, we could all be said to be playing the board game Trump: The Game. ” . . . . Then there’s his Monopoly-like board game. When Trump and executives from Milton-Bradley introduced Trump: The Game in 1989, the developer surprised everyone by declaring those royalties would go to charity, too. Milton-Bradley took Trump at his word. It also figured it might improve sales, which were weak, if people realized their purchases would not enrich a presumed billionaire but go to charity. Its television ads told potential buyers: ‘Mr. Trump’s proceeds from Trump: The Game will be donated to charity.’ . . . Trump has said he made $808,000 and that the money was donated to his Donald J. Trump Foundation. . . . At the time, I spent a day calling New York and New Jersey charities trying to find any disclosures of gifts made by Trump. . . . But call after call produced nothing. . . .” (The Making of Donald Trump; p. 17.)
Trump appeared to have won over a majority of voting military veterans and a poll of active-duty service members indicated that most preferred Trump. Trump himself avoided military service during the Vietnam War. ” . . . . Donald turned eighteen in 1964, when the death toll in Vietnam was rising fast. He got four student deferments and one medical deferment, after his doctor wrote that he had a bone spur in his foot. Which foot? a journalist asked years later. Trump said he could not recall. . . .” (The Making of Donald Trump; pp. 131-132.)
In the fall of 2015, Trump boycotted a GOP primary campaign debate because Megyn Kelly was to be the on-air host. Trump instead went to an event on the Battleship Iowa museum to what he misrepresented as a major veterans organization. ” . . . . Trump instead went to the Battleship Iowa, now a museum at anchor in Long Beach, California, to deliver what his campaign said would be a major address on national defense. Trump praised the sponsor of the event, Veterans for a Strong America, and told the audience that ‘hundreds of thousands’ of people belonged to the organization. There were evidently two related organizations, both nonprofits, though Trump and his host never made that clear to the audience on the ship or watching on television. One was a charity, the other one of those dark money political groups that have expanded since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, enabling money from undisclosed sources to influence elections. A quick internet check would revealed to the Trump campaign that the IRS had revoked the nonprofit status of Veterans for a Strong America due to their failure to file required disclosure reports. A charity disclosure organization, Guidestar, reported that it had no record of any board of directors, Every indication pointed to Veterans for a Strong America being a one-man enterprise run by a South Dakota lawyer named Joel Arends, whose operation was under investigation for suspected election improprieties in Arizona and Texas. Reporters later learned the organization had thirty dollars in the bank and debts ten times that size. None of this was in line with Trump’s promotion of the group’s immense size, influence, and good works. . . .” (The Making of Donald Trump; pp. 135-136.)
Next, the program highlights how Trump promotes himself and his projects using The American Academy of Hospitality Sciences. Trump, his daughter Ivanka, his son Donald, Jr., the chief operating officer of the Trump Organization (Donald Calamari) and Trump’s butler Anthony Senecal are major figures in this organization. The main figure in the organization is Joseph Cinque, aka “Joey No Socks” or “The Preppy Don.” ” . . . If those sound like names that might be associated with a figure involved in organized crime, it’s because they are. New York police with a search warrant knocked on the door of Cinque’s Park Avenue South apartment in 1989. Cinque declined to let them in. The police applied a battering ram. Inside the apartment they found a trove of stolen art, including two Marc Chagall prints valued at $40,000. they had been taken in an art gallery heist. Cinque made a deal to plead to a misdemeanor, but prosecutors scrapped the plea bargain after Cinque was seen talking to John Gotti, the ‘dapper don’ who became head of the Gambino crime family by arranging the murder of his predecessor Paul Castellano–one of the secret owners of the company that supplied concrete for many Trump buildings.
“Gotti told Cinque that he would ‘take care of the DA,’ an apparent reference to Anne Heyman, the prosecutor who had offered the plea bargain. . . . Heyman ordered a more thorough investigation of Cinque. She alleged that the investigation showed that Cinque ‘was dealing drugs out of his apartment and fencing stolen art-work.’ Heyman also said that Cinque’s apartment on Central Park South appeared to be a retail outlet for stolen clothing, including Armani suits and silk shirts. In 1990, Cinque pleaded guilty to a felony: receiving stolen property. . . .” (The Making of Donald Trump; p. 158.)
Another interesting, close associate of Donald Trump was Felix Sater, who changed the spelling of his name, adding an extra “T” to avoid being recognized on internet searches. ” . . . ‘Satter’s’ name appears with just one ‘T’ in a host of places. There’s the deed to his home for example. It is also spelled with only one ‘T’ on New York State court papers from his 1991 felony conviction for stabbing a man in the face with the stem of a margarita glass. The name Sater with one ‘T’ also appears on federal court papers in a $40 million organized crime stock swindle he confessed to in 1998, a scheme that benefited him as well as the Genovese and Gambino crime families. The stock swindle involved fake stock brokerage firms using high-pressure tactics to get naive people to buy worthless shares from Sater and his mob friends. . . .” (The Making of Donald Trump; p. 162.)
Trump’s close associate Felix Sater was able to escape serious legal retribution by going to work for the CIA. ” . . . . There is every indication that the extraordinarily lenient treatment resulted from Sater playing a get-out-of-jail free card. Shortly before his secret guilty plea, Sater became a freelance operative of the Central Intelligence Agency. One of his fellow stock swindlers, Salvatore Lauria, wrote a book about it. The Scorpion and the Frog is described on its cover as ‘the true story of one man’s fraudulent rise and fall n the Wall Street of the nineties.’ According to Lauria–and the court files that have been unsealed–Sater helped the CIA buy small missiles before they got to terrorists. He also provided other purported national security services for a reported fee of $300,000. Stories abound as to what else Sater may or may not have done in the arena of national security. . . .” (The Making of Donald Trump; p. 165.)
The last text reading concludes with discussion of Trump’s unsavory real estate deals. Luring unwary buyers in with the prestigious Trump brand name, ‘The Donald” left a great many of them high and dry when the truth emerged about what was really going on. In this sense, too, we are ALL investors in the Trump brand name, and likely to receive the same treatment as his unwary real estate customers.
A Baja California (Mexico) project is typical of Trump’s methodology and operations in this regard. ” . . . . A June 2007 newsletter notified buyers that construction was underway. The next month, the Trump Baja News reported, ‘our new and excited homeowners now are part of an elite group of vacation homeowners who own property developed by one of the most respected names in real estate, Donald J. Trump.’ Three months later, in October, when Wall Street crashed under the weight of the toxic mortgages and other Baja real estate projects faltered, the same newsletter carried a message ‘From the desk of Ivanka Trump.’ Ivanka assured the buyers that their investment was sound. ‘Though it may be rue that some of Baja’s developments could slow down, these market conditions simply do not apply to Trump Ocean Resort–or any other Trump development,’ she wrote.
“Two months later, in December 2007, the newsletter advised buyers of newly discovered geological problems afflicting the building site. A few months later, in March 2008, anxious buyers received calls or letters. Construction loans had been approved, would be funded shortly, and work would be underway. This was nine months after buyers had been told in writing that construction had already begun. Still, construction did not proceed.
“All of these promotions, sales pitches, and newsletter updates created the impression that Trump was the builder and the developer, words he used. The buyers later said they bought in because Trump was the developer or builder. That understanding then changed abruptly.
“The worst news arrived two before Christmas 2008. What had been described as a partnership between ‘the Trump Organization, Donald J. Trump,’ and the other people and companies involved was described in a new way. Neither Trump nor the Trump Organization were investment partners in the Trump Ocean Resort. They were not the developers, either. They had merely licensed the use of the Trump name. . . .” (The Making of Donald Trump; pp. 169-170.)
It is gruesomely ironic that the bulk of Trump’s scamming revolves around his real estate empire. It was, of course, the collapse of the real estate market that led to the financial collapse of 2008.
12 comments for “FTR #936 The Making of Donald Trump (Top Banana Republic), Part 5”
Since ‘conflicts of interest’ is already one of the main themes of the Trump administration, it’s probably worth noting that if any Trump properties end up getting an award from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences (AAHS), there’s a conflict of interest involved. As far as Trumpian conflicts of interest go at this point it’s one of the least important conflicts of interest we can imagine. And yet, unlike most of Trump’s conflicts of interest that he doesn’t seem ashamed of at all, Donald Trump doesn’t appear to be very open about the conflicts of interest with the AAHS. In fact, whenever you mention the AAHS he suddenly goes all senile and forgets almost all of his ties to the organization. How odd. Maybe that has something to do with the mob ties:
A convicted felon handed Donald Trump a ‘one-of-a-kind bronze eagle award’ on New Year’s Eve
Hunter Walker, National Correspondent
When Donald Trump addressed revelers at the annual New Year’s Eve bar at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Saturday, he was standing next to Joe Cinque, a convicted felon with rumored Mafia ties. Video published by the Palm Beach Daily News showed Cinque beaming as the president-elect gave brief remarks about his agenda.
“Your taxes are coming down, regulations are coming off, we’re going to get rid of Obamacare,” Trump said as Cinque pumped his fists in the air.
Cinque is the president and CEO of the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences, an organization that hands out Star Diamond awards to restaurants, hotels and businesses. The organization has extensive links to Trump.
According to the AAHS Facebook page, Cinque was at Mar-a-Lago to present Trump with “a One-of-a-Kind bronze Eagle award.” Pictures on the group’s page showed Trump being given a large statue of a flying eagle as Cinque stood by his side.
Prior to his work in the hospitality industry, Cinque had colorful past. In 1995, he was profiled by New York magazine. That article, which was written by John Connolly, said that Cinque had been “shot three times and left for dead” in 1980, in an incident Cinque described as a “robbery.” In the story, Connolly wrote that unnamed officials said it was “more likely a hit.” Connolly also noted that Cinque “used to be friends with John Gotti” and was known by the nicknames “Joey No Socks” and “the Preppy Don.” The New York article also chronicled how, in 1989, “Cinque was arrested on felony charges; police had retrieved a gallery’s worth of stolen art from his apartment.” Cinque later pleaded guilty to felony charges in that case. Cinque was also accused of criminal behavior in excerpts of a rambling, novelistic memoir published on a personal website by Richard Lawrence Dombroff, a former high profile plastic surgeon who was convicted of defrauding patients in 1987 and was convicted on fraud charges again in 2003 for allegedly operating a financial scam.
Yahoo News reached out to Cinque, the AAHS and Trump’s presidential transition team for this story. None of them responded to our requests for comment.
The AAHS has described Cinque as a fixture at Trump’s annual Mar-a-Lago New Year’s Eve fetes.
Yahoo News reported on Cinque’s relationship with Trump in May of last year. The article highlighted a 2015 blog post on the Star Diamond website that said Cinque “has been attending Mr. Trump’s party for the past 16 years” and “has become dear friends with the Trump family.” That blog post has since been deleted. The Star Diamond site also featured pictures of Cinque standing next to Trump in Mar-a-Lago’s ballroom and on stage at the Florida club presenting the future president-elect with another trophy in 2014.
Despite their clear connections, Trump denied being familiar with Cinque when speaking in May to Yahoo News.
“I don’t know him. I just find him to be a very nice man, and I don’t know his background. I really don’t,” Trump said of Cinque.
He repeatedly stressed that he didn’t know Cinque “well.”
Trump previously held one of the top three positions on the AAHS’ board of trustees. Archived versions of the organization’s Web page show that Trump was listed as its “ambassador extraordinaire” from at least 2013 until June 2015,, when he launched his presidential campaign. But Trump told Yahoo News he “wasn’t involved” with AAHS and implied his title was largely ceremonial.
“I think I might have been on something, ambassador extraordinaire, you know. I never went to a meeting or anything,” Trump said.
However, Trump’s ties to Cinque’s group didn’t end with his title. Members of Trump’s family and multiple executives at his real estate company, the Trump Organization, have also been listed on the academy’s board of trustees, which selects award winners. AAHS gave Star Diamond awards to many Trump properties.
Handing out these Star Diamond awards, which the academy has called the “most prestigious emblem of achievement and true quality in the world today,” is the organization’s central activity. As “ambassador extraordinaire,” Trump’s signature adorned the Star Diamond plaques along with two other board members, Cinque and travel agent Bill Fischer.
LOL! Oh look, another individual with mob ties that Trump just sort of kind of knows, but doesn’t really know that well…despite celebrating New Years Eve with the guy. And despite once holding the number three position on the AAHS board of trustees. And despite his family and employees also serving on the board. This Joe Cinque must be some sort of recluse….just hanging out at home with stolen art all day or something.
Still, you would think Trump would know Cinque a little better than he claimed to know him. After all, it’s not like Cinque hasn’t been attending Trump’s New Years Eve parties since 1999:
How a convicted felon nicknamed ‘Joey No Socks’ covered Donald Trump in stars
It’s about as Trump as a moment gets. There was the Donald at his new golf club in the rolling Scottish dunes. He was holding a massive, gleaming, gold-colored plaque the venue “The Best Golf Course Worldwide.” Trump, the real estate mogul and now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, wore a hat with his name on it and a massive grin.
The gaudy plaque Trump carried that day in 2013 was a Star Diamond award distributed by the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences — a group that turns out to have extensive ties with Trump.
Joseph Cinque, the academy’s president and CEO, personally presented the award to Trump in Scotland. It was one of many similar honors Cinque has bestowed upon him in the past decade. Cinque, who has been described by the academy as one of Trump’s “dear friends,” is also a convicted felon who reportedly survived a murder attempt, was associated with the infamous mob boss John Gotti and went on to earn the nicknames “Joey No Socks” and “the Preppy Don.”
Trump recently held one of the top three slots on the organization’s board of trustees, with the ostentatious title of “Ambassador Extraordinaire.” Members of Trump’s family and multiple executives at his company, the Trump Organization, have also sat on the academy’s board of trustees, which selects award winners. Cinque runs the academy out of his apartment on Central Park South in Manhattan, just blocks from Trump Tower.
In a conversation with Yahoo News on Thursday morning, Trump denied he had any involvement with the ratings group, which has bestowed numerous five- and six-star ratings on his properties.
“I mean, I receive awards from different places sometimes, but I’m not involved in it. How am I involved in it?” said Trump.
Trump indicated he didn’t know much about the academy’s board of trustees — on which he, two of his sons and multiple members of his organizations have served. He also claimed he doesn’t know Cinque well.
“He may have set up a board of trustees. I don’t know. I don’t know that my sons are involved with that, actually,” Trump said, adding, “But he’s a very nice man. I don’t know him well. I don’t know him well, but I have found him over the years to be a very nice man.”
The academy’s central activity is handing out Star Diamond awards, which it has called the “most prestigious emblem of achievement and true quality in the world today.” Trophies are given out to a wide variety of businesses and individuals, with a focus on luxury travel and restaurants. Presenting plaques and holding awards ceremonies are the only activities described on the organization’s web site, which boasts that its awards give “a visual seal of approval by accredited institution.” The academy site brags that the Star Diamond is a “handcrafted plaque” that “denotes quality and luxury” and that patrons to a business will “notice” when one is “prominently displayed.”
The academy is one of many players in what industry experts describe as a crowded landscape of travel ratings agencies with questionable standards and methods.
In addition to the plaques, the academy also offers Star Diamond “desk plates,” “lapel pins” and “cufflinks.” And it boasts of other “benefits” promised by the foundation, such as sending out a press release announcing the award, to generate media coverage. The academy also publishes a magazine and a directory that promotes the winners.
Even though a major function of the academy is to generate press for award recipients, the organization is currently in media blackout mode. Yahoo News called the academy’s headquarters at Cinque’s apartment. A woman who answered said, after realizing she was on the phone with a reporter, that Cinque would “not comment” on any story. She said she didn’t want to know any more about the reason for the call and suggested contacting the academy’s lawyer.
In an angry email response, academy attorney Andrew Langsam threatened Yahoo News with legal action if it were to discuss decades-old news reports detailing accusations about the academy’s ratings practices, Cinque’s criminal record and his alleged ties to the mob.
“We are not amused by this clear attempt to sully the Academy, Mr. Cinque and any of his friends or contacts. You will be held fully liable for any consequences,” Langsam wrote.
For his part, Trump said he would “understand” if the academy, a nonpolitical group, had to cut ties with him. At the same time, he repeatedly stressed that he “wasn’t involved” with the group and suggested that his title was largely ceremonial.
Langsam, the academy’s attorney, wrote:“I do not believe that Mr. Trump has any current relationship to The Academy.”
In addition to his past role at the academy, Trump has had a long personal relationship with Cinque. One post on the Star Diamond website features an article on a party Trump held at his Mar-A-Lago club on the last night of 2014.
“Joseph Cinque, President of The AAHS, has been attending Mr. Trump’s party for the past 16 years,” the article said. “It is somewhat of a new Years Eve tradition for him and of course, he has become dear friends with the Trump family.”
Cinque presented Trump with a Star Diamond “lifetime achievement award” at that bash. The article features multiple photos of Cinque beaming alongside Trump and his family. Trump regularly has Cinque present him with awards at his events. Multiple photos on the academy site show Trump proudly awarding and receiving Star Diamond plaques. An academy promotional video features a clip of Trump, one of his buildings and a shot of Cinque standing in front of one of Trump’s private planes.
“It’s a great honor for me to welcome you to the Star Diamond award,” Trump declares in the clip.
Another Trump event with a Cinque ceremony was a birthday party the real estate mogul held for himself at one of his fading Atlantic City casinos in 2006. Trump and Cinque flashed smiles as they stood between guests, press and a bank of new Playboy slot machines. They were accompanied by actress Pamela Anderson.
While the academy generally hands out five-star awards, at least two of Trump’s properties, the Scottish golf course and Mar-a-Lago, have been awarded six-star honors by the academy.
In his email to Yahoo News, Langsam, the academy’s attorney, declined to reveal the criteria the organization uses to determine an institution has earned six rather than five stars. However, he stressed that the distinction is meaningful and employed all-caps lettering to emphasize this point.
“There is a definite difference between FIVE STAR DIAMOND AWARD and SIX STAR DIAMOND AWARD, not the least of which is a star,” Langsam wrote. “The internal considerations and deliberations of the Academy are highly confidential and not ‘news.’ This is not the public’s nor your business.”
The academy clearly keeps a tight lid on its inner workings.
Huh. And note that this is from an article put out by the AAHS in reference to the 2014 party, implying that Cinque has been attending this annual event since 1999. But Trump apparently doesn’t know him very well:
Keep in mind that Trump was issuing these denials to Yahoo News back in May. And then, of course, he invited Cinque to the 2016 New Years party only to deny this relationship again in early 2017. So it looks like denying knowledge of Trump’s ties to Joey “No Socks” Cinque is going to be a fun new New Years tradition for the Trump family. And America.
Posted by Pterrafractyl | January 9, 2017, 7:55 pm
Someone leaked two pages of Donald Trump’s 2005 tax returns to David Cay Johnston. While it demonstrated that Trump had to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax that year – the tax set up to ensure the wealthy can’t use tax loopholes to pay almost nothing in taxes – other than that we didn’t really learn much from the leak. And that immediately raised the same question in a number of different quarters: Did Donald Trump just leak his own tax return?:
Did Donald Trump leak his own tax return?
By Z. Byron Wolf and Josiah Ryan
Updated 12:12 PM ET, Wed March 15, 2017
(CNN)Who knows who leaked two pages of Donald Trump’s tax return.
But the leak, such as it is, does no harm to the President. It shows he actually paid income taxes — at least in 2005. Whether the President had paid income taxes recently had actually been something of an open question.
The journalist that published two pages from Donald Trump’s 2005 tax return says he doesn’t know who provided the documents; he got them in the mail.
“Yes,” Pulitzer Prize-winner David Cay Johnston replied when CNN anchor Poppy Harlow asked him if he thought the two pages, which show Trump paid $38 million in taxes on more than $150 million in income that year, could have been sent by the President himself.
“Donald has a long history of leaking things about himself and doing it indirectly and directly,” Johnston told Harlow and Chris Cuomo. “So it’s a possibility.” He published the returns on his website DCReport.org
The White House has hit back hard against the publication, calling it illegal in a pre-emptive statement Tuesday night. Then President Trump himself weighed in Wednesday morning on Twitter, suggesting Johnston wasn’t being forthright.
“Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, ‘went to his mailbox’ and found my tax returns? @NBCNews FAKE NEWS!” tweeted the President.
Leak leaves many questions about Trump’s income sources
Trump didn’t mention that The New York Times, when it reported Trump claimed $916 million in losses in 1995, which could have sheltered him from tax bills for many years, similarly received those more politically damaging documents in the mail.
The tax shelter created by those losses could create for some interesting return if Trump officially or the mysterious leaker were to provide return for other years. Additionally, the details of Trump’s return would be instructive, too, answering questions about his charitable giving, if any, specifics about the losses he claimed — $105 million in 2005 despite his tax bill, and more.
It is clear from evidence in lawsuits that there are years in which Trump paid no federal income taxes — something he bragged about during a debate with Hillary Clinton.
“That makes me smart,” he said on the debate stage, although he later clarified to CNN’s Jim Acosta that he had paid income taxes.
Trump had long said he wouldn’t release his income taxes because he is under some kind of long-standing federal audit. More recently, aides have said he might not release them at all. After all, he won the election.
But as Jeffrey Toobin pointed out on CNN Tuesday night, the questions about Trump’s tax return have only grown more fascinating as questions have arisen about his campaign and business ties to Russia. Trump has denied current business connections to Russia, but he also denied the campaign aides had any contact with Russians in the lead-up to the campaign.
Convenient timing
News of the tax return and the fact that he did pay millions in taxes also provided a detour from questions about ties to Russia, the fragile health reform legislation he has pushed with House Speaker Paul Ryan, but which is in deep peril on Capitol Hill and scrutiny of his stunning claims that former President Obama wiretapped him during the campaign.
Another interesting element of the story is that Trump has listed large-scale tax reform as one of his major legislative priorities. Republicans are supposed to take up that issue after passing the first leg of their Obamacare repeal plan — assuming they can pass it.
Repealing or fixing the Alternative Minimum Tax is sure to be on the table as Republicans go about their goal of lowering tax rates for most Americans. That’ll be a more comfortable conversation for Trump to have with everyday Americans now that he can say he’s paid the tax, too.
And it’s a big reason whey Democrats, who have called repeatedly in the past for the release of Trump’s rax returns, have warned the release of these two pages is a distraction from more important matters.
Did Trump really leak his own not-too-horrible tax returns to David Cay Johnston? If so, he must have been filled with extra levels of mischievous glee after doing that and then calling Johnston a reporter “who nobody ever heard of” and suggesting the whole thing was “Fake News!”:
“Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, ‘went to his mailbox’ and found my tax returns? @NBCNews FAKE NEWS!” tweeted the President
So that’s all part of why there’s so much speculation that Trump leaked his own returns. But note the possible downside of doing so: the one big thing we learned from the returns is that without the Alternative Minimum Tax Trump would have paid almost nothing. And repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax is very much on the Trumpian agenda:
So will the Trump/GOP plans to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax go more smoothly if Trump can say that he himself has paid the tax? Maybe, although is seems like it might not actually be super helpful for that upcoming Alternative Minimum Tax repeal debate for Trump to point out that without the AMT he would have paid almost nothing in taxes in 2005. Especially since, as the article below points out, another part of Trump’s tax reform package involves slashing taxes on “pass through” income and it was the heavy use of “pass through” income that would have made Trump’s tax bill for 2005 so very, very low if it wasn’t for the Alternative Minimum Tax Trump wants to eliminate:
Donald Trump’s tax plan would’ve nearly wiped out his 2005 tax burden
Updated by Dylan Matthews
Mar 14, 2017, 11:20pm EDT
The two pages of Donald Trump’s 2005 tax return released by veteran tax journalist David Cay Johnston and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow leave a lot of questions unanswered. But there are two things the document makes clear:
1. Trump was able to claim huge amounts of “negative income,” which substantially reduced his ordinary income tax burden.
2. He paid $38 million in total federal income taxes on an income of $153 million only because of the alternative minimum tax, a tax provision Trump now wants to repeal as president.
Trump lists about $152.7 million in income for the year, most of it real estate income, business income, and capital gains, on the 1040 tax form. Less than $1 million of his income came in the form of ordinary wages. But under “other income” he lists $103.2 million in negative income — that is, money he lost in that year or past years on business ventures.
Trump’s companies are “pass-throughs” that don’t pay corporate income tax and whose income is instead dispersed to shareholders, who are in turn taxed on it. So carrying forward business losses or depreciating assets would affect Trump’s personal returns.
If Trump were allowed to use all this negative income to offset his $152.7 million in income, his tax bill would’ve been a mere $5.3 million, for an effective tax rate of less than 3.5 percent. That’s a really shockingly small tax bill, and a symptom of how investors with lots of pass-through income can face much lower tax bills than people with ordinary wage income.
However, Trump wasn’t allowed to claim all that negative income. That’s because of the alternative minimum tax, a provision that has existed in some form since 1969 and is meant to limit the use of deductions, exclusions, credits, and other provisions by wealthy taxpayers to reduce their tax burden. The AMT added $31.3 million to his total tax bill, bringing his overall effective tax rate to about 25 percent.
We don’t exactly know why the AMT hit him so hard. The White House said in a statement that the negative income was due to “large scale depreciation for construction.” The AMT has different depreciation rules than the regular income tax code, which in some cases can reduce the amount you can deduct.
Putting all that together, there’s still a lot we don’t know. But one thing is clear: TTrump has proposed a tax plan that would have made his tax bill much, much lower.
Trump has a lot to gain from his own tax plan
Trump, like most Republicans, wants to eliminate the AMT altogether. The tax tends to hit rich, but not uber-rich, people hard (think families making around $400,000 a year), and that’s a constituency the GOP cultivates assiduously. But Trump is an unusual uber-rich person, with a huge AMT liability. This proposal would have given him, personally, $31.3 million in 2005 alone.
Just as crucially, Trump has proposed dramatically slashing taxes on pass-through income, even more than he wants to cut income taxes in general. Rather than subjecting this income to current income tax rates, or even the lower individual tax rates that Trump proposed, his first tax plan proposed to set the same rate that he’d have corporations pay: a mere 15 percent.
Given that the top personal tax bracket in 2005 was 35 percent, Trump’s plan would’ve halved his marginal tax rate that year and then some. People with income from wages, or capital gains, wouldn’t have gotten a break this large. It was reserved for people with companies structured like the Trump Corporation.
In mid-September, sources at the campaign suggested they were abandoning this plan. That made sense; the cut cost $1 trillion over 10 years, and served no obvious policy purpose other than personally enriching Donald Trump. But at the same time, the campaign was also telling a small-business group, the National Federation of Independent Business, that the pass-through cut was still a go, earning NFIB’s endorsement in the process. When the New York Times’s Binyamin Appelbaum reached out to the Trump campaign, they were vague but suggested that the pass-through cut was there to stay.
Trump isn’t alone on this plan, either. House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Ways and Means Chair Kevin Brady haven’t proposed a rate as low as 15 percent, but they have said they want a top rate of 25 percent on pass-through income, which also would’ve been a substantial tax cut for Trump in 2005. Their tax plan would also eliminate the AMT.
All of which is to say that the return unveiled on The Rachel Maddow Show suggests Republican tax reform efforts won’t just benefit Donald Trump the way they benefit all rich people. He would be helped an unusual amount, owing to the particulars of his tax situation, with his high AMT burden and large amount of pass-through income.
So that all points towards one possible angle Trump could use to sell the public on his tax plan: Sure, he’s going to slash tax on the rich but the biggest tax cuts, at least in terms of cuts in the rates paid, aren’t going to “the rich”, in general. The biggest tax cuts are going to Donald Trump. So don’t worry your little prole noggin about those Trump tax cuts. That’s just more aw-shucks fun that comes with Trump being Trump!
Posted by Pterrafractyl | March 15, 2017, 2:18 pm
While it would be understandable if one assumed that Kellyanne Conway is married to an alternative version of reality, it turns out she actually has a husband. And it sounds like he might be getting a new job and quite an important one too: #DrainTheSwamp:
Kellyanne Conway’s Husband Is Trump’s Choice for Key Justice Post
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump has selected George T. Conway III, the husband of his counselor Kellyanne Conway, to head the civil division of the Justice Department, people familiar with the decision said on Saturday, placing him in charge of a crucial office charged with defending Mr. Trump’s contentious travel ban and lawsuits alleging that his business activities violate the Constitution.
Mr. Conway, 53, would lead a department of about 1,000 lawyers that has vast reach across the government, handling issues like national security and consumer protection and enforcing federal programs and the actions of the president himself.
A White House spokeswoman declined to comment on a personnel matter, and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests. The people familiar with Mr. Trump’s decision confirmed it on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to pre-empt an impending announcement. The choice was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
If confirmed, Mr. Conway would immediately be in charge of representing Mr. Trump in the legal challenges — which are widely expected to reach the Supreme Court — over his executive order barring people from six predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.
It would also fall to Mr. Conway to oversee Mr. Trump’s defense in a pending lawsuit charging him with violations of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which bans federal officeholders from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments, because of the profits his hotels and resorts receive from foreign officials who are customers.
Before he was inaugurated, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers argued that the clause did not bar “fair-market-value transactions,” like paying for hotel rooms. But the lawsuit, filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal watchdog group on government corruption, contends that the clause does bar such transactions.
It is likely that Mr. Trump will face additional legal challenges regarding possible conflicts of interest stemming from his vast real estate and business empire, from which he has refused to divest.
Installing Mr. Conway to lead the civil division means that defending the president from such challenges will become a family affair for the Conways. Ms. Conway, a staunch loyalist who ran the final months of Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, has been a frequent presence on television news programs promoting the president’s agenda and dismissing criticism of his style and record.
Her zeal on Mr. Trump’s behalf has sometimes landed her at the center of controversy, such as when she claimed that the White House was entitled to put forward “alternative facts” about the crowd size at his inauguration, and in a separate interview a few weeks later, referred to a terrorist attack in Bowling Green that never occurred. Last week, she appeared to suggest that President Barack Obama might have spied on Mr. Trump through a microwave. Ms. Conway later clarified that she was speaking in general about possible means of surveillance, not about Mr. Obama, and Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, said she had been joking.
Mr. Conway had been a contender for the job of solicitor general for the Trump administration, but Mr. Trump announced this month that the job would go to Noel J. Francisco.
While there is a law against nepotism in government, it would not affect the Conways. It says that no public official can hire a family member — including one related by marriage — to serve in an agency or office over which he or she has authority. Ms. Conway would have no direct authority over her husband were he to be confirmed, nor would the reverse be true.
Oh goodie. The family that brought us “alternative facts” is going to be heading up the government’s campaigns to divorce us from reality in the defense of everything from the Muslim ban(s) to the Trump’s mountain of conflicts of interest:
So which alternative fact is going to be the alternative-fact-of-choice for George Conway when defending the inevitable Trump conflicts-of-interest lawsuits requires burying reality under a pile of alternative reality? That there’s no conflict of interest? That it’s complete legal even if there is a conflict of interest (sadly, that one isn’t as alternative as one might hope)?
How about “What’s good for General Motors Trump is good for America, so any Trumpian conflicts of interest are actually in American interests.” That’s the kind of alternative reality that could come in extremely handy. Handy for the lawsuits, but also justifying the Trump policy agenda in general.
You know how Donald Trump was all excited about how he found that legal loophole that means the President can’t have a conflict of interest. Yeah, it looks like Ivanka found a loophole of her own…along with a new office in the West Wing. And a security clearance. And while the White House is admitting that this new arrangement does nothing to absolve her the many inherent conflicts of interest that come with this new arrange, she totally promises not to abuse it. So it’s totally ok. Yep:
Ivanka Trump set to get West Wing office as role expands
The first daughter will not, however, become a government employee, raising ethics questions.
By Annie Karni
03/20/17 05:56 PM EDT
Ivanka Trump, who moved to Washington saying she would play no formal role in her father’s administration, is now officially setting up shop in the White House.
The powerful first daughter has secured her own office on the West Wing’s second floor — a space next to senior adviser Dina Powell, who was recently promoted to a position on the National Security Council. She is also in the process of obtaining a security clearance and is set to receive government-issued communications devices this week.
In everything but name, Trump is settling in as what appears to be a full-time staffer in her father’s administration, with a broad and growing portfolio — except she is not being sworn in, will hold no official position and is not pocketing a salary, her attorney said.
Trump’s role, according to her attorney Jamie Gorelick, will be to serve as the president’s “eyes and ears” while providing broad-ranging advice, not just limited to women’s empowerment issues. Last week, for instance, Trump raised eyebrows when she was seated next to Angela Merkel for the German chancellor’s first official visit to Trump’s White House.
As her role in the White House grows — a role that comes with no playbook — Trump plans to adhere to the same ethics and records retention rules that apply to government employees, Gorelick said, even though she is not technically an employee. But ethics watchdogs immediately questioned whether she is going far enough to eliminate conflicts of interest, especially because she will not be automatically subjected to certain ethics rules while serving as a de facto White House adviser.
“Having an adult child of the president who is actively engaged in the work of the administration is new ground,” Gorelick conceded in an interview on Monday. “Our view is that the conservative approach is for Ivanka to voluntarily comply with the rules that would apply if she were a government employee, even though she is not.” A spokeswoman for Ivanka Trump said her role was signed off on by the White House counsel’s office, and the conflict issues were “worked through” with the office of government ethics. A White House spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment about the unique arrangement.
People close to Ivanka Trump said that she sees nothing unusual about the arrangement — it’s simply how she has worked with her father for years, as a senior official at the Trump Organization and as Donald Trump’s partner on “The Apprentice.”
But in the White House, the unprecedented arrangement for a child of the president has raised new questions about potential conflicts of interest — and about why Ivanka Trump can’t simply join the administration as a government employee. Her husband, Jared Kushner, serves as an official senior adviser in the White House and was sworn in, but his hiring also raised questions of whether it violated anti-nepotism laws. The Justice Department ruled that those laws applied only to agency appointments.
Ivanka Trump still owns her eponymous fashion and jewelry brand, even though she stepped down from her position at the company ahead of her father’s inauguration. She is also publishing a book, “Women Who Work,” which is due out in May.
“I will continue to offer my father my candid advice and counsel, as I have for my entire life,” Trump said in a statement. “While there is no modern precedent for an adult child of the president, I will voluntarily follow all of the ethics rules placed on government employees.”
The arrangement, however, was greeted with more questions about what freedoms Trump was trying to preserve for herself — and why.
“They’re not saying she’s going to voluntarily subject herself to ethics rules to be nice,” said Norm Eisen, the former ethics czar in the Obama administration. “There’s recognition that they’re in very uncertain territory here. The better thing to do would be to concede she is subject to the rules. It would create some outside accountability, because if she can voluntarily subject herself to the rules, she can voluntarily un-subject herself to the rules.”
Under the new rules, Trump has divested her common stock, tech investments, investment funds — and they will all appear on Kushner’s 278 financial disclosure form, required by all Cabinet nominees. Bloomberg News reported on Monday afternoon that Trump and Kushner sold as much as $36.7 million in assets to comply with federal ethics rules, according to the Office of Government Ethics.
But when it comes to divesting from her business, however, Gorelick admitted there is no way to make it a conflict-free zone.
“The one thing I would like to be clear on: we don’t believe it eliminates conflicts in every way,” Gorelick said. “She has the conflicts that derive from the ownership of this brand. We’re trying to minimize those to the extent possible.”
Gorelick argued that the area is murky because outstanding contracts with third party vendors mean that Ivanka Trump cannot simply close her business — those vendors could continue using her brand. She also can’t sell the business, her attorney argued, because the buyer would have the right to license her name and potentially create other ethical issues.
Instead, Trump will be distancing herself, as much as possible, from the day-to-day operations of the Ivanka Trump brand and convey her interests to a trust.
The trust, Gorelick said, will be controlled by her brother-in-law, Josh Kushner, and her sister-in-law, Nicole Meyer, who will be prohibited from entering the brand into any agreements with foreign countries or agencies. Ivanka Trump has appointed Abigail Klem to serve as president of her company, overseeing the day-to-day operations, and prohibited the company from using her image to sell the brand. The first daughter, however, will retain veto power to kill any deals that would be “unacceptable from an ethics perspective.”
Gorelick, a former deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, will also serve as the outside ethics adviser to the trustees. The business will also be prohibited from using her image to market the brand.
Under the trust, her attorneys said, Ivanka Trump will receive only the information she needs for disclosure requirements and to facilitate compliance with conflict of interest and impartiality rules.
As for the money she will make from her book, Trump is planning to donate the royalties and net proceeds to charities that focus on women in the workforce, with the help of a donor-advised fund.
“Trump’s role, according to her attorney Jamie Gorelick, will be to serve as the president’s “eyes and ears” while providing broad-ranging advice, not just limited to women’s empowerment issues. Last week, for instance, Trump raised eyebrows when she was seated next to Angela Merkel for the German chancellor’s first official visit to Trump’s White House”
Looking like a clan of sleazy kleptocrats is apparently worth it so Ivanka can be the “eyes and ears” from her dad. And now any government or private lobbyist who wants to influence Donald Trump officially knows that Ivanka can not only potentially relay the messages to her dad but also has the personal influence to potentially persuade her dad and can do so without violating ethics rules (apparently). And sure, it was obvious before this recent arrangement that Ivanka was a path to Trump. It just wasn’t obvious if going through Ivanka to lobby Trump would put Ivanka in some sort of conflict of interest situation. Well, that’s all cleared up now, isn’t it?
Check out the new Trumpian innovation on the classic “shakedown”. As one might expect, Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant campaign rhetoric had a lot of foreigners interested in immigrating to the US concerned that the doors would be shutting soon if he came to power. And this included wealthy foreigners who would be able to access the existing US policies that essentially allow someone to buy citizenship to the US in exchange for large investments in the US (it’s suppose to create jobs). Well, as the saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens. But in this case it’s the threat of that immigration door closing that’s opening up a whole new door of opportunity. Specifically, an opportunity for the Kushner clan to make rather shady sales pitch to potential investors: if you invest in the Kushner family projects, you’re totally going to be guaranteed the right to purchase US citizenship. And who knows when Trump is going to suddenly reverse that immigration loophole so you better act [invest in Kushner clan projects] soon!:
In a Beijing ballroom, Kushner family pushes $500,000 ‘investor visa’ to wealthy Chinese
By Emily Rauhala and William Wan
BEIJING — The Kushner family came to the United States as refugees, worked hard and made it big — and if you invest in Kushner properties, so can you.
That was the message delivered Saturday by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner’s sister Nicole Kushner Meyer to a ballroom full of wealthy Chinese investors in Beijing.
Over several hours of slide shows and presentations, representatives from the Kushner family business urged Chinese citizens gathered at a Ritz-Carlton hotel to consider investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in a New Jersey luxury apartment complex that would help them secure what’s known as an investor visa.
The potential investors were advised to invest sooner rather than later in case visa rules change under the Trump administration. “Invest early, and you will invest under the old rules,” one speaker said.
The tagline on a brochure for the event: “Invest $500,000 and immigrate to the United States.”
And the highlight of the afternoon was Meyer, a principal for the company, who was introduced in promotional materials as Jared’s sister.
The event underscores the extent to which Kushner’s private business interests have the potential to collide with his powerful role as a top official in his father-in-law’s White House, particularly when it comes to China, where Kushner has become a crucial diplomatic channel between Beijing and the new administration.
While Kushner has reported divesting from elements of the family business, including the specific project that his sister pitched in Beijing, the session Saturday demonstrated that the company is perceived as enjoying close ties to the Trump administration. Ethics laws prohibit government officials from profiting personally from their public-sector work.
Watchdogs and ethics experts on Saturday criticized the Beijing event as an attempt to cash in on Kushner’s newfound proximity to power.
“It’s incredibly stupid and highly inappropriate,” said Richard Painter, the former chief White House ethics lawyer in President George W. Bush’s administration, who has become a vocal critic of the Trump administration. “They clearly imply that the Kushners are going to make sure you get your visa. … They’re [Chinese applicants] not going to take a chance. Of course they’re going to want to invest.”
Among the wealthy elites in China, family, business and politics are all deeply intertwined. Every branch of the Communist Party, every province and city often operate as a fiefdom for those in power, allowing leaders special, lucrative access to policy, land and government contracts. There is even a name for second-generation sons and daughters of wealthy business executives and government officials — such as Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner — who have access to power through family ties. They are called “fuerdai.”
The EB-5 immigrant investor visa program that Meyer discussed Saturday allows rich foreign investors who are willing to plunk down large investments in U.S. projects that create jobs to apply to immigrate to the United States.
Bloomberg News reported in March 2016 that the program has been used to the benefit both the Trump and Kushner family businesses. Before joining the White House, as chief executive of his family’s real estate company, Jared Kushner raised $50 million from Chinese EB-5 applicants for a Trump-branded apartment building in Jersey City, according to the report.
Blake Roberts, an attorney at the WilmerHale law firm who serves as Kushner’s personal counsel, said: “Mr. Kushner divested his interests in the One Journal Square project by selling them to a family trust that he is not a beneficiary of, a mechanism suggested by the Office of Government Ethics. As previously stated, he will recuse from particular matters concerning the EB-5 visa program.”
The EB-5 program has been criticized by members of Congress from both parties who have said the program in essence sells visas to the wealthiest foreigners.
The program has been extremely popular among rich Chinese, who call it the “golden visa” and are eager to get their families — and their wealth — out of the country. The fact that some use it to move their money out illegally, however, has made the program unpopular with the Chinese authorities.
The program was launched with the goal of securing investment and creating jobs. But instead, in recent years, many real estate developers have used the program as a source of cheap financing by using foreign investors, especially from China, for flashy projects in Manhattan and other city centers.
A Government Accountability Office repor in 2015 found the EB-5 program carried a high risk of fraud, was rife with counterfeit documentation and had “no reliable method to verify the source of the funds of petitioners.”
Since Donald Trump became president, rumors have circulated among the wealthy of the world about the future of the EB-5 program, given Trump’s repeated vows to crack down on immigration and the increased congressional scrutiny of EB-5s. That has sent many high-rolling foreigners flocking to apply.
The program, however, is especially popular in China, with estimates in recent years showing that more than 80 percent of EB-5 visas were issued to Chinese investors.
Saturday’s event in Beijing was hosted by the Chinese company Qiaowai, which connects U.S. companies with Chinese investors. Qiaowai is working with the Kushner company to secure funding for Kushner 1, the New Jersey project presented to investors, also known as One Journal Square. Promotional materials tout the buildings’ proximity to Manhattan and note that the project will create more than 6,000 jobs.
“This project has stable funding, creates sufficient jobs and guarantees the safety of investors’ money,” one description reads.
Although there was no visible reference to Trump, the materials noted the Kushner family’s “celebrity” status.
Kushner’s personal financial disclosure form reflects that he divested his interest in K One Journal Square LLC. The form described the asset as undeveloped real estate in Jersey City. Because the asset was already divested, Kushner’s filing does not reflect its estimated value. But he did report between $1 million and $5 million in income connected to the project.
At Saturday’s event, attendee Wang Yun, a Chinese investor, said the Kushner family’s ties to Trump were an obvious part of the project’s appeal.
“Even though this is the project of the son-in-law’s family, of course it is still affiliated,” Wang said.
Wang reasoned that the link to Trump would be a boon if the presidency goes well but could be disastrous if it does not: “We heard that there are rumors that he is the most likely to be impeached president in American history. That’s why I doubt this project.”
Many of the people who attended the event declined to be interviewed, citing privacy concerns, or were blocked by organizers from speaking to the news media.
Although the event was publicly advertised in Beijing, the hosts were exceptionally anxious about the presence of reporters.
Journalists were initially seated at the back of the ballroom, but as the presentations got underway, a public-relations representative asked The Washington Post to leave, saying the presence of foreign reporters threatened the “stability” of the event.
At one point, organizers grabbed a reporter’s phone and backpack to try to force that person to leave. Later, as investors started leaving the ballroom, organizers physically surrounded attendees to prevent them from giving interviews.
Asked why reporters were asked to leave, a PR person who declined to identify herself said simply, “This is not the story we want.”
It looks like we can add “selling American citizenship for private profits” to the list of Donald Trump’s conflicts of interest. Of course, we can remove it from the list if Trump does actually reverse the “EB-5” citizenship program that makes this possible. But given all the money the Trump/Kushner clans can make, why would Trump reverse the EB-5 program? It’s part of what makes the shakedown technique so interesting with respect to Trump’s nativist base: As long as wealthy foreigners take the Kushners up on their “do this soon before the policy is reversed!” offer, there’s no incentive for Trump to reverse the policy and restrict immigration which make it one form of corruption Trump’s base might actually care about:
The clock is ticking! That’s the message from the Kushners to wealthy Chinese investors and it appears to be a message they’re taking seriously. And as long as they keep taking the threat seriously that clock is likely going to continue ticking. Money winds the clock.
And while we only have reports of solicitations like this to Chinese investors, as Josh Marshall notes below, perhaps the biggest angle if this entire story is that we can be pretty damn sure that the Trump/Kushner clans are well aware that the clock is ticking on their giant opportunity to make as much money from the Trump presidency as possible and therefore, while we only have reports about sales pitches like this going on in China, it’s undoubtedly the tip of the iceberg:
A Few Thoughts on the Trump/Kushner Families’ Presidency Cash Bust Out
Published May 8, 2017 10:26 am
You’ve probably heard that the Kushner family was caught over the weekend literally selling visas to immigrate to the United States in exchange for funding a $150 million dollar New Jersey real estate project. The sale itself is actually legal. It’s part of a highly controversial and widely abused program which provides visas to foreign nationals in exchange for $500,000 investments in US projects which by certain standards are judged to create jobs in impoverished or economically distressed parts of the United States. It’s become a widely abused vehicle for real estate developers looking to fund luxury development projects.
Setting that controversy aside, what sets this apart of course is that Jared Kushner is the most senior advisor to the President of the United States, as well as being the President’s son-in-law. While nominally stepping aside from his family business, his family is in China openly trading on the Kushner family’s ties to President Trump to rake up money. As much and as quickly as possible. Kushner’s sister Nicole actually led the presentation. Reporters from the Times and the Post were on hand at the presentation in Beijing (where they were able to get in) and at a second in Shanghai (where they weren’t.)
Trump – as well as the Kushner family’s connection to him – was explicitly invoked as the “key decision maker” in getting the visas. A Times reporter posted this picture of the presentation to Twitter, which I’ve marked up to identify the people in the slide …
[see amusingly annotated pic]
This is needless to say, the most open and flagrant kind of monetizing of the Presidency – as bad as anyone could have imagined from the conjoined Trump/Kushner families. The fact that this ‘nationalist’, ‘crack down on illegal immigration’ White House is connected to cash for visas activities like this just adds a layer of oily crust to the corruption.
The most important part of this story, however, is what’s not stated. The Post and the Times caught wind of this event and sent reporters. Do we think this is the only case of the Trump and Kushner families doing this? I think we can fairly assume that the effort to cash in is underway and in overdrive in numerous countries around the world and in every way possible. We see hints and shreds of evidence popping up – Ivanka Trump securing numerous trademarks for her company in China. Even more revealing, many of the hints emerge first in the foreign press or by chance in indiscreet bragging on social media. This tells us that the US press is hard pressed to monitor it – understandably, it’s a large world! With zero disclosure, private meetings and a whole world to rake money, inevitably most of it is taking place outside of our view.
Yes, it seems like a safe bet that the Trump/Kushner clans’ efforts to cash in is underway and in overdrive in numerous countries around the world and in every way possible. A very safe bet. And that leads us to another interesting twist in this Trumpian ‘bust out’: As we saw one potential Chinese investor remark in the above article, investing in a Trump family project is clearly appealing as long as Trump has a successful presidency. But if it gets impeached or is otherwise a disaster? Well, those investments might be so tempting anymore:
“We heard that there are rumors that he is the most likely to be impeached president in American history. That’s why I doubt this project.”
So as we can see, when Donald Trump straight up asserted that presidents can’t have a conflict of interest and the “foreign emoluments clause” of the constitution doesn’t apply to him, he wasn’t simply protecting himself from potential impeachment while sending an “I’m open for business” signal to the world. He was also sending another important signal: “I’m open for business, and my openness for business isn’t going to be bad for your business when you invest in my business.” Impeachment closes a lot of doors of business opportunity when the primary product you’re selling is an open door to power.
Posted by Pterrafractyl | May 8, 2017, 7:28 pm
The disastrous and cruel federal cleanup effort (or lack of effort) in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria appears to have experienced a new disaster. Or, at least, there are “significant concerns” about a possibly disastrous contract signed to restore electricity to the island after almost all power was knocked out and remains knocked out a month later.
What’s the new possible disaster? Well, unlike the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina, which was largely blamed on a lack of action by FEMA under the George W. Bush administration, the significant concerns about the disaster response this time are actually being expressed by FEMA…and a whole lot of other people: So it turns out that the $300 million contract to restore Puerto Rico’s electrical grid was awarded an obscure Montana-based utility company, Whitefish Energy, that just so happens to be owned by a number of big Trump donors and just so happens to be based in Whitefish, Montana, the home town of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
Also, Whitefish energy is a two year old company that had two employees before getting the contract. So it’s basically a middle-man that appears to server no purpose other than to skim profits from this massive rebuilding operation and this egregious contract is for one of the most important elements of the rebuilding effort: electricity. Hence the concern from FEMA and basically anyone else who has heard about this contract and isn’t pro-corruption:
FEMA Has ‘Significant Concerns’ About $300 Million Deal With Utility Company
By Nicole Lafond
Published October 27, 2017 10:40 am
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is looking into how a contract between Puerto Rico and a tiny power company — whose CEO and partner are friendly with the Trump administration — was procured, according to a statement.
A small utility company in Montana signed a $300 million contract with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) to restore electricity to the U.S. territory. The deal raised eyebrows after the Weather Channel reported that the company, Whitefish Energy Holdings, is reportedly financed by major donors to President Donald Trump and has ties to the Trump administration.
In its statement Friday, FEMA clarified that it was not involved in hiring the company to restore power to the island and hasn’t provided any reimbursement to the PREPA yet for its contract with Whitefish.
“Based on initial review and information from PREPA, FEMA has significant concerns about how PREPA procured this contract and has not confirmed whether the contract prices are reasonable,” the statement said. “FEMA is presently engaged with PREPA and its legal counsel to obtain information about the contract and contracting process, including how the contract was procured and how PREPA determined the contract prices were reasonable.”
Whitefish Energy is based in Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke’s hometown, and Zinke is friendly with the company’s CEO. A partner at Whitefish was also a major Republican donor. He gave a total of $74,000 to various Trump groups and another $30,700 to the Republican National Committee, the Daily Beast reported.
Both the governor of Puerto Rico and the mayor of the U.S. territory’s capitol city have spoken out about the contract, with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz calling for an investigation into the contract, sparking a Twitter war with the company, which later apologized for its comments.
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello on Wednesday asked the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general to conduct a review of the contract procurement and told ABC News there would be “hell to pay” if any corruption is uncovered in the audit.
Just two years old, Whitefish only had two full-time employees before being awarded the contract, ABC News reported.
FEMA statement on Whitefish Energy: "FEMA has significant concerns with how PREPA procured this contract" pic.twitter.com/rMHkzDxqKS— NBC News (@NBCNews) October 27, 2017
“FEMA Has ‘Significant Concerns’ About $300 Million Deal With Utility Company” by Nicole Lafond; Talking Points Memo; 10/27/2017
Whitefish just happens to be the Interior Secretary Zinke’s home time, the CEO is friendly with Zinke, and is also a major GOP donor. And it had just two employees before getting the contract and had only existed for two years:
Oh what a coincidence.
It’s also worth noting that white nationalist White House advisor Stephen Miller also calls Whitefish his home town, which might actually be a coincidence although it probably didn’t hurt the deal’s chance.
Given all that, there’s bound to be some sort of audit of Whitefish Energy’s contract. So what might auditors find? Fortunately we already know because a copy of the deal was obtained by a reported. And, lo and behold, the contract prohibits the government from reviewing labor costs or profits related to the company’s relief efforts. Yep, a no-audit rule is what the auditors are going to find:
Whitefish Energy contract bars government from auditing deal
By John Bowden – 10/27/17 08:48 AM EDT
A deal reached between the government and a small Montana energy company located in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s hometown prohibits the government from reviewing labor costs or profits related to the company’s relief efforts in Puerto Rico, according to a leaked copy of the contract.
A copy of the deal obtained by reporter Ken Klippenstein reveals that the government isn’t allowed to “audit or review the cost and profit elements” under the agreement, allowing the company greater discretion and secrecy for how it spends the $300 million to restore power to the island. Puerto Rico is rebuilding after two major hurricanes wiped out most of the island’s electrical grid.
Whitefish contract states, "In no event shall [government bodies] have the right to audit or review the cost and profit elements." Wow. pic.twitter.com/dIyQXb6AK0— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) October 27, 2017
Whitefish signed the deal with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), which also prohibits the government from making “any claim against Contractor related to delayed completion of work.”
Incredible: Whitefish contract states Puerto Rican govt "waives any claim against Contractor related to delayed completion of work." pic.twitter.com/k4wWxrLFq2— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) October 27, 2017
Whitefish has been the target of heavy criticism over questions as to why the small company, which only had two full-time employees when the storm struck, was selected for such a lucrative government contract to help clean up the island.
Two House committees and a federal watchdog have all opened investigations into the deal. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz has called for the deal to be voided and investigated after representatives for the company feuded with her on Twitter and asked her if she wanted them to stop working.
“We’ve got 44 linemen rebuilding power lines in your city & 40 more men just arrived. Do you want us to send them back or keep working?” Whitefish Energy tweeted to the mayor Wednesday.
“They are threatening not to do their job which frankly is quite irregular for a company hired to the work for the public sector,” she tweeted in response.
“The contract should be voided right away and a proper process which is clear, transparent, legal, moral and ethical should take place,” Cruz added in comments to Yahoo News.
Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee have also raised questions about the scope of the deal.
“The size and terms of the contract, as well as the circumstances surrounding the contract’s formation, raise questions regarding PREPA’s standard contract awarding procedures,” Reps. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) wrote Thursday.
Whitefish said Thursday that it welcomes the investigations.
“Whitefish Energy contract bars government from auditing deal” by John Bowden; The Hill; 10/27/2017
You have to love that: Whitefish said it welcomes investigations into the contract that systematically blocked audits. They clearly have nothing to hide.
And you also have to love this provision: the government can’t do anything if the work isn’t done on time:
Well, given the “no-audit” rule, a rule seemingly designed to make sure Whitefish can make as much profit as possible, it does seem pretty reasonable to assume that there’s going to be delays. So it makes sense to include a provision that prohibits the government from making “any claim against Contractor related to delayed completion of work.” At least, it makes sense if you’re a horribly corrupt person who is actively planning on keeping a devastated island in the dark for as long as possible to make as much money as possible.
So what has Interior Secretary Zinke said about this? Pretty much what you would expect: that he had nothing to do with the awarding of this contract and that “attempts by the dishonest media or political operatives to tie me to awarding or influencing any contract” are “completely baseless”. In other words, this is all a massive coincidence according to Zinke.
And while it is technically true that Puerto Rico’s public utility is the entity that made the actual decision to hire Whitefish – they say that Whitefish’s lack of a demand for a downpayment helped them get the deal because the utility is current bankrupt – it’s also basically a slap in the face of all the people who voted for “Draining the swamp” to act like the company’s ties to Zink and the GOP wouldn’t have influenced this decision. That’s how ‘The Swamp’ works. But that’s the story – that this is all a coincidence and Whitefish got the contract on the merits of its bid – and we’re all expected to believe it.
#DrainTheSwamp
Posted by Pterrafractyl | October 27, 2017, 3:08 pm
Check out President Trump’s latest shiny object he’s decided to start playing with in public: threatening (once again) to change the libel laws to make it easier for him to sue news outlets over negative coverage:
Trump puts federal libel law on 2018 agenda, escalating complaints against media
Gregory Korte and David Jackson,
Published 1:04 p.m. ET Jan. 10, 2018 | Updated 5:06 p.m. ET Jan. 10, 2018
WASHINGTON — President Trump renewed his call for a federal libel law on Wednesday, saying people who are subject to false and defamatory accusations should have “meaningful recourse” in federal courts.
“Our current libel laws are a sham and a disgrace, and do not represent American values or American fairness,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, saying the issue was on his administration’s 2018 agenda. “You can’t say things that are false — knowingly false — and be able to smile as money pours into your bank account. We’re going to take a very, very strong look at that. And I think what the American people want to see is fairness.”
It’s not a new proposal for the president, who threatened to “open up our libel laws’’ during his campaign for president as he pushed back against unfavorable stories. This time, the proposal comes a week after the publication of a tell-all book about the White House that portrayed Trump in unflattering terms.
Trump’s private lawyers have threatened lawsuits, sending cease-and-desist letters to the book’s author and publisher — and to former White House strategist Steve Bannon, who cooperated with author Michael Wolff, who was previously a columnist for USA TODAY.
In the United States, libel and defamation are largely governed by state law, but within the restrictions of the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that public figures — like the president — must clear a high hurdle in order to prove defamation.
At the cabinet meeting Wednesday, Trump also complained about television news coverage of his negotiations with members of Congress on Wednesday. He claimed that network news anchors were complimentary of his handling of the meeting — even sending Trump letters telling him so — before network bosses weighed in.
“Trump puts federal libel law on 2018 agenda, escalating complaints against media” by Gregory Korte and David Jackson; USA Today; 01/10/2018
“We’re going to take a very, very strong look at that.” That was Trump’s very, very confused look at the topic of changing libel laws. And it was far from his first look at this topic so you would think that someone would have informed him at this ponteding that libel and defamation are largely governed by state law:
But that doesn’t mean the libels laws can’t be changed. It just means that Trump himself can’t do it. He either needs the Supreme Court to do it by reinterpreting the First Amendment of the Constitution, or he needs all the states to get together and do it with a Constitutional amendment:
Can Libel Laws Be Changed Under Trump?
By SYDNEY EMBER
When Donald J. Trump said in February that he would “open up our libel laws” if he became president to make it easier to sue news organizations for unfavorable coverage, the declaration sent shock waves through the media world.
But could he actually do it?
The simple answer is yes, but it would be complicated. And assuming the established procedures to change laws hold, it would also be extremely difficult.
Libel is a matter of state law limited by the principles of the First Amendment. Presidents cannot directly change state laws, so Mr. Trump would effectively have to seek to change the First Amendment principles that constrain the country’s libel laws. There are two potential ways he could do this, according to legal experts. One route is through the Supreme Court. The other is through the Constitution itself.
The Supreme Court established the First Amendment principles that govern the country’s libel laws in 1964, with its unanimous decision in New York Times v. Sullivan. In that ruling, the court said that public officials had to prove that false statements were made with “actual malice,” meaning news organizations had to have knowingly published a falsehood or published it with “reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”
The standard, later extended to include public figures, set a high bar for libel and meant that people like Mr. Trump — both a public figure and soon-to-be public official — would have a very, very difficult time winning a libel lawsuit.
If Mr. Trump were to seek to change the libel laws, he would have to get the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling in Times v. Sullivan and subsequent cases built on it, or at least chip away at either the definition of “actual malice” or the characterization of a public official or public figure, said Sandra S. Baron, a senior fellow at Yale Law School’s Information Society Project and former executive director of the Media Law Resource Center.
“A change in those laws would require the Supreme Court of the United States taking a new look at what it previously decided and making changes,” Ms. Baron said. “I think there’s very little, quite candidly, he could do short of getting the Supreme Court to overrule New York Times v. Sullivan.”
The Supreme Court could overturn the ruling, but it would not be easy. For one thing, libel and the protection of free speech are not, by nature, liberal versus conservative issues. Even if Mr. Trump appoints a conservative justice (or two) who support modifying First Amendment principles, these justices would not necessarily find themselves in the majority.
The conservative chief justice William H. Rehnquist, for instance, wrote the decision in a case in 1988 that extended rules protecting criticism of public figures as free speech. In the case, the Supreme Court overturned an award in favor of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, a well-known preacher, who had sued Hustler magazine over a parody ad that portrayed him as having taken part in a drunken tryst with his mother.
Short of overturning Times v. Sullivan completely, the Supreme Court could roll back related decisions. The court, however, has not shown much interest in libel law in a long time, legal experts say.
“There has been no active effort by the conservative wing of the Supreme Court to overturn the principles of New York Times v. Sullivan,” Ms. Baron said. “The court has not taken a libel case in a very long time, and there did not appear to be a majority of the court, and that includes the conservatives, who were actively seeking to overturn the principles of New York Times v. Sullivan.”
Mr. Trump could also try to change libel laws by seeking to amend the Constitution itself. Altering the Constitution, which is rarely attempted, would be arduous, certainly, but not impossible.
“It’s hard to imagine that gaining a lot of traction,” Ms. Baron said. “But you know, we live in unpredictable times.”
Of course, Mr. Trump has been underestimated before, so it is possible that he could muster the support to change libel laws. But even if Mr. Trump were able to have Times v. Sullivan overturned, states, particularly those with a major media presence like New York and California, could effectively make the protection available as a matter of state law.
The question is whether Mr. Trump would benefit from changing libel laws. Filing a lawsuit would open him up to discovery, which could lay bare details he might rather keep private. It should be noted, however, that Mr. Trump has a history of filing libel lawsuits, though he has never won in public court, according to a recent report. (Even if the libel laws do not change, Mr. Trump could continue to threaten news organizations with lawsuits.)
There is also the possibility that loosening libel laws could affect him in unexpected ways.
“Changing the laws to make it easier to sue would essentially be used to harm him,” said George Freeman, the executive director of the Media Law Resource Center and a former assistant general counsel of The New York Times. “He’s more likely to be a libel defendant than a libel plaintiff.”
“Can Libel Laws Be Changed Under Trump?” by SYDNEY EMBER; The New York Times; 11/13/2016
Changing either the interpretation of the Constitution or the actual wording of the Constitution. That’s what would be required to protect Trump’s ego from negative words.
Are such herculean changes possible? Yes, it’s possible, just not very likely. Because even if Trump managed to appoint a bunch of new conservative justices, there’s no guarantee that they’ll be on board with Trump’s view on libel law :
And note that the one far-right Supreme Court Justice Trump has already appointed, Neil Gorsuch, doesn’t appear to share Trump’s views on libel.
So Trump would need like some sort of Supreme Court mass exodus at this point to pull this off from the courts. But even if the Supreme Court did reverse its earlier Times v. Sullivan ruling, that would still leave it to the states to decide the issue. And it’s hard to imagine states like California and New York suddenly adopting a Trumpian view on these matters:
That just leaves changing the constitution itself. And it would have to be a change that prevents states from having a say in the matter:
Yeah, it is indeed pretty hard to imagine a request by Trump to change the constitution to amend the First Amendment to make it harder to criticize him is going to gain a lot of traction.
But let’s not forget something rather important about any conversation about amending the US Constitution: radically amending the Constitution has been a far-right goal for years and they are steadily getting closer and closer to getting the chance to do exactly that:
We Are Now One State Closer to Having a Corporate-Dominated Constitutional Convention
With the addition of Wisconsin, right-wingers promoting a Constitutional Convention have 28 states; they only need six more.
By Steven Rosenfeld / AlterNet
November 9, 2017, 11:28 AM GMT
While Democrats on Wednesday were feeling encouraged and empowered by Tuesday’s coast-to-coast rejection of Trumpism, Republican legislators who control Wisconsin did what the GOP does best in elections: voted to rig the system to favor their agenda. Only this time the target wasn’t voter suppression; it was the U.S. Constitution.
On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Legislature voted to call for what’s known as an Article V constitutional convention, becoming the 28th state to do so in recent years. Thirty-four states are needed, according to the nation’s founding document, to launch a process that would open up the foundation of American’s rights and laws to revision.
“Sadly, this is not fake news,” said Common Cause president Karen Hobert Flynn. “The specter of an Article V convention to rewrite the Constitution remains one of the most alarming threats to our democracy that nobody has ever heard of before.”
“The deep-pocketed special interest groups behind this effort to call a convention are not likely to stop with a single amendment when there are no rules to prevent opening up the Constitution to a full rewrite in a runaway convention,” Flynn explained. “The effort to call the convention is funded by wealthy special interest groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council that have long pushed for a broad legislative agenda in the states, and it is hard to imagine then not foisting that agenda on the Constitution itself through unelected and unaccountable delegates to the convention.”
Revising the U.S. Constitution is not the only big idea that has surfaced following 2017’s Election Day. On Wednesday morning, the New York Times endorsed the national popular vote compact, where states agree to award all of their Electoral College votes for the next president to whoever wins the national popular vote. (In 2016, that was Hillary Clinton, by nearly 3 million votes. So far, 10 states and the District of Columbia have signed on, pledging 165 of the 270 Electoral College votes needed.)
Harvard Law professor Larry Lessig, who dubiously called for an Article V convention a half-dozen years ago to reform the nation’s campaign finance system, has another big idea that would shake up the electoral process in unpredictable ways. His non-profit, EqualCitizens.US, has sued to reallocate Electoral College votes by congressional district instead of the current winner-take-all system that exists in 48 states. (Maine and Nebraska split up their Electoral College votes.)
But an Article V convention is closer to reality than either the national popular vote or Lessig’s Electoral College reshuffling (even though two states, Minnesota and Virginia, saw lawmakers introduce 2017 legislation to reapportion these votes; both stalled). In the past three years, 12 red-run states have called for an Article V convention (Georgia, Alaska, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arizona, North Dakota, Texas and Missouri). Meanwhile, four blue states (Delaware, New Mexico, Maryland and Nevada) that previously voted for a convention, under the assumption it would only be concerned with balancing the federal budget, rescinded that earlier vote because of fears a convention would become a runaway train.
These offensive moves by the right and defensive moves by the left show the prospect of an Article V convention is not just another fanciful idea, but is moving closer to something the nation may eventually face. Before 2017’s Election Day, the next six states targeted by proponents were Kentucky, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, South Carolina and Virginia, according to Common Cause’s background memo. Virginia’s election of a Democratic governor, and the partisan majority of its lower House of Delegates still unknown (due to ballots that are still being counted), dampens the nearer-term possibility of reaching 34 states.
But no one should underestimate the Republicans. The GOP, more so than Democrats, have kept their eyes on longer-term political prizes. They did that with partisan gerrymanders in 2011 to lock down red supermajority legislatures and U.S. House delegations. The Supreme Court is now reviewing a challenge to Wisconsin’s extreme gerrymander. It’s no coincidence that it voted Tuesday to call for a federal constitutional convention. (In New York State on Tuesday, voters rejected a call for a state convention to revise the state constitution, but approved a proposal to seize pensions from corrupt politicians.)
The rhetoric from those calling for a federal convention is simplistic, given the stakes, complexity and chaos of the consequences. From the mid-1970s until three or four years ago, the call for a convention was to rein in federal spending via a balanced budget amendment, said Jay Riekenberg, a campaign strategist at Common Cause. But today, proponents are talking about more sweeping reforms, which becomes an open-ended invitation to revise the Constitution to accommodate virtually every right-wing goal that cannot be adopted through state legislatures or Congress.
“The messaging change we are seeing coming out of the convention of states [the main advocacy group] is forcing the conservatives to talk differently about this,” Riekenberg said. “The convention of states folks talk about how simple this is; this is all about taking back power from Washington.”
“The conservative movement has basically made this a long-term strategy,” he continued. “They had a lot of momentum between 2011 and maybe Monday night. They need six states… Four are firmly in Republican hands.”
Virginia and in Minnesota are the likely near-term exceptions, where Democrats either gained power on Tuesday or may do so in 2018. But as far-fetched as an Article 5 convention sounds, the unknowns associated with it should prompt notice. It could be a runaway convention. It could be a bonanza for special interests. There are no certain convention rules laid out in the Constitution or a ratification process. There’s no guarantee participants would be representative of the electorate.
Republicans have done many things to rig the rules of elections this decade, from gerrymandering to a deep catalog of voter suppression tactics. While Democrats and Independents were voting Tuesday to reject Trumpism, the GOP in Wisconsin intentionally ignored the public and moved to rewrite the Constitution. Take heed.
“We Are Now One State Closer to Having a Corporate-Dominated Constitutional Convention” by Steven Rosenfeld; AlterNet; 11/09/2017
28 states down, 6 to go. That’s the status of the right-wing drive to open up the US Constitution to a “convention of the states”. A convention that could allow for ANY changes to the Constitution.
So would the people behind the convention of the states drive actually want a big change to the libel laws too? Well, ask yourself this: would the Koch brothers and other far-right oligarchs backing the American right-wing be interested in stronger libel laws? It seems like the answer is an obvious “YES!!!!! Of course they would!!!!” Well, those are the people backing this drive:
And note now active this drive is today. 12 GOP-run states have called for such a convention in the past three years alone:
And note how the backers for this are increasingly talking about “sweeping reforms”, which is EXACTLY the kind of situation where something like a libel law change could be snuck in without too much attention because it will just be one of many ‘sweeping reforms’ freaking everyone out. A massive Constitutional overhaul done by and for the billionaires running the GOP is a key element of the far-right’s long-term strategy for maintaining a grip on power, and it’s hard to imagine a few amendments that make it harder to say anything negative about the oligarchy isn’t part of the that strategy:
“The conservative movement has basically made this a long-term strategy…They had a lot of momentum between 2011 and maybe Monday night. They need six states… Four are firmly in Republican hands.”
28 down, 6 states to go, with 4 of those 6 states firmly in GOP hands. THAT’s the reality when it comes to assessing the feasibility of Trump’s libel law change, along with any other Constitutional change he might fancy.
So while Trump’s public rambling about changing the libel laws might be the latest shiny object he threw out there for us all to marvel at, it’s the kind of shiny object that could easily become one of the shiny bullets in a hail of bullets the right-wing is getting ready to fire at any of the Constitutional protections the American public has left. It’s a remind that Trump’s seemingly insane ramblings are sometimes relatively sane within the context of our utterly insane political context.
Posted by Pterrafractyl | January 10, 2018, 4:20 pm
Following the surprise announcement by Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy that he would be retiring next month, one of the immediately questions is what exactly motivated Justice Kennedy to make a move that basically becomes his legacy. Especially after he said his reason was to “spend more time with his family,” which is pretty much the default reason given in these situations when you don’t want to give the real reason. And if you’re a member of Supreme Court who voluntarily steps down when someone like Trump is president who is guaranteed to replace you with a far right ideologue, that becomes your legacy.
So what was it that motivated Anthony Kennedy to choose to hitch his legacy to Trump? Well, as the following article describes, it turns out the Trump family has been cozying up to Kennedy from the beginning of Trump administration and the Trump and Kennedy families actually have a history with each other. Specifically, it turns out that Anthony Kennedy’s son, Justin, spent over a decade at Deutsche Bank and eventually became Deutsche Bank ’s global head of real estate capital markets. And it was during Justin’s time at Deutsch Bank that the bank became the key lender for Trump after US banks started shunning him. Justin also reportedly worked closely with Trump on his real estate projects during his time at Deutsche Bank. That’s right, Anthony Kennedy’s son was basically Trump’s banker at Deutsche Bank:
Inside the White House’s Quiet Campaign to Create a Supreme Court Opening
By Adam Liptak and Maggie Haberman
WASHINGTON — President Trump singled him out for praise even while attacking other members of the Supreme Court. The White House nominated people close to him to important judicial posts. And members of the Trump family forged personal connections.
Their goal was to assure Justice Anthony M. Kennedy that his judicial legacy would be in good hands should he step down at the end of the court’s term that ended this week, as he was rumored to be considering. Allies of the White House were more blunt, warning the 81-year-old justice that time was of the essence. There was no telling, they said, what would happen if Democrats gained control of the Senate after the November elections and had the power to block the president’s choice as his successor.
There were no direct efforts to pressure or lobby Justice Kennedy to announce his resignation on Wednesday, and it was hardly the first time a president had done his best to create a court opening. “In the past half-century, presidents have repeatedly been dying to take advantage of timely vacancies,” said Laura Kalman, a historian at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
But in subtle and not so subtle ways, the White House waged a quiet campaign to ensure that Mr. Trump had a second opportunity in his administration’s first 18 months to fulfill one of his most important campaign promises to his conservative followers — that he would change the complexion and direction of the Supreme Court.
When Mr. Trump took office last year, he already had a Supreme Court vacancy to fill, the one created by the 2016 death of Justice Antonin Scalia. But Mr. Trump dearly wanted a second vacancy, one that could transform the court for a generation or more. So he used the first opening to help create the second one. He picked Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, who had served as a law clerk to Justice Kennedy, to fill Justice Scalia’s seat.
And when Justice Gorsuch took the judicial oath in April 2017 at a Rose Garden ceremony, Justice Kennedy administered it — after Mr. Trump first praised the older justice as “a great man of outstanding accomplishment.”
“Throughout his nearly 30 years on the Supreme Court,” Mr. Trump said, “Justice Kennedy has been praised by all for his dedicated and dignified service.”
That was an overstatement. Justice Kennedy is reviled by many of Mr. Trump’s supporters for voting to uphold access to abortion, limit the death penalty and expand gay rights. Conservatives have called for his impeachment. James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, once called Justice Kennedy “the most dangerous man in America.”
Mr. Trump himself said he wanted to appoint justices who would overrule Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion. Justice Kennedy has voted to reaffirm Roe’s core holding. And Mr. Trump has not hesitated to criticize far more conservative members of the Supreme Court, notably Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
“Justice Roberts turned out to be an absolute disaster, he turned out to be an absolute disaster because he gave us Obamacare,” Mr. Trump said in 2016, presumably referring to Chief Justice Roberts’s votes to sustain President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Then, after Justice Gorsuch’s nomination was announced, a White House official singled out two candidates for the next Supreme Court vacancy: Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and Judge Raymond M. Kethledge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati.
The two judges had something in common: They had both clerked for Justice Kennedy.
In the meantime, as the White House turned to stocking the lower courts, it did not overlook Justice Kennedy’s clerks. Mr. Trump nominated three of them to federal appeals courts: Judges Stephanos Bibas and Michael Scudder, both of whom have been confirmed, and Eric Murphy, the Ohio solicitor general, whom Mr. Trump nominated to the Sixth Circuit this month.
One person who knows both men remarked on the affinity between Mr. Trump and Justice Kennedy, which is not obvious at first glance. Justice Kennedy is bookish and abstract, while Mr. Trump is earthy and direct.
But they had a connection, one Mr. Trump was quick to note in the moments after his first address to Congress in February 2017. As he made his way out of the chamber, Mr. Trump paused to chat with the justice.
“Say hello to your boy,” Mr. Trump said. “Special guy.”
Mr. Trump was apparently referring to Justice Kennedy’s son, Justin. The younger Mr. Kennedy spent more than a decade at Deutsche Bank, eventually rising to become the bank’s global head of real estate capital markets, and he worked closely with Mr. Trump when he was a real estate developer, according to two people with knowledge of his role.
During Mr. Kennedy’s tenure, Deutsche Bank became Mr. Trump’s most important lender, dispensing well over $1 billion in loans to him for the renovation and construction of skyscrapers in New York and Chicago at a time other mainstream banks were wary of doing business with him because of his troubled business history.
About a week before the presidential address, Ivanka Trump had paid a visit to the Supreme Court as a guest of Justice Kennedy. The two had met at a lunch after the inauguration, and Ms. Trump brought along her daughter, Arabella Kushner. Occupying seats reserved for special guests, they saw the justices announce several decisions and hear an oral argument.
Ms. Trump tweeted about the visit and posted a photo. “Arabella & me at the Supreme Court today,” she wrote. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to teach her about the judicial system in our country firsthand.”
If the overtures to Justice Kennedy from the White House were subtle, the warnings from its allies were blunt. Last month, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, went on Hugh Hewitt’s radio program to issue an urgent plea..
“My message to any one of the nine Supreme Court justices,” he said, was, “‘If you’re thinking about quitting this year, do it yesterday.’”
Mr. Grassley said speed was of the essence in light of the midterm elections in November. “If we have a Democrat Senate,” he said, “you’re never going to get the kind of people that are strict constructionists.”
Intermediaries pressed the point with Justice Kennedy privately, telling him that Donald F. McGahn II, Mr. Trump’s White House counsel, would in all probability leave after the midterms. Mr. McGahn has been a key architect Mr. Trump’s successful efforts to appoint wave after wave of conservative judges, they said, and his absence would complicate a Supreme Court confirmation.
There is nothing particularly unusual in urging older justices to retire for partisan reasons. During the Obama administration, prominent liberals called for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to retire so that Mr. Obama could name her successor.
Justice Kennedy waited until the last day of the term to announce his retirement. The move disappointed liberals who had hoped that he would not want Mr. Trump to name his successor. But the justice, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family, betrayed no hesitation.
His departure is a triumph for Mr. Trump, who has taken particular satisfaction in his judicial appointments. Naming justices and judges is easier than forging legislative compromises, and Mr. Trump understands that his judicial appointments represent a legacy that will long outlast his presidency.
Replacing Justice Scalia with another conservative did not alter the basic ideological balance of the court. But replacing Justice Kennedy, who for decades held the decisive vote in many of the court’s closely divided cases, would give Mr. Trump the opportunity to move the court sharply to the right.
Justice Kennedy visited the White House on Wednesday to tell Mr. Trump of his retirement and to deliver a letter setting out the details. Its warm opening words — “My dear Mr. President” — acknowledged a cordial relationship between the two men, as well as the success of the White House’s strategy.
“Inside the White House’s Quiet Campaign to Create a Supreme Court Opening” by Adam Liptak and Maggie Haberman; The New York Times; 06/28/2018
Yep, convincing Justice Kennedy to step down has apparently been a Trump project from the very beginning of the Trump administration:
The lobbying even started before the Trump administration, with Ivanka Trump visiting the Supreme Court as a guest of Justice Kennedy a week before Trump’s inauguration:
The lobbying also included choosing people who had clerked for Justice Kennedy for federal court positions, as well as two of the people on Trump’s list of candidates to replace Kennedy on the Supreme Court:
But perhaps the most significant source of the Trump family’s influence with Justice Kennedy comes from the fact that Kennedy’s son, Justin Kennedy, was Trump’s banker at Deutsche Bank:
“Say hello to your boy…Special guy.”
Yeah, Justin Kennedy is indeed a “special guy”. He was apparently Trump’s banker, or at least “worked closely” with Trump. That’s ‘special’, in its own way.
But that’s not the only financial tie between Justin Kennedy and the Trump clan. After Kennedy left Deutsche Bank in 2009 he went on to become co-CEO LNR Property LLC. And it turns out that LNR Property saved Jared Kushner’s 666 Fifth Avenue property back in 2011:
The Kennedy, Kushner, and Trump Connection: A Curious Conversation and A Business Deal
by C’Zar Bernstein & Gabe Rusk
A few moments after his first address to Congress on February 28th, President Donald J. Trump left the podium and began to work the crowd as he left the House Chamber. The President made his way to the five members of the United States Supreme Court in attendance. Seated by seniority, Trump began with Justice Kagan on the right and eventually made his way to Justice Anthony Kennedy. A curious and concise conversation took place between the two. To the best of our abilities, here is a transcript of the conversation picked up on camera:
Kennedy: [Inaudible]
Trump: Very nice, thank you, and coming from you. And say hello to your boy. Special guy.
Kennedy: Your kids have been very nice to him.
Trump: Well, they love him and they love him in New York. He’s a great guy. (Pointing to Chief Justice Roberts) Good swearing-in. You’ve got a good guy.
[Link to video.. Readers can listen for themselves at 5:15 remaining]
Quickly after the twenty-second exchange was caught via CSPAN a few #appellatetwitter detectives began to speculate what relationships Kennedy’s children and Trump’s might have. Was this a “colloquial” back and forth or was there more of a history between the two families? This was not the first time that Justice Kennedy and the Trumps had interacted. Just last week at the invitation of Justice Kennedy, Donald Trump’s daughter and former businesswoman Ivanka Trump visited the High Court with her daughter to attend a Supreme Court argument. According to reports, Kennedy and Ivanka had met at the congressional lunch after the inauguration. Once again many in the community were intrigued at the gesture and speculated that the move might have an underlying meaning beyond mere kindness. Virtually everyone agreed that the latter was sure to be true. A simple answer to a simple question. Last night’s brief exchange between Kennedy and POTUS reignited those conversations. This time we discovered that there is more to the story: There may be a Kennedy, Kushner, and Trump business connection.
Justice Kennedy has two very successful sons in their own right, Gregory and Justin Kennedy. Gregory Kennedy, a Stanford Law graduate (a Stanford man like his father), was named CEO of Disruptive Technology Advisers in October of 2016. According to his LinkedIn page: Disruptive Technology Advisors is a “Los Angeles based merchant bank with an exclusive focus on mid to late stage growth companies.” While Gregory Kennedy is likely based out of New York City, at first glance, there is no public, professional, or personal connection between him or his company and any of the Trumps or their holdings. The same might not be said of his brother Justin.
Justin Kennedy, a graduate of UCLA and Stanford(again like his father), has spent his career in the world of banking, investment, and, interestingly, real estate. In particular, from 2010–2013 Justin Kennedy was the co-CEO of LNR Property LLC with Tobin Cobb. In the world of high-stakes NYC real estate it would be fairly improbable that the Trump or Kushner groups, monoliths in their own right, would not have mingled or done business with the LNR at some point in time. We were not surprised, therefore, to discover that there is a likely connection. Here’s what we know:
According the New York Times, in 2007 Kushner Companies purchased “an aluminum-clad office tower in Midtown Manhattan, for a record price of $1.8 billion.” At the time the NYT wrote that this deal was “considered a classic example of reckless underwriting. The transaction was so highly leveraged that the cash flow from rents amounted to only 65 percent of the debt service.” The Times continues:
“As many real estate specialists predicted, the deal ran into trouble. Instead of rising, rents declined as the recession took hold, and new leases were scarce. In 2010, the loan was transferred to a special servicer on the assumption that a default would occur once reserve funds being used to subsidize the shortfall were bled dry. But the story may yet have a happy ending for Kushner, a family-owned business that moved its headquarters from Florham Park, N.J., to 666 Fifth, its first major acquisition in Manhattan.”
Who came to the rescue? None other than LNR Property, the company whose CEO at the time was Justin Kennedy. According to the NYT and the Real Deal, Mr. Kushner and LNR “reached a possible agreement with LNR Property, a firm specializing in restructuring troubled debt and which oversees the mortgage, that would allow him to retain control of the tower by modifying the terms of the $1.2 billion mortgage tied to the office portion of the building.” A spokesman for Mr. Kushner told the Wall Street Journal in March of 2011 that “[t]he Kushner’s are ready and willing to invest more money into the property as soon as they can come to mutually satisfactory terms with the servicing agent.” In that same article Kushner’s father-in-law and the future President commented on the negotiations with Justin Kennedy’s company. Speaking about the deal, Trump told the WSJ that Kushner is “a very smart young man…I think it (loan renegotiations) will come out well for him and everybody.” At this point there is no doubt that there was a direct business relationship between LNR and Kushner Companies at the time Justin Kennedy and Jared Kushner were both CEO. Even the future President was aware of the deal and commented on its respective merits. (That being said, it is not impossible that Jared Kushner and Justin Kennedy did not meet in connection with the specific deal in question; however, given the stakes involved it does seem more than likely that the two CEO’s would have interacted as negotiations were being conducted.)
The connections between Kushner, Kennedy, and Trump do not end there. Coincidentally, in 2011, the year in which some of these negotiations took place, Justin Kennedy for the first time was ranked on the New York Observer’s 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate at #36. Donald Trump clocked in at #12. The New York Observer was owned at the time by none other than Jared Kushner himself.
All of this is to say there is a possible web of personal and professional relationships between the Trump family and the Kennedy family. To our knowledge, Justin Kennedy has never donated to the Trump campaign, but we know that he is often a loyal Republican donor like his brother Gregory. According to FEC disclosures, Justin Kennedy has donated generously to the presidential campaigns of John McCain, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, and Marco Rubio. Trump, to our knowledge, is noticeably absent. Despite the fact that we found no obvious public political support by Justin Kennedy for the President, there are questions left for us to answer. The Justices and their families are now often under strict public scrutiny in terms of how they might influence politics outside of the High Court. Just this month Justice Thomas’s wife Ginni Thomas faced backlash for apparent political organizing on behalf of the President. During the campaign, Justice Ginsburg’s fervent negative comments about then-candidate Trump were perceived as partisan and unacceptable by journalist, jurist, and politician alike. The actions of the Justices and their respective families remain important balancing tests for the public in terms of the relationship between the Court and the rest of government. What does this potential and curious connection mean for that conversation?
The ostensible relationship between Mr. Kushner and Mr. Kennedy would explain the exchange between President Trump and Justice Kennedy. It would, for example, explain why, in the words of the President, ‘they love him.’ It would also further explain why Justice Kennedy invited Ivanka Trump to the Supreme Court. After all, Justice Kennedy himself acknowledged that the President’s ‘kids have been very nice’ to his son. Obviously, therefore, there is some kind of friendly relationship. Questions abound. We know what the Justice’s son may have done for Mr. Kushner, but what did the President’s children do for Justin Kennedy? How have they been nice to him? Evidently Justice Kennedy knows, and this may have had an impact on his opinion of the Trumps in general and the President in particular. This is perhaps a significant cause of concern for those who hope that Justice Kennedy will try and hold out until after Trump is replaced by a Democrat. Time will tell.
“The Kennedy, Kushner, and Trump Connection: A Curious Conversation and A Business Deal” by C’Zar Bernstein & Gabe Rusk; Medium; 03/01/2017
Yep, not only was Justin Kennedy Trump’s lead banker at Deutsche Bank, but he went on to basically save Jared Kushner in 2011 when LNR property came to the rescue of Kushner’s troubled 666 Fifth Avenue property. And Justin Kennedy just happened to be CEO of LNR at the time:
And that is going to be Justice Kennedy’s ultimate legacy: bailing out the Trump clan. Or at least that should be his legacy since whatever good he did on the court is about to get wiped out by his replacement.
Posted by Pterrafractyl | June 29, 2018, 2:41 pm
This is one of those ‘birds of feather’ kinds of stories: It turns out Trump’s commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, might actually have a more scandalous history of grifting employees and business partners than President Trump. Maybe. That’s a tough competition. Still, whether or not Ross is bigger grifter than Trump, the fact that we even have to wonder is an indication that the US commerce secretary is a world class grifter:
New Details About Wilbur Ross’ Business Point To Pattern Of Grifting
Aug 7, 2018, 06:00am
A multimillion-dollar lawsuit has been quietly making its way through the New York State court system over the last three years, pitting a private equity manager named David Storper against his former boss: Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. The pair worked side by side for more than a decade, eventually at the firm, WL Ross & Co.—where, Storper later alleged, Ross stole his interests in a private equity fund, transferred them to himself, then tried to cover it up with bogus paperwork. Two weeks ago, just before the start of a trial with $4 million on the line, Ross and Storper agreed to a confidential settlement, whose existence has never been reported and whose terms remain secret.
It is difficult to imagine the possibility that a man like Ross, who Forbes estimates is worth some $700 million, might steal a few million from one of his business partners. Unless you have heard enough stories about Ross. Two former WL Ross colleagues remember the commerce secretary taking handfuls of Sweet’N Low packets from a nearby restaurant, so he didn’t have to go out and buy some for himself. One says workers at his house in the Hamptons used to call the office, claiming Ross had not paid them for their work. Another two people said Ross once pledged $1 million to a charity, then never paid. A commerce official called the tales “petty nonsense,” and added that Ross does not put sweetener in his coffee.
There are bigger allegations. Over several months, in speaking with 21 people who know Ross, Forbes uncovered a pattern: Many of those who worked directly with him claim that Ross wrongly siphoned or outright stole a few million here and a few million there, huge amounts for most but not necessarily for the commerce secretary. At least if you consider them individually. But all told, these allegations—which sparked lawsuits, reimbursements and an SEC fine—come to more than $120 million. If even half of the accusations are legitimate, the current United States secretary of commerce could rank among the biggest grifters in American history.
Not that he sees himself that way. “The SEC has never initiated any enforcement action against me,” Ross said in a statement, failing to mention the $2.3 million fine it levied against his firm in 2016. The commerce secretary also noted that one lawsuit against him got dismissed, without saying it is currently going through the appeals process. Ross confirmed settling two other cases, including the recent one against Storper, but declined to offer additional details.
Those who’ve done business with Ross generally tell a consistent story, of a man obsessed with money and untethered to facts. “He’ll push the edge of truthfulness and use whatever power he has to grab assets,” says New York financier Asher Edelman. One of Ross’ former colleagues is more direct: “He’s a pathological liar.”
Wilbur Ross figured out at some point that money, or the aura of it, translates into power. Forbes has previously documented how Ross seemingly lied to us, over many years, launching himself onto, and then higher on, our billionaire rankings, at one point even lying about an apparent multibillion-dollar transfer to family members to explain why his financial disclosure report showed fewer assets than he claimed. “What I don’t want,” Ross said, “is for people to suddenly think that I’ve lost a lot of money when it’s not true.”
From Ross’ vantage point, Trump offered the perfect exit. The future cabinet secretary’s private equity funds were underperforming—one on track to lose 26% of its initial value and another two dribbling out mediocre returns—and the accusations were starting to pile up. Roughly two months before the 2016 presidential election, the SEC announced WL Ross was paying a fine and refunding $11.9 million it allegedly skimmed from its investors, including interest. The scheme was complex. Like other private equity firms—including several that coughed up money to the SEC around the same time—WL Ross derived much of its revenue from management fees charged to its investors. With funds as large as $4.1 billion, management fees of 1.5% could alone bring in more than $60 million a year for Ross’ firm—serious money.
But WL Ross promised that it would give its investors something like a rebate. For example, when Ross and his colleagues got certain fees for working on deals, they were supposed to give at least 50% of that money back to investors. But, according to SEC investigators, the firm gave back less than it suggested it would and pocketed the difference, leading the feds to conclude Ross’ firm broke laws that prohibit defrauding and misleading clients. WL Ross paid the big settlement but never admitted guilt.
According to the feds, WL Ross charged some of those inappropriate fees in the years before the commerce secretary sold his firm to Invesco for $100 million up front and the possibility of another $275 million down the road. That meant that when Ross cashed out, he presumably did so at bigger valuation than he deserved. In a statement, Ross suggested that Invesco never clawed any of that money back. “The terms of the sale of my business in 2006 remain unchanged,” he said. Invesco declined to comment.
There is more to the story. According to five former WL Ross employees and investors, the firm was also charging its investors on money that it had lost. Here’s how it worked: If WL Ross made an investment of, say, $100 million that declined dramatically, in the final years of the fund the firm was supposed to charge management fees on the actual value of the investment, not the $100 million starting point. However, WL Ross allegedly continued collecting fees on the amount invested, taking more than it deserved. WL Ross was allegedly even charging fees on one investment that was essentially worthless. When approached about the discrepancy, Wilbur Ross initially insisted his firm was calculating the fees correctly, according to someone familiar with those discussions. “There are all sorts of fee issues,” says an investor, “but it was just the most egregious that I’ve seen.”
Ross also allegedly skimmed money by serving on corporate boards of his firm’s portfolio companies. Again, the rule was that a portion of the fees that WL Ross employees got for serving on such boards was essentially supposed to be handed back to investors as rebates. Instead, Ross’ firm did not give back enough, according to ex-colleagues. Ross “was like a kid in a candy store,” says one of his former employees. “He pilfered it.”
Ross is now attempting to distance himself from the management fee issues. “No regulatory agency has ever asserted such charges or any other charges against me and there is no basis for any such allegations,” he said in a statement.
Eight former employees and investors, however, said Ross presumably knew about the issues. And former WL Ross employees add that the costs were far greater than the $14.2 million announced by the Securities & Exchange Commission. A 2015 annual report for Invesco, WL Ross’ parent company, disclosed that the company had paid another $43 million over the last two years in reimbursements and regulatory expenses connected to its private equity business. Secretary Ross has largely avoided scrutiny around those payments because the report does not explicitly tie them to his former firm. Four former employees who worked there, however, told Forbes the $43 million was connected to WL Ross.
With the investors’ claims apparently behind him, Ross now faces a lineup of allegations from his former colleagues, who say he robbed them of money as well. Such accusations are nothing new for Ross. In 2005, former WL Ross vice chairman Peter Lusk sued the future commerce secretary for $20 million, ultimately alleging that he had tried to cut him out of his interests. The executives reached a settlement in 2007, which former WL Ross employees say cost roughly $10 million. Asked to comment on the suit, Ross responded, “The Lusk case ended with mutual confidentiality requirements.”
Three years ago, Storper launched what became a $4 million lawsuit against both his former employer, WL Ross, and former boss, the commerce secretary, alleging that Ross stole his interests. Attorneys for Ross admitted in court filings that one of his companies took Storper’s interest and reallocated part of it to the commerce secretary. But Ross’ lawyers also insisted all of that was allowed under internal agreements. “Simply put,” they wrote, “this lawsuit is a personal vendetta against Mr. Ross.” After a judge rejected attempts to prevent the case from going to trial, just days before the jury selections the two sides agreed to settle.
What makes it all more than a typical “he-said, she-said” dispute is the number of similar complaints against Ross. A third former WL Ross employee, Joseph Mullin, filed a $3.6 million lawsuit in December 2016, saying WL Ross funds “looted” his interests “for the personal benefit of Wilbur L. Ross, Jr.—and attempted to conceal their misconduct through opaque and misleading tax statements and disclosures.” A New York State court dismissed that case in February on technical grounds, saying Mullin, who left WL Ross in 2007, waited too long to file it. He is now appealing.
Storper and two other former high-ranking executives at WL Ross filed yet another lawsuit against the commerce secretary in November, alleging that he and his firm charged at least $48 million of improper fees, then pocketed the money. It was a slow siphoning rather than a one-time heist, according to the lawsuit. Private equity firms typically collect management fees—those 1.5% charges—only from their outside clients. But the lawsuit alleges that Ross and his firm seemingly charged current and former company executives as well. It would be like a restaurant owner telling his employees that they can eat for free—while taking the meal money out of their paychecks. In a statement to Forbes, Ross called the case “without merit.” He moved to dismiss it in February, but the suit remains active.
A look at old versions of WL Ross’ website reveal the magnitude of the turmoil. Of the top seven firm leaders listed on the 2006 website, none of them have the same roles today. Ross is now leading the commerce department, Wendy Teramoto serves as his chief of staff and Stephen Toy is the new co-head of WL Ross. Meanwhile, the majority—consisting of Storper, Mullin, David Wax and Pamela Wilson—are all actively waging legal battles against their former boss, Wilbur Ross.
In a presidential cabinet plagued by ethical problems, it can be easy to forget about Wilbur Ross. Most of the attention tends to center around obvious abuses, like Scott Pruitt getting a $43,000 sound-proof booth in his office or Tom Price wasting $341,000 on jet travel. But while Ross’ antics are more complicated, they involve far more money.
On November 1, 2017, Ross signed a sworn document, attesting that he had divested all the assets he promised he would. That was not true. The commerce secretary in fact still owned somewhere between $10 and $50 million worth of stock in WL Ross’ parent company, Invesco. Ross sold his shares a month later, banking at least $1.2 million more than he would have if he sold in May, when he initially promised to divest. By falsely claiming he gotten rid of the shares earlier, Ross also put himself in legal jeopardy, since it is a crime to lie to federal officials. Representatives for Ross, a sophisticated investor, claimed the commerce secretary did not lie but instead failed to realize he owned the shares.
Ross also said he did not know he had a $73,000 stake in a company named Air Lease, which he finally sold in June—more than a year after he promised he would. And he admitted to shorting stock of Sun Bancorp, saying he hoped to cancel out an interest he mistakenly thought he owned but in fact did not. “For any head of any private equity firm that I know of, including like [Carlyle’s David] Rubenstein or [Blackstone’s Stephen] Schwarzman—these guys know what they own. It’s their whole business. It’s their whole life,” says an investor in WL Ross’ funds, terming the commerce secretary’s explanation “ridiculous.”
A top official in the federal Office of Government Ethics scolded Ross in a letter last month, saying that his failure to divest corroded public trust. According to the letter, another ethics official searched Ross’ calendars to see if the commerce secretary broke the law by taking actions to benefit his personal holdings, finding no evidence that he had. One day later, however, Forbes revealed that Ross had previously dined, in the White House, with the CEO of a business in which the commerce secretary secretly held an interest. After the report, Senator John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, asked the inspector general of the Commerce Department to take a second look.
Thune is not the only senator making noise about Ross’ finances. In June, two senators and a congressman asked the Securities & Exchange Commission to launch an insider trading investigation of Ross, based on revelations that Ross shorted at least $100,000 in Putin-linked Navigator Holdings, soon after being told about a forthcoming exposé on his connection to the company. The minuscule scale—the trade seemingly bolstered Ross’ wallet by $3,000 to $10,000—makes the blunder that much more vexing.
Fourteen Democratic Congressmen have also called on the inspector general to investigate Ross’ potential conflicts of interest. After assuring senators during his confirmation hearing that he would be overly cautious on ethical matters, Ross spent the majority of his first year in office as a business partner to the Chinese government, while he negotiated U.S.-China trade relations. He also waited to get rid of a stake in a Cypriot bank reportedly tied up in the Robert Mueller investigation. And he took months to divest an interest in a foreign car parts manufacturer whose industry he is now investigating.
The central matter in all of Ross’ legal issues is his own credibility. “Lying on an ethics disclosure form, to Congressional and Senate committees, and falsely reporting compliance with an ethics plan, is neither ‘commonplace’ nor part of the accepted rough-and-tumble world of politics,” David Storper, Ross’ former right-hand man, argued in a court filing. “They are just lies.” Adds another onetime colleague: “This is a public servant who can’t tell the truth.”
“New Details About Wilbur Ross’ Business Point To Pattern Of Grifting” by Dan Alexander; Forbes; 08/07/2018
Yes, it’s difficult to imagine the possibility that a man as wealthy as Wilbur Ross would be accused by so many people of scamming them. Unless you’ve heard enough stories about Ross. Or Donald Trump. Or any of the other wealthy grifters associated with with Trump administration who seem to lack the ability to not try to extract as much wealth was possible from everyone around them at every opportunity (Tom Price, Scott Pruitt, etc). After you’ve heard the many other stories about this administration’s grifters, the story of Wilbur Ross becomes not just believable but to be expected at this point.
Although, even by Trump team standards, the story of Ross is a doozy:
There’s the accusations by David Storper, a private equity manager who used to work for Ross, that Ross stole Storper’s interest in the private equity fund for himself. An accusation that was quietly settle with a confidentiality settlement a couple of weeks ago. and that was just one of the many accusations discovered by Forbes that puts the total grift at somewhere around $120 million:
Forbes also discovered that the many people they interviewed who have worked with Ross consider him to be a a man obsessed with money and with only a loose relationship to facts. This is both totally unsurprising given the array of accusations against him, and thematically appropriate given who Ross currently works for:
But in addition to scamming his co-workers, there’s also all the investors he apparently scammed. In fact, it was just two months before Trump’s election that Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that Ross’s company, WL Ross, had to pay a fine and refund $11.9 million it allegedly skimmed from investors. And because some of this scamming happened before Ross sold his firm to Invesco and the scamming made WL Ross look more profitable than it actually was, this scam of the WL Ross investors doubled as a scam against Invesco. It’s productivity from the grifter perspective:
Beyond that, WL Ross was apparently charging its investors on money that it lost due to bad investments:
Then Ross neglected to refund the portion of his management fees that he was supposed to give back to investors from the money he earned while serving on the corporate boards of WL Ross’s portfolio companies:
And then there’s the rest of the allegations by his former colleagues: There’s former WL Ross vice chairman Peter Lusk who sued Ross after alleging Ross tried to cut him out of his interests in addition to the lawsuit by Storper who also alleges Ross stole his interests:
And those are just two of the many former colleagues waging legal battles against Ross:
Oh, and then there’s all the grifting he did after become commerce secretary. Like promising he was divest assets and not doing it:
And then there’s the fact that Ross remained a business partner of the Chinese government while he negotiated US-China trade relations:
“This is a public servant who can’t tell the truth.”
Yep, this is a public servant who can’t tell the truth and can’t stop grifting everyone around him acting as the commerce secretary for a boss who can’t tell the truth and can’t stop grifting everyone around him. It would be the perfect position for Ross if, like so many grifters assume, life is just a joke and a race to grab as much as you can and nothing actually matters.
Posted by Pterrafractyl | August 8, 2018, 2:56 pm
Following the slew of terrible legal news for President Trump this week, Martin London, the attorney for for Vice President Spiro Agnew who knows a thing or two about the perils of presidents facing investigations and impeachment, just issued some rather ominous advice to President Trump: resign now to save your skin because it’s only going to get worse:
Spiro Agnew Lawyer: Trump Should Resign To Save ‘Skin’ Of Himself, Family
The lawyer for former Vice President Spiro Agnew is advising President Donald Trump to “consider resigning” to save his “skin” and protect his family.
Martin London wrote the advice in a Time Magazine op-ed Thursday and followed up with an appearance on “Morning Joe” Friday, suggesting a presidential resignation might be the best move for Trump to make because “it’s only going to get worse.”
“We already have everybody, you know — the rats are leaving the ship. He’s lost [Rick] Gates, [George] Papadopoulos, [Michael] Cohen, [Michael] Flynn, now [David] Pecker,” he said on “Morning Joe” Friday, listing the slew of former Trump advisers who have flipped on the President. “He’ll probably lose (Allen) Weisselberg and others from the Trump Organization. And we don’t know a quarter of what’s in the pocket of the prosecutor.”
Later on Friday morning, The Wall Street Journal reported that Weisselberg, Trump Organization CFO, had been granted immunity by federal prosecutors in their investigation into Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen.
Agnew resigned less than a year before President Richard Nixon left office and pleaded no contest to federal tax evasion charges to avoid charges of corruption. London, who represented Agnew during the scandal, said it would be best for Trump to get out while he has the chance.
“If he has any interest at all in not only saving his skin, but the skin of his child, his children, his son-in-law, his grandchildren, his daughter — this is a time when he’s got to seriously think about that. Now, is he capable of that, of serious thinking? Frankly, I doubt it,” he said.
“If he’s going to be advised by people like clown (Rudy) Giuliani and people who don’t know that the truth is truth, then he’s not going to get anywhere,” he continued. “The national interest is what drove the Agnew resignation.”
“Spiro Agnew Lawyer: Trump Should Resign To Save ‘Skin’ Of Himself, Family” by Nicole Lafond; Talking Points Memo; 08/24/2018
“We already have everybody, you know — the rats are leaving the ship. He’s lost [Rick] Gates, [George] Papadopoulos, [Michael] Cohen, [Michael] Flynn, now [David] Pecker…He’ll probably lose (Allen) Weisselberg and others from the Trump Organization. And we don’t know a quarter of what’s in the pocket of the prosecutor.”
The rats are leaving the ship. That was the warning from a guy who knows first hand how a presidency can unravel.
It was a particularly ominous warning when Martin warned that Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg would probably be one of those rats jumping ship soon along with others from the Trump Organization. Because if anyone is going to be familiar with Trump’s decades of shady and corrupt dealings, it’s going to be someone in Weisselberg’s position. And Weisselberg has worked for the Trump family for over four decades. And it was an ominously prescient prediction too, because we just got news today of Weisselberg cooperating with prosecutors and getting immunity:
Prosecutors grant Trump Organization CFO immunity in Cohen probe: WSJ
Karen Freifeld
August 24, 2018 / 10:10 AM / Updated
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors have granted immunity to the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer in an investigation involving U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
The CFO, Allen Weisselberg, was called to testify before a federal grand jury earlier this year, the newspaper reported.
A cooperation deal between Weisselberg and prosecutors could be damaging to the president given the executive’s longtime role in Trump’s business affairs. Weisselberg has worked for the Trump family for more than four decades, including as treasurer for the Donald J. Trump Foundation.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, which has been leading the Cohen probe, declined to comment, as did the White House. The Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Alan Futerfas, an outside lawyer for the organization, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cohen – who arranged hush-money payments shortly before the November 2016 U.S. presidential election to at least two women who said they had had sex with Trump – on Tuesday pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and other charges. He said in court that Trump directed him to arrange the payments.
Such payments could be considered illegal campaign contributions under federal election law, according to experts.
Two executives at American Media Inc, which publishes the National Enquirer, a supermarket tabloid reportedly involved in making the payments, have also been granted immunity in the investigation, Vanity Fair magazine reported. The executives are company Chief Executive David Pecker, a longtime Trump friend, and Dylan Howard.
Cohen mentioned Weisselberg on a secret recording that Cohen made in September 2016 and which was aired on CNN last month. On the recording, Cohen and Trump appeared to discuss reimbursing American Media for a payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who has said she had a yearlong affair with Trump. Trump has denied there was an affair.
On the recording, Cohen is heard saying, “I’ve spoken to Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up.”
McDougal sold her story to American Media for $150,000 in August 2016 but it was never published by the National Enquirer, a practice known as “catch and kill” aimed at suppressing potentially damaging stories.
Trump has also denied having sex with adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for the president, has said the payment to McDougal and a $130,000 payment to Daniels were a personal matter and were not subject to campaign finance law.
The Trump Organization is the umbrella group for dozens of Trump businesses, including real estate development, management of hotels and golf courses, and production of the reality television shows “The Apprentice” and “Celebrity Apprentice.”
The Cohen investigation was referred to federal prosecutors in New York by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible coordination between Trump’s Republican campaign and Russian officials.
Trump has repeatedly denied there was coordination between Moscow and his campaign, and has labeled the Mueller probe a “witch hunt.” Moscow has denied it meddled in the election. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia did interfere.
“Prosecutors grant Trump Organization CFO immunity in Cohen probe: WSJ” by Karen Freifeld; Reuters; 08/24/2018
Knowledge of four decades of Trump family dealings. That’s what Weisselberg has to offer to prosecutors. It’s pretty remarkable. Although it’s important to keep in mind that Weisselberg appears to be specifically cooperating with the federal investigation of Michael Cohen. It’s not part of #TrumpRussia. At least not yet.
But this investigation of Cohen is still an indirect investigation of Trump because it’s an investigation of the role Cohen played in arranging the hush-money payments to former Playboy model Karen McDougal in September of 2016 in order to keep her story of an affair with Trump out of the news. And that situation – paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to silence someone who could damage a campaign – potentially qualifies as a campaign finance violation.
And this news of Weisselberg’s immunity deal comes just after we learn that Michael Cohen is cooperating with prosecutors along with David Pecker, the owner of American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer. Both Pecker and Weisselberg are mentioned in the audio tape of Cohen talking to Trump about setting up the hush money payments. So pretty much everyone known to be involved with the payoff of Karen McDougal is cooperating with prosecutors at this point except Trump:
But here’s perhaps the most ominous part of this week’s legal news for Trump: According to people close to Cohen, one of the factors that made Cohen decide to become a cooperating witness is that he knew that David Pecker has already given information about those hush money payments to prosecutors. In other words, if Pecker already flipped, Cohen may not have seem much value in not flipping. And this kind of dynamic is undoubtedly going to be in play for all of the various people in Trump’s circle. The more they see the other people in the mess flip, the easier it is to rationalize their own flip:
Cohen Fueled To Flip By AMI Testimony And To Protect Wife, Please His Father
While Michael Cohen’s attorney maintains that he agreed to work with Cohen over his interest in telling the truth about President Donald Trump, Cohen was apparently fueled to flip by more personal interests, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday night.
According to people close to Cohen and people familiar with prosecutors’ work who spoke to WSJ, family played a big role in Cohen’s decision. Cohen was reportedly concerned that his wife could be implicated alongside him in charges associated with his financial wrongdoings because she filed taxes jointly with him. He also was motivated by his father’s interests, according to WSJ. Cohen’s father, Maurice Cohen, is a Holocaust survivor.
“Mr. Cohen’s father urged him not to protect the President, saying he didn’t survive the Holocaust to have his name sullied by Mr. Trump,” in the WSJ’s words.
Cohen reportedly also knew that David Pecker, the head of American Media Inc., the company that publishes the National Enquirer, had given prosecutors information about the arrangements Cohen made with women who alleged affairs with Trump. Pecker reportedly gave prosecutors information about Trump’s knowledge of the payments as well.
On top of all that, Cohen was angered by Trump’s efforts to distance himself from his former “pit bull” and the fact that the President had stopped helping him pay his legal fees after the FBI raided his home, hotel and office this spring.
“Cohen Fueled To Flip By AMI Testimony And To Protect Wife, Please His Father” by Nicole Lafond; Talking Points Memo; 08/23/2018
So it’s looking like Trump knew about that campaign finance violation and there’s going to be plenty of witnesses willing to testify about it. And then there’s the payoff to Stormy Daniels, for which there’s also probably plenty of evidence. Will that be the thing that ends up pushing Trump to resign? Payoffs to a Playmate and a porn star? While that might not seem likely given everything we’ve seen about Trump, there’s one thing to keep in mind regarding this particular case: Of all the possible criminal charges against Trump that could possibly cause him to leave office, resigning due to a hush payment to a former Playmate and porn star is easily the most honorable of the exit strategies available. It’s either that or prosecutors continue the #TrumpRussia investigation and see where that goes.
And it’s not like Trump or any of his base (actually cares that he cheated on his wife and slept with these women. If anything, he’s probably proud of this story and his base probably loves him all the more for it. So if Trump was, for whatever reason, looking for an exit strategy, this actually represents an excuse for Trump to leave office on a sort of high note. It may be a high note only for someone like Trump, but Trump is Trump. The image of a guy sleeping with porn stars and Playmates is the kind of brand he’s been cultivating for years.
It would certainly be surprising if Trump decided to resign. But it would be less surprising if he decided to resign over this particular issue compared any of the other legal threats facing the president. And he would still have a fawning base that his businesses could keep milking for years to come. Maybe. It kind of depends on how many other payoffs of this nature are lingering out there and whether or not any of them involve something more than simply paying off Playmates and porn stars.
Posted by Pterrafractyl | August 24, 2018, 2:41 pm
Perhaps the biggest looming question heading into the 2018 US mid-terms was whether or not the Democrats would take control of the House. It seemed likely, but not a sure bet. With the Republican party demonstrating a mastery of voter suppression, gerrymandering, and other vote rigging techniques and dirty tricks, even when it seems like it’s a good bet that the Democrats will win it’s still a highly tenuous good bet. But, in the end, the Democrats managed to get 4 million more overall votes than the Republicans in the House races and took control of that chamber with a 25 seat advantage. It may not have been a full ‘Blue Wave’ given the losses in the Senate, but it was about as close as one could have reasonably hoped for given the circumstances.
So now the biggest looming questions going forward are all about investigations, with the most immediate questions centered around the Mueller investigation, which is frequently assumed to be close to coming to a conclusion. And not just the obvious investigations surrounding the Mueller probe but all the other potential investigations, like financial dealings with foreign governments, corrupt cabinet officials. And following the blockbuster NY Times report last month detailing the history of tax fraud at the heart of the Trump family business empire, simply taking a look at Trump’s tax returns is now an arguably urgent task for Congress.
Related to that, there’s the question of the fate of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who Trump has been aggressively trolling and openly encouraging to step down ever since Sessions recused himself from overseeing Mueller’s probe. Well, we already got an answer on what’s going to happen to Jeff Sessions: He’s out. Sessions was fired today and is being replaced with his chief of staff, Matthew G. Whitaker, as acting Attorney General.
So Rod Rosenstein is no longer overseeing the Mueller probe, which makes it all the more likely that we’ll be seeing the results of that probe sooner rather than later. Especially since Whitaker has been openly advocating for limiting the Mueller investigation or even ending it.
Specifically, Whitaker argued last year in an op-ed on CNN that the Mueller investigation crossed a ‘red line’ when it began looking into Donald Trump’s finances.
Around the same time, Whitaker argued on twitter that the evidence heard by Mueller’s grand jury would probably never be made public, which many have pointed out looks to be a potential argument for sealing the findings of Mueller’s probe from the public forever. And these public proclamations by Whitaker appeared to be part of public relations campaign by Whitaker to get the job of White House counsel.
So it’s looking like we could see the rapid wrapping up of Mueller’s probe with no public disclosure of those findings (or lack of findings), turning it all into a giant political Rorschach test:
A History Of New Acting AG Whitaker’s War On The Mueller Probe
By Josh Kovensky
Matthew Whitaker, Jeff Sessions’ chief of staff who will take over as acting Attorney General with his boss’ ouster, has been an outspoken advocate of limiting — or even ending — the Mueller investigation.
In an August 2017 op-ed published on the CNN website, the former federal prosecutor argued that Mueller had come “dangerously close” to crossing a “red line” in the investigation by looking at Trump’s personal finances and those of his business.
“It does not take a lawyer or even a former federal prosecutor like myself to conclude that investigating Donald Trump’s finances or his family’s finances falls completely outside of the realm of his 2016 campaign and allegations that the campaign coordinated with the Russian government or anyone else,” Whitaker wrote. “That goes beyond the scope of the appointment of the special counsel.”
Whitaker added in the piece that “it is time for [Rod] Rosenstein…to order Mueller to limit the scope of his investigation.”
It appeared to be part of a summer 2017 campaign by Whitaker — then reportedly on the shortlist to replace Don McGahn as White House counsel — to portray himself as a hardliner on the Mueller probe.
In June 2017, Whitaker appeared on a CNN panel on the Mueller probe.
“What will get Republicans worked up is if we have a Department of Justice in chaos,” Whitaker said on the panel. “We’ve already heard rumors on the wind about Sessions’ tenure, so suddenly we could have a President that understands that if I control the Department of Justice, I control this investigation.”
Whitaker also had an active Twitter presence, at times indicating sympathy with those calling for an end to the investigation.
Worth a read–"Could Trump Fire Mueller? It’s Complicated". https://t.co/sG2igd5qkJ via @politicomag— Matt Whitaker ???? (@MattWhitaker46) August 4, 2017
In another tweet, Whitaker appears to suggest a way of keeping Mueller’s findings under wraps indefinitely. The following tweet could open up a path to sealing any report that Mueller prepares relying on grand jury evidence from the public.
Article is correct, it will be very difficult to ever see evidence discovered by #Mueller grand jury investigation https://t.co/aNKBmi5xI2— Matt Whitaker ???? (@MattWhitaker46) August 17, 2017
Whitaker also took a hard line against supposed “leakers” informing the press about details in the Russia probe.
“A History Of New Acting AG Whitaker’s War On The Mueller Probe” by Josh Kovensky; Talking Points Memo; 11/07/2018
As has long been obvious, it’s not the investigation into potential Russian collusion that has Trump the most concerned. It’s investigations into Trump’s wildly corrupt business past and personal finances (like tax fraud) that has him freaked out. Those are the concerns Whitaker was echoing in the op-ed last year:
That same month, Whitaker tweeted about how the public will probably never be allowed to see the evidence Mueller’s probe bases its findings, which could be used as a means of keeping the entire report sealed from the public:
Keep in mind that if it turns out the Mueller investigation has basically no compelling evidence of ‘Russian collusion’, but still lots of evidence of other wrongdoings by the Trump team (or attempted collusion, like the Don Jr. and the infamous Trump Tower meeting), having the investigation results sealed from the public could be an outcome that both sides would find preferable.
Finally, Whitaker has called for going after “leakers” in the government who have been involved with leaking details of the Russia probe:
And this desire to take a hard line against leakers could end up playing a central role in Donald Trump’s attempts to defend himself against Democratic investigations. How so? Well, as the following article covering Donald Trump’s post-mid-terms reaction today makes clear, Trump’s planned defense is to go on offense with investigations of his own. Yep, he actually tweeted out this morning that if the House Democrats decide to investigate him, he’s going to investigate them in retaliation. Although it appeared to be a threat agains the Senate Democrats: “If the Democrats think they are going to waste Taxpayer Money investigating us at the House level, then we will likewise be forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks of Classified Information, and much else, at the Senate level”:
President Trump touts ‘magic’ Senate wins, threatens House Democrats
David Jackson and John Fritze, USA TODAY Published 6:55 a.m. ET Nov. 7, 2018 | Updated 11:02 a.m. ET Nov. 7, 2018
WASHINGTON – While touting Republican wins in the Senate, President Donald Trump spent the post-election Wednesday morning threatening to investigate Democrats who won control of the House and are now threatening to investigate him.
“If the Democrats think they are going to waste Taxpayer Money investigating us at the House level, then we will likewise be forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks of Classified Information, and much else, at the Senate level,” Trump said during an early morning tweet storm.
“Two can play that game!” he added.
The president also scheduled a news conference Wednesday to discuss what he called “our success in the Midterms!”
Democrats, meanwhile, began planning their takeover of the House in January, including increased oversight of Trump and his administration.
“We’ll fill in the gaps on the Russia investigations,” said Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-California, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, speaking on NBC’s “Today” show. “The American people will see his (Trump’s) tax returns, not because of any voyeuristic interest, but because they should know if he is corrupt.”
In a series of other early-morning tweets, Trump took credit for GOP victories in close races on Election Day while blaming losses on Republicans who shunned his support.
“Those that worked with me in this incredible Midterm Election, embracing certain policies and principles, did very well,” Trump said in one tweet. “Those that did not, say goodbye!”
Trump raised questions about the Russia investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, citing an NBC News exit poll that found slightly more voters opposed the probe than support it. The tweet marked the first time Trump has tweeted about the investigation in weeks.
“You mean they are finally beginning to understand what a disgusting Witch Hunt, led by 17 Angry Democrats, is all about!” Trump wrote.
He also attacked the news media, saying in one post that any “pundits or talking heads” who do not give the Trump team “proper credit for this great Midterm Election” are just “FAKE NEWS!”
If the Democrats think they are going to waste Taxpayer Money investigating us at the House level, then we will likewise be forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks of Classified Information, and much else, at the Senate level. Two can play that game!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018
Those that worked with me in this incredible Midterm Election, embracing certain policies and principles, did very well. Those that did not, say goodbye! Yesterday was such a very Big Win, and all under the pressure of a Nasty and Hostile Media!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018
The president’s news conference is set for 11:30 a.m. EST at the White House.
Newly empowered House Democrats said they would pursue new health and jobs legislation along with increased oversight of the Trump administration.
“We will get to work on Day One creating jobs rebuilding our infrastructure, bringing down the cost of prescription drugs and cracking down on any politician who abuses their public office,” said Rep. David Cicilline, D-Rhode Island, co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee.
Democrats said their targets range from accused ethical lapses by members of the Cabinet to allegations that Trump’s campaign worked with Russian hackers to influence the 2016 presidential election.
In his NBC interview, Swalwell said, “We will look at the cashing in of access to the Oval Office and that has been concerning and his financial entanglements overseas.”
Trumpo was not specific about his threat to counter-investigate the Democrats. In recent weeks, he has accused them of improperly leaking information about then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Some critics said Trump’s threat doesn’t bode well for working together on legislation.
Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the Justice Department under President Barack Obama, noted that Trump is thinking of dismissing Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Amid those reports, Miller tweeted: “Trump threatens criminal investigations of his political critics. Things are going just as expected.”
The president didn’t directly address the outcome that represents a seismic shift in national politics: the Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives. Democrats picked up dozens of seats on Tuesday, including many in districts Trump won in 2016.
Instead, on Twitter, he played up Republican victories.
Trump posted a quote from supporter and writer Ben Stein suggesting the results showed the president has “magic coming out of his ears” because the GOP expanded its Senate majority by winning races in Indiana, North Dakota and Missouri.
Minutes later, Trump tweeted a quote he evidently heard from a Fox Business Network anchor indicating his standing with Republicans in Congress should increase because of the blitz of campaigning he conducted in the run-up to Tuesday’s election. The anchor wrote that successful Republicans owed Trump their careers.
“There’s only been 5 times in the last 105 years that an incumbent President has won seats in the Senate in the off year election. Mr. Trump has magic about him. This guy has magic coming out of his ears. He is an astonishing vote getter & campaigner. The Republicans are………— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018
“Thanks,” Trump added in a tweet. “I agree!”
Trump was engaging in a well-worn tradition for presidents to reflect on and spin the outcome of midterms – an effort all but certain to continue later Wednesday. Past presidents have acknowledged their losses in particularly colorful language.
.@DavidAsmanfox “How do the Democrats respond to this? Think of how his position with Republicans improves-all the candidates who won tonight. They realize how important he is because of what he did in campaigning for them. They owe him their political career.” Thanks, I agree!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018
Trump officials said they have prepared for the prospect of a Democratic House. One strategy, they said, would be to focus on items handled by the Republican-run Senate, a list that includes trade agreements and judicial nominations.
Presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway said Trump managed to avoid an Obama-like “shellacking,” and now he will try to work with Democrats on issues of common interest like immigration and infrastructure.
As for House investigations of Trump and his administration, Conway said they will deal with them as they come up.
She also hinted at legal challenges to House subpoenas.
Asked what would happen, for example, if the House Democrats seek Trump’s tax returns, Conway said: “We’ll talk to the lawyers about that – we’ll see what happens.”
“President Trump touts ‘magic’ Senate wins, threatens House Democrats” by David Jackson and John Fritze; USA TODAY; 11/07/2018
“While touting Republican wins in the Senate, President Donald Trump spent the post-election Wednesday morning threatening to investigate Democrats who won control of the House and are now threatening to investigate him.”
Mutually Assured Investigations. That appears to be the strategy the Trump White House is going with at this point. Interestingly, he specifically talked about investigating the leaks of “Classified Information, and much else,” at the Senate level. And while Trump’s counter-investigations will presumably include leaks related to the Mueller probe, he’s also been accusing Democrats of improperly leaking information about then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. So the whole Kavanaugh nomination could end up being publicly relitigated in some manner, which seems like an extreme political risk for the GOP but that’s the threat Trump is making:
Democrats in the House, however, are already pledging to reveal the public Trump’s tax returns, which, again, might be thing Trump fears most at this point:
We appear to be heading towards a remarkable period of bipartisan investigations for Washington: both parties are going to investigate each other.
Beyond that, the White House is indicating that it’s going to be putting up legal challenges against any House subpoenas, including subpoenas for his tax returns. So while it’s possible Trump’s tax returns will indeed be made public, we can’t rule out the possibility that there’s going to be an executive branch blockade on that information which will no-doubt trigger more calls for more investigations:
Like the Mueller report, Trump’s tax returns – which are currently a Rorschach test – could end up remaining Rorschach test. A known unknown with contents we can only speculate about.
In related news, Trump called CNN an “enemy of the people” again during his press conference today when he was asked by CNN’s Jim Acosta if Trump was concerned about indictments coming from Mueller’s investigation (starts at about 1:35 in clip). It’s a reminder that, while Trump appears poised to ramp up his attacks as part of his defense strategy, the targets of those ramped attacks aren’t going to be limited to the Democrats (or necessarily carried out by Trump).
So if you feel like the ‘Trump unchecked’ period of Trump’s time in office was doing incalculable damage of the US political system and society, just wait for the ‘cornered tax-cheating animal with its back against wall’ years.
Posted by Pterrafractyl | November 7, 2018, 4:41 pm
There was a rather interesting recent poll out of Quinnipiac about US voter attitudes about impeaching President Trump vs criminally charging him: 61% of voters did not support impeachment compared to 33% who do. But when it comes to the issue of whether or not Presidents are immune from criminal charges in office, 69% of voters say there should be no immunity, 57% believe Trump committed crimes before his inauguration, 55% say the Mueller Report did not clear the President of wrongdoing, and voters are split 45% to 45% over whether or not Trump has committed crimes while in office. So while the American public doesn’t appear to be very keen on seeing Trump impeached at this moment, they appear to be ok with charging him for crimes that a majority think he has committed.
While this is the kind of poll that will obviously shape the Democrats’ decision over whether or not to pursue impeachment inquiries at this point, part of what makes the polls so interesting in the context of the 2020 election is that it appears to point towards an ongoing strong voter revulsion of general corruption and a desire to see that corruption addressed. In other words, it strongly points towards an ongoing ‘drain the swamp!’ sentiment, which was ironically one of Trump’s central 2016 slogans.
And that’s the kind of voter sentiment that makes the following pair of articles extremely interesting heading into the 2020 elections: it turns out Trump’s Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao, is just blatantly corrupt. Corrupt in exactly the kinds of ways that are very easy for voters to understand. The kind of classic Washington DC backscratching corruption that many voters feel should be criminal. And the partner in Chao’s corruption is literally her husband, Mitch McConnell, who is currently the most unpopular Senator in the country and also happens to be the Senate Majority Leader.
So what’s the blatant corruption? Well, Chao did her husband a favor. The kind of favor that no other Senator received: Chao assigned one of her top aides, Todd Inman, to be the point man for advising McConnell and local Kentucky officials on how to submit grants to the Department of Transportation for infrastructure projects. No other Senator received this kind of special assistance and no other Senator is in as dire need of this kind of special assistance because, again, Mitch McConnell is wildly unpopular in his home state (36% approval, 50% disapproval according to current polls). And as the following article notes, McConnell is up for reelection in 2020 and his campaign appears to be heavily geared towards emphasizing exactly these kinds of federally funded infrastructure projects. So the Secretary of Transportation is giving her husband, the most power and unpopular Senator in the nation, special help to ensure that his state gets the federally funded infrastructure grants that will most help him win reelection. That’s about as classically corrupt as it gets and is thematically very in keeping with the nepotism that has been a signature part of the Trump administration
And as we’ll see in the second article below, Chao has another totally blatant corruption issue that all voters will recognize as being exactly the kind of ‘swamp’ corruption they wanted to see ended: Starting in 2016, Chao joined the board of Vulcan Materials, an Alabama-based supplier of rock aggregate used in road construction and building projects. Vulcan is frequently mentioned as one of the stocks that would benefit most from a big increase in federal infrastructure spending. The stock jumped 20 percent since February alone after Trump pledged to do a big infrastructure program during his State of the Union address. This arrangement was obviously a an ethical problem after Chao became Transportation Secretary in 2017. So Chao agreed to “a cash payout for all of my vested deferred stock units” that would happen by April of 2018 to address clear conflict of interest. Surprise! She didn’t. A financial disclosure report released this month by Mitch McConnell revealed that Chao had somewhere between $250,000 and $500,000 in Vulcan stock. Why did she have this stock in 2019 after pledging to cash out of her stock options a year ago? Because Vulcan decided to pay Chao for her stock options with stock instead of cash. That’s the explanation. No explanation is given for why she didn’t just go ahead and sell the stock instead of holding onto it and maintaining the conflict of interest. Presumably she had an interest in maintaining that conflict of interest.
So Trump’s Transportation Secretary is giving her husband, the most hated and powerful Senator in the country, special assistance to ensure his pet projects get the federal grants needed for him to campaign on his ability ‘bring home the bacon’ and win reelection in 2020. Snd she also kept stock in the company expected to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of federal infrastructure spending. That seems like the kind of story that would resonate with voters upset with ‘the swamp’:
Chao created special path for McConnell’s favored projects
A top Transportation official helped coordinate grant applications by McConnell’s political allies.
By TUCKER DOHERTY and TANYA SNYDER
The Transportation Department under Secretary Elaine Chao designated a special liaison to help with grant applications and other priorities from her husband Mitch McConnell’s state of Kentucky, paving the way for grants totaling at least $78 million for favored projects as McConnell prepared to campaign for reelection.
Chao’s aide Todd Inman, who stated in an email to McConnell’s Senate office that Chao had personally asked him to serve as an intermediary, helped advise the senator and local Kentucky officials on grants with special significance for McConnell — including a highway-improvement project in a McConnell political stronghold that had been twice rejected for previous grant applications.
Beginning in April 2017, Inman and Chao met annually with a delegation from Owensboro, Ky., a river port with long connections to McConnell, including a plaza named in his honor. At the meetings, according to participants, the secretary and the local officials discussed two projects of special importance to the river city of 59,809 people — a plan to upgrade road connections to a commercial riverport and a proposal to expedite reclassifying a local parkway as an Interstate spur, a move that could persuade private businesses to locate in Owensboro.
Inman, himself a longtime Owensboro resident and onetime mayoral candidate who is now Chao’s chief of staff, followed up the 2017 meeting by emailing the riverport authority on how to improve its application. He also discussed the project by phone with Al Mattingly, the chief executive of Daviess County, which includes Owensboro, who suggested Inman was instrumental in the process.
“Todd probably smoothed the way, I mean, you know, used his influence,” Mattingly said in a POLITICO interview. “Everybody says that projects stand on their own merit, right? So if I’ve got 10 projects, and they’re all equal, where do you go to break the tie?”
“Well, let’s put it this way: I only have her ear an hour when I go to visit her once a year,” he added of Chao and Inman, a longtime Bluegrass State operative who had worked as McConnell’s advance man. “With a local guy, he has her ear 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You tell me.”
The circumstances surrounding the Owensboro grant and another, more lucrative grant to Boone County, highlight the ethical conflicts in having a powerful Cabinet secretary married to the Senate’s leader and in a position to help him politically. McConnell has long touted his ability to bring federal resources to his state, which his wife is now in a position to assist.
Chao’s designation of Inman as a special intermediary for Kentucky — a privilege other states did not enjoy — gave a special advantage to projects favored by her husband, which could in turn benefit his political interests. In such situations, ethicists say, each member of a couple benefits personally from the success of the other.
“Where a Cabinet secretary is doing things that are going to help her husband get reelected, that starts to rise to the level of feeling more like corruption to the average American. … I do think there are people who will see that as sort of ‘swamp behavior,’” said John Hudak, a Brookings Institution scholar who has studied political influence in federal grant-making.
In fact, days after launching his 2020 reelection campaign McConnell asked Owensboro’s mayor to set up a luncheon with business and political leaders at which the senator claimed credit for delivering the grant.
“How about that $11 million BUILD grant?” McConnell asked the crowd rhetorically, according to the Owensboro Times. He then recalled his role in securing earlier grants to the city, adding, “It’s done a lot to transform Owensboro, and I was really happy to have played a role in that.”
McConnell’s role — along with Chao’s and Inman’s — was also celebrated by local officials when the $11.5 million grant was approved — to much local fanfare in December 2018.
“Firstly, we are thankful that we had such good associations built with Sen. McConnell and the U.S. Department of Transportation because without them it wouldn’t have happened,” declared Owensboro Mayor Tom Watson, standing alongside three other local officials at a news conference celebrating the grant award.
“We’re just really grateful and thankful to Sen. McConnell and Secretary Chao and our own Todd Inman,” added Mattingly.
Owensboro wasn’t the only beneficiary of Inman’s assistance. He also communicated with McConnell’s office about multiple requests from county executives to meet with Chao to speak about potential projects in Kentucky, according to emails which, like the others, were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the watchdog group American Oversight.
One of those executives, Boone County Judge/Executive Gary Moore, met with Chao in December 2017. Moore’s request, a $67 million discretionary grant to upgrade roads in rural Boone County, another McConnell stronghold northeast of Louisville, was ultimately approved in June 2018.
Inman said in a statement, “I’m proud to work for the Secretary and it’s an honor to work at the Department of Transportation, especially as this Administration is prioritizing infrastructure investments and meeting with people from all 50 states to discuss their needs. Our team of dedicated career staff does an outstanding job evaluating hundreds of applications for these highly competitive grant programs, a thorough process developed well before this Administration.”
The Transportation Department, through a spokesperson, said that “No state receives special treatment from DOT,” noting that Kentucky is 26th in population and 25th in DOT money in the Trump years. Of 169 grants awarded during Chao’s tenure, the spokesperson said, Kentucky received five.
“The evaluation process, which is well known, originates with dedicated career staff thoroughly reviewing applications before senior review teams are involved,” the spokesperson said. “This evaluation takes thousands of hours across our discretionary grant programs. Similarly, a team of career staff handles cost-benefit and project readiness review. Discretionary grant programs are competitive and based on merit and how well the projects align with selection criteria.”
Nonetheless, one former career official who was involved in the grant review process under multiple administrations, said that once the findings of the professional staff are presented to the secretary’s office, politics often plays a role in who gets the money.
Putting a thumb on the scale for a favored project, the official said, “is really, very common, I would say across parties.”
“It’s always going to be political,” the former official, who spoke without attribution for fear of reprisals, added. “We have a merit-based process that we essentially ignore, [and] it’s really detrimental to meeting national transportation needs and having people feel like the process is worth engaging in.”
Virginia Canter, a former White House associate counsel under Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton and current ethics counsel for the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said showing political favoritism in awarding grants violates ethical standards. And when a potential beneficiary is a spouse, there’s an extra level of concern.
“There’s a standard for government employees; they’re expected to be impartial,” said Canter. “When you have a spouse who’s the head of an agency and the other spouse is a leading member of Congress — and their office is referring matters to the department, and they’re flagging things from donors, from people with particular political affiliations, who are quote-unquote ‘friends’ — it raises the question of whether the office, instead of being used purely for official purposes, is being used for political purposes.
“The fact that they’re both in these very important positions gives them the opportunity to be watching out for each other’s political and professional interests,” Canter said. “Anytime a member of Congress can bring home funding to his or her community it could make a difference. It shows the member is being responsive.”
McConnell, for his part, did not address questions about potential conflicts of interest in dealing with his wife’s department, instead touting his own clout.
“Every single day, Kentuckians from across the Commonwealth contact me with their concerns,” he told POLITICO in an emailed statement. “As Senate Majority Leader and a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, I am able to ensure that these issues — both large and small — are part of the national discussion. Kentucky continues to punch above its weight in Washington, and I am proud to be a strong voice for my constituents in the Senate.”
In his political career, McConnell has often touted specific grants as proof of his understanding of community needs.
McConnell has long had a special relationship with Owensboro, whose location on a bend of the Ohio River had once made it an ideal hub for manufacturing and agriculture. At the beginning of McConnell’s Senate career in the late 1980s, the decline of the tobacco industry and the rise of shopping malls far from the city center left Owensboro’s downtown dotted with boarded-up storefronts and empty streets that had once bustled decades earlier.
As McConnell rose to power in the national Republican Party in the 1990s and 2000s, he secured funds for Owensboro, earning him goodwill that helped him survive a close election in the 2008 Democratic wave. But after congressional Republicans banned earmarks in 2011, McConnell was forced to find other ways to bring federal resources back home.
Today, Owensboro’s growing downtown stands as a symbol of his success. City landmarks, street signs and plaques tout the senator’s role in helping revitalize downtown, especially along the city’s impressive new riverfront esplanade.
McConnell’s involvement with Owensboro began in earnest after 2003, when then-Owensboro Mayor Waymond Morris and future mayor, Ron Payne, visited McConnell at his Washington office and showed him a photograph of the eroding riverbank. The next year, the city rededicated a portion of the riverfront as “McConnell Plaza” and used more than $1 million in city funds to build a riverside park with ample green space, winding brick paths and outdoor seating for events like the town’s annual barbecue festival.
The city’s courting paid off in July 2005, when McConnell phoned new mayor, Tom Watson, and explained that he had secured $40 million in federal funds to overhaul the riverbank.
“Finally, at the end I said, ‘Can I ask you one question? Did you say $40 million?’” Watson told POLITICO. “And he laughed and hung up. I was stunned.”
Owensboro used the federal windfall as seed money for an ambitious overhaul of the entire riverfront, borrowing tens of millions of additional dollars to bring it to fruition over the next several years.
A riverwalk with pavilions and cascading fountains was installed, anchored on one end by a massive and elaborately designed playground named the best in the world by Landscape Architects Network — complete with oversized artificial tree sculptures, climbing walls, a concession stand, free Wi-Fi and rubber turf. A nearby plaque marking the playground’s rededication gives “special thanks to Senator Mitch McConnell.”
At the other end, a sparkling 184,000-square-foot convention center was erected at a cost of more than $50 million dollars — roughly twice the town’s initial budget for the project — in a bid to bring large conventions and other business to the downtown area. In stark contrast, a rusting one-story auto repair shop sits across the street, a reminder of the earlier decay.
McConnell’s support for Owensboro did not end at the riverfront. Mayor Watson recalled taking McConnell on a tour of the town’s aging H.L. Neblett Community Center, when suddenly water leaked through the roof, hitting McConnell’s ear and trickling down his shirt. Watson turned to the senator and suggested that the center needed a new roof. McConnell replied that it needed a new building — and then secured $3 million for renovations when he returned to Washington.
City officials also credit McConnell for serving Owensboro’s interests on national issues, including federal subsidies that kept airlines flying to Owensboro’s regional airport, as well as more recent efforts to legalize hemp as an agricultural commodity — a potential replacement for the city’s dying tobacco trade.
After stepping down for several years to focus on his prosthetics business, Watson was reelected as mayor in 2016. By then, the city’s riverfront investments were beginning to pay off. The downtown revitalization project mitigated the effects of the Great Recession in Owensboro and helped the city outpace Kentucky and United States overall in employment growth.
The city was still eyeing more projects to build on the earlier investments, but Owensboro’s remaining debt and scarce state resources limited the available funding options. Once again, the town turned to the federal government for support.
“The only money that’s still being circulated comes from Washington,” Watson explained.
In particular, the city wanted to widen and improve a section of Kentucky Highway 331 that connected the port’s river and rail shipping facilities to the federal highway system. Local homeowners and drivers complained that the highway’s two narrow lanes and limited sightlines throttled capacity and put local residents at risk.
In the post-earmark era, officials saw the federal Department of Transportation’s grant programs as their best bet to secure more funds, and believed their project had the merit to win in a competitive evaluation process. But success eluded them.
The city submitted its first grant application during the final months of the Obama administration, under a freight and highway improvement program called FASTLANE. But after a technical review by career DOT staff, the city’s application was passed over in favor of other projects.
According to Mattingly, local officials were undeterred and saw Chao’s appointment as Transportation secretary — and Owensboro local Todd Inman’s new role as director of operations in her office — as a valuable connection moving forward.
Back in Washington, Inman encouraged that perception. In a February 2017 email to McConnell’s chief of staff, he wrote, “The Secretary has indicated if you have a Ky-specific issue that we should flag for her attention to please continue to go through your normal channels but feel free to contact me directly as well so we can monitor or follow up as necessary.”
Owensboro submitted a second grant application in the first year of the Trump administration under the department’s INFRA grant program — the new administration’s successor to FASTLANE — which was likewise unsuccessful. Weeks before that application was due, McConnell’s office emailed members of Chao’s staff with the Owensboro Riverport Authority CEO’s contact information, requesting technical assistance for the riverport’s grant application. Derek Kan, Chao’s undersecretary for policy, forwarded the request to his deputy, who confirmed that they were following up.
Finally, in 2018, the riverport resubmitted a third time under the department’s BUILD program, a competitive infrastructure grant program that began under the Obama administration’s economic stimulus law. This time, the application was successful. City officials held a December news conference in front of a Christmas tree in City Hall announcing the $11.5 million federal award.
Four months later, as McConnell prepared to launch his reelection campaign, he called Mayor Watson and asked him to pull together a group of political and business leaders at the riverport to tout his role in getting Owensboro the grant award, Watson said. On April 22, within days of officially launching his 2020 campaign, the Senate majority leader stood inside a riverport building and celebrated his achievements.
“I can’t tell you how exciting it is for me to see what the riverfront has spawned,” McConnell told the assembled crowd. “Not only the project itself, but all around it.”
Inman, who is 48, grew up in Marshall County, Ky., about a two-hour drive from Owensboro. Soon after graduating from the University of Mississippi in 1993, he moved to Owensboro, where he ran a small insurance business from 1994 to 2017, according to his LinkedIn page.
He also became involved in Republican politics, running unsuccessfully for mayor of Owensboro in 2004 and doing advance work and event planning for statewide GOP candidates. He worked on McConnell’s campaigns in 2008 and 2014 and then became the deputy state director for Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign in Kentucky.
Two days after Trump’s inauguration, Inman excitedly announced his new job in the administration in a Facebook post picked up by local media.
“It’s with great honor but also sadness that on Friday I accepted a Presidential appointment to work for the Honorable Elaine L. Chao as a Director in the cabinet of the United States Department of Transportation,” Inman wrote, according to the local radio station WBKR. “While this means I must leave my family friends and business in Owensboro it is humbling to know I can be of service to our country … I look forward to the coming years of helping to support the secretary in her leadership of the Department of Transportation … ”
His first posting was as director of operations, from which he helped steer requests for grant assistance from McConnell’s office — at Chao’s direction, according to the emails.
“Cabinet members are known to be preferential to their own home state,” said Hudak, the Brookings scholar who has studied political influence in federal grant-making, adding that they tend to prioritize the home states of congressional leaders as well, “so you can have a sort of doubling effect.”
“There’s nothing illegal about her steering those funds to her husband’s home state, and her home state, as long as things are aboveboard,” Hudak said. “The question though is, how do you deal with conflicts of interests? And this is a clear conflict. … Even if it’s not legally so, these are political offices, so the optics of this are important. In a business setting, you would put firewalls up to prevent those types of bad optics.”
McConnell, however, is making no effort to hide his influence as he ramps up his reelection effort. Though the Bluegrass State is heavily Republican, he, like senators of both parties who take on national leadership positions, knows he is both a prime target for out-of-state donors and vulnerable to charges that he has lost touch with his constituents.
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, has personally urged Marine veteran and former fighter pilot Amy McGrath to run against McConnell, saying the GOP leader “is more vulnerable now than ever before.”
At the grassroots level, Kentucky radio host Matt Jones has indicated he might be prepared to run as a populist Democrat against McConnell, a target of frequent barbs on his hugely popular sports show.
“What has Mitch McConnell done to help Kentucky?” Jones asked in a POLITICO interview. “Mitch McConnell has been a master — a master at helping wealthy business interests get wealthier. If there is a rich guy Hall of Fame, he should be in it.”
McConnell’s answer to these criticisms is clear: He’s used his influence to deliver on Kentucky’s priorities.
“All 100 senators may have one vote,” McConnell told the Lexington Herald-Leader last year, “but they’re not all equal. Kentucky benefits from having one of its own setting the agenda for the country.”
“Chao created special path for McConnell’s favored projects” by TUCKER DOHERTY and TANYA SNYDER; Politico; 06/10/2019
Elaine Chao’s tasked her own aide, Todd Inman, to help her husband and local Kentucky officials get grants with special significance for McConnell. It’s that special significance that makes this extra corrupt. Because it was guaranteed that Kentucky would receive some sort of federal grant, but there are a lot of different projects competing for that money. Chao ensured the projects selected were the ones favored by her husband, the most hated and powerful Senator in the country. As Al Mattingly, the chief executive of Daviess County, described it, someone has to break the tie between competing projects. Inman helped ensure that it was the projects favored by her husband that won these tie-breaker decisions, thus helping him politically. Help he desperately needs if he’s going to be reelected in 2020. It’s all pretty swampy. Especially since no other state got this privilege:
And note how McConnell featured the Owensboro projects in his 2020 campaign launch. The city first tried to get these grants in 2016 and failed. They tried again in 2017 and still failed. But the third time was a charm and in December 2018 the grant was accepted. Four months later McConnell used this city as part of his initial campaign launch activities and is making his ability to bring federal dollars to Kentucky a central message of his campaign. He’s literally campaigning on being extra swampy:
Ok, so that was all pretty swampy, but not as swampy as the next story. Because it’s hard to imagine something more quintessentially swampy as the Transportation Secretary owning stock in a major supplier of road construction and other building projects. Which is exactly what happened, despite Chao’s pledges to eliminate this blatant conflict of interest:
Transportation Secretary Failed to Sever Financial Ties to Construction Company
By Eric Lipton
WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao failed last year to cash out her stock options in one of the nation’s largest suppliers of highway construction materials, despite a promise she had made to do so in a signed ethics agreement when she joined the Trump administration.
Ms. Chao had served for about two years on the board of directors of the company, Vulcan Materials, an Alabama-based supplier of rock aggregate, which is used in road construction and many other building projects. The board position paid Ms. Chao $110,000 plus $151,000 in stock options in 2016, according to a filing by the company.
As part of her ethics agreement, Ms Chao said that by April 2018 she would take “a cash payout for all of my vested deferred stock units” from Vulcan, effectively ending her financial relationship with the company.
But a financial disclosure report released this month by her husband, Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican who is the Senate majority leader, showed that Ms. Chao had somewhere between $250,000 and $500,000 worth of Vulcan stock. She owned this stock because in April 2018 Vulcan paid her for her stock options in the company’s stock instead of cash, the company said in a statement. Details of her continued ownership of Vulcan stock were reported on Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal.
A Transportation Department official said in a statement that the only change was that Ms. Chao was paid in stock rather than cash and that there was no ethics violation because Ms. Chao continued to recuse herself from any agency decisions directly related to the company.
Vulcan is frequently mentioned as one of the stocks that would benefit from any big increase in federal infrastructure spending, and the company’s stock price has risen about 20 percent since February after President Trump, in his State of the Union address, pledged to push for a “great rebuilding of America’s crumbling infrastructure.” Mr. Trump’s negotiations with Democrats on an infrastructure package broke down last week, in part because of objections from Republicans about the potential costs.
Vulcan generally contracts directly with highway builders in individual states, not the Transportation Department, which often helps finance road construction projects.
“It is unfortunate that members of the news media have attempted to substitute their opinions for the decisions of senior career ethics officials of the department, who have determined there is no conflict of interest as the secretary remains disqualified from matters directly involving the company mentioned,” the Transportation Department said in a statement. “In her ethics agreement, the secretary agreed to resign from her board position and not participate in matters with a direct and predictable impact on Vulcan Materials, which she has followed.”
Robert Weissman, the president of Public Citizen, a nonprofit ethics group, said policy decisions Ms. Chao makes — even if they do not directly affect any contracts the company might hold with the agency — could still benefit the company in a significant way, especially any infrastructure program that increased road and highway construction. Vulcan makes crushed stone, sand and gravel as well as construction materials, including asphalt and ready-mixed concrete.
“The Department of Transportation has a lot to do with the building of roads in America, and the secretary ought not to be on both sides of the deal,” Mr. Weissman said. “Why didn’t she just cash out?”
Ms. Chao is not the first Trump administration official to face questions about assets still being held after joining the government. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have both faced their own questions about still-owned stakes in companies that might have some financial ties to the agencies they oversee.
“Transportation Secretary Failed to Sever Financial Ties to Construction Company” by Eric Lipton; The New York Times; 05/28/2019
Why didn’t she just cash out? It’s a pretty big question. Because it’s not like Chao and McConnell aren’t already wealthy. Did they really need to keep the stock in Vulcan Materials to benefit from a price rise? It’s almost like it’s corruption on principle:
And note how the Transporation Department is trying to spin this by emphasizing that Chao had recused herself of all agency decisions directly related to company. This, of course, ignores the reality that a company in Vulcan’s position doesn’t need direct help (unlike Chao’s husband). As long as there’s a boost in federal spending on roads and other building projects it’s more or less guaranteed that Vulcan is going to benefit from that which is why the stock jumped 20 percent in February after Trump retouted his plans for a big federal infrastructure project. Plus, it’s not like the contractors competing for these projects don’t know that Chao is an investor in Vulcan so when they decide on which company to choose for supplying the materials new roads and concrete they’re going to know that going with Vulcan will be smiled upon at the Department of Transportation:
Again, why on earth would Chao hold onto this stock given what a horrible look it is? She couldn’t possibly have needed the money that bad. Well, let’s not forget that Trump famously declared that the Emoluments Clause doen’t apply to him because “Presidents can’t have a conflict of interest,” resulting in the situation where foreign governments and corporations now intentionally make expensive stays at Trump hotels in order to curry favor with the administration. So who knows, maybe Chao was just following Trump’s lead.
As we can see, the Secretary of Transportation was giving special assistance to her powerful, yet loathed, husband so his pet projects in his home state would receive federal grants and he could campaign on his mastery of ‘the swamp’ at the same time she violated her conflict of interest pledge and kept stock in of the companies best positioned to benefit from a major federal infrastructure spending. It seems like the kind of situation that should animate voters who foolishly took Trump seriously when he pledged to ‘drain the swamp.’
On the plus side, there doesn’t appear to actually a real infrastructure plan thanks to GOP opposition in Congress to any meaningful investments in public projects. So thanks to the GOP’s policy malfeasance it looks like Chao’s ability to benefit from this stock will be somewhat limited.
Gold Warriors America's Secret Recovery of Yamashita's Gold, by Sterling & Peggy... Read more »
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A space for local and national sports news, with emphasis on stories pertaining to African Americans.
Insights into an overhyped NBA Draft
June 28, 2018 by Charles Hallman
To tell the truth, I didn’t watch a single second of last week’s NBA Draft. Despite ESPN’s “two unique, simultaneous telecasts” on two of their channels, this overhyped spectacle still wasn’t enough to pique my interest. It lost my attention too long ago to remember.
Where do Warriors rate all-time?
June 12, 2018 by Larry Fitzgerald
Rarely do we see a sweep in the NBA Finals, but the Golden State Warriors, after sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0, can stake their claim among the greatest teams in NBA history.
Warriors lead Cavs in greatest rivalry going in pro sports
June 4, 2018 by Larry Fitzgerald
The Warriors remember what happened two years ago when Cleveland rallied from 0-2 to win the title in seven games. The Warriors were 73-9 in the regular season.
Sam Cassell weighs in on Game 1 of the NBA Finals
Larry Fitzgerald caught up with Los Angeles Clippers Coach and former Minnesota Timberwolves player Samuel James Cassell, Sr. after the Golden State Warriors’ win over the Cleveland Cavaliers Game 1 of the NBA finals. Take a listen below.
Warriors, Cavaliers make NBA history
May 29, 2018 by Larry Fitzgerald
Starting Thursday, May 31 in Oakland, for the first time in NBA history and in sports history, the same two teams, Cleveland and Golden State, will play for the NBA Championship for the fourth straight year.
Wolves wrap-up: nothing to shout about
May 2, 2018 by Charles Hallman
The 2017-18 Minnesota Timberwolves most likely have completed their exit interviews as they hang up their uniforms for the year. They ended an NBA-longest 13-season playoff drought with a 1-4 first-round exit loss to Houston. That should’ve left a bad taste in the players’ collective mouths, not a ‘Well, we made it’ hangover. Increasing regular […]
Derek Fisher talks Timberwolves, playoffs, and career (audio)
April 28, 2018 by MSR News Online
After the Timberwolves made the playoffs — the team’s first playoff appearance in 14 years — Larry Fitzgerald caught up with five-time NBA champion and ex-New York Knicks Coach, Derek Fisher.
Rockets blast Timberwolves, hit big 5-0
April 24, 2018 by Larry Fitzgerald
Rockets lead series 3-1 When you play a great team in the playoffs, you cannot lose your focus and concentration. You can’t miss free throws, and you must protect the basketball and value every possession. Houston led the NBA in the regular season with a 65-17 record and they believe they can win the NBA […]
Finally, Timberwolves back in playoffs!
As I lay in an Intensive Care Unit at Abrazo Arizona Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona in January, I said to myself, “I can’t go out like this. The Super Bowl is February 4 in my town, Minneapolis, and the Vikings could be in it. And the Timberwolves are sure to be a playoff team for the […]
Thibodeau ‘proud’ of Timberwolves’ ‘fight’ to advance to the playoffs (audio)
The Minnesota Timberwolves came away with a 112-106 overtime victory against Denver Nuggets last night to advance to the playoffs — the team’s first playoff appearance in 14 years. Below, find audio of Larry Fitzgerald’s interview with coach Tom Thibodeau, who talks about the victory and what’s next for the team as they prepare to play […]
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Pacific Palisades Cast List
Pacific Palisades Birthdays List
Pacific Palisades Episode List
Pacific Palisades News & Info
Pacific Palisades Main Page
Pacific Palisades Links
Welcome to The TV MegaSite's Pacific Palisades Site!
Please click on the menus above to browse through our site. Scroll down to view the great content!
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This is just an unofficial fan page, we have no connection to the show or network.
Pacific Palisades Cast Info
"Pacific Palisades" Actors and Characters!
Finola Hughes (Kate Russo) plays Anna Devane Lavery Scorpio on General Hospital. Full List of Daytime Emmy Nominations She appears at The Hollywood Show June 28th - 29th, 2019 at The Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel 5400 West Century Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045, USA More info at http://www.hollywoodshow.com/main.php
Michelle Stafford (Joanna Hadley) left her popular role as Phyllis Romalotti on The Young and the Restless to join the cast of "General Hospital".
Greg Evigan (Robert Russo) guest-stars on a re-run of CSI Sunday, 7/19 on CBS.
Joan Collins (Christina Hobson), of course, is an internationally-known actress and former Dynasty star. She also writes books now as well as has many movies coming out.
Jennifer Banko (Ashley) has a new movie coming out in 2014
Dylan Neal (Cory Robbins #2) has been very busy. Right now he stars in "Cedar Cove" on the Hallmark Channel. He also guest-stars on "Dead of Summer" Tuesday, 8/23 on Freeform.
Joel Wyman (Cory Robbins #1) is now primarily a TV show writer and producer.
Paul Carafotes (Jake) you may not remember, but he was the guy Cory tried to get favors from, I think he owned the bar where Cory set up the mafia guy in the back room. I will always remember him from Knots Landing, he was fun on that as Harold. He has been a semi-regular on many primetime cop and lawyer dramas.
Dirk Blocker (Chuck Furness, the building inspector) is one of the stars of the hit FOX sitcom "Brooklyn Nine-Nine".
Mimi Kennedy (Amy Nichols) had a recurring role on the CBS show "Mom" and also frequently writes for TV shows.
Barbara Niven (ex-Evelyn) appears on "Home & Family" Monday, November 23 8:00PM for their holiday special "Home for the Holidays."
Most of this Info from Internet Movie Database
Other Cast Lists: All My Children, Another World, As The World Turns, Bold & Beautiful, The City/Loving, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, GH: Night Shift, Guiding Light, One Life to Live, Passions, Port Charles, Sunset Beach, Young & The Restless, 24, 30 Rock, Alias, Almost Human, American Gothic, Angel, Arrow, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, Beauty & The Beast, Being Human, Big Bang Theory, Blackadder, Bones, Boston Legal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Castle, Charmed, Covert Affairs, CSI, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dawson's Creek, Drew Carey Show, Earth 2, Eerie, Indiana,Fawlty Towers, Ghost Whisperer, Gotham, Grey's Anatomy, Grossepointe, Haven, Herman's Head, Heroes, Hi Honey I'm Home, Hollywood Heights, House, Howard Stern, Jericho, Justified, Larry Sanders Show, Law & Order, Lois & Clark, Lost, Mad About You, Mork & Mindy, The O.C., Police Squad, Red Dwarf, Remington Steele, Savannah, Sledgehammer, Smallville, South Park, Space: 1999, Star Trek, True Blood, TV Nation/Awful Truth, and Vampire Diaries.
Back to The TV MegaSite's Main Pacific Palisades Page
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Coalition Mourns the Passing of John C. Haas
The Coalition is deeply saddened by the recent passing of philanthropist John C. Haas. Mr. Haas was a true champion of community service, and a 42-year supporter of the Urban Affairs Coalition. The Coalition is deeply saddened by the recent passing of philanthropist John C. Haas. Mr. Haas was a true champion of community service, and a 42-year supporter of the Urban Affairs Coalition. Haas first became involved with one of the Coalition's predecessor organizations, the Urban Affairs Partnership, in order to address concerns of racial inequities in employment, economic access, and education. He remained committed to the Coalition and its mission throughout the years, most recently serving as the Honorary Chair our 40th Anniversary Celebration from November 2009 to November 2010. He will be truly missed. All of us at the Coalition send our deepest condolences to Mr. Haas' family.
Photo: The late John C. Haas, supporter of the Coalition, with the civil rights leader the late Leon H. Sullivan.
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Chris Young & Lauren Alaina Team Up for Breakup Anthem, “Town Ain’t Big Enough” [Listen]
by Jim Casey | @TheJimCasey | July 12, 2019
Chris Young has found success in the past by collaborating with other artists, including No. 1 hits, “Think of You,” featuring Cassadee Pope, and “Sober Saturday Night,” featuring Vince Gill.
Chris has gone back to the well once more by teaming with Lauren Alaina on “Town Ain’t Big Enough,” which will be featured on his upcoming eighth studio album.
The breakup anthem, which was penned by Chris, Cary Barlowe, Corey Crowder and Shay Mooney (who also contributes background vocals on the track), features the soaring chorus: “This town ain’t big enough, Your friends and mine run into each other all the time, Seems like there ain’t no place to run, This town ain’t big enough for both of us.”
Chris’ current single, “Raised on Country,” is No. 7 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart this week.
Listen to “Town Ain’t Big Enough” below.
written by Jim Casey | @TheJimCasey | published July 12, 2019 8:13 am
category: NCD News | related posts: Chris Young, Dan + Shay, Lauren Alaina, Shay Mooney, Town Ain't Big Enough
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Yet another pig flu virus infects people
Friday Sep 7, 2012 2:17 PM
There’s yet another pig flu virus to watch out for.
Federal health officials say this one has made three people in Minnesota sick. Like the other unusual flu strains reported this year, this strain, called H1N2v, has only been found in people who had close contact with pigs at a state fair, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Friday.
It’s becoming clear that pigs and people can pass influenza viruses back and forth. Health experts are watching the new strains closely because they can mutate and mix with one another to create even newer strains. The worry is the new strains will spread and cause flu pandemics, similar to the global outbreak of H1N1 swine flu virus in 2009.
So far, the three new variants identified this year -- H3n2v (the little v stands for “variant”), H1N1v and now H1N2v – don’t spread easily from person to person. Almost everyone infected has been close to pigs. One person has died from the new H3N2v virus, but everyone else has recovered. H1N2v was reported twice before in humans, in one person in 2007 in Michigan and in one person in Minnesota in 2011.
“This virus is different from the H3N2v virus that, as of today, is reported to have caused 296 human infections across 10 U.S. states since July 2012. These additional human infections underscore the fact that swine influenza viruses can spread to people after close contact with infected pigs, and support the importance of ongoing surveillance for both human and swine influenza viruses,” the CDC says in a statement on its website.
All three people who got sick in Minnesota with the new H1N2v virus have recovered but two had to be treated in the hospital. All three had close contact with a pig.
The new H1N2v virus appears to have already mixed with the H1N1 swine flu virus that caused the 2009 pandemic and that is now circulating as seasonal flu. CDC says the genetic sequence of the new virus shows it has a gene from the older H1N1 strain. Health experts are afraid that one of these new viruses will mutate or mix in a way that both makes it deadly and that gives it the ability to spread from person to person.
The good news is that the virus has at least one other gene that resembles circulating seasonal flu, meaning many people will have immune resistance to it, either from vaccination or from having had the flu.
These new variants of flu are very rare. “As of September 7, 2012, 335 cases of infection with variant influenza viruses have been reported in the United States since 2005. Of these 335 cases, 13 have been H1N1v viruses, 317 have been H3N2v viruses and 5 have been H1N2v viruses,” CDC says.
“With the exception of one death, the remaining 334 people infected with variant viruses recovered from their illness.”
The CDC estimates that anywhere between 3,000 to 49,000 people a year die from flu in the United States. A lot depends on the strains circulating. CDC recommends that everyone get vaccinated against influenza every year. The vaccine formula usually changes a little bit each year to match the most common flu strains, although this year's flu vaccine is not formulated to protect against the newly discovered pig flu viruses H1N1v, H1N2v or H3N2v.
Ohio woman dies from new pig flu
New pig flu spreads to more people
CDC cautions about swine flu
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Nicholas Antonellis ’17 Awarded Directed Energy Professional Society Scholarship
September 29, 2017 , by Kaye Dyja, News Editor
c/o wesleyan.edu
Nicholas Antonellis ’17, MA ’18 has received a $10,000 scholarship from the Directed Energy Professional Society (DEPS). He is one of 14 students in the United States to receive this scholarship from DEPS for the 2017-2018 school year.
To qualify for the award, candidates must be full-time graduate students pursuing studies in directed energy technology areas of high-energy lasers or high-power microwaves. Antonellis wants to use his knowledge in photonic device design and computational simulations to improve medical technologies.
“I am developing skills in the area of electromagnetic theory as well as learning new data analysis and simulation techniques,” Antonellis said in an email to The Argus. “I plan on using these skills to eventually get a Ph.D. and work on something very practical such as electrical engineering with a focus on biomedical technologies. The application of electrical engineering (EE) principles to biomedicine is becoming increasingly important and useful with innovative imaging, diagnosis and treatment options coming from the integration of EE with medicine.”
Drawn to its logic and clarity, Antonellis first became involved with physics in high school.
“After the first day of AP Physics in high school I knew I would wanted to pursue further studies of engineering or physics in college,” Antonellis wrote. “It uncovers secrets of the natural world that have ramifications that affect every academic discipline…. My interest stemmed from this originally, but grew to an interest in generally improving upon technologies that can save and improve lives—especially for those who are suffering.”
At the University, Antonellis pursued research through Foss Professor of Physics Tom Morgan’s Molecular Spectroscopy lab and Professor of Physics, Integrative Sciences, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Francis Starr’s Molecular Spectroscopy lab as well. Then, while abroad in Copenhagen, Antonellis was accepted to a 10-week internship at the University of California Santa Barbara as a part of the National Science Foundation’s Future Leaders in Advanced Materials program.
“Essentially I was working on a project that would allow for the miniaturization of larger microscopes, mirrors, and other bulky optical instruments,” Antonellis wrote. “By changing the electric current through micro-resonators we could alter the refractive index and thus change the bulk optical properties of the metasurface allowing for a multifunctional metasurface.”
When Antonellis came back to the University in the fall of 2016, he started working with Professor of Physics, Mathematics, and Integrative Sciences, Tsampikos Kottos, and Roney Thomas, a postdoctoral research associate in the Physics Department.
“His work aims to provide realistic designs of photonic limiters,” Kottos wrote in an email to the Argus. “These are devices that aim to protect sensitive sensors from high power harmful radiation by reflecting this radiation back in space — while at the same time allow low power (friendly) radiation to go through and reach the sensor for further processing.”
Once Antonellis completes his MA, he plans to gravitate from academic research to pursue a job in the industry, whether that be in research or as a consultant. After, Antonellis plans to return to academia to pursue a Ph.D. in engineering or physics.
Kaye Dyja can be reached at kdyja@wesleyan.edu.
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Demon Deacons axed by Seminoles, fall to 4-1
By Ryan Johnston 2 years ago
Wake Forest entered their matchup against No. 25 Florida State this past Saturday, Sept. 30 seeking their first 5-0 record since 2006, when they last won the ACC Championship.
Unfortunately, the Seminoles had other plans, and Wake Forest fell, 26-19 at home, dropping their record to 4-1 this the season.
Coming off of a tight 20-19 win against the Mountaineers of App State, which propelled the Deacs to their second straight 4-0 start, Wake Forest fans felt unusually confident going into their contest against the perennial powerhouse that is Florida State. This season, however, had been a struggle for the Seminoles, who traveled to Winston-Salem winless at 0-2 and uneager to drop their third straight game.
Florida State opened up the scoring with a 51-yard field goal with seven minutes left in the first quarter, taking a 3-0 lead over the Deacons.
Wake Forest responded with two field goals of their own, with redshirt senior kicker Mike Weaver scoring late in the first quarter and early in the second quarter, extending his streak of consecutive-made field goals to 12. Wake Forest lengthened their lead with a three-yard run from senior quarterback John Wolford eight minutes into the second quarter, but Weaver’s missed PAT, along with a subsequent Florida State field goal and rushing touchdown gave the Seminoles a narrow 13-12 advantage heading into the half.
A Florida State field goal late in the third quarter pushed the Seminoles’ lead to four, but Wake Forest responded with a touchdown with 13:57 left in the fourth quarter via a seven-yard run from junior runningback Matt Colburn.
With the score knotted at 19-19 with just 6:20 left in the game, a series of three-and-outs for Wake Forest gave Florida State possession with just under a minute left.
The Seminoles, who finished the game with just 121 passing yards, gained 40 of them on their final offensive play, a touchdown pass and PAT that gave Florida State a 26-19 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
“I think our kids played their hearts out and left everything on the field,” said Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson. “It didn’t come down to one play. That’ll be the narrative that it came that close again. There’s a lot of things that we did that we didn’t give ourselves the best chance to win the game. I think for the first time in years we out-gained Florida State and a lot of the times if you win the statistical battle of yards and lose the game, it’s because of either turnovers or special teams. If you look at today, that’s exactly what happened.”
Clawson added “Three years ago, or even two years ago, this would have been a moral victory. Those in our program no longer exist.”
Redshirt sophomore Jessie Bates III agreed.
“I feel like we have so much talent on this team and we can compete with anyone in the country, and I think we showed that tonight.”
johnrc14@wfu.edu
Ryan is a senior communications major and journalism and Latin American studies minor at Wake Forest. Ryan enjoys skiing, playing pickup basketball and reading aloud his favorite tweets to the staff of the Old Gold & Black on production nights, prompted or unprompted. Ryan is grateful to the Old Gold & Black for the journalistic and career opportunities that the newspaper has provided him throughout his time at Wake Forest.
Previous Bullpen leads Yankees to victory over Twins
Next Wake Forest men’s soccer wins thriller against Clemson
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For Todd Dailey (Talk | Block log | Logs)
(Newest | Oldest) View (Newer 50) (Older 50) (20 | 50 | 100 | 250 | 500).
21:01, 18 April 2005 (hist) (diff) Circus Ponies NoteBook (→External Links)
05:53, 29 March 2005 (hist) (diff) In-Basket
05:45, 29 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Talk:Main Page (→Software Template)
05:44, 29 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Talk:Main Page
05:40, 29 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Talk:Main Page ((removed beta chit-chat))
08:45, 24 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Macintosh
08:42, 24 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Talk:Macintosh
07:45, 24 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Digital Voice Recorder
07:44, 24 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Self-Stick Unframed Bulletin Board by POST-IT (top)
07:43, 24 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Self-Stick Unframed Bulletin Board by POST-IT
06:59, 24 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Windows
06:59, 24 March 2005 (hist) (diff) PocketPC
06:58, 24 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Palm
06:57, 24 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Cross-Platform
06:57, 24 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Web
06:55, 24 March 2005 (hist) (diff) UNIX & Linux
01:58, 24 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Fisher Space Pen (→Testimonials)
01:56, 24 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Fisher Space Pen
18:00, 23 March 2005 (hist) (diff) User:Todd Dailey (top)
17:21, 23 March 2005 (hist) (diff) User talk:Akchizar (top)
17:20, 23 March 2005 (hist) (diff) User:Todd Dailey
07:04, 22 March 2005 (hist) (diff) HumaneText
07:03, 22 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Pheeder
07:03, 22 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Sciral Consistency
07:02, 22 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Mail.app
07:02, 22 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Entourage
07:01, 22 March 2005 (hist) (diff) VoodooPad
07:01, 22 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Tinderbox
07:00, 22 March 2005 (hist) (diff) TextWrangler
06:59, 22 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Stickybrain
06:58, 22 March 2005 (hist) (diff) m Aquaminds NoteTaker
06:58, 22 March 2005 (hist) (diff) m DEVONthink
06:49, 22 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Productivity pr0n (Proof of my cult membership)
06:48, 22 March 2005 (hist) (diff) Image:Represent.jpg (43 Folders fetish items) (top)
15:32, 27 January 2005 (hist) (diff) GTD on the web
04:52, 27 January 2005 (hist) (diff) Hipster PDA
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Login | Artists Free Register Español
Art Space here!
- Australia 1972
Lives and works in Sydney
1995: First Exhibition at Arthaus Gallery
2008: Won The Archibald Prize
Del Kathryn Barton is an Australian artist widely recognised as one of Australia's leading figurative painters of her generation. Barton has won The Archibald Prize in 2013 for a portrait of the famous Australian actor Hugo Weaving, prize that she already won in 2008 for a self-portrait with her children. The Archibald Prize is Australia's most prestigious portrait painting awards.
Born in 1972, Del Kathryn Barton currently lives and works in Sydney. In 1993, she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales, where she was subsequently employed as a lecturer in drawing.
She had her first exhibition in 1995 at Arthaus Gallery, and since then she has held several major solo and group exhibitions, both locally and abroad.
Painting, sculpture and drawing are an integral part of Barton's practice drawing imagery from the human form and experience.
Del Kathryn Barton is held in numerous prominent private and public collections, including BHP Billiton, Melbourne; Art and Australia, Sydney; Artbank; Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the RACV Art Collection, Melbourne; The University of Sydney Union Collection and UBS, Sydney.
Other artists that may interest you
Anna Stoyanova
Kevin Francis Gray
Joanna Malinowska
Bjargey Olafsdottir
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We apply First-Party-Cookies and Third-Party-Cookies, to give you best server experience and a more personalized service. If you continue visiting our website, we consider that you accept the use of cookies. More information here
© 2012 Artdiscover.com. All rights reserved.
Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others.
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A Sudden Multiplication of Planets by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope
NASA announced a breakthrough addition to the catalog of new planets. Researchers using Kepler have confirmed 715 new worlds, almost quadrupling the number of planets previously confirmed by the planet-hunting spacecraft. Some of the new worlds are similar in size to Earth and orbit in the habitable zone of their parent stars. Read more at NASA
op 10:17 0 reacties
Climate Change Finance: Better use of Climate Finance
An easy to understand concept of Climate Change Finance, its management and recommended directions to better manage it.
Countries are increasingly looking at how climate change is reflected in their own national budgets and expenditures. While the debates continue internationally about who should cover the costs of reducing carbon emissions or adapting to climate risks, developing countries themselves are also responding to climate change by examining more closely their own domestic resources from their own existing budgets.
UNDP has begun working with countries in Asia to help them undertake a Climate Public Expenditure and Institutional Review. This means they are looking through their national budgets to identify where climate change is already influencing allocations. With a better understanding of exactly how much and where existing national budgetary resources are going, more informed choices can be made about how and where to channel additional resources for countries to prepare for the effects of climate change.
What Is Monsanto?
Global awareness of Monsanto is at an all time high, and Monsanto's GMO's are now banned in at least 50 countries and increasing.
Amount of old ice in Arctic, 1987-2013
The winter ice pack in the Arctic was once dominated by old, thick ice. Today, very little old ice remains. This animation shows maps of sea ice age from 1987 through the end of October 2013. Age class 1 means "first-year ice," which is ice that formed in the most recent winter. The oldest ice (9+) is ice that is more than 9 years old. Animation by NOAA climate.gov, based on research data provided by Mark Tschudi, CCAR, University of Colorado.
What's going on in Venezuela in a nutshell
Hovercraft Deer Rescue
A Sudden Multiplication of Planets by NASA's Keple...
Climate Change Finance: Better use of Climate Fina...
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She Fatally Stabbed Her Husband As He Allegedly Raped Her. A Sudanese Court Sentenced Her To Death.
May 12, 2018 May 14, 2018 WEC
Crowds gathered at a courthouse in Sudan, for the sentencing hearing of Noura Hussein.
Noura Hussein’s pending execution has prompted an international campaign calling for clemency for the 19-year-old.
Noura Hussein had no desire to get married. She was about 16, an aspiring teacher who hadn’t even finished high school. But the Sudanese teenager’s family forced her to marry the man of their choosing, a cousin, against her will. Her family made a contract with the groom’s family, and the marriage was settled.
Hussein refused to accept it, running away to live with a relative in a neighboring city for nearly three years, according to Amnesty International and other activists involved in her case. In April of last year, her family convinced her to return to their home in the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan’s capital. The wedding was off, her father promised.
It was a trap. Hussein’s family forced her to participate in a wedding ceremony and move in with her arranged husband. And when she refused to consummate the marriage, her husband sought the help of his brother and cousins. The men held her down as her husband raped her, according to activists in Sudan and her lawyer, who spoke to the Associated Press.
The following day he tried to rape her again, her lawyer told the AP. Hussein grabbed a knife from the kitchen and stabbed him to death. Her legal team called it a desperate act of defense. A court in Sudan called it murder.
Late last month, Hussein was found guilty of premeditated murder. On Thursday, she was sentenced to death by hanging. Her legal team has 15 days to appeal the sentence before she is executed, according to witnesses in the courtroom, who spoke to The Washington Post and documented the hearing on social media.
Hussein’s conviction and pending execution have prompted an international campaign calling for clemency for the young woman. Across social media, Sudanese activists and supporters in Europe, Australia and Washington have rallied around Hussein. Her case, they say, sheds light on a culture that subjects women to male violence, and a broken justice system that renders many women powerless.
In Sudan, a girl as young as 10 can be legally married with the permission of a judge and a guardian, Reuters reported.
“Noura Hussein is a victim and the sentence against her is an intolerable act of cruelty,” Seif Magango, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, wrote in a statement.
Hussein has been held in a women’s prison in Omdurman, Sudan’s second-largest city, since May 2017. After she told her family what happened, Hussein’s father turned her into police, calling her a “shame” to the family, according to Afrika Youth Movement, an activist group working with Hussein’s lawyers.
Hussein’s story, and the hashtag #JusticeForNoura, have circulated on social media in Sudan in recent weeks, and supporters packed the courtroom on Thursday to witness the sentencing. But none of Hussein’s relatives attended the hearing, “because of the social stigma,” Badreldin Salah, a 25-year-old activist with Afrika Youth Movement who was in the court Thursday, told The Post.
Under sharia law in Sudan, a person found guilty of murder is either executed or forced to pay a fine. Forced child marriage and marital rape are not considered crimes in Sudan, and cannot be used as evidence in a defense. The deceased individual’s family chooses the punishment, demanding either a pardon, monetary compensation or a death sentence, Salah told The Post. The whole family has to agree on the punishment, Salah said.
The judge asked the deceased man’s family which option they wanted, and the family chose execution. As the judge granted the sentence, the man’s family began “clapping with joy,” according to witnesses cited by Hussein’s campaign. Outside the courtroom, supporters of Hussein protested with anti-death penalty signs before being “harassed” by state security troops and told to leave, Salah said.
Randa Elzein tweeted “I was never sadder and more shaken than when i saw Noura today. She walked in with steady feet and a head held high.She is a hero, a survivor and a voice that dared refuse oppression in a society created to oppress.#JusticeForNoura”
Sodfa Daaji tweeted “The court is full. People gathered to support Noura for her last trial. Thanks to our @AfrikaYMmember @badreldinsfor keeping us updated. #JusticeForNoura@ENoMW@elizamackintosh”
The Afrika Youth Movement wrote a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, condemning Hussein’s case as an “atrocity committed by the state of Sudan against a powerless individual, first violated as a female child and then executed as an adult female for the very abuse she in fact suffered.”
The group pleaded with international human rights leaders to interfere in the sentence. Groups such as Equality Now are writing to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to plead for clemency. A group of Sudanese and international activists have been visiting Hussein in prison, translating letters of support from across the globe and working with her lawyers to appeal the case. Thousands of people have signed petitions in support of Hussein. A team of Sudanese activists are organizing a protest at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Saturday.
Cases like Hussein’s don’t come to light often in Sudan, Salah said, because most young women who experience sexual abuse in marriage “don’t raise their voices or say anything because of the social pressure or the social stigma. They prefer to stay silent.” But Hussein’s case was different.
“Noura stood up,” Salah said. “Noura rebelled on the family and on the social system.”
Hussein’s case is significant, Afrika Youth Movement wrote, “Not only because she is one of the many women in a similar situation – subjected to patriarchal male violence, blamed and abandoned by community, at the mercy of religious laws, without recourse to justice. She is also one the many women who refused to submit to this violence and stood up to defend herself.”
The execution of a young woman, a victim of gender based violence, the group wrote, “is a regress in the eyes of international law and an irreparable damage for Sudan’s and perhaps more broadly Africa’s international reputation.”
Sudan is marked 165 out of 188 in the United Nations Development Programme’s Gender Development Index, which quantifies gender inequality using income levels, political representation, reproductive health, maternal mortality rates and other measures.
One in three Sudanese women are married before the age of 18, Reuters reported, citing the United Nations.
Magango, of Amnesty International, said that by applying the “cruel” death penalty to a rape victim, Sudanese authorities failed to acknowledge the violence Hussein endured.
“The Sudanese authorities must quash this grossly unfair sentence and ensure that Noura gets a fair retrial that takes into account her mitigating circumstances,” Magango wrote.
Noura Hussein’s life-long wish was to become a teacher but she ended up being forced to marry an abusive man who raped and brutalized her,” Magango added. “Now she has been slapped with a death sentence.”
Source By ndtv.com
Woman, 22, complains about man masturbating behind her on bus but ‘driver just tells her to move seats’
Model left ‘looking like the Joker’ after a devil dog mauled her face
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Today's Port of Call
Local Views
Home >> World Map >> Northern Africa >> Libya >> Port of Tripoli
Port of Tripoli
Review and History
The Port of Tripoli lies on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in northwest Libya. It is the country’s capital, biggest city, and most important seaport. At the heart of Libya’s most densely-populated region, it is connected by almost a thousand kilometers of coastal highway to the Port of Benghazi and by inland road to Sabh? to the south. In 2005, over 911 thousand people lived in the city and over two million lived in the urban area of the Port of Tripoli.
As Libya’s busiest manufacturing and commercial center, the Port of Tripoli is home to traditional industries that include the makers of carpet and cigarettes, tanners, fishing, and fish canneries. Newer heavy industries include an oil depot, gas-bottling plant, and some vehicle assembly plants. The Port of Tripoli is also on the site of a coastal oasis that supports agricultural produce like olives, fruit, vegetables, grains, and tobacco. With a very long and rich history, the Port of Tripoli also contains many archaeological sites.
The Phoenicians founded Oea, today’s Port of Tripoli, in the 7th Century BC when they established a port and colony there. It was later ruled by Greek colonists who called their colony Cyrenaica which stretched halfway to Egypt. Still later, the Carthaginians conquered the city.
By the end of the 2nd Century BC, Romans ruled the city. They called the Roman province Regio Syrtica, or “Region of the Three Cities” including Oea, Sabratha, and Leptis Magna (the latter two are UNESCO World Heritage Sites). Historians believe that Emperor Septimius Severus, who was born in Leptis Magna, raised the modern Port of Tripoli to the status of a separate province. Despite their occupation for several centuries, there are few visible reminders of the Romans. Many columns were incorporated into newer buildings. The 2nd Century Arch of Marcus Aurelius stands.
Since the Port of Tripoli has been settled so long, most residents either used materials from older buildings or built their new buildings atop the old. Therefore, many remains remain underground and unexcavated. It is likely that the Port of Tripoli fell into decline in the 5th and 6th Centuries AD after the Roman Empire fell.
By the early 8th Century, the Muslims had conquered North Africa and the Port of Tripoli. Over the next seven centuries, it was ruled by dynasties from Cairo including the Fatimids and the Mamluks, and the Port of Tripoli was an important base for the infamous Barbary pirates.
In 1510, Don Pedro Navarro, took the Port of Tripoli for Spain, largely to break up pirate activities and support the growth of Christian shipping in the Mediterranean. It was consigned to the Knights of St. John in 1523 after they Ottoman Turks expelled them from the island of Rhodes to prevent the return of piracy to the city. The knights built up the city’s defenses, building atop older buildings that may include a Roman bath, including the earliest parts of the Red Castle (Assaraya al-Hamra). The knights were able to hold the city until 1551.
Turgut Reis led the Ottoman Turks in their conquest of the Port of Tripoli in 1551. Turgut was buried in the Port of Tripoli in 1565 when he died during a siege of Malta. He was interred in a tomb in a mosque he is said to have created near his palace in Tripoli. The palace is gone, but the mosque and tomb still stand near the Bab Al-Bahr gate.
With the Ottoman Turks in power, Barbary pirates again began to operate out of the Port of Tripoli. Ruling from 1551 until 1711, their local Janissary Corps (much like the Roman Praetorian Guard) hindered effective Ottoman administration of the city.
In 1711, a Janissary officer from Turkey killed the Ottoman governor and made himself the ruler of the Port of Tripoli region. By 1714, he had made the region a relatively independent body, paying tribute to the Ottoman Sultan but independent in all other ways. This was the beginning of the Karamanli Dynasty that ruled a fairly corrupt region, with much blackmailing and piracy, until 1835 when the Ottoman Empire saw an opportunity to re-establish its authority over the Port of Tripoli.
In the early 19th Century, the Port of Tripoli’s rulers were pulled into two wars with the United States. The US had been paying tribute since 1796 for the safety of their ocean-going commerce. In 1801, the local Pasha (governor) demanded more tribute. The US refused and blockaded the Port of Tripoli. This First Barbary War lasted four years, during which time Tripolitan forced captured a US frigate and turned it against the US until the Americans burned the ship.
The war ended in 1805 when a mercenary expedition of 500 marched from Alexandria, Egypt, across the desert to capture the Port of Derna, the province’s capital. When peace was declared, the Pasha received $60 thousand in ransom for the prisoners that had been taken from the US frigate. US forces visited the Port of Tripoli again in 1815, bringing an end to all US tribute payments and a beginning to the final days of piracy in the region.
In 1835, the Ottomans once again reasserted their authority over the Port of Tripoli, and it remained under their control into the 20th Century. In 1911, Italy claimed the need to protect its citizens who lived in the Port of Tripoli. It declared war against the Ottomans, saying it would annex the city. A naval battle fought at Prevesa, Greece, ended in the destruction of three Ottoman ships and the recognition of Italian sovereignty over the Port of Tripoli. The Italians controlled the region until 1943. British forces governed the area after World War II until Libyan independence in 1941.
In 1986, US planes bombed both the Ports of Tripoli and Benghazi, claiming that Libya was engaged in acts of terrorism against the US. United Nations sanctions were imposed that remained in effect until 2003. Lifting of the sanctions has allowed ocean-going traffic to increase in the Port of Tripoli, and the city’s economy has begun to recover.
Today, the Port of Tripoli is at the heart of Libya’s economy and the center of finance, communications, banking, commerce, and manufacturing for the country. Manufactured goods like textiles, construction materials, processed foods, clothing, and tobacco flow from the city. Foreign investment and tourism are on the increase. The Port of Tripoli hosts the Tripoli International Fair each year in April where participants from about 30 countries and 2000 companies exhibit their agricultural, industrial, and commercial products.
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Map of the Abandoned Rails of Ackley to Rockwell
Ackley to Rockwell
North Central Railway
Forwarded from North Central Railway
Home | IA | C&NW , ERR&CC , ICRR , M&StL , NCRA
This line was first built by the Eldora Railroad and Coal Company in 1866 for the purpose of transporting regionally-mined coal to a connection with the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad at Ackley. Further expansion of the line to Marshalltown (and a connection with the Chicago & North Western Railroad) occurred between 1868 and 1870.
By 1912, the line had come under the ownership of the Iowa Central Railroad, who, in that year, merged with the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad. The C&NW purchased the M&StL in 1960, and since the C&NW already owned a line that operated parallel to this route, C&NW opted to move all mainline traffic to the other parallel route, leaving this route for local service only. C&NW subsequently started abandoning portions of the line at various times.
In 1988, C&NW filed to abandoned a portion of this line between Ackley and Geneva. However, the North Central Railroad negotiated with the C&NW to purchase the line, and did so the following year. With the operation of the Ackley-Geneva portion of the line occurring in 2009, the NCRA filed for abandonment in 2013.
No comments have been posted for this abandonment yet.
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Playlist: A Taste of Acclaimed Albums (Complete!)
Postby Rob » Tue Aug 07, 2018 7:36 pm
As I said before when the last update hit, I'm going to make a playlist of the top three songs of the top 3000 albums on Acclaimed Music. Today I started! Here it is; work in progress:
How do I pick the three songs? Similarly to my playlist for MegaCritic I pick the three best regarded songs. To keep things close to AM, I take this website first as a basis, so it goes like this:
- Songs from the album that rank in the top 10.000 songs get in first. Up til now, all albums I did had three songs ranked. Note that in the playlist they do not appear in their ranking order, but in the order they appear on the album, so as to keep some semblance of the albums flow.
- Bubblers are next. If I there are more bubblers eligible than I can fit in, Spotify decided. This means I'll check which of the eligible bubbler(s) has the most streams on Spotify, with the highest getting in.
- Lastly if spots remain, I will use the Spotify method. Streams are not similar to critical acclaim, but it is the best I can work with now. Finding the three most beloved songs per album based on critics could perhaps be done in someway, but will prove to be a too lengthy process for now.
- Many re-releases add bonus tracks to an album, like previously stand-alone singles, cuts or demos. These will not be taken into consideration for this playlist. I only regard songs from the original release.
- And yes, that brings us to the tricky question of what the original release is. Some albums, including a lot of sixties classics, where released in different versions across countries, with frequently differences between the US and Europe. I initially thought to combine them, but with already the first case, Are You Experienced, I got into a weird situation. I would have to pick Purple Haze, Hey Joe and The Wind Cries Mary, three tracks that are all absent from the European version, which came first! I switched back to keeping the first release (in this example the European one) as the original. I'm not sure if this is the right approach though, so opinions are welcome.
This does leave some odd situations: some albums have only three tracks or less and so will be presented here in full, like Tubular Bells and Close to the Edge. Very silly yes, but I love silliness, so there you go.
I'm not yet sure how to handle albums not present on Spotify. The only way I know I can add them (albeit unplayable) is by getting a version of it in my music library. Of course, I do not own every single acclaimed album that is not on Spotify - so I'm not sure if I will simply download the songs (which I don't like to do otherwise), ignore them or find another way to add them. Thoughts, anyone?
Finally, a question. If a new update ever comes the playlist will have to be updated, but I probably don't want to start over again. I think there is an easy way with spreadsheets to contain the link to each song, but I'm not sure how it works. Who knows?
Two stars of our most acclaimed album.
This is still a work in progress. I will update on my own tempo, but will try to keep a reasonable pace. I have determined that I will work on the playlist for as long at a time as one album lasts. The album will always be the first one that I have to add to the playlist. Today that was obviously our number 1, Pet Sounds. Now I stopped at #36, so I will continue with #37: Massive Attack's Blue Lines. I'm sure later I will be able to discover some albums previously unknown to me this way (albeit not with full attention), making the process extra fun for me. I'll post here every update.
Last edited by Rob on Sun Feb 10, 2019 1:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
StevieFan13
Contact StevieFan13
Re: Playlist: A Taste of Acclaimed Albums (work in progress)
Postby StevieFan13 » Tue Aug 07, 2018 8:39 pm
Good luck with the Joy Division albums - last I checked, they only had a couple of acclaimed songs, and most of them were non-album singles!
Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand - Sir Duke (1976)
Postby Rob » Wed Aug 08, 2018 2:55 pm
Updated from #37 (Massive Attack's Blue Lines) to #74 (De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising).
StevieFan13 wrote: Good luck with the Joy Division albums - last I checked, they only had a couple of acclaimed songs, and most of them were non-album singles!
No problem at all actually, as both albums have three tracks ranked! And besides, I could easily have used the Spotify method. Every album up til now had at least three albums on AM though, so I haven't had to use the Spotify method yet. In fact, There's a Riot Goin' On at #56 was the first I had to use a bubbler, so in general the top 100 albums deliver a lot to the song list.
I did run into a new situation though: a live album (in this case James Brown's Live at the Apollo). I could just pick the three highest acclaimed songs the act performs, but that seems wrong, so I will be using the Spotify method for live albums. Exceptions are when a live track is specifically mentioned on AM.
While compiling I listened to:
Massive Attack - Blue Lines
Kirby Mass Attack is a game that somehow doesn't use Blue Lines as it's soundtrack, one of gaming's greatest mistakes.
I only heard Blue Lines for the first time at the beginning of this year, expecting it wouldn't be for me, but I actually like it a lot. Sometimes it is said that it hasn't aged well or that Mezzanine is clearly the better one. I disagree very much with the first statement at least.
Location: Älvsjö, Stockholm, Sweden
Contact Henrik
Postby Henrik » Wed Aug 08, 2018 3:03 pm
Yes! This is awesome, Rob!!!
Rob wrote: Finally, a question. If a new update ever comes the playlist will have to be updated, but I probably don't want to start over again. I think there is an easy way with spreadsheets to contain the link to each song, but I'm not sure how it works. Who knows?
You can export data, including SpotifyID, to a spreadsheet using Spotlistr.
http://spotlistr.herokuapp.com/#/export/spotify-playlist
Let me know if you need further help with this.
Everyone you meet fights a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.
Postby Rob » Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:44 pm
Today I Updated from #75 (Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) to #127 (Dr. Dre's The Chronic).
I had to use the Spotify method for the first time, on Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. It's still a rare occurrence though.
Henrik wrote: Yes! This is awesome, Rob!!!
Thanks, Henrik. This is certainly useful.
While compiling, I listened to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco
This is Marina City in Chicago. You can rent an appartement here. Let's live there!
To be fair, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot has never totally clicked with me, but it has great moments.
Postby Rob » Sun Aug 12, 2018 7:23 pm
Today I updated from #128 (Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True) to #161 (T.Rex' Electric Warrior).
While updating I listened to My Aim Is True:
Did you know there are people who when hearing his name ask whether Elvis Costello is the brother of Elvis Presley. You can't make stuff like that up.
This was my first time listening to My Aim Is True, although I knew a couple of tracks. Costello needs some close listening to lyrics, which doesn't quite happen when I'm compiling a playlist, so I hardly have a good view of the album. It sounds rough and punchy, but less varied than the somewhat higher ranking This Year's Model, which I have heard quite a few times already (no I don't know why it took so long to get to My Aim Is True either).
Workdays make this progress go slower, but today I updated from #162 (Bob Marley & The Wailer's Natty Dread) to #197 (The Modern Lovers' self-titled album). I hoped to get further, but there were some complicated ones among this group (here's looking at you Saturday Night Fever).
Anyway, while compiling I listened to Natty Dread by Bob Marley and the Wailers.
The term "Natty Dread" is another word for Rastafaria's, like this guy.
This is a very good Bob Marley and the Wailers' album. Like most of Marley's output it is a little complicated for compiling this playlist, as it is rather tricky to find out which songs originated here and which don't (a lot of songs appear on multiple Marley records - and I'm not talking about compilations or even live albums). Whatever the case, this one sounds like a good unity of songs and works very well as an album.
Postby Rob » Sat Aug 18, 2018 9:31 pm
Today I updated the list from #198 (Neil Young's Tonight's the Night) until #239 (The Who's My Generation).
And I listened to Neil Young's Tonight's the Night:
Bruce Berry, the subject of the song Tonight's the Night, Neil Young's roadie whose life was ruined and eventually ended by heroine.
I'm rather dedicated to a couple of Neil Young albums, but I think this is only the second time I listened to this one, perhaps because of it's heavy subject theme. There is more than that though, so I think I will revisit this one more often in the future. Young sings in a rawer voice than usual.
Last edited by Rob on Fri Sep 28, 2018 8:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Postby spiritualized » Sun Aug 19, 2018 8:14 am
Subscribed to your list.
Great list to listen to when I don’t feel like listening to a particular artist or my faves... whilst keeping a smidgeon of discovery.
Does Spotify still have a max number of songs in their playlists ?
spiritualized wrote: Subscribed to your list.
I don't know, but since the maximum used to be 10.000 (it still is?) this list won't be in problem, because even if all albums would have 3 songs (which is not the case), it would contain 9.000 songs.
Postby Rob » Mon Aug 20, 2018 9:14 pm
Today I updated from #240 (Roxy Music by... Roxy Music) up to #285 (George Harrison's All Things Must Pass).
I was very annoyed about how Live at Leeds by The Who appears on Spotify. There are two special editions there, both with no regard of the original order of the songs. That doesn't matter much for the playlist, but the original songs now have different lengths than they had on the original release. I let it slide, but it is odd that they offer two different versions, but no way to listen to the original (admittedly, the extended version is very good).
Similarly, All Things Must Pass also has bonus tracks, all put slapdash in the middle, instead of at the end, right at the place were you had to change discs on original vinyl. So now you can't listen to it in one go as intended without personal action and have to go through two versions of My Sweet Lord before getting on with things. Whose idea is this nonsense?
Also, outside of the title track, I noticed that barely any song on Funkadelic's One Nation Under a Groove had any streams. The critics only voted one song in. What's up with that?
While compiling I listened to Roxy Music's self-titled album.
This is electronic band Ladytron. They do not appear on the album, but a song named Ladytron does. I just thought I'd share.
So, Roxy Music. A band I never got into. My father had a compilation of their hits and these held no appeal to me so I never made checking out their albums a priority. From their debut I only knew Virginia Plain, also a song that does nothing for me. This album sounded weirder than I expected. I always thought of them as an extremely polished glam band, but what we have here is a raw, messy sound. Probably courtesy of Brian Eno. It has more appeal to me than their later sound, but I wasn't drawn into it in particular, even though I admit that my main focus is on making the playlist and the music is more background.
Today I updated from #286 (Slayer's Reign in Blood) to #318 (Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire de Melody Nelson).
That's not a huge album, but since each update takes as long as the album I'm listening to, today just happened to have the rather short Reign in Blood.
Interestingly, all albums from 201 to 300 are on Spotify. Too avenge this, the numbers 301 (Joanna Newsom's Ys) and 302 (Pere Ubu's The Modern Dance) are not, although all top tracks of the latter are on Spotify regardless.
But yeah, while compiling today I listened to this undisputable forum favourite:
It isn't the highest ranked metal album on Acclaimed Music, but certainly the highest ranked of it's kind: trash, with a good measure of blood and satanism thrown in. Like a lot of these album I enjoy the playing, but the enjoyment is somewhat destroyed by the vocals and especially the ragingly stupid lyrics (the first lines heard are "Auschwitz/ The meaning of pain/ the way that I want you to die!"). It's hardly stuff I can relate to, but at least the drums are amazing.
Today I updated from #319 (The Who's The Who Sell Out) up until #347 (Dabe Brubeck Quartet's Take Five).
Again a relatively short update. But the playlist passed the 1.000 song mark! Only about 8.000 te go!
While updating I listened to The Who Sell Out:
And if the The Who can sell out, so can I. So I urge you all to buy your bread at Bakkerij van den Bergh. Go do it: http://www.bakkerijvandenbergh.nl/aanbiedingen/
The True Baker!
Anyway, it was a while since I listened to this album. I always loved The Who, but this was never my go-to album of theirs. It only contains one of their real classics, I Can See for Miles. What struck me now was how odd an album it is and not just because of the commercials and radio jingles. I think they were searching for something new after the more straight-forward rock of My Generation and the new format provided by Tommy. The album flows very well, but the songs frequently sound just a little strange or else a bit silly. It is like-able for sure, but whether it will ever come close to Who's Next for me remains to be seen.
Today I updated from #348 (TV on the Radio's Return to Cookie Mountain) up and until #395 (Grateful Dead's Live/Dead).
Point of annoyance: Todd Rundgren's Something/Anything is a double album, but oddly Spotify only has the 'first disc' available, a stupid error. Luckily I could get the two missing top tracks somewhere else.
Milestones: Tubular Bells is the first album I came across with only two songs and it is the first album to be fully included on the playlist. It was followed one spot later by In a Silent Way, which also has only two tracks. In a Silent Way's two tracks are also ranked on AM, making it the first album I come across were every track is both acclaimed and present in the playlist.
While compiling I listened to: Return to Cookie Mountain by TV on the Radio!
This is where we have to return to boys! Not a bad idea actually.
Confession, I didn't consciously know about the existence of this album til relatively recent. During the 2000's poll for the year 2006 someone commented that Return to Cookie Mountain was fading with critics. My mental reaction: "There is an album called Return to Cookie Mountain". I'm afraid that this album and TV on the Radio are indeed fading somewhat. But I discovered them only recently and I really like them. I guess this album doesn't have to the immediacy that appeals to the mainstream, while for the indie crowd it might be too raw. For me, it hits a sweet spot.
Today I updated from #396 (Simon & Garfunkel's Bookends) until #421 (Eno's Here Come the Warm Jets).
A short update, the album I listened to lasted less than 30 minutes. But that is a good thing this time, because otherwise I wouldn't have gotten around it and every bit of work done is welcome.
So I listened to Simon & Garfunkel's Bookends:
Here's to you Mrs. Robinson.
This is the album with Mrs. Robinson of course and also A Hazy Shade of Winter. Two all-time favorites! There is also America, which I like, but don't consider a huge personal favorite. The other tracks here don't seem to be that well-known, although my sister at least LOVES At the Zoo. I think other Simon & Garfunkel albums have more outright classics and I'm surprised that it ranks quite a bit higher than Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, which has both more classics and seems to capture the sound of this duo probably more perfectly than any of their other albums.
That is not to say I don't like this album. It is a weird album, with Simon trying out some new sounds. He wants to be more rock and he frequently sounds harsher. This is doesn't come natural to him as he later admitted. That's why he never returned to this sound. The result actually works even if it might explain why this is the Simon & Garfunkel album I return least to save for the debut.
FrankLotion
Let's Get It On
Postby FrankLotion » Wed Aug 29, 2018 11:09 pm
Just wanted to go out on a limb and say this is my favorite thread on this forum right now, thanks for the insightful (and funny) journaling you’ve been doing along with the playlist!
FrankLotion wrote: Just wanted to go out on a limb and say this is my favorite thread on this forum right now, thanks for the insightful (and funny) journaling you’ve been doing along with the playlist!
Thanks, FrankLotion! I also write this stuff to keep myself entertained through this big task, but I'm glad others enjoy it too.
Today I updates from #422 (Buena Vista Social Club's self-titled album) to #468 (Ian Dury's New Boots and Panties!!)
For the first time I got an album (two in fact), that are not on Spotify and also don't have enough song on Acclaimed Music to pick from. The missing picks that are included are a little random I am afraid.
Also, I added a song named Smack My Bitch Up to the playlist, something I'd rather avoid. Please note that the content of the songs (or their titles) do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the compiler.
Anyway, today I listened to something more benign than The Prodigy, namely Bueno Vista Social Club:
The most famous song from the album is named Chan Chan. This is an image of the historic Peruvian city Chan Chan. Both have nothing to do with each other.
But yeah, Chan Chan, I've known that one for quite some time and I love it. Still, I never got around the whole album before, so it was nice this landed on there. It is a nice and gentle Summery album, although it didn't lift my spirits as much as I hoped after that big single. As relaxing albums go, you can do far worse than this one though. It has for better or worse become something of an emblem of world music. Kind of cool that such status is given to an album made by old people, even if the inclusion of Ry Cooder might have helped to give this extra attention.
Postby Rob » Sun Sep 02, 2018 7:23 pm
A big update today, easily the biggest yet! I went from #469 (Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous) to #534 (Moby Grape's self-titled album).
That Thin Lizzy live album is long so that made it possible to get a lot done.
We also hit another milestone, as we passed the 500 albums border. One sixth done! All albums I come across now are eligible for the Moderately Acclaimed album game!
As said, I listened to Live and Dangerous by Thin Lizzy while compiling today:
Live and dangerous, plain to see.
I like this band quite a lot. They aren't the most innovative rock group around, but they knew how to be wild and their playing tends to be top notch. This album captures that. The soloing is great and the group sounds on fire the whole 76 minutes. Phil Lynott is one hell of a front man. The sound quality of this concert isn't all that great actually, but the atmosphere shines through. An easy recommendation to hard rock fans.
Postby Rob » Mon Sep 03, 2018 8:17 pm
Today I updated from #535 (The Undertones' self-titled album) to #559 (Bee Thousand by Guided by Voices).
Yes, after the big one of yesterday this was only a small update, but The Undertones' debut lasts less than half an hour, so there you go. Plus I had great difficulty with Thelonius Monk's Genius of Modern Music, which already comes in many forms and Spotify decided to make a messed-up, unholy lovechild out of all them.
Also a milestone: The Rolling Stones' self-titled is the first non-live album I came across that didn't have a single song on Acclaimed Music! Never expected that one would be the first. If I had counted English Newest Hitmakers - the American variant - I could have counted one entry, Not Fade Away, but I try to keep my rules here consistent so the debut of these hitmakers from across the pond end empty-handed. Many tracks have got quite some play on Spotify though.
And today I listened to The Undertones by The Undertones:
The Undertones might tone it under, but they don't tone it down.
(For some reason it is hard to actually find a concert picture of this band, at least from back in the day).
This band always feels like it is of a piece of The Buzzcocks. They have the same pop-punk feel that comes across as rather upbeat even when rocking hard and sounding angry. Not for the punk purists who think punk is only for channeling rage, but for the rest of us this is very enjoyable. Like many I suspect, I only knew them from Teenage Kicks (not on the original version of the album and so not in the playlist), but it turns out they can turn in a very good album indeed. This is one punk rock album that just keep rocking along, consistent in mood yet never repetitive.
Postby Rob » Thu Sep 06, 2018 8:11 pm
Today I went from #560 (Fiona Apple's The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do) until #592 (The Beatles' Help!).
And if you, like me, would like to have seen a larger update, blame Phil Spector for getting a Various Artist album on AM (his christmas gift for us...), meaning I had to check song by song whether it was ranked on AM. Of course only one was, at the bottom of the album.
Special shout-out too to Ellington At Newport which is only on Spotify in an extended version with changed song titles... I'm pretty sure this is all done specifically to annoy me. I'm suddenly feeling like an album purist.
Milestone, an odd one: I came across an album for the first time I think I never heard of before - Lloyd Cole & the Commotions' Rattlesnakes. I vaguely know the band name, but if I was pressed to ask what they were I would have said either a fifties group or a new wave act. It's an 80's jange pop album. Hopefully, I didn't hurt any fan's feelings here. I'm sure it is amazing.
But I didn't listen to Rattlesnakes today - although it sometimes sounded like it -, but to Fiona Apple's The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do (yes, I'm insisting on using the full title, out of spite to both Spotify and even Acclaimed Music who refuse to do so).
The thing in the middle is an idler wheel. This was an English word I was unfamiliar with, so I had to look it up. It is a wheel that is specifically there as a connection between two or more main wheels so that they keep rotating. They are also wiser than the driver of the screw, apparently.
This wasn't the first time listening to this record, although it was some time ago that I heard in full. I'm rather dedicated to Hot Knife (#735 on my recent top 1000), one of those songs that is both very weird as well as very catchy. This isn't the best way to get re-acquainted to it, as this is an album that demands more careful attention than as a background sound for compiling a list. Still, these crazy rhythms keep working an Fiona Apple has really developed her singing style with each album. To me this album feels like vocal jazz, but perhaps because of her previous work she will never been credited as such.
Postby Rob » Fri Sep 07, 2018 3:55 pm
Today I updated from #593 (Roxy Music's Avalon) to #620 (Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians).
Now Music for 18 Musicians is interesting here, not just because it is very different musically to what we usually find here, but also because it is the first album I add to this playlist that consists of only one song. Some versions break the album in multiple tracks and a case can be made for that, but the original recording is only available as one piece, which equally seems right. Rate Your Music, usually the purists take on such things, breaks it into two tracks, for which also a case could be made. But for now, you have to make due with all 56 minutes and 31 seconds of it.
Also, earlier I mentioned that The Rolling Stones' debut album was the first without songs on Acclaimed Music, but that was by ignoring the US version of the album. Music for 18 Musicians is the first album without songs on Acclaimed Music even with a loophole. I guess it didn't deliver any hit singles.
But today I didn't listen to Steve Reich, but to Roxy Music's Avalon:
A painting by Edward Burne-Jones of the death of King Arthur in Avalon, a mist-covered, hidden castle on an island. A place of legends.
My least favorite album I listened to for this project was the Roxy Music debut, so fate decided to give me another one of theirs. Earlier I said I equated the band more with a slick sound than the debut actually showcased, but ten years later that ultra-slick sound has been fully developed. Avalon might be the most polished and clean album of all time. In fact, it reminds me of colorful clothes that have been washed perhaps a hundred times too many, having long lost all of its beauty and color. People really seem to love this album, but to me it is as lifeless as it gets. It's empty prettiness that seems to go on and on forever. There is a place for hyper-polished albums, but this one sounds to me like it is made in deadly fear of anything spontaneous. The real Avalon had more sense of mystery. Not for me, this one.
On another note: it seems I've been doing this for a month already! Didn't get too far yet, so I might finish this within the year, especially as this will slow down in October and November when work will be more busy. Oh well, i never claimed this would go fast.
DocBrown
Postby DocBrown » Fri Sep 07, 2018 6:56 pm
Rob wrote: Music for 18 Musicians is the first album without songs on Acclaimed Music even with a loophole. I guess it didn't deliver any hit singles.
I am really enjoying your humour in this series, Rob. Funniest man on AMF!
Postby Rob » Sat Sep 08, 2018 3:37 pm
Today I updated from #621 (Wire's Chairs Missing) to #653 (Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Lynx...)
I have to admit that I took an easy way out with the Woodstock soundtrack album. It isn't on Spotify and outside of Star Spangled Banner by Jimi Hendrix (which I included here) no songs of it are specifically on Acclaimed Music as far as I can tell. Finding out which performances are on Spotify and which are most popular there is a fool's errand, so I went with two performances that are famous: Santana's Soul Sacrifice and Sly & the Family Stone's Dance to the Music. I don't like doing it this way and hope this will be an exception.
I listened to Wire's Chairs Missing today:
A silly visual joke around a game that revolves around missing chairs. I learned today that this game is called "musical chairs" in English. That's the second time I learned new English terms through this process. In Dutch it is called "stoelendans", which translates as "chair dance". Now you know. Apparently, a person "missing a few chairs in his front room" is a slang for someone who is somewhat crazy, which fits Wire better than musical chairs.
I seem to draw quite a few 70's punk, post-punk, art-punk and new wave guys in this series and I'm happy that Wire is now included in this group. I like this group's more famous and more acclaimed Pink Flag quite a lot. Chairs Missing is lesser known, although it contains their popular Outdoor Miner (popular for Wire that is) and the great I Am the Fly. It basically continues in the same vein of its predecessor, but there is enough exploring to do in that sound to keep it fresh. So besides punchy rockers and oddities there is also room for a ballad or two and even an attempt at vocal harmonies. Anything seemed to go for these guys and even better: everything went well. A special shout-out to Practice Makes Perfect, one of the great album openers.
Postby Rob » Wed Sep 12, 2018 9:50 pm
Today I went from #654 (George Michael's Faith) to #690 (Garbage's Garbage).
Milestone: we passed 2.000 songs! Only about 7000 to go!
Rarely an update had gone by without some madness and today is no different. Roni Size/ Reprazent's album New Forms is on Spotify. That is a rather long album, running over two hours and has always been put on two discs. That's nothing special, but usually we get the two discs combined as the same album on Spotify. This one however only has New Form (Disc Two) on Spotify, with Disc One completely absent. To make matters more ridiculous the one they name Disc Two is actually Disc One. Luckily, there is also an unwieldy anniversary edition that runs over 5 hours, on which you can access every track of the original album and much, much more.
Sadly, this wasn't a new form day, but time for old-fashioned faith, as I listened to George Michael's Faith:
You gotta have faith sure, but some albums unintentionally make me wish I was listening to an album by The Satanist instead.
So no, I don't like Faith. Not even a little bit and my heart sank when fate (so closely related to faith - possibly no coincidence) brought me to this album. I already heard it once and never thought I would sit through it again. There have been albums in this topic before that don't appeal to me, like the Roxy Music ones, but at least I can easily listen to them. Faith, heck George Michael in general, is insufferable to my ears.
This is blasphemy of course, especially since Michael died and seems to have found a whole lot of new appreciation. I remember reading his obituaries. At the time I only knew him as a hit singer from just before my time, who made songs I thought hadn't aged well and didn't even seem to have to be picked up by the eighties revivalists. But those obituaries revealed more about his personal life, the chances this guy took and his daring responses to controversies he caused. The guy suddenly became interesting and I decided to listen to his whole (if rather small) solo discography. I never got beyond Faith. All interest in him evaporated after sitting through that thing. All the context I got for that album through the obituaries couldn't make actually hearing it worthwhile. I tried some later singles, as well as the earlier Careless Whisper, but he is a rare famous artist of whom I can't find a single song I like.
When meeting Henrik earlier this year we talked about George Michael, whom Henrik loves and who he described as a singer who feels like a close friend. I have the opposite reaction. There is something cloying about Michael that also feels like fake affection to me. His singing style is overwrought to me, like a player who doesn't even hide through his seduction that he is setting you up. What's worse is the actual sound of his songs, which is as thin and unsurprising as pop music gets. There is just very little there there. To say nothing of the frequently bad lyrics (is naming Monkey here a cheap shot? I shoot anyway). Even a popular track like I Want Your Sex seems like a cheap, overlong Prince rip-off, with Prince's musicality and showmanship removed.
Probably among my ten least favorite albums I've heard of the top 3000 so far. I respect the man for the way he handled his life, but I'd rather leave his discography alone if I can help it.
Postby Henrik » Thu Sep 13, 2018 3:28 am
Haha, it seems that every time you (have to) write about George Michael, he is becoming less and less likable to you.
You weren’t that negative about him when we met. I suppose you didn’t want to ruin our evening.
I also want to add that ”Faith” is far from my favourite album of his.
Postby Rob » Thu Sep 13, 2018 7:26 am
Henrik wrote: Haha, it seems that every time you (have to) write about George Michael, he is becoming less and less likable to you.
Haha, maybe. Or I just hadn't listened to him recently. He strikes me as a likeable guy off-record, but sadly it doesn't translate it's way into the music for me.
I hear you, but unless this game makes me listen to Listen to Prejudice, Vol. 1 I probably won't be trying it out soon.
Updated from #691 (Public Enemy's Yo! Bum Rush the Show) to #730 (Jeff Beck's Truth).
That's quite a big update considering the length of the album I listened to, but sometimes things just go smoothly.
Today I listened to Public Enemy's Yo! Bum Rush the Show:
James Cagney, being arrested in the film Public Enemy, presumably for bum rushing the show. James Cagney died in the year Public Enemy formed. Coincidence? This reminds me that I want a hip-hop album full of Cagney vocal samples.
This is the debut album of one of the most influential hip-hop groups and although slightly overlooked in favor of the two albums that followed, it already proved the talent of these guys. Later efforts had a bit more variety in production, but the flows and power of Chuck D come fully formed and the jokey nature of Flaver Flav has always worked for me. There are some smashers here that still break anything that comes in it's path, including the title track, Timebomb, the manifesto Public Enemy No. 1 and the acclaimed two-punch You're Gonna Get Yours and Sophisticated Bitch. Opinions may vary, but I really prefer hip-hop from that time over the contemporary takes on the genre. This one stills sounds dangerous, while few nowadays do.
Updated from #731 (Buzzcock's Another Music in a Different Kitchen) up and until #757 (John Hiatt's Bring the Family).
Milestone: We passed album no. 750 today, which means I'm a quarter done!
Otherwise a small update, thanks to a rather short album. But hold on, the next one is going to be a lot bigger.
Today while updating I listened to Buzzcock's Another Music in a Different Kitchen:
Since Henrik wants to keep this site at least somewhat safe for work I decided not to upload a picture of an actual buzzcock, but rather the most inoffensive picture of the band I could find.
I already remarked that the listening element of this job seems specifically designed to land me on every punk and new wave band available, especially the lighter ones. I actually wondered whether Buzzcocks would be left out, but of course I get to listen to them on the first possible moment (and no, I didn't secretly plan this). I always thought that Buzzcocks and The Undertones (which I already wrote about above) were actually the same band, just with different members (which is a minor detail of course). But I only know the few hits by the former, most of which seem to come from Love Bites. Another Music in a Different Kitchen was less hit-friendly. Indeed, it still one of the rare albums I came across to have not a single song on Acclaimed Music, not even bubbling. This is less pop punk than they are famous for. It sounds harder, wilder and faster. The vocals are still more gentle and friendly than we find in Sex Pistols or The Clash and the rhythm section doesn't desperately hide the fact that they are actually solid players, but otherwise this is very straight punk and although it doesn't particularly stand out to me on first listen it is very enjoyable.
You want a big update? You get a big update! A record 63 albums were added to the playlist today as I went from #758 (Nick Cave's Abattoir Blues/ The Lyre of Orpheus) to #820 (The Kink's Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)).
Odd fact: the numbers 798 and 799 are both live albums: Sam Cooke's Live at the Harlem Square Club and Van Morrison's ..It's Too Late to Stop Now. Both cover the song Bring It On Home To Me on their album. And in both cases it was one of the three most streamed tracks, so both are now near each other on the playlist. What are the odds?
Today while compiling I listened to Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' Abattoir Blues/ The Lyre of Orpheus:
Orpheus with his lyre, playing for some animals. I originally wanted to post a picture of an abattoir, but suspected that might not go over as well. Be warned though, as The Lyre of Orpheus is just as dark a song as Abattoir Blues.
A very massive album. Despite liking Nick Cave a lot, I never dived into this album in full, so I only knew the supposed highlights. It is a lot to take into probably even with full focus. While doing something else, well, it doesn't feel right to write about it yet. Still, as per usual with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds there isn't a dull spot and his singing combined with the lyrics are so immediately compelling that it becomes hard to concentrate on the actual task. This might well become one of my favorites by these Australian devils in the long run.
The next update will be at a more normal length I suspect.
Today I updated from #821 (R.E.M.'s Green) up and until #853 (Deerhunter's dual release Microcastle & Weird Era, Cont.).
No songs of the latter are included however. A bit of odd one that. Weird Era, Cont. was basically a bonus disc for the fans, but it is the only bonus disc ever mentioned specifically here on AM as part of the album. Spotify holds them apart however. I followed Acclaimed Music however and my rules for this playlist left Weird Era, Cont. empty-handed, with no songs ranked on AM, nor any songs that have been streamed as much as the Microcaste favorites.
Today, while compiling, I listened to R.E.M.'s Green:
This is the color green. You probably think this is obvious, but R.E.M. and cover art designer Jon McCAfferty managed to make the album cover look orange-yellowish. They had an excuse though. The idea was that if you stare at the cover for some second, after closing you will see a green negative, that resembles grass. Which I guess a lot of people will do without instruction.
This album is part of R.E.M.'s incredible 8 classic album run that went from Murmur to Automatic for the People (some go all the way to 10, by including the divisive Monster and more appreciated New Adventures in Hi-Fi). Of course it is great, but simply because the high quality of this run, Green along with Fables of the Reconstruction gets easily overlooked. And frankly, it is really R.E.M. doing R.E.M., with little to make this one specifically stand out. There are also no real big classics, although Stand, Orange Crush and personal favorite World Leader Pretend do tend to get some love. This all doesn't matter too much, because when you start listening you just get another captivating and consistent album, full of memorable songs. Turn You Inside-Out is one of their hidden gems.
Today I updated from #854 (Gene Clark's No Other) to #884 (Flamin' Groovies' Teenage Head)!
So, this band The Gun Club released an album called Fire of Love in 1981. In the same year they released a song named Fire of Love. This song is not on the album of the same name of the same year! Instead it appears on a totally different album a year later. Why? I spend minutes to figure out if Spotify didn't make a mistake. Didn't these guys know that 37 years later someone would make a playlist which featured their album?
Anyway, today I listened to Gene Clark's No Other:
This is no other than Gene Clark. No, I had never heard of him either, but somehow he got an album in the top 1000.
This is what it's all about in the end: discovering new music. I didn't make a joke when I just said I never heard of Gene Clark and as such also not of No Other. Only the second album I came across here that didn't ring a bell, but last time I at least vaguely heard of the band. Perhaps the bland name and bland album title have something to do with it: these don't stick out.
But here is the thing: even after listening to this album only ones while focusing on something else I became deeply moved by it. Not even the words, but the singing and music. This is a country rock album, but something about the feel makes it come across as the What's Going On of country. There is something ethereal and soothing, yet also deeply felt here. I'd very much like to explore this one further. Probably one of the best albums I came across here!
Postby Henrik » Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:45 am
This is no other than Gene Clark.
You have such a talent for jokes. I love how they just seem to be coming to you. Keep up the good work!
Postby Rob » Tue Sep 25, 2018 10:28 pm
Thanks Henrik
Though mostly now I'm ashamed that I didn't know who Gene Clark was. A founding member of The Byrds I read today...
Today I updated from #885 (Fleetwood Mac's self-titled album) to #919 (Guns 'N Roses' Use Your Illusion I).
Landmark: all Beatles albums are now present on the playlist. Yes, all their albums are in the top 1000. They aren't the first to hit that landmark exactly, but they do it with a lot more albums. Check them out if you've never heard of them.
Today I listened to Fleetwood Mac's Fleetwood Mac:
Warning: real landslides hit harder than the song Landslide on this album!
Ah yes, Fleetwood Mac, the indisputable masters of the soft rock genre. With this album and Rumours they basically perfected a sweet sound that sounds pleasant from start to finish. Sonically, the two albums are perfect companions and I don't think the one is obviously better than the other. Still, the eponymous one has been slightly under the shadow of it's follow-up, probably because it lacks the break-up backstory of the latter. Not that the relational strife made Rumours sound any tougher or emotional. That's not these people's jam. I have an odd relationship with this band as they are the perfect embodiment of a type of music that I always like when listening to it, but I never actually feel the need to listen to them. From a distance, it's hard to remember what the big deal was. From close by, the skill involved cannot be denied. In a way there is something non-committal about them (they channeled heartbreak into easy listening; a feat in itself when I think of it) that makes me always want to make fun of them, even if I know they don't deserve it, because these are skillful people. Like Rumours the self-titled album has one great song: Rhiannon (it's Dreams for me on the other one). Landslide is the big favorite among audiences however, judging on it's massive Spotify. And what do you know, like Go Your Own Way, it captures everything I like and dislike about Fleetwood Mac.
The next time there is another double album waiting for me, so expect a bigger update tomorrow.
Today I went from #920 (XTC's English Settlement) to #976 (Jerry Lee Lewis' Live at the Star Club, Hamburg)
Fun fact: I came across both West Side Story and East Side Story today. It's things like this that keep me going even when I'm actually to tired to update.
I also notice that completely unknown albums (to me, that is) are getting slightly more frequent. Did you know there once existed a man name Alexander Skip Spence and that he released something with the completely unappealing title Oar? Now you do.
While updating I listened to English Settlement by XTC:
This is an English settlement; quite possibly older than this album. Whether you can get xtc there I don't know. You can always go there and ask.
In fate's attempt to let me listen to every British pop punk and new wave band during this crazy venture, fate outsmarted itself by giving me the inevitable XTC, but not with one of their actual new wave records. Instead, this pop rock album is a surprisingly funky outing, with the band having fun with grooves, stutters and vocal bounces. It seems closely related to the stuff Talking Heads were putting out, but I was more reminded of a band of much later: Spoon. If Spoon revealed that this was their favorite album and that they listened to this ten times before recording each of their songs, I would not just believe it, but would actually call them liars if they said this wasn't the case. Now I like Spoon a lot, so this massive double album clicked with me too. It just has a lot of swagger and an endless feeling of fun. It seems to be on the verge of being forgotten: it's Spotify streams are mostly very low and I have a feeling it will drop over time. It was only ever slightly big in the UK, which probably doesn't help. But I think it has aged very well and if this would have been brought back in the spotlight during the indie hype of the 2000's I think it could have become big again. Some songs run a little long, perhaps, but that could be my fatigue speaking. This is a great discovery for me!
Tomorrow's album is half as long and the update won't be too big, but I hope to cross the magical 1000 line.
Postby StevieFan13 » Fri Sep 28, 2018 11:42 pm
XTC is one of my new favorite bands. Would love to listen to more of them. (And Andy Partridge's son Harry is also a talented animator!)
Postby Rob » Sat Sep 29, 2018 10:16 pm
Earlier today I updated from #977 (Heartbreakers' L.A.M.F.) to #1006 (Elliot Smith's From a Basement on the Hill).
Milestone: an obvious and predicted one, I finished the top 1000 today! Along with it, I also crossed the 3000 song mark! So that's one third out of the way, in slightly less than two months. I probably won't be finishing this in 2018 this way, but it all seems just more feasible now. This is shaping up to be one weird playlist: listening to it on random is as recommended at listening to it straight.
Today I listened to L.A.M.F. by Heartbreakers:
No not these Heartbreakers, this isn't the Tom Petty band.
These Heartbreakers:
The same time, the same name, but a very different band.
Another band I never listened to before, although it turns out that ringleader Johnny Thunders was already knows to me as the guitar player of the New York Dolls. That was proto-punk, where future punk was still hidden by a sound that was half Rolling Stones, half glam. That future was realized with the album L.A.M.F. (which stands for Like A Mother-Fucker). I've already said too much about how this project leads me to various outings of pop punk. This decidedly isn't pop punk. This is vile, raw and kicking punk of the type you think of when you hear the genre mentioned. It's closer to Sex Pistols, The Clash debut and especially Ramones than Buzzcocks or The Undertones, bless their little hearts. It isn't political like the British bands, but also not as cartoonish as Ramones. This feels like it comes from the gutter, ferociously trying to drag people in it with them. There is an undeniable cool here, but of the disaffected kind, as if the band makes as much noise as possible to let you know how hard they don't care. In it's genre, it is one of the fastest and most energetic entries I have yet heard and easily one of the most consistently engaging. I feel like punk is getting less and less popular, but works like this still have a way of kicking people were it hurts, I suspect. This might end up to become on of my go-to punk albums.
Today I updated from #1007 (Stevie Wonder's FulFillingness First Finale) to #1039 (Wire's 154).
Though I still did 30+ albums I hoped to get much further today, but this was a frustratin update, with more albums not on Spotify than ever before.
Oddity: in this relatively short update I did all Built to Spill albums. The three ranked on AM are very, very close to each other. They are also part of the reason this update took so long, as two of these albums aren't on Spotify. I know this band is popular with Nassim and some other people here, but due to their lack of cooperation I hereby declare them to personal enemies.
But today I didn't listen to these betrayers of collective listening, but to the the more likeable Stevie Wonder, through his album Fulfillingness First Finale:
I just looked up what Stevie Wonder looked like and he looks strangely familiar, but I can't place why.
Not much to say about this I or anyone else have said about Stevie Wonder before (I got over this somewhat in my 10.000 Songs series, when I got to You Haven't Done Nothing). This isn't the collection that contains the most famous songs, but it is very consistently engaging. Mostly more mellow work, but still with room for spirituality, politics and some deeper emotion. They Won't Go When I Go did not make the playlist, sadly, but I consider it the stand-out. Just another good Stevie Wonder record.
Next time fate plays one of its stupid tricks on me again.
Postby StevieFan13 » Sun Sep 30, 2018 2:10 pm
Now isn’t that a handsome man.
Postby Nassim » Sun Sep 30, 2018 4:01 pm
Rob wrote: Oddity: in this relatively short update I did all Built to Spill albums. The three ranked on AM are very, very close to each other. They are also part of the reason this update took so long, as two of these albums aren't on Spotify. I know this band is popular with Nassim and some other people here, but due to their lack of cooperation I hereby declare them to personal enemies.
Yes, I actually thought of warning you yesterday, "you're gonna have all 3 Built to Spill albums on the next batch but only one of them is available on Spotify" but then I saw a squirrel or something and got distracted.
Postby Rob » Mon Oct 01, 2018 7:13 am
Nassim wrote:
I see now how you could misread this, but with "their" and "personal enemies" I meant the people of Built to Spill.
Postby Nassim » Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:12 pm
Rob wrote:
Oh don't worry, that's what I figured out !
Postby Rob » Thu Oct 04, 2018 7:55 pm
Today I updated from #1040 (Roxy Music's Country Life) to #1069 (The Jayhawks' Hollywood Town Hall).
Frustrating update. There were a lot of albums in this group that either aren't on Spotify or are represented in a strange version. Thought I would get quite a bit farther.
While updating I listened to... You got to be kidding me... These guys again? Yes, I listened to Roxy Music's Country Life:
This is country life; an image evoked by not a single Roxy Music track in existence.
So, why would Roxy Music make an album titled Country Life? Isn't it a bit like AC/DC making an introspective, acoustic album and calling it Among the Flowers or something? Few artists sound as metropolitan as Roxy Music, but Avalon already learned me that these guys somehow love to pose as old-time castle dwellers, so why not pretend to be farmers too? They are not convincing anyone, probably least of all the ladies on the album cover, who scream as much "country" as I scream "gangster rap". Granted one of the tracks - It Takes All Night - does contain a harmonica, but apparently these guy think that justifies this title. Enough of that, this is a rather solid I admit. I still wish it was a little less polished, maybe a bit less glam if you will, so that things could sound more alive, but it wasn't a bad listen overall. It seems that mostly their squeaky-clean hits are the one that tend to rub me the wrong way and these aren't here.
Postby Rob » Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:35 pm
Today I went from #1070 (Okkervil River's Black Sheep Boy) to #1106 (INXS' Kick)
And whaddaya know, I have nothing special to say about this update. It just kind of happened.
What did happen, though, is that I listened to Okkervil River's Black Sheep Boy:
I know how you feel, my boy.
Okkervil River is another one of those bands I only knew by name, but I'm not sure I had heard a song by them earlier. This is a good introduction. Although the lyrics seem obviously important here and as usually during this project I didn't really focus on them, I was already struck by the music and the performance. The lead singer sounds a lot like Conor Oberst; both in style as vocal quality. I'm not sure I would be able to tell them apart. There is also the same kind of gritty, down-home, existential despair emanating from everything, as is also the case with Oberst's projects. At the same time, I don't know if Oberst was ever this good musically. Certainly deserves a further listen.
Postby Rob » Sun Oct 07, 2018 5:57 pm
Today I updated from #1107 (Sampha's Process) to #1138 (Junior Wells' Chicago Blues Band).
Milestone: Today I added 808s & Heartbreaks to the playlist, which means every Kanye West album is present. Why is this a milestone? I don't know, but all Kanye news needs to be reported on this site. At least it made me marvel again over the fact that The Life of Pablo and Watch the Throne are apparently top 1000 albums. If you think his latest, Ye, might not make it based on mostly bad reviews, think again.
But enough about Kanye, let's get to someone who actually has the right voice for soul, namely Smapha, whose Process I heard while updating today:
Sampha contemplating his hairstyle choice.
I already knew this album, as it made my best of list of last year. I initially entered it skeptically, as I don't have a general fondness of neo soul; certainly not the likes, but not even people like Frank Ocean really worked for me. But Sampha convinced me when his songs came on while playing the Taste of MegaCritic list randomly. The two-punch opener with Plastic 100°C and Blood On Me goes straight for the kill and what follows is a collection of moving soul songs that sounds very modern, but is also grounded in beautiful singing, something that is missing in much neo soul if you ask me.
Postby Rob » Mon Oct 08, 2018 7:40 pm
Today I updated from #1139 (John Coltrane with Thelonious Monk's Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane) to #1171 (Miles Davis' On the Corner)
Yes, that is a lot of great jazz heroes in one sentence.
Note: Toots & the Maytals' album Funky Kingston proved a problem, as there are two albums under that title. First there was a 1972 release for Jamaica and the UK and three years later one for the US market. They both have the same cover. Usually I immediately go with the original here, but it seems that consensus is that the US one is thought off as the best (and most well-known version). On Spotify that is the one that keeps the original album cover, whereas the earlier release got another one. Nonetheless, the US edition seems more of a compilation. I went for the original now, but if a Funky Kingston fanatic can make another case, feel free.
Today I listened to an album named for it's two performers: Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane.
John Coltrane (sax) with Thelonious Monk (piano) with Shadow Wilson (drummer) with Ahmed Abdul Malik (bass) at the Five Spot. Not actually a picture of this recording, but atmospheric all the same.
I'm not even going to pretend that I have to say anything about this. I'm not well-versed enough in the styles of Monk and Coltrane to know what this meeting means and I couldn't pay close attention to the playing anyway. It was fine music to work with, that's all I can say now.
The next few days there won't be an update, but there is a big one on the way again.
Postby Rob » Sat Oct 13, 2018 2:53 pm
Today I updated from #1172 (Kurt Vile's Wakin on a Pretty Daze) to #1222 (Ramones' It's Alive).
That was a big update after a slow week for this. Hope to get more done next done. Should work out.
Note: Today was Kurt Vile Day! Yes, he released a new album this week and fate has decided I should celebrate by adding three of his albums to this playlist (that's three out of four, only his collaboration with Courtney Barnett is still missing), while also listening to his most acclaimed (by few points) album: Wakin on a Pretty Daze. So without further ado:
Happy Kurt Vile Day, you all!
But how do we actually feel about Kurt Vile? For me the jury is still out. I like some of his work and think at least Pretty Pimpin (yes, from another album) is perhaps the greatest deadpan, stoner existential song. But too frequently I find his work a bit too unassuming. That fits his persona, but it also makes his songs somewhat too much just background music. I tend to love lengthy guitar solos, but his hardly register. This album has quite a few of those, including his most popular from the almost title track. It's pleasant, but it fails to connect a bit to me. It's the songs were he opens up his style a bit that stand out to me: Shame Chamber or Air Bud.
Today I updated from #1223 (Eric B. & Rakim's Follow the Leader) to #1261 (Faces' A Nod Is As Good As a Wink... To a Blind Horse)
Note: Frank Zappa's Uncle Meat sucks! I mean, I never actually heard it, but the way it has been reissued over the year with new tracks put right in the middle and how they even renamed a song title... By now people should know that this makes my job much harder. I'm starting to get the feeling that both Spotify and music distributors (and perhaps Frank Zappa's ghost) don't care about this project at all.
Let's forget about that. Today I listened to some decent people: Eric B. & Rakim, through their Follow the Leader.
An expanded version of the famous album art of Follow the Leader. What few people know is that the duo behind classic hiphop album Paid in Full invented nu-metal next, some ten years before the genre became popular.
Yes, I can post the usual stuff here about not being able to focus on lyrics and yes, that is an important element of much rap, but there is production and flow too. What I sometimes get when listening to some of these older hiphop albums is that even with all the sampling they sound more straight-forward. Perhaps people didn't think so at the time, but there is a clarity in sound and perhaps even intent that is refreshing if you mostly hear modern hiphop. Not that one approach is better than the other, but it was nice listening to Eric B. & Rakim now, whom I only knew through the much more relaxed song Paid in Full.
By the way, does anybody keep track of albums being removed from Spotify? My last update I noticed I was missing three songs all of a sudden, but the fault wasn't in that update (and I always check if the count is still correct after each update). I can't figure out a quick way to decide which album has gone missing, so perhaps someone knows before I have to through the whole list to find the missing songs.
Postby Henrik » Mon Oct 15, 2018 9:25 pm
Rob wrote: By the way, does anybody keep track of albums being removed from Spotify? My last update I noticed I was missing three songs all of a sudden, but the fault wasn't in that update (and I always check if the count is still correct after each update). I can't figure out a quick way to decide which album has gone missing, so perhaps someone knows before I have to through the whole list to find the missing songs.
Go to settings and tick off hide unplayable tracks. I don’t know how many people I have told this over years - why isn’t this setting standard?
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Home > Our team
Jump to: Staff · Associates · Students · Alumni · Institutions
ACDI draws together a network of researchers at UCT and beyond to engage with ACDI in various ways, from teaching and student project supervision, to research and knowledge influencing.
ACDI’s core team acts as a hub, which aims to provide the services that enable the network to be more than the sum of its parts. The team comprises the Director and Deputy Director, administrative support staff, a research management team, an education and training management team, and a communications and networking team. Additionally, the HQ includes a number of students, Postdoctoral researchers, and project managers who work on ACDI-led projects in collaboration with the ACDI network, as well as the ACDI Masters Convener, who coordinates all aspects of the flagship ACDI Masters in Climate Change and Sustainable Development.
ACDI’s offers both institutional and individual membership. The aim is to be inclusive, in the spirit of collaboration and community-building, rather than exclusive.
Institutional membership involves both recognised research groupings, academic departments and other university entities whose area of work intersects strongly with ACDI, and who have a history of active membership of ACDI.
Individual members are known as Associates, and are people at UCT who actively engage with ACDI through research, teaching, student supervision or other activities. Associates may or may not be jointly-affiliated to an institutional member. Associates will have research and teaching interests that overlap substantially with the ACDI intellectual domains.
Student members are Honours, Masters and PhD students whose research or courses fit within the broad ACDI research domain. Often, they are supervised by ACDI members, but they may also choose to self-affiliate.
Mark New, Director
Expertise: Climate monitoring; extreme events; climate scenarios; impacts; adaptation; water; land use; policy
Mark New was appointed Pro-VC for Climate Change and Director of the ACDI in July 2011. He holds a joint appointment as Professor of of International Development at the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom. His research focuses on climate change detection, processes, scenarios, impacts and adaptation. He sits on the SA Global Change Science Committee, the Africa Future Earth Science Committee, is on the editorial board of Environmental Research Letters, and has served on various other science committees and reference groups. Mark is also the AXA Research Fund Chair in African Climate Risk. Read more.
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 2920 · Email: mark.new@uct.ac.za
Sheona Shackleton, Deputy Director
Expertise: Rural development, livelihoods and natural resource use and management
Sheona Shackleton joined the ACDI as Deputy Director in January 2018. She also holds an Honorary Professorship with the Department of Environmental Science at Rhodes University. Sheona has worked at the interface between rural development, livelihoods and natural resource use and management for the past 35 years. Her research and postgraduate supervision has covered a diversity of areas within this broad theme such as community conservation, rural livelihoods and vulnerability, ecosystem services and human well-being, forest product use and commercialisation, natural resource governance and climate change adaptation. Her current research focusses on livelihood and landscape (social-ecological) change, with a particular interest in climate change as a driver and how it interacts with other shocks and stressors to influence adaptation, transformation and future livelihood trajectories. Sheona has been engaged in interdisciplinary, participatory and transdisciplinary research for most of her career after being part of the startup team for a University of the Witwatersrand interdisciplinary unit in the late 1980s (Wits Rural Facility). Her interest in engaged scholarship and knowledge co-production arises from both a practical research and ethical perspective (where she has experiences of social learning approaches to knowledge co-production), but also an academic one in terms of how best to integrate knowledge co-production processes into our teaching and learning and to support such an approach in our postgraduate research. Sheona and her project team were awarded the VC’s Distinguished Community Engagement Award for their social leaning work on climate change, HIV/AIDs and vulnerability in 2015. Sheona is on the board of the journals World Development and Land, is a member of ASSAF and has reviewed proposals for a wide range of organisations including NRF, VW Foundation, DFID, Belmont Foundation, SPACES and others. She has served on several national government and non-government committees in areas related to her expertise. She has experience coordinating large projects and a well-established network of international partners and collaborators. She has published her work extensively both in academic books and journals, but also the more popular media, and has reviewed papers for some 30 different journal titles.
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 4581 · Email: sheona.shackleton@uct.ac.za
Leigh Cobban, Education and Capacity Development Portfolio Manager
Expertise: Climate change vulnerability and adaptation, rural livelihoods, agri-food systems, NGOs, sustainable development, project coordination and development
Leigh is responsible for coordinating and developing the Training & Capacity Development Portfolio at ACDI. This means overseeing the existing program of courses, exchange programs and capacity development research, and helping to conceptualise and develop new programs. She has worked on a scientific capacity development study to inform Future Climate for Africa (FCFA), and is working on the SARUA Masters Curriculum Innovation project (led by ACDI) and Green Skills (led by Rhodes University).
Leigh’s MSc (Rhodes University) assessed rural vulnerability to climate change and HIV/AIDS by analysing livelihoods and household assets. She previously focused her academic studies on sustainable development, environmental history in South Africa, the NGO sector, and agri-food systems. She has worked in academic, private and non-profit organisations in South Africa and the United Kingdom. Prior to joining ACDI, Leigh worked in London on a government loan programme which supported and trained new small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 3846 · Email: leigh.cobban@uct.ac.za
Kate Cronin, Research Coordinator
Kate works on the International Fund for Agricultural Development-led project “Multi-country climate risk analysis” under the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme. Prior to joining ACDI, Kate worked in the NGO-sector managing various multi-national climate change projects. The projects ranged in focus from providing support to southern African countries to access climate finance, to managing research on livestock and dairy value chain resilience and providing training on mainstreaming gender in climate change programmes. Kate holds an MSc in Conservation Biology from the University of Cape Town.
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 2915 · Email: kate.cronin@uct.ac.za
Jiksa De Groot, Senior Researcher
Expertise: Energy, poverty and development
Jiska de Groot is an Energy and Development Geographer with a keen interest in providing access to energy in a sustainable and equitable manner. Jiska joined the University of Cape Town in 2015 after completing a PhD in Human Geography at Plymouth University. She is currently employed at the Energy Research Centre, where she leads the Energy, Poverty and Development research group. She further holds an AXA Future Research Leader Fellowship on Energy Transitions and a Joint Senior Research Fellowship in the ACDI Chair Programme on the inequalities of climate change mitigation, sustainable energy and poverty. Her work focuses on the social processes surrounding changes in energy use, access to clean and reliable energy technologies and energy transitions, as well as considerations of fairness and justice in energy systems. Jiska has experience with the design, management, implementation and dissemination of a range of Sub Saharan African research projects, including as team leader for South Africa on the UK’s ESRC/NRF’s Newton Fund Programme on Urban Transformation, and the British Academy project on Energy Innovation in Low Income Housing in Cape Town and Bangalore. She further leads the South African team at UCT for a research project within the UK DfID’s Energy and Gender research programme, which investigates gender and energy for productive uses, and delivers training and assistance to countries under UNFCCC’s Technology Needs Assessment. She currently is component lead for Skills and Expertise Development in Sub Saharan Africa under DfID’s Transforming Energy Access, and also functions as research uptake manager for this same region. Jiska regularly publishes in acclaimed academic journals, presents at (international) academic conferences and has contributed to several edited books in the field of energy and development.
Email: jiske.degroot@uct.ac.za
Johan Peçanha Enqvist, Postdoctoral Researcher, AXA Chair Programme
Expertise: Civic engagement, environmental stewardship, human–nature relationships, inter- and transdisciplinary research, natural resource management, network analysis, sense of place, urban social-ecological systems, water governance
Johan joined ACDI in February 2018, working as postdoctoral fellow in the AXA-funded project ‘Urban governance for resilience in the global South’. The aim of this project is to explore the governance of urban resilience and water security in Cape Town, and characterize what priorities the City and various other actors and stakeholders have regarding resilience-building and social justice.
Johan is interested in how people living in cities relate to nature and the ecosystems that support them, especially understanding what enables and encourages more sustainable behaviour. He completed his PhD in Sustainability Science in 2017 at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Sweden. His doctoral project focused on the notion of stewardship, as expressed through civic engagement for protecting urban ecosystems. This was explored using mixed quantitative and qualitative methods and a social–ecological systems lens. Johan has collaborated with colleagues at the US Forest Service’s New York City Urban Field Station, at Cornell University’s Department of Natural Resources, and the Ashoka Trust for Research on Ecology and the Environment.
Johan holds an MSc in Ecosystems, Governance, and Resilience from Stockholm University and a BSc in Environment and Development from Södertörn University. Throughout his training, he has focused on people's efforts collaborate to manage and protect green (and blue) areas close to where they live. He has conducted field work in New York, USA (2016), in Bangalore, India (2011-2012 and in 2013), in Zanzibar, Tanzania (2011), and in Babati, Tanzania (2010).
Email: johan.enqvist@uct.ac.za · ORCID number: 0000-0002-6300-0572 · Google scholar
Karen Fosseus, Administrative Manager
Expertise: Operational and administrative management
Karen is responsible for the management of the ACDI administrative processes and systems and supports the Director in strategic planning for the ACDI. She has oversight of all ACDI research projects with regards to financial management and reporting, organisational and human resource management, information and general office management.
Karen has a degree in Nursing from UCT and many years of experience in grant and office management in the health sector. She has worked as a veterinary nurse, research assistant, grant and office manager for a variety of non-profit organisations in Cape Town including the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation and Red Cross Children's Hospital. She is interested in the dynamics of information and business process management.
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 2890 · Email: karen.fosseus@uct.ac.za
Adiela Floris, Assistant Administrator
For the past 29 years, Adiela has been using her excellent organizational and communications skills to enhance daily operations at firms and businesses.
She is a passionate person, and thrives to work in an energetic and challenging environment. Her attention to detail and business acumen allows her to function professionally, with the ability to work under pressure while demonstrating effectiveness and reliability as an administrative support. She is a team player but is able to work independently when required. Adiela's extensive work experience not only reflects her desire to always learn and grow, but has provided her with a host of key competencies to support her in her role at the ACDI.
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 5598 · Email: adiela.floris@uct.ac.za
Tali Hoffman, Communications
Tali is a science communicator specialising in developing and implementing communications strategies that target key audiences, and boost the impact, use, and value of research. She is currently working on ACDI communications in a part-time capacity.
Tali was a full-time staff member at the ACDI from 2014-2019, working as a science communicator for ASSAR. Her role was to shape the project’s research findings in ways that could maximise ASSAR’s impact into policy and practice within its regional and global spheres of influence. To this end, Tali was responsible for all aspects of communication, including: strategy development and implementation, content creation (writing, editing), product generation (e.g., information briefs, videos, infographics), quality control and assurance, product dissemination, and maximising the uptake of research outputs.
Email: tali.hoffman@uct.ac.za / tali.s.hoffman@gmail.com · LinkedIN
Petra Holden, Postdoctoral Researcher; AXA Research Chair Programme
Expertise: Inter- and transdisciplinary research, GIS, hydrological modelling, climate change adaptation, remote sensing
Petra joined the ACDI in December 2017 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow under the AXA Research Chair Programme in African Climate Risk. Her research investigates the contribution of climate change and landscape management on the impacts of climate extremes. The initial focus is on impacts and responses in water systems in the southwestern Cape.
For Petra’s PhD, she used inter- and transdisciplinary research methods to understand the influence of conservation over the past 50 years on land use, vegetation, fire and streamflow in the Groot Winterhoek mountains, a strategic water source area in the Western Cape.
Prior to her PhD, Petra worked on developing climate change adaptation projects in several African and Asian countries, under the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Adaptation Fund and for the Department of Environment Affairs. Petra has a ND and B-Tech in Nature Conservation (Cape Peninsula University of Technology), and a BSc (Hons) in Zoology and MSc in Conservation Biology (University of Cape Town).
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 2909 · Email: petra.holden@uct.ac.za
Roland Hunter, Chief Scientific Officer
Roland Hunter joined the ACDI in 2016 to act as a technical project manager and climate change expert for the projects entitled “Problems and Solutions for Climate Change resilience and Adaptation in Mozambique” and “Enhancing the Capacity of African Countries to Use Climate Information to Inform Decision-Making”, implemented by the United Nations Development Programme and the African Development Bank, respectively.
Prior to joining the ACDI, Roland worked as an environmental consultant with over five years of experience in the sectors of climate change adaptation and mitigation, with a strong emphasis on sectors including agriculture, forestry, land use, and small-scale renewable energy applications. He has led or supported the development of dozens of projects in Africa and Asia, including in-country experience in Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Nepal, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Roland’s academic background includes a BSc. (Hons) in Agriculture (2006) and a MSc. in Botany (2010). His Master's research focused on the physiological adaptation of Proteaceae to nutrient-poor soils, with a focus on developing updated guidelines for fertilisation of commercially-grown Protea cut-flowers.
Tel: +27(0)21 650 2915 · Email: roland.hunter@uct.ac.za
Rabia Karriem, Administrative Assistant
Rabia joined ACDI as our Administrative Assistant in 2014. She is a personal assistant to the Director, manages the front office, and liaises between ACDI projects and outside organisations. With her 18 years administration experience, she is also responsible for general and office administration as well as financial administration.
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 5598 · Email: rabia.karriem@uct.ac.za
Brian King, Honourary Research Associate
Expertise: Coming soon.
Kamoru Abiodun Lawal, Postdoctoral Researcher
Kamoru obtained his PhD in Atmospheric Science (with a specialisation in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP), Seasonal Climate Prediction and Regional Climate Modeling) at the Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, at the University of Cape Town. His PhD thesis used discrepancy in a large ensemble of climate simulations as a tool to investigate variability in dominant seasonal rainfall and temperature patterns (i.e. classes) over West and Southern Africa, to examine the capability of climate models in reproducing the variability, and to study the limits of predictability of the seasonal climates over South Africa.
Kamoru also studied meteorology (B. Tech and M. Tech) at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria, and has worked as an Aeronautical Meteorologist, Research Officer, and briefly as the Head of the Research and Training Directorate of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency. He has taught various meteorological courses at the Regional Meteorological Training Centre (RMTC), an affiliate of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), situated in Lagos.
Skillful and competent in computer programming languages and scripting in UNIX, Kamoru's passion is to impart knowledge to younger generations. He is presently investigating the interactions between teleconnection patterns and fire, as well as carrying out the performance evaluations of weather@home 2 models (HadAM3P and HadRm3P) over West African sub-region.
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 2909 · Email: kamoru.lawal@alumni.uct.ac.za
Nomanesi Makhonco, Research Assistant
Along with being an ACDI research assistant, Nomanesi is a master’s degree candidate in environmental and water sciences. Her main research interests are vegetation interactions, mapping of alien vegetation, geomorphology and hydrology.
Nomanesi’s current research project at ACDI is focussed on invasive alien tree mapping in the Cape Peninsula from a variety satellite imagery using Google Earth Engine in combination with GIS.
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 2256 · Email: lillynoma@gmail.com
Norman Mathebula, Postdoctoral Researcher
Norman Mathebula joined the ACDI as Post-doctoral research fellow in February 2018. He has a background in Environmental Management, Common-property resource systems, Resource Ecology, and Local resource governance in communal woodland areas, in the former homelands of South Africa. He completed his PhD at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), on the topic of testing the feasibility of community-based coppice management in the Mpumalanga and Limpopo Provinces.
Norman is currently working with Dr Jiska De Groot and Dr Britta Rennkamp on social science aspects of the deployment of off-grid renewable energy technologies and clean energy access in developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia.
He also holds a Masters in Environmental Management from UCT (on the topic of the effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and a degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Venda.
Email: norman.mathebula@uct.ac.za
Nadine Methner, Research Officer
Nadine Methner is a Research Fellow at the ACDI. Nadine’s research interests focus on: strengthening the evidence base for ecosystem based adaptation in relation to climate risks and livelihoods resilience; analysis and advancement of the Water-Energy-Food-Biodiversity-Land Nexus in the context of sustainable livelihoods; identifying processes and patterns of interactions in complex governance systems; strengthening the adaptive capacity of local and regional organizations through joined knowledge integration, collective learning and collaboration; integrative systems thinking and cross-scale analyses; and democratisation of scientific knowledge and policy decision making processes.
Nadine is particularly interested in engaging in and advancing of transdisciplinary research aimed at societal transformation in the context of climate change and persistent levels of inequality.
Tel: +27(0)21 650 2915 · Email: nadine.methner@uct.ac.za
Nondumiso Mginywa, Education and Capacity Development Portfolio Assistant Coordinato
Nondumiso studied Journalism and Media Studies and Anthropology at Rhodes University, a Postgraduate Diploma in Tertiary Education, from UNISA. In 2016 she did a Foundation course in Design Thinking offered by the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design Thinking at UCT. For four semesters she has coached four groups of postgraduate students at UCT in Design Thinking. She is currently finishing her Masters in Adult Education. Her broad interests are Design Thinking as a tool for social change and Professionalization of Adult Educators in South Africa.
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 2556 · Email: nondumiso.mginywa@uct.ac.za
Marieke Norton, ACDI Masters Course Convener and Lecturer
Marieke Norton joined the ACDI as Masters Convener in January 2017. She has a background in Social Anthropology, with a focus on environmental anthropology. She completed her PhD at UCT in 2014, on the topic of marine resource law enforcement in the Western Cape, as a transdisciplinary project between Social Anthropology and the Ma-Re Institute.
Her personal and research interests are on the interactions between humanity and the environment, and the relations between these spheres that sustain, shape and change each other. Her research and publications have been specifically geared towards re-thinking the relations between the natural and social sciences, in order to establish modes of collaboration that reframe the issues of climate change and sustainable development as interdisciplinary projects that support and innovate human and non-human well-being. Marieke also holds a Masters in Social Anthropology (on the topic of marine resource governance) and a degree in Media and Film Studies.
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 2838 · Email: marieke.norton @uct.ac.za
Romaric Odoulami, Postdoctoral Researcher, AXA Chair Programme
Romaric joined the AXA Research Chair Programme in African Climate Risk at ACDI as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in November 2017. He is part of a multi-disciplinary team, from University of Cape Town and University of Oxford, with an interest in climate, hydrological, ecological and socio-economic sciences. As part of the fellowship he is conducting advanced research on weather/climate event attribution in the Southern African context with a main focus on the Western Cape drought underlying the 2017 water crisis - mostly referred to as the “Day Zero” crisis - in Cape Town.
Romaric holds a PhD in Meteorology and Climate Science with a background in Agricultural science. His PhD research examined the potential impacts of large scale changes in land cover on climate extremes over West Africa based on a regional climate modelling approach. He also has experience in climate modelling and climate change analysis.
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 2909 · Email: romaric.odoulami@uct.ac.za
Britta Rennkamp, Senior Researcher
Britta's research focuses on climate policy and technology in developing countries and the links between poverty, inequality, energy and mitigation of climate change. In her previous work she analysed renewable energy and nuclear programmes, carbon taxation, green industrial and innovation policies. Britta has published various papers and book chapters on the overall question on integrating policies on emissions reductions, energy supply and development in Africa and Latin America.
Britta Rennkamp holds a PhD in Political Science, and a Diplom/MSc in Regional Sciences – Political Sciences, Economics, Latin American History, Spanish and Portuguese language and literature. She has ten years of international work experience in sustainable development research, consulting and teaching, which she acquired in Brazil, Germany and South Africa.
Email: britta.rennkamp@uct.ac.za
Likho Sikutswa, Research Portfolio Assistant Coordinator
Likho Sikutshwa is an Assistant Co-ordinator for the Research Portfolio, a unit that operationalises the research strategy of the ACDI through coordination, fundraising, and relationship development. Likho joined the ACDI in 2017 as a NRF-intern. She completed a BSc Biological Sciences and BSc Hons (Botany) at Walter Sisulu University, and holds an MSc Zoology from Rhodes University. Likho has broad interests in climate change and human-environmental interactions that drive adaptation and implementation of sustainable development.
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 2256 · Email: likho.sikutshwa@uct.ac.za
Christopher Trisos, Senior Researcher
Christopher's research focus is on the intersection of climate change, biodiversity and human well-being. He is a Co-ordinating Lead Author for climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability for the Africa region of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 6th Assessment Report. He has also consulted on climate change adaptation for the World Bank.
Before moving to ACDI, Christopher spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center at University of Maryland, where his research focused on biodiversity, climate change and geoengineering. He also co-led the interdisciplinary and actionable science training program for postdocs.
Christopher has a doctorate from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. His research at ACDI is funded by a Future Leader–African Independent Research (FLAIR) Fellowship from the Royal Society and the African Academy of Sciences.
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 2918 · Email: christopher.trisos@uct.ac.za
Emily Tyler, Honourary Research Affiliate
Content coming soon.
Full list coming soon.
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Real Estate On The Cheap
The real estate downturn in the US has resulted in low land values in many parts of the country. But in some cases, prices are perhaps too low. Consider Income Opportunity Realty Investors (IOT), a public company that invests in real-estate.
The company has a book value of $72 million (comprised mostly of land and notes receivable) and yet it trades for between $11 million and $18 million! (The reason for the big spread there is that the stock is rather volatile!) The land is composed of 203 acres of undeveloped land in Farmer's Branch, Texas, carried at just under $30 million. It is about a 20 minute drive from downtown Dallas, and is situated 15 minutes from the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The land was acquired in May of 2006, so it may be overvalued; but is it worth only one sixth of its carrying value?
The company's notes receivable are mostly the result of recent land/building sales. The main risk with the notes is that they are due from related and affiliated parties. At least one of these parties has a very high debt to equity ratio, and happens to be the parent company of IOT, owning 80%+ of the company!
On that subject, a potential risk to the company is its ownership/management structure. The parent company will likely do what it needs to do to benefit itself, so IOT's actions may not always benefit its minority shareholders. There appear to be conflicts of interest on the board of directors as well, as the company appears to be governed by employees of the company's advisor, which is rarely a good thing for shareholders.
IOT's stock price has absolutely tanked in the last few months, however, offering the company's shares on the cheap. When TCI acquired a large number of shares of IOT in July of 2009, it noted that "The Company’s fair valuation of IOT assets and liabilities at the acquisition date approximated IOT’s book value." Since that time, IOT stock is down 60% and its book value hasn't changed much. In the meantime, the company continues to break even, mostly by collecting interest on the notes outstanding. (This amount is then offset against interest payments and operating expenses.)
Many investors like to identify potential catalysts before investing in a stock. There don't appear to be any catalysts on the horizon here, however. That land could sit undeveloped for a long time, and most of the notes don't mature until 2027! However, it appears clear that the company is trading at a massive discount to its assets, so value investors with long-term outlooks who require no catalyst may find this stock worthy of owning.
Disclosure: Author has a long position in shares of IOT
Posted by Saj Karsan 9 comments:
You Can Be A Stock Market Genius: Chapter 2
Value investor Joel Greenblatt takes the reader through a number of categories of investing examples where market inefficiencies exist. This book has numerous case studies, giving the investor a chance to learn and then apply the lessons to current and future market opportunities
Greenblatt discusses some requirements that investors must follow if they plan to outperform in the market. First, they need to do their own work. The opportunities offering the best rewards will not be covered by the media or Wall Street. Investors must also not take advice from others, including brokers and analysts. These advisers are paid based on how much they generate in business for their firms, and not by how well you do.
Greenblatt also argues against too much diversification. For one thing, he cites research suggesting that as the number of stocks in the portfolio increases, the benefits of diversification drop quickly. For example, he argues that the diversification benefit between owning eight stocks and owning five hundred stocks isn't that large; but the benefit of owning eight stocks is that you can really pick your spots in terms of choosing stocks with potential upside that is higher than the potential downside. A better method of diversifying, Greenblatt argues, involves keeping some money out of the stock market (e.g. in cash, bonds, home equity etc.).
Greenblatt also advises that investors avoid looking at an investment in terms of its upside potential. Instead, look at the downside, and employ a margin of safety with all purchases. If you look after the downside, the upside usually takes care of itself.
Finally, Greenblatt discusses the fact that there are many ways to make money in the stock market. Every investor cannot possibly participate in even a fraction of the opportunities that are out there. Furthermore, there are many different methods by which investors can be successful. For example, Ben Graham used a quantitative, statistical approach, whereas Warren Buffett identifies and exploits competitive advantages. Greenblatt goes through a number of situations in the following pages that demonstrate the ways in which enterprising investors can profit from the market.
In the opening chapter, Greenblatt explains how the ordinary investor has a chance against all the portfolio managers who dominate the market.
For one thing, many of the well-educated MBA-types subscribe to the Efficient Market Hypothesis, which makes them measure risk in an absurd way according to value investors. Price volatility is considered the best measure for risk for these market participants, and since value investors evaluate risk upon better measures (e.g. risk of bankruptcy, revenue risk etc.), opportunities are out there.
Second, institutional managers have a much smaller domain in which to invest. A billion-dollar fund can only buy positions in billion-dollar companies, or else the positions will either be so small that they will not affect returns, or the position sizes would be large and market-moving. Ordinary investors, on the other hand, have thousands more stocks to choose from, increasing the chances of finding a diamond in the rough.
In order to benefit from these advantages, ordinary investors have to look in places that no one else does, since the opportunities available to them will not be publicized. Greenblatt compares this kind of investing to antique shopping for bargains. Antique shoppers that have some knowledge of the market for certain objects can often find bargains in out-of-the-way places where others of their ilk aren't competing with them. Greenblatt argues that small investors must employ a similar strategy, and this book is dedicated to illustrating how.
Chatting Messenger
It's the last Friday of the month, so Frank (author of value site frankvoisin.com) and I are chatting messenger, where we discuss stories from the web that caught our interest:
Saj: We talk a lot about company balance sheets and market positions, but that's all useless according to this article in a national newspaper:
"One look at the charts tells the whole story at Cisco Systems...balance sheet strength, their cash position, R&D spending and their position in their industry don’t amount to a hill of beans."
Frank: Sounds like the media is providing a great education to investors.
Saj: This "hill of beans" metric sounds important.
Frank: Maybe we should focus more on it! And:
"As investors we need to be alert to changes in trend...Until CSCO moves convincingly through the upper resistance of the channel the down trend is still in place"
Saj: Yeah, that makes sense. As "investors" we should ignore the actual company, and instead just copy what other investors are doing by going with the trend.
Frank: Yeah, that's not a recipe for disaster.
Saj: So a government is funding the construction of yet another sports arena, this time in Quebec.
“We have a window of opportunity of only a few months to attract an NHL franchise. It will be gone in a year."
Frank: It's great how the government intervenes in such important areas, where the private sector constantly lets us down.
Saj: Absolutely. Millionaire professional athletes and billionaire team owners need to be subsidized by tax payers...where else is the money supposed to come from??
Frank: While one government spends superfluously, another nation can't afford its interest payments.
Saj: But they're not admitting defeat just yet:
“We do have the money of course...I don’t have a date yet but we will definitely pay.”
Frank: They sound like the degenerate gambler in every mobster movie
Saj: "Come on, you know I'm good for it! The money's no problem, I've got some cash coming my way real soon!"
Frank: How about this chart from Egypt.
Saj: Step 1 in defending a dictatorship: Don't let your citizens assemble/communicate.
Frank: Should governments have internet "kill switches"? This chart says probably not.
Keys To The Lexmark
Lexmark International (LXK) has a P/E of just 9. In addition, the company has more cash than it does debt by about $600 million. If you back out the net cash position from the company's market cap, the company's P/E falls to just 7! In addition, the company produces returns on equity that are well above its cost of capital. So is this an obvious value buy? Not so fast.
First of all, it's important to consider more than one year's worth of earnings. Last year just happened to be one of Lexmark's better years, as profits more than doubled over the year before, and were even 10% higher than they were in 2007. So how sustainable are these newfound profits? This brings us to an important point regarding the company's competitive position.
Lexmark has had a great year because customers are buying again, and because its recent slate of products is outperforming those of the competition. But in the highly competitive industry of printing solutions, Lexmark is unlikely to always outshine the competition. The company has to continuously innovate just to maintain its market share. Therefore, the risk is ever-present that the company will be bested by competitor products.
This illustrates the idea that just because two companies trade at the same P/E, they are not necessarily similarly priced. One company may have to be both good and lucky to generate its earnings, while another can still profit strongly even if it has an off-year. For example, if Microsoft comes out with a sub-par version of Windows, there is little change to the company's finances; competitors may make some inroads, but customers will largely eagerly await future upgrades. Lexmark, on the other hand, has to keep inventing a better mousetrap in order to stay competitive. This kind of fast-changing industry evolution is the major reason why value investors prefer to stay away from technology companies. When you're trying to predict a company's earnings power, more predictability is better.
Of course, that doesn't mean Lexmark can't pull it off. The company may have excellent internal processes that lead to innovation, marketing and manufacturing prowess that is superior to the competition. But because of the nature of this industry, value investors should be able to confidently assert that these advantages are present before plunging in.
Disclosure: None
Time To Remove Those Cash Discounts?
It's no secret that many of America's largest companies are carrying massive cash balances. Unfortunately for basically all company stakeholders (including shareholders, employees, potential employees, governments, customers, suppliers etc.), much of this cash was earned by overseas subsidiaries. But America's tax rules require that such earnings be taxed again if that money is repatriated. As such, in their estimations of a company's intrinsic value, prudent value investors may discount the cash balances of companies which would be subject to repatriation taxes. Fortunately, there are signs that this policy may change, which could provide a boost to the intrisic value estimates of a slew of large corporations.
In Cisco's quarterly conference call last week, CEO John Chambers had some interesting comments about the future of repatriation. Cisco has $40 billion of cash versus a market cap of $120 billion, so this is an important issue for this company. Having attended meetings with President Obama geared towards rejuvenating job growth in America, Chambers is in a position to know how receptive the government is to changing the country's currently punitive repatriation taxes. Here's what Chambers had to say:
"In terms of our country's understanding of the importance of bringing back foreign earnings into our own country's investment for jobs, for plant and equipment, even for acquisitions, I think you're now seeing political leaders at all levels understand that...I think this one has well over a 60% probability of being resolved in a positive way and I do believe that people in the administration are much more receptive to this than they were just six or 12 months ago for combinations of reasons."
Such a move by the government would not be unprecedented. In 2004, the US drastically cut repatriation taxes in order to stimulate the economy. But it was a one-year wonder. Perhaps this administration has a more long-term solution in mind.
Either way, if a relaxation of repatriation taxes were enacted by this regime, whether temporary or permanent, shareholders owning companies with such large foreign cash balances (e.g. Cisco, Intel etc.) would benefit. Value investors who discount the cash holdings of overseas company subsidiaries may be underestimating the value of those companies, particularly in cases where those companies are carrying large cash balances relative to their market caps.
Disclosure: Author has a long position in shares of CSCO
Kirkland's: The Falling Knife Turns Upward
Just three months ago, shares of Kirkland's (KIRK) fell 17% to nearly $10/share. At that price, the stock was brought up as a potential stock idea as its P/E was only 6 after subtracting out the company's net cash position. Last week, however, the shares traded up close to $16/share, resulting in a very strong return over a very short period. The lesson for investors is simple: catch the falling knife, and sell it to Mr. Market once it's no longer falling.
There is a multitude of research that suggests that stocks that underperform the market tend to outperform the market in subsequent periods. Despite this, the mainstream media and analysts continually advise against buying a stock that is falling. This is terrible advice. Panic-selling can often create just the opportunity the value investor is waiting for.
Of course, this doesn't mean one should buy just any falling knife. All investments must be studied and vetted carefully. A company's current financial position and future earnings power must always be considered relative to its asking price. But "falling knives" should be welcomed as potential opportunities, and not situations to be avoided.
Near $16/share, Kirkland's stock is no longer the steal it was just three months ago. The company's P/E (now near 10) faces upward pressure as same-store sales are declining in the high single-digits. However, the company's financial position remains strong, as Kirkland's has $60 million of cash against no balance sheet debt. Nevertheless, the company likely trades a lot closer to fair value than it did when it was identified as a potential value opportunity. (And even if it is still slightly undervalued, it is likely better to be approximately right than precisely wrong.) This offers value investors a chance to get out and deploy their capital towards the next opportunity.
Disclosure: No position
Irrational Exuberance: Chapter 11
In the year 2000, while many market pundits expected the market to rise continuously upward, Robert Shiller warned about the stock market bubble, though not that many paid attention. While most were blinded by optimism, Shiller demonstrated using fundamental analysis that the market would generate poor returns for years to come. Learning from and understanding Shiller's rational approach to market valuation is likely to aid the investor in avoiding falling prey to the bubbles of the present and future.
In this final chapter, Shiller warns of the dangers of ignoring the high price level of the market. While to the observer it may seem that all a stock market crash would do is bring prices back in line with where they were a few short years ago, Shiller notes that the losses would be particularly harsh on certain groups. For example, someone who invested early and has been selling will do just fine; but someone who invested all their money at the end of the bull market will face devastation.
Shiller discusses a few factors which could derail the market. Among them are the following (keep in mind that he wrote this in the year 2000):
- foreign competition
- an oil crisis
- newly discovered problems with the longer-run consequences of incentive-based compensation for employees
- a war
- a terrorist attack (this was written just a few months before 9/11)
- systemic problems due to a failure of major banks
There is another prevailing theory at the time of writing (the year 2000) that has been used to justify the apparent high stock prices: the public has learned about the benefits of investing in the stock market. Shiller explores this idea in this chapter.
Armed with historical statistics spanning decades and even centuries, investors of the year 2000 may have finally learned that stocks do provide strong returns over the long-term. As such, the theory would argue that stocks will no longer go down to their previous levels, as the risk premium built into stocks is now all but gone.
Shiller notes that this "learning" that has apparently taken place in the late 1990's also took place at other points in history. He cites numerous publications where these arguments have been made in previous bubbles decades earlier! Shiller points out that if the public did indeed learn that stocks provide strong returns over the long-term, they have learned it before, and they have also un-learned it during periods of deep decline.
Shiller also debunks the myth that investors have accepted that stocks outperform bonds over all lengthy periods. Furthermore, his surveys of both institutional and individual market participants demonstrate that investors have learned an awful lot of untruths that they may soon unlearn.
Irrational Exuberance: Chapter 9
In this chapter, Shiller attempts to debunk the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH). The idea behind this theory is that if there were profit opportunities in the market, smart people would exploit them, and therefore the wealth of these people would grow, resulting in a bidding up (down) of undervalued (overvalued) assets. In such a scenario, there would no longer be profit opportunities; thus, capital markets correctly reflect available information.
Shiller argues that this interpretation does not allow for periods of mispricing that take years or decades to correct; in such situations, smart people could not make money rapidly, and therefore these opportunities would not neccessarily disappear.
As counter-examples, the author discusses a few companies of the day that cannot possibly be priced correctly. For example, eToys traded for $8 billion in 1999, despite sales of just $30 million and negative profits. Shiller also discusses some of the other bubbles that have occurred in history, including Tulip Mania in Holland.
Finally, Shiller cites extensive research that has shown various systemic problems with EMH. For example, low P/E, low P/B, and high-dividend paying stocks appear to outperform the market. Furthermore, stock price volatility appears not to correlate well with dividend volatility; instead, price volatility is extreme in relation to dividend volatility, which should not occur if stocks are supposed to be worth the present value of future dividends.
Are Your Fellow Shareholders With You?
Management will act in its own best interests, and for this reason investors should ensure that management's interests are aligned with theirs. Sometimes, however, management may be swayed to act in the interests of major shareholders, whether under the threat of a hostile takeover or as part of a courtship process for a friendly merger. Investors armed with this knowledge are in a position to better understand what is about to take place, and may thus make investment decisions that are in tune with their investment strategies.
For example, value investors can take a hint as to the company's future capital allocation plans if a company under review already has a large shareholder with a history of a preference for companies which return capital to shareholders vs those which try to empire-build. But to the aspiring value investor, finding this information isn't always easy.
Shareholders who peruse SEC company filings will have come across Schedule 13d from time to time. This is a mandatory filing that must be submitted by anyone who owns more than 5% of a company. On this form, major shareholders are required to disclose who they are, their relationship to the company, and even the motivations behind the transaction (though that can be conveniently changed at a later time).
But even if the schedule itself does not make the motive of the purchase abundantly clear, researching the large investor's background may help clear up uncertainties with respect to the company's near-term future. For example, if Berkshire Hathaway has taken a large stake in a company, it may be seen as an endorsement of management. On the other hand, if Carl Icahn is the buyer, director and management changes may be on the way!
That management should act in the best interests of shareholders is often discussed, including on this site. Implicit in this idea, however, is the notion that all shareholder interests are the same. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. However, disclosures are available which can aid the shareholder in determining whether the interests of major shareholders are aligned with theirs.
Envoy Capital: Now Trades For What It's Worth
Seven months ago, Envoy Capital was brought up on this site as a potential value opportunity. Today, the stock price sits some 60% higher, even though the value of the business has actually declined over this period. This was no fluke. Investors who paid attention saw a situation where upside potential clearly trumped downside risk, thanks to a massive margin of safety.
Envoy Capital traded for just $8 million despite net current assets of $16 million. Most of the current assets were in cash or various market securities. The company protected its portfolio to some extent by purchasing put options on the general market, which can be a drag on returns but adds a level of safety. In addition, the company has over a million dollars worth of real estate property in Toronto.
Management clearly recognized the disparity between the company's price and the value of its holdings. As such, it initiated share-buybacks and followed through on many of them, raising the value of each share in the process (thanks to the large discount to book value).
Furthermore, there were signs that the market value of the company's securities was worth more than its stated value. This was due to the fact that one of the company's holdings showed strong price appreciation before the company announced its latest results. Based on the company's price action, the market appears to have only caught on to this after Envoy's results came out, allowing astute investors the opportunity to profit ahead of time.
Finally, what gave the company's price its final push toward intrinsic value was a private sale of 19% of the company's shares to a new management team that is taking the helm. The price the major shareholder received in the transaction was $1.55/share, which is still far below the company's book value (as of its latest financials) of $2.18. However, the company also announced a restructuring of about $0.70 per share, most of which will likely take the form of cash payouts to the ousted management, since the company doesn't have a lot of fixed assets to write down.
As such, the private stock transaction took place at about the same price as the company's new book value after taking the "restructuring" costs into account, which is about what you'd expect. But the shares currently trade a little bit above that level, offering current investors the opportunity to get out at a fair price.
Over the years, shareholders in Envoy Capital have lost a lot of money. However, those who invested when the price traded at a significant discount to its value (which has been possible for most of the last year, including just last month) managed to make a ton. Now that cash should likely be pulled out and deployed towards the next opportunity.
Hint, Hint!
Value investors tend to favour quantitative over qualitative factors when evaluating stocks. Nevertheless, it is absolutely imperative that investors go beyond the quarterly reports in evaluating a company's prospects.
In the past, we have seen many instances where qualitative information gleaned from conference calls has been useful in determining the future direction of the business. For example, it was clear that Acorn International was under pressure to pay out some of its large cash balance. It was also clear that Quest Capital was intending to buy back shares as quickly as regulations allowed. Qualitative factors such as these allow investors to make more accurate quantitative assessments of a company's intrinsic value.
Throughout a quarter, in between conference calls and financial reports, companies will also release material filings. For example, last week GameStop released a filing that gives a strong suggestion that the company is in buy-out talks. The filing stated that contracts with certain executives (including both GameStop's CEO and CFO) were amended such that these key employees could not terminate their contracts following a change-in-control of the company's shares. This suggests a buyer has expressed interest, and wants assurances in writing that he'll be able to keep the current management team. While this particular filing may not change an investor's estimate of the company's value, it does certainly increase the likelihood of a catalyst, for those who are into such things.
For part-time investors, there are options that can make it easier to stay in touch. For example, one can subscribe via RSS to a company's filings or press releases. Investors then only have to consult their RSS feeder every now and then to see all the filings of all the companies they follow. Companies will make disclosures throughout the quarter, and the onus is on investors to follow along.
Disclosure: Author has a long position in shares of GME
Imation: Mr. Market Cheers, But Risk Goes Up
Sometimes a company is so cheap, that a value investor can make a significant amount on it even when its management pursues strategies which are "anti-value". Consider shares of Imation, a company that has been previously discussed on this site as a potential value investment. The shares rose significantly last week after the company reported its latest results. But while the company's cash position is still 2/3's of its market cap, management appears to be making decisions that are increasing the company's risk.
Imation has decided to undertake a "new strategic direction as a global technology company dedicated to helping people and organizations store, protect, and connect their digital world". This certainly sounds like great news for global citizens with disconnected digital worlds, but what does it mean for value investors?
1) "The Company announced today a new $35 million restructuring...The restructuring will result in approximately $30 million of future cash expenditures."
Imation is a perennial "restructur-er". Write-downs in 2010 included $78 million, made up of some Goodwill write-downs, some severance pay, property writedowns, equipment sales etc. What's unattractive about this new restructuring is that it is not just a write-down of some long-lived asset that is not performing; it will require a cash outlay.
2) "[In addition], the Company expects incremental organic investment of $15 million focused on technology; expanded sales and marketing coverage for the VAR (value added reseller) and OEM channels; improved decision-support tools in IT, and international expansion, focused on China."
Imation is not very profitable, and hasn't been for a while. So when management is deciding to continue to invest, rather than return its strong cash flows to shareholders, risk increases.
3) "The Company also anticipates investments through acquisitions...with the potential for several acquisitions each ranging from a few million dollars to $50 million."
More cash (of amounts unknown at this time), will be expended on high-tech products with uncertain futures.
4) "[A] stock buyback, restarting share repurchases under the Company's existing board authorization of 2.3 million shares"
This is a case of too little, too late. This authorization represents just 5% of the company's outstanding shares, and has already been in place for a while. While the company has generated $200 million of cash from operating activities in the last two years (which is almost half of today's market cap!), Imation has paid no dividends and bought back no shares over this period, even though shares were a lot cheaper a few months ago than they are today.
So rather than return cash to shareholders, management appears bent on growing the business even though it has shown an inability to do so thus far. At the current price, and considering the uncertain investments management wants to make going forward, value investors who purchased (for the reasons discussed here) back when the stock was 30-40% lower last year or the year before may want to cash out and look for more value-friendly investments.
The Safer and Cheaper ADDvantage
While most stocks are rising in this heated market, there are still a few names that investors are kicking to the curb in favour of the hot numbers. Following the company's earnings release last week, shares of ADDvantage fell 10%+, offering investors an entry point for the stock at a fairly cheap price.
The last time ADDvantage Technologies was discussed on this site, the stock was significantly more expensive, and its business risk was significantly higher. In just a few short months, however, both of these issues have been corrected!
First, the company's stock price has fallen 25% from its December high. The company now trades for just $27 million, despite operating income of $34 million (including $7+ million in fiscal 2010) over the last four years. This company is a steady earner, as operating margin has only fallen below 15% once in the last 8 years. (In 2009, operating margin fell to a still healthy 13.7%.) Considering the strong and steady earnings, the company is also conservatively capitalized, with cash of $10 million against debt of $13 million. (There is a $1 million penalty for prepayment of debt, which is why the company is maintaining both a high cash and debt balance.)
But in the months leading up to December, the worry for value investors about ADDvantage was the upcoming expiry of its contract with Cisco, which supplies 35% of the products ADDvantage sells. But late last year, ADDvantage and Cisco finalized a new agreement whereby ADDvantage is now allowed to sell more Cisco products than it was previously!
As a result of price appreciation last year, ADDvantage is a stock that already currently appears on the Value In Action page, following a stint on the Stock Ideas page. But as a result of its recent price drop, along with the reduction in risk associated with the new Cisco agreement, it returns to the Stock Ideas page anew, as the stock once again appears to trade at a discount to the company's earnings potential.
Disclosure: Author has a long position in shares of AEY and CSCO
Posted by Saj Karsan 11 comments:
This chapter is about herding and epidemics. Shiller explores the idea that humans (including investors) do not necessarily think independently, which leads to similar thinking and therefore similar investment decisions.
Shiller cites experiments by Deutsch and Gerard that illustrate that individuals will side with the opinions of a large group of people over even their own opinions! The experiments demonstrate that people believe the majority view to be accurate even when it conflicts with their own independent conclusions.
Even rationally-behaving people can fall victim to herding as a result of an "information cascade". Shiller describes an example where a customer encounters two empty, identical restaurants. He must choose randomly between the two, with no other information to go on. But the next customer that arrives has the benefit of seeing the choice of the first customer, which, absent other information differentiating the restaurants, may sway him to choose the same restaurant, on the basis that the first customer knew something he didn't. This cascade can continue as more customers arrive, resulting in one full and one empty restaurant, despite there being no discernible difference between the two.
People also accept long-standing sayings as fact, as a result of trusted word-of-mouth communication. Such myths usually start with the words "They say that...", and are believed by those who both hear and speak them. Shiller debunks a few of these common sayings: that only 10% of the human brain is used by most people, that the birth rate jumped after a power blackout, and that there were an unusually high number of suicides during the 1929 crash. People prefer to take a free ride on items like these; they will believe that some expert has confirmed it, and so they will go along with it. They are likely employing these same behaviours when they invest.
Shiller now takes on the question of why the market is at the level it is at. This is an interesting question because it is not known to any degree of accuracy what the right market level should even be.
First, Shiller takes issue with popular accounts of investing psychology. These accounts would have you believe that investors are euphoric during booms, and panic-stricken during busts. But Shiller argues that this is not the case; instead, investors during these periods are trying to be sensible, but perhaps have certain modes of behaviour that guide their actions during periods of uncertainty.
But why would the Dow be priced at 14,000 as opposed to 4,000? What is causing the market to choose one level over another? Shiller believes two psychological anchors in particular play prominent roles: quantitative anchors and moral anchors.
Quantitative anchors have to do with what prices or price changes investors may believe to be appropriate, even if those beliefs are sub-conscious. Examples include yesterday's price, P/E levels of similar companies, and previous highs or lows. Quantitative anchors make the investor think an asset's price should be at a certain price.
Moral anchors, as defined by Shiller, have to do with the investor's opportunity cost for his money. Would the investor rather have X number of dollars tied up in the market, or has it reached such a level that he believes he should sell some shares to improve his standard of living? Moral anchors in the aggregate make this determination for the market.
There's Good Debt and Bad Debt
Companies with lower risk can afford to take on more debt than the average company, as their low-risk nature allows them to service debt even when the going gets tough. In the finance industry, the term "low-risk" in this case usually equates to stable revenues and costs. But stable revenues and costs of the past cannot on their own constitute a sign that a company has low risk, for there are many oft-ignored elements that combine to form a company's risk.
Consider Cinram (CRW), producer of the DVDs and CDs on which music, movies and games are distributed. One would expect this to be a fairly steady industry (with the exception of the requirement to adopt new portable media technologies as they evolve) and the company had shown very steady revenues over the last few years. As a result, the company loaded up on debt, both to lower the cost of capital and to fund acquisitions to increase its market reach and scale.
Unfortunately, despite the stable outlook for the industry and the company's stable history, there was a large risk embedded in this company that both creditors and the company's managers appear to have overlooked when they loaded up on debt a few years ago (and subsequently made the problem worse with share dividends and buybacks that further weakened the company's financial position): the concentration of its customers.
A large amount of business coming from just one customer represents a significant risk. Companies in this position should be wary of taking on too much debt, on the chance that the major customer has a change of heart or goes belly up. In Cinram's case, 28% of revenues came from Warner Brothers, who last year had a change of mind about its DVD supplier. What you have now is a company with operating leverage suffering a large revenue cut, with debt obligations it can no longer afford. On the news of the loss of the major customer, the stock dropped 60% and has dwindled ever since.
Since the first rule of value investing is "never lose money", situations like these must be avoided. While large amounts of debt can be okay for some companies, a superficial glance at the company's industry and operating history do not suffice in evaluating whether the company merits a low-risk moniker. Some additional revenue risks are considered here. Only companies that pass such considerations with flying colours should have high debt to equity levels.
Urbana: I Snooze, I Lose
Yesterday, I was all set to buy shares of Urbana Corporation. Unfortunately for me, the stock rose some 40%, and I was too late getting in there. It would have been an incredible rate of return had I just been ready to buy it one day earlier; but instead it turned out to be a missed opportunity. Here's the post about Urbana that I had ready to go; alas, it is now out of date because of the one day change in the stock price:
Stock exchanges like the NYSE and NASDAQ have moats that help them earn above-average returns in normal years. During trading hours, they offer investors, institutional and individual alike, an unparalleled environment by which trades may be executed. As such, stock ownership of these exchanges comes at a premium price, unless that ownership is made through shares of Urbana Corporation (URB).
Urbana Corporation owns $160 million worth of securities, almost all of which relate to the ownership of various exchanges around the world. For example, Urbana's top three holdings are NYSE Euronext, Chicago Board Options Exchange, and Bombay Stock Exchange, which respectively comprise 36%, 25% and 16% of Urbana's portfolio.
So far, there is no reason for investors to get excited. After all, every investor could purchase shares in public exchanges himself. But what should get value investors excited is the fact that Urbana only trades for $100 million! This means investors are getting a 38% discount on this basket purchase of a few exchanges.
Due to the large discount to net asset value, the company has begun buying back shares. In the last six months, it has repurchased and cancelled about 5% of its shares, and authorization remains in place for continued buybacks of a similar amount over the next six months. Due to the large discount to net assets at which Urbana trades, this has served to increase the net asset value of each share.
But a large discount doesn't necessarily mean investors will make money. The exchanges Urbana owns could drop in price. Competition is growing for alternative trading platforms, which could erode the moat of some of the mainstream exchanges. Not only are after-hours exchanges gaining in importance, but so is the trading of unconventional investment vehicles on niche platforms.
But the good news is that even if you believe there is a chance that the major exchanges are on the decline, you can still make money off Urbana by hedging your bet. Almost 70% of Urbana's portfolio consists of publicly traded securities, allowing investors the opportunity to neutralize their portfolio effects by shorting the ones they believe trade at premiums to intrinsic value. As for the remaining 30% of Urbana's portfolio, which consists of privately-held shares, those are thrown in for free at Urbana's current price anyway!
It is also worth noting that shares of Urbana that are available to the public (Class A shares) have no voting power. So if management stinks it up and shares lose value, investors as a group won't be able to oust management; Instead, all they can do is sell their shares in the hope that somebody else will take them.
Nevertheless, Urbana offers investors assets at a large discount to their publicly traded values. As such, this appears to be a situation where upside potential trumps downside risk. Investors concerned with the viability of certain public exchanges are even offered the opportunity to hedge those specific returns out of their investment in Urbana, which reduces risk even further.
Thanks to Trevor Scott for the find!
Hidden Assets
We've focused a lot on hidden liabilities on this blog, because they are important. Company liabilities that don't show up on the balance sheet (such as operating leases and outstanding stock options) must be accounted for, or investors could be way off in their estimations of a company's value. But sometimes, companies have tangible hidden assets as well.
For example, consider Lorex Technology (LOX), a provider of security camera solutions. In its last quarter, the company earned $2.7 million on a market cap of just $10 million. But it's important to realize that much of those earnings were not sustainable; the company only earned operating income of $1.8 million. A large part of the earnings, therefore, came from the realization of an asset that wasn't even on the balance sheet: tax losses from previous years.
This is a tricky one, because sometimes companies do include future tax benefits as assets, and sometimes they don't. It comes down to how likely management thinks gains will be realized to offset the losses. But even if a conservatively-inclined management doesn't include the tax assets on the balance sheet (by taking a valuation allowance against them), they will still be written about in the notes to the financial statements. Armed with the knowledge of the company's tax losses, investors can then make their own decisions about how realizable those tax benefits are, and thus incorporate these assets into their company valuations.
In most cases, these valuation allowances against tax assets won't amount to much. But in other cases, they can be a large and determining factor, particularly as many companies emerge from a recession where they saw large losses. Therefore, it's important for investors to know to look for such accounts when formulating their valuations.
GameStop: Buyback Game Theory?
Why do companies extend buyback authorizations when they haven't yet completed buybacks under previous authorizations? For example, last week GameStop announced that it was increasing its buyback authorization to $500 million. But under the previous authorization for $300 million, $138 million still remained available. Considering that buyback announcements usually result in an immediate stock price gain (and sure enough, shares of GameStop did rise a few percentage points following the announcement), wouldn't it make more sense to exhaust the remaining $138 million at lower prices, and then later announce a new authorization for the remaining $362 million?
Instead, by going the route it did, management is making it evident that it does not want to spend that $138 million now, but may want to spend it, and then some, sometime soon. Under what scenario would such actions make sense? Perhaps in the case of an upcoming earnings miss!
GameStop's latest fiscal quarter ended last week, and so by now management likely has a rough idea as to how the quarter went in relation to expectations. If management anticipates a negative market reaction to the company's latest results, perhaps they feel they can get a better deal on the remaining $138 million by buying back those shares post-announcement.
At the same time, insider sales activity also shows that a director and major shareholder recently sold $30 million worth of shares. Could this be confirmation that management expects to disappoint when it reports holiday season earnings?
Of course, the above hypothetical scenario is only speculation and cannot be assumed as fact. There are other potential explanations for the dollar increase in authorization for the uncompleted buyback plan. Perhaps the company wishes to purchase debt or shares in a large block transaction (and $138 million is smaller than the block desired), or perhaps management wanted to make the announcement to temporarily boost the stock price. (The latter suggestion does appear improbable, however, as it does not jive with GameStop management's historical long-term perspective.)
But the extension of a buyback authorization when the previous one is incomplete does seem like a strange thing to do, though for whatever reason companies appear to do it all the time. In this case, we shouldn't have to wait long to see how it plays out. Fortunately for shareholders, even a miss by tens of millions of dollars still leaves them owning a company that trades at a very low multiple to its cash flow.
M&F Worldwide Looks Cheap
M&F Worldwide (MFW) trades for just $466 million despite earnings over the last twelve months of $96 million, for a P/E of just 5. Furthermore, M&F's earnings understate its cash flow, as the company amortizes a ton of intangible assets on its income statement; the firm amortizes about $100 million a year from previous acquisitions, mostly under the "customer relationships" account. As such, the company's operating cash flow has been at least $200 million in each of the last three years, making it appear dirt cheap at its current market cap.
But this example illustrates one of the pitfalls of the P/E ratio: it ignores a company's financial risk. In the case of M&F, the company is loaded with debt. The firm owes $2.3 billion to its creditors, the bulk of which is borrowed against M&F's line of credit. Interest payments are based on a floating rate, so the company's net income looks good right now because rates are low. However, should rates tick up, the cost of debt has the potential to increase significantly.
The good news is that the revolver doesn't come due until 2014. So if the business can be counted on to continue to provide stable cash flow, and management applies that cash towards debt repayment, perhaps the company could be looked at as a sort of "public" leveraged buy-out situation, as seen with Supervalu. Unfortunately, neither of those two factors appear to be on the side of M&F.
First, the company derives a large portion of its operating income from check printing. But this industry is in decline, as electronic forms of cash transactions grow in popularity. Second, management is not showing any interest in debt repayment; the firm continues to make acquisitions. Following the release of its latest financials, M&F agreed to purchase a private company for $140 to $160 million. Obviously, acquisitions could bolster the company's earnings. But they also increase the company's risk, as leverage is already rather high.
Finally, there are some ethical considerations of which investors should be aware. A large portion of M&F is owned by Ronald Perelman, who a few years ago tried to sell a company he owned personally to M&F for four times its market value! A string of lawsuits eventually prevented this transaction from closing, but such self-dealing in the future could be harmful to shareholders.
M&F is cheap enough such that it may reward current shareholders handsomely. However, there is enough risk present such that the threat of permanent capital loss is still present. Should the company face operational difficulties at the same time as its debt comes due, an ugly situation could present itself.
In this chapter, Shiller examines the 25 largest stock market index moves around the world, both over one-year and five-year periods. He then tracks the subsequent returns that occurred following these periods of abnormally strong and weak returns.
Following the strongest one-year returns around the world, subsequent one-year returns for the same markets have been all over the map. Often, extreme strength in these markets has been the result of a regime change that has seen a citizenry oust a dictator or military and regain control of its government.
In the one-year period following the largest one-year declines, however, stock returns around the world are decidedly positive, with only 6 of the 25 instances showing negative in the subsequent year.
Subsequent five-year results following extreme five-year price changes are far more convincing of the "bubble" effect. Following the largest five-year increases, almost all five-year subsequent returns were negative. There were exceptions, however. For example, in the Philippines, a 1253% increase over five years (starting in 1984) was followed by another 43% increase over the next five years. This was the result of a regime change in which a Communist dictator was ousted. In the other exceptions, extreme price gains were the result of extreme losses in previous years.
What went up (down) usually came back down (up). From this evidence, and considering the huge stock run-up of the late 1990's, Shiller surmises that the possibility that the US is currently (at the time of writing, in the year 2000) in the midst of a major speculative bubble cannot be ignored.
It is generally believed that times of extreme optimism result in booming stock markets. The author, however, turns this theory around and argues that strong stock prices cause a society to look for reasons to explain the booming market. In this chapter, the author takes the reader through some of the "new era" thinking that has pervaded the stock market booms throughout the last 100 years.
In 1901, there was huge optimism about how technology was about to change lives for the better. The first transatlantic radio transmission occurred in 1901, and the future was seen as bright: "trains [will be] running at 150 miles per hour,...newspaper publishers will press the buttons and automotive machinery will do the rest,...phonographs as salesmen will sell goods in the big stores while automatic hands will make change."
Furthermore, a recent spell of mergers had reduced competition and increased profit margins. But the level of profits was too high for the people. Antitrust legislation was used against monopolistic companies, and corporate taxes were instituted.
The 1920s were another time of renewed optimism on the basis of technology. The number of automobiles on the road tripled during this period, and US homes had become wired for electricity, resulting in soaring sales for items such as light bulbs, vacuum cleaners and washing machines. Shiller quotes a number of extremely positive articles and books from the period, where the expectation is that civilization is embarking on a new era. Stock projections were parabolic.
"New era" thinking once again permeated during the mid-1950's and 1960's. Growth in the use of devices such as televisions helped fuel exuberance. Ideas that stocks were now held in "strong hands" (mutual funds and institutions) gave confidence that crashes were now a thing of the past. Demographics (namely the Baby Boomers) were cited as further reasons for why "it's different this time".
Following each "new era" came a bout of extreme pessimism. Feelings were often widespread that the US was losing its preeminence to other countries (e.g. Japan). Interest in Communism grew following each crash. Capitalism was often seen as having failed.
Mutual Funds Have It All Wrong
Canada's largest national newspaper notes that "ScotiaFunds Is Tops". Presumably, one might expect this to mean that mutual funds commissioned by Scotia outperformed other funds when it comes to returns. Perhaps the article would then go on to compare the returns ScotiaFunds generated against those of the market, to see whether and by how much this group of funds generated in value for investors after fees. Unfortunately, these types of metrics are not at all what the mutual fund industry is focused on, and the content of this article illustrated that perfectly.
Instead of "Tops" (in the article's headline) referring to the fact that Scotia generated the best return, it referred to the fact that ScotiaFunds had the highest net sales! In fact, the article did not even mention the returns of the group of funds, either the absolute returns, the returns compared to peers, or returns relative to the market itself. What is mentioned in the article, however, is by how much assets under management grew for Scotia, and at what level assets under management currently stands.
Investors who pay attention recognize that the incentive structure of the mutual fund industry is not conducive to generating returns for investors: managers are paid based on sales, not investment returns. As a result, mutual funds are effectively marketing companies rather than investment funds.
Certainly, excellent returns do help market a fund, but there is enough wiggle room for managements in this area to throw off the majority of investors. For example, funds with below-average returns can simply be shut down, leaving the company's remaining funds looking terrific on a historical basis. This creates a survivorship bias in the results, and practically guarantees that future results will not be as good as those of the past appear to be.
Furthermore, fund returns are only a small component of the overall marketability of a fund. Paying high commissions to agents can result in fund sales, as many investors don't take the time to do the research themselves, preferring to take the advice of an "expert" or relationship manager. This advisor just gets a piece of the action, like a credit card processing service such as Paypal. Unfortunately, that "expert" is getting paid to push certain products, and investors who don't recognize this are probably not putting enough thought into their investment decisions.
When buyers purchase homes or cars, they do put in some time and effort to understand what they are buying. For whatever reason, many appear less inclined to do so when it comes to investing their savings. Those who are willing to do some research are at a distinct advantage as a result. These investors are able to buy undervalued stocks, closed-end mutual funds trading at large discounts, and ETFs with their significantly lower management fees.
Blyth Inc: Flaming Value?
Blyth (BTH) sells an extensive collection of accessories including candles and lotions. The company trades with a P/E of just 7, despite a ttm return-on-equity of almost 15% and despite having more cash than it does debt.
Blyth derives the majority of its sales in an unusual way: at home parties. The company has about 20,000 active US sales "consultants" who organize parties for their friends/acquaintances and make a commission of sales they generate at these parties. For those unfamiliar with this selling model, it may appear to be fad-ish or pyramid-like, but the company has been successful/profitable in this way for over a decade as a public company.
But while the company's P/E ratio is low and its return-on-equity is impressive, there are a couple of noteworthy items that may interest the value investor. For one thing, sales have been declining long before the recession hit. The company is facing competition for similar products from regular retailers and, of course, online channels (where Blyth competes as well). Therefore, while some of Blyth's sales declines are no doubt cyclical, there is likely also a secular component to the declines as well. The good news is that the company has been cutting expenses quickly as well; recently, its profits have risen despite lower sales levels, suggesting the company has had some success with some of its productivity-growth initiatives.
Second, the company's earnings are artificially high over the last twelve months as a result of a large tax benefit. In the last holiday quarter, Blyth paid taxes of just $2.5 million on earnings before taxes of $34 million. Ordinarily, Uncle Sam would not put up with such a low payment for long. However, in Blyth's case, the silver lining is that the company has tens of millions of dollars in losses that it can carry forward for tax purposes, but these are jurisdiction-specific and not a sure thing by any means.
Blyth is cheap and may offer investors both potential upside and decent downside protection. However, potential investors should be sure to have a strong grasp of the company's true earnings power before jumping in.
Cash Levels High Or Low?
If you follow the markets, you have no doubt heard the bull argument that companies are holding record levels of cash, and therefore that should eventually translate into future dividends, buybacks and investments, all of which should drive the market higher. A quick look at S&P 500 cash levels over the last few years does indeed show this to be the case:
But is the index's cash level, by itself, of any use? At the very least, it should be compared with index debt levels. Index debt levels have been on the increase for several years, and only recently have companies in the aggregate decided to start paying it down. By subtracting aggregate cash levels from aggregate debt levels, we can get an idea of how indebted the index is. The following chart shows the net debt level of the S&P 500:
While net debt (debt less cash) is on the way down, it only recently returned to early 2007 levels. Was the market in early 2007 undervalued? Future historians will probably say no. And yet if the index's cash position, relative to its debt, is high today, so it was in early 2007 as well.
The media jumps on attention-grabbing stories such as the record cash levels that corporations are currently holding. But the onus is on you, the investor, to put their stories in proper context. Does record cash mean a whole lot when the capital stock is also at record levels? Does the size of aggregate cash holdings mean anything without a comparison to the size of debt levels? Investors must always go beyond the superficial sound bytes to figure out what's really going on.
Diana: Shipping For Dollars
Diana Shipping (DXS) transports dry-bulk cargo using its fleet of 20+ ships. The state of the industry is pretty poor right now, with shipping rates, as measured by the Baltic Dry Index, having fallen quite a bit:
Rates are quickly approaching those of March 2009! (For a description of how this index works, see here.)
Because of the negativity surrounding this industry, the market may have overreacted to the downside. Shares of companies such as Diana Shipping have fallen significantly; the company trades at a P/E of just 7 and at a 15% discount to book value, which is mostly made up of previously purchased ships. But this company is capitalized to outlast a downturn, with a current debt to total capital ratio under 25%.
Unfortunately, this isn't an open-and-shut case, as there are a few risks here. First, Diana relies on four customers for more than 2/3's of its revenue. If Diana were to lose one of these charterers as a customer, it may not be able to secure equivalent terms on new leases.
There are also risks to the company's short-term profits. The company has mostly chartered out its fleet on 2-3 year contracts. If these contracts expire while shipping rates remain low, the company's profits are likely to fall; so while the current P/E is 7, the future P/E could be higher even without price appreciation.
But perhaps the biggest risk to this company is what it can't control, namely the prices of the goods it transports and, perhaps more importantly, the prices of the services it provides. Similar to the airline industry, which is a terrible industry for long-term investors, shipping transportation companies are enormously affected by the mistakes of their competitors. If some shipping companies over-order new ships (which history shows to be quite likely to occur every now and then), all companies, including Diana, will be forced to cut prices.
To succeed in such an environment, Diana must be one of the lowest-cost operators. The problem with this is that it's not an easy thing to do. As Warren Buffett has stated, value investors want to own companies that can be managed by a monkey. But a company that needs to be the low-cost operator needs a skilled management.
Diana looks cheap and may even be cheap. The upside is likely larger than the downside, based on the company's strong financial position and near-term earnings power. Unfortunately, the company's long-term potential is somewhat out of its control, which increases its risk profile for the value investor.
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← March 27 in freethought history…
March 29 in freethought history… →
March 28 in freethought history…
Posted on March 28, 2016 by John C. Snider
March 28, 1794 – France’s short-lived Cult of Reason ceases to exist with the beheading of its last leaders. Fueled by anti-clericalism, the Cult of Reason was a civic religion that sought to focus the French populace on Enlightenment values like Truth and Liberty. In 1793, proponents staged the Festival of Reason, the largest and most notorious of which was held in Notre Dame in Paris, with living women impersonating, among other things, the Goddess of Reason. The provocativeness and licentiousness of the Festival of Reason sparked sharp criticism from other Revolutionary factions. The Cult of Reason was supplanted by the equally short-lived deistic religion, the Cult of the Supreme Being.
March 28, 1794 -Â French philosopher and revolutionary Marquis de Condorcet is found dead in his jail cell in Bourg-la-Reine, France. He was 50. Among his accomplishments were the invention of a form of instant run-off voting (called the Condorcet method), and an essay in which he espoused the concept of human technological and moral progress. He was an active member of the French Revolution, but fell prey to the resultant internal conflicts.
March 28, 1902 – American socialist and civil libertarian Corliss Lamont is born in Englewood, New Jersey. He was director of the American Civil Liberties Union for 30 years, and like many leftists of the early 20th century, first praised the Soviet experiment but later condemned it while retaining his socialist ideals. Lamont was deeply involved in the Humanist movement, signing the original Humanist Manifesto and writing several books on Humanism. He was named president emeritus of the American Humanist Association, and was Humanist of the Year in 1977. Lamont died in 1995, aged 93.
March 28, 1934 – Environmentalist and signer of Humanist Manifesto III Lester R. Brown was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey. He was named Humanist of the Year in 1991 by the American Humanist Association.
March 28, 1942 – Philosopher Daniel Dennett is born in Boston, Massachussetts. He is best known for his books on the mind and on religion, including Consciousness Explained, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea and Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. Dennett has been named (along with Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens) one of the “Four Horsemen” of the New Atheism. He was named Humanist of the Year in 2004 by the American Humanist Association.
March 28, 2014 – Attorney and freethought activist Edwin Kagin dies in Union, Kentucky, aged 73. He was a founding member of the Free Inquiry Group (FIG) of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, and a co-founder (with wife Helen Kagin) of Camp Quest, a children’s summer camp that emphasizes science and skeptical thinking. Kagin was one of the signers of Humanist Manifesto III.
This entry was posted in atheism, biography, evolution, history, humanism, international freethought, psychology, religion and tagged corliss lamont, cult of reason, daniel dennett, edwin agin, lester r. brown, marquis de condorcet. Bookmark the permalink.
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2014 | RENTING, THE FUTURE
In its third year, RENTING THE FUTURE was focused on defining and shaping the viability and sustainability of the Single-Family Rental sector. It was produced by the AmeriCatalyst Idea Lab, a nonprofit think tank dedicated to finding solutions to remediate the global housing finance crisis and generating ideas for the sustainability of housing finance. The Idea Lab creates and incubates focus groups dedicated to specific industry topics and sectors including Single-Family Rental Strategies (SFRS), which is a micro-think tank dedicated to the Single-Family Rental Sector. RENTING THE FUTURE encompasses the ideals, work, and vision of SFRS. Put a comma after the word “Renting” and you’ll better understand the editorial commentary inherent in the title of the event.
RENTING, THE FUTURE: Advancing Single-Family Rental was comprised of seven in-depth sessions that explore the who, what, when, where, why and most importantly, how the U.S. single family rental sector has developed.
It took place Sept. 9-10 as the second half of AmeriCatalyst 2014, which ran from Sept. 7-10.
For the past 12 years, AmeriCatalyst has held a truly revolutionary conference that raises the caliber of dialogue and debate on housing finance, and fundamentally changes the way that market players view the industry. In 2010, we extended the event to encompass leading players in the emerging Single Family Rental sector, thereby incorporating the entire housing spectrum into one event.
We made it invitation-only, bringing together a powerful combination of 350 senior executives from multilaterals and central banks, policy makers, regulators, investors, issuers, banks, analysts, academics, and leaders from all sectors of primary and secondary mortgage markets. From the Single-Family Rental sector, we added institutional and real estate investors, REITs, owner-operators, investment banks, and private equity firms.
We made the event interactive, so that the entire audience became part of the stage, and the entire conference became an experience. To encourage candor and meaningful dialogue, we imposed a strict no-media policy. And then we made it challenging, with an interesting and uncommon selection of speakers debating topics in their areas of expertise, but in a context in which no one is an expert. That context is globalization.
In 2014, we provided three participation options for AmeriCatalyst 2014:
For those interested in the entire housing and finance lifecycle, participate in the entire event (from September 7-10)
For those interested in housing finance only, participate in AmeriCatalyst 2014: TIGHTROPE (September 7 - 9)
For those interested in Single-Family Rental only, participate in AmeriCatalyst 2014: RENTING, THE FUTURE (September 9 - 10)
Renowned for our unparalleled content and powerhouse of participants, AmeriCatalyst is considered the most influential and intellectually challenging conference experience in the industry.
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM | SESSION 2.7 [4] GOING PUBLIC: Securitization and the Funding Revolution in Single-Family Rental
The funding revolution has begun. Prior to Blackstone’s groundbreaking rental payment securitization in October of 2013, capital leverage was mostly limited to secured credit facilities. The advent of rent-backed securities has brought the lowest cost of capital to institutional owners and operators, launching what one could characterize as an “arms race”. To date, there have been a total of six transactions totaling approximately $3.4 billion, with two more new issuers in the market and an anticipated total of 10 transactions in 2014. Add in the potential for multi-borrower securitizations, and the market is anticipated to grow as much as $20 billion annually. Blackstone’s initial transaction has since been followed by American Homes 4 Rent in April of this year, as well as Colony American Homes in April and May, with Silver Bay and American Residential Properties announcing new issues. Now, the real work begins. Given the fact that there are billions of dollars in outstanding interim finance lines that need to be taken out through securitization, have we found the model that is going to clear the market of the supply? Are these past and upcoming structures investor-friendly enough to expand the investor base and how much can the investor base be widened? What structure works best? As we tread the path toward institutionalizing the sector, are we on the right path? And finally, are we there yet? This session addresses those questions and more, providing a behind-the-scenes look at transaction pitfalls and performance and current market response, prospects for new issuers, improvements in investor reporting, the internationalization of the investor base, and previews the next big thing in the growth of the SFR securitization market, multi-borrower securitizations.
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM | EVENING COCKTAIL RECEPTION AT THE MOODY THEATER [HOSTED BY THE HOME DEPOT]
IN THE GREAT ROOM OF THE "W" HOTEL
11:15 AM - 11:45 AM MORNING REFRESHMENT BREAK FOR RENTING, THE FUTURE BEGINS
IN THE MOODY THEATER
1:00 PM - 2:15 PM | LUNCH
IN THE GREAT ROOM AT THE “W” HOTEL [ CLOSING LUNCH FOR TIGHTROPE | OPENING LUNCH FOR RENTING, THE FUTURE ]
7:00 AM - 6:00 PM | REGISTRATION DESK
Located at the W Hotel
4:30 PM - 5:00 PM | REFRESHMENT BREAK
11:45 AM - 1:00 PM | SESSION 2.4 [1] KNOWNS AND UNKNOWNS: The Strengths and Weaknesses of Housing Finance Data and Demographics
This session shows the data behind the dialogue over the past day and a half through its exploration of the strengths and weaknesses of housing finance data and demographics. Looking at housing supply and demand drivers and constraints, we’ll discuss economic trends, house prices, loan performance, new construction starts, the shadow inventory, interest rate lockout, and income trends and their impact. We’ll also discuss demographics and future housing demand, highlighting the critical differences along the spectrum of demographic composition from Millennials to Boomers and examine what a “minority majority” will do to influence household formation statistics, the propensity to rent versus own, and how these factors influence a myriad of public policy options. We’ll transition from the strengths of what we do know about the industry to a collaborative debate between panelists and the audience that inventories the weakness of what we don’t know - including what data is missing, how it negatively impacts the industry, and how it may be possible to provide a more accurate and predictive view of industry dynamics in the immediate future.
2:15 PM – 3:15 PM | SESSION 2.5 [2] BUILT TO LAST: Establishing the Foundation for a Statistically Supportable View of Single-Family Rental
Currently, the Single-Family Rental sector lacks a strong foundation for a statistically supportable view of the housing and rental markets that enables the ability to manipulate variables and scenarios to support actionable strategies, to accurately project critical issues such as how net asset value is calculated, the ability to lever rents and to determine how to capture and stratify rent growth, for example. Most importantly, the purpose of the session is to establish a view of the empirical validity of the sector. Similar to the preceding session “Knowns and Unknowns,” this session provides an update of current market conditions and detailed data driving the sector via an inventory of all current available data in Single-Family Rental, and transitions into a discussion about what more empirical data is needed and how far we have to go. Finally, the session kicks off a new initiative of the AmeriCatalyst Idea Lab’s Single Family Rental Strategies (SFRS) think tank, establishing a data research council to establish metrics and benchmarks for Single-Family Rental moving forward.
3:15 PM - 4:30 PM | SESSION 2.6 [3] RUMOR HAS IT: The State of Single-Family Rental and What Happens Next
While single-family home rental is not a new concept, the institutionalization of Single-Family Rental as a professional industry sector and asset class certainly is. These developments have not occurred without controversy, which is why it is important to keep in mind the tumultuous period and context in which the sector has evolved. What we now know as “Single-Family Rental” began as a partial solution to the foreclosure crisis that brought much-needed private capital to acquire the unprecedented shadow inventory of REO properties. As such, negative public reactions to institutional – or “Wall Street” investors post-crisis are to a certain extent, inevitable. More importantly, the sector has developed in the unbridled culture of mass and social media, in which anyone can become a publisher and reach a wide audience within seconds. As we have already seen, this can be brutal as operators tread the learning curve. Furthermore, developments in the sector are evolving at a pace faster than media and analysts can process and capture. We’ve titled this session, “Rumor Has It” in reference to all of these factors because if you read the news and blogs, rumor has it that as those in it for the trade exit the ride, the wheels are falling off of the sector. And yet those whose business models are built to last have only just begun. This session separates the facts from fiction, highlighting how business models are changing in line with rising house prices, increased operational efficiencies, public access through securitization and REITs, and the ongoing funding revolution as cheaper capital reaches smaller players. We discuss the latest developments, dynamics, and thought processes of the pioneers leading some of the most important firms in the sector, with a preview of what happens next.
7:45 AM - 8:30 AM | MORNING COFFEE AND REFRESHMENTS
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM | SESSION 3.1 | LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD: How Small to Mid-Tier Investors are Changing the Game
Single-Family homes represent approximately 14 million homes, or more than 10% of the overall housing market. Given the enormous size of the market, reliance upon the large institutional investors as a gauge for market performance distorts the reality of what is happening in the heart of the market – the smaller to mid-tier investors and operators. In a report earlier this year, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods estimated that 14% of the market is owned by investors with more than 10 properties, 35% are owned by investors who own 2 – 10 properties, and 51% are assumed to be owned by a single investor. The advent of new lending facilities geared toward small to mid-tier investors is poised to level the playing field by providing greater financial leverage and incenting their growth, but to what extent will it change the game? This session looks the issue from two perspectives. We begin with a look at how lenders are streamlining financing operations to facilitate more fluid transactions between borrowers and sellers, as well as build the infrastructure to prove the viability of a securitization market for multiple borrowers. Our second perspective comes from the mid-tier investors and operators themselves. With access to lower costs of capital, how will it change their business models, and what will they do with the funding?
9:30 AM - 10:40 AM | SESSION 3.2 | HARNESSING GLOBALIZATION: Crowdfunding and Market Disruption
Banking is necessary, but banks are not - as evidenced by our earlier AmeriCatalyst sessions on non-bank mortgage companies. A company with a strong brand, technology, and access to capital can in fact perform traditional (albeit non-depository) banking activities. Provided, of course, regulators don’t kill it. Case in point: crowdfunding. Two years ago, crowdfunding was barely in the investor lexicon. When the JOBS Act of 2012 legalized crowdfunded investing (CFI) and became effective on January 1, 2013, the race was on. Today, virtually all crowdfunding analysts agree that real estate crowdfunding will be the largest – and most successful crowdfunding model of all, and is poised to revolutionize real estate capital formation. In the same way, having an information facility to publish a unilateral offer of compensation on property is necessary, but as it currently exists, what we know as MLS, is not. The context of this session is ultimately about globalization, and what happens when innovative firms harness its fundamental forces into a particular business model. In this case, technology, distribution, the Internet, and the power of the masses. The session analyzes the obstacles and potential of two different but powerful models that could fundamentally alter the real estate sector by changing the way in which we buy, sell, and fund real estate transactions. As an interesting side note, we were going to name this session “Capital Darwinism”, citing the famous quote by Charles Darwin, “It is not the strongest of the species” that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is most adaptable to change. In fact, Darwin never said it. What he said was those who survive are the ones who most accurately perceive their environment and successfully adapt to it. In the same way that the growth of Single-Family Rental is a reality check for the future of housing finance and homeownership, crowdfunding and the expansion of the auction model serves as a reality check to the real estate industry.
10:40 AM - 11:00 AM | REFRESHMENT BREAK
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM | SESSION 3.3 | SIBLING RIVALRIES? A Debate Between Single-Family and Multi-Family Operators
Almost everyone involved in Single-Family Rental believe that the institutionalization of the sector is likely to follow a similar growth trajectory as the Multi-Family sector did 20 years ago. As such, Single-Family market players view themselves as the younger siblings of Multi-Family. While Multi-Family operators view Single-Family players as the new kids on the block, they question their birthright to the same family. As one institutional investor put it, “Single-Family Rental is a logical extension for multi-family players. Their lack of participation in the sector is a blatant indictment of their view of the sector.” While Single-Family Rental is unlikely to become the suburban version of the apartment industry, like Multi-Family, it is well on its way to becoming a new institutional asset class. This session features a good-natured debate between leading Single-Family and Multi-Family operators on their similarities and differences, and what those in the early stages of Single-Family Rental can learn from the experience of the Multi-Family sector.
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM | LUNCH
1:15 PM – 2:15 PM | SESSION 3.4 | THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: Comparing and Contrasting the Analysts’ Approach to Single-Family Rental Entities and Issuances
To a certain extent, everyone in Single-Family Rental is treading the learning curve and therefore “winging it”. Both equity research and rating agency analysis are a collaborative endeavor, relying on strong internal debate to differentiate between distractions and key drivers of value creation and essential ratings criteria. When it comes to Single-Family Rental REITs and recent Single-Family Rental securitizations, there are no cycle-hardened valuation standards, and no historically agreed upon barometer of what’s most critical. Single-Family Rental does not fit well into the traditional REIT box. As such, one could argue that current analysis understates both the outsized growth potential and the operational risks of Single-Family Rental relative to most all other sectors of the market, particularly traditional REITs. One can equally argue that comparing the nascent Single-Family Rental sector to time-tested REITs is the Holy Grail for Single-Family Rental operators and investors. Where there is value in different approaches, there is also confusion. With a front row seat to the birth of an entirely new industry, our panel of fixed income and equity analysts is collectively documenting the genesis of the Single-Family Rental era. So what matters now, and what will matter in the future? A critical topic for operators and investors alike, this session provides a Wall Street perspective of the sector through the lens of equity analysts and rating agencies in order to understand where they agree, where they don’t, and how analyst opinions have changed over the past year. After all, like beauty, value and risks always lie in the eye of the beholder. But seriously, does a BPO really have to be the proxy for calculating NAV?
2:15 PM – 3:30 PM | SESSION 3.5 | SCHOOL’S OUT: Lessons Learned and Best Operational Practices in Single-Family Rental 3 Years On
3:30 PM – 4:30 PM | SESSION 3.6 WHERE HAVE ALL THE COWBOYS GONE: Changing Acquisition Strategies to Adapt To Changing Market Fundamentals
The “four horsemen” driving recent changes in acquisition strategies are the presence of larger players in the market, rising home prices, new mid-tier financing, and ROI expectations of public investors. As such, acquisition strategies for Single-Family players have become increasingly sophisticated and dynamic. In adjusting to rising house prices in particular, the largest players are selling select assets in their portfolio or have stopped buying (for now). Other firms are merging to gain greater efficiencies, moving to new geographic locations, or are acquiring and renovating smaller portfolios to sell to the larger players. With the new wave of funding leverage, mid-tier investors are changing their strategies to focus on “secondary markets” with higher risk, and higher reward. This session discusses how acquisition strategies are being calibrated to shifting market conditions. We’ll evaluate the costs and efficiencies of current acquisition channels including single-site MLS, Trustee auctions, stabilized portfolios, whole portfolio acquisitions, and non-performing loans. We also debate which acquisition strategy is best executed based on the size of investors involved. And finally, we’ll discuss what is likely to happen if house prices head back downward.
Stefanos Arethas
Stefanos is a lead analyst within the Structured Finance Group at Moody’s Investors Service, where he is responsible for primary new issuance ratings on commercial mortgage backed securities. Stefanos is a member of the large loan transaction team with a specific focus on retail, hotel, and multi-family. Additionally, Stefanos takes a lead role on all multi-family credit analysis including all Freddie Mac K-Series transactions. Stefanos is co-leading Moody’s analysis of proposed single family rental securitizations. Before joining Moody’s, Stefanos was a Vice President with BB&T in Washington, DC where he held various positions within the real estate group including: commercial and multi- family originations, single family residential construction and residential mortgage origination, where he was responsible for over $4 billion in originations. Stefanos often guests lectures courses on real estate finance at Georgetown University and George Washington University. Stefanos received a B.S. in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a Master's of Real Estate from Georgetown University. He currently lives in New York City.
Nav Athwal
RealtyShares
Nav Athwal is Co-Founder and CEO of RealtyShares, a leading crowdfunding for real estate platform that has raised debt and equity capital for over 60 real estate properties located across 10 states. Prior to founding RealtyShares, Nav was a real estate and land use attorney at San Francisco based Farella Braun & Martel LLP where he represented developers, fund managers, nonprofits, governmental organizations and REIT's on some of the largest mixed use residential, commercial and renewable energy projects across the country.
Nav was named a 2013 Northern California Rising Star Lawyer, is a lecturer on real estate law and investing at UC Berkeley and graduated from UC Berkeley Law School in 2010 as the Class Valedictorian. Nav is also a thought leader in the Crowdfunding and P2P Lending Space having participated in various panels and public discussions on these topics. Nav has been featured in countless publications including Forbes, WSJ and CNNMoney.
John Beacham
B2R Finance LP
Gary Beasley
ROOFSTOCK
Co-Founder | CEO
Gary left his co-CEO role at Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust (ticker: SWAY) in April of 2015 to co-found ROOFSTOCK (formerly DwellConnect), a technology-enabled Internet marketplace designed to dramatically improve transactional liquidity in the SFR sector. In 2009 he joined the board of single-family rental (SFR) pioneer Waypoint Homes and began investing in SFR, eventually joining full-time in 2011 to help raise the first significant institutional capital into the sector. In the fall of 2013 Gary helped orchestrate Waypoint’s merger with Starwood Capital Group, forming SWAY and taking the company public on the NYSE in early 2014.
Gary has spent the majority of his career in operationally-intensive and technology-driven companies with a significant real estate component to their businesses. Prior to joining Waypoint, Gary served as CEO of boutique hotel company Joie de Vivre Hospitality and award-winning solar technology start-up Greenvolts. Between 2001 and 2007 Gary was an operating executive with ZipRealty, where as its CFO he led the innovative Internet-based residential brokerage through its successful IPO before eventually being named its President. Gary also spent six years with KSL Resorts where he was instrumental in acquiring and integrating over $800 MM of resort properties. Earlier in his career, Gary worked for leading real estate industry firms LaSalle Partners (now Jones Lang LaSalle) and Security Capital Group.
Gary earned a BA in Economics from Northwestern University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Carl Bell
Amundi Smith Breeden
Deputy Chief Investment Officer
Carl D. Bell, CFA, is a Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager at Amundi Smith Breeden LLC. During his more than two decades as a fixed income investment management professional, Mr. Bell has developed specialized expertise in non-agency residential and commercial mortgage securities and other structured credit instruments.
Mr. Bell has spent more than 15 years as an investor in the mortgage credit markets and he has deep experience managing below investment grade and distressed real estate credit portfolios. Mr. Bell was previously employed by Smith Breeden from 1991 through 1997. During that time he worked on a variety of portfolio management and advisory assignments and served as Smith Breeden’s Director of Research.
In 1998 Mr. Bell joined Putnam Investments, where he was Managing Director and Team Leader for Structured Credit. After leaving Putnam in 2011, Mr. Bell co-founded Five Ten Capital, a real estate investment firm focused on deploying capital into distressed single-family homes through an “REO to Rental” strategy. In 2011, Mr. Bell also joined Smith Breeden’s Board of Directors as an outside director and he accepted his current position as a senior member of Amundi Smith Breeden’s investment team in February 2013.
Mr. Bell obtained an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University where he was a Fuqua Scholar and received the James G. Hanes Scholarship. He holds a BS in Mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University.
Douglas Bendt
SVP of Product Development & Research
Jack BeVier
The Dominion Group
Jack has been a Partner at The Dominion Group since 2008. Since joining the firm, he has worked in nearly every aspect of Dominion’s business including acquisitions, construction management, property management, marketing & sales and business development. Jack has overseen nearly 2,000 single family real estate investment deals in the past 7 years. Prior to joining Dominion, Jack worked in the acquisitions group of a commercial real estate firm on large-scale debt and equity transactions. Jack graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics and a concentration in Real Estate from the Wharton School, and a B.A. in International Studies with a concentration in Latin American Studies from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Stephen Blevit
Rob Bloemker
Dwell Finance
Co-CEO
Charles Brindell
Mill Creek Residential
Charles R. Brindell, Jr., is Chairman and CEO of Mill Creek Residential Trust LLC. Prior to the founding of Mill Creek Residential Trust, Mr. Brindell was associated with Trammell Crow affiliated entities for 28 years, including the Trammell Crow Company, Crow Holdings, and Trammell Crow Residential where he served as President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Brindell's real estate career also includes three years in commercial mortgage banking at Cameron Brown Company and more than seven years at Southwide Development Company, a Memphis-based real estate management and development firm where he served as Vice President of Finance and President and Chief Operating Officer.
A native of Wilmington, North Carolina, Mr. Brindell is a 1971 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
His professional associations include membership in The Real Estate Roundtable, The Urban Land Institute (MF Blue Council), National Multi-Housing Council (Executive Committee), and NAHB Multifamily Leadership Board (immediate past Chairman).
Mr. Brindell is a Director of Independent Holdings and Independent Bank, a Director of CNL Commercial Real Estate, Inc., a member of the Advisory Board for the Wood Center for Real Estate Development at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC, and a member of the Fisher Center Policy Advisory Board at the University of California at Berkeley.
Christopher Capolongo
BLT Homes
Mr. Capolongo has over 17 years of commercial and residential real estate experience and is responsible for originating, evaluating, managing and closing opportunistic real estate investments for the fund. Prior to his time at BLT he was Senior Director in GE Capital Real Estate’s Global Investment Management division, where he led investment strategy and business development and was responsible for closing several large investing partnerships, including the Public Private Investment Program with the U.S. Treasury and investing programs with Sovereign Wealth Funds. Prior to that, Chris was a Business Development Director in GE’s $15 billion North America Equity platform and focused on take-privates and opportunistic investments. Prior to joining GE, Chris worked at Deutsche Bank Securities as a Senior REIT Analyst covering publicly traded U.S. property companies. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Chris was a manager at Ernst & Young's Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Group, where he led the group's real estate due diligence practice, with a focus on property underwriting, securitization and M&A due diligence. Mr. Capolongo graduated with a B.S. in Accounting from Binghamton University.
Oliver Chang
Sylvan Road Capital
Oliver is a co-founder and managing director of Sylvan Road Capital, an asset management firm focused on the buy-to-rent market. Oliver is a thought leader on the topic of institutional investments in distressed single family housing, having served both investors and government agencies. His housing research is often cited in the media at outlets including CNBC, NPR, Reuters, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. Before co-founding Sylvan Road, Oliver served as Morgan Stanley's Head of US Housing Strategy and focused on all aspects of the housing market including home price dynamics, supply and foreclosure issues, demand and mortgage credit concerns, and the relationship between home prices and mortgage performance. Oliver received a BS in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Wally Charnoff
Mr. Charnoff is the founder and CEO of RentRange and Investability, guiding the firm’s vision and strategic plan. He is a serial entrepreneur who has spent the last 20 years developing cutting-edge companies in the securities and real estate technology sectors. Considered one of the foremost subject matter experts in the field of residential investing, he is frequently called upon by mainstream media to provide knowledge in both televised and print form.
Dennis Cisterna
Dennis Cisterna III is the Chief Executive Officer of Investability Solutions, an Altisource business unit focused on providing a comprehensive suite of services to the SFR investment sector. He was appointed CEO in July after spending the previous 18 months as the firm's Chief Revenue Officer. Prior to Investability he served as Managing Director of FirstKey Lending, a portfolio company of Cerberus Capital Management.
Dennis, an AmeriCatalyst speaker and host since 2013, has held a wide variety of management positions within the real estate investment sector including key roles at notable firms such as Johnson Capital, Lennar, and Toll Brothers. Throughout his career, he has been completed more than $3 billion worth of real estate transactions across the U.S. and Europe.
A requested speaker at economic and real estate conferences across the nation, Dennis also serves as a contributor for U.S. News & World Report and hosts The Investability podcast. He is a Licensed Real Estate Broker in California and has a B.A. in Political Science from San Diego State University.
Phil Comeau
Phillip E. Comeau Company
Phil Comeau is President and CEO of Phillip E. Comeau Company, Inc. and Synergistic Associates, Inc. He is on the RentRange Board of Directors.
Phil has over 44 years of residential and commercial finance experience. In the 1980’s he was responsible for originating $1.5 billion of innovative multifamily financing. In the early 1990’s he was responsible for managing Freddie Mac’s scattered site multifamily portfolio and REO. Subsequently, he managed Freddie Mac’s non-performing loan portfolio. He has been a pioneering leader in mortgage delinquent loan management, data analytics, performance metrics and risk management. Phil formed his consulting companies in 2004. He has been working with and advising RentRange since 2011.
He received his MBA in Finance and BS in Engineering from Cornell University. He does volunteer work with St. Joseph, the Worker LTD who assists destitute elderly widows in Bosnia/Hercegovina.
American Homes 4 Rent
Mr. Corrigan is the Chief Operating Officer of American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE: AMH). From 2006 to 2011, Mr. Corrigan was the Chief Executive Officer of A & H Property and Investments, a full service leasing and property management company in Los Angeles County with a portfolio of residential, retail, industrial and office properties where he was responsible for acquisitions, dispositions, development, financing and management operations. Mr. Corrigan served as Chief Financial Officer of PS Business Parks Inc. (NYSE: PSB), a publicly-traded REIT specializing in office and industrial properties throughout the United States, from 1998 to 2004.Prior to his tenure at PS Business Parks, Mr. Corrigan was a partner in the accounting firm of LaRue, Corrigan & McCormick where he was responsible for the audit and consulting practice of that firm. Mr. Corrigan started his career at Arthur Young and Company (now a part of Ernst & Young LLP) and also served as Vice President and Controller of Storage Equities, Inc. (a predecessor entity to Public Storage). Mr. Corrigan earned a B.S. in Accounting from Loyola Marymount University.
Renee Deane
Carrington Capital Management
EVP, Property Management
Renee Deane is Executive Vice President of Property Management for Carrington Property Services, LLC (CPS). Renee manages and directs the growth of Carrington Property Services, while servicing as a key asset for driving the industry-leading national property management company operating in 46 states.
In direct response to the ever-changing conditions in the real estate market, Renee has revolutionized the property management services platform available to all clients – from major institutional clients to long-term hold investor clients, building a rental portfolio. The company’s’ platform is designed to meet a client’s specific needs- whether the full suite of property management services, or a la carte services, such as rent analysis, evictions oversight, or property preservation services. Under Renee’s leadership, CPS has tripled its client base, ad created a platform that can be specifically tailored to each client and their specific needs ad programs. Renee possesses the knowledge and experience required to successfully implement the expansion plans for the company’s rental programs, and is highly qualified to significantly contribute to its business objectives.
A 25-year industry veteran with extensive experience in the financial services industry, Renee has developed and maintained key relationships with global investment banks, GSEs and large institutional investors. She has a proven track record of developing and automating operational efficiencies to achieve positive financial results. Prior to joining Carrington, Renee served as Executive Vice President of Operations/Chief Credit officer for Nations Direct Mortgage, where she was responsible for all areas of origination up to and including ensuring that all loans originated were sold on the secondary market and insured by HUD. Renee has also held various management positions such as EVP, Chief Operating Officer at Agire Mortgage; EVP, Business Controls at Ameriquest Mortgage Company; and EVP, Investor Relations at AMC Capital Corporation.
Chris DiAngelo
Chris DiAngelo is managing partner of Katten’s New York office and co-head of the Structured Finance and Securitization practice. He focuses his practice on structured finance and securitization matters.
Chris represents a variety of clients, including issuers, lenders, underwriters and bond insurers, in a wide range of programs and projects involving asset-backed debt, municipal debt, straight corporate debt and equity, warehouse lines, regulatory matters and acquisitions.
Chris’s clients describe him as a “significant market player” and say “He has the ability to zero in on the legal and business issues, explain them and then find an appropriate solution,” according to Chambers USA. Throughout the last decade, he has developed a strong knowledge of housing and mortgage policy reform—including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reform—a topic on which he is a frequent speaker. Chris has also spoken on the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on structured finance.
He is a lead counsel to the Structured Finance Industry Group and outside counsel to a Washington, DC lobbying firm concentrating in financial services matters. Chris has testified before the US House Committee on Financial Services on the issues confronting the commercial real estate market, and frequently appears and provides commentary at industry forums on financial and regulatory matters. He has been recognized in the media as a leader in the field of capital markets and securitization.
Prior to entering private practice, he was on the staff of the New York State Housing Finance Agency, a prominent municipal issuer.
Sean Dobson
Amherst Holdings LLC
Chief Executive Officer | Chairman
Sean Dobson is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Amherst Holdings, an investment services holding company which controls several companies dedicated to the U.S. real estate finance industry. Amherst is widely known for their data and analytics and one of the few residential mortgage specialists to anticipate the 2008 mortgage crisis. Mr. Dobson has over 25 years of experience in the mortgage industry, including origination, banking, brokerage, and asset management. Mr. Dobson served as a board member of the Structured Finance Industry Group, is a Co-Founder of CapCityKids in Austin, Texas and serves as a Governing Trustee for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. He lives with his wife and two children in Austin, Texas
Todd Eagle
Goldman, Sachs & Co
Todd is a managing director in the Real Estate Department in the Investment Banking Division, where he advises public and private real estate and hotel companies on mergers and acquisitions and financing opportunities.
Todd joined Goldman Sachs in the Real Estate Department as a financial analyst in 1990. He worked in the department for three years and then attended business school. Upon graduation, Todd rejoined the Real Estate Department as an associate and after four years in New York, relocated to London, where he became a vice president and headed European Real Estate Investment Banking for four years.
Todd subsequently returned to New York to the Real Estate Department and worked for one year in the real estate CMBS joint venture between Investment Banking and Fixed Income. He left the firm in 2005 to pursue two real estate principal investment opportunities and rejoined in 2006 as a managing director in the Real Estate Department.
Todd is a member of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and the Urban Land Institute (ULI).
Todd earned an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1995 and an AB from Dartmouth College in 1990.
Jonathan Ellenzweig
Tricon Capital Group
Jonathan Ellenzweig is responsible for overseeing Tricon’s single-family rental business (Tricon American Homes) and is involved in all aspects of strategic decision making for the business segment, including acquisitions, financing and ongoing operations.
Prior to joining Tricon in 2005, Mr. Ellenzweig was an investment banking analyst for Citigroup Global Markets, working in both the New York and Toronto offices, where he was a member of the coverage and transaction execution teams for financial services and media / telecom companies.
Mr. Ellenzweig graduated from Queen's University with an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree and was awarded First Class Honours.
Evan Firestone
Firestone Consulting
CoreLogic
Evan Firestone is a consultant in the ABS and MBS markets and works in a business development capacity with CoreLogic. Mr. Firestone founded Firestone Consulting in 2001 to provide analytical services to institutions involved in the mortgage- and asset-backed markets. Since that time, he has worked with over 70 companies including money managers, hedge funds, insurance companies, rating agencies, bond insurers, Investment Banks, mortgage originators, other consulting companies, technology providers and data providers.
Prior to founding Firestone Consulting, Mr. Firestone was a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch where he was responsible for quantitative analysis and the modeling of prepayments and defaults on a wide variety of asset types. Prior to his tenure at Merrill Lynch, Mr. Firestone managed the Mortgage Research departments at Credit Suisse First Boston and Greenwich Capital Markets.
Mr. Firestone has spent over 30 years analyzing the mortgage- and asset-backed markets and developing standards for the benefit of all of its participants. Mr. Firestone co-authored the seminal article which defined conditional prepayment rate (CPR) and applied it to the task of determining value in the secondary mortgage market. Mr. Firestone also developed PSA Standard Formulas and participated in Project RESTART from the American Securitization Forum.
Mr. Firestone is a past Chairman of the Mortgage Division of the Bond Market Association (now part of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association) as well as a Chairman of both the Mortgage Research and Mortgage Trading Practices Committees. In 1999, The Bond Market Association awarded Evan its Chairman's Achievement Award for distinguished service to the Fixed Income Markets.
Evan graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a major in Economics and a minor in Computer Science.
Rich Ford
Chief Development Officer & Co-Founder
A recovering investment banker, Rich deserves the Single-Family Rental Lifetime Achievement Award... for being one of the first to embrace the Single-Family Rental sector as an institutional asset class during his time at Jefferies. Having previously spent time at Lehman and Bank of America, Rich is embracing startup life and only wonders why he waited this long to dive in! Being Canadian, of course Rich put himself through college rappelling out of helicopters to fight forest fires. Don’t they all?
Patrick Foy
North Point Investment Group
Patrick is a founding principal of North Point Investments. He has participated as developer or broker in over $1.5 Billion in real estate transactions. Since August 2009, Patrick has been responsible for the acquisition, disposition, and renovation of 20 properties purchased at the trustee sales. Patrick is partnered with two high net worth individuals and has generated substantial returns in this most recent venture. Patrick established reporting, selection, and renovation criteria that will be used in the future investments of North Point Investments. Prior to founding North Point Investments, Patrick was the managing partner of Brierley Group which owned and operated BFM Realty Group, a residential real estate brokerage company with over $2M in annual revenue and Brierley Investments which developed over $50M in exit value residential real estate. Brierley additionally was a managing partner in five development projects with total estimated market value of $160M. Prior to the founding of Brierley Group, Patrick successfully managed Chrysler’s real estate portfolio, which covered 123 million SF of leased and owned space. Bringing his strategic vision and skills as a lead negotiator, he created savings of over $130M over 3 years to the company’s bottom line. Patrick has a B.A. from Boston College, with a double major in Political Science and Economics; a background that perfectly prepared him for the complexities of real estate development.
Andrew Giudici
Kroll Bond Rating Agency
Todd Gorelick
Gorelick Brothers Capital, LLC
Todd Gorelick is Managing Partner of Gorelick Brothers Capital, an alternative investment management company that operates hedge fund, mortgage strategy, and single family rental partnerships.
Previously, Mr. Gorelick founded Atlantic Assurance Group, a nationwide provider of title insurance, valuation and settlement services, and he was controlling principal of Atlantic Title Insurance Company, a multi-state title insurance underwriter. Earlier in his career, Mr. Gorelick worked as a real estate investment banker, and he founded a home equity mortgage business.
Mr. Gorelick is a resident of Charlotte, North Carolina and a graduate of Princeton University.
John Gutman
MACK Companies
Vice President, Sales and Acquisitions
Laurie Hawkes
Hawkes Insites
Laurie Hawkes is the former co-founder of American Residential Properties, which is one of the top-five fastest-growing companies in the housing industry. In the past year, she has taken ARPI public as a REIT, and overseen its first rental-backed securitization, backed by 2,876 single-family homes in the company’s portfolio. Ms. Hawkes co-founded the Phoenix Fund and ARM in early 2010, as well as ARP LLC in October 2008. From 1995 to 2007 Ms. Hawkes worked at U.S. Realty Advisors, a $3 billion real estate private equity firm, becoming a Partner in 1997 and serving as President of the firm from 2003 to 2007. In the seventeen years prior to joining U.S. Realty Advisors, Ms. Hawkes was a Wall Street investment banker specializing in real estate and mortgage finance. From 1993 to 1995, Ms. Hawkes was a Managing Director in the Real Estate Investment Banking Division at CS First Boston Corp., and from 1979 to 1993 was a Director in the Real Estate Investment and Mortgage Banking Departments at Salomon Brothers Inc. During her investment banking career, she structured and negotiated more than $16 billion in real estate acquisitions and securitized mortgage debt transactions for all property types utilizing many types of financing, including private equity, capital markets financial institutions and institutional investors. She holds a BA Degree from Bowdoin College and an MBA from Cornell University.
Jilliene Helman
Realty Mogul
Jilliene is the CEO and Founder of Realty Mogul. She is responsible for strategic direction, operations and sits on Realty Mogul’s Board of Directors and Investment Committee. Jilliene has underwritten over $5 billion of real estate and was previously a Vice President at Union Bank, where she spent time in Wealth Management, Finance and Risk Management. Jilliene is a Certified Wealth Strategist®, holds Series 7 and Series 63 licenses and has a degree in Business from Georgetown University.
Buck Horne
Senior Vice President, Equity Research
Buck Horne joined Raymond James Equity Research in 1999 and has been a research analyst since 2004. He has covered sectors in the business & industrial services and consumer industries as both a research associate and research analyst since joining Raymond James, and began covering the housing sector, in addition to select REITs, in 2007. Mr. Horne has been recognized seven times in the StarMine Top Analyst survey and has also been recognized in The Wall Street Journal Best on the Street survey. In addition, he has been regular guest on CNBC offering insight into the housing sector, and has also been widely quoted in major media outlets such as Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Horne earned a B.S. degree in business administration from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has been a CFA charterholder since 2003.
Jed Kolko
Chief Economist | VP, Analytics
Jed Kolko, Chief Economist and VP of Analytics, oversees Trulia's research programs. Applying a background in economic development and research methods, he transforms real estate data, economic trends, and public policy debate into digestible insights for home buyers, sellers and renters. In Jed's prior role as Associate Director and Research Fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, he led research projects and advised policymakers and business leaders on economic, housing and technology policies. Before his work at PPIC, Jed directed Forrester Research's consumer-technology market research, advising corporate executives on technology adoption and demand. Jed has also held positions at the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (now FHFA), the World Bank and the Progressive Policy Institute. Jed earned his A.B. in social studies and his Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University. Visit him at www.jedkolko.org, www.trulia.com/trends, and @jedkolko.
Diana Laing
Ms. Laing has is the Chief Financial Officer of American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE: AMH). Ms. Laing served as Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary of Thomas Properties Group, Inc., a publicly-traded real estate operating company, from its initial public offering in 2004 through its merger into Parkway Properties, Inc. in 2013. At Thomas Properties Group, she was responsible for corporate finance, accounting and financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting, and information technology. Ms. Laing’s prior career includes having served as Chief Financial Officer for Arden Realty, Inc. from its public offering in 1996 to 2000, where she oversaw the finance, accounting and reporting functions during a period when the company increased the size of its portfolio by over fivefold. From 1982 to 1996, Ms. Laing served as Controller and Treasurer, then Chief Financial Officer for Southwest Property Trust, Inc., a publicly-traded real estate investment trust investing in multifamily residential properties. Since 2003, Ms. Laing has been a member of the Board of Directors of The Macerich Company, a publicly-traded real estate investment trust that owns shopping malls nationally. She serves as the chair of the Audit Committee and is a member of the Compensation Committee. Ms. Laing also actively serves on three Advisory Boards at Oklahoma State University, to: the Dean of the Spears School of Business, the Chair of the Accounting Department, and the Oklahoma State University Foundation. Ms. Laing started her career with Arthur Andersen & Co. She earned a B.S. in accounting from Oklahoma State University and is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) in Texas.
Richard Magel
Main Street Renewal
Richard has over 30 years of experience in mortgage banking and property management including managing all aspects of mortgage banking including originations, servicing, and secondary marketing. His prior experience includes SVP of Executive Administration for Lomas Mortgage USA, President of Winstar Mortgage Partners, and 11 years with Guaranty Residential Lending ,a top 25 mortgage operation, as Chief Operating Officer. His accomplishments include operating a $10 billion a year origination and 100,000 loan servicing platform, extensive M&A experience, development of several asset or investment M&A structures, and management of multiple conduits and national operational platforms including property management. Richard received his BS from the School of Communications at The University of Texas in Austin, Texas.
Joe Mahler
SWAY Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust
Susan Mills
Citi Global Markets
Managing Director/Head of Residential Finance
Susan is the head of the Residential Finance with over 27 years of experience in providing Citi’s clients expertise in all matters related to the financing and securitization of residential mortgages and other residential assets traded by Citi Global Markets. She delivers the resources of Citi to clients by understanding their needs, objectives and constraints. Through Susan’s leadership, Citi structures both term and permanent financing solutions to institutional clients collateralized by Agency, Non Agency, Jumbo, Mortgage Servicing Rights and Single Family Rental product. Susan received her BS in Accounting from Long Island University.
Toni Moss
Toni Moss is the founder, curator and CEO of AmeriCatalyst LLC and EuroCatalyst BV, “sister” advisory firms with specialized services for investors and companies engaged in housing finance and Single Family Rental (SFR). She is also Chairman of the Board of The AmeriCatalyst Idea Lab, a non-profit which generates viable ideas to stabilize and sustain the housing market. Toni is a unique force in housing and real estate; with an entrepreneurial background in corporate intelligence, strategy, market positioning and trend forecasting, she is both a catalyst and connector to move agendas forward. With hands-on operational and senior management experience in 21 national mortgage markets around the world, Toni is one of few experts with a truly global perspective on the industry.
Frequently among the first to identify significant trends and articulate their impact, she is known for calling a series of international government meetings and giving industry-wide presentations and interviews (beginning in 2001) to draw attention to the role of international housing finance and investment as “the epicenter of the global economic fault line.” She believed that this role, in combination with over-leverage and the accelerating forces of globalization were likely to cause an unprecedented global economic fracture.
To amplify her efforts, the following year (in 2002) Toni launched the revolutionary annual EuroCatalyst conference series to share research, observations and ideas among the most respected peers in global housing finance. Today, the series continues as the AmeriCatalyst conference in Austin (Texas), which acts as a collaborative think tank to discuss current issues in housing finance and SFR in the context of globalization and generate innovative ideas across the housing finance and rental lifecycle. Renowned for its unparalleled content and powerhouse of participants, the event is considered the most influential and intellectually challenging conference experience in the industry.
Dowell Myers
The University of Southern California
Professor of Urban Planning and Demography
Dowell Myers is a professor in the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. He is an urban demographer specializing in housing who integrates demographic and economic data from censuses, surveys, opinion polls, and projections. Myers has directed a series of projections on the changing generational futures of the United States and California. These highlight the surging number of seniors, the slackening growth of middle-aged consumers, the rising millennials, and the growing contributions of immigrant generations. Myers recently completed a major study (with John Pitkin) for the Mortgage Bankers Association of the growing immigrant contribution in the housing market. He also is the co-author of “Aging Baby Boomers and the Generational Housing Bubble” and “Demographic Forces and Turning Points in the American City.” Myers holds graduate degrees from UC-Berkeley and M.I.T.
His website can be found at www-bcf.usc.edu/~dowell/home.html.
Beth O'Brien
CoreVest Finance
Elizabeth A. O'Brien serves as Chief Executive Officer and President of Colony American Finance. Prior to joining, Ms. O'Brien was Executive Vice President at Auction.com, where she ran its residential capital markets division and set the financing strategy for the platform. In that capacity she managed over two billion dollars of single-family and multi-family loan sales and multiple financing partners. She also founded a proprietary private money lender geared at the investor market as President of AuctionFinance.com. Ms. O'Brien held prior positions at Citigroup Global Markets Inc. in Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Trading and Securitization, Goldman Sachs & Co. as Chief Administrative Officer for the Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds and as an Associate at Latham & Watkins LLP. Combined, Ms. O'Brien has over 20 years' experience in the mortgage market as both a principal and an advisor. Ms. O'Brien was named a 2014 Woman of Influence in Housing by Housingwire magazine. Ms. O'Brien received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Rick Palacios, Jr.
John Burns Real Estate Consulting, LLC
Rick is Director of Research at John Burns Real Estate Consulting, an independent research provider and consulting firm focused on the housing industry. With more than 10 years of experience in residential real estate and economic research, Rick oversees all research pertaining to the single-family for sale/rent, multifamily and building product sectors.
Previously, Rick worked as an Equity Research Associate covering the homebuilding space at Morgan Stanley in New York. In addition, he spent several years as an Analyst at the Milken Institute, an economic think tank located in Santa Monica, California. Rick is regularly quoted in local news publications as well as major outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, CNBC, CNN, MSNBC, and Professional Builder.
Palacios holds a Master of Science (MS) in Real Estate Economics and Finance from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from the University of California, Irvine.
Michele Patterson
Senior Director, Structured Finance
Michele Patterson is a Senior Director the RMBS group at Kroll Bond Rating Agency, Inc. Michele has 13 years of experience in structured finance as a rating agency analyst. Prior to joining Kroll, Michele was a Senior Director of U.S. RMBS at Fitch Ratings where she spent time on both new issue ratings and surveillance. Michele has a BA in Economics from Binghamton University and an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.
Eric Phillips
Connorex-Lucinda, LLC
Jade Rahmani
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods
Managing Director, Commercial Real Estate Finance
Jade Rahmani is a research analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, an investment bank specializing in the financial services sector. He is the lead analyst covering the Commercial Mortgage REITs, Commercial Real Estate Brokers, U.S. Homebuilders, and Single-Family Rental REITs. Prior to joining KBW in 2007, Rahmani was an equity analyst at Prudential Financial covering industrial companies including aerospace and defense. He previously spent several years at UBS in product management and marketing roles. Rahmani holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Yanir Ram
DRI Holdings, Inc
Yanir Ram is an owner and Chief Financial Officer of DRI Holdings, an owner and manager of over 420 single family residences since December 2006. Prior to his position with DRI Holdings, he was an owner of The 7 Sigma Group LLC, also a real estate holdings company with 64 single family residences. Prior to his position with The 7 Sigma Group LLC, he was Director of Marketing and Business Development for RightOrder, a data management high-tech startup. Prior to that role, Yanir was Director of Operations for Tefen, an Operations Management consulting firm.
Yanir is also a founder and CEO of Precise Real Estate Solutions, a technology company providing document and loan life-cycle management solutions to lenders in the SFR realm.
Yanir holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and an MBA from the Haas School of Business, U.C. Berkeley. He has served as a board member and advisor for several startup companies.
Greg Rand
OwnAmerica
Randy Reiff
FirstKey Lending
Randy Reiff joined FirstKey as Chief Executive Officer in October, 2013. Previously, he headed the global CMBS and Commercial Mortgage Finance business for Macquarie’s Fixed Income Division. Prior to joining Macquarie, Mr. Reiff served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Spartan Real Estate Capital, LLC – an opportunistic commercial real estate mortgage/CMBS investment and advisory company. In July, 2010 Mr. Reiff and his team at Spartan were folded into Macquarie in order to launch the firms foray into the commercial mortgage arena. Prior to resigning in 2009 to launch Spartan, Mr. Reiff was the head of the Global Commercial Mortgage business for J.P. Morgan, with oversight for all Commercial Mortgage/CMBS origination and trading activities. Mr. Reiff assumed these responsibilities in 2008 following J.P. Morgan’s acquisition of Bear Stearns, where he was a Senior Managing Director and global co-head of the CRE finance/CMBS group. His group’s responsibilities included origination, underwriting, pricing, structuring, hedging and trading for all commercial mortgage balance sheet and securitized products including whole loans, real estate equity, principal and agent CMBS transactions, cdo’s and warehouse finance. Prior to joining Bear Stearns, Mr. Reiff was employed with Citicorp Securities secondary mortgage finance division where he was responsible for distressed asset management and trading. Previously, he worked as Associate Director of the distressed asset management division of Robert Martin Co. Mr. Reiff holds a B.A. from New York University.
Larry Shapiro
Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp
Alex Sifakis
Jacksonville Wealth Builders
Dave Singelyn
Mr. Singelyn is the Chief Executive Officer of American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE: AMH). From 2003 through April 2013, Mr. Singelyn was Chairman and President of Public Storage Canada, a real estate company previously listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, where he built a management team that restructured the operations of the company, including building an operations team and installing accounting and operating computer systems. In 2010, Mr. Singelyn facilitated the restructuring of the ownership entity that was traded on the Toronto stock exchange resulting in the company “going private.” In 2005, Mr. Singelyn, along with Mr. Hughes, founded ACE, and he now serves as a co-manager of ACE. Mr. Singelyn is also a director of the William Lawrence and Blanche Hughes Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to research of pediatric cancer. Mr. Singelyn served as the Treasurer for Public Storage (NYSE:PSA), from 1989 through 2003, where he was responsible for equity capital raising, debt issuances, corporate cash management and financial management for Public Storage and its subsidiary operations. During his tenure, and with his direct involvement, Public Storage raised funds through the public and institutional marketplaces, including from a number of state pensions.
Mr. Singelyn started his career at Arthur Young and Company (now a part of Ernst & Young LLP) and also served as Controller of Winchell’s Donut Houses where he was responsible for all accounting functions. Mr. Singelyn earned a B.S. in Accounting and a B.S. in Computer Information Systems from California Polytechnic University - Pomona.
Haendel St Juste
Vice President/Senior Analyst
Haendel St. Juste is a Senior Analyst on the Morgan Stanley REITS team, covering the Residential, Retailand Health Care subsectors. In the decade prior to joining Morgan Stanley, he worked as a REIT equity analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Green Street Advisors, and Bear Stearns, where he concentrated on residential REITs. Before that, Haendel worked in the Real Estate investment banking department at UBS Warburg. Haendel has an MBA from NYU.
Ryan Stark
Deutsche Bank Securities
Ryan has been in the Structured Credit Group at Deutsche Bank for 14 years with management duties including overseeing all aspects of the residential and small balance commercial mortgage business including term securitizations, warehouse lending, M&A and advisory assignments, distressed whole loan purchases and derivative sales for the United States and Canada. He has particular expertise in the non-agency and sub/non-performing/REO sectors and has clients ranging from the US government to specialty finance companies, REITÕs, hedge funds, private equity firms and large banks. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Ryan worked for 2 years at PaineWebber in the Municipal Securities Group focusing on project finance backed debt transactions.
Steve Stelmach
FBR Capital Markets
Senior Vice President | Senior Analyst
Steve Stelmach is a senior analyst and senior vice president in the financial services group at FBR Capital Markets & Co. With more than a decade of sell-side equity research experience, Mr. Stelmach has covered a broad array of companies and sectors throughout the financial services and housing industries. Currently, Mr. Stelmach concentrates his research efforts on homebuilders, mortgage & title insurance, and broker/dealers. Most recently, Mr. Stelmach has led FBR’s research efforts in the single-family rental sector. In previous roles at FBR, Mr. Stelmach has supported research coverage of the government-sponsored entities, mortgage banking companies, small- and large-cap thrifts, and community banks.
In 2013, Mr. Stelmach was recognized in The Wall Street Journal’s Best on the Street awards as the No. 2−ranked equity analyst overall in the U.S. and No. 1 analyst in the homebuilding and home furnishings sector. Mr. Stelmach has also had the honor of testifying before the United States House of Representatives regarding U.S. housing policy, as well as advising a number of government agencies on policies and regulations affecting both housing and capital markets.
Prior to joining FBR in August 2003, Mr. Stelmach worked on the U.S. bank research team at UBS Securities LLC helping to cover mid- and large-cap banks. Before UBS Securities, Mr. Stelmach was employed as a research analyst at Thomson Financial, providing third-party research to buy-side investors.
Mr. Stelmach received his B.S. in finance from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Jeff Tennyson
Clayton Holdings
Mr. Tennyson is President of Clayton Holdings LLC and is responsible for the overall operating results of the company’s business lines. Mr. Tennyson joined Clayton in February 2015 as Chief Operating Officer.
Mr. Tennyson is the former Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of B2R Finance, L.P. B2R (a Blackstone Group sponsored company) is a specialty finance start-up company dedicated to providing innovative mortgage financing for owner/operators of single family residential rental properties. Prior to B2R, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Lending Group and Managing Director of Strategic Growth Bank (“SGB”). Mr. Tennyson was responsible for the leadership and direction of the residential mortgage enterprise at SGB. Prior to joining SGB, Tennyson, was the Chief Executive Officer of Charlotte, NC based EquiFirst Corporation (a Barclays subsidiary) in addition to being a Managing Director of Barclays Capital. EquiFirst was a national non-agency mortgage lender and under Jeff’s leadership, EquiFirst grew from start-up to being a top 15 national lender with over 1,400 employees and originating over $12 billion annually in residential mortgage production.
Mr. Tennyson is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a business degree from Harding University and an MBA from Harvard Business School
Gregor Watson
Gregor Watson, Co-founder of Dwell Finance. Dwell Finance is a nationwide lender that provides both bridge and term loans with a focus on single family investor loans. Watson is also the founder and Chief Investment Officer of 643 Capital Management, where he developed and managed 643’s equity and debt platforms. Throughout his career, Watson has invested in and managed over $600MM of single family rental properties. Prior to founding 643 Capital Management, Watson was a founding member of McKinley Capital Partners and acted as the portfolio manager for the distressed housing platforms and debt funds. In 2009, while at MCP, Watson invested in over 2,500 residential lots. He also led the acquisitions of its value-add multi-family properties. Before McKinley Capital Partners, Watson co-founded ADD Ventures Inc., a real estate group involved in residential land sales and development throughout California with a focus on golf course related projects. Watson is also the founder of Yellow Door Realty, a brokerage and property management company with operations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area since 2008. He is a former board member of the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation, a non-profit developer that owns and manages over 25 apartment buildings throughout San Francisco. Watson received a BA from Regis University in Denver, Colorado.
Colin Wiel
Waypoint Homes
Chief Investment Officer & Founder
Colin Wiel is Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Waypoint Homes, a pioneer in single-family rental, with over $1 billion of assets under management. Colin is responsible for strategy, acquisitions, technology, and overall leadership of the firm. Waypoint’s mission is to reinvent the single-family rental experience. Waypoint Homes recently announced a merger with a spinout from Starwood Capital Group, to be named Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust.
Colin has a unique 20-year career with a highly successful track record as engineer, entrepreneur, and investor. He has designed and developed notable software systems, founded several successful companies, and managed highly profitable investment entities focused on public companies, startups, and real estate.
As a Mechanical Engineer out of U.C. Berkeley, Colin worked in a prestigious research group at Boeing, where he invented a new anti-lock braking system for commercial aircraft (two US patents issued), which allows airplanes to stop in a five percent shorter stopping distance on icy runways. In the ‘90’s, Colin founded a software engineering firm, Milo.com, focused on ecommerce software, which he grew to 35 people before selling to a larger technology company. Milo.com co-architected Charles Schwab’s online trading website in 1999, which, at the time, was the largest ecommerce website (by dollar volume) in the world.
Eric Workman
Austin City Limits | The Moody Theater
Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater (ACL Live) is a state-of-the-art, 2,750-person capacity live music venue that hosts approximately 100 concerts a year. No, this doesn't mean that we are expanding to more than 350, invitation-only delegates! It serves as the new home for the taping of the acclaimed KLRU-TV produced PBS series, Austin City Limits, the longest running music series in American television history. ACL Live is nestled next to the W Austin Hotel & Residences, which are both located within Block 21, the first mixed-occupancy building of its type in the world to be LEED certified. LEED is a mark of excellence developed by the U.S. Green Building Council acknowledging measurable performance attributes that benefit human and environmental health. ACL Live is the premier destination in Austin for live performances as well as numerous special and private events - like Americatalyst 2014.
W Austin Hotel
W Austin Hotel, a luxury hotel in downtown Austin - located in the Second Street District and next door to the famed Austin City Limits music venue, in the center of the Live Music Capital of the World®.
Delegates will receive a link to reserve a hotel room with our conference rate of $299 per night once registration for the event is completed. The W Hotel will not take reservations by phone. Questions about hotel reservations should be directed to christina.vick@americatalyst.com.
Participating Firms
The following firms are participating at AmeriCatalyst 2014 and Renting The Future 2014:
29th Street Capital
Absalon Project
ALFN
American Residential Properties
Ancient Art L.P.
Angelo, Gordon & Co
Assurant Field Asset Services
Assurant Lending Solutions
Assurant Specialty Property
Auction.com
Axonic Capital
Bank of America Merril Lynch
B2R Finance
Black Knight Financial Service
Black Knight Financial Services, Data & Analytics
BlackRock Solutions
Caliber Home Loans
Canfield & Associates
CapitalSource
Carlson Capital, LP
Carrington Holdings
Carrington Mortgage Holdings
Carrington Property Services
Center Creek Capital Group
Century Management
The Collingwod Group, LLC
Colony American Homes
Connorex-Lucinda
CFPB | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Deer Park Road Corporation
Denver Investments
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Dignified Transition Solutions
Dynex Capital
Elmdale Partners
Employees Retirement System of Texas
Encina Capital Partners
Enterprise Community Partners
EQCO
Fay Servicing
Fenway Summer
Fidelity Residential Solutions
Fortress Investment Group
Freedom Mortgage
Genesis Auctions
Ginnie Mae
Global Atlantic Financial Group
GlobalED
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Gorelick Brothers Capital
Graham, Fisher & Co.
Green River Capital
Green Tree Servicing LLC
Greenlet Companies
Guardian Capital
GulfStar Group
Highfields Capital
Home Depot Renovation Services
HomeLPC
HomeStar Companies
Intercap Lending
Intrepid Capital Investments
Investability
Invitation Homes
Jeffries LLC
JMP Securities
KattenMuchinRosenman, LLP
Key Property Services
Kwelia
Lafayette RE
Liquidity Spot
Lubin Property Management
Luxor Capital
The Majority Group
Manulife Asset Management
Matt Martin Real Estate Management
Memphis Invest
MetaCapital Management, LLC
MFA Financial
Modern Group of Companies
Moody's Investor Service
Mortgage Banking Solutions
National Asset Advisors, LLC
National Field Network
North Point Investments
Pantelan Real Estate Services
PayNearMe
PEMCO Limited
PennyMac Loan Services, LLC
Pingora Asset Management
PPM America
Pretium Partners, LLC
Proctor Financial
Promisor Residential
Prospect Mortgage
Pure Capital Markets
realprotect, powered by Norton
Red Bell Real Estate
RentRange
Reverse Mortgage Solutions
Risk Integration, LLC
Rockport PA, LLC
Sente Mortgage
Sierra Pacific Mortgage
Solutionstar
Starwood Waypoint
Statebridge Company, LLC
Sterne Agee
Stewart Lender Services
Structured Finance Industry Group
Structured Portfolio Management, LLC
Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Co.
Thoroughbred Capital
TIG Funds
Tricon Capital
True Investments, LLC
Two Harbors Investment Corp
University of California, Irvine School of Law
University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work
Varde Partners
Vineyard Services
Visio Financial Services
Walnut Street Capital
Wellington Management Company
Williams, Williams & McKissick
Windstar Capital LLC
Wingspan Portfolio Advisors
Wyetree Asset Management
zIngenuity
ZVN Properties
HOST CATALYSTS
CATALYST PARTNER
LEADERSHIP CATALYSTS
INNOVATION CATALYSTS
SUSTAINING CATALYSTS
SUPPORTING CATALYSTS
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"faggot"
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 Next page
Nick Wed Jul 23, 2008 2:35 pm GMT
When will using this word be as unacceptable as using the word "nigger"? People use the term to insult people who are not even gay, simply using it to mean "stupid". Likewise the word "gay" itself is used to mean "stupid".
Guest Wed Jul 23, 2008 2:40 pm GMT
Probably never
Damian in Edinburgh Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:31 pm GMT
Why on earth should the word "faggot/s" ever be considered "unacceptable"? Have you never tried them? Have you never, ever relished their savoury delights?
You don't know what you've missed, you poor deprived individual. What God forsaken hellhole do you purport to live in?
Are you really as gay as you appear to be? ;-)
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/516736
Texan Bill Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:35 pm GMT
"using this word be as unacceptable as using the word "nigger"? "
Since when? I use it all the time.
And shoot all them goddamn faggots I say.
Skippy Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:55 pm GMT
It's not nearly as offensive as "nigger" (at least not yet anyway). Guy friends call each other "fags" all the time, often in the presence of gay friends. But I would be careful about who I say it around, as people do get easily offended by it.
Bill in Los Angeles Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:08 pm GMT
I think the word "faggot" is for some reason worse than just "fag". The word is never used by straight people in a non-pejpritive context. Since it's meant to be derogatory I avoid it. I have no desire to use the word. On the other hand since I'm neither black or gay I can't *accurately* speak to the degree of offense that's taken with either word. Probably "nigger" would be worse since there's a significant amount of historical pain and suffering associated with being on the receiving end of this word.
Trawicks Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:35 pm GMT
"Faggot" can pose a problem because I think its meaning has largely morphed within the last twenty years into a generic slur directed toward males (somewhat like the use of "cunt" and "twat" in the British Isles).
Of course it IS still used as a violent epithet directed towards homosexuals. But like I said, it has a somewhat problematic second meaning which is questionable in its level of offensiveness.
Antonio from RJ Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:43 pm GMT
wow,,, this surely deserved to be turned into a Cropolaliac discussion! :D
I only use faggot as to convey a gay person, or to bug a mate (no puns here, oi!);g
When calling a gay person "faggot" in the US it is almost *always* meant in a derogatory way.
Jasper Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:34 pm GMT
""using this word be as unacceptable as using the word "nigger"? "
Since when? I use it all the time."
"And shoot all them goddamn faggots I say."
While admittedly this post is probably tongue-in-cheek, a lot of people might not see it that way. The problem I am having with it is not its content per se, but the fact that it reinforces the worst stereotypes Europeans hold about Americans. (How long will it be before we see posts about lynching "negros"?)
In this day of all-time-low opinions about Americans overseas, I don't think we need to reinforce the idea that we're all a bunch of narrow-minded red-necks!
Nicely put, JAsper
Should I complete with "kill those sodding red-neck faggots!" ? :D
Suppose different people find differnet word more or less offensive. But language changes, so does usage, right!?
Nick Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:35 pm GMT
<<It's not nearly as offensive as "nigger" (at least not yet anyway). Guy friends call each other "fags" all the time, often in the presence of gay friends.>>
Black people also call each other "nigga" (which evolved from "nigger").
Guest Wed Jul 23, 2008 11:10 pm GMT
So what's the best argument for using the word "faggot"? Is it something you really look forward to saying? If you're dying to say the word, please do.. the first amendment in the US will protect your right to use the word. But for those learning English, they should bear in mind that it's kind of like calling a woman a cunt. It's not a polite word by any standard and a new English speaker would find themselves embarrassed if they used it in the wrong setting.
Damian in Edinburgh Wed Jul 23, 2008 11:11 pm GMT
***The problem I am having with it is not its content per se, but the fact that it reinforces the worst stereotypes Europeans hold about Americans***
As a European myself I would say that the above statement is spot on.....it does exactly that, I'm afraid. It really, really does. And hearing it being yelled out over there with such venom really does add to the reasons why so many Europeans ....which term covers us Brits as well, remember......appreciate the Atlantic Ocean so much.
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ESPN ponders the future of female sports journalism
by Alyssa Daley- EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Tue, Mar 28th 2017 07:00 pm
Photo taken from Pinterest.com
This past week, ESPN announced that football sideline reporter, Samantha Ponder will officially be taking over as the hostess of the networks "Sunday NFL Countdown." You might be wondering why this is so exciting so I'll get right to the point: no woman has ever hosted this show in its 32 years of existence until now.
According to thinkprogress.org ESPN is the leading driver of diversity in sports journalism. However that isn't saying much when there are say only eleven female sports editors to begin with and six of them are employed by ESPN. The female employee ratio compared to that of its male counter-ratio isn't as fair as it may be perceived either with many female sportscasters being hired as sideline reporters and left in that position as men with the same credentials are either hired initially for a higher-up position or see a promotion much sooner.
The position Ponder is fulfilling for "Sunday NFL Countdown" was previously held by longtime NFL host Chris Berman who is in the middle of transitioning from the voice/face of some of the network's most popular shows to a more "public-facing" role, according to the website excellesports.com.
Ponder has more than enough experience warding off the sexist, misogynistic comments that women in any male-dominated field of work are privy to. So taking on this role that is stereotypically male is not only a sense of success for past, current and future female sports reporters but also herself. She's been working as a college football reporter since 2012, that's five years of hard work without seeing a promotion like this, persevering through the stigma that female sportscasters can't possibly understand the game and are there for their looks alone.
It isn't only sports media or sports media networks who are still trying to diminish the gender wage gap in their companies. According to womensmediacenter.com, 68 percent of The New York Times' and The Denver Post's 2014 publications were written by men, 61 percent of The Washington Post's 2014 publications had a male byline, and 60 percent of the LA Times' publications made in 2014 were written by men.
For young female journalists these statistics will either intimidate you or make you strive harder to achieve your career goals. Jemele Hill, a young female sports journalist for ESPN, had an interview with ESPN's Mike and Mike in which she not only encouraged young women, like herself, pursuing sports journalism but also gave them some advice.
Within the interview Hill said the questions that she receives most pertain to dealing with social media and the negative comments that come with it, for young female journalists of color they worry about fitting the image that many sports networks have painted for their female journalists, thin, white, blonde and any woman who doesn't fit that look stresses a little about that, but most importantly female journalists are worried about whether or not their voices, their opinions will be respected.
To this Hill said, "I hate to tell them this because I hate to feel like I'm empowering those people who shouldn't do it anyways but as I'd say to them, it's an unfortunate part of the business and you do have to develop a thick skin for it otherwise it will be difficult for you to survive."
This reality that women have had to be the ones to make the changes in order to break down gender barriers is disheartening. The fact that the media industry as we see it today in America began with the first established colonies as they developed pamphlets and then newspapers to deliver news to the consumer. We have come a long way technologically from then but the fact that women are still not seen as equals in an industry which has existed for hundreds of years is ridiculous.
The reason more women are becoming sports reporters for big name networks is not necessarily because the media companies/corporations have made significant changes, although there have been "diversity" requirements that come with the title of "equal-opportunity employer," instead it is because women have decided they are not going to wait for the industry to change they are going to change it themselves by persevering through sexual objectification, sexual harassment and blatantly sexist/misogynistic commentary whether it be from their colleagues or social media.
Women like Ponder, Hill and Ponder's soon-to-be co-host Suzanne Kolber, are all examples of women who have continued to break away at the glass ceiling of sports journalism that was created before they were even born. For all young female journalists, whether you want to go into sports media or some other facet of journalism, this is a silver lining.
@Adaley1
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The Burketown Bore was drilled by the State Government and completed in December, 1897 at Long. 139° 32' 56", Lat.17° 45' 04". The original records state that the depth of the bore was 2,304 feet and it had a flow rate of 155,560 gallons per day .
Somewhat more recently, the vital statistics supplied by C.S.I.R.O. in 1959 for registered Bore No. 330, Burketown were:
Depth: 702.3 (m)
Elevation: 10 (m)
Depth of Aquifers: 329.2 (salt), 606.6, 671.0 and 690.7
Flow rate M3/D: 180
Temp . 68C°.
Total salts: 598 mg/l
No doubt these figures are full of meaning to water engineers and other water-literate experts, but to most of us they just mean that it is a big bore, which for a very long time has been supplying water which is suitable only for adult cattle to drink, and is not much use for anything else. In the 1959 report C.S.I.R.O. also noted that the water was unsuitable for drinking, domestic use or irrigation, that the flow was uncontrolled and the casing was leaking very badly.
Govt Bore, Burketown 1904
John Oxley Library image
At the time the sinking of the bore was a most important development for Burketown and an indicator of the attitude of the State Government to the expected economic development of the area. The Gulf country' s currency was high in 1890s, largely due to the establishment of the big meat works.
Burketown was to be a major centre for travelling stock.
We are told '...The water pouring from the borehead flows into a swampy area and thence into the anabranch. This area gives water and fodder to stock, in the dry part of the year ...'
What the bore has also done, year in year out, is to put vast amounts of artesian water, full of all sorts of minerals, out on the ground, creating a very unusual environment in the flooded acres. Recent decades indicate ecological changes occurring in the 'swamp' which are of considerable scientific interest.
One by-product of the bore, which has virtually disappeared, was the Public Bath House. It was probably built some time in the 1940s. Local opinion has it that the Bath House was the first of its kind.
Users had to be very careful not to scald themselves, which was a bit tricky, since it involved shutting the water off by valve at the borehead, thus allowing the water to flow along a connecting pipe and up into a catchment tank situated on top of the Bath House. This tank held 300 gallons and sufficient hot water to provide hot showers to whatever heat was required by the users.
The secret of successful showering and avoiding severe scalding, was to know when to open the main borehead again, as the water coming from deep inside the earth is almost boiling.
The Public Bath House was certainly operating well into the 1960s, as documented in the North Australian Monthly of August 1963.
An article entitled 'Burketown of the Gulf' said:'...This shower building is a great boon to travellers and is greatly appreciated by all users of the roads, this being dusty country. When one has travelled extensively for many years on outback roads, a hot shower at the end of a long tiring day's journey is sheer bliss..'
Almost a hundred years has passed and this tremendous ready-made hot water system is still on tap and flowing well (though no longer in the Bath House) - the electricity bill for the same supply over that time hardly bears contemplation.
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