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Survey Shows Steep Decline in Catholic Church Attendance April 9, 2018 Hemant Mehta
Survey Shows Steep Decline in Catholic Church Attendance
Here’s some welcome news from Gallup: Attendance in Catholic churches is at its lowest point ever.
From 2014 to 2017, an average of 39% of Catholics reported attending church in the past seven days. This is down from an average of 45% from 2005 to 2008 and represents a steep decline from 75% in 1955.
The numbers are even more stark when you break them down by age. Even among Catholics, only 25% of people under 30 attend church weekly. Compare that to 73% back in 1955.
The youngest demographic has had the steepest drop since 1955, but you can see in that chart that the number is in decline for older Americans, too. In fact, the majority of every age group no longer attends Church on a weekly basis anymore.
While the survey doesn’t go into the reasons for the decline, we do know what’s happening with those former Catholics and Protestants: They now fall under the category of “Nones,” people with no organized religious affiliation.
There are a lot of factors that could explain this, but just to name a few: All the child abuse scandals; the continued anti-LGBTQ, anti-women, anti-contraception views held by Church officials; understanding that you don’t have to attend Church to be a good person; a backlash against faith-based harm throughout the world; the realization that Catholic dogma is just absurd; constant pushback against irrational dogma by atheists; etc.
Not that Bill Donohue of the Catholic League buys any of that. According to him, the reasons for the drop include a lack of religious education from a young age, college, pop culture, weakening morality, fewer married couples with fewer children, and clergy members who “lowered their expectations” in terms of getting people into the Church doors.
So… a lack of indoctrination, too much education, and not enough pressure on kids.
It’s ignorant thinking like that which also explains the drop.
If you have to force people to go to Church from a young age, and Catholicism doesn’t make much sense to rational people who are past the age of reason, what does that say about the faith? (Try explaining how a consecrated communion wafer is literally Jesus to an adult unfamiliar with the myth.)
The corruption makes the problem worse, but it’s not like the basics are working either. For that, we can thank everyone who’s been calling out the Church’s dogma, especially over the past decade or two.
Oh well. Their loss. Be sure to send them some thoughts and prayers.
Now we all need to get to work on Protestants.
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A Catholic School Tried Silencing Two Graduation Speakers; The Plan Backfired May 29, 2018 Hemant Mehta
A Catholic School Tried Silencing Two Graduation Speakers; The Plan Backfired
Christian Bales, the valedictorian at Holy Cross High School in Covington, Kentucky, was slated to speak at his graduation ceremony on Friday. So, following the rules, he submitted a draft of his speech on the Tuesday of that week.
Katherine Frantz, the student body president, was also supposed to speak and turned in her draft on Wednesday.
Both of them had their speeches rejected. Frantz’s was “too personal,” according to school officials, while Bales’ was too “political and inconsistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church.” The officials also said the speeches “were not submitted for review before the deadline”… which is a strange thing to say when they reviewed them in time to remove the speeches from the graduation program and tell the kids they weren’t allowed to speak during the ceremony.
But immediately afterwards, both students went outside Connor Convocation Center at Thomas More College and gave their speeches to a packed crowd of students and family members. Bales’ father even provided him with a bullhorn to make sure his message was amplified.
What was it about their speeches that their administrators didn’t like?
You can read Bales’ speech right here. It makes reference to the response to school shootings, his attendance at a March for Life rally, and how he and a few fellow students fought to “relocate the Jefferson Davis memorial in the Kentucky Capitol Building.” But that’s it as far as “controversy” goes. There’s far more about how wonderful his high school is, what he learned from the faculty members, and how God wants students to improve the “quality of life for those around us.”
How was that too offensive for a Catholic school? Are Catholics now in favor of school shootings and the Confederacy?
So what was really going on? Maybe it had something to do with how Bales is gay and gender-nonconforming. His mother, an ally, heard from school officials before the ceremony specifically about what her son was allowed to wear.
Bales learned that his speech was rejected on Friday morning. His mother had already been specifically spoken to about what attire was appropriate for the ceremony.
“I had a conversation with the school just basically wanting to talk about the dress code and what was expected — tie, shirt,” said Gillian Marksberry, Bales’s mother. “Christian has been known to wear his fabulous eyebrows and eye lashes and so forth. It was hard to listen because it’s always difficult when someone is not accepting your child, somebody who is honestly such a wonderful, beautiful person, but I am old enough and wise enough to know that we have to perform sometimes. That’s how we navigate through society, and he had worked so hard on this title, I didn’t want it taken from him.
“So, I acknowledged that we would respect (the dress code) and had a talk with Christian and he understood. So, we moved forward this week fully expecting to come tonight and deliver the speech and cheer him on, and that would be a wonderful closing to his high school career.”
Meanwhile, Frantz’s speech, here, is personal in all the ways you expect from a graduation address. She talks about the personal growth she and her friends went through during the four years. There’s nothing wrong with it. The only thing that might possibly be controversial — and it isn’t — is when she quotes Steve Jobs as saying, “Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.” But, coming from her, that’s not a criticism of the Catholic Church… so what gives?
Frantz wrote in an op-ed for a local newspaper that the school made her doubt the teachings of the Catholic Church. (Talk about a situation backfiring…)
… I have been taught that the Catholic Church is loving and is for all people. To have my faith and my beliefs put into question by the diocese was extremely insulting.
Christian and I have worked for four years to earn the right to speak as valedictorian and student council president at graduation. I was shocked and upset when that honor was taken away from us on the morning of graduation. My speech is about trust in God, hope, and confidence in the future. Those are the lessons that the staff and faculty of Holy Cross gifted me with.
It is still unclear to me why the diocese rejected my speech with no opportunity for revision and showed no consideration for taking my speech away from me, my family, and my classmates.
I don’t know what the hell school officials were thinking, but if they thought they could silence two of their brightest students, they were seriously mistaken. And because the story is now spreading far and wide, maybe more families will realize why they shouldn’t send their kids to a Catholic school when there are good public schools nearby.
(Screenshot via WLWT)
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← More ridiculous Civil Asset Forfeiture shenanigans
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Patrick Shanahan: President Trump gave ‘direct legal order’ for military to secure border
Posted on May 13, 2019 by Misty
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said in an exclusive “Fox & Friends” interview Monday that there is a “crisis” at the southern border and he will follow President Trump’s “direct legal order” to provide security.
Shanahan, who will be nominated by President Trump to be defense secretary after serving since Jan. 1 in an interim capacity, was asked by Brian Kilmeade about critics who do not want Defense Department funds to be shifted to border security.
“We have a crisis at the border, a national emergency declared by the president,” he responded. “The commander-in-chief has given me a direct legal order to secure the border. I’m securing the border.”
A U.S. defense official confirmed to Fox News Friday that the Pentagon would spend an additional $1.5 billion to build 80 more miles of wall along the U.S.-Mexico border
The funds were originally earmarked for support of Afghan security forces and other projects.
“Today, I authorized the transfer of $1.5 billion toward the construction of more than 80 miles of border barrier,” Shanahan announced. “The funds were drawn from a variety of sources, including cost savings, programmatic changes, and revised requirements, and therefore will have minimal impact on force readiness.”
Shanahan visited a border city in Texas on Saturday, where he noted that he intended to accelerate planning to secure the border and bolster the administration’s ability to accomplish that without the Pentagon’s continuous help.
He also offered assurances the Pentagon would not withdraw its military support prematurely.
“We’re gonna be here until the borders are secure,” he told Kilmeade. “We’ve got to have the backs of the men and women here who are being overrun.”
Shanahan told Congress this past week that there have been 4,364 military troops on the border, including active-duty and National Guard, building barriers, providing logistics and transportation service and other activities in support of Customs and Border Protection. The troops have been prohibited from performing law enforcement duties.
Troops have been deployed on the border since last October and are set to remain there through September.
Shanahan served previously as a senior executive at Boeing Inc. and was tapped by Trump in December after Gen. James Mattis resigned from the post.
“What I like about working with the president is, he’s a CEO,” Shanahan told Kilmeade.
“I’ve worked for CEOs. He’s focused on outcomes and results. Will we always agree on everything? No. Are we focused? Do we have the same interests? And the same focus? Yes. My job is to get the results we need to make this country successful. To defend this country.”
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/patrick-shanahan-president-trump-gave-direct-legal-order-for-military-to-secure-border
3 Responses to Patrick Shanahan: President Trump gave ‘direct legal order’ for military to secure border
There must be a plaque over every politician’s office door that in bold letters reads:
JUST SAY WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR
NAILED IT……… THEY HAVE TO DO SOMETHING. PEOPLE ARE PISSED
”Shanahan served previously as a senior executive at Boeing Inc….”
FOR 18 FREAKIN’ YEARS!!!
Zero chance of conflict of interest THERE (Boeing being the # 2 supplier of weaponry to the U.S. military notwithstanding).
WHAT ‘support’???
They cut that sentence short.
Here’s the full version…
“We’re gonna be here until the borders are secure,” he told Kilmeade. “We’ve got to have the backs of the men and women here who are being overrun under the jackboots of our Enemy Force in Occupation (aka PIGS), so that the invaders can replace them.”
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Call of Duty: Black Ops III Adds Microtransactions, PS4 Bundle Available For $350
Call of Duty: Black Ops III has been a hit for the company since its release last month. The title has made the studio and company millions of dollars and the numbers could break more records with two weeks of December still left. The game is popular for its campaign and multiplayer, but now the company is adding something that we’ve seen more and more of these last few months. We’re talking about microtransactions.
Microtransactions have appeared in a number of games recently and the Call of Duty game is the latest to add it. This option is usually not welcomed by gamers, who say that paying $60 for a game is enough. That really hasn’t stopped companies in the gaming industry from adding them though and the number will most likely rise in the next few years. The option does give some gamers, who don’t have the time to play, the chance to progress through the game by spending money.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III will start offering in-game currency some time this week. The money from the game can then be used to buy supply drops, which bring various items. Prices for the points range from $1.99 to $39.99. The publisher said that the entire range of new items can be obtained by simply playing the game. The option is for the fans who want to get more items faster.
There are a number of games out there that are currently offering something like this. It was reported recently that Destiny will start doing the same. Games like Assassin’s Creed Syndicate and FIFA have microtransactions. In Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, gamers can unlock content much faster but it all can be obtained by playing the game. FIFA on the other hand, sells points that you can use to buy more Ultimate Team packs or enter draft tournaments, it is optional and players can earn coins by playing seasons or tournaments.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III PS4 Bundle
It was announced a few hours ago that the COD: Black Ops 3 Standard Edition Bundle will be available for $349.99. The bundle brings the standard edition of the game and does not come with the season pass that gives gamers all the downloadable content.
The bundle is also different from the one offered a few weeks ago, which came with a 1 TB PS4 that had the colors from the game cover. The new bundle comes with a 500 GB PS4, a controller, and the console’s normal black color. The bundle is not the best we’ve seen but has a great price and a game that thousands are currently playing online.
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PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) is one of the most popular battle royale games around the world. The video game has brought company Bluehole millions of...
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Girl Kills Herself After Instagram Followers Choose Death In Poll
Images: Shutterstock
During the F8 developer conference, Mark Zuckerberg declared that he plans to make the Facebook experience more private and give people more space to express themselves more freely. He tried to paint a picture of change due to the ever-increasing, 360-degree pressure on the social network. In such conversations regarding Facebook’s critique, Instagram often ends up avoiding the flak by painting a happy picture full of colorful stories and pictures.
However, not everything is fine in Instagram’s colorful garden. As reported by The Guardian, a 16-year-old Malaysian girl killed herself after posting an Instagram poll and asking her followers if she should die; about 69% of the respondents chose death.
After the incident, several Malaysian lawmakers have urged the administration to investigate the reports. Ramkarpal Singh, a Malaysian member of the parliament and a lawyer, suggested that her followers who voted for her death should be held responsible. He added that there are chances that the girl would’ve been alive if the netizens didn’t encourage her to commit suicide. “Would she have heeded the advice of netizens to seek professional help had they done so?” Singh said.
Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, the country’s youth and sports minister, also called for an investigation into the worsening mental health of Malaysian youth and the impact of social media on increasing self-harm incidents.
Responding to the unfortunate incident, Ching Yee Wong, Instagram Head of Communications, urged everyone to use the in-built reporting tool to contact emergency services whenever needed.
The most damaging platforms
In 2017, a report published by RSPH and the Young Health Movement (YHM) found that Instagram and Snapchat are the most damaging to the mental wellbeing of young users. It was found that due to the image-centric nature of these platforms, teens easily find themselves filled with a sense of inadequacy and low self-confidence.
Following another incident of the suicide of a British girl in February, whose parents believed that her exposure to self-harm content on social media was the main reason, Instagram launched “sensitivity screens” to hide such images. The recent incident intimates that parents, Instagram, and authorities need to take more steps.
It’s worth noting that social media has become an indispensable part of the lives of today’s youth and we have a major responsibility at our disposal to find an effective way to connect with their emotions and mental state. Apps like Instagram have also changed the way we socialize and make important decisions, so it’s the need of the hour to make sure that we lay the foundation for the upcoming generations to help them understand the ramifications of getting deeply involved in the virtual world.
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Giant Word Student Publication for Waynesboro High School
Categorized | Features, News
Students, faculty raise safety concerns at Waynesboro High
Editor’s note: In recent months, there have been several significant events taking place involving Waynesboro High School. To get an inside perspective on how people at the school feel about these situations, the News Virginian staff worked with the student reporters at the high school’s Giantword.com operation. This is one of several stories we’ll run this week, high lighting some of the feelings about issues like safety and school construction.
WAYNESBORO- With recent school shootings happening nationwide, the topic of school safety is on the mind of students, staff, and administration. On Nov. 25, some Waynesboro High students stayed home from class, after a rumor was spread about a classmate planning to bring a gun to school. It raised the question about if students and staff are safe on campus. In a survey done by the student journalism class, 221 Waynesboro High students were polled. Out of that number, 108 said they feel safe, 93 said they don’t feel safe and 10 were undecided.
Keith Smit, band teacher at WHS, said that a problem he’s noticed is kids walk off in random directions going wherever and coming back whenever, though he’s not not sure how that problem can be fixed. Smith also mentioned that students are in danger when fights happen because the teachers and faculty are outnumbered by students.
“The band room is a little different (from the usual emergency protocol) because if there was an emergency like a shooter in the school and we knew the shooter was close by, we ave 2 exits (that go directly outside),” Smith said. “We’ll get out and get safe, which goes and doesn’t go with protocol because you’re suppose to have everyone together. If students have the opportunity to get away from the building and be safe somewhere away from a dangerous situation, then that’s what I would do.”
Other teachers don’t believe that protocol is helpful in these type of situations.
“If we ever had a real emergency any protocol in place wouldn’t actually be followed,” said Christopher Mattern, a math teacher at WHS.
Mattern added that safety has improved at the school over the last few years, including the addition of a security camera system and the numbering of entrance/exits of the building. However according to Mattern, there are some flaws with the security cameras because they don’t have audio, they’re not in classrooms, and they’re not recording all the time. Hem said that is the situation isn’t in the frame of the camera, then it’s not going to help. The cameras aren’t all around the school which is another concern.
Student and staff awareness is another issue mentioned by several WHS students and teachers.
“We just need to pay a bit more attention,” said Olivia Piper, a WHS junior. “I feel like not everyone pays as much attention to the environment around them.”
Math teacher Bill Krzastek said that the best way to stay safe for students is to let faculty, administration, or resource officer know when they believe a problem exists. Smith agreed that everyone needs to be more aware because kids find ways to get in trouble.
An additional concern that many teachers and students have about the school is the unlocked doors and the multiple entrances into the building.
“I don’t always feel safe at the school because some doors are never locked and kids just walk in and out of the school as they please,” said Mackenzie Coburn, WHS freshman. “Anyone can get in.” She also mentioned having an ID card for teachers and students as the way to get into the building and officers stationed at entrances would make her feel safer. Junior Brandon James said he’d feel safer with more than one officer at the school because just one officer can’t be everywhere at the same time.
Last year, the district installed a new multi-camera system at both the high school and middle school, one that monitors all entrances and exits at the facilities. The school district was able to afford that upgrade due to a state grant. That system has already paid off, leading to an arrest of someone who attempted to break into the high school after hours earlier this year. Teachey hopes at some point to enhance that system. There are 27 doors leading into the school and he would like to have a system that lets Waynesboro High officials know when there’s an issue.
“I want an alarm system that will alert to a door being opened that’s not supposed to be opened,” Teachey said. He added that in a perfect world, he’d like to require a student or staff IS to get access to the building, but there’s not enough money to cover that expense.
Every summer, Teachey said, administration and faculty work to make things safer around the building. He added that people from central office come over to the school and cal a code red to see how faculty reacts.
At the end of the day, safety is on everyone’s mind. Teachey’s first priority is keeping “his kids” safe.
“When people talk to me about what my job is and my SOL scores and education kids, none of that matters if they don’t feel safe,” said Teachey. While you don’t see it written very often, my number one job is making this place safe first. Then I work on the other stuff.”
By Emily Kratzer, Classroom Manager of giantword.com
As featured in The News Virginian
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The Plan to Keep People From Jumping Off the Golden Gate Bridge
Filed to: UrbanismFiled to: Urbanism
More people have committed suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge than on any other structure in the world—someone jumps from the bridge to their death about every two weeks. But those figures could be dramatically reduced if a proposed suicide-prevention barrier is installed later this year, as advocates hope.
If you’ve walked over the bridge, or even seen it in movies, you know just how easy it is to climb from the pedestrian walkway over the low railing. On the other side of the railing, there is a 32-inch wide beam known as “the chord.” This is often the place most people pause to ponder their jump. It’s also where good design can intervene.
The proposed solution—developed by HNTB Corporation and called the “net system”—is indeed a net, made from stainless steel cable that would extend 20 feet below and 20 feet out from the chord. It would contract when someone drops into it, essentially trapping the would-be jumper. A truck with a retractable arm would then be able to scoop people out, but apparently this would not be a very frequent occurrence as the net itself should act as a deterrent.
A rendering of the proposed solution, called the “net system”
According to the Contra Costa Times, a similar net was placed on a cathedral in Bern, Switzerland 10 years ago and no suicides have been reported since. A study also showed that suicides did not increase on sites nearby.
Such a barrier has been discussed for decades—with solutions ranging from a better motion-sensing warning system, to an impenetrable web of thin cables, to raising the railing itself to make it more difficult to climb—but the plan now seems to be moving forward quickly as the majority of the funding has been allocated for the $66 million project. Because of her San Francisco roots, Senator Barbara Boxer fought to include funding for mandatory safety rails and nets for bridges in a 2012 transportation bill; advocates expect the bill will provide about $44 million for the barrier. This week, the bridge delegation asked the state legislature for another $11 million.
Unbelievably, a barrier has been opposed by many locals; in a 2008 poll, 75 percent of San Franciscans said they didn’t want it. Some say they don’t want the city to bear the financial burden, which might still happen if these funds fall through. But this does bring up an important point. Should the city even be responsible for the suicides? And should that responsibility be formalized as an act of taxpayer-funded infrastructure?
Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
But many San Franciscans still worry—rightly so—that the aesthetic beauty of the bridge and its attractiveness to tourists will be marred by a barrier. This solution seems less like a cage that will change the bridge experience and much more like the typical safety nets that are quite commonplace on many well-visited monuments. It will most likely not ruin any views. My only question is if people will try somehow to jump over it—20 feet does not seem that wide.
The debate about the barrier was part of the 2006 documentary, The Bridge, where filmmaker Eric Steel filmed the bridge for one year and therefore also captured footage of 24 people who chose to end their lives there. (Even this excerpt is heart-wrenching and difficult to watch.) I often think of a story in “Jumpers,” a 2003 New Yorker article by Tad Friend which interviewed many of the approximately 26 people who have survived the fall. Most of them said they regretted their decisions mid-air, like Ken Baldwin: “I instantly realized that everything in my life that I’d thought was unfixable was totally fixable—except for having just jumped.”
If it was possible to design something that could save even one of the 1,500 people who killed themselves on the bridge since it opened in 1937, shouldn’t San Francisco have already done it? [Contra Costa Times]
If you struggle with suicidal thoughts please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255.
Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Deadspin | Adequate Man
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You are here: Home / Digital Publishing News / Samsung Slowly Becoming a Leader in Digital Publishing
Samsung Slowly Becoming a Leader in Digital Publishing
October 8, 2014 By Michael Kozlowski 1 Comment
Samsung has been enjoying the position of being the number one device maker in the world for Android driven smartphones and tablets. They have been enjoying a solid 65% market share of all Android devices sold worldwide. Given the popularity of their devices they have been really hyping their forays into digital publishing, to bring e-reading to the masses.
Samsung is serving as the inaugural Innovation Partner at this years Frankfurt Book Fair. They are showcasing the company’s mobile devices and their digital reading capabilities at the world’s largest trade fair for the international publishing industry. It is currently running from October 8th to the 12th.
At the Frankfurt Book Fair, Samsung will work with its partners to engage and support both publishers and consumers through a series of events, such as panels and experiential areas. This includes the Samsung Galaxy Studio, where attendees can experience Samsung’s latest mobile devices which represent the next step in mobile lifestyle and culture, such as the Galaxy Tab S, Galaxy Note 4, Gear VR, Gear Circle and the Level series premium audio products.
“As books continue to reach consumers in various electronic forms, we strive to deliver the most advanced and innovative device options that embrace new forms of creative storytelling and content,” said Younghee Lee, Executive Vice President of Global Marketing, IT & Mobile Division at Samsung Electronics. “In that spirit, we partnered with the Frankfurt Book Fair, where we have been demonstrating our commitment to the global publishing industry and our devotion to address the diversifying reading experience, as evidenced in our industry-leading suite of mobile products, led by the latest Galaxy Note 4 and Tab S.”
“The publishing industry is rapidly advancing as consumers move from an analog reading experience to a digital one,” said Juergen Boos, director of the Frankfurt Book Fair. “We are proud to have Samsung as our first ever Innovation Partner and are delighted to showcase the way technology is changing people’s lives and the way they consume content.”
Samsung began to focus on digital reading in 2010 when it developed the Readers Hub. This was a dedicated area that made available eBooks from Kobo, Newspapers from PressReader and magazines from Zinio. In 2013 they developed a cool feature called Reading Mode, which adjusts the background color of the tablet for easier reading.
Amazon and Samsung make for some very strange bedfellows, but earlier this year a specialized Kindle app was developed for the Samsung Galaxy S5. This gave new smartphone owners the ability to buy and read eBooks from Amazon. As an added incentive every month 4 free eBooks are made available and readers can select one to read, without having to pay a dime.
One of the largest e-reading partnerships ever struck was a deal Sasmung made with Barnes and Noble. In late 2014 the two sides formally unveiled the Sasmung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK in the United States, the first-ever full-featured Android tablet optimized for reading.
“Samsung understands the importance of digital reading as well as the challenges that face the market, from both a device and content perspective,” said Michael P. Huseby, Chief Executive Office of Barnes & Noble, Inc. “By putting reading first with the Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK, Samsung has responded to consumers in a way previously unseen in the mobile technology industry.”
Samsung continues to develop innovative mobile technology to enhance and refine the digital reading experience. With the company’s Adaptive Display technology, the long challenge of tablet display glare has been solved, making digital reading outdoors and in low light easy on the eyes.
In June 2014, Samsung partnered with Marvel to bring its incredible library of 15,000 digital comics to Galaxy Tab S owners through its Marvel Unlimited application. The two companies are also working together to extend Marvel content into new mediums with premium content on both the Galaxy Tab S and Gear VR.
“At Marvel, we aim to create an incredible digital entertainment experience that duplicates the same joy and emotional connection users feel when reading traditional print content,” said Joe Quesada, Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment. “Our partnership with Samsung has helped us maintain that level of quality with the ability to deliver our digital comics on innovative devices that not only recreate, but go beyond the colors and quality of print. We are also collaborating with Samsung to take our creative storytelling off the page with exclusive film and virtual reality content that can be accessed on their incredible mobile products.”
Filed Under: Digital Publishing News, E-Book News
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EDIT LEFT
Clara Sample Ballard
John Hansen
A. L. Hutson
Johnny Carter
Sandy Golden Murphy
2018 Induction Information
In its second year of recognitions, the Highland High School Rebel Athletic Hall of Fame will honor the following inductees during halftime of the first home football game on Friday, August 31:
Sandy Golden Murphy, Scott Street, and Johnny Carter.
A dress-casual reception for the honorees will begin at 5 p.m. in the high school cafeteria. Food and drink will be provided by First Community Bank of Highland. All Rebel families and friends are invited.
Presentation of plaques provided by FNBC Bank will be at halftime of the game.
Sandy was selected for All-State basketball honors three consecutive years; the first came as a sophomore in 1973 when the Lady Rebels won the state championship. She continues to follow and support all Rebel activities and strongly believes that young people gain great advantages by participating.
Scott graduated from HHS in 1982 after being named All-State, All-Star, and All-American in the fall of 1981 when he was quarterback for the state champion football Rebels. He also excelled in basketball, track, and baseball at Highland. He has been an advocate of Rebel Pride worldwide.
Mr. Carter began his connection with Rebel sports in 1968 when he was employed at HHS as an English teacher and started keeping stats and announcing sporting events. He continues to operate the football scoreboard clock and keep official basketball scorebooks for most home games. His encouragement to Highland players and coaches spans more than 50 years.
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How Emergency Medical Responders Work
by Oisin Curran
American poet Walt Whitman helped tend to the wounded during the Civil War.
Alexander Gardner/Historical/Thinkstock
Bearing the bandages, water and sponge, straight and swift to my wounded I go, where they lie on the ground after the battle brought in, where their priceless blood reddens the grass, the ground. – from "The Wound-Dresser" by Walt Whitman
December 1862, year two of the American Civil War: Poet Walt Whitman was looking for his brother George among the casualties. A newspaper listed the younger Whitman as wounded during a battle in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Of the many horrific scenes Walt witnessed, one of the most jarring was a wagon piled to the brim with severed arms, legs and hands. To his surprise and relief, he ended up finding George alive and well, but by that time, Walt had seen too much to go back to his life in New York. He decided instead that he needed to help. Visiting the hospitals of Washington, D.C., daily, he tended to the young soldiers dying wholesale of sepsis and typhoid fever. Many of them had simply arrived at the hospital too late to get help [source: Murray].
Roughly a year later, in the early days of July 1863, the hills around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, were thundering with artillery fire. Through the smoke and chaos soldiers watched with amazement as a grim, bearded man on horseback rode the battlefield shouting commands to his men, heedless of the rain of bullets. The man was Dr. Jonathan Letterman, and his men were not combatants but medics bearing stretchers [source: U.S. Army]. In the thick of battle they were bravely collecting the wounded from the field with the aim of getting them to a medical facility as quickly as possible instead of waiting until the fighting was over. This was a radical new approach to battlefield care. It was here at Gettysburg that the American practice of emergency medical response was born [source: Werman].
The Ultimate First Aid Quiz
10 Injury Treatment Priorities at the Emergency Room
10 of the Bloodiest Battles of World War II
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Treaties, States Parties and Commentaries
Treaties and Documents
Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Additional Protocols, and their Commentaries
Historical Treaties and Documents
Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare. Geneva, 17 June 1925.
The undersigned Plenipotentiaries, in the name of their respective Governments:
(Here follow the names of Plenipotentiaries)
Whereas the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids materials or devices, has been justly condemned by the general opinion of the civilized world; and
Whereas the prohibition of such use has been declared in Treaties to which the majority of Powers of the world are Parties; and
To the end that this prohibition shall be universally accepted as a part of International Law, binding alike the conscience and the practice of nations;
Declare:
That the High Contracting Parties, so far as they are not already Parties to Treaties prohibiting such use, accept this prohibition, agree to extend this prohibition to the use of bacteriological methods of warfare and agree to be bound as between themselves according to the terms of this declaration.
The High Contracting Parties will exert every effort to induce other States to accede to the present Protocol. Such accession will be notified to the Government of the French Republic, and by the latter to all Signatory and Acceding Powers, and will take effect on the date of the notification by the Government of the French Republic.
The present Protocol of which the French and English texts are both authentic, shall be ratified as soon as possible. It shall bear today's date.
The ratifications of the present Protocol shall be addressed to the Government of the French Republic, which will at once notify the deposit of such ratification to each of the Signatory and Acceding Powers.
The instruments of ratification and accession to the present Protocol will remain deposited in the archives of the Government of the French Republic.
The present Protocol will come into force for each Signatory Power as from the date of deposit of its ratification, and, from that moment, each Power will be bound as regards other Powers which have already deposited their ratifications.
In witness whereof the Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Protocol.
Done at Geneva in a single copy, the seventeenth day of June, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-Five.
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Terror Of The Trenches
John Moses Browning's Revolutionary 1897 Trench Gun
Written By Will Dabbs, MD
Photos By World War Supply/Brian Bass Photography
The elegant lines of the Model 1897 Trench Gun exude a timelessly sinister vibe. The militarized version remained in U.S. military service for nearly a century.
Combat Smoothbore Supreme
The Americans arrived late to the worldwide maelstrom that was World War I. While this hemoclysmic global slugfest dragged on for four years, three months and two weeks, it actually took two-and-a-half years for the United States to declare war on Germany. American doughboys did not arrive in Europe in quantity before the summer of 1918. Though the war ended November of the same year, the Americans still lost 100,000 men to the conflict. Tragically, 45,000 of these troops succumbed to the Spanish Flu.
American troops arriving in France were, with few exceptions, exceedingly well equipped. Their 1903A3 Springfield and M1917 rifles represented the state of the art, while their M1911 pistol soldiers on in some Special Operations units even today. The French Chauchaut machine gun certainly had its faults, but the esteemed Browning Automatic Rifle saw its first limited combat use. Among the unconventional combat implements American troops employed was a militarized version of the Winchester 1897 slide-action shotgun. Equipped with a 20" barrel, perforated heat shield, bayonet lug and sling swivels, the Model 1897 in military service was universally known as the Trench Gun.
The Model 1897 Winchester Trench Gun was a fascinating footnote to the carnage of World War I. World War Supply (WWS) can fix you up with accessories to flesh out any proper World War I weapons collection. A reproduction U.S. M1917 Trenchraider Brodie Helmet and M1917 Bolo Knife are shown here, along with other WWS gear.
Warfare evolved rapidly during the First World War, and tactics were at times slow to keep up. One of the first intended uses of the Trench Gun was to deflect enemy grenades as they came hurtling toward American trenches. Americans were known to be a frontier people, and wing shooting was a common skill among the ranks. Once the guns arrived in theater it became obvious they were actually much better employed as close quarters combat implements.
The 1897 was a product of the fertile mind of John Moses Browning. The gun was an evolutionary development from Browning’s previous 1893 model. Between 1897 and 1957 more than a million copies were produced. The gun was available in both 12- and 16-gauge versions in a variety of grades and barrel lengths. It also came in both solid and takedown variations. The takedown version used an interrupted thread to connect the barrel assembly to the receiver. When broken down the gun was remarkably compact.
The primary improvement over the 1893 involved a strengthened receiver intended to manage smokeless powder shotshells. The 1893 came about in the era of black powder rounds, so the chassis needed some upgrading to handle the extra pressures. There were a few other improvements, but the two mechanisms were similar.
While the 1897 was originally marketed toward American sportsmen, features of the gun made it a superb combat tool. The exposed hammer showed at a glance if the gun was ready to fire. Additionally, the gun lacked an internal disconnector. This made the weapon devastatingly fast at close ranges.
The nature of the 1897 action was such that the operator could hold down the trigger and cycle the action as fast as mechanically possible. The hammer dropped automatically when the breech closed. This meant the M97 Trench Gun could empty its full six rounds of onboard chaos in a single blistering fusillade. Once the Germans felt its wrath the weapon began to have a political effect.
The bolt assembly telescopes out the back of the action of the 1897 Trench Gun when cycled. While this bit reliably cocks the manual hammer, it can also nip your strong hand if care is not exercised.
The five-shot tubular magazine of the Winchester 1897 Trench Gun accepts one round at a time through a loading gate on the bottom of the receiver.
The exposed hammer on the Winchester 1897 Trench Gun is a distinctive feature of this model shotgun.
World War Supply offers a reproduction of the U.S. trench whistle used by troops in World War I.
International Hypocrisy
The standard issue ammunition for M97 Trench Guns in World War I was a 00 buckshot load firing nine .33-caliber lead balls. With a total of six of these rounds onboard an American soldier so equipped was devastating against close quarters German Stormtrooper attacks. Once this new weapon arrived on the battlefield the Germans responded with a curious threat.
September of 1918, U.S. Secretary of State Robert Lansing received a diplomatic cable from the government of Imperial Germany via the Swiss consulate in Washington, D.C. The German message read, “The German government protests against the use of shotguns by the American Army and calls attention to the fact that, according to the laws of war, every prisoner found to have in his possession such guns or ammunition belonging thereto forfeits his life.”
This was actually fairly comical. The Germans had introduced the world to poison gas and conducted blatant unrestricted submarine warfare on civilian vessels. It was in fact the sinking of the passenger liner Lusitania and subsequent loss of 128 innocent American lives that initially swayed American public opinion against the Germans three years earlier.
After brief deliberation on the subject, the American secretary of state issued the following response, “The Government of the United States has to say that the provision of the Hague convention, cited in the protest, does not in its opinion forbid the use of this kind of weapon. Moreover, in view of the history of the shotgun as a weapon of warfare, and in view of the well-known effects of its present use, and in the light of a comparison of it with other weapons approved in warfare, the shotgun now in use by the American Army cannot be the subject of legitimate or reasonable protest … If the German government should carry out its threat in a single instance, it will be the right and duty of the Government of the United States to make such reprisals as will best protect American forces, and notice is hereby given of the intention of the Government of the United States to make such reprisals.”
The American spirit was not necessarily well understood by the European powers at the time. However, in this exchange a point was clearly made. Should the Germans execute even a single American prisoner for the use of a shotgun in combat, the U.S. government reserved the right to respond in kind as it saw fit. The Imperial German government got the message and nothing more was made of the protest.
Criminal Applications
The inspired attributes of John Browning’s 1897 shotgun ensured widespread use. The gun was a staple of the American sporting scene, and the weapon remains widely distributed even today. I found a high mileage takedown version on GunBroker.com some years back for less than $250. However, while the various salient attributes of the design made it appealing to American sportsmen, the criminal element took unfortunate notice as well.
The Constitutional prohibition of alcohol in America in 1920 spawned an unprecedented rise in organized crime. The criminal gangs and empires arising at this time are, in some cases, still in operation today. While the actual rates of violence were then as now fairly low when considered against the nation as a whole, the spectacular nature of these crimes captivated the population.
On Valentine’s Day 1929, four men pushed their way inside a Lincoln Park garage in Chicago. Two were dressed in police uniforms. Inside were seven members of Bugs Moran’s North Side Gang. Believing themselves about to be arrested, the North Side gangsters lined up obediently against a brick wall.
The subsequent fusillade from two slide-action shotguns and a brace of Thompson submachine guns ultimately killed all seven men. The only survivors were a dog named High Ball and Frank Gusenberg, a notorious local gangster. Gusenberg, though struck 14 times by bullets, survived three hours in a local hospital before succumbing to his wounds. He resolutely refused to identify his attackers to police during this time.
Though the two Thompsons used in the shooting have been positively identified and subsequently attained legendary status, the specifics of the shotguns remain a mystery. The study of ballistics was in its infancy, but the unique impressions made upon the cases and bullets from the Tommy guns allowed conclusive identification. By contrast, the smoothbore nature of a scattergun precluded any reliable identification. Regardless, it has been postulated the two shotguns used in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre were likely Model 1897 Winchesters.
Another great replica accessory is World War Supply’s “trench rattle,” a World War I-era gas alarm rattle.
While most of the shotguns used in the military have been employed in second-line applications like guarding prisoners or sentry duty, there yet remains a persistent need for combat scatterguns in U.S. arms rooms. Two hundred M97 shotguns were sent to the Philippines in 1900 for use by John “Black Jack” Pershing’s troops in the Philippine-American War of 1898. The anemic .38-caliber revolvers of the day were relatively ineffective against the fearsome Moro tribesmen who faced American troops. The pump-action 12-gauge, however, was more than adequate to do the job.
The M97 Trench Gun subsequently saw service in WWI, the Irish War of Independence, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and the 1990 Gulf War. It was only in relatively recent years the M97 Trench Gun has been fully supplanted in American military service. Considering the complexity of this 19th century design, this remains a telling tribute to the genius of
John Browning.
The 1897 was indeed fabulously successful. The gun cost $25 new and could be had with barrels reaching out as much as three feet. Though the entrails of the gun seem as complex as those of a sewing machine, the 1897 Winchester rendered reliable service and was well received by the troops, cops and civilians who wielded it.
The 1897 Winchester armed generations of American hunters, law enforcement officers, criminals and soldiers on dove fields, battlefields, turkey hunts and stakeouts both at home and abroad. Modern reproductions are still available, and aftermarket barrel shrouds allow the enterprising American gun nerd to bodge together a facsimile of the trench gun without hocking a kidney. Be forewarned the installation of one of these heat shields on a reproduction 1897 shotgun requires a little effort and some light metal work. If you have fairly deep pockets, original G.I.-issue versions remain available for those with the resources to pursue them.
The perforated heat shield on the 1897 Trench Gun helps keep the hot barrel away from sensitive hands (left). The perforated steel heat shield on the Trench Gun included a forward sling swivel and a bayonet lug (right).
The stocks on the 1897 Trench Gun are cut from beautiful American walnut.
The Mexican Connection
World War I was a fascinating time for those of us with a weakness for military history. President Wilson tried mightily to keep the United States out of the war, but unrestricted submarine warfare along with a particularly egregious bit of subterfuge eventually dragged us kicking and screaming to Europe. This all stemmed from something known as the Zimmerman Telegram.
Desperate to extend alliances and gain any possible advantage, Imperial Germany in January of 1917 sent an encrypted message to Heinrich von Eckhardt, the German ambassador to Mexico. British Intelligence intercepted the cable and decrypted it, providing a copy to the then-neutral United States. In the telegram the Germans proposed to supply Mexico with cash and logistical support in exchange for its entry into World War I against the United States. The cable proposed the Mexicans could win back the territory of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico they’d lost during their previous war with the U.S.
Mexican president Venustiano Carranza rejected the proposal as impractical. While Mexico certainly wanted its territory back, the tactical reality was Mexico was in a state of near-revolution and in no position to threaten the United States militarily. Additionally, the Mexican government rightfully feared the difficulties of trying to pacify a heavily armed American civilian population, a lesson that could be better heeded today.
The end result was the Zimmerman Telegram enraged rank and file Americans. The United States viewed the telegram as a casus belli or “cause for war.” Once Arthur Zimmerman, the author of the cable, admitted to its legitimacy the wheels began to turn, inevitably leading the United States into Europe.
Once we got started in World War I we played to win. At the height of our involvement we were landing 10,000 troops per day on the continent. Armed with such stuff as the M97 Trench Gun, U.S. troops helped turn the tide against the Germans and ultimately secure victory in World War I.
Special thanks to World War Supply (www.worldwarsupply.com) for the pictures and gear used in the production of this article. American doughboys individually decorated their helmets just as did many of the First World War’s other combatants. Originals are all but priceless. However, World War Supply can get you into a remarkable facsimile for a very reasonable price. Be sure to check this out as well as their many other amazing products.
Purchase A PDF Download of the GUNS Magazine Surplus Special Edition Volume #83 Now!
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A New Strain of Ransomware is Even More Virulent
This a simple breakdown of the new ransomware attacks spreading globally. The attack is quite different to anything that has been spread in the past. The intention may not even be money.
Recently, a new and viral malware has been spreading throughout Europe. News organizations such as the Washington Post and The New York Times have been talking about it quite a lot. However, no one seems to have much information about it.
The stories began on the morning of June 27, 2017. While its method of infection has not been discovered, it is known that this malware in behaving like a worm. That means when one node is infected, it tries to spread to other nodes. When the virus infects a computer, it shows a “Chkdisk” screen that is meant to entice the user not to power off. This attack has been touted to be even worse than the Wannacry attack.
Kaspersky Discovered in First.
Kaspersky actually discovered this Ransomware a while back. Since then, they have noted that it has been spreading for weeks. The reason why it has become such a big issue in recent days is that it has started to affect huge organizations, especially government organizations.
What is Known About it.
Some researchers have christened it PetyaWrap. It uses a potent mix of techniques to enter a network and from there spread to all computers in that network. As with other attacks from ransomware such as WCry, it made use of EternalBlue. This advanced exploit was developed by the NSA to snoop on unwitting users of the Windows OS.
The new attack used a new exploit called the EternalRomance, which was developed by the NSA. Microsoft developed a patch for the vulnerabilities. However, many computers remain quite vulnerable. People with basic technical skills now have a powerful method to deliver any kind of digital warhead that they wish to install in a computer. It is especially so for those who had not installed the updates from Microsoft.
However, EternalRomance was not the only exploit that it used. The recent attack showed that it was a major improvement over past attacks. The new attack also used Mimikatz, which is a tool used to extract passwords from computers on a network. With that ability, they could use PSExec, which is a legitimate component of Windows.
That means even computers that had updated their OS and were immune to EternalRomance and EternalBlue could be hacked. Some of the Ransomware is also using a vulnerability of Ukrainian software called MeDoc. The result is that MeDoc is being used to send updates to the end users.
MeDoc Could be Patient Zero.
Kaspersky just fell short of saying MeDoc was the reason this ransomware attack spread so fast. Others are also fingering MeDoc as being the source of the weakness. MeDoc only indicated that their server made a virus attack in an update on their site. Most analysts have interpreted the post as MeDoc admitting guilt.
When the malware creeps into a computer, it waits for about 10 minutes before it reboots the computer. After that, the hard disk is encrypted, and a $300 ransom is demanded when the computer restarts. If someone switches off the computer before it reboots, he or she could save their computer if they allow a professional to restart their computer.
Ukraine Was Hit Hard.
Many news organizations globally report that Ukraine was hit hard. The malware hit metro networks, power companies, government sites, banks, airports, media organizations, and state corporations. Even the radiation monitors at Chernobyl were not spared.
One of the reasons WCry was killed off was that its developers hard-coded a kill switch into it. However, researchers are concerned that there may be no simple solution to stopping the spread this time.
Reports of Windows 10 Attacks.
Some reports indicate that it was able to attack an updated Windows 10 computer. Besides that, it is said that the computer had a working anti-virus installed and had the SMBv1 protocol switched off.
It is also Stealing Credential.
This new strain is targeting the master boot record of computers. It is an important file, which allows the computer to locate the OS and other important components. However, it also delivers a payload that steals usernames and passwords and sends it to a server under the control of the attackers. That means the attackers could be in possession of high-value data.
The attack was initially limited to Ukraine and Russia. However, it soon spread to Poland and then to Italy, Spain, France, US, and India. Major law firms and other companies in the UK said that their systems were under attack.
Peculiar Attack.
Victims of the attack were told that they had to email payment details. Within a few hours, the email went down. That made it impossible for those who had paid the money to recover data. The result was that it led to speculation the aim of the attack was destruction, not money.
What Can You Do to Stay Safe.
There are a few Steps, which computer users can take to stay safe. They are actually quite effective.
· Question All Attachments.
In a world where digital spoofing is so easy, do not trust anything. Do not open an attachment unless you were expecting it to arrive. If you feel you must open it, use your phone to call the person so that you can verify they sent an email to you.
· Do not click Links in an Email.
Before opening a link, position the cursor over it. If the URL is different from the text over it, avoid opening it. Besides that, use your phone to confirm any link sent to you.
· Be Attentive.
If an email uses language that suggests urgency, you should be quite cautious about clicking on it. If an email offers something to you for clicking the email, avoid it. Additionally, any email that seeks to generate some emotional response from you needs to be watched carefully.
· Stay Focused on Your Work.
Avoid receiving funny cat videos from your friends all the time. It is possible to receive a video that has bugs encoded into it. Unless your job involves studying cats, avoid unnecessary downloads at all times.
Most importantly, never pay any ransom. There is no guarantee you will receive the decryption key.
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Ted Brown, ISD Manager Spokane Symphony and The Fox Theater Read More >>
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← Railroad crossing repairs next week on K-146 and K-39
Sports Potpourri: CHIEFS, WILDCATS, JAYHAWKS →
Obituary: Wendell Dale Barrow
Wendell Dale Barrow, 80, passed away peacefully at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, June 17, at the Girard Medical Center with his family present.
He had been a resident of the Girard Medicalodge since November 2016 from complications of Parkinson’s disease.
He had lived on the family farm southwest of Girard since 1994.
Wendell was born September 15, 1937 in Girard, Kansas, to Roscoe Wylie Barrow and Mildred Marie Clutter Barrow.
He attended Gooding Grade School and graduated from Girard High School in 1955 where he was an honor student. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Kansas State College of Pittsburg (now PSU) in 1959. He was junior class president and a member of honorary mathematic, military and social fraternities and the American Chemical Society. He graduated from ROTC as a second lieutenant in the United States Army and was assigned at Ft. Bliss, Texas. Following his service, he moved to Port Arthur, Texas where he worked for Jefferson Chemical Company from 1960-1973. He worked as a national sales manager at various other chemical companies based in Houston, Austin and Chicago, traveling internationally. He retired in 1994 from Merichem Chemical in Houston as General Sales Manager.
Wendell married Sherron Jo Sparks in Abilene, Texas on August 5, 1961, and had two sons and later divorced. He married Ramona Troike Weber on September 13, 1997 in Girard, Kansas.
Wendell enjoyed outdoor sports such as hunting and fishing. One of his passions in retirement was attending auctions in this area in his Texas cowboy hat. He also sold for Mendenhall Apiaries and enjoyed coffee with his class members.
He was a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church of Girard
Survivors include his wife Ramona of the home, sons Douglas Dwayne Barrow (Blair) of Fairfax, Virginia, and Darin Roberts Barrow (Angela) of League City, Texas and his sister Treva Sherman (Jon) of Pittsburg, Kansas
Services for Wendell D. Barrow will be 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, June 20, 2018 at the Trinity Lutheran Church of Girard. Burial will follow in the Girard Cemetery.
No visitation is planned. In lieu of flowers memorials are suggested to the Trinity Lutheran Church and these may be left at the funeral home or mailed to the Smith-Carson-Wall Funeral Home, 518 W. St. John, P.O. Box 258, Girard, Kansas 66743.
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***MEDIA ADVISORY***
The National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service is coming to Denver on April 19-20, its second stop in a two-year effort to find ways to encourage and inspire more Americans—particularly young people—to serve their country and strengthen American democracy.
The Commission invites members of the public to share their thoughts and ideas on encouraging and inspiring more Americans to serve at a public meeting taking place from 3:00-5:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 19, 2018 at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
The bipartisan, 11-member Commission was created by Congress to develop recommendations to foster a greater ethic of service among our nation’s citizens and to review the military selective service process. The Commission hopes to ignite a national conversation about the importance of service as it develops recommendations for Congress, the President, and the American people by March 2020.
WHAT: Public Meeting of the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service
Speakers include:
George Sparks, President & CEO of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Luis Benitez, Director of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office
Fred Eidson, Executive Director of the Colorado Federal Executive Board
Vanessa Moore, 2017 Recipient of the Colorado Governor’s Service Award and VISTA Leader
Scott Segerstrom, Executive Director of the Colorado Youth Corps Association
WHEN: Thursday, April 19, 3:00 p.m. -5:00 p.m.
WHERE: Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Schlessman Lobby, Entrance 5 (Evening Entrance)
2001 Colorado Blvd, Denver, CO 80205
Admission to the public meeting is free, but does not cover admission into the Museum.
Parking is available and free at the Museum.
RSVP: The event is OPEN Press. Please RSVP with name, position (reporter, camera, photographer, etc.), media outlet, email, and phone for each person planning to come to media.ncos@gmail.com.
The bipartisan Commission brings together national leaders with diverse experiences in the military, nonprofit, public, and private sectors. A full list of Commissioners and their biographies can be found here.
During its two days in Colorado, the Commission will visit the United States Air Force Academy, hear from young people involved in conservation service, and meet with government, nonprofit, and civic leaders. The visit will highlight Colorado’s initiatives and programs that engage citizens in serving their communities and country.
The Commission invites the public to share its views on its website www.inspire2serve.gov and follow the Commission on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Inspire2ServeUS), and on Twitter (@Inspire2ServeUS).
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Lumber Liquidators to pay regulators $33 million in flooring scandal settlement
FILE PHOTO: A Lumber Liquidators store sign is shown outside one of the companies retail locations in San Diego, California March 2, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Blake
(Reuters) - Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc has agreed to pay a $33 million criminal penalty to settle federal charges it misled investors about the safety of its laminate flooring made in China and sold to U.S. customers.
The settlements announced by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday came four years after Lumber Liquidators was alleged to be selling products with illegally high levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.
The Justice Department settlement includes a deferred prosecution agreement, under which the government agreed not to prosecute Lumber Liquidators for securities fraud so long as the company upgrades oversight and cooperates with its ongoing probe for three years.
The hardwood flooring retailer knew that products made by its largest Chinese supplier had failed third-party formaldehyde emissions testing, but the company had misled investors, regulators said.
“The relief obtained today, along with the criminal fine imposed by the Department of Justice, ensures that the company will forfeit all profit and pay a heavy price for the false assurances it provided to the market,” Marc Berger, Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office, said.
The amount the company will pay represents Lumber Liquidator’s net profits from the sale of 100 percent of its Chinese laminate from January through May 2015, U.S Attorney’s office said.
As part of the settlement, the company has also agreed to implement rigorous internal controls and cooperate fully with the Department of Justice’s ongoing investigation, including its investigation of individuals, the attorney’s office added.
Lumber Liquidators Chief Executive Officer Dennis Knowles said in a statement the company was “pleased” with the settlement.
Shares in Lumber Liquidators fell 2.5 percent after the news. The stock has lost nearly 80 percent of its value since a CBS “60 Minutes” report questioning the safety of Lumber Liquidators’ products aired in March 2015.
Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bengaluru
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July 10, 2019 / 4:51 AM / 7 days ago
Violent Mexican border city opens its doors to U.S. asylum seekers
Lizbeth Diaz
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Nuevo Laredo, a Mexican border city known for high rates of violence, received its first foreign migrants from the United States on Tuesday as part of a program begun in January, U.S. and Mexican officials said.
Migrants from different nationalities rest under a tree outside a shelter in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico June 5, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso/File Photo
The group of 10 people - including Central Americans, Venezuelans and Cubans - crossed into the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas via Nuevo Laredo’s border bridge, a source from the National Institute of Migration told Reuters.
They will wait in Tamaulipas while their claims to enter the United States are assessed.
The move is part of a U.S. plan, in coordination with Mexico, to expand the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP) program, which started in the Laredo sector of the U.S. Southwest, U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials said.
However, shelter director Julio Lopez, who received one of the returning migrants, told Reuters that Tamaulipas has “no action plan to attend to these people as promised.”
Faced with tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump, Mexico agreed in June to increase the number of ports of entry under the MPP program.
The program, also known as ‘Remain in Mexico’, returns foreign asylum seekers to Mexican border localities while their claims are processed in the United States. It has included 18,503 migrants since it was launched early this year.
The MPP program is part of an effort by Trump to curb the number of migrants entering the United States illegally, especially those from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
U.S. border officials announced on Tuesday that migrant apprehensions along the southwest border dropped from 144,278 in May to 104,344 in June, representing a May-to-June decline that is 11% larger than last year. Mexico’s foreign ministry cited similar data earlier in July, crediting its own efforts to stem migration to the United States.
Tamaulipas pushed back last week against taking part in the MPP in signs of tension over the plan. It is one of Mexico’s most lawless territories but also has the busiest crossings for undocumented immigrants, thanks in part to its geographical location and lack of border barriers.
“Opening this border puts migrants at great risk, due to its history of kidnappings and massacres by criminal gangs,” said Oscar Hernandez, migration researcher at the College of the Northern Border.
Until Monday, Mexico received MPP migrants in three border cities in Baja California and Chihuahua. Many migrants have waited months to hear updates on their claims.
Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Additional reporting by Mica Rosenberg and Dan Trotta in NEW YORK; Writing by Rebekah F Ward; Editing by Paul Tait
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People: Value Convergence Holdings Ltd (0821.HK)
Investment Banking & Brokerage Services
0821.HK on Hong Kong Stock
0.76HKD
HK$0.02 (+2.70%)
Wong, Kam Choi
Mr. Wong Kam Choi is Independent Non-Executive Director of Value Convergence Holdings Ltd since May 30, 2013. Mr. Wong is the chairman of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit Committee and Nomination Committee of the Company. Currently, Mr. Wong is a substantial shareholder and a director of a design and printing company. He has over 20 years’ experience in design and printing industry. Mr. Wong was the executive director and chairman of the board of China Fortune Financial Group Limited (Stock Code: 290), a company being listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange. Mr. Wong has been dedicating to wide range of community services in Hong Kong and Southern China. He is the director of Sik Sik Yuen, the committee member of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of Guangzhou, Liwan and chairman/vice chairman of a number of non-profit organizations.
Yiu-Man Fu
Yick Fung Lai
Wai Har Fung
Man Hoi Ng
Hoi Kwong Lin
King Fai Chau
As Of 31 Dec 2016
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© 2018 INDIBA, S.A.
(+34) 93 265 55 22 | cs@indiba.com | C/ Moianès, 13 – Pol. Ind. Can Casablanques 08192 Sant Quirze del Vallès
Copyright © 2017 INDIBA. All rights reserved. 2017 v1
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$10,000 Worth Of SNES Games Goes Missing In The Mail
Filed to: super nintendoFiled to: super nintendo
Game Preservation
Image provided by Byuu.
Byuu, a revered SNES emulator developer and game archivist, had a plan. With the help of an avid collector from Europe, he would archive hundreds of SNES games, some of which are exceedingly rare. Unfortunately, that plan recently hit the skids when a package worth thousands of dollars went missing in the mail.
Byuu’s goal was to digitally preserve all games ever released for the SNES, regardless of region. “I have already purchased all 725 SNES games sold in the USA,” he wrote. “This set me back well over $10,000. After preserving this set, I sold it and used the proceeds, plus an additional $10,000 of my own money, to purchase all 1450 games sold in Japan.” (We reported on one of his sales a while back, and it appears to have gone off without a hitch.)
Obtaining and archiving all games from PAL regions (Asia, Africa, Europe, South America, and Oceania) was the obvious next step, but Byuu was low on money from buying so many other games. He planned to receive hundreds of games from a European collector who goes by the handle Smarthuman, 100 at a time, and then send them back once he was done archiving. They encountered no problems with the first shipment. The process took ten days, something I was able to verify via USPS tracking information Byuu provided me. The second, however, appears to be gone for good.
“On January 5th, a package containing 100 PAL games were [sic] sent to me to dump [into a digital format],” Byuu wrote in a post on his message board. “The United States Postal Service has either stolen or lost this package. Most likely the former.” In a separate post, Byuu alleged that he did everything he could to locate the package, from calling USPS and visiting his local post office in Ohio to reaching out to friends and social media contacts in Jersey City, where the package suddenly stopped, according to tracking info Byuu provided me. “Regardless,” Byuu added, “this much is certain: the SNES preservation project is officially and permanently dead.”
The package, which Smarthuman sent to Byuu, contained 100 games. Byuu told me the total value of those PAL cartridges is somewhere in the neighborhood of $7,500-$10,000, in part because PAL games are most valuable of all regions to collectors. The most costly among them were Castlevania IV, Castlevania: Vampire’s Kiss, First Samurai, The Firemen, Demon’s Crest, Mega Man 7, Mega Man X, Mega Man X2, Mega Man X3, Ninja Warriors, and Incantation. “Perhaps someone will catch them going up on eBay or popping up in a local New Jersey used game store,” Byuu told me via email. “[You] never know.”
These games were especially valuable because, as Eurogamer points out, many of the SNES ROMs in wide circulation have been edited in some way. Even some of the games on Nintendo’s own Virtual Console are copies or revisions, rather than the original article. There are also bad dumps out there with piracy groups’ names in them, corrupted sprites, and other issues. Byuu wanted to do things right. Now he probably won’t be able to complete his project at all. His main focus, at this point, is getting the package back. Failing that, he plans to reimburse Smarthuman by setting aside money from his paychecks. He said he might start a funding drive of some sort, but he’s not sure yet. “I also want to be clear, the donor never asked for reimbursement upon loss,” said Byuu. “It was my decision and it’s going to happen, because I can’t live with myself if it doesn’t.”
I reached out to USPS for comment on the incident, but as of writing they had yet to reply.
While Byuu feels like USPS is mostly to blame, he confesses that he and Smarthuman could’ve done a little more to try and end up safe, rather than sorry. They didn’t split up the deliveries in such a way that they could insure packages for their full value, and Byuu’s kicking himself for that. “Obviously, it should have been insured for the full value,” said Byuu. “But please understand that hindsight is 20/20. The sender chose the insurance amount, and had no reason to suspect the package would be lost, and that we would be given no help on the matter. It’s not unreasonable to believe a mail carrier would try to avoid the need to pay out 1,000 Euros worth of insurance by not losing said package.”
Byuu’s offering a cash bounty to anyone who locates the package for him, but even if it does turn up, his project is over. He’s done putting other people’s collections on the line. “It was a terrible mistake have him trust the mail system,” he said. “I’m not going to risk anyone else’s games like that again.”
Kotaku reporter. Beats: Twitch, PC gaming, Overwatch.
Recent from Nathan Grayson
Overwatch League is officially leaving Los Angeles next year. Well, for the most part. Season three will consist of 52…
2018's Worst Overwatch League Team Just Won A Championship
Some Streamers Are Boycotting Twitch In Support Of The Amazon Prime Day Strike
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The Handwritten Blueprint For A Musical Masterpiece
Filed to: off topicFiled to: off topic
kotakumelodic
Before music becomes music—before it's played by musicians—it's just ink on a page. Some compositions require a great deal of ink and a lot of pages, hundreds of carefully-drawn notes bound into massive tomes of score-paper. And yet it's worth remembering that some of the greatest compositions of all time were born of simple ideas scratched onto a single sheet of paper.
Today is famed saxophonist John Coltrane's birthday—he was born on September 23, 1926 and died in July of 1967. To commemorate the day, Open Culture shared this rare document from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. It's a single piece of score paper that Trane used to chart out the entirety of his classic four-suite 1964 composition A Love Supreme.
Check it out, click to embiggen:
I don't even know where to begin with how much I love this. Jazz fans will be familiar with the famous work, released on a 1965 album of the same name. It's a legendary album, usually near the top of any all-time lists right alongside Kind of Blue and Mingus Ah Um. As a tenor player I'll allow that I have a blind spot for A Love Supreme, though I like the album not just for its musical qualities but for the story behind it.
Most of what I know of Trane's history comes from Eric Nisenson's terrific book Ascension: John Coltrane and his Quest. In that book, Nisenson details how Trane found God while in the throes of heroin withdrawal; the habit had recently contributed to his getting fired from Miles Davis' late-50s hard-bop quintet, and he was determined to kick it. After surviving the ordeal of withdrawal, Trane dedicated his life to sharing spirituality though music. He never did relapse into heroin usage. (Incidentally, Trane was posthumously sainted by the African Orthodox Church; The Saint John Coltrane Church is located in San Francisco, not all that far from where I'm typing this.)
Several years later Coltrane wrote A Love Supreme as a sort of thank you to God, which he explains in the album's fantastic liner notes. An excerpt:
During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music. I feel this has been granted through His grace. ALL PRAISE TO GOD.
This album is a humble offering to Him. An attempt to say "THANK YOU GOD" through our work, even as we do in our hearts and with our tongues. May He help and strengthen all men in every good endeavor.
The liner notes give A Love Supreme a personal touch that was rare for jazz albums of the day, and to some degree remains rare even today. And the actual musical outline for the composition provides an even rarer insight into Trane's creative process.
It starts with a vague outline with a scant few notes written without stems, intended to be played out of rhythm...
...next to which is a short rhythmic figure for the iconic, chanted "A Love Supreme" that recurs throughout...
...and past that, his instructions become less technical, more conceptual:
"All paths lead to God."
"Rising harmonies to a level of blissful stability at the end."
"Musical recitation of prayer* by horn in the ending."
"*Prayer entitled 'A Love Supreme.'"
Musically, A Love Supreme remains the most iconic album from Coltrane's prolific period with his famous quartet: Drummer Elvin Jones, pianist McCoy Tyner and bassist Jimmy Garrison. That said, it can be a challenging introduction to Trane's music—it's an evolution beyond the more structured stuff he was playing in the late 50s, leaving behind more approachable albums like Giant Steps, Blue Train and his work with Miles' late-50s quintet. If you're new to Trane, I'd recommend some of that stuff—Blue Train in particular—to get started. But if you're already a fan, this blueprint provides a fascinating bit of insight into the creation of A Love Supreme, and a great reason (if you need one) to revisit a work of musical genius.
Happy birthday, Trane! Thanks for all sheets of sound, and for everything else.
(Via Charles McNeal)
Off-Topic is our nightly open thread where we show you something interesting beyond the world of games while inviting you to talk about anything and everything.
Recent from Kirk Hamilton
Something Ends, Something Begins
Kirk Hamilton’s Top 10 Games Of 2018
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Tahoe Nat’l Forest firefighter dies in chopper crash
A U.S. Forest Service firefighter from California dies in a helicopter crash outside Houston. Daniel Laird was a two-decade veteran of the U.S. Forest Service who was helping a controlled burn when the chopper crashed Wednesday. Two others were injured in the crash.
Mar. 29, 2019 at 12:27 pm
Construction on new Wildcreek HS could begin next year
We’re getting our first look at the design for the new Wildcreek high school. The design is 87 acres on the north side of the golf course. It can host 2,200 students and includes surrounding road improvements. Construction on the $200 million school could begin as early as next year. The school is slated to open in 2022 and will lead to the closure of Hug High School.
Wrongfully convicted in NV could see compensation
The wrongfully convicted could receive compensation for the injustice they’ve been dealt. At least a dozen people have been exonerated in Nevada. Supporters of the measure say the wrongfully convicted may never get their time back, but the state has a responsibility to right the wrong. Nevada is one of 17 states without a law on the books.
Man robs Donner Pass Road 7-11
Police are looking for the man who robbed a convenience store on Donner Pass Road. Police say he hit the 7-11 Thursday morning, causing a shelter in place order for a time. No one was hurt.
C Street in Virginia City closed for drainage work
C Street will be closed between B and Taylor streets in Virginia City between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. through Tuesday. Crews are upgrading drainage systems.
Autopsy: Hof died from heart attack
Autopsy results show Nevada brothel owner and candidate for state House Dennis Hof died from a heart attack. Medical experts say he had some drugs in his system, but no lethal amounts. Hof died last year at Love Ranch.
NHP: Speed, rain factors in crash through home in Gardnerville
Troopers say a woman was driving too fast in rain when she careened into a home in Gardnerville. It happened Wednesday night. Troopers say the woman went over a sidewalk and hit a home on U.S. 395 near Mission Street. Three kids were in the vehicle; one suffered minor injuries. KOLO-TV reports no one in the home was hurt.
Charity Motorcycle Ride Saturday
The Street Kings Motorcycle Club will hold the 5th Annual Ride for Soldiers Saturday at 11am. It is a two-hour ride around Reno-Sparks and will honor Andrey Lee, a military veteran and son of the club’s founder. The entry fee is $20 for single rider, $30 with passenger. Registration begins at 9 a.m.
Mar. 29, 2019 at 8:44 am
Lawmaker Says Brothels Need More Oversight
Advocates for Nevada’s legal brothels spoke in general support for moving forward with a legislative study on the health and well-being of sex workers at bordellos.
Assemblywoman Lesley Cohen told lawmakers at a hearing Thursday that the study is needed because the state is not giving enough oversight to the nation’s only legal brothels. She says the effort is not an attempt to outlaw the bordellos.
NHP Making Sure Drivers Abide by Move Over Law
Checking to make sure you’re following laws, the Nevada Highway Patrol spent a few hours in the North Valleys area yesterday looking for drivers violating the “Move Over Law” which took effect in 2003. Trooper Matt McLaughlin says “In essence the law states that when you see a stopped emergency vehicle on the side of the highway with its lights on you are required by law to move over at least one lane to the left and reduce your speed,”
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Shanley + Associates
Clients love working with Shanley + Associates team members because they are strategic, creative, effective and fun. We make data-informed recommendations, and we pride ourselves on taking the time to walk through the numbers and the thinking behind our strategies.
Currently, we’re working with more than a dozen faith-based publications, many of whom are members of the Evangelical Press Association, the Associated Church Press, and the Catholic Press Association.
Meet the Shanley + Associates team:
Kevin Shanley, Owner
Kevin has the knack of finding new revenue through disciplined, data-driven marketing. He brings decades of experience in business model development, periodical marketing, strategic planning and budgeting, back office fulfillment, advertising sales, fundraising and direct response marketing. He’s worked with more than 40 members of the Associated Church Press, Evangelical Press Association, and Catholic Press Association and is a regular presenter at their annual conventions. Kevin started his career as the marketing director for Claretian Publications in 1979. He’s held senior marketing positions with both for-profit and nonprofit organizations. A native Chicagoan and Cubs fan, he believes in starting and ending the day with gratitude.
Mike Cismesia, Design & Production
Mike Cismesia and Kevin Shanley have been working together for more than 35 years. A production, lettershop, and manufacturing expert who brings experience as the production manager at one of the largest web printing firms in Chicago, Mike manages the production of more than three million direct mail packages and the related financial analysis every year. Mike’s graphic design skills and print production experience mean that when he’s designing a piece, he’s simultaneously thinking through what it will all cost. That means clients receive the biggest return for their marketing dollars. Mike has cut direct mail printing expenses in half while increasing the response rate in the same mailing. Mike never gets rattled, he just gets the job done on time, every time.
Patrick Shanley, Advertising & Sales
Patrick has been helping faith-based publishers establish stable and profitable advertising revenue streams for more than ten years. Working closely with advertisers and publishers, Patrick develops print, web, email, and podcast ad programs that build awareness and drive revenue. A 2004 graduate of the University of Dayton, Patrick lives with wife Jenae and children in Oak Park, Ill., and is an avid follower of the Chicago sports and music scene.
Heidi Thompson, Digital Marketing
Heidi is a publishing executive with 25 years of experience helping nonprofits leverage the science of marketing to build audiences, cultivate donors, and earn revenue. She was the publisher and CEO of Religion News Service and served as the vice president for marketing and publisher of Sojourners magazine. A tech-inclined and data-driven marketer, she specializes in email, website and social media marketing, with a focus on building digital programs that draw users from being casual visitors to financial supporters. Heidi has a B.S. in Journalism from the E.W. Scripps School at Ohio University and an M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communication from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
What clients say:
“Working with Kevin Shanley and his team has been a game-changer for our business. Shanley + Associates are the best in the biz: totally professional, good humored, and endlessly creative. I look forward to our meetings because I know progress will be made, on multiple fronts!”
Christopher Wells
Executive Director & Editor
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Sherry Rehman
President, Board of Governors, JI
Senator Sherry Rehman is Parliamentary Leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Senate, as well as the party’s Vice-President. She is the Founding Chair and serving President of the Jinnah Institute, Chair of the Climate Change Caucus in Parliament, Chair of the CPEC Committee in Senate and Chair of PPP’s Committee on Foreign Affairs.
She is a third-term Parliamentarian, diplomat, journalist, and civil society activist who has received Pakistan’s highest civil award, the Nishan-e-Imtiaz.
Rehman has served as the Leader of Opposition in Senate, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States and Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting. She has held additional portfolios of Health, Women Development, and Culture as a Federal Minister.
Rehman has received several awards including the title of Democracy’s Hero; The Freedom Award for her work for media independence; the International Peace Award for Democrats; and the Jeanne Kirkpatrick Award for Women. Identified as one of the Top Global Thinkers of 2011 by Foreign Policy magazine, she was cover-titled by Newsweek Pakistan as “Pakistan’s Most Important Woman”.
Ambassador (rtd)
Aziz Ahmad Khan
Ambassador (rtd) Aziz Ahmad Khan is a career diplomat who is consultant at the National Defence University in Islamabad. He travels extensively at the international level to lecture at strategic security conferences with particular reference to Pakistan’s foreign policy challenges. He has served as Pakistan’s High Commissioner to New Delhi from June 2003-2006, and was Additional Foreign Secretary (June 2000 to June 2002).
Khan joined the Pakistan Foreign Service in 1969 and has distinguished himself in high posts such as Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Malaysia (’95-’96) and Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan (Nov 1996 to June 2000).
Khan has also served as Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from November 2001 to June 2003. He was Director General of the Foreign Service Academy from June 2002 to June 2003. Apart from his role as Deputy Chief of Mission at New Delhi and Consul General at Los Angeles, he has also served in various capacities in Pakistan Missions in Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Maputo, Vienna and Lisbon.
He is also Executive Advisor to the international relations quarterly, “The Criterion”. He has served on Jinnah Institute’s Board of Advisors through 2010-2011.
Iqbal Ali Lakhani
Iqbal Lakhani is Chairman, Aga Khan Economic Planning Board for Pakistan. Vice President American Business Council of Pakistan, and ranking member of the Pakistan Business Council. Lakhani is also chairman of the Lakson Group of Companies, one of the largest publicly listed manufacturing conglomerates in Pakistan, with high governance benchmarks. The Lakson Group is represented on many trusts and foundations in Pakistan, for their active corporate citizenship and philanthropy.
Iqbal Lakhani is a phi beta kappa from UCLA Berkeley, and lectures widely on capacity -building for business and development organizations.
Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan
Salim Raza
Mr. Raza was Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, from January 2009 until June 2010. Prior to that appointment, between 2006 and 2009, he had been CEO of the Pakistan Business Council – a research and policy group sponsored by 25 of Pakistan’s largest business Houses. To advance the institutional framework for business growth and investment, Mr. Raza was responsible for setting up joint committees with the Ministry of Finance, and the core regulatory agencies in Pakistan, SBP and SECP, to work on appropriate policy initiatives.
Syed Salim Raza is an international banker with a Masters from Oxford University and a distinguished career spanning many countries. He was CEO of Citibank in Pakistan in the mid-1980s. Most recently Raza has been involved with governance metrics, regulatory frameworks and policy development in Pakistan.
CEO and President of Tameer Bank
Nadeem Hussain is CEO and President of Tameer Bank, Pakistan’s first private sector microfinance bank and world leader in branchless banking. Hussain’s model bank has impacted over a million people by extending credit and mobile banking to the poor and the unbanked Pakistan, and has introduced the first health insurance program in rural areas to protect poor households from trauma.
Hussain has been on the Board of Governors of Institute of Business Administration, and is currently Vice-Chairman of Pakistan Microfinance Network, Trustee of Indus Foundation, and Member of the Renewable Energy Task Force for the Government of Pakistan. He has been in international banking for 27 years in Citibank/Citigroup in seven different countries and all major financial centers of the world. Mr. Hussain has, during his Citibank Career worked in Corporate Banking, Consumer Banking, Risk Management, Insurance, Transaction Banking and Treasury and member board of the Honk Kong Commodities Exchange.
Hussain has been chair of the United Nation’s MDG Session on Financial Inclusion in New York in September 2010, and is a frequent speaker at international forums on branchless banking for the unbanked. He writes and broadcasts frequently in Pakistan’s mainstream media on social policy, low-cost housing, and sustainable growth.
Secretary, Board of Governors, JI
Ava Ardeshir Cowasjee
Ava Cowasjee is a renowned philanthropist and trustee of the Cowasjee Foundation and Vice Chairman of Sindh SOS Villages, which runs the largest boarding and lodging school program for vulnerable and orphaned children in Pakistan . She is also Honorary Secretary of the Friends of Lady Dufferin Foundation Trust Hospital, which is the largest non-profit health facility for women and children in Pakistan.
Cowasjee is also a partner in Cowasjee Shipping and still holds the honour of being the first woman elected to the office of Chairperson of the Pakistan Shipping Association.
Founding Chief
Jameel Yusuf
Jameel Yusuf is Founding Chief, Citizens Police Liaison Committee, Central Reporting Cell, (a Statutory Institution assisting Victims of Crime, irrespective of their caste, creed, status or wealth since its inception i.e. 1st September 1989 – 22nd March 2003.)
He has been Member of the Law & Order Commission of Pakistan, Federal Ministry of Interior & Narcotics Control, and is currently Member, Implementation Watch Committee of the National Commission on the Status of Women, Government of Pakistan from. June, 2010. Jameel Yusuf is Chairman of a Multinational Group, TPL Holdings (Pvt.) Ltd. He is also Chairman, Steering Committee Al-Murtaza – Professional Development Centre, a Charitable Trust affiliated to The Aga Khan University, Institute of Educational Development (AKU–IED) that focuses on teacher-training, and Honorary Secretary, Board of Governors, “Al-Murtaza School Network”, Founding Trustee ; PANAH, a shelter for women in Distress in Karachi. He is also Member, Steering Committee, NGO Resource Centre, a project of Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) 2001 – 2007.
At the international level, Jameel Yusuf is Member Director, Asia Crime Prevention Foundation (ACPF), Japan, and Member, Advisory Council Fellowship Fund for Pakistan (FFFP), Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars (WWC). He has been recognized for his services the Government of Pakistan by receiving the Presidential Award for Public Service ” Sitara-e-Shujaat” in Pakistan, as well as earning a nomination for the First United Nations Vienna Civil Society Award in 1999.
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Fania Mindell arrested for distributing birth control material.
Fania Mindell was only 22 when she became part of a seminal moment in the history of women’s reproductive freedom.
Born in Minsk, Russia on December 15, 1894, Fania emigrated to Brooklyn, New York in 1906 with her family. Fania became the proprietor of Little Russia, a small boutique in Greenwich Village just off Washington Square, which featured curios from Russia, but her true passion was for feminist and progressive causes. As a young political activist in 1916 she met the now famous feminist Margaret Sanger and her sister Ethel Byrne. Together, the three women opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, known as the "Brownsville Clinic" (after the Brownsville section of Brooklyn in which it was located). The clinic’s aim was to educate and distribute birth control materials.
At the time, publishing or selling any material about sexuality or the prevention of pregnancy was a prosecutable offense under the Comstock Act, which made the dissemination of “obscene” material through the mail illegal. The clinic served more than a hundred neighborhood women on its opening day. Mindell administered the storefront clinic during its first week, canvassed the neighborhood with flyers written in English, Yiddish, and Italian, and read birth control literature in Yiddish to Jewish clients. On October 26, 1916, ten days after the clinic opened, an undercover policewoman and vice-squad officers raided the clinic, confiscated an assortment of contraceptives, along with 20 “books on young women,” and arrested Sanger, Byrne, and Mindell. After their arraignment, the three women spent the night in jail and were released the next morning on $500 bail. All three women were found guilty, with Mindell convicted of disturbing the peace and fined $50. Eventually all their verdicts were overturned, and the women’s campaign eventually led to major changes in social policy and to the laws governing birth control and sex education around the world.
Margaret Sanger later became the founder of the American Birth Control League, the precursor to the Planned Parenthood Federation.
Fania Mindell went on to become a costume and set designer for Broadway plays. She also translated Russian plays into English versions, including the premiere of Maxim Gorky’s classic The Lower Depths (Night Lodging). On December 3, 1929 Fania married historian Ralph Edmund LeClercq Roeder, who shared her interest in drama and theater. The couple travelled extensively, eventually settling in Mexico City, where Roeder was honored with Mexico's highest literary award, the Orden del Águila Azteca, for his seminal biography of Benito Juárez. Mindell died in Mexico City on July 18, 1969.
See also: Birth Control Movement in the United States and American Birth Control Movement.
Sources: “October 18: Birth Control in Yiddish,” Jewdayo; “Hobby Lobby: Birth Control and the Law,” Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona; “Fania Mindell,” FindAGrave.
Biography: Fania Mindell
Blog: The Translators and Spies of the Reproductive Rights Movement
Blog: Trusting women: A look back
Article: Birth of Harriet Fleischl Pilpel, pioneer for the right to privacy and free speech
Entrepreneur, activist, designer, translator, and founder of the Brownsville Clinic, Fania Mindell (1894 – 1969) in 1917.
Photo in the public domain.
Margaret Sanger and Fania MIndell in the Brownsville Clinic, October 1916.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Jewish Women's Archive. "Fania Mindell arrested for distributing birth control material.." (Viewed on July 16, 2019) <https://jwa.org/thisweek/oct/26/1916/fania-mindell-arrested-for-distributing-birth-control-material>.
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System model
Secrecy outage probability
Numerical result
Secrecy analysis of cognitive radio network with MS-GSC/MRC scheme
Shilpa Thakur1Email authorView ORCID ID profile and
Ajay Singh2
EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking20182018:114
Received: 5 September 2017
We propose and analyze minimum selection-generalized selection combining (MS-GSC) at secondary receiver (SR) with maximal ratio combining at eavesdropper (ER) to enhance data security at physical layer. We consider an underlay cognitive radio network (CRN) where SR and ER are equipped with multiple antennas, and secondary transmitter (ST) has single antenna with a primary user. Passive eavesdropping is also taken into account.This work is aimed to find the effect of MS-GSC diversity technique on secrecy outage probability (SOP). We derive a closed-form expressions for the exact and asymptotic SOP. Our results show a positive impact on SOP with an increase in diversity branches and also reveal the effect of a primary user on secondary network.
Cognitive radio network
Minimum selection-generalized selection combining (MS-GSC)
Outage probability
Physical layer security
In wireless communication systems, an eavesdropper intercepts transmission due to the broadcast nature of wireless links. So, the security of data transmission in these networks is becoming more critical than ever [1, 2]. Traditionally, cryptographic techniques are used to secure data at the upper layer of protocol stack using public and private key variations. In underlay cognitive radio networks (CRN), the primary users (PU) and the secondary users (SU) transmit concurrently in the same band of frequency [3, 4]. The protection and security of the broadcast channel in such complex environments against eavesdropping is a very difficult task. The conventional cryptographic authentication become very expensive and less effective because of the open nature of these broadcasting channels [5, 6]. Therefore, research efforts have been devoted to physical layer security, which exploits the characteristics of wireless channel (e.g., thermal noise and fading) to secure the communication at physical layer [7]. The fundamental concept of physical layer security is to enhance the gain of legitimate receiver’s main channel in comparison to the eavesdropper’s channel to attain perfect secrecy. With the advancement in multiple antenna techniques, security improvement in wiretap CRN channels has addressed from information-theoretic perspective [8–11], where the secondary transmitter (ST), the secondary user receiver (SR), and the eavesdropper (ER) all are equipped with multiple antennas.
In the last few years, lots of work had been done to enhance the security of physical layer in CRN. In [12, 13], secrecy performance of single input multiple output (SIMO) CRN with maximal ratio combining (MRC) diversity technique was studied. Secrecy outage probability (SOP) for transmit antenna selection (TAS)/MRC in multiple input multiple output (MIMO) CRN has been investigated in [14], and an underlay MIMO CRN with a pair of primary nodes and secondary nodes and an eavesdropper was considered in [15] where the secondary transmitter was powered by the renewable energy harvested from the primary transmitter in order to improve both energy efficiency and spectral efficiency. SOP of an underlay cognitive decode-and-forward relay network over independent but not necessarily identical distributed (i.n.i.d) Nakagami-m fading channels was investigated, and optimal relay selection (ORS) and suboptimal relay selection (SRS) schemes, and multiple relay combining scheme were considered in [16]. In [17], a hybrid visible light communication radio frequency (RF) system with legitimate receiver and an eavesdropper was considered where legitimate receiver can harvest energy from the light emitted by light-emitting diodes, and exact and asymptotic SOP was derived by using stochastic geometry method. The closed-form expressions for SOP and non-zero secrecy capacity for underlay CR unit over Nakagami-m fading were investigated in [18], and the secrecy outage performance of PU system in the presence of the eavesdropping and interfering of SU was analyzed in [19]. Generalized-selection combining (GSC) is a hybrid technique that overcomes the limitation of MRC and selection combining (SC). In [20–22], a detailed study has been done on GSC. GSC uses a fixed number of the best branches (M c ) of all available ones (M). In GSC, there is no need of process all the paths that reduce the hardware complexity of receiver, but all MRC branches remain active during the reception of the data, which increases consumption of computational power [20]. The secrecy analysis for SIMO wiretap CRN with GSC over Nakagami-m fading channels was done in [22]. TAS with GSC over Rayleigh fading and Nakagami-m fading channels were applied in [23–26]. In [26], TAS/GSC for cognitive decode-and-forward relaying in Nakagami- m fading channels was considered and closed-form expression for ergodic capacity was derived. The power saving implementation of GSC called minimum selection GSC (MS-GSC) had proposed in [27].
In this paper, we consider a communication scenario where MS-GSC diversity combining technique is adopted by the SR considering the complexity and energy dissipation, and in order to maximize, its instantaneous SNR at ER MRC technique is applied. In fact, MS-GSC is a more general diversity combing than GSC. The basic idea of MS-GSC is that the minimum number of diversity branches are selected such that their combined signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and not the individual branch SNR, is above a given threshold [28].
Our contributions are as follows:
We examine the secrecy performance of an underlay CRN with MS-GSC applied at legitimate receiver and MRC at eavesdropper over Rayleigh fading environment and derived closed-form expression for SOP.
In [2], interference power constraint was considered at primary user (PU). Both SR and ER were equipped with multiple antennas, and selection combining (SC) was applied. SC select only one antenna with the highest SNR among available ones which neglect diversity phenomena. In comparison to [2], interference power constraint, more generalized, and computational power saving system is considered in this paper.
In [12], MRC scheme was used over Rayleigh fading channels at both secondary receiver SR and eavesdropper. We apply MS-GSC at SR and MRC at eavesdropper and SC (M C =1), MRC (M C =M), and GSC (M C ≤M) are the special cases of MS-GSC.
The organization of the remaining paper is as follows: Section 2 explains the proposed system model. Furthermore, the working of MS-GSC is also explained in Section 2. Secrecy outage probability is calculated in Section 3. Section 4 gives the interpretation of numerical result.
2 System model
Here, we consider an underlay wiretap CRN composed of a primary user (PU), secondary user transmitter as Alice, legitimate receiver as B, and an eavesdropper as ER. The primary user and Alice are consist of a single antenna whereas B and the ER are assumed to have multiple antennas M. Here, we assume that the confidential messages are being transmitted from Alice to B in the presence of ER, and the ER want to listen their communication. In order to have reliable communication, the interference power at PU from Alice should be less than the peak interference power threshold.
The primary and secondary channels are experiencing i.i.d Rayleigh fading where channel gains of the main channel \(\{h_{Bt}\}^{M}_{t=1}\), eavesdropper’s channel \(\{h_{Es}\}^{M}_{s=1}\), and primary channel h p are complex Gaussian random variables with zero mean and variances Ω1,Ω2, and Ω0, respectively. We are considering passive eavesdropping, i.e., the channel state information (CSI) of the eavesdropper is also available at Alice. The channel gain and variance of the primary users are h p and Ω0, respectively. The main channels (Alice to B) and eavesdropper channels (Alice to ER) are independent of each other. Here, the MS-GSC diversity scheme is applied at B, and MRC diversity technique is applied at ER. In this paper, we assume that the global CSI of the main links, the eavesdropper’s links, and primary link is available for evaluating the secrecy rate in the information receiver, which is a common assumption in the literature on physical layer security. Information on the PU’s channels can be obtained for the cases in which the PUs are cooperative in the network and their transmissions can be monitored. This is applicable for those networks that combining multicast and unicast transmissions, in which terminals play dual roles as legitimate receivers for some signals and eavesdroppers for others. In practice, this information can be generated by using reverse training, where the primary user transmits training signal to Alice such that by invoking the principle of reciprocity, Alice can estimate the primary users CSI.
The interference received at secondary network from primary network is considered to be a complex Gaussian random variable under an assumption that the primary signal may be generated by the random Gaussian codebook. Moreover, the thermal noise at secondary nodes is also complex Gaussian distributed. Thus, the interference plus noise at secondary nodes (B and eavesdroppers) can be modeled as a complex Gaussian random variable with zero mean and variance N0. It indicates that the influence of primary interference at secondary nodes is already assumed in the variance N0. Thus, the effect of interference is adjusted in the noise statistics at B and ER [29, 30]. The instantaneous SNR of the main channels and eavesdropper’s channel is given by
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} \Psi_{M}= \max_{t=1....M} \frac{P_{av}}{N_{0}} \lvert h_{B_{t}}\rvert^{2}, \Psi_{E}= \max_{s=1....M} \frac{P_{av}}{N_{0}} \lvert h_{E_{s}}\rvert^{2} \end{array} $$
where P av is Alice’s transmitted power.
2.1 Working of MS-GSC diversity technique
The receiver with MS-GSC diversity schemes chooses the minimum number of best available antennas in such a way that the combined SNR Ψcom is always more than the threshold SNR Ψ t [22]. Mathematically, the working of MS-GSC can be summarized as
$$ \Psi_{\text{com}}=\left\{ \begin{array}{ll} \Psi(1) & \text{iff}~~~\Psi_{1}\geq \Psi_{t};\\ \Psi(1)+\Psi(2) & \text{iff}~\Psi(1)<\Psi_{t} ~\& \Psi(1)+\Psi(2)\geq\Psi_{t};\\ &\vdots\\ \sum_{k=1}^{r} \Psi(k) & \text{iff} \sum_{k=1}^{r-1}\Psi(k)<\Psi_{t} \&~ \sum_{k=1}^{r}\Psi(k) \geq \Psi_{t};\\ &\vdots\\ \sum_{k=1}^{M_{c}}\Psi(k) & \text{iff}~~\sum_{k=1}^{r-1} \Psi(k)<\Psi_{t}. \end{array} \right. $$
where ψ1, ψ2,......ψ k are the SNR of path 1, path 2...... path k, respectively.
GSC uses M c antennas among available M antennas such that M c <M. In comparison to GSC, MS-GSC needs less computing power, and on average, less number of MRC branches is active during the reception of data which save processing power. Let N b be the active number of MRC branches, which takes the value from 1 to M c . N b =1 if Ψ1 >Ψ t , N b =r,2≤r≤M c −1 if and only if \(\sum _{k=1}^{r-1}{\Psi _{k}} < {\Psi _{t}}\) and \(\sum _{k=1}^{r}{\Psi _{k}} \geq {\Psi _{t}}\), and N b =M c if \(\sum _{k=1}^{M_{c}-1}{\Psi _{k}} < {\Psi _{t}}\).
3 Secrecy outage probability
The secrecy capacity analysis can help us to determine how secure a CRN is and whether we need more security mechanisms to protect against the potential attacks in the CRNs. The maximum achievable rate is named as secrecy capacity and given by ([2], Eq.2). The secrecy capacity of CRN consists an antenna at Alice and multiple antennas at B and ER can be defined as,
$$ {S_{c}}=\left\{ \begin{array}{ll} {M_{c}}-{E_{e}}~={{log}_{2}}\left(\frac{1+{\Psi_{M}}}{1+{\Psi_{E}}}\right) &\text{if}~{\Psi_{M}}>{\Psi_{E}},\\ 0 &\text{if}~{\Psi_{M}}\leq{\Psi_{E}},\\ \end{array} \right. $$
where M c =log2(1+Ψ M ) is the capacity of channels between Alice and B and E e =log2(1+Ψ E ) is the capacity of channels between Alice and ER. S c in (4) can be rewritten as
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} {S_{c}}={\log_{2}}\left(\frac{1+\Psi_{M}}{1+\Psi_{E}}\right)<{R_{s}} \end{array} $$
which is analogous to
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} \epsilon({\Psi_{E}})=2^{Rs}(1+\Psi_{E})-1 >{\Psi_{M}}. \end{array} $$
In passive eavesdropping, excellent secrecy is possible if and only if R S ≤S c ; otherwise, information-theoretic security is compromised. SOP is a probability that secrecy capacity S c falls under the output threshold R S [2] and is given as
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} {}{P_{\text{out}}}={P_{r}}\left({S_{C}}<{R_{S}}\right) ={P_{r}}\left({\Psi_{M}}\leq{\Psi_{E}}\right)\\ +{P_{r}} \left({\Psi_{M}} > {\Psi_{E}}\right){P_{r}}\left({S_{c}} < {R_{S}}\mid{\Psi_{M}} > {\Psi_{E}}\right) \end{array} $$
which can be simplified to (7)
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} {}{P}_{\text{out}}\,=\,\int_{0}^{\infty}\!\!\int_{0}^{\infty}\! F_{\Psi_{M}\mid{\{Y=y\}}}(\in({\Psi_{E}})) f_{\Psi_{E}\mid\{Y=y\}}({\Psi_{E}}) f_{Y}({y})d_{\Psi_{E}}dy \end{array} $$
where Y=|h P |2 is the channel gain from Alice to PU, f Y (y) is the probability density function (PDF) of Y, \({f}_{{\Psi _{E}}\mid {(Y=y)}}\) is the PDF of Ψ E conditioned on Y, and \(F_{{\Psi _{M}}\mid {Y=y}}{(\epsilon ({\Psi _{E}}))}\) is the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of Ψ M conditioned on Y.
In underlay cognitive radio transmission, for reliable communication, Alice’s transmitted power Pav should be less than the peak interference power threshold. So, Alice is a power-limited transmitter with a maximum transmit power which is P T . The transmitted power of Alice is constrained by P T at Alice and peak interference power P I at the primary user and given by
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} {P_{\text{av}}}= \min{\left(\frac{P_{I}}{h_{p}},{P_{T}}\right)} \end{array} $$
Based on (8) instantaneous SNR at secondary receiver, B and ER are expressed as
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} \psi_{M}= \min\left(\frac{\psi_{p}}{Y}, \psi_{0}\right){X_{M}}~~~ \psi_{E}= \min\left(\frac{\psi_{p}}{Y}, \psi_{0}\right){X_{E}} \end{array} $$
where \({\psi _{p}}=\frac {P_{I}}{N_{0}}\), \({\psi _{0}}=\frac {P_{T}}{N_{0}}\), \({X_{M}}=\max _{t=1....M}\lvert h_{B_{t}}\rvert ^{2}\) and \({X_{E}}=\max _{s=1....M}\lvert h_{E_{s}}\rvert ^{2}\).
For ease of interpretation, we have \({\Psi _{1}}={\Omega _{1}}{\Psi _{0}} = {\psi _{P}} \frac {\Omega _{1}}{\sigma }\) be the average SNR of the main channel, \({\Psi _{2}}={\Omega _{2}}{\Psi _{0}} = {\psi _{P}} \frac {\Omega _{2}}{\sigma }\) be the average SNR of the ED’s channel, and \(\sigma = \frac {P_{I}}{P_{T}}\). The CDF for MS-GSC scheme for Rayleigh fading is given by ([22], Eq. 24)
$$ \begin{aligned} P({x_{1}})=\left\{ \begin{array}{ll} P_{\varUpsilon_{M_{c}}}({x_{1}}), ~~~~~{0}\leq{x_{1}}<{\Psi_{t}};\\ P_{\varUpsilon_{1}}(x_{1})-P_{\varUpsilon_{1}}(\Psi_{t})+P_{\varUpsilon_{M_{c}}}(\Psi_{t})\\ +\sum_{w=2}^{M_{c}}\left(\int_{\frac{w-1}{w}{\Psi_{t}}}^{\frac{w-1}{w}{x_{1}}}\int_{\Psi_{t}-y}^{\frac{y}{w-1}} p_{\Psi(w)},{\varUpsilon_{w-1}}(z,y)dzdy \right.\\ +\left. \int_{\frac{w-1}{w}{x_{1}}}^{\Psi_{t}}\int_{\Psi_{t}-y}^{x_{1}-y}p_{\Psi(w)},{\varUpsilon_{w-1}} (z,y)dzdy\right),~~{\Psi_{t}}\leq{x_{1}}<\frac{M_{c}}{M_{c}-1}{\Psi_{t}};\\ \vdots\\ P_{\varUpsilon_{1}}(x_{1})-P_{\varUpsilon_{1}}(\Psi_{t})+P_{\varUpsilon_{M_{c}}}(\Psi_{t})\\ +\sum_{v=2}^{M_{c}}\left(\int_{\frac{w-1}{w}{\Psi_{t}}}^{\frac{w-1}{w}{x_{1}}}\int_{\Psi_{t}-y}^{\frac{y}{w-1}} p_{\Psi(w)},{\varUpsilon_{w-1}}(z,y)dzdy\right.\\ +\left. \int_{\frac{w-1}{w}{x_{1}}}^{\Psi_{t}}\int_{\Psi_{t}-y}^{x_{1}-y}p_{\Psi(w)},{\varUpsilon_{w-1}} (z,y)dzdy\right),~{\frac{v+1}{v}} {\Psi_{t}}\leq{x_{1}}<\frac{v}{v-1}{\Psi_{t}};\\ \vdots\\ P_{\varUpsilon_{1}}(x_{1}),~~~~~ {2{\Psi_{t}}}<{x_{1}} \end{array}\right. \end{aligned} $$
The CDF \(P_{\Psi _{w}}(.)\) is given by ([22], Eq. 17)
$$ \begin{aligned} P_{\varUpsilon_{w}}(x_{1})&=\frac{M!}{(M-w)!w!}\left\{1-e^{\frac{-x_{1}}{\Psi_{1}}}\sum_{k=0}^{w-1} \frac{1}{k!}\left(\frac{x_{1}}{\Psi_{1}}\right)^{k}\right.\\ &\quad+\sum_{v=1}^{M-w} (-1)^{w+v-1}\frac{(M-w)!}{(M-w-v)!v!}\left(\frac{w}{v}\right)^{w-1}\\ &\quad \times \left[\left(1+\frac{v}{w}\right)^{-1} \right. \left[1-e^{-\left(1+\frac{v}{w}\right)\frac{x_{1}}{\Psi_{1}}}\right] \\ &\left. \left. \quad-\sum_{m=0}^{w-2} \left(\frac{-v}{w}\right)^{m} \left(1-e^{\frac{-x_{1}}{\Psi_{1}}}\sum_{k=0}^{m} \frac{1}{k!}\left(\frac{x_{1}}{\Psi_{1}}\right)^{k} \right) \right] \right\}\\ \end{aligned} $$
where x1=2 R s (1+x)−1 and the PDF of MRC \(\left [p_{\varUpsilon _{M}}(.)\right ]\) is given by
$$ p_{\Psi_{M}}(x)=e^{\frac{-x}{\Psi_{2}}} \frac{x^{M-1}}{\Psi_{2}^{M} (M-1)!} $$
where Ψ2 is the average SNR of the ER’s channels. The PDF of Y is given by ([2], Eq. 22)
$$ f_{R}(r)=\sum\limits_{h=0}^{N-1}\frac{N}{\Omega_{0}}({-1})^{h}{e^{\frac{-(h+1)r}{\Omega_{0}}} }, \ {y\geq 0} $$
for N = 1
$$ f_{R}(r)=\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}{e^{\frac{-(r)}{\Omega_{0}}} }, ~~~ {r\geq 0} $$
Using all the above mentioned equations in (7), SOP for proposed system model is given by (15).
$$ {P_{\text{out}}}=\left\{ \begin{array}{ll} {P_{\text{out}_{A}}} &{0}\leq{x_{1}}<{\Psi_{t}};\\ {P_{\text{out}_{B}}} &{\Psi_{t}}\leq{x_{1}} <\frac{M_{c}}{M_{c}-1} {\Psi_{t}}\\ \vdots\\ {P_{\text{out}_{C}}} &\frac{v+1}{v}{\Psi_{t}}\leq{x_{1}} <\frac{v}{v-1}{\Psi_{t}}\\ \vdots\\ {P_{\text{out}_{D}}} &{2{\Psi_{t}}}<{x_{1}}\\ \end{array} \right. $$
The detail expansion of the above equation is as follows:
$$ {\begin{aligned} {p_{\text{out}_{A}}}=\frac{M!}{M_{C}!(M-M_{C})!}\left\{\left(1-e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)\left(1-\sum\limits_{k=0}^{M_{c}-1}\sum\limits_{n=0}^{k}{\mu_{1}} \right. \right. \\ e^{\left(\frac{-\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}{\Psi_{1}}\right)}+ \sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-{M_{c}}}{C_{2}}{C_{3}} -\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-{M_{c}}}\sum\limits_{m=0}^{M_{c}-2}{C_{2}}{C_{4}} -\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}{C_{2}}{C_{4}}{\beta_{1}}\\ e^{-\left(\frac{\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)\left(1+\frac{V}{M_{c}}\right)}{\Psi_{1}}\right)} + \sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}\sum\limits_{m=0}^{M_{c}-2}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{m}\sum\limits_{n=0}^{k}{C_{2}}{C_{4}}{\mu_{1}}\\ \left. e^{-\left(\frac{2^{RS}-1}{\Psi_{1}}\right)}{\vphantom{\sum\limits_{k=0}^{M_{c}-1}}}\right)+ e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}} -\sum\limits_{k=0}^{M_{c}-1}\sum_{n=0}^{k}\sum_{p=0}^{k-n}{Q_{1}}{Q_{2}}e^{-{\sigma}\left(\frac{2^{Rs}-1} {\sigma {\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}\\ + \sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}{C_{2}}{C_{3}}e^{-\left(\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)} -\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}{C_{2}}{C_{3}}{\beta_{2}}\\ e^{-\sigma\left(\left(1+\frac{M}{M_{c}}\right)\left(\frac{2^{Rs}-1}{\sigma\gamma_{1}}\right)+{\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)} -\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}\sum\limits_{m=0}^{M_{c}-2}{C_{2}}{C_{4}}e^{-\left(\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}\\ +\left. \sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}\sum\limits_{m=0}^{M_{c}-2}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{m} \sum\limits_{n=0}^{k}\sum\limits_{p=0}^{k-n}{C_{2}}{C_{4}}{Q_{1}}{Q_{2}}e^{-{\sigma}\left(\frac{2^{Rs}-1}{{\sigma}{\Psi_{1}}} +{\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)} \right\} \end{aligned}} $$
$$\begin{aligned} {\mu_{1}}&=\frac{1}{(M-1)!k!{\Psi_{1}}^{k}}{k\choose{n}}{\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}^{k-n}\frac{\left(2^{Rs}\right)^{n}}{(\Psi_{2})^{M}} \frac{(n+M-1)!}{\left(\frac{2^{Rs}}{\Psi_{1}}+\frac{1}{\Psi_{2}}\right)^{n+M}} \\ {C_{2}}&=\sum_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}(-1)^{M_{c}+v-1}\frac{(M-M_{c})!}{(M-M_{c}-v)!v!}\left(\frac{M_{c}}{v}\right)^{M_{c}-1}\\ {C_{3}}&=\left(1+\frac{v}{M_{c}}\right)^{-1}, {C_{4}}=\left(\frac{-v}{M_{c}}\right)^{m}\\ {\beta_{1}}&=\frac{1}{{\Psi_{2}}^{M}\left(\frac{\left(1+\frac{v}{M_{c}}\right)2^{Rs}}{\Psi_{1}}+\frac{1}{\Psi_{2}}\right)^{M}}\\ {Q_{1}}&=\frac{1}{k!(\sigma{\Psi_{1}})^{k}}{\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}^{k-n}{\left(2^{Rs}\right)^{n}}{k\choose{n}}\frac{(n+M-1)!}{\left(\frac{2^{Rs}}{\sigma{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Psi_{2}}\right)^{n+M}}\\ {Q_{2}}&=\frac{(\sigma)^{p}(k-n)!}{\left(\sigma{\Psi_{2}}\right)^{M}(M-1)!p!\left(\frac{2^{Rs}-1}{\sigma{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)^{k-n-p+1}}\\ {\beta_{2}}&=\frac{1}{({{\sigma}\Psi_{2}})^{M}\left(\frac{\left(1+\frac{l}{M_{c}}\right)2^{Rs}}{{\sigma}\Psi_{1}}+\frac{1}{{\sigma}\Psi_{2}}\right)^{M}}\\[-3pt] &\quad\times \frac{1}{\left(\left(1+\frac{M}{M_{c}}\right) \left(\frac{2^{Rs}-1}{\sigma{\Psi_{1}}}\right)+\left(\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)\right)} \end{aligned} $$
$$ \begin{aligned} P_{\text{out}_{B}}&=P_{\text{out}_{D}}-P_{\text{out}_{1}}({\Psi_{t}})+P_{\text{out}_{M_{c}}}({\Psi_{t}})+\sum\limits_{w=2}^{M_{c}}{P_{\text{out}_{M}}} \end{aligned} $$
$$ \begin{aligned} P_{\text{out}_{1}}({\Psi_{t}})&=\sum\limits_{v=0}^{M}{M\choose{v}}(-1)^{v}\left[e^{\frac{-v\psi_{t}}{\psi_{1}}}\left(1-e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)+\frac{e^{-\sigma\left(\frac{v\psi_{t}}{{\psi_{1}}}+\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}}{\left(\frac{v\psi_{t}}{\sigma{\psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}\right] \end{aligned} $$
$$ \begin{aligned} {P_{\text{out}_{M}}}&={I_{1}}+{1_{2}} \end{aligned} $$
$$ \begin{aligned} {I_{1}}&=\int_{0}^{\sigma}\int_{0}^{\infty}\left[\int_{\frac{w-1}{w}{\Psi_{t}}}^{\frac{w-1}{w}{x_{1}}}\int_{\Psi_{t}-y}^{\frac{y}{w-1}} p_{\Psi(w)},{\varUpsilon_{w-1}}(z,y)dzdy +\int_{\frac{w-1}{w}{x_{1}}}^{\Psi_{t}}\int_{\Psi_{t}-y}^{x_{1}-y}p_{\Psi(w)},{\varUpsilon_{w-1}} (z,y)dzdy\right] e^{\frac{-x}{\Psi_{2}}} \frac{x^{M-1}}{\Psi_{2}^{M} (M-1)!}\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}e^{-\frac{r}{\Omega_{0}}}dx dr \end{aligned} $$
$$ \begin{aligned} {I_{2}}&=\int_{\sigma}^{\infty}\int_{0}^{\infty}\left[\int_{\frac{w-1}{w}{\Psi_{t}}}^{\frac{w-1}{w}{x_{1}}}\int_{\Psi_{t}-y}^{\frac{y}{w-1}} p_{\Psi(w)},{\varUpsilon_{w-1}}(z,y)dzdy +\int_{\frac{w-1}{w}{x_{1}}}^{\Psi_{t}}\int_{\Psi_{t}-y}^{x_{1}-y}p_{\Psi(w)},{\varUpsilon_{w-1}} (z,y)dzdy\right] e^{\frac{-x}{\Psi_{2}}} \frac{x^{M-1}}{\Psi_{2}^{M} (M-1)!}\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}e^{-\frac{r}{\Omega_{0}}}dx dr \end{aligned} $$
$$ \begin{aligned} P_{\text{out}_{M_{c}}}({\Psi_{t}})&=\left(1\,-\,e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)\frac{M!}{(M-M_{c})!M_{c}!}\left\{\!1\,-\,e^{\frac{-\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{M_{c}-1} \frac{1}{k!}\left(\frac{\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}\right)^{k} +\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}C_{2}\left[\!C_{3}\left(1\,-\,e^{-\left(1\,+\,\frac{v}{M_{c}}\right)\frac{\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}}\right) -\sum\limits_{m=0}^{M_{c}-2}{C_{4}}\! \left(\! 1-e^{\frac{-\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{m}\frac{1}{k!}\! \left(\! \frac{\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}\! \right)^{k}\! \right)\right]\right\} \\[-3pt] &\quad + \frac{M!}{(M-M_{c})!M_{c}!}\left[{\vphantom{\frac{e^{-\left(\frac{\psi_{t}}{C_{3}\sigma{\psi_{1}}}+\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}}{\frac{\psi_{t}}{C_{3}\sigma{\psi_{1}}}+\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}}}\! e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}} \left(1+\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}{C_{2} C_{3}}-\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}\sum\limits_{m=0}^{M_{c}-2} \!{C_{2}}{C_{4}}\right)\right.\\[-5pt] &\quad \left. -\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{M_{c}-1}\sum\limits_{l=0}^{k}\frac{1}{k!}\left(\frac{\psi_{t}}{\sigma{\psi_{1}}}\right)^{k} {e}^{-\left(\frac{\psi_{t}}{\psi_{1}}+\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}\frac{k!}{l!} \frac{(\sigma)^{l}}{\left(\frac{\psi_{t}}{\sigma{\psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)^{k-l+1}}\left(1-\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}\sum\limits_{m=0}^{M_{c}-2}{C_{2}}{C_{4}}\right) -\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}{C_{2}}{C_{3}}\frac{e^{-\left(\frac{\psi_{t}}{C_{3}\sigma{\psi_{1}}}+\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}}{\frac{\psi_{t}}{C_{3}\sigma{\psi_{1}}}+\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\right] \end{aligned} $$
$$ \begin{aligned} {P_{\text{out}_{D}}}&={\left(1-e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)}\sum\limits_{v=0}^{M}{M\choose{v}}{(-1)^{v}}\frac{e^{-\left(\frac{-v{\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}}{\Psi_{1}}\right)}}{(\Psi_{2})^{M}\left(\frac{v{2^{Rs}}}{\Psi_{1}}+ \frac{1}{\Psi_{2}}\right)^{M}} +\sum\limits_{v=0}^{M}{M\choose{v}}{(-1)^{v}}\left(\frac{1}{({\sigma}\Psi_{2})^{M} \left(\frac{v{2^{Rs}}}{{\sigma}\Psi_{1}}+\frac{1}{\sigma{\Psi_{2}}}\right)^{M}} \frac{e^{-\left(\frac{{v}{\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}}{\Psi_{1}}+ \frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}}{\left(\frac{{v}{\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}}{{\sigma}\Psi_{1}}+ \frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)} \right) \end{aligned} $$
$$ \begin{aligned} P_{\text{out}_{C}}&=P_{\text{out}_{D}}-P_{\text{out}_{1}}({\Psi_{t}})+P_{\text{out}_{v}}({\Psi_{t}})+\sum\limits_{w=2}^{v}{P_{\text{out}_{M}}}\\ P_{\text{out}_{v}}({\Psi_{t}})&=\left(1-e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)\frac{M!}{(M-v)!v!}\left\{1-e^{\frac{-\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{v-1} \frac{1}{k!}\left(\frac{\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}\right)^{k} +\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-v}(-1)^{2v-1}\frac{(M-v)!}{(M-v-v)!v!}\times\left[\frac{1}{2} \left[1-e^{-\frac{2\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}}\right]\right.\right.\\ &\left. \left. \quad-\sum\limits_{m=0}^{v-2} \left(-1\right)^{m} \left(1-e^{\frac{-\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{m} \frac{1}{k!}\left(\frac{\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}\right)^{k} \right) \right] \right\} +\frac{M!}{(M-v)!{v}}\left[e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}} \left(1+\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-v}{\frac{1}{2}}{K_{1}}-\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-v}\sum\limits_{m=0}^{v-2}{K_{1}}{(-1)}^{m}\right) \right.\\ & \left. \quad- \frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{v-1}\sum\limits_{l=0}^{k} \frac{1}{k!} \left(\frac{\psi_{t}}{\sigma{\psi_{1}}}\right)^{k} e^{-\left(\frac{\psi_{t}}{\psi_{1}}+\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)} \frac{k!}{l!} \frac{(\sigma)^{l}}{\left[\frac{\psi_{t}}{\psi_{1}{\sigma}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right]^{k-l+1}}\left(1-\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-v}\sum\limits_{m=0}^{v-2}{K_{1}}{(-1)}^{m}\right) - \frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-v} {\frac{1}{2}}{K_{1}} \frac{e^{-\left(\frac{2\psi_{t}}{\psi_{1}}+\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}}{\left(\frac{2\psi_{t}}{{\sigma}\psi_{1}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}\right]\\ \text{where}\ {K_{1}}&= {(-1)^{2v-1}}{M-v \choose{v}} \end{aligned} $$
1.\(\phantom {\dot {i}\!}{p_{{out}_{A}}} \) is the secrecy outage probability corresponding to GSC scheme at legitimate receiver B and MRC technique at eavesdropper ER with a primary user and single antenna Alice in Rayleigh fading environment.
2.\({P_{out_{D}}}\) is the SOP corresponding to SC technique at B and MRC scheme at ER.
3. For M c =M, then \(\phantom {\dot {i}\!}{p_{{out}_{A}}} \) is SOP corresponding to MRC scheme at both B and ER with single antenna Alice and a PU.
4.\(\phantom {\dot {i}\!}P_{{out}_{v}}({\Psi _{t}})\) is the SOP as a function of threshold SNR corresponding to GSC scheme at legitimate receiver B and MRC technique at ER with a primary user. Similarly, \(\phantom {\dot {i}\!}P_{{out}_{1}}({\Psi _{t}})\) is the SOP as a function of threshold SNR corresponding to SC technique at B and MRC scheme at ER.
The average number of active branches N b with MS-GSC is expressed as
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} {N_{b}}=\sum\limits_{n=1}^{M_{c}}{{n}{P}{r}\left[N_{b}=n\right]}~~\sum\limits_{n=1}^{M_{c}-1}{p_{\varUpsilon_{n}}}({\Psi_{t}}) \end{array} $$
where nPr[N b =n] is the PMF (probability mass function) of N b and given by
$$ {P}{r}{\left[N_{b}=n\right]}=\left\{ \begin{array}{ll} 1-{P_{\varUpsilon_{1}}}{(\Psi_{t})} &~{n}=1\\ P_{\varUpsilon_{n-1}}{(\Psi_{t})}-P_{\varUpsilon_{n}}{(\Psi_{t})} ~&~2~{\leq}~n{\leq}~{M_{c}}-1\\ {P_{\varUpsilon_{M_{c}-1}}}{(\Psi_{t})}~&~n={M_{c}}\\ \end{array}\right. $$
3.1 Asymptotic secrecy outage probability
Here, asymptotic nature of SOP in high SNR regime ψ1→∞ is considered. By applying ([31], Eq. 1.211.1), the first-order expansion of \( F^{\infty }_{{\psi _{1}}}\) is written as (27). Using (27) in (7), asymptotic SOP is calculated in (28). Here, we assume there are N E antennas at eavesdropper, i.e., M=N E .
$$ F^{\infty}_{{\psi_{1}}|(X)}(x_{1}) =\left\{ \begin{array}{ll} \frac{1}{{M_{C}}^{M-M_{C}} {M_{C}!}}\left(\frac{x_{1}}{\psi_{1}}\right)^{M},~~0\leq{x_{1}}\leq{\psi_{t}}\\ \vdots\\ \left(\frac{x_{1}}{\psi_{1}}\right)^{M}-{P_{\psi_{1}}(\psi_{t})}+\frac{1}{{M_{C}}^{M-M_{C}} {M_{C}!}}\\\left(\frac{x_{1}}{\psi_{1}}\right)^{M} + \sum_{i=2}^{M_{C}}\sum_{j=0}^{M-i}\\ \frac{(-1)^{j}M!}{(M-i-j)!(i-1)!(i-2)!(j!)\psi_{1}^{i}} \\\int_{\frac{(i-1)\psi_{t}}{i}}^{\frac{(i-1)x_{1}}{i}} \int_{\psi_{t}-y}^{\frac{y}{i-1}} \left[y+(1-i)x_{1}\right]^{(i-2)} \text{dzdy} +\\ \int_{\frac{(i-1)\psi_{t}}{i}}^{\psi_{t}} \int_{\psi_{t}-y}^{x_{1}-y} \left[y+(1-i)x_{1}\right]^{(i-2)}\\ \text{dzdy},~{\Psi_{t}}\leq{x_{1}} <\frac{M_{c}}{M_{c}-1} {\Psi_{t}}\\ \vdots\\ \left(\frac{x_{1}}{\psi_{1}}\right)^{M}-{P_{\psi_{1}}(\psi_{t})}+\frac{1}{{M_{C}}^{M-M_{C}} {M_{C}!}}\\\left(\frac{x_{1}}{\psi_{1}}\right)^{M} + \sum_{i=2}^{l}\sum_{j=0}^{M-i}\\\frac{(-1)^{j}M!}{(M-i-j)!(i-1)!(i-2)!(j!)\psi_{1}^{i}}\\ \int_{\frac{(i-1)\psi_{t}}{i}}^{\frac{(i-1)x_{1}}{i}} \int_{\psi_{t}-y}^{\frac{y}{i-1}} \left[y+(1-i)x_{1}\right]^{(i-2)} \text{dzdy} +\\ \int_{\frac{(i-1)\psi_{t}}{i}}^{\psi_{t}} \int_{\psi_{t}-y}^{x_{1}-y} \left[y+(1-i)x_{1}\right]^{(i-2)}\\ \text{dzdy},~\frac{v+1}{v}{\Psi_{t}}\leq{x_{1}} <\frac{v}{v-1}{\Psi_{t}}\\ \vdots\\ \left(\frac{x_{1}}{\psi_{1}}\right)^{M}, ~~{2{\Psi_{t}}}<{x_{1}}\\ \end{array} \right. $$
\({P_{\psi _{1}}(\psi _{t})}=\sum _{i=0}^{M}{M\choose {i}}e^{\frac {-\psi _{t}}{\psi _{1}}}\)
$$ P^{\text{Asmptotic}}_{\text{out}} =\left\{ \begin{array}{ll} P_{A},~~{0}\leq{x_{1}}<{\Psi_{t}};\\ \vdots\\ P_{B}-P_{\text{out}_{1}}({\Psi_{t}})+ P_{A}+\int_{0}^{\infty}\int_{0}^{\infty}\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\\ e^{\frac{-y}{\Omega_{0}}} \frac{x^{N_{E}-1}e^{\frac{-x}{\psi_{2}}}}{{\psi_{2}}^{N_{E}}(N_{E}-1)!}\left\{ \sum_{i=2}^{M_{C}}\sum_{j=0}^{M-i}\right.\\ \frac{(-1)^{j}M!}{(M-i-j)!(i-1)!(i-2)!(j!)\psi_{1}^{i}} \\ \int_{\frac{(i-1)\psi_{t}}{i}}^{\frac{(i-1)x_{1}}{i}} \int_{\psi_{t}-y}^{\frac{y}{i-1}} \left[y+(1-i)x_{1}\right]^{(i-2)} \text{dzdy} +\\ \left. \int_{\frac{(i-1)\psi_{t}}{i}}^{\psi_{t}} \int_{\psi_{t}-y}^{x_{1}-y} \left[y+(1-i)x_{1}\right]^{(i-2)}\text{dzdy} \right\}\\ \text{dxdy},~~{\Psi_{t}}\leq{x_{1}} <\frac{M_{c}}{M_{c}-1} {\Psi_{t}}\\ \vdots\\ P_{B}-P_{\text{out}_{1}}({\Psi_{t}})+ P_{A}+\int_{0}^{\infty}\int_{0}^{\infty}\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\\ e^{\frac{-y}{\Omega_{0}}} \frac{x^{N_{E}-1}e^{\frac{-x}{\psi_{2}}}}{{\psi_{2}}^{N_{E}}(N_{E}-1)!}\left\{ \sum_{i=2}^{l}\sum_{j=0}^{M-i}\right.\\ \frac{(-1)^{j}M!}{(M-i-j)!(i-1)!(i-2)!(j!)\psi_{1}^{i}} \\ \int_{\frac{(i-1)\psi_{t}}{i}}^{\frac{(i-1)x_{1}}{i}} \int_{\psi_{t}-y}^{\frac{y}{i-1}} \left[y+(1-i)x_{1}\right]^{(i-2)} \text{dzdy} +\\ \int_{\frac{(i-1)\psi_{t}}{i}}^{\psi_{t}} \int_{\psi_{t}-y}^{x_{1}-y} \left[y+(1-i)x_{1}\right]^{(i-2)}\\ \left. \text{dzdy}{\vphantom{\sum_{i=2}^{l}\sum_{j=0}^{M-i}}} \right\}\text{dxdy} ~~\frac{v+1}{v}{\Psi_{t}}\leq{x_{1}} <\frac{v}{v-1}{\Psi_{t}}\\ \vdots\\ {P_{B}},~~{2{\Psi_{t}}}<{x_{1}}\\ \end{array} \right. $$
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} P_{A}=\frac{1}{{M_{C}}^{M-M_{C}} {M_{C}!}}{P_{B}} \end{array} $$
$$ \begin{aligned} P_{B}=\frac{\left(1-e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)}{(\psi_{2})^{N_{E}}(N_{E}-1)}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{M}{M\choose{k}} \left(\frac{2^{Rs}-1}{\psi_{1}}\right)^{k}\left(\frac{2^{Rs}}{\psi_{1}}\right)^{M-k}\\ \int_{0}^{\infty}x^{N_{E}-1+M-k}e^{\frac{-x}{\psi_{2}}}dx+ \sum\limits_{k=0}^{M}{M\choose{k}} \left(\frac{2^{Rs}-1}{{\sigma}\psi_{1}}\right)^{k}\left(\frac{2^{Rs}}{{\sigma}\psi_{1}}\right)^{M-k}\\ \int_{0}^{\infty}x^{N_{E}-1+M-k}e^{\frac{-xy}{{\sigma}\psi_{2}}}dx \frac{1}{\Omega_{0}} \int_{\sigma}^{\infty}e^{\frac{-y}{\Omega_{0}}}dy \end{aligned} $$
(28) can also be written as
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} P^{\text{Asmptotic}}_{\text{out}}=({G_{A}}\psi_{1})^{-G_{D}}+O\left(\psi_{1}^{-G_{D}}\right) \end{array} $$
For 0≤x1≤ψ t , the secrecy diversity order is
$$ {G_{D}}=M, $$
and the secrecy array gain is
$$ \begin{array}{r} {G_{A}}=\left[\frac{1}{{(M_{c})!M_{c}^{M-M_{c}}}}\frac{(q+N_{E}-1)!}{(N_{E}-1)!}\sum\limits_{q=0}^{M}{M\choose{q}}\left({2^{Rs}-1}\right)^{M-q}\right.\\ \left({2^{Rs}}\right)^{q}{\gamma_{2}}^{q} \left(1-e^{-\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)+\frac{1}{{(M_{c})!M_{c}^{M-M_{c}}}}\frac{(q+N_{E}-1)!}{(N_{E}-1)!}\\ \sum\limits_{q=0}^{M}{M\choose{q}}\left({2^{Rs}-1}\right)^{M-q} \left({2^{Rs}}\right)^{q}\left({{\sigma}\gamma_{2}}\right)^{q}\ e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\sum\limits_{t=0}^{M-1}\frac{(M-q)}{t!}\\ \left. \frac{(\sigma)^{t}}{\left(\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)^{M-q-t+1}}\right]^{\frac{-1}{M}} \end{array} $$
For 2Ψ t <x1, the secrecy diversity order is G D =M and secrecy array gain is
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} {}{G_{A1}}=\left[\!\!\frac{(q+N_{E}-1)!}{(N_{E}-1)!}\sum\limits_{q=0}^{M}{M\choose{q}}\left({2^{Rs}-1}\right)^{M-q} \left({2^{Rs}}\right)^{q}{\psi_{2}}^{q}\right.\\ {}\left(\!1-e^{-\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\!\right)+\frac{(q+N_{E}-1)!}{(N_{E}-1)!} \sum\limits_{q=0}^{M}{M\choose{q}}\left({2^{Rs}-1}\right)^{M-q} \left({2^{Rs}}\right)^{q}\\ \left. \left({{\sigma}\psi_{2}}\right)^{q} e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\sum\limits_{t=0}^{M-1}\frac{(M-q)}{t!}\frac{(\psi)^{t}}{\left(\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)^{M-q-t+1}}\right]^{\frac{-1}{M}} \end{array} $$
According to (31), (32), (33), and (34), we have the following remarks to provide insight into the use of MS-GSC at secondary receiver.
As indicated in (28), asymptotic SOP approaches to zero as ψ1→∞. Furthermore, one also can observe that all asymptotic curves tightly approximate the exact curves in high ψ1 regime.
The asymptotic result confirm that the secrecy diversity order is independent of N E and ψ2, as indicated in (32). Note the secrecy outage probability increases with increasing N E and ψ2. This confirms that the secrecy array gain in (33) and (34) is a decreasing function of N E and ψ2.
The secrecy diversity order is independent of choice of M c i.e. the number of combined antennas in B. It is dependent on the number of available receiver antennas at the B.
4 Numerical result
Numerical results highlight the effect of number of diversity branches, average SNR of ER, and σ on SOP. We assume Ω0=1 throughout this analysis. Exact and asymptotic curves are obtained from (15) and (28), respectively. These curves are also verified using Monte-Carlo simulations.
Figure 1 plots SOP of MS-GSC as given in (15) as a function of output threshold R s for different numbers of diversity branches M c . Here, we assume Ψ1= 30 dB, Ψ2= 10 dB, Ψ t = 7 dB, σ= 1, and M=7. We also plot SOP of 7/3-GSC for comparison. It is clear from the figure that SOP decreases as the number of diversity branches M c increases, especially when the output threshold R s is less than Ψ t . When R s > Ψ t , the MS-GSC combiner try to increase the Ψcom above Ψ t and the SOP degrades. So, it is confirmed that the output threshold R s should be less than or equal to the threshold SNR Ψ t . For M c = 3, SOP of MS-GSC is same as conventional GSC if R s > Ψ t .
Secrecy outage probability versus output threshold R s . Secrecy outage probability versus R s for different numbers of selected antennas M c with ψ1 = 30 dB, Ψ2 = 10 dB, Ψ t = 7 dB, σ = 0.5, and M = 7. Solid line represents the exact result and block dots represent the simulation result
Figure 2 plots SOP versus average SNR of the main channel Ψ1 for different numbers of MS-GSC branches. As we see, SOP decreases as the number of MS-GSC branches M c increases.
Secrecy outage probability versus ψ1. Secrecy outage probability versus SNR of the main channel ψ1 for different numbers of selected antennas M c with R s = 1, Ψ2 =10 dB, Ψ t =10 dB, σ = 1, and M = 7
Figure 3 plots the exact and asymptotic SOP obtained from (15) and (28) versus the average SNR of main channel Ψ1 for different numbers of MS-GSC branches with variation in average SNR of ER’s channel. From the figure, it is clear that asymptotic curves correlate with the exact result at high SNR regime. According to (32), the secrecy diversity order is independent of N E and only dependent on M. As Ψ2 increases, secrecy performance degrades.
Exact and asymptotic secrecy outage probability versus ψ1 for different value of ψ2. Exact and asymptotic secrecy outage probability versus ψ1 for different value of ψ2 with R s = 1, Ψ2 =10 dB, Ψ t =10 dB, σ = 1, and M = 7. Dotted lines represent the asymptotic results
Figure 4 plots SOP for different values of σ. We see that SOP decreases with increasing σ. This is because of peak interference power constraint \(\sigma = \frac {\Psi _{p}}{\Psi _{0}} = \frac {P_{I}}{P_{av}}\), which leads to increase in average transmit power of Alice given by (8).
Variation in secrecy outage probability with σ. Secrecy outage probability versus ψ1 for different values of σ with Ψ t = 5 dB, Ψ2 = 10 dB, R s =1, M c = 6, and M = 7
Figure 5 plots active MRC branches versus threshold SNR Ψ t . We can see that active MRC branches increases as threshold SNR ψ t increases because it is very hard to increase the SNR of the combined Ψcom above Ψ t . MS-GSC requires less active MRC branches as compared to GSC that result in less processing power. The percentage of power saving for different number of antenna is shown in Table 1.
Average number of active MRC branches. Active MRC branches versus output SNR for different numbers of antennas M with M c = 2 and Ψ1 = 10 dB
Power saving by MS-GSC
Number of antenna
Active MRC branches
Power saving (%)
We proposed MS-GSC/MRC protocol for underlay cognitive radio network. We consider SOP as a main parameter to analyze secrecy of proposed system. We derived closed-form expression for exact and asymptotic SOP. From numerical results, it has been concluded that MS-GSC saves more processing power in comparison to conventional GSC, and the number of selected antennas M c and σ has positive impact on SOP.
Based on (9), \(Y\leq \frac {\Psi _{p}}{\Psi _{0}},{\Psi _{M}}={\Psi _{0} X_{M}},{\Psi _{E}}={\Psi _{0} X_{E}}\) and when \(Y>\frac {\Psi _{p}}{\Psi _{0}},{\Psi _{M}}={\frac {\Psi _{p}}{Y}X_{M}},{\Psi _{E}}={\frac {\Psi _{p}}{Y}}{X_{E}}\). Hence, SOP for proposed system can be calculated as
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} {}{P_{\text{out}}}= \underbrace{\int_{0}^{\sigma}\int_{0}^{\infty}F_{\psi_{1}(X_{1}=x_{1})}(x_{1}) f_{\psi_{2}(X=x)}(x) f_{Y}(y)\text{dxdy}}_{J_{1}}\\ \underbrace{\int_{\sigma}^{\infty}\int_{0}^{\infty}F_{\psi_{1}(X_{1}=x_{1})}(x_{1}) f_{\psi_{2} (X=x)}(x) f_{Y}(y)\text{dxdy}}_{J_{2}} \end{array} $$
$$ {}J_{1}=\int_{0}^{\sigma}\int_{0}^{\infty}F_{\psi_{1}(X_{1}=x_{1})}(x_{1}) f_{\psi_{2}(X=x)}(x) f_{Y}(y)\text{dxdy} $$
for \(X_{1}\leq \frac {\psi _{p}}{\psi _{0}}\), substituting Eqs. (10), (12), and (14) in Eq. (36), J1 can be calculated as
$$ {J_{1}}=\left\{ \begin{array}{ll} {P_{\text{out}_{A1}}} &{0}\leq{x_{1}}<{\Psi_{t}};\\ {P_{\text{out}_{B1}}} &{\Psi_{t}}\leq{x_{1}} <\frac{M_{c}}{M_{c}-1} {\Psi_{t}}\\ \vdots\\ {P_{\text{out}_{C1}}} &\frac{v+1}{v}{\Psi_{t}}\leq{x_{1}} <\frac{v}{v-1}{\Psi_{t}}\\ \vdots\\ {P_{\text{out}_{D1}}} &{2{\Psi_{t}}}<{x_{1}}\\ \end{array} \right. $$
$$ \begin{aligned} {P_{\text{out}_{A1}}}&=\frac{M!}{M_{C}!(M-M_{C})!}\left\{\!\left(\!1-e^{\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\!\!\right)\!\left(\!1-\sum\limits_{k=0}^{L_{c}-1}\sum\limits_{n=0}^{k}{\mu_{1}} e^{\left(\frac{-\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}{\Psi_{1}}\right)}\right. \right. \\[-2pt] &\quad+\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-{M_{c}}}{C_{2}}{C_{3}} -\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-{M_{c}}}\sum\limits_{m=0}^{M_{c}-2}{C_{2}}{C_{4}} \\[-4pt] &\quad -\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}{C_{2}}{C_{4}} ~ {\beta_{1}} e^{\,-\,\left(\!\!\frac{\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)\left(1+\frac{V}{M_{c}}\right)}{\Psi_{1}}\!\!\right)} \\[-3pt] &\quad\left. \left. \,+\, \sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}\sum\limits_{m=0}^{M_{c}-2}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{m}\sum\limits_{n=0}^{k}{C_{2}}{C_{4}}{\mu_{1}}~e^{-\left(\frac{2^{RS}-1}{\Psi_{1}}\right)}{\vphantom{1-\sum\limits_{k=0}^{L_{c}-1}\sum\limits_{n=0}^{k}{\mu_{1}} e^{\left(\frac{-\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}{\Psi_{1}}\right)}}}\right)\right\} \end{aligned} $$
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} {}P_{\text{out}_{B1}}=P_{\text{out}_{D1}}-P_{\text{out}_{1A}}({\Psi_{t}})+P_{\text{out}_{M_{c1}}}({\Psi_{t}})+\sum_{w=2}^{M_{c}}{P_{\text{out}_{M1}}} \end{array} $$
$$ {P_{\text{out}_{M}}}={I_{1}} $$
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} {}{P_{\text{out}_{D1}}}={\left(1-e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)}\sum\limits_{v=0}^{M}{M\choose{v}}{(-1)^{v}}\frac{e^{-\left(\frac{-v{\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}}{\Psi_{1}}\right)}}{(\Psi_{2})^{M}\left(\frac{v{2^{Rs}}}{\Psi_{1}}+ \frac{1}{\Psi_{2}}\right)^{M}} \end{array} $$
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} P_{\text{out}_{1A}}({\Psi_{t}})&=\sum\limits_{v=0}^{M}{M\choose{v}}(-1)^{v}e^{\frac{-v\psi_{t}}{\psi_{1}}}\left(1-e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)\end{array} $$
$$\begin{aligned} P_{\text{out}_{M_{c1}}}({\Psi_{t}})&=\left(1-e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)\frac{M!}{(M-M_{c})!M_{c}!}\left\{1-e^{\frac{-\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{M_{c}-1} \frac{1}{k!}\right. \end{aligned} $$
$$ \begin{aligned} &\left(\frac{\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}\right)^{k} +\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}C_{2}\left[C_{3}\left(1-e^{-\left(1+\frac{v}{M_{c}}\right)\frac{\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}}\right)\right.\\ &\left. \left. -\sum\limits_{m=0}^{M_{c}-2}{C_{4}} \left(1-e^{\frac{-\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{m}\frac{1}{k!}\bigg(\frac{\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}\bigg)^{k}\right)\right]\right\} \end{aligned} $$
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} P_{\text{out}_{C1}}=P_{\text{out}_{D}}-P_{\text{out}_{1A}}({\Psi_{t}})+P_{\text{out}_{v1}}({\Psi_{t}})+\sum\limits_{w=2}^{v}{P_{\text{out}_{M1}}} \end{array} $$
$$ \begin{aligned} P_{\text{out}_{v1}}({\Psi_{t}})&=\left(1-e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)\frac{M!}{(M-v)!v!}\left\{1-e^{\frac{-\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{v-1} \frac{1}{k!} \bigg(\frac{\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}\bigg)^{k}\right.\\ &\quad+\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-v}(-1)^{2v-1} \frac{(M-v)!}{(M-v-v)!v!} \times\left[\frac{1}{2} \left[1-e^{-\frac{2\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}}\right]\right.\\ &\left.\left.\quad-\sum\limits_{m=0}^{v-2} \left(-1\right)^{m} \left(1-e^{\frac{-\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{m} \frac{1}{k!}\left(\frac{\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}\right)^{k} \right) \right] \right\} \end{aligned} $$
I1 given in (20) can be calculated using ([22], Eq. (30)).
$$ \begin{aligned} {}{I_{1}}=\left(1-e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)\left({r_{1}}\left[{r_{5}}-\frac{e^{\frac{2^{Rs}-1}{\Psi_{1}}}}{(M-1)!}{{\Psi_{2}}^{M}}\sum\limits_{a=0}^{m-v}{\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}^{m-v-a}{\left(2^{Rs}\right)}^{a} \frac{(a+M-1)!} {\left({\frac{2^{Rs}}{\Psi_{1}}+\frac{1}{\Psi_{2}}}\right)^{a+M}} +\frac{e^{\frac{2^{Rs}-1}{\gamma_{1}}}}{(M-1)!{\Psi_{2}^{M}}}\sum\limits_{a=0}^{m-l} \left({2^{Rs}-1}\right)^{m-v-a}{\left(2^{Rs}\right)}^{a}\right. \right. \\ \left. \sum\limits_{b=0}^{w-1-k+v}{{w-1-k+v}\choose{b}} \left(\frac{(w-1)\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}{w\Psi_{t}}\right)^{(w-1-k+v-b)}\left(\frac{(w-1)\left(2^{Rs}\right)}{w\Psi_{t}}\right)^{b}\frac{(a+b+M-1)!}{\left({\frac{2^{Rs}}{\Psi_{1}}+\frac{1}{\Psi_{2}}}\right)^{a+b+M}} \right] + r_{2} \left[r_{3}-\sum\limits_{a=0}^{m-v}\right.\\ {}\sum\limits_{n=0}^{w-2-k+v}\sum\limits_{b=0}^{n}{{m-v}\choose{a}}\left({2^{Rs}-1}\right)^{m-v-a} {\left(2^{Rs}\right)}^{a}e^{\left(\frac{(w+j)\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}{w{\Psi_{1}}} \right)} {n\choose{a}} \frac{1}{n!}\left(\frac{-(w-1)j\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}{w{\Psi_{1}}}\right)^{n-b} \left(\frac{-(w-1)j\left(2^{Rs}\right)}{w{\Psi_{1}}}\right)^{n} \frac{(a+b+M-1)!}{(M-1)!{\Psi_{2}}^{M}} \\ {}\frac{1} {\left(\left((w+j)\frac{2^{Rs}}{\Psi_{1}}\right)+\frac{1}{\Psi_{2}}\right)^{a+b+M} } + \sum\limits_{a=0}^{m-v} \sum\limits_{n=0}^{w-2-k+v} {m-v\choose{a}} {\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}^{m-v-a} {\left(2^{Rs}\right)}^{a} e^{\left(\frac{-(j+1)\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}{\Psi_{1}}\right)} \\ {}\left. e^{-j\frac{\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}} {r_{25}}\frac{(a+M-1)!}{(M-1)!{\Psi_{2}}^{M}} \frac{1} {\left(\left((w+j)\frac{2^{Rs}}{\Psi_{1}}\right)+ \frac{1}{\Psi_{2}}\right)^{a+M}} \right] + {r_{4}}\left[r_{10} - \sum\limits_{n=0}^{w-2-k+m}\sum\limits_{b=0}^{n}e^{\left(\frac{-(w+j)\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}{{w}\Psi_{1}}\right)} e^{\left(\frac{-(w+j)\left(2^{Rs}\right)}{{w}\Psi_{1}}\right)}{\frac{1}{n!}}\left(\frac{(w+j)}{w{\Psi_{1}}}\right)^{n}{n\choose{b}} {\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}^{n-b}\right. \\[-5pt] \left. \left. {\left(2^{Rs}\right)}^{b} \frac{(a+M-1)!}{(M-1)!{\Psi_{2}}^{M}} \frac{1}{\left(\frac{(w+j)2^{Rs}}{w{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Psi_{2}}\right)^{b+M}} \right]\right) \\[-2pt] {r_{1}}=\frac{M!}{(M-w)!(w-1)!}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{w-2}\frac{(1-w)^{k}}{(w-2-k)!}\sum\limits_{m=0}^{k}\frac{1}{\Psi_{1}^{w-1-k+m}}\sum\limits_{v=0}^{m}\frac{(-1)^{v}}{(m-v)!l!}\frac{\Psi_{t}^{w-1-k+v}}{w-1-k+v}, ~~ {r_{5}}=e^{\frac{-\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}}{\Psi_{t}^{m-v}}\left(1-\left(\frac{w-1}{w}\right)^{w-1-k+v}\right) \\ {r_{2}}=\sum\limits_{j=1}^{M-w}\frac{(-1)^{j}M!}{(L-w-j)!(w-1)!j!\Psi_{1}^{w}}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{w-2}\frac{(1-w)^{k}}{(w-2-k)!}\sum\limits_{m=0}^{k}\left(\frac{j+1}{\gamma_{1}}\right)^{m-k-1}\sum\limits_{v=0}^{m}\frac{(-1)^{l}(w-2-k+l)!}{(m-v)!v!} \left(\frac{-\Psi_{t}}{j}\right)^{w-1-k+v} \\ {r_{3}}={\Psi_{t}}^{m-v}\left(e^{\frac{-(w+j)\Psi_{t}}{w{\Psi_{1}}}}\sum\limits_{n=0}^{i-2-k+l}\frac{1}{n!}\left(\frac{-(w-1)j{\Psi_{t}}}{w{\Psi_{1}}}\right)^{n} - e^{\frac{-\Psi_{t}}{\Psi_{1}}}\sum\limits_{n=0}^{w-2-k+l}\frac{1}{n!}\bigg(\frac{-j{\Psi_{t}}}{\Psi_{1}}\bigg)^{n}\right) \\ {r_{4}}=\sum\limits_{j=0}^{M-w}\frac{(-1)^{j}M!}{(M-w-j)!(w-1)!j!{\Psi_{1}}^{w}}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{w-2}\frac{(1-w)^{k}}{(w-2-k)!}\sum\limits_{m=0}^{k}\frac{(w-2-k+m)!}{m!(w-1)^{m}}\left(\frac{j+1}{\Psi_{1}}\right)^{m-k-1}\left(\frac{(w-1)\Psi_{1}}{w+j}\right)^{w-1-k+m} \\ {r_{10}}=e^{\frac{-(w+j)\Psi_{t}}{w{\Psi_{1}}}}\sum\limits_{n=0}^{w-2-k+m}\frac{1}{n!}\left(\frac{(w+j)\Psi_{t}}{w{\Psi_{1}}}\right)^{n},~~~ {r_{25}}=\frac{1}{n!}\left(\frac{-j{\Psi_{t}}}{\Psi_{1}}\right)^{n} \\ \end{aligned} $$
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} J_{2}=\int_{\frac{\psi_{p}}{\gamma_{0}}}^{\infty}\int_{0}^{\infty}F_{\gamma_{1}(X_{1}=x_{1})}(x_{1}) f_{\gamma_{2}(X=x)}(x) f_{Y}(y)\text{dxdy} \end{array} $$
for \(X_{1}>\frac {\gamma _{p}}{\gamma _{0}}\)
By Eqs. (10), (12), and (14) in Eq. (36) and using
\(\int _{\rho }^{\infty } x^{m}{e^{-\mu {x}}}dx = e^{-\rho \mu } \sum _{p=0}^{m}\frac {m!}{p!} \frac {\rho ^{k}}{\mu ^{m-p+1}}\), J2 can be given as
$$ {J_{2}}=\left\{ \begin{array}{ll} {P_{\text{out}_{A2}}} &{0}\leq{x_{1}}<{\Psi_{t}};\\ {P_{\text{out}_{B2}}} &{\Psi_{t}}\leq{x_{1}} <\frac{M_{c}}{M_{c}-1} {\Psi_{t}}\\ \vdots\\ {P_{\text{out}_{C2}}} &\frac{v+1}{v}{\Psi_{t}}\leq{x_{1}} <\frac{v}{v-1}{\Psi_{t}}\\ \vdots\\ {P_{\text{out}_{D2}}} &{2{\Psi_{t}}}<{x_{1}}\\ \end{array}\right. $$
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} {p_{\text{out}_{A2}}}=\frac{M!}{M_{C}!(M-M_{C})!}\left\{ e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}} - \sum\limits_{k=0}^{M_{c}-1}\sum\limits_{n=0}^{k}\sum\limits_{p=0}^{k-n}{Q_{1}}{Q_{2}}\right. \\ e^{-{\sigma}\left(\frac{2^{Rs}-1} {\sigma {\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)} + \sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}{C_{2}}{C_{3}}e^{-\left(\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)} -\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}{C_{2}}{C_{3}}{\beta_{2}}\\ e^{-\sigma\left(\left(1+\frac{M}{M_{c}}\right)\left(\frac{2^{Rs}-1}{\sigma\psi_{1}}\right)+{\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)} - {\sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}\sum\limits_{m=0}^{M_{c}-2}{C_{2}}{C_{4}}e^{-\left(\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}} \\ \left. + \sum\limits_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}\sum\limits_{m=0}^{M_{c}-2}\sum\limits_{k=0}^{m} \sum\limits_{n=0}^{k}\sum\limits_{p=0}^{k-n}{C_{2}}{C_{4}}{Q_{1}}{Q_{2}}e^{-{\sigma}\left(\frac{2^{Rs}-1}{{\sigma}{\Psi_{1}}} +{\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)} \right\} \end{array} $$
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} {}P_{\text{out}_{B2}}=P_{\text{out}_{D2}}-P_{\text{out}_{2A}}({\Psi_{t}})+P_{\text{out}_{M_{c2}}}({\Psi_{t}})+\sum\limits_{w=2}^{M_{c}}{P_{\text{out}_{M}}} \end{array} $$
$$ \begin{aligned} P_{\text{out}_{D2}} &=\sum_{v=0}^{M}{M\choose{v}}{(-1)^{v}} \\ &\quad \times\left(\frac{1}{({\sigma}\Psi_{2})^{M} \bigg(\frac{v{2^{Rs}}}{{\sigma}\Psi_{1}}+\frac{1}{\sigma{\Psi_{2}}}\bigg)^{M}} \frac{e^{-\left(\frac{{v}{\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}}{\Psi_{1}}+ \frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}}{\left(\frac{{v}{\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}}{{\sigma}\Psi_{1}}+ \frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)} \right) \end{aligned} $$
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} P_{\text{out}_{2A}}({\Psi_{t}})=\sum_{v=0}^{M}{M\choose{v}}(-1)^{v}\frac{e^{-\sigma\left(\frac{v\psi_{t}}{{\psi_{1}}}+\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}}{\left(\frac{v\psi_{t}}{\sigma{\psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)} \end{array} $$
$$ {\begin{aligned} P_{\text{out}_{M_{c2}}}({\Psi_{t}})&= \frac{M!}{(M-M_{c})!M_{c}!}\left[e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\left(1+\sum_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}{C_{2} C_{3}}\right. \right.\\ &\left.-\sum_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}\sum_{m=0}^{M_{c}-2}{C_{2}}{C_{4}}\right)-\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\sum_{k=0}^{M_{c}-1}\sum_{l=0}^{k}\frac{1}{k!}\left(\frac{\psi_{t}}{\sigma{\psi_{1}}}\right)^{k}\\ &e^{-\left(\frac{\psi_{t}}{\psi_{1}}\,+\,\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}\frac{k!}{l!} \frac{(\sigma)^{l}}{\left(\frac{\psi_{t}}{\sigma{\psi_{1}}}\,+\,\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}^{k\!-{l}+1}\left(\!1\,-\,\!\sum_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}}\!\sum_{m=0}^{M_{c}-2}{C_{2}}{C_{4}}\!\right)\\ &\left.-\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\sum_{v=1}^{M-M_{c}} {C_{2}}{C_{3}}\frac{e^{-\left(\frac{\psi_{t}}{C_{3}\sigma{\psi_{1}}}+\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}}{\frac{\psi_{t}}{C_{3}\sigma{\psi_{1}}}+\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}}\right] \end{aligned}} $$
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} P_{\text{out}_{C2}}=P_{\text{out}_{D2}}-P_{\text{out}_{1}}({\Psi_{t}})+P_{\text{out}_{v2}}({\Psi_{t}})+\sum_{w=2}^{v}{P_{\text{out}_{M1}}} \end{array} $$
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} P_{\text{out}_{v2}}({\Psi_{t}})= \frac{M!}{(M-v)!{v}}\left[e^{\frac{-\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}} \left(1+\sum_{v=1}^{M-v}{\frac{1}{2}}{K_{1}}-\sum_{v=1}^{M-v}\right.\right.\\ {}\left.\sum_{m=0}^{v-2}{K_{1}}{(-1)}^{m}\right) - \frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\sum_{k=0}^{v-1}\sum_{l=0}^{k} \frac{1}{k!} \left(\frac{\psi_{t}}{\sigma{\psi_{1}}}\right)^{k} e^{-\left(\frac{\psi_{t}}{\psi_{1}}+\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)} \frac{k!}{l!}\\ \frac{(\sigma)^{l}}{\left[\frac{\psi_{t}}{\psi_{1}{\sigma}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right]^{k-l+1}}\left(1-\sum_{v=1}^{M-v}\sum_{m=0}^{v-2}{K_{1}}{(-1)}^{m}\right) \\ \left. -\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\sum_{v=1}^{M-v} {\frac{1}{2}}{K_{1}} \frac{e^{-\left(\frac{2\psi_{t}}{\psi_{1}}+\frac{\sigma}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}}{\left(\frac{2\psi_{t}}{{\sigma}\psi_{1}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}\right] \end{array} $$
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} {P_{\text{out}_{M2}}}={I_{2}} \end{array} $$
$$\begin{array}{*{20}l} {I_{2}}=\left(\left[{r^{\prime}_{1}}{r^{\prime}_{5}} \sum_{c=0}^{w-1-k+m}\frac{(w-1-k+m)!}{c!} \frac{(\sigma)^{c}e^{\left({-\sigma\frac{\Psi_{t}}{\sigma{\Psi_{1}}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}}{\left(\frac{\Psi_{t}}{{\sigma}\Psi_{1}}+ \frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)^{w-k+m-c}} - \frac{r^{\prime}_{1}}{(M-1)!(\sigma{\Psi_{1}})^{M}} \sum_{a=0}^{m-v}{\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}^{m-v-a}{\left(2^{Rs}\right)^{a}} \frac{(a+M-1)!}{\left(\frac{2^{Rs}}{{\sigma}{\Psi_{1}}} + \frac{1}{{\sigma}{\gamma_{2}}}\right)^{a+M}}{m-v \choose{a}}\right. \right.\\ e^{-\sigma\left(\frac{\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}{{\sigma}{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)} \sum_{d=0}^{w-1-k+m+a}\frac{(w-1-k+m+a)!}{d!}\frac{(\sigma)^{d}}{\left(\frac{2^{Rs}-1}{\sigma{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)^{w-k+m+a}} + \frac{r^{\prime}_{1}}{(M-1)!(\sigma{\Psi_{1}})^{M}} \sum_{a=0}^{m-v} {m-v \choose{a}}\\ {\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}^{m-v-a}{\left(2^{Rs}\right)^{a}} \sum_{b=0}^{w-1-k+l} {w-1-k+l\choose{a}} \left(\frac{(w-1)\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}{s\Psi_{t}}\right)^{(w-1-k+v-b)} \left(\frac{(v-1)\left(2^{Rs}\right)}{w\gamma_{t}}\right)^{b} \frac{(a+b+M-1)!}{\left(\frac{2^{Rs}}{{\sigma}{\Psi_{1}}}+ \frac{1}{{\sigma}{\Psi_{2}}}\right)^{a+b+M}} \\ \left. e^{-\sigma\left(\frac{\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}{{\sigma}{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)} \sum_{e=0}^{w-1-k+m-a-b} \frac{(w-1-k+m-a-b)!}{e!} \frac{(\sigma)^{e}}{\left(\frac{2^{Rs}-1}{\sigma{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)^{w-k+m-a-b-e}}\right] \\ +\left[{r^{\prime}_{2}}{\Psi_{t}}^{m-v}\sum_{n=0}^{w-2-k+v}\frac{1}{n!}\left({\frac{-(w-1)j{\Psi_{t}}}{{\sigma}\Psi_{1}{\Psi_{t}}}}\right)^{n} e^{-\sigma\left(\frac{(w +j){\Psi_{t}}}{w{\sigma}{\Psi_{t}}}+{\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)} \sum_{f=0}^{n+m-v}\frac{(n+m-v)!}{f!}\right.\\ \frac{(\sigma)^{f}}{\left(\frac{(w+j){\Psi_{t}}}{w{\sigma}{\Psi_{t}}}+{\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}}\right)} -{r^{\prime}_{2}}{\Psi_{t}}^{m-v}\sum_{n=0}^{w-2-k+l}\frac{1}{n!}\left(\frac{-j{\Psi_{t}}}{{\sigma}{\Psi_{1}}}\right)^{n} \sum_{g=0}^{n+m-v} \frac{(n+m-v)!}{g!} \frac{(\sigma)^{g}}{\left(\frac{\Psi_{t}}{\sigma{\Psi_{1}}}+\left(\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)\right)^{n+m-v-g+1}} \\ -{r^{\prime}_{2}} \sum_{a=0}^{m-v}\sum_{n=0}^{w-2-k+v}\sum_{b=0}^{n}{m-v\choose{a}} \left(2^{Rs}-1\right)^{m-v-a} {\left(2^{Rs}\right)^{a}} {n\choose{b}}\frac{1}{n!}\left(\frac{-j(w-1){\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}}{w{\sigma}\Psi_{1}}\right)^{n-b} \left(\frac{-j(w-1){\left(2^{Rs}\right)}}{w{\sigma}\Psi_{1}}\right)^{b}\\ \frac{(a+b+M-1)!}{(M-1)!({{\sigma}\Psi_{2}})^{M}} {\frac{1}{\left(\frac{(w+j)2^{Rs}}{\sigma{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\sigma{\Psi_{2}}}\right)^{a+b+M}}} e^{-\sigma\left(\frac{(w+j)\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}{w{\Psi_{t}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)} \sum_{h=0}^{n-a-b} \frac{(n-a-b)!}{h!} \frac{(\sigma)^{h}}{\left(\frac{(w+j)\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}{w{\Psi_{t}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)^{n-a-b+h+1}} +\sum_{a=0}^{m-v}\\ {}\sum_{n=0}^{w-2-k+v} {r^{\prime}_{2}} {m-v\choose{a}} \left(2^{Rs}-1\right)^{m-v-a} {\left(2^{Rs}\right)^{a}} {r^{\prime}_{25}} \frac{(a+M-1)!}{(M-1)!({\Psi_{2}}{\sigma})^{M}} \frac{1}{\left(\frac{(j+1)\left(2^{Rs}\right)}{\sigma{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\sigma{\Psi_{2}}}\right)^{a+M}} e^{-\sigma\left(\frac{(j+1)\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}{\sigma{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{j{\Psi_{t}}}{\sigma{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)} \sum_{q=0}^{m-v+n-a}\frac{(m-v+n-a)!}{q!}\\ \left.\frac{(\sigma)^{p}}{\left(\frac{(j+1)\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}{\sigma{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{j{\Psi_{t}}}{\sigma{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)^{m-v+n-a-q+1}} \right] +\left[\frac{r'_{4}}{(M-1)!{(\sigma{\Psi_{2}})^{M}}} \sum_{n=0}^{w-2-k+m} \frac{1}{n!}\left(\frac{(w+j){\Psi_{t}}}{w{\sigma}{\Psi_{1}}}\right)^{n} e^{-\sigma \left(\frac{(w+j){\Psi_{t}}}{w{\sigma}{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)}\right.\\ \sum_{r=0}^{n}\frac{n!}{r!}\frac{(\sigma)^{r}}{\left(\frac{(w+j){\Psi_{t}}}{w{\sigma}{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)^{n-r+1}} -\frac{r^{\prime}_{4}}{(M-1)!{(\sigma{\Psi_{2}})^{M}}}\sum_{n=0}^{w-2-k+m}\sum_{b=0}^{n}\frac{1}{n!}\left(\frac{(w+j)}{w{\sigma}{\Psi_{1}}} \right)^{n} {n\choose{b}}\\ \left.\left. {}{\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)^{n-b}} {\left(2^{Rs}\right)^{b}} \frac{(b+M-1)!}{\left(\frac{(w+j){2^{Rs}}}{w{\sigma}{\Psi_{1}}} +\frac{1}{\sigma{\Psi_{2}}}\right)^{b+M}} e^{-\sigma\left(\frac{(w+j){\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}}{w{\sigma}{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{(w+j){2^{Rs}}}{w{\sigma}{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}} \right)} \sum_{s=0}^{n-b-M}\frac{(n-b-M)!}{s!} \frac{(\sigma)^{s}}{\left(\frac{(w+j){\left(2^{Rs}-1\right)}}{i{\sigma}{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{(w+j){2^{Rs}}}{w{\sigma}{\Psi_{1}}}+\frac{1}{\Omega_{0}}\right)^{n-b-v-s+1} } \right]\right)\\ \\ {r^{\prime}_{1}}=\frac{M!}{(M-w)!(w-1)!}\sum_{k=0}^{w-2}\frac{(1-w)^{k}}{(w-2-k)!}\sum_{m=0}^{k}\frac{1}{(\Psi_{1}{\sigma)}^{w-1-k+m}}\sum_{v=0}^{m}\frac{(-1)^{v}}{(m-v)!v!}\frac{\Psi_{t}^{w-1-k+v}}{(w-1-k+l)},~~ {r^{\prime}_{5}}={\Psi_{t}^{m-v}}\left(1-\left(\frac{v-1}{w}\right)^{w-1-k+v}\right)\\ {r^{\prime}_{2}}=\sum_{j=1}^{M-w}\frac{(-1)^{j}M!}{(M-w-j)!(w-1)!j!({\sigma}\Psi_{1}^{w})}\sum_{k=0}^{w-2}\frac{(1-w)^{k}}{(w-2-k)!}\sum_{m=0}^{k}\left(\frac{j+1}{{\sigma}\Psi_{1}}\right)^{m-k-1}\sum_{v=0}^{m}\frac{(-1)^{l}(w-2-k+v)!}{(m-v)!v!} \left(\frac{-\Psi_{t}}{j}\right)^{w-1-k+v}\\ {r^{\prime}_{4}}=\sum_{j=0}^{M-w}\frac{(-1)^{j}M!}{(M-w-j)!(w-1)!j!({{\sigma}\Psi_{1}})^{w}}\sum_{k=0}^{w-2}\frac{(1-w)^{k}}{(w-2-k)!}\sum_{m=0}^{k}\frac{(w-2-k+m)!}{m!(w-1)^{m}}\left(\frac{j+1}{{\sigma}\Psi_{1}}\right)^{m-k-1}\left(\frac{(w-1){\sigma}\Psi_{1}}{w+j}\right)^{w-1-k+m},~~ {r^{\prime}_{25}}=\frac{1}{n!}\left(\frac{-j{\Psi_{t}}}{{\sigma}\Psi_{1}}\right)^{n}\\ \end{array} $$
CSI:
Channel state information
ER:
Eavesdropper
GSC:
Generalized-selection combining
MRC:
Maximal ratio combining
MS-GSC:
Minimum selection GSC
PU:
SOP:
Secondary receiver
Secondary user
TAS:
Transmit antenna selection
This research has been supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) project of India (grant code no. YSS / 2015 /001738 /ES).
This study was funded by the Department of Science and Technology, India, grant no. (YSS/2015/001738/ES).
Both authors examine the secrecy performance of an underlay CRN with minimum selection-generalized selection combining (MS-GSC) over Rayleigh fading environment and derived closed-form expression for exact and asymptotic secrecy outage probability. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, India
Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Jammu, India
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People at IRF
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Legacy of the Arab Spring: The Question of Liberty and Democracy
Let me start by quoting a line from the song Sout al-Hurriyah – Song of Freedom, a song from a video produced at the same time of the Arab Uprising in Tahrir Square, Cairo. In the video, the lines of the song are simultaneously sung by a multitude of singers – a cross section of Egyptian people – and displayed on the signs they carry.
We raised our heads into the sky. And hunger no longer mattered to us. Most important are our rights. And that with our blood we write our history.
[Sout al-Hurriyya – Song of Freedom]
It is worth recapitulating that the revolution that has swept the Arab states was sparked spontaneously in Tunisia in the spring of 2011 following the self-immolation of a poor and down-trodden Mohamed Bouazizi, which then spread like a wildfire to other neighboring countries including Egypt.
Though this revolution might be seen by many as Islamism reinventing itself, it was in actual fact, a popular revolt, by the people, with a surge of resistant force emanating from an existential condition rather than one or more ideological or a preconceived strategic ends.
The “project” initially represents an endeavor to fuse religiosity and rights, faith and freedom, Islam and liberty. Hence these innovative discourses demanded the true meaning of democracy, individual rights, tolerance, and gender equality as well as separation of religion from the state.
However, unfortunately, two years after what was known as the Arab Spring, we now are witnessing the fading of the bloom from the roses. The supposedly democratic new governments were seen not to adhere to the principles of true democracy. As soon as democratic progress stalls, a conservative reaction sets in and a wishful thinking of coming-back of the authoritarian predecessor that has guaranteed stability and security.
The recent political fiasco that has swept Egypt where President Morsi granted himself a sweeping temporary powers that protects presidential decrees from judicial review was deemed as undemocratic and could lead to another dictatorship.
While no one knows what the future holds for Egypt, the move by the President only gave credence to the same old question: “Could Muslims actually embrace democratic ideals?”
Meanwhile, the Salafi and Wahhabi groups with their literalist interpretations of Islam have become more visible and politicized over the last few years. While they have refused political participation since their inception by equating democracy with kufr or rejection of Islam, somehow now they are slowly engaging in politics.
Hence we are now witnessing their assertion of an un-democratic, Islamic state governed by the strict version of Shariah law that hinders the progress towards real democracy.
Some of these groups also known as the Salafi jihadists have turned to violent radicalism. Others, financed by Islamic institutions in Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf oil monarchies like Qatar and Bahrain — the supposed allies of the United States — have entered mainstream politics, where they promote a religious, anti-democratic populism that plays on emotions, demonizes the West – the United States especially – and actively undermines the struggle for democratic reform.
Consequently, we now witness for ourselves that the compatibility or incompatibility of Islam with democracy is not merely a matter of philosophical speculations, but of a political struggle. It is not as much the question of texts as the balance of power between those who want a democratic religion and those who pursue an authoritarian version. It is more of a story of two competing social forces in the Muslim world.
Of course after all, there can be no true democracy in the Muslim countries, and the Arab world especially; without a profound restructuring of economic priorities, which in turn can come about only by combating corruption, limiting the prerogatives of the military, and, above all, reconsidering economic relations with other countries and the gross inequalities of wealth and income within the country.
Unfortunately, the new economic order, especially the one proposed by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt for example, does not challenge the arguments and assumptions of the former socio-economic structure, in terms of the free market, trade, and giving priority to the private sector and foreign investment. It is based on empowering that structure to work for a new business elite, simply without the “corrupt practices.”
It is important to note that taking steps towards economic reform and the improvement of living conditions must be directly linked to the redistribution of income and wealth, and resetting the economy on a different compass: towards the majority of the population – the ninety-nine percent – to use the phrase of the Occupy Movement.
This is essentially a political battle that requires a different coalition based on interests that contradict those pursued by the Islamists who hold the political and economic power. They are basically a small ultra-wealthy clique that benefits from the economic order – the one-percent – as opposed to the ninety-nine percent who are outside the political and economic policy decision-making circles. This is the only way forward in order for a true democracy to flourish and towards achieving social justice. The Arab world must confront its historical demons and heal its failings and infirmities. Only then, the true Arab Spring that aspires justice and equality and embraces democracy and liberty will bloom.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAEt6QJJi-c
Speech during the event “Legacy of the Arab Spring: The Question of Liberty and Democracy” on Sunday, 2nd May 2013 at the main auditorium, International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, (ISTAC), Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur. The event was jointly organized by the Islamic Renaissance Front, Nottingham University and ISTAC.
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March 8, 2010Civil Society Joint Statement on the 2nd Anniversary of March 8 2008 General Elections
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For 50 years, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has developed practical solutions to the world’s greatest challenges. Today’s global landscape presents strategic opportunities that will define our future. As we celebrate this milestone, CSIS scholars are developing strategic insights and bipartisan policy solutions to help decision makers chart a course toward a better world.
CSIS is a bipartisan, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Center’s 220 full-time staff and large network of affiliated scholars conduct research and analysis and develop policy initiatives that look into the future and anticipate change.
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Revisiting Security Sector Reform in Liberia
As Liberians prepare for the October 2011 elections, the implications of lingering insecurity and mixed results from security sector reform initiatives weigh heavily on their minds. Have former combatants (particularly rebel groups and militias) been effectively demobilized and rehabilitated? Are Liberia?s new security forces (military and police) adequately prepared to address current and emerging threats?
Formulating National Security Strategy
A panel of experts discusses and makes recommendations for the strategy forming process overall. The formulation process is notably important since it determines which issues will be raised and how they are elevated, who participates in the decision making, and how results will be communicated.
Strategies are shaped by the processes that produce them. If designed well, a strategy formulation process enables decision makers to evaluate the political, security, and budgetary environments, identify choices for an organisation, weigh risks, opportunities, and trade-offs, and determine the best way forward. A strategy formulation process determines which issues will be raised for decision, how issues are elevated to senior levels, what options are presented, who participates in the decision making, and how the results are communicated both internally and externally.
National Security Strategy Lessons for Africa
Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, Director of the Special Representative for Counter-Terrorism Cooperation, presents a series of National Security Strategy lessons for Africa, in particular that a NSS should always consist of a whole of society approach.
Building Police Institutions in Fragile States - Case Studies from Africa
The police are one of the most critical institutions of the state. This is particularly true in nations emerging from conflict, which are characterized by insecurity and high levels of crime. Without security, governments cannot begin rebuilding their economies and improving the lives of their citizens. As a result, they will continue to struggle for legitimacy, and a return to conflict will remain an ever-present risk. For citizens, a police officer is the symbolic representation of state authority. Their view of the state and their acceptance of its authority are partially shaped by their interactions with the police.
Unfortunately, many Africans have entirely negative perceptions of the police. In many countries, the police are ineffective, unprofessional, corrupt, even predatory. Their primary interest is in protecting the government in power rather than serving the public. They are often sources of insecurity rather than providers of security—people to avoid, not to seek out, in the event of trouble. For other African citizens, particularly those living outside urban areas, the police are conspicuous by their absence. Many, perhaps the majority, of Africans rely on non-state security providers such as neighborhood watch groups and chiefdom police to keep them safe.
The aim of this report is to look at what the United States has been doing to help reform or transform the police in three African states: Liberia, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan. It provides recommendations of what could be done better, or differently, based on an assumption that the federal budget for overseas policing will remain small. The findings are based on meetings with policymakers and other experts in Washington, D.C., as well as interviews with program implementers, government officials, police, and civil society representatives in all three countries.
To view this publication, please follow this link.
Fixing Iraq's Internal Security Forces: Why is reform of the Ministry of Interior so hard?
This paper examines the charge laid out in the US Marine Corps General Jim Jones report, explains why institution building and reform at the MOI have proved so difficult, and notes flaws in the international capacity building effort that need to be addressed. The central argument is that Iraq’s political dynamics, combined with the unprecedented burdens being placed upon the MOI, will continue to make institutional development and reform terribly difficult. However, assessments such as the Jones report ignore the fact that the ministry is more functional than it may at first appear. Furthermore, there are signs of incipient, MOI-led reforms; these provide hopeful pointers. In order to take advantage of these incipient reforms, the international assistance effort needs to significantly raise its game. If this can be achieved, then, gradually and painfully, the ministry could become a more positive force in Iraqi society. However, even if technical institutional reforms are successful, it will be important to understand that the ministry will reflect Iraq’s political make-up; it cannot stand above national politics.
Innovative Approaches to Security and Justice Programming
The Overseas Development Insitute (ODI) hosted a series of seminars to discuss key conceptual and practical issues related to security and justice programming. The series was held in 2014 and 2015 and hosted international experts on several security related issues. The events promoted debates and knowledge sharing that aim to increase the practice and the programming in the security sector.
The Security and Justice seminar series provided the opportunity for regular meetings among the security and justice community of practice, helping to build stronger connections, relationships and shared knowledge, in turn supporting better programming. The seminars served to promote knowledge and information sharing relevant to security and justice policy, programming and research.
The initiative brought together practitioners, policy makers and researchers involved in the fields of security, policing, justice, rule of law and military security. Attendees included representatives from government agencies, implementing partners, individual consultants, NGOs, research institutes and universities.
This article on Innovative Approaches to Security and Justice Programming by Isabella Flisi provides a short summary of two out of the six conferences.
Broadening Constituencies for Transitional Justice and Elevating the Focus on Historical Grievance
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) hosted a meeting entitled “Broadening Constituencies for Transitional Justice + Elevating the Focus on Historical Grievance: Step One” in Mexico City, Mexico, in December 2015. Supported by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Oak Foundation, the meeting brought together 30 leading experts on transitional justice (TJ), as well as representatives from development agencies and foreign ministries, to discuss strategies for addressing shortfalls in the international community’s approach to TJ. The meeting was grounded in the recognition that the way in which countries deal with violent episodes from their past can emerge as a driver of future conflict and undermine development and democratization.
This report on transitional justice and the focus on historical grievance by Shannon N. Green from the CSIS highlights the main findings and recommendations from the meeting for elevating TJ and broadening constituencies for justice.
For full access to the report on Broadening Constituencies for Transitional Justice and Elevating the Focus on Historical Grievance, kindly follow the link.
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Waratah Council
Waratah Council was incorporated on 23rd February 1871. During its 67 years of existence, the council meetings were held in quite a few different locations.
The exact chronology and locations are sometimes hard to confirm, and I have had to make some educated guesses based on sometimes fleeting references in newspaper articles retrieved from Trove. The list below is therefore a tentative summary based on the available facts, and should not be regarded as a definitive.
April 1871 Stephens’ Long Room, High St.
May 1871 Mr Dawson’s Assembly Room, Green Gate Hotel, Station St.
1871 – 1873 Former Wade’s Hotel, Turton St.
1873 – 1882 Courthouse building, Georgetown Rd.
1882 – 1889 Stephens’ Long Room/School of Arts, High St.
1889 – 1897 New School of Arts building, Station St.
1898 – 1926 Former Northumberland Hall, Turton St.
1926 – 1938 Hanbury St, Mayfield.
Stephen’s Long Room, April 1871
The first election for alderman in Waratah Municipality took place on Saturday 8th April 1871. The following Thursday, 13th April 1871, there was a special meeting of council for the purpose of electing a Mayor for the ensuing year. The meeting was held in “Mr. Stephens long room, Hanbury”, a building which still exists today at 29 High St. At the meeting, Robert Turton was unanimously elected as Mayor.
The first ordinary meeting of the council was supposed to have happened at this same location on the following Monday, 17 April 1871, however a newspaper report a few days later somewhat cryptically reported …
“The whole of the aldermen composing the Waratah Municipal Council met on Monday evening in Mr. Stephens’ large room, but, in consequence of some clause in the Act, no business could be transacted of an official character ; so that, after an hours’ private conversation as to matters to be brought forward at a future period, and the appointment of next Friday night, at half-past seven, for the next meeting, they broke up.”
One can only wonder which of the clauses in the 1867 Municipalities Act invalidated the meeting that night. The council moved to other premises for their next meeting, but would return to Mr Stephen’s building a decade later. See the section below (1882-1888) for further details.
Mr Dawson’s Assembly Room
On Friday 21st April 1871, the council held their first official ordinary meeting, in “Mr. Dawson’s Assembly Room.” This room was located in the Green Gates Hotel (or Green Gate Inn) operated by Mr. Dawson, as seen in a newspaper report from 29th September 1866.
“On the evenings of Saturday and Monday last the Boston Minstrels gave an entertainment in Mr. Dawson’s Assembly Room, Green Gate Inn.”
In April 1905, an article on the death of Mr. James Marchant reported that …
“Upon his retirement he removed to Waratah, where he kept what was known by the old settlers as the Green Gate Hotel at the Junction of Turton-road and Station-street . Being successful in the business, he had the old building pulled down, and erected the building known as Marchant’s Family Hotel, which was subsequently re-built, and is now called the Town Hall Hotel.”
It is somewhat fitting that the modern day Town Hall Hotel is on the site of the very first ordinary meeting of the Waratah Municipal Council. A second council meeting was held in Dawson’s Assembly Room, on 2nd May 1871. The Ralph Snowball photo below, from the period 1884-1888 shows the site of Dawson’s Assembly Room. The building indicated is almost certainly not the Green Gate Hotel, but Marchant’s Family Hotel, that was rebuilt in 1884 on the same site.
Site of Dawson’s Assembly Room in the Green Gate Hotel, corner of Station and Turton Streets. University of Newcastle, Cultural Collections.
Former Wade’s Hotel
The third council meeting was held on 16th May 1871 in yet another location, with the paper reporting that
“On Tuesday, the members of the Waratah Municipal Council sat in their newly appointed chambers, (late Wade’s Hotel.) The room is nicely fitted up, and is furnished with every convenience without being too costly. The aldermen, however, did not appear over comfortable in their new arm chairs, for they (the chairs) appeared rather too low for the height of the table.”
A retrospective on Waratah in a 1940 newspaper article, in listing old hotels, reports that
“William Whiteman had the house known as Wade’s Inn in Turton street from where, in 1887, teams left for the gold diggings.”
A newspaper article in 1866 reported on the Waratah Foot Races, which were held …
“… to open the new running ground …. on the open space between the railway station and Wade’s Hotel”
If the running grounds were where the current sporting fields are, then that would suggest that Wade’s Hotel was somewhere on Turton St between Station and High Streets. Ralph Snowball’s photo of Waratah (1884-1888) contains a large double storey building in this location that could possibly be the former Wade’s Hotel.
Possible location of Wade’s Hotel. Portion of photo by Ralph Snowball or Waratah (1884-1888). University of Newcastle, Cultural Collections.
Courthouse Building
In the following year, the council began debating the need for new council chambers, noting in their meeting of 11th March 1872 that
that the premises at present rented for Council Chambers are, in many respects, very unsuitable for the requirements of the municipality,
that it is highly desirable that new Municipal Council Chambers be erected on the ground granted by the Government for that purpose
In the debate Alderman Harper commented that the room currently rented as a council chamber “was simply a closet.”
In August 1872 the plan and specifications for new council chambers was approved by council, and tenders were called for the construction. A month later, tenders were received and evaluated, and the following separate tenders accepted:
G. Gane, stonework completed, £199 ; A. Bung, carpenter’s work, £129 ; Thos. J. Turton, plumbing, painting, and glazing, £31 10s. ; plastering and colouring walls, £16 10s. Total, £376.
The Government Gazette of 18th March 1873 “contained a notice of the grant of one acre of land at Hanbury, Waratah, for Council Chambers”, a date which appears in a map from a 1906 real estate sale poster as seen below.
1906 real estate sale map, showing the site of the first purpose built council chambers for Waratah, dedicated 16 March 1873. University of Newcastle, Cultural Collections.
After many delays in construction, and demands for the contractors to finish their work, the Waratah councillors held their first meeting in the new building on Monday 16th June 1873. It was a rather muted affair though …
The Municipal Council of Waratah held their first meeting in the new council chambers, on Monday night last. The interior presented a most cold and dismal aspect, being insufficiently lighted and furnished, with one table, a few chairs, and a couple of deal forms. From the entire absence of anything approaching a celebration of the event, and the depressing appearance of the inside, the impression conveyed to the observer was that the worthy municipal councillors were thoroughly ashamed of the building, themselves, and the occasion.
In 1873, the NSW Department of Justice had decided to build a district courthouse in Lambton in preference to Waratah, so for court sittings in Waratah they rented out rooms in the new Council Chambers. Within a few years though, the Justice Department were desirous of having a dedicated courthouse building in Waratah, and the council were willing to sell their chambers for £600. The “Waratah Council Chambers Resumption Bill” was passed in parliament on 9th July 1879, and the purchase was completed in September 1879.
Waratah Courthouse, originally the Waratah Municipal Council Chambers. University of Newcastle, Cultural Collections.
Waratah Courthouse building in Georgetown Rd, April 2017.
With the building now officially a courthouse, the role of landlord and tenant were reversed, as the council now rented a room in the courthouse to use as council chambers and clerk’s office. By November 1880 the Justice Department had given notice to the council to quit the building, however the Minister for Justice, Sir George Innes, gave reassurance that
“he would do justice to the Council who would not be disturbed within a reasonable time, until other chambers could be found.”
It seems that there was a mismatch of expectations as to what a “resaonable time” was, and the council was still using the courthouse for its meetings 18 months later, and there is a hint of tetchiness in a letter from the Minister for Justice to the council on 6th May 1882, stating that
“representations had been made that the alterations to the Court House were nearly completed, and that great inconvenience arose from the council occupying it; also, that it would be necessary when the alterations were finished for the building to be handed over to the Police Magistrate for the administration of justice.”
This kicked the council into action, and they formed a committee to seek new premises. On Monday 6th June 1882, the council moved back to the premises where their very first meeting had been held 11 years earlier, Stephen’s Rooms in High Street.
Stephen’s Long Room, 1882 – 188?
Variously referred to as “Mr Stephen’s large room”, “Mr Stephen’s long room”, “Stephen’s Assembly Rooms”, or sometimes just “Stephens Rooms”, this was a small double-storey stone building in High St. It was used for various public meetings, and candidates for political office would sometimes make speeches from the second floor balcony. The stone building was constructed by Mr. Henry Stephens, whose occupation was listed as “quarryman” in his nomination for election as alderman in 3rd February 1872. (His nomination was subsequently declared to be informal.)
After vacating the courthouse building, the Waratah Council used Stephen’s Room for their council chamber from 5th June 1882. A month later, the paper reported that
The School of Arts will, in future, be conducted in Stephen’s rooms, High-street. The committee decided upon the removal as the abovenamed rooms are more commodious than those previously occupied.
For the next 7 years, the council and the School of Arts appears to have been conducted from this same building. The ownership of the building throughout this whole period is uncertain, but at the end of this period of co-tenure in January 1889, when the new School of Arts building in Station Street is about to be opened, it is clear that the Council is renting its chambers from the School of Arts committee. The committee wrote to the council …
“intimating that they cannot guarantee Council’s occupation of the present room rented by them, as Council chambers, and suggesting that a large room in the new building be used for that purpose.”
The photograph of Stephen’s Rooms below (from University of Newcastle, Cultural Collections) shows a sign mounted on the upper balcony that reads:
Municipal Council Chambers
Office Days
(illegible)
Waratah Council Chambers, in High Street. University of Newcastle, Cultural Collections.
Stephens Rooms in High St, April 2017, now a private residence.
Stephens’ Rooms also appears in a Ralph Snowball photograph of Waratah from the period 1884-1888.
Stephens’ Room, High Street, Waratah. Photo by Ralph Snowball. University of Newcastle, Cultural Collections.
School of Arts building, March 1889 – 1897
Land for new School of Arts buildings was granted by the Government in November 1887, having a frontage of 58ft to Station St, and 220ft to Market St.
Portion of 1926 real estate map, showing location of School of Arts on Station St. University of Newcastle, Cultural Collections.
Reporting on the laying of the foundation stone by Sir Henry Parkes on 15th December 1888, the new hall was described as an
“… auditorium 35ft x 60ft, and 16ft in height, with a stage 21ft x 16ft, and dressing rooms on either side 7ft x 16ft each. … The building is of very elaborate design, having frontages to Market and Station streets, and will contain eleven rooms (besides the hall and apartments referred to)
and balconettes on each side.
The laying of the foundation stone was a ceremonial affair, and not the start of construction, as much of the new building had already been completed, and in the following month the opening of the new School of Arts was celebrated by a concert in the hall on 24th January 1889.
Six weeks later on 4th March 1889 the council meeting …
“… was held on Monday evening for the first time in the new Council Chambers in connection with the School of Arts’ Buildings.”
School of Arts Hall, Station St, Waratah, July 2010. Photo by OZinOH (Flickr).
The council continued meeting in the school of arts until 1897 when it was reported that …
“The business of the Waratah council has hitherto been conducted in a portion of the local school of arts, but it has now been decided that the municipality shall have a Town Hall, and for that purpose a building has been secured.”
Northumberland Hall, 1898 – 1926
At a special meeting of the Waratah Council in October 1897, a proposal was put forward …
“… to acquire the present bank buildings in Turton-road, better known as the Northumberland Hall, and convert them into council chambers and offices, making provision on the upper storey for friendly societies and Masonic lodges.”
Northumberland Hall was built in late 1878 and formally opened on 9th January 1879. It was built by the Northumberland Building Society, with the ground floor to be used as offices, and the upper floor as a large hall to be rented out for public meetings. In a strange intertwining of connections, at the time the Society embarked on the building of Northumberland Hall, their office was in a rented room of the Council chambers in Georgetown Rd, premises they were about to lose as the council sold their chambers to the Government for use as a courthouse.
Waratah Town Hall (1897-1926), Turton St. Formerly Northumberland Hall. Newcastle Region Library.
In December 1897 the council purchased the building from the bank and did some renovations, for a total cost of £350. On the day the council took possession of their new town hall, 8th February 1898, the paper reported …
The opinion is general that the council have taken a wise step in acquiring this building. The ground floor consists of a fine suite of offices, providing ample accommodation for the public, the Mayor, and offices. Upstairs is the large hall, providing ample accommodation for council and lodge meetings, with ante-rooms and a spacious balcony. The ventilation is perfect throughout, and the renovation improvements and repairs reflect credit on the architects, Messrs. Sanders and Son, and the contractor, Mr. Thomas Bates, of Hamilton.
On the same day, in the evening, the council met for the first time in the new building, for the purpose of electing the Mayor for the ensuing year. Alderman N. B. Creer was elected unopposed, replacing Alderman H.C. Langwill who had served as Mayor in the preceding year, and whose name appears in the inscription on top of the new Town Hall.
Waratah Town Hall, with inscription on front – “H.C. Langwill, Mayor, 1897”. Newcastle Region Library.
Northumberland Hall appears in a Ralph Snowball photograph of Waratah from the period 1884-1888.
Northumberland Hall, Turton St, Waratah. University of Newcastle, Cultural Collections.
The site of the Waratah council chambers in Turton Rd, close to the Town Hall Hotel.
1910 map showing the location of the second Waratah Town Hall.
The map above shows the Town Hall on Turton Rd, and the Station Master’s residence on Station St, which is also marked on the following 1926 real estate map.
1926 real estate map of Waratah, showing Station Master’s residence. University of Newcastle, Cultural Collections.
Hanbury St, 1926 – 1938
The last Waratah town hall was built on Hanbury St Mayfield, near the intersection with Macquarie St. (It was just to the south of where Mayfield Diggers Club is now). The foundation stone was laid on 20th February 1926, and the official opening was held on Saturday 26th June 1926.
Final Waratah Council Chambers/Town Hall. Hanbury Street, Mayfield. Newcastle City Council, Hunter Photobank.
Waratah Council Chambers. Newcastle Morning Herald, 21 May 1938.
I’m not sure of when this town hall building was demolished, but it appears to be some time after 1975, as an aerial photograph from 1975 shows a building on the site that matches the size of the town hall, and is clearly not the modern Diggers club.
Waratah/Mayfield, 1975. University of Newcastle, Cultural Collections.
Waratah/Mayfield 2016. Google Earth.
42 Hanbury St Mayfield – the site of the former Waratah Town Hall.
The Town Hall that never was
In addition to all the places where the council did meet, there remains the story of the town hall that never was.
On 23rd July 1891 the council received notification that the Secretary of Lands had approved the council’s request for three portions of land (2411, 2412, 2413) on Turton Rd for a Town Hall, and portion 2410 for a fire brigade station. The dedication of land was officially gazetted on 15th September 1891 along with an adjoining triangular block of land for the Waratah Gas Works, as shown in the map below.
1906 real estate sale map showing portions 2411, 2412, and 2413 on Turton Rd dedicated as a site for a Town Hall, 15th September 1891. University of Newcastle, Cultural Collections.
A fire station was soon built, and officially opened on 14th October 1893, but the town hall site remained unused, as the the council continued to meet in the new School of Arts building in Station St. Eventually, in 1935 a new fire station was built on the corner of Turton and High streets, on the proposed Town Hall site. The new fire station was officially opened on 16th March 1935.
Corner of High Street and Turton Road Waratah, April 2017. The site of the Town Hall that never was.
Article Date Event Date
8 Apr 1871 First election of aldermen for Waratah Municipal Council.
13 Apr 1871 First council meeting and election of Mayor in “Mr. Stephens long room, Hanbury”.
17 Apr 1871 “The whole of the aldermen composing the Waratah Municipal Council met on Monday evening in Mr. Stephens' large room, but, in consequence of some clause in the Act, no business could be transacted of an official character”.
21 Apr 1871 First ordinary council meeting, in “Mr. Dawson’s Assembly Rooms”.
2 May 1871 Second ordinary council meeting, in “Mr. Dawson’s Assembly Rooms”.
16 May 1871 Third ordinary meeting of Waratah Council held "in their newly appointed chambers, (late Wade's Hotel.)"
11 Mar 1872 Waratah council debating the need for new council chambers.
26 Aug 1872 Plan and specifications for new council chambers adopted by council, and ready to be put out for tender.
23 Sep 1872 Tenders received for construction of Waratah council chambers, and preferred tender decided on.
13 Feb 1873 Motion in Waratah Council "That the inscription to be placed on a tablet to be built into the wall, over the entrance to the new Council Chambers, should be as follows : — 'Waratah Council Chambers, erected A.D., 1873.— Robert Turton, Mayor.'"
10 Mar 1873 Contractors G. Gane and A. Burgh ask for an extension of time to complete the council chambers – five weeks is granted.
18 Mar 1873 Gazetting of one acre of land at Hanbury, for Waratah council chambers.
21 Apr 1873 "In reference to the completion of the Council Chambers ... that the contractor be informed that if the Council Chambers be not finished and fit for use on the 1st of May, he will be required to pay the rent of the present room."
16 Jun 1873 First meeting in new chambers in Georgetown Rd.
3 Aug 1878 Northumberland Building Society to build a hall in Turton St. Society’s office is currently in Council Chambers building, Georgetown Rd.
9 Jan 1879 A banquet held in celebration of the opening of the new offices and hall of the Northumberland Permanent Building Society.
9 Jul 1879 Passing of the "Waratah Council Chambers Resumption Bill", so that the council chambers could become the courthouse.
5 Nov 1880 A deputation to the Minister for Justice in connection with the council chambers being purchased for a courthouse.
5 Nov 1880 "Waratah Municipal Council had received notice to quit the room used by the Council Clerk in the Courthouse." "Sir George Innes said he would do justice to the Council who would not be disturbed within a reasonable time, until other chambers could be found."
22 May 1882 Waratah Council still meeting in the courthouse building. A committee formed to find new location.
5 Jun 1882 The council has vacated the Courthouse, and meets at their new chambers, Stephens' Rooms, High-street.
21 Jul 1882 "The School of Arts will, in future, be conducted in Stephen's rooms, High-street." This is at the same time that Council commences using this building also.
7 Feb 1885 Waratah Council Chambers noted as being in High Street.
17 Mar 1887 Waratah Council Chambers noted as being in High Street.
1 Nov 1888 Waratah Council Chambers noted as being in High Street.
15 Dec 1888 Ceremonial laying of foundation stone of the new School of Arts building in Station St. (Construction already well underway.)
9 Jan 1889 A letter from the Waratah School of Arts Committee, intimating that they cannot guarantee Council's occupation of the present room rented by them, as Council chambers, and suggesting that a large room in the new building be used for that purpose.
24 Jan 1889 Opening of new Waratah School of Arts building in Station St.
4 Mar 1889 Waratah Council meeting for the first time in the new council chambers in connection with the School of Arts building.
31 Jul 1891 Secretary for Lands approves dedication of land portions 2411, 2412, 2413 on Turton Rd as a site for a town hall, and portion 2410 for a fire brigade station.
14 Oct 1893 Opening of fire station on High St, adjacent to site of proposed Waratah Town Hall.
11 Oct 1897 Proposal for Waratah Council to acquire Northumberland Hall in Turton St and convert into Council Chambers.
3 Dec 1897 "The business of the Waratah Council has hitherto been conducted in a portion of the local school of arts, but it has now been decided that the municipality shall have a Town Hall."
8 Feb 1898 Waratah Council takes possession of new town hall – ground floor is offices, upstairs is a large hall.
8 Feb 1898 First council meeting in the new Waratah Town Hall in Turton St.
20 Feb 1926 "The foundation stone of the building in Hanbury-street, Mayfield; which is to be the new town hall for the Municipality of Waratah, was laid on Saturday afternoon."
26 Feb 1926 Official opening of the new Waratah Council Town Hall, in Hanbury St, Mayfield.
16 Mar 1935 Official opening of new fire station on corner of High St and Turton Rd, the site originally dedicated for the Waratah Town Hall.
Questions yet to be answered
Where in Turton St was Wade’s Inn? When was it demolished?
When was the Town Hall in Turton St demolished?
When was the Waratah town hall in Hanbury St demolished?
3 thoughts on “Waratah Council”
Cynthia Billiau on January 10, 2017 at 12:13 pm said:
This was Waratah mayfield RSL for a long time.
Anthony Mellows on January 4, 2019 at 1:57 pm said:
Looking at the aerial photos, the Hanbury Street Town Hall sits on the corner of Macquarie St and Hanbury St, which is where the public housing estate is currently located (not Diggers). Diggers is located a little further up from that junction (approx. 50m NE).
Lachlan Wetherall on January 5, 2019 at 9:47 pm said:
You’re correct. Thanks for pointing out my error, and I have now updated the post accordingly.
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In addition to serving as a board member for LatinaVIDA, Dolores is also on the board of the Latino Service Providers (LSP) and supports the recently stablished association, Los Cien. She has also voluntered for the non-profit 10,000 Degrees, an institution that helps underpriviledged young Latinos access post secondary education in the US.
MICHELLE MESSINA
MICHELLE E. MESSINA is CEO of the international consulting and advisory firm, Explora International LLC. She is a serial entrepreneur and highly sought out advisor specializing on the topics of innovation, business acceleration, market readiness, technology commercialization, entrepreneurship and leadership. She has worked with over 1000 startup entrepreneurs across the globe and leverages her expertise in revenue generation, marketing, and operations to help her clients develop viable growth and expansion strategies. Michelle is part of the U.S. Department of State initiative Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas for Women Entrepreneurs, focused on economic empowerment and public-private partnerships for SME growth and has assessed and scored companies with the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Program in Latin America.
In working with regional governments, Michelle brings the best practices of Silicon Valley to regions around the world to ensure sustainable and vibrant ecosystems. She has been actively involved with foreign direct investment projects, country positioning and branding, economic development and job creation programs, in addition to connecting global partners for trade and investment purposes.
Michelle speaks throughout the world on business acceleration programs, entrepreneurship, innovation, technology commercialization, Silicon Valley best practices for creating and growing companies, sustainable ecosystems, and market readiness. In 2016, she co-authored Decoding Silicon Valley: The Insider's Guide with Jonathan C. Baer.
In addition to serving on the Board of LatinaVIDA, Michelle is board member at Innovation Center Denmark-Silicon Valley, with the ConnectiMass Foundation Jamaica, focused on promoting tech entrepreneurship in the Caribbean, and with SAGE, Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship.
DIANA NAVAS - ROSETTE
DIANA NAVAS-ROSETTE is a strategic Human Resources leader with more than 12 years of experience developing, managing, and executing key initiatives for fortune 500 firms. Currently, Diana is driving key elements of the global diversity and inclusion strategy for Microsoft by leading innovative strategies that drive organizational performance. Prior to joining Microsoft, Diana worked for Charles, Schwab, Pepsi Bottling Company, and NASA. She has extensive experience in strategic planning, change management, diversity, inclusion, EEO/AA compliance, employee relations, union avoidance, organizational development, diversity branding and community relations.
Born and raised in Medellin, Colombia, Diana migrated to the United States at the age of 15. She holds a M.S. in Management with emphasis in Human Resources and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, both from the University of Central Florida. In 2013, she received the inaugural “Top 40 under 40 Latinos to Watch” Award by Silicon Valley Latino. Most recently, she was recognized as a HACR Young Hispanic Corporate Achiever™. Known for being a strategic maximizer with a strong bias for action and a candid ability to work collaboratively, she is an active volunteer in the non-profit community. Diana has held leadership roles with ALPFA Chapter in San Francisco, the National Initiative Women of ALPFA and volunteers with Kids in Need of Defense (KIND).
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Government Investigations Lawyers in Arvada, CO
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Gavin's Underground Culture
Arrowhead Gallery ETC.
A brief preview of the latest gallery to open in St. George.
by Gavin Sheehan
There's a brand new gallery opening tonight in the heart of St. George, as dozens of artists will be part of the inaugural exhibition at Arrowhead Gallery ETC. Taking over the space where the Arrowhead Department Store used to call home and The Electric Theatre once housed live concerts, the new gallery will showcase Southern Utah Art Guild artists of multiple disciplines from around the Southern Utah area. Today we briefly chat with Jo Ann Merrill, one of the members of the Guild, about the new space and who will be on display. (All pictures courtesy of SAUG.)
Jo Ann Merrill
Arrowhead Gallery ETC. on Facebook
Gavin: How did the idea for Arrowhead Gallery ETC. come about, and where did the name come from?
Jo Ann: The city of St. George asked the Southern Utah Art Guild (SUAG) to help establish an art gallery for the newly renovated $3.1 million dollar Electric Theater Center (the “ETC”). The ETC consists of a theater and lobby that the public can rent to host movies and theatrical plays while the other portion of the Center consists of the Arrowhead Gallery and working artist studios. SUAG has grown in membership and now has close to 200 artists. ... The name of the gallery was selected and approved by the SUAG/Gallery Boards and the city of St. George and was named after a former tenant, the Arrowhead Department Store.
Gavin: What was the process like in choosing the artists who would be on display?
Jo Ann: To be an artist with the gallery, you must first become a member of SUAG, complete an application and be juried in by art professors from Dixie State University. Because of SUAG’s strong commitment to the artist community, the city of St. George selected SUAG to establish an art gallery in the Electric Theater Center.
Gavin: What was it like converting the old venue into a brand new gallery?
Jo Ann: Establishing and setting up a working co-op art gallery took a lot of hard work from the six gallery board members and various SUAG members. This included creating display panels/fixtures, obtaining gallery furniture and providing the gallery’s office with the internet, phone, credit card machine, and printers. Setup also involved choosing jurors, recruiting and selecting artists and adopting Gallery coop rules and procedures.
Gavin: Tell us about some of the artists you'll have on display at the inaugural opening.
Jo Ann: Currently, we have approximately 25 artists in the Gallery, with plans to increase the total artists to 30-40. There are also seven working artist studios. The artists represent several artistic media that include painting, photography, ceramics, jewelry, decorative gourds and sculptures. The gallery is also establishing a working relationship with the Dixie State University Art Department where the gallery will host an art student each month. Artists in the gallery will rotate their space every 2-3 months in order that all artists will have the opportunity to showcase their work in different spaces in the gallery. During this time frame, we also plan to feature and display 2-3 artist’s work in the gallery’s two windows. Commitment to the gallery is for six months and after that period, all artists will be reviewed/juried again and allow new artists to join.
Gavin: What do you hope the new gallery will do for both St. George and the art community in general?
Jo Ann: The gallery and the city of St. George would like to see the downtown district become an art destination. The downtown area now houses many wonderful galleries in a walkable area. Allan [Kaprow] and I have based many of our travel destinations by visiting other art galleries, and find St. George has some very wonderful galleries within a close proximity to each other. The St. George 3rd Friday Art Walk offers music and fantastic art. I would like to see more people attend this event as the area has much potential. There are many talented artists in the area.
Gavin: What do you have planned for the opening evening and what do you hope people will take away from the new gallery?
Jo Ann: SUAG and the gallery will offer artist workshops in the Center’s downstairs training rooms. The next workshop will focus on landscape painting with renowned artist, Roland Lee, on Feb. 25 and 26.The gallery with its artists and in connection with its opening reception will be participating in the Arts to Zion tour. For the opening reception, refreshments will be provided by Twenty-Five Main restaurant and music will be provided by a local harpist and violinist. The reception will be Friday, Jan. 15, from 5-9 p.m. We hope to form a close relationship with the community and its residents by showing what local artists can do and accomplish. There is some form of art in everyone and by joining an organization such as SUAG a person can explore that opportunity within themselves and learn to appreciate many aspects of art.
Gavin: For those interested in having their art displayed in the gallery, what do they need to do?
Jo Ann: If you are interested in joining SUAG and/or the gallery, please email arrowheadgalleryetc@yahoo.com. SUAG offers five themed events per year at the Red Cliff Gallery in St. George with a fee of $35 per year. The next themed event is “Winter in the Desert” scheduled for Feb. 5-25. Once a SUAG member you can complete a gallery application and be juried for approval. Gallery space is $35 for a 4-foot space and $50 for a 6-foot space. These nominal fees are very low compared to other cities/areas and it helps to establish new and emerging artists which is one of the main goals for the gallery and the City of St. George.
Gavin: What can we expect from yourself and Arrowhead Gallery Etc. over the rest of 2016?
Jo Ann: Expectations for the gallery will only increase due to the enthusiasm of the artists and the community by offering these continued events and workshops. We hope you plan to participate in our growth.
Gavin's Underground Culture Gavin's Underground Arrowhead Gallery ETC galery art St. George
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Strasbourg court rejects complaint over Lithuanian writer Petkevičius' book
Foto: AP / Scanpix
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday rejected a complaint by the daughter of the late Lithuanian writer Vytautas Petkevičius over her liability for false statements published in her father's book about the father of Lithuania's first post-independence leader Vytautas Landsbergis.
The Strasbourg court upheld Lithuanian courts' arguments that statements contained in the book entitled "Durnių Laivas" (The Ship of Idiots) insulted the honor and dignity of Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis and his son and that Petkevičius' children have the obligation to ensure that these statements are not reproduced.
Strasbourg court to rule on Lithuanian writer Petkevičius' book (1)
ECHR ruling paves way for profits by hurting churchgoers - Lithuanian bishop
Liudmila Petkevičiūtė complained that she had been held liable for the actions of her late father.
The ECHR dismissed her complaint, concluding that "the applicant had accepted her late father's inheritance, including certain rights to the book and, as a result, she stood to receive pecuniary gain from its continued dissemination".
"Accordingly, the domestic courts' decision to replace the deceased initial defendant with the applicant (and her brothers, who were in the same situation) cannot be regarded as arbitrary or unjust," it ruled.
In his book, Petkevičius called Landsbergis-Žemkalnis "Hitler's friend" and claimed that he had collaborated with the KGB.
"Those statements presented serious accusations of collaboration with the Nazi and Soviet regimes in Lithuania, and the Court has no reason to doubt the assessment of the domestic courts that in the historical context of Lithuania such accusations were damaging not only to the reputation of V.L.-Z. but also that of his son, V.L., who was a prominent Lithuanian politician," the Strasbourg court said.
The ECHR "therefore concludes that the disputed statements, which constituted statements of fact and were defamatory, had not been shown to have an accurate factual basis, and the applicant had not proved that they had been based on information obtained in accordance with the duties of journalists and the ethics of journalism".
The Supreme Court stated seven years ago that Petkevičius' children had accepted their father's inheritance, including the rights to the book, and thus they had the obligation to ensure that these statements were not reproduced.
Petkevičiūtė told the Strasbourg court that the disputed statements were based on her late father's memories and subjective opinions and that these statements referred to public figures "subject to wider limits of criticism".
Petkevičius denied his guilt, calling his book "a gallery of political caricatures and faces".
After the writer died in December 2008, Lithuanian courts decided to continue with the examination of the case, replacing the defendant with his daughter Liudmila and his sons Petras and Vytautas.
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UK Gay Weddings 2014
On 29th March the first same-sex marriages will take place in England and Wales. Any couple wishing to marry on that date will need to have given formal notice of their intention to marry by 13th March.
Same-sex couples in Scotland will be able to marry in October 2014.
To mark the occasion, greeting card company TheDogsDoodahs.com has today issued a ‘Save the Date’ card for 29th March to the press, along with a world map highlighting global differences in attitudes to homosexual relationships and marriage.
The United Kingdom becomes the 16th country to allow same-sex marriages, while some other countries recognise same-sex relationships in law although they do not have the status of marriage.
By contrast, there are still many countries (highlighted in green and black) where homosexuality is punished by imprisonment and even death.
TheDogsDoodahs.com (challenger brand to Moonpig in the personalised cards sector) has extended their range of Civil Partnership cards with Gay Wedding designs. Many of the existing wedding cards are also suitable for either heterosexual or same-sex couples. Jennie Rutterworth, Creative Director at TheDogsDoodahs.com, who celebrated her union with partner Emma in 2012, said:
“We’ve been helping to celebrate marriage for a long time. A lot of our wedding cards are already suitable for both heterosexual and homosexual couples and to be honest we’ve always had Wedding cards in the Civil Partnership section online (we’re a little before our time here!). We try to use gender neutral names in the examples on the website too - the designs are for everyone.”
If you'd like to download our logo, please use this link: http://we.tl/IbGXEho10q
To download our map in high resolution or for web use, use: http://we.tl/oxvhr4xVXm
*Note you may remove the reference to TheDogsDoodahs.com if using for non-commercial purposes.
Civil Partnerships have been available to gay couples in the UK since 5th December 2005. Although the Government initially estimated there would be between 11,000 and 22,000 civil partners in Great Britain by 2010, the actual figures are over 79,000 people in civil partnerships by the start of 2010. (Data source: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob2/civil-partnership-statistics--united-kingdom/2012/sty-trends-in-civil-partnerships.html)
Couples in civil partnerships will be able to convert to marriages if they wish. However, the Government is still making the changes necessary to allow this so it is anticipated this will not be possible until the end of 2014.
The Netherlands was the first country to extend marriage laws to include same-sex couples. Four couples were married at Amsterdam’s City Hall by mayor of Amsterdam Job Cohen at midnight on 1st April 2001, when the bill came into effect.
Icelandic Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir and her partner become one of the first married same-sex couples in Iceland when the country legalised same-sex marriage in 2010.
Denmark was the first country to recognise same-sex relationships in law in 1989, but it wasn’t until 2012 that same-sex marriage was legalised.
TheDogsDoodahs.com focuses primarily on humour, with the site owning and producing their own greeting cards. The company has a loyal fan-base who appreciate the ‘funnier and easier’ approach to cards that the site promises. Cards and gifts ordered before 2pm are sent the same day (Monday-Friday) from the UK mainland.
For more information or samples please contact:
ThoseNicePeople@TheDogsDoodahs.com / alex@hyperworldcontrol.com
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Category Archives: racism
Posted on April 28, 2018 by jasdye
In hearing about the passing of the good Dr James Cone, founder of Black Liberation Theology and an all-around important figure in latter 20th/early 21st Century Christianity, I ran across this older article from The Gospel Coalition (TGC), that bastion of White Conservative Evangelicalism. I in fact have several Black and POC friends and family adjacent to John Piper and TGC (and once was an adherent), largely because Piper puts out an aura of intellectualism that is attractive to young urban Christians who do not see much intellectual engagement in other church life, and because Piper and TGC also at least tend to talk about racial justice.
But whereas Cone talked about God siding with and identifying with the oppressed (ie, Black people) and thus allying against the very White Christianity that supports oppression (ie, White Supremacy, anti-blackness, reactionary politics), TGC and other White Evangelicals (including those who align with the White Theological/Political project) call for racial reconciliation. The author quotes from Black theologian J. Deotis Roberts:
Christians are called to be agents of reconciliation. We have been able to love and forgive . . . The assertion that all are ‘one in Christ Jesus’ must henceforth mean that all slave-master, servant-boss, inferior-superior frames of reference between blacks and whites have been abolished.
But the meaning in a spiritualized sense does not mean in an earthly sense, so to say. To declare that we are free is merely to say it; and while imagination and declaration are important steps in the realization, they are not sufficient. To suggest that they are is to not just to say that a dream is reality, but to keep the dream from being worked out and actualized.
Racism is a device and creation of Whiteness, of which White people have primarily benefited–and that works itself out in class and sexual/gender approaches as well. The conditions of Blackness and Whiteness were created by Whites and those identified as White have been the benefactors of this distinction. So the idea that there is something to reconcile between the two without eradicating the White-created racism in all its material and psychological processes is both absurd and obscene.
And while it is the work of White people to eradicate material racism–as they currently control the means of materialism under White Supremacist Imperialist Monopoly–it is not the worth of White people to also devise the conditions upon which this reconciliation should be made right. How can you trust the people who benefit from Whiteness and who believe wholeheartedly in their innocence to purge their benefits, even if and when they mean well?
I do not trust capitalists to give us the means of production. We should not trust White people to eradicate racism on their terms.
That is why it is important that God is on the side of the oppressed. Because it assists in creating a space where it becomes psychologically and socially possible, which leads to material matters. Anything less is an immaterial, and thus hopeless, religion. And what good is religion if it does not offer hope?
Posted in Justice, racism, Uncategorized Tagged black liberation theology, james cone, John Piper, the gospel coalition, Whiteness Leave a comment
Posted on January 9, 2018 by jasdye
It’s been sixteen years since George W Bush and David Frum introduced to the neocon play action Axis of Evil speech¹ pointing out the three major powers that the US wanted to overthrow and colonize liberate from any semblance of self-rule: Iraq, Iran, and North Korea (DPRK). These were three nations that supposedly sponsored terrorism and were thus linked to the 9/11 attacks on US soil. An attack by a network not affiliated by any of these countries but instead by one of the US’s closest allies, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Since Iraq has already been dealt with, to put it crudely, and the Gears of War are turning on the other two due to either some protest or escalating nuclear tensions, it’s time for a some disjointed thoughts:
First, let’s dispel the false notion that there were millions of protesters in Iran calling for the overthrow of the government (and certainly that they want the United States to overthrow it). Several pictures of Brown-People-Protesting did go viral, but one of those was in Buenos Aires and another in Bahrain–two large-scale protests that Americans did not care about.
One of the main driving factors for the Iranian protests, as they are, has been economic. People protesting in the hundreds to thousands for a better standard of living, and against cuts to the social safety net, such as reductions in cash subsidies to the bottom 90%. How familiar does that sound to Americans? But in this case, we’re supposed to believe that Donald Trump and reactionary American elites are on the side of the protesters?
No one dared to raise the possibility of regime change during the millions-led Women’s March the day after Trump’s inauguration, a clear (but respectable) sign of dissatisfaction with the current regime by a significant percentage of the population.
No one dared suggest toppling DC after the #J20 protesters on the day of the Inauguration for protesting a little more loudly. In fact, the police kettled and arrested 200 such under false pretenses and have pressured most to either take a plea bargain (granting them a criminal record for either protesting or being adjacent to a protest) or face up to 80 years in prison. Some are still in jail or awaiting trial.
What country raised the possibility of invading the US during any of the Fight for $15 minimum wage demonstrations? These were longer, and involved tens of thousands of people, many literally leaving their work place during hours. And while several municipalities raised their minimum wages (after decades of stagnation), several states made it impossible for cities and counties to increase the minimum wage–despite the fact that cost-of-living substantially rise in urban areas and thus states should not be in charge of determining what is and is not livable. Missouri Republicans, for instance, forced St Louis to reduce the minimum wage by 20%! This was clearly a repressive state action. But again, silence.
Speaking of St Louis, where were the regime change callers when the Black Lives Matter protests kicked off? Thousands of oppressed people took to the streets demanding justice in the criminal justice system and its attendant policing. While the justice system started making minor accommodations to their demands, the current administration has worked overtime to turn back those concessions and several states have introduced bills that make it perfectly legal to run over protesters. Clearly, Black Lives do not matter to this regime.
But, if anything, the US is ignoring long-standing protests in South Korea against the US’s military presence and impending war.
Meanwhile, the US has given millions of dollars to support the right-wing government in Honduras, which killed dozens of protesters recently. When the Washington-backed President Juan Orlando Hernández was accused of rigging the elections in his favor, thousands took to the street. Dozens were killed, most directly by the narco military police units. In one scene, a group of unarmed protesters were shot down by the police who would tell the world that their victims were shooting back at them and thus they had no choice.
Relatives of the dead say they fear that there will be no justice over post-election violence: some say they have been threatened by troops; others point out that human rights prosecutions involving security forces are overseen by the same task force that helps coordinate [military police] operations.
North Korea at least is acting in a defensive position. Who does the US have to prove itself to? Who is threatening to destroy our entire country? What nation in the world has ever wiped off one-fifth of our people? (Not counting the original inhabitants because then the answer would be the United States.)
Who knew our president would use classic Orientalist tropes about Asian male sexuality IN A FUCKING TWEET?
South Korea (the Republic of Korea) began negotiating talks with the DPRK without US input. This angered Trump and Nikki Haley because it’s important for US interests (including Abe’s Japan) to make it look like Kim and the DPRK are unhinged and would never compromise; as if North Korea were the one making threats, despite all evidence to the contrary.
When the negotiations between North and South Korea to start talks began leaking, all of the US media focused on how divisive this would be, how it will end badly (for who?), and how Trump is taking credit (despite the fact that Nikki Haley just yesterday distanced the administration from the talks).
The United States’ two biggest allies in the Middle East do not allow for protests. It is illegal in Israel to display the Palestinian flag, and a group of more than five protesters is also violently prohibited. And we all know about the extensive human rights abuses in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Israel prevents movement in Gaza and shoots Palestinians trying to get away on boats. But you never hear of politicians condemning Israel or the KSA the way they do the DPRK and Iran.
If, however (and hear me out, please), Iran had a nuclear arsenal, the Trump administration would be much more likely to heed caution as they’re doing irt: North Korea.
There are some times when I truly wish that Trump actually was a stooge for Putin and Russia.
Meanwhile, in a country we’ve already conquered (my ancestral homeland): So far, at least one thousand Puerto Ricans have died and millions more at still at high-risk, without regular clean water or electricity as a result of Hurricane Maria and the US’s abysmal response. Clearly, we do not have a good track record of supporting our colonies², so why should we have a right to talk to or about Iran or Korea?
¹ In what the Washington Post dubbed the Fourth Best State of the Union Address ever.
² Yes, that is the point of colonialism, after all….
Posted in empire, Justice, racism Tagged DPRK, iran, Korea, socialism 6 Comments
Thanksgiving, the National Myth-Making
Posted on November 23, 2017 by jasdye
Thanksgiving is a collective remembering of a national myth. National myths are ahistorical stories that we retell over and over to and about ourselves as a people.
While they may be ahistorical, as though they didn’t happen in a specific time and date and place, national myths are important. They help preserve culture, connections, and kinship and help guard against those things that tear us apart. They can be a bulwark against oppression and suppression, ways of remembering the best of ourselves when the world and empire strike against us. The Torah, for example, is a national myth about Hebrew and Jewish people and their identity that often sets them apart and unique, even as many of the stories are adapted from local myths and legends and then reframed for a different context, a people who imagined themselves differently. Indigenous people throughout the world celebrate and remember national myths. The Iroquois had myths that the Puritans considered dangerous in their encounters. Schools were established to “Kill the Indian and save the Man” by driving out Hopi, Sioux, and other indigenous languages, customs and myths. So recalling those myths are important resistance to white settler colonialism.
We’re very familiar with the dangerous side of national myths, however, such as Hitler’s regurgitation the National Myth of Germany through Wagner, Nietzsche, and antisemitic and racist tropes. And the National Myth of the United States being founded as a paragon of freedom and liberty is especially pernicious in the face that its Founding Fathers denied women the right to vote and held black people as literal pieces of property.
But it is more important what we do with our national myths and whether we are willing to interrogate them, especially if, like in the States, it is one of genocide and chattel slavery disguised as kindness and civilization.
Thanksgiving as a whole has its moments. It is a time to spend with family–whether biological or chosen or a mix of both–and a time to practice gratitude, which can be revolutionary in an atmosphere of consumption. But then it’s followed by a day expressly for the purpose of hyper-consumptive capitalism. It’s no mistake then that the main mythos narrative of Thanksgiving is of settler colonialism.
The narrative of a friendly dinner with the natives is a ritualized hand-off of the land and its bounties from the original occupants to the settlers, who now rightfully belong. How fitting that dinner is situated around a land-occupying sport like American football with one of the teams named the Cowboys–another powerful settler-colonial myth about the rugged Anglo individual who tames the Wild West and vanquishes the savage American Indian. It’s also telling that next week, the Cowboys will be playing the Redsk*ns, a specifically genocidal slur against American Indians.
I would argue it is time to confront, rather than run from, what this national remembrance means. To interrogate it as Jewish people do the Torah. To recognize the role it has played in our society and how we use it to erase and murder Native peoples here. And then to set about to make corrections.
Posted in Justice, racism, Uncategorized Tagged indigenous, mascotry, settler colonialism, Thanksgiving Leave a comment
Whattaboutism & Chicago
“What About Chicago” is a widely-used bait/distraction from rightwingers and racists whenever the topics of systemic, codified racism and legalized murder of Black people is brought up. It’s also brought up when we talk about gun control, but we’ll get to that issue later. While the Whataboutism is a derailment meant to throw off the stinging critique of racist state and corporate violence, I see the two issues as intricately connected. Those who ask what Black Lives Matter activists and those of us concerned about systemic violence are doing about Chicago interpersonal violence don’t really care, but I’ll answer anyway: We’re tackling systemic, state-sponsored and economic violence as a means of tackling interpersonal violence. For me, that includes mass political education about socialism—and its localized counterpart, reparations—which is a means to achieve justice in my and other communities on Chicago’s West and South Sides.
Socialism is the owning of the means of production of labor by the workers. Capitalism, what we live under now, is the owning of the means of production by the investors and industrialists (aka, the non-workers) and managed by the managerial class, including bosses, politicians, and police. Since White Supremacy was invented to stabilize, further, and enforce capitalism, the system is by nature racist[1] and sexist. Socialism is, thus, a fundamentally democratic economic and political system that leaves more room to antagonize and confront racism and sexism.
Interpersonal violence is often a manifestation of a lack of holistic actualization and purpose[2] and thus seeks purpose through domestic and street violence, through acts of hyper-masculinity, and through escalation of conflicts. It is severely impacted by living with untreated trauma, such as that of experiencing and witnessing violence up-close and not having the tools to deal with it. This helps create a perpetual cycle of internalized violence and the dealing of it necessitates a strategic restructuring of resources, education, and organization of society. To trust the police and jails to carry the heavy load is counterproductive as they are the first to teach the lesson that violence is a solution to conflict. I suggest that this reorganizing is best done through a socialist prism.
Socialism is broad but pliable and must be applied differently in different contexts through time. It would, by necessity, look different in the context of African Americans within Northern cities than it would for those in rural communities, and both would operate distinct than it would for white people in most of the world. Each region would have to both apply it to its location—its social, economic, and political realities and where the oppressed operate there—to the oppressed and marginalized, and connect it to wider, not just national but international struggles.
In the case of these communities in Chicago, the need for both socialism and a distinct version of socialism are necessitated by a context where the people have relied on underground economies due to racist blocking of conventional economics, have and continue to lose wealth and security through the ravages of anti-black racist subjugation and wage theft, and have been under severe police occupation. African American, Latinx and Indigenous communities are all due a hefty amount of reparations for the heavy monetary, physical, and psychological toll that racialized police enforcement, caging, and generational wage-theft have left. And it is the work of those on-the-ground opposed to interpersonal gun violence to point out these injustices as a means of repairing them.
There are other things that we do, of course. In several neighborhoods, mothers occupy heavy corners so that the police and gangs do not. We have regular walks for peace in the hard-hit areas. And we grieve and we plead. We grieve heavily and we plead hard. The care, the concern, the comforting are never reported on mass media, but poor people and people of color come together in ways that the hyper-individualized WASP culture can never comprehend. But we can only do so much alleviating the symptoms when the disease is all-consuming. We need justice, not band aids. And we certainly don’t need to make it worse by further disrupting communities through more and tougher incarcerations and deportations.
One of the biggest ironies is, however, this notion that policing has nothing to do with interpersonal violence, but when the law breaks down or just doesn’t work for you, you go outside of the law to deal with glitches. Sometimes you have the tools to deal with conflict in reasonable ways, but sometimes you don’t. Developmentally speaking, young people are less likely to have those tools, so it is up to society to ingrain them, to teach them, and to nurture and protect them. Restorative justice is a means of dealing with these conflicts maturely and without throwing away lives for foolish mistakes. So, we must work towards having a restorative justice framework throughout the school and community experience to give students tools and to work away from the prison industrial complex that begins for black and brown children at a very young age, often through the school system.
What we need now, what a locational socialism can give us are full employment and a guaranteed income; fully-invested schools and community hubs; the collectivization of private property into public and personal property as the community and individuals within the community need; free and full access and control of medical care; an end to food disparities and hunger; the decriminalization of people of color which includes the abolition of violent policing, the release of prisoners, and a complete restructuring of the justice and immigration system; the end of colonial and settler colonial wars and a complete destruction of the military industrial complex, out of which the seeds can be utilized for rebuilding areas ravaged by the dogs of war; the fruits of our labor; and a labor system that invests in rather than robs from the material, social, economic, bodily and psychological needs of our communities. If these points sound familiar, it’s because the Black Panther Party outlined these 51 years ago in its Ten Point Platform.
May we give it the time and attention it–and we–so radically deserve.
[1] This is not to say that socialism is an automatic solution to racism, but that it contains tools and has space to institute anti-racist measurements more effectively and fully than capitalism. This post will try to give a brief run-down of some of the ways that socialism intersects with anti-racism, largely through the imagination of anti-racist socialists, leftists, and radicals.
[2] Often those involved in state or privatized violent policing of private property (police, security guards, military, paramilitary, and gang enforcers, for instance) find their purpose in personalized violence and are thus employed by those with private property interests to protect their property first and foremost, at the cost of lives.
Note: This post originally appeared on my Patreon page one month ago. If you support my work through there you can receive tons of exclusive and bonus content, as well as early previews such as this piece and chapters for upcoming books.
Posted in Chicago, racism Tagged antiracism, Black Panther Party, police abolition, socialism Leave a comment
Puerto Rico, Haiti, and the Double-Edged Sword of Racist Environmental Catastrophe
Posted on October 9, 2017 by jasdye
Global warming and its resultant ecological disasters are merely collateral damage to the environmental disaster that is global capitalism. It’s interesting that for decades the mass messaging has been worried about so-called ecoterrorism. But terrorism is a political name of a distinct violence that functionally distracts from the heightened and broad violence that imperialist and capitalist destruction wrought to communities of color. And when it comes to the ecology, this violence is double-edged.
Because, first, the repercussions of ecological damage hit communities of color first, most, and the hardest. We see that in the warming of the Atlantic Ocean and the hurricanes that have devastated the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, rocking hardest the communities of color that have little protection and infrastructure as they are put in harms’ way. We see that in neighborhoods where garbage dumps and smoke stacks are piled and children of color face enhanced lung disease, such as Chicago’s Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods, or Gary, IN, just across the border. In the placement of people of color near toxic dumps or vice versa. In the state of Michigan’s treatment of the water in Flint. People of color are sacrificed to the gods of efficiency because White Supremacy will not allow otherwise.
The second wave that eco-terrorism is wrought in communities of color is that they are then victimized for their survival even as their recovery is dramatically slowed. They are blamed for not leaving beforehand when they have fewer resources to do so. They are qualified as “looters” while white looting is overlooked or sympathized with. Recently, a White news reporter riding atop Houston in a helicopter bragged about calling the police on people of color requisitioning emergency supplies from a shuttered grocery store. We saw this in how Haitians were treated as children by aid agencies and yet, for all their hand-wringing and fund-raising after the earthquake, left to rot by multinational corporations and their NGO wings. Communities of color are given less sympathy and thus less resources with which to alleviate their immediate needs after disasters.
Puerto Rico perfectly encapsulates both ends of this manufactured dilemma. Long before Hurricane Maria came along, the island colony of the US was put in the line of debt and neoliberal privatization to such an effect that it was facing the largest bankruptcy in the history of the US public bond market at $123 billion[1] already back in May of this year, eight times larger than Detroit’s. As a result of this mounting debt and the pressure to pay it off, not only are its beaches being privatized (and thus denied to citizens) and its schools being closed (along with drastic cuts to teacher pay and shutting of other essential services), its infrastructure is sabotaged. The fact that the electrical grid collapsed under the weight of the storm is not due to the negligence of the Puerto Rican people, but to how debt is structured among people of color and the colonized. Haiti had no infrastructure to deal with natural disasters due to its economy being routed towards paying for debts as a two hundred-year punishment for its own Black rebellion against White empire.
By Eric Pancer – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
Racism is not only the reason communities of color like Puerto Rico are more susceptible to environmental disasters, but also the reason their recovery from these catastrophes is trashed. Unlike when the Wall St. banks and lenders were insured by the United States after they destroyed the housing market and countless lives, Puerto Rico, a protectorate of the US, is expected to pay debts it could not before the hurricanes. Its debt racked up under a Democratic president and it’s likely that a Democratic president wouldn’t have fundamentally altered or alleviate it. It just so happens that this openly White Supremacist and tactless president let the cat out of the bag by tweeting—while the island was under water and facing months without electrical power—that its first responsibility is to pay back Wall St. Trump would not only blame the country for its own debt, but then, while failing to give the country the resources it needs for the people’s survival, called them lazy.
Haiti faced similar critiques and was criticized as too poor to prevent or treat the damage left by the earthquake in 2010, yet their blackness and abject poverty were tokenized for fundraising. Thus, even sympathetic aid organizations like Red Cross and the Clinton Foundation neglected or overthrew Haitian input while collecting hundreds of millions of dollars only to leave Haitians little better than before the quake. A Clinton donor, for instance, spent six billion dollars of raised money on building a handful of ‘hurricane-proof’ trailers that left homeless occupants sick from formaldehyde. Nine hundred Haitians died after Hurricane Matthew hit last year. Hillary Clinton, who claimed to be leading the response to the crisis, would as Secretary of State take the side of industrialists seeking to further exploit Haitian workers by working to deny pay increase demands and intervening in their elections. This after George W Bush assisted in a coup of democratically-elected President Aristide, following in his father’s coup of the same in the early 90’s.
We’ve yet to see how NGO’s will react in PR, but we know that banks were offering aid by merely compounding and prioritizing more debt to further consume the country and its public spaces. As a 100 year-old colony of the United States, however, Puerto Rico has very little agency in its own governance and largely relies on the US body politic, an engagement that they have no control over as the island has no representative vote.
To contrast, the neighboring socialist island nation of Cuba—undoubtedly also very poor—takes absolute, comprehensive precautions against these same tropical storms, thus facing significantly fewer lives lost than mainland US even as it takes the brunt end of these hurricanes. The country prioritizes prevention and protecting its most vulnerable people , whereas the capitalist nation state of the US undoubtedly prioritizes debt and economic growth, both at the expense of people of color. Cuba protects personal property, bodies, and affects while it’s clear that the corporations that run the US care only about their private property.
It’s about priorities, and global capitalism is perpetual war against communities of color.
[1] Nine times the size of Detroit, which then became another colony for the White ruling class to do with as they pleased.
Posted in environment, Justice, racism Tagged capitalism, climate change, clinton foundation, cuba, debt, ecological terror, global capitalism, global poverty, Haiti, Puerto Rico, socialism, trump Leave a comment
Back in the DPRK; You Don’t Know How Lucky You Be
Posted on August 16, 2017 by jasdye
North Korea, or as it’s officially known, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), has been living as a war zone for the last 60+ years. It has undergone a genocidal project begun when the US bombed and wiped away a fifth of the population and continuing under increasing efforts to sanction it to oblivion by the UN Security Council and the US. The country, its peoples, and its leaders have been the constant butt of racist demagoguery within the United States media (you can see that clearly in comedies such as Team America: World Police and The Interview). And the mass media — the same people who gave us Trump and then lamented when he turned on them — has been fever-pitch promoting all-out war with the country for basically trying to defend itself with a handful of nuclear bombs (with limited range). Now Kim Jong Un has threatened to bomb Guam, a colony of the United States with a large military presence (large as in it accounts for 1/3 of the island, 10% of the population but leaves no revenue for the island country) if the US continues to press it.
The United States can destroy the world several times over with its range of bombs and has actually detonated a couple on top of large civilian centers. Who has or is holding us accountable? We are literally the World’s Police. American Exceptionalism in foreign policy also means we cannot try Trump for the war crimes he’s already committed and is now brazenly threatening. Thanks Obama!
Robert Jeffres, the tyrant of First Baptist Church of Dallas and pastor to the tyrants, suggested that God has ordained Trump to take out Kim Jung Un. But what if–and hear me out here–what if it’s the other way around? What if God has ordained Kim to take out Trump?
While we’re infused in propaganda on every side (and without a doubt, the DPRK engages in some nasty propfiction as well) genocidal propaganda is the worst and needs to be countered the most. The idea that Kim Jong Un is hell-bent on unilaterally striking the US or our allies is one such piece of blatant agitprop that must be shut down in any and all directions. As long as it is allowed to pulse through mass media, in bedrooms and boardrooms, and especially in both houses of horrors, then we are responsible for the deaths of upwards of 25,370,000 human beings and every animal within the realm of the DPRK–not to mention other regional casualties such as in South Korea (Republic of Korea – ROK) or those who suffer due to promised retaliation. This after being largely responsible for the deaths of 20% of the North Korean population after our desire to wipe communism from the entire peninsula.
Retaliation isn’t the key word, as it makes it sound as if Kim and the leadership of the DPRK are merely pissy and violent by nature, but it hints at the uneven power dynamics here. The United States is the only country in the world that operates on a Strike First platform. It regularly performs -either directly through its military or indirectly through its intelligence and backdoor negotiations- coups and regime changes throughout the world. It also has a thousand times the nuclear weapons that the DPRK has.
Speaking of CIA agitprop, regime changes, wars of aggression in Asia, and Dick pics…
However, the US has historically and currently talked about its nuclear arsenal in terms of protection and last-option alternative, as a measure of prevention. And for whatever reason, the world rarely questions it. Yet, here is Kim saying the same exact thing, but without the rampaging, world-conquering history that the United States has, and it’s reported in Western media as if he’s crazy and ready to blow up your grandma and her doggy if they look at him funny.
But it’s not Kim who ordered a Tomahawk missile strike on Syria, killing hundreds of civilians, under completely false pretenses. It’s not Kim who was unquestionably praised and “finally became our president” when he killed those families by the same press telling us Kim is unhinged and dangerous. And it’s not the DPRK that sold weapons and gives complicit support to Saudi Arabia in its decimation of Yemen, killing tens of thousands. So why in tf’ing world would anybody trust the US, let alone Donald J Trump on this, but not the DPRK and Kim Jong Un?
If nepotism is your answer, pfft. Like the US isn’t run by the nepotist class? At this point, the entire discussion by US pundits and politicians is nothing more than an unsolicited d*ck pick, but with far more dangerous ramifications. Get on the phone and tell your senators to put that thing away.
Note: This essay was first published in two separate entries last week on my new Patreon page. If you want news you can use when you can use it, check it out and put it in your regular rotation. And consider becoming a subscriber. For between as little as $3-5 a month, you can have exclusive access to new long form essays, poems, chapters from upcoming books and entire books!
Posted in politics, racism Tagged american exceptionalism, Donald Trump, kim jong un, missile crisis, regime change 2 Comments
Affirmative Gutting
Posted on August 2, 2017 by jasdye
Four initial thoughts on the efforts of the Jeff Sessions-led Justice Department to end collegiate Affirmative Action practices:
1) I know that liberals spent the last few weeks defending Sessions from getting fired by Donald J. Megalomaniac in order to defend both the ongoing Russian investigation and, probably more centrally, some sense of order and precedence in the White House cabinet. True, perhaps we’ll get further on the Russia investigation with Sessions protecting Mueller, et al, then we would if the AG post became a revolving door. And maybe, after a while, the trade off will be worth it just to see Trump packing his bags and the GOP panicking. But the way that Sessions acts while at the head of the single most powerful policing and legal agency in the world doesn’t give me any hope that any investigation into Trump will stand anyway, let alone that anything of value will come about from it. Furthermore, any chance for any procedural decorum is clearly out the window in Mar-A-Lago & McConnell’s stints. Democrats wasted opportunities to blow through filibusters when Obama was in office thinking they could use the procedure when they become the minority power, and to what end? Perhaps we’d be better off with no Attorney General than to stick with Jeff Klansmans.
2) Remember that Trump, like Bushie before him, is a legacy child. Affirmative Action doesn’t mean shit to people who’ve been born into wealth, into connections, into the racist family business. If Affirmative Action is truly a threat to the Myth of Meritocracy, then why are these legacies and inheritances not? Could it be that the Meritocratic Myth is simply a manifestation of and protectorate of White Supremacy and Capitalism? Maybe it’s time to acknowledge that property and trust funds should not be handed down to children of wealthy people; the kids didn’t earn that. They should go out into the world with a clean slate like the rest of us poor suckers and make their own way. Maybe, in fact, we should begin this process at birth. Since over one-fifth of all children live in poverty in the United States, it’s not fair that Barron Trump got to shit in gold lame diapers while 400,000 innocent children are placed in foster homes. Send him to the streets to earn his keep!
3) In the post Black Wall St era, the best hope for build-up for Black and Latinx wealth has been through AA programs–not just in college acceptance but in hiring. But then those programs began to be gutted under Reagan and both Bushes, particularly under their judges, and Black wealth subsided. The Republican administrations and legislators also worked to kill federal unions, where the Black middle class was rising. The demolition of welfare under Republican and neoliberal Democratic administrations then took the bottom out of poverty. In fact, this notion that somehow Trump is a different breed of Republican is fully repulsive. He and his are merely trying to finish what their heroes got primed. He’s following the business ethos that Reagan and Thatcher pushed to its logical conclusion: Always Be Closing.
4) If anything, this final swig at Affirmative Action demonstrates we need full-on socialism and reparations anyway. Universal preschools and daycare, guaranteed income, an infrastructure that reaches to the working and permanent underclass, abolition of debt and prisons… It’d also be nice if we can stop relying on prestigious college education to be the determiner of worth.
Posted in Justice, racism, socialism, Uncategorized Tagged affirmative action, Reagan, Sessions, socialism, trump, wealth Leave a comment
“Food Is a Weapon”
Posted on January 31, 2017 by jasdye
From theologian James Cone’s The Black Church and Marxism: What Do They Have to Say to Each Other? (paper delivered in 1980):
I have been convinced that the black church cannot remain silent regarding socialism, because such silence will be interpreted by our Third World brothers and sisters as support for the capitalistic system which exploits the poor all over this earth.
For example, between 25,000 and 50,000 people die each day from starvation, a cause that is directly related to the persistence of national and international economic orders that foster distorted development. The former secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz, well known for his racial slurs, said it bluntly: “Food is a weapon. It is now one of the principal tools of our negotiating kit.”
From a Rolling Stone story covering the Republican National Convention in 76, while Earl Butz was still Secretary of Agriculture (content note for racist/sexist remarks):
Pat [Boone] posed a question: “John and I were just discussing the appeal of the Republican party. It seems to me that the party of Abraham Lincoln could and should attract more black people. Why can’t that be done?” This was a fair question for the secretary, who is also a very capable politician.
“I’ll tell you why you can’t attract coloreds,” the secretary proclaimed as his mischievous smile returned. “Because colored only wants three things. You know what they want?” he asked Pat.
Pat shook his head no; so did I.
“I’ll tell you what coloreds want. It’s three things: first, a tight pussy; second, loose shoes; and third, a warm place to shit. That’s all!”
Pat gulped twice.
Butz resigned a few days after calls were made for his head, but he claimed he did it on his own (that seems unlikely) and that he did nothing wrong.
A few thoughts on reading these:
Remember that Pat Boone was himself a nice racist, hired to whitewash the Race Music (as in, Rhythm & Blues and early Rock N Roll that sounded too black) for the innocent White Christian kids across America.
Butz clearly outlined his racial animosity, and did so to a reporter and a famous musician. In the open. At a national convention. In the post-Civil Rights era. Don’t think that it isn’t still happening. Paul Ryan may be more careful about his views now, but he’s still racially animositic; in large part because class warfare is his life.
Butz was in control of food and production as a kind of supermanager of agrarian companies. What does it mean to black and brown farmers and consumers to have a white racist in charge of food supply and farming justice in the Land of Plenty? Why did it take a directly racist comment to get him fired when he admitted elsewhere that he’d use food as a weapon?
Butz was hired by Nixon and stayed under Ford. Until this article spread, no one deemed it fit to question how he operated, only what he said when they were dirty jokes.
George W Bush, Reagan and Nixon had a lot of the same characteristics of the Illegitimate President of the United States, but with some charm and/or intelligence and, by degrees only, humility. Many of the safeguards that Trump has taken out or will take out were already proposed or committed by the earlier three. What now is different besides the degree and the speed to which he’s taking it? What sets “p*ssy grabber” apart from Reagan who defunded family planning globally and domestically? I’m convinced that language plays a big part of it. Language and bluster.
Like Butz, Trump has no shame. None. Don’t expect Trump to go willingly, either. And since he has no shame and is a blundering racist, sexist, classist idiot, he’s a perfect cover for Republicans who can always say that they were forced to follow Trump, even though they’re informing him and using his bluster as a cover. Expect Medicaid and Food Stamps to be cut, with or without Trump’s blessing. Because food is a weapon.
Posted in Justice, politics, racism, Uncategorized Tagged capitalism, Donald Trump, food justice, james cone, socialism Leave a comment
Radical Muslim Dudes!
In light of the recent extreme acts of the Illegitimate President of the United States of America, I’m thinking of how awful the terms “radical Muslim” and the related term, “radicalized Muslim” are. As a linguist and writer, I’m concerned about words and how they’re handled and understood. Words are symbols and so they mean whatever (social and psychological) power we give them, but words then hold that power and dispense that power. The power of a term such as “radical Muslims” – highlighted by its use in Trump’s defense of his Executive Order banning immigrants from Muslim majority countries – is phenomenal and changes how people not only see, but think about and then act on a group of people.
The word radical generally means “getting to the roots of.” This is at least how many self-avowed Leftist Americans (such as myself) read it. Of course that is not the predominant reading, that largely being somewhat negative and dismissive of activists, due in no small party to American acquiescence to passivity in relation to the status quo. In all of these understandings is a kind of root: That a radical really believes and believes very strongly. Also note when it is used–rarely for something that is considered the norm. We never hear the phrase “radical capitalist” as America and Britain are very radical and devout in their relation to the economic theory. Rather we tend to hear the phrase attached to something that is outside the norm. “Radical communist”. “Radical integrationalist” during the height of Jim Crow and “radical segregationalist” afterward. “Radical pacifist” during war time.
The term is often worn as a badge of honor, the bravery of going against the norms of society. The fundamentalist branches of Christianity that I spent most of my life in loved to be called “radical Christians”. “X Church trains up radical, fanatical Christians” was the motto from one of my churches for a couple years. Radical for Jesus was a way to live, to celebrate an insular community. Christian, Fundamentalist, Born-Again, Bible-Believer, Jesus Freak. A very popular Christian music song from the rap-pop band DC Talk put it, “What would people say if they found out I’m a Jesus freak?” Fundamentalist Christians, radical Christians, should not be afraid or ashamed of proclaiming their beliefs despite a seemingly hostile word. In the US, they were never criminalized nor extradited for stating these beliefs, but that’s what it is..
DC Talk then used the popularity of the song to sell a hip version of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs for the teenage church. The radical Christian is the real, true Christian who is then persecuted by the world for following the real God. This is interpreted as a positive thing. The problem then isn’t so much the word “radical” but what it is modifying.
As one of my Facebook friends reiterated this phrase “radical Muslim terrorists” on my wall, I can’t help but notice the spread of that specific phrase used by Trump. IPOTUS himself picked it up from its reiteration by the Islamophobic industry before him (which helped propel him to political prominence both through his Birther controversy and then through his Islamophobic comments throughout the campaign) and has spread it like wildfire.
The stigma of the term is now connected insolubly with all those who observe, practice, or are even near Islam, its language, its practices, its appearances.
The term “Islamic radical” assumes that there is something inherently wrong with Islam. Or, more to the point, something wrong with Muslims. Muslims thus are viewed as positive in White Western eyes only in as much as they don’t really believe in Islam (New Atheists have long called non-fundamentalist Muslims “fake Muslims”; believing as Wahhabis do that there is only one legitimate form of Islam. This view does injustice to historical and current Muslims and Islam). And as much as Muslims accrue to Western modes of activity. This view erases Muslim feminism, Muslim liberation, Muslim science and whitewashes Western societies savageries of genocide, hyper-masculinity, and capitalist war-mongering, for starters.*
Islam is seen to be inherently dangerous in itself, despite the fact that it is as large and as diverse as Christianity, that it has many different forms, that most of what we recognize as “radical Islam” such as Wahhabism and related sects are post-modern, illiterate takes on a pre-modern religion and thus stripping it of its historical roots and valid interpretationsto promote a much more violent, reactionary and hyper-masculine version of the religion–not unlike the Fundamentalist Christianity of Jerry Falwell and Franklin Graham. The comparisons don’t end there, either. Wahhabism teaches that whoever does not follow its version of Islam is damned, whether or not they were Muslims. Much as the Bible churches I grew up in believed that only those who believed as they do were saved from hell.
True Islam is not represented by the so-called Islamic State any more than the Ku Klux Klan represents true Christianity. In fact, these are not the sole faces of their respective religions, but only relatively small variants therein. The rest of Islam and Christianity should not be refracted through them, but only inasmuch as they differ from their more violent messages.*
Realizing how powerful and dangerous this linguistic term is is important not just against the standard Islamophobe, but against the entrenched Islamophobia, or rather Muslimphobia that is mainstreamed in standard Euro-American discourse and policy. Because if we’re being honest, this ostracizing, expulsion, and detention of American citizens and workers merely due to the predominant religion of their national origins (regardless of their desire to be US citizens) is making militarized versions of Islam more palatable to those being ostracized.
Maybe what we’re talking about isn’t Radical Muslims but Militarized Muslims. After all, the US and its allies are pushing militancy upon Muslim communities with the hyper-surveillance, the drone warfare, the police raids, the anti-Muslim rhetoric, the nearly-universal suspicion. The turning away and detentions. This racist militancy by the United States, by European allies, and especially by the neo-fascists such as UK’s PM May, French pol Le Pen, and our own Illegitimate One work to create a reaction of entrapment that will be worth all the trouble of breaking international treaties because, LOOK MUSLIMS DOING BAD THINGS! never mind the fact that we forced them into that situation.
It’s the self-fulfilling prophecy of the Never-ending War on Terror. Muslims do bad things because we expect them to and then force their hands until a small segment of them breaks off to do bad things. If only we had ended this racist, fake war eight years ago when we had the chance to.
*I know that some reader somewhere is going to get the idea to tell me that The Muslims did and do all these horrific things, etc, etc. Yes, they are human. Yes, they were involved in wars and empire-building and slave trades of their own. This isn’t a zero-sum game.
**As a Christian, I’m well aware of portions of mainstream White Evangelicalism that readily connect to theologies that the Klan practiced. It does not delegitimize Christianity as a whole, but helps to pinpoint how theological practices can remain in pockets and cause violence.
Posted in Christianity, Justice, racism, Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, Islamophobia, militancy, radicalism 4 Comments
Luke, Caged: The Joy of Black Love and the Agony of Police Reform
Lemme start this spoiler-filled review/hotpiece with the following caveat: I love superhero shows in general. Marvel/Netflix’s Luke Cage was good in most respects. While some reviewers worry about the conservative nature of Cage, you have to take into account that Power Man was no more going after “black-on-black” crime than Daredevil goes after “white-on-white” crime. By nature, superhero stories are inherently conservative in that they focus on the power of a select group of people fighting evil people (who tend to be poor, at least on the street level), rather than fighting evil structures, and rather than focusing the liberation and radical empowerment of the many. In this vein, LC is not any more so conservative than Superman, Batman, or Spider-Man, and in many ways, much less so.
A few other thoughts I had while watching the series.
One, in the Black Lives Matter Age, there is a lot of talk about Black Death, particularly among fellow non-Black folks, but there is not so much talk about Black Life and what that means. The Harlem of Luke Cage, however, is unapologetically Black. It is breathing in the blues, jazz, hip-hop, sports-talk, trash-talk, barbershops, and shared history of Black people in Harlem and throughout the US. The show breathes love of Black people, Black business, Black culture, Black minds, Black ingenuity, Black sex (despite the awful coffee jokes). Black love. These are not just bodies in the street, but lived lives.
Add to the mix that the blackness experience is not singular here. Early on, we have three different perspectives for what it means to love Black Harlem in a White Supremacist Capitalist world: Cottonmouth’s with money, his cousin Councilwoman Mariah’s with political power, and Pop the Barber’s with interpersonal relationships (later we also hear from good-but-suspicious cop Misty Knight about protecting from bullies using the law, but, well…). Unlike later villain Diamondback, none of these characters is cartoonish in their perspectives. They all have redeeming qualities not only with their personalities, but also with their perspectives. They’re all trying with what they know and how they exceed.
Two, after the police conduct a racialized stop-and-frisk brutalization of Harlem youth culminating in one of them being beaten in an interrogation room, I felt abjectly cheated. There was no justice for Lonnie Wilson – who we mutedly met in the first scenes – despite his face being torn up and bloodied by the police. And while that one cop – a bad seed – was put on leave pending an investigation, the commanders and supervisors who ran and sanctioned this operation and who left this child alone in the hands of this violent man in a tight room were free to run about their day, making justifications for their racism.
Three, under the direction of Councilwoman Mariah Dillard at a rally in her nightclub, the BLM protests are completely undone. No, contrary to White imagination, they do not turn violent – at least in the sense of destroying property. Instead, politician-cum-underworld master “Black Mariah” turns their rage against the police force into one of empowering the police with even more deadly weapons. She reminds her audience that the real threat is not the police but Cage, whom in a bit of J. Jonah Jameson-inspired blurb she calls a superpowered “menace.” Councilwoman/gun-runner Dillard appeases the conscience of racist police by reassuring listeners that the police were merely shook up themselves because they too were afraid of LC. If only they had better weapons, the reasoning explicitly goes, they would leave us good people alone.
But that’s not how the police referred to the “blacks and Hispanics” of Harlem. “The good people in Harlem have no problem with me. Just the assholes.” But the police weren’t even shaking down known troublemakers (which should have been questioned anyway). Apparently, being a young black or brown male in Harlem makes you an asshole, worthy of being hurt. Blackness means not only should you be feared, but that you should fear.
By nature, superhero stories suspend disbelief. But only so far. We can never trust the physics put before us, but we want to follow the psychics – the characters’ believability – of these stories. We need to believe that these are human beings – that they are us in a world where Einstein and Newton are tossed out the window. The fact that these protesters sided with Mariah in arming rather than disarming the police was not just poor writing – it was a punch to the gut. Are people really this dumb? Can we bend realism that far?
Can a group protesting police brutality against black people really go to demanding that the police be given more resources for their victimization? And then I remembered that’s how most politicians are spinning the Black Lives Matter movement now – whether they support Blue Lives Matter laws or they tell protesters that they need to vote, not boo. Hell, compare what the neoliberal wing of the wider BLM movement did with Campaign Zero with the much more roots-deep Movement for Black Lives.
Posted in Justice, racism, reviews, Uncategorized Tagged #blacklivesmatter, black life, Luke Cage, music, neoliberalism, television, violence Leave a comment
What Is a Microaggression in the Era of Black Death?
Posted on July 6, 2016 by jasdye
A few days ago, I noticed one of the trending topics on Facebook was a story about a Black actress who tweeted something after getting a patronizing greeting while boarding her flight in first class. I recognized it as a microaggression on the part of the employee, but I thought it was not just petty for that employee to respond in such a way, but also petty for the actor to tweet about it, and petty for it to become a trending topic.
I’ve lately been caught up in the political measures and actions that disproportionately and devastatingly affect material realities for people and communities of color, particularly poor ones. The ways that Midwestern governors are stripping the social safety net on a daily basis. The Blue Lives Matter law when the practice of police lynchings of black people has become public. The recent gutting of the Fourth Amendment by five of eight Supreme Court Justices. Using capitalist-style competition (which is not how the Capitalist Class operates but merely how they have us operate) to dismantle and destroy public schools in Detroit and, frankly, everywhere else. Islamophobic police strip searches. Pre-crime policing of black and brown youth in Chicago. The Puerto Rican debt crisis. The fact that gun control is being used to further police and surveil Muslim and Muslim-misidentified communities and people.
These stories were not trending on Facebook.
And this isn’t even hinting at the militarization of security at airports that targets people of color and people with disabilities.
And so I continued the trend of pettiness and surpassed the previous levels of petty pettiness by posting the story and pettily adding the petty lines “BFD” [“Big Fucking Deal”] and “*rolls eyes*”. A friend confronted me on it, and I’m grateful to her because it re-grounded me.
I had to confront what in me (outside of just a crappy mood for personal reasons) positioned me to such pettiness. Part of it was the material realities outlined above. But then there were three other takeaways as well:
While microaggressions themselves may seem minor, a thousand papercuts are lethal, and dozens take their exhaustive toll on an already-exhausted public body.
The metaphor is reality. I say this as an English teacher and as a student of society and racial realities. In this case, the metaphor denying and policing space for People of Color is intricately connected to the public and societal policies denying and policing space for People of Color. A black woman feels a patronizing slight against her having a seat in first class? Look into who tends to occupy those seats; they are rarely black people. While the employee may not have intended to send the message that Danielle Brooks doesn’t belong in the luxury portion of the airplane*, that is still the message. A White Christian makes a joke about a Muslim woman being a suicide bomber, but it’s a joke get it – no harm done! Except that the harm is done and that is to publicly police private people whenever and wherever the State and corporations have yet to exclude, detain, or kill them. In point of fact, the whole Donald Trump campaign is wish-fulfillment to turn microaggressions into public, perpetual policies.
This one is just a reminder for me and all the other white (and white-passing) people: I don’t experience racial microaggressions** so maybe I should be reverential around the issue?
*Intentions are often a red herring that center the story back on white people and their presumed innocence rather than on the system of White Supremacy and how it daily affects people of color
**Being called “white ass” in grade school and having people stare me down in my own neighborhood because I don’t look like I belong doesn’t really count. While they happen, they’re far too infrequent to be at the level of irritant and they are not connected to, say, lynchings or redlining, respectively.
Posted in Justice, racism, Uncategorized Tagged #blacklivesmatter, blue lives matter law, debt crisis, fourth amendment, gun control, Islamophobia, policing, politics, poverty, Puerto Rico, racism, SCOTUS, Strieff, white supremacy Leave a comment
Land, Dispersal, and Culture without People
Posted on June 29, 2016 by jasdye
Gentrification is a social force with its own reasons, justifications, and rules. It is one of the last remaining engines of blatant racism left to prosper openly in Northern and liberal urban areas like Chicago, New York, LA, and Portland. A primary reason for its thriving despite the harm it causes Black and Brown people is that gentrification is an economic powerhouse. But another driving reason is the very fact it harms Black and Brown communities.
That is to say, especially since the 1960’s, we’ve not liked organized poor people. And the one resource that poor people have when the capitalists have stolen our labor power and landlords, taxes, service companies, and mercs have taken what’s left, is organized power. The management political class in our communities do not represent us – they serve other powers, higher powers: namely, organized money. So the greatest wheel-house we have left for political power is the ability to be and the manifestation of being organized. That is how we survive. When people have little else, we depend on each other. Institutions serve their own self-survival needs, so while the poor often have access to institutions, the institutions are not at their beck-and-call; they tend to follow and obey the money. Often, our connection with economic and social institutions is of exploitation. Being very poor is to be marginalized from and within economic and social institutions even when they are ostensibly for our service.
However, if we only asked the city to merely deliver meager social services and fix potholes, the engines and friends at city hall would not mind so much. But when we demand that things be taken care of, that the wheels of justice be churned in our direction, that we receive jobs and programs, that the cops stop harassing and killing our young ones, that our parks are maintained, that our schools are furnished, lit, full of trained, positive teachers, books, and toilet paper, then the city, being first and foremost an extension of the bourgeoisie, aim to destroy our mechanisms of power and protest. That is to say, our communities.
We can of course afford to resource the communities after People of Color leave it*, but to do so while they reside here is to use government coffers.That, to neoliberals, would be too much welfare. Apparently, investing in communities is only ok if done with private money backed by public funds when there is private money to be made. That way, money stays fluid and can be detached from communities. As liberal economist Paul Krugman put it while talking about Puerto Rico recently (emphasis mine):
The safety net is there to protect people, not places. If a regional economy is left stranded by the shifting tides of globalization, well, that’s going to happen now and then. What’s important is that workers be able to find opportunities somewhere, and that those unable for whatever reason to take advantage of these opportunities be protected from extreme hardship.
[h/t to Rod Thomas for the find]
Of course this understanding erases place and the reality of a people connected to that place. It removes land from community and community from land.
For Puerto Rico, this is troubling for many reasons. While Puerto Ricans from the mid-20th century until currently have tended to migrate continuously between the island (colony) and the mainland (colonizer) – with my neighborhood Humboldt Park being a mainstay in the ever-transition – Puerto Rico is rightly considered home to most BorinquenXs. Their current debt crisis is a divestment leading to an undoing of the collective, spiritual home while gentrification was a divestment that lead to an undoing of the communitative, material home.
So, land of poor communities can not be protected, thus poor communities cannot be either. Somehow we can protect the people without protecting their communities. This is White Neoliberal Thought in action.
But not only that, we’ve learned we can also keep the legacy of the cultures of people of color alive, while at the same time killing off the communities of people of color. We can in effect maintain Latin-American drinks at prices most LatinXs cannot afford in an area currently swiping itself clean of LatinXs.
MUCH LATIN! via Chicago Eatery
According to hyper local site DNAinfo/Chicago, “Estereo Bringing Latin-American Drinks, Vibe To Logan Square.” This is a very nice gesture from the same restaurant group that brought us such authentically LatinX restaurants as “Sportsman’s Club, Lone Wolf, Bar DeVille and Pub Royale among others” as Logan Square (adjacent to Humboldt Park) is running out of Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, and various other LatinXs/Latin-Americans. I mean, what kind of vibe do LatinXs produce in their own space anyway, rite?
What this story and location eventually reminded me of was the habit of Indian mascotry, where American sports corporations, capitalists and fans claim to “honor the legacy” of Native Americans while parading around as cartoon versions of Natives. Meanwhile, actual, human Natives live in abject poverty on ‘trust’ lands overseen by the US government. These topics are not in the least unrelated.
The Homestead Act gave collective Indian land to private, White citizens of the United States. The way they were able to maintain this control and keep this control for White Supremacist Capitalism is by erasing all other people from ownership of the land.
LatinXs and Black Americans have “culture” that White America can mine while stealing their work power, detaining them, and dispersing them like riot police. Effective redlining, mass incarceration, immigration raids and sending back refugee children to their imminent deaths are only a part of the tactic. What does it mean that Black and Brown Americans always have worked the land but rarely own the land? When they do own land, they are dispersed from it via gentrification.
American Empire continually steals Indian lands. Think of pipelines and water rights. Think of the lack of sovereignty of Indian spaces. Meanwhile its inhabitants and corporations steal Indian “culture” (How many folks say their great-grandmother is half-Cherokee and spout ridiculous “Indian” chants? The ‘sexy Indian’ costume) and turn a people into mythological cartoons and costumes.
And it’s not just conservatives, sports fans, and Dan Snyder that do this racist mascotry.
Gentrification – retaining cultural elements while destroying or erasing the community that it is situated from – is consuming to destroy. It is a win-win for racist capitalism: consuming of land and cultures of color and an assassination of communities of color.
Gentrification is cultural genocide.
A different argument should be made for white rural areas that were jutted after mining. It’s a different engine itself and looks and works differently, but some of the same factors are in play. In this case, public resources stripped for private profit and delivered to public consumption using wage slave labor. And, now what?
Posted in Justice, racism, Uncategorized Tagged Chicago, communities of color, dnainfo, Estereo, gentrification, housing, Krugman, LA, New York City, Portland, Puerto Rico 3 Comments
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PDF2 PDF |Add To My Favorites |Track Bill | Version: 05/17/19 - Amended Senate 04/10/19 - Amended Senate 02/21/19 - Introduced
SB-499 School meals: California-Grown for Healthy Kids Program.(2019-2020)
Track Bill
Amended IN Senate May 17, 2019
Amended IN Senate April 10, 2019
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
Introduced by Senator McGuire
(Coauthor: Senator Wiener)
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry)
An act to amend Section 42238.01 of, and to add Article 11.7 (commencing with Section 49567) to Chapter 9 of Part 27 of Division 4 of Title 2 of, the Education Code, relating to school meals.
SB 499, as amended, McGuire. School meals: California-Grown for Healthy Kids Program.
(1) Existing law establishes a public school financing system that requires state funding for school districts and charter schools to be calculated pursuant to a local control funding formula, as specified. Existing law requires funding pursuant to the local control funding formula to include, in addition to a base grant, supplemental and concentration grant add-ons that are based on the percentage of pupils who are English learners, foster youth, or eligible for free or reduced-price meals, as specified, served by the school district or charter school. Existing law authorizes schools participating in certain federal school meals programs to establish a base year for purposes of calculating the number of pupils at the school who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals by determining each pupil’s eligibility status in that base year and using that number to report eligibility for up to each of the following 3 school years.
This bill would additionally allow schools participating in those federal school meals programs to establish a base year by carrying over the number of pupils at the school who were eligible for free or reduced-price meals from the school year in which the school applied to use a federal universal school meal provision.
(2) Existing law requires a school district or county superintendent of schools maintaining a kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to provide a needy pupil, as defined, one nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price meal during each schoolday, and authorizes the school district or county superintendent of schools to use funds available from any federal or state school meals program to comply with that requirement. Existing law authorizes certain educational entities that participate in the federal School Breakfast Program, commencing with the 2019–20 fiscal year, to provide universal breakfast, as specified.
This bill would establish the California-Grown for Healthy Kids Program, administered by the State Department of Education, to increase the provision of universally free school meals made with fresh, California-grown fruits and vegetables. The bill would require fresh, California-grown fruits and vegetables provided pursuant to the program to be provided free of charge to all pupils. The bill, contingent upon an appropriation made for these purposes, would make a school food authority, as defined, that meets specified requirements, including that it makes universally free school breakfast available in all schoolsites and provides universally free breakfast and lunch to all pupils in very high poverty schools, eligible to receive supplemental funding of $0.10 per breakfast served.
The bill would authorize a school food authority to combine funding received pursuant to the program with other public or private funding sources to ensure that fresh, California-grown fruits or vegetables, or both, are provided to pupils. The bill would require, as a condition of receipt of funds pursuant to the program, a schoolsite to offer nutrition education activities and provide pupils with culturally appropriate meals.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) Given the longlasting and negative impacts of childhood nutritional deprivation, ending child hunger is critical for the state of California.
(2) Pupils cannot learn when they are hungry, yet nearly 2 million California children are food insecure and at risk of hunger.
(3) Structural inequities have perpetuated profound racial disparities in health, education, employment, and income, leading to higher rates of food insecurity and educational opportunity gaps among low-income children of color.
(4) The cost of living in California is unbearable for many working poor and low-income families, which limits financial resources, including adequate money for food.
(5) School meals are a primary nutrition safety net for low-income children, and a major support for families struggling to make ends meet.
(6) Pupils who eat school meals are more likely to consume fruits, vegetables, milk, and nutrient-dense foods, which have particularly strong health benefits for low-income pupils.
(7) Universally free school meals provide optimal access to nutrition, and are supported by federal laws and regulations that allow schools to provide meals free of charge to all pupils, but many schools still struggle to provide universally free school meals due to fiscal constraints.
(8) When school meals are offered universally free to all children, school meal participation increases, in part by ending stigmas and burdensome meal debts.
(9) Schools are expected to provide all pupils with the necessary resources for learning, such as books, desks, qualified teachers, and safe environments, yet the most fundamental resource that every child needs in order to learn is nourishment for the brain and body.
(10) Federal, state, and local dollars spent on education and eliminating achievement gaps are wasted if classrooms have hungry pupils who struggle to focus and learn.
(11) As a top source of food production in the United States, California farms produce over one-third of the vegetables and two-thirds of the fruit grown in the nation, and purchases of California produce generate significant jobs and profits in agriculture and food processing and aggregation services.
(b) It is, therefore, the intent of the Legislature to create healthy, hunger-free schools with universally free school meals made with California-grown fruits and vegetables in order to support educational equity and child health and development.
Section 42238.01 of the Education Code is amended to read:
42238.01.
For purposes of Section 42238.02, the following definitions shall apply:
(a) “Eligible for free or reduced-price meals” means determined to meet federal income eligibility criteria, either through completing an application for the federal National School Lunch Program or through an alternative household income data collection form, or deemed to be categorically eligible for free or reduced-price meals under the federal National School Lunch Program, as described in Part 245 of Title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(1) (A) A school participating in a special assistance alternative authorized by Section 11(a)(1) of the federal Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (Public Law 113-79), including Provision 2, Provision 3, or the Community Eligibility Provision, may establish a base year for purposes of the local control funding formula by doing either of the following:
(i) Determining the pupils at the school who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals and using each pupil’s eligibility status in that base year to report eligibility for up to each of the following three school years.
(ii) Carrying over the number of pupils at the school who were eligible for free or reduced-price meals from the school year in which the school applied to use a federal universal school meal provision, and using each pupil’s eligibility status in that base year to report eligibility for up to each of the following three school years.
(B) The school may include between base year eligibility determinations, any newly enrolled pupils who are determined to be eligible for free or reduced-price meals or any current pupils found to be newly eligible for free or reduced-price meals as identified through a local or state direct certification match or another categorical designation.
(2) A school that uses the special assistance alternative shall maintain information on each pupil’s eligibility status and annually submit information on that status in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 42238.02 or subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 2574, as applicable.
(3) For a pupil who transfers to a school using a special assistance alternative and who is transferring between schools within the same school district, documentation supporting eligibility for that pupil for purposes of the local control funding formula may be transferred from the pupil’s old school to the pupil’s new school, as long as the documentation supporting eligibility for that pupil is less than four years old and is updated at least once every four years.
(4) To the extent permitted by federal law, a school may choose to establish a new base year for purposes of the federal National School Lunch Program at the same time the school establishes a new base year for purposes of the local control funding formula. A school may use federal National School Lunch Program application forms to collect household income data as permitted under the federal National School Lunch Program. If the use of federal National School Lunch Program application forms is not permitted, a school shall use alternative household income data collection forms.
(5) An alternative household income data collection form shall be confidential and shall not be shared by the school other than as necessary for purposes of determining funding allocations under the local control funding formula and for assessing the accountability of that funding. An alternative household income data collection form shall contain, at a minimum, all of the following information:
(A) Information sufficient to identify the pupil or pupils.
(B) Information sufficient to determine that the pupil or household meets federal income eligibility criteria sufficient to qualify for either a free or reduced-priced meal under the federal Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (Public Law 113-79).
(C) Certification that the information is true and correct by the pupil’s adult household member.
(6) Paragraphs (1) and (3) are effective commencing with the 2014–15 fiscal year.
(b) “Foster youth” means any of the following:
(1) A child who is the subject of a petition filed pursuant to Section 300 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, whether or not the child has been removed from home by the juvenile court pursuant to Section 319 or 361 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(2) A child who is the subject of a petition filed pursuant to Section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, has been removed from home by the juvenile court pursuant to Section 727 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and is in foster care as defined by subdivision (d) of Section 727.4 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(3) A nonminor under the transition jurisdiction of the juvenile court, as described in Section 450 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, who satisfies all of the following criteria:
(A) The nonminor has attained 18 years of age while under an order of foster care placement by the juvenile court, and is not more than 19 years of age on or after January 1, 2012, not more than 20 years of age on or after January 1, 2013, and not more than 21 years of age, on or after January 1, 2014, and as described in Section 10103.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(B) The nonminor is in foster care under the placement and care responsibility of the county welfare department, county probation department, Indian tribe, consortium of tribes, or tribal organization that entered into an agreement pursuant to Section 10553.1 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(C) The nonminor is participating in a transitional independent living case plan pursuant to Section 475(8) of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 675), as contained in the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-351), as described in Section 11403 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(4) (A) A dependent child of the court of an Indian tribe, consortium of tribes, or tribal organization who is the subject of a petition filed in the tribal court pursuant to the tribal court’s jurisdiction in accordance with the tribe’s law, provided that the child would also meet one of the descriptions in Section 300 of the Welfare and Institutions Code describing when a child may be adjudged a dependent child of the juvenile court.
(B) This paragraph is effective no later than the 2020–21 fiscal year.
(c) “Pupils of limited English proficiency” means pupils who do not have the clearly developed English language skills of comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing necessary to receive instruction only in English at a level substantially equivalent to pupils of the same age or grade whose primary language is English. “English learner” shall have the same meaning as provided for in subdivision (a) of Section 306 and as “pupils of limited English proficiency.”
Article 11.7 (commencing with Section 49567) is added to Chapter 9 of Part 27 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, to read:
Article 11.7. California-Grown for Healthy Kids Program
(a) In order to support pupil health, achievement, and equity, it is the intent of the Legislature to increase the prevalence of hunger-free schools in California by providing nutritious, universally free school meals so that no pupil goes hungry in a public school.
(b) There is hereby established within the department the California-Grown for Healthy Kids Program to increase the provision of universally free school meals made with fresh, California-grown fruits and vegetables. This program shall be administered by the department, in consultation with the Office of Farm to Fork in the Department of Food and Agriculture.
(c) The California-Grown for Healthy Kids Program is intended to encourage public schools maintaining prekindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to provide universally free school meals prepared with fresh, California-grown fruits and vegetables in order to increase school meal access among pupils in need, improve the quality of school meals available to those pupils, support California agriculture, and promote the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables by all schoolage children.
(d) Fresh, California-grown fruits and vegetables that are provided pursuant to this article shall be provided free of charge to all pupils.
(e) In making procurement decisions pursuant to this article, a school food authority is encouraged to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from socially disadvantaged farmers, as defined in Section 512 of the Food and Agricultural Code, or from local producers, when commercially available.
(f) For purposes of this article, “nonprofit school food service account” and “school food authority” have the same meanings as those terms are defined in Section 210.2 of Title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(a) (1) (A) In order to qualify for supplemental funding through the California-Grown for Healthy Kids Program, a school food authority shall, at a minimum, make universally free school breakfast available in all schoolsites, and provide universally free breakfast and lunch to all pupils in very high poverty schools, as defined in Section 49564.
(B) A school food authority is encouraged to provide breakfast and lunch free of charge to all pupils in all schoolsites by using federal universal meal provisions, including, but not limited to, the Community Eligibility Provision or Provision 1, 2, or 3 of the federal Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1751 et seq.). A school that does not use federal universal meal provisions may provide universal breakfast pursuant to Section 49550.5.
(2) The funds described in subdivision (b) shall be available to school food authorities that meet all of the following criteria:
(A) Provide fresh, California-grown fruits or vegetables, or both, at breakfast or lunch, or both, in order to meet or exceed the meal pattern requirements described in subdivision (b) of Section 49531.
(B) Spend at least 90 percent of the funding described in subdivision (b) for the direct purchase of fresh, California-grown fruits and vegetables.
(C) Do not spend any of the funding described in subdivision (b) for the purchase of juice.
(b) A Upon appropriation of sufficient moneys for this purpose in the annual Budget Act or in another statute, a school food authority that meets the criteria described in subdivision (a) is eligible to receive supplemental funding, appropriated for purposes of this article in the annual Budget Act or in another statute, funding for reimbursement of ten cents ($0.10) per breakfast served, to be paid in quarterly installments by the department, to supplement, but not supplant, school meal funds provided under the state meal program, federal School Breakfast Program, or federal National School Lunch Program. These funds shall be deposited into the nonprofit school food service account of the school food authority.
The funds described in Section 49567.1 may be combined with other public or private funding sources to ensure that fresh, California-grown fruits or vegetables, or both, are provided to pupils pursuant to the California-Grown for Healthy Kids Program.
A school food authority that already offers fresh, California-grown fruits or vegetables that meet or exceed the meal pattern requirements described in subdivision (b) of Section 49531 through breakfast and lunch at each schoolsite may be reimbursed at ten cents ($0.10) per breakfast for providing fresh, California-grown fruits or vegetables as snacks made freely available to all pupils during the schoolday.
A school food authority that does not operate school breakfast programs is encouraged to apply for funding to establish school breakfast programs using funds appropriated for this purpose in the annual Budget Act for the purposes of Section 49550.3.
Specific strategies to increase consumption of fresh, California-grown fruits and vegetables may include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following:
(a) Offering fruit or salad bars with a minimum of three choices of fruits or vegetables, or both.
(b) Serving school breakfast after the start of the school day, through grab-and-go breakfasts, nutrition breaks, or classroom breakfasts with fresh, California-grown fruits or vegetables, or both, that meet or exceed the meal pattern requirements described in subdivision (b) of Section 49531.
(c) Using practices to minimize waste and reduce food insecurity, as provided in Section 114079 of the Health and Safety Code.
(d) Providing pupils with adequate time to eat.
As a condition of receipt of funds pursuant to this article, a schoolsite participating in the California-Grown for Healthy Kids Program shall offer nutrition education activities and provide pupils with culturally appropriate meals. Activities may include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
(a) Educational sampling and tasting, with pupil cultural preferences incorporated into school menu planning.
(b) An offering of fruits or vegetables in the classroom that is reinforced with nutrition education or agricultural bulletins.
(c) A school campus farmers’ market that highlights California produce.
(d) A produce sampling program that supports a school garden’s harvest by featuring what is growing in the school garden.
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December 7, 2018 · by Chris
Fran Healy caught for nine seasons in the majors, mostly as a reserve for the San Francisco Giants, Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees. He had one season as a starter, playing 139 games for the Royals in 1974. He hit .252 with nine home runs, 53 RBIs and 59 runs scored that year. Healy was a member of the 1977 Yankees’ team that won the World Series. He did not, however, appear in the postseason. Following his playing career, Healy was a broadcaster for the Yankees and the New York Mets.
Dave Heaverlo pitched in 356 major-league games between 1975-1981 for the San Francisco Giants, Oakland A’s and Seattle Mariners. He was used exclusively out of the bullpen and did not make a start in his career. His best year came in 1978 when he saved 10 games for the A’s.
A veteran of 18 seasons, Denny Walling played in the majors from 1975-1992, posting a .271 career average with 49 home runs. His best year came for the Houston Astros in 1986. He hit .312 that season with 13 home runs, 58 RBIs and 54 runs scored. All of these numbers were career highs. His production at the plate helped the Astros reach the playoffs, where they fell to the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series. Walling was a great pinch hitter. He ranks 13th all time in pinch hits. Following his playing career, Walling has worked as a hitting instructor for many teams.
This entry was posted in Swings and misses, Uncategorized and tagged 1977 Topps, baseball, Dave Heaverlo, Denny Walling, Fran Healy, history, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees, Oakland A's, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners. Bookmark the permalink.
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2 thoughts on “Swings and misses”
craigbshuman says:
At least you tried. keep up the good work.
Pingback: Steve Busby | Letters From Home Plate
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Panning for gold?
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Why Panning for gold may be detrimental to research disseminated in Open Access.
At http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2012/jul/23/finch-report-open-access-research, the Guardian newspaper has published an article showing how UCL (University College London) is assessing current developments in Open Access, concluding that the Gold route brings a number of challenges for Europe's research-intensive universities.
Paul Ayris
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Jeremy Lowe - Percussion
Jeremy Lowe is a percussionists based in the New York City area. A recent graduate from the masters program at NYU, he is well versed in all areas of percussion. At NYU, Jeremy played with the orchestra and concert band as a section percussionist and also performed with the Percussion Ensemble, Contemporary Music Ensemble, West African Percussion Ensemble, Steel Band, and Marimba Ensemble. Jeremy has studied with prominent percussionists such as Jonathan Haas, James Saporito, Simon Boyar, and Dean Witten. He has had the opportunity to attend and participate in masterclasses with performers such as Don Liuzzi, Anthony Orlando and Chris Deviney of the Philadelphia Orchestra, William Cahn of Nexus and legendary percussionist/educator John Beck of Eastman School of Music.
Since graduating, Jeremy and fellow NYU graduates have started their own steel band and West African percussion ensembles. Jeremy also performs with Samba New York! and plays for an off-broadway rendition of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.
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Tagged Alexa, Amazon, Dot, Echo, Hue, Wemo
Published by Luis Pérez, Ph. D.
Luis Pérez is an inclusive learning consultant based in St. Petersburg, Florida. He has more than a decade of experience working with educators to help them integrate technology in ways that empower all learners. Luis holds a doctorate in special education and a master’s degree in instructional technology from the University of South Florida, and he is the author of Mobile Learning for All: Supporting Accessibility with the iPad, from Corwin Press. Luis has been honored as an Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) in 2009, and as Google in Education Certified Innovator in 2014. He is also a TouchCast and Book Creator Ambassador. Luis currently serves as the Professional Learning Chair of the Inclusive Learning Network of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), which recognized him as its 2016 Outstanding Inclusive Educator. His work has appeared in publications such Teaching Exceptional Children, Closing the Gap Solutions, THE Journal, and The Loop Magazine. In addition to his work in educational technology, Luis is an avid photographer whose work has been featured in Better Photography magazine, Business Insider, the New York Times Bits Blog and the Sydney Morning Herald. Luis has presented at national and international conferences such as South by Southwest EDU, ISTE, CSUN, ATIA and Closing the Gap. View all posts by Luis Pérez, Ph. D.
2 thoughts on “Amazon Echo as an Accessibility Support”
Judi Cumley says:
Luis, would an Echo be appropriate for a lending library? In other words, do you have to create a personal set-up & log in and could that be changed for different students/users?
Luis Pérez, Ph. D. says:
Hi Judi. Yes, when you first set up the Echo you will connect it to an Amazon account to access the content (music and books) available on that account, but there is the option to have multiple users (each with their individual Amazon accounts and preferences). There is even a command for switching users – “Alexa, switch accounts” or “Alexa, switch to (user name) account.” With mine, I have an Amazon household setup so that everyone in my home can share our digital content (music and books we have in our Amazon accounts) and collaborate on things like the To Do lists. With some of the services (especially those that are Skills) you will have to add a separate account specific for that service. For instance, the Spotify Skill will require me to have a valid Spotify account to access my music, and the Uber Skill uses my Uber account information to determine my default home location. You could leave the account information out for those services if you don’t want them to be available. Here is more information on using multiple accounts with the Echo: https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-set-up-and-use-multiple-accounts-on-amazon-echo/
VoiceOver on New MacBook Pro with Touch Bar: First Impressions
Commentary: Coding as the New Exclusion
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Huichol Yarn Art - 24" Round Yarn Tablet by Fidencio Benitez Rivera
This handcrafted yarn tablet is by Fidencio Benitez Rivera. It depicts the sacred peyote plant as the center of creation. Many animals were sacred to the Huichol. Deer were considered to be spirit guides. Drums and peyote were used to communicate with the gods. This yarn painting is known to the Huichols as a neirika; a portal between the physical and spiritual worlds.
Yarn paintings consist of yarn pressed into wood boards coated with wax and resin and are derived from a ceremonial tablet called a neirika. What mostly links the yarn paintings made today is the continuance of the traditional patterns used for centuries to represent and communicate with the gods.
This one of a kind piece is signed by the artist and has the story about the painting on the back of this tablet (in spanish).
The Huichols are an indigenous people who mostly live in the mountainous areas of northern Jalisco and parts of Nayarit in north central Mexico with the towns of San Andrés, Santa Catarina and San Sebastián as major cultural centers. Their numbers are estimated at 50,000 and the name Huichol is derived from the word Wirriarika, which means soothsayer or medicine man. The religious faith of the Huichols is still based on a “trinity” of veneration of the deer, corn and peyote. The last is ritually gathered each year on a long pilgrimage to the desert area of San Luis Potosí, where the Huichol people are said to have originated and still used by shamans today.
Due to the size of this piece, please contact us for specific international shipping rates. We may be able to negotiate a better rate with Fedex.
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目前分類：遊戲 (24)
王國之心
http://www.square-enix.co.jp/kingdom2/
個人分類：遊戲
It has been a year since the events of KINGDOM HEARTS. Sora and friends are joined by a vibrant new cast of characters, including the king himself. Together, they will face countless dangers in worlds both familiar and brand-new. It seems the Heartless still exist. A new villain also awaits – but is it an old foe behind the mask, or a new menace? This mystery and others will be solved as the story unfolds in a grand adventure. KINGDOM HEARTS has sold over 4 million units worldwide and continues to gain popularity with fans of both DISNEY and SQUARE ENIX across the planet.
KINGDOM HEARTS captured the imagination of gamers young and old by combining classic DISNEY properties and implementing new characters and worlds with SQUARE ENIX’s renowned style. The tale is brought to life by an all-star voice cast. Fans will revisit this beloved story and come to care for a new troupe of characters in KINGDOM HEARTS II.
A 14 year old named Sora, was one day separated from his two best friends because of a huge storm, transporting him to other worlds, the same thing happened to Sora's two best friends Riku and Kairi.
大地-riddle
無法了解…
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Andrea Luka Zimmerman
Andrea Luka Zimmerman is a filmmaker, artist and cultural activist. Andrea grew up on a large council estate and left school at 16. After coming to London in 1991, she went to Central St. Martins.
She is co-founder of the artists’ collective Fugitive Images (I am here and Estate: Art, Politics and Social Housing in Britain). Her film Estate, a Reverie (2015, 83mins), tracks the passing of the Haggerston Estate in East London and the utopian promise of social housing it offered, with a spirited celebration of extraordinary everyday humanity. Filmed over seven years, Estate reveals and celebrates the resilience of residents who are profoundly overlooked by media representations and wider social responses, and asks how we might resist being framed exclusively through class, gender, ability or disability, and through geography even. Estate was nominated for the Grierson Award best Documentary Newcomer, best Documentary East End Film Festival, the Aesthetica Art Prize, and the Jarman Award.
Her essay-film Taskafa, Stories of the Street (66mins, 2013), about resistance and co-existence and voiced by John Berger, is told through the lives of the street dogs of Istanbul. Taskafa was nominated for best Documentary at Golden Orange Film festival.
A co-founder of the artists’ collective Fugitive Images (I am here and Estate: Art, Politics and Social Housing in Britain), Zimmerman is also a founding member of Vision Machine (collaborators on Academy Award® nominated feature documentary The Look of Silence). She has worked in the USA and Indonesia, exploring the impact of globalisation, power structures, militarism and denied histories. It was from this period and research that her forthcoming artist’s documentary Erase and Forget (2017, 90min), which had its world premiere at the 2017 Berlin Film Festival, was born.
In 2014 she won the Artangel Open award for her collaborative project Cycle (2017) with Adrian Jackson (Cardboard Citizens).
Estate, a Reverie 2015
Taskafa, Stories of the Street 2013
The Delmarva Chicken of Tomorrow 2002
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The Quran Says Jerusalem Is Jewish So Why Won’t The Palestinians And Muslim States?
by Jeff Dunetz | May 24, 2017 | Faith/Morality, Israel
Personal Note: Today is Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day when supporters of Israel celebrate the day during the 6-Day-War when Israel reunited the holy city of Jerusalem, and for the first time in almost 20 years Jews had access to the holy sites in East Jerusalem. For me the holiday is a split decision. I am ecstatic that Jerusalem is united, but I am saddened that I am celebrating the day here in my home office rather than with the crowd seen above celebrating the day at the Kotel in Jerusalem.
According to UNESCO, the Palestinians, and Muslim States Israel and the Jewish People have no right to Jerusalem. It is this fake believe that keeps the U.S. and much of the world from recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the Jewish world. The problem is that propaganda ignores that the ancient Greeks, Romans, Christians, and even the ancient Muslims, reported Jerusalem and the Temple Mount were the property of the Jewish people.
Let’s start out with the basics. Jerusalem was NEVER part of a Palestinian State, because there was never a an independent state of Palestine. After the Bar Kochba revolt in 135 CE, the Romans punished the Judeans (Jews) for revolting for the second time in sixty years by changing the name of their country from Judea to Syria Palaestina (after the ancient enemy of the Jews, the Philistines who were destroyed a thousand years earlier). At the same time, they changed the name of the holy city from Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina (literally Capitoline Hill of the House of Aelius). After the Romans threw out many of the Jews, the holy land was ruled by the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and finally the British mandate before it once again became the Jewish State in 1948. Throughout that time all of the holy land including Jerusalem had a very large population of Jews.
For the ancient Muslim, Greek and Roman pagan authors, Jerusalem was a Jewish city. Their text indicates the unanimous agreement that Jerusalem was Jewish by virtue of the fact that its inhabitants were Jews, it was founded by Jews, and the Temple located in Jerusalem, was the center of the Jewish religion.
These ancient texts, disprove recent attempts by Muslims and others to deny the historic connection of the Jewish people to Jerusalem and the location of the Temple in Jerusalem through fabrications and lies. Below are just some of the examples from Greek and Roman times originally published in a November 2008 Report issued by the JCPA:
Some writers recall distinctive Jewish customs, such as the absence of representations of the deity, male circumcision, dietary laws and the observance of the weekly day of rest, the Sabbath. Indeed, in 167 BCE, the Greek Seleucid King Antiochus IV ordered Jews to place an idol of Zeus in the Temple, outlawed circumcision, demanded the sacrifice of swine and forbade Sabbath observance (I Maccabees 1:41-50). He thus desired to eliminate those unique features of the Jewish religion which had been noted by pagan writers.
In an account by Hecataeus of Abdera (c. 300 BCE), Jerusalem appears toward the conclusion of his counter-Exodus account and before his description of Jewish society and practices. He attributes the expulsion of the Jews to the pestilence which the Egyptians blamed upon the presence of foreigners, not only Jews, who caused the natives to falter in religious observance. “Therefore, the aliens were driven from the country.” While some went to Greece, most “were driven into what is now called Judaea … at that time utterly uninhabited … on taking possession of the land, he [Moses] founded, besides other cities, one that is the most renowned of all, called Jerusalem. In addition, he established the temple that they hold in chief veneration, instituted their forms of worship and ritual, drew up their laws and ordered their political institutions.”
Several of the selections in Against Apion which include the anti-Exodus narrative also provide descriptions of the interior and exterior of the Temple and some of its rituals. For example, Hecataeus states that in the center of the city is an enclosure where there is “a square altar built of heaped up stones, unhewn and unwrought.” The Temple itself is “a great edifice containing and altar and a lamp stand, both made of gold … upon these is a light which is never extinguished … there is not a single statue or votive offering, no trace of a plant in the form of a sacred grove, or the like.”Hecataeus “On the Jews”, in Against Apion I, 198-199; Stern, I, V, No.12, 36-37
And in his account of Titus’ siege of Jerusalem, Tacitus describes the Temple as “… built like a citadel, with walls of its own … the very colonnades made a splendid defense. Within the enclosure is an ever-flowing spring.”[Tacitus, Historiae V:12:1 (Stern, II, XCII, no. 281) 22,30.
In addition to physical descriptions, the authors mention the religious aspect of the Temple which differed radically from Greek and Roman paganism. In the text preserved by Diodorus, Hecataeus mentions the priests and their duties in the Temple and even describes a worship service and sacrifice. Similarly, the first century Roman historian Livy remarks that the Jews do not state “to which deity pertains the temple at Jerusalem, nor is any image found there, since they do not think the God partakes of any figure.”Hecataeus, in Diodorus, Aegyptiaca, Bibliotheca Historica XL, 3, 4-6; Stern, I, V, No. 11, 26-28.
From The Second Temple, warning in Greek delineating a section of the Temple complex which was off-limits to Gentiles.
It is noteworthy that an earlier capture of Jerusalem by the Greek-Egyptian King Ptolemy, son of Lagus, provided an opportunity for the obscure Agatharchides of Cnidus (second century BCE) to remark about the fact that “the people known as Jews, who inhabited the most strongly fortified of cities, called by the natives Jerusalem” lost their city because they would not defend it on the Sabbath. Josephus includes this selection in Against Apion as one of the early pagan critiques of the Jewish Sabbath which Agatharchides deemed as “folly,” “dreams,” and “traditional fancies about the law.”
The Palestinians point to the fact that there is little archeological evidence that either Temple existed, which ignores the very convenient fact that there is no digging allowed on the Temple Mount in respect of its holiness to the Muslims. But when the Muslims dug up part of the Temple Mount to add to their Mosque, they dumped the tons of dirt with artifacts outside the holy city.
The Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, the institution overseeing the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, carried out excavations on the Temple Mount between 1996 and 1999 as part of the construction of a subterranean mosque in an area known as Solomon’s Stables. Tens of thousands of tons of dirt — roughly 400 truckloads — were excavated by heavy machinery, without the supervision of archaeologists, and were dumped outside the Old City.
Archeologists have been sifting through the dirt for years (the project’s called the Temple Mount Sifting Project) , and have found artifacts from the Holy Temples. For example in 2005 an archaeologist found what is now known as the Gaalyahu Seal which in Hebrew says belonging to Gaalyahu son of Imer. The house of Imer was a well-known priestly family at the end of the First Temple period, roughly from around the 7th – 6th Centuries BCE.
UNESCO is also ignoring references to the Jewish Temple in texts the Muslims consider sacred.
The Qur’an refers to the existence of both temples in verse 17:7. In this passage, the Qur’an deals with God’s punishment of the Children of Israel for their transgressions:
(We permitted your enemies)
To disfigure your faces,
And to enter your Temple
As they had entered it before,
And to visit with destruction
All that fell into their power.
The word translated as “Temple” by Abdullah Yusuf Ali (and by the influential translator Marmaduke Pickthall before him) is masjid. This word, which is usually translated as mosque, has the meaning of a sanctuary wherever it appears in a pre-Islamic context. The usual Muslim exegesis of this verse (including that of Abdullah Yusuf Ali) holds that it refers to the destruction of the First and Second Temples.
Muslim tradition is especially adamant about the existence of the First Temple, built by Solomon, who appears in the Qur’an as a prophet and a paragon of wisdom. Verse 34:13 is an account of how Solomon summoned jinn (spirits) to build the Temple:
They worked for him
As he desired, (making) Arches,
Images, Basons
As large as wells,
And (cooking) Cauldrons fixed
(In their places)
Found By the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount-From Second Temple Inscribed, “To the Place of Trumpeting.” The spot where the Priests blew the Shofar to announce the Beginning and end of the Sabbath and Holidays.
The very verse in the Quran that makes the Temple Mount holy to Muslims also proves that the spot was occupied by the Jewish Temple:
The Islamic sanctity of the Haram al-Sharif [what the Muslims call the Temple Mount] is based upon verse 17:1:
Glory to (Allah)
Who did take His Servant
For a Journey by night
From the Sacred Mosque
To the Farthest Mosque
This is the textual proof of the isra’, the earthly segment of the Night Journey of the Prophet Muhammad: overnight, Muhammad was miraculously transported, round-trip, from “the Sacred Mosque” (al-Masjid al-Haram)-that is, the Ka’ba (or its vicinity) in Mecca-to “the Farthest Mosque” (al-Masjid al-Aqsa). Later Muslim tradition came to identify “the Farthest Mosque” with Jerusalem. But during Muhammad’s lifetime, no mosque stood in Jerusalem; the Muslims conquered the city only several years after his death. Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s commentary on this verse summarizes the traditional explanation: “The Farthest Mosque,” he writes, “must refer to the site of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem on the hill of Moriah.“
When Muslims did build a mosque on this hill, Muslim tradition holds that it was built deliberately on the verified site of earlier sanctuaries. According to Muslim tradition, when the Caliph Umar visited Jerusalem after its conquest, he searched for David’s sanctuary or prayer niche (mihrab Dawud), which is mentioned in the Qur’an (38:21). (David was believed to have chosen the site on which Solomon built.) When Umar was satisfied he had located it, he ordered a place of prayer (musalla) to be established there. This evolved into a mosque-precursor of the later Aksa Mosque. Thus began the Islamization of the complex that later came to be known as the Haram al-Sharif. It became the tradition of Islam that Muslims restored the site to its earlier function as a place of supplication venerated by all the prophets, including Abraham, David and Solomon.
Then there is Koran, Sura 2:145, “The Cow”
“…They would not follow thy direction of prayer (qiblah), nor art thou to follow their direction of prayer; nor indeed will they follow each other’s direction of prayer…”
Commentators explain that “thy qiblah” (direction of prayer for Muslims) clearly refers the Ka’bah of Mecca, while “their qiblah” (direction of prayer for Jews) refers to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
This Koranic passage appears to show that the holiness of Jerusalem a Jewish concept, and should not be confused with an Islamic concept, as the 13th-century Arab biographer and geographer Yakut noted: “Mecca is holy to Muslims, and Jerusalem to the Jews.”
The Official 1925 Supreme Moslem Council (Wakf) Guide Book To Al-Ḥaram Al-Sarif, recognized the presence of the Jewish Temples atop the Mount. Shown below is paragraph two which appears on page four, it says, “It’s [the Temple Mount] identity with the site of Solomon’s Temple is beyond dispute.” Now 90 years later the head of the Wakf is disputing it.
And let’s not forget that the Jewish Temple is mentioned in the Christian Gospels which pre-date Islam. For example, in Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 Jesus accused the Temple authorities of thieving and this time names poor widows as their victims, going on to provide evidence of this in Mark 12:42 and Luke 21:2. Dove sellers were selling doves that were sacrificed by the poor who could not afford grander sacrifices and specifically by women. According to Mark 11:16, Jesus then put an embargo on people carrying any merchandise through the Temple—a sanction that would have disrupted all commerce. In in the Gospel of John 2:15-16 Jesus refers to the Jerusalem Temple as “my Father’s house”, thus, making a claim to being the Son of God.
He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”
What does this all mean? Ancient text, Muslim text, and Christian text all agree with the Jewish text that there was a holy temple on top Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. So it’s well past time for the American and other world Governments to stop denying Muslim, Christian, and Jewish history, press the BS button on UNESCO and point out the truth.
No amount of lies, not from UNESCO, not from the Palestinians, not from any UN committee or any world leader–no one except the Lord God himself, can take Jerusalem away from the Jewish people.
The video below plays one of my favorite songs, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav, Jerusalem of Gold
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The Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation
The Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation pp 9-22 | Cite as
Brain Mechanisms of Mindfulness Meditation
Yi-Yuan Tang
Many brain regions have been reported to be involved in different forms of mindfulness meditation. What is the function of each participating region? Do different forms of mindfulness meditation involve different brain networks? Do different practice stages recruit the same or distinct brain regions while practicing the same mindfulness technique? Does the brain network differ with amount of effort during practice? To answer these questions, I organize this chapter based on the latest neuroscience findings, showing that mindfulness meditation includes at least three components: enhanced attention control, improved emotion regulation, and altered self-awareness. I discuss the brain regions involved in these components respectively, mainly including anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and adjacent prefrontal cortex, striatum, insula, and default mode network (DMN). I also propose a distinction between state training and network training to clarify the unique brain networks following mindfulness meditation.
Attention control Emotion regulation Self-awareness Self-control State training Network training Default mode network Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT)
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1.Department of Psychological SciencesTexas Tech UniversityLubbockUSA
2.Department of Internal MedicineTexas Tech University Health Sciences CenterLubbockUSA
Tang YY. (2017) Brain Mechanisms of Mindfulness Meditation. In: The Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Publisher Name Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
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Production Has Begun on ‘Captain Marvel,’ Featuring the Returns of Agent Coulson and Ronan the Accuser
Shazam! (Oh wait, sorry. Wrong Captain Marvel. My bad.)
Yes, Marvel’s Captain Marvel (not DC’s Captain Marvel, who used to be called Captain Marvel and actually predates Marvel’s Captain Marvel by decades but is now called Shazam because he’s not a Marvel character, even though he is the original and first Captain Marvel) is the first female hero to get her own solo film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And now after years of development, shooting has begun on Captain Marvel, as announced by Marvel (not DC) on social media:
Captain Marvel will star Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, an Air Force pilot who gets incredible cosmic powers. The film, which is a period piece set in the ’90s, decades before the start of the rest of the MCU, also stars Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and it’s being directed by the team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson, Sugar, Mississippi Grind). The cast also includes Gemma Chan, Ben Mendelsohn, Robert Kazinsky, and Jude Law, who reportedly plays Mar-Vell, the original Captain Marvel and Danvers’ mentor in all things superheroic. Marvel revealed some interesting returning MCU characters as well, including Lee Pace’s Ronan the Accuser, Djimon Hounsou’s Korath, and Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson, making his first big-screen appearance since 2012’s The Avengers. Here’s the official plot description:
Based on the Marvel comic character first appearing in 1968, the story follows Carol Danvers as she becomes one of the universe’s most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races. Set in the 1990s, Captain Marvel is an all-new adventure from a previously unseen period in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Great cast, great creators, interesting premise; this one should be a lot of fun. Captain Marvel opens in theaters on March 8, 2019. (DC’s Shazam opens on April 5, 2019. So that won’t be confusing in the slightest. Not even a little bit!)
Gallery - The Best Marvel Studios Movie Posters:
Every Marvel TV Series Ranked
Source: Production Has Begun on ‘Captain Marvel,’ Featuring the Returns of Agent Coulson and Ronan the Accuser
Filed Under: marvel
Categories: Movies
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Carol L. Rogers
by Marquis Who's Who ModeratorPosted on October 30, 2017 October 30, 2017
Title: Managing Director, Partner
Company: HighTower Advisors
Location: Saint Louis, Missouri, United States
Carol L. Rogers, Managing Director and Partner at HighTower Advisors, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Executives for dedication, achievements, and leadership in Wealth Management.
Formerly Rogers & Company Wealth Management, Hightower has retained Ms. Rogers as a managing director and partner since 1986, valuing her expertise as a certified private wealth advisor and investment professional. She is also a board member of the Benedictine College, and helps to provide scholarships to the Marian Middle School through the Rogers & Company Charitable Foundation. Ms. Rogers is also a member of the executive MBA alumni board of Washington University in St. Louis, her alma mater.
An alumna of Washington University, Ms. Rogers earned a BS in Finance, followed by an executive MBA in 1987. She was certified in private wealth advisement at the Booth Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago. Ms. Rogers entered finance with the EF Hutton Financial Corp, serving as an investment adviser from 1976 to 1986. She became vice president of the company in 1976 as well, and went on to the firm that would be Hightower in 1986.
Ms. Rogers is an honoree of Baron’s Top 1200 Advisers by State, rated by Dow Jones & Company Inc. in 2009, and from 2011 to 2016. She was included in the Barron’s Top 100 Women Financial Advisers from 2009 to 2010, and again in 2013. Ms. Rogers is an honoree of the Top 100 Independent Advisers in America in 2009, of Profile in Research Magazine in 2000, and named Broker of the Year in 1997 by the Registered Representative Magazine. She is a member of the Women’s Venture Forum, Washburn University, the board of directors of the National Association of Security Professionals, and the Investment Management Consultants Association, Inc.
Contact Ms. Rogers
Posted in Financial Services, InvestmentsTagged barron's, broker, dow jones, finance, investment, scholarship, wealth management
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UEG President hopes to bring Acrobatic Gymnastics to Olympic movement soon
(MENAFN - Trend News Agency) Baku, Azerbaijan, July 11
The main event of June certainly was the European Games held in Minsk (BLR), President of the European Union of Gymnastics (UEG) Farid Gayibov said,Trendreports.
He noted that the city embraced a magnificent atmosphere, unique to multi-sports events.
'Like the 1st European Games, we were lucky this time as well. We succeeded to agree with the European Olympic Committees (EOC) on the inclusion of 6 gymnastics disciplines - both Olympic and non-Olympic ones - into the Games programme. It's a unique opportunity that unites the whole European gymnastics family once every four years. We also continued the alternation of Olympic and non-Olympic disciplines. The events in Rhythmic and Acrobatic Gymnastics ran at the same time, while the gymnasts in Trampoline and Aerobic Gymnastics also shared the Field of Play. And the spectators with a thrill watched the routines of representatives in 2 Olympic disciplines: Men's & Women's Artistic gymnastics,' said UEG president.
He pointed out that between 8000 and 12000 tickets were sold for every competition day. 'We were happy to see such popularity of Gymnastics in Belarus.'
The competitions in Acrobatic Gymnastics especially attracted the attention of the spectators with beautiful performances, noted Gayibov.
'Many people from different National Olympic Committees, as well as representatives of other sports disciplines, which attended gymnastics events, spoke favorably of Acrobatics. They think that this discipline should be an Olympic one. We already achieved that Acrobatic Gymnastics is a part of the European Games and it was represented at the last year's Youth Olympic Games. I hope, with our joint efforts, we will bring this discipline to the Olympic movement soon,' he said.
UEG president noted that at the stage of preparation, it was a great pleasure to cooperate with the EOC with at its head President, Mr. Janez Kocijančič.
'We were honoured to welcome the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Mr. Thomas Bach at gymnastics. The President of the Russian Federation Mr. Vladimir Putin also attended our competition. All this shows that Gymnastics is one of the favourite and significant sports disciplines. I would like to express my gratitude to the Technical Committees of the European Union of Gymnastics (UEG). They succeeded to realise this new format. In some gymnastics disciplines there were no qualifying competitions and only the finals were held. The best athletes qualified through the European / World Championships depending on the discipline and the number of participating athletes was restricted which was not so usual for UEG events. Thus, it was some kind of a challenge for our Technical Committees to make changes in order to adjust to the new competition format. But they overcame all the difficulties and we witnessed very interesting competitions.
Our UEG office worked hard before and during the events. There are not so many people working at our office, but an incredible amount of work was carried out and I am very grateful to them for their commitment,' he said.
Gayibov congratulated the Organising Committee of the Games with splendid organisation of the events.
'The role of volunteers should especially be emphasised. A great number of volunteers were involved in organisation. They were very friendly and always ready to help with a smile on their face. It was a splendid sports festival which will be remembered for a long time. Within the framework of the Games, we also held the meetings of the UEG President's Board and Executive Committee on June 28 & 29. We discussed outstanding issues and took some decisions concerning the participation of athletes in the next year's Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, and approved the changes to the European Gym for Life Challenge and the Golden Age Gym Festival regulations. We also allocated the Acrobatic Gymnastics European Age Group Competitions and European Championships, as well as the Aerobic Gymnastics European Championships to Pesaro (ITA) in 2021,' noted UEG president.
He went on to add that this month was also very remarkable for the junior artistic gymnasts who participated in the inaugural Junior World Championships in Artistic Gymnastics held in Gyor (HUN).
'The results showed that Europe also has skilled junior gymnasts who constituted a strong rivalry to the representatives of other continents. Our gymnasts won almost 50 % of medals (20 from 42 medals) assigned both for Men's and Women's Artistic Gymnastics in total. I am pleased that we have a growing generation of promising gymnasts to represent our continent as they are the future of European gymnastics,' Gayibov concluded.
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William Erat
by Marquis Who's Who ModeratorPosted on June 15, 2018 June 15, 2018
Title: Chief Retirement Officer
Company: Erat Enterprises
Location: Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, United States
William Erat, chief retirement officer at Erat Enterprises, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Executives for dedication, achievements, and leadership in Financial Services.
With more than 40 years of professional experience, Mr. Erat has been the chief retirement officer of Erat Enterprises since 2011. Prior to founding his own firm, he was the executive vice president of Liberty Lutheran from 2001 to 2010, and the executive director of Lutheran Children and Family Service of Eastern Pennsylvania from 1985 to 2008. Earlier in his career, Mr. Erat was the director of children’s’ services at the Lutheran Service Association (not Lutheran Social services of New England) from 1974 to 1985.
Mr. Erat began his career as a student at Valparaiso University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in psychology. He continued his studies at the University of Cambridge Fitzwilliam College, completing a Master of Theology in 1966. In 1969, he obtained a Master of Divinity in theology and theological studies from Concordia Seminary, and in 1978 he got a Master of Science in psychology from Boston University. Later in his career, Mr. Erat earned a Master of Science in organizational dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1999. He is licensed as a clinical social worker in the state of Massachusetts.
Contact Mr. Erat
Posted in Financial ServicesTagged Financial Services, psychology, seminary, social work, theology, william erat
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Welcome to the website of the UMaine Center on Aging (UMCoA) at the University of Maine. Established in the winter of 2002, we are a multi-disciplinary center within the University of Maine System devoted to aging-related education and training, research and evaluation, and community service and consultation. UMCoA’s base of operations is at the University of Maine System’s flagship campus. Our main offices are in the city of Bangor with staff outposted in several locations throughout the state. The Center is proud to be affiliated with the School of Social Work and the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture. We are also a designated research unit at the University of Maine administered through the Office of the Vice President for Research.
UMCoA is always buzzing with activity. A wide range of exciting community programs, educational initiatives, and research investigations are continuously underway. The staff and students at UMCoA are planning and implementing a variety of programs that aim to enrich the lives of Maine’s older citizens and their families, the communities in which they live, and the current and future workforce serving them. At the same time we are talking with older adults, family members, health and human service professionals, government officials, students, faculty, and business leaders throughout the state and the nation as we take stock of what are the most pressing aging-related issues and concerns for each of these important stakeholder groups in the future of an aging America.
Unquestionably, our mission has always been bold and broad. The designation of aging research as an Emerging Area of Excellence at the University of Maine by the Office of the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost has elevated the priority placed on aging-related education and inquiry significantly and has extended our focus. In concert with the Office of the Vice President for Research, we aim to support aging initiatives not only across the UMaine campus but throughout the University of Maine System. It requires the full commitment of the staff, associates, and students affiliated with UMCoA and the loyal resolve of the rapidly expanding cadre of academic and community partners collaborating with us in this effort. It also requires the strong support of those who have the financial wherewithal to make the much needed programs that we offer now and intend to offer in the future a reality in a state that has traditionally grappled with scarce resources. Our mission remains the right one given we remain the oldest state in the nation based on median age and the home to the largest proportion of baby boomers in the U.S. At the same time, Maine continues to have a high proportion of older adults grappling with some of the most demanding challenges facing individuals in later life.
We will continue to strive to offer the widest possible array of aging–focused services, education, and research to the state and the nation. We will also remain committed to moving our programs as quickly as possible from the drawing board to the classrooms and meeting halls of the campus and to a variety of public and community venues through the state and nation. Partnering with other organizations makes it all possible.
Please visit our recently redesigned website regularly as we will be updating our program information frequently and join us as we work to insure that Maine is a state that proudly embraces its older citizens and has the professional expertise and programmatic infrastructure able to respond to the opportunities and challenges of an aging America.
Lenard W. Kaye
Director and Professor
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But don't make the mistake of thinking this will be a passive source of income—you're on call whenever you have a guest and you'll always need to keep the place clean for incoming visitors. On top of just renting on Airbnb, consider offering your guests paid add-ons, like Lauren Gheysens', Royal Day Out in London, England—where she gives visitors a local's only tour of the city, complete with bespoke 18th century costumes.
When I started to work from home, I missed talking to people. A lot. But I soon found a friend. Every day, I would hear the UPS guy gunning his motor as he drove down my long driveway to deliver my packages. As soon as I would spot him, I’d fly out of the house and chat him up. And now he leaves the packages by the curb. Sure, the one big bonus of working from home is that it gets you away from the petty office politics and never-ending gossip.
The music video, directed by Director X, was released on February 26, 2016.[82] Speaking on the video's concept, X said that he wanted to incorporate the theme of "work" but "with a different approach." Initially, the setting was going to be in a "corporate office" but the idea was not executed as the group previously released "Worth It" in that same setting. Other ideas included a condominium construction set. He noted the reverse gender roles where the men are "the objects" as "opposed to the other way around" and the many interpretations of work, which he says aided in the song's success.[83]
It’s not the sort of online money making opportunity that’s covered in glory, but everyone needs a set of eyes to make sure the numbers add up at the end of the year. Every business and most individuals need someone to help prepare tax returns, especially time or resource-strapped small business owners. The Income Tax School provides an array of training programs that'll certify you with tax prep in as little as 10 weeks, and once tax season rolls around you'll be able to charge an average of $229 per return as a freelance tax preparer with this side business idea, reports CNBC.
Telework centers are offices that are generally set up close to a majority of people who might otherwise drive or take public transit. They usually feature the full complement of office equipment and a high-speed Internet connection for maximum productivity. Some feature support staff, including receptionists or administrators. For example, a number of telework centers have been set up around the Washington Metropolitan Area: 7 in Maryland, 8 in Virginia, 3 in Washington, D.C. and 1 in West Virginia. Telework centers allow people to reduce their commute yet still work in a traditional office setting. Some telework centers are set up by individual companies while others are established by independent organizations for use by many organizations. Telework centers are attractive to people who do not have the space or inclination to work from home. They offer employers the ability to maintain a more formal structure for their workforce.
If you can find and restore items like furniture and appliances, you can make a substantial amount of money. You can acquire the items on Craigslist, or even at garage sales or estate sales, restore them, and then list them for sale on the site. You may also be able to market certain items on eBay, particularly if they are small, unusual, but high in price.
"Work from Home" is an midtempo song with elements of trap music. Katherine St. Asaph of Pitchfork noted elements of Rnbass in its production,[22] while Meaghan Garvey from MTV found tropical house influences on its beats.[23] Discussing the song musically, Chris Martins from Billboard classified it as a "a pop-R&B confection that siphons off the a tropically tinted EDM pool."[19] According to the sheet music published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, "Work from Home" is written in the time signature of common time, with a moderate tempo of 104–108 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of A♭ major as quintet's voices span the tonal nodes of G3 to F5. "Work from Home" follows a chord progression of Fm–D♭—A♭.[24]
I already know what you’re thinking when you read that title, ‘Here comes another one of those get rich quick scams. I don’t blame you. Most titles that begin the way tend to lead to some ebook or sales page. But what I’m about to reveal to you is totally legitimate and involves nothing more than speaking your mind. No I haven’t lost mine! Just be patient.
Become a proofreader. All kinds of businesses hire professional proofreaders to look over their copy and content for errors before they publish. This side hustle is one that could work for nearly anyone since you can work from home provided you have a computer and an internet connection. You can find online proofreading jobs through websites like Indeed.com and FlexJobs.com
This app rewards users for completing location-based "missions," like giving your opinion about products you've tested or stores you've visited. For each mission completed, you earn rewards that can be redeemed for things like gift cards and airline points, or simply cashed out through PayPal. You'll also be automatically entered into a quarterly sweepstakes to win $10,000.
"Work from Home" was ranked at number 14 on the 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time list, published by Billboard. S.J.H. dismissed the fact that the word "work" was mentioned "95 times" and added that the "repetition is part of its charm". J.H. finishes their statement saying that the group secured their biggest hit to date with "melodies that counter the blooping synths, punctuating a relatively sparse beat" and commended the equal delivery of each member, specifically Cabello, whose vocals contradict the "song’s straightforward verses with acrobatic runs that bring it all home."[57]
Work-at-home and telecommuting scams are very common; many of these job offers are scams claiming that people can "get rich quick" while working from home. In fact, these scams require an investment up front with no pay-off at the end.[96] The problem is so pervasive that in 2006 the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) established 'Project False Hopes', a Federal and state law enforcement sweep that targeted bogus business opportunity and work-at-home scams. The crackdown involved more than 100 law enforcement actions by the FTC, the Department of Justice, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and law enforcement agencies in 11 states. In four of the new FTC cases alone, consumers lost more than $30 million.[citation needed] "Bogus business opportunities trample on Americans’ dreams of financial independence", said FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras. "If a business opportunity promises no risk, little effort, and big profits, it almost certainly is a scam. These scams offer only a money pit, where no matter how much time and money is invested, consumers never achieve the riches or financial freedom that they were promised."[97] The FBI warned of such scams on February 2009, as well.
Elsewhere in Europe, the song entered the charts in Austria, where it peaked at number nine and charted for twenty-eight weeks. Similar trends followed in Denmark and Latvia, where the song also peaked at number nine. In the Belgian charts, the song peaked within the top 10 in its Flanders and Wallonia category, earning a top five in the Flanders chart. The track also peaked in the top 10 in Czech Republic, making appearances in both of the country's two main charts. In Germany and Norway, the song peaked at seven and six, respectively and charted for fifteen and twenty six weeks. "Work from Home" earned a top five in countries such as Spain and Poland, charting for 18 weeks in the Spanish charts. In its digital track component, the song peaked in the top 10 in Slovakia. It also achieved top 10 peaks in Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries of Sweden and Norway, where it also became their highest charting song in said countries. The song was certified platinum in Denmark, double platinum in countries including Belgium, Italy, Poland, Spain, quadruple platinum in Sweden and Diamond in France, where the single sold a quarter of a million copies.
Some great ideas here! Personally, I’m always willing to pay for a service – like having someone clean out my gutters, for example – but if no one is offering that service, I can’t give them my money! I wish there were more people doing things like this, especially people who are unemployed and can’t find work. There is so much money to be made out there!
Telecommuting individuals, or more specifically those in "work from home" arrangements, may find that it improves work-life balance, reduces their carbon footprint and fuel usage, frees up the equivalent of 15 to 25 workdays a year (time they would have otherwise spent commuting), and saves thousands of dollars per year in travel and work-related costs.[59][60] Half-time telecommuting by those with compatible jobs (40%) and a desire to do so (79%) would save companies, communities, and employees over $650 billion a year; the result of increased productivity, reduced office expense, lower absenteeism and turnover, reduced travel, less road repairs, less gas consumption, and other savings.[61]
Great ideas although I find writing 20 articles in a day too exhausting. Similarly, I doubt if you can collect aluminum cans in one a day that you can sell for at least $100, unless you will do it with other friends and colleagues. This is a good idea for a fundraiser, though. On the other hand, I would recommend baby/dog sitting or house/yard cleaning.
Telecommuting, also called telework, teleworking, working from home, mobile work, remote work, and flexible workplace,[1][2] is a work arrangement in which employees do not commute or travel (e.g. by bus or car) to a central place of work, such as an office building, warehouse, or store. Teleworkers in the 21st century often use mobile telecommunications technology such as Wi-Fi-equipped laptop or tablet computers and smartphones to work from coffee shops; others may use a desktop computer and a landline phone at their home. According to a Reuters poll, approximately "one in five workers around the globe, particularly employees in the Middle East, Latin America and Asia, telecommute frequently and nearly 10 percent work from home every day."[3] In the 2000s, annual leave or vacation in some organizations was seen as absence from the workplace rather than ceasing work, and some office employees used telework to continue to check work e-mails while on vacation.[citation needed]
In the United Kingdom, "Work from Home" debuted at number 23 on the Official Charts Company after its first week of release.[73] The following week, it rose 12 spots to reach number 11. It would rise seven spots for a peak at number four, earning the group their second top 10 entry in this market after "Worth It" peaked number three on July 2015. For two consecutive weeks, it rose one spot, until reaching number two and peaking on the chart behind Mike Posner's "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" during its fifth week, becoming the group's highest-peaking song in Britain, surpassing its predecessor.[74] The song would stay in the top ten for eight additional weeks and in the top 40 for twelve weeks for a total of thirty-seven weeks.
For example, you might take photos and have them available for a fee at sites such as shutterstock.com, smugmug.com, 500px.com, or istockphoto.com. Similarly, you can create and upload designs at sites such as zazzle.com and cafepress.com, where people can buy them imprinted on shirts, mugs, and so on. Similarly, you might write an e-book and sell it online, perhaps via Amazon.com's direct publishing service.
You mention one name of a survey site and then you say to sign up for 3-5 others, but you do not say what others to sign up for. I am very interested in doing this—especially when you mention that you earned over $600 in a month’s time by doing surveys an hour a day. I can spend an hour a day doing surveys, but please help walk me through how to do this (specifics please)—thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!
Transcription work from home jobs involve listening to audio files and typing out what you hear. While some types of transcription (such as medical) require training, it is possible to break into general transcription with little to no past experience. Before you start digging through the companies below, you may want to read this post about what general transcription involves and this post about the equipment transcribers use.
2. How They Make Money: “From a consumer’s standpoint, it’s important to understand what the monetization model is for the company that makes these apps,” added Kowsik Guruswamy, chief technology officer at Menlo Security. “That alone can be very revealing in how the companies plan to use their data.” For example, an app might make money through sponsorships with the brands it partners with or it might offer customers paid upgrades. However, it’s also likely it makes money selling your data to advertisers or other third parties, which is why it’s important to note what kind of data it tracks and how it uses it.
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Rakim’s command of language continued on its existentialist bent (“Am I eternal, or an eternalist?”) on Follow the Leader, his and DJ Eric B.’s second album. Noting in the title and opening cut that there’s “one R in the alphabet,” he both took greatness as his due and demonstrated why. Boasting about his ability to disorient with words in “Lyrics of Fury” (“The pain’s a migraine every time you think”), he convinces us that the reason “the album was late” is that we were still digesting the previous one. And Eric B.’s art kept up, with multi-instrumentalist Stevie Blass Griffin contributing to the musical flow. The backward-spun syncopations of “No Competition” opened up new possibilities of hip-hop sound, and the cutmaster’s showcase “Eric B. Never Scared” is a masterpiece of tone and intent built from a tiny group of elements: a crushing beat, samples of Bob Marley and the Eagles (!), and a couple of Rakim slogans (“Never scared, I’ll just have fun”).
Follow the Leader (Expanded) Eric B. & Rakim
Microphone Fiend
Lyrics of Fury
Eric B. Never Scared
Just a Beat
Put Your Hands Together
To the Listeners
The R
Musical Massacre
Beats for the Listeners
The R (Extended Remix)
Microphone Fiend (Extended Remix)
Put Your Hands Together (Fon Force Mix)
℗ 2005 Geffen Records
More By Eric B. & Rakim
20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Eric B. & Rakim
Gold: Eric B. & Rakim
The Remixes (1987-1992)
Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em
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« Video: examples of car insurance fraud
Money scheme: Russian mafia conducts tutorials on how to commit car insurance fraud in U.S. »
Muslim Aid trustee charged with war crimes
Islamic charity leader indicted for killing 18 intellectuals
Money Jihad has been contacted by Muslim Aid on a couple occasions in the past (see here and here) to insist upon the innocence of their philanthropic endeavors and to disclaim their organization’s membership in the pro-Hamas network of charitable fronts known as the Union of Good. Will Muslim Aid also claim to be unaware that at least one of their trustees is a war criminal?
From BBC (h/t to Jurist with a special nod to Mahadib who told Money Jihad that Mueen-Uddin could be indicted) on May 2:
UK community leader Mueen-Uddin indicted in Bangladesh
A British community leader has been indicted in Bangladesh for his alleged role in the killing of 18 people during the 1971 liberation war from Pakistan.
Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin strongly denies any role in the murder of 18 intellectuals in December of that year.
He is alleged to have been a member of the Al-Badr group, which identified and killed pro-independence activists.
He is accused with another alleged Al-Badr member, Ashrafuzzaman Khan, a United States citizen.
His lawyers have rejected all the allegations against him. They say that none of the accusations have ever been formally put to him and there has been no attempt to question him.
“The statements made by members of the government of Bangladesh are grossly defamatory to my client, wholly untrue and are refuted in their entirety,” his lawyer Toby Cadman told the BBC.
Mr Cadman’s website carries a detailed rebuttal of all the allegations against Mr Mueen-Uddin.
Holding dual British and Bangladesh citizenship, Mr Mueen-Uddin is a trustee of the UK charity Muslim Aid and played a prominent role in setting up the Muslim Council of Britain.
His website says that he is also the director of Muslim Spiritual Care Provision in the UK’s National Health Service.
State prosecutor Syed Haider Ali told the AFP news agency that he “has been indicted for crimes against humanity and genocide”. He said that Mr Mueen-Uddin fled Bangladesh soon after the end of the war.
Mr Khan, now believed to be living in the US, faces the same charges.
An arrest warrant was issued by the International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka on Thursday for both men, who are accused of “directly taking part” in the killing of the 18 intellectuals between 10 December 10 and 15 December 1971.
Charges were initially put before the tribunal last month – on Thursday it accepted them and ordered their arrests.
Nobody knows exactly how many people were killed in the 1971 war. Bangladesh says up to three million people died, mostly in massacres by the Pakistan army and their local Islamist allies, the Razakar and Al-Badr forces…
Posted in News commentary | Tagged Al-Badr militia, Bangladesh, Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, Muslim Aid, Muslim Council of Britain, Shahbag, U.K. |
[…] Note: The information on the indictment was found on Money Jihad. […]
by Uk Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas Support Figure Indicted In Bangladesh On War Crimes Charges :: The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch May 5, 2013 at 1:25 pm
[…] Note: The information on the iMueen-Uddin indictment was found on Money Jihad. […]
Reblogged this on .
by Moderator May 7, 2013 at 7:16 am
[…] Mueen-Uddin, a trustee of the charity Muslim Aid and a leader within the Muslim community in Britain, has been convicted of war crimes by Bangladesh […]
by Dhaka: Muslim charity leader guilty of war crimes | Money Jihad November 11, 2013 at 4:41 am
.Global Aid
Trust’s strategies are context-specific: micro-grant support for families recovering from conflict
Global Aid Trust from Piash Sarker
by Faizul Hasan May 17, 2015 at 5:52 am
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Outremont residents voice concern over parking plan
"There's no bigger plan, and this is not Phase 1. This is like, 'We're going to start with this, and we're going to see along the way.' That's not a sustainable way to do things."
Outremont’s new parking plan, which will introduce permit parking across the entire borough as of July 2, is upsetting some of the area’s residents.
The plan was proposed in an effort to reduce the use of cars, promote public transit and to put money toward the borough’s “ecological transition.” Another goal is to reduce the amount of people coming to the borough to park their car and then take public transit to other areas.
The permits will be universal for the borough, meaning they won’t be categorized by zones. Residents will be given a number of free day permits per year for friends and family. Visitors to the area will be able to buy a daily permit for $10 or a monthly permit for $100. Costs for residents will range from $100 to $140, depending on the car. A second permit for the same residence will cost $275.
The money generated from the permits — an estimated $400,000 per year — will be put toward planting more trees and gardens, as well as other efforts to beautify the area while fighting the climate crisis, according to the plan.
But some residents are unhappy with how this plan came to be, claiming they weren’t consulted, or saying it’s too vague.
“There’s no bigger plan, and this is not Phase 1,” said Outremont’s Geneviève Beaudoin-Lebeuf. “This is like, ‘We’re going to start with this, and we’re going to see along the way.’ That’s not a sustainable way to do things.”
At a community meeting on Wednesday, another resident told Outremont Mayor Philipe Tomlinson that she doesn’t think his plan will accomplish the goals it outlines, citing the lack of a budget plan on his website for residents to consult as one of the reasons.
The same resident, who said she had to interrupt her maternity leave to take on the role of an activist, claims she collected over 400 signatures opposing the plan in the past five days.
Others said they were concerned the plan doesn’t take senior citizens or people with disabilities into account by promoting public transit and bicycles as means of transportation.
Watch: Outremont residents react to new parking rules
Allison Hanes: Is Outremont the new Plateau?
Hunger-striking activists say Bill 21 takes food off Quebecers' tables Dunlevy: Jim Carrey's political side seen in cartoons at Phi Centre
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Morris Building & Loan
IRA & CDs
Morris Building and Loan of Morris Illinois was organized February 27, 1917. The primary purpose of the organization was to encourage thrifty workmen to build and own their own homes at near rent prices. Business was first conducted from the Matteson hardware store in Morris. Then later moved to the Hynds building and later made several moves to different locations such as the Fessler and Collins buildings. Always sharing space with different businesses until 1959 when the first owned building was built on Jefferson & Wauponsee. In 1981 the property was sold to the City of Morris for the City Hall & Police Department. In that same year Morris Building & Loan built a new building on Jefferson & Division (Rt. 47), where we are still located today. On April 21, 2008, Morris Building and Loan merged with Harvard Savings Bank, which was acquired by State Bank in August, 2016. And in December 2016 First Secure Community Bank acquired Morris Building & Loan making it, once again, a locally owned institution.
We have seen generations of families grow up with us. We are proud to be part of the Morris Community and invest in our neighbors and in the local communities. We are constantly striving to stay involved in the betterment of our local communities. This is where we work and where many of our employees live. Whether you're an existing customer or new to the Morris Building & Loan family, we look forward to serving you with effective, timely banking solutions that meet your personal and business banking needs.
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211 E Jefferson St
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DESIGN JOURNAL
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DEMI LOVATO Sizzles In Her New MUSIC VIDEO!
Demi Lovato is back on our daily countdown after a year! Read more.
"Cool for the Summer" is a song by American singer Demi Lovato, as the lead single from her upcoming fifth studio album.
The song enters the Daily Top 10 July 27 edition at No. 9 spot. Then, goes up to No. 8 of July 28 edition and another spot to No. 7 on July 29 chart action.
The music video was directed by Hannah Lux Davis. It was released on July 23, 2015 on Vevo.
Christina Garibaldi of MTV deemed the video "seductive, sassy and smokin' hot" and noted the video marked "a new chapter of her career, as she exudes a confidence and sexiness that we haven't seen before." Bianca Gracie of Idolator and Lewis Corner of Digital Spy both thought the video is Lovato's "steamiest". Hayden Manders ofNylon wrote that the video "doesn't disappoint, but it somewhat misses the mark" explaining "it's odd that a video for a song about same-sex experimentation features none. You'd have to listen to the lyrics to understand the underlying message of the song because the video shies away from it." New York magazine's Dee Lockett called it "the most sexually liberated video Demi's ever done to go along with its empowering message."
Watch the music video below.
Don't miss the latest TOP 10 list of Most Played Songs, MONDAY-FRIDAY @ 6PM only here on MPS!
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These are the world’s most endangered animals
Georgia DiebeliusSaturday 18 Nov 2017 7:00 am
As well as the tiger, the orangutan is also on the list – oh, and the black rhino. (Picture: Metro)
It has been more than 25 years since a South China tiger was spotted in the wild.
In fact, the subspecies is considered by scientists to be ‘functionally extinct’.
Therefore, it has sadly earned its place on the world’s most critically endangered animals list – alongside 18 others.
As well as the tiger, the orangutan is also on the list – oh, and the black rhino.
Today, Metro.co.uk are revealing the World Wide Fund for Nature’s 19 most endangered animals that are at serious risk of dying out.
Amur Leopard
Similar to other leopards, the Amur can hit speeds of up to 37 miles per hour. (Picture: Sebastian Bozon/ AFP/ Getty Images)
There are just over 60 Amur leopards left on the planet.
These beautiful creatures – who go by the scientific name of Panthera pardus orientalis – can currently be found in the temperate forests of Russia.
Similar to other leopards, the Amur can hit speeds of up to 37 miles per hour.
They live for 10-15 years, and in captivity up to 20 years. However, sadly – there are not many left.
A newly born baby Eastern Black Rhinoceros calf sits with her mother in their enclosure (Picture: Reuters/ Phil Noble)
There are believed to be around just 5,000 black rhinos left in the world today.
The creatures – who are listed as ‘critically endangered’ by WWF – are mainly found in parts of Namibia in Coastal East Africa.
European hunters are said to be mainly responsible for the early decline of black rhino populations.
In fact, it was not uncommon for five or six rhinos to be killed in a day for food or simply for amusement.
Bornean Orangutan
The Bornean Orangutan is at risk of extinction (Picture: Getty)
There are still estimated to be around 104,700 Bornean orangutan left in the world – however figures are declining rapidly.
In fact, over the last 50 years, populations have declined by more than 50%.
The species – which differs in appearance from the Sumatran orangutan, with a broader face and shorter beard – are usually found in parts of Borneo and Sumatra.
Cross River Gorilla
Efforts are ongoing in a bid to protect the cross river gorilla – focusing on securing the forests that house them. (Picture: Julielangford/ Wikipedia)
There are said to be just 200 to 300 individuals left in the cross river gorilla species.
The sub-species, which is very similar in appearance to the western lowland gorilla, are mainly found in the Congo Basin.
Efforts are ongoing in a bid to protect the cross river gorilla – focusing on securing the forests that house them.
WWF and partners have worked with the governments of Cameroon and Nigeria to create a protected area for the sub-species that spans the border of these two nations.
Eastern Lowland Gorilla
The eastern lowland gorilla is the largest of the four gorilla subspecies (Picture: Gerard Lacz/ REX/ Shutterstock)
There were nearly 17,000 eastern lowland gorillas in the mid-1990s, but scientists estimate that the population has declined by more than 50% since then.
An accurate number of the remaining animals has been impossible for many years, however, because of violence in the region.
The eastern lowland gorilla is the largest of the four gorilla subspecies, but still made it’s way ontot he critically endangered list.
It is believed that years of civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo is partially responsible for their decline.
Hawksbill Turtle
Hawksbills are found mainly throughout the world’s tropical oceans (Picture: Wild Horizons/ UIG via Getty Images)
How many Hawksbill sea turtles still exist? Nobody knows. But they are listed as critically endangered.
The stunning creatures are named for their narrow, pointed beak.
Hawksbills are found mainly throughout the world’s tropical oceans, predominantly in coral reefs.
Vietnam’s last wild Javan rhino was poached in 2010. (Picture: Getty)
Javan rhinos are the most threatened of the five rhino species.
In fact, there are estimated to be just 58 to 68 left in the world.
Where are they, you ask? All live in Ujung Kulon National Park in Java, Indonesia.
Vietnam’s last wild Javan rhino was poached in 2010.
Malayan Tiger
Malayan tigers were classified as Indochinese tigers until DNA testing in 2004 showed them to be a separate subspecies. (Picture: FLPA/ REX/ Shutterstock)
See this beautiful creature? The Malayan tiger? Yes, there are just 250 to 340 left in the world.
Sad, right?
Malayan tigers were classified as Indochinese tigers until DNA testing in 2004 showed them to be a separate subspecies.
The incredible animals are found only on the Malay Peninsula and in the southern tip of Thailand. So if you’re hoping to see one.. think again!
Mountain Gorilla
The decline in their numbers is (sadly) down to us humans. (Picture: Michael Runkel/ Robert Harding/ REX/ Shutterstock)
880. That’s how many mountain gorillas are left on the planet.
As their name implies, mountain gorillas live in forests high in the mountains, at elevations of 8,000 to 13,000 feet.
The decline in their numbers is (sadly) down to us humans.
Their fur helps them to survive in a habitat where temperatures often drop below freezing – But as humans have moved into the area, the gorillas have been pushed farther up into the mountains for longer periods.
Therefore forcing them to endure dangerous and sometimes deadly conditions.
A third species of orangutan was announced in November, 2017.
A century ago there were probably more than 230,000 orangutans in total.
But as numbers decline, the species has made it onto the WWF critically endangered list.
Today, there are around 104,700 Bornean orangutan left, and just 7,500 Sumatran.
That sub-species has no more than 800 individuals.
The find proved to be the first large mammal new to science in more than 50 years and one of the most spectacular zoological discoveries of the 20th century. (Picture: WWF)
Introducing, the Asian unicorn.
The saola was discovered in May 1992 during a joint survey carried out by the Ministry of Forestry of Vietnam and WWF in north-central Vietnam.
The find proved to be the first large mammal new to science in more than 50 years.
The current population is unknown.
South China Tiger
Today the South China tiger is considered ‘functionally extinct’ by scientists. (Picture: VCG/ VCG via Getty Images)
The species population was estimated to number 4,000 individuals in the early 1950s, but over the next few decades, thousands were killed.
Why? They were hunted as a pest.
The Chinese government banned hunting in 1979. But sadly by 1996 the population was estimated to be just 30-80 individuals.
Today the South China tiger is considered ‘functionally extinct’ by scientists.
Sumatran Elephant
They are mainly found in areas of Borneo and Sumatra (Picture: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)
The current population for the mammals is estimated to be between 2,200 and 2,800.
Sumatran elephants feed on a variety of plants and deposit seeds wherever they go.
Sadly, they are rapidly decreasing in numbers and have therefore made it onto the critically endangered list.
They are mainly found in areas of Borneo and Sumatra.
Sumatran Orangutan
Historically, the Sumatran orangutan was distributed over the entire island of Sumatra and further south into Java. (Picture: Getty)
There are estimated to be just 7,500 Sumatran orangutans left in the world.
Where are they? Across parts of Borneo and Sumatra, mainly.
Historically, the Sumatran orangutan was distributed over the entire island of Sumatra and further south into Java.
Sumatran Rhino
While surviving in greater numbers than the Javan rhino, Sumatran rhinos are more threatened by poaching. (Picture: Getty)
There are less than 100 Sumatran rhinos left in the world.
The beautiful creatures are the smallest of the living rhinoceroses and the only Asian rhino with two horns.
While surviving in greater numbers than the Javan rhino, Sumatran rhinos are more threatened by poaching.
There is no indication that the population is stable and just two captive females have reproduced in the last 15 years.
The final few of the sub-species are holding on for survival in the remaining patches of forests on the island of Sumatra. (Picture: Getty)
Between 400 to 500 Sumatran tigers are estimated to be alive.
They are the smallest surviving tiger subspecies and are distinguished by heavy black stripes on their orange coats.
The final few of the sub-species are holding on for survival in the remaining patches of forests on the island of Sumatra.
In Indonesia, anyone caught hunting tigers could face jail time and steep fines.
But despite increased efforts in tiger conservation, a substantial market remains in Sumatra and the rest of Asia for tiger parts and products, WWF said.
The little porpoise wasn’t discovered until 1958 (Picture: Tom Jefferson/ NOAA Fisheries West Coast)
Introducing the Vaquita, the world’s most rare marine mammal.
There are estimated to be just 30 of these creatures left in the entire world.
The little porpoise wasn’t discovered until 1958 and a little over half a century later, we are on the brink of losing them forever.
Vaquita are often caught and drowned in gillnets used by illegal fishing operations in marine protected areas within Mexico’s Gulf of California.
Western Lowland Gorilla
The exact number of western lowland gorillas is not known. (Picture: AFP/ Greg Wood)
The western lowland gorilla is the most numerous and widespread of all gorilla subspecies – but they are still critically endangered.
The exact number of western lowland gorillas is not known.
Why? Because they inhabit some of the most dense and remote rainforests in Africa.
Because of poaching and disease, the gorilla’s numbers have declined by more than 60% over the last 20 to 25 years.
And sadly, even if all of the threats to western lowland gorillas were removed, scientists calculate that the population would require some 75 years to recover.
Yangtze Finless Porpoise
Just 1,000 to 1,800 of the creature remain. (Picture: China Photos/Getty Images)
The Yangtze River, the longest river in Asia, used to be one of the only two rivers in the world that was home to two different species of dolphin.
What were they? The Yangtze finless porpoise and the Baiji dolphin.
In 2006 the Baiji dolphin became the first in history to see an entire species of dolphin wiped off the planet because of human activity.
And now, its close cousin, the Yangtze finless porpoise, is close behind.
Just 1,000 to 1,800 of the creature remain.
Rabbit born without fur thanks to rare genetic condition becomes Instagram celebrity
Elephants used for tourist rides 'screamed in agony' after being beaten and chained
Teacher Brittany Zamora, 28, who had sex with boy, 13, while his pal watched gets 20 years jail
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A lineup for an ATM: Mexico has five automated teller machines for every 10,000 adults. Brazil has 13.
Regulation coming for growing fintech sector
Supporters say bill will mean improved access to banking for millions of Mexicans
Published on Monday, December 18, 2017
Draft legislation to regulate Mexico’s growing financial technology (fintech) sector has been approved by the Senate and will be considered by the lower house in 2018.
If signed into law, supporters of the bill say, it would offer legal certainty to fintech companies, increase competition and better access to banking services for millions of Mexicans.
Approximately 300 fintech companies currently operate in Mexico and the market is growing faster than in any other country in Latin America.
A National Action Party (PAN) deputy said that members of the finance committee she heads would first analyze the legislation in January before it is passed to the entire lower house for consideration in the next sitting period.
“We are going to start to study the draft. What we do think is important is the regulation of advanced technologies in financial matters . . .” Gina Cruz Blackledge said.
Experts say that the legislation — called the Law to Regulate Financial Technology or the Fintech Law for short — will help to close the financial inclusion gap, a problem that is widespread in Mexico.
Consumer protection agency Condusef warned last month that almost 600,000 people are at risk of losing their savings because the savings and loans cooperatives where their deposits are held are on the verge of collapse.
In most cases, people use the funds known as Socaps because they live in rural areas where there are no banks. Only 800 of Mexico’s 2,492 municipalities have bank branches, according to Condusef data.
Mexico has just 1.5 bank branches per 10,000 adults compared to 4.7 in Brazil, the 2016 National Report on Financial Inclusion said, while Mexico also lags well behind Brazil in terms of access to automated teller machines (ATMs) and terminals where payments can be made electronically.
Just 39% of Mexicans over the age of 15 have a bank account, according to data from the World Bank.
The co-founder and CEO of venture capital fund Ignia said that because fintech companies don’t depend on traditional infrastructure, they can increase accessibility to financial services and help to alleviate those problems.
“Large companies tend to be very bad in developing new technologies, in innovating, in being disruptive with themselves. In the great revolutions of recent years in the world, it wasn’t the large players that made the disruption,” Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui said.
The founder and CEO of Prestadero, an online loan company, said the law would benefit both fintech companies and the people who use their products.
“We have always wanted regulation because it protects users of our products from the start. In a way you don’t trust [them] so much because there is no specific regulation, and it also protects us . . . and the investors. It gives us legal certainty and with that there are many things that we can do for customers, investors and possible partners,” Gerardo Obregón said.
Other industry figures also threw their support behind the initiative, including the CEO of another loan company, Creditea, who also recognized the diversity of the sector the law seeks to regulate.
“The fintech issue is complex because it’s not just companies like us, that are online, but also cryptocurrencies, payment methods. There is a lot to this wide definition of fintech, but it will certainly give certainty to the market and bring growth,” Adrián Fernández said.
The head of fintech at Ernst & Young, Gonzalo Núñez, said that Mexico could be one of the world’s top three fintech countries in the next three to five years.
Two new options coming for making electronic payments
Bank customers in Mexico will soon have two new options to make electronic transfers and payments using a smartphone.
Banks announce elimination of commissions on digital accounts
Mexican banks will eliminate commissions on digital accounts, the president of the Mexican Banking Association said.
43% of Mexico’s municipalities don’t have a bank machine
Millions of Mexicans who live in rural areas have few or no options to access basic financial services, a new report shows.
23sharesDraft legislation to regulate Mexico’s growing financial technology (fintech) sector has been approved by the Senate and will be considered FULL STORY
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State Bar’s 78th president takes the wheel
Posted on September 20, 2012 by Douglas J. Levy
After Grand Rapids litigator Bruce Courtade took oath as 78th president of the State Bar of Michigan on Sept. 20 at DeVos Place, he emphasized that bar dues would not be raised under his watch*.
Bruce Courtade (right) acknowledges the crowd after being sworn in as 78th State Bar of Michigan president by Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Young Jr.
Why? “Because Jenny will kill me,” he said to a roomful of laughter. He was referring to his wife, Jenny DeLessio, who also is an attorney.
All kidding aside, Courtade said he’s ready to lead the 2012-13 year by moving forward with the SBM’s strategic plan, and with what has been recently put into place.
He noted that the SBM’s Solutions on Self-Help Task Force has gotten SCAO-approved forms accessible via the web for people who can’t afford a lawyer to take to court. The Q&A-style forms are in fourth-grade English and will help in uncontested divorces and PPOs.
Courtade also said that the recommendations from the Judicial Crossroads Task Force initiative will continue to work for funding for legal aid providers and advocating for indigent defense issues. He noted that a House bill for indigent defense has gotten 77 co-sponsors as it goes to a vote this coming week, and he’s hopeful it will receive similar reception in the Senate
And, as he told Michigan Lawyers Weekly in a recent article, he wants to push for civics education in schools, and making citizens aware of the Constitution and their constitutional rights. To show his seriousness on that, he made sure a copy of the U.S. Constitution was on each table at his swearing-in luncheon.
“I’m not a constitutional scholar,” he said. “I carry the Constitution with me at all times to remind me why we do what we do. … It’s the words that are contained in it that makes our more perfect union more perfect.”
Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Michael Riordan announces Dana Warnez as the newly sworn in chair of the Representative Assembly.
Right next door, at the Representative Assembly, Dana Warnez was sworn in as its 2012-13 chair, with Court of Appeals Judge Michael Riordan leading the proceedings. The RA also elected Vanessa Williams as its new clerk.
*As an earlier blog post noted, SBM dues actually have been reduced.
This entry was posted in State Bar of Michigan, Uncategorized and tagged Bruce Courtade, Judicial Crossroads Task Force, SCAO, State Bar of Michigan by Douglas J. Levy. Bookmark the permalink.
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Archive for the tag “Stephanopoulos”
Skeet Skeet Skeet Part 16: Order Denying Plaintiff’s Motion for Reconsideration (19.06.2018)
Posted in America, Civil Service, Development, Ethics, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, Politics, Transparency and tagged American Election, Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, Empowermnet, Equality, Gender, Gender Empowerment, Gender Equality, HRC, Ivanka Trump, Melania Trump, Men, Michael Cohen, Michael Dean Cohen, Michael J. Avenatti, Paul Ryan, Republican, Republican National Committee, Republican Party, RNC, Stephanie Clifford, Stephanopoulos, Steven Mnuchin, Stormy Daniels, The Week, Trump, Trump Organization, US Presidential Election, US Presidential Election 2016, Woman, Woman Card, Womanizer | Leave a comment
Skeet Skeet Skeet Part 13: Avenatti files a complaint of breaches of fiduciary duties from Cohen and Davidson towards his client Stormy Daniels!
Clearly, Attorney Michael Avenatti and his team is not giving in. They are really releasing all parts of what happened with his client Stormy Daniels aka Stephanie Clifford. This is really damaging, in the big scheme of things. This here isn’t much, but what Avenatti has delivered to the courts is telling that Donald J. Trump’s Attorney, Michael Cohen was directly involved in Keith Davidson’s defense of then client Stormy Daniels. This here is damaging as this shows intent of muffling with the plaintiff, just to silence the client of the other party. Anyone should know that this is wrong. It is to easy to know that is foolish.
So this goes back to January 2018 where Cohen worked directly for Trump to stop the stories of Stormy Daniels get into the media. Because Daniels was supposed to appear on Sean Hannity on the 17th January 2018, but because of the communications between Cohen and Davidson. Cohen told Davidson that all things about the case and about Daniels should be through him and not any statements or interviews. Cohen even called Davidson his “pal” on the 18th January after they both agreed to do it this way.
As February 2018, Davidson secretly tipped Cohen that she was planning to switch Attorney. Also did the same after Cohen also filed an order to obtain a temporary restaining order against Clifford. He again tipped Cohen in March in secrecy tipped that there was a possible lawsuit coming against Cohen and Trump. Therefore, Cohen texted “Call me” to Davidson. This to get information about the coming the lawsuit. After this happen after the violation of duty as the attorney for Clifford, Cohen used this information to falsely advice Melanie Trump on the coming case and also allege that Clifford was a liar.
After termination of her relation and use of the legal advice of Davidson, Clifford has several times tried to get her communication and case documents. So that she could get the judicial documents from Davidson, even the ones containing the communications between him and Cohen. All of this is damaging on both lawyers and their practice.
They have both violated their terms and their conditions as legal representations of their clients. This is clear breach of trust and off the duty as attorneys. As Davidson was supposed to represent and defend the case of Clifford, not help out the defendant in a possible case.
If Cohen was Trump’s fixer, he surely thought he had this in the bag. Until Clifford got Avanetti to represent her. Again, he shows flex and adds new possible legal trouble. As he has text messages between Davidson and Cohen. He has timeline and the possible evidence of the colluding between them. Peace.
Skeet Skeet Skeet Part 12/ Russian Probe: Report and Recommendations of the Special Master (04.06.2018)
Posted in America, Civil Service, Crime, Development, Election, Ethics, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, Politics, Transparency and tagged American Election, Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, Empowermnet, Equality, Gender, Gender Empowerment, Gender Equality, HRC, Ivanka Trump, Melania Trump, Men, Michael Cohen, Michael Dean Cohen, Michael J. Avenatti, Paul Ryan, Republican, Republican National Committee, Republican Party, RNC, Stephanie Clifford, Stephanopoulos, Steven Mnuchin, Stormy Daniels, The Week, Trump, Trump Organization, US Presidential Election, US Presidential Election 2016, Woman, Woman Card, Womanizer | Leave a comment
The Feudal King Trump: Pardon me, but who do you think you are?
“A kind of neo-feudalism is descending on the world. The overlords of the castles in our day lurk within the rarified ranks populating the fewest hoarding the most financial and political power.” – John Hogue, (Predictions 2015-2016)
When your thinking your stand above the law. When your thinking everyone else should answer to integrity, ethics, societies norms and even the courts. At this moment of time, there is one man, who thinks he stand above us all. That being President Donald J. Trump, he thinks like feudal king. He can control and make everyone jump after his every move. The Office he is in, as a representation of the people and not his royal highness. Even if he was caught with a spliff at the backroom being high, he still wouldn’t higher than the people itself.
Not strange that he believes so either, because the Republic Party is all muffled. Silent letting him be and letting out as loose canon. Trump can say whatever and decree whatever. No one is testing him. He can decree steel and aluminum against allies like European Union, Canada and Mexico. Instead of trying to work with them, he is putting provisions, that damage the relations. All out of his own mind. The same way he has used other policies and presidential decrees because he cannot get a consensus or agreement at the Congress. He doesn’t have the skill or the ability to do so. That is why he moves that way.
Trump has decree everything. Because everyone has to listen to him, be humbled and think he is the crown prince of planet earth. That Trump is best man ever living, that he is the mixture of Einstein and Lincoln. Even if he is the most run-through snake-oil-salesman ever walking on planet earth. He is used to be praised and loved, therefore, he thinks everyone loves him. If they don’t then they are fake. His misunderstandings of the world is to insane levels. However, nobody really ever checked him. That is why Trump thinks he can get away with it.
Now he continues with his nonsense. He is continuing to blame the investigation of the Russian Connection into his campaign. Blame game, which at this point is his propaganda. At this point, someone, which believes he is innocent wouldn’t need the powers to pardon himself. If you need a pardon, than your guilty of something. However, a President cannot do that to himself. Neither, is he above the law, he can be indicted and be judged. A President can be impeached and can lose its title. That is after trial and after following procedures. That happen to Nixon and Clinton. Nixon fell, but Clinton won his case.
Therefore, there are enough justification to investigate Trump. Even if he thinks he is a feudal king. That he think he is living in medieval kingdom, where everyone is his servants and bitches, where he can give the riches enormous wealth, while the rest is working to just feed themselves on borrowed land. That is what the Trumpian acts are. Where the state is favorable to the one of wealth, but working hard to make it harder for the poor. This is just like in old times. Instead of securing wealth for more, they are limiting it and securing the ones who already are packed with funds. They are making an underclass at a rate that is unprecedented.
President Trump might think he is medieval king, but he isn’t and he alone with that thought. We are a few more centuries ahead of Donald. Trump was elected not royalty, secondly the law and justice system is there for a reason. Even if he doesn’t understands the supposed checks and balances of the system. Only believes his own hype and his own deluded vision.
Donald J. Trump, the way your acting, it is evident your been up to something and done certain activity you don’t want to answer for. You think your above your people, I hate to say it. Your not above them. Your one of them. Even if your President and Commander-in-Chief. You will still answer for your deeds and if the fellow politicians in both parties grows some balls. They might use the chance in their life-time to prove their alliance to either rule of law or to a mockery of a medieval king. That is all up to you.
Is that the kingdom of Amerikkka? If so, please leave a notice or at least a leaflet at the office at United Nations. So the world knows, that you became a monarchy in the image after Trump. So we know, that the democracy is officially dead and just feudal king taking over. The world has now lost a beacon of hope, but it has instead become the dark continent of the world. Peace.
Posted in America, Civil Service, Development, Ethics, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, Politics, Transparency and tagged American Government, APT28, Carter Page, Charles E. Grassley, Corey Lewandowski, David Nunes, Democratic National Commitee, Democratic Party, DNC, Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Junior, Eric Trump, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Felix Sater, Gen. Michael Flynn, George Papadopolous, GOP, Government of United States of America, Grand Old Party, Hacking, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, HRC, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Jeff Sessions, John McCain, Kremlin, Lavrov, Marc Kasowitz, McCarthy, McHenry, McMaster, Melania Trump, Michael Caputo, Michael D. Cohen, Michael Flynn, Mike Flynn, Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell, Moscow, Natalia Veselnitskaya, Paul Manafort, Paul Ryan, President Putin, Presidential Election 2016, Putin, Rep. Mitch McConnell, Rep. Paul Ryan, Representative Mitch McConnell, Republican, Republican National Committee, Republican Party, Richard Gates, RNC, Robert Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, Roger Stone, Russia, Russian Oligarchs, Scalise, Scott Walker, SPF, Stephanie Clifford, Stephanopoulos, Steve Bannon, Stormy Daniels, Ted Cruz, Trump, Trump Organization, U.S. National Security, United States, United States of America, US Election, US Government, USA, Vladimir Putin, VP Mike Pence, WikiLeaks, Wilbur Ross | Leave a comment
Skeet Skeet Skeet Part 11: [Proposed] Order Granting Praintiff Stephanie Clifford’s Notice of Motion and Motion for Reconsideration in part of Order Imposing Stay (24.05.2018)
Cohen in a Trumpian Crisis!
“A couple of very bad ones came out and it’s called pay-for-play and some of these were really, really bad — and illegal. If it’s true, it’s illegal. You’re paying and you’re getting things” – Donald J. Trump (August 2016)
Michael Cohen, the personal lawyer and attorney for the President Donald J. Trump is in a sea of trouble. If he ever thought he was in it, he is now, it isn’t enough that his hotel-room, his home and office was raided by the FBI, by agents sent by the Southern District of New York (SDNY). Therefore, the Special Counsel Robert Mueller are looking through the evidence and the findings, as the collecting of building a great case is going-on. Cohen and his clients should worry, that being Boidy, Hannity and Trump.
That is evident now, as the revelations are coming, the documentations are showing the reality of the dealing of the attorney. The personal attorney of Trump, Cohen has used his position as the closest partner of the President done business agreements to secure help for corporations, like AT&T, Columbus Nova & Novartis. All paid for him being their business consultant, however, what sort of insider deals he could offer them is questionable. If you ever wondered what money does in politics. This is the reason why you try to disconnect that. Since Cohen was paid by these companies to serve their interests. By being the middle-man to the President.
These deals was done early in the start of the Trump Administration, to secure their interests. None of these companies would have paid Cohen, his company Essential Consultants LLC or anything else for services, unless they would be rendered. This is clearly money under table to secure needed help and change from the government, if that was being Columbus Nova, whose used the connection to try to get Russian Sanctions gone, while AT&T wanted to lobby their merger deal with Time Warner. Clearly, the last one will be soured by this, but the Russian sanctions will be on standby, as this government are not wishing to follow a collective Congress to add on more sanctions on the Russian Federation.
However, you can wonder what the pharmacy company Novatis would get out of this, and if the big-pharmaceutical company would get anything out of hiring Cohen. Unless, it would to secure that the government wouldn’t stop the high prices and the lack of oversight, concerning the opioid crisis in the Republic. Then I would understand why the Administration has lacked any courage to find any real remedy, as the striking epidemic isn’t battled head-on.
Cohen, has been using a system that is well-known, that Trump himself attacked Clinton’s for, which is called pay-for-play. Where you pay for services and that gets delivered by someone as an elected official. This is what is now evident with the Trump Administration, as they have used Essential Consultation and Cohen to get deals and agreements to figure out ways to get their needed itch scratched. If that was a merger, lacking Russian sanctions or even keeping the opioid crisis at steady levels. Because of all of this is good for business. So Cohen and Trump get funds and the companies get possible vast fortunes by the political help.
That the AT&T calls it a big-mistake today, is just shambolic, they wouldn’t have disclosed this or said anything unless several investigations into the Presidency and his men wouldn’t have been a thing. That Cohen and Russian Probe is going on, that the Stormy Daniels are appearing and even the start of the fall of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, which is also for some reason connected to Cohen. Who knows what sort of mess Cohen has not involved himself into.
Cohen is at a stormy sea, that is not only Avenatti who relentlessly finds ways to undress the king and his loyal servant. However, this will not go on forever, even as the madness of the problematic connections and inside dealings that Cohen has been involved in. We don’t know how much he has done and how much he taken from these companies. Not even knowing how much of the cut the President has taken. Because the greed of Trump is known and he has no scruples. That is why he has billed foundations and charity events at his Golf Courses to high-rates, because he only cares about the buck, not the people.
Cohen knows this, it is clearly, that the companies that has now been connected with Essential Consultant LLC will regret it. I called them the New York Gang when they came into power and don’t regret today, because the Trump Administration has been the most corrupt in modern history. The misuse of funds, the use of lobbyist for favors in the cabinet, by members, that even Representatives are making acts against using government planes for private travels. That shows the disregard of the use of public funds for private pleasure, that is if travel to Disney Land, Fort Knox or anywhere else, buying exclusive kitchen-wear or even securing all phone-calls in a specialized phone booths. This isn’t from a novel, but the reality of the Trump Administration. Therefore, that his personal lawyer and close associate Cohen would use the trick of “pay to play” isn’t that surprising, as the whole model of this government. Is that donors and PACs are steering the agenda, economically and also policy wise. Therefore, they are awaiting returns on their investment, in this instance their aren’t, but in others they have gotten points on their dollars.
Michael Cohen is in a massive storm, the sea is still vicious and if he will come easily to the harbor, that is unknown. What we do know, is that as the investigations goes on. His fate is uncertain. Cohen cannot say this is a easy wind and will go away quickly. That is far from true, because he had to have something profound in his capacity for the SDNY to raid his offices. They wouldn’t do that if he didn’t have something they couldn’t get otherwise.
Cohen, Trump will not save you, he will only save himself. You are in big, big, big trouble. In big cases running in different states for various of reasons. They will not just go away.
Even your boss said what you did is illegal, so you knew what your were doing. He did too and he accepted it. Because it was easy money. Peace.
Posted in America, Business, Civil Service, Corruption, Development, Economic Measures, Economy, Election, Ethics, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, Politics, Tax, Transparency and tagged AG Preet Bharara, AG Yates, Alex Van Der Zwaan, Alfa Group, American Election, American Government, American-Russian Relationship, Andrew McCabe, Anti-Phishing, APT28, APT29, Azar Aglarov, Azeri Business, Azimut LLC, Barack Obama, Barrack Obama, Bribe, Carter Page, Central Intelligence Agency, Charles E. Grassley, Clinton, Corey Lewandowski, David Nunes, Democratic National Commitee, Democratic Party, DNC, DNC Leaks, DNS, Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Junior, Doppleganger, Empowermnet, Equality, Eric Schneiderman, Eric Trump, Erik Prince, Essential Consultant, Essential Consultation LLC, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Felix Sater, Gen. Michael Flynn, George Papadopolous, German Khan, GOP, Grand Old Party, GRU, Guccifer, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, HRC, Huma Abedin, Ivanka Trump, Ivanov, Jar-16-20296, Jared Kushner, Jeff Sessions, John McCain, John Podesta, Kremlin, Lavrov, Marc Kasowitz, Marco Rubio, McHenry, McMaster, Melania Trump, Michael Caputo, Michael Cohen, Michael D. Cohen, Michael Flynn, Mike Flynn, Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell, Moscow, Natalia Veselnitskaya, National Security Interests, Paul Manafort, Paul Ryan, Preet Bharara, President Obama, President Putin, Rep. Mitch McConnell, Rep. Paul Ryan, Representative Mitch McConnell, Republican, Republican National Committee, Republican Party, Resort International, Rex Tillerson, Richard Gates, Rinat Akhmetshin, RNC, Robert Dudley, Robert Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, Roger Stone, Rosneft, Russia, Russia-American Cooperation, Russian Federation, Russian Oligarchs, Sally Quillian Yates, Sally Yates, Sam Nunberg, Scott Walker, Security Organizations, Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak, Sergey Kislyak, Sergey Lavrov, SPF, St. Petersburg, Stephanie Clifford, Stephanopoulos, Steve Bannon, Steven Mnuchin, Stormy Daniels, SVR, Technicians, Ted Cruz, Trump, Trump Organization, U.S. National Security, United States, United States of America, US Government, USA, Vladimir Putin, VP Mike Pence, Wilbur Ross | Leave a comment
Skeet Skeet Skeet Part 9: Project Sunlight – Executive Summary (08.05.2018)
Posted in America, Civil Service, Development, Economic Measures, Economy, Election, Ethics, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, Politics, Transparency and tagged American Election, Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, Empowermnet, Equality, Gender, Gender Empowerment, Gender Equality, HRC, Ivanka Trump, Melania Trump, Men, Michael Cohen, Michael Dean Cohen, Michael J. Avenatti, Paul Ryan, Republican, Republican National Committee, Republican Party, RNC, Stephanie Clifford, Stephanopoulos, Steven Mnuchin, Stormy Daniels, The Week, Trump, Trump Organization, US Presidential Election, US Presidential Election 2016, Woman, Woman Card, Womanizer | Leave a comment
What if Obama did this? [Trump Edition]
I have wondered as time goes on. What if Barrack Obama did anything of what Donald J. Trump has done before and after becoming President? Because, even I remember the Brown Suit Controversy and the Mayo on the Burger issue. Combined with the committee’s of Benghazi hearings, that was pounded on again and again, to make the acts criminal. However, similar has not been seen during the Trump Presidency. Yes there been public and as vicious as the ones against Obama.
What if Obama paid-off someone with an Attorney, changed the stories in the public eye dozens of times. First claimed he didn’t know about it, didn’t know about the Non-Disclosure Agreement and payment through a LLC. What if the pay-off was to a fling, where the President was cheating on someone who was working in porn. We all know how much flack Obama got for having his pastor, just imagine him cheating on Michelle and the kids. Wouldn’t the Republican’s in Congress, Fox News and everyone else goes of the rails? Wouldn’t the Christian Conservative cry-foul and havoc for the diminishing role of family values. But supporting a serial-cheater, former Miss Universe owner and womanizer, that gets a go? Good, to know the hypocrisy.
What if Obama had bombed without listening to his generals? Wouldn’t there be a substantial investigations, wouldn’t there countless hearings in Congress and also looking into his cabinet? While Trump can order randomly with old-intelligence in the Sahel Region and Niger, where own soldiers dies without any consequence. Also orders bombings in Yemen, where innocent dies without any public issues. Where the Congress doesn’t even flinch. This shows the White Privilege, because if Obama did the same he wouldn’t be able to pull it off.
What if Obama tried to hire is family as advisers and vital roles inside the White House? Wouldn’t media go into a frenzy if Obama hired parts of his extended family? They wouldn’t leave it be, but that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner got their roles has been okay. That the Trump Organization is still run by the family and close associates. That the visiting logs, the documentations has been altered again and again, the lack of security clearances, while working has been okay too. Nobody is questioning the authority of the couple. But what if Obama had hired his uncle, even some of his far relatives from Kenya? Wouldn’t Fox and InfoWars be all up in it?
What if Obama had meetings with foreign adversaries and having campaign managers and involved persons with known questionable background. What would the media have done? Wouldn’t this created a constitutional crisis and direct impeachment? Even if the adversaries are paid agents of foreign states, also parts of the campaign team being on the pay-roll of foreign nations. Also, know for campaigning and lobbying for questionable regimes all around world. Where even the FBI and the authorities have been monitoring them and even wire-tapping to be sure of their moves. Wouldn’t the whole world crash down with the knowledge that so many people of the campaign would be involved in possible conspiring against the republic for one person? Still, Obama didn’t do that, but Trump has enough questionable connects, meetings, pay-offs and indictments in his team, that the reality will catch up with him, sooner, than later.
What if Obama appointed Cabinet Members who wasn’t skilled in the field, was bought directly from the donors, even working with the businesses they we’re supposed to monitor. What if Obama appointed Cabinet Members that was misusing the public offices, spending fortunes on the state dime and also not appointing underlings in the needed offices so that the government could do their duties. What if Obama sent Michelle or anyone other relative as Official Diplomat, even she had no experience of doing so, to have dialogue and even make sure of the government policies abroad. What if Obama hadn’t made sure the Secretary of State had enough diplomat’s and enough staff to gather intelligence. If did only half, there would be an outcry, about how he doesn’t care about the USA place in the world and making sure USA is safe. But Trump doesn’t have to serve the Department of State, the Department of State only have to serve Trump, even on a half-engine and lack of gasoline.
What if Obama without any of own media or any of his staff would be alone with foreign adversaries in the oval office, talk about national secrets and intelligence, share it with them without the public knowing or even discuss it with the National Security Advisor, CIA Director or the DHS. Wouldn’t that be an act of treason? However, Trump did that with Russians in the Oval Office and people tend to forget that.
I am sure I could go on, but it would just so sad, so tragic. The What If scenarios are insane already. No doubt. This is just showing how different the world is, and because of one man’s victory… how things change, but now we know that the lack of moral and integrity is starting from the top. It isn’t a local, but it is an executive thing. Trump has gotten away with a lot, but has hope for the Mueller Investigation, even in the midst of trouble. He always gathers strength, however, that cannot last forever. There are many unanswered questions remaining, but in the end. The reality will hit the fan and we all will know. Peace.
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Skeet Skeet Skeet Part 8: Defamation Suit against President Trump!
“Slander is the revenge of a coward, and dissimulation of his defense” – Samuel Johnson
This story just continue to blow into the face of the President. Surely the minutes spent with Stormy Daniels aka Stephanie Clifford must really feel like a blow-job today. Because nothing can feel lie headache as this is. The attorney for Stormy Daniels is really a renegade fighter, whose not letting the chips fall down and give space for the President. Donald J. Trump has again created trouble for himself.
What so powerful is that Twitter Account of the President is used against him. It is really something else, that his own unhinged narratives and trying to steer the airways are now hitting him wrong in the halls of justice. That is really priceless, that a man so off the hook with no bounds of slander or hearsay, that usually get away with anything. Now has met his match, an Attorney who clearly knows how to hold himself and also get the worst out of the President.
This here is quoted from the document today:
“20. Ms. Clifford has suffered damage as a result of Mr. Trump’s false and defamatory statement in an amount to be proven at trial but in excess of $75,000” (…) “21. Plaintiff restates and re-alleges each and every allegation in Paragraphs 1 through 20 above as if fully set forth herein. 22. On or about April 18, 2018, Mr. Trump made the above mentioned false statement regarding Ms. Clifford, her account of the 2011 threatening incident, and the sketch of the man who threatened her: “A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!” 23. Mr. Trump’s statement was made in writing online and released by Mr. Trump with the intent that it be widely disseminated and repeated. Indeed, Mr. Trump knows that his personal Twitter account has an audience of over 50 million followers and that the Twitter post would be repeated and reported upon by other news and media outlets online, in print, and on television and radio” (…) “Moreover, by calling the incident a “con job” Mr. Trump’s statement would be understood to state that Ms. Clifford was fabricating the crime and the existence of the assailant, both of which are prohibited under New York law, as well as the law of numerous other states” (…) “In making the defamatory statement identified herein, Mr. Trump acted with malice, oppression, or fraud, and is thus responsible for punitive damages in an amount to be proven at trial according to proof” (Michael J. Avenatti – ‘Case 1:18-cv-03842 Document 1 Filed 04/30/18’).
This here is really a smart move, as the judge already put the other trial on hold for 90 days, as the raid on Attorney Michael Cohen and his evidence are been looked at. This is a way to keep her case going and also pushing for other trials, to really glue the President within the chambers of law. Even if it get dismissed, they are clearly showing power and cleverness to pull in the President. As he cannot just say whatever, without being accountable to the law. Since he says whatever to get away with lies and deception.
Therefore, Avenatti deserves credit for this move. It would be a patch of hurt, if the damages would be paid, but the former Porn-Star are now key plaintiff against the President. She did really well hiring this lawyer. Clearly, he got game and there is nothing stopping him. That is why this suit of the President is interesting. The Mueller investigation is of larger scale and more vital to the Republic, however, this is more damaging for the President’s ego. Peace.
Posted in America, Civil Service, Development, Ethics, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, Politics, Transparency and tagged American Election, Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, Empowermnet, Equality, Gender, Gender Empowerment, Gender Equality, HRC, Ivanka Trump, Melania Trump, Men, Michael Cohen, Michael J. Avenatti, Paul Ryan, Republican, Republican National Committee, Republican Party, RNC, Stephanie Clifford, Stephanopoulos, Steven Mnuchin, Stormy Daniels, The Week, Trump, Trump Organization, US Presidential Election, US Presidential Election 2016, Woman, Woman Card, Womanizer | Leave a comment
Comey Memo’s reveals that the ‘Golden Showers’ in Moscow haunt Trump’s soul!
“Putin even sent me a present, beautiful present, with a beautiful note. I spoke to all of his people. And, you know, you look at what he’s doing with President Obama. He’s, like, toying with him. He’s toying with him.” – President Donald J. Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference (March 2013).
As the tide on the mounting cases on President Donald J. Trump and his associates continues, yesterday, something weird happen. The former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey’s memos of his interaction with the President was declassified. This isn’t an everyday action from the Department of Justice, if this was done to stop Devin Nunes and the Representatives Committee on Intelligence from doing a hawkish job on the matter or they wanted total transparency. It is hard to know.
That this is happening as the cases Cohen had against the Steele Dossier and other clients of Trump is forfeited, meaning that the validity of these cases are more striking too. Therefore, there has been big blows to the President and his closest allies. The strength of his defense and his cases in the Russian Probe, in the possible Obstruction of Justice and everything else that might have been illegal. Clearly, has gotten a big showdown with the release of these memos.
There been a lot of writing, but I want to look at the connections with the “golden showers”. Because that really lit things up. The President are really furious over the reporting and also that the Russian possibly have this. Seemingly, every time he talked to Comey, it was intentionally mentioned. Also, that he wanted Flynn not to be implicated. Clearly, he knew about the transgressions and questionable behavior about certain connected individuals in his staff and Campaign Team. But he wanted to clear the air. However, the Flynn angle has been covered by so many people. I am not looking into that. What I find special is the showers and the prostitutes. Because it shows the malicious ways of the President.
First I will show quotes from three of the Memos, that is about the Golden Showers. Than, things that doesn’t add-up.
James Comey wrote in his memo on the 7th January 2017, after having a meeting at the Trump Tower on the 6th January 2017:
“I said, the Russians allegedly had tapes involving him and prostitutes at the Presidential Suite at the Ritz Carlton in Moscow from about 2013. He interjected, “there were no prostitutes; there were never prostitutes.” He then said something about him being the kind of guy who didn’t need to “go there” and laughed (which I understood to be communicating that he didn’t need to pay for sex). He said “2013” to himself, as if trying to remember that period of time, but didn’t add anything, He said he always assumed that hotel rooms he stayed in when he travels are wired in some way. I replied that I do as well”.
The Memo from the 28th January 2017 stated this:
“At about this point, he turned to what he called “the golden showers thing” and recounted much of what he had said previously on that topic. He repeated that it was a complete fabrication and “fake news”. I explained again why I had thought it important that he know about it. I also explained that one of the reasons we told him was that the media, CNN in particular, was telling us they were about to run with it. He said it bothered him if his wife thought there was one percent chance it was true in any respect. He said he had spoken to people who had been on the Miss Universe trip with him and they had reminded him that he didn’t stay over night in Russia for that. He said he arrived in the morning, did events, then showered and dressed for the pageant at the hotel (he didn’t say hotel name) and left for the pageant. Afterwards, he returned only to get his things because they departed for New York by plane the same night. He said he thought maybe he should ask me to investigate the whole thing to prove it was a lie. I did not ask any questions. I replied that it was up to him, but I wouldn’t create a narrative that we were investigating him, because we are not and I worried such a thing would be misconstrued. I also said that it is very difficult to disprove a lie. He said “maybe you’re right” but several times asked me to think about it and said he would also think about it”.
From the Memo on the 8th February 2017:
“The President brought up the “Golden Showers thing” and said it really bothered him if his wife had any doubts about it. He then explained, as he did at our dinner, that he hadn’t stayed overnight in Russia during the Miss Universe trip. Twice during this part of the conversation Reince tried to interject a comment about the (Blurred out) and “why it even in there” but the President ignored him. The President said “the hookers thing” is nonsense but that Putin had told him “we have some of the beautiful hookers in the world” (he did not say when Putin had told him this and I don’t recall (blurred text))”.
From the Memo on 30th March 2017:
“He went to great length, explaining that he has nothing to do with Russia (has a letter from the largest law firm in DC saying he got no income from Russia), was not involved with hookers in Russia (can you imagine me, hookers? I have beautiful wife, and it has been very painful) is bringing a personal lawsuit against Christopher Steele, always advice people to assume they are being recorded in Russia. Has accounts now from those who travelled with him to the Miss Universe pageant that he didn’t do anything etc.”
The thing that strikes me, is that for someone to travel to host and is a co-owner of Miss Universe, it would be weird just to pop-by and leave. Doesn’t that sound weird to you? That doesn’t sound like a coherent owner of something. Not that Trump is consistent on things, but that just doesn’t make sense of the quotes from the President. That he was briefly by and didn’t spend time. However, there been other reporting on that matter, that sounds more reasonable.
“The future U.S. president’s journey to Moscow began in North Carolina, where he attended the birthday tribute to evangelist Billy Graham on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013. Federal Aviation Administration flight records obtained by Bloomberg through the Freedom of Information Act show Trump’s Cessna jet took off from Asheville, North Carolina, at 9:57 p.m. that night, landing at New York’s La Guardia Airport at 11:05 p.m” (…) “Trump surfaced on Friday, Nov. 8, in a Facebook post by Nobu Moscow. He was posing in daylight outside the restaurant with Emin, wearing a red tie and a dark overcoat” (…) “At some point on Sunday, Nov. 10, Trump jetted home to New York, where that evening he tweeted about his return: “I just got back from Russia-learned lots & lots. Moscow is a very interesting and amazing place! U.S. MUST BE VERY SMART AND VERY STRATEGIC.” (Silver, Vernon & Pismennaya – ‘Trump’s Two Nights of Parties in Moscow Echo Years Later’ 13.07.2017, Bloomberg Politics).
So thanks to his own posts on Social Media, he was there from 8th November 2013 to 10th November 2013. That means 48 hours and a lot of activity, which we cannot verify. But that is a counter-claim and have ability to show, how he was lying into the face of the former FBI Director Comey. President Trump is known for lying, therefore, that isn’t breaking news. What is more striking is the relevancy of the time and the possibility of hookers in Moscow in 2013. That the Steele Dossier are more relevant again, since the Personal Suit against Christopher Steele was this week canceled, as well as these Memo’s was released. It is fitting and more powerful, than the releases of information from the Nunes memo or anything in connection with him.
We can wonder gifts he has given before and after. Since nothing subtle about this man, this president of the United States. Is something as rare and blindly obvious at the same time. What we do know, is that he is compromised by the Russians. He hasn’t really enacted any real sanctioned and never acted on the resolutions and sanctions made by Congress. Therefore, the knowledge of his long-standing relations with Russians are there. As well as the investigations are reveal new sides all the time and new connections, that was in the sphere of Trump. Robert Mueller must have a field day with the release of these Memo’s. Since, this vindicates him and his investigation.
Time will, tell if there was pee-tapes, golden showers and prostitutes touching the presidents dingy, however, I wouldn’t be surprised he had secret relationship with former Playboy Bunny, a Porn Stars and models in the past. So, this man is capable of anything, especially cheating on his wife. Because that is something he has done since he first got married. Check his history, I am not lying. Peace.
Posted in America, Civil Service, Development, Election, Ethics, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, Politics, Transparency and tagged AG Preet Bharara, AG Yates, American Election, American Government, American-Russian Relationship, Andrew McCabe, Anti-Phishing, APT28, APT29, Azar Aglarov, Azeri Business, Barack Obama, Barrack Obama, Bilateral Priorities, Blackmail, Bribe, Carter Page, Central Intelligence Agency, Charles E. Grassley, CIA, Clinton, Clinton Foundation, Corey Lewandowski, Cyber, Cyber Activity, Cyber Adversaries, Cyber Attacks, Cyber Security, Cyper Operation, Daughter, David Nunes, Democratic National Commitee, Democratic Party, Department of Homeland Security, DNC, DNC Leaks, DNS, Domain Name Systems, Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Junior, Doppleganger, Edward R. Royce, Edward Royce, Empowermnet, Equality, Eric Trump, ExxonMobile, FancyBear, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Felix Sater, Flash Code, Foreign Affairs Committee, G-7, Gen. Michael Flynn, Gender, Gender Empowerment, Gender Equality, General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate, George Papadopolous, GOP, GoUSA, Government of United States of America, Grand Old Party, Grizzly Steppe, Guccifer, Hacking, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Howard Stern, HRAGIF, HRC, Huma Abedin, Ivanka Trump, Ivanov, Jar-16-20296, Jared Kushner, Jeff Sessions, John McCain, John Podesta, Katsyv Family, Katt Williams, Kremlin, Lavrov, Macros, Malicious code, Malicious Flash Code, Marc Kasowitz, Marco Rubio, McCarthy, McHenry, McMaster, Melania Trump, Men, Michael Caputo, Michael D. Cohen, Michael Flynn, Mike Flynn, Mike Pence, Miss Universe, Mitch McConnell, Moscow, Natalia Veselnitskaya, National Cybersecurity & Communications Integration Center, National Security Interests, NBC, NCCIC, OnionDuke, PAGE, Paul Manafort, Paul Ryan, Phishing, Phising, Pimp Named Slickback, Podestaleaks, Preet Bharara, President Obama, President Putin, President-Elect Trump, Presidential Election 2016, Prevezon, Prostitutes, Putin, Reconnaissance, Rep. Mitch McConnell, Rep. Paul Ryan, Representative Mitch McConnell, Republican, Republican National Committee, Republican Party, Resort International, Rex Tillerson, Richard Gates, Rinat Akhmetshin, RNC, Robert Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, Roger Stone, Rosneft, Russia, Russia-American Cooperation, Russian Civilian and Military Intelligence Services, Russian Embassy, Russian Federation, Russian Interference, Russian Oligarchs, Sally Quillian Yates, Sally Yates, Scalise, Scott Walker, Sechin, Secretary Tillerson, Security Organizations, Sender Policy Framework, Sergei Magnitsky, Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak, Sergey Kislyak, Sergey Lavrov, Social Engineering, Soviet, Soviet Predecessor, Soviet Union, Spearfishing, SPF, St. Petersburg, State Actors, State Security, Stephanie Clifford, Stephanopoulos, Steve Bannon, Stormy Daniels, Technicians, Ted Cruz, The Week, Trump, Trump Organization, Type-Squatting, U.S. National Security, United States, United States of America, URL, US Election, US Election 2016, US Government, US Presidential Election, US Presidential Election 2016, USA, USA Presidential Election, USA Presidential Election 2016, Vladimir Putin, VP Mike Pence, WADA, Weaponization, Web Browers, WikiLeaks, Wilbur Ross, Woman, Woman Card, Womanizer, Xenophobia | Leave a comment
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September 12, 2014 John 'Spartan' Nguyen
Alien 35th Anniversary Blu-ray coming October 7th
It has been 35 years since Ridley Scott graced us with his sci-fi classic, Alien, starring Sigourney Weaver. And for the 35th anniversary, fans will get a chance to relive the terror with a new Blu-ray edition coming October 7th from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Alien: 35th Anniversary Edition will include the original Alien comic book and collectible art cards in memory of H.R. Giger. The Blu-ray will include both the theatrical and director’s cut. Bonus features include audio commentaries, deleted scenes and more.
Synopsis: When the crew of the space-tug Nostromo responds to a distress signal from a barren planet, they discover a mysterious life form that breeds within human hosts. The acid-blooded extraterrestrial proves to be the ultimate adversary as crew members battle to stay alive and prevent the deadly creature from reaching Earth.
If you can’t get enough of the Alien franchise, Alien: Isolation will be available for the PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC on October 7th, the same date as the Blu-ray edition.
ALIEN: 35th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Special Features:
Includes the 1979 Theatrical Version and 2003 Director’s Cut!
Audio Commentary by Director Ridley Scott, Cast and Crew
Audio Commentary by Ridley Scott (Theatrical Version Only)
Introduction by Ridley Scott (Director’s Cut Only)
Final Theatrical Isolated Score by Jerry Goldsmith
Composer’s Original Isolated Score by Jerry Goldsmith
Alien Illustrated Comic
Collectible Art Cards
Source: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Tags AlienRidley Scott
John 'Spartan' Nguyen 9944 posts
Assassin, scoundrel, head honcho.
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The Brooklyn Buzz EP. 50 - LEVERT WINS IT IN DENVER
Video Breakdown: D'Angelo Russell Continues His Hot Form
The New York Liberty Need Asia Durr
Player Profile: Bojan Bogdanović – The Sharpshooter
As the NBA moves towards small-ball, guards who can hit three-pointers at a reasonable rate continue to grow in demand. That goes double for a distinctly average jump-shooting team like the Brooklyn Nets. Last season, Bojan Bogdanović was the only Nets player to make over 38% of his three-point attempts, while taking more than four of those per game. Considering the Nets’ current depth chart, it seems likely he’ll finally nail that starting spot for the foreseeable future. As someone who has settled in the NBA and is just entering the prime years of his career, Bogdanović should become one of Atkinson’s main offensive weapons in the upcoming season.
Though Bojan Bogdanović was drafted 31st overall in 2011, it took him a while to come into the league. After starting off his professional career in his hometown club Zrinjski Mostar, his undeniable talent led him to sign a five-year deal with Real Madrid, one of Europe’s biggest powerhouses. However, the result-oriented Real Madrid didn’t have much patience for the gifted youngster. Following a two-year stint with Cibona Zagreb, Bogdanovic moved to Fenerbahce Ulker, where he got the opportunity to learn under Željko Obradović, one of the most revered European coaches of all time. During the three years he spent in Fenerbahce, Bogdanović blossomed into a deadly outside shooter with a clutch gene. The NBA was the natural next step.
In his two seasons with the Brooklyn Nets, Bogdanović was mostly utilized as a reliable shooter off the bench. He played a big part in the Nets entering the 2015 playoffs, where they lost 4-2 to the Atlanta Hawks. He also proved he is capable of taking a heavier load on offense once the Nets waived Joe Johnson. On March 24, Bogdanović scored a career-high 44 points – the most by any Nets player since the team moved to Brooklyn. During his sophomore season, he averaged 11.2 points, 3.2 points and 1.3 assists per game. His shooting averages were quite satisfying: 43.3% from the field, 38.2% from three-point range and 83.3% at the free-throw line.
At this point of his career, Bojan Bogdanović is still mostly seen as a shooting specialist. However, his role has gradually increased in the short period after Lionel Hollins was relieved of head coaching duties. Under Hollins, he was just a spot-up shooter; under Brett Brown, he was often asked to create for himself. While his field percentages are not stellar, he has shown flashes of being a good cutter and a reliable jump shooter. He has a high release point and can get off a shot quickly. If he has enough confidence in his shot, he can seem almost unstoppable, draining threes and floaters like nobody’s business. He still needs to work on his shot consistency, but the tools are all there.
Bogdanović also has decent creation skills. While he hasn’t been asked to share the ball all that often this past season, his excellent instincts and timing often help him find an open man for an easy layup. In addition to that, he has a high basketball IQ and has continually displayed a lot of professional savvy. His offensive game is becoming more well-rounded on a monthly basis.
On the defensive end, Bogdanović is still very much a work in progress. His lack of elite athleticism and lateral quickness hold him back, but he partly makes up for it with hustle. Still, his defensive faults got him exploited in isolation too often last season, even by some distinctly average wing players. He needs to cut down on gambling for steals, as he’s not quick enough to get away with it. If he continues to work on his weaknesses, there’s no reason he can’t be a difference maker on this roster.
Due to him entering the final year of his contract, Bogdanović’s future with the Nets is still unclear. Unlike Joe Johnson or Andrea Bargnani, he’s a valuable trade chip in this league. It’s unlikely Sean Marks lets him walk away at the end of the season without getting any assets in return. Bogdanović has shown he can be a valuable rotation player in the NBA, and If he continues to develop, he could even be a starter on a contending team. At this point, the Nets are likely to keep Bogdanović at least until the trade deadline, at which point they’ll have to make a decision about his future in Brooklyn.
“Your feedback below my article would help improve the quality of future articles”
Andrea BargnaniAtlanta HawksBojan BogdanovicBrett BrownBrooklyn NetsCibona ZagrebFenerbahce UlkerJoe JohnsonLionel HollinsReal MadridSean MarksŽeljko ObradovićZrinjski Mostar
“Linsanity” Is Gone! Long Live Jeremy Lin
Player Profile: Greivis Vásquez – The Journeyman
Chief CheerLeader. It’s time to #UnleashTheLin. We are looking for more good writers. Please comment below the articles to provide feedback to the author and to interact with other Nets fans. The views and opinions expressed on this web site are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Linsanity Fan, the Brook-Lin.com staff, and/or any/all contributors to this site.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson Presents a Number of Possibilities for Nets
Christian Milcos
Brooklyn Nets vs Milwaukee Bucks Notes and Observations: 2-15-17
Nicholas LeTourneau
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5 Things About JoJo Zarur
August 13, 2018 0 By Net Worth
1. JoJo Zarur is one of the main cast members of Love and Hip Hop Miami. She was cast 2 months into filming when Mona Scott was looking for someone who wasn’t directly involved with the music industry to add more substance to the show. JoJo is reportedly being paid $1,500 per episode which estimates to about $100K this season. She and cast mate Bobby Lytes are paid about the same.
source:instagram.com
2. JoJo’s ethnicity is Black, White, Mexican and Arabic.
3. She is a popular stylist in Miami. She’s worked dozens of male artist including Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, T-pain, Young Thug, Birdman and dozens of professional athletes as well. The Source did an exposay on her styling resume and talked about her boutique.Her boutique is located right in Miami and you can find her and her celebrity looks at Zarur Boutique where she not only works with your favorite celebs, but also other men and woman.
4. Her father is Jose Antonio Zarur Menez a very powerful man in Mexico. According to Bloomberg he serves as Alternate Director of Quálitas Compañía de Seguros. SAB de CV engages in selling insurance policies and reinsurance operations in the automobile insurance sector in Mexico. The company was founded in 1993 and is based in Mexico City, Mexico. Her father’s salary is $10 million a year but that doesn’t include a huge $7 million bonus he earned at the end of 2017 after the company experienced a huge profit increase. His net worth is estimated at $45 million. Zarur has 4 homes, 1 condo in Miami Dade County which is where Jojo and her mom filmed most of this season of LHHMia and a 10,000 square foot mansion in Mexico City. He purchased the home in 2006 for $1 million and today it’s estimated value is $12 million.
5. There are several blogs alledging that Zarur has dated most of her clientele, in fact one site alleges that that’s how she is able to have such a long list of celebrity clientele.
CategoryStylist
Tags5 Things About JoJo Zarur JoJo Zarur Net Worth Zarur Boutique
Tyga Net Worth
Molly Qerim Wiki, Bio, Net Worth, Boyfriend
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Lighting a Path to Precision Medicine
by Anastasia Greenberg
Today the Niskanen Center released a new research paper — Lighting a Path to Precision Medicine: Regulatory and Policy Implications of Optogenetic Technology — looking at the emerging science and potential commercial applications of optogenetics. Using light-activated proteins (opsins) embedded in certain cells, optogenetics allows for targeted and controlled activations of these specific cells. As the paper notes, opsin gene expression “offers an unprecedented ability to control specific cell types with precise timing, opening the door to real-time therapeutic control of complex physiological functions.”
The paper describes specific examples of neurological and psychiatric diseases and conditions that could one day benefit from advancements in optogenetic therapies. These include epilepsy, drug addiction, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, spinal cord injuries, and a variety of mood disorders, such as anxiety and depression. While certain safety and efficacy limitations abound, this is a rapidly developing field that could soon be ripe for commercial applications. Indeed, a number of optogenetic therapies for Retinitis pigmentosa, a form of blindness, have already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clinical trials in humans, and at least one company is currently in the process of attempting to approve its optogenetic treatment for pain therapy.
Optogenetics promises an innovative new means of delivering precision medical treatment for those suffering from a variety of diseases and disorders, and flexible FDA guidance can play an invaluable role in supporting pathways to market approval.
From the executive summary:
Optogenetics is a bioengineering technology that allows for precisely timed control of brain cells using light. The technology involves adapting genes of light-responsive proteins found in microbial species such as algae to uses in animal and human tissues. Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized clinical trials for the first-ever human use of optogenetic gene therapy, for treatment of a form of blindness. New biotechnology startups have sprung up with plans to bring optogenetics to the U.S. health care market. Wide-ranging clinical applications, from unique therapies for neurological and psychiatric disorders to new solutions for cardiac problems, make this technology an innovative player in the next generation of precision medicine.
This paper begins with a review of the latest scientific developments in optogenetics, followed by a discussion of the safety and effectiveness issues in clinical optogenetic applications and the complexities of the existing FDA regulatory pathways for approval of optogenetic therapy. The paper concludes by addressing larger social and policy questions surrounding the future use of optogenetics for human-enhancement purposes. Optogenetics is a potentially revolutionary medical technology and the current regulatory and policy landscape may determine its ultimate reach.
Read the full research paper here.
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SA’s new national park helps save our heritage
chevron_leftBack to Articles
Adelaide Hills Face Zone Cultural Heritage Projec ARC-funded archaeology Dr Keryn Walshe Dr Pam Smith Glenthorne National Park History Kaurna Major O'Halloran O'Halloran Hill opern space recreational and conservation
January 30, 2019 Irish identity ‘buried’ by SA’s colonial rule
March 15, 2018 Dashing tales of Trim, a famous ‘seafurrer’
December 11, 2017 Hidden histories of SA’s Riverland
Posted on August 9, 2018 August 9, 2018 by newsdesk
Flinders senior research fellows Dr Keryn Walshe and Dr Pam Smith and co-author Alan Burns, from Friends of Glenthorne with the new history book researched over the past 16 years.
The opening of Adelaide’s second national park in the metropolitan area, Glenthorne, is a coup for South Australians – along with SA’s history.
Flinders University archaeologists Dr Pam Smith and Dr Keryn Walshe have worked extensively with heritage authorities and community group Friends of Glenthorne to record the past, present and future of the historic spread of land south of Adelaide.
“In fact, it seems the old carriage house there (now in ruins on the 208ha Glenthorne property at O’Halloran Hill), may well be among the oldest extant colonial buildings erected in the new colony of South Australia,” says Flinders cultural heritage researcher Dr Smith, from the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.
The State Government this year announced the creation of the Glenthorne National Park, which adds more than 1,500ha to the recreational and conservation open space for Adelaide residents and wildlife.
“We estimate up to 90 bird species inhabit the Glenthorne area, and revegetation efforts will increasingly repair overgrazed and degraded areas,” says adjunct senior research fellow Dr Smith.
The history book Glenthorne: A Defining History and Indefinite Politics, by Dr Smith, Dr Walshe and Mr Alan Burns from the Friends of Glenthorne, was launched recently by the Minister for Environment and Water, the Hon Mr David Speirs.
The only 19th century building intact at Glenthorne Farm is the 165-year-old stone barn and several outbuildings, with the original lodge razed by fire in 1932. It was later bulldozed.
Highlights of the book, which involves 16 years of research, builds on the excavation of Glenthorne House during the Flinders University ARC-funded Adelaide Hills Face Zone Cultural Heritage Project (2001-2005).
The book includes previously unpublished accounts of Glenthorne’s rich history, commencing with the tracks trod by Kaurna people who passed through the valley linking the Marion hills, the plains to the north and peninsula to the south.
Formerly known as Lizard Lodge, Glenthorne is notable for its association with noted colonial identity Major Thomas O’Halloran, SA’s first police commissioner and first Brighton Council chairman.
“We are now working with the State Government in anticipation that the property of the Glenthorne Farm originally selected by Major O’Halloran in London in 1838 will be declared a State Heritage Area,” Dr Smith says.
The site was later used to train thousands of horses sent to the Middle East during World War One and then became the CSIRO’s field station between 1947 and 1996.
As well as the environment and the property’s current heritage status, the book also explores the past two decades of political dissembling over creation of the park.
“The book was written with passion and commitment to the future – a future with the 208 hectare Glenthorne Farm at O’Halloran Hill preserved as open space for future generations,” Dr Walshe adds.
The new national park – which is bigger than Adelaide’s first metro recreational Belair National Park – includes Glenthorne Farm, O’Halloran Hill Recreation Park, Marino Conservation Park, Hallett Cove Conservation Park, Happy Valley Reservoir and the Field River valley.
Alumni College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Corporate Engage International News Students Sustainability Teaching and learning Uncategorized
Insects on the university menu for Open Days
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You are at:Home»Arts and Media»River Campus»Museum»‘Crystal Wagner: Transition Spaces 12.3’ to be Displayed in Crisp Museum
‘Crystal Wagner: Transition Spaces 12.3’ to be Displayed in Crisp Museum
By southeast on October 16, 2012 Museum
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo., Oct. 16, 2012 — “Crystal Wagner: Transition Spaces 12.3,” a printmaking and mixed-media installation, will be on display beginning Oct. 30 in the Rosemary Berkel and Harry L. Crisp II Museum at Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus. The public is invited to attend an opening reception from 4-8 p.m. Nov. 2. The exhibit will remain on display through Dec. 9. To view a time-lapsed video Wagner created during installation of the artwork, visit http://youtu.be/nb7HugvtE0c. Through a combination of different processes, including but not limited to screen printing, intaglio etching, relief printmaking, drawing, intricately cut paper, collage, cable ties, paint, Mylar and tar paper, the exhibit takes advantage of the multiple in printmaking in constructing large, intricate, site-specific forms related to a concept. “I am interested in exploring the significance of waste as it relates to my interests,” Wagner said. “I am fascinated by the idea of environment. I rely completely on being a part of one but find more and more that I am being alienated from it. Environments form the complicated systems and structures that surround us. On a visual level, they determine our sense of space, our understanding of form and our sense of movement. In that way line, shape, color and light all synchronize and become the shifting backdrop that defines human beings and their relationship with the world. I appreciate the abstract and sometimes alien nature of that environment and in my own attempt at coming to terms with it am working with what I call world building to construct specific habitats or landscapes within an environment.” Wagner, assistant professor of art at Georgia College and State University, earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Atlanta College of Art and a Master of Fine Arts at The University of Tennessee. While in graduate school, she wrote and self-published the book, “Crimson Sky.” The story, which is about self-discovery and survival, explores the human condition. “I find myself seduced by terms like interpretation, artificial, abstraction, synthetic and fabrication when I regard the complexity of it all,” she said. “The elements that make up my images operate like propositions in that they lend themselves to interpretation. As abstractions their executions reference schematic illustrations, scientific diagrams and architectural models while being organic. I discover in the work that the imagined is just as relevant as the real, and that during inception the work takes on validity through its fabrication, fiction or not.” Wagner has also participated in numerous artist residencies. Her work has been accepted into several national juried exhibits and has been showcased nationally and internationally. In April of 2008 and March of 2010, she was a featured emerging artist on Juxtapoz magazine’s website, and in the summer of 2010 and winter of 2012, she was featured on the cover of Graphic Impressions magazine. Wagner’s exhibit is in conjunction with the Mid America Print Council (MAPC) Biannual Conference, “Pressing Prints/Pressing Palms: The Entrepreneurial Printmaker,” at Southeast. MAPC is an educational organization whose goal it is to promote awareness and appreciation of the art of making original prints, books, hand-made paper and drawings. MAPC is a resource to educational and nonprofit organizations, universities and the public at large, providing for the exchange of technical and critical information on the art of printmaking. These goals are furthered through conferences and workshops; the organization, display and circulation of exhibitions of original prints, books, hand-made paper and drawings; newsletters and journal articles; awards given to those in special recognition of a lifetime contribution to printmaking; and research, study and general enjoyment of the arts. For more information on the conference, visit https://sites.google.com/site/pressingprintspressingpalms/home.
‘Dave Carter: OPUS 68’ Opens July 5 in Crisp Museum
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Darryl Harper’s ‘The Need’s Got to Be So Deep’ a culmination of his work to date
The VCU Music chair’s latest offering, a two-disc set, features noteworthy collaborations and the many stylistic interests he’s had over the years
By Leila Ugincius
lugincius@vcu.edu
In 2008, clarinetist Darryl Harper was on the road touring when his wife sent him an email. It read, “When you come home this time, come to Richmond, Virginia, because I just took a job at VCU.”
Such a statement would rattle most people, but Harper, who hadn’t been home much because of his heavy touring schedule, was unbothered. Not knowing much about Virginia Commonwealth University, and knowing even less about Richmond, he came here sight unseen.
“I was just really thrilled with what I discovered here as I met people and got to know the music community and the arts community and the community at large,” Harper said. He thought he even might be able to pick up a jazz history class at VCU, where his wife, Sonya Clark, had joined the Department of Craft and Material Studies in the School of the Arts.
Harper met with John Guthmiller, then chair of the Department of Music, and “things just kept developing.” Guthmiller asked him to teach a class and then learned that Harper was interested in administration. After that, Guthmiller kept giving Harper more and more assignments. When Guthmiller was promoted to senior associate dean of VCU School of the Arts, Harper was tapped to fill in as interim chair.
Even though Harper today is chair of the department — and an assistant professor — he still finds time to compose, perform and record. His latest album, the two-disc “The Need’s Got to Be So Deep,” is the culmination of different projects he’s had with various collaborators going back 20 years.
Harper recently sat down to discuss his background and his latest work.
One of your areas of expertise is world music. What is that?
That title is a little misleading or mysterious and problematic. There’s a field called ethnomusicology, which I would describe as a way that music history study developed. At first it started as a branch that was in opposition to the music history world and the idea was there was a group of people who felt that the music historians thought of Western classical music as the supreme — that was the standard. Every other music around the world was to be measured against the standards of Western classical music. And this group of people felt that that was inherently wrong and that there needed to be a different set of measurements and a different way of talking about this other music. They borrowed from these various fields — for instance anthropology — to study music the way that an anthropologist would study something. So it’s music within the context of culture. And that has now become a field that’s been around for a long time, with experts and people who write in that particular way. World music is kind of just a moniker that got attached to it.
How did you get interested in jazz and music to begin with?
Music was a long time before jazz and that was actually before my earliest memory. My mother had enrolled me in these courses that I think were Orff courses, which is this particular kind of system of music education where we were playing xylophones and recorders and that kind of thing. I was really small. I just kind of remember these vague images of doing it. And my mom — she always had wanted to study piano but the family couldn’t afford that at the time, so she decided very early on that she was going to make sure that I had music education. She made it a really high priority from the time I was very little.
But jazz came much later. I had been studying clarinet in school. I had a very good community music school in Philadelphia called Settlement. I studied piano; I studied music theory. I was in an orchestra, chamber music, you know, all different kinds of things. But there was this guy named Anthony Hurdle, who was about six years older than I was, and he was this amazing jazz trombone player. He came to teach at my high school when I was a junior and I just was … Stephen Sondheim talks about how if Oscar Hammerstein had been a dentist, then [Sondheim] would have become a dentist. That was kind of my relationship with Hurdle. I just wanted to be like him. And I wanted to be around him and he was a great jazz musician. One day, we had played a Christmas concert, and he asked me if I wanted to go listen to some music. He took me to this little club and I heard what this quartet was doing on the stage, and I just said, “Oh my God, that’s what I want to do. I want to do what he’s doing.” So I fell in love with it that year.
What did you do after high school then? What did you major in in college?
I was a music major. I went to Amherst College, a little liberal arts college in Western Massachusetts. When I was a senior there I had become interested in world music. … I had studied Indian music for two years — one of them with this singer from Madras named B. Rajam Iyer, and the lessons were unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I would come in for my lesson and everything took place on the floor. So, I had to take my shoes off, I’d sit on the floor, and he would say ‘Hello’ to me and that was the only word he ever spoke. He would just start singing and then I would have to imitate what he did and if he was satisfied with what I did, he would move on to the next phrase. But if he wasn’t satisfied, he would repeat it until I got all the subtleties that he wanted me to get. He never explained anything to me. He just sang, and I just played, and by the end of that year, I was playing, you know, short songs, in their entirety. I really knew them. I really had the phrasing down. I had the sound in my ear, so I just thought it was an amazing way to study. It was an amazing musical language and I wanted to learn more about it. So when I was a senior, I did my thesis on a recital of Indian music, a recital of jazz and a recital of European classical music, and I was basically investigating how can these three things all be music, but then all be so different from each other? And that was basically my thesis question.
Tell me about your new album.
This one’s called “The Need’s Got to Be So Deep.” That’s a line from a poem that is the title track of the album and that title track is the setting of a Yusef Komunyakaa poem. So that’s the first line of the poem and it comes back again and again. And the album represents a bunch of things. It’s kind of a culmination of work that I had been doing over a period of several years. There are lots of different formats on the album, so everything from duo, where I’m playing with a pianist or with a guitarist, to octet. It represents different projects that I’ve had over the years, different collaborators I’ve had going back 20 years or so, and a lot of composers that I asked to write for one or another of my ensembles. Lots of different stylistic interests that I’ve had over the years. In some ways it’s what for a visual artist would be a retrospective show and in some ways it’s all this new stuff that we’ve been putting together.
Did you write everything on the album, or did you ask other composers to send you pieces?
I wrote one piece on the album. “It’s called “Dances for Outcasts.” A nice connection on that piece for me was violinist Regina Carter plays on the piece and she is someone that I worked with for a couple of years. I toured with her band and so I was really delighted that she was willing to come and play this piece on the album. But that’s the only composition that I’ve offered on this record.
All the other compositions have been written by other composers and most of them are living composers, where I asked them to write for specific people. “Would you please write a piece for me to play clarinet with this other person or with these other people?” And that’s a particular way of working that’s important to some musicians and not others. For me, it’s very important because it has a lot to do with the specific relationships that I’ve cultivated over the years. I’ve been playing with my drummer [Harry “Butch” Reed] and my bass player [Matthew Parrish] for 25 years — 20 or 25 years — so when we play together … we know each other like family members know each other. We know the way, the turns of phrase, the cadences and all of the things that you know about your brother or your sister or your mother. And that is a really wonderful part of the playing experience. Those relationships. So I am trying to get composers to capitalize on those relationships.
One piece is written by a guitarist, Freddie Bryant, and it’s called “Anthem for Unity.” Freddie was a mentor of mine in college. He was a few years ahead of me in college and he showed me the ropes when I got there. You can have a piece for guitar and clarinet and that’s fine. But Freddie actually wrote a piece for him and for me and he had my way of playing in mind when he wrote the clarinet part and his way of playing in mind when he wrote the guitar part, so I have a very personal connection to the piece and he does too.
You play the clarinet. Do you play anything else on this album?
No, no, no. I don’t play anything else on the album and tend not to play anything else in public.
Do you ever get the urge to listen to one of your albums? Do you listen to your own playing?
I would be surprised if there were musicians who didn’t listen to their own playing. I certainly do a lot of that, but I think … what you’re talking about, to me brings up this idea that I tend to listen to myself critically, and I’m going “I need to get better at this and next time I do an album, I’m going to make sure that this happens. And next time I play that song, I’m going to make sure I take care of this detail.” I think that that’s part of learning and developing as a musician. And that’s fine. But yeah, we have to listen to these cuts for hours and hours, over and over again as we’re going through the postproduction process and we’re trying to put a record together that’s going to have the maximum impact on listeners. We want to make sure that we get everything right and that the particular things we want to bring out are brought out in the right way. So yes, I listen to my own music quite a bit, but I think of it as work. I would say I enjoy my work.
I have read some musicians say that they hate being asked about their influences. So I don’t want to ask that, but I want to know what would be a better question to ask?
The reason it’s a difficult question is that there are so many. I mean I already told you about Anthony Hurdle, who was a huge influence on me. I told you about Freddie Bryant who was a big influence on me, and there are so many others that I think it’s hard to know where to begin because if you let a musician go, they’ll talk for two or three hours straight. You know, all the records we’ve listened to, all the people that we’ve met who have been important to us. But I guess the other side of it, for me, is you could think about clarinet players who have been important to me because that’s my instrument. But I also think of myself as a musician. Maybe before I would say I was a clarinetist, I would say I’m a musician. That kind of broadens the scope of influences because there are all of these pieces that I’ve listened to or experiences that I had sitting in an audience and listening to a piece of music, or meeting a musician or that kind of thing.
But in terms of the kind of iconic jazz clarinet players that are out there, definitely in the album you’ll see a big connection to a clarinetist named Jimmy Giuffre. Jimmy Giuffre was very active in, I would say, the ’40s through the ’70s and he changed his style of playing many times — at times at the risk of falling out of favor with his record label. At one point, he was on one of the top record labels and they cut him loose after he pursued this free jazz style at the time. This was in the early ’60s. And there are a lot of connections that I feel to him because another person that you’ll see on the album is Yusef Lateef, and I would say for a lot of the same reasons.
Yusef Lateef was a [National Endowment for the Arts] Jazz Master, and he was also a teacher of mine. There was one time that I came to him for a lesson. I had studied a book that he had written, and I had learned essentially the whole book. I had learned how to play the patterns that he had written in the book, so I was excited because I had walked into this lesson and I said “I’m going to play these patterns for him and it’s going to be great.” And I started playing them and he stopped me and he said, “You know, the idea of this book was not so that you would learn my patterns, but that you would create your own.” Originality was very important to him and he would say things like he rejected the term jazz. He rejected the word improvisation. He rejected the word funk and he would not let people categorize his music very easily. He would say, “Well, why would you call that jazz, why don’t you just call it the music of Duke Ellington?” “Why would you call that jazz, why don’t you just call it the music of Darryl Harper?” There are many levels. Just listening to Yusef Lateef play was really compelling but also hearing his ideas was really compelling. And being inspired by this example of being true to what’s coming out of you, what sounds you’re hearing in your mind, getting those out into the world — that was the most important act to him. Jimmy Giuffre was the same way. To watch him stick to those principles, even though it was hurting him career-wise, that was very heroic to me.
What projects do you have coming up?
The next thing at VCU is I’m going to give a faculty recital on the music of Charlie Smalls, another great composer. He wrote the score for “The Wiz,” and he won a Tony award for that score, the Broadway score. There’s this tradition in jazz of borrowing music from many sources and one of the kind of primary veins that jazz musicians used to get their material from was from Broadway, Broadway scores, so you have all these Cole Porter songs and George Gershwin songs and I thought that that would be an interesting project to do with Charlie Smalls’ music. It’s great music and they are wonderful vehicles for jazz and improvisation. We’ll be presenting a bunch of his music in September. That’s the next big thing for me.
What would you like to add about “The Need’s Got to Be So Deep?”
There’s this connection to these musicians who were trying to mix Western classical music stylistic traits and jazz traits. There was this movement called Third Stream that started in the ’50s. Jimmy Giuffre was one of the Third Stream people. That’s a huge interest of mine, but there are other interests too so I don’t see it [as] a Third Stream album, but I do see it as referring to that legacy, you know, referring to that tradition.
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VCU School of the Arts professor named USA Fellow
Strings, brass and keys
Student hopes to mend musicians with research
Richmond Symphony and VCU School of the Arts announce new partnership
VCU’s Institute for Contemporary Art underway
‘Terrifying and magical’ award gratifies professor
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Loss of taste? The problem’s probably up your nose
Patients in a study at the VCU Smell and Taste Disorders Center thought they lost their sense of taste; most actually lost their sense of smell, researchers say.
Taste disorders are mostly linked to smell, VCU research shows. (Getty Images)
By Leah Small
When patients report losing their sense of taste, the problem is most likely due to a dysfunction in their sense of smell, according to research from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Smell and Taste Disorders Center.
In a study published in the International Forum of Allergy and Rhinology, the researchers examined the records of 358 patients evaluated at the VCU Smell and Taste Disorders Center from 1980 to 2017 for taste loss complaints or combined taste and smell loss complaints. Patient records included results of tests for the level of function of both taste and smell.
The researchers found that most patients with a complaint of taste loss actually had an impaired sense of smell, not a measurable loss of taste function. However, patients who solely reported loss of taste were more likely to have a taste impairment than patients who reported loss of both taste and smell.
Of the 295 patients reporting taste-and-smell complaints, 86.8 percent had abnormal smell function, while only 9.5 percent had abnormal taste function. For the 63 patients who only reported a taste loss, 44.5 percent tested for abnormal smell function, while only 25.4 percent had abnormal taste function.
Evan Reiter, M.D.
The findings support the hypothesis that patients with a complaint of taste loss are more likely to have an underlying impairment of the olfactory system, the sensory system used for smelling, rather than an actual taste impairment. This seeming mismatch between symptom presentation and sensory dysfunction is often misleading, said Evan Reiter, M.D., the study’s lead researcher and a professor in the VCU School of Medicine’s Department of Otolaryngology.
“Many people are not aware of how these two distinct sensory systems function together to create taste perceptions of the foods we eat,” Reiter said. “As such, our findings indicate that most patients presenting with a complaint of alteration of the sense of taste are not aware that this is usually due to a loss or change in sense of smell.”
Smell is the “main contributor of how we perceive complex flavors of foods,” Reiter said. The sense of taste is responsive primarily to salty, sweet, bitter, sour and umami sensations, while receptors in the nose aid taste through responding to the distinct odors of foods in the mouth.
Smell and taste loss may create major quality-of-life issues. Both senses prevent the consumption of rotten food and are important for the enjoyment of food. Smell contributes to identifying potential dangers such as fires and harmful chemicals.
Richard Costanzo, Ph.D.
Complaints of smell and taste loss are fairly common in clinical practice. More than 10 percent of adults in the United States reported loss of smell within the past year and lifetime smell loss is reported by 23 percent of U.S. adults, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Sensory dysfunction related to smell loss is generally more common than loss of taste function. Patients can experience smell loss from head injuries, viral respiratory infections and other factors. Changes in taste from loss of saliva production leading to dry mouth and head injuries can cause taste loss. Normal aging also contributes to the loss of both senses.
The link between taste and smell is well-known, but the study better quantifies how smell can impact the perception of taste, said co-author Richard Costanzo, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics in the VCU School of Medicine.
“Most health care providers are aware of the relationships between taste and smell,” Costanzo said. “However, there was a need to provide test data to determine the significance of taste complaints.”
The project is supported by a grant from the Medarva Foundation.
About VCU and VCU Health
Virginia Commonwealth University is a major, urban public research university with national and international rankings in sponsored research. Located in downtown Richmond, VCU enrolls more than 31,000 students in 217 degree and certificate programs in the arts, sciences and humanities. Thirty-eight of the programs are unique in Virginia, many of them crossing the disciplines of VCU’s 11 schools and three colleges. The VCU Health brand represents the VCU health sciences academic programs, the VCU Massey Cancer Center and the VCU Health System, which comprises VCU Medical Center (the only academic medical center in the region), Community Memorial Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, MCV Physicians and Virginia Premier Health Plan. For more, please visit www.vcu.edu and vcuhealth.org.
VCU researchers are developing a device to restore a person’s sense of smell
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From the Mayor’s Office: Community Prayer Breakfast is May 25
Mayor’s annual Community Prayer Breakfast
Tickets are now available for the annual Theodore D. Mann Mayor’s Community Prayer Breakfast at Boston College on Wednesday, May 25 at 7:30 a.m. Now in its 42nd year, the Prayer Breakfast is an opportunity for residents, businesses, nonprofits, clergy and elected officials to come together and embrace the strength and diversity of our community. This year, we are delighted to welcome CEO and founder of MassChallenge John Harthorne. MassChallenge is a leading global startup accelerator, driving growth and innovation throughout the world. Last year we welcomed MassChallenge to Newton as they opened a site at 124 Vernon St. in Newton Corner.
In addition to remarks from Mr. Harthorne, the breakfast will also feature readings from an interfaith representation of clergy, musical performances from Newton Public Schools students, and the presentation of the annual Community Service Award. Each year, this award is presented to a few Newton residents who have gone above and beyond in giving back to their community, and demonstrated a firm commitment to public service.
This year, we will be giving out three community service awards, to the following:
• Terry Yoffie and Claudia Wu, for their creation of an extraordinary civics class and initiative at Newton North High School.
• Kevin Kelly of the Carpenters Union Local 75 will also receive the award, for his incredible commitment to giving back. Kevin has dedicated countless amounts of time and labor to numerous community projects including the construction of several public playgrounds.
• Lastly, we will be honoring the following high school students from both Newton North and Newton South, who have publicly worked to promote a commitment to making Newton the most welcoming and inclusive community it can be: Becca Wishnie, Josh Sims-Speyer, Mirabelle Espady, Sam Kesselman, Marchaina Roscoe, Maya Gomberg, Everett Gilpin and Noosha Aliabadi.
Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now. This year, we are partnering with the Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce to make tickets available for purchase online. To purchase tickets, please visit nnchamber.com, click on “Events” and scroll down to May 25 where you will find the Prayer Breakfast. Tickets can also be purchased by contacting Tony Bibbo at Tony Bibbo at 617-969-5906, ext. 305, or by email at ajbibbo@aol.com.
Thank you, and we hope to see you on May 25!
New BigBelly trash and recycling units in place
We are pleased to announce that the Parks and Recreation Department has installed BigBelly trash and recycling units at 170 locations throughout the city. These units offer several features which represent an upgrade from previous public barrels. Among the benefits are cleaner parks and village centers; solar powered barrels provide increased capacity. In addition, all barrels are outfitted with smart technology that informs us when they need to be emptied, making for a far more efficient process. In just a few short weeks, the barrels have already made a difference: average collections have already been reduced from six times per week to 1.3, a reduction of 78 percent with more improvements still to come!
This weekend we will be hosting the annual Kids Fest on the Newton Centre Green, and BigBelly will be on hand offering demonstrations of the units and providing informational materials. We encourage you to stop by, learn more about BigBelly units and see how they work!
KidsFest will also feature a variety of amusement rides, face painting, arts and crafts and lots more activities for kids. It will be held this Saturday, May 14 and Sunday, May 15 on the Newton Centre Green at the corner of Langley Road and Centre Street from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, please contact the Mayor’s Office for Cultural Affairs at 617-796-1540.
For more detailed information on the units, including a map of BigBelly locations in Newton, please visit bigbelly.com/cityofnewton.
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Felicity Huffman Pleads Guilty in Admissions Fraud Case
Actress Felicity Huffman appeared in court in Boston on Monday to plead guilty to charges stemming from a massive fraud case involving college admissions and wealthy parents around the country. According to CNN, “prosecutors recommended a sentence of four months prison time along with “$20,000 fine and 12 months of supervised release for the charge, which is a felony.” Huffman, the former star of Desperate Housewives, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
In a statement last month, Huffman said “I am in full acceptance of my guilt, and with deep regret and shame over what I have done, I accept full responsibility for my actions and will accept the consequences that stem from those actions.”
Those actions allegedly involved paying $15,000 to a fake charity as part of a scam to help her daughter cheat on the SATs by getting her extra time on the exam, and to take it at a site controlled by another member of the cheating ring. Huffman is one of 13 parents who pled guilty so far; another famous actress snagged in the case, Full House star Lori Loughlin, is one of 17 parents who pled not guilty. (Huffman’s husband, actor William H. Macy, was not charged.) Huffman will be sentenced at a later date.
Gallery — Great Movies That Became Horrible Franchises:
Source: Felicity Huffman Pleads Guilty in Admissions Fraud Case
Filed Under: felicity huffman
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What to know about erythema multiforme
Erythema multiforme is a skin immune reaction that an infection or medication can trigger. Its name combines the Latin “erythema” (redness), “multi” (many), and “forme” (shapes) and describes the main symptom, which is a rash on the body where each mark resembles a bullseye.
Erythema multiforme can affect people of any age, with children representing 20 percent of cases. However, it most commonly occurs in young adults between 20 and 30 years old. It is more prevalent in men, affecting five men for every one woman.
Erythema multiforme can be minor or major. Erythema multiforme minor is usually a mild condition that causes a skin rash. Erythema multiforme major can be more severe and typically requires more extensive treatment.
What is erythema multiforme?
Erythema multiforme is a skin immune reaction that develops in response to infection but can sometimes occur as a result of medication.
Erythema multiforme minor presents as a bulging, rash-like lesion that is red, pink, purple, or brown.
It is usually circular, less than 3 centimeters in size, and similar to a bullseye in appearance. The outermost circle has a well-defined border, while the center may be a blister.
People may think erythema multiforme major looks similar to erythema multiforme minor. However, the most significant difference in the major type is the amount of mucus and the size of the affected areas.
The rash is still bullseye-shaped in the major type, but it may be slightly larger, and the circles may run into each other. The lesions are more likely to blister and burst, and these areas of skin may be sore and oozing. Depending on their location, the lesions may also produce mucus.
With erythema multiforme major, at least two areas on the body will typically have lesions with mucus. One of these areas is often the mouth.
Where does it appear?
Erythema multiforme minor may affect the feet, face, ears, or palms and backs of the hands. It often presents initially on the hands or feet before moving toward the torso.
Erythema multiforme major may occur in the same areas, but it can also affect the mouth, lips, throat, eyes, and genitals. The lesions in these areas will usually contain mucus.
A person with erythema multiforme may also experience the following symptoms:
a cough and difficulty breathing that are signs of the infection causing the condition
a fever or body temperature of 38°C or higher
a general feeling of being unwell, sometimes before the rash appears
joint pain and swelling
painful lesions if mucus is present
Most erythema multiforme lesions are not painful, although some people may experience a burning sensation. However, lesions with mucus, such as those on the mouth, throat, genitals, or eyes, can be painful.
In most cases, an infection triggers erythema multiforme. Very rarely, medications can cause this immune reaction.
Herpes simplex virus
Herpes simplex is the primary cause of erythema multiforme, and the virus is present in 70 percent of recurrent erythema multiforme cases.
Both types of herpes simplex virus (HSV) can cause the condition, but HSV-1, which also causes cold sores, is responsible for most cases.
Herpes outbreaks normally happen 7 to 10 days before the development of erythema multiforme. However, it is possible to develop erythema multiforme without having any herpes symptoms.
Mycoplasma pneumonia
Another cause of erythema multiforme is mycoplasma pneumonia, a contagious respiratory infection with Mycoplasma pneumoniae bacteria. In children, erythema multiforme is a complication in 2 to 10 percent of mycoplasma pneumonia cases.
If doctors suspect mycoplasma pneumonia to be the cause of erythema multiforme, they are likely to treat it immediately.
Other infectious causes
Other causes of erythema multiforme include viral infections such as:
influenza, or the flu
Epstein-Barr, which causes mono
Coxsackie that can lead to hand, foot, and mouth disease
parvovirus
Other bacterial infections that may cause erythema multiforme include:
In very rare cases, medication can lead to erythema multiforme.
Medications that have an association with erythema multiforme include:
barbiturates, sometimes prescribed for anxiety or sleep disorders
hydantoins used to treat some cases of epilepsy
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, often pain relievers
phenothiazines, for the treatment of mental and emotional disorders
sulfonamides, antibacterials that doctors may use to treat ulcerative colitis
Blood tests are not necessary to diagnose erythema multiforme, which doctors can usually identify by looking at the rash.
Occasionally, a skin biopsy may be necessary to rule out other conditions. To do this, a doctor will take a small sample of skin from the affected area and send it to a laboratory for analysis.
Doctors may do a chest X-ray if they suspect mycoplasma pneumonia is the cause.
People sometimes confuse erythema multiforme with Stevens-Johnson syndrome or toxic epidermal necrolysis, as skin reactions of this type have similar symptoms.
Erythema multiforme minor usually resolves by itself, but treatment is sometimes necessary. A doctor might prescribe topical steroids if symptoms persist.
Erythema multiforme major requires a lot more treatment. People with oozing lesions will need bandages and pain relievers. If they are losing a lot of fluid from the blisters, they may also need to receive intravenous fluids through an IV line, possibly in a hospital setting if the lesions are extensive.
If HSV causes the skin reaction, some doctors suggest using an oral antiviral medication called acyclovir. Acyclovir can be particularly beneficial as a prevention method for recurrent cases of erythema multiforme resulting from HSV.
If mycoplasma pneumonia is responsible for the rash, doctors may prescribe antibiotics such as a macrolide, tetracycline, or azithromycin.
Erythema multiforme is a skin condition that develops in response to infection or, in rare cases, certain medications. In its minor form, erythema multiforme will usually get better in 2 to 4 weeks. Doctors will try to identify and treat the cause of erythema multiforme, but they may also prescribe topical treatments for the rash.
Erythema multiforme major requires more extensive treatment, which can consist of wound management, pain medication, and potentially hospitalization.
HIV and AIDS: Transmission myths and facts
Is blue waffle a real medical condition?
Ways to stop masturbating
What is the link between Vyvanse and hypersexuality?
Are feminine hygiene products really necessary?
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Of all the things that celebrities are working hard to perfect, there public image tops the list. Male celebrities are not excluded; their beards are the center of attraction. However, not all male celebrities look cool with beards and others resolve to shaving. Ladies go crazy whenever they see handsome celebrity with cute beards. If you have come across Leonardo DiCaprio’s latest images, then you know what I’m raking about. In this section, we are going to cover the top 10 celebrities who looks hot with beards.
10. Taye Diggs
9. Brad Pitt
8. Idris Elba
7. Ben Affleck
6. Adam Levine
5. Leonardo DiCaprio
4. Common
3. Ashton Kutcher
2. Chris Pratt
1. Jamie Dornan
Taye Diggs is not only an actor but also a singer. The 41 years old has been active since 1994 and is renowned for his role in the film ‘How Stella got her Groove Back’. Have you noticed how hot he looks with that beard and cute smile? I’m still trying to figure out why Idina Menzel left such a handsome man. Taye Diggs has also featured in ‘Private Practice’ and ‘Best Man’.
He was born William Bradley Pitt on 18th December 1963. He is one of the most influential celebrities in the American industry. His cute face has won and melted many hearts over the years. The bearded sexy man made his acting debut in 1991 after featuring in the move “Thelma & Louis”. He is married to famous actress Angelina Jolie; the couple has six children, three of whom were adopted.
Idris Elba is one of the sexiest guys alive. He is naturally handsome; the beard is like the icing on the cake. The 42 years old British actor is renowned for his amazing role in the HBO series The Wire in which he portrayed Russell “Stringer” Bell, an aspiring businessman. He also starred in BBC One series Luther and the famous Biographical Film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
He was born Benjamin Geza Affleck-Boldt on 15th August 1972. The American actor is super hot especially with the beard. The dimple and awesome jaw also play an integral role in his sexiness. It is difficult to talk about Ben Affleck without touching his recent divorce with Jennifer Garner. The cause of their separation is still in mystery. The award winning actor will portray Batman in the film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2019).
Adam Levine is another celebrity that is melting the ladies hearts with his beard. He is the lead vocalist of the Maroon 5 band based in Los Angeles California. His voice per se is magnificent; their latest song Sugar has taken radio hostage. He was actually voted the sexiest man on the planet. Apart from singing, Adam is also an actor and one of the judges on NBC talent show, The Voice.
Leonardo DiCaprio can never be excluded from this classification. If you have been following celebrity news lately, you will notice how often they focus on his beard. He is still the handsome Jack that we knew from the Titanic movie. The 40 years old actor began his career in 1989 and has also starred in myriad other movies most recently, The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).
You know common as one of the greatest in rap industry; I wonder how he will look like without the beard. The first thing that comes to my mind whenever you mention common is a bald guy with a beard. This is his image and he can’t do without it. The signature beard has won many hearts and ladies go crazy whenever he gets on stage.
You have seen him in the hit comedy series Two and a Half Men after replacing Charlie Sheen. Have you seen him of late with those elegant beards? He began his career as a model before venturing into acting. The chiseled jaw-line explains why he was good at modeling. Sorry ladies, Ashton is already taken. He is married to another famous actor Mila Kunis.
Chris Pratt is one of the sexiest men alive at number 2 according to The People Magazine. His well kept beard also augments his handsomeness. The renowned American actor has gained notoriety of late after starring in Jurassic World (2019). Chris Pratt has been active since 2000. The 39 years old actor has also featured top rated movies such as The Lego and Guardians of the Galaxy both released in 2019.
Jamie Dornan is enjoying massive popularity thanks to the hit film “50 Shades of Grey”. He decided to grow beards after his film took over the Box Office. He looks nice though and ladies tend to like him even more. Did you know that Jamie Dornan is also a model and a musician? Apart from the Fifty Shades of Grey, the 33 years old actor has also featured in the BBC drama series “The Fall” as a serial killer.
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One thought on “Top 10 Celebrities Who Looks Hot With Beards”
Shruti Sharma says:
Adam Levine is one of my favorite singer. He looks hot in beards.
I love you…Adam Levine
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Section 1983 Gun Liability and The Child Safety Lock Act
When one thinks of guns and section 1983, the Second Amendment immediately comes to mind. Indeed, I previously blogged about this developing connection. See The Second Amendment and Gun Control: Unanswered Questions and Gun Control, the Second Amendment and Section 1983 After McDonald v. Chicago.
However, in the course of preparing the 2014 Update to my treatise, CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES LITIGATION: THE LAW OF SECTION 1983 (4th ed.), I came across an interesting Third Circuit case involving potential liability under section 1983 and the Child Safety Lock Act of 2005 (PDF, see § 5).
Estate of Arrington v. Michael, 738 F.3d 599 (3rd Cir. 2013)
In this case, the estate of a young woman, shot eight times and killed by the defendant police officer’s son who had used his father’s service-issued Smith & Wesson handgun, sued the police officer under section 1983 alleging a substantive due process violation. The decedent had obtained a temporary protection from abuse order against the officer’s son, which the officer knew about and discussed with his son.
Without reaching the merits, the Third Circuit reversed the district court and dismissed the complaint. It ruled that the officer was protected from all civil liability resulting from the use of a gun, including section 1983 liability, by the Child Safety Lock Act of 2005 (CSLA), 18 U.S.C. § 922(z)(3). Under its terms, the unlawful use of a gun by a third person does not result in civil liability for the owner where “access was gained by the person not so authorized [to have access to it and] the handgun had been made inoperable by use of a secure gun storage or safety device….”
Here, the officer took reasonable precautions to ensure that nobody, including his son, would have access to his gun within the meaning of the CSLA. Indeed, the son had great difficulty in eventually accessing the gun. Among other things, the officer had locked the gun with a police department issued gun lock, had hidden the key and had kept the magazine and ammunition separate from the gun, which was itself hidden. Thus, he was fully protected from liability.
Had the substantive due process merits been reached, the officer likely would still have prevailed on any one of several grounds.
1. The officer’s conduct may not have constituted state action. He was not required as a police officer to take his weapon home; it was only “preferred.”
2. Even if there was state action, the officer may not have been deliberately indifferent to the physical safety of the decedent, the state of mind required for substantive due process violations.
3. His conduct may not have been the proximate cause of the decedent’s death because of the intervening criminal act of his son and the officer’s own conduct which made it very difficult for his son even to access his gun.
4. There is the threshold question in this case of the very existence of an affirmative due process duty. Unless the officer somehow created the danger to the decedent, he may have had no duty to her.
In any event, the effect of the CSLA, according to this Third Circuit decision, is to amend section 1983 by providing a new statutory defense in such cases going beyond absolute and qualified immunity.
« A Short Video on Lane v. Franks
Plumhoff v. Rickard: New Supreme Court Section 1983 Fourth Amendment/Qualified Immunity Decision »
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Finding of the relics of St Basil the Bishop of Ryazan
Commemorated on June 10
The Uncovering and Transfer of the Holy Relics of Saint Basil, Bishop of Ryazan (July 3), was done by Archbishop Theodoret of Ryazan (1605-1617). It pleased Divine Providence during the Time of Troubles to glorify Saint Basil. The uncovering of his relics and their transfer into the Ryazan-Dormition (afterwards Nativity) church in the Kremlin of Ryazan-Pereslavl took place on June 10, 1609. This had been the cathedral church from the time of the Ryazan bishop Jonah II (1522-1547). The relics of Saint Basil were placed in a reliquary at the left kleros, beside the iconostasis. A troparion and kontakion were then composed. From that time the name of Saint Basil was “commemorated throughout all the churches of the Ryazan diocese.” People had recourse to him as to “their constant intercessor, a helper in sorrow and peril.” Under Archbishop Moses (1638-1651), a stone crypt was built over the relics of Saint Basil in 1638, and over it was put the Murom Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “the Supplication of Basil.”
During this period services of thanksgiving to Saint Basil were served in the Ryazan churches. The first solemn celebration of the transfer of the relics of the saint took place on June 10, 1645 under Archbishop Moses. Especially fervent in veneration of the Ryazan hierarch was Archbishop Misael (1651-1655). By his command, in 1653, an inscription was made on a large silver vessel for the blessing of water, “This cup is from Ryazan-Pereslavl, in the cathedral church of the Dormition and the holy Passion-Bearers Boris and Gleb, and our Father among the saints Basil, Bishop of Ryazan, Wonderworker”.
In 1655 Saint Basil was depicted upon a silver cross together with Saint John the Forerunner and Saint Jonah, Metropolitan of Moscow. In 1712 during the time of Metropolitan Stephen Yavorsky, a stone chapel was constructed over the original burial place of Saint Basil, at the Borisoglebsk church , through the zeal of the clerk Nikita Altukhov. In the years 1722-1723 under Tsar Peter I a formal investigation of the saint was conducted, after which Saint Basil was depicted upon an icon together with other Russian saints. Metropolitan Demetrius (Sechenov) of Novgorod, during his time as Bishop of Ryazan (1752-1757) compiled the service to Saint Basil, “having in mind first of all the writing of the troparion, kontakion and canon”.
Through his efforts a new crypt was constructed over the relics of Saint Basil, containing a reliquary with an icon of the saint. In 1782 the reliquary was elegantly adorned by the Archbishop of Ryazan and Zaraisk, Simon (Lagova) (1778-1804). In 1810 under the Ryazan and Zaraisk archbishop Theophylakt (Rusanov), a decree of the Holy Synod was promulgated concerning the celebration of Saint Basil on the Sunday of All Saints. On October 4, 1836 a new memorial was unveiled at the spot of the uncovering of the relics of Saint Basil. It was set up through the zeal of the churchwarden of the Borisoglebsk church, Simeon Panov. In 1871, Archbishop Alexis (Rzhanitsky, 1867-1876) served the Divine Liturgy at the Borisoglebsk church on the Feast day of Saint Basil, July 3, for the first time.
Under Archbishop Palladius (Raev, 1876-1882) the Holy Synod in 1881 appointed the following days for commemoration of Saint Basil: July 3, the day of his blessed repose, and June 10, the day of the transfer of his holy relics. Even today, Saint Basil is especially venerated in the Ryazan lands. In each temple of the Ryazan diocese there is his icon. In the majority of the churches, moreover, is found a mural of the saint sailing along on the water on his mantiya with the Murom Icon of the Mother of God in hand. In the cathedral church each Wednesday evening an Akathist is sung to him.
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legless
Henry Paget, Lord Uxbridge, (1768 – 1854), fought at the Battle of Waterloo
Lord Paget
At a critical stage in the battle, he personally led a charge of 2,000 heavy cavalry. They succeeded in sweeping the French infantry away in disorder, but Uxbridge was unable to rally his troops, who ran on in pursuit and were cut up by counterattacking French cavalry. He spent the rest of the battle leading a series of charges by British light cavalry formations, and had eight or nine horses shot from under him.
Charge of the Light Brigade found here
One of the last cannon shots fired on 18 June 1815 hit his right leg, necessitating its amputation above the knee. According to anecdote, he was close to the Duke of Wellington when his leg was hit, and exclaimed, “By God, sir, I’ve lost my leg!” — to which Wellington replied, “By God, sir, so you have”
one legged race found here
After being wounded, Lord Uxbridge was taken to his headquarters in the village of Waterloo, a house owned by a certain M. Hyacinthe Joseph-Marie Paris. There, the remains of his leg were removed by surgeons without antiseptic or anaesthetic, his only comment through the dreadful procedure was, “The knives appear somewhat blunt.”
According to an account recorded by Henry Curling in 1847:
“ Just after the Surgeon had taken off the Marquis of Anglesey’s leg, Sir Hussey Vivian came into the cottage where the operation was performed. “Ah, Vivian!” said the wounded noble, “I want you to do me a favour. Some of my friends here seem to think I might have kept that leg on. Just go and cast your eye upon it, and tell me what you think.”
one legged man boxing one armed man found here
“I went, accordingly”, said Sir Hussey, “and, taking up the lacerated limb, carefully examined it, and so far as I could tell, it was completely spoiled for work. A rusty grape-shot had gone through and shattered the bones all to pieces. I therefore returned to the Marquis and told him he could set his mind quite at rest, as his leg, in my opinion, was better off than on.”
Viktoria, hottest one legged model in the world
M. Hyacinthe Joseph-Marie Paris asked if he might bury the leg in his garden, later turning the place into a kind of reliquary shrine. Visitors were first taken to see the bloody chair upon which Uxbridge had sat during the amputation, before being escorted into the garden, where the leg had its own ‘tombstone’
cemetery by Caspar David Friedrich found here
The leg attracted an amazing range of tourists from the top drawer of European society, from the King of Prussia to the Prince of Orange. It was a nice earner for Monsieur Paris and his descendents, all the way down to 1878, when it was the occasion for a minor diplomatic incident.
Prince of Orange found here
Uxbridge’s son visited, to find the bones not buried, but on open display. On investigation by the Belgian ambassador in London, it was discovered that they had been exposed in a storm which uprooted the willow tree beside which they were buried. The ambassador demanded repatriation of the relics to England but the Paris family refused, instead offering to sell the bones to the Uxbridge family, who, not surprisingly, were enraged. At this point the Belgian Minister of Justice intervened, ordering the bones to be reburied. However, the bones were not reburied; they were kept hidden. In 1934, after the last Monsieur Paris died in Brussels, his widow found them in his study, along with documentation proving their provenance. Horrified by the thought of another scandal she incinerated them in her central heating furnace.
bone reliquary found here
Uxbridge’s close family lost several limbs during the Napoleonic Wars: his brother, Major-General Sir Edward Paget, lost his right arm during the Second Battle of Porto in 1809, and his daughter lost a hand tending her husband on a battlefield in Spain.
Uxbridge himself used an articulated artificial leg invented by James Potts, with hinged joints and raisable toes which became known as the Anglesey leg, after his marquessate. One of the artificial legs designed by Potts and worn by the marquess is still extant, preserved at Plas Newydd in Anglesey, as is also a leg of the hussar trousers worn by the 1st Marquess at Waterloo. The loss of his leg did not impede the Marquess of Anglesey’s career – he rose to become a Field Marshal and Knight of the Garter, twice serving as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and twice as Master-General of the Ordnance.
prosthetic toe found here
doctor's antics
operations I don't want
on April 27, 2011 at 8:26 am Comments (52)
Tags: better off than on, blunt knives, legless at Waterloo
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Governor Rauner Targets Workers Compensation Reform With “Turnaround Agenda”
Posted on January 24, 2016 //
Workers compensation reform is a hot button topic for states around the country. Businesses blame strict liability statutes for high insurance premiums, and claim workers compensation drains them of the capital needed to expand or create new jobs. Employers believe limiting their exposure will fuel rapid growth and bring jobs back to the state.
Governor Bruce Rauner ran on a platform centered on his “Turnaround Agenda”, a set of proposals that would reinvigorate Illinois’ economy. He wants to create a more favorable climate for business that lowers the risk of lawsuits, encourages businesses to invest in the state, and rewards risk taking. At the top of his agenda are a set of reforms that would bring radical changes to the work done by a workers compensation attorney in Chicago.
Employer Liability and Causation
The most important issue facing business, according to Rauner, is the amount of liability they face. Recent decisions by the Illinois Supreme Court and the state judicial system reaffirmed the liability employers must face when an employee is injured on the job.
Under the current law, employers are responsible for workplace injuries if the injury is related to the job in any way. According to Rauner, this exposes businesses to compensation claims when an employee aggravates a pre-existing injury or when an injury is only indirectly related to the employee’s job.
Rauner’s proposal would change the standard for liability from “any cause” to a much more stringent “major contributing cause”. With the change, a workers compensation attorney in Chicago would have to prove the employer is more than 50 percent at fault for the accident, and considers all other contributing factors.
At the moment, Illinois is 30th in terms of causation standards for determining liability for workers compensation. Other Midwestern states, like Missouri and Kansas, have toughened their guidelines, and pending legislation in other states would mirror Rauner’s plan.
The proposed changes would radically limit the number of cases a workers compensation attorney in Chicago could pursue. Injured employees will struggle to meet the burden of proof to show the required causal relationship, and the employee’s lifestyle, medical history, and pre-existing conditions will be used as justification to deny compensation.
Traveling Employees
The Illinois Supreme Court lowered the requirements to qualify as a traveling employee over the last decade. Where once the definition only included employees who traveled for a significant portion of their workday as a requirement of their job, new definitions expanded to cover employees as they traveled to their job. Recent decisions allowed workers to receive compensation as traveling employees for falling on their way to work, or while entering the building. The expansion of the definition put employers at much greater risk for compensation claims.
Rauner proposed a return to a strict definition of traveling employees. The new statute would define a traveling employee as someone who must travel as a requirement of their employment, is compensated for their travel expenses by their employer or has access to a company vehicle while traveling. Compensation may only occur for injuries sustained during the employee’s travels on behalf of the business.
Analysis by a workers compensation attorney in Chicago reveals the statute would severely reduce compensation for traveling employees. Infrequent travel, short daily trips required by the job, and injuries sustained while traveling on foot would no longer be covered by workers compensation.
Illinois pays some of the highest fees for medical services related to workplace injuries of any state in the country. Rauner argues that rampant corruption and abuse in the system lead to overcharging businesses for procedures arising out of workplace injuries. He argues that surgery costs are more than 300 percent higher than the national average, while radiology and emergency services cost almost double what other states pay.
New guidelines would substantially reduce the fee schedule for anyone injured on the job. Rauner proposes a 30 percent reduction in the fee schedule across the board, with a few exceptions for primary doctor’s visits and physical therapy. Rauner believes that lowering the fee schedule will force medical professionals and hospitals to rein in their charges, and the savings for the state, employers, and employees could be as high as 20 percent.
Lowering the fee schedule could cause serious problems for injured employees as hospitals and doctors adjust to the new payments. Patients may find themselves paying the difference between the fees charged for the services, and the compensation mandated by the state. Continuing costs, such as those for pain medication and recovery services, could climb to highs beyond what injured employees could pay.
Updates to the workers compensation guidelines are part of a larger debate about the economic future of Illinois and will continue to be a major point of disagreement between Rauner and the state legislature.
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A Resource For Women's Rights Organizations In Sri Lanka
This resource focuses on assisting women’s rights organizations in Sri Lanka to engage with lesbian women, bisexual women, and transpersons – particularly those whose families, extended families and/or loved ones are being/have been violent to them or are being / have been discriminated against.
There is a perceived need for social justice activists, women’s rights activists and movements, counselors, befrienders, social workers and psychologists in Sri Lanka to be able to work more effectively on issues of violence and discrimination with individuals who may not identify as heterosexual and whose gender identity may not correspond to the gender assigned at birth. In producing this resource, we are trying to attend to this need.
Whether or not women’s organisations work directly on domestic and/or family violence, they often encounter women who are affected by these issues. While the nature of their activism brings them into contact with such issues, many community-based groups also tend to have the pulse of their communities. Some women’s organizations in the country have been early responders in cases of domestic and family violence affecting lesbian women, bisexual women and transpersons, and are often seen by LBT persons as safe spaces.
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Santiago Serrano on Ecuadorian Photography
“I think Ecuadorian photography is slowly looking for a space and contributing to the Latin American photography landscape. It is a process that will grow over the coming years; a process that should be supported not only by photographers, but by the public and private institutions.” Santiago Serrano discusses his country’s photography framework.
From the series Piélago by © Santiago Serrano
Tell us about your beginnings in photography.
As a child I wanted to be a soccer player or torero until I was twelve years old. I regularly took photos without any pretense of studying or devoting myself to that profession. When I reached the age of twenty-two, I again had a camera and I started to think about becoming a photographer. It was then that I traveled to Argentina and Mexico to study photography. I have been part of two photography collectives and I have predominantly focused on documentary photography.
Are you currently working on any photographic projects?
From October 2014 to February 2015 I collaborated with Midia Ninja in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, working on the different coverages and activities they carry out: it was a very enriching experience both personally and photographically. I learnt alot about how they manage their structure and collective creation – both in a photographic sense and in terms of their co-ordination of social movements. It was a period of much activity and growth. A couple of weeks ago I returned to Quito and I am currently investigating some subjects with two friends – both of whom are photographers – in order to begin a long-term collective project.
You are part of the photographic collective Paradocs. How do you view collective work?
It is a cooperative formed by documentary photographers Paula Parrini, Juan Antonio Serrano, Francois Laso, and myself. Paradocs promotes and spreads contemporary photographic creation. It is a platform for debate and discussion based on constant group reflection in the quest for new ways of looking at reality. We have also published the “Taller de La Retina” collection, which currently consists of six books on Ecuadorian photographers and we hope to edit three more books this year. In total, we have published eight books on Ecuadorian photography.
From Paradocs you give the Fotoperiodismo Por La Paz “Juan Antonio Serrano” Award. Can you tell us more about this prize?
The prize was created following the death of Juan Antonio, a member of Paradocs, in September 2012 as an initiative of his family, Francois Laso, and myself. It is a $5,000 cash award given annually to an Ecuadorian photographer to help him/her develop a photographic project in progress that focuses on a topic related to the concept of peace. Additionally, since last year, we have created a category for students in which a reportage or completed essay is presented and the winner receives $1,000 as a reward.
There have been two editions so far and our jury is always comprised of international photographers, including such names as Stephen Ferry, Tony Valdez, Mike Davis, and this year Claudi Carreras. On 15th March we will launch the 2015 edition on the website: fotoperiodismoporlapaz.com.
In addition to your work as a photographer, you are dabbling in other areas (as an editor and curator). What led you to broaden your horizons?
I am a photographer: it’s what I like the most. I do not feel in any way a curator. I have worked with fellow photographers in the past, editing together the books of the “Taller de la Retina” collection, and some print and digital magazines.
Contemporary photography is in a transitional period with photographers questioning both the medium and the way stories are told. What are your thoughts in relation to this? What role do you think Ecuadorian photography – and more broadly Latin American photography – plays in this context?
I think that for some years now photography has been in a period of transition and finding new ways to tell stories – finding new ways to explore limits or what traditionally has been done. At this point perhaps it is important to emphasize a concept that I like entitled “expanded photography,” which is basically focused on going beyond the limits of traditional mindset photography as a record of what is “real”: a break and confluence of different tools and media to show or tell stories in a holistic manner.
Similarly, I think Ecuadorian photography is slowly looking for a space and contributing to the Latin American photography landscape. It is a process that will grow over the coming years; a process that should be supported not only by photographers, but by the public and private institutions as has happened for example with Peruvian photography, which has had a big increase in exposure across the continent in the last decade.
So, how do you view the current condition of Ecuadorian contemporary photography?
I think that photography production has grown immensely throughout the last few years, not only in the documentary field, but also in other genres of photography. There are many authors working with their own voice in the local community that are aware of what is occurring and being done abroad.
I feel that there has been a permanent concern of the photographers about growing and learning. Photographers have either formed careers outside the country due to the lack of training centers and the lack of importance placed on photography, or stayed inside the country and sought ways to carry out initiatives and projects of high quality and depth.
One of the major shortcomings of both public and private institutions is the almost nonexistent support to photographic creation or financing of individual and collective projects.
And in relation to this, in what way do the photographers you have chosen represent this Ecuadorian photography landscape?
The decision of choosing these authors and not others starts with the fact that all of them are documentary photographers. In no way does it seek to believe that this view is unquestionable and final. It was not an easy task to pick just five names to be exhibited.
What the group of photographers on display have in common is that they know how to tell stories in a genuine and meaningful way. Their works communicate, motivate, and are approached with great sensitivity. They are photographers focused on venturing honestly in the story they are developing, and who look to get to the essence in a respectful and sincere manner.
What would you like the public to take from this Ecuadorian Photography exhibition?
I think it is a partial panorama of current Ecuadorian photography. I would like this exhibition to be an invitation to foreign audiences to enjoy these authors and provide motivation to search for further Ecuadorian photographers.
Santiago Serrano is a freelance photographer from Quito, Ecuador. He is a member and one of the founders of photography collective Paradocs, a platform that promotes contemporary photography productions and aims to help photographers realize their ideas. They also develop personal and collective projects, and publish books on Ecuadorian photographers. Serrano has received numerous grants and scholarships, including a a workshop in Mexico on narratives and new media organized by Pedro Meyer Foundation and sponsored by World Press Photo. His works have been featured in many international festivals, most notably PhotoEspaña.
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J.K. Lilly II
J.K. Lilly IITiffany Talbert2018-10-29T10:24:06-04:00
In my work at Peace Learning Center in Eagle Creek Park, I have researched and documented many aspects of J.K. Lilly II who owned and developed woods, farmland, and properties that made up Eagle Crest Estate where the park now stands.
Peace Learning Center is in one of the mansions where it is reported Mr. Lilly’s wife loved to host dinners. Mr. Lilly also built a personal library that housed over 20,000 books, 15,000 manuscripts, and a $55 million coin collection. This building still stands as the Ornithology Center.
Mr. Lilly owned about 3,500 acres of the current 5,300 acres Eagle Creek Park.
Michael C. Jarrell a historian at Lilly Corporation visited this building. He told me about three noteworthy highlights of Mr. Lilly’s career at the company.
1) In 1916 as a young executive, he wrote a document called “A Report on Employment” a groundbreaking human resources policy that laid out rights and responsibilities of workers and management in an era of national labor strife and unrest.
2) During the Depression of the 1930’s, while Vice President of the Company, other executives in the company wanted to change their policy to require if single women were married during employment and their husbands worked, they would be asked to leave. Mr. Lilly wrote a number of memos opposing this proposal pushing back that women would not be treated like “household chattel.”
3) As President of the company in 1948 he made a hiring goal to increase the number and representation of African Americans in the company.
Peace Learning Center is proud to continue J.K. Lilly II’s humanitarian legacy by promoting fairness and equity for youth, women, and people of color by educating, inspiring and empowering people to live peacefully.
Tim Nation
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Jack Bojman, Cammebys International
Cammebys International
Jack began his professional career in 1992 at Deloitte, rising to the position of Manager before becoming Chief Financial Officer of a privately held financial services company. When this company was acquired by Metropolitan Commercial Bank, Jack was appointed Controller over all of the bank’s financial operations. In 2010, Jack transitioned into the family office space, first managing the investments of a successful family-owned clothing manufacturing business, and in June, 2011 become the Chief Investment Officer of Cammebys International, the family office of a well-known New York-based real estate investor. Jack’s personal hobbies include being a long suffering New York Mets and New York Jets fan, as well as storytelling to youth groups. Jack has self-published a book based on his stories, The Awesome Adventures of Pickle Boy, which he will gladly sign for anyone that will present him with a copy. Jack plans on sticking to his day job.
Karen Boyer
Elements in Play Fine Art Advisory
Karen Boyer is a former hedge-fund executive who studied art history at the Sorbonne and later turned her love of New York’s galleries and emerging art scene into a successful art advisory business, Elements in Play. Working with both beginning and experienced collectors, Karen facilitates the development and refinement of her clients’ styles and tastes through her expertise in the art market and knowledge of blue-chip and emerging artists. She is sought after for her skill in successfully blending both scholarship and investment in building an art collection. A background in finance and law gives her familiarity and comfort in working with high-net-worth buyers and sellers. Karen has been featured and interviewed in publications covering the market, including The New York Times, Barron’s, Private Asset Management, Worth, artnet News and Artspace. Karen is based in New York City and covers the market internationally.
Amelia Brankov
Frankfurt Kurnit
Amelia K. Brankov is Counsel to the Litigation Group and the Art Group, focusing on commercial dispute resolution, intellectual property law and art law.
Ms. Brankov represents businesses and executives in the advertising, art, entertainment, fashion and media industries, resolving disputes over copyrights, trademarks, motion picture rights, right of publicity claims and false advertising claims. Additionally, she serves as outside general counsel to art galleries, antiquities dealers, art advisors, and conservators.
Ms. Brankov also has extensive experience in legal malpractice, financial, corporate and insurance coverage and liability cases. She has appeared in federal and state trial and appellate courts around the country and has represented clients in mediations and arbitrations nationwide.
Ms. Brankov received her JD with honors from the University of Texas School of Law (2002), where she was a member of the Texas Law Review and Order of the Coif. She also has an LLM degree with first-class honors from the University of Cambridge, Clare Hall (2006). She holds a BA in Government from the University of Texas (1999, highest honors). Ms. Brankov is admitted to practice in New York and Texas.
Yehuda Braunstein, Sadis & Goldberg
Yehuda M. Braunstein practices in the firm’s Financial Services, Family Office and Corporate Groups. Mr. Braunstein’s practice focuses on investment funds, securities, family offices, joint ventures, regulatory compliance and investment advisers. He regularly structures and organizes hedge funds, private equity funds (including real estate, distressed and lending funds), funds of funds, separately managed accounts and hybrid funds. Additionally, he advises private fund managers on structure, compensation, employment and investor issues, and other matters relating to management companies. Mr. Braunstein also counsels family office clients in connection with all aspects of their operations, including formation and structuring, governance and compensation matters, transactional and day to day advisory work, as well as compliance issues. He also structures and negotiates seed investments, joint ventures and operating agreements. Mr. Braunstein’s practice also involves providing ongoing advice to investment advisers on securities law issues, including SEC filings, counseling clients in SEC regulatory and compliance matters, as well as conducting mock audits.
Prior to joining Sadis & Goldberg, Mr. Braunstein was Special Counsel in the Investment Management Group at Schulte Roth & Zabel where he represented numerous private investment managers and various types of investment funds and an Associate at Debevoise & Plimpton where he primarily represented private equity funds and their investment advisers.
Fordham University School of Law (J.D. 1999, magna cum laude; Senior Articles Editor, Fordham Law Review)
Touro College (B.S. in Accounting, 1994, summa cum laude)
“Will Jewish Prisoners be Boerne Again? Legislative Responses to Boerne v. Flores,” 66 Fordham L. Rev. 2333 (1998)
Corporate, Financial Services, Family Office
Henry Bregstein, Katten Muchin
Katten Muchin Rosenman
Henry Bregstein is the global co-chair of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP’s Financial Services practice and a member of the firm’s Board of Directors. Henry is frequently mentioned in the media and lauded by clients and colleagues alike for his work representing fund clients. He has been recognized by a number of hedge fund and investment industry rankings and publications, including Chambers Global and Chambers USA, where clients commented that he is “commercially driven and technically strong,” has “a wealth of experience in hedge fund matters,” and is “one of the smartest lawyers in the business.” Henry also was recognized by The Legal 500 as a Leading Individual for Investment Funds. Additionally, he was named the “Distinguished Business Law Practitioner in Residence” at Widener University Commonwealth Law School and serves on the advisory board of Mercury iFunds™.
Largely considered an innovator in his field, Henry holds two patents and has one patent application pending. He was granted a patent for a multi-level leverage account structure, allowing multiple classes of investors with differing leverage objectives to establish an investment structure that takes advantage of both the master-feeder structure and the reverse master feeder structure. Henry’s pending patent application involves a taxdeferred fund (TDF) in which variable annuities and life insurance policies can be sold as hedge funds (or private equity funds) with income tax deferment or elimination. Private Placement Insurance and Variable Annuities Related to his private placement insurance and annuities practice, Henry advises US and non-US hedge and private equity funds and their advisers and principals, life insurance companies, banks, broker-dealers, insurance-dedicated fund platforms, high net worth individuals, other law firms, registered investment advisers (RIAs), wealth advisory firms and family offices on regulatory, securities, insurance, tax, finance, licensing, corporate and other legal matters. Henry provides guidance on fund formation and regulatory compliance and advice related to domestic and offshore insurance-dedicated hedge funds and funds of funds (IDFs), IDF platforms and TDF platforms—including those related to bank-owned (BOLI), corporate-owned (COLI) and insurance company-owned (iCOLI) life insurance products. In this capacity, he counsels clients on the structure and documentation of IDFs (including on diversification under section 817(h) of the US internal Revenue Code, the “investor control doctrine” issues and other tax matters), privately placed variable life insurance (PPLI) and annuities (PPVA), insurance-dedicated swaps (IDSs) and on other
Henry Bregstein continued
Who’s Who Legal, Private Funds – Regulatory, 2016
Education JD, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, magna cum laude BA, University of Pennsylvania
Bar Admissions New York
insurance-related products, as well as on regulatory matters such as compliance with state and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) rules concerning the offer and sale of PPLI/PPVA.
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The Miller Place-Rocky Point St. Patrick's Day parade is March 17
One of Long Island’s largest St. Patrick’s Day parade is set for Sunday, March 17.
The event, which is run by the Friends of St. Patrick, is celebrating the 69th year of drawing thousands to the North Shore.
“The Miller Place-Rocky Point St. Patrick’s Day parade has turned into one of the biggest, most attended annual events in the area,” said James McElhone of the Friends of St. Patrick.
The parade starts in Miller Place on the corner of 25A and Harrison Avenue at 1 p.m.
From there, local fire departments lead the marchers eastward, ending at the corner of Broadway and North Country Road in Rocky Point.
The near 3-mile long parade is filled with performances, from dancing to bagpiping.
This year’s grand marshal is longtime Rocky Point resident and educator John McNamara.
John McNamara
“It is with great pride and pleasure that the committee has named John McNamara as grand marshal of this year’s parade,” said McElhone.
McNamara, who taught at Maria Regina High School in Uniondale, has lived in the North Shore hamlet since 1978. He has four children and six grandchildren.
In addition to high school, he has been involved with teaching and ministry at St. Louis de Montford in Sound Beach and at his home parish, St. Anthony’s in Rocky Point, as well as being a youth minister at St. Mark’s Parish in Shoreham.
Top: Scene from last year’s parade by Yellow House Images.
Letter to the Editor: Concerned Port Jefferson resident on downtown’s parking
This East Main market aims to help local artisans, entrepreneurs in Port Jeff
Maui Chop House to host fundraiser for Rocky Point Fire Department 90th-anniversary parade
25 Photos: Scenes from the second annual Port Jefferson Breakfast Crawl
East Main & Main owner to launch restaurant with ‘illegally good food’ in Port Jeff
Maui Chop House celebrates grand opening in Rocky Point
30 Photos from the Miller Place-Rocky Point St. Patrick’s Parade
20 Photos: Scenes from the first-ever ‘A Taste at Stony Brook’
Port Jeff Brewing Co. brewer launches tea company with his wife
Suffolk Police search for flash drive thief in South Setauket
Port Jefferson Village to add new municipal parking lot
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« Che’s Rebellion | Main | CBS at Tufts »
Aid to Asia
by Alexandra Barker | Liberals cash in on tragedy.
“Stingy” is not a label that many Americans would give themselves. However, in the wake of the massive Asian tsunami, the United Nations used this very word to criticize the aid the United States has given to South Asia. Actually, the $350 million the US was giving to the affected nations far exceeded what most other countries were providing. The tsunami struck nations with large Muslim populations, yet the untouched Arab countries have given little compared to what America has provided. A few weeks after the tsunami, Libya’s donations totaled a mere two million dollars and Saudi Arabia had given just $25 million.
Indonesia, the country hardest-hit, has never been a great enthusiast for America. In the wake of September 11, Indonesians were seen celebrating in the streets and praising Osama Bin Laden. Yet their malevolence never deterred Americans from giving their money and aid. News footage shows an American soldier giving out relief supplies to a man wearing an Osama Bin Laden t-shirt.
Now, Indonesia has given the US a deadline for withdrawing its soldiers. America’s unconditional generosity is being met with a reaction that is both rude and ungrateful. Yet even in the face of this and other hostility, the United States continues to give, because despite the insulting reactions, the realities remain: hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, and millions live without shelter or food. Americans do not let their political disagreements get in the way of their humanity and generosity.
This is the mindset that has made America one of the most generous nations in the world. Americans comprise only five percent of the world’s population, but account for 35 percent of its aid. Not only has the government pledged $350 million in support, but it has also committed thousands of troops to the ravaged nations to assist in the distribution of relief supplies—a considerable taxpayer expense, no doubt.
It should be noted that the heart of America is the private sector, not government. The $350 million is merely Washington’s contribution. The true generosity of Americans is reflected in the actions of its citizens. A Gallup poll found that nearly 50 percent of Americans had donated money, many more had given supplies, and almost 80 percent of citizens have prayed for the lives of the victims. This poll was taken before NBC’s “Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope,” which alone raised nearly $20 million.
Unfortunately, the “stingy” label has stuck. Though even the UN itself has apologized for its remarks, American liberals continue to use them as evidence of American greed and apathy. The New York Times, for example, ran an editorial entitled “Are We Stingy? Yes.” Better than just bashing America, liberals are having a good time using the tsunami to attack President Bush, claiming he did not act fast enough. They neglect to mention that while thousands were dying, Kofi Annan was busy skiing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. For the first 48 hours after the tsunami, the confirmed death toll remained in the hundreds; nobody knew how devastating it would turn out to be. As the death count increased, so did the amount of money that President Bush pledged for tsunami relief. Liberals aren’t too keen on mentioning the fact that their favorite country, France, has only contributed a small portion of what the US has given. It has given $66 million, and has offered little to no military assistance—not that deploying the French military would make much of a difference anyway.
Though Hollywood liberals have done their part, whether in the NBC concert or through private donations, there has been one noticeable absence: Hollywood darling and leftist poster-boy Michael Moore, who has kept a low profile. Neither Google nor his own website provide any indication that he made a single penny’s donation to any relief organization. If Sandra Bullock can donate one million dollars of her own money, Michael Moore can certainly afford to as well.
At Tufts, many students are doing admirable work to help the victims. A remembrance service was organized for those affected, and LCS is planning a tsunami relief event aimed at helping students do their part to help victims. One particularly innovative student effort took shape over the winter vacation in the form of a “Facebook” venture. To date, the group “Tufts Tsunami Relief” has 275 members and has been facilitating fundraising discussion and organization on its message board.
There’s a lot of empty talk about “global perspective” and “global citizenship” at Tufts, but in this instance students should be congratulated for taking principles and beneficially applying them. It is unfortunate that many liberals in this country and around the world are using the deadliest disaster in years for political gain, probably hoping to score some early 2008 votes for Hillary Clinton.
Miss Barker is a freshman who has not yet declared a major.
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Motorcyclist Dies In Collision With Pickup Truck
MattGush/Getty Images
CASCO, Maine (AP) — Authorities in Maine say a motorcyclist has died in a collision with a pickup truck.
The Cumberland County Sheriff's office says 52-year-old Robert Hollingshead, of Poland, Maine, was traveling north on Route 11 on his motorcycle Wednesday afternoon. The driver of a pickup truck approaching an intersection had stopped at a stop sign, but then proceeded into the intersection and collided with Hollingshead, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver, 80-year-old Everett Davis, of Gray, Maine, was taken to Maine Medical Center for minor injuries. A passenger in the truck wasn't hurt.
Police are investigating the crash.
Local News from Maine & New Brunswick
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The 90s Canadian Sanda Oh starrer, Last Night, was about the last night on earth, as an apocalyptic scenario (unexplained), descended on the world and played out in our hometown (Toronto). That one put a time limit on a question that has bugged everyone from the Stoics to Nietzsche and beyond, “how is life best lived?,” — especially when it’s about to come to an abrupt end. In D.O.A., the question is a simple one — it’s becoming your own detective as your last breath draws closer and closer.
Frank Bigelow, an accountant, is on a business trip to San Francisco. While on the coast, he hits a bebop club, The Fisherman, featuring the most frenetic jazz band ever depicted in celluloid. There, his drink is swapped for another one, and gradually, Frank finds himself becoming increasingly ill.
Docs point out that he’s been poisoned, like he’s a Ukrainian politician. Lab tests reveal he’s ingested a substance for which there’s no antidote. Who would’ve/could’ve done such a thing?
Frank has dwindling time to effectively solve his own murder, and it’s in the film’s stunning tracking shot opener that he saunters into a police precinct to make such a proclamation.
From there, twists and turns aplenty, as Frank finds out there is a distant associate, Eugene, who’d been desperate to contact him before he died, apparently from a suicide. The trail then leads to Eugene’s window, and a mysterious bill of sale that Frank had notarized for the deceased, involving a suspicious substance.
What keeps D.O.A. in motion is essentially an inversion of Kant’s categorical imperative: Frank has to treat people as a means to an end — he can’t behave otherwise as the clock is ticking away. As a result, what we get is a character removed from the conventions of how someone might ordinarily act. It’s unsettling, and realistic.
D.O.A. fell into the public domain, but do yourself a favor and track down a high quality print. After all, it’s film noir, and you need the blacks as black as they can be (thanks, guys in Spinal Tap).
Director Rudolph Maté cut his teeth working for Hitch (Foreign Correspondent) among others, and the Master’s influence is pretty apparent in the pupil.
***1/2 (out of 5)
[Check out our podcast of DOA here!]
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Good essays for romeo and juliet
The festival takes place annually, with hundreds of school children performing half-hour shows in professional theatres across the UK. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.
Shakespeare died in Enter, several of both houses, who join the fray; then enter Citizens, with clubs First Citizen Clubs, bills, and partisans! Love as a theme plays out as a passionate force that cannot be ignored or controlled. In Act V, scene i, Romeo demonstrates his belief in the power of dreams to foretell the future once again when he believes that he will be reunited with Juliet on the basis of another dream.
If love is an uncontrollable force which launches two young people toward and inevitable union, it is also a destructive passion which causes discord and violence. He decides to flee from the inevitable consequences from Escalus. Choice or Chance How does the suicidal instinct that both Romeo and Juliet demonstrate connect to the general thought of young love?
See Fiddler on the Roof. The Zeffirelli production of "Romeo and Juliet" has been criticized for emphasizing the sentimentality and pathos of the story at the expense of tragedy. Now that you know a little more about Sudoku, play and enjoy this free online game. It was right there in front of him.
The play seems to suggest that violence is not the way. Do they really come to terms with life and with death? What does this tell us about suicide? Victims of Fate Romeo and Juliet: Poison in Romeo and Juliet is both a medicine and a toxin. Thus the feud is ostensibly put on hold. His fall and death are quintessential tragic modes.
Even as he attempts to control the violence and discord in the play, the human passions of love and hate outstrip his authority and power. Friar Laurence is to give her a potion which will make her appear dead for two days.The Moral of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet Essay.
Romeo and Juliet is one of the most well known and greatest of love stories. Shakespeare wrote this play with a didactic purpose in mind to prove that nothing good can come from revenge.
This is a book about being a teacher, and about being a mother, and, in its way, about being a writer. But it is most fully a depiction of living with a work of literature, about the conversations literature can spark and the memories literature can hold and reconfigure.
The term essay hooks is the introductory part of the essay that grabs the reader’s attention. It gives him a chance to decide and make up his mind whether to continue reading your work or not.
The hooks for essays are actually the baits for readers. Romeo and Juliet was written by William Shakespeare in the late sixteenth century and was probably first performed in the Globe Theatre in London. The play is set in Verona in northern Italy during the Renaissance, a period beginning in the fourteenth century.
At the time Shakespeare wrote the play. In Romeo and Juliet, Lord Capulet is presented as a prominent, complex and arguably controversial character whose actions can be interpreted in a variety of different ways.
It is debatable whether Lord Capulet really is a good farther to Juliet with her best interests at heart, or whether he is. Published: Mon, 5 Dec Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a tragic play in which a pair of star-crossed lovers commit suicide, when their .
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Category: Concerts/Shows
Everything was Roses when they Held on to the Guns: Guns n’ Roses Not in this Lifetime
On July 13, 2016 July 12, 2016 By James CastroIn Concerts/Shows, ReviewsLeave a comment
I’ve been lucky enough to attend some pretty impressive concerts.
I got to see U2 live in a relatively small stadium, Journey from just a few feet away, and Ozzy’s last Ozzfest with the Black Sabbath lineup. I even got to see Axl with his new Guns N’ Roses line up back in 2012, having previously seen Duff McKagan, Slash, and Matt Sorum (the Use Your Illusion line up) with Velvet Revolver at the aforementioned Ozzfest.
At the time I thought seeing the various parts of GnR in their new ventures was as close as I would get to seeing the original line up live; especially considering the legendary bad blood between Axl and his former bandmates.
Then the news broke last year that Slash was quoted making some exceptionally flattering comments about Rose. And Axl was then quoted reciprocating with some equally complimentary statements about Slash. The two cornerstones of the band thawing a bit? Rumors flew quickly, would there be a reunion?
A few months later it was announced that Rose, McKagan, and Slash all signed up for a reunion show at Coachella. Since I knew I wouldn’t hit the lottery any time soon I figured it’d be something I’d have to miss…until they announced tour dates featuring Axl, McKagan, and Slash. And that they would be playing the football stadium in my city!
Duff back on bass!
I’ve been a GnR fan since the late 80s and early 90s. I grew up watching their videos on MTV (back when they played music) and became borderline obsessed with the group after the Use Your Illusion albums. Even though tastes and moods can change any time anyone asks “who’s your favorite band?” Guns n Roses was always the answer.
It’s not the same GnR without Slash…
For me the show had a lot to live up to and it came through beyond what I could have imagined. My best friend Mike (who’s been a fan almost as long as I have) called it “the culmination of his being.” Over three hours of classic and newer GnR material. Arrangements that harkened back to the Use Your Illusion tour (I remember seeing Slash play the Godfather Theme on a VHS tape I had of a GnR show from the 90s) and even some surprises; such as two songs featuring the first member to be ousted, Appetite for Destruction drummer Steven Adler.
Adler on drums for two Appetite tracks!
What made the show remarkable to me was that it wasn’t just a greatest hits tour. Yes they played the biggest of the biggest hits and the roar of the crowd was the loudest I’ve ever heard when the opening strains to “Welcome to the Jungle” echoed off the stadium stands, but it was more than that. “Jungle” was followed with relatively deep cut “Double Talkin’ Jive” which has one of my favorite drum beats and guitar outros ever. That in turn was followed by the 9 minute epic, “Estranged” which possibly features my favorite guitar solo ever. Halfway through the show they broke out the ultimate GnR deep cut by playing Coma. A 10 minute song I never thought I’d experience live. Casual fans all around me sat down as the song wound its way through its narrative leaving me one of the few in my section standing up and singing along.
Coma Live in Concert!
The whole show transported me back in time where playing Doom and drawing comics was all I did every day.
It was far and away greatest concert I’ve ever attended. What’s the future of GnR? Who knows. Axl being as unpredictable as he is may decide to drop the act and just tour with AC/DC (which I have to say if they came here with that line up I’d be pretty psyched for that too). McKagen may ditch it for a solo act. Slash might do the same. The camaraderie on stage appeared pretty damn good though, with Axl jamming to Slash’s solos, and Duff getting to do his own Misfits cover. And I can’t think of a show where bandmates could play for 3 plus hours for as many shows as they have if they weren’t enjoying themselves.
Nearly 30 years after their debut…Axl still has it..
I shouldn’t hold out hope for a new album featuring the OG GnR line up…but I am. Maybe someday we’ll hear new material, even just a song or two, from 80s metal’s Lennon & McCarthy of Axl and Slash.
Take a bow!
But if it never happens, or even if the band happens to implode yet again in the coming weeks, those of us who grew up in the GnR era will always have the masterpieces they produced from 1987-1992. And I’ll never forget the show they all got together to put on in 2016.
Ultipro Connections: How to do a Conference
On March 17, 2016 March 16, 2016 By James CastroIn Concerts/Shows, Opinions, Random FunLeave a comment
Like most young adults I’ve been to my fair share of conferences for work. I’ve attended them across the street from my office. In East TN so east it’s almost in North Carolina. I’ve had to man booths, I’ve had to sit through boring talks, and even had to give boring talks. But I can honestly say I’ve never been to a good one until the Ultimate Software Connections Conference in Las Vegas, NV 3/7-3/11.
They did some things that I think other event organizers could stand to do, and while it wasn’t perfect (there were a fair few sales pitches, but you come to expect those kinds of things), it provides a good template for how to do a good convention.
Book A Nice Location: Connections was at the Bellagio. It’s a little pretentious and pricey (especially if you’re doing the reimbursement thing) but staying in a good room and having nice surroundings for daily meetings and breakout sessions made for a much better experience. I don’t even gamble (I lost!) but the variety of locations and the excellent accommodations (I could spend the rest of my life in that bathroom) made for a perfect event atmosphere.
Have Good Speakers: If you’ve got a keynote make sure your keynote speakers are effective and entertaining. If you have breakout session instructors make sure they are comfortable and interesting presenters. The first keynote was Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs I had no idea what to expect but, he turned out to be a terrific story teller and had the crowd roaring with laughter in minutes. Even the self-help presenter, Chester Elton, did a good job. The session presenters were experienced speakers, and one in particular (Jarik Conrad on the neuroscience of human behavior) actually worked the audience and made for an intriguing session.
Provide Breaks: I’ve been to too many conferences and conventions that are planned like a ten-year old’s birthday party; scheduled event from beginning to end, and the sessions contain waste-of-time “getting to know you” sections. In a city like Las Vegas, the programmers were smart enough to give essentially two evenings to the attendees to pick what they wanted to do. It let us explore the city, try non-conference food (which was good but you can only have hotel buffet food so often…) and see a few sites. Also between each session there was usually (I planned badly for lunch on Wednesday) a good thirty minutes to take a break.
Good Entertainment: This is where the convention did its best. Along with Mike Rowe they had Catapult on Wednesday morning and A Cappella group Home Free on Wednesday. Even their appreciation night dinner was good stand up food with a decent DJ. And on the subject of Entertainment…
Having Journey Play Your Appreciation Night Doesn’t Hurt: First of all no conference I’ve ever been to has had an “appreciation night.” Secondly they had Journey play the show. The new lead singer, Arnel Pineda, worked the crowd like a good front man should and with Steve Perry pushing 70 he might have a bit more power in his voice than the original front man. At least when you could hear him over the crowd singing. At one point the girl in the glasses next to me and I were belting “Don’t Stop Believin’” to each other at the top of our lungs. She was a rockstar in her own right. How often do hear of that kind of performance at a business conference?
It was the first time I ever felt the experience of being on site was actually worth it and it made me appreciate a company that would actually put all this on for their customers. It gives everyone in a cubicle in every industry hope that maybe there next work conference might be a little less manila folder and little more Rock n Roll.
Lindsey Stirling in Nashville Vol. 3
On June 28, 2015 By R. PettyIn Concerts/ShowsLeave a comment
Lindsey Stirling played Fontanel this week (aka Carl Black Chevy Woods Amphitheater), and this was no regular show – it fell on a milestone birthday of someone I love very much.
This was the third time I’ve seen Lindsey. This year’s show seemed to focus more on her and what she wanted to do to improve her own performance and the show itself. Here’s what was different:
Woman Power – Lindsey replaced her male backup dancers with women. On stage, she admitted to being the only girl on the tour for the last 2.5 years. Wow… I went on vacation with three male family members last year and thought I was going to lose my mind a few times. The new dancers were fun and talented. They didn’t do anything mind-blowing, but they added a playful, strong girl-power element to the show.
Fewer breaks – We were 10 feet from the stage, so I could see her catch her breath and get tired, which was cool. There were still several stage and costume changes, but they took much fewer breaks between songs than the last time, and the pace moved well.
The spotlight – I didn’t realize until the next day, Lindsey was in the spotlight more. Her band members stayed hidden half the time, and the show was about her performing for the audience. The crowd has also grown, as Fontanel holds 4,500 people and was nearly sold out. I believe she has truly come out of her shell and will continue to get bigger and bigger.
The songs – The set was awesome. She had a better balance with her songs and the variety of others she covers. For example, gamers love her for covering songs from Zelda, Skyrim, Assassin’s Creed, etc. She always plays one and thanks the gamers for supporting her from the beginning – they are the reason the became so huge on YouTube (nearly 50M views for Skyrim alone). However this year, she played a compilation and blended the most popular ones together, and it rocked.
The Encore – I was so tickled when we were walking to the car after the show, and my young companion said, “That last song she played was like a bunch of different songs!” I smiled and replied, “That was Phantom of the Opera.” That’s right, she ended the night with the epic song, which I’ve never seen her perform. It was incredible.
Bonus – We met her. Because it was a special night, I bought VIP packages. We saw her playing cornhole, met and hugged her, took photos, did the Q&A, watched the sound check, and had a blast. I was able to thank her for being such a great role model. The milestone birthday will never be forgotten. It was 96 degrees outside, the venue was evacuated twice due to lightning, and afterwards I drove through the worst storm I have ever been in. It was an adventure and well worth it!
Be sure to check her out if you haven’t, and feel free to share some love in the comments below!
Lindsey Stirling in Nashville: The Follow Up
On July 13, 2014 July 13, 2014 By R. PettyIn Concerts/ShowsLeave a comment
Lindsey Stirling played Music City on June 28, and I had the pleasure of seeing for the second time. The first show was great, but she has definitely grown and learned from her strengths and experiences.
Seeing the evolution in her performance from year to year is one of the coolest things I’ve ever witnessed. In 2013, she played the small Cannery Ballroom, which fits about 500 people standing. This year, she played the historic Ryman Theater, which seats more than 2,300.
Show highlights:
1. Set list. She recently released her second album, so she has plenty to pick from. At the first show, she played nearly her whole album. This year, she played for 2.5 hours and had a great mix of new, fan favs, and new songs.
2. Higher attendance. Last year, my RevPub partner and I went. This year, I had to buy six tickets! They were more expensive too. It’s a great example of an up-and-coming artist really making a name for herself. It was my oldest brother’s first concert too, and he’s 26 years old. In another year, she will sell out an even larger venue.
3. Lights and screens. I was impressed with the light show. Every song was different and complemented her playing well. My favorite was the little 8-bit Link that ran along the screen during Zelda Medley.
4. Dancers. Lindsey has a great pair of back-up dancers, but last year there was no room for them. The Ryman’s stage allowed them to dance, play, and have a dance-off during her breaks. They tossed her around and picked her up, all while she never missed a note on the violin.
5. The band. She has a live keyboardist and drummer on stage at all times. This improves sound quality beyond the normal noise that dubstep can sometimes project. I could tell the group really cares for one another, and it was very much like a family. You don’t see that closeness often, especially in bands, because of ego and entitlement issues.
6. A personal view. At one point, Lindsey played a photo slideshow of her growing up. Not only can you hear her emotions and experience in her playing, but you could see that at an early age she loved to play and dance. A lot of performers fill in break time with random messages or images, but Lindsey wants you to know her. I’ve never seen an artist open up on stage the way she did.
If you never seen her, you should. I’ll let this video speak for itself 🙂
Video by pixiegirl2426
Distant Worlds: The Music from Final Fantasy
On April 23, 2014 April 20, 2014 By James CastroIn Concerts/Shows, Opinions, ReviewsLeave a comment
I’ve been a Final Fantasy fan since the 90s and while my adoration for the games has waned of late, the scores composed by maestro Nobuo Uematsu have never lost their charm or virtuosity.
Distant Worlds is a symphonic or mixed-piece performance series that has been touring for years and when my RevPub partner and I found out it was coming to our town we knew it was a must-see. It just so happens my friend Mike and his fiancee found out about it at the same time and went as well. We all pretty much had the same opinion: it was fantastic.
Several of the pieces were from the “Final Fantasy 2002-0220” performances from over a decade ago and haven’t needed to change a bit. Surprisingly a few of the pieces were VERY new, including one from the latest Lightning Returns, which made conductor Arnie Roth’s statement about short rehearsal times REALLY have impact. The music was synched to a video screen showing clips from the games, re-cut to go with music. It was definitely a nice touch, especially for those not accustomed to seeing an orchestra live.
My Final Fantasy CD collection.
There is something unique about seeing symphonic music live. The sound of a symphony orchestra fills and surrounds a venue like no other kind of music, and with pieces as well-loved and recognizable as Uematsu’s scores it made for a terrific atmosphere. Most of the time orchestras play classical/romantic music, or music composed just to be music. Uematsu composed his music as a score for a story or capture the personality of a character. Even more impactful than film scores, Uematsu’s scores provide the ambiance for a story YOU help tell. So when you hear them it puts you back in the narrative; recreates the mood and the emotion of events and characters we know so well. Not one that is an hour or two, but maybe one that was 16, 28, or 65 hours or more… That’s a lot of time to spend with characters. A lot of time to get attached to their personalities and motives; Uematsu’s music always masterfully captures the essence of each.
From the jaunty and upbeat “Chocobo Theme,” to the intense strains of “Don’t be Afraid;” and from the profound passion of “Eyes on Me” to the mournful and delicate tone of “Aerith’s Theme,” every piece allows you to re-live that story again, put you back in that “distant world” and relate hours and storytelling magnificently in less than four minutes.
The performance was topped off by a surprise encore (that doesn’t happen much in symphonic music, even though it’s where the term originated!) where Roth asked the audience to sing the choral lyrics to “One-Winged Angel” while the symphony played the music. We were asked only to sing the “SE-PHI-ROTH” portion but in an audience full of fans, many of us sang the rest of the lyrics in Latin. Short of a surprise performance of Koichi Sugiyama’s Dragon Quest title music or Uematsu himself coming out to play the Advent Children version of Sephiroth’s inimical theme with The Black Mages, it was an performance that couldn’t have been improved upon.
Uematsu composed his first Final Fantasy music for 8-bit video games. As the technology progressed he composed for 16-bit cartridges, CD-ROM midis, and later full orchestral scores for Final Fantasy games on DVD and even for films. But the purity and beauty of his music is it works in ALL forms. There is as much heart in “Dear Friends” whether you heard it on a Super Famicom, PS1, or in a symphony hall. There is true beauty to be found in the simplicity of it and it is worth traveling to Distant Worlds to find it for yourself.
Uematsu (on the big Korg keyboard) performing One-Winged Angel with an symphony orchestra, full chorus, and his band The Black Mages.
2013 Concert Review: Teen Dreams Coming True
On December 1, 2013 December 1, 2013 By R. PettyIn Concerts/ShowsLeave a comment
If someone had told me in January I’d be writing about seeing my favorite 90s bands, I would have laughed in their face. Even by March, the 2013 lineup for Nashville concerts looked bleak.
Oh how things changed…
It wasn’t long after that when tickets for the first show went on sale. Then the next and the next. What I thought would be a wasted year turned out to be my 90s teenage dream come true.
July 9: Marilyn Manson – This show was especially important because he played Nashville when I was in high school and I wasn’t allowed to go. Manson was in his prime, and of course, his reputation proceeded him. As a teenage, I always felt like I’d missed something pretty awesome.
In July, I fulfilled my wish and took two of my favorite people with me. We had a great time. Manson sounded great, rocked War Memorial, and there was not a bad seat in the house. He performed all our favorites and changed outfits and props nearly every song. My favorite part was talking to all the other 30-somethings who were seeing him for the first time because like me, their parents wouldn’t them see me. We stood united.
October 22: Nine Inch Nails – Anyone my age knows how big NIN was in the 90s. Trent Reznor was the man. I was again too young to see him, and later I missed NIN a few times due to biology labs and adult responsibilities. For 15 years I’ve listened to people tell me how awesome the show is, so this was a must-see. If you’re thinking about it, just go. He sounded amazing, and it was one of the best light shows I’ve ever experienced. You couldn’t take your eyes off the stage, and he performed Wish and March of the Pigs. You haven’t really heard these songs until you’ve heard them live.
November 24: Rob Zombie and Korn – Two headliners. And those two headliners. What can I even say? I’m surprised the roof didn’t cave in – everyone was on their feet the whole time. Zombie got the crowd rowdy and loud (as James says he’s a performer, a ring leader, a presence). As if Zombie and John 5 weren’t enough, he brought out a special guest: Mick Mars from Motley Crue. It was epic.
Then Korn set up. I won’t lie, I was a little winded, but you have to suck it up. This was the fourth time I’ve seen Korn, but this time was different. The crowd was LOUD. The arena shook with people jumping, screaming, singing. I looked around for a moment and thought, “This is what a concert should be. THIS is energy.”
We hope 2014 won’t disappoint because 2013 will be tough to beat. Here’s to ears ringing, lost voices, and rocking out.
If you had any fun shows this year, feel free to tell us about them in the comments!
A Jem of a Birthday Present
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Making Easy Wargaming Smoldering Wrecked Vehicle Markers!
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Die Hard: Yes it IS a Christmas Movie
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The Un-Thankful List 2016
Doom (2016) – A Return to Form
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Mission of Hope: Rotifunk Hospital
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Once the premier hospital in Sierra Leone, Rotifunk Hospital (re-dedicated as the Hatfield Archer Memorial Hospital in 2014) now struggles to care for the residents of the area with limited resources. Located on 11 acres of land, the hospital has a campus of 12 buildings. The hospital serves 145,000 people in the Moyamba District, where the top health problems are tuberculosis, malaria, dysentery, complications from childbirth, and lower respiratory problems.
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And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by…
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from Psalm 57:1
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« Nick Griffin: “National Anarchism: Trojan Horse for White Nationalism” (2005)
John Moore: ‘Book of Levelling’ (1995) »
Sam Dolgoff: “Modern Technology and Anarchism” (1986)
Published December 11, 2010 Anarchism , Technology 2 Comments
“Modern Technology and Anarchism”
Sam Dolgoff
In their polemics with the Marxists the anarchists argued that the state subjects the economy to its own ends. An economic system once viewed as the prerequisite for the realization of socialism now serves to reinforce the domination of the ruling classes. The very technology that could now open new roads to freedom has also armed states with unimaginably frightful weapons for the extinction of all life on this planet.
Only the social revolution can overcome the obstacles to the introduction of the free society. Yet the movement for emancipation is threatened by the far more formidable political, economic and social power and brain-washing techniques of the ruling classes. To forge a revolutionary movement, inspired by anarchist ideas is the great task to which we must dedicate ourselves.
To make the revolution we must stimulate the revolutionary spirit and the confidence of the people that their revolution will at last reshape the world nearer our aspirations. Revolutions are stirred by the conviction that our ideals can and will be realized. A big step in this direction is to document the extent to which the liberating potential of modern technology constitutes a realistic, practical alternative to the monopoly and abuse of power. This is not meant to imply that anarchism will miraculously heal all the ills inflicting the body social. Anarchism is a twentieth century guide to action based on realistic conceptions of social reconstruction.
Anarchism is not a mere fantasy. Its fundamental constructive principle – – mutual aid – – is based on the indisputable fact that society is a vast interlocking network of cooperative labor whose very existence depends upon its internal cohesion. What is indispensable is emancipation from authoritarian institutions over society and authoritarianism within the people’s associations – – themselves and miniature states.
Peter Kropotkin, who formulated the sociology of anarchism, wrote that “Anarchism is not a utopia. The anarchists build their previsions of the future society upon the observation of life at the present time…” If we want to build the new society the materials are here.
When Kropotkin wrote in 1899, his classic Fields, Factories and Workshops to demonstrate the feasibility of decentralizing industry to achieve a greater balance and integration between rural and urban living, his ideas were dismissed by many as premature. However, it is no longer disputed that the problem of making the immense benefits of modern industry available to even the smallest communities has largely been solved by modern technology. Even bourgeois economists, sociologists and administrators like Peter Drucker, John Kenneth Galbraith, Gunnar Myrdal, Daniel Bell and others now favor a large measure of decentralization no because they have suddenly become anarchists, but primarily because technology has rendered anarchistic forms of organization “operational necessities” – – a more efficient devise to enlist the cooperation of the masses in their own enslavement.
Peter Drucker writes, “Decentralization has become exceedingly popular with American business… decisions have to be made at the lowest possible rather than at the highest possible level… it is important to emphasize the concept of functional decentralization.” With respect to the emergence of highly qualified trained scientific, technical, engineering, educators, etc. whom Drucker calls knowledge workers he remarks “We must let them manage their own plant community.” (The New Society, page 256, 357)
John Kenneth Galbraith, for example, writes: “in giant industrial corporations autonomy is necessary for both small decisions and large questions of policy… the comparative advantages of atomic and molecular power for the generation of electricity are decided by a variety of scientists, technical, economic and planning judgements. Only a committee, or more precisely, a complex of committees can combine the knowledge and experience that must be brought to bear… The effect of denial of autonomy and the inability of the technostructure [corporate centralized industry, SD] to accommodate itself to changing tasks has been visibly deficient organizations. The larger and more complex organizations are, the more they must be decentralized…” (The New Industrial State, page 111)
The engineering expert Robert O’Brian (Life Publications, 1985) explains that “because electricity… can be piped almost anywhere… borne by high tension lines across mountains, deserts and all manner of natural obstacles.. factories no longer need be located near their sources of power. As a result, the factories have been able to relocate at will…”
The following quote from Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media reads like an extract from Kropotkin’s Fields, Factories and Workshops: “… electricity decentralizes… permits any place to be a center and does not require large aggregations… By electricity we everywhere resume personal relations on the smallest village scale… In the whole field of the electrical revolution this pattern of decentralization appears in various guises…”
The cities in what was once the industrial heartland of American now look like abandoned ghost towns. Steel, auto, agricultural machinery, mines, electronic plants, and other installations are rushing away. But the industrial corporations did not go out of business. They simply built new plants abroad or here in the U.S. in remote, non-industrial, non-union areas were wages and working conditions are poor. Automobiles, clothing, shoes, electronic equipment, machinery; almost everything formerly manufactured in the United States is now being made abroad even in “third world” countries like Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, Korea – – though many of these countries lack essential natural resources. For example, Japan with very few natural resources is nevertheless a first class industrial power exporting and competing with the United States and other industrialized nations in the production of steel, automobiles, electrical products and other goods. General Motors promised to build a new plant in Kansas City but will build it in Spain. The Bulova Watch Corporation makes watch movements in Switzerland, assembles them in Pogo Pogo and ships them to be sold in the Unites States. And so it goes.
EXTIRPATING BUREAUCRACY
Bureaucracy is a form of organization in which decisions are made on the top, obeyed by the ranks below, and transmitted through a chain of command as in an army. A bureaucratic regime is not a true community, which implies an association of equals making decisions in common and carrying them out jointly.
A major obstacle to the establishment of a free society is the all-pervading bureaucratic machinery of the state and the industrial, commercial and financial corporations exercising de facto control over the operations of society. Bureaucracy is an unmitigated parasitical institution.
Highly qualified scientific-technological experts, economists and other academics, who accepted bureaucracy as an unpleasant, but indispensable necessity, now agree that the byzantine bureaucratic apparatus can now be dismantled by modern computerized technology. Their views (to be sure, unconsciously) illustrate the practical relevance of anarchistic alternatives to authoritarian forms of organization.
In his important work Future Shock Alvin Toffler concludes that: “In bureaucracies the great mass of men performing routine tasks and operations – – precisely these tasks and operations that the computer and automation do better than men – – can be performed by self-regulating machines… thus doing away with bureaucratic organization… far from fastening the grip of automation on civilization… automation… leads to the overthrow [of the] power laden bureaucracies through which authority flowed [and] wielded the whip by which the individual was held in line…”
Professor William H. Read of McGill University believes that “the one effective measure of… coping with the problem of coordination in a changing society will be found in new arrangements of power which sharply break with bureaucratic tradition…” William A. Faunce (School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Michigan State University) predicts that “the integration of information processing made possible by computers would eliminate the need for complex organizations characteristic of bureaucracies.” Faunce sees conflict between professional workers and bureaucratic administrators. The workers do not need ‘hierarchical superiors.’ They are perfectly able to operate industry themselves. He advocates workers self-management, not because he is a radical, but primarily because self-management is more efficient that the outworn system of bureaucracy.
INDUSTRY BEST ORGANIZED ANARCHISTICALLY
The libertarian principle of self-management will not be invalidated by the changing composition of the work force or by the nature of work itself. With or without automation the economic structure of the free society must be based on the people directly involved in economic functions. under automation millions of highly trained technicians, engineers, scientists, educators, etc. who are now already organized into local, regional, national and international federations will freely circulate information, constantly improving both the quality and availability of goods and services and developing new products for new needs. Every year sixty million pages of scientific-technical information are freely circulated all over the world! And these voluntary associations are non-hierarchical.
Many scientific and technical workers are unhappy. Quite a few whom I interviewed complain that nothing is so maddening as to stand helplessly by while ignorauses who do not even understand the language of science dictate the direction of research and development. They are particularly outraged that their training and creativity are exploited to design and improve increasingly-destructive war weapons and other anti-social purposes. They are often compelled, on pain of dismissal, to perform monotonous tasks and are not free to exercise their knowledge. These frustrated professional workers already outnumber relatively unskilled and skilled “blue collar” manual workers rapidly displaced by modern technology. Many of them will be receptive to our ideas if intelligently and realistically presented. We must go all out to reach them. Even bourgeois academics like Joseph A. Raffaele (Professor of Economics, Drexel Institute of Technology) are unintentionally and unconsciously writing like anarchists! Raffaele writes: “we are moving toward a society of technical co-equals in which the line of demarcation between the leader and the led become fuzzy.” Management consultant Bernard Muller-Thym emphasizes that: “within our grasp is a kind or production capability that is alive with intelligence, with information, so that is will be completely flexible in a world-wide basis.”
The progress of the new society will depend greatly upon the extent to which its self-governing units will be able to speed up communication – – to understand each other’s problems and thus better coordinate their activities. Thanks to modern communications technology, computer laundromats, personal computers, closed television and telephone circuits, communication satellites, and a plethora of other devices making direct communication available to everyone; even visual and radio contact with the moon! A stranded motorist can contact Ford dealers for help in an emergency by communicating with the Ford Motor Company satellite. Marshall McLuhan concludes that advances in printing technology have reached a point where “every man can be his own publisher.” All this adds up to a workable preview of a free society based on direct democracy and free association. The self-governing units that make up the new society would not be miniature states. In a parliamentary democracy the actual rulers are the professional politicians organized into political parties. In theory they are supposed to represent the people. In fact they rule over them – – free to decide the destinies of the millions. The anarchist thinker Proudhon well over a century ago defined a parliamentary democracy as “a king with six hundred heads.” The democratic system is in fact a dictatorship periodically renewed at election time.
The organization of the new society will not, as in authoritarian governments or authoritarian associations, emanate from the ‘bottom up’ or from the ‘top down’ for the simple reason that there will be no top. In this kind of free, flexible organization, power will naturally flow like the circulation of the blood throughout the social body constantly renewing its cells.
The optimism kindled by the libertarian potential of modern technology should not mislead us to underestimate the formidable forces blocking the road to freedom. A growing class of state, local, provincial and national bureaucracies; scientists, engineers, technicians and other professions – – all of them enjoying a much better standard of living than the average worker. A class whose privileged status depends upon accepting and supporting the reactionary social system, immeasurably re-inforces the ‘democratic’, ‘welfare’ and state ‘socialist’ varieties of capitalism.
They extol the miraculous labor-saving benefits of the technological revolution. But they prefer to ignore the fact that this same technology now enables the State to establish what is, in effect, a nationalized poorhouse where the millions of technologically unemployed – – forgotten, faceless outcasts – – on public ‘welfare’ will be given enough to keep them quiet. They prefer to ignore the extent to which computers immeasurably increase the power of the State to regiment every individual and obliterate truly human values.
All of them echo the slogans of self-management and free association, but they dare not raise an accusing finger again the holy arc of the state. They do not show the slightest sign of grasping the obvious fact that elimination of the abyss separating the order givers from the order takers – – not only in the state but at every level – – is the indispensible condition of the realization of self-management and free association: the very heart and soul of the free society.
from Libertarian Labor Review #1, 1986, pp 7–12.
2 Responses to “Sam Dolgoff: “Modern Technology and Anarchism” (1986)”
1 Joseph Ratliff February 20, 2015 at 2:54 pm
Reblogged this on Joseph Ratliff's Notepad.
1 Neues aus den Archiven der radikalen (und nicht so radikalen) Linken « Entdinglichung Trackback on December 16, 2010 at 9:50 am
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The Path from Tonic to Dominant in the Second Movement of Schubert's String Quintet and in Chopin's Fourth Ballade
Lauri Suurpää
Journal of Music Theory (1 October 2000) 44 (2): 451–485.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3090683
... MOVEMENT OF SCHUBERT’S STRING QUINTET AND IN CHOPIN’S FOURTH BALLADE Lauri Suurpää Introduction In Free Composition Schenker begins the discussion of the middle- ground level by describing different ways in which the tonic-dominant...
Tonality and Mutability in Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil , Movement 12
Ellen Bakulina
Journal of Music Theory (1 April 2015) 59 (1): 63–97.
...Ellen Bakulina This article offers a Schenkerian interpretation of movement 12 from Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil , also known as Vespers , op. 37 (1915), from the standpoint of tonal duality, known in Russian as peremennost’ , or mutability. First, I explore theoretical connections between...
Schumann's a-Minor Mood: Late-Style Dialectics in the First Movement of the Cello Concerto
Peter H. Smith
... . Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press . Hepokoski James . 2012 . “Monumentality and Formal Processes in the First Movement of Brahms's Piano Concerto no. 1 in D minor, op. 15.” In Expressive Intersections in Brahms: Essays in Analysis and Meaning , ed. Platt Heather Smith Peter H...
A Response to Gordon Sly and Edward Laufer: An Alternative Interpretation of the First Movement of Mozart's K. 545
Eric Wen
Journal of Music Theory (1 October 2002) 46 (1-2): 364–368.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/00222909-46-1-2-364
...- stein himself acknowledges that Schenker uses the mixed major/minor mode to discuss late romantic music and rightly points out that he also uses it for Bach and Beethoven. At the same time, in the context of late nineteenth-century music theory, nothing about, say, the first movement of K. 330 would...
Metric Cubes in Some Music of Brahms
Scott Murphy
Journal of Music Theory (1 April 2009) 53 (1): 1–56.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/00222909-2009-020
..., a metric cube connects two meters if their ordered factor representations differ by only one factor. Metric cubes, and metric operations that act on the contents of a cube, reveal patterns of metric structure in three works by Brahms: the first movement of the Third Symphony op. 90, the third...
The Type 2 Sonata in the Nineteenth Century: Two Case Studies from Mendelssohn and Dvořák
Journal of Music Theory (1 April 2019) 63 (1): 103–138.
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Twelve-Tone Rows and Aggregate Melodies in the Music of Shostakovich
Stephen C. Brown
... article then reveals a fundamental trait prevalent in many of Shostakovich's aggregate melodies: they often convey distinct zones of chromatic activity, diatonic activity, or a mixture of both. Drawing on these terms and concepts, the final part of the article probes the second movement of the Twelfth...
Form, Structure, and Musical Drama in Two Mozart Expositions
...Lauri Suurpää This study examines interactions among form, Schenkerian voice-leading structure, and certain dramatic features in two Mozart expositions: the second movement of the G-minor symphony, K. 550, and the opening movement of the G-minor string quintet, K. 516. The analyses frequently...
Schumann’s Continuous Expositions and the Classical Tradition
... comparison between Roesner’s interpretation of the outer movements of the String Quartet in A minor as examples of deficient two-part expositions and readings of them instead as instances of the continuous type. The first movement of the Second Symphony illustrates that the tonal pairing of the A-minor...
Bartók's Polymodality: The Dasian and Other Affinity Spaces
José Oliveira Martins
... emergence of a group structure, whose generators—named transpositio and transformatio —are also characteristic musical motions and relations. The proposed analytical methodology is probed in a couple of short pieces of Bartók's Mikrokosmos and in the third movement of his Piano Sonata. The article argues...
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Philip Stoecker
... level, aligned-cycle families. To conclude, I reexamine a three-voice aligned cycle from the second movement of Berg's String Quartet, op. 3, and investigate cyclic progressions in Thomas Adès's Piano Quintet, Lieux retrouvés , and The Tempest . Philip Stoecker is associate professor of music at...
The Cadenza as Parenthesis: An Analytic Approach
Matthew Bribitzer-Stull
..., relating, and rehearing elements of the concerto movement proper. The cadenza's dual function grants it a potential far exceeding the simple characterization as parenthesis. Skillfully composed cadenzas exploit the tension between local and global functions and can initiate subtle yet profound rehearings...
A. B. Marx’s Sonatenform : Coming to Terms with Beethoven’s Rhetoric
Patrick Wood Uribe
... among which is the absence of a single example of a complete movement from existing music that embodies the form. Taking the perceived weaknesses of his discussion as a starting point, I argue that they are in fact the result of an ambitious and sophisticated approach to form, which depends on a more...
Béla Bartók's Evolution of Tonal Resources
James N. Bennett
... multiaggregate cycles and that these “(048) or (0369) chains” exemplify augmented and diminished tendencies propelling the development of new key variations. By way of demonstration, the article ends with several analyses of Bartók's works from the decade 1908–17: the first movement of the Second String Quartet...
... 2002 © Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520 2002 ERRATUM We regret that elements were incorrectly entered in Edward Laufer's sketch of Mozart K. 545, 1st movement, that appeared in the Appendix to Gordon Sly's article in vol. 45, no. 1. The corrected...
Expressive Forms in Brahms's Instrumental Music: Structure and Meaning in His Werther Quartet
Heather Platt
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/00222909-48-2-337
... excellent model for other analysts to follow (1994). Smith’s insightful explications of the structural anomalies of each movement, of the subtleties in Schenkerian analysis, and the importance of Brahms’s handling of rhythm guarantee that scholars will consult this volume for decades to come...
Chromaticism, Form, and Expression in Haydn's String Quartet Op. 76, No. 6
Journal of Music Theory (1 April 2003) 47 (1): 41–101.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/00222909-47-1-41
... work of special significance, due to its unusual design—beginning with an imposing variations movement based on a rather cryptic, understated theme. The entire quartet is perva- sively major, with minor-mode contrasts obtained mainly by briefly touching upon the diatonic minor functions—ii (f minor...
Schubert's Innovations in Sonata Form: Compositional Logic and Structural Interpretation
Gordon Sly
... young teenager, to the framing movements of the B≤ Piano Trio and the finale of the Great C-major Symphony, both conceived in the last years of his life. His well-known propensity for preserving in the recapitulation the broad modulation scheme of the exposition underlies many of these designs, such...
Revised Sketch of Mozart, K. 545/I and Commentary
Edward Laufer
...Edward Laufer 2001 © Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520 2001 APPENDIX Edward Laufer REVISED SKETCH OF MOZART, K. 545/I AND COMMENTARY This movement presents many unusual features, which...
The Large-Scale Formal Role of the Solo Entry Theme in the Eighteenth-Century Concerto
Joel Galand
.... Berger, Karol. 1996 . “The First-Movement Punctuation Form in Mozart's Piano Concertos.” In Zaslaw 1996, 239 –59. Blume, Friedrich. 1924 . “Die Formgesichtliche Stellung der Klavier-Konzerte Mozarts.” Mozart Jahrbuch 2 : 81 –107. Brink, Meileten. 1995 . Die Flötenkonzerte von Johann...
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Pope Francis Promulgates Buenos Aires Guidelines Allowing Communion for Some Adulterers in AAS as his "Authentic Magisterium"
This week, the Vatican's organ for promulgating the Official Acts of the Apostolic See, Acta Apostolicae Sedis (AAS), has published its October 2016 issue, containing Pope Francis' infamous Letter to the Buenos Aires Bishops. AAS not only published this letter, declaring that there are "no other interpretations" ("No hay otras interpretaciones") of Amoris Laetitia other than those of the Buenos Aires bishops, but it also published the full Buenos Aires guidelines themselves, which permit Holy Communion in some cases for couples in a state of permanent and public adultery who are not committed to living in complete continence.
Most significantly, AAS upgrades Pope Francis' private letter to the Buenos Aires bishops to the official magisterial status of an "Apostolic Letter" ("Epistola Apostolica") - AND it includes a special rescript as an addendum by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State. This rescript declares that Pope Francis expressly intends that BOTH documents - the pope's letter and the Buenos Aires guidelines themselves- bear the character of his "authentic Magisterium", and that the pope personally ordered their publication in AAS and on the Vatican website.
The rescript reads in Latin as follows:
RESCRIPTUM «EX AUDIENTIA SS.MI»
Summus Pontifex decernit ut duo Documenta quae praecedunt edantur per publicationem in situ electronico Vaticano et in Actis Apostolicae Sedis, velut Magisterium authenticum.
Ex Aedibus Vaticanis, die V mensis Iunii anno MMXVII
Petrus Card. Parolin
Secretarius Status
Here is an English translation:
Rescript "from an Audience with His Holiness"
The Supreme Pontiff decrees that the two preceding documents be promulgated through publication on the Vatican website and in Acta Apostolicae Sedis, as authentic Magisterium.
From the Vatican, June 5, 2017
Pietro Card. Parolin
The Catholic Encyclopedia defines a papal rescript as follows: "Rescripts are responses of the pope or a Sacred Congregation, in writing, to queries or petitions of individuals. Some rescripts concern the granting of favours; others the administration of justice, e.g. the interpretation of a law, the appointment of a judge." Rescipts generally have the force of particular law, however, as in this case, only "when they interpret or promulgate a general law, are they of universal application." Since papal rescripts answer an inquiry - could this rescript be a direct reply to the dubia of the Four Cardinals?
Under Canon 8 § 1 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, the AAS is the regular method by which "universal ecclesiastical laws" are to be promulgated: “Universal ecclesiastical laws are promulgated by publication in the official commentary Acta Apostolicae Sedis, unless some other manner of promulgation has been prescribed in particular cases.” While most papal documents appearing in AAS lack canonical or disciplinary force, the Pope's rescript at the hand of Cardinal Parolin is clearly intended to give the Buenos Aires Guidelines a significant level of Magisterial authority in the interpretation of Amoris Laetitia.
The pope's use of the term "authentic magisterium" is especially disturbing because it appears intended to trigger Canon 752, to purportedly require "religious submission of the intellect and will" to the Buenos Aires guidelines' overturning of the traditional teaching of the Church:
Can. 752 Although not an assent of faith, a religious submission of the intellect and will must be given to a doctrine which the Supreme Pontiff or the college of bishops declares concerning faith or morals when they exercise the authentic magisterium, even if they do not intend to proclaim it by definitive act; therefore, the Christian faithful are to take care to avoid those things which do not agree with it.
In paragraph 6 of the Buenos Aires guidelines, now explicitly to be treated as belonging to Pope Francis' "authentic magisterium", the allowance for communion in cases of couples in a state of adultery without living in complete continence is made explicit:
6) In other, more complex circumstances, and when it is not possible to obtain a declaration of nullity, the aforementioned option [living in continence] may not, in fact, be feasible. Nonetheless, it is equally possible to undertake a journey of discernment. If one arrives at the recognition that, in a particular case, there are limitations that diminish responsibility and culpability (cf. 301-302), particularly when a person judges that he would fall into a subsequent fault by damaging the children of the new union, Amoris Laetitia opens up the possibility of access to the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist (cf. footnotes 336 and 351). These in turn dispose the person to continue maturing and growing with the aid of grace.
Pope Francis' once private letter to the Buenos Aires Bishops, but now to be considered an Apostolic Letter belonging to his "authentic magisterium", confirms these guidelines:
"The document is very good and completely explains the meaning of chapter VIII of Amoris Laetitia. There are no other interpretations. And I am certain that it will do much good."
The problem with Amoris Laetitia, it is clear, is not merely with "liberal bishops" who interpret it, but with the pope whose manifest interpretation of his own document is impossible to square with the perennial doctrine and discipline of the Catholic faith.
See the October 2016 edition of the AAS on the Vatican website (very large pdf).
See the Buenos Aires guidelines on the Vatican website here.
Below is the excerpted portion of the AAS in its original published form.
By Unknown at 12/02/2017 10:18:00 PM
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Does the Morning Star hope to revive Blue Labour?
Jim Denham Bigotry, Brexit, Culture, Immigration, Labour Party, Migrants, Misogyny, Nationalism, Populism, Racism, Reformism, Stalinism January 7, 2019 January 7, 2019 5 Minutes
Above: His Lordship
What a pre-Christmas treat the Morning Star gave us! More than a whole page given over to an anti – EU tirade under the snappy headline ‘Brexit offers the possibility for socialists to lead a political transformation – The immediate task before us is to leave the EU and break the constraints on democracy that it represents’.
And if that wasn’t enough to stir the patriotic hearts of all loyal readers, the author closes with the clarion-call “No deal is the real deal and the left should unite in pursuit of that end. You might call it government of the people, by the people and for the people.”
Along the way, this fearless tribune of the people declares “We need to leave the EU and concentrate on pursuing a national renewal based upon democracy and the dignity of labour, a defence of freedom and humanity from the iron cage of Napoleonic directives and Thatcherite economics that the EU has become. It is not a cliff edge.”
The author of this thunderous demand for democracy and the dignity of labour was billed simply as ‘Maurice Glasman’, but why did the M Star not give him his full title? He is, of course, The Lord Baron Glasman of Stoke Newington and Stamford Hill who has graced the red benches of the House of Lords since elevated there in 2011 on the recommendation of Ed Miliband, for whom he was a leading adviser.
In fact, for a couple of years culminating in mid-2011, Glasman led a highly influential movement that many expected to take over the Labour Party: Blue Labour. In the puff for the movement’s launch at Conway Hall in April 2009, Glasman (then just Dr Glasman, Senor Lecturer in Political Theory, London Metropolitan University) described Blue Labour as “a deeply conservative socialism that places family, faith and work at the heart of a new politics of reciprocity, mutuality and solidarity”.
Blue Labour included in its ranks the (then) influential MPs Jon Cruddas and James Purnell, plus a number of prominent academics, notably Jonathan Rutherford (Professor of Cultural Studies, Middlesex University) and Marc Steers (Lecturer in Political Theory, Oxford University). Alan Finlayson (Professor of Political and Social Theory, University of East Anglia), while claiming to be critical of some aspects of Blue Labour thinking, ensured positive coverage on the Open Democracy website. It was also fairly obvious that Blue Labour enjoyed a close ideological affinity with Phillip Blond’s ‘Red Tories’. For a brief period in 2011 it looked as though Ed Miliband was set to adopt Blue Labour as the party’s semi-official think tank, adopting their ideas pretty much wholesale. The media was fascinated and Glasman gave a series of interviews which were to prove the undoing of himself and his project.
Interviewed by the Blairite Progress magazine in April 2011, he argued against the idea that “everyone who comes is equal and has an equal status with people who are here”. In the same interview he argued for a Labour to drop its hostility to the English Defence League: “You consider yourself … so opposed that you don’t want to talk to them, you don’t want to engage with them, you don’t want anybody with views like that anywhere near the party.” This approach, he argued, is to ignore “a massive hate and rage against us” from working-class people “who have always been true to Labour”. The solution, he said, was “to build a party that brokers a common good, that involves those people who support the EDL within our party. Not dominant in the party, not setting the tone of the party, but just a reconnection with those people that we can represent a better life for them, because that’s what they want.”
He went on to suggest that Labour had become hostile to working class men: “working class men can’t really speak at Labour party meetings about what causes them grief, concerns about their family, concerns about immigration, love of country, without being falsely stereotyped as sexist, racist, nationalist” (Labour MP Helen Goodman shortly afterwards wrote a critique of Blue Labour entitled Tradition and Change – Four People, that noted “Glasman characterises as female all the aspects of New Labour he dislikes, whereas all the characteristics he applauds he draws as male”).
Interviewed in July 2011 by the Daily Telegraph’s Mary Riddle, Glasman went further: asked whether he would support a total ban on immigration, even just for a temporary period, he replied “Yes. I would add that we should be more generous and friendly in receiving those [few] who are needed. To be more generous we have to draw the line.”
In response to a further question on whether he supported the (then) Welfare Secretary Ian Duncan- Smith’s call for British jobs for British workers, he responded, “Completely. The people who live here are the highest priority. We’ve got to listen and be with them. They’re in the right place – it’s us who are not.”
As a result of these comments and the approval with which they were received in the right wing press, Blue Labour was deserted and disowned by more or less all its supporters, including Ed Miliband. From then until the appearance of the Morning Star article, virtually nothing has been heard from Glasman; but it would seem that little if anything has changed in his thinking in the intervening period. Knowing what we do about his views on immigration, family values, the virtues of ‘traditional’ communities and his contempt for what he regards as ‘liberalism’ (eg womens’ rights and multiculturalism), it is not difficult (despite his opaque language) to decipher what His Lordship really means in those sections of his M Star article that touch on (supposedly)’cultural’ matters:
“The cultural crisis is the most difficult for the left and for the coalition we need to build. That is because the socialist tradition of which I am part thinks that we are social beings, that we are constituted by unchosen traditions such as language, relationships and religions that are part of an inheritance
“The cultural crisis of Brexit is the distance between the liberal assumptions of the rulers and enduring ethics of the moral economy held by the ruled. Brexit is a class issue.”
Like so many petty bourgeois (and big bourgeois) would-be ‘socialists’ Glasman is the worst kind of workerist: one who (approvingly) believes that working class ‘culture’ necessarily involves backward attitudes towards women, immigrants and (no doubt) various minority groups. He ignores the fact that the vast majority of trades unionists and class conscious workers do not support Brexit, are not racists and do not oppose women’s rights. Presumably the Morning Star editors were aware of Glasman’s views when they commissioned his article and, so presumably, they were happy to overlook them. In a sense, of course, the M Star is entirely correct about this: Glasman is the very embodiment of what Brexit (with a thin veneer of ‘communitarian’ pseudo-radicalism) actually means.
Published January 7, 2019 January 7, 2019
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3 thoughts on “Does the Morning Star hope to revive Blue Labour?”
Peter Prentice says:
Brexit can mean all things to all men (and women and anonymous gender people). You can hijack it to proclaim “send all Muslims or all Moonies ‘back home’ “, as some have done, or promote a post-Brexit Utopian socialist state. Never mind the loss of jobs and business that a hard Brexit will produce, the binning of five decades of economic integration and business practices.
Steven Johnston says:
Has the Morning Star ever back the right horse? But those workers who back either leave or remain are backing horses in a race they will always lose, the capitalist race. It’s such a shame that leavers, as well as brexiters continue to lie to workers about this.
Pingback: No New Brexit Deal: People’s Vote to Stop Brexit. | Tendance Coatesy
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Archived since April 1923 Complete Archive
1,192 issues
Gramophone has been the world’s leading authority on classical music since 1923. With 13 issues a year every edition will enrich your classical music knowledge with in-depth interviews and features about composers past and present, plus established and new artists from across the globe. Each issue includes over 100 reviews of the latest CDs, downloads, DVDs and books all written by our globally acclaimed panel of expert critics. Gramophone is the magazine for the classical collector, as well for the enthusiast starting a voyage of discovery.
The trial issue features an in-depth retrospective on Schubert’s Winterreise, with input from some of the leading performers of the song cycle, including Jonas Kauffman, Ian Bostridge, Gerald Finley and Brigitte Fassbaender.
It also includes an interview with the San Francisco Symphony’s conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas; the New York Philharmonic’s Music Director, Alan Gilbert, discusses Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony; plus we look back at the remarkable career of American soprano Leontyne Price.
Also featured in the trial issue: we analyse the breakthrough works of John Adams, we reconsider Sir Thomas Beecham’s classic recording of Puccini’s La bohème, and we recommend the very best recordings of Rachmaninov’s Symphony No 2.
Please note: This is the North American edition of Gramophone. It includes all the pages of the UK edition and also a specialised 16 page supplement each issue, “Sounds of America”. This details the most exciting musical developments across North America as well as reviewing the most interesting specialist American releases.
For the August issue of Gramophone, on sale from July 12, we explore how Arvo Pärt has increased the profile of Estonian choral music, leading to similar developments in Finland, Latvia and Lithuania; Ivan Moody speaks to key exponents in this burgeoning area to explore what links the choral music of these countries.
Elsewhere, Charlotte Gardner meets violinist Nicola Benedetti to discuss the concerto written for her by jazz legend Wynton Marsalis, and Lindsay Kemp interviews William Christie and Paul Agnew to talk about the history and future of Les Arts Florissants, the early music ensemble founded 50 years ago.
In addition, for this issue’s Collection, Geraint Lewis listens to multiple versions of Elgar’s First Symphony and chooses his top choice.
Plus, don’t miss our expert critics’ opinions of the newest classical releases: which will be named Editor’s Choice, and which overall recording will be crowned Recording of the Month?
Subjects: Classical, Culture, Music, Opera
Quarterly (recurring) A$32.99
Annual A$129.99
First Issue: April 1923
Latest Issue: August 2019
Issue Count: 1,192
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Archived since Issue 1 (Supplement in New African Magazine) Complete Archive
The New African Woman, published in London, provides in-depth coverage of fashion and beauty, health and wellbeing, parenting and family, culture and the arts. It also features exclusive articles and interviews on high profile Black women personalities from both Africa and its Diaspora.
The magazine’s strength is that it purposely provides readers with an insight into Black women’s issues with a unique indigenous twist, in an intelligent, meaningful and inspirational manner.
The magazine also ably fills the glaring lack of coverage on eclectic Black women’s issues that go unreported in mainstream women publications worldwide. The New African Woman has a contemporary, evocative design and superb photography.
With interviews and contributions from some of Africa’s powerful and inspirational women – including #bringbackourgirls co-founder and Nigeria’s presidential candidate Oby Ezekwesili, Former CNN anchor Isha Sesay, Africa’s youngest Cabinet Mnister Bogolo Kekewendo, the continent’s richest woman Isabel dos Santos and many more, this Edition sets the tone of the new direction that the New African Woman is embarking on as it becomes a bi-annual publication. Our aim is to put more meat to the bones of fast social media news, by offering more in-depth and long reads you can take home to digest deeply.
Subjects: Africa, Culture, Fashion, Health, Women
Annual A$24.99
First Issue: Issue 1 (Supplement in New African Magazine)
Published: Biannually
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Purdue’s PHADE technology lets cameras ‘talk’ to you
14Jun 0
It’s become almost second nature to accept that cameras everywhere — from streets, to museums and shops — are watching you, but now they may be able to communicate with you, as well. New technology from Purdue University computer science researchers has made this dystopian prospect a reality in a new paper published today. But, they argue, it’s safer than you might think.
The system is called PHADE, which allows for something called “private human addressing,” where camera systems and individual cell phones can communicate without transmitting any personal data, like an IP or Mac address. Instead of using an IP or Mac address, the technology relies on motion patterns for the address code. That way, even if a hacker intercepts it, they won’t be able to access the person’s physical location.
Imagine you’re strolling through a museum and an unfamiliar painting catches your eye. The docents are busy with a tour group far across the gallery and you didn’t pay extra for the clunky recorder and headphones for an audio tour. While pondering the brushwork you feel your phone buzz, and suddenly a detailed description of the artwork and its painter is in the palm of your hand.
To achieve this effect, researchers use an approach similar to the kind of directional audio experience you might find at theme parks. Through processing the live video data, the technology is able to identify the individual motion patterns of pedestrians and when they are within a pertinent range — say, in front of a painting. From there they can broadcast a packet of information linked to the motion address of the pedestrian. When the user’s phone identifies that the motion address matches their own, the message is received.
While this tech can be used to better inform the casual museum-goer, the researchers also believe it has a role in protecting pedestrians from crime in their area.
“Our system serves as a bridge to connect surveillance cameras and people,” He Wang, a co-creator of the technology and assistant professor of computer science, said in a statement. “[It can] be used by government agencies to enhance public safety [by deploying] cameras in high-crime or high-accident areas and warn[ing] specific users about potential threats, such as suspicious followers.”
While the benefits of an increasingly interconnected world are still being debated and critiqued daily, there might just be an upside to knowing a camera’s got its eye on you.
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The Wells of Gerar
As patriarchs go, Isaac is not really all that impressive. If you read through the narratives that are attached to his name—Genesis 18:1 through 28:9—more than half of them are really stories that feature either Isaac’s father Abraham, Isaac’s cousin Lot, or Isaac’s sons Jacob and Esau. Isaac gets second—or third—billing in most of these stories, and even then he’s more like a piece of furniture on the set than a central character in the scene. About the only place in what Old Testament scholars used to call the “Isaac cycle” where Isaac really is the central character is this chapter, Genesis 26.
And even here, in this story of Isaac in Gerar, we’re not seeing him in anything like a favorable light, at least not at first. Six chapters before, in Genesis 20, Abraham dragged his wife and concubines, his sons and his flocks down to Gerar, and there the native Philistines began to look lustfully at Sarah and murderously at Abraham. So Abraham concocted this questionable scheme to pass Sarah off as his sister, which might have worked out except a) he hadn’t counted on Abimelech the king deciding to take Sarah into his harem and have his way with her, and b) nobody seems to have asked Sarah what she thought about the idea. Fortunately, God intervened, and the whole thing worked out like the plot of a half-hour sitcom, and Abraham moved on to greener pastures. But here we are, six chapters later, Abraham now dead and Isaac at the head of the clan, and where does he land but Gerar, and what does he do when he gets there but try to pass off Rebekah as his sibling? Ah, but even if Isaac hasn’t learned anything over the last six, old Abimelech has. Ho, ho, he must have said, I’ve seen this ploy before. Hands off the woman, and shame on the man!
All of which brings us to this morning’s Old Testament text. Isaac and Rebekah and their entourage have left Abimelech’s court with Abimelech’s reproof still ringing in their ears, and moved out into the valley, where he comes upon wells dug by his father Abraham. Filled in and covered over, long forgotten, they are now re-excavated by Isaac and restored to their former purpose of watering the patriarchal flock. But things don’t go well—if you’ll pardon the pun. Before the first skin of water can make it to the well-rim, the Philistine inhabitants of Gerar come running to object: That’s not your water; it’s ours, and we’ll not share. A quarrel ensues, with Isaac defending his ancestral rights and the Philistines arguing that possession is nine-tenths of the law. In the end, whether because of their superior logic or superior force, the Philistines win and Isaac moves on. And that’s the story.
Or is it? Like most great stories, the texture and nuance of the details are the vehicles for meaning. And here, perhaps the most meaningful details are the personal and place names that dot the telling of the tale. Names in Hebrew have their own little grammar, so that each name is a kind of statement. Take, for instance, the name of the Philistine king of Gerar, Abimelech. The name means, “my father is king,” and in all probability, the “father” in question is Abimelech’s god, Baal. Abimelech is a religious man—albeit not religiously devoted to the God of Abraham and Isaac—and here, at least, he behaves like it. He has ethics and morals, something that Isaac seems to lack. Or Isaac himself: his name means “he laughed.” His mother Sarah, says the text of Genesis 18, burst out in derisive laughter at the news that she would bear a child, and so, in the irony that so dominates the biblical text, the child is the butt of the joke. Throughout his life, Isaac is ignored or played for a fool. Every time he introduces himself, his name announces that someone is laughing, and all too often it seems the someone is God.
Even here, it seems as though Isaac is still getting pushed around. He reclaims the wells of Gerar that his father dug, and restores their Abrahamic names. But it isn’t long before the Philistines are shoving Isaac and his entourage aside, asserting their own claims, staking out their own interests in the water Isaac has brought to the surface. Not enterprising enough to redig the wells, they are only too happy to retake them once they’re dug. So Isaac does what Isaac always does—he backs down, backs away, backs off. He won’t compete for what is rightly his, earned by the sweat of his brow. He surrenders. But before he goes he does one last thing: he gives the wells of Gerar new names.
The first well Isaac renamed Esek, which means something like “quarrel” or “argument”—I say “something like” because this is the only occasion in the Hebrew Scriptures where the word occurs, so we’re not altogether sure of its exact meaning. Isaac’s use of it here seems to suggest that there was something unique about this quarrel, something unprecedented about this fight. Perhaps the unique and unprecedented thing was that Isaac was abandoning without a fight something that he—and perhaps you and I—assumed was his by birthright.
The second well he names “Sitnah,” which is easier to decipher. It comes from the word satan, which means “to accuse.” You may hear in the verb the overtones of the noun “Satan” which means not “devil” as we often think, but “accuser.” The well-name here means “accusation.” It seems to stand as a symbol that someone has accused someone else—but who? Is it Isaac who accuses the Philistines of stealing what is rightfully his, or the Philistine who accuse Isaac and his band of being foreign interlopers, johnnies-come-lately arrived from afar to usurp land and water and livelihood? Maybe in the “quarrel” between the two communities there are enough “accusations” thrown around to cover everyone who proposes to drink from the contended wells.
You wouldn’t know this about me, but whenever I read the narratives of the Bible, my mind goes wandering for metaphorical connections between the world of the biblical story, and the world of our story. In this case, I don’t have to wander far; the connection is right in front of me, a nearly-constant part of the ever-churning news cycle. Ferguson, MO. Macallan, TX. Mother Emmanuel Church in Charleston. Greek coast guard sailors disabling rafts overloaded with Syrian refugees, so that they drift helplessly in the Aegean Sea. Hungarian army squad hosing Syrian migrants with water cannon at the Serbian-Hungarian border. Assaults against police officers on the streets and in squad cars. Assaults by police on an innocent ex-professional tennis player in a hotel lobby. Everywhere you look in our world, the faultlines that divide race from race, haves from have-nots, hopeful from hopeless are cracking, and the old orders seem to fracture beneath the weight of change. It is no longer enough to assert the ancestral right of ownership and privilege; at every point those rights are being contended.
The near-automatic response of the privileged in our society is to withdraw into self-protection and self-defense—build bigger fences, buy bigger guns, recruit bigger armies. You hear the political rhetoric pouring from media outlets; you know what I mean. And, if the truth is told, I understand that rhetoric, and the self-protectiveness that gives rise to it. I don’t like the idea that things to which I have assumed I’m entitled might be taken away from me, or that I might have to share them, or that someone else might reap the benefit of my labor or my birthright. If pushed into a corner, I’m likely to sound just as defensive as the next guy. But I can’t help wondering: is that really the only option?
It wasn’t the only option for Isaac. The text tells us that, instead of arming his entourage and standing his ground in defense of his wells, Isaac
“moved on from there and dug another well. And they did not quarrel over it, so he called it Rehoboth, saying, ‘now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.’” (Gen 26:22)
“Rehoboth” is another of those special place-names, a name that speaks volumes to those who can hear. Rehoboth means “space” or “room”—literally, a “broad place.” the verb from which the name comes means “to open wide” or “broaden.” The name of the prostitute who guides the Israelite spies safely out of Jericho and enables Joshua and the army to capture the city—Rahab—comes from this same root. Rahab opened wide the land to Joshua and Israel, made room in first her house and then her country for the foreigner and the stranger. As a result, Rahab is honored wherever the story of Israel is told. No less interesting to me, the name “Rehoboth” seems to echo down through the history of the church. I can’t think of a single congregation named “Esek Baptist” or “Sitnah Presbyterian.” But I know a Rehoboth church in every place I’ve ever lived.
Isaac, it seems, knew something the rest of us find too easy to forget. Isaac knew that there are times—maybe even most of the time—when quarrel and accusation lead finally to nowhere, and the best part of wisdom is to move on. Isaac knew that sometimes old wells only draw up old water, and in those times its best to dig new wells where the water is fresh and clear and unclouded by the animosities of the past. Isaac knew that sometimes a new well can be a place where past and present, Philistine and patriarch, black and white, refugee and refuge-holder can meet and drink and be fruitful in the land. And that, it seems to me, is something worth knowing.
The other day, Pat and I were cooking dinner while the national news was playing on TV—ok, ok, Pat was preparing dinner and I was constructively standing around doing nothing—when a report aired about Trinity Episcopal Church in Princeton, NJ. It seems that shortly after the Charleston shootings at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, the congregation had posted on its church marquee the slogan, “Black Lives Matter.” There was, to say the least, a lot of reaction. Some in the community were delighted at the support of the surging hashtag movement. Some were irritated that the congregation was inserting itself into a social debate. Some argued that the marquee ought instead to read, “all lives matter,” because, after all, doesn’t God love everyone? Rather than remove or change the slogan, however, the congregation’s leadership decided to invite the community into its fellowship hall for a common meal and meaningful conversation. It wasn’t an easy evening, but they got through it—and such important things were said that they decided to have another… and another… and according to their website, A Conversation On Race will continue at Trinity all the way through Thanksgiving. I don’t know about you, but I think Trinity Church has found a broad place and dug a new well where people can meet and drink new water. I think they’ve found Rehoboth. And I think that, across this land of ours, in every town and maybe in every congregation that cares about land and town and people in them, it’s time to start the same kind of broadening, deepening, refreshing conversations that will be Rehoboths, too. I think its time to see if the Lord can make us fruitful there.
Here’s a poem I wrote not long ago with this text in mind. At least at first, the figure speaking is Isaac. Somehow, though, as the poem goes along, there seem to be other voices in the conversation, and at least one of them is mine. See what you think. You can follow along in the bulletin insert, if you like:
They were my father’s wells, and though their names
are lost, I knew them once when I was young.
Come my turn to wander there, I found them
stopped and dry, as though never dug.
I dug other wells, not deep, but all my own.
What is a well? Is it just a hole
where water rises, and stretched skins descend?
Is it not a meeting of those above the soil
and those below, some who will thirst again
and some whose thirst has left on us a scar,
who seek from us naught but our remembrance?
Father! I remembered at Gerar!
But others there had memories of their own
some joyful, some oppressed with iron hand,
the bullet and the lash, the weeping eye,
the blood that moistens, baptizes the land.
These lives must matter, though they are not mine,
These thirsts be quenched, even if my throat is dry,
These truths be honored, even if contended;
These are family, at the edge of enmity.
But just beyond the range of human eye
if not beyond the yearning of the heart
is there not a broader place with room
for gathering all lives and thirsts and arts?
Shall we go and dwell there, our Rehoboth,
stand alongside those we lately fought,
and dig new wells and draw up hope and water
to wash away the blood and ease the drought?
I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time to move on from the contended, self-protective wells where we draw only the waters of bitterness. I think it’s time to move on to a new place, to dig new wells, to draw up hope and water that washes us clean and makes us new. I think it’s time to strike out for Rehoboth. Are you coming?
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15 Comic Book Movies to Look Out For in 2017
by Marc N. Kleinhenz
2016, with its superhero-versus-superhero dramatics in the form of both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War, proved to be one hell of a year for that increasingly dominant force in Hollywood: the comic book movie. Amazingly enough, 2017 promises to be an even stronger, more robust, and more diverse year, with a number of new releases that run the gamut from superpowered team-ups to all-out comedies.
The good news is that it’s never been a better time to be a comic book fan; the bad news is that it can be quite a lot to keep track of. That’s where we come in, dear reader – we’ve been following each of the 15 films that will hit either your closest theater or your personal Blu-ray player, so that all you have to do is sit back, count down the days, and enjoy the show.
Here’s our handy list, presented in chronological order. Tell us which ones you’re the most excited to see – and which new films you had never heard of before that you’re now interested in checking out – in the comments.
15 Justice League Dark
Release date: 02.07.17
Cinematic universe: DC Universe Animated Original Movies
Justice League Dark has become a major point of interest for genre fans for a whole host of reasons. For starters, there is the fact that it will be the first Justice League-branded production to be rated R, but an even bigger one is the comic book source material that director Jay Olivia has to work with. After Enchantress (the big bad from this past summer’s Suicide Squad) defeats the Justice League, it’s decided that a new, offshoot team is needed, one comprised of the more supernatural denizens of the DC Universe and dedicated to defeating such otherworldly threats.
The direct-to-video movie will feature a wonderfully eclectic cast, ranging from John Constantine (Matt Ryan) to Swamp Thing (Roger Cross) to Deadman (Nicholas Turturro), and it even features members of the traditional Justice League, headed up by the Justice League Dark’s founder, Batman (played by Jason O’Mara, who also portrays S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Jeffrey Mace in the Marvel Cinematic Universe).
The final reason that diehards have been keeping an eye out on Justice League Dark is because of the related, oft-delayed live-action movie that just may be part of the burgeoning DC Extended Universe. Although it currently appears to be dead in the water, director Doug Liman has just recently had some encouraging things to say about the project. Should this animated outing do well, Warner Bros. just may be tempted to finally give the official go-ahead on its big-screen brother.
14 The Lego Batman Movie
Cinematic universe: Lego Cinematic Universe
As if the smash success of 2014’s The Lego Movie weren’t surprising enough, the wholly enthusiastic response that the film’s portrayal of a jerky, egocentric Batman (Will Arnett) got made many sit up and take notice – particularly by Warner Bros, which was quick to greenlit a solo spinoff. The Lego Batman Movie is the result, and the trailers thus far have not disappointed.
Then there’s the cast – Billy Dee Williams as Two-Face, Zach Galifianakis as the Joker, Michael Cera as Robin, and Rosario Dawson as Batgirl, among many, many others – and the promise by the film’s producers (and The Lego Movie’s directors), Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, that Lego Batman will be nothing but a 90-minute Easter egg of all things Batman, which is just sweet icing on what is shaping up to be a very promising cake.
Given all the doom and gloom that is sure to appear in all the other comic book movies for this year, color us excited for a little bit of fun.
13 Logan
Cinematic universe: X-Men Cinematic Universe
On the one hand, the X-Men cinematic universe seems to be on a bit of a downhill slide: X-Men: Apocalypse underperformed at the box office, and the Gambit solo film has seen nothing but delays.
On the other hand, however, there havebeen a lot of traction with a few spinoff projects: Deadpool was a critical and commercial darling, leading to development on two sequels (which will apparently introduce yet another side property, X-Force), and the solo Wolverine outings continue to generate nothing but excitement. This is especially true with Logan, particularly since it will be the final installment in the standalone Wolvie series – and, more notably, marks the very last time that Hugh Jackman will play the titular character.
And what a way to go out. Logan is based on the Old Man Logan comics from the Marvel Universe, depicting an on-his-last-rope Wolverine who is humanity’s best remaining hope in a post-apocalyptic future (but aren’t they all in the X-Men universe?). The previews have been nothing but stunning, and the film seems all but certain to be one of, if not the, best chapters in the overarching cinematic universe.
12 Wilson
Cinematic universe: N/A
Wilson is, without a doubt, the biggest never-heard-of-that-one-before adaptation release of the year.
Based upon the comic book by underground artist and writer Daniel Clowes (who was also responsible for the acclaimed Ghost World), the original graphic novel is actually structured as a series of one-page comic strips that all tie together to tell one larger, overarching narrative. While the film doesn’t feature such an idiosyncratic format, it does manage to convey the full essence of the misanthropic, loner, socially-awkward, and brutally-honest main character (Woody Harrelson), who ends up discovering that his ex-wife (Laura Dern), who divorced him 17 years previously, gave up their daughter for adoption and, thus, sets out on a journey to locate her.
If the movie sounds iffy to your traditional superhero sensibilities, you owe it to yourself to check out the red band trailer – it promises to be not only the most off-beat comic book film of the year, but also, possibly, the funniest, as well.
11 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Cinematic universe: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Often described as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s answer to Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy eschewed Earth almost completely and instead opted to fully embrace the cosmic side of the shared universe, delivering colorful, zany characters – and an infectious ‘80s soundtrack – along the way. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. II promises more of the same, but with two key differences: first and foremost, it’ll add the likes of Kurt Russel and Sylvester Stallone to the cast, helping to answer such burning questions as who Peter Quill’s (Chris Pratt) mysterious father is; and, secondly, it’ll have absolutely nothing to do with the MCU’s ongoing mythology, such as the location of the long-lost Infinity Stones and Thanos’s (Josh Brolin) quest to track them all down and become, essentially, a living god.
Both of these items make the movie stand out the most from the rest of its Marvel brethren (how else could you describe a film that features Ego, the living planet?) and, therefore, a must-see entry of 2017’s comic book entries.
10 Wonder Woman
Cinematic universe: DC Extended Universe
After the strongly divided response to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, Warner Bros. is looking to steer its still-fledgling DC Extended Universe into surer waters, starting with its first release of the year, Wonder Woman.
The Amazonian princess’s first solo outing is actually a flashback to nearly a century ago, when Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) finds herself swept up both in World War I, specifically, and the world of men, generally, before she gets burnt by the experience and turns her back on humanity, becoming the transient presence that we originally encountered in Batman v Superman. The different time period, the inclusion of what seems to be an all-star cast (starting with Gadot’s co-star and love interest, Chris Pine), the vision of the first female director of a major superhero picture (Patty Jenkins), and the greater reliance on a traditional adventure story and, even, humor all combine to make what just might possibly be one of the biggest releases of the year.
9 Spider-Man: Homecoming
It wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration to say that Spider-Man: Homecoming is the most anticipated comic book movie of 2017.
Let’s start with the fact that Spidey has been one of the most popular – and profitable – properties since his big-screen debut in 2002, then throw into the mix Tom Hollard’s memorable introduction as the Web-head (and as a member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to boot) in last year’s Captain America: Civil War, and end with Michael Keaton’s presence as Homecoming’s villain and none other than Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.)’s presence as Peter Parker’s mentor; that final shot in the trailer of Spider-Man and Iron Man swinging and flying, respectively, side-by-side towards the camera was enough to make throngs of fanboys swoon all by itself.
There’s even an extra sweetener to consider: given that Spidey is going to appear as an Avenger in 2018, this makes his latest solo movie one of the last pieces of set-up for The Avengers: Infinity War. Is it possible to get even more excited for the film?
8 Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
The next space opera outing from Luc Besson after 1997’s The Fifth Element, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is based off of one of the most popular and longest-running (43 years!) French comic book series of all time.
Called Valerian and Laureline, the comic is actually – and predictably – quite convoluted (you can check out our primer for the full lowdown), but, at essence, it follows a pair of “spatio-temporal” agents that traverse both space – as in the entire galaxy – and time on a variety of missions that mostly revolve around preventing other time travelers from creating paradoxes and, thus, erasing life as they know it. A heaping helping of ’60s-era politics and religious thought was embedded all throughout the series’s run, and while it’s unknown whether Besson has kept this vein alive in the big-screen adaptation, Valerian certainly looks like it’s keeping all the strange aliens, larger-than-life landscapes, and action-adventure beats intact.
7 The Coldest City
Forget superhero vigilantes, supernatural adversaries, or alien empires; The Coldest City is a traditional, hardboiled spy thriller, set in 1989 Berlin, right before the Wall’s collapse and the symbolic end of the Cold War. The film stars Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road) as an accomplished MI6 agent, James McAvoy (X-Men: Apocalypse) as her forced German ally, and Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: The Secret Service) and Toby Jones (the Captain America films) in supporting roles – a well-rounded (comic book) cast to bring to life the story of a “ruthless espionage ring” that’s started to hunt down and kill undercover spies from the West.
Filling out the rest of the film’s bona fides are its director (David Leitch, the producer and co-director of John Wick and the second-unit director of Captain America: Civil War) and its source (a 2012 hardback graphic novel written by Antony Johnson, who has promised to make his espionage tale into an ongoing series).
6 Batman and Harley Quinn
Release date: Summer 2017
Unlike Justice League Dark (and most of the other direct-to-video Warner Bros. Animation films), Batman and Harley Quinn isn’t based on a seminal title in DC Comics lore, but, rather, boasts a brand-new, original story.
As if that weren’t enough to get Bat-fans all a-twitter, the news that Harley Quinn’s co-creator, Bruce Timm (who also served as the co-creator and producer on such projects as Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond as well as the co-director and producer of the DTV Superman: Doomsday), is the main force behind this DC Animated Original Movie should send viewers everywhere into spasms of joy.
There is absolutely no other information currently available on the picture – not even a firm release date – which has left many to wonder whether Timm will stick with the traditional, Animated Series version of Harley or opt to pull another Batman: Gotham Knight, providing a take that is inspired by and narratively attached to Suicide Squad’s recent rendition. Either way, this should be one for the history books.
5 Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Okay, yes – technically speaking, Kingsman: The Golden Circle isn’t based on a pre-existent comic book. But this actually fits with the first film’s story, which was co-written by the director, Matthew Vaughn, and only loosely based on the famous Mark Millar’s and even more famous Dave Gibbons’s original comic miniseries. And given that Vaughn’s writing partner, Jane Goldman, has gone on the record as saying that the sequel’s story is even crazier than its predecessor’s, this is a departure that, perhaps, viewers should welcome with open arms.
Here’s what we know so far: the cast includes the likes of Pedro Pascal, Jeff Bridges, Halle Berry, Channing Tatum, and, even, Elton John, alongside the returning faces of Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, and – in a mysterious move – Colin Firth. The plot sees the Kingsmen abscond to America following the destruction of their secret headquarters in the United Kingdom, where they team up with the Statesmen in order to stop the evil Poppy’s (Julianne Moore) dastardly plan.
4 Thor: Ragnarok
Thor: Ragnarok, the third – and, quite possibly, final – film in the Thor series, sees the God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) return home to Asgard to look into just who, exactly, might be attempting to hunt down and unite all of the Infinity Stones. Oh, yeah – along the way, he has to fight off the Ragnarok (Norse mythology’s version of the apocalypse), team up with the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and help be the direct bridge to next year’s The Avengers: Infinity War, most likely in the form of protecting the Soul Stone from being claimed by Thanos.
There are a number of other elements of note, as well, starting with the fact that Natalie Portman declined to reprise her MCU character, moving on to the brand-new character of the Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and ending with the inclusion of the highly popular Planet Hulk storyline from the comics. In short, Ragnarok is quickly solidifying itself as the perfect follow-up to Spider-Man: Homecoming as well as the fitting prelude to Infinity War.
3 Justice League
In a year dominated by big-name comic book movies, all signs are currently pointing to Justice League being one of, if not the, biggest heavy-hitter of them all.
That’s no small feat, but seeing the likes of Batman (Ben Affleck), Superman (Henry Cavill), Wonder Woman, the Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) – and, just maybe, Green Lantern, to boot – all on-screen for the first time together can go a long way to fitting the bill. Even better, a number of supporting characters from the previous four movies will make an appearance (including Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor), making for one of the most packed-to-the-gills films in ages.
What has die-hard fans most foaming at the mouth, however, has been the repeated assurances from both Justice League’s cast and crew about how the picture will have a lighter, more fun tone, truly selling the awe and wonder of seeing all these gods and goddesses fighting together (and, it must be said, still fighting amongst themselves, as well).
2 Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders 2
Release date: TBA 2017
Warner Bros. Animation surprised everyone last year with the release of Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, a continuation of the classic 1960s Batman television series in animated form, replete with key original actors returning to lend their voices to the proceedings: Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), and Julie Newmar (Catwoman). (Another delightful surprise: it received a limited theatrical run just before its home video release, as well, making the movie even more of an event.)
It didn’t take the studio too long at all to announce a follow-up, tentatively titled – of course – Return of the Caped Crusaders 2. While we have yet to receive word on a release date or a potential return to movie theaters, we do have one concrete piece of information, and it’s an exciting one: William Shatner has been cast as Two-Face, a character who never managed to make an appearance in the TV show’s three-season run. Here’s to hoping that’s just the tip of the hype iceberg.
1 Bloodshot
Valiant Comics is the biggest comic book publisher you’ve never heard of. Originally started in 1989 by a former Marvel editor-in-chief, the company went through a series of corporate owners (and bankruptcies) in the decades following before finally landing on its smaller, more stable footing under its current CEO and chief creative officer, Dinesh Shamdasani.
Some of Valiant’s more popular titles include X-O Manowar, Harbinger, and Ninjak, but the flagship character, by far, has always been Bloodshot, a former solider who has been injected with billions of nanites that allow him to interface with computers, to possess a Wolverine-esque healing factor, and, even, to shapeshift – although he lost his memories in the process, propelling him on a quest of self-discovery and (what else?) revenge.
In early 2015, it was announced that Valiant had signed a five-film deal with Sony Pictures, with Bloodshot naturally leading the way. Given the absolute dearth of information since then, it has led many in the industry to believe that the film will miss its 2017 release window, although there is still a slight case for optimism. At any rate, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe so dominant, the X-Men universe arguably fading, and the DC Extended Universe still struggling to find its voice, there has never been a better time for a new major player to arrive on the scene. Let’s just hope that Bloodshot can deliver – and soon.
Tags: batman, wonder woman, justice league, bloodshot, wilson, thor 3, wolverine 3, guardians of the galaxy 2, lego batman, the coldest city, valerian, kingsman 2, harley quinn, spider-man homecoming
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Queen Details
The world lost a talented singer and musician when Freddie Mercury passed away in 1991, but the band Queen plays on. 19 years after the original band members performed for the last time on tour in 1986, the band reemerged with a guest lead singer. The 2005 revival of the band saw their beloved songs back on the stage with Paul Rodgers providing lead vocals. Audiences were hooked, and Queen enjoyed a successful comeback that few bands have matched before or since. In 2011, Adam Lambert stepped into the role of lead vocalist, selling out shows all over the world and bringing the music of Queen back to old and new Queen fans alike.
The 2018 movie Bohemian Rhapsody introduced a new audience to the band Queen, proving once again that their music was timeless, and loved by fans of all ages. Receiving critical acclaim, the movie thrust the band back into the spotlight and soon a new generation of fans was singing along with their songs. After starting the band in 1970, Queen has enjoyed a popularity that has spanned 5 decades and shows no signs of slowing down.
The band has been a trailblazer from the start and has accrued a number of accolades, including holding the honor as the first band, rather than just an individual, to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004. Queen was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, 10 years after Freddie Mercury’s tragic death. The group also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a band in 2002. Their songs have won numerous awards, most notably “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Will Rock You,” and “We Are the Champions,” which were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Queen’s Setlist
Queen has a long list of hit songs, and every Queen fan has their favorites. The band plays most of their hits at live shows, but fans can count on hearing “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” and “Who Wants to Live Forever” among many others.
Queen in Concert
Not much has changed when it comes to the way Queen runs their live stage shows. The band has always brought its A game, and has only gotten better with time. Queen concerts are an exciting experience for fans of all ages, building lasting memories that fans will cherish for years to come. Queen is just as good live as they are in studio recordings; In fact, many would argue that they are even better. There is nothing quite like a Queen concert, which is why many of Queen’s most loyal, long-time fans have seen the band several times since their first tour in 1974. Audiences can expect dazzling light design, powerful vocals, epic guitar solos, and plenty of chances to sing along with numerous hits. Queen has built their brand on connecting with the fans, and they continue to bring their loyal followers a show that is second to none.
Queen Ticket Prices
The cost of Queen tickets can vary based on a host of factors. Please see below for a look at how Queen ticket prices vary by city, and scroll up on this page to see Queen tour dates and ticket prices for upcoming concerts in your city.
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See below for a list of Queen tour dates and locations. For all available tickets and to find shows in your city, scroll to the listings at the top of this page.
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'Idol' Lambert Joins Queen on Tour
Queen Tour Dates Concerts Videos Queen Tour Freddie Mercury may be dearly departed, but Queen is still rocking well into this century. Last week, the band announced that American Idol alum (and his season’s runner-up) Adam Lambert would be joining them on a North American tour, acting as their lead singer. This is Queen’s first…
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Women’s Rights in a Former Hindu Kingdom (Satis Shroff)
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged civil rights, education for women, equal rights, gendering, human rights, laxmi, modern Nepalese woman, Mother Nepal, nari, quotes for women, Ramayana's Sita, savitri, weaker-sex, women, women's rights on April 22, 2008| 1 Comment »
Women’s Rights in a Former Hindu Kingdom(Satis Shroff)
The work draws on my own experience and observations during my visits to Kathmandu. Since Nepal is one of those rare places which Nature and culture-enthusiasts would like to visit, I thought the plight of the Nepalese women ought to be told in your website, because till now Nepal is only known for its tough male Gurkha soldiers who fought on the side of the British in the First and Second World Wars, in the Falklands and in Kosovo and Croatia, the sturdy male Sherpas who have worked for the glory of all climbing nations in the Khumbu area, and is also known as the Land of the Yaks and the abominal Yeti.
What about the fate of the Nepalese women in the Shangri-la? In James Hilton’s book ‘The Lost Horizon’ the local women never get old (unless they leave the enchanting Shangri-la environment), but the average Nepalese women have a lifespan of 50 years in one of the least developed countries in the world, and they never live to be 60.
Women who have spontaneous or natural abortions, or give birth to still born babies are charged with infanticide and sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment because Nepal’s abortion law is based on an ancient, draconian Hindu law. Imagine: 20 years of imprisonment when the average lifespan is 50 years ! Abortion is prohibited in Nepal under any circumstances (rape, incest, or when a pregnant woman’s life is threatened). There are no fair trials for the needy and poor women of Nepal and the justice caters only to the rich and influential people.
‘Due to the lack in clarity in Nepal’s Law, many Nepalese women have been victimised on the ground of spontaneous abortion, whether it was a simple miscarriage or abortion caused by the heavy manual labour on the part of the woman. The women of Nepal cannot defend themselves because of the lack of definition of abortion’, says Singh B. Moktan, the director of PAM Nestling Home (PAM= Prisoners Assistance Mission) in Kathmandu.
What is needed is a mobilisation of women in Nepal, the USA, Europe and the world over in fighting this ancient, archaic practice of the Rule of Garbhabat. Despite the fact that democracy has dawned in Nepal and different political parties are allowed, the male population still dominates Nepalese politics and the plight of women hasn’t changed much, even though there are tourists in Kathmandu and along the trekking-trails, flocking to Nepal to see the Himalayas and take pictures of its rural women and children for mellow home slide-shows, amid relatives and neighbours. The benefits of democracy and westernisation haven’t caught up with the majority of the Nepalese women as yet.
The entire world knows how hard the average Nepalese woman works in the fields and in urban areas, and the price she has to pay is immense. Ethnic Nepalese women sell their own products in the local markets and provide for the family. In other cases, the men give their earnings to their wives and the latter have a feeling of sharing the income, but when it comes to deciding what to buy, it’s always the men who take over. The desires and plans of the women are just ignored. Nepal’s males control property and decide all financial transactions in the family, and the women are left with peanuts. The women cannot take credits from the banks because they never possess anything, and hence have no security. The women tend to be traditionally docile and dependent upon their husbands due to the fact that they’re cut-off from financial sources.
The Nepalese men spend the family-savings as they please, for drinks and eating out with their friends, and for their own chauvinistic needs. The women and children, on the other hand, have to do without basic items like clothes and school-fees. The majority of the illiterate and thus socially handicapped women think in the traditional hinduistic way and leave the men to make decisions. Many women also fear that they might lose their positions as family-treasurers.
There are a lot of doctors for the rich people in Kathmandu but none for those in the rural, isolated and God-forsaken hamlets of Nepal, and those deprived, hungry souls eking out a miserable existence in the hovels and slums under the Bagmati and Vishnumati bridges. A land where children are jailed if a mother is sentenced for aborting a dead child. The women in Nepal are handicapped from birth till death in their Himalayan environment–in their families, education, farms, offices and in every sphere of life. It’s a long and thorny path till the Nepalese women are accepted as persons, and not as properties that are malleable, and without wills of their own. The Nepalese women have to develop an awareness and self-esteem of their own worth, women’s rights, potential and the important roles they play in the economy of their families and the country in general.
According to a Unicef report, the children of Nepal have to start doing important work at an early age. They have to do baby-sitting, gather fire-wood, forage for feed for the domestic animals or drive them to the meadows. These chores take such a lot of time that the children don’t have time for school, especially daughters who have to help in the households at an early age. They have to work eight hours a day and the sons work just half of the time. Most Nepalese children work barefoot and wear inadequate clothing because they cannot afford it. Nevertheless, Nepalese children attract your attention with their attentive looks, open and curious faces and their spontaneous and cheerful laughter. 46 per cent of Nepal’s population are younger than 15 years. And although 45 per cent of the six to eight year olds go to school, only half of them do their primary school exams. Nepal has millions of children without school-education and without carefree childhoods. Education can improve the survival chances of the children because there is a direct relationship between the literacy of women (4 per cent in Nepal) and infant mortality (child-death). In Nepal 134 out of 1000 children die in the first year of their birth.
It was only in 1950 that Nepal’s doors were opened to the outside world. Till then we lived in an age of political darkness. To the average Nepalese, going to Kathmandu was traveling to Nepal, because Kathmandu was Nepal. Later, the Panchayat government talked about a decentralised form of government but it was just a hoax. It was very much centralised, and still is, even after the democratic movement in 1990.
A lot of men and women lost their lives in their attempt to free themselves from the shackles of the Panchayat government and monarchy, and the result is that there’s no stability in Nepalese politics. There’s a change of government after short terms, with an alarming corruption and nepotism, and the NGOs in the aid-giving countries only shake their heads in disbelief, because their counterparts are shuffled and posted to remote places, depending on their political color.
The fact that the Nepalese woman suffers in society is deeply rooted in the social system and the anachronistic and discriminatory, patriarchal, hinduistic Civil Code (Muluki Ain) which was formulated under the reign of a king named Surendra Bikram in 1853. It was modified by King Mahendra (the father of the present King Birendra) in 1963. If a Nepalese woman gives birth to a still-born child she is charged with infanticide on the evidence of a denunciation, without so much as a gynacological examination, and sentenced by the rule of Garbhabat, which is the Nepalese word for: destruction of life. The Nepalese Civil Code was made in a dark age of Nepalese history during which another form of social and cultural values were prevalent. Though the winds of change have swept in the Nepalese kingdom, the Code still remains unchallenged as far as the poorer section of the Nepalese population is concerned.
Many women who miscarry hide the evidence by not going for medical tratment and this can lead to infertility or even death. The Nepalese Code assumes that every pregnancy that fails due to natural causes is the fault of the mother –in effect, a deliberate attempt to abort the pregnancy, and it’s horrible to see a woman hauled off to jail as a criminal on top of the personal tragedy of the loss of a child that may have been longed for. It is possible for influential Nepalese women to get away with abortion without much fuss in the male-dominated Nepalese society.
Hindu marriage ceremony:
If a Nepalese couple wants to elope and marry fast and cheap, all they do is perform a minimum of ‘tika-talo’ ritual ceremony, and they don’t even have to be registered. The normal hinduistic marriage is elaborate and arranged by the parents and is a family matter in which the caste plays a big role even today. The well-educated bridegrooms of Kathmandu Valley prefer to see a video of the bride-to-be in the case of arranged marriages to avoid the ‘cat-in-the-sack’ phenomenon. For the family of the bride it is a matter of prestige and the marriage is celebrated with much ado, and hundreds of guests are invited. This may have ruinous consequences for the family of the bride, because it means blowing up a lot of borrowed money in case the family isn’t wealthy. The dowry comprises both gifts and money and this is also an incentive for the bridegroom. The tradition is stronger than the legislation .
During the marriage ceremony the couple sit down cross-legged in front of the altar where scores of sacrificial objects are spread out on small cups made of banana leaves held together with tooth-pick sticks. The offerings consist of flowers, incense, water, oil-lamps, cinnober-powder, rice, sweets, fruit (depending on the season), coins, and even cloth.
Not all the stainless-steel thalis and Meissner porcelain are ritually pure in comparison to the hand-made natural taparas from banana and other smooth leaves for the Gods and Godesses of the hinduistic pantheon. The priest who performs the marriage-ceremony is a Benaras-educated Sanskrit-reciting Brahmin. In civil-life he works for the Nepalese government, but since he is a Brahmin by birth, he is often invited to carry out all forms of pujas by the Hindu population of Kathmandu. The house-bahun is consulted, who calculates the time for the rituals to be performed by consulting his astrological calendar. An auspicious day for the wedding has to be found, for the human being is a microcosm of the rhythm of the universe.
A young daughter is treated as a holy person, even holier as the cows that you see in the streets of Nepal, Sikkim and India and a young daughter brings a lot of positive aspects or punya to her parents. Normally the parents of the bride wash the feet of both bride and groom. The foot-washing is accompanied by the recitations of vedic lore by the Bahun priest beckoned by the parents of the bride. After that follows the gift-of-the-virgin (kanyadan) ceremony.
The bride wears a scarlet seven meter long sari, an embroidered silk blouse, traditional jewelry and her hair is parted in the middle. She wears pearls on her ears decorated with gold. A number of sacrifices are made to the Gods and Goddesses by sprinkling their symbolic effigies with jamara and holy water. This is followed by the entire family chanting “Om jaya jagadisha hare” to the accompaniment of a small ritual drum (damaru), the chiming of a bell and the blowing of a conch.
And then comes the actual swayamvara-ceremony with the sacrificial fire, which is made in the form of a quadrangle that encloses the ritual article: the sacred altar, with the fire in the centre.
Hindu Offerings:
Various offerings are made to the dieties: Ganesh, Agni the God of Fire, the sky, wind, earth, water, and the hinduistic trinity: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Sacrificial rituals have been an essential part of the vedic way of life. The sacrifice is simple but its meaning can be complex. This is followed by the sindur-potay ceremony. The bridegroom has to place vermillion (sindur) as a sign of marriage on the parting of the bride’s hair. A Hindu bride is expected to apply the sindur as long as her husband lives. After that the couple are obliged to walk around the sacrificial fire three times. In Hinduism, Agni (latin: ignis) is not only the God of Fire and ritual but also the fire itself and summons the power of the Sun God Surya to the sacrificial altar.
Divorce among Hindus:
Even though Hindu marriages are elaborate, they can be annulled quicker than the marriages that end on the rocks of Reno. The divorce rate among the Nepalese is rising even though most marriages are arranged by the parents. It’s the male who files the divorce because he might have been forced to marry by his parents, and later when he has financial resources and is independent from his father, decides that his spouse is an unsuitable match. A couple is divorced when the man denies the relationship. And if the woman has the misfortune to be pregnant or has children, then she’s stigmatised and branded as immoral.
Article 11 of the Nepalese Constitution states that the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on the grounds of sex, but in Article 9 it states that the children of Nepalese male citizens are deemed to be citizens of Nepal by descent. The children of Nepalese female citizens with foreign fathers are considered foreigners, and have to reside in Nepal for fifteen years before they can be granted Nepalese citizenships.
Nepalese males should examine their own attitudes towards girls and women in their immediate surroundings. Do our daughters and sons get the same attention, affection and the same status?
Motherhood and Child-rearing:
Marriage and rearing children shouldn’t be the sole aim of a woman’s life. In Germany, for instance, there’s an alarming high number of mothers-with-kids (alleinstehende Mütter). Living with a partner seems to have gone haywire and they prefer to live alone, cashing alimony cheques from the fathers of their children or living on hand-outs of the Social Department throughout Germany. The German law makes it possible. The Nepalese women have a tough time in their hinduistic, patriarchal milieus, which hardly give them a chance to get up once they have fallen in the eyes of the pollution-purity professing Hindu society.
Despite the sweeping changes that have been introduced in Nepal’s Civil Code since 1975, most women are ignorant of their rights because of the high illiteracy, low self-esteem and lack of self-consciousness. The Nepalese society plays a pivotal role in victimising women who have divorced or have separated from their partners. Widows are not allowed to wear scarlet saris, no wedding necklaces and the vermillion powder called tika. They have to wear white as a sign of mourning . The social stigma attached to these unfortunate women reduces their chances in the marriage-market. Nepalese males prefer chaste, untouched females, almost girl-children, as their brides.
After the success of the people’s movement, the new constitution of Nepal was promulgated in November 1990 and broke new ground as far as women’s rights to equality and fair-play are concerned. The State has been given the authority to legislate specific laws for the protection of the special rights of women.
Nothing has changed since then in practice. Although provisions have been made in the New Nepalese Constitution (1990) in favour of women, the elections showed that the major parties are not prepared to improve the status of women in Nepal. Women are treated as second-grade citizens and even like servants, as can be seen in the laws relating to property rights, family rights and sexual rights. My question is: Quo vadis Nepal? Will the new government formed by the Maoists, Congress and other parties also take the role of the women in Nepal’s development?
„Die Schilderungen von Satis Shroff in ‘Through Nepalese Eyes’ (www.Lulu.com) sind faszinierend und geben uns die Möglichkeit, unsere Welt mit neuen Augen zu sehen..“ (Alice Grünfelder von Unionsverlag / Limmat Verlag, Zürich).
“ Since 1974 I have been living on and off in Nepal, writing articles and publishing books about Nepal– this beautiful Himalayan country. Even before I knew Satis Shroff personally (later) I was deeply impressed by his articles, which helped me very much to deepen my knowledge about Nepal. Satis Shroff is one of the very few Nepalese writers being able to compare ecology, development and modernisation in the ‘Third’ and ‘First’ World. He is doing this with great enthusiasm, competence and intelligence, showing his great concern for the development of his own country”. (Ludmilla Tüting, journalist and publisher, Berlin).
“Due to his very pleasant personality and in-depth experience in both South Asian, as well as Western workstyles and living, Satis Shroff brings with him a cultural sensitivity that is refined. His writings have always reflected the positive attributes of optimism, tolerance, and a need to explain and to describe without looking down on either his subject or his reader”. (Kanak Mani Dixit, Himal Southasia, Kathmandu)
“Satis Shroff writes with intelligence, wit and grace”. (Bruce Dobler, Professor in Creative Writing MFA, University of Iowa).
Dalit issue: The Rights of the Poor in Nepal (Satis Shroff)
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged animism, bon-religion, buddhism, caste, caste-system, creed, dalits, discrimination, Goddesses, Gods, hinduism, inhuman, Miteinander, poor, towards togetherness, untouchables on April 22, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Dalit issue: Towards Rights for the Poor, Untouchables, Underdogs of the Nepalese Society
Nepal’s new constitution must recognize and protect the fundamental human rights of Dalits, says a new
report released today by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at New York University School of Law. The report was released on the heels of Nepal?s historic Constituent Assembly elections held on April 10, 2008.
The 89-page report Recasting Justice: Securing Dalit Rights in Nepal?s New Constitution analyzes Nepal?s Interim Constitution to inform how the new constitution may be drafted in accordance with the country?s international human rights obligations to secure the rights of Dalits-a group which has faced more than 2000 years of systematic discrimination on the basis of caste. As Nepal prepares its new constitution after years of prolonged civil war, Recasting Justice provides Nepalese lawmakers with tangible means to demonstrate the country?s commitment to the inherent dignity and human rights of all individuals.
The caste system is an affront to human dignity and inimical to the right to equality under international law,? said Smita Narula, Faculty Director at CHRGJ and an expert on caste discrimination. ?Nepal?s new constitution must strike at the heart of this inhumane system, or risk perpetuating the very injustices that fueled its conflicts of the past.?
The report’s principal areas of focus correspond with Nepal’s international human rights treaty obligations, which include ensuring: nondiscriminatory access to citizenship; the right to equality and non-discrimination; civil and political rights; economic, social, and cultural rights; women’s rights; children’s rights; the right to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; and the right to a remedy for human rights violations. Nepal has to date fallen far short of meeting these human rights obligations, as is shown by the reality of the Nepalese Dalit experience. While the Interim Constitution takes commendable steps toward human rights, significant gaps remain in the protection of Dalit rights.
Caste discrimination and the practice of untouchability have ensured the complete subordination of Dalits who, based on some unofficial estimates, comprise up to 25 percent of Nepal?s population, yet own only one percent of Nepal?s wealth and arable land. Although some Dalits have excelled despite the caste system’s substantial constraints, a large percentage remain vulnerable to extreme forms of exploitation. Upper-caste? community members typically force Dalits to live in segregated communities; forbid them from entering public spaces; deny them access to food, water, and land; and coerce them into caste-based occupations considered too „ritually impure“ for higher castes. Attempts by Dalits to defy this prescribed social order are met with punitive violence and social ostracism. Dalit women and girls bear the dual brunt of caste and gender discrimination. The exclusion of Dalits from all facets of governance has ensured their continued marginalization and their unequal receipt of the state?s attention and resources. This political marginalization also makes them particularly vulnerable to abuses such as torture and arbitrary detention, abuses that were ripe during the conflict.
‘The new constitution should act as a roadmap for how Nepal will meet its international human rights obligations,’ said Jayne Huckerby, CHRGJ’s Research Director. It must finally answer the long overdue call for Dalit rights.
The report’s recommendations are based on a detailed analysis of Nepal?s obligations under international human rights law. Among its key recommendations, CHRGJ calls on the Constituent Assembly to ensure that Nepal’s new constitution:
§ facilitates political representation and meaningful participation of Dalits and other marginalized communities in decision-making bodies, including the Constituent Assembly which will draft the new constitution;
§ ensures nondiscriminatory access to citizenship;
§ explicitly prohibits private acts of discrimination;
§ explicitly prohibits the use of religion to encroach upon fundamental rights;
§ explicitly guarantees the right to health and the right to freely choose or accept employment;
§ adopts a definition of torture beyond acts that occur in traditional custodial detention; and,
§ extends the right to constitutional remedy to non-citizens.
Recasting Justice was produced in close cooperation with Dalit advocates and members of the legal community in Nepal and draws on the expertise of Nepalese academics and international constitutional scholars. In November 2007, CHRGJ also conducted extensive in-country interviews with Dalit rights advocates, members of the Nepalese legal community, and representatives of international organizations. The report includes detailed factual information on human rights abuses against Dalits in Nepal and builds on both CHRGJ?s expertise on caste discrimination and international human rights law.
The report?s findings and recommendations have been endorsed by the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN), a non-governmental organization based out of Copenhagen which brings together national solidarity networks and Dalit NGO platforms from around the world. IDSN welcomed the unprecedented inclusion of Dalits in the Constituent Assembly, adding that far more needs to be done.
?Nepal faces a historic opportunity to eliminate this entrenched system of radical inequalities,? said Rikke Nöhrlind, IDSN?s Coordinator, ?This report makes a tremendous contribution to the new government by clearly articulating the full range of measures that need to be adopted to address the long legacy of injustice against Dalits. We sincerely hope the international community will support Nepal’s transition toward eliminating all forms of caste discrimination.?
CHRGJ’s analysis is based on extensive research and builds upon its previous work on the topic of caste discrimination-particularly its 2005 report The Missing Piece of the Puzzle: Caste Discrimination and the Conflict in Nepal.
The report and other background materials, including a summary briefing paper in both English and Nepali, are available at http://www.chrgj.org.
For more information about the IDSN, please see: http://www.idsn.org.
About the CHRGJ: The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) brings together and expands the rich array of teaching, research, clinical, internship, and publishing activities undertaken within New York University (NYU) School of Law on international human rights issues. Philip Alston is the Center?s Faculty Chair; Smita Narula and Margaret Satterthwaite are Faculty Directors; Jayne Huckerby is Research Director; Veerle Opgenhaffen is Program Director; Mattie Johnstone is Clinical Fellow; and Michelle Williams is Clinic Administrator. The CHRGJ and its International Human Rights Clinic have focused extensively on caste discrimination, and have collaborated with Dalit NGO partners throughout South Asia. The Center?s reports, statements, and briefing papers on caste discrimination are regularly cited by policymakers and inter-governmental actors.
CHRGJ: Smita Narula, Faculty Director, +1 212 992 8824 or +1 917 209 6902 (English, Hindi, Urdu)
Jayne Huckerby, Research Director, +1 212 992 8903 or +1 212 203 6410 (English)
International Human Rights Clinic:
Neville Dastoor +1 813 380 2030 (English)
Tafadzwa Pasipanodya, +1 609 462 6409 (English, French, Portuguese, German, Spanish)
IDSN: Rikke Nöhrlind, Coordinator: + 45 29 70 06 30 (English, Danish)
Center for Human Rights and Global Justice
New York University School of Law
110 West Third Street, Suite 204
Email: chrgj@juris.law.nyu.edu
Web: http://www.chrgj.org
North Sea Travel: Longing for Langeoog (Satis Shroff)
Posted in North Sea, Travel, tagged Boenhöffer, bombs over Langeoog, fishermen, langeoog, Nazis, North Sea, Peace, POWS, tranquillity, Wattenmeer, Wattwandering on April 15, 2008| Leave a Comment »
LONGING FOR LANGEOOG (Satis Shroff)
Thomas, a burly, bearded botanist turned IT-specialist in Basle, and I decided to make a Herrnnachmittag out of a sunny day, despite the clouds in the vast horizon of the North Sea Isle of Langeoog, where we were spending our holidays with our near and dear ones. There we were, two croonies spending the afternoon, after an extended walk along the shore’s shrubby dunes on our way to the traditional East Friesian tea-house.
In the isle of Langeoog they call the houses ‘Hus,’ so you have a Teehus (tea-house) a Spöölhus (a house where kidddies can play). Since we were both avid tea-drinkers, we decided to go the “Ostfriesische Teestube am Hafen,” and I must say I found it delightful. They even had self-baked cakes for diabetics, not that we had insulin problems, but I do remember that my diabetic Creative Writing Professor Bruce Dobler would order a sandwich, weigh it on his portable Waage meticulously. Every gram seemed to count. It was like a ritual after his Creative Writing lectures at the University of Freiburg and we went to an Irish pub called O’ Dwyers, behind the university library for a swig of Guinness stout, as we talked about literature, poets and writers.
The tea was excellent and the butter cakes delicious. Through the white painted windows we could see the blue North Sea and the boats. Trawlers were approaching the harbour bringing in their haul. Our table had a glass case filled with Darjeeling tea leaves.
Thomas asked if it was the First Flush or the Second? I told him that it was certainly the First Flush because the ‘two leaves and a bud’ were distinctly visible. After the excellent Fresian tea we went for a walk along the dyke to the harbour. To our left was the Watt, which had been laid artificially, and which had become a habitat for all sorts of birds among them naturally a numerous sea-gulls.
Behind us we could see the bunkers built during the Third Reich, td been constructed though the iron-door leading to it was closed. Where the tarmac had been constructed for the German Luftwaffe, was now a dense forest, but the impeccable landing area was still intact. Private twin-motored planes took-off and landed now and again.
On August 3, 1941 some 450 Soviet prisoners of war were brought to Langeoog. The island chronist and teacher Richard Windemuth described them this way: ‘ We were all excited to know whether they looked the way the magazines and weekly shows described them. What we saw were figures in rags and uncouth due to the imprisonment, a very depressing picture. According to the SS-guards the POWs had rebelled and didn’t want to board the ship at Bensersiel. They were scared that they’d be left to drown in the icy waters of the North Sea.
The POWs, according to an observer from Wangerooge, were put up in a barrack in the Garden Street (today it’s House Meedland). The youngest POW was 15 years old, and they had to work at the airport of Langeoog. 113 of them died due to the inhuman treatment meted out to them, and buried in mass-graves in the outskirts of the dune-graveyard. After the krieg the island community is said to have created a passable memorial.
On August 26, 1941 came the French prisoners of war to Langeoog. They were soldiers who’d tried to escape from the Lagers (prison-camps) in Germany’s mainland. The treatment was harder than usual in the Isle of Langegoog, but not comparable to the treatment of Soviet prisoners. The chronicler says: ‘ They got the same food, even tobacco and Schnaps (German alcohol) like the German guards.’ Not so the poor Soviets who were called ‘Ivan’ in those days.
It might be noted that the Führer (Hitler) in his big speech demanded from the German public to pray for the blessings of the Almighty for the German Waffen (soldiers) in the Eastern Front. The population statistics of 1939 show that 95 % of the Germans belonged to one or other of the Christian religious societies: evangelic and catholic.
Just before midnight on September 7, 1941 Langeoog was bombed again. To the south of the airport 200 incendiary bombs were counted. One of the exploding bombs destroyed the Meider’s Bridge at the harbour. A ship under construction received 15 splitters and the harbour building was completely destroyed.
At the dune-graveyard you could visit the grave of the famous chanson singer Lale Anderson, who’s haunting, melodious song ‘Lili Marleen’ woke longings in the hearts of the U-boat crews, Luftwaffe pilots and German destroyers and other battleships, away from their Heimat and the danger of being blown to pieces by the US, RAF and Allied airplanes, depth-charges and artillery and flak.
‘No one knows the secret of freedom, unless you are a prisoner,’ said Dietrich Bonhoffer in 1944 when he was imprisoned by the Nazis. He knew through his own suffering and experience what freedom meant, and he also knew what personal freedom one had to sacrifice to achieve freedom for all, for freedom is not only a word. Freedom means words and deeds, as is evident in the Tibetan issue where people around the world are reacting and agitating for the fundamental rights of a country called the Roof of the World.
Meanwhile, you could discern a hoot from an outwards bound ship or the red catamaran which commutes between Langeoog and Benzersiel, and the incessant cries of the sea-gulls vying with each other to get a morsel of fish from the trawlers that were coming to their home-harbour.
The 2500 inhabitants of Langeoog are facing a tough time battling against Nature. The sea, which is washing away the island is one factor, and the influx of people with a lot of capital from the mainland is the other factor. The dunes are very important for the islands and coasts just as the wind, water and sun. Like the Watt and salty meadows, the dunes and other habitats also underlie special dynamic changes and some flora and fauna need these changes. Strandhafer, Strandroggen and Stranddistel live here. Brandgeese and sea-gulls breed primarily in the dunes.
The dunes serve as a protection for endangered animals and also for the inhabitants of Langeoog because there’s no need to build dykes, where there’s a protective shield of dune-chains around the island and along the coast. The dunes are much higher than the dykes and a lot broader. Every year, the west-wind and west-waves bring thousands of tons of sand from the East Sea to the North Sea. The protection of the coast and nature conservation go hand in hand. And visitors to the isle are admonished to walk only along the prescribed paths to the benefit of humans and Mother Nature
Even I’d contemplated how wonderful it would be to build at least a holiday-houses at Langeoog. Instead we’ve decided to build one in the Black Forest right below a hill with pine trees, with an excellent view of the hills in the vicinity of Rosskopf.
The old fashioned Tante Emma shops are dwindling, giving way to supermarkets—like in France’s Atlantic Isle of Oleron. One remarkable feature of the Isle of Langeoog is that it has been long declared a car-free zone. The main means of communication in the Isle is with an old, gaudy diesel-driven train that brings you to the town from the harbour. After that you can hire a horse-driven taxi, bicycle or go on foot. The cars remain in Bensersiel (mainland). And unless you know someone in the island who has a plane, everyone is obliged to take the ferry.
We walked along the north-west beach into the small town. The beach was littered with churned sea-shells, sea-weed and plastic garbage of the tourists. A team of workers who belonged to a jaw-breaking measure (Arbeitsbeschaffungsmaßnahmen ABM) came with a tractor and a trailer to clear the beach.
“Ordnung muss sein, even on the beach!” remarked Thomas. The people of Langeoog have to separate their garbage and put them in the respective bins—as everywhere in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Green bins for paper, brown for biological or organic garbage and yellow plastic bags for PVC and plastic garbage.
Watt n’ Erlebnis: The walk along the North Sea Wattenmeer, along the shore of Langeoog was interesting and strenuous and the local guide Uwe G. turned out to be a bearded, blond East Friesian bloke with a gift of the gab. He introduced us to the dangers and secrets of the Watt, which is typical for Germany and Scandinavian countries. We walked every 100 metres into the sea, and Uwe dug his fork into the sea-bed and showed us the wonders of the North Sea Watt: crustaceans and molluscs, crabs, shrimps, worms and their habitats. How the heart-mussel and clams live, and how to get a glass full of shrimps swimming in water. He loved to tell you about the peristaltic of the worms in comparison to humans, their reproductive and digestive systems. It was what you might call a marine biology lecture carried at a hilarious, non-scientific level and the people loved him for it.
An elderly Germany couple thought the Uwe had a “Bundeswehr tone” to his talk. Another German said that he was definitely “Analfixiert” (anal-fixed according to Freud’s theory, wherein he speaks about people being ‘fixed’ in the oral, anal and oedipal phases of human development). But Uwe was very self-conscious and he went on candidly comparing humans with molluscs. The children and grown-ups had a good time.
By the time we’d reached the outer periphery of the Watt, the tide started coming in. And it got difficult to pull out the gum-boots out of the Schlack (dark, sticky, muddy water). It was a moment when I thought it would perhaps be better to leave my gum-boots behind. But I somehow managed to walk on. The Wattwanderung along the shores of the Isle of Langeoog was interesting and strenuous and we learned quite a lot about the wildlife and acquatic animas on the shores of the North Sea Wattenmeer.
Another day it was a chilly, and we could feel the gusts of wind blowing to the island from the North Sea. Although we had our pullovers, jackets and gum-boots on, as we trudged along between the beach and the waves, busy gathering sea-shells, a woman in the autumn of her life, wearing a one-piece bathing suit in anthroposophical orange pastell colours, walked to the sea and began swimming in the cold, wind-swept water. Brr! She was very courageous, disciplined and trimmed for a hard life, I thought.
Downtown Langeoog reminded me of a sea-town in Britain with those neat brick-houses and white-painted doors and windows, cobble-stoned streets and sea-man’s kitsch on the windows. I couldn’t help it, I had to buy some of it: cards, Langeoogs water-tower in miniature with two sea-gulls and a red-white painted trawler, complete with fishing nets on two sides. Sigh!
Were I a sea-gull
I’d fly to the north,
To Langeoog,
Where I spent my holidays.
Ach, how wonderful.
I think of the colourful
Wicker beach-chairs with hoods,
And the small island train.
I think of Flut and Ebbe,
Of time and tide,
Clams, starfish, seaweed.
The shores full of shrimps,
Sea-urchins and jelly-fish.
The fun of bathing
In the North Sea,
And the fear of the Qualle.
Grandma Else’s porcellain Stube,
A warm cuppa East Friesian
Candy sugared tea
At the harbour Teestube.
I remember ‘Watt’n Erlebnis’
What an experience,
During the Wattwanderung,
Along Langeoog’s dark, slicky shores,
Searching for mussels, clams and crabs in the water.
And in the endless sky,
Like an inverted cobalt bowl,
Swarms of Rotschenkel
On their way to Africa.
Flut und Ebbe: flood- and low-tide
Qualle: jellyfisherman
Rotschenkel: red-legged island birds
Watt: banks of sand, flats
Watt’n Erlebnis: what an experience, with a pun on Watt
Stube: store, shop
Teestube: tea-shop
Dalai Lama’s Realpolitik: A Policy of Appeasement (Satis Shroff)
Posted in Beijing, China, Dalai Lama, Han-Chinese, Lhasa, Miteinander, Peace, respect, Tibet, Tibetans, togetherness, tolerance, Uncategorized, wisdom, tagged Beijing, China, Dalai Lama, Han-Chinese, human rights, Lhasa, Olympics, Peace, respect, Tibet, tolerance on April 3, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Commentary on Tibet:
The Chinese poet Dong Guanfu writes in his blog: “We cannot win the heart of the Tibetans if we only develop their economy. If we cannot manage to understand this, then many other conflicts will follow. There’s no denying that one of the reasons of staging the Olympic Games is that we want to make money. But the greater value of the Games is to strengthen and rejuvenate the spirit of a nation. How many spiritual values can we convey by way of the Olympic torch? This is a question that has to be weighed by the whole Chinese folk, especially the ruling part members (in Beijing). ”
The Dalai Lama has threatened to resign as the political leader of the Tibetans in Tibet and the diaspora (USA, India, Nepal and Switzerland), but the protests within Tibet has been rising although Tibet has been hermetically sealed for foreign journalists, and the nabbed demonstrators have been put to show as terrorists, their own outmoded arms on display (Royal Enfield rifles from World War II), knives and a few cartridges. A young monk was shown on TV welcoming and thanking the Chinese Army soldiers as ‘saviours’ by putting the traditional khada scarves on their heads.
Never before was a farce staged so badly. It was sickening to watch it, propaganda at its worst. The foreign journalists were obliged to leave Lhasa so that the Chinese propaganda could function without democratic impediments. And the views that have emerged through Xinhuan and Chinese TV are conspicuous through their slanted reporting to the benefit of the rulers in Beijing. The selected foreign-press was invited to Lhasa but this time the younger generation of Tibetan lamas were shown in tears with the words in their mouths, “Tibet is not free!” You could only feel a numbness and a lump in your throat.
The world knew already in 2001 that Peking put not only the Tibetans under pressure but consequently cracked down on intellectuals and other Tibetan people, and went even so far as to hang them en masse as political criminals. It is ironical that the International Olympic Committee awarded the Games to Beijing. One hopes that this will be a lesson to the Olympic Committee, if they are ever in a dilemma of staging the Games in similar countries, where the rights of the individuals are suppressed, and human rights are trampled upon. This goes against the Olympic spirit. But the question of morality and ethics doesn’t seem to arise when political lobbyists are at work, and economic and commercial gains are also a part of the game, in this case, Games. The privileged party elite of Peking and the organisers of many western countries seem to have a common opinion as far as the Olympic Games are concerned, and they all come up with: how could be punish our own sportsmen and women by not letting them take part in the competitions? Think of the gold medal possibilities that might be lost.
A sportsman with ethos and integrity would be ashamed to take part in the competitions. Most of the organising and participating nations are against boycotting the Games “because it would damage the sport and the contestants (sic).” On the one side, we have competitors wanting to take part in the Games no matter what it costs. On the other side, there are the one-party organisers in Beijing who see the Tibetans as disturbing elements led by the Dalai Lama clique, although they know very well that this is a cheap lie, fabricated to suits their purpose. Thanks to the Olympic Games 2008, the Chinese elite are in the international limelight, and have been ignoring the critical views of the rest of the world’s leaders and world organisations, and using them for their own purposes. The march of the Chinese troops in Lhasa has shown the real face of China.
What are gold medals worth in terms of humanity? A dark shadow has been cast upon the Olympics 2008 and August is nearing, but Peking is adamant. It’s still playing the olde, hackneyed melody, instead of listening to the Tibetans and the conscience of the world that are demanding equal human rights and justice, tolerance and respect for China’s minorities. The sportsmen and women have got nothing to lose their fame in the form of gold medals and money from future sponsors, but the Tibetans and the Chinese have a lot to win in terms of human values, tolerance, compassion and togetherness—a Miteinander.
I met an old German lady yesterday on my way from downtown Freiburg and she said, “Herr Shroff, you should have seen the film about the Lhasa-Peking train in Fernsehen. It was fantastic. They even have oxygen-masks, like in the Airbus, for the passengers who feel weak. How thoughtful of them!”
It is a fact that China has opened to the economic benefits of the western world, but in the jurisprudence sector, China this big Asian giant, is still an underdeveloped country and more paragraphs on human and individual rights have yet to be added before China’s Communist Party can speak of equal rights like others in the comity of nations. China’s leaders have been keeping its own Han-folk in the dark through the usage of propaganda by treating the Tibetans who protest in public as criminals. But the worst part of this propaganda war is that the Han-Chinese have become gullible and actually believe the theatre that has all the while been presented by Xinhua and CCTV. Moreover, the Han-Chinese believe that they freed the poor Tibetans from slavery and feudalism. The reality is, however, complex, because the Tibetan folk have their own script, scriptures, their own history of development, their mentality, psyche, religion, traditions and rich culture. When you see a Tibetan monk or youth throwing stones, it is a metaphor of a David who is trying to raise his hand against a Goliath (Han-Chinese), and this protest has nothing to do with criminality in the ordinary sense of the word. The real crime was committed when Han-Chinese overran the Tibetan Plateau and robbed the Tibetans of their religion, language, culture and outlawed them after the principle: A good Tibetan is a Han-Tibetan.
There was a time when the Dalai Lama was a welcome guest, as the spititual and temporal ruler of Tibet, and he was feted by rich and poor alike, by academicians and statesmen. Even the town of Freiburg showed that we were in solidarity with him, his folk and his cause. Now we are silent when Tibet needs us. The Olympic spirit and Machtpolitik should not be allowed to go hand in hand. We have had parallels in Berlin in 1936 and Moscow in 1980. The International Olympic Committee has made a terrible mistake in awarding Peking, at this stage of its power-politics, the privilege of staging the Olympic Games.
Come August and the Games are really staged in Beijing, this will be the unkindest cut for the people of Tibet, the peace-loving Dalai Lama, the man who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in Stockholm, lest we forget, by the western world. The Dalai Lama has been all along constantly following a pragmatic Realpolitik, for the only way to bring China to reason is through the practice of patience, far-sightedness, pragmatism and non-violence in the spirit of Gandhiji and Martin Luther King.
The Dalai Lama has been quoted as saying that China’s re-settlement policy is a “demographic aggression” and that China is a Police-State with “the rule of terror.” How are the Europeans reacting to all this? The EU Commissioner Ferrero Waldner threatened with an Olympia boycott and the EU foreign minister demanded that Peking should carry out a dialogue with the Dalai Lama. According to the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, the EU foreign ministers want to invite the Dalai Lama to Brussels. The EU parliament has already extended its invitation to the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet. China’s Jiang Yu from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs naturally protested.
Tibet and China are an unequal brotherhood sealed by fate, destiny, kismet, history. Tibet was ignored for centuries but globalisation has caught up with Peking after the Han-Chinese marched into Lhasa and the Dalai Lama was forced to flee or face imprisonment.
It can only be hoped that the Beijing government gives up the path of brutal confrontation, does a bit of soul searching and turns to the peaceful path of conflict solution through dialogue at the same eye-level, and not from above-to-below with its minorities. Since the Chinese and Tibetans (government in exile at Dharamsala) obviously are not in a position to carry out talks together, it would be better if Beijing consented to talks with UN mediators.
There is no denying that the Olympic Games are a competitive festival of sports and cultures, but how can people of different cultures celebrate when war-tanks and the Chinese Army are holding the Tibetan folk back in Lhasa, “Jhokang-market, and people in the provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, Tongren (Rebkong) in the province Qinghai? The situation is similar to 1989 when ten thausand Tibetans demonstrated against the Chinese regime.In those days Perking imposed military rule over Lhasa, and sent its People’s Army to the streets. Hundreds of monks were imprisoned, many were shot.
Today, a new generation of monks and Tibetan angry youth have grown up and are only trying to fight for their human rights, as members of Homo sapiens. Even the Dalai Lama spoke of more autonomy, mind you, within the framework of the Chinese constitution. What the Tibetans want are equal rights and freedom from the cultural domination of thousands of Han Chinese, who have been re-settled by Beijing’s policy makers with the result that the Tibetans have become a minority in their own country. This is certainly not what the Tibetans and the western world understand under ‘autonomy.’
For centuries Tibet was the ‘autonomous region’ of China. But the Tibetans have been deprived of their very autonomy with the creation of a Chinese governor. China has in the past regarded the Himalayan countries as its phalanx, and has fought fiercely against India in 1962 over the border areas. There’s a Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai atmosphere, as the two big South Asian powers vie with each other for economic and commercial gains and cooperation, as evident newly between the Indian and Chinese troops that took part in military exercises. I remember a similar military exercise at the invitation of the Indian Army. A Chinese general had been invited and the Indian Army demonstrated its fire-power. The Chinese general applauded the firepower of his neighbour, then added: “Wonderful, but can you produce this same firepower under Himalayan conditions?” And truly enough, in 1962 the Chinese troops had a better fire-power than the Indians and were no match for the thoroughly trained mountain divisions of China.
The Lingua franca of Tibet is not Tibetan now but Standard Chinese, for the Han Chinese are out to develop Tibet and its people culturally, economically, socially and psychologically after the motto: there’s no better culture than the Han culture.
In the Kindergardens and schools of Tibet most of the lessons are held in Chinese, and not Tibetan. If one speaks Tibetan, one risks losing one’s job. When the Tibetan parents speak with the teachers they are obliged to do so only in Chinese, even though they are Tibetans. If this isn’t cultural imperialism, then what is it?
Even though some athletes are showing character and personal integrity by protesting as individuals spontaneously, the majority, however, do want to take part in the Games. Like for instance the German spear-thrower Christina Obergföll who said: “The boycott would steal the chance of a lifetime.” The manager of Sabine Spitz (mountain-bike discipline) said: “The boycott will only punish the athletes.”
Beijing has to listen to the Dalai Lama and his followers in the West, and in Tibet, and take to dialogue, instead of playing the hardliner and condemning and slandering His Holiness and his ‘so-called clique.’ The former spiritual and temporal ruler of Tibet has serious and sincere intentions as far as the future of Tibet is concerned The communist politicians in Beijing have to realise that the only way to peace and stability in this former poverty-stricken country of monks, farmers and nomads is not through the use of force (Gewalt) but through well-meant consessions through dialogue, and by raising the status of the Tibetans to that of the Han-Chinese, and letting and encouraging them to develop Tibet together, and not by regarding Tibet’s wonderful culture and religion as something inferior and exotic. We can all learn from Tibet’s rich culture. Beijing has more to gain if it follows the path of peace, tolerance and Miteinander (togetherness) instead of using cheap propaganda to stage a Peking Opera with Tibetans as the culprits, which no one with a conscience, character and integrity wants to see. The scenario is well-known in the western world and no propaganda in this world can help the Chinese government in this particular issue.
The Han and other Chinese have the chance to prove to the world that they can practice social welfare and social development by giving the Tibetans the same autonomy, same status as the other Chinese. Otherwise, Beijing’s political goals remain a farce, reminiscent of George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’: all animals are equal, but some are more equal than the others.
The Ocean of Wisdom (Satis Shroff)
Tenzin Gyatso, the spiritual and former
Temporal ruler of Tibet,
Came to a town in the Black Forest
And conquered the hearts of the Freiburger.
A lama in a back limousine,
Applauded by hundreds of Europeans and Asians.
You could feel the goose-pimples in your body,
Tears of joy came to your eyes.
His Holiness prays and blesses
The Tibet Kailash Haus,
A thousand Tibetan prayer flags
Flutter merrily in the wind,
Carrying the mumbled words to Himmel.
At the Freiburger Town Council
Says the lama:
‘Nations, races, social classes
Even religions are secondary.
What is important is that
We are all human beings.
Even the sun breaks through the clouds
When Tenzin Gyatso folds his hands,
Smiles from the balcony,
And throws flying kisses
To the German masses.
Even Petrus seems to be smile in Heaven.
The Ambassador of Peace
Hopes for a peaceful change,
In Tibet, the Roof of the World,
Where the economy booms
Under the control of the Chinese,
But where democracy and human rights
Are still stifled.
I remember seeing His Holiness
As a child in the foothills of the Himalayas,
As he fled across the Abode of the Snows.
Crowds thronged with snow white khadas,
To greet the Dalai Lama.
And here was I in Germany
With my humble prayers,
And there His Holiness,
Blessing us all,
The personification of the Ocean of Wisdom.
A seventy-two year old monk,
With the charisma and spontaneity of a child.
A message which said:
‘Whether you are a Christian, Buddhist or atheist,
If you have compassion for humans,
You can’t be wrong.’
What counts are the inner values
Within us:
Love, forgiveness, tolerance and self-discipline.
Religions help us to make these values even stronger.
Like the inner love and dialogue,
Between a mother and a child,.
To create a Century of Dialogue.
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Archive for the ‘dramas’ Category
Goethe: The Last Universal Man (Satis Shroff)
Posted in books, dramas, essays, German literature, poems, tragedies, tagged books, classical German literature, Faust I, Faust II, Frankfurt, Goethe's Zeitgeist, love poems, prolific writer, Weimar, Werther, Wetzlar on May 6, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Goethe: A Writer of the First Rank (Satis Shroff, Freiburg)
Johann Wolfgang Goethe, who was lifted to nobility as J. W.von Goethe in 1782, was born on August 28, 1749 in the town of Frankfurt. The Goethes lived in a large, comfortable house in the Hirschgasse, now called Goethe Haus. Besides practical, scientific and autobiographical writings, he left behind more than 15,000 letters, diaries relating to the 52 years of his life and also countless conversational writings of people he’d met.
Even though Goethe’s work is fragmentary in general, it reveals the essence of his literary genius. Goethe himself said: ‘Alle meine Werke sind Bruchstücke einer großen Konfession.’
He remains to date one of the most original and powerful German lyric poets and his Faust is no doubt a work of inexhaustible ambiguity and wonderful poetry.
The atmosphere that was evident in his parent’s home was that of the educated and their lifestyle in those days, and through his writings we get an exact idea of the Zeitgeist of Goethe’s days. He held the town of his birth in high esteem for it was the environment and intellectual background of his youthful development. Young Goethe loved to lose himself in the crowd around the Dome or in the Roman hill (Römerberg), which he always remembered as a fine place to go for a walk.
The closest relationship of his youth was his sister Cornelia, who sadly enough died at the age of 27. Asked about the influence of his parents on him, Goethe summed it this way:
From father I have the stature,
To lead an earnest life.
From mother the good nature,
And the joy of story-telling.
Goethe was taught by house-teachers. After learning the old languages, he started learning French, English and Hebrew. At the age of 10 he read Aesop, Homer, Vergil, Ovid and also the German folks-books. Besides education in humanities and science, he was also taught religion, which was determined by the dominating explanatory issue of Lutherdom in Frankfurt.
The big earthquake in Lissabon in 1755 was important for the development of Goethe’s mind, as it went into history as one of the greatest natural catastrophies of the century. Besides these natural calamities there were also religious and historical movements which left a deep impression in Goethe’s mind, for example the Seven-Years War between Prussia and Austria wherein he saw the consequences of the general political situation in his own life. Another important event during the occupation of Frankfurt by Napoleon’s troops was his fascination for a troupe of French actors, who’s shows he was allowed to visit regularly. That was the awakening in Goethe of his interest for theatre, and which had been sparked earlier in his life through a puppet-stage (Puppenbühne) and which can be seen in some scenes from ‘Wilhelm Meister’s Theaterical Shows.’
At the age of 16 Goethe was prepared for his academic studies. His father wanted him to study law in Leipzig. This was a city known for its trade, commerce, rich people in a wealthy epoche, and was filled with the spirit of Rokoko. Although Leipzig made a lasting impression on Goethe, he found the lectures on law rather boring. Nevertheless, the town of Leipzig brought to Goethe his passion for Anna Katherina, the daughter of a man who owned an inn, where he used to eat lunch since 1766.
In his first completed play ‘The Whims of a Lover’ (Laune des Verliebten) which is based on the times of the Rokoko (Schäferstücke), he drew his own glowing passion. It was his inner desire to put into poetry the themes that were burning within him. In March 1770 Goethe arrived in Strassburg to complete his university studies in law.
Like in Leipzig, Goethe found friends in Strassburg. One of the most important events was his meeting with Herder, who due to his eye-disease was obliged to stay in Strassburg for a couple of months. Here’s what Goethe said about Herder: “Since his conversations were important at all times, he used to ask, reply or express himself in another way, and in this manner I had to express myself in new ways and new views, almost every hour.” It was Herder who brought Goethe to the immeasureability of Shakespeare, told him about Ossian and Pindar, and opened his vision for Volkspoetry. Influenced by Herder’s appreciation of Shakespeare’s genius, he wrote at speed a pseudo-Shakespearean tragedy called: “Geschichte Gottfrieds von Berlichingen.” This was so ill-received by Herder that he put it aside.
Shortly after his return from Strassburg, he turned 22 and started working as a lawyer at the Frankfurter Schöffengericht. Goethe couldn’t care less about the traditions of the citizens in Leipzig and his relatives, his parents’ home. As a lawyer in the courtrooms he had to suffer a bit due to his strange way of putting proceedings to paper, and gradually he began to write farces and parodies about well-known authors of his times and railed upon his own friends, took interest in Alchemy experiments and sought out open-minded literary circles of Frankfurt and in his neighbourhood.
At 24 Goethe was already a well-known author of Germany. No other time in Goethe’s life was filled with prolific poetic works than in this period in Frankfurt. The time before and after his work ‘Werther’ was not only a time of multiple literary production, but also a period in which he spent a lot of time on seeking answers for questions on religion.
The last Frankfurter year (1775) brought Goethe another year of passionate love in the form of Lili Schönemann, a 16 year old daughter of a Frankfurter trader. He experienced one of the most exciting and happiest times in his life. Alas, Goethe drifted between his love for Lili and the feeling that he’d settled for a happiness at home wouldn’t be enough for him. An episode from outside helped him to bear and make the separation from Lili possible.
On November 7, 1775 Goethe came to Weimar, which was in those days a town with a population of 6000. In July 1776 Goethe joined the state service formally as its Secret Legislations Council. Goethe’s new position in the Geheim Konsil brought him soon enough in contact with almost all the pre-commissions of the state-administration.
In 1779 he was appointed the War Commissioner and was responsible for the 500 soldiers of the state. Three years later he had the Chamber under him and became the highest financial administrator. Through his participation in the reading-evenings, redouts and other functions at the court and its high and snobbish society, the events became rather extravagant. And through Goethe’s presence and mediation Weimar gained importance.
However, it was the serene, tempered lady-in-waiting (Hofdame) Charlotte von Stein, a cold beauty, who was unhappily married, who gained more influence on Goethe. From the first moment they met, she reminded Goethe of his sister Cornelia, and he felt drawn to her. In the years to come Goethe couldn’t do without her clear, mature way of doing things. He called her ‘the serene,’ an angel, even a Madonna. A friendship of kindred souls began, which was a puzzle to Goethe himself. It was in these Weimar years that Goethe wrote poems such as: Harzreise im Winter, An den Mond, Gesang der Geister über den Wassern, Wanderer, Nachtlied and so forth. Moreover, many of his songs and poems were set to music by composers ranging from Mozart and Frederik Schubert to Othmar Schoeck (1886-1957). Under the influence of Charlotte von Stein began a decisive change within Goethe. It was during this period in the months of February and March 1779, when he had to go to different places of the Dukedom to recruit soldiers, to keep an eye on them, to inspect the conditions of the roads, that he wrote the first edition of ‘Iphigenie and Taurus.’ This drama became the mirror of his search for purity. The period after ‘Iphigenie’ was penned in 1779 was a phase in the inner development of Goethe’s life, till he travelled to Italy. Goethe became not only confident as an administrator but also improved the purity and quality of his verses.
The more prosaic he became in his daily duties, the more he endeavoured to bring a sense of order and system in all what he did. In addition to the completion of Iphigenie, he also started ‘Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre,’ wrote the concept for ‘Tasso’ and some parts of his ‘Faust.’ These were the fruits of lyrical productions. And just before his Italian journey, he did extensive studies in the natural sciences. His activities at the University of Jena brought him in intensive contact with comparative anatomy. In those days there was a conception regarding the original form and relationship between all living beings, and he proved the existence of the ‘Zwischenkieferknochen’ in humans, which was thought to be known only in the animal world. Goethe showed the biological development of living beings almost 100 years ahead of Charles Darwin.
Goethe’s interest in natural science showed him how his career in the state service brought him away from things he most cherished to do. So he decided on the tenth year of his period in Weimar that he had to break up his service. After arranging his farewell from the state service and personal matters, he asked the Duke for a prolonged leave. He left abruptly, like in 1772 in Wetzlar and 1775 in Frankfurt, as though he was fleeing from something. Even in the presence of Duke and Charlotte von Stein he didn’t utter a word about his concrete plans. He embarked upon the biggest journey to Italy after a short spa sojourn in Böhmen (Bohemia).
After a week-long ride in a coach he reached bella Italia. The first stop was in Rome, where Goethe stayed for four months. It had always been the middle point of his life to study the works of art history in Rome He went to the theatre and attended court cases, watched processions, took part in church festivals, and towards February 1788 even visited the Carnival in Rome. He expanded his knowledge of art history systematically. Goethe found it difficult to say adieu to Rome. The return to Germany was disappointing for Goethe and he felt isolated. Goethe’s record of his journey to Italy (Italienische Reise) appeared in 1816-17. Instead of the Weimar politicians and administrators, Goethe sought to fraternise with professors of the Weimar University. He met Schiller often.
Goethe found a new love: Christiane Vulpius, a handsome woman of lower rank who became his mistress, and with whom he had five children, but only one survived, his first son August, born in 1789. Goethe put his energy in the Weimar Court Theatre, founded in 1791, and developed it within a few years to one of the most famous German stages. Goethe’s loss of Rome was compensated to some extent by his meetings with Schiller, which did him good. Out of the first meeting with Schiller developed an intensive exchange of thoughts in spoken word and writing that was of mutual benefit for both. It was based on their common classicism and on their conviction of the central function of art in human affairs. Goethe’s epic poem ‘Hermann und Dorothea’ (1779) was well received.
Goethe was instrumental in changing Schiller’s tendency to go to extremes, and his habit of indulging in philosophical speculations.
On the other hand, Schiller brought back Goethe from his scientific studies to literature and poetic production. In 1797 Schiller stimulated Goethe to carry on with Faust and it preoccupied him for the next nine years. Part One appeared in 1808, Part Two in 1832. Goethe didn’t stand near Schiller since 1794 and two long journeys to Weimar took him away from his intellectual friend, and in the year 1805 Schiller passed away. Schiller’s death in 1805 coincided with the end of Goethe’s classical phase. After Schiller’s demise, Goethe saw an epoche of his life disappearing. He tried to struggle against the uncertainty of time by concentrating and delving into his own work. Without the regular intellectual argumentation that the company of Schiller brought to Goethe, he felt politically isolated through his distance towards the anti-Napoleon attitude of the public and started living like a recluse.
In 1806 war broke out between France and Prussia and the decisive battle was fought at Jena and French soldiers who occupied Weimar broke into Goethe’s house. Goethe believed tristiane had saved his life from the French marauders. He married her a few days later. Goethe met Napoeon at Erfurt and Weimar in 1808. The Bastille was stormed when Goethe was 39. In 1809 he wrote the subtle and problematic novel: Die Wahlverwandschaften in which the interrelations of two couples are described.
Besides working for the hat Chance. Soldiers who occupied b Science Institutes of the University, he also carried forth botanical studies. The last two decades in Goethe’s life were devoted not to outer happenings but daily routine work.
A key towards understanding Goethe’s various interests was his conception of human existence as a ceaseless struggle to make use of time at one’s disposal. Despite such intensive devotion to his writings, the ageing Goethe didn’t remain so isolated from his environment as he’d done in his younger years. Since he was seldom out of Weimar, he opened his house for the world. It is interesting to note that among his many visitors were not many poets and writers but more Nature researchers and art historians, discoverers who travelled, educators and politicians. The innermost circle around Goethe was his own family.
In order to avoid the pompous celebration of his 82nd birthday, Goethe left Weimar in August 1831 for the last time.
The most meaningful work of poetry in the German language, Goethe’s tragedy Faust, took a long time to develop. Goethe wrote his Faust almost a life long, and before him were writers who worked on the material. According to his own memories Goethe played with the thought of writing a Faust-drama even during his Strassburger student days. Perhaps the most important aspect of tragedy of Goethe is that these twists and turns took place not only in the outside world but also in the soul of Doctor Faustus.
Despite the colourful scenes and the manifold happenings, Goethe’s Faust remains a drama of the soul, with a chain of inner experiences, struggles and doubts. Among his best works was Novelle, started thirty years ago. Goethe worked away at the last volume of Dichtung und Wahrheit and at Faust II which he finished before his death.
On March 22,1832 at 11:30 in the morning Goethe died at the age of 82, the last universal man and the most documented creative writer.
Johann Peter Eckmann saw the deceased on the following day and said: “Stretched on his back, lay he like someone sleeping. Profound peace and fastness were to be seen in the eyes of his noble face. The mightiest forehead seemed still to be thinking…”
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