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Russia: Explosive kills at least 13, injures dozens at vocational college in Crimea
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said the blast at the college in the city Kerch in Crimea was caused by an unidentified explosive device.
Russia: Explosive kills at least 13, injures dozens at vocational college in Crimea Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said the blast at the college in the city Kerch in Crimea was caused by an unidentified explosive device. Check out this story on USATODAY.com: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/10/17/kerch-crimea-possible-terror-attack-vocational-college-deadly/1668232002/
Vladimir Isachenkov and Nataliya Vasilyeva, Associated Press Published 8:17 a.m. ET Oct. 17, 2018 | Updated 8:22 a.m. ET Oct. 17, 2018
Authorities say that at least ten people have been killed and dozens injured as a result of an explosion at a vocational college in Kerch, Crimea. USA TODAY
In this image made from video, showing the scene as emergency services load an injured person onto a truck, in Kerch, Crimea, Wednesday Oct. 17, 2018.(Photo: Kerch fm, AP)
MOSCOW – Russian officials said an explosive device killed at least 13 people and injured at least 50 others Wednesday at a vocational college in Crimea and called it a possible terrorist attack.
Yet Russian news media reported that at least some of the victims died in an attack by an unidentified gunman or gunmen. Russian officials wouldn’t confirm those reports.
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said the blast at the college in the city of Kerch in eastern Crimea was caused by an unidentified explosive device. Emergency officials initially had said the blast was caused by a gas explosion.
Sergei Melikov, a deputy chief of the Russian National Guard, said the explosive device was homemade. Russia’s Investigative Committee, the nation’s top investigative agency, said the device that went off at the college’s canteen was rigged with shrapnel.
The committee’s spokeswoman, Svetlana Petrenko, said 13 people were killed and about 50 were injured. Most of the victims were students.
Explosives experts were inspecting the college building for other possible bombs, according to Anti-Terrorism Committee spokesman Andrei Przhezdomsky.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that officials are looking into a possible terrorist attack. He did not elaborate. Peskov said Putin has instructed investigators and intelligence agencies to conduct a thorough probe and offered condolences to the families of the victims.
Olga Grebennikova, director of the vocational college in Kerch, told KerchNet TV that men armed with automatic rifles burst into the college and “killed everyone they saw.” She said students and staff were among victims.
The Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper quoted student Semyon Gavrilov, who said he fell asleep during a lecture and woke up to the sound of shooting. He said he looked out and saw a young man with a rifle shooting at people.
“I locked the door, hoping he wouldn’t hear me,” the paper quoted Gavrilov as saying.
He said police arrived about 10 minutes later to evacuate people from the college and he saw dead bodies on the floor and charred walls.
The head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, and Russia’s Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova headed to the area to coordinate assistance to the injured. Military units were deployed around the college.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that triggered Western sanctions. Russia has also supported separatists fighting the Ukrainian government in eastern Ukraine, a conflict that has left at least 10,000 people dead since 2014.
Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/10/17/kerch-crimea-possible-terror-attack-vocational-college-deadly/1668232002/
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Who buys a trafficked child for sex? Otherwise ordinary men.
Men who pay to rape a child suffer few, if any, consequences.
Who buys a trafficked child for sex? Otherwise ordinary men. Men who pay to rape a child suffer few, if any, consequences. Check out this story on USATODAY.com: https://usat.ly/2FvyYtD
USA Today NetworkTim Swarens, tim.swarens@indystar.com Published 6:00 a.m. ET Jan. 30, 2018 | Updated 3:47 p.m. ET Jan. 30, 2018
IndyStar columnist Tim Swarens spent more than a year investigating a lucrative business where abused children are bought and sold. USA TODAY
A young child walks along a sidewalk near a makeshift hut in Mumbai, India, on June 29, 2017.(Photo: Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar)
More than 1 million children, according to the International Labour Organization, are exploited each year in the commercial sex trade. IndyStar columnist Tim Swarens, through the support of a Society of Professional Journalists fellowship, spent more than a year investigating a lucrative business where children are abused with low risk to buyers or traffickers, despite tougher laws and heightened international awareness of the scourge. Google, Eli Lilly and Co., and Indiana Wesleyan University provided additional support for this project.
This is the first of 10 columns in the EXPLOITED series, which explores the cultural and economic forces that contribute to commercial sexual exploitation.
On the day she met Marcus Thompson, the girl later told the FBI, she had been ready to leap from a bridge to end her life.
She was only 15, pregnant and alone on the streets.
And in this wounded child, Thompson saw a means to make money. He promised that if she left her small Illinois town with him, he would make her a model. Grasping for hope, she climbed into his truck.
But the promise was a lie.
Instead, in the summer of 2015, Thompson and his wife, Robin, forced the girl on a nightmarish six-week trek across the southern United States. Photographed in suggestive poses and marketed online, she was sold out of hotel rooms and truck stops to any man with the money and the desire to buy sex.
The justice system eventually would work well in this case in several respects. The victim was rescued and provided with treatment. The traffickers who exploited her were caught, pleaded guilty and were sent to prison.
But what of the men who paid to rape this child? What consequences did they suffer?
Not a single one was ever charged.
That same breach of justice is the norm in thousands of trafficking cases. About 10,000 children a year suffer the horrors of commercial sexual exploitation in the United States. Each victim on average is forced to have sex more than five times a day.
Yet the buyers who fuel the child sex trade are seldom held accountable. Most just blend back into their families, jobs and neighborhoods. Until the next time.
►How to report human trafficking
In the Thompson case, the victim, too young for a driver’s license, told the FBI she was beaten once for attempting to escape and was threatened with being “thrown to the alligators” if she tried to run again. Marcus Thompson, according to federal authorities, raped the girl five times.
Still, the child retained enough independence to say no when a buyer demanded anal sex. But her refusal came at a brutal price. The man who bought her complained to the man who sold her. And she was beaten again.
At a hospital in St. Louis, the abuse finally ended when the girl was identified as a sex-trafficking victim. The Thompsons, based on her descriptions, were arrested.
►What is human trafficking
Marcus Thompson is now serving a life sentence. Robin Thompson, who helped place the online ads and book the hotel rooms, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
At Robin Thompson’s sentencing, Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Reagan described the couple’s crimes as among the worst he had seen in 16 years on the federal bench.
In her victim impact letter, read by Reagan at the sentencing, the girl wrote, “It’s hard to wake up every day and remember the people I had sex with.”
Children play at a shelter outside Nairobi, Kenya, for children identified as at risk of being exploited in the sex trade. (Photo: Tim Swarens/IndyStar)
In the past 16 months, I’ve witnessed the worst of human behavior while reporting for this project, one that’s taken me across eight countries on five continents. I’ve talked to 6-year-old trafficking victims, visited a shelter where the oldest survivors were only 11, met a 5-year-old boy living with his parents in a squalid brothel in India and interviewed survivors who were raped by hundreds of men.
Yet the ordeal of that one child from Illinois — beaten for saying no — has haunted me in particular.
It’s stuck in my mind because it exposes a harsh truth: In the sex trade, buyers and sellers view the children they torment as property.
And property cannot say no.
“Despite 20 years of efforts, the sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism has expanded across the globe and outpaced every attempt to respond at the international and national level... As a result, the risks of child sexual exploitation are increasing.”
— The Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism, 2016.
This project began with a question: Who buys a 15-year-old child for sex?
The answer: Many otherwise ordinary men. They could be your co-worker, doctor, pastor or spouse.
“They’re in all walks of life,” a 17-year-old survivor from the Midwest, trafficked when she was 15, said about the more than 150 men who purchased her in a month. “Some could be upstanding people in the community. It was mostly people in their 40s, living in the suburbs, who were coming to get the stuff they were missing.”
►Human trafficking by the numbers
The scale of the trade indicates that it’s not a small number of men who pay to have sex with kids. A 2016 study by the Center for Court Innovation found that between 8,900 and 10,500 children, ages 13 to 17, are commercially exploited each year in this country. Several hundred children 12 and younger, a group not included in the study, also suffer commercial sexual abuse.
The researchers found that the average age of victims is 15 and that each child is purchased on average 5.4 times a day. I’ve interviewed victims who were forced to have sex with more than 30 men in a week; more than 100 in a month.
To determine a conservative estimate of the demand, I multiplied the lower number of victims (8,900) identified in the Center for Court Innovation study by the rate of daily exploitation per child (5.4), and then by an average of only one “work” day per week (52). The result: Adults purchase children for sex at least 2.5 million times a year in the United States.
The number of identified victims in the U.S. is on the rise. The National Human Trafficking Hotline recorded a 35 percent increase in reports in 2016. Most of the cases involved sex trafficking and many of the victims were children.
Brad Myles, CEO of the Polaris Project, which operates the hotline, said the increase largely can be attributed to better identification of trafficking victims and heightened public awareness that the hotline exists. Yet, Myles said, "The vast majority of victims are still not being found."
International numbers are even more staggering. Sex trafficking, according to the United Nations’ International Labour Organization, is a $99 billion-a-year global industry. The exploitation of more than 1 million children accounts for more than 20 percent of those profits.
And there's evidence that the child sex trade is growing. ECPAT International, a research and advocacy organization, concluded in 2016 in a first of its kind global study that more children than ever are at risk of abuse.
Mark Capaldi, ECPAT’s lead researcher, said in an interview at the organization’s Bangkok headquarters that rising global incomes, cheaper air travel and better internet access have fueled the increase in demand. In short, it’s cheaper and easier than ever for adults to exploit children.
Another reason for the growing exploitation: Buyers face little risk. “You’re unlucky if you get caught,” Bjorn Sellstrom, the head of INTERPOL’s Crimes Against Children unit, said in Lyon, France. “It’s fairly free of risk to travel to another country and abuse children.”
It’s a low-risk crime for domestic abusers as well. In 2015, Congress strengthened federal anti-trafficking laws to provide prosecutors with more tools to go after sex buyers. Prosecutions have only modestly increased as a result.
A U.S. Department of Justice spokeswoman, in a written response to questions, said the primary objective is to focus “our limited resources on apprehending the traffickers, who pose the most imminent threat to the victims.”
She provided examples of about 30 buyers, including former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle, convicted on federal charges in 2015 and 2016. But she said state and local prosecutors are in a better position than the federal government to hold accountable those who pay to exploit children.
Like the federal government, state and local jurisdictions tend to use sting operations in which undercover officers pose as exploited children to stop buyers. Although such operations net thousands of would-be sex buyers each year, most of the men arrested plead down to lesser crimes.
And it’s rare for police and prosecutors to pursue buyers after they've paid to abuse children. That’s true even in the most nauseating of crimes.
In 2016, police rescued a 12-year-old Texas girl who was held captive in a hotel room in a wealthy suburb of Nashville, Tenn. Authorities said the child, found with bruises and scratches on her face, had been advertised on Backpage.com and sold to sex buyers for a month in the Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville areas.
A 36-year-old Nashville man, Tavarie Williams, was charged with multiple counts of trafficking, kidnapping and rape. He is awaiting trial. But, as in the case of the 15-year-old from Illinois, none of the men who paid to sexually abuse a middle school-age child were ever charged. (A spokeswoman for the Davidson County (Tenn.) District Attorney's Office said authorities were unable to identify any of the buyers, who could have faced felony charges).
"That child will have to fight the stigma of what happened to her for the rest of her life," said Alex Trouteaud, director of policy and research with Demand Abolition, a Massachusetts-based organization that works to reduce demand for commercial sex. "Meanwhile, the buyers will never be held accountable. It's what we call the culture of impunity."
Prosecutors note that they face several obstacles in pursuing charges, including the need to show that a buyer knew or should have known that the person he paid to exploit was underage. Victims — traumatized, frightened, frequently dependent on drugs and alcohol — often don't make strong witnesses. Prosecutors also must weigh whether putting a child on the stand, where defense cross examinations can be rough, will further wound the victim.
It’s tempting to put buyers who exploit children in a box — to say that all of them are pedophiles, a small percentage of the population driven by a deep sickness. But researchers and survivors say that’s not the case.
ECPAT International researchers found that the great majority of men who pay to exploit children are opportunists. They don’t set out specifically to buy sex with a child, but neither do they walk away when faced with the temptation.
Survivors I interviewed reported similar experiences. One of them, exploited when she was 15, said only two men turned and left the motel room when they saw how young she was. Even those two didn’t notify police about the ongoing abuse of a child.
More than 100 other men who paid to have sex with her stayed. “They just didn’t care” about her age, she said.
In a room full of sex buyers, enrolled in a court-ordered program in Seattle, I asked: “Do you ever think about the life stories of the girls and women you purchased?”
The men appeared uncertain about how to answer. Then a former once-a-week buyer, arrested for attempting to purchase sex from a police officer posing as a 15-year-old girl, said, “I don’t want to know how the sausage is made.”
A piece of meat. A commodity to be consumed.
Not a child. Not a life.
Later in this series, we’ll further explore the factors that drive men to buy sex with children. But let’s take time now for a dose of inspiration.
We’ll find it in a sewing room in Mumbai, India, where a group of remarkable women are waiting to greet us.
Priya, her body ravaged by HIV, was barely alive the day Seena Simon, director of Care and Development for the Cincinnati-based Aruna Project, found her on the street in Mumbai’s Grant Road red light district.
Trafficked at age 13, Priya had worked in the brothels for 15 years before she was kicked out because of her illness.
“She shared with me that in one night 15 to 20 men used her. That was her life,” Simon, who’s worked with trafficking victims in Mumbai for the past 15 years, said. “She didn’t have the strength or energy to do that work. So she was not earning any money for the brothel keeper and they didn’t want her.”
Told by doctors that Priya wouldn’t survive, Simon found the still-young woman a bed in a hospice, where she went to die.
Except Priya didn’t die.
►7 ways to help fight human trafficking
Her white blood count began to improve. She began to eat, to regain weight and energy. After three months, Priya left the hospice for an after-care home.
At around that time, Simon had been talking to Ryan Berg, an American from Cincinnati who worked for an NGO with operations in India, about the need to provide jobs in a sheltered work environment for trafficking survivors.
“Employment was the gap,” Simon said. “Once they were trained in some kind of skill, we sent them for work, but they couldn’t cope with the pressure. Finish the deadline, finish the targets — they couldn’t do it. There was an internal conflict and many of them failed. And some I know went back to the red light district.”
From that need, and from Berg and Simon’s shared passion to help trafficking victims, a business plan was born. In the U.S., Berg founded The Aruna Project, a Cincinnati-based nonprofit that stages 5K runs in multiple states. Registration fees and other proceeds from the races are used to pay salaries for trafficking survivors in Mumbai.
In Mumbai, Simon manages production and counsels survivors, who are employed to make athletic bags and headbands distributed to participants in Aruna Project races in the U.S. More upscale bags also are sold online.
In 2015, Aruna hired its first survivor, Priya. Simon said the company pays better than market rate salaries and benefits. It also provides group homes for those survivors who are not yet ready to live on their own.
The fight against human trafficking inspires incredible passion among many people, but that passion is sometimes misdirected. More than a few nonprofits working to combat trafficking are less than effective. And when I first heard about The Aruna Project’s approach, I was skeptical. Can 5K runs in America really make a difference for women living in India?
But then I stepped onto the production floor in Mumbai, and I saw the women’s smiles. It’s always humbling for me as a man to meet a survivor. In the sewing room, IndyStar visuals editor Mykal McEldowney and I were surrounded by 22 survivors, women like Priya who had suffered unspeakable horror.
The women answered our questions through a translator and asked their own questions of us. They laughed and giggled and showed off, with clear pride, the bags and other products they had made. They also told us about their dreams for the future — one wants to become a fashion designer, another a tailor.
And a young woman named Ruby, no more than five feet tall, hopes to become a singer. When we asked if she would sing for us, she smiled and chose a worship song, a hymn of thanksgiving.
As her clear, strong voice filled the room, she sang not about the pain of the past but of hope for the future.
Next: ‘The smile on our face is fake’: Shattering the Lolita fantasy
Follow Tim Swarens on Twitter: @tswarens
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2FvyYtD
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Time, money, access: A baseball hotbed for a century, Tampa evolves as game’s economic winds shift
Tampa has been talent-rich in baseball for nearly a century, but the city's latest stars also symbolize a greater demographic shift in the sport.
Time, money, access: A baseball hotbed for a century, Tampa evolves as game’s economic winds shift Tampa has been talent-rich in baseball for nearly a century, but the city's latest stars also symbolize a greater demographic shift in the sport. Check out this story on USATODAY.com: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2019/06/05/mlb-draft-tampa-baseball-pete-alonso/1343310001/
Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY Published 9:26 a.m. ET June 5, 2019 | Updated 3:00 p.m. ET June 5, 2019
TAMPA, Fla. – Pete Alonso was born nearly nine decades after Al Lopez, but he knows all about El Señor.
When you grow up with a bat in your hand in Hillsborough County, you learn all the legends.
“Tampa’s just super, super rich in baseball culture,” says Alonso, the New York Mets’ 24-year-old first baseman and Rookie of the Year favorite after slugging 20 home runs in his first 59 major league games. “You can date it back to the ‘20s and ‘30s. Babe Ruth apparently hit a 600-foot home run at an exhibition game.
“Gary Sheffield, Tino Martinez, Gonzo (Luis Gonzalez), Lou Piniella, Tony La Russa... Tampa’s always been just a super-super baseball hub.”
Indeed, since Lopez in 1928 became the first area player to reach the big leagues and went on to a 19-year playing career and 17-year Hall of Fame run as a manager, the pipeline from Tampa to the big leagues is perhaps unrivaled, a group that spans Hall of Famers like Wade Boggs to cultural icons such as Dwight Gooden.
Yet the newest heroes also symbolize a greater demographic shift throughout baseball.
Mets first baseman Pete Alonso attended Plant High School before going to the University of Florida. (Photo: Andy Marlin, USA TODAY Sports)
Alonso’s alma mater, HB Plant High School, is just eight miles from Hillsborough High School, two institutions that have produced a bounty of major league talent.
From 1980 to 1997, Hillsborough produced 27 major league draft picks, including six first-rounders. Included in the haul: Gooden (drafted fith overall in 1982), the 1985 Cy Young Award winner and his nephew, Sheffield (sixth overall, '86), who went on to hit 509 home runs.
Plant was far less prolific in that span: Though 1976 draftee Boggs was already charting a path to Cooperstown, the school produced not quite half the pros as Hillsborough – 13 draftees, just one in the first round.
In the ensuing two decades, however, the fortunes reversed.
Since 1998, 13 Hillsborough alums were MLB draftees, just one a first-round pick. Plant, meanwhile, has produced 15 draftees and five first-round picks, including three in the past five years.
The shift is felt at the major league level, too: On Opening Day, Alonso became the sixth Plant graduate to reach the majors since 2007. That was the year outfielder Elijah Dukes became, for now, the last Hillsborough product to debut in the big leagues.
They are just two schools in one town, yet it’s likely not mere coincidence this reversal occurred at a time when development in baseball has become increasingly tied to access – to personal coaches, superior equipment and facilities and, most notably, pricey travel-ball teams that enable year-round access and exposure to a most challenging game.
As Major League Baseball aims to grow the game – or at least slow its withering relevance among younger audiences – its efforts to improve access meet a headwind of financial resistance.
“It’s really hard,” says Phillies outfielder and former NL MVP Andrew McCutchen, who grew up in Polk County, east of Tampa. “It was hard for me, too, as a kid, but now it’s getting really hard for these kids who are maybe in my situation.
“It’s coming to the point where it’s bracketed – it’s starting to turn to families and kids that are bracketed to where they can afford where they go. And it works for them.”
'You see how crazy it was'
Tucked just off Dale Mabry Highway, Plant High School is easy to miss among the strip malls that line Tampa’s main thoroughfare. Its diamond looks like thousands of others across the nation, save for the sign that captures its baseball legacy: Wade Boggs Field.
Walk past the baseball and football stadiums and the water tower that bears the school’s name and you stumble into the Golfview neighborhood, dotted by gated estates, some with estimated values north of $2 million.
Certainly, the gorgeous homes that abut Palma Ceia Golf and Country Club are far from representative of the entire Plant attendance area. Yet it’s also not a stretch to suggest most of Plant’s MLB products were equipped to thrive in baseball’s evolving developmental landscape.
A sign welcomes visitors to Wade Boggs Field at Plant High School in Tampa. (Photo: Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY Spots)
Alonso’s baseball career began at 3, when his father, also named Pete, asked him if he wanted to play T-ball. The minimum age was 4, which was no hurdle for a child that Mets teammates now call Polar Bear.
“My dad lied and said I was 4,” Alonso recalls. “He was just like, ‘Well, do you wanna play?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I wanna play.’ He said, ‘OK, you’re 4.’
“I blended in with the other kids.”
And so began a youth career marked by playing up against older opponents. Alonso began playing travel ball at 8 and has been a “baseball junkie,” he says, ever since. Alonso also played basketball, lacrosse and soccer growing up, but his passion for baseball was undeniable. He was eventually chosen in the second round of the 2016 draft out of the University of Florida.
“My parents …I can’t thank them enough,” he says of the elder Pete, who’s retired from a professional staffing firm, and mother Michelle, a biologist who scaled back her career once her son was born. “They’re the ones who instilled a work ethic and drive. There was no coddling, necessarily.
“There’s a saying in the minor leagues – if you don’t like it, play better. They definitely instilled that in me at a young age. I can’t be thankful enough for it.”
The first family of Plant baseball, at the moment, are the Tuckers – Preston, like Alonso, was a draftee out of Florida, in 2012, while Kyle was the fifth overall pick in 2015. The elder Tucker, currently in Class AAA with the White Sox after spending parts of three seasons in the majors, now realizes how intense the youth ball circuit – spring school season to summer to fall ball – was.
“I was out of college watching my brother do it,” he says, “and you see how crazy it was how much you play. You’re definitely getting the exposure and all the reps you need, aside from the actual high school regular season.”
Like Alonso, Preston Tucker now realizes his parents – Mike, a civil engineer and Lisa, a retired audiologist – struck a happy medium between support and burning out their kids.
“They always wanted me to go out and play, and never turned down a tournament in Georgia, or Miami, where it would take away a weekend,” says Preston, who still uses Plant's facilities for off-season workouts. “But they never pushed me playing professionally or more than I wanted to.”
Kyle Tucker, a consensus top-15 prospect trying to knock down the door from Class AAA with the talent-rich Houston Astros, agrees. He also played a fair amount of soccer growing up, and credits his older brother’s example, the tutelage of Plant coach Dennis Braun and the atmosphere of excellence around the program as contributing factors.
“It definitely makes you better,” Kyle Tucker says. “You see a guy field a ground ball cleanly for 10 years, you’re going to do the same thing.”
Privilege plays a part
As baseball becomes further optimized and technology joins equipment, facilities and coaching as the great separators, it stands to reason the greatest talent will emerge from affluent areas across the country.
Mickey Moniak, the No. 1 overall pick in 2016, had genetics on his side – grandfather Bill played six seasons in the Red Sox system and father Matt, now a stockbroker and financial consultant, played collegiately.
And since he was 8, Moniak played against the best of the best in the suburbs of San Diego – and beyond.
“It’s huge,” says Moniak, now a Class AA outfielder who received a $6.1 million bonus from the Phillies in 2016. “As much as you can get out and play with these top guys across the country, it’s only beneficial.
“I tried to play as much as I could, bounce around, had buddies on different teams. Being in game experiences, learning stuff on the fly. Playing as many games as possible.”
Genetics matter. Location certainly matters - this year, 17 of 32 first-round choices hailed from just three states: California, Texas and North Carolina. Class matters as well, even if harder to quantify.
“It’s a hard question. It’s a good question,” says Austin Romine, the Yankees’ backup catcher and California native who with brother Andrew has combined for 11 years of major league service time. “We’re still seeing kids coming from nothing that are playing, and it’s still God-given talent. I was very blessed and came from a place where there was a league and there was travel ball.
“I’ve played in the Dominican and other places. I couldn’t imagine not having what I had.”
A golden era
Hillsborough High School sits nearly in the shadows of Interstate 275, a freeway that upon its completion in 1964 essentially divided Tampa in two. Most notably, it waylaid the Central Park neighborhood, home to many African-Americans who saw single-family homes destroyed in favor of housing projects and the massive interstate that curtailed pedestrian access.
Years of racial tension crested in 1967, after the shooting of a black teenager by a white Tampa police officer provoked a civil uprising that highlighted the need for greater resources in the area.
Out of that came Belmont Heights Little League, which fed into Hillsborough, and cultivated a golden age for Tampa baseball.
Belmont Heights reached three Little League World Series, and its 1980-81 squads were an absurd collection of talent: Sheffield, Gooden, Derek Bell and Carl Everett eventually were major league All-Stars, World Series champions or both.
A signs commemorating Gary Sheffield marks the entrances to the Belmont Heights Little League fields. (Photo: Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY ports)
They lost the Little League international final to Taiwan in consecutive years, though Sheffield won a world championship with a juniors team a year later.
At the time, African-Americans comprised nearly 20% of the big league population. And the melting pot of Tampa burst with talent for the next decade, as Belmont Heights/Hillsborough clashed with West Tampa Little League/Jefferson High School.
“I saw Dwight Gooden pitch to Fred McGriff, and this was not some monumental occurrence. This was just a Tuesday afternoon. This is what you saw in Tampa,” says Joey Johnston, whose career as a Tampa-area sportswriter began in 1980. “You knew these guys were great.”
After McGriff, future World Series heroes Tino Martinez and Luis Gonzalez were Jefferson teammates. In 1990, the World Series was a particular point of Tampa pride, pitting Reds manager Piniella (Jesuit High School) vs. Athletics manager La Russa (Jefferson).
The talent cluster was about to break up – or at least, be redistributed.
Pitcher Sam Militello, a sixth-round pick of the Yankees in 1990, was the last Jefferson draftee to appear in more than two major league games. At Hillsborough, outfielder Jason Romano in 1997 was the last of the school’s half-dozen first-round draft picks in a run that began in 1981.
Hillsborough coach Billy Reed, who was also instrumental in the development of Belmont Heights Little League, retired after the ’97 season.
Reed died at 86 in December 2017, a few months after Belmont Heights players like Gooden and Sheffield reunited to raise money for the struggling little league.
One of the Belmont Heights Little League fields is named after Dwight Gooden. (Photo: Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY Sports)
By then, though, the influence of local rec leagues – even high schools – had diminished with the rise of travel ball. The 2019 Hillsborough Terriers went 8-15, with a roster of kids whose baseball experience spanned a wide spectrum.
Jack Slater is the son of Mets assistant hitting coach Tom Slater. Center fielder Terence Doston, ticketed for West Virginia to play football and baseball, was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 22nd round of the draft on Wednesday.
And there’s a plurality of working-class kids, some of whose parents, coach Bryan Burgess notes, may not be able to make a team event until the senior banquet.
“If they don’t have the baseball background and are competing against kids that have the baseball instincts and have been tested in games this weekend, it can be difficult,” says Burgess, who is taking the head coaching reins from his retiring cohort, Kenny White. “We might get a kid at tryouts from north Tampa wearing his Little League All-Star shirt, and that might be the last time he played.
“At the high school level now, you have to play the hand you’re dealt, and make the most of it.”
Kids with talent but not significant means face a similar challenge.
McCutchen, the 11th overall pick in 2005, credits several travel and youth coaches who championed his cause and closed gaps his working parents were not able to fill.
“I was lucky and blessed enough to have people around me who cared about me and took me in as their own. My family couldn’t provide,” says McCutchen. “I had people who came in and said to my family, ‘We’ll take care of him.’ I’m a young kid and we’re saying to this family we’ve just met, ‘If it’s going to help him, OK. We can’t be there - we have to work.’"
Doston can relate.
He was Hillsborough’s best player this year, a center fielder who batted .373 with a .449 on-base percentage, and it figures the Brewers did not draft him high enough to buy out his dual-sport commitment to West Virginia.
It was a youth football teammate, Doston says, who vouched for his baseball skills and got him on a travel baseball team when he was 10 years old.
As word of his talent spread, he said, he landed on better travel teams in subsequent years. He says his mother, an MRI tech, covers what she can and his teams pick up a portion of the costs.
“I didn’t really have to pay for a lot,” he says. “They just tell me, 'OK, we got you.’ I think it helped me a lot, because it helped me experience a top level of baseball, helped me get better playing in a more advanced environment.”
He's played in tournaments as far away as Arizona, and now he's the first Hillsborough draftee since outfielder Jhalan Jackson was a seventh-round pick of the Yankees in 2015.
Says Burgess: “I know Terence to be everything you want a kid to be. She seems to always be there supporting him, as a single mom, doing the best she can and paying what she can.”
According to government data, the disadvantaged student population at Hillsborough is 68% – it’s 76% at Jefferson – and while Burgess notes many aspiring ballplayers may stop playing thanks to a realistic assessment of their skills, McCutchen wonders how many potential players are missed.
“They noticed the player I was and they were like ‘Man, I want him on the team,’” McCutchen says. “But what if there’s a kid who has the same ability but doesn’t have that? If I didn’t have that, I probably wouldn’t be playing baseball.
“I’d probably be playing football.”
Re-defining 'inner city'
The banners honoring nine of Plant’s greatest players – Boggs and the Tuckers among them – are substantial enough to cover most of the outfield fence.
Just one of the players – Baltimore Orioles reliever Mychal Givens – is African American, among the 7.7% of blacks on opening-day rosters. He was a Plant Panther by happenstance, a circumstance that informs his actions to this day.
“I went to school in a rich-school neighborhood,” he says, “but I was not privileged at all. I just got lucky.”
His great-grandfather purchased a house in the 1960s and by the time Givens was school-age, the ever-changing attendance boundaries placed the home in Plant’s area. Getting on that track, he says, made all the difference – in the friendships he's maintained to the baseball connections he retains to this day.
A view of downtown Tampa's skyline. (Photo: Joe Raedle, Getty Images)
Like McCutchen and Doston, Givens played travel ball thanks largely to the magnanimity of coaches who accepted an upfront fee from Givens and let fund-raising cover most of the expenses.
Yet he also sees exploitation in the travel ball sector.
“These teams are asking $2,000 to $4,000 for the summer,” says Givens. “Who can afford that now? Little League is where I developed. I was a great player, but I developed with my friends in Little League. Travel ball was secondary.
“Now, it’s flip-flopped. Nobody plays Little League anymore. Every parent is like, ‘Oh, my kid is on travel ball. My kid is the best.’ No, let’s be honest. Your kid’s probably not that good.
“They’re taking your money to make yourself feel good.”
So Givens is getting in the game himself.
His charitable foundation – Givens Back – and travel-ball team – Inner City Baseball of Tampa – are helmed by two close friends who attended Hillsborough and Gaither high schools.
“I want to make ‘inner city’ better defined,” says Givens. “Not just, ‘Inner city baseball, oh that’s for less privileged kids.’ No.
“To me, 'inner city' means the city that you’re from. It’s the city of Tampa. I have kids all over – from a poor neighborhood to a middle class neighborhood to a rich neighborhood. Getting all those kids to understand each others’ cultures – a rich kid playing with a kid who can’t play, so they can learn and play with each other and have a good foundation.”
Givens’ efforts mirror those of Major League Baseball, which since 2006 has opened nine urban youth academies. Statistics provided by MLB indicate 150,000 youths will participate in its Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities program this year, and that African-American players have accounted for 19% of first-round draft selections since 2012.
Still, equal access is a moving target as costs and expectations rise.
“In the last five years, there’s definitely been a more concerted interest in the pay-to-play piece,” says Tony Reagins, MLB’s executive vice president of baseball and softball development. “Travel ball’s been around since I was a kid, 40 years ago. It just wasn’t as sophisticated. Now, you have major corporations involved.
“But if we continue to implement programming and identify and recognize an issue with pay to play and access, we’ll see progress. How we’re able to scale that is the challenge.”
Givens hopes to chip away, too, taking a cue from those who were generous with him to help level a playing field that continues to tilt.
“They didn’t ask for money out of me,” he says of his youth coaches. “The biggest thing they asked of me was to grow and be a good kid and get to the big leagues.
“And if you don’t get to the big leagues, be something with your life.”
MLB draft: No. 1 overall picks
2019 – C Adley Rutschman, Orioles Chris Pietsch, AP
A look back at recent No. 1 overall picks in the June draft. 2018 -- RHP Casey Mize, Tigers Julie Bennett, AP
2017 -- SS Royce Lewis, Twins Caylor Arnold, USA TODAY
2016 - OF Mickey Moniak, Phillies Four Seam Images, AP
2015 - SS Dansby Swanson, Diamondbacks. Steven Branscombe, USA TODAY Sports
2014 - LHP Brady Aiken, Astros Four Seam Images, AP
2013 - RHP Mark Appel, Astros David J. Phillip, AP
2012 - SS Carlos Correa, Astros Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY Sports
2011 - RHP Gerrit Cole, Pirates Charles LeClaire, USA TODAY Sports
2010 - OF Bryce Harper, Nationals Daniel Shirey, USA TODAY Sports
2009 - RHP Stephen Strasburg, Nationals Charles LeClaire, USA TODAY Sports
2008 - SS Tim Beckham, Rays Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY Sports
2007 - LHP David Price, Rays Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY Sports
2006 - RHP Luke Hochaver, Royals Joe Camporeale, USA TODAY Sports
2005 - OF Justin Upton, Diamondbacks Daniel Shirey, USA TODAY Sports
2004 - SS Matt Bush, Padres Lenny Ignelzi, AP
2003 - OF Delmon Young, Rays Barbara Jean Germano, USA TODAY Sports
2002 - RHP Bryan Bullington, Pirates Joseph Sargent, AP
2001 - C Joe Mauer, Twins Jime Mone, AP
2000 - 1B Adrian Gonzalez, Marlins JAames Baird, AP
1999 - OF Josh Hamilton, Rays Bob Jordan, AP
1998 - 3B Pat Burrell, Phillies Dan Loh, AP
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About.com is about to change its name
The renaming is part of the site's shift in focus from general interest to expert content.
About.com is about to change its name The renaming is part of the site's shift in focus from general interest to expert content. Check out this story on USATODAY.com: http://usat.ly/2lrP1le
Jon Swartz, USA TODAY Published 2:49 p.m. ET Feb. 17, 2017 | Updated 12:57 p.m. ET Feb. 18, 2017
About.com CEO Neil Vogel(Photo: BRIAN STANSFIELD, for USA TODAY)
SAN FRANCISCO — About.com has changed its business, so why not change its name?
Although a few undisclosed company names remain in the hopper for the April reveal, the change will reflect the website's year-long pivot from general-interest to expert-authored content.
"We had a hard time defining ourselves," admits company CEO Neil Vogel, who calls About's metamorphosis a "happy accident."
The 250-person company, based in New York, has shifted its energies and focus into five categories: health, finance, tech, home and travel. The specialized content reflects the heightened interests of consumers and advertisers, and has vastly improved About's online traffic, says Vogel.
The proof is in the numbers: Traffic for Very Well, its health-based site is up more than 50% since it launched in April 2016; the online audience for The Balance, on finance, has improved 65% since its summer 2016 debut; and traffic for Life Wire, on tech, has soared 65% to 70% since its October 2016 launch.
The last two categories for home and travel are expected this year.
"It's content, based on people's interests and needs," Vogel says. "That simple."
Follow USA TODAY San Francisco Bureau Chief Jon Swartz @jswartz on Twitter.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2lrP1le
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Club Bosnia-Herzegovina Russia Uruguay Belarus Uzbekistan Luxembourg Slovenia Ukraine Wales Northern Ireland Germany U20 Estonia Armenia Costa Rica Kazakhstan New Zealand France U17 Argentina U20 Bosnia and Herzegovina U21 Russia U21 Italy U21 Guatemala Syria Fiji India Tajikistan Haiti Dominican Republic Papua New Guinea Samoa Vanuatu North Korea Solomon Islands Slovenia U21 Ukraine U21 Poland U20 Netherlands U19 Netherlands U20 Portugal U20 Tonga Switzerland U20 American Samoa New Caledonia Palestine Tahiti Switzerland U19 Tuvalu Finland U16 Finland U17 Italy U20 Czech Republic U19 Slovenia U19 Italy U19 Russia U18 Russia U19 Russia U20 Bosnia and Herzegovina U19 Italy U18 Belarus U21 Bosnia and Herzegovina U17 Slovenia U17 England U20 Czech Republic U20 Italy U17 Russia U17 Italy U16 Sweden U17 Qatar U20 Armenia U21 Japan U18 Estonia U21 Kazakhstan U21 Latvia U21 Lithuania U21 Armenia U19 Armenia U17 Estonia U18 Estonia U19 Estonia U17 Lithuania U17 Belarus U19 Italy U15 Belarus U17 Latvia U17 Estonia U16 Northern Ireland U16 Russia U16 Belarus U18 New Zealand U23 Bosnia and Herzegovina U15 Uzbekistan U23 Estonia U23 Russia U15 Bosnia and Herzegovina U18 Gibraltar Morocco U20 Armenia U18 Armenia U16 Bosnia and Herzegovina U16 Armenia U15 Georgia U18 Mexico U18 Kosovo Indien U20
Type of cup: National Team
Participants: 177
19/20 18/19 17/18 16/17 15/16 14/15 13/14 12/13 11/12 10/11 09/10 08/09 07/08 06/07 05/06 04/05 03/04 02/03 01/02 00/01 99/00 98/99 97/98 96/97 95/96 94/95 93/94 92/93 91/92 90/91 89/90 88/89 87/88 86/87 85/86 84/85 83/84 82/83 81/82 80/81 79/80 78/79 77/78 76/77 75/76 74/75 73/74 72/73 71/72 70/71 69/70 68/69 67/68 66/67 65/66 64/65 63/64 62/63 61/62 60/61 59/60 58/59 57/58 56/57 55/56 54/55 53/54 52/53 51/52 50/51 49/50 48/49 47/48 46/47 45/46 42/43 41/42 40/41 39/40 38/39 37/38 36/37 35/36 34/35 33/34 32/33 31/32 30/31 1929/30 1928/29 1927/28 1926/27 1925/26 1924/25 1923/24 1922/23 1921/22 1920/21 1919/20 1918/19 1917/18 1916/17 1915/16 1914/15 1913/14 1912/13 1911/12 1910/11 1909/10 1908/09 1907/08 1906/07 1905/06 1904/05 1903/04 1902/03 1901/02 1900/01 1899/00 1898/99 1897/98 1896/97 1895/96 1894/95 1893/94 1892/93 1891/92 1890/91 1889/90 1888/89 1887/88 1886/87 1885/86 1884/85 1883/84 1882/83 1881/82 1880/81 1879/80 1878/79 1877/78 1876/77 1875/76 1874/75 1873/74 1872/73
Knockout Stage 03/04
Wed Dec 10, 2003 Scotland B 1:1 Turkey U23
Title holders
The most valuable players
Centre-Forward
200,00 Mill. €
Left Winger
Right Winger
Commins Menapi
Esala Masi
Pauleta
Naea Bennett
Paul Poatinda
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Last updated: 03:24 PM ET, Mon February 12 2018
Enterprise's Fill Your Tank Program Reaches $20 Million in Donations
Car Rental & Rail Enterprise Rent-A-Car February 12, 2018
PHOTO: An Enterprise-Rent-A-Car parking lot. (photo via Flickr/Atomic Taco)
WHY IT RATES: For travel agents booking trips for clients who want to support businesses who believe in philanthropy, Enterprise is the perfect rental car company.—Donald Wood, Breaking News Senior Writer.
The Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation has now donated $20 million to food banks around the world as part of one of the largest donations aimed at fighting hunger.
Known as Fill Your Tank, the program is a companywide initiative launched in October 2016 to celebrate Enterprise's 60th anniversary by providing a total of $60 million to address food insecurity. The Foundation is distributing $10 million per year over a six-year period. The Fill Your Tank program is partnering with hunger relief organizations including Feeding America, Food Banks Canada, and the Global FoodBanking Network.
"The Fill Your Tank initiative has made an impact on community food banks and pantries around the world, and we are thrilled to continue to work with our hunger relief partners in 2018. Our employees have long supported food banks and pantries in the cities and neighborhoods we serve. We're continuously inspired by their good work," said Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation Senior Vice President and Executive Director Carolyn Kindle Betz.
"We launched the Fill Your Tank initiative at the end of 2016 to shed light on an important issue and strengthen the communities where our employees live and work. Food insecurity is a critical issue in thousands of towns and neighborhoods around the world, and often, it's an issue that doesn't get the attention it deserves," added Kindle Betz.
In the program's first two years, $20 million was distributed as follows:
—$5 million to Feeding America, the largest U.S. domestic hunger-relief and food rescue charity. These funds helped to fight hunger among seniors and children.
—$3 million to Food Banks Canada to support operations and infrastructure in food banks across Canada.
—$2 million to The Global FoodBanking Network to expand the work of food banks around the world, especially food banks in the U.K., Ireland, France, Germany, and Spain on behalf of company-owned operations in these countries.
—$10 million to local food banks and pantries in communities served by Enterprise.
Funding by the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation was used to create programs that address the unique challenges each community faces when it comes to food insecurity. In the U.S., donations were made to food banks selected by local Enterprise operations as well as Feeding America.
Examples of how funds were used include:
—Development of a six-year implementation plan to support Feeding America's senior hunger strategy.
—$100,000 was donated to a community food bank in Alabama to support mobile food pantries, serving 8,600 meals to 480 seniors every month.
—$100,000 was used to develop a senior nutrition program in Illinois, serving 192,000 meals to seniors.
—Development of an IT system to support food sharing and expand the World Food Program's services to reach more people.
—€80,000 was used to open a new logistics center in Germany, serving 180,000 people since the location opened its doors.
—£500,000 was used to expand services and food distribution in the UK, reaching more than 480,000 people.
—Development of a national study to learn how to improve the effectiveness of Food Banks Canada's national food sharing system.
—Funds were used to increase food acquisition and sharing for ten provincial associations in Canada, serving 550 local food banks.
Although there is enough food produced to feed the population, one in nine people still go to bed on an empty stomach, according to the World Food Program. In the U.S. alone, 41 million people face hunger, including nearly 13 million children and more than five million seniors, according to Feeding America.
"The Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation's annual donation is critical for the 46 million people we serve. This gift continues to help us fight hunger where it exists today and build programs to serve populations that may become food-insecure in the future," said Matt Knott, President of Feeding America.
SOURCE: Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation press release.
For more information on Enterprise Rent-A-Car, United States
Luxury and Adventure Combined Through Cruising Seabourn Blog
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Grimethorpe Colliery Band at Morley Town Hall
Music, Sat 8 Feb 2020
Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Leeds Best of Brass 2019/20: Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Formed in 1917, during the First World War, Grimethorpe Colliery Band is a British institution. National and British Open Champion on numerous occasions, the band’s contest successes remain legendary. These include sixteen Brass In Concert Championship titles, 11 times Yorkshire Regional Champion, two English National Championship victories, four times British Open Champion and four times National Champion Brass Band of Great Britain.
Grimethorpe's diverse noted concert performances include those at the FIFA World Cup, BAFTA Awards, BBC Proms, Eurovision and London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, together with a wealth of national and international television / radio appearances and professional recordings.
The band has been the recipient of two gold discs, as well as a BAFTA nomination for its contributions to the global hit movie _Brassed Off_ for which Grimethorpe was the focal point.
The Royal Albert Hall, Symphony Hall, Barbican, Westminster Abbey, European Parliament, Sydney Opera House and more, have all played host to Grimethorpe. With tours to Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, and concerts & festival appearances throughout Europe, the band’s performance reputation remains unsurpassed.
In addition to continuing to delight audiences across the globe, Grimethorpe also continues to invest in and support its local community in Grimethorpe, Barnsley and South Yorkshire, particularly through its youth music initiatives and community performances, both locally and on a national scale.
"Grimethorpe Colliery Band - the finest jewel in the world of brass bands, and a unique cultural asset" - Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
“A thoroughly entertaining show & a must for all music enthusiasts” - The Guardian
Sat 8 Feb 2020 19:30 to 00:00
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Slovenia Gets First Female Police Chief
Tatjana Bobnar, newly appointed as chief of the Slovenian police, poses for a picture in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Oct. 18, 2018.
LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA - Slovenia has appointed its first female national police chief after naming its first female army head last month, becoming one of the few countries whose police or army are headed by women.
Tatjana Bobnar will start her five-year-mandate as police general director on Wednesday, replacing Simon Velicki, the government said.
The change follows the installment of Prime Minister Marjan Sarec's new center-left government after a general election in June.
Last month the government appointed Major General Alenka Ermenc as Slovenia's first female chief of the army.
Bobnar, 49, has been working for the police since 1993 and has been deputy general director since 2009.
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Late Saudi Writer Khashoggi Supported Arab Spring, Free Speech
By Edward Yeranian
FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2018, file photo, people hold signs during a protest at the Embassy of Saudi Arabia about the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in Washington.
CAIRO - Khashoggi had a good sense of humor. He also had strong views on democracy and free speech in the Arab world.
In recent years, he spoke with VOA's Edward Yeranian numerous times, expressing his views on democracy and many other regional issues and problems. He discussed the prospects of democracy in both Egypt and Libya during an interview in August.
YERANIAN: Could Libya become a democracy?
KHASHOGGI: "I think it can. I think it can if there was an American administration that has an interest and a clear plan to do that, they can do it. But right now, there is no plan. This administration will not do it."
Some of Khashoggi's detractors have accused him of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that is outlawed in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt.
Washington Post commentator David Ignatius defended Khashoggi in an October 12 op-ed piece, writing that he supported the Brotherhood during his youth, but that by the mid 1990s, he "was moving towards his mature belief that democracy and freedom were the Arabs' best hope of purging the corruption and misrule he despised."
Khashoggi discussed the prospects of one day establishing an Arab NATO along the lines of its European counterpart, but he was profoundly skeptical.
"Why should we have an Arab NATO? To fight what? The Iranians? We have problems from within," he said, "within our system, we have more serious problems."
FILE - Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi speaks dur
FILE - Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi speaks during a press conference in Manama, Bahrain, Feb. 1, 2015.
During a conversation with VOA in the fall of 2017, Khashoggi expressed concern about the ambitious reforms being undertaken in Saudi Arabia by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He said he was "not optimistic about the reforms," but that he "would still like to be optimistic ... since everyone will suffer if they fail."
He complained that "change is being done in very narrow circles [and that] ordinary people are not feeling engaged."
Discussing the more than three year-old Saudi-led military effort to drive Yemen's Houthi militia from power, Khashoggi also criticized the Iranian-backed Zaidi-Shi'ite group.
"We should remember that the Houthis are not there by popular demand," he said. "The Houthis [came] to power in Yemen by force, and they will stay by force. And it seems that the only way to fight them out is by force."
Khashoggi expressed support, however, for a new democratic system in Yemen, as he did for other Arab countries.
"[At] the same time, Saudi Arabia also needs to believe truly in democracy for Yemen," he said. "I think the Saudis are also reluctant, as much as the Iranians, about democracy. Each country wants to impose its blueprint in Yemen."
Repeating a refrain that was dear to him, Khashoggi lauded the 2011 Arab Spring, insisting it had "brought positive forces to the forefront in Yemen and other Arab countries."
He said it is "important to go back and reassert those ideas."
Turkish Video Allegedly Shows Saudi Agent Posing as Khashoggi
New surveillance video from Istanbul appears to show a Saudi agent wearing journalist Jamal Khashoggi's clothing and leaving Riyadh's consulate on October 2, presumably in an attempt to cover up his killing by showing he had left the diplomatic outpost alive. The video was taken by Turkish law enforcement and shown Monday on CNN, suggesting Saudi agents used a body double in an effort to conceal the murder. The video surfaced as Saudi officials offered yet…
Turkey to Reveal Details of Probe Into Khashoggi’s Killing
In a sign of growing pressure on Saudi Arabia, Turkey said it will announce details of its investigation into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Tuesday and U.S. congressional leaders said the Gulf kingdom — in particular its crown prince — should face severe consequences for the death of the writer in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The announcement on Sunday by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he will “go into detail” about…
Saudi Khashoggi Admission Fails to Stem International Outrage
Saudi Arabia’s belated admission that writer and onetime royal insider Jamal Khashoggi died in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul more than two weeks ago is failing to stop the international outcry over his slaying.The Saudi claim that the 59-year-old Khashoggi brawled during a quarrel with security officials came 18 days after repeated Saudi assertions the dissident left the consulate alive and
By Jamie Dettmer
Saudi Writer Saw Turkey as Base for a New Middle East
Friends say Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was a proud Arab who wanted to set up a base in his ancestral homeland of Turkey, contributing to the growing community of exiled Arabs who have taken refuge there. For Khashoggi, a history lover, the growing Arab community and Turkey's power in the region echoed aspects of the Ottoman empire, when Istanbul was at the center of a rich and multicultural Middle East. With millions of Arab exiles who fled their…
Edward Yeranian
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Aid Groups Plead Safe Passage for Yemenis Trapped in Hodeida
Yemeni pro-government forces advance towards the port area from the eastern outskirts of Hodeida, as they continue to battle for the control of the city controlled by Huthi rebels, Nov. 6, 2018.
International aid groups pled Wednesday for the residents of a Yemeni port city trapped between warring government forces and Iranian-backed rebels to be allowed safe passage out of the crossfire.
The non-governmental organization Save the Children said one of its medical clinics had been damaged in the fighting in the densely-populated Red Sea city of Hodeida, home to a population of about 600,000.
One of the city’s biggest hospitals is now “meters away from an active frontline,” according to a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Spokespeople for UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders expressed similar concerns that the fighting had reached too close for comfort to the civilian population, obstructing their humanitarian efforts.
Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, has been wracked by brutal infighting since a Saudi-led coalition joined forces with the government in 2015 against Houthi rebels, an armed theological movement of mostly Shi'ite and some Sunni Muslims. Regime forces have ended Houthi control of a string of coastal towns, but the rebels still hold Hodeida and Sanaa, Yemen’s largest city and capital.
Hodeida, whose port receives the vast majority of the country’s aid deliveries and food and fuel imports, is a critical location in the conflict.
Years of heavy fighting have exacted a heavy toll on the country’s population. The United Nations has said that 14 million Yemenis, half the population, are on the brink of starvation.
UNICEF says 30,000 children die every year from malnutrition, and 400,000 children under age five are currently at risk of the same fate. Malnutrition rates, among the world’s highest before the conflict, have soared higher. The U.N. has called the conflict the worst humanitarian and security crisis in the world.
VOA's Lisa Schlein contributed to this story.
Yemeni Rebels say They Halted Saudi-led Forces at Port City
Yemen's rebels claim they halted advances of their adversaries, the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led Arab coalition, at a key battlefield around a strategic Red Sea port city. Fighting continued around Hodeida on Tuesday despite the statement from the Shiite rebels, also known as Houthis, that a three-pronged coalition assault had been stopped around the city's outskirts. The Iran-backed Houthis said they lost at least 30 men and a dozen armored vehicles…
Yemeni Civilians Trapped by Hodeidah Fighting, Aid Groups Say
Thousands of Yemeni civilians are trapped on the southern outskirts of the Red Sea port of Hodeidah as forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition battle Houthi insurgents entrenched in the city, aid groups said on Monday.The alliance has massed thousands of Yemeni troops in recent days near the heavily defended port, but a source in the coalition told Reuters there were no immediate plans for an assault.The United Nations has said an attack on the city, entry point for 80…
Saudi-backed Forces Advance Towards Yemen's Hodeidah
Yemeni forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition inched closer to the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Sunday as they battled Iranian-aligned Houthi fighters entrenched there, local military sources and residents said. The coalition has deployed thousands of troops to retake Hodeidah, a vital entry point for imports and a lifeline for millions of Yemenis after more than three years of war. Fighting was focused around the airport, which the coalition…
Saudi-Led Coalition Says It Attacked Airbase, Missile Sites in Sanaa Airport
The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen attacked Sanaa International Airport and an adjoining airbase which were being used by Houthi insurgents to launch drone and ballistic missile attacks, the coalition spokesman told al-Ekhbaria TV on Friday. Aviation at the airport and international aid efforts were not affected, Colonel Turki al-Malki said. He said a press conference will be held Friday afternoon to provide evidence that the airport is being used by the…
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U.S. JUNIOR AMATEUR
A Good Morning for Top 4 Seeds, Hot Hands July 23, 2014 By Greg Midland, USGA
Anton Serafini, of Lake Mary, Fla., advanced to the Round of 16 at the U.S. Junior Amateur. (USGA/Jonathan Ernst)
THE WOODLANDS, Texas – In Wednesday’s round of 32 of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at the 7,177-yard, par-72 Nicklaus Course at The Club at Carlton Woods, four players who commanded the top seeds after stroke play won matches, along with a number of players who entered this first of two consecutive two-round days riding hot streaks.
Co-medalists Sean Crocker, of Zimbabwe, and Sam Horsfield, of England, each scored 3-and-2 victories over their respective opponents, John Augenstein, of Owensboro, Ky., and Won Jun Lee, of the Republic of Korea. The third and fourth seeds, meanwhile, each advanced by a 5-and-4 margin as Davis Riley, of Hattiesburg, Miss., defeated Ashwin Arasu, of San Diego, and Will Grimmer, of Cincinnati, scooted past Cole Madey, of West Linn, Ore.
The match between Crocker and Augenstein, a semifinalist in the 2013 U.S. Junior Amateur, was highly anticipated, and didn’t disappoint.
The front nine flip-flopped the whole way, said Crocker. He went 1 up on the first hole, I birdied 3 and 4 to go 1 up, then he birdied 5 and 6 to go 1 up, and finally I birdied 7 through 9 to go 2 up. Then he had a few bad holes on the back nine and I kind of took control of the match from there.
Crocker, who was born in Zimbabwe but lives in Westlake Village, Calif., will face close friend Sahith Theegala, of Chino Hills, Calif., in Thursday afternoon’s round of 16.
Horsfield never trailed in his match against Lee. He won the first hole with a par, Lee won the second hole to pull to all square, and Horsfield won three out of four holes from 7 through 10 to take a 3-up lead and march on to victory. He will face Zach Murray, one of two Australians remaining in the field, in a round-of-16 match.
A few players who are making a name for themselves at this U.S. Junior after coming in as relatively unknown kept their strong play going through the round of 32. Anton Serafini, of Lake Mary, Fla., defeated Eric Bae, of Cary, N.C., 2 and 1; Joshua McCarthy, of Danville, Calif., beat Dwight Cauthen, of Columbia, S.C., 4 and 3; and Will Dickson, of Providence, R.I., got past John Pak, of Scotch Plains, N.J., also by 4 and 3.
Dickson has had a rotating cast of caddies this week, and when his caddie from yesterday’s round-of-64 victory over Cameron Young, of Scarborough, N.Y., couldn’t make it back today, Dickson had a familiar face on the bag – Young.
I guess we’re pretty good friends now, said Dickson with a smile. He knew my situation and he asked if I wanted him to caddie for me, so, we were probably the most talented pair on the course today.
Dickson will face five-time U.S. Junior participant and No. 8 seed William Zalatoris in Thursday afternoon’s round of 16. Zalatoris dispatched Zecheng Dou, of the People’s Republic of China, 3 and 2.
Other notables advancing to the round of 16 include Andy Zhang, of the People’s Republic of China, who defeated Tony Gil, of Canada, 5 and 3, and Curtis Luck, of Australia, who beat Tanner Owens, of Milton, Tenn., 4 and 2. Luck and Murray are two members of the Australian national team who are benefiting from the team’s presence this week at the nearby TPC at the Woodlands, where Golf Australia holds an annual camp and training session. Among those who were out supporting their countrymen at the U.S. Junior were 2013 U.S. Amateur semifinalist Brady Watt.
The round of 16 began at 1 p.m. CDT, and by the end of the day, only the quarterfinalists will be left to continue their quest for the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship Trophy.
Live scoring for all matches will be available at www.usga.org.
Greg Midland is the director of editorial and multimedia content for the USGA. Email him at gmidland@usga.org.
67th U.S. JUNIOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP
THE WOODLANDS, Texas – Results from Thursday morning’s round of 32 at the 2014 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, conducted at The Club at Carlton Woods’ Nicklaus Course (7,177 yards, par 72):
Sean Crocker, Zimbabwe (137) def. John Augenstein, Owensboro, Ky. (146), 3 and 2
Sahith Theegala, Chino Hills, Calif. (147) def. Nathan Jeansonne, Keithville, La. (142), 4 and 3
William Zalatoris, Plano, Texas (140) def. Zecheng Dou, People’s Republic of China (144), 3 and 2
Will Dickson, Providence, R.I. (148) def. John Pak, Scotch Plains, N.J. (144), 4 and 3
Will Grimmer, Cincinnati, Ohio (138) def. Cole Madey, West Linn, Ore., 5 and 4
Anton Serafini, Lake Mary, Fla. (148) def. Eric Bae, Cary, N.C. (143), 2 and 1
Joshua McCarthy, Danville, Calif. (149) def. Dwight Cauthen, Columbia, S.C. (147), 4 and 3
Curtis Luck, Australia (141) def. Tanner Owens, Milton, Tenn., 4 and 2
Sam Horsfield, England (137) def. Won Jun Lee, Republic of Korea (146), 3 and 2
Zach Murray, Australia (143) def. Philip Barbaree, 3 and 2
Andreas Halvorsen, Norway (148) def. Joshua Sedeno, Roseville, Calif., 2 up
Davis Shore, Knoxville, Tenn. (143) def. David Snyder, McAllen, Texas, 2 and 1
Davis Riley, Hattiesburg, Miss. (138) def. Ashwin Arasu, San Diego, Calif. (145), 5 and 4
Aaron DeNucci, Clive, Iowa (148) def. Bryce Hendrix, Greenville, N.C. (143), 2 and 1
Doc Redman, Raleigh, N.C. (144) def. Braden Thornberry, Olive Branch, Miss. (140), 4 and 3
Andy Zhang, People's Republic of China (143) def. Tony Gil, Canada (141), 5 and 3
THE WOODLANDS, Texas – Pairings for Thursday afternoon’s round of 16 at the 2014 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, conducted at The Club at Carlton Woods’ Nicklaus Course (all times Central Daylight Time):
1:00 p.m. Sean Crocker, Zimbabwe (137) vs. Sahith Theegala, Chino Hills, Calif. (147)
1:10 p.m. William Zalatoris, Plano, Texas (140) vs. Will Dickson, Providence, R.I. (148)
1:20 p.m. Will Grimmer, Cincinnati, Ohio (138) vs. Anton Serafini, Lake Mary, Fla. (148)
1:30 p.m. Joshua McCarthy, Danville, Calif. (149) vs. Curtis Luck, Australia (141)
1:40 p.m. Sam Horsfield, England (137) vs. Zach Murray, Australia (143)
1:50 p.m. Andreas Halvorsen, Norway (148) vs. Davis Shore, Knoxville, Tenn. (143)
2:00 p.m. Davis Riley, Hattiesburg, Miss. (138) vs. Aaron DeNucci, Clive, Iowa (148)
2:10 p.m. Doc Redman, Raleigh, N.C. (144) vs. Andy Zhang, People’s Republic of China (143)
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Hugh Grant Expecting Fifth Child at 57, His Third With Girlfriend Anna Eberstein
By Kathy Campbell
Hugh Grant and his pregnant girlfriend Anna Eberstein go to dinner at Madeo in West Hollywood on Saturday, January 6, 2018. a5y / BACKGRID
Hugh Grant is expecting his fifth child at the age of 57. The baby will be his third with girlfriend Anna Eberstein.
Cutest Celebrity Baby Announcements
The Love Actually star was spotted with pregnant Eberstein as they headed to dinner at Madeo restaurant in L.A on Saturday, January 6. The duo also walked the red carpet together at the 2018 Golden Globes on Sunday, January 7, and Eberstein showed off her baby bump in black leather pants and a jacket.
The couple were also spotted having lunch at Freds at Barneys New York on Madison Avenue in NYC on Tuesday, January 9. “He had a margherita pizza and she had the vegan pizza,” an eyewitness tells Us. “Anna was very visibly pregnant.”
Grant and the Swedish TV producer, 39, are already the parents of a girl born in 2015 and a boy named John, 5. He also has two children — Tabitha, 6, and Felix, 5 — with Tinglan Hong. (He went from being childless to a father of three in just 15 months, and Hong and Eberstein were pregnant with their sons at the same time.)
Hugh Grant and Anna Eberstein attend The 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. George Pimentel/WireImage
The Four Weddings and a Funeral star spoke out about fatherhood in 2012 after welcoming Tabitha, telling The Guardian he was “thrilled” to be a dad. “I feel like a better person,” he added.
He said he planned to be a strict disciplinarian, “because you really cannot get anything done in life if there’s too much, ‘Oh, well, if you don’t feel like it, don’t do it, just express yourself,’ I’m not really very big on that.”
Hugh Grant and Anna Eberstein attends The 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for FIJI Water
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Grant also told The Guardian that he wasn’t planning on spoiling his children with his $80 million fortune.
“There are few things in life I believe in 100 percent — but another one is not giving your children money,” he said. “I see nothing but f–k-ups among my trust-fund friends. It’s like 99 percent f–k-ups. So I would not want to do that to my children, no.”
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Vail Daily letter: Two Americas
Fredric Butler
Not since the Civil War have Americans been so divided, and this is recognized through an objective and empirical general consensus. Notwithstanding the views of those political opportunists among us who ascribe causation such as race, religion or ethnicity to this demographic, the reason lies in two different cultures that have developed from the prosperity and good fortune of the America that once was.
This Thanksgiving was reminiscent of the tribulations that the Pilgrims endured in the early 1600s. These refugees emigrated from an England of classes, subjection, constraints and of oppressive taxation.
The refuge they took was in a land of unlimited resources and unfettered opportunities. But to avail themselves of those attributes and to survive in the wilderness of early America, they had to put into place a rudimentary governmental system that would be conducive to those ends.
At Plymouth, there was first established a collectivistic and social system in which individual labors were combined to produce the staples that were supposedly necessary for survival in a harsh and unforgiving land.
True to form, this political method did not perform, and the colony was devastated by starvation and dissention.
After a couple of years of misery, poverty and denial, in 1623, Gov. William Bradford instituted a novel and realistic form of government that recognized the rights of an individual to directly benefit from the fruits of his labors, and to enjoy the prosperity that is derived from the ownership of private property. In other words, he ceded to each Pilgrim sufficient lands from which he could sustain himself, his family and perhaps trade or donate the excess to others for the benefit of the community, if he so chose. Thus was born the concepts of charity and good will.
I firmly believe that this was America’s first “constitution,” in that it recognized the laws of God and nature, the predispositions of men and the rights of the individual.
After its implementation, the residual colony flourished, prospered and became the foundation of a new nation, as later defined by the Declaration of Independence and as memorialized in the Constitution of the United States. The concepts of a free marketplace, of capitalism, of religious tolerance, of inalienable and individual rights emanated from these doctrines and were manifested in those indentures.
How little we learn from our heritage and history, as we have now come full circle to the social and collectivism that Bradford eschewed at Plymouth and Jamestown in order to survive as a people, a colony and eventually a nation.
From the likes of the Alien and Sedition acts, the New Deal, Social Security, Agenda 21, the Affordable Care Act, Patriot Act and National Defense Authorization Act, we have matriculated from the principles that first made us a nation with resultant and attendant prosperity to a nation divided into two distinct and separate cultures: those who either were ignorant of those precepts or rejected the same in favor of a new world order, and those who would adhere to the mandates of the Constitution and its patent meaning – those sovereign Americans the world once knew, respected and admired.
Is it any mystery or wonder that the culture of want, reliance and dependence has led this nation to more insecurity, less prosperity, diminished liberties and the spawn that socialism, fascism, corporatism and collectivism have wrought?
Where is the Gov. Bradford of today, who would reverse this course of dependency and return the country to productive communities of individuals, of sovereign and “united” states with common goals conducive to the prosperity and welfare of all, and a nation of righteous laws in the stead of arbitrary and imperial executive orders?
Unlike 1623, the elections of 2012 did not choose a Bradford, did not opt for individual liberty and did not honor American sovereignty. Instead, we now have a nation divided, a collective of dependents on the one hand and on the other, those historic Americans who would be free and gainfully toiling in the pursuit of happiness, but for a small majority of electoral votes.
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The First Family
“She’s Not Going Anywhere”: Ivanka Trump’s Latest Business Moves Signal a New Ambition
Emily Jane Fox
Trump’s Secret Weapon?: The President’s Poison Pill For Every Democratic 2020 Contender
T.A. Frank
Levin Report
Ivanka Trump Learns Child Prisons Aren’t Great for Shoe Sales
Peter Thiel Accuses Google of “Treasonous” Relationship With China
Eric Lutz
Is Google’s Caste System the Future of the Workforce?
Silicon Valley is creating a new tier of second-class laborers to keep down costs and fuel corporate profits.
Maya Kosoff
By George Rinhart/Corbis/Getty Images.
Sometime in early 2000, a group of early Google employees sat down to codify the company’s values. “I was sitting there trying to think of something that would be really different, and not one of these usual ‘strive for excellence’ sort of statements,” Paul Buchheit, who invented Gmail, told Adam Fisher for his new book, Valley of Genius: The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley. “I also wanted something that, once you get it in there, would be hard to take out.” The result was Google’s famous motto, “Don’t be evil.” Google “tried to define precisely what it means to be a force for good—always do the right, ethical thing,” recalled Sergey Brin. “Ultimately, ‘Don’t be evil‘ seems the easiest way to summarize it.” Two decades later, what is and isn’t ethical has become much more complicated—especially for the tech billionaires remaking the economy to reflect their own organizational principles: endless workdays, Darwinian competition, ruthless efficiency, and labor flexibility. (In a foreboding sign earlier this year, Google removed “Don’t be evil” from its code of conduct.) The result has been an economy that maximizes consumer convenience at the expense of an increasingly unstable, unprotected workforce.
Last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its first official report on the number of Americans who rely on freelancing, on-demand apps, and temporary work to make a living. The numbers were staggering—per the report, 5.9 million people are employed through “alternative” or “contingent” work arrangements, while another 10.6 million are independent contractors. (By comparison, the coal industry employs 77,000 people.) The actual size of the gig economy in the United States isn’t totally clear; economists have estimated that non-traditional work arrangements could account for everything between less than 1 percent and 34 percent of full-time employment. But by now, it’s evident that these types of jobs have proliferated largely thanks to the tech behemoths of Silicon Valley, and that if left unchecked they’ll continue to multiply—despite the human cost. At Google, for instance, the scales have tipped. Per Bloomberg:
Every day, tens of thousands of people stream into Google offices wearing red or green name badges. They eat in Google’s cafeterias, ride its commuter shuttles and work alongside its celebrated geeks. But they can’t access all of the company’s celebrated perks. They aren’t entitled to stock and can’t enter certain offices. Many don’t have health insurance.
Before each weekly Google all-hands meeting, trays of hors d’oeuvres and, sometimes, kegs of beer are carted into an auditorium and satellite offices around the globe for employees, who wear white badges. Those without white badges are asked to return to their desks.
Google’s Alphabet Inc. employs hordes of these red- and green-badged contract workers in addition to its full-fledged staff. They serve meals and clean offices. They write code, handle sales calls, recruit staff, screen YouTube videos, test self-driving cars, and even manage entire teams—a sea of skilled laborers that fuel the $795 billion company but reap few of the benefits and opportunities available to direct employees. Earlier this year, those contractors outnumbered direct employees for the first time in the company’s 20-year history, according to a person who viewed the numbers on an internal company database. It’s unclear if that is still the case. Alphabet reported 89,058 direct employees at the end of the second quarter. The company declined to comment on the number of contract workers.
Google, like other tech companies, espouses an idealistic vision—“be socially beneficial,” and “avoid creating or reinforcing unfair bias” are among the principles listed in the guidelines for its artificial-intelligence arm. But while Silicon Valley ostensibly aims to change the world for the better, its actual practices are accelerating a trend throughout the U.S. and the world that’s creating a new tier of second-class workers. According to Bloomberg, Google is not required to provide full benefits to its contractors. In addition, contractors are reportedly not privy to the same corporate perks that full-time workers enjoy: they clock in and out every day, while full-time workers take their time getting to the office; they must pay for the Google shuttles that employees ride to work for free; and they aren’t entitled to stock options.
While tech companies certainly didn’t create the concept of contract work, they’ve helped popularize it, and have marketed it as a selling point to shareholders. Start-ups like DoorDash, Postmates, Uber, and Lyft have argued that their structure gives workers the freedom to set their own schedules—Uber, its founder Travis Kalanick once claimed, is less a full-time job and more “a way to fill in the gaps.” In reality, this isn’t necessarily the case. Some contractors find themselves stretched between platforms, working multiple gigs in order to make ends meet. But the concept of contractors appeals to investors, who want to limit overhead. Contractors keep the official employee head count lower, so resources can be allocated for emerging technologies and the people who run them. Facebook, for instance, subcontracts an army of security workers and janitors, as well as content reviewers; so do Amazon and Apple. The result is a multi-trillion dollar industry that employees relatively few full-time workers.
Whether the trend continues will ultimately depend on the willingness of Washington to do anything about it. In the meantime, the legal system is chipping away at the industrial logic of the gig economy. This month, the New York State Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board ruled that three out-of-work Uber drivers can be considered employees for the sake of collecting unemployment benefits. (The New York Taxi Workers Alliance called the ruling a “landmark decision,” suggesting that it “could also be persuasive in other contexts where the employment status of Uber drivers is in question.”) Uber agreed to pay a staggering $100 million to maintain its drivers’ contract-worker classification in 2016 (a settlement that was rejected in court), while Lyft spent $27 million to do the same. But these gains are incremental, especially compared to the relentless tide of start-ups discovering new ways to “disrupt” basic tasks. Silicon Valley’s companies claim to represent the future of work. If they’re correct, that future is a grim one for red- and green-badge workers.
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Beirut - In Photos: Neturai Karta Take Part In Land Day Protest
Published on: March 30th, 2012 at 12:27 PM
Beirut - Among the demonstrators today to mark Land Day, included rabbis from the anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox group Neturei Karta.
"We are here to mark Land Day, and tell the world not to blame Jewish people for the crimes of Zionism," Rabbi Ahron Cohen told AFP.
"Judaism and Zionism are two different concepts."
The same group visited Thursday the tomb of terrorist Imed Mughniyeh’s in southern Beirut.
Mughniyeh, who was on the FBI’s most wanted list since the 1980s, was killed in a car bomb in Damascus on February 12, 2008. He was also accused by Israel of masterminding the 2006 July War.
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Far From Settled
Varied and Changing Attitudes on Immigration in America
By Patrick Ruffini
Immigration, Race & Ethnicity
Share Print Text Size Download (pdf 1.37 MB) Data
Nuanced Views on Immigration
The Partisan Divide on Immigration
Generational, Educational, and Racial Divisions on Immigration
Age Divides Republicans, Education Divides Democrats
The Partisan Intensity Gap
Views of Immigration From Different Parts of the World
American public opinion is not consistently pro- or anti-immigration. Politically, no one side holds a decisive upper hand in the debate.
Voters are more divided by political party on the question of whether illegal immigrants contribute to American society than on any other issue question except one — views on N.F.L. players kneeling during the national anthem.
While partisanship is the dominant factor driving attitudes on immigration, younger voters and voters with at least a college degree have distinctly pro-immigration views regardless of party. Republicans tend to be more divided on the issue by age, while Democrats are more divided by education level.
There is a large partisan intensity gap on immigration, with Republicans and supporters of President Donald Trump assigning much higher priority to the issue than Democrats and Hillary Clinton voters.
On no issue have the political dynamics changed more in the last few years than on the issue of immigration. A country seemingly on the cusp of immigration reform early in President Barack Obama’s second term in the next presidential contest elected Donald Trump, whose anti-immigration positions were central to his political rise.
The shift within the Republican Party has been especially dramatic. Following Obama’s victory in 2012, the Republican National Committee “autopsy” report blamed anti-immigrant rhetoric for a failure to win over more Hispanic voters and, in a rarity for a document produced by a political organization, pushed for a change in party policy on immigration.(i) Fourteen Republicans would vote for the Senate’s 2013 reform bill that included a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
With Donald Trump, Republican voters in 2016 went in the opposite direction. Hard-edged immigration proposals such as the border wall and a ban on Muslims entering the country were cornerstones of the Trump campaign in the primaries. To the surprise of many, Trump’s views did not seem to hurt him in the general election. Hillary Clinton won the Hispanic vote decisively, but she did no better than Barack Obama did four years earlier. Meanwhile, Trump increased his share of the vote among white working-class voters with more negative views of immigrants. While immigration was not the sole factor in their vote, demographic groups with more negative views of immigration proved far more decisive in the 2016 Electoral College battle, in contrast to what many experts had predicted.
Heading into the 2018 midterm elections, immigration is once again front and center. With a seven-country travel ban, the termination of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and since-reversed family separations at the border, President Trump has used executive actions to proactively shape immigration policy in the image of his campaign rhetoric.
The outcome of the 2016 presidential election and the ongoing debate in 2018 calls for a fresh look at the politics of the immigration debate. Democracy Fund Voter Study Group surveys since 2011 have measured American voter attitudes on immigration, with deeper inquiries about immigration in the 2017 and 2018 VOTER Surveys (Views of the Electorate Research Survey) as the issue gained prominence in the Trump era.
The state of public opinion is more nuanced than the pre-2016 conventional wisdom suggests. Voters continue to support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants by large margins, and they support legal status for DREAMers by an even larger margin.(1) Voters overwhelmingly agree that legal immigrants contribute to American society, and they are evenly split on whether illegal immigrants do. But there are signs of unease about immigration in the data. According to the 2018 VOTER Survey, more Americans prefer a potential new third party to take conservative rather than liberal stands on immigration, there is greater appetite for reductions over increases in immigration levels, security-driven concerns about immigration run high, and more than 40 percent of respondents support a temporary ban on Muslim entry.
The immigrant story in America encompasses a multitude of experiences, from those here legally to those here illegally, from those who have lived in America for years to those who have just arrived, and from the tech startup founder to the migrant farm worker. It is not surprising that the American public would have distinct reactions to each of these scenarios with more sympathetic views in some circumstances and more skeptical ones in others.
Both the 2017 and 2018 VOTER Surveys included expanded question batteries on immigration. The overall results of selected immigration policy questions are ranked from high to low net support of immigration (Figure 1).(2) Support is highest for the belief that legal immigrants contribute to American society and for letting DREAMers stay in the country. It is closely divided on the questions of a temporary Muslim ban and whether illegal immigrants contribute. On balance, support is lowest for expanding immigration levels.
(1) “DREAMers” refers to those immigrants who would be protected under the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act, a legislative bill introduced in July 2017 but not passed by Congress. President Obama signed the executive order creating DACA as a temporary solution pending passage of the DREAM Act.
(2) Net support is defined as the percent difference between responses indicating a favorable view of immigration and those indicating an unfavorable view.
The 2017 VOTER Survey also asked respondents to rate immigrants’ impact on different aspects of American society, with 10 as the most positive rating and 1 as the most negative. Mean scores above 5 reflect a more positive assessment and those below 5 a more negative assessment of the immigrant population (Table 1). In 2017, immigrants were viewed as having a more positive than negative impact on culture and the economy. Perceptions of immigrants’ fiscal contribution were also slightly positive, associated more with working and paying taxes versus using social services. Voters had a neutral view of immigrants’ impact on national security and a net negative view of their impact on crime.
American public opinion is not consistently pro- or anti-immigration. Politically, no one side holds a decisive upper hand in the debate, which is characterized by varying reactions that are favorable to immigration in some circumstances and negative in others. Three factors seem to drive whether public opinion will ultimately lean in favor of or against immigration:
Legal over illegal immigration: Americans draw sharp distinctions between legal and illegal immigrants. In the 2017 VOTER Survey, respondents said that legal immigrants contribute to rather than act as a drain on America by a net 40-point margin, but they were nearly evenly divided on this same question when asked about illegal immigrants. This latter finding was repeated in the 2018 VOTER Survey. Other public polling data shows that the public switches from favoring reduced to increased immigration with the addition of the simple descriptive word “legal.”(ii)
Those currently here over those newly arrived: The American public prioritizes those already here — legally or illegally — over those who may come legally in the future. A pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants and a resolution of DREAMer legal status garner broad support, with more than two-to-one majorities in 2018. Voters seem more cautious in hypothetical questions about those who have yet to come to the United States. A temporary Muslim ban still attracts significant support, and on balance, voters want to make it harder to immigrate to the United States. These attitudes suggest greater sympathy for immigrants already here regardless of legal status and more mixed views about those waiting to come here.
Hopeful about culture and the economy but uncertain on security: Americans believe that immigrants enrich our culture and the economy, but they are more likely to think immigrants have a mixed impact on national security and crime. The most sharply negative views appear on crime despite statistics that show that immigrants commit less crime than native-born Americans. Nonetheless, safety and security concerns about immigration have traction, and these are the themes President Trump and immigration critics have used most doggedly.
Americans’ views of immigration almost perfectly mirror the country’s partisan divide, a trend that has accelerated in Voter Study Group data since the 2016 presidential election. Except for one question measuring views of N.F.L. players kneeling for the national anthem, no issue question in the 2018 VOTER Survey was more closely correlated with party identification than the question of whether illegal immigrants “mostly make a contribution” to American society (with 44 percent support) or are “mostly a drain” (37 percent). There were few dissenters from dominant party views on this question: Democrats largely believed that illegal immigrants “mostly make a contribution” (69 percent) instead of “mostly a drain” (12 percent), while Republicans answered in similarly lopsided fashion saying that they are “mostly a drain” (72 percent) versus “mostly make a contribution” (9 percent).
To better understand overall patterns of opinion, we developed an index to score survey respondents from 0 to 100 on their support for immigration, based on their answers to questions that presented them with a choice either more in favor of or more opposed to immigration.(3) The mean score across all respondents in 2018 was 54, indicating a closely divided electorate that leans in a pro-immigration direction. Visualizing these scores by party and ideology gives us a view of starker political divisions on immigration.
(3) Our scoring index includes questions about the following topics, with the response associated with the pro-immigration side of the debate in parentheses: Immigrants’ net contribution to American society (make a contribution), Provide a legal way for illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens (favor), Easier or harder for foreigners to immigrate (easier), Temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S. (oppose), Allow young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children to stay and work legally (favor), Overall number of immigrants allowed in legally (increase), Positioning of new third party on immigration (to the left of Democrats). We assigned each question equal weight in the index, with the exception of half-weights given to two similar questions, about making immigration easier or harder and about overall immigration levels. Within each question, the highest score was assigned to the answer most supportive of immigration, with partial scores given to answers in the middle, and a zero given to the answer least supportive of immigration. The scores for each question were then added to form an overall index, normalized from 0 to 100.
While partisan reactions seem to follow predictable patterns, support patterns on the left and the right are not exactly symmetrical. More Republicans differ from the dominant sentiment in their party on a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants and legal status for DREAMers, creating a more spread out pattern of support for Republicans. Democrats are more consistent on the issue: 65 percent of them scored as strong immigration supporters (with scores of 75 or above) compared to 56 percent of Republicans who are strong immigration skeptics (with scores of 25 or below). Fourteen percent of Republicans are scored as immigration supporters (with a score of 50 or higher) while 16 percent of Democrats are immigration detractors (scoring lower than 50).
While more Democrats are comfortable with their party’s views on immigration, many stop short of endorsing increased immigration levels. What accounts for the sharp blue “bulge” in the charts on support by party and ideology (Figure 3) are Democrats and self-identified liberals who are consistently pro-immigration but are comfortable with immigration levels as they are.(4) Only the very liberal group goes further, supporting increased immigration levels.
The partisan divide on immigration is not only wide, but it has grown wider in every year of the Trump presidency. Views of immigration were fairly correlated with partisanship in the first Voter Study Group survey in 2011. These partisan divisions grew considerably wider in the 2016 VOTER Survey and wider still in 2017 and 2018 VOTER Surveys. This is illustrated by the correlation coefficients between partisanship and responses to survey questions included in every wave of the VOTER Surveys (Table 2).
(4) By using a density plot — a variation of a histogram that uses kernel smoothing to plot values — we’re able to visualize where values are concentrated over the scoring index interval. This method allows us to better determine the distribution shape, which helps us make inferences about the overall electorate, based on a finite data sample.
Political divisions are mirrored in generational, educational, and racial divides. The demographic groups that align more with the Democratic Party — including non-white people and younger voters — reflect the same pro-immigration sentiments as Democrats as a whole do, and of course, the reverse is true of Republicans. We see this in visualizing net support on key questions and in the distribution of immigration support scores across groups.
Of course, when we present data demographically, we run the risk of restating the same political divisions by another name. After all, demographic factors can help determine one’s politics. To control for these impacts, multivariate regression analysis was run that accounts for ideology, age, education, race, gender, and religion. The aim was to understand which of these factors are most significant as drivers of opinion on immigration.
Conducted across all immigration-focused survey questions, this analysis confirms the dominant role political attitudes play: Ideology was roughly six times as important as any other factor, and age and education play a further role in shaping opinion, with greater support among younger and more educated respondents. Surprisingly, race and ethnicity — and particularly Hispanic background — plays less of a role across the board, challenging the conventional wisdom that the issue of immigration is key to the Hispanic vote. Only on questions that center more on immigration from Latin America does being Hispanic seem to have an impact, but on broader measures, such as the overall importance of immigration as an issue, Hispanics answered no differently than others who leaned the same way politically.
The politics of immigration often plays out inside the parties more than between them. Building bipartisan coalitions requires understanding which groups are most likely to break from their party’s orthodoxy. The dividing lines on immigration within the major parties reflect overall trends in one key respect: Ideology remains influential, albeit less so given the more homogenous nature of each major party.
When it comes to demographic factors, however, there is an important difference in the nature of each major party coalition. Whereas education levels are more likely to predict whether a Democrat is more supportive of immigration, age is the key dividing line within the Republican Party. Republican 18- to 34-year-olds score 18 points higher than those 55 years and older in their support for immigration, compared to a 5-point gap among Democrats.
The trends within the Democratic Party are driven first by ideology, then by education levels with a 15-point gap in immigration support scores between the most- and least-educated Democrats (this gap among Republicans is 5 points). Views by race within the Democratic Party are more uniform with Democratic white people holding slightly more liberal views than Hispanics or black people. When we control for party affiliation, we once again see race playing only a modest role in predicting support for immigration.
At times, the immigration debate can seem to be more dominated by the right than polling on some of the debate’s more pressing issues suggests. Voter Study Group data reveal a public that is closely divided on immigration in the aggregate, but the numbers look different for those who assign the highest priority to the issue. These voters lean further to the right, supported Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton by 21 points in 2016, and take a far more skeptical view of immigration.
The 2017 VOTER Survey asked respondents to rate their issue priorities. Overall, immigration ranked 16th out of 22 issues with 44 percent saying the issue was very important to them. But among Trump general election and primary voters, immigration was in 8th place, with 63 percent and 69 percent of Trump general election and primary voters respectively calling it “very important.” Among Clinton voters, only 29 percent said immigration was very important to them.
The partisan intensity gap has the predictable effect of shifting the balance of opinion sharply to the right among those who are most engaged on the issue. Among the sample of respondents who took both the 2017 and 2018 VOTER Surveys, support for the most popular pro-immigration priority, legal status for DREAMers, shrinks from a net margin of 35 points in favor to just 12 points in favor. Support for citizenship for illegal immigrants drops from a net margin of 26 points in favor to a net 1-point margin against. Issues including illegal immigrants’ contribution and a temporary Muslim ban, which divide voters overall, become two-to-one majorities for the “restrictionist” side among those who care the most about immigration.
Overall immigration support scores yield the same conclusion. Just 35 percent of those who assign a very high priority to immigration are scored as immigration supporters (with scores of 50 or higher) compared to 61 percent of those who rate the issue as “somewhat important,” and 66 percent of those who rate the issue “not very” or “not at all important.”
The intensity gap is also reflected in another question, which asks whether respondents would like to see a potential new third party to the right or to the left on immigration. The results are a slight reversal in Democrats’ normal edge in party identification: 37 percent wanted to see a new party like the Republican Party or further to right of it on immigration, and 33 percent wanted to see a new party like the Democratic Party or further to the left of it, with the balance either unsure or wanting a new party to be somewhere in between the two major parties.
This relatively even balance changes when one looks at those who want a new party to be further out to the ideological extremes on immigration, with greater intensity on the side of those who want a political movement further to the right. More voters, 22 percent, want a new third party to be further to the right of today’s Republicans while 13 percent want a third party further to the left than today’s Democrats. Among Republicans, 49 percent want such a party to be more to the right on immigration than today’s G.O.P., compared to just 24 percent of Democrats who would like a party that is more to the left of their party. That is less than the share of Democrats, 36 percent, who would like a party that is more conservative on immigration than the Democrats today. This likely means that, while Democrats believe their party has gone far enough to the left (or perhaps even too far) on immigration, Republicans are open to seeing a further shift to the right. This is consistent with the higher level of urgency Republicans assign to immigration overall.
The 2018 VOTER Survey asked a series of questions on immigration levels from specific parts of the world. Most Americans are content to keep immigration levels steady, and this is also true when asked of immigration from different geographic regions. But the share of those who say they would like immigration decreased varies substantially depending on the region.
The survey asked about immigration from seven geographic regions: Europe, Mexico, and Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, India, and China. Results ranged from nearly equal numbers wanting to increase versus decrease immigration from Europe, to a nearly four-to-one ratio in favor of decreasing over increasing immigration from the Middle East.
Across geographic regions, the percentages favoring increased immigration are relatively small and fall in a narrow range, from 11 percent to 17 percent. But the percentages favoring decreased immigration vary considerably, Americans overall, and Republicans in particular, more likely to favor decreasing immigration levels from Latin America and the Middle East.
Subgroup support follows patterns we’ve seen so far, with partisanship dominating. But there is a key difference: Whereas race and ethnicity contribute relatively little to explaining views on immigration overall, they can play a role in views about immigration that is coming from groups of the same racial background of the respondent. White people, black people, and Hispanics are, on net, about ten points more likely to support increased immigration from Europe, Africa, and Latin America, respectively, than their normal support patterns for other groups would indicate.
The conventional wisdom about the politics of immigration has been shaken by the election of Donald Trump. Five years ago, Republican leaders were eager to have the issue go away because it was seen as a deal-breaker with the Hispanic vote. Today, illegal immigration is an issue trumpeted by a Republican White House and is perceived as key to motivating the party’s base in a challenging midterm election cycle.
Elites in both parties may have been overly optimistic about the prospects of immigration reform. They tended to see public support for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants as the final word on immigration. But immigration is a multifaceted issue. Safety and security concerns related to potential refugees were salient in the 2016 presidential primary campaign. Today, President Trump seeks to highlight any connection between illegal immigration and violent crime. And indeed, VOTER Survey data show that crime and national security are two of the areas where the public is less certain that immigrants are having a positive impact. While the public remains opposed to signature Trump policies like the border wall, President Trump has partly succeeded in reframing the broader debate from one of resolving the status of undocumented immigrants to one focused on national security and public safety.
Public opinion can seem paradoxical at times. The American public is sympathetic to illegal immigrants currently in the U.S., while at the same time showing near-plurality support for seemingly extreme positions, like a travel ban on Muslims, which, as worded, is unconstitutional religious discrimination. (To survive legal challenges, the Trump administration’s travel ban was fashioned as a ban against seven countries.)
These seemingly contradictory positions do have a certain inner logic: Integrating those already here (who people see as contributing to the culture and the economy), while at the same time slowing down the process for potential future immigrants. For Americans, this means making it more difficult on balance for people to immigrate, and showing a willingness to pick and choose the parts of the world from which immigrants to the U.S. can come.
Partisan fissures are the main factor driving Americans apart on immigration, and the parties seem destined to grow further apart on the issue for as long as it remains a defining feature of Donald Trump’s presidency. Beyond these partisan divisions, age, and education levels further shape public attitudes. Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 hold a distinctly positive view of immigration, a trend which holds true across racial groups, and they are not as divided on immigration by party. These Americans will make up a larger share of the electorate in years to come, but for now, they stand alone. On immigration, voters aged 35 to 54 are closer to older voters in their views than younger voters — and just as politically polarized.
Ironically, the growing diversity of the American electorate does not seem to be a main driving factor in increasing support for immigration. Attitudes on immigration cut across racial and ethnic lines, and are largely driven by partisanship, age, and education. If we are to see less partisan polarization on immigration in the future, it will be because of generational shifts and rising rates of educational attainment — trends affecting Americans of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.
“Growth and Opportunity Project,” Report, Republican National Committee, March 2013. Available at: http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/623664/republican-national-committees-growth-and.pdf.
Megan Brenan, “Record-High 75% of Americans Say Immigration is a Good Thing,” Gallup News, Gallup, June 21, 2018. Available at: https://news.gallup.com/poll/2....
Melting Pot or Civil War? National Review September 28, 2018
How Do Religious Trump Voters View Immigrants, Minorities, And Class? The Federalist September 28, 2018
Three-Quarters of Republicans Say White Americans Face Discrimination in the U.S., Poll Finds Newsweek April 2, 2019
Race, Religion, and Immigration in 2016
John Sides' report on how the debate about the nature of American identity impacted voter decision-making in 2016.
Analysis from Lee Drutman, Vanessa Williamson, and Felicia Wong surfaces that going into the 2020 elections, Republicans' views on economic policy are more split than Democrats'.
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Howard Norman's Final Novel Is A 'Love Letter' To Vermont
By Jane Lindholm • Jul 2, 2019
Howard Norman in his home library. The author's latest novel is set in his real-life Calais farmhouse.
Calais writer Howard Norman says his new novel, The Ghost Clause, will be his last work of fiction. And so he set out to immortalize the things he loves about his Vermont life by incorporating them into the plot.
On the opening page of The Ghost Clause, a youngish couple — Muriel Streuth (an academic) and Zachary Anders (a private investigator) — are at home in their new farmhouse in Calais. Muriel is exhausted; she's just defended her dissertation, which went well but was stressful. So she's drawing a bath while Zachary makes her a cup of cinnamon tea.
We know all of this because our narrator is watching them. They don't realize he's there, because he's not. Well, not in the flesh at least.
"Things should be stated directly, don't you think?" he asks on page 3. And then he explains.
"At the age of forty-eight, I died of a heart attack, an hour out to sea, on May 23, 1994, at the rail of the Bar Harbor, Maine-Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, ferry."
Turns out, our narrator is a writer named Simon Inescort, who had, until recently resided bodily in this Vermont farmhouse with his wife, a painter named Lorca Pell. But he seems to be stuck in what he calls the "ongoingness" — not alive but not quite gone, either.
And so Simon is chronicling the life of the couple who bought the house from his widow, carefully detailing their comings and goings, the warmth and intimacy of their marriage, and their career aspirations. Maybe they'll someday discover the notebooks he's filling with his observations, and treasure discovering what their life looked like from the benefit of objectivity, if not distance.
The Ghost Clause is a novel written in "ghost first person," as it's author, Howard Norman, describes it. Norman, the author of many books and a double National Book Award nominee, got the idea to use this narrative device when his home alarm system kept malfunctioning, setting off the MOTION IN LIBRARY alarm. While he didn't think for a moment that it might be a ghost, it did occur to him that a ghost could be a useful narrator for a novel.
Not at all coincidentally, Norman lives in a farmhouse in Calais. He set The Ghost Clause in his real-life farmhouse, in his real-life town. And all kinds of real-life characters crop up throughout the book, happily recognizable to Vermont readers (and to the characters themselves, presumably).
"I wouldn't mind this book being seen as a love letter to a place, to a house," Norman said recently, sitting in the library where much of the novel's action takes place. Including people who make his Vermont life wonderful felt like a fitting way to give voice to his appreciation, especially because he anticipates that this will be his final novel. Not his final book, but his final work of fiction.
"The nuances of daily life seem to reside in these slight differences that let you know that you're alive and you're alert to these things. I don't think it's a big philosophical disquisition. I think it's purely experiential. And those things are deeply celebratory to me." — Howard Norman
"I've written the novels that I've wanted to write," he explains. "It's a willful and very conscious decision, without any sense of self-deprecation or of drama. It's good; it's healthy; it's clear."
And The Ghost Clause seems, in some ways, an elegy to Howard Norman's own life in Vermont, using a ghost narrator to get beyond the fact that the author himself is still living. There's a central plot that moves the story along: a young child who has gone missing, presumed to be kidnapped. Zachary Anders is the private detective assigned to the case.
But within that story are the love stories of two marriages: Muriel and Zachary, now living in the Calais farmhouse, and Simon and Lorca, with Simon in the "ongoingness" and Lorca in an apartment nearby.
And yet, the throughline is clearly a reflection on place and home and what makes a life. At one point in the book, Simon Inescort writes, "In my life in Vermont, everything I loved most happened most every day." And Howard Norman agrees.
"I'm a person who goes on rounds," he says. "After writing in the morning, say, I'll drive. And I'll stop in and see a friend, go to a bakery, go look at kingfishers. Whatever it is, you become a kind of docent of your own life. And you're guiding yourself to this place and that place.
"So I have these rounds, and there's variations on them. But the deeper variation is that no two days are the same. They can't be, by definition. The nuances of daily life seem to reside in these slight differences that let you know that you're alive and you're alert to these things. I don't think it's a big philosophical disquisition. I think it's purely experiential. And those things are deeply celebratory to me."
Broadcast on Monday, July 1, 2019 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
Author Howard Norman's Latest Novel Is Steeped In The Noir Tradition
By Ric Cengeri • Jun 13, 2017
Emma Norman / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Courtesy
East Calais author Howard Norman's love of noir crime literature and film is clearly evident in his latest novel, My Darling Detective.
What Draws So Many Writers And Poets To Vermont?
By Mitch Wertlieb • May 3, 2019
Vermont Historical Society, courtesy
This month on Brave Little State: Exploring the literary luminaries of Vermont, and why so many writers seem to thrive in the Green Mountain State.
Mud, Sweat And Tears: What It Takes To Be An Ultrarunner In Vermont
By Jane Lindholm, Matthew F. Smith & Olivia White • Jun 28, 2019
sportpoint / iStock
A summer hike or a neighborhood run is enough of an outdoor fix for some. But for others, only a 30, 50 or even 100-mile race will do. We’re talking with Vermont ultrarunners about the joy – and pain – to be found in running hundreds of miles.
Talking With The Curator Of Vermont's Museum Of Everyday Life
By Erica Heilman • Jun 28, 2019
Erica Heilman / For VPR
There's a new exhibit on display at the Museum of Everyday Life, a self-service museum in an old barn on route 16 between Glover and Hardwick in the Northeast Kingdom.
Erica Heilman talked with the museum curator, Clare Dolan, who asked: Why is there no job for appreciators of crickets, for sunset watchers? Where are the museums for the surprising familiar objects of our everyday lives?
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Please call 626-449-5320 to check the availability of this item.
The Mueller Report (Paperback)
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The Crucial #1 New York Times Bestseller
“The Mueller report is that rare Washington tell-all that surpasses its pre-publication hype…the best book by far on the workings of the Trump presidency.” —Carlos Lozada, The Washington Post
The only book with exclusive analysis by the Pulitzer Prize–winning staff of The Washington Post, and the most complete and authoritative available.
Read the findings of the Special Counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, complete with accompanying analysis by the Post reporters who’ve covered the story from the beginning.
This edition from The Washington Post/Scribner contains:
—The long-awaited Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election
—An introduction by The Washington Post titled “A President, a Prosecutor, and the Protection of American Democracy”
—A timeline of the major events of the Special Counsel’s investigation from May 2017, when Robert Mueller was appointed, to the report's delivery
—A guide to individuals involved, including in the Special Counsel’s Office, the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Trump Campaign, the White House, the Trump legal defense team, and the Russians
—Key documents in the Special Counsel’s investigation, including filings pertaining to General Michael T. Flynn, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Roger Stone, and the Russian internet operation in St. Petersburg. Each document is introduced and explained by Washington Post reporters.
One of the most urgent and important investigations ever conducted, the Mueller inquiry focuses on Donald Trump, his presidential campaign, and Russian interference in the 2016 election, and draws on the testimony of dozens of witnesses and the work of some of the country’s most seasoned prosecutors.
The special counsel’s investigation looms as a turning point in American history. The Mueller Report is essential reading for all citizens concerned about the fate of the presidency and the future of our democracy.
The Washington Post has built an unparalleled reputation in its coverage of the Special Counsel’s investigation and related topics. The paper’s circulation, prominence, and influence continue to grow.
“The Mueller report is that rare Washington tell-all that surpasses its pre-publication hype…the best book by far on the workings of the Trump presidency. It was delivered to the attorney general but is also written for history. The book reveals the president in all his impulsiveness, insecurity and growing disregard for rules and norms; White House aides alternating between deference to the man and defiance of his ‘crazy s---‘ requests; and a campaign team too inept to realize, or too reckless to care, when they might have been bending the law. And special counsel Robert Mueller has it all under oath, on the record, along with interviews and contemporaneous notes backing it up.” —Carlos Lozada, The Washington Post
“This is a document that, like the Badlands National Park, one has to visit for oneself. If you rely on the velvet fog of Attorney General William Barr’s Cliffs Notes, you will get an ‘F’ on the exam… So much of what’s in the Mueller report is already known, thanks to what never again should be referred to as ‘fake news,’ that reading it is like consuming a short story collection that’s already been excerpted in every magazine you subscribe to. But its two volumes nonetheless have the power to shock and appall.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times
“It's amazing how many journalistic stories derided as ‘fake news’ over the past few years now re-appear in Mueller's recounting — only this time as documented evidence…. Mueller's contribution to the literature of this period in history will have an expanding readership in the immediate future as well.” —NPR
“The Mueller report, Olympian and meticulous, feels like an attempt to wrest back our government on behalf not just of real lawyers but of reality itself.” —Laura Miller, Slate
Political Science / Corruption & Misconduct
Political Science / Security (National & International)
Political Science / American Government / Executive Branch
Political Science / Intelligence & Espionage
True Crime / Espionage
Kobo eBook (April 18th, 2019): $9.99
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Mieke Eerkens discusses and signs All Ships Follow Me: A Family Memoir of War Across Three Continents
In March 1942, Mieke Eerkens' father was a ten-year-old boy living in the Dutch East Indies. When the Japanese invaded the island he, his family, and one hundred thousand other Dutch civilians were interned in a concentration camp and forced into hard labor for three years. After the Japanese surrendered, Mieke's father and his family were set free in a country that plunged immediately into civil war. Across the globe in the Netherlands, police carried a crying five-year-old girl out of her home at war's end, abandoned and ostracized as a daughter of Nazi sympathizers. This was Mieke's mother. She would be left on the street in front of her sealed home as her parents were taken away and imprisoned in the same camps where the country's Jews had recently been held. Many years later, Mieke's parents met, got married, and moved to California, where she and her siblings were born. While her parents lived far from the events of their past, the effects of the war would continue to be felt in their daily lives and in the lives of their children.
All Ships Follow Me moves from Indonesia to the Netherlands to the United States, and spans generations, as Mieke recounts her parents' lives during and just after the war, and travels with them in the present day to the sites of their childhood in an attempt to understand their experiences and how it formed them. All Ships Follow Me is a deeply personal, sweeping saga of the wounds of war, and the way trauma can be passed down through generations. (Picador USA)
Those wishing to get books signed will be asked to purchase at least one copy of the author's most recent title from Vroman's. For each purchased copy of the newest title, customers may bring up to three copies from home to be signed. This policy applies to all Vroman's Bookstore events unless otherwise noted. Save your Vroman's receipt; it will be checked when you enter the signing line.
Tuesday, May 21, 2019 - 7:00pm
All Ships Follow Me: A Family Memoir of War Across Three Continents (Hardcover)
By Mieke Eerkens
Published: Picador - April 2nd, 2019
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The Plum Line Opinion
While you aren’t looking, the GOP continues to gut financial oversight
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Helaine Olen
Opinion writer focusing on politics, economics and American life
Bio Follow
Opinion writer
While Washington – and political Twitter – remain consumed by the battle of words between President Trump and Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, not to mention the latest attempts by the Republicans to move tax reform forward, an important Republican effort to weaken financial oversight and accountability is proceeding onward behind the scenes.
This week brings some important new developments in an area that rarely gets enough attention: The GOP’s ongoing efforts to weaken a signature effort by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to buttress the legal rights of consumers when they get into a dispute with a financial services company.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created under the Dodd-Frank financial reform act to level the playing field for Americans when they deal with companies offering them mortgages, credit cards, and other financial products. This past summer, the CFBP has undertaken to grant consumers who sign user contracts with financial services companies the right to join class action lawsuits in the event of a dispute over the terms of service, charges or other problem.
This CFPB action is an attempt to take on the growing corporate tactic of more or less forcing consumers seeking their offerings to sign away their rights to join a class action lawsuit. There is rarely an opportunity to say no – if you forgo the contract, you can forgo, say, the credit card.
What this all means is that, at a time when Republicans appear divided over so many things, they are unified on this one thing: The Trump administration and the GOP Congress continue to have Wall Street’s back. The CFPB plan would toughen regulations in the service of protecting consumers. But Trump and Republicans are trying to roll all that back.
The administration is doing all it can to help congressional Republicans in this regard.
Yesterday, Steven Mnuchin’s Treasury Department released a study claiming the CFPB’s action would lead to thousands of class action lawsuits and cost the financial services firms impacted by it the “extraordinary” sum of $1.7 billion settlement money, not to mention several hundred million more in legal defense fees. “The rule will effect a large wealth transfer to plaintiffs’ attorneys,” the report sniffed.
The financial services industry all but celebrated. Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with Cowen Washington Research Group, proclaimed in an analyst’s note that the Treasury Department report provides “political cover” to nervous Senate Republicans, adding: “As a result, we are bullish for the first time for prospects of the Senate overturning the CFPB’s prohibition on mandatory arbitration agreements.”
This follows efforts from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which has also taken aim at the regulation. The OCC recently published its own report on the issue, claiming the rule would result in credit card rates increasing by about 3.5 percent. And OCC head Kieth Noreika claimed the rule will cause “harm to community banks.”
Ultimately, the effort to stop this regulation lives or dies in the Senate.
After the CFPB moved forward with the regulation this past summer, Republicans in the House of Representatives, who hate the agency, immediately voted to repeal the nascent rule. But the push to the repeal the regulation could face tougher odds in the Senate. Polling shows Americans support the CFPB on this measure. And predictions have varied as to what will happen in the Upper Chamber. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has expressed doubts about repealing it. Sen. Susan Collins (R) is also reported to be undecided, and a recent survey conducted on behalf of Americans for Financial Reform and the Maine People’s Alliance found overwhelming support for the regulation in her home state of Maine.
The CFPB’s critics aren’t wrong when they say the amounts members of a class action sometimes receive in these sorts of cases are often in the low two figures, meaning few will participate in them. But that misses the point of the regulation. Few will go to either court or arbitration for the purpose of recouping, say, an unfair $35 overcharge. But multiply that up by a few hundred thousand, and you can see where a settlement can deter a bank or other financial services firm from engaging in such behavior.
The larger story here is that this is yet another way in which Trump’s campaign vow to take on financial elites is being revealed as a scam. Trump campaigned on a promise to “drain the swamp” and frequently claimed Hillary Clinton was “bought and paid for by Wall Street.” But he immediately appointed a passel of Wall Street types to key advisory positions, and set about working with Congressional Republicans to undo regulations protecting vulnerable Americans from big business. He’s gone after financial regulation created in the wake of Great Recession, Obama era protections for labor, and attempts to help former college students left with tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt incurred when they fell for false stats on job placement and graduation rates.
This latest move on the CFPB won’t drain the swamp. Pouring buckets of sludge into the swamp is more like it. Or, as Joe Valenti, the director for consumer finance at the Center for American Progress, put it to me: “It’s fortifying the swamp by allowing companies to take away victims’ right to court and give themselves a free pass from accountability.”
Helaine Olen Helaine Olen is a contributor to Post Opinions and the author of "Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry." Her work has appeared in Slate, the Nation, the New York Times, the Atlantic and many other publications. She serves on the advisory board of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Follow
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China’s intrusive, ubiquitous, scary surveillance technology
A worker installs a security camera pointed at a pedestrian walk way in Beijing on Dec. 11. (Ng Han Guan/AP)
STEP BY STEP, China has been rolling out surveillance technology that is remarkably intrusive, comprehensive and ubiquitous. Eager to exploit gains in technology, Beijing seems little concerned about human rights or privacy violations.
On Dec. 10, the BBC reported that China seeks to build the world's largest camera surveillance network, with 170 million closed-circuit cameras installed and an estimated 400 million new ones coming in the next three years. In the city of Guiyang in southwest China, correspondent John Sudworth agreed to add a photograph of his face to the database of the local public security bureau and have it flagged as a "suspect" in an experiment to see how long he could walk freely on the streets before the police could find him. He got out of his car close to the city center and walked toward a bus station. The exercise took just seven minutes.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch reported on Dec. 13 that Chinese authorities have been collecting DNA samples, blood types, fingerprints and iris scans, in some cases possibly without informing people, from a large swath of the population in the restive Xinjiang province in far northwestern China. Ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang have long complained about repression and discrimination at the hands of the Chinese government; resentment has sometimes turned violent. According to Human Rights Watch, in a procedure rolled out this year, the authorities there are collecting the DNA and blood-type information under the cover of a "free annual physical exams program called Physicals for All."
It wasn't clear that people were giving their consent or even knew that the DNA data was being taken, the group said. Although the government had sold the idea of amassing biodata in terms of poverty alleviation, better delivery of health services and "social stability," Human Rights Watch noted that such widespread collection of intimate data as DNA can be a serious human rights and privacy violation.
For several years now, China has been building out a system known as the social credit score, which collects information on the behavior of individuals from data such as financial transactions, shopping habits, social media and interactions with friends, as well as other indicators such as traffic tickets and unpaid bills, and computes a single loyalty or "trust" score for each individual. The authorities plan to make the system mandatory for the whole country by 2020. It is not hard to imagine the social credit system quickly turning into a Big Brother of the digital age, used to punish those who express dissent and to reward obedience to the Communist Party. The magazine Wired described this as a shift from the old regimen of trying to enforce obedience with truncheons and top-down fear; instead, "the government is attempting to make obedience feel like gaming. It is a method of social control dressed up in some points-reward system."
China promotes itself as a rising power, but a state that lords over its people with hidden cameras, secret databases and intrusive algorithms sounds more like prison.
Read more on this topic:
Jackson Diehl: China's Communist leadership has a model of totalitarianism for the 21st century
The Post's View: The Chinese steamroller of repression crushes another activist
Josh Rogin: China's foreign influence operations are causing alarm in Washington
Maya Wang: China's dystopian push to revolutionize surveillance
Isaac Stone Fish: Chinese ownership is raising questions about the editorial independence of a major U.S. magazine
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5 Ways The Market Basket Muddle Could Break
July 29, 2014Updated Jul 29, 2014 5:15 PM
A customer walks past empty shelves at a Somerville Market Basket on July 22. The 40-day dispute is now over. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
Tuesday was a seesaw day in the ongoing Market Basket muddle, as the board of directors shot down a report that ousted former CEO Arthur T. Demoulas' offer to buy the company was the last one on the table. The board said there are "several potential buyers."
So what is going to happen with Market Basket? The stalemate between the two sides is enduring through a second week. Store shelves and parking lots are largely empty.
This scene can't go on, says Boston University School of Management operations professor Sean Willems. It's costing the company millions of dollars per day. While Market Basket may be able to defer some of its costs, the revenue it is losing now is gone forever.
"The end game for this has to be sooner [rather] than later," says Willems, before adding, "if people are being economically rational."
So what "rational" solutions are there to end a crisis that's costing workers and family shareholders alike? Here are five scenarios.
Option 1: Bring In The 'Pinkertons'
Market Basket employees are openly defying orders from top management to resume business as usual. Their defiant posts on social media and public disruption of operations are giving the company plenty of documentation to sever ties. A statement from the company board of directors said: "We know and understand that trust and acceptance are earned and cannot be demanded or imposed." Even so, the company could impose its will by firing workers who are flouting company orders and by hiring replacements.
It seems unthinkable, but it also appears well within the rights of the company. Of course, a massive public backlash would likely follow from government officials, labor advocates and consumers.
Would such a huge outcry kill the company? Not necessarily, says BU's Willems. He says it's an open question how much customers would care if the stores were open and run by different employees.
"People choose the places that they shop as a function of many things," he says. "Some of the main ones are location and price. So you would think a lot of people would come back."
In fact, some customers are currently, if reluctantly, shopping at Market Basket. Others are posting their receipts from other supermarkets, often complaining how much more it costs.
Bringing in the proverbial Pinkertons would probably damage the company's brand and culture and growth for years, but it is feasible.
Option 2: If You Can't Beat Them, Let Them Buy You Out
In a Cognoscenti commentary Tuesday, MIT labor economist Tom Kochan argued that Market Basket's 25,000 employees are, in a sense, taking over the company:
Market Basket employees have asserted an implicit right of “natural ownership” of what they believe to be their company. Whether that psychological ownership can be partially realized through legal ownership is up to insiders to determine.
So why not sell to them and wash your hands of the company? Employee-owned companies are far from unusual in New England. For instance, Boston's Harpoon Brewing Co. recently became 48 percent employee-owned. But be prepared for many lawyers to be involved.
"It's a very complicated and expensive thing to do," says Dan Kenary, Harpoon's co-founder and incoming CEO of the employee-owned company. "You'd better really want to do this."
In such a deal, the company secures financing to take on debt to buy out existing shareholders. In Market Basket's case, this would mean the controlling share of the company owned by the side of the family led by Arthur S. Demoulas would sell its shares to an employee entity.
One advantage of such an arrangement is that these deals are highly regulated. Federal officials, wary that company executives would dump their shares on unsuspecting employees at an unfair price, require third-party valuation and auditing. That's just the sort of thing demanded in a situation in which a family feud over the course of decades has created a colossal loss of trust. To wit: In previous buyout bids, Demoulas family members have sued each other over what they considered unfair valuations of the company.
Still, some business experts warn that if Market Basket were employee-owned, it would limit the potential growth of the company. Often the shareholders of the company — and how deep their pockets are — can help determine how a company can expand and enter new markets. Employee ownership would likely determine a fate for Market Basket: to continue as a lean-running, narrowly distributed regional supermarket chain.
And that might just be fine for employees, but it's an important strategic choice.
Option 3: Take My Company, Please!
The board of directors could sell Market Basket to an outside buyer. For the time being, the likelihood of this option goes down each day. The Boston Globe reported early Tuesday that Market Basket's board had only one offer left on the table: that of ousted CEO Arthur T.
[Update at 5:15 p.m.: A board spokesperson is just out with a statement that says, in part: "Despite reports to the contrary, Arthur T. Demoulas is but one of several potential buyers for the Company who continue to express a strong interest in purchasing the Company. While Mr. Demoulas’ offer provides a path toward solving many of the problems he has helped to create, it is but one alternative among the options the Board is reviewing."]
Because as each day passes, the company becomes worth less. Other supermarket chains that have previously been interested in buying Market Basket would now be buying a hot potato right from the oven. New ownership would inherit the company in turmoil and employees fiercely loyal to both Arthur T. and the way things were done before.
It's not exactly a formula for a hefty price tag. For now, no one wants to burn their fingers.
But don't write off this option. The longer the standoff goes on — and the lower the value of the company goes — eventually, an outside buyer could again become a realistic option. After all, if some other supermarket chains can buy Market Basket at bargain basement prices, the more they're willing to take a risk on it.
Option 4: Employees' 'Dream Scenario': Artie T. Is The Buyer
Essentially, the long stalemate between the family's two sides is like two wrestlers locked into a position where neither gets leverage over the other to break free. But right now, both are losing so much money that they have to do something: Give up and lose (less).
Arthur S. and his side of the family controlling 50.5 percent of the company could accept Arthur T.'s offer to buy the company, and buy them out. In a way, Arthur T. has them over a barrel: Their worth is dropping each day the company loses millions. As the company becomes worth less, so do their shares. Arthur T.'s bid, which he called "full and fair," may not net the Arthur S. side as much as they thought they were worth only last week. But it could be a lot more than what they would get if the standoff endures and, worse, if the company loses so much it has to declare bankruptcy.
It could happen. Imagine the cheers from rank-and-file employees, who saw top executives and the board of directors buckle to their pressure. Imagine the smile on Arthur T.'s face as he strolls into a store, back as CEO.
"It has the beginnings of a Disney movie," BU professor Willems says.
But Willems warns there are still many questions about the viability of this option. Market Basket is a private company, so it's not clear how much debt it has, what its profit margins are, and how much money Arthur T. has in the bank.
Estimated valuations put Market Basket's overall price tag at more than $3 billion. (There's no yearlong 4 percent discount on this purchase!) That might be sticker shock for Arthur T., who presumably would have to get outside financing to be able to buy out his cousin's side.
And who would want to finance this sale but still be a minority owner to Arthur T.? It's not like the company was running perfectly under him, and he would be back in charge.
But don't let that spoil what some employees call a "dream scenario."
Option 5: Back To 'Normal' — For Now
The simplest option is not to negotiate a sale but to simply reinstate Arthur T. as CEO, which would satisfy the chief demand of company employees. Workers would go back to work, customers would come back to shop, the press would marvel at a successful employee-led revolt, and the company would be back in business.
But not exactly back to normal. The sort of boardroom acrimony and resentment that would most likely endure wouldn't have the ingredients for a future of sustainable leadership and growth. Under this scenario, the Arthur S. side of the family could court buyers for the company while it's making money, not losing it.
And under this scenario, outside buyers would have time to make a plan for buying the company and transitioning its leadership. Willems calls this a "hybrid Pinkerton" scenario where, eventually, change would come to the company that doesn't seem to want to change.
Arthur S. and his side own the controlling interest in the company. After all, for as much "psychological ownership" (as Kochan called it) employees have demonstrated over the past two weeks, they don't control everything.
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+353 761 002667 wmnp@ahg.gov.ie
Wicklow Mountains National Park
Information Office & Garden
Biting Insects
Driving In Winter
The Great Military Road
Mining in Wicklow Mountains National Park
The Monastic Sites of Glendalough
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In the latter part of the sixth century, St. Kevin crossed the mountains from Hollywood to Glendalough. Within 100 years, the area had developed from a remote hermitage into one of the most important monastic sites in Ireland. The monastery continued to flourish after St. Kevin’s death in 617 A.D.
By the end of the eighth century, the monastery employed up to 1000 laypeople to help grow crops and tend livestock. Monasteries were wealthy. In addition to stores of treasure, most monasteries maintained substantial stocks of food and were able to survive periodic famines. Such rich sites were often plundered. Glendalough’s remote location made it an easy target, and between 775 and 1095 it was plundered many times by both local tribes and Norse invaders. Usually the churches and houses were burned, but each time the monastery was rebuilt.
The eventual decline of Glendalough’s monastery was not due to invaders, but rather to a shift in political power. When Glendalough was annexed to the diocese of Dublin in 1152, its importance declined. Despite this, the place has retained a spiritual significance.
Glendalough’s Monastic Sites
Today the ruins of the ancient monastic site are scattered throughout the valley. Many are almost 1000 years old. The main sites are located in the area known as the Monastic City, beside the OPW Visitor Centre. Guided tours are available. Further afield are the ruins of other churches, extending from St. Saviour’s Church in the far east of the valley, to Temple na Skellig beside the Upper Lake.
All the monastic ruins in Glendalough are managed by the Office of Public Works (OPW) and are not under the auspices of the National Park. Queries about the monastic site should be directed to OPW. Entrance to all the historic sites is free of charge. All sites are open at all times. The Monastic City is also served by the adjacent OPW Visitor Centre which has an exhibition, an audio-visual show and also provides guided tours. An admission charge applies to the Visitor Centre and for the tours. Due to the archaeological nature of the sites, none of them are accessible to wheelchairs.
The Monastic City
The Monastic City is the name given to the main monastic site at the eastern end of the valley, close to the OPW Visitor Centre and the Glendalough Hotel. The following monuments can be seen in the Monastic City.
This building stands at the entrance to the Monastic City, and is perhaps one of the most important monuments as it is now unique in Ireland. The building was originally two-storeyed, probably with a timber roof. Inside on the west wall, is a cross-inscribed stone. Visitors entering the Monastic City from the road still pass through this ancient entrance, walking on some of the original stone paving.
The Round Tower
Perhaps the most noticeable monument, the Round Tower is about 30 metres high. The entrance is about 3.5 metres from the base. Originally there were six wooden floors with ladders. The roof had fallen in many years ago, but was rebuilt in 1876 using the original stone. Round towers were multi-functional. They served as landmarks for visitors, bell-towers, store-houses, and as places of refuge in times of attack.
This is the largest of the churches, and was constructed in several phases. Of note, are an aumbry or wall cupboard under the southern window, and a piscina – a basin used for washing sacred vessels. Outside the Cathedral is St. Kevin’s Cross – a large early granite cross with an unpierced ring.
The Priest’s House
This is a small Romanesque building which was almost totally reconstructed using the original stones in 1779. The east end has a decorative arch. The original purpose of the building is unknown, but it may have been used to house the relics of St. Kevin. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was used as a place to inter priests.
St. Kevin’s Kitchen
This church is most noticeable for its steep roof formed of overlapping stone, supported internally by a semi-circular vault. The belfry has a stone cap and four windows facing north, south, east and west, and is reminiscent of a round tower.
St. Kieran’s Church
Only low walls of this church remain. It was uncovered in 1875, and probably commemorates the founder of Clonmacnoise, a monastic settlement that had associations with Glendalough during the 10th century.
Other Monastic Sites near the Monastic City
Also called Our Lady’s Church, this is one of the earliest churches. It consists of a nave and chancel. The granite west doorway has an architrave, inclined jambs, and a massive lintel. The underside of the lintel has an inscription of an unusual X-shaped cross. The round-topped east window has two very worn carved heads on the outside. St. Mary’s Church is located in a field to the west of the Monastic City.
St. Saviour’s Church
This is the youngest of the Glendalough churches. It was built in the 12th century. The nave and chancel have many well decorated stones. The Romanesque chancel arch has three tiers of decoration. The east window is decorated with various carvings including a serpent, a lion, and two birds holding a human head between their beaks. An adjoining domestic building has a staircase that would have led to a room over the chancel. St. Saviour’s Church is located on the Green Road approximately 1 km east of the Monastic City.
This is a simple nave and chancel church. A door in the west gable leads to a later annex, possibly a sacristy. There was a belfry in the style of a round tower, but it collapsed in a storm in 1818. Trinity Church is located beside the main road just east of the Visitor Centre.
Upper Lake Historical Sites
Reefert Church
The remains of Reefert Church are situated in a woodland setting, on the south-eastern shore of the Upper Lake close to the Information Office. Reefert derives its name from the Irish ‘Righ Fearta’ meaning burial place of the kings (referring to the local rulers – the O’Toole family). It dates from the eleventh century and is likely to have been built on the site of an earlier church. The church and graveyard were originally surrounded by a stone wall enclosure known in Gaelic as a ‘caiseal’. Most of the present surrounding walls however are modern. The upper parts of the church walls were re-built over 100 years ago using the original stones.
The Caher
This archaeological monument is found on the lawns beside the Upper Lake in Glendalough. It is a stone walled circular enclosure, measuring 20 meters in diameter. It’s original purpose and time of construction is a mystery. Similar structures can be found around the country but they were built on a much larger scale for use as defensive forts. The Caher in Glendalough is likely to be have been used as a station (stopping point for prayers) for those on pilgrimage across the mountains to the remains of St. Kevin’s monastery.
Various Crosses
The lawns by the Upper Lake are the location of several stone crosses. They may have been used as stations during pilgrimages to Glendalough.
Temple na Skellig
The ruins of this small church are located at the base of the cliffs on the southern shore of the Upper Lake. The site is not safely accessible to visitors, but may be viewed from the Miners’ Road, across the lake. West of the church is a raised platform with stone enclosure walls, where dwelling huts probably stood. The church was partly rebuilt in the 12th century.
St. Kevin’s Bed
St. Kevin’s Bed is a small cave in the cliff to the east of Temple ne Skellig. The entrance is about 8 metres above the lake. Please note that the site is not safely accessible, and has been the site of many serious accidents. It may be viewed from the Miner’s Road, across the lake. The cave runs back two metres into the cliff and was reputedly a retreat for St. Kevin and later for St. Laurence O’Toole.
St. Kevin’s Cell
Originally a small bee-hive hut, today only a circle of base stones remain to mark its location on a rocky spur over the Upper Lake.
National Park Headquarters: the headquarters is open Monday to Friday during office hours. The Duty Ranger is available Monday to Sunday during office hours.
National Park Education Centre: the Centre is open from Monday to Friday during office hours.
National Park Information Office: 10am – 5:30pm. Weekends all year; daily in season.
Wicklow Mountains National Park,
Kilafin, Laragh, via Bray, Co. Wicklow A98 K286
Phone:+353 761 002667
E-mail:wmnp@ahg.gov.ie
Website:www.wicklowmountainsnationalpark.ie
© 2017 Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs.
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Rogues in the House
This article is about a short story. For the protagonist and principal character, see Conan the Barbarian. For the collection of the same title that contains this story, see Rogues in the House (collection).
"Rogues in the House"
Rural Publishing Corporation
"The Pool of the Black One"
"Shadows in the Moonlight"
"Rogues in the House" is one of the original short stories starring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard and first published in Weird Tales magazine in January 1934. It's set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age, and concerns Conan inadvertently becoming involved in the struggle between two powerful men fighting for control of a city-state. It was the seventh Conan story Howard had published. It's famous for the fight scene between Conan and an ape, often known as the cover by artist Frank Frazetta
Weird Tales magazine (Jan 1934)
Terror by Night anthology (Selwyn and Blount, 1934, ed. Christine Campbell Thomson)
Skull-Face and Others (Arkham House, 1946)
The Coming of Conan (Gnome Press, 1953)
More Not at Night anthology (Arrow Books, 1961, ed. Christine Campbell Thomson)
Conan (Lancer, 1967, later reissued by Ace Books)
Rogues in the House (Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc., 1976)
The Conan Chronicles (Sphere Books, 1989)
The Conan Chronicles, Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle (Gollancz, 2000)
Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932-1933) (Del Rey, 2003).
español: Villanos en la casa
galego: Ladróns na casa
italiano: Gli intrusi a palazzo
polski: Dom pełen łotrów
русский: Сплошь негодяи в доме
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Home PRESS RELEASES BAIRD AWARDS THREE UW-MADISON STUDENTS WITH SCHOLARSHIPS, CONTINUES SPONSORSHIP OF WOMEN IN...
BAIRD AWARDS THREE UW-MADISON STUDENTS WITH SCHOLARSHIPS, CONTINUES SPONSORSHIP OF WOMEN IN BUSINESS STUDENT ORGANIZATION
MADISON, Wis., March 14, 2007 – Baird, an employee-owned, international wealth management, capital markets, private equity and asset management firm, continued its sponsorship of the University of Wisconsin’s Women in Business student organization by awarding three of the group’s members with $1,000 scholarships.
Created to inspire women to pursue leadership careers in the financial services industry, the Baird scholarships include a one-time grant of $1,000 to be used for tuition or school related expenses as well as the opportunity to interact with a Baird mentor. This year is the second year that Baird has awarded such individual scholarships to Women in Business members. Baird also provides funding to Women in Business to support programming and guest speakers.
The scholarship recipients included:
Laura Hacker, a junior from Minnetonka, Minn., majoring in Finance and Marketing;
Cara Lombardo, a sophomore from Madison, Wis., majoring in Accounting; and
Sarah Machurick, a senior from Little Chute, Wis., majoring in Marketing and Spanish.
Hacker and Lombardo were selected based on a number of criteria including academic record, demonstrated excellence in community leadership and strong interpersonal skills Machurick was granted the third scholarship in recognition of her strong community service and dedication to the Women in Business organization.
The scholarships were announced March 10 at a reception hosted by Baird at the Fluno Center for Executive Education in Madison.
About Women in Business
Formed in 2006, Women in Business is a UW student organization for undergraduate women interested in business. The group is sixty members strong and meets weekly. Meetings feature guest speakers, discussion panels, mentoring, networking, professional development and community service. The group has also coordinated professional development trips to Chicago and Minneapolis. UW’s Women in Business is affiliated with the 85 Broads Network, an international co-mentoring program that links professional women at all levels.
About Baird
Baird is an employee-owned, international wealth management, capital markets, private equity and asset management firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Established in 1919, Baird has more than 2,200 associates serving the needs of individual, corporate, institutional and municipal clients. Baird oversees and manages client assets of $77 billion. Committed to being a great place to work, Baird is one of FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” in 2008 — its fifth consecutive year on the list. Baird’s principal operating subsidiaries are Robert W. Baird & Co. in the United States and Robert W. Baird Group Ltd. in Europe. Baird also has an operating subsidiary in Asia supporting Baird’s private equity operations. For more information, please visit Baird’s Web site at www.rwbaird.com.
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Home PRESS RELEASES SASI: Expands service offerings to include Health Savings Accounts
SASI: Expands service offerings to include Health Savings Accounts
Deborah Kuras, Director of Sales & Marketing
e debbiek@sasiplans.com
Milwaukee-based SASI has expanded its service offerings to include Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
Professional staff increased to serve additional clients
Milwaukee, Wis. – February 20, 2015 – SASI, a third-party administrator (TPA) and record keeper, that specializes in HRAs (Health Reimbursement Arrangements), FSAs (Flexible Spending Accounts), POP (Premium Only Plans), and Transportation Plans, and 401(k) and other Defined Contribution Plans, has partnered with Healthcare Bank to add administration of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to its increasing list of services.
An HSA is a special tax-advantaged savings account that allows the participant to pay for current eligible health care expenses and save for qualified medical and retiree health care expenses on a tax-favored basis. HSAs can be funded by both the employer and the employee on a pre-tax basis.
Christene Metz has joined SASI as an Employee Benefits Specialist. With a Bachelor’s degree in business and management from Alverno College, she’s assisting with SASI’s growing business. Her interest in Human Resources led her to serve two terms as president of the Student Chapter of Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) while at Alverno.
Deborah Kuras, Director of Sales & Marketing, said, “We welcome Christene to SASI. HSAs provide advantages for both employees and employers. In addition to the tax savings, HSA account holders can look forward to additional advantages as well. Unused HSA dollars roll over from year to year, making HSAs a convenient and easy way to save and invest for future medical expenses.”
An individual owns the HSA at all times and can take it with them if the individual changes medical plans, changes jobs, or retires. As the funds in the HSAs grow, so do the investment options. An HSA through SASI offers a wide variety of mutual funds and other options to promote larger returns on investment.
SASI was founded by Eugene S. Hill in 1989, and he and his team grew SASI to rank among the nation’s foremost third-party administrator and record keeper companies. With an emphasis on customer service (a live person answers incoming telephone calls), SASI has been staffed with professional service veterans capable of immediately responding to their client needs.
William F. Brown, Director of Compliance, said, “Employers benefit from offering HSAs to their employees. With the cost of health care continuously increasing, employers who offer high deductible health plans can make contributions to their employees’ HSA accounts and still save money.”
The management team at SASI consists of Rose Hill, President; Deborah Kuras, Director of Sales & Marketing; William F. Brown, Director of Compliance; and Brian Konkel, Accountant. This team has a combined total of over 50 years at SASI providing personal service to their diverse, national clientele.
SASI is a nation-wide third-party administrator of Section 125 Cafeteria Plans, Section 132 Transportation Programs, Section 105 Health Reimbursement Plans, 401(k) and Qualified Defined Contribution Plans, and new for 2015, Section 223 Health Saving Account Administration.
For more information, please contact Deborah Kuras, Director of Sales & Marketing, SASI, 1720 W Florist Avenue, Suite 250, Glendale, Wis. 53209 at 800-752-3539, or debbiek@sasiplans.com. Visit www.sasiplans.com for additional information.
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SUBSCRIBE NOWfor home delivery
State Ag Secretary makes management team appointments
Af Secretary Pfaff announces six members of DATCP management team
State Ag Secretary makes management team appointments Af Secretary Pfaff announces six members of DATCP management team Check out this story on wisfarmer.com: https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/2019/01/18/pfaff-announces-management-team-datcp/2617114002/
Wisconsin State Farmer Published 1:41 p.m. CT Jan. 18, 2019
DATCP (Photo: DATCP)
MADISON – Secretary-designee Brad Pfaff has named Randy Romanski deputy secretary and Angela James assistant deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP). In addition, Pfaff has also appointed six members of his management team, including five division administrators and the communications director.
“I am grateful that Randy and Angela have accepted positions in DATCP’s leadership team,” said Pfaff. “Their combined experience in government administration, policy development and external relations will be invaluable as we work to carry out DATCP’s mission to partner with all the citizens of Wisconsin to grow the economy by promoting quality food, healthy plants and animals, sound use of land and water resources, and a fair marketplace.”
Randy Romanski (Photo: DATCP)
Romanski has held leadership roles at multiple state agencies. He previously served as DATCP’s deputy secretary and secretary under Governor Jim Doyle, working on issues such as farmland preservation, local foods, farm-to-school, and renewable energy. Romanski has also served as the executive assistant for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
Since 2011, Romanski has been serving as the safety program chief in DOT’s Division of State Patrol. Earlier in his career, he held staff positions in the state legislature, both in the Senate and Assembly. He has also served as a policy analyst for the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
Originally from Wisconsin Rapids, Romanski earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and his master’s degree from the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Angela James will serve as Assistant Deputy Secretary. Before joining the department, James was an attorney in private practice. Her experience includes work with water quality matters including National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting, Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) engagement, and nutrient trading.
Prior to entering private practice, James was an attorney with a large Midwestern-based law firm, served with the Wisconsin paper industry, and was responsible for environmental compliance as the in-house counsel at an integrated gas and electric utility.
Through these positions, James also gained significant hands-on experience in air, water, waste, and OSHA regulations. She currently serves as a commissioner and secretary of the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District. James has bachelor’s, master’s, and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“DATCP is a department with a very broad scope and broad range of responsibilities,” added Pfaff. “Randy, Angela, and I look forward to working with our management team and the tremendous agency staff to deliver efficient and effective programs and services to Wisconsin agriculture, consumers, and businesses.”
Brad Pfaff (Photo: Submitted)
Steve Ingham will take on the role as Division of Food and Recreational Safety Administrator. Ingham was originally appointed administrator from November 2008 until July 2010. He returned as administrator in March 2011 and has served ever since. Prior to his appointments at DATCP, he was a faculty member in the UW-Madison Department of Food Science and a food safety specialist with the UW-Extension. He previously held faculty posts at Louisiana State University and the University of Saskatchewan (Canada). Ingham earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Cornell University. His research has been published in peer-reviewed publications including the Journal of Food Protection, the International Journal of Food Microbiology, and the Journal of Dairy Science.
Krista Knigge has been selected as Division of Agricultural Development Administrator. Knigge was first appointed division administrator in June 2018. Prior to her work at DATCP, Knigge held strategic communications and integrated marketing roles at Northwestern Mutual.
During her career, she also held positions at Charleston|Orwig, Case IH, and John Deere. Knigge remains engaged in her family’s dairy, Knigge Farms, directing social media and promotion activities, and grazes cattle with her husband on their property in rural Mukwonago. She is involved in the agricultural industry, volunteering with the Holstein Association USA Inc., Wisconsin Holstein Association, and the Association of Women in Agriculture. Knigge holds bachelors’ of science degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Kelly Smithback will serve as Division of Management Services Administrator. Smithback was appointed as Division of Management Services Administrator. Smithback was first appointed administrator of the Division of Management Services in May 2018. Smithback has been at DATCP for 25 years. She gained experience in internal operations working in the Division of Trade and Consumer Protection and the Office of the Secretary, beginning as a program assistant and most recently as a program and policy chief. As administrator, she leads DATCP’s budget/finance, human resources, information technology, emergency response, and laboratory efforts. Smithback graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Lara Sutherlin is the new administrator of the Division of Trade and Consumer Protection. Sutherlin is an attorney with extensive experience in directing complex legal initiatives for the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division.
In the more than 10 years she has been with Attorney General’s office, she has investigated and litigated regulatory matters in all types of industries. Prior to joining the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Sutherlin practiced law in Boston, Massachusetts, where she specialized in wage and hour class actions. Sutherlin is also the co-founder of the Wisconsin Coalition on Student Loan Debt Inc., an organization designed to positively impact the student debt landscape in Wisconsin. She has a bachelor of arts degree from Indiana University and law degree from Northeastern University School of Law.
Sara Walling returns to DATCP as the division administrator for the Agricultural Resource Management Division. Most recently, Walling served as the director of the University of Wisconsin Extension’s Institute of Agriculture. Prior to her role at Extension, she served the state for 12 years where she held several positions in DATCP, including nearly six years as the agency’s Nutrient Management and Water Quality Section chief. Walling has a master of science degree from Montana State University-Bozeman and a bachelor of science degree from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
Grace Colás is the new communications director. Colás comes to DATCP from the office of State Representative Dave Considine, where she has worked since 2015. She began her career in Wisconsin government in 2012. Colás has also previously served as a board member and committee co-chair for Wisconsin Women in Government. As communications director, she looks forward to serving rural communities and telling the story of Wisconsin’s vibrant agricultural economy. Colás has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Pfaff will announce additional appointments as they are made.
Read or Share this story: https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/2019/01/18/pfaff-announces-management-team-datcp/2617114002/
Trump escapes blame for ethanol policy hurting corn farmers
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Clinton family expands dairy operation for the next generation
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House to vote Friday on Equality Act
by: Raquel Martin, 24 Hour News 8 web staff
Posted: May 16, 2019 / 10:23 PM EDT / Updated: May 16, 2019 / 10:23 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are trying to pass a measure that would extend federal civil rights protections to LGBTQ people, but conservatives are pushing back.
“We need to stop this devastation legislation,” Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., said at a Thursday press event outside the Capitol. “This is an imminent threat to the common good.”
She’s part of a coalition of House Republicans and conservative groups opposing the Equality Act, which they have framed as the “Inequality Act.”
Democrats’ plan would add gender identity and sexual orientation to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, making it illegal to discriminate against those who are gay or transgender. Many states have no such protections.
But opponents say the bill would “hijack” the Civil Rights Act, hurt women and infringe on religious freedoms.
“People need to oppose this anti-Constitution anti-religious freedom act,” Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, said.
The coalition delivered a scathing two-page letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., outlining their objections to the bill. It was signed by nearly three dozen conservative and religious groups.
But supporters are making noise as well, on Thursday delivering petitions with 170,000 signatures in support of the bill.
“We’re really vindicating the founding principles of this country,” said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., who is openly gay and has been working on the plan for six years. “We will pass the Equality Act, which will once and for all prohibit legal discrimination.”
The House will vote on the measure Friday. It will be largely symbolic, as the plan will likely hit a stonewall in the Republican-controlled Senate.
by Trevor Shirley / Jul 16, 2019
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) - Furry friends all across the country could soon have new protections from the federal government - and lawmakers say it's about time.
The effort to make animal abuse a federal crime is getting a lot of support on both sides of the aisle. Congressional lawmakers say with all the division in government, there's nothing that unites people like protecting animals. They're hoping that's enough to get a new bill passed into law.
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Investigating the initiation and maintenance of long-term memory
Discovering the machinery for turning on long-term memory
Eric Kandel Scientist
41. Cell accepts my article for publication 60 03:09
42. Discovering the machinery for turning on long-term memory 33 03:08
43. Investigating the initiation and maintenance of long-term memory 21 05:28
44. What is so special about prions? 35 04:42
45. The characteristic features of prions 29 01:34
46. Alden Spencer 30 05:12
47. S Channel 17 01:50
48. How a review inspired a textbook 22 02:19
49. Coincidences that influenced my work 36 04:39
50. Nurturing the ideas of post-doc students 23 00:54
So this was a very exciting period. So we wanted to identify some of the molecular mechanisms underlying this. So we began to test this idea. So - we knew that the cyclic AMP dependent protein kinase could activate a particular transcription factor called CREB - cyclic AMP response element-binding protein. And how that happened was that the cyclic AMP dependent protein kinase moved into the nucleus to activate CREB. So Roger Tsien had developed imaging techniques and he relabelled the cyclic AMP dependent protein kinase, and we actually saw it move into the nucleus with repeated serotonin applications.
And then, first Pramod Dash and then Dusan Bartsch showed that CREB was critically involved. Pramod Dash just showed that if you inject a blocker of CREB it blocks long-term memory. Dusan Bartsch actually cloned CREB and showed that if you inject the phosphorylated form of CREB you don't need anything; you can get long-term facilitation. Doesn't last very long, but you can turn it on. Moreover he made an amazing discovery. He found there were two CREBs: CREB1 and CREB2. CREB1 activates transcription, and CREB2 inhibits CREB1. That was fascinating. And he realized that there was a machinery for turning on the long-term process. And that machinery became even more interesting about five or six years ago when Priya Rajasethupathy, a fantastic MD-PhD student was in my lab, and she found that there are small RNAs that regulate CREB1 and CREB2. There's one, a micro RNA, that normally inhibits CREB1, and serotonin releases that inhibition, turning on CREB1. But in addition there's a piRNA which no one realized exists in a nervous system, a whole bunch of them. And one of them inhibits CREB2 and gets turned on by serotonin. So serotonin relieves the inhibition in CREB1, turns on the inhibition of CREB2, so CREB1 can be on for longer period of time to turn on the long-term process. Really quite beautiful. So with time we've got a very good understanding of how that transcriptional cascade works, and the growth of new synaptic connections.
And that has turned out to be a very general mechanism. In almost every learning process, simple or complicated - Aplysia, hippocampus - that one looks at, long-term memory involves CREB. May not be by itself, but acting with other, you know, colleagues, but it's a critical factor in it. But that generality was reassuring, but it raised an important problem in the cell biology of neurons.
Eric Kandel (b. 1929) is an American neuropsychiatrist. He was a recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on the physiological basis of memory storage in neurons. He shared the prize with Arvid Carlsson and Paul Greengard. Kandel, who had studied psychoanalysis, wanted to understand how memory works. His mentor, Harry Grundfest, said, 'If you want to understand the brain you're going to have to take a reductionist approach, one cell at a time.' Kandel then studied the neural system of the sea slug Aplysia californica, which has large nerve cells amenable to experimental manipulation and is a member of the simplest group of animals known to be capable of learning. Kandel is a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. He is also Senior Investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He was the founding director of the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, which is now the Department of Neuroscience at Columbia University. Kandel's popularized account chronicling his life and research, 'In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind', was awarded the 2006 Los Angeles Times Book Award for Science and Technology.
Title: Discovering the machinery for turning on long-term memory
Tags: CREB1, CREB2, Pramod Dash, Dusan Bartsch, long-term memory, micro RNA, serotonin
Duration: 3 minutes, 8 seconds
Date story recorded: June 2015
Date story went live: 04 May 2016
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The City of West University Place is a small town with a big heart.
West University Place is located in the 4th largest metropolitan area in the nation but has managed to retain its small town feel while providing convenient access to an array of big city amenities in the surrounding areas, such as:
Southside Place
Amenities & Benefits
Just minutes from downtown Houston, the Galleria, and Texas Medical Center, West University Place’s location makes it an ideal spot for living, working, and raising a family. West University Place’s tree-lined streets, well maintained homes and expansive park system are second to none.
Thriving Community
West University Place continues to thrive as a community due to a number of factors, including:
Access to big city amenities
Low crime rates
Small-town atmosphere
The area's strong educational background, its proximity to Rice University, and the fact that 85% of adults who live in West U have bachelor's degrees are among the reasons West University Place has been recognized for a high quality of life.
Over the years, West University Place has earned regional and national recognition.
In 1999, Inside Houston Magazine named West University Place the Hottest Neighborhood in their annual Reader’s Choice Awards.
Business Development Magazine named West University Place as the one of the best small Texas cities to live.
In 2007, Forbes named West University Place as a Top Urban Enclave, stating that "the tree-filled, affluent bedroom community is one of the most prized addresses in the Houston area."
In 2011, West University Place received multiple accolades from rating entities:
CNNMoney named West University Place as the #12 Top Earning Town in America.
The Houston Business Journal ranked West University Place #1 in a study of quality of life in the southern United States. The rankings encompass 1,146 cities, towns, villages and other municipalities in 13 southern states.
In 2018, West U was ranked one of "America's 50 Best Cities to Live" by 24/7 Wall Street.
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Clashing views color future of stalled N.Korea nuclear talks
Published: December 06 2018 9:10 PM
Updated: December 06 2018 9:09 PM
SEOUL, South Korea - To hear a beaming Donald Trump at his June summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, the solution to North Korea's headlong pursuit of nuclear weapons, a foreign policy nightmare that has flummoxed U.S. leaders since the early 1990s, was at hand.
Since the remarkable claims made during the first-ever meeting of leaders from the archrival nations, however, there have been recriminations, simmering bad blood — and very little progress. In other words, just what skeptics in Seoul and Washington have come to expect from North Korean nuclear diplomacy.
So even as Trump says he's keen on another summit, possibly early next year, continuing sanctions and pressure from Washington are met with anger and foot-dragging from Pyongyang, which has bluntly stated that an "improvement of relations and sanctions are incompatible."
One of the problems is a matter of wording. The statement hammered out in Singapore, which called for "the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," was so vague that it seemed tailor made for a stalemate: Each side can claim to be right when they say that they've done more than enough and it's the other side's responsibility to act.
A second summit seems the most likely answer.
Trump's national security adviser said such a meeting would not be a reward and that the president merely wants to give North Korea "a chance to live up to the commitments they've made at the Singapore summit."
"He's held the door open for them, they need to walk through it," John Bolton said in an interview with NPR. "And this is one more chance for Kim Jong Un who is the only decision maker that matters in the North Korean system to deliver on what he said in Singapore, and that's possible I think some time after the first of the year."
Other diplomatic channels have stalled, including talks between Trump and Kim's main envoys, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his North Korean counterpart Kim Yong Chol.
Pompeo did meet on Thursday in Washington with South Korea's foreign minister in a new attempt to push the process forward. The State Department said only that the two officials "reaffirmed the ironclad alliance between the United States and (South) Korea and pledged to maintain close coordination to ensure the final, fully verified denuclearization of (North) Korea."
Pompeo has traveled to Pyongyang four times this year, but canceled a planned meeting with a top North Korean official in New York last month when the North balked. Tentative plans to reschedule those talks, perhaps as early as next week, remain uncertain.
Meanwhile, Pompeo's invitation for Kim to name a counterpart for his special North Korea envoy, former Ford Motor Co. executive Stephen Biegun, and send that person to Vienna for lower-level working discussions, has gone unanswered.
The views from both Seoul and Washington are complicated.
South Koreans are famous for ignoring North Korean threats, including repeated vows to turn Seoul into a "sea of fire," but there were widespread fears of war last year amid threats and insults between Trump and Kim Jong Un as the North tested a string of increasingly powerful weapons. Even the most jaded would likely say that things are better now.
There has also been curiosity at the warming ties between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim, who have had three summits and agreed on an unprecedented trip to Seoul by Kim, possibly in coming weeks. Among the more stunning sights this diplomacy has spawned has been Moon, who has worked doggedly behind the scenes to orchestrate the various summits, filling a water bottle at a "sacred" volcanic lake in the North, and Kim being spirited across the inter-Korean border, the world's most heavily armed, in an armored limousine, a phalanx of burly bodyguards jogging alongside.
But deep skepticism has always been the go-to mindset for many South Koreans, especially conservatives who have seen Moon's liberal presidential predecessors' engagement efforts with the North eventually fail to meet expectations. North Korea, it is true, has not conducted a nuclear or ICBM test since November 2017, but according to recent reports from private analysts it still is believed to be churning out nuclear bomb fuel and making headway on its missile program at more than a dozen facilities.
Like the others, the latest such report, released on Thursday, is drawn from commercial satellite imagery and shows activity at a previously undisclosed site where the North is believed to be expanding a missile base. "The base is a strong candidate to receive North Korea's newest long-range missiles, including those that can strike the United States," wrote the report's authors at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
Although Kim made no promises to halt such work, and U.S. and South Korean officials played down findings they said they were already aware of, analysts say they underscore the difficulty the Trump administration will face in getting the North to provide a full accounting of its programs so that they might be inspected and verifiably dismantled in the event a denuclearization deal is reached.
As Washington and Pyongyang have drifted further apart, Moon, his popularity numbers hovering around 50 percent, has scrambled to keep the diplomacy alive.
Moon's officials have pushed the narrative — and pushed aside skepticism from critics — that North Korea's suspension of nuclear and long-range missile tests and the dismantling of its nuclear testing site are meaningful steps toward an eventual total abandonment of nuclear weapons. They also briefly floated a proposal that Washington consider softer sanctions on the North.
Conservatives in Seoul, however, believe that Kim's outreach is meant to split Seoul from Washington, its military protector, so that it will be harder for the allies to boost sanctions and pressure should diplomacy fail. Any Trump-Kim summit redux, they say, needs to be prefaced with at least a declaration from the North of the extent of its secretive missile and nuclear programs; otherwise, it would just be another concession to a country that has spent years ramping up tension only to reap rewards by seeming to turn to diplomacy.
Still, in a place that has seen regular flare-ups of violence since the near-total destruction of the Korean War in the early 1950s, there's also interest in seeing if Trump and Kim can pursue in another summit a rare opportunity to test the sincerity of Kim's declaration that with his weapons program "complete," he intends to pivot to lifting his country up from poverty.
"With nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula dramatically reduced, it is time to find out if Kim's drive to improve the economy will eventually lead to denuclearization," Siegfried Hecker, a nuclear expert who has made regular trips to North Korea's nuclear facilities, wrote recently on 38 North, a website devoted to North Korea studies. "He may determine that his nuclear arsenal poses a significant hindrance to economic development that outweighs the putative benefits it confers. Washington and Seoul should work together to encourage rather than inhibit this potential shift."
Lee reported from Washington. Follow him at www.twitter.com/APDiploWriter and Foster Klug, AP's bureau chief for South Korea, at www.twitter.com/apklug .
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First Book Was Key For Local Authors At Library Fair
By Ryan Denham • Nov 8, 2017
Laurie Larsen of Normal, right, talks with readers at the Local Authors Fair on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, at Bloomington Public Library.
Ryan Denham / WGLT
For those of us who are too scared to skydive or not rich enough to buy a Corvette, there’s still one thing on life’s bucket list that’s well within reach—writing your own book.
It feels more doable than ever, thanks to online self-publishing tools, e-books, and retailers like Amazon. And if you need any inspiration, the Bloomington Public Library is there to help.
Around 17 writers from Central Illinois were featured at the library’s Local Authors Fair on Sunday. They write in diverse genres, from paranormal romance to sports biographies to children’s literature, and they’ve all found success only after taking the leap and writing their first book.
Laurie Larsen of Normal was one of them. She’s written 18 books in 18 years, and now she’s an independent author with own imprint, called Random Moon, meaning she’s basically her own publisher. She writes inspirational romance—love stories with a faith journey.
Kevin Wright of Morton talks with readers during the Local Authors Fair. He writes horror, urban fantasy, and mystery books.
Credit Ryan Denham / WGLT
This second career began in 1999. Larsen had a free weekend while on business trip in Georgia—she still has her day job—so she visited the house where Margaret Mitchell wrote most of “Gone With The Wind.” Larsen became inspired and ran back to the hotel to write.
That outline became her first published book, “Whispers of the Heart.”
“When I was younger, I was an employee for a company. I was a mom of kids. I was a wife to a husband. But writing is something I entirely do for myself. It’s my creative outlet. It adds so much flavor and depth to the other activities of my life. It just brings me pleasure because it’s just for me.”
The Local Authors Fair was part of Bloomington Public Library's celebration of National Novel Writing Month. Last November, more than 384,000 people reportedly wrote a novel for "NaNoWriMo."
Elissa Daye of Normal, an Illinois State University graduate, writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance, in addition to children’s books under a different pen name. She’s written 20 so far.
She wrote her first book after graduating ISU. Her books reference real places—not necessarily by name—in Bloomington-Normal, like Park Hill Cemetery near Miller Park, and the ISU campus.
And she can write anywhere. She’ll jot down ideas when she drops off her daughter at gymnastics. And now her daughter, 7, is writing stories herself—trying to be like mom.
“Writing for me is my balance. It’s how I center myself. When you’re a stay-at-home mom, and you’re working on everything for the kids and running them everywhere, you have to have your ‘me time.’ You have to find a way to ground yourself,” she said. “This is where I get to be me.”
Andy Zach of Peoria took a different route.
Zach wrote stories and plays as a kid but gave it up for years, building a career in IT at Caterpillar. He retired in 2015 and immediately returned to his first love—writing.
He’s just published his second book in the “comic paranormal animal” genre, called “My Undead Mother-in-Law.” That genre gives him a way to be funny while also standing out on Amazon. His first book, called “Zombie Turkeys,” was published on Halloween 2016.
“That was a wonderful feeling, the very first time you hold your own printed book in your hands and know it’s your baby all the way through,” Zach said.
Randy Sharer knows the feeling. He just published his first book, “Virgin Territory,” the story of American distance runner Craig Virgin, who grew up in Lebanon, Illinois.
It took eight years to complete the book—a bit of a longer deadline than Sharer is used to as a sports reporter at The Pantagraph. Sharer and Virgin recently self-published the book.
“We just kind of worked on it at a leisurely pace, and it all came together,” he said.
Downtown Task Force Eyes Joint Library-Transit 'Catalyst' Project
By Ryan Denham • Sep 5, 2017
Looking for a big “catalyst” project to lure more people to downtown Bloomington, members of a city task force expressed support Tuesday for a plan to knock down an old parking garage and build a new library and public transit transfer center in its place.
Bloomington Library Director Gets Running Start
By Charlie Schlenker • Jun 29, 2016
WGLT
Jeanne Hamilton is a month into her new job as the Director of the Bloomington Public Library. Hamilton replaced Georgia Bouda who retired amid concern over a bookmobile program that did not serve the west side of town. Hamilton says it's going well with a great staff.
She tells GLT's Charlie Schlenker she is getting to know members of the community. Hamilton says there are no fires to put out, but instead goals to work toward.
Baby's Got Mail: Free Books Boost Early Literacy
By Maureen Pao • Nov 6, 2017
Editor's note on Aug. 9, 2018: Since this story was published, NPR has published a story that re-examines the "30 million word gap" cited below.
"A busybody." That's how Raven Judd describes her 10-month-old daughter Bailey.
"She loves tummy time. She likes to roll over. She'd dive if you let her," says the 27-year-old mother from Washington, D.C.
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Criminal lawyer and legislator? Haggard at center of issue that could have statewide impact
wwny Criminal lawyer and legislator? Haggard at center of issue that could have statewide impact
July 12, 2019 at 12:39 PM EDT - Updated July 12 at 8:21 PM
CANTON, N.Y. (WWNY) - Can a lawyer who is also a county legislator still defend people in court? That’s the question in St. Lawrence County. The answer could have statewide impact.
David Haggard is known for defending high-profile criminal defendants in court. But you won’t see him doing it now because he also has a job as a part-time county legislator.
“Haggard, even prior to assuming the seat as a legislative member had concerns because there had been an advisory opinion issued back in the 90s that suggested that a part-time legislator couldn’t handle criminal cases,” said St. Lawrence County Attorney Stephen Button.
So Haggard asked the county ethics board about any possible conflicts of interest. They gave him the green light to handle criminal cases, as long as he recused himself from certain legislative votes. But the issue was later revisited by County Court Judge Jerome Richards, according to a letter written by County Attorney Stephen Button. So Haggard has stopped taking criminal cases.
“We are now seeking a separate opinion from the New York State Attorney General’s Office,” Button said.
Previous opinions from the State Bar Association point out a county legislator controls budgets and hiring for the District Attorney and Sheriff’s office. They says jousting with those same people in court could raise suspicions.
When 7News reporter Keith Benman asked Haggard about this, Haggard referred him to County Attorney Button. There’s a belief there are other lawyers in the state practicing criminal law and serving as county legislators.
“This would be an impact across the state if an opinion is rendered indicating that a part-time legislator is not permitted to practice criminal law in the county in which they are elected as a part-time legislator," Button said.
One other legislator, Henry Leader, representing Gouverneur and Depeyster, also practices some criminal law. He also is declining to do that for now.
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Alan Thicke, actor and dad on ‘80s sitcom ‘Growing Pains,’ dies at 69
Alan Thicke, an actor best-known for helping set a template for parenting ideals in the ‘80s sitcom “Growing Pains,” has died of a heart attack. He was 69.
Alan Thicke, actor and dad on ‘80s sitcom ‘Growing Pains,’ dies at 69 Alan Thicke, an actor best-known for helping set a template for parenting ideals in the ‘80s sitcom “Growing Pains,” has died of a heart attack. He was 69. Check out this story on yorkdispatch.com: https://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/entertainment/2016/12/14/alan-thicke-actor-dad-sitcom-growing-pains-dies/95413108/
The Los Angeles Times Published 12:49 a.m. ET Dec. 14, 2016
Alan Thicke and Frau Weisler pose together during a dinner for the cast of the musical Chicago in July 1988 in Costa Mesa, Calif. Thicke died on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016. (Don Bartletti/Los Angeles Times/TNS(Photo: Don Bartletti, TNS)
LOS ANGELES — Alan Thicke, an actor best-known for helping set a template for parenting ideals in the ‘80s sitcom “Growing Pains,” has died of a heart attack. He was 69.
His death was confirmed with the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday evening by the publicist of his son, pop-soul singer Robin Thicke.
A songwriter and producer during his career in addition to being an actor and presenter, the Canadian-born Thicke had continued to appear in TV roles up through this year, including recent appearances on NBC’s drama “This Is Us” and Netflix’s “Fuller House.”
“Season 2 Fuller House looking good,” read a post on Thicke’s Twitter feed from three hours ago. “I even like the ones I’m not in! #fullerhouse.”
Read or Share this story: https://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/entertainment/2016/12/14/alan-thicke-actor-dad-sitcom-growing-pains-dies/95413108/
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Local author to donate portion of profits to school's library
With the constant release of new novels and book sequels, having an up-to-date library can sometimes be a challenge, which is why a local author is donating a percent of her book's profits to Central York Middle School's library.
Local author to donate portion of profits to school's library With the constant release of new novels and book sequels, having an up-to-date library can sometimes be a challenge, which is why a local author is donating a percent of her book's profits to Central York Middle School's library. Check out this story on yorkdispatch.com: https://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/news/education/2016/01/12/local-author-donate-portion-profits-schools-library/78643494/
Jessica Schladebeck, 505-5438/@JessDispatch Published 3:02 p.m. ET Jan. 12, 2016
The cover of the young adult novel "Ken's War."(Photo: submitted)
B.K. Fowler, who penned the young adult novel "Ken's War," intends to donate 20 percent of all royalties for every paperback or e-book sold through the month of January to the middle school library.
The former school teacher moved to York in 2002 within the borders of the Central York School District, which is why she opted to donate to the district.
"I sort of have an affinity for and an interest in kids at that age and how they learn," Fowler said, noting that was one of the reasons why she chose to write a young adult novel.
Shelly Eaton, the librarian, said she looks forward to purchasing new books with the donated funds.
Author of "Ken's War," Beth Fowler (Photo: submitted)
The book: "Ken's War," which is set in Japan while the conflict in Vietnam begins to escalate, follows Ken, a teenager and Army brat, and his captain father as they navigate the culture shock associated with moving from small-town Pennsylvania to the other side of the world.
Fowler said she loved the way her hero, Ken, took form in the book. As a young boy growing up on an Army base, he has a temper and is always ready to pick a fight, she said, adding she enjoyed experiencing his growth throughout the story.
"In tradition of good young adult literature, it shows a boy become a man," Fowler said. "It goes through questions that we all face when we grow up, when we still have to decide what we believe and what's important, when we wonder, 'How do I fit in? Am I gonna be a good guy or a bad guy?' All those basic questions that we face."
And while it does take place on an Army base, the book isn't violent or graphic in anyway, Fowler said.
"I like to assure teachers and parents that there's nothing salacious or overtly sexual or offensive about the book," she said, noting that isn't the case with many young adult novels on the shelves today. "It's safe, it does't come with a rating."
Inspiration: Fowler developed the idea for her novel based on a conversation she had with her martial arts instructor, she said.
"The instructor just in passing said he and his dad lived in Japan while he was a little boy, which is where he learned martial arts," Fowler said. "My mind just went 'Wow,' and I wondered what it would be like as young boy to live in a foreign culture."
While writing the book, Fowler was able to visit Japan, where, she said, she took extensive notes with the hope of creating an authentic setting.
It took her 15 years of on-and-off writing to complete the story.
"I would let it sit and marinate for a while and then come back to it, but because I was away from it for so long, it gave me the guts to chop out maybe a third of what was so fun to write," Fowler said.
"Ken's War" is available for purchase through Amazon and at most major bookstores.
— Reach Jessica Schladebeck at jschladebeck@yorkdispatch.com.
Read or Share this story: https://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/news/education/2016/01/12/local-author-donate-portion-profits-schools-library/78643494/
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Identikit Chords - Radiohead
Identikit Chords
Fm Eb Dbmaj7 C5
Sweet-faced ones with nothing left inside
That we all can love, that we all can love, that we all can
Now I see you messin me around
I don't want to know, I don't want to know, I don't want to
Now I see you messing me around?
I don't want to know, I don't want to know, I don't want
B B/A G6 B/F#
Broken hearts make it rain. Broken hearts make it rain.
Broken hearts make it rain.
Em B
Broken hearts make it rain. Broken hearts.
Fm Eb Dbmaj7 C
Pieces of a wreck of mankind
That you can't create, that you can't create, that you can't
When I see you messing me around
When I see you searching me around
Radiohead - Identikit Chords :: indexed at Ultimate Guitar.
Identikit tabs @ 911Tabs
People who played Radiohead - Identikit Chords also played these songs by Radiohead:
Creep Acoustic Chords, High And Dry Chords, All I Need Chords, Paranoid Android Chords, Creep Tab, Airbag Chords, I Will Chords, Karma Police Chords, Jigsaw Falling Into Place Tab, Let Down Chords
About the artist behind Identikit Chords:
Radiohead are an English alternative rock band from Oxfordshire. The band is composed of Thom Yorke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, electronics), Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, other instruments), Ed O'Brien (guitar, backing vocals), Colin Greenwood (bass guitar, synthesisers) and Phil Selway (drums, percussion). Radiohead have released seven albums and have sold over 23 million records throughout their career.[1]
Radiohead released their first single, "Creep", in 1992, and their debut album, Pablo Honey, in 1993. Though initially unsuccessful, "Creep" was a worldwide hit when reissued a year later. Radiohead's popularity in the United Kingdom increased with the release of their second album, The Bends (1995). The band's textured guitar atmospheres and Yorke's falsetto singing were warmly received by critics and fans. With the release of OK Computer (1997), Radiohead were propelled to greater fame worldwide. Featuring an expansive sound and themes of alienation from the modern world, OK Computer has often been acclaimed as a landmark record of the 1990s.
The release of Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001) saw Radiohead reach their peak popularity, although the albums divided critical opinion. This period marked a change in Radiohead's musical style, with their incorporation of avant-garde electronic music, Krautrock and jazz influences. Hail to the Thief (2003), Radiohead's sixth album, blended styles from throughout the band's career, mixing guitar-driven rock, electronic influences and contemporary lyrics. Radiohead subsequently left their record label, EMI, and released their seventh album, In Rainbows (2007), through their own website as a digital download for which customers selected their own price.
Show us your talent, perform Identikit Chords!
Here you can post a video of you playing the Identikit Chords, so your fellow guitarists will be able to see you and rate you.
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A Bell Will Ring - Oasis
A Bell Will Ring
Oasis - A Bell Will Ring
song written by : Gem Archer
"A Bell Will Ring" is at this moment (end 2004) a brand new Oasis song. Until now only
played on the Glastonbury Festival 2004. The song is downloadeble on www.live4ever.us as
A bootleg.
By : Sander "Supersonic" Scheffer
e-mail : [email protected]
www.live4ever.us
www.cu2.nl/oasis-site
CAPO ON THE 2ND FRET
* = (stroke down 3 times) -> you'll hear what I mean if you listen to the song
*2 = (play these chords after every line in the song which says "all will be brand new")
Intro : E / A / E / E /
D / A / E / A /
A / E /
a little space, a little time
Dsus2 E
see what it can do
a little faith, a piece of mind
Dsus2 E
see what puts things through
Dsus2 Asus2
the sun will shine on you again
E Dsus2
a bell will ring inside your head
A E
and all will be brand new
come along, come on in
Dsus2 E
here's something that you'll know
who wonders why as your restless there ?
Dsus2 E
so entertain your goal
E Dsus2
A E
all will be brand new
i can tell you what you want to hear
Dsus2 E
i've been here once before
you put me through my empty night
Dsus E
sleepless on your floor
Dsus2 Asus2
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Oasis - A Bell Will Ring :: indexed at Ultimate Guitar.
A Bell Will Ring tabs @ 911Tabs
People who played Oasis - A Bell Will Ring also played these songs by Oasis:
Wonderwall Chords, Dont Look Back In Anger Acoustic Chords, There Is A Light That Never Goes Out Acoustic Chords, Wonderwall Acoustic Chords, Shes Electric Chords, Dont Go Away Acoustic Chords, To Be Someone Chords, Champagne Supernova Chords, Stand By Me Chords, Strawberry Fields Chords
About the artist behind A Bell Will Ring:
Oasis are an English rock band that formed in Manchester in 1991. The group was formed by Liam Gallagher (lead vocals), Paul Arthurs (guitar), Paul McGuigan (bass) and Tony McCarroll (drums), who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher (lead guitar, vocals). Oasis have sold more than 50 million albums worldwide,[1] and have had eight UK number one singles. The Gallagher brothers are the band's leading songwriters and the only continual members. The present lineup is completed by rhythm/lead guitarist and songwriter Gem Archer, guitarist and songwriter Andy Bell and unofficial drummer Zak Starkey.
The band initially gained prominence performing on the Manchester club circuit. They were signed to independent record label Creation Records and afterwards released their debut album Definitely Maybe in 1994. The following year, the band recorded (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995) with their new drummer Alan White, whilst rivalling with Britpop peers Blur in the charts. The Gallagher brothers were featured regularly in tabloid newspapers for their sibling rivalry and wild lifestyles, cultivating reputations both as bad boys and as a band of the people. At the height of their fame, Oasis' third album, Be Here Now (1997), became the fastest-selling album in UK chart history, but lost much of its long-term appeal after the initial hype and positive reception tempered.
While recording their fourth album Standing on the Shoulder of Giants (2000) in 1999, Oasis lost two founding members and suffered a notable decline in popularity in America. The band added replacements Gem Archer and Andy Bell for Heathen Chemistry (2002). Their sixth album Don't Believe the Truth (2005) with Zak Starkey, despite turbulent recording, became their best-selling and best-received album in a decade. The following year, the band released a compilation album entitled Stop the Clocks. In February 2007, Oasis received the BRIT Award for outstanding contribution to music.
The seventh studio album by the band is reported to be complete and, although an official release date has not been confirmed, both Liam and Noel Gallagher have been quoted as saying that the album is due out in September 2008. [2] [3]
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Tales from the Empire
5 BBY - 10 ABY
Culled from the pages of the Star Wars Adventure Journal, one of the most popular Star Wars magazines in the field today, comes this exciting new short-story collection. Here are stories from such award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors as Timothy Zahn, Michael A. Stackpole, and Kathy Tyers as well as exciting newcomers, including Erin Endom, Laurie Burns, and Patricia A. Jackson. From the desperate flight of a civilian mail courier carrying vital Rebel intelligence through an Imperial blockade, to a suicidal commando raid on an impregnable Imperial prison, to a Corellian smuggler mysteriously hired by an actor turned Jedi Knight turned Imperial assassin for one final transformation, these tales capture all the high adventure, imaginative genius, and nonstop action that are the hallmarks of the Star Wars saga.
Tales from the New Republic
On Zelos II a man and a woman are held prisoner in a dark cell, each fighting their way for survival at the hands of Imperial captors-and a chance for escape that could cost one of them their life. On the tortured landscape of Ryloth, Fenig Nabon awaits a ship of women warriors to complete a dangerous deal: the smuggling of a troupe of dancers to the homeworld of the Hutts-only to get more than she bargained for. And in a stunning new novella written especially for this collection by Hugo-Award winning, New York Times bestselling author Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole, Senator Garm Bel Iblis, believed dead at the hands of an Imperial assassin, teams up with Hal Horn in a duel against the Empire's most dangerous agent. At stake are the plans for a terrifying new weapon called the Death Star-and the fate of both the Empire and the New Republic.
Tales from Jabba's Palace
In the dusty heat of twin-sunned Tatooine lives the wealthiest gangster in a hundred worlds, master of a vast crime empire and keeper of a vicious, flesh-eating monster for entertainment (and disposal of his enemies). Bloated and sinister, Jabba the Hutt might have made a good joke -- if he weren't so dangerous. A cast of soldiers, spies, assassins, scoundrels, bounty hunters, and pleasure seekers have come to his palace, and every visitor to Jabba's grand abode has a story. Some of them may even live to tell it. . . .
Featuring original stories by: Kevin J. Anderson, M. Shayne Bell, John Gregory Betancourt, Mark Budz and Marina Fitch, A.C. Crispin, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, George Alec Effinger, Kenneth C. Flint, Esther Friesner, Barbara Hambly, Daryl F. Mallett, J.D. Montgomery, Judy and Gar Reeves-Stevens, Jennifer Roberson, Kathy Tyers, Deborah Wheeler, Dave Wolverton, William F. Wu, Timothy Zahn.
Tales of the Bounty Hunters
In a wild and battle-scarred galaxy, assassins, pirates, smugglers, and cutthroats of every description roam at will, fearing only the professional bounty hunters-amoral adventurers who track down the scum of the universe...for a fee. When Darth Vader seeks to strike at the heart of the Rebellion by targeting Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon, he calls upon six of the most successful-and feared-hunters, including the merciless Boba Fett. They all have two things in common: lust for profit and contempt for life... Featuring original stories by Kevin J. Anderson, M. Shayne Bell, Daniel Keys Moran, Kathy Tyers and Dave Wolverton.
Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina
Sixteen stories from the most infamous cantina in the universe...by some of today's leading writers of science fiction.
In a far corner of the universe, on the small desert planet of Tatooine, there is a dark, nic-i-tain-filled cantina where you can down your favorite intoxicant while listening to the best jazz riffs in the universe. But beware your fellow denizens of this pangalactic watering hole, for they are cutthroats and cutpurses, assassins and troopers, humans and aliens, gangsters and thieves....
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New ABC law opens door to help human trafficking survivors
by: Sara McCloskey
Posted: Jun 25, 2019 / 09:45 PM EDT / Updated: Jun 26, 2019 / 12:40 AM EDT
RICHMOND, Va. — The ring of the door opening at local Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) liquor stores isn’t welcoming to some, advocates say.
“Survivors will actually pick out the alcohol of choice that works to quickest, works the fastest, works the strongest,” Shelly Brown, a forensic nurse examiner at a hospital in the Richmond-area, explained. “A lot of times when they wake up they say it feels like it never happened.”
In her line of work, Brown comes across people caught in the cycle of human trafficking. Abused, physically and sexually. What she’s witnessed has caused her to become an advocate to combat the crime, with ImPACT Virginia. The organization aims to stop child trafficking.
“Especially while they are inside of this lifestyle they develop an addiction to drugs and alcohol,” Brown says.
But starting July 1, a new door is opening for people looking for a way out. Because of the high volume of people going in and out of ABC stores, the General Assembly passed a law (HB1887) to require government-run liquor stores to put up signs with the National Human Trafficking Hotline. Survivors or witnesses to the crime can anonymously call the telephone number to report it.
THE NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING HOTLINE IS 1-(888)-373-7888 OR CLICK HERE
Last year, nearly 200 people called the hotline in Virginia. Since 2007, there have been more than 4,400 calls from the Commonwealth.
The General Assembly passed a similar law in 2018, requiring rest areas to post signage with the hotline because they are hot spots for human trafficking.
About 31 million people visited ABC stores in the 2018 fiscal year, according to the agency.
“It’s a lot of exposure for arguably a very, very important cause,” ABC spokesperson Taylor Thornberg said. “92 percent of Virginians live within 10 minutes of an ABC store.”
Each sign is in English and Spanish. There isn’t a designated spot for the sign to be put up in the stores because each location is laid out differently, but Thornberg says it will be in a very public place.
Brown says simply giving survivors a resource can make a huge difference and can help them get out of a bad situation.
“When they think that there’s no resources that there’s no help, that there’s no resources, that nobody cares,” Brown says. “They may not have even thought that prior to then that there was an opportunity for them or that stores like this, that agencies like this really cared about what was happening to them.”
You should start seeing the signs in ABC stores on Monday, July 1.
Police: Chesterfield homeowners wake up to find home struck by bullets
Chesterfield County / 3 days ago
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The Tri-Cities / 10 hours ago
More Capitol Connection Stories
Historical marker unveiled for John Henry James, Charlottesville lynching victim
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- More than a hundred years after his death, a black man named John Henry James is being recognized by the City of Charlottesville with a historical marker honoring his life and death.
James, an ice cream vendor, was supposed to be in the Albemarle County Courthouse on July 12, 1898. He was accused of sexually assaulting a white woman from a wealthy family. But, he never made it to his trial.
Experts say avoid the panic, prepare for hurricane season early
RICHMOND, Va. -- As our neighbors down south are bracing whatever Barry brings, officials say you should take steps now to prepare you and your family before a storm hits closer to home.
Hurricane season starts June 1 and runs through November. While we’re one month into the season, it’s not too early to start getting ready.
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› Alert List
I-5 Northbound - High Impact – Monday, July 15, to the morning of Friday, July 19 – All lanes of the northbound I-5 mainline just north of the I-90 Interchange will close from 11:59 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly. During this time, all traffic will be shifted to the collector-distributor lanes. Last Updated: 7/15/2019 9:03 AM More Info
At milepost 164
I-5 Southbound - Collision on I-5 southbound at milepost 25 near Todd Road. The right lane is blocked by emergency vehicles beginning at 3:04 pm on July 16, 2019 until further notice. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 3:22 PM More Info
At milepost 28
SR 8 Westbound - Road work on SR 8 westbound from milepost 18.3 near Wilson Rd NW to milepost 17.85 near Wilson Rd NW beginning at 1:33 pm on July 16, 2019 until about 8:00 pm. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 1:47 PM More Info
From milepost 18 to milepost 18
US 101 Both Directions - Road work on US 101, both directions, at milepost 146.76 near Clearwater Rd. Beginning at 8:41 am on July 16, 2019 until about 5:00 pm. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 8:45 AM More Info
US 101 Both Directions - Road work on US 101 both directions at milepost 239 the Elwha River Bridge. Beginning at 8:00 am on July 16, 2019 until about 5:00 pm. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 8:01 AM More Info
SR 302 Both Directions - Road work on SR 302, in both directions, from milepost 9.0 near 150th Ave KPN, to milepost 10.0 near 140th Ave KPN. Beginning at 7:59 am on July 16, 2019 until about 5:00 pm. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 8:00 AM More Info
From milepost 9 to milepost 10
US 101 Both Directions - Road work on US 101, in both directions, from milepost 219.0 near Sol Duc Hot Springs Rd, to milepost 222.0. Beginning at 6:54 am on July 16, 2019 until about 7:30 pm. Motorists can expect up to thirty minute delays. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 6:58 AM More Info
From milepost 219 to milepost 222
SR 109 Both Directions - Road work on SR 109, in both directions, at milepost 3.0 near Grays Harbor Blvd. Beginning at 6:50 am on July 16, 2019 until about 6:00 pm. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 6:53 AM More Info
At milepost 3
SR 28 Both Directions - SR 28 between Ephrata and Soap Lake (MP 44 to 53)- Monday through Thursday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., expect delays up to 20 minutes with lane shifts and alternating one-way traffic in Ephrata where the contractor is completing utility work and fog sealing. On Thursday, the contract will also be conducting chip sealing operations south of Ephrata during the day, where there will be flagger controlled, alternating one way traffic with delays. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 1:55 PM More Info
US 2 Both Directions - Construction on US 2 both directions from milepost 292.9 near SR 395 to milepost 295.7 near Farwell Rd beginning at 7:00 am on July 8, 2019, until further notice. Crews will be repaving this section of US 2 from the Division Wye to Farwell Road. Paving will occur at night starting at 7 p.m. during weekdays. Last Updated: 7/9/2019 8:55 AM More Info
I-90 Both Directions - Construction on I-90 at the Medical Lake/SR 902 intersection in both directions at milepost 272.8 near SR 902 beginning at 10:48 am on June 24, 2019 until further notice. Crews will be constructing three new roundabouts and a parallel bridge over I-90. The roundabouts will be built at both the east and westbound ramp terminals to I-90 and at Geiger Blvd. and SR 902. Last Updated: 6/24/2019 10:52 AM More Info
SR 506 Both Directions - Beginning at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, June 18, until further notice: Both directions of SR 506, between Telegraph Road and the end of the Lacamas Creek Bridge, will be fully closed, for bridge replacement work.
Note: During construction, travelers will follow a signed detour using South Military Road and SR 505. The bridge closure and detour will remain in place until construction of the new bridge is complete. Last Updated: 6/14/2019 4:59 PM More Info
From milepost 8 to milepost 8
SR 18 Westbound - Beginning Monday, May 13 - A single lane of westbound SR 18 at Issaquah-Hobart Road will be closed around-the-clock for approximately 65 days beginning at 5 a.m. Monday, May 13. Last Updated: 6/3/2019 3:44 PM More Info
SR 162 Both Directions - The SR 162 Spiketon Creek Bridge has been permanently closed due to recently discovered pier settlement. A detour is in effect using Mundy Loss Road, SR 410 and SR 165. View our next steps for a path towards replacement. Last Updated: 1/7/2019 1:33 PM More Info
MODERATE IMPACT
SR 20 Both Directions - On SR 20 eastbound & westbound at Hoffman Road (MP 35) the right lane is closed due to maintenance. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 3:01 PM More Info
US 12 Eastbound - US 12 eastbound at milepost 157 , seven miles east of White Pass Summit, there is a semi rollover. Crews continue to work on clearing the roadway. There is one lane open with alternating traffic around the scene. Estimated time to reopen the highway is unknown. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 12:03 PM More Info
US 97 Both Directions - At US 97 Blewett Pass at milepost 159 in both directions near Swauk Creek campground, work on a fish barrier removal has shifted traffic in both directions to a bypass lane, which requires a 12 ft. width restriction and reduced speed of 50 mph. Restrictions are in place during non-working hours. There may also be intermittent flagger-controlled traffic Monday - Thursday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. when the contractor is staging near the roadway. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 10:43 AM More Info
I-90 Both Directions - I-90 milepost 33 to 136 North Bend to Vantage: This week we have a number of construction and maintenance activities taking place between North Bend and Vantage during the day and at night which could cause delays due to lane closures. Please plan for added travel time and pay attention and slow down as you enter and exit our work zones. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 7:29 AM More Info
From milepost 33 to milepost 136
SR 127 Both Directions - SR-127 milepost 9 Central Ferry Bridge: Monday through Friday, between 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., there will be flagged traffic control with a 10 foot wide restriction. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 7:27 AM More Info
SR 525 Both Directions - On SR 525 northbound & southbound at Mukilteo Speedway (MP 8) there is a slow-moving maintenance operation affecting all lanes. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 7:21 AM More Info
SR 28 Both Directions - On SR 28 in Quincy at 13th Avenue (MP 29), SR 28 at the roundabout construction site is closed and traffic has been detoured onto White Trail Road and SR 281. Local traffic will still be able to travel into the city of Quincy; however, the vicinity of the roundabout will be closed to all traffic. This closure will remain in place until Saturday, July 20 at 12 p.m. Work on Friday may last until late evening, depending on conditions. Last Updated: 7/15/2019 4:52 PM More Info
SR 20 Both Directions - ON SR 20 approximately 4 miles east of Tonasket to Wauconda Summit (milepost 265 to 289), Monday through Thursday between 5:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., expect flaggers and pilot car controlled traffic with some delays where a maintenance crew is paving. Last Updated: 7/15/2019 4:25 PM More Info
I-5 Northbound - Tuesday, July 16 to the morning of Wednesday, July 17: A single-lane of northbound I-5, between Park Road at milepost 67.15 and SR 508 at milepost 70.90, will close overnight, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., for breakaway cable replacement work. Last Updated: 7/15/2019 10:47 AM More Info
SR 520 Eastbound - Monday, July 15, to the morning of Thursday, July 18 – The right lane of the eastbound SR 520 off-ramp to southbound 148th Avenue Northeast will close from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly. Last Updated: 7/15/2019 9:26 AM More Info
SR 520 Westbound - Monday, July 15, to the morning of Friday, July 19 - The right lane of westbound SR 520 between Lake Washington Boulevard and Portage Bay will close from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly. Last Updated: 7/15/2019 9:24 AM More Info
I-90 Eastbound - Monday, July 15, to the morning of Thursday, July 18 – Up to three left lanes of westbound I-90 at Raging River Bridge will close from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. nightly. This work is weather-dependent. Last Updated: 7/15/2019 9:21 AM More Info
I-90 Eastbound - Monday, July 15, to the morning of Saturday, July 20 – The HOV lane and the left lane of eastbound I-90 at the East Channel Bridge will close from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly. Last Updated: 7/15/2019 9:16 AM More Info
I-90 Eastbound - Monday, July 15, to the afternoon of Friday, July 19 – The eastbound I-90 HOV off-ramp to Island Crest Way will close from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Last Updated: 7/15/2019 9:15 AM More Info
I-90 Westbound - Monday, July 15, to the afternoon of Friday, July 19 – The Island Crest Way HOV on-ramp to westbound I-90 will close from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Last Updated: 7/15/2019 9:14 AM More Info
I-5 Northbound - Monday, July 15, to the morning of Friday, July 19 - The two left lanes of northbound I-5 between Pine Street and the Ship Canal Bridge will close from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly. Last Updated: 7/15/2019 9:05 AM More Info
I-90 Eastbound - Sunday, July 14, to the morning of Friday, July 19 – Up to three right lanes of eastbound I-90 between East Sunset Way and 468th Avenue Southeast will close from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. nightly. This work is weather-dependent. Last Updated: 7/14/2019 8:53 PM More Info
SR 243 Both Directions - On SR 243 between Vernita and Vantage (MP 0 to 28), Wednesday and Thursday only, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. expect delays up to 20 min. with flaggers and pilot car controlled traffic where the contractor is chip sealing. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 2:32 PM More Info
SR 155 Both Directions - On SR 155 between Coulee Dam and Omak (MP 29 to 79), Monday and Tuesday only, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. expect delays up to 20 min. in two separate work zones and pilot car controlled traffic where the contractor is fog sealing. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 2:11 PM More Info
US 97 Both Directions - US 97 south of Blewett Pass at Swauk Campground (MP 159), Monday and Tuesday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., expect flagger controlled traffic with delays up to 20 minutes near Swauk Campground as the contractor continues drilled shaft construction. Traffic in both directions has been shifted to detour lanes requiring a 12 ft. width restriction and a reduced speed of 50 mph through the work zone. These restrictions will remain in place during non-working hours through the duration of the project. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 2:05 PM More Info
US 97 Both Directions - On US 97 beginning at the junction of SR 970 for 15 miles to Tronson Creek campground, Monday through Thursday, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., expect one lane, flagger controlled traffic with delays up to 20 minutes in the work zone where the contractor will be paving, starting at the junction of US 97 and SR 970 and working north toward the summit of Blewett Pass. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 2:04 PM More Info
SR 153 Both Directions - On SR 153 near Methow (MP 11.83) Beginning July 17 through September, there will be intermittent flagger controlled traffic at all three bridges Monday through Saturday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Work is still primarily under and around the bridge, so delays will be short, primarily when the crew is moving and staging equipment. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 1:52 PM More Info
SR 14 Both Directions - Monday, July 15 to Friday, July 19: Travelers on both directions of SR 14, near Wind River Road, will be alternated through a single-lane, intermittently, with flaggers, daily, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., throughout the work zone, for roundabout construction work. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 11:37 AM More Info
SR 433 Both Directions - Sunday, July 14: SR 432/SR 433 in Longview at the Lewis and Clark Bridge (WSP, flaggers and motorcycle escort).
Note: Drivers on SR 432 can expect delays of up to 20 minutes from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Sunday, July 14. WSP and flaggers will stop southbound drivers on SR 433 so STP riders can cross the Lewis and Clark Bridge, escorted by Gold Wing motorcycle club members. Riders crossing the bridge on Saturday will not have a bridge escort and are expected to ride with traffic. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 11:29 AM More Info
SR 411 Both Directions - Sunday, July 14:
SR 411/Castle Rock area (flagger directing traffic at SR 411/ PH 10).
SR 411 between Castle Rock and Longview (roving WSP trooper).
SR 411/Lexington/Riverside County Park area (police officers directing traffic at SR 411 and Riverside County Park).
SR 432/SR 433 in Longview at the Lewis and Clark Bridge (WSP, flaggers and motorcycle escort). Last Updated: 7/12/2019 11:25 AM More Info
From milepost 13 to milepost 0
SR 507 Both Directions - Saturday, July 13: Bicyclists will be on SR 7 in Pierce County, traveling on to SR 507 in Thurston and Lewis counties, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
SR 507 between Roy and Yelm (roving Washington State Patrol trooper).
SR 507/Third Street in Yelm (police officers directing traffic).
SR 507/Mosman Avenue in Yelm (police officer directing traffic).
SR 507/Tenino Trail crossing (police officers or certified flaggers directing traffic). Last Updated: 7/12/2019 11:23 AM More Info
I-5 Southbound - Beginning Monday, July 15 until further notice: A single lane on southbound I-5 between mileposts 51.43 and 52.79 will be closed around-the-clock until construction on the bridge is complete. Overnight double-lane closures will be in place from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. nightly Monday through Friday.
Note: The speed limit has been reduced to 55 mph throughout the length of the work zone for the duration of construction. Last Updated: 7/5/2019 5:45 PM More Info
SR 14 Both Directions - Monday, July 8 until further notice: Beginning at 7 a.m., all travelers within the intersection of SR 14 and 32nd Street will be shifted to a temporary roundabout for approximately five weeks. Last Updated: 7/5/2019 5:13 PM More Info
SR 20 Both Directions - Lane Closures and alternating piloted traffic, on SR 20 in both directions, from milepost 302 to milepost 342 (Republic to Barney's Jct.) for road work, from June 26, 2019 until August 15, 2019. Expect delays, lengthy at times. Last Updated: 7/4/2019 7:09 AM More Info
Bigelow Gulch Rd Both Directions - Closure for road work in Spokane Valley on Bigelow Gulch Rd, both directions, from Argonne Rd to Forker Rd, beginning at 6:00 am on July 8, 2019 until about 6:00 am on July 22, 2019. Travelers should seek alternate routes. Last Updated: 7/3/2019 9:58 AM More Info
Little Spokane Dr Both Directions - Spokane County: Spokane County will have Little Spokane Dr closed between Little Spokane Lane to Shady Slope for installing sewer lines. Expect delays, use other routes. Last Updated: 6/30/2019 8:58 AM More Info
I-5 Southbound - SB I-5 Traffic Shift in Fife: SB I-5 drivers exiting at Bay Street/SR 167 need to stay in the right lane at Port of Tacoma Road to reach exit 135; Port of Tacoma Road drivers headed to SB I-5 will follow a temporary collector/distributor lane across the old SB I-5 bridge to rejoin mainline; SB I-5 travelers going to Tacoma’s city center, SR 16 or Olympia will use three left lanes at Port of Tacoma Road to reach their destinations. Last Updated: 6/29/2019 7:00 AM More Info
SR 530 Both Directions - Monday, July 15 to Friday, July 19 - SR 530 between Concrete Sauk Valley Road and the Sauk River Bridge will reduce to a single lane from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. A flagger will alternate traffic through the open lane. Last Updated: 6/28/2019 9:28 AM More Info
I-5 Northbound - Sunday, July 14, to the morning of Wednesday, July 17 – The northbound I-5 off-ramp to SR 542 will close from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly. Last Updated: 6/28/2019 9:18 AM More Info
SR 21 Both Directions - SR 21 milepost 145.62 at West Fork Sanpoil River, 17 miles south of Republic has a one-lane bridge with a 10 mile per hour speed limit until further notice. Follow traffic control in place and yield to on-coming traffic. Crews have begun construction of the new permanent bridge that will cross the West Fork Sanpoil River. Last Updated: 6/24/2019 10:56 AM More Info
US 195 Both Directions - Construction on US 195 both directions from milepost 62.3 near SR 271 Off-Ramp to milepost 69.9 near Plaza Rd On Ramp beginning at 7:00 pm on May 20, 2019 until further notice. Construction will be 24 hrs a day. Expect possible single lane closures and pilot car operations. Last Updated: 6/18/2019 3:01 PM More Info
SR 107 Both Directions - Drivers will encounter one-way alternating traffic with a temporary signal through fall 2020 as Rognlin's Inc. crews for WSDOT rehabilitate the 58-year-old SR 107 Chehalis River Bridge south of Montesano. Last Updated: 5/29/2019 3:52 PM More Info
SR 109 Both Directions - A private developer for the Quinault Tribe is making improvements to local streets on and off SR 109 near the Hogan’s Corner QMART convenience store. Drivers will encounter occasional lane and shoulder closures during weekday daytime hours through late September 2019. Work includes intersection improvements, new turn lanes and utility relocation. Last Updated: 5/17/2019 9:16 AM More Info
US 195 Both Directions - Construction on US 195 both directions at milepost 94.9 near Thorp Rd beginning at 7:00 am on May 13, 2019, until further notice. Last Updated: 5/10/2019 3:09 PM More Info
US 2 Eastbound - ON US2/97 east of the Odabashian Bridge-the Cascade Avenue exit is closed for construction of the 35th St. extension until July. There is a signed detour. Last Updated: 4/26/2019 4:35 PM More Info
SR 290 Both Directions - The Hamilton/SR 290 westbound on-ramp to I-90 is closed for construction to continue bridge deck repair until further notice. Last Updated: 4/2/2019 7:45 AM More Info
SR 409 Both Directions - Beginning Friday, March 22, 2019, until further notice: Traffic will alternate through a single lane, around-the-clock, for bridge painting and deck replacement work. For everyone’s safety, the speed limit across the bridge is 25 mph. Please slow down and give crews room to work. Last Updated: 3/29/2019 11:55 AM More Info
US 12 Both Directions - US-12 milepost 193 to 200:
Thursday July 18 eastbound milepost 199 lane closure, 5 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday July 19 eastbound milepost 200 lane closure 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 12:44 PM More Info
I-90 Eastbound - I-90 eastbound milepost 126 Ryegrass Rest Area will be closed Thursday July 18 1 a.m. to 8 p.m. due to a paving project in the rest area. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 11:30 AM More Info
I-82 Both Directions - I-82 milepost 37 Union Gap:
Eastbound-
Night Work – July 18 (7:00 PM – 6:00 AM): Left lane closure.
Night Work – July 19 (8:00 PM – 8:00 AM): Right lane closure.
I-82 Westbound:
Night Work – July 16 (7 PM – 6 AM): Left lane closure.
Night Work – July 19 (8:00 PM – 8:00 AM): Right lane closure. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 7:29 AM More Info
I-82 Westbound - I-82 milepost 0 to 11 westbound: Wednesday July 17 single lane closure 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 7:28 AM More Info
US 12 Both Directions - US-12 milepost 319 to milepost 320: Single lane, temporary signal control in place for 24 hours to replace guardrail over Touchet River Bridge. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 7:27 AM More Info
SR 129 Both Directions - SR-129 milepost 1: Tuesday, July 16 through Saturday, July 20, work will take place during the daytime from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., single lane closures will be in effect with flagger controlled traffic. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 7:26 AM More Info
Sunset Both Directions - City of Spokane Sunset Blvd is open from Lindeke St to Royal Street. Paving is scheduled after the Fourth of July. Last Updated: 7/15/2019 8:43 AM More Info
Maple/Ash St Northbound - The City of Spokane will have lane closures on Maple and Ash Streets between Francis Ave. and Cedar Street for grinding and paving. Expect delays. Last Updated: 7/15/2019 8:28 AM More Info
Five Mile Both Directions - The City of Spokane will have Five Mile Road closed from Lincoln to Strong Road Starting Monday, June 17,2019 through mid-November, for road work. Use other routes and expect delays. Last Updated: 7/15/2019 8:26 AM More Info
I-90 Both Directions - On I-90 in Moses Lake (milepost 175.5 to 176.1) Wednesday and Thursday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., expect right lane closures and reduced speed zone of 55 mph through work zone where crews are repairing concrete on bridge slab edges. Speed limit returns to 70 mph during non-working hours, including weekends. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 1:23 PM More Info
I-90 Westbound - Westbound Sprague Lake Rest Area is open with portable toilets but no water is available I-90 westbound at milepost 243, Sprague Lake, beginning at 11:25 am on July 12, 2019 until further notice. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 11:44 AM More Info
I-90 Both Directions - Schragg rest area on I-90 at MP 198 is open in both directions with portable toilets but no water available, about 22 miles west of Ritzville. beginning at 11:25 am on July 12, 2019 until further notice. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 11:42 AM More Info
SR 6 Both Directions - Monday, July 15 to Friday, July 19: Travelers on both directions of SR 6 between mileposts 22.60 and 22.69 will alternate intermittently through a single lane with flaggers, daily from 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., for culvert replacement work. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 11:34 AM More Info
SR 6 Both Directions - Monday, July 15 to Friday, July 19: Shoulder closures will be in place daily from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on SR 6 near Jones Creek just east of Pe Ell, between mileposts 30.98 and 31.14, for culvert replacement work. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 11:33 AM More Info
SR 503 Both Directions - Monday, July 15 to Tuesday, July 16: Travelers on both directions of SR 503 at the Yale Bridge between mileposts 27.0 and 28.0, will alternate intermittently, with flaggers, daily, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., for pavement repair work.
Note: Travelers should watch for flaggers at either end of the single lane bridge, and expect delays of up to 30 minutes at a time. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 11:32 AM More Info
SR 14 Both Directions - Monday, July 8 to Friday, July 19: Single- and double-lane closures will be in place nightly Monday through Friday between 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. along portions of both directions of SR 14 between mileposts 8.5 and 12.1.
Note: Intermittent ramp closures are possible nightly from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. at the following locations:
Eastbound on-ramp from NE 164th Ave to SR 14
Westbound off-ramp from SR 14 to NE 164th Ave
Eastbound and westbound on- and off-ramps at NE 192nd Ave Last Updated: 7/12/2019 11:03 AM More Info
I-5 Both Directions - Monday, July 15 to Thursday, July 19: Single-lane and shoulder closures are possible on both directions of I-5 between the Interstate bridge and milepost 2.50, daily from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., for ITS communication installation work along the shoulders. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 10:58 AM More Info
I-5 Southbound - Tuesday, July 16 to the morning of Wednesday, July 17: The on-ramp from 39th Street to southbound I-5, will be closed from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., for pavement repair work. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 10:57 AM More Info
SR 4 Eastbound - Monday, July 8 to Tuesday, July 16: Single-lane closures will be in place daily Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on eastbound SR 4 within Longview city limits, for utility work. Last Updated: 7/5/2019 5:50 PM More Info
SR 503 Both Directions - Saturday, July 13: Both directions of SR 503 between NE 399th Street and Amboy Middle School will be redirected by flaggers to a signed detour from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for the Amboy Territorial Days Parade. Last Updated: 7/5/2019 5:35 PM More Info
SR 14 Northbound - Monday, July 8 to the morning of Friday, July 12: Overnight single-lane closures are possible in both directions of SR 14 between mileposts 0.17 and 0.25 nightly from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., for ITS communication installation work along the shoulders.
Monday, July 8 to Thursday, July 11: Daytime shoulder closures are possible in both directions of SR 14 between downtown Vancouver and milepost 1.8 near Columbia Shores Boulevard, daily from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., for ITS communication installation work. Last Updated: 7/5/2019 5:27 PM More Info
Sprague Both Directions - The City of Spokane has Sprague Ave Closed between Scott and Grant Streets for road work. Use other routes and expect delays through mid-November 2019. Last Updated: 6/30/2019 9:27 AM More Info
Post Both Directions - City of Spokane, the Post Street Bridge is closed to vehicular traffic starting immediately, through Spring of 2020. Use other routes. Last Updated: 6/30/2019 9:25 AM More Info
Euclid Both Directions - The City of Spokane will have Euclid Ave closed between Ralph and Market Street for water and sewer installation. Use other routes, expect delays. Last Updated: 6/30/2019 9:22 AM More Info
Stoneman Rd Both Directions - Spokane County: Stoneman Road will be closed from Parksmith Drive to Argonne Road for shoulder and ditch work and then chip sealing. This work is expected to last through July 24, 2019 Expect delays. Last Updated: 6/30/2019 9:11 AM More Info
Bigelow Gulch Rd Both Directions - Spokane County: Construction work adding culverts, guardrail and paving. The speed limit has been reduced to 35 MPH. There will be lane restrictions. Expect delays during construction work. Last Updated: 6/30/2019 9:01 AM More Info
Geiger Bv Both Directions - Spokane County will have Geiger Blvd closed between Hayford Rd and Thomas Mallen Rd for right of way improvements. Use other routes until August 2, 2019. Last Updated: 6/30/2019 8:57 AM More Info
Aero Rd Both Directions - Spokane County: Aero Rd lane restrictions at Westbow for Round-a-bout construction, until about August 31st, 2019. The South leg of the round about will be closed starting June 3rd. Detours in place, expect delays. Use other routes. Last Updated: 6/30/2019 8:54 AM More Info
Lincoln Northbound - City of Spokane will have Lincoln Street closed between Main Ave and Spokane Falls Boulevard for road work. Motorists should use other routes and expect delays. Last Updated: 6/11/2019 2:27 PM More Info
LOWEST IMPACT
SR 410 Both Directions - SR 410 milepost 102: Drivers can expect a single lane closure with flaggers Monday through Friday during daylight hours. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 7:27 AM More Info
SR 410 Both Directions - SR-410 milepost 84 to 92: Tuesday July 16 through Thursday July 18 from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. there will be single lane closure for a paving operation. Last Updated: 7/16/2019 7:24 AM More Info
I-82 Eastbound - I-82 eastbound milepost 85 to 86: Wednesday July 17 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. there will be a right lane closure for pavement repair.
I-82 eastbound milepost 96 to 97: Thursday July 18 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. there will be a right lane closure for pavement repair. Last Updated: 7/15/2019 7:44 AM More Info
SR 4 Both Directions - Monday, July 15 to Friday, July 19: Single-lane closures will be in place daily Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on eastbound SR 4 within Longview city limits, for utility work. Last Updated: 7/12/2019 11:10 AM More Info
SR 21 Both Directions - Construction on SR 21 both directions at both Keller Ferry Landing sites beginning at 7:30 am on April 17, 2019, until further notice. Crews will begin construction on new the new terminal and pontoon replacement. Ferry operation will not be impacted at this time. Last Updated: 4/16/2019 2:58 PM More Info
US 395 Both Directions - Construction on US 395 Spur - NSC both directions at the Freya Roundabouts Monday - Friday 6:00 am to 4:30 pm. Roadway users should be alert for occasional traffic control. Last Updated: 8/2/2018 12:51 PM More Info
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Ground Zero Rebuilding Is Set Back
Talks on Financing Falter, Hindering Office Revival In Lower Manhattan Area
Alex Frangos
NEW YORK -- The latest round of talks to put the Ground Zero rebuilding on solid financial footing broke down early yesterday, dealing a blow to efforts to revive lower Manhattan's still-struggling office sector 4 years after terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center.
Private developer Larry Silverstein and the site's owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, failed to come to an agreement on a financial plan and schedule for rebuilding the site. Port Authority officials said the two sides were about $1 billion...
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OZ Minerals Gets Proposal for Alternate Financing
Bill Lindsay and
Updated June 6, 2009 11:59 pm ET
MELBOURNE -- OZ Minerals Ltd. late Friday received a US$1.22 billion recapitalization proposal to help the Australian miner pay off debt, offering a possible alternative to a proposed deal with a Chinese state-owned metals company.
RFC Corporate Finance, an Australian investment-and-advisory business, and RBC Capital Markets, an investment-bank unit of Royal Bank of Canada, jointly proposed raising US$1 billion in equity and convertible bonds and a further US$220 million under a working-capital facility for OZ Minerals.
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The Washington Nurse Magazine
Nurses Celebrate Victory for Patient Safety as Washington State Supreme Court Affirms Prior Decision in Legal Battle Over Missed Rest Breaks
On April 2, 2013, the Washington State Supreme Court in the case of Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) v. Sacred Heart Medical Center (SHMC), reaffirmed its earlier unanimous decision upholding nurses’ statutory rights to be paid overtime when their duties prevent them from taking a rest period. Sacred Heart Medical Center’s motion for reconsideration of the Court’s October 25, 2012 (No. 86563-9,10/25/12) decision was denied, bringing an end to the long, hard-fought battle of the nurses for justice and protection of patient safety.
“Nurses, the public’s heroes of health care, intercept 86% of medical errors before there is harm to patients, but they can’t do that if they aren’t rested and alert,” said Judy Huntington, MN, RN, Executive Director of WSNA. “This landmark decision will mean safer care for patients throughout Washington State and sets precedence for the rest of the country.”
In 2007, WSNA brought legal action on behalf of the 1,200 registered nurses at SHMC in Spokane to recover unpaid wages for denied rest periods. This historic decision means that hospitals will now face a financial penalty if they fail to provide rest breaks and will serve as an important incentive for hospitals to give nurses the breaks they need and deserve to provide safe patient care
“It’s harmful for both nurses and our patients when we’re forced to work 10, 12 or even more hours in a row without breaks,” said Vivian Hill, RN, CNOR, a nurse at Sacred Heart. “There has to be a limit to what is asked of us and our patients. Real rest breaks keep patients safe, that’s why WSNA and our nurses at Sacred Heart Medical Center fought for nine long years on this case. Justice is served with this decision.”
The Court had previously ruled that SHMC had extracted additional labor from the RNs when they missed rest periods. It held:
The additional labor Sacred Heart received when the nurses worked through their breaks was the equivalent of labor Sacred Heart otherwise would have secured by requiring nurses to work overtime only at the end their shifts. By putting nurses in a situation where they could not take their breaks, in violation of WAC 296-126-092(4), Sacred Heart effectively “authorized or required” nurses “to be on duty on the employer’s premises” to perform work equivalent to an overtime shift after the end of the normal workday.
The decision provides a powerful incentive for hospitals to adequately staff for rest breaks. In rejecting Sacred Heart’s argument that missed rest breaks should not trigger overtime, the Court explained:
As noted by WSNA, if this court were to accept Sacred Heart's argument, Sacred Heart would be incentivized to employ fewer nurses for each shift, relying on those nurses to bear a heavy burden on busy days. In contrast, compensating employees who forgo their rest periods with overtime pay will help to ensure that employers continue to provide these breaks to their employees.
For registered nurses who often spend busy 12-hour shifts on their feet making critical medical judgments for their patients, the need for rest breaks is even more critical. As the Court explained:
Rest periods are mandatory and promote employee efficiency. 29 C.F.R. § 785.18. Further, rest periods help ensure nurses can maintain the necessary awareness and focus required to provide safe and quality patient care.
The Court did not uphold the trial Court’s award of double damages because it concluded there was a “bona fide” legal dispute that exempted the employer from the additional penalty. However, no employer will have that excuse going forward. Employers who fail to pay for missed rest breaks will face claims for double damages, attorney’s fees and costs.
Ruth Schubert
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The Long Pathway – Part 2
Ahipara to Kerikeri or “Forest Slump”
Ahipara is a sleepy coastal hamlet with an excellent cafe, a small, expensive grocery store and a bottle shop. It’s not much in the grand scheme of things but appeared to us as a veritable oasis after the trials of 90 Mile Beach. As we made our third or fourth return journey to the shops, we met a pair of fellow TA hikers, the Dutch duo of Vince and Rene. They seemed remarkably buoyant for just having traversed the beach, a situation which seemed hugely demoralizing given the fact that Adam and I were almost in need of Zimmer frames at this stage. The truth would soon come to light however, as they freely admitted they’d hitchhiked their way out of 40kms of beach walking.
After a well deserved rest day in Ahipara and a glorious night spent in an actual bed, it was time to hit the trail once again. Being in a much more congenial state of affairs physically, the Dutch had decided to leave a day earlier than us. The following day, we decided on a short 9km effort to get ourselves established at the entrance of the Herekino Forest. Sometime during this brief foray, Adam’s feet once again began to give him grief. Watching a man pull off his own toenail with a pair of pliers is not the most grim thing I’ve ever seen, but it would definitely make it into my Top 5. The upshot of this impromptu surgery was that walking actually became somewhat easier for him, at least for the time being.
We set up camp in a grassy divot just shy of the trailhead and as the sun went down I was once again enamoured by life on the trail, by the purity and simplicity of it. You carry all you need for your survival on your back, throwing it down in some picturesque, deserted slice of wilderness at the end of the day. In all likelihood, you’ll never lay eyes on this piece of land again in your life, but for a time it is yours. It is home.
The Herekino Forest trail was a welcome change in landscape from the dearth of variety we’d experienced on the beach. New Zealand is a country made famous for it’s scenery by Lord of the Rings, but the landscape was much more reminiscent of Return of the Jedi than Return of the King. The trail was steep, muddy and crisscrossed with the roots of ancient Kauri trees, offering the occasional view before plunging along a precipitous descent toward the exit. Here we met the Dutch group again, who had some interesting news. It seemed that one of their group, Rene, had expressed his intent to quit the trail. He cited a lack of mental rather than physical ability to keep going, and his ability on the trail certainly seemed to correlate with this assessment. We spent the night camped in a tract forestry land, ensconced in a stunning grove where unicorns frolicked amongst the wild flowers and clear streams. The undergrowth smelled of fresh mint.
The next day, it became clear that Adam’s feet would once again become a sticking point. Rather than venturing further, we decided to make the call and hitchhike into town to spent a further rest period waiting for his small toes, now bereft of nails, to harden. We were picked up by Peter, a Takahue local who took us to his home and gave us coffee and homemade biscuits whilst scolding us on the weight of our packs for an hour or so. His house was brimming with character and his family were incredibly hospitable. Eventually he dropped us in Kaitaia where we spent a few days drinking and relaxing. Christmas came and went without much ado. Once again, we were ready for the trail, having now absorbed Vince into our team. Our first effort hitchhiking as a trio (always a difficult proposition) was extremely fortunate. Peter’s wife, Sabrina, saw us on the outskirts of Kaitaia and happened to be driving to the exact location we desired, so we piled into here ludicrously small yellow hatchback and offered our sincere thanks.
From here, we moved into Raetea Forest which, despite all warnings, turned out to be much more agreeable than we’d come to expect. All reports were of agonising inclines and a succession of impenetrable quagmires. Essentially, we began to feel like we’d have more luck traversing the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the late 1960’s. It turned out to be much more benign than predicted, probably more so than the Herekino Trail. The track was still challenging, though it’s inclines were less steep and sustained and the vegetation seemed less dense, being a little further from the West Coast. We camped in a meadow atop a bare rise with a stellar view of the valleys before us which filled with fog in the early morning like a scene from some fantasy novel, the ridges and mountains of the horizon appearing as islands in a sea of white.
From here, there was some more road walking and another pair of forests to complete. These were much easier, owing mainly to the fact that the trails were quite well groomed. In the Omahuta Forest, the trail took us along the bed of a shallow stream called the Mangapukahukahu, which instantly became my favourite name for anything, ever. We weaved for kilometres amongst the shallow pools and over small shoals before climbing a steep ridge out of the forest.
With the forests completed, the last phase of this leg of the journey began. Lady Luck was our friend once again in what was to become a steady procession of serendipitous events. As we exited a piece of farmland, we were stunned to see that the ute approaching us contained Ethan, one of the many who’d given us a lift whilst hitchhiking up to the Cape. He invited us in for coffee, fruitcake and a bit of a yarn. We continued through picturesque farmland, emerging onto a high ridgeline where the emerald hue of the manicured turf was resplendent in the morning sun and contrasted starkly by the darkening horizon. As we walked east, we were rewarded with spectacular views of the Bay of Islands, the peaks and ridges almost lost in the distant haze. This sight was one of the highlights of the trip so far, and one I think that will remain with me for some time.
The trail wound its way down along the Kerikeri River, past amazing pieces of riverside architecture and toward an unexpected waterfall where an equally unexpected acquaintance was found. It so happened that we’d jagged the timing on a meeting with Rene, whom we’d left days ago in the hostel in Kaitaia and was now lounging at the base of the impressive cascade. As we approached town, we also ran into two German lasses who we’d also met in the same hostel. We’d eventually see all of these people once again, further along the trail. The day, and indeed this section of the trail, ended with beers, burgers and even a free lift home from the pub (although I did have to perform a hill start in the courtesy bus, as the girl couldn’t quite figure it out and was beginning to flip out).
Kerikeri was an unexpected gem, a leafy, affluent town which is a far cry from some of the places we’d seen on the West Coast. We stayed at a comfortable, quirky holiday park, making full use of the facilities before departing the next day. We had a schedule, you see… to be in Paihia for New Year’s Eve celebrations. But that is a tale on its own, a story for another time.
Ryan Siacci, Esq.
Thoughts? Opinions? Cries of dissent? Cancel reply
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I wrote the chapter about the NBA in the 1970s for the 2005 anthology Basketball in America: From the Playgrounds to Jordan's Game and Beyond. This is the fourth of 12 installments reprinting that chapter in its entirety.
I have removed the footnotes that accompanied the original text; direct quotations are now acknowledged in the body of the work and I will post a bibliography at the end of the final installment. I hope that you enjoy my take on one of the most fascinating and eventful decades in NBA history.
The Rolls Royce Backcourt Drives Off With The Title
The Celtics were the class of the league in the 1972-1973 season, racing to a 68-14 record, only one game off the Lakers' mark set the year before. Dave Cowens was selected MVP, Paul Silas added rebounding and toughness, and John Havlicek had yet another outstanding season. The Bullets (52-30) won their third straight Central Division title behind the 21.2 points per game and 14.5 rebounds per game of Elvin Hayes, acquired in the offseason from the Rockets. The Philadelphia 76ers represented the opposite end of the spectrum. They hit rock bottom in 1972-1973 after a steady free fall since Wilt Chamberlain led the team to the 1967 championship. Sixers' star Billy Cunningham signed a deal to play with the ABA Carolina Cougars and although he later decided that he wanted to remain with the Sixers, a court ruling forced him to honor the contract with the Cougars. Without the "Kangaroo Kid" the 76ers collapsed to a 9-73 record, worst in NBA history; Cunningham won the ABA MVP that season. While the Sixers got the short end of the stick, the NBA did get a superstar forward to replace Cunningham: Rick Barry was compelled by court order to return to the Warriors after playing out his contract with the ABA's New York Nets.
Rick Barry's arrival in Golden State brought his career full circle. In 1965-1966 he was the Rookie of the Year for the then San Francisco Warriors and the next year he won the scoring title (2775 points, 35.6 points per game) while leading the Warriors to the NBA Finals. After that season he became the first big NBA star to jump to the ABA, signing with the Oakland Oaks, but a court ruling stated that he either had to play out his option year with the Warriors or sit out a season before joining the Oaks. Barry chose to sit out. The next year Barry won the ABA scoring title (34.0 points per game), becoming the first and only player to capture scoring crowns in both leagues. The Oaks won the championship, but Barry missed a sizeable portion of the regular season and all of the playoffs due to injury. The Oaks moved to Washington, D.C. for the 1969-1970 season and Barry signed with the NBA Warriors, contending that his deal with the Oaks included an escape clause if the team left the Bay area. Again the courts ruled against Barry and he averaged 27.7 points per game for the Washington Capitols. In the offseason the Capitols became the Virginia Squires, but Barry complained so vociferously about this move that the team dealt him to the Nets. Barry enjoyed two successful seasons with the Nets and decided that he wanted to remain with the team, but there was the issue of the contract that he had signed with the Warriors in the wake of the Oaks move to Washington. The courts ruled that he could not remain with the Nets after his contract with the club expired in 1972, so after five eventful years Barry ended up right back where his career began. He held the dubious distinction of being the one player in this time period who repeatedly lost his court cases, in contrast to Connie Hawkins, Spencer Haywood, and others who eventually ended up with the teams for which they wanted to play. Nevertheless, Barry's legal travails opened the way for numerous other players to jump leagues, including Zelmo Beaty, Joe Caldwell and Cunningham.
In his return to the Bay Area, Barry averaged 22.3 points per game, made the All-NBA Second Team and led the Warriors to a 47-35 record, good enough for second place in the Pacific Division. The Lakers and Bucks again stood at the top of the Western Conference, winning the Pacific and Midwest Divisions respectively with identical 60-22 records. The Chicago Bulls, a tough, defensive minded team paced by high scoring forwards Bob Love (23.1 points per game) and Chet Walker (19.9 points per game), grabbed the other playoff spot, winning 51 games and finishing second in the Midwest Division.
One of the biggest stories of the season turned out to be one of the smallest players in the league. Coach Bob Cousy of the Kansas City-Omaha Kings (formerly the Cincinnati Royals) knew that his squad did not have the horses to make the playoffs, so he granted tremendous freedom to third year guard Nate "Tiny" Archibald, who measured 6-1, 160. Archibald became the only player to ever lead the league in scoring (34.0 points per game) and assists (11.4 assists per game) in the same season. He joined Jerry West on the All-NBA First Team. The Kings finished last in the Midwest Division with a 36-46 record but attracted many fans to watch Archibald perform.
"Pistol" Pete Maravich of the Atlanta Hawks was another flashy guard who fans flocked to see. He joined the Hawks in 1970-1971 after setting the all-time NCAA Division I career scoring record by averaging an astounding 44.2 points per game. He averaged 23.2 points per game in his rookie year and 19.3 points per game in an injury marred second season but the Hawks, which had seemed to be a team on the rise, slumped in the standings. Maravich's fancy ball handling and passing skills caused many critics to label him a "showboat" and "hot dog."
Some of the criticisms of Maravich were muted, at least temporarily, by his performance in the 1972-1973 season, when he ranked fifth in scoring (26.1 points per game) and sixth in assists (6.9 assists per game) and made the All-NBA Second Team. Maravich knew that he was ahead of his time: "You're going to see forwards and centers throwing the ball behind their backs, just like I do. The time will come before we know it." In fact, he was literally a decade ahead of his time, because Magic Johnson later became a beloved superstar doing similar things. Johnson came along at the right time and had teammates who caught his passes instead of fumbling them out of bounds.
Maravich's competitive fires burned as fiercely as those of the other greats of the game and he was not satisfied with individual statistics or achievements: "I'm not pleased with anything I've done so far...All I want to do is win the title and I'll quit. A title would be the highest level you can attain. They'll say 'He was a hot dog--but he was a champion.'" He also understood that fans paid good money to watch professional athletes and deserved to be entertained: "(Fans)…should get total satisfaction from watching a game." While some of Maravich's success in 1972-1973 came from increasing maturity, George Vecsey noted, "…there is more evidence that he was finally playing with teammates who could cope with his ability." Johnson later assessed Maravich's impact on basketball history: "Maravich was unbelievable. He was ahead of his time with the things he did." Isiah Thomas concurs: "The best showman of all time? I'd have to say Pistol Pete."
Maravich's Hawks played the powerful Celtics to a standstill after four games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, but the Celtics won the next two to close out the series. Maravich averaged 26.2 points per game and 6.7 assists per game in the playoffs. The Knicks obliterated the Bullets in the other Eastern Conference series, taking the first three games en route to a four to one decision. In the Western Conference, Barry and the Warriors pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NBA playoff history, defeating the Bucks in six games. The Bulls extended the defending champion Lakers to the limit, losing 95-92 in game seven. The Lakers overpowered the Warriors four to one in the Western Conference Finals, while the Knicks savored a gritty seven game triumph over the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals; Havlicek was severely hampered in the latter part of the series with a painful shoulder injury.
By this time the Knicks were peaking and their "Rolls Royce" backcourt of Frazier and Monroe was in full flower. "There's never been two players together that were so good in the same backcourt. They were the best ever," raved teammate DeBusschere. The Lakers narrowly took game one of the NBA Finals but the Knicks reeled off four consecutive wins to claim their second title in four years. Willis Reed's numbers were up and down throughout the season and the playoffs due to his injuries, but he was again selected as the Finals MVP. A dissenting vote on the Finals MVP later came from Frazier: "They (the media) always jerked me around. When I didn't get the MVP that year (1970) they told me it was because they judged by the season; and when I didn't get it in 1973 they said it was because they judged by the series..."
Labels: Earl Monroe, Nate Archibald, New York Knicks, Pete Maravich, Walt Frazier, Willis Reed
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May 30, 2019: Membership Mixer
April 24, 2019: ABAS MCLE Deposition Strategies and Tactics
Alden Parker is the managing partner of Fisher Phillips’ Sacramento office and the co-chair of the Hospitality Industry Group. Alden represents employers in all facets of employment law matters and has significant experience defending employers in both state and federal court.
Alden will be presenting his perspective on oral depositions, both taking and defending, and the strategies and tactics that he has found successful in his 20+ year legal career.
(lunch will be provided)
Location: California Restaurant Association
(621 Capitol Mall, 20th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814)
Eligible MCLE: 1.0 hour in General*
Cost: ABAS Members $25
Non-ABAS Members $40
Please RSVP to Priscilla Parker at priscilla@penneylaw.com, or by mailing a check made payable to “ABAS” to Asian/Pacific Bar Association of Sacramento, PO Box 2215 Metro Station, Sacramento, CA 95812-2215. Please also contact Priscilla Parker with any questions.
*This activity pending for Minimum Continuing Legal Education credit by the State Bar of California in the amount of 1 unit of MCLE in the General Law Category Credit. The Sacramento County Bar Association provider #166 certifies that this activity conforms to the standards for approved education activities prescribed by the rules and regulations of the State Bar of California governing minimum continuing legal education. This event is for SCBA members and invited guests. The SCBA reserves the right to refuse admission to anyone whose presence is unreasonable disruptive or who detracts from the safety, welfare, and well-being of other patrons, staff, and the establishment itself.
March 21, 2019: SCBA Barristers’ Club & ABAS Joint Mixer
February 21, 2019: Membership Mixer
November 15, 2018: ABAS 2018 Annual Gala General Information
The ABAS 2018 Annual Gala will be held on November 15th from 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Location: Kimpton Sawyer Hotel, 500 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
Keynote speaker: The Honorable Dana Makoto Sabraw, U.S. District Judge, Southern District of California
Judge Dana M. Sabraw was nominated to the United States District Court, Southern District of California, on May 1, 2003, by President George W. Bush. He was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on September 25, 2003. He previously served as a Superior Court judge for the County of San Diego from 1998 to 2003.
Judge Sabraw was born in the Bay Area, and raised in Sacramento, California. He attended McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific in Sacramento, where he graduated in 1985 in the top 10% of his class, and served on the Law Review. After 10 years as a commercial litigator in private practice, in 1995, Judge Sabraw was appointed to San Diego’s North County Municipal Court. He served as Presiding Judge of the Municipal Court until his elevation by Governor Pete Wilson to the Superior Court in November 1998. While on the Superior Court, Judge Sabraw served as Criminal Supervising Judge, presided over felony jury trials, including capital cases, and served as an independent civil calendar judge, where he managed a calendar of over 700 cases from initial filing through trial including medical and legal malpractice, insurance coverage, torts, employment law, product liability, intellectual property, real property, eminent domain, contract, and consumer disputes.
Judge Sabraw has been active in a number of professional organizations. He is a founding member and former president of two American Inns of Court in San Diego. He has served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, San Diego Chapter, and is a current member, and past board member, of the Pan Asian Lawyers of San Diego.
The President’s Award will honor Justice Arthur G. Scotland, former Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District.
Justice Scotland graduated with honors from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, in 1974. His judicial career included over 21 years on the Court of Appeal in Sacramento and almost two years as a Judge of the Superior Court of Sacramento County. Before his appointment to the bench in 1987, he served as Cabinet Secretary to Governor Deukmejian, 1983-1987, California Deputy Attorney General, 1976-1983, and Sacramento County Deputy District Attorney, 1974-1976. After retiring from the Court of Appeal in 2010, he reactivated his license to practice law and represented the President pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the Assembly in a successful lawsuit against the State Controller, regarding the constitutional requirements for passage of a balanced budget bill. In 2012, he joined Nielsen Merksamer Parrinello Gross & Leoni as Of Counsel specializing in government law. Over his career, Justice Scotland has received many awards in recognition of his contributions to the legal profession and his support of the community. ABAS is honored to present Justice Scotland with the 2018 President’s Award.
For ABAS Annual Gala sponsorship opportunities, please visit this page.
To purchase tickets to the event, please visit this page.
Please email ABAS with any questions.
Gavrilov & Brooks
Shimoda Law Corp.
Wine and Dessert Sponsors:
November 14, 2018: A Judge’s Perspective: Courtroom Insights and Practice Tips for Attorneys
ABAS’ Mentorship Committee is offering the unique opportunity to lunch with two dynamic Superior Court judges. They will be sharing insights and perspectives on issues experienced by Asian American attorneys in the courtroom and best practices. Please see the flyer for more information and RSVP to Karen Kim b7 11/12/18.
12-1:00 pm. (Lunch will be provided)
Murphy Austin Adams Schoenfeld LLP
October 24, 2018: ABAS Happy Hour
Please join us for the last ABAS Happy Hour of the year!
September 16, 2018: ABAS Law Foundation Golf Tournament
30th Annual Golf Invitational at Turkey Creek Golf Club
Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018.
8:00 Shotgun Start
Please see the flyer for more information, and use the entry form if interested.
September 13, 2018: ABAS CLE Building Trust with Your Clients (and Others) (1 Hr Ethics Pending)
ABAS presents “Building Trust with Your Clients (and Others)” by Cami McClaren. Cami, a practicing attorney for 16 years, coaches attorneys to create a more productive, balanced, and fulfilling business and career. She has worked one-on-one with attorneys to improve communication skills, create more effective and positive relationship, and improve time management skills and productivity. Cami will be speaking about how to improve communication skills and attorney-client trust to have better and more successful client relationships.
Date: Thursday, September 13, 2018
Time: 12:00-1:00 p.m. (Lunch will be provided)
Location: Seyfarth Shaw, LLP
400 Capitol Mall, Suite 2350
Cost: $25 for ABAS Members
$30 for Non-ABAS Members
Please register by Tuesday, Sept. 11.
To register, please use this form or please contact Priscilla Parker. See the flyer for more information.
August 11, 2018: Community Service Day
The ABAS Community Service Committee needs your help on August 11, 2018. Please join ABAS and the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services in its joint efforts to fight hunger this summer. All it takes is a few hours of your time to do your part in this important effort.
Date: Saturday, August 11, 2018
Location: 1951 Bell Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95838
Please register by August 8, 2018 by using this form. If you have any questions, please contact Michael Wang at mwang@wilneroreilly.com.
July 25, 2018: ABAS Law Foundation Presents the Narrative Feature Film, SOLD
The Tower Theatre
2508 Land Park Drive
ABAS Law Foundation presents the narrative feature film SOLD adapted from the internationally acclaimed novel by Patricia McCormick. The film is based on a true story and illustrates the brutality of child trafficking. This acclaimed film (winner of three film festivals) tells the story of a 13-year old girl’s plight after being sold to a brothel. The International Labor Organization estimates over 20 million people are enslaved today. Approximately, 5.5 million of these slaves are children forced into sex and labor slavery. Currently, it is estimated that 1.8 million children are trafficked each year into sexual slavery. SOLD is directed by Academy and Emmy award winner, Jeffrey D. Brown, Executive Produced by two-time Academy Award winner, Emma Thompson. The film aims to inspire a global movement to address the crime of child trafficking domestically and internationally.
For Tickets, please visit: https://www.tugg.com/events/sold-tycm
For more information, please visit the ABAS Law Foundation website.
June 11, 2018: Guide to Public Service Appointments- Members Only Event (1.0 MCLE pending)
ABAS, together with the Wiley W. Manuel Bar Association and the Cruz Reynoso Bar Association present the Guide to Public Service Appointments, featuring Mona Pasquil, Appointments Secretary for the Governor’s Office.
Date: Monday, June 11, 2018
Time: 12:00-1:00pm
Location: The Offices of Wilke, Fleury, Hoffelt, Gould & Birney LLP
400 Capitol Mall, 22nd Floor
Please see the flyer for more information and to RSVP for this free event.
June 21, 2018: Happy Hour
Please join us for Happy Hour sponsored by the South Asian Bar Association, Leonard M. Friedman Bar Association and ABAS
at Oakhaus
July 28, 2018: ABAS Summer Party
Come join ABAS for food, games, and fun at the park.
North Natomas Regional Park
4989 Natomas Blvd.
Please bring water-friendly clothing.
The event is free, but please RSVP here by Friday, July 20, 2018. ABAS will also be collecting household items for My Sister’s House. Please see the flyer for more information about the event.
April 26, 2018: April Happy Hour
Please join ABAS and Barristers for a joint April Happy Hour.
Thursday, April 26, 2018 from 5:30-7:30 pm
Hot Italian, located at 1627 – 16th Street, Sacramento, CA
Please see the attached April Happy Hour flyer for more information.
April 11, 2018: ABAS Mentorship Committee Mock Interviews (6-8 pm)
The ABAS Mentorship Committee will be conducting mock interviews on Wednesday, April 11 from 6-8 at the Law Offices of Seyfarth, Shaw LLP at 400 Capitol Mall, Suite 2350. Please contact abassacramento@gmail.com for additional information.
Spring MCLE (05/24/2017)
THE ASIAN/PACIFIC BAR ASSOCIATION OF SACRAMENTO PRESENTS
Navigating Business Law Considerations for California Cannabis Enterprises
Mike Parnes, Attorney with Murphy Austin Adams Schoenfeld LLP
Ushered in by the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act of 2015 and Proposition 64 in 2016, California will soon become both the largest legal cannabis market in the world and the most regulated. Maximizing one’s return on investment will demand strict compliance with complicated legal issues ranging from income tax and sales and use tax to banking and licensing. Please join ABAS for a unique and informative discussion of these issues with seasoned practitioner, Mike Parnes!
1.0 Hour of MCLE Credit (Pending)
555 Capitol Mall, Suite 850(8th Floor)
Sacramento, California 95814
Lunch will be provided
$25 – ABAS Members
$30 – Non-ABAS Members
Please make checks payable to “ABAS” and send to:
Henry Chu
c/o Murphy Austin Adams Schoenfeld LLP
hchu@murphyaustin.com, 916-446-2300
RSVP and payment to Henry Chu
By Wednesday May 17, 2017
ABAS Dim Sum (10/29/2016)
ABAS had Dim Sum at 10:30 a.m., on Saturday, October 29, 2016, at Yue Huang, at 3860 Truxel Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95834. The cost was $8 for members, $12 for non-members. If you have any questions, please e-mail chris.s.alvarez@gmail.com.
MCLE: Ethics Refresher (10/28/2016)
ABAS held an MCLE Ethics Refresher course with Stephen Davids, partner at Dreyer Babich. The MCLE was held at Litigation Services, 400 Capitol Mall, Suite 2520 (25th Floor), on October 28, 2016, at 12 p.m. (Lunch provided.)
ABAS 2016 Annual Dinner Gala (09/27/2016)
The Annual Dinner Gala was held at the Library Galleria on September 27, 2016, atb 5:30 p.m. For more information, please refer to any of the numerous e-mails ABAS has sent out regarding this event or contact abassacramento@gmail.com.
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$950M U.S. Effort to Aid Afghan Refugees Thwarted by Incompetence and Corruption
OMAR SOBHANI
By Millie Dent
Millions of Afghan refugees fleeing decades of war are living in Pakistan and Iran. The U.S. State Department has spent $950 million since 2002 to return them to their country, but those efforts have mainly failed due to incompetence and corruption in the Afghan government, according to a new report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
The State Department had funded a two-year program intended to help the Afghan bureaucracy better deal with the refugee crisis, but it found working with the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations (MORR) “extremely challenging” and concluded the ministry wasn’t up to the task.
The State Department cut off funding to the ministry in 2014, though it continues paying for programs run by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, including efforts in Pakistan and Iran. Even a Pakistani government report found that the UNHCR programs there had made “very little progress.”
Related: Is State Dept. Trying to Muzzle Afghanistan Watchdog?
One big sticking point in addressing the plight of the refugees was the inability of the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran to make a credible estimate of how many people had been displaced. That would help determine how much money is needed and how the funds are allocated.
The UNHCR intervened, and in December 2014 came up with an estimate: By its reckoning, about 1.5 million unregistered Afghan refugees were still in Pakistan and 950,000 in Iran.
The new Afghan government that succeeded the troubled administration of former President Hamid Karzai last year has promised to clean up the bungling bureaucracy and strengthen programs to repatriate refugees. And SIGAR seems willing to give it a chance.
Related: We Built a $335 Million Power Plant in Afghanistan that Can Barely Turn on a Lightbulb
The U.S. has no plans to reintroduce its financial support, but the SIGAR report recommends that the State Department monitor the new Afghan government’s progress for signs of headway. Once State feels comfortable reinstating assistance, the department should work with other aid organizations to address the needs of refugees and returnees and partner with multiple ministries within the Afghan government, not just the MORR, to ensure accountability.
Until then, millions of refugees will be waiting for help to get home.
North Korea Has a Meth Problem, an Unstable Leader—and Nukes
We already know that North Korea has nuclear weapons, an insecure and possibly unstable leader, and a habit of lashing...
Growing Alarm in the Kremlin as the Wheels Come Off the Putin Regime
You know things are getting really bad when Sergei Lavrov blows his cool. © www.rferl.org The Russian foreign minister...
4-Star General Calls for Troops on the Ground to Break ISIS Stalemate
In one of the most negative assessments yet of America’s war against ISIS, Gen. Ray Odierno said the U.S. should commit...
Millie Dent
Millie Dent is a recent graduate of Wesleyan University, where she served as News Editor of the University newspaper. She previously worked as a research assistant for Forbes Editor, Richard Behar, on his book about Bernie Madoff and was a contributing writer for Forbes on the business behind media and entertainment.
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Collection Management Activities / slide22
Frank Thompson and Angela McCleaf
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Copyright © 1997-2007, Historic Naval Ships Association.
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Our Client Meeting Locations
NavigationHomeProfilesOur Client Meeting LocationsContact USAbout us
Arlington Divorce & Child Custody Attorneys
Are you having a divorce? Are your relations with your spouse not good enough to keep the marital relation? If you are looking for a divorce, then you should know the law. It is not easy to get a divorce in Virginia. Well, it is easy, but it involves a lot of things which you may not understand. There are many issues which arise after getting a divorce. In Virginia, it is not just signing a piece of paper; it is more than that. To have a divorce you and your spouse have to be separate for at least one year or six months before you can file a divorce. It means that you must have grounds, i.e., solid reasons for getting a divorce in Virginia. Without solid reason, you cannot get a divorce. These solids reasons and grounds can be adultery by the partner, felony, or domestic violence, etc. You should know that you cannot get a divorce in Virginia if you and your spouse both agree to be separate for six months or not have children. Also, if you are filing a divorce, you should be a resident of Virginia for the past six months or more. There are so many things which you should know before getting a divorce and also after the divorce. To handle a divorce case you should always take help from a reliable Arlington Virginia Divorce lawyer. You should know all the rules and regulations about the device. The best way to know these rules is to hire a lawyer who can explain these rules to you. It is how you will also win the case in the court.
Why need a lawyer?
So, the question is why you would need a lawyer for getting a divorce? When you decide that you need to be separate, there will be so many issues. In many cases, the spouses fight over child custody, property, etc. It is not easy to solve these issues without a lawyer. For example, who gets the property after the divorce? Who gets the appliances or the vehicles after divorce? What happens after retirement? Who will pay the debts after divorce? Who gets the child custody? Who will pay for child support? There are so many other issues which will arise if you decide to get a divorce. You need to resolve these issues with your spouse before you get a divorce. Of course, you cannot do it on your own. You will need help from an expert Arlington Virginia, a divorce lawyer. These divorce lawyers have experience in dealing with such cases. They know all the paperwork and also how to deal with the partner’s lawyers. It is why you need a divorce lawyer. Do not just ask for any lawyer. Hiring a divorce lawyer will solve your problems.
The expert divorce lawyers
Make sure that you hire an experienced divorce attorney. You can rely on these lawyers to help you with the divorce process and also after that. These expert divorce attorneys will help you with the entire divorce process.
The following are some of the laws:
VA § 20-91. Grounds for divorce from bond of matrimony; contents of decree.
“A. …from the bond of matrimony may be decreed:
(1) For adultery; or for sodomy or buggery committed outside the marriage;”
Click on above link to read more.
VA § 20-94. Effect of cohabitation after knowledge of adultery, sodomy or buggery; lapse of five years.
“…. for adultery, sodomy, or buggery, the divorce shall not be granted, if it appear that the parties voluntarily cohabited after the knowledge of the fact of adultery, sodomy or buggery, or that it occurred more than five years before the institution of the suit, or that it was committed by the procurement or connivance of the party alleging such act. Click on above link to read more.”
VA § 20-95. Grounds for divorces from bed and board.
“….from bed and board may be decreed for cruelty, reasonable apprehension of bodily hurt, willful desertion or abandonment.”
VA § 20-103. Court may make orders pending suit for divorce, custody or visitation, etc.
The following is a case that is illustrative of a case:
Mr. McNicholas seeks a “D” on the grounds of adultery. In his bill of complaint he alleges that Ms. McNicholas committed acts of adultery since at least July 2002. In her answer Ms. McNicholas admits that she began an adulterous relationship with Jonathan Andrew Bergel in October 2002. She also admitted that the parties have not shared the same bedroom since September 2002 and that Mr. McNicholas has not voluntarily lived with her as husband and wife after he learned of the adulterous acts. The bill of complaint does not allege specifically that the parties separated in September 2002 or at the time when Mr. McNicholas learned of the adultery.
At trial Mr. Bergel testified that he began a sexual relationship with Ms. McNicholas sometime in the summer of 2002 — before September 2002, and that it continued into 2003.
Ms. McNicholas testified that her sexual relationship with Mr. Bergel did not begin until October 2002 after the parties separated in September 2002.
The evidence is clear and convincing (and duly corroborated) that Ms. McNicholas committed adultery with Mr. Bergel starting in October 2002 and continuing into 2003. It is clear that the latest that Mr. McNicholas could have learned of the adultery was in December 2002 when he got the report from his private investigator about Ms. McNicholas’ trip to Massanutten with Mr. Bergel. Mr. McNicholas did not condone the adultery and did not live with Ms. McNicholas as husband and wife after December 2002.
At trial Mr. McNicholas took the position that the parties did not separate until December 2002. He testified that he did not form the intent to separate until December 2002 when he learned of the Massanutten trip. Ms. McNicholas asserted that the parties separated in September 2002. It is uncontradicted that the parties lived under the same roof until January 15, 2004, when Ms. McNicholas left the martial residence.
I find that the parties separated in September 2002 when Ms. McNicholas moved out of the marital bedroom and refused to have any further sexual relations with Mr. McNicholas. At that time she was heavily involved with Mr. Bergel. She was seeing him frequently and purchasing gifts for him. She testified that she had the intent to end the marriage in September 2002.
In late September or early October 2002 Mr. McNicholas removed Ms. McNicholas’ name from their joint accounts and closed most of the credit cards she was using. He cut her off from most finances. Mr. McNicholas moved his office to the marital residence. He asked his mother to come and stay at the marital residence in early October. She arrived on October 13, 2002. She testified that the parties were living separate and apart when she came to the marital residence. The parties last had sexual relations in late September 2002.
Whether the adultery occurred before or after the parties separated is irrelevant as to the “D”. Post-separation adultery can give the other party grounds for “D” based upon such adultery regardless of who caused the separation. See, e.g., Robertson v. Robertson, 215 Va. 425, 211 S.E.2d 41 (1975); Surbey v. Surbey, 5 v. App. 119, 360 S.E.2d 873, 4 v. Law Rep. 702 (1987).
Here it is clear that the parties have been living separate and apart without cohabitation and without interruption for more than one year even though they lived under the same roof until January 15, 2004. For more than a year Mr. McNicholas lived under the same roof with Ms. McNicholas allowing Ms. McNicholas to care for their two children and the household despite learning of her adulterous acts.
Even though Mr. McNicholas has presented evidence sufficient to support his allegation of adultery by Ms. McNicholas, I am not compelled “to give precedence to one proven ground of “D” over another.” Sargent v. Sargent, 20 v. App. 694, 707, 460 S.E.2d 596, 12 v. Law Rep. 89 (1995) (quoting Robertson, 215 v. at 426). Where multiple grounds of “D” exist, a trial judge can use sound discretion to select the grounds upon which to grant the “D”.
I think that this marriage was headed for failure before Ms. McNicholas became involved with Mr. Bergel in the summer of 2002 regardless of the nature of their involvement at that time. Even after Mr. McNicholas learned of her adultery, he did not leave the marital residence or take steps to attempt to have her removed despite his significant financial resources. He continued to allow Ms. McNicholas to be with and to care for their children despite his knowledge of the adultery, the children’s exposure to Mr. Bergel as his wife’s paramour, and the fact that Ms. McNicholas may have left the children unattended so that she could be with Mr. Bergel.
While I find that Mr. McNicholas does have a ground for “D” in adultery by Ms. McNicholas, I have difficulty in awarding a “D” based on that adultery when the parties continue to live under the same roof after the adultery became know to the other party. If a husband is not repulsed enough by his wife’s adultery to seek a physical separation after he files a suit for “D” on the grounds of adultery, then I do not think that the marriage should be dissolved because the wife is guilty of adultery (and then brand her with the big “A”).
For the foregoing reasons, I exercise my discretion and Mr. McNicholas is granted a “D” from Ms. McNicholas on the ground of having lived separate and apart without cohabitation and without interruption for one year under v. Code § 20-91(A)(9).
The issue of the adulterous acts of Ms. McNicholas as to equitable distribution and spousal support are discussed later in this opinion letter.
The marital property of the parties is as follows:
Asset Ownership Value
Marital Residence: Joint $ 510,000.00 (average of parties’
43234 Kimberly Anne Court expert appraisers)
Ashburn, Virginia Subject to:
. First deed of trust with
principal balance of $ 266,533.22
as of December 2003
. Second deed of trust with
principal balance of $ 65,013.14
as of December 2003 (* See below)
1998 Infiniti Q45 Automobile Owned by: $ 15,650.00
Mr. McNicholas Subject to loan with principal
balance of $ 17,048.00 in
2002 Kawasaki 22R 1200 Owned by: $ 7,260.00
Motorcycle Mr. McNicholas
Merrill-Lynch Investment Owned by: $ 4,959.97
Account Mr. McNicholas (per statement dated
November 28, 2003)
2002 Federal Income Tax Joint $ 3,681.00
Refund (held in escrow)
2002 Virginia Income Tax Joint $ 1,670.00
Nationwide Life Insurance Owned by: $ 8,357.31
Policy on life of Mr. McNicholas (cash value as of
Mr. McNicholas December 26, 2003)
Putnam IRA Owned by: $ 28,260.53
Mr. McNicholas (as of September 30, 2003)
* Counsel for Ms. McNicholas has a lien up to $ 85,000.00 for attorney fees
on her interest in the marital residence.
Mr. McNicholas testified that he started an IRA before the parties married with $ 4,000.00. The Putnam IRA was opened during the marriage. Other funds were added to it during the marriage. Because of the lack of sufficient evidence to trace any portion of it to Mr. McNicholas’ separate funds, it is found to be marital property because it was created during the marriage.
Mr. McNicholas opened up a Principal IRA in July 2003 (after the parties separated) by rolling over his 401(k) from First Look Dealer Network, LLC (a prior employer of Mr. McNicholas). This IRA had a value of $ 16,915.15 as of September 30, 2003. I find it to be part marital and part separate property as follows:
Mr. McNicholas’ separate property $ 5,344.40
Marital property $ 10,850.75
Total: $ 16,195.15
This finding is based upon the calculation of Ms. McNicholas’ expert, Stanley B. Corey, Jr., ChFC, CFP, as set forth in Defendant’s Exhibits 4-F and 4-G.
Mr. McNicholas leases a 2003 Acura for $ 469.00 per month with the rental term to expire in March 2006. The Acura is not owned by the parties; therefore, the vehicle itself cannot be considered property for equitable distribution purposes. The lease may be the property of Mr. McNicholas (he alone leased the vehicle starting in September 2002), but no evidence was presented of the value of the lease. The vehicle will not be considered for equitable distribution purposes except as a debt owned by Mr. McNicholas.
The parties offered extensive evidence as to their furniture, household furnishings and other tangible personal property that was located in the marital residence before some of it was removed by Ms. McNicholas when she moved out in January 2004. They also offered evidence of gifts received by Mr. McNicholas and what items Ms. McNicholas wishes to retain. See Complainant’s Exhibits 34 and 50; and Defendant’s Exhibit 11-A and 11-B. However, neither party offered any evidence of the value of this personal property. Therefore, it will not be considered for equitable distribution. An equitable distribution cannot be made without knowing the value of the property being equitably distributed.
In 1999, stock trading by Mr. McNicholas resulted in a short-term capital loss of over $ 15,000.00 for income tax purposes. See Schedule D (Form 1040) for 1999, Defendant’s Exhibit 9. Because no more than $ 3,000 of this loss can be applied against income in any one tax year, it can be carried forward or backward. Not all of the loss has been utilized through 2003. Also, according to Mr. Corey, there is a math error in carrying over the loss from 2000 to 2001 of $ 2,679. This is an additional loss that can be captured by filing amended joint returns for 2001 and 2002 (the parties filed jointly for 2001 and 2002). Ms. McNicholas refused to file jointly with Mr. McNicholas for 2003. There is, therefore, no reason to believe that she would agree to file joint amended returns for 2001 and 2002.
Mr. McNicholas wants all of the aforesaid loss allocated to him, while Ms. McNicholas wants it divided equally. Mr. Corey testified that the Internal Revenue Service would recognize a court ordered division of such loss in future years.
Initially, I am skeptical that a net short-term capital loss carryover for income tax purposes is “property” under v. Code § 20-107.3. Secondly, its value is speculative because it must be based upon future uncertain factors such as taxable income and other available deductions, exemptions and credits. I think the whole concept is too speculative and lacks a reasonably reliable basis for an equitable distribution. Therefore, the loss will not be considered for equitable distribution purposes. Let each party deal with the loss as he or she may be advised.
I find the following to be the marital debts of the parties:
Creditor Debtor Amount
American Express Platinum Card Mr. McNicholas $ 2,023.77
American Express Blue Card Mr. McNicholas 2,338.30
Citibank Diamond Preferred
Entertainment Card Mr. McNicholas 192.74
Chase Platinum Master Card Mr. McNicholas 13,660.48
Bank One Visa Mr. McNicholas 39,336.46
MBNA Mr. McNicholas 15,118.58
Capital One Master Card Mr. McNicholas 20,187.07
Bank One Visa Ms. McNicholas 5,050.16
Citibank Master Card Ms. McNicholas 4,420.00
Capital One Master Card Ms. McNicholas 5,034.21
Sony Citibank Master Card Ms. McNicholas 12,361.16
MBNA Visa Ms. McNicholas 7,574.00
Costco Ms. McNicholas 833.00
Loudoun Hospital Center Ms. McNicholas 791.24
All of Ms. McNicholas’ debts were incurred after the parties separated.
Other debts of the parties include the following debts, referred to above:
Debt Debtor(s) Amount
First deed of trust on marital
residence Joint $ 266,533.22
Second deed of trust on marital
residence Joint 65,013.14
Loan on Infiniti Q45 Mr. McNicholas 17,048.00
$ 469.00 per month
Accura Lease Mr. McNicholas through March
Additionally, the parties have incurred attorney fees as follows:
Party Amount of Attorney Fees and Costs
Mr. McNicholas Over $ 62,000.00
(See Complainant’s Exhibit 52)
Ms. McNicholas Over $ 42,000.00
(See Defendant’s Exhibit 20)
The factors of v. Code § 20-107.3(E) are considered below.
The contributions, monetary and nonmonetary, of each party to the well-being of the family.
The parties married in September 1991. They lived in Rockville, Maryland. Mr. McNicholas worked for his father while Ms. McNicholas worked as a cashier at Giant. At first they lived with Ms. McNicholas’ mother. Then they moved to an apartment before their child Ryan was born in February 1992.
The parties then moved to a house. Mr. McNicholas started a carpet cleaning business on the side while Ms. McNicholas earned money providing daycare. The carpet-cleaning business lost money, so the parties moved to Ms. McNicholas’ parents’ home to save money. Ms. McNicholas got a job as an assistant manager at the Limited. Mr. McNicholas went to work at a mortgage company.
Eventually the parties obtained a townhouse in Ashburn, Virginia. Mr. McNicholas went to work for a car dealership in Tysons Corner. Ms. McNicholas still worked at the Limited. Both worked long hours and saw little of each other while arranging for day care for Ryan. It put stress on the marriage.
Before Devin was born in August 1998, Ms. McNicholas stopped working at the Limited. After Devin was born, Ms. McNicholas did not work, but stayed home and took care of the home and family.
In August 1999 the parties purchased the marital residence. Mr. McNicholas was working for First Look, and he traveled as part of his work. He also began doing online stock trades. The parties started to grow apart. Mr. McNicholas managed the family finances. He concentrated on his career, lifestyle and making money while Ms. McNicholas stayed home to take care of the children and the marital residence. Mr. McNicholas did manage on weekends and at limited other times to take care of the exterior of the house and participate in the children’s activities.
Until 2002 Ms. McNicholas was the dedicated mother who did everything for the children. She was the mother all of the neighborhood kids looked up to, and she was always doing something for the neighborhood children. But in 2001, for a variety of reasons known only to Ms. McNicholas, she changed. She had a history of a substance abuse problem, but through 2001 she had it under control. However, in 2001 she began to drink again and it got worse as time went by.
A significant amount of evidence was presented as to what Ms. McNicholas did and did not do starting in 2001, much of it not very flattering to her. There is no need to go into detail, but there was evidence about her drinking, the alcohol/drug related incident on her birthday in June 2002 (that led her to stop drinking, but not stop using drugs), her outpatient drug program at Loudoun Hospital Center from August 2002 to March 2003, the failed marriage counseling in the summer of 2002, the parties’ sexual problems, her denial of sex to Mr. McNicholas after he made an effort to help their sexual problems, the torrid, rocky adulterous relationship with Mr. Bergel that she initiated, her abortion after the parties separated (she was not pregnant by Mr. McNicholas), her being gone from the children frequently, and sometimes for long periods without explanation, Mr. McNicholas’ inviting his mother to come live at the marital residence without consulting Ms. McNicholas, the animosity between Ms. McNicholas and Mr. McNicholas’ mother, Ms. McNicholas’ DUI arrest in October 2003, and her continued affairs with other men.
Ms. McNicholas went from the hard working model mother and wife in the 1990’s to the exact antithesis in the 2000’s. She expresses little regret for what she’s done, and dismisses it with “I made a mistake.”
Until the parties separated Mr. McNicholas made almost all the monetary contributions to the well-being of the family. Until 2002 Ms. McNicholas made substantial nonmonetary contributions, but as stated above, that all changed. When the parties separated in September 2002, Mr. McNicholas was making all the monetary contributions and most of the nonmonetary contributions. However, I cannot overlook the significant nonmonetary contributions, as well as some monetary contributions, of Ms. McNicholas for most of the marriage.
The contributions, monetary and nonmonetary, of each party in the acquisition and care and maintenance of such marital property of the parties.
There was no specific evidence of the contributions of the parties toward the acquisition, care, and maintenance of the marital property. However, I think it can be reasonably inferred from the evidence that money used came almost exclusively from Mr. McNicholas.
Both parties helped physically maintain the martial residence. Ms. McNicholas took care of the interior, and Mr. McNicholas the exterior.
The duration of the marriage.
The marriage lasted about eleven years.
The ages and physical and mental condition of the parties.
Mr. McNicholas is 35 years old.
Ms. McNicholas is 34 years old.
Both are in good physical and mental health.
The circumstances and factors contributing to the dissolution of the marriage.
I do not think that any fault or cause of dissolution of the marriage had any impact on the marital property or its value.
How and when marital property acquired.
The matters relevant to this factor have been discussed above.
Debts and liabilities of the parties.
The debts and liabilities of the parties are described above.
Liquid or nonliquid character of the marital property.
Except for the marital residence, the Infiniti, and the motorcycle, the marital property is liquid.
Tax consequences.
No specific of a tax consequence to either party was presented.
Equitable Distribution Decision
After consideration of the evidence, the statutory factors and all the circumstances of this case, the following is ordered:
(1) The marital residence shall be sold by private sale by the parties through a mutually agreeable agent. If the parties cannot agree on an agent, then they may come to the Court for selection of an agent. The net proceeds from the sale shall be divided equally between the parties. If the lien placed on Ms. McNicholas’ interest by her attorneys prevents an equal division of the net proceeds, then, unless the parties agree otherwise, Mr. McNicholas may bring the issue back before the Court for such other relief as may be appropriate under the circumstances.
(2) The federal and state 2002 tax refund plus any accrual interest and less any charges, if any, shall be allocated to Ms. McNicholas.
(3) All the rest of the marital property shall remain the sole property of Mr. McNicholas.
This decision awards Mr. McNicholas a little over 60% of the martial wealth, which I feel is equitable.
No allocation of marital debts is made. Mr. McNicholas shall continue to be responsible for the loans against the assets he retains.
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Expensive trade
While the fact that past trade agreements have often been biased toward richer countries shouldn't be news to any great degree, the AP's report on the plight of Mexican corn farmers provides a valuable reminder:
While the tiny, marginally productive farm plots have been in trouble for decades, the plight of many was worsened by the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, which cut tariffs on U.S. government-subsidized corn, allowing it to pour into Mexico.
In 2008, the last limits on U.S. corn will be lifted under NAFTA rules. The trade pact doesn't regulate the generous U.S. farm subsidies. Researchers said some U.S. crops are being sold in Mexico at below their already-advantageous U.S. production price.
That combination - subsidies and advantages of scale at larger U.S. farms - has led to millions of dollars in lost income for Mexican farmers and the loss of over two million farm jobs since 1993.
It should be kept in mind the status quo (both within NAFTA and in wider trade bodies) reflects developed states' choice as to which trade they want free far more than it does true free trade. It's that fact, not any problem with genuinely free trade, that has done so much to prevent developing countries from making up any ground. And until developed countries take the lead in eliminating the factors which artificially benefit their domestic industries, any lectures as to the value of free trade can do nothing but ring hollow.
A consensus of sorts
The "Iraqi Declaration of Independence" has been signed by most of the major political forces within the country. And the content explains in large part why it's been wilfully ignored in the North American media:
(T)he "Pact of Honor" that was adopted consists of 14 points, among which the following demands and agreements are the most important...:
• "withdrawal of the occupiers and setting of an objective timetable for their withdrawal from Iraq"; "elimination of all the consequences of their presence, including any bases for them in the country, while working seriously for the building of [Iraqi] security institutions and military forces within a defined schedule";...
• categorical rejection of the establishment of any relations with Israel;...
• "to activate the de-Ba'athification law and to consider that the Ba'ath party is a terrorist organization for all the tyranny it brought on the oppressed sons of Iraq, and to speed up the trial of overthrown president Saddam Hussein and the pillars of his regime"...
In sum: the most powerful people within Iraq want a solid withdrawal timetable to enable them to speed up their reprisals against political enemies, and to express their dislike of Israel on the international scene. While there may be some more positive agenda in the points not yet reported, it seems all too apparent that the main unifying factors in Iraq at the moment are exactly the problems that newfound democracy was supposed to eliminate.
(Edit: Via Daily Kos.)
A worthy effort
Good news for those wondering when Canada would have an active EFF-type organization: it's now getting publicity, and not a moment too soon:
Online Rights Canada, dedicated to protecting citizens from invasions of privacy, excessive surveillance and such, was launched Friday with support from the Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic at the University of Ottawa and the U.S.-based Electronic Frontier Foundation...
The petition asks Canadian lawmakers to protect citizens' privacy rights when the new government convenes after the late-January election. Other important issues for ORC will include revisions to Canadian copyright law, access to information and freedom from censorship, the group says.
It's about time to have some serious pressure on behalf of the public against intrusion into important means of communication. Give ORC's site a look, and help out how you can.
On longer memories
Naomi Klein points out that for all the well-deserved concern over Bushco's insistence on allowing torture, the biggest difference between it and prior regimes is the fact that torture has gone public:
Other cultures deal with a legacy of torture by declaring "Never again!" Why do so many Americans insist on dealing with the current torture crisis by crying "Never before"? I suspect it stems from a sincere desire to convey the seriousness of this administration's crimes. And its open embrace of torture is indeed unprecedented.
But let's be clear about what is unprecedented: not the torture, but the openness. Past administrations kept their "black ops" secret; the crimes were sanctioned but they were committed in the shadows, officially denied and condemned. The Bush administration has broken this deal: post-9/11, it demanded the right to torture without shame, legitimised by new definitions and new laws...
The terrible irony of the anti-historicism of the torture debate is that in the name of eradicating future abuses, past crimes are being erased from the record. Since the US has never had truth commissions, the memory of its complicity in far-away crimes has always been fragile. Now these memories are fading further, and the disappeared are disappearing again.
Not that any current openness is entirely by choice, as Bushco has tried to push the "few bad apples" defence even while trying to make sure that such apples have the chance to grow. But as impressive as Clinton or his predecessors may seem compared to Bushco's overall mismanagement, it's worth remembering that they too had blood on their hands. And the more that fact is suppressed, the more likely future administrations may be to successfully push torture back underground rather than facing due pressure to eradicate it.
A very poor choice of message
Needless to say, this isn't the way to make federalism work in Quebec:
A prominent Liberal candidate in Quebec City apologized yesterday for saying that Quebec was a poor province dependent on Canadian federalism to keep itself afloat.
Hélène Chalifour-Sherrer, Liberal leader Paul Martin's former principal secretary and now candidate in the Quebec City riding of Louis Hébert, said this afternoon that contrary to popular belief, the province of Quebec "was a very poor province."
"People still have the impression that the province of Quebec is the milking cow for all of Canada. That is not the case. The province of Quebec needs equalization payments and money from Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia, otherwise it couldn't make ends meet," Ms. Chalifour-Sherrer said.
Of course, Chalifour-Sherrer moved quickly to try to retract the comments. And I'll readily acknowledge that it's not fair to hold parties to too high a standard for every word out of the mouth of every candidate over the course of a campaign.
But a different standard has to apply when the words come from a member of the Prime Minister's inner circle, and when the quote goes to the main issues at play in Quebec. The retraction aside, this is the type of comment that could completely undermine the Liberals' claim to be able to speak for Quebec; it's not difficult to hear the echoes of Harper's past insults toward Atlantic Canada, and all the more bizarre for Chalifour-Sherrer to have made such a comment about her own home province.
That, of course, leaves one federal party which hasn't seen prominent members go out of their way to insult wide swaths of Canada. And with any luck, Chalifour-Sherrer will help push more voters to give that party a closer look as the voice of federalism in Quebec.
Unringing the bell
There are few safe predictions within an election campaign. But here's one: what Buzz Hargrove actually means...
Anyone with a progressive bone in their body rejoiced at the important measures taken by the minority government during its 17-month lifespan. More new social spending than any other government in the last quarter-century (all the more so thanks to Jack Layton's amendments to the 2005 budget). A long-awaited national child care program. Crucial new rights for workers — most recently including protection of collective agreements against the unilateral dictates of bankruptcy judges. Affirmation of same-sex marriage. A historic deal to address horrendous living conditions among aboriginals. Measures to reduce poverty among seniors and families with children. Other initiatives on housing, immigrants and the environment.
After two decades of hard-nosed, pro-business rule (under Conservative and Liberal majorities, alike), this is an incredible change. Obviously, this didn't all happen because Prime Minister Paul Martin had a conversion on the road to Damascus (though his leadership has been important). No, it happened because his party had to appeal to others to stay in power — both in the Commons, and indirectly to a broader range of interest groups than the powerful and well-connected ones who usually call the shots around Ottawa...
The best the left can now hope for is a re-creation of another Liberal minority — this time, we hope, with the NDP holding a clearer balance of power, and the two parties negotiating a more stable and lasting way of working together.
...will receive far less attention than what he's believed to have said last week.
A good chunk of the blame has to go to Hargrove for apparently failing to understand the optics of last week's speech by PMPM. And he'll be duly punished if the effect of last week's events is to push the Libs into majority territory and another business-first policy package. But at least as much blame has to go to the same media which (aside from the Rabble link above) seems to have done precious little to correct the Liberal spin.
War without discussion
It may not be anything approaching a hot-button issue, but this should nicely point out the parallels between what the Libs are actually doing, and what they're bound to accuse the Cons of wanting to do.
On role models
Thankfully, it's probably too late for Harper to emulate the example. But the leader of the Cons' UK counterpart is putting on a clinic on how to win over moderates without losing his base:
David Cameron will today reveal his determination to embrace green politics, including the threat posed by climate change, when he appoints three environmentalists, including Zac Goldsmith, the multimillionaire editor of the Ecologist, to lead a rethink on environmental issues.
Mr Cameron, who spent yesterday completing his shadow cabinet reshuffle, also appointed John Gummer, the former agriculture minister, and Peter Ainsworth, chairman of the environmental audit select committee.
In an article in the Guardian, ahead of a meeting with green groups today, Mr Cameron says he wants a new group chaired by Mr Gummer to "formulate a long-term strategy that will make Britain a better place to live without constraining economic growth".
It's difficult to imagine Harper (or any of the current top Cons) having the foresight to make that type of move. But if the Cons had taken that type of initiative, they'd almost certainly win a ton of the support now parked with the Greens, and likely take away more than a few NDP votes as well. And that ability to appeal across the spectrum would then utterly deflate PMPM's attempts to paint Harper as an extremist.
Mind you, the UK Conservatives don't have Alberta to try to appease, and it could be that any willingness to be environmentally responsible would be taken as sacrilege by Harper's current base. But if Harper was really interested in trying to take power based on a positive vision, Cameron's idea would have been a far more viable one than one which leaves out "a better place to live" as a priority.
Cheap publicity
Not that the actual policy was a bad one. But sometimes a good point can be made poorly...as proven by PMPM today:
Martin then asked (a middle school assembly) about...guns. Earlier in the day, he'd announced an election proposal of $325 million for the RCMP and a "ban" on handguns for everyone but law enforcement and some target shooters.
The prime minister and campaigning Liberal leader then asked the auditorium full of youngsters: "How many people think the government should say, 'You just can't have (guns)?' "...
Hundreds of hands eagerly shot up.
In related news, a federal Department of Candy, Video Games and Chore Prevention is to be announced as part of the Libs' platform next week.
Long-term thinking
Yesterday, there was plenty of bad news about the increased cost of health care. But one of the obvious solutions is to ensure that the health care system isn't forced to take care of issues that can be dealt with elsewhere...which makes this a stroke of genius:
The NDP's plan to spend $1.5 billion a year on long-term care and home care would begin to address the needs of seniors and help hospitals reduce waiting times, party leader Jack Layton said on Thursday...
The money for home care, Layton said, would be "an important practical first step to getting seniors out of hospital when they don't need to be there."...
The money his party would earmark for long-term care could create 40,000 spaces in long-term care facilities, Layton said. But provinces would be allowed to use it in other ways to meet local long-term care needs, he said.
While child care may have received more attention thus far in the campaign (and in the previous Parliament), the issue of care for seniors is at least equally urgent...both for the health-care providers whose resources are taken up when seniors lack anywhere else to go, and for the seniors and families themselves who should be able to expect better care than is currently available. And that's a problem that deserves far more attention than Harper's ongoing crusade to force every cabinet minister to resign several times over.
Still ahead of the curve
SaskPower is looking at building a "near zero emissions" coal power plant over the next few years:
By 2011, Saskatchewan could be home to a $1.5-billion coal-fired electricity station that would be a world's first – it would put virtually no carbon dioxide into the air...
If...research shows the 300-megawatt project is feasible, SaskPower will go ahead and build it...
Not only would CO2 be virtually eliminated with the new design, smoke, ash and other forms of pollution would also be slashed using "clean coal" technology.
The timing is good for SaskPower, because it was already looking at phasing out of one its existing coal plants around 2013.
Naturally we'll have to wait to see if the design meets expectations. But it's great to see Saskatchewan looking for newer and better ways of generating clean energy for itself, even as other provinces refuse to move past traditional power sources.
Moving health forward
If there's room to discuss policy during an election period (and so far it looks relatively possible), this suggestion deserves plenty of attention:
Canada must implement a national catastrophic drug plan to help diabetics, whose out-of-pocket expenses for medicines and supplies vary widely across the country and jeopardize their ability to control the potentially life-threatening disease, says a report by the Canadian Diabetes Association...
More than two million Canadians have been diagnosed with diabetes, a number that's expected to rise to at least three million by 2010. This year's price tag for controlling the disease and treating its complications - among them limb amputation, kidney failure and vision loss - is projected to reach $13 billion.
But with half of those with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes not meeting targeted blood-sugar levels, the proportion of those with complications is sure to rise, said Philp. "Our concern is this threatens the sustainability of our health-care system if we don't do something about it soon."
Predictably, the Lib take on the issue seems to be to wait and study a glaring problem, just in case diabetes happens to miraculously disappear before next June. But the idea should be an easy one for the other parties to pick up on in the interest of showing just how far the Liberals have let important parts of the health system lapse...and to show that a commitment to health care means more than just the status quo.
Optimistic assumptions
Peter MacLeod writes about New York's 311 system as a means of ensuring responsive government. But while his article provides some interesting discussion about how government can best serve its constituents, MacLeod glosses over an assumption which can seriously undermine the strategy's effectiveness:
With 311 in place, road crews now take their marching orders from incoming calls. Sophisticated software plots those calls onto computerized maps, highlighting the most efficient paving schedule while allowing administrators to see problems as they occur. In effect, 311 provides those crews with real-time intelligence they could never afford to collect, allowing them to offer better, more efficient service.
New York's 311 users are becoming the eyes and ears of the city. By scrupulously tracking the incoming flow of data, the 311 system is helping government officials to set and reset their priorities. In this way, 311 is quietly becoming a force that stretches well beyond what advocates of more direct forms of democracy have dreamed: a permanent plebiscite on an almost infinite number of city issues...
As long as 311 is used in an uncoordinated way by citizens, it serves as a fairly accurate mirror of genuine need. Think of it as real-time petition or market. The greater the demand, the greater the likelihood of the city responding.
The problem which isn't addressed by MacLeod, however, is the potential that the assumed lack of coordination (and equality of involvement) may not reflect reality. And that may simply replicate existing iniquities among influence groups.
On one side, it's inevitable that some concerns will go underrepresented within the 311 system. Some groups will face more difficulty in accessing the system than others, while others will simply see less reason to put their trust in public authorities to address their concerns. And the latter presents a particularly difficult problem: a group which perceives the government as less likely to respond to its needs is bound to be less likely to make the effort to get involved in the 311 system...and if that system is then applied as the main basis for government action, then the lack of trust only becomes all the worse.
The flip side is, of course, that for somebody able to calculate the costs and benefits of calling in, there may be every incentive to engage in coordinated lobbying through the 311 system...again distorting the actual needs of the city.
Not that this means the 311 system lacks plenty to offer in connecting a government and its citizens. But its obvious vulnerabilities should also be kept in mind...and accordingly they should be used as a supplement to other inputs into the government's knowledge base, not as the primary means to evaluate what a population needs.
It's a plus to have some new Saskatchewan polling results. But some useful analysis would be helpful as well...and the Star-Phoenix falls somewhat short on that count:
An early election poll is signalling that Saskatchewan may be heading toward 2004's federal election result -- majority support for the Conservatives and a near split of the remaining vote.
An Ipsos Reid poll conducted for CanWest News Service and Global News from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 has found 36 per cent of Saskatchewan respondents say Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are the leader and party most capable of dealing with the most important election issue. The Liberals and NDP are tied at 26 per cent, and 12 per cent don't know or refused to respond...
The poll's findings reflect the 2004 federal election results in the province, where the Conservatives garnered 41.8 per cent of the vote, the Liberals 27.2 per cent and the NDP 23.4 per cent.
Let's leave aside the seemingly obviously distinction between a majority and a plurality. Also note that the poll only includes 250 Saskatchewan voters, so drawing conclusions is a dicey proposition.
Those issues aside, neither the reporter nor Ipsos-Reid hesitated to conclude from the numbers that nothing much had changed since 2004. This despite the fact that the NDP is up 3 points in the poll even without taking the undecided voters into account. More importantly, the NDP's numbers trail the Cons' provincially by only 10 points now, as opposed to over 18 in 2004.
It shouldn't have required too much effort to examine the actual results, which strongly suggest that a shift between the NDP and Cons of 8+ points would have substantially affected the election's outcome. Contrary to the article's take, if the new polling numbers show anything, it's that the NDP is well-positioned to put the 2004 disappointment far behind it.
Butchering the art of the deal
Unfortunately, the Montreal conference has proven that there's only one Canadian party capable of building a consensus and negotiating a difficult agreement. And it's certainly not the Libs:
(Stéphane Dion 's proposal) calls only for two years of discussions on "long-term co-operative action to address climate change."
It was designed to be vague enough to appeal to the U.S., which adamantly rejects any hint of a move that might require it to accept mandatory targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It makes no reference to targets and carefully refers only to discussions, with no mention of negotiations.
Even so, the United States said it was inappropriate, because discussions could lead to negotiations...
"This is extraordinary. The (Dion) proposal was absolutely meaningless in the first place," said Phil Clapp, president of the New York-based National Environmental Trust.
Not that the official U.S. delegation escapes blame for refusing even to talk further about the climate change issue. But given that Canada was selected as host based largely on the hope that it could sway the U.S. to at least cooperate to some degree, the lack of movement also reflects a failure on Dion's part. And unfortunately, that's completely in keeping with the Liberals' track record on climate change.
It probably won't be overly successful as an electoral strategy, but one Green candidate at least deserves points for originality:
A Green party candidate in Saskatchewan intends to run his federal election campaign without spending a cent.
"We're not using money," said Larry Zepp, a candidate in the Prince Albert riding. "We're running a campaign with zero money. That's our plan. No money."...
Instead of an expensive campaign for the Jan. 23 vote, Zepp plans to deliver Green ideas through the media.
Of course, the usual difficulty for the Greens is to try to get media attention to begin with. But even if this is his last major media coverage, at the very least Zepp has managed win national notice for his strategy. And for a party all too often left out, that has to count for something.
Child careless
CUPE points out that as comical as it is to describe the Libs' child-care promises as "doubling" the current commitment when it really reflects a decline in funding, the bigger issue is the Libs' complete lack of attention to the real cost of child care:
Today the Liberals say they will create 625,000 new spaces ($1,600 per space). In 2004, the Liberals estimated they would create 100,000 new child care spaces at about $9,000 per space, which is closer to the real cost. How the Liberals would create 625,000 new spaces with less money on the table doesn't add up, said Moist.
Plenty of bloggers have rightly slammed the Cons for claiming that they can provide a meaningful child care allowance for the cost of bus fare. But it's not really any better to allocate only the same woefully inadequate amount of money toward creating a public system, with the result being some combination of poor quality care or added burden on the provinces. And that leaves just one major federal party with a chance to propose a child-care system that'll actually work.
The NDP unveils its environmental platform, and there's an awful lot to like:
The NDP Leader unveiled pieces of his party's environmental platform today, which include:
A new "Clean Air Act" -- legislation aimed at fulfilling Canada's responsibilities to reduce air pollution under the Kyoto Accord.
A new "Clean Water Act" -- to establish national standards and protection for drinking water, including standards for solid waste disposal, mine site operations and rehabilitation, forestry and farming practices, and pesticide use.
A new "Polluter Pay and Toxic Pollution Reduction" -- aimed to overhaul Canada's national pollution law, replacing what the NDP calls the "the current emphasis on voluntary action with mandatory pollution prevention measures."
And best of all, Layton made clear that the environmental benefits can be attached to economic ones:
When asked to elaborate on the expenses attached to his plan to cut Canada's emissions by a quarter, Layton said his plan wouldn't necessarily involve great costs.
"Quite a few of the initiatives can be very profitable for Canadian companies and individuals," Layton told reporters following his announcement.
So how does the NDP's sensible, forward-looking environmental plan compare to that of the incumbents? Glad you asked:
Liberal Leader Paul Martin, meanwhile, is promising to devote more money to clean up Saint John harbour -- a project that has been in discussion for at least 15 years.
In Saint John, N.B. on Tuesday, where he announced details of the Liberal day-care plan, Martin said Ottawa has already allocated $44 million towards the Saint John harbour cleanup. He said he was "dumbfounded" to learn there still isn't a deal in place to start the cleanup.
I'm quite curious as to who Martin will find to blame...both for the fact that he's still trying to re-make promises that predate even Chretien's election, and for the fact that he hasn't even bothered to keep track of the complete lack of progress under his watch. In any event, today's events neatly highlight the contrast between a party dedicated to preserving the environment, and one committed only to preserving its own hide.
While there's ample reason to doubt the expected voting numbers among 18- to 24-year-olds suggested by this poll, the party numbers among a politically interested group of respondents offer some very interesting fodder for discussion:
Among young adults outside Quebec, the Liberals hold a slim lead with 28 per cent support. The NDP sits at 24 per cent and the Conservatives at 23 per cent. Eleven per cent of respondents plan to vote for the Green Party. Ten per cent are undecided.
In Quebec, 49 per cent of voters under age 25 intend to vote for the Bloc Québécois. The NDP has 18 per cent support and the Liberals 11 per cent. Eight per cent of respondents plan to vote for the Green Party and 7 per cent for the Conservatives. Five per cent are undecided.
The national numbers aren't all that surprising. But the NDP's 7-point lead over the Liberals in Quebec suggests that there's plenty of room for growth among younger voters, and even if a lot of those votes are protest-based now they could easily set down a base for future NDP gains. That potential is something that the NDP needs to highlight and build on to cement its status as a genuine national alternative to the Libs...even if it'll take another election or two for those votes to translate into seats.
On keeping one's own house in order
No wonder the Cons feel the need to push as many policies forward as possible - they need something to distract attention from the fact that they apparently can't even avoid serious controversy over the nomination process in prominent ridings. And this is supposed to be a government-in-waiting?
Not that the Libs have done any better at times. But surely an opposition party should be able to run its own internal affairs relatively competently before it can be considered fit to run the country.
Strategic calculations
I'm never a big fan of strategic voting - at best it's a great way to lend one's support (and electoral funding) to a party that one considers less than deserving, and at worst it can backfire completely by electing the last candidate one wanted to see in office. But if for some reason you can't avoid it, Idealistic Pragmatist nicely spells out how to avoid the most harmful effects.
Shifting sands
While Buzz Hargrove's non-endorsement of the Liberals was front-page news most of the weekend, a potentially far more important development gets buried within a more general election article:
The NDP was told today that it will have the support of The Muslim Canadian Congress.
Spokesman Tarek Fatah said the congress is endorsing the NDP because Liberals have taken Muslims for granted for far too long.
Fatah says stringent federal security measures aimed at Muslims also played a role in the decision to back the NDP.
He says New Democrats have fought to ensure detained Muslims get fair treatment.
It’s the first time the congress has endorsed a party.
As with the CAW, it'll ultimately be for individual members of the MCC to decide whether they agree with the leadership position. But unlike Hargrove's move, this announcement reflects a principled statement of party support rather than a (misguided) strategic calculation. And if the MCC's endorsement helps to remind Canadians of the Liberals' general lack of concern for individual freedoms, then it could work wonders in winning NDP support among voters concerned with civil rights.
Bias by omission
I'm not quite sure how it's possible to write an article this long about extensive, nationwide polling without so much as mentioning the NDP once (let alone the Greens or other non-dichotomy federal parties). But Tu Thanh Ha and Jane Taber pull it off.
Poll position
A Decima Research poll which plans to track the same pool of voters throughout the campaign suggests that as consistent as the numbers have seemed so far, there's still an awful lot of room for change:
43 per cent said their vote is decided and won't change; 20 per cent said they're leaning toward one party but could change; 28 per cent said they are certain to vote but don't know for whom...
Among unsettled voters, the tendency is to lean toward the Liberals (32 per cent) and the NDP (24 per cent) rather than the Conservatives (23) or the Bloc (7)...
Among those who are decided or leaning, the Liberals had 34 per cent support, the Conservatives 26 per cent, the NDP 19 and the Bloc Quebecois 13 per cent. Those numbers are comparable to Decima's weekly random telephone poll.
There's obviously some downside for the NDP in the relative lack of voters committed already to the party. That said, the 28 per cent of voters with no current leaning represent enough to swing an awful lot of seats. And if the pool of completely undecided voters looks anything like the leaners to this point, then the NDP has a chance to win a lot more votes than they're credited with under most of the polls to date.
It's no surprise that the Cons' base gives them a starting advantage over the NDP. But so far, the Cons are apparently doing the worst job of any national party in swaying undecideds. Unless Harper can change that pattern, the Libs don't appear to face much challenge to a continued minority government, and that in turn should leave the NDP in a position of strength rather than on the wrong end of an anti-Harper stampede.
Speaking to the members
Brian Masse's speech to the CAW may not have received the same attention that PMPM's did. But Hargrove's personal views aside (and even Hargrove still favoured voting NDP in any riding where the NDP wasn't supposedly out of the running), Masse leaves little doubt why the interests of working-class Canadians are best met by the NDP rather than the Libs:
I stood up in the House of Commons and voted to implement anti-scab legislation in federal jurisdiction...
And I watched every single Liberal Cabinet minister – including some of the ones who were in this hall yesterday – vote to kill that legislation.
I was proud to stand next to David Christopherson when he introduced a law to put pension payments at the front of the line if a company goes bankrupt.
And I was proud to join our NDP team in taking on Liberal Minister David Emerson when he said that measure was bad for business.
And I’m proud to be in Windsor – fighting to get our air cleaned up. Fighting pollution that is causing some of the highest cancer rates in Canada – in Windsor – the place Paul Martin calls home.
Ultimately, the word of Buzz Hargrove should play far less of a role in determining how CAW members vote than the parties' actions. And for the CAW as for so many others, there's no comparison between the NDP's focus on the interests of Canadians in general, and the Libs' determination to disproportionately benefit their friends and funding sources.
Shorter Condi Rice: the only problem with secret prisons is that people haven't been taught to appreciate them.
Health care's last stand
When it came to income trusts, the Liberals avoided dealing with a legislative loophole for ages, then ended up with such widespread use of that loophole that they claimed it would be impossible to fix it.
Now, the exact same process is taking place with respect to health care:
One of the pioneers of private medicine in Canada said yesterday he plans to open a for-profit surgical hospital in Ontario by 2007 and called the spread of such private health care a necessary and "unstoppable" force.
The announcement by Dr. Brian Day of Vancouver's Cambie Surgical Centre comes after all four major party leaders have spoken out against allowing a parallel tier of private health care. Dr. Day's plan also appeared to set the stage for a lively political and legal battle in Ontario, where the Liberal government has said it is deeply committed to protecting the medicare system from private incursions.
The response of each federal leader to Day and other announced private clinics should put to rest any doubt as to who's interested in protecting public delivery of health care. Harper has already indicated that he not only wouldn't shut Day down, but would be willing to jump the queue. And of course, PMPM precipitated the election by refusing to do anything to prevent Day and his ilk from expanding their presence.
The article notes that at the very least, Dalton McGuinty plans to fight Day's clinic as best he can. And unlike PMPM and company, he's backed that position up with legislation to prevent private service delivery. But without a federal government willing to ensure that the Canada Health Act is actually applied across the country, there'll be little chance of showing Day that credit card health care is neither desirable nor unstoppable.
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Deflating the hype
Erin points out that while the oft-discussed costs of the B.C./Alberta TILMA could be potentially huge, any benefits are likely to be slight - in contrast to the implausible claims of the governments involved:
(T)he Government of BC claims that TILMA could add $4.8 billion to provincial GDP. A Government of Quebec report, updated last month, indicates that BC’s gross exports to Alberta (goods and services) were $8.8 billion in 2002. Since BC’s total inter-provincial exports grew by 22% between then and 2005, its gross exports to Alberta might have increased to somewhere around $10.7 billion. It seems wildly optimistic to imagine an Alberta-BC free-trade agreement raising BC’s GDP by an amount equal to about 45% of its current exports to Alberta, especially since gross figures significantly overstate the contribution of exports to GDP.
It's hard to say what trade benefits (if any) would actually appear as a result of the TILMA. But with both parties involved going so far out of their way to pretend the agreement is something that it's not, there's ever less reason to think that the truth about it would earn a positive reception. And that should serve as a warning flag for any other province wondering whether to sign on.
Out of curiosity
Since I first saw Stephane Dion's Wikipedia entry shortly after his selection as leader of the Libs, I've been curious about the implications of the following passage:
Dion has often been described as a Trudeau centralist due to his strong defence of Canadian federalism, most particularly in his "open letters" to former premier of Quebec Lucien Bouchard. However, his position on federalism is far more nuanced. It would be most accurate to describe him as a federal autonomist. While Dion supports cooperation, flexibility, and interdependence in the Canadian federation, he unequivocally argues against jurisdictional intrusion by stating that "the Constitution must be respected. We must do away with the all-too-convenient excuse that a given governmental initiative responds to a need that is too urgent to be stymied by issues of 'jurisdiction.' Infringement of jurisdiction creates confusion which damages the quality of public policy." Dion's position on provincial rights is not only the result of respect for the Constitution of Canada, but also to prevent the "joint decision trap" in which the capacity of a government's ability to act is restricted by the need for approval from the other constituent governments.
Since nothing I saw on Dion's own website seemed to explicitly confirm or deny such a position, a couple of questions for those more familiar with his views than I. Is the above passage an accurate depiction of Dion's past or present view of federalism? And if so, would Dion support PMS' desire to constitutionally prohibit new federal programs in areas of provincial jurisdiction, or oppose such a measure only based on the politics of opening constitutional issues rather than on its merits?
On choices
Murray Mandryk weighs in on the ever-more-public debate over the Cons' equalization promises. And if indeed Harper has gone back on his plan to remove non-renewal resources from the equation, Mandryk clearly sets out that the price is the Cons' own self-declared reputation for honest government:
You can argue that it was stupid politics for former prime minister Paul Martin to offer Newfoundland and Nova Scotia their own separate deals excluding non-renewable resources and that it was even stupider politics for Harper to promise the same thing.
What you can't argue, however, is that this is exactly what the Tories promised.
Calvert is being purely political -- and, frankly, a bit nasty -- but there's really no reason to believe that his assessment of his meeting with Harper is anything but accurate. In fact, given the duplicitous and mealy-mouthed displays we continue to see from the Saskatchewan Conservative MPs whenever the equalization file comes up, there's every reason to suspect Calvert is completely justified in now playing the political card.
For example, in an interview with James Wood of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix on Friday, Skelton had the audacity to scold Calvert for this poor "negotiation" tactic.
"There are still negotiations going on," Skelton aid. "When you negotiate -- and the premier of all people should realize -- when you negotiate you don't go out babbling to the media. If I was dealing with someone I wouldn't be kicking them in the shins, shall we say."
But Ms. Skelton, you promised the $800 million in the election. There are no negotiations here. Either you're an honest politician who keeps a promise or not. Which is it, Ms. Skelton?
It remains to be seen whether Harper can be shamed into carrying out his commitment to Saskatchewan. But it should be without doubt that a clear promise from a government which has listed federal/provincial funding as a top priority represents Saskatchewan's best chance to secure the deal that other provinces have received. Which indeed means that there's every reason for Saskatchewan's government to directly confront PMS as Calvert has - and just as much reason for Saskatchewan's voters to ensure that any attempt to back out of the promise is thoroughly punished at the polls.
All too true
Any time one can mix Monty Python and politics, it's worth doing - and Cranford at Babble sums up the Libs' place in progressive politics nearly as well as can be done. (I'd only quibble slightly with Cranford's mapping of characters: the Libs seem better placed as Lancelot, with the MSM and non-party groups all too consistently playing the Swamp King role.)
Due credit to the Cons for what looks to be a step forward in dealing with toxic chemicals. But is there any doubt that if they had anything more than a tenuous minority government, Harper would take every opportunity to follow Bush's lead in trying to undo past environmental successes?
Losing support
Politics Watch reports that it isn't just the public at large that's had it with PMS, as the Con caucus is more fractured than was publicly known to date:
(A)lready private grumbling about Harper's style has become more and more public in recent weeks. The fortress around what goes on behind the scenes is slowly being penetrated with non-flattering leaks from inside.
PoliticsWatch has learned that regional caucus meetings have become weekly venting sessions for MPs and even cabinet ministers frustrated at the centralized control of Harper's PMO.
One cabinet minister has complained to his colleagues about a two-week delay he faced in delivering a straightforward, positive speech because he had to wait for PMO approval.
Discussion at Alberta caucus is said to be dominated in recent weeks with complaints about the government's income-trust flip-flop.
MPs are more reluctant to voice complaints at national caucus in front of the prime minister. That could be due to past heavy-handed tactics from Harper.
According to sources, when the government announced $1 billion in spending cuts in September, caucus learned about it after the cuts had been made. Harper then told MPs that specific MPs would be designated to speak about the cuts and any MP that publicly voiced criticism about cuts affecting their riding would do so at their own peril.
It won't be the least bit surprising if PMS manages to crack down even more on his caucus in the near future to stem the current public airing of discontent (while trying to spread the Cons' own spin about how the caucus is entirely united on absolutely everything that hasn't gone public). Indeed, if he didn't already have moles in his party's regional caucus meetings and any other current hot spots for venting, I presume he'll make sure to do so from here on in.
But whether or not the details of the current dissent become public before the next election, it's clear that Harper isn't doing much better at keeping together his current base of support than he is at winning the approval of Canadian voters who are turning against him. And one has to figure that the moment his grip loosens (whether or not voluntarily), the result will be for the MPs and other party members who already have complaints about his leadership to go public and end PMS' hold on his party for good.
A simple diagnosis
The Globe and Mail reports that effecive two-tier health care is making inroads across Canada due to the reluctance of provincial plans to add high-cost cancer drugs:
For the first time, cancer patients across Canada will be offered what the public health-care system has been unable to deliver: intravenous drugs not covered by medicare for those who want to prolong their lives or fend off a recurrence -- for a price.
In what could be likened to one-stop shopping, patients can buy cancer medicine not paid for by their provincial governments, and in some cases, receive financial assistance. Medication will be administered by a nurse, under a doctor's supervision, in one of 18 infusion clinics across Canada...
In what could be likened to one-stop shopping, patients can buy cancer medicine not paid for by their provincial governments, and in some cases, receive financial assistance. Medication will be administered by a nurse, under a doctor's supervision, in one of 18 infusion clinics across Canada.
The drugs don't come cheap: Price tags range from $22,000 to $40,000 for a course of therapy, depending on the medicine. A financial-assistance program can mean a discount as long as patients subject themselves to a means test...
The inability of the public system to cover the drugs comes as a surprise to cancer patients, who have long believed Canada's health-care system is based on the principle of equal access. But equality has never been the case when it comes to drugs, a vexing reality that often unfolds in the oncologist's office.
That is creating two types of cancer patients: those who can afford the best treatment and those who cannot -- what many would construe as two-tier care.
While the problem resides largely in a lack of both uniformity and consistent drug evaluation at the provincial level, the most obvious solution plainly lies at the federal level. A national pharmacare plan would both result in improved buying power to drive down the costs of the treatments which provinces now deem too expensive, and ensure that Canadians' access to prescription drugs isn't limited either by where they live, and how much they can afford.
Unfortunately, the Cons have shown absolutely no interest in such a move, even with all provinces onside. And even with the lone direct provincial challenger to equal access to health care removed from his post, it looks all too likely that PMS and the provinces will continue to allow equality to erode rather than taking readily-available steps to improve the situation.
Congratulations to the House of Commons as a whole for finally putting the wider issue of same-sex marriage to rest.
But for those wondering whether the Libs will be able to test the riding support (or lack thereof) of their handful of socon MPs before any future attempt at gay-bashing in Parliament, the unfortunate answer is "no".
The next contestant
Rona Ambrose takes another turn on the ever-popular Con game show, "Wheel of Specious Excuses":
Liberal Senator Grant Mitchell asked Ambrose for any studies to support the government’s contention that (the One-Tonne Challenge and Energuide) programs weren’t working...
Ambrose denied that any overall assessment of the climate programs had been done.
“There’s never been a comprehensive audit or review done of the climate-change programs across government, ever.”
Mitchell asked how, if there had been no review, the government could know the programs were ineffective.
Ambrose then said an assessment had in fact been done, “We did a comprehensive review, by PCO (Privy Council Office) of all these programs.”
The meeting ended amid jeers before the apparent contradiction could be resolved.
While the show may have some dark comedic value, that's wearing thin after repeated viewings. Which means that we can only hope that the routine gets put out of its misery before too long.
On misguided requests
I'm sure Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara thinks he's accomplishing something positive in claiming that the federal government should offer Ontario more funding in order to allow him to cut provincial taxes:
Finance Minister Greg Sorbara says underfunding from Ottawa is keeping Ontario from cutting taxes.
Sorbara told a finance committee that Ontario would like to cut taxes, but needs the federal government to fix the way the province is funded first. Sorbara says Ontario has trouble every year making ends meet, while Ottawa is awash in a surplus.
But then, there's a plain problem with Sorbara's position. Given Flaherty's well-established position that he considers "tax room" to be a sufficient contribution to the provinces' coffers, it should be obvious that at best, the request will be ignored.
And what's worse, Sorbara's message seems all too likely to offer Flaherty political cover for yet more federal tax cuts (with resulting reductions in program funding) - both by raising the idea that more cuts are needed generally, and by allowing him the argument that he'd might as well do at the federal level what the provinces would be doing on their own in any event. Which means that rather than securing needed funding, Sorbara is only amplifying the Cons' anti-government position - and making it tougher for him and other provincial politicians to defend and fund good government in the future.
A misplaced defence
While the NDP can fairly be criticized for its recent tendency to take aim at relatively small deficiencies among the Libs, surely the Greens are going much further toward the opposite extreme by declaring that Stephane Dion's record as environment minister is above reproach:
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is leaping to the defence of her newly elected counterpart from the federal Liberals, insisting she can work with Stephane Dion to challenge the policies of the Conservative government....
(S)aid May in an interview on Wednesday, "If they try to say (Dion) was anything other than a very strong environment minister, they're making it up."
That would be the same "very strong environment minister" whose Project Green was set to fall well short of Canada's Kyoto commitments while costing far more money than budgeted (see July 27 entry). But the Greens seem entirely focused on winning the Libs' praise, even if it means needlessly accepting failure on what's supposed to be their core issue. And that can only undercut their own credibility in the race to translate Canadians' concern for the environment into votes.
Dual considerations
There's been no lack of talk about Jack Layton's comment in response to Stephane Dion's dual citizenship. But there's a need to both set the record straight about what Layton actually said, and ask some larger questions about the NDP's strategy.
Let's start by contrasting Layton's actual words against some of the more radical comments about them. The quote which caused so much furor was:
"I would prefer that a leader of a party hold only Canadian citizenship, because one represents many Canadians, and for me that means that it's better to remain the citizen of one country," Layton said.
"But for a person that isn't in a position of representing others, holding dual citizenship is fine with us."
Note first what's plainly lacking from the statement (unlike the Exra Levant column that put the issue in the public eye): Layton doesn't try to demean Dion or anybody else based on their country of origin, and doesn't question Dion's loyalty to Canada. Nor does he claim that dual citizens are "second-class citizens" or "less Canadian". Instead, the central question is whether dual citizenship may affect one's position as a civic leader in one of one's countries of citizenship. Which, contrary to so much of the outcry today, is an entirely reasonable position if one takes a closer look at the issue.
In order to see why this is so, let's ask a simple question about citizenship: is it a relative virtue to participate in the civic affairs of the country or countries in which one is a citizen - and thus a relative vice to fail to do so?
I won't get into a full discussion of the answer to the question (for those who must know, I'd answer "yes", with the proviso that such participation or lack thereof is unlikely to trump many other elements of one's character in evaluating a person generally or as a political candidate). But I'd think on any fair analysis one has to at least accept that it can reasonably answered in the affirmative - particularly given how meaningless any definition of "citizen" must be if it's entirely detached from one's civic participation.
Once one reaches a "yes" answer, then one of two things must be true, using Dion's case as an example. Either:
(1) Dion declines to participate as a French citizen, which is a relative vice at the best of times, and can be seen as a particularly problematic example in a person hoping to become the leading political figure in his other country of citizenship, or
(2) Dion does participate as a French citizen, and due to that participation has proportionately less time and attention to devote to Canada's political scene, which again is amplified as an issue for a person facing the demands placed on the leader of a political party.
(Interjecting my own view one more time, every indication seems to be that (1) is true in Dion's case. I'd ultimately take the view that it's probably not an important enough factor to merit substantial mention in Dion's case or that of other past or present Canadian politicians - especially when weighed against the lengths to which Dion in particular has gone to be fully involved in the important political debates facing Canada over the past decade-plus. But it's far from unreasonable for any observer to bring up as a potential concern.)
Of course, Layton's words only hint at this type of breakdown rather than presenting it in detail. Which is to be expected when the view has to be summed up in a soundbite rather than presented in detail. But once one takes a reasonable look at what lies behind the issue, it doesn't seem that Layton's comments should give rise to an overly angry response.
Needless to say, that hasn't stopped commenters from flinging slanders at Layton ranging from xenophobe (twice) to gutless castrato. And all, apparently, in an effort to improve the tenor of Canada's political debate.
So much for Layton's most vehement detractors on the issue. But while the extreme anger at Layton's position isn't anywhere close to being justified, there's also the question of whether this was a fight worth picking for Layton and the NDP. And here, Idealistic Pragmatist says it best (albeit referring to Pat Martin's more dubious comments among other examples, rather than Layton's):
We know you've got a great alternative vision, but right now we can't wait until you go back to presenting it so that we can stop cringing. You look like you're flailing. Quit it already.
It's understandably frustrating for the NDP's strategists knowing that the party's positive substantive message often doesn't make it through the media filter. For example, the Dippers managed to receive virtually no public attention for their Kyoto plan at the same time as pundits bleated about the NDP's alleged lack of comment on the issue. And it might well be that if the NDP had received even reasonable coverage at the time, Dion wouldn't have been able to win the Lib leadership by pretending there was a void that needed filling in the area of federal environmental policy.
Which must certainly make it tempting for the NDP to want to make sure to appear in as much coverage as possible, particularly when there's the political benefit of tossing a (however minor) negative at Dion himself.
But then there's the bigger picture to consider. The NDP's greatest strength is its credibility in presenting progressive policies - in being the party that's most often above the fray while the Cons and Libs throw steady streams of hypocritical accusations at each other. And while there's no avoiding some level of politics when more important considerations are at stake, it can only hurt the party's longer-term efforts if Layton takes on a reputation for being too busy commenting on the fad headline du jour to deal with serious policy issues...even if that image is based on the media seeking playing up only the stories where there isn't much to say.
Ultimately, the more severe criticisms levelled at Layton today can't be seen as reasonable ones. But the federal NDP would benefit from a change in its strategy: rather than seeking any chance to challenge a Con or Lib in the press as seems to be the case, Layton and company would be better off cultivating the Dippers' reputation for keeping their focus on the needs of Canadians. And if the NDP can do that, then both it and Canada's political discourse in general will be better off for it.
Hypothesis confirmed
A new CCPA study compares higher-tax countries to lower-tax ones, and confirms that current higher-tax regimes correlate not only to greater income equality and social justice, but also to greater savings, education, research and development as well. Now if only the Libs and Cons weren't so determined to keep undermining Canada's competitiveness...
It starts at the top
One would figure that Sheila Fraser testifying before the Public Accounts Committee about the Accountability Act would be a huge boon for the Cons. But rather than offering any support for the move to provide statutory whistleblower protection, Fraser rightly points out that the Cons are headed in exactly the wrong direction where it matters most:
Strong, ethical leadership from senior managers will do more to stop mismanagement and wrongdoing in the public service than the Conservatives' much-touted whistleblower legislation, according to Canada's spending watchdog...
She conceded there is no stopping the drive for the law, but questioned whether it will encourage people to come forward with complaints.
"I have always felt that to resort to whistleblower legislation, where people feel they need that kind of protection, is an indication that the system is not healthy and people can't freely bring forward cases of wrongdoing with the confidence that it will be dealt with confidentially and also that appropriate action will be taken."
Fraser's reservations about whistleblower protection came out when repeatedly pressed by Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre on how the government could stop spending abuses without such a law. Poilievre is an outspoken champion of whistleblower legislation, which is the key piece of the Harper government's prized accountability bill.
"Why is it when someone sees abuses, no one sounds the alarms and cries out in the name of taxpayers for something to be done? ... Do you have any idea why you have to be the one who finds the fire that has been burning for years?" asked Poilievre.
Fraser pointed to her recent report into the ethical conduct of the Mounties, border guards and prison guards who overwhelmingly said they would report suspected cases of wrongdoing, but they didn't think their co-workers would and said they wouldn't be respected by their colleagues if they did. A significant number also doubted management would do anything about it...
She said legal protection against reprisals wouldn't ease fears of bureaucrats who fear personal consequences of exposing problems.
"If there is only legal protection, it takes an awful lot of courage to do that and I think a lot of people would rather say 'this isn't my responsibility, I didn't sign off on those documents, and I am not going to get involved rather than assume the risk of ... (personal) consequences,'" she said.
Now, there can be little doubt that Fraser herself has pointed out many areas where the system is indeed unhealthy, including the Ron Stewart case, such as to create a need for some statutory protection. But the more important message is that a whistleblower law is a poor substitute for a management structure which actually values critical input rather than seeing it as a threat. Which can only serve as a direct slam against a government notorious for expelling, firing and/or ostracizing anybody who dares to question the party line.
As an added bonus, Fraser also agrees with the NDP's criticism of the leaks surrounding her recent reports:
The committee is also considering a motion, initiated by NDP MP David Christopherson, to find out who leaked Fraser's reports. Details of last spring's gun registry report and her latest audit into the huge relocation contract to move 15,000 RCMP, military and bureaucrats were leaked to the media before they were tabled in Parliament.
Fraser said she would welcome a probe by the committee.
"I am annoyed that these things are getting leaked ... and we have gone as far as we can go. Physical control over the documents is one thing ... but the issue is how do you keep people from talking and how will you ever know whom it was?"
While Fraser's effectiveness in rooting out Lib abuses made her a darling of the Cons for a long time, it looks like the tables have turned. Which comes as no surprise when an impartial watchdog for good government comes face to face with with PMS' culture of information abuse - but which could easily be the final nail in the Cons' coffin as the harm done by their management style becomes public.
Invalid criticism
Of all the potshots that Lib supporters have leveled at the NDP, "(conniving) with the instigation of (an RCMP) investigation" has to be one of the more bizarre ones. I can only wonder how long it is before Dana starts directing similarly-misplaced accusations at other organizations who do the same on a regular basis.
On flip-flops
Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn is now criticizing the Libs for seeing the light on anti-scab legislation. Which is particularly amusing coming from someone who has himself reversed course on the issue, only in the opposite direction:
This time, the so-called "anti-scab" legislation has received the support of about a dozen Conservatives and almost unanimous support from the opposition parties, including the Liberals. Ironically, Jean-Pierre Blackburn, the Labour Minister, was one of four Progressive Conservative MPs to vote with the Bloc against Brian Mulroney's government when the legislation was proposed in 1990.
Presumably we'll never get to find out how it is that what's worth voting for under Mulroney is no longer so under Harper, as Blackburn now seems stuck in a rhetorical loop about "balance" without any indication why a slight rebalancing would (in his words) "paralyze" the economy. But as weak as his point would be in any event, it's doubly so when he himself has seen the merit of anti-scab legislation in the past - meaning that it shouldn't sway any Libs as they decide whether or not to keep up their support for the bill.
Manageable costs
The CIHI has released its numbers on Canadian health spending for 2006. And based on the CIHI's data, health-care costs are well under control - though you'd never know it from the CP's coverage:
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says Canadians will spend $148 billion on health care this year, more than $4,500 per person.
The statistics agency says 2006 health spending is expected to exceed inflation and population growth for the 10th straight year. The trend to increased funding began after deep cuts in the 1990s precipitated a crisis throughout the health system.
In fairness, the CP at least recognizes part of the reason for the trend. But on a closer look, its analysis misses entirely one of the stronger themes of the CIHI's findings, which is that this year's growth is levelling off compared to previous years:
Health care spending in Canada is expected to reach $148 billion in 2006, an increase of $8 billion over last year, according to figures released today by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) in its annual report on health care spending. National Health Expenditure Trends, 1975–2006 projects that total health care spending in Canada will increase by 5.8% in 2006 over the previous year. This increase is slightly lower than the estimated annual growth rate of 6.4% in 2005, and lower than the average yearly rate of increase (7.8%) from 2000 to 2004. After adjustment is made for inflation, health expenditures in 2006 are expected to grow by 3.7% or reach $120 billion in constant 1997 dollars.
In other words, a substantial amount of the raw-dollar total is attributable to inflation rather than real spending increases. And once population and economic growth are taken into account in addition to inflation by shifting to a percentage-of-GDP basis, health spending has levelled off almost entirely over the past 3 years:
CIHI’s estimates also reveal that while health care spending as a share of Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to stay relatively stable this year, it remains at its highest level in 31 years. Health care spending as a share of GDP is expected to reach 10.3% this year, compared to an estimated 10.2% in 2005 and in 2004. Health care spending as a proportion of GDP was at its lowest (6.8%) in 1979, climbing to a 10.0% peak in 1992, before dipping and rising again to its current high level.
In sum, the story surrounding the CIHI's findings isn't that health-care spending is unmanageable, but rather that it's entirely under control as the deficiencies of the 1990s are worked out of the system. Which means that the real danger to Canadian health care isn't the actual cost of the system, but rather the ideology of those who would take the raw numbers out of context to pretend that our current expenses are unsustainable.
On limited debate
Surely the Cons' anti-SSM crowd which spent years crowing about the need for thorough study and debate about the issue - back when that would have meant putting off same-sex marriage legislation - won't be happy with this. But we'll see whether the groups bother getting as publicly angry as they did when it wasn't their favoured party moving to get the issue dealt with.
I don't buy Jack Layton's explanation that his slip-up in Question Period today was planned. But am I the only one who suspects that "no more big-ass subsidies" could nicely follow in the NDP's proud tradition of criticizing the Libs and Cons for gratuitous corporate giveaways?
A litmus test
It was only after the Libs were banished to opposition that they suddenly saw the value in federal anti-scab legislation in large enough numbers to help push a bill through two readings. Now, with business groups launching their public attack on the bill, we'll find out whether the Libs are willing to follow through on giving workers in areas of federal jurisdiction a reasonable bargaining position - or whether they've had enough of a whiff of power to revert to their governing ways.
On contributing factors
Duncan Cameron notes that for all the talk about relatively minor influences on the Libs' first-ballot leadership results, Stephane Dion's strength (and arguably his subsequent victory) may be traced in substantial part to another controversial source:
Dion got ahead of Kennedy from the start because he had some secret first ballot support organized by a former Progressive Conservative leadership candidate, the man whose support Peter MacKay betrayed by merging the party with the Reform/Alliance, the legendary anti-free trade campaigner David Orchard.
Though it was little noticed at the time, Dion had introduced Orchard as a supporter last summer. By convention time Orchard claimed 100 delegates elected to back Dion. On the first ballot Dion received 856 votes, a crucial two more than Kennedy. Despite announced support greater than Dion (820 delegates coming into the convention, compared to 753 for Dion) Kennedy turned out to be behind him after the first ballot.
It's debatable whether Orchard had quite as much influence on the balloting as he claims. But it doesn't seem unlikely that Orchard's presence could have been decisive in pushing Dion's campaign forward.
Now, the benefits of having taken on Orchard's machine may not stop at any delegates added to the fold, as Orchard's supporters may provide the most obvious constituency to expand the Libs' vote in Western Canada with Dion at the helm. But it's also worth wondering whether Orchard's presence will force Dion to take on some baggage that he'd probably prefer not to have to deal with...and whether Orchard has imposed any price on his support which will now come due.
...I wonder whether any Con MPs will get booted out of caucus for releasing details about the party's internal discussion on the Quebec nation motion?
Afterwords
The Tyee's Richard Warnica has a couple of interesting post-mortem posts on this weekend's leadership races.
First, he draws the comparison between the voting procedures at this weekend's leadership races and the FPTP system that still rules general elections - highlighting that in both races, the long-declared frontrunners eventually lost out to popular will (whether of members as a whole in the case of Alberta's Cons, or at least of the delegates at the federal Lib convention) due entirely to the presence of preferential balloting. Which leads naturally to the question of why we're stuck with a single FPTP electoral vote when the parties themselves understandably insist on at least some form of majority approval for their leaders.
Second, he highlights the fact that for all the portrayal of Stephane Dion as an outsider, his campaign was far from an independent movement, and featured more than a few well-known (and in some cases infamous) Lib insiders. And moreover, it's worth wondering as well what promises he made to secure the momentum he won at the convention.
(Edit: completed post.)
On expectations
The CP discusses Stephane Dion's plan to play the low-expectations game ala Jean Chretien. Which certainly makes for a nice change for the Libs compared to the hype surrounding ex-PMPM's supposed juggernaut-in-the-making, and probably makes for smart politics in the long term. But if the Libs' lowered immediate expectations manage to intersect with the NDP's growing ones, the door may be opened in the short term for the NDP to put to rest the false Lib/Con dichotomy and turn federal politics into a true three-party race for government.
Flimsy fabrications
More than a few other bloggers have already pointed out the Cons' trickery surrounding the Lib leadership convention. But one part of the story seems to demand more attention, as the Cons are also bragging that they fabricated "internal documents" to be leaked to the media:
One Conservative aide took pride in pointing out that his party fabricated an internal party memo suggesting their troops were most afraid of Michael Ignatieff - and most anxious to face Rae.
The ersatz memo was leaked to a pair of English-and French-language newspapers and ran under headlines that cast it as a behind-the-scenes peek at Tory strategy.
The name of Tory campaign chair Doug Finley, the supposed author of the memo, was stamped on the document as an afterthought.
The Tories then made arrangements to get the memo leaked through a third party to English and French newspapers, Tory sources said.
Not that the tactic is much of a surprise in from the Cons - even if some less canny Libs seem to have been taken in entirely. But if it's expected that the Cons would see fit to lie to the media, their willingness to gloat about it afterward speaks volumes about the Cons' contempt for both the media and the Canadian public. And it would only seem appropriate for the media to take at face value the Cons' proud declaration that they shouldn't be trusted.
Indeed, in light of the Cons' public admission that they've fabricated documents for media consumption, one would think that any responsible journalist would now have to call into question everything emanating from PMS and his party. That added scrutiny could take multiple forms - whether in terms of declining to publish stories in the first place when they're particularly suspect, or simply putting a proviso in each article to alert the public to the Cons' history of fabrication. Which would allow the Cons to still get their message to the public, while at the same time highlighting the obvious need to doubt anything the party has to say publicly.
Granted, the U.S. press has shown no such inclination when faced with years of similar manipulation, and it's possible that the same attitude will spill over into Canada. But Canada's Press Gallery has already shown somewhat more of a spine than any portion of the U.S. media. And given the chance to both put the Cons in their place and give a more accurate picture of each story by noting admitted facts about the Cons' past actions, it would seem an obvious choice to make sure that the Cons' pattern of deception doesn't go unmentioned in future reporting.
Update: Robert has more.
A familiar standard
Throughout (and indeed ever since) the 2006 general election, Jack Layton and the NDP have been pilloried by Lib supporters for allegedly treating PMS with kid gloves. We'll see if that view changes now that the Libs' new leader has taken virtually the exact same line on the Cons:
We do not believe that the Conservatives have bad intentions, we simply believe they lead to bad results...
Needless to say, the statement echoes the NDP's consistent "wrong on the issues" campaign position against the Cons. And this declaration from Dion comes after nearly a year of secrets, scandals, lies and coverups which provide us with far more evidence upon which to doubt the Cons' intentions than existed at the time of the general election.
Of course, Dion will likely end up ramping up the rhetoric in time, and it's entirely possible that the Libs will simply overlook Dion's position rather than spending months demonizing him as they have Layton. But if so, that only shows just how empty the Libs' criticisms of the NDP have been for the past year...and provides plenty of reason to doubt how seriously anybody can take their ongoing anger as well.
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Assorted content for your Saturday reading.
- Lana Payne writes that we're seeing exactly the results we should expect from Stephen Harper's foolish choice to push money upward:
A recent Globe and Mail story, using data from Statistics Canada, pointed out just how poorly the job market is doing under Stephen Harper’s leadership.
“Employment growth has been below 1 per cent for 15 months in a row. The longest stretch … outside of recessions in almost 40 years of record-keeping,” according to the article by economics reporter Tavia Grant.
At the same time, corporate Canada is flush with cash, including billions of dollars in tax cuts from the federal government. Tax cuts that are not being spent to create jobs or invest in wages, despite the rhetoric behind them.
Indeed, corporate Canada, according to a recent report from CIBC WorldMarkets, is laughing all the way to the bank with the highest profit margins in 27 years.
But while the profit share of the country’s GDP continues to grow, the labour share continues to decline. The same report found that one-third of the country’s GDP was produced in sectors with falling labour costs.
The report noted that even with falling oil prices it doesn’t expect the profit market trend to be reversed. In other words, high profits are here to stay.
This may work for Bay Street, but on Main Street where politicians — even Stephen Harper — have to get elected, this is a mess. On Main Street, high profits and weak employment are not exactly a winning combination. The question is how or will the other two political parties capitalize on Harper’s failed economic record.
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Branko Milanovic study (PDF) the incentives of the ultra-rich and find that they're motivated primarily by increasing inequality rather than improving overall economic conditions. And George Monbiot highlights the distinction between the people who produce what matters, and those who merely exploit others around them:
One of the most painful lessons a young adult learns is that the wrong traits are rewarded. We celebrate originality and courage, but those who rise to the top are often conformists and sycophants. We are taught that cheats never prosper, yet the country is run by spivs. A study testing British senior managers and chief executives found that on certain indicators of psychopathy their scores exceeded those of patients diagnosed with psychopathic personality disorders in the Broadmoor special hospital.
If you possess the one indispensable skill – battering and blustering your way to the top – incompetence in other areas is no impediment. ...
As the pay gap widens – chief executives in the UK took 60 times as much as the average worker in the 1990s and 180 times as much today – the uselessness ratio is going through the roof I propose a name for this phenomenon: klepto-remuneration.
There is no end to this theft except robust government intervention: a redistribution of wages through maximum ratios and enhanced taxation. But this won’t happen until we challenge the infrastructure of justification, built so carefully by politicians and the press. Our lives are damaged not by the undeserving poor but by the undeserving rich.
- Meanwhile, Emily Dugan reports on the British Sociological Association's conclusion that a strong social safety net actually encourages more people to want to work.
- Thomas Walkom reminds us that Canada Post remains highly profitable while continuing to provide door-to-door delivery - meaning that the Cons' desire to destroy it is based on nothing more than general contempt for public services. But that obsession with privatizing isn't limited to the Cons, as Martin Regg Cohn warns the Ontario Libs against needlessly selling off parts of Hydro One.
- Finally, Sean Craig writes that the Wynne Libs have also selectively rewritten an anti-SLAPP bill for the benefit of themselves and their key donors. And Chris Wiseman duly criticizes the federal Libs for trying to silence Leadnow's grassroots opposition to C-51.
Labels: c-51, canada post, cons, corporatism, economy, george monbiot, inequality, justin trudeau, kathleen wynne, labour, lana payne, leadnow, libs, ontario libs, privatization, slapps, social programs
Nadia Ali, Starkillers & Alex Kenji - Pressure (Alesso Remix)
Assorted content for your long weekend reading.
- Jim Buchanan comments on the mountain of inequality looming over all of our political choices. Laurie Posner interviews Paul Gorski about the need for a vocabulary which accurately portrays inequality as the result of social conditions rather than merit or culture. And Robert Reich notes that if anybody can accurately be classified as having done nothing to earn a living, it's the idle rich:
In reality, a large and growing share of the nation’s poor work full time — sometimes sixty or more hours a week – yet still don’t earn enough to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.
It’s also commonly believed, especially among Republicans, that the rich deserve their wealth because they work harder than others.
In reality, a large and growing portion of the super-rich have never broken a sweat. Their wealth has been handed to them.
The ranks of the working poor are growing because wages at the bottom have dropped, adjusted for inflation. With increasing numbers of Americans taking low-paying jobs in retail sales, restaurants, hotels, hospitals, childcare, elder care, and other personal services, the pay of the bottom fifth is falling closer to the minimum wage.
Bill Clinton’s welfare reform of 1996 pushed the poor off welfare and into work. Meanwhile, the Earned Income Tax Credit, a wage subsidy, has emerged as the nation’s largest anti-poverty program. Here, too, having a job is a prerequisite.
The new work requirements haven’t reduced the number or percentage of Americans in poverty. They’ve just moved poor people from being unemployed and impoverished to being employed and impoverished.
At the same time, the ranks of the non-working rich have been swelling. America’s legendary “self-made” men and women are fast being replaced by wealthy heirs.
Six of today’s ten wealthiest Americans are heirs to prominent fortunes. The Walmart heirs alone have more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of Americans combined.
Americans who became enormously wealthy over the last three decades are now busily transferring that wealth to their children and grand children.
The nation is on the cusp of the largest inter-generational transfer of wealth in history. A study from the Boston College Center on Wealth and Philanthropy projects a total of $59 trillion passed down to heirs between 2007 and 2061.
As the French economist Thomas Piketty reminds us, this is the kind of dynastic wealth that’s kept Europe’s aristocracy going for centuries. It’s about to become the major source of income for a new American aristocracy.
- Meanwhile, Erika Shaker eviscerates the CCCE's demand that post-secondary education be made less accessible - ensuring that the mountain will grow all the more.
- Paul Krugman discusses the dangers of evaluating policies solely in terms of sales pitches rather than actual outcomes. Toby Sanger notes that far too many provinces continue to push austerity which has approximately zero chance of success on any terms other than the former. And Tyler Clarke calls out the Saskatchewan Party's big lie about "balanced" budgets which are anything but.
- David Pugliese exposes Jason Kenney's habit of lying in the interest of selling perpetual war, then pretending somebody else is responsible for his own falsehoods. But fortunately, Nanos finds that the Canadian public isn't interested in buying the Cons' appeal to fear.
- The National Post examines just a few of the more glaring flaws in the Cons' terror bill. Alex Neve asks the Cons to listen to the public's concerns about C-51 (implausible though that may seem). Stuart Trew observes that the few amendments allowed to the bill reflect the orders of the Cons' central command rather than taking into account a word of any committee review, while Craig Forcese highlights what we can learn about the Cons' intention from the committee process. And Andrew Mitrovica offers another look at the gross lack of oversight at CSIS.
Labels: austerity, budget, c-51, civil rights, cons, erika shaker, inequality, jason kenney, opinion polling, paul krugman, post-secondary education, robert reich, sask party, surveillance, toby sanger
- Margot Sanger-Katz writes about the connection between inequality and poor health. Nicolas Fitz reminds us that even people concerned about inequality may underestimate how serious it is. And BJ Siekierski asks what will happen to Canada's economy in terms of both growth and equity as unsustainable resource and real estate booms come to an end.
- Of course, we could help matters by not burning billions of public dollars where they're needed least. On that front, David MacDonald compares the Cons' actual budget plans to the far more productive uses of public resources proposed by the CCPA. And Thomas Walkom discusses how the Cons have transformed a public welfare state into a costly vote-buying apparatus.
- Sarah Anderson and Scott Klinger write that the U.S.' desperate lack of infrastructure funding can be traced directly to a failure to ensure that corporations pay their fair share in taxes - and that still more tax amnesties in the name of bringing in one-time revenue will only make matters worse. And Chris Hedges talks to Jenny Uechi about the corporate buyout of Canadian politics which the Harper Cons have taken to new extremes.
- Rick Smith writes about the Broadbent Institute's role in pushing for progressive change in Canada. And Jeremy Nuttall writes that the 2015 federal election may offer an interesting test of different means of organizing to improve political outcomes - as Quebec unions are focusing on holding off Conservatives in specific ridings, while Saskatchewan's labour movement is focusing more on issue advocacy.
- Finally, Sara Mojtehedzadeh reports on the Workers' Action Centre's study showing that employment standard laws need to be updated to deal with increasingly precarious work (much of which has been made that way precisely to avoid protections for employees), while Angella MacEwen offers her own suggestions. And Jeff Noonan points out that public-sector strikes can serve an important role in protecting the public interest.
Labels: a healthy society, angella macewen, broadbent institute, budget, canada 2015, ccpa, child care, chris hedges, corporatism, david macdonald, economy, inequality, infrastructure, labour, thomas walkom
Here, on how the sudden disappearance of Danielle Smith and her fellow Wildrose Party defectors offers a case in point of the dangers of forgetting that politicians ultimately answer to the public.
- CBC reported on the actual deal between Smith and Jim Prentice here, while Darren Krause reported on Smith's nomination defeat. And CBC examines Wildrose's bounce back in the polls as it elected a new leader.
- Don Braid notes that Smith was warned about some of the dangers of crossing the floor at the time, while Andrew Coyne sees a bait and switch in the promises Smith got from the PCs.
- And finally, Brian Topp explores some of the lessons we can draw from the Smith-Prentice deal, while recognizing that they shouldn't be taken as reason not to work across partisan lines.
Labels: alberta, alberta ndp, alberta pcs, andrew coyne, brian topp, danielle smith, don braid, jim prentice, wildrose party
- Arthur Neslen reports on the Health and Environmental Alliance's study of greenhouse gas emission reductions showing that we'd enjoy both improved health and economic benefits by pursuing ambitious targets to fight climate change. And David Roberts examines the massive cost and minimal benefit of carbon capture and storage schemes which serve mostly to increase how much oil we burn at public expense.
- Chris Simpson writes about the need for physicians to consider social determinants of health as part of patient care. And Carolyn Shimmin offers a primer for journalists (and others) to talk about the effect of poverty on health.
- Trevor Hancock reminds us that there's far more to social development than GDP:
The Genuine Progress Indicator starts with the same personal consumption data that the GDP is based on, but then makes some crucial distinctions. It adjusts for factors such as income distribution, adds factors such as the value of household and volunteer work, and subtracts factors such as the costs of crime and pollution.
A 2013 report by Redefining Progress (the Seattle-based organization that created the GPI) compared the GDP and GPI for 17 countries (most of them high-income) for the period from 1955 to 2003. It found that while global GDP has increased more than three-fold since 1950, the GPI has actually decreased in those countries since 1978.
So while the GDP tells us we are doing better, the GPI tells us that is not so. What’s more, the study found that beyond about $7,000 GDP per person (Canada’s GDP per person was more than $50,000 in 2013), further increases in GDP per capita are negatively correlated with GPI. In other words, further growth in GDP does more harm than good.
The Canadian Index of Well-being tells a similar story. It tracks changes in eight quality of life categories. In the period from 1994 to 2010, while Canada’s GDP grew by 29 per cent, our quality of life improved by only 5.7 per cent. So increased GDP does not translate into better quality of life.
- But then, PressProgress notes that we also shouldn't presume that our current focus on giveaways to business will even lead to GDP growth, as the only aspect of our economy which seems to be doing well is an unprecedented level of corporate profits.
- Simon responds to David McGrane's research on political preferences by age in discussing how young voters can - and need to - help to build a better and more progressive Canada. And Karl Nerenberg notes that at least some political leaders including Thomas Mulcair are starting to carry the banner for a fairer tax system.
- Finally, the National Post argues that the Cons have failed to make any case whatsoever for imposing draconian terror legislation on Canadians. John Ivison slams the anti-democratic attitude behind both the bill and the Cons' handling of it in Parliament, which Michael Geist documents a few alarming numbers as to how C-51 has been rammed through legislative processes. William Marsden reminds us of the disastrous results of a similar government-induced panic in the U.S.
Labels: a healthy society, c-51, climate change, cons, david mcgrane, economy, fair taxes, john ivison, karl nerenberg, michael geist, poverty, pressprogress, surveillance, thomas mulcair, youth
On exclusivity
Shorter Harper Cons:
We'll consider allowing democratic oversight of CSIS just as soon as that know-nothing public stops electing MPs who aren't us.
Labels: accountability, c-51, cons, csis, john ivison, shorter
Cats in the window.
- Kevin Carson discusses David Graeber's insight into how privatization and deregulation in their present form represent the ultimate use of state power to serve special interests at the expense of the public:
What mainstream American political discourse calls “deregulation” is nothing of the sort. There is no major constituency for deregulation in the American political system — just competing (and in fact considerably overlapping) agendas on what regulatory mix to put in place. There is not, and could not, be such a thing as an “unregulated” bank, Graeber argues, because banks “are institutions to which the government has granted the power to create money.” By the nature of that power, they are creatures of the state, and any power they exercise is thus defined by a web of state regulations. So “deregulation” really just means “changing the regulatory structure in a way that I like.” A “deregulatory” regime, in reality, is the choice of a regulatory regime that produces results to one’s liking.
So-called “privatization,” for example, ranges from mere outsourcing of government functions (which continue to be taxpayer-funded) to private contractors, to the sale of government services to private corporations (after which they continue to exist in a dense web of government monopolies, protections and subsidies).
And where it takes place, such “deregulation” and “privatization,” far from involving a reduction of government power, typically involves the unlimited exercise of government power over a population which has been rendered prostrate by war or bankruptcy (Naomi Klein’s “disaster capitalism,” or — in Rahm Emanuel’s words — never letting a good crisis go to waste).
- And Paul Hanley writes that Saskatchewan's pursuit of fossil fuels rather than renewable energy likewise represents a deliberate choice to favour only a few privileged industries at the expense of our economy and environment alike.
- Christopher Wanjek reports on new research showing a connection between family income and children's brain development. But while poverty and inequality may create both physical and metaphorical barriers to education, we shouldn't pretend that school alone will solve broader social problems - as Matthew Yglesias notes that people living with poverty today do so with far more education than a few decades ago.
- Stephen Hume writes that Stephen Harper's exclusionism has given bigots a free pass to start attacking minorities without any risk of consequences. And Charlie Smith points out Gwynne Dyer's observation that a policy and practice of declaring war against large groups of people is exactly what actual extremists want to see.
- Finally, Craig Forcese and Kent Roach's site on C-51 now includes an annotated version of the Cons' terror bill with witness comments. Peter O'Neil reports on Hasan Cavusoglu's research showing that even minor errors in an expanded and unaccountable surveillance apparatus could pose a serious threat to innocent Canadians. Tonda MacCharles reminds us that CSIS - which stands to be granted massive and practically unreviewable power - has been highly unreliable in answering for its past activities, while Alex Boutilier exposes the range of peaceful protests which are already facing surveillance and disruption. And Tim Naumetz reports that the Cons themselves have decided that C-51 is not intended to provide any oversight whatsoever (for the purpose of ruling any amendments which might help matters out of order).
Labels: bigotry, c-51, cons, corporatism, csis, education, inequality, p3s, paul hanley, poverty, privatization, renewable energy, sask party, stephen harper, surveillance
#prgrs15 Wrapup
As readers may have noticed in my earlier posts, I had the opportunity to attend the Broadbent Institute's Progress Summit 2015. And as a whole, the summit was well worth attending, featuring a wide range of interesting speakers and topics, a strong turnout including plenty of people whose work is influencing my own blogging, and a well-designed schedule which packed plenty into just a few days. (On that front, the contrast to a convention which needs to fit in formal party business was striking - though there's still something to be said for being able to have direct and official input into elections and policy resolutions.)
That said, there were a couple of related points which I'd think might be worth considering for future events if they weren't already taken into account.
One of the weekend's headline events was the Great Budget Debate which more than lived up to its billing. But it was nonetheless jarring to see a progressive institution hand over half of its central talk on the economy to a laissez-faire position which is grossly overrepresented in nearly every other forum. And while it was a plus to see the right have to deal with a skeptical crowd for a change, I'd wonder whether there was an opportunity to debate economics from different progressive perspectives - e.g. discussing the relative merits of universality vs. targeted programs or balancing budgets in nominal terms vs. keeping debt to a set proportion of GDP from within the progressive movement itself.
And those types of discussions as to the relative merits of views which could be seen as progressive were relatively sparse in the panels as well, which (at least from my impression) were more diverse in voices than in positions.
Now, it could be that the event's planners were looking primarily to build progressive unity, making it useful to present a few obvious foils while otherwise focusing on points of agreement rather than dispute. But if there's anything I'd change for future summits, it would be some added effort to start conversations which may encourage more debate within the progressive movement as to the best means to pursue even as they serve to highlight the shared end of a stronger and more equal society.
Labels: #prgrs15, activism, broadbent institute, progressivism
- Jim Pugh argues that we should take a serious look at a basic income, while Livia Gershon examines how even a small amount of guaranteed income has made an immense difference in the lives of families in one North Carolina town. And Walter Frick observes that strong social supports are exactly what people need to be able to take entrepreneurial risks:
In a 2014 paper, Olds examined the link between entrepreneurship and food stamps, and found that the expansion of the program in some states in the early 2000s increased the chance that newly eligible households would own an incorporated business by 16 percent. (Incorporated firms are a better proxy for job-creating startups than unincorporated ones.)
Interestingly, most of these new entrepreneurs didn’t actually enroll in the food stamp program. It seems that expanding the availability of food stamps increased business formation by making it less risky for entrepreneurs to strike out on their own. Simply knowing that they could fall back on food stamps if their venture failed was enough to make them more likely to take risks.
Food stamps are not an isolated case. In another paper, Olds looked at the creation of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which offers publicly funded health insurance for kids whose families don’t qualify for Medicaid. By comparing the rate of entrepreneurship of those who just barely qualified for CHIP to those whose incomes just barely exceeded the cutoff, he was able to estimate the program’s impact on new business creation. The rate of incorporated business ownership for those eligible households just below the cutoff was 31 percent greater than for similarly situated families that could not rely on CHIP to care for their children if they needed it.
The same is true of recent immigrants to the United States. Contrary to claims by the right that welfare keeps immigrants from living up to their historic role as entrepreneurs, CHIP eligibility increased those households’ chances of owning an incorporated business by 28 percent.
The mechanism in each case is the same: publicly funded insurance lowers the risk of starting a business, since entrepreneurs needn’t fear financial ruin. (This same logic explains why more forgiving bankruptcy laws are associated with more entrepreneurship.)
- Meanwhile, Anna Mehler Paperny reports on the serious restrictions on access to health food for poorer families, with a third of all single-parent families in Saskatchewan lacking the ability to count on the availability of basic food.
- Michael Hiltzik discusses the growing recognition that a concerted attack on unions has resulted in worsening inequality. And Jake Rosenfeld offers a detailed look at the state of the U.S. labour movement.
- Ryan Meili and Carolyn Nowry note that ambulance fees represent a needless and significant barrier to health care in cases where it's needed most.
- Finally, Craig Forcese and Kent Roach confirm that the Cons' intended amendments to C-51 are designed to leave the worst elements of unaccountable secret policing in place. And Andrew Mitrovica is duly stunned by the possibility that the Cons would allow CSIS to operate outside the law in light of the abuses it's committed under a far more limited mandate.
Labels: andrew mitrovica, basic income, c-51, craig forcese, csis, food and nutrition, health care, kent roach, labour, poverty, ryan meili, social programs
On transition planning
I've previously highlighted the need for media and citizens alike to press our opposition parties on how they're willing to cooperate to replace the Harper Cons after the next federal election. But let's note that there's a similar question which still needs to be directed at Stephen Harper at every available opportunity - even if we can't expect much more than instructive non-answers.
As Andrew Coyne notes, it's still an open question how far Harper would go in trying to cling to power under all kinds of circumstances:
As prime minister, Mr. Harper would retain a number of prerogatives as he looked for ways to hang on to power, one of which would be to avoid recalling Parliament for as long as he could. After the 1979 election that returned a Conservative minority, Joe Clark did not recall the House for five months.
Mr. Harper might use the interval to curry favour with voters, or to sow divisions in the opposition, the better to deter them from defeating him. (I do not hold with those who think that, merely for having been reduced from a majority to a minority, Mr. Harper would resign as leader or be pushed out. “The longer I’m prime minister” and all that.) But eventually Parliament would have to sit, which is where the governor general comes in.
If the opposition did wish to replace the government, they would have to move fast. The longer they waited, the more that Mr. Harper might make the argument to the governor general that his defeat required the dissolution of the House and the calling of a new election. Whereas an immediate defeat in the House would seem to make another election, so soon after the last, dilatory. The way would be open for the opposition to propose instead that power be transferred to them.
I say “would seem to,” because it’s not a given Mr. Harper would concede the point. Power, once possessed, is not easily given up. Indeed, everything he has said publicly has been to pour scorn on the idea as fundamentally undemocratic, a kind of coup, launched by a “coalition of the losers.” The “highest principle of Canadian democracy,” he said at the height of the 2008 crisis, “is that if one wants to be prime minister one gets one’s mandate from the Canadian people.”
In other words, the prime minister would be tempted to “do a King-Byng” — to re-enact the crisis of 1926, when Mackenzie King, rather than accept defeat in the House as the cue to yield power to Arthur Meighen’s Conservatives (who, after all, had 15 more seats than King’s Liberals), insisted the governor general, Byng, call new elections. Byng refused, Meighen took over (briefly) as prime minister, and King used the issue to win the next election. The precedent can’t be far from the current prime minister’s mind.
But even worse, it's far from clear that Harper would be prepared to accept the judgment of the Governor-General even for the moment in allowing some combination of other parties to form a government.
Remember that in 2008, Harper was prepared to demand that the Queen override any decision of the Governor-General to the effect that his government was accountable to Parliament - and planned to accompany that course of action with an attempt to shut down the country, holding the Canadian public for ransom. And in 2011, Harper refused to offer any answers whatsoever as to whether he'd accept a constitutional transfer of power.
Of course, the 2011 example makes it clear that we may not be able to get answers in the midst of an election campaign, particularly from Harper himself. But there's plenty of time now to push Harper and his slate of candidates to tell us exactly how much damage they're willing to do to stay in power. And the fact the answer looks to be "as much as it takes" itself offers a compelling reason not to leave anything to chance.
Labels: andrew coyne, canada 2015, cons, media, party politics, the progressive coalition
- Simon Wren-Lewis connects the UK's counterproductive austerity program to the lack of any wage growth. And Gary Lamphier observes that Alberta is serving as a case in point that jobs generated through public policy rigged in favour of the wealthy are no less precarious than any other type, while Erin Anderssen comments on the connection between public-sector work and greater wage equality.
- Adam Liptak writes that the First Amendment's protection for speech - like so many other rights which have been redefined to suit the powerful - is now serving primarily to benefit the corporate sector at the expense of the public.
- But we shouldn't accept perpetual corporate encroachment on the common good as inevitable. On that front, Paul Krugman reminds us that George W. Bush's attempts to push privatized Social Security failed miserably - and in a way which only proved the point of his opponents.
- Paul Kershaw highlights how the Saskatchewan Party's budget does nothing for a younger generation that's already being squeezed by a combination of massive costs and minimal opportunities. And Joe Friesen discusses David McGrane's study on the strong support for progressive policies among Canada's younger adults:
Prof. McGrane said one of the most interesting results is that the gap between older and younger people is relatively consistent across regions and education levels.
As one might expect, young people with a university education, those who live in big cities, and those in Ontario and British Columbia tend to be further to the left than those with lower levels of education and those in small cities and rural Canada, the study found, but over all, their differences are outweighed by what they hold in common.
“Young Canadians from nearly all of the socio-demographic groups and provinces examined were more likely than older Canadians to desire an activist government; want more social spending; be socially liberal; and favour higher taxes in exchange for better public services,” Prof. McGrane says in the study’s conclusion.
- Finally, Gerald Caplan calls out the immorality and irrationality of the Cons' plan for endless war in Iraq, Syria and anywhere else they can think to bomb.
Labels: alberta, austerity, cons, corporatism, david mcgrane, free speech, gerald caplan, iraq, paul krugman, precarity, privatization, syria, wages, war, youth
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Classical studies (general)
Greek and Roman Actors
Aspects of an Ancient Profession
Pat Easterling, University of Cambridge
Edith Hall, University of Durham
Edith Hall, Peter Wilson, Kostas Valakas, Richard Green, Eric Csapo, G. M. Sifakis, Eric Handley, Richard Hunter, Jane L. Lightfoot, Peter G. McC. Brown, John Jory, Charlotte Roueché, Ruth Webb, Walter Puchner, Pat Easterling, Thomas Falkner, Elaine Fantham, Catharine Edwards, Ismene Lada-Richards
This series of twenty complementary essays by experts in the field explores the art, social status, reputation and image of the ancient actor in the Greek and Roman worlds, from the sixth century B.C. to the Byzantine period. It covers tragedy, comedy, mime and pantomime and offers a full overview of the most important ancient evidence. In some essays new questions are asked, and in others, completely new evidence is offered. Numerous illustrations are included and all Greek and Latin passages are translated.
Surveys a long period and examines a wide range of evidence
Of interest to historians of ancient culture as well as scholars and students concerned with ancient performance traditions and the reception of drama
Completely accessible to readers without Greek or Latin
"A treasure house of knowledge and scholarship...Easterling and Hall guarantee that every reader will come away more knowledgeable about this incredibly varied and easily misunderstood profession." Phoenix
"There is much to be thankful for in this project: research of extremely high quality and metholdological sophistication , and a range of topics and temporal scope. Suggestions for further reading, maps, a rather laconic glossary, and over sixty illustrations make this an accessible collection. The two editors have performed an exceptional feat in maneuvering the expertise of a diverse group of scholars into such a well-knit and informative volume." Theatre Journal
contains: 61 b/w illus. 2 maps
Part I. The Art of the Actor:
1. The singing actors of antiquity Edith Hall
2. The musicians among the actors Peter Wilson
3. The use of the body by actors in tragedy and satyr-play Kostas Valakas
4. Towards a reconstruction of performance style Richard Green
5. Kallippides on the floor-sweepings: the limits of realism in classical acting and performance styles Eric Csapo
6. Looking for the actor's art in Aristotle G. M. Sifakis
7. Acting, action and words in New Comedy Eric Handley
8. 'Acting down': the ideology of Hellenistic performance Richard Hunter
Part II. The Professional World:
9. Nothing to do with the technītai of Dionysus? Jane L. Lightfoot
10. Actors and actor-managers at Rome in the time of Plautus and Terence Peter G. McC. Brown
11. The masks on the propylon of the Sebasteion at Aphrodisias John Jory
12. Images of performance: new evidence from Ephesus Charlotte Roueché
13. Female entertainers in late antiquity Ruth Webb
14. Acting in the Byzantine theatre: evidence and problems Walter Puchner
Part III. The Idea of the Actor:
15. Actor as icon Pat Easterling
16. Scholars versus actors: text and performance in the Greek tragic scholia Thomas Falkner
17. Orator and/et actor Elaine Fantham
18. Acting and self-actualisation in imperial Rome: some death scenes Catharine Edwards
19. The subjectivity of Greek performance Ismene Lada-Richards
20. The ancient actor's presence since the Renaissance Edith Hall
List of works cited
Index of major ancient passages cited
General index.
Marketing Sample (336 KB)
Pat Easterling is Emeritus Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Newnham College and a Fellow of the British Academy. She was Professor of Greek at University College London from 1987 to 1994, and has also served as President of the Classical Association (1989/1990) and the Hellenic Society (1996–1999). In addition to serving as General Editor of the Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics ever since its foundation over thirty years ago, she has published an edition within this series of Sophocles' Trachiniae (1982), co-edited, with B. M. W. Knox, Volume 1 of the Cambridge History of Classical Literature (1985) and edited The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy (1997). She is currently working on an edition of Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus for the Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics series.
Edith Hall is Professor of Greek Cultural History at the University of Durham and has previously taught at the Universities of Cambridge, Reading and Oxford. She is Co-Director of the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama at the University of Oxford and author of Inventing the Barbarian (1989), editor of Aeschylus' Persians (1996) and co-editor of Medea in Performance (2000).
Nicolaus of Damascus: The Life of Augustus and The Autobiography
Edited with Introduction, Translations and Historical Commentary
Res Gestae Divi Augusti
Text, Translation, and Commentary
Thucydides, Pericles, and Periclean Imperialism
A Social and Economic History of the Theatre to 300 BC
The Classical Review publishes informative reviews from leading scholars on new work covering the literatures and…
The Classical Quarterly
The Classical Quarterly has a reputation for publishing the highest quality classical scholarship for over 100 years.…
Classical languages
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The Public International Law Theory of Hans Kelsen
Believing in Universal Law
Part of Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law
Author: Jochen von Bernstorff, Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht, Germany
Hardback, eBook
This analysis of Hans Kelsen's international law theory takes into account the context of the German international legal discourse in the first half of the twentieth century, including the reactions of Carl Schmitt and other Weimar opponents of Kelsen. The relationship between his Pure Theory of Law and his international law writings is examined, enabling the reader to understand how Kelsen tried to square his own liberal cosmopolitan project with his methodological convictions as laid out in his Pure Theory of Law. Finally, Jochen von Bernstorff discusses the limits and continuing relevance of Kelsenian formalism for international law under the term of 'reflexive formalism', and offers a reflection on Kelsen's theory of international law against the background of current debates over constitutionalisation, institutionalisation and fragmentation of international law. The book also includes biographical sketches of Hans Kelsen and his main students Alfred Verdross and Joseph L. Kunz.
Reconstructs Hans Kelsen's international law theory in the context of the German international legal discourse in the first half of the twentieth century, including the reactions of Carl Schmitt and other Weimar opponents of Kelsen
Explains how Kelsen squared his own cosmopolitan project with the methodological convictions he laid out in his Pure Theory of Law
Provides access to relatively unexplored German debates on the theoretical foundations of international law
1. Method and construction of international law in nineteenth century German scholarship
2. Kelsenian formalism as critical methodology in international law
3. An 'objective' architecture of international law: Kelsen, Kunz, and Verdross
4. The new actors of universal law
5. Legal sources as universal instruments of law creation
6. The international judiciary as the functional center of universal law
7. The role of the international legal scholar in Kelsen - a concluding reflection
Epilogue. On Kelsenian formalism in international law.
Jochen von Bernstorff, Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht, Germany
Jochen von Bernstorff is a Senior Fellow of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg and a Lecturer at the University of Mannheim. As a legal adviser in the UN Department of the German Federal Foreign Office, he was a Member of the German Delegation at the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva in 2004 and 2005 and the UN Human Rights Council in 2006, as well as a Member of the German Delegation at the UN General Assembly in 2003, 2004 and 2005 in New York.
International Legal Positivism in a Post-Modern World
Promoting the Rule of Law in Post-Conflict States
International Law and its Others
Legal Theory draws contributions not only from academic law, but from a wide range of related disciplines in the…
Leiden Journal of International Law
Firmly established as one of Europe's leading journals in the field, the Leiden Journal of International Law (LJIL)…
American Journal of International Law
The American Journal of International Law (AJIL) will publish with Cambridge from 2017.The American Journal of International…
International Legal Materials (ILM) brings together the most important primary international legal documents with…
AJIL Unbound
AJIL Unbound was launched as an online companion to AJIL in 2014 and provides a forum for timely dialogue on leading…
Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting
Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting (Proceedings) also have been published for more than a century and provide…
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Credit: Mark Phelan
- My idol is Lin Dan
Published by : Annika Langrock
Christopher Grimley is 18 years old and one of Scotland’s biggest talents. He spoke to Badminton Europe about his highlights of the year, the relationship with his brother and his role models.
Ranked number one in the BEC Junior Circuit Ranking in Men’s Singles and Doubles, Christopher Grimley is representing Scotland successfully at Junior level and is one of Team Scotland’s biggest hopes for the future.
The 18-year-old has participated in 14 tournaments in 2018. Overall, it has been a good year on court for the Scot.
- My badminton year has been successful. I reached a lot of my goals and I am happy with my performances at many of the competitions I have participated in this year, he revealed to Badminton Europe.
The highlight of the year: The Youth Olympics
In Men’s Singles, Grimley was able to win the Hellas Junior International, the Lithuanian Junior and the Swedish Junior. Besides, he has participated in the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- To compete at the Youth Olympics was my biggest goal and I managed to qualify after a tough qualification period. Representing Team Great Britain there was definitely the most memorable moment for me in 2018, he said.
Christopher Grimley is not only successful in Men’s Singles.
This year, he also won the Lithuanian Junior, the Bulgarian Junior International Championships, the Hungarian Junior International and the Swedish Junior in Men’s Doubles, with his twin brother Matthew.
Two Grimleys on one court
Furthermore, the brother’s pair has reached the Round of 16 at the Li NING BWF World Junior Championship, as well as the final of the European Junior Championships this year.
- My Silver medal in Men’s Doubles at the U19 European Junior Championships in Estonia was also a highlight, Christopher Grimley said.
- Furthermore, it has been my first senior cap playing for Scotland at the European Mixed Team Championships Qualifications, he added.
The Grimley brothers were born in Cardonald, a suburb of Glasgow. Christopher Grimley described how it is for him to play Doubles with his brother:
- Matthew and I have a very good relationship on and off the court. I really enjoy playing badminton with him.
The goal: Olympic and Commonwealth Games
For the future, Christopher Grimley has certain goals and dreams.
- My long-term goals are to compete at the Olympic Games in 2024 and 2028, as well as to compete at the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and 2026, he revealed to Badminton Europe.
- It is my dream to win major titles in the future, such as the World Championships, the Olympic Games, or the Commonwealth Games, he added.
When it comes to fulfilling his goals, the young Scot is inspired by specific player legends.
- My badminton idol is Lin Dan because he is so successful and won a lot of major titles in his career. He is a legend of the sport.
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Curse of La Llorona, The
Hustle, The
Intruder, The
Newsletter Sign Up Link
Long Shot R
Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) is a gifted and free-spirited journalist with an affinity for trouble. Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron) is one of the most influential women in the world. Smart, sophisticated, and accomplished, she's a powerhouse diplomat with a talent for - well, mostly everything. The two have nothing in common, except that she was his babysitter and childhood crush. When Fred unexpectedly reconnects with Charlotte, he charms her with his self-deprecating humor and his memories of her youthful idealism. As she prepares to make a run for the Presidency, Charlotte impulsively hires Fred as her speechwriter, much to the dismay of her trusted advisors.
Opened May 3rd, 2019
Rated R for strong sexual content, language throughout and some drug useCastSeth Rogen, Charlize Theron, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Andy Serkis, June Diane RaphaelDirectorJonathan LevineWriterDan Sterling
© Copyright 2019 - Allen Park Cinemas
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2018, 20th Century Fox, 132 min, UK/USA, Dir: Bryan Singer
This enthralling celebration of Queen and their music follows the band’s extraordinary lead singer, Freddie Mercury (Golden Globe Best Actor Rami Malek), who defied stereotypes and convention to become one of history’s most beloved entertainers. Following Queen’s meteoric rise, their revolutionary sound and Freddie’s solo career, the film also chronicles the band’s reunion, and one of the greatest performances in rock history.
Graham King
Jim Beach
Anthony McCarten
Newton Thomas Sigel
2008, Universal, 122 min, USA/UK/France, Dir: Ron Howard
Based on actual interviews conducted three years after the Watergate scandal, FROST/NIXON sets up an intense battle of the minds between the former U.S. president (Frank Langella) and British journalist David Frost (Michael Sheen). Costarring Sam Rockwell, Kevin Bacon and Rebecca Hall and garnering five Oscar nominations (including Best Picture and Best Director), the film is one of Howard’s most profound dramatic achievements. “The result is involving, engrossing cinema … filmmaking of a type rarely seen anymore and sorely missed.” Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times.
Eric Fellner
Tim Bevan
Salvatore Totino
2006, Miramax, 97 min, UK, Dir: Stephen Frears
Combining the vicarious rewards of a detailed biopic with the gentler pleasures of an insightful character study, director Stephen Frears puts the monarchy under the microscope in this irreverent comedy-drama. Set in 1997, it details the bond of trust that slowly develops between the 71-year-old Queen Elizabeth – humanized by the Oscar-winning performance of Helen Mirren in the title role – and prime minister, Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) following the death of Princess Diana. With James Cromwell, Sylvia Syms.
Andy Harries
Christine Langan
Tracey Seaward
Affonso Beato
Stephen Frears
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By Mary Kennedy
DTN Cash Grains Analyst
It's no secret that it's been a very rough year so far on the entire Mississippi River System. Never-ending rains have kept water levels high, closing many locks and dams more than once and shuttering the St. Louis Harbor numerous times, virtually stopping any traffic north or south of there. In fact, the Lower Mississippi River (LMR) has experienced continued flooding events since February 2019.
In the Upper Mississippi River (UMR), Locks 11 through 27 from the Illinois-Wisconsin border to St. Louis have been closed on and off over three months due to flooding conditions.
The Mississippi River at St. Louis has been at or above flood stage for 108 consecutive days as of July 2, topping the previous record of 104 days set during the Great Flood of 1993. The flooding caused the U.S. Coast Guard to close the harbor twice when the levels reached above 38 feet. Between those closures and the lock and dam closures, loaded and/or empty barges were stuck in the UMR with nowhere to go.
In the LMR at Vicksburg, Mississippi, the river was at 49.08 feet on July 15 (major flood stage is 50 feet) and is not expected to fall below flood stage until the end of July. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the river has been in flood stage most of 2019 and now, thanks to Barry, it may be until August when the Mississippi River there slips below flood stage. As of July 15, the river there was above major flood stage (35 feet) at 42.17 feet.
The river stage in New Orleans has been in its longest sustained flood stage level on record. The National Weather Service surge prediction on the Mississippi River there, because of Barry, was originally expected to be at 19 to 20 feet. The actual surge crest pushed the river to 16.93 feet late in the evening of July 12. The water level is not expected to go below 16 feet until late July, according to current predictions.
"The historically high water levels throughout the inland waterway system, including in the lower Mississippi River near the Gulf of Mexico, have been a consistent struggle for barge transportation feeding into the lower Mississippi River and have impeded the ability to load ocean vessels to their normal capacity," said Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition. "The 256-mile stretch of the Lower Mississippi River from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to the Gulf of Mexico accounts for 60% of U.S. soybean exports and 59% of U.S. corn exports, by far the leading export region for both commodities."
On July 9, the bar pilots (those responsible for navigating ocean vessels into and out of the lower Mississippi River), suspended all ships entering and exiting the lower river at the Southwest Pass due to the impending arrival of Barry. "As a result of that closure, soybean and grain exporters in the region will not be receiving or launching any vessels until the suspension has been lifted," said Steenhoek. "I am aware of soybean and grain exporters along the lower Mississippi River declaring force majeure, a provision in a contract that relieves a party (the soybean and grain exporter, in this case) from fulfilling the contract obligation due to events, like weather, that are outside their control."
BARGE MOVEMENTS TO THE GULF JUST STARTED TO RECOVER
In their weekly Grain Transportation Report, USDA noted for the week ended July 6, barge grain movements totaled 779,876 tons, a 5% increase from the previous week and 33% lower than the same period last year. For the week ended July 4, 26 ocean-going grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf. This is 8% more than the same period last year.
Back in late June, when the St. Louis Harbor was closed, along with many of the locks in the UMR, USDA noted for the week ended June 22, barge grain movements totaled 161,662 tons. That was a 51% decrease from the previous week and 85% lower than the same period last year. For the week ended June 20, 21 ocean-going grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf, 28% fewer than the same period last year
For the week ended June 8, data for barge grain movements was not available because barges were stopped from moving south through Lock and Dam 27 on the Mississippi River because lock closures in the UMR and the flooding in the St. Louis that closed the harbor.
Mike Steenhoek said, "Our disruption in trade has impeded farmers' ability to market their crop. Flooding this year has complicated farmers' ability to transport that crop. We were finally starting to see some relief along the inland waterway system and southern Louisiana. According to the USDA for the week ended June 29, 373 soybean and grain barges were unloaded in the New Orleans area, a 41% increase from the previous week.
"Unfortunately, Tropical Storm Barry is imposing itself on this critical area of the agricultural logistics chain, which will only further encumber our ability to meet customer demand," added Steenhoek.
Here is a link to the NWS Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center: https://www.weather.gov/…
Mary Kennedy can be reached at mary.kennedy@dtn.com
Follow her on Twitter @MaryCKenn
(BE/CZ)
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Simplifying game development with Unity
Game development has always been the task of highly skilled and professional people with a big budget for high end gear and software. Hence when someone or a firm considers approaching someone with their idea for a game, they will generally pick a well-established software or gaming firm.
A large number of games developed today are multi-platform and developed using the multiplatform expert too called ‘Unity’. Unity is a game development tool that allows to develop a game in one platform and then port to various other platforms. The basic Unity platform has free plugins for both Android and iOS making it easy to develop for both of those platforms. Besides which the guys at Unity plan to add support to many more platforms too.
Thus it is now possible for a lot many more people to develop games on multiple platforms without having a fancy and expensive setup.
The simplicity of Unity
Unity 3D is a game making engine that is simple to use and at the same time extremely powerful. It is available in two versions, the free one with fewer options and the paid one with more. However, the free one itself is quite a powerful tool.
Do not be fooled by the name, because Unity can be used to develop both 2D and 3D games. There is also a flexibility in the programming language you can use, like C#, Java or Boo.
Developing a simple game in Unity is not very hard either since it provides highly interactive tools to do so. However the knowledge of programming languages is recommended. Here is an overview of how a simple game is developed:
Start with creating a new project and customising the layout as per your choice. You will have several windows like Game, Scene, Hierarchy, Project and Inspector that can be arranged as pleased.
It is a good idea to select the platform first like Mac or Windows or Mobile etc. and also set the first scene that would consist of the company Logo besides other things.
The next step is to create the stage and the simplest way to do so is to is using cubes. There is a big list of tools to choose from to make the stage.
The next step is to create a player and it is possible to do so using several advanced tools like. The player is defined using the Physics tool and other components make it as real as possible.
The player we created also needs several properties like ability to turn and move which requires a little of programming.
There are also now several camera angles to play with and fine tune. It is also necessary to make the camera follow the player.
The next step would be to introduce the other items in the game and define their structure and behaviour. Besides which it is also necessary to develop the interaction of the players with these items. This involves picking and dropping and scoring points, etc.
Finally, to add an element of challenge it is necessary to introduce ‘hazards’ into the game. This too can be done via the tools available in Unity.
Alakmalak can help with game development
Alakmalak is a Web Development firm that has successfully completed more than 2000 projects. They are also involved in game development and have all the necessary resources for the same. Their team of highly skilled game developers leave no stone unturned when it comes to creativity and using their development skills. Our success has helped us grow over the years and we continue to expand every year.
game development software
mobile game development companies
Rushik Shah 26 April , 2016
When do you know if you need a new Website
How to Edit Footer Links and Copyright Notification?
How to Change Number of Upsell Products in Magento?
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Jones not upset with Rodgers
Posted by Mike Spofford on September 18, 2012 – 2:30 pm
WR James Jones said on Tuesday that the sideline scolding he received from QB Aaron Rodgers against the Bears last Thursday was not a problem between the two. After Rodgers threw an interception in the fourth quarter on a pass intended for Jones, TV cameras showed Rodgers visibly upset with Jones for turning one way on his route when Rodgers expected him to turn the other.
“Me and A-Rod are way closer than that to let something like that come in between us,” Jones said. “We’re out there trying to win the ballgame. It was my fault. I gave him mixed signals. We’re all emotional out there.
“I’m not mad at him. We’re trying to win. Get on me. I messed up.”
Jones chalked it up to a family squabble, heightened by the frustration many were feeling for the offense’s struggles through the first two weeks. He said Rodgers later apologized to him for calling him out in front of everyone like that, but he told Rodgers there was no need to do so.
“I messed up. Frustration happens,” Jones said. “It’s all good, no love lost. We’re teammates, we’re family in here. We’re all trying to win.”
Jones added that questioning Rodgers’ leadership abilities in the wake of the incident was “ridiculous.”
“He’s a natural-born leader, not just by what he says but how he carries himself, how he plays the game, how he handles certain situations,” Jones said. “Everybody in this locker room looks up to him as a leader. Everybody in this locker room believes in him.”
Tags: aaron rodgers, james jones
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Lachine, the home of Pierre and Marie Barbary dit Grandmaison and Pierre and Madeleine Jamme dit Carriere, was a center for the fur and alcohol trade. Located on the Island of Montreal it was a natural stopping point for ships. Further on, the ships would reach the unnavigable Lachine Rapids where they would have to transport their goods overland to reach calmer waters. Warehouses stood by the river's edge that stored the furs and alcohol, ready for transporting to their markets.
The Mohawk Indians, part of the Iroquois nation, brought furs to the warehouses to sell. At first, they were not overly concerned about the French fur traders in the area, as they benefited from their trade. But by the latter half of the 17th century, they became agitated as settlers moved into the area and cleared land that had been valuable hunting grounds. Relations between the settlers and the Mohawks became strained.
In 1687, two years before Pierre and Madeleine married, the governor of the area, M. Denonville, invited the local Indian tribes to a festival of games and feasts to be held at Cataraqui. As the tribes arrived, a number of tribal chieftans were seized and placed into captivity. Later, they were forced into hard labor and taken to France to be exhibited as curiosities. Needless to say, this added to the tension between the Mohawks and the settlers.
With their chieftans gone, it took some time for the the tribes to regroup, but when they did, they created a plan for revenge.
The night of August 4, 1689, was stormy with rains falling heavily as the settlers in Lachine went to bed. By then, there were 320 people living in this community of farms and homesteads. As they slept, 1000 to 1500 Iroquois paddled silently across the river in their canoes and set up a base camp to the west of Lachine. Then they moved swiftly through the wooded areas along the river and surrounded the farm houses and homesteads. At a signal, they attacked and slaughtered a good number of the settlers.
But some escaped. A doctor hid in the woods and returned later to offer help to those who were still alive. Anther man ran to the closest military camp of 200 soldiers only to discover that the commanding officer, Subercase, was at a dinner in Montreal with governor Denonville. The soldiers did not want to act without his command, so the man was sent on to Montreal to find Subercase.
When Subercase arrived back at the camp, he was angry to find that his soldiers had done nothing as they waited for his return. He quickly organized them, along with other residents in the area, to launch a counter-attack. His scouts reported that the Indians had broken ino the warehouses and had consummed much alcohol. Subercase realized he had a good opportunity to attack while his enemies were drunk, but orders arrived from the governor to hold a defensive position and not to attack.
Subercase and his soldiers watched helplessly as the Iroquois eventually left their base camp with over 100 prisoners and paddeled to the opposite shore. All night, torture fires could be seen burning along the river and the screams of the victims filled the dark hours.
But what happened to Pierre and Madeleine Jamme dit Carriere and the Barbary dit Grandmaison family?
Posted by Reba at 5:38 PM
Rebecca Carrier website
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Home | News Archive | Large turnout for Rydal Penrhos' annual Open Morning
Rydal Penrhos was a hive of activity last weekend as the school hosted its annual Open Morning.
Dozens of prospective pupils descended visited the school on Saturday, October 3, where they were given a warm welcome by staff and pupils alike.
During the four hour event there were plenty for visitors to see, including various demonstrations from different departments including drama, home economics and physical education.
Visitors also got the chance to hear a special speech from Headmaster elect Simon Smith, who spoke about Listening, Learning, and being the best you can be.
Mr Smith, said: “It was lovely to talk with so many families from near and far and to meet families who were here for the first time, or were having another look at the school or were Prep School families wishing to find out a bit more about life in the Senior School.
“I want to thank all our staff for supporting the event in a multitude of ways and showing the school in such a good light as a happy and purposeful place.
“More importantly I want to thank our pupils who were brilliant ambassadors for the school whether it was participating in an activity, playing music or accompanying a family around the campus.”
Following the tours, Mr Smith was also on hand to greet families at the Ferguson Centre, in addition to a host of other staff and pupils to answer any further questions that guests’ may have.
“Every family I spoke with at the end of the morning were fulsome in their praise of their tour guide. I hope that the morning as a whole strengthens families’ view of Rydal Penrhos as a school that both challenges, and can support, children to discover their talent and be the best they can be,” added Mr Smith.
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The modernised Mi-26T2V Helicopter made for the Russian Aerospace Forces took its first Flight at the Flight-Test Center of Rostvertol Company of Russian Helicopters Holding (part of Rostec State Corporation). A prototype made by Rostvertol Company was sent to the Moscow Region under its own power to participate in the International Military-Technical Forum "ARMY-2018", where it was presented at the static exposition.
"The Mi-26 Helicopter is a unique machine. No other serial helicopter in the world can lift the weight that this helicopter can lift. Modernisation allows much wider application of this machine. The State Armament Programme for 2018-2027 envisages providing the Armed Forces with this version of Heavy-Lift Helicopters. I am convinced that the Mi-26T2 Helicopter will be a sought-after machine both in Russia and abroad: we also expect that there will be demand for it in Asia, Africa and the Middle East," said Anatoly Serdyukov, Industrial Director, Aviation Cluster of Rostec State Corporation. After the exhibition, specialists of Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant conducted Preliminary Flight Tests of Mi-26T2, and after that the machine was handed over to Military Officers for official tests.
"The first successful flight shows that technical solutions used for Upgrading the Mi-26T2 Helicopter in the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defence were right. We have managed to considerably reduce the load on the crew by automating the flight and landing of such a large and complex machine. Besides, the Helicopter's Survivability was considerably increased due to a modern onboard Defensive Aids," noted Russian Helicopters CEO Andrey Boginsky.
According to the customer's request, the Mi-26T2 Helicopter should be able to take flights in the conditions of any region, including those with complex physical and geographical and adverse climatic conditions, at any time of the day, at equipped and unequipped routes, or even without routes, and on featureless terrain, in conditions of fire and information counteraction of the enemy. The number of Crew Members of the modernised Helicopter (five persons) remained unchanged. The modernised Mi-26T2 Helicopter which can be used at any time of the day and has Modern Avionics is a Heavy-Lift Wide-Body Transport Helicopter which can carry up to 20 tonnes of cargo. The machine has the modern NPK90-2V Integrated Avionics, which ensures piloting during the day and at night, enabling the helicopter to fly the route in an Automatic Mode, come to a preset point, perform approach and final approach manoeuvres, and return to the main or alternate aerodrome. The onboard Defensive Aids of Mi-26T2V ensure protection of the helicopter from being hit by Air Defence Missile Systems.
JSC Russian Helicopters (part of Rostec State Corporation) is one of the world leaders in Helicopter Industry, the only developer and manufacturer of helicopters in Russia. The holding company was established in 2007. The head office is located in Moscow. The holding company is comprised of five Helicopter Plants, two Design Bureaus, Enterprises for Production and Maintenance of components, Aircraft Repair Plants and a service company providing after-sales support in Russia and abroad. The buyers of the holding company's products include the Russian Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, EMERCOM of Russia, and other state customers, Gazprom Avia and UTair Airlines, as well as major Russian and foreign companies.
Rostec Corporation is a Russian Corporation that was established in 2007 to facilitate the development, production and export of high-tech industrial products designed for Civilian and Military applications. Rostec comprises over 700 organisations that are currently part of eleven holding companies operating in the Military-Industrial Complex and four holding companies working in Civilian Industry, as well as over 80 directly managed organisations. Rostec's portfolio includes well-known brands such as AVTOVAZ, KAMAZ, Concern Kalashnikov, Russian Helicopters, UralVagonZavod, etc. Rostec companies are located in 60 constituent entities of the Russian Federation and supply products to the markets of more than 100 countries.
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Autonomy vs Repression
Marshal Chen Yi, the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama with the Tibetan Flag in 1956
A debate is raging is China: should 'nationalities' continue to enjoy the autonomy offered to them by the Constitution of the People's Republic of China?
As mentioned a few days ago, Zhu Weiqun, Lodi Gyari's interlocutor believes that the 'nationalities' should be divested of their special privileges to achieve 'national cohesion'.
In another posting this week, I quoted Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek about the possibility of ‘independence' for Tibet. In 1945, Chiang announced in the Chinese Parliament that his Government desired to allow the ‘frontier racial groups’ to attain independence, if capable of doing so. He affirmed: “I solemnly declare that if the Tibetans should at this time express a wish for self-government our Government would, in conformity with our sincere traditions, accord it a very high degree of autonomy. If in the future, they fulfill economic requirement of independence, the nation’s Government will, as in the case of Outer Mongolia, help them to attain this status”.
In the early days of the Chinese Revolution, the Communists also believed in giving a large autonomy to the Nationalities.
As Tsering Woeser states in her blog: "After the Red Army had firmly settled in Yan’an, Mao Zedong told the American journalist Edgar Snow: 'the Red Army’s only external debt is that it took away the food from the outer ethnic minorities and now owes them, one day, we must repay this debt.' But what does this 'external debt' mean? Does this not refer to owing a foreign country? It shows that at the time, Mao Zedong did not consider Tibet a part of China."
Bapa Phuntsok Wangyal, the 'first' Tibetan Communist in the 1940's has extensively worked (while in confinement) on the issue of nationalities, regional autonomy and Marxism in the People's Republic of China.
In 2004/2005, he wrote a series of letters to CCP's General Secretary Hu Jintao.
The first letter sent in 2004, is posted on my website as well as excerpts from A Tibetan Revolutionary: The Political Life and Times of Bapa Phüntso Wangye by Melvyn C. Goldstein, Dawei Sherap, William R. Siebenschuh on the issue of 'nationalities'.
Here is Phuntsok Wangyal's (Phunwang) second letter to to General Secretary Hu Jintao sent on April 12, 2005:
Phunwang with Panchen Lama and Gyalo Thondup
Respected General-Secretary Hu Jintao, My greetings!
On 29 October last year I presented a long letter to you and the leaders of the NPC Standing Committee. On 26 February this year - according to comrade Sheng Huaren from the NPC Party Group who presided over the forum attended by Wang Yunlong, Secretary of the Party Group of the NPC Department of Administration, Zhu Weiqun, Deputy-Director of the United Front Department and. Sithar, Director of the Tibet Bureau entrusted by the Central Government and on behalf of the Party Group my letter was discussed, emphasising the need for consistency with the Central Government on the "Tibetan issue inherited from the past". And I was told to think the matters over carefully to put forward my opinions. Since this happened to be the time of ‘two meetings’ (the, National People's Congress and, the National People’s Consultative Meeting), this was delayed until 4 April. With regard to that letter, I made some statements and requested the NPC Standing Committee to report my opinions to the Central Government. I am now presenting a summary of those statements below:
1 The letter I presented to General-Secretary Hu Jintao and to the NPC Standing Committee is in line with the spirit of the Central Government's initiatives to build a harmonious and stable socialist society, which can be proven by the entire contents of that letter, and so it is needless to restate this.
2 The key concern in the overall question is: Whether or not it is good for the religious leaders of Tibetan Buddhism - with the Dalai Lama as the head - and the exile Tibetan Government, including around a hundred thousand Tibetan compatriots, to return to the nation or remain abroad. Strategically this is a question which needs to be carefully considered and deliberately decided. It is necessary to understand that those Western anti-China elements are trying to ensure that they [the Dalai Lama and his exile Tibetan Government] remain abroad, so as to keep on playing the 'Tibet card' for the sake of their own interests. Therefore, keeping them abroad is politically shortsighted and irresponsible in terms of history - creating endless troubles in the future. On the contrary, working towards the Dalai Lama's return to the nation will transform passivity to activity, antagonism to harmony.
Foreign diplomacy is the continuation and extension of domestic affairs; therefore the policy towards the overseas Tibetan compatriots should unquestionably be based on the guiding principles of the Central Government that advocate 'harmony and stability'. For over a thousand years, in the day-to-day life of devoted Tibetan Buddhists the intangible has superceded the tangible in their spiritual sphere; whether or not the hearts of the people are peaceful and at rest cannot be ignored and underestimated, especially the general will of the masses is the most important factor which can play a decisive role at a very critical moment. Therefore, we must channel our actions according to the situation and avoid being at a disadvantage.
Forgive my being straightforward. The comments made by the leaders of the United Front Work Department - let's not talk about other things - are not with the basic spirit of the Central Government's initiatives to build a 'harmonious and stable' socialist society. The Central Government emphasises the importance of 'friendship' as the national policy. So far as the policy towards Taiwan is concerned - the policy emphasises never censuring past mistakes under the premise of One China. Nevertheless, the United Front Department, in line with the 'leftist struggle', has stressed too much on the 'Tibet issue', with 'peace' on one side and 'struggle' on the other. It even adopts 'delaying tactics' to play for time with the Dalai Lama, waiting until his death. This is apparently a continuation of the wrong-thinking 'leftist' line over nationality and religious work - especially on the 'Tibet issue'. Everybody is aware that this wrong line of 'leftism' has brought disastrous consequences to the Party, the nation and the people. That is why it has been negated by Party decision-making.
4- Unquestionably, I myself and many others who understand the facts are extremely dissatisfied with this wrong-thinking line of 'leftism' and the mistakes made by it. Let's just forget other things, merely as far as the above-mentioned matters are concerned, people make various comments, such as: Ignoring good advice, they landed themselves in the trouble of 'two Panchens' today; the two great Buddhist leaders whom the Central Government used to care about, and who attract world attention - the Seventeenth Karmapa and Agya Rinpoche, the abbot of Kumbum Monastery - were also forced to flee overseas; playing for time, and intending to produce 'two Dalais' will create greater trouble in the future at home and abroad. However, the question of the Dalai Lama's health, and how long he will live, will not be decided according to the timetable of others. And regarding such questions, people have further comments, such as: The Karmapa is likely to be the successor to the Dalai Lama after his passing, in case of a period of vacuum of leadership. Although all the heads of Tibetan Buddhism, from the Gelug, Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyud and Bonpo, have fled abroad one after another, they are still the inheritors of the Buddhist doctrines and are playing an important role, directly and indirectly.
Of course, those mistakes are not related to the leaders from the United Front Work Department. The question is related to the Party line, not to the individuals. Therefore, in order to improve and intensify the friendly relations between brotherly nationalities such as the Han and Tibetans - and for the prosperity and stability of the nation and the people - this residual 'leftist' line should not be continued; it is time to bring it to an end.
5- The letter I presented to the Central Government is concerned with the entire Tibetan nationality and peace and stability across te Tibetan regions in the Land of Snow, which occupies a quarter of the total area of the nation, and is related to a far-sighted, long-term strategic policy that needs to be sensibly considered and carefully decided, rather than being a question of seeking advice on current policy and concrete matters. Some people who are responsible for the relevant departments, who ignore the actual situation and don't care about the wishes of the masses, will not think deeply about their attitudes and words; they will not even undergo self-censure. Therefore I sincerely request the NPC Party Group to hand over [my letter] to the Central Government - headed by General-Secretary Hu Jintao - and forward it to the Central Institute of Political Research for their practical, objective suggestions based on the principle of seeking truth from facts. All decisions will then be up the Central Government.
With regard to the comments made by the United Front Work Department, besides the general tone that they adopted, they strayed from the point when mentioning my "talk" with Li Weihan in 1982, and criticised me for adhering to the so-called "consistently incorrect point of view", my view on "the greater Tibetan regions". But that was actually a plot attributed to Old Li [Weihan] by some specific leaders who had me sent to prison for eighteen years and have never admitted their mistakes. Old Li, aged eighty six, is now in hospital; those people have not even seen his articles, so what is the value of their comments?
I wrote a letter of twenty thousand characters to the leaders of the Central Government, and particularly wrote a letter to comrade Deng Xiaoping and General Secretary Hu Yaobang appealing to the Central Government to form a study team to clarify the arguments on the theoretical principles of nationality. Fortunately, after the Central Government looked into this, their summing up was that 'according to the regulations of the Party it is permitted to hold different points of view', and the case was held over indefinitely, with some statements made by comrade Zhong Xun.
Therefore, after twenty three years, referring to the talk with Old Li is unnecessary and of no significance.
6- As early as the 1940s I was the main person responsible for all kinds of revolutionary activities of was the only Tibetan among the members of the Party Committee for the PLA's Lhasa advance troop and of the CCP Tibet Work Committee during the '50s. For the sake of the Party, the people and history, and following the principle of being a communist who must be open and above-board, and must not hide any opinions, I present this letter to the leaders of the Central Party, and send it to some Tibetan comrades for reference.
I believe that this letter has fully reflected the expectations and wishes of ordinary Tibetans on the restoration of relations between the Central Government and the Dalai Lama. Many Tibetan comrades have directly or indirectly expressed their agreement to my views. 'Bitter medicine is good for ailments, good advice is unpleasant to the ears'. My letter cannot be supposed to be good medicine, but having a clear conscience and from the bottom of my heart - I sincerely state the views that people feel uncomfortable talking about, dare not talk about to protect themselves, and the questions that are sensitive to some people. Whether or not the views will be adopted is entirely up to the Central Government's decision-making. As an individual I am powerless. But time will prove all and history will make a fair evaluation
7 Any Communist Party member or citizen has the right to offer various kinds of opinions to the Central Government, and those opinions can also be passed on to other comrades for reference. But of course, it is without question that before the views in the letter can be accepted they must be consistent with the opinions currently carried by the Central Government. But if some relevant departments make comments as they wish with regards to the letter, I will reserve my right to correspondingly give explanations.
Comrade Hu Jintao,
I completely understand that the leaders of the CCP Standing Committee, headed by you, are deeply occupied with the affairs of State. Nevertheless, the question of the Tibet issue today is the most important of our entire nation's nationality works. Though I am in sound health, clear-minded, and able to write and give lectures, time does not spare people. I am now eighty three years old and have no ambition for fame and repute. I have spoken the truth from facts, and this is all purely in the interests of the State and nationalities.
Looking forward to understanding if there is anything inappropriate herein.
Phunsok Wangyal
The debate will continue, but one can only regret that Han Chauvinism has increased over the years.
It is not a good omen for the regime.
The Used Geta Rinpoche
Tsering Woeser
By Tsering Woeser
September 28, 2011,
After we arrived in Kardze at the end of July, I suddenly noticed a street sign attached to an electricity pole at the side of the road, which read: “Memorial Hall for the Commander in Chief, Zhu De and the 5th Geta Rinpoche”. Had this been built in recent years? I followed the sign, was slowly guided out of the city and finally found a tightly closed red door with a Chinese-style building behind it and verdant trees and lush flowers surrounding it; the hall name was an eye-grabbing piece of calligraphy created by Jiang Zemin.
Afterwards I found on the internet that the construction of this hall began in 1991 and was completed in 1993, becoming the “base for patriotic education” from Kardze County and Prefecture all the way to Sichuan Province.
According to the introduction, “the hall features the detailed descriptions of the 5th Tulku’s entire life, accounts of how the Red Army passed through Kardze during the Long March as well as revolutionary relics”. I noticed that among them were “paintings and photos of the establishment of the first ethnic minority region during the Soviet Tibetan Bopa Government; and also images of Geta Rinpoche, the Vice President of the Bopa Government and its other Tibetan members”.
How did the name of “Bopa Government” come about? It is quite a complicated story, just as the Communist Party admits, on its Long March, the Red Army established two “Republics”, namely the Gyarong Republic and the Bopa People’s Republic. These regimes were all established on Tibetan territory, the former where today’s Gyarong area of Rongdrak county is located and the latter in today’s Kham Region (Kardze and other counties); their declarations did by no means go against the native population’s political and religious authority, instead they determined the following: “all Tibetan territory will always be administered by the regional Bopa Government. We swear to oppose Han Chinese aggressors, KMT officials and warlords that have put in place politics of annexation for thousands of years and we firmly stand for the course of liberating and making an independent Bopa”; “Our flag is one of an independent Bopa, our current mission is to revive Tibet and extinguish Chiang Kai-shek.”
Let us look back at what happened more than 70 years ago, relevant comments conclude that the Communist Party’s minority policies did initially support “self-determination” and even “independence”, but today are against “ethnic splittism”. However, for the fleeing Red Army, their so-called assistance to establish a “Bopa Government”, at the time, was in fact only an expedient and temporary measure and was by no means a “‘solemn commitment’ to the Tibetan people”. In actual fact, during its 12,500 km Long March, regardless of whether they passed by Chinese, Tibetan, or other minority areas, from the facts that have been revealed today, we know that the Red Army’s journey was one of empty promises and swindle.
The Tibetans had to pay for the assistance to “revive Tibet and extinguish Chiang Kai-shek” and to establish an independent political entity. According to Party documents, during the 16 months before and after the Red Army passed through Ngaba Prefecture, the Gyarong Government had to provide 5 million kilos of staple foods as well as 100,000 cows, sheep, horses, pigs and other livestock; when the Red Army passed through the northern Kham region, the Bopa Government had to provide 2.25 million kilos of staple foods. After the Red Army had firmly settled in Yan’an, Mao Zedong said to the American journalist Edgar Snow: “the Red Army’s only external debt is that it took away the food from the outer ethnic minorities and now owes them, one day, we must repay this debt.” But what does this “external debt” mean? Does this not refer to owing a foreign country? It shows that at the time, Mao Zedong did not consider Tibet a part of China.
As for Geta Rinpoche of Beri Monastery in Kardze County, together with other Tibetan elite such as Jago Tobdan, Pangta Tobgyel, Gompo Tsering, Tashi Wangchuk, he formed the leadership of the Bopa Government and they jointly formulated a programme that included the guiding principles, including “ethnic independence, the establishment of an independent Bopa Soviet Government, and its own Bopa territory” as well as “the unification of the red Army and all groups and individuals that support the independence of Bopa”; they firmly believed that “all the people, countries, governments and armies that support and sympathise with Bopa are also Bopa people’s friends”; however, in the end, they were ridiculed by historical events for exactly this naivety.
If we want to justly evaluate historical figures such as Geta Rinpoche, we must admit that essentially, they were all Tibetan nationalists rather than repeatedly used by the Communists; he pursued the title of the “Red Tulku” of the “unified ancestral land”. Some people say that if Geta Rinpoche had lived until the Red Army became the Liberation Army, he would probably sooner or later have been thrown into prison, just as it happened to Phuntsog Wangyal. But just as the Liberation Army launched its “Chamdo military campaign”, he suddenly died a violent death, and thus became the justification for why the Communists violated or forgot their “solemn commitment”.
Labels: China's Policy towards Tibet, Mao, Phuntsok Wangyal, Tibet Autonomy, Woeser, Zhu Weiqun
Singing and Dancing in Tibet
The Succession War is not over
Dreaming about Future Tibet
The meaning of Tibetan autonomy
Can China afford a war?
A Greater Cohesion with Chinese Characteristics
What Chinese People Really Think and Feel
Hu Jintao’s Karmic connection with Tibet
Valentine Day on the McMahon Line
Was Tibet an independent nation?
Wen, Xi and the Panchen Lamas
They wore Tibetan dresses, carried tsampa and ince...
Hats off to the government's servants
Hu’s Karmic Connection
China preaches non-violence ...to others
Can China afford an external conflict?
Blowing hot and cold
The Dalai Lama is the Key
Why the French are getting more interested in Indi...
For a European Plane
From Ouragans to Rafales: sixty years of partnersh...
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LOCATION: ROONE ARLEDGE AUDITORIUM, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
ALFRED LERNER HALL, 2920 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NY 10027
Morning Keynote
Chanel DeNnis
Vice President, Goldman Sachs
Chanel is a Vice President on the New York Management Team within Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs. Her team oversees a group of more than one hundred Private Wealth Advisors and works with clients to implement customized investment strategies to meet their unique goals. She joined Goldman Sachs in 2010 as an Associate on the Environment, Social and Governance team where she managed environmental policy and community partnerships on behalf of the firm. In 2014, she assumed her current role in the Investment Management Division.
Chanel also serves as COO of the Investment Management Division Black Employee Network where she leads efforts to attract, retain and promote exceptional diverse professionals.
Prior to her career at Goldman Sachs, Chanel served as a Foreign Service Officer and worked abroad in Egypt and Sierra Leone. She earned her BA in Political Science from Temple University and holds a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Chanel is a volunteer for iMentor and a founding member of The iMentor Project.
AFTERNOON KeynotE
Melanie katzman
Founder, Katzman Consulting
Melanie Katzman has led pioneering efforts at the intersection of individual, enterprise and system change for over three decades. As the founder of Katzman Consulting, she has served as a trusted advisor to the leaders of public and private companies, family businesses, entrepreneurial and educational organizations, governmental agencies and non-profit institutions worldwide. Combining psychological expertise, global experience and business acumen she provides strategy, coaching and facilitation that enhance personal and organizational performance during periods of transition, growth or crisis.
Melanie began her career as a research scientist documenting the effect of modernization and globalization on emotional well-being in 17 emerging and developing markets. She has co-authored five books, dozens of peer reviewed articles, and helped bring the findings of non-English speaking colleagues into mainstream literature to stimulate social policy.
While living in Asia and England, Melanie built two commercial and two social enterprises (in the UK, US, and Hong Kong). Her work bridging academic and corporate worlds led to the development of competency-based predictors of future success which catalyzed inclusive and diverse recruitment and promotion programs at 6 leading global financial firms. When Melanie returned to the US in 1999, many of her international collaborators from overseas became Katzman Consulting associates, thus creating an intimate yet global consortium of advisers. In 2005, she became an early partner of the social enterprise Leaders’ Quest, which employs immersive experiential learning to develop adept influencers across sectors and different levels of society, who are capable of leading in volatile, disruptive environments with competing priorities and interconnected challenges.
A faculty member of Weill Cornell Medical School since 1987, Melanie has also been a visiting professor at the Bocconi Business School in Milan, the Henley School of Management in Henley-on-Thames, England, Kings College in London, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Since 2001, she has been a member of the Medical Reserve Corps and most recently, she joined The Wharton School’s Center for Leadership and Change Management as a Senior Fellow and is part of the joint venture team delivering Business Radio Powered by the Wharton School. Melanie is the co-creator, former co-host and now frequent guest on a weekly nationally broadcast radio show called Women@Work on SiriusXM Channel 111.
A member of the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women at the University of Pennsylvania, she has co-chaired the committee on the Advancement of Women Faculty while serving on the advisory boards of Carleton College, the Fundação dom Cabral (Brazil’s leading executive business school), the Resolution Project (supporting social entrepreneurship for young adults) and Women’s Voices for Change (a physician-lead nonprofit providing medical information to de-stigmatize and redefine aging). Melanie holds a PhD in Psychology and is certified in the US and chartered in the UK.
Whether in the corporate boardroom, the lecture hall or a remote village, Melanie unleashes the potential of individuals and supports them in creating cultures that provoke and sustain personal and group advancement in a mutually reinforcing system. She challenges people to recognize the potency of their position and to amplify their influence with intention, purpose and joy.
9:30am - 10:00am Registration & Breakfast
10:00am - 11:00am Morning Keynote
11:00am - 12:15pm Entrepreneurship/Integrating Interruptions Panels
12:15pm - 12:45pm Lunch & Panel Networking
12:45pm - 1:30pm Afternoon Keynote
1:30pm - 2:45pm Social Responsibility/The Science Behind Trends Panels
2:45pm - 4:00pm Networking Session & Raffle
MORNING PANELS
Entrepreneurship Panel
Come hear Wendy Xiao Schadeck, Jessica Lin, Sarah Rizkalla, Emily Sycz and Dee Poku discuss the entrepreneurial experiences in their careers. Topics range from funding your own business to coming up with an initial idea. Additionally, there will be a discussion around finding an entrepreneurial spirit in a big company. Audience-members will leave the panel with a better understanding of entrepreneurship and how to approach the field, starting from the ground up.
Prior to joining Northzone, Wendy worked at A. T. Kearney and Accenture, a time she often refers to as “speed reading for corporate America” and took away two main themes: 1. Outsiders create truly disruptive innovation, and 2. Work requires purpose. This propelled her towards the world of startups.
While studying for her MBA at Columbia, she became a mother and became deeply enthralled in the dichotomy of roles women are expected to play, without much societal support in the U.S. In pursuit of work-life integration for all parents (herself included) she founded CoHatchery, a co-working space with onsite childcare.
Currently at Northzone, she is really tuned into the human side of founding a startup and is looking for technologies that create huge societal efficiencies by dramatically and fundamentally altering human behaviour. She has spent a lot of time studying the fundamental issues in blockchain tech as well as what makes digital brands thrive.
WENDY XIAO SCHADECK
INVESTMENT MANAGER, NORTHZONE
Jessica is a Co-Founder and Partner at Work-Bench, focusing on investments in future of work and teams. Jessica previously was a Learning and Development Manager at Cisco Systems, where she worked with the Engineering org on Agile transformation, innovation and culture. Jessica is a graduate of Harvard University and developed Harvard’s first aspirational design and experiential education summer fellowship program in Cape Town, South Africa & Paris, France.
Jessica is actively involved with the education and workforce development community, as an advisor to LaGuardia Community College and a longtime GED educator.
Jessica received a BA from Harvard University in Government and African Studies.
JESSICA LIN
CO-FOUNDER, WORKBENCH
Sarah Rizkalla is the founder and editor-in-chief of New York Minute Magazine (NYMM), an online publication empowering women and promoting equality, while also shedding light on the effects of inequality around the world. NYMM began in May of 2012 as a one-woman show after Sarah left a promising Wall Street career. She now leads over 50 hardworking interns, who span the entire globe. Sarah and the New York Minute team believe that being a woman is a strength, never a deficiency, and constantly work to promote the inherent badassness of women.
She recently took new headshots but haven't received them yet. I'm attaching another photo that can be used as a place holder in the meantime, though I'm not sure she'll receive her new headshot before the event.
SARAH RIZKALLA
FOUNDER OF NEW YORK MINUTE MAGAZINE
Kara Brewer is an Associate at Oliver Wyman where she works with Financial Services and
Public Sector clients to address strategic and operational issues. At Oliver Wyman, Kara has
led projects with Fortune 100 banks and insurance companies, government agencies, and
leading NGOs. Kara is also the founder of The Active Citizen, a social enterprise that she
launched in 2016. The Active Citizen engages and educates young professionals on a range
of social impact topics. Through their events, The Active Citizen builds connections and
community among socially-minded individuals. Since its launch in 2016, Kara has organized over 55 events that have been attended by thousands of young professionals, and has
partnered with a range of innovative organizations, including The Gates Foundation, Crisis Text Line, Kiva, among many others.
KARA BREWER
ASSOCIATE, OLIVER WYMAN
Dee Poku-Spalding is the Founder and CEO of WIE, an influential women’s leadership network.
WIE connects emerging and established women leaders, and works to equip the next generation
with the tools to succeed. The organization has attracted an incredible range of speakers to its
global symposiums and salons, including Donna Karan, Arianna Huffington, Queen Rania,
Melinda Gates, Diane von Furstenberg, Nancy Pelosi, Jill Biden, Tyra Banks, Lauren Bush,
Elizabeth Banks, Iman, Rosario Dawson and Christy Turlington. She is also the founder of The
Other Festival, a first of its kind all female festival that showcases talented founders, makers and
creators.
A former Hollywood studio executive, Dee’s background includes senior marketing roles at
Paramount Pictures and Focus Features (a division of Universal Pictures), working with the likes
of Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Emily Blunt
and Penelope Cruz. Dee began her career in brand marketing and promotions and over the years
has worked with renowned brands such as Coca Cola, Absolut Vodka, Crème de la Mer, Stella
Artois and London Fashion Week. Dee is a Huffington Post blogger and a contributor to Forbes.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics.
DEE POKU
FOUNDER, WIE NETWORK
Ritu Banga is co-founder of Zoomdojo, a college to career initiative. She is a trustee of Marymount School, New York; serves on the Advisory Board of SAYA! (South Asian Youth Action); and is an advisor to Virtual Enterprises International, a Dept. of Education affiliated non-profit, and to the South Asia Business Association, Columbia University.
Ritu has been a guest speaker at Cornell University’s “Women, Leadership and Entrepreneurship” seminar. She has also been a speaker at various conferences at Columbia University, NYU, Vanderbilt University, and at the University of Toronto’s Rottman School of Management.
Past affiliations include: Advisory Committee of the American Institute of Architects New York; Trustee, International School of Brussels; and President, Joint Schools Association, New York. She was a board member of the Asian University for Women Support Foundation (2007-11).
Ritu is a graduate of Delhi University and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
RITU BANGA
CO-FOUNDER, ZOOMDOJO
Integrating Interruptions Panel
The business world isn’t always as well-oiled as it may seem. Business-women can be faced with diverse challenges, experiences, and changes that require minor or major adjustments to their lives in order to continue along their path. Sometimes interruptions are self-imposed and sometimes they are completely out of one’s control. Today we have a panel of three incredible women willing to discuss their career and life “interruption” and the ways in which they navigated it. These women come from diverse backgrounds and experienced diverse interruptions, however, the common denominator is the impressive methods these women used to integrate challenges and experiences. Certain interruptions can include developing families, working through business school, and changing careers. Each woman dealt with her experiences in a certain way, which led to growth and new opportunities.
Marcie began working with MUFG in May 2013 to build the Commodity Finance business in North America for the US Corporate Banking division. Since arriving at MUFG, Marcie has built a team of 16 professionals dedicated to the CF business. Prior to joining MUFG, Marcie was Head of Commodity Finance NA for BNP Paribas where she worked since 1979. While at BNP Paribas, Marcie developed a franchise business for Commodity Finance ultimately becoming the lead bank in the industry. She worked to lead arrange, structure and syndicate secured CF transactions; a role which continues at MUFG. Marcie is involved with Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) and also serves on the board as a Director for LICADD (Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence). Originally from New York, Marcie lived in France for two years prior to joining BNPP and is fluent in French. Marcie received her bachelor’s Degree in French Literature from SUNY Stony Brook.
MARCIE WEISS
MD & HEAD OF COMMODITY FINANCING, MUFG
Kathy Kriskey initiated the commodity investor business at the Royal Bank of Canada as the Head of Commodity Investor Solutions four years ago. She has over 20 years of commodity derivatives experience. Her primary focus is commodity indices and other structured products for asset managers, pension plans, endowments, Sovereign Wealth Funds and retail investors. In addition to her role as a Managing Director at RBC, Kathy is Co-Chair of RWomen USA, the 600+ women’s employee resource group.
Prior to joining RBC Capital Markets, Kathy created the institutional Commodity Investor Business at another Canadian bank. She also initiated the investor effort within the commodities group at UBS in 2006, marketing innovative commodity investor products to a large client base. Earlier Kathy helped to promote an actively managed commodity fund at Jefferies Asset Management.
Kathy also worked at JP Morgan and Bankers Trust in London, New York and Houston as the lead marketer of commodity derivatives for producers and consumers. Kathy began her career in finance at Oppenheimer as an analyst after graduating from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in finance.
KATHY KRISKEY
MANAGING DIRECTOR, HEAD OF COMMODITY INVESTOR SOLUTIONS, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS
In 2018, Kim was promoted to Director of Business to Business Strategy at Verizon Wireless after launching a new global business unit within Verizon for which she won two Stevie Business awards, the world's premier business awards. She is an 18-year global technology sales veteran with diverse experience in nearly all areas High Tech spanning Networking, Telecom, Big Data Analytics, mobile chipsets, 4G LTE mobile infrastructure, security software, IOT, cloud, storage hardware, as well as voice, video, and data networking equipment. Past companies include Intel, Ericsson, and Cisco as well as a Silicon Valley startup.
Kim earned a BA in Biology from Columbia College of Columbia University in 2000, and her MBA from Columbia Business School in 2017.
She has been a competitive runner since 1992, has run a sub-5 minute mile, and has completed 10 marathons. Kim is married and has a 4-year-old son.
Kim is an accomplished Senior Executive with more than 18 years of success spanning security, big data analytics, IoT, computer networking, telecommunications, financial services, and private equity. Leveraging extensive experience identifying new global revenue streams, Kim is a valuable asset for a company requiring advisory related to stagnant sales, rapid growth, or global expansion. Her broad areas of expertise include negotiations, market analysis, revenue optimization, GTM strategy, operational strategy, and cost containment. Kim excels at revenue stream development and partner relationships to build national and international brands and increase sales.
Throughout her executive career, Kim has held leadership positions with Verizon, Intel Corporation, Guavus Inc., Ericsson Inc., Exenet LLC, and Cisco Systems, Inc. She just accepted a role as the leader of wireless business strategy for Verizon and prior to that, she was responsible for delivering 131% of quota within three months of launch, building a new global sales team and division for Verizon, and closing $50M of new business in three months. An industry visionary, Kim specializes in innovative strategies to solve problems. She is an expert in Big Data analytics, partnership solutions, and talent optimization.
Kim won both a team and an individual Stevie Award last year. She is a leader in customer engagement strategies devising cross-functional plans to drive sales and improve customer retention rates. In a previous role, she worked with Intel Corp and McAfee teams to provide next-generation solutions for Verizon. Kim is a leader in operational intelligence, strategic partnerships, sales processes, and competitive analysis.
Kim attained her MBA with Honors and her BA in Biology with a Pre-Med concentration both from Columbia University. As a seasoned board member, she has held positions with Elevacao Foundation, Inc.
KIM FISHER WARREN
DIRECTOR OF STRATEGY, VERIZON WIRELESS
Larissa Liburd is a strategy, marketing, growth, and partnerships professional with experience in strategic planning, facilitating marketing and social media campaigns, consulting entrepreneurs and early-stage ventures from ideation through early stage growth, writing for and editing digital/print publications, fundraising, and general business development. Currently, she works at Venture for America – a nonprofit entrepreneurship Fellowship program for recent college graduates – as their Manager of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. At VFA she tackles strategic national partnerships, recruiting and supporting Fellows from diverse backgrounds throughout the Fellowship, and advising/supporting Fellow-founded companies. Prior to VFA, Larissa was the Social Responsibility Coordinator at White & Case LLP, a global law firm. She attended Yale University, and graduated in 2014 with a BA in Political Science and a concentration in Latin American & Caribbean Studies.
LARISSA LIBURD
MANAGER OF DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION, VENTURE FOR AMERICA
Carol began her career In New York at Bankers Trust Company where she specialized in private capital raising for corporate and sovereign clients. Following BT, she was Managing Director in Tokyo for The Whitney Group, an international executive search firm. During her years in Hong Kong, she was advisor and angel investor to AsiaInfo which became the first China-based tech company to go public on the NASDQ. Since returning to New York, she has been investing and advising startups and founded the Rattray Kimura Foundation. Carol is currently a member of the board of trustees of Bates College, The Asian Cultural Council and the Re Foundation. She is an advisory board member of the Columbia Business School's Lang Center for Entrepreneurship and South Asia Business Association, Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences, Dean's Advisory and Cornell University Councils, The Asia Foundation’s Women’s Empowerment Program and Global China Connection. Carol received a BA from Cornell University and an MIA and MBA from Columbia University.
CAROL RATTRAY
MD & CO-FOUNDER, ZOOMDOJO
AFTERNOON PANELS
Social Responsibility Panel
Corporate social responsibility is the movement aimed at encouraging companies to realize their effects on environmental and social wellbeing. The discussion of this panel will be centered around how companies can grow and be profitable, while simultaneously making local and global social impact that is both lasting and meaningful. As the technological landscape changes, so too will the way companies can make an impact. Thus, our panelists will share opinions on the trajectory and future of social responsibility in the years ahead. This panel will also teach millennials and young adults in attendance how to be both socially responsible consumers and citizens, as the world and firms alike become increasingly socially conscious. The time for social responsibility is now, and it starts with the next generation of women leaders.
MONA SAFABAKHSH
CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER, DIG INN
Exposed to design and travel from a young age, Jessica Hendricks Yee was born in Paris and grew up outside Manhattan with eyes glued to the cases in her mother’s jewelry shop. Fascinated by indigenous cultures and spirituality, she uses design as a platform to tell powerful stories and connect people to ancient wisdom and faraway places.
Hendricks Yee was selected as a 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30, and invited to the White House as one of 60 young entrepreneurs to witness President Obama’s speech encouraging support of Emerging Global Entrepreneurs. Her jewelry brand The Brave Collection has been featured by Vogue, Glamour, MSNBC and Refinery29. Her new line, Zahava is set to launch 2018.
JESSICA HENDRICKS YEE
FOUNDER, BRAVE COLLECTION
Sarah Friedman Hersh is a senior analyst on Vanguard’s Investment Stewardship team, covering companies in the energy, utilities, industrials, materials, and telecommunications sectors. Sarah joined Vanguard in 2016 through the MBA leadership development program and rotated through the institutional retirement plan business and the analytics consulting group. She graduated from the Yale School of Management, where she led the Responsible Investing Group and Net Impact’s career development team. Sarah previously worked in donor development and government and external relations for UJA-Federation of New York, a philanthropy serving 4.5 million people annually. She received her BA in International Studies with concentrations in the Middle East and religion from Kenyon College.
SARAH HERSH
SENIOR INVESTMENT STEWARDSHIP ANALYST, VANGUARD
itu has been a guest speaker at Cornell University’s “Women, Leadership and Entrepreneurship” seminar. She has also been a speaker at various conferences at Columbia University, NYU, Vanderbilt University, and at the University of Toronto’s Rottman School of Management.
ast affiliations include: Advisory Committee of the American Institute of Architects New York; Trustee, International School of Brussels; and President, Joint Schools Association, New York. She was a board member of the Asian University for Women Support Foundation (2007-11).
The Science Behind Trends Panel
The Science behind Trends panel seeks to uncover the myriad of factors that contribute to making trends go viral. Pulling from the varied experiences and visions of prominent industry women Stephanie Fried, Julie DeLoca, Mallory Blair, and Dr. Fern Halper, this panel will delve deep into the inner-workings of media, branding, and advertising in cementing social phenomena. In doing so, panelists will discuss the ever-evolving role of technology in this field. Further, panelists will examine themes such as work-life, brand management and analytics, and the future of both their industry and positions. Finally, this conversation will touch on pivotal moments in each woman's career, the challenges involved in gender disparities or pay, and the evolution of brand marketing and analytics as these two elements become increasingly more valuable in everyday life.
Stephanie Fried is executive vice president of research, analytics and audience development at Condé Nast, leading custom insights, sales research, analytics, digital marketing and social/newsletter/SEO across Condé’s portfolio of brands. Fried, who acts as co-chair of the IAB Research Council, joined Condé Nast from Discovery Communications were she was vice president, digital insights and marketing, and oversaw all research and marketing functions across the digital organization.
Prior to Discovery Communications, Fried served as vice president, research insights and analytics at VEVO. She has also held senior positions at NBCUniversal and BuzzBack Market Research, an online consumer market research firm. Stephanie has a BA with honors from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
STEPHANIE FRIED
EXECUTIVE VP OF RESEARCH, CONDÉ NASTE
Mallory Blair is the 29-year-old CEO and cofounder of Small Girls PR, a 45-person creative agency headquartered in NY and LA. Clients of the firm range from popular startups (Rent the Runway, Outdoor Voices, TaskRabbit) to household names (GE, L'Oreal, Malala) who turn to the company for brand communications, media relations, experiential, and influencer marketing. The team is known for engineering viral campaigns and their tight-knit company culture, traveling on #SGPRetreats together and hosting annual spirit weeks. BuzzFeed has called SGPR "one of the most successful boutique PR firms."
Mallory cofounded the agency upon graduating college and has since graced lists such as Forbes 30 under 30, Marie Claire's Top Young Guns, Business Insider's Top 50 PRs, BuzzFeed's Top Role Models for 20-Somethings, PR Week's Innovation 50 and her mother's fridge.
Mallory is also hiring for entry-level roles. Apply at http://smallgirlspr.com/#careers-section
CO-FOUNDER & CEO, SMALL GIRLS PR
Julie is an innovative marketer, storyteller and brand builder with expertise in retail, luxury, fashion, tech and beauty marketing and advertising. Via her consultancy, LOCA Marketing, Julie enables brands and start-ups to tell their stories to consumers, investors and customers. Before launching LOCA, Julie developed ad campaigns for global luxury brands and mass-market companies at agencies on both coasts, she was president of MODCO Creative and built successful teams at Gotham, AR NY, Roberts + Langer DDB and FCB SF. Julie led the marketing departments at Rebecca Minkoff and Eli Tahari, two of the most inspired and growth-oriented accessories and apparel brands. In addition to championing brands through LOCA Marketing, Julie mentors companies within the retail and fashion-tech space via The New York Fashion Tech Lab and Springboard Enterprises. She speaks about fashion-tech, women’s entrepreneurship and the future of retail. Julie is the mother of two young entrepreneurs, Olivia @Whistlingbaker and Ray the Sneakerhead.
JULIE DELOCA
FOUNDER, LOCA MARKETING
Dr. Fern Halper, TDWI VP and Senior Research Director for Advanced Analytics, has
over twenty-five years of experience in data analysis, business analysis, and strategy
development. She is a recognized expert in the field of analytics and has authored
hundreds of reports and articles on data mining and information technology. She is
frequently quoted on the subject in the press. Prior to joining TDWI, Fern was a Partner
at Hurwitz & Associates, an industry analyst firm where she focused her research
primarily on analytics and cloud computing. She also spent eight years at Bell
Laboratories leading the development of innovative approaches and systems to analyze
data for AT&T marketing and business teams. Fern has taught at both Bentley College
and Colgate University. She is the co-author of numerous Dummies publications
including Cloud Computing for Dummies, Hybrid Cloud for Dummies and Big Data for
Dummies (Wiley Publishing). Fern received her BA from Colgate University and her
Ph.D. from Texas A&M University.
VP & SENIOR DIRECTOR, TDWI RESEARCH
RAFFLE & GIFT BAG
CHECK OUT OUR RAFFLE AND GIFT BAG ITEMS BELOW!
Raffle Items
Gift Bag Items
Thanks to our CWBS conference volunteers!
Alexandria Parkhurst
Claire Mildren
Clare MacNamara
Courtney Heller
Hannah Ko
Helena Lustig
Jennifer Harchut
Jessica Ling Yan
Jessica Ye Seul Kim
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Lauren Zahm
Lilly Kallman
Melanie Pfetsch
Nicole Ho Nig Chong
Paige Berlin
Riya Desai
Salome Tkebuchava
Shambhavi Chadha
Sharon Kavjian
Sharon Zhang
Sheri Weingarten
Tess Kim
Thu Hai Pham
Victoria Yang
Vivian Liu
Yoon Hyun Kim
External initiatives committee
Caroline Jobson
Alana Anderson
Isabella Monaco
Eva Steinman
Maria Avila-Franklin
Kavya Tewari
Erinn Lee
Paraskevi Xenophontos
Yijun Xia
Natalie Voll
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Amee Assad
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Pallavi Chintam
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Theadora Lamprecht
Madison Murphy
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Genices Batista Inoa
Olivia Grace Contratto
Sophie Battat
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Katherine (Katie) Berdy
Marsye Suppiger
Gabrielle (Gabby) Lewis
Copyright Columbia Women's Business Society 2018
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Sports ›
Football ›
Sooners, Cowboys take top spots in Big 12 power rankings
Published on September 21, 2018 at 12:52 am Last update on September 21, 2018 at 10:49 am
By CJ Vogel
Through three weeks, we've seen Oklahoma and Oklahoma State dominate their respective matchups, but a variety of matchups with high implications take place this weekend, leaving some of the top spots potentially up for grabs.
Heading into Week Four, here are the Big 12 power rankings:
No. 1, Oklahoma
You would think losing the reigning Heisman Trophy winner would cause any offense to regress, however that hasn’t been the case this year. The Sooners are undoubtedly the top team in the Big 12 Conference right now, averaging almost 49 points per game and 551 yards per game so far through the first three games this season.
No. 2, Oklahoma State
Losing quarterback Mason Rudolph, the 2017 Biletnikoff Award winner James Washington and Mike Gundy’s mullet has done anything but slow down the Oklahoma State offense this season. The Cowboys are averaging an absurd 590 yards per game and are coming off of a 44-21 beatdown of then-No. 17 Boise State in Stillwater.
No. 3, West Virginia
Hurricane Florence left Will Grier’s Heisman campaign on hold as the Mountaineers matchup against NC State was canceled this weekend. Currently ranked No. 12 in this week’s AP Top 25, West Virginia has a big task ahead with a matchup against Kansas State.
No. 4, TCU
Take away a fluke pick-six on a shovel pass, and TCU’s loss to No. 4 Ohio State likely ends in a different result. The Horned Frog defense held the Buckeyes to their lowest offensive output of the season and display some of the fastest players in the conference.
No. 5, Texas
Any win should be celebrated, especially one over the USC Trojans. However make no mistake, this USC team was not very good. Regardless, Texas’ defense was phenomenal, holding the Trojans to -5 rushing yards and not allowing a point in the final three quarters.
No. 6, Texas Tech
The Texas Tech Red Raiders with a top ranked offense? Where have we seen that before? The Red Raiders’ offense is currently ranked first in the nation in total offense and has scored 140 points in the last two weeks. Tech is coming off of a 63-49 win against Houston, but the Red Raiders will likely have another shootout this weekend against Oklahoma State.
No. 7, Kansas State
It’s been an underwhelming start to the season for Kansas State. Coming off of a loss to Mississippi State, the Wildcats took care of business against UTSA. However, they have yet to provide a reason to suspect the matchup against No. 12 West Virginia this weekend will go in their favor.
No. 8, Baylor
Baylor eclipsed their 2017 win total two weeks into the season, but a loss to Duke in Week Three is concerning. The Bears went into halftime down 23-0. Early deficits in the Big 12 are a recipe for another disastrous season in Waco.
No. 9, Kansas
We’re just three weeks into the season, and Kansas has a winning record! Granted, the Jayhawks beat Rutgers last weekend. Regardless, head coach David Beaty is moving Kansas in the right direction to get the team out of the Big 12 cellar.
No. 10, Iowa State
Surprisingly, the Cyclones are the only winless team in the Big 12. Although Iowa State kept it close against the Sooners for the majority of last weekend’s game, moral victories do not apply in power rankings. The Cyclones are a talented team and should earn a notch in the win column this weekend against Akron.
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Joe Bonson & Coffee Run
Love Train – 2005 (Arch Tech)
CDs by Joe Bonson & Coffee Run
Love Train (2005)
Joe Bonson and his band Coffee Run play a brand of country music that recalls nothing so much as the hybrid of bluegrass and country that Ricky Skaggs plied with so much success in the early '80s. That means there's lots of fiddle and steel, but also plenty of Dobro and mandolin, all wedded to Bonson's fine, weathered-at-the-edges voice,to classic harmonies and to a deep honky-tonk sound.
Bonson and company apply it to a clutch of country standards and other material, and throw a couple of original tunes into the mix. One of Skaggs' big hits, "I Wouldn't Change You If I Could," gets a fine reading, as does Haggard's "Mama Tried," Hank's "Hey, Good Lookin'," and Buck's "I Wouldn't Change You If I Could."
But the high points are a couple of gems, both reflecting Bonson's faith: "Jesus and Bartenders" (a Larry Cordle song) finds a surprising similarity between those twosubjects, while "More Than Just a Man" is a straightforward testament delivered in bluegrass garb. This is bedrock country music that deserves to be heard.
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Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen
Watch This – 2016 (Lil Buddy Toons)
Reviewed by Lee Zimmerman
CDs by Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen
Hold My Beer: Vol. 1 (2015)
Watch This (2016)
Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen's follow up to their excellent 2015 studio effort "Hold My Beer: Vol. 1" is a live acoustic set recorded at the House of Blues in Dallas and Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, Texas. The duo alternate singing tunes primarily from their respective solo careers, at times lending harmony vocals to the other's performances. Aside from Kyle Wieters adding harmonica to "West Texas Rain," Bowen's moving reflection on his life's successes and failures ("I've found a few answers/I've still got questions/Kept it together and fallen apart"), all the instrumentation is provided by the duo's acoustic guitars.
The strongest are the ones featuring harmonies, such as Bowen's "Songs About Trucks" and "You Had Me At My Best." Other tracks demonstrate the devotion of the crowd and familiarity with the songs as with Rogers' "Interstate" and "Too Late For Goodbye," which become singalongs.
There is also plenty of amusing banter between the pair, in particular when Bowen declares "My favorite thing to do is go through a drive through at Whataburger with a hundred dollar bill and say 'give me all the ketchup you got'" (which Rogers confirms is a true story), as well as joking about being occasionally misidentified on signs outside of venues where they are booked as "Wade Bowman" or "Roy Rogers."
The one weakness of the project is the liner notes, which lack specificity on when the recordings were made and feature no writing credits. Rogers introduces the Radney Foster/George Ducas composition "Kiss Me in the Dark" by thanking songwriter Foster ("I just don't know if I would be here if it wasn't for Radney Foster") but for the most part no attributions are given.
With well chosen tunes and strong performances, this raw, acoustic collaboration between Rogers and Bowen make for a fun listen and worthy successor to "Hold My Beer."
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Request for a preliminary ruling from the Raad voor Vergunningsbetwistingen (Belgium) lodged on 15 January 2019 — A, B, C, D, E v Gewestelijke stedenbouwkundige ambtenaar van het departement Ruimte Vlaanderen, afdeling Oost-Vlaanderen
(Case C-24/19)
Language of the case: Dutch
Referring court
Raad voor Vergunningsbetwistingen
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicants: A, B, C, D, E
Defendant: Gewestelijke stedenbouwkundige ambtenaar van het departement Ruimte Vlaanderen, afdeling Oost-Vlaanderen
Questions referred
Do Article 2(a) and Article 3(2)(a) of Directive 2001/42/EC 1 (‘the SEA Directive) mean that Article 99 of the besluit van de Vlaamse regering van 23 december 2011 tot wijziging van het besluit van de Vlaamse regering van 6 februari 1991 houdende de vaststelling van het Vlaams reglement betreffende de milieuvergunning en van het besluit van de Vlaamse regering van 1 juni 1995 houdende algemene en sectorale bepalingen inzake milieuhygiëne (Order of the Flemish Government of 23 December 2011 amending the Order of the Flemish Government of 6 February 1991 on the adoption of Flemish regulations concerning environmental consent and of the Order of the Flemish Government of 1 June 1995 on general and sectoral provisions relating to environmental health), as regards the updating of the aforementioned Orders in keeping with the evolution of technology, which introduces into VLAREM II Section 5.20.6 on installations for the generation of electricity by means of wind energy, and the Omzendbrief ‘Afwegingskader en randvoorwaarden voor de inplanting van windturbines’ (Circular ‘Assessment framework and preconditions for the installation of wind turbines) of 2006 [together referred to as ‘the instruments in question’], which both contain various provisions regarding the installation of wind turbines, including measures on safety, and standards relating to shadow flicker and noise levels, having regard to town and country planning zones, must be classified as a ‘plan or programme’ within the meaning of the provisions of the Directive? If it appears that an environmental assessment should have been carried out before the adoption of the instruments in question, can the Raad (Council) modulate the legal effects of the illegal nature of those instruments in time? To that end, a number of sub-questions must be asked:
Can a policy instrument such as the present Circular, which the public authority concerned is competent to draw up on the basis of its discretionary and policy-making powers, so that the competent authority was not actually designated to draw up the ‘plan or programme’, and in respect of which there is also no provision for a formal drafting procedure, be regarded as a plan or programme within the meaning of Article 2(a) of the SEA Directive?
Is it sufficient that a policy instrument or general rule, such as the instruments in question, partially curtails the margin of appreciation of a public authority responsible for granting development consent, in order to be considered a ‘plan or programme’ within the meaning of Article 2(a) of the SEA Directive, even if they do not represent a requirement, or a necessary condition, for the granting of consent or are not intended to constitute a framework for future development consent, notwithstanding the fact that the European legislature has indicated that that purpose is an element of the definition of ‘plans and programmes’?
Can a policy instrument such as the Circular in question, the format of which is drawn up on grounds of legal certainty and thus constitutes a completely voluntary decision, be regarded as a ‘plan or programme’ within the meaning of Article 2(a) of the SEA Directive, and does such an interpretation not run counter to the case-law of the Court of Justice that a purposive interpretation of a directive may not deviate fundamentally from the clearly expressed will of the EU legislature?
Can Section 5.20.6 VLAREM II, where there was no mandatory requirement to draw up the rules contained therein, be defined as a ‘plan or programme’ within the meaning of Article 2(a) of the SEA Directive, and does such an interpretation not run counter to the case-law of the Court of Justice that a purposive interpretation of a directive may not deviate fundamentally from the clearly expressed will of the EU legislature?
Can a policy instrument and a normative government Order, such as the instruments in question, which have a limited indicative value, or at least do not constitute a framework from which any right to execute a project may be derived and from which no right to any framework, as a measure by which projects may be approved, may be derived, be regarded as a ‘plan or programme’ that constitute the ‘framework for future development consent’ within the meaning of Article 2(a) and 3(2) of the SEA Directive, and does such an interpretation not run counter to the case-law of the Court of Justice that a purposive interpretation of a directive may not deviate fundamentally from the clearly expressed will of the EU legislature?
Can a policy instrument such as Circular: EME/2006/01- RO /2006/02 which has a purely indicative value and/or a normative government Order such as Section 5.20.6 VLAREM II that only sets a minimum threshold for development consent and in addition operates fully autonomously as a general rule, both of which only contain a limited number of criteria and modalities, and neither of which is the only determinant for even a single criterion or modality, and in relation to which it could be argued that, on the basis of objective information, it can be excluded that they are likely to have significant effects on the environment, be regarded as a ‘plan or programme’ on a joint reading of Article 2(a) and Article 3(1) and (2) of the SEA Directive, and can they thus be regarded as acts which, by the adoption of rules and control procedures applicable to the sector concerned, establish a whole package of criteria and modalities for the approval and execution of one or more projects that are likely to have significant effects on the environment?
If the answer to the previous question is in the negative, can a court or tribunal determine this itself, after the Order or the pseudo-legislation (such as the VLAREM standards and the Circular in question) has been adopted?
Can a court or tribunal, if it has only indirect jurisdiction through an exception being raised, the result of which applies inter partes, and if the answer to the questions referred for a preliminary ruling shows that the instruments in question are illegal, order that the effects of the unlawful Order and/or the unlawful Circular be maintained if the unlawful instruments contribute to an objective of environmental protection, as also pursued by a directive within the meaning of Article 288 TFEU, and if the requirements laid down in EU law for such maintenance (as laid down in the judgment in Association France Nature Environnement, [Case C-379/15]) have been met?
If the answer to Question 8 is in the negative, can a court or tribunal order that the effects of the contested project be maintained in order to comply indirectly with the requirements imposed by EU law (as laid down in the judgment in Association France Nature Environnement) for the continued maintenance of the legal effects of plans or programmes that do not conform to the SEA Directive?
1 Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (OJ 2001 L 197, p. 30).
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Sequential Sunday: CBGB
Published on November 22nd, 2010
When writing about a site of recent historical significance, recent enough that those who were present as witnesses or participants to important events held there are likely still alive, you are not going to be able to please everyone. The beyond legendary New York music club CBGB is one such locale whose cultural impact on the musical spectrum of the last 35 years is so great it could never be given due justice in print or on film no matter how good the effort may be.
This brings us to the newly collected four-issue CBGB comic series, courtesy of the Boom! Studios imprint Boom! Town. The chance to mix the mythology of the club that launched The Talking Heads, Blondie, The Ramones, Bad Brains, Patti Smith, and The Misfits (amongst many others) with words and vivid imagery sounds like a certain win. Still, as with almost any anthology comic there are bound to be a mix of highs and lows. Unfortunately with CBGB more of the material falls into the latter category.
The debut issue couldn’t possibly get off to a better start with a fantastic cover by Love and Rockets co-creator Jaime Hernandez.
Our first story confronts the issue of the club’s mythology versus it’s factual reality (and what it means to the current generation of wanna-be rebels) in A NYC Punk Carol from writer Kieron Gillen and artist Marc Ellerby. Here band leader Stooge (a nice mix of a sincere and earnest dreamer and punk/hipster douchebag) complains to his mates about the musical legacy of NYC hardcore that they’re not living up to.
Soon Stooge is set on the right path with a visit from three ghosts, a la Dickens, each with a lesson to impart to him about the importance of what happened at CBGB’s and what it means to those youngsters who want to keep the Punk flame burning. I really like the bickering between the ghosts who between them represent the importance of both the myths of the locale and the more academic truths involved as these are things that tend to weave in and out of each other over the passage of time
The choice of depicting the performer being shown with a label obscuring their face is a nice touch, seemingly a nod to the punk ethos of putting the emotional intent of the music over the surface nature of image.
I am a very big fan of rock music history and as such loved the numerous appearances of Punk and New Wave luminaries seen in A NYC Punk Carol. Imagine my disappointment as there are (with the exception of passing references) NO OTHER “real” legends featured in the entire run of this mini-series. More on that shortly.
The Helsinki Syndrome, the second story of the debut issue from Sam Humphries and Rob G, tells of late 70’s punker Larry who has his plans to see Television play swept aside by the death of his Uncle. He is left with the unpleasant task of cleaning out his deceased relative’s cluttered apartment which turns out to be filled with recording instruments and scrawled upon homemade cassette tapes.
Later, at the club, Larry learns his Uncle was a one man musical force called The Helsinki Syndrome who single performance at CBGB’s left an indelible mark on the few who saw it. The flashback reveal is really wonderful here as the sketchy (in a good way) art gives way to a slick, dramatic double-page splash of the Uncle on stage whipping up sonic blasts like a tempest of noise.
This tale would carry a lot more emotional weight if The Helsinki Syndrome had actually existed. Fleshing out the legend of CBGB’s with scenarios both real and imagined would be to the benefit of this mini-series if there was, by the end of the run, more of the former and less of the latter.
The first story of issue 2, Rock Block (written by Scissors Sister singer/songwriter Ana Matronic with nicely expressive and detailed art by Dan Duncan) proves itself to be the best feature of the entire run of this series. Though the main character, an aspiring writer who finds herself lacking in both inspiration and cash, is fictional the New York City that surrounds her could scarcely feel more real and true to the era. Set in the 70’s, this is the New York that certain natives of the city lament the passing of in more recent years, the one Travis Bickle angrily, endlessly obsesses about. And at the nexus of our writer’s universe is CBGB’s.
She finds her muse in the guise of the club itself and the patrons and performers she finds there. And along with her inspiration comes renewed faith in the city itself. Matronic’s story feels so real because of it’s utterly believable humanity. It is also basically the only one of the series that makes note of the grittier aspects of the scene such as hard drug use. Much of the material found in these issues just seems too candy coated to be a realistic portrayal of this particular pace, during this particular time.
Speaking of candy coated there is the vibrant closing story of issue 2, Oozi-Suzi-Q-Tip, a borderline psychedelic, neon colored foray into all style/no substance territory courtesy of Mr. Sheldon.
Issue 3 opens with the self-indulgently titled Of And Concerning The Ancient, Mystical, And Holy Origins Of That Most Down And Dirty 20th Century Rock ‘N’ Roll Club. The story draws upon Native American spirituality and concerns three club goers stumbling upon a secret, ancient history of the site where CBGB stands.
Spanning an entire 14 pages, one can’t help but feel this space could not have been better utilized with a piece more specific as to why CBGB’s is truly considered the sacred place it is (or was, since it closed its doors permanently in 2006.) With a change to the opening and closing pages this could just as easily be a story about any historically significant rock venue that became a focal point for a youth movement, such as The Fillmore in San Francisco. Even more baffling is that this is written by the most accomplished scribe of this whole series: Oscar nominated screenwriter Kim Krizan who lists amongst her credits Richard Linklater’s Before Sunset and Before Sunrise. Still, the art here is very pleasing to the eye and even quite beautiful in its best panels.
The myth-making is thankfully left behind issue 3 closes with Advice To A Young Artist, a fun, somewhat Twilight Zone-esque story about a college professor who, in a stoned-out daze, actually returns to the CBGB’s of his youth. In his excitement to see the Nick Ryder (a fictional performer, again) in his CBGB’s debut, the prof ends up unintentionally sabotaging the show, thereby changing music history.
This story (written by Robert Steven Williams with art by Louise & Georgio Staley) is a fun, entertaining detour from the direction the series is taking by this point and also might contain a bit of a message about how seemingly tiny, insignificant moments for us can have a life-changing effect on another.
The opener for issue 4 is Count 5 or 6 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Chuck BB. Here CBGB in and of itself is relegated to the status of background character in favor of an (autobiographical?) story of self-involved New Yorkers, both native and transplants.
If this is an autobio tale (DeConnick did live in Manhattan at one point) the creators really do not need to be so coy about it, as knowing if the story is fiction or non-fiction would dramatically change the emotional dynamic for the reader. Yet another 14 pager that does little to explain the mystique and special nature of the club or introduce us at all to any of the legendary talent that helped make its name. This story could basically be taking place at any music venue and play out exactly the same.
The series ends on a colorful note with a sci-fi story (of all things) titled No Future. In it an agent from the future is sent back to a late 70’s CBGB’s to record the scene for the sake of cultural analysis. The story (by R. Eric Leib) is serviceable and I appreciated the positive note it ends on, as it seems to be heading in a colder direction up to that point. But what really stands out here is the loose and vividly colored artwork by Dave Crosland. The energy in some of the panels is downright infectious making the images almost vibrate right off the page itself.
All in all there is a lot of fun, solid work to be found in the pages of CBGB, but the frustrations found within the weaker material really puts a damper on the festivities. It’s baffling why so little space is utilized for representing true to life tales when the subject itself has such a rich, exciting and significant place within the annals of 20th century music. The series itself has been pretty successful for a mature readers indie title so I’m hoping this is not the only time we see CBGB in sequential form. I just hope next time there is a little more blood, sweat, and tears to help mix up the all the idolatry.
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Friday 09 Mar 2018: Laser Wakefield Accelerators: a particle accelerator in a university lab?
Stuart Mangles - Imperial College
Newman Red 12:30-13:30
Particle accelerators are one of our most important tools for scientific discovery. They are used in the ongoing search for new fundamental physics and lie at the heart of the worlds brightest X-ray sources which are used to probe the structure of matter, materials and proteins. Modern accelerators, which are very large machines that can only be built by the most developed nations, are certainly impressive, but why do they need to be so big? Laser wakefield acceleration is an exciting technology that is being investigated as an alternative to conventional particle accelerators, it uses the very large electric fields that are produced in the wake of an intense laser as it travels through a plasma to accelerate particles in a very shot distance. Experiments can now produce multi-GeV electron beams from an accelerator just a few centimetres long — something that can only be achieved with a conventional accelerator that is about 100 m long. The electron beams and the X-rays laser wakefield accelerators can already produce are now being used for a range of applications, including medical imaging, probing extreme states of matter and even investigating fundamental physics.
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March 10, 2016 - Billionaire hospitality mogul Tilman J. Fertitta can make small businesses big with just one life-changing order. In CNBC’s newest primetime series, “Billion Dollar Buyer,” premiering Tuesday, March 22 at 10pm ET/PT, he’ll travel the country to meet twelve potential suppliers─ and decide if they have what it takes to partner with his empire.
Chairman, CEO, and sole shareholder of Landry’s, Inc., Fertitta oversees more than 500 properties and over 50 leading restaurant, hotel, and entertainment brands, ranging from high-end properties like Mastro’s and Morton’s The Steakhouse, to such mainstream destinations as Rainforest Cafe, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Saltgrass Steak House, and five Golden Nugget Casinos. With an annual supply spend of $2 billion, his buying power is second to none. Now, he’s personally scouting the country for the most innovative new products America’s entrepreneurs have to offer – everything from food and drink for his restaurants and casinos, to linens and spa products for his hotels.
In each hour-long episode, Fertitta will spend time with two small businesses, sample their goods, get to know the owners, and assess their compatibility with Landry’s, Inc. He’ll point out flaws in their product and operations, share his expertise, and push for improvements. In the end, he’ll decide whether to place a transformative purchase order with one of the companies, both, or neither.
The small businesses featured this season:
Bravado Spice -- Houston, TX
East Side Glass Studio -- Austin, TX
Further Products -- Los Angeles, CA
Galanter & Jones -- San Francisco, CA
iPourIt -- Lake Forest, CA
Liber Cocktails -- Austin, TX
Linoto Linens -- New York, NY
Macaron By Patisse -- Houston, TX
Manveena’s Solutions -- New York, NY
Marcellino New York -- Huntington Village, Long Island
Rossmore LA -- Los Angeles, CA
The Jam Stand -- Brooklyn, NY
On the series premiere, Fertitta meets with two local Houston businesses to find products that will spice up his booming restaurants, hotels, and casinos.First up is Macaron By Patisse, a sibling-owned specialty dessert shop financed by their parent’s retirement fund. Next up is Bravado Spice, an award-winning hot sauce company run by two hard-headed friends who turned their hobby into a full-time career. If they impress, they could win an order that will transform their business and their lives. But failure could mean the end of the road.Will either duo be able to strike a deal with the Billion Dollar Buyer?
BILLION DOLLAR BUYER is produced for CNBC byEndemol Shine North America with David Tibballs and Robin Feinberg as executive producers. Jim Ackerman and Luke Bauer are the executive producers for CNBC.
For more information, visit billiondollarbuyer.cnbcprime.com. Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BillionDollarBuyer and follow @BillionDollarBuyer on twitter https://twitter.com/BillionDollarTV and instagram https://www.instagram.com/billiondollarbuyer/.
About CNBC:
With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, CNBC World and CNBC HD , CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to approximately 385 million homes worldwide, including more than 95 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC’s highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries.
CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms. These include CNBC.com, the online destination for global business; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides real-time global market data and live access to CNBC global programming; and a suite of CNBC Mobile products including the CNBC Real-Time iPhone and iPad Apps.
Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/programming/cnbc.
CNBC is a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. For more corporate information, visit www.nbcuniversal.com.
About Endemol Shine North America:
Endemol Shine North America delivers world-class content and compelling storytelling to multiple platforms in the U.S. and across the globe. Endemol Shine North America is part of Endemol Shine Group, the newly launched global content creator, producer and distributor with a diverse portfolio of companies that are behind some of the most prominent hit television formats and series in the world. Its Endemol Shine Studios division develops and produces original scripted television programming in the U.S. for global exploitation and Endemol Shine Latino oversees all Spanish-language sales and development in both the U.S. and now across all of Latin America. Subsidiary production companies include Authentic Entertainment, Original Media, True Entertainment and 51 Minds Entertainment. In addition, Endemol Shine North America has a strategic partnership with Ryan Seacrest Productions.
Endemol Shine Group’s companies in North America are behind such hit series as Big Brother (CBS), The Biggest Loser (NBC), Hell on Wheels (AMC), Ink Master (Spike), Kingdom (DirecTV), MasterChef (FOX), MasterChef Junior (FOX), Restaurant Startup (CNBC), Swamp People (History), The Real Housewives of Atlanta (Bravo), Steve Harvey (NBCU), T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle (VH1), Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge (CMT) and upcoming Hunted (CBS), Superhuman (FOX) and I’m Dying Up Here (Showtime).
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Power Plant of the Week - Fore River Generating
Jim Bride February 4, 2014
Anyone who lives on the South Shore of Massachusetts knows the Fore River Generating plant. It's on the east side of the Fore River in Weymouth, MA, immediately south of the Rt. 3A bridge. The plant is a modern combined cycle facility that consists of two natural gas combustion turbines that both feed a steam turbine. In total, the plant has a summer capacity of approximately 700 MW and is run as a baseload or intermediate load following plant depending on natural gas prices. The natural gas comes to the plant via a lateral from the Algonquin natural gas pipeline, but the facility can also burn distillate fuel (a.k.a. No. 2) when natural gas prices are high or supplies are unavailable. Its environmental permits limit oil burn to approximately 720 hours annually, but this flexibility is extremely important to the ISO-NE grid for reliability.
Photo from Exelon website available via this link
In approximately the mid 1920s, the current site was developed by NStar predecessor company Boston Edison as the Edgar station. This was a coal fired unit supplemented with smaller oil fired turbines. Boston Edison retired the Edgar station sometime in the 1970s and the site was underutilized. In the mid-1990s, merchant generator Sithe Energies purchased the property when Boston Edison was obligated to divest its generating assets as part of electric industry restructuring.
Deregulation has been a long strange trip for many generating assets in ISO-NE and Fore River is no exception. Sithe Energies acquired the property from Boston Edison along with several other properties like the Mystic Generating Station in the late 1990s. It navigated the formidable Massachusetts permitting process and secured approval from the Energy Facilities Siting Board. You can review the final decision of the siting board here and it's an interesting read for several reasons, but one item that jumps out is the focus on CO2 emissions and discussions around mitigation strategies. In the photo below, you can see the plant as it exists today, with the oil tank, Rt. 3A to the North, and the power lines leaving the property to the south.
Aerial photograph taken from Google Earth on 2/4/14
Sithe contracted with Raytheon's Engineering & Construction Group to build the plant, but midway through the project Raytheon sold this division to the Washington Group......who subsequently went bankrupt. Luckily, Sithe's contract required Raytheon to ensure project completion and Raytheon was obligated to finish construction which they did. Sithe Energies was purchased by Exelon and set up as a merchant generation subsidiary. Unfortunately, this Exelon subsidiary ran into serious financial problems in 2003 and Exelon handed the Fore River plant to its various creditors.
The creditors sold the Fore River plant to US Power Generation in 2005 who operated the facilities under the Boston Generating Co. subsidiary. The shale gas revolution wasn't kind to Boston Generating as they were heavily leveraged in a falling price environment and they were forced to declare bankruptcy in 2010. There are still some very angry creditors from this event. Google "Boston Generating Creditors" and you'll find plenty of info.
Constellation purchased the Fore River Generating station out of bankruptcy and Exelon merged with Constellation in 2011, reuniting the plant with its original owner.
This plant is a critical part of the ISO-NE electric grid and its dual fuel capabilities have been especially valuable during December 2013 and January 2014 when natural gas supplies have been scarce. One downside of the dual fuel capabilities of this facility is that distillate oil is delivered by barge to the tanks onsite, which requires the Fore River Bridge to open for extended periods of time. If you've ever had to sit through a bridge opening on 3A and deal with the resulting traffic, you know that it's no fun, but these bridge openings are the cost of fuel redundancy that gives us a reliable power grid. The MA Dept. of Transportation announces bridge openings on its Twitter feed at @MassDOT.
Tags Fore River, Weymouth, MA, Fore River Bridge, Exelon, Boston Generating Company, Combined Cycle, Dual Fuel, ISO-NE
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Kiwan, Dina (2010) Highly-skilled ‘guest-workers’ in the UK: implications for ‘citizenship’ in naturalisation policy and integration policy. Policy and Society 29 (4), pp. 333-343. ISSN 1449-4035.
Kiwan, Dina (2009) Civil society, democracy and education. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice 4 (2), pp. 83-86. ISSN 1746-1979.
Kiwan, Dina (2008) Diversity and identity in societal context: introductory remarks. London Review of Education 6 (1), pp. 27-30. ISSN 1474-8460.
Annette, John and Starkey, H. and Kiwan, Dina (2008) Education for democratic citizenship: diversity and national identity - introduction. London Review of Education 6 (1), pp. 1-3. ISSN 1474-8460.
Kiwan, Dina (2008) Citizenship education in England at the cross-roads? four models of citizenship and their implications for ethnic and religious diversity. Oxford Review of Education 34 (1), pp. 39-58. ISSN 0305-4985.
Kiwan, Dina (2008) A journey to citizenship in the United Kingdom. International Journal on Multicultural societies 10 (1), pp. 60-75. ISSN 1817-4574.
Kiwan, Dina (2010) Active citizenship, multiculturalism and mutual understanding. In: Crick, B. and Lockyer, A. (eds.) Active Citizenship: What Could It Achieve and How? Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 100-111. ISBN 9780748638666.
Cox, Rosie and Jackson, Sue and Kiwan, Dina and Khatwa, M. (2009) Living London: women negotiating identities in a post-colonial city. In: Wetherell, M. (ed.) Identity in the 21st Century: New Trends in Changing Times. Identity Studies in the Social Sciences. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 175-196. ISBN 9780230580879.
Kiwan, Dina (2008) Towards a theory of inclusive participative citizenship. In: Titley, G. and Lentin, A. (eds.) The Politics Of Diversity In Europe. Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe. ISBN 9789287161710.
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Topic: I'm soooooooooo confused!!!
Author Topic: I'm soooooooooo confused!!! (Read 2041 times)
I'm soooooooooo confused!!!
« on: Feb 08 06 04:58 »
Modern nutrition: Forget all you ever knew about diets
An eight-year scientific study in America has concluded that you might as well eat a bacon sandwich as a low-fat yoghurt if you want to stay healthy.
David Usborne reports
Medical researchers in the United States who set out to demonstrate that a low-fat diet will reduce the risks of cancer and heart attacks were struggling yesterday to hide their disappointment. The results from their eight-year, government-funded study are in - and they show no such thing.
While this may be good news for lovers of butter and fans of bacon sandwiches for breakfast, it will surely befuddle the millions of health-conscious consumers around the globe who for years have skipped from one low-fat fad to the next in search of the perfect recipe for health, longevity and, of course, a tauter tummy. Just started the F2 diet? Don't bother. Freezer filled with low-fat yoghurt? Run for some Häagen-Daz.
That would seem - at first glance, at least - to be the only sensible lesson to be drawn from the study, which no one could describe as half-baked or skimpy. "It was the Rolls Royce of studies," agreed Dr Michael Thun of the American Cancer Society. The results, far removed from what the experts had expected, were reported yesterday by the Journal of the American Medical Association.
But before everyone dives for the chocolates, some sceptics - and some of its authors - point to potential problems with the study, notably that it did nothing to distinguish between different kinds of fat. They also question whether eight years was a long enough period to make the results meaningful.
Funded by the National Institutes of Health in the US, the sprawling experiment cost $415m in taxpayers' money and involved no fewer than 48,000 post-menopausal women, aged between 50 and 79 years old. The idea at the outset was straightforward: to prove scientifically what most of us instinctively believe to be true (or have been brainwashed to believe): that eating less fat is good for us.
Specifically, the team of researchers wanted to demonstrate a link between a low-fat diet and a reduced incidence of breast cancer and colon cancer and of cardiovascular problems, such as heart attacks and strokes. But when the numbers were in, they found nothing to prove the connection. Those women told to follow a low-fat diet had more or less the same rates of these diseases as those who continued to eat whatever they fancied.
In the words of Dr Thun, the results were "completely null over the eight-year follow-up for both cancers and heart disease". His organisation, for one, will as a consequence be be making no recommendations regarding reducing the intake of fat in your daily eating habits to protect against cancer.
"The results, of course, are somewhat disappointing," conceded Dr JoAnn Manson, a respected authority on nutrition and the chief of preventative medicine at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital. "We would have liked this dietary intervention to have had a major impact on health."
It is also a bit of a blow to all the women - enough to populate a small city - who volunteered for the study, like 66-year-old Judy LaCour who lives close to Seattle and who was recruited in 1993. "I was surprised," she said, "I thought there would be more definitive answers about the value of the low-fat diet."
About 40 per cent of the women were randomly chosen for the low-fat regime. Their challenge was to cut the percentage of fat in their daily calorie intake to 20 per cent and up their consumption of fruit, vegetables and grains. "I was raised in a farm family where high-fat food was the norm, " Ms LaCour said. "It was a real culture shock for me when I first started." Everybody else stuck to their usual eating habits.
The women on the low-fat regime did show a rate of breast cancer that was 9 per cent lower than the control group, but the researchers considered the difference statistically unimportant. As far as cardiovascular issues were concerned, the one risk factor that did seem to change involved so-called LDL cholesterol. Known as "bad cholesterol", it can lead to heart disease. Women in the control group did show more of it, but not to an extent that would significantly increase their risk of a heart attack.
But otherwise, the health benefits for Ms LaCour and others who struggled to reduce their fat intake appeared to be zero. Not only did they have just as much breast, colon cancer and heart disease as the other women, they didn't lose weight either. In fact, their weights generally stayed the same. (Trimming waists and thighs, it should be pointed out, was never a goal of the study.)
Dr Manson was among those cautioning against reading too much into the study's disappointing findings. "These results do not suggest that people have carte blanche to eat fatty foods without health problems," she insisted. In other words, don't jettison your low-fat diet books just yet.
Part of the problem with the study may be that the women asked to reduce their fat intake to 20 per cent didn't quite manage that. In fact, by year six, they had on average slipped to a fat percentage level of 27 per cent. The control group was at 35 per cent at the start of the study and at 37 per cent by the end. The gap in fat intake between the two groups was not, therefore, as wide as the researchers hoped.
Then there is the whole tricky issue of bad fat versus good fat. This is an area of dietary science that was still in its infancy when the study began and today, most nutritional experts believe that what we really need to avoid is fried and processed foods that are often heavy in saturated and trans fats. Fats from nuts, fish and olive oil, we are now told, can even be good for us. Hence the heavy promotion recently of the Mediterranean Diet, which positively encourages the consumption of these types of fat.
"Just switching to low-fat foods is not likely to yield much health benefit in most women," Marcia Stefanick, professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, commented yesterday. "This shows that you can't rely on using low-fat substitutes to make a difference. You really need to think about what kinds of fats you're eating and the foods that should be part of your diet, such as vegetables."
By now, most of us might be ready to throw up our arms in despair. We loved the Atkins Diet - meat and cheese are great, potatoes and pasta are a disaster - until its founder, Robert Atkins, keeled over weighing 258lbs. Suddenly he looked like a charlatan. We have had the South Beach Diet, the Tapeworm Diet (honestly - Maria Callas apparently ate parasites to get herself slim) and the fibre-all-day diet. Eventually all of them are either debunked or fall from favour. It was long thought that lots of fibre would protect us from colon cancer. Wrong, say the newest studies. Certain vitamins were meant to block cancer too. Wrong again.
But surely nothing is as discombobulating as this latest news: that everything we thought we knew about fat might be codswallop too. What are we to do?
Dr Peter Libby, a professor at the Harvard Medical School, may have a commonsense answer. He thinks we should be far more worried about the volume of food on our plate than about what food groups, vitamins, proteins or fats are represented on it. Nothing, he says, fascinates us "so much as the notion that what you eat - rather than how much you eat - directly affects your health".
In other words, when you sit down to dinner tonight, be it fish dinner, steak or tofu, simply eat less. Oh yes, and chuck out the cigarettes, forego the whisky and Red Bull and do a bit of exercise from time to time.
Six 21st-century diets and what they claim to do
You Are What You Eat
Who's behind it? Gillian McKeith
How does it work? "Good" carbohydrates like brown rice and wholewheat bread and pasta are included, as are "good" fats (known as essential fatty acids), such as the ones found in nuts, seeds, fish and avocados. These are essential for breaking down other types of fat which would otherwise be stored in the body.
What the critics say: "I think what I found most objectionable was the bullying, patronising tone... In my professional opinion, anyone following her advice to the letter will be permanently hungry, thoroughly miserable and most probably will suffer from perpetual indigestion," said one disgruntled biochemist.
Celebrity fans: Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna, Michelle McManus, Kerry Katona
Who's behind it? Robert Atkins
How does it work? Dr Atkins believed that too much carbohydrate causes the body to produce too much insulin, and this in turn leads to hunger and weight gain. On the diet, you're allowed 15-60g of carbohydrates a day - including pasta, bread and fruit - but you're encouraged to eat protein and fat. The diet works on the principle that by reducing high-carbohydrate foods, we can alter our metabolism and shed weight.
What the critics say: Dr Atkins was clinically obese when he died. Nutritionist Dr Susan Jebb condemned the diet as "nonsense and pseudo science". Health psychologist Dr Jane Ogden described fans of the diet as "delusional".
Celebrity fans: Renée Zellweger, Jennifer Aniston, Geri Halliwell and Robbie Williams.
Who's behind it? Dr Arthur Agatston, who says: "Forget low carbs and low fat and think right carbs and right fats."
How does it work? The principle is that the more weight you carry, the higher the risk that your body will become insulin-resistant. The side effect of this is that the body stores more fat, particularly around the tummy, hips and thighs. The diet works by teaching you to rely on the right carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables and wholegrains) and reduce the intake of " bad" carbohydrates (cakes, biscuits).
What the critics say: Dieters who avoid carbohydrates often experience significant weight loss during the initial stages of this diet, but it has a diuretic effect and this may be due to water loss, not fat loss.
Celebrity fans: Nicole Kidman
The Hay Diet
Who's behind it? Dr William Howard Hay
How does it work? The underlying cause of many health problems is the wrong chemical condition in the body. Dr Hay classified foods into three types (protein, neutral and starch) according to their requirements for efficient digestion. Mixing protein and starchy carbohydrates at the same meal, for example, leads to them being incompletely digested, leading to toxicity and weight problems. Vegetables and fruit form a large part of the diet, but fruit must be eaten in isolation.
What the critics say: A University of East Anglia study found "no scientific evidence or reason to believe the 'protein fights carbohydrates' theory".
Celebrity fans: Liz Hurley, Catherine Zeta-Jones.
The Gl Diet
Who's behind it? It started as a clinical trial, when Dr David Jenkins of the University of Toronto looked at the effects of different types of carbohydrates on diabetes patients. It was launched in 2004.
How does it work? GI stands for glycaemic index, a scale of 1 to 100 that describes the speed at which we digest carbohydrates. Foods with a low glycaemic index, such as porridge or beetroot, release glucose slowly and evenly. High GI foods provide a quick hit and encourage the body to release insulin, which then converts the excess glucose into fat.
What the critics say: Very little. The medical industry considers the GI diet to be one of the most sensible and healthy plans around.
Celebrity fans: Kylie Minogue and Anthony Worrall Thompson.
Who's behind it? Nutritionist Dr Barry Sears.
How does it work? A strict low-fibre, low-carb regime. Sears believes that by regulating insulin, we maximise fat loss and reduce the chances of heart disease. One of the most complicated diets around, it relies on a ratio of 40% protein, 30% carbs and 30% fats.
What the critics say: You have to eat six complicated meals a day, so even in Hollywood, where it initially proved a big hit among celebs, models and those with time on their hands, it had little staying power.
Celebrity fans: Jennifer Aniston - "I got addicted to it. It wasn't a good thing."
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Homepage»Culture»The Kentucky Bookstore Keeping Regional Literature Alive
Culture , Kentucky
The Kentucky Bookstore Keeping Regional Literature Alive
By Anthony Hennen on January 15, 2019 / 1 Comment
The Jesse Stuart Foundation Bookstore. Via Google Maps.
The literature of a region can play a large role in forming an area’s culture and how outsiders perceive it. It provides a written record for the present and the future.
In Ashland, Kentucky, one bookstore carries the torch of regional literature on its own. The Jesse Stuart Foundation Bookstore was established in 1979 to preserve the eponymous writer’s literary legacy. It has expanded beyond a focus on Stuart to publishing other regional writers, past and present, such as Harry Caudill, Allan Eckert, and Billy C. Clark.
Stuart (1906-1984) was born in Greenup County, Kentucky and grew up on the Kentucky/Ohio border. After earning a degree from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, he returned home and worked as a teacher, then principal, then superintendent in the local school system. After marrying in 1939, he left education to make a career from writing and public speaking. He found success in writing short stories, poems, novels, and children’s books; his works appeared in national magazines such as the Atlantic Monthly and Esquire, and he was named the poet laureate of Kentucky in 1954.
“He basically wrote about himself, his family, and the world around him there in this little valley in eastern Kentucky,” said Jim Gifford, CEO of the Jesse Stuart Foundation. “Stuart knew about the hill culture of eastern Kentucky. He knew about people who eked a living out of poor dirt farms. He knew about people who mined coal and people who worked in the timber industry. And people who worked tirelessly to feed their families from the produce of their farms and fields.”
Stuart gave attention to the drama and passions of an area usually ignored in literary life. Public interest in his writings has waxed and waned since the Foundation began its work.
When Gifford joined the Foundation 33 years ago,they had “brisk,” consistent sales to schools and libraries, teaching children in Kentucky about their state’s history and culture. But that has declined in the last 10 years, Gifford said. School budgets for local writers have been trimmed, and book fairs in other states are less interested in Kentucky-focused literature. Home school programs in western states such as Utah, though, have found a connection to Stuart.
Gifford said the connection comes from an overlap in western ranch life and Kentucky farm life. “People around the country still find a satisfaction in these books that describe people who were subsistence farmers, who made a living from their farms and fields, hunting and fishing. People who didn’t have to buy everything they ate at the grocery store,” he said.
That interest hints at a divided audience. Stuart’s books for children still sell, but interest for his other books skip a generation—or two.
“I think what appeals to a lot of readers today,” Gifford said, “is the fact that many people who buy our books and are interested in this are older people who still remember the life that Stuart wrote about, and it may not be about their life, exactly, but it was about their father’s life, their grandfather’s life.”
The Foundation’s work, then, provides a crucial link to history. It helps readers understand where they came from and the circumstances of their family. But it’s lonely work. “We’re the only press that produces [Appalachian regional literature] exclusively,” Gifford said. The University of Kentucky “got on the bandwagon for a while,” he noted, but publishes less now. Other university presses, such as Ohio University and the Universities of Tennessee and Illinois, publish Appalachian literature, but this is a small fraction of their catalog.
The poet Jim Wayne Miller argued in a 1993 essay that “Like American literature and southern literature, of which it is a part, Appalachian literature has been recognized late and often grudgingly.” Into the 1950s, Miller noted, students struggled to find an English department that would approve a dissertation about Appalachian literature. Appalachian studies departments (or Appalachian-focused professors) now have a decades-long history at many American universities, but in popular culture it remains a niche interest.
Appalachian literature seems to have a popular breakthrough once every decade or so, as in Homer Hickam’s Rocket Boys (and its film adaptation, October Sky), Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain (also made into a film), or J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy. But they tend to be memoirs rather than novels (like Rocket Boys and Hillbilly Elegy). The personal experiences of writers from the region can find national success, but so far, Appalachian writers typically remain a niche interest. That doesn’t mean Appalachian non-fiction and fiction can’t find an audience, though.
One powerful pull for readers is nostalgia and remembering life before a period of rapid change. “A lot of our regional authors help people remember a way of life that is rapidly disappearing,” Gifford said. “In a way, our books are a way of tying people to the simplicity and the hard work and the solid values of an agrarian past.”
Whether the children and grandchildren of current readers will sustain their interest remains an open question. But some signs give hope. Millennials read more than older Americans, according to a 2016 report from the Pew Research Center, and college graduates read more than non-graduates. Additionally, more authors reach The New York Times’ bestseller list each year than in the past, and they stay on it for shorter periods. What these changes mean is that the reading landscape could be more decentralized and varied if trends continue. Even if Appalachian literature can’t grab national interest, older readers and bookstores like the Jesse Stuart Foundation could pass along their passion for regional literature and keep it alive.
Another bright sign of change is internet sales. Online orders help the Foundation reach a national audience. “Our e-commerce is the lifeblood of our revenue stream,” Gifford said.
The Foundation and other regional booksellers, then, have a chance to persuade would-be readers about the value of a book that focuses on life in their own backyard. And for readers already interested in regional literature, the Jesse Stuart Foundation gives them a local hero and a long reading list.
Subscribe to The Patch, our newsletter, to stay up-to-date with new expatalachians articles and news from around Appalachia.
Anthony Hennen is a co-founder of expatalachians and editor/writer at the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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By Staff1 / in Highlight, In The News: / on Sunday, 30 Jun 2019 08:19 PM / Comments Off on Brent Symonette Resigns From Cabinet Post / 888
Hon. T. Brent Symonette
The Bahamas Cabinet announced in a statement on Sunday evening, June 30th, 2019 that Brent Symonette, Member of Parliament and Minister of Financial Services, Trade and Industry and Immigration has resigned from his ministerial post. The statement reads as follows:
“It is notified for general information that the Hon. T. Brent Symonette has tendered his resignation as Minister of Financial Services, Trade and Industry and Immigration, with effect from 1 July 2019.
The Hon. Elsworth Johnson will assume portfolio responsibility for the Ministry of Financial Services, Trade and Industry and Immigration with effect from 1 July 2019.”
Shortly after this announcement by the Cabinet Office, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis, released a statement, accepting the resignation. No explanation for the development was provided. His statement reads as follows:
“I thank Mr. Brent Symonette for his service to the country over many years.
While he will no longer serve in Cabinet his constituents in St. Anne’s will continue to have an MP who cares about them.
I wish Mr. Symonette all the best in his future endeavors.
I have appointed the Hon. Elsworth Johnson to replace Mr. Symonette as the Minister of Financial Services, Trade and Industry and Immigration.
Mr. Johnson is a former president of the Bahamas Bar Association and former Minister of State in the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs.
I have confidence that Mr. Johnson will serve the country well in his new capacity.”
Cabinet Office and Office of the Prime Minister
Commonwealth of The Bahamas
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Growing Hemp in Florida
Georgiana Kurtz
If you don't know the difference between marijuana and industrial hemp, that is not surprising. Although hemp and marijuana are both varieties of Cannabis sativa, they are selectively bred for different purposes. Hemp plants are grown for the strong fibers in their stalks as well as their reputed nutritional and medicinal value, while marijuana is grown for its tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content. Marijuana contains up to 30% THC, a psychoactive substance used both for medicinal and recreational purposes. Industrial hemp contains less than 0.3% THC, but does contain cannabidiol (CBD), a non-intoxicating substance that will probably not cause a positive drug test result.
The two plants even look different. Hemp stalks can grow up to 13 feet (4 meters) tall and are usually much taller and thinner than marijuana plants. Their leaves are also thinner and less-densely-clustered than marijuana leaves. Hemp is easier to grow than marijuana and can be found growing outdoors in a variety of climates. In Florida, it can even be found growing alongside roadways.
History of Growing Hemp in the U.S.
Hemp was widely grown in Colonial America. In fact, British law required her colonies to grow this crop to support British naval and shipping interests. Because of their natural resistance to decay, hemp fibers were needed to produce the miles of cordage and tons of canvas required for each sailing vessel. The American colonies produced cordage, cloth, canvas, sacks, and paper from hemp, most of which was sent to Great Britain.
After the American Revolution, farmers were still encouraged or required to grow hemp as their “patriotic duty” to support American interests. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew it on their estates. Hemp continued to be grown in the U.S. into the 20th century. But in the 1950s, synthetic fibers became available, so the use of hemp fibers declined.
In 1970, the U.S. Congress passed legislation that criminalized the growing of all cannabis sativa in the U.S. due to the perception that cannabis had deleterious effects on its users. No attempt was made to differentiate between industrial hemp and marijuana because congressional representatives feared law enforcement would not be able to do so.
Then, the 2014 farm bill created a pilot project that allowed “universities and state departments of agriculture to grow and research hemp.” In Florida, the University of Florida and Florida A&M University have been authorized by the legislature to study the crop prior to allowing its commercial production.
Uses for Hemp
Hemp can be used in housing construction, as food for humans and other herbivores, in biofuels and plastics, and as a fiber to produce cloth and paper. It is more environmentally friendly than cotton. It grows in a wider range of climates, requires less water than cotton, no pesticides or herbicides, and only moderate amounts of fertilizer. Its fibers are stronger and softer than cotton, last longer, and are mildew resistant.
One acre of hemp produces as much fiber as 2 to 3 acres of cotton and as much paper as 2 to 4 acres of trees. Paper produced from hemp is superior to that made from tree pulp.And unlike trees, hemp can be harvested just 120 days after it is planted.
Hemp seeds comprise over half the weight of the mature plant. They can be used to produce a nutritious flour and are used to manufacture paint, varnish, detergent, ink and lubricating oil. In addition, hempseed oil has medicinal uses, such as treating inflammatory conditions, epilepsy, and pain. It can be used topically to treat skin conditions, vaped, or ingested in food. Products containing CBD do not produce a high and can be bought by anyone. This is in contrast to THC-containing products that can only be obtained in special dispensaries regulated by The Florida Department of Health’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use.
Content copyright © 2018 by Georgiana Kurtz. All rights reserved.
This content was written by Georgiana Kurtz. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission. Contact Georgiana Kurtz for details.
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Rapport 22 aug weeb pag 10
At approximately 02:30, Israeli occupying forces, reinforced with approximately 150 tanks, armored personnel carriers and military jeeps, supported by two helicopters, and covered by intense shelling, invaded Tulkarm refugee camp. A number of Palestinian civilians were wounded, but Israeli forces did not allow access of ambulances to the refugee camp until 17:00, when they withdrew. Ambulances removed the body of ‘Essam ‘Abdul Hamid Mohamed Qe’dan, 28, who was killed by Israeli shelling. They also took to hospital 20-year-old ‘Ezziddin Mohammed Salah ‘Attar, who was wounded by Israeli shelling.
At approximately 07:30, Israeli occupying forces in military locations in the vicinity of “Neve Dekailm” settlement, west of Khan Yunis in the Gaza strip, opened fire at Palestinian houses in Khan Yunis refugee camp and al-Nimsawi neighborhood, wounding Nihad Ibrahim Huneideq, 17, with shrapnel in the right forearm. PCHR’s field worker in Khan Yunis reported that the girl was wounded while she was sleeping inside her house and that a number of houses were damaged.
In an apparent willful killing, Israeli occupying forces shot dead another Palestinian child in Khan Yunis, the second child in one week, when they shelled agricultural lands where the child and a number of his friends were. According to PCHR’s investigation and eyewitnesses’ testimonies, at approximately 07:50, 15-year-old Ayman Tawfiq Salem Zo’rob was working together with his friends on their agricultural land in Gizan Abu Rashwan area in the southwest of Khan Yunis. The children were laying on the ground shouting on each other to escape or hide behind trees. An Israeli military jeep came from the settlement and took position approximately 100m away from the children. Israeli soldiers in the jeep opened fire at the area indiscriminately.
Then, an Israeli soldier fired several live bullets at Zo’rob who was hiding behind a tree. Zo’rob was shot in the head. He fell and when Israeli soldiers noticed that, they withdrew from the area. His friend hurried to him and moved him to a nearby house. He was then taken in a civilian car to hospital. According to medical sources, the child was shot dead by two live bullets in the head.
At approximately 15:00, four Israeli tanks moved into Jenin refugee camp. They opened fire indiscriminately at Palestinian houses. A number of Palestinian children gathered and threw stones at the Israeli tanks. An Israeli soldier pointed his gun at the children and fired at them, wounding five:
1. Munir Faisal ‘Ersan Qarni, 15, seriously wounded by a live bullet in the chest;
2. Yousef Mohammed Nemer Abu Qandil, 15, seriously wounded by a live bullet in the chest;
3. Ahmed Ibrahim As’ad Abu ‘Ali, 13, wounded by shrapnel in the head;
4. Mohammed Hani ‘Ali al-Ghoul, 15, wounded by shrapnel in the head; and
5. Rushdi Nader Hammad Abu Hammad, 16, wounded by shrapnel in the right leg.
In the evening, Israeli occupying forces shot dead Mohammed Sa’adat Yousef ‘Abdul Rasul, 22, from al-Bireh. At approximately 17:00, ‘Abdul Rasul went from his house in al-Nahda Street, opposite the Friends School in al-Bireh, towards his father’s shop in the area. A civilian car stopped at a branch road opposite his house. Inside the car, there were two armed men in civilian clothes. When he was only 20m away from the car, the two men got out of the car and opened fire at him. He ran towards a flower shop, but the men chased and fired at him. He was shot by eight live bullets in the head, the chest and the limbs. Immediately, a number of Israeli military jeeps arrived in the area. Israeli soldiers surrounded ‘Abdul Rasul and denied access to ambulances. They left him bleed to death, although there is a hospital only few meters away from the area. The victim is the youngest brother of Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Ahmed Sa’adat, detained by Palestinian security services since the beginning of this year.
At approximately midnight, Israeli occupying forces, reinforced with heavy military vehicles, moved into al-Birka area in the south of Deir al-Balah. They raided and searched a number of houses. They arrested Suliemn Hammad Suleiman Abu Khamash, 24.
At approximately 09:45, Israeli heavy military vehicles moved approximately 400m into al-Satar al-Gharbi area northwest of Khan Yunis. They demolished the fence surrounding the house of Mousa Mohammed Abu ‘Oweili. They also razed areas of Palestinian agricultural land.
In an apparent willful killing, Israeli occupying forces shot dead a child in Jenin for no apparent reason. At approximately 14:30, Israeli soldiers on a tank positioned at Burqin-Kufor Qud junctions, west of Jenin, fired from a distance of approximately 100m at a number of Palestinian children who were playing near their houses at the northwestern entrance of Burqin village, west of Jenin.
One of the children, Mohammed Amin ‘Ali Abu ‘Ouda, 14, was killed by a live bullet in the head. The area has recently been quiet.
At approximately 15:00, Israeli occupying forces, reinforced with tanks and armored personnel carriers, invaded Jenin. They moved into the industrial zone and Jenin refugee camp and opened fire at Palestinian civilians and workshops, wounding two civilians:
1. Wissam Khaled Malaisha, 9, wounded by shrapnel in the head while near his house in Jenin refugee camp; and
2. Mohammed Rafiq al-Ghoul, 22, wounded by a live bullet in the right hand while in the industrial zone.
At approximately 18:25, Israeli occupying forces, reinforced with five military jeeps, two civilian jeeps that had Israeli license plates and an armored personnel carries, and supported by two helicopters, moved into Um al-Sharayet neighborhood in the south of Ramallah. They surrounded and raided the headquarters of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service, and arrested six Palestinian policemen, all of whom were from the Gaza Strip.
At approximately 01:00, Israeli occupying forces in military locations in the vicinity of “Neve Dekalim” settlement, west of Khan Yunis, fired live ammunition and flare at Palestinian houses in Khan Yunis refugee camp and al-Nimsawi neighborhood, east of the settlement. Flare fell onto the house of Anwar Mohammed Ahmed, approximately 350m east of the settlement, destroying its asbestos roof and burning parts of the furniture.
In addition, the owners’ daughter Hiba, 16, was wounded by a live bullet in the right hand, while other members of the family, consisting of 10 persons, suffered from smoke inhalation.
As a result of the indiscriminate Israeli shelling of the area, 20-year-old Ibrahim Hassan ‘Awad was wounded by shrapnel in the back.
Approximately five hours later, Israeli forces resumed shelling of the same area. The shelling also affected Palestinian houses in Baten al-Samin area southwest of Khan Yunis.
A Palestinian woman, Fawzia ‘Abdul Rahman Abu Mousa, 42, was wounded by shrapnel in the right ear and foot, while a number of houses were damaged.
At the same time, an infantry unit of Israeli occupying forces moved from “Morag” settlement, northeast of Rafah, approximately 500m into the north of Rafah. They raided houses of the Abu ‘Arar family. They ordered the residents of the houses, around 60 persons, mostly women and children, to leave the houses and searched the houses. They broke doors and windows of those houses. Upon their withdrawal from the area, Israeli soldiers arrested eight Palestinian civilians from the Abu ‘Arar family. They interrogated them inside “Morag” settlement for one day and then released them.
At approximately 08:00, Israeli occupying forces at the eastern border of the Gaza Strip, east of Jabalya, shelled Palestinian farms west of the border.
Aamena ‘Abdul Karim al-Bursh, 53, was wounded by shrapnel in the right foot, while she was with her husband on their farm, approximately 600m away from the border. In addition, a number of animals were killed, and the farmers fled the area.
At approximately 08:10, Israeli occupying forces re-imposed the curfew on Hebron after it had been temporarily lifted. They opened fire at Palestinian civilians and forced them to go home. Then, they arrested eight civilians, including children, and took them to a public yard. The civilians were held for four hours and were then released.
At approximately 01:00, Israeli occupying forces, reinforced with a number of armored personnel carriers, moved into Wadi al-Haria area in Hebron. They surrounded the house of Sidqi Hamed Shaker al-Zaru, 41. They forced his three wives and 15 children out of the house and searched it. Then, they arrested al-Zaru.
In the evening, Israeli occupying forces, accompanied by a bulldozer, moved approximately 350m into al-Qatbania raea east of Beit Hanoun in the North of the Gaza strip. They demolished a 120-square-meter, one-story house, in which 10 people used to live, owned by Mousa Saqer Hussein Abu ‘Amsha. They also destroyed a well, a water pump and agricultural tools owned by ‘Abu ‘Amsha himself.
At approximately 02:00, Israeli heavy military vehicles moved approximately 100m into al-Rabwat area in the northwest of Khan Yunis. An Israeli armored bulldozer leveled sand hills and paved a road east of “Gani Tal” settlement, northwest of Khan Yunis, linking it with surrounding agricultural land, apparently to facilitate future encroachment into al-Rabwat area. The bulldozer razed areas of Palestinian agricultural land.
In the morning, Israeli occupying forces continued to raze areas of Palestinian agricultural land in Juhor al-Dik area, east of Gaza City, an action that began on the previous day. Until Sunday, 18 August, Israeli occupying forces had razed the following areas of Palestinian agricultural land.
Israeli occupying forces killed a 6-year-old Palestinian child, when they shelled his house in Khan Yunis for no apparent reason. According to PCHR’s investigation, at approximately 16:45, Israeli occupying forces in military locations in the vicinity of “Gani Tal” settlement, northwest of Khan Yunis, opened fire at al-Satar al-Gharbi area, east of the settlement.
Ayman Bassem Fares, 6, who was playing in the vicinity of his family’s house, approximately 150m east of the settlement, was wounded by a live bullet in the head.
His grandfather, Nadid Hafezh Fares, 60, carried him and called for an ambulance. When the Israeli gunfire stopped, some neighbors came and helped the grandfather to take the wounded child to hospital. Soon, Israeli forces opened fire at them, wounding the grandfather with a live bullet in the right thigh. Two of the neighbors were also wounded:
1. Ziad Mousa Mas’oud al-Agha, 40, wounded by shrapnel in the head; and
2. Nahedh Mohammed Humeid Abu Jowei’ed, 28, wounded by shrapnel in the right hand.
The child was taken to hospital, but he was dead upon the arrival.
At approximately 17:00, Israeli occupying forces in a military location in Tal Z’orob area in the southwest of Rafah opened fire at Palestinian houses in the north, wounding 17-year-old ‘Alaa’ Riadh Zo’rob with a live bullet in the right foot.
At approximately 18:00, Israeli occupying forces in military locations at the Egyptian-Palestinian border, south of Rafah, opened fire at Palestinian houses in Block J, wounding 32-year-old Ziad ‘Abdul Salam Fuseifes with shrapnel in the left knee.
At approximately 20:00, Israeli occupying forces in military locations at the Egyptian-Palestinian border, south of Rafah, opened fire at Palestinian houses in al-Joneina neighborhood, approximately 1500m away, wounding 50-year-old Ahmed Baraka Abu Sabala with a live bullet in the abdomen.
PCHR’s field worker in Rafah reported that three Palestinian civilians were wounded while they were near their houses.
At approximately 01:00, Israeli occupying forces in military locations in the vicinity of “Neve Dekalim” settlement, west of Khan Yunis, opened fire at Palestinian houses in Khan Yunis refugee camp and al-Nimsawi neighborhood.
Samir Fayez Huneideq, 28, was wounded by shrapnel in the legs, and his child Ghada was wounded by shrapnel in the right leg, while they were inside their house, approximately 100m away from the aforementioned settlement. In addition, a number of houses were damaged.
At approximately 09:00, Israeli occupying forces started razing areas of Palestinian agricultural land in Abu Tablein and al-Mansura areas along the road linking between al-Maentar crossing and al-Shuhada junction, south of Gaza City.
Collective Punishment Measures against Families of Palestinians Who Carried out Armed Attacks against Israeli Targets
At approximately 02:00, Israeli occupying forces, reinforced with heavy military vehicles, moved into al-Zhahiria village, south of Hebron. They surrounded the house of Khalil Jibril Mahmoud al-Tal. They forced the five residents of the 200-square-meter, two-story house out and demolished it. An adjacent house was also damaged. Al-Tal is father of Khalil al-Tal who was killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli occupying forces in Beir al-Saba’ in the south of Israel.
At approximately 12:30, Israeli heavy military vehicles moved approximately 700m into Kuza’a village, east of Khan Yunis. They opened fire at Palestinian houses and agricultural land, destroying a 32-square-meter agricultural store owned by Sa’adat Suleiman Rouk and damaging a school. They also razed 40 donums of agricultural land.
At approximately 04:00, Israeli occupying forces moved into al-Duha village, southwest of Bethlehem. They raided the house of lawyer ‘Abed Rabbu Ibrahim Budeir, 63. They forced residents of the 180-square-meter, one-story house out and destroyed it. Budeir is father of ‘Eissa Budeir who carried out a bombing in Rishon Litzion on 22 May 2002.
At the same time, Israeli occupying forces moved into Um al-Daraj quarter in al-Zhahiria veillage, south of Hebron. They surrounded the house of Musbah ‘Abdul Fattah al-Battat. They forced the six residents of the 160-square-meter, one-story house out and destroyed it. Two adjacent houses were also damged. Al-Battat is father of Mohammed al-Batta, who was killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli occupying forces in Beir al-Saba’ in the south Israel.
At approximately 19:00, Israeli occupying forces, reinforced with heavy military vehicles and three helicopters, invaded Jaba’ village, south of Jenin. They opened fire at houses, wounding six Palestinian civilians:
1. Fadi Naji Khalilia, 17, wounded by a live bullet in the right leg;
2. Amjad Husni Khalilia, 24, wounded by a live bullet in the left leg;
3. Rasmia Dhib Salama, 38, wounded by shrapnel in the right upper arm;
4. ‘Arafat Khaled Fakhuri, 35, wounded by a live bullet in the right hand;
5. Jihad Tawfiq Hamada, 12, wounded by shrapnel in the left leg; and
6. ‘Abdullah Mohammed ‘Alawna,40, wounded by a live bullet in the left leg.
New Assassinations
In a continuation of the assassination policy officially adopted by the Israeli government, on Monday, Israeli occupying forces committed two extra-judicial assassinations, in which three Palestinians were killed, one of them was used by Israeli forces as a human shield.
At approximately 13:00 on Wednesday, a civilian car, white Volkswagen, arrived at the eastern quarter of Tubas village in the northern West Bank. Eight to ten persons in military uniform, Israeli soldiers, got out of the car.
They opened fire at Palestinian houses indiscriminately, wounding ‘Ezzat Tayseer Abu Muhsen, 10, with two live bullets in the legs.
Then, they arrested him and took him to an unknown destination. They also surrounded the house of Mohammed ‘Abdul Elah Abu Muhsen. Three minutes later, Israeli occupying forces, reinforced with tanks and bulldozers and supported by two combat helicopters invaded the village.
Israeli forces forced Nidhal ‘Abdul Ra’ouf Abu Muhsen, 19, and his uncle Younis Ahmed Ibrahim Daraghma, 22, to exit their houses and took them to the cemetery of the village.
They handcuffed Daraghma and took Abu Muhsen to Abu al-Hassan driving school, after they forced him to put on a bullet proof suit, similar to that used by Israeli soldiers. They let a dog follow him. They forced him to go to houses in the area and tell their residents to leave.
At approximately 14:15, residents of the area heard sounds of successive explosions, after which smoke rose from the house of Mohammed ‘Abdul Elah Abu Muhsen.
At approximately 14:30, an Israeli bulldozer destroyed the main road and another one swept the house of Abu Muhsen. Such destruction continued until 17:30 when Israeli forces withdrew from the village, medical and rescue personnel and civilians hurried to the area to check what happened. They discovered a head and a chest of a man in the 40s.
He was later identified as Nasser Kahed Jarra, 44, from Wadi Burqin village, west of Jenin, wanted by Israeli occupying forces. People started searching for Nidhal Abu Muhsen. There were reports of his death.
At approximately midnight, Israeli occupying forces delivered his body to the Palestinian side. Jarra was married and father of three children. He spent eight years in Israeli jails for his political activities. He survived two assassination attempts, one in which he lost his right leg and hand.
At approximately 03:00 on Monday, Israeli occupying forces, reinforced with heavy military vehicles and special units, moved into al-Yamun village, west of Jenin. They surrounded the house of Mohammed Hassan Fureihat and ordered its 13 residents through loudspeakers to leave it. They checked the family and their identity cards and the Israeli soldiers took one of the family members, Ghazal Mohammed Hassan Fureihat, 21.
Then, the family heard sounds of dozens of live bullets. An Israeli soldier told the family that other Israeli soldiers shot dead their son.
When Israeli occupying forces withdrew from the village, Fureihat’s body was moved to hospital. According to medical sources, he was hit by six live bullets in the chest, the pelvis and the thighs. The Israeli daily Yediot Aharanot said on its Arabic web page that Israeli forces killed a Palestinian in al-Yamun village, apparently wanted for his activities in al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.
At approximately 01:15, an infantry unit of Israeli occupying forces moved approximately 400m into Gizan al-Najjar area in the south of Khan Yunis, north of “Morag” settlement. Israeli soldiers, who covered their faces with black masks, raided three Palestinian houses owned by Reziq Salama al-Sha’er, Sami al-Bahaisa and Kamel Abu Nemer. They held women and children in one room in each of the houses and interrogated the men after having checked their identities.
Then, they searched the three houses. During their incursion, Israeli soldiers arrested 13 Palestinian civilians who were on their way back home after a wedding party. Israeli soldiers handcuffed and interrogated them. They also beat some of them. Soon, Israeli military reinforcements were brought to the area apparently to cover the withdrawal of the infantry unit, while two helicopters were flying over the area. Upon their withdrawal, Israeli soldiers arrested two Palestinians and took mobile phones and identity cards of two other Palestinians.
At approximately 02:30, Israeli heavy military vehicles moved approximately 350m into al-Qatbania area adjacent to the eastern border of the Gaza Strip, east of Beit Hanoun. Until Tuesday morning, 13 August, they razed 20 donums of Palestinian agricultural land.
At approximately 08:45, Israeli occupying forces, accompanied by a military bulldozer and covered by indiscriminate shelling, moved into Palestinian agricultural land in the north of Beit Lahia, southwest of “Dogit” settlement in the northern Gaza Strip. They razed a tract of agricultural land, damaged another and demolished three buildings
At approximately 07:00, medical sources at Shifa’ Hospital in Gaza declared that Ayman ‘Atteya Abu Meghassib, 12, from Dier al-Balah, succumbed to a wound he sustained on 7 August, when Israeli occupying forces in military locations in the vicinity of “Kfar Darom” settlement in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip opened fire at Palestinian houses and farms west of the settlement.
Abu Meghassib was wounded by a live bullet in the head, while he was playing near his house in Heker al-Jame’ area, approximately 900m west of the settlement.
At approximately 12:00, an Israeli military jeep moved into the centre of Ramallah, when the curfew imposed on the town was temporarily lifted. Dozens of Palestinian boys threw stones at the jeep. Immediately, Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition, rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas at the stone throwers and passing civilians, wounding six:
1. Mohammed ‘Abdul Majid ‘Oleyan, 16, from al-Bireh, critically wounded by a live bullet in the head;
2. Ka’en Salah Dar ‘Awadh, 20, from al-Bireh, wounded by a live bullet in the right foot;
3. Hussein ‘Aamer al-Barghouthi, 16, from ‘Aabud village, wounded by a live bullet in the right leg;
4. Fadi Karim al-Asmar, 14, from Ramallah, wounded by a rubber-coated metal bullet in the left thigh;
5. Munther ‘Abdullah Masalma, 31, from Sinjel village, wounded by a rubber-coated metal bullet in the left leg; and
6. Shadi ‘Abdullah Erhimi, 27, from Beit Rima village, wounded by a rubber-coated metal bullet in the right hand.
In an apparent willful killing, Israeli occupying soldiers on an armored personnel carrier positioned at an Israeli military checkpoint in Nablus opened fire at a vehicle of the electricity maintenance department of Nablus Municipality, killing its driver.
According to available information, at approximately 14:00, while Ahmed Jihad ‘Abdul Rahim Qureini, 54, from ‘Askar refugee camp, was traveling in a vehicle of electricity maintenance from Nablus Municipality towards the east, Israeli occupying soldiers in Faisal Street stopped him.
He stopped behind an ambulance and another ambulance stopped behind him. After Israeli soldiers ordered the first ambulance to move, they pointed to Qureini to move. He moved slowly. Soon, Israeli soldiers on an armored personnel carrier opened fire at the vehicle, killing him with a live bullet in the head.
Israeli occupying forces already permitted movement of medical, emergency and service personnel in the town. However, they opened fire at this vehicle for no apparent reason.
At approximately 14:10, Israeli occupying forces in military locations in the vicinity of “Neve Dekalim” settlement, west of Khan Yunis, opened fire at al-Nimsawi neighborhood.
A Palestinian civilian, Ibrahim ‘Abdul Mun’em ‘Arram, 23, from Rafah, who was visiting his relatives in the area, was wounded by a live bullet in the right thigh. He was approximately 400m away from the aforementioned settlement when he was wounded.
At approximately 23:00, Israeli heavy military vehicles moved into Palestinian agricultural land, approximately 200m west of “Kfar Darom” settlement, east of Deir al-Balah. They razed areas of agricultural land.
In the afternoon, Israeli occupying soldiers at Surda military checkpoint fired live ammunition, rubber-coated metal bullets, tear gas and sound bombs at hundreds of Palestinian civilians who were traveling from villages north and northwest of Ramallah to the town. Two Palestinian civilians were wounded:
1. Hazem Rabah Ese’id, 30, from Abu Dis village east of Jerusalem, wounded by a sound bomb in the face; and
2. Rami ‘Aayed Mustafa, wounded by a rubber-coated metal bullet in the neck.
At approximately 01:45, Israeli heavy military vehicles moved into Qalqilya, opening fire at Palestinian houses.
A Palestinian civilian, Ibrahim ‘Abdul Rahim Da’mas, 22, was wounded by a live bullet in the shoulder, and Israeli forces arrested him together with two other civilians.
At approximately 03:00, Israeli heavy military vehicles moved approximately 500m into Wadi al-Salqa village, east of Deir al-Balah. Israeli forces raided houses and arrested three Palestinian civilians, two of whom were later released, while the third, Sami Ahmed al-Kurd, 25, remained in custody.
At approximately 10:30, medical sources at Shifa’ Hospital in Gaza declared that Khader Mohammed al-Sue’idi, 67, from al-Daraj neighborhood in Gaza, succumbed to a wound he sustained on 22 July 2002, when Israeli F-16 fighter jets bombed the house of Shiekh Salah Shehada, adjacent to his house, killing 14 Palestinian civilians and wounding dozens.
At approximately 14:00 Israeli occupying soldiers on a tank, for no apparent reason, fired at Hassan ‘Ali Jaber Dhumeiri, 40, from Tulkarm refugee camp, while he was farming his agricultural land, approximately 150m away.
Dhumeiri was wounded by a live bullet in the right side. He was evacuated to hospital, but he succumbed to his wound around 20 minutes later.
At approximately 15:30, Israeli heavy military vehicles moved into al-Satar al-Gharbi area in the northwest of Khan Yunis. They resumed razing areas of Palestinian agricultural land, an action that began last week.
In the evening, medical sources at Shifa’ Hospital in Gaza declared that Hassan ‘Ali al-‘Aassi, 24, from Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, succumbed to a wound he sustained on Wednesday, 7 August. According to PCHR’s investigation, al-‘Aassi was wounded by a live bullet in the head, when Israeli heavy military vehicles invaded Beit Lahia and shelled Palestinian houses. A Palestinian civilian was killed and al-‘Assi was seriously wounded in the head.
At approximately 23:00, Israeli occupying forces in military locations in the vicinity of “Gani Tal” settlement, northwest of Khan Yunis, shelled al-Rabwat area and al-‘Araishia neighborhood in the northwest of the town.
An hour later, the Israelis intensified the shelling of the two areas and other surrounding Israeli military locations also opened fire. Eight Palestinian civilians, including two spouses and their children, and a woman and her child, were wounded while inside their houses:
1. Salwa Mohammed Abu al-Hassan, 30, wounded by shrapnel in the right foot;
2. Kamal Jamil Abu al-Hassan, 38, wounded by shrapnel in the back;
3. Mohammed Kamal Abu al-Hassan, 8, wounded by shrapnel in the right foot;
4. Aamal Kamal Abu al-Hassan, 5, wounded by shrapnel in the head;
5. Ahmed Kamal Abu al-Hassan, 3, wounded by shrapnel in the right thigh;
6. Rihab Shihda Abu Sahlul, 28, wounded by shrapnel in the back and the right hand;
7. Yusra Khaled Abu Sahlul, 4, wounded by shrapnel in the face and the mouth; and
8. ‘Emad Khalil al-Buzom, 29, wounded by shrapnel in the left thigh.
In addition, a number of houses were damaged:
1. a 250-square-meter, asbestos-roofed house, in which a family comprising seven persons live, owned by Kamal Jamil Abu al-Hassan;
2. a 180-square-meter, four-story house, in which three families comprising 20 persons live, owned by Majdi Ahmed Abu Sahlul;
3. a 165-square-meter, three-story house, in which four families comprising 23 persons live, owned by Majed Ahmed Abu Sahlul;
4. a 150-square-meter, three-story house, in which four families comprising 20 persons live, owned by Rami Majdi Abu Sahlul; and
5. a 160-square-meter, one-story house, in which two families comprising 15 persons live, owned by Mohammed Salman Abu Sahlul.
At approximately 03:00, Israeli heavy military vehicles moved into al-Qawasmi neighborhood in Beit Lahia, approximately 1500m south of “Nissanit” settlement in the northern Gaza Strip.
They took position near al-Shaimaa’ School in the centre of the town. They indiscriminately opened fire at the area, wounding six Palestinian civilians, including 26-year-old ‘Aadel Reziq Gaben, who was seriously wounded by a live bullet in the head and succumbed to his wound at hospital in the afternoon. The other civilian wounded were:
1. Amin Hani Zuhod, 15, wounded by a live bullet in the right hand;
2. Shadi Mahmoud Abu Jari, 14, wounded by a live bullet in the left foot;
3. Reziq Jaber Rajab, 17, wounded by a live bullet in the left leg;
4. Mahmoud Rajab Subeih, 18, wounded by a live bullet in the right foot; and
5. ‘Abed Sa’di Ahmed Zayed, 27, wounded by a live bullet in the right foot.
Israeli occupying forces raided and searched houses and arrested six Palestinians. A PCHR field worker reported that they were all released on the following day.
At approximately 09:00, Israeli heavy military vehicles moved into Um al-Nasser village to the south of “Nissanit” settlement, north of Beit Lahia. Israeli forces raided and searched houses. They arrested four Palestinian civilians, but released them several hours later.
At approximately 13:00, an Israeli military jeep moved into the centre of Ramallah when the curfew imposed on the town was temporarily lifted. A number of Palestinian boys threw stones at the jeep. Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition, rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas at the stone throwers.
An hour later, an Israeli soldier got out of the jeep and fired at 14-year-old ‘Azzam Mohammed Mousa from a distance of approximately 100m, wounding him with a live bullet in the right thigh.
At approximately 14:10, after the funeral procession of Hussam Hamdan, who was assassinated by Israeli occupying forces, Israeli soldiers on a moveable observation tower in the vicinity of “Neve Dekalim” settlement, west of Khan Yunis, fired live ammunition and tear gas at Palestinian civilians who participated in the procession.
Jamil Mustafa Mohammed Jadallah, 15, was wounded by a live bullet in the back, and many others suffered from tear gas inhalation.
At approximately 03:30, Israeli occupying forces, reinforced with heavy military vehicles, moved into Artas village, west of Bethlehem. They surrounded the 120-square-meter, three-story house of ‘Ali Ahmed Abu Swai at the entrance of the village. They forced its 12 residents out and destroyed it. Abu Swai is the father of Daoud Abu Sawi who carried out a bombing in Jerusalem on 15 December 2001.
At approximately 05:00, Israeli occupying forces surrounded the 372-square-meter, three-story house of Ishaq ‘Abdullah al-Nabtiti in al-Duha village, south of Bethlehem, and destroyed it. Al-Nabtiti is father of Akram al-Nabtiti who carried out a bombing in Jerusalem on 17 March 2002.
At the same time, Israeli occupying forces, reinforced with heavy military vehicles, invaded Tubas village, east of Jenin. They surrounded the house of Mohammed Suleiman Fuqaha, 50. They forced the nine residents of the 180-square-meter house out and totally demolished it. Upon their withdrawal from the village, they arrested Fuqaha, father of Mazen Fuqha, who was arrested on 5 August 2002, whom Israeli occupying forces accused of planning a bus bomb at Miron junction in the north of Israel on 4 August 2002.
At approximately 07:00, Israeli occupying forces, reinforced with heavy military vehicles, moved into Beit Jala. They surrounded the house of Mousa Ahmed ‘Allan in al-Jadawel area. They forced residents of the 280-square-meter, three-story house out and destroyed it. ‘Allan is father of ‘Ali ‘Allan who is wanted by Israeli occupying forces for his activities in the Intifada.
At approximately 01:00, Israeli occupying forces, reinforced with heavy military vehicles, moved approximately 3km into Beit Lahia town in the northern Gaza Strip. They indiscriminately shelled the town, killing Mohammed Shehda Isma’il al-Jakhbir, 29, with several live bullets throughout the body.
He bled to death as Israeli forces denied the access of ambulances to the area and even shot at an ambulance that tried to offer him assistance.
In addition, 24-year-old Hassan ‘Ali al-‘Aassi was seriously wounded by a live bullet in the head. During this incursion, Israeli occupying forces raided and searched a number of houses and arrested three Palestinians.
At approximately 13:30, Israeli occupying forces in military locations in the vicinity of “Kfar Darom” settlement in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip opened fire at Palestinian houses and farms west of the settlement, seriously wounding 12-year-old Ayman ‘Atteya Abu Meghassib with a live bullet in the head, while he was playing near his house in Heker al-Jame’ area, approximately 900m west of the settlement.
At approximately 18:00, Israeli occupying forces in military locations in the vicinity of “Neve Dekalim” settlement, west of Khan Yunis, opened fire at Palestinian houses in Khan Yunis refugee camp. Two Palestinian civilians were wounded:
1. Nasser Mansour Abu Mousa, 11, wounded by shrapnel from a live bullet in the left foot; and
2. Mahmoud Saleh Abu Sahlul, 18, wounded by shrapnel from a live bullet in the left hand and the neck.
At approximately 09:00 on Wednesday, an undercover unit of Israeli occupying forces stole into Tulkarm in two trucks that had Palestinian registration numbers, when the curfew imposed on the town was temporarily lifted. They reached the centre of the town. As soon as Israeli soldiers got out of the car, a Palestinian civilian noticed them and shouted warning people of their presence. Israeli soldiers fired at him, wounding him with a live bullet in the shoulder.
Ziad Da’as, 26, who is accused by Israeli occupying forces of being leader of al-Aqsa Maryrs Brigade in Tulkarm, attempted to leave a building in which he hid in through an external sewage pipeline. When Israeli soldiers noticed him, they fired at him. He was shot by a live bullet in the head.
Soon, Israeli heavy military vehicles moved into the town and re-imposed a curfew. An Israeli combat helicopter flew over the town and opened fire at Palestinian houses. Two other Palestinians were wounded. The four wounded were left bleeding and Israeli occupying forces denied the access of medical personnel to them.
At approximately 13:50, Israeli forces allowed medical personnel to enter the area, but three of the wounded, including Da’as, already succumbed to their wounds, while the fourth one was arrested. The other two who were killed other than Da’as were:
1. Mohammed Khamis Ra’fat Sa’ada, 19, killed by a live bullet in the shoulder while he was near his shop; and
2. Maher Mohammed Dhib Jazmawi, 17, killed by a live bullet in the head while he was on his way to a school to see results of his brother’s exams.
The fourth Palestinian, Ra’fat ‘Omar Ra’fat Sa’ada, 28, was wounded by a live bullet in the right leg and was arrested by Israeli occupying forces.
On the same day, Israeli occupying forces assassinated Hussam Ahmed Mohammed Nemer Hamdan, 28, from al-Amal neighborhood in Khan Yunis, who was wanted by those forces.
In his testimony to PCHR, his brother Eyad said:
“At approximately 12:40 on Wednesday, I was at home in al-Amal neighborhood in the west of Khan Yunis, approximately 600m south of “Gani Tal” settlement, northwest of Khan Yunis. I heard sounds of three live bullets fired at the roof of our house. My family and I hurried to the roof, since we knew that my brother Hussam was there. When we arrived at the roof, we found Hussam on the ground bleeding.
It was clear that he was dead. I looked at the settlement, where I saw an Israeli tank positioned its border opposite to our house. The tank soon moved back to the settlement. We evacuated my brother to Nasser Hospital. Doctors said that he was hit by three live bullets in the chest.”
The Israeli daily Ydiout Aharanot said that “the Israeli army killed an activist of Ezziddin al-Qassam Brigade, Hussam Nemer.” Nemer survived an assassination attempt on 24 January 2002, when an Israeli combat helicopter launched a missile at a car in which he was traveling with three of his friends. He was wounded by shrapnel throughout the body and fingers of his left hand were cut, while Baker Hamdan was killed.
At approximately 04:30, Israeli occupying forces, reinforced with heavy military vehicles, moved approximately 1200m into al-Qarara village, northwest of Khan Yunis, and imposed a curfew. Then, they raided and searched Palestinian houses, held women and children in rooms and took males over age 16 to a military location east of village and interrogated them. They were released several hours later. During this incursion, Israeli occupying forces also razed a 3-donum area of agricultural land owned by ‘Abdul Latif Hussein al-Sumeiri.
New Assassination
At approximately 00:30 on Monday, two Israeli combat helicopters launched two missiles at a wooded area east of Jaba’ village, south pf Jenin. Then, Israeli occupying forces searched and opened fire at the area. When the helicopters moved away, residents of the area hurried to check whether there were casualties as a result of the Israeli attack. They found bodies of two young men. Immediately, they called for an ambulance of Palestine Red Crescent Society, which evacuated the two bodies to a hospital in Jenin. Later, the two young men were identified as:
1. ‘Ali Mohammed Ahmed al-‘Ajouri, 23, from ‘Askar refugee camp, killed by shrapnel in the upper part of the body; and
2. Murad Suleiman Zuhdi Marshud, 21, from Balata refugee camp, killed by shrapnel in the face and the neck, and four heavy caliber bullets in the shoulders.
The two young men were wanted by Israeli occupying forces for their resistance activities. Al-‘Ajouri’s sister, Intissar, 34, was arrested by Israeli occupying forces on 6 June 2002, and on 19 July, his father and three brothers were also arrested. One of the brothers, Kifah, 26, was deported by Israeli occupying forces to the Gaza Strip. On Sunday, 4 August, the Israeli General Security Service demanded the Israeli Attorney General to allow the deportation of his sister also to the Gaza Strip.
At approximately 02:00, Israeli occupying forces, reinforced with heavy military vehicles, moved approximately 600m into Gizan al-Najjar area, south of Khan Yunis. They surrounded seven houses of the family of al-Najjar, approximately 300m north of “Morag” settlement, where they came from. Then, they raided and searched five of these houses.
They held women and children in a room built on an adjacent tract of agricultural land, and handcuffed and blindfolded 16 males (all over age 16), and gathered them in the yard of Ibrahim al-Najjar’s house. This situation continued until 05:30 when Israeli occupying forces withdrew from the area.
At approximately 05:00, Israeli occupying forces in military locations in the vicinity of “Tal Qatif” settlement, southwest of Deir al-Balah, opened fire at al-Birka area to the north, wounding 15-year-old Kamel Mohammed Khseiwan with a live bullet in the chest while he was on his family’s tract of agricultural land.
At approximately 22:05, an Israeli combat helicopter launched three missiles at a turnery workshop in Asqula neighborhood in the south of Gaza City, totally destroying it and severely damaging three adjacent workshops and a car.
Those wounded were:
1. ‘Abdullah Isma’il Yassin, 14, wounded by shrapnel in the face;
2. Khader Mahmoud al-Sayes, 17, wounded by shrapnel in the left thigh;
3. Ahmed Jamal al-Na’san, 16, wounded by sharpnel in the back; and
4. ‘Abdul Baset Ibrahim Habib, 18, wounded by shrapnel in the left hand.
At approximately 16:00 on Monday, during the curfew imposed on Nablus and its refugee camps and villages, Israeli occupying soldiers on an armored personnel carrier that was patrolling in the city opened fire at Palestinian houses in Balata village, east of the city, killing 13-year-old Hamza Mohammed Badawi Dweikat with two live bullets in the neck and the chest, while he was playing near his house.
At approximately 23:00 on Sunday, while a number of activists of the Intifada were inside the house of Mohammed Rida Khalil Far’ounia, 38, in Burqa village, northwest of Nablus, Israeli occupying forces invaded the village, and surrounded the house. One of the activists, Khaled ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Seif, 41, received a phone call on his mobile phone.
When he went to the balcony to receive the call, Israeli soldiers shot him dead with several bullets striking his head. Far’ounia went out to investigate. Soon, Israeli soldiers fired at him, wounding him with three live bullets in the abdomen and the chest. His brother Mahmoud then went to the balcony, and saw his brother bleeding. He tried to offer him help, but Israeli soldiers forced him to move way.
Far’ounia bled to death.
According to eyewitnesses, Israeli soldiers left Far’ounia bledding for 19 minutes without allowing anyone to offer medical attention. Seif was a member of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and Far’ounia was a member of the Palestinian People Party. Upon their withdrawal from the village, Israeli occupying forces also arrested four Palestinians.
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Balochistan PA Transacts Its Entire Business
ISLAMABAD, February 09, 2016: Starting 20 minutes behind its scheduled time, the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan transacted its entire business appearing on the ‘Order of the Day’ on Tuesday during first sitting of its 26th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet. Some key observations are as follows: Members’ Participation…
Punjab PA Adopts Seven Resolutions
ISLAMABAD, February 9, 2016: The Punjab Assembly adopted seven resolutions including six private members resolutions on Tuesday during eighth sitting of its 19th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Following are some key observations of the House proceeding: Members’ Participation in House Proceedings The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 34 minutes.…
Punjab PA Debates Agriculture related Issues
ISLAMABAD, February 8, 2016: Starting 97 minutes behind the schedule, the seventh sitting of the ongoing 19th Punjab Assembly session debated grievances of sugarcane growers and issues pertaining to the agriculture sector, says Free and Fair Election Network in its daily factsheet Following are some key observations of the House proceeding: Members’ Participation in House…
Punjab PA Adopts a Resolution
ISLAMABAD, February 5, 2016: The Punjab Assembly adopted a resolution amidst low attendance on Friday during sixth sitting of its 19th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Following are some key observations of the House proceeding: Members’ Participation in House Proceedings The Punjab Assembly met for 58 minutes. The sitting started at 1112…
Sindh PA Takes Up All Agenda except Bills
ISLAMABAD, February 04, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh transacted its entire agenda appearing on “Order of the Day” except three bills during 12th sitting of its 23rd session on Thursday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet. The House unanimously adopted a supplementary resolution to commemorate the World Cancer Day.…
Punjab PA Passes Two Bills
ISLAMABAD, February 4, 2016: The Punjab Assembly passed two government bills amidst protest of the opposition on Thursday during fifth sitting of its 19th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Following are some key observations of the House proceeding: Members’ Participation in House Proceedings The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 47…
Sindh PA Leaves Entire Agenda Unaddressed
ISLAMABAD, February 03, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh left entire agenda unaddressed during 11th sitting of its 23rd session on Wednesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet. The House unanimously adopted a supplementary resolution to condemn the killings of PIA workers in Karachi. Some key observations are as follows:…
Punjab PA Passes Four Bills
ISLAMABAD, February 3, 2016: The Punjab Assembly took up its entire agenda and passed four government bills on Wednesday during fourth sitting of its 19th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Following are some key observations of the House proceeding: Members’ Participation in House Proceedings The Punjab Assembly met for three hours and…
Sindh PA Adopts Three Resolutions
ISLAMABAD, February 02, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh adopted three private resolutions during 10th sitting of its ongoing 23rd session on Tuesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet. Some key observations are as follows: Members’ Participation in House Proceedings The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and 38 minutes.…
Punjab PA Defers Private Members’ Agenda
ISLAMABAD, February 2, 2016: The Punjab Assembly deferred the entire agenda of private members’ day due to absence of the Provincial Minister for Law on Tuesday during third sitting of its 19th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). There were five private members’ resolutions on the agenda. Following are some key observations of…
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Fangs for the Fantasy
Fangs for the Fantasy is run by Renee from Womanist Musings, and Sparky who love all things Urban Fantasy. While we do love Urban Fantasy, we're also social justice bloggers and we try to be aware – and look at the genre from a social justice lens. Whether we love a series or hate it, we look at it through this lens – and critique it in part based on its treatment of marginalised people and issues affecting them. It doesn't mean we don't love the genre – but even the books and programmes we adore have problematic elements and we refuse to ignore that even while we enjoy them..
In addition to this blog we also have a weekly Podcast on Mondays
Full details can be found on our blog, Fangs for the Fantasy
Fall From Grace (Exile of Angels #1) by Ron C. Nieto
11:54 pm 23 November 2017
The Archangel of Secret Knowledge has been released from his long imprisonment in Hell and now has one major task - to free his brethren from their infernal imprisonment
But occupying a body - a life, a family - that is not his own comes with its own guilt and complexities; how do you explain to a mortal brother that you are trying to free demons from hell?
Especially when that mission becomes far more complicated, with more actors and manipulations with their own sinister motives than he imagined when he first found freedom.
This book has some really fascinating concepts
Fallen angels and demons are not unknown characters in urban fantasy - but I think this is the first time I’ve seen one with this kind of outlook. Henry is neither angsting about being unworthy of god and self-flagellating; nor is he raging about an unjust most High who must pay for his dastardly deeds. He is sensibly and doggedly trying to rescue his brethren. It’s a very personal story, one very much focused on him and not on big grand themes and revelations.
I also like Henry’s character - introverted, snarky, socially awkward but not in the arrogant-and-brilliant-way we see with so many protagonists. Just an inexperienced demon in the body of a man who was socially inept anyway. There’s a general sense with Henry that he’d much rather just be left alone with his books if he could get away with it.
I really like the conflict over what he is - because he possessed the human Henry Black. But he has all of Henry Black’s memories - and his opinions and even his mannerisms - including Henry’s OCD. Henry Black is dead… but how much of the angel/demon occupying the body is angel/demon and how much is Henry?
The concept of angelic power is also an interesting one - the nature of the word, the angelic inability to not speak truth and in changing reality to make it true. Divine power, the power angels can wield but cannot carry because only beings with a soul can do that. This idea that angels wield incredible power but that, ultimately, that power is human and divine and not their own. It’s a nice twist
Henry himself is both albino and has OCD. Both are parts of his character but while mentioned do not consume him. It’s good to see a disability which doesn’t become a character’s sole defining characteristic, but at the same time I rather think the OCD in particular was brushed over. We’re told Henry has OCD but that largely manifests with a need to have everything around him neat and tidy rather than actual compulsive behaviour
Siddik is a POC but his personality and history have been somewhat wiped with his possession/amnesia. There’s another random POC policeman who doesn’t play a huge role - and no LGBTQ people. But we do have a disabled protagonist
So why didn’t I love this book? Why did it take me so long to read? I’ve been turning this over in my head for a while now because it has so many elements I should love but, in the end, I didn’t. I found it something of a chore - and I think it comes down to it having a fairly laborious writing style. We seemed to slog our way through a lot of the text and there were a lot of explanations and activities that were just a little too abstract and theoretical and the big revelations about what was actually happening didn’t appear until the very end of this book. For a long time we had Henry Black moving to Detroit to explore the possibility of other demons escaping Hell without being summoned and then stuff happened. There’s hellfire humans I don’t entirely understand, and a secret organisation that isn’t explained until the very end of the book and a whole lot of personal drama and some other random events.
Source: http://www.fangsforthefantasy.com/2017/10/fall-from-grace-exile-of-angels-1-by.html
Facebook Goodreads Fangs for the Fantasy
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Waiting no more. Staying in movement. Blockupy 2013.
Interventionistische Linke (IL)
A message from the Interventionist Left
It's no weekend getaway to travel from afar to Frankfurt and remain for some days. We don't have thermal blankets to offer. We know that resistance against the capitalist crisis is a social relation, whose place is daily life, everywhere. Still, it can be worth it to bring the struggles of daily life together in an exemplary manner. It can be worth it to set the political tone by ourselves.
We'll be back. Blockupy 2012 was only the first spark of a political intervention that goes far beyond a single event. The absurd security measures the state applied in response to our protests only shows what the powerful will do when we aim at the target – and hit. Civil rights? The right to demonstrate? Formal democracy? All were easily suspended at the discretion of our politicians. The suppression of last years' protest has only fuelled our desire to once again make Frankfurt the focal point in the struggle against the German-European troika this spring. Looking back on the obvious weaknesses and deficits of our first attempt, we think not only about technical or tactical improvements of that which we and many others tried to do with the international day of action M31 and the civil disobedience of Blockupy 2012. Between May 31 and June 2, 2013, we will place much more energy to understanding coming possibilities and experimenting together on how the daily crisis command of individualization and intimidation can be broken for the long-term. Our intention is not the establishment of tradition, but rather the opening of a new political space for a radical social left, a left rooted in the general public. A left that practices and gains experience in direct action to enter the transnational struggle for the European crisis.
I. A brief look back
Blockupy 2012 and M31 attempted to connect the social movements in Germany with the mass protests of southern Europe. The German political and financial elites have been able to push the Troika agenda due to a broad social consensus, fuelled partly by the approval of the large German trade unions. To come together in Frankfurt with all those who refuse that consensus is therefore, first and foremost, a mark of solidarity with the indignados of Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy who had previously gathered in much larger numbers. But this gesture of solidarity with the occupations and strikes in southern Europe was also a conscious attempt to strengthen the resistance against the corporate crisis regime in Germany. The credit for the success of Blockupy 2012 therefore must also be given to the wide popularity that resulted from the joint cooperation of the radical left, globalization and Occupy activists, oppositional union protest and the party DIE LINKE. Those who came out to protest in Frankfurt last year wanted more than a legal protest with leaflets and a march from A to B. Historically it has been the radical left who practiced self-empowerment in the form of direct action and international solidarity; but this experience has shown that we no longer stand alone with these practices.
The broadening of direct action is also made possible by the trembling in the voices of the provincial politicians and police leaders, showing others that the legal framework can implode at any time: if capital is in danger, democracy no longer plays a role. It is now no longer just the radical left that sees capitalism itself in crisis; that it is not simply the ‘greed’ of the bankers, but the insanity of a neoliberal ideology, the ‘unbridling of the financial markets’. More and more people are cottoning on to the fact that the media, and the political and financial entourage, in the face of ultimatum policies on the precipice (yesterday Greece Iceland, Spain, Italy, today Cyprus), pass the pressure downwards from which they are themselves driven.
II. Capitalism is the crisis
Capitalism is not only the crisis itself because it subjects our lives to ruthless exploitation, because it forces hundreds of thousands in Europe and billions in the global south into murderous poverty. Capitalism is not only the crisis because it exploits the planet, pollutes the air, rivers, lakes and seas and terrorises the entire world with its imperialist “war on terror”. Capitalism is the crisis because of the condition and dynamics of private property: not only with respect to exploitation, impoverishment and marginalization, but in all aspects of our social relations. The crisis, which is capitalism itself, consists in the permanent upheaval and dissolution of all boundaries of its modes of production and reproduction. This not only affects the economy and political system. It also bears on the relations and relationships of daily life and coexistence: these, too, are being continuously dissapated, dissolved, violently reorganized and then torn apart anew. When discipline inflicted from the outside is eased, control, displaced to the interior of the individual, advances. If the internal control no longer suffices, discipline from the outside is reapplied, advanced. If necessary, this is done through the oldest form of extortion, the deprivation of the means of bare existence.
If the crisis of capital captures "the whole globe", when it forces profit maximization "to nest everywhere, to cultivate everyhwere, to create connections everywhere" (Marx/Engels), then this is also a product of struggles: from struggles in and for production just as those in and for reproduction, from struggles for the economy and the law, politics, ideology, struggles dealing with the modes of daily life and coexistence, with the modes of how we relate to each other and ourselves.
The crisis, which itself is capitalism, is thus always its answer to a multiple, polymorphic resistance. For emancipatory movements this means: if the crisis of capital dissolves all boundaries that it has overcome and all new boundaries that have since been set, then struggles, too, must transcend boundaries. M31 and Blockupy attempted to transgress the national narrow-mindedness of many left politics with an exemplary concentration. Transcending boundaries, however, must not only take place in the geographical sense of the word. If capital has to nest itself, cultivate itself, create connections everywhere to fulfill the force of profit maximization, then resistance must do the same. That class contradictions have not become "simplified" but rather multiply fragmented - in a manner other than that which Marx and Engels could still hope for - is enough reason to do so.
This is an issue in Blockupy. We actually have no other choice but to dissolve the boundaries of the terrain of struggles by ourselves. The constant insecurity and endangerment of life and the continuing shortages of its resources in a time of historically unparalleled wealth constantly summons new nationalisms, fascisms, antisemitisms, racisms. It also strengthens the oldest of all forms of domination: patriarchy. Every day, the crisis, which itself is capitalism, hails anew the most wretched of resentments and allows economic, ethnicized, racist and sexist violence to merge.
III. The struggle for the crisis
At present the troika regime proceeds at two levels. Under the stipulations of austerity policies, it brings about in economical terms further deprivation of rights, devaluation, at the end of the day the over-exploitation of labor-power, including a massive dismantling of hard-fought social and political rights, especially the right to strike. This is being accelerated by the robbery of public goods of health, housing, transportation, and education through advancing privatizations - the road for which has been paved by ‘debt servicing’. The political side of this is the hollowing out of formal democracy, as has been seen in the "financial state coups" executed in Greece and Italy. The broadening of the scope of penetration of crisis management takes place on the one hand directly (as well as through technocratic governorship by "experts" such as Prodi, Draghi and Papademos). On the other hand, it is consummated with the further displacement of executive power from national to EU organs, through the expansion of transnational state apparatuses without any democratic legitimation in the interests of competetiveness in northern European majority societies, especially Germany. This is ideologically justified with the interlacing of the ‘There Is No Alternative’ discourse together with that of ‘security’ as the only remaining offering of capital to all those who somehow still belong to it.
These attacks are primarily being opposed by the social struggles in the south of Europe: the assemblies on the plazas of Spain and Portugal, the - even according to the troika - "false" election in Italy and especially the massive resistance in Greece that has now lasted many years. Whether in subversive desertion, in militant struggles in the streets, in self-organized solidarity projects or in the constitutional option of the Syriza block: answering the collapse into the abyss desired by the ruling Europe is a multifold movement of collective recalcitrance and refusal from below, which - still in their internal differences - exhibit the roots of another society. Even if we cannot predict the future we are convinced that the strategic questions of the struggle for the European pose themselves against this political horizon: will the dynamic of the crisis continue to be determined by the north, by the centers of the EU and of German capital and, from there, be forced upon the south?
Or will a reversal of the dynamic succeed: will the resistance in the south bring the EU into a crisis that rattles the authoritarian powers, causing their power to slip from their hands? However, this struggle is being duked out - and for us, everything depends on this insight - not only in Greece, Spain and Portugal, but also in the north and therefore also in Frankfurt. With the opening of the new ECB double tower planned for 2014 in Frankfurt, troika, capital, the German government and Frankfurt city administration want to celebrate themselves. This event is not only about a post-political pomp of elite representation. It is about the constitution and switching-on of factual power: starting in 2014 the ECB should be set to control all banks of the Eurozone. This is aimed not simply at the banks and the servility of governments, whose parliamentary sovereignty has already long dissapated. This modification places the ECB in the position to determine what a Portuguese nurse and a Greek teacher are allowed to earn, in order to prevent the "stability of the euro" and the "trust of the financial markets" from facing danger. Blockupy 2013 is a place to find out how we can topple this spectacle, in order to bring the contradiction back into daily life - where it can again set itself aflame. New social resistance is growing in Germany: direct actions against rising rents and forced evictions, against precarious work conditions and the harassment of the Jobcenter (German work agency), for ecological and democratic energy provision, against daily racisim and for global freedom of movement.
IV. Beyond Europe
For some time now, the struggle for the course of the European crisis has not only been fought in Europe. The Arab revolutions not only swept away the despotisms of the Ben Alis and Mubaraks and not only opened the time and space for a long struggle for democracy and freedom, against the restauration attempts of the military and the reactionary "alternative" presented by religious fundamentalisms. Within few months they created a new political universality. If it is true that the epochal break of 1989 ended the short century of the 20th century, and that this became the epoch between the October Revolution and the collapse of state socialism, then the popular Arab insurrections and their worldwide communication mark the return of history. In this sense they link up to the alter-globalization "movement of movements", the first global movement that searched for ways out of the world of empire. The assemblies of Tunis and Cairo added the experience that the forgotten question of power can be posed again, that this question must be posed anew. The global resonances of these regional tremors forced the crisis of the EU, they forced the crisis of the USA, the smoldering crisis of the BRICS states and the crisis of global capitalism. In this spirit it was understood all over, in all places where locally different struggles unfolded themselves in the globally similar call to "occupy!" in 2011 and 2012. Of course the connection of these uprisings lags behind the enthusiam expressed not least in the spread of the slogan "occupy!". Of course this enthusiasm does not replace the long process of global exchange, which will contain a whole bunch of contradictions and more than one break amongst us. If it is to be learned from Tunis and Cairo that the question of power can be posed all of a sudden, within a few days, we have been taught by the left in Latin America that its answer takes decades. Not a bad lesson.
V. Back to Frankfurt
If M31 and Blockupy were a response to the assemblies of Puerta del Sol, Syntagma and Tahrir Squares, Blockupy 2013 will be our entry into a struggle for the European crisis, which will not stop at the borders of Europe. The many who have been overcoming these borders for years have assured this; the many who are made victims of the European border regime on a daily basis are assuring this. The struggle for the European crisis will therefore also be a struggle for an open European citizenship that politically recognizes the the antiracist headliner "all who are here are from here". The troika has already given its answer, Blockupy 2013 will bring us closer to our answer.
We are also learning from our mistakes. Blockupy 2012 did not succeed in everything that would have been possible. We were able to do too little of that which we had undertaken.
The blockade of the ECB and the Frankfurt city center were in large part organized by the police themselves. While we did plan for this, we had set our own contribution to a higher measure. Yet Blockupy 2012 was not an atomized campaign. It was not an individualized "event", but rather a step in a story that began long ago and will take its next step this year. To do this in the same place, in Frankfurt, is a critical objective: because Frankfurt is not just any city, but the headquarters of the ECB and a combat center of the troika. This is made visibile in the mere fact that in the three, four streets of the "red zone" of the financial district of Frankfurt approximately 70,000 people in 220 banks and financial institutions move 4,000 billion euros back and forth: daily. This is another reason Frankfurt is a globally networked and most vulnerable hub of the European crisis. And yet, Frankfurt is just a city. What we want to do here can and will be possible in other places.
VI. A radical social left
Blockupy is also a political constellation that brings together people of the most different backgrounds - geographically, socially, culturally and politically. Again this year comrades from many European countries will come to Frankfurt. Again this year thousands in other places will be watching us. Again this year the radical left will come together with activists of labor unions, left youth organizations, various social movements and the Left Party. Many people will be there who have personally decided to join Blockupy, perhaps for the first time. As our aim is once again inter-, anti- and transnational solidarity, our aim is simultaneously to hollow out German crisis corporatism from the inside. Once again our aim is to affront sexist, nationalist, racist, antisemitic, fascist "solutions to crisis" - in words and in the direct action of rage and disobedience. The blockades of Frankfurt want to open a distance to state, nation and capital, which we will continue to broaden.
This will flow into daily life, into the daily life of European crisis, the daily life of precarization, of the deprivation of rights and of dignity, the daily life of violence, of extracting appropriation, of the division of labor along fragmentations of class, race and gender: the daily life of advanced resistance. It will raise questions of movement and questions of organization, which we must answer together with others for ourselves. This relates to the experiences of direct democracy in assemblies as well as capacities to create accountable structures of transnational scale. A creative process is only reached when both levels become the space of an open 'conspiracy of the equals' of the 21st century. The timeliness of this early communist association lies in its having been the most decisive defender of the most important sentence of the first constitution of revolutionary Europe (1793): "When the government violates the rights of the people, insurrection is for the people, and for every portion thereof, the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable of duties." We don't want to relinquish the dynamic of the European crisis to state and capital. Our first step is to now leave the despondence and imposture of radical-left identity politics behind us. The future of a revolutionary antagonism lies only in its radical sociality, its free association. Nothing changes immediately, or tomorrow, but if we do not all transform ourselves, if we do not try new tracks and trails, nothing will move. The rebellion will only come when we begin it. We will see each other in Frankfurt, from May 30 until June 2. Whether and how the ECB moves into its new Frankfurt quarter will not be decided for some time. Intervene! The whole lot is at stake.
Come to the camp! Participate in the Blockupy day of collective disobedience! Join the anticapitalist block in the demostration!
Interventionist Left, April 2013
EU crises
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Head to Head: Tory Almost Doubles Ford
July 3, 2017 @ 7:00 AM | Filed under: Toronto
CC Image courtesy of Antoine 49:http://bit.ly/2ttDrem
Toronto, June 27th – In a random sampling of public opinion taken by The Forum Poll™ among 1040 Toronto voters, amongst those decided and leaning, in a head’s up race between only John Tory and Doug Ford, Tory almost doubles his as-yet undeclared competitor with support of two-thirds (66%) of voters, while Doug Ford secures only a third (34%).
Respondents most likely to support Tory include those aged 35-44 (71%) or 65+ (70%), earning $80,000-$100,000 (75%), with a post-graduate degree (77%), living in the former city of Toronto (79%) or East York (80%), and supporting the provincial Liberal party (77%).
Respondents most likely to support Doug Ford include those aged 34 and younger (36%), 45-54 (37%), 55-64 (38%), earning $40,000-$60,000 (48%), the least educated (45%) and those with some college/university (46%), living in Etobicoke (42%) or York (44%), and supporting the provincial PCs (45%)
Add Mike Layton to the ballot, Tory still wins
In a three-way race between Tory, Ford, and councillor Mike Layton, little-changes. John Tory would still command a majority of votes (51%), while Ford dips below a third (30%). In this three-candidate scenario Mike Layton would secure fewer than two-fifths of the vote (18%).
Respondents most likely to support Tory over Ford and Layton include those aged 65+ (61%), females (58%), earning $80,000-$100,000 (61%), with a post-graduate degree (58%), living in East York (60%), and supporting the provincial Liberals (60%).
Respondents most likely to support Ford over Layton and Tory include those aged 45-54 (33%) or 55-64 (35%), the least wealthy (41%) or earning $40,000-$60,000 (41%), with some college/university (44%), living in Etobicoke, and supporting the provincial PCs (44%).
Respondents most likely to support Layton over Tory and Ford include those aged 34 and younger (23%) or 45-54 (20%), earning $20,000-$40,000 (26%), living in the Former City of Toronto (28%), with a college/university degree 20%) or post-graduate degree (21%), and supporting the provincial NDP (38%) or Green Party (40%).
Tory Approval Up
The majority (54%) of voters once again approve of John Tory’s performance as mayor, overall. Just over a quarter (27%) disapprove, while 2 in 10 say they don’t know. John Tory’s net favourable score (approve – disapprove) is a strong +27.
Tory’s approval is up 4 points (50%: May 28) and his disapproval has likewise dropped 4 points (31%: May 28th).
“When factoring out all other potential challengers and pitting Doug Ford head to head against John Tory, it isn’t a contest, with the Mayor almost doubling up the support of his presumed main rival,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research. “Even adding another candidate doesn’t shake Tory’s support, and he still wins handily.”
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Posted by Gabe Helou
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Friday, September 6, 2013, 01:00 - This Just In
NASA has released a report analyzing the storm that has plagued the planet Saturn since 2010. According to the report, the storm contains measurable quantities of water, making it, in the eyes of some, the larges hurricane in the solar system.
"This storm is clearly located above my district," insists US Representative Howard Mulholland (R, SC). "While all reasonable people agree that FEMA is an unnecessary agency, as well as being grossly over-funded, I would not be adequately representing my constituents if I did not apply for relief on their behalf. Our district has historically been among the most damaged by high winds and water. It is only reasonable that we apply to FEMA for whatever we can get out of them."
"My honorable college from South Carolina is, I'm afraid, a nut case," differs Wallace Abel, US Representative (D, AL). "The storm was spotted by the Hubble Space Telescope, which was build in the great state of Alabama. It should be obvious that we will be the most impacted by the storm that we spotted and FEMA should be directing is relief efforts here."
James Kendall, deputy director of NAOA's Communications & External Affairs Office, declined to offer an opinion over which use states would be most impacted by a hurricane originating on Saturn. "Most of the data we have is for storms that start out in the Atlantic or the Pacific. This is new territory for us."
Despite repeated attempts at contact, Saturn has not been available for comment.
Thursday, September 5, 2013, 01:00 - This Just In
The government of Tuvalu reacted to todays announcement of the existence of Tamu Massif, the world's largest volcano. Tuvaluan officials are looking into the feasibility of Tamu Massif becoming an a future homeland for the people of the likely-doomed island nation.
"As you know, Tuvalu is disappearing beneath the rising ocean level," explains Roger Funafuti, of the Tuvalu Geophysical Union. "Global warming is causing our lands to more and more by swallowed up by the sea. We see this undersea volcano as a potential source of a new island for our people. This thing is the size of your New Mexico. New Mexico! That's around 10,000 times the size of our current homeland!"
Social scientists explain that Tamu Massif is an inactive volcano and is unlikely to develop into an island in the near future. "It is, after all, two kilometers under water," explains Christopher Nanumea, of Tuvalou's Society for Social Change. "In order to build an island from this volcano, we need to make it active and the best way to do that is to anger the volcanoes "gods".
"For millennia, island people have sacrificed virgins to calm raging volcanoes," Nanumea continued. "Now we have to shift gears and find truly -- how shall I say? -- 'experienced' people who be sacrificed to Tamu Massif. We hope to find some monumentally naughty individuals."
When asked how many of these people he expects to volunteer for human sacrifice, he answered a surprised exclamation, "None! Goodness, no. Who in their right mind would do so. No, we're relying on old-fashioned greed to get out non-virgins. Watch for an exciting offer of a tropical time-share 'with benefits' in your mail box," chuckled Nanumea.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013, 01:00 - This Just In
Top scientists have discovered a new Earth-like planet that seems to show signs of life. A joint team of sky watchers from the USA, France, Japan, and Fiji have, until now, kept the exact coordinates of the planet a closely guarded secret until they could verify their observations.
"We are all quite excited by this," exclaimed Hidayo Tenge, senior star gazer for the project. "Not only is there an abundant quantity of water, but the size of the planet is, as close as our measurements allow, identical to Earth! Further more, spectral analysis seems to indicate the presence of elements in the atmosphere, such as lead and mercury, that normally only show up in such great quantities if there has been some sort of industrial activity. There is even a significant amount of Peroxyacetyl nitrate."
"We are preparing a series of radio broadcasts that will be beamed in the direction of the new planet," added Martin Kirby, US stellar ponderer. "We hope, in time, to hear a reply from them."
"Anyway, we're getting ahead of ourselves," continued Kirby. "We've asked the press here to announce the direction in which the new planet lies. Or is it lay? Let's go with 'lies'. We found this when we pointed the Hubble telescope at x-axis 12.393932, y-axis -30.780718, and z-axis -2.782142."
"No, no ... my colleague meant to say z-axis POSITIVE 2.782142," corrected a tense Benoit Redin, manager for the project.
Kirby went on to insist the z-axis was, indeed, negative, leading Redin to thank the members of the press for attending what he explained was actually a very preliminary briefing and to expect clarified announcements in the near future.
"Light refreshments with beer and wine," mentioned Redin, "are now available in the lobby."
"Lots of beer and wine," he added, after a pause.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013, 01:00 - This Just In
Astroclimatologists meeting in Helsinki have proposed a new, combined strategy for addressing the seemingly unrelated issues of global warming and so-called killer asteroids. "We are just going to ignore the asteroids and hope that one of the big ones slams into Siberia," explains Aleksei Flavitsky, leader of the Russian delegation. "The whole idea of trying to change the path of a significantly large asteroid is not only technically unfeasible, it is counterproductive."
Asked to explain, Flavitsky continued, "We are currently experiencing a period of global warming compounded by a refusal of those in power to do anything about. Some of them honestly do not believe the planet is getting warmer, but even those who understand the problem are refusing to do anything. They say is is bad for business. If we can get an asteroid to hit Earth -- a really big one, or possibly a small comet -- we suddenly get gigatonnes of debris into the atmosphere. Less sunlight hits the ground and everything cools down for a few years." Analysts suggest that Flavitsky's hope that such an impact will occur in Siberia has less to do with a dislike for Siberia than it does for an interest in mining the rare metals that may come with an asteroid.
"I don't much care the for effect this will have on living organisms," interjects British scientist Oliver Skipsey, "but I must agree, it will cool things down a bit. It may, perhaps, lead to unprecedented mortality, especially in urban areas, but there will be pockets of humanity that will survive."
"My greatest fear," Skipsey admits, "is that we'll be left with a world consisting primarily of small rodents and preppers."
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The big news of the evening is that the Holy Land Foundation was convicted of 108 counts related to the funneling of money to Hamas. Add this to the serving of CAIR (see last night’s GoV), and we can only hope that Nihad Awad has heartburn from it all.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, Islam in Action, JD, Srdja Trifkovic, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
Holy Land Charity Guilty on 108 Counts!!
How to Keep US Carmakers on the Road — Mitt Romney
The Price of Hillary
What a Single Nuclear Warhead Could Do
Europe and the EU
A Near-Riot and Parliament Besieged: Iceland Boiling Mad at Credit Crunch
Brussels Plans Changes to Fight Tax Evasion
Gatecrasher Jailed for Stabbing Groom and Best Man at Wedding Reception
Italy: Euro-MP Outlines Measures to Combat Global Slowdown
Man With Axe Stuns Stockholm Congregation
Norway’s Police Headquarters Robbed
Pub’s Name Changed to Avoid Offending Muslims Public Angry: No Right to ‘Wipe Away 300 Years of History’ at Saracen’s Head
Spain: Technical Tie Between Psoe and Pp, Cis Barometer
UK: the Speed Trap Set by Your Neighbour
EU: ETF, Italy Multicultural Model for Balkans
Reuters: No Comment From Germany on Kosovo Spy Report
Mediterranean Union
Energy: Algeria; Work Complete on Underwater Medgaz Gaspipe
Food: New Oil Mill in South Lebanon With Lombardy Funds
Morocco: Agriculture; 5 Million Euro Gift From Belgium
Egypt: Nine Arrested in Clashes at Opposition Party HQ
Mauritania: Ex-Premier in Prison for Airmauritanie Crack
Arab States Import 94% of Medicines, Says Official
Nepal: Maoist Government: Law on “Desaparecidos” Would be Retroactive
Vietnam: New Attack on Parish of Thai Ha
Australia — Pacific
Internet: First Site to Look for Muslim Soul-Mate
Somalia: Pirates Want $15mln for Seized Ship, Says Islamist Leader
Stubborn Glaciers Fail to Retreat, Awkward Polar Bears Continue to Multiply
Washington State Voters Legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide
Italy: Israeli Company to Secure Vatican City
Race in the Third Millennium
When Seconds Count: Stopping Active Killers
Over a year after escaping the first trial because of a declared mistrial theHoly Land Foundation was finally found guilty of 108 counts of funneling money to the Hamas terrorist organization in Palestine.
— Hat tip: Islam in Action [Return to headlines]
If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout from the US Government that their chief executives have asked for, you can kiss the American car industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.
Without that bailout, Detroit will have to restructure itself drastically. With it, carmakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labour and pension burdens, technology atrophy, inferior products and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a cheque.
First, their huge disadvantage in costs relative to foreign brands must be eliminated. That means new labour agreements to align pay and benefits to match competitors such as BMW, Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Furthermore, pension costs must be reduced so that the total burden for each car is not higher than that of foreign producers.
That burden is estimated to be more than $2,000 per car. Think what that means: Ford must cut $2,000 worth of features and quality out of its Taurus to compete with the Toyota Avalon. Considering this disadvantage, Detroit has done a remarkable job of designing and engineering cars. But if this penalty persists, any bailout will only delay the inevitable.
— Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
by Srdja Trifkovic
No secretary of state will come to that office with stronger pro-Israel credentials or closer ties to the Jewish community than Sen. Hillary Clinton, Douglas Bloomfield assures his readers in The Jerusalem Post. Good for them; but for the rest of us, Mrs. Clinton’s appointment as the third woman U.S. Secretary of State is hugely problematic. It heralds “the end of the world as we know it,” in many ways, although neither she nor her coterie necessarily know what they are doing. That dumb bliss may be their sole saving grace.
At the technical level, Hillary Clinton is likely to deepen the chronic crisis of the once-venerable institution at Washington’s Foggy Bottom, to which her two female predecessors have contributed in two different ways.
Madeleine Albright was an activist who will be remembered for her hubris (“If we have to use force, it is because we are America. We are the indispensable nation. We stand tall. We see further into the future.”), coupled with studied callousness. Asked on “60 Minutes” about the death of a half-million Iraqi children due to sanctions, she promptly responded, “I think this is a very hard choice, but the price is worth it.” Her crowning glory was her premeditated 1999 war in the Balkans, prior to which she said that “the Serbs need a little bombing.” Her State Department contributed to the formulation, as well as execution, of Bill Clinton’s doctrine of “humanitarian intervention.”
Condoleezza Rice, less evil and more obtuse, will be remembered for nothing. She was an auxilliary tool of the Bush-Cheney team, with all key decisions made elsewhere.
Mrs. Clinton will try to rebuild the relative importance of the Department of State, which will become her personal fiefdom, but her labors will not be for the better. Her appointment, the most significant among several major figures from the Clinton era, belies Obama’s rhetoric of “change” when it comes to foreign affairs. There will be tectonic shifts, cultural and moral, at home. The established premises of an imperial presidency — which in world affairs inevitably translates into the quest for dominance and justification for global interventionism — will not be challenged, however.
— Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic [Return to headlines]
Why the U.S. needs a space-based missile defense against an EMP attack.
As severe as the global financial crisis now is, it does not pose an existential threat to the U.S. Through fits and starts we will sort out the best way to revive the country’s economic engine. Mistakes can be tolerated, however painful. The same may not be true with matters of national security.
Although President George W. Bush has accomplished more in the way of missile defense than his predecessors — including Ronald Reagan — he will leave office with only a rudimentary system designed to stop a handful of North Korean missiles launched at our West Coast. Barack Obama will become commander in chief of a country essentially undefended against Russian, Chinese, Iranian or ship-launched terrorist missiles. This is not acceptable.
The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have proven how vulnerable we are. On that day, Islamic terrorists flew planes into our buildings. It is not unreasonable to believe that if they obtain nuclear weapons, they might use them to destroy us. And yet too many policy makers have rejected three basic facts about our position in the world today:
First, as the defender of the Free World, the U.S. will be the target of destruction or, more likely, strategic marginalization by Russia, China and the radical Islamic world.
Second, this marginalization and threat of destruction is possible because the U.S. is not so powerful that it can dictate military and political affairs to the world whenever it wants. The U.S. has the nuclear capability to vanquish any foe, but is not likely to use it except as a last resort.
Third, America will remain in a condition of strategic vulnerability as long as it fails to build defenses against the most powerful political and military weapons arrayed against us: ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. Such missiles can be used to destroy our country, blackmail or paralyze us.
Any consideration of how best to provide for the common defense must begin by acknowledging these facts…
— Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
THOUSANDS of Icelanders have demonstrated in Reykjavik to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Geir Haarde and Central Bank governor David Oddsson, for failing to stop the country’s financial meltdown. It was the latest in a series of protests in the capital since October’s banking collapse crippled the island’s economy. At least five people were injured and Hordur Torfason, a well-known singer in Iceland and the main organiser of the protests, said the protests would continue until the government stepped down.
As crowds gathered in the drizzle before the Althing, the Icelandic parliament, on Saturday, Mr Torfason said: “They don’t have our trust and they are no longer legitimate.”
The value of the Icelandic krona has been cut in half since January.
Gudrun Jonsdottir, a 36-year-old office worker, said: “I’ve just had enough of this whole thing. I don’t trust the government, I don’t trust the banks, I don’t trust the political parties, and I don’t trust the IMF.
“We had a good country and they ruined it.”
The European Commission wants to close loopholes in the taxing of interest on savings in a move to crack down on tax evasion.
Switzerland, which is not a member of the European Union, has already signalled its willingness to discuss the new measures because they will not affect the country’s banking secrecy legislation.
Since 2005, Switzerland has levied a withholding tax on the interest income of EU taxpayers with an account in Switzerland, which will eventually reach 35 per cent.
The EC’s commissioner for taxation and customs, László Kovács, commented on Thursday that there were loopholes in the present system.
When non-EU countries such as Switzerland and Liechtenstein signed the EU’s savings tax rules, they only covered bank accounts. He said the current scope of the EU savings tax directive needed to be extended.
“At present, it is relatively easy for individuals to circumvent it (the directive) … it is beneficial to all parties to go further in extending the scope of measures,” Kovács said.
Ways of getting round the rules included using trusts or foundations where there was no income tax, he said, or rearranging financial portfolios so that income from interest fell outside the EU’s formal definition of interest payments.
Swiss Economics Minister Doris Leuthard said earlier this month that Switzerland was open for dialogue on the issue as long as there was “protection of privacy” with banking secrecy.
Tax evasion is not a criminal offence in Switzerland; tax fraud is.
— Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
Mr Loader said Gould had been unable to sleep on the night of the party and had gone into the kitchen to make something to eat.
Gould he said had been drinking previously, heard the music then snapped.
He entered the party with the knife in his pocket but had no intention to use it.
He said: ‘He is a young man who needs to change his life. He recognises he has problems with control, anger management and alcohol.’
Sentencing Gould today at Lewes Crown Court, judge Richard Hayward said: ‘You became annoyed by the music and had been drinking.
‘You telephoned the police, but instead of leaving it to them you decided to take action yourself.’
He said the case demonstrated the dangers of carrying a knife and the injuries which could be caused by such blades.
Gould, he added, possessed a ‘bad record’ with sixteen past convictions for 42 offences.
Mr Hayward sentenced Gould to 15 months in prison for possession of a knife and 21 months for each of the two wounding charges, to run concurrently.
Strasbourg, 21 Nov. (AKI) — Italian European Parliament member Umberto Pirilli and other Euro-MPs are proposing a series of bold measures to help European Union countries fight back from the global economic slowdown. “To combat the global financial crisis firm action must be taken: shock therapy is needed,” Pirilli told Adnkronos-Labitalia.
“The problem is to restore confidence. Measures taken by single governments are not enough because the crisis is huge and markets are continuing to post losses,” said Pirilli (photo).
Pirilli’s conservative UEN-EA group recently presented to the European Parliament in Strasbourg a series of measures to tackle the financial crisis by restoring investor confidence and kick-starting economies.
The proposed measures include the ‘virtual transfer’ to the European Central Bank from national central banks of their gold and foreign currency reserves, or part of these, and the issuing of bonds worth five times the value of these assets. Individual states can negotiate the value of these bonds on the market.
The measures propose funding by individual EU member states for infrastructure projects and social policies, as well as those to kick-start the real economy, boost research and the exemption of these funds from the parameters of the Treaty of Maastricht.
“The transfer by individual member states of their reserves, their ‘family jewels’, is an act of faith. The issuing of bonds would be guaranteed and the Maastricht criteria would be respected, without running inflationary risks.
“The combination of these proposals can contribute to the re-launching of the European economy, which is suffering the commercial impact of the financial crisis more than the United States,” Pirilli said.
“Precisely for this reason, at a time of economic and financial crisis, Europe needs to show political unity,” he stressed.
Funding for research is key to the innovation that is needed for firms’ international competitiveness, Pirilli said.
“Competitiveness does not just depend on individual firms’ liquidity, but also on innovation, which means investing in research,” Pirilli added.
Italy invests just one percent of its Gross Domestic Product in research, half the European average (two percent), he noted. Developing countries, on the other hand, are investing between eight and 12 percent of their GDP in research, Pirilli added.
“Investing in research is important not only to stop the brain drain, but to finance long-term projects. It is exactly this injection of funding into research that can help regain competitiveness and restore confidence,” Pirilli said.
— Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
Italy: Unicredit Chief Urges Continuing Credit to Keep Firms Afloat
Palermo, 20 Nov. (AKI) — To emerge from the current global economic slowdown, banks need to establish a new relationship with companies, especially those which are struggling, Alessandro Profumo, chief executive officer of Italy’s largest bank, Unicredit said on Thursday. He gave the inaugural address at the United Nations sponsored conference in Sicily’s capital, Palermo to mark World Philosophy Day 2008.
In his address to the conference on the theme ‘Finance and Economics: a virtuous circle’, Profumo underlined the need for banks to intervene swiftly when companies show the first signs of difficulty.
“It is necessary to redirect and restructure as soon signs of difficulty appear, not when the situation has totally deteriorated,” Profumo said.
To keep companies in business means doing things now that are to be avoided in normal times, he stressed.
“These include banks becoming company shareholders, or getting directly involved in complex restructuring operations, such as their sale, the close of subsidiaries and the separation of phases of production,” Profumo said.
European, especially Italian banks are more solid and less exposed to the global financial crisis than those in the United States, he stated. “But the suspension of normal inter-bank lending has made their situation difficult.”
Italy, which is still the eurozone’s third biggest economy, slipped into a recession in the third quarter of this year — its fourth recession in the past ten years. The IMF has predicted Italian GDP will contract by 0.1 percent in 2008 and by 0.2 percent in 2009.
The proportion of Italian firms going out of business in the second quarter of this year rose to 2.3 percent this year from 1.7 percent over the same period of 2007, Profumo noted, quoting data from Italy’s Chamber of Commerce.
However, on a positive note, Profumo noted that the average proportion of medium-to-long-term debt companies hold increased to 58 percent in June this year, compared with44.4 percent in 2000. “This means they are structurally more stable and are presumably able to better plan their investment decisions,” he said.
Southern Italy will suffer from the current economic crisis, Profumo told journalists on the sidelines of the Palermo conference ahead of his address.
“This because entrepreneurship is weaker, and there is greater financial hardship, “ Profumo said.
Worshippers at the All Saints Church in Stockholm panicked on Sunday when a man wielding an axe and a can full of gasoline interrupted the pastor during services.
“Everyone was scared and as many people ran out the church as they could,” said witness Mathias Bridfeldt to the Aftonbladet newspaper.
The pastor was in the middle of his sermon when the man walked slowly toward the altar.
It was only after people noticed the man was holding an axe and a large gasoline canister that the congregation became gripped with fear.
The man then began speaking out load and interrupted the pastor, instructing everyone to remain calm.
“It was a unbelievably strange situation, like a shock that slowly spread,” said Bridfeldt.
“The man was really calm, he didn’t behave violently. But it was still really scary when you thought about what he had in his hands.”
A few members of the church decided to confront the man and were able to convince him to put down the axe and gas can.
He was then taken from the church and police were called.
Police took the man to St. Göran’s Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation while the pastor did his best to continue with his sermon.
“But many were still shaken and a few were crying, so the pastor had to revisit the incident one more time,” said Bridfeldt.
— Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
Thieves broke into the Norwegian criminal police’s headquarters in Oslo, making off with several computers, police said on Monday. Skip related content
“I can confirm that we were the victim of a robbery overnight Saturday to Sunday,” Pia Solhaug, a spokeswoman for Norway’s criminal police Kripos, told AFP.
“Several computers were taken,” she added.
According to tabloid Verdens Gang (VG), the intruders smashed a window to gain entry into the building. The robbery was discovered three hours later.
Oslo police have launched an investigation.
[Return to headlines]
BIRMINGHAM Mail readers have spoken out against the decision to change the name of a historic city pub — accusing it of being “politically correct”.
The home of the famous Saracen’s Head, in Kings Norton Green, will become known as Saint Nicolas Place said its owners, at the nearby St Nicolas Church.
Angry letters fired off to the Mail said the church had no right to “wipe away 300 years of history” for fear of offending Muslims.
Ann Spooner, of Kings Norton, wrote: “To us it will always be the Saracen’s Head.”
The 18th-century former inn was originally built as a rich wool merchant?s house in the 1400s and was given to the church in 1930. In 2004 it won £500,000 to help bring it back to its former glory in the BBC programme Restoration.
Cannon Rob Morris said the church consulted with its congregation of more than 300 and the Friends of Historic Kings Norton in reaching the controversial choice.
In 2004 the Birmingham Mail reported how the Very Rev Morris said the name was “offensive” to Muslims. But he said the reason behind the name-change was to stop people from mistaking the building — now a community centre and church office — for a pub. It was also to recognise the role of the church and its more than a million pounds’ worth of investment.
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, NOVEMBER 5 — If they went to the ballot today, Spaniards would vote in almost exactly equal numbers for the governing PSOE and the opposition PP, with support for each one at about 39.7% according to results from the Opinion Barometer of the Centre of Sociological Research (CIS). Despite all the negative economic indicators from October, the political situation in Spain has remained basically unchanged in respect of July’s Barometer, which attributed a slight lead for the PSOE: 39.5% for the PSOE, and 39.3% for the PP. (ANSAmed).
Motorists will face amateur speed traps run by local volunteer groups in towns and villages across the country, it was revealed yesterday.
Under rules to be sent to police forces in the new year, bands of volunteers will be supplied with speed detection equipment and asked to use it to identify drivers exceeding limits in their area.
The guidelines, prepared by the Association of Chief Police Officers, will set a national pattern for schemes which have been trialled in some areas — often with controversy.
Drivers caught breaking limits by ‘community speed watch’ groups have their numberplates checked on the police national computer and are sent warning letters by police forces.
They can be targeted for prosecution if they get three letters for speeding through volunteer group traps. Motoring organisations warned yesterday that the proposals risk setting neighbour against neighbour and encouraging vigilantism. Some trial schemes had to be abandoned after they led to disputes between local people.
The decision to encourage speed trap volunteers follows the move by local councils to recruit members of the public to watch for breaches of rubbish collection and recycling rules.
That has been condemned by critics as an attempt to get neighbour to spy on neighbour. Acpo spokesman Trevor Hall said the guidelines would encourage national consistency in the schemes.
Yobs Have Overturned Your Car? Call the AA Say Police
When a gang of youths rolled his girlfriend’s parked car on its side, Simon White thought there was a good chance that the police would catch the culprits.
But instead of the swift response he had hoped for, they told him to call the AA.
‘I couldn’t believe they were telling me to call a breakdown service,’ said estate agent Mr White.
‘I explained to them that a neighbour had seen a gang of about 30 youths hanging about when he was walking his dog and had come back half an hour later to see my girlfriend’s car on its side.
‘At no point did the police ask me anything to do with solving the crime. There was no mention of witnesses, possible fingerprints, or any desire to catch who’d done it.
‘All they said was call the AA or Green Flag. When I told them there was petrol leaking from the car they said they’d call the fire brigade and then ended the conversation.’
(ANSAmed) — TURIN, NOVEMBER 20 — Italy could become a model of social and ethnic integration for the Balkans, according to the European Union education sector experts who took part in the international conference in Turin organized by the European Training Foundation (ETF). Among those in attendance was Semsi Sainov from the Fund for Rom education. “The Balkans,” stressed Lidia Kita, the ETF head of projects for the Balkans, “need societies that are well-integrated, founded on ethnic reconciliation, non-discrimination, equal opportunities and cultural diversity. In order to respond to these challenges, ETF is committed to helping the western Balkans to support quality education contributing to the struggle against social exclusion in a complex context, made up of very heterogeneous societies.” As part of the event a visit was organized to two schools in Turin: the Leonardo da Vinci institute for the integration of Rom in Turin and the elementary school Lessona. The two schools could be considered “laboratories for living together” between Italian children and their counterparts from second-generation immigrants who are fully integrated into the city itself. According to ETF figures, which has its head offices in Turin and answers to the European Commission, the pro capita gross domestic product in the Balkans — measures in terms of buying power — is among the lowest in Europe and range between 3,652 euros in Albania and 8,327 in Croatia. Employment levels in the western Balkans are the lowest in the EU and vary between 63pct in Serbia and 45pct in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. (ANSAmed).
PRISTINA, Nov 22 (Reuters) — Germany declined to comment on on Saturday on reports that three Germans arrested on suspicion of throwing explosives at an EU office in Kosovo were intelligence officers.
The explosive charge was thrown on Nov. 14 at the International Civilian Office (ICO), the office of EU Special Representative Pieter Feith, who oversees Kosovo’s governance, but caused only minor damage. The men were detained on Thursday.
A spokesman for the German foreign ministry in Berlin confirmed that three Germans had been arrested, but declined to make any further comment as an investigation was under way.
A police source in Kosovo told Reuters: “They are members of the BND”, but gave no further details.
The German weekly Der Spiegel also said the men worked for the German intelligence agency BND, and that they had told investigators they had been examining the scene of the explosion, but had not been involved in it.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February after nine years under U.N. stewardship and is recognised by more than 50 countries, including Germany.
Four days before the bomb attack, its leaders rejected a plan by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s for the deployment of an EU police and justice mission, EULEX.
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, NOVEMBER 3 — Work by Saipem has finished, to place a Medgaz trans-Mediterranean gaspipe in deep water which will transport 8 billion cubic metres of Algerian gas to Spain each year. Algeriàs Ministry for Energy announced to APS that “work to complete the compression station at Beni Saf (in the West of Algeria) and the land connections between Almeria and Albacete, in Spain are all that is needed to complete the work”. Medgaz — a consortium of Algerian company Sonatrach (36%), Spanish companies Cepsa and Iberdrola (20% each)and Endesa and Francés Gaz de France (12% each) — with an estimated cost of around 900 million euros, will be 210km long offshore and will go 2,000 metric miles deep. Contributing to the project, apart from Italy’s Saipem, are Japan’s Mitsui and Sumimoto, Britain’s Rolls Royce and the Franco-Spanish consortium Tecnicas Reunias Amec-Spie. On 17 September four workers, including one Italian, were killed in an accident on bord the sea-platform, Saipem 7000, while they were working on the underwater positioning of the Medgaz pipe. (ANSAmed).
(ANSAmed) — MILAN, NOVEMBER 3 — The opening of a new oil mill is scheduled for today in Alma Ash Shaab, a city in South Lebanon seriously affected by the war in 2006. A statement published by the Lombardy region stated that it had covered half of the cost of the operation with a contribution of 118,000 euros. “The cultivation of olives” explained the representative of the President of Lombardy for International Relations, Robi Ronza, opening the plant today “a main source of income for the region, suffered from a lack of a modern oil press. A humanitarian agency for the Holy See, the Papal Agency for Middle East Relief and Development had donated the equipment on condition that the oil press was ready for the 2008 harvest, but the initiative was at risk of failure because the building was inadequate and there was no technical expertise to begin production. The plant needed modern electrical and plumbing, machines and technical assistance for start-up”. Since 15 October the oil press is working at full capacity, thanks to this help. More than 4,000 farm workers and their families are benefitting from the plant (around 20,800 people in all). (ANSAmed).
(ANSAmed) — RABAT, NOVEMBER 19 — Belgium has donated five million euros to Morocco, with the aim of financing two projects in the north of the country relating to the promotion of rural micro-businesses. The news was reported by the MAP press agency, adding that two million euros will be used to finance the development of micro-businesses in the north of the country, and in particular in the the Tetouan area. It is thought that business will be helped by the concession of easy credit. Three million euros, on the other hand, will be used for professional training programs in Tetouan, M’Diq-Fnideq, Chefchaoucen and Al Hoceima. The project will contribute to the fight against poverty and therefore to socio-economic development in the region, improving job prospects and the integration of uneducated young people. (ANSAmed).
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, NOVEMBER 6 — Nine people have been arrested by security forces in clashes during the morning in central Cairo, in front of the headquarters of the Opposition party Al Ghad — the most well-known supporter is lawyer Ayman Nur, who has been in prison for some time — during aggression against supporters of the political faction. The clashes were between supporters of Nur, removed from office as President of the party by a Government committee, and supporters of Mustafa Mussa, appointed as President by the same committee. The wife of Nur, journalist Jamila Ismail headed the attack on the headquarters on the first floor of a city centre building, with an exchange of stone- and firebomb- throwing . A fire in the area of Al Ghad was put out by fire fighters. Eye witnesses said that security forces had witnessed the aggression without intervening and had then arrested nine supporters of Nur. In 2005 the lawyer was sentenced to five years in prison for producing false documents to obtain authorisation to found the Al Ghad party. (ANSAmed).
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, NOVEMBER 21 — The Mauritanian Premier, Yahya Ould Ahmed Waghf, ousted by the military junta which took power on August 6, was sentenced and imprisoned with another four people with the accusation of “having orchestrated the failure of the flagship airline Air Mauritanie” which he directed between 2004 and 2006 and that is currently in forced liquidation. Among the others who wound up in prison, the businessman Abdallahi Ould Moctar who chaired the board of directors between 2002 and 2006. Another ex-manager and a second businessman are under international arrest warrants. The ex-premier was arrested on August 6 together with the dismissed president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. Freed on August 11, he was stopped ten days later while participating in a protest meeting against the coup and placed under house arrest. (ANSAmed).
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, NOVEMBER 17 — Chairman of the Arab Company for Pharmaceuticals and Medical Supplies Mohamed Awad Tagedddin said the Arab states import medicines by 94%, calling for the need to reach cooperation in the Arab world in the pharmaceuticals domain to guarantee supply of drugs. Tageddin expected Arab pharmaceutical production to reach 2.5 billion dollars at the start of the 21st century to cover around 45% of consumption which amounts to 5.5 billion dollars. The size of investments in pharmaceuticals in the Arab world reaches around five billion dollars, he said, adding that the private sector owns its biggest share. Dumping policies adopted by factories and foreign companies are among obstacles facing the Arab pharmaceutical industries sector, he said. (ANSAmed)
The measure, which must still be approved, provides prison sentences and fines for those who commit kidnappings, and their accomplices. The law would regulate cases of disappearance recorded between 1996 and 2006, the year in which the agreement was signed between the communist guerrillas and the coalition government. Human rights activists say there are 2,200 cases of disappearance.
Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — The Nepalese Maoist government has released a proposed law on the “desaparecidos,” providing prison sentences and fines for those who carry out kidnappings, and their accomplices. The law would be applied retroactively, covering the decade marked by the Maoist conflict (1996-2006); but would not apply to crimes after November 21, 2006, the day on which the communist guerrillas and the seven parties making up the coalition government signed the peace agreement.
The draft law was presented by Janardan Sharma, minister for peace and reconstruction, in the presence of the head of the justice department and Nepal’s attorney general, in addition to activists and experts on human rights. The measure would regulate the cases of disappearances recorded in the period between February 13, 1996, and November 21, 2006. It provides penalties of up to five years in prison, and fines of 5,000 euros for those who commit kidnapping; the penalties are cut in half for accomplices. If the cases of disappearance concern women and children, the penalty could be raised to seven years in prison.
The proposed law also provides for the creation of an independent commission formed by five prominent figures. These would include the president of the constituent assembly, activists, psychologists, lawyers, or experts in conflict with at least 10 years of experience.
Gauri Pradhan, a member of the Nepalese human rights commission, says that during the period under discussion, 2,200 cases of disappeared persons were reported. The relatives of the “desaparecidos” would be given compensation in the form of free health care and education, jobs, and assistance in finding housing.
The draft law must now be reviewed by Dev Gurung, the minister of justice and parliamentary affairs, who will make any necessary changes; the text would then have to be approved by the government and would go to parliament, for final ratification and implementation.
An official of the people’s committee tries to keep the Redemptorists occupied, while members of party organizations attack the chapel of Saint Gerardo. Summoned by bells, phone calls, and e-mails, hundreds of faithful come, and the attackers leave. The operation raises troubling questions.
Hanoi (AsiaNews) — Disturbing questions are being raised by the attack carried out Saturday night by a group of communist party activists on the chapel of St. Gerardo, on the property of the parish of Thai Ha. Similar to the one carried out on September 21, against the same target, it saw the participation of a delegate of the people’s committee of Quang Trung (the local administration), while police and security forces looked on passively at the sacking of the chapel, which did not have serious consequences only because of the immediate arrival of faithful from Thai Ha and other parishes.
Fr. Joseph Nguyen Van That, vice superior of the Redemptorist convent, who also takes care of the parish, says that “At 10 pm local time, on Saturday night, a delegate of the people’s committee of Quang Trung precinct came to Hanoi Redemptorist Monastery asking for an urgent meeting with Redemptorists, while hundreds of people attacked our Saint Gerardo Chapel.”
There were police officers, members of a women’s association, and young people of the party. They began shouting, throwing stones at the church, trying to provoke the priests and faithful present to a fight. Catholics were called to the scene by church bells, but also by telephone calls and e-mails sent to the parishes of Hanoi. At 11 o’clock, a fairly significant number of faithful were on the scene, and without responding to the provocations, they tried to enter the chapel.
The officers, who did not intervene to stop the attack, tried (in the photo) to stop the faithful from entering the church. One parishioner says that at a certain point, a group that was participating in the attack asked the police if they could set it on fire. They were instructed to “wait for an order from higher ranking officials.”
At 11:30, the growing number of faithful on the site forced the attackers to leave.
Eglises d’Asie reports that inhabitants of the neighborhood say that beginning in the afternoon, while the church was celebrating the feast of the Vietnamese martyrs, the young communists had taken up position to prepare the operation. The same thing was happening at the same time in security offices of the neighborhood.
A letter denouncing the incident has been addressed by Fr. Matthew Vu Khoi Phung, the superior of the monastery, to the people’s committee of Hanoi and to the police of Hanoi and of the district of Dong Da.
Catholics are concerned over the reasons for the attack, which came after the conclusion desired by the authorities — meaning with rejection — of the request by the Redemptorists for the restitution of the parish land. Some think it is retaliation — the land that was given to a clothing company has been turned into a public park — and are afraid of further aggression against the monastery, parish, and chapel.
(by Cristiana Missori) (ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 29 — Are you a Muslim and have yet to find your soul-mate? Are you trying to flirt with one of your co-religious counterparts, or even more simply looking for new friends? Have no fear, wherever you are in the world, there are new portals to help you like Muslima.com, directed at, like its Christian version (Christiancupid.com), by Australian CupidMedia, a company that manages internet portals dedicated to looking for a mate and those who are looking for and inter-racial union, and that in total has more than 5 million users all over the globe. Yet again, love is transformed into a business: this time though, it is not about dress, or choices made at the gift shop, or catering, but criteria based on ethnic origin, religious creed, sexual tastes, particular interests, and naturally, physical appearance. Born this year, Muslima.com with its 784 thousand subscribers, is the first Muslim dating website in the world. The principal is the same as other online dating sites: after having filled out a personal profile, entering tastes and general information, you go on to physical aspect (height, eye colour, profession, and maybe even favourite sport), Muslim.com also asks to specify faith (Sunni or Shiite), as well as ethnic origin. Signing up costs nothing, you just have to be between 18 and 80, have an e-mail account, and a lot of good will. Privacy is guaranteed, in fact, to other users, only name and nickname appear. For those who want to increase their probability of finding someone to share their existence with, there is a ‘‘gold membership’’ or ‘‘platinum membership’’. For users who decide to spend 25 dollars or more, the possibility of entering more details is given, chat rooms, or having your profile highlighted compared to non-paying users, as well as having unlimited contacts are all options. Given the great success of the users, the portal has already been translated into Dutch, French, German, and Italian. One peculiarity, there is not an Arab version. Entering into the Italian page it is easy to note how from North to South there are many people who are interested in finding someone to correspond with, or ‘‘to establish a true friendship with other Muslims’’ or to find ‘‘a faithful woman’’ to marry. Perhaps because far from your country of origin, maybe because it is difficult to find someone who understands your traditions, or simply because the internet is the most rapid means to communicate, many people seem to appreciate this tool. The same idea for Christiancupid.com, which counts 62 thousand registered users today, where Christians from every latitude look for a long lasting relationship, a passing love, or a pen pal, and do it in total security, knowing that they share the same values. Here, there is also the option of becoming o ‘‘gold’’ or ‘‘platinum’’ member, obtaining various advantages in terms of interactivity with those who are interested in the profile of the user. There are also chat rooms, advice on Christian life, marriage, relationships, and ‘‘verses of the day’’ from the Bible. In a world that makes an effort to overcome differences based on race, ethnicity, religion, or personal convictions, the new frontier of online dating is discrimination. (ANSAmed).
Mogadishu, 24 Nov. (AKI) — A Somali Islamist leader said the ransom for the hijacked supertanker Sirius Star has been reduced from 25 to 15 million dollars. “Middlemen have given a $15 million ransom figure for the Saudi ship. That is the issue now,” said Abdurrahim Isse Adou, the spokesman of the Islamic Courts Union quoted by various media reports.
Saudi oil giant Aramco’s subsidiary Vela International owns the hijacked supertanker Sirus Star, which has a 25-member crew on board from Poland, Britain, Croatia, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines.
The tanker is fully loaded with two million barrels of oil worth over 100 million dollars.
Last week, pirates warned that they have a machine that can detect false banknotes, said Bili Mahmoud Qabusad, spokesman for the Somali region of Puntland’s president.
According to Qabusad, the pirates probably come from the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and set sail ten days ago on their mission to hijack the Sirius Star.
A number of the pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden are belived to be former members of the Somali navy, reports have said.
More than 92 ships have been attacked his year, more than three times the number in 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau. At least 14 of these vessels, carrying over 250 crew members, are still in the control of hijackers.
An estimated 25-30 million dollars has been paid in ransom to Somali pirates this year, according to a UN report released last Tuesday.
Second only to the melting of the Arctic ice and those “drowning” polar bears, there is no scare with which the global warmists, led by Al Gore, more like to chill our blood than the fast-vanishing glaciers of the Himalayas, which help to provide water for a sixth of mankind. Recently one newspaper published large pictures to illustrate the alarming retreat in the past 40 years of the Rongbuk glacier below Everest. Indian meteorologists, it was reported, were warning that, thanks to global warming, all the Himalayan glaciers could have disappeared by 2035.
Yet two days earlier a report by the UN Environment Program had claimed that the cause of the melting glaciers was not global warming but the local warming effect of a vast “atmospheric brown cloud” hanging over that region, made up of soot particles from Asia’s dramatically increased burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.
Furthermore a British study published two years ago by the American Meteorological Society found that glaciers are only shrinking in the eastern Himalayas. Further west, in the Hindu Kush and the Karakoram, glaciers are “thickening and expanding”.
Meanwhile, all last week, ITV News was running a series of wearisomely familiar scare stories on the disappearing Arctic ice and those “doomed” polar bears — without telling its viewers that satellite images now show ice cover above its 30-year average, or that polar bear numbers are at record level. But then “polar bears not drowning after all — as snow falls over large parts of Britain” doesn’t really make a story.
Rita Marker, an attorney and executive director of the non-profit International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, calls physician-assisted suicide a Trojan Horse — a policy that enters a state’s legal system as a gift of compassion but is full of deadly consequences. In Washington, as in Oregon, the crime of assisted suicide has been transformed into a medical treatment.
“If a lethal dose of drugs is considered good medical treatment, isn’t the requirement of ‘self-administration’ both illogical and overly restrictive?” she asks. “What about the person who is physically unable to self-administer the lethal dose? After all, is there any other medical treatment that a physician can prescribe for, but not administer to, a patient?”
Once it’s legally regarded as a medical treatment there’s nothing to prevent its expansion “to include euthanasia by lethal injection and to encompass everyone from children to the frail, demented elderly.”
But in Oregon, despite increased efforts by Health Services Department officials to hide the law’s shortcomings from the public, word gets out and occasionally comes to the attention of the media — as in the notorious case of Barbara Wagner, a 64-year-old cancer patient, which was reported by the Eugene Register-Guard.
In May, Wagner’s doctor told her that her cancer, which had been in remission, had returned, but there was a new drug that would probably slow its growth and extend her life. He wrote her a prescription, but because the drug is expensive the Oregon Health Plan — the state’s Medicaid program through which she was insured — let her know via an unsigned form letter that it would not cover the cost. However, the letter said, the plan would pay for “comfort care”, including “physician aid in dying.” The drugs which would be provided free cost less than $100 — a matter not mentioned in the letter.
“They would pay to kill me, but they will not give me the medication to slow the growth of my cancer,” Wagner says tearfully in a video for the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide.
When Wagner’s story became known, others came forward to report receiving similar letters. The Oregon Health Plan director eventually admitted they send such letters to patients whom they think have little chance of surviving.
Vatican City, 20 Nov. (AKI) — An Israel-based company was awarded a multi-million dollar contract to secure sensitive areas of Vatican City. IoImage, a company based in the Israeli coastal city of Herzliya was awarded the contract, estimated to be between 4-5 million dollars. “The Vatican has the highest security demands. We got the contract after an examination that lasted three years,” said IoImage director Roni Kaz, quoted by Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
“IoImage intelligent video appliances, monitored by an IoIware Command Center, are being used to detect intruders along a 60-kilometre perimeter of sensitive areas, entry and exit gates and the wall surrounding the Vatican,” said the company in a statement on its website.
“The IoIcam….will be centrally monitored and managed by the Corpo della Gendarmeria, the Vatican’s security force from their control room.”
In 1929, Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty, which recognised the full sovereignty of the Holy See in the State of Vatican City.
The Holy See is a member of the United Nations and is considered an independent country of 0.44 square kilometres with less than 500 inhabitants.
Its world-renowned museum and library collections make it one of the world’s most important sites. The Vatican Museums alone were visited by 4.3 million tourists last year.
Then there is the matter of how communism is viewed kindly relative to National Socialism (which partially explains why “big C” communism is again on the rise). We are outraged that 11 million were killed because of a racial agenda, as we should be, yet it seems that it would make modern man’s inner little girl feel better if they had been exterminated in the name of an atheistic/economic one. After all, while the communists killed about ten times as many — 100 million worldwide during the 20th century — its defenders are never lowered to where they belong, the nadir of pariah status occupied by a neo-Nazi. But, of course, godlessness and economic egalitarianism are all the rage in these enlightened times.
Many will justify such bias, claiming that the demon of discrimination cannot be exorcised without constant prayer to the god of government; there must be a bit of over-compensation in much that same way that a crooked wire cannot be made right unless it’s bent beyond straight in the other direction. But it is also true that if you keep bending it in the fashionable direction, it becomes more crooked than it was before. The yoke of tyranny isn’t less burdensome just because it’s born of an unfashionable lie’s opposite.
Another characteristic of the National Socialists is that before they gained the power to impose their agenda through the law, they did so through the lawless; they used brown-shirted thugs to intimidate and silence opposition.
We’re not like that at all.
Our mobs don’t wear brown shirts. They just storm stages (Columbia and other attacks on traditionalists at colleges), intimidate voters, steal conservative newspapers, attack conservative students and vandalize their homes, and force-feed students politically-correct ideas in academia.
Then there are the aspirations, which are sometimes expressed by readers of left-wing news sites. For instance, at a very popular site I came across a post to the effect of (I’m paraphrasing):
“Racists should be beaten and then put in re-education camps until their thinking is changed.”
This was not an uncommon sentiment at this site and was unchallenged by the other respondents.
Based on the Virginia Tech data, top tactics training facilities determined the first officer on scene should make entry immediately with an aggressive attack on the shooter. Every minute the officer waits for back-up, another three or more people could die.
In other words, while it was once considered suicide for a lone officer to take on an active killer, it is now considered statistical homicide for him not to do so.
Tactical Defense Institute in Adams County, Ohio developed one of the first “single officer response” programs in the nation. TDI was teaching the tactic even before Virginia Tech. Now the National School Resource Officer Organization (NSRO) is using TDI instructors to teach school resource officers nationwide how to confront a gunman immediately.
The other statistic that emerged from a study of active killers is that they almost exclusively seek out “gun free” zones for their attacks. In most states, concealed handguns are prohibited at schools and on college campuses even for those with permits. Many malls and workplaces also place signs at their entrances prohibiting firearms on the premises.
Now some tacticians believe the signs themselves may be an invitation to the active killers.
The psychological profile of a mass murderer indicates he is looking to inflict the most casualties as quickly as possible. Also, the data show most active killers have no intention of surviving the event. They may select schools and shopping malls because of the large number of defenseless victims and the virtual guarantee no on the scene one is armed.
As soon as they’re confronted by any armed resistance, the shooters typically turn the gun on themselves.
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Muzzled in Finland, Part 5
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No-Go Zones in Brussels
Unwanted Neighbors
Open Season on Frank Vanhecke
The Muslim Insurgency in India
Sweden: A Most Curious Country
Palestine Press Agency: Hamas Made Up Gaza Electri...
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Reverting to Christianity in Kosovo
The Oil Pirates
German Muslim Says Mohammed Never Existed
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Brigitte Gabriel: Hate Preaching in Mosques
"Standing on the Shoulders of Giants"
Western Principles vs. Islamic Principles
Where Does It Stop?
The Swedenizing of America
A Motoonist on the ECHR?
Blackshirts Strike Again in Sweden
Expatriation In Situ
Mr. Euro-Islam Tariq Ramadan Capitulates
The World’s Largest Qiblah
France: Train Sabotage By Leftists
China to Join NATO?
The Latest Danish Blasphemy
Echoes of Bali
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“Facing Jihad” Postponement Announcement
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The Rise of Eastern Civilization
Countdown to the Next Mo-Boom
Does Conservatism Have Any Rule Books?
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Privacy Policy European Union
In 2018 Archeologists Found Graffiti In Pompeii And Have Learnt Many New Things About The City
By Annie Price
Image: Luis Rosendo/Heritage Images/Getty Images
It seems unlikely that the graffiti you see around today will be of much use to the historians of the future. And, of course, we don’t know whether the street art that graces our towns and cities will even survive for centuries to come. That’s not an impossible prospect, though, if a find made in Italy in 2018 is anything to go by. And after uncovering the graffiti, archaeologists at the location noticed that the daubings appeared to overturn what we thought we knew about the eruption in Pompeii.
Image: Andy Holmes
Pompeii itself is perhaps among the most famous ancient Roman cities. Situated near the Bay of Naples in Italy, the locale is overlooked by Mount Vesuvius. And it was the almighty eruption of this volcano in 79 A.D. that has helped to cement Pompeii’s place in the history books.
Image: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Prior to that devastating eruption, however, Pompeii is thought to have been a thriving city of around 20,000 people. In fact, the locale had long been a popular vacation spot for wealthy families from across Rome. Accordingly, then, Pompeii was made up of elegant villas and paved streets where visitors could relax within a range of amenities.
Image: _M_V_
Still, life in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius was an ominous affair. And the volcano – which is thought to be many thousands of years old – had a fearsome reputation. Indeed, it had been intermittently spouting lava for generations prior to 79 A.D. One particularly explosive eruption came, however, in around 1780 B.C.
Image: Pieter Biesemans
It was then, you see, that Mount Vesuvius detonated millions of tons of ash, rocks and lava 22 miles into the atmosphere. And, alarmingly, it’s thought that the resulting debris demolished every settlement within a 15-mile radius. Nevertheless, life in that sunny part of Italy proved too tempting to resist, and so many people flocked to the region even after that devastating episode.
Image: The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images
Still, in the years leading up to the eruption that destroyed Pompeii, there were apparently signs of the catastrophe that awaited. In particular, a huge earthquake that occurred in the region in 63 A.D. is now reckoned to have signaled the inevitable danger. But, regardless, people were seemingly drawn to the area anyway, and the population continued to boom.
Image: Rum Bucolic Ape
Then, just 16 years after that foreboding tremor, Mount Vesuvius erupted once more. And, this time, volcanic materials were sent soaring so high that they could apparently be seen several hundred miles away. Indeed, one of the most enduring accounts of the eruption comes from the writer Pliny the Younger – and he watched the whole thing unfold from a distance.
Image: Edward Gooch Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
In a letter to his friend in the years after the eruption, Pliny described “a cloud of unusual size and appearance.” He added that the smoke resembled a pine tree, “for it rose to a great height on a sort of trunk and then split off into branches… In places it looked white, elsewhere blotched and dirty.”
Image: The Print Collector/Getty Images
Meanwhile, in the days that followed the initial eruption, the masses of rock Vesuvius had emitted began to rain down. Pliny himself detailed the dreadful phenomenon in a different letter, explaining, “A dense black cloud was coming up behind us, spreading over the earth like a flood.”
Continuing his vivid account, Pliny added, “You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants and the shouting of men. Some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives, trying to recognize them by their voices… There were some who prayed for death in their terror of dying.”
Image: John Martin/Tate Britain
And Pliny revealed, too, the sense of panic that he had encountered. “Many besought the aid of the gods, but still more imagined there were no gods left and that the universe was plunged into eternal darkness for evermore,” he wrote. “I admit that I derived some poor consolation in my mortal lot from the belief that the whole world was dying with me – and I with it.”
Image: Wellcome Images
Yet even in these desperate moments, there was still time to flee the wrath of Vesuvius. Ultimately, though, conditions grew worse; the air became so thick with ash, in fact, that it became a struggle to breathe. And the final blow came with a pyroclastic surge – a rapid release of toxic gas and fragmentized rock that rushed down the mountain and buried Pompeii.
Today, historians believe that 2,000 people lost their lives in the wake of the eruption. Pompeii itself, meanwhile, laid buried some 20 feet below the ground and was forgotten for centuries. Then in 1748 the city was discovered again. And as Pompeii was excavated, it became evident that the ashes that had caused its downfall had also preserved the location for centuries.
Thanks to this extraordinary form of natural conservation, then, archaeologists were provided with a unique insight into the Roman way of life. Pompeii had once boasted well-preserved buildings, paved streets and works of art, it seemed; everyday items such as bread and jars of fruit were also found intact. But among the most fascinating – and harrowing – discoveries were the remains of the city’s former inhabitants.
While excavating Pompeii, archaeologists would occasionally find gaps in the ash. And in the 1860s one Giuseppe Fiorelli realized that these holes had been left after the bodies of those who had perished had decomposed. It was then that he had a masterstroke: by forcing plaster into the apertures, exact models of these people in their final moments could be created.
Image: Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images
All in all, the remains of Pompeii have proved invaluable in understanding Roman life at that time. In particular, the city’s level of preservation has helped give us excellent insights into both that area of Italy and the people who once existed there. It may come as little surprise, then, that Pompeii was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997.
Image: Wknight94
But perhaps among the most enlightening finds at Pompeii is the graffiti that reveals the broadly forgotten language of Vulgar Latin. Spoken colloquially, the dialect is said to have been less standardized than Classical Latin. What’s more, Vulgar Latin is actually thought to be at the root of modern languages such as Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian.
Image: Richard Mortel
Yet while the sheer amount of graffiti in Pompeii was noticed from the off, archaeologists didn’t necessarily rush to analyze the daubings. Indeed, it seems that the archaeological community once took a stance that the study of the city’s elite should be given priority. And the elite, it was assumed, were not those who would willingly deface walls.
Image: Mediatus
However, this notion appears to be rather outdated. Indeed, when it came to graffiti in Pompeii, archaeologist Rebecca Benefiel has revealed that “everyone was doing it.” In 2010 Benefiel explained to Smithsonian that she had counted 85 scribblings in one of Pompeii’s elite homes alone. A number of these were greetings, while others were playful takes on poems of the day.
Image: Carole Raddato
Nowadays, then, historians also examine graffiti to learn more about those who came from more marginalized groups. “Graffiti is often produced very spontaneously, with less thought than Virgil or the epic poetry,” Claire Taylor – who teaches Greek history at Ireland’s Trinity College – told Smithsonian. “It gives us a different picture of ancient society.”
Image: Jon Cox
And from her own studies on Pompeii’s graffiti, Benefiel has discovered that Emperor Nero was probably more well liked than was previously thought. It seems, though, that his popularity took a nose-dive after he kicked his wife, who was pregnant at the time. But perhaps Benefiel’s most surprising discovery has been how the Romans seemingly used graffiti to spread joy.
Image: ushumgal
“[Pompeii’s inhabitants] were much nicer in their graffiti than we are,” Benefiel revealed in her interview with Smithsonian. “There are lots of pairings with the word ‘felicter,’ which means ‘happily.’ When you pair it with someone’s name, it means you’re hoping things go well for that person. There [is] lots of graffiti that [says] ‘Felicter Pompeii,’ wishing the whole town well.”
Image: Brewminate.com
Thanks to archaeologists such as Benefiel, then, graffiti has taught us yet more about the Romans. And, in fact, renewed excavation attempts in 2018 have actually extended our understanding of Pompeii even further. During that year, you see, an etching was uncovered that may completely change the way we think about the city’s fiery demise.
Image: Facebook/Pompeii – Parco Archeologico
The discovery occurred when a team of investigators were working in the Regio V section of Pompeii. And inside a room located in the area, the group found a charcoal scrawl on the wall. Fascinatingly, experts believe that the inscription was made by a person who was helping to renovate the home at the time.
In an October 2018 statement obtained by CNN, archaeologists expanded on that renovation theory. “[This hypothesis] could help explain why, next to rooms with frescoed walls and ceilings and with cemented floors – in some cases with tiles or marble slabs – there were some areas with plastered walls or even without floors, like the atrium and the entrance corridor,” they said.
At first glance, the graffiti looked pretty innocuous, too, telling of how someone had “indulged too much in food here.” However, it was the date given for the reported excessive eating that intrigued historians the most. And in turn, the message ultimately forced them to reconsider what they thought to be true about Pompeii.
To the average Joe, the date given may have appeared fairly inconsequential. It simply reads “XVI K Nov,” which in terms we’d understand today means “October 17.” But to people who concern themselves with the study of Pompeii, this daubing was surprising. You see, it suggested that the eruption of Vesuvius may have occurred later than previously thought.
Prior to the discovery of the inscription, historians had believed that Pompeii met its end on August 24, 79 A.D. They landed upon that date thanks to Pliny’s letters – the only known eyewitness records of the disaster. However, the new-found graffiti seems to have been created nearly two months after Vesuvius’ fateful eruption had supposedly occurred.
Indeed, archaeologists working on the latest excavations at Pompeii are confident that the scrawl was penned shortly before the volcano blew its top. And the team explained their reasons in a statement obtained by the BBC in October 2018. “Since [the graffiti] was done in fragile and evanescent charcoal, which could not have been able to last long, it is highly probable that it can be dated to the October of 79 A.D.,” they said.
It’s worth noting, though, that not all experts assume Pompeii was buried in August of 79 A.D. Some believe that the event happened much later in the year, owing to chestnuts, autumnal fruits and wool clothing having all been found among the ruins. But based on the newly uncovered graffiti, it seems that the eruption actually occurred on October 24, 79 A.D. – a week after the marking was made.
Image: CM Dixon/Print Collector/Getty Images
So, how did Pliny come to get his dates so wrong? Well the fact of the matter is that he wrote his account of the eruption two decades after it occurred. Furthermore, there are no original copies of his letters – only translations – and many of these contain varying dates. It appears likely, therefore, that there has been some kind of misunderstanding along the way.
Meanwhile, shortly after the graffiti was unearthed, Italian Minister of Culture Alberto Bonisoli made an official visit to Pompeii. While he was in the area, moreover, he referred to the writing as “an extraordinary discovery.” Bonisoli further added, “The new excavations demonstrate the exceptional skill of our country.”
And archaeologists didn’t just see the graffiti during the dig; they also uncovered two houses of opulent design in the Regio V area. There, experts found a fresco that is thought to constitute part of a lararium – the place in a Roman household where families honored their gods. That room also presented a pair of serpents; these are thought to have represented “good demons” who were able to attract riches to those dwelling in the home.
And the director of the site at Pompeii has also commented on these new finds, according to a 2018 report by Lonely Planet. “It’s always exciting to discover something new and [to] see our efforts give results,” Massimo Osanna said. “It’s also interesting to see traces of previous archaeological excavations emerge and [to] observe how the same work we’re doing today was conducted in other eras.”
Plus, archaeologists made another surprising discovery in the same villa and in the same month that the graffiti was found. This time, it came in the form of skeletons that had once belonged to a pair of women and three kids. The group were found bunched together inside the house, where it’s believed that they had sought shelter from the eruption.
According to Osanna, it’s likely that the women and children locked themselves in the room after realizing that they couldn’t escape. At that point, ash had been raining down for 18 hours and obstructing the roads out of the city – meaning all the clan could probably do was to stay inside inside and block the door.
In October 2018 Osanna added to The Daily Telegraph, “The place where [the group] took shelter must have seemed safe.” But, revealing their terrible fate, he then added, “They were crushed by the roof when it collapsed or burned by the pyroclastic cloud – or perhaps a combination of both those things.”
Image: Jeffrey
So, thanks to the most recent discoveries at Pompeii, it seems that there’s still a lot to learn about the ancient city. And it’s little wonder that the location is one of Italy’s most visited attractions, drawing an impressive two and a half million tourists each year. Yet these great crowds can also lead to substantial complications.
Image: Victor R. Ruiz
In fact, the ruins of Pompeii – which have been preserved for close to 2,000 years – are today under threat. The main risks come in the form of erosion, light exposure and wildlife, although human activity also plays a part. Among the man-made problems facing Pompeii are theft, vandalism, pollution and tourism.
Image: Rachel Clarke
As a result, then, Pompeii has recently been subject to improvements funded by the European Union. In particular, these works were organized in order to ensure that the site is protected “for future generations.” And so hopefully the city will maintain its integrity for years to come – providing us with a glimpse into ancient Rome in the process.
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Your go-to source for digging into the past, from ancient discoveries to the lives of famous figures. Historical Post is part of Scribol Publishing, a division of Pub Ocean.
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June 7 in recent years
June 7 is the 158th day of the year (159th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. 207 days remain until the end of the year.
421 – Emperor Theodosius II marries Aelia Eudocia at Constantinople (Byzantine Empire).[1]
879 – Pope John VIII recognizes the Duchy of Croatia under Duke Branimir as an independent state.[2]
1002 – Henry II, a cousin of Emperor Otto III, is elected and crowned King of Germany.
1099 – First Crusade: The Siege of Jerusalem begins.
1420 – Troops of the Republic of Venice capture Udine, ending the independence of the Patria del Friuli.
1494 – Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas which divides the New World between the two countries.
1628 – The Petition of Right, a major English constitutional document, is granted the Royal Assent by Charles I and becomes law.
1654 – Louis XIV is crowned King of France.
1692 – Port Royal, Jamaica, is hit by a catastrophic earthquake; in just three minutes, 1,600 people are killed and 3,000 are seriously injured.
1776 – Richard Henry Lee presents the "Lee Resolution" to the Continental Congress. The motion is seconded by John Adams and will lead to the United States Declaration of Independence.
1788 – French Revolution: Day of the Tiles: Civilians in Grenoble toss roof tiles and various objects down upon royal troops.
1800 – David Thompson reaches the mouth of the Saskatchewan River in Manitoba.
1810 – The newspaper Gazeta de Buenos Ayres is first published in Argentina.
1832 – The Great Reform Act of England and Wales receives royal assent.
1832 – Asian cholera reaches Quebec, brought by Irish immigrants, and kills about 6,000 people in Lower Canada.
1862 – The United States and the United Kingdom agree in the Lyons–Seward Treaty to suppress the African slave trade.
1863 – During the French intervention in Mexico, Mexico City is captured by French troops.
1866 – One thousand eight hundred Fenian raiders are repelled back to the United States after looting and plundering the Saint-Armand and Frelighsburg areas of Canada East.
1880 – War of the Pacific: The Battle of Arica, the assault and capture of Morro de Arica (Arica Cape), ends the Campaña del Desierto (Desert Campaign).
1892 – Homer Plessy is arrested for refusing to leave his seat in the "whites-only" car of a train; he lost the resulting court case, Plessy v. Ferguson.
1899 – American Temperance crusader Carrie Nation begins her campaign of vandalizing alcohol-serving establishments by destroying the inventory in a saloon in Kiowa, Kansas.
1905 – Norway's parliament dissolves its union with Sweden. The vote was confirmed by a national plebiscite on August 13 of that year.
1906 – Cunard Line's RMS Lusitania is launched from the John Brown Shipyard, Glasgow (Clydebank), Scotland.
1917 – World War I: Battle of Messines: Allied soldiers detonate a series of mines underneath German trenches at Messines Ridge, killing 10,000 German troops.
1919 – Sette Giugno: Nationalist riots break out in Valletta, the capital of Malta. British soldiers fire into the crowd, killing four people.
1929 – The Lateran Treaty is ratified, bringing Vatican City into existence.
1938 – The Douglas DC-4E makes its first test flight.
1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese Nationalist government creates the 1938 Yellow River flood to halt Japanese forces. Five hundred to nine hundred thousand civilians are killed.
1940 – King Haakon VII, Crown Prince Olav and the Norwegian government leave Tromsø and go into exile in London. They return exactly five years later.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Midway ends in American victory.
1942 – World War II: Aleutian Islands Campaign: Imperial Japanese soldiers begin occupying the American islands of Attu and Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska.
1944 – World War II: The steamer Danae, carrying 350 Cretan Jews and 250 Cretan partisans, is sunk without survivors off the shore of Santorini.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Normandy: At Ardenne Abbey, members of the SS Division Hitlerjugend massacre 23 Canadian prisoners of war.
1946 – The United Kingdom's BBC returns to broadcasting its television service, which has been off air for seven years because of the Second World War.
1948 – 1948 Anti-Jewish riots in Oujda and Jerada take place.[3]
1948 – Edvard Beneš resigns as President of Czechoslovakia rather than signing the Ninth-of-May Constitution, making his nation a Communist state.
1955 – Lux Radio Theatre signs off the air permanently. The show launched in New York in 1934, and featured radio adaptations of Broadway shows and popular films.
1962 – The Organisation Armée Secrète (OAS) sets fire to the University of Algiers library building, destroying about 500,000 books.
1965 – The Supreme Court of the United States hands down its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, prohibiting the states from criminalizing the use of contraception by married couples.
1967 – Six-Day War: Israeli soldiers enter Jerusalem.
1971 – The United States Supreme Court overturns the conviction of Paul Cohen for disturbing the peace, setting the precedent that vulgar writing is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1971 – The Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service raids the home of Ken Ballew for illegal possession of hand grenades.
1977 – Five hundred million people watch the high day of the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II begin on television.
1981 – The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor during Operation Opera.
1982 – Priscilla Presley opens Graceland to the public; the bathroom where Elvis Presley died five years earlier is kept off-limits.
1989 – Surinam Airways Flight 764 crashes on approach to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname because of pilot error, killing 176 of 187 aboard.
1991 – Mount Pinatubo erupts, generating an ash column 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) high.
2000 – The United Nations defines the Blue Line as the border between Israel and Lebanon.
2013 – A bus catches fire in the Chinese city of Xiamen, killing at least 47 people and injuring more than 34 others.
2013 – A gunman opens fire at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, after setting a house on fire nearby, killing six people, including the suspect.
2014 – At least 37 people are killed in an attack in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's South Kivu province.
156 BC – Emperor Wu of Han (d. 87 BC)
1003 – Emperor Jingzong of Western Xia (d. 1048)
1402 – Ichijō Kaneyoshi, Japanese noble (d. 1481)
1422 – Federico da Montefeltro, Italian condottiero (d. 1482)[4]
1502 – John III of Portugal (d. 1557)[5]
1529 – Étienne Pasquier, French lawyer and jurist (d. 1615)[6]
1687 – Gaetano Berenstadt, Italian actor and singer (d. 1734)
1702 – Louis George, Margrave of Baden-Baden (d. 1761)
1757 – Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (d. 1806)
1761 – John Rennie the Elder, Scottish engineer (d. 1821)
1770 – Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1828)
1778 – Beau Brummell, English cricketer and fashion designer (d. 1840)
1811 – James Young Simpson, Scottish obstetrician (d. 1870)
1831 – Amelia Edwards, English journalist and author (d. 1892)
1837 – Alois Hitler, Austrian civil servant (d. 1903)
1840 – Carlota of Mexico (d. 1927)
1845 – Leopold Auer, Hungarian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1930)
1847 – George Washington Ball, American legislator from Iowa (d. 1915)
1848 – Paul Gauguin, French painter and sculptor (d. 1903)
1851 – Ture Malmgren, Swedish journalist and politician (d. 1922)
1862 – Philipp Lenard, Slovak-German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
1863 – Bones Ely, American baseball player and manager (d. 1952)
1868 – Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish painter and architect (d. 1928)
1877 – Roelof Klein, Dutch-American rower and engineer (d. 1960)
1879 – Knud Rasmussen, Danish anthropologist and explorer (d. 1933)
1879 – Joan Voûte, Dutch astronomer and academic (d. 1963)
1884 – Ester Claesson, Swedish landscape architect (d. 1931)
1883 – Sylvanus Morley, American archaeologist and scholar (d. 1948)
1886 – Henri Coandă, Romanian engineer, designed the Coandă-1910 (d. 1972)
1888 – Clarence DeMar, American runner and educator (d. 1958)
1892 – Leo Reise, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1975)
1893 – Gillis Grafström, Swedish figure skater and architect (d. 1938)
1894 – Alexander P. de Seversky, Georgian-American pilot and engineer, co-designed the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt (d. 1974)
1896 – Douglas Campbell, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 1990)
1896 – Robert S. Mulliken, American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
1896 – Imre Nagy, Hungarian soldier and politician, 44th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1958)
1897 – George Szell, Hungarian-American conductor and composer (d. 1970)
1899 – Elizabeth Bowen, Anglo-Irish author and critic (d. 1973)
1902 – Georges Van Parys, French composer (d. 1971)
1902 – Herman B Wells, American banker, author, and academic (d. 2000)
1905 – James J. Braddock, American lieutenant and boxer (d. 1974)
1906 – Glen Gray, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1963)
1907 – Sigvard Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (d. 2002)
1909 – Virginia Apgar, American anesthesiologist and pediatrician, developed the Apgar test (d. 1974)
1909 – Peter W. Rodino, American captain, lawyer, and politician (d. 2005)
1909 – Jessica Tandy, English-American actress (d. 1994)
1910 – Arthur Gardner, American actor and producer (d. 2014)
1910 – Mike Sebastian, American football player and coach (d. 1989)
1910 – Bradford Washburn, American mountaineer, photographer, and cartographer (d. 2007)
1910 – Marion Post Wolcott, American photographer (d. 1990)
1911 – Brooks Stevens, American engineer and designer, designed the Wienermobile (d. 1995)
1912 – Jacques Hélian, French bandleader (d. 1986)
1917 – Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet (d. 2000)
1917 – Dean Martin, American singer, actor, and producer (d. 1995)
1920 – Georges Marchais, French mechanic and politician (d. 1997)
1921 – Myrtle Edwards, Australian cricketer and softball player (d. 2010)
1921 – Brian Talboys, New Zealand politician, 7th Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 2012)
1922 – Leo Reise, Jr., Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
1923 – Jules Deschênes, Canadian lawyer and judge (d. 2000)
1925 – Ernestina Herrera de Noble, Argentine publisher and executive (d. 2017)
1926 – Jean-Noël Tremblay, Canadian lawyer and politician
1927 – Charles de Tornaco, Belgian race car driver (d. 1953)
1927 – Paul Salamunovich, American conductor and educator (d. 2014)
1928 – Dave Bowen, Welsh footballer and manager (d. 1995)
1928 – James Ivory, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1928 – Randolph Turpin, English boxer (d. 1966)
1929 – Ernie Roth, American wrestling manager (d. 1983)
1929 – John Turner, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Canada
1931 – Virginia McKenna, English actress and author
1932 – Per Maurseth, Norwegian historian, academic, and politician (d. 2013)
1933 – Romeo Galán, Argentine athlete[7]
1935 – Harry Crews, American novelist, playwright, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2012)
1935 – Shyama, Indian actress (d. 2017)
1936 – Bert Sugar, American author and boxing historian (d. 2012)
1938 – Ian St John, Scottish footballer and manager
1939 – Yuli Turovsky, Russian-Canadian cellist, conductor and educator (d. 2013)
1940 – Tom Jones, Welsh singer and actor
1940 – Ronald Pickup, English actor
1944 – Annette Lu, Taiwanese lawyer and politician, 8th Vice President of the Republic of China
1944 – Clarence White, American guitarist and singer (The Byrds) (d. 1973)
1945 – Gilles Marotte, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
1945 – John Olsen, Australian politician, 42nd Premier of South Australia
1945 – Wolfgang Schüssel, Austrian lawyer and politician, 26th Chancellor of Austria
1947 – Don Money, American baseball player and coach
1947 – Thurman Munson, American baseball player (d. 1979)
1948 – Jim Walton, American businessman
1952 – Liam Neeson, Irish-American actor
1952 – Orhan Pamuk, Turkish-American novelist, screenwriter, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1953 – Johnny Clegg, English-South African singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – Louise Erdrich, American novelist and poet
1955 – William Forsythe, American actor and producer
1955 – Tim Richmond, American race car driver (d. 1989)
1956 – L.A. Reid, American songwriter and producer, co-founded LaFace Records
1957 – Juan Luis Guerra, Dominican singer-songwriter and producer
1957 – Paddy McAloon, English singer-songwriter (Prefab Sprout)[8]
1958 – Prince, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor (d. 2016)
1958 – Surakiart Sathirathai, Thai politician and diplomat
1959 – Mike Pence, 48th Vice President of the United States
1960 – Hirohiko Araki, Japanese manga artist and creator of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
1960 – Bill Prady, American screenwriter and producer
1961 – Dave Catching, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1962 – Thierry Hazard, French singer-songwriter
1962 – Takuya Kurosawa, Japanese race car driver
1963 – Gordon Gano, American musician, vocalist of the Violent Femmes[9]
1964 – Gia Carides, Australian actress
1964 – Graeme Labrooy, Sri Lankan cricketer
1965 – Mick Foley, American wrestler, actor, and author
1965 – Jean-Pierre François, French footballer and singer
1965 – Damien Hirst, English painter and art collector
1966 – Eric Kretz, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
1966 – Tom McCarthy, American director, screenwriter and actor
1966 – Stéphane Richer, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Dave Navarro, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1970 – Helen Baxendale, English actress
1970 – Cafu, Brazilian footballer
1970 – Andrei Kovalenko, Russian ice hockey player
1970 – Mike Modano, American ice hockey player
1972 – Karl Urban, New Zealand actor
1974 – Bear Grylls, English adventurer, author, and television host
1975 – Allen Iverson, American basketball player
1976 – Necro, American rapper, producer, and director
1976 – Mirsad Türkcan, Turkish basketball player
1977 – Marcin Baszczyński, Polish footballer
1978 – Mini Andén, Swedish-American model, actress, and producer
1978 – Bill Hader, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter
1979 – Kevin Hofland, Dutch footballer
1979 – Anna Torv, Australian actress
1980 – Ed Moses, American swimmer
1981 – Stephen Bywater, English footballer
1981 – Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player
1981 – Kevin Kyle, Scottish footballer
1983 – Milan Jurčina, Slovak ice hockey player
1983 – Piotr Małachowski, Polish discus thrower
1984 – Ari Koivunen, Finnish singer-songwriter
1985 – Arkadiusz Piech, Polish footballer
1985 – Charlie Simpson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1985 – Richard Thompson, Trinidadian sprinter
1986 – Keegan Bradley, American golfer
1988 – Michael Cera, Canadian actor
1988 – Milan Lucic, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Iggy Azalea, Australian rapper
1990 – T. J. Brodie, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Allison Schmitt, American swimmer
1991 – Cenk Tosun, Turkish professional footballer
1991 – Fetty Wap, American rapper
1992 – Sara Niemietz, American singer-songwriter and actress
1992 – Mathias Gehrt, Danish professional footballer
1992 – Alípio, Brazilian footballer
1993 – George Ezra, English singer-songwriter
555 – Vigilius, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 500)
862 – Al-Muntasir, Abbasid caliph (b. 837)
929 – Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders (b. 877)
940 – Qian Hongzun, heir apparent of Wuyue (b. 925)
951 – Lu Wenji, Chinese chancellor (b. 876)
1329 – Robert the Bruce, Scottish king (b. 1274)
1337 – William I, Count of Hainaut (b. 1286)
1341 – An-Nasir Muhammad, Egyptian sultan (b. 1285)
1358 – Ashikaga Takauji, Japanese shōgun (b. 1305)
1394 – Anne of Bohemia, English queen (b. 1366)
1492 – Casimir IV Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 (b. 1427)
1594 – Rodrigo Lopez, physician of Queen Elizabeth (b. 1525)
1618 – Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, English politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1577)
1660 – George II Rákóczi, Prince of Transylvania (b. 1621)
1711 – Henry Dodwell, Irish scholar and theologian (b. 1641)
1779 – William Warburton, English bishop and critic (b. 1698)
1792 – Benjamin Tupper, American general and surveyor (b. 1738)[10]
1810 – Luigi Schiavonetti, Italian engraver and etcher (b. 1765)
1826 – Joseph von Fraunhofer, German optician, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1787)
1840 – Frederick William III of Prussia (b. 1770)
1840 – Friedrich Hölderlin, German lyric poet (b. 1770)
1853 – Norbert Provencher, Canadian missionary and bishop (b. 1787)
1854 – Charles Baudin, French admiral (b. 1792)
1859 – David Cox, English painter (b. 1783)
1861 – Patrick Brontë, Anglo-Irish priest and author (b. 1777)
1863 – Antonio Valero de Bernabé, Latin American liberator (b. 1790)
1866 – Chief Seattle, American tribal chief (b. 1780)
1879 – William Tilbury Fox, English dermatologist and academic (b. 1836)
1896 – Pavlos Carrer, Greek composer (b. 1829)
1911 – Maurice Rouvier, French politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1842)
1915 – Charles Reed Bishop, American banker and politician, founded the First Hawaiian Bank (b. 1822)
1916 – Émile Faguet, French author and critic (b. 1847)
1927 – Archie Birkin, English motorcycle racer (b. 1905)
1927 – Edmund James Flynn, Canadian lawyer and politician, 10th Premier of Quebec (b. 1847)
1932 – John Verran, English-Australian politician, 26th Premier of South Australia (b. 1856)
1933 – Dragutin Domjanić, Croatian lawyer, judge, and poet (b. 1875)
1936 – Stjepan Seljan, Croatian explorer (b. 1875)
1937 – Jean Harlow, American actress and singer (b. 1911)
1942 – Alan Blumlein, English engineer (b. 1903)
1945 – Kitaro Nishida, Japanese philosopher and academic (b. 1870)
1954 – Alan Turing, English mathematician and computer scientist (b. 1912)
1956 – John Willcock, Australian politician, 15th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1879)
1961 – Reginald Fletcher, 1st Baron Winster, English navy officer and politician, Secretary of State for Transport (b. 1885)
1963 – ZaSu Pitts, American actress (b. 1894)
1965 – Judy Holliday, American actress and singer (b. 1921)
1966 – Jean Arp, German-French sculptor, painter, and poet (b. 1886)
1967 – Anatoly Maltsev, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1909)
1967 – Dorothy Parker, American poet, short story writer, critic, and satirist (b. 1893)
1968 – Dan Duryea, American actor and singer (b. 1907)
1970 – E. M. Forster, English novelist, short story writer, essayist (b. 1879)
1978 – Charles Moran, American race car driver (b. 1906)
1978 – Ronald George Wreyford Norrish, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
1979 – Asa Earl Carter, American Ku Klux Klan leader (b. 1925)
1980 – Elizabeth Craig, Scottish journalist and economist (b. 1883)
1980 – Philip Guston, Canadian-American painter and educator (b. 1913)
1980 – Henry Miller, American novelist and essayist (b. 1891)
1985 – Klaudia Taev, Estonian opera singer and educator (b. 1906)
1987 – Cahit Zarifoğlu, Turkish poet and author (b. 1940)
1988 – Martin Sommer, German SS officer (b. 1915)
1989 – Chico Landi, Brazilian race car driver (b. 1907)
1989 – William McLean Hamilton, Canadian politician, Postmaster General of Canada (b. 1919)
1992 – Bill France Sr., American race car driver and businessman, co-founded NASCAR (b. 1909)
1993 – Dražen Petrović, Croatian basketball player, Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer 2002 (b. 1964)
1995 – Hsuan Hua, Chinese monk and educator (b. 1918)
1995 – Charles Ritchie, Canadian diplomat, High Commission of Canada to the United Kingdom (b. 1906)
1996 – Max Factor, Jr., American businessman (b. 1904)
1997 – Jacques Canetti, French music executive and talent agent (b. 1909)
2001 – Víctor Paz Estenssoro, Bolivian politician, 52nd President of Bolivia (b. 1907)
2001 – Carole Fredericks, French singer (Fredericks Goldman Jones) (b. 1952)
2001 – Betty Neels, English nurse and author (b. 1910)
2002 – Signe Hasso, Swedish-American actress (b. 1915)
2002 – B. D. Jatti, Indian lawyer and politician, 5th Vice President of India (b. 1912)
2002 – Lilian, Princess of Réthy (b. 1916)
2004 – Quorthon, Swedish musician (b. 1966)
2008 – Rudy Fernandez, Filipino actor and producer (b. 1953)
2008 – Jim McKay, American journalist and sportscaster (b. 1921)
2008 – Dino Risi, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1916)
2009 – Hugh Hopper, English bass player and songwriter (b. 1945)
2011 – Paul Dickson, American football player and coach (b. 1937)
2012 – Phillip V. Tobias, South African paleontologist and academic (b. 1925)
2012 – Bob Welch, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1945)[11]
2013 – Pierre Mauroy, French educator and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1928)[12]
2014 – Fernandão, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1978)[13]
2014 – Dora Akunyili, Nigerian academic and politician (b. 1954)
2014 – Epainette Mbeki, South African activist (b. 1916)
2015 – Christopher Lee, English actor (b. 1922)[14]
2015 – Sheikh Razzak Ali, Bangladeshi journalist and politician (b. 1928)[15]
Anniversary of the Memorandum of the Slovak Nation (Slovakia)
Birthday of Prince Joachim (Denmark)
Antonio Maria Gianelli
Colmán of Dromore
Landulf of Yariglia (Asti)
Meriasek
Paul I of Constantinople
Robert of Newminster
Chief Seattle (Lutheran Church)
Blessed Marie-Thérèse de Soubiran La Louvière
June 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Commemoration Day of St John the Forerunner (Armenian Apostolic Church)
Pioneers of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil (Episcopal Church (USA))
Battle of Arica Day (Arica y Parinacota Region, Chile)
Flag Day (Peru)
Journalist Day (Argentina)
Sette Giugno (Malta)
Union Dissolution Day (Norway)
^ Dumbarton Oaks; Melinda Mays; Philip Grierson (1992). Catalogue of Late Roman Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection: From Arcadius and Honorius to the Accession of Anastasius. Dumbarton Oaks. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-88402-193-3.
^ Croatia Press. Croatia Press. 1977. p. 58.
^ Dalit Atrakchi (2001). "The Moroccan Nationalist Movement and Its Attitude toward Jews and Zionism". In Michael M. Laskier and Yaacov Lev. The Divergence of Judaism and Islam. University Press of Florida. p. 163.: "...the riots that broke out on 7 June 1948 in the cities of Oujda and Jerada, close to the border between Morocco and Algeria, which served as a transfer station for Moroccan Jews on their way to Israel... It is believed that the riots were brought on by the speech given a short while earlier by Sultan Muḥammad Ben-Yussuf, which inveighed against the Zionists and cried for solidarity with the Arabs fighting in Israel."
^ June Osborne (1 October 2003). Urbino: The Story of a Renaissance City. frances lincoln ltd. pp. 46–. ISBN 978-0-7112-2086-7.
^ Paul Robert Kruse (1958). The Story of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1768-1943. Department of Photoduplication, University of Chicago Library.
^ Hugh Chisholm (1911). The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information. Encyclopædia Britannica Company.
^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill. "Romeo Galán Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
^ "Happy Birthday". Mirror.co.uk. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
^ "Band Bios: Gordon Gano". Archived from the original on July 3, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
^ Chaffin, William L. (1880). Brigadier General Benjamin Tupper. pp. 2–7.
^ Duke, Alan (June 7, 2012). "Musician Bob Welch kills self". CNN.
^ "Pierre Mauroy, Former French Socialist Premier, Dies at 84 - The New York Times". nytimes.com. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
^ Bonn, Kyle (7 June 2014). "Former Internacional striker Fernandão dies in helicopter crash". NBC Sports. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
^ 'Sir Christopher Lee: Screen legend dies aged 93'.
BBC News. Published 12 June 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
^ "Ex-speaker Razzak Ali passes away". The Daily Star. 8 June 2015.
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Karin Wulf on Why History Hashtags on Twitter are Inherently Inclusive
tags: historians, Twitter, Karin Wulf
by Aleisha Smith
Aleisha Smith is a History News Network intern.
Karin A. Wulf is an American historian and the executive director of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture at the College of William & Mary. Wulf began her tenure as the Director of the Omohundro Institute on July 1, 2013. She is also one of the founders of Women Also Know History, a searchable website database of women historians. Additionally, Wulf worked to spearhead a neurodiversity working group at William & Mary in 2011. She is currently writing a book about genealogy and political culture in Early America titled, Lineage: Genealogy and the Politics of Connection in British America, 1680-1820. Her work examines the history of women, gender, and the family in Early America.
I’m never reading just one, and I suspect that’s a regular phenomenon among historians! The new books on my desk right now, with bookmarks stuck in, marginalia and notes accumulating, include Stephanie Rogers-Jones, They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South (Yale UP, 2019) and Mary Thompson’s The Only Unavoidable Subject of Regret: George Washington, Slavery, and the Enslaved Community at Mount Vernon (UVA Press, 2019) for research; Kathleen Fitzpatrick’s Generous Thinking: A Radical Approach to Saving the University (JHU Press, 2019) for academic culture; Jesse Cromwell, The Smuggler’s World: Illicit Trade and Atlantic Communities in Eighteenth-Century Venezuela for teaching and because it's new from OIEAHC (& UNC Press, 2019).
What is your favorite book, or which book has had the greatest impact on you?
A book that I return to often, for teaching, thinking, writing, is Michel-Rolph-Trouillot’s Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (1995). This work foreshadowed and complements a lot of more recent work on archival absences and the power of archival constitution, including from Marisa Fuentes and Ann Laura Stoler. It’s so profound, and I never fail to learn something new, or to be motivated by reading and teaching it.
What do you think makes for a good history book?
We comprehend the past through the compelling relationship between evidence and argument. The fresh investigation or analysis of evidence (be it documentary, material, oral), and the clearest presentation of historical argument on its basis make for the strongest work. I often use Annette Gordon-Reed’s Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy (UVA Press, 1997) as an example.
Why did you choose history as your career?
I wanted to be a political journalist! But I fell in love with the early modern period in classes about feminist art history, Shakespeare, and the early United States (specifically early Congress). I didn’t want to stop reading or writing about it.
What would you like people to know about you as a historian that is not included in your general biography?
A lot of the work I do directing the Omohundro Institute is developing programs; I’m passionate about the importance of history, and particularly the importance of early American history (what I would call “Vast Early America”). Creating events and fellowships and other programs is as vital a part of being a historian, for me, as my research and teaching. The kind of projects we’re working on, to continue to articulate the significance of an expansive understanding of the early American past, is going to be even more important as we approach the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. That’s the kind of commemoration that should be looking to the work of decades of scholarship since the bicentennial showing us the continental, Atlantic, and even global context for an era that had very different meanings and very different impact across diverse, dynamic societies.
Continuing with the theme of books, I know that you run a book club at the Omohundro Institute, that you've written about on The Scholarly Kitchen (https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2018/08/01/engaging-public-scholarship-case-small-scale/). You cited outreach as one of the reasons why you began the club for mostly retirees. What does the term outreach mean to you and how is the club going?
That’s a great example of OI programs that I think are part of my core work as a historian. The book club is run for local Williamsburg folks, almost entirely retirees. We read 4-6 books a year, serious works of scholarship (you can see the reading lists here: https://oieahc.wm.edu/events/reading-series/ ). It’s been going for three years, and the group now really digs deep into the footnotes, asking questions about sources and about the historiography. I think scholarship can be accessible to everyone; I’ve argued on Scholarly Kitchen that “democracy needs footnotes” (https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2016/11/07/does-democracy-need-footnotes/) and I really believe that— understanding the evidence for an assertion, whether historical, economic, or political— is absolutely crucial.
You are an active #twitterstorian. How do you think history and the study of history is changing with platforms such as Twitter? How is it affected by hashtags/movements such as #VastEarlyAmerica and #womenalsoknowhistory?
I love Twitter for communicating with all sorts of folks, scholars in history and other disciplines, general readers, and teachers. The hashtags, as one of my colleagues on a recent panel about #VastEarlyAmerica, Christian Crouch of Bard College put it, is inherently inclusive. Anyone can use it, claim it, debate it. It’s the property of the virtual town square. I think #WomenAlsoKnowHistory has been really important, along with like hashtags, for calling attention to the often unthinking ways that historical (and other) expertise is represented. Almost 3500 women historians have signed up for the database at womenalsoknowhistory.com, making public their areas of expertise; we hear all the time about how much people are using it to find folks for media requests, panels, and more. I hope that will only continue to amplify women experts in public.
You also write for The Scholarly Kitchen, your own blog (karinwulf.com), the OI blog, Uncommon Sense, and in other forums. Why do you think it is important to utilize these different avenues for telling history?
These different venues have different audiences and missions. It’s a real privilege to write for the The Scholarly Kitchen, which is an enormously important platform in scholarly publishing. There is so much churn is that realm, where funders, publishers, and libraries meet, that often escapes the notice of the scholars whose work is being funded, published, and disseminated. And many of the enormous changes, from metrical evaluations based on citations to digital platforms, is being developed and managed based on the publication pattens of the high volume and high dollar STEM fields. I’m so glad to have the chance to bring a humanities (and history) perspective, and beyond Scholarly Kitchen I speak about this to as many groups, through webinars and conferences and other gatherings as possible. Our needs in history and the humanities generally are very different, and the impact of the decisions and practices based on STEM can have on us is profound.
I write on my own blog and elsewhere about my research and teaching, and about other issues for historians, because I think those are equally important to share with whatever audience is reading —and sometimes, especially on my own blog, I’m writing because I just really like to write!
How do you think the study of history will continue to change in the next few years?
It is exciting to see new forums for communicating history developing. The African American Intellectual History Society, for example, and its powerhouse blog, Black Perspectives, is one of the most exciting developments in the last decade. The consistency generative work that is being gathering and shared through that group has really had an enormous impact not only on the huge audiences that participate and read, but also on the ways others have been encouraged to follow their example. One thing I took from their work early on was that, per my comments on my OI local reading group, serious history has a public audience. A lot of hand-wringing about how scholars need to learn to communicate with the public emphasizes accessible writing and more general topics. But if you look at something like Black Perspectives what you see is that accessible writing is simply good writing— and that serious, in depth, sophisticated historical writing will always have an audience well beyond the academy.
What are you doing next?
I’m finishing a book about the power and practice of genealogy in 18th century British America. I look at the ways that all kinds of families and individuals created family histories for complex, personal reasons some emotional, some practical, and the ways that institutions required the production of genealogical information. It’s a big book in that the research has taken a long time, and I’m really excited to be in the home stretch. I am lucky to advise a fantastic (and large!) group of PhD students, whose work is always teaching me new approaches and new things about the early American past. At William & Mary I’m also co-chair of the Neurodiversity Working Group, which leads Neurodiversity at William & Mary, an initiative to create a campus climate around disability support and an appreciation of brain differences. We’ve got a big year ahead of us there, and at the OI working with colleagues in ASWAD for a conference centered on the 400th anniversary of the first Africans in Virginia, and around issues of inclusion in scholarly practice including publishing. I love my research and teaching, and I love my work at the OI on behalf of issues that I see as deeply connected.
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19 July 2008, 11am: A Conversation at the Hotel des Mille Collines
Bill Frist, MD
The first stop this morning was the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center. John Podesta and I laid a wreath at the mass grave site of the genocide victims. I had the opportunity to do this last year when I was in Rwanda with Samaritan’s Purse, Scott Hughett, and my wife, Karyn (who is at home now recuperating from back surgery). The site and the service in which we participated are a moving, memorial remembrance of the million people who died over those 100 days of genocide. (It is so hard to comprehend). Each member of our delegation laid a single rose alongside the wreath, one by one, as we each paid our respects. Beneath that wreath lay a mass grave, one of many at the site, containing the partial remains of over 5,000 individuals from the Kigali region.
It was remarkable that the memorial was designed to tell the story a mere four years after the genocide occurred, during a time when the horror and pain and raw feelings surely must have been still high. The result is a gripping, very tough, realistic portrait achieved through graphic, yet telling, photographs, video interviews, and displays.
We then had lunch at the famous Hotel des Mille Collines, where so much of the 1994 history took place. On the patio we heard first-person testimonials from both a perpetrator, a man who had killed many, many of his fellow Rwandans, and a victim, whose vivid story left all of us in tears. She had watched her husband and children murdered, escaped amidst mass killing in her village (by people she knew), been captured and tortured with repeated sexual assaults by fifteen men, received massive lacerations and broken bones by machete, and yet, she survived. At the table, sitting a mere three feet apart were killer and victim/survivor. How does a country like this move forward? Rwanda is confronting the past openly, with discussion, truth, forgiveness and reconciliation. And they are looking to the future, a future full of hope. This is a lesson of human resilience, played out in our presence: on the patio of the Hotel des Mille Collines.
The greater meta-story is the confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation, not just of these two but of the thousands of Rwandans who just fourteen years ago had identical experiences. How could they forgive? How could they live together even today? If you ever think something seems impossible, reflect on the fact that just fourteen years after genocide, Rwanda has both killer and victim living side by side, together. It doesn’t seem possible but everywhere we go we see this reconciliation process well established and underway, opening up a fresh start for the future. Other Rwandans at the lunch stimulated an enlightening discussion. Rwanda is about reconciliation, not retaliation. Their experience is that repentance begins with confession and leads to reconciliation which leads to justice. They claimed it was important to remember the past, but not to fixate upon it. We learned so much. There are about 350,000 survivors of genocide today. As you can imagine, these survivors were deeply wounded by the experience, and they are still in need of assistance and care.
We also learned that the court system is pure Rwandan. It is a local innovation which launched to deal with the 120,000 suspects of genocide. Traditional courts were too slow and failed for four years; thus, the new court system was adopted. Today there remain 4,000 perpetrators to be tried. The goal of these courts is to seek justice and reconciliation. Perpetrators are punished, but if they confess to their victim’s family and community, they are given leniency.
The world abandoned Rwanda in 1994. The U.S. failed; we watched on the sidelines. We failed humanity. This failure pushed me to bring the genocide resolution against the government of Sudan with respect to Darfur to the floor of the Senate, as Majority Leader. I did so when the Administration and the State Department did not want to call it “genocide” (though six weeks later, the Administration did label it “genocide”). Yet, when Americans, like our delegation, come to Rwanda, the Rwandan people told us that they are left with the feeling that now “We are not alone.”
Rwanda’s “fresh start” is being accelerated by a remarkable president and a government who understand how good governance can facilitate private sector growth to fight poverty. For instance, coffee washing stations open up new worlds for those who had once lost hope. They say again and again that they don’t want “hand-outs,” they want “hand-ups.” They are doing whatever it takes to maximize economic growth: to expand business and foreign investment. They looking and moving ahead with remarkable speed instead of looking backward.
None of what I’ve written gives justice to the nature of the lunch with Rwandans, but I share it just to give you a feel of Rwanda today. In the words of Rwandan Senator Odette Nyiramilimo, M.D., “The past fourteen years have been a time of stabilization; the next ten years are a time of economic growth and opportunity.”
What a morning. A heavy weight was felt by all as we departed the famed hotel with unimaginable images in our minds.
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a resource by its ISLRN
an ISLRN by its name
Basic Metadata
Resource: Glissando-ca
Reference Glissando-ca
Date of Submission July 5, 2019, 5:20 p.m.
Status accepted
ISLRN 780-617-066-913-1
Resource Type Primary Text
Media Type Audio
http://catalog.elra.info/en-us/repository/browse/ELRA-S0407
Language Catalan
Format/MIME Type wav
Size more than 12 hours
Access Medium downloadable
Glissando-ca includes more than 12 hours of speech in Catalan, recorded under optimal acoustic conditions, orthographically transcribed, phonetically aligned and annotated with prosodic information (location of the stressed syllables and prosodic phrasing). The corpus was recorded by 8 professional speakers and 20 non-professional speakers: 4 “news broadcaster” professional speakers (2 male and 2 female), 4 “advertising” professional speakers (2 male and 2 female), and 20 non-professional speakers (10 male and 10 female). Glissando-sp has been specially designed for prosodic studies, but can be used also for other purposes. Its structure, as well as the high number of speakers who recorded the corpus, makes the Glissando corpus especially suitable for inter-speaker and inter-style prosodic analyses.
Glissando-ca has an equivalent corpus for Spanish, Glissando-sp, with the same structure and features, which make them suitable also for inter language comparisons (see ELRA-T0406).
Both corpora are the result of a coordinated project involving Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and the University of Valladolid (UVA).
Glissando-ca is made of three subcorpora:
1) the “News” subcorpus contains the recordings of readings of real news texts (provided by “Cadena Ser” radio station), which were modified to meet the desired segmental and prosodic requirements established for the corpus (“Prosodic” subcorpus with 36 recordings of texts meeting prosodic criteria and “Phonetic” subcorpus with 36 recordings of texts meeting segmental criteria). It was recorded by 8 professional speakers, four of them having a “news broadcaster” and four an “advertising” profile. Four of them recorded both the “Prosodic” and “Phonetic” subcorpora, and four only the “Prosodic” subcorpus. Every text was designed to be read in one minute approximately, although the actual duration of the recordings depends on the speaker.
2) the “Task dialogues” subcorpus contains a set of recorded interactions between two speakers oriented to a specific goal in the domain of information requests. In each conversation, one of the speakers plays the role of instruction-giver and the other, the role of instruction follower. Three types of interactions were recorded: a) telephone-like conversations between an operator and a customer who wants information on prices and schedules of a specific route, b) information requests for an exchange university between a school’s administrative officer that provides information on the possibilities for a course at a foreign university and a student who requests for it, and c) one of the speakers plays the role of somebody who is planning a trip to the Greek island of Corfu, and calls a colleague who has lived for 5 years in Greece, in order to request for specific information concerning the route on the island. There is no specific route to reproduce; there is only an initial and a final point of the trip, and some places to visit on the way. These tasks were performed by 12 different pairs of speakers: 1 pair of “news broadcaster” professional speakers, 1 pair of “advertising” professional speakers, and 10 pairs of non-professional speakers.
3) the “Free dialogues” subcorpus contains a set of recordings of conversations between people who have some degree of familiarity with each other. The dialogue was started from the question “Do you remember how you met each other?”, but the speakers were free to change to other topics during their conversation. These conversations were recorded by 6 different pairs of speakers: 1 pair of “news broadcaster” professional speakers, 1 pair of “advertising” professional speakers, 4 pairs of non-professional speakers.
Recordings were made at a soundproof room of Communication Campus of the Pompeu Fabra University, in Barcelona. The Sony Vegas program, running on a PC with a RME Hammerfall HDSP 9652 soundcard, and a Yamaha 02R96 mixer with ADAT MY16AT cards, were used for recordings, at a sampling frequency of 48 KHz.
All the recordings were made using two microphones for each speaker: a fixed directional one (AKG C 414 B-ULS) and a headset wireless one (Senheisser EW100-G2).
Recordings were stored in wav files: mono files for the “News” subcorpus and stereo files, containing in separate channels the speech of the two participants in the conversation (they were recorded using different microphones), for the “Task” and “Free” dialogues.
The corpus includes the orthographic transcription of the recordings in separate files: txt files, containing only the raw text, in the case of the “News” corpus (these files contain the actual text read by every speaker) and xml files, containing an enriched transcription of the conversations, carried out by human transcribers, following TEI conventions, in the case of “Task” and “Free” dialogues.
Word-by-word orthographic transcription is also provided in a Praat TextGrid file, timealigned with the signal. This Praat TextGrid file includes also the phonetic transcription of the recordings, timealigned with the speech signal: automatically transcribed from the news texts, automatically aligned and then revised by human experts, in the case of the “News” subcorpus, and automatically transcribed from the orthographical transcriptions of conversations and automatically aligned, in the case of the “Task” and “Free” dialogues subcorpora.
The phonetic transcription was done using the SAMPA phonetic alphabet.
The TextGrid file includes also three tiers with the segmentation in syllables, major intonation groups and minor intonation groups: obtained automatically using prosodic annotation tools and then revised by human experts, in the case of the “News” subcorpus, and obtained automatically using prosodic annotation tools, in the case of the “Task” and “Free” dialogues subcorpora.
Distributor ELRA
Powered by ELRA / LDC / O-Cocosda / FNLP
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From award winning game developer ACES comes Flight Simulator X. The latest installment will include the usual genre leading realism that continues to awe real pilots and will serve as the graphical benchmark for games on Windows Vista. Additionally, Flight Simulator X will deliver for the first time structured game play with more than 55 missions to choose from which will test the skills of players of all levels.
Nov 22, 2019 147
La Tale
In this tale, though, the story of adventure and discovery that unfolds all revolves around you. The word "La" is a bit trickier. La is a word, but it is also a musical note and much more. Likewise, La Tale is rich with beautiful music, art, and storytelling. Together, La Tale becomes an incredible journey across strange and beautiful lands, tying together swords, sorcery, science, art, music, and much more.
Global MU Online is a MMORPG that takes the player, into a fantasy world full of excitement, adventure and monsters. With several ways to train a character, multiple character classes, and a vast continent to explore, GMO is a sure way to a unique adventure.
O2Jam
O2Jam is the first online multiplayer musical game. A non-violent online game, which focused on music as its mainstream of entertainment. Here's your chance to jam with buddies of the same musical mind. A rhythm game with a twist, O2Jam is a refreshing take on the genre, because this game allows you to jam along with buddies online, from anywhere in the world.
ShadowFlare: Episode One
In ShadowFlare: Episode One, you start your journey as a hired mercenary working for gold, precious items, and fighting experience in a demon-ruled land. Once you've reached a certain skill level in the game, you'll be able to choose a new profession for your character as a warrior, a wizard/witch, or a hunter.
Nov 22, 2019 93
All the villains from Arkham Asylum have escaped and it's up to Batman and Robin to stop them. Play as Batman and his sidekick Robin as you build, drive, swing and fight your way through Gotham City. Then, jump into the story from the other side and play as Batman's foes. There is no rest for the good (or evil).
Combat Arms
Welcome to war. Prepare to drop into a lush, ever-changing theater of conflict, where you are in complete control of your gameplay--from your customizable character and your lethal arsenal of weapons to the scenarios you want to experience. Combat Arms offers a first-person perspective of immersive environments, multiple gunplay modes, and an arsenal of deadly weapons--all customizable.
Driving Speed 2 is a free high quality racing game simulation for your PC. Choose from four high powered V8 muscle cars and race against up to 11 computer controlled opponents on two touring car circuits. This game has photo-realistic graphics, realistic car physics and performance, high quality sound, and AI. Play against your friends over a LAN or Internet with 8 player multiplayer.
In the mythical and ancient Kung Fu circle, there was an evil guild that had risen to power and dominated the once peaceful world. Living under its terror, a group of courageous men and women gathered as one to improve upon their lot. Indeed, to fight against this evil.
Rappelz Epic 5
Rappelz is an in-depth free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game. In this Fantasy based world players choose from three races the Deva, Gaia, and Asura each representing Creation, Earth, and Destruction respectively.
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First impressions of the latest terrorist threat
A CNN report states:
If not for Saudi intelligence, former U.S. homeland security adviser and CNN contributor Fran Townsend said Friday, the packages "would have arrived at these Jewish houses of worship and would have exploded ... (they) could have killed some, maimed others."
British Prime Minister David Cameron, to the contrary, concluded that the bombs were intended to destroy airplanes in route to the United States, not the synagogues.
I agree with Cameron.
Put yourself in a terrorist's place. First, you know when airplanes are airborne. They take off at one hour, land at another. You don't need to know where they are at any particular moment; anywhere over the Atlantic will do.
Second, after the airplanes land, you can't really be sure of the packages' location. Are they sitting on a loading dock? In a warehouse? Customs? A delivery truck? Did some guy steal them and they are in his garage?
Third, you, the terrorist, know this: a synagogue, already nervous and on alert, receives a package from … Yemen containing computer stuff? Come on. Yemen is known for honey, not technology. On top of that, the package arrives on the synagogue doorstep, and nobody has ordered it. Wouldn't the synagogue call the FBI? Conclusion: you know in advance there's a strong likelihood that your bomb will not get past the front door.
Fourth, if you really want a letter bomb to go off in a synagogue, to avoid the difficulties just mentioned, you'd mail it from inside the US. It doesn't make any sense to do otherwise. And so, only if you want your bomb to go off in an airplane do you do otherwise.
Airplanes, not synagogues, then, were the targets. So, why are snyagogues in this picture? Three reasons other than the obvious one:
(1) If you believe, as does al-Qaeda, that Jews rule the Western world, your reasoning is as follows: airport security and customs will be less likely to hold up a package going to a Jewish organization. It will be a "must go" priority; after all, the "boss" is waiting for it.
(2) Second, the synagogues are in Chicago. The president's hometown is Chicago. Somebody in Yemen had a double whammy in mind, which leads to
(3) Albert Camus concluded that rebellion is adolescent. I smell an adolescent, giggle-giggle-tee-hee sense of humor in addressing the bombs to Chicago synagogues -- the same humor al-Qaeda displayed in publishing in its magazine the article "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom."
Such teenage wit, incidentally, bubbles up now and then in the lectures of Yemen-based Anwar al-Awlaki, this year's poster boy for a middle class rebel turned terrorist. Clever boy …
Note to T.L. Your Two Questions.
1. "What's the bottom line?"
The middle class rebel/terrorist seeks relief from ambivalent feelings. He cannot hold the tension of opposites. Those feelings are, for the most part, unconscious. They are the ultimate source of his fervor, the mask of desperation.
For a cure, he turns to an absolute -- the opposite of ambivalence. That absolute can be a religion, a political ideology, whatever. Indeed, he can make an absolute out of a straight line, and it is that propensity, rather than any specific absolute, which matters. That propensity is the telltale heart.
On a practical level, any interrogation of a terrorist, any effort to lead a terrorist to co-operate or change sides, any program to reintegrate terrorists into society -- all should focus on the terrorist's deep ambivalent emotions. Otherwise, not just failure but counterproductive results will be frequent, if not commonplace.
2. "How does a middle class status create ambivalence?"
A condition of dependency always creates ambivalent feelings. No middle class can escape from that condition. It cannot be autonomous because it does not exist without something above and below it. To clarify: if everybody were middle class, then nobody would be middle class.
Note to M.F.
I followed your suggestion and reread my post of 9/11/2010. You are right -- I doubt it would be of any use to terrorists. It was simply that I had made many posts containing a lot of material, so it was easiest to suppress them all rather than pick and choose.
Here is the post you requested. A few minutes ago, I added some notes.
9/11 Words To Live By (REVISITED)
Yesterday, on the eve of the ninth anniversary of 9/11, the Bipartisan Policy Center released a report, "Assessing The Terrorist Threat" (Peter Bergen and Bruce Hoffman). The report is deeply disturbing in more ways than one.
The threat from Al-Qaeda is not diminishing but changing form. An "embryonic terrorist radicalization and recruitment infrastructure" now exists on American soil (page 17). Al-Qaeda is recruiting more Americans to perform terrorist attacks.
"What do we do," Bergen and Hoffman ask, "when the terrorists are like us? When they conform to the archetypal American immigrant success story?" Have terrorists "discovered our Achilles’ heel in that we currently have no strategy to counter the type of threat posed by homegrown terrorists and other radicalized recruits?" (30)
Like us: words to live by... So, what do we do, and does the report do it?
Bergen and Hoffman take stock of common ideas about the source of terrorism. "Comforting theories about poverty, lack of education, and lack of opportunity have long figured prominently in explanations for the eruption of terrorism. Indeed, in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, this debate over the 'root causes' of terrorism acquired new relevance and greater urgency. A succession of global leaders seemed to fasten on poverty, illiteracy, and lack of education as the sources of world-wide terrorism and insurgency."
Bergen and Hoffman then refute those "comforting theories" this way: "But the historical and contemporary empirical evidence fails to support such sweeping claims -- with Faisal Shahzad [the Times Square bomber] himself the latest example. Shahzad had a degree in computing and an MBA." (15)
The report seems to be building toward a major conclusion; indeed, it proceeds to build even higher: "As the terrorism expert Walter Laqueur explained seven years ago, for terrorists to survive, much less thrive, in today’s globalized, technologically savvy and interconnected world, they have to be 'educated, have some technical competence and be able to move without attracting attention in alien societies. In brief, such a person will have to have an education that cannot be found among the poor in Pakistani or Egyptian villages or Palestinian refugee camps, only among relatively well-off town folk.'"
Educated; not poor; not disadvantaged; relatively well-off; not remarkable -- like us: Bergen and Hoffman, are you saying that homegrown terrorists tend to be middle class? Sounds like it. That conclusion is one step away…
Here it comes -- but then again, no. Bergen and Hoffman jump the track: "Nor do the would-be jihadists fit any particular ethnic profile." (16) Evidence and common sense were heading straight toward the middle class origin of Western terrorists, but that conclusion cannot be admitted. So, the authors left us in a lurch. The conclusion remains, but in the mind alone -- an afterthought read between the lines. The elephant in the room.
Bergen and Hoffman cannot directly deny the middle class status of terrorists, so they do it indirectly. They declare of U.S.-based terrorists: "Indeed, these jihadists do not fit any particular ethnic, economic, educational, or social profile." (1) Curiously, their appendix presents data on the ethnicity of the American terrorists, but no data whatsoever on their economic, educational, or social status. We are left in the lurch -- again.
Many of the homegrown terrorists Bergen and Hoffman mention are discussed in this blog (see below). Their middle class status is undeniable. I challenge Bergen and Hoffman to present data to the contrary -- to refute quantitatively the very thing they assert qualitatively: like us.
Bergen and Hoffman conclude: "It is fundamentally troubling, given this collection of new threats and new adversaries directly targeting America, that there remains no federal government agency or department specifically charged with identifying radicalization and interdicting the recruitment of U.S. citizens or residents for terrorism…America is thus vulnerable to a threat that is not only diversifying, but arguably intensifying." (29)
Fundamentally troubling, indeed. Identifying radicalization, I submit, will never be achieved without understanding middle class rebellion. For it is that rebellion which is behind what the report claims to be the only common denominator of American terrorists: "hatred." (31)
Tragically, that understanding is blocked by ideological processes analyzed in "The Source of Terrorism: Middle Class Rebellion." Those processes find their culmination in the official watchword guiding the Bergen/Hoffman report: do not ask a question if you do not want to know the answer.
That watchword has a devastating consequence:
as the report suggests, America's Achilles heel has been discovered. It is our middle class.
Like Us. Words to live by. And to die by.
NOTES (October 27, 2010)
1. The middle class origin of terrorists is well documented. Two examples:
Dr. Marc Sageman concluded from his sample of over 100 terrorists: “Members of the global Salafi jihad were generally middle-class, educated young men from caring and religious families, who grew up with strong positive values of religion, spirituality and concern for their communities.” Marc Sageman, Understanding Terrorist Networks, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2004, p. 96.
For readers looking for a rigorous quantitative study of terrorism, Alan B. Krueger’s What Makes A Terrorist: Economics and The Roots of Terrorism is a basic text. Krueger’s data led him to conclude: (1) Terrorists “tend to be middle class or upper middle class….” (2) Although “the world’s attention is currently focused on Islamic terrorist organizations, they are by no means the source of terrorism. No religion has a monopoly on terrorism.” (3) “Low education, poverty, and other economic conditions” are not significantly correlated with terrorism. Alan B. Krueger, What Makes A Terrorist: Economics and The Roots of Terrorism, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 2007, pp. 77, 81, 89.
It is one thing to acknowledge something; it is entirely another to do something with that acknowledgment. As the above examples illustrate, the significant correlation between the middle class and terrorism is tossed in with other correlations, then relegated to an afterthought. As for why that correlation is marginalized:
2. The middle class/terrorist connection is undeniable. So, why don't Bergen and Hoffman go ahead and admit it? Terrorists are just like us: the middle class? Or, in the stronger language of my post, why cannot they admit it?
Let's look into that post's two words, ideological processes. I wrote in The Source of Terrorism: Middle Class Rebellion that regarding the middle class,
Aristotle’s 2,000-year-old perceptions and judgments prevail today throughout the Western world.
Aristotle wrote that … the middle class “forms the mean” and “moderation and the mean are always best.” Being moderate, those who occupy the middle “are the most ready to listen to reason.” Aristotle, "The Politics of Aristotle," translated and edited by Ernest Barker, Oxford University Press, New York, 1962, pp. 181, 186. (Book IV, Chapters XI, XII).
Aristotle’s contention that the middle class is reasonable and moderate, a neutral and stabilizing arbitrator, is highly probative. The resulting, iconic status he awarded that class is readily recognizable …
However, if Aristotle's view is correct, it is not entirely or exclusively correct.
The middle class is always best. A totem, if there ever was one. Well, wherever there is a totem, you will find a taboo.
A very different side of the middle class emerges when we look at what that class is, as opposed to what it does, i.e., moderate, reconcile. The middle class is an intermediate/transitional/marginal zone. For over a century, anthropological studies have investigated how virtually any middle status, condition, or class emanates danger, impurity, ambiguity, instability.
That dark side explains what is otherwise inexplicable: the reasonable and moderate socioeconomic middle class is also the center of extremism and terrorism. That dark side, however, is taboo. Discussing it is forbidden. Only the totemic, Aristotelian view is sanctioned, rewarded.
I did not start out as an iconoclast. The only reason I broke the taboo was that a desire to know the truth and decades of work convinced me that terrorism would never be understood without first understanding the shadow side of the middle class.
Note to Lillian B.
I wouldn't go into the Pirate Lake Mystery except for the fact that Hillary Clinton is saying that the Mexican drug cartels are becoming more like terrorist groups.
The subject on the front burner was the murder of Pirate Lake jetskier David Hartley.
Other than chopping off heads, the comparison between terrorists and drug cartels fades quickly. As a group, the terrorists' middle class origin is their dominant trait; they cannot be understood apart from it. On the contrary, members of Los Zetas, La Familia, Gulf and other Mexican drug cartels do not come from middle class families.
I suspect that any growing resemblance is occurring on the other side of the one Clinton cites. To wit: to the extent that middle class rebels/terrorists affiliate with petty criminals from the lower class, you will find more similarities between terrorist organizations and drug cartels. The Madrid train bombings are a case in point. The Baader-Meinhof Red Army Faction in Germany and the Symbionese Liberation Army in California are two others.
Serious errors and mystifications result when a middle class mentality is attributed to non-middle class people. Of course, there is in America an entrenched resistance to the idea of a "class mentality," consciousness, or ideology. That resistance, by the way, is the hallmark of middle class ideology as analyzed in "The Source of Terrorism: Middle Class Rebellion."
Anybody dissatisfied with prevailing assumptions about socio-economic classes should look at the work of French philosopher and sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. He identified and examined class preferences regarding TV shows, music, food, sports -- you name it. In "Source," I developed a number of insights found in Bourdieu's "Distinction: A Social Critique of The Judgment of Taste." It is a seminal work. In 1998, the International Sociological Association elected it as one of the ten most important sociology books of the 20th century.
Bourdieu makes this crucial point: unlike the middle and upper classes, the lower class is guided by necessity. "Poverty" is of course a synonym for necessity -- and drug cartel members know about poverty. They are overwhelmingly lower class in origin. So, necessity, urgency, effect, demand: call it what you will, it still remains the same thing -- their polar star. At the bottom of the Pirate Lake Mystery is that banality.
Returning to Clinton: a serious -- perhaps fatal -- misapplication of the middle class mindset to the drug cartels is detectable in assertions by the American media and government regarding the Pirate Lake Mystery:
First, we are told that because of the huge attention the jetskier murder is receiving in the media, the cartel leaders are angry with their underlings who executed the killing. Actually, the opposite is more likely to be true.
I lived in Mexico for over three years, part of it with a Mexican lawyer and his family in Mexico City. I accompanied him regularly to meetings with policemen and Servicio Secreto agents. I played poker and dominoes with them, ate in their homes, drank their Presidente brandy. Undoubtedly, some of them later jumped the fence.
Mexico is a theatrical place. From what I saw and heard, cartel members would revel in all the media attention. Such men are prone to stage mini dramas at the drop of a hat. (If you're poor, you can't pay for entertainment; you have to do it yourself.) Especially, their eyes brighten when an incident shows a potential for humor. Very dark humor.
Second, the worldwide attention given to the Pirate Lake murder is good for the drug business -- not bad as the American media claim. The message the drug cartel delivered to millions of people without paying a single centavo: "Stay off Pirate Lake. It's ours." No need to count the numbers of pleasure boats and skiers or the quantity of drugs crossing the lake to see if the message was received.
Third and finally, the above two realities serve as the context for understanding another message the cartel sent a few days after the murder: the killers will be "taken care of" in house. That message is pure fantasy, a diversionary tactic to appease Americans' desire for justice. As with the first message, it is sinking in, taking effect.
And effect is all that matters to drug cartels. Necessity, pure and simple.
Bin Laden and Reality Therapy
I used to teach freshmen and sophomores at the University of Florida. That is why Peter Bergen's idea of cutting the CIA's budget until they catch bin Laden in no way shocks or surprises me.
Ordinarily, I wouldn't comment, but in this instance the idea is not only puerile, it is dangerous.
Bergen asserts in his CNN article ("Why U.S. can't find Osama bin Laden" filed October 19), "Budgets should be cut if the CIA can't provide proof that it is penetrating al Qaeda and its affiliates; at the end of the day, this is the most likely way that we will ever find bin Laden …."
A few notions from Public Administration 101:
Tell me, who will define what is meaningful "penetration" and what constitutes "proof"? Who will determine if that proof is fabricated? The FBI? How will they make that determination? Whoever they are, they will have to work behind closed doors. Sounds to me like we're looking at another layer of secret bookkeepers somewhere, the very thing Bergen denounces about the CIA. Whatever it is, it won't work for free, which means … you guessed it -- a budget increase, probably for the CIA.
I think Bergen really seeks to address a larger problem: bureaupathic behavior and how to stop or limit it. Phrased that way, fundamental issues appear:
First, why should the budget cutting Bergen recommends be limited to the CIA? A lot of folks think public education isn't getting the job done; neither is social security. What about the Pentagon and the post office?
Apparently, Bergen has never worked for a government. (I have done so, incidentally, for all three branches and federal, state, county, and city levels). Cutting budgets as a way to make bureaucracies less bureaucratic simply will not work. In truth, central offices everywhere take care of themselves first; if challenged, they will cut people and services in the field, the very thing Bergen wants to increase.
Second, government agencies have plenty of friends, among them lobbyists and congressmen, notably appropriations committee members. Those friendships stretch back decades. If you, using Bergen's words, "waltz in" and want to cut the budget of a big agency like the CIA, you will be confronting a trainload of people and interests you never knew existed a few hours before you started. If you are determined to continue anyway, I suggest you discuss the matter with your wife and kids. They will give you a dose of reality therapy.
Third, there is this: in the grand scheme of increasing government competence by reducing budgets, somebody is going to have to decide which agency budgets will be cut and by how much. You're going to have to hire people to do that. Guess what? Another bureaucracy pops up. Fidel Castro once remarked that all his efforts to control the Cuban bureaucracy had ended up as new bureaucracies. "What is this power without power that I have?" he lamented. This from someone who can take out his pistol and put it to the head of any bureaucrat on the island. Talk about incentive.
In short, if slicing budgets cured bureaupathic behavior, why hasn't it been done? The fact that nobody is doing it speaks volumes -- in fact, entire libraries.
If cutting the CIA's budget is not "the most likely way" to capture bin Laden, what is? For one alternative, see my post yesterday (below).
Postscript. I'm not suggesting that the CIA is not in serious need of improvement. A few minutes ago, another CNN report noted that information on the unreliability of al-Balawai, the suicide bomber whom the CIA trusted and who blew apart 7 of its employees in Khost, Afghanistan, was not conveyed in time through proper channels.
CIA chief Leon Panetta has recommended 23 changes in procedures. Tragically, none of them will prevent another al-Balawi incident. Al-Balawai was a poster boy for middle class rebellion analyzed in "The Source of Terrorism: Middle Class Rebellion." That he was ever trusted in the first place suggests that the CIA was and still is being poorly advised.
An Immodest Proposal: How to Kill or Capture bin Laden
Bob W., you refer to today's CNN story, "NATO Official: Bin Laden, Deputy hiding in Northwest Pakistan."
Regarding Afghanistan, the story concludes: "The U.S. military could sustain the war 'indefinitely,' the [NATO] official said. But the goal is to achieve reconciliation and allow the Afghan government to function and provide security and services to the people. Without that, he said, 'we will be fighting here forever.'"
Fighting forever. The NATO official's remark is another cog in the wheel of endless war being turned by, among others, the Bergen and Hoffman report, "Assessing the Terrorist Threat," and the mainstream media. Beware: a Pavlovian reflex-style program to condition the American public to accept the unacceptable is now in gear.
Well, in Obama's words, the NATO official just doesn't get it. Question: why did we send troops into Afghanistan? Answer: immediately after 9/11, the Afghan government (then the Taliban) refused to hand over bin Laden. We did NOT go into Afghanistan "to achieve reconciliation" and to allow the "government to provide security and services to the people." If bin Laden is killed or captured, we will have achieved our purpose. We can pull the troops out -- mission accomplished. American voters: take note. Taliban, too.
What will likely happen in Iraq and Afghanistan? Answer: the same soiled fairytale that took place in Nicaragua and elsewhere. The U.S. invades a country, and then tries to set up a democracy. Simultaneously, the U.S. builds up that country's army/other armed forces; after all, the people have got to have "security." The U.S. withdraws its troops. The armed forces stage a coup. So long, democracy. Washington shrugs: too bad. However, we have to deal with somebody there. So …. Another Anastasio Somoza or Fulgencio Batista emerges. Another Saddam Hussein.
A society and government are no better than what they reward. In 2009, the U.S. awarded $7.5 billion in aid over a 5-year period to Pakistan, where bin Laden is hiding. Instead of giving more money, the U.S. should start knocking off a fixed amount -- say half a million -- for each day bin Laden is not captured or killed. The money saved should be earmarked for domestic spending, e.g., health care, public education, so that it would not be rerouted to Pakistan.
Bob, you will have your man in a few weeks, maybe days.
Note to All Readers
My health is failing. I have an undiagnosed neurological disease. The symptoms resemble numerous diseases -- Lyme, Post Polio Syndrome, ALS -- but a battery of blood tests, x-rays, an EMG, and numerous doctors have failed to identify it. I have an appointment in December with one of the top rare disease specialists in the world.
In the meantime, among the medications I am taking is Lyrica. It masks 80% of the pain, but makes me feel dizzy, exhausted, short on concentration. What took me 20 minutes to write before now takes an hour. Visitors from Brazil, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Canada, and of course the U.S. -- to name a few -- have given me hope, plus a solid geography lesson. I thank you for your understanding, and hope you will bear with me as I answer your emails in the order that they arrive. Rest assured that I will continue to do so as long as I am able.
Note to D.B.
Thanks for your note.
Yes, I managed to find the first issue of al-Qaeda's "Inspire Magazine" on the Internet:
Did you know Hitler's "Mein Kampf" is banned in Germany (France, too, I think)? That censorship is a mistake. In truth, every high school student should be forced to read at least excerpts. The book isn't a book; it's a rampage. Nothing to be afraid of.
Ditto for al-Qaeda's magazine. I assume our government is the reason why it is so hard to track down (it took me about an hour). Outlawing the magazine, or making it damn near impossible to find, only makes it more attractive. It gives the magazine an outlaw (or more precisely, taboo) energy it does not have on its own. By which I mean "Inspire," when all is said and done, is singularly uninspiring.
The magazine is a textbook demonstration of middle class rebellion. Some examples:
"The dust will never settle down" is the title of an article by New Mexico-born al-Awlaki, who is on the U.S. most wanted list. My blog discussed him at length. (I suppressed it when several indicators suggested he might be tuning in). His "dust" metaphor refers to the hullabaloo surrounding the Danish cartoon.
Never settle down. Al-Awlaki obviously savors those words; he is repeating them from a sermon he gave. To quote "The Source of Terrorism: Middle Class Rebellion," (p.185):
Middle class rebellion exalts … the world according to Heraclitus (540-480 BC). "One cannot step twice into the same river," he observed, "for the water into which you first stepped has flowed on." Some examples of rebellion's worship of movement for its own sake:
· "Goodbye to here," [French poet and middle class rebel archetype] Arthur Rimbaud waved, "no matter where."
· “Chance became our trademark,” Dadaist Hans Richter (1888-1976) recalled: "we followed it like a compass."
· [French poet] Lautréamont pronounced: "all is foam."
The special value that the rebel places on movement as a thing in itself is part of the greater value he accords to unity, to synthesis, to being with The One. It is a unity inside oneself and/or others, as well as in movement; it is a unity forever felt, forever just out of reach. Al-Qaeda's magazine poignantly phrases that yearning this way: "This effort, the effort of defending the Messenger of Allāh صلى الله عليه وسلم, should not be limited to a particular group of Muslims such as the mujāhidīn but should be the effort of the ummah, the entire ummah. This is an issue that should unite the efforts of the Muslims worldwide."
"The Source of Terrorism" (pp. 181-185) notes that the middle class rebel cultivates a number of specific contradictions, one of which is high morals/base practice:
"O Purity! Purity!" Rimbaud cried out: "When shall we go beyond the shores and the mountains, to salute the birth of the new work, and the new wisdom, the flight of tyrants and demons, the end of superstition, and be the first to adore Christmas on earth? The song of heaven, the marching peoples! Slaves, let us not curse life."
Christmas on earth for Rimbaud proved to be not always a silent night. "Give over everything to war, to vengeance, to terrors," he urged elsewhere:
Europe, Asia, America -- disappear!
Our avenging march has occupied everywhere,
all cities, countrysides! We will be overcome!
Volcanoes will blow up; the ocean will be hit...
Every respectable, middle class family man will steadfastly deny that he has any connection whatsoever with such an avenging march -- that there is the slightest link between the middle class and nihilistic terror. As a matter of record, it must be noted that among the most ardent admirers of Rimbaud was Saloth Sâr, a kindly petit professor of French literature during the 1950s. Saloth Sâr, alias Pol Pot.
[The anarchist leader] Mikhail Bakunin professed that he was seeking a "universal revolution" entirely out of moral principle, in order that "millions of deceived, enslaved, tormented and exploited human beings, liberated from all their directors and benefactors, official and officious, collective and individual, may breathe at last with complete freedom." To achieve the freeing of the tormented people of the world, Bakunin advised: "Poison, dagger, noose, etc. The revolution sanctifies all without distinction. The field lies open!"
Bakunin's poison, dagger, noose, "etc." find their echo in al-Qaeda's magazine: "We, by the will of Allāh will not back down from the defense of our beloved. We will fight for him, we will instigate, we will bomb and we will assassinate, and may our mothers be bereaved of us if we do not rise in his defense. It is the honor of the best of creation that is at stake and it is not much to set the world on fire for his sake."
"The Source of Terrorism" analyzed why the rebel, when he eventually comes home and is reintegrated, lands hard, with both feet. Mukhtar in "Inspire" makes the case literally, advising jihadists to "invest in good footwear … gel soles, strong shoelaces, comfortable socks and so on." Most people want to live in the real world. However, it is the extreme focus on "reality," on the "practical," on the "earth," which gives the middle class rebel away.
"Source" also analyzed why the middle class obstinately clings to the view that theory is separate from practice. For the rebel, an unbridgeable gap between them exists; how or why it is there is apparently unknowable, a deep dark secret, never discussed. At the outset of another "Inspire" article, the author clearly has that separation weighing on his mind; it gnaws at him; he wrestles with it, cannot pin it down, then tries to get around it by referring to "practical theories" formed from "enduring and living in the field." The fact that theory and practice are problematic in the first place for him, indicates middle class ideology is present, working behind the scenes, mostly unconsciously.
The deep dark secret, by the way, is quickly solved. All that a theory/practice separation really means: something is wrong with the theory.
And so it goes. Al-Qaeda's magazine is riddled with middle class rebellion. That from what most readers thought was another continent, another world, almost another planet.
Note to B.D.
Yes, I read al-Qaeda's "Inspire Magazine."
The first article, "I am proud to be a traitor to America," is saturated with middle class rebel ideology. Example: either-or thinking. "A traitor can either be praiseworthy or despicable." Near the end, we arrive at the standard, under-the-apple-tree oath (see "The Source of Terrorism: Middle Class Rebellion," p. 241): "We pledge to wage jihad for the rest of our lives until either we implant Islam all over the world or meet our Lord as bearers of Islam. And how reputable, adventurous and pleasurable is such a life compared to those who remain sitting, working from nine to five?" The latter sentence evinces middle class rebellion to the marrow. As Camus said of Andre Breton and the surrealists, "But these frenetics wanted 'any sort of revolution,' no matter what as long as it rescued them from the world of shopkeepers and compromise in which they were forced to live." ("The Rebel," p. 94)
Singularly revealing is the overall flow of story headlines. Everything from how cockroach brains produce antibiotics to how the World Bank functions, the "Luckiest Nut in The World" and how factory farms make you sick. Such is postmodernism as discussed in "The Source of Terrorism" (pp. 310-13): everything is placed one after another on a conveyor belt that is constantly moving, but does not go anywhere. Somehow this serial arrangement in and of itself is supposed to imply order; believe me, the editors would be hard-pressed to tell you what it is. A classic case of middle class ideology if there ever was one.
Note to J.R.
You're right. Of course, Afghanistan is only part of a larger picture, the war against terrorism. "Hopeless and hapless": yes, I will elaborate...
You mentioned Jules Henry's book. I have it in front of me.
First, truth in lending: Jules Henry was a family friend. He taught at Washington U. with my father. Our families spent a vacation together in New Mexico. I remember Jules well; he was always observing. Ruth Benedict and Franz Boas trained him. I never met Margaret Mead, and have no idea what the relationship was between her and Jules.
As you say, J.R., Jules took the tools of anthropology and applied them to America. He wrote that Americans are conditioned to believe, mistakenly, that war is good for the economy. (p. 102) He lambasted the pervasive, "Don't convince 'em. Scare 'em" modus operandi of the powers that be, with these chilling words: "A nation that will respond only to fear cannot govern itself wisely, for it has no destiny but fear ..." (p. 113) Well, the war on terrorism is a classic, vintage case of responding only to fear. Fear as destiny: if that is not "hopeless," what is?
As for "hapless," I don't think it's possible to colonize another nation without colonizing one's own country. The resulting configuration can be summarized in two words: clumsy, naive. Actually, in one word: hapless -- unfortunate, ill-fated.
You asked if I am liberal or conservative. When it comes to the war on terrorism, I am Tocquevillian.
Tocqueville wrote that, in democratic nations, war tends to beome "the biggest and the unique industry." (Democracy in America II, Chapter XXIV, p. 796, Edition La Pleiade. My translation.) A major cause of the drive toward war is as follows: in armies of democratic countries, "everybody can advance, unlike in aristocratic armies where the elite automatically receives the leadership positions as a birthright." In peacetime the military in a democratic nation stagnates, ossifies. Result: "Ambitious people in an army of a democracy ardently desire war … Death opens ceaselessly the ranks, cleans out positions, opens and closes careers." (Chapter XXII, pp. 784-5, 797)
Conversely, Tocqueville says, civilians in a democracy are generally inclined toward peace, which allows them to pursue private interests. Given those two conflicting sectors, "There are two things a people in a democracy will have great difficulty to accomplish: start a war and finish one." (Ibid., p. 787)
I would nuance Tocqueville's insight this way: to the extent that Americans are convinced that war is economically good (Jules Henry's position), it is no longer difficult for their nation to start a war.
Before proceeding, it is necessary to clear up a contradiction: are Americans in favor (Jules Henry) or against (Tocqueville) war? In truth, the American public is ambivalent. A Gallup poll conducted in October 2010 reported that a slight majority, 52%, said the war in Afghanistan was not a mistake. That figure is edging downward. In the same poll, 43% said it was a mistake to send troops to Afghanistan; that figure was only 9% in November 2001, just after American troops arrived. As for Iraq, the Pew Research Center asked at the end of August 2010 if "the U.S. made the right decision or the wrong decision in using military force in Iraq?" 41% said "right," 51% said "wrong." Those figures were 74% and 19% in April 2003, shortly after U.S. troops entered Iraq.
I think it is fair to say that two major tendencies manifest themselves: for the short term, Americans support war. In the long term, they oppose it. Those who seek large public support for a long-term war, then, are working to enact an unworkable project.
Or are they? That project is precisely what is now before the American public. Bergen and Hoffman assert in their report, "Terrorism is not a numbers game," then give an example: the German Baader-Meinhof gang "never numbered more than two dozen or so hard-core terrorists. Yet, they were successful in imposing a reign of terror on that country despite the exertions of its sophisticated police and intelligence and security forces for more than a quarter century." Many terrorists or a few, then, it makes no difference -- the war against terrorists will still go on, we are told. Well, there will always be a few terrorists; therefore … Bergen and Hoffman leave it to you to string the beads.
The biggest supporters of the endless war project being pushed by certain military sectors, turn out to be al-Qaeda and its allies. Bergen and Hoffman note that the terrorists "have embraced a strategy of attrition that is deliberately designed to overwhelm, distract and exhaust its adversaries … Smaller-bore plots and attacks by a wider range of jihadist groups are the likely pattern going forward …" (pp. 24, 26) In short, for all those who seek endless war for whatever purposes, many of which are diametrically opposed, the war on terrorism was made to order.
It is often said that truth is the first casualty of war. Equally important, but less talked about, is the last casualty. Tocqueville concluded that war "without fail will build up immensely, in democratic states, the powers of civil government. War centralizes almost inevitably in that government's hands the control of all men and the employment of all things. If war does not lead suddenly to despotism by violence, war leads to despotism softly, by habits. All men who wish to destroy liberty in a democratic nation should know that the most sure and shortest route to accomplishing their end is by war. That is the first axiom of science." (pp. 787-8)
I have known men who wished to destroy liberty -- hysterics, comparable to bin Laden and Hitler. You meet them, talk with them; you think, "This guy is smart." As the conversation continues, however, it's as if they suddenly come to a fault in the earth; they move down a level and keep right on talking. You think: "My god … For a smart guy, he sure is stupid." Then, as abruptly and unexpectedly as before, he comes to another fault in the earth, bounds up it and continues on his way, just as smart as he was at the start. You wonder, "He has W, X, and Z. So, why doesn't he have Y?" Well, the point is, he doesn't have Y. Never did have it; never will.
Despite a certain unabridged blindness and unabashed stupidity, hysterics perceive things normal people miss. I have the haunting suspicion that Tocqueville put his finger on the most important one. In an endless war, liberty is ended, hapless, doomed.
Attrition, distraction, exhaustion … I think the Bergen/Hoffman report's words will come back to haunt it. And us. What I find particularly unacceptable is that in the endless war scenario moved by the report and seconded by CNN and the media, we are letting al-Qaeda set the agenda. We are, once again, responding only to fear. As Jules noted, that response suits certain purposes; those of most Americans, however, are not among them, certainly in the long term. Look at those poll results again.
You ask for an alternative to an endless war that is constantly reinvigorated reflexively, Pavlovian-style, by "pushing the American public's panic button." That alternative starts by comprehending who most terrorists are: middle class rebels. (The Baader-Meinhof Gang mentioned in the report is a case in point. Baader was a petty criminal, Meinhof, the daughter of a prominent art historian. The incredible violence produced by that combination is found time and again, e.g., the Symbionese Liberation Army in California and the Madrid train bombers. Having no analysis of middle class rebellion, our authorities haven't a clue as to how that combination starts, builds, and seizes control even of its participants.) That is the only way America and its allies can respond from the standpoint of understanding, not of fear. Tragically, for reasons presented in my book, that alternative is unlikely to be seriously considered in the foreseeable future.
And so, we end up where we started in the war on terrorism: no destiny but fear. Hopeless, hapless.
Well, J.R., there you have it. I have succeeded at saying simultaneously too much and too little.
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Insurance Lobby Concedes on Healthcare Language
U.S. health insurance companies said Monday they will comply with government regulations on covering children with pre-existing conditions.
America's Health Insurance Plans -- the main lobbying organization for health insurance interests -- issued the statement after Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told insurers in a letter she was prepared to issue regulations "in the weeks ahead ensuring that the term 'pre-existing exclusion' applies to both a child's access to a plan and to his or her benefits once he or she is in the plan."
AHIP had said the law signed by President Barack Obama last week would only require insurers to cover children with pre-existing conditions who were already customers, The Wall Street Journal reported.
In her letter, Sebelius said the regulations she plans to issue will require that, beginning in September, "children with pre-existing conditions may not be denied access to their parents' health insurance plan" and insurance companies "will no longer be allowed to insure a child, but exclude treatments for that child's pre-existing condition."
"I urge you to share this information with your members and to help ensure they cease any attempt to deny coverage to some of the youngest and most vulnerable Americans," Sebelius said.
A lawyer for insurance companies and employers says there is some question about the clear meaning of some language in the law, The New York Times reported Sunday.
"The fine print differs from the larger political message," he said. "If a company sells insurance, it will have to cover pre-existing conditions for children covered by the policy. But it does not have to sell to somebody with a pre-existing condition. And the insurer could increase premiums to cover the additional cost."
Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., called the report "outrageous."
"The ink has not yet dried on the healthcare reform bill, and already some deplorable health insurance companies are trying to duck away from covering children with pre-existing conditions," he said.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif. -- chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee and a leading supporter of the legislation -- said the statement by a lawyer for insurance companies "exemplifies why we fought for this reform."
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Order / Contact
A Fun, Easy-To-Play Game Room & Tailgating Game for Adults and Kids.
The concept is simple. Slide 30 round pucks, one at a time, into four different scoring slots and tally your score! Not your cup of tea? We always encourage our gamers to make up their OWN house rules! Sometimes that’s the best way to play.
Game Directions
Round up the players! Lucky Pucks can be played by any size group.
Determine who is going first and what score you will be playing to. When just starting out, we suggest playing to 500 until you get the hang of it.
On each turn, one player at a time slides all 30 pucks toward the scoring slots.
Once all the pucks have been thrown, determine the player’s score.
Each player then takes their turn: Player 1, Player 2, Player 3 and then back to Player 1, etc.
Play proceeds until the first player reaches the target score and all players have taken the same number of turns.
Once a puck passes the fault line, it is in play. If a puck goes into the field of play and comes back past the front of the fault line, it is taken off the board and is out of play until the next player’s turn.
If the puck never makes it past the back of the fault line on a slide, it can be slid again. Any puck leaving the board after being slid, regardless of passing the fault line, is removed from the field of play until the next player’s turn.
How Do You Score?
Each puck is worth the value of the scoring slot it lands in. Each individual puck can be worth 1, 2, 3 or 4 points. In order to score, a puck must slide through the scoring slot. It cannot bounce over the scoring line. If a puck bounces over the scoring line, it is removed from the field of play until the next player’s turn.
Pucks must be fully past the front of the scoring line to count. At the end of a turn, a player can run a dead puck along the front of the scoring line to determine if the puck does, in fact, count. If while running the dead puck along the front of the scoring line – the puck in question moves, it does not count. If it does not move, it is scored as the point value of that slot.
Bonus Points and Stacking
Any five pucks in a single scoring slot are worth a total of 100 points. When pucks are scored this way, you do NOT include their original value from the scoring slot. For example, five pucks in the 4-point slot would be worth 100 points, not 20.
Once there are five pucks in a scoring slot, the player can ask for them to be stacked. An opposing player must stack them when requested. However, all pucks must be past the back of the scoring line. Even though it will count for points if it is beyond the front of the scoring line, it does not have to be stacked until the entire puck is past the back of the scoring line.
When Is the Game Over and Who Wins?
Play ends after the first player reaches the target score and ALL players have taken the same number of turns. Once these conditions are met, the winner is the player with the highest score.
For example, let’s take a game to 500 points with 3 players. If player 1 was to get to 500 first, player 2 and 3 would have a final shot at finishing with a higher score. If player 2 reaches 500 first, only player 3 would get to go again. If player 3 reaches 500 first, then the game is over, and player 3 wins.
Our team play is the same as the individual play just combining the scores for all the players on each team. In this version, each team gets the same amount of turns, not necessarily each player.
Alright, now that you know how to play, let’s customize your own personal game board!
Copyright © 2019 Lucky Puck All right reserved | Privacy Policy
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← Contributors
Jeffrey Hornung
Dr Jeffrey Hornung is the Fellow for the Security and Foreign Affairs Program at Sasakawa USA.
Previously, Hornung worked as an Associate Professor for the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, a Department of Defense executive education facility in Honolulu, Hawaii. In that capacity he led courses, served as a seminar facilitator and briefed DOD and U.S. Pacific Command officials on Japanese security issues.
From 2009-2010, Hornung served as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Ohio State University’s East Asian Studies Center, where he taught courses on Japan and East Asia. Previously, he served as a research assistant at George Washington University on the project, 'Memory and Reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific.' In addition to three years of teaching English in Japan on the JET Program, he also worked for a member of the Japanese Diet during the 2001 House of Councillors election.
Articles by Jeffrey Hornung (1)
Jeffrey Hornung 7 Nov 2016 16:31
Japan’s golden opportunity
The fissure that has opened between Manila and Washington has given Tokyo an opportunity to play a larger regional role.
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Why Interfaith Dialogue?
Posted by iqradotca | Dec 5, 2009 | Feature, Interfaith, Lifestyle | 2 |
By Abdul Malik Mujahid
I saw two groups demonstrating against the Parliament of World Religions at Cape Town University in South Africa in 1999. One was of white Christians and the other of Indian Muslims. They were standing apart from each other despite their common cause against the Parliament. What probably inspired them to oppose the Parliament was also that which kept them away from each other.
After a couple of days, I noticed that they were standing closer to each other and even talking to each other. Ironically, it seemed like the Parliament had even forced its opposition into dialogue.
Silence may not kill, but dialogue definitely heals.
The two groups of protestors thought the Parliament was attempting to create a new faith. This was not true. Those of us who had convened in South Africa that day were and remain proud followers of our respective faiths. However, we also believe dialogue among faiths is essential for the benefit of all.
Almost daily, our news media hits us with a barrage of negative news about Islam and Muslims. This explains why a large number of Americans hold negative views about Muslims. This negative opinion is not just a statistical reality but it has some real life implications. But the poll which confirmed this dislike for Muslims in the United States also noted that there are a large number of Americans who continue to hold a positive opinion of Islam and Muslims. They are the people who have met a Muslim in real life. That is power of dialogue.
In Chicago, I have seen how interfaith conversations have led to churches, mosques and synagogues working together for real civic change. Illinois used to be ranked 47th among states in terms of healthcare. Today, it holds second place in the nation, thanks to the power of interfaith dialogue engaging each other in action.
The Parliament of World Religions is in essence a big conversation. About 8,000 people are expected to gather in Melbourne, Australia at our next meeting this December. They will spend one‐third of their time sharing information about their faith—honest, straightforward perspectives from believers, not pundits or detractors. They will spend the next third of their time talking about the state of their relationship with people of other faiths, interfaith that is. The last third of the time will be used to discover concrete ways to change the world with a focus on poverty, climate change, the rights of indigenous people and peace.
Climate change, hunger, and peace are issues which concern all of humanity. These challenges are also large enough to require focused attention from all religions and spiritual traditions. But how can faith help when people of faith are not in conversation with each other?
Dialogue is crucial for the tremendous changes needed for humanity to move forward, especially today, where conflict and war have become a lifestyle for millions around the world. We cannot promise that we will resolve all of the conflicts. But we do believe that dialogue will reduce the chance of warfare and increase the possibility of reconciliation. It was a series of dialogues which Nelson Mandela started with his captors at Robben Island that convinced them of a brighter, apartheid‐free future for both whites and blacks in South Africa.
Dialogue opens minds and the human touch opens hearts.
With open hearts and minds, the Parliament’s participants will be returning back to their neighborhoods in our shared global village enriched with new experiences, friendships and new success stories after a joyful six‐day long intensive listening and learning experience. Many of them will be making their personal commitments in writing on how they plan to change the world.
PreviousMy big, fat Pakistani Thanksgiving
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Centennial College brings Islamic finance course to Canada
Global Peace Initiative launched at RIS in Toronto
Toronto Muslims Prepare for `Eid Festivities
Canadians keep the faith to varying degrees, but few reject it entirely
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10 Surprising Facts About I, Tonya
BY Scott Beggs
With Oscar nominations for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Film Editing, the fourth wall-demolishing biopic about Tonya Harding’s life and figure skating career through the infamous attack on Nancy Kerrigan in 1994 is the scrappy little outsider of this year's awards season. Which is fitting, as I, Tonya has a punk rock edge that should make audiences question the way they view the usual, stuffy biopics (and the truth itself).
Written by Steven Rogers and directed by Craig Gillespie, the movie stars Margot Robbie as Harding, Sebastian Stan as Jeff Gillooly, and Allison Janney as Harding’s mother, LaVona Golden. It also stars a lot of early 1990s fashion and Olympic-sized drama. Here are 10 fun facts about I, Tonya.
1. CRAIG GILLESPIE WORKED WITH NANCY KERRIGAN ON A 1993 CAMPBELL’S SOUP COMMERCIAL.
Before making movies, Craig Gillespie worked as an art director for several advertising companies, and just as Kerrigan’s star was rising higher, she starred in one of his commercials that showed that eating soup gives you the strength to gut-check an ice hockey player. What are the odds that he’d make a movie about her attackers 25 years later?
2. I, TONYA HIRED ONE OF KERRIGAN’S CHOREOGRAPHERS.
For training and choreography, the film turned to Canadian figure skater Sarah Kawahara. Kawahara was the first skater to win an Emmy for choreography, for her work on a Scott Hamilton special in 1997, and she won again for choreographing the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. She’s also worked with dozens of top-level skaters in her career, including with Kerrigan for the 1995 TV event Nancy Kerrigan Special: Dreams on Ice.
3. ALLISON JANNEY USED TO BE A COMPETITIVE SKATER.
Allison Janney, who scored an Oscar nomination for playing Harding’s mother LaVona Golden, grew up with Olympic ambitions, figure skating as a teenager until she accidentally ran into a glass door and sliced a tendon in her leg. She gave up competitive skating and went to college to become an actor instead.
4. THE ROLE OF TONYA HARDING’S MOTHER WAS WRITTEN FOR JANNEY.
Screenwriter Steven Rogers is a longtime friend of Janney’s, and he’s written several roles with her in mind, but she was never cast in any of them until now. Unlike the other real-life counterparts from the film, Rogers was never able to track down LaVona Golden to interview her, so her portrayal is built from old documentary footage and creative license.
5. THEY USED BEER TO GET HARDING’S HAIR RIGHT.
Lead hair designer Adruitha Lee made four wigs for Robbie to wear, designing them using products and dyes from the time. Her secret weapon for getting that crispy, crunchy look? Cheap beer. “You’re not going to get that bang to stand up like that with just mousse,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.
6. EVEN THE PARAKEET HAD TO AUDITION.
The production auditioned three different birds to see which one would remain calmest while perched atop Janney’s fur coat-covered shoulders. “I tried a couple of birds, and I picked Little Man, which is not his real name, but that’s what I called him,” Janney told The Huffington Post. “I knew it was my job to make it look like I had a relationship with the bird, that we’d been together for a long time. I couldn’t look ruffled, if you will, by anything this bird did. And believe me, he did a lot. I mean, you saw him trying to eat out my ear.”
7. MARGOT ROBBIE STRUGGLED THROUGH AN INJURY ALL THROUGHOUT FILMING.
While tackling the physically demanding ice skating elements of the shoot, Robbie herniated a disc in her neck and says she would have quit the production had she not been a producer on it. “Because I was a producer, I was like, ‘We can’t afford that. Just shoot me up with some steroids, and let’s keep going,’” she said during a SAG-AFTRA interview. Robbie, who earned a Best Actress Oscar nod for the role, got an MRI at the end of each week to assess whether she could keep filming or not.
8. HARDING’S CONTACT INFORMATION CONVINCED ROGERS TO WRITE THE MOVIE.
Rogers was inspired to do something with the story after seeing a skating documentary, but he didn’t get invested until he tried to reach out to Harding for the first time. He dialed the contact phone number for her agent as listed on her professional website, and it went to a Motel 6. At that point, Rogers decided that he would stick with the project no matter where it took him.
9. THE SCREENWRITER LEANED INTO THE REAL STORY’S LACK OF TRUTH.
What do you do if you’re writing a movie based on real events, but no one can agree on exactly what happened? Rogers conducted interviews with both Harding and Jeff Gillooly, but, “Their stories were so wildly contradictory,” Rogers told Gold Derby. “I thought, ‘That’s my in.’ I’ll just show everybody’s point of view, and then let the audience decide what they want to decide … Everyone’s trying to control the narrative…They’re all telling themselves what they need to know to be able to live with themselves.”
10. ROBBIE DIDN’T KNOW THE EVENTS OF THE MOVIE REALLY HAPPENED.
The rivalry between Kerrigan and Harding was all over the news leading up to the 1992 Olympics, and the attack on Kerrigan became a national scandal ahead of the 1994 games in Lillehammer, but Robbie didn’t know about it until after she read a script she thought was fictional. You can’t really blame her, though: Robbie is from Australia, and she was 4 years old when the attack happened.
entertainment Lists Movies News Pop Culture Sports
Pottery Barn Is Launching a Friends-Inspired Furniture Line That Includes Rachel’s Iconic Apothecary Table
Gga2015, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 4.0
To celebrate this fall’s 25th anniversary of the premiere of Friends in 1994, Pottery Barn is releasing a line of furniture inspired by the beloved NBC sitcom, Deadline reports.
The collection will feature accessories, furniture, and tabletop items, including Central Perk mugs. One highlight is a replica of the apothecary table that made a name for apothecary tables everywhere with its spotlight-stealing performance in the season 6 episode “The One with the Apothecary Table.” In it, Rachel purchases an apothecary table from Pottery Barn and, when she finds out Phoebe hates Pottery Barn, tells her the table is an antique from the “days of yore.” It gets more complicated (and hilarious) from there.
According to BuzzFeed, the episode was actually part of a product placement deal with Pottery Barn, and Entertainment Weekly even ranked it first on their “Best Product Placement” list for Friends.
You can shop the collection beginning on July 30, with prices starting at $12.50. If you’re a diehard Friends fanatic looking to celebrate its 25th anniversary in a way that Rachel Green would be proud of, you can also enter Pottery Barn’s sweepstakes for a chance to win a free trip for two to Los Angeles, complete with a $1000 shopping spree to Pottery Barn and a Warner Bros. Studio Deluxe Tour which includes, of course, a visit to the Central Perk set.
And, if you haven’t seen “The One with the Apothecary Table,” you can watch it on Netflix before Friends leaves for WarnerMedia’s new streaming service HBO Max in 2020.
[h/t Deadline]
entertainment fun furniture News Television tv
Target Has Launched a Harry Potter Line of Clothing, Accessories, and Home Goods
BY Jessica Bowman
No more blending in with the mediocre Muggles—now wizards can decorate and accessorize like the magical creatures they are with Target's brand-new line of Harry Potter clothing and home goods.
Target shoppers will feel like they’ve stepped through Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross Station as they wander the Harry Potter-stuffed aisles. Popsugar reports that Target will carry more than 500 Harry Potter-themed items, including socks, lanterns, pillows, dolls and much more.
You’ll be able to wake up in your Hogwarts sheets, have your morning coffee in a Slytherin mug, and take a ride on a foam Nimbus 2000 replica while rocking a Potter t-shirt. Not sure what house you’re in? No sweat! Target is even carrying a real-life sorting hat.
Whether you need a gift for the kiddos, or just want to treat your inner witch, Target is sure to have the perfect find in its Wizarding World line.
entertainment Harry Potter News shopping
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MERRITT TILLEY
Merritt E. Tilley, Jr., age 92, of Wilmington, DE, died on March 15, 2018 at the Kutz Home in Wilmington, DE.
Merritt served in the US Navy as a Lt. JG on the USS Brennan and Greenwood destroyer escorts. He attended officer candidate school from 1942-1944 at Union College and Notre Dame, served in active duty from 1945-1946 and then was in reserve duty until 1963.
Merritt attended Union College in Schenectady, NY and graduated in 1948 with a MS in chemistry. He continued his education at Columbia University where he received his MBA in 1951.
He worked initially at Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance in Springfield, Conn. From 1948-1950. His primary career was working for the DuPont Company from 1952 until 1982 in both Wilmington, DE and Richmond, VA locations. After retirement, he worked part time at 4 Seasons Travel from 1987-1993.
Merritt was a member and president of the Newark Junior Achievement group. He also was a member and president of the Paladin Club Homeowners Association. He was an usher at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Wilmington.
He loved to travel, bowl in various leagues and travel with his wife and family. He enjoyed being in the sunshine and tending to his garden and rose plants.
Merritt is survived by his wife, Renee, who he married in 1949. His first son, Merritt III, lives in Wilmington. His second son, Scott, lives in Los Altos Hills, CA and is married to Allison Leopold with Tracy, Kimberlyn and Jackson as Merritt’s three grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held on Monday, April 23 at 11 am at St. David’s Episcopal Church, 2320 Grubb Rd., Wilmington, DE 19810. Interment will take place privately.
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‘Because We Believe’
Q: Who can participate in Mormons Building Bridges?
Anyone interested in finding fellowship and support surrounding issues of sexual orientation and gender identity in the LDS community is welcome to help build bridges. We warmly welcome participants spanning a diverse spectrum ranging from straight active orthodox-believing Latter-day Saints to LGBTQI/SSA individuals who are not Mormon. All who are interested in building bridges through listening, learning, understanding, and loving are welcome.
Q: Is MBB really just a “front” or “PR scam” orchestrated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to convert LGBT people?
MBB is not sponsored by nor do we represent The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or any political party or caucus. MBB is a grassroots organization that has received no official or unofficial guidance or direction from the LDS church or its staff. MBB is led by a steering committee of more than a dozen active Mormons from across the United States.
Q: Why is the MBB Facebook group an open group?
If a Facebook group is open, that means that everyone, even people who are not participants in the group, can read the posts and comments. Your posts and comments may even show up in the news feeds of your friends who are not in MBB.
MBB has been an open group since it was established. We did this so that people who are unsure about whether to join can still see the content. It also helps spread the word so that we can reach more people.
Q: Does MBB prohibit discussion of same-sex marriage in its Facebook group? Does MBB oppose same-sex marriage?
Participants are asked to not explicitly campaign for or against or debate over same-sex marriage in the Facebook group; however, comments about same-sex marriage that are incidental to a personal story or feelings are welcome.
This policy is designed to free the MBB Facebook group from divisive debates that can inhibit empathy-based conversation and alienate some participants. Church leaders have stated that members of the church who publicly support same-sex marriage will not face any level of church discipline, despite the Church’s official opposition to it. The Mormons Building Bridges community includes individuals on both sides of this issue. However, the MBB Facebook group exists particularly to provide a space for Mormons who want to support LGBTQ/SSA brothers and sisters from within the existing doctrine of the LDS church. Therefore the policy of not allowing debates for or against same-sex marriage on the group wall will continue. As ever, personal stories that include the experience of same-sex marriage within them are completely appropriate.
Q: Why does MBB have a list of approved signage for the Pride parade?
MBB seeks to provide a way for faithful Latter-day Saints to work within a church framework as they show love and support for LGBTQI/SSA people. To this end, we found disciplined messaging to be very effective. All of your signs should be quotations from scriptures, LDS church hymns, or General Authorities. This approach allows more of the diverse participants to feel comfortable joining MBB for Pride.
Q: What is MBB’s position on reparative therapy and does MBB endorse groups that promote reparative therapy?
We encourage people to share their personal stories, and we recognize and respect the diverse experiences of all LGBTQI/SSA Latter-day Saints. MBB relies on the most current professional consensus regarding Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) which are often referred to as reparative therapy. Below is an excerpt from the American Psychological Association:
“Therefore be it resolved that the American Psychological Association affirms that same-sex sexual and romantic attractions, feelings, and behaviors are normal and positive variations of human sexuality regardless of sexual orientation identity;
“Be it further resolved that the American Psychological Association reaffirms its position that homosexuality per se is not a mental disorder and opposes portrayals of sexual minority youths and adults as mentally ill due to their sexual orientation;
“Be it further resolved that the American Psychological Association concludes that there is insufficient evidence to support the use of psychological interventions to change sexual orientation;
“Be it further resolved that the American Psychological Association encourages mental health professionals to avoid misrepresenting the efficacy of sexual orientation change efforts by promoting or promising change in sexual orientation when providing assistance to individuals distressed by their own or others’ sexual orientation.
“Be it further resolved that the American Psychological Association concludes that the benefits reported by participants in sexual orientation change efforts can be gained through approaches that do not attempt to change sexual orientation.”
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In order to audit a ballot, an auditor or a voter would use the original ballot key to disclose all possible codes for all candidates, thus revealing the entire computational chain to prove whether the votes were recorded and tabulated accurately. And to verify that a person hasn’t cheated during any step of the process, one of the pointers can be revealed to assure that the proper connection between the results and the anonymized encoded ballots is maintained.
Scantegrity II is not a replacement voting system, but works with either precinct-based or central scan systems, a feature that Chaum says makes it attractive to public officials. The printing of ballots, however, requires the capability to print with invisible ink and to print each ballot differently.
Scantegrity II might be used in an upcoming municipal election in Ta-koma Park, MD, a suburb of Washington, D.C., but the city council has not yet made a final determination.
Different approaches, same Goal
While Scantegrity II appears to be the most public election-ready system, there are several replacement systems—most notably Prêt à Voter (or Ready to Vote), Scratch & Vote, and ThreeBallot—that use different cryptography-based approaches to achieve the same goal of end-to-end voter verifiability.
Developed by Peter Ryan of University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Prêt à Voter does not rely upon the voted values to be encrypted and randomized, but uses a random candidate order that varies from ballot to ballot. Once a vote is cast, the side of the ballot with
end-to-end auditable
voting systems
could put the
controversy about
the merits of
versus paper ballots
to rest.
the list of candidates is destroyed.
The bottom of the non-discarded side of the Prêt à Voter ballot contains a cryptographic string with information on the discarded candidate list order. In order to decrypt the candidate list order and determine the value of a vote, voting officials or party representatives use a series of secret keys to decrypt the ballots.
Prêt à Voter was successfully used in student elections at the University of Surrey last year, and Ryan plans to test Prêt à Voter again in upcoming student elections at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Scratch & Vote was developed by Ben Adida, a research fellow with the Center for Research on Computation and Society at Harvard University, and Ron Rivest, a professor of computer science at MIT, and its format is similar to Prêt à Voter.
A Scratch & Vote ballot is perforated down the middle, and the left side has a list of candidates’ names and the right side has a series of cor-
responding check boxes. Beneath the check boxes is a 2D-barcode. A scratch surface is positioned below the barcode, and a perforation separates the scratch surface from the rest of the right half of the ballot.
If the voter wants to audit the voting process, she selects a second ballot and removes the scratch surface, thereby voiding the ballot, which the voter gives to a trusted party on the premises. The trusted party scans the barcode, reads the randomiza-tion data previously hidden under the scratch surface, and can confirm the ballot is correctly formed.
The voter now makes her selection on the first ballot, discards the left side of the ballot (which contains only the randomized candidate order), and gives the ballot to an election official. The election official ensures the scratch surface is intact and de-taches the scratch surface for the purpose of discarding it. The voter enters the ballot’s remaining checkmark (to indicate her vote) and barcode, which is effectively the encrypted ballot, into a scanner.
The voter can take the remainder of the ballot home and check on a public Web site that her ballot was correctly tabulated, and if it wasn’t, she still possesses the remainder of the ballot. In addition, the voter can audit the tally process and the verifiable decryption conducted by the election officials.
With Scratch & Vote, each vote is recorded as an encrypted value by using the box that was checked to determine which encrypted value to use. The values are tallied using homomorphic encryption, which allows for the sum of two encrypted values to be equal to the
Cooperative Robot Swarms
An enterprising group of undergraduate students at the University of Southampton unveiled a group of inexpensive and identical, matchbox-sized robots at the recent Artificial Life XI conference. The robots communicate with each other via an infrared technology used
in mobile phones, and can independently divide up tasks, without instructions from a central control program.
In a demonstration at the conference, the robots, which have green and red lights, autonomously divided themselves into two groups, 80% red and 20%
green. When some of the “green” robots were removed from the group, the remaining robots reorganized into an 80/20 split.
Swarms of robots have certain advantages over a single, self-contained robot, according to some roboticists. “You might have some complex robot that
is sent to Mars, has a technical problem, and then the mission is basically over,” said Claus-Peter Zauner, the leader of the swarm robot project, in an interview with the BBC News. “With swarm robots, even if a percentage of them fails, they’ll still be able to achieve their goal.”
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