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Journal of Advanced Research in Materials Sciences
Volume 32, No. 1, May 2017
Thillai Mugilan; Nor Azwadi Che Sidik; Wan Mohd Arif Aziz Japar.
The use of smart material of nanofluid for heat transfer enhancement in microtube with helically spiral rib and groove
Muhammad Adil Khattak; Shahid Zaman; Mohd Nasir Tamin; Saeed Badshah; Syed Mushtaq; Abdoulhdi Amhmad Borhana Omran.
Effect of welding phenomenon on the microstructure and mechanical properties of ferritic stainless steel - a review
Volume 50, No. 1, November 2018
Volume 49, No. 1, October 2018
Volume 48, No. 1, September 2018
Volume 47, No. 1, August 2018
Volume 46, No. 1, July 2018
Volume 43, No. 1, April 2018
Volume 42, No. 1, March 2018
Volume 41, No. 1, February 2018
Volume 40, No. 1, January 2018
Volume 9, No. 1, June 2015
Volume 8, No. 1, May 2015
Volume 7, No. 1, April 2015
Volume 6, No. 1, March 2015
Volume 5, No. 1, February 2015
Volume 4, No. 1, January 2015
Volume 3, No. 1, December 2014
Volume 2, No. 1, November 2014
Volume 1, No. 1, October 2014
Rank 38/38,Q4(Engineering & Technology)
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Great beach sand to the island of Groix © authors of views
There's no need for the Île de Groix to express its uniqueness by means of artifice - the island manages to convey its identity, its mysteries and its originality completely naturally. Set off to discover an extraordinary island lying just a stone's throw from Lorient! From the moment you disembark at Port-Tudy, you will be able to sense the uniqueness of this richly historic land. And you'll return, early in the morning, to learn more, as you enjoy your coffee while poring over the morning papers, watching the spectacle provided by the boats that enable the coming and going of goods and passengers. Whilst staying on the island of Groix, take advantage of the opportunity to explore the port's little streets and paths, either on foot or by bicycle. At every turn of the pedals, your eye will be caught by the colorful facades of the ship masters' houses. You can almost pedal around without thinking, in taking all around you: the bicycle is king here and traffic lights are non - exist!
So raise your gaze up towards the bell tower!" With a nod to the island's history, the tuna-shaped weather vane country homage to the status Groix had during the first half of the 20th century as France's leading tuna port!
the pier cafe
Île de Groix's port
but, away from the influence of man, it is nature that defines the island's basic character. Europe's only convex beach is to be found here: the beach of les Sables Blancs, whose eccentric character even extends to the beach shifting by 10 metres every year, leaving scientists eager to find an explanation! Just as surprising is the island's blue glaucophane, a mineral found only on the island of Groix and … in Greenland! What do the two places have in common? That remains a complete mystery! You'll need more than a day to get to know this exceptional land. So, to give yourself a chance to develop your first assumptions, make a visit to the coffee that's famous amongst all sailors: the "little bedeff", a veritable institution of the island, with its reputation extending beyond the seas! It's true to say that the island of Groix is certainly not lacking when it comes to curiosities! Take the opportunity to discover this for yourself on your next holiday to Groix!
dinghies at Île de Groix
Pleasure boating in Groix's port
the Bleimor coffee on Groix
Find out about Groix's main attractions and curiosities and all the services available on the island
UNMISSABLE COASTAL SITES ON THE ISLAND OF GROIX
The island to the garnets (in: garnets) is well named! It is the site of the only geological nature reserve of mineralogical interest in France. Here, it is the stones - a unique discovery - that recount the earth's history to you!
ÎLE DE GROIX's CULTURAL HIGHLIGHTS
Groix offers a rich and varied cultural calendar. Depending on the year, various celebratory events take place: the port festival, the "road of friendship" maritime festival, the "walks of tuna" tuna boat regatta - the sea is an ever-present participating in the festivities. There are wonderful times to be had sharing in the experience and meeting people throughout all these events. The sea also provides the setting for various other activities; because on Groix you are never far from the water. Be sure to grab the opportunities presented to you!
GETTING TO GROIX BY BOAT
You can embark for a crossing to the island in garnets from Lorient. The Compagnie Océane and Escal' West lines operate crossings taking around ¾ of an hour. Once arrived in the little, and typically Breton port of Port Tudy, visitors and sailors have access to all the facilities and services provided there.
GETTING AROUND GROIX
On Groix, the pedestrian is king! There are various ways to explore the island and discover its charms using its paths and roads. For walkers, there are three signposted hiking trails that criss-cross the island, each between 10 and 14 km long. These provide a good way to discover and explore the island's natural and built heritage. For cyclists, there are 40 km of paths and trails available, with places to park cars. It is not permitted to cycle on the coastal paths however, due to their fragility! Bicycles, including electric types and tandems are available to hire through the island's various cycle hire companies. Three bus routes, numbers 80, 81 and 82, serve the island all year round.
Choose another island
Morbihan Accueil The sea The islands: offshore terrain Groix
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Mountain Empire Performance Collective
Making dance from the Blue Ridge to the Bailey Range
Mountain Empire Performance Collective is a long-distance dance collective dedicated to alternative processes of making work while separated by both time and space. Since 2013, the company has utilized both traditional and contemporary methods of communication to create dance, including video chats, telephone calls, letter writing, emails, and working together face to face. This expanse of technology, initially a means to an end, has become an integral part of our work, both in process and in performance. While our work is indeed multimedia in nature, we are at our core a dance company. The contributing artists of Mountain Empire strive to create performance experiences that are honest, accessible, kinesthetically connected, and emotionally resonant.
Mountain Empire is committed to creating affordable artistic events for new audiences through community-based performance exploration. We actively involve audiences in both process and performance, and offer classes, lectures, and participatory events for dancers of all ages and abilities.
Mountain Empire has performed and taught around the country, and we have presented our methods at several conferences, including the National Dance Education Organization. Our writing has been published through Dance/USA and JODE: the Journal of Dance Education.
Everybody Knows This Is Now Here
Telephone Dance Project (PA)
Telephone Dance Project (NC)
COLLECTIVE MEMBERS
Katie Sopoci Drake (DC) is a professional dancer, choreographer and teacher of Laban-based contemporary dance. Katie has been on faculty at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Nova Southeastern University, Miami Dade College Wolfson and Kendall, Carthage College, Lawrence University, and is currently on faculty at University of Maryland College Park. Company credits include Rebollar Dance of DC, Mordine and Company Dance Theater of Chicago, Momentum Dance Company of Miami, Wild Space Dance Company of Milwaukee, and Rosy Simas Danse of Minneapolis. Her critically acclaimed choreography has been performed across the country, including at the Colony Theater in Miami, the Southern Theater of Minneapolis, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. Katie holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, a Graduate Laban Certification in Movement Analysis from Columbia College Chicago, and a BA in Theater/Dance with a Vocal Performance minor from Luther College.
Joy Davis (MA) is a dance artist, educator, and scholar. She received an MFA in Choreography and Performance from Smith College and a BA in Performing Arts through the College Scholars Program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Joy began training in the Countertechnique with founder Anouk van Dijk in 2005 and completed the CTTT (teacher’s certification) as one four American instructors in 2012. Under the moniker joy davis project, Joy has premiered work in Northampton, Boston, Chicago, Nashville, Knoxville, Seattle, Philadelphia, and San Diego. Joy co-curates the School for Contemporary Dance and Thought (SCDT) in Northampton, MA and is currently creating new works for New Dialect in Nashville and for Scottsdale Community College in Arizona. Joy has been on faculty at Smith College and Wesleyan University and has taught Countertechnique workshops at the Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation, Gibney Dance (NYC), BodyVox (Portland), Fact/SF, New Dialect, Mocean (Halifax, NS), amongst many others. She recently joined the Dance Division faculty at The Boston Conservatory, and is a Visiting Lecturer at Harvard for the fall of 2016.
Eliza Larson (OR) is an independent dancer, choreographer, and writer based in Portland, Oregon. In addition to her work with MEPC, she alsocreates her own work as Fault Line Dance. She has danced in works by Kathleen Hermesdorf, Angie Hauser, Paul Matteson, Chris Aiken, Mark Haim, Deb Wolf, and Kristin Hapke, and most recently performed with Tahni Holt in Sensation/Disorientation, presented by White Bird. Her choreography has been presented around the country, including at the H Street Theater in Washington, DC; Conduit Dance Center and the Pacific NW College of Art in Portland, OR; the OK Hotel Gallery and Velocity Dance Center in Seattle, WA; Earthdance; and the Southern Vermont Dance Festival. Eliza is the author of Terpsichore’s Deck, a set of 52 choreographic cards to use in dance-making and performance. Eliza's research on gender in dance has been presented at several conferences around the country including NDEO, CORD, and SDHS, and her chapter Behind the Curtain: Exploring Gender Equity in Dance Among Choreographers and Artistic Directors was recently published in Dance and Gender: An Evidence Based Approach, from the University of Florida press in February 2017.Eliza graduated from St. Olaf College with majors in Dance and English and holds an MFA in Dance from Smith College where she was a Gretchen Moran Teaching Fellow.
Rachel Rugh (VA) is a dancer, teacher, mover and shaker. During a four-year west coast stint, she performed with several Seattle dance artists including Pat Graney, Jurg Koch and Amy O’Neal. While in Seattle, her choreographic work was featured at the Seattle International Dance Festival, Lo-Fi Arts Festival and Velocity Dance Center. On the east coast, she has presented work at Movement Research (NYC), the Capital Fringe Fest (Washington, D.C.), and Black Mountain College (Asheville, NC). Rachel has been a guest instructor at Virginia Tech and Radford University. She holds a BA in dance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and an MFA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Emily German (UT) is a mother, teacher, and performer. In 2005 German earned her BA in Dance from St. Olaf College. As part of her 4 years there she performed for KT Niehoff, Anthony Roberts, Janice Roberts and Sherry Saterstrom among others. During her stint at St. Olaf, she also discovered her love of children’s dance education while teaching classes at the Northfield Arts Guild. After graduation, Emily moved to Seattle, WA where she danced for Amy O’Neal and Rob Kitsos as well as Eliza Larson. While in Seattle, she taught at All That Dance and started a chapter of the National Dance Honors Society Nu Delta Alpha. The chapter began a Love Your Body week tradition that is now spreading to dance curriculums across the country.
Since 2016, German has been performing as part of Compass Collaborative in Salt Lake City, UT. She was honored to bring to life the choreography of Katherine Goodell Call, Sara Yanney, and Heather Francis in Compass Collaborative's most recent production: A Subtle Point. Emily made a guest appearance via video in the MEPC’s 2013/2014 piece Everybody Knows This is Now Here. She officially joined the collective in 2017 and has enjoyed creating work in her living room and large outdoor fields with them via google hangouts ever since.
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One is One.
A gentle boy dreams of knighthood in the violent physical world of 14th c. England. He achieves his goal with difficulty, but then must think again of what he truly wants in his life.
Note: This book is SOLD.
CAT 22 B Modern Juveniles 1920+
The Golden Book of Christmas Tales.
Very short tales with large intricate pictures to illustrate them: The Cherry Tree, The Talking Animals, The Robin, The Glastonberry Thorn, La Befana, and others. Possibly some of these appeared earlier in Life magazine. Note: This book has been sold.
Black Horses for the King.
The court of King Arthur (Artos) from the point of view of a Roman-Celtic boy, Galwyn, who eventually helps Arthur develop a stable of war horses for his knights. To help their hooves adjust to the English climate, he also becomes a skilled farrier. Although this is a departure from science fiction, the author knows her history and her horses, and this book is an absorbing read. (And a good example of how a book's price is more influenced by availability than anything else!) PLEASE NOTE: This book has been sold.
upper elementary grades
Nicholas and the Wool-Pack.
Nicholas, a Cotswold wool producer's son, together with his fiancee and his best friend, foils the plotting of two visiting Lombards and saves his father's business. Many detailed illustrations of the trade.
The Red Towers of Granada.
Robin, thought to be a leper, takes the road to Nottingham, ringing his bell. His presence serves to protect an old Jewish doctor from the dangers of the road, and he later accompanies him to Spain on a Royal errand. A vivid medieval adventure. Note: This book has been SOLD..
The Story of Sir Launcelot and His Companions.
The third of Pyle's books on King Arthur tells of the adventures of Sir Launcelot after he became a knight of the king. NOTE: This book has been SOLD.
Myths & Fables
Astercote.
Lively's first children's novel; children investigate the secrets of a stone village now deep in the wood, destroyed since the Black Death.
Knights Besieged.
Escaping from the medieval court of Sulieman the Wise, Geoff is recaptured by Turks, then freed by Knights Templar and taken in strict custody to Rhodes. NOTE: This book has been SOLD.
Riddle of the Black Knight; tales and fables from the middle ages.
Lesser known stories from the Gesta Romanorum, giving a vivid picture of the European Middle Ages translated & vividly retold: Riddle of the Black Knight; ten Chests, Fool of God, Race with Rosamond; Strike There!; Three Gifts; and also six Fables.
The Troubadour.
How Aubrey, knight of the Red Cross, travelling in the guise of a troubadour, plotted with 10 year old Marjolaine to retake the Ornac Castle from the evil baron. Accurate and relatively easy to read historical fiction, set in 13th c France.
Note: This Book Has Been Sold.
French History
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It’s a part of history
Terming a statue on the waterfront in Jersey City, N.J., “gruesome,” the leader of a group planning to renovate a plaza there, facing the New York City skyline, wants it removed. City officials have agreed.
It is gruesome. And in some ways it may not be politically correct. But it needs to remain in a place where many people see it and learn about a chapter of history covered up and denied for many years.
It is called the Katyn Memorial. It features a Polish soldier who has been bound and gagged. A bayonet on a rifle impales him from behind.
It was erected to remind viewers of an atrocity in April and May 1940, when the Stalinist Soviet Union and Nazi Germany partnered to conquer Poland. On orders from communist officials in Moscow, thousands of Polish army officers and many others, including Jews, termed threats to the regime were rounded up and executed. About 22,000 victims were claimed, with many of them buried in mass graves in Russia’s Katyn Forest.
For many years, the massacre was covered up, even denied by U.S. officials after Stalin became our ally in World War II.
News the statue would be moved prompted an outcry from the Polish people and from Polish-Americans.
It was announced Sunday that an agreement was reached to move the monument to another prominent location.
Good. It indeed is unpleasant to view. But attempting to hide all reminders of atrocities such as the Katyn Massacre is both wrong and a disservice – not just to the Polish people – but to all humankind. Covering up such history is an excellent way to pave the way for it to happen again.
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Steyer copies Trump
Let us know if you have seen this once already. A self-made billionaire who has never previously sought political ...
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Home / Fleet Admirals, US Navy
Fleet Admirals, US Navy
A Naval Historical Foundation Publication, 1 August 1966
ORIGINAL TEXT OF PAMPHLET
NOTE: A correction was made in the pamphlet regarding Fleet Admiral William Leahy’s class rank. The correct information is included in the text below. (2/22/16)
By act of Congress approved 14 December 1944, the grade of Fleet Admiral, United States Navy, was established for certain officers on the active list of the Navy. Four officers were nominated by the president for that grade. With the advice and consent of the Congress, they were appointed by him and served in that grade until they died.
All of these officers were personally and actively interested in the Naval Historical Foundation and contributed much to its growth. Two of them, Fleet Admirals Leahy and King, were elected and served as active Presidents; one, Fleet Admiral Nimitz, residing on the west coast, was elected and served as an Honorary Vice President and later as the Foundation’s only Honorary President. Fleet Admiral Halsey, active in business in New York, was elected and served as an Honorary Vice President.
It is interesting to note that each of these officers followed a differently patterned naval career. Only eight years of seniority separated them. They served as younger officers when the Navy was making its expansion in aviation and submarine development. One of these officers was essentially a destroyer officer and aviator with only one short tour ashore in Washington. One other was a submariner with European training in Diesel propulsion, a big ship sailor with shore cruises in Washington including Chief of Naval Personnel. One had almost all his sea duty in big ships and with the exception of one tour, all shore duty in Washington, including Chief of two Bureaus. Only one had a seagoing career in the surface, submarine and aviation branches of the service with shore tours including the Head of the Post Graduate School and the Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics. Three served as Chiefs of Naval Operations.
In these short summaries, the careers of four Five Star Admirals, the Foundation attempts to point out the types of duties they performed. They are not intended to be personal biographies. All material presented is from the official files of the Navy Department.
FLEET ADMIRAL WILLIAM DANIEL LEAHY
William Daniel Leahy was born in Hampton, Iowa, on May 6, 1875. His father, Michael Leahy, a lawyer, had been Captain of Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers during the Civil War. Young Leahy originally hoped to attend West Point, but there were no appointments available. When he completed high school in Ashland, Wisc., in 1893, he was able to win an appointment to the Naval Academy. He graduated in 1897, 35th in a class of 47.
Midshipman Leahy was assigned to USS Oregon, then in the Pacific. He was in that battleship when she made her famous dash around the horn in the Spring of 1898 to participate in the battle of Santiago on July 3.
Having completed the two years’ sea duty — then required by law — he was commissioned Ensign on 01 July 1899. At that time, he was on the Asiatic Station, where, during the Philippine Insurrection and the Boxer uprising in China, he served in USS Castine, USS Glacier and commanded the gunboat USS Mariveles. He returned to the United States in 1902, and for the next five years did duty in USS Tacoma and USS Boston which was stationed in Panama during the early period of construction of the canal.
His first shore cruise was at the Naval Academy. Beginning in 1907, he served as instructor in the Department of Physics and Chemistry for two years. He went to sea in 1909 and served as navigator of the armed cruiser USS California in the Pacific Fleet. During the American Occupation of Nicaragua in 1912, he was Chief of Staff to the Commander Naval Forces there.
Late in 1912, he came ashore in Washington as Assistant Director of Gunnery Exercises and Engineering Competitions. In 1913, he was assigned to the Bureau of Navigation as a detail officer where he served until 1915. At that time, he took command of the dispatch gunboat USS Dolphin, and established a very close friendship with the then-Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt, who cruised with him on the ship. He was in that assignment in early 1917 in West Indian waters and had additional duty as Senior Aide on the Staff of Commander Squadron Three of the Patrol Force Atlantic Fleet.
He served for almost a year as the Executive Officer of USS Nevada and in April 1918 went to command USS Princess Matotika, formerly Princess Alice , transporting troops to France.
After a short cruise in that command, he came ashore in 1918 and served for three years as director of Gunnery Exercises and Engineering Competition in the Navy Department, and as senior member of the Fire Control Board. In 1921, he went to sea in command of USS St. Louis, flagship of the Naval Detachment in Turkish waters during the war between Turkey and Greece. At the end of that war, he was given command of Mine Squadron One, and in 1922 further additional duty as commander, Control Force.
When he returned to the U.S. and from 1923 to 1926, he served as Director of Officer Personnel in the Bureau of Navigation, and then had one year in command of the battleship USS New Mexico. In 1927, he reached flag rank and became Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance. After almost four years, he went to sea in 1931 as Commander Destroyers Scouting Force. In 1933, he came ashore in Washington as Chief of the Bureau of Navigation for two years, when he went to sea as a vice admiral, and Commander Battleships Battle Force. In 1936, he hoisted his four-star flag in USS California and Commander in Chief Battle Force. He was appointed Chief of Naval Operations, took the oath of office in January 1937 to serve until August 1939 when he was placed on the retired list. On that occasion, President Roosevelt said “Bill, if we have a war, you’re going to be right back here helping me run it.”
Immediately following his retirement, Admiral Leahy was assigned the duties of Governor of Puerto Rico in September 1939. He served in that capacity until November 1940 when he was appointed U.S. Ambassador to France where he served from January 1941 until recalled in May 1942.
In July of that year, he was called back to active duty as Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief, U.S. Army and Navy, the President of the United States. As such, he presided over the Joint Chiefs of Staff and, when our country was host, over the combined Chiefs. In December 1944, he accepted the appointment and was confirmed as the newly created rank of Fleet Admiral.
Fleet Admiral Leahy viewing an exhibit at the Truxtun Decatur Naval Museum in June 1950.
On 25 March 1949, the President accepted his resignation from that assignment. He continued on duty in an advisory capacity in the office of the Secretary of the Navy, and served as President of the Naval Historical foundation. He died on 20 July 1959.
Graduated from the Naval Academy – Class of 1897
Ensign – 01 July 1899
Lieutenant (junior grade) – 01 July 1902
Lieutenant – 31 Dec. 1903
Lieutenant Commander – 15 Sept. 1909
Commander – 29 Aug. 1916
Captain – 01 July 1918
Rear Admiral – 14 Oct. 1927
Vice Admiral – 13 July 1935
Admiral – 02 Jan. 1937
Fleet Admiral – 15 Dec. 1944
DECORATIONS and AWARDS
Navy Cross
Distinguished Service Medal with two gold stars
Sampson Medal
Spanish Campaign Medal
Philippine Campaign Medal
Nicaraguan Campaign Medal (1912)
Mexican Service Medal
Dominican Campaign Medal
World War I Victory Medal with “Overseas” clasp
World War II Victory Medal
National Defense Service Medal
FLEET ADMIRAL ERNEST JOSEPH KING
Ernest Joseph King was born in Lorain, Ohio, on November 23,1878. As a young boy he read an article in the Youth’s Companion about the Naval Academy which stimulated his interest towards a Navy career. Upon graduating from Lorain High School in 1897, he was appointed to the Naval Academy by Representative Kerr of the Fourteenth District of Ohio. When he left home, his father, a railway mechanic, gave him a round-trip railway pass in case he might change his mind. He never used the return portion, although he kept it for many years.
In the Summer of 1898, during the Spanish American War, King served as a Naval Cadet in the USS San Francisco, flagship of the Northern Patrol Squadron, for which he received his first decoration, the Sampson Medal. He graduated with distinction in the Class of 1901, and served the two years at sea — then required by law — before being commissioned Ensign on June 7, 1903.
His assignments during his first sea cruise included service in USS Eagle surveying Cienfriegas, Cuba, in USS Cincinnati, a protected cruiser in the Asiatic Fleet during the Russo-Japanese War, in USS Illinois, flagship of the European Squadron, and USS Alabama, flagship of the second Division of the Atlantic Fleet.
His first shore duty came in 1906 when he went to the Naval Academy as an instructor in Ordnance and Gunnery for two years, followed by one year on the Executive Staff. Officers who were midshipmen at that time still remember him as a strict but fair duty officer.
There followed another sea cruise of three years beginning as Aide on the Staff of Commander Battleship Division Two, Atlantic Fleet in USS Minnesota, one year as Engineer Officer of USS New Hampshire and one year on the Staff of the Commander in Chief Atlantic Fleet in USS Connecticut.
His next shore cruise started in 1912 in command of the Engineering Experimental Station at Annapolis. After two years, in l914, he went to sea again, this time in destroyers in command of USS Cassin, then as aide to Commander Torpedo Flotilla Atlantic Fleet, Commander Sixth Division of the Flotilla. In 1916 he went to the staff of Admiral H. T. Mayo on which he served during WWI while the Admiral was Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet.
In 1919, Admiral King, then a Captain, became head of the Postgraduate School at the Naval Academy. Following that tour of duty, he commanded USS Bridge for a short period. In July 1922, he commenced a series of assignments which placed him in intimate contact with submarine operations when he was assigned to duty on the staff of Commander Submarine Flotillas, Atlantic Fleet, and as Commander Submarine Division Eleven. In 1923 he took command of the Submarine Base at New London with additional duty as Naval Inspector of Ordnance in Charge of the Mine Depot there. It was during this period in September 1925 that he was in charge of the salvage of USS S-51 which was sunk off Block Island.
Having had sea duty in destroyers, submarines and battleships, Captain King now began his career in Naval Aviation which was then taking its place in the Fleet. In 1926 he took command of the aircraft tender USS Wright with additional duties as Senior Aide on the Staff of Commander Air Squadrons, Atlantic Fleet, In January of 1927, he reported to the Naval Air Station, Pensacola for flight training and was designated naval aviator 3368 in May of that year. He rejoined Wright on completion of this training. When USS S-4 was sunk in December of that year off Provincetown, however, he was again assigned to command of her salvage operations.
Fleet Admiral King as an Ensign (Extreme Left) on the USS CINCINNATI at Chefoo, China in 1905.
Upon completion he returned to his command of the Wright, and had a short cruise as Commander Aircraft Squadrons, Scouting Fleet, until 1928, when he went ashore as Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics. In 1929 he assumed command of the Naval Air Station, Norfolk, Virginia. In June of 1930 he went to sea in command of USS Lexington for a two year cruise in that ship. He then had a year in the senior officers’ course at the Naval War College. In 1933, with the rank of Rear Admiral, he became the Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics until 1936. During the next five years, except for the year 1940 on the General Board he commanded Aircraft Base Force, Aircraft Scouting Force, and as a Vice Admiral in 1938, Aircraft Battle Force. In February 1941, he was given the rank of Admiral as Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet and on 30 December of that year he became Commander-in-Chief, U. S. Fleet. In March 1942, the President by Executive Order, combined the office of Commander in Chief and the Chief of Naval Operations, and Admiral King assumed those combined duties on 18 March, when he relieved Admiral Stark as Chief of Naval Operations, the first and only officer to hold such an assignment. On 17 December 1944 he was advanced to the newly created rank of Fleet Admiral.
In 1945, when the position of Commander in Chief, U. S. Fleet ceased to exist, as an office established by the President pursuant to Executive Order 99635, Admiral King became Chief of Naval Operations in October of that year. In December he was relieved by Fleet Admiral Nimitz. From that time he served in an Advisory Capacity in the office of the Secretary of the Navy, and as President of the Naval Historical Foundation. He died at the Naval Hospital, Portsmouth, New Hampshire on 25 June 1956.
Ensign – June 7, 1903
Lieutenant (junior grade) – June 7, 1906
Lieutenant – June 7, 1906
Lieutenant Commander – July 1, 1913
Commander – July 1, 1917
Captain – September 21, 1918
Rear Admiral – November 1, 1933
Vice Admiral – January 29, 1938
Admiral- February 1, 1941
Fleet Admiral – December 17, 1944
Victory Medal, Atlantic Fleet Clasp
American Defense Service Medal, with bronze “A”
Admirals Nimitz, King, and Halsey at a conference in Pearl Harbor on 29 September 1943.
Admiral Nimitz points out the situation in the Pacific to General Douglas MacArthur, President Roosevelt, and Admiral Leahy at Pearl Harbor on 10 August 1944.
Conference of Big Three at Yalta on the Crimean Peninsula, February 4 to 12, 1945. Admiral King is standing, second from the left, and Admiral Leahy is the fourth from the left.
Fleet Admiral Nimitz is welcomed aboard USS SOUTH DAKOTA (BB-57) in Tokyo Bay by then Admiral Halsey on 29 August 1945.
FLEET ADMIRAL CHESTER WILLIAM NIMITZ
Chester William Nimitz was born on 24 February 1885, near a quaint hotel in Fredericksburg, Texas built by his grandfather, Charles Nimitz, a retired sea captain. Young Chester, however, had his sights set on an Army career and while a student at Tivy High School, Kerrville, Texas, he tried for an appointment to West Point. When none was available, he took a competitive examination for Annapolis and was selected and appointed from the Twelfth Congressional District of Texas in 1901.
He left high school to enter the Naval Academy Class of 1905. It was many years later, after he had become a Fleet Admiral that he actually was awarded his high school diploma. At the Academy Nimitz was an excellent student, especially in mathematics and graduated with distinction — seventh in a class of 114. He was an athlete and stroked the crew in his first class year. The Naval Academy’s yearbook, “Lucky Bag”, described him as a man “of cheerful yesterdays and confident tomorrows.”
After graduation he joined USS Ohio in San Francisco and cruised in her to the Far East. On 31 January 1907, after the two years’ sea duty then required by law, he was commissioned Ensign, and took command of the gunboat USS Panay. He then commanded USS Decatur and was court martialed for grounding her, an obstacle in his career which he overcame.
He returned to the U. S. in 1907 and was ordered to duty under instruction in submarines, the branch of the service in which he spent a large part of his sea duty. His first submarine was USS Plunger (A- 1). He successively commanded USS Snapper, USS Narwal and USS Skipjack until 1912. On 20 March of that year, Nimitz, then a Lieutenant, and commanding officer of the submarine E-1 (formerly Skipjack), was awarded the Silver Lifesaving Medal by the Treasury Department for his heroic action in saving W.J. Walsh, Fireman second class, USN, from drowning. A strong tide was running and Walsh, who could not swim, was rapidly being swept away from his ship. Lieutenant Nimitz dove in the water and kept Walsh afloat until both were picked up by a small boat.
He had one year in command of the Atlantic Submarine Flotilla before coming ashore in 1913 for duty in connection with building the diesel engines for the tanker USS Maumee at Groton, Conn. In that same year, he was sent to Germany and Belgium to study engines at their Diesel Plants. With that experience he subsequently served as Executive Officer and Engineering Officer of the Maumee until 1917 when he was assigned as Aide and Chief of Staff to COMSUBLANT. He served in that billet during World War I.
In September 1918 he came ashore to duty in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations and was a member of the Board of Submarine Design. His first sea duty in big ships came in 1919 when he had one year’s duty as Executive Officer of the battleship USS South Carolina. In 1920 he went to Pearl Harbor to build the submarine base there. Next assigned to the Naval War College, his studies of a possible Pacific Ocean war’s logistics would become extremely relevant two decades later.
In 1922 he was assigned as a student at the Naval War College, and upon graduation went as Chief of Staff to Commander Battle Forces and later Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet (Admiral S. S. Robinson).
In the meantime, the ROTC program had been initiated and in 1926 he became the first Professor of Naval Science and Tactics for the Unit at the University of California at Berkley. Throughout the remainder of his life he retained a close association with the University. After three years in that assignment, in 1929, he again had sea duty in the submarine .service as Commander Submarine Division Twenty for two years and then went ashore to command the USS Regil and decomissioned destroyers at the base in San Diego. In 1933 he was assigned to his first large ship command, the heavy cruiser Augusta which served mostly as flagship of the Asiatic Fleet. Coming ashore in 1935 he served three years as Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Navigation. His next sea command was in flag rank as Commander Cruiser Division Two and then as Commander Battle Division One until 1939, when he was appointed as Chief of the Bureau of Navigation for four years. In December 1941, however, he was designated as Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, where he served throughout the war. On 19 December 1944, he was advanced to the newly created rank of Fleet Admiral, and on 1 September 1945, was the United States signatory to the surrender terms aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
Admiral Nimitz assuming command as Commander-in-Chief Pacific Fleet on 31 December 1941 on board the USS GRAYLING (SS-209).
He hauled down his flag at Pearl Harbor on 26 Nov. 1945, and on 15 December relieved Fleet Admiral E.J. King as Chief of Naval Operations for a term of two years. On 01 January 1948, he reported as special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy in the Western Sea Frontier. In March of 1949, he was nominated as Plebiscite Administrator for Kashmir under the United Nations. When that did not materialize he asked to be relieved and accepted an assignment as a roving goodwill ambassador of the United nations, to explain to the public the major issues confronting the U.N. In 1951, President Truman appointed him as Chairman of the nine-man commission on International Security and Industrial Rights. This commission never got underway because Congress never passed appropriate legislation.
Thereafter, he took an active interest in San Francisco community affairs, in addition to his continued active participation in affairs of concern to the Navy and the country. he was an honorary vice president and later honorary president of the Naval Historical Foundation. He served for eight years as a regent of the University of California and did much to restore goodwill with Japan by raising funds to restore the battleship Mikasa, Admiral Togo’s flagship at Tsushima in 1905.
He died on 20 February 1966.
Ensign – 07 Jan. 1907
Lieutenant (junior grade) – 31 Jan. 1910
Lieutenant – 31 Jan. 1910
Lieutenant Commander – 29 Aug. 1916
Commander – 8 March 1918
Captain – 02 June 1927
Rear Admiral – 23 June 1938
Vice Admiral – Not held – promoted directly to Admiral
Admiral – 31 Dec. 1941
Silver Lifesaving Medal
Victory Medal with Escort Clasp
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
FLEET ADMIRAL WILLIAM FREDERICK HALSEY, JR.
William Frederick Halsey, Jr., was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on October 30, 1882, the son of the late Captain William F. Halsey, U. S. Navy. As a Navy junior, he made the usual round of schools prior to his appointment to the Naval Academy. President McKinley gave him an appointment in 1900.
While at the Naval Academy he distinguished himself in class committees and athletics, but not in scholarship. He was a member of the “Lucky Bag” yearbook staff, won his letter in football as a fullback and was president of the Athletic Association. As a First Classman, he had his name engraved on the Thompson Trophy Cup as the Midshipman who had done the most during the year for the promotion of athletics.
Upon graduation in February 1904, he was assigned to USS Missouri and later transferred to USS Don Juan de Austria in which he was commissioned an Ensign after having completed the two years at sea — then required by law. In 1907, he joined USS Kansas and made the famous World Cruise of the Fleet in that battle ship.
For the next almost 25 years practically all his sea duty with the Fleet was in destroyers, starting in 1909 with command of USS DuPont (TB-7 commissioned in 1897), USS Lamson, USS Flusser and USS Jarvis. In 1915 he went ashore for two years of duty in the Executive Department at the Naval Academy.
During WWI he served in the Queenstown Destroyer Force in command of USS Benham and USS Shaw. From 1918 to 1921 he continued his destroyer service in command of USS Yarnell, USS Chauncey, USS John Francis Burnes and Destroyer Division Thirty-two. In October of 1920 he assumed command of USS Wickes and of Destroyer Division Fifteen. At that time a destroyer division commander also commanded the division flagship. Another shore cruise sent him to duty in the Office of Naval Intelligence, in Washington, — which was his only duty assignment in that city. In October 1922, he was ordered as Naval Attache at the American Embassy in Berlin, Germany. One year later, he was given additional duty as Naval Attache at the American Embassies in Christiana, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Stockholm, Sweden.
On completion of that cruise he returned to sea duty, again in the destroyers in European waters, in command of USS Dale and USS Osborne. Upon his return to the U.S. in 1927, he served one year as Executive Officer of the battleship USS Wyoming — and then for three years in command of USS Reina Mercedes, station ship at the Naval Academy. He continued his destroyer duty on his next two-years at cruise starting in 1930 as Commander Destroyer Division Three of the Scouting Force. In 1932 he went as a student to the Naval War College.
Then in 1934, he embarked on his aviation career when he reported to the Naval Air Station, Pensacola for flight training. He was designated a Naval Aviator on 15 May 1935, and went in command of the carrier USS Saratoga for two years, followed by one year in command of the Naval Air Station, Pensacola.
In 1938, when he reached flag rank, he held successive commands of Carrier Division Two in USS Yorktown and Carrier Division One in Saratoga. In 1940, he became Commander Aircraft Battle Force with the rank of Vice Admiral. He was in USS Enterprise in that command when World War II broke out. In April 1942 he was designated Commander Task Force Sixteen, in Enterprise to escort the carrier USS Hornet to within 800 miles of Tokyo to launch the Army planes for the initial bombing of Japan.
In October 1942 he was made Commander South Pacific Forces and South Pacific Area. With the rank of Admiral, and for the next 18 months he was in command of that area during the offensive operations of the U. S. Forces. In June 1944 he assumed command of the Third Fleet, and was designated Commander Western Pacific Task Forces. As such, he operated successfully against the Japanese in the Palaies, Philippines, Formosa, Okinawa and South China Sea. Subsequent to the Okinawa campaign in July 1945, his forces struck at Tokyo and the Japanese mainland. The last attack of his forces was on 13 August 1945. Admiral Halsey’s flag was flying on USS Missouri on 2 September in Tokyo Bay when the formal Japanese surrender was signed onboard.
Ensign Halsey (Extreme Lower Right) and the crew of the USS DON JUAN DE AUSTRIA in 1906
Immediately thereafter, 54 ships of the Third Fleet, with his four-star flag in USS South Dakota, returned to the United States for annual Navy Day Celebrations in San Francisco on 27 October 1945. He hauled down his flag in November of that year and was assigned special duty in the office of the Secretary of the Navy. On December 11, 1945, he took the oath as Fleet Admiral becoming the fourth and last officer to hold the rank.
Later, Fleet Admiral Halsey made a goodwill flying trip through Central and South America covering nearly 28,000 miles, and 11 nations. He was relieved of active duty in December 1946, and upon his own request transferred to the retired list on 1 March 1947.
Upon retirement, he joined the board of two subsidiaries of the International Telephone and Telegraph Company and served until 1957. He was active in an unsuccessful effort to preserve the USS Enterprise as a national shrine, and was an elected Honorary Vice President of the Naval Historical Foundation.
He died on 16 August 1959 at Fishers Island Country Club.
Graduated from Naval Academy – Class of 1904
Ensign – February 2, 1906
Lieutenant (junior grade) – February 2, 1909
Lieutenant – February 2, 1909
Lieutenant Commander – August 29, 1916
Commander – February 1, 1918
Captain – February 10, 1927
Rear Admiral – March 1, 1938
Vice Admiral – June 13, 1940
Admiral – November 18, 1942
Distinguished Service Medal with three gold stars
Victory Medal, Destroyer Clasp
American Defense Service Medal with Fleet Clasp
Philippine Liberation Medal
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Netflix Outside The USA
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Nordic services
By Netflix Guy
In October of 2012, the well-known steaming television service Netflix expanded its borders even more, beginning its Nordic service, after what it considers to be heavy investment in the region.
Netflix will face significant competition in the region, because there are several other streaming services that will make Netflix’s attempt more difficult.
One significant competitor will be HBO, who has announced an expansion into Northern Europe only weeks after Netflix did. HBO’s approach will see programming being brought to Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark in 2012. This will be the first time that Netflix and HBO have competed for the same online customers, and it may make it a challenging time for both companies.
However, the company has attempted to compensate for this by providing more content than they have ever included in a launch before. Generally speaking, Netflix anticipates any new region to be initially unprofitable, and predicts that it will take at least two years before the venture becomes profitable. As with other expansions of its service, Netflix is planning for the long-term, aiming to obtain customers gradually, and investing in more content as time goes by.
The first step to the Nordic expansion in October was the beginning of Netflix’s operation in Sweden. Netflix has indicated that it will expand further into the Nordic region, anticipating an entry into the Scandinavian market by the end of 2012.
The expansion will not be easy for Netflix financially, and it will result in Netflix making record losses in its fourth quarter. Despite this, the expansion into new markets has the potential to increase Netflix’s profits in the future, especially if it can establish a strong customer base before other major companies, like HBO, are able to.
Netflix’s Nordic expansion is well underway, with introductions into Denmark and Norway all occurring close after the expansion into Sweden. One approach that Netflix has been using to secure customers has been content that is exclusively available on Netflix. One such example is the Finnish movie Iron Sky, which is not available anywhere else but on Netflix. This approach makes Netflix highly desirable to people who may not have considered it otherwise.
Currently, Netflix now offers its services in more than 50 different countries, and estimates that the streaming service that they offer, reaches more than 30 million people throughout the world. It will be exciting to see Netflix’s development in the future, both in terms of the regions that they serve and the content that the company has to offer.
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Do I need any special vaccines in order to travel?
Your vacations in Austria
Austria – officially, the Republic of Austria – is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,872 km², and enjoys the benefits of a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres and its highest point is 3,797 metres.
The Parliament of Austria is located in Vienna, the country's largest city and its capital. Austria became a federal, parliamentarian, democratic republic through the Federal Constitution of 1920. It was reintroduced in 1945 to the nine states of the Federal Republic. The head of state is the Federal President (Bundespräsident), who is elected directly by popular vote. The chairman of the Federal Government is the Federal Chancellor, who is appointed by the President. The government can be removed from office by either a presidential decree or a vote of no confidence in the lower chamber of parliament, the Nationalrat.
Austria is one of the 12 richest countries in the world. It enjoys a well-developed social market economy and a high standard of living.
There is a world of wonderful goods to discover in Austria. Be sure to check out the shopping malls and small souvenir shops, and stroll through the many public street markets. You can even make a day of it by touring the longest shopping miles of all – Mariahilfer Straße in Vienna, followed by Landstraße in Linz.
Excellent tap water, comparable to Evian water.
The climat in Austria
Austria has a temperate continental climate. Summers last from early June to mid-September and can be hot in some years and rainy in others.
Touristic attractions of Austria
Basilica Mariazell
It is the most important pilgrimage site in Austria and also has great meaning for Catholics in the neighboring countries to its east. The object of veneration is a miracle-working image of the Virgin, carved in lime-tree wood. This was brought to the place in 1157, and is now enshrined in a chapel lavishly adorned with objects of silver and other costly materials.
Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna. The palace and gardens illustrate the tastes, interests, and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs.
Grossglockner High Alpine Road
The Grossglockner High Alpine Road is a panoramic road in Austria, in the state of Salzburg. It connects the state of Salzburg with the state of Carinthia. It is named after the Großglockner, Austria's highest mountain.
Swarovski Crystal Worlds
This three-dimensional adventure museum includes the famous Swarovski crystals, mixed with light and sound orchestrated by international media artist André Heller.
Hohensalzburg Castle (Festung Hohensalzburg, literally "High Salzburg Fortress"" in German) is a castle in the Austrian city of Salzburg. It sits on Festungsberg hill. With a length of 250 meters and a width of 150 meters, it is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe."
Giant Ferris Wheel
A journey on the giant ferris wheel in Vienna, Austria is an unforgettable experience. During World War Two it was almost completely destroyed. The Viennese call the wheel the 'Riesenrad'. It was one of the first structures/buildings to be rebuilt after its destruction during the war. Currently the wheel has over 750 000 visitors a year.
Melk Abbey
Melk Abbey was originally a palace, and it shows. Located on the bank of the Danube River between Salzburg and Vienna, Melk Abbey stands crowned by towers and resplendent in a golden hue. The impressive Baroque ensemble at Melk was built in 1702-1736. Especially noteworthy is the church with magnificent frescoes and the library containing countless medieval manuscripts.
This Baroque masterpiece houses one of Europe's most important museums. In the Upper Belvedere the world's largest collection of paintings by Gustav Klimt, alongside works by Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka are on display.The Belvedere also features a fascinating group of masterpieces by French impressionists.
The Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna is an institution of international importance for the training of painters, sculptors, graphic artists, stage designers and architects. It also has a major print collection and impressive picture gallery. Peter von Strudel, the founder of the Academy, started the first art school in his house called "Strudelhof"" "
Schlossberg Graz with the Clock Tower
On the hill (Schlosberg) stands the great landmark of Graz, the 28m/92ft high Clock Tower. It is a survivor of the massive fortifications which were blown up in 1809 after the Treaty of Vienna, and now houses the Schlossmuseum. The nearby Turkish Well is 94m/308ft deep. The Belfry on top of the hill contains a heavy bell, popularly known as "Liesl""."
No last minute specials are available at this time.
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Microsoft Surface team stirs up some Reddit buzz
The tablet's engineering team holds a Q&A session on the popular forum site to answer questions from curious fans.
Shortly after announcing pricing for its upcoming Surface tablet, the Microsoft device's engineering team took to Reddit today to hold a virtual Q&A with the site's users.
It was an unusual marketing move by Microsoft, but sending some of its top technical people to interact with the Reddit community offered a rare opportunity for free publicity in a forum where the company could make its pitch to a crowd of technically savvy users. Led by Panos Panay, the general manager of the Surface team at Microsoft, the team answered posted questions for two hours, in what Reddit users know as an Ask Me Anything, or AMA, session.
Some of the questions followed a predictable course, with users posting questions about the tablet's starting $499 price (36GB with no keyboard), or the decision to charge $100 to $130 for the Touch Cover keyboard. Others sought to get a clearer idea of what they could expect and why some features weren't included. Though there were no answers for questions about the Windows software, the team talked about battery-life testing; why they chose Wi-Fi but not 3G or 4G connectivity; and why the design didn't include near field communication technology.
During the AMA, Ralf Groene, the Surface's creative director, wrote that the team focused on making a tablet that would be "a stage for your software."
We didn't want to have a bunch of styling in the way, we wanted to build a bridge between you and your digital things. We developed the idea that later turned into the keyboard covers and kickstand. Most of the time we spent on revealing the essence of this idea: How can we make it comfortable to hold? How do we fit our connectors, and so on. Step by step we found the design. The language behind it is a point of view to make a very useful product. I don't believe in defining a design language in shape. A design language should be a consistent approach to execute the vision you have. Using magnesium allowed us to make our product thin, light, and strong. The color we chose lets the physical product fade into the background and pronounces the screen as the main act.
Several Redditors asked about the detachable keypad, which comes in "Touch" and "Type" (as you can in the photo above) and also acts as the tablet's cover. The Touch is similar to a virtual keyboard, it has no tactile response, but also was designed to know when your hands are just resting on the keypad so that you are not accidentally typing. The Type is more like a traditional keyboard.
The design also called for the NFC to be sacrificed, the team wrote. The magnesium metal closure for the tablet did not fit a good NFC antenna design. As for the lack of 3G and 4G connectivity, the team said tablet sales-data shows that only one-third of tablets offer the mobile broadband connection and only half of those tablets have activated connections, so the team opted to focus on Wi-Fi instead.
Posted by Chris Koh, 82333200 CEA NO. R042517Z at 10:37 am
Labels: Microsoft, Reddit, stirs, surface
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Location » Court of Appeal for Ontario » How to Proceed in the Court of Appeal » Family Law Appeals
Family Law Appeals
This guide is intended to provide some helpful information about family law appeals in the Court of Appeal for Ontario. Please note that court administrative staff cannot provide legal advice or complete the documents to be filed on your appeal for you. For more information, please see “How to Proceed with a Civil Appeal”, the Rules of Civil Procedure, and the Family Law Rules, O Reg 114/99.
Which court?
In general, the answer depends on 3 things:
Which court made the original order?
What type of order was made?
Is this your first or second appeal?
First appeal:
Which Ontario court?
Second appeal:
Ontario Court of Justice
Almost all (see below)
Superior Court of Justice -family branch
Superior Court of Justice -regular branch
Final order over $50,000
Final order under $50,000
Court of Appeal (only with leave)
Temporary order
Divisional Court (only with leave)
There are some exceptions to the general rules above.
Appeals from the Ontario Court of Justice should be made to the Superior Court of Justice, unless it is provided in legislation that it should go to another Court.[1] Note that there are special rules for appeals from the Ontario Court of Justice to the Superior Court of Justice.[2] Also, you should look at the legislation under which the order was made to see if there are special rules that apply to your type of appeal.[3]
Some statutes also have additional restrictions on appeals. For example, under the Divorce Act, there are two specific restrictions on the appeal process:
No appeal lies from a judgment granting a divorce on or after the day on which the divorce takes effect;[4]
No appeal lies from an order made under the Divorce Act more than 30 days after the day on which the order was made.[5]
Do I need leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal?
In some cases, you need “leave to appeal”. This means that you have to make a motion to the court explaining why they should hear your appeal.
If your appeal is to the Court of Appeal or the Divisional Court, see Rules 61, 62 and 63 of the Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 38 of the Family Law Rules.
Where leave to appeal is needed, you must serve a notice of motion for leave to appeal within 15 days after the date of the order you want to appeal, and file the notice of motion within 5 days of service, unless otherwise provided by statute.
Motions for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal are in writing.[6] A motion record, factum and transcripts (if any), are needed for the motion.
If the court gives you leave to appeal, a notice of appeal must then be served and filed within seven days.
In certain cases, the motion for leave to appeal will be heard together with the appeal. This means that you will present your motion for leave to appeal at the same time that you present your case and the court will consider both questions at the same time. For example, in an appeal of a temporary order made under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017, S.O. 2017, c. 14, Sched. 1 (CYFSA), and brought to the Divisional Court as a temporary order of a Superior Court Justice[7] the motion for leave to appeal is combined with the notice of appeal and both are heard together.[8]
How do I start a family law appeal to the Court of Appeal?
Please see: “How to Proceed with a Civil Appeal”.
The general rule is:[9]
If no transcript of oral evidence is required, the appellant shall perfect the appeal within 30 days after filing the notice of appeal;
If a transcript of oral evidence is required, the appellant shall perfect the appeal within 60 days after receiving notice that the transcript of oral evidence has been transcribed.
Timelines are shorter for child protection matters:[10]
When will my family law appeal be heard?
Family law appeals are heard more quickly, usually within 3-4 months from the date on which all the necessary materials have been filed with the court.
Appeals of Crown Wardship No Access Orders are specially managed by the court and you will likely be contacted to schedule a conference over the telephone with judge if you have not filed all the necessary materials for your appeal with the court within 14 days.
What about fresh evidence?
The general rule is that you must rely on the same facts on appeal that you did at trial.
But, if “fresh” evidence – evidence that existed at the time of trial but you didn’t know about – or “new” evidence – evidence based on new developments since the trial – concerns the child’s best interests, the court may want to hear about it. You may try to introduce fresh or new evidence by making a motion.[11]
Courts of Justice Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C. 43
Rules of Civil Procedure, R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 194
Family Law Rules, O. Reg. 114/99
Practice Direction Concerning Civil Appeals in the Court of Appeal (found on the Court of Appeal website: http://www.ontariocourts.ca/coa/en/notices/pd/civil.htm)
The Court of Appeal office may also be contacted through the following:
Court of Appeal for Ontario
Osgoode Hall
M5H 2N5
Toll Free at 1-855-718-1756
Facsimile number: (416) 327-5032
See the Courts of Justice Act, s. 40.
See the Family Law Rules, rules 38(5) to (45).
See, for example, s. 121 (3) of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017, S.O. 2017, c. 14, Sched. 1, which sets out specific rules about the stay of the order under appeal from the Ontario Court of Justice to the Superior Court of Justice.
See the Divorce Act, s. 21(2).
See the Rules of Civil Procedure, r. 61.03.1.
See the Courts of Justice Act, s. 19(1)(b).
See the Family Law Rules, r. 38(3).
See the Courts of Justice Act, s.61.09(1).
Motions for fresh evidence are brought pursuant to rule 61.16(2), which provides that, “[a] motion under clause 134(4)(b) of the Courts of Justice Act (motion to receive further evidence) shall be made to the panel hearing the appeal.” Section 134(4)(b) provides that, “[u]nless otherwise provided, a court to which an appeal is taken may, in a proper case, receive further evidence by affidavit, transcript of oral examination, oral examination before the court or in such other manner as the court directs … to enable the court to determine the appeal.”
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2 Cow Creek Rd
Cambridge, ID - 83610
0.00/SF
Type: Ranch
More In: Cambridge - 1825
Courtesy of Fay Ranches - Idaho
199.97/SF
Type: Business Opportunity
Courtesy of Silvercreek Realty Group
Type: Single Family w/ Acreage
2970 Legg Lane
10 N Superior
50.91/SF
6944.44/SF
Courtesy of EVANS REALTY
TBD Cow Creek Road
Type: Recreation
Courtesy of CREED NOAH REAL ESTATE CO
75 N Superior St
Intermountain Regional MLS
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The right social media platform for your SMB
November 12th, 2018 Micro Plus Computers Social Media 2018november12socialmedia_a, advertising, digital marketing, facebook, instagram, marketing, reputation management, snapchat, social media, twitter
Facebook leads all social media platforms in terms of daily active users, audience reach, and cultural impact, but is it the best fit for your business? Every business has a unique audience, so what works for one business may not work for another. With all the available social media platforms to choose from, small- and medium-sized businesses should examine their options before they decide which is the best match for them.
Research shows that 77% of consumers in the US have social media profiles and that Facebook is the most utilized social media platform by users younger than 50 years old. With over two billion users, Facebook offers the biggest audience and is the perfect place for companies that are looking to increase their brand awareness.
Apart from the huge user base, Facebook also increases customers’ trust by lending otherwise stiff businesses a human touch. Although you don't have to invest heavily in this platform, you should at least create a basic page. Setting up your company’s page takes only a few minutes and not having one could affect your reputation.
YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world with over 1.9 billion registered users. When properly utilized, it can bring in new customers and help you retain old ones. To increase your brand visibility and help viewers to get to know your company better, create a channel with videos about the products or services that you’re offering.
You can also encourage viewers to subscribe to your channel so they’ll be in the loop every time you upload a new video. Another huge advantage of using YouTube is that Google owns it, and videos from the site are more likely to appear on the first page of search results than other organic content.
Launched in 2010, Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media platforms today. It boasts one billion registered users, mostly on the younger end of the scale (18-24 years old). Instagram is primarily for sharing photos and short videos, but it recently launched IGTV, an in-app tool for users and businesses to upload long-form videos.
Keep in mind that most users prefer to use Instagram for fun and creative content. The platform is known for beautiful photos, so choose aesthetic content over standoffish or corporate content.
To hit two birds with one stone, integrate your Instagram account with your Facebook page so every new picture or video on your profile will automatically post to your Facebook page.
Another trendy social media platform is Snapchat, which allows its 300+ million monthly users to share photos and videos that disappear within 24 hours. Businesses can use this platform to reach younger audiences through Snap ads, sponsored geofilters, and sponsored lenses.
Snap ads are 10-second full-screen videos with embedded links and calls to action that will appear on the timelines of targeted viewers. Sponsored geofilters and sponsored lenses, meanwhile, are custom filters that may contain elements relating to one’s brand. All these marketing options are available through AdManager, the app’s advertising platform.
Twitter has 328 million active daily users. This number may be small compared to the other social media platforms on this list, but that’s precisely its charm: it gives users the feeling of security and coziness that comes from chatting with businesses directly and publicly. In fact, a whopping 85% of SMBs have Twitter accounts that they use to engage with current and potential customers. And because Twitter only allows up to 280 characters per tweet (excluding links), conversations between parties are straight to the point and results-oriented.
If you have more questions about social media platforms and how to use them strategically, contact us today.
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Gatorade Salutes One Of Mustang Basketball’s Finest
Jack Danilewicz
on April 8, 2015 at 3:32 pm
For Kalaheo’s Kupa‘a Harrison, there was no direct line to his being named 2014-15 Gatorade Hawaii Boys Basketball Player of the Year.
Harrison’s personal time-line will show that 2014 was a year when his health took center stage in the form of three ankle injuries that sidelined him for long periods. “I’d never had a history of injuries, so it was a challenging year,” he admitted. “All the times I had been injured before, I could play through it. I had to take some time away from the court, which was the frustrating part.”
Nothing could derail his upward mobility, however. Indeed, Harrison’s individual honor from Gatorade caps off a stellar year that culminated in Kalaheo winning its third state title in four years in late February.
“I’m pretty happy about it, and I feel like I earned it,” he said of the honor. “It (rehab) was all worth it — especially winning (the state) championship,” he said. “I was about 90 percent this season, but I’d say I’m about 100 percent now. It’s been a long time coming.”
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Harrison as Hawaii’s best high school boys basketball player. The honor also qualified him as a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award. (Ben Simmons of Montverde Academy of Montverde, Fla., won the title.)
Harrison is the second player from Kalaheo in three years to be named Hawaii’s Gatorade Player of the Year, joining Josh Ko, who won in 2013 after leading the Mustangs to the Division I state title. The pair are part of an elite alumni group of boys basketball award winners that includes Dwight Howard (2003-04, SW Atlanta Christian Academy, Ga.), Chauncey Billups (1993-94 and 1994-95, George Washington HS, Colo.), Jason Kidd (1991-92, St. Joseph Notre Dame HS, Calif.), Paul Pierce (1994-95, Inglewood HS, Calif.) and Chris Bosh (2001-02, Lincoln HS, Texas).
The 6-foot-5, 175-pound senior wing led the Mustangs to a 31-3 record and the DI state championship this past season. Harrison averaged 13.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, five assists, 2.8 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. In four DI state tournament games, he collected 12.8 points, nine rebounds, 3.5 steals and 2.3 assists per outing en route to earning a place on the All-Tournament team.
Harrison was equally diligent in the classroom. He currently has a 3.75 GPA and is one of Hawaii’s top academic candidates in meeting the Gatorade Award’s broad criteria. In addition to volunteering to preserve historic Kailua landmarks, he also has donated his time on behalf of his church.
Harrison is unsure where he will attend college in the fall, but he’s weighing his options. He’s already been offered academic scholarships from Lewis and Clark State, Saint Mary’s and Eastern Washington. Portland and Hawaii Pacific University are among those recruiting him the hardest for his basketball skills.
“Academics are just as important as athletics in looking toward the future,” he said. “Academics can open up a lot of doors for you, if you are strong in the classroom.”
Based in Chicago, the Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field. It awards one National Player of the Year in each sport.
The selection process is administered by the Gatorade high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
jackster.1969@yahoo.com
Windward Oahu Sports
Mothers' Brunch May 9 At KEY
Senior ‘Super Stoked' About Water Polo Team
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Why Do Jewish Housholds Light Menorah Candles for 8 Days?
Upon reclaiming the Temple, the Maccabees had to re-purify it, beginning with re-lighting the “eternal light” with oil. This special light was meant to never go out, but throughout the area, only one small jar of kosher oil could be found. They used the oil, even knowing it would only last for one day. According to legend, however, the oil continued burning for eight days: the same amount of time it would take for someone to travel and bring back more oil. Continue reading about Chanukah candles...see more
Upon reclaiming the Temple, the Maccabees had to re-purify it, beginning with re-lighting the “eternal light” with oil. This special…
The History of Lighting Hanukkah Candles
The story of Chanukah, also known as the Festival of Lights, begins over 2,000 years ago, when the Jews were…
What is #GeltArt and Why It's Good For You?
Make #GeltArt part of your Chanukah celebration tradition! See why and how! There are many things that are considered a form of art and that contribute to the making of art. Art has always been an important element of society and a way of expressing oneself. Art enriches the culture and civilization as a whole. There’s no doubt that art helped shape the entire human history and civilization....see more
Art has always been an important element of society and a way of expressing oneself. …
The origin of mosaic art and How we connect it with Chanukah
By definition, mosaics are the art of creating images by putting together different materials of different colors. Historically, materials that were used include colored pebbles, stone, colored glass, and ivory. We suggest that using chocolate coins for this art form is a lot of fun and makes for a great Chanukah activity. This article is about the history of mosaic art....see more
About the origin of mosaic and mosaic art Mosaic art is characterized by small, mostly flat pieces of colored stone or…
Where to Find Nut-Free & Gluten-Free Chanukah Chocolate!
Far too often in life, children with food allergies get overlooked. But that doesn’t mean they enjoy Chanukah chocolates any less than other children – after all, a child without a sweet tooth is rare! Despite this fact, however, it’s still difficult to find chocolate that’s nut-free or gluten-free.
Find out more about Nut-Free and Gluten-Free Chocolate coins...see more
Far too often in life, children with food allergies get overlooked. But that doesn’t mean they enjoy Chanukah chocolates any…
What are the traditional colors of Hanukkah?
Traditional colors of Hanukkah and its associated products are blue and silver. It involves different blue shades the most evident clarification for Hanukkah blue and silver or white colors is the Israeli flag. The blue stripes on the flag represent those imprinted on Tallitot, a Jewish traditional shawl that is being used to wear in weddings, synagogue, and bat mitzvahs....see more
Traditional colors of Hanukkah and its associated products are blue and silver. It involves different blue shades the most evident…
How to Decorate Your Kosher Wedding With Mini Mazel Tovs
With sunny days brightening our moods, and New York lightning bugs filling our evenings with magic, it’s no wonder we love summer. It’s a beautiful time of year – and many happy couples wouldn’t pick any other season to tie the knot. If you’re having a Jewish wedding soon, ChocolateGelt.com says “mazel tov!” – not just with words, but with chocolate!
Find out how to decorate your wedding reception with chocolate coins and where to buy them!...see more
With sunny days brightening our moods, and New York lightning bugs filling our evenings with magic, it’s no wonder we love…
The Meaning of Hanukkah
Hanukkah, also said to be Chanukah and Hannukah, is the Festival of Lights, celebrated by the Jewish people in the month of December. It is celebrated as a holiday in the memory of a miracle that occurred as only one day’s worth of oil for lighting the Menorah lasted for eight full nights, when the Maccabees liberated the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
Why and How we celebrate Hanukkah and where to find supplies?...see more
Hanukkah, also said to be Chanukah and Hannukah, is the Festival of Lights, celebrated by the Jewish people in the…
Why do we play Dreidel during Hanukkah?
Dreidel is a traditional Jewish game played during the eight-day holiday Hanukkah. Also known as sevivon in Modern Hebrew, dreidel is a four-sided spinning top with a pointed base and Hebrew letters on each side. It is perhaps one of the most commonly associated customs with Hanukkah. But little do people know of its true origins and why Jewish people play it during the Festival of Light.
For those of you who don’t know, the story goes like this:
During the reign of the Antiochus IV, Jewish people couldn’t practice their religion freely. They weren’t allowed to study their holy book of Torah or anything else associated with it. Jewish children and adults who wanted to do so had to do it in secret, usually by going deep into the woods. But they were still afraid that the soldiers may find them. That’s how they came up with a clever solution in case Syrian soldiers came along. They would bring their dreidel with them and pretend they were playing a game instead!
How to Play and Where to Find Dreidels?...see more
Dreidel is a traditional Jewish game played during the eight-day holiday Hanukkah. Also known as sevivon in Modern Hebrew, dreidel…
Meaning of Chanukah
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Christen Clifford
Christen Clifford is a feminist performance artist, writer, curator, professor, actor, and mother. Her essay on gender, feminism and aging “Mother, Daughter, Moustache” was published in the 2014 Penguin anthology Women in Clothes,called a “standout essay” by Bookforum and read by Molly Ringwald for Selected Shorts at Symphony Space and on NPR. Other writing has been published in The Brooklyn Rail, Salon, Culturebot, PuffHo, and Smith Magazine. Her comic with illustrator David Heatley "My Home Birth" was called "hilarious and uncensored" by Flavorpill. Her performance and video work work has been shown at The New Museum, The Culture Project, PS 122, Galapagos Art Space, Panoply Performance Laboratory, IV Soldiers, Dixon Place, Grace Exhibition Space, Judith Charles Gallery, Postmasters Gallery and abroad in Slovenia, Canada and across the US. As an actor she has performed at The Public Theatre, HERE, NYTW, SoHo Rep, LaMama and many downtown and regional theatres. Clifford is a core member of the feminist performance art collective the No Wave Performance Task Force, and her Feminist Public Action “We Wish Ana Mendieta Was Still Alive” was cited as a “Best Art and Activism of 2014” by Hyperallergic. Her work hasbeen written about in the New York Times, Art in America, Artforum, Art Magazine, BUST, Jezebel, The San Francisco Chronicle etc. She is a curator of the Experiments and Disorders literary reading series at Dixon Place; speaks about feminism and art and writing for places like The Feminist Art Project, Women's Caucus for Art and The Brooklyn Museum and Hyperallergic's Brooklyn ArtTalks; was a mainstage storyteller at The Moth at The National Arts Club; volunteers with Girls Write Now; taught at SUNY Purchase; has been a visiting scholar at NYU and is the recipient of some awards and grants including NYFA, NYSCA, the Audience Award from the NYFF and the Nonfiction Chapbook Award from The New School, where she received her MFA. She lives in Queens and online at @cd_clifford and christen.clifford/tumblr.
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Subject: Walk-in Service at TRICARE Service Centers to end by April 1, 2014
Walk-in Service at TRICARE Service Centers to end by April 1, 2014 http://www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=121473
Since the first TRICARE Service Center opened in the mid 1990’s, we’ve seen a shift in how you get information. With today’s technology, anything you can do at a TRICARE Service Center can be done online or over the phone. Consequently, walk-in service ends at TRICARE Service Centers in the U.S. by April 1, 2014. Because our overseas areas are unique, walk-in service at TRICARE Service Centers in all overseas areas will continue. This change does not affect any TRICARE benefits or health care services.
For more detailed information and updates go to www.tricare.mil/TSC(http://www.tricare.mil/TSC) http://www.tricare.mil/TSC .
Read the Department of Defense article www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=121473(http://www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=121473) http://www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=121473 >
New Law Brings Changes to Uniform Code of Military Justice
By David Vergun
Army News Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 8, 2014 - The National Defense Authorization Act passed last month requires sweeping changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, particularly in cases of rape and sexual assault.
"These are the most changes to the Manual for Courts-Martial that we've seen since a full committee studied it decades ago," said Lt. Col. John L. Kiel Jr., the policy branch chief at the Army's Criminal Law Division in the Office of the Judge Advocate General.
Key provisions of the UCMJ that were rewritten under the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2014 -- signed Dec. 26, 2013, by President Barack Obama -- are Articles 32, 60, 120 and 125.
The law now requires the services to have judge advocates serve as Article 32 investigating officers. Previously, the Army was the only service in which judge advocates routinely did not serve as Article 32 investigating officers.
Article 32 hearings -- roughly equivalent to grand jury proceedings in the civilian judicial system -- are held to determine if there's enough evidence to warrant a general court-martial -- the most serious type of court-martial used for felony-level offenses such as rape and murder.
Congress decided that the services needed to have trained lawyers -- judge advocates -- consider the evidence, since in their view, trained lawyers often are in the best position to make determinations to go forward with general courts-martial, Kiel said. Judge advocates didn't always serve as Article 32 investigating officers in the Army "largely because we try four times the number of cases of any of the other services," he explained -- an issue of not having enough judge advocates for the high volume of cases.
Army officials asked Congress to consider its resourcing issue, he said, so the legislators wrote an exception, stating that "where practicable, you will have a judge advocate conduct the Article 32 investigation."
Kiel explained what "where practicable" means, citing a number of circumstances where it could apply.
Many courts-martial were conducted over the years in Iraq and Afghanistan where soldiers were deployed and some of those involved war crimes, he said. In these cases, the Army found it sometimes was best to have line officers be the Article 32 investigating officers, because they could best put themselves in the shoes of the accused.
Those line officers "understood what it's like to make decisions in the heat of battle better than a lawyer without those experiences," Kiel said. "They added a level of judgment that sometimes judge advocates could not."
Another example, he said, might be travel fraud.
"In the case of complex [temporary duty] fraud, for instance, you might want to have a finance officer as the IO," Kiel said.
Besides subject-matter experts being in the best position to be Article 32 investigating officers, he said, there simply might not be enough judge advocates in the area of the installation. For example, U.S. Army Forces Command would have enough judge advocates to do Article 32 hearings, Kiel said, but if a number of hearings came up at once at U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command installations -- a smaller major command -- they might come up short.
That might jeopardize the right of an accused to a speedy trial if the clock runs out, he noted. And, if a judge advocate is flown in from another installation, travel costs would be incurred.
"Those are very real situations that could impact the ability to get it done expeditiously and cost effectively," Kiel said.
Other attorneys on an installation cannot always be tapped for Article 32 investigating officer work, he said. On larger installations, "we have operational law attorneys that potentially could cover down on some of these areas, but we don't have a lot of those," he added.
On other installations, Kiel said, administrative law attorneys might have conflicts of interest if they've previously rendered some kind of legal review on a case.
"And, our administrative law attorneys are always busy reviewing various sorts of investigations and helping the command deal with such things as ethics and family readiness issues," he continued.
"Then we have our criminal law advocates, trial counsels and defense counsels," Kiel added. "They're all conflicted out from being IOs, because they're actually tasked with presenting evidence during the [Article 32 hearing] as they're acting as counsel to the government or to the accused."
The fiscal 2014 National Defense Authorization Act gives the services one year to phase in this change to Article 32, stipulating that where practicable, judge advocates conduct the investigations. This one-year time period provides needed time for the staff judge advocates to figure out if they have enough judge advocates to fill the requirement to cover down on all the Article 32 hearings and determine which installations are struggling to meet the requirements, Kiel said.
Another impact to courts-martial practice is the new requirement for a special victims counsel to provide support and advice to the alleged victim, Kiel said. For example, the special victims counsel must inform the victim of any upcoming hearings -- pretrial confinement, parole board, clemency and so on -- and inform the victim that he or she can choose to attend any of those. The victim also will be notified in advance of trial dates and be informed of any delays.
Furthermore, Kiel said, the special victims counsels may represent the alleged victims during trial, ensuring their rights are not violated, as under the Rape Shield Rule, for example. The Rape Shield Rule, or Military Rule of Evidence 412, prevents admission of evidence concerning sexual predisposition and behavior of an alleged victim of sexual assault.
Kiel provided an aside regarding the Rape Shield Law and how a high-visibility case a few months ago involving football players at the U.S. Naval Academy influenced changes to Article 32 by Congress.
In that case, the defense counsel had the victim on the stand for three days of questioning about the alleged victim's motivations, medical history, apparel, and so on during the Article 32 hearing, he related. The cross-examination was perceived by the public and Congress to be disgraceful and degrading, and potentially violating the federal Rape Shield Rule. With passage of the fiscal 2014 National Defense Authorization Act, alleged rape and sexual assault victims are no longer subject to that kind of interrogation at the Article 32 hearing, he said.
Before the new law, alleged victims of sexual assault were ordered to show up at Article 32 hearings and frequently were asked to testify during those hearings as well.
"Congress thought that wasn't fair, since civilian victims of sexual assault didn't have to show up or testify," Kiel said.
"Now, any victim of a crime who suffers pecuniary, emotional or physical harm and is named in one of the charges as a victim does not have to testify at the hearing," he added.
Like Article 32 changes, modifications to Article 60 are to be phased in over the course of 12 months. Article 60 involves pretrial agreements and actions by the convening authority in modifying or setting aside findings of a case or reducing sentencing. A convening authority could do that in the past, and some did, though rarely.
Changes to Article 60 were influenced last year by a case involving Air Force Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, a former inspector general convicted of aggravated sexual assault, Kiel said. The convening authority, Air Force Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin, overturned the findings of guilt.
"That got Congress stirred up," Kiel said.
In the new law, legislators said the convening authority can no longer adjust any findings of guilt for felony offenses where the sentence is longer than six months or contains a discharge. They cannot change findings for any sex crime, irrespective of sentencing time.
One way a commander still can modify a sentence is, "if the trial counsel comes forward and says, 'This particular accused was very helpful in securing evidence or cooperating with the government in prosecuting someone who was accused of committing an offense under the UCMJ.' That is a trigger for the convening authority to be able to modify a sentence," Kiel said.
The other way a convening authority can modify a sentence, even involving rape and sexual assault, is if a pretrial agreement is in place, he said, meaning that the case could close, but the pretrial agreement would still take effect.
Congress realized that Article 60 was still needed to continue the option for pretrial agreements, Kiel said. Had Article 60 been done away with altogether, he added, that "would have likely meant all courts-martial would have gone to full contest, and that would have bottlenecked the entire process."
Voiding Article 60 also would have meant that all alleged victims of sexual assault likely would have to testify.
"Sometimes, victims supported the pretrial agreement, supported the potential sentence and supported the fact that they didn't have to testify -- when it was in their best individual interest," Kiel said.
Other changes to courts-martial practice were made.
Prior to the new law, the convening authority could consider the military character of the accused in considering how to dispose of a case, Kiel said. Congress decided that should have no bearing on whether or not the accused has committed a sexual assault or other type of felony.
Also, he said, previous to new law, "sometimes the [staff judge advocate] would say, 'Take the case to a general court-martial,' and the convening authority would disagree and say, 'I'm not going forward.'" Now, he said, "if the convening authority disagrees, the case has to go to the secretary of the service concerned, [who] would have to decide whether to go forward or not."
In the case of an alleged rape or sexual assault in which the staff judge advocate and the convening authority decide not to go forward because of a lack of evidence or for any other reason, that case has to go up to the next-highest general court-martial convening authority for an independent review, Kiel said.
So if the case occurred at the division level in the Army, for example, and a decision were made at that level not to go forward, then the division would need to take the victim's statements, its own statements for declining the case, and forward them and the entire investigative file to the next level up -- in this case, the corps.
At the corps level, the staff judge advocate and the corps commander would then review the file, look at the evidence and make a determination whether or not to go forward, Kiel explained.
If it's decided to move forward the case would be referred at the corps level instead of sending it back down to the division, he added. This, he explained, avoids unlawful command influence on the case's outcome.
Articles 120 and 125
The UCMJ's Articles 120 and 125 now have mandatory minimum punishments: dishonorable discharge for enlisted service members and dismissal for officers, Kiel said. Article 120 deals with rape and sexual assault upon adults or children and other sex crimes, and Article 125 deals with forcible sodomy. In addition, the accused now must appear before a general court-martial with no opportunity to be tried at a summary or special court-martial, Kiel said.
A summary court-martial is for relatively minor misconduct, and a special court-martial is for an intermediate-level offense.
Furthermore, Congress highly encouraged the services not to dispose of sexual assault cases with adverse administrative action or an Article 15, which involves nonjudicial punishment usually reserved for minor disciplinary offenses, Kiel said.
Rather, Kiel said, Congress desires those cases to be tried at a general court-martial and has mandated that all sexual assault and rape cases be tried only by general court-martial.
Prior to the fiscal 2014 National Defense Authorization Act, there was a five-year statute of limitations on rape and sexual assault on adults and children under Article 120 cases. Now, there's no statute of limitations, he said.
Congress repealed the offense of consensual sodomy under Article 125 in keeping with previous Supreme Court precedent, Kiel said, and also barred anyone who has been convicted of rape, sexual assault, incest or forcible sodomy under state or federal law from enlisting or being commissioned into military service.
What's Ahead
Congress could make even more changes that address sexual assaults in the military as early as this month, Kiel said. And later this year, changes to the Manual for Courts-Martial should be signed by the president after review by the services, the national security staff, the Defense Department and other agencies, he added. The updated manual would codify all the changes, although some already are in effect, he said.
Uniform Code of Military Justice
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Happy Birthday To Gucci Mane Who Turns 38 Today
February 12, 2018 Ryan Honey Leave a comment
Happy Birthday to the Atlanta-Rap legend, Gucci Mane, who turns 38 years old today.
It’s a very special day in hip-hop. 38 years ago today, on February 12th, 1980, Radric Davis was born. From leading the Atlanta rap scene early on and still today for the most part, Gucci has had a wild ride.
There’s been good times as well as bad for the trap rapper. From early success in the early 2000s, Gucci solidified himself right off the bat. Then there came legal issues as well as his major prison stint. From late 2013 until May 2016, Gucci was behind bars for numerous weapon and drug charges among other issues. People began to wonder if that was it for Gucci musically, as well as a free man in general. At one point it was looking as if Gucci would be in prison for a lot longer than he was. Then, once freed, he was back to work and better than ever.
Throughout 2016 and 2017, into 2018, Gucci has not stopped. With 5 solo albums released since he regained his freedom, including Mr. Davis and Everybody Looking, including a collaboration project with Metro Boomin titled DropTopWop, Gucci hasn’t slowed down, and doesn’t seem like he will. Gucci is set to drop his latest album, The Evil Genius very soon. From being released, Gucci Mane has regained his throne as one of the top guys in Atlanta hip-hop.
All in all, it’s been a wild career for Gucci. From great music to great entertainment overall, it’s safe to say this man is a legend in hip-hop and in music period.
Happy Birthday Gucci!
Ryan Honey
Writer from sometimes Delaware and other times New York. Enjoy the works of Travis Scott, Lil Uzi Vert, PnB Rock, A Boogie, Playboi Carti, MadeinTYO, Meek Mill, Mac Miller, Ugly God....basically everyone.
tagged with Birthday, gucci, Happy, Mane
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Rammlied (Rammstein Tribute) plus Sukkerpunch
Date: November 7, 2014 - 7:30 pm
Location:Real Time Live 13 Marsden Sreet Chesterfield Derbyshire S40 1JY
£6 inadvance £10 on the Door
The UK’s No.1 International Rammstein Tribute Band as featured in KERRANG!
RAMMLIED were formed in the South West in 2009. Martin (Vox), Doug (Guitar), Josh (Guitar), Gary(Drums) and Steve (Keys/Synths) are dedicated to providing the most authentic Rammstein tribute experience possible.
RAMMLIED strive for total accuracy in terms of Rammstein’s sound and have adopted the band’s Industrial stage look as seen on the live Volkerball DVD and the current Made in Germany tour. They have a busy diary for 2014, including headline Festival slots, so be quick to get the few remaining available dates!
ABOUT RAMMSTEIN:-
Rammstein are a German industrial metal band from Berlin, formed in 1994.The band consists of members Till Lindemann (lead vocals), Richard Z. Kruspe (lead guitar and backing vocals), Paul H. Landers (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Oliver “Ollie” Riedel (bass guitar), Christoph “Doom” Schneider (drums and electronic percussion) and Christian “Flake” Lorenz (keyboards).
Their songs are usually in German, but they have also performed songs entirely or partially in other languages such as English, Spanish, French and Russian. As of 2009, they have sold over 15 million records worldwide. Rammstein’s entire catalogue is published by Universal Music Group. Since their formation in 1994, Rammstein has had no changes in their band line-up nor have any members left the band.
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Disability Travel - Blue Badge Scheme: What Changes
Written by Steven Lumley
Everything changes from next month when the Department for Transport’s new scheme takes effect which means that anyone who doesn’t automatically qualify for a badge will have to undergo an independent mobility assessment.
This tighter measure will be carried out by medical professionals who have expertise in mobility and are not involved with the applicant. This would replace previous GP assessments.
And it’s likely to cost £10 to get the badge (a massive 400 per cent rise from the current £2).
Though it’s an optional rise within the new scheme we’ve already seen Telford and Rochdale (and several others in the North West) announce the £10 charge. That is sure to mean the ‘optional’ rise will become a standard rise across the board from most councils.
In its defence, Telford and Wrekin Council say the new system will cost nearly £60,000 a year to oversee and administer and part of the fee will offset that.
The new scheme also means (yet another) national database of users to help prevent fraudulent use.
So again we see a small minority of people abusing a system designed to help people with mobility problems and it leads to a huge overhaul which impacts everyone wanting a Blue Badge.
The idea that it’s some kind of perk to be able to park near shops and other amenities, stay for free in some pay and display car parks and for free on single and double yellow lines in most streets for up to three hours needs to be tackled. It isn’t a perk for the vast majority of Blue Badge holders – it’s a necessity.
Without it many disabled people would be housebound or reliant on friends and family to get out and about.
Indeed, Hampshire County Council is already asking for feedback on planned stricter measures to qualify for disabled parking badges. (The county has already publicised the growing black market for Blue Badges with someone being offered £1,000 for one).
Hampshire’s potential changes were put forward shortly after Rushmoor Borough Council announced its proposals to charge disabled people to park in council-owned car parks.
Tameside Council has also announced that from January disabled people cannot park for free in their car parks.
It’s a quick fix for council coffers up and down the country to stop disabled people parking for free. Again, this is the thin end of a very thick wedge.
So now we are faced with the likelihood that the future price of obtaining a Blue Badge will rise significantly (just like the cost of getting a passport did and tuition fees once people got used to the concept of paying) and, let’s be clear about this, the medical evaluation element will undoubtedly take greater precedence for ALL Blue Badge applications.
And because disabled people do not appear to have a voice in these changes, it doesn’t mean that any future changes should be implemented without a full public consultation.
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The March for Life, 'Doonby,' and Justin Bieber's mom
By Matt C. Abbott
So here we are ... 40 years after Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. Well over 50 million lives lost to abortion; virtually no prospect of overturning Roe in the foreseeable future; a majority of Americans who are uncomfortable with, and even desire certain restrictions on, abortion, yet don't want to see it outlawed; a bunch of libertine politicians that merely reflect a libertine culture; and too few church leaders willing to "talk the talk and walk the walk" (canon 915, anyone?) in regard to promoting a culture of life.
OK, now that I have the negativity out of my system (not really), I would be remiss if I made it appear that the pro-life movement hasn't accomplished anything in these 40 years. Click here to read about some of the accomplishments, courtesy of Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League.
For those attending The March for Life, Catholic filmmaker Peter Mackenzie and NET TV will hold screenings of Doonby – "the mystical thriller about individual liberty. The provocative film stars John Schneider, Jenn Gotzon, Ernie Hudson, Joe Estevez, Jennifer O'Neill, Robert Davi, Will Wallace and Erin Way, with a cameo by Norma McCorvey ('Jane Roe' of Roe v. Wade)."
The screening information is as follows:
Date: Thursday, January 24, 2013; Time: 7 p.m.
Location: E Street Cinemam, 555 11th Street NW, Washington, DC 20004
Date: Friday, January 25, 2013; Time: 4 p.m.
Location: Residence Inn Capitol, 333 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20024
Those interested in attending one of the above screenings should RSVP to DoonbyEvents@
<NOSPAM>
gmail.com as soon as possible.
Doonby has received favorable reviews from Father Gianfranco Grieco, office head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, and Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention. Click here and here to see trailers of the film.
Pattie Mallette, mother of teen celebrity Justin Bieber, is the executive producer of a pro-life short film titled Crescendo. Click here for more information.
© Matt C. Abbott
Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic commentator with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication, media and theatre from Northeastern Illinois University. He also has an Associate in Applied Science degree in business management from Triton College. He's been interviewed on MSNBC, Bill Martinez Live, WOSU Radio in Ohio, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's 'Unsolved' podcast, WLS-TV (ABC) in Chicago, WMTV (NBC) and WISC-TV (CBS) in Madison, Wis., and has been quoted in The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. He can be reached at mattcabbott@
gmail.com.
(Note: I welcome thoughtful feedback and story ideas. If you want our correspondence to remain confidential, please specify as such in your initial email to me. However, I reserve the right to forward and/or publish emails that are accusatory, insulting or threatening in nature, even if those emails are marked confidential. Also, if you give me permission to publish a quote of yours, please do not contact me at a later time to request that I delete your name. Only in limited circumstances will I quote anonymous sources. Thank you and God bless!)
Receive future articles by Matt C. Abbott: Click here
On suffering and the cross of Christ
Cupich: pastor incited hatred against church hierarchy
'Infiltration'
Entering the priesthood, leaving the priesthood
Wikipedia contains baseless claim about slain priest
'Cooking with the Saints'
The concern about organ donation
Priest-activist reiterates support for Trump
Cupich's selective justice?
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Causes of War
05/04/1699 – Causes of War – Wool Act Passed as an Act of the Parliament of England
The Wool Act of 1699 (also known as the Woolens Act)is an Act of the Parliament of England (11 Will. III c. 13) which attempted to…
07/06/1768 – Causes of War – Vice Admiralty Court Act of 1768 Passed by an Act of Parliament (One of the Townshend Acts)
The Townshend Acts were a series of acts passed, beginning in 1767, by the Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in North America.…
12/22/1775 – Causes of War – Prohibitory Act of 1775 Act Passed by an Act of Parliament of Great Britain
The Prohibitory Act 1775 was passed as a measure of retaliation by Great Britain against the general rebellion then going on in her American colonies, which…
06/01/1732 – Causes of War – Hat Act Passed by Act of Parliament of Great Britain
The Hat Act is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (citation 5 Geo II. c. 22) enacted in 1732 to control hat production by…
04/12/1770 – Causes of War – Repeal Act of 1770 Received Royal Assent of Great Britain
On the 5 of March 1770— the same day as the Boston Massacre—Lord North, the new Prime Minister, presented a motion in the House of Commons…
04/01/1778 – Causes of War – Taxation of Colonies Act of 1778 Received Royal Assent of Great Britain
The Taxation of Colonies Act 1778 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which declared that Parliament would not impose any duty, tax, or…
05/02/1733 – Causes of War – Molasses Act Passed by Act of Parliament of Great Britain
The Molasses Act of March 1733 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (citation 6 Geo II. c. 13), which imposed a tax of…
03/05/1770 – Causes of War – The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre, known as the Incident on King Street by the British,[citation needed] was an incident on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers…
06/24/1750 – Causes of War – Iron Act Passed by Act of Parliament of Great Britain
In American Colonial history, the Iron Act, strictly Importation, etc. Act 1750 (Statute 23 Geo. II c. 29) was one of the legislative measures introduced by…
06/09/1772 – Causes of War – Gaspee Affair
The Gaspée Affair was a significant event in the lead-up to the American Revolution. HMS Gaspée,[1] a British customs schooner that had been enforcing unpopular trade…
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Continental Army Officers – New York
George Clinton ({OldStyleDate|July 26|1739|July 15}{spaced ndash}April 20, 1812) was an American soldier and statesman, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as Governor of New York from 1777 to 1795, then again from 1801 to 1804, then serving as the fourth Vice President of the United States from 1805 to 1812, serving under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. He is the longest-serving governor in the history of the United States (at a total of 21 years and six terms in office), and he and John C. Calhoun are the only persons to have served as Vice President under two different U.S. Presidents.
==Early life and participation in the Revolution==
His political interests were inspired by his father, Charles Clinton, an Anglo-Irish colonist of Little Britain, New York and a member of the New York colonial assembly. George Clinton was the brother of General James Clinton and the uncle of New York’s future governor, DeWitt Clinton.
At 18, he enlisted in the British Army to fight in the French and Indian War, eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant. He subsequently studied law, became clerk of the court of common pleas and served in the colonial assembly.
He was known for his hatred of Tories and used the seizure and sale of Tory estates to help keep taxes down. A supporter and friend of George Washington, he supplied food to the troops at Valley Forge, rode with Washington to the first Inauguration and gave an impressive dinner to celebrate it.
==Political career==
In 1759, he was appointed County Clerk for Ulster County, New York, a position he held for the next 52 years. He was a member of the New York Provincial Assembly for Ulster County from 1768-76.
On March 25, 1777, he was commissioned a brigadier general in the Continental Army. Shortly after, on April 20, 1777, he was elected Governor of New York in 1777, and was re-elected five times, serving until 1795. Although he had been elected governor, he retained his commission in the Continental Army and commanded forces at Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery on October 6, 1777. He remained in the Continental Army until it was disbanded on November 3, 1783.
In 1783, Clinton became an original member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati and served as its president from 1794 to 1795.
In 1783, at Dobbs Ferry, Clinton and Washington negotiated with General Sir Guy Carleton for the evacuation of the British troops from their remaining posts in the United States. In 1787–88, Clinton publicly opposed adoption of the new United States Constitution. 20th century historian Herbert Storing identifies Clinton as “Cato”, the pseudonymous author of the Anti-Federalist essays which appeared in New York newspapers during the ratification debates. However, the authorship of the essays is disputed. Clinton withdrew his objections after the Bill of Rights was added.
In 1792, he was chosen by the nascent Jeffersonian “Republican” party as their candidate for Vice President. While the Republicans joined in the general acclamation of Washington for a second term as President, they objected to the allegedly “monarchical” attitude of Vice President John Adams. Clinton was nominated rather than Thomas Jefferson because the Virginia electors could not vote for Washington and for a second Virginian. Clinton received 50 electoral votes to 77 for Adams. His candidacy was damaged by his anti-Federalist record and by his narrow and disputed re-election as governor in 1792. (He won by only 108 votes, and the substantial anti-Clinton vote of Otsego County was excluded on a technicality.)
He did not run for re-election as governor in 1795. He held no political office until he was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1800 and 1801. In 1801, he was again elected governor, serving until 1804. With 21 years of service, he was the longest-serving governor of a U.S. state. He was selected as President Jefferson’s running mate in the 1804 Presidential election, replacing Aaron Burr. He served as the fourth Vice President of the United States, first under Jefferson, from 1805 to 1809, and then under President James Madison from 1809 until his death of a heart attack in 1812. He was the first Vice President to die in office as well as the first Vice President to die overall.
Clinton was the first of two Vice Presidents to serve in the position under two different Presidents. (John C. Calhoun was the other.) He is of no known relation to the 42nd President, Bill Clinton, who was born William Jefferson Blythe III but took the surname of his stepfather.
Clinton was an unwilling candidate for President in the 1808 election, receiving six electoral votes from a wing of the Democratic-Republican Party that disapproved of James Madison. He came in third after Madison and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of the Federalist Party.
His original burial was in Washington, D.C. He was re-interred in Kingston, New York in 1908.
==Marriage and children==
On February 7, 1770, Clinton married Sarah Cornelia Tappen (d. 1800); they had five daughters and one son:
# Catharine Clinton (November 5, 1770 – January 10, 1811); married firstly, to John Taylor, and secondly Pierre Van Cortlandt, Jr.
# Cornelia Tappen Clinton (June 29, 1774 – March 28, 1810); married Edmond-Charles Genet
# George Washington Clinton (October 18, 1778 – March 27, 1813); married Anna Floyd, daughter of William Floyd
# Elizabeth Clinton (July 10, 1780 – April 8, 1825); married Matthias B. Tallmadge
# Martha Washington Clinton (October 12, 1783 – February 20, 1795)
# Maria Clinton (October 6, 1785 – April 17, 1829); married Dr. Stephen D. Beekman, a grandson of Pierre Van Cortlandt
==Legacy==
Clinton County, New York, Clinton County, Missouri, Clinton County, Ohio, and the village of Clinton, Oneida County, New York (site of Hamilton College) are all named for him. In Washington, D.C. there is a gilded equestrian sculpture of him on Connecticut Avenue.
In 1873, the state of New York donated a bronze statue of Clinton to the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall Collection. In 1787 Clinton was depicted on an unauthorized copper coin minted privately in New York with “EXCELSIOR” on reverse.
He was depicted in John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence even though he neither signed it nor was present when it was signed. In 1976 the painting appeared on the reverse of the two dollar bill and printed again in series 1995 and 2003.
In 2000, the State of New York ceremonially renamed the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge in honor of Clinton.
Source(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Clinton_(vice_president)
William Malcolm
Alexander McDougall
Richard Montgomery
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ACLU Files Suit Over Cranston School Prayer Banner
Posted: April 04, 2011|Category: Church and State
The Rhode Island ACLU today filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a prayer mural addressed to “Our Heavenly Father” that is displayed in the auditorium of a Cranston public high school. The lawsuit, filed by RI ACLU volunteer attorneys Lynette Labinger and Thomas Bender, is on behalf of Jessica Ahlquist, a sophomore at Cranston High School West, who in the past year has spoken out against her school’s prayer display.
At a news conference announcing the filing of the lawsuit, the Rev. Dr. Donald Anderson, executive minister of the R.I. State Council of Churches, and Rabbi Peter Stein, who leads a congregation in Cranston, also expressed their opposition to the school’s display, calling it “inappropriate” and “exclusionary.”
Last July, after learning of the prayer display, the ACLU wrote to school officials asking that it be removed. In the hope of avoiding the need for litigation, the Affiliate waited eight months for the school committee to determine what to do. By a 4-3 vote last month, however, the school committee decided to keep the prayer, ignoring warnings about the cost of litigation and despite the school district’s ongoing and severe budgetary problems, which have led to layoffs and program cuts.
The lawsuit notes that the prayer, which is at least eight feet high and three feet wide, “is designed to be easily read by students attending programs in the auditorium.” The lawsuit alleges that Jessica Ahlquist “does not subscribe to the religious expression conveyed by the prayer and objects to being subjected to it as a requirement of attending school and a condition of attending school programs in the auditorium,” and that Jessica’s father, Mark, “does not believe his daughter should be subjected to a religious communication and display with which she does not agree as a condition of attending public school.”
The suit notes that a number of speakers at public hearings identified the prayer’s religious message as the reason for urging the school committee to maintain it, and also expressed anger and outrage at people like Jessica who questioned the prayer’s display. In fact, a day after the school committee’s March vote, Jessica was allowed to leave class early in response to concerns for her safety arising out of her opposition to the prayer.
The prayer apparently had its origins in or about 1960 when, at the school administration’s request, the prayer was written by a member of the student government. It was done at the same time the student body was also asked to choose a school creed, school colors and a school mascot. The prayer was painted onto the auditorium wall around 1963 and apparently recited by students for a period of time.
The suit argues that the prayer violates the First Amendment, and seeks a court order to prohibit its continued display at the school. The U.S. Supreme Court first ruled government-sponsored prayer in the public schools unconstitutional in 1962. Thirty years later, in a case handled by the RI ACLU, the Supreme Court also ruled unconstitutional the recitation of prayers at public school graduation ceremonies. In recent months, in recognition of the likelihood of litigation over the display, school officials have sought to minimize the display’s clear religious message, instead calling it “historic” and “artistic.”
Read the comments from those who participated in the news conference.
See All 2011 News Articles >
Category: Church and State
ACLU Lawsuit Challenging Pawtucket’s Favorable Treatment of Parochial Schools Goes to Trial December, 16, 2012 - Read more >
Court Upholds Pawtucket’s Allocation of School Fields Against Constitutional Challenge May, 04, 2012 - Read more >
ACLU Announces Submission of Final Judgement in Cranston Prayer Case March, 07, 2012 - Read more >
ACLU Attorneys File Request for Fees In Cranston Prayer Case February, 01, 2012 - Read more >
Excerpts from the Court’s Ruling in Ahlquist v. City of Cranston January, 12, 2012 - Read more >
Judge Rules Cranston School Prayer Mural Unconstitutional January, 12, 2012 - Read more >
ACLU Brief Calls for Removal of Cranston School Prayer Display; Oral Argument Scheduled for October September, 12, 2011 - Read more >
ACLU Seeks Preliminary Injunction Against Continued Display of Cranston School Prayer May, 26, 2011 - Read more >
Comments from Ahlquist v. Cranston Press Conference April, 04, 2011 - Read more >
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Economic policies that are not based on social justice have no moral foundation: social justice policies that lack economic policy support are without deliverable value.
Over the past two years, as Mayoral lead for Social Justice policies I have been in a position to ensure the delivery of a new equalities policy “Equal Life Chances for All” that not only recognises the differences between communities and individuals but endeavours to mainstream solutions rather than treat each group, as defined by law, as a separate body – a salami slice of London.
The policy recognises different needs but, pre-dating the Single Equality Act, pulls people together rather than divides them up into competing sets of interests. We all recognise that the disabled deserve special support, gender, faith, sexuality, ethnic differences require, and deserve acceptance, understanding and a lack of prejudice – discrimination – in the work place. These “differences” should be irrelevant to employment and promotion.
That is the basis of “Equal Life Chances for All” and I am proud to be its sponsor
In parallel and conjunction with this policy, I also act as sponsor for “Responsible Procurement” policies and “Diversity Works for London”. The latter, a public company sponsored on-line programme that helps companies analyse their employment practises and identifies ways in which they can modify them to achieve a gold standard for employment. Over 300 companies a week are seeking advice and are going through the programme, changing the face of employment opportunities across London. 65 of the FTSE 100 are subscribers and over 3700 companies have signed up.
So successful has it been that I know a number of European cities are considering adapting it for their own use.
We are leading the way and setting the standard.
Responsible Procurement looks at the way in which the £3.5 billion of GLA group procurement is conducted.
We have analysed our sources of supply and are directing purchasing to London’s businesses and SME’s wherever possible – creating jobs across all sectors. Not only that, but by influencing and negotiation with the supply chain we are ensuring the creation of apprenticeships and training opportunities, delivering the Mayor’s green objectives and policies and attacking workloads.
As a result of the success of the programme, local authorities across London are now signing up to the programme. Their combined purchasing power is over £30bn a year, a very significant impact on London’s economy.
These three policies are making a difference in London and I am proud to lead on them.
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Buy from Intrada Records - USA.
Good Morning, Miss Dove
Buy it at:
Collection: 62
There is 1 label for this title.
Image supplied by
Mark Hammon
Intrada Special Collection Volume 105
Limited edition of 1000 copies.
Also contains music from:
Members who have this label in their:
Update this label
1. Foreword (04:27)
2. Second Warning (01:45)
3. Death of Mr. Dove (01:58)
4. "You Tell Me Your Dream, I'll Tell You Mine" (04:34)
5. The Awesome Miss Dove (02:48)
6. Graduation Present (03:30)
7. Miss Dove's Medal (03:07)
8. Rescue and Accomplishment (01:51)
9. The Legacy (04:46)
10. "Good Morning, Miss Dove" song demo (02:41)
tracks 1 - 10 from "Good Morning, Miss Dove"
11. Main Title (01:25)
12. New York Skyline (01:31)
13. West Ninth Street (01:56)
14. Iris Bolieres (04:05)
15. "Salome's Dance" (01:45)
16. The Letter (01:55)
17. Decision (02:49)
18. Confession (02:57)
19. Overheard Conversation (02:47)
tracks 11 - 20 from "Black Widow"
Total Duration: 00:52:58
Track listing contributed by Dorian
If you know of another release, why don't you tell us about it, so we can add it to our database.
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Spryte Insights Blog
Tag: pensions
The Costs of Public Healthcare Benefits
Understanding How Healthcare Impacts State Budgets
There is an oft-quoted saying, usually attributed to Otto von Bismarck, the 19th century Prussian leader who became the first Chancellor of the united German Empire, that compares the production of sausage to the process of creating legislation: “It’s better not to see them being made.”
The process can be messy and unappetizing. The end product can amount to an amalgam of disparate contributors and ingredients. And while it might be satisfying when first ingested, there might be some unforeseen side-effects that crop up after the initial passage.
Because many states, including New Jersey, are in the midst of annual State Budget negotiations (with an official deadline of June 30th for passage), interested viewers will have a ringside seat as they get to watch the legislative budget deliberations at their most intense. (Note: Governor Wolf signed Pennsylvania’s FY2019 budget on Friday, June 22, the first on-time budget of his tenure.)
Healthcare Communicators Under Pressure
For healthcare communicators, particularly those who work for public organizations or entities that receive some kind of public healthcare funding, it’s important to appreciate the pressures and influences that often come together during peak budget deliberations.
At a recent meeting of the Health Issues Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of Southern New Jersey, Tom Byrne, Managing Director and Head of Equity Portfolio Management for Byrne Asset Management, provided an overview of the role public healthcare benefits increasingly play in state budget deliberations.
For New Jersey in particular, public healthcare benefits and pensions “are a huge albatross,” said Byrne. That includes the costs of providing healthcare coverage and pension contributions to the many thousands of public employees, including elected officials and their staffs, judges, police, fire and rescue personnel, teachers, superintendents and other personnel throughout New Jersey’s approximately 678 operating public school districts, and more.
Many of these public employees are protected by unions and guaranteed contracts, so there is little incentive for them to agree to shed benefits in the budget deal-making process.
Underfunded Pensions in NJ
One of the key challenges New Jersey budget negotiators face is the past. Over the course of years, budget-negotiators sought to balance the books by underfunding public pension allocations, hoping to make it up at some point in the future when the state’s economic situation became rosier.
Unfortunately, spending on other concerns always seemed to take precedent. As a result, New Jersey faces one of the most dire pension shortfalls in the country. How serious is it? Other states have come out of similar pension problems, but never one this deep, Byrne said.
Tom Byrne, Byrne Asset Management
In March, New Jersey Governor Philip Murphy proposed an allocation of $3.2 billion toward pensions in FY 2019, a 28% increase over last year’s contribution. The proposal noted that this contribution would be larger than the total of all contributions made during the previous administration’s first four years. Even so, it’s only a start to making it whole.
More Funding for Education, Healthcare
In addition, Gov. Murphy proposes increasing state funding for public education, including an expansion of Pre-K and STEM education, Pursuing Tuition-Free Community College, and expanding student aid.
In addition, he has proposed increases in funding for healthcare coverage for low-income citizens, family planning, mental health and addiction services, developmental disabilities services, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and hospital funding – all worthwhile-sounding investments.
But to arrive at a balanced budget, what’s given out in one area has to be taken back in another – unless the pie is enlarged. That means raising taxes. With New Jersey property owners already paying some of the highest property taxes in the nation, the practicality of continually going back to that well is questionable. An increase in the sales tax is one proposal. Also a “millionaire’s tax” and a proposed fee on carried interest that would focus on Wall Street earnings.
Pushback Expected
Byrne said he expects there to be some discussion about revising public healthcare benefits – incorporating more wellness and in-network programs and requirements as a means to lower overall spending. But such suggestions are only part of the answer, Byrne said.
The fact is, pension and healthcare costs are crowding out a larger and larger share of discretionary spending. And powerful interests with a desire to maintain an existing state program or allotment will be pressuring lawmakers to protect those concerns.
“If you cut eight million dollars from the state budget as a line item, you won’t get eight million thank-you notes from people for saving them a dollar each,” explained Byrne. “But you may upset powerful interests.” That’s something most elected officials try to avoid.
Adding to the uncertainty is the fact that many legislators simply don’t have expertise in public finance, pensions and public healthcare. Byrne said they need to become better educated in order to effect solutions on such complex issues. And soon.
Healthcare will likely be a major component of any solution, but public healthcare reform is not a panacea. There are too many other interconnected variables and links that need to be sorted out before this state budget sausage is fully cooked.
Each year, as annual budget negotiations begin to percolate, healthcare communicators should make the effort to understand how the interests of their organizations line up with pending budget proposals as well as the viewpoints of their allies in the legislature and other influential government officials. Budget negotiations are often referred to as a numbers game. But the number of friendly votes you can count on are often as important as the budgetary numbers themselves.
Published June 26, 2018 by Spryte Communications in Public Affairs
Honoring Lew Klein’s Life and Legacy
Devine Grades Healthcare Sector with a “B”
Pointing Out Oppression on July 4th
Different Cultures Understand Medicine Differently
Juneteenth – America’s Other Independence Day
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Book Review: Annihilation and the Southern Reach Trilogy
I recently watched the movie Annihilation, starring Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and I loved it. I thought it was a brilliant philosophical exposition on the nature of life itself, of being an organism and what it means for organisms to be conscious and exist. It was weird, frightening, exciting, and fun.
I loved it so much, that I went out and bought the trilogy of books upon which the movie is based: Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance, by James Vandemeer. As I read them, I found them to be wildly different from Annihilation the movie. So much so that this is yet another in a long list of examples in which Hollywood doesn’t just water down or abridge a book, they completely change the story into something almost entirely new. There are seeds of the books in the movie, and there are common themes, but most of the events that occur in the movie never happen in the book. Most of what happens in the book isn’t even referenced in the movie, and the few events that survive the translation end up being expressed as sort of “composites.” The movie’s version of the lighthouse, for example, is actually a composite of three different locations in the book series. That’s a rather big change, and it’s emblematic of just exactly what kinds of changes were made to the storyline.
Now having experienced both stories, I can unequivocally say that I like them both. I might even like the movie a little better. But each must be approached differently, as though they are two separate and unrelated stories. Doing this will ensure that experiencing both is entertaining, each in its own separate way.
At this point, I’d like to present a review of the book series.
Before I get started, let me begin by warning you: There will probably be spoilers throughout this review. It’s impossible to discuss this kind of story without discussing particular events in the book. This book review is probably best enjoyed by people who have read all three books already. With those caveats out of the way, let’s begin.
I. The Plot And Scope
At its core, the Southern Reach Trilogy is a story about a strange, supernatural presence that occupies a remote patch of coastline, somewhere in the Southern USA. The occupied region, called Area X, is surrounded by an invisible or barely visible “border” that causes anything that touches it to… disappear? Transport? Relocate? No one knows. There is, however, a “door” or portal of some kind that allows people in and out of Area X, and a secret government agency called The Southern Reach is in charge of figuring out what Area X is and what to do about it. For decades, they’ve been sending small scientific expeditions into Area X. Some members of these expeditions return haunted by what they see, others die inside Area X, others come back almost as different people, and often those who return die of aggressive cancer.
The Southern Reach Trilogy follows a set of characters as they each interact with Area X in their own way. There is “The Biologist,” who is sent into Area X on an expedition; “The Director,” who was once director of the Southern Reach, but ultimately disappears into Area X; “Control,” the Director’s newly appointed replacement, “Ghost Bird,” a returnee from Area X, and “The Lighthouse Keeper,” who lived in Area X before it became occupied by the mysterious presence. The books are told from the perspective of these characters, and there are of course additional characters who play an important role in the story. Annihilation is told entirely from the perspective of The Biologist, Authority is told entirely from the perspective of Control, and Acceptance is told from all of the various characters’ perspectives, on a chapter-by-chapter basis.
So, here we have a story told over three separate novels, from the perspective of several characters whose stories interweave variously, about a mysterious and terrifying area of the country that is possessed by something that may either be an environmental catastrophe, an alien lifeform, a supernatural haunting, a government conspiracy, or a portal into another dimension. Obviously, the telling of a story like this is a massive undertaking. Indeed, it might be one of the most ambitious writing projects of the last decade or two.
II. Criticism
With any undertaking this large, there are some high points and some low points. We no longer live in the age of Herman Melville, so it’s difficult or impossible to expect a present-day novelist to produce a trilogy of books that is airtight in its storytelling and literary quality. Still, the scope of Vandemeer’s project is so grand that the reader expects more to it than we actually get, and I’m frankly left scratching my head, wondering why I didn’t get what I expected.
For one thing, there’s the problem of characters and events in the story that simply peter out. Vandemeer spills a lot of ink, for example, on a mysterious sub-plot involving the Psychologist from the second-to-last “Eleventh Expedition.” This character plays prominently in all three books, each of the story’s main characters interacts with him in a different way. The character suffers a grisly fate, and we receive many hints along the way about that fate’s being caused by one character, or linked to another character. And yet, we never find out exactly what happened to this character, why he suffered the fate he suffered, what caused it, and indeed there isn’t even any climax to the sub-plot. Eventually, the story simply moves on and none of the characters are even really impacted by it. So why was this sub-plot there in the first place? I can’t help but wonder if perhaps there was more to this sub-plot, but it didn’t survive the editing process. As a result, we have page after page wasted on vague descriptions of a character whose fate we never really learn and whose existence contributes nothing to the plot.
Another character, Whitby, prominent in the second and third books, seemingly exists to add tension and mystery to the story; but there’s already plenty of that without him. As the story unfolds, we learn a little bit more about the character, and we learn that he suffered a terrible experience of his own. But what, precisely, happens to Whitby and how it connects him to some of the other events in the novel is left unclear. This, too, is another false lead. We read on and on, expecting the mystery of Whitby to reveal itself, but it never does.
In Authority, we learn of the existence and contents of video footage from the First Expedition into Area X. Terrifying and surreal events unfold in that footage, and those events are oddly specific. That is, we learn about specific images in the film footage, we hear specific words, and we even become aware of a female inhabitant of Area X who may be behind some of the seemingly supernatural horrors. But what the First Expedition sees and experiences is never made known at any point in the story, beyond the viewing of the film footage, and those events are never tied to any of the main characters’ own experiences with Area X. The images are certainly frightening, but without being tied to anything else anywhere in the story, they seem to serve no purpose other than to generate a bit of a scare.
III. Thematic Issues
This problem extends to some of the story’s over-arching themes. What is the Southern Reach Trilogy really about? Is it just a scary story, or was Vandemeer trying to comment on something?
One easy interpretation of the book is that it’s simply a story about human beings’ deleterious impact on the natural environment. Interspersed throughout the three novels are comments about environmental pollution. Meanwhile, Area X, as frightening as it might be, is a picturesque and virtually untouched natural landscape. Some of the horrors of Area X involve the conversion of people and man-made things into natural objects. There are dolphins with human eyes, birds with apparently human motives, and so on. In one reading of the story, Area X represents the inevitable havoc we wreak on ourselves by poisoning our environment.
The reason I’m skeptical of this interpretation, however, is that the story is jam-packed with thematic elements that are so specific as to be anything other than coincidence. For example, all of the main characters in the story are grappling with the concept of dynasty. The Lighthouse Keeper is the son of a preacher who turned his back on life as a preacher himself. Control is a third-generation government agent whose history with the Agency is lackluster compared to his mother’s and his grandfather’s. The Director is a woman hoping to escape from the legacy of her criminal parents by latching onto the humble, hard-working solitude of the Lighthouse Keeper’s legacy. Ghost Bird is a woman seeking to escape the legacy implied by her own identity.
The fact that all of these characters share a common relationship to lives expected of them, and their shared desire to seek their own unique kinds of solitude as they struggle to find a legacy meaningful enough to them, on their own terms is something that Vandemeer wrote into his story on purpose. And yet, bafflingly, these themes are never resolved. They’re not resolved on a personal level for any of the characters expressing them, and they’re not resolved in an over-arching way during the course of the story. Like the orphaned characters I mentioned before, Vandemeer spills lots of ink setting up these common themes for the reader to ponder, and yet when it comes time to resolve the issue, he simply… doesn’t.
One possible reason for this is that Vandemeer plans to write more books about Area X. But if not, what was the point? The Southern Reach Trilogy could have been equally frightening, and exciting, and thought-provoking without introducing sets of characters and themes that ultimately end up being pointless diversions. Vandemeer wanted them in there, but why?
As I mentioned above, another reason for this might simply be that none of it survived the editing process. The resolutions were all there, thematic and otherwise, but the resulting books would have been too long and plodding and so they had to be cut to make the story more palatable for a broad audience.
IV. Conclusion
Vandemeer is a wonderful writer. I enjoyed the fact that, when it came time to change the story’s perspective to another character, the voice of the writing changed right along with it. His descriptions are sometimes elaborate and grand. We come to learn about Area X and this set of characters and by the end of the story, we understand both as well as can be expected from such a mysterious tale. His narrative is always engaging, and the action is fantastic.
And, admittedly, the only reason I could criticize the books as fully as I have above is because they were so engaging that I spent hours thinking about them even when I wasn’t reading them. For a story that makes you think, you can’t do much better than the Southern Reach Trilogy.
Still, with no plot resolutions and no thematic lessons learned, the books ultimately left me feeling unsatisfied, as though the story could have been so much more than what it was.
My Mortality
This post will be a little bit of a downer. I’m sorry.
I was talking to some work colleagues recently about the time leading up to and including my diagnosis with type 1 diabetes. Like many people – indeed, like myself at the time – they were very surprised to learn that normal, healthy people could acquire “juvenile” diabetes so late in life. I often have similar conversations, and I always underscore this fact by pointing out that I won a 10K just months before my formal diagnosis.
This time, one of my colleagues asked me what was the biggest adjustment I had to make once I became a diabetic. Two things immediately came to mind, but before I mention them, I think it is interesting to consider that neither of my answers represents any kind of physical adjustment. That is, making dietary changes was no big deal for me. Learning to count carbs and adhere to an insulin regimen was ridiculously simple. Minimizing sleep disruptions and adhering to a more regular exercise regime were both easy adjustments to make. Learning how to socialize without partaking of food or drink was a little challenging, I guess, but more challenging for others than for me.
Instead, both of my answers involved mental adjustments.
The first adjustment I had to make was learning how to be “tethered” to my diabetes. What I mean is that, prior to acquiring diabetes, I wouldn’t have thought twice about a spontaneous hike or road trip. But nowadays, I always have to have some kind of “plan.” Sometimes the “plan” Is as simple as having a cool, dry place to store my insulin and having a pocket big enough to stash a few glucose tablets. But other times, the “plan” means I have to forego a particularly interesting hike, or adventure, or I have to not run a marathon, because the medical risk is too great for me to take it on. I can’t go anywhere without being reasonably sure that I’ll be able to get medical attention if I need it. At any time, my condition may create an emergency, and I need to have the ability to address that emergency, whether that means being close to a hospital, or having adequate food, or drug supplies, or being able to protect my medication from the heat, or whatever else it might be. Consequently, there is never a time anymore when I do not feel tied, tethered, to my medical condition. I do not think that most people can identify with this feeling.
The second and more important adjustment, though, is what prompted me to write this blog post. It’s natural to remark that acquiring a chronic medical condition forced me to confront my own mortality, and most people have a vague idea of what that means. Still, there’s a bit more to it than that.
In The Princess Bride, the character of Wesley awakes to find himself strapped to a table in The Pit of Despair with an assortment of pneumatic tubes affixed to various parts of his body. His captors turn on the machine, causing him great pain, and when they finally shut it off, one of them tells him, “I’ve just sucked one year of your life away.” This is a conceptually frightening idea (especially for a lighthearted comedy) because injuries typically take place in the present. One might suffer a debilitating injury that shortens one’s life, but the injury is observed now, in the present. But the machine in The Pit of Despair simply robs you of a future you have not yet had the chance to live.
I remember watching this film as a child and being somewhat haunted by the fact that, although the characters live happily every after, “ever after” is actually a shorter period of time than it would have been, had Wesley never found himself trapped in The Pit of Despair. One could argue that the Witchdoctor who later heals Wesley also restores his future life, but this is the stuff of fan fiction. Taking the story at face value means accepting that Wesley is robbed of one year of his life, and later of fifty years of his life during another experience with the machine. By the time The Princess Bride ends, Wesley does not have many years to spend on his “happily ever after.”
Type 1 diabetes is a death sentence. Not very many people know what’s going to kill them. But I do. The range of possible deaths for me has been narrowed to a very short list. This list includes fatal heart attack and stroke, and also includes a slow and slogging march to neuropathy, blindness, amputation, and eventually organ failure. You may find it macabre to think about or to read about, but the reality is what it is. If I live for a long time and take good care of myself, then I am likely to die in darkness, in a hospital bed, powerless and afraid. If I am very lucky, my family will be there with me. Subject to a realistic set of assumptions, they might not be.
Furthermore, this death is likely to occur as many as twenty years earlier than a normal person would have experienced it. I can imagine the voice of the Six-Fingered Man from The Princess Bride telling me, “I’ve just sucked twenty years of your life away.” That’s twenty years filled with my daughter’s college graduation? Or my future grandchildren? Of living out a fun-filled retirement with my beautiful wife? Trips on cruise lines to exotic locations? Productive years spent building a financial legacy to gift to my wife and daughter? Who knows what would have happened in the twenty years that have been robbed from me by my disease?
Although I’ve tried to articulate it clearly here, and hopefully successfully so, the fact of the matter is that I don’t spend a lot of time dwelling on this or letting it get me down. But the consequences of these facts are that now time wasted standing in line is excruciating for me. Time wasted finishing up a project at work instead of driving home to the wide-spread arms of the little girl who yells, “DADDY!” and leaps into me hits me with a weight that I cannot ignore. I hear people making excuses for why they can’t go out and have fun, because it’s a weeknight, or some other foolish reason, and occasionally a voice inside me wants to say, “You fool, squandering your precious weeknights on a pointless and unimaginative excuse!” I watch people grow fat with bad food and poor lifestyle habits, incredulous at how cheaply they are willing to sell the physical mobility of their last twenty years, as though an extra slice of chocolate cake or a weekly trip to the pizza parlor really is worth twenty years of agonized groans as they struggle to extract themselves from an easy chair. I watch people light cigarettes and inhale their eventual cancer and I think, “Money and life down the toilet, and for what.”
Call it what it is: I’m jealous of every fat man with an extra twenty years of life I’ll never have. I envy anyone who can keep up a dedicated addiction to Tex-Mex and ice cream. This is my problem, my mental shortcoming, my psycho-pathology. It has nothing to do with anyone else’s choices. It comes down to the simple fact that my beta cells died and theirs didn’t, and it isn’t fair, and I’m the one who’s stuck with it.
Learning to live a good life, a happy life, a successful life in the face of knowing about my own death is the biggest adjustment I’ve had to make since becoming a type 1 diabetic. I’m not depressed about it, but it is what it is.
Labels: Diabetes, happiness
▼ Mar 2018 (2)
Book Review: Annihilation and the Southern Reach T...
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Terry Anger
Pastor Terry Anger has been preaching since his teens and has been in pastoral ministry since 1982. He served as associate pastor at Devon Park Baptist Church in Fredericton, NB before joining the faculty at New Brunswick Bible Institute where he taught Homiletics and Expository Preaching for six years.
In 2009 Pastor Terry founded Rhema on the Road Ministries which provided teaching and discipleship resources to churches throughout Canada and the United States. He has also preached extensively in Bible Conferences and churches both in Canada, the United States, and South America. Presently, Pastor Terry serves as senior pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Waterloo, ON.
Pastor Terry is a native of Niagara Falls, ON. He studied at Liberty University, and New Brunswick Bible Institute specializing in Biblical and Theological Studies. He and his wife, Allison, have been married since 1982. They are the proud parents of four adult children and grandparents of two. Terry and Allison have also been involved in foster care since 2004 and in 2008 became foster parents of Anna who we remain in contact with to this day.
Jacob Moon has been recording and performing full time for the past 20 years, and released his 11th CD recently with his new band, The Commissionaires. He has shared the stage with Gordon Lightfoot, Ron Sexsmith and just recorded a song that will appear on the next Rush CD. His music has taken him all over the world, and his heart for justice has led him to advocate on behalf of children living in poverty. He and his wife Allison have adopted three children in Hamilton over the past 9 years, and he speaks and sings regularly across Canada about that experience.
Sue Badeau
Jacob Moon
Sue Badeau, is a nationally known speaker, writer and consultant. She is former president of the North American Council on Adoptable Children and current board member of Justice for Families and has worked closely with the Human Rights Campaign’s All Children, All Families, National Child Traumatic Stress Network, the National Council for Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Casey Family Programs and the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care. She trains adoptive, foster, and kinship caregivers and child welfare professionals across the country on trauma, parenting, permanency for older youth, family engagement, self-care and many other topics. Sue and her husband, Hector, are lifetime parents of 22 children, two by birth and 20 adopted and have also served as foster parents and kin caregivers to more than 75 children. They have authored books on permanency and trauma including, Are We There Yet: The Ultimate Road Trip, Adopting and Raising 22 Kids, Building Bridges of Hope: A Coloring Book for Adults Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma, and the child’s companion version, “Bubbles and Butterflies” both illustrated by their daughter Chelsea Badeau.
Copyright 2019. Together For Adoption & Fostering Conference Canada 2019. All rights reserved.
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Teacher Change in Elementary Science Instruction With English Language Learners: Results of a Multiyear Professional Development Intervention Across Multiple Grades
by Okhee Lee & Jaime Maerten-Rivera - 2012
Background: Current classroom practices have largely been shaped by changing student demographics, including English language learners (ELLs), and evolving accountability policies. The teacher professional development intervention in this study takes place against this backdrop.
Research Questions: This study examined change in teachers� knowledge and practices while they participated in a 5-year teacher professional development intervention designed to improve science instruction while supporting literacy development of ELLs in the context of accountability policy in science. The study also examined whether teacher change was associated with predictor variables.
Setting and Participants: The study involved all science teachers (a total of 198 teachers) in Grades 3�5 from six urban elementary schools in a large school district. Over the 5-year period of the study, each teacher could participate in the intervention for 3 years, although there were high rates of teacher mobility.
Intervention: A series of curriculum units was developed that constituted the entire science curriculum for Grades 3�5 and replaced the district-adopted curriculum in the six participating schools. Over their 3-year participation in the intervention, teachers could attend a total of 14 full-day workshops during the summers and throughout the school years.
Research Design: The study used a longitudinal design over the 5-year intervention with a treatment group consisting of six elementary schools.
Data Collection and Analysis: Both questionnaire and classroom observations were used to measure reform-oriented practices in science and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL)/bilingual education in the following areas: (a) teacher knowledge of science content, (b) teaching practices to promote scientific understanding, (c) teaching practices to promote scientific inquiry, and (d) teaching practices to support English language development. During the 3-year period of their participation, teachers completed the questionnaire prior to beginning the intervention and at the end of each school year and were observed once in the fall and once in the spring each year. A series of multilevel models was used to examine change in the questionnaire and observation scales.
Conclusions: The results from the questionnaire (what teachers reported) and classroom observations (what teachers were observed doing) indicated some improvements in teachers� knowledge and practices in teaching science to ELLs over the intervention. Grade taught was the most pronounced predictor variable and distinguished the fifth grade, the grade at which science counted toward the state accountability policy. Despite improvements, teachers� knowledge and practices generally did not meet the goal of reform-oriented practices.
Purchase Teacher Change in Elementary Science Instruction With English Language Learners: Results of a Multiyear Professional Development Intervention Across Multiple Grades
A Vision for Science Education: Responding to the Work of Peter Fensham
An Enactment of Science, A Dynamic Balance Among Curriculum, Context and Teacher Beliefs
An Inconvenient Truth About Science Education
Diversity and Equity in Science Education: Research, Policy, and Practice
Rights versus Reality: The Gap between Civil Rights and English Learners� High School Educational Opportunities
Orientations for the Teaching of Writing: A Legacy of the National Writing Project
Storybridge to Second Language Literacy: The Theory, Research, Practice of Teaching English with Children's Literature
Implementing and Analyzing Performance Assessments in Teacher Education
Okhee Lee
University of Miami, Florida
OKHEE LEE is a professor in the School of Education, University of Miami, Florida. Her research areas include science education, language and culture, and teacher education. Recent publications include: Lee, O. (2005). Science education and English language learners: Synthesis and research agenda. Review of Educational Research, 75(4), 491�530; and Lee, O., Penfield, R. D., & Buxton, C. A. (in press). Relationship between �form� and �content� in science writing among English language learners. Teachers College Record.
Jaime Maerten-Rivera
JAIME MAERTEN-RIVERA is a research associate in the School of Education, University of Miami, Florida. Her research interest is in the area of applied methodological issues, with a secondary focus on education issues, including diversity and accountability policies. Recent publications include: Maerten-Rivera, J., Myers, N., Lee, O., & Penfield, R. (2010). Student and school predictors of high-stakes assessment in science. Science Education, 94, 937�962; and Maerten-Rivera, J., Penfield, R., Myers, N., Lee, O., & Buxton, C. (2009). School and teacher predictors of science instruction practices with English language learners in urban elementary schools. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 15(2), 93�118.
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Bookosphere, Faith
August 19, 2015 tdaxp 9 Comments
In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.
Ruth said,
“Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.
Ruth 1:16
In both Judges and Luke, a Messenger of the Lord appears to a couple, promising a son. In both cases strong drink is specifically prohibited. In both cases Israel will be moved by the promised boy. Both are the beginning of deliverance
And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Although you are barren, having borne no children, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, or to eat anything unclean, for you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor is to come on his head, for the boy shall be a nazirite to God from birth. It is he who shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
Judges 13:3-5
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.
But quickly after this familiar Jewish scene is something far rarer in the Hebrew Bible. A direct conversation, with quoted words, between two women not about a man.
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’
Men are often foolish in Luke. Herod, who murdered John the Baptist, wants to see Jesus because he thinks he may be John the Baptist, risen from the dead!
Now Herod the ruler heard about all that had taken place, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen. Herod said, “John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he tried to see him.
and later Herod has such an emotional journey on the day of the Crucifixion that one is reminded of poor king Saul, whose demons destroyed his life and his mind
When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign. He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.
Women, and what they observe, are a theme. The Lord’s conversation with Mary and Martha hints at something to come..
Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
And these themes, wisdom, observing reality, are repeated. The Gospel of Luke is explicitly in the Wisdom tradition of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, but without the reassuring calmness of Proverbs
Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.
Luke disturbs the reader, introducing sarcasm not seen in the Bible since Job or Ecclesiastes
But ask the animals, and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
Job 12:7-9 (on the death of his family)
All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knows whether the human spirit goes upwards and the spirit of animals goes downwards to the earth? So I saw that there is nothing better than that all should enjoy their work, for that is their lot; who can bring them to see what will be after them?
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’
While it is men who murder, it is women who watch. Women have the gift of realizing a murder is a murder, no matter who is being murdered. The camera pans back — Christ, the soldier, the crowd, the acquaintances, the women —- the witnesses of murders
Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.” And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things
The closest parallel to this in the Bible — of woman seeing the thing, clearly, is Sarah at her Annunciation, when she spoke to the LORD
They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.”
But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”
The traditional view of this scene is negative for Sarah, the doubter, who laughed. But the ridiculous is ridiculous, no matter the speaker. Just as a murder is a murder, no matter the victim. The LORD is fully present in the world, really and truly was at supper with Abraham and Sarah. Sarah, like Mary, actually listened to the LORD, and engaged the LORD, and reacted to the human God as the most treasured guest one could have.
The same pattern, with the same wry humor from the LORD, was repeated shortly before His crucifixion. But unlike women, the men do not engage enough to understand what is ridiculous. Given a command to trade cloth for swords, they immediately begin counting the swords in the house, as if the goal was Herod’s head. “Enough,” indeed.
He said to them, “But now, the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one. For I tell you, this scripture must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was counted among the lawless’; and indeed what is written about me is being fulfilled.” They said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.”
He replied, “It is enough.”
Joseph must have felt similar feelings of love and irritation when he sat down for dinner with his brothers.
The annunciation to Sarah, of course, occurred at a meal
Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
Immediately after the resurrection, the Lord appears to two men, revealing his identity as food is handed out.
As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.
Even in the parables, in visiosn of heaven, we see flesh and blood — Abraham and Lazarus — proof that this creation, through Christ, may live forever.
And that is the world of the Gospel of Luke. Earth. A Creator who became a Creature.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke don’t contradict each other, but they emphasize different thing.
In Matthew, primarily, Jesus is Legislator, King of Israel, and Prophet — the Son of Man
In Mark, primarily, Jesus is God of All.
In Luke, primarily, Jesus’s lives in the world of sarcasm, women, and food.
The Legislator…
The One True God…
Is a creature,
Is a human,
Is a man.
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.
christianityGospel of LukeGospelsLuke
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9 thoughts on “The Gospel of Luke”
Michael J. Lotus says:
Good post, Dan.
The comparisons to the Old Testament are appreciated.
Luke’s sympathetic depiction of women is unique, and carries through into the Acts.
I am looking forward to our thoughts on John.
tdaxp says:
After reading the synoptic gospels, the ordering makes perfect sense. Matthew is the capstone of the Hebrew Bible. The LORD had already appeared in the flesh, and in fire, but the shocking elements are that the offices of Legislator, King, and Prophet, are united.
Mark restates this the core of these four claims. and emphasizes universality.
Matthew relaunches, same facts, same claims, different emphasis.
Off to John…
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Home » TIMag.com news » Media » Tennis Channel begins coverage of Sony Ericsson Open
Tennis Channel begins coverage of Sony Ericsson Open
LOS ANGELES — Tennis Channel, the only 24-hour, television-based multimedia destination dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle, will begin its coverage of the Sony Ericsson Open on Monday, March 29, at 7 p.m. ET. The network has slated 20 live or first-run hours during what has become known as the “fifth slam,” in addition to 30 hours of same-day repeats. The Sony Ericsson Open features the world’s top ATP men’s and WTA women’s tennis players in Miami at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park. For a full schedule of planned Tennis Channel coverage, go to tennischannel.com.
Tennis Channel’s Live Sony Ericsson Open Match Schedule
Monday, March 29 7 p.m.-11 p.m. Men’s Third Round;
Women’s Round of 16
Tuesday, March 30 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Men’s Round of 16;
Women’s Quarterfinals
Wednesday, March 31 7 p.m.- 9 p.m. Women’s Quarterfinals
Thursday, April 1 7 p.m.-9 p.m. Men’s Quarterfinals
Tennis Channel (tennischannel.com) is the only 24-hour, television-based multimedia destination dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle. A hybrid of comprehensive sports, health, fitness, pop culture, entertainment, lifestyle, and travel programming, the network is home to every aspect of the wide-ranging, worldwide tennis community. It also has the most concentrated single-sport coverage in television, with telecast rights to the US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open), Australian Open, Olympus US Open Series, ATP Masters Series, top-tier Sony Ericsson WTA Tour championship competitions, Davis Cup and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, and Hyundai Hopman Cup. Tennis Channel is carried by nine of the top 10 MSOs, Verizon FiOS TV, and has a national footprint via DIRECTV and DISH Network.
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The Fallacy of Fed Cup
I'm not sure I ever understood the point of the Fed Cup.
The theory is good, creating a team spirit in a sport which is almost entirely an individual effort. Outside of doubles, these athletes never have someone else on the court to encourage them when they're down or help pick up their slack if they're having a bad day. In team tennis, however -- whether it holds Fed Cup implications or if the combatants are simply playing for their high school or college -- one point, one game, one match won't determine who walks away with the trophy.
But in that case does the winner really reflect the landscape of tennis?
Take for example the 2008 Fed Cup final being played in Madrid this weekend. The Russian team is defending their title against the women of Spain, who haven't won the honor in ten years when my all-time favorite female player, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, was leading the team.
Last year the champion Russians won all four matches against Italy. But this year they're missing Olympic champion Elena Dementieva and U.S. Open Series winner Dinara Safina. Maria Sharapova is out with a nagging shoulder injury and Anna Chakvetadze isn't playing in the final matches either. They have six players ranked in the top fifteen in the world but only two are on their Fed Cup team: #7 Svetlana Kuznetzova and Vera Zvonareva, #9.
But despite their holes, the Russians still have a more intimidating lineup than the Spanish where the highest ranked player, Anabel Medina Garrigues, is only #29 in singles and won't even have the advantage of playing with her usual doubles partner, Virginia Ruano Pascual, with whom she can really do some harm.
One of these two teams will be named the best.
Sure, it's been a good year for Spanish athletes. The national soccer team won their first trophy in 45 years at the European Championship, Carlos Sastre claimed the Tour de France's top spot, and the country took eighteen medals at the Beijing Olympics, five gold. Not to mention, of course, Rafael Nadal's ending Roger Federer's four-and-a-half year run as the top player in the world last month.
But, truth be told, I'm almost surprised the Spanish women made it to the finals at all. In the first round Spain faced Italy, winning by a narrow 3-2 margin. Against China they had a better result, losing only one match to Jie Zheng, the unexpected Wimbledon semifinalist.
Russia on the other hand has had more success on the court this year, but of the women playing in the finals, only Zvonareva has won a tournament this year -- the ECM in Prague.
Who should be in the finals?
Well as much as I hate to say it, the Williams have had a great year, winning one Grand Slam each, and Serena even regained her #1 world ranking. On the doubles side Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond both played in the finals at the U.S. Open -- admittedly against each other, but regardless, they've proven their continued worth.
And what about the Serbs? Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic are ranked #2 and #3 respectively. Jelena gave the younger Williams a run for her money in New York and Ana played in two finals this year, even winning in Paris.
Instead we have a relatively unknown Spain and a slightly debilitated Russia. Both of which are of course talented in their own right -- I don't mean to discount their ability. But I'm not sure either represents the best in women's tennis -- at least not this year or in their current form.
By Saturday afternoon Russia was already up, two to zero -- both Svetlana and Vera had won their singles matches -- and Spain faced a gargantuan deficit from which they hope to come back on Sunday. I'm sure the underdogs are eager to prove their place in the finals, and I'm hoping for a few well-fought matches on the last day of battle.
And to the eventual winner, of course, congratulations!
Thanks for reading again -- and, as always, serve well and play hard!
Labels: Fed Cup, Russian Tennis, Spanish Tennis, U.S. Tennis
Making His Comeback
Quitting While You're Ahead
Sidebar -- Davis Cup Update
Defending Their Title
Separated at Birth -- Tennis Edition
Chasing the Dream, or The Destiny of Roger Federer...
A Final Upset?
I'm So Over Andy Murray
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Up until 1827 the hamlet of East Dulwich was part of the large and ancient parish of St Giles, Camberwell. This originally covered the whole of Camberwell, Peckham, Dulwich and East Dulwich. The hamlet was surrounded by farmland, pasture and market gardens. It was thought that the people who lived and worked on the farms were too few and scattered to warrant a church of their own and consequently they had to make the trek over Dog Kennel Hill to St Giles to attend services.
East Dulwich Chapel
However the populace was growing and in 1827 Thomas Baily, a large landowner in East Dulwich, decided that St Giles was too far away to serve the spiritual needs of the people. At his own expense and on his own land he built the East Dulwich Chapel. This was on the corner of what is now Tintagel Crescent facing Goose Green and it became a chapel-of-ease for St Giles. (A chapel-of-ease was subordinate to the mother church but built for the ease of the parishioners so they did not have to travel great distance to attend church.) Thomas Baily conveyed the chapel, with the land on which it stood, to Trustees which included his son, Farmer Baily of Hill Place near Tonbridge, his brother William, Robert Hichens and two others. The first minister was the Revd Matthew Anderson who left in 1844 and was followed by the Revd John Roberts Oldham (1845 to 1858) and then the Revd William Foster Elliot (1858 to1864). By the time Revd Foster Elliot arrived the population of East Dulwich was about 800 people.
A New Church
In 1861 it became clear that the chapel was not large enough for the growing population of the district, and in October of that year a meeting was held in the National School Room (Troy Town) to decide what was to be done. After an address by the Revd Foster Elliott a Church Building Committee was formed. A subscription list was opened by Mr R. Hichens with a donation of £1,000. He was also appointed Chairman of the Committee with John Scott (shawl merchant) as Treasurer and Henry John Puckle as Secretary. At a meeting of the building committee held a week later, it was resolved to offer the position of architect to Charles Baily, “in consideration of the long connection of his family with the District and as son of the original founder of the Chapel “. St John’s is believed to be the only church Charles Baily designed. It had been originally intended to build the new Church on the site of the existing Chapel, but sufficient room for the larger building could not be found. The problem was solved by Lord Chief Justice Charles Jasper Selwyn presenting the site on which the Church now stands. The architect’s plan for a Church to contain 845 sitting was then approved by the Committee. The estimate for the total cost of building the Church and fitting it for divine worship was £6,658.13.7. People seem to have subscribed generously towards the cost, 43 of the poorer families contributed over £350 between them. A few persons tried to attach conditions to their offerings for example a gentleman desiring curtains to his pew was refused. The Vicar undertook as his own subscription to the Church to provide the pews with appropriate cushions. The Church was consecrated by the Bishop of Winchester on 16 May 1865. Baily had designed a church in the Gothic style of the middle ages which was very popular with the Victorians at that time. It was once described as being like a French, early 13th century church. The tower, spire and apse that you see today are all original as is the clock which dates from 1864. The dial plate is 6′ 6” in diameter and the clock strikes the hour on a bell that weighs ten hundredweight. It was manufactured by John Moore of Clerkenwell. The Sacristy was added in 1883, the Vestry in 1914.
The War Years and Rebuilding
In World War II St John’s Church was practically destroyed. The Revd Frank Bishop, vicar 1939 to ’45, described what happened. ‘On October 19th, 1940, a load of incendiaries was dropped over Goose Green and four separate fires were started in the church roof. With the help of the National Fire Service men stationed in Adys Road School, we managed to get them all out, and soon had the roof repaired and the church clean. On Sunday, December 8th, however, another load of a larger variety, some of which were explosive, descended. We were inside the church within one minute of their coming down. But only one had come through the roof. Many must have remained in it, for almost at once, it was alight from end to end. There were fires everywhere that night, and it was three quarters of an hour before the first appliance arrived and about another four or five hours before the firemen had got the fire out. Meanwhile we saved what we could from the church and emptied the vestries lest the fire should spread to them.’ Within two days the vestry had been furnished as a chapel and weekday services were held there until the church was rebuilt. The crucifix from the vestry chapel altar now hangs at the back of the pulpit. Sunday services for the next ten years were held at the Church of the Epiphany where, as Frank Bishop continued, ‘there was no air raid shelter, as we regarded the surface shelters alongside as meant for the residents in Bassano Street. In the darkest days of the war St John’s congregation never despaired of rebuilding the church. In the years that followed there were enormous fundraising efforts, including annual Gift Days, which prompted extremely generous contributions (over £1,900 in 1950). War Damage Compensation covered only part of the costs. The estimated amount to be raised by the congregation was at first £10,000 but was finally at least £15,000, a vast sum considering the difference in monetary value over 50 years ago. The achievement owed much to the zeal and energy of the vicar, the Revd Charles McKenzie who, as he wrote in 1952, had never worried about getting the money since, ‘if you trust in God, the money will be found to do God’s work’. The tower had, miraculously, survived the war. The original 1864 clock was set going again and by September 1948 was striking the hours, ‘to show that St John’s was very much alive’. In January 1947 the eminent architect, J.B. Sebastian Comper, son of the famous Sir Ninian Comper (who in fact designed many of the features used in the restoration of the building), had been appointed to be responsible for rebuilding the church. As Red McKenzie wrote in 1951, ‘It is doubtful whether a happier choice could have been made – in days when building anything is restricted by incredible regulations, when every quality of character is needed to achieve one’s aim, the respect and affection which the parish has for Mr Comper is something deeper and more appreciative of higher values than even the building which his genius has created.’ The first work on the church was the restoration of the apse, which had not been destroyed by the bombing. The architect had to obtain ‘a licence for second-hand seasoned wood’, in those difficult post-war years when all building materials were in short supply. The baldachino, over the high altar, was built not of wood but of plaster. Rebuilding the rest of the church started in earnest in August 1949. By April 1950 the chancel arch was complete and work begun on the nave. A year later the whole building was ready for use and on 5th May 1951 the Lord Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Revd Bertram Simpson, once a choirboy at St John’s, came to rededicate the church.
Inside The Building
Among those items designed by Sir Ninian Comper:
Baldachino over the High Altar;
four stained glass windows in the Lady Chapel which were installed in 1958, the work being carried out by John Bucknall, great-nephew of Sir Ninian Comper. Sir Ninian’s monogram of a strawberry is shown at the bottom of two of the windows;
canopy above the altar of the Lady Chapel and the bas relief of the Virgin and Child on the wall behind it;
and by Sebastian Comper:
the main body of the Church where he raised the walls by nine feet and added eight clerestory windows on either side to let in more light;
six stained glass windows in the Apse. The work was executed by A. L. Wilkinson. The three central ones were in place for the Rededication of the Church in 1951 and the others were installed a year later;
Stations of the Cross;
choir gallery erected in 1954.
In addition we have two windows executed by John Bucknall in 1963 in the North Aisle. His monogram of strawberries and a bee can be seen at the bottom of St Ursula’s window. We are also very lucky to have some older stained glass in St John’s. The earliest is hidden by the organ and generally cannot be seen but it is the work of master glass painter A. L. Moore (1849 to 1939). Arthur Louis Moore was one of nine children of a Clerkenwell clockmaker (possibly John Moore mentioned above!). The firm he started in 1871, with a Mr S. Gibbs, produced in its time at least 1,000 windows in the British Isles and 100 overseas. The earliest glass that can be seen are the windows in the South Aisle and are the work of the firm C. E. Kempe & Co which was founded in 1868. The founder, Charles Eamer Kempe, was one of the great stained glass workers of the 19th century and very much influenced by medieval stained glass. John Lisle, who designed St John’s windows, was Kempe’s chief designer during his lifetime and became one of the directors of the firm on Kempe’s death. The Kempe monogram of a wheatsheaf and tower can be seen in the left-hand corner of one of the windows. The Organ came from Camden Church, Peckham where it was often used for recitals. When the bombing began in the Second World War, N. P. Mander Ltd were given the task of rescuing organs from churches that had been destroyed and giving them to churches that needed them. St John’s was the first church ready to receive one.
St John’s Parish Archivist
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Fight climate change, cut down on red meat?
Thursday, September 13 2007 @ 02:02 PM EDT
They're kidding, right? Cut down on Supersized Burgers? Insane! Maybe we just have to eat less burgers during the week, and save them up for a Megaburger on the weekends! Yeah, that's the solution!
From: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22410937-2,00.html
PEOPLE in rich countries should limit their meat-eating to the equivalent of one hamburger per person per day to help stave off global warming, an Australian-led study in the Lancet suggests. That would be their contribution to a proposed 10 per cent cut in global meat consumption by 2050, a goal that would brake greenhouse-gas emissions from agriculture yet also improve health for rich and poor nations alike, it says.
[CONTINUED]
A closeup of the Megaburger. I could handle only having one of these a week!
The paper has been released online as part of a seminar by the British medical weekly into the impacts of climate change on global health.
Agriculture emissions
Its authors point out that 22 per cent of the planet's total emissions of greenhouse gases come from agriculture, a tally similar to that of industry and more than that of transport.
Livestock production, including transport of livestock and feed, account for nearly 80 per cent of agricultural emissions, mainly in the form of methane, a potent heat-trapping gas.
At present, the global average meat consumption is 100g per person per day, which varies from 200-250g in rich countries to 20-25g in poor countries.
The global average should be cut to 90g per day by 2050, with rich nations working to progressively scale down their meat consumption to that level while poor nations would do more to boost their consumption, the authors propose.
Not more than 50g per day should come from red meat provided by cattle, sheep, goats and other ruminants.
The authors were led by Anthony McMichael, professor at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University, Canberra.
"Assuming a 40 per cent increase in global population by 2050 and no advance in livestock-related greenhouse gas reduction practices, global meat consumption would have to fall to an average of 90 grammes per day just to stabilise emissions in this sector,'' the paper said.
"A substantial contract in meat consumption in high-income countries should benefit health, mainly by reducing the risk of ... heart disease... obesity, colorectal cancer and, perhaps some other cancers. An increase in the consumption of animal products in low-intake populations, towards the proposed global mean figure, should also benefit health.''
According to a study published in July by Japanese scientists, a kg of beef generates the equivalent of 36.4kg of carbon dioxide, more than the equivalent of driving for three hours while leaving all the lights on back home.
http://www.supersizedmeals.com/food/article.php/20070913-Fight_Climate_Change
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Clarity: in 2018 America, there is a “right to die” party and a “right to try” party. Think of that. At minimum, this must necessarily be divisive, as these mindsets are, by definition, of life and death importance…and will utterly shape the worldview of those who possess them.
Democrats continually push to legalize assisted suicide and protect and expand “abortion rights.” Well, if you can’t prevent them from being born, you can at least try to kill ‘em early!
President Trump just signed into law a bill that would allow those diagnosed with terminal illnesses to bypass the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and try experimental treatments. The “Right to Try Act of 2017,” sponsored by Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson, passed the House of Representatives last week on a party-line vote of 250 to 169, after unanimously passing the Senate last August. Upon signing the bill, the president said: “As I proudly sign this bill, thousands of Americans will have the help, the hope and the fighting chance—and I think it’s going to be better than chance—that they will be cured, that they will be helped, that they will be able to be with their families for a long time, or maybe just for a longer time. But we’re able to give them the absolute best we have at this current moment, at this current second. We’re going to help a lot of people. It’s an honor to be signing this.” Touching sentiments, indeed.
Trump’s action would, at worst, seem to be uncontroversial, especially given that the FDA drug approval process can take up to 15 years. But Democrats claim the bill peddles “false hope,” and may place patients “at risk.” Research groups, and some groups purportedly representing patients have deemed the legislation “unsafe.” “False hope” is fake news. Unsafe? May place these patients at risk?! Holy-bleeping-bleep-ass-cow!! They’re already nearly certain to die soon or they wouldn’t be seeking experimental new treatments!
To recap, Democrats will make sure the elderly and terminally ill have the option to die quickly-- if artificially-- but think it is too “risky” to allow them to try new drugs that may or may not help them live longer. Too risky for whom? There are no words to adequately describe this madness…or evil.
Democrats incessantly try to legalize marijuana and other illicit drugs, saying things like, “Hey, pot might have health benefits, man,” or “Give the addicts a safe place to shoot up and provide them with clean needles, it’s the humane thing to do.” But they are firmly against letting people use potentially life-saving drugs. Unbelievable. This is akin to saying: “We’ll shoot you in the head if you like, but we don’t want to allow you to have access to a gun, because that would be too risky.”
That we don’t know if the Right To Die Party or the Right To Try Party will ultimately prevail is unspeakably sad.
Last I checked, we all have the right to sigh.
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Beatrice Portinari, Dante
Muzes
Beatrice Portinari, Dante >
Beatrice Portinari, real name Bice di Folco Portinari was a woman from Florence, Italy, who was the principal inspiration for Dante Alighieri's Vita Nuova. She also appears as his guide in The Divine Comedy (La Divina Commedia) in the last book, Paradise and in the last four canti of Purgatory. There Beatrice takes over as guide from the Latin poet Virgil because Virgil, a pagan, cannot enter Paradise and because, being the incarnation of beatific love, as her name implies, it is she who leads into the Beatific Vision.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_Portinari
Beatrice Portinari, real name Bice di Folco Portinari was a woman from Florence, Italy, who was the principal inspiration for Dante Alighieri's Vita Nuova. She also appears as his guide in The Divine Comedy (La Divina Commedia) in the last book, Paradise and in the last four canti of Purgatory. There Beatrice takes over as guide from the Latin poet Virgil because Virgil, a pagan, cannot enter Paradise and because, being the incarnation of beatific love, as her name implies, it is she who leads into the Beatific Vision. More...
Related > Muzes • Florence • Italy • Middle Ages • Women • 13th Century • People
Dante, Writer of Divina Commedia
Durante degli Alighieri, simply called Dante, was a major Italian poet of the Late Middle Ages. His Divine Comedy, originally called Commedia and later christened Divina by Boccaccio, is widely considered the greatest literary work composed in the It...
Laura de Noves, Petrarch's Muze
Laura de Noves was the wife of Count Hugues de Sade (ancestor of the Marquis de Sade). She could be the Laura that the Renaissance poet Francesco Petrarch wrote about extensively; however she has never been positively identified as such. If so, it wa...
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Our children are being murdered by people who are already being watched by the authorities as the U.K. government claims 23,000 potential terrorists are known to them
Photo sent in by Steve
Young children are being butchered on the streets of the United Kingdom by demon possessed entities who are nearly all known to the government and police.
After three terrorist attacks in three months in the U.K. ALL the killers were on the police radar but incredibly still allowed to go on and murder innocent people.
It raises questions about the security services' especially as the British government has claimed an estimated 23,000 people in Britain are considered a potential terror threat.
And why oh why if 23,000 are a potential terror threat how can the government allow them to wander the streets of Britain, why are they NOT rounded up and deported or jailed, is it not an offence to be a jihadi?
Last night it was confirmed that London Bridge massacre mastermind Khuram Butt, 27, had been investigated two years ago but was considered a lower risk threat.
Last month MI5 also launched urgent probes into why it missed the danger posed by the Manchester bomber Salman Abedi, 22.
It came amid claims that the authorities were repeatedly told that Abedi was a danger to the public.
Teachers and religious figures in Manchester who knew the killer raised concerns about his extremist views on numerous occasions over several years.
British authorities were warned about one of the men behind the London Bridge attack - a 22-year-old Italian-Moroccan - who declared 'I am going to be a terrorist' as he tried to travel to Syria from Italy.
It has also emerged that Youssef Zaghba, called his Italian mother in Bologna, Italy to say goodbye two days before ramming a van into innocent civilians in the capital.
The very people who are suppose to protect us are once again letting us down.
If 23,000 Jihadis are in the U.K. it would be safe to assume the same amount will be in France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Norway and Spain, all allowed into our countries by the very people who are supposed to represent their own citizens.
Angela Merkel and the rest of the bleeding hearts who allowed this to happen should be held responsible, they were warned this would happen but chose to ignore the threat for compassion to the refugees.
The aim of Islam is to turn the west into a caliphate.
A caliphate is an Islamic state. It's led by a caliph, who is a political and religious leader who is a successor (caliph) to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
His power and authority would absolute.
Caliphates operate under Sharia law.
Women are discouraged to leave the home unless necessary and they must be accompanied and fully covered.
Amputations are the punishment for stealing.
In a Caliphate non Muslims would have no say whatsoever while muslim men would be exempt from punishment, allowing them to rape and murder as they please.
Europe will one day be overrun with Islam, the toothpaste is out of the tube and it can’t be put back.
Posted by Gary Walton at 11:15 am
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£8m food waste facility opens in County Durham
By Robert Gibson
A new state-of-the-art food waste plant has opened in County Durham, serving the North East’s need to recycle food waste and create renewable energy
The £8m Emerald Biogas anaerobic digestion plant
A new state-of-the-art food waste plant has opened in County Durham, serving the North East’s need to recycle food waste and create renewable energy.
Emerald Biogas has announced the completion of its £8m anaerobic digestion (AD) plant at Newton Aycliffe Industrial Estate.
The North East’s first commercial food waste facility, it will generate enough energy to power 2,000 homes each year.
The plant was constructed by Entec Biogas GmBH using the latest technology, with the building programme progressing to schedule over the past year.
The successful installation of the combined heat and power (CHP) system and other plant equipment has enabled the testing phase to be completed on time and the plant is now processing food waste and creating energy.
Antony Warren, director at Emerald Biogas said: “I am delighted with the progress made in terms of getting the plant to this stage.
“It is fantastic to see it up and running, as this truly is a one of a kind facility in the North East and the first in the region to begin operating.
“We are now in the position to accept and process unwanted commercial food waste and employ the latest AD technology to create a valued commodity that will be extremely beneficial to the local business and farming community.
“We are all excited for the positive journey ahead, with expansion a strong possibility, as we would like to see Emerald Biogas reach its full potential in the near future.”
Resource Management Minister Dan Rogerson said: “Dealing with waste and recycling properly is good for the environment and good for businesses, creating a stronger economy and jobs.
“Our AD loan fund has helped to support the development of this plant which will treat food waste, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and recycle valuable nutrients back to the land.”
Berhard Schulz, chief executive of Entec, added: “We were really pleased to be able to deliver this project on budget and on time, despite the challenges the weather brought this winter. The team has worked hard to ensure a successful commissioning phase and to enable the plant to start the next stage, processing waste and creating energy.”
Funding for the project was made available through the Rural Development Programme for England, which is jointly funded by Defra and the European Union.
Phase 1 of the plant will process 50,000 tonnes of the region’s food waste. Planning permission has already been secured to expand the capacity to four times the current size.
Solar farms are a shining example of renewable energy
Solar farms will soon be a common feature in the countryside as energy generated from the sun looks set to become the cheapest technology by 2018
North East Business Awards 2014: Firms making a difference
North East MEP hits back at Viscount Ridley in wind turbine row
J & B Recycling helps Camerons Brewery go green
Hartlepool's business of the year is helping one of the town’s most famous names reduce its environmental impact
Northumberland couple set to finish epic 6,400 mile run
Morpeth wins big in Britain in Bloom finals
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You are here: Virgin Islands News Online » News » Finally! Rehab works @ ESHS begins
Finally! Rehab works @ ESHS begins
-Gov’t looking to end shift system by Sept 2019
April 13th, 2019 | Tags: ESHS school Pasea Estate Elmore Stoutt High School Andrew A. Fahie Virgin Islands Party Virgin Islands
The hurricane damaged L-shaped building at the Elmore Stoutt High School (ESHS) campus in Road Town, Tortola, is finally getting some much-needed attention in terms of rehabilitation. Photo: GIS
Currently, the ESHS housed at the Old Clarence Thomas building located in Pasea Estate operates under a shift system. The morning shift runs from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM while the afternoon shift runs from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Photo: VINO/File
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – The hurricane damaged L-shaped building at the Elmore Stoutt High School (ESHS) campus in Road Town, Tortola, is finally getting some long-overdue attention in terms of rehabilitation.
NDP Neglected Project
Neglected for two years by the National Democratic Party (NDP) through embattled Education and Culture Minister Myron V. Walwyn, external works to clean up the surroundings of the building has begun as the Premier Andrew A. Fahie (R1) led Virgin Islands Party (VIP) Government make moves to end the current shift system at the institution.
Currently, the ESHS housed at the Old Clarence Thomas building located in Pasea Estate operates under a shift system where the morning shift runs from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM while the afternoon shift runs from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM.
The system was implemented as a result of damage to the ESHS main campus during the Hurricanes of 2017 and social commentators have long commented that the shift situation is not ideal, especially when it comes to the education of the Territory's young minds.
Premier Ecstatic
In a public missive on the initiative through the Government Information Service (GIS), Premier and Minister of Finance Hon Fahie said he is happy with the progress made by the Ministry of Finance, especially Dr Drexel Glasgow and his colleagues at the Project Management Unit to get this project completed for the new school year in September this year.
“Since taking office, your government has designated this project as high-priority so that our junior students can once again attend school full time at this site. Our senior students will continue school at the CTL Building, but now they will attend school full-time,” Hon Fahie said.
According to the Premier, “This will end the shift system which was implemented as a result of the destruction of the ESHS campus in September 2017 by Hurricane Irma. In the meantime, the plans for the new ESHS campus are in the making.”
Internal works soon
Further, the Premier added that contracts for the internal works on the L-shaped building will be signed as early as next week. He expressed appreciation to the principal, assistant principals, teachers, support staff, students and parents of ESHS for their patience and tolerance with the matter from September 2017 to the present.
7 Responses to “Finally! Rehab works @ ESHS begins”
Progress (13/04/2019, 11:07) Like (25) Dislike (2) Reply
Man on a mission. For his people, by his people!!!!
asking for a friend (13/04/2019, 11:11) Like (2) Dislike (21) Reply
How come they have ndp on this project?
Teacher (13/04/2019, 11:11) Like (11) Dislike (17) Reply
" social commentators have long commented that the shift situation is not ideal, especially when it comes to the education of the Territory's young minds". Yet BVI students have outdone other regional jurisdictions during this difficult time. Social commentators should not forget to mention this.
Woke (13/04/2019, 13:23) Like (31) Dislike (8) Reply
Good PR does not mean truth! Who have we outdone? By what standards? What are the real numbers and statistics? Don’t be naive.
@Woke (13/04/2019, 13:42) Like (6) Dislike (8) Reply
I hold no brief for the former minister, but the head of CXC seems impartial and disinterested enough for me to believe and accept his comments that this is the case!
E. Leonard (14/04/2019, 14:26) Like (14) Dislike (1) Reply
Hurricanes Irma and Maria, two catastrophic category 5 storms, slammed the BVI and damaged/devastated buildings, structures, linear structures, infrastructure, utilities......etc at an estimated replacement cost of $3.6B. ESHS, the largest high school in the territory, was ravaged. As a result, the old CTL building is being used a temporary make shift high school, operating on a shift system. This facility is too small and not ideal for students to attend school on a full time basis. It is urgent and important for students to attend school on a full time basis. It is commendable and encouraging that efforts are being made to rehab ESHS so that students can attend school on a full basis.
Moreover, ESHS sits on approximately 8 acres of prime real estate in Road Town, Tortola and VI capital city. However, the current layout of the campus is not maximizing land use of this piece of prime real estate. Though the 2017 hurricanes devastated the territory, the silver lining, if any, provides the opportunity to do things differently. The ESHS needs to be redesigned and reconstructed to modernized it, as well as maximized the land. The school needs to be razed and resited; the new school should include cafeterias, gymnasiums, laboratories, sport facilities, learning resource center......etc. Currently, the territory is without a central library. Well, a joint ESHS-Central Library can be explored as part of a modernized ESHS project scope. Further, a modernized ESHS should be designed and constructed to withstand major hurricanes, ie, category 3 and above and can be used as a rideout shelter. No doubt this proposal will be costly, take time, and delay the rebirth of ESHS. Nonetheless, sometimes it pays to be visionary, bold and dream big, looking beyond the rainbow.
Eagle and Buffalo. (15/04/2019, 11:54) Like (4) Dislike (0) Reply
Eondorse the redesigning, resiting, reconstructing and modernizing of Elmore Stoutt High School that was severely damaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria. However, a temporary plan is needed to house the students that are currently being housed at the old Clarence Thomas Building. Perhaps some portable classroom buildings can be acquired to house the students. The portable, demountable and relocatable buildings can be purchased or leased. Work is being put in place on the old footprint so no change may be a done deal. Six of one and half a dozen of the same. Samo, samo.
Let’s fly and soar like eagles, not careened off the cliff like buffaloes .
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West Adams History
Art or Desecration?—A WAHA Editorial
(Photo by Perhansa Skallerup/LAist)
West Adams Heights: A Historic Neighborhood Faces Challenges
by Michael Smith and Greg Stegall
“Nowadays we scarcely notice the high stone gates which mark the entrances on Hobart, Harvard, and Oxford streets, south of Washington Boulevard. For one thing, the traffic is too heavy, too swift; and then, again, the gates have been obscured by intrusions of shops and stores. At the base of the stone pillars appears the inscription “West Adams Heights.” There was a time when these entranceways were formidable and haughty, for they marked the ways to one of the first elite residential areas in Los Angeles. . . In the unplanned early-day chaos of Los Angeles, West Adams Heights was obviously something very special, an island in an ocean of bungalows—approachable, but withdrawn and reclusive—one of the few surviving examples of planned urban elegance of the turn of the century.”
–– Carey McWilliams, “The Evolution of Sugar Hill,” Script, March, 1949: 30.
Remarkable Historic Photos of Magnificent West Adams Home
Just south of the 10 Freeway, east of Western Avenue on Hobart Blvd., there stand a stretch of marvelous old houses. Usually what they looked like in their heyday a century ago is left to the imagination or at best one or two snapshots of the exterior. What a prize, then, when a descendant of one of the original owners approached us with an amazing album of 8 X 10 photos, more than fifty of them, not only of the exterior but of every room in one of the grandest of these homes, at 2241 S. Hobart. This 4,946 square foot Craftsman mansion was built in 1910 by Los Angeles merchant Benjamin Johnson, one of the founders of what is today the Grand Central Market on Broadway in downtown. Benjamin Johnson's great granddaughter, Katharine Free Liappas, received the album from her mother, Sarah Elizabeth Brown Free, and her grandmother, Estelle Marie Johnson Lovett. She estimates from the age of her grandmother in one of the photos that they were taken within a year of the house's construction, in 1910 or 1911. Today the house is owned by the First African Methodist Episcopal Church.
The Furlongs of Vernon and of Van Buren Place
Thomas J. Furlong and his son Robert were part of a dynasty that ruled the industrial city of Vernon from their West Adams home for more than fifty years.
By Leslie Evans and Jennifer Charnofsky
Standing at the northwest corner of 27th Street and Van Buren Place in the West Adams section of Los Angeles is a cross-gabled two and a half story Tudor-Craftsman house, memorialized by the city as the Furlong House, Historic Cultural Monument number 678. The Furlongs referred to were father and son, Thomas J. and Robert Furlong, now largely forgotten but both intimately associated with the lately controversial industrial city of Vernon, California. The house is also on the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural merits, but its most interesting aspect is its service for almost forty years as the home of an important part of the Furlong family, who were instrumental in creating the City of Vernon, once Los Angeles's principal industrial suburb, and who guided its affairs from 1905 until 1974.
West Adams and the Movies
West Adams has had connections to the film industry since its earliest days.
By Danny Miller
First published in the December 2005 issue of "West Adams Matters," the WAHA newsletter
West Adams has had connections to the film industry since its earliest days - you could almost say the two grew up together. Just as one stately home after another was rising up on Adams Boulevard and the surrounding streets, the fledgling movie industry was making its first moves into Southern California. Leaving behind the inhospitable climates of Chicago and New York, the purveyors of this brand new medium were descending upon Los Angeles to set up their dream factories. As the Silent Film era reached its heyday, movie stars and film directors alike-including Buster Keaton, Rupert Hughes, W.C. Fields, Fatty Arbuckle, and the Talmadge sisters, Constance, Norma and Natalie-lived in mansions in and near the West Adams District.
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Review – Greg Trooper – 8th May 2011 →
Review – Carrie Elkin – 17th April 2011
Posted on April 17, 2011 by Dan Evans
My long weekend enjoying the music of Austin, TX based Carrie Elkin started by listening to the session recorded with Bob Harris, broadcast on his BBC Radio 2 Country show on Thursday, April 14th. Chatting animatedly about the recording of the new album CALL IT MY GARDEN Elkin confirmed that it had been recorded over a four-day period, at Sam Baker’s house in Austin, with the assistance of her ‘folk family’. The latter refers to a host of friends who were in Texas for the Kerrville Folk Festival and who lent their services during the recording process.
Harris drew out some wonderfully warm anecdotes from Elkin as he explored her willingness to remain open to whatever circumstances she found herself in and how a seemingly chance meeting can have a major impact. For example, the story about the Medicine Man in Santa Fe, New Mexico telling her to travel sixty miles further to Taos where she would be happier. She followed his advice and settling in Taos, made friends with Colin Brooks (now in The Band of Heathens) who has worked with her for a number of years and is co-producer of her last two albums.
Playing live, accompanied by Paul Cataldo, she chose Lift Up The Anchor and Jesse Likes Birds and then as is customary on the show, Harris asked her which track he should play from the CD to which her response was Edge of The World, the last track on the CD. Finishing the interview Harris gave out the remaining dates of her tour schedule and I found myself thinking ‘I hope that this session results in lots of people coming out to her shows’. She just enthuses warmth, talent, graciousness and you just want hard working independent musicians such as she is, to succeed.
Friday 15th driving to and from ‘my day job’ I slotted the CALL IT MY GARDEN CD into my car’s player and as is my habit, listened to the music that I knew I would be hearing live over the succeeding days. I did hear Elkin perform a few of the songs live during my Texan sojourn last year and have particularly affectionate memories of seeing her at a house concert she curated in Austin. Her own performance showcased a selection of the new material and a couple of the songs Lift Up The Anchor and Dear Sam moved her, others and me to tears. The lyrics are written from a very personal perspective and were made even more touching by the presence, that day, of the songs’ protagonists – Danny Schmidt and Sam Baker respectively.
Saturday 16th and celebrations for Record Store Day were taking place all over the country. The initiative, which started in the USA in 2007, celebrates independent record retailers. 2011 is the third year the UK has participated and the stores together with artists, celebrate with quizzes, signings, giveaways and live performances. Elkin appeared at the Union Music Store, Lewes, East Sussex as part of their festivities. Accompanied by Cataldo (dobro and guitar) she sang six songs including ‘one for the kids’ Jessie Likes Birds in her afternoon set and finished with a Dylan cover A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall with audience participation on the chorus. Clearly converting new fans, she sold not only CDs but also tickets for her evening show in Brighton.
The show in Brighton at The Basement, attracted a nicely sized audience including an American couple, from Dallas, who were on holiday in London. They have been Elkin supporters for a good number of years and she was clearly delighted by their surprise attendance. Opening the two-set show with Obadiah from 2007’s THE JEOPARDY OF CIRCUMSTANCE Elkin (again accompanied by Cataldo) captivated everyone with the beauty of her singing voice – when she sings she seemingly uses every sinew in her body to create such a pure sound and such is her range that she doesn’t need a microphone at all! Her petite build belies stunning and powerful vocals.
Alternating between songs from the last two albums she then led into the interval break with her partner Danny Schmidt’s song Company of Friends dedicating it to the American couple, much to their delight.
Returning after the break during which she made herself available to sign CDs she played a shorter set, six songs as curfew time 11pm placed a restriction on anything longer. Five songs from the new CD, four originals and a cover of Dar Williams’ Iowa completed the evening’s performance……….save for a quick return for one encore, just Elkin with voice on Amazing Grace. Preceding it she said that she wasn’t originally planning to sing it but it had been requested and it always reminds her of family of whom she thinks about a great deal as she tours. A heartfelt performance for sure, it left me looking forward to more the following evening.
Sunday 17th and a headline show at Twickenham Folk Club (Twickfolk). The beauty for artists about playing a club like this, which has been running for more than twenty-five years, is the regular following it attracts, a number of whom are musicians in their own right. From that you might correctly gauge that this is an audience who really appreciate good music. The venue is very much a ‘listening room’ and as Elkin and Cataldo took the stage, to warm applause, the audience sat back to enjoy an evening of charm, grace and beauty. A two set show featuring a couple of songs that hadn’t been played in the previous shows I’d attended – Roots and Wings and Berlin. The latter is one of her older songs, the only ‘old’ songs she performs live. Berlin initially appearing on her 2001 release LIVE AT THE FRONT ROOM, then on the studio album THE WALTZ in 2004 and was re-recorded for the new CD. It was the first song I ever heard her sing (in 2007) and from that point on I sought out her work and as you might surmise, became a huge fan.
Tonight, it was good to see Cataldo perform one of his own songs Drinking and Sleeping. He is a quiet presence and a good foil for the exuberant Elkin.
Finishing again with Amazing Grace, Elkin’s voice filled the room and I knew that it was the end of my long weekend in the company of a delightful musician whose work and work ethic, I have nothing but admiration for.
Jela Webb
Posted in Reviews permalink
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It was my mom's in the '80s.
Quizzes: Rachel McAdams Quiz
http://www.tzr.io/yarn-clip/00b9ea65-9379-4429-974a-0123cbd5824a
#goodluck
#micdrop
#yikes
#snoring
Devious Maids (2013) - S04E06
In my defense, it was the '80s,
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt(2015) - S03E02 Kimmy's Roommate Lemonades!
Yep, it was the '80s, and my mom really loved the Bears.
My father, in his 80s,
Family Guy(1999) - S17E04 Big Trouble in Little Quahog
You know, it was probably greenlit in the '80s,
Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life S01E01 Winter
until the mid '80s. It was only supposed to be
Community (2009) - S03E15 Origins of Vampire Mythology
She was born in the '80s.
It was a crazy time, the '80s.
Please Like Me (2013) - S02E07 Scroggin
Like, what was it about the '80s?
The O.C. (2003) - S02E16 Drama
- It was the '80s. - That explains everything.
And I was stoned and drunk, in college. It was the '80s.
The IT Crowd (2006) - S04E04 Italian for Beginners
That was my mom's.
Seinfeld (1989) - S09E11 The Dealership
It was a good bit in the '80s, and it's still relatable today.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005) - S13E07 The Gang Does a Clip Show
my mom?
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005) - S05E07 The Gang Wrestles for the Troops
In the '80s, we were so patriotic.
Back in the '80s.
Not like we were in the '80s.
Nathan for You (2013) - S03E03 Reality-TV
in the '80s.
Bob's Burgers - S08E10 The Secret Ceramics Room of Secrets
in, like, the '80s.
The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
Mom, it was awful.
It was back in a disgusting period known as the early '80s.
Family Guy (1999) - S17E05 Regarding Carter
It was the '80s, so he was always doing
Doctor Who (2005) - S09E07
in the '70s, '80s.
Modern Family (2009) - S01E08 Great Expectations
He was in the phone book. How '80s is that?
and nothing was bigger in the '80s than '50s nostalgia.
# In the '80s there was cold war drama #
Jessica Jones (2015) - S02E09 AKA Shark in the Bathtub, Monster in the Bed
Because it's my mom.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015) - S01E09 Kimmy Has a Birthday!
'cause it was in my mom's lawsuit
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John Hutton – 2006 Speech on Welfare Reform
Below is the text of the speech made by John Hutton, the then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on welfare reform on 18th December 2006.
Next year will see the tenth anniversary of this Government in Britain. It will be a defining year for progressives. Gathering behind a new leader, we’ll face the task of renewing our policies to meet the future challenges our country faces.
As a Government and a nation, we will have to take important decisions that will have a lasting impact on both the quality of life and the security of future generations. Maintaining our nuclear deterrent. Responding to the demographic challenges of an ageing society. Tackling climate change. These are some of the most important issues we must face together as a society. It is the responsibility of Government to lead this debate about our future. It cannot be ducked. In all of these areas, this Government, is providing such a lead.
People want to know how we are going to cope with the big economic and social changes that are heading our way. They know Government cannot solve all of these problems on its own. But they do expect Government to create the right conditions to make it possible for individuals, families and communities to cope with the changes that are coming.
These changes are real and dramatic.
We face increasing competition from the new economies of China , India and Brazil who are competing with us now in the fields of technology and science and not just high volume manufacturing.
And our society is changing quickly too. We are getting older. Fewer children are being born. The labour market is changing rapidly as a result. On top of this, all of the developed economies of the world face the unprecedented challenge of mass economic migration. Over the last 10 years, the number of working age migrants in the UK has increased by around 1.6 million. Net migration over the next 25 years is projected to account for almost 60% of population growth.
This means that the role of a modern, active welfare to work strategy will be crucial in continuing our efforts to tackle poverty, in supporting the family, promoting social justice and helping Britain to grow and prosper amidst all the challenges of technological, social, economic and demographic change.
It doesn’t mean a big state with more and more centralised bureaucracy but an empowering state – one that empowers individuals and communities to respond to the challenges and opportunities of a new century.
Because making it possible for each individual here at home to be able to exercise their right to work will be essential if we are to ensure that our economy remains competitive and productive and that people have the economic security they need in a rapidly changing world.
This is therefore a fitting moment to look back on a decade of welfare reform and to look ahead to the challenges of the next ten years.
Ten years ago, Bill Clinton summarised the challenge facing welfare in America with the phrase “Welfare to work, instead of welfare as a way of life.”
For me, this captures the essence of the difference between what this Government has sought to achieve – and the legacy it inherited.
There was no meaningful welfare reform in the 1980s and 90s. Instead welfare was characterised by a culture of passive benefit dependency and deep-rooted poverty. Why? Because millions were written off onto benefit as a means of managing industrial decline – with no expectation of a return to work; Because those who were on benefits were stigmatised not helped or supported; And because people were frequently better off on benefit than in work. This was a completely unsustainable position and a major drag anchor on our economy and taxpayers.
The effects were stark. While Britain got steadily healthier as a nation, the numbers on incapacity benefit trebled. Unemployment hit three million twice in a decade. By 1997, nearly six million adults in this country were dependent on benefits to survive.
And with benefit dependency came poverty. The number of children living in poverty doubled. By 1997, one in every three babies born in Britain was born poor. And one in four pensioners suffered the indignity of living below the poverty line.
Worklessness demoralised families; and decimated many traditional hard working communities. I saw this in my own constituency. Welfare had indeed become a way of life – but it was, in truth, no way to live.
Ten years on the situation has improved significantly. Today there are more people in work than ever before. Employment is up over 2.5 million since 1997 and up in every region and country of the UK – with the biggest increases in the neighbourhoods and cities that started in the worst position.
Since 1997, we’ve increased the employment rate for many previously disadvantaged groups. For lone parents – up 11 percentage points; for disabled people – up 9 percentage points; for ethnic minorities – up 5 percentage points and for older workers – up nearly 7 percentage points. That’s over 300,000 more lone parents, 900,000 more disabled people, 1 million more people from ethnic minorities, and 1.5 million more aged 50 or over in work than in 1997.
The biggest falls in unemployment have been amongst those who have been on benefits the longest. Long term claimant unemployment is down by over 70%; long-term youth claimant unemployment has been virtually eradicated.
There are more lone parents in work than ever before. The numbers on incapacity benefit are falling not rising. We’ve lifted 2.4 million out of poverty – including 700,000 children. And thanks to the Pension Credit, pensioners are now less likely to be poor than any other group in society.
None of this has happened by chance. Nor is it simply a direct consequence of economic growth – as important as that has been. The success of Welfare to Work has been a direct result of carefully targeted public investment – some delivered by public agencies like Jobcentre Plus; some by the private and voluntary sectors – but all built on that foundation of unprecedented economic stability and prosperity. The situation has begun to turn around because we were prepared to act rather than sit on our hands and hope that things might get better.
Reed in Partnership, who are sponsoring this event, are today celebrating the 70,000 th person they have helped to be better off working, since they pioneered New Deal delivery by the private sector in March 1998. A great success for a great example of public and private sectors working together.
Audrey Hinkins is a single parent who had been unemployed for 18 years before she registered with Reed in Partnership in Tottenham. Supported by her personal adviser, Audrey was able to address the barriers she faced in getting work, build up her skills and confidence, and go on successfully to gain a position with Morrison’s. She’s a real example of the difference our reforms have made.
Together with our investment in Jobcentre Plus and the New Deal; the creation of Pathways to Work and our reforms of incapacity benefits – we are restoring the balance between rights and responsibilities by promoting work for those who can but ensuring security for those who can’t.
Our Disability Rights legislation – the most comprehensive of any European country to date – and our Age Discrimination legislation – are breaking down the cultural and discriminatory barriers facing disabled people and older workers.
The National Minimum Wage and tax credits have helped make work pay so that people are better off in work than on benefit. And they’ve ensured that the biggest increases in hourly earnings have been concentrated amongst the lowest paid.
And at the heart of this entire process of reform, we have locked in a set of decent, progressive values – of universality, security and equity – underpinned by an equality of opportunity that stretches back to very roots of the Welfare State in seeing personal responsibility as fundamental to tackling poverty and building aspiration for everyone in our society.
To illustrate the point. Who said:
“The State in organising security should not stifle incentive, opportunity, [or] responsibility; in establishing a national minimum, it should leave room and encouragement for voluntary action by each individual to provide more than that minimum for himself and his family.”
It wasn’t Toynbee or Churchill. It was Beveridge – writing in his White Paper on the Welfare State in 1944. That first Welfare State – created by Attlee’s Government – recognised the right to enter the world of work as fundamental to forging a decent society by allowing people to exercise personal responsibility to support themselves and their families.
Our welfare reforms have sought a modern reflection of the true nature of that original welfare state. Active not passive. A bridge to walk on; Not a platform on which to stay. An empowering force that involves people as part of the solution; Not to see them as part of the problem.
The challenge now is to sustain a system of welfare built on these values and principles – but delivered in new ways that reflect the needs of our modern society, because Britain is a different country now than it was in 1997 when we came to office.
Looking ahead to the next 10 years, I believe there are four major challenges to which our welfare system must now respond so that our economy can remain competitive and our society strong and cohesive.
Firstly, we need to change our view of what a “Labour Exchange” is. This has its origins as a truly Churchillian concept, where labour seeking work could meet employers anxious to hire. But today this accounts for only part of the transaction. Now we not only have to help people back into jobs – we have to try and help people progress up the career ladder as well. So the Labour Exchange of the past must become the skills exchange of the future.
Helping individuals to acquire the skills, confidence and ambition to progress through the workplace has to be a core ambition for a dynamic welfare system. And in a world where people now have on average seven jobs in a career instead of one, the range of groups who require this new support from the welfare state is rapidly growing.
As the Leitch Report highlighted earlier this month – our skills shortages don’t just stand in the way of our future economic success – they challenge our social justice ambitions too.
Survey data shows that adults living in households in social class 1 are roughly four times as likely to reach level 2 or above in literacy than those in households of social class 5.
It is skills that employers now seek rather than labour. Yet, 40% of lone parents on Income Support and just under 1 million people on incapacity benefits have no qualifications; while more than four-fifths of people in prison have the writing skills of an 11 year old.
Our skills profile lags behind other OECD countries and our low skilled have lower employment rates than the OECD average. There are 4.6 million people without qualifications and a further 1.7 million with qualifications below level 2. And the demand for low skills is likely to continue falling with some 850,000 fewer low skilled jobs by 2020.
Meeting this challenge means finding a new place for skills at the heart of a welfare contract for the 21 st century. A new approach to skills, that is based on a simpler, clearer, and more coherent system of delivery – that meets the needs of both business and individuals. The Employment and Skills Commission must be at the forefront of this new approach.
We need to build on demand-led programmes like our Adult Learning Option pilot which offers benefit recipients access to training courses focused on local labour market needs. And the Train to Gain service which supports employers in identifying the skills needs of their businesses, matching this with available provision and contributing to the costs of training to help many previously unqualified workers to develop and progress into more sustainable, productive employment.
The second key challenge we face is how to support families.
As I argued earlier this year – we need to forge a progressive consensus about support for the family, shifting the focus of the welfare system towards the family as a whole – and ensuring that couple families receive equal attention as lone parents in the fight to end child poverty.
As Lisa Harker’s report last month showed, at the minimum wage, typical couple families need a full-time and a part-time worker to move out of poverty compared with the 3 hours per week a lone parent typically needs to work to be lifted out of poverty.
We must never under-estimate the strain of trying to make ends meet and bring up kids alone. Yet it is clear that it can often take more for low-income couples to lift themselves out of poverty than it does for single parents.
Around 40% of poor children live in lone parent households – and the majority of these are non-working. Despite the gains we have made in lone parent employment, lone parents are still far less likely to be in work than married or cohabiting women with children the same age. And the employment rate for lone parents is still far below that in other countries, including Sweden , USA , France and Germany .
The children of lone parents not in work are over five times more likely to be in poverty than children of lone parents in full-time employment. Reaching our 70% employment aspiration for lone parents would mean helping a further 200,000 children lifted out of poverty, so it is right that we now re-examine how we can reach that goal.
As Lisa Harker’s report also highlighted, there is a strong ethnic dimension to the fight against child poverty. One in five children in poverty are from ethnic minority communities. And poverty rates among Black African, Pakistani and Bangladeshi children are more than double the rate among white children.
The ethnic minority employment rate gap has been cut by nearly 2 percentage points in the last three years. But despite this progress, it still stands at 15 per cent. And based on current targets it could take 45 years to close this gap entirely.
But even closing this gap is not enough on its own. In-work poverty is a particular problem for ethnic minority households. Pakistani and Bangladeshi children in households with at least one earner are more likely to be in poverty than not. And working Pakistani and Bangladeshi households are more likely to be in poverty than workless white households.
We cannot have a socially cohesive society with such gross unfairness and wide differentials in employment rates. We must look to tackle the poverty of race in Britain today.
The third challenge continues to be about the poverty of place. We know that in parts of the country there are still significant pockets of poverty and worklessness concentrated in towns and cities.
Seven of the ten local authorities with the lowest employment rates are in London boroughs. 15 of the worst 20 are in cities. In total, our cities account for almost two-thirds of all those on benefits.
Take London , for example. It is the wealthiest city in Europe ; productivity 25 per cent higher than the rest of the UK ; and a quarter of the workforce educated to degree level. And yet London now has the highest level of worklessness – and the highest level of child poverty in mainland UK . Nearly half of children in inner London are poor. We can and must improve on this.
We know there’s a strong link between worklessness, benefit dependency and poverty. But these areas are also often those where the most jobs and vacancies are found. Jobcentre Plus today handles about 600,000 vacancies across Britain covering a broad range of occupations. And there actually tends to be more vacancies in areas with low employment rates than the national average. This is true across a range of occupations – from high skilled professional roles to elementary vacancies.
Some of the statistics for specific cities are even more striking. In Manchester , for example, the employment rate is 61.5% compared with a national average of 74.5%. The claimant count at 3.5%, is half a percentage point above the national average. And yet, there are 2.5 times as many vacancies per person than the national average, including nearly 6000 more entry level job vacancies notified between November 2005 and October 2006 than a city with the population size of Manchester would expect it if it was in line with the national average for vacancies.
And there’s a similar story for Glasgow , where the claimant count is 4%, one percentage point above the national average, and the number of entry-level vacancies per person is more than double the national average for vacancies.
Economic migration from the EU has only served to highlight this issue. If workers from Poland can take advantage of these vacancies in our major cities – why can’t our own people do so as well?
So we face a real and urgent challenge in going further to break down the barriers to work at a local level.
But there’s a fourth – and crucial challenge – that is closely linked to this.
More than two thirds of all new Jobseeker’s Allowance claims are made by people who have claimed before. Some of those returning to JSA do so only briefly – they are simply moving between jobs – a sign of a healthy and diverse labour market. But around half of those repeat claimants are spending more time on benefit than in work.
What’s more, a quarter of a million new claimants have spent at least three-quarters of the last two years claiming benefits. And about 12% of all Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants have spent six of the past seven years on benefits.
These repeat claimants pose a fundamental question about the design of the welfare system; for the degree of conditionality; for the contract between those out of work – and the hard-working taxpaying families who are supporting them.
As Beveridge himself wrote in 1944:
“The making of insurance benefit without means test unlimited in duration involves of itself that conditions must be imposed at some stage or another as to how men in receipt of benefit shall use their time, so as to fit themselves or to keep themselves fit for service”
In every other walk of life behaviour has consequences. I believe it has to be true for the welfare state too. Yes – the Welfare State should give people the opportunity and support to overcome the barriers they face. But that can not be a passive one-way relationship. It requires individuals themselves to respond; to meet the responsibility this places on them.
Welfare has to be built on a coalition of public support. You simply can’t have a welfare state without consequences.
We know there is a small group of benefit claimants without the major physical or health barriers to work associated with Incapacity Benefit – who live in areas where there is no shortage of vacancies, particularly for low-skilled jobs but who nonetheless remain on benefits for long periods of time.
This is a key group on which we now need to focus our attention. The vast majority of claimants want to get back to work and take active steps to improve their lives and are keen to get off benefits as soon as possible. And yet we know that the problem of benefit dependency remains a very real one for others, consigning them and their families to poverty.
So we must be prepared to look at all the options for reform. Ten years on it is time to refresh our approach to the New Deal. We need to be prepared to offer individuals more help and support; to better understand how to intervene with individuals on JSA that have mild mental health or alcohol related problems. We need to address basic skills deficiencies with job seekers so that they are not a barrier to sustaining and progressing through the workplace.
But if we are to break the cycle of benefit dependency, we need to ask whether we should expect more from those who remain on JSA for long periods of time in return for the help we provide. More active steps to get back into the labour market. More involvement in programmes that could increase the prospect of getting a job. And for those who won’t do so, then there should be consequences, including less benefit or no benefit at all.
Our welfare reforms must confront head-on the “Can work – won’t work” culture in our country and ensure benefit claimants can compete for jobs alongside growing numbers of migrants who arrive in Britain specifically to look for work rather than to settle for the long term.
We cannot reasonably ask hard-working families to pay for the unwillingness of some to take responsibility to engage in the labour market. Especially when we know that around half of the children living in poverty in Britain today live in a household where an adult is already in work. Fairness is a two way street.
Meeting the challenges that I have outlined this morning requires us to be bold in confronting change and in asking the right questions about the direction of our policies for the long term. It means recognising that the policies that were unquestionably right for today – may not be the policies best suited for the challenges of tomorrow. But it doesn’t mean abandoning our values. Quite the opposite – the question is how best to deliver these values of inclusion, opportunity, social mobility, fairness – in a changing Britain .
That is why my Department is now to undertake a wide-ranging review of our welfare to work strategy – to consider how we can best tackle economic inactivity and promote social mobility through a renewed welfare to work policy and delivery strategy for the coming decade. This will form part of the wider policy review process the Prime Minister initiated in the autumn.
The review will address the specific challenges I have raised today. How we can tackle the “can work, won’t work” culture. How we can best help local communities deliver local solutions to worklessness. How we can prepare for a fall in the demand for unskilled labour. And how we can best support families and tackle ethnic disadvantage as we seek to eradicate child poverty.
In answering these questions, the review will cover three sets of issues.
Firstly, the design of welfare to work policy. The balance between rights and responsibilities; whether and how we should strengthen incentives to work; and whether there is a role for greater conditionality within the system. It will look at the steps we can take to promote social mobility, especially by supporting progression through work and through an integrated approach to skills which builds on the recommendations from the Leitch report earlier this month.
Secondly, to consider the devolution of welfare – building on the City Strategy and other local initiatives to open up new opportunities for delivering employment services to some of our most disadvantaged communities.
And thirdly, to examine the delivery of welfare in Britain over the next ten years. How we can build a more effective market in the provision of employment services – with a more customer-focused welfare delivery system that better reflects the Government’s wider public service ambitions of greater choice and empowerment.
How we can shape a different type of intervention from the centre. One that successfully balances the tension between achieving high quality interventions that are sensitive and responsive to the needs of millions of individuals – and yet still operates within a nationally defined rules structure, regulating quality with clear sanctions and rewards.
Our success in tackling poverty and worklessness – and our ability to preserve the values of social justice – hinges not on preserving the existing system of welfare delivery but on modernising it; not on standing back and celebrating what we have already achieved with Jobcentre Plus and the New Deal – but on driving forward and building on that success.
A system of welfare provision that embraces diversity of provision as the norm and not the exception. That looks beyond the old, out-dated caricatures of a public sector built on values and ethics and a private sector somehow devoid of these attributes but efficient and responsive. A dynamic and effective system of delivery where good providers are properly rewarded, whether they come from the public, private or voluntary sectors.
A system that incentivises and rewards providers for helping more difficult cases and not just focusing on the easiest to help; that stimulates innovation; and empowers organisations to develop local solutions that meet the needs of individuals in their communities.
This tailoring of welfare is rightly one of the key challenges identified by IPPR’s own project on the foundations of welfare. I welcome this research and will follow it’s conclusions with interest.
As with pensions reform, the success of long-term welfare policy requires a consensus across and between generations. A public debate is needed about what is fair and right to ask taxpayers to support.
I believe we must be more ambitious not less if we are to meet the challenges ahead.
And that must be based on a new contract of rights and responsibilities for the next decade. Increasingly tailored, quality support must be at its core – but so too must a clear expectation that unacceptable behaviour will always carry consequences. It is right for us to offer more help and support to those who need it. But it is right too that people behave responsibly and do not abuse the rules that others willingly observe. When they do there should be consequences.
We are not individuals making our way in isolation from each other. We are members of a community, dependent on each other; who benefit from each other’s help; and who recognise the mutual obligations that follow.
We must build a strong Britain – enriched by its diversity but united by the common values of solidarity and social justice – of security and liberty – with tolerance, understanding and respect for others.
And in doing so, I truly believe we make further progress towards the eradication of poverty and the creation of a society with equal rights and opportunities for all.
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Philip Hammond – 2018 Speech at Bloomberg Global Regulatory
Below is the text of the speech made by Philip Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 11 December 2018.
Thank you Constantin, it’s great to be here.
And it’s great to get out of Whitehall, to the wonderful surroundings of Bloomberg’s new European HQ.
This HQ is a great representation of this City.
Historic and modern, nestling side-by-side…
…a technological and architectural temple of gadgetry…
…on the site of the 3rd Century temple to the god Mithras.
Back then during the very origins of Londonium – this Mithraeum played host to merchants, traders, and imperial administrators in the depths below where we stand now, plotting the future of this great city…
…and 1,800 years later – we’re still bringing together investors and regulators to discuss what the future holds for the global economy.
This stunning building won this year’s Stirling prize for the UK’s best new building…
…fighting off competition from a brick nursery and a mud-walled cemetery.
And I’m delighted to be here today – in the home of a global company that represents the very best of this city…
…a business that over the past 40 years…
…thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit and vision of Mike Bloomberg…
…has grown from a seller of the iconic Bloomberg terminals we all know well…
…to a global information, data, and media empire, and the very heart of what makes financial markets tick.
And this is a good time for us to meet and take stock…
…at a time of uncertainty and challenge for the global economy:
Rising US-China trade tensions…
…a slowing outlook for global growth…
…the challenge of the impact of monetary policy normalisation on the Emerging Markets…
…economic challenges facing major economies, from Japan to Italy…
…and a reminder last week in France – of the threat posed by a rising tide of sentiment among our electorates that our economic model is not working for everyone.
And of course – here in the UK – we have our own special problems as we navigate our Exit from the EU.
We have agreed a deal with our EU partners that ensures a smooth and orderly departure from the European Union…
…delivers on the referendum decision of the British people…
…and secures a close future economic relationship with our nearest neighbours.
It is the best deal available for the British economy that delivers on the result of the referendum…
…and it’s a deal that can bring this country back together again and allow us to all move on.
And it’s a deal that protects the UK’s position as a global financial centre…
…and allows the hugely mutually beneficial financial services trade with the EU to continue to flourish.
Not through the EU’s ‘passporting’ regime – as we will leave the Single Market…
…but through a new economic and regulatory partnership in financial services.
We have set out a proposed framework for how this will work…
…allowing the mutual benefits of UK-EU financial services trade to continue – while protecting financial stability, businesses, consumers, and taxpayers across the UK and the EU.
And the deal agreed with the EU includes an agreement on the future relationship for financial services that reflects these proposals…
…with both sides committing to take decisions on granting equivalence at least six months before the end of the Implementation Period.
But I don’t want to spend my time with you talking about Brexit…
…I’ve done more than enough of that over the last few days, and months…
…and at this conference you are gathered here to talk about the opportunities and challenges in the global economy…
…and I want to say a few words about our plan for Britain – post-Brexit – to remain an international centre of finance and commerce around the world.
The UK has always had an internationalist outlook – and we’ve been a global centre of finance for centuries…
…for it wasn’t the passport that built the City of London…
…it was our unique history and networks…
…supported by a few specific advantages:
Our language is the global language of business;
Our legal system is the jurisdiction of choice for international commerce;
Our world-class universities and schools contribute to the pluriculture that makes the UK such a favoured place to live and work;
Our tech sector is the innovation leader in Europe;
And we are the global capital for international finance and professional services;
And the key point – is that Britain’s strengths are more than just the aggregation of these things…
…it is the effect of bringing them together…
…the financial capital of the world…
…a global innovation hub, research centres of excellence, a leader in creative industries, and a vibrant and diverse culture…
…that together create this ecosystem of prosperity.
And post-Brexit I am clear that we will maintain and build upon this ecosystem…
…as we shape our economy for the future.
And since this is a Global Regulatory summit let me say a few words about standards…
…because one thing that will stand regardless of our future relationship with the EU, is the UK’s commitment to robust international standards.
We led the way internationally in the development of post-crisis financial reforms…
…and ten years on our global system stands safer, simpler, and fairer:
Safer because large banks are better capitalised, less leveraged, and more liquid;
Simpler because over-the-counter derivative markets are less complex, and more transparent;
Fairer because we’ve reformed the resolvability of financial institutions – so that now it is shareholders and creditors who bear the costs of a failure – not taxpayers.
And it’s precisely because we have such a large, dynamic, important financial sector – that it is in our interests to go beyond international baseline standards…
…and drive forward the global ‘race to the top’.
And as people in this room know – this job is never done.
We need to do even more if we are to complete the global regulatory reform agenda…
…and in particular we must look at how the implementation of these reforms may impact on the market…
…and how differences in timing or consistency of implementation could lead to market fragmentation…
…and in turn lead to weaker resilience, unlevel playing fields, increased costs of transactions, and financial stability risks.
I’m glad that Japan has indicated it will take forward work on this agenda during their forthcoming G20 presidency…
…and the UK stands ready to support this work – for the benefit of our financial sector here at home, and for the resilience of the global financial system as a whole.
Because I reject the idea that laxer regulation makes a jurisdiction more attractive.
But regulatory systems will be a key discriminator:
The financial centres of choice in the future will be safe, transparent, stable, and predictable…
…with appropriate regulatory regimes…
…that are agile and flexible to keep abreast of changing technologies and business models.
Regulatory robustness, coupled with regulatory agility, and a commitment to regulatory innovation will be a key selling point of London’s financial services market in the future.
However, London’s strengths as a financial centre are about more than resilience and our commitment to high quality, agile, and flexible regulation;
It is about being the global centre for international finance…
…and as we leave the EU, we are more focused than ever on strengthening ties with the big, established markets, beyond Europe, from the US to Japan…
…and building new links with the fast-growing markets in the East – including in particular, India and China…
…who – as their middle classes grow in size and prosperity – will rapidly increase their demand for financial services in terms of volume and in terms of sophistication.
So at my Mansion House speech in June – I announced our intention to develop new Global Financial Partnerships…
…to strengthen our links with these key markets around the world….
…leveraging existing tools – such as our bilateral dialogues, and regulatory cooperation…
…with new tools – such as market access agreements, through our future third country regime…
…across capital markets, banking, asset management, and insurance…
…to reinforce the UK’s position as the pre-eminent centre for global finance.
We have worked hard on our Global Financial Partnerships plan and we are gearing up to begin discussions with potential partner countries from April 2019, as soon as we have left the EU.
In conclusion, Britain is, and will remain, a great place to do business.
Of that, I have no doubt.
And our financial sector will remain in the vanguard – with a regulatory system that is among the most open, transparent, and agile in the world – adapting, innovating, driving change, influencing…
…and as Chancellor I am determined to go on pushing us to do even better… …to develop new products and services… …to reach out to new markets… …and to rise to the opportunities and challenges ahead.
I have spent the last two years on a path of unswerving commitment to a Brexit deal that protects jobs, businesses, investment, and growth;
So that we can go on investing in the technologies and skills of the future;
And secure our place as the world’s leading financial centre in the years and decades to come.
I remain committed to that cause…
…I am grateful for the huge support from the Financial Services industry…
…and look forward to continuing to work with you as we deliver Brexit…
…manage the transition smoothly…
…and go on to reinforce the global network that will underpin London’s position in the future.
CategoriesUncategorized Tags2018, Philip Hammond, Speeches
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Leticia M. Diaz • Barry University
Dean and Professor of Law
October 13, 2016 | No comments yet
Barry University
Advocate for Diversity in Legal Education
Leticia M. Diaz, Ph.D., J.D., was appointed Dean of the Barry University School of Law in 2007, becoming the first female Cuban-American dean of an ABA-accredited law school. During her tenure, Diaz has been a relentless advocate for diversity, social justice, professionalism, and service in the legal profession.
Diaz believes the most important qualities a woman leader should have are perseverance and the ability to mentor. “It’s rewarding when I’m able to mentor other women who then become successful,” she said.
Her professional endeavors didn’t originate in the legal sector. She first earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Rutgers University and worked as a postdoctoral research chemist testing the synthesis of anti-HIV compounds. She ultimately realized law was her true calling and returned to Rutgers to pursue a law degree.
Diaz has been with Barry Law since 1999, working her way up to full professor, associate dean, and then dean. Under her leadership, the student body has grown 26 percent and minority enrollment has increased by 57 percent. Her staunch commitment to diversity has propelled both herself and Barry Law into the national spotlight. Barry Law was recently recognized for its diversity in U.S. News and World Report, ranking 8th among U.S. law schools for diversity. The law school also received an A+ ranking from preLaw Magazine for both faculty and student body diversity. “Becoming Dean has been very rewarding and has allowed me to assist in the movement for increasing diversity in legal education,” Diaz said.
Diaz has been named to the Lawyers Color Power List twice and recently to the National Jurists’ Top 20 Leaders in Diversity. She has served on the advisory committee for the ABA Commission on Immigration, Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities; was appointed to the ABA Commission on Immigration; and has penned an article on the DREAM Act that was entered into the Congressional Record.
She holds a J.D., Rutgers School of Law; a Ph.D. and Masters in Organic Chemistry, Rutgers University; and a Bachelor of Science, Bloomfield College; and a Nursing Diploma, Union County College.
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Texas Supreme Court Addresses The Causation Requirement For A Breach Of Fiduciary Duty Claim And Conspiracy, Aiding And Abetting Breach Of Fiduciary Duty, And Joint Venture Theories
In First United Pentecostal Church of Beaumont v. Parker, a church hired an attorney to defend it against sexual abuse allegations. 2017 Tex. LEXIS 295 (Tex. March 17, 2017). During the same time, the church also engaged the attorney to assist in a hurricane/insurance claim. When the insurance company offered to pay over $1 million to settle the claim, the attorney generously suggested that the church leave those funds in the attorney’s trust account to assist with creditor protection. The attorney then withdrew those funds in 2008 and used them for his personal expenses and the expenses of his firm. The attorney had a contract attorney working with his firm. The contract attorney did not know about the improper use of the money at the time that it was done. Rather, he learned about it in 2010, but failed to disclose that information to the client. Eventually, the contract attorney did disclose the information and sent a letter wherein he repented and admitted to breaching his fiduciary duty. The original attorney fled to Arkansas, but was later caught. He pled guilty to misappropriation of fiduciary property and received a fifteen-year sentence.
Not in the forgiving mood, the church then filed a lawsuit against the attorney, his firm, and the contract attorney for a number of causes of action, including breach of fiduciary duty, conspiracy to breach fiduciary duty, and aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty. The contract attorney filed a no-evidence motion for summary judgment, mainly arguing that there was no evidence that his conduct caused any damages to the client. Basically, he argued that the deed was already done when he learned of the attorney’s theft and his assistance in covering up the theft did not cause any damage. The trial court granted the motion for summary judgment, and the client appealed. The court of appeals affirmed the judgment, though there was a dissenting justice.
The Texas Supreme Court first addressed whether the trial court correctly rendered judgment for the contract attorney on the breach-of-fiduciary-duty claim. The court held that the elements of a claim for breach of fiduciary duty are (1) the existence of a fiduciary duty, (2) breach of the duty, (3) causation, and (4) damages. The court agreed in part with the client’s argument that under Kinzbach Tool Co. v. Corbett-Wallace Corp., 160 S.W.2d 509, 514 (Tex. 1942), that proof of damages was not required when the claim is that an attorney breached his fiduciary duty to a client and that the client need not produce evidence that the breach caused actual damages. The court held that when the client seeks equitable remedies such as fee forfeiture or disgorgement, that the client does not need to prove that the attorney’s breach caused any damages. However, the court held that when the client seeks an award of damages (a legal remedy) that the client does have to prove that the attorney’s breach caused the client injury:
Plainly put, for the church to have defeated a no-evidence motion for summary judgment as to a claim for actual damages, the church must have provided evidence that Parker’s actions were causally related to the loss of its money. It did not do so. On the other hand, the church was not required to show causation and actual damages as to any equitable remedies it sought.
The contract attorney argued that the summary judgment should be affirmed because, although the client did plead equitable remedies in the trial court, that the client waived those claims by failing to raise them in its appellate briefing. The court held that, although the client did not use the terms “equitable,” “forfeiture,” or “disgorgement” in its brief, that the client’s issue statement “fairly” included that argument. The court reversed the trial court’s summary judgment regarding the client’s equitable remedies because there was no causation requirement.
The court then turned to the conspiracy claim. The court held that an action for civil conspiracy has five elements: (1) a combination of two or more persons; (2) the persons seek to accomplish an object or course of action; (3) the persons reach a meeting of the minds on the object or course of action; (4) one or more unlawful, overt acts are taken in pursuance of the object or course of action; and (5) damages occur as a proximate result. The court explained:
An actionable civil conspiracy requires specific intent to agree to accomplish something unlawful or to accomplish something lawful by unlawful means. This inherently requires a meeting of the minds on the object or course of action. Thus, an actionable civil conspiracy exists only as to those parties who are aware of the intended harm or proposed wrongful conduct at the outset of the combination or agreement.
In this case, the client argued that there were two possible conspiracies: an initial conspiracy to steal its money, and a subsequent conspiracy to cover up the theft. Regarding the first theory, the court held that there was no evidence that the contract attorney knew that the original attorney had withdrawn and spent the money at the time that it happened and affirmed the trial court’s summary judgment on that theory. Regarding the second theory, the court held that there was no evidence that the contract attorney’s actions caused any damage. The court held that a conspiracy plaintiff must establish that a conspiracy defendant’s actions caused an amount of harm, and thus prior actions by co-conspirators are not sufficient to prove causation:
The actions of one member in a conspiracy might support a finding of liability as to all of the members. But even where a conspiracy is established, wrongful acts by one member of the conspiracy that occurred before the agreement creating the conspiracy do not simply carry forward, tack on to the conspiracy, and support liability for each member of the conspiracy as to the prior acts. Rather, for conspirators to have individual liability as a result of the conspiracy, the actions agreed to by the conspirators must cause the damages claimed. Here the church does not reference evidence of a conspiracy between Parker and Lamb to take or spend the church’s money. Rather, it points to evidence that once Parker learned that the church’s money was gone, he was concerned—as he well should have been—and he agreed with Lamb to try to replace it. The evidence that Parker conspired with Lamb to cover up the fact that the money was missing and attempt to replace it was evidence that Parker tried to mitigate the church’s loss, not that he conspired to cause it. The damage to the church had already been done when Parker and Lamb agreed to cover up the theft and try to replace the money.
The court affirmed the trial court’s summary judgment on the conspiracy claim.
The court reviewed the aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty claim. The court first held that the client did not adequately raise that claim in the summary judgment proceedings and waived it. In any event, assuming such a claim existed and assuming it was adequately raised, the court held that there was not sufficient evidence to support such a claim in this case:
Moreover, as noted above, although we have never expressly recognized a distinct aiding and abetting cause of action, the court of appeals determined that such a claim requires evidence that the defendant, with wrongful intent, substantially assisted and encouraged a tortfeasor in a wrongful act that harmed the plaintiff. Here the church references no evidence that Parker assisted or encouraged Lamb in stealing the church’s money. In his response to the PSI report, Lamb disclaimed Parker’s involvement, and Parker clearly and consistently disclaimed knowing that Lamb was taking the church’s money from the firm’s trust account until the summer of 2010 after the money was gone. While it is true that Parker helped Lamb cover up the theft, this cannot be the basis for a claim against Parker for aiding and abetting Lamb’s prior theft or misapplication of the church’s money when there is no evidence that Parker was aware of Lamb’s plans or actions until after they had taken place. See Juhl, 936 S.W.2d at 644-45 (noting that courts should look to the nature of the wrongful act, kind and amount of assistance, relation to the actor, defendant’s presence while the wrongful act was committed, and defendant’s state of mind (citing RESTATMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS § 876 cmt. d (1977))). As we discussed above, Lamb spent all of the church’s money before Parker became involved, and there is no evidence the church was harmed by the only wrongful act in which Parker assisted or encouraged Lamb—covering up the fact that Lamb had spent the church’s money.
The court finally addressed a joint venture claim by the client. The court held that the elements of a joint venture are (1) an express or implied agreement to engage in a joint venture, (2) a community of interest in the venture, (3) an agreement to share profits and losses from the enterprise, and (4) a mutual right of control or management of the enterprise. “Joint venture liability serves to make each party to the venture an agent of the other venturers and hold each venturer responsible for the wrongful acts of the others in pursuance of the venture.” The court reviewed evidence offered by the client and held that it was taken out of context. The court held that none of the evidence provided support for the client’s claim that there was “an express or implied agreement by Parker to be part of a joint venture with Lamb for the purpose of stealing the church’s money.” Therefore, the court affirmed the summary judgment on the joint venture claim.
Interesting Note: The court held that it had previously expressly stated that Texas had not adopted an aiding and abetting claim at this time. The court cited to its previous opinion of Juhl v. Airington, 936 S.W.2d 640, 643 (Tex. 1996), wherein the court held that there was a question in Texas as to whether there is a concert of action theory. That case dealt with whether a group of parties were responsible for a negligence claim and did not address a breach of fiduciary duty claim.
This case highlights a rather confusing area of law in Texas. The Texas Supreme Court has previously held that there is a claim for knowing participation in a breach of fiduciary duty in Texas. See Kinzbach Tool Co. v. Corbett-Wallace Corp., 138 Tex. 565, 160 S.W.2d 509, 514 (1942). The general elements for a knowing-participation claim are: 1) the existence of a fiduciary relationship; 2) the third party knew of the fiduciary relationship; and 3) the third party was aware it was participating in the breach of that fiduciary relationship. Meadows v. Harford Life Ins. Co., 492 F.3d 634, 639 (5th Cir. 2007).
Depending on how the Texas Supreme Court rules in the future, there may be a recognized aiding-and-abetting breach-of-fiduciary-duty claim in Texas. The Texas Supreme Court has stated that it has not expressly adopted a claim for aiding and abetting outside the context of a fraud claim. See Ernst & Young v. Pacific Mut. Life Ins. Co., 51 S.W.3d 573, 583 n. 7 (Tex. 2001); West Fork Advisors v. Sungard Consulting, 437 S.W.3d 917 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2014, no pet.). Notwithstanding, Texas courts have found such an action to exist. See Hendricks v. Thornton, 973 S.W.2d 348 (Tex. App.—Beaumont 1998, pet. denied); Floyd v. Hefner, 556 F.Supp.2d 617 (S.D. Tex. 2008). One court identified the elements for aiding and abetting as the defendant must act with unlawful intent and give substantial assistance and encouragement to a wrongdoer in a tortious act. West Fork Advisors, 437 S.W.3d at 921.
There is not any particularly compelling guidance on whether these claims (knowing participation and aiding and abetting) are the same or different or whether they are recognized in Texas or not. And if they do exist and are different, what differences are there regarding the elements of each claim? The Texas Supreme Court still has much to explain related to this area of law.
The Texas Supreme Court does appear to clear up one important causation issue. There was confusion as to whether a finding of conspiracy or aiding and abetting or knowing participation automatically imposes joint liability on all defendants for all damages. Most of the cases seem to indicate that a separate damage finding is necessary for each defendant because the conspiracy may not proximately cause the same damages as the original bad act. See THPD, Inc. v. Continential Imports, Inc., 260 S.W.3d 593 (Tex. App.—Austin 2008, no pet.); Bunton v. Bentley, 176 SW.3d 1 (Tex. App.—Tyler 1999), aff’d in part, rev’d in part on other grounds, 914 S.W.3d 561 (Tex. 2002); Belz v. Belz, 667 S.W.2d 240 (Tex. App.—Dallas 1984, writ ref’d n.r.e.). The court has now held that the conspiracy defendant’s actions must cause the damages awarded against it, and a plaintiff cannot solely rely on just the original bad actor’s conduct. So, there should be a finding of causation and damages for each conspiracy defendant (unless the evidence proves as a matter of law that all conspiracy defendants were involved from the very beginning). For a great discussion of these forms of joint liability for breach of fiduciary duty, please see E. Link Beck, Joint and Several Liability, State Bar of Texas, 10th Annual Fiduciary Litigation Course (2015).
Posted in Court Decisions, Legal News, Texas Supreme Court, US Legal News
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Pakistani Upcoming Movie ” WAAR ” In Summer 2011
Earlier in 2010, we reported that Hollywood producers are auditioning for film actors in Islamabad for a high-profile Hollywood/Lollywood collaborative project. The director of the project, Bilal Lashari has shot his first full-length feature film called Waar, in collaboration with ISPR. The film has been produced by MindWorks Media with Hunt Lowry, producer of “Donnie Darko” and Warner Bros.’s smash hit “A Walk to Remember” and numerous other well known films.
Waar (to strike) is an action/thriller and drama film, written by Hassan Waqas Rana and stars Pakistan’s finest actors, Shaan Shahid and Shamoon Abbasi, otherwise the rest of the cast are brand new actors. The storyline has been inspired by the war on terror in Pakistan and its effects on the world but with a very stylised interpretation of it. There have been many Hollywood movies which have dealt with the same issue including Syriana (2005) and A Mighty Heart (2007), but most of them failed to portray the situation properly except for Syriana which received generally positive reviews.
The English-language film (Waar) has been shot at various locations in and outside of Pakistan, from the beautiful hills of Islamabad to the second best tourist destination in Pakistan, Lahore to the fascinating valley of Swat (the Switzerland of Pakistan) in the Northern Areas of Pakistan, where a major military operation was launched two years ago. But most of the scenes and script are based around locations in Islamabad. Some parts of the film have also been shot in Istanbul, Turkey.
As reported earlier, the soundtrack of this one of it’s kind film has been done by Qayaas. “Inquilaab, Khayaal and Pal are part of the soundtrack,” says Khurram Waqar, the lead guitarist of the band. The presence of Qayaas in the film makes the project sound even more interesting.
According to IMDB, the estimated film budget is $2,000,000 (PKR 170M or 17 Crores). The film being produced by one of the major film studios in America, Warner Bros, will be first screened at some major international film festivals and after its successful screening at the festivals, it will be released worldwide.Mindworks Media‘s Dr. Hassan is ramping up several other film projects and has big plans of restarting the film scene in Pakistan.
The 140 min feature film is currently in it’s post-production stage. Waar is expected to have a summer release.
abbasi
beautiful hills
drama film
english language film
length feature
military operation
northern areas of pakistan
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Ali said: January 1, 20129:07 pm
At least backlink to Express Tribune.
Behzad Shaukat said: January 18, 20123:41 pm
it’s really a good work……
coool tailer…..
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BREAKING: US Navy Search for Missing Sailor in Arabian Sea
DRC Approves Use of Experimental Ebola Vaccine
7Dnews London - AP
Wed, 16 May 2018 15:35 GMT
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has authorised the World Health Organisation (WHO) to begin using an experimental Ebola vaccine in an effort to combat the latest outbreak.
According to Associated Press (AP), WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hopes health officials will be able to start using the vaccine later this week, or next week, should there be any delays in shipping. "We have agreement, registration, plus import permit - everything formally agreed already. And as you know, that vaccine is safe and efficacious and has been already tested. So I think we can all be prepared. All is ready now, to use it,” said Ghebreyesus.
The latest outbreak of Ebola was announced last week after health officials were first informed of deaths from haemorrhagic fever on May 3rd. At that point, there were 17 recorded deaths from haemorrhagic fever in the Congo’s Equateur province. As of May 13th, the DRC was dealing with 39 suspected, probable and confirmed cases of Ebola. According to WHO, there have been 19 deaths. Two cases have been formally confirmed as Ebola.
The DRC’s Ministry of Health has asked for 4,000 doses of the vaccine. Ministry spokesperson Jessyca Ilunga said the vaccines were expected to arrive by the end of the week. "The vaccination campaign starts next week. Everything depends on the logistics because the vaccine must be kept at minus 60 degrees Celsius and we need to assure that the cold chain is assured from Geneva to Bikoro," she said.
The vaccination campaign will focus on health workers first, especially since three of the suspected Ebola cases are nurses. One nurse has already died as a result of haemorrhagic fever.
The on-site teams have already identified more than 350 ‘contacts’. These are people who have come into contact with others suspected of being infected with haemorrhagic fever.
Ilunga said mobile laboratories were deployed to Mbandaka and Bikoro on Saturday. The results of the first 12 samples, tested in these mobile laboratories, should be ready on May 16th.
The new experimental vaccine was developed by the Canadian government and is now licensed to the US-based Merck corporation. It has been shown to be highly effective against the virus and was tested in Guinea in 2015. Although the Ebola virus in the Congo outbreak is a different strain, experts believe the experimental vaccine will be safe and effective.
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Chris Chaberski
Roy Halladay Dies in Plane Crash
The two-time Cy Young Award winner was 40 years old.
Truck Driver Plows Into Bikers in Manhattan, Kills 8 in Possible Terror Attack
An unidentified man drove a pickup truck onto a popular bike path in lower Manhattan, leaving eight people dead and injuring many more.
Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort & Aide Indicted, Plead Not Guilty [UPDATED]
The former chairman of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, Paul Manafort, has been indicted on numerous charges, including conspiracy against the United States, money laundering, tax fraud and making false statements to federal authorities.
Cub Scout Den Kicks Out 11-Year-Old Who Asked Senator About Guns, Race
Ames Mayfield, a Cub Scout in Colorado, has been dismissed from his den after asking a state lawmaker some tough questions about gun control and racial stereotypes.
Boy Scouts to Begin Admitting Girls, From Cub Scout Up to Eagle Scout
The Boy Scouts of America will soon open up its programs, allowing girls to join Cub Scout units and also to become Eagle Scouts, the organization's highest rank.
Comedian Ralphie May Dead at Age 45
The popular stand-up comic had been suffering from pneumonia.
Shooting at Spokane-Area High School Leaves 1 Dead, 3 Wounded
A gunman shot and killed one student and injured three others at Freeman High School in Rockford, Washington, Wednesday morning (Sept. 13). The suspected shooter, identified as Caleb Sharpe, was detained by police.
September 11 Commemorated in New York and Washington: Photos
Today marks the 16th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Ceremonies were held in New York City and Washington, D.C., to commemorate the tragic events and remember those who died.
Hurricane Irma Rips Through Florida Keys, Heads Up Southwest Coast Toward Tampa
Hurricane Irma finally made landfall on the continental U.S. Sunday morning, battering the Florida Keys first and then proceeding north to the southwestern coast of the Sunshine State.
Data Breach at Credit Agency Equifax Could Affect 143 Million Americans
“On a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of risk to consumers, this is a 10,” according to one fraud analyst.
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Rock bottom? Twins no-hit by Jered Weaver, fall to MLB-worst 6-18
When the Twins are on a West Coast road trip I'll often get on the elliptical machine at the beginning of the game and force myself to ride until they score a run, however long that takes. I'm dead now. Please be nice to my mother.
The good news for the Twins is that many of their fans don't even stay up to watch these late-night games. The bad news for the Twins is ... everything else. Shut out by journeyman Jerome Williams one night, no-hit by Cy Young runner-up Jered Weaver the next night, and the saddest part is that I'm so numb to all the losing at this point that I'm not even sure which was more depressing to watch. I suppose the correct answer is "both." Or maybe just "sigh."
They're now 6-18, which is the worst record in baseball, and 71-128 dating back to the final 10 games of the 2010 regular season, which is the equivalent of a 58-104 record per 162 games. Their starting pitchers have allowed 102 runs in 125 innings and their offense hasn't produced a hit in 15 innings. At least they can't lose today. To paraphrase one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite books/movies: If this isn't rock bottom, it'll do until rock bottom gets here.
This week's blog content is sponsored by One Stop Insurance, which helps Minnesotans find the best value and protection in an insurance company. Please support them for supporting AG.com.
Twins Notes: Outfield realignments, Rule 5 returns, and drugs of abuse
• In signing Josh Willingham to a three-year, $21 million contract in mid-December the Twins indicated that he'd be their everyday right fielder despite playing just 264 career innings there compared to 5,524 innings in left field. Getting a first-hand look at Willingham and the various other outfield options in camp apparently changed those plans, as Ron Gardenhire announced yesterday that Willingham will be the starting left fielder.
Gardenhire also made official what was expected by naming Denard Span the starting center fielder, which leaves right field for ... well, everyone. Depending on how often and at which positions Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer are in the lineup right field could potentially be manned by Ben Revere, Trevor Plouffe, Chris Parmelee, or Ryan Doumit, none of whom have ever played the position on more than a semi-regular basis in the majors or minors.
For years the Twins stressed how valuable Michael Cuddyer's arm was in right field, so their willingness to use Revere there when he might have the majors' worst arm and his range is of better use in the more spacious left field is surprising to say the least. If nothing else it signals that Revere is headed for a part-time role, which along with Gardenhire's stubbornness could lead to his biggest strength being diminished and his biggest weakness being magnified.
If the manager were more willing to make daily shifts he could platoon Revere and Plouffe by using Revere in left field with Willingham in right field against right-handed pitching and Plouffe in right field with Willingham in left field against left-handed pitching. That's something plenty of managers do regularly, but it's something Gardenhire has always avoided with occasionally laughable results. Runners going first-to-third at will with Revere in right field would fit that bill.
Whatever the case, based on Terry Ryan's offseason comments and Gardenhire's outfield announcement yesterday it seems clear that the Twins are less sold on Revere than commonly believed. They're certainly right to be skeptical, as I've been making that case since Revere was in the low minors, but the less he plays the less chance their defense has of being above average and I'm similarly skeptical about Parmelee being ready to thrive offensively.
• Terry Doyle seemed like an odd choice for the Twins with the No. 2 pick in the Rule 5 draft. Despite being 26 years old he had just 15 starts above Single-A, including zero at Triple-A, and nothing about his raw stuff or track record suggested more than back-of-the-rotation starter potential. At no point has the Rule 5 draft been a sure-fire way to add useful big leaguers, but when picking so high it seemingly made sense to at least target someone with more upside.
In explaining their reasoning for the pick the Twins talked about how impressed they were by Doyle's performance in the Arizona Fall League, where he posted a 1.98 ERA. However, that consisted of just eight starts and was fueled by an incredibly low batting average on balls in play that screamed fluke. My assumption was that they wouldn't have chosen Doyle if they weren't at least convinced he could stick in the majors as a mop-up man, but apparently not.
Doyle coughed up 10 runs in 5.1 innings this spring and the Twins didn't even keep him around until the end of camp, sending him back to the White Sox. Ultimately it's not a huge deal, as they're out $25,000 and the opportunity to add a higher-upside arm, but it's discouraging for a supposedly scouting-heavy team to take someone atop the Rule 5 draft while citing his fluky, small sample size performance in the AFL as a big factor and then cut him five innings later.
• Aaron Thompson, a 25-year-old left-hander the Twins signed to a minor-league contract in December, has been suspended 50 games after violating MLB's drug policy for a "drug of abuse." His track record in the minors is mediocre at best, but Thompson is a former first-round pick and apparently the Twins will keep him in the organization despite the suspension. Once activated he'll likely be a fifth starter or long reliever at Triple-A.
• I'll have a lot more on this subject once my annual series ranking the Twins' top 40 prospects concludes later this week, but Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus recently released their annual organizational talent rankings and the Twins placed 20th and 22nd.
• On a related note, Baseball America crunched the numbers to find that the Twins ranked 15th in international spending last season after ranking 12th in 2010. Miguel Sano alone got a record $3.15 million signing bonus from the Twins in 2009, but in the two years since then they've spent a total of $4.85 million internationally.
• This offseason the Twins sliced $15 million from their payroll, but according to Forbes magazine in 2011 they had baseball's 13th-highest revenue at $213 million and an operating income of $16.6 million, causing the franchise's value to rise four percent to $510 million.
• Nick Punto is getting the same treatment from the media in Boston that he got from the media in Minnesota. For instance:
In a game where talent can be measured by precise statistical metrics, Punto is a player whose value is harder to calculate but can’t be denied.
Punto played for $750,000 last year and will make $1.5 million both this season and next season, so teams seem to be in agreement that his value is fairly limited. Then again, I've not experienced his charm in person.
• Seth Stohs of Twins Daily reports that the Twins released six minor leaguers: Michael Tarsi, Dan Osterbrock, Kane Holbrooks, Blayne Weller, Matt Schuld, and Derek Christensen. Osterbrock, Tarsi, and Holbrooks each cracked my annual top-40 prospects list at one point, but none were ever considered more than marginal prospects. Christensen was a 2010 draft pick and dominated the low minors, so cutting the 22-year-old right-hander loose seems odd.
• In late 2010 the Twins acquired reliever Brian Fuentes from the Angels for Loek Van Mil, a marginal pitching prospect whose claim to fame was being baseball's tallest player at 7-foot-1. He spent last year at Double-A, throwing 66 innings with a 2.04 ERA and 46-to-23 strikeout-to-walk ratio, but the righty from the Netherlands failed to make the Angels this spring and manager Mike Scioscia explained that "he's certainly searching for an out pitch" at age 27.
• Last season the local mainstream media often mocked Kevin Slowey for his intelligence, using it as a way to portray him in a negative light, but a fresh start in Cleveland means the narrative has changed. Jordan Bastian, who covers the Indians for MLB.com, wrote last week:
Always nice as a writer when you find ballplayers who are avid readers on the side ... two in Cleveland's clubhouse include Lonnie Chisenhall and Kevin Slowey.
Funny how that works.
• Last and least, with Opening Day right around the corner I'm restarting the AG.com "sponsor of the week" program. For details about advertising and to reserve your week, click here.
Blayne Weller
Dan Osterbrock
Derek Christensen
Kane Holbrooks
Matt Schuld
Michael Tarsi
Nick Punto
Terry Doyle
Twins complete Fuentes trade by sending Van Mil to Angels
Technically the Angels had until October 15 to decide on the player to be named later heading their way in the deal for Brian Fuentes, but it turns out they were simply waiting for Loek Van Mil to go through waivers after being designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Fuentes. He predictably went unclaimed and yesterday the Twins finalized the trade by sending the 7-foot-1 right-hander to the Angels.
Van Mil ranked 39th on my list of the Twins' top prospects this winter, but has been limited to just 33.2 innings due to injuries and posted a 6.15 ERA between high Single-A and Double-A. He's intriguing simply by virtue of standing 7-foot-1 and actually had quite a bit of success prior to this season, but Van Mil will turn 26 years old next month, has yet to throw even 50 innings in a season, and almost surely would've been cut from the 40-man roster by the offseason.
By going through waivers Van Mil was available to any team willing to place him on the 40-man roster and he also would have been eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft in December, so giving the Dutchman up as the PTBNL for Fuentes is a no-brainer for the Twins. Because of his size and good fastball Van Mil is perhaps still capable of developing into a quality reliever if he can stay healthy, but he's a pretty fungible commodity at this point.
Fuentes might actually accept and stick them with a $10 million bill for 2011, so I'll be surprised if the Twins risk offering him arbitration in order to receive compensatory draft picks when he leaves as a free agent. Essentially that means they dealt Van Mil and $1.9 million for six-plus weeks of a good left-handed setup man. For a contending team with an obvious bullpen need that's an ideal move, although Fuentes' back problems unfortunately may complicate things.
Twins Notes: Thome, Fuentes, Kubel, Neshek, Wimmers, and Span
• Not only has Jim Thome switching from the White Sox to the Twins had a massive impact on the AL Central race, Baseball-Reference.com's blog points out that he's having one of the best seasons ever by a 39-year-old (he actually turned 40 over the weekend, but this is his age-39 season). Here are the all-time leaders in adjusted OPS+ at age 39:
AGE 39 YEAR PA OPS+
Barry Bonds 2004 617 263
Ted Williams 1958 517 179
Hank Aaron 1973 465 177
JIM THOME 2010 279 161
Babe Ruth 1934 471 161
Thome has fewer plate appearances than everyone else on that list, but he's on pace to finish with approximately 350 and any time you can make a top-five list alongside Barry Bonds, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, and Babe Ruth you're doing something really right. Paul Molitor is the only other player in Twins history to post an OPS+ above 100 at age 39, hitting .341/.390/.468 in 728 plate appearances for a 116 OPS+ in 1996.
And if you're already thinking about the Twins possibly re-signing Thome for next season, here are the all-time leaders in OPS+ at age 40:
Willie Mays 1971 537 158
Carlton Fisk 1988 298 155
Edgar Martinez 2003 603 141
Moises Alou 2007 360 137
Dave Winfield 1992 670 137
That's a much different and less impressive list in terms of both names and numbers, which is a good reminder of how tough it is to dominate at age 40. In fact, based on OPS+ no hitter in the history of baseball has ever been as productive as a 40-year-old as Thome has been as a 39-year-old, which is something to keep in mind when it comes to 2011 expectations for the future Hall of Famer. Of course, I loved the signing at the time and would love to see him back.
• I made a rare weekend post analyzing the Brian Fuentes trade, so read that if you missed it Friday night. I wondered how Ron Gardenhire will use Fuentes down the stretch, but so far so good. Gardenhire smartly pulled Nick Blackburn after 8.2 scoreless innings Saturday when he walked speedster Chone Figgins as the tying run in a 1-0 game, bringing in Fuentes to get the 27th out with left-handed slugger Russell Branyan at the plate.
Fuentes dispatched Branyan with ease and in doing so hinted that perhaps Matt Capps won't always get the call in the ninth inning when dangerous left-handed bats are due up. Fans and media instinctively balked at the notion of "closer by committee" when Joe Nathan went down, but if Fuentes isn't needed early in a game bringing him in for tough ninth-inning lefties makes sense. I'm skeptical after the Twins focused on Capps' closing experience to explain that deal.
October 15 is the deadline for the Angels to pick the player to be named later they receive for Fuentes, but all indications are that they're choosing from a list of fairly marginal prospects and some reports even suggest "cash" could be substituted for the player. I already liked the deal when I thought the PTBNL could end up being a mid-level prospect, so a low-level prospect or cash would make it even more of a no-brainer.
There seems to be a lot of confusion about Fuentes' contract status, so let's try to clear it up. He has a $9 million option for 2011 that vests with 55 games finished, but that's a moot point with just 34 so far. He'll be a free agent and get Type A or B status, so in theory the Twins can receive compensation when he leaves. However, that first requires offering Fuentes arbitration and since he could guarantee himself $10 million by simply accepting the Twins won't do it.
Fuentes is a six-week rental, and a good one.
• Luke French is the 47th left-handed starting pitcher the Twins have faced in 131 games this year, which means they've been matched up against a lefty 36 percent of the time compared to the league average of 29 percent. Jason Kubel started at designated hitter versus French and has started 34 of the 47 games against lefties despite hitting just .210/.306/.341 off them this season and .232/.312/.352 off them for his career.
Much like Jacque Jones before him, Kubel's career-long ineptitude versus lefties makes him an obvious platoon player who Gardenhire simply refuses to platoon. Even worse, Kubel was in the cleanup spot yesterday, which is the third time he's batted cleanup against a lefty. In fact, he's yet to hit in the bottom third of the lineup versus a lefty this season, batting nine times in the fifth spot and 22 times in the sixth spot along with the three cleanup starts.
And while he was at DH yesterday, Kubel has been in right field for 17 of the 34 starts versus lefties, which means in 13 percent of their total games the Twins have chosen to combine poor defense in right field with a .650 OPS from the middle of the lineup. Not having Justin Morneau since early July has made it impossible for Gardenhire to use his preferred lineups, but in half of Kubel's starts against lefties Morneau was also in the lineup. Platoon him, please.
• Every time the Twins make a change to the bullpen--and there's been no shortage of them recently--I get comments, e-mails, and tweets asking about Pat Neshek. Fans (and bloggers) love Neshek and want to see him succeed after Tommy John surgery, but because the Twins weren't pleased with how he handled his post-surgery finger injury he's become sort of the forgotten man at Triple-A (and is choosing to fly under the radar by not speaking to reporters).
He's pitched well since being sent to Triple-A in early June following a DL stint, going 4-1 with a 3.47 ERA, .263 opponents' batting average, and 24 strikeouts versus six non-intentional walks in 36.1 innings, but certainly hasn't been dominant or close to Rochester's best reliever. He's apparently no sure thing to get a September call-up and based on performance alone--rather than his history and presence on the 40-man roster--no one would be clamoring for Neshek.
• Wilson Ramos made his Nationals debut last week, but was only called up for a couple days with Wil Nieves away from the team. Ramos went hitless in his only game before being sent back to the minors, making him 1-for-22 since starting his career with seven hits in his first two games. He has hit .319/.347/.514 in 18 games at Triple-A since being swapped for Capps last month and will be back in Washington when rosters expand later this week.
• After basically taking two months off before signing for $1.3 million a week or so before the deadline, first-round pick Alex Wimmers has been assigned to high Single-A for his pro debut. He's pitched twice so far at Fort Myers, tossing 5.2 scoreless innings with an 8-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio and .105 opponents' batting average while on a strict pitch count. By assigning him directly to high Single-A the Twins have set him up to advance through the system quickly.
• Denard Span was caught trying to steal third base yesterday, so dating back to last season he now has 42 stolen bases while being thrown out or picked off 31 times. Yuck.
Alex Wimmers
Ron Gardenhire
Twins get Brian Fuentes from the Angels for a player to be named later
Earlier this week the Twins added Randy Flores, a 34-year-old southpaw reliever who's an iffy fit for the "left-handed specialist" role because he's a marginal big leaguer and not particularly effective against left-handed hitters. Friday evening they added another 34-year-old southpaw reliever by sending a player to be named later to the Angels for Brian Fuentes, but if anything the four-time All-Star and longtime closer is actually vastly overqualified for the same gig.
I'm not sure what the Twins ever saw in Flores, against whom left-handed hitters have batted .290 with a .470 slugging percentage in his last 120 innings, but there's no such mystery with Fuentes. He's no longer the elite reliever he was for the Rockies from 2002-2008, but with his funky sidearm delivery and fastball-slider combo Fuentes remains death to left-handed batters and is potentially still good enough versus righties to be significantly more than a specialist.
Fuentes is perhaps one of the most underrated relievers of this era, posting a 3.48 ERA in 515 career innings despite calling Coors Field home for most of that time. Among all active relievers with at least 500 lifetime appearances Fuentes' adjusted ERA+ of 137 ranks seventh, behind only Mariano Rivera, Billy Wagner, Francisco Rodriguez, Trevor Hoffman, Joe Nathan, and Francisco Cordero. He's no longer quite at that level, but he's a massive upgrade over Flores.
Fuentes has been nearly unhittable against left-handed batters this season, holding them to a .132 batting average and .158 slugging percentage in 44 plate appearances. You can blame the small sample size on opposing managers doing whatever they can to avoid letting lefties face Fuentes, and while no one is that good versus lefties over a larger sample during the past three years Fuentes also held them to a combined .213/.284/.276 line in 192 trips to the plate.
Fuentes was also very strong against right-handed hitters during that same three-year span, limiting them to a .224/.313/.349 mark that, for example, compares well to Matt Capps' career .260/.298/.396 line versus righties. This year Fuentes has allowed a .465 slugging percentage against righties due to five homers and nine doubles in 101 at-bats, but small-sample power numbers can be fluky and he's still held them to a .228 average and .328 on-base percentage.
Based on his 2007-2009 performance Fuentes is now the best reliever on the team. Based on his slightly less dominant performance this season Fuentes is now the best option on the team versus lefties and a capable option against righties. Assuming the player to be named later is no one special this is an ideal stretch-run pickup for the Twins, who add one of MLB's truly elite lefty-on-lefty relievers and someone capable of getting late-inning outs versus righties as well.
I'm hopeful that Ron Gardenhire recognizes Fuentes' strong track record against right-handed hitters and is willing to use him as more of a setup man than a pure lefty specialist, because Fuentes and the new-and-improved, slider-slinging Jesse Crain setting up Capps should be a very effective late-inning trio while leaving Matt Guerrier, Jon Rauch, and perhaps eventually Jose Mijares to work the middle innings. And if not, Fuentes can just shut down lefties.
Fuentes is in the second year of a two-year, $17.5 million deal and is owed $1.9 million for the rest of 2010. His contract also has a $9 million option for 2011 that vests if he has 55 games finished this year, but with just 33 so far it isn't an issue. PTBNLs always make me nervous, but as long as the prospect proves palatable this is a sound move and in fact adding a quality arm so cheaply makes me question trading Wilson Ramos for Capps even more than before.
Matt Capps
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Letting capitalism off the hook
Tags: capitalism, economy, Europe, GDP, inequality, left-wing, politics, profits, right-wing, United States, wages
The clear reemergence of and spreading interest in anti-establishment politics in the United States (together with the electoral success of left-wing and right-wing parties in a growing number of European nations) can be blamed squarely on capitalism.
As I see it, it’s the combination of the failures of capitalism and the unwillingness of the existing economic and political elites to effectively deal with those failures that explains the rejection of mainstream (center-right and center-left) candidates and policies and the turn to alternatives. The failures of capitalism go back some four decades—including stagnant wages, rising indebtedness, and growing inequality—and culminated in the crash of 2007-08—after which wages remained stagnant, people were not able to rid themselves of debt, and inequality continued to grow. What recovery there has been in recent years has mostly been captured by large corporations and wealthy individuals, while economic growth has remained slow. Meanwhile, economic elites have continued business as usual (moving production and jobs at will around the world, more interested in lowering costs, avoiding taxes, and inventing new labor-saving technologies than anything else) and political elites do everything they can to save large financial institutions and a business-friendly environment and imposing the costs—of the bailouts, the continued opening and expansion of markets, the refugees from war-torn zones, and much else—on the working and unemployed populations of their nations.
From this perspective, it’s no surprise that, in the United States, both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have attracted so much support—or, that, in Europe, both the Left (e.g., in Greece and Spain) and the Right (e.g., in Poland and Austria) are increasingly able to challenge mainstream parties.
To be clear, this is not to say that politics—political parties and movements, voter attitudes and behaviors, candidates and coalitions—are solely determined by the economy (or some subset of the economy, like class interests). There’s a great deal more that affects the rise and fall of political ideas and campaigns—from political practices and institutions through discourses and identities to media and communication technologies. Still, the failures of capitalism and the unwillingness of economic and political elites to solve or mitigate the effects of those failures to the benefit of the majority of the population have played a significant role in the current disenchantment with mainstream parties and the success of left-wing and right-wing alternatives in the United States and Europe.
But it is interesting that there appears to be a determined effort to absolve capitalism of any responsibility for these new political events. Both Greg Ip (writing for the Wall Street Journal) and Peter Eavis (for the New York Times) have attempted to argue that “it’s not the economy” that explains politics, but something else. And, if it’s something else, it can’t be the failures of capitalism that are to blame.
For both writers, “the economy” is economic growth, specifically growth in GDP. In Ip’s case, the difference between the 1960s (when social disarray and political dissension were accompanied by solid growth and “shared prosperity”) and now (when similar levels of voter discontent are occurring with slow growth and high levels of inequality) means we can’t make sense of electoral grievances in terms of economic discontent. For Eavis, most voters are currently “doing sort of O.K.” (with thousands of new jobs and a low unemployment rate). Therefore, he argues, this election can’t really be about the economy.
Desperate as they are to make such an argument, both Ip and Eavis miss two key issues. First, the economy is not just GDP growth. It’s also, at least for the majority of the population, about a great deal more: the tradeoff between wages and profits and the level of inequality, the ability of the government to capture portions of the surplus and to use it for social programs, the degree of security concerning jobs and the quality of the communities in which people live and work, and a great deal more. And second, capitalism doesn’t always exert its effects in the same way: in the 1960s, when both wages and profits were rising and the possibility of using part of the surplus to improve society (both for those who had prospered and those who had been excluded from that first. “Golden Age” decade of postwar growth), capitalist success created rising expectations (including the rethinking of aspects of capitalism that had previously been deemed successes); while now, in the midst of capitalism’s multiple, spectacular failures, the opposite is true (as people demand redress for their low-paying jobs, crumbling infrastructure, obscene levels of inequality, and the corruption of democratic politics by large corporations and wealthy individuals).
So, no, capitalism can’t be let off the hook. It creates and perpetuates the problems it claims to address. And even though economic and political elites want to believe otherwise, holding firm to the notion that people should be satisfied with current economic arrangements, recent developments in the United States and Europe suggest they’re not.
Not by a long shot.
John Allen says:
For long term survivability capitalism as practiced today MUST end, sooner than later. The economy based on endless growth and exploitation of resources is…wrong. It’s time for a completely new model if humans want to survive more than 2-3 centuries. Dismantle the military get to a sustainable resource based structure and reduce population by 70%. Anything less guarantees a slow demise toward oblivion. Times getting short and people with children need to take stock,(I have no children to worry about,but I do care about the planet and people), and decide what’s important to insure the future of your children. Capitalism based on murdering the Earth , and it’s inhabitants, certainly isn’t.
Rage against the machine | occasional links & commentary says:
[…] John Allen on Letting capitalism off the hook […]
Year in review | occasional links & commentary says:
[…] May—Letting capitalism off the hook […]
Rising stock prices and rising inequality
Protest of the day
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Falsely Claiming USA Citizenship and How This Affects Immigration
by Carolina Antonini | Nov 14, 2014 | Deportation Defense
There are many people who try to come to the United States every year for work and many who are already here, hoping to obtain full citizenship. Last year alone, 779,929 people were naturalized1 as US citizens. When working, citizens and non-citizens alike are required to fill out a Form I-9 to verify that they are legally able to work. What non-citizens may not realize, though, is that misrepresenting themselves on this form could cost them the ability to obtain status, permanent loss of status they may have, or the ability to become naturalized US citizens.
The relevant section of the law is Section 212(a(6)(C)(ii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This section says that: “Any alien who falsely represents, or has falsely represented, himself or herself to be a citizen of the United States for any purpose or benefit under this Act (including section 274A) or any other Federal or State law is inadmissible.” This statute has a very limited exception in the case where the alien’s parents are or were U.S. citizens, the alien lived in the United States before the age of 16, and there is a good faith belief (albeit incorrect) that the person is a citizen.
As of October 30 this year, the Board of Immigration Appeals has decided that the Form I-9 can be used in immigration proceedings to support the removal (deportation) of a noncitizen and to determine his or her eligibility for relief from deportation. This means that if you’ve lied about your citizenship status on this form, you could find yourself in a difficult situation, making any status difficult or impossible to obtain or resulting in removal from this country.
What Should I Know About Form I-9?
Here are some things to take note of in regards to the Form I-9 and your immigration status:
Filling Them Out: The Form I-9 is required to be filled out and signed by every employee, regardless of their immigration or citizenship status.
Removability/Deportation: When it comes to immigration proceedings, an I-9, Employee Eligibility Verification can now be used to support charges of deportation against a non-US citizen.
Keeping the Forms: All employers, in any sector, whether private, public or not for profit, are required to keep those forms.
Employer Requirements: Employers are required to provide them to the government, upon the government’s request, for inspection. Employers must keep I-9 forms while the employee is employed and for up to three years after the employee has left the job.
If You Falsely Claimed Citizen on Form I-9
There are still other limited forms of relief, most of a humanitarian nature (such as Cancellation of Removal, Asylum, victim related applications, applications by minors and others) where a false claim to citizenship may not result in a denial of status or a permanent bar. Anyone who has falsely declared to be a USA citizen in an I-9 Form (or in any other setting that may be considered a government purpose or benefit) must discuss their case with competent counsel to determine possible options, risks and consequences.
Let the Atlanta Immigration Attorneys at Antonini & Cohen Help You
The attorneys at Antonini & Cohen have vast experience in filing for all types of immigration benefits, including Cancellation of Removal, Deferred Action, and stays of removal. We will be happy to meet with you to analyze your particular circumstances and discuss the best possible avenue(s) for remaining lawfully in the US. Call us today at 404.850.9394 or complete a contact form.
1https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/ois_natz_fr_2013.pdf
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The View from a High Horse: The Harris/Peterson Debates
byBoje Høyland Ellingsæter
There is an odd tendency within some philosophical communities to look down on public discourse, as though we were mid-twentieth-century Frenchmen. For years, philosophers have sat in their offices and lunch rooms, slightly frustrated by the banalities and obvious untruths which permeate public discourse. And yet, whenever public discourse threatens to turn interesting, philosophers are nowhere to be found. Why?
I’m betting it’s lack of curiosity more than anything. Why pay attention to the fact that Sam Harris, Douglas Murray, and Jordan Peterson can pack 8, 000 people into a room just to hear a discussion about the central topics of life—and therefore of philosophy? After all, we philosophers have these conversations every day, so what are the odds that they are conducting them better than we do?
But it’s sad that, when the public starts actually caring about philosophy, as it seems to do every five years or so, we philosophers should respond with silence. Granted, quite a few philosophers took an active part in the last grand conversation: namely, the feud between religion and atheism and the discussion of humanism—a discussion that owes a great debt to the philosophers A. C. Grayling, Daniel Dennett, and others.
The current conversation, which Harris, Murray, and Peterson are conducting at their large-scale events, can be viewed as an extension of the last quarrel between atheists and the religious, and represents a reaction that some of us suspected was sure to follow, sooner or later.
Harris and Peterson have been holding a series of public conversations, in which they debate what it is to be, in David Foster Wallace’s phrase, “a fucking human being.”
One of their themes is Peterson’s contention that there is normativity built into experience. Harris, a utilitarian, argues that the way to know what to do is to gather all the facts, and deliberate on which action would produce the best outcome. Peterson feels that this misses something important: that, when we step back from a situation, we are unable to discern the normativity that is only detectable when we are fully engaged with the world.
This conversation has had a significant recent history. In this article, I’ll explain some aspects of the wider debate that Peterson and Harris’s conversations have thus far failed to acknowledge. I’ll situate their debate within three well-known philosophical traditions, without attempting to provide a definitive solution. Peterson is right that there is something off about Harris’s cold, instrumental view of reason. However, Peterson is wrong about precisely what is off—advocating a pseudo-religious view, when better theories are available.
Let’s start with rationality. The debates are a more watchable version of what has come to be called the Dreyfus/McDowell debate. Hubert Dreyfus fired the first shot in 2007, in what was later published as “The Return of the Myth of the Mental.” Dreyfus argues that, when we are acting well, we are in a state of coping or flow, and reason is not present. There is no “I,” no reflection, no conceptual content in the experience when an expert workman carries out his work, or an athlete excels at her sport. Dreyfus uses the analogy of an airplane guided by a beam, whose noise signal intensifies as the plane approaches its limits: we only notice things when they go awry. When we are acting well, and all is going well, there is no experience of being on the beam. We only experience the beam when we deviate from it. On the beam, there is only silence and contentment.
This argument has become more sophisticated over the years. Dreyfus later defends it in his 2011 book All Things Shining, co-authored with Sean Kelly. The authors argue, much as Peterson seems to, that the world we inhabit does not consist entirely of facts—i.e. neutral, descriptive inputs, which we use to deliberate on what we ought to do. In fact, the world consists of solicitations. It calls out to us. It is never merely neutral. But, when we are successfully engaged with the world, we are so absorbed in it that responding to solicitations (or calls) is perceived as simply being in the world. In this sense, we perceive normatively. The football player just reacts to the world, moving to where the ball tells him to be. Judgments about what is to be done or what to aim for are built into non-conceptual perception.
The hero of Dreyfus and Kelly’s book is Ishmael, as in “Call me Ishmael.” Ishmael, as portrayed by Herman Melville in Moby Dick, is a synthesis between Captain Ahab, the man who wants to find out the Truth (with a capital T) about the world, and Pip, the little sailor, who is lost at sea and almost drowns in relativism. Alone at sea, Pip becomes no one and loses his ability to discern truth and falsehood. For Pip, there are only different points of view. So he goes mad.
Ishmael, the synthesis of the two men, knows who he is and has the ability to stand for something—unlike Pip—but he resists Ahab’s lunacy by acknowledging the deeply personal aspect of his own convictions. It is not that there is no such thing as truth, but Ishmael approaches it carefully, willing to experience other ways of being in the world (by taking part in pagan rituals, for example). As they say, his mind is open, but not so open that his brain has fallen out.
John McDowell first fired back at Dreyfus shortly after Dreyfus’s initial speech on the topic. An extensive back-and-forth ensued, after which McDowell explained that his view that our world is permeated with rationality does not mean—contra Dreyfus’s representation of his view—that being rational implies keeping a constant distance from the world.
This was a very important point in the whole debate, and I think it captures Peterson’s concerns about Harris’s insistence on establishing the facts of the matter, as a detached exercise. Peterson seems to agree with Dreyfus’s view of meaning. Experiencing the world in a meaningful way is not a merely subjective matter, as in Pip’s outlook, but nor is it a matter of simply discovering the facts of the matter. This is why Peterson argues that there is a gap between “is” and “ought.”
Let me give an example of why this matters. In Michel Houellebecq’s wonderful novel Submission, we meet what I call a “reflective nihilist” called François. I call him a reflective nihilist because he experiences the world, in the first instance, as mattering. He too is solicited by the world, and experiences it in a deeply valenced way (it often carries a negative valence). When he begins to reflect, however, all the world’s values and calls quickly dissolve, leaving him perpetually unfulfilled. In a crucial passage of the book, François is sitting in front of the Black Madonna of Rocamadour. He perceives the statue coming to life, rising from her seat cradling the baby Jesus, calling out to François, and inviting him into her arms. “Or,” he says finally, “maybe I was just hungry.”
This approach to life worries people like Dreyfus and Peterson. They argue that discovering what to care about is not a matter of coldly evaluating facts and arguments. In a fantastic review of Derek Parfit’s On What Matters (2011), Roger Scruton notes that the almost superhumanly analytical philosopher ironically fails to mention any of the things that actually matter to us, such as art, stories, and community. A lot is riding on this question. For, if Harris’s approach of talking only about well being (in a fairly open sense) which is, in principle, reducible to brain states, cannot capture what we care about—if it is the equivalent of reducing a mystical experience to hunger—it probably has no persuasive value.
But I don’t think that’s the right way of reading Harris. What McDowell attempts to make clear is that when we say the world is permeated with rationality, we do not mean that we are always instrumentally rational. That is, we are not constantly creating and following syllogisms, say, or calculating the probability of whatever fact we encounter being true. What we mean is that all our experiences, every aspect of what it is like to be beings like us, is available to reason. We may also mean that, although we don’t think that we follow explicit rules when we act, when we encounter a wrongful action, we are ripped out of our trance, and left scrutinizing what went wrong.
Harris’s insistence that facts matter is no more than this, at least initially: even the most transcendent experience is in principle available to scrutiny. This need not take anything away from the experience, as long as the scrutiny is unconstrained by bogus descriptions of how the world works. It is entirely legitimate to describe an instrument or some other object as calling out to us, demanding to be used. In Coming Up For Air, Orwell’s protagonist reminisces about seeing fishing tackle as a child and captures the difficulty of grasping the experience fully rationally:
Is it any use talking about it, I wonder—the sort of fairy light that fish and fishing tackle have in a kid’s eyes? Some kids feel the same about guns and shooting, some feel it about motorbikes or aeroplanes or horses. It’s not a thing that you can explain or rationalise, it’s merely magic.
What does it mean to say that it is “merely magic”? This is where Harris goes too far for some—including Peterson and Dreyfus. If Harris were to argue that the facts of the matter—the neurophysiology of the child, or the series of causes that made him interested in fishing—are in principle available to us, someone like Peterson would say that Harris has completely missed the point because those are not the facts that matter. While I do not think that phrases like “metaphorical truths” are helpful, there is a practical difference between this absorption in the world and the availability of merely descriptive facts. The detached, calculating view of reason, often called “instrumental reason,” doesn’t capture how we experience the value of something. This is Peterson’s argument. If we ignore the experienced normative force of the world, which requires that we always maintain a distance from the world, we risk becoming like Houellebecq’s reflective nihilist.
The problem with Peterson’s strategy of grounding meaning in the Judeo-Christian tradition, however, is twofold. One concern is voiced by Harris himself, who is quick to remark that this strategy emboldens religious fundamentalists. To argue that we ought to find meaning in the dogmas we have worked hard to dispense with since the Enlightenment is to go too far the other way, unnecessarily abolishing reason. Even if the language of instrumental reason might not capture everything that matters to us, we should not take the view that meaning requires irrationality.
The other, related, concern is addressed by Dreyfus and Kelly. The monotheism exemplified in the character of Ahab—he who seeks the one Truth—is unlivable. Like instrumental reason, it closes the door to many experiences that might otherwise disclose themselves as meaningful. Instead, Dreyfus and Kelly advocate a return to polytheism in the Homeric sense: an openness to all the various moods (Stimmungen in German) that might “woosh us up.” It is in these various moods—exhilaration at a Martin Luther King rally; rising up along with the other spectators at a baseball game; a loving relationship with one’s wife, etc.—that the world presents itself as meaningful, they argue.
The problem with this view—which Dreyfus and Kelly attempt to solve without only partial success—is that we might also be “wooshed up,” or dragged along, by all sorts of harmful experiences. That problem can only be solved by reason, by being able to step back and evaluate the actions the world has presented to us.
Harris and Peterson have therefore hit on a serious tension. The failure to reach a sustainable equilibrium between reason and meaningful experiences is caused by the language of instrumental reason. To shy away from the “fairy light” described by Orwell, to find what is good only when we step back from a situation and evaluate the descriptive facts of the matter, is to leave out something crucial. Reason is the most important recourse we have when things go wrong, but characterizing it only as calculating and instrumental plays into the hands of those who argue that some things are beyond the domain of reason. This could bring about a return to dogma, to an irrational hunt for a whale that cannot be slain. So what role ought reason to play in deciding what is worth aiming for?
What to Aim For
The idea that reason cannot tell us what to aim for surely springs from the instrumental view of reason. Existential angst—being directionless—is not an entirely modern phenomenon. As the author of Ecclesiastes famously points out, nothing is new under the sun. Moby Dick tells us to “lower the conceit of attainable felicity” and attempt to find what is good and worthwhile in our everyday lives, instead of pursuing some phallic whale. Humans have long struggled with the absence of a single grand, clearly discernible dream to drive us. And yet, there is something modern in the way in which this aimlessness currently manifests itself. How can reason help us decide what to aim for?
In his modern classic After Virtue (1981), Alasdair MacIntyre has suggested an answer. MacIntyre is skeptical about the idea of a pure reason that unites all human beings, but he points to some things that we might all have in common. Essentially, writers like MacIntyre attempt to capture what it is we are doing when we act. In MacIntyre’s view, we don’t act as nobody: we always act as someone within a given community, and this frames reason within a specific context. This might seem to make the question of what to aim for relative. However, the mere fact that we always act within a community, practice, and tradition requires us to develop certain virtues.
Perhaps the most striking difference between modern, trivial conceptions of what to aim for and those that served our ancestors so well, is that our current goals all seem to be finite. We want a job, maybe a new iPhone, maybe even a wife, if we can be bothered to actually talk to someone we met on Tinder. Maybe that description is a little too bleak, but the point is that most of our goals are finite. We have no on-going, perpetual, continuous aim. The religious are perpetually striving, however, for heaven or some form of salvation. The good life, the one that sustains us, seems to involve not just episodic attempts at achieving something, but being able to perpetually strive for something.
This is the need that MacIntyre has identified. He notes that we cannot view ourselves in this episodic way. Instead, he argues, we are “narrative beings.” We need a coherent narrative, of which the episodes form part, and which can make sense of the individual episodes as parts of a greater whole. Living a complete life, consisting of a variety of activities and interactions which can be identified as parts of a greater story, requires us to develop what he calls the “cardinal virtues.”
Virtues, in Aristotle’s view, are not means to an end. You don’t just need to be brave enough to bring about some result, after which your bravery is no longer required. The virtues of a life are what sustains that way of life. Some specific virtues might be associated with teachers, some with builders. But the cardinal virtues are those needed to sustain anyone’s life. They enable us to better ourselves, engage in activities and understand who we are. In a way, developing these virtues is what bettering ourselves means, as generic people at least. The virtues of honesty, courage, and justice in the sense of non-arbitrariness sustain our lives and we should continually aim to develop them.
But try telling that to the Houellebecqian character who refuses to engage meaningfully with the world. The real difficulty of our age is how to discover the depth of these and other virtues, and see whether they have been developed profoundly enough. There are a whole host of things we can care about, so the development of these virtues alone might not seem to encompass all we mean when we describe a life as meaningful. A subjective part of meaning—something which justifies the claims normativity makes on us, thereby successfully grounding our aims and desires—seems to be missing here.
A third conversation within the philosophical community might be of some help. This debate emerged as an almost explicit attack on utilitarianism, the consequentialist ethic which Harris endorses. Reason plays a role in the perpetual striving described by MacIntyre and others. The cardinal virtues are not means to an end, and identifying and developing them is therefore not a matter of cold calculation. They are, however, subject to scrutiny—and for that we need reason. And, although MacIntyre himself is a Catholic, the kind of engaged rationality that detects beauty, love, and justice is also able to detect nonsense. It is all matter of unpacking concepts and figuring out how to sustain a life. No coldness, idiocy, or superstition is necessary.
Utilitarianism and Meaning
Christine Korsgaard has noted that “we seem to succeed in disproving one utilitarian doctrine, only to find ourselves caught in the grip of another.” She attributes this problem, in part, to our failing to grapple with the fundamental precept of utilitarianism, accepted by all three utilitarian high priests, Jeremy Bentham, J. S. Mill, and Henry Sidgwick: that the function of action is production. The question of what a good action is, therefore, is a question of what is to be produced and how to produce it most efficiently.
Utilitarianism, as Bernard Williams has noted, fails to capture what it is like to be an agent acting in the world. In a thought experiment sometimes called the “one thought too many” argument, Williams asks us to imagine ourselves standing near a pond. Two people are drowning: your wife [or husband] and a stranger, and you have to choose whom to save. Most people acknowledge that it is acceptable to choose your wife, but the kicker of the argument is that we may even be wrong to reflect on whether or not to do so. Indeed, there is something deeply wrong with having to take time to reflect on whether or not to save your wife. If your moral system demands that you respond coldly to the world, it fails to capture what it is to be an agent, and act in a meaningful way, as you do when you are directly motivated by love for your wife, or, indeed, by Orwell’s “fairy light.”
Peterson seems to be on to this. He appears to get flustered when Harris describes ethics as merely knowing all the facts and acting on them in the right way. That is too cold a conception of what it means to act well in the world.
But, of course, such a conception would be justified if the function of action were production. Then ethicists would essentially be happiness economists, attempting to understand how to best bring about a desired state of affairs. The instrumental view of reason would then be all that matters.
Korsgaard’s argument against this position is that, when we act, we are not merely producing. We are also obligating each another. To perform an action is to declare that action worth undertaking and suggest that it should be respected by others. To act, then, is to place yourself in a certain relation to others and to yourself:
Ask yourself, what is a reason? It is not just a consideration on which you in fact act, but one on which you are supposed to act; it is not just a motive, but rather a normative claim, exerting authority over other people and yourself at other times. To say that you have a reason is to say something relational, something which implies the existence of another self. It announces that you have a claim on that other, or acknowledges her claim on you. For normative claims are not the claims of a metaphysical world of values upon us: they are claims we make on ourselves and each other. It is both the essence of consequentialism and the trouble with it that it treats The Good, rather than people, as the source of normative claims.
Acknowledging the claims we make on others, and the claims they make on us, opens up the possibility of a meaningful world. A reason can be my reason because I stand in some mutually normative relation to another specific person. I may be a son, a friend, a husband, etc. These identities are ways of describing which people have normative claims on me, and what those claims are. I am not merely a generic anyone when I try to act morally. I am someone. And being someone gives us something to perpetually aim for in life, something deeply personal, and therefore meaningful. I ought not merely to be a friend, but to be a good friend. By acting, I am also placing myself in a certain relation to myself, which renders the virtue MacIntyre refers to essential. I obligate myself to be a good person, a person who leads a complete, coherent life. As Korsgaard comments, what we are trying to do is be a certain kind of person, and he who is good at being that kind of person is a good person.
None of this is non-rational or irrational. Harris fails to acknowledge the deeply personal, engaged aspects of reason, what is sometimes called the “embodied” view of reason. Peterson fails to identify this problem, opting instead for a vague, pseudo-religious form of meaning that dispenses with reason in certain contexts. However, I am very glad to live in an age in which such questions attract so many people to attend debates. So I choose to deceive myself into thinking that it is the themes under debate, rather than Peterson’s and Harris’s wonderful performances, that attract these audiences.
Boje Høyland Ellingsæter
Boje Høyland Ellingsæter is a Norwegian philosopher educated at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. His professional life centers around educating young people about cultural and philosophical matters often in association with the Norwegian Humanist Association. Boje's main interests are ethics, the philosophy of action and political philosophy.
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David Kemball-Cook says:
This is a very interesting mind-stretching article. So, yes, we may seek some kind of synthesis of the ‘rational utilitarian’ and the ‘irrational religiously prescribed’ groundings of morals and motives. I get that. But is there still not something objective behind it all? Why are courage, honour, service etc components of virtue, as opposed to cowardice, lying, selfishness? What makes the former set ‘better’ and the latter set ‘worse’?
Only here and Quillette have I seen comment sections offer engaging value to an article.
Guthie Finknottle says:
Peter Singer and other animal rights thinkers impress me as being more interesting to think about than Harris or Peterson. FFS most animals other than humans probably try to avoid the same worst-case type suffering and demise that naval-gazing, internet-users try to….
Observing humanist says:
Like a lot of other modern-day philosophical thinkers, they burst onto the scene gain a following, release a book or two then fall back to an intellectual plateau on which they live until retirement. Few really leave much of an impact beyond their initial years on the scene, other than with their more ardent followers.
Andrew Mcguiness says:
I liked this essay and found it insightful – although the reference to a ‘phallic whale’ made me think of an old joke:
what’s big and white and drags across the bottom of the ocean?
Not a Bot says:
Andrew, your ocean joke reminded me of a Redd Foxx joke: “Why does the ocean roar? If you had those many crabs on your bottom you would too!”
However, I wonder what you found most insightful about the article since it seemed to best be described in Tfrench’s commentary.
Sam Harris is a cut above and the article did not give him due credit for his steady conscientious, humanitarian realistic approach to matters.
Jordan Peterson’s advice is so guru-like and found in self-improvement book archives which only last like a fevered one-night stand. These types of gurus impart nothing new—they just give something old a new spin.
Unfortunately, like the placebo effect, Peterson’s way of preaching and fervent lecturing which seems to give a new spin on something old eventually fails. Why? Because life is hard. No matter what skin color, culture, education level, etc., life challenges us all in such a way we never seem to learn from happiness but by failure.
Anger is the catalyst which makes us change. We get fed up with ourselves and lo and behold there’s always some kind of guru out in the world whose advice fits our wretchedness for the moment. They know this and make great profit from your gullibility.
Anger is the wind to the sails to get moving to a different direction. The more anger the more resolve to change for the better in a way that lasts. Good luck trying to find some religious or spiritualist who gives anger any positive credit but they’ll be very happy to bank money you give them because they’re intelligent enough to know, based on their education or keen interest in what makes people tick, that at some point we get mad at the seeming rut we’re in and become open for advice.
Peterson isn’t a bad guy but he isn’t preaching or lecturing on anything new that centuries old pseudoscience geomancy or feng shui hasn’t promoted to start achieving a balance in life: Clean your room.
While it’s good to keep a clean, orderly environment, in no way can it stop the challenges life is indifferent to send your way.
Sam Harris promotes meditation and offers a try at it on his podcast Waking Up. I listened to his instructional foray into mental relaxation and found it very calming. Stress is known as the number one cause and start of most illness. Meditation and massage research backs up the temporary soothing of these practices. Choose either one to do—preferably after physically cleaning your room haha!—and then “clean your room” by meditation or massage to promote good health.
Not a bot. You’re description of Peterson is very well put and apt, particularly you’re point about money.
I’d also add that such guru’s are also prone to obfuscation and redefining of words and concepts to meet their needs. Peterson’s debate with Matt Dillahunty is a good example of this, and the reason I no longer take Peterson seriously.
I don’t know. What is big and white and drags across the bottom of the ocean?
Tfrench says:
The author oversimplifies the ideas of Sam Harris, who has used a utilitarian framework, not as a prescriptive way to box in our experience (subjective and objective) but to provide some common ground to speak about moral values and actions as standing apart from the need for any supernatural authority. We don’t need God or any of the rituals that might be comforting to some to live a moral life. Now that I have put out this rather simple premise, I must say that this read like some kind of epistemological hair-splitting that could perhaps allow a few PhD philosophers to feel comforted but that is essentially useless in any practical sense. Also, he references several works, such as Dreyfuss’ “All Things Shining” as examples of how we should approach moral reasoning, irrespective of the total dismissal of this work by any serious critic. I think the subject of phenomenology is important: how we conduct ourselves as rational and emotional beings. But I don’t see how his Harris/Peterson dichotomy moves us forward at all. Of course not all of our experience is rational and utilitarian in the ways described by Jeremy Bentham and others. But this can be much more simply characterized as subjectivity, which is not rational. We can use reason to make sense of the world while still having feelings that seem difficult to explain. I am not sure why the author finds reason to dissect this at such length, to very little effect
Chuck Sullivan says:
The idea that we may stand in particular normative relations to others (parent to child, friend to friend, promiser to promisee, etc) reminds me of the views of W.D. Ross in “What Makes Right Acts Right.”
Thank you for this. It was helpful to me. It’s good that Harris and Peterson are demonstrating a public hunger for reasonable and nuanced discussion of first principles. It’s much needed.
I have not studied ethics or philosophy in detail, so please forgive me if this is a naive comment: I consider ethics and meaning to be external, but created by individual choices. When Peterson talks of meta-narratives, he’s speaking of the gathered and distilled wisdom of generations past, that both informs our current ideals but also are shaped by modern insights. We apply our limited human reason to those principles both before and after our choices, prescriptively and judgmentally. This drives the individual and collective development of ethics forward. Thus slavery is abolished and women get the vote. Like God, it’s difficult to prove an ultimate, exterior Good. Our best representation of it is as limited as our representations of subatomic particles or understanding of the brain, but we get better through the Eons, and may all just be a useful model. We need Reason to examine that gathered wisdom and improve upon it, but we need those stories and principles to guide us when we don’t have time to muddle through all the details.
In this sense, Peterson is correct that we abandon traditional narrative wisdom at our peril, but Harris is also correct that we must apply reason (and science) to move our understanding forward. Is a synthesis of these ideas possible? In my view, Kant’s categorial imperative isn’t a prescriptive rule, but a creative act. Each person’s choices are a spark in a vast neural network of humanity, pushing the human cosmopolis towards a better cultural conception of “The Good”. Our personal responsibility, through space and time, is to, by our own choices, move that understanding forward towards a Good that is both utilitarian and virtuous.
I save my wife, not the stranger, because I want to live in a world that doesn’t just value human life equally in the moment, but also values personal relationships over time.
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Tag: historic home tours Louisiana
Louisiana’s Top 5 Historic Homes Tours
Beignets, alligators, the French Quarter, and historic homes: these are typically what you’ll find at the top of most visitors’ Louisiana itineraries. Even if you only have a few days to explore New Orleans and beyond, the chances that you’ll end up at a plantation are pretty high. Many of the state’s amazing antebellum homes and plantation mansions remain intact, and are meticulously maintained and furnished with beautiful period pieces. These classic homes and gardens are located all over the state, with large concentrations along the Great River Road, across south and central Louisiana, and in “Plantation Country” between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Others are located in West Feliciana Parish around the St. Francisville area, and along Bayou Teche near New Iberia. But with all of the options–and the history, both good and bad–which of the state’s many sprawling properties should you visit? This list contains the 5 best plantations in Louisiana. Make the most of your time along the River Road and beyond as you learn about Southern history at these properties.
Why are these the best plantations in Louisiana?
Before we delve into the specifics of the list, it’s worth asking why we should focus on antebellum Southern history in the first place. After all, it’s been over 150 years since the heyday of the Southern plantations–and they’re still some of the most popular sites to visit below the Mason-Dixon line. Why? Maybe it’s because they’re the closest thing we’ve got to the castles of Europe. Maybe it’s because we want to remember the history of slavery so we never repeat it again. Maybe it’s because we’re still amazed that people could have that much money to own such massive parcels of land. No matter the reason, plantations are big business in the South. The history that can be found on these plots–from the oral traditions and basketry skills of the slaves to the political machinations of the plantation owners, is amazing.
So, for each of these plantations, it is important to look at how many different stories were told at the properties:
– Was the narrative just of the typical wealthy white male owner, or were there stories of the enslaved people and the white women who lived there as well?
– Was there a balance in narrative between the antebellum period, the Reconstruction, and modern restoration?
– Was there a focus on history as well as architecture?
– And, was there something specific about this property that made it stand out from the others?
Not only are these properties well kept and beautiful, but they do an excellent job of telling more than 300 years of history alongside the modern day interpretation of what a historic property such as these should be and do.
1) Houmas House
At its peak in the late 1800s, Houmas House produced over 20 million pounds of sugar a year. Only a few decades later, the Great Depression hit and caused the family who owned it to board the place up. A new owner took over in 1940, and over renovations inside and out, he opened the house and grounds to the public in the early 1960s. The most recent owner, Kevin Kelly, bought the property in 2003 and has expanded the plantation’s offerings to include a massive garden, restaurant, and inn.
2) Laura Plantation
Built in 1805, this Creole plantation is only one of fifteen in existence with this particular building style. This plantation was particularly interesting since it is 1) named after a woman, Laura Locoul Gore, and 2) was run by that same woman during its heyday. Most of what is known about the plantation comes from Laura’s journals. It is rare to come across a plantation that focuses so completely on a female owner and operator, and thus, Laura Plantation is an excellent foil to the narratives that you’ll see at many other Southern plantations. The Brer Rabbit folktales were collected by Norman Marmillion, a preservationist who saw the value in recording the oral tales brought to America from Senegal by the slaves. During his time finding and recording these stories, Marmillion spent a significant time at Laura Plantation, and, because of this, the plantation is considered to be one of the birthplaces of the Brer Rabbit tales. Additionally, the tour at Laura Plantation includes a walk through of one of the slave homes, and it is heartbreaking to see how little they were given in order to eke out a life.
3) Rosedown Plantation
From a purely architectural view, this plantation house is stunning, and it’s clear why it makes the list of best plantations in Louisiana. It’s all white clapboard and hand carved spindles and huge porches. Agriculturally, this property is also unusual. Unlike the other plantations on this list, Rosedown’s crop of choice was cotton. The original owners’ descendants decided to sell the entire property in the mid-1900s, and an avid gardener named Catherine Fondren Underwood bought it. Underwood revitalized the gardens to their former beauty using heirloom seeds and cuttings. Today, the property is preserved in a state park. Strangely, Rosedown has built in closets, something that was nearly unheard of during the early 1900s. Most people kept their clothes in wardrobes or trunks.
4) Oak Alley Plantation
One of the most iconic of the historic mansions along the River Road, Oak Alley continually tops lists of the best plantations in Louisiana–and for good reason. Also a sugar plantation on River Road, Oak Alley fell into disrepair after the Civil War and passed through many hands before Andrew and Josephine Stewart bought it in 1926. Because of their restoration efforts (the first of the major restoration projects in this area), the plantation remains in the excellent condition that it is today. After Josephine died, the entire plantation went into a trust so that the property would remain open to visitors.
As a pop culture aside, there have been SO many things filmed at Oak Alley, the most well-known of which is a portion of Interview with a Vampire. More recently, Beyonce chose this plantation to shoot both her “Deja Vue” video and photo inserts for the “B’day” album.
5) Myrtles Plantation
One of the Myrtles’ main advertising tactics is to focus on the supposed hauntings. Dating from the late 1700s, Myrtles was built by “Whisky Dave”–and you know the place is exciting just because of that guy’s name. In the mid-1800s, the house exchanged hands; these new owners put in specially etched glass with crosses in it in order to ward off the evil that was in the house. Most recently, the ghost of Chloe, a former house servant, has taken center stage with her appearance in a 1992 photograph. For those brave enough, the Myrtles Plantation also serves as bed and breakfast.
When is the Best Time of Year to Take a Plantation Tour?
It really depends on what you mean by “best”, but we’ll break it down by best weather, best prices, and least crowds. In terms of weather, you’ll find relatively warm and mild weather most of the year in Louisiana. You’ll get the best weather between the months of November and May, expect it to be warm but not too humid. June to the end of November is hurricane season, so expect rain and possible storms and rain is also common in the spring. Mosquitoes can exist in Louisiana all year, but are worse during the summer months and are generally fairly active from about March to October.
The most crowded times are around the New Orleans festivals and events, so avoid them if you are looking for smaller crowds and better hotel prices. The biggest events are the Sugar Bowl (early January), Mardi Gras (February/early March), French Quarter Fest (April), Jazz Fest (April/May), and Halloween. The months of July, August, and December tend to be the least crowded but July and August are the most humid and hot. July and August also tend to be when hotels offer their cheapest rates.
Those looking for a good balance might consider December, May, or June. During the month of December, many plantations are decorated for the Christmas holiday season.
For more info about the best Louisiana Plantation tours, click here. For more Louisiana travel tips and info, click here.
Posted on November 28, 2018 November 29, 2018 Author Emily GautreauxCategories UncategorizedTags Arlen Benny Cenac Jr., Benny Cenac Louisiana, famous historic homes, famous historic homes in Louisiana, historic home tours Louisiana, historic homes, Louisiana historic home tours, Louisiana historic homes, Louisiana’s Top 5 Historic Home Tours
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TOMMY JAMES’ SHOCKING NEW BOOK! “ME,THE MOB, AND THE MUSIC”
L to R- Manager Lenny Stogel, Tommy James, and Morris Levy
When I heard Tommy had written a book, “Me, the Mob, and the Music”, I wanted to read it and interview him before he was forced to hide out or go into the Witness Protection program. I wanted to know more about his music and the stories behind the songs. I also wanted to hear how he finally won his battle with drug addiction.
Of course, I wondered what he would say about Morris Levy. A man who up until now has only been whispered about …usually by people who really didn’t know him. After reading “ME, THE MOB AND THE MUSIC”…”All I can say is WOW!!!
When Tommy James and the Shondells released “Hanky Panky” in 1964, Tommy was still going to High School. He heard a local band, The Spinners (no relation to hit band), play the song at a local bar to an enthusiastic response from the crowd. The next day Tommy checked the record guide at the Spin-It record shop, where he worked, and found it listed as the B-side to a 1963 Raindrops single, “That Boy John.” by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. Tommy and his group recorded it, put it out, and it bombed!
Two years later a local Pittsburgh deejay started spinning it at record hops, which prompted radio airplay and a bootleg, which sold 80,000 records!
That’s when Tommy took “Hanky Panky” to New York to show it to all the major labels, who loved and wanted to release it. Although Roulette Records, a company known more for their forty fives than for their singles, was at the bottom of the list, they got the master. It seems Roulette’s owner, the infamous but charming, Morris Levy, called each record company head, and told them, “It’s my fuckin’ record…back off!”
Although I thought “Hanky Panky” was good, I never would have guessed that it was just first of an incredible string of hits that would eventually give Tommy James and the Shondells combined sales of over a 100 million records!
I became friendly with Tommy in 1968, when Morris Levy gave me and my partner Kelli Ross our own label, ‘Tomorrow’s Productions”, distributed by Roulette and sent me on a tour promoting my album as “Shadow” Mann with Tommy, at the Height of his popularity (“Crimson and Clover”, “Crystal Blue Persuasion”, “Mirage”) .
L to R- Shadow Mann, Ron Haffkine, Kelli Ross, and Morris Levy Photo by Stephen Paley
“Although I was apprehensive about having a label with Morris and being an artist for the notorious Roulette records as “Shadow” Mann, I felt somewhat safe because my silent partner in my publishing company was Irving Green (who owned Mercury and Smash Records), who was not only my partner Kelli Ross’ father, but also Morris Levy’s best friend.
It was during this time that Morris sent me and my protege Sissy Spacek a/k/a “Rainbo”) who was promoting her single, “John, You Went Too Far This Time” (a comment on the John and Yoko naked album cover) to Cleveland to do the “Upbeat” TV show. We all hung out and had a great time until Tommy made us miss our flight back to New York, because he had to go back to his hotel where he had forgotten his stash of hundreds of diet pills.
I always considered Tommy James and his records to be ahead of their time, but I wonder how many people know that he was a major creative influence on the Beatles. How many people are aware that George Harrison even wrote a few songs for him (which were eventually passed on because they too much in the vein of “Mony, Mony”).
Now I had a chance not only to see how the infamous but charming, Morris Levy and Roulette promoted records, but also how Tommy James made them! One day I was up at the label walking past Morris’ office and I heard some great music coming out. I couldn’t help but stop and put my ear a little closer to the door. SUDDENLY…the door swings open and I’m a bit scared to see a startled, serious looking Morris less than a foot away from me!
Then a smile sweeps across his face as he grabs my arm and says, “Shadow…I want you to meet somebody.” Then he introduces me to Tommy James, who brought by a test pressing of his next single, “Crimson and Clover”. From the beginning it sounds like a hit, but when it reaches the end and goes into an electronic chant “Crimson and Clover…over and over”, it sounds like a classic!
(Here’s the original clip of “CRIMSON AND CLOVER” 1969) http://www.faniq.com/video/Tommy-James–the-Shondells-Crimson-in-Clover-YouTube-38590
When my pals at Spectropop and Forgotten Hits, the ‘60s and ‘70s music forums, heard I was interviewing Tommy they submitted six pages of questions. Two of those pages were filled with questions that basically asked, “How did you get that sound on “Crimson and Clover”?
Tommy said, “We had done the record with tremolo on the guitar. It’s just a built-in sound on guitar amplifiers. When I played the guitar, we recorded it with tremolo pretty much in synch with the music. In other words, we tried to make it so that it was vibrating at the same speed that the drums were playing. So we made the whole record that way. And then at the end, it was like one of those whimsical ideas, we said, “Why don’t we put it on the voice?” So that’s what we did, we ran the vocal mike through an Ampeg guitar amp, turned on the tremolo and miked it, and ran it back through the board. It was just that simple. What was so amazing, back then, if you wanted to make a sound wiggle, you had to basically do it yourself. There was no button you could push on a synthesizer, you basically had to build the circuits yourself and everything else. So that’s what we did, we just ran the vocal mike through the guitar amp, and then miked the amp and ran it back through the board.”
“Crimson and Clover” was not only a major point in their career turning them overnight from AM singles artists into FM album artists; it was also the first of the hits that Tommy James and the Shondells created themselves. After working with producers Ritchie Cordell and Bo Gentry on his earlier records, “I Think We’re Alone Now”, and “Mony, Mony”. ” Tommy says, “Those guys were the best and we learned a lot about producing and getting new sounds from them!”
I then I told him that Forgotten Hit’s Kent Kotal, wanted to know if there are any stories about “Crystal Blue Persuasion”. Tommy said, “That’s from the Crimson and Cover” album. At that point we had drastically changed our style. It was a difficult record to make. We completely over produced it, so gradually we started pulling instruments out, guitars, congas, percussion, etc. until it became as you know it.”
Artie – “So basically you let it breathe”
Tommy – “Yeah, we let it breathe…and it came to life!”
Artie- “There has been a lot of speculation about the meaning of “Crystal Blue Persuasion”. I always thought you were writing about Crystal Meth.”
Tommy – (smiles) “No. It’s about my conversion to Christianity…just listen to the lyric.”
The more time I spend up at Roulette I start to believe more and more of the stories I’ve heard about Morris. One day I see him and Nate McCalla, his friend and partner in Calla Records getting off the back elevator with a dozen hot TV sets…giving me the pick of the litter!
Although I was honored to sit in on some of Morris’ meetings there were times when I’d leave the room for fear of hearing too much…especially when the conversation would turn to Morris’ favorite forms of promotion…payola and intimidation…besides I really didn’t want to know where Jimmy Hoffa was buried!
Tommy James started our conversation this morning by telling me about his first day up at Roulette, when he overheard Morris and some of his pals, talking about beating up some guy for bootlegging his records, then resumed the conversation as if nothing happened.
Tommy actually tells dozens of compelling stories in his book, “Me, the Mob, and the Music”, which made my hair stand on end…or laugh, sometimes both at the same time!
I told him how my producer Ron Haffkine and I would sit in Morris’ office while he was on the phone “encouraging” disc jockeys to play my records. “You play the Shadow’s records…or I’ll break your legs!”
As “Shadow” Mann I only had one album release, one single release, and a follow up that barely escaped. After performing at a Hubert Humphrey Rally in Times Square with The Ronnetes, the Delicates, Tommy James and the Shondells topping the bill, Morris Levy dropped me as an artist from the label.
It’s been 42 years since I’ve talked to Tommy, and was excited when he felt comfortable enough to make even more revelations than he did in his astonishing tell all autobiography!
Tommy- “in 1969, when crime boss Vito Genovese died in prison things were tense up at Roulette. All of a sudden they were having a lot of meetings with all the “boys”, figuring out who his successor would be. Were they going to shoot up the place? Was there going to be a challenge? Morris brought me into his office I shook hands with Vincent “The chin “Gigante, “Fat Tony” Salerno (who Tony Soprano character was based on). I also shook hands with Quiet Don Cirillo, and Tommy Eboli (a/k/a) Tommy Ryan.
Morris had his hands on my shoulders and as he is introducing me to all of these (notorious people) I felt like a puppet! I couldn’t believe it and said to myself oops…this must be Hell!”
Then Tommy said he always wondered whatever happened to the “Shadow” Mann? When I told him that I moved to California in 1970, he asked if I heard about the gang wars in New York, between crime families, where 400 gang members were killed…I told him no and confessed that I hadn’t finished the book.
Tommy – “It got so bad that Morris hid out in Spain for a year and left me and everybody at Roulette holding the bag. I had to make myself scarce and went to Nashville. All the details are in the book.”
Artie – “Our pal, Brooks Arthur wanted me to ask you if you remember working on a album with him, while you’re in the middle of re-negotiations and Morris comes into the studio and demands that you sign a new contract .
Tommy – “Yeah”, Morris said,” Okay, the contract will say twelve percent, you’re makin’ eight…I’m paying’ you six!”
Artie – “I know you had a problem with drugs, and my friend, Gary Stromberg, who’s written several books on addiction and appeared with Dr. Drew Pinsky VH1 on “Celebrity Rehab” Specials, wanted me to ask you, “Many artists falsely believe that drugs and alcohol are the sources of their creativity, and when they stop drinking and using they must confront their creativity without these substances”
Tommy – “I went into the Betty Ford Center for six weeks and have been clean since 1986! Being straight has been like floating on a pink cloud…I can accomplish so much more by being clear”
When Tommy speaks of his complex love/hate relationship with the late Morris Levy, who passed away 20 years ago he still gets emotional.
Tommy – “He asked to see me on his death bed, but I wasn’t able to get to the hospital in time…something I’ve always regretted. If it wasn’t for a Morris Levy, there wouldn’t have been a Tommy James.”
It’s easy to understand what the excitement surrounding “Me, the Mob, and the Music” is all about. Tommy told me a deal has just been signed to bring his story and his music to Broadway by the producers of “Jersey Boys”, and negotiations are nearly complete to bring it to the big screen.
After I thanked him for the interview, I took the opportunity to pitch an idea to develop a series of five minute segments for “Classic Hits” and college radio stations, with my friend, “Country” Paul Payton.
I’m happy to say that Tommy loves the idea and wants to work on it with us when he gets back from his promotional book tour.
Copyright 2010 by Artie Wayne https://artiewayne.wordpress.com/about-artie-wayne/
Thanks to members of Spectropop , Forgotten hits, Alan O’Day, “Country” Paul Payton, Brooks Arthur, Ed Salamon, Alan Karr, Jim Cassidy, Kent Kotal, Dee Trane, Patti Dahlstrom, Ayrton Mugnaini, Robby Leff, Art Munson, AJC, and Matthew David, for the questions this article is based on..
To reach Gary Stromberg http://www.garystromberg.net/
To reach Spectropop http://spectropop.com
Forgotten Hits http://forgottenhits.com
FOR ARTIE WAYNE ON THE WEB HTTP://ARTIEWAYNE.WORDPRESS.COM
Special Thanks to Carol Ross – Durborow and Ed Osborne for their assistance in putting this article together.
Tags: Morriis Levy, roulette records, Shadow Mann a/k/a Artie Wayne, Sissy Spacek a/k/a Rainbo, Tommy James "Me the Mob and the Music", Tommy James story behind "Hanky Panky"
25 Responses to “TOMMY JAMES’ SHOCKING NEW BOOK! “ME,THE MOB, AND THE MUSIC””
ray reneri Says:
cant wait to read the Tommy book………
love the Clay Cole book (not because hes my friend, because its great.
ray reneri
Dale Smith Says:
Anything to do with Tommy James has a good chance of turning into GOLD! He is the best! Dale Smith, Lebanon, IN
carol ross-durborow Says:
great article on tommy and his autobiography, the buzz is beyond belief….watch for the movie and broadway coming soon!
Gio (Eboli) Bellino Says:
Just finished the book. I couldn’t put it down. I want to thank Tommy James for speaking so kindly about my Uncle, Tommy Eboli, in the book. Check out the pics on my site, of Tommy and I at his CD signing, when we realized our connection.
Setiawan DirgantaRa Says:
It’s nice to visit for the first time to your site.
if you do not mind so good as a visit behind
Ken Schaffer Says:
I’m a little slow – darn, belated saludos – I just got it: Your line “Although Roulette Records, a company known more for their forty fives than for their singles” is one Magnicent fragment of literature.
WTF_Ken
Kenny Schaffer,
I love the way you put that ! It brings me way back and
puts a smile on my face. 🙂
Artie,
Life back then was even more exciting than i remember.
Glad you’re back to your storytelling.
Sunny 🙂
steveo Says:
Atrie,
Thanks for more on The Levy. James Saga…
Glad your finger is better….
Steveo
Ira Howard Says:
Been living in a time capsule lately with two wonderful memorie makers…Clay Cole’s “Sh-Boom” and John Broven’s “Record Makers and Breakers.” So I can’t waith to get back in it with Tommy James’ recollections. I have a few myself …but
“fogeddaboutit”
Ted Yates Says:
Artie,Great info on Tommy James and his new book! I interviewed him on my morning show on the day of its release, but I really enjoyed your words, photos and videos on your blog. You really make it fascinating to read.
Oldies 1150 CKOC &
60’S The Hits and Trivia Author
(Release May 2010)
Michael Godin Says:
I can’t wait to read this. Another former Roulette recording artists told me stories of his days there. Wonder if Tommy’s book will be as revealing. Thanks for the great post and videos.
Michael Godin
Treasure Island Oldies
Since 1997 – The Home of Lost treasures
Jean Thomas Fox Says:
Good to hear that all these great books of our world in the ’60s are coming out!! What fun we had!!!!!
Marva Holiday Says:
Wow. Fascinating, Artie. — Thanks for sharing! I will definitely be reading the book. — You know, I never really listened to the words to “Crimson and Clover.” He is right. If we actually listen, it’s apparent the lyrics have nothing to do with drugs.
David Rosner Says:
Really interesting, Artie, thanks. I especially liked being reminded of Nate McCalla, who I knew as a good guy (when he wasn’t being a bad guy, I guess).
Roger Atkins Says:
Hey, Artie, I loved reading about your experiences with Morris Levy as much as Tommy’s. His book should be a “must read” for anyone interested in the music business of the 60’s.
Let me briefly tell you of my own experience with Morris Levy. Stanley Kahn took me to a meeting once with Morris sometime in 66 or 67. During the meeting Morris tells Stanley that he was sick and tired of people accusing him of stealing from his artists so he was going to convert his company’s royalty department to a new computer system. At that point I foolishly, without editing what I was about to say (which I was very prone to do in those days), blurted out, “Oh, so you’ll be the first company to keep two sets of computers!” Well, Stanley’s face turned purple and his mouth was agape while Morris just starred at me with very unfriendly eyes. Then he burst out laughing and said, “Stanley, this kid’s got balls!” I never met Morris again.
Keep up the great work,
Wedigo Watson Says:
Artie, thanks for a fascinating article. I look forward to reading Tommy’s book.
Sandy Halbritter-Bartley Says:
Your book was my favorite birthday gift! I can not believe Ted waited in line to have you autograph a copy for me. Niles, Michigan is always mentioned by you which shows your loyalty to a community that is proud of your success. I can hardly wait to see the movie.
Sandy Halbritter-Bartley
Kevin Odegard Says:
Thanks Artie. This is a stark, honest look at the dark side of our generation. Thank God for Rhino Records!
Kevin Odegard
cynthia glover Says:
I’ve always wondered whatever happened to Tommy James and the Shondels and tonight I saw Tommy on TBN. Haven’t read the book yet but was very impressed with his journey. One of my three favorite songs on this planet is “crystal blue persuation”. Every time I go to the beach and watch the sunrise that’s the song that stays in my mind all day long. Very happy to know Tommy, that God has guided you thus far and he will continue to light your path. Cindy.
I read the book as soon as it hit the library shelf. All I can say is that TJ is very lucky to be alive.
Dennis O'Donnel Says:
I’m a roadbuilder laid off during the winter that loves to catch up on some reading here in Mi. where much of your beginings are based. Growing up in Pennsylvania (and just three years younger) I grew up and “grooved”with alot of your music, and of course in those days partied and sang along with it. I even once saw you at the white elephant, I partied and danced with the rest of the packed crowd. I love reading biographys and memos of people, nothing like a real story, the storm of 2011 was knocking on my door her in Flint Mi. early this morning so I went to my local outlet library just a couple blocks away to get some good reading. I came across your book Me the Mob the Music and just had to grab it. WOW is all I can say, I never put it down. well I had to eat and all, man it was great “hell of a ride kid” thanks. always a fan
Robert Gridley Says:
Im in Germany and hope I can find his book soon. Knowing Tommy from when I grew up in Niles, Michigan makes it even more exciting to hear what he has to say about his home town, Even though it sounds like its a past thing prefering to later years and not in the early sixties, it will still be great reading about him since we go way back.
geographic tongue treatment Says:
Lol your post reminds me of very funny thing my lad got involved in, she walked into wet napkin, yelled “craaaaaaa*” and fell… and food flew to plouse of nearby stander, this happened at our work hehe…
Well story short, you’v written quite nice post, makes me smile.
Wayne Bell Says:
Juat saw Tommy at a Casino in Ontario Saturday night Jan. 28th 2012, they mentioned the book and i can’t wait to buy it, and oh, by the way the Concert was incredible!
Tommy truly is, An American Original. One bonafide, genuine, gold-standard example of Americana. His influence so far-reaching, so intoxicating subliminal that, from the present day, we cannot know of his ultimate niche in music, as it is still occurring. He is a Champion for the Ages. He is our Kid Charlemagne.
« THE BEST 10 VIDEOS OF GRAMMY WINNERS 2010!
PART TWO…TOMMY JAMES “ME, THE MOB, AND THE MUSIC”, AND OF COURSE, MORRIS LEVY! »
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Join hosts Jaimi Alexander, Chauncey K Robinson and Zach Silverman as they discuss The Girl With The Red Lightning. In tonight’s episode they review the metas in safety at CCPD, Nora and Grace, aka Cicada II, share one mind and Thawne is up to no good! All that plus some juicy news and gossip! Tune in and join the discussion! Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive.
"Snow Pack" Season 5 Episode 19 'The Flash' Review
Join hosts Jaimi and Chauncey as they discuss Icicle’s Snow Pack plan, the West-Allen Family Feud and Cicada 2.0’s no good plans for baby Grace. All that plus some fun news and gossip. Join the discussion!Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive.After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets.Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to help Barry and his friends stop Zoom. Joe and his daughter, Iris (Candice Patton), struggle with their shared painful past related to their family, especially after the arrival of Iris's brother Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale), whom Francine West (Vanessa A. Williams) gave birth to shortly after abandoning her family.Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV"Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTVBuy Merch at http://shop.spreadshirt.com/AfterbuzzTV/
"Godspeed" Season 5 Episode 18 'The Flash' Review
Join hosts Jaimi Alexander and Chauncey K Robinson to discuss "Godspeed" - The Flash Season 5 Episode 18!Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive.After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets.Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to help Barry and his friends stop Zoom. Joe and his daughter, Iris (Candice Patton), struggle with their shared painful past related to their family, especially after the arrival of Iris's brother Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale), whom Francine West (Vanessa A. Williams) gave birth to shortly after abandoning her family.Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV"Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTVBuy Merch at http://shop.spreadshirt.com/AfterbuzzTV/
"Time Bomb" Season 5 Episode 17 'The Flash' Review
Ralph over steps his boundaries a bit but gives Cisco sound advice about his new relationship with Kamilla. We discover who is behind Cicada 2 and Team Flash has a real villain on their hands. AND! Sherloque finally reveals Nora’s secret; Barry and team are not happy about it. All that plus some news and gossip. Join the discussion! Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets. Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to help Barry and his friends stop Zoom. Joe and his daughter, Iris (Candice Patton), struggle with their shared painful past related to their family, especially after the arrival of Iris's brother Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale), whom Francine West (Vanessa A. Williams) gave birth to shortly after abandoning her family. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV Buy Merch at http://shop.spreadshirt.com/AfterbuzzTV/
The Flash S:5 Failure Is an Orphan E:16 Review
Not one but TWO Cicaidas? Iris isn’t ready to let Nora go, and Barry is trying to find the words to convince his enemy to take the meta-human cure! All this and more as your hosts Zach Silverman and Chauncey K. Robinson get into the latest episode of The Flash. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets. Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to help Barry and his friends stop Zoom. Joe and his daughter, Iris (Candice Patton), struggle with their shared painful past related to their family, especially after the arrival of Iris's brother Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale), whom Francine West (Vanessa A. Williams) gave birth to shortly after abandoning her family. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV Buy Merch at http://shop.spreadshirt.com/AfterbuzzTV/
The Flash S:5 King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd E:15 Review
Tonight, hosts Jaimi Alexander, Chauncey K Robinson and Zach Silverman discuss King Shark Vs Gorilla Grodd. The serum is done and needs testing for side effects. King Shark is the perfect candidate according to team Flash. Also, Joe is back and helping Iris remember her power and will we get closer to eradicating Cicada? Watch here and join the conversation! Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets. Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to help Barry and his friends stop Zoom. Joe and his daughter, Iris (Candice Patton), struggle with their shared painful past related to their family, especially after the arrival of Iris's brother Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale), whom Francine West (Vanessa A. Williams) gave birth to shortly after abandoning her family. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV Buy Merch at http://shop.spreadshirt.com/AfterbuzzTV/
The Flash S:5 Cause and XS E:14 Review
It’s ‘Groundhog Day’ at Star Labs and Nora is working tirelessly to save the team while The Flash is away in the Speed Force. Can she save someone from dying? Find out here and join the discussion with hosts Jaimi Alexander, Chauncey K Robinson and Zach Silverman!! Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets. Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to help Barry and h
The Flash S:5 Goldfaced E:13 Review
Nora diverts Sherloque’s attention away from investigating her, by orchestrating his run in with a potential love interest. Barry and Ralph team up bad boy style against Goldface and his crew. And Iris West Allen get her hands dirty finding herself face to face with Cicada! Join hosts Jaimi Alexander, Chauncey K Robinson and Zach Silverman as they discuss everything The Flash! Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets. Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout the
The Flash S:5 Memorabilia E:12 Review
Join hosts Jaimi Alexander and Zach Silverman as they dive into Nora and Grace’ memories along with Barry and Iris; a twist on Inception that gives us insight on the nuances in Nora and Iris’ relationship and where Grace stands on Metas. Join the conversation in the comments below! Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets. Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to
The Flash S:5 Seeing Red E:11 Review
Hosts Drew Jones, Chauncey K. Robinson, Jaimi Alexander, and Zach Silverman chop it up with The Flash’s Hartley Sawyer and dive into “Seeing Red”. Plus we’ve got a loaded News and Gossip segment! Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets. Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to help Barry and his friends stop Zoom. Joe and his daughter, Iris (
Hosts Drew Jones, Chauncey K Robinson, Jaimie Alexander, Zach Silverman break down Nora’s quest to understand redemption, Cisco possibly finds a meta cure, and Sherloque is digging into Nora’s background! Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets. Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to help Barry and his friends stop Zoom. Joe and his daughter, Iris (
The Flash S:5 Elseworlds, Part 1 E:9 Review
Join hosts Jaimi, Jorge, Chauncey and Zach as they discuss everything Elseworlds! Part One was action packed starting with Barry and Oliver switching places, Amazo being activated and a much needed visit to Earth 38. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets. Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to help Barry and his friends stop Zoom. Joe and his daughter, Iris (Candice Patton), struggle with their shared painful past related to their family, especially after the arrival of Iris's brother Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale), whom Francine West (Vanessa A. Williams) gave birth to shortly after abandoning her family. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV Buy Merch at http://shop.spreadshirt.com/AfterbuzzTV/
The Flash S:5 What's Past Is Prologue E:8 Review
For the 100th Episode, hosts Jaimi, Zach and Flobo take a blast to the Flash past and discuss Team Flash’ plan to neutralize Cicadas dagger via time hacking. Watch as we travel back in time to nab a piece from Savitars suit, retrieve the speed force transmitter and experience the particle accelerator explosion all over again. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets. Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to help Barry and his friends stop Zoom. Joe and his daughter, Iris (Candice Patton), struggle with their shared painful past related to their family, especially after the arrival of Iris's brother Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale), whom Francine West (Vanessa A. Williams) gave birth to shortly after abandoning her family. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV Buy Merch at http://shop.spreadshirt.com/AfterbuzzTV/
The Flash S:5 O Come, All Ye Faithful E:7 Review
Join hosts Drew Jones, Jaimi Alexander, Zach Silverman and Chauncey K. Robinson as they discuss the father daughter dynamics, the root of Cicada’s vendetta and wacky witchy wizard not from Hogwartz. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets. Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to help Barry and his friends stop Zoom. Joe and his daughter, Iris (Candice Patton), struggle with their shared painful past related to their family, especially after the arrival of Iris's brother Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale), whom Francine West (Vanessa A. Williams) gave birth to shortly after abandoning her family. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV Buy Merch at http://shop.spreadshirt.com/AfterbuzzTV/
The Flash S:5 The Icicle Cometh E:6 Review
Tonight on The Flash after show, join hosts Jaimi, Chauncey and Carlina as they discuss the come back of the OG Team Flash dynamic! Was Cisco being too harsh? Did Cecile get her mojo back? Will Icicle return?! So many questions….we’ve got some answers. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets. Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to help Barry and his friends stop Zoom. Joe and his daughter, Iris (Candice Patton), struggle with their shared painful past related to their family, especially after the arrival of Iris's brother Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale), whom Francine West (Vanessa A. Williams) gave birth to shortly after abandoning her family. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV Buy Merch at http://shop.spreadshirt.com/AfterbuzzTV/
The Flash S:5 All Doll'd Up E:5 Review
Join hosts Drew Jones, Jaimi Alexander, Zach Silverman, and Chauncey K. Robinson as they discuss the horror tinged Flash episode, Cisco’s dark matter crisis, the hunt for Caitlin’s dad, and Iris’ leap into badassery. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets. Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to help Barry and his friends stop Zoom. Joe and his daughter, Iris (Candice Patton), struggle with their shared painful past related to their family, especially after the arrival of Iris's brother Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale), whom Francine West (Vanessa A. Williams) gave birth to shortly after abandoning her family. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV Buy Merch at http://shop.spreadshirt.com/AfterbuzzTV/
The Flash S:5 News Flash E:4
We finally get to the bottom of Nora’s beef with Iris. Ralph and Sherloque team up to make a new discovery about Cicada and hosts Drew Jones, Chauncey K. Robinson, and Zach Silverman discuss the upcoming 100th episode. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets. Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to help Barry and his friends stop Zoom. Joe and his daughter, Iris (Candice Patton), struggle with their shared painful past related to their family, especially after the arrival of Iris's brother Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale), whom Francine West (Vanessa A. Williams) gave birth to shortly after abandoning her family. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV Buy Merch at http://shop.spreadshirt.com/AfterbuzzTV/
The Flash S:5 The Death of Vibe E:3
Well he’s finally here, Sherluck Wells makes his epic debut, Caitlin and Ralph team up to dive deeper into Cailtin’s frostys past and Cisco is on the chopping block of Meta’s to go for Cicada. Tune into the discussion with hosts Drew Jones, Chauncey Robinson, Jaimie Alexander and Zach Silverman. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets. Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to help Barry and his friends stop Zoom. Joe and his daughter, Iris (Candice Patton), struggle with their shared painful past related to their family, especially after the arrival of Iris's brother Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale), whom Francine West (Vanessa A. Williams) gave birth to shortly after abandoning her family. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV Buy Merch at http://shop.spreadshirt.com/AfterbuzzTV/
The Flash S:5 Blocked E:2
Cisco gets over Gypsy with the help of Ralph and Caitlin, Barry and Nora have some quality father daughter time, and Sycada strikes again! Tune into the discussion with hosts Drew Jones, Chauncey Robinson, Jaimie Alexander, and Zach Silverman! Make sure to subscribe to AfterBuzz! - http://youtube.com/afterbuzztv HELPFUL LINKS: Website - http://afterbuzztv.com Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/afterbuzz-tv/id407139777?mt=2 Follow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/afterbuzztv Like us on Facebook - http://facebook.com/afterbuzztv See on us Instagram - http://instagram.com/afterbuzztv Merch - http://shop.spreadshirt.com/AfterbuzzTV/ ABOUT AFTERBUZZ TV: Created by Emmy winner Maria Menounos & producer Keven Undergaro, AfterBuzz TV is the digital broadcast network dedicated to producing live and on-demand after-shows, news and coverage for nearly every TV show featuring expert recaps & interviews with cast & crew.
The Flash S:5 Nora E:1
Join hosts Chauncey K. Robinson, Jaimi Alexander, and Zach Silverman as we join the family affair for the season 5 premiere! Listen and watch as we get to know the fastest woman alive, Nora West-Allen, what might have happened to Killer Frost, and the big bad of the new season! Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one believes his description of the crime—that a ball of lightning with the face of a man invaded their home that night—and Allen is fiercely driven to vindicate himself and to clear his father's name. Fourteen years after his mother's death, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with a previously unknown form of radiation during a severe thunderstorm. Allen is struck by lightning from the storm and doused with chemicals in his lab. Awakening after a nine-month coma, he discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the disgraced designer of the failed particle accelerator, describes Barry's special nature as "metahuman"; Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of metahuman criminals. He is aided by a few close friends and associates who guard his secrets. Six months after the events of the first season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, visits Barry and warns him another speedster named Zoom (also portrayed by Sears and voiced by Tony Todd) is trying to eliminate everyone connected to the Speed Force throughout themultiverse. Jay, and later Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart, work to help Barry and his friends stop Zoom. Joe and his daughter, Iris (Candice Patton), struggle with their shared painful past related to their family, especially after the arrival of Iris's brother Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale), whom Francine West (Vanessa A. Williams) gave birth to shortly after abandoning her family. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV Buy Merch at http://shop.spreadshirt.com/AfterbuzzTV/
The Flash S:4 | Neil Sandilands guests on We Are The Flash E:23 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Chauncey K Robinson, Zach Silverman, and Drew Jones discuss episode 23 with Neil Sandilands. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed
The Flash S:4 | Harry and the Harrisons; Think Fast E:21 & E:22 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Chauncey K Robinson, Zach Silverman, and Drew Jones discuss episode 21 & 22. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mo
The Flash S:4 | Therefore She Is E:20 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Chauncey K Robinson, Zach Silverman, and Drew Jones discuss episode 20. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother'
The Flash S:4 | Jorge-Luis Pallo guests on Fury Rogue E:19 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Zach Silverman and Drew Jones discuss episode 19 with Jorge-Luis Pallo. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother'
The Flash S:4 | Lose Yourself E:18 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:4 | Null and Annoyed E:17 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:4 | Run, Iris, Run E:16 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:4 | Enter Flashtime E:15 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:4 | Subject 9 E:14 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Chauncey K Robinson, Zach Silverman, and Drew Jones discuss episode 14. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's mur
The Flash S:4 | True Colors E:13 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:4 | Honey, I Shrunk Team Flash E:12 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Chauncey K Robinson, Zack Silverman, and Drew Jones discuss episode 12. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's mur
The Flash S:4 | The Elongated Knight Rises E:11 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:4 | The Trial of the Flash E:10 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:4 | Don’t Run E:9 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Chauncey K Robinson and Drew Jones discuss episode 9. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one b
The Flash S:4 | Crisis on Earth-X, Part 3 E:8 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Tiona Hobson,Drew Jones, Chauncey Robinson, and Carolina Bonetti discuss episode 8. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on
The Flash S:4 | Therefore I Am E:7 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Carolina Bonetti, Drew Jones, and Chauncey K Robinson discuss episode 7. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother
The Flash S:4 | When Harry Met Harry… E:6 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Tiona Hobson, Chauncey Robinson, and Drew Jones discuss episode 6. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's mur
The Flash S:4 | Girls Night Out E:5 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Chauncey Robinson and Drew Jones discuss episode 5. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one bel
The Flash S:4 | Elongated Journey Into The Night E:4 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Carolina Bonetti and Chauncey Robinson discuss episode 4. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No o
The Flash S:4 | Luck Be A Lady E:3 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Tiona Hobson,Carolina Bonetti, and Louiza Sharamatyan discuss episode 3. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother
The Flash S:4 | Mixed Signals E:2 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Drew Jones, Carolina Bonetti, and Chauncey Robinson discuss episode 2. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's
The Flash S:4 | The Flash Reborn E:1 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Tiona Hobson, Drew Jones, and Chauncey Robinson discuss episode 1. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's mur
The Flash S:3 | Finish Line E:23 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Tiona Hobson, Jeff Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 23. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murde
The Flash S:3 | Infantino Street E:22 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Lex Michael, Frank Moran, Lacretia Lyon, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 22. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his m
The Flash S:3 | Cause and Effect E:21 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:3 | I Know Who You Are E:20 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:3 | The Once and Future Flash E:19 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Tiona Hobson and Tauri Miller discuss episode 19. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one belie
The Flash S:3 | Abra Kadabra E:18 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Jeff Masters and Tauri Miller discuss episode 18. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder. No one belie
The Flash S:3 | Duet E:17 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Tiona Hobson, Jeff Masters, Yael Tygiel, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 17. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his m
The Flash S:3 | Into The Speed Force E:16 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Jeff Masters, Yael Tygiel, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 16. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder
The Flash S:3 | The Wrath of Savitar E:15 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:3 | Attack On Central City E:14 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:3 | DJ Wooldridge guests on Attack On Gorilla City E:13 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Tiona Hobson, Yael; Tygiel, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 13 with DJ Wooldridge. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on
The Flash S:3 | Untouchable E:12 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:3 | Dead Or Alive E:11 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:3 | Borrowing Problems from the Future E:10 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:3 | The Present E:9 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Tiona Hobson, Jeff Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 9. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder
The Flash S:3 | Invasion E:8 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Tiona Hobson, Yael Tygiel, Jeff Masters, Lex Michael, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 8. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed li
The Flash S:3 | Killer Frost E:7 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Tiona Hobson, Yael Tygiel, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 7. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murder.
The Flash S:3 | Shade E:6 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Yael Tygiel, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 6. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's murd
The Flash S:3 | Monster E:5 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Tiona Hobson, Yael Tygiel, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 5. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his
The Flash S:3 | Grey Damon guests on The New Rogues E:4 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Joelle Monique, Yael Tygiel, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 4 with special guest Grey Damon. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advance
The Flash S:3 | Magenta E:3 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Lacretia Lyon, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 3. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mother's mu
The Flash S:3 | Paradox E:2 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:3 | Flashpoint E:1 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Yael Tygiel, Tiona Hobson, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 1. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his
The Flash S:2 | The Race Of His Life E:23 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Micheal Drew, Roxy Striar, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 23. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on hi
The Flash S:2 | Invincible E:22 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:2 | The Runaway Dinosaur E:21 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Micheal Drew, Roxy Striar, Zach Wilson, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 21. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advancements that may shed light on his mo
The Flash S:2 | Rupture E:20 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:2 | Violett Beane Guests on Back to Normal E:19 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Micheal Drew, Roxy Striar, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 19 with special guest Violett Beane. ABOUT THE FLASH: Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. After witnessing his mother's (Michelle Harrison) supernatural murder and his father's (John Wesley Shipp) wrongful conviction for the crime, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is taken in by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his family. Allen becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. His obsession with his tragic past causes him to become an outcast among his peers; he investigates cold cases, paranormal occurrences, and cutting-edge scientific advan
The Flash S:2 | Versus Zoom E:18 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:2 | Flash Back E:17 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Micheal Drew, Roxy Striar, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 17. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:2 | Trajectory E:16 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:2 | King Shark E:15 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:2 | Escape From Earth-2 E:14 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Micheal Drew, Roxy Striar, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller with special guest Paul Ashton discuss episode 14. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:2 | Welcome To Earth-2 E:13 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:2 | Fast Lane E:12 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:2 | The Reverse-Flash Returns E:11 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:2 | Potential Energy E:10 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Roxy Striar, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller with special guest Patrick Sabongui discuss episode 10. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:2 | Running To Stand Still E:9 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Micheal Drew, Roxy Striar, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller with special guest Paul Ashton discuss episode 9. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:2 | Legends of Today E:8 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Micheal Drew, Roxy Striar, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 8 with Katie Cullen of the Arrow After Show. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:2 | Gorilla Warfare E:7 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Micheal Drew, Roxy Striar, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 7. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:2 | Enter Zoom E:6 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Micheal Drew, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 6. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:2 | The Darkness and the Light E:5 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Roxy Striar, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 5. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:2 | The Fury and the Firestorm E:4 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:2 | Family of Rogues E:3 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:2 | Flash of Two Worlds E:2 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:2 | The Man Who Saved Central City E:1 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:1 | Fast Enough E:23 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Roxy Striar, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 23 with special guest David Rapaport. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:1 | Rogue Air E:22 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Ashley Daniels, Jeffrey Masters, and Jesse Klein discuss episode 22. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:1 | Grodd Lives E:21 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Roxy Striar, Ashley Daniels, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 21. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:1 | The Trap E:20 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Roxy Striar, Ashley Daniels, and Jeffrey Masters discuss episode 20. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:1 | Who is Harrison Wells E:19 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Roxy Striar, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 19. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:1 | All Star Team Up E:18 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Ashley Daniels, Jeffrey Masters, and Tauri Miller discuss episode 18. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:1 | Tricksters E:17 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:1 | Rogue Time E:16 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Roxy Striar, Ashley Daniels, Jeffrey Masters, and Jeff Masters discuss episode 16. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:1 | Out of Time E:15 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:1 | Fallout E:14 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Roxy Striar, Ashley Daniels, Jeffrey Masters, and Jesse Klein discuss episode 14. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:1 | Candice Patton Guests on The Nuclear Man E:13 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Roxy Striar, Ashley Daniels, Jeffrey Masters, Tauri Miller and special guest Candice Patton ("Iris") discuss episode 13. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:1 | Crazy For You E:12 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Roxy Striar, Ashley Daniels, Jeffrey Masters and Tauri Miller discuss episode 12. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:1 | The Sound And The Fury E:11 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:1 | Revenge of the Rogues E:10 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
The Flash S:1 | The Man In The Yellow Suit E:9 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Roxy Striar, Jeffrey Masters, and Katie Cullen discuss episode 9. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
The Flash S:1 | Interview With Danielle Panabaker | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow
AFTERBUZZ TV - AfterBuzz TV's The Flash edition, is an After Show for The Flash with hosts giving episode and character breakdowns as well as commentary. In this episode host Roxy Striar and Jeffrey Masters interview Danielle Panabaker. DANIELLE'S BIO: is an American actress. She began acting as a teenager and first came to prominence for her roles in the Disney films Stuck in the Suburbs (2004), Sky High (2005) and Read It and Weep (2006), the latter alongside her younger sister Kay Panabaker, and in the HBO miniseries Empire Falls (2005). She came to wider attention as a cast member alongside James Woods in the CBS legal drama series Shark (2006–08) and is also noted as a Scream Queen, having starred in the horror films Mr. Brooks (2007), Friday the 13th (2009), The Crazies (2010), John Carpenter's The Ward (2010) and Piranha 3DD (2012). After recurring roles on the crime series Bones (2012–13), the drama series Necessary Roughness (2011–13) and the crime
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AFTERBUZZ TV — The Flash edition, is a weekly "after show" for fans of CW's The Flash. In this episode, hosts Roxy Striar, Ashley Daniels, Jeffrey Masters, Tauri Miller, and special guest Katie Cullen from the Arrow AfterShow discuss episode 8. Flash is based upon characters published by DC Comics where through a freak accident scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com
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Posted by: africanpressorganization | 12 June 2014
Swaziland: UN experts condemn continued detention and trial of human rights defenders
GENEVA, Switzerland, June 12, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — A group of United Nations human rights experts today expressed serious concerns at the arrest, detention and prosecution of human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko and the editor-in-chief of The Nation magazine Bheki Makhubu in Swaziland.
“We condemn the repeated arrests, detention and trial of Mr. Maseko and Mr. Makhubu and are concerned that these may be directly related to their legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of expression,” the experts said, noting that the Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland recognises the rights to freedom of expression and the right to a fair trial.
Both men were arrested on 17 and 18 March 2014 respectively on charges of criminal contempt of the court for publishing articles in The Nation magazine which questioned the circumstances and rationale of a case pending before the High Court of Swaziland. They were detained after a summary proceeding in the Chief Justice’s chambers and were remanded in prison for seven days without appearing before an open court, contrary to the provisions of Swaziland’s Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act.
Mr. Maseko and Mr. Makhubu were released on 6 April following a High Court judgment by Judge Mumcy Dlamini who set aside the initial warrant for their arrest as unconstitutional, unlawful and irregular. They were shortly re-arrested after the Chief Justice lodged an appeal to overturn the High Court judgment. For the past two months, the two men have remained detained at the provisional detention centre of Sidwashini in Mbabane, the capital city of Swaziland.
“The detention and trial of Mr. Maseko and Mr. Makhubu for their exercise of the right to express their opinion on a court case runs contrary to Swaziland’s international human rights obligations, in particular under article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” said the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue.
“Criminal sanctions, in particular imprisonment, for alleged libel or defamation are not proportional to the effective exercise of the right to freedom of opinion and expression,” he noted.
“At a time when the space for human rights defenders is visibly shrinking, we need to be very vigilant with respect to any case where imprisonment may be directly related to individuals’ work in defence of human rights,” added the new Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Michel Forst.
“The right to defend human rights includes the right freely to publish, impart or disseminate views and information on all human rights and fundamental freedoms both in law and in practice,” Mr. Forst said.
Human rights expert Mads Andenas, who currently heads the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, appealed to the Government of Swaziland to “take all necessary measures to guarantee their right not to be deprived arbitrarily of their liberty and their right to fair proceedings before an independent and impartial tribunal.”
The Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Gabriela Knaul noted that Maseko, as a lawyer, “has the right to take part in public discussions of matters concerning the law and the administration of justice.” “I am also concerned about allegations of lack of due process in the trials of these two men,” she said.
The experts expressed concern that, according to information provided to them, arrest warrants were issued on 16 May for three High Court judges, including High Court Judge Dlamini, for allegedly bringing the High Court into disrepute.
“The independence of the judiciary is a fundamental democratic principle and judges must be protected against any restrictions, improper influence, pressures, threats or interferences, direct or indirect, from any quarter, for any reason,” Ms. Knaul added.
The experts urged the authorities of Swaziland to uphold the independence of the judiciary and ensure that judicial proceedings are conducted fairly and in accordance with the State’s international human rights obligations.
“We also call on the authorities to take immediate measures to ensure everyone’s right to freedom of opinion and expression and to respect the work of human rights defenders,” they added.
United Nations – Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Posted in Swaziland, UNITED NATIONS - ONU
« Soudan du Sud : nette détérioration des conditions de vie alors que les besoins alimentaires se font toujours plus pressants
UK / FCO concerned by sentencing of activists in Egypt »
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James Axler
As a writer, Jon has published over two dozen novels with major publishers like Kensington's Pinnacle Books, St. Martin's Press, and many more. He is also the author of eleven installments in the i...view moreAs a writer, Jon has published over two dozen novels with major publishers like Kensington's Pinnacle Books, St. Martin's Press, and many more. He is also the author of eleven installments in the internationally bestselling adventure series Rogue Angel (2006-present) with Harlequin's Gold Eagle line. His short fiction story "Prisoner 392" (appeared alongside Stephen King in FROM THE BORDERLANDS, 2004, Warner Books) earned him an Honorable Mention in 2004's Year's Best Fantasy & Horror edited by Ellen Datlow. Jon has also co-authored two non-fiction books: LEARNING LATER, LIVING GREATER with Nancy Merz Nordstrom (2006, Sentient Publications) and THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO ULTIMATE FIGHTING with Rich "Ace" Franklin (2007, Alpha Books/Penguin/Putnam). Jon is perhaps most famous for his Lawson Vampire series of supernatural action novels starring the Fixer Lawson, a jaded anti-hero charged with protecting a race of living vampires from exposure. There are currently six novels (The Fixer, The Invoker, The Destructor, The Syndicate, The Kensei, The Enchanter) two novellas (Slave to Love, The Courier) and five short stories (The Price of a Good Drink, Interlude, Red Tide, Rudolf the Red Nosed Rogue, Enemy Mine) in the series with many more adventures yet to come. Jon's latest novel is the new Shadow Warrior series debuting in September from Baen Books. Book 1, UNDEAD HORDES OF KAN-GUL is due out September 3rd in stores everywhere. Jon also publishes his backlist independently. You can find his ebooks on Amazon: http://bit.ly/jonfmerz Barnes & Noble's Nook store: http://bit.ly/bnjonfmerz and on Kobo: http://bit.ly/kjonfmerz As a producer, Jon has formed New Ronin Entertainment with longtime friend Jaime Hassett to create television and feature film projects in the New England area. Their first project is THE FIXER, a new supernatural action series based on Jon's Lawson Vampire novels. Filming of the pilot begins in 2013. Jon has studied authentic Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu/Ninjutsu for over twenty years under Mark Davis of the Boston Martial Arts Center. He has also trained with senior Bujinkan instructors both in the United States and Japan. During a trip to Japan in February 2003, Jon earned his 5th degree black belt directly from the 34th Grandmaster of Togakure-ryu Ninjutsu, Masaaki Hatsumi. In addition to traditional training, Jon has also taught defensive tactics to a wide range of clients, including civilian crime watch groups, police and EMS first responders, military units, and federal organizations including the US Department of State, the Department of Justice, and the Bureau of Prisons. In his past, Jon served with the United States Air Force, worked for the US government, and handled executive protection for a variety of Fortune 500 clients.view less
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Tag - History
Why Was The Christmas Star Visible From Afar But Not Noticed In Bethlehem?
by David Thornton
There are many mysteries about the miracles that form the basis of Jesus Christ’s claim of divinity. Jesus is claimed to have healed the sick and raised the dead of the Roman province of Palestine during his short ministry. These miracles made him famous and inspired disciples to follow him but from a modern perspective, they are impossible to verify. The witnesses to these miracles are long dead. Even Lazarus and the others that Jesus restored to life eventually returned to the grave. However, there is one miracle associated with the life of Jesus that should be easy to verify because it was apparently visible from around the world.
The miracle of the Christmas star occurred at the time of Jesus’ birth and according to the Biblical account was visible to learned travelers from a distant land. Matthew tells us that the Magi saw a star that they recognized as symbolizing the birth of the king of the Jews and traveled to Jerusalem “after Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea” (Matt. 2:1). The star apparently appeared at the time of Jesus’ birth (2:7) and lasted months until the Magi could make their journey from a distant land. The problem for Christian believers is that other observers of the time don’t report significant astronomical events around the time of Jesus’ birth. The lack of reports would seem to rule out stars as well as nebulas and comets.
Beyond the lack of extrabiblical support for a stunning celestial display, there is another problem with the story of the Christmas star. There is a paradox in the Bible’s claim that the Magi could see the star from thousands of miles away while King Herod seemed ignorant of it only five miles away in Jerusalem. Any obviously bright star would be easily visible to anyone who looked up at night, yet Herod and his court were unaware of it.
Further, consider that stars typically seem to move when viewed from the earth’s surface. The location of stars is fixed in space, but the earth’s rotation makes them appear to move. A star that rises in the east would set in the west a few hours later yet the Bible says that the star “stopped over the place where the child was” (2:9). The typical depiction of the Christmas star as an immense, blindingly bright star hovering above the Bethlehem stable seems more and more unlikely.
The problems with identifying the star of Bethlehem seem insurmountable. The star was allegedly seen clearly from a great distance away but unobserved in and around Bethlehem. The meaning of the star was so obvious that the Magi left on an international trip yet other astronomers around the world missed it entirely. Stars normally move but this one was reportedly stationary. The problems are so difficult that many consider the Christmas star to be nothing more than a myth.
A clue to the answer can be found in the original Greek text of the New Testament. In his fascinating look at the historical foundations of the Bible, “The Bible As History,” Werner Keller pointed out that in verse two, the Greek word translated as “star” for thousands of years is actually plural rather than singular.
Keller offers a theory as to the identity of Matthew’s Christmas stars. For hundreds of years prior to the time of Christ, Jewish exiles had lived in Babylon. Babylon, located to the east of Palestine in present-day Iraq, was also the home of an advanced school of astronomy. Clay tablets discovered by archaeologists that date back to more than 400 years before the time of Christ detail calculations by which the Babylonians could predict the paths of the planets, which of course look like stars when viewed without a telescope.
Two planets in particular may have been of interest to the Magi. Jupiter, the king of the planets, was considered to be a royal star and was also associated with luck. The second largest planet, Saturn, was associated with Israel according to ancient Jewish traditions described by Tacitus, a famous Roman historian.
Keller describes how Jupiter and Saturn came together not once but twice in 7 BC. The first conjunction occurred on May 29 and was followed by a second on October 3. He writes that the journey from Babylon to Jerusalem would have taken about six weeks by camel caravan in Biblical times. It would have been unwise to undertake such a journey across Middle Eastern deserts at the beginning of summer but an October departure would have placed the Magi in Jerusalem in late November. This would place the birth of Jesus prior to the onset of winter in Palestine when shepherds would have still had their flocks in the fields (Luke 2:8).
Frederick Larson of BethlehemStar.com has a similar theory but arrived at a different date for the star’s appearance. Larson looked at the movements of the heavens and found an interesting occurrence over a period of months in the years 3 and 2 BC. At that time, Jupiter and Regulus, a star the Romans considered royal, entered a triple conjunction that would certainly have attracted the attention of Babylonian astrologers.
Larson also provides an answer for how the star could have stopped above the stable in Bethlehem. If the Magi were observing Jupiter from Jerusalem as it entered retrograde, the planet would have appeared to stop over the town of Bethlehem, five miles to their south. One of the dates that this could have occurred was December 25, 2 BC.
Regardless of which celestial event is the particular one observed by the Magi, the theory that the eastern travelers observed astrological signs that pointed them to the newborn Messiah is an idea that can overcome the difficulties inherent in a traditional reading of the Christmas story. The astrological event would have been visible to trained observers but would not have been apparent to King Herod or the people of Judea. The meaning of the signs would have been lost on other astronomers who were not aware of the association of various planets and stars with Israel and Judaism.
The search for the Christmas star has lessons for those who are seeking God. At the outset, it seemed that it was impossible that the account of the star could be more than a myth. The very idea seemed to make no sense and the problems presented by skeptics seemed insurmountable.
Upon closer inspection, however, when the original writings and understanding of the Bible’s writers were taken into account, it turns out that there is a rational explanation that can back up the story of Matthew’s Magi. As it was with the ancient Jews, who thought the Messiah would be a military leader who would overthrow the hated Romans, our problem with the Christmas star lies in our lack of understanding of what the Bible’s writers were trying to convey. When we put aside our preconceived ideas about what the star must have been, we find the answer was there all along.
The lesson of the Christmas star is that God answers those who seek him. While not all of the answers and explanations to Biblical questions are readily apparent, we do have enough answers to know that Christian faith can be based on verifiable facts and does not have to be a blind faith. The Bible’s accuracy is a launching point for the relationship with Christ that offers our only hope for conquering death.
That is the true meaning of Christmas.
To Experience Texas History, Look Beyond The Alamo To Goliad
“It isn’t what you expect,” people told me. “You’ll be disappointed.”
A lot of people had the same reaction about my upcoming visit to the Alamo. After a year in Texas, we decided to take our family to visit the famous shrine to the Texas Revolution in San Antonio. When we got there, even my children sensed what our native Texan friends had been telling us.
I have visited many different battlefields from the Revolution and the Civil War, but the Alamo was different. Most battlefields are national parks that have preserved the tranquility and dignity of the historic sites. The fact that the Alamo was located just outside the town of Bexar in Mexican Tejas and, after Texas independence, the city of San Antonio grew up around it probably accounts for much of why the Alamo battlefield is different.
When we arrived at the Alamo, we found that, unlike the Gettysburg battlefield, for instance, the Alamo was surrounded by a carnival atmosphere akin to that of a boardwalk. While the actual remnants of the Mission San Antonio de Valero, the old Spanish mission that became the Alamo fortress, were a solemn place, across the street was a Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum, The Amazing Mirror Maze and Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks. To us, the festive atmosphere seemed out of place on the site where hundreds of soldiers on both sides had died.
A few years later, we made a brief detour through Goliad, the south Texas town most known to outsiders as the town that didn’t send reinforcements to the Alamo. Goliad is home to two old Spanish missions that have been restored. The two missions, Espíritu Santo at Goliad State Park and Presidio La Bahia just down the road, are much better representations of the history of the Texas revolution.
In particular, the Presidio La Bahia, which has been completely restored, stands in contrast to the Alamo, most of which was destroyed in the battle. The building commonly referred to as the Alamo was the mission’s chapel, only one small part of entire complex. The Presidio La Bahia gives visitors a feel for what the Alamo would have been like in 1836.
While there was no major battle at Goliad, La Bahia was the site of a lesser known massacre of Texas soldiers by the Mexican army. Shortly after the fall of the Alamo, Col. James Fannin’s men surrendered to the Mexicans and were imprisoned at Goliad. Santa Ana ordered the execution of the prisoners a short time later. More Texans were killed in the Goliad Massacre than at the Alamo. Their common grave and memorial is just outside the presidio walls.
Today, Goliad State Park and the Presidio La Bahia, privately owned by the Catholic Diocese of Victoria, Texas, both provide good museums with that describe the area’s history in context and showcase period artifacts. La Bahia also features a short video that recounts the Texas Revolution.
Whether you’re a Texan or visitor to the Lone Star State, if you are in San Antonio, by all means, visit the Alamo. From the bar of the historic Menger Hotel, where Teddy Roosevelt enlisted the Rough Riders, to the Riverwalk and Six Flags Fiesta Texas, San Antonio has a lot to offer as a vacation destination.
But don’t be afraid to get off the beaten path. If you’re interested in the Texas Revolution, a side trip to Goliad may be even more enlightening and rewarding.
BREAKING: McCain Just Delivered A Speech You’ll Be Quoting For Years
by Ed Willing
Today, on the floor of the Senate, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) appeared briefly to give a speech to his colleagues on why he was voting for the Motion to Proceed on Obamacare repeal/replace legislation. He also explained why he doesn’t intend on voting for the bill itself as written. However, he gave a master class on Senate history, the purpose of our Republican government, and why he felt it was necessary at times to do things he did not agree with.
You and I will find many things to dislike in what he said. But, we’ll likewise find many things to cheer for.
Either way, this speech will likely go down as one of the great speeches by a Senator in the modern era. This is not an exaggeration. His 2,000 word speech contained both history, reflection, reverence for the founders, defense of federalism, America’s destiny, and even took a swipe at his own party – then waited for applause from one side – just to take a swipe at the other party for their irony. It brought much needed laughter to a floor too often full of bloviating and partisan bickering.
It’s worth reading, and sharing.
“I stand before you today, looking a little worse for wear I’m sure. I have a refresh appreciation for protocols and customs of this body, and for the other 99 privileged souls who’ve been elected to the Senate.
I’ve been a member of the United States Senate for 30 years. I had another long, if not as long career before I arrive here. Another profession that was profoundly rewarding, in which I had experiences and friendships that I revered. But make no mistake. My service here is the most important job I’ve had in my life.
I’m so grateful to the people of Arizona for the privilege, the honor of serving here and the opportunities he gives me to play a small role in the history of the country I love. I’ve known and admired men and women in the Senate that played much more than a small role in our history. True statesmen, giants of American politics. They come from both parties, and from various backgrounds.
Their ambitions were frequently in conflict. They held different views on issues of the day. And they often had very serious disagreements on how to best serve the national interest. But they knew that however sharp and heartfelt their disputes, however keen their ambitions, they had an obligation to work collaboratively to ensure the Senate discharged its constitutional responsibilities effectively. Our responsibilities are important, vitally important to the continuing success of our Republic. Our arcane rules and customs are deliberately intended to require broad cooperation to function well at all.
The most revered members of this institution accepted the necessity of compromise in order to make incremental progress on solving America’s problems, and defend her from her adversaries. That principled mindset, and the service of our predecessors who possessed it come to mind when I hear the Senate referred to as “the worlds greatest deliberative body.” I’m not sure we can clean the distinction with a straight face today. I’m sure it wasn’t always deserved in previous years either, but I’m sure there have been times when it was. And I was privileged to witness some of those occasions.
Our deliberations today, not just our debates, but the exercise of all of our responsibilities – authorizing government policies, appropriating funds to implement them, exercising our advise and consent role – are often lively and interesting. They can be sincere and principled. But we are more partisan, more tribal, more of the time that I’ve any time that I can remember. Our deliberations can still be important and useful, but I think we’d all agree, they haven’t been over burdened by greatness lately.
Right now, they aren’t producing much for the American people.
Both sides have let this happen. Let’s leave the history of who shot first to the historians. I suspect they’ll find we all conspired in our decline, either by deliberative actions or neglect. We’ve all played some role in it. Certainly, I have. Sometimes, I’ve let my passion rule my reason. Sometimes, I’ve made it harder to find common ground because of something harsh I said a colleague. Sometimes, I wanted to win more for the sake of winning, than to achieve a contested policy.
Incremental progress, compromises each side criticize but also accept, just plain muddling through to chip away at at problems and keep our enemies from doing their worst isn’t glamorous, or exciting. It doesn’t feel like a political triumph. But it’s usually the most we can expect from our system of government, operating in a country as diverse and quarrelsome and free as ours. Considering the injustice and cruelties inflicted by autocratic governments, and how corruptible human nature can be, the problem-solving our system does make possible, the fitful progress it produces, and the liberty and justice it preserves is a magnificent achievement.
Our system doesn’t depend on our nobility. It accounts for our imperfections, and gives us an order to our individual strivings that has helped to make ours the most powerful and prosperous society on earth. It is our responsibility to preserve that. Even when it requires us to do something less satisfying than “winning.” Even when we must give a little to get a little. Even when our efforts managed just three yards in a cloud of dust while critics on both sides denounce us for timidity, for our failure to “triumph.”
I hope we can again rely on humility, on our need to cooperate, on our dependence on each other, and learn how to trust each other again. And by so doing, better serve the people who elected us. Stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio and television and Internet.
To hell with them! *applause*
They don’t want anything done for the public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood. Let’s trust each other. Let’s return to regular order. We’ve been spinning our wheels on too many important issues because we keep trying to find a way to win without help from across the aisle. That’s an approach that’s been employed by both sides, mandating legislation from the top down without any support from the other side, with all the parliamentary maneuvers that requires. We’re getting nothing done, my friends. We are getting nothing done!
And all we’ve really done this year is confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
Our healthcare insurance system is a mess. We all know it. Those who support Obamacare, and those who oppose it. Something has to be done. We Republicans have looked for a way to end it and replace it with something else without paying a terrible political price. We haven’t found it yet. And I’m not sure we will. All we’ve managed to do is make more popular a policy that wasn’t very popular when we tried getting rid of it. I voted for the motion to proceed to allow debate to continue, and amendments to be offered.
I will not vote for this bill as it is today. It’s a shell of a bill right now. We all know that. I have changes urged by my state’s governor that will have to be included to earn my support for final passage of any bill.
I know many of you will have to see the bill changed substantially for you to support it. We tried to do this by coming up with a proposal behind closed doors, in consultation with the administration. Then springing it on skeptical members, trying to convince them that it’s better than nothing. It’s better than nothing? Asking us to swallow our doubts and force it past a unified opposition… I don’t think that’s going to work in the end. And probably shouldn’t.
The administration and congressional Democrats shouldn’t have forced through Congress, without any opposition support a social and economic change as massive as Obamacare. And we shouldn’t do the same with ours.
Why don’t we try the old way of legislating in the Senate? The way our rules and customs encourage us to act, if this process ends in failure – which seems likely – then let’s return to regular order. Let the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee under chairman Alexander & ranking member Murray hold hearings, try to write a bill of committee with contributions from both sides. *Democrats applaud*
Something that my dear friends on the other side of the aisle didn’t allow to happen nine years ago. *Republicans applaud/laugh*
Let’s see if we can pass something that will be imperfect, full of compromises, and not very pleasing to implacable partisans on either side, but that might provide workable solutions to problems Americans are struggling with today. What have we to lose by trying to work together to find those solutions? We are not getting much done apart.
I don’t think very many of us feel very proud of our incapacity. Merely preventing your political opponents from doing what they want isn’t the most inspiring work. There’s greater satisfaction in respecting our differences, but not letting them prevent agreements that don’t require abandonment of core principles – agreements made in good faith to help improve lives and protect the American people.
The Senate is capable of that. We know that. We’ve seen it before. I’ve seen it happen many times, and the times when I was involved, even in a modest way, working on a bipartisan response to a national problem or threat are the proudest moments of my career. And by far the most satisfying.
This place is important. The work we do here is important. Our strange rules and seemingly eccentric practices that slow our proceedings and insist on our cooperation are important. Our Founders envisioned the Senate as the more deliberative, careful body that operates at a greater distance than the other body from the public passions of the hour.
We are an important check on the powers of the executive. Our consent is necessary for the president to appoint jurists and powerful Government officials, and in many respects, to conduct foreign policy. Whether or not we are of the same party, we are not the President’s subordinates. We are his equal.
As his responsibilities are onerous, many and powerful, so are ours. We play a vital role in shaping and directing the judiciary, the military, the cabinet, and the planning and supporting foreign and domestic policies. Our success in meeting all these awesome constitutional obligations depends upon cooperation among ourselves.
The success of the Senate is important to the continuing success of America. This country, this big, boisterous, brawling, intemperate, restless, striving, daring, beautiful, bountiful, brave, good and magnificent country needs us to help at thrive. That responsibility is more important than any of our personal interest, or political affiliation.
We are the servants of a great nation. A nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
More people have live free and prosperous lives here than in any other nation. We’ve acquired unprecedented wealth and power because of our governing principles, and because our government defend of those principles. America’s made a greater contribution than any other nation to an international order that has liberated more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history. We have been the greatest example, the greatest supporter, and the greatest defender of that role. We aren’t afraid. We don’t covet other people’s land and wealth.
We don’t hide behind walls. We breach them. We are a blessing to humanity.
What greater cause could we hope to serve than in helping keep America the strong, aspiring, inspirational beacon of liberty and defender of dignity of all human beings, and their right to freedom, and equal justice? That is the cause that binds us, and is so much more powerful and worthy than the small differences that divide us.
What a great honor, and extraordinary opportunity it is to serve in this body. It is a privilege to serve with all of you. I mean it. Many of you have reached out in the last few days with your concern and your prayers. And it means a lot to me. It really does. I’ve had so many people say such nice things about me recently, that I think some of you must have me confused with someone else. *laughter*
I appreciate it though. Every word. Even if much of it isn’t deserved.
I’ll be here for a few days. I’ll help managing the floor debate on the defense authorization bill, which I’m proud to say is again a product of bipartisan cooperation and trust among the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. After that, I’m going home for a while to treat my illness. I have every intention of returning here and giving many of you cause to regret all the nice things you said about me. And I hope to impress on you again that it is an honor to serve the American people, in your company.
Thank you, fellow senators.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.”
Could a Newly Unearthed Photo Solve the Amelia Earhart Mystery?
by Chris Queen
Eighty years ago this week, pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean, and for all of those eight decades, their disappearance has been the source of plenty of speculation and rumors.
The theories surrounding the Earhart mystery include hypotheses that she became a spy for the American government, that she became the infamous Tokyo Rose, that she survived the flight and took on a new identity, and that her plane simply sank into the ocean.
But could a newly discovered photograph shed light on the truth behind her disappearance? The History Channel seems to think so, and they’re banking on it for a new special that they are broadcasting this Sunday.
The photo, found in a long-forgotten file in the National Archives, shows a woman who resembles Earhart and a man who appears to be her navigator, Fred Noonan, on a dock. The discovery is featured in a new History channel special, “Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence,” that airs Sunday.
Independent analysts told History the photo appears legitimate and undoctored. Shawn Henry, former executive assistant director for the FBI and an NBC News analyst, has studied the photo and feels confident it shows the famed pilot and her navigator.
Though Japanese officials have claimed for years that Earhart and Noonan were never in their custody, one researcher who have studied the disappearance believes the theory, and facial recognition experts are convinced that the man and woman in the photo are Noonan and Earhart.
Proponents of the theory believe that the Japanese ship Koshu took Earhart and Noonan to the island of Saipan, where they died in custody. Locals recall seeing the aviator and the wreckage of her plane, and rumors abounded about who they thought was their famous captive resident.
Josephine Blanco Akiyama, who lived on Saipan as a child, has long claimed she saw Earhart in Japanese custody.
“I didn’t even know it was a woman, I thought it was a man,” said Akiyama. “Everybody was talking about her — they were talking about in Japanese. That’s why I know that she’s a woman. They were talking about a woman flyer.”
Does the photo solve the mystery, and is there more evidence? I guess we’ll have to tune in Sunday night to find out.
American Patriotic Songs Praise God
The past few decades have seen a great debate about the separation of church and state. Christian symbols and references to God are often purged from history books and the public landscape on the grounds that the First Amendment prohibition on a state religion mandated a secular nation. The claim that America was established apart from God and religion is easily debunked when we read the words of Founders, but all we have to do is sing patriotic songs to see how inextricably the idea of divine providence is to American freedom.
The two most obvious songs that link God and country are Irving Berlin’s “God bless America” and Lee Greenwood’s “God bless the USA.” Both songs are recent additions to the American patriotic anthology. Berlin wrote “God bless America” in 1938 and originally included an introduction that foreshadowed the looming world war. “God bless the USA” was released in 1984, but achieved classic status in 1991 with America’s victory in the Persian Gulf War. These two recent songs are far from the only songs that link America to divine providence, however.
Although “Yankee Doodle” is remembered today as the anthem of the Revolutionary War, “Chester” was a song that rivaled “Yankee Doodle” in popularity at the time. Originally composed as a hymn in 1770 by William Billings, an associate of Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, the original lyrics were revised in 1778 and the song became a popular marching song for Continental soldiers:
Let tyrants shake their iron rod,
And Slav’ry clank her galling chains;
We fear them not, we trust in God—
New England’s God forever reigns.
The song specifically credited God with leading the Continental Army to victory over the British:
When God inspired us for the fight,
Their ranks were broke, their lines were forced,
Their ships were shattered in our sight,
Or swiftly driven from our coast.
Another early patriotic song that often served as an unofficial national anthem was “My Country Tis of Thee.” This song combines the melody of the English national anthem, “God Save the Queen,” with words written by Samuel Francis Smith in 1831. The fourth verse pays homage to God as the author of liberty and asks for his protection:
Our fathers’ God to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom’s holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King.
The “Battle Hymn of the Republic” may be the most theological of the American patriotic songs. The lyrics were written in 1861 by Julia Ward Howe while the music was borrowed by “John Brown’s Body,” which in turn came from a Methodist hymn, “Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us?” by William Steffe. From the opening line of “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,” every stanza carries overt references the Christian God, but the fourth verse is particularly religious:
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me;
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
Even the “Star Spangled Banner,” which officially became the national anthem in 1931, has religious references. The story of the “Star Spangled Banner” is well known. The lyrics were penned by Francis Scott Key as he watched the bombardment of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry from the deck of a British warship in 1814. Key’s words were set to the music of “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a British drinking song composed in 1775.
The fourth verse of the “Star Spangled Banner,” like several other patriotic songs, credits God with saving the United States. It also contains the origin of “In God we trust,” the official motto of the United States since 1956.
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
The “lost” verse of the “Star Spangled Banner” became an internet sensation in 2010 with an impromptu performance by a former Marine named Louis at a Tea Party rally in Douglasville, Ga. Louis’ rendition of the fourth verse was posted on You Tube and eventually generated more than 11 million views. (You might even catch a glimpse of the author of this article who was in attendance that day standing by the blue tent).
These patriotic songs take their cue from the father of the country himself, George Washington. In his inaugural address in 1789, Washington gave credit for American independence to God, saying, “No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States.” Washington also warned future generations, “the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.”
Regardless of your views on church and state separation, when you sing patriotic songs this Independence Day you will be praising God. That follows the tradition that goes back to the earliest days of our Republic.
AHCA May Be Best Chance to Replace Obamacare In Our Lifetime
The House of Representatives finally passed a bill to gut Obamacare and many conservatives are upset. Admittedly the bill is not full repeal. It is far from perfect. If I was going to write a health care reform plan, the American Health Care Act would not be it. Still, I’m very glad that the House passed the bill and I fervently hope that the Senate moves the legislation forward. Why? Because it is the only health care reform that has any chance of passing.
Many myths have grown up around Obamacare and the Republican repeal and replace effort. Over time, we have forgotten that Obamacare was not passed by a budget reconciliation. “HR 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” was passed on Christmas Eve 2009 after a cloture vote by 60 Democrats ended a Republican filibuster. It was a traditional bill that requires a traditional bill to repeal.
So, what was the controversy about the budget reconciliation? After Scott Brown (R-Mass.) was elected to the Senate, the Democrats could no longer break Republican filibusters. If the Democrat-controlled House amended the ACA, it would be subject to another cloture vote, which the Democrats would lose. The answer was to have the House pass the bill unchanged and use the budget reconciliation process to pass a second bill, “HR 4872, The Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act,” by a simple majority vote. This bill was subject to the same limitations that the GOP now faces in passing their own budget reconciliation.
Even though Republicans hold the presidency and control both houses of Congress, they were not granted a blank check by voters. A full repeal would require 60 votes for cloture in the Senate and there are only 52 Republicans. The mathematical problem is obvious.
But what about the 2015 repeal bill that was vetoed by President Obama, you may ask. Republicans didn’t have 60 votes in 2015 either, but they passed a repeal bill then. Why can’t they do it now?
The answer is that the 2015 repeal bill was not a full repeal either. The 2015 bill, was also a reconciliation bill that carried the unwieldy title, “HR 3762 To Provide for Reconciliation Pursuant to Section 2002 of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2016.” The text of the bill states in Section 102 that the ACA “is amended,” not repealed.
If the 2015 bill was better that the AHCA of 2017, it is for two reasons. First, there were 54 Republicans in the 114th Congress where there are only 52 now. The GOP could afford to lose more votes in the Senate in 2015 that it can today.
Second, four Republican senators who voted for the 2015 bill now say that they won’t vote for a bill that does not provide for a phase out of the Medicaid expansion. Sens. Rob Portman (Ohio,) Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), Cory Gardner (Colo.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) refuse to back the same bill that they voted for two years ago. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) voted against the 2015 bill and would presumably do so again. Other Republicans are reluctant to repeal the popular provision concerning pre-existing conditions. It is these five senators and House moderates, not the Republican leadership or President Trump that are forcing a more watered-down version of the bill.
Some conservatives suggest that Republicans should get rid of the filibuster to pass a repeal. We wouldn’t need 60 votes then and the Democrats will probably kill it anyway the next time they have a majority, they argue.
The problem with this strategy is that full repeal could not even win a simple majority vote. The five Republican defectors in the Congress and the Tuesday Group of 50 Republican moderates in the House would kill it.
Removing the filibuster would also mean that Democrats would only need simple majorities to replace Republican health care reform with a national single-payer system the next time they control both houses of Congress and the presidency. It would also usher in a host of other bad ideas from gun control to a higher minimum wage to higher taxes to onerous regulations on practically everything. It is true that Democrats might one day choose to remove the filibuster, but it is certain that if Republicans remove it now, for no strategic reason, Democrats will have a field day when they return to power.
What, then, are the options for Republicans on Obamacare? One option is to wait and hope for a filibuster-proof majority. If you favor this option, be aware that the last time that Republicans had a 60-vote majority was the 61st Congress from 1909 to 1911. It is extremely likely that before the Republicans get a supermajority, Obamacare will implode, health insurance premiums will skyrocket, insurance companies will cancel policies and hell will freeze over. I have little doubt that if Republicans hold out for the perfect, full repeal bill that I will die of old age with Obamacare still intact. (I’m only 45.)
Waiting until 2018 might give the Republicans a few more votes to craft a better compromise. It is also possible that two years into the Trump Administration, voters might deliver a rebuke to Republicans in the form of Democrat majority in either the House or Senate that makes any sort of conservative impossible. In any event, it is doubtful that the numbers would change enough in the GOP’s favor to justify putting off a cornerstone promise of the campaign for two years. The longer Republicans wait to take action, the more entrenched Obamacare will become.
A better option is to take baby steps toward the full repeal of Obamacare starting now with the AHCA. The current bill has the support of moderates as well as the Freedom Caucus and has decent chance of becoming law. While far from ideal, it is a reasonable bill that can hopefully be improved further in its journey through the Senate. Even if it became law in its current form it would mark a vast improvement over Obamacare.
The Republican reform bill should not be viewed as a final step, but as a first step toward total repeal. Without a supermajority, it may take years of nibbling at the edges of Obamacare to fully repeal the behemoth, but conservatives have to start somewhere. The logical place to start is the bill that has the support of the two disparate factions of the GOP. The only bill that has a chance of becoming law.
Conservatives must decide whether it is worth trading a chance to gut Obamacare now to wait for a perfect bill in the distant future. The answer should be obvious. We should not allow the perfect to be the enemy of good and the possible.
Seize the day and start saving American healthcare!
How Obamacare Was Passed – And Why It Can’t Be Repealed By Reconciliation
A common question since President Trump took office is why Republicans can’t simply repeal the entire Affordable Care Act with a budget reconciliation. The Democrats passed it that way, the argument goes, so why should Republicans have to worry about filibusters, cloture votes and the arcane rules of the Senate when they try to repeal Obamacare?
The most obvious reason is that with the four Republican Senators who are holding out to preserve the Medicaid expansion, Republicans don’t even have a simple majority that would vote for a clean repeal. The Medicaid Four, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Rob Portman of Ohio and Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia, vowed to oppose any repeal and replace bill that did not allow a phase out of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.
A more technical reason is that Obamacare was not passed with a budget reconciliation. Not exactly anyway.
At the beginning of the 111th Congress in 2009, Democrats held 58 seats in the Senate. The wave election of 2008 had given them a majority that was just short of filibuster proof. Then the Democrats got two lucky – or at least underhanded – breaks. First, in what is often considered to be a stolen election, Al Franken unseated Republican Norm Coleman in a hotly contested recount. Second, Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) switched his party affiliation to Democrat in April 2009. Suddenly, the Democrats had the 60 votes necessary to stop a Republican filibuster in its tracks.
Specter’s defection set the stage for the Senate to pass the Affordable Care Act. On December 23, 2009, the Senate voted to end debate on the bill. The next day, Christmas Eve, the Senate passed the bill in a strict party line vote with every Republican voting “no.” The bill then went to the House of Representatives.
The next month, the Democrats faced a setback when Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) died suddenly. In a special election widely interpreted to be a referendum on the health care bill, Scott Brown defeated the heavily favored Democrat candidate and broke the Democrats’ filibuster-proof majority.
What saved the Democrats was the fact that the House and Senate had negotiated most of their differences prior to the introduction of the bill into the Senate. To win over the final few House Democrats, the Democrat leadership urged them to pass the Senate bill with no changes and then pass a second bill via the reconciliation process. If the Senate bill was passed without changes, it would avoid going to conference and being subjected to a second Republican filibuster attempt before a final vote. The reconciliation bill, although its content would be restricted to tax, spending and debt limit legislation by Senate rules, would also not be subject to a filibuster.
After President Obama signed an Executive Order that purported to ensure that federal funds would not be used for abortion, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and the last few Democrat holdouts signed onto the bill. The promise not to fund abortion was broken almost immediately.
The Affordable Care Act was passed by the House without amendment on March 21, 2010 and went directly to the president’s desk. The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 was passed by both Houses of Congress on March 25, 2010. President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law on March 23 and the Health Care Reconciliation Act on March 30.
The bottom line is that Obamacare passed with two bills. One was a reconciliation bill and one was not. The largest part of Obamacare legislation was passed in a normal bill that Republicans did not have the numbers to filibuster. The Republicans cannot pass a clean repeal because they do not have the votes to stop the Democrat filibuster that would be certain to come.
But what about the 2015 repeal bill that was vetoed by President Obama? How could this bill repeal the entirety of Obamacare and get past the Democrat filibuster to the president’s desk if it was limited to the Senate rules on budget reconciliations?
The answer is that the bill, HR 3762, which was assigned the unwieldy name “To provide for reconciliation pursuant to section 2002 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2016,” was not a clean repeal of Obamacare any more than the AHCA was. The 2015 bill, like the AHCA, begins with the statement that the Affordable Care Act is amended, not repealed.
A House Republican fact page about HR 3762 also doesn’t make the claim that the bill would have repealed Obamacare in full. The bill summary on the page says, “HR 3762 repeals the health exchange subsidies and the Medicaid expansion included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), repeals the ‘Obamacare slush fund,’ eliminates federal funding for Planned Parenthood, repeals the individual and employer mandate penalties, and repeals the medical device and ‘Cadillac’ tax, among other provisions.” If you doubt this, you can read the text of the bill for yourself here.
HR 3762 might have been a better bill than the AHCA, but the Republican position in Congress was also better in 2015. Republicans held 54 Senate seats and 246 House seats in the 115th Congress. In the squeaker election of 2016, President Trump’s short coattails reduced those numbers to 52 Senate seats and 241 House seats. There is still a GOP majority in both houses, but a slimmer one with less margin for defections on votes.
HR 3762 passed the Senate by a 52-47 vote. Two Republicans voted against the measure, Mark Kirk of Illinois and Susan Collins of Maine. Mark Kirk lost his reelection bid in 2016, but Susan Collins remains in the Senate as a prospective “no” vote on the AHCA.
The Medicaid Four were all in the Senate in 2015 and all voted for HR 3762. These four Senators switched their positions on the Medicaid expansion and made it necessary to present a weaker bill to Congress. It is ultimately these four Senators, along with Susan Collins, who should be held responsible for the failure of the GOP to repeal Obamacare because, without their votes, not even a reconciliation bill can pass, let alone a cloture vote on a clean repeal bill.
The failure of the Republicans to pass a clean repeal bill is not due to a lack of will on most members of the party. It is due to math. Democrats used the extremely rare and temporary 60 vote majority to force Obamacare through Congress with no Republican support. The current Republican position is much weaker than that of the Democrats in 2010.
If it is the fault of “RINOs” in Congress, it must be noted that Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) is not the RINO to blame. Ryan and other Republican leaders worked to provide the strongest bill possible given the electoral realities of their caucus.
The blame lies with a handful of Republican Senators who are holding up the drive for a strong bill to replace Obamacare. Their names are Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Cory Gardner (Col.), Rob Portman (Ohio), Shelly Moore Capito (W. V.) and Susan Collins (Maine).
Trump’s Respect for Andrew Jackson Matters
by Brian Sikma
When President Donald Trump visited the grave of Andrew Jackson during a recent trip to Tennessee, some commentators recoiled at the thought that Trump, a populist who clearly believes in a strong, forceful chief executive, would find in Jackson an historical figure with which he could identify. The nation’s 7th president was a colorful, deeply flawed individual, not unlike the 45th occupant of the highest office in the land. But instead of worrying over Trump’s decision to pay homage to Jackson, honest observers should at least see the basic merit of the action.
Just days before he took office, Trump quite bluntly said that he had no use for heroes. The remarks came during a press availability with foreign reporters. “Well, I don’t like heroes, I don’t like the concept of heroes, the concept of heroes is never great,” Trump said before talking about how you can respect certain people (he cited his father) who have done good things.
The moment was a revealing one, and Trump skeptics rightly pointed out that the remarks sounded like they came from someone who didn’t spend a lot of time pondering history, the past, or weighing his actions in the context of what others in his position might do. It is possible the remarks were just another attempt by Trump to portray himself as a forward-looking, confident leader and did not represent any real philosophical outlook that denied the good in having heroes.
But one has to take the comments at face value. And on their face they revealed a leader who believes that he is capable of shaping history without holding it in overly high regard.
Fast forward to Trump’s actions at the Hermitage and his subsequent comment that “It was during the revolution that Jackson first confronted and defied an arrogant elite. Does that sound familiar?” The Daily Beast reports that Trump’s love of Jackson is relatively newfound and strongly influenced by his close advisers. In fact, the public comparison of Trump to Jackson appears to have first come from Trump boosters, with The Atlantic publishing a piece on the parallels weeks after the presidential election. The magazine named several Trump allies who promoted the comparison even before the election.
Trump’s willingness to pay public respect to an historical figure, even one as deeply flawed as Jackson, is a sign that on at least some level he is aware of the immense duties of his office. Only 45 people have ever held the office of President of the United States. There is no rulebook for how the job is to be done, and the only academic program of study that can prepare one for the task is a vigorous look at how different predecessors handled the awesome responsibility. History is hardly a predictor of the future, but it is a reasonable guide that offers real lessons for what did and did not work in similar situations in the past.
A cursory study of Jackson will reveal the political popularity he achieved by holding the elites and special interests accountable. It will also reveal the long-term folly of his policy toward Native Americans. Both are lessons that Trump could apply to contemporary challenges, from how to deal with illegal immigration (forced deportation of all illegal aliens likely won’t solve the problem) to how to rebuild the nation’s image abroad while expanding economic opportunity at home.
One must be careful to not assume that Trump’s homage to Old Hickory involves respect for the many flaws of the backwoods president. Michael Gerson, speechwriter to President George W. Bush, rightly summarized Jackson’s many shortcomings in a recent column criticizing Trump’s display of public respect for his distant predecessor. But Gerson also failed to recognize that it is possible to respect the positive qualities of complex historical characters while learning from their deepest and most tragic mistakes.
We should never be ashamed to judge a previous generation’s actions as wrong when they violate basic standards of morality, but we should never be so arrogant as to assume that we cannot learn something from those who have gone before. If Trump chooses to study Jackson and learn from his predecessor, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Time will tell what lessons were learned, but for now, the humility in recognizing that there are some lessons to learn is a commendable thing.
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Sean Spicer
Sean Spicer resigns as White House press secretary
White House press secretary Sean Spicer resigned yesterday. Evidently Spicer was not at all pleased with New York financier Anthony Scaramucci appointment as White House communications director. If I remember the things I learned from watching the West Wing, communications director is the press secretary’s boss. Spicer quit because he didn’t want to work for his new boss.
I respect that.
I’m not familiar with Anthony Scaramucci, but I’m certain he’s an asshole. I find anyone willing to work for Donald Trump to be morally suspicious.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t respect anyone in the Trump White House. I don’t understand how anyone could work for Donald Trump. I especially don’t understand how anyone could defend the actions and comments of Donald Trump, one of the main responsibilities of the current White House press secretary.
Taking over as White House press secretary is Sarah Huckabee Sanders, daughter of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. She was one of Spicer’s deputies. Being that she’s from House Huckabee, I’m sure her ability to distort the truth is already naturally quite high. She’s been filling in for Spicer for a while now, so I doubt there will be much of a transition.
Now that Sean Spicer has more free time, he’ll be able to attend more anime conventions. Evidently he’s an anime nerd. Good for him.
Tags: Anime, Anthony Scaramucci, Donald Trump, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Sean Spicer
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Bethel senior Lydia Aultman made the decision to disagree with the Covenant for Life Together when she applied to finish her degree after taking a year off from school. | Photo by Sofia Noethe
Choosing not to sign the Covenant
Published on November 1, 2017 in News by Mady Fortier
In her reapplication process to Bethel, senior Lydia Aultman clicked no, that she did not agree to Bethel’s Covenant for Life Together.
By Mady Fortier
Senior Lydia Aultman reapplied to Bethel after taking a year off between her junior and senior year. The readmission application is filled out online through the registrar’s office and ends with Bethel’s Covenant for Life Together, highlighting Bethel’s standards of a biblical lifestyle. Also included is a section to click yes or no: “I agree or do not agree to abide by the guidelines of the Covenant.”
Aultman clicked no.
“I read the Covenant, and however disturbing it sounded, I signed it,” Aultman said of her first time filling out the application for Bethel.
She had agreed to the Covenant at the beginning of her first three years at Bethel because she didn’t know there was another option. But on the application, both for first-time students and students who are reapplying, there is an option to agree or disagree with the Covenant.
According to Bret Hyder, director of admissions, it is a choice to be a part of this covenant community, and because of that there is a committee led by Dean and Vice President Deb Sullivan-Trainor to ensure that all students who apply to Bethel understand the Covenant and what they are choosing to join.
It is a requirement for students to agree to the Covenant before they are accepted to Bethel. It is a rare occurrence that a student disagrees, Hyder said, so it has not proven to be an issue for the admissions office. But in the rare situation where a student does disagree to abide by the Covenant, the student’s application gets sent to a committee for review.
My main reason (for not agreeing) is that I’m a queer woman.
One student was accepted to Bethel last year despite his decision to not sign the Covenant. He brews beer as a part of his livelihood, and because of that he could not agree with the Covenant, according to Hyder.
The application that Aultman submitted went through the registrar’s office and not the admissions office. Applications are reviewed during the acceptance process, but it was most likely an oversight, Hyder said.
“My main reason (for not agreeing) is that I’m a queer woman,” Aultman said.
The Covenant states that sexual activity is reserved for heterosexual marriage.
“I’m homosexual, so anything I do is homosexual behavior,” Aultman said. “I didn’t think I’d ever come out in my time at Bethel, and now that I am out I would feel very offended if I had to sign it (the Covenant).”
Aultman’s reasons for disagreeing with the Covenant were not solely based on its section about marriage and sexuality, but also the name “covenant.” Aultman believes that a covenant is something initiated by God, a promise made between himself and his people.
It would make more sense to call it a contract, Aultman said. She refers to the Bible where serious consequences were the result of a covenant being broken and views that as a precaution to signing a covenant.
Campus Pastor Laurel Bunker spoke in chapel Aug. 28 about the importance of the Covenant and how it allows students to be connected with each other.
“It doesn’t mean that we’re gonna be perfect,” Bunker said. “It’s not about condemnation, it’s not about worry, it’s not about fret – it’s about an aspirational and inspirational goal to love one another as Christ loves us.”
According to Hyder, a student can only receive disciplinary action from violating policies in the Student Handbook, not the Covenant. Although the two work in tandem, students cannot be disciplined for breaking only the Covenant.
“Whether a student abides by the Covenant is irrelevant,” Hyder said. “It exists for a very good reason. Not disciplinary action.”
Editor’s note: The final quote from Bret Hyder in a previous version of this article did not provide adequate context, which may have distorted the meaning. We have updated the article to include more context from Hyder. We regret the ambiguity and are grateful to our sources for the follow-up.
Mady Fortier
What constitutes a liquor violation?
The luxury of leaving
The Covenant isn’t the problem – The Clarion says:
[…] taking issue with the Bethel Covenant. A recent example is the piece from the last publication, “Choosing Not to Sign the Covenant.” That is just one example. It doesn’t matter what specifically someone disagrees with, but the […]
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Consumer,Contract
In Malaysia you can get out of a contract if both sides made a mistake
6 months ago Juhn Tao
People inevitably make mistakes every day. After all, nobody’s perfect, right?
But when it comes to contracts, ‘mistakes’ are a whole different ball game. Just to be clear, not reading or understanding a contract before you signed it is a mistake on your part, but NOT in the eyes of the law – you’ll still be bound by the contract and will have to follow through with whatever horrible terms you agreed to. You can read this for further information.
The ‘mistake’ we’re talking about is a genuine error in regards to the item or subject in the contract. Here’s an example – Someone puts an iPhone 5s up for sale, and you signed a contract to pay for the phone by instalment even though you don’t actually know what an iPhone 5s looks like. But as you’re showing off your brand new iPhone 5s to your friends, one of them points out that it’s actually an iPhone 5. You immediately scream “SCAM!” but as it turns out, the seller is an old uncle who also can’t tell the difference.
So does that mean you can cancel the contract? Well, there’s a pretty high chance that you can, since it’s a...
Mistake made by both parties
Image from The Washington Times
While you might think that something as important as a contract should be mistake-free, they will inevitably pop up from time to time. This is why Section 21 of the Contracts Act 1950 allows agreements to be voided (cancelled) if both parties made a mistake related to a fact essential to the agreement – which is basically the reason why you’re signing the contract in the first place. Here’s how Section 21 is worded:
Where both the parties to an agreement are under a mistake as to a matter of fact essential to the agreement, the agreement is void.
In order to come within the scope of this provision, two requirements have to be fulfilled:
The mistake must be made by both parties of the contract where both parties are wrong about the subject of the contract.
The mistake must be related to something (fact) that’s important for the agreement to happen. For example, if you’ve entered a contract to buy a double-story house house for RM2 million, the fact that it’s a double story house and the fact that RM2 million will be given in exchange for the house are both important. The contract cannot happen if neither of these elements exist.
There are generally TWO categories of mistakes that can be made by both parties, which we’ll look at below:
1. When both parties made a mistake about the existence of the subject
This applies when both parties do not know that the subject of the agreement has ceased to exist or has never existed when the contract was signed.
For example, you entered a contract to buy a puppy poodle from someone who’s poodle had just given birth. However, as you and the seller are signing the agreement at the kopitiam, the puppy poodle unexpectedly dies. Since both you and the seller were unaware of the puppy poodle’s death when the contract was signed, the contract will no longer be valid.
2. When both parties made a mistake on the identity of the subject
Image from Trusted Reviews
For this situation, we’re gonna use our earlier “iPhone example”.
As a recap, the seller has an iPhone 5 he wants to sell, but he thinks it’s an iPhone 5s. When you bought it from him, you thought you were buying a 5s too.
Because BOTH the parties here made a mistake on the “identity” of the subject matter, the contract would be covered by Section 21 of the Contracts Act 1950 – making the contract invalid.
There’s no mistake, if…..
1. Only one fella makes a mistake a.k.a unilateral mistake
If you noticed our earlier examples when mistakes are made, they’re mistakes made by both parties. However, if the mistake is made by only one person, the contract wouldn’t be void. In such situations, Section 23 Contracts Act 1950 provides that the contract still stands:
A contract is not voidable merely because it was caused by one of the parties to it being under a mistake as to a matter of fact.
So if we were to revisit the iPhone example. If the iPhone seller knows that he’s selling you an iPhone 5 but you thought you were buying an iPhone 5s, there will be no mistake and the contract will still be valid.
2. You both make a mistake as to the law
Images from Law Office of John L Buckley
We have covered situations where mistakes were made and the mistakes had to with facts, basically people getting their facts wrong. However when people get the law wrong, there’s no such a thing as a mistake.
In the case of Seck v. Wong & Lee (1940), Mr. Seck asked Mr. Wong (who was an architect) for some architectural drawings. After being given the drawings, he paid Mr. Wong RM500 for it, because he thought he was legally bound to do so, when in fact he was not. So he tried to sue Mr. Wong for the money back, because they made a mistake as to law. Unfortunately for Mr. Seck, the court said that he can’t get his money back because a mistake as to the law wouldn’t make a contract void.
But weirdly enough, this ruling would apply to mistakes people make on Malaysian law. So that means if a mistake is made on foreign law, the contract would still be valid.
You get back what you’ve given, and you return what you received
We’ve been talking about how a contract becomes void if there’s a mistake. But we realise you’re probably going “Okay la contract void, but so what?”.
Well, the contract will no longer exist, and the Contracts Act 1950 will allow you to get your money back! Woohoo!
But before you celebrate you can’t keep the item you’ve received and get your money back, you must return back the item you’ve received. This is basically how the courts try to put you guys back to the position as if the sale didn’t happen.
contracts act 1950
unilateral mistake
seck v wong & lee
Juhn Tao
Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur
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Residents Leaving Assisted Living: Descriptive and Analytic Results from a National Survey
Residents Leaving Assisted Liv...
Residents Leaving Assisted Living: Descriptive and Analytic Results from a National Survey Assisted Living Discharged Resident Telephone Interview Assisted Living Discharged Resident Proxy Respondent Telephone Interview A National Study of Assisted Living for the Frail Elderly: Discharged Residents Telephone Survey Data Collection and Sampling Report Licensure Questionnaire
Charles D. Phillips, Ph.D., M.P.H., and Catherine Hawes, Ph.D.Texas A&M University System Health Science Center
Kathleen Spry, Ph.D., and Miriam Rose, M.Ed.Myers Research Institute
PDF Version: http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/2000/alresid.pdf (60 PDF pages)
This report was prepared under contracts #HHS-100-94-0024 and #HHS-100-98-0013 between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy (DALTCP) and the Research Triangle Institute. Additional funding was provided by American Association of Retired Persons, the Administration on Aging, the National Institute on Aging, and the Alzheimer's Association. For additional information about this subject, you can visit the DALTCP home page at http://aspe.hhs.gov/_/office_specific/daltcp.cfm or contact the ASPE Project Officer, Gavin Kennedy, at HHS/ASPE/DALTCP, Room 424E, H.H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201. His e-mail address is: Gavin.Kennedy@hhs.gov
This report was prepared under contracts HHS-100-94-0024 and HHS-100-98-0013 from the Office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. AARP, The Alzheimer's Association and the National Institute on Aging have also provided support for this project. AARP provided special support for this analysis. The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of any of the sponsoring organizations other than DHHS/ASPE.
II. RESEARCH METHODS
A. Research Questions
B. Sampling and Data Collection
C. Measurement Issues
D. Statistical Analysis
III. RESULTS
A. Descriptive Analysis for Residents Leaving an ALF
B. Factors Affecting Outcome After Discharge
IV. DISCUSSION
V. CONCLUSIONS
APPENDIX A: Variable Descriptions, Scale Descriptions and Methodological Notes
APPENDIX B: Survey Instruments
EXHIBIT 1: Departures from Assisted Living Facilities Between Baseline and Follow-up
EXHIBIT 2: Residence Following Departure from an Assisted Living Facility
EXHIBIT 3: Reasons for Leaving the ALF
EXHIBIT 4: Ranking Important Aspects of an ALF
EXHIBIT 5: Descriptive Data for Residents with Known Discharge Status
EXHIBIT 6: Service Level and Status After Discharge
EXHIBIT 7: Multivariate Analysis of Living Arrangement at Follow-up Using Facility-level Indicators
EXHIBIT 8: Multivariate Analysis of Living Arrangement at Follow-up Using Facility-level and Individual-level Indicators
EXHIBIT A-1: Variables Included in Initial Multivariate Analyses
Assisted living is the fastest growing sector of housing with supportive services. While aging in place is an important tenet of the assisted living philosophy, departures or discharges from assisted living are a fact of life; but there is little information available about the reality of movement out of assisted living facilities (ALFs).
This report provides information on departures from assisted living, the reasons for departure, and those resident and facility characteristics that affected the likelihood of various resident outcomes associated with departure. The report focuses on a nationally-representative sample of ALFs in 1998 that offered either a relatively high level of services or a relatively high level of privacy or both high services and high privacy. This special group of ALFs represents about 40 percent of places calling themselves assisted living facilities.
We estimated that roughly one-quarter of ALF residents left their facility over the course of 12 months.The most common reason given for leaving an ALF was the need for more care.Those who left a study ALF were most likely to have died or gone to a nursing home.
Our best estimates from this national sample indicate that in 1998 approximately 24 percent of residents left an ALF over the course of 12 months. The results indicate that roughly one-third of the residents who left a study ALF between baseline and follow-up (roughly 8 percent of all residents on a yearly basis) either died in the ALF or elsewhere prior to follow-up contact. The bulk of the remainder who left went to a nursing home or some other residential care setting or ALF. On an annualized basis, 8 percent of all residents went to a nursing home and 4 percent of all residents moved to some other residential care setting. The need for more care was the most common reason cited by respondents for leaving an ALF. Very few respondents indicated that they or their family member left the original ALF because they could no longer afford to remain in the facility.
This research also provided some heretofore unavailable information on the characteristics of residents and facilities that affect individuals movement out of assisted living. In the multivariate analyses that controlled for both individual and facility characteristics, age and marital status affected a residents likelihood of death prior to follow-up. Although only a small percentage of ALF residents were married, they were twice as likely as unmarried residents to die prior to the follow-up interview. The only individual-level variable that affected an individuals likelihood of entering a nursing home was cognitive status.
In the multivariate models, facility characteristics also had an impact. No facility characteristics had a significant impact on a residents likelihood of death. However, residence in a for-profit ALF was highly associated with movement into another residential care setting other than a nursing home. Also, residing in an ALF with a full-time RN who provided care to residents reduced a residents likelihood of going to a nursing home or to some other setting roughly by half.
Both individual-level and facility level factors determined where residents went when they left their ALF.Residents in ALFs without a full-time RN involved in direct care were significantly more likely to leave their ALF to go to a nursing home or some other care setting than were other residents.
These results have a number of relatively interesting policy implications. For policy-makers interested in developing an assisted living industry that can delay nursing home use, creating incentives for facilities to provide a higher level of service could be productive. However, such a policy stance would mean encouraging the development of higher cost ALFs, yet how to develop ALFs that are affordable for individuals with low or moderate income is now becoming a major issue. In addition, if higher cost ALFs are encouraged, then the specific amount of delay in nursing home use (i.e., the number of person-months) that results from these increased costs becomes a critical parameter for policy discussions. In addition, one must consider any additional home health, ambulatory care, medications, or acute care that are required during the delay and might have been avoided by placement in a nursing home.
For consumers intent on avoiding or delaying nursing home placement, seeking out ALFs that have full-time RNs and provide nursing care with their in-house staff may represent a good choice in an ALF. For consumers interested in aging in place, choosing a facility with a full-time RN active in direct care is one way to reduce the likelihood that they will have to move to a nursing home, or another ALF or residential care setting.1
Most people entering an ALF are not as disabled as those entering a nursing home. This means that the choice to enter an ALF with a full-time RN active in direct care may only be important to more impaired residents or to residents over the course of time as they age in place. Thus, many consumers might end up paying at the front-end for services that will only be important to them later, if they stay in the same facility.
One must also remember that this analysis focused on facilities that chose at a specific point in the evolution of the industry to have a full-time RN and provide direct care with in-house nursing staff. These services seem to have had a direct impact on resident outcomes. However, the results of these services in facilities that add such services as a marketing tool, as the result of some reimbursement incentive, or because of a regulatory mandate may differ.
The finding that cognitive impairment has such an important impact on nursing home placement may also have substantial policy implications. To the degree that the industry is encouraged to care for more severely cognitively impaired residents, then savings in nursing home costs may accrue. However, the industrys ability to provide appropriate care to this population is unproven.
As the discussion above indicates, the policy issues here are complex, and our knowledge base is limited. This is, after all, a single study. Even though it is based on a nationally-representative sample of higher service or higher privacy facilities, an appropriate measure of caution should be used when considering these results in the policy-making process.
In the service niche between a personal dwelling where someone receives home health services and the nursing home, one finds a range of institutions classified under the broad rubric of housing with supportive services. This service sectors considerable growth over the last two decades has been driven by a number of factors. Policy-makers and professionals have begun to recognize that frail elderly and younger individuals with disabilities both deserve and will utilize a wide range of choices in their living arrangements. At the same time, concern grows about the cost of nursing home care for a burgeoning elderly population (Pynoos & Liebig, 1995).
In the United States in recent years, the fastest growing segment of this service sector has been the assisted living industry (American Seniors Housing Association, 1998). According to the Assisted Living Quality Coalition (1998), a coalition representing both consumer and provider groups, assisted living is:
A congregate residential setting that provides or coordinates personal services, 24-hour supervision, and assistance (scheduled and unscheduled), activities, and health related services; designed to minimize the need to move; designed to accommodate residents changing needs and preferences; designed to maximize residents dignity, autonomy, privacy, independence, and safety; and designed to encourage family and community involvement.
Assisted living is an industry that largely serves individuals who can pay for their care with private resources, but States are becoming increasingly willing to pay for personal care services provided in these facilities through their Medicaid programs (Mollica, 1998; Mollica & Snow, 1996).
Assisted living appeals to both payors and frail elders. The appeal of assisted living to payors is quite clear. They have great hopes that increased use of these facilities may decrease nursing home use and reduce their outlays for long-term health care for the elderly. In fact, some relatively recent research suggests that States might reap considerable savings in their Medicaid budgets by increasing the length of stay for individuals with cognitive impairment residing in assisted living (Leon, Cheng & Neumann, 1998). The appeal to individuals is equally clear when one remembers that some recent research indicates that 30 percent of adults would rather die than become a permanent resident in a nursing home (Mattimore et al., 1997). Moreover, assisted living facilities (ALFs) offering private accommodations meet important consumer preferences for privacy (Jenkens, 1997; Kane et al., 1998).
The assisted living industry is committed, at least philosophically, to individuals aging in place (Assisted Living Quality Coalition, 1998). ALFs are also filled with individuals who believe that they will be able to age in place. Recent results from a national survey indicate that just over 98 percent of the residents in ALFs in 1998 expected to live in those facilities as long as they wished (Phillips, Rose & Hawes, 2000).
The reality, of course, is that many individuals will leave ALFs to receive more care in some other setting. Most frequently, that setting will be a nursing home. Depending on the study being reviewed, somewhere between 20 percent and 43 percent of assisted living residents leave the facility because they need the level of care provided in a nursing home (Gulyas, 1997; Hodlewsky, 1998).
However, a variety of questions about aging in place and the assisted living industrys ability to substitute for nursing home care remain unanswered at this time. First, the most basic information about discharges is quite fragmentary. For example, we currently lack information on why residents exit. Even for those who move to a nursing home, we do not know whether they have decided that they needed a different level of care or the facility decided that they needed a different level of care. In addition, none of the information currently available provides data that are national in scope.
Second, no research is available that indicates what specific characteristics of ALFs might affect the rates at which residents are discharged to a higher level of care. This is a crucial question for both policy-makers and consumers. Public payors may want to encourage, should it exist, the type of ALF that reduces a residents likelihood of discharge to a nursing home. Consumers may want to use their market power to support such facilities, given their aversion to the idea of residence in a nursing home.
This research addresses the issues of discharge from ALFs and aging in place with data from a national sample of ALFs offering relatively high levels of service or high levels of privacy. It first provides descriptive data on a sample of individuals discharged from the study ALFs. It then addresses the more complex analytic issues concerning a residents likelihood of being discharged to a nursing home from an ALF and the facility characteristics associated with individuals aging in place in assisted living.
The data used for this analysis are part of A National Study of Assisted Living for the Frail Elderly. This project was funded by the Office of Disability, Aging, and Long-Term Care Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Additional support for these specific analyses was provided by the Public Policy Institute, Research Group at AARP.
This research addresses two basic issues concerning departures from ALFs. First, what were the rates and dynamics of discharges from assisted living, based on our national sample? Second, did facility characteristics, especially the level of service resources available on-site (e.g., a full-time RN), affect resident outcomes? In this specific instance, did differences among facilities affect a residents likelihood of going into a nursing facility?
A three-stage stratified sample was used in the selection of our nationally- representative sample of residents. Geographic areas (counties or county-equivalents) were selected at the first stage. Facilities were the second-stage sampling units, and residents, their families, and facility staff were the third-stage sampling units. The data collection effort included telephone interviews with administrators and on-site data collection by research staff in 300 facilities in 40 geographic areas. Baseline data collection occurred during the Summer and Fall of 1998. The on-site baseline data collection involved an additional in-person interview with the operator or administrator, interviews with a sample of staff members, and resident interviews. The final resident-level sample included interviews with 1,581 residents or their proxy respondents if the resident was unable to respond. Proxies included both a staff direct caregiver and a family member if they were knowledgeable and available. Twenty-four (23.9) percent of the resident-level responses at the baseline interview came from proxies. The population to which inferences can be made from this sample included an estimated 192,046 residents in 4,309 ALFs across the nation offering high levels of service or high levels of privacy.
Each of the facilities included in the on-site data collection was contacted again between seven and 11 months after the initial interviews. The administrator indicated which of the residents interviewed at baseline were still in the facility, had died in the facility, or had been discharged during the intervening months. Those residents who had been discharged, or their families, were contacted by research staff and interviewed. The vast majority of these interviews (94 percent) were completed with family members. So few residents were reached in follow-up because many had died, many others were in nursing homes and could not be reached by phone, and some were cognitively impaired and could not respond for themselves. Whether a resident or a family member was the respondent should make little difference for some information (e.g., date of departure, current location). For other information (e.g., satisfaction, reason for discharge, involvement in the decision concerning departure), it is important to remember that almost all of the respondents were family members, not the residents themselves. The re-interview response rate was 84 percent (Survey Research Division, 1999).2
Defining Assisted Living
Defining what one means by assisted living is something of a treacherous task. Even the States that are licensing these facilities lack a common definition of exactly what they might be (Hodlewsky, 1998; Mollica, 1998). In this study, an ALF was a residential setting that had more than 10 beds and served mainly an elderly population. The facility must have described or represented itself as being an ALF or met a specific set of inclusion criteria when it did not explicitly represent or describe itself as an ALF. These inclusion criteria required that the facility provided 24-hour supervision, at least two meals a day, and help in at least two of the following areas of personal needs: bathing, medications, or dressing.
These criteria generated the initial sample used for telephone interviews with the administrator. The results of the telephone survey and a more detailed discussion of survey and sampling methods appears elsewhere (Hawes, Rose & Phillips, 1999; Iannacchione et al., 1999). Based on the telephone survey results, additional exclusion criteria were applied to determine which facilities would be included in the more elaborate on-site data collection that involved staff, families, and residents. Three types of facilities were excluded from the on-site data collection:
those that had any rooms or apartments housing three or more unrelated persons (offered minimal privacy),
those that did not offer assistance with at least two of three activities - medications, bathing, and dressing (offered minimal services), and
those facilities that offered both low services (i.e., no RN on staff and no willingness to provide even temporary nursing care) and low privacy (i.e., fewer than 80 percent of the resident accommodations were private).
The rationale for the exclusion of these facilities was that they resembled traditional board and care homes more than ALFs as they are conceived of today by the industry and consumers. In addition, the lack of high levels of services or of higher privacy indicated that these facilities did not really operate within the boundaries of what most recognize as the philosophy of assisted living. These criteria obviously restricted the ALF sample to what might be considered higher end facilities. Thus, only approximately 40 percent of the facilities included in the telephone survey were eligible for inclusion in the on-site data collection.
Determining Discharge Rates
Facilities were contacted again between seven and 11 months after the baseline interviews concerning which sampled residents had left the facility. Contact with either the facility administrator, the departed resident, or the residents family gave the research team information on when residents left. To calculate a monthly discharge rate, the research team looked at resident departures during the seven-month period from baseline to first follow-up contact. This constituted the time period for which complete data on exit were available for all residents in sampled facilities. Eighty percent of all departures occurred during this time period. (See Appendix A for a further discussion of these calculations.)
Measurement Issues in the Multivariate Analysis
Multivariate modeling was used to investigate individual-level and facility-level factors that had an effect on residents living arrangements or outcomes after discharge. Residents were classified into one of four groups according to their status at follow-up: still in their original ALF, in a nursing home, deceased, or in some other setting. The category of this dependent variable into which a resident was classified was considered to be partially a function of the residents individual characteristics. The characteristics investigated were largely drawn from the literature on nursing home admissions (Black, Rabins & German, 1999; Coward, Horne & Peek, 1995; Fortinsky et al., 1999; Rudbert, Sager & Zhang, 1996). The specific indicators used in our initial analyses included the residents:
marital status,
length of stay in the ALF,
baseline functional status,
baseline cognitive status,
baseline satisfaction with the ALF,
history of hospital use in 12 months prior to baseline interview,
history of ER use in 12 months prior to baseline interview, and
resident income.
All of the resident-level data used in our analyses came from the baseline resident/proxy interview conducted by research staff. These characteristics included binary, categorical, and interval indicators; the specific coding for each indicator appears in Appendix A. Three scales were also constructed for these analyses. The baseline satisfaction scale, which exhibited good internal consistency (alpha=.72), was comprised of four items reflecting resident or proxy satisfaction with the facility as a whole, as well as facility staffing, food, and activities. The ADL or functional status scale included six items indicating whether the resident needed assistance or supervision with bathing, dressing, locomotion, eating, transfer, or toileting. The scale ranged from zero to six and exhibited good internal consistency in these data (alpha=.83). The cognitive function scale for residents was comprised of three categories based on residents responses to the Short Blessed (Katzman et al., 1983). For those residents with a proxy respondent, a version of the Cognitive Performance Scale (Morris et al., 1994) was calculated and then cross-walked onto the three categories formed by the Short Blessed scores (Katzman et al., 1983). Additional information on these scales also appears in Appendix A. In some instances there was a considerable amount of missing data on an item (e.g., income). In the multivariate models, such items were treated as nominal variables with two categories representing whether the respondents values were above or below the mean. A third category was used to indicate if a respondent had missing data on that variable.
In addition, a residents outcome was considered a partial function of the characteristics of the facility in which she or he resided. We have no available information in the research literature on what facility characteristics might affect discharge from an ALF to a nursing home. However, logic and anecdotal information provide us with a range of factors that might affect a facilitys performance. We investigated various aspects of these dimensions as factors affecting ALF performance in this area. The facility factors investigated in our preliminary analyses of departures from assisted living included:
facility ownership arrangement,
whether the facility was affiliated with a nursing home,
whether the facility was part of a multi-facility system,
the nature of the facilitys discharge policies,
the acuity of the resident case-mix in the facility,
facility occupancy,
staff turnover, and
the staffing level for the facility.
All of the facility-level data came from surveys of administrators or operators. (The facility-level items are described in greater detail in Appendix A.) For these analyses, ownership was classified as not-for-profit or for-profit. Information about whether the ALF was affiliated with other ALFs or with a nursing home was included in the model using binary indicators. Facility occupancy was entered as a continuous variable. The facility case-mix indicator was a scale that reflected how many of a total of seven areas of ADL performance were problematic for 25 percent or more of a facilitys residents (alpha=.80). The discharge policy indicator was an additive scale (alpha=.71) that summarized a facilitys answers to a number of queries concerning the willingness to retain residents with specific problems (e.g., aggressive behavior, incontinence).
One important dimension of our analysis looked at the service level in facilities. Facility staffing was initially represented in the models by two variables--a binary variable that indicated whether the facility had a full-time RN on staff who provided nursing care to residents and the number of full-time aide equivalents per resident. Staff turnover was initially represented by the percent of aides who had worked at the facility for less than six months.
Facilities were included in our on-site data collection if they provided or arranged at least two meals a day, housekeeping, 24-hour staff oversight, and some ADL assistance. In our on-site sample, if the facility had a full-time RN on staff and delivered nursing care with its own staff, then in other reports we classified that facility as a high service facility (Hawes, Rose & Phillips, 1999). The research team also used this difference among facilities as the basis for one of the facility-level variables tested in the multivariate modeling described below.
D. Statistical Analyses
In the multivariate modeling, the emphasis was on determining what factors affected a residents discharge and entry into a nursing home. These analyses were completed using a multicategorical logit model (Fahrmeir & Tutz, 1993). In the multicategorical logit model, the dependent variable was represented as four mutually exclusive categories, classifying residents as:
Remaining in the original facility,
Dying between baseline and follow-up,
Residing in a nursing home, or
Residing in some other setting.
In these analyses, each of the three equations estimated the impact of each independent variable on the likelihood that a resident remained in the original facility or experienced one of the alternative outcomes (i.e., dying, going to a nursing home, going to some other setting). Though the emphasis here was on the likelihood of going to a nursing home, dying and moving to another setting were included in the analysis because they represented likely alternatives and, as such, constituted competing risks.
A potentially important analytic issue that must be addressed in this discussion is the possibility that selection bias might have affected the results of the analyses. Selection bias is a potential problem because residents were not randomly assigned to facilities. Instead, they could, or should, have entered those facilities that best met their needs. So, residents with the highest levels of care needs, who are more likely to be discharged to a nursing home, may have chosen to live in facilities with better and more highly trained staff. If that were the case, then the estimates of the effects of facility characteristics on discharges to nursing homes might have been distorted.
However, if the important factors related to residents choices of facility were included in our model, then the differences among residents in the different types of facilities are not a threat to the validity of our results. In more technical terms, this means that treatment assignment is strongly ignorable (Gelman et al., 1995; Rosenblum and Rubin, 1983). In this instance, the database contains considerable baseline information on just those factors most likely to have affected a residents choice of facility and to have introduced bias--functional status, cognitive status, and recent history of emergency room and hospital use.
To test for the impact of these individual characteristics, the multivariate model was first estimated with only the facility-level variables, then with both facility and individual variables. Little or no change in the effects of the facility variables in the presence of these important individual indicators will be taken to imply that selection bias is not a serious threat to the validity of our results.
All of the statistical analyses were carried out using SUDAAN, a statistical software package expressly designed to provide appropriate estimates of variance and standard errors for data derived from multi-stage samples (Shah, Barnwell, and Bieler, 1997).
A Descriptive Analysis for Residents Leaving an ALF
The first portion of the analyses involved developing descriptive statistics for that subset of residents who were discharged. Prevalence estimates and their 95 percent confidence intervals were estimated. These data provide insight into the rates and dynamics of departure from ALFs that were among the top in the industry in terms of services or privacy.
It is important to remember that the discharge data come from a cross-sectional sample. Such samples tend to oversample longer-stay residents and generate length of stay (LOS) estimates that are somewhat higher than estimates derived from an admission sample. For example, a facility may open with 100 single-occupancy apartments. Ninety of these apartments fill immediately and do not turn over throughout the course of a year, but the other ten turn over three times each. With an admission sample, LOS for the year would be calculated on the basis of all 120 admissions, 30 of whom would have relatively short LOS. With a cross-sectional sample, LOS would be calculated on the basis of the 100 residents there at a single point in time, only ten of whom would have a shorter LOS. The calculations for each sample are equally correct. They are simply different ways of looking at the same issue, but one must be aware of the effects of these different approaches.
In the period between the baseline interviews and the follow-up contacts, 19.0 percent (s.e. = 1.25) of the sample left their original facility (see Exhibit 1). Exhibit 1 reports on the data from the entire follow-up period. Since that period varied for facilities over a range of seven to eleven months, calculating standard rates was somewhat complicated (see Appendix A). When the research team developed a standardized monthly discharge rate for this study, the results indicated that roughly 2 percent of residents in these ALFs were discharged on a monthly basis and that the annual discharge rate was approximately 24 percent. Included within this figure is an annual death rate for ALF residents of approximately 8 percent. On an annualized basis, 7.6 percent of ALF residents left assisted living for a nursing home, while 3.6 percent departed for some other residential care setting. The median length of stay in the ALF for those who left was 19.6 months. When considering these results, it is important to keep in mind both that they were based on a sample of higher service or higher privacy ALFs and that the results came from a cross-sectional sample.
In our discussions of where people go when they leave ALFs and why they leave, 12.1 percent of those who left an ALF are not included because we were unable to contact them for follow-up. Analyses indicate that these residents were quite similar to those residents for whom we had information. They did not differ significantly at baseline from other individuals who left their original ALF in terms of their cognitive status, ADL function, satisfaction, or recent contact with family.
EXHIBIT 1: Departures from Assisted Living Facilities Between Baseline and Follow-up (N=188,097)
Resident Status Prevalence % (s.e.)
Remained in same ALF 81.0 (1.3)
Deaths in the facility 2.2 (0.6)
Deaths after discharge 4.3 (0.6)
Moved to another setting 10.2 (1.0)
Discharged, status unknown 2.3 (0.4)
Exhibit 2 provides information on those who left one of the sample ALFs between the baseline and follow-up contact. As it indicates, most surviving residents who left an ALF resided in a nursing facility. The next most common site was another ALF or some other residential care setting. Almost 7 percent of the residents who left a sampled ALF moved to a relatives home or apartment, but only 1.1 percent returned to their own home.
EXHIBIT 2: Residence Following Departure from an Assisted Living Facility (N=21,941)
Resident at Follow-up Prevalence % (s.e.)
Hospital 1.3 (0.9)
Rehab or sub-acute 3.4 (1.4)
Nursing home 59.2 (5.4)
Other residential care or ALF 27.8 (4.5)
Own home 1.1 (0.7)
Relative's home 6.5 (2.5)
Other 0.7 (0.5)
One issue of interest is what proportion of discharged residents resided in a setting clearly providing more care services (i.e, hospital, nursing home, rehab or sub-acute setting). In this sample, three out of five (63.9 percent) residents who left an ALF and did not die were found in these obviously more service-rich environments. This figure constitutes a minimum estimate for those moving to a setting offering more services because some of those residents going to other settings (e.g., another ALF) could have also moved into living arrangements that offered more services than their previous residence. They could, for example, have moved from an ALF providing a lower level of service to an ALF offering a higher level of service.
These results are consistent with the explanations offered by those discharged from our ALFs offering more services or more privacy. Exhibit 3 presents the responses to a query concerning why the resident left the ALF. It is important to remember here that these responses are largely from family members. By far, the most commonly given reason for leaving the facility was that the resident needed more care. The next most common set of responses involved some indication of dissatisfaction--with the quality of care, price, or some other aspect of the facility. A total of 24.1 percent (s.e. = 4.8) of the respondents indicated that dissatisfaction of some type was part of the reason for their departure. Another relatively common reason for leaving was the desire to move to a location closer to friends or relatives.
EXHIBIT 3: Reasons for Leaving the ALF -- All That Applied (N=22,470)*
Needed more care 78.0 (4.3)
Location closer to loved ones 14.1 (3.2)
Ran out of money 8.8 (2.2)
Dissatisfied with care 12.0 (3.4)
Dissatisfied with price 8.0 (2.5)
Other dissatisfaction 11.0 (2.6)
Facility's request/unknown reason 5.4 (3.0)
* The results total more than 100% because respondents could give more than one answer.
Even though assisted living is an expensive type of long-term care and draws almost exclusively on the financial resources of the resident or his or her family, few residents indicated they left because they no longer had the financial means to continue living in the facility. Only 8.8 percent of the respondents indicated, even in conjunction with other reasons, that the resident left the ALF because she or he had exhausted her or his financial resources.
The respondents, largely family members, indicated that the decision to leave the facility was most often a mutual decision involving the facility and the family (45.5 percent; s.e. = 5.3). In just over three out of ten departures (30.3 percent; s.e. = 5.1), the respondent reported that the decision to leave was largely a resident or family decision. However, in almost a quarter of the cases (24.2 percent; s.e. = 5.3), the decision to leave the facility was described as mainly the facilitys decision.
One important contrast about which the discharge respondents provided useful information concerned change over time in the importance of various characteristics of the ALF. Respondents were asked to indicate which factors were of greatest importance on entry to the facility and whether the importance of different characteristics changed over time. Exhibit 4 presents information on what the respondents indicated were the four most important factors at the beginning of the stay. It also presents, for that minority whose priorities changed, the four factors that the respondents indicated became more important during the stay. On entry to an ALF a private bath and bedroom were of the greatest importance, followed relatively closely by the availability of monitoring and the quality of the direct care staff.
For the majority of those who left an ALF, the respondents indicated that their priorities did not change. But, for 35.5 percent of those who left an ALF, their priorities did change after admission. For these individuals (column three of Exhibit 4), the facilitys ability to provide more or different services as the residents needs changed became of primary importance, followed closely by the presence of an RN on staff and the quality of the direct care staff. For those reporting a change, what seems to have increased most in importance was the intensity and diversity of care resources available to meet a residents changing needs.
Facility Characteristic Ranks at Admission (N=25,536) Ranks When Priorities Changed (N=9,076)*
Private bath 1 --
Private bedroom 2 --
Monitoring 3 4
Quality of staff 4 3
RN on staff -- 2
Facility changes services as resident's needs change -- 1
* Only those who indicated a change in priorities during their stay.
The respondents, who were almost all family members, were on the whole quite happy with their assisted living experience. Eighty-one percent (s.e. = 3.9) indicated that the experience was either better than or about the same as they had expected. Only 8.2 percent (s.e. = 1.8) indicated that they wished the stay had been shorter. Probably most tellingly, 79.8 percent (s.e. = 3.2) of the respondents would recommend their facility to a friend with the same type of needs and interests.
Exhibit 5 presents a series of bivariate comparisons of the characteristics of the residents who left their ALF and were in different settings at follow-up. The statistical test results presented in that table indicate whether the values for another group of residents differ significantly from the values for residents who remained in the same facility. Standard errors of the estimates appear in parentheses beside the estimates. Since these are bivariate comparisons, they can only provide us with some initial sense of the relationships. Final judgment on the significance of any relationships observed in these bivariate results will depend on the results derived from the multivariate models.
These initial results indicated that advanced age was associated with both death and transfer to a nursing home. Discharges to other settings (e.g., to another ALF) were more likely to occur among residents who had been in the ALF for a shorter period of time. Also, individuals with higher levels of cognitive impairment were more likely to leave their baseline living arrangement. One additional difference seems worthy of attention. Individuals with greater needs for assistance with ADLs seem more likely to leave an ALF.
Exhibit 5 also presents similar comparisons for a range of facility characteristics and residents post-discharge living arrangements. These results indicate that there may be more movement out of for-profit facilities into other settings. Also, lower staff turnover seemed to be related to discharge to a nursing home. This result is counterintuitive and demands attention in the multivariate modeling. Beyond that, at least in these bivariate comparisons, many facility characteristics seem to play little role in determining where individuals reside after leaving an ALF.
EXHIBIT 5: Descriptive Data for Residents with Known Discharge Status (N=191,577)
Baseline Characteristics All Residents (N=191,577) Residents in the SameALF(N=155,540) In a Nursing Facility(N=11,533) In OtherSetting (N=7,999) Deceased (N=12,556)
Individual-Level
Average age 84.4 (0.37) 84.1 (0.40) 86.3 (0.69)** 83.0 (1.74) 87.9 (0.63)***
% female 78.4 (1.16) 78.9 (1.49) 80.5 (4.42) 76.5 (6.00) 73.8 (6.01)
% married 11.8 (1.23) 11.1 (1.24) 7.6 (2.99) 17.2 (6.63) 22.0 (6.45)
Average length of stay 40.1 (1.96) 41.5 (2.08) 32.8 (4.79) 22.2 (2.30)*** 35.7 (6.12)
Functional status 1.0 (0.08) 0.9 (0.09) 1.4 (0.21)* 1.2 (0.21) 1.5 (0.35)
Cognitive status 1.4 (0.05) 1.4 (0.05) 1.6 (0.12)* 1.6 (0.12)* 1.6 (0.14)
Satisfaction 32.4 (0.35) 32.5 (0.36) 31.5 (1.00) 30.9 (0.98) 32.5 (0.63)
% hospitalized in past year 32.8 (2.10) 32.6 (2.31) 29.1 (5.36) 38.2 (8.03) 37.0 (6.23)
% used ER in past year 24.5 (1.96) 23.4 (2.04) 24.6 (7.81) 25.6 (5.33) 36.3 (7.53)
Resident income 4.6 (0.12) 4.5 (0.13) 4.3 (0.19) 4.6 (0.26) 4.1 (0.32)
Facility-Level
% for-profit 50.0 (5.46) 48.9 (5.26) 42.7 (9.50) 75.6 (8.53)** 51.2 (10.05)
% affiliated with nursing home 47.7 (3.79) 48.0 (3.83) 54.8 (6.93) 44.4 (9.20) 33.9 (6.23)*
% chain 47.1 (4.16) 47.2 (4.19) 44.9 (9.38) 48.7 (7.60) 42.8 (7.57)
Discharge policy 5.8 (0.20) 5.8 (0.02) 5.8 (0.36) 5.9 (0.33) 6.0 (0.39)
% staff turnover 25.7 (1.92) 25.8 (2.03) 20.4 (2.79)* 28.2 (3.31) 27.3 (3.77)
Facility case-mix 1.3 (0.13) 1.3 (0.12) 1.1 (0.25) 1.7 (0.34) 1.6 (0.36)
* p<.05; ** p<.01; *** p<.001
When one looks at the service levels of these facilities, one of the major distinctions among facilities is the presence of a full-time RN on staff and the provision of nursing care with facility staff. This distinction marks the difference between Low Service and High Service facilities that was the basis for some analyses in an earlier project report (Hawes, Rose & Phillips, 1999). As Exhibit 6 indicates, 39 percent of the residents were in lower service facilities, while 61 percent were in higher service facilities. Of those who remained in the same ALF, 38 percent were in lower service ALFs and 62 percent were in higher service ALFs. For those residents who died prior to the follow-up, the proportions varied only slightly from the population figures above. However, for both moving to another setting (e.g., relatives home or another ALF) or to a nursing home, one sees higher rates of departure in the lower service facilities which did not have a full-time RN and did not provide nursing care with in-house staff. This difference is most notable with movement into a nursing home, where almost half of those who went there had been in lower service facilities.
EXHIBIT 6: Service Level and Status After Discharge (N=187,628)
Discharge Site Lower Service Higher Service
All residents 39% 61%
Remained in the same ALF 38% 62%
Deceased 34% 66%
Other setting 45% 55%
Nursing home 49% 51%
Again, as interesting as these results may be, the true test of any facility effects on discharge must come from multivariate analysis using a multicategorical logit model. Initial results using the important facility-level indicators appear in Exhibit 7. After a series of analyses including all of the facility-level variables noted above, a reduced model was estimated, which included those facility characteristics that were statistically significant across a variety of models that were tested. That model included only three variables: whether the facility was operated as a for-profit enterprise, whether the facility had a full-time RN on staff and provided nursing care with its staff, and whether the facility had aide turnover that was higher or lower than average. The significance level for turnover in this reduced model was marginal (p= .066). As the results in Exhibit 7 indicate, residents in a for-profit facility were significantly more likely than were other residents to move to some other setting (e.g., back home or to another ALF). Also, residents in a facility that had a full-time RN and that provided nursing care with its own staff (i.e., higher service) were significantly less likely to be in a nursing home at follow-up. There was some indication that residents of lower service facilities may also have been more likely to be in some other setting at follow-up (p= .056).
However, we must be concerned that some of the relationships between the outcomes and the facility characteristics may have derived from differences in the types of residents different facilities served. To determine if the facility-level results were so affected, we carried out an analysis of the individual characteristics that might affect someones living arrangement at follow-up. After performing a range of analyses using all of the individual indicators noted above, the results indicated that only four individual-level variables had consistently significant effects across the various model specifications. These variables were residents age, the number of ADLs with which they needed assistance, their cognitive status, and their marital status.
EXHIBIT 7: Multivariate Analysis of Living Arrangement at Follow-up Using Facility-Level Indicatorsa (N=158,625)
Facility Nursing Home Other Setting Died
Lower Service 1.87*(1.09-3.23) 1.68(0.99-2.85) 0.89 (0.43-1.86)
Low Staff Turnover 1.73(0.96-3.10) 1.04(0.53-2.05) 0.82(0.38-1.76)
For-Profit 0.73(0.40-1.32) 3.33**(1.43-7.79) 1.01(0.53-1.92)
* = <.05; ** = <.01
Relative odds-ratios with 95% confidence intervals in parentheses displayed. Each column represents one of the equations estimated in the polytomous logistic regression. Higher service, higher turnover, and not-for-profit status were the reference categories.
Exhibit 8 presents the results of the multicategorical logit analysis in which these individual-level factors were added to the model containing the facility-level independent variables. None of the individual characteristics have an effect on a residents likelihood of moving to some other type of residential care setting. The model results indicate that an ALF residents likelihood of dying prior to the follow-up was affected by three of the individual characteristics. Younger residents (under 70) who were single were significantly less likely to have died between baseline and follow-up. Though very few ALF residents were married, these few were more than twice as likely to have died prior to follow-up.
EXHIBIT 8: Multivariate Analysis of Living Arrangement at Follow-up Using Facility-Level and Individual-Level Indicatorsa (N=156,362)
Indep. Variable Nursing Home Other Setting Died
Low Service 1.95*(1.13-3.37) 1.81*(1.01-3.24) 0.90 (0.48-1.69)
<70 0.45(0.05-3.73) 0.85(0.23-3.23) 0.00**(0.00-0.00)
70-80 0.73(0.41-1.33) 0.67(0.31-1.45) 0.38(0.14-1.03)
ADL Help
Zero 0.63(0.28-1.44) 0.60(0.18-2.01) 0.41*(0.19-0.90)
One 1.38(0.67-2.84) 0.70(0.25-1.96) 0.92(0.42-2.00)
Mild 0.37**(0.19-0.74) 0.58(0.20-1.73) 0.70(0.23-2.13)
Moderate 0.48(0.22-1.03) 0.97(0.40-2.34) 2.09(0.75-5.82)
Married 0.69(0.28-1.70) 1.85(0.56-6.14) 2.40*(1.17-4.91)
Relative odds-ratios with 95% confidence intervals in parentheses displayed. Each column represents one of the equations estimated in the multicategorical logit model. Over 80, assistance in more than one ADL, severe cognitive impairment, unmarried, high service, higher turnover, and not-for-profit were the reference categories for the categorical indicators.
The findings for the facility-level indicators remained fundamentally the same when their effects were estimated in the presence of the individual characteristics. Three parameters for facility variables were statistically significant at our chosen level of less than .05. Individuals in for-profit facilities were more than three times as likely as residents in not-for-profit facilities to move to some other residential care setting. Also, residents in lower service ALFs, which did not have a full-time RN and did not offer nursing care with their own staff, were twice as likely to enter a nursing home between baseline and follow-up. The effect of this service or staffing variable did not vary depending on the specific characteristics of the resident. For example, no significant interaction was observed between this service indicator and a residents level of cognitive impairment.
Also, other formulations of this service indicator, including one that emphasized providing or arranging for RN services, had no significant impact (see Appendix A). In addition, this variable was significant in the equation related to movement to another setting other than a nursing home. Residents in facilities without a full-time RN involved in direct care were 80 percent more likely to move to some other residential setting than were residents in a facility with such services.
Our analyses of this national sample of higher service or higher privacy ALFs provide a number of new insights into the dynamics of movement out of an ALF. Though the vast majority of residents came to a sampled ALF from their own home, they did not return there when they left. The most likely outcomes were death or movement to a nursing home or another residential care setting. Roughly one-third of the residents who left the study ALFs between baseline and follow-up either died in the ALF or in the follow-up period. The bulk of the remainder were in a nursing home (59 percent) or another residential care setting or ALF (28 percent). Respondents reported that, by far, the most common reason for leaving the ALF was that the resident needed more care. Very few respondents (9 percent) indicated that one of the reasons that the resident left the original ALF was that she or he could no longer afford to remain.
This research also provided some heretofore unavailable information on the characteristics of residents and facilities that affect individuals movement out of assisted living. A number of individual characteristics had an impact. Age, ADL needs, cognitive function and marital status affected an individual in assisted livings likelihood of death. Younger, less impaired residents were less likely to die. The finding that marital status was associated with a higher likelihood of death may, at first glance, seem somewhat strange. But, on reflection, the finding seems more reasonable. Married couples are much less likely to enter an ALF than are single individuals. Those few who are married and go into an ALF probably have more serious health problems than those who are unmarried and enter an ALF.
The only individual-level variable affecting an individuals likelihood of entering a nursing home was cognitive status. Individuals with severe cognitive impairment were roughly three times more likely to enter a nursing home than were those ALF residents with little or no cognitive impairment.
Some facility characteristics also affected residents living arrangements after they left an ALF. None of the facility characteristics had a significant impact on a residents likelihood of death. However, residence in a for-profit ALF was highly associated with movement into another setting other than a nursing home. Remembering that the most common reason for leaving a facility was the need for more care, the for-profit sector of the industry may be less committed to, or capable of, meeting the changing needs of residents.
The other significant factor affecting residents outcomes was whether the ALF had a full-time RN and provided nursing care with its own staff.3 In such settings, the likelihood of going to a nursing home was roughly one-half of that experienced by residents in ALFs not offering this level of care. This finding is extremely relevant to the current debate over whether ALFs can substitute for or delay movement to nursing homes. It seems that they may be able to do so, but only if they provide some of the nursing services that one would expect at a nursing home.
In addition, the presence of a full-time RN providing direct care also made it significantly less likely that a resident would move to some residential care setting other than a nursing home.4 Thus, staffing or service level may have some impact on a residents ability to age in place, given that the most common reason given by respondents for leaving a facility was the need for more care.
Of course, there is always the possibility that the observed relationships between our staffing/service measure and living arrangement after discharge derived from some facility characteristics not included in our model but for which our measure was a proxy. However, the research team believes this situation is relatively unlikely for two reasons. First, when different formulations of the staffing/service variable were used in our analyses (e.g., any RN staffing, RN hours per resident, aide staffing, arranging for nursing care), the relationship between services and outcome was not significant. So, any variable for which our measure might be a proxy would have to appear only in facilities with a full-time RN who does direct care and not in just better-staffed facilities. It is somewhat difficult to conceive of what such a facility characteristic might be.
Finally, as in all field studies that do not involve randomization, selection bias must be considered. Possibly, the residents in facilities with full-time RNs involved in direct care were different from other residents in ways that had an important effect on their likelihood of going to a nursing home or some other ALF. Should that be the case, then our results might reflect the differences in resident populations rather than differences in facilities.
A number of factors make it unlikely that these result are a function of selection bias. First, the research team has, in the multivariate analysis, used a wide range of resident characteristics as covariates (e.g., age, functional status, cognitive status, demographic characteristics, length of stay, satisfaction, and prior utilization of acute-care services) to adjust for this possibility. Second, the most likely form that selection bias would take in this environment would be for more impaired individuals with a higher likelihood of nursing home placement to enter high-service facilities. Thus, as a result of selection bias, one would expect higher rates of nursing home admission from higher service facilities. However, our findings suggest exactly the opposite. Residents in higher service facilities were less likely to enter a nursing home.
These results may have a number of relatively interesting policy implications. For policy-makers interested in developing an assisted living industry that can reduce nursing home costs, it may be that creating incentives for facilities to provide a higher level of service (e.g., a full-time RN who provides direct care) could be productive. However, such a policy stance would mean encouraging the development of higher cost ALFs, when a major issue is now becoming how to develop these types of facilities for individuals with more limited income. In addition, if higher cost facilities are encouraged, then the specific amount (i.e., the number of person-months) of delay in nursing home use that results from these increased costs becomes a critical parameter for policy discussions. In addition, if costs are the crucial issue, one must consider any additional home health, ambulatory care, medications, or acute care that are required during the delay and might have been avoided by placement in a nursing home.
For consumers intent on avoiding nursing home placement, seeking out ALFs that have full-time RNs and provide nursing care with their in-house staff may constitute a good choice in an ALF. Also, for consumers interested in aging in place, being in a facility with a full-time RN active in direct care may significantly reduce the likelihood that one will move to some other ALF or care setting other than a nursing home.
Since most people entering an ALF are not as disabled as those entering a nursing home, however, this means that the choice to enter an ALF with a full-time RN active in direct care may be important only to more impaired residents or to residents as they age in place. Thus, many consumers who enter higher service facilities might end up paying at the front-end for services that will only be important to them later in their stay in a facility. Facility discharge policies also become an important issue in such circumstances. One does not wish to see consumers paying for these higher costs services when they are not really using them and then being asked to leave the facility when the services could mean the difference between aging in place and going to a nursing facility.
However, it is important to remember that even though the findings indicate that the presence of an RN providing direct care has an important impact on the rates at which residents leave an ALF, we have little idea at this time why facilities choose to provide this level of services. It may be that all the sampled facilities with a full-time RN on staff providing direct care had a strong commitment to residents aging in place, and the RN allowed them to realize their goal. It may also be that a full-time RN providing direct care in a facility with no such commitment would be much less effective. Facilities that add such services as a marketing tool, as the result of some reimbursement incentive, or because of a regulatory mandate may not show the same effect.
The impact of cognitive impairment on a residents likelihood of going to a nursing home also has potential policy implications. To the degree that the industry is encouraged to configure itself to care for those with more severe cognitive impairment, nursing home use may be reduced. However, the industrys ability to provide adequate and appropriate care is unproven. Encouraging the industry to provide care to this population, which often presents serious challenges to caregivers, without specifying what appropriate care is and without assuring its provision, might place a very vulnerable population at risk of inappropriate or poor care.
As the discussion above indicates, the policy issues here are complex, and our knowledge base is relatively limited. This is, after all, a single study. Even though it is based on a nationally-representative sample of higher service or higher privacy facilities, an appropriate measure of caution should be used when considering these results in the policy-making process.
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APPENDIX A: VARIABLE DESCRIPTIONS, SCALE DESCRIPTIONS, AND METHODOLOGICAL NOTES
Developing Rates of Departure. The timing of baseline interviews, the timing of follow-up interviews, and the time between baseline and follow-up in facilities varied over a period of months. For example, the time from baseline to follow-up ranged from 7.4 months to 11.4 months. To estimate a monthly discharge rate, we looked only at those residents who left their facilities during the 7.4 months following their baseline interview. A total of 248 residents had discharge dates, and 199 had discharge dates less than or equal to 7.4 months. These 199 represented 80 percent of all those who left a baseline ALF before their follow-up interview. We also had 33 residents who we knew were discharged, but about whom we had no other follow-up information. In calculating our discharge rates, we estimated that 80 percent of these 33 were also discharged during a period less than or equal to 7.4 months following baseline. However, these 33 cases, because of the lack of other information, were not used in any further computations related to status following departure from the ALF.
Measuring Service Levels and Their Impact. One of the major issues addressed in this report was the impact of facility characteristics, especially service levels. The results indicate that residents in facilities with a full-time RN and that provide nursing care with their in-house staff are significantly less likely to enter a nursing home. This was the original formulation of the service level variable used in previous reports (Hawes, Rose & Phillips, 1999; Phillips, Rose & Hawes, 2000). However, other formulations of this staffing or service indicator were also tested. We looked at RN hours per resident, whether a facility had any RN hours versus none, and whether a facility would provide or arrange RN care or not. None of these other formulations of the service variable had a significant impact on a residents likelihood of entering a nursing home. It seems that the presence of a full-time RN actively involved in providing care to residents versus other staffing or service patterns was the necessary distinction for purposes of reducing the likelihood of a nursing home admission.
Determining Residents Cognitive Status. A three-level scale was used to represent the cognitive function of individuals in the resident sample. Level one indicated no impairment or only mild impairment in cognitive function. Level two implied moderate impairment, and level three indicated severe impairment. The scores on this scale were based either on a residents score on the Short Blessed (Katzman et al., 1983) or a slightly modified version of the MDS Cognitive Performance Scale or CPS (Morris et al., 1994). The process described below relates to our activities with the full resident sample and is not restricted to the discharged resident sample.
The Short Blessed was used to determine the cognitive status of residents who could be interviewed. The Short Blessed scores could range from 0-28. A score of 8 or less was categorized as minimal impairment, a score of 9-19 was categorized as moderate impairment, and a score of 20 or more indicated severe impairment (Katzman et al., 1983). Eighty-five percent of the sampled residents (1,341) were classified using the Short Blessed.
For those 15 percent (n=240) of the residents who could not participate in the interview because of some physical problem or a high degree of cognitive impairment, a different scale was used. For these individuals, a proxy respondent, usually a staff person, provided data so that they could be scored on a modified version of the CPS (Morris et al., 1994). The modified version of the CPS was computed with the receptive communication item (i.e., the ability to understand others) rather than an expressive communication item (i.e., the ability to make oneself understood by others) from the MDS. Other than that small difference, the scale was identical to the traditional CPS.
To cross-walk these two different scales into a common metric, two steps were taken. First, the research team reviewed the validation research for each scale (Katzman et al., 1983; Morris et al., 1994; Hartmaier et al., 1995). Second, the research team analyzed data on those residents for whom both the Short Blessed and the modified CPS could be calculated. Approximately 10.5 percent of the residents interviewed had complete data for calculation of a Short Blessed score and had complete data provided by a proxy respondent for calculating a modified CPS score. The categorized Short Blessed and modified CPS scores were cross-tabulated for these residents. The results indicated that a large majority of those with CPS scores of 0-2 fell into the moderately impaired category on the Short Blessed, and that the majority of those with CPS scores of 3-6 fell into the severely impaired category on the Short Blessed. These cut-points on the CPS were used to create a common three-level scale for the two groups of residents. Thus, no individuals with proxy respondents were classified as cognitively intact.
EXHIBIT A-1: Variables Included initial Multivariate Analyses
Individual-Level Variables
Indicators Response Codes/Format Formats Tested In Final Model
Resident age Continuous (in years)Categorical (<70, 70-80, >80) ContinuousCategorical NoYes
Gender 1: Female2: Male Categorical No
Marital Status 1: Married2: Widowed3: Divorced/separated4: Never married Categorical Yes
ADL scale No. of ADLs (bathing, dressing, toileting, locomotion, transfer, and eating) in which resident received supervision or physical assistance in the last week. Ultimately coded as zero, one, or more than one. ContinuousCategorical NoYes
Cognitive scale 1: Mild2: Moderate3: Severe(based on Short Blessed or the MDS Cognitive Performance Scale) Categorical Yes
Satisfaction with facility Summed scale based on sum of four items that dealt with overall facility, staff, activities, and food (individual items coded 0-10). Higher values reflected greater satisfaction. Continuous Categorical (at mean) NoNo
Hospitalization w/in last 12 months 1: yes2: no Categorical No
ER visit w/in last 12 months 1: yes2: no Categorical No
Resident income 1: <$1,2002: $1,201-$4,9993: $5,000-$8,9994: $9,000-$13,9995: $14,000-$24,9996: $25,000-$50,0007: >$50,000 Categorical No
Relative helped select ALF 1: yes2: no Categorical No
Length of stay Continuous (in months) Continuous No
Facility-Level Variables
Variable Response Code Format Tested In Final Model
Ownership of ALF 1: For-profit2: Not-for-profit3: Joint ventureUltimately coded for-profit and other Categorical Yes
Nursing Home affiliated w/ALF 1: yes2: no Categorical No
ALF is part of a chain 1: yes2: no Categorical No
Any current Medicaid or SSI residents 1: yes2: no Categorical No
Annual rate of aide turnover Percent of aides who must be replaced on an annual basis. ContinuousCategorical (at mean) NoYes
Facility retention policy scale Continuous summed scale based on seven binary individual items, higher values reflected a larger number of conditions that might occur and not affect residents ability to remain in ALF. ContinuousCategorical (at mean) NoNo
Case-mix scale for facility, from administrator responses Continuous summed scale based on seven binary items indicating whether over one-quarter of an ALFs residents had a specific need; higher values reflected a higher percentage of residents who have conditions requiring staff assistance. ContinuousCategorical (at mean) NoNo
Full-time equivalent hours for RNs per resident Based on reported RN hours ContinuousCategorical (at mean) NoNo
Number of full-time aides per resident Based on reported aide hours ContinuousCategorical (at mean) NoNo
Number of aides per resident Based on reported number of aides Continuous No
Level of service rating 1: lower2: higherBased on presence of a full-time RN and facilitys willingness to provide nursing care with in-house staff. Categorical Yes
Percent of facility residents who are cognitively impaired 1: less than 25%2: 26-50%3: 51-75%4: over 75% Categorical No
Occupancy rate Percent of total beds filled ContinuousCategorical (at mean) NoNo
Presence of any RN time 1: no RN on staff or contract2: RN on staff or contract either part of full-time Categorical No
Provision of nursing services 1: no nursing services or only arrange nursing services2: only provide nursing services or both arrange and provide nursing services Categorical No
OMB Number 0990-0217Expires: _______________
ASSISTED LIVING DISCHARGED RESIDENT TELEPHONE INTERVIEW5
Respondent ID Label
Facility Name: _____________________________________________________________________Interview Name: ________________________________________________ Interviewer ID#__________Date of Inteview: Month_____/Day_____/Year_____Start Time: _____:_____am/pm End Time: _____:_____am/pm
Paperwork Reduction Act Statement
A federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 10 minutes per response, including time for reviewing instruction, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the necessary data, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding the burden estimate of any other aspect of this collection of information to the OS Reports Clearance Officer, ASMB/Budget/PIOM, Room 503H HHH Bldg., 200 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20201.
INTERVIEWER INSTRUCTIONS:
Unless you know that the resident is deceased, as to speak with the resident.If the resident is deceased, ask to speak with a family member who has the most information about the resident's experience in the assisted living facility/residential care home and use the Discharged Resident Proxy Interview Form.Read introduction/consent below before you begin with the questions.
You are being asked to participate in a national study of assisted living and residential care for the frail elderly. About six months ago, we interviewed you in-person while you were a resident at _____. This is a follow-up interview for all residents in the study who subsequently left any of the several hundred facilities in the study.
As you may remember, this study is being conducted for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to learn more about the role that assisted living and residential care facilities can play in meeting the needs of older persons. Determining ther experiences of residents who have left such facilities will help the government understand the role such facilities play in providing long-term care for other persons.
The follow-up study is being conducted for the government by Research Triangle Institute (RTI). RTI is a nonprofit university-affiliated research organization in North Carolina.
As before, your participation is voluntary. You may refuse to answer any question we ask. In addition, all your responses are confidential and will not be disclosed except as required by law. The information you provide will not be reported in any way that identified you or the facility. This interview will take about 10 minutes. It asks about your experience and views, including why you left the facility.
We hope you will agree to participate, since your views and experiences are important in helping us learn more about how to provide good care for older persons.
1. On what date did you leave? Month_____/Day_____/Year_____
2. Which of the following best describes the place where you are currently staying?
01 Acute care hospital 02 Nursing home 03 Rehabilitation facility or subacute care unit 04 Another residential care or assisted living facility 05 Own home or apartment 06 Home or apartment of a relative 07 Some other place (SPECIFY) ________________________
3. Did you go anyplace else between leaving _____ [FACILITY] and where you currently are staying?
01 YES 02 NO (SKIP TO Q. 5)
4. Which of the following best describes the place (or places) you went between leaving _____ [FACILITY] and where you are currently staying? (CIRCLE ALL THAT APPLY)
01 Hospital (acute care hospital) 02 Nursing home 03 Rehabilitation facility or subacute care unit 04 Another residential care or assisted living facility 05 Own home or apartment 06 Home or apartment of a relative 07 Some other place (SPECIFY) _________________________
5. Which of the following best describes the decision to leave the facility? Would you say the decision was:
01 Mainly mine or my familys decision 02 Mainly the facilitys decision 03 Mutual 04 DK
6. All in all, how much control did you have over the decision to leave _____ [FACILITY]?
01 Complete or almost complete control 02 Some control 03 Little or no control
7. Please tell me which of the following statements describe the reasons you left _____ [FACILITY]: (CIRCLE ALL THAT APPLY)
01 Required hospital care 02 Needed nursing home care 03 Required more care than the facility could provide 04 Preferred location closer to family or friends 05 Exhausted my resources and had to leave because of money 06 Dissatisfied with the quality of care 07 Dissatisfied with the price or charges 08 Dissatisfied with some other aspect of the Facility 09 It was the facilitys request for unknown reason 10 Is there any other reason not mentioned here? (SPECIFY) _________________________
8. Which of the following statements best describes your feeling about the timing of your departure from _____ [FACILITY]?
01 Wish I had left sooner 02 Wish I had been able to stay there longer 03 Left at just the right time
9. When you moved into _____ [FACILITY], did you expect that you would be able to remain in that facility as long as you wanted to? Sometimes this is called being able to age in place.
01 YES 02 NO
10. When you entered _____ [FACILITY], did someone discuss with you the conditions under which you would be asked to leave or when the facility would NO longer be able to meet your care needs?
01 YES 02 NO (SKIP TO Q. 12) -4 DK (SKIP TO Q. 12)
11. Which of the following best describes the facilitys policies about discharge?
01 Very unclear - what the facility promised and what it actually did were very different 02 Unclear - you didnt know what to expect because the terms were very vague 03 Adequate - you had a general idea of what to expect 04 Very Clear - facility policies were clear, and the facility lived up to what it promised
12. Use any number on a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 being the worst and 10 being the best. How would you rate the facilitys performance in terms of meeting your need for personal assistance or health care? _____Score
-4 DK
13. Use any number on a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 being the worst and 10 being the best. How would you rate the facilitys performance in terms of meeting your expectations about how much it would cost on a monthly basis? _____Score
14. Think back to when you moved in to _____ [FACILITY]. Which of the following were important to you? (CIRCLE ALL THAT APPLY) (The facility selected may not have had all the things the resident wanted, but the responses should reflect preferences.)
Having a private bedroom 01 02
Having a private bathroom 01 02
Being able to bring your own furniture to the facility 01 02
Having access to a place to store and cook food 01 02
The attractiveness and amenities of outside areas 01 02
The attractiveness and amenities of the indoor public spaces 01 02
The availability of monitoring, for example if you fell or needed help with medications 01 02
The quality of the direct care staff (knowledge, training, attitudes, staffing level) 01 02
Whether the facility had a Registered Nurse on staff 01 02
The ability of the facility to provide more or different services if your needs change 01 02
The availability of a nursing home on the same campus 01 02
The activities that were available 01 02
Location 01 02
Price 01 02
NONE OF THE ABOVE 77
15. Did your opinion of what was most important to you change over time, as you lived in the facility?
01 YES 02 NO (SKIP TO Q. 17)
16. Which of the following became MORE important to you as you lived at _____ [FACILITY]? (CIRCLE ALL THAT APPLY) (If the facility did not offer something but the resident wanted it or needed it, the response for that item should be a YES.)
17. Did you find that charges at _____ [FACILITY] increased at a faster rate than you expected or that there were additional, unexpected charges, over and above the monthly rate?
18. Which of the following were better than you expected at _____ [FACILITY]? (CIRCLE ALL THAT APPLY)
01 The accommodations 02 The price 03 The activities 04 The transportation that was offered 05 The staff (quality and number) 06 The availability of services or assistance you needed
19. Which of the following were worse than you expected at _____ [FACILITY]? (CIRCLE ALL THAT APPLY)
20. Overall, which of the following statements best describes your experience at _____ [FACILITY]? Would you say it was
01 Better than you expected 02 Worse than you expected 03 About the same as you expected
21. Would you recommend this facility to a friend who had the same type of needs and interests you had?
Thank you for your assistance in helping us understand the role of assisted living and other residential care settings in providing care to older persons.
PROBLEM SHEET
ASSISTED LIVING DISCHARGED RESIDENT PROXY RESPONDENT TELEPHONE INTERVIEW5
Facility Name: _____________________________________________________________________Name of Discharged Resident: _____________________________________________________________________Interview Name: ________________________________________________ Interviewer ID#__________Date of Inteview: Month_____/Day_____/Year_____Start Time: _____:_____am/pm End Time: _____:_____am/pm
Public Reporting Burden Statement
A federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to an average of 12 minutes per response, including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the necessary data, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information to the OS Reports Clearance Officer, ASMB/Budget/PIOM, Room 503H HHH Bldg., 200 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20201.
Unless you know that the resident is deceased, ask to speak with the resident and use the Discharged Resident Interview. If the resident is deceased or too physically ill or cognitively impaired to respond, ask to speak with a family member who has the most information about the residents experience in the assisted living facility/residential care home. Read introduction below before you begin with the questions.
You are being asked to participate in a national study of assisted living and residential care for the frail elderly. About six months ago, we interviewed one of your family members, _________________________ [RESIDENT]. This is a follow-up interview about all residents in the study who have left the facility or who are deceased.
This study is being conducted for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This agency is sponsoring the study to learn more about the role that assisted living and residential care facilities can play in meeting the needs of the elderly. Determining the experiences of residents who have left such facilities or who died while a resident there will be very helpful in understanding the role such facilities play in providing long-term care to elders. Research Triangle Institute (RTI) is conducting the study on behalf of the government. RTI is a nonprofit university-affiliated research organization in North Carolina.
Your participation is voluntary, and you may refuse to answer any question we ask. In addition, all your responses are confidential and will not be disclosed except as required by law. Your responses will also not be reported in any way that identifies you or your family member. This interview will take about 12 minutes. It asks about the experience of your family member in the facility and your views of the care HE/SHE received.
We hope you will agree to participate, since your views and experiences are important in helping us learn more about how to provide good care to elders.
1. What is/was your relationship to _____ [RESIDENT]? Are you his/her
01 Spouse 02 Child 03 Child-in-law 04 Sibling 05 Grandchild 06 Niece/nephew 07 Other (SPECIFY) ________________________
2. Reason for not conducting the interview with resident? (IF POSSIBLE, CODE WITHOUT ASKING BASED ON INFORMATION PROVIDED BY TELEPHONE SURVEY LOCATORS)
01 Resident had proxy respondent in original interview 02 Resident is deceased 03 Resident is too cognitively impaired to respond (SKIP TO Q.3) 04 Resident is too physically ill to respond (SKIP TO Q.3) 05 Resident is too hard of hearing to respond to a telephone interview (SKIP TO Q.3) 06 Other (e.g., language) (SPECIFY)_________________________ (SKIP TO Q.3)
2a. On what date did _____ [RESIDENT] die/pass on? Month_____/Day_____/Year_____
2b. Did _____ [RESIDENT] die/pass on at _____ [FACILITY]?
01 Yes (SKIP TO Q.2e) 02 No
2c. On what date did _____ [RESIDENT] leave _____ [FACILITY]? Month_____/Day_____/Year_____
2d. Which of the following describes where _____ [RESIDENT] went between leaving ____ [FACILITY] and when he/she died? (CIRCLE ALL THAT APPLY)
01 Hospital (acute care hospital) 02 Nursing home 03 Rehabilitation facility or subacute care unit 04 Another residential care or assisted living facility 05 Own home or apartment 06 Home or apartment of a relative 07 Some other place (SPECIFY)
2e. Did he/she receive hospice care while living at _____ [FACILITY]?
01 Yes (SKIP TO Q.9) 02 No (SKIP TO Q.9)
3. On what date did _____ [RESIDENT] leave _____ [FACILITY]? Month_____/Day_____/Year_____
4. Which of the following best describes the place where _____ [RESIDENT] is currently staying?
5. Did _____ [RESIDENT] go anyplace else between leaving _____ [FACILITY] and where he/she is currently staying?
01 YES 02 NO (SKIP TO Q.7)
6. Which of the following best describes the place (or places) he/she went between leaving _____ [FACILITY] and where you are currently staying? (CIRCLE ALL THAT APPLY)
01 Mainly relative or our familys decision 02 Mainly the facilitys decision 03 Mutual 04 DK
8. Please tell me which of the following statements describe the reasons your relative left _____ [FACILITY]: (CIRCLE ALL THAT APPLY)
01 Required hospital care 02 Needed nursing home care 03 Required more care than the facility could provide 04 Preferred location closer to family or friends 05 Exhausted his/her resources and had to leave because of money 06 Dissatisfied with the quality of care 07 Dissatisfied with the price or charges 08 Dissatisfied with some other aspect of the Facility 09 It was the facilitys request for unknown reason 10 Relative died/passed on 11 Is there any other reason not mentioned here? (SPECIFY) _________________________
9. When _____ [RESIDENT] moved into _____ [FACILITY], did you expect that he/she would be able to remain in that facility as long as you wanted to? Sometimes this is called being able to age in place.
10. When your relative entered _____ [FACILITY], did someone discuss with you the conditions under which he/she would be asked to leave or when the facility would no longer be able to meet his/her care needs?
11. Which of the following statements best describes the facilitys policies about discharge?
12. Which of the following statements best describes your feeling about the length of your relatives stay in _____ [FACILITY]?
01 Wish he/she had left sooner, for example to go to a nursing home 02 Wish he/she had been able to stay there longer 03 Left at just the right time
13. Use any number on a scale from zero to ten, with zero being the worst and 10 being the best. How would you rate the facilitys performance in terms of meeting your relatives need for personal assistance or health care? _____Score
14. Did you help your relative select _____ [FACILITY]?
01 YES 02 NO (SKIP TO Q.18)
15. Think back to when your relative moved in to _____ [FACILITY]. Which of the following were important to you? (CIRCLE ALL THAT APPLY) (The facility selected may not have had all the things the family member or resident wanted, but the responses should reflect preferences.)
Private bedroom 01 02
Private bathroom 01 02
Ability to bring your own furniture to the facility 01 02
The availability of monitoring, for example if your relative fell or needed help with medications 01 02
The ability of the facility to provide more or different services if your relatives needs changed 01 02
Total Cost (Price plus extra charges) 01 02
All were equally important
16. Did your opinion of what was most important change over time, as your relative lived in the facility?
17. Which of the following became MORE important to you over time? (CIRCLE ALL THAT APPLY)
NONE OF THE ABOVE, All were equally important 77
18. In the two months before your relative left the facility/dies, how often were you able to go to _____ [FACILITY] and visit?
01 Daily 02 Several times a week (3 or more times) but not daily 03 1-2 times a week 04 2-3 times a month 05 Once a month or less
19. Did you have any knowledge about the charges at _____ [FACILITY]?
21. Use any number on a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 being the worst and 10 being the best. How would you rate the facilitys performance in terms of meeting your expectations about how much it would cost on a monthly basis? _____ Score
01 The accommodations 02 The price 03 The activities 04 The transportation that was offered 05 The staff (quality and number) 06 The availability of services or assistance you needed 07 None of the above
24. Overall, which of the following statements best describes your feelings about your relatives experience at _____ [FACILITY]? Would you say it was
25. Would you recommend this facility to a friend who had the same type of needs and interests that your relative had?
Some unmeasured facility characteristic that is very highly correlated with our service measure (i.e., a full-time RN who does direct care) may be driving this relationship, either wholly or partially. However, this relationship does not appear when one uses other service measures, so any unobserved variable must be correlated with this specific measure and not with overall RN staffing, aide staff, the willingness to arrange for RN care, or simply having an RN on staff. Such a characteristic is relatively hard to conceive of, so the authors best judgment, until other evidence is provided, is that the observed relationship is driven by the measured characteristic--the presence of a full-time RN providing direct care.
The sampling weights for the re-interviews were adjusted for non-response within six weighting classes representing facilities of different sizes, service levels and privacy levels.
This result was quite robust. It was statistically significant across all specifications of the model, save one in which its significance level rose to .07.
This finding was somewhat less robust than that for discharge to a nursing home. In the final model, it was significant, but in some other models it was not statistically significant.
This appendix is a recreation of the questions asked on the survey. It is not an exact replica of the form itself. A copy of the survey is available in the PDF version of this report at http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/2000/alresid.pdf.
OTHER REPORTS AVAILABLE
A National Study of Assisted Living for the Frail Elderly: Discharged Residents Telephone Survey Data Collection and Sampling Report
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/drtelesy.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/drtelesy.pdf
A National Study of Assisted Living for the Frail Elderly: Final Sampling and Weighting Report
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/sampweig.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/sampweig.pdf
A National Study of Assisted Living for the Frail Elderly: Final Summary Report
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/finales.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/finales.pdf
A National Study of Assisted Living for the Frail Elderly: Report on In-Depth Interviews with Developers
Executive Summary http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/indpthes.htm
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/indepth.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/indepth.pdf
A National Study of Assisted Living for the Frail Elderly: Results of a National Study of Facilities
Executive Summary http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/facreses.htm
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/facres.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/facres.pdf
Assisted Living Policy and Regulation: State Survey
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/stasvyes.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/stasvyes.pdf
Differences Among Services and Policies in High Privacy or High Service Assisted Living Facilities
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/alfdiff.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/alfdiff.pdf
Family Members' Views: What is Quality in Assisted Living Facilities Providing Care to People with Dementia?
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/fmviews.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/fmviews.pdf
Guide to Assisted Living and State Policy
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/alspguide.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/alspguide.pdf
High Service or High Privacy Assisted Living Facilities, Their Residents and Staff: Results from a National Survey
Executive Summary http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/hshpes.htm
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/hshp.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/hshp.pdf
National Study of Assisted Living for the Frail Elderly: Literature Review Update
Abstract HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/ablitrev.htm
Abstract PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/ablitrev.pdf
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/litrev.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/litrev.pdf
Executive Summary http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/2000/alresides.htm
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/2000/alresid.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/2000/alresid.pdf
State Assisted Living Policy: 1996
Executive Summary http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/96states.htm
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/96state.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/96state.pdf
Executive Summary http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/1998/98states.htm
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/1998/98state.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/1998/98state.pdf
INSTRUMENTS AVAILABLE
Assisted Living Discharged Resident Telephone Interview
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/instruments/ALDRTI.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/instruments/ALDRTI.pdf
Assisted Living Discharged Resident Proxy Respondent Telephone Interview
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/instruments/ALDRPRTI.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/instruments/ALDRPRTI.pdf
Facility Screening Questionnaire
HTML http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/instruments/FacScQ.htm
PDF http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/instruments/FacScQ.pdf
To obtain a printed copy of this report, send the full report title and your mailing information to:
U.S. Department of Health and Human ServicesOffice of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care PolicyRoom 424E, H.H. Humphrey Building200 Independence Avenue, S.W.Washington, D.C. 20201FAX: 202-401-7733Email: webmaster.DALTCP@hhs.gov
RETURN TO:
Office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy (DALTCP) Home [http://aspe.hhs.gov/_/office_specific/daltcp.cfm]Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) Home [http://aspe.hhs.gov]U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Home [http://www.hhs.gov]
"alresid.pdf" (pdf, 7.52Mb)
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Aging and ElderlyAging in PlaceDisability, Aging and Long-Term Care ResearchPublicationsHealth Services, FormalAssisted Living/Congregate CareHighlighted IssuesAssisted Living/Residential CareLong-Term CareLong-Term Care Facilities
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Tag Archives: huddersfield
by At The Rails | May 14, 2019 · 1:26 pm
Manchester City are the first club to repeat as PL Champions in a decade
English football fans certainly got their money’s worth this season, with a title race that kept both supporters and neutrals on the edge of their seat. Fans of lower league clubs also got some thrills as latent giants are finally challenging to climb back into the top flight. All of this under the shadow of Financial Fair Play regulations with teeth… and of course, Brexit.
Here is my take on the 2018-2019 Premier League season.
Would they, or wouldn’t they? The writing was on the wall when Manchester City beat Liverpool at the Etihad in the new year. The first team to successfully defend its crown since the last Manchester dynasty, Pep Guardiola’s side ended their season as worthy champions in a title race for the ages. They did it by accumulating 198 points over two campaigns, scoring 201 league goals in the process… while only letting in 50 (Arsenal let in more in the last ten months, and they finished fifth).
Despite losing a crazy Champions League tie to scrappy Tottenham, Citeh may still win a domestic treble by beating Watford next week in the FA Cup. If so, they will have done it with basically two full sides, almost all of whom would fit in at any other European elite team. That includes the ever-present Sergio Agüero, Raheem Sterling and, eventually, Leroy Sané.
The off-season will be busy. Talismanic but injury-prone captain Vincent Kompany may or may not sign a one-year deal at 33 years old. Former record signing Elaquim Mangala has a one-year contract extension after a big knee injury. Six other players also have one year left on their contract. Fernandinho, David Silva, Delph, and Gündogan have played key parts in City’s success this year as the heart of Pep’s midfield, but none of them could be considered youngsters. It will be interesting to see how much Emirati oil money gets splashed around this summer, to help City finally lift Big Ears in Istanbul in 2020.
It has been exhausting being a Liverpool fan this season, exhilarating yet bittersweet as Jürgen Klopp built on past campaigns to refine his Heavy Metal Football. A 22-point improvement meant the Reds finished with 97 points… and still came up short. In a season of inches, it was a bumpy two months at the start of 2019 that undid Liverpool: a close loss away to City, followed by an FA Cup loss against a productive Wolves side, and then four draws in eight matches. Come March, a potential 10-point margin at the top had evaporated into nothing.
And yet… there is a feeling of crackling energy under the skin at this club. Liverpool were perfect against the bottom half, and despite their image of a calmer, more disciplined team, they actually scored four more league goals this season while practically shutting the door at the back. Pundits pooh-pooh Mohamed Salah for “only” scoring 22 goals which, alongside teammate Sadio Mané, and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, was good enough to win the league’s Golden Boot.
A monumental comeback against a European giant means that Liverpool may finish what they could not 12 months ago. And there is almost no indication this side — so complete with the addition of Golden Glove winner Alisson, and Premier League and PFA Player’s Player of the Year Virgil van Dijk — will be any less formidable come August.
The last five winners of the Championship have managed to hold onto their Premier League status, but none have done so with Wolves’ panache. Maybe panache is not the word; perhaps “authority”. This club was 13th in offence, but had the fifth-best defence in the league. A Midlands side with a Portuguese heart, Nuno Espirito Santo kept his side organized enough to beat Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal AND Manchester United, and held Manchester City to a draw at the Molineux. Only Liverpool did the double on Wolves, and even then, Wolves gave them an early shove out of the FA Cup.
Benfica loanee Raul Jimenez is set to sign a permanent contract after a 17-goal season, and the Portuguese contingent (there are eight of them on this team, four of whom have been capped in the past year) have had no problem with life in England. Wolves achieved the highest finish in the league table for a newly-promoted side since Ipswich Town got to fifth in 2001. While this may surprise some, many pundits seem to forget that Wolves are a big club (one of the original 12) with big pockets. They seem to be in the vanguard of the return of some classic clubs, with Sheffield United already up, and Leeds, West Brom, Villa and Derby fighting it out in the playoffs. Good fun.
The Hammers’ image of a club in perpetual turmoil appears to be fading. While West Ham continues to be stuck in-or-near the middle of the table year after year, the arrival of drama-free manager Manuel Pellegrini seems to have brought a stabilizing influence. The signing of Felipe Anderson from Lazio has given fans a goalscorer to cheer about, and Issa Diop helped the club keep out 13 more goals. However, the move from North to East London has not made Jack Wilshere any less brittle, and an early injury to Dortmund import Andrii Yarmolenko was a blow. Those two should be back for the new season and, barring a summer contract extension, perpetual IR list member Andy Carroll will be off the books.
An improvement of 10 points and three table places means a successful rebuilding year for the Iron.
We’ll temper this one after looking at their last four matches: a draw, and three losses, albeit to Top Ten sides. It was rough end to the season for a club that constantly hovered in and around the top half of the table. Javi Gracia’s first full season in charge earned the Hornets three more wins, nine more points and three higher spots than last year. Troy Deeney was Mr. Watford, pure entertainment for the “purist”, and Doucouré was an ever-present large menace in the goal box. But Gracia’s, um, coup de grâce, was signing Gerard Deulofeu from Barcelona on a permanent. The journeyman Spaniard was good for 10 goals and 5 assists, helping Mssrs. Deeney and Doucouré along the way. The reward is an appearance at Wembley, a possible trophy, and the European campaign that goes along with it.
United need a lot of work in the off-season.
The club removed a tyrant for the prince that was foretold… except that hasn’t worked out; it’s all gone Game of Thrones, hasn’t it? (As opposed to the constant Lord of the Rings references for Ole Gunnar Solskjær… would that make this season a Three-Ring Serkis?) We were constantly told that José Mourinho had lost the plot, had turned on his players and was content to go scorched earth as United lost three and drew one in their first seven matches. Training ground arguments, dressing room mutinies, as well as increasingly bizarre press conferences meant that a mid-December loss to Liverpool was the final straw.
Enter Old Trafford’s Hamlet from stage left. The provisional manager appeared to kick at the daylight and a new era began as United went undefeated for 12 straight matches. Then Solskjær was signed as the permanent manager and the players were content to watch their season burn: eight points from their last nine matches, as well as falling out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals. It turns out it was the players after all…
So here they sit. No Champions League next season. If Arsenal beat Chelsea in the Europa league final, United will be the only Top Six team not in Europe’s top competition. To make matters worse, if Watford win the FA Cup, United would have to start Europa League qualifying matches in mid-July.
The squad is a shambles and it will likely take a small fortune for proper replacements. It turns out Paul Pogba is dressing-room poison, despite his obvious talent. It turns out Romelu Lukaku is not a big-club player, and may actually be an anachronism in this era of twitchy wingers and counter-pressing. It turns out that Alexis Sanchez is a multi-million pound albatross that will be difficult to move. It turns out (to the surprise of almost no one) that United’s back line is a shambles, and that wholesale change is critical.
As the years pass, the evidence grows stronger that United’s biggest superstar for years was Sir Alex Ferguson. Good luck finding his successor. It isn’t OGS.
This one might be a bit unfair, except that the Premier League is a cruel place, what with all the money at stake. Burnley have known the see-saw battle of the “small” club (even though they are one of said Original 12) for years, but after last season’s seventh place finish on a shoe-string budget, expectations were maybe not high, but there was optimism.
Then came an early Europa League campaign, and the apparent abandonment of the defence-first strategy that worked so well last season. Burnley were then left gasping for air for most of the season, and the club dropped 14 points and eight places. If not for the bottom three’s efforts to speed towards the trap door, Burnley might have been looking at a Championship stint in the fall; it may just be delaying the inevitable. The Clarets had a dismal -23 goal difference, and finished the season on a draw and three losses. Expect more of the same in August, and another relegation battle for the Lancashire club.
Unfortunately, this one was on the cards from the get-go. The Terriers had wait until November for their first win… one of only three on the season. A precipitous drop of 21 points from last season sent them to Number 20 with a bullet. Maybe they will return to the Prem with the help of parachute payments, but not likely.
Never really a contender or hopeful to stay up, this club was here sightseeing. No money, no players, no hope. Plus the added bonus of not having to listen to “proper footballing man” Neil Warnock spout off venom and crap.
See above, except some pundits were genuinely excited about the Cottagers’ scrappy line-up. Aleksandar Mitrović started strong with five goals in six games, and then scored six in the next 32. Fulham had seven wins all season; three of those came after they were relegated. ‘Nuff said.
Saved only by Cardiff’s self-immolation, the Seagulls basically repeated their previous PL season. Yes, Glenn Murray continued to defy Father Time and scored goals in the double digits. But the Cumbrian aside, Albion was positively anemic, both on the score sheet and in the league table. Only earning two wins after Christmas has cost Chris Hughton his job. The club are tourists in the top flight, and will likely return home in 2020.
Will Sarri win the battle of wills at Stamford Bridge?
Sure they qualified for the Champions League, but the last two spots were a hot potato that no one seemed to want at the end of the season. At times, Mauricio Sarri carried on with the frantic exasperation of a taxi dispatcher, smoking and pacing on the sidelines. He was obviously brought in to make Chelsea better, and to lead a fractious dressing room that had full-on revolted against fellow Italian, Antonio Conte.
But did he? The same player issues seem to still be there, despite bringing midfield quarterback Jorginho with him from Napoli, as well as spending £72M on Kepa from Bilbao… with whom he had an apoplectic, and very public, battle in the League Cup final. Chelsea is a club with notorious “player power” whose owner seems to listen to his on-field staff more than his managers.
Chelsea finished the season with only two more points than last year, and practically the same goals for and against. The only difference is that Chelsea’s rivals appeared in the same rush to lose. With main goalscorer Eden Hazard almost certainly on his way to Real Madrid, Sarri had better hope he can continue to mould his team in his unwavering image, while continuing to challenge for the Top Four. Of course, there is the little matter of UEFA’s transfer ban for Financial Fair Play violations… maybe winning the silver of a Europa League trophy will add some shine to this season.
What to say about Spurs? Frankly, with all the factors lined up against them, they should have no business being in the Champions League final, and have had to fight hard to stay in the Premier League Top Four. After a net spend of £18M last season, owner Daniel Levy spent a grand total of £0 on new players in the summer of 2018. Nicht. Nil. Zip.
Tottenham had to contend with another season at Wembley, as construction delays at the new White Hart Lane ate away at the club’s bottom line on the daily. They have a gifted and charismatic manager who made rumblings all season, hinting that the owner needed to spend or else he was off to a “bigger” club. They had a threadbare squad that fans had to hope would push through injury and fatigue.
Obviously, they were not disappointed. Spurs have managed to scrape into the Champions League… even though their talismanic striker was obviously exhausted after going deep into the World Cup with England. Harry Kane was out for a quarter of Spurs’ league games. It didn’t stop Spurs from mounting the Mother of All Comebacks.
That’s because there are two new folk heroes of Haringay: Heung-min Son, a man who is obviously experiencing pure joy playing for the Spurs faithful, and Lucas Moura, who will eternally be remembered for THAT game in Amsterdam. After everything stacked up against Spurs, a first-ever Champions League trophy would simply be mythical.
But one can not stand still in the Premier League. You only have to think back to rivals Arsenal in the early 2000’s to see the financial effects of a brand-new stadium. Yes the gate will dramatically increase, but it will likely take at least a decade to pay off the new-build’s capital costs. Levy is frugal at the best of times, and Mauricio Pochettino wants assurances that he will have cash to splash, come July. Christian Eriksen is valued at around £77M right now, and Levy will likely sell to spend. Otherwise, the Miracle of North London will end just as it did in the mid-70s, and early 90s…
After 22 years under a single manager, Arsenal’s post-Wenger era was always going to be trepidatious. Certainly the Frenchman’s replacement had the pedigree. Unai Emery has three European titles to his name, along with a two-season stint at French giant Paris Saint-Germain. But Emery walked into a hodgepodge of a dressing room. He inherited a wonderful offence… and a truly terrible back line. Koscielny is brittle and past it, Xhaka and Mustafi are volatile liabilities, and bringing in Stephan Lichsteiner — whose attempts to use sh!thousery to cover a serious decline — was never going to be the answer. Emery’s thinly-veiled battles with Mezut Özil and fan-favourite Aaron Ramsey have angered many Arsenal supporters.
However, Emery does have the front pairing of Golden Boot winner Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette. His purchase of Lucas Torreira from Sampdoria was inspired; same with Sokratis who, despite losing his head now and then, was coveted by several Premier League teams.
Losing out on Champions League qualification on the second-last week of the season had to sting. That pain will subside completely if they beat rivals Chelsea on the 29th. But they will need to find more cohesion, more sense of self, more Arsenal of old.
Sigh. The “fans hate Mike Ashley/the manager might be leaving/please sell the club” narrative is now a decade old. Newcastle actually finished with one more point this season, but dropped three places. Content to play like a much smaller club, the Magpies have firmly ensconced themselves in the third quadrant of the Premier League table. Of course, that could change if the ownership does as well…
Whither Eddie Howe? The Premier League’s longest-serving manager (approaching seven years) has kept his club in the top flight for five seasons. When the Cherries finished ninth three years ago, the typical hyperbole about “the young English manager” whipped around, including as a potential replacement for Arsene Wenger or, heaven’s mercy, England. Certainly Howe is quite good at nurturing young talent, but he spent £80M in the off-season with minimal results. Twenty-five million of that money was spent on defensive midfielder Jefferson Lerma… yet Bournemouth let in nine more goals in 2018/19. Chances are good that Bournemouth will be in the relegation battle come next spring.
The good news for the Saints is Mark Hughes is not their manager anymore, replaced in December by the equally sparky (but by all accounts, much nicer) Ralph Hassenhüttl. Under Hughes, Southampton had four league matches in an entire calendar year… including a solitary victory from the start of the season to his firing. Under Hassenhüttl, the team earned an 8-6-10 record… not lighting up the league, but certainly enough to dig themselves out of a dark hole. What is worrying for the club is that, despite the threat of relegation, Southampton finished with three draws and two losses; all of those opponents finished 11th or lower. Luckily, Cardiff fell on the sword instead, and Ralph & Co. get to play in the Premier League for another year.
All the drama surrounding the hiring of Marco Silva appeared to be blowing up in the Toffees’ face. Everton mostly languished outside the Top 10 until the middle of March, when they finished a strong 5-3-2, and landed exactly where they were 12 months ago: eighth. No Everton Cup for you, Everton. Now let’s see if Silva will be allowed to replenish his aging squad, as well as loanees Kurt Zouma and André Gomes, while keeping Gylfi Sigurdsson down on the farm.
Well… you couldn’t find two more different managers then the gaffers that took charge at the King Power this season. By all accounts, Claude Puel was not the most inspiring of generals, and his record with the Foxes was positively insipid. Enter Brendan “Enough About Me, Let’s Talk About Me” Rodgers, whose 6-3-2 record helped Leicester claw its way back and finish in the same spot as last year: ninth. Puel’s great crime was spending all that Riyad Mahrez money, and then wasting it. Rodgers let loose £22M signing Ricardo Pereira up the wings and he was rewarded with crosses galore.
Leicester is a very talented squad. Example: despite all the hype around Manchester City and Liverpool, Jamie Vardy was mostly overlooked as he finished the season with 18 league goals… good enough for fifth overall, and more than Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane and Eden Hazard. The problem (sorry, “challenge”) is that the club recently won the Premier League title. It was an anomaly… but now the team and the fans feel they should be challenging for the Top Six. They’ve got their work cut out for themselves.
A slight improvement in both offence and defence, if not in table position, Crystal Palace are as bland and anonymous as their manager… and that’s not a dig either. An almost perpetual dweller in the lower leagues, Palace have now managed to stay in the top flight for six seasons. Roy Hodgson has taken his patchwork quilt of cast-off players and held onto that mushy, nebulous part of the table that will rarely rise into the Top 10 but, with a bit of luck, won’t get relegated either. After relying on Wilfried Zaha as the sole goalscorer, Hodgson now has options: hard man captain Luka Milivojević led the team in scoring with 12 goals. Not bad for a supposed “defensive midfielder”. Expect more of the same from Palace next season.
All right: now bring on the finals for the FA Cup, Europa League, Champions League and Nations League!
Filed under Champions League, FA Cup, Premier League
Tagged as arsenal, bournemouth, brighton, burnley, cardiff city, chelsea, clarets, cottagers, crystal palace, everton, foxes, fulham, hammers, hornets, huddersfield, leicester city, liverpool, man u, manchester city, manchester united, newcastle united magpies, premier league, saints, southampton, spurs, terriers, toffees, tottenham hotspur, wanderers, watford, west ham, west ham united, wolverhampton, wolves
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The John Batchelor Show
Tales of the New Cold War: 1 of 2: Has the US isolated Russia from its neighbors? Stephen F. Cohen @NYU @Princeton eastwestaccord.com.
(Photo: Normandy format talks
February 12, 2015 Minsk President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of France Francois Hollande, Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko at the talks in the Normandy format. Photo: RIA Novosti ))
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The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis... Philip & @carol_zaleski 1 of 3.
Climate 1314 AD: "The Third Horseman: A Story of Weather, War, and the Famine History Forgot" William Rosen
The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams by Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski, PART 2 OF 3.
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Search results for 'bob ferguson'
“The Brown Stockings, A Gloomy Title”
Shortly before the 1875 National Association season, the St. Louis Brown Stockings visited Louisville to play an exhibition against the semi-pro Olympics.
The Louisville Courier-Journal wrote with admiration about the building of a professional club in St. Louis:
“The signs of the times indicate a far livelier season of base ball than has ever been enjoyed in America by lovers of the great national pastime. Especially will this be the case in the west, to which part of our country the great baseball wave has been slowly moving for several years.”
The paper said St. Louis was acting to eclipse Chicago as the “capital” of baseball in the west:
“In order to be honorably represented in the base ball arena, the Mound City folks formed a stock company; gathered in $20,000 from wealthy merchants and millionaires, procured twelve experts in the national game, and now the city smiles while she thinks how her club will walk forward to the pinnacle of fame this year.”
Recruited from “Eastern states,” The Courier-Journal said of the St. Louis team:
“The Brown Stockings, a gloomy title for so gay a set of fellows, though it is rather the fault of St. Louis papers than the base ballists, that they are forced to wear it. All in all, the St. Louis club is composed of as handsome a set of fellows as ever handled the willow or tossed the ball. We refer to face as well as form. Since their engagement by a St. Louis stock company the base-ballists have been under gymnastic training…The members have perfect understanding of each other’s movements, and act accordingly.”
Noting that many of the players had spent the previous season in Brooklyn, the paper said they chose to “come west, like all good people ought to do.”
The Courier-Journal reporter interviewed outfielder Jack “Death to Flying Things” Chapman, who offered a wealth of information on the 19th Century ballplayer:
Jack Chapman
“(He) is six feet high, and splendidly built, being a ‘man as is a man.’ He only weighs one hundred and seventy-seven and isn’t married, though he contemplates taking a partner someday.”
Chapman, the “best looking man on the team,” who “is much liked by his associates,” was designated the “team scholar” to talk to the press in the absence of manager Dickey Pearce who was ill. He said:
“St. Louis is bound to be the greatest place on the continent for base ball this season. Her stock company offered big inducements, and we accepted.”
As for the people who had built the club, Chapman said, they were:
“Very rich and nice people…(the club’s) officers are mostly millionaires, who desire their city ably represented in base ball. The people ‘turn out’ there in the thousands, and are all agog with base ball excitement. Five thousand people witnessed our practice game last week.”
Chapman was asked about salaries:
“Substitutes get from $900 to $1200. Regulars receive $1000 to $2500. Bob Ferguson (the other “Death to Flying Things), of our old club, gets $2500 this year for captaining the Hartfords.”
Asked what players did in the off-season, Chapman said:
“A good many loaf, and others work at different jobs. Generally whatever they hit upon that suits.”
As for the St. Louis club’s prospects to overtake the Boston Red Stockings as the nation’s dominant team:
“We hope to do it, and I believe we shall. The Reds are a good team, made excellent by having stuck together so long. I consider the (Philadelphia) Athletics the stronger nine this year. Harry Wright is the best captain in America. The (New York) Mutuals were the best club last season, and but for the bad feeling among the members would now be champions.”
Finally, Chapman was asked whether he thought Louisville could support a professional team:
“I do, indeed, and am surprised she hasn’t one.”
Chapman was hit and miss on his predictions. The Brown Stockings were the best club in the west, finishing the season 39-29, but no where close to playing at the caliber of Wright’s Red Stockings (71-8) , the Hartford Dark Blues (54-28), or the Athletics (53-20).
He was correct about Louisville’s chances to get a professional club, The Grays, with Chapman as manager finished fifth in the inaugural season of the National League.
Tags: Bob Ferguson, Boston Red Stockings, Chicago White Stockings, Dickey Pearce, Harry Wright, Hartford Dark Blues, Jack Chapman, Louisville Olympics, National Association, National League, New York Mutuals, Philadelphia Athletics, St. Louis Brownstockings
More Superstitions, 1884
Superstitious ballplayers are as old as baseball.
When the Philadelphia Athletics visited Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for an exhibition game 1884, a reporter from The Harrisburg Telegraph talked to “an old base baller” who was attending the game.
The reporter asked:
“’Are base ball players superstitious?’
“’You betcher life,’ said the veteran; ‘why there is Harry Wright (who) always carries a black cat in the bat bag, just for luck. Al Spalding of the Chicago carries a buckeye in his pocket for luck, and Bob Ferguson begins to hedge in his bets if he meets a cross-eyed man while on his way to the grounds.’”
Harry Wright
The “old base baller” also told the reporter:
“Bobby Matthews will never pitch unless he has an old copper cent in his pocket, and Monte Ward, of the New Yorks, carries a mascot around his neck in the shape of a gold coin. (Jim) Whitney, of Boston, loses heart if he forgets to put his bunch of keys in his pocket before pitching. Just before the Athletics-St. Louis game last year to decide the championship, (Bill) Gleason, of the St. Louis, got as pale as a sheet when he saw a red-headed boy carry in the bat bag. He said it was bad luck, and, sure enough, it was.”
Bill Gleason
Philadelphia won the September 23 game 9-2, giving them a 3 ½ game lead in the American Association race, and held on to win the pennant by 1 game.
And the old player told the paper:
“Big (Dan) Brouthers, of the Buffalos, carries a barlow knife for luck. Oh, yes, base ball players are superstitious, an’ don’t ye forgit it.”
Tags: Al Spalding, American Association, Bill Gleason, Bob Ferguson, Bobby Mathews, Boston Beaneaters, Buffalo Bisons, Dan Brouthers, Harry Wright, Jim Whitney, John Montgomery Ward, Philadelphia Athletics, St. Louis Browns
“This kind of Argument is the Veriest kind of Twaddle”
After just one season in the National League—a 24-36 record and a fifth place finish in 1878–the Indianapolis Blues disbanded. Four members of the Blues joined the Chicago White Stockings—Silver Flint, Joe Quest, Ned Williamson, and Orator Shafer.
The 1879 White Stockings
The White Stockings had been a disappointment in 1878, finishing in fourth place with a 30-30 record under Manager Bob Ferguson. President A.G. Spalding, who had named Ferguson as his successor when he retired from the field, announced that first baseman “Cap” Anson would replace Ferguson for 1879.
The changes gave the Chicago press high hopes for 1879.
But, The Cincinnati Enquirer did not agree. The paper said while the Chicago club was “greatly strengthened where it was very weak,” they would still finish no better than fourth place unless they were “properly managed.” Boston Red Stockings Manager “Harry Wright could take this team and run it up to second place at least.”
In January The Enquirer implied that in addition to questionable management, Chicago’s new players were going to be a detriment:
“A prominent baseball official of Boston, in a private letter written recently, sententiously remarks: ‘Look out for the Indianapolis element in the Chicago Club next year.’ There’s a text for everybody’s thoughts.”
The Chicago Tribune quickly fired back with an article under the headline:
“Harmony” vs. Energy
“There has been a great deal said at one time and another concerning ‘harmony’ in nines, and those who had the most to say on the subject contended that it was an essential point to be carefully looked after in the formation of any club which hoped for success on the diamond field. Now The Tribune does not wish to set itself up in opposition to the judgment of men who have made baseball and the management of those who play it a study and a business venture, but it does say that many of them have harped so long upon this matter of ‘harmony’ that it has become a kind of second nature, whereby their judgment has been sadly warped. Of late a paragraph, started in Cincinnati, has been going the rounds, in which the general public is solemnly warned to ‘look out for the Indianapolis element in the Chicago Club’ during 1879.
“Now the President and Manager of the Chicago Club are probably about as astute and far-seeing as any in the business and in view of this fact and reflection on their judgment or sagacity is in bad taste, and the parties who make ill-advised criticisms on the course of any club in hiring men, are very apt to undergo the unpleasant experience of persons not brought up in New Zealand who indulge in the pastime of throwing boomerangs; their weapons may come back and inflict considerable damage on those who threw them. Whether or not the White stocking nine of next season will be a ‘harmonious’ one, it is doubtful if anybody knows, and still more doubtful if anybody cares.
“At the risk of being howled at by several papers, the baseball columns which are presided over by young men whose practical ignorance of the game is exceeded only by their ability to construct tables which not even themselves can understand when printed.”
One of the “Young men” referred to was The Enquirer’s sports Editor Oliver Perry “O.P.” Caylor.
One of O.P. Caylor’s tables “which not even themselves can understand when printed.”
“The Tribune will say that the question of whether or not the Chicago nine of next season ‘harmonizes’ will probably make very little difference with its play. Some of the men who enjoy the reputation of being first-class kickers and disorganizers are nevertheless very handy individuals to have around when a base hit or good field play in wanted. Without intending either to arouse the wrath or flatter the vanity of the very amiable and stalwart young man, Anson, it may be said that his reputation as an experienced and prolonged kicker is one that any man might be proud of; but, in spite of those who preach that harmony is everything, he is acknowledged to be one of the best and most useful ball-players in the country. (Cal) McVey, of the Cincinnatis, can also make quite a conspicuous kick, even when not specially called upon to do so; still he is a good ball-player.
“Lip Pike is a disorganizer of the first water, but last season, when he used to hoist a ball out among the freight cars on the lake shore, people who were presumed to know a good player yelled themselves hoarse in his praise. The list could be extended indefinitely, but such action is not necessary. Those who organize nines on the basis of ‘harmony’ alone will never grow rich at the baseball business. It is not possible to get together nine men who could travel around the country eating, sleeping, and playing ball together that would never get out of tune. Nine angels could not do it, much less nine mortals, subject to the little idiosyncrasies that human nature is afflicted with. “
The Tribune likely assumed the “prominent baseball official of Boston,” was Manager Harry Wright, and next turned its attention to him, his brother, and his championship teams.
“Harry Wright has always been the prophet whom the ‘harmony’ men delighted to honor, and the success of the Cincinnati and Boston Clubs under his management has been laid entirely to the dove-like dispositions of the men engaged by him. This kind of argument is the veriest kind of twaddle, and the history of the Boston Club proves the truth of this assertion. George Wright and Tommy Beals went many a day without the interchange of a friendly word, and George and (Charlie) Gould did the same thing. For one whole season Ross Barnes and Gould never exchanged a word, and glared at each other like opposing game chickens, but the Boston’s won the pennant that year (1872—National Association) all the same harmony or no harmony.
“Other instances of like character could be adduced were there any necessity therefore, but these, from the fountain head of ‘harmony,’ will suffice. If a club wins the championship it will be because its men play ball, not because they are ‘goody-goody’ boys. Your man who gets hot at something during a game, and then relieves his feelings by making a two or three base hit, is much more valuable than one who, although possessed of a Sunday-school temperament at all times, manifests a decided aversion to reaching first base., when the occupancy of that particular bag of sawdust would be of some value to the men who pay him high wages for playing ball.”
O.P. Caylor
Caylor would not let the insult to him and to Harry and George Wright, go unchallenged:
“The Chicago Tribune published some strange statements against the argument that in harmony there was always strength. To prove that harmony was not always necessary to create strength in a baseball club, the writer made bold to say among other things that Tommy Beales [sic] when a member of the Boston Club, went many a day without the interchange of a friendly word with George Wright, and that the same feeling existed between George and Gould. The writer knew from the first these statements were fiction, but in order to crush the fallacious argument our reporter left it to George Wright himself for an answer. The letter is before us from which we quote, though we half suspect George would demur to its publication out of modesty if he knew it. “
Wright wrote to Caylor:
“(The Tribune) said Tommy Beales [sic] and I went many a day without the interchange of a friendly word, and that Gould and I did the same thing. While they were with the Boston nine they were about my best friends. Most of the time Beales [sic] boarded at my house, while Charley and I roomed together on trips. I think the reporter was wrong in his argument against ‘Harmony’ as it was the great cause of the Boston Club’s success. The credit for this mostly belonged to Captain Harry Wright.”
Although it appears Wright spelled the name of his good friend Tommy Beals incorrectly, he got the spelling right 12 months later when he named his son—tennis Hall of Fame member –Beals Wright after his former teammate.
The Tribune allowed Wright, and Caylor, the last word, and dropped the dialogue regarding “harmony.”
Despite Caylor’s prediction, the White Stockings, under Manager Cap Anson, led the National League from opening Day through August 15. Anson became ill during July, and as his performance slipped, so did the team’s fortunes.
Suffering from what The Tribune called “an acute affection of the liver…that had sadly impaired his strength and capacity for play,” Anson left the club on August 26 with a 41-21 record, in second place, just a game and a half back.
With Silver Flint serving as manager, and without Anson’s bat—he led the team with a .317 average—the White Stockings were 5-12 in the last 17 games, and a fourth place finish.
Harry Wright’s Boston Red Stockings finished second; his team, winners of the previous two National League championships lost some of the “harmony” that made them winners when his brother George Wright and Jim O’Rourke signed with the Providence Grays. George Wright, in his only season as a manager, led the Grays to the 1879 National League championship.
Tags: A. G. Spalding, Bob Ferguson, Boston Red Stockings, Cal McVey, Cap Anson, Charlie Gould, Chicago White Stockings, Cincinnati Reds, George Wright, Harry Wright, Indianapolis Blues, Jim O'Rourke, Joe Quest, Lip Pike, National Association, National League, Ned Williamson, Orator Shafer, Providence Grays, Ross Barnes, Silver Flint, Tommy Beals
“It may well be Doubted whether Beals should be Permitted to play Second Base again”
Thomas Lamb “Tommy” Beals had a complicated relationship with Harry and George Wright.
George named his son, the Hall of Fame tennis player, Beals Wright after his friend and former teammate. But, The Chicago Tribune said when the two played together, “George Wright and Tommy Beals went many a day without a friendly word,” a charge Wright denied.
After signing a contract to play second base for Harry Wright’s Red Stockings for 1876—the first season of the National League—Beals decided instead to jump the contact and go to Colorado where he worked as a miner.
Tommy Beals
He eventually left Colorado and went to the West Coast where he played a handful of games in 1879 for the San Francisco Mutuals and Oakland Pioneers in the California League. In the spring of 1880 he signed a contract with the Chicago White Stockings.
Harry Wright protested the signing of his former player, or as The Tribune said:
“Some parties in Boston have been making a wholly unnecessary fuss over the engagement of Beals by the Chicago Club, claiming that after engaging to play with the Bostons in 1876 he refused to report for duty.”
The Tribune noted that the contract was actually signed before the league was officially founded on February 2, 1876, but:
“The Boston people argue that, although the League was not in existence at the time Beals retired from baseball, it was agreed, upon its formation, that that all contracts existing between clubs and players should be recognized.”
The newspapers in Wright’s former hometown of Cincinnati weighed in. The Commercial Gazette encouraged the Boston protest and said Wright should make it “a test case (and) prevent the Chicago Club from playing him during the coming season.” The Cincinnati Enquirer took the opportunity to accuse Wright of protesting activities he was himself regularly guilty of engaging in:
“The disposition shown by the Boston Club management to create an unpleasantness in the matter of the engagement of Tommy Beals by the Chicago Club, upon the ground that Beals was under some sort of engagement with Boston four or five years ago, has had the effect of recalling some reminiscences calculated to show that the pharisaical kickers of the Hub are in no position to give us the ‘holier than thou’ racket. In the first place Boston has slept upon its rights, if it ever had any, in the Beals case so long that the matter is outlawed long since, and ought never be raked up at this late day, especially in view of the fact that Chicago acted in good faith and without any suspicion of a cloud upon its title to the services of Beals.
“In the next place Boston had better be repenting for some of its own sins before assuming the role of exhorter towards other folks. That club has now under contract three players whose engagements will not bear the closest kind of scrutiny. In 1877 the Boston Club, in the middle of the season, committed an act of piracy on the Lowell Club of which it ought to be ashamed, by jerking (John) Morrill and (Lew) Brown out of the Lowell nine in regular highwayman fashion, both these players being then under contract for the entire season in Lowell…we (also) find that (Jack) Burdock was under contract to Chicago in 1875 and never showed up. He might have been expelled by Chicago, but was not, and continues an honored and valued member of the Boston outfit. In 1876, again Thomas Bond was suspended from play and pay by the Hartford Club, of which he was then a member, and in spite of this cloud upon his name and fame, was engaged the following year by Boston, and has been there ever since.”
Morrill, Burdock and Bond were all still members of the Red Stockings, comprising three-fourths of the team’s infield.
The Enquirer also criticized Boston because the team acted to “choke off” an attempt by Hartford Manager Bob Ferguson to bring the allegations which led to Bond’s suspension to light during a league meeting—Bond, during a season-long feud with Ferguson had accused his manager, among other things, of “selling” games. Bond was suspended by Ferguson on August 21 of 1876 despite posting a 31-13 record for the second place Dark Blues—Bond’s replacement as Hartford’s primary pitcher was Candy Cummings.
The Enquirer took a final shot at Wright noting that when the league instituted the new rule for 1879 which barred non-playing managers from the bench “Boston squealed because Harry Wright couldn’t enjoy privileges denied to everybody else, and this year they are playing baby about Beals on grounds equally absurd.”
The Tribune laid out Chicago’s long list of grievances for “plenty of ‘queer’ work in which Boston has been engaged.” In addition to the incidents mentioned by The Enquirer, The Tribune said in 1877 after Albert Spalding had secured infielder Ezra Sutton for Chicago, “Sutton was worked upon by Boston and went there to play.”
So, according to Boston’s critics the club’s entire 1880 infield had come to the team via questionable circumstances.
The Boston Herald responded:
“It is not to be expected that the Chicago Club will recognize the position of the Boston Club in this matter, and release Beals. That organization has on more than one occasion, shown its utter contempt for League rules, or in fact, for anything that interferes with its own particular self, and, to expect justice in this case, is not to be thought of. In the meanwhile, the Boston Club will probably not take any official action in the premises, but let the Chicago Club enjoy all the honor (?) there is in playing such a man.”
After the weeks of allegations, posturing and name-calling in the press, the season began on May 1; Boston never lodged a formal complaint about the signing of Beals.
Chicago cruised to the National League title, spending only one day (after the season’s second game) out of first place. Beals, rusty from his layoff made little impact for the champions, hitting just .152 in 13 games at second base and in the outfield. By August, with the fight to defend his signing long forgotten, The Tribune said after a rare Beals start in a 7 to 4 loss to the Worcester Ruby Legs:
“Beals played as though he had never seen a ball-field before…It may well be doubted whether Beals should be permitted to play second base again…any amateur who could be picked at random would be likely to do better both in fielding and batting. Worcester would have made two or three less runs yesterday if second base had been left vacant altogether, as what time Beals didn’t muff grounders he threw wild and advanced men to bases they would not otherwise have reached.”
Beals was 0 for 3 with three errors that afternoon—for the season he committed 4 errors in thirteen total chances at second for a fielding percentage of .692.
Let go by Chicago at the end of the season, Beals’ professional baseball career was over and he returned to the west. In 1894 he was elected to one two-year term in the Nevada State Legislature as a Republican representing a district that included the town of Virginia City. By 1900 he was back in Northern, California, where little is known about his activities. He died in Colma, California in 1915
Tags: A. G. Spalding, Bob Ferguson, Boston Red Stockings, California League, Candy Cummings, Chicago White Stockings, Ezra Sutton, George Wright, Harry Wright, Hartford Dark Blues, Jack Burdock, Lew Brown, National League, Oakland Pioneers, San Francisco Mutuals, Tommy Beals, Tommy Bond, Worcester Ruby Legs
“I am thoroughly Disgusted with the Business”
Robert Vavasour “Bob” Ferguson shares claim, with Brooklyn Atlantics teammate Jack Chapman, to the nickname “Death to Flying Things,” although it will likely never be resolved which had the name attached to him first.
What is clear is that Ferguson was an important figure in 19th Century baseball –a player, manager, umpire and executive, and the game’s first switch hitter.
Ferguson was, given the reputation’s of 19th Century umpires, uniquely popular.
The St. Louis Republican said he was “about the most brilliant of any…He never allowed his word to be questioned and was the most successful umpire in that regard ever in the profession”
The Louisville Post said “Ferguson plays no favorite from the time he calls play. He sees all men alike and tries to do justice to them.”
The Sporting Life said he was “The only umpire who can satisfy New York audiences.”
In May of 1886 Ferguson resigned from the American Association’s umpire staff to manage the New York Metropolitans, until May of 1887, when he was let go by New York and returned to the association staff. The Philadelphia Times said his services were so sought after that he was offered “$1200 for the remainder of the season. This is much in excess of the regular umpire’s salary, but (the Cleveland Blues, Brooklyn Grays and St. Louis Browns) have agreed to stand the additional expense if Ferguson will accept the position.”
Even when criticizing Ferguson for possessing “a whole barrel full of that commodity known as mulishness” The Cincinnati Enquirer said, “There is no disputing his honesty.”
Intractability was the one major criticism of his work, but Ferguson thought it an asset. Shortly after returning as an umpire in 1887 The Washington Evening Star said during a game between New York and Philadelphia, a runner starting from second base, noticing Ferguson’s back turned after a passed ball cut third base and scored easily. Ferguson was alleged to have said:
“I felt morally certain that he did not go to third base, as he scored almost as soon as the base runner who was on third at the time. But before I could do anything in the matter the crowd began to hoot and I declined to change my decision. Let an umpire be overcome just once by the players or the crowd and he never will be acknowledged afterward.”
But, despite the respect he sought and received, on and off the field, in 1888 Ferguson told a reporter for The New York Mail and Express—which said Ferguson was noted for his “bluntness and firmness” as a player– how he really felt about being an umpire:
“I did not choose it; that is to say, I did not seek it very earnestly. I had been active on the ball field for so many years that I knew it would be only a question of a short time when my efficiency as a player would be impaired to the extent of my being forced to retire, and the position of umpire being possible for me to obtain and in fact offered to me, I accepted it that I might surely be able to continue upon the field, where I have spent most, and in a general way the happiest years of my life.
“How do I like it? I do not like it at all. An umpire, not withstanding newspaper talk regarding his being master of the field, is practically a slave to the whims of players. He does not, as is generally supposed, go upon a field, and upon the slightest provocation fine a player to any amount simply because that man does not act in accordance with his ideas. He is not there for that purpose. He is simply the representative of the officers of the association in which he happens to be employed.
“I give all clubs, whether weak or strong, an equal chance. The position of an umpire is one that no self respecting man can hold long without wondering whatever possessed him to accept it, and wishing to be free from it.
“But everyone has to earn a livelihood, and I am endeavoring to earn mine, but I will say I am thoroughly disgusted with the business and will welcome the day when I can say: ‘Robert, you are free; your slavery days are over; you can now enjoy the fruits of your labor.’ Don’t misquote me now and say that I am disgusted with the national game, for it would be utterly untrue. I am fond of baseball, as my many years on the diamond will attest; but to be a player, which position I loved, is one thing; to be an umpire is another.”
Ferguson remained in the American Association through 1889, then joined the Players League as an umpire in 1890, and returned to the American Association for the 1891 season, his last; The Sporting Life said “the Association soured on him” because “his expense bill” was much larger than any other umpire.”
Ferguson tried to get a position with the National League in 1892, but according to The Chicago Tribune he “does not seem to be much sought after.”
Ferguson retired to Brooklyn where he died in 1894 at the age of 49.
Oliver Perry Caylor said in The New York Herald said he was “an umpire of recognized fairness and merit…His honesty was always above suspicion, and scandal never breathed a word against his upright life professionally.”
Tags: American Association, Bob Ferguson, Brooklyn Atlantics, Brooklyn Grays, Cleveland Blues, Jack Chapman, National League, New York Metropolitans, O. P. Caylor, Players League, Saint Louis Browns
“Chicago has been Successful in her Efforts to Wrest the Base Ball Supremacy from Cincinnati”
In 1916 Jimmy Wood recounted his greatest triumph, his Chicago White Stockings’ two victories over the Cincinnati Red Stockings.
“When we went to Cincinnati for that first game even our most loyal rooters were pessimistic. It was not that they lacked confidence in our ability, but because they feared we would be ‘jobbed’ by some Cincinnati umpire, or menaced so by the rowdy crowds that we wouldn’t play our real game because of fear of violence if we should win.”
Most of the doubts in Chicago had disappeared. Even The Chicago Tribune, which pronounced the team a failure before Wood and Tom Foley had completed putting it together and remained critical through their early struggles, allowed that the game was “liable to be a close one.”
The White Stockings would benefit from the injury to Red Stockings shortstop George Wright; and contrary to Wood’s recollection, they also benefitted from the selection of the umpire.
Wood’s 1916 account told a far-fetched story of the selection of the game’s umpire:
“Just before the game we made an announcement to the stands that we wanted some spectators to umpire the game for us—and that Cincinnati and Chicago residents were barred. From out of the stands, after a long delay, stepped a salesman, named Milligan, from Philadelphia. He convinced us quickly that he was thoroughly conversant with the game, and he was named an umpire.”
William Milligan might have been a salesman, but he was also a former member of the West Philadelphia Club amateur baseball team with whom Chicago outfielder Ned Cuthbert played briefly in 1867. The Cincinnati press also discovered that he had traveled to Cincinnati with the White Stockings and stayed with them at the Gibson House Hotel.
The Cincinnati Gazette said of Milligan:
“The umpire was doubtless a very nice sort of man, but he knew precious little of base ball. His decisions were given in a weak and faltering voice and after much hesitation, and we hardly think Captain Harry Wright could have made a worse selection.”
Wood cast the umpire in a much different light:
“Milligan was of an heroic mold. He umpired that game fairly and squarely as he saw it. He played no favorites.”
The Gazette also noted George Wright’s absence as “a serious drawback upon the nine, and they do not now play with the vim and energy usual to them when the King is present at short field.” Despite that, the paper did give some credit to Wood’s club:
“The Chicago nine could not have been in better condition for a grand trial of skill with the famous Cincinnatis than they were yesterday.”
George Wright, Red Stockings shortstop missed the first game
The White Stockings won the game 10-6 leaving; The Gazette said the “The base ball public of Cincinnati will feel deeply humiliated,” by the loss.
The New York Times said as a result of the victory Chicago was experiencing “the warmest expressions of delight, the more so, as no one anticipated it.”
The Chicago Tribune’s headline and sub headline were less subdued:
WHITE ABOVE THE RED
The Redoubtable Red Stockings Defeated by Chicago’s $18,000 Nine. When the Garden City Sets Out to Do a Thing, She Does it. It Took Money to Accomplish the Business, but it is Done.
Jimmy Wood
Wood said in his questionable 1916 account that after the victory his team barely escaped the fans:
“Immediately after the game was over the crowd swarmed upon the field, intent upon wreaking vengeance upon us. I had anticipated this move and instructed my players for a quick get-away. When the last out was made we dashed for the exits and jumped into our carriages. As we ran across the field many of us were struck with stones and bottles.”
After the White Stockings made their escape—allegedly with umpire Milligan joining them for the return trip—back to Chicago where Wood said “we were given a greeting unlike any ever accorded ball players before.”
The following month the rematch was played at Chicago’s Dexter Park.
Wood claimed in 1916:
“Before the game began, 27,000 admissions at $1 each had been sold, with another 25,000 in a wild scramble for tickets…The paid admission for the game was 27,000; the ‘free admissions’ went well beyond 25,000, making a 52,000 crowd within the park when the call ‘play ball’ sounded.”
According to every contemporary report of the game the attendance was around 15,000 (The Chicago Tribune said it was 18,000), still an incredible crowd for 1870, but far less than Wood’s memory. The Cincinnati Commercial also observed that “Not more than 500 ladies were present.”
For this game the mutually agreed upon umpire was Brooklyn Atlantics catcher Bob (the other“Death to Flying Things”) Ferguson.
Umpire Bob Ferguson
In recounting the game in 1916, once again Wood’s recollections were far from accurate, but reporter and “baseball historian” Frank G. Menke did nothing to verify Wood’s memories:
“Things broke badly for us in the early innings. An error or two on the part of my boys, mixed with several long hits by the Red Stockings, gave them a lead of five runs. Later on they increased it and when the seventh inning was ended the score stood 11 to 2 in favor of the Cincinnati club.”
Actually, Chicago scored one run in the first inning, Cincinnati tied it in the third, the red Stockings scored four in the sixth and the White Stockings added one in the seventh; making the score 5 to 2 at the end of seven. The White Stockings scored 14 runs in the last two innings and won 16 to 13.
The Chicago Republican said:
“From first to last the game was one of the finest ever seen in the country…Up to the end of the fifth inning not a point was lost on either side, and even then the increase in the scores was rather the effect of an increase in the strength of the batting than the result of errors.”
“It has been done again; this time in a manner which leaves no doubt as to whether Chicago has been successful in her efforts to wrest the base ball supremacy from Cincinnati.”
Of course the newspapers in the two towns viewed the performance of the umpire differently.
Chicago’s take, from The Republican:
“Of the umpire, Mr. Ferguson, too much cannot be said in praise…he presented one of the best specimens of an umpire ever seen. It is sufficient, perhaps, to say, that neither side questioned one of his decisions.”
And Cincinnati’s from The Gazette:
“The umpire was against us, the weather was against us, the crowd was against us, the heavens were against us, the ground was against us, the pestilential air of the Chicago River was against us, the Chicago nine were against us, and last, but not least, the score was against us.”
However, The Cincinnati Commercial did praise Ferguson, saying he “umpired the game superbly.”
Wood and Tom Foley had achieved their goal in organizing the White Stockings; they had defeated Harry Wright’s Red Stockings. They were named “champions” of the National Association of Base Ball Players that year (in a disputed decision—and a story for another day).
After his baseball career ended in 1875 Wood went into various business ventures in Chicago. In 1891 he bought a tavern on Dearborn Street with another famous Chicago ballplayer, New Williamson—the two remained partners in the business until Williamson’s death in 1894. Wood eventually settled in New Orleans, he died while on a trip to San Francisco in 1927.
Foley, remained well-known in Chicago for his connection with baseball, but became even better known for his role in popularizing billiards. The Associated Press called him “the father of base ball and billiards in the west,” in his 1926 obituary, and said Foley was:
“Promoter of the first amateur billiard tournament in the country, Foley made a significant contribution to the game when he was a prominent member of the committee which in 1882 formulated the balk line form of play. He was himself an expert cueist and held the Illinois championship for two years.”
Tom Foley “King of base ball and billiards in the west”
More more bit of billiard trivia about Foley. In 1897 The New York Times reported that he had opened the first “Billiard parlor for women,: when he created a “ladies annex” to his new pool hall in Chicago:
“Foley has a friend who likes billiards and also likes his wife, but refuses to buy a billiard table for his better half. He told Foley about it the other day, and Foley after a little thought determined to test the scheme which he now announces.”
Tags: Bob Ferguson, Chicago White Stockings, Cincinnati Red Stockings, Frank Manke, George Wright, Harry Wright, Jimmy Wood, National Association, National Association of Base Ball Players, Ned Cuthbert
“Death to Flying Things”
The nickname “Death to Flying Things,” is likely the only thing most baseball fans would know of John Curtis “Jack” Chapman, and even that is a morass of different and often questionable research. He shares the nickname with one-time Brooklyn Atlantics teammate Bob Ferguson, and competing versions of the story disagree about whether first baseman/outfielder Chapman or infielder Ferguson is the one most commonly referred to by the nickname—and never with contemporaneous citations to back up the assertions.
Regardless, Chapman was an important figure during the advent of the game.
He was a well-known amateur player in the 1860s with the Brooklyn Atlantics (as opposed to the National Association team of the same name he and Ferguson played for in 1874) and the Quaker City’s of Philadelphia. Beginning at age 30 he played a total of 113 in the National Association, with Brooklyn and St. Louis, and during the National League’s inaugural season in 1876 he played and managed the Louisville Grays.
Jack Chapman, far right, with 1868 Brooklyn Atlantics
After the 1876 season, the career.246 hitter retired as a player. Over the next 22 years he managed parts of ten seasons in the National League and American Association; including an 88-44 finish and American Association championship with the Louisville Colonels in 1890. He also managed for 11 seasons in the minor leagues, retiring from baseball after the 1899 season.
When his managerial career ended Chapman was often asked to discuss the current state of baseball; carrying on a tradition as old as the game, and one that will never end, Chapman was adamant that the game as it was currently being played did not measure up the game during his prime. In a column that appeared in several newspapers in 1900 he said:
“Our great national game is today in bad shape both financially and in other ways. Whether this situation is caused by the rowdyism of the players I cannot say, but it seems to me that if the rules were strictly lived up to and the chief of umpires and his staff did their duty the game would soon climb back to the high plane it once occupied.
“The players of 10 and 15 years ago were just as fast, tricky and well up in the game as those of today…Years ago the ball used to have two and one-half ounces of rubber in it, whereas now there is only one ounce. This reduction has made the sphere less lively and consequently easier to field…The men are now harnessed almost like football players, with gloves, pads masks and other paraphernalia. We hadn’t these accessories in the old days, yet I don’t think the fielding is much improved.”
But mostly Chapman seemed to be concerned with his legacy as a manager:
“Probably no other man has brought out so many players as I have, mainly because I always have made it a point to be on the lookout for new blood by means of which I could improve my team…I think I may claim without anyone gainsaying my assertion, that I have turned out and sold to the National and other leagues more players who have proved to be crackerjacks than any other man living.
Robert Winchester and Mickey Welch, two old timers were ‘finds’ of mine, while Hugh Jennings, Roger Connor, Jimmy Collins, (Bill) Hoffer, (Harry) Howell and many others too numerous to mention in the major and minor leagues were developed by myself.”
Jack Chapman 1900
Unfortunately, he said little and provided no details about the most significant incident of his career: as manager of the Louisville Grays in 1877 his team was the first to be involved in a gambling scandal:
“I had four men of my own team—(George) Hall, (Bill) Craver, (Al) Nichols and (Jim) Devlin—put out by the league because they were caught throwing a game. That was the first time such a thing had ever happened, and it caused a great sensation at the time.”
“Death to Flying Things” died in 1916 in Brooklyn at age 73.
Tags: Al Nichols, American Association, Bill Craver, Bill Hoffer, Bob Ferguson, Brooklyn Atlantics, George Hall, Harry Howell, Hughie Jennings, Jack Chapman, JimDevlin, Jimmy Collins, Louisville Colonels, Louisville Grays, Mickey Welch, National Association, National League, Quaker City’s of Philadelphia, Roger Connor, St. Louis Browns
“Since I was a boy, I Have Heard this Question Asked”
Jack “Death to Flying Things” Chapman began his career in 1860 with the Putnam Club in Brooklyn, after spending 50 years in baseball, “Baseball Magazine” asked him to weigh in on the best players he had ever seen.
Chapman hedged on who was the greatest pitcher:
“Ever since I was a boy, I have heard this question asked. I maintain that it cannot be answered, for the simple reason that there have been so many really wonderful pitchers…Let us go ‘way back in the old days. There was Tom Pratt, Dick McBride, (Phonney) Martin, Jim Creighton, Arthur Cummings, Bobby Mathews, and Al Spalding, all first-class men.”
Of Spalding, Chapman said, “He had speed and command. He knew how to use his head to fool and opponent.” McBride could “outwit” opposing hitters, and Mathews and Cummings were “foxy.”
Chapman also described what he said led to Creighton’s death in 1862—this version of events appeared later that year in Al Spink’s book, “The National Game,” and remained the narrative surrounding Creighton’s death until the home run story was debunked in recent years.
Chapman said of Creighton’s death:
“(B)aseball met with a most severe loss. He had wonderful speed, and with it, splendid command. He was fairly unhittable.”
Chapman rattled off another 20 names, then said:
“Now mind you, I am not undertaking to mention all the crack pitchers that ever lived—just those who occur to me. Of course, I never knew one who was a bit better than Charley Radbourn, a man who would go in the box day in and day out and work under any and all conditions, who would pitch when men of the present day would shrink from undertaking. Rad would go in the box when his arm was so lame that he could not lift it as high as his head when he started to warm up; yet he would keep at it and pitch a game his opponents could not fathom. He was a very strong man, full of pluck, and used splendid judgement in his pitching.”
Chapman said the Providence Grays teams that Radbourn was a part of were “the best balanced” of their time. Chapman mentioned third baseman Jerry Denny could “play with either hand,” and that:
“Rad was about as capable with his left as he was his right and was a wonderful fielder. He liked to go on the field and warm up with the boys and would go in the infield or the outfield—it mattered not to him—anywhere there was an opening—he loved the game so well. Rad could hit a little bit, too.”
Radbourn
Chapman also singled out Charlie Ferguson, “who died in the zenith of his career. Chapman said Ferguson, “could doubtless play every position better than any one man ever could. He was also a very fine batsman and a speedy chap on the bases.”
Chapman said of Cy Young:
“No man ever had better command of the ball than did this pitcher. Here certainly is a model ball player, just as modest as he is skillful.”
While Chapman named as many as 20 “greatest” pitchers, he settled easily on the best player of all-time:
“To name the best man in baseball history in any position is almost invariably a matter of opinion and often one is just as good as another. I know of but one ballplayer upon whom I firmly believe the burden of opinion will rest as the best ballplayer ever produced, and that man is John Henry [sic, Peter] Wagner— ‘Honus,’ as he is known. He certainly is the best card and is strong in every particular. He is a wonderful batsman, base runner and fielder. He makes easy work of the most difficult plays, and he would certainly excel in any position to which he were assigned—whether in the outfield or the infield. Wagner is fairly in a class by himself. Others have shown for awhile then lost their glory, but Wagner shines forever.”
When Chapman died six years later, The Brooklyn Eagle mourned the loss of “one of the few remaining links between the pioneer days of baseball and the present.”
Tags: A. G. Spalding, Al Spink, Baseball Magazine, Bobby Mathews, Candy Cummings, Charles Ferguson, Cy Young, Dick McBride, Honus Wagner, Jack Chapman, Jerry Denny, Jim Creighton, Old Hoss Radbourn, Phonney Martin, Providence Grays, Tom Pratt
“The Twenty Greatest Fever”
In November of 1911, an interviewer asked industrialist Andrew Carnegie to name the 20 greatest men of all time. Within days, Carnegie’s list was parsed and picked apart, and led to what The Chicago Daily News called “The twenty greatest fever.”
Lists of the twenty greatest everything appeared in papers across the country for the next year. Of course, the question was put to many baseball figures and led to a number of interesting lists and quotes.
One of the first to weigh in was Chicago White Sox owner Charles Comiskey, in The Daily News:
Buck Ewing
King Kelly
Cap Anson
Charlie Ferguson
Fred Pfeffer
Eddie Collins
Harry Lord
Fred Clarke
Willie Keeler
Napoleon Lajoie
Charles Radbourn
Bobby Caruthers
Clark Griffith
Ed Walsh
Charles Comiskey
Comiskey said Eddie Collins, who would acquire for $50,000 three years later, was the best current player:
“He’s got it on all the others in the game today. I don’t know that a good lawyer went to waste, but do know that a mighty good ballplayer was found when Eddie decided to give up the technicalities of Blackstone for the intricacies of baseball. There isn’t much use saying anything about Connie Mack’s star, everybody knows he is a wonder as well as I do.”
Cy Young was asked by The Cleveland News to name his 20 greatest:
“I guess we’d have to make a place for old Amos Rusie, ‘Kid’ Nichols should be placed on the list too, ‘Kid’ forgot more baseball than 90 percent of us ever knew. And there was Bill Hutchinson, just about one of the greatest that ever lived. You can’t overlook Walter Johnson, and, by all means Ed Walsh must be there. The same applies to Mathewson. Then comes my old side partner, Bill Dinneen. Bill never was given half enough credit.”
Amos Rusie
Young rounded out the battery:
“I’d pick old Lou Criger first of all the catchers. George Gibson of the Pittsburgh team, to my way of thinking, stands with the leaders. Give the third place to Oscar Stanage of Detroit, and I feel safe in saying that I have chosen a really great catcher.”
Young said:
“Doping out the infields is comparatively easy. Without hesitation I would name Hal Chase, Eddie Collins, Nap Lajoie, Hans Wagner, Bobby Wallace, Jimmy Collins, Herman Long, and Charlie Wagner.”
Young said of his infield choices:
“You can’t get away from Bobby Wallace for a general all round gentlemanly player, he has never had a superior at shortstop unless that man was Honus Wagner. Maybe Johnny Evers is entitles to consideration, but I never say him play.”
As for his outfielders, Young said:
“Ty Cobb’s equal never lived, according to my way of thinking, and I doubt if we will ever have his superior. Say what they will about Cobb, but one who is true to himself must acknowledge his right to rank above all other players.
“I chose Cobb, Fred Clarke of Pittsburgh, Tris Speaker of Boston and Bill Lange for the outfield, and regret that the limitations prevent me from choosing Jim McAleer. McAleer was the best fielder I have ever seen. I say that with all due respect to Cobb and other competitors.
“Tris Speaker is a marvel, and only because of his playing at the same time as Cobb is he deprived of the honor of being the greatest outfielder…Many fans of today probably don’t remember Bill Lange. Take my word for it, he was a marvel. He could field, bat, and run bases with wonderful skill. No man ever had the fade-away slide better than Lange.”
The reporter from The News noticed that Young had, “chosen his twenty greatest players without mentioning his own great deeds,” and asked Young whether her felt he belonged on the list. Young said:
“Oh, I’ve heard a whole lot of stuff about myself as a player, but I was but ordinary when compared to the men I name as the greatest in the game.”
When Ty Cobb presented his list of the 20 greatest current American League players to The Detroit News, the paper noted his “Very becoming modesty” in leaving himself off of his list. Cobb’s picks were:
Bill Donovan
Jack Coombs
Vean Gregg
George Mullin
Billy Sullivan
Oscar Stanage
Ira Thomas
Hal Chase
Jack Berry
Owen Bush
Frank Baker
Clyde Milan
Tris Speaker
Cobb included Bobby Wallace, Russ Ford, and Heinie Wagner as honorable mentions.
More of the lists and quotes from “The twenty greatest fever,” on Thursday
Tags: Amos Rusie, Bill Dinneen, Bill Donovan, Bill Hutchinson, Billy Sullivan, Bobby Carruthers, Bobby Wallace, Buck Ewing, Cap Anson, Charles Radbourn, Charlie Comiskey, Charlie ferguson, Chicago White Sox, Christy Mathewson, Clark Griffith, Clyde Milan, Cy Young, Detroit Tigers, Ed Walsh, Eddie Collins, Fred Clarke, Fred Pfeffer, George Gibson, Hal Chase, Harry Lord, Heinie Wagner, Honus Wagner, Ira Thomas, Jack Coombs., Jack Glasscock, Joe Jackson, Kid Nichols, King Kelly, Lou Criger, Napoleon Lajoie, Oscar Stanage, Russell Ford, Tom McCarthy, Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb, Vean Gregg, Willie Keeler
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Time's Convert
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Discovery of Witches—now a hit TV series airing Sundays on AMC and BBC America, and streaming on Sundance Now and Shudder—comes a novel about what it takes to become a vampire.
On the battlefields of the American Revolution, Matthew de Clermont meets Marcus MacNeil, a young surgeon from Massachusetts, during a moment of political awakening when it seems that the world is on the brink of a brighter future. When Matthew offers him a chance at immortality and a new life free from the restraints of his puritanical upbringing, Marcus seizes the opportunity to become a vampire. But his transformation is not an easy one and the ancient traditions and responsibilities of the de Clermont family clash with Marcus's deeply held beliefs in liberty, equality, and brotherhood.
Fast-forward to contemporary Paris, where Phoebe Taylor--the young employee at Sotheby's whom Marcus has fallen for--is about to embark on her own journey to immortality. Though the modernized version of the process at first seems uncomplicated, the couple discovers that the challenges facing a human who wishes to be a vampire are no less formidable than they were in the eighteenth century. The shadows that Marcus believed he'd escaped centuries ago may return to haunt them both--forever.
A passionate love story and a fascinating exploration of the power of tradition and the possibilities not just for change but for revolution, Time's Convert channels the supernatural world-building and slow-burning romance that made the All Souls Trilogy instant bestsellers to illuminate a new and vital moment in history, and a love affair that will bridge centuries.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A romantic fantasist with the heart (and training) of a historian, Deborah Harkness won our hearts with her magic-driven All Souls trilogy. Her vampire-centric spin-off may be even more enticing. Time’s Convert features Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont—the time-traveling stars of Harkness’ earlier books—but the spotlight shines brightest on 200-year-old bloodsucker Marcus and his beloved Phoebe, who wishes to join him in immortality. The novel cleverly sets up an unfolding series, but it stands on its own as a thrilling and alluring vampire love story.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY AUG 20, 2018
In Harkness's rich but meandering new novel, the first in a new series set in the world of her All Souls trilogy, vampire Marcus Whitmore, son of Matthew de Clermont, is set to marry 23-year-old human Phoebe Taylor, who will be made a vampire herself. Marcus's required 90-day separation from Phoebe during the process inspires him to seek comfort at the home that his father shares with his wife, the witch Diana Bishop. Diana, through her magic, senses that Marcus hasn't come to terms with his past as a field doctor during the Revolutionary War and the events leading up to his rebirth as a vampire in 1781, and attempts to draw him out. Meanwhile, Diana and Matthew's delightful brightborn (half-vampire, half-witch) twins Philip and Becca are already manifesting an alarming aptitude for magic, and Philip has summoned a new familiar, a griffin named Apollo. Harkness's busy, meticulously researched narrative moves back and forth between present-day Paris and the days of the Revolutionary War, and her easy familiarity with her fully realized characters will make readers feel at home. Phoebe's transition from warmblood to vampire is particularly fascinating, as is the fraught history of vampires and witches. The large cast can be daunting, and those not already familiar with the All Souls trilogy may be lost, but returning readers will find this a delightful excursion.
PENGUIN GROUP USA, INC.
asapr212 , 06/21/2019
Best One Yet
I love the Revolutionary War period and this book so satisfies, using real places and people without overusing them; making them true to the period without letting them overrun the main characters. I cannot wait for the next one!
QHShowgirl , 05/14/2019
I can’t wait for Deborah Harkness’s next book!! Please write one about the kids as they are growing up and coming into their magic, and of course, Diana (as mega-tough, super witch!), and Mathew, as the super tough, 1,500 year old, protective Vampire papa! I’d also love to read a book about Phillipe and Yzabeau, and their love story, and the origin of the De Clermont family!!!! Thanks SO much for continuing to put out such great works of historical fiction!!
Velvetyrabbit , 06/08/2019
Interesting but not arresting
I practically drank the first three books, I couldn’t put them down. Staying up until 2am to finish in one go. I was so excited to find out there was a fourth but found it haphazard in comparison.
While the writer did pick some of my favorite characters to focus on in this book, the jumping around from character to character, time frame to time frame, location to location wasn’t as successful as in the other books. It was too much and yet I feel like little happened in the book.
What I assumed would be the most interesting and pivotal part- Marcus’s time in New Orleans was glossed over in comparison to his time in France or his time in the American Revolutionary War. So that plot point just kinda landed with a thump instead of an explosion.
I loved the mix of science and history in the other books and was looking forward to reading the same but I don’t think it was as successful here either. This reads like a first novel, where you developed ideas and characters not forth.
More Books by Deborah Harkness
Shadow of Night
All Souls Trilogy
The All Souls Real-time Reading Companion
The World of All Souls
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Asian Gardens: History, Beliefs, and Design
Thomas Henry Duke Turner
Routledge, 2011 - Gardening - 336 pages
The gardens made on the fringes of Central Asia in the past 5000 years form a great arc. From the Fertile Crescent, it runs west to Europe and east to China and Japan. Asia's fringe was a zone of interchange: a vast landscape in which herders encountered farmers and the design of symbolic gardens began. It appears that as they became settlers, nomads retained a love of mobility, hunting and the wild places in which their ancestors had roamed. Central Asian and Indian ideas influenced the garden culture of China, Japan and South East Asia.
In West Asia, Aryan settlers made hunting parks known as paradises. They were walled enclosures stocked with exotic plants and animals. In East Asia, great landscape parks were used for similar purposes and had a sacred role. Across Asia, gardens were influenced by religious and other beliefs: polytheist, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Daoist, Shinto and Modernist. Early parks and gardens symbolized wild and civilized nature, sometimes conceived as the realms of the Sky God and the Earth Mother. Asian Gardens: History, Beliefs and Design explores the ways in which designs were guided by beliefs.
Tom Turner has been researching and teaching the theory and history of garden design for some forty years. His visits, research, drawings and photographs are brought together in detailed studies of West Asia, South Asia and East Asia. The period covered extends from the earliest gardens to the present. Using maps, diagrams and photographs, the author explores how and why Asian gardens developed their characteristic forms and functions. Treating garden design as a 'word and image' subject, the account is coherent, comparative and readable. Further details of all the gardens are available on the gardenvisit.com website, which the author edits.
Tom Turner teaches on the undergraduate and masters programmes in garden history and landscape architecture at the University of Greenwich in London.
Title Asian Gardens: History, Beliefs, and Design
Author Thomas Henry Duke Turner
Publisher Routledge, 2011
Gardening / Garden Design
Gardening / Japanese Gardens
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Follow Louisa George on Booksprout
Be the first to hear about their new releases and deals. Download the Booksprout app and search for Louisa George today!
Award-winning author Louisa George has been an avid reader her whole life. In between chapters she managed to fit in a BA degree in Communication Studies, trained as a nurse, married her doctor hero and had two sons. Now, she spends her days writing chapters of her own in the medical romance, contemporary romance and women’s fiction genres. To date, she has 21 books available in ebook/print.
Louisa’s books have variously been nominated for the coveted RITA® Award and the NZ Koru Award (which she won in 2014 and 2016 for the Short Sexy Category) and she won the prestigious HOLT Medallion Award in 2017. Her books have been translated into twelve languages. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand and, when not writing or reading, likes to travel, drink mojitos and do Zumba®- preferably all at the same time.
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Is South Africa just one big vuvuzela?
There were moments of brilliance on the pitch during the 2010 World Cup, but it was what happened off the pitch that grabbed the most attention.
The media were obsessed with the presence of Diego Maradona as he minced about like a diminutive rotund action man squeezed into a suit against his will. The Jabulani ball and its tendency to balloon into the crowd when struck from a free kick (unless by Diego Forlan) also provided for hours of discussion. The cheating from players feigning injury to more serious incidents, such as the blatant handball by Uruguay to deny Ghana a place in the semifinal, also produced much chitchat.
However, the clear winner, when it came to off-the-pitch distraction, was the vuvuzela. For the entire tournament, pundits, fans and even those with no interest in football were talking about it. Everyone had an opinion on the noisy horn. There were Facebook petitions to have it banned as well as voracious calls for its recognition as the cultural symbol of African football and, hence, for its preservation.
Since the end of the World Cup, debate has continued. Several English Premiership teams have banned the vuvuzela from their grounds. At Wimbledon, there was much anxiety that someone might sully the Centre Court with a long droning honk, and it was hastily outlawed. There is also now a dispute over who owns the vuvuzela from a commercial perspective. Several companies have tried to register the trademark. Masincedane Sports, which has been producing the instrument since 2001, reached a compensation deal with the Shembe Church, in South Africa, about ownership, even though the final decision is still pending on whether Masincedane owns the trademark. The church claims that it invented the instrument in 1910 with a view to using it in religious ceremonies. The vuvuzela is, apparently, useful in driving out demons.
Practically speaking, however, the vuvuzela really belongs to the people of South Africa, and now the world. UK supermarket giant Sainsbury’s is said to have sold over 50 000 vuvuzelas. You can even buy them from online global retailer Amazon.
Perhaps the reason for its success is that, in many senses, the vuvuzela is a lot like South Africa.
The vuvuzela gets noticed. It draws attention to itself. It has touched the inter- national imagination. Just like South Africa. This is in part a result of apartheid, which captured the global consciousness for decades. But the focus on South Africa is also a result of the fact that South Africans, seemingly, like to voice their concerns. Whether talking about the demise of apartheid, the Rainbow Nation, crime, HIV/Aids or the state of the economy, we like the world to know what is going on. This is partly about being located at the southern tip of Africa, which results in a need to feel connected globally.
But it is also likely that the desire to externalise issues is deeply cultural. It is, I believe, how we, as South Africans, solve problems. This tendency has helped South Africa to deal with many historical challenges. But it has also meant that we, as South Africans, can be as much to blame for the negative coverage of our country as the international media.
We have all met the South Africans abroad who are only too willing to enlighten people about what a terrible country it now is (often with a racial subtext implying ‘now that apartheid has ended’), leaving listeners determined never to go there.
So, while verbalising our problems helped us in the past, the question is: How can we talk about real problems like wealth disparity and the relative crime problem while communicating all that is positive about South Africa at the same time? This may seem like a complex challenge, but, if a simple plastic trumpet can signal joy, exhilaration, celebration, exuberance, unity, disappointment, dismay, and alarm, then, surely, so can we.
Brandon Hamber writes the column "Look South": an analysis of trends in global political, social and cultural life and its relevance to South Africa on Polity. Copyright Brandon Hamber, August 2010. "Look South" Column published on Polity on 20 August 2010.
Posted by Brandon at Friday, August 20, 2010 No comments:
Labels: Africa, Amazon, Diego Forlan, Diego Maradona, Facebook, Ghana, Look South, Sainsburys, South Africa, UK, Uruguay, World Cup (Football)
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« No Return’s Deathrock Goth Wave Dance Party at Pyramid!
This Is Amy Klobuchar’s Variety Show »
A VISCERAL, weird, sick, super silly, and, of course, especially dumdumdum solo comedy show written and performed by Amanda Ariel “Peggy” Xeller. This show is pure raw performative debauchery. Directed by Chloe Koser.
“Would see Pegasus 50 more times and bring a new friend to indoctrinate every single time.“ – a fellow comedy writer and performer
“I have never white-knuckled through a show alongside a performer until this.” – a famous drummer
“I BROUGHT MY DAD!” – an audience member who didn’t know what they were getting into
Amanda Ariel “Peggy” Xeller is a little award-winning comedy clown residing in Brooklyn. Her solo work has been featured across the US and Canada. She’s been in 3 comedy competitions and won all of them baby! She’s been in some sweet music videos, headlined a bunch of festivals, and was in the short film All Aboard The Gravy Train, which premiered in Cannes. She produces a ton of writing and collaboration projects for the Magnet and yes she does do some kid-friendly thangs. This show is not one of them.
With the incomparable Kerry Coddett opening!
Kerry Coddett [Cah-dit] is a New York- based stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. Touted as “inimitable” by The Huffington Post and as “a rising star” bythe Interrobang, she has also been featured in numerous publications, including Entertainment Weekly, Mic.com, Elite Daily, Splitsider, Elle.com, Buzzfeed, and Salon.
Kerry was a staff writer on Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas, which is produced by John Oliver and airs on HBO. She’ll appear on E!’s Funny Dance Show, which debuts this Spring. Kerry has appeared on season 2 of HBO’s Crashing, TruTV’s Laff Mobb’s Laff Tracks, and has made appearances on BET’s The Rundown with Robin Thede and performed stand up on 50 Central. She was the most frequent guest panelist on Comedy Central’s The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, a reoccurring cast member on MTV’s Joking Off and she’s also appeared on TruTV’s Comedy Knockout, Huffington Post Live, and Essence Live.
In 2017, Kerry was crowned the winner of the Caroline’s on Broadway Comedy Madness Competition. Beating out 63 comedians, she was also the first woman to win! Kerry has performed stand up at theNew York Comedy Festival, The Women In Comedy Festival, The Brooklyn Comedy Festival, and Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival. She’s the host of Brooklyn, Stand Up!!, a monthly stand up comedy show that has been listed in The Village Voice and the New York Times, she has also been a guest co-host on The Young Turks, and she co-hosted Wake Up! w/ Taylor (Sirius XM) multiple times.
alt-comedy, brooklyn comedy, brooklyn comedy collective, cheap comedy, cheap date, cheap date comedy, comedy night, comedy show, date night, live comedy, women in comedy
https://www.brooklyncc.com/show-schedule/pegasus-may17
Amanda Xeller
Brooklyn Comedy Collective
579 Metropolitan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211 United States + Google Map
www.brooklyncc.com
Glo Butler’s Live Half Hour Taping
Summer Break Comedy Show
SAVAGE: A Comedy Show (FREE!)
An event every week that begins at 8:00am on Monday, repeating until Jul 29, 2019
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Korte to renovate Catholic Charities’ food pantry
The Korte Co., a design-build contractor, recently began work to expand and renovate Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada’s Hands of Hope Community Food Pantry, along with its kitchen.
By JEFFERY MEEHAN LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
The food pantry expansion will bring an additional 3,090 square feet to the existing facility. In total, the facility will grow to about 7,480 square feet. Along with remodeling, the pantry will also be acquiring fixtures food storage, display and distribution.
The expansion of the food pantry will allow Catholic Charities to serve 1,000 individuals every week, which is a 33 percent increase over current levels.
The Meals on Wheels program facilities, also on Catholic Charities’ campus, will see an expansion. The Meals on Wheels kitchen will be consolidated into the existing St. Vincent Lied Dining Room kitchen. An additional 3,778 square feet of kitchen space will be added.
The additional space will allow the Meals on Wheels program to service about another 600 low-income, homebound seniors with home-delivered meals on top of the approximate 2,000 the facility already provides for.
The project comes after Catholic Charities was awarded a Clark County Community Development Block Grant for $2.5 million to grow both the Meals on Wheels program and the organization’s food pantry.
Both projects are expected to be completed by mid-August. Construction started April 12.
Korte was also the general contractor when Catholic Charities’ original facilities were completed in 2002.
Construction material prices
Construction input prices increased by 0.9 percent on a monthly basis in March, breaking a nine-month pattern, according to an analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index released this month by Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). Input prices are down 3.4 percent from the same period in 2015.
In an analysis of nonresidential construction input prices, a similar phenomenon was occurring with costs being down 3.5 percent over the same period in 2015. Input prices, however, rose 1 percent on a monthly basis in March. Also following this pattern are crude oil prices with an increase of more than 40 percent in March. Crude is still down 26 percent from March 2015.
“Despite the rather profound percentage gain in oil prices and the overall nonresidential construction material price increase, rapid material price inflation remains unlikely going forward,” ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu said. “There are a number of reasons for this, but perhaps the most important is the ongoing sluggishness of the global economy.”
Some material types that saw an increase in the month of March, in addition to crude oil, were unprocessed energy material with a 6.1 percent increase, down 24 percent for the year, and nonferrous wire and cable prices, up 2.2 percent in March, but down 5.9 percent on a yearly basis. Softwood lumber also was up 2.8 percent, still down 1.6 percent from last year. Steel mill products rose 0.4 percent, also down by 15.8 percent annually. Prepared asphalt, tar roofing and siding products all fell in price, along with natural gas, fabricated structural metal and plumbing fixture and fittings prices.
Las Vegas is booming
Realtor.com, an online source for locating real estate rentals and sales, recently marked Clark County No. 5 in its top 10 list of booming metro areas.
The 89179 zip code in Clark County showed the highest growth in the region. The number of households in that zip code is expected to grow by 19.4 percent over the next five years, according to Realtor.com. At a county level, the region is expecting 3.3 times more growth than other top counties. The local county was surpassed only by the leading Gilbert, Arizona, region, followed by Los Angeles, Dallas and Miami.
“The strength of the residential real estate market is closely correlated to growth in jobs and households,” said Jonathan Smoke, Realtor.com chief economist. “The good news for these markets is these growth factors have already started to translate into new construction. At the same time, it may be a year or so before some markets on our list start to see an increase in inventory. If anything, this is a road map for where builders should be thinking about where to break ground next.”
Meet the Contractors Expo 2016
The sixth annual Meet the General Contractors construction expo by Associated Builders and Contractors Nevada is scheduled May 26 from 3 to 6 p.m. at The Orleans. General admission is $50 if tickets are purchased before May 6 and $75 after that.
Attendees will include general contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, developers and architects from the local region and across the U.S. Among them will be Ledcor Group, Affordable Concepts Inc. and Whiting-Turner Contracting.
Tanya Burtis, business development at ABC Nevada, said the event will attract about 1,000 attendees.
Posted on: Real Estate
DEAL WATCH: Henderson apartment complex sells for $60.68M
Americana Holdings expands California presence
Lake Las Vegas home designed by ex-Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice ...
BY VALERIE PUTNAM LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
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Re-writing the story – an interview with Theodora Goss
Theodora Goss is an author, poet, and fairytale professor. Cinders editor, Méabh McDonnell spoke to Theodora about heroines, fables and the adventures of her 19th century feminist series, The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter.
1. Can you remember when you realised you wanted to be a writer’?
No! I must have been very young, though. Some writers always knew they wanted to be writers, and some come to it much later. I was one of the former–I always knew. I still have a folder full of poems I wrote in high school, and my very first publication was in the high school literary magazine. It was a poem on Icarus. I kept writing through college, but my family wanted me to have a practical profession, so I went to law school. After a few years of being a lawyer, I realized it would never give me enough time to write–so I went back to graduate school and got a PhD in English literature. Now I teach both creative writing and composition at the university level. It’s still a lot of work, but I have enough time to be a writer!
2. As a fairytale professor, can you give us any insight into why fairytales remain so popular and why they still are a natural part of our cultural language?
I think it’s partly because they’re about the most important things in our lives. Most fairy tales were originally told rather than written down–they were originally oral tales. Why do people tell tales? Because they are important not just to one person, but to entire communities of people. So fairy tales are about thing that are important to many of us: hunger, jealousy, revenge, justice, love. They are about the relationships within families, about marriage, about journeys into the dark forest.They are about very real, concrete things like bread, apples, shoes, as well as things that can be read metaphorically, like throwing frogs against walls. When you get into literary fairy tales, such as those of Hans Christian Andersen, they become more sophisticated–they can be about the soul, or the relationship between the artist and society. But the old oral tales collected by the Brothers Grimm and other folklorists were about our most basic needs and emotions.
3. Your blog series on the fairytale heroine’s journey struck a chord with a lot of people – what was it about the journey that inspired you?
I was surprised when I first noticed the pattern! I thought of stories like “Snow White,” “Cinderella,” and “Sleeping Beauty” as very different. And yet, when I started looking at them closely, I realized that they shared a series of common events. For example, in all of them, the heroines receive gifts, face trials, and undergo a real or metaphorical death. It was interesting to study and then try to describe an underlying pattern of twelve stages. What inspired me to explore and write about this journey was the way in which I could see these stages in my own life and the lives of my female friends. My hypothesis is that these fairy tales reflect real events in women’s lives at the time they were told and written down–they are symbolic representations of an underlying reality. And women’s lives often still follow the same pattern, although in more modern ways. But there are also fairy tales that provide alternate patterns–they’re just not as popular in modern culture. They haven’t been made into Disney films!
4. For readers who want to read about fairytale heroines they may not have heard of can you give us your best recommendations?
I’ll give you three of my favorites! The first one is Vasilisa, in the Russian fairy tale “Vasilisa the Fair.” She has to confront the fearsome Baba Yaga, who lives in a house on chicken legs. Luckily, she has the help of a magical doll left to her by her dead mother. The doll helps her in Baba Yaga’s hut, but in the end it’s Vasilisa’s ability to weave and sew the finest linen shirts that wins her the hand of the Tsar. The second is the heroine of a beautiful Norwegian tale called “East of the Sun and West of the Moon.” She marries a white bear who comes to her at night in the form of a man, but when she tries to see his face and accidentally wakes him up, he tells her that he was under a spell, and if she had just waited a little longer, she would have broken it. Now he must go marry a troll who lives east of the sun and west of the moon. He disappears, leaving her alone–but rather than falling into despair, she sets out to find her husband and goes on a long journey to win him back. The third might not be considered a heroine by most people, but I would argue that she is one–the cat princess in Madame d’Aulnoy’s “The White Cat.” She helps the king’s youngest son bring home the finest linen, then the smallest dog, and then the most beautiful bride (herself, in her human form), so she is a sort of magical helper–but if you read the fairy tale closely, you’ll notice that she has her own story, in which she was turned into a white cat. She gives the king’s son what he needs in part so he can disenchant her and she can resume her human form. Each of these heroines works for her happy ending. I suppose that’s why I admire them so much!
5. Your fantasy stories take place in beautiful worlds that are full of possibility and myth- do you use any aspects of the real world to create these?
Thank you! And yes, absolutely. In his essay “On Fairy-Stories,” J.R.R. Tolkien said that “Faërie,” which was his word for the world of fantasy and fairy tale, “contains many things besides elves and fays, and besides dwarfs, witches, trolls, giants, or dragons: it holds the seas, the sun, the moon, the sky; and the earth, and all things that are in it: tree and bird, water and stone, wine and bread, and ourselves, mortal men, when we are enchanted.” I think all the fairy lands we can imagine rest on a solid foundation of the real. That gives them what Tolkien called “the inner consistency of reality.” In order to make you believe in an enchanted castle, I must show you the grayish stones of which it’s made, and the ivy growing up its walls to the arched windows. Fantasy is built out of reality, and in order to write it well, I have to experience reality in as much depth and detail as a writer of entirely realistic novels. But I will say that I see the possibility and myth in the real–I’m bringing it out, rather than spreading it on top, like butter. If you look at an average tree, for example, you will realize that it is an entirely magical creature, not average at all.
I started noticing that there were an awful lot of female monsters in nineteenth-century literature, and they all died! Well, I had to do something about that. So I wrote my own story.
6. The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter is such an enjoyable- and unusual – story; can you remember the first idea you had that led to the novel?
It wasn’t an idea yet, but a particular passage–the one in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where Victor Frankenstein, who has started to create a female monster, takes her apart again and throws her body parts into the sea. I thought, Hey, wait a minute! It was so unfair . . . He’s afraid that she and his male monster will mate, to produce offspring that may outcompete mankind. So he doesn’t even create her. And then I started noticing that there were an awful lot of female monsters in nineteenth-century literature, and they all died! Well, I had to do something about that. So I wrote my own story.
7. You took some very well known characters and re-cast them in your story, was it difficult to re-imagine them in your own way?
Not really! I think that was because they get so little say in their original narratives. Frankenstein’s female monster isn’t even created. Dr. Moreau’s Puma Woman does not say anything–she just kills him and is killed in turn. Beatrice Rappaccini does get some lines of her own, but her story is told entirely from the perspective of her lover, Giovanni. It’s not primarily her narrative. And I made up Mary Jekyll and Diana Hyde. I really just asked myself, knowing what we know from the original narratives, what would these characters be like? What would Catherine be like, as a Puma Woman created on Moreau’s island?
8. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the book is how realistically it portrays 19th century life – did you have a very rigorous research process?
Yes and no. It wasn’t rigorous in the sense that I knew exactly what I needed to research, and then I went out and researched exactly those things. But I did go to London several times, specifically to walk the streets where my characters walked so I could figure out where the action of the novel would take place, how long it would take to get from one place to another . . . I went to Regent’s Park, the Royal College of Surgeons, even the Sherlock Holmes Museum because I wanted to see how large the average parlor would have been in one of the houses on Baker Street. More than anything else, I wanted to get a sense of where my novel would take place. I have a PhD in nineteenth-century British literature, so there were a lot of things I knew about the nineteenth century, but that wasn’t enough to write a novel with. I needed to see things, hear things, smell things, so I could describe them for my reader. I looked at a lot of photographs from that time period, and while I was drafting, I read only late nineteenth-century prose. The research process continued throughout the time I was writing the book. Sometimes, to write a sentence, I had to crawl around on my office floor, comparing a contemporary map of London with one from the nineteenth century, to make sure I knew where my characters were going . . .
I wanted to write about the women, and not just the monstrous ones. I wanted to make sure that a housekeeper like Mrs. Poole also had a voice. Honestly, if it were not for Mrs. Poole, I have no idea how the Athena Club would sustain itself.
9. The five members of the Athena Club are a refreshingly feminist crime fighting team – was this a response to the lack of women in 19th century science fiction and horror literature?
Yes, absolutely! And when there are women, they tend to be killed off, as in Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla or Arthur Machen’s The Great God Pan. The rare exception is Mina Murray in Dracula: she survives, but only because she does not become a vampire. Most of the nineteenth-century narratives I read for my dissertation were focused on the lives of male protagonists. I wanted to change that. I wanted to write about the women, and not just the monstrous ones. I wanted to make sure that a housekeeper like Mrs. Poole also had a voice. Honestly, if it were not for Mrs. Poole, I have no idea how the Athena Club would sustain itself. She is absolutely central.
10. Which of the girls would you say you are the most like?
Mary, I’m afraid. All of the girls have something of me in them, because when you write, you’re always drawing out of yourself. But I’m most like practical Mary, who can be annoying sometimes–she could use some of Catherine’s imagination, Beatrice’s artistic sense, Justine’s sense of justice, and even Diana’s impulsiveness. But of course, if any of them were perfect characters, they would not be interesting–they all have their flaws. Mary has many of mine.
11. Can you tell us anything about what adventures the Athena Club will get up to next?
In the second book, European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, Mary, Diana, Beatrice, Catherine, and Justine must rescue Lucinda Van Helsing from the evil machinations of her father, Professor Van Helsing. Summoned by Mary’s former governess Mina Murray, they travel to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where they meet new friends, confront even more dangerous enemies, and eventually face the fearsome Alchemical Society! Also, Mary learns to like coffee and Diana eats a lot of cake . . .
The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter is available in bookshops near you!
Posted in Books and Authors, feminism, InterviewTagged Diana Hyde, fairytale language, fairytale writing, fairytales, Interview, Mary Jeckyll, mary shelley, the athena club, the strange case of the alchemists daughter, theodora goss
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Archdiocesan General News Catholic Parish News Latest News
‘Women in Witness’: Their faith impels their lives
Posted By: Christine L. Bordelon Alecia Bloodworth, Archdiocese of New Orleans website nolacatholic.com, Betty-Ann Hickey, Debbie Shinskie, Dr. Daniella Zsupan-Jerome, Dr. RaeNell Houston, Karen Heil, Marianite Sister Marjorie Hebert, Sister Mary Ellen Wheelahan, Sister of Mount Carmel Beth Fitzpatrick, Women in Witness
By Christine Bordelon, Clarion Herald
Through a weekly, online video presentation called “Women in Witness,” the Archdiocese of New Orleans is highlighting the role of Catholic women whose career paths involve work for the church.
Launched March 13 during Women’s History Month, the series began by highlighting Dr. RaeNell Houston, superintendent of Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. It is available on the archdiocesan website – nolacatholic.org – and the archdiocese’s Facebook page, said Sarah McDonald, director of communications for the archdiocese.
The first group of women spotlighted are mostly archdiocesan administrators, said McDonald, who is co-creator of “Women in Witness” with Archbishop Gregory Aymond.
The group includes Marianite Sister Marjorie Hebert, Mount Carmel Sisters Beth Fitzpatrick and Mary Ellen Wheelahan, Dr. Daniella Zsupan-Jerome, Alecia Bloodworth, Karen Heil, Betty-Ann Hickey and Debbie Shinskie.
“We want to honor them for bringing their skills to the Archdiocese of New Orleans,” McDonald said.
McDonald interviews each woman, delving into their faith background and upbringing, as well as their family’s influence on their faith life and professional roles before coming to the archdiocese.
Even though each narrative is different, McDonald discovered a common thread among them. “All were open to the call of working with the Archdiocese of New Orleans,” she said. “Through prayer and discernment, they ended up here.”
Insight into women
Here is a short background on each person to be featured. After the first video with Dr. RaeNell Houston, a new video will be posted every Wednesday:
→ Dr. RaeNell Houston, a Plaquemines Parish native, is the first African American to serve as superintendent of the Office of Catholic schools and has spearheaded a special-needs initiative in Catholic schools. She has a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans, an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University, and a master of arts in curriculum and instruction with a specialty in reading from Louisiana State University. She was an associate superintendent in the schools office for five years, beginning in 2012, before becoming superintendent. Houston has experience teaching at all levels from elementary to college.
→ Betty-Ann Hickey, an often-seen presence at archdiocesan liturgies, has been associate director in the archdiocesan Office of Worship since 2011. She has a bachelor of arts degree in pastoral ministry from Providence College and is nearing completion of a master of arts degree in theology with a concentration in liturgical and sacramental theology, also from Providence College. She had served for 17 years in parish ministry, including 11 as parish director of music and liturgy, before becoming associate director.
→ Sister of Mount Carmel Mary Ellen Wheelahan is a Cabrini High School graduate and was selected the school’s 2013 Alumna of the Year. She took perpetual vows with her congregation in 1984 and has served as religious coordinator at Mount Carmel in New Iberia. She was the founder/administrator of the Cub Corner Preschool at Mount Carmel in New Orleans and was associate director for elementary school catechesis. Sister Mary Ellen has a master’s degree in adult education and Christian community development and has dedicated herself to preventing child abuse as the safe environment coordinator for the archdiocese.
→ Alecia D. Bloodworth is assistant director of the Office of Black Catholic Ministries for the archdiocese. She is graduate of John Ehret High, attended the University of New Orleans and continues her studies at Dillard University. A lifelong member of St. Joseph the Worker Church in Marrero, she has served in various ministries for the past 12 years. She orders her life using Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.”
→ Daniella Zsupan-Jerome, Ph.D., is a national speaker, educator and consultant with expertise in theology and communication. She directs the master of arts in pastoral leadership and is a professor of pastoral theology at Notre Dame Seminary. She has a bachelor’s in theology from the University of Notre Dame, a master’s degree in liturgy from St. John’s University in Collegeville, a master’s degree in religion and the arts from Yale Divinity School and a Ph.D. in theology and education from Boston College. She is originally from Budapest, Hungary, and has served as a consultant for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Communications Committee and the Catholic Press Association. She authored the book “Connected Toward Communion: The Church and Social Communication in the Digital Age” (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2014) and “Evangelization and Catechesis: Echoing the Good News in the Documents of the Church” (Twenty-Third Publications, 2017).
→ Debbie Shinskie is Respect Life director for the archdiocese. Shinskie said her work on behalf of human life was formed in the womb when her birth mother placed her for adoption with loving Catholic parents. She has been a registered nurse, first caring for those at the end of life at a Level 1 trauma center, then for expectant mothers and for new families, and, later, working at parish and diocesan levels within the church. She is a wife and mother of four.
→ Sister of Mount Carmel Beth Fitzpatrick is vicar for religious for the archdiocese. She has served as president and formation director for her congregation. She has taught at Notre Dame Seminary and at Hope House in the St. Thomas Housing Project and was a theology teacher at Mount Carmel Academy in New Orleans and New Iberia. She earned her undergraduate degree from St. Mary’s Dominican College, has a master of arts in systematic theology from the University of Notre Dame and did graduate studies at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley.
→ Karen Heil is the archdiocesan director of human resources. Her office is responsible for the administration of all archdiocesan personnel policies. She feels the Lord has prepared her through her previous work experience for her current role with the local church to deal with “all of the business models for which we have 501c3’s, as well as the respect for the contribution of every staff member of each entity as being equally important to the mission.”
→ Marianite Sister Marjorie Hebert is president and CEO of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans. She spent 25 years as a teacher and school administrator; served as vice president for finance and operations and associate to the president at Our Lady of Holy Cross College; and helped develop and coordinate Our Lady of Wisdom Healthcare Center in Algiers, serving as its CEO for 13 years. In 2014, she was named a New Orleans City Business “Woman of the Year.”
Future interviews with other Catholic women will follow once the first series has aired.
“We hope to make it an ongoing project,” McDonald said. “There are always new women coming to work in the Catholic Church.”
Christine Bordelon can be reached at cbordelon@clarionherald.org.
Summer Activities Section 2019
Medjugorje bishop says Mary is not appearing
03/13/2017 Jonelle Foltz Comments Off on Medjugorje bishop says Mary is not appearing
St. Augustine Church: A mustard seed in full bloom
11/30/2016 Site Administrator 0
Mount Carmel sparks creativity, collaboration in girls
01/27/2017 Christine L. Bordelon Comments Off on Mount Carmel sparks creativity, collaboration in girls
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by aaronwilcher Leave a comment
CSA’s Peter Richardson on KWMR, West Marin Today, CA Budget in Historical Perspective
Richardson will be on the radio today at at 11 a.m. Easiest thing is to go to www.kwmr.org and click the On Air button at the top.
by californiastudiesblog 1 Comment
Hector Tobar in the LA Times: “California is free, vibrant and diverse”
The estimable Hector Tobar in his column today (7/28) in the L.A. Times makes the case that for all its troubles, nostalgia is just nostalgia, and in many ways, California’s golden age is now. To bolster his points, he interviews historian Kevin Starr, who points out to him that for all its troubles, California is a much more just place than it was when it seemed that government worked like a well-oiled machine.
Tobar and Starr focus on two monuments to California history, the now-nearly forgotten Ft. Moore Pioneer Memorial on Hill Street in downtown L.A., dedicated in 1957, and a more recent monument, to the 1847 Treaty of Cahuenga, at the Universal City Red Line subway stop. About the latter monument, Tobar writes:
The brightly colored tile murals installed by Margaret Garcia inside the Universal City Metro Station are under the site of the signing of the 1847 Treaty of Cahuenga, which brought an end to the fighting in California.
A fraction of the size of the Ft. Moore memorial, they detail the exploits of the U.S. military men like John Charles Fremont, but also the courage of the Californio resistance leaders like Doña Bernarda Ruiz.
It was Ruiz who helped make the treaty possible, by writing a letter to Fremont proposing “to put an end to the war . . . upon such just and friendly terms of compromise as would make the peace acceptable and enduring.”
This newer monument may be buried under the Hollywood Freeway, but I think its message of compromise and diversity deserves to last a little longer.
To read the whole column, click here.
by peterrichardson Leave a comment
Jon Rowe: Thank You, Sarah Palin
CSA steering committee member Jonathan Rowe has a new piece in Slate that wonders if Sarah Palin isn’t onto something with her opposition to cap-and-trade climate policy. “Let’s take her advice one step further,” Jon suggests. “Put cap-and-trade aside—and consider another way to curb carbon emissions. The Alaska way.”
We would start by repealing the federal income tax on individuals—most of them, at least. Alaska has no personal income tax at all. We could alter that a bit and keep the tax on, say, the richest 5 percent, for reasons I’ll explain later. We would keep the corporate income tax, however, and at a high rate, as Alaska does.
Second, we would increase federal spending per capita to roughly the level of Alaska, which is the highest in the nation. I haven’t done the math, but this would help pay for universal medical care—whatever plan Congress adopts.
The upside looks pretty good.
This dividend—plus the elimination of the income tax for most of us—would take at least some of the sting out of higher energy taxes. And you’d get the dividend whether or not you used a lot of fossil fuels. The less fuel you burned, in fact, the more you’d gain, because then your dividend check would be pure gravy, rather than just a kind of tax rebate. Drive a hybrid, or walk, or take the train, and the people in the SUVs would in effect be paying you to do so.
The result would be a climate dividend for citizens instead of a cap-and-trade system quickly gamed by Goldman Sachs.
Who knew Sarah Palin was such a visionary?
Julia Stein at the LaborFest BookFair
CSA steering committee member Julia Stein will appear on two panels at the LaborFest BookFair, Sunday July 26 at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco. Here’s the scoop from the LaborFest website, which has all the program information.
1:00 PM Poets and Musicians
Poets Avotcja, Julia Stein, Alice Rogoff, Jeanetta Calhoun Mish and others.
2:30 PM Panel Discussion
Women Organizers During the 1930s & 1940’s
With Elisabeth Martinez, Julia Stein, Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, Jeanetta Calhoun Mish and others.
Women workers during the depression and the 1930’s and 1940’s were battling for justice and survival. This panel will discuss who some of these women workers were and what they did to build the labor movement.
California Journal of Politics & Policy:
The online California Journal of Politics and Policy has published new articles. To link to the journal, click here.
L.A. Times reports on proposals to remake California government
In a front-page article today, the Los Angeles Times summarizes various movements in the wings to remake California’s government in the wake of the current fiscal crisis. From the article:
A bipartisan organization sponsored by several foundations is finalizing a menu of potential solutions. Those are expected to include a change in budgeting practices and a possible shift of state-run programs such as health, education and welfare to local governments that may enjoy more public trust.
Newish Blog: The Edge of the American West
Eric Rauschway’s blog called “The Edge of the West” has some interesting content on the West and a smattering of other national politics and culture. It’s a very good one for western historians and seems to be getting a lot of traffic.–ed
About The Edge of the American West
* Ari Kelman, Kathy Olmsted, and Eric Rauchway teach history at a fine public university at the western edge of the American West.
* Scott Eric Kaufman earned a doctorate in English at a closely related fine public university in a similar location.
* Neddy Merrill teaches philosophy at an American liberal arts college.
* David H. Noon teaches history at a fine public university at one of the many edges in the American West.
* Dana McCourt is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at an American university.
* Vance Maverick holds a PhD in computer science and develops software at the westernmost edge of the American West.
* David Silbey teaches history at a small American university that is, technically, in an extremely eastern part of the American West.
Your guess is as good as ours, but this blog seems to be about history, philosophy, literature, and selected political and cultural observations with a strong bias toward yiddishkeit, WASPhood, the 1980s, Canadiana and, most of all, the Muppets.
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Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes Mellitus
Diabetes Care 2008 Jan; 31(Supplement 1): S55-S60. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc08-S055
FPG, fasting plasma glucose
GAD, glutamic acid decarboxylase
GCT, glucose challenge test
GDM, gestational diabetes mellitus
HNF, hepatocyte nuclear factor
IFG, impaired fasting glucose
IGT, impaired glucose tolerance
MODY, maturity-onset diabetes of the young
WHO, World Health Organization
DEFINITION AND DESCRIPTION OF DIABETES MELLITUS
Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. The chronic hyperglycemia of diabetes is associated with long-term damage, dysfunction, and failure of various organs, especially the eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart, and blood vessels.
Several pathogenic processes are involved in the development of diabetes. These range from autoimmune destruction of the β-cells of the pancreas with consequent insulin deficiency to abnormalities that result in resistance to insulin action. The basis of the abnormalities in carbohydrate, fat, and protein metabolism in diabetes is deficient action of insulin on target tissues. Deficient insulin action results from inadequate insulin secretion and/or diminished tissue responses to insulin at one or more points in the complex pathways of hormone action. Impairment of insulin secretion and defects in insulin action frequently coexist in the same patient, and it is often unclear which abnormality, if either alone, is the primary cause of the hyperglycemia.
Symptoms of marked hyperglycemia include polyuria, polydipsia, weight loss, sometimes with polyphagia, and blurred vision. Impairment of growth and susceptibility to certain infections may also accompany chronic hyperglycemia. Acute, life-threatening consequences of uncontrolled diabetes are hyperglycemia with ketoacidosis or the nonketotic hyperosmolar syndrome.
Long-term complications of diabetes include retinopathy with potential loss of vision; nephropathy leading to renal failure; peripheral neuropathy with risk of foot ulcers, amputations, and Charcot joints; and autonomic neuropathy causing gastrointestinal, genitourinary, and cardiovascular symptoms and sexual dysfunction. Patients with diabetes have an increased incidence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular, peripheral arterial, and cerebrovascular disease. Hypertension and abnormalities of lipoprotein metabolism are often found in people with diabetes.
The vast majority of cases of diabetes fall into two broad etiopathogenetic categories (discussed in greater detail below). In one category, type 1 diabetes, the cause is an absolute deficiency of insulin secretion. Individuals at increased risk of developing this type of diabetes can often be identified by serological evidence of an autoimmune pathologic process occurring in the pancreatic islets and by genetic markers. In the other, much more prevalent category, type 2 diabetes, the cause is a combination of resistance to insulin action and an inadequate compensatory insulin secretory response. In the latter category, a degree of hyperglycemia sufficient to cause pathologic and functional changes in various target tissues, but without clinical symptoms, may be present for a long period of time before diabetes is detected. During this asymptomatic period, it is possible to demonstrate an abnormality in carbohydrate metabolism by measurement of plasma glucose in the fasting state or after a challenge with an oral glucose load.
The degree of hyperglycemia (if any) may change over time, depending on the extent of the underlying disease process (Fig. 1). A disease process may be present but may not have progressed far enough to cause hyperglycemia. The same disease process can cause impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and/or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) without fulfilling the criteria for the diagnosis of diabetes. In some individuals with diabetes, adequate glycemic control can be achieved with weight reduction, exercise, and/or oral glucose-lowering agents. These individuals therefore do not require insulin. Other individuals who have some residual insulin secretion but require exogenous insulin for adequate glycemic control can survive without it. Individuals with extensive β-cell destruction and therefore no residual insulin secretion require insulin for survival. The severity of the metabolic abnormality can progress, regress, or stay the same. Thus, the degree of hyperglycemia reflects the severity of the underlying metabolic process and its treatment more than the nature of the process itself.
CLASSIFICATION OF DIABETES MELLITUS AND OTHER CATEGORIES OF GLUCOSE REGULATION
Assigning a type of diabetes to an individual often depends on the circumstances present at the time of diagnosis, and many diabetic individuals do not easily fit into a single class. For example, a person with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) may continue to be hyperglycemic after delivery and may be determined to have, in fact, type 2 diabetes. Alternatively, a person who acquires diabetes because of large doses of exogenous steroids may become normoglycemic once the glucocorticoids are discontinued, but then may develop diabetes many years later after recurrent episodes of pancreatitis. Another example would be a person treated with thiazides who develops diabetes years later. Because thiazides in themselves seldom cause severe hyperglycemia, such individuals probably have type 2 diabetes that is exacerbated by the drug. Thus, for the clinician and patient, it is less important to label the particular type of diabetes than it is to understand the pathogenesis of the hyperglycemia and to treat it effectively.
Type 1 diabetes (β-cell destruction, usually leading to absolute insulin deficiency)
Immune-mediated diabetes.
This form of diabetes, which accounts for only 5–10% of those with diabetes, previously encompassed by the terms insulin-dependent diabetes, type I diabetes, or juvenile-onset diabetes, results from a cellular-mediated autoimmune destruction of the β-cells of the pancreas. Markers of the immune destruction of the β-cell include islet cell autoantibodies, autoantibodies to insulin, autoantibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD65), and autoantibodies to the tyrosine phosphatases IA-2 and IA-2β. One and usually more of these autoantibodies are present in 85–90% of individuals when fasting hyperglycemia is initially detected. Also, the disease has strong HLA associations, with linkage to the DQA and DQB genes, and it is influenced by the DRB genes. These HLA-DR/DQ alleles can be either predisposing or protective.
In this form of diabetes, the rate of β-cell destruction is quite variable, being rapid in some individuals (mainly infants and children) and slow in others (mainly adults). Some patients, particularly children and adolescents, may present with ketoacidosis as the first manifestation of the disease. Others have modest fasting hyperglycemia that can rapidly change to severe hyperglycemia and/or ketoacidosis in the presence of infection or other stress. Still others, particularly adults, may retain residual β-cell function sufficient to prevent ketoacidosis for many years; such individuals eventually become dependent on insulin for survival and are at risk for ketoacidosis. At this latter stage of the disease, there is little or no insulin secretion, as manifested by low or undetectable levels of plasma C-peptide. Immune-mediated diabetes commonly occurs in childhood and adolescence, but it can occur at any age, even in the 8th and 9th decades of life.
Autoimmune destruction of β-cells has multiple genetic predispositions and is also related to environmental factors that are still poorly defined. Although patients are rarely obese when they present with this type of diabetes, the presence of obesity is not incompatible with the diagnosis. These patients are also prone to other autoimmune disorders such as Graves’ disease, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Addison's disease, vitiligo, celiac sprue, autoimmune hepatitis, myasthenia gravis, and pernicious anemia.
Idiopathic diabetes.
Some forms of type 1 diabetes have no known etiologies. Some of these patients have permanent insulinopenia and are prone to ketoacidosis, but have no evidence of autoimmunity. Although only a minority of patients with type 1 diabetes fall into this category, of those who do, most are of African or Asian ancestry. Individuals with this form of diabetes suffer from episodic ketoacidosis and exhibit varying degrees of insulin deficiency between episodes. This form of diabetes is strongly inherited, lacks immunological evidence for β-cell autoimmunity, and is not HLA associated. An absolute requirement for insulin replacement therapy in affected patients may come and go.
Type 2 diabetes (ranging from predominantly insulin resistance with relative insulin deficiency to predominantly an insulin secretory defect with insulin resistance)
This form of diabetes, which accounts for ∼90–95% of those with diabetes, previously referred to as non-insulin-dependent diabetes, type II diabetes, or adult-onset diabetes, encompasses individuals who have insulin resistance and usually have relative (rather than absolute) insulin deficiency At least initially, and often throughout their lifetime, these individuals do not need insulin treatment to survive. There are probably many different causes of this form of diabetes. Although the specific etiologies are not known, autoimmune destruction of β-cells does not occur, and patients do not have any of the other causes of diabetes listed above or below.
Most patients with this form of diabetes are obese, and obesity itself causes some degree of insulin resistance. Patients who are not obese by traditional weight criteria may have an increased percentage of body fat distributed predominantly in the abdominal region. Ketoacidosis seldom occurs spontaneously in this type of diabetes; when seen, it usually arises in association with the stress of another illness such as infection. This form of diabetes frequently goes undiagnosed for many years because the hyperglycemia develops gradually and at earlier stages is often not severe enough for the patient to notice any of the classic symptoms of diabetes. Nevertheless, such patients are at increased risk of developing macrovascular and microvascular complications. Whereas patients with this form of diabetes may have insulin levels that appear normal or elevated, the higher blood glucose levels in these diabetic patients would be expected to result in even higher insulin values had their β-cell function been normal. Thus, insulin secretion is defective in these patients and insufficient to compensate for insulin resistance. Insulin resistance may improve with weight reduction and/or pharmacological treatment of hyperglycemia but is seldom restored to normal. The risk of developing this form of diabetes increases with age, obesity, and lack of physical activity. It occurs more frequently in women with prior GDM and in individuals with hypertension or dyslipidemia, and its frequency varies in different racial/ethnic subgroups. It is often associated with a strong genetic predisposition, more so than is the autoimmune form of type 1 diabetes. However, the genetics of this form of diabetes are complex and not clearly defined.
Other specific types of diabetes
Genetic defects of the β-cell.
Several forms of diabetes are associated with monogenetic defects in β-cell function. These forms of diabetes are frequently characterized by onset of hyperglycemia at an early age (generally before age 25 years). They are referred to as maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) and are characterized by impaired insulin secretion with minimal or no defects in insulin action. They are inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern. Abnormalities at six genetic loci on different chromosomes have been identified to date. The most common form is associated with mutations on chromosome 12 in a hepatic transcription factor referred to as hepatocyte nuclear factor (HNF)-1α. A second form is associated with mutations in the glucokinase gene on chromosome 7p and results in a defective glucokinase molecule. Glucokinase converts glucose to glucose-6-phosphate, the metabolism of which, in turn, stimulates insulin secretion by the β-cell. Thus, glucokinase serves as the “glucose sensor” for the β-cell. Because of defects in the glucokinase gene, increased plasma levels of glucose are necessary to elicit normal levels of insulin secretion. The less common forms result from mutations in other transcription factors, including HNF-4α, HNF-1β, insulin promoter factor (IPF)-1, and NeuroD1.
Point mutations in mitochondrial DNA have been found to be associated with diabetes mellitus and deafness The most common mutation occurs at position 3243 in the tRNA leucine gene, leading to an A-to-G transition. An identical lesion occurs in the MELAS syndrome (mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like syndrome); however, diabetes is not part of this syndrome, suggesting different phenotypic expressions of this genetic lesion.
Genetic abnormalities that result in the inability to convert proinsulin to insulin have been identified in a few families, and such traits are inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern. The resultant glucose intolerance is mild. Similarly, the production of mutant insulin molecules with resultant impaired receptor binding has also been identified in a few families and is associated with an autosomal inheritance and only mildly impaired or even normal glucose metabolism.
Genetic defects in insulin action.
There are unusual causes of diabetes that result from genetically determined abnormalities of insulin action. The metabolic abnormalities associated with mutations of the insulin receptor may range from hyperinsulinemia and modest hyperglycemia to severe diabetes. Some individuals with these mutations may have acanthosis nigricans. Women may be virilized and have enlarged, cystic ovaries. In the past, this syndrome was termed type A insulin resistance. Leprechaunism and the Rabson-Mendenhall syndrome are two pediatric syndromes that have mutations in the insulin receptor gene with subsequent alterations in insulin receptor function and extreme insulin resistance. The former has characteristic facial features and is usually fatal in infancy, while the latter is associated with abnormalities of teeth and nails and pineal gland hyperplasia.
Alterations in the structure and function of the insulin receptor cannot be demonstrated in patients with insulin-resistant lipoatrophic diabetes. Therefore, it is assumed that the lesion(s) must reside in the postreceptor signal transduction pathways.
Diseases of the exocrine pancreas.
Any process that diffusely injures the pancreas can cause diabetes. Acquired processes include pancreatitis, trauma, infection, pancreatectomy, and pancreatic carcinoma. With the exception of that caused by cancer, damage to the pancreas must be extensive for diabetes to occur; adrenocarcinomas that involve only a small portion of the pancreas have been associated with diabetes. This implies a mechanism other than simple reduction in β-cell mass. If extensive enough, cystic fibrosis and hemochromatosis will also damage β-cells and impair insulin secretion. Fibrocalculous pancreatopathy may be accompanied by abdominal pain radiating to the back and pancreatic calcifications identified on X-ray examination. Pancreatic fibrosis and calcium stones in the exocrine ducts have been found at autopsy.
Endocrinopathies.
Several hormones (e.g., growth hormone, cortisol, glucagon, epinephrine) antagonize insulin action. Excess amounts of these hormones (e.g., acromegaly, Cushing's syndrome, glucagonoma, pheochromocytoma, respectively) can cause diabetes. This generally occurs in individuals with preexisting defects in insulin secretion, and hyperglycemia typically resolves when the hormone excess is resolved.
Somatostatinoma- and aldosteronoma-induced hypokalemia can cause diabetes, at least in part, by inhibiting insulin secretion. Hyperglycemia generally resolves after successful removal of the tumor.
Drug- or chemical-induced diabetes.
Many drugs can impair insulin secretion. These drugs may not cause diabetes by themselves, but they may precipitate diabetes in individuals with insulin resistance. In such cases, the classification is unclear because the sequence or relative importance of β-cell dysfunction and insulin resistance is unknown. Certain toxins such as Vacor (a rat poison) and intravenous pentamidine can permanently destroy pancreatic β-cells. Such drug reactions fortunately are rare. There are also many drugs and hormones that can impair insulin action. Examples include nicotinic acid and glucocorticoids. Patients receiving α-interferon have been reported to develop diabetes associated with islet cell antibodies and, in certain instances, severe insulin deficiency. The list shown in Table 1 is not all-inclusive, but reflects the more commonly recognized drug-, hormone-, or toxin-induced forms of diabetes.
Infections.
Certain viruses have been associated with β-cell destruction. Diabetes occurs in patients with congenital rubella, although most of these patients have HLA and immune markers characteristic of type 1 diabetes. In addition, coxsackievirus B, cytomegalovirus, adenovirus, and mumps have been implicated in inducing certain cases of the disease.
Uncommon forms of immune-mediated diabetes.
In this category, there are two known conditions, and others are likely to occur. The stiff-man syndrome is an autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system characterized by stiffness of the axial muscles with painful spasms. Patients usually have high titers of the GAD autoantibodies, and approximately one-third will develop diabetes.
Anti–insulin receptor antibodies can cause diabetes by binding to the insulin receptor, thereby blocking the binding of insulin to its receptor in target tissues. However, in some cases, these antibodies can act as an insulin agonist after binding to the receptor and can thereby cause hypoglycemia. Anti–insulin receptor antibodies are occasionally found in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and other autoimmune diseases. As in other states of extreme insulin resistance, patients with anti–insulin receptor antibodies often have acanthosis nigricans. In the past, this syndrome was termed type B insulin resistance.
Other genetic syndromes sometimes associated with diabetes.
Many genetic syndromes are accompanied by an increased incidence of diabetes mellitus. These include the chromosomal abnormalities of Down's syndrome, Klinefelter's syndrome, and Turner's syndrome. Wolfram's syndrome is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by insulin-deficient diabetes and the absence of β-cells at autopsy. Additional manifestations include diabetes insipidus, hypogonadism, optic atrophy, and neural deafness. Other syndromes are listed in Table 1.
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM)
GDM is defined as any degree of glucose intolerance with onset or first recognition during pregnancy. The definition applies regardless of whether insulin or only diet modification is used for treatment or whether the condition persists after pregnancy. It does not exclude the possibility that unrecognized glucose intolerance may have antedated or begun concomitantly with the pregnancy. GDM complicates ∼4% of all pregnancies in the U.S., resulting in ∼135,000 cases annually. The prevalence may range from 1 to 14% of pregnancies, depending on the population studied. GDM represents nearly 90% of all pregnancies complicated by diabetes.
Deterioration of glucose tolerance occurs normally during pregnancy, particularly in the 3rd trimester.
Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and impaired fasting glucose (IFG)
The Expert Committee (1,2) recognized an intermediate group of subjects whose glucose levels, although not meeting criteria for diabetes, are nevertheless too high to be considered normal. This group is defined as having fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels ≥100 mg/dl (5.6 mmol/l) but <126 mg/dl (7.0 mmol/l) or 2-h values in the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) of ≥140 mg/dl (7.8 mmol/l) but <200 mg/dl (11.1 mmol/l). Thus, the categories of FPG values are as follows:
FPG <100 mg/dl (5.6 mmol/l) = normal fasting glucose;
FPG 100–125 mg/dl (5.6–6.9 mmol/l) = IFG (impaired fasting glucose);
FPG ≥126 mg/dl (7.0 mmol/l) = provisional diagnosis of diabetes (the diagnosis must be confirmed, as described below).
The corresponding categories when the OGTT is used are the following:
2-h postload glucose <140 mg/dl (7.8 mmol/l) = normal glucose tolerance;
2-h postload glucose 140–199 mg/dl (7.8–11.1 mmol/l) = IGT (impaired glucose tolerance);
2-h postload glucose ≥200 mg/dl (11.1 mmol/l) = provisional diagnosis of diabetes (the diagnosis must be confirmed, as described below).
Patients with IFG and/or IGT are now referred to as having “pre-diabetes” indicating the relatively high risk for development of diabetes in these patients. In the absence of pregnancy, IFG and IGT are not clinical entities in their own right but rather risk factors for future diabetes as well as cardiovascular disease. They can be observed as intermediate stages in any of the disease processes listed in Table 1. IFG and IGT are associated with the metabolic syndrome, which includes obesity (especially abdominal or visceral obesity), dyslipidemia of the high-triglyceride and/or low-HDL type, and hypertension. It is worth mentioning that medical nutrition therapy aimed at producing 5–10% loss of body weight, exercise, and certain pharmacological agents have been variably demonstrated to prevent or delay the development of diabetes in people with IGT; the potential impact of such interventions to reduce cardiovascular risk has not been examined to date.
Note that many individuals with IGT are euglycemic in their daily lives. Individuals with IFG or IGT may have normal or near normal glycated hemoglobin levels. Individuals with IGT often manifest hyperglycemia only when challenged with the oral glucose load used in the standardized OGTT.
DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA FOR DIABETES MELLITUS
The criteria for the diagnosis of diabetes are shown in Table 2. Three ways to diagnose diabetes are possible, and each, in the absence of unequivocal hyperglycemia, must be confirmed, on a subsequent day, by any one of the three methods given in Table 2. The use of the hemoglobin A1c (A1C) for the diagnosis of diabetes is not recommended at this time.
Diagnosis of GDM
The criteria for abnormal glucose tolerance in pregnancy are those of Carpenter and Coustan (3). Recommendations from the American Diabetes Association's Fourth International Workshop-Conference on Gestational Diabetes Mellitus held in March 1997 support the use of the Carpenter/Coustan diagnostic criteria as well as the alternative use of a diagnostic 75-g 2-h OGTT. These criteria are summarized below.
Testing for gestational diabetes.
Previous recommendations included screening for GDM performed in all pregnancies. However, there are certain factors that place women at lower risk for the development of glucose intolerance during pregnancy, and it is likely not cost-effective to screen such patients. Pregnant women who fulfill all of these criteria need not be screened for GDM.
This low-risk group comprises women who
are <25 years of age
are a normal body weight
have no family history (i.e., first-degree relative) of diabetes
have no history of abnormal glucose metabolism
have no history of poor obstetric outcome
are not members of an ethnic/racial group with a high prevalence of diabetes (e.g., Hispanic American, Native American, Asian American, African American, Pacific Islander)
Risk assessment for GDM should be undertaken at the first prenatal visit. Women with clinical characteristics consistent with a high risk of GDM (marked obesity, personal history of GDM, glycosuria, or a strong family history of diabetes) should undergo glucose testing (see below) as soon as feasible. If they are found not to have GDM at that initial screening, they should be retested between 24 and 28 weeks of gestation. Women of average risk should have testing undertaken at 24–28 weeks of gestation.
A fasting plasma glucose level >126 mg/dl (7.0 mmol/l) or a casual plasma glucose >200 mg/dl (11.1 mmol/l) meets the threshold for the diagnosis of diabetes. In the absence of unequivocal hyperglycemia, the diagnosis must be confirmed on a subsequent day. Confirmation of the diagnosis precludes the need for any glucose challenge. In the absence of this degree of hyperglycemia, evaluation for GDM in women with average or high-risk characteristics should follow one of two approaches.
One-step approach.
Perform a diagnostic OGTT without prior plasma or serum glucose screening. The one-step approach may be cost-effective in high-risk patients or populations (e.g., some Native-American groups).
Two-step approach.
Perform an initial screening by measuring the plasma or serum glucose concentration 1 h after a 50-g oral glucose load (glucose challenge test [GCT]) and perform a diagnostic OGTT on that subset of women exceeding the glucose threshold value on the GCT. When the two-step approach is used, a glucose threshold value >140 mg/dl (7.8 mmol/l) identifies ∼80% of women with GDM, and the yield is further increased to 90% by using a cutoff of >130 mg/dl (7.2 mmol/l).
With either approach, the diagnosis of GDM is based on an OGTT. Diagnostic criteria for the 100-g OGTT are derived from the original work of O'Sullivan and Mahan (4) modified by Carpenter and Coustan (3) and are shown in the top of Table 3. Alternatively, the diagnosis can be made using a 75-g glucose load and the glucose threshold values listed for fasting, 1 h, and 2 h (Table 2, bottom); however, this test is not as well validated as the 100-g OGTT.
Disorders of glycemia: etiologic types and stages. ∗Even after presenting in ketoacidosis, these patients can briefly return to normoglycemia without requiring continuous therapy (i.e., “honeymoon” remission); ∗∗in rare instances, patients in these categories (e.g., Vacor toxicity, type 1 diabetes presenting in pregnancy) may require insulin for survival.
Etiologic classification of diabetes mellitus
Criteria for the diagnosis of diabetes
Diagnosis of GDM with a 100-g or 75-g glucose load
The information that follows is based largely on the reports of the Expert Committee on the Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes (Diabetes Care 20:1183–1197, 1997, and Diabetes Care 26:3160–3167, 2003).
The Expert Committee on the Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes Mellitus: Report of the Expert Committee on the Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes Mellitus. Diabetes Care 20: 1183–1197, 1997
The Expert Committee on the Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes Mellitus: Follow-up report on the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Care 26:3160–3167, 2003
Carpenter MW, Coustan DR: Criteria for screening tests for gestational diabetes. Am J Obstet Gynecol 144:768–773, 1982
O'Sullivan JB, Mahan CM: Criteria for the oral glucose tolerance test in pregnancy. Diabetes 13:278, 1964
January 2008, 31(Supplement 1)
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Diabetes Care Jan 2008, 31 (Supplement 1) S55-S60; DOI: 10.2337/dc08-S055
10. Cardiovascular Disease and Risk Management: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes—2019
13. Children and Adolescents: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes—2019
2. Classification and Diagnosis of Diabetes: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes—2019
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Guidelines To Tipping Around the World
Diners Club International | Aug.21.2018
Tipping practices vary around the globe — don’t wait till you’ve ordered your roasted harissa salad to figure out whether or not to leave a tip in Dubai. Get prepared with these guidelines for gratuities around the world. Tipping in Europe In Europe, 10-15% is becoming a standard and welcome tip for restaurant meals. … Explore More
Dining Travel Trends – Bangkok
Welcome to the Bangkok fine dining scene. In this town, not only does the food taste and look good, but it also goes easy on your wallet. And it’s money well-spent – back at home, food of this caliber would set you back hundreds of dollars, euros or pounds. The food scene of Bangkok is … Explore More
CHEF GASTON ACURIO’S ANDEAN ROASTED POTATOES AND TUBERS
Diners Club International | Jul.17.2018
After being honored with the 2018 Diners Club® Lifetime Achievement Award at World’s 50 Best Restaurants, Chef Gaston Acurio gave us an inside look at one of his favorite dishes: Andean roasted potatoes and tubers, with two huancaina sauces. Give this exclusive recipe a try your kitchen! Native Boiled Potatoes and Fried Potatoes … Explore More
Chef Gastón Acurio Q&A
Diners Club International | Jun.25.2018
World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2018 Chef Gastón Acurio Q&A We sat at the table with Chef Gastón Acuriom, winner of 2018 Diners Club® Lifetime Achievement Award at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, for an exclusive Q&A. He opened up about his favorite restaurants, what he eats at home and his vision for the culinary … Explore More
CHEF ANDRÉ CHIANG’S PEACH, GRAPE AND CORIANDER PARFAIT
Diners Club International | Mar.28.2018
After taking home the 2018 Diners Club® Lifetime Achievement Award at Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, Chef André Chiang let us in on one of his specialties: a peach, grape and coriander parfait. Give this intricate recipe a try! Red Grape Carpaccio 2.2 lbs red seedless grapes 300 ml white peach juice 10 grams gold … Explore More
Chef Guillermo González Beristáin’s Roast Goat
Diners Club International | Dec.07.2017
Following the 2017 Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants award ceremony this fall, Diners Club® Lifetime Achievement Award winner Guillermo González Beristáin shares his recipe for Roast Goat. Try your hand at Chef Beristáin’s signature dish to his restaurant, Pangea, using the recipe below. Chef Beristain’s Roast Goat Bean Puree 100 grams beans 2 spoonfuls … Explore More
What Do You Feed Latin America’s Best Chefs?
Diners Club International | Oct.26.2017
What do you serve a room full of chefs who have perfected, reinvented, and elevated the preparation of food as we know it? This is the exhilarating task that Chef Julian Hoyos Vallejo and Chef Brian Aaron’s teams will undertake at the 2017 Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants award ceremony. The menu for the Bogotá-based … Explore More
How to Appreciate Food Like a Master Chef
Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants event in Bogotá has us thinking about techniques—but not for preparing food, for enjoying it. Master chefs don’t just cook better than you and I do, they also know how to appreciate food on a deeper level. Fortunately, you don’t need a culinary background to make the most of every … Explore More
Rome: Piazza del Popolo
Piazza del Popolo, (“People’s Square” in English), is a cultural destination for tourists and locals alike. Whether you’re in the mood for world-class dining or simply want to take in the sights and sounds of the city square, Piazza del Popolo will have something for you. PRINT GUIDE …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. WHAT TO SEE Trevi Fountain No … Explore More
Rome: Navona
Experience the unrivaled beauty of one of Rome’s most historic and celebrated neighborhoods. With world-renowned monuments at every turn, Navona has enough history on one block to keep you busy for an entire vacation. PRINT GUIDE …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. WHAT TO SEE The Pantheon A former Roman temple turned church, the Pantheon is perhaps one of the … Explore More
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Inventory Control Specialist in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
First Name 1dcff8db
Last Name 50d69df2
Email cd0d4f4e
90c6388c Email me about jobs like this
Virginia Beach | Virginia | United States | 23462
This position is responsible for the accuracy and integrity of the store’s inventory.
Minimum Eligibility Requirements
One year of inventory control experience in a “big box” retail company or an equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to perform the essential functions of the job, as determined by the company.
Demonstrated point of sale analysis and reporting experience.
Business analysis experience is a plus.
Intermediate computer skills including Microsoft Office Suite.
Must be detail-oriented and highly organized.
Must possess excellent customer service skills and work well under pressure.
Ability to multi-task, meet deadlines, and work in a fast-paced environment.
Demonstrate a thorough understanding and compliance with the company’s safe lifting practices standard operating procedures.
Follow the daily cycle count and category review calendar.
Research all inventory-related discrepancies and make appropriate adjustments in the inventory system.
Review shipping and receiving documents for accuracy.
Bring to the attention of the department managers immediately any discrepancies noticed in tagging or SKUing of merchandise.
Audit the BFR daily in accordance with the Inventory Control SOP.
Audit incoming and outgoing trucks randomly.
Audit the SOR process in accordance with the Return of Sale SOP.
Audit the SRR process in accordance with the Return of Sale SOP for Voids and Partial voids.
Audit the RTV process to ensure RTV’s are being processed per SOP.
Audit to ensure the security of the facility by notifying management of any issues.
Audit the customer merchandise storage area weekly in accordance with the Customer Storage SOP and timely resolve any issues with the CEM and Operations Manager.
Provide assistance to the Operations Manager during any physical inventory period.
Ensure that the “Sample” tape is applied to all wood boxes that have been written off to “Sam”. If not, notify the department manager to immediately address.
Run the OSDR Report for DMG, RTV, VA, DIS, WO, CHR, PRV, USE, LF, STL, WEB and SAM monthly to ensure correct movement of merchandise was done and correct any discrepancies. Document report of findings/corrections, submit to the Operations manager for review, both initial and archive monthly in the cycle count drawer.
Check a minimum of 10 customer receipts daily and randomly. Either “Pickup” and or “Take With” Tickets. Any discrepancies adjust immediately and notify CEM/Operations Manager of mistake(s).
Communicate to Store Management Team the discrepancies found in the day’s CCYL and propose solutions to fix the issues which may have caused and or potential may cause shrink via e-mail. Failure to fix the outstanding issues upon your follow-up, you will need to notify the CEM/Operations manager immediately.
Maintain all cycle count paperwork per SOP.
Follow-up to ensure that all changes were implemented.
Working Conditions (travel, hours, environment)
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently exposed to a warehouse environment and moving vehicles. The noise level in the work environment is typically moderate to noisy.
Physical/Sensory Requirements
Medium Work – Ability to exert 20-50 pounds of force occasionally, and/or 10-25 pounds of force frequently, and/or greater than negligible up to 10 pounds of force constantly to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects. The employee is often required to use their hands and fingers, to handle or feel. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, reach with arms and hands, climb or balance, and to stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl.
Virginia Beach Virginia United States Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States, 23462 Warehouse Warehouse
It’s great being part of a culture where entrepreneurship and team spirit are not just buzzwords. If you love working with a great group of people and desire the opportunity to grow, this is the place for you. What You’ll Do As a Warehouse Associ...
Virginia Beach Virginia United States Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States, 23462 Store Operations Store Operations
It’s great being part of a culture where entrepreneurship and team spirit are not just buzzwords. If you love working with a great group of people and desire the opportunity to grow, this is the place for you. What You’ll Do As a Receiving Associ...
Hampton Virginia United States Hampton, Virginia, United States, 23666 Store Operations Store Operations
Virginia Beach Virginia United States Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States, 23462 Store Sales Store Sales
Command Center Associate
Virginia Beach Virginia United States Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States, 23462 Design Services Design Services
First Name 73c44fdb
Last Name 6318a467
Email 7d62eb52
Department and Location 48931d49
Departments ab203590 Departments 7ef79b8e Accounts Payable Admin Customer Care Operations Customer Care Services Customer Service Design Services Distribution Operations Distribution Operations Leadership Distribution Warehouse Ecommerce Inventory Merchandising Leadership Merchandising Operations Operations Pro Services Product Review Store Operations Store Operations Leadership Store Operations Specialist Store Sales Store Sales Specialist Supply Chain Systems Support & Enhancements Technology Warehouse
Locations a147e1c7 Locations 52fcdd18 Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States Alexandria, Virginia, United States Arlington, Texas, United States Arlington Heights, Illinois, United States Arvada, Colorado, United States Atlanta, Georgia, United States Aurora, Illinois, United States Austin, Texas, United States Avon, Massachusetts, United States Birmingham, Alabama, United States Bloomingdale, Georgia, United States Boynton Beach, Florida, United States Bridgeton, Missouri, United States Brookfield, Wisconsin, United States Buford, Georgia, United States Burlingame, California, United States Carson, California, United States Charlotte, North Carolina, United States Chicago, Illinois, United States Cincinnati, Ohio, United States Clearwater, Florida, United States Concord, North Carolina, United States Countryside, Illinois, United States Dallas, Texas, United States Denver, Colorado, United States Devon, Pennsylvania, United States Downey, California, United States Draper, Utah, United States Edgemere, Maryland, United States El Paso, Texas, United States Everett, Washington, United States Farmingdale, New York, United States Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States Fort Myers, Florida, United States Fort Worth, Texas, United States Fountain Valley, California, United States Fullerton, California, United States Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States Glendale, Arizona, United States Greensboro, North Carolina, United States Gretna, Louisiana, United States Gurnee, Illinois, United States Hampton, Virginia, United States Henderson, Nevada, United States Henrico, Virginia, United States Hialeah, Florida, United States Hilliard, Ohio, United States Hollywood, Florida, United States Houston, Texas, United States Indianapolis, Indiana, United States Jacksonville, Florida, United States Katy, Texas, United States Kennesaw, Georgia, United States Knoxville, Tennessee, United States Lakeland, Florida, United States Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Levittown, Pennsylvania, United States Littleton, Colorado, United States Lombard, Illinois, United States Louisville, Kentucky, United States Marietta, Georgia, United States McDonough, Georgia, United States Memphis, Tennessee, United States Mesa, Arizona, United States Mesquite, Texas, United States Miami, Florida, United States Milpitas, California, United States Mission Viejo, California, United States Moorestown, New Jersey, United States Moreno Valley, California, United States Morrow, Georgia, United States Nashville, Tennessee, United States New Orleans, Louisiana, United States Norco, California, United States North Charleston, South Carolina, United States North Richland Hills, Texas, United States Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States Orlando, Florida, United States Overland Park, Kansas, United States Paramus, New Jersey, United States Pasadena, Texas, United States Phoenix, Arizona, United States Plano, Texas, United States Pompano Beach, Florida, United States Port St. Lucie, Florida, United States Reno, Nevada, United States Reynoldsburg, Ohio, United States Riverdale, Utah, United States Rocklin, California, United States Roswell, Georgia, United States Saint Petersburg, Florida, United States San Antonio, Texas, United States San Diego, California, United States Sanford, Florida, United States Santa Ana, California, United States Sarasota, Florida, United States Saugus, Massachusetts, United States Savannah, Georgia, United States Seattle, Washington, United States Skokie, Illinois, United States Smyrna, Georgia, United States St. Louis, Missouri, United States Sugar Land, Texas, United States Tampa, Florida, United States Tempe, Arizona, United States The Colony, Texas, United States Thornton, Colorado, United States Tucson, Arizona, United States Utica, Michigan, United States Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States Wayne, New Jersey, United States West Palm Beach, Florida, United States Wichita, Kansas, United States Woodbridge, Virginia, United States Woodland Hills, California, United States
First Name f10ecea2
Last Name a84c59b1
Email 31d1f726
6802a718 Email me about jobs like this
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Tag Archives: fistfight
The Automatic Hate
Posted on March 11, 2016 by carlosdev
Joseph Cross and Adelaide Clemens share a moment.
(2015) Dramedy (Film Movement) Joseph Cross, Adelaide Clemens, Deborah Ann Woll, Richard Schiff, Ricky Jay, Yvonne Zima, Vanessa Zima, Catherine Carlen, Caitlin O’Connell, Darren MacDonald, Vienna Stampeen, Travis Quentin Young, George Riddle, Sea McHale, Matthew Fahey, Jozef Fahey, Craig Wesley Divino, Mark Andrews, Brooke Stone. Directed by Justin Lerner
All families have secrets; skeletons in their closets that once let out affect the dynamic of the family in unexpected and often unintended ways. Those secrets sometimes die with those who were there but there are occasions when the consequences are passed down the generations.
Davis Green (Cross) is a head chef at a Boston restaurant, but as well as his culinary career is going, there is a lot less to desire in his private life. His emotional girlfriend Cassie (Woll), however, locks him out of the bathroom and can’t stop sobbing. She needs alone time and Davis is inclined to give it to you, especially after he hears why she’s sobbing (although we don’t find out until later). He heads down to his favorite bar to hang out with some friends, when he notices a beautiful blonde there who acts like she knows him. When he approaches her though, she runs away.
She shows up later at his apartment and introduces herself as Alexis (Clemens). She tells him that she’s his cousin, but that can’t be right – his dad was an only child. Nonetheless, she insists that’s who she is. When Davis confronts his dad Ronald (Schiff), at first his dad – a respected Yale-educated developmental psychologist – denies the existence of a sibling. Not one to simply take the word of his own dad who has always expressed disappointment in Davis’ career choice (and choice of girlfriend for that matter), Davis goes to talk to his grandfather (Riddle) who seems to confirm that there’s a long lost brother – “we don’t talk about Josh” he croaks before having a panic attack.
Once again, Davis confronts his dad who reluctantly admits to the existence of Josh (Jay) but won’t explain why the two are estranged. Devastated by this and by a revelation from his girlfriend, Davis decides to take a break from everything and find his cousins.
That’s right, plural. It turns out Alexis has two sisters – Annie (Y. Zima) and Vanessa (V. Zima) and they live on a bucolic farm in upstate New York, although it is not super successful. They live a kind of hippie existence, even to the marijuana dispensary in the consignment store the girls run. It turns out that the feelings Davis’ dad has for Josh are reciprocated. Davis and Alexis try to figure out what would cause such a rift between brothers – and all the while Davis is developing feelings of his own for his first cousin. When a family tragedy forces the two families together, what comes next is inevitable – and awkward.
This is not your average family drama nor is it your average romantic comedy. It falls somewhere in between and is seriously bent, in a good way. It is also bent enough that it may make some feel a little bit squeamish, particularly when you learn exactly what drove the brothers apart. However there is a real heart at the center of the movie that kind of helps drive through the less savory feelings that may occur.
The mystery of that estrangement could easily be a MacGuffin or become a distraction but Lerner never allows it to do so. The casting of veterans Schiff (The West Wing) and Jay (tons of David Mamet films) is brilliant; the two have a bit of resemblance facially and in vocal mannerisms. The two feel like brothers, which is important here, although brothers who have not seen each other in 20 years and have lived separate lives. Everything works here.
The cousins are all extremely beautiful blondes, which makes for a happy reviewer. There’s also some nice cinematic scenery in the upstate New York countryside. While there are a few hiccups – the hoary plot-advancing device of finding home movies in an attic seems a little bit beneath this film – this is one of those gems that come along every once in awhile that flies under the radar and is far more impressive than you would think. However, those who are easily squeamish about unorthodox romantic and sexual relationships should be on notice that this film may be a little bit uncomfortable for them.
REASONS TO GO: Handles the mystery adroitly. The cousins are gorgeous. A lot of heart (oddly enough) at the center.
REASONS TO STAY: The adult relationships are a bit uncomfortable.
FAMILY VALUES: Some profanity, graphic nudity and a scene of sexuality.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Filmed in and about Mt. Vernon, New York.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Harold and Maude
NEXT: Eddie the Eagle
Posted in New Releases | Tagged Adelaide Clemens, blondes, Boston, Cabin in the Woods, chef, cinema, Cinema365, consignment store, cousins, Deborah Ann Woll, developmental psychologist, dramedy, emotional response, estranged brothers, family secrets, farm, Film Movement, Films, fistfight, Harvard, home movies, Joseph Cross, movies, reviews, Richard Schiff, Ricky Jay, skeletons in the closet, station wagon, The Automatic Hate, upstate New York, Yale | Leave a reply
Leatherheads
Even in 1925, “hi, mom” was a thing.
(2008) Comedy (Universal) George Clooney, Renee Zellweger, John Krasinski, Jonathan Pryce, Stephen Root, Jack Thompson, Max Casella, Wayne Duvall, Keith Loneker, Malcolm Goodwin, Matt Bushell, Tommy Hinkley, Tim Griffin, Robert Baker, Nick Paonessa, Randy Newman, Grant Heslov, Mike O’Malley, Heather Goldenhersh. Directed by George Clooney
The NFL is the most powerful sports league in the United States. The championship game, the Super Bowl, is one of the most-watched sporting events on planet Earth. The league makes billions in advertising and sponsorship revenue, broadcasting rights fees, game attendance and merchandising. Millions follow their teams week after week during the fall. But it wasn’t always that way.
Carter Rutherford (Krasinski) is on the top of the world. The star football player for the Princeton Tigers football team, he is matinee idol handsome, a war hero, admired by millions and blessed with a bright future ahead of him. Pro football? C’mon, it’s 1925! Pro football is for miners, farmers and lumberjacks, the pay is ridiculously low, there are no rules to speak of and the crowds are ghastly.
Dodge Connelly (Clooney) is at rock bottom. The star player for the Duluth Bulldogs pro football team is trying to hold together his club by the skin of his teeth. They have to forfeit a football game because the game ball – the only one the team has – is stolen. As much as he loves the game, Connelly knows the future is bleak. He’s no longer a young man, he has almost no skills to speak of and football is all he knows. To make matters worse, the Bulldogs main sponsor is pulling out, and the team is about to fold.
Lexie Littleton (Zellweger) is on the ladder to success. A brassy dame hustling, scratching and clawing to make her way as a reporter in a man’s world, she’s given a plum assignment by her editor (Thompson); a lieutenant (Casella) in Rutherford’s unit has stepped forward, claiming that his war record is false. Littleton is to get the confidence of Rutherford, build him up with a series of puff pieces and then when she gets the dirt, print the exclusive. If she does it, there’s an editorial position for her.
Connelly hits upon the bright idea of enticing Rutherford into pro football. In order to do it, he’s going to have to fast talk Rutherford’s agent/publicist CC Frazier (Pryce) into even considering pro football. When Dodge brashly guarantees ten grand per game, Frazier and Rutherford (mostly Rutherford who loves the game and wants to play past his college years) agree to join the Bulldogs. Littleton, smelling a fish story, decides to tag along.
At first, it looks like the most brilliant idea ever. Huge crowds show up to see the college star – even at Bulldog practices. The players begin to work harder to get into shape and Rutherford suggests some “effective” plays he used at Princeton. Of course, being a natural athlete better than most of the people playing the game doesn’t hurt and the Bulldogs begin to win. Connelly does his part by playing up the new guy and making sure he’s the one to score the touchdowns and that Rutherford gets all the glory. Dodge is far more interested in getting the girl, but when she discovers the truth, everything is at risk.
A nice period piece that captures the very early days of professional football nicely although I’m sure the NFL would take issue with some of the more, ahem, sordid aspects of the Duluth Bulldogs. Krasinski does some fine work as the ultra-preppy Carter “The Bullet” Rutherford. He was still best known for his work in The Office at the time (which was still on the air) and launches his film career with a completely different character than his Office work and does a great job in the process.
Clooney does his usual solid job; he seems to have an affinity for period pieces (O Brother Where Art Thou, Goodnight and Good Luck) and he plays a wise-cracking, hard-nosed Leatherhead well. Zellweger seems born to play the brassy, sassy dame with more than a little moxie. She looks right for the flapper era, and gets the cadences right.
Clooney captures the period nicely, with speakeasies and swell hotels. While the football sequences are mostly played for laughs rather than for any kind of authenticity, they are at least staged in an entertaining manner. Randy Newman’s score is reminiscent of his work in Ragtime and Parenthood; look for his cameo in one of the bar scenes.
I’m not sure whether Clooney intended an homage to screwball comedies or to actually make one; either way, it’s a bit light on jokes to match up to the better examples of the genre. The chemistry between Zellweger and Clooney isn’t as convincing as it could be.
Leatherheads is flawed, but generally entertaining. They try for the kind of screwball comedy that made things like His Girl Friday, Sullivan’s Travels and Adam’s Rib, but don’t quite get there. With a better script and better chemistry between the leads, this could have been a memorable movie, but it’s still worthwhile on several fronts – just not really anything you’d want to sing the praises of too loudly. Definitely worth the rental at least if you don’t have anything particularly pressing that you’d like to see. It’s not a complete waste of your time and money at least.
WHY RENT THIS: Nice era re-creation. Clooney and Krasinski do fine jobs.
WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: Fails at being a true screwball comedy. Chemistry between Clooney and Zellweger not quite there.
FAMILY MATTERS: There is a smattering of foul language.
TRIVIAL PURSUITS: Due to a dispute with the Writer’s Guild of America over credit on the script, George Clooney removed himself as a voting member of the Guild.
NOTABLE HOME VIDEO FEATURES: Infamous prankster Clooney is shown playing some memorable pranks on his unsuspecting cast and crew.
BOX OFFICE PERFORMANCE: $41.3M on a $58M production budget.
SITES TO SEE: Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, Flixster, Vudu
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Eight Men Out
NEXT: Minions
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The Unusual Hobbies and Careers of Rock Stars
From the model train enthusiast to the ostrich farmer
by CoS Staff
on August 07, 2015, 2:50pm
Last year, Phil Collins made the headlines by donating his collections of Alamo memorabilia and artifacts to the Alamo Museum. The fact that an aging English pop star living in Switzerland was the owner of the world’s largest private collection of Alamo and Texas Revolution memorabilia came as a surprise to most of the world. His donation of the material to the Alamo Museum not only earned him headlines and the gratitude of the museum curators, but also the title of Honorary Texan from the state legislature.
Because of the grandiose nature of his unusual donation, he joined the legions of “eccentric” celebrities. However, Collins is not the only rock star whose hobbies and collections can be classified as unusual.
Steve Vai is an enthusiastic beekeeper. His hobby started as the result of a swarm in a neighbor’s yard. Vai began to study bees and ended up with five of his own hives. He bottles honey for his friends and gives the jars as gifts.
The Taxidermist/Upholsterer
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The Thompson Twins brief rise in the synth-pop ranks did little to indicate that the members harbored avant-garde tastes and talents. However, the band’s Alannah Currie has proven that her talents run far deeper the churning out hits. Currie is an “armchair destructivist” who creates works under the name Miss Pokeno. Her works have included a chaise lounge with a stuffed swan for an armrest and a velvet armchair with two foxes in the back.
The Model train Enthusiasts
Photo via Boston Globe
Collecting model trains is a fairly huge hobby with older males and the world of rock has two big time train aficionados. Neil Young’s obsession with trains let him to being a consultant and very large stock holder in model train company Lionel.
However, Rod Stewart’s love and commitment to the hobby easily eclipses Young’s. Stewart has been collecting for more than two decades. His concert rider calls for an area where he can set up tracks prior to his performance. When his replica of New York’s Grand Central Station complete, with 1940s era passengers and skyline, was featured on the cover of Model Railroader, Stewart said it meant “more to me than the cover of Rolling Stone.”
The Mug Collector
Lots of travelers pick up souvenir mugs from their travels; few, however, house them in a special climate controlled room and heavily insure the collection. During his tours, Grandmaster Flash has accumulated over 5,000 mugs and does just that.
The Knitters
If you ever wondered what possibly inspired “The Sweater Song”, it most likely came from Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo’s passion for knitting. Cuomo has often tweeted about knitting while relaxing at home or getting ready for bed.
Kelley Deal of The Breeders took up knitting as part of her efforts to beat her drug addiction. Deal’s handbag designs became so popular that she began to market them. She even published a book titled Bags That Rock: Knitting on the Road With Kelley Deal, which features twenty projects along with instructions for the basics of knitting.
The Ostrich Farmer
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South Carolina is not the first place that comes to mind when one thinks of ostrich farms. However, that is where Terminator X of Public Enemy chose to start his second career by operating a black ostrich stud farm.
Many rock stars have well established reputations as wine connoisseurs, or at least as wine consumers. Maynard James Keenan took his appreciation of wine to the next level by starting his own winery in Arizona, an area that is definitely not known for its wine. His Merkin Vineyards has won numerous awards for its chardonnay.
The Poker Players
Photo via World Poker Tour
Poker is a popular pastime on tour buses. While musicians are frequently spotted testing their skills in casinos, Scott Ian of Anthrax and Sully Erna of Godsmack take their favorite game, Texas Hold’em, seriously. Both play Hold’em in casinos and private games and both have been known to enter the $10,000 World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas. Erna has more than $350,000 in tournament earnings.
The Fly Fisherman
Eric Clapton has said that dying with a fly rod in his hand would not be a bad way to go. He also attributes his enjoyment of the pastime for helping him get over his alcohol addiction after he broke his favorite fly rod while under the influence. Clapton also has a fly rod named after him, the Slowhand Special.
The Trout Farmer
You can’t fly fish without fish which is where The Who’s Roger Daltry comes in. Daltry owns a successful trout farm which has been in operation for over thirty years and has been the subject of a fish breeding documentary.
The Champion Pumpkin Farmer
Photo via Loud And Quiet
Many rock stars own ranches and farms, but few take as active a role in the operations and get their “hands dirty” as Faith No More guitarist James Martin. Martin says he spends nearly every day working his farm for six months of the year. Martin has won awards for his pumpkins, including a particularly mammoth one which weighed in at over 1,000 pounds. Martin enjoys the thrill of competition and told a Bay Area newspaper that “It’s [the competition] important enough for CNN to come and report on. I like getting ready for it. Sometimes when I have to go to work, I get mad because it takes time away from getting my hands dirty out here.” Martin also grows peas, but says, “I love peas. I stand out here and eat them. They never make it up to the house.” He credits his wife with helping him achieve his dreams, although she says her role is primarily bringing him beer and cigarettes.
The Cheese Maker
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To fill the twelve-year gap between albums, Alex James of Blur turned to cheese making. His varieties, known as Farleigh Wallop, Little Wallop, Goddess and Blue Monday, have a reputation for being very good.
The Car Collector
Rock stars collecting classic cars is not especially newsworthy. However, Charlie Watts’ (of The Rolling Stones) desire to collect classic cars is a bit unusual due to the fact that Watts does not have a driver’s license. He and his wife do breed champion horses as well, which do not require a license.
The Chess masters
Photo via zmemusic.com
The relationship between chess and music is fairly well documented. Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and David Bowie are accomplished chess players and spend a lot of time playing.
The Test/Stunt Pilot
Most metal fans are aware that Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson is an accomplished pilot and flies the band’s jet whenever Maiden is on tour. Fewer know that Gary Numan, whose place in the rock history books was set with the hit single “Cars”, supplemented his rock star salary by being a test and stunt pilot.
Grandmaster Flash
Kelley Deal
Maynard James Keenan
Rivers Cuomo
Roger Daltry
Scott Ian
Warner Bros. reportedly calls Ben Affleck “definitive Batman”, shifts schedule
Frances Ha star Greta Gerwig to make her directorial debut with Lady Bird
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You are here: Home / Latest News / Deloitte Southeast Asia Announces New Leadership for Myanmar and Singapore
Deloitte Southeast Asia Announces New Leadership for Myanmar and Singapore
January 11, 2019 by Thiha
Deloitte Southeast Asia has announced that Aye Cho and Cheung Pui Yuen have been appointed as Country Managing Partners for the Myanmar and Singapore practices respectively. They have taken on their new roles starting on 1 January 2019.
Aye Cho has succeeded Soe Win who retired from Deloitte Myanmar as its Country Managing Partner earlier this year.
Pui Yuen has succeeded Philip Yuen who currently holds dual roles as Chief Executive Officer for Deloitte in Southeast Asia and Country Managing Partner in Singapore. Philip will continue as Deloitte Southeast Asia Chief Executive Officer and take on the role of Chairman of Deloitte Singapore.
“Deloitte Southeast Asia operates as one across the region with practices in all the ASEAN countries. Being in a region that is experiencing rapid economic growth, it is important for us to have strong leadership in the different geographies to build our eminence in the local markets, and to ensure that we deliver seamless and consistent service to our clients as they navigate the opportunities the region has to offer,” said Philip Yuen, Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte Southeast Asia.
“With their experience and expertise, I am confident that both Aye Cho and Pui Yuen will continue to build on the success of our Myanmar and Singapore practices, and provide our people with a rich talent experience and lead them to make an impact on our clients and in the communities,” Philip added.
Deloitte Southeast Asia comprises approximately 340 partners and 8,800 professionals in 25 office locations in countries Brunei, Cambodia, Guam, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. In September 2018, Deloitte in Southeast Asia, Australia, China, Japan and New Zealand joined to form Deloitte Asia Pacific.
Aye Cho has 17 years of experience in audit, financial advisory and tax services in Singapore and Myanmar. He joined Deloitte’s Singapore practice in 2007 and later moved to Deloitte Myanmar in 2013 as Director. He was admitted as Financial Advisory Partner with Deloitte Myanmar in 2015.
Specialising in mergers & acquisitions, valuations and taxation, Aye Cho has worked with many foreign corporations to establish their presence in Myanmar and has also supported local Myanmar business owners in pricing their businesses and facilitating negotiations with foreign investors.
In addition to being the Country Leader for Financial Advisory and Tax Services in Myanmar, he currently also serves as Deloitte Private Leader, Chinese Services Group Leader and Country Tax Officer for Deloitte Myanmar.
“It is a privilege to take on this role as Country Managing Partner of Deloitte Myanmar. The Myanmar practice, one of Deloitte Southeast Asia’s youngest practices, is operating in a country that has a vibrant, emerging economy where opportunities abound for both local and foreign businesses. This is an exciting time for Myanmar, and I look forward to building on the foundation that Soe Win has laid and growing the Myanmar practice to become the leader in professional services in the local market. By doing so, I hope we can raise the bar of the profession in Myanmar and build up the professional services talent in the country,” said Aye Cho.
In Myanmar, audit and other regulated services are provided by Myanmar Vigour & Associates Limited, and advisory and consulting services are provided by Deloitte Touche Myanmar Vigour Advisory Limited and Deloitte Consulting (Myanmar) Ltd respectively. Myanmar Vigour was founded in 2003, and its sister company Myanmar Vigour Group has also been providing audit services since 2008. In 2013, Myanmar Vigour Group became an Independent Correspondent Firm of Deloitte, and in 2016, Myanmar Vigour was officially integrated with Deloitte Southeast Asia.
Pui Yuen started his career as an auditor with Touche Ross & Co, a predecessor firm of Deloitte Singapore, in 1989, and was admitted as an Audit & Assurance Partner in 2000. With more than 29 years of public accounting experience, Pui Yuen has led major audits, advised on public listings and performed acquisitions and due diligence reviews for many prominent organisations.
He was appointed the Deloitte Singapore Audit & Assurance Leader in 2007 and later became the Audit & Assurance Regional Managing Partner for Deloitte Southeast Asia in 2011, roles which he held until 2016. Since 2016, he has served as the Singapore Deputy Managing Partner for Operations, focusing on managing the performance and operational excellence of the Singapore practice.
Pui Yuen is a member of the Deloitte Singapore Management Committee and serves on the board of both Deloitte Asia Pacific and Deloitte Southeast Asia.
Externally, Pui Yuen is the Deputy Chairman of the Accounting Standards Council of Singapore, serves on the Audit Committee of the Singapore Academy of Law and is a member of CPA Australia’s Corporate-SME committee, and the Complaints Committee of the Singapore Medical Council.
“I am honoured to have been selected by the partnership as Deloitte Singapore’s next Country Managing Partner and I am excited to lead Deloitte Singapore into the next chapter. The Singapore practice is the largest and the most comprehensive in our Southeast Asia network, and I intend to build upon the good work of Philip and my fellow partners to deliver services of the highest quality to our clients, develop our people and contribute to the Singapore community,” said Pui Yuen.
SOURCE: MYANMAR BUSINESS TODAY
Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: Accounting Standards Council of Singapore, asean, Audit & Assurance Partner, Brunei, Cambodia, Corporate-SME committee, CPA, Deloitte Myanmar, Deloitte Southeast Asia, Economic Growth, Financial Advisory and Tax Services, foreign investors, Guam, Indonesia, local Myanmar business, Malaysia, Myanmar, Myanmar Vigour & Associates Limited, philippines, singapore, Singapore Academy of Law, Singapore Medical Council, Southeast Asia, Taxation, Thailand, Touche Ross & Co, Vietnam
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3 Steps to Lower a Woman's Risk of Premature Birth
Study finds there's lots mothers-to-be can do to help ensure they deliver at full-term
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Aug. 30, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Up to one-quarter of preterm births might be prevented if women paid attention to three risk factors that are under their control, new research suggests.
Those factors include spacing pregnancies well, beginning at a healthy weight and gaining the recommended amount during the pregnancy, the researchers found.
"These are all risk factors for a really serious health outcome -- preterm birth," said study co-author Dr. Emily DeFranco. She is a researcher at the Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.
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Babies born before 37 weeks' gestation are considered preterm. Being born early puts babies at risk for breathing, heart, gastrointestinal and developmental problems, among other issues.
In the United States, the overall rate of preterm birth is 11.4 percent -- more than twice as high as that in several other developed countries, the researchers said.
Experts have identified many risk factors for preterm birth, so DeFranco's team looked at some that are manageable to see what role they might play.
The investigators used records of nearly 400,000 births between 2006 and 2011 to examine the three risk factors. None were multiple births.
More than 90 percent of the women had at least one of the three risk factors, the study findings showed.
Only 6 percent had none, providing what researchers called an "ideal" comparison group. Their pregnancies were well spaced, their weight was healthy at the start and the mothers gained no more, or less, than recommended during pregnancy.
These "ideal" women had a preterm birth rate of 7.6 percent, according to DeFranco, who is also an associate professor of maternal-fetal medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
Women who had less than a year between pregnancies as well as those who gained too little weight during pregnancy had higher rates of preterm births, the study authors said.
The highest rate of preterm births -- at 25 percent, more than triple that of the ideal group -- occurred among women who were underweight when they got pregnant, had shorter gaps between pregnancies and inadequate weight gain during pregnancy, the researchers reported.
Women who are underweight are advised to gain 28 to 40 pounds during pregnancy, while normal weight women should aim for 25 to 35 pounds, according to Institute of Medicine recommendations. Overweight women should gain 15 to 25 pounds, and those who are obese should only gain 11 to 20 pounds.
A body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered a healthy weight. BMI is an estimate of body fat based on height and weight.
"You have some control over your risk of a preterm birth," DeFranco said, urging women to pay attention to the factors they can adjust. Other risks are not changeable. For instance, black women are more likely to have preterm births, as are women who have had a previous one and those who conceive through in vitro fertilization, the researchers said.
Dr. David Mendez, a neonatologist at Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami, reviewed the study. He pointed out that the findings build on some things that doctors have suspected.
"It does appear to show that the uterus needs some recovery time, and the mom needs to be at a healthy weight to have the best outcome," he said. Paying attention to the recommended weight gain is also important, he added.
For women who are trying to conceive, Mendez said, the message seems to be to try to get to a healthy weight ahead of time.
The findings were published online recently in the Maternal and Child Health Journal.
To learn more about preterm births, see the March of Dimes.
SOURCES: Emily DeFranco, D.O., associate professor, maternal-fetal medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and researcher, Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth, Cincinnati Children's Hospital; David Mendez, M.D., neonatologist, Nicklaus Children's Hospital, Miami; Aug. 3, 2016, Maternal and Child Health Journal, online
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No Free Rides in North Carolina This Year!
The Raleigh News and Observer is reporting that after the closing of the candidate filing period at noon today, every single NC House and Senate seat is contested, all 170 of them, with many seats on both sides requiring primaries to sort out the willing candidates.
Quite a change from last year.
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, North Carolina General Assembly
Daughter of Governor Jim Hunt Running in House District 103
Rachel Hunt, running for the North Carolina House District 103
We wrote about District 103 on the east side of Charlotte after a Democrat named Wesley Harris announced he would run for that seat, but the special master's redistricting threw Harris into District 105, and he has filed there now, forcing a primary with Democrat Ayoub Ouederni, about whom we wrote in this space back on January 15. (Too many Democrats for some seats; too few for others.)
Republican incumbent: William "Bill" Brawley is a real estate broker. He was first elected to this seat in the Tea Party tide of 2010. In 2012 he ran unopposed in both the primary and in November. Ditto 2014. In 2016 he had a Democratic woman against him, and she made a respectable showing, getting almost 44% of the vote. In 2016 he refused to respond to a Charlotte Observer written candidate profile. He's a senior chair of the Finance Committee. In one of the special sessions of 2017, Brawley introduced HB 514 to allow the towns of Mint Hill and Matthews to apply for their own charter schools. The bill passed the House but died in the Senate. In 2007, before he joined the GA, he was managing properties in Charlotte including a hotel that he learned was one of the top three hotspots for organized crime. Men were buying women there for sex. When
Rachel Hunt
Brawley barged into the establishment, he learned that some of the women were "trafficked," were there against their will, and he arranged to have one woman rescued by a SWAT team. Commendably, Brawley introduced last year the "Human Trafficking: Resistance and Rescue Act" in the NC House, which didn't go anywhere yet.
Democrat Rachel Hunt is one of former Governor Jim Hunt's daughters, so she is already networked in a helpful way. Like her father, Rachel has been and will continue to be a champion for public education. She is a board member of the NC Foundation for Public School Children, and she started two companies that help parents and students, including those with disabilities, find a good school and quality education. “I’ve spent my life helping North Carolina grow into a beautiful, inspiring state that looked out for the little guy and put strong public education above everything else, but lately, that shared vision has been threatened. I am running because I can no longer stand back and watch this great state that my family and so many other families like ours worked so hard to build be undermined by politicians in Raleigh.” She has served as the chair of Generation Nation and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Youth Lead and Youth Councils. She trained as a lawyer. Governor Roy Cooper recently appointed her to the Education and Workforce Innovative Council.
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, Bill Brawley, North Carolina General Assembly, Rachel Hunt
Republican Big Wig Nelson Dollar Gets a Democratic Opponent
Julie von Haefen, running for the NC House District 36
District 36 is a Wake County seat and is currently the subject of a new lawsuit filed just a few days ago alleging that Republicans redrew this and three other Wake County districts just for the pure hell of it. District 36 had been one of the special master redraws that got thrown out. At any rate, it is perhaps more favorable to Republicans right now, but gawd only knows what tomorrow brings. If you want to unravel this history, try this source.
Republican incumbent: Nelson Dollar, than whom there would be no greater pelt for the Democrats to hang outside their wigwam. Dollar is the chief budget writer in the House, so we have plenty of bones to pick with him. He was first elected to the House in 2004, so he's got lots of seniority and lots of power. He won his last reelection in 2016 against Jen Ferrell by a margin of 1,400 votes, and Ferrell was planning another run against Dollar in 2018 under the special master's maps (along with Democratic Wake Commissioner Matt Calabria), but when those maps were thrown out, so were Ferrell's
Julie von Haefen
and Calabria's plans, since they were no longer residents of District 36. For what it's worth, Tea Party conservatives hate Dollar.
Democrat Julie von Haefen (which my computer wants to auto-correct to "von Heaven") is president of the Wake County PTA Council and has three school-age children in the Wake County public schools. She scorched Dollar in her filing announcement for what his state budgets have done to public education: "From the expansion of school vouchers and charter schools to the failure to pay our teachers and principals what they deserve, Representative Dollar and his legislature have harmed our students and our schools. Most recently, their reckless and unfunded K-3 class size mandate caused unnecessary stress for school districts across the state. It is time to put our teachers and our children ahead of partisan politics. North Carolina's students deserve better than they are getting from our legislature. They deserve increased funding for school counselors and nurses. And they deserve a public school system with the funding and resources it needs to prepare them for the future. We owe it to our students, and to the economy, and to the state." Von Haefen is married to an NC State professor, and they have lived in Apex for the last 13 years. She trained as a lawyer and practiced law for 10 years.
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, Julie von Haefen, Nelson Dollar, North Carolina General Assembly, public education
Ex-Navy Man Becomes Democratic Insurgent in Impregnable Mountain Republican Senate District
Bobby Kuppers, running in the NC Senate District 50
Senate District 50 encompasses seven counties in far southwestern North Carolina -- Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, and Swain -- which includes the campus of Western Carolina University. Since 2010, it's considered unwinnable for a Democrat.
Republican incumbent: Jim Davis, former Macon County commissioner, a dentist, defeated long-serving Democrat John Snow in the Tea Party election of 2010, and Davis has continued to live up to his Tea Party heritage in the senate. He's an orthodontist by profession.
Bobby Kuppers, filing for county
commissioner in 2015
Democrat Bobby Kuppers spent 25 years as a career Navy man, primarily in the submarine service, and retired as a captain. He now teaches civics and US history at Franklin High School in Macon County. He's also served as an elected Macon County commissioner. His term in office actually overlapped with Jim Davis's, so the two actually know one another well. I'm indebted to Becky Johnson in The Mountaineer for an in-depth profile of Democrat Kuppers. He sounds like a fighter who can withstand a depth-charge. “I wouldn’t be here [running for this Senate seat] if I thought it was hopeless. I am not running as a token resistance,” said Kuppers, who has also been a long-time assistant football coach at Franklin High. “I have never stepped onto the sideline of a football game thinking I was going to lose. I never sold my team short .... As a civics’ teacher, you spend a lot of time teaching your students how it is supposed to be. And it bothers you when it is not happening in Raleigh or Washington the way it should be happening,” Kuppers said. “I think we need to get to the type of governing our framers envisioned and do what’s right for everybody.” Incumbent Davis likes to brag about the tax cuts made in Raleigh, but Kuppers complains that those cuts benefit the wealthy and not the middle class. He is also critical of how the General Assembly under Republican control has continued to squeeze public education to death. “The once-proud North Carolina education system has been eroded,” Kuppers said.
Posted by J.W. Williamson at 2/25/2018 11:21:00 AM 2 comments:
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, Bobby Kuppers, Jim Davis, North Carolina General Assembly
Another Strong Democratic Woman Files for NC House, District 64
Cathy von Hassel-Davies, running in the NC House District 64
District 64 is part of Alamance County, including some of its most rural sections in the south and parts of the towns of Elon and Gibsonville along the I-40 corridor.
Republican incumbent: Dennis Riddell. First elected in 2012, he hasn't had a Democratic opponent in any reelection campaign since. In other words, he has every reason to feel fat and sassy in 2018, but he was acting arrogantly even in his first term. When NC Policy Watch attempted to profile him in 2013, he hung up on a reporter who was attempting to interview him. His votes in the General Assembly and public statements paint him as one
Cathy von Hassel-Davies
of the most conservative members. He loved the anti-gay marriage amendment and has voted for every extreme measure passed including the law to stop the expansion of Medicaid. He and his wife have eight children.
Democrat Cathy von Hassel-Davies is a real estate broker for Coldwell Banker in Hillsborough and is making her first run for public office. She has worked as a freelance writer/journalist and photographer and has submitted articles and photographs to the Alamance News in Graham. She's also becoming certified as a genealogist and owns a genealogical research site on-line, Digging Up Your Roots. In politics, she was a super-volunteer for Obama in 2008, organizing volunteers for canvassing and teaching data entry skills, and she's served as secretary and precinct chair in the Alamance Democratic Party. Among causes she has said she cares about, she listed civil rights and social action, disaster and humanitarian relief, economic empowerment, health, and human rights. Like a lot of other new Democratic insurgents in North Carolina, von Hassel-Davies does not yet have an internet campaign presence, but her experience in digital media should soon rectify that lack.
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, Cathy von Hassel-Davies, Dennis Riddell, North Carolina General Assembly
Jen Mangrum, Facing "The Arrogance of Power" in Phil Berger
Jen Mangrum with
NC Gov. Roy Cooper
Jennifer Mangrum, who is running in NC Senate District 30 against Phil Berger, the Darth Sidious of the General Assembly, is one brave woman. She knows very well the reputation of the Bossman of the NC General Assembly, his "arrogance of power," as fellow Republican conservative Luther H. Hodges Jr. described Berger's methods, but she's unafraid, she's determined, she's tough and informed and razor sharp. No one thinks she can win, but what everyone else thinks does not deter her.
"Public education is the core of our democracy," Mangrum says, and Phil Berger has presided over the systematic dismantling of that core in North Carolina. Mangrum has spent her entire life in classrooms, 15 of those years as a public school teacher. She's now teaching at a higher level at UNC-Greensboro, helping to train young people for the classroom. She recently earned the endorsement of the Network for Public Education, which called Phil Berger "the worst enemy of public education in the North Carolina General Assembly .... Berger has used his position as leader of the Senate to promote the privatization of North Carolina’s public schools. His policies have been harmful to the dedicated teachers of the state."
The Network for Public Education is a nationwide organization opposing high-stakes testing, the privatization of public education, the mass school closures to save money or to facilitate privatization, the demonization of teachers, the lowering of standards for the education profession, and the for-profit management of schools. In one way or other, Phil Berger and his minions in the General Assembly have promoted all those goals and have covered up the effects those goals create with gas lighting about how much money they've been throwing at schools.
(I wrote about Jen Mangrum way back in the middle of October, the first new Democratic candidate I featured in my on-going investigation of the 2018 Blue Wave that's building. I had a lot more to say about my beef with Berger.)
Jen Mangrum's campaign announcement video is worth watching for a taste of her intelligence and commitment to the race but also for the presence of Luther H. Hodges Jr., famous in North Carolina because of his famous Democratic father, but also famous for his switch to the Republican Party and his large campaign donations recently to conservative Republicans like Virginia Foxx. As conservative as he is and as dedicated as he's become to the North Carolina Republican Party, he's had his fill of Berger's "arrogance of power" and he wants to see Jen Mangrum win.
As do we all!
You can contribute to Mangrum's campaign (as I have): https://act.myngp.com/Forms/-786361854017533184. Her race is more than a local race. She's running for us all, those of us who want to see North Carolina's progressive reputation restored.
Posted by J.W. Williamson at 2/23/2018 11:43:00 AM 1 comment:
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, Jennifer Mangrum, Luther H. Hodges Jr., North Carolina General Assembly, Phil Berger
In the NC House District 25, It's Preacher v. Preacher
NC House District 25
North Carolina House District 25 is one of those gerrymandered monstrosities meant to keep a Republican in office. It juts and twists around Franklin and Nash counties like a bad case of nerves and takes in a bit of Rocky Mount. It's been represented by Republican Jeffrey Collins since the Tea Party election of 2010, and no Democrat has ever made much of a showing against him. But Collins is vacating the seat, and any time you have an open seat -- especially in a year like 2018 -- anything can happen. It is said that Collins hand-picked his Republican successor (see below).
Democrat James D. Gailliard is the founding pastor of Word Tabernacle Church in Rocky Mount, a genuine megachurch "serving thousands of families from ten North Carolina Counties and six Virginia counties. In 2013, Word Tabernacle was named amongst the 100 fastest growing churches in America."
Gailliard is a native of Philadelphia, a graduate of the Central High School for Boys and Morehouse College, where he was an honors student. He worked in corporate America before feeling called to the ministry. “The necessary work of the faith community, not-for-profits, human, economic and community development entities is often hindered and not helped by state and federal legislation,” Gaillaird said. “This is particularly the case in Nash County. I am running for public office because I believe in legislation that advances the interest of our entire community.”
James Gailliard
Gailliard said Nash County and the state needs pragmatic, common-sense legislation regarding education, economics, health care, housing, and social policy that can only be authored by a group of legislators capable of considering various opinions, ideologies, and perspectives. “I am interested in finding common ground for the common good so that each resident has an opportunity to advance and become civically engaged and contributors to our tax base.”
Gailliard ran for this seat in 2016 against Collins and got 31.90% of the vote.
Republican John Check is a semi-retired Methodist minister who serves as a senior advisor to the president of NC Weslesyan College (where, incidentally, Democrat Gailliard also sits on the Board of Visitors). Check said he would let God guide him in his legislative choices. Maybe God can also help him get some campaign apparatus up and running, since I could not find him anywhere -- no website, not on Facebook, Twitter ... forget about it! On the NC Wesleyan College site, he's mentioned in press releases for giving sermons on special occasions.
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, James Gailliard, North Carolina General Assembly
Jonathan Jordan Made a Modest Investment in the NRA
According to an article in today's News and Observer, in 2014 Rep. Jonathan Jordan spent $125 of his campaign funds to buy a membership in the National Rifle Association, and I'm sure by total coincidence Jordan reaped some $3,300 in contributions from the same group. That's a pretty good return on his investment.
You lie down with dogs ... well, you know the rest of Benjamin Franklin's pithy saying.
Labels: Jonathan Jordan, National Rifle Association
On the North Carolina Coast. Another Democratic Insurgent v. An Angry Trumpist
Insurgent Tess Judge, running in the NC House District 6
The 6th District has been redrawn for 2018 to encompass Dare, Currituck, Hyde, and Pamlico counties on the North Carolina coast.
Incumbent Republican Beverly Boswell is serving her first term in the chamber. She was
Beverly Boswell
elected in 2016 with 51.83% of the vote against Democrat Warren Judge, the husband of the Democrat, Tess Judge, who is running for the seat this year (and thereby hangs a tale: see below). In 2016, incumbent Boswell also barely won her three-way Republican primary with just 39% of the vote. She's a Trumpist, through and through, and she even accuses her Republican primary opponent this year, a Currituck County commissioner, of being an anti-Trump liberal. “But these anti-Trump liberals have a surprise coming,” Boswell said, “because the American people support our President, and reject those who want to water down our conservative message and sell out to the Democrats as they have done for so many years,” she said. Boswell is particularly pissed at environmentalists who want to protect the coastline from stuff like off-shore drilling, and she throws around the label "radical left" at anyone who doesn't agree with her and bow down to Dear Leader Trump. She's a peach, this one!
Democrat Tess Judge helped her husband Warren run against Boswell in 2016 and was
Tess Judge
shaken by tragedy when Warren died in the last week of that campaign, practically on the eve of the election. Democratic leaders wanted Tess to replace her husband on the ballot, but it was too late for making that change, and even deceased, Warren Judge got 48.17% of the vote. If he had won, the Democratic leadership in the 6th District would have appointed Tess to his seat in the event of his death, so she's back this year as the logical (and the emotional) best opponent for Boswell. Tess Judge has worked in hospitality management her entire career and is well known in the coastal community for serving on the Board of Directors of the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce. She and her late husband Warren were named Co-Citizens of the Year by the Chamber in 2011. “As someone who has operated small businesses in our community for years, through good times and bad, I know how to manage a budget while also creating jobs .... Our people are our greatest resource – it’s time to listen and invest in them. We need to make public education a priority again. For years we have been asking our great teachers to do more with less and our schools and community colleges are underfunded. I’m running to ensure that our investments in public education result in more opportunities for our students and a workforce trained for the jobs of the future,” she said. She also currently serves on the Board of the Outer Banks Hospital and is Chair of the Outer Banks Hospital Development Council. One of her greatest contrasts to the incumbent is her concern over environmental protections for a fragile coast. I don't think she'd applaud off-shore drilling.
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, Beverly Boswell, North Carolina General Assembly, Tess Judge
Take a Look at Democrat Joe Cunningham in South Carolina
One of the best introductory campaign videos I've seen in months! Joe Cunningham is running in the 1st South Carolina Congressional District against Mark Sanford (yes, that Mark Sanford of "Appalachian Trail" fame). Joe Cunningham is very much in the 2018 Blue Wave frame of reference, a quality Democratic candidate who has every opportunity to flip that district.
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, Joe Cunningham, Mark Sanford
Crazy-Acting Michael Speciale in the NC House Gets a Democratic Opponent
Michael Speciale
Republican Michael Speciale was first elected to the NC House in 2012, representing Beaufort, Craven, and Pamlico counties (House District 3). He has often teamed up with that other crazy-acting House member Larry Pittman to propose embarrassing legislation. In February 2017, Speciale and Pittman teamed up on an amendment to the NC Constitution to allow the state to secede from the Union, and in April of 2017 he and Pittman proposed a law declaring gay marriages in North Carolina, whether they were performed in-state or anywhere else in the known universe, illegal and illegitimate, the US Supreme Court be damned!
NC House Speaker Tim Moore, a house-broke Republican who knows not to pee on the furniture, decided the law against gay marriage was a bridge too far, and he killed it (by referring it to the Death Chamber, a.k.a., the Rules Committee) before it reached the floor of the House.
Speciale made vicious fun of the people taking part in the massive Women's March on the day after Trump's inauguration, and when the Raleigh News and Observer reported his Facebook posts, Speciale made vicious comments about fake news and the "snowflakes" infesting his sunny world.
But nothing captured the Speciale personality like his comments in his first year in Raleigh about First Lady Ann McCrory's favorite anti-puppy-mill law requiring commercial breeders with 10 or more female breeding dogs to provide the dogs with the American Kennel Club's basic standards of care, like food and water, clean bedding, daily exercise, and veterinary care, and humane euthanasia when needed.
In the House floor debate, Speciale couldn't contain his nastiness: " 'Exercise on a daily basis?' " Speciale sneered at the language of the bill. "If I kick him across the floor, is that considered daily exercise?" Speciale continued: " 'Euthanasia performed humanely' – so should I choose the ax or the baseball bat?" Ann McCrory was sitting in the gallery of the House at the time. Later Speciale declared on Facebook that he "will not succumb to political correctness."
He won't succumb to basic humanity either, apparently.
Speciale has a Republican primary opponent this May, Eric Queen, a retired career Marine who explicitly
Charles Dudley, outside the New Bern
denounces extremist views on his website. We'll see if that gets him anywhere in the contemporary North Carolina Republican Party, won't we?
Democrat Rev. Charles Dudley of the New Beginnings Ministry of Faith in Havelock filed for the seat on February 16. New Beginnings, a non-denominational church, is located practically at the gates of the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station: "Our mission is to reach the lost, give every person a New Beginning in life, teach the saved by the Word of God, equip the saints for the work of the ministry, and reach the world through the mission field."
After filing to run in New Bern, Charles Dudley spoke to supporters outside the Board of Elections office. He described himself as “strong, fair, and compassionate.” He said he considers taxes as investments, and more investment should be made in education, especially in teacher salaries. He said more of the tax dollars paid by Craven County residents should be invested in Craven County. He also promised to represent all people in his district equally. “Every one of our 83,000 residents [in this district] is worth investing in,” he said.
House District 3 is almost 20% black and over 90% decent human beings (I bet!) who might in a Blue Wave year want a compassionate Christian representing it in Raleigh.
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, Charles Dudley, Michael Speciale, North Carolina General Assembly
Path Opens a Little Wider for Sydney Batch in House District 37
Sydney Batch with husband J. Patrick Williams
and their two boys
Surprise retirement of an incumbent Republican from the NC House yesterday. Linda Hunt Williams, who was only first elected to the chamber in 2016 with 52.29% of the vote, has decided that one term was enough for her, and she's not running for reelection. She's going to be spending more time with her family. A Republican rival, attorney John Adcock, had already filed for the seat, setting up a potential primary for her. She also already had a Democratic opponent, attorney and child advocate Sydney Batch, who is a quality candidate for the seat.
House District 37 is southern Wake County, taking in the towns of Fuquay-Varina and Holly Springs.
We wrote about Sydney here on January 2nd, when she was among the first wave of new Democrats announcing their plans to run in 2018. She is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, with both a master's degree in social work and a law degree. She and her husband J. Patrick Williams opened their own law firm in 2005. She has wide and intense experience in child welfare advocacy and family law.
She says on her website, "I fight every day for families across Wake County who are worried about their future. Whether stressed about sending their kids to a good public school, paying back their student loans, or affording quality health care and finding a good, well-paying job, too many people feel the deck is stacked against them. Despite these struggles, I also get to see the many common values that bind us. People want affordable, accessible health care, quality and affordable education, safe air to breathe, clean water to drink, and a fair paycheck. Most of all, they want their children to live a more prosperous life than they have. I’m running because I want to make a difference for those people who feel stressed, and to work with them through our common shared values to make a better Wake county. There’s no doubt that the challenges facing us are great. However, so is our will. I humbly ask for your support.”
Her likely Republican opponent in November, John Adcock, was briefly a candidate for Wake County Commission in 2016 in a district created by the Republican-controlled General Assembly. That redistricting scheme was thrown out by the courts, and Adcock was suddenly a candidate without a race to run in. He attended AppState, and he at least attempts to sound reasonable and sane (though when he ran for county commission, he didn't seem much in favor of mass transit. Republicans who would never ever in a million years use mass transit also never want to spend any money on it). He described himself in 2016 as "a fresh and positive conservative voice," if you can figure out what that means. He says he wants to raise teacher salaries to at least the national average. That's something, but good luck with that project as long as Republicans remain in control of spending.
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, North Carolina General Assembly, Sydney Batch
Democratic Insurgent Sam Searcy v. State Senator Tamara Barringer
Sam Searcy and his family
Last July, Holly Springs business entrepreneur Sam Searcy was hot into running to beat Republican Congressman George Holding in the 2nd Congressional District. By October Searcy had raised a half-million, more than Congressman Holding raised during the same period. But the Democratic field was becoming crowded, with other high profile candidates joining in the Democratic primary race to take on Holding, including high-tech entrepreneur Ken Romley and perennial candidate Linda Coleman, who has impressive name recognition. Searcy dropped out and announced a challenge for the NC Senate District 17 seat instead.
Cool move. If Searcy is able to move that half-mil from the federal race for the US House of Representatives to the state race for a Raleigh senate seat -- not particularly easy to do -- he'll be on a par with the Republican incumbent.
Incumbent Tamara Barringer was first elected to the chamber in 2012. She's a lawyer. She won her last reelection in 2016 with only 48.30% of the vote, against a Democrat who pulled 47.45%. The district looks ripe to flip to blue this year.
Searcy also has a law degree, but he's gotten people's attention through his entrepreneurial activities. In 2016 Searcy teamed up with some of his previous business partners and a new guy with an old-world recipe for long-grain rice distilled vodka, and they formed Graybeard Distillery in Durham, which now touts its success as "the largest grain-to-glass distillery in North Carolina."
Searcy's life story to get to that success was no bed of roses. “I’ve seen first-hand what happens when North Carolina families struggle to make ends meet,” said Searcy. “My family lost our home when I was in 7th Grade, and I began working to help support my family when I was fourteen. Too many families in North Carolina are facing the same challenges we did."
"Sam Searcy grew up in the small town of Hendersonville, NC. His mother was a teacher’s assistant in public schools and his dad worked in the factories. Sam became the first person in his family to graduate from a four-year college. With the help of student loans and on-campus jobs, he put himself through Appalachian State University. Sam worked a few different jobs until the Great Recession hit. He, like many North Carolinians, found himself laid off. He took a job at Lowe's garden center to support his family. Eventually, he helped start two local companies which continue to employ people right here in North Carolina."
One of his campaign issues that should resonate with struggling North Carolinians: "Having worked in the healthcare industry and helped build a successful medical services company, I believe we can and should do more to lower costs. But, Republicans in Raleigh have put the health of thousands of North Carolinians at risk by refusing to expand access to Medicaid. I will work to ensure that every person in North Carolina has access to quality, affordable healthcare."
District 17 is in southwest Wake County.
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, North Carolina Senate, Sam Searcy, Tamara Barringer
The Gun Lobby Is Buying!
In descending order (Virginia Foxx is 6th; Jonathan Jordan is 16th), the dollar amount the NRA has contributed to North Carolina politicians, either through direct donations or independent campaign expenditures (thank you, ProgressNC Action):
U.S. Sen. Richard Burr: $6,986,620
U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis: $4,418,012
State Sen. Buck Newton: $88,213
U.S. Rep. Walter Jones: $56,655
U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry: $43,070
U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx: $22,078
U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson: $19,525
U.S. Rep. George Holding: $12,712
State Sen. Phil Berger: $7,200
U.S. Rep. David Rouzer: $5,504
U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows: $4,150
U.S. Rep. Ted Budd: $4,000
Lt. Gov. Dan Forest: $3,746
State Sen. Wes Meredith: $3,600
State Sen. Bill Cook: $3,414
State Rep. Jonathan Jordan: $3,359
State Sen. Bob Rucho: $3,000
U.S. Rep. Mark Walker: $3,000
Labels: Jonathan Jordan, National Rifle Association, Richard Burr, Thom Tillis, Virginia Foxx
The Marine and the Holy Men
Dan McCready and his family
Dan McCready is an ex-Marine and is running for Congress in the 9th Congressional District. He's running as a Democrat. He's an attractive candidate, young and level-headed. He was a college freshman at Duke on 9/11, and after finishing his degree and, seemingly already on the fast track to enter and do well in business, he joined the Marine corps. He went to Iraq in the surge of 2007, and as a captain, he led 65 other Marines in that show of force. After four years in the service, McCready got his MBA from Harvard in 2011, worked for McKinsey and Co. as a management consultant, then started his own company with a fellow ex-Marine -- Double Time Capital -- which invests in solar farms in North Carolina. They've helped build 36 so far. He also founded an online operation, This Land, a retail website that sells handmade American goods.
He's a sharp tack, an entrepreneur. He knows combat. He's smart as hell. He's young. He didn't think about running for office until Trump happened, but he's quick to separate himself from the partisan herd: “We’re really not focused on Trump,” McCready said about his campaign. “I am a Marine and an American before I’m a Democrat .... The American dream I fought for overseas is under attack."
His political "strategery" is still young and unshaped, though he's admitted to being a pro-business Democrat: "I understand from being a business owner how to make a payroll, how to balance a budget, and I believe we need regulatory relief, especially for small business.” Whatevs. I've got to believe there's generosity toward humanity in this package, and he'll be better than any Republican candidate (see below for details).
But he's got to do some renovation on his talking points to overcome "the vague platitudes common among first-time candidates" (Simone Pathe). And so far I can't tell if he's got the instincts for campaigning. (When asked by a reporter from Roll Call how he planned to attack Pittenger, McCready brought up Pittenger’s vote to fast-track trade promotion authority. Huh? That's your number one issue with Pittenger's record?) But McCready did think to criticize Pittenger's votes against Obamacare, quoting the incumbent's notorious insult that people could just move their butts out of state if they didn’t like the health care available to them.
McCready has been a phenomenal money-raiser. He announced his campaign way back last May, and as of last November he had already raised about $1 million, considerably more than the incumbent. McCready's raised more by now. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (a.k.a., DCCC) added him to the party’s Red to Blue program, which provides organizational and fundraising support, and McCready's ex-Marine partner in solar farm investment has started his own Super PAC to help more military veterans get to Congress.
(NOTE: Yes, I know there'll be a Democratic primary in May between McCready and Christian
Pittenger
Cano, who ran at 41.82% of the vote against Pittenger in 2016, and a third Democratic candidate, a woman named Maria Collins Warren, who has not so far filed for office.)
The Holy Men
Rob Christensen has a lengthy profile in today's News and Observer of the two leading Republicans who'll be battling for supremacy in May -- incumbent Robert Pittenger and Baptist preacher man Mark Harris. Harris has become a perennial candidate. He finished third in the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate in 2014 in a race won by then-state House Speaker Thom Tillis. In 2016, he unsuccessfully challenged Pittenger in the Republican primary, losing by a mere 133 votes. I've always believed Harris would win this primary, because Republican primaries have become extended tent revivals where glib preachers shout down sin, a popular Republican activity, and Pittenger looks tired and limp.
Mark Harris is first and foremost a smooth promoter of the Freedom Caucus Gospel, lambasting
Pittenger as "the most liberal Republican in Congress" for voting for Trump's tax bill. Pittenger's riposte against Harris: “Mark Harris has opposed President Trump’s agenda and is instead siding with liberal Democrats like Nancy Pelosi. While I voted to support President Trump, (Defense) Secretary Mattis and our troops, Harris said no. He is standing with Pelosi and House Democratic Leadership against the President’s budget.” Once again: Real men don't eat Pelosi.
Over the holidays, Rob Christensen reports, Pittenger ran a TV commercial in which he stood in front of a Christmas tree and said: “I’ve dedicated my life to sharing God’s love through Jesus Christ. Let’s end political correctness and put the true meaning of Christ back in Christmas.” If that pasted-on piety doesn't make your skin crawl, remember how Mark Harris led the fight in 2012 to take away civil liberties from LBGT citizens with Amendment One.
I think it'll be McCready v. Harris in November, and I'll lay you odds that McCready wins it.
To contribute to Dan McCready's campaign: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/danmccready
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/rob-christensen/article200517249.html#storylink=cpy
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, Dan McCready, Rev. Mark Harris, Robert Pittenger
Congressman Patrick McHenry: The Soft Underside
Congressman Patrick McHenry, that roller of big cigars, has a Democratic opponent in 2018 -- David Wilson Brown -- who'll be contesting him for the right to represent the 10th Congressional District in Congress. McHenry's district got gerrymandered after 2010 to split liberal Asheville up and move most of it out of Mark Meadows' 11th District into McHenry's otherwise solidly Republican 10th. The map reveals the cynical reach of those Republican calculations to dilute the power of Asheville (see below).
McHenry was first elected in 2004 (in the same freshman class as Madam Virginia Foxx). He was a freshman in every sense, at the time the youngest member of that body (29), and he fashioned himself as a conservative bomb-thrower. He even signed on to "birtherism" and enjoyed bashing the feminine in Nancy Pelosi. (Real men don't eat Pelosi.) He rose fast as a deputy whip and is now acting majority whip. With Paul Ryan seemingly teetering on the edge of premature retirement, McHenry's name has even surfaced as a potential rival for Speaker of the House.
McHenry, who is maybe a little squishy and can be made to blink, has been feeling the heat from his most conservative constituents (because McHenry doesn't come from the same jug of right-wing paint stripper as, say, Virginia Foxx, and he's certainly not as crazy as Freedom Caucus leader Mark Meadows, who used to represent Asheville):
At an event in Hickory, constituent Robbie Varney asked the congressman if he would resign, given that Congress had yet to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act or begin construction on President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico. McHenry deflected – and said he would not resign.
Deflection. He's good at deflection. But that kind of hostility from his base has got to rattle him.
He's a big "get" for the payday-lending industry and promotes their well being. He's grown rich in office and well fed, but has also developed an Achilles heel that comes from getting rich and fat: He feels entitled. He's never had a close election, and he hardly bothers with campaigning, and town
David Wilson Brown
halls like that one in Hickory have maybe made him more of a Virginia Foxx type representative, avoiding public exposure to criticism. This year might not be the year to act entitled.
Democrat David Wilson Brown was a 1990s graduate of AppState, majoring in poly sci (he did a Washington internship with then Republican Congresswoman Sue Myrick). He works now in the information technology industry. He's 43 with a wife and two kids, a boy and girl, 10 and 6, and they live in McAdenville ("Christmas Town, USA"), east of Gastonia on I-85. He grew up in Charlotte.
He's also a realist and knows what a long-shot he is to beat McHenry, but Brown is animated by the same dramatic spirit of resistance that has surged through so much of America in the Age of Trump. "I can’t sit on the sidelines and do nothing,” he told Michael Barrett of the Gaston Gazette.
He's particularly offended by the way the Republican use "the common man" as a mere prop for "making their end goals .... They use the politics of fear to keep people from getting ahead." Brown needs to focus on McHenry's enabling of the payday lenders, who rip off the common man and the little guy and the working class like smash-and-grab burglars. “When I look at the things Republicans are voting on again and again, they are against working class people who are just trying to get by,” he said.
“I think we’re at a turning point in this next election where people are going to wake up and see that Republicans have used these fringe issues, that don’t affect people’s daily lives, to make voters think they care about what’s best for them.”
David Wilson Brown's website. Act Blue, to contribute to his campaign.
NC 10th Congressional District.
Looks like a man in a recliner
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, David Wilson Brown, Patrick McHenry, resistance to Trump, Virginia Foxx
Miss America, Running for Congress (Another Story We're Loving in 2018)
Mallory Hagan
Mallory Hagan, a native of Opelika, Alabama, who was also Miss America 2013, has announced that she's running for Alabama's 3rd Congressional District, which includes her hometown. She spent a year at Auburn University (studying biomedical science) and then moved to New York City to pursue a career in modeling and acting. She was a resident of Brooklyn when she won the Miss America competition on a platform of child sexual abuse awareness and prevention (she's probably not a Roy Moore fan). She also gave a response on the issue of gun control in which she opposed fighting violence with violence.
Late in 2017, Miss America company internal emails surfaced that revealed that top brass at the beauty pageant regularly dissed contestants and especially winners of the crown. Mallory Hagan in particular was both fat-shamed and slut-shamed. Publication of the emails led to several top resignations from the Miss America pageant.
In Hagan's Crowdpac appeal to supporters, she struck a populist note about how people are fairing in her Alabama district:
Today, the citizens of the third Congressional district of Alabama face many challenges. For instance, the once thriving city of Anniston has been transformed by the closure of Fort McClellan. In Talladega—home to the largest racetrack on the NASCAR cup circuit— roughly 31 percent of its residents live below the poverty level. And Alexander City, once the home of Russell Athletic, is now challenged by the loss of 6,500 jobs since 2012.
Even the most prosperous parts of the district face serious challenges. In Auburn—where 28,000 students reside in a town known as the loveliest village on the plains— almost 50 percent of all single mothers struggle financially to care for their children. And although my hometown Opelika has overcome significant economic and social challenges in recent years, today less than 34 percent of its K-12 students are proficient in reading.
The Republican incumbent, Mike Rogers, has won handily in the past 8 elections. He's always had a Democratic opponent, but most of them never come close to beating him. His closest race was his
Congressman Mike Rogers
first in 2002, when he won with just 50.3% of the vote.
Mallory Hagan said of Rogers, “Anyone being in a position of power for 16 straight years just goes against what our democracy is about.” She only launched an exploratory campaign last week on Crowdpac. In just a few hours, her page brought in more than $7,000. Now, that number has more than doubled, and she's in the race to stay.
Rogers has trended more and more conservative, up to and beyond buffoon level. He introduced legislation making it illegal to satirize or in any way parody the Transportation Security Administration (not making that up). In June 2016 he called for the United States' withdrawal from the United Nations in the wake of the Brexit vote by the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Union. February 2, 2017, Rogers sponsored legislation to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency. And so on.
May Mallory make Mike's "safe seat" very precarious!
Posted by J.W. Williamson at 2/15/2018 01:49:00 PM 1 comment:
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, Alabama, Mallory Hagan, Mike Rogers
Locked and Loaded
Phil Berger and his boys have enjoyed an overwhelming majority of Republicans in the NC General Assembly since 2013, after they got chucklehead in as governor in 2012. It was a veto-proof majority, not that McCrory was prone to veto (he rarely crossed Berger without personal humiliation, and even babies know not to touch hot stoves a second time).
The Republicans built their current impregnable fortress by way of unconstitutional gerrymandering, and they expect us to sit down and shut up and just take it. They'll mess with ballot access and throw up hurdles and yell "voter fraud" like parrots in a jungle, and I guess they'll even collude with Russkies to grab and keep power. Why, in North Carolina now, "Judges Say Throw Out the Map. Lawmakers Say Throw Out the Judges" (Pricey Harrison).
Our last resort is the ballot, and by God, we better hang onto our rights. Anybody try to take that ballot from me, they gonna get bit!
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, North Carolina General Assembly, Phil Berger, voting rights
Another Special Election, More Voters 'Done With Trump!'
A special election for a Florida state House of Reps yesterday -- in a district with 13,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats -- went to the Democrat. No Democrat has won District 72 since at least 2010 (that's as far back as I looked). The last Republican incumbent won the district in 2016 by 17 points, and Trump beat Hillary here by more than 4 points.
The worm turns. Yesterday, Democrat Margaret Good took District 72 by a healthy 7 points. That's an almost dozen-point swing away from Trump, after only one full year of Colonel Bonespurs.
Margaret Good is a lawyer and first-time candidate. According to Ryan Butler, "Good's edge came from widespread support throughout the district, carrying all but four voting precincts .... Running a campaign prioritizing environmental protections, Good touted plans to combat climate change and
Margaret Good
better prepare the region in case of another storm such as Hurricane Irma. She also stressed commitments to funding public schools, health care and workforce development."
Good went to the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where she served as an editor of the Florida Law Review and graduated with honors. And now she's a member of a (growing) minority in a Florida legislature very much dominated by Republicans.
Republican candidate James Buchanan (not making up that name) -- he's the son of Congressman Vern Buchanan, and he's in real estate too -- so ... connected to Republican money. During the campaign he played up his subservience to Trumpism, holding a rally where former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski carried the torch for him, and, according to Dave Weigel, Buchanan encouraged his supporters when they started chanting "lock her up" at that rally.
But look at his website. Buchanan's vanilla, country-club Republican with a questionable core.
The mirrored glasses belong to James Buchanan
Campaign photo
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, Donald Trump
Bill Aceto Is His Name and Voter Suppression Is His Game
Nancy Owen and Bill Aceto
Yesterday the Republicans on the Watauga County Board of Elections, led by Bill Aceto, once again voted against an Early Voting site on the ASU campus for the May 2018 primary. Democrat Stella Anderson was the lone vote in favor.
Bill Aceto was joined by fellow Republican Nancy Owen, who last year for once voted with Democrat Stella Anderson for Early Voting at ASU for the municipal elections. Owen has obviously been disciplined and will not be making a mistake like that again.
So because the vote was split, the final decision will be made -- once again -- in Raleigh, either by a newly constituted State Board of Elections or by the Superior Court of Wake County.
The odd and ironic thing about the Republican Party's hostility to the student vote is that the students fully know it, and the more the Republicans try to shut out the students, the more determined the students are to vote. You'd think those political geniuses would finally get smart and start trying to win votes rather than alienating the voters.
Labels: Bill Aceto, early voting in Watauga County, Nancy Owen, Stella Anderson, Watauga County Board of Elections
Democratic Insurgents File in Catawba County House and Senate Districts
There's Blue Wave movement in Hickory, North Carolina!
Kim Bost, running in the NC House District 96
District 96 takes in a chunk of Catawba including most of Newton-Conover and most of Hickory and the dense sub-developments of St. Stephens, Long View, and Mountain View.
Incumbent Republican: Jay Adams hasn't yet announced his intentions, but another Republican, Taylor Huffman, filed yesterday. Jay Adams, first elected to the chamber four years ago, is a real estate broker who says he wants to bring back manufacturing to
Kim Bost
Hickory, presumably the furniture industry which is both a worthy goal and probably an impossibility. Adams ran unopposed by any Democrat in 2016. The other RepKiublican, Taylor Huffman, is a blank page.
Democrat Kim Bost is a design consultant who has her own small business. She moved to Catawba County over 20 years ago to work in the hosiery industry. In her work as a designer, she has partnered with entrepreneurs and local hosiery manufacturers to develop new products domestically. She is a graduate of the University of Delaware and the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is active in her community as a volunteer for many organizations including the Hickory Soup Kitchen, the Hickory Museum of Art, and the March of Dimes Foundation. She is the founder of the local opioid awareness group, Parents for Prevention and Recovery. Kim and her husband, Walter, have one son, Connor, age 13. She says, “I’m not a politician. I’m a wife, a small business owner, and a community volunteer. But most importantly, I’m a parent. And as a parent, I want all our children to grow up in a North Carolina with great schools that meet the needs of every student from preschool through college. A North Carolina that offers meaningful, fulfilling and good paying jobs."
Ric Vandett, running in the NC Senate District 42
Senate District 42 includes Catawba and Alexander counties, taking in Taylorsville, Hiddenite, Hickory, Newton-Conover, and the up-scale enclave of Bethlehem.
Republican incumbent: Andy Wells, who filed for reelection yesterday alongside the first of what will probably be two Republican primary opponents, is the owner of Prism
Ric Vandett with June Atkinson
Development, a commercial real estate company. He ran unopposed by any Democrat in 2016.
Democrat Ric Vandett is the former superintendent of Hickory Public Schools, 2006-2009. Vandett is a veteran of the Vietnam War and a leader in the Foothills Veterans Stand Down Committee and the Foothills Veterans Helping Veterans organization. He filed his candidacy yesterday and told the Hickory Record, “I’ve decided to run because I just -- I don’t like the tenor, the mood of politics in this country, in this state right now. It’s just too nasty and I don’t think that serves the citizens of our state very well.” In particular, Vandett said he wants to focus on issues like public education, veterans’ health, opioids and state spending. “I would like an opportunity to address those things in a civil manner and maintain the integrity that I think our electoral process needs.”
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, Kim Bost, North Carolina General Assembly, Ric Vandett
An Unexpected Republican Retirement from NC House
John Blust
John Blust, Republican member of the NC House (District 57), has just announced that he will not be running for reelection this year. That suddenly opens the door a little wider for Democratic challenger Ashton Clemmons (who was written about here on February 1).
That retirement seems like a pretty big deal and it comes rather late, on the opening day of filing, which means Republicans in Guilford County may be scrambling about now.
While John Blust retires, his brother David Blust intends to take another shot at Watauga County commission. He'll be running against Democrat Larry Turnbow, who beat him in 2016.
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, David Blust, John Blust, Larry Turnbow
Zack Hawkins, Running in NC House District 31
After 20 terms in the NC House, legendary civil rights activist and statesman Henry "Mickey" Michaux is retiring from the General Assembly. Stepping in to run for his District 31 House seat is Zack Hawkins, well known Democratic activist from Durham. Hawkins was one of 13 "superdelegates" from North Carolina at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. He's also 2nd
Zack Hawkins with Mickey Michaux
Vice Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party and works for the office of student affairs at UNC-Chapel Hill. He previously was Director of Development at East Carolina University.
In 2008, when Hawkins was chair of the North Carolina Young Democrats, he was featured in a Bob Geary article in the Independent Weekly as one of three up-and-coming African-American men in the state:
Zack Hawkins grew up in the tiny town of Chocowinity, in Beaufort County, where his grandmother and mother were school board members, church was central, and his parents always said, "Doing the right thing is the right thing to do." He caught a break when a high school science teacher plugged him into biology, which helped him land an internship at an environmental institute in RTP. He got another break in 2000 when Democrats reached out to the HBCUs—historically black colleges and universities—while he was the vice president of student government at Elizabeth City State University.
Twice bitten, he landed in Durham where he earned his master's degree in biology at N.C. Central University and a "Ph.D. in politics" by working on campaigns for U.S. Rep. David Price and U.S. Senate candidate Erskine Bowles. Four years ago, he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, where he heard Obama's stunning keynote address and felt he was "in the moment" of history.
Michaux last had a Republican opponent in the general election of 2014. He often ran for his 20 terms (first elected to the House in 1982) without Republican opposition. Since it's now an open seat, the Republicans would be crazy lazy not to put up a candidate, but at the moment there's no announced person willing to run under the GOP label.
Zack Hawkins will be hard to beat.
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, Mickey Michaux, North Carolina General Assembly, Zack Hawkins
Another Strong Democratic Woman Running for NC Senate
Caroline Walker, running in the NC Senate District 35
District 35 is Union County, including the towns of Monroe, Waxhaw, Wingate, and Marshville.
Incumbent Republican: Open seat. The seat is currently occupied by Republican Tommy Tucker, who announced his retirement last year. Tucker was a 2010 tea partier and held the seat with no Democratic opposition in 2012 and 2014. He faced a Democrat in the election of 2016 but beat him with over 61% of the vote. Republican Todd Johnson, president of Johnson Insurance Management and currently a Union County commissioner, has announced his candidacy as a Christian conservative. Johnson ran
Caroline, Sean, Julianna, and Sean Douglas
against Robert Pittenger in the 9th Congressional District Republican primary in 2016 and made a credible showing with 30% of the vote. Pittenger won that primary with 35%.
Democrat Caroline Walker moved with her family -- husband Sean and their children, Julianna and Sean Douglas -- to Union County in 2002 where she completed her Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. During college, she worked for the public school system as an after-school teacher and volunteered her time to numerous nonprofit and community organizations. After working for several years in sales and marketing for a residential home builder, Caroline suffered the economic downturn and struggled to make ends meet before starting her own business, an early childhood education center that has by now provided hundreds of children with a strong early education. In 2014 she joined an international firm as a workforce development consultant, working with large state and local government entities across the east coast. She is currently a State Account Manager and works with agencies to utilize location to improve efficiency and transparency in government. But what most animates her run for office is her concern for the future and for her two biracial children. She writes on Crowdpac: "It feels important to me that I sit and write about why I am running on today of all days. I am writing this on January 15th, 2018, the day we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ... While I have been increasingly active in politics over the past decade, I had not envisioned until recently that I may one day seek the honor of becoming a public servant myself. However, with recent events, that vision has changed. I feel compelled to take a larger part in creating the type of community and world that I want for my children .... I look into the eyes of my two beautiful biracial children every day and I want to be able to tell them that they have the whole world and every opportunity within their reach. Where we are at today, I cannot honestly do that. That starts with great school systems where every child has equal opportunities and receives a quality education from supported and well-paid teachers. That means community and economic development and improved infrastructure that is responsible, sustainable and protects our natural resources. That means everyone having access to healthcare, addiction services, medications and patient education. That means a living wage, jobs, and growth that allow for upward mobility and for all to prosper rather than just scrape by. That means equality, justice, a voice and a vote for every single citizen regardless of their skin, gender, sexual orientation, political affiliation, age, economic status, disability, religion or origin. Above all, that means that I can look at my children every day and speak of America’s greatness, about liberty, opportunity, equality, justice, inclusion, dignity and rights while knowing that those words that I speak are the truth."
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, Caroline Walker, North Carolina General Assembly, North Carolina Senate
Four Strong Women Running Against Four Republican Men for NC Senate
Natasha Marcus, running in the NC Senate District 41
District 41 is in suburban north Mecklenburg County and is considered the "swingy-est" of the four Senate seats covered by this post.
Incumbent Republican: Jeff Tarte won by a 21 percent margin in his last non-presidential election. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor's degree in econ and has worked as a top-level exec for a number of multimillion-dollar companies. He has served as the mayor of Cornelius. (Civic office in Cornelius has been a repeat springboard for many prominent Republicans.) Tarte first ran for the senate in 2012, narrowly winning the Republican primary but running unopposed that November. He did have Democratic opponents in 2014 and 2016. In the latter, Tarte's winning percentage (54.48%) looked a little soft compared to 2014. On some topics, Tarte has at least sounded moderate. On the disruption to the state erupting out of HB2 (the bathroom bill), he told the Charlotte Observer: "Transgenders in bathrooms were not a problem." He opposed the transfer of tax
Natasha Marcus
revenues from urban to rural counties, but he is also a cheerleader for shifting the tax burden increasingly onto "consumers." He openly opposed his Republican Gov. McCrory over the I-77 toll lanes.
Democrat Natasha Marcus made an unsuccessful bid for the state House in the Cornelius neighborhood in 2014, when Republican John Bradford III defeated her 55 to 45 percent. “The policies that touch our lives most closely often come from the state level,” Marcus told WUNC. “Federal politics is important, but what happens at the General Assembly in Raleigh – from public school funding, to healthcare, to whether we’re going to have to pay tolls here in the North Mecklenburg area is also important." According to Ballotpedia, Marcus earned her B.A. in public policy from Hamilton College and her J.D. from Duke University School of Law in 1994. Her professional experience includes working as a lawyer for Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard; as Judicial Clerk for the Honorable Frank W. Bullock, Jr. of the U.S. District Court in Greensboro; and as a founding member of DavidsonLearns, a non-profit providing senior citizen learning and enrichment. Marcus intends a fight for the seat: “Cuts to public pre-K through higher education, unconstitutional laws, politicians who put polluters over our clean air and water, policies that make healthcare more expensive and less accessible, and expensive toll lanes on I-77 have taken us backwards. Like many people in our community, I am fed up with being ignored by Raleigh Republicans and am ready to take a stand.”
Eleanor Erickson, running in the NC Senate District 8
District 8 is coastal and includes parts of New Hanover, Brunwsick, Pender, and Bladen counties.
Incumbent Republican: Bill Rabon is considered Senate leader Phil Berger’s right-hand man. Rabon first entered the chamber in the Tea Party wave of 2010 and by the 2016 General Election, he was unopposed by any Democrat. He succeeded the retiring Rules Committee dictator Tom Apodaca as the master controller of legislation entering and exiting the senate. He is a Southport veterinarian and a partner in several animal hospitals. He is said to have been mentored by former Senator Bob Rucho, so there's an air of conservative toxicity about Rabon, though some of that may be emanating from capo dei capi Phil Berger. Rabon reportedly cussed Governor McCrory's wife Ann and her goddamn "puppy mill" ban bill in 2014, saying over his dead body would it ever pass the senate. (Remember, he's the owner of animal hospitals.) He publicly criticized Ann McCrory for lobbying the General Assembly for the bill, saying at the time that she was breaking "all kinds of laws." But Rabon himself is not above steering taxpayer money to powerful business interests, particularly those that also
funnel campaign cash his way. Rabon filed the bill that would limit all judges, from the district level on up, to two-year terms in office. That jolly piece of horseshit would turn every judgeship into a partisan circus, with judges having to raise money and run every two years.
Democrat Eleanor Erickson Erickson is a long-time resident of Brunswick who works as the general manager of a local hotel. She is so new at this "candidate thing" that she doesn't yet have web
infrastructure, but it's clear that she's planning to make the pollution of the Cape Fear River an issue along with the deterioration of support for public education in the Republican dominated General Assembly. (Republicans say they love education and have lavished billions at least on the public schools, but their love looks a lot more like involuntary suffocation.) Erickson has some local renown in Brunswick County as "a pillar of the community who took initiative and built a new playground at a local park instead of waiting around for others." She is co-founder of the nonprofit group Where We Live, which raised the money for the playground and which has branched out into organizing music and arts events around Bolivia, NC, and Southport, along with regular weekly activities for working families. Through Where We Live, social media, and the Rotary Club, Erickson has become a leader among younger professionals in the county.
Ginger Garner, running in the NC Senate District 2
District 2 = Carteret, Craven, and Pamlico counties on the coast.
Republican incumbent: Norm Sanderson is a three-term senator, first elected in 2012. In 2014 and 2016, Sanderson won with about 60 percent of the vote. According to Ballotpedia, Sanderson received a B.A. in Christian education from Logos University in 2002. Logos is an on-line, Bible-based, "interdenominational" education-dispensary based in Jacksonville, Florida. Sanderson's professional experience includes working as a sheriff's deputy and a real estate business owner. He currently owns Kids Heaven School Age Care Center. In 2017, Sanderson proposed a poisonous anti-
Ginger Garner
immigrant sanctuary city law to punish the state's cities if they won't participate in rounding up brown people. Sanderson is a conservative true believer in Phil Bergerism. He has said that North Carolina is a much better place now and ever since Republican took over in Raleigh in 2011.
Democrat Ginger Garner is a doctor of physical therapy and a longtime orthopaedic clinician serving the healthcare needs of new mothers and the military (Cherry Point is in her district). She says she was born in Asheboro "to teenage parents," hardworking Republicans who instilled in her the values of hard work and thriftiness which she brings with her into running for office as a Democrat. She received her Doctor of Physical Therapy and Master of Physical Therapy degrees from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She is the founder of the Professional Yoga Therapy Institute (2000), the first interdisciplinary, medical yoga program in the world. Also established the first doctoral level medical yoga curricula, now adopted by medical schools throughout the US and Canada. She says on her website, "My story speaks for itself: for 20 years I have served our coastal community as a physical therapist, as an aid and Christian mission worker, as a volunteer, as a CEO and small business owner, and as a wife and mother of three." She mentions the opioid epidemic as a major concern of hers along with protection of the North Carolina coast from offshore drilling.
Helen Probst Mills, running in the NC Senate District 25
District 25 takes in a swath of Moore, Richmond, Anson, and Scotland counties and two dozen little towns including Hamlet and Laurinberg.
Republican incumbent: Tom McInnis was first elected to the senate in 2014 by the skin of his teeth (50.4%). In 2016 he did considerably better against Democrat Dannie Montgomery, taking almost 64% of the vote. He makes his living as an auctioneer (Iron Horse Auction Company), real estate
Helen Probst Mills
broker, and used automobile dealer. He previously served eight years on the Richmond County Board of Education. A standard-issue conservative.
Democrat Helen Probst Mills is an attorney from Pinehurst and enters the race, she says, in part to simply provide an option.“The reality is that I walk in on Election Day to the polling booth here in Pinehurst and there are no Democrats for me to check. We need a choice,” Mills said. “There needs to be an opportunity for an individual to stand up and to make him crystalize his position on issues and policies and to defend the votes he has taken.” Mills says she grew up a daughter to a single mother and is herself the mother of three and a cancer survivor who moved to North Carolina with her husband, Stuart, in 2006. She is licensed to practice law in Illinois. Last year, Mills was appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper to the Sandhills Community College Board of Trustees. She also serves on the college’s Foundation Board, where she helped develop a program allowing high school graduates to attend for two years without having to pay tuition. She serves as development chair for the Northern Moore Family Resource Center in Robbins, which has opened a preschool and is developing a community center. She credits the overcoming of breast cancer to having health insurance: “Everyone, no matter their background or how much money they make, should have access to affordable, quality health care. Yet too many politicians in Raleigh put petty partisan politics over policies that would help thousands. That is wrong for my community and for North Carolina.” (Republican incumbent McInnis has opposed, like most other Republicans in Phil Berger's senate, the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act because he's afraid of catching Obama cooties.)
Labels: 2018 Blue Wave, Eleanor Erickson, Ginger Garner, Helen Probst Mills, Natasha Marcus, North Carolina General Assembly, North Carolina Senate
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The Long Blue Line: Police Week–Coast Guard law enforcers lost in the line of duty
Posted by Diana Sherbs, Thursday, May 16, 2019
Written by Andrew A. Lawrence
U.S. Coast Guard, retired
Photograph of the Newport News Police Pipe and Band in Washington, D.C. U.S. Coast Guard photo.
Each May during Police Week, tens of thousands of law enforcement officers from around the United States and several foreign countries muster in the nation’s capital to pay tribute to fellow peace officers who have fallen in the line of duty. For an entire week, the law enforcement community honors their sacrifice and service through a series of tributes including a candlelight vigil for the recently fallen, bike rides, a 5K run, honor guard and bagpipe band competition, parades, a memorial service for family members, and a wreath laying at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.
The wreath laying ceremony is hosted by the National Conference of Law Enforcement Emerald Societies and is accompanied by the skirl of bagpipes and the rhythm of drums in a tradition long associated with the somber remembrance of fallen law enforcement officers. What may be unknown to many in the U.S. Coast Guard is that the names of 23 Coast Guardsmen are inscribed on the memorial.
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and reflecting pool in Washington, D.C. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
In October of 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed Public Law 87-726 designating May 15 of each year as Peace Officers Memorial Day. The day was set aside, “…in honor of the federal, state, and municipal officers who have been killed or disabled in the line of duty.” The act also designates the calendar week during which May 15 occurs as “Police Week” in recognition of the service given by the men and women who serve in law enforcement. Commemoration and tributes comparable to the one held in the nation’s capital are carried out in local communities throughout the country. The honors rendered at these events are similar to the veneration of U.S. military members each Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Given that the U.S. Coast Guard’s roots stem from law enforcement, it is fitting that we reflect each May on our contribution to this very important mission.
In 1790, the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, commissioned the construction of 10 cutters to enforce tariffs, control smuggling, and protect the nation’s revenue. The establishment of the Revenue Marine marked the birth of the Coast Guard and its law enforcement mission as agents of the Customs Service under the Department of the Treasury. Over time, the Coast Guard range of missions and assignments expanded to include defense of the nation, anti-piracy, enforcing quarantines, and, in 1808, enforcing newly enacted laws against the slave trade. For example, the Revenue-Marine operated throughout the fledgling United States for 40 years before officially being tasked with its search and rescue mission in 1831. Although not enacted until 1949, Title 14 Section 89 of the United States Code, codified the Coast Guard’s law enforcement responsibilities and empowers, “….commissioned, warrant, and petty officers may at any time go on board of any vessel subject to the jurisdiction, or to the operation of any law, of the United States, address inquiries to those on board, examine the ship’s documents and papers, and examine, inspect, and search the vessel and use all necessary force to compel compliance.”
One of the memorial’s “pathways of remembrance” listing some of the thousands of law enforcement officers lost in the line of duty. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
The Coast Guard’s law enforcement mission has undergone tremendous transformation and growth over the past 40 years, most markedly since the tragic events of 9/11. This heritage reminds us that we have played a very important role in the protection of our nation and members of our society. Coast Guard law enforcement personnel work with law enforcement community partners at the federal, tribal, state, and local level. Peace Officers Memorial Day, offers one occasion for us to remember those of our own who gave their lives in the line of duty as well as those who carry out this mission each day.
The centerpiece of tribute for fallen law enforcement officers is the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial (NLEOM) located in Washington, D.C.’s Judiciary Square. This low profile off-white stone monument is modeled after other national memorials commemorating those who have served the nation in time of crisis and war. The NLEOM lies in a tree-lined rectangle bounded by the National Law Enforcement Museum, two District of Columbia Court Buildings, and the National Building Museum. The memorial features stone walkways, a reflecting pool at one end, and is readily accessible from the Judiciary Square Metro stop. The NLOEM was authorized in 1984 and dedicated on Oct. 15, 1991. Presently, the names of over 20,000 peace officers who perished in the line of duty are inscribed on the memorial. The 23 names of Coast Guard law enforcement members inscribed on NLEOM at Judiciary Square and their dates of death are listed as follows:
Officer End of Watch
BM3 Travis Raymond Obendorf 18 Dec 2013
BMCS Terrell Edwin Horne, III 02 Dec 2012
ME3 Shaun Michael Lin 13 Oct 2010
PS3 Ronald Gill 25 Mar 2007
BM2 Scott Chisolm 24 Mar 2001
SN Christopher Everett Ferreby 24 Mar 2001
MK2 Jonathan D. Scotchmer 09 Jan 1995
AT1 Matthew Harold Baker 24 Aug 1990
LT Craig Eric Lerner 24 Aug 1990
LT Paul Erik Perlt 24 Aug 1990
LT Duane Elmer Stenbak 24 Aug 1990
BM1 Edgar Allen Culbertson 30 Apr 1967
MoMM1c Victor A. Lamby 07 Aug 1927
BOSN Sidney C. Sanderlin 07 Aug 1927
BOSN (T) Jesse Kennedy Rivenback 20 Feb 1927
BM1c Raymond Henry Clark 20 Feb 1927
MoMM2c Cornelius Shea 20 Feb 1927
BM2c Charles Albert Freeburn 20 Feb 1927
MoMM2c Joseph V. Maxim 20 Feb 1927
MoMM2c Frank Carroll McCausland 20 Feb 1927
Coxswain Leo Stanley Krzyzanowski 20 Feb 1927
SC3c Clarence Alexander 20 Feb 1927
BMC Karl Edwin Gustafson 02 Apr 1925
As a member of the Newport News Police Pipes & Drums, I accompany my band to Washington, D.C., each May to participate in the events of Police Week. Our motto is to “Honor the Fallen” and our mission is to support the men and women of law enforcement through honors and ceremonies. We do this throughout the year representing our local police department at various events such as promotion ceremonies, law enforcement graduations, public service events, and yes, funerals for law enforcement officers and veterans. I hope that in some small way, I can help honor those who have served and sacrificed including the 23 Coast Guard officers who gave the final measure.
The shield of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial located at the memorial, which is located at the 400 block of E Street NW, Washington, D.C. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
Tags: law enforcement, National Police Week, The Long Blue Line, TLBL
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Arts, Music, Shows
Gabrielle Stravelli Jazzes up D.C. at Bethesda Blues & Jazz November 1
Posted by Haley Fults on October 31, 2017 October 31, 2017
photo credit Shervin Lainez
Gabrielle Stravelli, acclaimed pop/jazz vocalist and songwriter praised for her “emotional intelligence, phenomenal voice, easygoing confidence and impeccable taste” by The New York Times – will make her Washington DC area debut at Bethesda Blues & Jazz (7719 Wisconsin Avenue; Bethesda, MD 20814) on Wednesday, November 1 at 7:30 PM. The evening will feature her distinctive original songs, innovative interpretations of pop standards, and selections from her recent album Dream Ago, which earned a five star review in Downbeat. Gabrielle will be joined by Jim Ridl on piano, Pat O’Leary on bass and Eric Halvorson on drums. Tickets ($15) are available HERE.
Gabrielle’s new album Dream Ago, available on the Big Modern Music label, features her sophisticated original songs. Since the recording’s release in January, it has garnered acclaim from around the country: according to LA Jazz Scene, “Dream Ago is filled with fresh, melodic and unpredictable music from a brilliant and inventive singer. A continually surprising and stimulating set.” The Philadelpia Inquirer called Gabrielle “an intense vocalist with a talent for torch-song sadness” and “a passionate singer of original jazz song with intelligent storytelling abilities.” The Huffington Post raved that “Dream Ago is one of the finer jazz albums you’ll hear this year. It’s a breakthrough recording, serving up a dazzling melange of the seductive, sophisticated vocals.”
The album is produced by David Cook (Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, Marianne Faithfull), arranged by Pat O’Leary (Diana Krall, James Moody, Lee Konitz) and features liner notes from Bob Dorough. The legendary musician – and the songwriter behind “Devil May Care,” “Blue Xmas,” “I’m Hip,” and songs from the beloved TV staple “Schoolhouse Rock” – calls the album “a pretty swinging affair. With this outing, Gabrielle Stravelli proves herself to be a quadruple threat and force to be reckoned with.” The Grammy Award winning vocalist and songwriter Kurt Elling added “the first thing you notice about Gabrielle Stravelli is her voice. The instrument is rich and resonant, flexible and precise, soulful and clean. Gabrielle’s new compositions are professionally constructed but manage to take us to surprising places in the future. This makes Dream Ago a rare find.” Fred Hersch, nine-time Grammy Award-nominated pianist and composer, calls her “One of the top vocalists on the music scene today. She has the whole package: a fantastic instrument, great time, superb musicianship, perfect diction – and more importantly, she sings everything with a true depth of feeling.”
Gabrielle’s recent triumphant engagement at Feinstein’s / 54 Below was praised by The New York Times for its “intense joy” and “voluptuous delight.” Last year she performed in Azerbaijan, Moldova, Slovenia and Malta as part of the U.S. State Department’s “American Music Abroad.” She co-starred in the world premiere of Rooms of Light, the new song cycle with music by renowned jazz pianist Fred Hersch. 2016 marked her third annual performance at New York Public Radio / WNYC’s Jonathan Schwartz Christmas Show opposite John Pizzarelli, Karrin Allyson, Bill Charlap and more. She sang with the Santa Rosa Symphony opposite Billy Stritch, appeared at the 92nd Street Y “Lyrics and Lyricists” and headlined the Eleuthera Jazz Festival in the Bahamas. Gabrielle’s intimate piano/vocal duet recording Stairway to the Stars with Michael Kanan (Jimmy Scott, Madeleine Peyroux, Jane Monheit) was released last year.
Gabrielle Stravelli toured the states with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performing Marsalis’s Abyssinian: A Gospel Celebration. At age 15, Gabrielle began singing as a soloist with orchestras and has since performed on stages from Amsterdam to New York including Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night’s Swing, Birdland Jazz Club, 92Y’s Lyrics and Lyricists, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall at Kaufman Center, the Hammerstein Ballroom, Iridium Jazz Club, BB King Blues Club, Somethin’ Jazz, The Garage, Fulton Theatre, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) where she opened for Esperanza Spalding and Cassandra Wilson. Gabrielle has appeared as a soloist with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra and the Cincinnati Pops, was a finalist for the international 2011 Shure-Montreux Jazz Festival Vocal Competition and was the 1st runner-up at the 2009 Jazzmobile Vocal Competition in Harlem.
Visit www.GabrielleStravelli.com for performance schedule, videos, sound clips and more.
bethesda blues and jazzgabrielle stravelli
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/TV
Riverdale Season 4 Premiere Will Be a Luke Perry Tribute
By Jenna Anderson - June 19, 2019 10:36 pm EDT
We're still several months out from Riverdale's fourth season, but we now have the first bittersweet details on the show's return. On Wednesday, showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa took to Twitter to share the title page from the script for the Season 4 premiere, which is titled "In Memoriam". As Aguirre-Sacasa explains in the tweet, the episode will serve as "an opportunity to honor" series star Luke Perry, who passed away suddenly earlier this year.
Probably the most important episode of #Riverdale we’ll do this year, if not ever. A tribute to our fallen friend. Thankful for this opportunity to honor Luke & Fred. ❤️🏆💎👨🏻💻 pic.twitter.com/MH7xOjNyDu
— RobertoAguirreSacasa (@WriterRAS) June 19, 2019
Perry passed away at the age of 52 earlier this year, after he had suffered a massive stroke in the days prior. Within the world of the show, the absence of Perry's character, Fred Andrews, was never officially addressed, but that was expected to change in Season 4.
"We obviously are going to deal with Fred’s death a story on Riverdale." Aguirre-Sacasa explained last month. "When Luke passed, we’d already more or less outlined the last two or three episodes, and we didn’t want to rush that or get it wrong. So we are 100% going to deal with it narratively at the beginning of season 4, and we want that episode to really honor the character of Fred and honestly, to honor the actor Luke and our friend Luke. I’ve read online that they’re like, “Ooh, Riverdale‘s not dealing with this. Is Fred going to just be on a business trip?” So Tim, I would be so grateful if you make it clear that we are 100% going to deal with Fred’s death. We didn’t want to rush into that at the end of the season and give it short shrift or not make that story as great and emotional as it needs to be to honor both the character and the actor. I think that’s going to be a big part of Archie’s journey next season, honestly."
"His legacy is gonna live on in the lives around him, that he worked with, you know?" KJ Apa, who starred as Archie Andrews said in a previous interview. "I'm never gonna forget him and I think it's still very fresh and we're all still dealing with it... We're definitely gonna obviously have to address it at some point. [Possibly] that [means] Molly stepping in as more of an active parent for Archie, but that all depends on the availability of the actors around us. So, you know, we'll do what we can."
In addition to his Riverdale role, Perry is best known for playing Dylan McKay in Beverly Hills, 90210. His work also includes appearances in The Fifth Element, The Simpsons, and The Incredible Hulk. In addition to upcoming episodes of Riverdale that had already been filmed prior to his death, Perry is set to appear this summer in Quentin Tarantino's new film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
In this latest episode do a full on San Diego Comic Con 2019 preview with our predictions for Marvel Studios' next movies (including the recently announced Thor 4), what Netflix will bring with The Witcher and we go over the record breaking number of Emmy nominations Game of Thrones got! Make sure to subscribe now to never miss an episode!
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Home > Conference Proceedings > CHGS > IAE2014 > IAE2014 > 12
Papers submitted for the Israel Academic Exchange 2014
Courting Disaster? Chinese Resistance and Massacres of Chinese in Malaya (1941-60)
Ran Shauli, Hebrew University of JerusalemFollow
Courting Disaster? Chinese Resistance and Massacres of Chinese inMalaya(1941 – 1960)
Ran Shauli
In the late 1930s the Chinese, most of them immigrants who came to peninsular Malaya in the preceding fifty years, became the largest ethnic group in the country, and the majority among city dwellers (outnumbering the Malays, the Indians and the Europeans). As a group, these diasporic Chinese were highly politicized and well organized in clan, dialect and landsmen associations (Huiguan). The nature and the magnitude of the massacres of civilians that were committed by Japanese troops in China in 1937 were widely published and well known to the Chinese in Malaya. Therefore, it came as no surprise to them that during its occupation of Malaya in 1941-2, the Japanese army singled out and massacred tens of thousands of Chinese, mostly but not solely non-combatants.
The motivations and the reasons for this pre-planned carnage include revenge for the economic and moral support offered by Overseas Chinese to the anti-Japanese struggle in China; preemptive state terror to curb any attempt of resistance on the part of the Chinese; deliberate misperception and labeling of the Chinese as "aliens" (as opposed to the Malays which were wrongly seen as "native"); and deep rooted anti-Chinese predispositions among commanders and rank-and-file alike. Malayan Chinese, on their part, were by no means inert victims. Most of them struggled daily to survive as most people under occupation would do. Many saved their lives and the lives of others by escaping to the jungle or to other parts of the region; others negotiated with the Japanese about the collection of ransom money from the whole community. Thousands joined the guerrillas and tens of thousands supported them actively. Each course of action had consequences, not only for the individual but also for the collective.
This paper will examine the effects of the predominantly Chinese MPAJA (Malayan Peoples Anti-Japanese Army) guerrilla activities on the fate of those Chinese who fled the cities, and lived as squatters in plantations and mines along the jungle fringe throughout the Japanese period. It will also study MPAJA (and Japanese-sponsored Malay police) involvement in interethnic mass violence during the interregnum between Japanese and British rule (1945-6). Finally, the paper will deal with the results of their activities (under the new title: Malayan Peoples` Liberation Army) during the Malayan chapter of the Cold War, which is better known as The Emergency (1948-1960), including murderous reprisals against villagers and the forced relocation of about half a million people.
Shauli, Ran, "Courting Disaster? Chinese Resistance and Massacres of Chinese in Malaya (1941-60)" (2014). Papers submitted for the Israel Academic Exchange 2014. 12.
https://commons.clarku.edu/iae2014/12
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Community, Tricks and tutorials
火, 09/16/2014 - 14:39 匿名
How to make your applications more intuitive?
We worked with Sandrine Tourcher to establish a list of questions one should always have in mind when designing an app for NAO or Pepper to create a better interaction between a robot and a human. As User eXperience (UX) experts, she and her team are in charge of all the usability improvements of Aldebaran’s products, from our websites and software to your interactions with the robots.
It’s important to know that building a good User eXperience is a team work with interaction designers, visual designers, developers, usability experts and strategy representatives. In this multidisciplinary team, the UX expert has two roles. He is able to evaluate the experience the user is living with our products to identify issues and detect improvement levers, but also to be an actor of these changes as a usability expert.
She describes their role as “user’s advocate” by representing users in the conception team to make every products and content intuitive, efficient and easy to use for them. From this perspective she brings some insight, golden rules and advices that might also be helpful to developers working on robots at home, like you.
1 - What’s the intended audience for what I’m building?
That question is very basic, but too often ignored: for whom are you developing an application? Have you built your app with a specific audience in mind?
If that audience is autism spectrum kids, academics using the robot or experienced developers, the application will be totally different, you need to take their different needs and abilities into account. Bring users to the design process, make apps for and with your users. You may need to provide different instructions depending on your audience, and different interactions. They might expect something different from the app.
The “follow me” app, for example, provides very simple instructions: NAO lifts his hand and says “follow me”. But there’s another version of that app in the ASK NAO suite (autism audience), where NAO explains step by step what he’s doing and how the interaction will play out.
2 - Is the robot giving clear signs and feedback to the user?
When people first meet NAO or Pepper, there’s an adjustment phase. They quickly evaluate how they can interact with them: Does something happen when I touch him here? Should I talk naturally or use single word instructions?
It’s important during this phase, and all through the interaction, that the robot understands the user but also that the user knows the robot understands… or does not. So you need to constantly think about the signals you’re sending to the user to make them understand what the robot is doing and what the robot is expecting the user to do. Don’t keep the user guessing, tell the user what’s happening. The less the users have to guess the better! That’s why it’s very important to set up feedback loops in your app to make the user interaction much better.
3 - What’s my scenario and what happens outside of it?
With a clearly established scenario including a beginning, a middle and a end, you’ll be able to give the user a clear sense of what’s happening. Sometimes the robot is developed to do some activities, but it’s not usable in the real life because the user was forgotten in the scenario and he doesn’t have his place in the interaction, not the possibility to speak, the rhythm could be not appropriate, the interaction codes could be missing, and so on...
Each app also has to be developed in a context, consistent with the robot behavior, the transitions are as much important as the app content. With a lot of apps, whether it’s a dance or a game, you often see the robot just stop and go back to Autonomous Life, without any transition.
When you’re really used to the robot you can understand that, but most people are confused. Just having the robot take a bow, saying “thanks for watching me ” and/or clapping at the end like in the “Happy Birthday” app, can really make a difference!
Also, having a scenario helps you realize when users, whether mistakenly or intentionally, don’t follow the rules and go outside the scenario, and you can figure out a way to bring them back on track.
4 - Is my application easily understandable?
At some point while building your app, you may begin to know it just a little too much and start to take shortcuts that will be very hard to figure out for the average user.
The robot shouldn’t have to spell out complex instructions when launching the app. If you need the user to learn how to use your app, think about how you can teach him in a non boring way. Some video games are often great at this, with step by step tutorials, you can do the same system in your applications.
You don’t need to explain the whole activity before starting it but you can lead the user in the gameplay at the good time. The goal is to make contextual and appropriate briefings when the user needs it. For example, after 2 mistakes from the user, you can propose to repeat what it was expected / the rules.
If the user does something wrong, don’t think it’s their fault: figure out a way to make them not do that next time.
5 - Has someone tested that?
You can imagine your audience, build a scenario… but you can’t predict all that’s going to happen. Be sure users will never use the application exactly like you developed it. Sometimes because they missed the briefing or didn’t understand it, but also because they want to trap or test the robot abilities. For example when the robot says touch my hands, we saw some teasing people touching the head, expecting a joke from the robot like “Oh come on I said my hand not my head”. But the other scenarios are rarely developed and these funny moments don’t happen a lot.
You need to have someone with a fresh pair of eyes, and if possible not too much experience with the robot, to test your app. Will they understand how to use it? Will they misuse it? Will they be lost?
Test your application with other persons, if they success the activity without helping them by giving more briefings (yes we know it’s hard to let them without helping but it’s very important to do), that’s the only way to know for sure your app is ready to be shared!
Aldebaran 18
Tricks and tutorials 8
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WASHINGTON, DC—Orthopaedic surgeons from Children’s National Medical Center are part of a team of researchers that has identified the genetic mutation causing Proteus syndrome, a rare disorder in which tissue and bone grow massively out of proportion. The discovery appears in the July 27, 2011, online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study, led by researchers at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), may have larger implications in both the identification and treatment of Proteus syndrome, as well as for certain types of cancer.
The NIH-based research team found that a point mutation — a single-letter misspelling in the DNA of the genetic code — in the AKT1 gene activates the sporadic tissue growth associated with Proteus syndrome. This particular genetic mutation in AKT1 is almost always undetectable in simple blood samples, making it necessary for surgical teams to collect and contribute deep tissues, including bone, cartilage, and growth plates, while patients with Proteus syndrome are undergoing necessary surgical procedures as part of their standard care.
“Proteus syndrome is an extremely rare disorder, making tissue sample collection especially challenging,” said Laura L. Tosi, MD, of the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine at Children’s National. “Given the importance of this research, we stepped up to the plate and, over the last decade, Children’s National surgeons have collected more than one third of the study’s tissue samples while Proteus syndrome patients underwent necessary procedures here at Children’s National and at NIH.
Dr. Tosi, as well as the Chief of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, Laurel Blakemore, MD, and Kurt D. Newman, MD, Senior Vice President of the Joseph E. Robert, Jr., Center for Surgical Care, contributed tissue samples from Proteus patients treated at Children’s National to help fuel the NIH-based genetic research.
“Proteus syndrome can be a complex disease to treat, as it manifests differently in every patient,” said Dr. Blakemore. “It is our job to treat the needs of our patients with complex spine and bone disorders, and also contribute our knowledge and expertise in caring for these children to studies, like this one, that aim to identify the causes, and hopefully, one day, find a cure.”
The gene variant that triggers Proteus occurs spontaneously in affected individuals during embryonic development, but symptoms only appear in the child’s first two years. This mutation in AKT1 alters the ability of affected cells to regulate their own growth, leading some parts of the patient’s body to grow to abnormal sizes, while other parts of the body remain normal.
Clinical diagnosis is typically based on the observation of patient features, which include limb overgrowth, a variety of skin lesions, and thickening of the soles of the feet. A well known unconfirmed case of Proteus syndrome gained attention in 1980 through the movie “The Elephant Man,” about a 19th century Londoner, Joseph Merrick, whom experts believe may have suffered from the disease.
“Children’s National has a vision that surgery might be less painful and more precise for pediatric patients, especially those who require multiple surgeries and lifelong support, as in the case of Proteus syndrome,” said Dr. Newman, who was recently named the incoming president and CEO of Children’s National. “This study and similar studies underway in systems biology programs around the world, including our own Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation, all share one common goal: identifying these disorders and their causes as early as possible and finding better treatments.”
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Call for action against sexual harassment in Australian science
Posted on March 7, 2019 by csirostaffcampaigns
Survey results suggesting that more than one third of Australian science workers have experienced sexual harassment have prompted calls for an national action plan to address the issue.
The survey – conducted by peak representative organisation Science and Technology Australia (STA) – involved nearly three hundred responses from across the sector.
“Our survey has received reports of sexual harassment at conferences, in laboratories, in offices, and in the field,” the report states.
“We have received reports of women and LGBTIQ+ identifying scientists and technologists leaving the sector after suffering or being exposed to harassment.
“We have also heard from women who believe they have not been promoted as their promotion decisions lie in the hands of their harasser.”
35.8 per cent of respondents reported experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace, rising to 46 per cent of women participants.
33 per cent of survey participants said their workplace had inadequate policies for addressing reported incidences of sexual harassment in the workplace.
Meanwhile, nearly a third (30 per cent) of respondents thought their workplace did not have policies that were effective in preventing sexual harassment in the first place.
Balance for better
The survey also reported fewer incidences of sexual harassment were reported by those in workplaces that were perceived by respondents to have equal or close to equal numbers of men and women.
“Research shows that workplaces that have an equal, or close to equal representation of men and women, have lower rates of sexual harassment – and our survey reveals similar trends,” Science and Technology Australia President Professor Emma Johnston said.
Achieving gender balance – styled as #BalanceforBetter – is the theme for International Women’s Day in 2019.
National Action Plan
The STA survey report has been submitted to the Australian Human Rights Commission as part of the National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces. One of the key recommendations from STA is the development and implementation of a national Action Plan for addressing sexual harassment which includes sector specific considerations.
“We hope to see this Inquiry spark an Australia-wide movement to make our workplaces safer,” Professor Johnston said.
“Speaking on behalf of our members, who represent more than 70,000 STEM professionals, we stand ready to support action to stop workplace sexual harassment.”
“We must also have clear consequences for perpetrators which are well publicised and consider following our colleagues in the USA by stripping honours and awards from those who are found guilty of sexual harassment in the courts,” Professor Johnston said.
Sexual harassment rife in Australian science, suggests first workplace survey – Nature
Sexual Harassment in the Workplace – STA submission to AHRC
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Tag Archives: Petro Poroshenko
August 29, 2014 by craftymcclever
Ebola Gains Momentum, Airstrikes Being Considered in Syria and the Ukraine Crisis Escalates Once Again
The World Health organization estimates that the West African Ebola outbreak could exceed 20,000 cases, more than 6 times as many as doctors know about, while a new plan outlined by the U.N. health agency takes into account that the in hardest hit areas the actual number of cases is two to four times higher than reported, John Heilprin and Krista Larson report, UN: Ebola cases could eventually reach 20,000. The agency on Thursday published new figures reporting 1,552 people have died from among 3,069 cases reported so far in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria. The U.N. health agency said at least 40 percent of the cases are from the last three weeks alone adding that “the outbreak continues to accelerate.” Nigerian authorities said a man who contracted the virus following contact with a traveler from Liberia evaded surveillance and infected a doctor in southern Nigeria who died, making it the first of 6 deaths reported in Nigeria to occur outside the commercial capital of Lagos where American man Patrick Sawyer arrived in late July and later died of Ebola. On Wednesday, Nigeria authorities said they have not eliminated but contained the virus. Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu told reporters: “After four days, following a manhunt for him, he returned to Lagos by which time he was found to be without symptoms. This case would have been of no further interest since he had completed the 21 days of surveillance without any other issue but for the fact that the doctor who treated him died.” The doctor’s wife along with the morticians who embalmed the doctor are part of a group of 70 people under surveillance in Port Harcourt. Carolyn Thompson reports, Ebola in mind, US colleges screen some students, college students from West Africa may be subjected to extra health checks when they arrive to study in the United States as administrators try to insulate campuses from the worst Ebola outbreak in history. Several thousands students are arriving from Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria putting U.S. authorities on alert but cautioning against alarm. While the Center of Disease Control and Prevention has no specific recommendations fro colleges, some state health departments are spelling out what to look for and how to react. In addition universities are drafting their own precautionary plans against the disease. The American College Health Association recommends their members update emergency plans, find out where patients have traveled and use isolation rooms when available. The federal government says U.S. universities count 9,728 active students from Nigeria, 204 from Liberia, 169 from Sierra Leone and 95 students from Guinea. The roughly 30 Nigerian students at University of Illinois will be pulled aside for temperature checks and private Ebola discussions when they arrive at the health center for mandatory immunization paperwork and tuberculosis screenings, according to the center’s director, Dr. Robert Palinkas. Similar screening will also take place at the University at Buffalo, Mercer University in Georgia, Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, and the University of Akron in Ohio. Universities in the United Kingdom will also be on alert as thousands of Nigerian students arrive there and Universities UK has circulated guidance from Public Health England advising administrators on how to recognize and react to possible cases.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Islamic group killed more than 150 troops captured in recent fighting for military bases in northeastern Syria in the past 24 hours by shooting some and slashing others with knives in the latest mass killing, while in southern Syria, gunmen detained 43 U.N. peacekeepers fighting on the Syrian side of Golan Heights early Thursday, Ryan Lucas and Zeina Karam reports, Islamic state group kills captured Syrian soldiers. In addition, the Britain based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 81 peacekeepers were trapped in the area due to heavy fighting between rebels and Syrian troops. Many of the soldiers that were killed were rounded up Wednesday in the arid countryside near Tabqa airfield three days after fighters seized the base. In Iraq, the group killed nearly 200 men in late June near the northern city of Tikrit and like the recent slaughter posted videos and photos online of the men before and after the killings. Earlier in the month, Islamic State fighters shot and beheaded hundreds of tribesmen in eastern Syria who had risen up against the group. A U.N. commission has accused the Islamic State group Wednesday of committing crimes against humanity in Syria same as in Iraq. So far, the bloody conflict in Syria has cost more than 190,000 loves and destabilized the region. In a statement by the Syrian Foreign Ministry, the government holds “the terrorist groups and those who support them fully responsible for the safety of the U.N. peacekeepers, and calls for their immediate release.” A statement from Ban’s office said the U.N. “is making every effort to secure the release of the detained peacekeepers.” As of July, UNODF had 1,223 troops from six countries including Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands and the Philippines. A rebel spokesman said the opposition is fighting President Bashar Assad and poses no threat to Israel. The Associate Press reports, 44 Fijian soldiers held captive by rebels in Syria, that 44 soldiers working as U.N. peacekeepers remain captive in Syria Friday while 75 Philippine soldiers were in tense standoffs with militants, the two nations reported. Fijian Commander Brig. Gen. Mosese Tikoitoga said he’s been informed his soldiers are alive and unharmed, while Philippines President Benigno Aquino III said that his troops are not in immediate danger. The events began Thursday morning o the Syrian side of Golan Heights, an area divided between Israel and Syria. Tikoitoga said three vehicles filled with 150 armed rebels converged on the Fijian camp at 7:30 a.m. demanding the soldiers leave within 10 minutes and insisted they board the rebel vehicles. The Fijians were taken to an unknown location then returned to their original post. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday condemned the detention of the Fijians: “I call for their immediate and unconditional release as well as action for the scores of peacekeepers from the Philippines who are also affected.” Tikoitoga said: “We will not shy away from that responsibility under these circumstances. We will continue to work very hard for the release of our men and at the same time we will put all our men on alert to ensure that no further incidents of this sort happen to them.”
In the United States, President Barack Obama on Thursday said “we don’t have a strategy yet” for dealing with the violent militant group seeking to establish a caliphate in the Middle East, Julie Pace reported, Obama tamps down prospect of strikes in Syria. The president spoke shortly before a meeting with his national security advisers on a range of Pentagon options for confronting the group and said his strategy will require not only military action but regional strategy that include political support from other countries in the region. Obama said, hinting to the group’s announcement last week it had killed American journalist James Foley and threatened to kill other U.S. hostages: “They have no ideology beyond violence and chaos and the slaughter of innocent people.” The U.S. already is striking Islamic State targets in Iraq and the president is considering similar action in Syria in the wake of Foley’s death as militants move between the two countries with ease. The main focus, however for now, the president said Thursday was to roll back militant gains in Iraq where they pose a threat to U.S. personnel in Ebril and Baghdad. Obama said any military action will be discussed with members of Congress when they return to Washington in early September. “The suggestion has been that we’ll start moving forward imminently and somehow Congress, still out of town, will be left in the dark. That’s not what’s going to happen,” Obama said. Ryan Gorman reports, Britain raises terror threat level, will begin revoking passports of those who travel to Syria, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced Friday at a press conference that U.K. authorities will soon revoke passports of citizens traveling to Syria. Cameron declared: “We are in the middle of a generational struggle against a poisonous extremist ideology.” British authorities raised the terror threat level Friday to one below critical, the highest alert, as it felt an attack is likely. Cameron explained: “What we’re facing in Iraq and Syria now with ISIL is a deeper and greater threat to our security than we have ever known before. Islam is a religion observed peacefully by over a billion people. Islamist extremism is a poisonous ideology observed by a minority. [ISIL is] a terror threat seeking to establish and then violently expand its own terror state. We could face a terrorist state on the shores of the Mediterranean and bordering a NATO state.” Cameron emphasized that Britain will not send in ground troops, but will provide intelligence to the U.S. while they conduct airstrikes in the region and provide humanitarian air drops as well as help arm Kurdish forces in their fight against the terror state. He said: “We support the U.S. airstrikes aginst ISIL in Iraq. Even if you solve the problems, of ISIL, Iraq and Syria – you still have the problem of poisonous Islamist extremism.”
Meanwhile in eastern Europe, Ukraine’s president called an emergency meeting of the nation’s security council Thursday to declare that “Russian forces have entered Ukraine” as concerns grow of a new front in the conflict, the Associated Press reports, Strategic Ukraine town under rebel control. President Petro Poroshenko convened the meeting as the southeastern Ukraine town of Novoazovsk appeared firmly under the control of Russia backed separatists. Russian markets took a dive as fears grew that the country has escalated its role in the conflict which could provoke U.S. and European Union to impose more sanctions on Russian businesses and individuals. Poroshenko said: “I have decided to cancel my visit to Turkey because of the sharp escalation of the situation in the Donetsk region… as Russian forces have entered Ukraine.” The Associated Press explains what such a move could mean and why Novoazovsk is a strategic move: “The new southeastern front raised fears that the separatists are seeking to create a land link between Russia and Crimea. If successful, it could give them or Russia control over the entire Sea of Azov and the gas and mineral riches that energy experts believe it contains. Ukraine already has lost roughly half its coastline, several major ports and significant Black Sea mineral rights in March when Russia annexed Crimea.” In a statement, Donetsk city administration said 11 people were killed by shelling during the night. The U.S. government accused Russia of the new military campaign in Ukraine that is helping rebel forces expand their fighting and sending in tanks, rocket launchers and armored vehicles. “These incursions indicate a Russian-directed counteroffensive is likely underway in Donetsk and Luhansk,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Wednesday. She cited reports of burials in Russia for those who died in Ukraine and wounded Russian soldiers being treated in St. Petersburg hospital. The same day, the U.N. Security Council met in an emergency meeting to discuss the Ukraine crisis, according to the Associated Press, U.N. Security Council meets on Ukraine crisis. U.N. undersecretary-General of Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman told the members that the latest developments mark a “dangerous escalation in the conflict,” but the international body had no way of verifying the latest “deeply alarming reports.” Statements from NATO, Poroshenko ,the separatists, the United States and the president of the Security Council left no doubt that Russia had invaded Ukraine. A NATO officials said 1,000 Russian troops have entered Ukraine with sophisticated equipment and have been in direct contact with Ukrainian soldiers resulting in casualties. U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power tld the council: “Every single one has sent a straightforward, unified message: `Russia, stop this conflict. Russia is not listening.’ Russia has come before the council to say everything but the truth. We will continue working with G-7 partners to rachet up consequences on Russia.” UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters: “Russia will be asked to explain why Russia has its troops inside Ukraine. It’s very clear that Russian regular troops are now in Ukraine.”
President Barack Obama on Thursday said the U.S. night impose new economic sanctions on Russia blaming the warfare in eastern Ukraine solely on them and ruled out military options or proposed no shift in American led strategy to convince Moscow to halt its operation, Bradley Klapper, Obama puts Ukraine violence squarely on Russia. Obama spoke via phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has led diplomatic efforts to end the fighting between Ukraine and Russian backed rebels: “We agree, if there was ever any doubt, that Russia is responsible for the violence in eastern Ukraine. The violence is encouraged by Russia. The separatists are trained by Russia, they are armed by Russia, they are funded by Russia. Russia has deliberately and repeatedly violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and the new images of Russian forces inside Ukraine make that plain for the world to see.” Russia continued to deny allegation saying there is no proof its troops are operating in Ukraine. Obama said regarding his strategy: “What we’re doing is to mobilize the international community to apply pressure on Russia. But I think it is very important to recognize that a military solution to this problem is not going to be forthcoming.” On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on pro-Russian separatists to release Ukrainian soldiers in eastern Ukraine, according to Nataliya Vasilyeva, Russia’s Putin urges release of Ukrainian soldiers. Putin’s statement came hours after Ukraine accused Russia of entering the territory with tanks, artillery and troops, and Western powers accused Moscow of lying about its role and dangerously escalating the conflict. In his state released early Friday published on the Kremlin’s website, Putin said: “I’m calling on insurgents to open a humanitarian corridor for Ukrainian troops who were surrounded in order to avoid senseless deaths.” Putin did praise the efforts by what he called “insurgents” against the Kiev government, but did not address the accusations. A top rebel leader, Alexander Zakharchenko said on Russia’s state Rossiya 24 televisions: “With all our respect to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the president of a country which gives us moral support, we are ready to open humanitarian corridors to the Ukrainian troops who were surrounded with the condition that they surrender heavy weaponry and ammunition so that this weaponry and ammunition will not be used against us in future.” The U.N. human rights office said Friday the death toll stands at 2,220 in eastern Ukraine with a rate of three dozen a day and accused both sides of deliberately targeting civilians. Vasilyeva reports: “Pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine have carried out murders, torture and abductions along with other serious human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law, according to the mission’s field work between July 16 and Aug. 17. The report also said Ukraine’s military is guilty of human rights violations such as arbitrary detentions, disappearances and torture.” U.N. Assistant Secretary for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic who visited Kiev Friday said the death toll reached 2,600 by Aug. 27 and described the humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine as alarming. European Union foreign ministers met in Milan Friday to weigh the 8 nation bloc’s stance on beefing up economic sanction against Russia in order to prepare for further steps to be announced at the summit of the bloc’s leaders Saturday in Brussels.
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Tagged airstrikes in Syria US, Britain raises terror threat level, Britain Syria, East Ukraine, Eastern Ukraine death toll, Ebola Africa, Ebola Cases, Ebola Congo, Ebola Crisis, Ebola Death Toll, Ebola Guinea, Ebola Libera, Ebola Nigeria, Ebola outbreak five countries, Ebola Sierra Leone, Ebola West Africa, Isil, Isis, Islamic State, Islamic State America, Islamic State Syria, James Foley Killing Syria, Obama Russia Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, President Obama Syria, pro-Russian rebels, Putin Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian separatists, Russian Troops in Ukraine, Syria airstrikes, UK Ebola, UK Syria airstrikes, Ukraine Crisis, Ukraine Crisis Russia, Ukraine Russia, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, UN Security Coucil Ukraine, UN Security Council, United States Ebola, Who Ebola
Israeli Citizens Flee the Border, Ukraine Faces New Challenges, and New Threats to U.S. Security
Tens of thousands of Israelis are fleeing their homes near the border of Gaza as fear and frustration grow in a war between Israel and Hamas that appears to have no end in site. The government on Monday has offered assistance in the first large scale voluntary evacuation in the eight week war with the school year fast approaching, Ian Deitch reports, Gaza attacks triggers Israeli exodus from border. Officials estimate 70 percent of the 40,000 inhabitants of the farming communities along the Gaza border have left including hundreds on Monday. According to Gaza officials, the fighting has killed 2,100 Palestinians, leveled thousands of buildings and left tens of thousands displaced. The death toll on the Israeli side has remained low due to air raid sirens, bomb shelters and the Iron Dome missile defense system. In a TV interview Sunday, Finance Minister Yair Lapid said, “It is their right to leave, and we will assist them with temporary solutions. The state of Israel will not run away from terror organizations. It fights terror organizations.” Israeli education officials said the children will be absorbed into areas schools, but Tamir Idan, a regional council head in southern Israel, said schools will not open next week if rocket fire persists. The fighting in Gaza has caused more disruption to students as officials have delayed the start of classes which should of started on Sunday.The Israeli military said it carried out 65 airstrikes Monday, while the Palestinian militants fired more than 100 rockets into Israel. Palestinian health officials said seven people were killed, while one Israeli was wounded by Palestinian fire.
On Tuesday, meanwhile in Ukraine, Ukrainian military reportedly captured a group of Russian paratroopers who crossed into Ukrainian territory on a mission, but Moscow claims they ended up there by mistake, Andrei Makhovsky and Alessandra Prentice report, Ukraine Releases Footage Of Captured Russian Soldiers. In addition, the military reports pro-Russian separatist forces were shelling the town of Novoazovsk and buildings were ablaze with 12 Ukrainian soldiers killed and 19 wounded in the past 24 hours, according to military spokesman Andriy Lysenko. Earlier, the security services released video footage claiming that it shows testimonies from Russian paratroopers detained by the Ukrainian government forces while fighting with pro-Moscow rebels in Ukraine. The video provides the strongest evidence so far to back up claims by Kiev that Russia is involved in the conflict and the intensified fighting in the east overshadowed the meeting of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in the Belarussian capital Minsk. Russia denies giving military help and a Russian defense source, quoted by RIA Novosti, said the servicemen had strayed into Ukrainian territory by mistake during border patrol. Lysenko in a briefing stated, “It wasn’t a mistake, but a special mission they were carrying out.” In the footage posted to Kiev’s Anti-Terrorist Operation Facebook page, one of the soldiers who identified himself as Ivan Milchakov listed his personal details including the name of the paratroop regiment based in the Russian Town of Kostroma. In the video, he said: “I did not see where we crossed the border. They just told us we were going on a 70-kilometer march over three days. Everything is different here, not like they show it on television. We’ve come as cannon fodder.” Another man named Sergeant Aleksei Generalov said: “Stop sending in our boys. Why? This is not our war. And if we weren’t here, none of this would have happened. They would have sorted things out with the government themselves.” Social network pages appear to corroborate the men’s story that they are active in the Russian military. The Russian soldiers were detained with personal documents and weapons near Amvrosiyivka in the Donetsk region, the Ukrainian state security service reports. Lysenko said Russian Mi-24 helicopters has fired on a border post Monday killing four border guards, while rebel forces backed by an armored column allegedly moved across the border from Russia attacked Novoazovsk on Monday aiming to open up a new front. In a Facebook post, Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey said: “Officially they are on military exercises in various corners of Russia. In reality they are involved in military aggression against Ukraine.” The same day, Tuesday, the presidents of Russia and Ukraine sat down for talks meeting fact to face for the first time since June to discuss the fighting that has engulfed Ukraine’s east. Nataliya Vasilyeva reports, Putin sits down with Ukrainian president for talks, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko were joined by the presidents of Belarus and Kazakhstan and three senior officials from the European Union in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. As talks began, Poroshenko said: “The fate of my country and Europe is being decided here in Minsk today. The interests of Donbass (eastern Ukraine) have been and will be taken into account.” Opening the meeting, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko urged both sides to “discard political ambitions and not to seek political dividend.” Ukraine wants the rebels to hand back the territory they captured in eastern Ukraine, while Putin wants to retain leverage over the mostly Russian speaking region so Ukraine does not join NATO or the European Union. THe fighting in eastern Ukraine began in April and has killed 2,000 people, 726 Ukrainian servicemen and forced 340,000 to flee, according to the U.N.
While internationally Ukraine has faced many challenges and criticism from rivals and allies, internal conflict has forced Poroshenko to dissolve parliament and call for new elections to take place quickly. Jim Heintz reports, Ukrainian president dissolves parliament, Ukraine’s president on Monday announced in a statement via his website that he has dissolved parliament and called for early elections on October 26. He said the move was in coherence with the Ukrainian constitution commenting that the ruling coalition collapsed several weeks ago. Poroshenko stated: “Many deputies who are in the Rada (parliament) are direct sponsors or accomplices, that is to say allies of the militant separatists….I have decided to prematurely end the authority of parliament.” Under the law, the election must be held within 60 days of the decree being published.
Back in the Middle East, the Associated Press reported, The US has begun surveillance flights over Syria, the White House and U.S. officials have announce surveillance flights over Syria following President Barack Obama approval, but has yet to approve military actions inside Syria due to lack of intelligence on the militants. Pentagon officials have drafted potential options for the president that include airstrikes, while one official said the administration needs reliable intelligence from Syria and called the surveillance flights important to obtain data. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday the U.S. wants more clarity on the militants in Syria. Dempsey explained: “Clearly the picture we have of ISIS on the Iraqi side is a more refined picture. The existence and activities of ISIS on the Syrian side, we have … some insights into that but we certainly want to have more insights into that as we craft a way forward.” The U.S. began launching strikes against the Islamic State inside Iraq earlier this month with Obama citing the threat to American personnel in the country and the humanitarian crisis in the north, while top Pentagon officials said the only way the threat from militants can be eliminated is to attack the group in Syria as well. The president has tried to avoid getting involved in Syria’s long standing bloody civil war, however, due to the execution of American journalist James Foley in Syria and the group threatening to kill other U.S. citizens held in Syria, the president has changed his tune. Dempsey said the U.S. has been meeting with allies in the region to help develop a better understanding of the threat and believes those talks are setting “the conditions for some kind of coalition to form.” Dempsey believes key allies in the region will join the U.S. in quashing the Islamic State group including Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Prior to the airstrikes in Iraq, the U.S. had already stepped up air surveillance of the Islamic State inside Iraq earlier this year. In addition the administration run some surveillance missions over Syria when an attempted mission to rescue Foley and other U.S. hostages failed earlier this summer. A top Syrian official said Monday any U.S. airstrikes without consent from Syria would be considered an aggression. Speaking in Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem told reporters his government is ready to cooperate and coordinate with any side including the U.S. or join any regional or international alliance against the Islamic group. However, any action taken would be coordinated with the Syrian government adding: “Any strike which is not coordinated with the government will be considered as aggression.” He said Damascus has long warned of the threat of terrorism and the need to cut off resources and funding, but no one listened. In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the west will “have to choose what is more important: to change the regime and satisfy personal antipathies with the risk that the situation will crumble, or find pragmatic ways to join efforts against the common threat, which is the same for all of us – terrorism.” Moscow and Damascus have been close allies for decades providing it will weapons and funding to help support Assad through the current conflict. Mustafa Alani, the director of the security and defense department at the Gulf Research Center in Geneva, said: “The Syrian government is trying to say they are on the same side as the international community. The old claim from Day 1 that the Syrians have tried to make is that they are fighting pure terrorism. There’s no revolution, no rebels, no opposition. I don’t see this sort of call being acceptable, especially on the regional level. The Americans might find themselves forced to cooperate under the table with the Syrians. But I don’t think Arab countries will accept Syria as a member of the club fighting the Islamic State.” Referring to the failed attempt at rescuing U.S. citizens held by the militant group, al-Moallem said: “Had there been prior coordination that operation would not have failed.” The minister did condemn the killing of James Foley, but asked: “Has the West ever condemned the massacres by the Islamic State … against our armed forces or citizens?”
Posted in 2014, activism, al-Qaida, bombing, community, conflict, congress, controversial, crime, death, goverment, human rights, insurgency, international, Iran, Iraq War, Islamic State, law, lawmakers, militants, military, news, peace, people, politics, terrorism, tragedy, United Nations, United States, US, violence, war, white house
Tagged East Ukraine Civilian Death Toll, Egypt ceasefire deal, Egypt Israel Hamas, Gaza Strip, Gaza War, Gen. Martin Dempsey, Gen. Martin Dempsey Islamic State Group, Hamas airstrikes, Hamas Israel, Isil, Isis, Islamic State Iraq, Islamic State threat to U.S., Israel Palestinians, Israeli airstrikes, Joint chiefs of Staff, Obama Islamic State, Obama Syria, Palestinian Territories, Palestinians civilian casualties, Pentagon, Pentagon ISIS, Pentagon Islamic State, Petro Poroshenko, President Barack Obama Syria, Russia, Russia Ukraine, Russian Soldiers Ukraine, Syria Islamic State, Syria U.S. relations, U.S. airstrikes Iraq, Ukraine, Ukraine Crisis, Ukraine Election, Ukraine New Election, Ukraine new elections, Ukraine News, Ukraine president, Ukraine Russia, Ukraine Vote, Ukrainian president dissolves parliament, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Urkaine Captures Russian Soldiers, Urkaine President, Vladimir Putin
Growing Global Conflicts: Finding Peace in A Restless World
On Monday of this week, as the death toll in Gaza rises to 175 after a week long Israeli airstrike offensive, the Israeli military said it downed a drone launched by militants in the Gaza Strip. Israel began the campaign against Hamas controlled Gaza last Tuesday in response to rocket fire from the densely populated territory. In total, the military has launched more than 1,300 airstrikes since then, while Palestinian militants have launched close to 1,000 rockets at Israel, Peter Enav reports (Israel Says It’s Downed Drone Along Southern Coast). The unmanned drone, which was shot down by Israel, represent a new level of sophistication for Hamas which has never admitted to having such a weapon. The Israeli military confirmed that the dsrone was shot down mid-flight by a Patriot surface to air missile along the southern Israeli coastline never Ashdod. Speaking under anonymity, a senior military official, said Israel was aware Hamas possessed drones and Israel has targets Hamas drone facilities in Gaza previously. In a media statement, Hamas alleges that three drones were launched into Israel on Monday with only one confirmed by Israel. According to Enav, drones refer to a range of unmanned aircraft from rudimentary to advanced with weapons or surveillance capabilities. Hamas said it has both intelligence and munitions drones. In addition, the group alleges that it lost contact with one drone and targets included the Israeli Defense Ministry compound in Tel Aviv. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said,”Hamas is trying everything it can to produce some kind of achievement and it is crucial that we maintain our high state of readiness. The shooting down of a drone this morning by our air defense system is an example of their efforts to strike at us in any way possible.”
On Monday fighting continued as two Israeli airstrikes struck the southern city of Khan Younis killing four Palestinians and raising the death toll to at least 175 people killed including dozens of civilians, according to officials at European Hospital and the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza. No Israelis have been killed in Hamas rocket fire, however, several people have been wounded. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday, said the current operation could last a long time and the military is prepared for all possibilities including a Gaza ground invasion. The outbreak of violence followed the kidnappings and killings of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank last month and the subsequent kidnapping and killing of a Palestinian teenager in an alleged revenge attack, along with Israeli raids against Hamas militants and infrastructure in West Bank. Though the killers of the Palestinian teenagers have been caught, the killer of the three teenagers has yet to be caught. Israeli leaders widely condemned the killing and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed those responsible would be brought to justice. Israel accuses Hamas of the killing and cracked down on the Islamic militants in the West Bank after the abduction of the teens causing Gaza to respond with rocket fire that led to the current round of fighting.
However since the fighting began, Netanyahu has come under international pressure to end the operation. On Sunday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a ceasefire and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stated that America was ready to help restore calm. A key mediator between Israel and Hamas, Egypt continued to work to stop the conflict as Hamas has shown signs it would agree to a ceasefire if hundreds of arrested activist were freed as part of a truce. On the other hand, Netanyahu wants to show the Israeli public that he can succeed in degrading Hamas’s ability to strike Israeli targets before moving to a truce.
Unfortunately, Tuesday confirmed that Hamas has rejected Egypt’s proposal for a ceasefire with Israel after the Israeli Cabinet accepted the plan squashing international efforts to end the fighting that’s killed 192 Palestinians and risking the lives of Israelis. The Associated Press reports, Israel accepts cease-fire to end Gaza conflict; Hamas calls proposal unacceptable, that senior Israeli government officials now warn that Israeli will strike Gaza harder if Hamas does not accept the truce. The Egyptian proposal for a truce presented on late Monday called for a stop to the violence as of Tuesday morning followed by negotiations on easing the closure of Gaza’s borders which has been enforced by Israel and Egypt since Hams seized the territory in 2007. On conditions of anonymity, an Israeli official said, “As you know, the Cabinet has accepted the Egyptian proposal. If Hamas rejects it, Israel will continue and intensify its operations and Hamas will find itself totally isolated, including in the Arab world, which supports the proposal.” In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the proposal was not acceptable as Hamas officials are weary of promises from Egypt and Israel to ease the border blockade since the promise was part of the 2012 truce, which was broken due to a violent flare up. Referring to the 2012 truce, he said,” It’s not logical to ask people who are under aggression to cease fire and then later to negotiate terms that were not respected in the past by the Israelis.” The ease of the blockade is crucial to Hamas’ survival because the outbreak of fighting has left the militant group in serious financial woes as the closure by Egypt has prevented cash and goods from being smuggled in across the Gaza-Egypt border.
As of Tuesday afternoon, in Gaza, the death toll now stands at 194 people killed with 1,400 wounded so far making it the deadliest conflict between Israel and Hamas in over five years. Israel resumed its heavy bombardment of Gaza on Tuesday and warned that the Islamic militant group will pay the price for not accepting the Egyptian truce plan and unleashing rocket fire at the Jewish state killing one Israeli. According to Karin Laub and Aron Heller, Israel: Hamas to pay price for its ‘no’ to truce, Hamas does not consider Egypt’s current ruler a fair broker, who ousted the Hamas friendly government in Cairo a year ago. Hamas will continue to fight as it has little to lose, while a truce on unfavorable terms could weaken the grip on the Gaza Strip, a territory it seized in 2007. Reaffirming this stance, Gaza militants fired more than 120 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel on Tuesday with more than 40 rockets hitting in a few minutes and causing the first Israeli death since the beginning of the offensive. In a TV response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated,”Hamas chose to continue fighting and will pay the price for that decision. When there is no cease-fire, our answer is fire.” After holding fire for six hours, the Israeli air force opened fired launching 33 strikes from midafternoon. In Washington, State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said Israel had the right to defend itself, but would not want to see a ground invasion. Hamas officials rejected the plan on Tuesday noting they weren’t consulted by Cairo and see the truce as an ultimatum to Hamas from Israel and Egypt. A top Hamas official, Moussa Abu Marzouk, told the Lebanese TV channel Al-Mayadeen: “The siege on Gaza must be broken, and the people of Gaza should live freely like other people of the world. There should be a new equation so that we will not have a war on Gaza every two years.” In addition, Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas leader in Gaza, had this to say: “Mediation to end this aggression needs to come from different countries, and the guarantees should be given by different countries in order to commit the occupation (Israel) to what any future agreement might say.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas’ main political rival, was to meet Wednesday in Cairo with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and then fly to Turkey for high-level talks. Meanwhile, Netanyahu has been under a lot of pressure from his Cabinet and the ruling Likud Party to launch a ground offensive to end the rocket fire. He faced intense criticism from the right over agreeing to the Egyptian truce plan.
On Monday, according to Barbara Surk’s article, Heavy Clashes Between Hezbollah And Syrian Rebels Leave Many Dead, the British based Syrian Observatory for Human right said militants from the Islamic State took over territory from a rival al-Qaida linked Nusra Front group near the border of Iraq. The march by militants of the IS on the city of Deir el-Zour brings them closer to a showdown with Bashar Assad’s forces. The group recently captured cities and towns in northern Iraq and merged them with territory under its control in eastern Syria. Assad’s forces still control half of Deir el-Zour city, however no fighting between his troops and the extremist group have been reported. The Syrian conflict began in March 2011 following peaceful protest against Assad’s rule that turned into armed revolts after opposition supporter took up weapons to fight a brutal government crackdown. The situation dissolved in to civil war in which Islamic extremists with hard line al-Qaida ideologies have played a prominent role among fighters leading to the dampening of support from the West. On Monday, the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution authorizing cross border delivery of food and aid to Syrians in rebel held areas without government approval. The article explains: ” The resolution expressed ‘grave alarm at the significant and rapid deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Syria’ and deplored the fact that its previous demands for humanitarian access ‘have not been heeded’ by the Syrian government and opposition fighters.” The council adopted a resolution in February for aid, but monthly reports from U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on its implementation paint a dire picture. According to Surk: “Just hours before the resolutions was adopted, 13 Syrian Red Crescent trucks loaded with 1,000 parcels crossed into the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Moadamiyeh, which has been besieged by government troops for more than two years, causing widespread hunger-related illness and death among its residents. In Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus that has been under government siege for over a year, U.N. aid workers were not allowed to distribute aid on Monday, UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said in a statement, adding that 18,000 civilians remain trapped there in desperate need of food and medicine. The interruption follows a week of sustained food distribution in Yarmouk during which the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees in the Middle East distributed food parcels to 3,316 families, Gunness said.”
While the Middle East deals with numerous conflicts between governments and militants with different ideologies, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday continues his verbal assault on Russia accusing military staff officers of fighting with separatists in eastern Ukraine and using a newly developed Russian missile system against government forces. According to Reuters’ article, Ukraine’s President Poroshenko Says Russian Officers Fight Alongside Separatists, Poroshenko made his accusations as he was speaking to security chiefs at an emergency meeting after a weekend of Ukrainian air strikes on rebel position near the Russian border and charges by Moscow that Kiev killed a Russian man with cross border shell. After three months of fighting, several hundred Ukrainian servicemen, civilians and rebels have been killed as the fighting and war of words between Moscow and Kiev intensifies. As Poroshenko on Sunday accused Russia of movement of heavy military equipment into the country, he added: “Information has … been confirmed that Russian staff officers are taking part in military operations against Ukrainian forces.” Accusing Russia of escalating fighting in Ukraine’s eastern regions, National and Security Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko told journalists: “In the past 24 hours, deployment of (Russian) units and military equipment across the border from the Sumy and Luhansk border points was noticed. The Russian Federation continues to build up troops on the border. The (rebel) fighters systematically fire mortar and shoot into Russian territory which killed a Russian citizen.”
As Ukraine and the Middle East struggle to find a common ground, top U.S. and Iranian diplomats came together Monday for nuclear talks. The talks of U.S. and Iran were further complicated as both sides are fighting proxy wars in Israel, Gaza and Syria. However, both are talking cooperation in Iraq and Afghanistan, while negotiating the decrease in the Islamic republic’s uranium and plutonium programs. According to Bradely Klapper and Goerge Jahn, Kerry And Top Iranian Diplomat To Hold In-Depth Nuclear Talks Days Before Deadline, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif talked for two hours Monday in a second day of talks in Vienna and again in the afternoon hoping to meet Sunday’s initial deadline for a comprehensive nuclear agreement. Kerry told U.S. Embassy staff in Vienna that: “We are in the middle of talks about nuclear proliferation and reining in Iran’s program. It is a really tough negotiation.” In addition, both men talked about Afghanistan which Kerry visited before Vienna to broker a power sharing agreement between rival presidential candidates and a full audit of election ballots. Both men were in agreement that the mediation was extremely important for the Afghan people and echoed thr need for unity. However the two countries remain divided when it comes to the current Israeli Palestine conflict with Iran being the main benefactor for Hamas and alleged source of its new drone capacity, while Washington provides billions in aid each year to Israel. Nonetheless, the talks focused on nuclear matters. Monday’s talk came a day after failed talks between Britain, France and Germany with Iran on uranium enrichment and other issues standing in the way of a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the end of nuclear sanction on Tehran. Under a six month interim agreement in effect since January, world powers and Iran have until July 20 to conclude a final deal. The interim agreement does allow for an additional six month period for negotiation which seem likely. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that Iran has defied the expectation of some, but has yet to make the necessary decisions to prove the world its intentions are peaceful. Iranian hardliners oppose any concession by President Hassan Rouhani’s government, while U.S. lawmakers threaten to shoot down any agreement that would allow Iran to keep some enrichment capacity.
Posted in 2014, activism, al-Qaida, bombing, conflict, congress, controversial, economy, goverment, human rights, insurgency, international, Iran, Iraq War, Islamic State, law, militants, military, news, peace, people, politics, terrorism, tragedy, United Nations, United States, US, video, violence, war, white house, world
Tagged Al Qassam Brigades, AP, Baalbek Syria, ceasefire, Conflict Israeli Settlements, egypt, Geneva Nuclear Talks, Hamas, Hamas Israel, Hamas Rejects Ceasefire Proposal, Hamas Rockets, Hezbollah Lebanon, Hezbollah Syria, Iran Nuclear Talks, Iran Nuclear Weapons, Iran US Nuclear, Iran US Relations, Iranian Nuclear Negotiations, Iron Dome, Israel, Israel Crisis, Israel Drone, Israel Gaza Airstrikes, Israel Hamas, Israel Palestine Mideast Conflict, Israel Rockets, Israel Tensions, Israeli Palestinian, Javad Zarif, John Kerry, John Kerry Iran, Kerry, middle East, Mideast Violence, Mohammad Javad Zarif Iran, Nuclear Talks, Palestine rejects ceasefire, Palestinian Israeli Conflict, Palestinian Territories, Palestinians Israel, peace talks, Petro Poroshenko, Reuters, rocket fire Gaza, Rockets, Russia, Syria, Syria Lebanon, Syria Violence, Syrian Rebels, truce, Ukraine, Ukraine Fighting, Ukraine Poroshenko, Ukraine Russian Officers Fighting, Ukraine Violence, Ukraine War, video
July 2, 2014 by craftymcclever
Ukrainian Ceasefire Ends Prompting Ukraine to Attack the Rebels
Ukrainian troops stand on top of vehicles as they leave a site of a battle in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, on Friday, June 13, 2014. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
On Tuesday, Ukrainian forces in the eastern region, with the assistance of air and artillery strikes, struck at the pro-Russian separatist bases shortly after the announcement President Petro Poroshenko made to end the ceasefire, Reuters reports (Ukraine Forces Attack Rebel Positions After Ceasefire Ends by Richard Balmforth and Natalia Zinets). The defense ministry, after confirming that Ukrainian forces had launched attacks from air and land, said, “The terrorists’ plan to significantly escalate armed confrontation has been disrupted and the threat of losses to the civilian population and service personnel has been liquidated.” The number of casualties are not immediately known. Poroshenko, who accuses Russia of aiding the rebels and prolonging the conflict, decided not to renew the 10 day unilateral ceasefire after a four way call with German and French leaders and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. In an early morning statement, Poroshenko stated that Ukraine had not seen “concrete steps for de-escalating the situation, including strengthening controls on the border.” In a statement from Moscow, the foreign ministry stated, “There is an impression that the change in Kiev’s position … could not have come about without influence from abroad, despite the position of leading EU member states.” Sergei Naryshkin, an ally of Putin and the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, commented, “We think that without a truce, without the start of dialog, it is simply impossible to restore peace, justice and law and order in Ukraine.” Poroshenko, in office only three weeks, has been dealing with increasing anger at home and from new political establishments over military losses and calling for more forceful action against the rebels. A tweet by the Ukrainian foreign ministry on Monday night confirms that, since June 20 when the ceasefire began, 27 Ukrainian servicemen have been killed and 69 wounded.
Pro-Russian separatism exploded in Ukraine’s east in April following street protests in Kiev that toppled Moscow backed president, Viktor Yanukovich, who refused to sign a free trade deal with the European Union that would of shifted Ukraine westwards. Russia then annexed Crimea and separatist rebels in Ukraine’s Russian speaking east seized buildings and strategic points declaring them a “people’s republic” and calling for union with Russia. Last Friday, Poroshenko signed the EU deal in defiance of threats by Russia to retaliate the trade action. While Moscow already faced asset freezes and visa bans from the EU, Moscow could face more penalties unless the Pro-Russian rebels do not wind down the crisis in the Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk provinces. On Friday, the EU leaders promised to meet again to discuss additional penalties this time on new people and companies with asset freezes as early as next week since they have already compiled a list of 60 names. Even with the promise of hard hitting economic sanctions, the EU is cautious over implementing them as Russia is a major energy supplier.
Posted in 2014, community, conflict, controversial, goverment, human rights, insurgency, international, militants, military, peace, people, politics, terrorism, tragedy, video, violence, war, world
Tagged Petro Poroshenko, Putin, Reuters, Ukraine, Ukraine Ceasefire, Ukraine Ceasefire Ends, Ukraine Crisis, Ukraine War, Vladimir Putin
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Have you noticed how when you board the bigger inter-continental aircrafts, you always have to go through the business class before you take out your reading glasses to evaluate the smallness of your economy seat that you cannot find in the first place? I have my own theory on this, a theory that is mine and probably wrong. I think that the Airline, no matter which company, is telling me in no uncertain words that I’m a loser. “Well sunshine, either you’ve chosen the wrong job or you’re not working hard enough to be able to afford the reclining seats and the 5-course dinner at the front of the plane,” seems to be the message emanating from the cockpit.
I must be thankful that I can afford trips to Peru, so my wife can see her family. I am also aware that most Peruvians would be only too happy to sit it out in economy class seats. But by European standards it’s crystal clear that I’m the biggest loser of the lot because even in buying an economy class air ticket, I manage to pay twice as much as the 20 stone yobbo sitting next to me who bought his ticket a day before I did. Yep, life sucks doesn’t it.
I take comfort from the fact that the five-course meal served in the business class has five times more chance of being infected with Salmonella than the single course dished to me in a vacuum pack that I cannot open. It’s simple maths.
The other heartening thought is that if the plane goes down in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, we all drown together. Now there’s solidarity for you.
The truth of the matter is that there’s one thing I hate more than being 20,000 feet above the sea for 10 hours, and that’s having to spend 40 seconds of my life going through the business class section of a Boeing 777 and the sight of champagne served in a crystal glass even before there is someone in the seat to drink it. But I prefer that to the look on the faces of the business class tossers who are actually drinking the stuff. It’s a look that is saying, “I have made it and you have not!” – a stark reminder of what could have been had I been unscrupulous enough to earn lots of dosh illegally.
My frustration at being a loser took a turn for the worse when I learned that the Manchester United football team (you know, the ones who earn a lot of money and never win) had chartered the most expensive aircraft in the world to be able to show off their egos in a foreign land half-way across the globe. The aircraft, a Boeing 777, goes under the name “Crystal Skye” and cost the club a cool half-a-million smackers. Well, I don’t know about you, but the only thing I have in common with these guys is the use of the word “Crystal” for my tiny little blog. As I said before, if this plane goes down, the jet set die just like the poor plonkers in Economy class travelling to Ibiza with RyanAir. Not that I’m wishing for a disaster. Let’s be crystal clear about that.
“Zero-G?” That’s a plane for me!
The social divide encompassed within an aircraft flying 20,000 feet above a shark infested ocean reaches its paroxysm when an opaque curtain is drawn between the business and economy classes, and chained with a “No riff-raff” board. It is a curtain that reflects an uncompassionate world, a relentless rat race where those who fail really get to know about it and pay the consequences for their failure.
On a trans-atlantic flight, a long time ago, there was I, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, desperately seeking the compassion of a Spanish air hostess to allow me to use the microwave situated a meer two meters away from my economy class seat, but on the wrong side of the curtain. All I wanted to do is warm up milk for my 18-month-old baby. Being on the side of the losers, I had to walk all the way down to the other end of the plane to be able to use the very same microwave model but belonging to a different social class.
It was a clear case of “have’s” to the right, and “have not’s” to the left. But in the face of disaster, we are all equals.
Economics Peru Psychology
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Archive for terry harper
Atlanta Jazz Festival 2015: Final Thoughts
Posted in Atlanta Jazz Festival 2015 with tags arturo o'farrill, atlanta jazz festival, banda magda, charnett moffett, diane schuur, dida pelled, jeff tain watts, julie dexter, kathleen bertrand, mad satta, otis brown iii, rhonda thomas, stanley jordan, terry harper, tony hightower on June 5, 2015 by curtjazz
Diane Schuur takes the stage (Photo by John Davenport)
Some final thoughts on this year’s Atlanta Jazz Festival…
Some very strong performances this year and I love the infusion of more of the younger generation of jazz artists. Continuing this pattern bodes well for the AJF’s future.
The frustrating part is (and always will be) the fact that it is impossible to catch all of the great groups on the three stages. This year I stuck mostly to the Main Stage to keep from fighting the huge crowds. I managed to catch a few terrific sets at the International Stage but I know that I missed so much more…
Top Performances that I saw:
Four Women (Kathleen Bertrand, Julie Dexter, Terry Harper and the show stealing Rhonda Thomas) a tribute to Nina Simone – Wow…Oh Wow!!! These ladies and the support provided by their musical director Russell Gunn were simply amazing. And the fact that Ms. Simone’s sister was in the audience made it even better.
Otis Brown III – Brother Brown mixed the sacred and the secular into an all-encompassing groove. Big up for the horns – Marquis Hill on trumpet and John Ellis on tenor!
Banda Magda – The charismatic vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Magda Giannikou and company had the International Stage audience captivated. Hope to catch them again soon.
Diane Schuur – The lady is still as marvelous and classy as ever. And it she was joined by first-class talents including Ben Wolfe on bass and Don Braden on the saxes.
Nettwork Trio – Charnett Moffett on bass, Stanley Jordan on guitar and Jeff “Tain” Watts on drums…no fanfare, no glitz, just three of the best in the business, showing us how it’s done.
The performances that I most regret missing:
Dida Pelled – Curse you ATL Memorial Day weekend traffic!!! I arrived at the park just after she finished.
Arturo O’Farrill – The crowd had grown so big that it was almost impossible to move to The International Stage by Sunday evening. I should have tried anyway!
Mad Satta – Just because I knew from jump that I was going to miss this great young neo-soul group doesn’t make me feel any better about it.
Tony Hightower – This vocalist has a bright future, I’m just sorry that I couldn’t get to the Locals Stage to catch a piece of it.
Big thumbs up for:
Karen Hatchett; the AJF’s Awesome PR Director and the wonderful team of volunteers at the Media Tent. Y’all always make John and I feel welcome. Because of all of you, AJF is (and always will be) a first class jazz festival.
The beautiful people of Atlanta who come to the AJF every year. I stood at the top of the meadow at one point and looked out over the crowd that was about 85% African-American and I just saw people, enjoying the music and each other. All of the nasty narratives that some nameless cable news outlets peddle about us was nowhere in sight. Sorry that y’all couldn’t find room for the AJF on your “Factor”.
The lady in one of the tents with the great looking Red Velvet cake. Ma’am, that cake looked so good, that I almost lied and said that I was part of your family, so could get a slice!
Working side by side with my son. Watching as he comes into his own is one of the greatest experiences ever.
BlueSatch, I’m sorry that I couldn’t find you, bro. Next year for sure!
That’s all for 2015. We’ll see you all in the same place next Memorial Day Weekend…
Atlanta Jazz Festival 2015 Preview: Sunday on the Main Stage – “The Center Holds”
Posted in Atlanta Jazz Festival 2015 with tags atlanta jazz festival, Atlanta Jazz Festival Main Stage, charnett moffett, diane schuur, four women, jeff tain watts, julie dexter, kathleen bertrand, Kurt Rosenwinkel Pharoah Sanders, Nina Simone, pharoah sanders, rhonda thomas, stanley jordan, terry harper on May 20, 2015 by curtjazz
Pharoah Sanders
Over the last few years the Atlanta Jazz Festival has developed a pattern in its Main Stage lineup scheduling – on Saturday, the younger, less traditional artists are given the spotlight, with a chance to build an audience for their (and by extension, jazz’s) future. But Sundays remain for the more familiar names. The respected veterans who represent the jazz mainstream, the “Center” if you will. In 2014, pianist Ahmad Jamal and vocalist Freddy Cole were the Sunday headliners. This year, it’s two veterans of similar stature, saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and vocalist Diane Schuur, who are the big draws. But before they take the stage on Sunday night, we will hear from two intriguing groups – a super group trio of jazz heavyweights and a quartet of ATL’s finest jazz divas in a promising tribute to one of the all time greats.
1:00 PM – Navy Band Southeast V.I.P. Protocol Combo
Early arrivals on this final day will be treated to a quartet of swinging Navy men who will play a variety of standards and instrumentals, to get the day started in a classy way.
3:00 PM – Four Women: A Tribute to Nina Simone Featuring Kathleen Bertrand, Julie Dexter, Rhonda Thomas and Terry Harper
“Four Women” is the title of one the great Nina Simone’s most compelling and enduring compositions; a celebration of all shades, shapes, sizes, pains and ultimately, the unquenchable spirit of Black womanhood. Over the last few years, many great female vocalists have taken on the song as a centerpiece of a tribute to the incomparable “High Priestess of Soul”. This year, AJF38 has its own Four Women, who happen to be about the best jazz vocalists that the city can offer – Kathleen Bertrand, Julie Dexter, Rhonda Thomas and Terry Harper.
Ms. Bertrand is a AJF veteran and one of the stars of Atlanta area jazz, having appeared as a headliner during the 2012 Festival and with Roy Ayers that same year. She has released a number of recommended albums, including Katharsis, which features the AJF’s unofficial anthem “Jazz in Piedmont Park”. The British born Julie Dexter has been an Atlanta resident since 1999. She has a broad and devoted fan base around the globe and moves easily between the jazz and R&B worlds. Ms. Dexter is also a past AJF artist. My family still talks of her impressive Main Stage set with Russell Gunn in 2012. Though I missed the 2013 AJF, I’ve heard that Ms. Dexter’s set that year was also a highlight.
New York native Rhonda Thomas was a new name to me, until she was announced as part of this group. My research led me to her duet album with guitarist Michael Coppola Guess Who I Saw Today. Her range, and vocal versatility made me an instant fan. Anyone who can perform the under-appreciated modern classic “Miss Celie’s Blues” the way Ms. Thomas does, is alright with me. Terry Harper is also new to me but her family certainly isn’t. The vocalist is married to trumpeter/educator Danny Harper, whose younger brothers Phillip and Winard, formed The Harper Brothers, one of the best of the “Young Lion” groups of the 90’s. Terry, Danny and the rest of their family are also the hosts of The Harper Family Jam Session, each Thursday night at Atlanta’s Best Jazz Spot, Churchill Grounds.
These four ladies are proven talents. I’m expecting that somewhere, Ms. Simone will be smiling.
5:00 PM – Nettwork Trio: Charnett Moffett, Stanley Jordan, and Jeff “Tain” Watts
Stanley Jordan on guitar; Jeff “Tain” Watts on drums; Charnett Moffett on bass. For cats like me, who cut their teeth on jazz during the 80’s/90’s renaissance, each of those cats is an icon, by himself. Now the three of them have come together to form a trio called Nettwork. The potential is mind-blowing.
Jordan, you may recall, was one of the first artists signed to the newly revived Blue Note records in the ’80s. He set the jazz (and rock) world on fire with his amazing “touch” technique that allowed him to sound like multiple guitarists playing at once. Even thirty years later, his creativity is still astounding. Moffett, the son of drummer Charles Moffett was another wunderkind who hit the scene around the same time, also with astounding ability that garnered him legions of fans and work on over 200 recordings. And Watts, known to many as the drummer on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, first came to fame for his work with Wynton and Branford Marsalis on their early work and he remains one of the best drummers alive on the planet. Why these cats had never thought of coming together before now, is a mystery. And with their various commitments, I get the feeling that their time working together now, will likely be brief. I glad that I’ll have the chance to catch them live.
7:00 PM – Diane Schuur
Diane Schuur first came to prominence around the same time as Moffett, Jordan and Watts. Discovered by Stan Getz, Ms. Schuur is one of those vocalists whose style is so singular that you know it’s her within the first few words of a song. Her career has now spanned over three decades, with two Grammy wins and many more nominations. She’s wailed in front of the Basie Band, sang the blues with B.B. King and on a recent album The Gathering, she displays some impressive Country chops. I’ve been a fan of Ms. Schuur’s since her first album Deedles in 1984 and it has been wonderful watch her grow from a young woman with impressive, if undisciplined pipes, into the mature and affecting song stylist that she is today.
At AJF38 you can expect to hear Ms. Schuur sing selections from her catalog of over 20 albums, including her latest, I Remember You (With Love To Stan and Frank). The album is a heartfelt tribute to two of Schuur’s most important mentors, Getz and Frank Sinatra. We’ll also likely hear tunes that were made famous by Ms. Schuur’s biggest vocal influence, Dinah Washington. Regardless of the set list, it’s a great chance to hear one of jazz’s best living vocalists, practice her craft.
9:00 PM – Pharoah Sanders Quartet featuring Kurt Rosenwinkel
Pharoah Sanders is one of jazz’s handful of living iconic figures, a man who learned his craft literally beside John Coltrane, as the second tenor sax in Trane’s last groups. He also created one of the most unforgettable “free jazz” records of the of the late 60’s in “The Creator Has a Master Plan” (from his album Karma). In more recent times, he worked with rock oriented producers such as Bill Laswell, who have added another dimension to his sound and introduced Mr. Sanders to a new audience. Sanders sound has also mellowed a bit recently as he has begun to embrace the ballads and the melodic playing of his mentor Coltrane’s earlier years; yet Sanders has managed to maintain the some of the gritty intensity that has always been his trademark.
Joining Pharoah Sanders will be Kurt Rosenwinkel, a fine guitarist with a fluid, yet edgy style that should provide a great compliment to Sanders’ big toned tenor. Together, I expect that they will create music that will push a few boundaries in order to keep things interesting. They may play ballads at times but they won’t be gentle. It should be an engaging set that will end AJF38 on a high note.
You can hear the music of these and many other AJF38 Artists from 5 PM – 7 PM daily on our Curt’s Cafe Noir, our streaming 24/7 jazz radio station. Click HERE to listen now.
For more information on the 2015 Atlanta Jazz Festival visit their website at http://atlantafestivals.com
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THE NCC
Thomas Hicks
Commissioner, Elections Assistance Commisssion
Thomas Hicks was nominated by President Barack H. Obama and confirmed by unanimous consent of the United States Senate on December 16, 2014 to serve on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). He has served as chairman of the commission for two terms.
Commissioner Hicks has focused his efforts on voter access. Under his leadership, the EAC developed a pocket-sizedvoter card that serves as a guide on voting rights for voters with disabilities. The card is provided in both Braille and large print. The EAC has worked with advocacy groups and election officials to distribute the card.
In addition, Mr. Hicks has addressed the difficulties overseas voters have when requesting and returning their ballots, such as dealing with foreign IP addresses and issues with timely ballot delivery. He worked with key states to set up a help desk. Now, overseas voters receive an email response directing them to the help desk to obtain their ballots.
He serves as the designated federal officer for the Board of Advisors, which reviews the voluntary voting systems guidelines.
Mr. Hicks is a frequent speaker at conferences in the United States and overseas on issues such as voter access and cybersecurity.
Prior to his appointment with EAC, Commissioner Hicks served as a senior elections counsel and minority elections counsel on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on House Administration, a position he held from 2003 to 2014. In this role, Mr. Hicks was responsible for issues relating to campaign finance, election reform, contested elections and oversight of both the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and the Federal Election Commission. His primary responsibility was advising and providing guidance to the committee members and caucus on election issues. Mr. Hicks has talked with Americans in every state about their voting experiences. In addition, he has worked with state and local election officials across America to address critical election concerns.
Prior to joining the U.S. House of Representatives, Mr. Hicks served as a senior lobbyist and policy analyst from 2001 to 2003 for Common Cause, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that empowers citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest. Mr. Hicks has enjoyed working with state and local election officials, civil rights organizations and all other stakeholders to improve the voting process.
Mr. Hicks served from 1993 to 2001 in the Clinton administration as a special assistant and legislative assistant in the Office of Congressional Relations for the Office of Personnel Management. He served as agency liaison to the United State Congress and the president’s administration on matters regarding federal personnel policies and regulations.
Mr. Hicks received his J.D. from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law and his B.A. in Government from Clark University (Worcester, MA). He also studied at the University of London (London, England) and law at the University of Adelaide (Adelaide, Australia).
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Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards To Sign Latest Fetal Heartbeat Ban
Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images
Rachel Stoltzfoos Staff Reporter
May 30, 2019 11:56 AM ET
Louisiana Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards said he will sign a bipartisan bill passed by the legislature this week to ban abortion after a heartbeat can be detected in the fetus.
Edwards said he campaigned as a pro-life candidate in a statement on his decision Wednesday that focused mostly on his assertion that his pro-life view extends into the life of the child beyond birth. The bill is the latest in a slew of state-led efforts to restrict abortion.
“In 2015, I ran for governor as a pro-life candidate after serving as a pro-life legislator for eight years,” Edwards said. “As governor, I have been true to my word and my beliefs on this issue. But it is also my sincere belief that being pro-life means more than just being pro-birth.” (RELATED: CBS Offers Propaganda Platform To Planned Parenthood)
“I know there are many who feel just as strong as I do on abortion and disagree with me, and I respect their opinions,” he added. “As I prepare to sign this bill, I call on the overwhelming bipartisan majority of legislators who vote for it to join me in continuing to build a better Louisiana that cares for the least among us and provides more opportunity for everyone.”
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards speaks during a press conference to update the public on FEMA’s disaster recover and temporary housing programs on August 19, 2016 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The bill passed with the support of every Republican in the Louisiana legislature and more than a dozen Democrats. The final passage vote in the state House was 79-23. Edwards decision to sign puts him at odds with Democratic party leaders and pro-abortion activists who are casting the series of pro-life successes in dire terms. (RELATED: WaPo Fact Check Rates Planned Parenthood Claim About Roe False)
The fetal heartbeat can sometimes be detected before a woman knows she is pregnant — around five or six weeks in — leading critics to say the bill amounts to an unconstitutional ban on abortion. Seven other states have passed similar laws, including Missouri, North Dakota, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, Kentucky and Mississippi. Louisiana will be the first case of the law being signed by a Democratic governor.
The bill allows exceptions to save the life of the mother, or if the pregnancy is deemed “medically futile,” because the baby won’t ultimately survive. It does not have exceptions for rape or incest.
Many Democrats are pushing for the party to formally exclude pro-life members, including senator and presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand, who recently noted the party has shifted left on abortion and pushed for a purge of pro-lifers from its ranks.
“As a party, we should be 100 percent pro-choice, and it should be non-negotiable,” she told The Washington Post. “We should not settle for less, and if our party cannot support women’s basic human rights, their fundamental freedoms to make decisions about their bodies and their futures, then we are not the party of women.”
Follow Rachel Stoltzfoos on Twitter
Tags : democratic party john bel edwards louisiana
Rachel Stoltzfoos
Follow Rachel on Twitter. Send tips to rachel@dailycaller.com.
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Tag Archives: John C. Harrison
The Past is Not Prologue
Thomas Kuhn used the duck-rabbit optical illusion, to demonstrate the way in which a paradigm shift could cause one to see the same information in an entirely different way.
One of my favorite weekly reads is Tim Moore’s “The Midweek Motivator.” You can sign-up for Tim’s weekly wisdom here.
This past week, Tim wrote about how people inside radio stations are asking him, “is radio failing?”
Now Tim’s a student of history, and he responded with “If you care about history (because the past is prologue) here’s the simple truth: some large groups are faced with debt loads that will either force bankruptcy or massive reorganization.”
Tim’s analysis about how America’s two largest broadcasters dug huge debt holes that can’t be re-filled by current operating revenues is spot-on. With radio, like a lot of businesses, it’s a matter of buying it right from the get-go. Start out upside down and most likely you won’t have a good day.
A system that is over-reliant on prediction through leverage, hence fragile to unforeseen “black swan” events, will eventually break into pieces.
-Nassim Taleb
Crystal balls are hard to come by but my tea leaves are leading me to believe that mass mediated communication is confronting more than just debt loads. What we are also dealing with is “paradigm paralysis.”
Radio’s leaders are holding onto a set of beliefs and views that radio is invincible.
Thomas Kuhn coined the term “paradigm shift” in his influential book “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” in 1962. The business world adopted this terminology of “paradigm shift” to describe a profound change in a fundamental model.
Paradigm paralysis, on the other hand, is the inability or refusal to see beyond the current models of thinking.
Let Me Share a Story
John C. Harrison told this story at the First World Congress on Fluency Disorders held in Munich, Germany in 1994. See if you see a parallel to radio and the advent of satellites, streaming, podcasts, and smart speakers.
In the late 1940s a man walked into a laboratory of a major photographic
manufacturer in America to demonstrate a new photographic process. But
he didn’t bring along a camera or film. He brought along a red box with a
shiny steel plate, a charging device, a light bulb and a container of black
powder. The picture he created was faint but discernible.
“But where’s the film?” they asked. “Where’s the developer? Where’s the
darkroom? Why, that’s not really photography!” And so, the company
passed up an opportunity to acquire the process for electrostatic
photography, or xerography…a process that has grown into a multi-billion
dollar industry.
Why did they pass up such a great opportunity? Because the people who
saw the process were suffering from PARADIGM PARALYSIS.
Call Me an Outsider
Joel Barker wrote a book called “Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future.” Joel says that anyone who develops a new paradigm is often labeled an “outsider.”
Truthfully, when you’re running a cluster of radio stations, you don’t have time to think let alone take a step back and look at things with a fresh eye. I know. I’ve been there.
What teaching and now blogging have given me the opportunity to do is listen to everyone talk about the prevailing paradigm of radio broadcasting, in all of its subtleties and contrast it, to what I’m witnessing taking place before my eyes and ears by the end users of mass media.
And what I sense may be happening, is the radio industry being on the verge of a “black swan event.”
Black Swan Events
Credit card companies, who amass tons of data on their customers, still managed to miss the huge financial crises in housing back in 2007-2009.
When a tidal wave struck Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, the predictive model used to calculate how high the protective wall should be built, provided for a 20-foot wave. Yet, the wave that struck the plant was 24-feet high.
AIG, an insurance company in the business of predicting risk, missed seeing the financial collapse that bankrupted them.
Now Facebook is dealing with a black swan event over their data breach by Cambridge Analytica. Only this black swan could have major implications for how digital advertising is bought and sold in the future. The UK and Europe will put in place in May 2018 the “General Data Protection Regulation,” that will protect their citizens’ personal data or offending companies will suffer stiff penalties and fines.
So, what the Facebook story is doing, is making its two plus billion users aware of such massive collection and abuse of our data, but the fallout from this breach of trust will impact the ad supported business model of everyone in the digital advertising world.
30% of American Homes Don’t Have a Radio
Edison Research and Triton Digital’s annual “Infinite Dial” research just produced this astounding statistic. Close to a third of America’s homes no longer have a radio set in them.
Many people see smart speakers as the way back into the home for radio. But are they really?
Cable TV & Over-The-Air (OTA) TV
In the beginning, cable television was called “Community Antenna Television.” The concept was simple, TV stations were primarily located in big cities and the suburbs couldn’t receive those TV signals. So, antennas were placed high on mountains and cables would carry the signals received to homes in the valley.
TV operators loved this back then. It was like getting a power increase for no money.
Ah, but remember, there’s no such thing as a “free lunch.”
As the cable industry grew, channels such as ESPN and CNN and The Weather Channel were born and would compete with OTA TV.
Then along came streaming video.
At the end of March 2017, one year ago, Netflix surpassed cable TV with its number of subscribers. And if you were to add up all the other streaming video services available to today’s television consumer, the lead over cable wouldn’t be a couple million viewers, but tens of millions.
What happens when a household begins subscribing to these advertising free channels? They find it almost impossible to return to ad supported ones.
Now we circle back to the smart speakers, Amazon’s, Google’s, Apple’s and Microsoft’s for starters. Instead of a handful of audio choices, the smart speaker delivers an almost infinite choice, and many, advertising-free.
When you put a prime rib steak next to hamburger and they are both the same price, which do you think most folks will choose?
The smart speaker lets you customize your favorites, much like the pre-sets on your car radio does. I’m willing to bet that the average consumer will end up with about 3 to 5 favorite audio streams they spend the bulk of their listening time with.
In fact, Nielsen’s Total Audience Report released in the second quarter of 2017 said that 87% of OTA radio listeners spent their listening time tuned to one of their three favorite radio stations. And 58% of that time was spent listening to just one station, what Nielsen calls their 1st Preference or P1 station.
Why would we expect this number to grow with the advent of smart speakers?
Goldstein’s Words
I think Steve Goldstein summed it up best in his recent blog when he wrote, “Commercial radio should put down the hammer and stop searching for nails. As they think beyond the stream, they will see how people are using audio media these days and create on-demand solutions in-sync with the vast opportunity of the exploding Smart Speaker universe. On Smart Speakers, the listeners are asking for it.”
Tagged as Black Swan, Black Swan Events, Cambridge Analytica, digital advertising, Edison Research, Facebook, General Data Protection Regulation, Infinite Dial, Joel Barker, John C. Harrison, Nassim Taleb, Netflix, Nielsen Total Audience Report, Paradigm Paralysis, Paradigm Shift, smart speakers, Steve Goldstein, Thomas Kuhn, Tim Moore, Triton Digital
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‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’: Scott Michael Foster Upped To Series Regular For Season 3
Liz Calvario
April 5, 2017 8:46PM PDT
Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock
Scott Michael Foster has been upped as a series regular on the CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend for Season 3. The news was announced at tonight’s For Your Consideration event. The promotion comes after Foster was introduced as a recurring guest star in five episodes of the comedy’s second season.
Foster plays Nathaniel Plimpton, a lawyer from a prominent family who is from the San Gabriel Valley and a very different world. He was introduced in the second season’s episode 9 “When Do I Get to Spend Time with Josh?” as a possible love interest for Rebecca (Rachel Bloom).
David Hull, who plays White Josh, a close friend of Josh, Greg and Chris, was also promoted as a series regular.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was renewed for a third season back in January. Last year, the series, about a woman who jettisons her career at a New York law firm to find love in West Covina, CA, received a record four Emmy nominations for a CW show, winning two.
Foster’s credits include the ABC Family hit series Greek and Chasing Life, and had recurring roles on Californication, Halt and Catch Fire, Once Upon a Time and the ABC short-lived series Blood & Oil. He is repped by ICM, thruline and Stone. Genow.
© 2019 PMC. All rights reserved.
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The Pirates Are Incredibly Good At Losing In Milwaukee
Dom Cosentino
Filed to: pittsburgh piratesFiled to: pittsburgh pirates
Look, everyone, it's something else to indicate what a shitty baseball team the Pirates have been for the last two decades!
They lost to the Brewers last night, their second defeat at Miller Park in as many nights. Big deal, right? Just another game between a couple of NL Central teams hovering right around .500 at the end of April. Who cares? Except that it's something that pretty much always happens when Pittsburgh plays at Milwaukee.
Since 2007—or two managers ago, for both teams—the Buccos have played 53 times against the Brewers on the road. Milwaukee's record in those games is 46-7, which means it's won an astounding 87 percent of those matchups. That mark includes a run of 22 consecutive Brewers victories from 2007 to 2010, which ought to be impossible. The Pirates ended that streak in April 2010, but they've only managed to go 5-22 on the road against the Brewers since, which means Milwaukee has only managed to win 81 percent of its home games against Pittsburgh in the last three years. Progress!
This isn't about a curse, or anything that may or may not be in the bratwurst at the team hotel. It's simply about one baseball team owning another one at home for an extended period of time. It's something just to marvel at, especially as it continues with no apparent end in sight. The Pirates and Brewers are playing again at Miller Park this afternoon, and the game is tied 1-1 in the second inning. A Brewers win would give them their 13th home series sweep of Pittsburgh in the last seven seasons.
Photo credit: Associated Press
Recent from Dom Cosentino
Every Game Was Terrible: The Year The CFL Failed To Conquer America
What It Was Like To Play In The Most Violent NFL Game Ever
Deadspin Up All Night: Had Me A Real Good Time
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The De-Automation of Periodicals Mail
Jim O’Brien of Time Inc., who is in his third decade studying the Postal Service’s “automation refugees,” makes a startling statement in a guest article for the blog run by the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General:
“More Periodicals mail is manually processed than ever, and manual productivity continues to decline,” wrote O’Brien, widely recognized as a leading expert on the U.S. Postal Service's handling of Periodicals mail.
Magazine publishers have put lots of energy and resources into making our publications more suited to the Postal Service’s sorting equipment. We’ve participated in co-mail to create more carrier-route bundles, moved mail from sacks to pallets, turned our addresses upside down in preparation for the Flats Sequencing System, and are converting our tabloids to other formats to comply with the “droop” test.
But more than ever, according to O’Brien, postal facilities are letting the machines sit idle while employees handle newspapers and magazines (and, presumably, catalogs) manually. These employees are "automation refugees" – whom O'Brien describes as “mail processing employees who were assigned to manual operations when automation eliminated the work they had been doing.” So much for using automation to decrease the Postal Service's costs.
Rather than addressing the problem, postal officials complain that they're losing so much money on Periodicals that they need to jack up our rates. How about acknowledging that there are too many mail-processing employees and offering them a decent incentive to retire early?
“How can the Postal Service continue to imply that Periodicals mailers are responsible for the cost coverage problem when mailers have substantially and consistently increased Periodicals worksharing?” O’Brien wrote in the blog published yesterday. “The Postal Service should NOT be permitted to continue using Periodicals class mail processing as a dumping ground for its excess labor and the associated costs.”
The Postal Regulatory Commission also indicated yesterday that it might finally realize something is fishy about the Postal Service’s cost accounting for Periodicals. Rather than ruling on whether Periodicals rates are out of compliance with a law that requires each class of mail to break even, it held off doing anything until it receives the in-progress "Joint Report" on Periodicals cost coverage. (But it also hinted that major increases in Periodicals bundle and container rates are in order.)
For further information on the matter of automation refugees and how the USPS’s flawed accounting methods might lead to big rate increases for magazines, newspapers (and perhaps catalogs), please see:
Audience Development's excellent interview with Jim O'Brien about automation refugees. He also left an interesting comment on this article.
Increased Efficiency Led to Higher Periodicals and Catalog Costs, Goldway Says
Postal Service Preparing Double Whammy for Publishers
Postal Service Inefficiency Drives Up Periodicals Costs
For Periodicals, The Postal Service’s Math Doesn’t Add Up
on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 5 comments Links to this post
Republican Senators Defend Bogus Black-Liquor Accounting
The news media are finally realizing that ObamaCare's supposed savings from ending a black liquor tax credit are a mirage. It's making for some interesting reading.
Todd Zwillich, Washington correspondent for The Takeaway radio show, had an enlightening and amusing piece yesterday basically confirming that Congress knew that there was no black-liquor loophole even though the healthcare-reform legislation claims savings of more than $23 billion from closing the loophole. Especially interesting is that he found two Republican senators who oppose the bill but said the Democrats's black-liquor shell game is nothing new on Capitol Hill.
"Republicans and Democrats have both put together bills like this," said South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Zwillich said Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley was unfazed by the claim that the black liquor loophole was worth billions even though no paper companies are exploiting it.
"This is the way it works. They may not use it, but they could use it, okay?" Grassley said. "Even though somebody tells you it wouldn't happen, it could happen, and it could cost the Treasury."
Sorry, Charlie, it couldn't happen. Even without the healthcare legislation, a substance has to get EPA approval as a motor fuel or fuel additive to qualify for cellulosic biofuel producer credits. Black liquor, "a gooey wood pulp byproduct" in the words of BNET's Kirsten Korosec, doesn't belong in a gas tank.
Korosec gets credit for being the first on the black liquor story (other than a couple of obscure blogs) with last week's article Paying For Healthcare: How Democrats Closed an Energy Tax Loophole That Doesn't Exist.
Olga Pierce of ProPublica wins the honesty award for her item at the On The Hill blog today admitting that she previously got the black liquor story wrong. This time she nailed it: "Closing a tax loophole no one was planning to use doesn’t actually save the government any money."
So far, no one in the news media has reported another Congressional goof: If indeed black liquor could qualify for cellulosic biofuel producer credits, the loophole would be worth $60 billion, not $24 billion. Even when it generates imaginary revenue, Congress can't get the math right!
For more information on how a once-obscure pulp byproduct became such a political football, please see:
ObamaCare's Black Liquor Tab: $23.6 Billion
How Google Could Help the Democrats By Buying a Pulp Mill
News Media and Congress Are Confused About Black Liquor Subsidies
on Monday, March 29, 2010 1 comments Links to this post
Washington Post's New Magazine Will Bypass USPS
In what may be a troubling precedent for the U.S. Postal Service, The Washington Post is about to launch a paid subscription magazine that will bypass the USPS delivery network.
Capital Business will be delivered each week to paying ($49 per year) subscribers along with their Monday copy of the Post, according to the Post’s announcement. The move suggests that the country’s newspaper industry may be ready to try a new twist on a strategy that failed in the 1990s -- competing with the Postal Service to provide home delivery of magazines.
Two networks of daily newspapers delivered a variety of consumer magazines in their home markets during the early and mid-1990s. At the time, the delivery systems for most daily newspapers (kids on bicycles using marked-up address lists) were not suited to delivering a specific package to a specific customer, so the magazines were rarely delivered along with the newspaper, a former insider tells me.
The struggling efforts collapsed when the Postal Service restructured Periodicals postal rates to encourage worksharing (such as dropshipping), which led to lower postage costs for many publishers.
But times have changed. Postal officials want to return to the practice of increasing Periodicals postage prices much faster than the rate of inflation. Newspapers have learned to deliver several products through their daily carrier network -- already capturing a significant portion of The Wall Street Journal delivery business from the USPS. And customers have become accustomed to having publications delivered to their driveway rather than their doorstep.
With major newspaper companies like Hearst and the Washington Post Company (which owns Newsweek) also publishing magazines, finding a critical mass of newspapers and magazines willing to follow the Post’s lead would not be difficult.
Getting heavily into magazine delivery would require further enhancements to newspapers’ delivery systems, but the Postal Service seems unlikely to undercut them this time around. Postal officials believe they are losing money on Periodicals, though in reality the Postal Service would be even more unprofitable without them -- especially without the large consumer magazines that tend to mail most efficiently.
Another unusual feature of Capital Business, which will focus on the Washington area, is that it “will be available only to subscribers of The Washington Post,” according to the magazine’s Web site. And its content will apparently be available on the Web only to the magazine’s subscribers.
For more information about Periodicals postage rates, please see:
Postal Service Preparing Double Whammy for Publishers: The USPS is planning to hit magazine and newspaper publishers with big rate increases starting next year.
Can the Postal Service Still Afford Periodicals? The Postal Service's own numbers show that it is better off with than without Periodicals, even though it thinks the class is unprofitable.
Increased Efficiency Led to Higher Periodicals and Catalog Costs, Goldway Says The USPS's convoluted accounting logic on Periodicals seems to have taken in the chair of the Postal Regulatory Commission.
on Saturday, March 27, 2010 5 comments Links to this post
Despite a Democratic Congressman almost ruining the scheme by committing a cardinal political sin – He told the truth! – the historic healthcare legislation President Obama signed today assumes $23.6 billion in savings from eliminating a mythical black liquor tax credit.
Congressman Scott Murphy, whose district in the Adirondack Mountains of New York includes two operating paper mills (and several closed ones) almost spilled the beans on the bogus savings a few days ago. In an interview with the local newspaper about his support of the healthcare legislation, he made the following statement:
"We worked with IP (International Paper Co.) and Finch. And the language that's in here about the black liquor credit is not something that's going to impact their business. They're not going to be impacted by this in terms of what they were planning to do and what they're doing going forward."
In a similar statement last week crying out for explanation, Bloomberg BusinessWeek said that the loophole closure “would prohibit paper makers such as International Paper Co. from claiming a $1.01 tax credit for producing fuel from a type of pulp-making byproduct called black liquor. While International Paper and other forest product companies said they weren’t seeking the credit, the IRS determined they might be eligible.”
The payouts from the real black liquor tax credit, which expired last year, indicate that International Paper accounts for more than 20% of the country’s black liquor production. (See Black Liquor Scorecard: 21 Companies Earned $6.5 Billion in 2009.) If indeed the healthcare legislation plugged a “Son of Black Liquor” loophole worth $23.6 billion, then IP’s share would certainly be in the billions.
Question: Why would IP and “other forest product companies” not be interested in pursuing such generous tax credits? (After all, skyrocketing pulp prices could lead to hefty profits, and a hefty tax bill, for some of the companies this year.)
Answer: Because they knew they could never collect Cellulosic Biofuel Producer Credits, even before passage of healthcare reform. Those credits are only for EPA-approved motor fuels and additives. Executives at pulp-making companies understand that no one's going to put black liquor into their gas tank.
(News Media and Congress Are Confused About Black Liquor Subsidies explains further why, despite the IRS memo, black liquor would not qualify for the credits. How Google Could Help the Democrats By Buying a Pulp Mill explored black liquor's role in the healthcare debate.)
By the way, I’m sympathetic to some other aspects of the ObamaCare legislation, such as government help for the uninsured. But seeing how part of the program is allegedly being paid for with these bogus black-liquor savings make me wonder what other surprises are lurking in the law.
Coated Groundwood Prices on the Upswing, Poll Says
Coated groundwood prices in the U.S. are not only headed up, they will increase again in July, a majority of respondents to a Dead Tree Edition poll predicted.
Of the 58 respondents, 12 voted that the RISI index for 40# coated #5 would increase by $65 or more from the current (February) number of $735. Another 19 voted for a $35 to $65 increase -- which is also larger than the second-quarter increase of $30 that has been announced by nearly all mills.
Only 10 people (17%) predicted that prices would decrease. Another 17 predicted that CGW prices would rise less than $35 per ton.
Is the head of the Postal Regulatory Commission really falling for the Postal Service’s nonsensical accounting methods for periodicals and catalogs?
In her speech last week to a Federal Trade Commission workshop on journalism in the Internet age, Ruth Goldway tried to explain why Standard flats (mostly catalogs) and Periodicals mail (magazines and newspapers) had become increasingly unprofitable for the Postal Service in the past decade despite rate hikes and increased mailer work sharing.
“Part of the reason is that the Postal Service actually created a system of great savings and efficiency for letter mail, and so letter mail became automated,” she said, referring to delivery-point sequencing of letters. “But magazines -- Periodicals -- were not automated, so a greater share of the labor costs for the Postal Service … was then attributable to magazines and newspapers because they still had to be handled manually.”
That’s like an auto company saying it has to raise the price of its trucks because it figured how to reduce the cost of making cars. Automating the sortation of letters had no impact on the true cost of sorting flat mail.
In defense of Ms. Goldway, she did refer several times to “attributable costs,” suggesting that she realized the issue was that the USPS’s broken cost-accounting system was assigning greater costs to flats, not that the actual cost of handling flats had increased so rapidly. But she also mentioned that publishers get a $641 million annual subsidy because “it appears that cost coverage for Periodicals is now at 76%.”
Ms. Goldway works in a world where "cost" refers to a number determined by the Postal Service when it follows a consistent (and flawed) methodology that is in accordance with the law. She seems smart enough to see past that, but let's hope that hours of perusing mind-numbing Postal Service reports doesn't make her forget that, in the real world, the cost of providing a service is calculated by determining how much money would be saved if that service were not provided.
Without stating it directly, Ms. Goldway’s informal speech confirmed what magazine publishers and other mailers have been saying for years: The automation of letter mail turned many postal employees into “automation refugees” who were then assigned to unnecessary manual handling of flat mail. The Postal Service’s accounting system mis-assigns these costs to Periodicals and Standard flats rather than treating them as overhead.
It’s clear that automation and declining mail volumes have left the Postal Service with too many employees. The USPS’s new transformation plan mostly dodges the issue, saying the service will gradually downsize through attrition. It seems penny wise and pound foolish not to do what private industry would do to shrink its workforce in the face of declining revenue: Offer a decent early-retirement package ($15,000 is chicken feed in this context) to selected employees so that the Postal Service can rightsize now.
Ms. Goldway’s speech had some other interesting comments about periodicals:
"After the year 2000, there's only one year in which Periodicals appeared to have covered their costs, and that was in 2003."
"In 2007, there was a big rate increase for Periodicals. And while periodicals were shocked by it and troubled by it, it was, from the Rate Commission's point of view, the only fair thing to do, because, after all, we had single-piece users of the mail, people who are paying bills and using correspondence, who are subsidizing other uses of the mail unwittingly. And under the law, that's our obligation, to try and spread the responsibility for the costs more fairly."
"The lowest work-sharing groups, those with the smallest circulation, and with the highest editorial content, actually, cost the Postal Service on average about 19 cents apiece. And those periodicals are often the ones that journalists are most concerned about, those are often the periodicals of opinion, and they're the ones who are distributed nationwide, as opposed to a particular region."
She hopes that the Flats Sequencing System “will actually be able to have some really documented cost savings, so that there will be less of a . . . cost requirement for Periodicals to meet in the future." (Question: If FSS creates more automation refugees, to what class will the costs of those employees be allocated?)
There’s a “symbiotic relationship” between publishers and the Postal Service, going all the way back to the first Postmaster General, Ben Franklin. "I think if the Congress understands this unique relationship, arguments can be made for finding financial support in one way or another, that may address both of our concerns. I think together we have a case for what is an essential part of American infrastructure, and something that the Congress really does want to maintain. If only for its own personal desire to get reelected every year, they want to make sure that there's a vibrant political dialogue in the country."
For more information: The Postal Service's mis-allocation of costs to the Periodicals class and the issue of automation refugees is explored further in Postal Service Inefficiency Drives Up Periodicals Costs and Postal Accounting Snafus Might Be Bad News for Publishers.
on Thursday, March 18, 2010 7 comments Links to this post
Black Liquor
Here’s a way for Democrats to pass their ambitious healthcare and jobs proposals without looking like budget busters: Persuade Google to buy a pulp mill – specifically a U.S. mill that makes kraft pulp.
Understanding this scheme requires a walk through the smoke-and-mirrors world of federal budgeting.
The scheme involves Google acting as if it will cash in on the “Son of Black Liquor” tax credit, then the Democrats rushing in to block that non-existent tax loophole and using the nearly $35 billion or more in new “savings” to pay for their initiatives. The scheme could use any profitable, high-profile company. But Google is an especially good choice to play along because it needs powerful new friends in Washington to help fend off threats of antitrust action and other government intervention.
The Obama Administration and Congressional leaders squawked last spring when they learned that pulp and paper companies were exploiting a federal biofuel program to get huge tax credits for the burning of black liquor. Then they did nothing while the companies kept raking in the bucks -- $6.5 billion for publicly traded firms and probably at least $2 billion for privately held ones -- until the exploited “alternative fuel mixture” program expired on Dec. 31.
Now the Administration and various Congress members want to declare black liquor ineligible for the new Cellulosic Biofuel Producer Credits (CBPC) – a closing of the so-called Son of Black Liquor loophole. CBPC already requires that a biofuel be approved by the EPA as a motor fuel or fuel additive, which in essence makes black liquor ineligible. No one’s going to put a molasses-like mixture containing water and sediment into their gas tank. The Son of Black Liquor tax credit is a mirage.
You could say that Congress watched while all the horses left the barn, then raced to another, empty barn to slam its door shut.
Nevertheless, various politicians are claiming they are going to save taxpayers $21 to $25 billion by closing the non-existent loophole – and then using the “savings” to pay for new programs. (Congress had never intended or budgeted CBPC payments for black liquor, so even if the loophole existed closing it would be an avoidance of unbudgeted expenses rather than a budget reduction. Still, Congress is counting the closure as revenue.) Some members of Congress on both sides of the aisle wanted to use the funny money to pay for job-stimulus legislation, but the Obama Administration has already claimed it for healthcare reform.
In theory, Son of Black Liquor could be worth $60 billion. (Here’s the math: Publicly traded pulp and paper companies received more than $1.8 billion in alternative fuel mixture credits during each of the last two quarters. Add in companies that don’t report to the SEC and the total is probably $2.5 million. CBPC is twice as generous as the alternative fuel mixture credits and would last for 12 quarters.)
The problem is that, unlike the direct payments from the alternative fuel mixture program, CBPC can only be used to offset income tax payments. Pulp manufacturers haven’t been very profitable in recent years, ending last year in the black only because the black liquor tax credits exceeded their losses from making actual products. Administration and Congressional staff seem to be estimating that only 35% to 40% of the $60 billion would end up being claimed.
That’s where Google comes in. With an annual tax bill of about $1.5 billion, it would have no trouble using all of the CBPC credits from several good-sized pulp mills if black liquor were ever to become eligible for the program.
In announcing the purchase of the pulp mill, Google could make vague comments about “green energy,” converting the mill into a “bio-refinery,” favorable tax laws, and possible research on turning black liquor into a motor fuel. Google wouldn’t actually have to manufacture or market pulp; it could lease the mill back to the seller or pay it to operate the mill.
Tipped-off politicians could be ready to pounce, warning about the possibility of other highly profitable companies buying pulp mills to take full advantage of CBPC for black liquor. Pointing out that the potential drain on the Treasury is $60 billion, not $25 billion, they could then close the loophole and put some of the new “savings” into both the jobs bill and healthcare reform.
Will the news media let the politicians get away with this? Sadly, the answer is probably yes. Capitol Hill reporters have been treating Congressional press releases as if they came down from Mount Sinai. (Not that many of them pay much attention to the Ten Commandments, mind you.) News reports continue to refer to the savings from closing the (mythical) loophole without mentioning an EPA official's letter stating that black liquor doesn't qualify for CBPC.
Of all the mainstream news-media reporting on the subject, Bloomberg BusinessWeek came closest to the truth last week when it said, “The IRS issued a ruling last year that congressional analysts said opened the door for abuses, although companies have expressed little interest in claiming the credit.” But even it didn’t mention that the pulp and paper companies aren’t interested in CBPC credits because they know that black liquor won’t qualify.
For more on black liquor tax credits and the bogus Son of Black Liquor loophole, please see:
Black Liquor Scorecard: 21 Companies Earned $6.5 Billion in 2009: Shows the alternative fuel mixture credits that 21 publicly traded pulp and paper companies received last year for burning black liquor, as well as their net income.
Obama Joins in on the Black Liquor Two-Step: Lazy reporting is abetting the Obama Administration's claim that it will save billions by excluding black liquor from CBPC.
News Media and Congress Are Confused About Black Liquor Subsidies contains the full text of the EPA official's letter and shows where the news media and Congressional staff have gone wrong.
Did Black Liquor Credits Pave the Way for Healthcare Legislation? explains the apparent reason Congress did nothing about the billions paid out to pulp and paper companies last year in the form of black liquor tax credits.
Black Liquor Subsidies – Congressional Shell Game shows that Dead Tree Edition is not the only obscure blog saying that the black-liquor savings being claimed by Congress and the Administration are bogus.
If that's not enough, how about a whole case of black liquor -- every article on the subject (31 to date) that has appeared in Dead Tree Edition?
on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 1 comments Links to this post
Is Domtar's Exit a Game Changer for Coated Paper?
Today we discovered what NewPage had up its sleeve when it announced a price increase for coated groundwood paper on Friday: It knew that Domtar was about to close its Columbus, Mississippi mill.
The two companies revealed today that Domtar next month will permanently close the mill, which has a single machine with the capacity to make 238,000 tons annually of medium-weight coated #5 and #4. NewPage will buy the product lines and trademarks, though it’s not clear whether it will continue to make Choctaw and the other products on its own machines.
The simultaneous news releases this morning were seemingly followed every hour by another North American mill announcing a $30-per-ton price increase on coated freesheet, coated groundwood, and/or supercalendered papers. Even AbitibiBowater, which postponed a price increase on CGW only a week ago because most competitors didn’t go along, came back to the price-increase party and brought supercal along.
One industry watcher called the closing of the Columbus mill “a game changer” because it might finally bring the CGW market into balance.
And another asked a question I can’t answer: If indeed NewPage is about to run out of money (see today's earlier article, Are NewPage and Verso Headed to the Altar?), how could it afford to buy Domtar out of the coated paper business?
Verso Joins in on Price Increase, Adds Supercalendered
Where Are Coated Prices Headed? Let's Vote On It!
Are NewPage and Verso Headed to the Altar?
Three hedge funds trying to take control of NewPage already own rival Verso Paper and have a major stake in AbitibiBowater, a published report said Monday night.
The "vulture trio" has scooped up more than 50% of NewPage's second-lien bonds in a "loan to own" maneuver, betting that they will be in the driver's seat when NewPage goes into financial collapse, according to a Debtwire article that appeared in the Financial Times. Five different analysts told Debtwire that NewPage could run out of cash this year.
The trio includes Apollo Management, which has a controlling interest in Verso, and Avenue Capital, which is likely to hold "a large stake" in AbitibiBowater when that company emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, the article said.
Verso and NewPage together control about 55% of the North American coated freesheet market and 50% of the continent's coated groundwood market. Throw in AbitibiBowater and the CGW share would jump to about 65% and the supercalendered share would surpass 50%.
"Granted, any transaction that involves the potential for such massive consolidation will invite heavy scrutiny from antitrust regulators," the article said. "But the radical repricing afflicting the paper industry" may remove the legal hurdles.
Verso Paper told its customers today it was going along with the April 1 price increase on coated paper announced last week by NewPage and applying it to supercalendered papers as well.
The announcement from Verso, North America's #2 maker of coated paper, says the price for all coated freesheet, coated groundwood, and supercalendered grades will increase by $30 per ton ($1.50 per cwt.) Friday's announcement from NewPage, the market leader, did not mention SC papers.
Unprecedented increases in the price of market pulp (see BusinessWeek's excellent coverage) have paved the way for CFS prices to rise despite overcapacity. The idling of the St. Mary's supercalendered mill in Ontario, the Finnish port strike, and the Canadian loonie's move toward parity with the U.S. dollar may help firm up the SC market, which should not be affected much by the kraft-pulp shortage.
My guess is that CGW prices will move up slower than CFS or SC because producers seem especially reluctant to shut down machines in the face of declining demand. Judging by early results on the poll I posted Friday (in the right column, just under the first ad), there is no consensus in the marketplace yet about where CGW prices are headed.
Students Lecture Al Gore on Green Printing
A group of Portland State University graduate students is taking Al Gore to task because his book on sustainability uses paper and printing methods that are not particularly sustainable.
The former Vice President's book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, "is a great first step in introducing the importance of sustainable publishing to a nationwide audience," the Sustainable Publishing Initiative of the student-run Ooligan Press said in an open letter to Gore this week. "That being said, we do feel concerned that some of the choices made in the printing of Our Choice are not aligned with the book’s message."
Despite a section that "attests to the environmentally friendly methods of printing the book," SPI says, the methods fall short of being truly green:
For the front cover of the book, you use a custom fold, which is certainly an elegant—if more expensive—option. Unfortunately, these folds also yield books that are far more susceptible to damage. In the publishing business, any damage that occurs to a book instantly allows the bookstore to return it to the publisher, and with this type of flap, it will happen on a large scale. If the book is considered damaged beyond a certain point, it will be pulped rather than enjoyed by a reader.
A large percentage of the book is illustrated in full-bleed spreads, a design choice that leads to great waste. To achieve a full-bleed spread, the printer must print on larger paper and trim down to the book size edges. All the excess paper and ink goes to waste.
You note that the book uses recycled paper with 10% post-consumer waste content, but this percentage is negligible and does not set a high standard. Many educational institutions, cities, counties, states, and an increasing number of corporations have policies addressing paper efficiencies, recycling, recycled content, and cleaner production methods. Across the board, the minimum PCW content is between 30–50%. Some state agencies even require purchasing 100% PCW paper.
The pages are oversaturated with ink, causing the book pages to become distorted and preventing the book from being recyclable. This book has a CMYK interior, which utilizes the most colors available and uses an excessive amount of ink. The first four pages of the book’s interior are “registration” black as opposed to the standard “key” black of CMYK, meaning the printers have fully flooded all four colors to achieve that saturated black. It takes at least four runs of ink to achieve registration black. The process to recycle pages increases with each run, as does the energy and chemical processing involved in the printing.
The size of the book is nonstandard. As in the case of full-bleed spreads, cutting to special sizes creates waste.
These students in Portland State's Writing and Book Publishing have certainly done their homework. I've never seen anyone question the environmental friendliness, or recyclability, of heavy ink coverage and four-color ("registration") blacks. But I think some of the criticism is off base.
I question whether using PCW in book papers makes environmental sense or is a form of "up-cycling" that diverts the recycled pulp from more appropriate uses. (See I'm an environmental idiot! for more on the subject.) More relevant are the type of virgin pulp and the extent and type of bleaching used to make the paper.
I also wonder about the "nonstandard" size. The print run of Gore's book was probably large enough to justify use of a web press, which would have different standard sizes from those of sheetfed and digital presses that are used to print short-run books.
These students have raised some interesting points to be considered by those of us who are interested in green printing. Just one question: Is "green printing" an oxymoron? Green, after all requires at least two colors of ink, cyan and yellow. Should we speak instead of "key black" printing?
on Friday, March 12, 2010 5 comments Links to this post
Just when the wheels had fallen off the attempt to raise North American coated-groundwood prices, the wagon started rolling again today.
NewPage announced a $30-per-ton increase on coated-groundwood (CGW) and coated-freesheet (CFS) prices to take effect on Monday. The pricing for most contract customers cannot be changed until April 1, and many have locked in prices through June 30.
Today's announcement came only a couple of days after AbitibiBowater started spreading the word that it was “postponing” its Feb. 25 attempt to raise CGW prices by $60 per ton on April 1. Kruger, which seemed to be the only other mill that jumped on that bandwagon, has also reportedly backed down in recent days.
The North American coated-paper market still suffers from overcapacity that has kept prices low. But thanks to an earthquake, floods, a strike, and a government ruling, an argument can be made for jacking up CFS prices.
Last month’s Chilean earthquake, wet weather in the U.S. South, and other factors have caused prices for kraft pulp -– the main ingredient in CFS -– to skyrocket. Don’t be surprised to see shutdowns soon at CFS mills that rely on purchased pulp. And even integrated mills may be tempted to idle their paper machines so that they can sell their now-valuable pulp to a hungry market.
An anti-dumping decision in the U.S. and a similar case in Europe have also cooled Asian producers on selling low-priced coated sheets in the U.S.
The case is weaker for CGW, a market in which prices had drifted lower early this after seeming to stabilize in the fall. Most CGW products use relatively little, if any, kraft pulp, and Asian producers have not been a factor in North America.
A few years ago, a strike in Finland would have sent U.S. CGW buyers into a panic. But the weak dollar had already chased the Finns away, limiting the impact in North America of a port strike that is strangling the Finnish paper industry.
My guess is that CGW prices will start moving up only after CFS does and only after more CGW capacity is idled.
What’s your bet? On the right you’ll see a chance to vote on where you think the RISI index for 40# coated #5 (at $735 in February) will be on July 1. Warning: I tried a similar crowdsourcing exercise on CGW prices a year ago, and hardly anyone correctly predicted the market crash that came shortly afterward.
Coated Paper Prices: Can They Get Uglier? Results of last year's poll on CGW prices.
A Price Increase on Coated Paper? What is Abitibi Smoking? AbitibiBowater's announcement of CGW price increases last month was based on desperation, not market reality.
Turmoil in Magazine Land: Did Folio Diss BoSacks?
Folio: posted an interesting blog about online news aggregators today that was made more interesting by this aside near the end:
"I can think of at least one well-known media news aggregator who not only pulls publishers’ headlines and leads for his e-newsletters but posts full news stories, verbatim—and sells ads against them," wrote Jason Fell. "Sure, he links back to the original story, but who is going to click back to the publisher’s Web site when they can read the whole piece directly from the newsletter?"
Bob Sacks, alias BoSacks, agrees with me that he is almost certainly the target of Fell's ire. More than 11,000 people in media-related industries, especially the magazine industry, receive his e-mailed newsletter -- which is mostly media-related articles he forwards, often with commentary and sometimes with one of his famous BoRants.
"Yes. I do fit the M.O. described in the article," Sacks emailed me. "I have been at this a long time. I have tried to save every letter from publishers and writers begging me to pick up their stories -- and also the many thank-you letters for doing so."
I would much rather have one of my articles mentioned by "blurb-and-a-link" than having aggregators publish the entire article. A blurb at Postalnews.com brings at least a thousand visitors, while having an entire article on a prominent Web site will lead to only a handful of links. (Links from emails are hard to track.)
But I have no quarrel with BoSacks because he provides proper attribution and links. He also tries not to pull often from any one source -- though he did send out three Folio: articles last week, including two by Fell. Besides, reformatting by Constant Contact software often makes BoSacks emails so hard to read that many people probably end up linking to the source Web site instead.
For an obscure, anonymous, part-time blogger like me, the exposure from BoSacks is worth more than the lost traffic from people seeing an article in one of his emails rather than on my site. (Besides, I'm not very good at "monetizing" the traffic here, which only averages about 1,000 people a day. You could help by clicking on one of the ads, you know.)
But as someone who has sent a few cease-and-desist emails to Web sites that used my content without permission or compensation, I'm sympathetic to Fell's annoyance when he concludes: "In an age when publishers are struggling mightily to make nickels from their online endeavors, shouldn’t this aggregator offer some sort of revenue sharing program?" Folio: may be so widely read by magazine people that having an article become a BoSacks email does little to bring new readers to the magazine or its Web site.
For the record, Folio: always plays fair with my blog, providing proper attribution and links when it cites my articles, which is not often enough. At times it seems to have gone out of its way not to mention one of my "scoops" when it picks up the same story, but Folio: always puts original research and thought into its article rather than just rewriting me.
Also, for the record, BoSacks does not know the true identity of D. Eadward Tree.
"I can't tell you have many people ask me who you are," he wrote me. "I always speak the truth, which helps my newsletter be what it is. So I tell them I have no idea. They don't believe me. I say, 'No, really, I have no idea.' They say, 'OK, so you won't tell me.'"
Bob, don't expect me to tell you, either -- unless you take Fell up on that revenue-sharing thing.
Seven Misconceptions About the Postal Service's Action Plan
Despite the Postal Service’s massive communication effort surrounding the introduction of its long-range action plan last week, the news media and general public have misunderstood some aspects of the plan. Even mailers and postal officials are confused on a few points.
Here are seven misconceptions about the plan gleaned from news accounts, conversations, and the Postal Service’s own presentation:
The Postal Service wants to cut retirees’ healthcare benefits. Absolutely wrong. The plan is too polite in describing the problem as "retiree health benefits prefunding." In reality, the Postal Service in essence has been lending the federal government billions of dollars annually, interest free, to make the federal deficit look smaller. These “pre-payments” into the retiree health fund do nothing to help retirees or current employees. That’s why postal unions actually oppose the pre-payments; they weaken the Postal Service without doing anything for postal workers. Union leader William Burrus (whose math I have criticized in the past) was right on the money last week when he said that "the central cause of USPS financial difficulties" is "the congressionally imposed requirement to pre-pay retiree healthcare obligations."
Taxypayers subsidize the Postal Service. Talk of the Postal Service losing money and being “bailed out” by Congress has led to the logical – but incorrect – conclusion that the federal government provides financial support to the Postal Service. The Postal Service has actually subsidized the federal government with the retiree-fund pre-payments, and the supposed bailout was actually just a reduction of the pre-payment. The USPS has also paid billions of dollars more than its share into a federal pension fund -- another way that the supposedly independent Postal Service has been a cash cow for the federal government.
The Postal Service is planning massive layoffs of full-time employees. The USPS is indeed planning to downsize further but plans to do it through attrition, mostly from retirements. It wants to replace some of the retirees with part-timers, whose hours can be adjusted in accordance with fluctuating mail volumes.
If Saturday delivery is ended, people will have to mail their bills sooner to avoid late payments. Large organizations that receive numerous mailed bills, such as banks and utilities, will still be able to get this “remittance mail” six or even seven days a week. Although postal officials want to eliminate Saturday delivery, their proposal would not affect people and organizations that pick up their mail from post offices, which will remain open.
If Congress lets the Postal Service close thousands of post offices, service will suffer and lines will become even longer at post offices. In addition to closing post offices, postal officials want to be able to sell stamps and to offer other services through thousands of retail businesses, such as convenience and discount stores. Such outlets may be better suited than post offices to dealing with the natural fluctuation in demand for retail postal services.
The Postal Services loses money on Periodicals. Actually, the Postal Service doesn’t know its true costs for handling magazines and newspapers (or catalogs, for that matter). Greater automation and declining mail volume have led to the Postal Service having excess employees. Rather than letting them sit idle, postal management often puts these “automation refugees” to work doing unnecessary tasks, such as opening and sorting carrier-route bundles of flat mail -- and thereby inflating the cost of handling magazines and catalogs. “That is the prerogative of the USPS, but it should not be counted against flats as an extra cost,” writes Joe Schick, Director of Postal Affairs for Quad/Graphics. “Correct the costing problem before penalizing mailers.”
The exigent rate increase slated for early next year will be relatively small for all mailers. Postal officials have said officially that they would seek an increase of less than 10%, and a 5% estimate has circulated in some quarters. But those are averages. Postal officials have also indicated a desire to hit Periodicals and non-profit mailers with higher-than-average increases, a process that could start with the exigent increase. It’s possible that some mailers will pay 2011 rate increases that are much higher than the rate of inflation while others hardly pay any increase.
For more information , please see:
How USPS Could Bypass Congress on Saturday Delivery, which explains in more depth the accounting shell game involving the retiree healthcare account.
Pensions: Another Government Rip-off of the Postal Service describes how the Postal Service has paid $75 billion too much into the Civil Service Retirement System.
Postal Service Plans to Use More Part-Time Employees provides details on the USPS's plan to replace retirees with part-timers.
Postal Service Inefficiency Drives Up Periodicals Costs: A postal expert says that unnecessary manual processing of magazines and other flats has caused the supposed cost of handling Periodicals to rise, even though publishers are mailing in ways that should reduce the Postal Service's costs.
Quad/Graphics Was Profitable in 2009 Despite Big Sales Decrease
Quad/Graphics eked out a profit last year despite a 21% drop in revenue, the privately held printing company revealed in the first public disclosure of its finances.
The company had net income of $52.8 million in 2009 on sales of $1.788 billion, a 3% margin, according to a report filed late Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Quad provided a peak at its finances as part of its effort to become publicly traded and buy rival Worldcolor, a transaction it hopes will occur this summer. The document reveals that Quad employees own nearly half of the company's stock via the company's "Personal Enrichment Plan", a 401(k) and profit-sharing program.
In contrast to Quad, larger and more diversified rival R.R. Donnelley suffered only a 15% drop in revenue last year but had its third straight unprofitable year in 2009. Quad has been profitable the past five years, though its profit has shrunk the past two years.
Quad, however, is more heavily leveraged, with a debt-to-sales ratio of 0.44, versus 0.30 for Donnelley. That is apparently a result of Quad's tendency to invest heavily in new equipment and technologies, which the company brags about in its SEC filing:
"Over the last 15 years, Quad/Graphics has made substantial, yet disciplined, investments in its manufacturing platform, creating what Quad/Graphics believes is the most efficient and modern manufacturing platform in the commercial printing industry. Quad/Graphics also has made substantial investments in research and development and other technological innovations. These investments have led to the development of various manufacturing process improvements, including innovative press and finishing control systems and material-handling equipment for use in Quad/Graphics’ own operations as well as for sale to other printers worldwide. Quad/Graphics believes that this ongoing innovation focus positions it on the leading edge of technology in the industry. Quad/Graphics believes that this continual investment and innovation and its modern manufacturing platform, together with its focus on customer service and its distribution capabilities, have resulted in Quad/Graphics being one of the most profitable commercial printing companies in the industry, as measured by EBITDA (net earnings attributable to common shareholders plus interest expense, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization) as a percentage of net sales. This profitability, in turn, allows Quad/Graphics to continue to invest in equipment, research and development and other technological innovations to benefit its customers."
Black Liquor Scorecard: 21 Companies Earned $6.5 Billion in 2009
The $6.5 billion in controversial black-liquor credits earned in 2009 by 21 publicly traded pulp and paper companies was far more than their total profit for the year.
Despite the government’s unintended largesse, the 21 companies had combined net income of only $2.2 billion, according to an exclusive Dead Tree Edition analysis of documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Without the U.S. government subsidy, only nine of the companies would have been profitable in 2009, In fact, four recipients – AbitibiBowater, Weyerhaeuser, NewPage, and Sappi – together lost nearly $2.7 billion last year despite receiving more than $1 billion from the black-liquor program that expired on Dec. 31.
At least one-fourth of the country’s capacity to make kraft pulp is in the hands of privately held companies that don’t have to file with the SEC. Assuming they took advantage of the “alternative fuel mixture” program in the same way that their publicly held peers did, the federal government probably shelled out between $8 and $9 billion to pay to do what they would have done anyway – use black liquor, a pulp byproduct, as a fuel source for their pulp operations.
Several of the public companies' reports state that they expect to receive no subsidies for black liquor this year. And they're right.
But don’t tell that to Congress or the news media. Obama Joins in on the Black Liquor Two-Step documented how sloppy reporting by leading news organizations had allowed Democratic Congress members to claim they were saving money by excluding black liquor from the new Cellulosic Biofuel Producer Credits (CBPC) -- a program that black liquor couldn't qualify for anyway.
In the 12 days since that was published, the black-liquor silliness in Washington has gotten even worse, with Republicans joining the shell game. Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) tried to play taxpayer hero this week by proposing to “pay” for a new jobs program by closing the non-existent CBPC loophole. But Democrats blocked that effort because they have already committed to using the bogus savings for healthcare reform.
Bunning's effort to exclude black liquor from CBPC "is absolutely meritorious and should be adopted whatever else Congress does," The Washington Post opined in a fact-challenged editorial. "This particular piece of corporate welfare showers paper companies with about $2.5 billion per year . . . that encourages them to generate power with 'black liquor,' an 'alternative fuel.'" Nope. Not a dime has been paid to pulp and paper companies under CBPC.
Here are the 21 publicly traded companies, listed according to the amount of credits they received. The first number is the amount of black-liquor credits reported, the second is 2009 net income:
International Paper: $2.06 billion in black liquor credits; $2.36 billion net income
Smurfit-Stone Container: $654 million; $8 million
Domtar: $498 million; $310 million
MeadWestvaco: $375 million; $225 million
Weyerhaeuser: $344 million; $-545 million
NewPage: $304 million; $-308 million
AbitibiBowater: $276 million; $-1.553 billion
Verso Paper: $239 million; $106 million
Temple-Inland: $218 million; $206 million
Boise: $208 million; $154 million
Rayonier: $205 million; $313 million
Kapstone Paper and Packaging: $178 million; $80 million
Packaging Corporation of America: $176 million; $266 million
Clearwater Paper: $171 million; $182 million
Graphic Packaging: $147 million; $56 million
SAPPI: $136 million; $-251 million
Buckeye Technologies: $130 million; $154 million
P.H. Glatfelter: $108 million; $123 million
Rock-Tenn: $75 million; $279 million
Appleton Papers: $18 million; $25 million
Wausau: $14 million; $21 million
The U.S. Postal Service is preparing to hit magazine and newspaper publishers with sizable rate increases starting next year.
In addition to seeking an extra rate hike for all mail next year, the U.S.P.S. will ask Congress for legislation that would allow Periodicals rates to be increased much faster than the rate of inflation.
The long-range action plan postal officials released yesterday calls for changing "the fact that certain mail, such as nonprofit mail, Media Mail, Library Mail and Periodicals, does not presently cover costs." Postal officials want to "ensure that these products get to a point where they cover costs while contributing reasonably to overhead costs. An alternative would be appropriations funding to cover the gap."
Based on the latest data from the Postal Service's Alice-in-Wonderland accounting system, Periodicals rates would need to be increased more than 31% for the agency to break even on the delivery of magazines and newspapers.
The plan calls for a "moderate" exigent (emergency) rate increase next year for most classes of mail. That would be in addition to the usual inflation-based price increases for each of the "market-dominant" classes -- such as Periodicals, Standard, and First Class.
"The Consumer Price Index should apply to the entire group of products, rather than each individual mail class," the Postal Service's fact sheet on pricing flexibility says. Such a change in the law would mean that if the CPI increased only 3% one year, the Periodicals increase could be 10% as long as it were balanced out with, say, a Standard mail increase of only 1%.
"No business can survive selling products below costs," says the fact sheet. The problem is that the Postal Service really has no idea what its costs are for the Periodicals class.
In the past couple of years, Periodicals mailers have greatly increased the sort of activities that reduce the Postal Service's costs, such as co-mailing, dropshipping, and reducing the number of sacks. At the same time, the average weight of copies has decreased.
Despite all of that, the Postal Service's accounting methodology finds that the costs for handling Periodicals have increased dramatically. Postal officials have never explained this nonsensical result. The issue is explored further in the following articles:
Postal Accounting Snafus Might Be Bad News for Publishers
on Wednesday, March 03, 2010 3 comments
Postal Service Plans to Use More Part-Time Employees
The U.S. Postal Service plans to rely more on part-time employees as it adjusts its operations for declining mail volume.
“Annually, approximately 5 percent of employees are eligible and expected to retire. It would not make sense to replace them with full-time employees if demand is moving in a direction better suited to a part-time workforce,” the USPS says in its “Action Plan for the Future” that was released today. Most of the news-media coverage of the ambitious plan for righting the Postal Service’s finances deals with the no-surprise initiatives, like trying to eliminate Saturday deliveries.
The shift to a more part-time workforce, however, slipped under the radar even though it’s a departure from recent practice. The number of non-career postal employees decreased by nearly 13% in Fiscal Year 2009.
“There is limited remaining opportunity to reduce part-time, temporary, and overtime work hours,” the Postal Service presentation said.
“Over the next 10 years, over 300,000 employees — more than half the current workforce — will be eligible to retire. This will provide an opportunity to make the workforce even more efficient by increasing use of flexible and part-time employees.”
The plan indicates that, while replacing retirees with part-timers, the USPS will also seek “more flexible work rules through the collective bargaining process.” And just in case collective bargaining doesn’t work, the USPS will also ask Congress to require that arbitrators take the Postal Service’s financial condition into account before issuing any decisions.
With 87% of its workforce being full-timers, the U.S. Postal Service has difficulty varying its staffing levels (and costs) to deal with seasonal variation.
“When benchmarked against other large posts, the Postal Service employs the most full-time workers as a percentage of the total workforce.” For example, 40% of the German postal system's employees are part-timers.
“Ensuring a Viable Postal Service for America: An Action Plan for the Future”: The Postal Service has created a Web site with a variety of information, including today's presentation, news release, and a background paper.
Mail Volumes Have Declined Faster Than The Postal Workforce, But That Might Change: Details on FY 2009 decreases in the Postal Service's workforce.
on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 31 comments Links to this post
Magazine Publishers Rediscover the Magazine
Remember how the big magazine publishers were trying to persuade everyone that they were really media companies who were going to tweet, blog, and app their way into the future?
Forget about it, that is so 2009. Five big publishers revealed their "Magazines: The Power of Print" advertising campaign today that, as Paid Content noted, was a way of saying "Drop dead" to their digital units.
Or, more accurately: "We've sunk a lot of resources into you, and all you've brought us is eyeballs and buzz. Meanwhile, our print editions keep chugging along and paying most of the bills."
Starting in early April, nearly 80 U.S. consumer magazines will start running a series of ads touting printed magazines -- you know, the kind that people actually pay for, except at the doctor's office, in hair salons, or on airplanes. The "Magazines" logo was created by taking one letter from the "distinctive typographies of multiple magazine logos," according to a news release announcing the campaign.
The CEOs of the five publishers appear in a brief video (below) that explains the campaign. They have managed to get ad-space commitments from other publishers, including such titles as as National Geographic, Travel + Leisure, and ESPN Magazine.
The Wall Street Journal says the ad space committed to the campaign is valued at more than $90 million based on the publishers' rate cards. The actual cost to the publishers will be a few million dollars. And, trust me, no full-rate-paying ads will be bumped to make room for the campaign.
Related article: As An Advertising Medium, Magazines Still Rock
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Activities, News
Webinar: Building Inclusive Cities: What is a Welcoming Standard?
October 12, 2017 DI
With several existing partners, along with new partnerships, Defend International is on track to contribute to the building of inclusive communities.
We are pleased to inform our members and supporters that Cities of Migration is providing an opportunity to attend a webinar entitled Building Inclusive Cities: What is a Welcoming Standard? to learn about the Australian Standard for Welcoming Cities.
The webinar will explore the change-making work behind Welcoming Cities, the design and implementation of welcoming benchmarks, and the strategic engagement of city and community leaders in the Standard’s bid to ensure that immigrants thrive in the social, economic and civic life of their cities.
The webinar will take place on October 30th and 31st, 2017 at the following times:
October 30 (in North America)
4:00 pm PDT Vancouver, San Francisco
5:00 pm MDT Calgary, Denver
7:00 pm EDT Toronto, New York
October 31 (in Australia, New Zealand)
9:00 am AEST Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney
11:00 am NZST Auckland
The invitation reads: “Efforts to crack the code for welcoming communities demand our attention. Advancing the art of welcome: the Australian Standard for Welcoming Cities is a new framework for helping local councils benchmark their cultural diversity and inclusion policies and practices, identify gaps, set goals and assess their progress over time. Looking to the future, the Standard challenges city and community leaders to work collaboratively towards a shared vision of a welcoming and inclusive nation.”
The panelists are (1) Aleem Ali, Welcoming Cities (Brisbane, Australia), and (2) Darren Reedy, Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (Edmonton, Canada).
Launched in March 2016, Welcoming Cities facilitates a growing national network of inclusive, vibrant communities in Australia, and internationally, that supports local government leaders and communities to be more effective, open and resilient. The Australian Standard adapts elements of the U.S. Welcoming Standard, as does the pilot New Zealand Welcoming Standard. In Canada, the Welcoming and Inclusive Communities initiative at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association builds on the seminal work of the Canadian Coalition of Municipalities Against Racism and Discrimination (CCMARD).
You can register to participate here!
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