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IT OFTEN SEEMS like every hedge-fund manager is reading from the same playbook about how to look, work and behave. Neatly pressed khakis; thumbs glued to a BlackBerry; slick digs in Greenwich or Manhattan staffed by number-crunching research drones. But apparently, Mohnish Pabrai never got his copy. He wears shorts to his Southern California office, keeps e-mail to a minimum and almost never misses his 4 p.m. nap. And forget goosing returns with fancy computer models or using complex derivatives: Pabrai doesn't even sell stocks short.
About the only thing slick about this 43-year-old investor is his market-trouncing track record — annualized returns of nearly 25% since he set up shop in 1999, enough to earn him a growing cult following. His "secret"? Probably the most documented investment strategy around — a bare-bones, Warren Buffett style of stock picking. While that description may inspire yawns — sometimes it seems like everybody claims to be a Buffett disciple — Pabrai takes it to an extreme. His office houses an impressive Buffett mini-museum: a wall covered with photos and articles he's amassed over the years. He recently dropped a stunning $650,100 at a charity auction for the privilege of just one lunch with the Berkshire Hathaway guru. Even his minimalist approach to e-mail mirrors the Buffett philosophy of avoiding distractions. And his track record is more than Warren-worthy: A $100,000 investment in his flagship Pabrai Investment Fund 2 in June 2001 would have been worth $465,200 at the end of 2007; the same amount invested in the Dow, only $145,500.
SM: What are some other mistakes investors make?
MP: Using the market to tell you what a business is worth. If a stock goes from $10 to $3, most people freak out and sell out. You have to have your own internal yardstick. Sell to the market when the price is higher than what you think the business is worth, and buy when the price is lower. Another problem is that our brains are very poorly evolved to deal with the stock market.
SM: How so?
MP: Our brains are in sync with the speed at which the market is moving and totally out of sync with the speed at which a business is moving. It seems obvious: The market is repricing a company's stock very quickly. I can process very quickly; therefore, I make decisions based on that. You have to learn to dramatically slow your brain, which is very hard for most people. The reality is that you should make decisions based on how that business is changing, and that's a very slow process.
SM: What stocks do you like now?
MP: Pinnacle Airlines. Depending on how things work out, it's anywhere from a double to five or six times return in the next two or three years.
SM: An airline?
MP: It's a regional jet company. The large airlines, like Northwest and Delta, outsource the small planes to Pinnacle. Many of the reasons why airlines are so terrible — load factors, price wars — don't matter. The revenue is the same whether there is one passenger or the plane is full and whether Northwest charges $200 or $2,000 round-trip. The contracts are long-term, usually 10 years, and will hold up in the event of a merger. So you can estimate what their cash flows will be many years into the future.
SM: What's the investment case?
MP: Pinnacle has more than $10 a share in cash on the balance sheet. In the next few years, free cash flow will be $3 to $6 a share, depending on how much more business they get. With a simple 10 or 15 multiple on those numbers, you end up with $30.
SM: Why are the shares so cheap?
MP: One overhang is that they have a past-due contract with pilots. But not a lot of Wall Street analysts follow Pinnacle, and the business itself is changing. The evolution away from hub-and-spoke and toward more nonstop flights is driving demand for their services. When you connect one small city to another directly, you aren't going to run a jumbo or a 737.
Book: The Dhandho Investor: The Low - Risk Value Method to High Returns by Mohnish Pabrai
Labels: Mohnish Pabrai
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Barack Obama Hopes to Empower Young People in His First Speech Post-Presidency
Read the full transcript here.
After weeks of much-deserved vacation spent working on his memoir and cruising around French Polynesia with famous friends in tow, Barack Obama made his first major public speech of his post-presidency at the University of Chicago.
"Thank you. Hey! Thank you. Everybody have a seat. Have a seat. So what's been going on while I've been gone? I ― it is wonderful to be home. It is wonderful to be at the University of Chicago. It is wonderful to be on the south side of Chicago. And it is wonderful to be with these young people here. And what I want to do is just maybe speak very briefly at the top about why we're here and then I want to spend most of the time that we're together hearing from these remarkable young people who are I think representative of some amazing young people who are in the audience as well.
"I was telling these guys that it was a little over 30 years ago that I came to Chicago. I was 25 years old. I had gotten out of college filled with idealism and absolutely certain that somehow I was going to change the world. But I had no idea how or where or what I was going to be doing. And so I worked first to pay off some student loans. And then I went to work at the city colleges of New York on their Harlem campus with some student organizing. And then there were a group of churches out on the South Side who had come together to try to deal with the steel plants that had closed in the area and the economic devastation that had been taking place, but also the racial tensions and turnover that was happening.
"They formed an organization and hired me as a community organizer. I did not really know what that meant or how to do it. But I accepted the job. And for the next three years I lived right here in Hyde Park but I worked in communities like Roseland and, well, Pullman. Working class neighborhoods. Many of which had changed rapidly from white to black in the late '60s, '70s, and full of wonderful people who were proud of their communities, proud of the steps they had taken to try to move into the middle class, but were also worried about their futures, because in some cases their kids weren't doing as well as they had.
"In some cases, these communities have been badly neglected for a very long time. The distribution of city services were unequal. Schools were underfunded. There was a lack of opportunity. And for three years I tried to do something about it. And I am the first to acknowledge that I did not set the world on fire. Nor did I transform these communities in any significant way, although we did some good things. But it did change me.
"This community gave me a lot more than I was able to give in return, because this community taught me that ordinary people, when working together, can do extraordinary things. This community taught me that everybody has a story to tell. That is important. This experience taught me that beneath the surface differences of people that there were common hopes and common dreams and common aspirations. Common values that stitched us together as Americans. And so even though I, after three years, left for law school, the lessons that had been taught to me here as an organizer are ones that stayed with me. And effectively gave me the foundation for my subsequent political career and the themes that I would talk about as a state legislator and as a U.S. Senator and ultimately as President of the United States.
"Now, I tell you that history because on the back end now of my presidency, now that it's completed, I'm spending a lot of time thinking about, what is the most important thing I can do for my next job? And what I'm convinced is that although there are all kinds of issues that I care about and all kinds of issues that I intend to work on, the single most important thing I can do is to help in any way I can prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton and to take their own crack at changing the world. Because the one thing that I'm absolutely convinced of is that yes, we confront a whole range of challenges from economic inequality and lack of opportunity to a criminal justice system that too often is skewed in ways that are unproductive to climate change to, you know, issues related to violence. All those problems are serious. They're daunting. But they're not insoluble.
"What is preventing us from tackling them and making more progress really has to do with our politics and our civic life. It has to do with the fact that because of things like political gerrymandering our parties have moved further and further apart and it's harder and harder to find common ground. Because of money and politics. Special interest dominate the debates in Washington in ways that don't match up with what the broad majority of Americans feel. Because of changes in the media, we now have a situation in which everybody's listening to people who already agree with them and are further and further reinforcing their own realities to the neglect of a common reality that allows us to have a healthy debate and then try to find common ground and actually move solutions forward.
"And so when I said in 2004 that there are no red states or blue states, they're the United States of America, that was aspirational comment, but I think it's ― and it's it's one that I still believe that when you talk to individuals one-on-one, people, there's a lot more people that have in common than divides them. But honestly it's not true when it comes to our politics and civil life. Maybe more pernicious is people are not involved and they give up.
"As a consequence we have some of the lowest voting rates of any democracy and low participation rates than translate into a further gap between who's governing us and what we believe. The only folks who are going to be able to solve that problem are going to be young people, the next generation. And I have been encouraged everywhere I go in the United States, but also everywhere around the world to see how sharp and astute and tolerant and thoughtful and entrepreneurial our young people are. A lot more sophisticated than I was at their age. And so the question then becomes what are the ways in which we can create pathways for them to take leadership, for them to get involved? Are there ways in which we can knockdown some of the barriers that are discouraging young people about a life of service? And if there are, I want to work with them to knock down those barriers, and to get this next generation and to accelerate their move towards leadership. Because if that happens, I think we're going to be just fine. And I end up being incredibly optimistic.
"So with that, what I'd like to do is to have our panelists here today each tell them ― tell us a little bit about themselves and what I've asked them ahead of time, and I did give them the question ahead of time, I asked them to describe for me what it is that they see among their peers that they think discourages voting, participation, paying attention to some of the issues, getting involved. Do they have some immediate suggestions of the kinds of things that would get young people more involved and engaged and discover their voices.
"Once we've gone through the entire panel, then we're just going to open it up and we're going to see how it works. And hopefully it will be interesting. I'll find it interesting. Hopefully you'll find it interesting. All right? So we're going to start with Kelsey."
Caroline Hallemann Senior Digital News Editor As the senior digital news editor for Town & Country, Caroline Hallemann covers everything from the British royal family to the latest episodes of Outlander, Killing Eve, and The Crown.
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Mario Gudelj appointed new Chairman of the Board at Croatian TSO
Photo: HOPS
Croatia, Zagreb: The Croatian transmission system operator, HOPS, has announced this week the appointment of new members of the management board.
In the board's new mandate, Mario Gudelj has been appointed as the Chairman of the Management Board, and Ivica Modrić and Zlatko Visković as Members of the Management Board.
Prior to taking over the Chairman position, Mr Gudelj, a long-serving employee of HOPS, was Assistant Director of the Development, Investment and Construction Department of HOPS.
Mr Modrić was the manager of the HOPS's HV cabling maintenance department in the Transmission Area Osijek. He spent most of his professional career with HOPS.
Mr Visković has been appointed to the board from the position of the director of HOPS's Transmission Area Split.
The appointment of new management board members followed the regular termination of the mandate to the former board members.
Source: HOPS
More in this category: « Dry type transformers to supply power to Vatican museums Smart grids to reach $17.6B in MENA region by 2027 »
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Drug, Alcohol and Tobacco Use Among Teens In Decline
By Paul Gaita 09/19/14
The annual SAMHSA survey found that rates of use for most substances have dropped significantly, though most Americans are still not getting treatment.
A study from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has found that illegal drug use among American teenagers has dropped, along with rates for alcohol use, binge drinking, and smoking tobacco.
The annual survey, which profiles 70,000 individuals aged 12 years or older across the United States, showed that between 2002 and 2013, substance abuse issues among teenagers dropped from 8.9% to 5.2%, while rates of drug abuse among teens between the ages of 12-17 also dropped from 12% in 2002 to under 9% in 2013.
Alcohol use experienced a similar decline in a single year, dropping from 13% in 2012 to 11.6% the following year, while rates of binge drinking, which was reported as a problem for 10% of high school students in 2013, fell from about 7% to approximately 6%.
Rates of driving under the influence among preteens and teens in 2013 went from 14% in 2002 to 11%, while use of tobacco products among teenagers plummeted from 15% to 8% during the same time period.
While the study’s results are encouraging, the authors were quick to note that almost 25 million Americans aged 12 and older are current illegal drug users or had used within the past month. Marijuana use in that demographic actually rose from 6% in 2007 to 7.5%, which constitutes nearly 20 million individuals. The survey also revealed that many Americans are not getting the treatment they need for substance abuse issues.
According to their findings, SAMHSA learned that almost 23 million Americans aged 12 and older needed treatment for drug or alcohol problems, but only 2.5 million sought professional help.
SAMHA survey
teen drug use
drug use survey
Paul Gaita
Paul Gaita lives in Los Angeles. He has contributed to the Los Angeles Times, Variety, LA Weekly, Amazon.com and The Los Angeles Beat, among many other publications and websites.
drugs & suicide
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not so harmless
Fewer Colorado Teens View Pot As Dangerous, Survey Says
Saving My Teenage Junkie
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How Myanmar Became A Global Center For Meth & Other Synthetic Drugs
Rip Torn Dies; Oscar-Nominated Actor Struggled With Alcoholism
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North-east England will pay the price for decades of dishonesty about Nissan
Thatcher’s ministers knew EU membership was vital in attracting the Japanese carmaker. No one told the public
Mon 4 Feb 2019 14.34 EST Last modified on Mon 4 Feb 2019 17.22 EST
‘Britain’s membership of the EEC was central to her sales pitch to the Japanese.’ Margaret Thatcher at the opening of Nissan’s Washington plant in 1986. Photograph: Denis Thorpe/The Guardian
The sprawling site near Sunderland of the giant Japanese car manufacturer Nissan is a fine-tuned product of Britain’s participation in the European Union. The company’s decision to pull the making of its proposed new X-Trail model out of that plant is a disastrous consequence of the failure to explain this to the British people.
The virtual absence of public explanation about the benefits of EU membership was exploited in the 2016 referendum by the leave campaign, and enabled its proponents to dismiss well-informed warnings, then and now, as scaremongering. Even on Sunday, when Nissan itself explained that Brexit uncertainty was a factor in its decision to build the new SUV in Japan, airtime was still given to Brexit campaigners denying this. Prominent among them, predictably, was Jacob Rees-Mogg, a backbench Conservative MP with no discernible car industry expertise or experience, whose Somerset constituency could hardly be further away from the north-east.
Theresa May made every effort not to publish assessments … which found that the north-east will be the worst-hit region
The alarm has been sounded before and since the referendum by Labour MPs in Sunderland, whose constituents work at a plant that has grown to employ almost 8,000 people and 30,000 more in the supply chain. Sharon Hodgson, the MP for Washington and Sunderland West, remembers the rush of optimism when Nissan arrived in the 80s, bringing hope to a region of closing mines and stalled shipbuilding. She is still trying to inform her leave-voting constituents about why Brexit chucks a spanner in the works.
Bridget Phillipson, the MP for neighbouring Houghton and Sunderland South, has argued that it is a dereliction of duty for Labour to acquiesce to Brexit knowing the economic damage it entails. After the weekend’s dire news from Nissan, she called again for a people’s vote with the option to stay in the EU.
Phillipson has lamented the gaps in public knowledge about the advantages conferred by EU membership, among remainers as well as leavers. But this is a blind spot with a long history. In fact, a prime example of a failure to inform the public, and instead mislead with propaganda, was a speech made by Margaret Thatcher when she opened the Nissan plant in 1986.
Thatcher had lobbied the Japanese government and industry since the 70s to set up in Britain; attracting their investment became a crucial component of her vision of Britain’s future, as she closed the old heavy industries down. Britain’s membership of the EEC was central to her sales pitch to the Japanese. The UK was presented as a convenient and agreeable base for the companies’ European operations. Nissan saw the business case for that, as have 1,000 other Japanese companies and other carmakers now using the UK as their European base.
Nissan chose the north-east principally for its ports, giving easy access to and from the European mainland. So Thatcher was fully aware that EEC membership was crucial to its decision to locate in Britain. In 1980, Keith Joseph, then a trade minister, wrote to her: “The deal [is] tangible evidence of the benefits to the UK of membership of the European Community; Nissan [has] chosen the United Kingdom because it [gives] them access to the whole European market. If we were outside the community, it is very unlikely that Nissan would have given the United Kingdom serious consideration as a base for this substantial investment.”
You will search in vain for a single word in the then prime minister’s speech that acknowledges that truth, however. She concealed the facts with a familiar comfort blanket – Britain’s supposed superiority to its European neighbours, which still echoes through the Brexit debate three decades on. Nissan’s decision, she said, was “confirmation … that within the whole of Europe, the United Kingdom was the most attractive country – politically and economically – for large-scale investment”.
Government letter to Nissan reveals Brexit promise to carmarkers
We can only speculate about how much more embedded public knowledge of the EU’s benefits would be today if she and other leading politicians had explained rather than obfuscated; if the basics had been taught in schools and reported honestly in the media. Attitudes might be very different if the EU flag had flown outside the Washington factory – and other sites of regeneration that owed their existence and success to Britain’s membership, and to substantial EU grants and loans over the years. Instead, the public has remained largely uninformed about the economic advantages of the EU and its “frictionless” single market, for which Thatcher herself pushed so hard.
Theresa May has engaged in similarly evasive public rhetoric since becoming the second Conservative female prime minister. In a speech made before the referendum, in which she backed remain, May said, “the economic arguments are clear”, and: “A lot of people will invest here in the UK because it is the UK in Europe.”
But since stepping over the fallen leadership candidates to become prime minister, May swerved into claiming Brexit is an economic opportunity. She made every effort not to publish her own government’s assessments of the economic damage Brexit would do, which found that the north-east would be the worst-hit region, with a 16% reduction in GDP in the event of a no deal, principally due to the impact on Nissan. Even since publication, she has barely mentioned these assessments, and has ploughed on instead, treating the 2016 vote as sacred.
To argue that the British public did not understand EU membership when fatefully asked to pronounce on it in a referendum is not to dismiss people as stupid. It is to recognise a decades-long failure of education and honest information, from the moment major companies such as Nissan came to Britain up to the point when, with their warnings about Brexit ignored, they began to withdraw.
• David Conn writes for the Guardian about sport, Brexit and other issues
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McKayla Maroney says she was abused by Larry Nassar 'hundreds' of times
Olympic champion estimates ‘hundreds’ of instances of abuse
Bela and Martha Karolyi to speak about abuse scandal for first time
Guardian sport and agencies
Wed 18 Apr 2018 15.45 EDT Last modified on Wed 25 Apr 2018 05.01 EDT
McKayla Maroney speaks at the 2018 Spring luncheon of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children on Tuesday afternoon Photograph: Bebeto Matthews/AP
McKayla Maroney was molested “hundreds” of times by former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, the Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast said on Wednesday.
Maroney, who helped the US gymnastics team known as the Fierce Five to the team gold at the London Olympics, told the Today Show’s Savannah Guthrie that the abuse by Nassar started at her first meeting with him when she was 13 and continued for years afterwards.
Nassar pleaded guilty to molesting female athletes under the guise of medical treatment and was sentenced this year to life in prison.
TODAY (@TODAYshow)
.@McKaylaMaroney reveals she was molested "hundreds" of times https://t.co/uaHKHzt3nl
“He told me he was going to do a check-up on me and that was the first day I was abused,” Maroney, 22, told Guthrie. “He said that nobody would understand this and the sacrifice that it takes to get to the Olympics, so you can’t tell people this.”
“He didn’t say it in a way that was mean or anything like that,” Maroney added. “I actually was like, “’That makes sense. I don’t want to tell anybody about this’. And I didn’t believe that they would understand.”
'I was molested by Dr Larry Nassar': how the gymnastics sexual abuse scandal unfolded
In an interview with NBC news program Dateline airing on Sunday, Maroney opens up about the years of abuse by Nassar.
Bela and Martha Karolyi, the former USA Gymnastics national team coordinators, will also speak for the first time about the sex abuse scandal.
Larry Nassar abuse case
Larry Nassar joins USA Gymnastics as a trainer
According to a lawsuit, Nassar commits his first recorded assault, abusing a 12-year-old girl in the guise of medical research. A year later Nassar gains his medical degree from Michigan State University, where he will commit many of his assaults.
Nassar becomes national medical coordinator for USA Gymnastics before the Atlanta Olympics. He will go on to treat athletes at the next five Olympics and abuse many of them. Olympic champions Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas and McKayla Maroney are among those who said they were abused by Nassar under the guise of medical treatment.
The first recorded complaints about Nassar are received. According to a 2017 lawsuit, youth gymnastics coach John Geddert fails to investigate the allegations.
Claims against Nassar go public for the first time after the Indianapolis Star publishes an investigation into sexual abuse at USA Gymnastics. Rachael Denhollander files a criminal complaint against Nassar, saying she was first abused by him when she was 15.
Eighteen women file a lawsuit against Nassar, USA Gymnastics, MSU and Twistars Gymnastics Club. The lawsuit alleges Nassar assaulted the women over a period of 20 years and the institutions named in the suit failed to prevent his behaviour.
Nassar pleads guilty to seven charges of criminal sexual abuse. He later pleads guilty to three further accounts as part of a plea agreement.
Nassar is given a jail term of up to 175 years for sexually abusing athletes in his care. In total, 156 women make impact statement at his sentence hearing, saying he abused them. Handing down the sentence, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina says: “I just signed your death warrant”.
In October, Maroney became the first household name to come forward when she first revealed that she was sexually abused by Nassar from the age of 13 until her retirement from the sport last year.
“People should know that this is not just happening in Hollywood,” Maroney wrote in a lengthy Twitter post inspired by the #MeToo movement, the hashtag campaign that’s encouraged victims of sexual harassment or assault to step forward with their stories. “This is happening everywhere. Wherever there is a position of power, there seems to be potential for abuse. I had a dream to go to the Olympics, and the things that I had to endure to get there, were unnecessary, and disgusting.”
Her revelations were soon followed by Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber and dozens more whom Nassar abused over two decades at Michigan State University, where he was a respected faculty member celebrated for his two-decade body of work with the United States’ world-beating women’s gymnastics team.
Nearly 200 of them offered testimony during two sentencing hearings in Michigan this year.
The scandal prompted the entire board of directors at USA Gymnastics, the sport’s governing body in the United States, to resign, along with the president and athletic director at Michigan State University, where Nassar also worked.
A series of criminal and civil investigations have been launched into the United States Olympic Committee, USA Gymnastics and Michigan State after numerous accusers said their complaints about Nassar were ignored for years.
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Six dead in Michigan shooting spree
Bryan M. Bennett
<p>An officer with the Kalamazoo Crime Lab leaves the scene of a random shooting on Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016 in Kalamazoo. Jason Dalton of Kalamazoo County was arrested early Sunday in downtown Kalamazoo following a massive manhunt after several victims were shot at random. (Bryan Bennett/Kalamazoo Gazette-MLive Media Group via AP) LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; LOCAL RADIO OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT</p>
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — A gunman who seemed to choose his victims at random opened fire outside an apartment complex, a car dealership and a restaurant in Michigan, killing at least six people during a rampage that spanned nearly seven hours, police said.
Authorities could not say what motivated 45-year-old Jason Dalton, who has no criminal record, to target victims who had no apparent connection to him or to each other.
"How do you go and tell the families of these victims that they weren't targeted for any reason other than they were there to be a target?" Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting said Sunday during a news conference.
Two other people were seriously wounded.
Dalton was arrested early Sunday in downtown Kalamazoo following a massive manhunt. He was expected to be arraigned Monday on charges of murder and attempted murder.
Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas described a terrifying series of shootings that began about 6 p.m. outside the Meadows apartment complex in Richland Township, on the eastern edge of Kalamazoo County, where a woman was shot multiple times. She was expected to survive.
A little more than four hours later and 15 miles away, a father and his 18-year-old son were fatally shot while looking at cars at the dealership.
Fifteen minutes after that, five people were gunned down in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant along Interstate 94, Matyas said.
A 14-year-old girl had earlier been reported among the fatalities, based on a pronouncement by medical officials. But police later said that she was hospitalized in serious condition.
Authorities did not believe the shootings were targeted at specific people, describing them as "our worst-case scenario," Matyas said.
"These are random murders," he said.
Dalton was arrested without incident about 12:40 a.m. after a deputy spotted his vehicle driving through downtown Kalamazoo after he left a bar parking lot, authorities said.
Matyas declined to disclose anything found in the vehicle except for a semi-automatic handgun.
"In this particular case, we're just thankful it ended the way it did — before he could really kill anybody else," Matyas said.
Authorities said Dalton was in contact with more than one person during the rampage but would not elaborate. Prosecutors said they do not believe anyone else will be charged.
"There's no common denominator with any of these," Matyas said. "This person was just waiting in the parking lot of the apartment complex. The one at ... the dealership, they were looking at cars. The ones at Cracker Barrel, they were just sitting in their cars. There is absolutely no common denominator ... through race, age, anything."
Authorities were interviewing Dalton and reviewing his phone. They do not know if the handgun belonged to him, Getting said.
"This is every community's nightmare — when you have someone going around just randomly killing people, no rhyme, no reason," Getting said.
During a Sunday morning news conference, some law enforcement officials wiped teary eyes or got choked up. When the news conference ended, Kalamazoo Mayor Bobby Hopewell and Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Chief Jeff Hadley embraced.
"It's hard to put into words the impact something like this has," Getting said. "How do we put an end to the fear this is causing? There's this sense of loss, there's anger, there's fear."
With a population of about 75,000, Kalamazoo is about 160 miles west of Detroit. It is home to Western Michigan University and the headquarters of popular craft beer maker Bell's Brewery. The city also is known for the anonymously funded Kalamazoo Promise program, which has paid college tuition of students who graduate from Kalamazoo Public Schools for more than a decade.
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Autobiography and Memoir
The New Face of Warfare
Books & the Arts
May 28, 2007 Issue
Child soldiering has become a defining feature of modern warfare. And the United States has been all too complicit in the trend.
By Fatin Abbas
In his book Innocents Lost, Jimmie Briggs recounts picking up the New York Times one morning. Opening the newspaper, he was confronted by a disturbing image–a large photograph of a young Liberian kneeling and howling on a city street, his face contorted with rage as he pointed a gun at the photographer who had captured his image. This was no child’s play: The gun was real–an automatic rifle almost as big as the boy himself. As Briggs remembers, however, “More chilling than the weapon he held was what he wore on his back: a pink teddy-bear backpack, a telling symbol of his lost youth.” The boy, no more than 11 or 12, was a child soldier, one of the thousands who served during the Liberian civil wars of 1989-2003 and one of the hundreds of thousands of children who have served or are serving in armed conflicts around the globe. Possibly the world’s most unrecognized form of child abuse, child soldiering has become a defining feature of modern warfare. This horrifying new face of armed conflict is the subject of three important recent books–Briggs’s Innocents Lost, P.W. Singer’s Children at War and Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.
Singer’s study leaves little doubt about just how prevalent the phenomenon has become. The statistics he presents speak for themselves. In more than three-fourths of armed conflicts around the world today there are significant numbers of child combatants. At any one time, there are more than 300,000 child soldiers serving with nonstate armed groups. In addition, more than fifty states actively recruit hundreds of thousands of soldiers under 18, in contravention of international law. It is in Africa, considered to be the epicenter of the child soldier phenomenon, that child soldiering is most widespread. Where there is conflict on the continent, one can be sure that children will be found right in the middle of it. In the 1991-2001 civil war between Sierra Leone’s government and the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), as many as 80 percent of all fighters were between the ages of 7 and 14. In the two waves of civil war that engulfed Liberia between 1989 and 2003, up to 70 percent of government and rebel combatants were children. In the recent war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), ignited in 1996 by Laurent Kabila’s revolt against Mobutu’s regime, roughly half the fighters (between 30,000 and 50,000) were child soldiers. Perhaps the group most notorious for its exploitation of child soldiers is the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda, which has been waging a bloody war against the government for almost eighteen years. Led by Joseph Kony, a man who claims to be possessed by the Holy Spirit and to be fighting to restore respect for the Ten Commandments (this while breaking every one), the LRA’s forces are composed almost entirely of children. The group, Singer informs us, “also holds the ignoble record of having the world’s youngest reported armed combatant, aged five.”
But while child soldiering is most widespread in Africa, the phenomenon is by no means confined to that continent. In Colombia, a country that has been in the grip of violence for the past sixty years–a cocaine-fueled conflict between the government, right-wing paramilitaries and various left-wing rebel groups, chief among them the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)–between 6,000 and 14,000 children serve either with guerrillas or with the government’s paramilitary forces. Forty percent of slain guerrillas in the country are under 18. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam in Sri Lanka–a group that has been fighting for independence for the country’s Tamil population for more than twenty-five years–is infamous for its “Baby Brigade,” a wing of the movement that recruits, trains and arms children as young as 11. In Afghanistan, it is estimated that 30 percent of children have participated in military activity at some point in their lives. In fact, the first American casualty of George Bush’s “war on terror,” Special Forces Sgt. Nathan Chapman, was shot dead by a 14-year-old Afghan boy fighting with the Taliban.
While Singer contends that the phenomenon of child soldiering is a recent historical development, Briggs asserts that children have always been involved in war. What both authors agree on, however, is that never before in the history of warfare have children been exploited on such a vast scale. As Singer maintains, at bottom the phenomenon is a telling symptom of troubling economic, political and environmental trends that have been developing over the past few decades. The growing level of global poverty is one of the most significant factors not only in the spread of conflict but also in the spread of child soldiering. The combined effects of globalization, dwindling natural resources, lack of educational and economic prospects and the corruption of a large number of developing-world regimes have today left 3 billion people, roughly half the world’s population, living on $2 a day or less. The overwhelming majority of child soldiers are drawn from this poor, uneducated, disenfranchised and marginalized segment of society. Two out of three child soldiers take some sort of initiative in their own recruitment, contrary to the belief that most child soldiers are abducted. In poverty-stricken war-torn regions characterized by insecurity and lack of education and economic opportunity, becoming a child soldier is often the only way to guarantee some level of protection and livelihood. As one Congolese child soldier explained his choice, “I heard that the rebels at least were eating. So, I joined them.”
As Children at War demonstrates, the growing poverty, political instability and environmental deterioration that have plagued many developing countries over the past several decades have also coincided with the proliferation and technological advancement of arms. Most of the deadliest wars today are waged with “small arms” or “light weapons,” such as rifles, grenades, machine guns and mortars. It is these small arms that have resulted in almost 90 percent of all casualties in recent wars. While historically children were limited in their ability to use weapons because of the sheer strength and skill required to wield them, since World War II technological advances in small arms have made weapons much lighter and simpler to use, allowing, as Singer writes, “the transformation of children into fighters just as lethal as any adult.”
Ironically, the proliferation of these deadly small arms is largely the result of the cold war’s “peace dividend.” After 1989 millions of weapons were declared “surplus” and instead of being destroyed were dumped onto the world market at a fraction of their original cost. Most of these weapons ended up in the hands of illicit organizations, and, as Singer asserts, “were added to the masses of weapons that had already been given to superpower proxies during the Cold War.” Rather than resulting in a peaceful “new world order,” therefore, the end of US-Soviet confrontation resulted in a sharp increase in the number of internal conflicts. The number of civil wars has doubled since 1989. As Mark Duffield, of the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Lancaster, in Britain, has remarked, the collapse of the Soviet Union brought “peace in the West, war for the rest.”
Singer also convincingly advances the thesis that the systematic deployment of child soldiers by armed groups around the world reflects the rise of a new type of conflict. He avers that while many armed groups started out “with some ideological or popular goals, often related to the Cold War, that has fallen by the wayside as they struggle to survive.” In certain parts of the world, warmaking is increasingly becoming an end rather than a means to an ideological or political goal, primarily because it can serve as “an alternative system of profit and power.” In Angola, Sierra Leone and the DRC, for example, winning the war was a secondary goal for many of the groups involved; the primary goal was to capitalize on the chaos. Given the profit-motivated nature of a growing number of wars, therefore, armed group leaders often have no qualms about exploiting child soldiers. Children are cheap and effective, and allow groups with no grassroots support and no clear ideological or popular goals to generate force quickly and brutally.
What’s more, armed groups are increasingly targeting children not only because they are cheap and effective but also because their limited psychological development means that they can be manipulated more easily than adults. Upon recruitment or forced abduction into an armed group, children are usually subjected to a brutal regimen of discipline, which may include beatings and abuse under the threat of death. The most important element of the regimen, as Singer points out, is often the ritualized killing of others–either captured victims or other children–aimed at crushing the children’s opposition to the group’s authority, shattering any inhibitions they may have about killing and beginning the process of desensitizing them to violence and the suffering of others. Given that upon recruitment or abduction, many of these children are so young that they have not yet developed a clear sense of right and wrong, it is only a matter of time before they are transformed into killing machines. In fact, in many conflicts today, child soldiers are feared more than adult ones, precisely because of the horrifying cruelty of which they are capable. Describing what happened to a number of West African soldiers in Liberia, one military expert quoted in Singer’s book warns of the ferocity of child soldiers: “They will capture you, strip you naked, run you through the streets, cut off your testicles and fry them in a pan in front of you, fillet you from head to toe and then cut off your head to put on a stake.”
While Singer’s book provides an admirable overview of child soldiering, Briggs’s and Beah’s books present the human faces and stories of the soldiers themselves. Briggs spent six years traveling around the world and speaking to child soldiers and their families in Africa, South America and Asia, collecting their stories in Innocents Lost.
In Colombia, Briggs speaks to Gueso, a 16-year-old fighting with one of the government’s paramilitary militias in Medellín, northwest of the country. By the age of 8, Gueso had already learned how to use his first weapon, a .38 pistol. Within hardly a year, he had killed his first victim: “I stabbed a guy in the neck,” he boasts cheerfully to Briggs. Wired on cocaine and alcohol during the interview, he keeps saying to Briggs, “Sometimes I feel like killing.” Like most of the children who join rebel or paramilitary forces in Colombia, Gueso became involved with the paramilitaries largely as a result of poverty, lack of education and unemployment. “I’m not afraid to die, but I’m afraid to die so young,” he tells Briggs. “You can’t think about the future here, because the future is a coffin.” The tragedy is that for children like Gueso, the future is a coffin whether or not they become child soldiers.
Briggs’s book also highlights the plight of an often overlooked group of child soldiers–girls. About 30 percent of armed groups who exploit child soldiers also use girls, and their situation is often worse than that of boy soldiers because they are routinely subjected to rape and sexual abuse by their fellow soldiers and also by their enemies. Not surprisingly, former girl soldiers are more than twice as likely to commit suicide as their male counterparts. In Sri Lanka, Briggs meets Sebastiana Figerardo, a widow and the mother of seven children, the youngest of whom was Ida, a girl who joined the Tamil Tigers at the age of 17 after two of her brothers were murdered by government-aligned militias. While the Tamil Tigers are one of the few armed groups that prohibit sexual relations among their members, Ida was fated for an end of devastating sexual violence. After serving four years as a Tiger guerrilla, she decided to surrender to the government and go home. Assured by government security officers that no harm would come to her from the police or state-aligned forces, she returned. Within months, however, five masked men arrived early one morning at the family house. A neighbor who saw the men before putting on their masks identified them as government soldiers from a local army camp. The soldiers beat, gagged and tied Sebastiana, her other children and grandchildren, and dragged them to the courtyard in front of the house. They then turned to Ida. As the vicious assault on her daughter commenced only a few feet away, Sebastiana managed to free her hands and feet, and ran screaming to the local police station, begging the police to come and help. “We cannot come now,” they replied calmly. “You need to go home.” By the time Sebastiana returned home, her daughter was dead. An autopsy would show that she had been repeatedly raped, shot in the genitals and mutilated. Faced with the horrific murder of her third child, Sebastiana tells Briggs simply, “I have lost all faith in human beings.” The five soldiers who carried out the assault have still not been brought to justice.
A Long Way Gone, Beah’s harrowing account of the civil war in his native Sierra Leone, provides the fullest picture of just how inexorable the plunge into war is for many children. “The first time I was touched by war,” recalls Beah in this deeply eloquent and moving memoir, the first ever to be written by a former child soldier, “I was twelve. It was in January of 1993.” Not long after the outbreak of hostilities between the government and the RUF in 1991, Beah’s village was attacked and destroyed by rebels, and he was separated from his family amid the turmoil. As village after village fell prey to the destruction and chaos of war, he and a number of friends took refuge in the forests of Sierra Leone, in order to escape the fighting. It was only a matter of time before the boys–hungry, homeless and in constant fear for their lives–were drawn into the war. Captured by soldiers, they were given an ultimatum: Stay and fight with the army or fend for themselves against the rebels. Detained in a village surrounded by rebels, Beah and his companions were left with little choice. Beah recalls one boy, Alhaji, explaining the dilemma they faced and insisting, “‘The rebels will kill anyone from this village because they consider us their enemy, spies, or that we have sided with the other side of the war…. It is better to stay here for now.’ He sighed. We had no choice. Leaving the village was as good as being dead.”
For the next few weeks, Beah and the others went through a strict regimen of indoctrination and training. The leaders of Beah’s contingent spent hours lecturing the boys about the rebels, instilling hatred for them. Beah remembers one lieutenant telling them, “They have lost everything that makes them human. They do not deserve to live. That is why we must kill every single one of them. Think of it as destroying a great evil.” The indoctrination soon began to have an effect. Listening to one of the lieutenant’s lectures, Beah recalls, “I stood there holding my gun and felt special because I was part of something that took me seriously and I was not running from anyone anymore.” In training, the boys learned how to kill. Captured rebels would be tied up, and Beah and other boys would then take part in throat-slitting competitions: “The person whose prisoner died quickest would win the contest.” Once they began regularly engaging in battles against the rebels, they were given marijuana, cocaine and “brown brown”–a mixture of gunpowder and cocaine–to increase their energy and fearlessness in combat.
Within weeks of this daily cycle of indoctrination, violence and drugs, the boys became inured to killing. “The idea of death didn’t cross my mind at all and killing had become as easy as drinking water,” recalls Beah. “My mind had not only snapped during the first killing, it had also stopped making remorseful records, or so it seemed.” Surrounded and trapped by chaos, Beah quickly adapted to war as a way of life: “The villages that we captured and turned into our bases as we went along and the forests that we slept in became my home. My squad was my family, my gun was my provider and protector, and my rule was to kill or be killed…. I felt no pity for anyone.”
If Beah’s memoir depicts how easily children are lured into combat, it also examines how difficult it is for them to emerge from it. At the age of 15, after two years of serving with the army, Beah was suddenly demobilized under a UNICEF program aimed at rehabilitating child soldiers. His commanders ordered his gun to be taken away, and he and several boys were shipped to a rehabilitation center in Freetown, the capital. For Beah and his companions, the transition to civilian life would prove to be a battle in itself. Habituated to the chaos and lawlessness of war, desensitized to violence and addicted to drugs, the boys at first could not adjust.
In the rehabilitation center, the problems started immediately. Child soldiers who had fought for the army, such as Beah, suddenly found themselves face to face with child soldiers who had fought for the rebels, and the two sides instantly turned on each other. In one twenty-minute fight, six boys–mostly from the rebel side–were stabbed and shot to death with weapons the children had smuggled into the center, and the two groups had to be placed in separate compounds. Beah and his companions also turned on the center’s staff, infuriated at having to take orders from “sissy civilians.” They attacked and beat the cooks, cleaners and nurses responsible for them. When there was no one else to fight, the boys fought one another: “We would fight for hours in between meals, for no reason at all. During these fights, we destroyed most of the furniture and threw the mattresses out in the yard.”
Denied cocaine and marijuana for the first time in years, the boys also began to suffer from withdrawal symptoms. Beah remembers, “My hands had begun to shake uncontrollably and my migraines returned with a vengeance. It was as if a blacksmith had an anvil in my head.” All of the fear and anxiety suppressed during his years as a soldier began to surface, and he was plagued by nightmares and anxiety attacks. “I would dream that a faceless gunman had tied me up and begun to slit my throat with the zigzag edge of his bayonet. I would feel the pain that the knife inflicted as the man sawed my neck. I’d wake up sweating and throwing punches in the air.”
Slowly, however, things began to change for Beah. With the friendship and guidance of one of the nurses, he managed to overcome his drug addiction and his predilection for violence and finally began sharing and coming to terms with his war experiences. His progress was such that he was asked to become a spokesperson for the center, representing it to outside donors and agencies. He was chosen to go to the United Nations in New York for a conference on issues affecting children around the world. There, he met Laura Simms, a facilitator at the conference. Before Beah left, Simms gave him her number and address and told him to keep in touch. Little did Beah know then that Simms would eventually become his adoptive mother. Back in Sierra Leone, UNICEF was unable to locate Beah’s immediate family members, who most likely had perished in the war. However, he was reunited with an uncle who lived in Freetown and was welcomed with open arms by that family. Beah moved in with them and began attending school regularly for the first time in years.
Finally, it seemed, Beah had escaped the war for good. But the war–which had been confined to the villages and rural areas–followed him to the capital. Soon after moving in with his uncle’s family, Beah awoke one spring morning in 1997 to the sound of gunshots. The radio announced that a contingent of the army and the RUF had united and overthrown the civilian government. Over the next months, Freetown turned into a war zone. The united soldiers and rebels, or “Sobels,” as they were called, began blowing up bank vaults and occupying schools and university campuses. Armed men looted most of the food from shops and markets, leaving the population on the brink of starvation. Groups of gunmen roamed the streets raping and killing people at random. For most of the city dwellers, venturing out of the house meant risking death. For Beah, there was the added fear that if he was captured he would be forced to become a soldier again. All the progress he had struggled so hard to achieve over the past year was on the brink of disintegrating.
He decided to take action. “I had to leave, because I was afraid that if I stayed in Freetown any longer, I was going to end up being a soldier again or my former army friends would kill me if I refused. Some friends who had undergone rehabilitation with me had already rejoined the army.” He managed to make a collect call to Simms in New York and asked her if he could come and live with her if he managed to get out of the country. She agreed. Beah succeeded in sneaking across the border to Guinea and made it to Conakry, the capital. The rest, as they say, is history. Beah ended up in New York, where Simms adopted him. He went on to finish school and graduated from Oberlin College in 2004.
Most child soldiers, however, are not so lucky. Attempting to emerge from war with no education and no economic prospects, often stigmatized and shunned by communities because of their participation in war and with no family or social support, many children relapse into soldiering, perpetuating the cycle of war and sowing the seeds of violence for generations to come. Since its publication, Beah’s book has become something of a sensation: It has reached the top of the New York Times bestseller list and has been featured by Starbucks, which is selling the book in its cafes across the country–and, soon, around Britain. While the attention the memoir has generated attests to an emerging interest in and concern for the plight of child soldiers, this interest also indicates a shift, if not a decline, in moral sensibility. We are no longer shocked by children being killed in war but by children killing in war.
Yet even the moral indignation aroused by the phenomenon of child soldiering has not been enough to stop, or even contain, the trend. So far, international efforts to halt the exploitation of children as soldiers have been woefully ineffective. While the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)–which bans child soldiering–is the most widely ratified convention in the world, many signatory states pay lip service to it while continuing to recruit and exploit child soldiers. And while these states as well as nonstate armed groups are largely responsible for the continuing spread of child soldiering, developed countries also share the blame. The United States has played a particularly shameful role in blocking almost every international effort aimed at curtailing child soldiering. Not only is it one of two countries (along with Somalia) that have refused to ratify the CRC; in recent years it has opposed international efforts to limit the illicit trade in small arms, the very trade that is fueling so many of the conflicts in which child soldiers are involved. P.W. Singer points to the 2001 UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms as an example. At the conference, the National Rifle Association successfully lobbied the Bush Administration to oppose any UN measures to make international small arms sales more transparent. How regulations on the international trade in small arms could affect Americans’ right to tote guns–the NRA’s fixation–is inexplicable.
The International Criminal Court, established in 2002 to prosecute those responsible for human rights abuses and war crimes, is another international instrument with the potential to counter the exploitation of child soldiers. The ICC’s mandate treats the use of child soldiers as a war crime and allows for the prosecution and punishment of armed group leaders who exploit children. In its crusade to exempt itself from any sort of international accountability, however, the United States has been rabidly opposed to the ICC, going out of its way to impugn the court’s credibility.
Speaking in Paris at a recent conference on child soldiers, Beah insisted that “no one is born violent. No child in Africa, Latin America or Asia wants to be part of war.” Beah’s message is yet to be heard. Until underlying causes such as poverty and the spread of small arms are addressed, and as long as those who exploit child soldiers go unpunished, children are destined to remain a fixed feature of warfare, helping to perpetuate instability and violence in the developing world. Ironically, at a time when many intellectuals fret over “just war” theory–the waging of war according to moral principles–the use of child soldiers is more widespread than ever. Things are awry indeed when society’s youngest and most vulnerable citizens are made to fight the wars of adults and are turned into murderous aggressors in the process.
Fatin AbbasFatin Abbas is a doctoral candidate in comparative literature at Harvard.
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Category Archives: Arts & Culture
Philippe Petit, Artist of Life
By Paul Auster
In 1982, Paul Auster wrote this introduction to Philippe Petit’s On the High Wire, which will be reissued by New Directions later this month.
Photo: Michael Kerstgens/Collection Philippe Petit.
I first crossed paths with Philippe Petit in 1971. I was in Paris, walking down the boulevard Montparnasse, when I came upon a large circle of people standing silently on the sidewalk. It seemed clear that something was happening inside that circle, and I wanted to know what it was. I elbowed my way past several onlookers, stood on my toes, and caught sight of a smallish young man in the center. Everything he wore was black: his shoes, his pants, his shirt, even the battered silk top hat he wore on his head. The hair jutting out from under the hat was a light red-blond, and the face below it was so pale, so devoid of color, that at first I thought he was in whiteface.
The young man juggled, rode a unicycle, performed little magic tricks. He juggled rubber balls, wooden clubs, and burning torches, both standing on the ground and sitting on his one-wheeler, moving from one thing to the next without interruption. To my surprise, he did all this in silence. A chalk circle had been drawn on the sidewalk, and scrupulously keeping any of the spectators from entering that space—with a persuasive mime’s gesture—he went through his performance with such ferocity and intelligence that it was impossible to stop watching.
Unlike other street performers, he did not play to the crowd. Rather, it was as if he had allowed the audience to share in the workings of his thoughts, had made us privy to some deep, inarticulate obsession within him. Yet there was nothing overtly personal about what he did. Everything was revealed metaphorically, as if at one remove, through the medium of the performance. His juggling was precise and self-involved, like some conversation he was holding with himself. He elaborated the most complex combinations, intricate mathematical patterns, arabesques of nonsensical beauty, while at the same time keeping his gestures as simple as possible. Through it all, he managed to radiate a hypnotic charm, oscillating somewhere between demon and clown. No one said a word. It was as though his silence were a command for others to be silent as well. The crowd watched, and after the performance was over, everyone put money in the hat. I realized that I had never seen anything like it before. Read More
What Really Killed Walt Whitman?
By Caleb Johnson
“Sit a while dear son,
Here are biscuits to eat and here is milk to drink,
But as soon as you sleep and renew yourself in sweet clothes, I kiss you with a good-by kiss and open the gate for your egress hence.” – “Section 46” of Song of Myself, Walt Whitman
At the start of every semester I ask my creative writings students what food they would choose to eat for their last meal. What they say reveals elements of their pasts, values, hopes, regrets. Students have answered crème brûlée, Papa John’s pizza, Ritz Crackers washed down with grape juice. My go-to is whole fried chicken, served cold, alongside champagne.
Beginning in a roundup of notable ailing figures titled “The Sick Among Us,” the New York Times chronicled the decline of Walt Whitman, whose two-hundredth birthday would have been today. In the article published December 18, 1891, he was said to have been “taken with a chill” and “quite feeble to-night, though not considered dangerously ill.” The poet was seventy-two years old, a celebrity the country over—his health warranted front-page news. Over the next few months, the Times continued with minute coverage of what turned out to be Whitman’s final days and diet. Among the liquids and solids mentioned, one in particular caught my eye—milk punch.
Milk punch dates back to the seventeenth century. The cocktail writer David Wondrich credits the drink to Aphra Behn, an English actress and writer noted for being one of the first women to make a living by publishing her work. Typically milk punch contains milk, sugar, a sprinkle of nutmeg, and bourbon, brandy, or rum—sometimes more than one. There are two main varieties: the creamy kind served in a glass right after mixing, and the clarified kind, bottled in advance. For the latter, milk gets curdled then strained, which creates a smoother flavor.
Whitman’s health problems had begun decades prior. In the summer of 1858, he experienced a small cerebral hemorrhage. While he continued to brag about his rosy complexion, his thick beard, and how he tipped the scales at more than two hundred pounds, the hemorrhage was the first of several strokes that would partially paralyze the poet on one side of his body. According to Walt Whitman’s America: A Cultural Biography by David S. Reynolds, Whitman received a number of confusing diagnoses throughout his life, which seeded a mistrust of doctors and medicine. In September 1869, one medical professional told Whitman the dizziness and sweating he was experiencing resulted from “hospital malaria, hospital poison absorbed in the system.” Vague diagnoses like this were common before germ theory.
Escaping Samuel Johnson
By Peter Martin
Joshua Reynolds, Samuel Johnson, 1775. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
“We see with other eyes, we hear with other ears; and think with other thoughts than those we formerly used,” wrote Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense and The Rights of Man. One of the most persuasive spokesmen for American independence, he championed the clearing away of British “cobwebs, poison and dust” from American society. American independence, he argued, could never be complete without that.
Many Americans thought the same way: that apart from economic stability and success, what they needed almost more than anything else after political independence was intellectual and cultural independence, free from the stifling influence of British arts, letters, and manners. They resented their cultural subservience, which had not disappeared with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Yet for more than a century after the Revolution, the majority of literate and cultured Americans did not want to turn their backs on British culture, “their ancient heritage”—especially its literature and the historical traditions of its language. About seventy long years after Paine’s statement, the popular English novelist Anthony Trollope elegantly expressed this powerful, persistent, and apparently inescapable linkage: “An American will perhaps consider himself to be as little like an Englishman as he is like a Frenchman. But he reads Shakespeare through the medium of his own vernacular, and has to undergo the penance of a foreign tongue before he can understand Molière. He separates himself from England in politics and perhaps in affection; but he cannot separate himself from England in mental culture.” Janus-like, and often in a less fully conscious way, Americans knew that their “mental culture,” whether they liked it or not, was linked to Britain’s, and they had little taste for parting with it.
America’s lingering literary and linguistic attachment to England is nowhere so evident as in the nation’s pervasive ambivalence toward Samuel Johnson and his great dictionary, published in 1755, which many call the first major dictionary of the language. He was the great sage of English literature, and a brilliant essayist, moralist, poet, lexicographer, and biographer, the “Colossus of Literature” and “Literary Dictator” of the second half of eighteenth century England, a figure thoroughly synonymous with Englishness. Throughout his career as an author, Johnson advertised his multilayered and complicated dislike of America and Americans. In 1756, the year after he published his famous dictionary, he coined the term “American dialect” to mean “a tract [trace] of corruption to which every language widely diffused must always be exposed.” He had in mind an undisciplined and barbarous uncouthness of speech. With typical hyperbole on the subject of Americans, he once remarked, “I am willing to love all mankind, except an American … rascals—robbers—pirates.” Read More
Beauty or Brains? A Simple Equation
By Julia Phillips
The main character of the musical The Light in the Piazza is named Clara. She’s blonde. The show is set in the fifties, and she wears gorgeous fit-and-flare dresses. The waists are belted tight and the wide skirts swirl. She’s beautiful. Her tastes are simple—she likes sunlight, hugs, the thought of having a baby one day. Her story goes like this: she and her mother are visiting Italy from North Carolina when they meet a handsome young man named Fabrizio. He and Clara fall in love at first sight. The initial obstacle to their romance is that they don’t speak the same language; the later, and more serious, is that in Clara’s mother’s eyes, Clara is not ready to enter any relationship, as Clara was kicked in the head by a horse at her twelfth birthday party and has remained childlike ever since. But neither of those things matters in the end. Clara’s beauty reflects her essence—her face reveals, at a glance, her pure heart and innocent spirit. What unites the American girl and Italian boy isn’t a shared culture or IQ, but the quality they sing out in their love duet: “You are good, you are good, you are good …”
I watched them sing to each other in a Manhattan theater when I was seventeen years old. I’d taken the bus in from New Jersey to see the show. Four rows from the stage, I sat alone, dressed in black, my head shaved, and cried. Clara and Fabrizio wrapped their arms around each other. It was so romantic—it felt unattainable. My seat wasn’t farther than twenty feet from Clara’s T-strap shoes, yet we seemed to exist in different worlds.
There, I thought, is the woman I will never be.
What Makes a Poet Difficult?
By Stephanie Burt
Benjamin Haydon, Wordsworth on Helvellyn, 1842, oil on canvas. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
T. S. Eliot announced portentously in 1921 that “poets in our civilization as it exists at present must be difficult,” because modern life was confusing and difficult, too. The idea that new poems should be harder to read than prose, that serious poems pose a challenge to most readers, may seem like it began in the twentieth century, with the writers called high modernists (Eliot, Ezra Pound, Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein), who distanced themselves from prose sense in new ways. And yet some poems have seemed hard to read for a while. Eliot made his announcement in the course of his essay “The Metaphysical Poets,” about John Donne and the contemporaries of Donne. Lord Byron complained in 1819 that William Wordsworth had grown incomprehensible:
Wordsworth, in a rather long “Excursion”
…….(I think the quarto holds five hundred pages),
Has given a sample from the vasty version
…….Of his new system to perplex the sages;
’Tis poetry—at least by his assertion,
…….And may appear so when the dog-star rages—
And he who understands it would be able
To add a story to the Tower of Babel.
Most readers who try The Excursion do find it hard going; almost all think it’s too long. The earlier, more influential Wordsworth—the one who liked daffodils—can be a challenge, too. Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads (1798) consisted mostly of poems about peasants and rural scenes; its plain language seemed groundbreaking—or disturbing—for its apparent simplicity, like a Chuck Berry single on a playlist full of Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. It might have seemed, even, literally revolutionary: Wordsworth’s new ways of writing about peasants and other low-status people came out of his sympathies with the French Revolution, which he and his friends first supported, then came to oppose. Read More
In Praise of Travel, Particularly on Horseback
By Antoine Compagnon
Carolus-Duran, Equestrian portrait of Mademoiselle Croizette, 1873, oil on canvas. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Michel de Montaigne is best imagined on horseback; firstly, because that was how he traveled around his own lands and between his estate and Bordeaux, as well as elsewhere in France—to Paris, Rouen, or Blois, and even farther afield (during his great journey in 1580 he traveled through Switzerland and Germany all the way to Rome). But he should also be pictured this way because he never felt more comfortable anywhere than in the saddle; it was here that he found his equilibrium, his seat:
Travel is in my opinion a very profitable exercise; the soul is there continually employed in observing new and unknown things, and I do not know, as I have often said a better school wherein to model life than by incessantly exposing to it the diversity of so many other lives, fancies, and usances, and by making it relish a perpetual variety of forms of human nature. The body is, therein, neither idle nor overwrought; and that moderate agitation puts it in breath. I can keep on horseback, tormented with the stone as I am, without alighting or being weary, eight or ten hours together.
First of all, traveling enables us to experience the world’s diversity, and Montaigne insists that there is no better education. Traveling shows us the richness of nature, proves the relativity of customs and beliefs, and shakes up our certainties; in short, it teaches us skepticism, which was Montaigne’s fundamental doctrine. Read More
That Ole Boy Shoots Purty Good
Don’t Get Hot
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‘The Conners’ Dive Deep into Drug Addiction With The Death Of Roseanne Barr’s Character
by Mckenzie Santa Maria
Many questioned for months how Roseanne Barr’s character would be written out of ABC’s new Roseanne spinoff The Conners. That question was finally answered when the show aired its first episode Oct 16th with a pilot episode entitled “Continue Truckin’,” taking a deeper look into the world of prescription drug addiction and abuse with the death of Roseanne Conner by an accidental overdose.
As the Conners mourn the loss of such a huge part of the family, the new series opens up to what is genuinely an epidemic in this country. The original Roseanna was known for addressing sticky topics and newsworthy situations and hopes the spin-off will do the same.
This country is being taken over by opioids and prescription drugs creating an overdose epidemic that we can no longer ignore. The concern has been in the headings of every significant news outlet and the stats are almost unbelievable. Every day, more than 115 people in the United States pass away after overdosing on opioids. 25% was represented by the U.S for drug-related deaths worldwide, including overdose deaths, which have continued to skyrocket. Overdose deaths in this country have more than tripled in the last 20 years, reaching upwards of 64,000 in the 12-month duration prior to January 2017.
The self-medicating and over-prescribing of medications happening in America has led to a national public health crisis including; heroin, opioids, prescription painkillers, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, a synthetic opioid up to 100 times more powerful than morphine. The synthetic opioids are responsible for the majority of the overdose deaths ages between 25 and 34. A total of 90% deaths in January and February last year involved fentanyl.
In the series premiere, the family is facing the grim reality of missing the signs that could have saved Roseanne’s life. Pill bottles were found all over the house and one bottle that belonged to her neighbor Marcy Bellinger, played by Mary Steenburgen a new cast member. During an emotional scene, she tells her good friend Dan (John Goodman), that the neighborhood shares medications due to the lack of health care and financial situations. A situation that is very common in today’s society.
Executive Producer Tom Werner shared with Forbes during a phone interview, “We thought we’d include issues such as a lack of proper healthcare and the prohibitive costs of medications that many face, “I think the conversation between Marcy and Dan made the story quite affecting because, obviously it was an accident, but an accident that seems to be happening frequently. Their conversation became part of a larger issue of people in a community passing along drugs; either not being prescribed them by a doctor, or drugs being too expensive and unaffordable. This is part of a bigger issue in this country.”
The producer explains how this was already written into Roseanna’s story last year. “She was having physical issues related to her knees in a couple of episodes and she was addicted to prescription drugs. First of all, we want to always be authentic and true to the characters and when we talked about possible options, we said that Roseanne Conner could accidentally pass away from this issue. Obviously, it was important for us to do the show respectfully. We could’ve gone down other avenues, but we felt it was the right thing for the character. As you know, it’s a crisis in this country.”
The show once again touched on an issue that is important to us as a nation. With the averages as high as 115 people dying every day from an opioid addiction and overdose, that’s almost 42,000 deaths per year.
Besides the issue of prescription medication The Conners’ touch on other important issues such as: Becky’s (Lecy Goranson) addiction to alcohol, Darlene (Sara Gilbert) and David ( Johnny Galecki) each dealing with divorce and moving into new relationships with Juliette Lewis and Justin Long, and how their co-parenting will be affected, and Dan dealing with the his grandson questing his sexuality, all from a blue-collar point of view that relates to people from all walks of life.
During Good Morning America on Wednesday, Oct 16th Goodman described the first week back without Barr as “really weird, like a death”. Werner says he’s been in contact with Barr via text, “I was in contact with Roseanna this summer, but we have not talked about how we handled her character’s exit.” Gilbert added that it was emotional moving forward, the team felt it was necessary to do so, is that there are many stories left to tell.
With both having the same vision Werner shared, “I’m not trying to have this be a rating blockbuster. I am, however, hopeful the audience will find the show and if they do, that they will come back. What’s most important to the cast, writers and crew is that we do a good show.” The creators and writers at ABC will stop at nothing to capture the hearts of America once again.
By: Mckenzie Santa Maria
Source: The Recover News Room
A Historical Day For Marijuana Smokers in Canada, Will America be Next ?
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The Recover Supplies New List of What to Bring To Drug Rehab
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For anyone in New Zealand around 2001, you will remember the country virtually closing down to herald the release of the first of three major hollywood movies.
The multi oscar winning Lord of The Rings trilogy was shot simultaneously over an 8 year period and entirely in New Zealand. Directed by kiwi legend sir Peter Jackson, the ‘rings’ franchise and subsequent Hobbit films have become a worldwide phenomenon and a major New Zealand tourist attraction. Much has been chronicled about the making of Middle Earth, and it turns out Ruapehu played a central role in the telling of that story
Ruapehu's awe inspiring and diverse scenery makes it a natural choice for film locations. Mordor, home to the Dark Lord Sauron was shot on location around the rocky slopes of the Tongariro National Park. The area’s jagged volcanic rock formations and eerie barren landscapes were ideal locations for creating Mordor’s hissing wasteland. As the centre piece of the films, Mount Ngauruhoe was digitally enhanced to create the fiery Mount Doom. Key scenes shot in the Ruapehu region also include the Emyn Muil (Iwikau Village at Whakapapa), Ithilien Camp (Mangawhero Falls) and Orc Army scenes (Rangipo Desert).
Given the importance of the Tongariro National Park to New Zealand's conservation and cultural history, the producers worked closely with the Department of Conservation to ensure that measures were implemented to protect the sensitive ecological environment.
About the Tongariro National Park
Walking in the Tongariro National Park
Towns & Villages in & around the Tongariro National Park
A genuine wonder of the natural world.Come to the Ruapehu region and challenge yourself to this alpine hike
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The Least and Most Trusted News Sources in America
Which news sources are the most trustworthy?
This seems like a simple question – but in the “fake news” era, things haven’t been so straightforward. As a result, the public’s level of trust in mass media has fallen to a low of just 32%.
Examining The Trust Spectrum
A new survey by the Trusting News Project helps shed more light on the state of trust in media, revealing the attitudes of 8,728 people in the United States. Administered through 28 media outlets around the country, the survey asked respondents how trusting they are of the media, whether they financially support news organizations, and which outlets are the most (and least) trustworthy.
Here are results to the question about trustworthiness of specific news sources:
Before we dive into the results, it’s worth noting that respondents were self-selected and tend to skew to the liberal side of the political spectrum. More on this later in the post, but keep it in mind.
High Trust, Low Trust
According to the survey respondents, The Economist is the most trustworthy news source in media.
On the far opposite side of the spectrum? It’s Occupy Democrats, an extreme left advocacy group that claims to be the “new counterbalance to the Republican Tea Party”.
Interestingly, both The Economist and Occupy Democrats have close to the same amount of Facebook likes (8.2 million vs. 6.7 million), which shows that despite polar opposite perceptions, people are willing to grant an audience to both groups.
Also scoring well for trust included outlets such as Reuters, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, and The Guardian. Meanwhile, bad trust scores went to Buzzfeed, Breitbart, Infowars, Yahoo, and The Huffington Post.
Trust By Political Skew
It’s also worth breaking down respondents into groups based on political orientation, to see what differences this can point out regarding trust and the level of financial support being provided to news organizations.
On the following graph, the X-axis shows age groups, while the Y-axis shows levels of trust (higher is more), as well as the number of news organizations respondents claim to financially support (higher is more).
For people that identify as liberals or moderates, trust of news outlets is positively correlated with age. Interestingly, for conservatives, trust in media starts low and seems to decrease with age.
Audience Biases
As mentioned earlier, although the sample size was big (>8,000), there are a few biases worth noting:
Survey respondents were not randomly selected, and voluntarily filled out the survey.
Survey respondents tended to be geographically near the 28 newsrooms, many of which were local, that made the survey available on their websites.
In terms of political orientation, the audience skews towards liberals. (See below diagram).
And while the audience may not be fully representative of the American public, the survey definitely does provide interesting insight on trust in media. Get access to the full report by clicking here.
Related Topics:Newspoliticssources
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The Shape of the World, According to Old Maps
What did ancient maps look like, before we had access to airplanes and satellites? See the evolution of the world map in this nifty infographic.
Iman Ghosh
The Shape of the World, According to Ancient Maps
A Babylonian clay tablet helped unlock an understanding for how our ancestors saw the world.
Dating all the way back to the 6th century BCE, the Imago Mundi is the oldest known world map, and it offers a unique glimpse into ancient perspectives on earth and the heavens.
While this is the first-known interpretation of such a map, it would certainly not be the last. Today’s visualization, designed by Reddit user PisseGuri82, won the “Best of 2018 Map Contest” for depicting the evolving shapes of man-made maps throughout history.
AD 150: Once Upon A Time in Egypt
In this former location of the Roman Empire, Ptolemy was the first to use positions of latitude and longitude to map countries into his text Geographia. After these ancient maps were lost for centuries, Ptolemy’s work was rediscovered and reconstructed in the 15th century, serving as a foundation for cartography throughout the Middle Ages.
1050: Pointing to the Heavens
The creation of this quintessential medieval T-and-O Beatine map is attributed not to an unknown French monk, but to the Spanish monk Beatus of Liébana. Although it shows several continents—Africa, Asia, and Europe—its main objective was to visualize Biblical locations. For example, because the sun rises in the east, Paradise (The Garden of Eden) can be seen pointing upwards and towards Asia on the map.
1154: The World Turned Upside Down
The Arabic geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi made one of the most advanced medieval world maps for King Roger II of Sicily. The Tabula Rogeriana, which literally translates to “the book of pleasant journeys into faraway lands”, was ahead of the curve compared to contemporaries because it used information from traveler and merchant accounts. The original map was oriented south-up, which is why modern depictions show it upside down.
1375: The Zenith of Medieval Map Work
The Jewish cartographer Abraham Cresques created the most important map of the medieval period, the Catalan Atlas, with his son for Prince John of Aragon. It covers the “East and the West, and everything that, from the Strait [of Gibraltar] leads to the West”. Many Indian and Chinese cities can be identified, based on various voyages by the explorers Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville.
After this, the Age of Discovery truly began—and maps started to more closely resemble the world map as we know it today.
1489: Feeling Ptolemy and Polo’s Influences
The 15th century was a radical time for map-makers, once Ptolemy’s geographical drawings were re-discovered. Henricus Martellus expanded on Ptolemaic maps, and also relied on sources like Marco Polo’s travels to imagine the Old World. His milestone map closely resembles the oldest-surviving terrestrial globe, Erdapfel, created by cartographer Martin Behaim. Today, it’s preserved at the Yale University archives.
1529: A Well-Kept Spanish Secret
The first ever scientific world map is most widely attributed to the Portuguese cartographer Diego Ribero. The Padrón Real was the Spanish Crown’s official and secret master map, made from hundreds of sailors’ reports of any new lands and their coordinates.
1599: The Wright Idea
English mathematician and cartographer Edward Wright was the first to perfect the Mercator projection—which takes the Earth’s curvature into consideration. Otherwise known as a Wright-Molyneux world map, this linear representation of the earth’s cylindrical map quickly became the standard for navigation.
1778-1832: The Emergence of Modern World Maps
The invention of the marine chronometer transformed marine navigation—as ships were now able to detect both longitude and latitude. Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, a French geographer, was responsible for the 18th century’s highly accurate world maps and nautical charts. His designs favored functionality over the decorative flourishes of cartographers past.
Finally, the German cartographer and lawyer Adolf Stieler was the man behind Stieler’s Handatlas, the leading German world atlas until the mid-20th century. His maps were famous for being updated based on new explorations, making them the most reliable map possible.
Is There Uncharted Territory Left?
It is worth mentioning that these ancient maps above are mostly coming from a European perspective.
That said, the Islamic Golden Age also boasts an impressive cartographic record, reaching its peak partially in thanks to Muhammad al-Idrisi in the 11th century. Similarly, Ancient Chinese empires had a cartographic golden age after the invention of the compass as well.
Does this mean there’s nothing left to explore today? Quite the contrary. While we know so much about our landmasses, the undersea depths remain quite a mystery. In fact, we’ve explored more of outer space than we have 95% of our own oceans.
If you liked the visualization above, be sure to explore the world’s borders by age, broken down impressively by the same designer.
The Extreme Temperatures of the Universe
From the Big Bang to the Boomerang Nebula, this stunning data visualization puts the extreme temperatures of our universe into perspective.
Nick Routley
For most of us, temperature is a very easy variable to overlook.
Our vehicles and indoor spaces are climate controlled, fridges keep our food consistently chilled, and with a small twist of the tap, we get water that’s the optimal temperature. Of course, our concept of what’s hot or cold is actually very narrow in the grand scheme of things.
Even the stark contrast between the wind-swept glaciers of Antarctica and the blistering sands of our deserts is a mere blip on the universe’s full temperature range. Today’s graphic, produced by the IIB Studio, looks at the hottest and coldest temperatures in our universe.
But First: What is Temperature Anyway?
Before looking at this top-to-bottom view of extreme temperatures, it helps to remember what temperature is actually measuring – kinetic energy, or the movement of atoms.
Hypothetically, atoms would simply stop moving as they reach absolute zero. As matter heats up, it begins to “vibrate” more vigorously, changing states from solid to gas. Eventually, plasma forms as electrons wander away from the nuclei.
With that quick primer, let’s dig into some of the hottest insights in this cool data visualization.
Highs and Lows on Planet Earth
Earth’s lowest air temperature, -135ºF (-93ºC), was recorded in Antarctica in 2010. Since then, scientists have discovered that surface ice temperatures can dip as low as -144ºF (-98ºC).
The conditions need to be just right: clear skies and dry air must persist for several days during the polar winter. In surroundings this cold, human lungs would actually hemorrhage within just a few breaths.
On the other end of the spectrum of extreme temperatures, the hottest surface reading on Earth of 160ºF (71ºC) occurred in Iran’s Lut Desert in 2005. In fact, the Lut Desert clocked the highest surface temperature in 5 out of 7 years during a 2003-2009 study, making it the world’s hottest location. The desert’s dark pebbles, dry soil, and lack of vegetation create the perfect conditions for blistering heat.
There are very few organisms that can withstand such temperatures, but one fascinating phylum makes the cut.
The Amazing Tardigrade
Commonly known as a “moss pig” or “water bear”, the one-millimeter long tardigrade is extremely resilient. While most organisms need water to survive, the tardigrade gets around this by entering a “tun” state, in which metabolism slows to just 0.01% of its normal rate.
When water is scarce, the creature curls up and synthesizes molecules that lock sensitive cell components in place until re-hydration occurs. Beyond dry conditions, the tardigrade can also survive both freezing and boiling temperatures, high radiation environments, and even the vacuum of space.
This video courtesy of TEDEd explains more about the hardy critter:
Testing the Limits
For better or worse, humans have pushed the limits of temperature here on Earth.
At MIT, scientists cooled a sodium gas to half-a-billionth of a degree above absolute zero. In the words of the Nobel Laureate Wolfgang Ketterle, who co-led the team: “To go below one nanokelvin (one-billionth of a degree) is a little like running a mile under four minutes for the first time.”
Not all experiments are conducted out of simple curiosity. Conventional bombs already explode at around 9,000ºF (5,000ºC), but nuclear explosions take things much further. For a split second, temperatures inside a nuclear fireball can reach a mind-bending 18,000,000ºF (10,000,000ºC).
The highest man-made temperature ever recorded is 9,900,000,000,000ºF (5,500,000,000,000ºC), created in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland. It was achieved by accelerating heavy lead ions to 99% the speed of light and smashing them together.
Highs and Lows of the Universe
While humans have been able to manufacture extremely hot and cold temperatures, the universe has created these extremes naturally.
Undoubtedly, the creation of the universe is made of the hottest stuff of all. The temperature of the universe at 10⁻³⁵ seconds old was a whopping 1 octillion ºC. Moments later, it “cooled down” to 1,800,000,000ºF (1 billion ºC) when the universe was less than two minutes old.
On the other end of the spectrum, the coolest natural place currently known in the universe is the Boomerang Nebula at -457.6ºF (-272ºC). It’s found 5,000 light years away from us in the constellation Centaurus, and it is currently in a transitional phase as a dying star.
As space exploration goes further than ever, these extreme temperatures may one day reach even hotter or colder heights than we can imagine.
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NC4P hails record pro-Palestine march
August 11, 2014 • News, VOC News • No Comments
The National Coalition for Palestine (NC4P) has described Saturday’s march to Parliament, as the biggest and most diverse in the countries history. More than 100 000 pro-Palestinian supporters from all walks of life gathered in the City CBD, in condemnation of Israel’s brutal campaign against the people of Gaza.
The march was organised by the NC4P, to motivate government to take urgent steps towards severing all ties with the state of Israel. A petition, calling on government to discuss the issue within parliament, was accepted by ANC MP Mandla Mandela, the grandson of former president Nelson Mandela.
NC4P spokesperson, Reverend Edwin Arrison, hailed the diversity amongst those who came out to the march, noting that people from all sectors of society, and different religious backgrounds had come together for one united purpose.
He expressed confidence the march would have the desired impact, noting the numbers of government representatives that were present to accept the memorandum.
“We had a commitment from Chief Mandla Mandela that he would take matters forward. But of course it’s only one step within many thousands of different steps, so this week we will formally follow up with parliament about the petition that we handed to them,” he explained.
Despite the enormous success of the march, Rev Arrison said it was vital that the community kept up its pressure, both on government and in regards to the boycott of companies with trade ties to Israel. He made special mention of the boycott against retail outlet Woolworths, who have been accused of refusing to remove Israeli products from its shelves.
“When people ask me what do they should do, I say focus on the boycott of Woolworths for the moment. We will come back to you with guidance about other shops, but for the moment we really want people to focus on that,” he said.
Reiterating the South African narrative on the issue, he recalled the attitude of the Western governments towards the Apartheid regime. He accused them of taking a similar stance against the Palestinian people, by turning a blind eye towards any discussions on the conflict.
He also addressed the arrest of five picketers who were accused of staging an illegal protest at the Sea Point Pavilion. He noted the group were not part of the NC4P. However he gave them the full backing of the NC4P.
“There are certain actions and planned by the NC4P, the march was that. Yesterday’s picket was not that. But in any case, when people’s rights are trampled on, we will support them,” he said. VOC (Mubeen Banderker)
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After the squirrel-owning man-on-the-run posted a video on Facebook, neighbors are sharing what they think about it.
Posted By: Scottie Kay
Attack Squirrel Follow-Up
Man claims to have reunited with Limestone County "attack squirrel"
Neighbors are reacting to the bizarre turn of events in the story of an "attack squirrel" that may be addicted to meth.
Mickey Paulk, the man accused of keeping the squirrel as a pet, is wanted on drug charges. In a video he posted on Facebook, Paulk claims to have been reunited with his squirrel after deputies released it into the wild.
WAAY 31 learned where the police investigation stands and what Paulk’s neighbors are saying about the video he posted.
“A squirrel on meth. That scares the fire out of me! Poor squirrel," Billy Carruth, Jr. said. "What would you do if he had done your dog like that? Oh goodness, he couldn’t handle it.”
“Welcome to the South, man. We’ve got squirrels on meth," Charles McFarland added. "Welcome to the South."
A community is still in disbelief after hearing one of their neighbors may have fed a pet squirrel meth to keep it aggressive.
“Man, what an idiot! I wouldn’t want to be around a squirrel that wasn’t on meth—much less, on meth! A squirrel is dangerous. On meth? I wouldn’t want a part of that," Carruth said. "Can you imagine what that sucker would look like? Crazy! It would eat you up.”
Limestone County deputies are still looking for Mickey Paulk after getting a tip about the meth-addicted squirrel. They found a squirrel in a cage, but they didn't test it for meth. Instead, they released it.
After word spread about the squirrel, Paulk posted a video on Facebook, claiming he never gave the animal meth.
“You can’t give squirrels meth. It would kill them," Paulk said in the video. "I’m pretty sure. I’ve never tried it.”
Paulk said he went back to the home and found the squirrel in a tree after deputies released it. He said the squirrel is ten months old and has never been outside before.
Neighbors wonder if Paulk is the one on drugs.
“I think the guy is illiterate. He’s not thinking all the way clearly. He must be on something," Carruth said.
They want him arrested soon.
“To torture a small animal like that, he should face the music, whatever is coming to him," McFarland said.
Carruth wants the squirrel to get away from Paulk for good.
“The squirrel needs to be turned loose in the wild again and hope he doesn’t kill a bunch or other squirrels," he said.
Neighbors hope nothing like this ever happens in their neighborhood again.
“It’s past the funny. The funny is over with," Carruth said. "If he was doing that to that squirrel or any dog or any kind of animal, it’s unacceptable."
WAAY 31 learned more about Paulk and his criminal history.
“It’s not the first time we’ve dealt with him," Limestone County Deputy Stephen Young said.
When we asked the Limestone County Sheriff's Office what they thought about the video Paulk posted on Facebook, they said they didn't feel the need to respond to it.
“Our job as law enforcement officers is not to engage in a public forum or debate about things that may or may not have happened, or may or may not happen in the future," Young said. "As long as he’s out and about, he’s free to talk to whoever he wants, just as you and I are.”
In his video on Facebook, Paulk claims he no longer lives in the apartment where deputies found drugs and the squirrel, so he says they can’t get him for drug possession.
However, he admits in the video that he still had a few belongings at the apartment, including his beloved pet squirrel.
“Warrants are obtained on probable cause, not hearsay. You have to meet a certain standard for a judge to sign an arrest warrant," Young said. "They have to present enough evidence that the person is doing or has done what that officer or investigator is saying they’ve done.”
WAAY 31 learned this is not the first time Limestone County deputies have dealt with this man.
“Paulk’s been here a number of times," Young said.
Between 2001 and 2019, Paulk was booked into the Limestone County Jail 28 times.
His list of charges include robbery, burglary, theft, receiving stolen property, domestic violence, reckless endangerment, and drug charges.
After hearing this list, and hearing about the possible meth-addicted squirrel, some of Paulk’s neighbors said there’s no point in him hiding out.
“If the sheriff in this county is looking for him, he might as well come on in. Turn himself in, because it’s over. He need not watch the calendar. Watch the clock, because these guys are going to get him," Carruth said. "This fella needs to be prosecuted to the fullest.”
The Limestone County Sheriff’s Office says it won't charge Paulk with anything related to the squirrel, but wildlife agents might. Deputies are still actively searching and following leads on Paulk's whereabouts.
Stephen Young, a spokesperson with the sheriff's office, confirmed on Wednesday that Paulk called into a Florence radio station. Young says the station notified authorities about the call.
Alabama ‘attack squirrel’ owner facing new state charge
Huge squirrel population chomps crops, driving farmers nuts
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Matt Massey Interview
Matt Massey is resigning to become president of a new cyber technology school in Huntsville.
Posted By: Jalen Hereford
Speech to Text for Matt Massey Interview
right now -- the madison county school board is meeting to vote on a new interim superintendent. that's after superintendent matt massey is resigning to become president of an new cyber technology school in huntsville. waay 31's alex torres perez sat down with him today and talked about the legacy he's leaving behind. l: these halls contain 19 years of memories for superintendent matt massey. though he's excited for the new opportunity, he says he'll always have a piece of the madison county school district in his heart. "i met my wife here. the kids are part of the system." matt massey's last day as superintendent is sunday. though his desk may seem bare... massey says he hasn't started packing up his office just yet. "we are going to get as much done as we can. we are going to leave it all on the line. everything we do is going to be what's best for our students." massey says he's proud of what he's accomplished so far. he's improved test scores in the district, made renovations to the schools and has more students taking advanced and college courses. but he says he couldn't have done any of it without the people he works with. "our teachers pour their lives into our student's lives and schools." that's why he hopes his legacy isn't what he accomplished but the fact that he listened and recognized those who made it all possible. "it's very bitter sweet that he's moving on." andrea davis bournes is a speech language pathologist at sparkman high school. she along with many others say they're thankful for the superintendent's support. "he definitely, i felt like, always had our backs." he now looks forward to see the school district grow from a parent's perspective. "to get to see the growth from that perspective too is exciting." massey will start his new job as president of the alabama school of cyber technology and engineering on monday. "it's going to be a lot of hard work and hills to climb, but it's going to be so rewarding and worth all that effort" reporting in madison co. atp waay 31 news... the school board meeting is happening righ now. we'll let you know what happens at the meeting both air and online. and who will take over as interim
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Dansoman
Abelemkpe
Airport Residential Area
Asylum Down and Kokomlemle
Cantonments
Chorkor
East Legon
Kanda
Kaneshie
La (Labadi)
Labone and Osu (Christianborg)
Nima Mamobi and Accra New Town (Lagos Town)
Teshie and Nungua
West Legon (Westlands)
Where to live in Accra
Accra, the capital of Ghana, is a friendly city of about three million people. Its architecture ranges from traditional African buildings to large, elegant colonial houses and modern high-rise blocks. Since the early 1990s, a number of new buildings have gone up, including the distinctive boat-shap...
Dansoman, near the coast 14km southwest of the city centre, is a large area with a predominantly middle/high-income population although some low-income people live here too.
Housing is a mix of detached and semi-detached houses and apartments on estates built from the early 1970s onwards. The area has basic services such as water and electricity but there are severe shortages and residents need tanks for water storage. There is the usual range of post offices, internet cafes, schools, shops, bookshops, banks and police stations. Telephone lines are installed on request.
The Methodist University College of Ghana, one of the newest private universities in the country, is to be found in Dansoman on the premises of the Wesley Grammar School. There are plenty of religious activities in this area and nightlife is lively. Trotros and taxis link this area to most parts of the city but traffic is heavy most of the time.
Address Dansoman, Accra, Ghana
Dansoman, Accra, Ghana
OUR SELECTION FOR DANSOMAN
Kids Yellow page
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Feds: Busch's Country Corner owners committed millions in food stamp fraud
Rest of market remains open
CINCINNATI -- The owners of a Findlay Market butcher shop committed millions of dollars in food stamp fraud over the course of eight years, according to the federal search warrant that led to a raid on the business Thursday morning.
Authorities taped off Busch's Country Corner at about 11 a.m. to take photos and videos of the vendor's food and collect evidence, which the search warrant said included financial records, security camera recordings and electronic communications.
The shop, which specializes in chicken, turkey and other smoked meats, is operated by husband-and-wife duo Amanda and Michael Busch, according to Findlay Market's website . They bought the stand in 1997; according to federal documents, they began "the trafficking of SNAP EBT benefits in exchange for cash" around January 2010 and earned about $3.5 million from the scheme over the course of the next eight years.
Michael Busch's brother, Randall, was also involved, according to investigators. The trio could face charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and commit wire fraud, unauthorized use of food stamp benefits, theft of public money, access device fraud and wire fraud.
Police collect evidence- including cash - during raid on Findlay Market shop. Officers arrived around 11 am at Busch’s Country Corner. pic.twitter.com/kTE17lLN9i
— Craig Cheatham (@CheathamWCPO) May 10, 2018
Authorities from Ohio Investigative Unit, USDA, Office of Inspector General and Cincinnati Police Department were also at the scene. According to the search warrant, investigators spent 15 months tracking illegal exchanges at the Findlay Market location and others.
Food stamp fraud cost taxpayers about $560 million last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Catching the perpetrators takes time and money.
RELATED: Who's minding the store when it comes to retail food stamp fraud?
"We use all the resources that have been given to us to investigate as best our agency can," investigative agent in charge Adam Johnson said.
This investigation began in April 2017, when a confidential informant came forward saying SNAP EBT benefits were being traded for cash, according to documents filed by authorities.
Investigators said they found Busch's Country Corner conducted an average of about 2,167 individual SNAP EBT transactions each month between October 2010 and March 2018. Comparable companies averaged 868 transactions per month. Busch's monthly average totaled $60,151, compared to a monthly average of $21,807 in similar businesses.
All three targets of the investigation are residents of Sunman, Indiana, according to the search warrants. Authorities also executed two search warrants at homes there Thursday.
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Butkus
Edward Jones was recently named the #1 place to work in Indiana and Illinois, #2 in New Jersey, and #3 in Rhode Island. Fortune Magazine named the firm #16 overall nationally and #4 for large companies. This is the seventh time they were listed on the Fortune 100, including 5 top 10’s and 2 #1’s.
Hmmmm, maybe they need to start polling the brokers, and stop polling the GPs.
According to whom? How’s it go…“Ignorance is bliss.”
Ilovedogs
When I worked in NC at Jones, our RL (also a GP) pushed everybody in the region to fill out the survey for Raleigh even though most of us didn’t work anywhere near there. “Gotta get Jones named #1…”
Indyone
Well they didn't ask me, but then again, I'm probably not considered an "employee". Babs, Zacko, they call you?!! BTW, don't you mean the #1 (or whatever) place to work FOR?
I'm sorry to be a doubter, but I'd love to be on the inside and see how these polls are really conducted/manipulated...one possibility (besides the Kool-Aid effect) might be that working fo EDJ is about as close as you'll get to being an independent while still receiving a W-2. Most reps probably feel like they have a lot of freedom, aside from the limitations on product availability and technology. Of course, these are all guesses from one who has never worked there, but knows several who do.
[quote=Ilovedogs]When I worked in NC at Jones, our RL (also a GP) pushed everybody in the region to fill out the survey for Raleigh even though most of us didn't work anywhere near there. "Gotta get Jones named #1......."[/quote]
Guess that's a possible answer to the manipulation question...
BrokerRecruit
Here's what I think the bottom line is -
WHO GIVES A $#!T!!!!
If EDJ reps are happy after chugging, that's great. I just think it's hysterical how they are so quick to make that clear to everyone. The poll I'd love to see is how everyone rates their former firms. That would be interesting and you'd see a mixed bag of responses.
The whole thing smells to me. There has to be a great deal of prodding from internal management on this.
I've always wondered, though, if reps at Merrill (for example) really care about this. Are they getting pushed to fill out the surveys, or are they more concerned about growing their business to the point that they don't care how the rest of the world views it.
Years ago, in a very early life, I sold sewing machines for a sewing shop here in town. I would run an ad in the local paper of a small town, (we called it the Dummy Ad) adverizing a very inexpensive sewing machine that was produced over seas, as "over orders" from a local school district or community college or whatever. They "HAD TO BE SOLD" Yadi Yadi Yadi. I'm sure you've read similar ads. first off, they weren't school orders and secondly we sold the heck out of them. They were functional but of no superior quality. Yet, Consumer reports magazine rated them that particular year, the best buy for your money! ???? Gimmie a break!!! They were low end "Stuff"
The reason I mention that is that, I found out that this company had Encouraged, arranged, sponsored, or plain flat out paid for that rating. so goes with this Jones being #1.
As Clint Eastwood said to his boss in a Dirty Harry movie "Yeah.. You're a legend in your own mind".... So goes with Jones, they really think they are it.
Don't believe it at all. Just ask Weddell why they can't hang on to seasoned brokers. He actually said it in print here at RRMag.
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John Platt
Photo by Gus Philippas
Over his 50-year career in professional radio, John Platt has been, among other things, a disc jockey, a program director, a producer, a marketing and promotions director, and a communications director. He's also witnessed the evolution in music over the decades. Now retired from full-time employment, he's devoting his time to his weekly Sunday Supper program and enhancing the world of contemporary folk music.
John got into radio as progressive rock was gaining a foothold on FM radio in the late '60s. He was working as the program director of the Princeton University radio station when, thanks to being in the right place at the right time, he began his professional career at WMMR in Philadelphia. After graduation in 1970, Platt headed to Chicago, where as program director and air personality he helped launch the eclectic music format at nationally-renowned WXRT. He stayed in Chicago through the decade, a fertile time for folk music there, as the careers of Steve Goodman and John Prine took off.
At the close of the '70s, John moved to New York as the program director of another legendary station, WRVR. After the station changed ownership and format in 1980, John produced several national radio series and wrote for MTV until he hooked up with Pete Fornatale at WNEW-FM in 1985. He produced Pete's influential Mixed Bag program (later known as The Sunday Show on K-Rock) for 11 years, filling in when Pete was on vacation and interviewing artists such as Tom Waits, Randy Newman and Bonnie Raitt. All the while John was working full-time as the Promotion & Marketing Director at WNEW-AM and WYNY and later, having converted to public radio, as the Marketing & Communications Director at WNYC. It was his work with Pete Fornatale which prompted WFUV to contact Platt in April 1997.
For 21 years until October, 2018, John divided his time at WFUV between full-time management positions and host of a weekly program, originally "Sunday Breakfast" and later "Sunday Supper." (It continues to air Sundays from 5-6pm.) The show has featured theme sets, artist salutes and artist interviews, ranging from icons like Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and Graham Nash to up-and-comers such as the Milk Carton Kids, Red Molly, and the Brother Brothers.
John's commitment to emerging artists led to the creation of On Your Radar, a monthly showcase he curates at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City, as well as regularly hosting concerts throughout the metropolitan area. That commitment has also inspired the not-for-profit New Folk Initiative and the website newfolk.org as a platform for his on-air and online endeavors within the folk community.
The father of two grown daughters and grandfather of three, he lives on Long Island with his wife of more than 45 years, Sheila Sheffield Platt. He is active in his church and community.
Brother Sun
Rosanne Cash
The Indigo Girls
Susan Werner
Red Molly
Chris Stamey (Photo by Daniel Coston from artist's PR)
Sunday Supper for June 23
Ray Davies (Photo by Alex Lake/Stem Agency)
Pete Seeger (Photo courtesy of Appleseed Records)
Sunday Supper: Seeger Centennial
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Denne historie er over 5 år gammel.
Photos of People Taking Selfies at the 9/11 Memorial
A place for solemn reflection, and a great photo opp.
af Megan Koester
18 juli 2014, 5:00am
A sign indicating the “rules of conduct” for attendance greets you upon entry at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. “Please be reminded that the 9/11 Memorial is a place of remembrance and quiet reflection,” it says. “Visitors should exercise proper decorum, personal behaviour and conduct at all times.”
While decorum may not be a word in the average American’s vocabulary, it goes without saying that the Memorial pools that now exist on the hallowed ground where nearly 3,000 people lost their lives on September the 11th, 2001 aren’t exactly the ideal environment to exercise one’s tastelessness. To most, the mere idea of acting in a less-than reverent manner when standing on such consecrated land would be impossible.
Said pools, located where the Twin Towers once stood, are enormous holes in the Earth surrounded by the names of those who perished – visiting them is a solemn, overwhelming experience.
The sheer magnitude of the one-acre pools, the largest manmade waterfalls in the United States, is intended to impart the enormity of the loss of life that took place in the buildings they have replaced. The intense sound of water flowing, constantly flowing, down the infinitely deep pools drowns out the sound of the city surrounding it, thus facilitating the aforementioned quiet reflection.
It is a place to reflect on the fragility of human life and the impermanence of being. It is a place to honour the brave men and women of the New York City Police and Fire Departments who made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives to assist their city’s residents in their time of need.
It is also a place to honour the average folks who lent a hand to their fellow man, and in doing so either risked or lost their lives as well. It is a place to think about the ineffable strength of the human spirit, and our ability as a people to rally together when presented with senseless tragedy.
While the names of the thousands of soldiers who perished fighting the “War on Terror” that ensued post-9/11 are not listed, knowledge of their sacrifice, as well as the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqi and Afghanistan civilians, adds further grimness to the Memorial.
Realisation that the events of that fateful day, and the fear they induced, set the wheel in motion for America to allow the Patriot Act to be instated and to reelect George W Bush, and all that those events entailed, adds further grimness still. We did not merely lose life that day. We lost liberty as well.
It is a place, indeed, of remembrance and quiet reflection. A sacred place, where one may, and should, ruminate on matters of life and death.
Which I’m totally gonna do in, like, one second. Um… but first? Lemme take a selfie.
@bornferal
More selfies:
The Selfies at Funerals Tumblr Tells Us a Lot About Death
MrPimpGoodGame Is the King of the Instagram Selfie
Jihad Selfies: These British Extremists in Syria Love Social Media
memorial pools
taking selfies at the 9/11 memorial
lower Manhattan
cell phone cameras
solemn reflection
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The F-35 ‘Combat Debut’: A Big Waste of Time for Such a Deadly Stealth Fighter?
Task and Purpose, Paul Szoldra
The National Interest• October 2, 2018
Why is a super-expensive, fifth-generation, stealth-with-all-the-bells-and-whistles aircraft being used to drop bombs presumably on a bunch of AK-47’s and RPGs?
I got a little bit more out of the military public affairs types on the recent “combat debut” of the F-35B in Afghanistan, and it turns out the $115 million stealth aircraft was used to obliterate a static cache of enemy weaponry.
Now, I originally intended to use this column to criticize the U.S. Marine Corps for putting together what appeared to be a big, taxpayer-funded PR stunt. Indeed, my inbox was inundated with press releases, photos, and video from the strike that the service clearly wanted (and subsequently got) covered in the media.
However, it’s not really the Marine Corps’ decision to drop bombs in theater. Personnel at U.S. Central Command are the ultimate authority on what kind of aircraft are used in its area of responsibility, and a spokesman told me that this wasn’t a one-time thing: The squadron involved is now “in the rotation” with other platforms to hit targets in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Still, the F-35B in question was launched from a ship somewhere in the Arabian Sea (roughly a 1,000 mile one-way trip) to hit a static target on the ground. According to Navy Cmdr. Grant Neeley, a U.S. Forces-Afghanistan spokesman, the target was a mined weapons cache that ground forces were unable to clear. The ground force commander then called in an air strike, and he received two: A GBU-12 (cost: $19,000+) and a GBU-32 JDAM (cost: $22,000).
So why the hell is a super-expensive, fifth-generation, stealth-with-all-the-bells-and-whistles aircraft being used to drop bombs presumably on a bunch of AK-47’s and RPGs?
Perhaps I sound like an old man yelling at a cloud here, but using the world’s most expensive aircraft to kill a bunch of guns on the ground doesn’t seem like the best use of taxpayer money. That’s not to mention the fact this particular aircraft, with a range just over 1,000 miles, probably had to get aerial refueling on the way in and on the way out.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of manned and unmanned aircraft at Bagram Air Field and other sites in Afghanistan. For a target as insignificant as this, a Predator drone would’ve done just fine, or perhaps it could’ve been punted to an Afghan Air Force pilot. Lord knows they need the practice.
On the same day the strike took place, Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan implored his department to “work at all levels to find ways to save time [and money]” in a post on Twitter.
Sir, I think I found one.
This article originally appeared at Task & Purpose. Follow Task & Purpose on Twitter.
More Articles from Task & Purpose:
- 7 Veteran-Friendly Manufacturers That Are Hiring
- The 6 Types Of Contractors You Encounter Overseas
- Here’s How Marines Fared On The New Physical Fitness Test
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Filtering by Tag: Mt- Everest
Andrew's Firsthand Account from Mt. Everest Base Camp
April 29, 2015 brandpointyfu
Above: destruction in central base camp after avalanche
See below for Andrew's chilling first-hand account of the earthquake and avalanche at Mt. Everest Base Camp and the extraordinary efforts that followed.
Here’s the brief update:
A 7.9 earthquake struck Nepal on Saturday, killing thousands in Katmandu, causing severe damage to many villages in the Khumbu Valley and triggering a massive avalanche that obliterated about one-third of Everest Base Camp.
As of today (Monday), all of our IMG expedition team is safe and accounted for. Unfortunately, the death toll across base camp appears to be more than 15 and climbing.
Our endeavor to reach the summit has been officially called off, considering the damage to i) base camp, ii) the Sherpa community in the villages up and down the Khumbu, and iii) the route up Mt. Everest. We will begin trekking back down the valley sometime in the next few days and I hope to arrive back in Philadelphia in time to graduate from Penn on May 17th.
The international aid effort has been impressive, which I think reflects a growing empathy for the victims of foreign disasters. By promoting intercultural exchange through Youth For Understanding (YFU), hopefully such international awareness and care will only continue to grow.
Thank you all for your support and concern, and in particular to Scheels Sports, Casual Adventure, Happy Harry’s and Ag Warehouse for your terrific support of YFU.
Above: meal tents converted into medical tents with injured being evacuated from IMG Camp
Here’s the longer update:
The last 49 hours felt like a week.
Saturday (4/25/2015):
First, there was the avalanche. Felt like I was sitting on the edge of a large trampoline as somebody else jumped on the middle. It was disconcerting when something I have taken as stable my whole life begins to move underneath you. It made me realize how much I take for granted, like stability in the very ground that we live on and build on. My first reaction to the earthquake was fear that it might destabilize the glacier under our feet—that a mighty crevasse might open up underneath us. Very quickly, though, the threat from above became clear. We heard rumblings above us in all directions, and when I looked, I saw only a wall of snow ~ a quarter mile high rushing toward us from the north. In retrospect, this may have been the plume created after the real thrust of the avalanche had already hit central base camp. At any rate, I did not know where to go, but I figured I wanted to be able to see the hell that was about to rain down on me, and so I stayed outside. I thought about the likelihood that the plume might carry rock and ice chunks, and so I assumed the fetal position behind a medium sized boulder, hoping it might act as a shield from any flying debris. I put my elbows by my sides and my fists against my forehead, hoping that I might create an air pocket, should a blast of snow cover me. I was breathing hard, waiting for it to really come down hard before taking one monster gasp before I was buried. In retrospect, putting my face in my jacket might have 1) reduced the likelihood that my mouth and nose filled with snow and 2) increased the likelihood that I would have an air bubble to breath. Live and learn.
When I stood up, I had about 3 inches of snow on me but nothing more. I was lucky. Our expedition leader quickly confirmed that all of our International Mountain Guides (IMG) team was accounted for, and the next thing I heard was a discussion between him and Himex about which would serve as the most logical hospital, since the Himalaya Rescue Association (HRA) hospital had been destroyed. They agreed that IMG was easier to access, and we began to clear our communications tent and our dining tents for casualties. Within an hour, they started to pour in--some walking, most being carried.
The first role I assumed was that of a traffic cop, helping to direct casualties to the right tent. Soon, the doctors were in search of supplies to use in treating the patients, bedding them, and keeping them warm. I helped collect Nalgene water bottles for use as hot water bottles that patients could clutch, and I led a group of people to neighboring camps to find more sleeping bags and foam mattresses, after we had donated our own. More camps and their doctors arrived, and soon there were multiple large medical kits. Once we were sure there were enough sleeping bags, pads and warm water bottles to go around, I started looking for ways to be helpful inside the patient tents. At first, this meant helping to distribute food, water and trash bags, but before I knew it a doctor asked for help setting a splint on a patient who had broken his femur. The next patient we helped had compound fractures in both of his legs; when we lifted up the sleeping bag covering him we saw both of his legs at right angles to where they should be when he was lying on his back. He received a heavy dose of pain medication and we wrapped both of his legs to two hiking poles, using sections of foam sleeping pad to insulate the legs from the poles and bandages.
We moved to the next dining tent, where my first task was to help prevent a gentleman’s toes from developing frostbite. He had broken his pelvis, shattered the bones in his hand, and dislocated his elbow, and the bandages around his legs were so tight that his feet had gone numb despite having dry socks and a heavy sleeping bag around them. He was grateful for the foot massage and hot water bag I gave him and was surprisingly lucid and understanding, given his severe injuries.
The final gentleman I helped had an 8cm cut across his forehead which went down to the bone, and my responsibility was to help clean up his face after the doctors had bandaged his gash. He, too, was remarkably kind and even maintained a sense of humor as I cleaned his face. He kept saying in broken English “I look good, yeah?” He even fell asleep with a smile on his face. By the time I was done cleaning him, the doctors had finished their second sweep of that tent, so we cleaned up and made sure the patients had everything they needed for the night. By this time it was approaching midnight—the earthquake had struck just over 11 hours earlier. The doctors suggested there was nothing more we could do until the sun came up and helicopters began the medevac, so I went to sleep after checking in one last time in the head trauma tent.
My Sherpa climbing partner lost a cousin in the avalanche and had a nephew with a serious head trauma. He had no idea how his small village in the next valley had fared in the earthquake and he was quite distraught.
Above: view of Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse (L to R) from the slopes of Pumo Ri
Sunday (4/26/2015):
I awoke at 6:00 am to the sound of the first helicopter, and remarkably, no additional patients had died during the night. By 6:15 I was helping move patients to the helipad. This required a bit of coordination, as there weren’t enough stretchers to go around and one doctor was keeping a master list of patients in rough order of urgency of evacuation. I felt useful going between the four tents, finding the specific patients who needed to be prepped for each subsequent helicopter and helping to move them to the landing pad we had built at the edge of our camp. By late morning, all of the casualties had been transported to the next closest Himalaya Rescue Association hospital in Pheriche, and within a couple of hours we learned that an MI-17 chopper had carried them all safely to Katmandu. This was good news, because the earthquake had knocked down one of the walls of the Pheriche hospital and they were not equipped to handle the 25-40 patients that had come their way.
With the injured evacuated, we began to clean camp. Within an hour, there was a 20’ area outside of the head trauma tent littered with blood soaked sleeping bags, water bottles and soiled clothing and bandages. I helped sanitize our dining tents, first sweeping them and scrubbing the floor mats, then disinfecting the tent walls. By noon, the camp was beginning to look like normal, except for the piles of debris and the large stockpiles of medical equipment.
While all of this was happening, one of our IMG guides and a team of Sherpas went into the icefall to check its condition—to see if the climbers at Camp I and Camp II had a chance of climbing down on their own. A number of ladders had fallen down and the camp of the “Ice Doctors”—the elite team of Sherpas who create the route through the icefall each year—had been destroyed, so the conversation quickly turned to helicopter evac of Camps I and II. Located at ~20,000’ and ~21,000’, Camps I and II require incredibly talented helicopter pilots to access.
Almost exactly 24 hours after the initial earthquake, we got the first major aftershock, measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale. As before, we had just sat down for lunch in our newly cleaned dining tent, and as before, we all ran outside to watch for avalanches. It was much cloudier that afternoon, and so we could hear new avalanches coming, but couldn’t see them. Finally, we saw the tail of one running down the Khumbu Icefall from the direction of Camp I. This second earthquake had little impact on base camp, but we later learned that it worsened the condition of the icefall and badly damaged the village of Pangboche about half way down the Khumbu Valley. We heard the second earthquake was particularly terrifying for Camp I because they heard avalanches in all directions but couldn’t see anything. Luckily, no one on our team (and I believe no one on the mountain) was hurt by the second earthquake. Helicopters couldn’t fly the rest of the afternoon, so we relaxed a little bit and began to prepare for the following morning.
Above: medical evacuation team near IMG camp
Monday (4/27/2015):
If the clouds lifted, helicopters would attempt to bring down all of the climbers and Sherpa from Camp I and Camp II. At 6:00 am this morning, they began doing just that. After somewhere north of 50 helicopter sorties, each carrying 1-2 passengers without gear, we learned that everyone on the upper mountain had been brought down to safety. These evacuations didn’t require nearly as much base camp manpower as did loading the sick the previous day, and so a group of us hiked over to the Himalaya Rescue Association hospital to help them dig out the rest of their equipment.
The wreckage around base camp was phenomenal. The first destroyed tent was about 100m from my tent, and by the time we had walked 200m from my tent we were in the epicenter of the destruction. As we dug out the hospital, we discovered tents buried by multiple boulders the size of mini-fridges, and we could only imagine the impact caused by such objects falling from thousands of feet above. We heard a story about one doctor who was standing next to someone watching an avalanche fall from the northeast when the much larger avalanche pummeled the two of them from the northwest. One doctor was left standing; the other was hit by a boulder and found over 400 meters away toward the middle of the glacier.
By early afternoon, about 50 hours after the initial earthquake, all of the seriously injured had been medevacked and all climbers from the upper slopes of the mountain had been brought to safety. Finally, we could relax a little bit and digest what we had just been through.
Our expedition leader brought us all together to announce that our expedition was officially over; the earthquake and avalanches had destroyed much of the route through the dangerous icefall and many of the Ice Doctors had either been killed in the avalanche or had left for home after their camp was annihilated. That, plus the risk of further aftershocks and avalanches and the need for many of our Sherpa teammates to go back to their villages to take care of the earthquake damage there, made the decision quite simple. Our team will spend Tuesday packing and hopes to begin the trek out of the Khumbu the following day, Wednesday.
What will I remember from this tragedy?
1. The selflessness and emergency management skills of the doctors who flooded our camp and our IMG team
2. The resilience and perseverance of the patients who remained calm and even expressed gratitude throughout our best attempts to treat them.
3. The willingness of everybody to pitch in—whether they were clients or guides or Sherpa, and whether they were helping by treating patients, keeping the stoves going, managing logistics, or donating their only sleeping bag to the victims.
4. The building international aid effort for the people of Nepal, and particularly the thousands killed, injured and suffering in Katmandu. I truly believe that international responses to tragedies like this get better as the world becomes smaller and people are better able to empathize with one another. And nothing builds cross-cultural understanding quite like teenage intercultural exchange. I could not be prouder to be here on behalf of Youth For Understanding (YFU), and I could not be more grateful for the support to YFU (Youth for Understanding (Andrew Towne) from so many, particularly Scheels Sports, Casual Adventure, Happy Harry’s, and Ag Warehouse.
Read a follow-up article in the Grand Forks Herald here.
Above: Andrew receiving a sundi necklace for good luck during his puja blessing ceremony at base camp
categories Everest 2015, General Stories, Go Global!, Study Abroad Stories
tags alumni, andrew towne, culture, Everest, Mt- Everest, Nepal, YFU, yfu usa, Youth For Understanding
Update from Everest Base Camp
Our deepest sympathies go out to the people of Nepal. A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.9 hit Nepal, causing mass devastation and loss of life. We are relieved to report Andrew Towne, YFU Alumnus to Germany and a member of the YFU USA Board of Trustees, who was climbing Mt. Everest to raise funds for YFU, is safe and healthy. -------------------------------
andrew update
We received the following email from Gary Towne, Andrew's father, after a 45 minute phone conversation he had with Andrew on Sunday.
Update from Gary Towne
Andrew is well and uninjured, has spent the last 36 hours without sleep, helping to find and care for the injured and helping with MedEvac. All of the severely injured have now been evacuated by helicopter. Several dozen people remain at Camps 1 (20,000 ft.) and 2 (21,000 ft.). It seems that these climbers experienced fewer if any injuries, none serious, but the situation is still not yet completely clear. Present concern is to determine the best way to help these people down the mountain. The altitude is near the limit for helicopters, so only 2 or 3 climbers can be evacuated on each trip. On the other hand, the ropes and ladders through the Khumbu Icefall (through which they must pass if descending on foot) have mostly been destroyed. Setting these ladders and ropes takes a large team of Sherpas at the beginning of each climbing season. There may not be that many left on the mountain; and, in any case, it appears that the icefall is very unstable, continuing to collapse, and is unsafe at this time.
Andrew stressed that the tragedy is profound—for the Sherpa community in every village of the Khumbu valley and elsewhere, as well as the entire nation of Nepal—the worst natural disaster to afflict the country in historical memory. At the same time, he clarified that this year’s avalanche had a very different effect from last year’s. The 2014 avalanche affected only Sherpas, who were rigging the ropes and ladders, and who face much greater risks than visiting climbers. Each climbing season, a Sherpa may make 30 or more trips through the treacherous Khumbu Icefall, one of the most dangerous parts of the climb, because they do the rigging and repairing as described above as well as guiding the groups of visiting climbers. Each visiting climber, however, traverses the Icefall only about 6 times—it is part of altitude acclimatization hikes as well as the final push to the summit.
This year’s (2015) avalanche was more diffuse in its effect. Not only was the total number of casualties substantially greater (exact figure not yet known), but the spread of those injured was indiscriminate. Both Sherpas and visiting climbers were killed or injured. Observers on site seem to agree that the source, location and path of this year’s avalanche were unprecedented and could not have been anticipated. The Khumbu valley ends in a cirque (French, or cwm, Welsh), a semicircular valley ground out of the mountain’s base by the root of a glacier. Last year’s avalanche fell from the east side of the cirque. This year’s avalanche fell mainly from an ice cliff in the saddle of Pumo Ri (and perhaps some other slopes) on the north and west. The falling masses of snow and rocks created a huge aerosol avalanche and accompanying air blast that came together at the bottom, and, blasting out through the most direct path, hit the upper part of Everest BC and blew many tents across the Khumbu Glacier towards the lower Icefall. (Adapted from the International Mountain Guide (IMG) web blog.) Most observers Andrew has spoken to feel that, in normal conditions, without the violent earthquake that dislodged the ice cliff, this avalanche would not have occurred.
Chance, Fortune, or Providence played a major role in which parts of the camp were most affected. Some areas seem to have escaped nearly entirely due to positions farther from the Khumbu glacier or under a protective ridge. Andrew’s tent was only 100 meters (1 football field) from the edge of the devastation. 200 meters from his tent was squarely in the middle of the worst hit area. Even in severely hit areas, deaths were unpredictable. According to one report, a boulder crashed through a tent, drove a climber through the tent’s side and crushed him, while leaving two companions still in the tent relatively unscathed. For more frequent updates and an official perspective see the IMG blog.
Plans for the future are unclear. In the short term, the situation is still evolving, and safety of the greatest number is the highest goal. Priorities include the evacuation of the teams at the higher mountain camps and the continuing search for those who may be still buried. (UPDATE: as of Monday morning Nepal time, reports suggest that Camp I and Camp II have been safely evacuated to lower elevations, thanks to some of the world's best helicopter pilots flying 50+ sorties.)
Whether teams remaining on the mountain will be able to finish their climb and reach the summit has not been determined. Whether Everest climbs will be closed for the remainder of this season or even further into the future is also not determined. The Sherpa people, upon whom all such expeditions depend, have suffered profoundly, and the full extent of the effect on them is not yet known. Their dedication, faithfulness, fortitude and well-being must be remembered in any consideration of Himalayan climbing. The income they derive from guiding is a very important support for them, their families and communities, but we cannot forget that they put their lives on the line to earn it, as Saturday’s tragedy so clearly shows. (UPDATE: IMG has officially ended its expedition up Mt. Everest, due to the devastation of the Khumbu Valley and its impact on our Sherpa team members, the destruction of the route through the Khumbu icefall, and the continued risk of aftershocks and further avalanches. We are mourning the deceased, praying for the injured, and focusing on a safe descent of those at base camp.)
Andrew sent his deepest thanks for expressions of concern, support and prayers. He also wanted to make several points. His Everest attempt has been a benefit in support of Youth for Understanding (YFU), an old and highly respected international exchange program with which Andrew went to Germany in his high school junior year and of which he is now a board member. He is paying his own way; all money contributed goes to YFU. In addition to many individual contributions, Andrew also received major corporate support as YFU Partners from Ag Warehouse of Finley, ND, Happy Harry’s Bottle Shops & Scheels Sporting Goods of Grand Forks, ND, and Casual Adventure Outfitters of Arlington, VA. Whether or not he is able to complete his climb, he feels an obligation to acknowledge their generous support.
It is still possible to contribute to YFU. Bill Harwood, Grand Forks and UND graduate now retired from the State Department (and incidentally once stationed in Kathmandu), said of YFU, “When I worked for USIA, YFU was a major grantee organization. It had started back in the Eisenhower days, as I recall. During the next 50 years they got major contributions from corporations like Toyota. . . . Then [there was a] falling off of federal and private donations . . .” YFU remains a very worthy and venerable organization for fostering international understanding, worthy of generous support.
That is also very true of the aid efforts for the Sherpas and Nepal in general. For anyone who wishes to contribute to the Sherpas, Support For Sherpas, a British group, seems to be responding to that specific need, while Mercy Corpsand Global Giving, both American groups, have opened efforts for all of Nepal. I’m sure there are others, but these were some I could find on short notice. All three have easy-to-navigate donation methods.
After such an extended update, I expect that I will be winding down pending further major developments. If you wish frequent updates, check the IMG blog.
Thank you for all of your expressions of concern,Gary Towne
See related article in Grand Forks Herald.
A moment of levity in a picture not all of you may have gotten—the yak with Andrew's gear ascending a "street" in Namche Bazaar.
April 22, 2015 Update Prior to Earthquake
First, Andrew's father corrects the record...
"Thanks for Andrew's update. I reread the article in The Lightand thought I'd correct a minor error. Andrew's FIRST summit was Mount Mansfield, Vermont's highest peak, at the age of 6 in 1988, just before we left Vermont for North Dakota. He is at the left in the picture. His brother Jonathan, 8, is on the right."
Andrew and brother
Andrew's update!
On April 14, we arrived at Everest Base Camp (~17,500’)
We descended back down the valley to acclimatize at about 19,900’ on Lobuche Peak on April 19.
We returned to base camp two days ago and are getting ready for our first venture into the Khumbu icefall on the 23rd.
Our team is strong and morale is high. We were fortunate to receive Buddhist ‘puja’ blessings both at base camp and in Pangboche village with Lama Geshi, the spiritual leader of the Khumbu Valley.
19,900 feet, just below the summit of Lobuche with the summit of Ama Dablam dominating the horizon.
In the last two weeks, we finished the trek to the head of the Khumbu Valley--Everest Base Camp (~17,500’). Along the way, we visited Lama Geshi in Pangboche for a Buddhist puja blessing. Lama Geshi fled Tibet during the Chinese takeover and is considered the region’s spiritual leader. Before blessing our climb, Lama Geshi had an audience with a woman from a neighboring village, and seeing how significant it was to her to be able to meet with him made us even more grateful for his time. Lama Geshi encouraged us to “Give up all intentions to harm others from our heart and do our best to benefit them all. If each and everyone of us feels the Universal Responsibility to do so, we will all enjoy the feast of peace!” At 83 years old, Lama Geshi was spry and obviously delighted in everything he did, saw and felt. It was clear that he was at peace with us and his surroundings, and our team left with a larger worldview and sense of purpose.
From Pangboche, we ascended past the tree line and spent a few nights in the town of Pheriche, ~14,500’. We climbed nearby ridges during the days and enjoyed sampa cake and yak stew in the evenings. I read The Boys in the Boat during our downtime, which brought back a flood of fond memories of college rowing.
After camping for a few nights ~16,000’, we finished our trek to base camp. Located on the NW edge of the Khumbu Glacier, Everest base camp is a series of camps stretching out about half a mile. In the picture below of Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse, base camp is on the outside ridge of the curving glacier at the base of the icefall. Camps generally draw water from the west side of the moraine and use the east side of the moraine as the path for accessing other camps and the Khumbu icefall, which leads up into the Western Cwm that separates Everest from Nuptse. IMG’s camp is fantastic. Our summit team includes ~24 climbers, 8 guides, and about 50 Sherpa guides, porters, cooks and camp managers. Our tents occupy the high ground along the ridges of the moraine and at the center we have dining tents, a common tent with internet and electricity, and a large Buddhist altar for pujas and prayer flags.
We spent two nights taking in base camp before hiking back down the valley to Lobuche Peak (20,128’), which we ascended to within a couple hundred feet of the true summit to help us acclimatize. The views from the summit ridge were incredible—we could see four 8,000m peaks (Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse and Makalu) as well as the shorter but equally famous peak Ama Dablam.
By the time we got back to Everest base camp two days ago, we were beginning to feel much more comfortable living at these high altitudes. Yesterday, our expedition had a large puja blessing ceremony at base camp, during which we each received a sundi necklace for good luck during our climb. The ceremony was similar to the one we attended with Lama Geshi, but longer, larger and more involved. What struck me most was how genuinely happy all the Sherpa seemed to be during the ceremony. The part where we each got flour painted on our faces to symbolize our hope that we may all live long enough to grow a white beard quickly turned into a game of tag, with Sherpas delighting in smearing the flour quickly and profusely on those who least expected it. And the traditional Sherpa dance at the end of the ceremony lasted almost 45 minutes, as more and more Sherpas suggested additional songs and even invited westerners to sing and dance alongside top 40 music blaring from two small portable speakers. I left the puja with the realization that joy is a choice—it is a state of mind that we can embrace and accept where and how we want. Our Sherpas very much chose for the puja to be a joyous, fun occasion, and their energy infected all of us. I hope that as I climb the mountain and eventually return to the States, that I too will be able to choose joy and contentment as easily and regularly as our teammates do here.
Over the next three weeks, we will be moving up and down Mt. Everest in rotations—climbing and sleeping higher on each rotation than we did on the previous one. Between rotations, we will rest and recover at base camp, and on our third rotation we will attempt the summit. The mountain looms over 2 vertical miles above us right now, but by focusing on health, nutrition, and taking one small step at a time, I think we will make the most of this opportunity. I reflect regularly on the lessons I’ve learned from so many of you, and climbing, joking and becoming acquainted with the Sherpa make me continually proud to be taking this mountain on as a way to advance intercultural exchange for teenagers.
Sincerely,Andrew Towne
tags alumni, andrew towne, culture, earthquake, Everest, exchange, Khumbu, Mt- Everest, Nepal, YFU, yfu usa, Youth For Understanding
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Home » Entertainment » Sudan’s Military Sidesteps Proposal for Civilian Rule
Sudan’s Military Sidesteps Proposal for Civilian Rule
KHARTOUM, SUDAN - Sudan's military rulers refused to agree on Monday to the Ethiopian proposal for a power-sharing agreement with the country's pro-democracy movement, a top general said, in comments that could worsen a volatile standoff with the protesters.
Ethiopia has led diplomatic efforts to bring the military and protest leaders back to the negotiating table, after a deadly crackdown by security forces killed at least 128 people across the country earlier this month, according to protest organizers. Sudanese authorities offered a lower toll of 61 deaths.
Protest leaders, represented by the coalition Forces for Declaration of Freedom and Change, had accepted the Ethiopian initiative the day before. It centered on forming a transitional government � a so-called "sovereign council" � with a civilian majority to rule Sudan, over two months after the protesters forced the military to remove the autocrat Omar al-Bashir from power.
But on Monday, the powerful deputy head of the military council, Gen. Mohammed HamdanDagalo, said the mission of the Ethiopian envoy, Mahmoud Dirir, was to pave the way for resuming talks with the FDFC, "not to offer proposals for solutions."
"The mission of the Ethiopian mediator was limited to prepare the parties for negotiations. We did not agree on shares in the sovereign council. We do not accept prescriptions," he said.
Dagalo, better known as Hemedti , said the ruling military council did not oppose civilian participation in the future sovereign council � or that the FDFC might form the government. He added that the transitional legislative body "should be (formed) through elections."
He also said the military council decided to release all detained rebels, to pave the way for peace talks with rebel groups in the provinces.
Dagalo is the leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which grew out of the notorious Janjaweed militias. The RSF led a violent campaign against insurgents in Darfur � and now stands accused of involvement in protester deaths in Sudan's main cities.
In a press conference on Sunday, the military council had said the previous deals with the protest leaders were invalid, given the changes on the ground in Sudan since talks collapsed in May.
A spokesman for the council, Gen. Shams EddinKabashi, said: "The circumstances in which we reached such understandings ... are not the same."
Previously, both sides had agreed on an interim legislative body and Cabinet formed by the protesters. They had still not reached agreement on the extent of the military's role in the planned sovereign council, which would guide the nation throughout the three-year transition period, when security forces launched the deadly clampdown on June 3.
The movement has since tried different tactics � including a short-lived nationwide strike, and nighttime marches to keep up pressure on the military.
Ismail al-Tag, a spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals' Association which is a member of the FDFC, called on Monday for marches next week demanding the handover of power to civilians. The demonstrations are planned to mark the 30th anniversary of the Islamist-backed coup that brought al-Bashir's to power in 1989 � and toppled Sudan's last elected government.
Meanwhile on Monday, police forces used tear gas to disperse dozens of protesters in the capital, Khartoum.
The clashes broke out in the district of Buri � a stronghold of the protest movement. Demonstrators hurled stones at police before fleeing inside the National Ribat University campus. An Associated Press photographer saw officers arresting a number of people, before taking them blindfolded into police trucks.
The FDFC had called on Sunday for trust-building measures from the military before resuming talks. These included a demand for an independent investigation into the violence on June 3. It had also demanded that the military-backed authorities restore the country's severed internet services.
On Monday, the United Nations' human rights chief said the military council had not responded to a request for cooperation with its office for investigating alleged human rights crimes, including the rape and sexual abuse of both women and men, in the deaths of protesters.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet also urged authorities to "immediately" restore internet connections.
Amany el-Taweel, head of the African program at al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Egypt, said the military canceling previous deals with the protest leaders boded badly for the situation in Sudan.
"We are back to square one," she said.
She said the military had been exploiting time, as the number of the street protests has fallen.
June 24, 2019 Web Desk Entertainment Comments Off on Sudan’s Military Sidesteps Proposal for Civilian Rule
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Born: 04 April 1915
Enlistment date: 29 September 1941 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Units: 301st Troop Carrier Squadron, 441st Troop Carrier Group, 50th Troop Carrier Wing, 9th Air Force
Specialisations: Glider Pilot
Qualifications: Glider Pilot Wings
Decorations: Air Medal
Deceased: 27 July 1944
Other Information: Dan graduated from Classen High School in May 1936 and then attended The Central State Teachers’ College in Edmund, Oklahoma. During this time Dan began flying lessons at Burke Aviations Services, Wiley Post Airport, Oklahoma City and received his certificate in August 1941. In late September he enlisted in the Army and served with the field artillery at Fort Sill where he rose to the rank of Sergeant, before transferring to the Army Air Corps to train as a Glider Pilot. He trained at Randolf Field, Texas graduating in May 1943 and was commissioned as a Flight Officer. He joined the 301st Troop Carrier Squadron at Baer Field, Fort Wayne, Indiana on February 29th 1943 prior to its deployment to the European Theater and piloted glider 42-74015 to Normandy on D-Day June 6th 1944 with James W Pierce as his co-pilot. For this mission he received the Air Medal. Dan Meshew was killed on July 27th 1944 while travelling in a C-47 aircraft on an evacuation flight between England and Scotland. It is unclear why Dan was on the fatal evacuation flight on July 27th, but like all the passengers and crew, he was killed and he is buried at the Cambridge American Cemetery in Plot E, Row 4, Grave 83.
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David Cruickshank
A profile of the Deloitte Global chairman
David Cruickshank is Chairman of Deloitte’s global organization, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, and was elected into this role in June 2015 having served on its Global Board for eight years from 2007. Prior to this, he was Chairman of the UK member firm from 2007 – 2015.
Prior to becoming Chairman in 2007, David led Deloitte’s tax practice in the UK for eight years, during which time he was a member of the firm’s Executive Group and a member of the global organization’s tax management group. He is a Chartered Accountant and a graduate in business and economics from the University of Edinburgh.
Outside the firm, David is is co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Partnering Against Corruption Initiative and a Board Member of the Social Progress Imperative.
Impact that matters
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After 5 years, Firefox faces new challenges
Five years ago, Mozilla made it clear that the browser wars weren't over after all.
In the 1990s, Netscape had lost its dominance in the browser market to Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and the Netscape-spawned open-source project called Mozilla had sunk into obscurity. Even a federal antitrust suit accusing Microsoft of anticompetitive practices with its browser and Windows was not enough to turn the tide.
November 9, 2009 4:00 AM PST
by Stephen Shankland
But on November 9, 2004, Firefox 1.0 emerged to fight back again.
The project, originally named Phoenix to symbolize rebirth from Netscape's ashes, has now clawed its way back to account for nearly a quarter of the browser usage today. Microsoft may not be on the run, but it's on the defensive, gradually building its browser development effort back up into fighting form. [C/Net News...] [Comments...]
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Archives for June 11, 2012
Story & Games
June 11, 2012 by Michael LaBossiere 4 Comments
All the roll playing you need. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As a philosopher who teaches aesthetics and a gamer, I find questions about games and art to generally be rather interesting. As I have argued elsewhere, I take the intuitively plausible view that video games can be art. However, even if that matter is considered settled (which can be debated), there is still a rich vein of philosophical issues to mine.
One topic that I and many other gamers often find interesting is the matter of the importance of story in games. John Carmack, who knows a bit about games, said that “story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It’s expected to be there, but it’s not that important.” Folks who delight in story driven games no doubt disagree with this view and there does seem to be an issue worth discussing here. For the sake of this discussion, I will be assuming that games (specifically video games) can be art. I have argued for this in an earlier essay and hence will not repeat my arguments here.
Obviously enough, there are games that have no story at all and are still fine games. To use the obvious examples, Tetris and Asteroids are story free, yet fine games. Naturally, these are not the sort of games that people debate about when it comes to whether or not story is important. However, it is worth noting these sorts of games because they provide a relatively pure context in which to present two relevant points.
The first is that game mechanisms (that is, the purely game aspects of the game) are reasonably seen as being distinct from the art aspects of the game (that is, the game as art). After all, while all games are games and some games are art, not all games are art. This can, of course, be argued against. However, it does have enough intuitive plausibility that it is well worth considering.
The second point is that even the art aspects of a game that is (or contains) art can be distinguished from each other. For example, while Tetris and Asteroid do not have plots, they do have game artwork and sounds (which might be dismissed as mere sound effects rather than having any status as art). As another example, the music and visual art of Halo can be distinguished from each other in that one is music and the other visual art. This point seems reasonable certain.
The matter of the importance of story is most interesting when it comes to games that do, in fact, feature a story. Obviously enough, the story (or plot) of games have varying degrees of integration into the game. For games that have a story, in one end of the spectrum lives the games whose story have an extremely minimal role in the game. One excellent example of this is Serious Sam: The First Encounter. The game does have a story: an evil alien threatens earth and you, as Sam, have to travel in time and kill wave after wave of monsters. That is pretty much it. Despite the rather limited story, the game works amazingly well as a game-that is, it is fun to play. On the other end of the spectrum are games that are heavily story driven, such as Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars the Old Republic. These games are, not surprisingly, role-playing games. In these games the player takes on the role of a character and spends considerable time talking to non-player characters, making decisions and experiencing the plot unfold. As might be imagined, the story in such games seems to be rather more important than in the typical first person shooter. In the middle are games like the Halo series which have well-developed stories and unfolding plots, but do not actually have any role-playing elements. For example, in Halo your choices mainly revolve on what gun to use to kill which alien in what way.
As might be imagined, the significance of the story would seem to be proportional to its role in the game. After all, a first person shooter whose plot is rather lacking or poor would suffer less than a full blown story-driven role-playing game whose plot is lacking or badly done. That said, it could still be argued that plot is important.
It is tempting to compare a game with a story to a movie and, obviously enough, plot seems to be somewhat important to a movie (although Michael Bay, some might claim, endeavors to prove otherwise). The idea of plot being the most important aspect of poetical works (broadly and classically construed to include theater) dates back at least to Aristotle. To steal his argument regarding tragedy, the following argument can be given for the importance of plot in games that have a story element.
Games are not an imitation of humans (or elves, aliens, or dragons), “but of an action and of life, and life consists in action, and its end is a mode of action, not a quality.” It is, of course, the actions taken by people that “make them happy or miserable.” As such the “the incidents and the plot are the end of” the game and “the end is the chief thing of all.” Thus the story is important, at least on the key assumptions made by Aristotle.
For Aristotle, a key part of having a good plot is ensuring “that the sequence of events, according to the law of probability or necessity permits a change from bad fortune to good or from good to bad.” In more general terms, the plot must be such that the events make sense and fit together to form a coherent whole. In my own experience as a gamer, I have consistently disliked games in which the story fails to meet that basic requirement that events play out in a way that makes sense (except, obviously enough, for games that are supposed to not make sense). After all, if you are running around in a game doing things that make no sense for no apparent reason that leads to nothing, then that will tend to be a disappointing gaming experience (although it would be a fair approximation of life).
The rather obvious reply to this is that there are games that are rather weak in the story department that seem to be great successes as games, thus helping to support Carmack’s claim. This seems to be a rather consistent aspect of the top tier first person shooters-they tend to be marked by weak, implausible or otherwise lame plots but are top-ranked for game play, especially competitive multi-player. As I once jokingly put it, “I don’t really care why I am killing, I just care about whether I’m enjoying it or not.” That, I think, nicely captures the view of most gamers.
Interestingly enough, this view often extends into games in which story would seem to be rather important, such as role-playing games. While some people do enjoy going through all the dialog and getting into the story, my general experience has been that the main focus is on the game-play rather than on the story. This even extends to my experience in traditional role-playing games, like AD&D and Pathfinder:many players are far more into roll-playing (that is, simply killing monsters in combat) than role-playing (that is, talking to the monsters before killing them).
Getting back to the point raised earlier, namely that the game aspects of a game are not art this does seem to suggest that the story is not as important to the game as the game aspects of the game. Alternatively, it could be argued that the game aspects of the game are still art, but they are a different sort of art than a story. After all, the name of the game is, well, “game” and not “story.” In the case of a first person shooter, the game is (obviously enough) about shooting things from a first person perspective. Story is thus secondary. Even in role-playing games, such as Pathfinder, all the actual game mechanism are about rolling dice, usually while trying to kill monsters who are blatantly and shamelessly holding the loot that rightfully belongs to the party. While the game can be augmented by art (acting, beautiful maps, and well-crafted stories) the core of the game is , it can be argued, the game mechanics. As my friend Ron puts it, “if you are not rolling dice, you are not playing the game. You are just sitting around the table talking.”
The idea that a game should be focused on the game is, interestingly enough, also consistent with Aristotle’s view: “each art ought to produce, not any chance pleasure, but the pleasure proper to it.”
Filed Under: Aesthetics, Philosophy, Technology, Video Games Tagged With: Aristotle, Asteroid, Bungie, Games, Halo, Halo 4, Michael Bay, Microsoft, Role-playing game, star wars the old republic, Tetris, video game
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Air Power »»» Tunisian Air Force
Tunisian Republic Air Force Aircraft Inventory
Tunisian Republic Air Force القوات الجوية التونسية was formed in 1959, a couple of years later two Alouette 2 helicopters were delivered. In 1963 the French government provided three MD315's and twelve T-6 Harvard.
In 1965 when eight MB326 aircraft trainer aircraft. In 1969 twelve F-86's were delivered from the Unites States providing more air power. Two UH-1N and two UH-1H helicopters were delivered in 1975, followed by eighteen Italian built Agusta Bell 205's in 1980. Later, at least four AB412's were purchased.
The backbone of the Tunisian Republic Air Force currently are thirteen Northrup F5Es. The transport-role covered by C-130B's and C-130H's. Also in 1995, Tunisia took delivery of twelve new L-59T armed jet trainers and three L-410UVP's. Latest deliveries are Aeritalia five G222.
Jane's Sentinel Security Assessment - North Africa (dated Jul 08, 2011)
The air force specialises in tactical transport, combat support and counter-insurgency and has very limited air defence or strike capabilities.
Commander of the Air Force: Major General Rida Hamuda Atar
Air Force Personnel Strength:
Inventory Summary:
Combat: 18 (total), 18 (in service)
Transport: 17 (total), 16 (in service)
Helicopters: 68 (total), 68 (in service)
Aircraft Type In service Notes
Combat Capable
Aero L-59 Super Albatros Advanced trainer 12
Aermacchi MB-326 ground attack 6 3 MB-326KT and 3 MB-326LT
Northrop F-5E Tiger II Fighter 12
Northrop F-5F Tiger II Trainer 3
Aeritalia G.222 Transport 5
Dassault Falcon 20 transport 1
Let L-410 Turbolet transport 8
Lockheed C-130B/H Hercules transport 8
Training and Liaison
Aermacchi SF.260 utility 18
SIAI-Marchetti S.208 utility 2
Aérospatiale SA 341 Gazelle attack helicopter 5
Aérospatiale SA 319 Alouette trainer helicopter 6 Aérospatiale SA 318 Alouette
Bell 205 trainer helicopter 15
Bell 212 Twin Huey Utility helicopter 4
Bell 412 Utility helicopter 4
Eurocopter AS 365 Dauphin Utility helicopter 1
Eurocopter AS 350 Ecureuil Utility helicopter 6
Eurocopter AS 355 Twin Ecureuil Utility helicopter 1
Hughes 500 Utility helicopter 1
Sikorsky S-76 Spirit Utility helicopter 1
Sikorsky S-61 Utility helicopter 11
HH-3E Pelican Utility helicopter 1
Bell UH-1H Iroquois Utility helicopter 4
Information sources: please see HERE
Civil and Military Airports in the Republic of Tunisia
Click on icon for address and directions.
Gabès Matmata International Airport
, IATA Code: GAE, ICAO Code: DTTG, 33° 52' 6" North, 10° 6' 2" East
Gafsa Ksar International Airport
, IATA Code: GAF, ICAO Code: DTTF, 34° 25' 3" North, 8° 49' 4" East
Djerba Zarzis International Airport
, IATA Code: DJE, ICAO Code: DTTJ, 33° 52' 5" North, 10° 46' 5" East
Tozeur Nefta International Airport
, IATA Code: TOE, ICAO Code: DTTZ, 33° 56' 4" North, 8° 6' 6" East
Sfax Thyna International Airport
, IATA Code: SFA, ICAO Code: DTTX, 34° 43' 1" North, 10° 41' 5" East
Remada Air Force Base
, ICAO Code: DTTD, 32° 18' 4" North, 10° 22' 9" East
Monastir Habib Bourguiba International Airport
, IATA Code: MIR, ICAO Code: DTMB, 35° 45' 5" North, 10° 45' 3" East
El Borma Aerodrome
, IATA Code: EBM, ICAO Code: DTTR, 31° 42' 3" North, 9° 15' 3" East
Tunis Carthage International Airport
, IATA Code: TUN, ICAO Code: DTTA, 36° 51' 1" North, 10° 13' 6" East
Tabarka 7 Novembre Aerodrome
, IATA Code: TBJ, ICAO Code: DTKA, 36° 58' 8" North, 8° 52' 6" East
Full list and maps of airports, airfields, aerodromes and countries are found HERE a section of this website
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You Wouldn’t Even Recognize Seattle, Washington, From 100 Years Ago
The “boomtown” of the West
Before Seattle, Wash., was famous for the Space Needle, the Seahawks and legal recreational marijuana, it garnered acclaim for being the “boomtown” of the West. The figures back up its nickname: Between 1900 and 1910, the city’s population grew 194 percent from 80,671 to 237,194. With population came urbanization, and soon Seattle was the home of the tallest building west of the Mississippi for more than four decades after they built the L.C. Smith building in 1914.
Population booms continued over the 20th century with the rise of highways and automobiles. And today, with a population of over 650,000 people, the Emerald City continues to be a boomtown of the West.
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The Miseducation of Terrible Tim
Terrible Tim is a national tressure. A singer song writer and television personality for almost (if not more than) a decade, Tim speaks to the wants and desires of all Americans. He's penned the sort of songs that define generations but has chosen to remain far away from the corporate world of homogenized prepackaged music. He's penned classics like "I Ran Out of Toilet Paper" and "Blunted" ("I wanna get blunted/ so break out the blunts"). All this and he's only 44 years old. It seems we have a long way to go with Tim. Terrible Tim's television show on Staten Island's CTV is one of the most prized pieces of programing on that station. Check out his website, where many of his hits are waiting to be heard. We here at JEST have spent tens of minutes pouring over these brilliant songs. REPRASENT!!!
A Day In the Life (Devendra Banhart)
When Devendra Banhart awoke yesterday he was greeted with the sounds of birds chirping and cash registers across the country (or at least in Williamsburg) chachinging sales of his new album. He was in New York as musicians are known to be when their albums are released. He parobably ate breakfast, judging from his body size he either starts with fruit or wheat germ. "But Tim," you're all thinking "How do you know of Devendra's daily ritual, and his body mass? Surely, you weren't able to sermize this from listening to Mr. Banhart's brilliant new 'Cripple Crow' album, lest you be witch."
Well no blog readers I'm no witch, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting the affable Mr. Devendra Banhart yesterday after stumbling into an instore performance/signing at Virgin Megastore yesterday. This was right after my brief on the street encounter with Saturday Night Live's Amy Poehler. What a wierd smattering of events. I made up the stuff about Devendra's breakfast. I really have no idea what he ate.
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Chemicals Compressed
Air Solutions Electrical
Process Plants Power
Tapal Energy
Tapal Energy (Pvt.) Ltd. generates 126 MW of electricity, adding to the KESC currently installed capacity of 1800 MW. The project entered construction stage in the 3rd quarter of 1995 and was completed at a fast track, within 14 months to start operation in 1997.
The project was initially conceived by AVS and brought to fruition by coordinated efforts of Wartsila, Wartsila Development and Financial Services OY (WDF). Wartsila is a company that has built power plants in Pakistan for over a decade. It is the world’s largest manufacturer of medium-speed engines and is noted for its reliable and highly competitive products. It has an established and expanding base in Asia, due to its quick project turnaround, technology alternatives and flexibility in adapting to local needs.
WDF carries out financial structuring mainly of private sector power projects and also conducts negotiations with governments, utility companies and fuel suppliers to facilitate quick closure and expedite implementation. Its main offices are in Finland and USA.
Wartsila Netherlands NL (WNL) manufactured the engines for this project at their plant in Zwolle. WNL have vast background for production of prime movers for land-and barge-mounted diesel power plants as well as marine propulsion engines. The 38 series of engines supplied to Tapal energy (Pvt) Ltd are of state-of-the-art design, extremely reliable and cost effective and economical in operation.
The turnkey contract for the project was awarded to Power Construction Company NL (PCC) from The Netherlands. Civil, electrical and mechanical works were subcontract by PCC to companies holding a credible construction record in Pakistan. Supervision and commissioning was carried out by WNL, while operation and maintenance of the plant was carried out under a contract with Sithe.
AVS, Wartsila, Marubeni Corporation, Japan and Sithe Energy Inc., USA hold the equity in TEL. In June of 2004 the project will be debt free.
Home | About Us | Site Map | Login | Contact Us
© 2009 AVS All Rights Reserved. Designed and Developed By : absolutebyte
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UPDATE-Magna sets e-powertrain joint venture with Huayu Automotive Systems
Mary From Gasgoo| October 19 , 2017
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On October 18, Magna signed a joint-venture agreement with Huayu Automotive Systems Co., Ltd., (HASCO,600741.SH), a subsidiary of SAIC Motor. According to HASCO’s statement, it will form a joint venture with Magna International’s wholly owned subsidiary in Taichang. The joint venture’s name is Huayu Magna for the moment and is subject to the approval of the Administration for Industry and Commerce. The new joint venture has a registered capital of RMB 200 million and HASCO has an investment proportion of 50.1% while Magna has the rest.
At the initial stage, the joint venture will supply electric-drive powertrain system for a German carmaker. Both companies will give full support for the joint venture to develop core competencies in China in such fields as market development, R&D, advanced manufacturing and key parts supply.
According to HASCO, they have formed a project team for the joint venture during the preparation phase. And the new company has received letters of intent from SAIC-VW and FAW-VW and will supply products for MEB platform to VW's two joint ventures in China. It is said that the products will be put into production in 2020.
Magna said the establishment of the joint venture is to expand its electrified powertrain offerings in China and support Magna’s first e-drive business in China. "China is the number-one growth market in the world, and they have been clear about their intended leadership in bringing hybrid and electric vehicles to market," said Don Walker, Magna CEO. "Combining strengths with HASCO helps position Magna and the joint venture for future growth and success."
HASCO stated that its efforts to deepen the joint-venture cooperation on electrified powertrain system will help the company to follow the electrification trend of auto industry and seize the market development opportunities. The joint venture will quicken HASCO’s pace on localized integrated development on NEV e-powertrain system and thus offer products and service for automakers at home and abroad.
"The new-energy vehicle (NEV) market will continue to grow at a rapid speed in China. With this trend, SAIC Motor is developing the New Four Modernization strategy focusing on car electrification, connectivity, intelligence, and sharing economy," Mr. Chen Zhixin, President of SAIC Motor and Vice Chairman of HASCO, said. "The establishment of the JV, a strong combination of HASCO and Magna's strength to initiate cooperation in NEV electrified powertrain systems, has been a milestone for HASCO to develop its core competencies in the field of key new-energy-related components, as well as a critical measure to strengthen the New Four Modernization strategy for SAIC."
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Australia’s Berejiklian Meets Pashinyan, Sarkissian - about 1 hour ago
Oskanian Says Karabagh Should be Party to Negotiations
Addressing the upcoming visit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group to the region December 5-8–Armenia’s Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said their new proposal would not be a "big surprise."
The Minsk Group was formed to help Azerbaijan and Armenia find a mutually acceptable peace formula to end the conflict over Mountainous Karabagh.
The co-chairs of the group recently told the OSCE Permanent Council that their activities would aim to restore direct dialogue between the two sides–the presidents of Armenian and Azerbaijan–and on other levels–and to introduce new ideas to complement existing ones.
"We prefer the package solution; to resume the negations process from another angle makes no sense," Oskanian noted.
He also stressed that negotiations should continue from where they were interrupted. "Heidar Alyiev and Robert Kocharian agreed on many issues–and it would be pity to put it all aside."
On the prospect of involving Mountainous Karabagh as the third side in negotiations–Oskanian said that Armenia never excluded the possibility of direct talks between Azerbaijan and Karabagh. "Karabagh’s participation in the talks is not final–but it is a possible format and should not be ruled out." In that scenario–Armenia would remain the security guarantor for Karabagh–Oskanian said. But as long as Azerbaijan does not agree to Karabagh’s involvement–Armenia will remain an active participant.
He also pointed out that while Armenia considers the Key West agreemen’s "actual," Azerbaijan does not accept them.
In an interview with the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta–the US Minsk Group co-chair Rudolph Perina–said that over 10 years of negotiations has produced a variety of possible options–of which five to six presently remaining acceptable. "We are trying to seek new approaches and to look at the problem from another angle . . . we will have new ideas–not new options–before the end of the year," he said.
Perina stressed that the final solution to the conflict and the final status of Karabagh must be developed in the course of multi-lateral relations and be acceptable to all sides–in order to bring in peace and stability to the region.
"I am not a supporter of force solutions. The conflict must be resolved only through negotiations–for which the leaders of the two countries must demonstrate flexibility and readiness to compromise [on] solutions," he said.
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Brookshire Estates
A Cohen-Esrey Community | (618) 639-7666 | 1241 Brookshire Place | Jerseyville, IL 62052
Easy access to many highways. Brookshire Estates is located directly off of Illinois Route 109 and sits in a park-like setting. It is centrally located to schools and shopping.
See all property photos
Beautiful Clubhouse With Computer Lab And Full Kitchen
On Site Laundry Facility
Huge Playground With Picnic Table And Barbecue Grill
Country Like Setting
Spacious 2 And 3 Bedroom Floor Plans
Kitchen Boasts An Abundance Of Cabinet Space
Kitchen Appliances Include Refrigerator
Dishwasher And Disposal
Private Patio/Deck Area With Additional Storage Closet
Clubhouse With Computer Lab For Our Residents
Note: amenities may vary by floor plan.
2 bedroom/1 full bath
Rent $400-$450
Deposit Contact Office
Square Footage and dimensions may vary by unit. Restrictions and qualifications apply.
3 Bedroom/ 2 full baths
Square Feet 1135
1241 Brookshire Place
Conveniently located off of Rt. 109
Rt. 109 to Commerce Blvd to Brookshire Pl.
info@BrookshireEstatesLiving.com
Monday, Wendsday, Friday 8am - 4:30pm
East Elementary School (Grades 3-5)
West Elementary (Pre-K-2)
Holy Ghost School (Pre-K-4)
Illini Middle School
St. Francis Xavier School
Jersey Community High School
Lewis And Clark Community College
Local Movie Theater
Six Local Parks
Raging Rivers Water Park
Shop N Save
Located 40 Miles North Of St. Louis Which Offers Opportunities For Employment
We empower people to thrive.
This community is proudly managed by Cohen-Esrey. Since 1969, Cohen-Esrey has been dedicated to building and managing thriving communities. Every resident at a Cohen-Esrey community is covered by our Live Well Promises and our Standards of Excellence.
Live Well at Cohen-Esrey
Every resident at a Cohen-Esrey community is covered by our Live Well Promises and our Standards of Excellence.
Copyright © 2017 Cohen-Esrey, LLC. All rights reserved. Use of this site is subject to Terms of Service and to our Privacy Policy. Cohen-Esrey is an Equal Housing Opportunity Company.
info@cohenesrey.com | www.CohenEsrey.com | 6800 West 64th Street | Overland Park, KS 66202 | 913.671.3300
Complete this form and you’ll be among the first to know when units are available to view and lease at Walnut Street Flats!
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“America to Me”: New Docuseries Highlighting Black Experience in Chicago-land School
Industry News 08/29/2018 in Features by Anna Zabiega
This 10-part series follows students and faculty as it investigates traditionally difficult to discuss topics, such as institutionalized racism.
On August 26, Starz premiered “America to Me” to its satellite and cable users. “America to Me” is a docuseries directed and produced by Steve James, Oscar nominated director and producer of many documentaries like “Hoop Dreams” and “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail.” In this new docuseries, we take a look at a River Forest High School, a public school in Chicago-land suburb Oak Park. This is a 10-part series that surveys students and faculty to investigate the stimulated state of education, race, and culture. This school has a well-funded and expansive curriculum, diverse students, and is located in a progressive community, but there is a widening gap between the test scores of black and white pupils. This documentary investigates institutionalized racism, as well as other topics that have traditionally been difficult to discuss.
Two prominent teens in this series are Jada Buford and Charles Donalson III, who are excited about the project as it shows the importance of seeing their entire story, shows them being black teenagers, and explores their narratives. Buford is an aspiring filmmaking that has gained an internship with Participant Media, a producer for the series. The teens hope that this series helps people, particularly those in power, see what is happening and try to stop perpetuating crippling factors like institutionalized racism. Through this series, the students want viewers to not only acknowledge their race, but also their humanity.
Interested? Read more about the docuseries here.
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History Uncovered |
Things To Do |
Historical How Tos |
Behind the Scenes |
Your Stories |
History Uncovered
Historical How Tos
6 prime pairs of blue plaques in London and where to see them
Howard Spencer
Some buildings in London are lucky enough to have blue plaques to famous former residents; a select few are adorned by two of the famous roundels. The recent double blue plaque unveiling in Chelsea – to the alluringly alliterative duo of Samuel Beckett and Patrick Blackett – prompts the question: just how often do these plaque pairings occur?
Across Greater London there are now nineteen houses with dual claims to fame proclaimed on their facades. Some of the figures commemorated actually lived together; others in the same building at different times. Either way, many of them had much more in common that just the same place of residence.
Literary links
Literary pursuits united George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf, as well as the fact that they both lived at 29 Fitzroy Square, Fitzrovia. Virginia Stephen – as she then was – furnished the place with ‘bright green carpets and … old furniture’ when she moved there, with her brother Adrian, in 1907. For Shaw, who had moved out a little less than a decade before, the bohemian look just came naturally; his future wife wrote that his study was in a ‘perpetual state of dirt and disorder’.
The blue plaques at 58 Grafton Way, Fitzrovia commemorate a poet (Andres Bello) and a politician (Francisco de Miranda)
Not far away – at 58 Grafton Way, Fitzrovia – another writerly duo are commemorated: Andres Bello and Francisco de Miranda. They were also brothers-in-arms in the struggle for self-determination in South America, and in Venezuela in particular. Bello was de Miranda’s long-term house guest, way back in 1810.
A political pairing
The wartime Free French leader Charles de Gaulle and nineteenth century Prime Minister Lord Palmerston (4 Carlton Gardens, Westminster) shared politics and statecraft as an occupation. Apart from that, they are a somewhat uneasy combination, given that Palmerston’s chief architectural relics are a series of forts along the south coast of England, built at considerable expense in order to repel … the French.
Despite now having plaques on the same building, Palmerston – once nicknamed ‘Lord Pumicestone’ thanks to the abrasiveness of his foreign policy – actually lived in an earlier house at 4 Carlton Gardens. After this was demolished, the plaque was re-erected in 1936 on the new structure – at that time sites of former residences were sometimes marked, but this has not been done for over half a century.
The father and daughter pairing of Anna Freud and Sigmund Freud were, as you might expect, co-habitees – both of them, of course, were psychoanalysts too. They were sprung from Vienna and the clutches of the Nazis in 1938, settling at 20 Maresfield Gardens, Hampstead. Sigmund died there the following year, while daughter Anna, a leading pioneer of child psychoanalysis, lived at the house right up until her own demise in 1982.
Blue plaques to father and daughter psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud and Anna Freud in Hampstead, London
Disparate duos
Other plaque double-headers are more remarkable for the sharply differing lives and interests of the figures commemorated. A good example of this is at 18 Melbury Road, Kensington, where the elegant London County Council plaque to the Pre-Raphaelite painter William Holman-Hunt (1827-1910) was joined in 2006 by an English Heritage plaque to Cetshwayo, the King of the Zulus.
Blue plaques for Cetshwayo and Holman Hunt in Holland Park, London
Cetshwayo stayed at the house in the summer 1882, during which time he met the Prime Minister, William Gladstone, and Queen Victoria, before returning to South Africa in the vain hope of recovering his kingdom. Holman Hunt – despite being first to be commemorated – moved in over twenty years later, in time to finish his last work The Lady of Shalott (not to be confused with the John Waterhouse painting of the same title) in 1905.
Neighbouring blue plaques to George Frideric Handel and Jimi Hendrix on Brook Street, Mayfair, London
Composer George Frideric Handel and guitarist Jimi Hendrix form perhaps the most famous blue plaque duo – even though they lived not in the same house, but in adjacent ones: 23 and 25 Brook Street, Mayfair. Both are part of the Handel Museum, which features a recently-opened reconstruction of Hendrix’s sixties ‘pad’. ‘To tell you the God’s honest truth’ – Hendrix said of his distinguished historical neighbour – ‘I haven’t heard much of the fella’s stuff’. What Handel would have made of Hendrix we can only guess at!
Future blue plaques in London
Since it was founded 150 years ago, the London blue plaques scheme has been driven mainly by suggestions from the public. We welcome proposals for consideration by the English Heritage team. To find out more information on the criteria and procedure for nominations, please see our guidance on proposing a plaque.
Howard is a senior historian at English Heritage, and has worked on the London blue plaque scheme since 2004. He is the editor of The English Heritage Guide to London’s Blue Plaques (2016).
Website: www.english-heritage.org.uk
How to create a landscape garden like Capability Brown
The Water Carriers: New Blue Plaque Unveiled for the Lindley family
Blue Plaques: Past Political Personalities
These commemorative, plaques are so educational. I do hope that other countries follow suite. Here, in South Africa we have the National monument plaque placed near front doors of historical buildings.
The plaque was originally located at 6 Cambridge Square and placed here in 1963 when that building was demolished.
Pingback: Karl Marx: the London connections - English Heritage Blog
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Visit the English Heritage website
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Dunfermline Kings
The Dunfermline Kings is Carnegie's full contact American Football team based in Dunfermline.
Established in 2016 as part of the Carnegie American Football Club. The team are currently going through the associate process to join the British American Football Association (BAFA) League with the ambitions to play competitive league football in 2020.
With a staff of 6 non-kitted coaches, an additional 7 players/coaches and other support staff, the team will be in a strong position to develop new and existing talent.
The Kings intend to build a strong and committed roster of new players in order to play the games required to prove that they are worthy of progression into Division 2 of the BAFA league. 2019 looks like it will be a fantastic year for the Kings.
All Carnegie teams are based at Duloch Leisure Centre, Nightingale Lane, Dunfermline, KY11 8LW, where we have some of the best facilities in the league. All training and games take place at Duloch where we have a full size grass American Football pitch (inc. posts), additional grass training pitches, 3G Astro training pitch, a classroom, an equipment room and numerous changing rooms.
As well as training twice a week, the team can also be found involved in community events and also regularly arrange social events.
All member have a say in the club and are encourage to assist in its successful operation in any way they feel able. All aspect of the running of the club are transparent and this includes club finances.
If you are new to the sport or have played before head over to the Getting Involved section for more information.
Tweets by @DKingsAFT
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The Continental Difference
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Continental School of Cairo, and I hope you will find our website informative and useful.
It has been quite a journey since I have started the Continental School of Cairo in 1994 as the first Special Education School in Egypt under very challenging and difficult conditions. In those days, the concept of special education was virtually unknown in Egypt and I soon found out that it was necessary first to educate the mind of many people in authority who said it could not be done, before I could start educating children with special needs. Going through red tape and many man-made obstacles was not easy, but with persistence and conviction, the Continental School of Cairo (CSC) was officially born on a small scale in January 1994.
The turning point came few years later when many parents asked if the same level of education we have become renowned for could also be applied to mainstream education, and the Continental Language School (CLS) was born in the year 2000 in the present campus. In 2007, the Continental International School (CIS) was opened to provide first class British education following the British National Curriculum. Looking back, I am very proud of the way the Continental School has grown rapidly over the years from a modest beginning to approximately 1000 boys and girls in all schools this year.
To meet the constant increase in demand for places, a substantial building expansion programme was completed recently. We are very proud of our modern campus and the very stimulating and inspiring learning environment we provide throughout the school. Our students enjoy first class sporting facilities and make full use of the state of the art Computer facilities, Science laboratories, Libraries, Music and Art & Craft rooms.
Today, The Continental school is a vibrant, outward-looking community, which encourages a happy, friendly atmosphere in which pupils can thrive. We want all our pupils to value academic excellence and to realise that it is attainable. We aim to encourage a love of learning, a spirit of enquiry and an independence of mind. We wish to develop the self-esteem and self-confidence of our pupils and to encourage them to take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities in a stimulating environment.
We aim to foster good relations between staff and pupils and between the pupils themselves. The school encourages consideration and tolerance of others and is committed to developing in its pupils a strong sense of personal responsibility and a commitment to helping others.
We pride ourselves on the pursuit of excellence both inside the classroom and out, and on encouraging children to develop their talents, discover new interests and prepare for the challenges of the 21st Century. We want the pupils who come here to leave us as confident young adults who are able to make the most of the opportunities life will offer them.
Indeed, our eyes are firmly set on the future as well as the present and as a school we are always looking for improvement in various ways. Bringing out the best in our pupils is our priority, but we also seek to bring out the best in the school’s structures and programmes as we adjust to the ever-changing demands being placed on education in this country.
I am sure your sons and daughters will enjoy being part of the Continental School. They will be given every opportunity to gain academic success, achieve personal fulfilment and develop their talents and social skills in a friendly and supportive environment.
Saneya Elnimer
Approved Centre
© 2012-2019 The Continental School of Cairo
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Anita Hamilton
Anita’s journalism career began at her college newspaper, The Dartmouth, where she was a reporter and editor. Since then she has worked at CNET and PC World in San Francisco and TIME in New York. Currently an editor and contributor at TIME in New York City, she has also written for Businessweek, Fast Company, NationSwell and Time Out New York. You can find more of her articles on business, health, tech and lifestyle topics here or follow her on Twitter: @anitafhamilton
Kno Wants a Slice of Apple
By Anita Hamilton Nov. 11, 2010
Chegg.com’s Osman Rashid says his e-textbook tablet can take the iPad to school
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Click here to get PDF copy
Gospel: Matthew 12:1-8
It happened that, Jesus was walking through the wheat fields on a Sabbath. His disciples were hungry; and they began to pick some heads of wheat, to crush and to eat the grain. When the Pharisees noticed this, they said to Jesus, “Look at your disciples! They are doing what is prohibited on the Sabbath!”Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did, when he and his men were hungry? He went into the House of God, and they ate the bread offered to God, though neither he nor his men had the right to eat it, but only the priests. And have you not read in the law, how, on the Sabbath, the priests in the temple desecrate the Sabbath, yet they are not guilty?I tell you, there is greater than the temple here. If you really knew the meaning of the words: It is
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NUNSENSE BOOK LAUNCHING
UNDERSTANDING THE FOUR GOSPEL
LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF JESUS IN THE
FOUR GOSPELS
FROM THE WOMB TO TOMB
DAVE DELA CRUZ
He holds a Bachelor of Elementary Education major in Religious Education degree from Santa Catalina College, Manila (with Missio Canonica) and Certificate of Competency in Pastoral Liturgy from Bl. Paul VI Institute of Liturgy in Bukidnon. His book, MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD: A CATECHESIS ON THE VENERATION OF THE SAINTS AND THEIR RELICS, was named Best Book in Liturgy in the 2013 Cardinal Sin Catholic Book Awards.
MICHAEL P. DELOS REYES
Author of the book on Philippine Holy Week processions, PRUSISYON: PAGHAHANDA AT PAGDIRIWANG which won as Best Book in Theology and Liturgy in the 2007 Cardinal Sin Catholic Book Awards. In 2015, the sequel to his first book, HOLY WEEK AND EASTER PROCESSIONS: A LITURGICO-PASTORAL GUIDE was released. SALVE REGINA: ON CROWNING IMAGES OF THE VIRGIN MARY, which tackles the pious practice of pontifical and episcopal coronations of images of the Blessed Mother was a Finalist in the Liturgy Category of the 10th Cardinal Sin Catholic Book Awards. His latest book, MORENA GRACIOSA
THE DEVOTION TO THE VIRGIN OF ANTIPOLO THROUGH THE CENTURIES, won the Best Book in Liturgy in the 11th Cardinal Sin Catholic Book Awards.
FR. DIARMUID O’MURCHU, MSC
A social psychologist and a member of the Sacred Heart Missionary Order, Fr. O’Murchu is the author of a number of pioneering books that include QUANTUM THEOLOGY, RECLAIMING SPIRITUALITY, EVOLUTIONARY FAITH, THE TRANSFORMATION OF DESIRE, ADULT FAITH DEVELOPMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY, IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE SPIRIT, CHRISTIANITY’S DANGEROUS MEMORY, INCLUSIVITY, THE MEANING AND PRACTICE OF FAITH and GOD IN THE MIDST OF CHANGE. He is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and lives in London.
DR. MICHAEL DEMETRIUS H. ASIS
He is a Professor and current chair of the Ateneo de Manila Theology Department. He lectures nationwide on marital spirituality, liturgical theology, religious education, and contemporary Church issues. He is likewise a regular resource person for current Church affairs for CNN Philippines, ANC, DZMM, TV5 radio and GMA7. His books, REIMAGINING THE SACRED and THE FILIPINO CHURCH AT THE CROSSROADS were Finalists in the Theology Category of the 2013 and 2017 Cardinal Sin Catholic Book Awards, respectively.
EARNEST L. TAN
Earnest is a licensed guidance counselor of the Philippine Regulatory Commission (PRC) who designs and conducts workshop-seminars geared toward growth and wellness. He designs training that meets the specific needs of clients. He has shared his expertise around the Philippines and in other countries such as Malaysia, Brunei, Korea, Papua New Guinea, and Thailand. Earnest is a regular lecturer and resource person for the following institutions: East Asian Pastoral Institute, Asian Religious Formation Institute, Asian Social Institute, the Medical Education Unit of the University of the Philippines and Philippine General Hospital. He is a graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, A.B. major in Psychology and a Masteral candidate in Education, major in Guidance and Counseling. He is a licensed counselor of the PRC.
FR. NORLAN JULIA, SJ
Fr. Norlan is the rector of St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, where he also teaches Fundamental and Dogmatic Theology. He holds a doctoral degree in Theology from Heythrop College, University of London. While studying in London, he ministered to migrant Filipino communities in the United Kingdom. His book, MAN OF THE WORD: RAHNER AND ASIAN PRIESTHOOD was a Finalist in the Theology Category of the 11th Cardinal Sin Catholic Book Awards.
FR. WILFREDO M. SAMSON, SJ
Fr. Willy is a Jesuit priest and presently the Assistant to the President for Formation in the Ateneo de Zamboanga University. He was ordained in 2003, was assigned in prison ministry and worked in New Bilibid Prison and Correctional Institute for Women from 2003 to 2008. He is a columnist in CBCP New Website - Pitik-Bulag. His book, DETOX: PITIK-BULAG MEDITATION, A THIRTY DAY SPIRITUAL DETOXIFICATION won as Best Book in the Inspirational Category of the 10th Cardinal Sin Catholic Book Awards.
FR. SEBASTIAN D’AMBRA, PIME
He is the founder of Silsilah Dialogue Movement and the President of Silsilah. He was also a recipient of the 2010 "Bukas Palad" Award from the Ateneo of Manila University for his work on behalf of inter-religious dialogue through the Silsilah Movement centered in Zamboanga on the southern Filipino island of Mindanao.
MSGR. FERNANDO G. GUTIERREZ
He belongs to the Diocese of Malolos and retired as Supervisory Chaplain (2001-2010) from the US Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons. He earned a Master’s (MRE), and a Doctorate in Ministry (D. Min.) at The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC and holds a California Community College Credential in Philosophy and Religion. His book, TEARS IN A BOTTLE, was a Finalist in the Inspirational Category of the 12th Cardinal Sin Catholic Book Awards
EMMANUEL “MANNY” BAUTISTA
He completed his theological studies at the Catholic Institute of Sydney. He was the Vocations Executive Officer of the Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay, New South Wales, Australia and the Vocations Promoter of the Scalabrinian Congregation, Province of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, in Australia.
BR. JESS N. MATIAS, OFS
Br. Jess is a professed brother of the Secular Franciscan Order. He currently serves as the Minister of the St. Pio of Peitrelcina Fraternity at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Mandaluyong City, as the coordinator of the Padre Pio Prayer Groups of the Capuchins in the Philippines, and as a prison counselor and catechist for the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. His book, THIRTY DAYS WITH LOLO KIKO was named Best Book in Spirituality in the 10th Cardinal Sin Catholic Book Awards.
DR. JOSE MARIO B. MAXIMIANO
His book POPE FRANCIS, THE CATHOLIC BISHOP, AND THE PRIEST was named the Best Book in Theology by the Cardinal Sin Catholic Books Awards and recognized by the Catholic Mass Media Awards in 2015. He also authored THE BEGINNING AND THE END and THE CHURCH CAN HANDLE THE TRUTH, a Finalist in the Theology category of the 12th Cardinal Sin Catholic Book Awards.
MEANNE M. MIJARES
She finished undergraduate dual degrees in Bachelor in Secondary Education (major in English) and Bachelor of Arts in Communication (major in Broadcast Communication) from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. She is a professional wedding and events planner and owns Milestones & Moments Weddings and Special Events Management.
FR. AMADO L. PICARDAL, CSsR
Fr. Picx is a Redemptorist priest from Iligan City, ordained in 1986 after finishing his theological studies at the St. Francis Xavier Regional Major Seminary in Davao City. His engagement in the formation of Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) started in 1975 during his immersion among the poor and training in community organizing in a slums area after finishing AB Philosophy at the University of San Carlos, Cebu. His books, JOURNEYING TOWARDS A NEW WAY OF BEING CHURCH and THE PRIESTHOOD IN A CHURCH RENEWED, were both Finalists in the Ministry Category of the 11th Cardinal Sin Catholic Book Awards.
Claretian Media Center
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Wm R. Griffin, President of Cleaning Consultant Services, Inc., Seattle, Washington, started his first business at age 8 in his home town of Madison, South Dakota. He would rummage through alley trash cans for items he could resell to his schoolmates. Much to the embarrassment of his parents and outrage of his teachers, young Griffin was generating $3 to $5 a week providing a service to others.
At 10 years of age, he was riding his rebuilt bicycle up and down the country roads selling garden seeds to local farmers. At a profit of 5 cents per pack he would earn over $200 during the summer months. Although his academic career suffered to the point of being labeled the school dummy, young Griffin was learning other things while people laughed.
In fact he got kicked out of so many classes that he spent most of his time in the principal's office and in the school hallways. Finally one of the custodians put him to work helping sweep and mop the floors around the school. This early exposure to cleaning was a lot more interesting to Griffin than any class, but the school principal wouldn't allow Griffin to forego his classes for this impromptu apprenticeship. He told our young entrepreneur there wasn't room for both of them at the same school. Thus Griffin's academic career came to an abrupt end at age 16. Not discouraged by this twist of fate, he left for the glory of California the same day.
In 1973, Bill Griffin formed Cleaning Consultant Services, Inc., to market the Comprehensive Custodial Training Manual, a 300-page book he'd written on the technical aspects of cleaning. Since that time, he was written many other cleaning related books and also publishes Cleaning Business Magazine for self-employed professional cleaners.
Having taught cleaning, maintenance and management subjects at South Seattle Community College, Lake Washington Voc Tech, Renton Technical College and The Washington Institute of Applied Technology, Griffin now stays busy conducting privately sponsored seminars for equipment manufacturers, suppliers and industry trade associations. He also writes articles for trade publications and provides consulting services to small business owners, large corporations, property management firms, hospitals, schools and organizations with specialized cleaning needs.
Having started with nothing more than a dream, a goal and a strong desire to succeed, Griffin sells his janitorial books to professional cleaners around the world. How to Start and Operate a Successful Service Business was written to help those who wish to help themselves. This 300-page manual covers supervision and management subjects, as well as taking a look at over 20 different service businesses that you can start with limited capital.
Griffin's opinion is that if he can do it, anybody can - if they are willing to work at it long enough and hard enough. If you're the type of individual who thrives on challenge and are willing to work for what you get, How to Start and Operate a Successful Service Business was written just for you.
Correspond with the real deal: wgriffin@cleaningconsultants.com
Bill Griffin Bio: Click Here
Employment / Contact Us / Links
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Selena Gomez Through The Years [Photos]
Selena Gomez Through the Years
We've come a long, long way since Wizards Of Waverly Place.
In the past decade, 23-year-old Selena Gomez has risen higher and higher into superstardom. After making her debut as a Disney princess in 2007 with her hit Disney Channel TV series, the talented young star has slowly come into her own as an actress, taking on edgier roles like 2012's thrillingly racy Spring Breakers and 2013's Getaway.
At the same time, she's also come into her own as a bonafide pop star. Selena kicked off the career with a band in tow (Selena Gomez & The Scene), notching Radio Disney-friendly pop hits like "Round & Round" and "Naturally." By 2013, the singer opted to go solo and take her sound to the next level, resulting in Stars Dance, featuring smashes like "Come & Get It" and "Stars Dance."
Now, Selena is preparing for her next musical journey with her debut Interscope Records solo album, featuring her most recent release, "Good For You." And judging by the unexpectedly sensual new direction, it seems Selena's about to give her ever-devoted Selenators her most personal and risk-taking record to date.
In honor of Selena Gomez's birthday week, we're celebrating with a look back at all of her looks — on the red carpet, performing on stage and working the crowd at various glamorous events — through the years. She's all grown up now!
Happy birthday, SelGo! Tell 'em that it's your birthday!
Next: Britney Spears Through The Years
Source: Selena Gomez Through The Years [Photos]
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Crime Doesn’t Pay — or Does It?
Please excuse our French. But speaking to the Netherlands’ ambassadors in The Hague Monday, Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot said that his diplomats needed to counter their countrymen’s image as “whore-mongering, coke-snorting child murderers,” citing a rather unflattering characterization of his nation apparently recently voiced on Fox News.
The U.S. TV channel might have been a bit overheated in its choice of words, but even here in Europe the popular stereotype of the Netherlands is that of an ultra-liberal society where soft drugs and prostitution are not seen so much as social problems but as important assets to the country’s tourist industry, and where judges seem to care more about the criminal than the victim. Changing that public perception will not have been made any easier by the latest piece of news coming from the Netherlands.
Dutch daily De Telegraaf reported this week that a court in the southern town of Breda sentenced an armed bank robber to four years in jail, ordering him to return the €6,600 he had had stolen. Nothing unusual about that. But here comes the Dutch twist. The criminal was allowed to deduct the €2,000 he had paid for the gun — as a business expense so to speak.
“That’s the case law here in Holland,” Leendert de Lange from the prosecutor’s office in The Hague told us. Readers will be surprised to learn that the underlying principle is that “crime shouldn’t pay,” as Mr. Lange reassured us. But apparently the Dutch also believe that crime shouldn’t necessarily cost you anything either.
Usually applied to calculate and recover the net profit from drug trafficking and other illegal activities, the relatively novel idea of deducting the purchase costs of a gun has raised quite a few eyebrows in the Netherlands. Still quite shaken by the recent murder of Theo van Gogh and the fear of Islamic terrorism, the country has already started to rethink some of its liberal paradigms. So maybe the media attention this case has gotten will help change Dutch case law before Fox News adds “crime subsidizing” to its description of the Dutch.
Source:Wall Street Journal January 2005
Filed under: Legal Sector :
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Today's headines
General Dynamics to Boost Military Satellite Communications Capacity with $119 Million Army WIN-T Satellite Terminal Award
General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies has received a $119 million modification to an existing delivery order to provide additional satellite communications earth terminals and support services for Increment One of the U.S. Army's Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) program.
Your Defence News
Cost of F-22 fighter for Japan as much as $250 mln
The U.S. Air Force estimates it would cost Japan as much as $250 million per plane to buy dozens of radar-evading F-22 fighter jets, a U.S. senator told Japan's ambassador in a letter, saying he hopes to reverse a current U.S. ban on such exports.
RAF chief predicts controversial takeover of Royal Naval air power
The Chief of the Air Staff told The Sunday Telegraph that rationalisation in the armed forces would lead to the RAF running all combat jet operations. The move would effectively neuter the Royal Navy's maritime air force, the Fleet Air Arm, leaving the service with just a small complement of helicopters.
Minister 'has let down UK troops'
Departed Defence Secretary John Hutton has been accused of a "dereliction of duty" by a senior military figure, because UK troops are at war.
Swine flu confirmed at Army base
A case of swine flu has been confirmed at Catterick Garrison - the UK Army's largest base.
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Born and raised in Calcutta, India, Deepali Nangia graduated Summa Cum Laude with an undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester with a major in Economics and a minor in Information Systems (1996). Deepali was also one of three students to be accepted into the University's masters program and graduated with an MBA in Finance from the William E. Simon School of Business Administration. While at Rochester, Deepali was awarded the Barry Rappoport Prize for Excellence in Economics and was an honorary member of many academic honor societies such as Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Epsilon and the Golden Key National Honor Society.
Post University, Deepali started her career as a banker on Wall Street at Salomon Smith Barney Citigroup and subsequently went on to work in principal investing at private equity houses such as GE Equity and Stonepoint Capital. She moved to Marsh McLennan as Project Manager, Operations for their India operations and then held various positions in Strategy, Product Development and Operations at Marsh and Aon.
Deepali, who learned all about entrepreneurship from her Dad was also co-founder of Tiny Feet, Giant Leaps (Tiny Feet), a mother and child activity center in India. While she was at Tiny Feet, she was responsible for all strategic, business development, creative and financial aspects of Tiny Feet. She has also evaluated several other business opportunities both in London and in India in the mother and child space.
Deepali spends whatever little free time she has volunteering for various non-profit organizations, supporting the arts and caring for her two children. She supports the community by being Treasurer of the Glendower Preparatory School Parent Association and is also part of the Women in Business Committee of London Children's Ballet. She is a Business Mentor for the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and SHEROES has mentored women in emerging economies such as Israel and India. She is also a mentor at Imperial College London for the women in technology program.
She enjoys writing and blogs under "Diary of a Mumpreneur - Deepali Nangia". Her blog is on inspirational women and on her experiences as an entrepreneur.
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Miniature wargaming
Title: Miniature wargaming
Subject: 1:144 scale, List of scale model sizes, Wargaming, Dungeons & Dragons, BrikWars
Collection: Miniatures Games, Playscale Miniaturism, Scale Modeling, Wargames
American Civil War miniature battle at the HMGS Cold Wars convention in Lancaster.
Part of a series on:
Grand strategy wargame
Strategic wargame
Operational wargame
Tactical wargame
Air wargaming
Board wargames
Computer wargame
Fantasy wargame
Naval wargaming
Charles S. Roberts
Don Featherstone
Jack Scruby
Jim Dunnigan
Paddy Griffith
Castle & Crusade Society
Game Manufacturers Association
International Federation of Wargamers
International Wargames Federation
Johnny Reb Gaming Society
Naval Wargames Society
Society of Fantasy and Science Fiction Wargamers
Charles S. Roberts Award
Origins Game Fair
World Boardgaming Championships
List of board wargames
List of miniature wargames
List of wargame publishers
Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming which incorporates miniature figures, miniature armor and modeled terrain as the main components of play and which was first invented at the beginning of the 19th century in Prussia. Like other types of wargames, they can be generally considered to be a type of simulation game, generally about tactical combat, as opposed to computer and board wargames which have greater variety in scale.
While such games could also be played with counters on a table with colored paper to denote terrain types, the visual attractiveness and tactile satisfaction of painted miniatures moving around on a table with model trees, hills and other scenery has such an alluring power to convince many wargamers to prefer model/miniature games over the cheaper and easier board-and-chits alternatives.
The miniatures and scenario items at the core of the model wargaming experience are available in different scales, and many sets of rules are written with the assumption that a particular scale is being used.
The hobby got its start around the beginning of the 20th century, with the publication of Jane's naval war rules and H. G. Wells' Little Wars in 1913. A similar book titled Shambattle: How to Play with Toy Soldiers was published by Harry Dowdall and Joseph Gleason in 1929. Commercial products just for miniatures wargamers and awareness as a single community of people with similar interests date back to the 1950s with the efforts of Jack Scruby.[1] Major developments in the field since then include the rise in the 1960s and 1970s of fantasy and science fiction wargames as an alternative to games based on historical conflicts, and the emergence of companies like Corvus Belli Infinity (wargame) Games Workshop, Spartan Games, Battlefront, Foundry, Warlord Games, Privateer Press and many others.
General overview 1
Scale 1.1
Rulesets 2
Role-playing games 2.1
Naval wargames 2.2
Air wargames 2.3
Notable miniature wargame organizations 3.1
Notable miniature wargamers and miniature wargame designers 3.2
Miniature wargaming is a recreational hobby where players simulate a battle, which is played out using small figurines to represent the land, sea and/or air units involved. Many miniatures games are played on a floor or tabletop, with terrain represented by miniature scenery (hills, forests, roads, fences, etc.). Movement of the miniatures is regulated using a measuring device such as a ruler, tape measure, cut sticks or other prepared standardized-length instruments. However, like boardgames, miniature games can also be played using gridded terrain (demarcated into squares or hexagons) or even gameboards.
One of the main reasons for playing miniature wargames, in both these respects, is because it offers players more freedom of play and a more aesthetically pleasing tactical element over traditional games or computer games. Additionally, many hobbyists enjoy the challenge of painting miniatures and constructing scenery. In many ways, miniature wargaming may be seen as combining many of the aesthetics of tabletop train modelling with an open strategy game predominantly, though not exclusively, with a military theme. There is also a large social component to wargames as very often games are played with several participants on a side.[2]
The miniatures and scenery used vary greatly in scale, from 6mm figures up to 54mm or larger (90 mm for example). The miniature figures are typically plastic or metal and are often sold unpainted. Scenery is often home-made, and figures are painted by the players, who will sometimes even "convert" shop-bought figures to better represent the units they are trying to depict.[3][4][5]
There are any number of sets of miniature wargaming rules, some of which are available without charge on the Internet. Scenarios may depict actual historical situations and battles, or they may be hypothetical "what if?" situations. There are also fantasy and science fiction games with attendant wizards, spacecraft and other genres. Rules also vary in the scale they depict: one figure to one soldier is the most common for fantasy and some historical rules, but many historical systems presume that one figure represents hundreds or even thousands of men.
Generally, these games are turn based strategy, like chess.
Two units of 15mm spearmen from a Phokian Greek army under De Bellis Antiquitatis rules.
Scale is generally expressed as the approximate height of a humanoid figure from base of foot to eyeline (though some count to top of head – hence the possible confusion) in millimeters, this is sometimes referred to as the Barret Scale, as opposed to the ratio values used in scale modeling. Popular sizes and roughly equivalent scale ratios
mm 54 45 28 25 20 15 12 10 6 3 2
scale 1:32 1:35 1:64 1:72 1:76 1:100 1:144 1:161 1:300 1:600 1:914
For more detailed information on common scales see miniature scale. The naval wargaming branch of the hobby almost exclusively uses ratios.
"O" (1:48), "HO" (1:87), and "N" (1:160) scale are popular among model railroad hobbyists. Some model railroad scales are close enough to the smaller-scale figures to provide usable structures and/or vehicles, possibly requiring some modification. For example, 1:144, N Scale, and 10mm miniatures typically mix well on the game table. Some wargamers use card model structures because of their economy and the ease of scaling them to appropriate sizes, and many wargamers scratchbuild their structures. 1:144 scale is not very common for wargames but notable exceptions like Dream Pod 9's Heavy Gear do exist.
Part of the reason for the profusion of miniature sizes is the need for manufacturers to differentiate themselves in what is a niche market. This results in what has been termed "scale creep" where miniatures listed in a catalog may be identified by a measurement, but in reality may vary significantly from that advertized size. This is to encourage the purchaser into brand loyalty based on the aesthetic desire to maintain a look of uniformity on the tabletop.
Over the years the size of new miniatures has tended to increase. For example, 25 mm figures from the 70s are visibly smaller than the 25 mm figures today. Some can even be used alongside modern 20 mm figures. Currently most manufacturers and gamers refer to 25 mm figures as 28 mm figures, since they are so much bigger than the earlier 25 mm figures. Some figures are still being called 25 mm, even if by the foot to eyeline ratio they should be 30 mm or bigger.
Moreover the anatomy features of 25-30 mm miniatures can vary notably from manufacturer to manufacturer and even from sculptor to sculptor: some of them rely on heavily emphasized features (to the point of distortion) closely resembling the exaggerated anatomies of comic-book characters, and are aptly called "heroic"-style figures; other, more consistent with actual human physiques, are termed "realistic" figures.
Usually "heroic" anatomies are more common in fantasy and SF miniatures and some odder para-realistic subgenres, like zombie apocalypse or pulp heroes figures; "realistic" figures feature more prominently in miniatures dedicated to actual or historical military conflicts. A player's choice of which scale to use is a direct reflection of the scope of the game to be played. For historical games, 15 mm seems to be the most popular scale, because it is small enough to allow for large battles.[2] Smaller scaled miniatures are typically mounted in groups and moved as groups. This creates the visual effect of a large mass of combatants, allowing games simulating platoon, company, battalion, and even corps level actions. In these cases, the miniatures are often mounted on trays, or bases, for ease of mass movement.[2]
Larger scaled figures (primarily 25 mm and up) tend to be used in skirmish games where the single miniature represents a single man/animal/vehicle. This is because, although scales in this region provide greater detail that is easier to paint, their higher cost and larger size limits the size of battles that might be recreated.[2] Games of this scale that are not mounted on trays (and thus not locked in block formation) tend to offer greater flexibility of movement.[6]
The perceived and agreed ratios of representative models to represented "real world" objects are generally explicitly stated. This is particularly true of rules systems that claim some form of historical authority, whereas a minority of rules sets do not state any representative scale.
There are many miniature wargaming rulesets, not all of which are currently in print, including some which are available free on the internet. Most rulesets are intended for a specific historical period or fictional genre. Rules also vary in the model scale they use: one infantry figure may represent one man, one squad, or much larger numbers of actual troops.
Wargaming in general owes its origins to military simulations, most famously to the Prussian staff training system Kriegsspiel. Consequently, rules designers struggle with the perceived obligation to actually 'simulate' something, and with the seldom compatible necessity to make an enjoyable 'game'. Historical battles were seldom fair or even, and the potential detail that can be brought to bear to represent this in a set of rules always comes at the cost of pace of the game and enjoyment. In Osprey Publishing's book about the Battle of Crécy, from its series on historical campaigns, there is included a detailed section on wargaming the battle, in which Stuart Asquith writes:
“ When refighting a particular battle, it is important to adhere as closely as possible to the original historical engagement. The counter-argument is that the wargamer(s) know who is going to win. Fair comment, but knowing the outcome of any battle does not usually prevent one from reading about that action, so why should such knowledge debar a refight?[7] ”
He adds that unless at least the initial moves are recreated, "then an interesting medieval battle may well take place, but it will not be a re-creation of Crécy."[7] Still, rules aimed at the non-professional hobby market therefore inevitably contain abstractions. It is generally in the area of the abstraction liberties taken by the designers that the differences between rules can be found. Most follow tried and true conventions to the extent that a chess player would recognize wargaming merely as a different scaled version of his or her own game.
The Chainmail rulebook.
During the 1960s and 1970s, two new trends in wargaming emerged: First were small-unit rules sets which allowed individual players to portray small units down to even a single figure. These rules expanded the abilities of the smaller units accordingly, to magnify their effect on the overall battle.
Second was an interest in fantasy miniatures wargaming. J.R.R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit and his epic cycle The Lord of the Rings were gaining strong interest in the United States, and as a result, rules were quickly developed to play medieval and Roman-era wargames, where these eras had previously been largely ignored in favor of Napoleonic and Civil War gaming.
The two converged in a set of miniatures rules entitled Chainmail, published by a tiny company called Guidon Games, headquartered in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Later, in 1974, TSR designer E. Gary Gygax wrote a set of rules for individual characters under Chainmail, and entitled it Dungeons & Dragons. Further developments ensued, and the role-playing game hobby quickly became distinct from the wargaming hobby which preceded it.
Naval wargames
Although generally less popular than wargames set on land, naval wargaming nevertheless enjoys a degree of support around the world. Model ships have long been used for wargaming, but it was the introduction of elaborate rules in the early 20th century that made the hobby more popular. Small miniature ships, often in 1:1200 scale and 1:1250 scale, were maneuvered on large playing surfaces to recreate historical battles. Prior to World War II, firms such as Bassett-Lowke in England and the German company Wiking marketed these to the public.[8][9] After World War II, several manufacturers started business in Germany, which remains the center of production to this day,[10] while other companies started in England and the United States.
Rules can vary greatly between game systems; both in complexity and era. Historical rulesets range from the ancient and medieval ships to the fleets of the Age of Sail and the modern era. Often the hobbyists have to provide their own scale models of ships. The 1972 game, Don't Give Up The Ship!, called for pencil and paper, six-sided dice, rulers and protractors, and model ships, ideally of 1:1200 scale. The elaborate rules cover morale, sinking, fires, broken masts, and boarding. Dice determined wind speed and direction, and hence the ship's speed and the use of its cannon by measuring angles with the protractor.[11]
In naval wargaming of the modern period, General Quarters, primarily (though not exclusively) using six-sided dice, has established itself as one of the leading sets of World War I and II era rules.[12]
Some land-based miniature wargames have also been adapted to naval wargaming. All at Sea, for example, is an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game rules for naval conflicts. The game's mechanics centered around boarding parties, with options for ramming actions and siege engines.[13] As such, the ship's scale ratio corresponds to the 25 mm scale miniatures used by The Lord of the Rings. Model ships are built by hobbyists, just as normal miniature terrain, such as "great ships" of Pelargir, cogs of Dol Amroth and Corsair galleys.[14]
Air wargames
Air wargaming, like naval wargaming, is a smaller niche within the larger hobby of miniatures wargaming. Aerial combat has developed over a relatively short time compared with naval or land warfare. As such, air wargaming tends to break down into three broad periods:
World War I – from the earliest air combat to the 1920s
World War II – 1930s to the early 1950s
"Modern" – the missile age
In addition there are science fiction and "alternative history" games such as Aeronefs and those in the Crimson Skies universe.
Miniature games tend to be more social than do other forms of commercial wargames, and very often games are played with several participants on a side.[2] This manifests itself in wargame organisations, conventions, community websites and other social events. Some conventions have become very large affairs, such as Gen-Con, Origins and Historical Miniatures Gaming Society's Historicon, called the "mother of all wargaming conventions".[2] Sometimes the wargamer stereotypes are parodied, such as in "Wargamers, a spotters guide" and the comic strip "Larry Leadhead".[15][16]
Notable miniature wargame organizations
International Wargames Federation (IWF) promotes historical wargaming competitions between players or teams from different countries. [8]
Cold Wars, Historicon, and Fall In!. HMGS East also supports several smaller conventions. There are chapters of HMGS in most regions of the United States. [9].
Johnny Reb Gaming Society – the leading international gaming society devoted exclusively to wargaming the American Civil War; publishes the quarterly CHARGE! newsletter for members of the society.
Wargame Developments (WD) was founded by game designer and author Paddy Griffith in 1980, and is an international group dedicated to developing all types of wargames. It publishes a journal, The Nugget, nine times per year and holds an annual 3-day long conference – COW (The Conference of Wargamers) – every July.
Mind Sports South Africa started as the South African Wargames Union in 1984. It was the first wargaming body to have wargames recognized as a sport in the same way as which chess is so recognized. As a result South African teams were awarded Springbok Colours (1991–1994) and Protea Colours (1995 to date).
The Solo Wargamers Association (SWA) founded in 1976 supports solo players in all branches of wargaming – historical, science fiction, fantasy, miniatures, board games etc. Publishes a quarterly journal Lone Warrior.
The British Historical Games Society (BHGS) promotes historical wargaming in Britain, holding events including tournaments periodically.
The War Gaming Society (WGS) was founded in May 1975. The Joaquin Valley War Gaming Association (SJVWGA), founded in 1972 by Jack Scruby, Ray Jackson and other miniature wargamers, is a subdivision of the War Gaming Society.
The Pike & Shot Society promotes wargaming based on the "Pike and shot" period (c. 1500–1700), publishing a journal called The Arquebusier. [10]
The Society of Ancients, founded in the '60s, promoting ancient wargaming and historical research through Slingshot, the society journal.
Warhammer Player's Society. Dedicated to all versions (Fantasy, Ancients and Science-Fiction) of Warhammer [11]
Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers. (SOTCW) covers all periods 1900 – present [land, sea or air] the society has a magazine, The Journal, which is produced quarterly. [12]
Society of Fantasy and Science Fiction Wargamers (SFSFW). For fantastical and future, including retro-future, wargames. Publishers of Ragnarok magazine. [13]
Naval Wargames Society. The NWS is an international society devoted to the advancement of naval wargames, publishing a quarterly journal, Battlefleet. [14]
Notable miniature wargamers and miniature wargame designers
Little Wars, by H. G. Wells (1913).
H.G. Wells – Known as the "Father of Miniature Wargaming" and author of the miniature wargaming classic Little Wars.[17]
Jack Scruby – The "Father of Modern Miniature Wargaming".[18] Popularized modern miniature wargaming and organized perhaps the first miniatures convention in 1956. Jack Scruby was also a manufacturer of military miniatures whose efforts led to a rebirth of the miniature wargaming hobby in the late 1950s.
Gary Gygax – Co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and a number of miniature wargames.
Duke Seifried – Sculptor of over 10,000 miniatures, one of the earliest American miniature manufacturers: Heritage, Custom Cast, Der Kreigspielers Napoleonic, and Fantastiques Fantasy Figures.
Charles Grant – Author and founder member of the UK wargaming scene in the 1960s. Helped popularize miniature wargaming.
Donald Featherstone – A respected military historian,[19] introduced to the hobby in 1955.[20] Since then, he was one of the most prolific authors on the subject, and very influential in the development of the hobby.
Fletcher Pratt – Science fiction writer (often in collaboration with L. Sprague de Camp) and originator of a popular set of rules for naval miniature wargaming.
Terry Wise- Historian and writer- many Osprey publications to his credit along with the seminal "Introduction to Battlegaming" of 1969. Published rules for Ancients, Pike and Shot and American Civil wargaming that are fast, fun and easy to use.
Walter ("Wally") Simon – One of the original founders of the Historical Miniature Gaming Society. First President of HMGS and Organizer of the Potomac Wargamers, publisher of the PW Review.
David Waxtel – Publisher of over 20 sets of rules, and supplement books.
A Guide to Wargaming (1980) as well as the WRG Renaissance Rules
John Hill – Known for his classic Squad Leader and other Avalon Hill board games, also the author of the popular Johnny Reb miniatures rules.
Raymond ("Ray") James Jackson – Author of Classic Napoleonics, an "Old School" set of miniature wargame rules which have been in existence since 1961. Chairman and CEO of both HMGS-West and the War Gaming Society. A miniature wargamer since 1958.
Frank Chadwick – Author of the Command Decision and Volley & Bayonet rules, Space: 1889 and Traveller, and co-founder of Game Designers' Workshop.
Phil Barker – Founder of the Wargames Research Group, and inventor of the De Bellis Antiquitatis game series.
Arty Conliffe – Designer of Armati, Crossfire, Spearhead, Shako and Tactica rules.
Bob Jones – Founder of Piquet and designer of the Piquet wargame series.
Brigadier Peter Young, DSO, MC – Highly decorated World War II commando leader, commander of the 9th Regiment of the Arab Legion, founder of the Sealed Knot English Civil War reenactment society, Reader of Military History at Sandhurst, author of several books on military history, also author of Charge! Or How to Play Wargames and The War Game: Ten Great Battles Recreated from History.
Phil Dunn – Founder of the Naval Wargames Society and author of Sea Battle Games.
John McEwan – Creator of the first science fiction ground combat miniatures game Starguard! in 1974 along with over 200 figures and models for this game.
Tony Bath – Author and veteran wargamer, founding member of the Society of Ancients, best known as umpire of one of the longest running and well known of all wargames campaigns, set in the fictional land of Hyboria.
David Manley – Author of many sets of naval rules including Action Stations, Fire When Ready, Iron and Fire, Bulldogs Away, and Form Line of Battle, as well as numerous articles and technical papers on naval wargaming, history, and warship design.
Scott Mingus – founder of the international Johnny Reb Gaming Society and one of the world's most prolific authors of American Civil War scenario books.
Neville Dickinson – One of the original members of the UK wargaming scene and founder of Miniature Figurines, the first firm in the UK to popularize metal miniatures.
Larry Brom - designer of The Sword and The Flame, one of the most popular colonial era wargames.
Andy Chambers – Known for his work in rules design and revision for Games Workshop Inc. and Mongoose Publishing. Notable games he helped develop include Warhammer 40,000 and Starship Troopers: The Miniatures Game.
Bryan Ansell - Creator of Laserburn, Rules with No Name, co-creator/co-author of Warhammer, author Warhammer 40,000 and a host of other game credits. Associated primarily with Games Workshop and Citade Miniatures, also Asgard Miniatures http://articles/Bryan_Ansell
Rick Priestley – co-creator/co-author of Warhammer, author Warhammer 40,000 and a host of other game credits. Associated primarily with Games Workshop and Citadel but earlier work included co-authoring the seminal fantasy wargame rulebook Reaper.
Rusty Gronewold – Lead designer with Tactical Command Games, has developed many different miniature games, such as Stellar Fire, Legions Unleashed, Conflict 2000, Stellar Conflicts & Uprisings, Gunslingers & Desperados, Pirates & Buccaneers just to name a few.
Paddy Griffith - Military historian and founder of Wargame Developments, he devised and ran the first Megagames as well as many experimental wargames that were designed to give military historians a greater insight into how battles and campaigns were actually fought. Many of his wargames posed ethical and moral dilemmas for the players and challenged orthodox thinking.
Alessio Cavatore - Writer of many popular rulesets. Famous for his work with Games Workshop, Mantic and Warlord.
Nation-simulation game
Tabletop game
Computer-assisted gaming
^ Richard Gehman, "A Little War Can Be A Lot Of Fun", Sports Illustrated January 4, 1965, visited January 21, 2014.
^ a b c d e f "What is Wargaming?". Article. HMGS. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
^ "Warhammer 40,000 Modelling articles". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
^ "Warhammer Fantasy Modelling articles". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
^ "The Lord of the Rings Modelling articles". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
^ "A discussion simplicity in wargames". November 12, 2005. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
^ a b Crécy 1346: Triumph of the longbow, p 93-94
^ Head, Derek. Bassett-Lowke Waterline Ship Models London 1996 ISBN 1-872727-72-7
^ Schönfeld, Peter Wiking-Modelle Die Schiffe und Flugseuge Hamburg 1998 ISBN 3-7822-0731-9
^ Jacobs,Paul 1250 History on the steelnavy.com website
^ Don't Give Up The Ship!, 1st Edition, 1972, Guidon Games, 50 pages, blue & black cover
^ Survey of Naval Wargames Rules, NWS journal "Battlefleet" 1996
^ Nick Davis. "All At Sea Part One". Ruleset. White Dwarf. Retrieved 2007-06-14.
^ "The Ports of Pelargir". Website. Retrieved 2007-06-14.
^ "Wargamers, a spotters guide". Article. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
^ "Larry Leadhead's Website". Website. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
^ The Miniatures Page. The World of Miniatures – An Overview.
^ Timeline of the Historical Miniatures Wargaming Hobby
^ Sadler, p 27
^ Tony Bath Obituary
David Nicolle & Stuart Asquith, Crécy 1346: Triumph of the longbow, Osprey Publishing Paperback; June 25, 2000; ISBN 978-1-85532-966-9
What is wargaming? History and discussion of wargaming and miniature wargaming.
Painted Games Workshop miniatures Gallery of painted miniatures
The brief History of Foundry Miniatures History and discussion of wargaming miniatures company Wargames Foundry
Miniature arts
Brass models
Model commercial vehicles
Model construction vehicles
Model figures
Matchstick models
Model military vehicles
Model robots
Gundam model
Room box
1:6 scale modeling
List of scale model kit manufacturers
Use mdy dates from June 2013
All WorldHeritage articles written in American English
Playscale miniaturism
Fantasy, Wizards of the Coast, D20 System, Hasbro, Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings
World War II, H. G. Wells, Squad Leader, Chess, Games Workshop
Dungeons & Dragons, H. G. Wells, Wargaming, Miniature wargaming, Visalia, California
1:144 Scale
Miniature wargaming, Nascar, World War II, Micro armor, N scale
List of scale model sizes
Figure scale, Lego, Tamiya Corporation, Dollhouse, Live steam
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Bank Failure Friday – A Quadruple, Making 13 Total on Friday the 13th!
It was a four fer Friday…
Bank failures: 13 in 2009
Closures in Nebraska, Florida, Illinois and Oregon bring the number of bank failures to 13 this year as the financial crisis continues to roll.
By Kenneth Musante, CNNMoney.com staff writer
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Four banks folded Friday, bringing the total number of banks to fail this year to 13.
Deposits at Sherman County Bank, based in Loup City, Neb., the first bank in the state to fail since 1990, will be taken over by Heritage Bank, based in Wood River, Neb., according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Meanwhile, accounts held by Riverside Bank of the Gulf Coast based in Cape Coral, Fla., will be assumed by TIB Bank based in Naples, Fla., the FDIC said. It is the second bank to fail in Florida this year and the fourth to go under in that state since the economic crisis unfurled.
Corn Belt Bank and Trust Company, based in Pittsfield, Ill., the third bank to fail in the state since January 2008, was also shuttered by state regulators, and its deposits were turned over to The Carlinville National Bank out of Carlinville, Ill.
Pinnacle Bank, Beaverton, Oregon, was closed by the Oregon Division of Finance and Corporate Securities. The FDIC entered into an agreement with Washington Trust Bank, Spokane, Washington, to assume all of the deposits of Pinnacle Bank.
Customers who banked with Sherman County Bank, Riverside, Corn Belt Bank, or Pinnacle Bank will automatically become customers of the new owners, and will retain their account protection under the FDIC, which insures single accounts up to $250,000, and joint accounts up to $500,000, the government agency said.
Due to the Presidents Day holiday on Monday, Sherman County Bank's four branches, Riverside's nine branches, and Corn Belt Bank's two, will reopen on Tuesday as branches of the new deposit holders, the agency said.
Over the three-day weekend, those customers will be able to use checks, ATMs and debit cards as normal. Customers who have taken out loans from a failed bank should continue to make regular payments, the FDIC said.
Sherman County Bank held assets worth about $129.8 million, and held deposits worth about $85.1 million, as of Feb. 12, the FDIC said. Heritage Bank has agreed to purchase about $21.8 million of Sherman County Bank's assets.
Riverside Bank held assets worth about $539 million, and held deposits worth about $424 million, as of December last year, the FDIC said. TIB Bank will not assume $142.6 million worth of brokered deposits held by Riverside Bank, but agreed to buy $125 million of Riverside's assets.
Corn Belt Bank carried assets worth about $271.8 million, with deposits of $234.4 million, according to the agency. Carlinville National will not take on $92 million of Corn Belt's brokered deposits, but would buy $60.7 million of Corn Belt's assets, the FDIC said.
Pinnacle Bank had total assets of approximately $73 million and total deposits of $64 million. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, including those from brokers, Washington Trust Bank agreed to purchase approximately $72 million in assets at a discount of $7.6 million, the FDIC announced late Friday.
Altogether, the bank failures announced Friday will cost the FDIC about $341.6 million.
The unfolding financial crisis continues to take a toll on banks. If banks continue to fail at a rate of at least one per week, on average, then 2009 could see twice as many failures as in 2008. Last year, 25 banks were closed nationwide, which was the highest annual total since 1993, when 42 banks went under.
Economists expect the number of failed banks to continue rising this year, as the financial crisis plays out and the economic outlook remains dark.
Now the FDIC has a snowball that’s growing larger and larger on their hands. Anybody else see where this is heading?
Disposing of Assets of Failed Banks Tests F.D.I.C.
By ERIC LIPTON
WASHINGTON — When regulators took over the First National Bank of Nevada last year, they faced a showdown with the Terrible Herbst, the mustachioed cowboy who boasts of being the “best bad man in the West.”
This was no real gunslinger, but the name and logo of a chain of gas stations and convenience stores in Nevada that feature slot machines next to candy and beer.
The family-owned Herbst chain, auditors at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation concluded, did not generate enough sales at its Reno-area gas stations to support the repayment of a loan, leaving auditors with three bad choices: Move to take over those stations and put the government in the gambling business. Cut off any flow of additional loan money. Or sell the loan at a steep loss.
The F.D.I.C. faces tough choices like this every day as it struggles to manage $15 billion worth of loans and property left from failed banks. If still-to-be-sold assets from IndyMac Bancorp of California, whose demise last year was the fourth-largest bank failure, are included, the number jumps to $40 billion.
The F.D.I.C. inherited the collection of loans and property after the failure of 25 banks in 2008, compared to just three in 2007. Thirteen more have failed this year, including four on Friday night, and no one doubts that more are on the way.
The F.D.I.C., which insures bank deposits and ultimately has responsibility for liquidating failed banks, is selling hundreds of millions of dollars worth of loans through eBay-like auction sites.
DebtX of Boston and First Financial Network of Oklahoma City, for instance, sell loans at auction to investors who typically pay 5 cents to 85 cents for each dollar of outstanding principal, according to Bliss A, Morris, First Financial’s president. It is unloading hundreds of houses across the country at bargain basement prices.
In November, Lula Smith, 86, of Kansas City, Mo., bought a two-bedroom house across the street from her home for $4,000, one-tenth of its value two years ago.
“I am real satisfied with that price, yes sir,” she said, adding that after about $1,000 in additional costs to repair the house, and some new carpet, her son and daughter-in-law will move in. “It was a nice little deal, indeed.”
And — in the most closely watched tactic — the F.D.I.C. is negotiating a series of billion-dollar deals with private equity partners who will take over huge batches of loans in exchange for a chunk of the sale proceeds.
Even as the solutions to the financial crisis are debated in Congress and among economists, the F.D.I.C., one of the agencies that deals most closely with the nation’s banks, has already been transformed.
The rising tide of foreclosed real estate is so overwhelming that the agency, which had shrunk to a relatively tiny 4,800 employees from as many as 15,000 in the last period of bank meltdowns in the 1990s, is in the midst of a military-scale buildup as it undertakes one of the greatest fire sales of all time.
The agency is frantically calling in retirees and holding job fairs, looking to hire as many as 1,500 people. It has rented a high-rise office building in Irvine, Calif., the new headquarters for a West Coast branch of 450 employees who are wrestling with a real estate crisis in one of the hardest-hit regions. It is also budgeted to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for a small army of contractors to augment its staff. “We are trying to be ready for the inevitable,” said Mitchell L. Glassman, director of the F.D.I.C.’s division of resolutions and receiverships.
Perhaps a moment of silence is fitting for the fallen? Or should we just place “naked” bets on the number of bank failures there will be this year?
Well, we got tired of “Another one Bites the Dust” and last week we had “Dust in the Wind,” perhaps it’s time for these banks and their fiat money to “Ride Across the River to the Other Side?”
Dire Straits – Ride Across the River:
Obama Presidential Address - 2/14/09
Stimulus Bill Headed to Obama for Signature…
Bank Failure Friday – A Quadruple, Making 13 Total...
Michael Greenberger – Testimony to the House Agric...
End of Day/Week 2/13 – EconoTune Packed Edition!
Obama to Announce Another Plan on Wednesday…
Stimulus Aims Two-Phase Jolt at Fading U.S. Econom...
Obama to Subsidize Mortgage Debt - Reason for a Ro...
DoctorMad – The Maginot Line & a Trojan Horse
End of Day 2/12
Fed to add Primary Dealers… Why, and Who Benefits?...
Congressman Capuano at Congressional Hearing...
DoctorMad Update – The General makes a bold predic...
Gross Bought Mortgages, Sold U.S. Debt Last Month
DoctorMad – Troops feast on Bull Slaughter…
China Needs U.S. Guarantees… or else… or else…
Geithner - Meet the New Boss...
Russia to Default on Debt… $400 billion hoping to ...
“Bank Failures May Reach 1,000” – RBC Says…
Obama - "Full-Blown Crisis"
DoctorMad Update – Bulls, you are late…
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DoctorMad – More Weekend Battle Planning…
60 Minutes - Saving Flight 1549
Never Fear, the Feds are Here!
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Mort de Sapho
French 1826-1898 Moreau's main focus was the illustration of biblical and mythological figures. As a painter of literary ideas rather than visual images, he appealed to the imaginations of some Symbolist writers and artists, who saw him as a precursor to their movement. His father, Louis Jean Marie Moreau, was an architect, who recognized his talent. His mother was Adele Pauline des Moutiers. Moreau studied under François-Édouard Picot and became a friend of Th??odore Chass??riau, whose work strongly influenced his own. Moreau carried on a deeply personal 25-year relationship, possibly romantic, with Adelaide-Alexandrine Dureux, a woman whom he drew several times.[1] His first painting was a Piet?? which is now located in the cathedral at Angoul??me. He showed A Scene from the Song of Songs and The Death of Darius in the Salon of 1853. In 1853 he contributed Athenians with the Minotaur and Moses Putting Off his Sandals within Sight of the Promised Land to the Great Exhibition. Oedipus and the Sphinx, one of his first symbolist paintings, was exhibited at the Salon of 1864. Over his lifetime, he produced over 8,000 paintings, watercolors and drawings, many of which are on display in Paris' Mus??e national Gustave Moreau at 14, rue de la Rochefoucauld (IXe arrondissement). The museum is in his former workshop, and was opened to the public in 1903. Andr?? Breton famously used to "haunt" the museum and regarded Moreau as a precursor to Surrealism. He had become a professor at Paris' École des Beaux-Arts in 1891 and counted among his many students the fauvist painters, Henri Matisse and Georges Rouault. Moreau is buried in Paris' Cimeti??re de Montmartre. In Alan Moore's graphic novel, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, it is implied that he was a nephew of Doctor Moreau, and he based a few of his paintings on the Doctor's creations. Related Paintings of Gustave Moreau :. | The Apparition (Salome) (mk09) | Sphinx Headdress for a Masked Ball | Jason and Medea | Eason and Eros | The Martyred St. Sebastian |
Johann Christoph Rincklake
Johann Christoph Rincklake (1764-1813). Date of birth and death 19 October 1764(1764-10-19) and 19 June 1813(1813-06-19) . Location of birth and death, Harsewinkel and Munster.
Henri Lehmann
German Neoclassical Painter, 1814-1882,was a French historical and portrait painter, born in Kiel, Schleswig. He was a pupil of his father, Leo Lehmann, and of Ingres in Paris, where he opened a studio in 1847, after having become naturalized. His brother Rudolf Lehmann was a well-known portrait artist.
T.Dart Walker
Illustrator and marine artist American ,1869-1914
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Message from Chris
Upon reflection it has been a difficult, yet fruitful year, filled with many shifts and changes that have challenged myself and my colleagues, and pushed us ever-more to fight for our community, community members, and education system.
In the past year we have seen the results of a municipal election, we have welcomed twelve new dedicated and hard-working Trustees to our board, and we have had to take up the fight against the difficult changes that have been brought on by our new premiere and governing provincial government.
Throughout the past year we have worked closely with the Director of Education towards strengthening our commitment to our students, ensuring that all students have the best quality of education.
Throughout my time as a Vice Chair of the Board, I have been committed to the bettering of our communities and community-run programs. Along with serving as the Director of the Ontario School Board Association, I have worked tirelessly to support a number of initiatives, including the the Black Student Achievement Advisory Committee and the Toronto Lands Corporation.
The sun is shining and the gardens are blooming full! I would like to congratulate all graduating students celebrating this week! The summer days are beautiful and it is time to revel in the accomplishments of all your hard work! Whether you are venturing into middle-school or high-school, or you are taking the plunge and diving into an apprenticeship or college program, know that your hard work and dedication will shine through! Keep going, keep pushing, keep learning!
I am thankful that, together with my colleagues, we are working towards a better tomorrow for everybody. I wish everyone a safe and healthy summer and very much look forward to connecting further in the coming fall months!
And don’t forget: SCHOOL BEGINS TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3rd. See you there!
On Sunday, June 23, students, staff and Trustees came out to celebrate Pride at the parade. I am very proud of our TDSB schools, who held events and activities in support of Pride througout the month of June.
#TDSBeYourself!
2019-20 Budget Update
Trustees Approve Budget Reductions to Balance Budget for 2019-20
The Toronto District School Board approved a budget reduction plan for the 2019-20 school year that required $67.8 million in staff reductions and changes to program/service delivery. The operating budget of approximately $3.4 billion will continue to support the TDSB’s commitment to equity, and the achievement and well-being of all students.
To balance the budget, trustees had to determine reductions to offset $42.1 million in Ministry of Education funding cuts and a budget deficit of $25.7 million. While the focus of the Board’s attention has been on budget reductions, the Board expects to maintain, and in some cases exceed, funding for key areas such as Special Education, Early Years Literacy & Intervention, school safety and security, Model Schools and initiatives to promote equity and Anti-Racism initiatives throughout the school system.
The TDSB is committed to aligning resources with its Multi-year Strategic Plan that includes academic achievement for students, equitable access to programs and resources and increased opportunities to be successful in school. Collectively, trustees made changes to the proposed budget reductions based on more than 100 public delegations and more than 250 written submissions, as well as many meetings, calls and emails with constituents. Trustees were also guided by the reaction of more than 15,000 online comments about the budget strategic drivers.
The TDSB’s operating budget is approximately $3.4 billion and is divided into the following categories: instruction (78%), school operations (15.5%), administration (2.5%), transportation (1.9%) and other operating costs (1.9%).
Trustees approved a detailed list of staff reductions and changes to program/service delivery.
Over the next few years, the Board forecasts that there will be a small growth in overall enrollment.
Learn more about the 2019-20 Budget.
P042, Appropriate Dress Policy Review, Phase 5 [3627]
The Board approved (16.1, 5) revisions to P042 and officially changed the name of the policy to P402, Student Dress Policy. The new policy will come into effect in September 2019. For more information, please refer to the Questions and Answers available online.
French-as-a-Second-Language Communitee Advisory Committee: French Programming
Trustees referred recommendations (16.2, 3) from the French-as-a-Second-Language Community Advisory Committee to staff and asked that they be taken into consideration as part of the French review report in June 2019. The recommendations are related to the following areas:
Improving Equity of Access to French Immersion/Extended;
Achieving Equity: Supporting Participation (Enrollment and Retention) of Students With Special Education Needs in FSL;
Improving Core French;
Improving Student Achievement, Engagement and Retention in French in Secondary;
Seamless Access to Before- and After-School Care for French Immersion/Extended Students
Ward 10 News
Each year, staff, students, parents and community members are invited to nominate a TDSB staff member or team whose efforts have made a difference in their lives. This year, the TDSB recognized 11 extraordinary individuals who truly go above and beyond for their school communities.
For more information, including a list of winners, please read the TDSB web story.
Ward 10 – Principal Alana Grossman (Beverley School) was among the 11 individuals who was recognized at this special event.
The 2019-2020 school year at the TDSB begins on Tuesday, September 3, 2019 following the Labour Day long weekend. For more information about important dates and holidays for the upcoming school year, please refer to the 2019-20 School Year Calendar.
The official school year calendar for the Toronto District School Board runs from September 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020, inclusive.
Also please note Days of Significance – click for the complete list 2019-2020
You may also find this Days of Significance Resource Guide helpful.
‹ TDSB Summer Music Camps: spots still available
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Статьи: Ramil
25 fascinating things you probably didn’t know about AZERBAIJAN
Azerbaijan celebrates 25 years of independence this week. To mark the occasion, we’ve unearthed 25 facts about this little-known sliver of Central Asia… 1. It…
Breaking, News 31.08.2016
Police chief: It’s ‘natural’ to suspect Ethiopians, Arabs more than others
Israel’s police chief on Tuesday caused controversy by telling a group of lawyers that it is “natural” for his officers to be more suspicious of…
Shaikh Mohammed tours IMG Worlds of Adventure
His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, inspected the IMG Worlds of Adventure,…
Cityscape Global 2016 – the best things to see
You need only look around the city to see Dubai has a bright, and indeed extremely bold, future. Already home to some of the world’s…
Nearly 75,000 Syrians ‘forcibly disappeared’ since 2011
The Syrian Network for Human Rights has revealed that it has documented 74,607 cases of enforced disappearance across Syria since the outbreak of the revolution…
A camp and a weapons depot for terrorists destroyed in Deir Ezzor
The army operations have resulted in the destruction of heavy weaponry for terrorist organizations and the death of numbers of their members as the army…
Shaikh Mohammed chairs brainstorming session with team
The Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said that the UAE…
Egypt freed Yemeni men from visa
Egypt has agreed to provide conditional exemptions for Yemenis to enter the country, Yemen’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Major General Hussain Mohammed…
Israel shuts down Palestinian radio station for incitement in overnight raid
Israeli authorities have shut down a Palestinian radio station in the occupied West Bank over “incitement” to violence, the army said Wednesday, the latest in…
Chemical attack in Syria: London and Paris are calling for UN sanctions against Damascus
Britain and France called on Tuesday for United Nations sanctions to be imposed on Syria after a UN-led investigation found the government had carried out…
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Parts of the Endocrine System
Types of Hormones
The Male and Female Endocrine System
This image shows the difference and similarities between the male and female Endocrine System. The similarities between the male and female Endocrine System are that they both consist of: the Hypothalamus, which is a collection of specialized cells that is located in the lower central part of the brain, is the main link between the endocrine and nervous systems.The Pineal , which It secretes melatonina hormone that may help regulate when you sleep at night and when you wake in the morning. The Pituitary, which is actually considered the most important part of the Endocrine System because it makes hormones that control several other endocrine glands. The Thyroid, which is shaped like a bow tie or butterfly and produces the thyroid hormones thyroxine and triiodothyronine. The Parathyroids, which release parathyroid hormone, which regulates the level of calcium in the blood with the help of calcitonin, which is produced in the thyroid. The Thymus, which processes many of the body's lymphocytes, which migrate throughout the body via the bloodstream, seeding lymph nodes and other lymphatic tissue. The Adrenals,which produces hormones called corticosteroids that influence or regulate salt and water balance in the body, the body's response to stress, metabolism, the immune system, and sexual development and function. The Pancreas, which The pancreas produces (in addition to others) two important hormones, insulin and glucagon . Their differences are their Reproductive Systems. The female Reproductive System has the Ovaries. The Ovaries produce eggs and secrete the female hormones estrogen and progesterone. The male Reproductive System consists of the Testes.The Testes secrete hormones called androgens the most important of which is testosterone.
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U2 Plays Surprise Gig for Haiti Benefit
The rock group reunited at Sean Penn's charity gala
By Megan Gibson / London @MeganJGibsonJan. 13, 2014
Sean Penn’s charity benefit for Haiti ended with a surprise on Saturday night: a reunion performance by U2. The rock group took the stage for their first performance together in four years to play a three-song set to the star-studded crowd of 300 at the Beverly Hills’ Montage Hotel.
“It’s been a while since we played a hotel lounge,” singer Bono told the crowd when the rock group took the stage, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “I think the last time was a Bar Mitzvah.”
There to take in the U2 performance was a crowd of big-name stars including Julia Roberts, Kathryn Bigelow, Steve McQueen, Uma Thurman, Idris Elba, Michael Douglas, Charlize Theron, Emma Thompson and Gwyneth Paltrow. The annual charity event, now in its third year, was established by Penn to raise money for Haiti relief. All of the proceeds from the gala—which included an auction of artwork by Banksy and Jeff Koons—is donated to the J/P Haitian Relief Organization. This year, Penn’s event raised $6 million for the charity.
[Hollywood Reporter]
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Osteonecrosis in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: a national questionnaire study
Amin, NL, Feltbower, R orcid.org/0000-0002-1728-9408, Kinsey, S et al. (2 more authors) (2017) Osteonecrosis in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: a national questionnaire study. BMJ Paediatrics Open, 1 (1). e000122. ISSN 2399-9772
Objectives: To establish prevalence, management and long-term outcomes of osteonecrosis (ON) in young people diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) between 2003 and 2011. Design, setting, participants: This study assessed ON in 3113 patients aged 1–24 years who participated in the UK national leukaemia study UKALL 2003. UKALL 2003 recruited patients in 40 UK hospitals between 2003 and 2011 and included patients between ages 1 and 25 diagnosed with ALL. Results: 170 patients were diagnosed with ON, giving a prevalence of 5.5%. The multivariable analysis showed that the risk of ON was highest for children aged between 10 and 20 years (ages 10–15 years, OR 23.7, 95% CI 14.8 to 38.0; ages 16–20 years, OR 22.5, 95% CI 12.7 to 39.8, compared with age <10 years). Among ethnic groups, Asian patients had the highest risk of ON (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.6, compared with White patients). Eighty-five per cent of patients with ON had multifocal ON. Thirty-eight per cent of patients with ON required surgery and 19% of patients with ON required a hip replacement. Fifteen per cent of patients who had surgery still describe significant disability or use of a wheelchair. Conclusions: ON has considerable morbidity for patients being treated for ALL, with a high burden of surgery. Age and ethnicity were found to be the most significant risk factors for development of ON, with Asian patients and patients aged 10–20 years at diagnosis of ALL at greatest risk. These results will help risk stratify patients at diagnosis of ALL, and help tailor future prospective studies in this area.
Amin, NL
Feltbower, R https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1728-9408
Kinsey, S
Vora, A
James, B
© 2017, Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article). This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Accepted: 9 August 2017
Published (online): 11 September 2017
The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine (LICAMM)
Candlelighters No Ext Ref
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2017-000122
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Bridge Loan Helps Local Sausage Company Survive, Thrive Following Hurricane Michael
In 1941, Sparks “Pappy” Register founded the Register Meat Company in Cottondale, Florida. He worked for a meat processing plant in Marianna previously and told the owner about his great smoked pork sausage recipe. The owner considered his proposal but ultimately declined due to the cost of the ingredients.
Not deterred by the owner’s refusal, Pappy began producing his specialty smoked sausage at home and selling it door-to-door out of a washtub.
His product was so successful that he founded the Register Meat Company, which has continuously operated in Cottondale for over 75 years. Register’s Sausage can be purchased in over 140 grocery stores and restaurants across the Florida Panhandle, Lower Alabama, and Southwest Georgia.
Many customers are fiercely loyal to the Register’s brand.
“For many, Register’s Sausage is nostalgic – it reminds them of home,” said business manager Starla Deese.
In October 2018, Hurricane Michael swept through the Panhandle and devastated the community, Register’s, and their customer base.
Seeking help, Al and Ben Kaempfer, owner and chief executive officer and general manager, respectively, turned to the Florida SBDC at Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU) for help securing a Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan. When asked about their experience with the storm and the assistance received, Ben recalled:
The city lost the water tower and electricity and we were without power for two weeks. Immediately, we moved our inventory to the freezer and subsequently to our trucks until they ran out of diesel. There were so many trees down that we couldn’t get them out to get diesel. We began giving away sausage to hungry residents in the community. We lost $35,000 worth of inventory because we weren’t able to refrigerate it. Our employees lost everything – one of our team members just got housing this week. We also lost 10 grocery stores permanently that carried our product.
How did the Emergency Bridge Loan help?
The loan helped us in three ways. In the short-term, it helped us survive because there were still bills that needed to be paid, we needed to make payroll, etc. Beyond that, the loan gave us the ability to focus on growth in the next few months following the storm. The bridge loan gave us the ability to not just survive, but thrive following the storm. Our sales for January and February this year are actually up 40 percent from 2018. In the long-term, it has given us the ability to deal with our insurance and help us continue to do a good job like we have for the last 75 years.
How helpful was the Florida SBDC at FAMU?
Very helpful. The bridge loan was such a timely process – we were actually surprised at how quickly we applied, got the funds, and also about the terms of the loan. It’s hard to describe how helpful the program was and how much of a relief it was to secure it because my family, my dad’s family, and our employees and their families depend on our business.
Administered by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, in collaboration with the Florida SBDC Network, and supported by Florida First Capital Finance Corporation (FFCFC), the Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan is a short-term, interest-free working capital loan intended to help small businesses “bridge the gap” between the time of a declared disaster and when the business has secured long-term recovery resources, such as insurance proceeds or federal disaster assistance.
"[The Florida SBDC was] very helpful. The bridge loan was such a timely process – we were actually surprised at how quickly we applied, got the funds, and also about the terms of the loan. It’s hard to describe how helpful the program was and how much of a relief it was to secure it because my family, my dad’s family, and our employees and their families depend on our business."
- Ben Kaempfer, General Manager - Register Meat Company
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U.S. presidential election, 1844
Presidential electoral votes by state.
The U.S. presidential election of 1844 was the first election to see an incumbent President seek nomination and fail to receive it. John Tyler achieved this dubious distinction, abandoned by his native Democratic party and despised by his adopted Whigs.
Democratic nominee James K. Polk campaigned vigorously, surprising many with his stalwart support of westward expansion, an issue that Whig nominee Henry Clay and others attempted to deflect. Polk's boldness paid off with his election on November 5, 1844, garnering 170 electoral votes to Clay's 105.
Despite his relative obscurity, historians today see Polk as one of America's most effective Presidents. In his four years in office (he refused to seek re-election), he accomplished every major goal he had established during the 1844 campaign.
1.1 Democratic Party nomination
1.2 Whig Party nomination
1.3 Other nominations
2 General election
2.1 Results
4.1 External links
Democratic Party nomination
The Democrats met in Baltimore and nominated Polk, their first "dark horse" candidate, on the ninth ballot. Former President Martin Van Buren was an early favorite, but lost support due to his opposition to the annexation of Texas, a position was seen as unacceptable by southern delegates. The Democrats chose Silas Wright as Polk's running mate, but Wright refused the nomination. George Mifflin Dallas, who had finished a close second to Wright in the balloting, was then offered a spot on the ticket, and he accepted.
When advised of his nomination via letter, Polk replied: "It has been well observed that the office of President of the United States should neither be sought nor declined. I have never sought it, nor should I feel at liberty to decline it, if conferred upon me by the voluntary suffrages of my fellow citizens."
Whig Party nomination
The Whigs chose Clay, the party's greatest congressional leader, despite his having lost two prior presidential elections: in 1824 to John Quincy Adams as a Democrat-Republican, then in 1832 to Andrew Jackson as a National Republican. Theodore Frelinghuysen was nominated as Clay's running mate.
The Whigs played on Polk's comparative obscurity, asking "Who is James K. Polk?" as part of their campaign to get Clay elected.
Other nominations
Another candidate in the 1844 campaign was Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who intended to run with Sidney Rigdon as his running mate. The effort was aborted when Smith was murdered on June 27, 1844.
Template:Start U.S. presidential ticket box Template:U.S. presidential ticket box row Template:U.S. presidential ticket box row Template:U.S. presidential ticket box row Template:End U.S. presidential ticket box (a) The popular vote figures exclude South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.
(b) Template:U.S. popular vote total disclaimer
History of the United States (1789-1849)
Template:Uspresidentialelections
Library of Congress (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/nov05.html)
1844 election results: State-by-state Popular vote (http://www.multied.com/elections/1844Pop.html)
Retrieved from "http://footwww.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/U.S._presidential_election%2C_1844"
Categories: U.S. presidential elections | Close U.S. presidential elections | 1844
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Is there anything objective about morality?
doogly
Dr. The Juggernaut of Touching Himself
Location: Lexington, MA
Contact doogly
Re: Is there anything objective about morality?
Postby doogly » Sun Jun 07, 2015 9:56 pm UTC
PeteP wrote: My stance is that Moral Objectivism is akin to arguing for the existence of a soul or God or any undetectable supernatural claim.
Yeah that's essentially where it falls for me.
LE4dGOLEM: What's a Doug?
Noc: A larval Doogly. They grow the tail and stinger upon reaching adulthood.
Keep waggling your butt brows Brothers.
Or; Is that your eye butthairs?
Dthen
Still hasn't told us what comes after D
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
Postby Dthen » Sun Jun 07, 2015 10:21 pm UTC
Thanks for saying everything for me and more coherently than I could have, PeteP.
Dthen wrote: I AM NOT A CAT.
Postby Thesh » Sun Jun 07, 2015 10:28 pm UTC
doogly wrote:
Thesh wrote: Harm can be defined as simply anything that results in a loss if overall happiness..
- No it can't
- If it can, what's happiness?
Sure it can, and yes happiness is subjective and can be difficult to define, and no morality is not 100% perfectly objective and well defined, but that doesn't exclude the idea that there is some objectivity in morality.
Postby morriswalters » Sun Jun 07, 2015 10:40 pm UTC
Dthen wrote:
morriswalters wrote:
Morality is a concept; an idea. A thing we invented. It's not measurable or quantifiable. It is not even a property of behavior, but rather, a judgment about that behavior. In order to be judged, there needs to be a scale against which to do the judging. But there isn't one naturally present in the universe. The best we can come up with boils down to "I prefer it that way". But other people prefer it a different way and "I'm right and you're wrong" is not a convincing argument to prefer one over the other.
Describe it for the purpose it serves. If continuation of life is considered a purpose, then rules which cause life to prosper can be called moral, if they work. And if they don't work then life doesn't prosper and that can be considered immoral.
Why would you say it serves that purpose?
I'm not certain it does. But with no authority figure to, appeal to it is where I hang my hat. And the type of rules I'm thinking of don't translate well to language. More like we evolved to them. And then because of our ability to use language we then abstracted them to ethical constructs. So you end up in a position where a thing can be universally believed and not universally applied. So thou shall not murder seems to exist everywhere, but when applied isn't applied the same to out groups as in groups.
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Postby Copper Bezel » Sun Jun 07, 2015 11:23 pm UTC
I mean, are you saying that objectivism assumes an external source for morality, and that's the thing that's undetectable or unknowable? I don't think that's necessary to the definition of objectivism I'm assuming, and it's certainly not a part of my "belief" in the matter. And like others have said, I don't consider objectivism itself some kind of end goal or first principle here, either. It's just a classification based on the test that, yes, I think Genghis Khan's activities would be immoral whether or not society today said so. So if that test is in itself the definition of objectivism, I don't see that that requires any external forces or claims about the nature of rights or reality to say so.
If morality derives from human attributes and realities of the human condition, I see no reason that we can't generalize them apart from one individual social context, so long as we understand that they'll always be colored by our own. There are aspects of morality that simply are bigger than these individual social contexts, because they derive from factors common to all.
So much depends upon a red wheel barrow (>= XXII) but it is not going to be installed.
she / her / her
PeteP
What the peck?
Postby PeteP » Sun Jun 07, 2015 11:36 pm UTC
What is you definition of objectivism?
benefluence
Joined: Sun Nov 11, 2012 8:23 pm UTC
Postby benefluence » Sun Jun 07, 2015 11:46 pm UTC
All the arguments for the existence of objective morality are about as bad as the arguments for the existence of God.
A morality is a framework of value assessment for human action. Values are subjective. Full stop. There is no way to derive from any set of facts about the physical universe that one thing or state is 'better' than another. You need some arbitrary assignment of good or bad as a place to start. Humans tend to share many values, and there are reasons, primarily evolution driven, that humanity values what it does, but that's not the same thing as any of those values being objective.
Postby doogly » Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:14 am UTC
Copper Bezel wrote: I mean, are you saying that objectivism assumes an external source for morality, and that's the thing that's undetectable or unknowable?
Not at all. I mean the arguments for objective morality have the same character and flaws.
I think the most natural metaethics is to give ethical truth values similar to the ones in math. You have to assume some framework - some premises, some manuevers that you form a logic with - and then within a framework, you can have more or less rigorous statements, which are true or false in that framework.
Postby Copper Bezel » Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:18 am UTC
But to me, that sounds a lot more like a form of objectivism than a form of relativism.
You can make an objective statement about a subjective experience. The brains involved objectively exist. Saying that morality starts in brains is a far cry from saying that morality is a cultural fad.
Something like utilitarianism is aligned with moral objectivism, not relativism. Specifically, it seems, moral universalism. A utilitarian view can say that Genghis Khan was wrong without further qualification. I'm not sure that I can say that I subscribe wholly to utilitarianism, but it's a lot closer to how I make decisions and judgements than any system derived from pure relativism is.
Postby ucim » Mon Jun 08, 2015 1:00 am UTC
morriswalters wrote: Describe [morality] for the purpose it serves. If continuation of life is considered a purpose, then rules which cause life to prosper can be called moral, if they work. And if they don't work then life doesn't prosper and that can be considered immoral.
But we already have a word for that: "Practical". And morality is also about whose life prospers, at the expense of whom. To be able to choose between the two on the scale of "life" prospering, you'd need some sort of weighting function between the two lives in question. That weighting function becomes your "moral stance", and defining it is not at all simple, nor is it objective.
TheGrammarBolshevi wrote: If by "testable" you mean "empirically testable," then this looks obviously false. For example, it's objectively true that 2 + 2 = 4, but I can't think of any way to test that claim. For another example, I doubt there's any way to test whether every statement that's objectively true is testable in principle.
Assume 2+2=5. Do math. Find contradiction. This of course relies on the idea that (P and ~P) is always false, but if that's the showstopper, then pretty much all bets are off. For the second part, a statement whose truth value is unknowable is not very useful, whether it is true or not.
We keep throwing around the words "right" and "wrong" (in the sense that does not mean "correct" and "incorrect"). However loaded those words are, they need a well thought-out definition before they can be used to support any kind of absolute morality. The idea (for example) of "wrong" meaning "going against moral principles" does not do any good when being used to define those moral principles.
Postby morriswalters » Mon Jun 08, 2015 1:32 am UTC
ucim wrote: But we already have a word for that: "Practical". And morality is also about whose life prospers, at the expense of whom. To be able to choose between the two on the scale of "life" prospering, you'd need some sort of weighting function between the two lives in question. That weighting function becomes your "moral stance", and defining it is not at all simple, nor is it objective.
I believe that it is called natural selection. The importance you place upon those two people and the differences between them is a product of your intellect. Taken those two individuals as parts of the race, it doesn't matter who survives and prospers, as long as one of them does. The fact that the process of natural selection gave us intellect and a social nature, predicated that some sort of system would come to exist that would govern our relations as individuals.
Postby Copper Bezel » Mon Jun 08, 2015 1:54 am UTC
Well, we're built in with systems governing behavior, because that's what natural selection and mutation do. Behavior is as much a phenotypic expression of genotype as physical attributes are. So, uh, no. And natural selection "cares" very much who dies, in the sense that it's an emergent phenomenon that is a consequence of reproduction and death. Your genes don't care about Fred's genes or the continuation of your species, they just want the best chances they can get to carry on into another generation.
So, uh ... no. Nothing you just said has anything to do with morality.
Postby doogly » Mon Jun 08, 2015 2:11 am UTC
Yes the brains involved objectively exist, and it is an objective fact that "Doug thinks capitalism is crap," but it is not a fact that capitalism is crap. I mean, it is, but it's not an objective fact? It's a different kind of fact, I'm getting at, you see.
Utilitarianism is basically meaningless. Instead of having to hem and haw over moral judgments we can just hem and haw over judging the utility on each side of a question. This does not progress anything!
Utilitarianism is neither aligned with objectivism or relativism as metaethical stances - if you believe there is one standard for "utility" which is objectively correct you are an objectivist, if not, relativist.
morriswalters wrote: I believe that it is called natural selection. [...] it doesn't matter who survives and prospers, as long as one of them does.
But morality is about which one of them should, at the expense of the other. And even if natural selection were an objective fact, it does not follow that it is "good", any more than the moon is "good" or that arithmetic is "good". It give no information about the morality of which person should live and which person should suffer as a result. That is an axiom which is supplied by the individual, and this fact removes it from the realm of "objective".
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Postby moiraemachy » Mon Jun 08, 2015 2:40 am UTC
doogly wrote: Utilitarianism is basically meaningless. Instead of having to hem and haw over moral judgments we can just hem and haw over judging the utility on each side of a question. This does not progress anything!
When someone tells me they are utilitarians, I interpret as them as saying "if you know the odds, you can know if the ends justify the means - add the utility of means and ends, multiply by the odds". And this is a big (and, to me, obvious) claim, since many people believe that some means are just off limits.
Anyway, relativism has all the features of objectivism. You can just put your "western, civilized, won't go Genghis Khan on you" moral and hang out with people, talking about morality. Except people can't pull a Socrates on you since you never claimed any of that was fully justified.
Postby Cres » Mon Jun 08, 2015 2:53 am UTC
You don't need to posit supernatural stuff for morality to be objective (I expect that the implicit assumption that you do is why relativism appeals to a lot of naive, CS 101, never-read-any-philosophy, New Atheist mood-affiliated types - JL Mackie a good (although infinitely more sophisticated) early example).
For morality to be objective, it just needs to be the case that moral statements can be true or false. 'Killing babies for fun is wrong', is a true statement, in the same way '2 + 2 = 4' is a true statement. It is either correct or incorrect.
When I say 'Killing babies for fun is wrong' (or raping and murdering an entire town of people - jeez guys, Philosophy Hint: if you are on the same side as Genghis Khan in an argument about ethics, something's gone wrong for you) my words don't mean 'I don't like people killing babies for fun' or 'According to my moral framework, killing babies is wrong'. If someone else from another culture comes along and says baby murder is all dandy, we don't just shrug our shoulders (as we might if we were arguing about the 'best' ice cream flavour, or whether it's OK to burp loudly after a good meal) and say 'It takes all sorts! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯'. No - we have a fundamental, consequential disagreement of fact.
(You can of course repackage this as a higher level disagreement about which moral framework is correct. This is extensionally the same - the objectivity just comes in at that higher level.)
(By the way, a lot of you seem to be missing the concept of reflective equilibrium: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/refle ... uilibrium/ . We don't just deduce our moral beliefs from some arbitrarily chosen moral framework - we have many pre-theoretical shared moral convictions which are used to shape explanatory theories and adjudicate between competing theories.)
Postby Dthen » Mon Jun 08, 2015 3:20 am UTC
Cres wrote: For morality to be objective, it just needs to be the case that moral statements can be true or false. 'Killing babies for fun is wrong', is a true statement
Why is that true? Can you objectively prove that it's true? What does "wrong" even mean? If someone were to say that killing babies for fun is okay, what makes them wrong and you right?
Cres wrote: 'Killing babies for fun is wrong', is a true statement, in the same way '2 + 2 = 4' is a true statement.
The problem with this is that "wrong" is an undefined word. This makes the statement meaningless. Yeah, we think we know what "right" and "wrong" mean, and most of us use the words in ways consistent with behavior most of the rest of us agree with, but for the purposes of establishing objectivity - the absoluteness of a moral system - this does not cut it. You need a precise definition of "wrong".
Further, this definition must be independent of any existing moral frame (otherwise the result would need a "+c" appended to it, in the sense of "from this moral POV", making it no longer an absolute.
ucim wrote: Yeah, we think we know what "right" and "wrong" mean, and most of us use the words in ways consistent with behavior most of the rest of us agree with, but for the purposes of establishing objectivity - the absoluteness of a moral system - this does not cut it. You need a precise definition of "wrong".
I can see why you would think this, but I think there are two confusions here.
First, we're not talking about a word here, we're talking about a concept. The word 'wrong' is just a label we apply to the concept which exists independently of any theorising or precise definitions. People around the world use this concept successfully every day, whether or not philosophers are around to tell them how to. This is not a maths paper, where at the top you say 'Let x = ...' ('Let 'wrong' mean ...') and go from there. The task of the philosopher is to explore the contours of this concept, which might (or might not) lead them to a definition. If the definition a philosopher comes up with doesn't agree with how the concept is actually used ('well my definition of 'wrong' says this'), then it's the philosopher who is mistaken, not everyone else. This is how moral theories are created, refined and evaluated.
The second confusion is that questions of the status of morality are metaethical questions. They are apply across different substantive ethical theories. Your stance on the definition of 'wrong' (ie your stance on the content of the concept of wrongness) - whether you're a utilitarian, say, or a contractualist - has no direct bearing on whether morality is objective. Therefore in fact the precise definition of 'wrong' is irrelevant.
Objectivity does not require the ability to prove that something is true. If I think the moon landings were faked, you might not be able to prove me wrong: maybe there isn't enough surviving evidence to place the matter beyond doubt, or maybe there is, and I still won't change my mind. What is important is the nature of our disagreement: one of is incorrect, even if we can't prove it. Likewise you can give me good reasons to believe that killing babies is wrong - 'it causes unnecessary suffering', 'it is cruel', 'it damages society', say - but if I'm not swayed by them, it doesn't mean that we're just having an inconsequential difference of opinion.
Last edited by Cres on Mon Jun 08, 2015 5:25 am UTC, edited 1 time in total.
If you can't identify exactly what it is you are talking about, you cannot convince (me) that this thing is objectively true, or even has a truth value at all. You can be sloppy with subjective statements, you can be sloppy with relative statements, but if you are going to claim that thus-and-such exists in an objective sense (that is, independent of the frame it speaks to), you cannot be sloppy about it. The reason is that the frame slips in uninvited in the slop. That turns it into a relative statement, and destroys the argument.
Cres wrote: First, we're not talking about a word here, we're talking about a concept.
That concept needs to be defined well. We happen to use words for this.
Cres wrote: People around the world use this concept successfully every day...
Indeed, as I said. But using a concept does not make it absolute, and you are claiming that it is absolute. That claim does make it (like) a maths paper.
Cres wrote: The task of the philosopher is to explore the contours of this concept...
...but you are not speaking about the concept (of good and evil) itself. You are speaking about where it comes from, and to the extent that it comes from the way people think, it is inherently non-absolute, because people are different.
Groups of people have similarities, which give rise to similar ethics and morals. But different groups can have radically different ethics and morals, thus if there is an absolute morality, it cannot come from people. If it is to be meaningful at all, it has to come from some inherent property of the universe.
Cres wrote: Your stance on the definition of 'wrong' [...] has no direct bearing on whether morality is objective. Therefore in fact the precise definition of 'wrong' is irrelevant.
"Your stance" stands in contrast to "the precise definition", thus the statements don't work together. If you hold that "right" and "wrong" come from the people, and that it's up to the philosopher to find a definition that fits what the people do, that pretty much makes it non-objective. Each person has their own frame, their own concept of right and wrong, and you just mash them together. To be objective, as you say, right and wrong have to be independent of what I (and everyone else) thinks. But in that case, "The task of the philosopher" you proposed will give no insight into morals, but only how people misunderstand them.
But then, without an external, independent, rigorous definition of right and wrong, you go nowhere, because you can't defend the claim that something is being misunderstood if you don't have a clear frame-independent idea of what that something is.
OK, so let's say I am a slave in Ancient Rome. I'm forced to work incredibly hard, I receive regular beatings from my master, I'm housed in the worst conditions imaginable. But my treatment is entirely within the accepted norms of Roman society: I am my master's property, and he can do what he wants with me. Is it honestly your view that I have no moral grounds for complaint here? Or that we, now, can't find any fault with this arrangement? Was the rejection of slavery over the last couple of centuries not moral progress but just a change in tastes and sensibilities? (genuine questions)
doogly wrote: Yes the brains involved objectively exist, and it is an objective fact that "Doug thinks capitalism is crap," but it is not a fact that capitalism is crap. I mean, it is, but it's not an objective fact? It's a different kind of fact, I'm getting at, you see.
Perhaps, but the fact of dealing with means to ends doesn't, to me, reduce something to a matter of taste and preference, either. I mean, admittedly, the way we interact with those beliefs is similar - and if you don't like strawberry jam, knowing that taste is "relative" (that is, individual) doesn't make it any more palatable.
It does require you to reframe some things, though. If you're even a little bit relativist, you can't really talk about social progress. You can have conflicts between more and less liberal or egalitarian ethical systems, and you can take a side in them, but you can't really say that we've progressed or learned over time in the way that we do in the sciences and so on - and never mind how much of the last few centuries of social progress relates to increased knowledge of the world ....
We're made of and inhabiting one historical moment, and I imagine that the future is as incomprehensible and terrifying as the past is narrow and repetitive. But I'd like us to get there, you know? There are good and bad directions in which it's possible to move. And because moral "tastes" are not a maths problem, they have to be trained in, they're part of an ethos, there's a limit to how much any one person can change with new information.
So something like this....
ucim wrote: Groups of people have similarities, which give rise to similar ethics and morals. But different groups can have radically different ethics and morals, thus if there is an absolute morality, it cannot come from people. If it is to be meaningful at all, it has to come from some inherent property of the universe.
to me, is the core of the thing I disagree about. The universe doesn't give a damn about morality. Morality only exists in context of multiple sapient beings trying to get along. Does game theory or economics or ... hell, the concept of an "evolutionary stable strategy" exist as a "property of the universe"? I don't think it'd be very useful to think of them that way. But to act with more information and understanding and maturity is better than to act with less. It just is. I'm under no obligation to acknowledge the right of a society to act with stupidity and cruelty instead. If you have as a set of initial conditions a society of people with attributes like we've mentioned earlier, vulnerability to harm and a particular set of instinctual drives and so on and so forth, there are more and less moral behaviors in the same sense that there are more and less prosocial behaviors or anything else.
Contact Quercus
Postby Quercus » Mon Jun 08, 2015 6:22 am UTC
Cres wrote: OK, so let's say I am a slave in Ancient Rome. I'm forced to work incredibly hard, I receive regular beatings from my master, I'm housed in the worst conditions imaginable. But my treatment is entirely within the accepted norms of Roman society: I am my master's property, and he can do what he wants with me. Is it honestly your view that I have no moral grounds for complaint here? Or that we, now, can't find any fault with this arrangement? Was the rejection of slavery over the last couple of centuries not moral progress but just a change in tastes and sensibilities? (genuine questions)
I would say that if you believe your treatment to be immoral, then you have a moral complaint. Because your treatment involves a greater impingement on your freedom to pursue your life according to your moral framework than it impinges on the freedom of Roman society to pursue its moral framework, your moral complaint has weight (I will admit that I'm struggling how to define "greater" in this context, although I guess it involves the fact that Roman society would probably function pretty well without slavery, whereas it is difficult to imagine slaves living anything close to how they would wish while remaining slaves). Morality for me is relative to individuals, rather than to cultures, simply because the individual is the smallest unit that can hold a distinct moral view.
If, however, you don't see anything wrong with the fact that you are a slave then I would say that you don't have a moral complaint, because morality consists solely of ideas within the minds of humans (or, potentially, other sentient species), and if no-one has had an idea yet then that idea doesn't exist. I'm a Monist and don't believe that moral principles, or anything else, have some sort of independent platonic existence. In that sense they are invented, not discovered. This doesn't mean that there can't be moral progress - moral progress for me consists of finding solutions that enable the maximum number of people to live as far as possible according to their own individual moral frameworks. Morality to me doesn't have an objective foundation - rather it bootstraps itself. There are optimal configurations of the network of moral views, but that optimal configuration changes depending of the state of the network.
My meta-morality does rely on certain basic premises, such as all humans being substantively equal, but that is objectively true - because all humans are more or less the same on a physical level, it's equivalent to saying that all the pebbles on a beach are substantively similar.
I don't think I disagree with any of that except semantically. As far as I'm concerned, the attempt to solve out all those sets of individual intentions is just "morality," not some external meta-moral system. Again, an emergent system with predictable attributes based on the individual interacting units that make it up. And a Genghis Khan is still acting in opposition to that system, thus, immoral. Nonetheless, a person can't be held responsible for acting in opposition to moral standards that haven't been invented yet, etc. etc.
Quercus wrote: My meta-morality does rely on certain basic premises, such as all humans being substantively equal, but that is objectively true - because all humans are more or less the same on a physical level, it's equivalent to saying that all the pebbles on a beach are substantively similar.
I do think this is less defensible. How we define human value rarely has to do with physical similarities anyway. Some people are definitely "objectively" better than other people. It is a choice based on moral reasoning that we opt to consider humans equal in moral weight, in the degrees to which we do. Arguably, when we live in a system in which we believe we have constructed a meritocracy and in which those individuals who excel in that system have survival advantages over those who do not, then we haven't actually made that decision at all.
Copper Bezel wrote:
What differences can there be other than physical differences?
I guess I was being too broad here though. It's certainly true that some people are more intelligent, more hard-working, more friendly etc. etc. than others. For me though the dimension of equality that matters in this context is basically sentience, and all human beings that don't have severe brain damage or abnormality have, on an absolute scale, pretty similar brains, therefore to a first approximation, equal degrees of sentience. What this means to me is that everyone's moral choices have, a priori , equal weight and it is only in the way that they interact with other moral choices that they may be judged.
Maybe that means I'm a moral objectivist - my objective moral "truth" being that I believe that humans are substantively equal in sentience, and therefore their choices have equal moral force.
Postby PeteP » Mon Jun 08, 2015 9:20 am UTC
You can consider it progress because it better aligns with your values. If you say think "human suffering=bad", "human freedom = good" no slavery is progress in regard to fulfilling these values. And since many people share these values they will agree. There just isn't anything objective about having those values. If someone doesn't care about them there isn't some logical proof that they have to care about them. It is a preference that it's bad for humans to suffer, luckily one most of us share but that doesn't elevate it to objectivity
Look at your own post. Notice that it's little more than an appeal to emotion? It's saying: "This is horrible, so shouldn't it be objective that it's wrong" If someone doesn't find it horrible you have no argument, because it's not objective. (Or you might have an argument if they have other relevant underlying values and value consistency in their moral system. But if they don't you are out of luck.)
Also you have grounds for complaints if you think you have in your ethical system, they won't care of course but that your moral system isn't objective doesn't imply in any way that you have to care about their system.
Yep, sorry, that's the point at which moral relativism parts company with the rails for me. There's no point in talking about morality whatsoever at that point. Just say that morality is a dead end concept. And you're still making the assumption that we can't make objective statements about subjective experiences, which is really kinda funny, given the only experiences any human being has ever had happened to be subjective and you might well just toss out the word "objective," too. (So, yeah, of course there's no basis for an objective morality, because neither of those things exists.)
Quercus wrote: What differences can there be other than physical differences?
Well, yeah, I mean, all similarities or differences in physical objects are physical differences, right? But flagging it specifically as physical difference and comparing to inanimate pebbles sounds like focusing on superficial or physically obvious differences, which isn't a very good set of metrics for humans (evaluating value based on the color of a particular human, for instance, or the presence and absence of conspicuously differing external organs, has gone rather poorly historically.)
I think the thing that we tend to be really particularly interested in holding to be equal among all humans in a these-truths-we-hold-to-be-self-evident way is the inner subjective experience, which is precisely as far from our present methods of physical observation and verification as a thing can be. For what it's worth, I do recognize the irony of my having come into the discussion to defend an objectivist stance, and now arguing that this most enshrined principle of most moral systems is probably just sort of a provisional utility step we all agree on to make things simpler.
Postby Quercus » Mon Jun 08, 2015 10:28 am UTC
Copper Bezel wrote: Well, yeah, I mean, all similarities or differences in physical objects are physical differences, right? But flagging it specifically as physical difference and comparing to inanimate pebbles sounds like focusing on superficial or physically obvious differences, which isn't a very good set of metrics for humans (evaluating value based on the color of a particular human, for instance, or the presence and absence of conspicuously differing external organs, has gone rather poorly historically.)
That was just me being a hard-line Monist and not making it particularly clear that's what I was doing. Re-reading my post I can understand why you would take it this way. Sorry for being unclear.
Edit: Actually, looking back, it was worse than that - I was being utterly inconsistent with my use of language and probably came off as a bit of an ass. I should really re-read my posts more. Sorry.
I still think that the fact that certain areas of the brain appear to have a pretty consistent role in certain higher mental processes (I'm thinking, for example, of the prefrontal cortex's role in what are generally referred to as "executive functions"), to the extent that lesions in these areas lead to reasonably predictable impairments in those areas, is a reasonably good reason to believe that mental processes operate broadly similarly across all humans. I agree that this is far from settled, but the principle you discuss is more than simply a provisional utility step, in that the evidence we do have does align with it.
Last edited by Quercus on Mon Jun 08, 2015 5:59 pm UTC, edited 1 time in total.
Postby PeteP » Mon Jun 08, 2015 11:58 am UTC
Copper Bezel wrote: Yep, sorry, that's the point at which moral relativism parts company with the rails for me. There's no point in talking about morality whatsoever at that point. Just say that morality is a dead end concept. And you're still making the assumption that we can't make objective statements about subjective experiences, which is really kinda funny, given the only experiences any human being has ever had happened to be subjective and you might well just toss out the word "objective," too. (So, yeah, of course there's no basis for an objective morality, because neither of those things exists.)
No point? I have preferences for how I would like people to act and behaviours that horrify and disgust me, moral systems can potentially get people to act how I would like them to act and not do things I find horrifying. So why shouldn't I argue with people who have moral systems in their terms? Also many people value having a non-contradictory system so if you can agree to some underlying values you can argue from there. That the underlying values are just your preferences is just how it is. That the whole thing is subjective doesn't mean it isn't useful or can't be important to me or you. You could see it as abstraction to better discuss how to best fulfil shared preferences. Why do you see no point in it?
And yes all our discussions about the world are based on the assumption that the world exist and our sensory organs supply information that gives us half way dependable information about it. And usually we also tend to assume the world follows physical laws and doesn't just randomly appear to follow them for a while. It's unavoidable to make that assumption to discuss almost anything practical. But that doesn't mean we have to randomly declare other things to objective without any reason.
Last edited by PeteP on Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:42 pm UTC, edited 1 time in total.
Postby doogly » Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:36 pm UTC
The situation you describe has nothing whatsoever to do with metaethical relativism.
It seems like there is a common misconception that people who believe in some sort of objective reality, but not that things like morality or other social constructs have the same level of morality, must think that all these "not objective" things collapse into worthlessness in our eyes. We must seem so silly to you, living our lives concerned with pebbles and black holes and just sort of shrugging at the important things like mass slaughter and the various flavors of pie!
Metaethical relativism would deny that there is an objective notion of progress, but not that there is a sense of progress at all! I happen to quite prefer living in our current society to ancient Rome. I would also have preferred ancient Greece.
I think you must have completely ignored my post further up talking about the connection between moral objectivism and religiously supernatural claims. I distinctly said that I did NOT think that the former only made sense given the latter; my point is that the two claims have a similar character.
Though it does seem that if we let you define metaethical relativism for us, we could defeat it very quickly! It's sounding quite amoral. You have to wonder what they're even bothering to do in this thread, eh?
To further illustrate my position, I think it's nice to talk about free will. This is another thing that I don't think objectively exists. I can observe it as a cognitive label. It exists 'like baseball.' It is not a fundamental building block of the world with an objective reality that would persist without us, but when I want to explain human behavior, it's nice to use concepts like free will and behavior. Likewise morality does not exist in an objective and independent sense, and if I want to make a moral argument to you, I cannot make objective arguments independent of our moral framework. (I could yell at you, or the Roman slave holders, but I can't really make arguments until we find some common framework. And it's pretty satisfying to just yell at slave holders, or slaughter them, I really wouldn't have a problem with this.) But although it doesn't exist in this sense, if I want to optimize my life and my culture, according to what I think is optimal, this sort of language and framework is extremely useful.
tl;dr: there is more to onotology than "objective reality" and "meaningless crap." Metaethical relativism posits that morality is neither of these two.
Postby morriswalters » Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:41 pm UTC
ucim wrote:
The point isn't that you aren't correct, but that you couldn't be correct if the basic function didn't exist. Your intellect takes the drive to live and abstracts it to something more useful. The fact that humans live or die as groups is the real point. And for any group to exist and prosper certain things have to occur. Good is when those things occur and bad is when they don't. There is no reason to favor one or the other that exists outside the need to form groups to survive. That is neither ethics or morality directly. That is the well from which they are born.
Ethics are themselves a product of natural selection. And the success of a particular ethical system is represented by continuing to use it and for it to continue to serve the function it is designed to serve. Genghis Khan had a ethical system of some type that worked for a time and then at some point didn't. His ethics were bad because in the end they didn't work.
Postby Zamfir » Mon Jun 08, 2015 1:15 pm UTC
Non-contingency: When Genghis Khan was doing his conquering, one of his big strategies was to systematically murder every single person in cities that opposed him. Rome did this too. It's a pretty effective strategy, since a lot of people would rather surrender in a war that they might win rather than fighting and risking that they and everyone they love will be killed if they lose. But, obviously Genghis Khan and the Romans were wrong to do this. So far, we're on the same page as relativists: since the moral framework of our culture says that the Romans were wrong, they were wrong. But it seems like what the relativist can't say is that what the Romans did would be wrong, even if our culture thought it was right. And it seems like that is the right thing to say: that the wrongness of murdering a city full of people has nothing to do with whether anyone approves of it. Objectivists can happily accept this view.
It's from back in the thread, but the example has been referenced several times, so I'd like to respond to it anyway.
I find this an odd case for an obvious moral wrong, one so obvious that it might serve as a kind of axiom. By the last poll, 61% of Americans consider the atomic bombs on Japan the right thing to do, against 22% who consider it wrong. Support is higher among people who were alive at the time. For decades afterwards, NATO had a fairly blunt first-strike doctrine. If the potential war wouldn't go as our side wanted, we reserved the right to kill as much Russians as possible. No matter if the Russians attacked civilian populations first or not. And quite some people applaud this as the doctrine that prevented world war 3.
In short, our culture does support this military tactic. Everyone knows the arguments. The Japanese started it and were horrible, it shortened the war, millions of Japanese would have died from starvation otherwise, hundreds of thousands of Americans would have died in the invasion of Japan, etc. So, fairly similar to the arguments of Ghengis.
Is there a single objective standard about when you can and cannot exterminate cities to end a war in your favour? I don't know it. I don't think anyone else knows it either.
Postby ucim » Mon Jun 08, 2015 4:42 pm UTC
Cres wrote: OK, so let's say I am a slave in Ancient Rome. [...] But my treatment is entirely within the accepted norms of Roman society [...] Is it honestly your view that I have no moral grounds for complaint here?
It is my view that you are being treated immorally. However, this is my view, not the view of "the universe". My having a view (and even your agreeing with my view) on some moral matter does not make it a universal truth.
And it is that which I am focused on here. Mass and orbital mechanics are universal truths (which we can approach understanding). They are "part" of the structure of the universe. Morals are not - at least there has been no convincing evidence presented to me that they are anything more than glorified opinions, with which I may or may not agree.
Cres wrote: Was the rejection of slavery over the last couple of centuries not moral progress but just a change in tastes and sensibilities? (genuine questions)
How do you measure "progress"? Moralities (in many ways) have moved closer to the set I presently hold, but defining progress that way makes it relative - relative to me and my own standards. Moralities have moved farther away in some cases from the set I presently hold also. But in this case how would you evaluate, without referring to your personal moral system, whether my morals are defective or whether instead the world's morals are slipping? I claim there is no way to do so. You can only measure against your own ethos.
Thus, not absolute.
Copper Bezel, disagreeing, quoted me as having wrote: ...thus if there is an absolute morality, it cannot come from people. If it is to be meaningful at all, it has to come from some inherent property of the universe.
The unstated followup is "... and if you don't think it comes from some inherent property of the universe, then "absolute morality" does not exist in any meaningful way.
Copper Bezel wrote: Does game theory or economics or ... hell, the concept of an "evolutionary stable strategy" exist as a "property of the universe"? I don't think it'd be very useful to think of them that way.
Game theory is essentially a branch of mathematics. Economics uses math but it's underlying assumptions are behavioral, and use game theory. I don't see any absolute truths in economics. And in any case, these things are descriptive, and are amenable to empirical testing: Does the world behave the way the description and the model predict it would? If so, the model is correct. If not, it is not correct. This is essentially different from morality, which is prescriptive.
@morriswalters:History is written by the victors. The fact that ethics can help a group survive does not make a particular set of ethics "good". It makes it "effective". There is an important difference. The latter could be an absolute. The former is not, and should not be conflated with it.
It sounds like I'm just saying "I disagree" again; I wonder if we are using the words (absolute, objective) in the same way.
Postby morriswalters » Mon Jun 08, 2015 5:19 pm UTC
ucim wrote: History is written by the victors. The fact that ethics can help a group survive does not make a particular set of ethics "good". It makes it "effective". There is an important difference. The latter could be an absolute. The former is not, and should not be conflated with it.
That is for you to decide. However I did define good as I've used it. But just for the record, history and who wrote it have nothing to do with it. It isn't about what people said.
morriswalters wrote: That is for you to decide. However I did define good as I've used it.
morriswalters wrote: And for any group to exist and prosper certain things have to occur. Good is when those things occur and bad is when they don't.
This does not sound like a meaning of "good" that has any moral implications. It just duplicates the meaning of "effective". It is not what I mean when I use the word "good" in an ethical sense.
morriswalters wrote: But just for the record, history and who wrote it have nothing to do with it.
My point was that the ethical system of the survivors (us) is what we are using to judge the ethical system of the vanquished. Again, it's not an example of objective ethics, except in the sense of "it worked, which is why we're here, and they're not", which to me has nothing to do with ethics.
Postby Tyndmyr » Mon Jun 08, 2015 5:54 pm UTC
Good is merely a summary of various traits. Perhaps you state that this food item is "good" because it is nutritious. Or because you like the flavor. Well, yes, we can obviously study flavors or nutrition, and come to well supported conclusions. The only reason people have any difficulty with "goodness" is due to ambiguity. When I say that bacon is good, and you say that celery is good, we are speaking of different things*. The actual facts are not in dispute, the subjectivity is only due to imperfect understanding.
Likewise, morality is objective. When you say "capitalism is bad", you really have some more specific complaint regarding capitalism. Perhaps you feel it is inferior to another system in regards to accomplishing x. We can study that, and determine if that is true or false. A given person may not yet know the answer to a given question, but that does not mean that the facts do not exist. Evolution existed before we had a name for it, and before we learned as much about it as we have. We learn about what is. What is does not exist because we learn about it.
Reality IS the objective record of everything.
*Probably.
Postby elasto » Mon Jun 08, 2015 6:07 pm UTC
Tyndmyr wrote: Good is merely a summary of various traits. Perhaps you state that this food item is "good" because it is nutritious. Or because you like the flavor. Well, yes, we can obviously study flavors or nutrition, and come to well supported conclusions. The only reason people have any difficulty with "goodness" is due to ambiguity. When I say that bacon is good, and you say that celery is good, we are speaking of different things*. The actual facts are not in dispute, the subjectivity is only due to imperfect understanding.
That's not really true at all.
If I say big macs are good because they're tasty, and you say big macs are bad because they taste gross, which one of us is 'objectively right'?
If you try to resolve it with statistics (eg. 80% of people think they're tasty and 20% think they're gross), then you're doing the equivalent of moral relativism. The 'correct answer' will vary according to the population being questioned.
So, sure, some moral questions can be reduced to objectively measurable quantities. But many, if not most, can't.
It is objectively true that I think big macs are taste great, and that you think big macs taste terrible.
If you wish to answer a question like "Do Americans think big macs are tasty", then you do indeed use statistics.
When you use specifics, the existance of a solution becomes clear.
Usually, however, such a disagreement is not about trying to determine facts. It is a matter of expressing your preferences, and wanting your preferences to have more weight than those of another.
gmalivuk
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Postby gmalivuk » Mon Jun 08, 2015 6:21 pm UTC
In addition to the fact that imperfect understanding has nothing to do with disagreements about flavor quality, even if we completely agree about how good something tastes and about how nutritious it is, we may disagree about the relative importance of senxory pleasure compared to nutrition. And that's another case that can't be solved by simply making sure we each know what the other is talking about.
Unless stated otherwise, I do not care whether a statement, by itself, constitutes a persuasive political argument. I care whether it's true.
If this post has math that doesn't work for you, use TeX the World for Firefox or Chrome
(he/him/his)
gmalivuk wrote: In addition to the fact that imperfect understanding has nothing to do with disagreements about flavor quality, even if we completely agree about how good something tastes and about how nutritious it is, we may disagree about the relative importance of senxory pleasure compared to nutrition. And that's another case that can't be solved by simply making sure we each know what the other is talking about.
Relative importance to what?
See, the ambiguity here is the object that it is important to.
Unspecified, it is likely that each person is talking about themselves. So person A thinks that sensory pleasure is more important to them. Person B thinks that nutrition is more important to them. And by "more important", they mean "I like this more". Great, we're just stating opinions here, not expressing a factual difference.
If we want to determine which of the two is more important to say, maximizing human lifespan, we can test that.
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Sexual Harrassment Epidemic
Postby sardia » Tue Nov 28, 2017 2:14 am UTC
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/ ... ent-259832
Since sexual harassment is all over the news now, we should have a catchall thread to catch all the rapists/power abuse out there.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/po ... n-culture/
Pelosi continues to defend Conyers, because he's a superstar harasser. That means that, like Bill Cosby, he's done great things for millions of people, but he rapes/harasses people, repeatedly. Per Nate Silver's podcast, he speculates that Democrats know dozens of Democrats that are rapists, and they are afraid of the fallout if they force Franken and Conyers out.
Edit: With the wave of harassment stories, one wonders when the spotlight will turn onto the expresidents like George Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton.
Re: Sexual Harrassment Epidemic
Postby Tyndmyr » Tue Nov 28, 2017 4:12 pm UTC
Bill Clinton's already gotten the side-eye a bit, I think. That said, it's lacking the shock value. Given that it's already been outed during his presidency, it's not really news unless someone manages to find info that ups the ante a fair bit.
Right-wing news frequently draws attention to alleged creepy behavior on the part of Biden. Not sure who else is getting a watchful eye over such things.
Here's hoping the wheels come off and everyone using power for predatory ends gets outed.
Postby Chen » Tue Nov 28, 2017 4:24 pm UTC
How the Republicans must be laughing all the way to the bank. Democrat sexual harrassers getting booted by their constituents while the Republican constituents just don't believe any harassment stories about their side. That's like Win-Win...you know, except for human decency and all.
Postby ObsessoMom » Tue Nov 28, 2017 4:37 pm UTC
Yesterday one California state assembly member (Raul Bocanegra, D-Los Angeles) resigned and a California state senator (Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia) was stripped of his leadership posts, due to accusations of sexual harassment.
Today is the first hearing of the California Assembly Rules Subcommittee on Harassment, Discrimination, and Retaliation Prevention and Response. From the Sacramento Bee:
The Legislature has paid at least five settlements to victims of sexual harassment over the past two decades, totaling more than $850,000. In April, the Assembly reached another $100,000 settlement in a harassment, discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against former Assemblyman Steve Fox.
Among the ideas? Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, one of the lawmakers who plans to attend the hearing, said he is considering introducing legislation next session that would require lawmakers, rather than taxpayers, to foot the bill for their own sexual harassment settlements.
“We could deduct their pay. If they’re a former legislator, we could go after them in the judicial process,” McCarty said.
Here's another Sacramento Bee article from last week, on the retaliation against victims who have reported sexual harassment by California state employees, including legislators. That article raises the problem of public money, too:
“In government, no one’s ever held personally accountable for any judgment,” said Gary Gorski, a Roseville civil rights attorney who settled a harassment and discrimination case for $750,000 against the Medical Board of California. “The people at the very top of the food chain can get millions of dollars in judgments – not against them personally, but they cause it to be against a state agency – and nothing ever happens to them. All they do is rotate agencies.”
Employment attorneys contend that the state is notorious for dragging out sexual harassment investigations and lawsuits for years, driving up legal costs for plaintiffs and taxpayers alike – with little regard for the validity of the claims.
“It’s not their money, so they can afford to stretch these out as long as they can,” said attorney Andrea Rosa, who settled Fields’ case against the CHP. “They can afford to conduct as many depositions as they want.
“Their hope is that the employee basically gives up.”
Postby morriswalters » Tue Nov 28, 2017 7:21 pm UTC
sardia wrote: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/26/pelosi-conyers-icon-harassment-259832
Bush senior has been hit with multiple current allegations. But he's on the way out on the senility train. And as of yet I haven't heard anything on his behavior while in office. Clinton is Clinton. Although the Clinton Foundation appears to be toast since Hillary got pounded.
If Nate knows something he should print it, otherwise he invites the conspiracy theorists to have a field day. If he's not careful he could get listed as a contributor to some conservative rag. We won't be sure about impacts until elections come and then go. By getting rid of weak links now the Democrats get to exercise the frailty of human memory. People will forget in a year. Or so I believe. Reality may kick my ass on this.
Postby CorruptUser » Tue Nov 28, 2017 7:34 pm UTC
morriswalters wrote: By getting rid of weak links now the Democrats get to exercise the frailty of human memory. People will forget in a year.
Have people forgotten Bill Clinton already? No? Well then.
mcd001
Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2014 7:27 pm UTC
Postby mcd001 » Wed Nov 29, 2017 1:49 pm UTC
It's not just politicians. This whole epidemic really started in Hollywood with the accusations against Harvey Weinstein, and has spread to the mainstream media companies (most recently Matt Lauer of NBC, just this morning).
It confirms my suspicions that Hollywood and the big media corporations really are the cesspools they have always appeared to be.
Postby Liri » Wed Nov 29, 2017 2:49 pm UTC
mcd001 wrote: It's not just politicians. This whole epidemic really started in Hollywood with the accusations against Harvey Weinstein, and has spread to the mainstream media companies (most recently Matt Lauer of NBC, just this morning).
Or... any place with large power imbalances. There were skeezy politicians long before there was a Hollywood.
Ranbot
Postby Ranbot » Wed Nov 29, 2017 3:19 pm UTC
Liri wrote:
Along those lines, I am a little surprised we aren't hearing more stories of sexual harassment from the modeling industry, which I've read is also rife with it. If a serial harasser/rapist was uncovered who had connections Trump's past modeling/pageant businesses... that could be juicy.
It's also odd how decades of male pop music stars get a pass for all their horrible treatment of women. But, I guess it's like bringing up Bill Clinton; their shit is known or wouldn't surprise anyone, so there's no shock value in it.
Postby Mutex » Wed Nov 29, 2017 3:23 pm UTC
The places where it's worst might be the places where women are most afraid of speaking up.
Postby poxic » Wed Nov 29, 2017 3:32 pm UTC
Mutex wrote: The places where it's worst might be the places where women are most afraid of speaking up.
And where the power imbalance is the greatest. You go public with what happened to you (and every other woman who went through that system) and suddenly you're unhirable -- because the people doing the hiring are abusers, or are buddies with the abusers.
Liri wrote: Or... any place with large power imbalances. There were skeezy politicians long before there was a Hollywood.
There is certainly some truth to that, in that a power imbalance is necessary for the kinds of sexual abuse that we're seeing in recent news reports.
But that power imbalance is *not* the cause of the abuse. There is a power imbalance to one degree or another in any work place in the world where workers have a boss (which is most work places). And since the great majority of those bosses manage to refrain from groping, harassing, or making unwelcome sexual advances to their subordinates, then there must be some other cause for this behavior.
In my experience, organizations will take on the character of their leaders. If you have a company (or an entire industry) with leaders that lack a moral compass, you'll get results like we're seeing now. That's my theory, anyway.
As for politicians, I think they're a special case. It seems even the good ones are eventually corrupted by the toxic environment that is partisan politics.
Postby Thesh » Wed Nov 29, 2017 3:56 pm UTC
Sexual harassment is something that goes on in offices everywhere, as well as pretty much any public place - in fact, sexual harassment was considered acceptable behavior by men in power until quite recently. Hell, the Catholic church had a major scandal where they covered up abuses and kept abusers in power. It's a power thing, and a culture thing - it's not limited to any industry.
Postby sardia » Wed Nov 29, 2017 4:04 pm UTC
mcd001 wrote:
https://gender.bitc.org.uk/news-opinion ... harassment
According to this, anywhere you have these characteristics, you'll find harassment.
Power and gender roles. The relatively powerless at work are easily targeted, such as temp workers[2] or those at the bottom of the hierarchy. Yet women in positions of power and authority are also at increased risk – it is used to put them back in their place; their subordinate and submissive position to men in society.[3] ‘Laddism’, a form of ‘modern masculinity’ has emerged in parallel with women’s increased economic empowerment and consequent separation from their traditional, powerless societal role. On the rise in UK universities, it is largely defined by the sexual objectification of women, and sexual harassment and molestation are commonplace.
Workplace anonymity. The formal grievance procedures in large organisations protect against serious abuse, however the anonymity of large organisations increases the risk of all other types of sexual harassment, because employees are less connected and more able to act without the awareness of others.[4]
Lack of manager and co-worker solidarity will also enable sexual harassment to continue, since employees are less invested in their colleagues’ wellbeing and less willing to intercede.[5]
Male dominated and physical work has long fostered male solidarity and pride, and centres on the physical body, so the presence of women may be seen as a threat to such masculinity, leading to an increased likelihood of sexual harassment.[6]
Gender composition. Sexual harassment is more likely to occur in workplaces or teams with a high proportion of men, mostly because it is easier and safer to target those in the minority.[7]
I'm struggling with tamping down harassment at work right now. There's an overwhelming male workplace, harassing Superstars, physical work environment, etc etc. It's a real challenge to solve, by which I mean to not lose money due to harassment complaints.
Postby CorruptUser » Wed Nov 29, 2017 4:08 pm UTC
The people that go into politics are the popular, outgoing kids in high school that rarely got rejected for dates and never had boundaries slapped on them. Of course they wind up as dirty old men harassing the interns.
The Great Hippo
Swans ARE SHARP
Postby The Great Hippo » Wed Nov 29, 2017 5:32 pm UTC
mcd001 wrote: But that power imbalance is *not* the cause of the abuse. There is a power imbalance to one degree or another in any work place in the world where workers have a boss (which is most work places). And since the great majority of those bosses manage to refrain from groping, harassing, or making unwelcome sexual advances to their subordinates, then there must be some other cause for this behavior.
I'm trying super hard not to be angry over just how ignorant this perspective is, particularly since it's the cover story that lets us address shit like Weinstein without addressing the all-pervasive, ongoing epidemic of sexual harassment and abuse that's going on in our society today. "Weinstein doesn't indicate a broader problem, it just tells us how Hollywood is an exception on account of it being a cesspool."
Fuck that noise: The problem is not a "lack of strong leadership". The problem isn't that Hollywood is a cesspool. The problem is that *American society* is a cesspool. The problem is that men keep sexually harassing women. Everywhere in the US. All the fucking time. In pretty much every single fucking industry where men have the lion's share of power (IE, pretty much *all* industries).
Strong leadership can help, but any leader who thinks that lack of leadership is the problem here isn't acting as a strong leader -- they're just engaging in thinking so magical it qualifies them to attend Hogwart's.
Basically, what I'm saying is that you've found a way to address something like Weinstein without addressing the problem Weinstein represents. Weinstein is the tip of an iceberg, and this iceberg is not localized to Hollywood or Washington. This iceberg is America, and the only way you can start to melt it is by rolling up your sleeves and getting to work. You need to actually understand how big this problem is.
It is way bigger than you think. Way, *way* bigger.
cphite
Postby cphite » Wed Nov 29, 2017 5:49 pm UTC
CorruptUser wrote: The people that go into politics are the popular, outgoing kids in high school that rarely got rejected for dates and never had boundaries slapped on them. Of course they wind up as dirty old men harassing the interns.
Politics, public media, celebrities, corporate leadership, military leadership, and media production... there is a common thread here. These are all positions of power that are generally filled by people who are aggressive, who actively seek power, and who are used to getting their own way.
The fact that they're in positions of power makes it easier for them to act like scum; but the personality type has a lot to do with it too.
Bloopy
Postby Bloopy » Wed Nov 29, 2017 5:53 pm UTC
CorruptUser wrote: The people that go into politics are the popular, outgoing kids in high school that rarely got rejected for dates
True for the good-looking ones. But some only have the outgoing attribute and had to get into the position of power first to get anywhere.
Postby Tyndmyr » Wed Nov 29, 2017 5:58 pm UTC
Chen wrote: How the Republicans must be laughing all the way to the bank. Democrat sexual harrassers getting booted by their constituents while the Republican constituents just don't believe any harassment stories about their side. That's like Win-Win...you know, except for human decency and all.
There is always a level of schadenfreude when the other side suffers setbacks, of course.
That said, in actual practice, I have to imagine that say, ditching Franken would likely result in a democrat replacement, so likely no real change in power. I think democrats have fairly little to lose by ousting the troublesome sorts. And probably more to lose by not doing so.
Republicans do indeed suffer setbacks due to misbehavior. Denial doesn't make a problem go away. At least, not all the time. The fact that they like to moralize often makes it worse. Blatant hypocrisy can be juicy.
Thesh wrote: Sexual harassment is something that goes on in offices everywhere, as well as pretty much any public place - in fact, sexual harassment was considered acceptable behavior by men in power until quite recently. Hell, the Catholic church had a major scandal where they covered up abuses and kept abusers in power. It's a power thing, and a culture thing - it's not limited to any industry.
I dare say that the ridiculously strong correlation between steep power imbalances and harassment actually makes a pretty good case for reducing power imbalances in general. Not that this is easy, mind, but there's sound evidence that a significant proportion of folks will abuse power if they achieve it.
Hippo,
You make it sound like it's an American thing. I'd like you to show me one major society where it's the case that sexual harassment of women by men is significantly less than in the US.
First one to notify the boards of Rick and Morty Season 3
Location: Everywhere(in the US, I don't venture outside it too often, unfortunately)
Postby Dark567 » Wed Nov 29, 2017 7:47 pm UTC
CorruptUser wrote: Hippo,
Scandanvia. Canada.
Otherwise, yeah.
EDIT: Although I think it takes lots of different forms depending on the specific culture. Asia, (most of) Europe, Middle, Latin America, and Africa all have plenty of sexual harassment(or outright oppression), it just often takes a different form due to specifics of the culture.
Last edited by Dark567 on Wed Nov 29, 2017 7:54 pm UTC, edited 1 time in total.
I apologize, 90% of the time I write on the Fora I am intoxicated.
Yakk wrote: The question the thought experiment I posted is aimed at answering: When falling in a black hole, do you see the entire universe's future history train-car into your ass, or not?
slinches
Slinches get Stinches
Postby slinches » Wed Nov 29, 2017 7:47 pm UTC
The Great Hippo wrote:
Okay, my sleeves are rolled up. What do I do now? I mean, I already try to treat everyone with respect so it must be more than that, right? What work should I go out and do to help solve this systemic social problem?
The way I see it, we're in a transitional period between the traditional gender roles and something else. But I don't know what that "something else" should look like. While I agree that their inherent inequality is not acceptable, traditional gender roles existed because they served a purpose. I think some of the issues we're seeing today are due to a lack of social structure caused by the breakdown of those roles. We need something to replace them that will provide the same social stability without the inequality, but what is that? What does it look like and how do I go about convincing others to adjust their expectations of society accordingly?
It seems like we need to re-establish some roles, but not base them on gender. Would you guys be on board if there was a strong social expectation that there should be a "breadwinner" and "homemaker" in every family, as long as those roles weren't tied to gender? Or is there some other structure you'd prefer? And how should we identify those that choose complementary roles? There's the same issue in searching out relationships. If it's not socially acceptable for anyone to make sexual advances, lest they be unwanted, how do we know who should make the first move? Relying on subtle social cues like eye contact and facial expressions creates issues for those who are less adept at recognizing them and can create confusion between cultures.
If we really want to solve inequality without causing lots of chaos, we need a consistent set of rules and expectations that are easily identifiable, but not gender based, to guide our behavior toward positive outcomes. Until we have that, I don't see how we stop this sexual harassment epidemic.
Dark567 wrote:
Would agree, it's not specific to US culture.
Not by a long shot.
I think it's more generally a problem with abuse of power than with US culture. The correlation with power is really hard to ignore, but there's not that strong a correlation with our culture.
slinches wrote: Okay, my sleeves are rolled up. What do I do now?
Well, for starters, what I was saying: Don't act like the problem is localized to a 'toxic Hollywood'. Don't act like the problem is a lack of 'strong leadership'. Don't act like the problem is not caused by power imbalances.
slinches wrote: What work should I go out and do to help solve this systemic social problem?
When someone says that they've been harassed or abused, don't just dismiss it. When others dismiss it, speak up. When you see people around you -- people you work with, people you interact with -- objectifying, demeaning, or otherwise dismissing women (or anyone claiming to be harassed; it's not like women are the only targets, they're just by far the most prominent and common), don't give them a pass. Support people when it looks like they're getting a raw deal like this.
I mean, this is all small-level stuff, but it's basically the kind of stuff I expect would help.
slinches wrote: It seems like we need to re-establish some roles, but not base them on gender. Would you guys be on board if there was a strong social expectation that there should be a "breadwinner" and "homemaker" in every family, as long as those roles weren't tied to gender? Or is there some other structure you'd prefer? And how should we identify those that choose complementary roles? There's the same issue in searching out relationships. If it's not socially acceptable for anyone to make sexual advances, lest they be unwanted, how do we know who should make the first move? Relying on subtle social cues like eye contact and facial expressions creates issues for those who are less adept at recognizing them and can create confusion between cultures.
What the fuck are you smoking? You shouldn't make sexual advances on people who work for you. That's the problem we're discussing here.
slinches wrote: If we really want to solve inequality without causing lots of chaos, we need a consistent set of rules and expectations that are easily identifiable, but not gender based, to guide our behavior toward positive outcomes. Until we have that, I don't see how we stop this sexual harassment epidemic.
"Don't make sexual advances toward people who directly work for you or people who you have significant amounts of economic control over" seems like a pretty good place to start. Giving those people some measure of power to use against you if you do seems like an even better place to advance forward.
You seem to be going on about a much broader problem, which is fine -- I guess? -- but you're acting like the problem of sexual harassment is much more complicated than it seems. It's much bigger than it seems, but it's not much more complicated. The solution is to get everyone to 1) Realize you can't treat your employees like fucking sex toys, and 2) Give those employees options to safely fight back.
Or do what I supported for years now; expand the definition of statutory rape to include the cases of obvious power imbalance, e.g., boss and secretary, professor and grad student, etc.
charliepanayi
Postby charliepanayi » Wed Nov 29, 2017 8:47 pm UTC
CorruptUser wrote: Or do what I supported for years now; expand the definition of statutory rape to include the cases of obvious power imbalance, e.g., boss and secretary, professor and grad student, etc.
That's a terrible idea.
"Excuse me Miss, do you like pineapple?"
"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work, I want to achieve it through not dying"
charliepanayi wrote:
That's only part of an effective solution. It helps punish bad behavior, but does nothing to promote good behavior.
The Great Hippo wrote: you're acting like the problem of sexual harassment is much more complicated than it seems. It's much bigger than it seems, but it's not much more complicated. The solution is to get everyone to 1) Realize you can't treat your employees like fucking sex toys, and 2) Give those employees options to safely fight back.
It is more complicated than you're claiming. There are always power imbalances to some degree and saying any relationship where those exist is wrong is just as unrealistic as asking people to abstain from sex instead of using contraception. We need to provide a safe way for people to show interest and establish healthy romantic relationships regardless of power imbalances. And giving people with less power a different power doesn't balance the scales, it just raises the stakes.
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orthogon
Location: The Airy 1830 ellipsoid
Postby orthogon » Wed Nov 29, 2017 9:31 pm UTC
I can't speak for charliepanayi, but it would criminalise a lot of healthy, consensual relationships. I mean, the person in the senior position ought to be asking themselves, and their partner, some serious questions. They ought to consider the potential conflict of interest and whether they could take steps to mitigate it. But, a lot of relationships begin in the workplace. You spend a lot of time with someone, stuff sometimes happens. Perhaps it's a disciplinary matter. But no way is it, in and of itself, worthy of being a serious criminal offence.
xtifr wrote: ... and orthogon merely sounds undecided.
Postby Pfhorrest » Wed Nov 29, 2017 9:40 pm UTC
It strikes me as potentially causing problems similar to ones that existing statutory rape laws sometimes do, like where if two high school seniors in the same class have consensual sex, but one of them is just over 18 and one of them still 17, it's a major crime (except in jurisdictions where exceptions to solve problems like this have been carved out).
I'm not saying the manager can't date any intern, just not the interns in their chain of command. That's already the law for the military, and it mostly seems to work. Mostly. I mean, the only problem I can see would be the case of CFO and CEO; still a massive power imbalance, but I get the impression that the CFO has enough "fuck you" money that they can say FU and walk out.
Postby Ranbot » Wed Nov 29, 2017 10:11 pm UTC
slinches wrote: Okay, my sleeves are rolled up.... It seems like we need to re-establish some roles, but not base them on gender.... If we really want to solve inequality without causing lots of chaos, we need a consistent set of rules and expectations that are easily identifiable, but not gender based, to guide our behavior toward positive outcomes.
Slinches, society is much too fluid to establish formal rules for gender and standards of conduct like it sounds like you are asking for. Maybe I'm not being fair to your statement though...
I think most people conduct their actions and words appropriately and actual harassers are a minority, but the surrounding social pressure on the harassers varies. If bystanders stay silent when they see or hear harassment that gives the harassers the freedom to do as they will. However, speaking out against harassment as a recipient or witness is an extremely uncomfortable face-to-face conflict that most people will avoid if they can, particularly if the harassment is borderline/questionable, which it often is. Humans are social animals who will generally avoid conflict whenever we can, including the uglier elements our society. I don't exclude myself from that failing... I will admit to having stayed a silent witness when I probably should have spoken up. I'll make my best effort not to make that mistake again in the future. The point is harassment lives in the physical world and it's much harder to engage conflict when you are staring into it's physical face, than write about what you think you would or should do.
Postby Tyndmyr » Wed Nov 29, 2017 10:13 pm UTC
What, exactly, constitutes obvious power imbalance? It's a much less hard line than age is, I think.
Now, sure, ethically I think one ought not aim for relationships with gross power imbalances, but as a law, it's a little harder to codify exactly how much is too much.
And anyhow, a large part of the problem is that, legal or not, the power imbalance allows the one with power to get away with things regardless. It's like the dirty cop problem. If nobody is actually going to convict them, does making their misbehavior illegal actually change anything?
CorruptUser wrote: I'm not saying the manager can't date any intern, just not the interns in their chain of command. That's already the law for the military, and it mostly seems to work. Mostly. I mean, the only problem I can see would be the case of CFO and CEO; still a massive power imbalance, but I get the impression that the CFO has enough "fuck you" money that they can say FU and walk out.
Ehhh. The military is not perfect, either. And chains of command can also be used to cover things up. I'm not sure it's a role model here. If it is, it's only in the sense of having people outside the chain of command to complain to(at least nominally. In practice, it may vary).
Postby slinches » Wed Nov 29, 2017 10:30 pm UTC
Ranbot wrote: Slinches, society is much too fluid to establish formal rules for gender and standards of conduct like it sounds like you are asking for. Maybe I'm not being fair to your statement though...
I'm not really asking for formal rules. I'm looking for positive roles that people can choose for themselves that come with certain behavioral expectations and a way for people to identify that choice. That would help minimize conflicts where people behave differently than expected in general. That's something we lost when the traditional male and female roles were deprecated.
I'd also like a rough guideline for conduct around establishing personal relationships between people that have varying amounts of political/economic/social power over each other. A map to navigate that minefield, so to speak.
Postby The Great Hippo » Wed Nov 29, 2017 10:31 pm UTC
slinches wrote: That's only part of an effective solution. It helps punish bad behavior, but does nothing to promote good behavior.
Supporting and believing people who claim to be harassed and/or abused isn't promoting good behaviour?
slinches wrote: It is more complicated than you're claiming. There are always power imbalances to some degree and saying any relationship where those exist is wrong is just as unrealistic as asking people to abstain from sex instead of using contraception. We need to provide a safe way for people to show interest and establish healthy romantic relationships regardless of power imbalances. And giving people with less power a different power doesn't balance the scales, it just raises the stakes.
Okay, if you legitimately believe that empowering employees to stop their employers from sexually harassing them doesn't address the problem -- but just raises the stakes -- then we really can't discuss this issue credibly.
The problem isn't that employers don't know how to ask their employees out on dates in an appropriate manner. The problem is employers think it's okay to grope, kiss, and sexually assault their employees. I mean for fuck's sake -- Weinstein was *married* when this shit was going down. What, you think he wanted to initiate a healthy relationship with these people? No, he wanted to *fuck* them.
Yes, it's possible to have a healthy, consenting relationship in the context of a severe power imbalance. It's hard, but it's possible. That's not what we're talking about. And the more you act like it is, the more tone-deaf you come off as.
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Postby cphite » Wed Nov 29, 2017 10:39 pm UTC
It's one thing to say that it's a bad idea for people to have a relationship where there is a power imbalance; and quite another to call it statutory rape. Two consenting adults in a relationship, if they're accepting of whatever power imbalance exists between them, may still be a bad idea - and it makes some sense for companies, schools, and other organizations with hierarchies to address the practice via their own internal policies - but to even suggest making it a criminal offense is simply absurd.
In the military it's considered fraternization and is a violation of military code of conduct; but it's not a criminal offense in the way that you're suggesting. Certainly not at the level of statutory rape.
arbiteroftruth
Postby arbiteroftruth » Wed Nov 29, 2017 11:04 pm UTC
The Great Hippo wrote: Yes, it's possible to have a healthy, consenting relationship in the context of a severe power imbalance. It's hard, but it's possible. That's not what we're talking about. And the more you act like it is, the more tone-deaf you come off as.
Flag on the play: moving the goalposts. slinches was responding to a post which included the following:
The Great Hippo wrote: "Don't make sexual advances toward people who directly work for you or people who you have significant amounts of economic control over" seems like a pretty good place to start. Giving those people some measure of power to use against you if you do seems like an even better place to advance forward.
which definitely includes the kind of well-intentioned advance slinches was talking about.
Postby sardia » Wed Nov 29, 2017 11:37 pm UTC
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/wh ... y-helping/
Trump's endorsements of pedophile Roy Moore has pushed him back into the lead over Democrat Jones. I guess the wapo reporters released the story too early. Bad luck for Democrats. They'll have to rely on a polling error to win ( polls would have to misjudge who would vote or misjudge turnout). Hard but not impossible. Either way, the pedophile is back in the lead.
This demonstrates how partisanship is a hell of a drug. He might even pull a Trump like act where nobody mentions the sexual assault after winning.
arbiteroftruth wrote: Flag on the play: moving the goalposts. slinches was responding to a post which included the following:
That is not the part of my post slinches was responding to -- nor the part they quoted. It's also a misleading way to represent what I was saying. But okay; I'll bite:
"Don't make sexual advances toward your employees" is, as I said, a good starting point. It's an excellent rule -- but like most rules, there will be exceptions. Here, I'll even give you one: A husband and wife decide to start a business together. The husband works as the wife's secretary. The wife initiates sexy-times with their husband during 'work hours'. As long as everyone's okay with this, I don't see a problem.
Exceptions to this rule will exist, but they're going to be rare and situational. But if you think what we need here is a "roadmap" that allows employers to safely date their employees, you are not helping. You are part of the problem.
The problem isn't that employers don't know how to make sexual advances on their employees responsibly; it's that they're making these sexual advances at all. Outside of some pretty fucking rare instances, this is unacceptable behavior. I sincerely hope anyone who disagrees is never employed in any capacity where they have authority over anyone.
Postby arbiteroftruth » Thu Nov 30, 2017 1:38 am UTC
And the reason that's unacceptable is due to the power imbalance, correct? If so, the course of the argument would seem to be as follows:
A: Sexual advances toward someone over whom you have power is almost always unacceptable.
B: There's almost always a certain amount of power imbalance between people. I think we need a more nuanced standard of behavior.
A: We're not talking about attempts at responsible advances; we're talking about groping, and you're terrible for not realizing that.
C: Wait, you totally were talking about the power imbalance and not the nature of the advances.
A: That's not accurate. What I was actually saying was that sexual advances toward someone over whom you have power are almost always unacceptable.
C: Is...is that not what I said you were saying?
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YRC Worldwide, Teamsters reach tentative accord on new contract
YRC Worldwide Inc., the country’s biggest trucker, has reached tentative agreement with the Teamsters union on a contract, more than three months before the existing pact is to expire.
The union represents nearly 50,000 drivers and dock workers who work for several YRC subsidiaries, the biggest being Yellow Transportation and Roadway. YRC is based in Overland Park.
The Teamsters negotiated the five-year agreement with Trucking Management Inc., or TMI, the negotiating arm of the unionized trucking industry.
After ABF Freight System pulled out of TMI and the consolidation in recent years of unionized carriers, YRC subsidiaries are the only remaining members of TMI. They are Yellow Transportation, Roadway and USF Holland.
YRC and the Teamsters began negotiations in early October, and the company hoped that a new contract could be reached before March 31, when the existing agreement will expire.
With YRC struggling to maintain freight volume in a slowing economy that YRC chief Bill Zollars has characterized as recessionary in some sectors, analysts said the trucking company was eager to get a new deal quickly.
Many trucking customers sign contracts choosing their carriers before the end of the year. As revenue and profits continue to plummet, analysts said, YRC could ill afford to have freight diverted early next year as a strike deadline loomed.
“The early outcome of these negotiations is positive for our employees and positive for our customers,” said Mike Smid, president and chief executive of YRC North American Transportation. “With the major hurdle of the NMFA (national contract) behind us, we are now positioned to remain competitive in a very challenging industry environment.”
Jim Hoffa, Teamsters general president, said the new contract would protect the jobs and benefits of the union’s membership.
Tyson Johnson, head of the union’s freight division and lead negotiator, said the new agreement would improve grievance procedures for workers and addressed the issue of forced overtime, which had been regarded as a key concern of workers.
Arkansas Best's vice president to retire
Arkansas Best Corporation has reported that vice president John Meyers will retire on January 31, 2008, concluding over 34 years with the company.
Robert Davidson, president and CEO of Arkansas Best, said: "I want to thank Bob for his many years of valuable service to our company. Since his arrival in the early 1970s, Bob has helped develop and positively influence many of the areas that have made Arkansas Best and ABF successful. More recently, his oversight of several of our non-ABF subsidiaries has been important to the overall development of our corporation."
Robert Young III, chairman of Arkansas Best, said: "During his time with Arkansas Best, Bob Meyers has always displayed a knack for providing fresh ideas and efficient management over his areas of responsibility."
Longer days for truckers may stick
U.S. long-haul truck drivers can continue to spend as much as 11 hours a day behind the wheel, after a federal agency refused to return to lower limits sought by safety advocates.
The U.S. Transportation Department, in an interim rule issued Tuesday, sided with the trucking industry and upheld a 2004 increase in daily driving time from 10 hours. The rule also keeps a 14-hour daily limit for drivers to be on duty.
"There have been a lot of allegations and innuendo" about greater safety risks since the longer workdays began, John Hill, the top U.S. trucking regulator, said Tuesday. "What the data show is that is untrue."
The rule is a win for the American Trucking Associations trade group, whose members include United Parcel Service and YRC Worldwide. Trucking companies said shorter workdays boost costs by requiring more drivers to move the same amount of freight, while consumer groups such as Public Citizen say drivers who work fewer hours are less likely to have accidents.
The new rule also permits drivers reaching 60 hours on-duty in seven days to return to work after 34 hours. Before 2004, they had to wait out the seven-day period.
Public Citizen will challenge the rule in court if the final version retains the longer hours, said Joan Claybrook, president of the organization. Regulators may publish the final rule next year, she said.
Bush Administration Weakens Truck Safety
Teamsters Say Regulators Co-Opted by Industry
The Teamsters union regrets the Bush administration’s decision Tuesday to side with the trucking industry rather than the driving public by reinstating a rule that undermines highway safety.
The hours-of-service rule, which allows truck drivers to work as many as 17 more hours a week, was twice thrown out by the court.
“The Bush administration is recklessly endangering the lives of all Americans driving on our highways,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. “Longer hours for truck drivers behind the wheel and unsafe Mexican trucks on our highways will jeopardize public safety.”
“It’s clear the Bush administration has more loyalty to its corporate supporters than to the men and women who actually drive on our roads,” Hoffa said. “The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in particular is showing that it is held captive by the trucking industry.”
On July 24, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for the second time threw out the rule that increased driving time to 11 hours from 10 hours and required drivers to be off duty for only 34 hours before going back to work.
In the 39-page opinion, Judge Merrick Garland called the rule “arbitrary and capricious.”
Hoffa said the Teamsters do not believe there is evidence that the new rule is safer, and plenty of evidence to show that it is not.
“There has been no peer-reviewed study published that shows this rule is safer than the previous rule,” Hoffa said.
“Further, Congress ordered that the health of the driver be taken into consideration, which FMCSA has once again ignored,” Hoffa said.
In the first court decision, FMCSA was cited for failing to take into account the health of the driver.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) first promulgated the hours-of-service regulation increasing the number of hours truckers can drive in 2003. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck down the rule in 2004, but Congress reinstated it as part of the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2004.
FMCSA issued a new Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in January 2005, proposing a rule that was little changed from the 2003 rule that had been struck down.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was a plaintiff in the case, joining Public Citizen and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.
The legal deadline for the court’s July decision to go into effect was Sept. 14. But legal challenges pushed that deadline back.
YRC Worldwide, Teamsters reach tentative accord on...
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CHARLESTON SHOOTINGS - The Charleston Police Department is investigating a shooting after the victim walked into the hospital early Monday morning. Investigators believe it could be related to a report of shots fired the night before.
A CPD officer was at CAMC General for an unrelated matter when the hospital staff told the officer a gunshot victim walked in. It was just after 2 a.m. Monday.
Police say Emanuel McCarty, 32, of Charleston, had two gunshot wounds to his legs. McCarty told investigators he was shot in the area of Lewis Street and Ruffner Avenue. According to the victim, he was walking when he was shot.
The victim says he does not know who shot him, but claims the shooter was in a white vehicle.
"Upon further questioning, McCarty became irate and uncooperative with the investigation," said Charleston Police Lt. Autumn Davis.
Police could not find a crime scene. There were no reports of shots fired in the area where the victim claimed the shooting happened, according to police.
Investigators believe this shooting could be connected to another incident on the West Side the evening before. At about 9 p.m. Sunday, a woman reported that someone shot at her at the Orchard Manor housing complex.
"Upon arrival, officers received information that there had been an unknown male firing a gun at another male," said Davis. However, police could not find any victims or a crime scene.
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Titus’s 12 NCAA Tournament Predictions
Which high seeds will bow out early, which low seeds might pull a Butler, and the Final Four.
by Mark Titus on March 12, 2012
High seed most likely to get upset in the first weekend — Duke
If it weren’t for Murray State, Duke would no doubt be this tournament’s biggest bracket destroyer. As a 2-seed led by possibly the greatest coach in the history of the game, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if the Blue Devils made it to the Final Four. But it also wouldn’t surprise me if in Duke’s second-round game against Notre Dame or Xavier, ARPF1 finally started getting called for his flagrant traveling, Seth Curry went cold, Andre Dawkins stayed cold, the lingering pain in Ryan Kelly’s ankle slowed him down, Mason Plumlee missed so many free throws that it affected the rest of his game, and Miles Plumlee’s hair gel got in his eyes when he started sweating. The gap between the best-case scenario and worst-case scenario for Duke is greater than for any other team in the tournament, which is why even though I don’t necessarily think they’ll get bounced in the first weekend, an early loss from Duke wouldn’t catch me off guard as much as an early loss from Kentucky or Baylor.
ARPF = Austin Rivers’s Punchable Face, for those of you who don’t know
Double-digit seed most likely to make the Sweet 16 — Xavier
Xavier hasn’t exactly had a great season, and they enter the tournament coming off a dud in the Atlantic 10 championship game against St. Bonaventure. But this pick has less to do with them and more to do with how Notre Dame and Duke have been playing lately. Starting with a huge win over Syracuse in late January, Notre Dame went on a nine-game winning streak and became the darlings of the Big East. But the Irish have gone just 2-3 in their last five games, including a loss at 13-19 St. John’s and a six-point home win against 15-17 Providence. Duke’s last five games also haven’t been pretty, highlighted by having to eke out an overtime win against 16-17 Virginia Tech at home and getting shellacked by North Carolina two weekends ago. Success in the NCAA tournament isn’t about having the best team — it’s about peaking at the right time. And while Xavier isn’t exactly peaking, they also aren’t in the midst of a nosedive.
Final Four pick — Kentucky
With a struggling Duke as the 2-seed and an underachieving Baylor as the 3-seed in their bracket, Kentucky is the no-brainer Final Four pick from the South. None of the previous criticisms of John Calipari’s teams apply to this team, as they are about as flawless as a college basketball team gets. Their loss to Vanderbilt on Sunday is slightly worrisome, but it was pretty obvious that the Wildcats were bored with the entire SEC tournament and Vanderbilt’s slew of upperclassmen really wanted to win the thing. I’ll give them a pass. At the end of the day, Kentucky has the most talent (by a long shot) in the bracket, they’ll play relatively close to home in all four games before the Final Four, and they lead the country in both unibrows and Workaholics loose-butthole hand gestures.
High seed most likely to get upset in the first weekend — Florida State
There’s a good chance this pick will end up making me look stupid because of how well Florida State played in the ACC tournament, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take because Cincinnati might be playing even better. Some of you are probably concerned that the Bearcats put up 44 points against Louisville in the Big East tournament championship, but let’s not forget that that was their third game in three days and their first two games were a double-overtime win against 14th-ranked Georgetown and a three-point win against no. 2 Syracuse. Cincinnati closed out February with a huge win against Marquette, had a great March, and is the only Big East team to have beaten every ranked team in the conference. Don’t get me wrong — Florida State is a dangerous squad that’s hot at the right time, so this pick isn’t about the Seminoles’ shortcomings. It’s about Cincinnati having a ton of talent and appearing as though they’re finally getting it all working together.
Double-digit seed most likely to make the Sweet 16 — West Virginia
Without taking the time to actually look this up, I’d be willing to bet that West Virginia got about as good of a draw as a 10-seed has ever gotten in NCAA tournament history. Not only are the Mountaineers playing in Pittsburgh — a 90-minute drive from their campus — but their first game is against Gonzaga, which has to travel all the way from Spokane, Washington. West Virginia also matches up better with Ohio State than any other 2-seed in the tournament. Assuming they can upset the Zags in the first round,2 West Virginia would likely play Ohio State. And while OSU is clearly the better team on paper, the Buckeyes have struggled this season against big, physical teams that get after it on defense. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Deniz Kilicli’s beard held Jared Sullinger in check. And even though Deshaun Thomas has greatly improved his defense over the course of the season, I’m not sure anybody can guard Kevin Jones.
This wouldn’t even be much of an upset. Gonzaga is probably the better team, but West Virginia will have 10 times as many fans in attendance and they aren’t nearly as bad as their record indicates (they either beat or came within five points of beating each of the top seven teams in the Big East this year).
Final Four pick — Syracuse
My heart is screaming at me to not pick Syracuse for a variety of reasons, but my head can’t come up with a better alternative. I could see Kansas State, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, Ohio State, Florida State, and Cincinnati all giving the Orange a good game, but I don’t seriously believe that any of those teams will beat ‘Cuse. Then again, I seem to say this every year with Syracuse and every year they find a way to prove me wrong. But there’s something different about this Syracuse team that makes me want to believe in them, and it probably has something to do with the fact that this is the best defense Jim Boeheim has ever had and the Orange have a ton of weapons on offense. So I’m going with Syracuse yet again, which is a decision that two weeks from now I’ll probably be trying to convince myself was right.
High seed most likely to get upset in the first weekend — Marquette
Yes, Memphis will be dangerous in the second round,3 and yes, Branden Dawson’s ACL tear is a huge loss for Michigan State. But I learned three very important lessons before my seventh birthday: Steve from Blue’s Clues can’t actually hear me when I yell out where Blue’s paw prints are; the other possibilities in the Choose Your Own Adventure books are always better than the one I choose; and Tom Izzo’s teams should never be counted out of the NCAA tournament. For any reason. Ever. Meanwhile, Missouri will play either Florida or Virginia after they win their opener, both of which would be favorable matchups for the Tigers.4 So I have no choice but to pick Marquette as the high seed in the West that’s most likely to get upset early, especially considering that in the second round they’ll have to play 30-1 Murray State in Louisville, which will essentially be a home game for the Racers since all the Kentucky fans in the arena (UK plays in Louisville, too) will surely cheer them on.
If you enjoy being annoying to the point that everyone in your life hates you, be sure to correct people who refer to the games played on Thursday and Friday as the “first round.” I don’t care what the NCAA says — unless the tournament expands to 128 teams, Thursday and Friday games are the first round and Saturday and Sunday games are the second round.
Florida is essentially just a worse version of Missouri, and thanks to my jinx a couple months ago (I wrote that Virginia would make the Sweet 16 barring an injury to a key player), the Cavaliers have lost 7-foot center Assane Sene to an ankle injury and a subsequent suspension for violating team rules.
Double-digit seed most likely to make the Sweet 16 — Virginia
I know — this pick doesn’t make any sense because I just wrote that Virginia is a good matchup for Missouri and that Florida is just a poor man’s Mizzou (in essence, both of Virginia’s first two opponents match up well with the Cavaliers). But here’s the flip side to that: These are also good matchups for Virginia, because the Cavaliers’ style could gum up Florida and Missouri’s high-scoring offensive machines. UVA plays great defense and slows the tempo, which could frustrate Florida and Missouri since both of those teams want to play up-and-down. The Gators and Tigers aren’t nearly as good when they score in the 60s.5 If Virginia can slow down the game, guard the 3-point line, and get Mike Scott going, they could pull off a pair of upsets this weekend.
When scoring 69 or fewer points this season, Missouri is 2-2 (including a one-point win at Texas that they were lucky to escape with), Florida is 5-6, and Virginia is 15-9.
Final Four pick — Missouri
Virginia may have what it takes to beat Missouri, but I don’t think they actually will. The Tigers are the best team in the West bracket, and I expect them to prove it by advancing to New Orleans. I know this contradicts my philosophy of not counting out Michigan State and I know that the Spartan frontcourt will probably destroy the Tigers if the two teams play in the Elite Eight, but I’m sticking with Mizzou simply because I think they’re the better team.
High seed most likely to get upset in the first weekend — Georgetown
Double-digit seed most likely to make the Sweet 16 — Belmont
Here’s a twofer. I have a feeling this game will be the popular 14-over-3 pick in this year’s bracket, and with good reason. Even with Cody Zeller pulling Indiana out of the Big Ten gutter, Georgetown has been the biggest surprise in college basketball this season. The Hoyas were picked to finish 10th in the Big East, but thanks to the combination of Jason Clark and Hollis Thompson’s leadership, Henry Sims’s improvement from last year, and John Thompson III’s steady coaching, they went 12-6 and finished fourth in a pretty tough league. They’ve had a great year and they deserve credit for it. But the truth is that I would’ve picked Belmont to beat any of the 3-seeds in this year’s tournament, because they’ve got that classic upset-minded mid-major feel to them. This, of course, is my way of saying that they’re undersized, they’ve got a ton of white guys, they’re experienced, and they’ve got a handful of shooters who you know are going to get hot just because it’s March Madness and these things are inevitable.
Final Four pick — North Carolina
I’m sure Duke fans will tell you it was completely worth it, but when Duke came back to beat North Carolina in Chapel Hill, they woke a sleeping giant. More specifically, they drew penises in permanent marker on the sleeping giant’s forehead and woke it up by hitting it in the crotch and pouring a bucket of cold water on its head. Ever since that loss, Carolina has looked like a completely different team — a team on a mission. Yes, I know that the Heels lost to Florida State in the ACC championship game and were lackluster against NC State in the conference semis, but it’s no secret that few elite teams actually care about winning their conference tournament, especially when they’ve got a no. 1 seed locked up. Plus, North Carolina was playing without John Henson, who is probably their most complete all-around player. Assuming he returns and they play as hard as they did when they exacted revenge on Duke last Saturday, I think the national title is North Carolina’s to lose.
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Interaction of LOS and Innate Immunity in Neisseria Infection
Jarvis, Gary A.
Veterans Affairs Medical Center San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
See 24 grants from Gary Jarvis
See grants from Veterans Affairs Medical Center San Francisco
Mechanisms and Consequences of Heterochromatin Loss in Tauopathies
Human LincRNAs in Macrophage Biology and Related Cardiometabolic Diseases
The role of Folliculin, tumor suppressor mutated in BHD, in mTOR nutrient sensing
Development of HAMLET as a Adjuvant for the Treatment of Drug-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Infections
Predictors of Severity in Alzheimer's Disease
Biostatistics Shared Resource
Infections due to the Gram-negative bacteria Neisseria meningitidis and N. gonorrhoeae represent major public health problems around the world. Meningococcal infections total 0.5-1.2 million and cause death of 50,000-135,000 individuals annually worldwide. Infections by N. meningitidis can present with a range of symptoms including sudden onset of fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, and alterations in mental state. The bacteria primarily infect the central nervous system causing cerebrospinal meningitis, but can also cause disseminated disease leading to an overwhelming inflammatory response known as sepsis that can result in vascular leakage, failure in multiple organs, and death or long term sequelae including amputation of limbs, deafness, and seizures. Declines in meningococcal disease have occurred in the last decade in many developed countries due in part to use of polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccines to specific serogroups of N. meningitidis, although the vaccines are not 100% effective and do not provide protection against all serogroups or strains. In addition, two new vaccines for serogroup B disease have been approved recently, however approval is only for persons aged 10-25 years, and unanswered questions exist regarding efficacy. Paradoxically, N. meningitidis infects the nasopharynx of 8-20% of the population without causing disease. There are an estimated 106 million new cases of sexually transmitted gonococcal infections worldwide each year. Those most affected by the disease are women in whom infections are often asymptomatic. From 10- 20% of infected women suffer from pelvic inflammatory disease that can cause chronic pain, infertility, and ectopic pregnancy. Importantly, a growing number of studies have shown that gonococcal infection can facilitate the transmission of HIV. The lack of a vaccine and increasing number of strains of N. gonorrhoeae that are resistant to treatment with antibiotics have heightened the possibility of loss of control of the transmission of gonorrhea. Our work has focused on understanding the interactions of a major component of the bacterial membrane, the lipooligosaccharide (LOS), with the human immune system. Preformed components of what is termed the innate immune system are the first line of defense in protection against Gram-negative bacteria such as Neisseria. We have found that the ability of Neisseria to induce a feedback down-regulation of the innate immune response is positively correlated with the inflammatory potential of the bacteria which in turn is mediated by the expression of particular molecular substituents on the LOS. Our data also show that certain elements of the LOS structure assist the bacteria in evading lysis by the complement cascade in the blood and recognition by human antibodies that facilitate phagocytosis by white blood cells. These data are supported by the findings from several other laboratories in the field and previous results from our own research. This project is focused on testing and developing potential new therapeutic agents that will inhibit the bioactivity of the LOS by enzymatic removal of phosphate and acyl groups on the lipid and by inhibiting the genetic expression or competing for binding specifically to the active site of LOS biosynthetic enzymes. In addition, we will exten our observations regarding the inflammatory potential of the LOS and invasive ability of the Neisseria to interactions with an extensive set of relevant cell types that play a role in Neisseri infections. We will study models of infection in whole blood, in nasopharyngeal, cervical, and endothelial epithelial cells, monocytic cells, vascular endothelial cells, and brain cells, and analyze the bioactivity of LOS when inside of cells. We expect that the results will demonstrate the validity of new therapeutic targets, identify and develop potential new agents for the treatment of Neisseria infections, and increase our understanding of the complex relationship between these uniquely human pathogens and the innate immune system that enables the bacteria to cause disease.
Our research focused on new therapeutics and innate immunity to Neisseria is highly relevant to the U.S. military and Veterans. Despite vaccination of all U.S. military personnel against N. meningitidis, disease incidence remains the same as that of the general population. From 2006-2010, 19% of the cases of meningococcal infection were fatal and 58% were vaccine failures. For gonorrhea, the U.S. rate remains high with ~820,000 new cases per year and antibiotic resistance is acutely problematic. Importantly, gonococcal infection is known to facilitate the transmission of HIV-1 infection. The high-risk environment of active military service is thought to increase risky behavior and, thus, the rate of sexually transmitted infections. Military and Veteran females, who incur a rate of gonorrhea that is higher than for civilian females and who suffer more frequent and serious complications than men, represent 15% of active duty military personnel and 2 million Veterans. Thus, our proposed research is relevant to the health and patient care missions of the VA.
2I01BX000727-05A2
Infectious Diseases B (INFB)
Veterans Affairs Medical Center San Francisco
I01 VA Interaction of LOS and Innate Immunity in Neisseria Infection
Jarvis, Gary A. / Veterans Affairs Medical Center San Francisco
I01 VA Lipid A &Innate Immune Receptors in Neisseria Infection
Brunner, Katja; John, Constance M; Phillips, Nancy J et al. (2018) Novel Campylobacter concisus lipooligosaccharide is a determinant of inflammatory potential and virulence. J Lipid Res 59:1893-1905
Anandan, Anandhi; Evans, Genevieve L; Condic-Jurkic, Karmen et al. (2017) Structure of a lipid A phosphoethanolamine transferase suggests how conformational changes govern substrate binding. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 114:2218-2223
John, Constance M; Phillips, Nancy J; Stein, Daniel C et al. (2017) Innate immune response to lipooligosaccharide: pivotal regulator of the pathobiology of invasive Neisseria meningitidis infections. Pathog Dis 75:
John, Constance M; Phillips, Nancy J; Din, Richard et al. (2016) Lipooligosaccharide Structures of Invasive and Carrier Isolates of Neisseria meningitidis Are Correlated with Pathogenicity and Carriage. J Biol Chem 291:3224-38
Liu, Mingfeng; John, Constance M; Jarvis, Gary A (2014) Induction of endotoxin tolerance by pathogenic Neisseria is correlated with the inflammatory potential of lipooligosaccharides and regulated by microRNA-146a. J Immunol 192:1768-77
Stephenson, Holly N; John, Constance M; Naz, Neveda et al. (2013) Campylobacter jejuni lipooligosaccharide sialylation, phosphorylation, and amide/ester linkage modifications fine-tune human Toll-like receptor 4 activation. J Biol Chem 288:19661-72
Be the first to comment on Gary Jarvis's grant
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Film Linc Celebrates 25 Years of Walter Reade
(released 11/22/2016)
By Kimberly Burke
The Film Society of Lincoln Center is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Walter Reade Theater. The Film Society was founded in 1969 and The Walter Reade Theater opened in 1991. The first screenings set the tone for a lasting philosophy of the theater: "films new and old, foreign and Hollywood, provocative and purely enjoyable."
Screenings included:
Pedro Almodovar's High Heels
Orson Welles's 1952 Othello
Errol Morris's A Brief History of Time - a 1991 bio doc about Stephen Hawkins
Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly direct 1949 film On The Town
On the evening of December 8, 2016, The Film Society will have a free double feature of On The Town the first film to screen in the venue and John Cassavetes's Shadows. Prosecco toast for all attendees pre-screening as well as an introduction by 1991 Executive Director Joanne Koch and Program Director Richard Pena is planned. Free tickets to the December 8 screenings will be distributed at the box office 30 minutes before showtime on a first come first serve basis.
In the spirit of 1991, the Walter Reade will open Life Is a Dream: The Films of Raul Ruiz on December 2 and Going Steadi: 40 Years of Steadicam on December 16 with 1991 ticket prices of $5 for members and $7 for students. You can get 1991 pricing online and through the theater box office.
The Walter Reade Theater is located at 165 West 65th Street. Follow the Film Society @filmlinc on Twitter.
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100 Years of HAHR: An Interview with John French, former senior editor
July 11, 2018 by cbv5048
John French is a professor of history and African and African American studies at Duke University. He has published on to class, race, and politics in Brazil, Latin America, and beyond through 42 refereed articles and 3 books: The Brazilian Workers’ ABC (1992), Drowning in Laws (2004), and the coedited volume The Gendered Worlds of Latin American Women Workers (1997). This interview is part of a broader collection of interviews with previous editors of HAHR in celebration of the journal’s 100th anniversary. French was a former senior editor of HAHR when the editorial office was at Duke University (2012–2017) and a Book Review Editor when the editorial office was at Florida International University.
1. When did you first encounter the Hispanic American Historical Review?
Given the hackneyed commonplace about old horses and new tricks, too few people consider that young horses desperately need to master “tricks” they may think are old or dated. This is the contribution of a top-rate journal like HAHR: to put on offer the best of current research—in its diversity of chronologies, foci, and methodological orientations—thus adding to the archive that allows the newly trained to position themselves securely within the global development of our discipline and field of inquiry.
I believe much is lost when you publish in or follow only specialized journals reflecting your particular specialty. Moreover, there is a loss to the transition to the unbundled format in which search mechanisms deliver you to the specific subject you are looking for rather than browsing and reading the physical journal as a historical gestalt that, followed issue by issue, forces you to grapple with “what is the state of historical knowledge and technique at this moment in time?” As a young historian, I read HAHR cover-to-cover including and especially the reviews, and eagerly built up a collection of past HAHR volumes from retiring senior professors. By happenstance, I would find things I did not expect from my browsing given the presentism that characterizes the young, in training, who are absolutely convinced of the superiority of the new and novel and convinced that the past is mostly backwardness. The HAHR is an essential tool that assists a historian to achieve a depth of reflexive self-awareness of past and present best practice.
2. What made you decide to apply for the journal’s editorship? What had you hoped to accomplish as a senior editor?
I was involved in a bid for HAHR as an untenured assistant professor at Florida International University in the early 1990s and served a year as book review editor, a much harder job in a time when potential reviewers were to be found in yellowing index cards. Working under Mark D. Szuchman, the experience convinced me of inestimable contributions—which go well beyond shepherding a piece of scholarship into print—made by good editors and creative editorial teams. At their best, they collaborate with their colleagues by helping them to sharpen their focus, tighten their arguments, and broaden their historiographical contextualization while rethinking their train of causal inference from the evidence.
Once your article is accepted for external review (itself an achievement), scholars often have mixed feelings about strong editors and demanding editorial processes; as we know, it is sometimes easier to get a book published than an article in a top journal. But when I think about my first HAHR article, back in 1988, I realize how much I gained on every level ranging from citation format to the need to make my specialized piece speak to a broader audience of professional historians of the region. When I think about my last experience, in 2010, the reorganization of the article the editors suggested resulted in a leap in the coherence and power of the overall argument. So, when I am asked what I hoped to achieve working as co-editor with Jolie and Pete for five years, it was to offer a similar degree of exquisite engagement and rigorous attention to those practicing Latin American history today and thus keep the field moving forward.
HAHR Covers from Dr. French’s Tenure as Senior Editor
HAHR 93-1
3. As one of the senior editors of the Hispanic American Historical Review as it approached its 100th anniversary, you published research on the journal’s beginnings. Can you tell us a little about how the journal started? Did it face any particular challenges getting off the ground?
One of my treasured experiences as HAHR editor was to participate in the Encuentro Internacional “Las Revistas de Historia en la Consolidacion de la Disciplina en Ibero-America” held in August 2013 at the Universidad Nacional de Bogotá under the leadership of Dr. Mauricio Archila. This was the second of two such meetings—the first was in Mexico City in 2010—that brought together editors from dozens of history journals from throughout Latin America (the declarations of Mexico City and Bogotá continue to be relevant in articulating common concerns). As the only non–Latin American journal invited, HAHR’s editors were proud to be part of a hemispheric-wide gathering of professional historians like the one in 1916 in Buenos Aires that inspired the U.S. representatives to call for the founding of HAHR, one of the earliest specialized historical journals in the US.
4. One bizarre feature of HAHR’s first issue is that it contains a letter from Woodrow Wilson supporting the journal. Can you say a little about the ideological and geopolitical trends amid which the journal first arose?
For all the structuring inequalities and scholarly malpractices of the past, the professional historians of the Americas—and the wider world—share a common and evolving disciplinary foundation and a shared ethics. This allows for the working out of differences of interpretation as part of a nationally, culturally, racially, and linguistically sensitive cosmopolitan pursuit of an ever fuller, more honest, and more powerful explanation of our respective worlds. Historians more than any other discipline should concern themselves reflexively with the constitution and evolution of our common pursuit as it is placed within existing structures of power. As I explain in my article, the scholarly activism of HAHR founders reflected the opportunities offered by the shift from Anglo-Saxonism to Pan Americanism in U.S. diplomatic and intellectual affairs, having already moved away from the Hispanism that first drew U.S. interest to Iberian worlds on both sides of the Atlantic.
5. Say that a historian 100 years from now were to consider the journal as it is today. What would they say about the changed ideological and geopolitical place of the journal? In other words, how has the journal’s role changed in the intervening 100 years from 1918?
Having already rejected the Protestant “Black legend” about Spain, the intellectuals who founded HAHR could be seen to be struggling—within the limits of the prevailing world view of their day—to transcend U.S. religious and nationalist prejudices by creating common ground across the Anglo/Iberian divide through an emphasis on shared liberal and republican values. In this regard, the newly emerging professional community of HAHR would provide—in the face of the ongoing imperialist follies from 1898 to the withdrawal of the Marines from Nicaragua in 1933—sustenance for the “Good Neighbor” as well as the tighter cooperation within the Americas during the war against fascism, Nazism, and Japanese militarism. The exercise of power and its ramifications, direct or indirect, have inescapable ramifications in the work of intellectuals. It is our common task to historicize our knowledge production to go beyond our past blindness—racial, gendered, and cultural—as part of an honest effort to understand and explain what truly makes the world tick. This strong but considered work is the best antidote to the aggressive unilateralism, racism, and cultural disdain still inscribed within the U.S. social formation and our current presidential administration in Washington.
Tags: 100 years, anniversary, Editor, Hispanic American Historical Review, Interview, John French | Permalink
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A contestant in the first-ever Mr. Gay Havana contest.(Photo by: lgbt-cuba-noticias-hoy.blogspot.com)
Features » December 7, 2009
INSIDE CUBA: Gay Life in Cuba
Not much has changed since Reinaldo Arenas’ time.
BY LGBT Cuba News Today
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following posts are from the blog LGBT Cuba News Today. In These Times offers this selection in lieu of the article that was to have been written by Mario José Delgado Gonzáles (ultramarino321@yahoo.com), who was jailed in August for trying to organize a Mr. Gay Havana contest. Delgado is the vice president of the Reinaldo Arenas LGBT Memorial Foundation, a group named for the Cuban poet and author of Before Night Falls.
Several young homosexuals arrested in May are sentenced to prison
Several young gay people, arrested on May 15 on the Island hours before the official celebrations of the Day Against Homophobia, were sentenced to two to four years of prison, according to a press release from the Reinaldo Arenas LGBT Memorial Foundation and the Cuban LGBT Committee for Human Rights.
The organizations didn’t specify the exact number of those sentenced.
The young people were part of a group of 58 homosexuals detained in a raid called “Operacion Pio” (Operation Tweet), who were forced to sign off on charges against them, fined and sent back to their provinces of origin.
“I don’t want faggots walking around Havana–sooner or later I’m going to throw you all in jail after I exhaust all the warnings I’m going to give you,” said Police Capt. Ángel of the Reina district, between San Nicolás and Rayo Streets, after he arrested 58 young people for homosexuality, according to José Luis, an HIV+ transvestite who was arrested four blocks from his home for being homosexual.
“When I got to the station and asked why I’d been detained, an officer tried to hit me–I’m not sure how I avoided it. During the day, I have no complaints, but at night it’s impossible for a transvestite to walk the streets. We live in a great state of fear on the streets. They come and detain you, just like that. And if you complain or defend yourself, it’s worse because they beat you.
“I was on the P7 bus when suddenly it was stopped. The police blocked the transit bus and one of the officers came on the bus looking for homosexuals. He made me and two others get off. I was dressed as a woman. In the Reina district, the police are very violent and aggressive; it’s directed by Capt. Ángel. He hurled insults, told us to shut up and hit us. The Captain said that if we wanted to walk around on the streets, Mariela Castro [Raúl Castro’s daughter, who runs the CENESEX, Cuba’s National Sex Education Center, and has started an anti-homophobia campaign] would have to buy us our own island.” …
Thirty homosexuals are arrested around the Capitol Building.
Thirty homosexuals were arrested Saturday, June 13, when the National Police from the Dragones station parked two Hyundai vans downstairs at the Capitol Building, according to Amaury Cabodevilla Torriente, a blogger and member of the Center for Human and Sexual Rights (formerly Cuban Committee for LGBT Human Rights), an organization focused on monitoring police activities against gays.
Seven young men are arrested in Playa del Chivo
Seven gay youths were arrested this Sunday in Playa del Chivo, outside Havana, for gathering in a public bathing area.
Ignoring the the petition filed with the Ministry of Justice by the board of directors of the Reinaldo Arenas LGBT Memorial Foundation asking for a stop to the police persecution and arrests currently going on in the capital’s homosexual community, seven young gays were arrested at Playa del Chivo for insisting on swimming in the public beach, said Rene Alonso, 18, who was fined 30 pesos after the raid.
“We resisted being displaced; we didn’t want to be forced out of the beach. They don’t have a right to kick us out just because we’re homosexuals. It’s sad but true. The rest of the boys ran when they saw the squad cars.”
Organization asks for help to produce gay event in Havana
After suffering persecution, arrest of its members and confiscation of computers, the board of directors of the Reinaldo Arenas LGBT Memorial Foundation asked for support from international LGBT organizations to produce Havana’s first Mr. Gay contest. Recently, the members of the organizing committee of the contest were seized, beaten, arrested, and had their equipment confiscated by members of state security and the National Revolutionary Police. It happened as organizers met to go over the final details of the contest at the home of Mario José Delgado Gonzáles, a sociology student and the foundation’s vice president. The repressive actions resulted in the arrest of Delgado Gonzáles and Belkis, also a university student and committee member, with the goal of having the contest canceled. Mrs. Gonzáles, mother of Mario José, did not know of her son’s whereabouts for 12 days. In fact, he had been detained by state security and was imprisoned at Villa Marista.
Amidst Repression, Cuba Celebrates Mr. Gay Havana
After a 50 year wait, the Cuban queer community finally celebrated Mr. Gay Havana.
Cuban government security forces and police tried to shut down the cultural event. The repressive state forces beat organizers, arrested activists, confiscated materials and, finally, banned the foundation’s vice president, Mario Jose Delgado Gonzalez, from continuing his university studies in sociology. Delgado Gonzales had been jailed for more than a week without charges after a raid on his home during an organizing meeting. [He has since been released from jail, but is still banned from the university.]
In the days prior to the Mr. Gay Havana event, the leadership, members and supporters of the foundation underwent state persecution, interrogations and intimidation with the explicit purpose of terrorizing them and breaking up the organization. In spite of these repressive actions, the contest took place August 29, at 2 p.m., on Chivo Beach, on the other side of the Havana tunnel, usually one of the places of greatest police persecution and hounding of queers in the capital.
The winners of the Mr. Gay Havana contest are:
THIRD PLACE: Rafael Chávez González, 21 years old, medical student.
SECOND PLACE: Roger de Cruz Caballero, 19 years old, library science student.
FIRST PLACE: Asley Sarriá Arrondo, 21 years old, dancer and culinary student.
Next year, the foundation and the Mr. Gay organizing committee seek support to bring this cultural event to the interior of the country and in this way conduct a nationwide Mr. Gay Cuba contest.
Mr. Gay Havana, a medical student, detained for questioning
Rafael Chávez González, third place winner of the Mr. Gay Havana contest, was detained last Thursday and interrogated by members of State Security for participating in the illegal beauty contest, Mr. Gay Havana, which took place August 29, in Playa del Chivo.
“They told me the Cuban LGBT Foundation was an organization seeking to destroy the revolution, that the Mr. Gay contest was a distraction, one of the many fallacies of capitalism, that it was not a serious contest in any part of the world, and that they didn’t understand how a medical student, educated by the revolution, could take part in an event against the revolution.
“They told me the best thing I could do was to make a public statement saying everything was fraudulent, that what happened in Playa del Chivo was an event organized by homosexual anti-revolutionaries in Florida, and that they could prove that Efren Martinez, the homosexual counter-revolutionary monkey, was behind it all so as to draw attention to alleged human rights violations in Havana.
“They barely let me talk. It was impossible to make them see that the event was a completely cultural thing, that we weren’t being used by anybody, that we’d been told many times by the organizers that it was possible that there would be repercussions because of the event … we heard about what had happened at the home of the foundation’s vice president, how the police beat them and confiscated the electronic equipment in the home, which made some of those who were there flee in fear.
“They insulted me when I told them the contest had been open and held with transparency, that it was the spectators who chose the winners, and how I saw for myself how the foundation formatted the only memory stick they had so they could offer it as a prize–a memory stick the government sells for 30 to 40 CUCs [Cuban convertible currency, roughly equivalent to the U.S. dollar], which would have been impossible for a student from a typical family to buy.
“That’s when they asked me if I was interested in continuing my medical studies. They said all Cuban doctors have to be committed to the revolution and they need to have an unbreakable revolutionary conscience. They said they’d never allow a Cuban medical student to support the counter-revolution being orchestrated in Florida.
“I just hope they don’t ban me from studying medicine just because I took part in a beauty contest.”
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Screw Cuba. Stay in the dark ages and never join the rest of the world. I feel sorry for the poor inhabitants of your cesspool
Posted by Jerald on 2014-04-27 15:57:36
Oh, what happened? This is so embarrassing to Cuban government. They don't have fair treatment to lesbians and gay people. I think Gays have their rights too as humans. digital printing | large format digital printing
Posted by mary jade on 2010-11-02 18:17:24
nayahaha..this is so interesting article...The author teaches at the Nico Lopez Advanced School of the Communist Party as well as at a university in my blogpost. whitetail deer hunting | fallow deer hunts
Posted by Ken Anderson on 2010-10-19 22:43:30
The final two paragraphs of my 2001 commentary: In 1999, the Cuban publishing house Editorial Ciencias Sociales released Homosexuality, Homosexualism and Human Ethics (ISBN: 9590603920), by Pedro de la J. Cruz, a professor and researcher at the Cuban Academy of Sciences. The author teaches at the Nico Lopez Advanced School of the Communist Party as well as at a university. His book places gay rights in an international historical and cultural framework and its tone is very sympathetic. A translation for an English-speaking readership would be extremely helpful. Evidence of homophobia arises now and then. Early this year a homophobic article was published by La Tribuna, a Havana newspaper. There seems to be no organized way within which lesbian, gays and their friends in Cuba can take these up. Cuba's opponents, who don't support gay rights, hypocritically try to use such things to turn people against Cuba. There are no explicitly gay or lesbian organizations, but there are informal meeting places, like Coppelia and the Yara theater. I saw men in drag not experiencing police harassment. And there are informal networks through which people socialize and keep in touch. I had no trouble finding folks. Few legal lobbying organizations exist in Cuba. Gay groups were organized in the early 1990s, but they were asked to dissolve when provisions of the Helms-Burton law made Cuban authorities worry that the groups could be targeted for infiltration and disruption. But perhaps if Cuba had a group like PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), such issues could be addressed better. In the US, PFLAG works ceaselessly to support the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the transgendered, confronting ignorance and prejudice in society. Though I met many gay men who were open and out of the closet, I met very few out lesbians. There must be a lesbian world in Cuba, but it's apparently closeted. So while I wouldn't describe Cuba as a "gay-friendly" place, it's certainly not "gay hostile."
Posted by walterlx on 2010-10-13 23:21:31
Bean Bowen's comments are obvious and appropriate. What more could be said? Well a bit more... NINE YEARS AGO, in an extended commentary comprising four lengthy web pages, I wrote the following which is relevant here: GAY RIGHTS ISSUES IN CUBA The mid 1960s through early 1970s were a time when gay men experienced harsh repression by the Cuban government. Gays were forbidden to enter some professions, like teaching. Some were rounded up and placed in camps euphemistically called Military Units to Aid Production (UMAP). It was a shameful period. It lasted several years. But it ended. Homophobia still exists, but it's not institutionalized, and it's not considered acceptable in polite conversation. Thinking about that period, it's useful to recall that it occurred prior to the Stonewall rebellion (1969) and the rise of the modern gay liberation movement. Homosexuality was still viewed as a psychiatric disorder. The political left, probably reflecting social prejudice, was indifferent, if not hostile, to gay rights. The practices of the past in Cuba were rooted in the traditional homophobia of its culture, from what I could tell. The Roman Catholic Church and its Spanish priesthood were key to this. Cuba's ties to the Soviet Union, whose governing ideology included the stupid and reactionary concept that homosexuality is a product of "capitalist degeneration," exacerbated this problem. The movie "Strawberry and Chocolate" ("Fresa y Chocolate") is widely seen in Cuba as an implicit apology for the repression of that period. The movie is widely available for sale in Cuba. One of its stars is Jorge Perrugoria, a prominent Cuban actor who happens to be heterosexual. No one commented that it might hurt his career to play a gay role. Decades later, Cuba's period of repression continues to be used by opponents to portray the country as a terrible place for everyone, especially for gay men. The movie "Before Night Falls," based on a wildly imaginative memoir by Reinaldo Arenas, shows why the status of Cuban gays is still an issue Cuba solidarity activists need to be attentive to. The movie is worth an entire essay. Fortunately, that essay has already been written by Los Angeles activist Jon Hillson, and you can read it on the web at NY Transfer, in English and Spanish. Today, the problems facing lesbian and gay Cubans are largely cultural, not institutional. Gay Cubans aren't beaten and killed as in the US. In his 1996 book Machos, Maricones and Gays: Cuba and Homosexuality, Canadian scholar Ian Lumsden, while very critical of modern Cuban life, documents the ending of institutionalized discrimination against Cuban gays. FULL: http://www.walterlippmann.com/two-months.html
It’s true that there are no official sanctioned and explicitly sanctioned LGBT oranizations and institutions in Cuba. As a member of PFLAG (Parents Families an Friends of Lesbians and Gays) in the United States, I think it would be better if there were. Fort Worth Web Design
Posted by Bean Bowen on 2010-10-13 23:04:46
While I’m sure that many if not most Cubans retain the same confused or negative feelings toward homosexuality as elsewhere in the world, the Cuban government’s policies don’t support or reflect that, as far as I’ve been able to tell, and I’ve researched in essays and dissertations this for several years.
Posted by Cherryl Miles on 2010-10-10 23:20:22
Frankly speaking I was pretty shocked when I listened to the piece of news found by [url=http://www.mp3hunting.com] mp3 search [/url] describing Fidel Castro's attitude to sexual minorities. For those who forgot, he admitted that during the revolution in Cuba, he unfairly persecuted gays and lesbians! Besides as far as i know under the slogan ‘Homosexuality is not dangerous; homophobia is’, many cities across Cuba hosted the third Cuban Conference on the World Day against Homophobia. So as far as i can judge great efforts are made to promote respect of the rights of the sexual minorities in the Island.
Posted by mike hunter on 2010-09-10 00:59:18
Walter is right. This is a very strange blog to be selected by ITT. Presented with such a limited, distorted view, the uninformed reader remains uninformed. The incidents of oppression alleged in the excerpted blog published in ITT, are not official policy. The last decade has seen a sea change not only in official policy, shedding discriminatory practices, but also in the efforts of the print, electronic and broadcast media to eliminate homophobia in Cuban society. Ojala that all US children should be exposed to sex education in public schools that teaches that diversity is the norm. In conversations with CENESEX staff (the National Center for Sexual Education) I have learned that they continually work to sensitize the police and investigate alleged abuse that comes to their attention. As one example of Cuba
Posted by debrae on 2010-01-05 07:42:29
The idea that "Not much has changed since Reinaldo Arenas
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Breaking story: U.S. immigration lawyer actually understands how and why people renounce U.S. citizenship
Posted on June 16, 2013 by Eric Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 8 Comments
Many of us emigrants here at the Isaac Brock Society have a rather low opinion of U.S. immigration lawyers. Whether it’s mainland China’s one-trick-pony visa consultants who push their wealthy clients into getting utterly unnecessary EB-5 green cards, birth tourism promoters who forget to mention to their decidedly more middle-class clients how much trouble they will have enrolling their American baby in schools in their home countries, clueless Floridians who can’t possibly understand why someone who lived in Canada for four decades wouldn’t want a U.S. passport, or racist San Buenaventura nutters on Yahoo! Answers who go around claiming that oil sheikhs would pay a million dollars for a U.S. passport, this species of attorney often combines greed, jingoism, and complete ignorance of local laws in their clients’ countries of citizenship or U.S. tax laws relating to immigration and citizenship status.
So it’s fortunate to see there are at least some exceptions; let us give credit where credit is due. In an article in India Abroad magazine entitled “Pitfalls of renouncing citizenship”, immigration lawyer Tahmina Watson of Watson Immigration Law in Seattle gives a surprisingly fair and accurate overview of the heated topic of renunciation of citizenship, stemming from a situation that one of her clients faced.
It is not often I meet a person who wants to renounce United States citizenship, at least not within the United States. People generally renounce citizenship outside the US where they can attend an embassy. United States embassies have designated departments handling such matters regularly. Recently, I was sitting at my desk when a call came in. The caller had received US citizenship the day before, but immediately regretted the decision because in doing so, she had lost citizenship in her home country.
Indeed, embassies and consulates are handling such matters far more regularly than the IRS is willing to admit, both from former immigrants who regret their decision to naturalise and native-born Americans who moved abroad to pursue the dream of a better life. Anyway, with the first paragraph of her article, Ms. Watson is already on a better footing than almost every mainstream journalist and even certain tax lawyers, who believe that thoughts of renunciation are a rare phenomenon limited to rich people who wake up one morning deciding to flee the estate tax and then “renounce their citizenship and leave the country without paying their fair share” — a sequence of acts which is not even legally possible.
As a former Indian citizen, my client’s concerns were now rather serious. She cannot own certain property in India, and her dependent children cannot remain Indian citizens because now both she and her husband are US citizens. Although she could apply for an Overseas Citizenship of India Card, the rights under that status are significantly diminished.
“Significantly diminished” … though not as diminished as the rights for former citizens of the United States, even without considering the permanent exile that some corrupt demagogues in Congress keep proposing. India is one of many countries which offer a special “diaspora visa” status to former citizens, allowing them to re-enter the country and reside there for work, education, or simply to care for ageing parents. Simplified permission for former citizens to return to their original countries is a widespread phenomenon; it can be found in countries both rich and poor, countries which espouse an ethnic basis of citizenship and those which define their citizenship in civic terms, and countries which allow dual citizenship and others which forbid it. A cursory internet search reveals that Australia, Denmark, South Korea, and the Philippines all have similar programmes, for example.
The question is now, what can she do? It turns out that the matter is not at all simple. One cannot in fact renounce US citizenship from within the United States, except in certain circumstances.
As we’ve discussed previously on the Isaac Brock Society, the origin of that exception for “certain circumstances” is rather disreputable: it was designed to pressure interned Japanese Americans to renounce their U.S. citizenship during World War II so that they could be deported to Japan. However, seven decades later the courts ruled that attacking and occupying Afghanistan and Iraq indeed constitutes a “state of war” for purposes of that law even if Congress decided to pretend they weren’t exercising their exclusive constitutional privilege to declare war, and so the Department of Justice has become much less enthusiastic about this provision and convinced the “Gang of Eight” to insert provisions in the immigration reform bill to repeal the law entirely.
In addition, while the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service is responsible for the naturalisation process, it does not have jurisdiction to accept renunciations. That responsibility falls within the purview of the US Department of State.
This is something of which even certain USCIS employees seem to be unaware. During the scandal a few years ago over Jamaican politicians illegally holding dual citizenship, among the more colourful revelations was that one audacious lady had claimed to USCIS to be resident in Florida so that she could naturalise as a U.S. citizen … while she was a sitting member of parliament in Jamaica, breaking both countries’ laws at the same time! But it gets better: before the next election in Jamaica, she went to a USCIS office in Florida and handed back her passport, stating she thought this was how you renounced U.S. citizenship — and apparently no one there thought to correct her misconception. Afterwards she flew back to Jamaica on her Jamaican passport, presumably violating the U.S. law requiring all citizens to be in possession of a United States passport when they leave the United States.
There are additional problems. If they were to renounce US citizenship, she does not automatically revert back to being a legal permanent resident, a status she held with great pride for many years. She would have to reapply for legal permanent residence status which may or may not come with some challenges.
As we’ve pointed out previously, there are some examples of people who have managed to get green cards or some sort of U.S. residence visas after renouncing citizenship, though this is presumably not a very common phenomenon. But anyway, I’d better quit before I end up quoting the whole article; go read the rest yourself.
This is quite literally the first American-written article I have seen on renunciation of citizenship which makes no factual errors and does not mention Benedict Arnold, Anwar Al-Awlaqi, or “wealthy people fleeing the estate tax”. So what gives?
Tahmina Watson is an immigration attorney and founder of Watson Immigration Law in Seattle, Washington. She was a practicing barrister in London, United Kingdom before immigrating to the United States herself.
Immigrants: doing the jobs Americans refuse to do, like writing sane and level-headed articles on renunciation of citizenship.
Immigrants Immigration lawyers India Renunciation-Relinquishment of US citizenship
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8 thoughts on “Breaking story: U.S. immigration lawyer actually understands how and why people renounce U.S. citizenship”
Wait until her client hears about the FBARs and 8938′s she should have filed. Double trauma! Welcome to America.
Medea Fleecestealer says
This will give them another reason:
I’m just waiting for the fireworks to start.
Over on her blog, Ms. Watson says thanks for the mention:
https://watsonimmigration.wordpress.com/2013/06/24/isaac-brock-society-quotes-tahmina/
And meanwhile, Immigration Direct (@ImmigrationDir on Twitter) provides us with something more typical of the profession: “Immigration bill could pose a problem for those avoiding taxes”.
http://www.immigrationdirect.com/immigration-news/immigration-reform-2/immigration-bill-could-pose-a-problem-for-those-avoiding-taxes/
A recent report from the Internal Revenue Service on May 8 said that 679 immigrants abandoned U.S. citizenship to forego paying taxes. The IRS gave a list of names in a quarterly report printed in the Federal Register. The report details those individuals who have chosen to renounce their citizenship in the previous three months … According to Fox News, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin is one of the 679 immigrants to renounce citizenship, favoring residence in Singapore where there is no capital gains tax. The Senate is adamant about asking immigrants to be honest when it comes to paying taxes in the future when the new laws are in place.
One can see how the prospect of moving to RBT might be perceived by the dough heads in Congress as allowing some US taxpayers to forgo their tax paying responsibilities in the future.
Why not become even more like Eritrea and just ban renunciations altogether, because that’s what they’re de facto trying to do.
YogaGirl says
Medea, homelanders are perfectly ok for the most part with being kept under watch. They really do buy into the “it’s about safety” and believe that “if you aren’t doing anything wrong, there is no reason to ‘hide’ what you are doing from the govt”. Apparently only the criminally minded worry about things like privacy and due process.
bubblebustin, Congress probably would ban renouncing but can’t b/c it’s enshrined somewhere in the Constitution is a way that’s not really open for interpretation. The next step logically is to make the process as expensive as possible to render it nearly impossible for the average person and economically painfully for those super-rich who still try it. It’s a game. The pendulum swings out far but eventually comes back to center. How long it’s going to take for the USG to even locate center before heading in that direction again is anyone’s guess.
What has to happen is for other countries to simply start refusing to bend to the USG’s will and be its purse puppies. I don’t think that’s going to start in Canada though. We are just too small population wise, too interdependent economically and far too close geographically. China and Russia can do as they please but unless Canada becomes new besties with one or both, collaboration after prolonged stalling is the best there is. I am curious though to see what happens after Obama puts an end to Keystone. His environmental spin speech the other day certainly points to that outcome. What will Harper do? Grow a pair? Doubtful. And our future PM Justin isn’t packing anything bigger himself, so I put no hope in that eventuality.
WhiteKat says
YogaGirl,
“What will Harper do? Grow a pair? Doubtful. And our future PM Justin isn’t packing anything bigger himself, so I put no hope in that eventuality”
I just sprayed my laptop with coffee…lol.
Pingback: The Isaac Brock Society | Late & unreliable Federal Register expatriates list causes political dispute in Haiti
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U.S. ally Turkey looks to Russia and Iran to protect its interests
By Amanda on Thursday, February 14, 2019
Feb. 14, 2019, 5:21 PM GMT
By Dan De Luce
WASHINGTON — As Trump administration officials presided over the second day of an international conference in Warsaw dominated by calls to ratchet up pressure on Iran, one longtime U.S. ally and NATO member was noticeably absent — Turkey.
Snubbing the gathering in Poland, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday attended a rival conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where he planned to meet his Russian and Iranian counterparts to work out a final settlement of the war in Syria.
The dueling summits illustrate President Donald Trump’s struggle to forge a united front against Iran, and reflect Turkey’s drift away from Washington as it finds common ground with Moscow and Tehran, experts and former officials said.
For decades, the U.S. could count on Turkey as a reliable partner that would line up with other allies against Iran and support Washington’s strategic goals. But the political landscape has changed, U.S. influence in the region is in doubt, and Ankara is staking out an independent course, said Colin Clarke, senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, a New York-based think tank.
“I think we’re seeing a realignment,” Clarke told NBC News. “The U.S. has gone from the position where we called the shots, to where we are making mere suggestions to Turkey. That’s a major sea change.”
Turkey’s relations with Washington have come under mounting strain since Erdogan was elected president in 2014, as the Turkish leader has pushed back on U.S. policies and carried out a crackdown on dissent. But the conflict in Syria has opened up the most dramatic divide between the two countries, with Ankara infuriated at Washington’s support for Kurdish forces in Syria, which it sees as a terrorist threat.
When national security adviser John Bolton flew to Ankara in January, Erdogan refused to meet him and expressed outrage at U.S. demands that Turkey refrain from launching strikes against Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria.
Civilians wait at a makeshift checkpoint after fleeing ISIS from the Syrian city of Bagouz on Feb. 9, 2019.Chris McGrath / Getty Images
“We cannot swallow . . . the message that Bolton gave in Israel,” the Turkish president said, and added that Bolton “probably doesn’t know” the difference between ethnic Kurds and armed Kurdish groups.
With the U.S. planning to withdraw its small contingent of 2,000 troops in Syria within months, Turkey has recognized for some time it must reach an accommodation with Russia and Iran to safeguard its interests in Syria, experts said.
“The real power brokers in Syria are Iran and Russia,” said Ilan Goldenberg, a former senior official under the Obama administration and now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a think tank.
The three countries meeting in Sochi have emerged as the dominant players in what appears to be the final phase of the Syrian civil war. Russia and Iran came to the aid of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad and have succeeded in turning the tide of the conflict in Assad’s favor.
A Syrian Democratic Forces fighter stands guard on a rooftop after retaking the city of Raqqa from ISIS fighters on Oct. 20, 2017.Bulent Kilic / AFP/Getty Images file
Turkey cultivated Islamist rebel groups opposed to Assad that have been beaten back for the most part. But Russia and Iran need Turkey’s help in squelching the rebels in their last strongholds in the northern province of Idlib, and Ankara needs Russian and Iranian cooperation to ensure Kurdish forces are kept in check and to pave the way for Syrian refugees to return, former U.S. diplomats said.
“I am confident that our trilateral summit on Syria will provide a new impulse toward stabilization in this country,” Putin said before the talks began in Sochi.
In discussions with Ankara, U.S. officials have revived the idea of a protected “buffer zone” for the Kurds in the northeast, but Erdogan has said any such area would have to be coordinated with Russia.
When an uprising erupted in Syria in 2011, Erdogan had hoped to see Assad fall. But Turkey has since come to accept that Assad is firmly in place, and that the Syrian regime’s patrons — Russia and Iran — will be needed to prevent a Kurdish state forming on Turkey’s southern border, said Aykan Erdemir, a member of the Turkish parliament from 2011-2015.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to the media at the parliament in Ankara on Jan. 8, 2019.Burhan Ozbilici / AP
“Turkey realizes it has lost in Syria. And the Kurdish issue has always been the top priority for Turkey,” said Erdemir, now a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish think tank. And that “means you have to work with Russia,” he said.
As U.N. peace talks on Syria foundered in recent years despite backing from the United States, Turkey joined up with Russia and Iran for an alternative peace process that soon overshadowed the U.N. effort, a result that made the United States look impotent, foreign diplomats and experts said.
At a moment when Turkey’s fragile economy is plagued by debt and inflation, Ankara is anxious to retain close economic cooperation with Moscow, as it relies on gas supplies from Russia and revenues from Russian tourists and from Turkish contractors in Russia, Erdemir said. After a Russian fighter jet was downed by Turkey in November 2015, Moscow banned charter vacation trips to the country, dealing a severe blow to Turkey’s tourism industry.
Erdogan also sees Russia as an important alternative source for weapons. Ankara has ignored warnings from two successive U.S. administrations against buying the Russian-made S-400 missile system and Turkish officials say the plan to wrap up the purchase later this year.
Musa, a 25-year-old Kurdish marksman, stands atop a building as he looks at the destroyed Syrian town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, on Jan. 30, 2015. Kurdish forces recaptured the town on the Turkish frontier in a symbolic blow to the jihadists who have seized large swathes of territory in their onslaught across Syria and Iraq.Bulent Kilic / AFP – Getty Images file
Turkey is not alone in seeking to cultivate Russia, as other U.S. partners in the Middle East — including Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates — see Moscow as stepping into a vacuum left by the U.S., offering arms and energy deals.
“Everybody in the region is looking at Russia,” Goldenberg said. “With their relatively small intervention in Syria, they were basically were able to turn the tide in a regional war.”
Like Russia, Turkey has opposed the Trump administration’s hardline on Iran, and Erdogan has threatened to defy the U.S. sanctions reimposed on Tehran, calling them an “imperial” policy. During the last round of sanctions that preceded the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, Turkey was accused of turning a blind eye to sanctions busting.
The Trump administration last year granted Turkey an exemption to allow it to purchase oil from Iran, though at lower levels. But it remains clear if the White House is ready to renew the waiver to Ankara later this year.
Erdogan’s harsh treatment of political opponents, journalists and other critics, along with his preference for an Islamist political model at the expense of the country’s secular traditions, has put him at odds with the United States and the European Union. But he has dismissed Western objections, and his supporters point out that the democracies of Europe refused to open the door to Turkey’s request for EU membership for years.
Turkey has also bristled at America’s close embrace of Riyadh, opposing Saudi Arabia’s embargo on Qatar while competing with the kingdom to serve as the region’s leading Sunni power.
When the Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi was killed in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul in October, Erdogan’s government leaked out damning details of the incident, forcing Riyadh to revise its official explanation more than once. “Turkey saw an opportunity to embarrass the Saudis, to gain leverage,” Goldenberg said.
So far, Turkey has yet to pay a serious price for its disagreements with Washington and European powers. Congress has threatened to sanction Turkey if it goes ahead with acquiring the Russian-made S-400 missiles, and Trump threatened to imposed sanctions if Ankara crushed the Kurds in Syria. But Erdogan has calculated that the United States is not ready to hit its old ally hard with punitive measures, experts said.
“I think he believes he has impunity in relations with the EU and the U.S., ” Erdemir said of the Turkish president. “Erdogan knows that Putin will push back, Iran will push back, not but the U.S.”
Dan De Luce
Dan De Luce is a reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit.
Josh Lederman contributed.
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Page 1 of 74 (7307 events)
July 28, 1945: Empire State Building Is Struck by a US Army B-25 Bomber
Crash by a US Army B-25 bomber on July 28, 1945. [Source: NPR]A B-25 bomber crashes into the Empire State Building in New York City, causing 14 deaths. Lieutenant Colonel William Franklin Smith Jr. is piloting the B-25 Mitchell bomber on a routine personnel transport mission from Boston to LaGuardia Airport. He asks for clearance to land, but is advised of zero visibility. Proceeding anyway, he is disoriented by fog and starts turning right instead of left after passing the Chrysler Building. At 9:40 a.m., the plane crashes into the north side of the Empire State Building, between the 78th and 80th floors, carving an 18-foot hole in the building where the offices of the National Catholic Welfare Council are located. One engine shoots through the side opposite the impact. It flies as far as the next block where it lands on the roof of a nearby building and starts a fire that destroys a penthouse. The other engine and part of the landing gear plummet down an elevator shaft. The resulting fire is extinguished in 40 minutes. It is the only fire at such a height that is ever successfully controlled. Fourteen people are killed in the incident and one person is injured. Despite the damage and loss of life, the building opens for business on many floors the following Monday. The crash helps spur the passage of the long-pending Federal Tort Claims Act of 1946, allowing people to sue the government for the accident. [National Public Radio, 7/28/2008]
Entity Tags: William Franklin Smith Jr., Empire State Building
Category Tags: Other Pre-9/11 Events
1958-1999: NORAD Reduces Number of Fighters on ‘Alert,’ Protecting American Airspace
The NORAD emblem. [Source: NORAD]The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the military organization responsible for monitoring and defending US airspace, gradually reduces the number of aircraft it has on “alert”—armed and ready for immediate takeoff—in response to the changing nature of the threats it has to defend against, so that there will be just 14 fighter jets on alert across the continental United States when the 9/11 attacks take place. [Jones, 2011, pp. 7-8]
NORAD Has 1,200 Interceptor Aircraft in 1960 - NORAD is a bi-national organization, established by the US and Canada in 1958 to counter the threat posed by the Soviet Union. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 16] It is initially responsible for intercepting any Soviet long-range bombers that might attack the Northern Hemisphere. By 1960, it has about 1,200 interceptor aircraft dedicated to this task. But during the 1960s, the Soviets become less reliant on manned bombers, and shift instead to ballistic missiles. In response to this changed threat and also budget constraints, the number of NORAD interceptor aircraft goes down to about 300 by the mid-1970s.
NORAD's Mission Changes after Cold War Ends - With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, the threats NORAD has to counter change significantly. During the early 1990s, NORAD’s mission consequently changes from one of air defense to one of maintaining “air sovereignty,” which NORAD defines as “providing surveillance and control of the territorial airspace.” The new mission includes intercepting suspicious aircraft, tracking hijacked aircraft, assisting aircraft in distress, and counterdrug operations. [General Accounting Office, 5/3/1994, pp. 14-15; 9/11 Commission, 2/3/2004 ; Jones, 2011, pp. 7] As this change takes place, the number of aircraft defending American airspace is reduced. In 1987, there are 52 fighters on alert in the continental United States. [Filson, 1999, pp. 112-113] But by December 1999, there are just 14 alert fighters remaining around the continental US. [Airman, 12/1999]
Number of Alert Sites Goes Down Prior to 9/11 - The number of NORAD “alert sites”—bases where the alert aircraft are located—is also reduced in the decades prior to 9/11. During the Cold War, there are 26 of these sites. [9/11 Commission, 6/17/2004; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 16] By 1991, there are 19 of them, according to Major General Larry Arnold, the commander of NORAD’s Continental US Region from 1997 to 2002. [Filson, 2003, pp. v] By 1994, according to a report by the General Accounting Office, there are 14 alert sites around the US. [General Accounting Office, 5/3/1994, pp. 1] And by 1996, only 10 alert sites remain. [Utecht, 4/7/1996, pp. 9-10]
Military Officials Call for Eliminating Alert Sites - In the 1990s, some officials at the Pentagon argue for the alert sites to be eliminated entirely. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 16-17] The Department of Defense’s 1997 Report of the Quadrennial Defense Review indicates that the number of alert sites around the continental US could be reduced to just four, but the idea is successfully blocked by NORAD (see May 19, 1997). [Filson, 2003, pp. iv-v, 34-36; 9/11 Commission, 2/3/2004 ] However, three alert sites are subsequently removed from the air sovereignty mission. These are in Atlantic City, New Jersey; Burlington, Vermont; and Great Falls, Montana. [American Defender, 4/1998]
Seven Alert Sites Remain - By December 1999, therefore, there are just seven alert sites around the continental US, each with two fighters on alert. These sites are Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida; Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida; Portland Air National Guard Base, Oregon; March Air Reserve Base, California; Ellington Air National Guard Base, Texas; Otis Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts; and Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. Only two of these sites—Otis ANGB and Langley AFB—serve the northeastern United States, where the hijackings on September 11 will take place. [Airman, 12/1999; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 17]
Entity Tags: North American Aerospace Defense Command, Larry Arnold
Category Tags: US Air Security
May 2, 1968: Advert in New York Times Warns of WTC Danger, Shows Plane About to Strike One of the Towers
A 1968 advert with an artist’s rendition of a plane hitting the WTC. [Source: Committee for a Reasonable World Trade Center]A civic group opposed to the building of the World Trade Center publishes a nearly full-page advertisement in the New York Times, warning that the new buildings will be so tall that a commercial airliner might crash into them. The group, called the Committee for a Reasonable World Trade Center, is mainly composed of New York real estate developers who are worried that the huge construction project will glut the market. Its leader is Lawrence A. Wien, a real estate mogul who is an owner of the Empire State Building in New York. [New York Times Magazine, 9/8/2002; New York Times Magazine, 9/8/2002] In July 1945, a B-25 Army bomber struck the Empire State Building, killing 14 people. [New York Times, 2/26/1981] The committee’s advertisement shows an artist’s rendition of a large jet plane about to strike one of the proposed towers. [New York Times Magazine, 9/8/2002; New York Times Magazine, 9/8/2002]
Entity Tags: Lawrence A. Wien
Category Tags: WTC Investigation
(Between December 1969 and January 1970): Trainee Army Officer Imagines Scenario of Suicide Pilot Crashing Plane into US Capitol
Dan Hill. [Source: Amanda Gordon / Bloomberg]Dan Hill, a US Army Ranger who is undergoing officer training, comes up with a hypothetical plan by which the Soviet Union could start a nuclear war with the United States, which involves a suicide pilot crashing a military transport plane into the US Capitol building in Washington, DC.
Trainees Tasked with Imagining How to Start a World War - After his tour in Vietnam came to an end in mid-1969, Hill was chosen for the career officer training program at Fort Benning, Georgia. He is currently taking a course in nuclear weapons deployment. Toward the end of the semester, he is given the assignment of imagining he is a Soviet premier who wants to start World War III against the US. Hill and his fellow trainees are told to prepare a written plan, describing how they would initiate the war.
Plan Involves Crashing Plane into Capitol Building - Hill comes up with a plan, which he gives the code name “State of the Union.” It involves recruiting and training a suicide pilot, obtaining a C-47 transport plane, and filling it with explosives. Then, as journalist and author James B. Stewart will describe: “On the night of the State of the Union, the pilot would fly the plane straight into the Capitol building, through the rotunda, and into the House of Representatives, where the bombs on the plane would be set to explode. He’d take out the president, his cabinet, the members of the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and most senators and representatives. At that moment, the Soviet Union would unleash its nuclear missiles.” According to Hill, everyone in the US would be “watching TV, there’s no air defense around the Capitol; by the time anyone realized an aircraft was near, it would be too late.”
Commander Questions Hill about His Plan - On the Monday after Hill submits his plan, a lieutenant colonel in intelligence stops him on his way to class and says, “I’ve got some people who would like to talk to you.” Hill is taken to a room where Major General John Carley, the assistant commander of the infantry school, is waiting, along with six men in uniform and several other men who are dressed in dark suits, all of them looking serious. Carley is holding Hill’s paper and asks, “How did you come up with this?” Hill replies, “This is my area of expertise,” and explains that he has been trained in unconventional warfare, counterterrorism, the use of explosives, and demolition. He is then questioned for almost an hour about his plan. Finally, Carley says, “We’d prefer you forget you ever did this.” Hill agrees to do so and is then dismissed.
Hill Informs Friend about His Plan - Hill writes to his friend Rick Rescorla, who has also served in the Army, about the incident. In his reply, Rescorla writes: “You evil-minded b_stard! When you have these thoughts, don’t publicize them to anyone. The plan is tactically and technically proficient; it makes sense, but only to people like you and me. To the rest of the world, it looks like the workings of a deviant mind. This kind of thing terrifies people.” [Stewart, 2002, pp. 152-153] Rescorla will subsequently work as the head of security for a company at the World Trade Center. [New Yorker, 2/11/2002] While he is in that position, he will be drawing from Hill’s plan when, after the 1993 bombing, he determines that terrorists will likely target the WTC again by crashing a cargo plane into it (see Shortly After February 26, 1993). [Stewart, 2002, pp. 193-194] Hill will learn that, shortly after his meeting with Carley, enhanced air defenses were installed for Washington. He will therefore think that some good may have come from the meeting. [Stewart, 2002, pp. 153]
Entity Tags: Rick Rescorla, John Carley, Daniel J. Hill
Category Tags: Warning Signs
1972: Police Psychologist Suggests the Possibility of Terrorists Crashing a Plane into a Crowded Stadium during the Munich Olympics
Georg Sieber. [Source: Sarah Morris]Dr. Georg Sieber, a West German police psychologist, imagines the possibility of terrorists using a plane as a weapon and crashing it into the crowded Olympic Stadium when he comes up with a list of scenarios for possible attacks that could occur when his country hosts the Olympic Games. [Graff, 2011, pp. 40] In the months leading up to this year’s Olympics in Munich, organizers ask Sieber to conduct a risk analysis and predict worst-case scenarios for the games. The psychologist is “a serious student of global terrorist activity,” according to historian and author David Clay Large. For his analysis, he examines the activities of the most ruthless terrorist groups, such as the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Palestine Liberation Organization, the West German Baader-Meinhof gang, and the Basque separatist group ETA. He comes up with 26 worst-case scenarios, which he outlines in minute detail. Most of the scenarios focus on the Olympic Village where athletes will stay during the games. They include bombings by the IRA and ETA, and kidnappings by the Italian Mafia and the Uruguayan terrorist group Tupamaros. Notably, one of the scenarios involves a 9/11-style event in which Swedish neo-fascists hire a jet aircraft and deliberately crash it into the packed Olympic Stadium in a suicide attack. The organizers, however, are unhappy with Sieber’s predictions. Manfred Schreiber, the Munich police chief, thinks they are too far-fetched and unrealistic. Sieber is asked to come up with some scenarios that are less frightening and that the organizers will consider more likely to occur. One of his imagined catastrophes, however, turns out to be eerily prescient. It involves armed Palestinian commandos getting into the Olympic Village, invading the Israeli team’s apartment, killing one or two hostages, and then demanding the release of Arab political prisoners from Israeli jails and a plane to fly the terrorists to a friendly Arab capital. [Time, 8/25/2002; Large, 2012, pp. 120] An attack almost identical to this occurs on the morning of September 5, during the Olympics. It involves eight men affiliated with the Palestinian terrorist group Black September breaking into the Israeli team’s apartment, and taking hostage 11 athletes and coaches. [Time, 9/5/2014] Sieber’s plane crash scenario will also turn out to be prescient in its resemblance to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. It “foreshadowed a September day in another city many years later,” Time magazine will comment in 2002. [Time, 8/25/2002]
Entity Tags: Manfred Schreiber, Georg Sieber
November 10-12, 1972: Hijackers Threaten to Crash a Plane into a Nuclear Facility in ‘the Most Chilling Domestic Hijacking in US History’
William Haas, the pilot of Southern Airways Flight 49. [Source: Smithsonian Institution]Three men hijack a commercial airliner and threaten to crash it into a nuclear plant, and authorities also fear they might crash it into President Richard Nixon’s winter home in Florida. [Graff, 2011, pp. 43-47] The hijacking occurs on Southern Airways Flight 49, a DC-9 bound from Memphis, Tennessee, to Miami, Florida, with scheduled stops in Birmingham, Alabama, Montgomery, Alabama, and Orlando, Florida. [Slate, 6/19/2013] The plane has 27 passengers and four crew members on board. The hijackers—three men with criminal records—are Lewis Moore, Henry Jackson, and Melvin Cale. The aim of the hijacking, Moore will later say, is to bring attention to the brutality and racism of the Detroit Police Department. The ordeal, which lasts 29 hours, is, at the current time, “the most chilling domestic hijacking in US history,” according to national security historian Timothy Naftali. [Naftali, 2005, pp. 61; Detroit Free Press, 6/6/2016]
Hijackers Demand a $10 Million Ransom - The hijackers manage to smuggle guns and grenades onto Flight 49 in a raincoat. [Slate, 6/19/2013] The plane takes off from Memphis at 5:05 p.m. on November 10. The hijackers seize control of it at 7:22 p.m., during the second leg of the flight. One of them enters the cockpit carrying a revolver and with an arm around the neck of a flight attendant. He tells the pilot, William Haas, “Head north, Captain, this is a hijacking.” [Detroit Free Press, 11/12/1972; Graff, 2011, pp. 43] The hijackers demand $10 million to release the plane. [Naftali, 2005, pp. 61] Haas transmits a hijack code to air traffic controllers who, in response, begin the well-known and widely used procedures for dealing with a hijacking. They notify the FBI in Washington, DC, and the Federal Aviation Administration’s special hijacking command post.
Airline Is Told of the Hijackers' Ransom Demand - The plane lands in Jackson, Mississippi, at 8:10 p.m. to be refueled and then takes off at 8:36 p.m., heading for Detroit, Michigan, where the hijackers intend to settle their complaints with city officials. At around 10:30 p.m., while the plane is circling over Detroit, the FBI notifies the city’s mayor and Southern Airways of the hijackers’ ransom demand. At 12:05 a.m. on November 11, the plane leaves the Detroit area due to bad weather and heads for Cleveland, Ohio, where it lands and is refueled. It takes off from Cleveland at 1:38 a.m. and heads for Toronto, Canada.
Hijackers Threaten to Crash the Plane into a Nuclear Facility - While it is on the ground in Toronto, the hijackers learn that Southern Airways has only gathered $500,000 in ransom money. They refuse to take this and release the passengers. Consequently, after being refueled, the plane takes off at 6:15 a.m. and flies back to the US. It heads for Knoxville, Tennessee. As it is ascending, the hijackers tell controllers that unless their demands are met, they will crash Flight 49 into the Oak Ridge nuclear facility, near Knoxville. [Detroit Free Press, 11/12/1972; Graff, 2011, pp. 43-45] Jackson says: “We’re tired of all this bull. No more foolin’ around. We’re taking this f_cker to Oak Ridge and dive it into a nuclear reactor.” [Burleson, 2007, pp. 66] By this time, the White House, the Pentagon, and the Atomic Energy Commission are all involved in dealing with the crisis. [Graff, 2011, pp. 45] Meanwhile, key personnel at Oak Ridge discuss the possible outcomes of Flight 49 crashing into their facility. At the bare minimum, they all agree, the impact could rupture the protective shell and result in a massive release of radioactivity; the worst possibility is a core meltdown. [Burleson, 2007, pp. 66-67]
White House Official Talks to the Hijackers - The plane diverts to Lexington, Kentucky, to be refueled and, by 11:00 a.m., is again over Oak Ridge. The hijackers are then connected to the White House. John Ehrlichman, the president’s top domestic aide, comes on the radio and Jackson tells him, “I’m up over Oak Ridge, where I’ll either throw a grenade or I’ll put this plane down nose first.” He says he and the other hijackers want a letter signed by the president stating that their ransom money is a grant from the government and they won’t be prosecuted. Ehrlichman says it will take some time to fulfil their request.
Hijackers Receive the Ransom Money - The hijackers then direct the plane to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where it lands at 1:30 p.m. It is refueled and the hijackers are given the ransom money, along with food and other supplies. Southern Airways has only been able to put together $2 million, but the airline is assuming—correctly, as it turns out—that the hijackers will lack the time to count the money and realize it is much less than the amount they demanded. The plane leaves Chattanooga at 2:35 p.m. and heads to Cuba, where many hijackers fled during the 1960s and early 1970s.
Authorities Fear the Plane May Be Crashed into the President's Winter Home - As Flight 49 is flying south over Florida, authorities become concerned that the hijackers might crash it into the president’s retreat in Key Biscayne, where Nixon is currently staying. Military officials contact Florida’s Homestead Air Reserve Base and fighter jets there are placed on alert as a precaution. Fortunately, no incident occurs and Flight 49 lands in Havana at 4:49 p.m. However, to the surprise of the hijackers, the Cubans are unhappy about the plane’s arrival and soldiers surround the aircraft after it touches down. José Abrantes, President Fidel Castro’s head of security, explains to the hijackers the nation’s discomfort about the situation. Therefore, after being refueled, Flight 49 leaves Havana and heads back to the US.
FBI Agents Shoot the Plane's Tires - It lands at McCoy Air Force Base in Orlando at 9:17 p.m. By now, Robert Gebhardt, assistant director of the FBI’s investigative division, has given the order to disable the plane when it is next on the ground. Consequently, after it lands, FBI agents start shooting at its tires. The hijackers, realizing what is happening, order Haas to start the plane’s engines. In the panic that follows, Jackson threatens Harold Johnson, the co-pilot, and shoots him in the arm in front of the terrified passengers. The hijackers give the order to take off and, despite now having two flat tires, the plane is able to get off the ground. Jackson then orders Haas to fly to Cuba again. The damaged plane makes an emergency landing in Havana at 12:32 a.m. on November 12. [Detroit Free Press, 11/12/1972; Graff, 2011, pp. 45-52] Cuban soldiers then arrest the hijackers and seize the ransom money, so it can be returned to Southern Airways. [Slate, 6/19/2013]
New Security Measures Will Be Introduced in response to the Hijacking - The catastrophic incident will lead to increased security in the aviation industry. Within two months, mandatory screening of all passengers and carry-on luggage will be introduced. The Justice Department will sign an agreement with the Department of Defense, making military assistance available to the FBI in the event of a terrorist emergency. Other measures will be considered but not introduced, such as armoring cockpit doors, allowing pilots to carry weapons, and centralizing airport security nationwide under a single agency. [Naftali, 2005, pp. 66-67; Graff, 2011, pp. 53] “No one understands the impact that this flight and this 30-hour ordeal had on the nation, and transforming everyone, from the White House to the FBI, to the way that we board an airplane every day,” Brendan Koerner, author of a book about aircraft hijackings, will comment in 2016. [Detroit Free Press, 6/6/2016] As a result of the hijacking of Flight 49, “the American public for the first time began to take the question of terrorism seriously and began to accept trade-offs of civil liberties in exchange for greater security,” journalist and author Garrett Graff will write. [Graff, 2011, pp. 53-54]
Entity Tags: Federal Aviation Administration, José Abrantes, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homestead Air Reserve Base, Harold Johnson, William Haas, Henry Jackson (hijacker), United States Atomic Energy Commission, Lewis Moore, White House, Melvin Cale, John Ehrlichman, US Department of Defense, Southern Airways, Robert Gebhardt
Category Tags: Warning Signs, US Air Security
1973-2002: Saudi Billions Lay Groundwork for Radical Militancy
In 1973, the price of oil skyrockets, bringing a huge amount of wealth to Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Middle Eastern countries. The Center for Security Policy (CSP), a Washington think tank, will calculate in 2003 that, between 1975 and 2002, the Saudi government spends over $70 billion on international aid. More than two thirds of the money goes to Islamic related purposes such as building mosques and religious schools. This money usually supports Wahhabism, a fundamentalist version of Islam dominant in Saudi Arabia but far less popular in most other Islamic nations. CSP scholar Alex Alexiev calls this “the largest worldwide propaganda campaign ever mounted” in the history of the world. In addition, private Saudi citizens donate many billions more for Wahhabi projects overseas through private charities. Some of the biggest charities, such as the Muslim World League and its affiliate, the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), are headed by Saudi government officials and closely tied to the government. The IIRO takes credit for funding 575 new mosques in Indonesia alone. Most of this money is spent on benign purposes with charitable intentions. But US News and World Report will assert in 2003: “Accompanying the money, invariably, was a blizzard of Wahhabist literature.… Critics argue that Wahhabism’s more extreme preachings—mistrust of infidels, branding of rival sects as apostates, and emphasis on violent jihad—laid the groundwork for terrorist groups around the world.” [US News and World Report, 12/7/2003; US News and World Report, 12/15/2003]
Entity Tags: Saudi Arabia, International Islamic Relief Organization, Center for Security Policy, Muslim World League, Alex Alexiev
Category Tags: Saudi Arabia, Terrorism Financing
February 22, 1974: Man Tries to Take Over a Commercial Aircraft to Crash It into the White House
Samuel Joseph Byck. [Source: Unknown]Samuel Joseph Byck, an unemployed former tire salesman from Philadelphia, tries to hijack a commercial aircraft with the intent of crashing it into the White House and killing President Richard Nixon, but commits suicide when his attempt runs into difficulties. Byck has focused his resentment on Nixon after being turned down for a loan by the Small Business Administration. He has come up with a plot to assassinate the president, called “Operation Pandora’s Box,” which entails hijacking an airliner and crashing it into the White House on a day when Nixon is there. [Edmund Preston, 1987, pp. 52-53; LA Weekly, 9/12/2001; Weekly View, 4/10/2014]
Man Shoots a Guard before Boarding a Plane - A few hours before making his assassination attempt, Byck mails a tape-recorded message in which he describes his plan to the renowned investigative reporter Jack Anderson. [Casa Grande Dispatch, 7/28/2004] Then, early this morning, he drives to Baltimore-Washington International Airport to carry out the plot. He has with him a revolver and a bomb, which he made using gasoline housed in motor oil bottles and a crude igniter switch. At the airport, without warning, he pulls out the revolver and shoots dead a security guard. He then leaps over the security check and gets onto Delta Air Lines Flight 523 to Atlanta, Georgia, a DC-9, choosing this plane because it is the nearest flight that is ready to take off.
Man Shoots the Pilots and Threatens to Blow Up the Plane - On the plane, Byck orders the pilots to take off immediately. They say they are unable to take off until the wheel blocks have been removed. Frustrated by the delay, Byck shoots the pilots, fatally wounding one of them. In his desperation, he then grabs a passenger and orders her to “fly the plane.” He also threatens to blow up the plane unless a flight attendant closes the door. After a standoff between Byck and the police ensues, a police officer starts firing through the cabin door, and two of his shots hit and wound Byck. Then, as the authorities close in, Byck commits suicide by shooting himself in the head. A briefcase containing the gasoline bomb is subsequently found under his body.
Incident 'Resonates' in American Minds after 9/11 - Following this incident, a bunker will be built deep inside the White House and large guns will be placed on the roof of the White House. A report published by the Federal Aviation Administration in 1987 will note that while Byck “lacked the skill and self-control to reach his target, he had provided a chilling reminder of the potential of violence against civil aviation.” After the attempted assassination occurs, Byck’s plot to kill Nixon will remain little known except within the US Secret Service. But it will again be mentioned in reports after 9/11. Then, one journalist will remark that “the terrifying memory of Samuel Byck’s misguided scheme resonates in every American’s mind whenever the thought of 9/11 visits our nightmares.” And LA Weekly will comment, “In the evolution of terrorism, the use of American commercial airliners as murder weapons was ‘pioneered’ by… Byck.” [Edmund Preston, 1987, pp. 52-53; LA Weekly, 9/12/2001; Weekly View, 4/10/2014]
Entity Tags: Jack Anderson, Samuel Joseph Byck, Richard M. Nixon
1976: James Bath Opens Aircraft Brokerage Firm; Investors Tied to BCCI and Osama bin Laden
James Bath, who has some unexplained ties to George W. Bush, opens an aircraft brokerage firm. Investors for the firm include Texas Governor John Connally, alleged Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) Saudi front man Ghaith Pharaon, and Saudi banker Khalid bin Mahfouz, a major BCCI shareholder and husband to one of Osama bin Laden’s sisters. Time magazine will later report that “Bath’s penchant for secrecy has been frustrated by a feud with a former business partner, Bill White, who claims that Bath was a front man for CIA business operations. White contends that Bath has used his connections to the Bush family and Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen to cloak the development of a lucrative array of offshore companies designed to move money and airplanes between the Middle East and Texas.” Bath will deny White’s claims, saying, “I am not a member of the CIA or any other intelligence agency.” However, he will acknowledge knowing Bush from serving with him during his time in the Texas Air National Guard. But, as Time will note: “Even so, Bath, while insisting he is nothing more than a ‘small, obscure businessman,’ is associated with some of the most powerful figures in the US and Middle East. Private records show, and associates confirm, that Bath is a ‘representative’ for several immensely wealthy Saudi families, an unusual position for any small-time Texas businessman.” As Time will note, “The firm that incorporated Bath’s companies in the Cayman Islands is the same one that set up a money-collecting front company for Oliver North in the Iran-Contra affair.” [Time, 6/24/2001] There will be further evidence linking both Bath and bin Mahfouz to Bush (see June 4, 1992 and 1988).
Entity Tags: Ghaith Pharaon, George W. Bush, Lloyd Bentsen, John Connally, Bank of Credit and Commerce International, James Bath, Khalid bin Mahfouz
1976: Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt Founded, Funds Political Growth of Islamist Movement
Founded in 1976, Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt (FIBE) is part of the banking empire built by Saudi Prince Mohammed al-Faisal. Several of the founding members are leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood, including the “Blind Sheikh,” Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman. The growth of Islamic banking directly funds the political growth of the Islamist movement and allows the Saudis to pressure poorer Islamic nations, like Egypt, to shift their policies to the right. The Islamic banking boom is closely associated with the neoliberal free-trade philosophy of the Chicago School of Economics, with the free-trade prescriptions of the International Monetary Fund, and with conservative think-tanks like the Virginia-based Islamic Free Market Institute. FIBE is also closely associated with the infamous Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), which will be found to be deeply implicated in the illegal arms and narcotics trades, and with the funding of terrorist organizations when it collapses in 1991. Investigators will also find that BCCI held $589 million in “unrecorded deposits,” $245 million of which were placed with FIBE. [Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 164 - 175]
Entity Tags: Operation Bright Star, Omar Abdul-Rahman, Mohammed al-Faisal al-Saud, Chicago School of Economics, Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood
Category Tags: Terrorism Financing, BCCI
September 1, 1976-Early 1980s: Secret Intelligence Cabal Works with Rogue CIA Elements to Influence Middle East and Africa
Alexandre de Marenches. [Source: Thierry Orban/ Corbis Sygma]Prince Turki al-Faisal, head of Saudi intelligence from 1979, will say in a 2002 speech in the US: “In 1976, after the Watergate matters took place here, your intelligence community was literally tied up by Congress. It could not do anything. It could not send spies, it could not write reports, and it could not pay money. In order to compensate for that, a group of countries got together in the hope of fighting Communism and established what was called the Safari Club. The Safari Club included France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Iran.” [Scott, 2007, pp. 62] An Egyptian reporter digging through Iranian government archives will later discover that the Safari Club was officially founded on September 1, 1976. Alexandre de Marenches, head of the French external intelligence service SDECE, is the chief instigator of the group. Millions are spent to create staff, offices, communications, and operational capability. Periodic secret conferences are held in Saudi Arabia, France, and Egypt. The group plays a secret role in political intrigues in many countries, mostly in Africa and the Middle East. For instance, a rebellion in Zaire is put down by Moroccan and Egyptian troops, using French air support. It also plays a role in the US-Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty of 1979. [Cooley, 2002, pp. 15-17] Author Joe Trento will allege that the Safari Club, and especially the Saudi intelligence agency led by Kamal Adham and then his nephew Prince Turki from 1979 onwards, fund off-the-books covert operations for the CIA. But rather than working with the CIA as it is being reformed during the Carter administration, this group prefers to work with a private CIA made up of fired agents close to ex-CIA Director George H. W. Bush and Theodore Shackley, who Trento will allege is at the center of a “private, shadow spy organization within” the CIA until he is fired in 1979. The Safari Club and rogue CIA will play a major role in supporting the mujaheddin in Afghanistan. [Scott, 2007, pp. 63-64, 111] It is unclear when the Safari Club disbands, but its existence is exposed not long after the shah is deposed in Iran in 1979, and it seems to have disappeared by the time de Marenches steps down from being head of French intelligence in 1982. [Cooley, 2002, pp. 15-17]
Entity Tags: Theodore Shackley, Alexandre de Marenches, Safari Club, Kamal Adham, George Herbert Walker Bush, Turki al-Faisal
Category Tags: US Dominance, BCCI
Shortly After September 1, 1976: CIA and Other Intelligence Agencies Use BCCI to Control and Manipulate Criminals and Terrorists Worldwide
Agha Hasan Abedi. [Source: Terry Kirk / Financial Times]The Safari Club, a newly formed secret cabal of intelligence agencies (see September 1, 1976-Early 1980s), decides it needs a network of banks to help finance its intelligence operations, investigative journalist Joseph Trento will later report. Saudi Intelligence Minister Kamal Adham is given the task. “With the official blessing of George H. W. Bush as the head of the CIA, Adham transformed a small Pakistani merchant bank, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), into a worldwide money-laundering machine, buying banks around the world to create the biggest clandestine money network in history.” BCCI was founded in 1972 by a Pakistani named Agha Hasan Abedi, who was an associate of Adham’s. Bush himself has an account at BCCI established while he was still director of the CIA. French customs will later raid the Paris BCCI branch and discover the account in Bush’s name. [Trento, 2005, pp. 104] Bush, Adham, and other intelligence heads work with Abedi to contrive “a plan that seemed too good to be true. The bank would solicit the business of every major terrorist, rebel, and underground organization in the world. The intelligence thus gained would be shared with ‘friends’ of BCCI.” CIA operative Raymond Close works closely with Adham on this. BCCI taps “into the CIA’s stockpile of misfits and malcontents to help man a 1,500-strong group of assassins and enforcers.” [Trento, 2005, pp. 104] Soon, BCCI becomes the fastest growing bank in the world. Time magazine will describe it as not just a bank, but also “a global intelligence operation and a Mafia-like enforcement squad. Operating primarily out of the bank’s offices in Karachi, Pakistan, the 1,500-employee black network has used sophisticated spy equipment and techniques, along with bribery, extortion, kidnapping, and even, by some accounts, murder. The black network—so named by its own members—stops at almost nothing to further the bank’s aims the world over.” [Time, 7/22/1991]
Entity Tags: Raymond Close, Safari Club, George Herbert Walker Bush, Agha Hasan Abedi, Kamal Adham, Central Intelligence Agency, Bank of Credit and Commerce International
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Pakistan and the ISI, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism Financing, BCCI
1977-1981: Nationalities Working Group Advocates Using Militant Islam Against Soviet Union
In 1977 Zbigniew Brzezinski, as President Carter’s National Security Adviser, forms the Nationalities Working Group (NWG) dedicated to the idea of weakening the Soviet Union by inflaming its ethnic tensions. The Islamic populations are regarded as prime targets. Richard Pipes, the father of Daniel Pipes, takes over the leadership of the NWG in 1981. Pipes predicts that with the right encouragement Soviet Muslims will “explode into genocidal fury” against Moscow. According to Richard Cottam, a former CIA official who advised the Carter administration at the time, after the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1978, Brzezinski favored a “de facto alliance with the forces of Islamic resurgence, and with the Republic of Iran.” [Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 241, 251 - 256]
Entity Tags: Richard Pipes, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Nationalities Working Group
Timeline Tags: US International Relations, Neoconservative Influence, War in Afghanistan
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War
April 1977: Movie Has Terrorists Attempting to Crash Explosive-Laden Blimp into Super Bowl Stadium
Back Sunday. [Source: Paramount Pictures]Black Sunday, a big-budget action film, has a storyline centered on a terrorist group trying to hijack the blimp used by television networks to film the Super Bowl football game from the air. The plot by a group of Palestinian terrorists is to load the blimp’s cabin with explosives and poisoned shrapnel, and detonate them over the thousands of spectators at the Super Bowl stadium, including the president of the United States who is attending the game. To stop the terrorists, the FBI calls upon a Mossad agent who has received wind of the plot. This film will be recalled after 9/11 for its resemblance to that day’s attacks. [New York Times, 4/1/1977; New York Times, 9/13/2001]
(1978-9): Bin Laden Visits US, Britain, or Both
Osama Bin Laden visits the US, Britain or both around this time. Author Peter Bergen will later say, “Undoubtedly, bin Laden took his son for medical treatment to a western country and it’s either the United States or the [Britain]. There’s some kind of controversy about that.” Khaled Batarfi, a close childhood friend to bin Laden, will later recall more specifically, “In Washington airport, Dulles Airport, people were surprised at the way he dressed, his wife dressed. Some of them were even taking photos and he was kind of joking about it. We were like in a zoo.” [New Yorker, 12/5/2005; CNN, 8/23/2006] According to author Lawrence Wright, bin Laden visits London to seek medical advice for his young son, Abdul Rahman. Abdul Rahman was born with hydrocephalus and bin Laden considers the condition so bad that he goes abroad to seek medical advice. However, he does not like what he hears in London and returns home with his son to Saudi Arabia without letting the doctors operate. Bin Laden then treats Abdul Rahman with folk remedy, but the child becomes mildly retarded and requires special attention. [Wright, 2006, pp. 81] Bin Laden is also said to visit London later (see Early 1990s-Late 1996).
Category Tags: Osama Bin Laden
1978: CIA Begins Covert Action in Afghanistan
The CIA begins covert action against the Communist government in Afghanistan, which is closely tied to the Soviet Union. Some time this year, the CIA begins training militants in Pakistan and beaming radio propaganda into Afghanistan. By April 1979, US officials are meeting with opponents of the Afghan government to determine their needs. [Blum, 1995, pp. 344] Robert Gates, who will become CIA Director in the early 1990s, will later recall that in a meeting on March 30, 1979, Under Secretary of Defense Walter Slocumbe wonders aloud whether there is “value in keeping the Afghan insurgency going, ‘sucking the Soviets into a Vietnamese quagmire.’” [Gates, 1996, pp. 145] In March 1979, there is a major revolt in Herat province, and in June and August there are large scale army mutinies. [Cooley, 2002, pp. 5] President Carter will formally approve covert aid to opponents of the government in July (see July 3, 1979), which will result in a Russian invasion in December (see December 8, 1979).
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Robert M. Gates, Walter Slocumbe
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Counterterrorism Action Before 9/11
1978-1982: Criminal BCCI Secretly Buys CIA’s Main US Bank; Even as CIA Uses Bank for Covert Operations
Kamal Adham. [Source: Adham Center]Beginning in 1978, a group of foreign investors attempt to buy First American Bankshares, the biggest bank in the Washington, D.C., area. This group is fronted by Kamal Adham, the longtime Saudi intelligence minister until 1979. In 1981, the Federal Reserve asks the CIA for information about the investors, but the CIA holds back everything they know, including the obvious fact that Adham was intelligence minister. As a result, the sale goes through in 1982. It turns outs that Adham and his group were secretly acting on behalf of the criminal Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), and BCCI takes over the bank. [Washington Post, 7/30/1991; US Congress, Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, 12/1992] Time magazine will later report that “the CIA kept some accounts in First American Bank, BCCI’s Washington arm.” But additionally, “Government investigators now have proof that First American had long been the CIA’s principal banker. Some of the more than 50 agency accounts uncovered at the bank date back to the 1950s. BCCI owned the CIA’s bank for a decade.” [Time, 3/9/1992] The CIA soon learns that BCCI secretly controls the bank, if the CIA didn’t already know this from the very beginning. By 1985, the CIA will secretly inform the Treasury Department on the bank’s control by BCCI, which would be illegal. But no action is taken then or later, until BCCI is shut down. Sen. John Kerry’s BCCI investigation will later conclude, “even when the CIA knew that BCCI was as an institution a fundamentally corrupt criminal enterprise, it used both BCCI and First American, BCCI’s secretly held US subsidiary, for CIA operations. In the latter case, some First American officials actually knew of this use.” [US Congress, Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, 12/1992]
Entity Tags: US Federal Reserve, First American Bankshares, Central Intelligence Agency, Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Kamal Adham, US Department of the Treasury
November 1978-February 1979: Some US Officials Want to Support Radical Muslims to Contain Soviet Union
In December 1978, President Carter’s National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski says, “An arc of crisis stretches along the shores of the Indian Ocean, with fragile social and political structures in a region of vital importance to us threatened with fragmentation. The resulting political chaos could well be filled by elements hostile to our values and sympathetic to our adversaries.” [Time, 1/8/1979] There is widespread discontent and rioting in Iran at the time. State Department official Henry Precht will later recall that Brzezinski had the idea “that Islamic forces could be used against the Soviet Union. The theory was, there was an arc of crisis, and so an arc of Islam could be mobilized to contain the Soviets.” [Scott, 2007, pp. 67] In November 1978, President Carter appointed George Ball head of a special White House Iran task force under Brzezinski. Ball recommends the US should drop support for the Shah of Iran and support the radical Islamist opposition of Ayatollah Khomeini. This idea is based on ideas from British Islamic expert Dr. Bernard Lewis, who advocates the balkanization of the entire Muslim Near East along tribal and religious lines. The chaos would spread in what he also calls an “arc of crisis” and ultimately destabilize the Muslim regions of the Soviet Union. The Shah will later comment in exile, “I did not know it then, perhaps I did not want to know? But it is clear to me now that the Americans wanted me out. Clearly this is what the human rights advocates in the State Department wanted. What was I to make of the Administration’s sudden decision to call former Under Secretary of State George Ball to the White House as an adviser on Iran? Ball was among those Americans who wanted to abandon me and ultimately my country.” [Engdahl, 1992] While there is later debate about US policy towards Iran actually is at this time, it will be noted that the Carter administration had “no clear policy” due to internal divisions and confusion. [Keddie, 2003] The Shah abdicates on January 16, 1979, and Ayatollah Khomeini returns from exile to Iran on February 1, 1979, taking over the government. Brzezinski will attempt to create a de facto alliance with Khomeini’s new fundamentalist government, but his efforts will come to a half with the Iranian hostage crisis in November 1979 (see February-November 4, 1979).
Entity Tags: Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, James Earl “Jimmy” Carter, Jr., George Ball, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Bernard Lewis, Henry Precht, Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Counterterrorism Policy/Politics, US Dominance, US Intel Links to Islamic Militancy
1979-1991: Criminal BCCI Bank Repeatedly Saves Pakistan from Financial Ruin
By 1979, Pakistan’s economy is on the brink of collapse. Pakistan owes large debts to international organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but lacks the money to pay off its loans. The criminal BCCI bank led by Agha Hasan Abedi comes up with a scheme to save Pakistan’s economy. In 1979, the IMF says that if Pakistan increases its hard currency reserves by at least $50 million for 90 days, Pakistan’s State Bank can raise the lending limits for commercial banks. With banks able to make more loans, the economy will be able to perform better. BCCI secretly loans the State Bank the hard currency until the 90 days are over and then takes it back. Having established this system, BCCI helps Pakistan’s State Bank numerous times in subsequent years to avoid financial limitations placed on Pakistan. BCCI will finally collapse in 1991 (see July 5, 1991). [Beaty and Gwynne, 1993, pp. 292-293]
Entity Tags: Bank of Credit and Commerce International, International Monetary Fund, Pakistan State Bank, World Bank
Category Tags: Pakistan and the ISI, BCCI
1979-1991: US Government Ignores Over 700 Tips about BCCI’s Criminal Activities
According to a 1992 Congressional investigation led by Congressman Charles Schumer (D-NY), between 1979 and 1991, federal law enforcement agencies receive more than 700 tips about BCCI’s criminal activities. The criminal BCCI bank will finally be shut down in 1991 (see July 5, 1991). The tips include BCCI involvement in:
Promoting political unrest in Pakistan.
Smuggling arms to various countries, including Syria, Libya, and Iran.
Financing terrorist groups.
Links to organized crime in the US and Italy.
Time magazine reporters Jonathan Beaty and S.C. Gwynne will later comment in a book: “Too many people knew too much about BCCI, and they knew it long before the bank spun itself into bankruptcy and scandal.… That [CIA Deputy Director] Robert Gates could jokingly refer to it in a conversation with Customs chief William von Raab as the “bank of crooks and criminals” three years before the scandal broke merely reflects the run of knowledge around Washington. Indeed, it would probably have been difficult to find very many people with real power who did not know about the bank, based on the wide distribution of CIA reports.” Schumer will later conclude: “At the very least, there was nobody putting together all the pieces.… You could make a credible case that somebody told them not to do anything about BCCI.” [Beaty and Gwynne, 1993, pp. 346]
Entity Tags: William von Raab, Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Charles Schumer, Robert M. Gates
Category Tags: BCCI
1979-February 22, 2003: Al-Qaeda Affiliate in Southeast Asia Deeply Penetrated by Indonesian Government Mole
A young Fauzi Hasbi. [Source: SBS Dateline]Fauzi Hasbi, the son of a separatist leader in the Indonesian province of Aceh, is captured by an Indonesian military special forces unit in 1979 and soon becomes a mole for the Indonesian government. Hasbi becomes a leader in the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), and he also plays a long-time role in Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaeda affiliate. For many years, he literally lives next door to Jemaah Islamiyah leaders Abu Bakar Bashir and Hambali (see April 1991-Late 2000). In 2005, the Australian television program SBS Dateline will present documents that it claims “prove beyond doubt that Fauzi Hasbi had a long association with the [Indonesian] military.” For instance, military documents dating from 1990 and 1995 give him specific spying tasks. [SBS Dateline, 10/12/2005] In February 2001, the Indonesian magazine Tempo documents some of Hasbi’s links to the Indonesian military, after he has been linked to a major role the Christmas bombings in Indonesia two months earlier (see December 24-30, 2000 and February 20, 2001). He admits to having some ties to certain high-ranking military figures and says he has had a falling out with GAM, but denies being a traitor to any militant group. [Tempo, 2/20/2001; Tempo, 2/27/2001] Yet even after this partial exposure, he continues to pose as an Islamist militant for the military. A 2002 document shows that he is even assigned the job of special agent for BIN, Indonesia’s intelligence agency. [SBS Dateline, 10/12/2005] A December 2002 report by a US think tank, the International Crisis Group, details his role as a government mole. He and two of his associates are abducted and killed in mysterious circumstances in the Indonesian city of Ambon on February 22, 2003. Seven suspects, including an Indonesian policeman, later admit to the killings but their motive for doing so remains murky. [Agence France-Presse, 5/22/2003]
Entity Tags: Tentara Nasional Indonesia, Jemaah Islamiyah, Free Aceh Movement, Badan Intelijen Negara, Fauzi Hasbi
Category Tags: Other Possible Moles or Informants, Al-Qaeda in Southeast Asia, 2002 Bali Bombings, Indonesian Militant Collusion
February-November 4, 1979: US Attempt to Create De Facto Alliance with Khomeini’s Iranian Government Ends Disastrously
After the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi is deposed in Iran and Ayatollah Khomeini takes over as Iran’s new leader in February 1979, the US is interested in continuing to work with the Iranian government. At first the US is taken aback by the new fundamentalist Islamic government, and National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski contemplates fomenting a military coup to stop Khomeini. But Khomeini is fiercely anti-communist, and Brzezinski soon decides that Iran’s new government can become part of an effective anti-Soviet alliance he calls the “arc of crisis’ (see November 1978-February 1979). The US embassy in Teheran, Iran, remains open, and more US officials come to Iran and begin tentative talks there. [Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 236-243] The CIA in particular begins secretly collaborating with Iranian intelligence, providing information about the Soviet Union, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The CIA and Iran both covertly work to destabilize the pro-Soviet government in Afghanistan. [Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 264-265] In early November 1979, Brzezinski secretly meets with Iranian Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, as well as Iran’s foreign minister and defense minister, in Algiers, Algeria. But shortly before the meeting, the US agrees to allow the Shah, dying with cancer, to come to the US for medical treatment. Khomeini is enraged, and on November 4, just three days after the Algeria meeting begins, Khomeini arranges for students to take over the US embassy in Teheran and seize hostages. This realigns political forces in Iran and allows Khomeini to sideline Bazargan and other others meeting in Algeria, rendering the negotiations there moot. Brzezinski’s attempts to create a de facto alliance with Iran collapse. The US hostages will be held for over a year before finally being freed. [Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 240-243]
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Mehdi Bazargan, Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini, Zbigniew Brzezinski
Timeline Tags: US confrontation with Iran, War in Afghanistan
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Counterterrorism Policy/Politics
May 1979: CIA Begins Working with Hekmatyar and Other Mujaheddin Leaders Chosen by ISI
As the US mobilizes for covert war in Afghanistan (see 1978 and July 3, 1979), a CIA special envoy meets Afghan mujaheddin leaders at Peshawar, Pakistan, near the border to Afghanistan. All of them have been carefully selected by the Pakistani ISI and do not represent a broad spectrum of the resistance movement. One of them is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a drug dealer with little support in Afghanistan, but who is loyal to the ISI. The US will begin working with Hekmatyar and over the next 10 years over half of all US aid to the mujaheddin will go to his faction (see 1983). Hekmatyar is already known as brutal, corrupt, and incompetent. [McCoy, 2003, pp. 475] His extreme ruthlessness, for instance, his reputation for skinning prisoners alive, is considered a plus, as it is thought he will use that ruthlessness to kill Russians. [Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 267-268]
Entity Tags: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Central Intelligence Agency, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Pakistan and the ISI
Shortly After November 20, 1979: Bin Laden Brother Arrested over Medina Mosque Siege, Osama Also Possibly Arrested
Juhayman al-Otaibi. [Source: Public domain]One or two of the bin Laden brothers are arrested over the attempted takeover of the Grand Mosque in Medina. One of the brothers is Mahrous, the other is, according to author Steve Coll, “probably Osama.”
Inside Job? - The mosque had been seized by about five hundred rebels opposed to the Saudi royal family, led by a militant named Juhayman al-Otaibi. The rebels had apparently used Bin Laden company vehicles to stock ammunition and food in the mosque prior to its seizure, indicating some people at the company were sympathetic to them. According to one account, the two brothers are not held for long; a bin Laden company employee will say the arrest is a mistake as the arresting policemen wrongly think the two brothers are conspirators just because they are monitoring police radio traffic. [Coll, 2008, pp. 225-228]
Mahrous bin Laden - Other accounts say that Mahrous, who joined a rebel group opposed to the Saudi government in the 1960s, is held for longer and only eventually released from prison because of the close ties between the bin Ladens and the Saudi royal family. Mahrous will abandon the rebel cause and join the family business, eventually being made a head of the Medina branch and a member of the board. He will still hold these positions on 9/11, although a newspaper will report that “his past [is] not forgiven and most important decisions in the [bin Laden family business] are made without Mahrous’ input.” [Sunday Herald (Glasgow), 10/7/2001; New Yorker, 11/5/2001; Ha'aretz, 12/18/2002]
Later Comment by Osama - Osama’s position on the seizure of the mosque at this time is not known, although he will later criticize the Saudi king for not negotiating a surrender. Coll will suggest that, although he is one of the most devout members of the bin Laden family at this time, he is not in league with the rebels as he is more concerned with his own material wellbeing. [Coll, 2008, pp. 229]
Older Bin Ladens Assist Besiegers - In contrast to Osama, several other family members, including Salem, Mustafa, Yahya, and Yeslam, work extremely hard to take back the mosque. As the bin Ladens actually renovated the mosque, they are able to provide the Saudi government with detailed plans to help their assault. After the rebels retreat underground, the family brings in equipment to drill holes in the floor, so that government troops can drop grenades down on holdouts. [Coll, 2008, pp. 225-226]
Entity Tags: Yahya bin Laden, Steve Coll, Saudi Binladin Group, Mustafa bin Laden, Osama bin Laden, Mahrous bin Laden, Salem bin Laden, Yeslam bin Laden
Category Tags: Osama Bin Laden, Saudi Arabia, Bin Laden Family
December 8, 1979: Soviet Forces, Lured in by the CIA, Invade Afghanistan
Soviet tanks entering Afghanistan in late 1979. [Source: Banded Artists Productions]The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan. The Russians were initially invited in by the Afghan government to deal with rising instability and army mutinies, and they start crossing the border on December 8. But on December 26, Russian troops storm the presidential palace, kill the country’s leader, Haizullah Amin, and the invitation turns into an invasion. [Blum, 1995, pp. 342] Later declassified high-level Russian documents will show that the Russian leadership believed that Amin, who took power in a violent coup from another pro-Soviet leader two months before, had secret contacts with the US embassy and was probably a US agent. Further, one document from this month claims that “the right wing Muslim opposition” has “practically established their control in many provinces… using foreign support.” [Cooley, 2002, pp. 8] It has been commonly believed that the invasion was unprovoked, but the Russians will later be proven largely correct. In a 1998 interview, Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Adviser, will reveal that earlier in the year Carter authorized the CIA to destabilize the government, provoking the Russians to invade (see July 3, 1979). [Le Nouvel Observateur (Paris), 1/1998; Mirror, 1/29/2002] Further, CIA covert action in the country actually began in 1978 (see 1978), if not earlier (see 1973-1979). The US and Saudi Arabia will give a huge amount of money (estimates range up to $40 billion total for the war) to support the mujaheddin guerrilla fighters opposing the Russians, and a decade-long war will ensue. [Nation, 2/15/1999]
Entity Tags: United States, Saudi Arabia, Haizullah Amin, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Central Intelligence Agency
Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline, War in Afghanistan
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Pakistan and the ISI, Saudi Arabia
December 26, 1979: Memo to President Carter Gives Pakistan Green Light to Pursue Nuclear Weapons Program
Front row: Pakistani President Muhammad Zia ul-Haq (left) and President Carter (right). Zbigniew Brzezinski is in the center of the back row. [Source: Wally McNamee / Corbis]National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski writes a memo to President Jimmy Carter about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which has just begun (see December 8, 1979). Brzezinski focuses on fears that success in Afghanistan could give the Soviets access to the Indian Ocean, even though Afghanistan is a landlocked country. He suggests the US should continue aid to the Afghan mujaheddin, which actually began before the war and spurred the Soviets to invade (see 1978 and July 3, 1979). He says, “This means more money as well as arms shipments to the rebels and some technical advice.” He does not give any warning that such aid will strengthen Islamic fundamentalism. He also concludes, “[W]e must both reassure Pakistan and encourage it to help the rebels. This will require a review of our policy toward Pakistan, more guarantees to it, more arms aid, and alas, a decision that our security problem toward Pakistan cannot be dictated by our nonproliferation policy.” Carter apparently accepts Brzezinski’s advice. Author Joe Trento will later comment, “With that, the United States agreed to let a country admittedly in turmoil proceed to develop nuclear weapons.” [Trento, 2005, pp. 167-168] Trento and fellow author David Armstrong will add: “Once [Pakistan] became a partner in the anti-Soviet Afghan campaign and the Carter administration adopted a more lenient view of Pakistan’s nuclear activities, the [procurement] network [run by A. Q. Khan] expanded its operations dramatically. It would soon evolve into a truly global enterprise, obtaining the vast array of sophisticated equipment with which Pakistan would eventually build a bomb.” [Armstrong and Trento, 2007, pp. 99]
Entity Tags: James Earl “Jimmy” Carter, Jr., David Armstrong, Joseph Trento, Zbigniew Brzezinski
Timeline Tags: A. Q. Khan's Nuclear Network, War in Afghanistan
1980: Afghan Fighters Begin Training in US
Some fighters opposing the Soviets in Afghanistan begin training in the US. According to journalist John Cooley, the training is done by Navy Seals and Green Beret officers who have taken draconian secrecy oaths. Key Pakistani officers are trained, as well as some senior Afghan mujaheddin. Much of the training takes place in Camp Peary, near Williamsburg, Virginia, which is said to be the CIA’s main location for training spies and assets. Other training takes place at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Harvey Point, North Carolina, and Fort A. P. Hill, Virginia. Subjects are trained in how to detect explosives, surveillance, how to recruit new agents, how to run paramilitary operations, and more. They are taught to use many different weapons as well, including remote-controlled mines and bombs, and sophisticated timers and explosives. Cooley claims that “apparently [no] Arab or other foreign volunteers” are trained in the US. [Cooley, 2002, pp. 70-72] However, in the late 1980s, US consular official Michael Springmann will notice fighters from many Middle Eastern nations are getting US visas, apparently to train in the US for the Afghan war (see September 1987-March 1989). Additionally, more training takes place in other countries. For instance, Cooley will note, “By the end of 1980, US military trainers were sent to Egypt to impart the skills of the US Special Forces to those Egyptians who would, in turn, pass on the training to the Egyptian volunteers flying to the aid of the mujaheddin in Afghanistan.” Cooley will further note, “Time and time again, these same techniques reappear among the Islamist insurgents in Upper Egypt and Algeria, since the ‘Afghani’ Arab veterans began returning there in the late 1980s and early 1990s.” [Cooley, 2002, pp. 70-72] It is not known how long these training programs continue.
Entity Tags: Green Berets, Central Intelligence Agency, Michael Springmann, Navy Seals
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, US Intel Links to Islamic Militancy
1980-1989: $600 Million for Afghan War Passes through Bin Laden Charity Fronts
From 1980 to 1989, about $600 million is passed through Osama bin Laden’s charity fronts, according to Michael Scheuer, head of the CIA’s first bin Laden unit. Most of it goes through the charity front Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK), also known as Al-Kifah. The money generally comes from donors in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf, and is used to arm and supply the mujaheddin fighting in Afghanistan. Mohammad Yousaf, a high ranking ISI official, will later say, “It was largely Arab money that saved the system,” since so much of the aid given by the CIA and Saudi Arabia was siphoned away before it got to Afghanistan. “By this I mean cash from rich individuals or private organizations in the Arab world, not Saudi government funds. Without those extra millions the flow of arms actually getting to the mujaheddin would have been cut to a trickle.” [Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 279-280] Future CIA Director Robert Gates will later claim that in 1985 and 1986, the CIA became aware of Arabs assisting and fighting with the Afghan mujaheddin, and the CIA “examined ways to increase their participation, perhaps in the form of some sort of ‘international brigade,’ but nothing came of it.” [Coll, 2004, pp. 146] However, a CIA official involved in the Afghan war will claim that the CIA directly funded MAK (see 1984 and After).
Entity Tags: Maktab al-Khidamat, Robert M. Gates, Osama bin Laden, Michael Scheuer, Central Intelligence Agency, Mohammad Yousaf
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Terrorism Financing, Al-Kifah/MAK
1980-1989: CIA and British Train Mujaheddin in Afghanistan and Help Arm Bin Laden
Fearing a diplomatic incident, CIA and other US agents rarely venture into Afghanistan. Generally speaking, soldiers from the British elite Special Air Service (SAS) work with and train the mujaheddin instead. The SAS provides weapons training in Afghanistan until 1982 when Russian soldiers find the passports of two British instructors in a training camp. After that, mujaheddin are trained in secret camps in remote parts of Scotland. When the US decides to supply Stinger missiles to the mujaheddin in 1986, it is the SAS who provide the training in how to use them (see September 1986). But the SAS is taking orders from the CIA. The CIA also indirectly gives weapons to Osama bin Laden and other mujaheddin leaders. One former US intelligence official will say in 1999, “[US agents] armed [bin Laden’s] men by letting him pay rock-bottom prices for basic weapons.” But this person notes the relationship will later prove to be embarrassing to bin Laden and the CIA. “Of course it’s not something they want to talk about.” [Reeve, 1999, pp. 168]
Entity Tags: Special Air Service, Central Intelligence Agency, Osama bin Laden
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Osama Bin Laden
1980-1990: Two Yemeni Sheikhs Serve as Bin Laden Advisers During Soviet-Afghan War
Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad serves as Osama bin Laden’s “spiritual adviser” during the war between the Soviet Union and the US-backed mujaheddin in Afghanistan, according to a statement made by Sheikh al-Moayad at his trial in 2004-2005. [CNN News, 8/2/2005] Al-Moayad’s trial in the United States will cause resentment in Yemen because he is a highly-esteemed cleric and member of the influential Islah party. [Associated Press, 3/10/2005] Another of bin Laden’s “mentors” at this time is Abdul Mejid al-Zindani, a dynamic mujaheddin recruiter who becomes a leader of the Islah party. Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh’s half-brother and military commander Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar also recruits mujaheddin fighters for Bin Laden. These fighters will later establish training camps in Yemen. [World Press, 5/28/2005]
Entity Tags: Al-Qaeda, Abdul Mejid al-Zindani, Osama bin Laden, Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Yemeni Militant Collusion
Early 1980: Osama Bin Laden, with Saudi Backing, Supports Afghan Rebels
Bin Laden, dressed in combat fatigues, in Afghanistan during the 1980’s. (Note the image has been digitally altered to brighten the shadow on his face.) [Source: CNN]Osama bin Laden begins providing financial, organizational, and engineering aid for the mujaheddin in Afghanistan, with the advice and support of the Saudi royal family. [New Yorker, 11/5/2001] Some, including Richard Clarke, counterterrorism “tsar” during the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, believe he was handpicked for the job by Prince Turki al-Faisal, head of Saudi intelligence (see Early 1980 and After). [New Yorker, 11/5/2001; Sunday Times (London), 8/25/2002] The Pakistani ISI want a Saudi prince as a public demonstration of the commitment of the Saudi royal family and as a way to ensure royal funds for the anti-Soviet forces. The agency fails to get royalty, but bin Laden, with his family’s influential ties, is good enough for the ISI. [Miami Herald, 9/24/2001] (Clarke will argue later that the Saudis and other Muslim governments used the Afghan war in an attempt to get rid of their own misfits and troublemakers.) This multinational force later coalesces into al-Qaeda. [Clarke, 2004, pp. 52]
Entity Tags: Turki al-Faisal, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, Richard A. Clarke, Saudi General Intelligence Presidency
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Osama Bin Laden, Saudi Arabia
Early 1980: Pakistan Turns to Islamic Fundamentalism after Invasion of Afghanistan
Muhammad Zia ul-Haq. [Source: Associated Press]General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq seized power in Pakistan in a 1977 coup and declared himself president. The US stopped all economic and military aid to Pakistan as a result of the coup and Zia ruled cautiously in an attempt to win international approval. But immediately after the Russian invasion of Afghanistan (see December 8, 1979), the US allies with Zia and resumes aid. This allows Zia to use Islam to consolidate his power without worrying about the international reaction. He passes pro-Islamic legislation, introduces Islamic banking systems, and creates Islamic courts. Most importantly, he creates a new religious tax which is used to create tens of thousands of madrassas, or religious boarding schools. These schools will indoctrinate a large portion of future Islamic militants for decades to come. [Gannon, 2005, pp. 138-142] Zia also promotes military officers on the basis of religious devotion. The Koran and other religious material becomes compulsory reading material in army training courses. “Radical Islamist ideology began to permeate the military and the influence of the most extreme groups crept into the army,” journalist Kathy Gannon will write in her book I is for Infidel. [Gannon, 2005, pp. 138-142] The BBC will later comment that Zia’s self-declared “Islamization” policies created a “culture of jihad” within Pakistan that continues until present day. [BBC, 8/5/2002]
Entity Tags: Muhammad Zia ul-Haq
Early 1980 and After: Bin Laden Serves as Middleman between Saudi Intelligence and Afghan Warlords
Abdul Rasul Sayyaf. [Source: BBC]As Osama bin Laden gets involved with the mujaheddin resistance in Afghanistan, he also develops close ties to the Saudi intelligence agency, the GIP. Some believe that Saudi Intelligence Minister Prince Turki al-Faisal plays a middleman role between Saudi intelligence and mujaheddin groups (see Early 1980). Turki’s chief of staff is Ahmed Badeeb, and Badeeb had been one of bin Laden’s teachers when bin Laden was in high school. Badeeb will later say, “I loved Osama and considered him a good citizen of Saudi Arabia.” Journalist Steve Coll will later comment that while the Saudi government denies bin Laden is ever a Saudi intelligence agent, and the exact nature of his connections with the GIP remains murky, “it seems clear that bin Laden did have a substantial relationship with Saudi intelligence.” [Coll, 2004, pp. 72, 86-87] The GIP’s favorite Afghan warlord is Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, while Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is the Pakistani ISI’s favorite warlord. Bin Laden quickly becomes close to both Sayyaf and Hekmatyar, even though the two warlords are not allies with each other. [Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 268] Some CIA officers will later say that bin Laden serves as a semi-official liaison between the GIP and warlords like Sayyaf. Bin Laden meets regularly with Prince Turki and Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif. Badeeb will later say bin Laden developed “strong relations with the Saudi intelligence and with our embassy in Pakistan.… We were happy with him. He was our man. He was doing all what we ask him.” Bin Laden also develops good relations with the ISI. [Coll, 2004, pp. 72, 87-88] Bin Laden will begin clashing with the Saudi government in the early 1990s (see August 2, 1990-March 1991).
Entity Tags: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Turki al-Faisal, Steve Coll, Saudi General Intelligence Presidency, Ahmed Badeeb, Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan and the ISI, Saudi Arabia
Early 1980s: FBI Encounters Problems Passing Intelligence Information to Criminal Prosecutors, ‘Wall’ Arises
Due to apparent problems with the use of intelligence information in criminal proceedings, a set of procedures that later becomes known as the “wall” begins to take shape. The FBI, which performs both criminal and counterintelligence functions, normally obtains two types of warrants: criminal warrants and warrants under the recently passed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). FISA warrants are thought to be easier to obtain, as the FBI only has to show that there is probable cause to believe the subject is a foreign power or an agent of one. Sometimes a case begins as an intelligence investigation, but results in a criminal prosecution. In court the defense can then argue that the government has abused FISA and obtained evidence by improperly using the lower standard, so any evidence obtained under FISA should not be allowed in court. Although the government can use information it happens to obtain under a FISA warrant for a criminal prosecution, if the purpose of obtaining information under a FISA warrant is for a criminal prosecution, this is in violation of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against warrantless searches. To combat this apparent problem, the special FISA Court decides that for a warrant under FISA to be granted, collecting intelligence information must be the primary purpose, although such information can be used in a criminal investigation provided the criminal investigation does not become the primary purpose of the surveillance or search. As a result of these procedures, when the FBI is conducting an intelligence investigation and uncovers evidence of criminal activity, it no longer consults local United States Attorneys’ Offices, but prosecutors within the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. The prosecutors then decide when the local attorney’s office should become involved. [US Department of Justice, 11/2004, pp. 21-24 ] The wall will be extended in the 1990s (see July 19, 1995) and will be much criticized before and after 9/11 (see July 1999 and April 13, 2004).
Entity Tags: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Department of Justice, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
January 23, 1980: Invasion of Afghanistan Leads to Build Up of US Forces in Persian Gulf
In the wake of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (see December 8, 1979), President Carter declares in his annual State of the Union address, “An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.” This will become known as the Carter Doctrine. [Scott, 2007, pp. 69, 303] The US immediately follows up with a massive build up of military forces in the region. New military arrangements are made with Kenya, Oman, Somalia, Egypt, and Pakistan. In March 1980, a Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force is created, which will be renamed US Central Command (or Centcom) several years later. [Scott, 2007, pp. 78-79, 308-309]
Entity Tags: James Earl “Jimmy” Carter, Jr., US Central Command
Timeline Tags: US Military, War in Afghanistan
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, US Dominance
April 1980: New Leader of Lebanese Militia Forms Alliances with Hezbollah, US Agencies, and Others
Nabih Berri in 1982. [Source: Reza / Corbis]Nabih Berri takes over the Amal Militia, a Shi’a Lebanese paramilitary organization, and tries to build it up as a power base for himself. Although not a fundamentalist Muslim, Berri allies himself with the new regime in Iran and Hezbollah, a fundamentalist Lebanese Shi’a party backed by Iran. Berri also manages to convince Syrian authorities that he will represent their interests in Lebanon and comes to a similar arrangement with the Ba’ath party in Iraq. This is a difficult balance for Berri to keep, as journalists Joe and Susan Trento will later point out, “If he displeased the Iranian mullahs who controlled the supply of money to Hezbollah in Lebanon, he would lose his grip on power.” Former intelligence officer Michael Pilgrim will comment, “Berri was targeted for CIA recruitment and so were members of his militia… I think it’s safe to say we financed his early trips to Iran.” He also commences relationships with the Drug Enforcement Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency. Unsurprisingly, some of the consequences of this are bad for the US, and the Trentos will comment: “The relationship would end in a series of deadly disasters for members of our armed services and the CIA. According to US intelligence officials who served in Lebanon at the time, Berri kept the peace with [Iran] and the Shi’a by allowing them to attack Westerners in his Amal-controlled territory. To prove his loyalty to the Shi’a and keep the alliance that was essential to his power base, he failed to pass on intelligence to the United States.” Based on interviews with former intelligence officers and associates of Berri, the Trentos will conclude that he facilitated attacks on the US by Hezbollah by allowing their operatives to pass Amal checkpoints without warning the US, for example before attacks on the US embassy and Marine barracks in 1983 in which hundreds die (see April 18-October 23, 1983). [Trento and Trento, 2006, pp. 74-77]
Entity Tags: Nabih Berri, Michael Pilgrim, Drug Enforcement Administration, Hezbollah, Amal, Defense Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency
Category Tags: US Intel Links to Islamic Militancy
October 1980: Osama’s Oldest Brother Allegedly Involved in ‘October Surprise’
Salem bin Laden in 1975. [Source: Corbis]Salem bin Laden, Osama’s oldest brother, described by a French secret intelligence report as one of two closest friends of Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd who often performs important missions for Saudi Arabia, is involved in secret Paris meetings between US and Iranian emissaries this month, according to a French report. Frontline, which published the French report, notes that such meetings have never been confirmed. Rumors of these meetings have been called the “October Surprise” and some have speculated that in these meetings, George H. W. Bush negotiated a delay to the release of the US hostages in Iran, thus helping Ronald Reagan and Bush win the 1980 Presidential election. All of this is highly speculative, but if the French report is correct, it points to a long-standing connection of highly improper behavior between the Bush and bin Laden families. [PBS Frontline, 2001]
Entity Tags: Salem bin Laden, Ronald Reagan
Timeline Tags: Iran-Contra Affair
Category Tags: Saudi Arabia, Bin Laden Family, US Intel Links to Islamic Militancy
1980s: Much US and Saudi Aid Meant for Afghan Fighters Goes to ISI and A. Q. Khan Network
Much of the billions of dollars in aid from Saudi Arabia and the CIA to the Afghan mujaheddin actually gets siphoned off by the Pakistani ISI. Melvin Goodman, a CIA analyst in the 1980s, will later say, “They were funding the wrong groups, and had little idea where the money was going or how it was being spent.” Sarkis Soghanalian, a middleman profiting from the aid, will later say, “The US did not want to get its hands dirty. So the Saudis’ money and the US money was handled by the ISI. I can tell you that more than three quarters of the money was skimmed off the top. What went to buy weapons for the Afghan fighters was peanuts.” Sognhanalian claims that most of the money went through various accounts held at the notoriously corrupt BCCI bank, then was distributed to the ISI and the A. Q. Khan nuclear network. [Trento, 2005, pp. 318] Robert Crowley, a CIA associate director from the 1960s until the 1980s, will also refer to the aid money going to Khan’s network, commenting, “Unfortunately, the Pakistanis knew exactly where their cut of the money was to go.” An early 1990s congressional investigation led by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) will also come to the same conclusion. [Trento, 2005, pp. 314, 384]
Entity Tags: Robert Crowley, Saudi Arabia, Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Central Intelligence Agency, Melvin A. Goodman, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, Sarkis Soghanalian
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Pakistan and the ISI, Pakistani Nukes & Islamic Militancy, BCCI
1981: Bin Laden Visits Chicago to Recruit American-Trained Engineers, Meets Yassin Kadi
Yassin Kadi, a Saudi working for a Chicago architectural firm, will say in 2008 that he first met Osama bin Laden in Chicago in 1981. He will further state that the purpose of bin Laden’s visit is to recruit American-trained engineers for his family’s construction business. Kadi says that he puts bin Laden in touch with a group of engineers, several of whom are eventually hired. [New York Times, 12/12/2008]
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, Yassin Kadi
1981-1992: Cheney and Rumsfeld Practice Secret Continuity of Government Plan, Later Activated on 9/11
Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, along with then-President Gerald Ford, April 28, 1975. [Source: David Hume Kennerly / Gerald R. Ford Library] (click image to enlarge)Throughout the 1980s, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are key players in one of the most highly classified programs of the Reagan administration. Presently, Cheney is working as a Republican congressman, while Rumsfeld is head of the pharmaceutical company G. D. Searle. At least once per year, they both leave their day jobs for periods of three or four days. They head to Andrews Air Force Base, near Washington, DC, and along with 40 to 60 federal officials and one member of the Reagan Cabinet are taken to a remote location within the US, such as an underground bunker. While they are gone, none of their work colleagues, or even their wives, knows where they are. They are participating in detailed planning exercises for keeping government running during and after a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.
Unconstitutional 'Continuity of Government' - This highly secret “Continuity of Government” (COG) program is known as Project 908. The idea is that if the US were under a nuclear attack, three teams would be sent from Washington to separate locations around the US to prepare to take leadership of the country. If somehow one team was located and hit with a nuclear weapon, the second or third team could take its place. Each of the three teams includes representatives from the State Department, Defense Department, CIA, and various domestic-policy agencies. The program is run by a new government agency called the National Program Office. Based in the Washington area, it has a budget of hundreds of million dollars a year, which grows to $1 billion per year by the end of Reagan’s first term in office. Within the National Security Council, the “action officer” involved in the COG program is Oliver North, who is a key figure in the mid-1980s Iran-Contra scandal. Reagan’s Vice President, George H. W. Bush, also supervises some of the program’s efforts. As well as Cheney and Rumsfeld, other known figures involved in the COG exercises include Kenneth Duberstein, who serves for a time as President Reagan’s chief of staff, and future CIA Director James Woolsey. Another regular participant is Richard Clarke, who on 9/11 will be the White House chief of counterterrorism (see (1984-2004)). The program, though, is extraconstitutional, as it establishes a process for designating a new US president that is nowhere authorized in the US Constitution or federal law. After George H. W. Bush is elected president in 1988 and the effective end of the Soviet Union in 1989, the exercises continue. They will go on after Bill Clinton is elected president, but will then be based around the threat posed by terrorists, rather than the Soviet Union (see 1992-2000). According to journalist James Mann, the participation of Rumsfeld and Cheney in these exercises demonstrates a broader truth about them: “Over three decades, from the Ford administration onward, even when they were out of the executive branch of government, they were never too far away; they stayed in touch with its defense, military, and intelligence officials and were regularly called upon by those officials. Cheney and Rumsfeld were, in a sense, a part of the permanent, though hidden, national security apparatus of the United States.” [Mann, 2004, pp. 138-145; Atlantic Monthly, 3/2004; Washington Post, 4/7/2004; Cockburn, 2007, pp. 85]
No Role for Congress - According to one participant, “One of the awkward questions we faced was whether to reconstitute Congress after a nuclear attack. It was decided that no, it would be easier to operate without them.” Thus the decision is made to abandon the Constitutional framework of the nation’s government if this plan is ever activated. [Dubose and Bernstein, 2006, pp. 198]
Reactivated after 9/11 - The plan they rehearse for in the COG exercises will be activated, supposedly for the first time, in the hours during and after the 9/11 attacks (see (Between 9:45 a.m. and 9:56 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Washington Post, 3/1/2002] Mann subsequently comments, “The program is of particular interest today because it helps to explain the thinking and behavior of the second Bush Administration in the hours, days, and months after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.” [Atlantic Monthly, 3/2004]
Entity Tags: Richard A. Clarke, Richard (“Dick”) Cheney, Oliver North, National Program Office, James Woolsey, Kenneth Duberstein, Donald Rumsfeld, George Herbert Walker Bush
Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline, Civil Liberties
Category Tags: Military Exercises
1981-1991: CIA Uses BCCI Bank to Pay 500 British Informants
In 1991, the Guardian will report that for at least the past ten years, the CIA has secretly had nearly 500 Britons on its payroll and has been paying them through accounts at the criminal BCCI bank. Some are in senior positions, although no specific individuals are named. Some of these informants have told the CIA details about British arms sales and other overseas business deals, sometimes before the contracts are finalized. According to intelligence sources, the informants include:
124 people in government or politics.
53 in commerce, industry, and banking.
75 in academia.
24 scientists.
124 in communications.
90 in the media. [Guardian, 7/26/1991]
There will be no report of these informant contacts stopping after the BCCI scandal in 1991.
Entity Tags: Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Central Intelligence Agency
1981-1983: NSC Gains a Clear Picture of BCCI’s Criminal Activities from CIA Reports
Norman Bailey, a member of the National Security Council (NSC) whose specialty is monitoring terrorism by tracking finances, will later reveal that in the early 1980s the NSC learns that BCCI is not just a bank but is engaged in widespread criminal activity. “We were aware that BCCI was involved in drug-money transactions,” he will later say. “We were also aware that BCCI was involved with terrorists, technology transfers—including the unapproved transfer of US technology to the Soviet bloc—weapons dealing, the manipulation of financial markets, and other activities.” The main source for the NSC about this are reports from the CIA. From 1981 on, the NSC learns of BCCI’s role in illegal technology deals for Pakistan, Iraq, Libya, Iran, and other countries. A clear picture has emerged by the start of 1984. But neither the CIA nor the NSC take any action against the bank. [Beaty and Gwynne, 1993, pp. 291, 315]
Entity Tags: Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Norman Bailey, National Security Council, Central Intelligence Agency
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, BCCI, Drugs
1981 and After: US Advocacy Group Trains Fighters in Afghanistan; Alleged to Be CIA Front
The Committee for a Free Afghanistan (CFA) is established to support the mujaheddin in Afghanistan in their struggle against the Soviet Union. Ostensibly, it is meant to support the Afghanis by non-violent means, such as by providing medicine and seeds, as well as arranging publicity. [Los Angeles Times, 5/12/1986] However, it will be alleged that the CFA is “widely known as cover for the CIA.” [Tass, 6/20/1986; Business Line, 4/27/2000] The person responsible for coordinating the aid in Pakistan is CFA Field Director Theodore Mataxis, who makes seven trips lasting between one and three months each to Peshawar, a staging point on the Pakistani side of the border. Mataxis, who reached the rank of Brigadier General in the US army before retiring, is an expert in guerrilla warfare, having fought in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. He also supported Iran-based Kurdish irregulars in Iraq in 1968-70. [Grau and Gress, 2002, pp. xi-xv] Mataxis helps train the mujaheddin. He is also aware of US arms shipments to fighters, some of which are diverted by “the group that was to become the Taliban… for their own purposes.” [The Pilot (Southern Pines), 11/23/2001]
Entity Tags: Committee for a Free Afghanistan, Central Intelligence Agency, Theodore Mataxis
1981 and After: BCCI Charity Front Funnels Money to A. Q. Khan’s Nuclear Program
Pakistani finance minister Ghulam Ishaq Khan (left) and A. Q. Khan. [Source: Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clarke]In 1981, the criminal BCCI bank sets up a charity called the BCCI Foundation. Pakistani Finance Minister Ghulam Ishaq Khan grants it tax-free status, and it supposedly spends millions on charitable purposes. Khan serves as the chairman of the foundation while also running the books for A. Q. Khan’s Kahuta Research Laboratories. Ghulam Ishaq Khan will be president of Pakistan from 1988 to 1993. [Levy and Scott-Clark, 2007, pp. 126-127] BCCI founder Agha Hasan Abedi announces that he will donate up to 90% of BCCI’s profits to charity through the foundation, and he develops a positive reputation from a few well-publicized charitable donations. But the charity is actually used to shelter BCCI profits. Most of the money it raises goes to A. Q. Khan’s nuclear program and not to charitable causes. For instance, in 1987 it gives a single $10 million donation to an institute headed by A. Q. Khan. Millions more go to investments in a front company owned by BCCI figure Ghaith Pharaon. [Beaty and Gwynne, 1993, pp. 290-291] An investigation by the Los Angeles Times will reveal that less than 10% of the money went to charity. [Los Angeles Times, 8/9/1991] BCCI uses other means to funnel even more money into A. Q. Khan’s nuclear program (see 1980s).
Entity Tags: Ghaith Pharaon, Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Kahuta Research Laboratories, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Abdul Qadeer Khan, Agha Hasan Abedi, BCCI Foundation
Category Tags: Pakistan and the ISI, Pakistani Nukes & Islamic Militancy, BCCI
February 20, 1981: Boeing 707 Nearly Hits Television Mast atop World Trade Center
A Boeing 707 belonging to an Argentine airline comes close to hitting the television mast atop the World Trade Center’s North Tower. The plane is flying in clouds at 1,500 feet, instead of at its assigned altitude of 3,000 feet, and descending toward Kennedy Airport. About four miles, or less than 90 seconds, from the WTC, the Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) in Hempstead, Long Island, becomes aware of the situation thanks to a new automated alarm system and is able to radio the pilot with the order to climb. The alarm system that sounds, called Minimum Safe Altitude Warning, has been in operation for about a year. When radar shows a plane at an altitude within 500 feet of the highest obstruction in a particular area and 30 seconds away, a buzzer sounds repeatedly at the TRACON. At the same time, the letters LA (for low altitude) flash on the radar scope next to the plane’s blip. [New York Times, 2/26/1981]
Entity Tags: New York Terminal Radar Approach Control, World Trade Center
1982: Pakistani ISI Begins Recruiting Arab Fundamentalists to Fight in Afghanistan
Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI, begins its program to recruit Arab fundamentalists fighters from across the Arab world to fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan. [Rashid, 2001, pp. 129]
Entity Tags: Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence
Between 1981 and 1989: Officials Airborne in ‘Doomsday’ Plane for Three Days during Exercise
An E-4B Airborne Command Post. [Source: US Air Force] (click image to enlarge)During the 1980s, top-secret exercises are regularly held, testing a program called Continuity of Government (COG) that would keep the federal government functioning during and after a nuclear war (see 1981-1992). The program includes a special plane called the National Emergency Airborne Command Post (NEACP). This is a modified Boeing 747, based at Andrews Air Force Base, near Washington, DC that has its own conference room and special communications gear. Nicknamed the “Doomsday” plane, it could act as an airborne command post from where a president could run the country during a nuclear war. One of the COG exercises run by the Reagan administration involves a team of officials actually staying aloft in the NEACP for three days straight. The team cruises across the US, and up and down the coasts, periodically being refueled in mid-air. [Schwartz, 1998; Mann, 2004, pp. 144] Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld participate in the COG exercises, though whether they are aboard the NEACP in this particular one is unknown. [Atlantic Monthly, 3/2004] The plan that is being rehearsed for in the exercises will be activated in response to the 9/11 attacks (see (Between 9:45 a.m. and 9:56 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Also on 9/11, three Doomsday planes (then known as “National Airborne Operations Center” planes) will be in the air, due to an exercise taking place that morning called Global Guardian (see Before 9:00 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Schwartz, 1998; Omaha World-Herald, 2/27/2002]
Entity Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, Richard (“Dick”) Cheney
1982-1989: US Turns Blind Eye to BCCI and Pakistani Government Involvement in Heroin Trade
CIA covert weapons shipments are sent by the Pakistani army and the ISI to rebel camps in the North West Frontier province near the Afghanistan border. The governor of the province is Lieutenant General Fazle Haq, who author Alfred McCoy calls Pakistani President Muhammad Zia ul-Haq’s “closest confidant and the de facto overlord of the mujaheddin guerrillas.” Haq allows hundreds of heroin refineries to set up in his province. Beginning around 1982, Pakistani army trucks carrying CIA weapons from Karachi often pick up heroin in Haq’s province and return loaded with heroin. They are protected from police search by ISI papers. [McCoy, 2003, pp. 477] By 1982, Haq is listed with Interpol as an international drug trafficker. But Haq also becomes known as a CIA asset. Despite his worsening reputation, visiting US politicians such as CIA Director William Casey and Vice President George H. W. Bush continue to meet with him when they visit Pakistan. Haq then moves his heroin money through the criminal Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI). A highly placed US official will later say that Haq “was our man… everybody knew that Haq was also running the drug trade” and that “BCCI was completely involved.” [Scott, 2007, pp. 73-75] Both European and Pakistani police complain that investigations of heroin trafficking in the province are “aborted at the highest level.” [McCoy, 2003, pp. 477] In 1989, shortly after Benazir Bhutto takes over as the new ruler of Pakistan, Pakistani police arrest Haq and charge him with murder. He is considered a multi-billionaire by this time. But Haq will be gunned down and killed in 1991, apparently before he is tried. [McCoy, 2003, pp. 483] Even President Zia is implied in the drug trade. In 1985, a Norwegian government investigation will lead to the arrest of a Pakistani drug dealer who also is President Zia’s personal finance manager. When arrested, his briefcase contains Zia’s personal banking records. The manager will be sentenced to a long prison term. [McCoy, 2003, pp. 481-482]
Entity Tags: Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, Central Intelligence Agency, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, Fazle Haq, William Casey, George Herbert Walker Bush, Pakistani Army
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Pakistan and the ISI, BCCI, Drugs
February 11, 1982: CIA Is Given Green Light to Take Part in Illegal Drug Trade in Afghanistan
CIA Director William Casey gets a legal exemption sparing the CIA for a requirement that it report on drug smuggling by CIA officers, agents, or assets. Attorney General William French Smith grants the exemption in a secret memorandum. On March 2, Casey will thank Smith for the exemption, saying it will help protect intelligence sources and methods. [Cooley, 2002, pp. 110-111] There are allegations that in 1981 President Reagan approved a covert program to weaken Soviet soldiers fighting in Afghanistan by addicting them to illegal drugs (see February 1981 and After). A book co-written by two Time magazine reporters will even allege that “a few American intelligence operatives were deeply enmeshed in the drug trade” during the war. [Scott, 2007, pp. 124-125] President Clinton will rescind the exemption in 1995. [Cooley, 2002, pp. 111]
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, William French Smith, William Casey
After June 16, 1982: Arrest of ‘Rogue’ Agent Leads US to Divert Blame for Terrorist Acts from Iran to Libya
According to investigative journalists Joe and Susan Trento, the arrest of former CIA agent Edwin Wilson, who was involved in business dealings with Libya, has serious consequences for US terrorism policy: “Throughout the 1980s the United States used its intelligence services to divert blame from Iran and Hezbollah onto Libya as part of its entanglement in Iran-Contra with the so-called moderate Iranians with whom the Reagan administration dealt. Ever since international arms dealer Edwin Wilson had been captured and imprisoned in the early 1980s, American intelligence and the White House had labeled Libya a rogue nation, and Libyan dictator Mu’ammar al-Qadhafi a terrorist leader. The intelligence operation went so far that the United States actually recruited a gang of Lebanese criminals to pretend to be a cell of Libyan-backed terrorists conducting violent acts around the world.… These activities, all choreographed by the CIA, were fed to allies such as West Germany as authentic intelligence that implicated Libya for terrorists acts that were either fake or were, in reality, authorized by Iran and carried out by Hezbollah and other surrogate groups.”
Benefit to Iran - This policy apparently benefits Iran: “The Reagan administration had given the Iranians plenty of cards to play. The biggest card was the help it had provided making Libya seem like the ultimate source of all terrorist acts.… When the Reagan administration turned Libya into a vicious terrorist nation operating throughout Europe, that gave Iran the perfect opening for retribution.”
No action against Hezbollah - In addition, it prevents the US from taking action against Hezbollah, even though Hezbollah is killing Americans: “Because of the Iran-Contra scandal—the selling of weapons to Iran to fund the war in Central America—the Reagan administration ended up protecting Iran’s number one terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, while at the same time Hezbollah’s terrorists were killing and kidnapping hundreds of Americans. While secretly working with the Iranian government, the Reagan administration manipulated intelligence to blame Libya for terrorist attacks for which Hezbollah was responsible. During the 1980s Hezbollah killed and terrorized hundreds of Americans in Beirut, bombing the US Marine barracks, blowing up the CIA station, and killing State Department employees in a bomb attack on the US embassy. Hezbollah did all this with the help of local militia leaders whom the United States relied on as its secret conduits to Iran for its sale of weapons.” [Trento and Trento, 2006, pp. xvi, 64-5]
Entity Tags: Joseph Trento, Central Intelligence Agency, Edwin Wilson, Iran, Susan Trento, Hezbollah, Mu’ammar al-Qadhafi
Timeline Tags: US confrontation with Iran, Iran-Contra Affair
November-December 1982: Rep. Charlie Wilson Pushes for Expansion of US Support for Anti-Soviet Forces in Afghanistan
In November 1982, US Representative Charlie Wilson (D-TX) travels to Islamabad, Pakistan, and meets with President Muhammad Zia ul-Haq. He promises Zia to deliver a crucial weapons system that has so far been denied by the US—the latest radar systems for Pakistan’s F-16 fighter planes. Wilson also meets with CIA Station Chief Howard Hart, who is in charge of providing support for the Afghan resistance to the Soviets. He urges Hart to expand the program and stresses that vast amounts of money can be made available. [Crile, 2003, pp. 106-129] The next month, President Zia comes to the US to meet with President Reagan. Zia first meets with Wilson in Houston and expresses his gratitude for helping Pakistan acquire F-16 radar systems (see November-December 1982). Wilson then broaches the subject of Pakistan secretly purchasing arms from Israel for the Afghan War. Zia agrees to this in principle. [Crile, 2003, pp. 131-132]
Entity Tags: Ronald Reagan, Charlie Wilson, Howard Hart, Muhammad Zia ul-Haq
November 7, 1982: Port Authority Practices for Plane Crashing into the WTC
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey holds a drill at the World Trade Center based on the scenario of a plane crashing into one of the Twin Towers. Numerous agencies participate in the drill, which is held on a Sunday. As well as the Port Authority, these include the New York City Fire Department, the New York City Police Department, and the Emergency Medical Services. Guy Tozzoli, the director of the Port Authority’s World Trade Department, will describe the drill during a legislative hearing in 1993 (see (March 29, 1993)). He will recall that the Port Authority simulates the “total disaster” of “the airplane hitting the building” and participants simulate “blood coming out of people.” He will add that the drill is “a real preparation for a disaster.” [Newsday, 11/12/2001; Dwyer and Flynn, 2005, pp. 58-59] (During the hearing, Tozzoli will mistakenly recall the drill being conducted in the late 1970s, but it is in fact held in November 1982. [Dwyer and Flynn, 2005, pp. 274] ) The drill follows an incident in 1981, when an Argentine aircraft came within 90 seconds of crashing into the WTC’s North Tower as a result of having problems communicating with air traffic controllers (see February 20, 1981). Asked about the drill shortly after 9/11, Tozzoli will say it was held “just to have people trained within the city for that particular scenario [of a plane hitting the WTC].” The 1982 exercise appears to be the last “joint drill involving all the emergency responders” held at the WTC prior to the 9/11 attacks, 19 years later, according to New York Times reporters Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn. [Newsday, 11/12/2001; Dwyer and Flynn, 2005, pp. 59]
Entity Tags: Guy Tozzoli, New York City Police Department, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, New York City Fire Department
December 1982: Muslim Brotherhood Project to Infiltrate and Defeat the West
Youssef Nada. [Source: Zuma Press/ NewsCom]In November 2001, Swiss investigators will search the home of Youssef Nada, the leader of Al Taqwa Bank, a Swiss bank that had just been shut down by the US and the UN for alleged ties to al-Qaeda, Hamas, and other radical militant groups (see November 7, 2001). Nada and other Al Taqwa directors are prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Newsweek will say, “The Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928 as a religious and quasi-political counterweight to the corrupt and increasingly decadent royalist and colonial governments dominating the Islamic world, always has had two faces: one a peaceful public, proselytizing and social-welfare oriented wing; the other a clandestine, paramilitary wing.… Intelligence and law-enforcement officials say that while some branches and elements of the Brotherhood, such as the offshoots now operating in Egypt and Syria, have pledged to work for their goal of a worldwide Islamic caliphate using peaceful means and electoral politics, the Brotherhood has also spun off many—if not most—of the more violent local and international groups devoted to the cause of Islamic holy war.” Such offshoots will include al-Qaeda and Hamas. [Newsweek, 12/24/2004] Swiss investigators discover a 14-page document from December 1982 entitled “The Project.” Nada claims not to know who wrote the document or how he came to have it, and he says he disagrees with most of the contents. The document details a strategic plan whose ultimate goal is “the establishment of the reign of God over the entire world.” The document begins, “This report presents a global vision of an international strategy of Islamic policy.” It recommends to “study of the centers of power locally and worldwide, and the possibilities of placing them under influence,” to contact and support new holy war movements anywhere in the world, to support holy war in Palestine, and “nurtur[e] the sentiment of rancor with regard to Jews.” Swiss investigators who analyze the document will later write that the strategy aims to achieve “a growing influence over the Muslim world. It is pointed out that the [Muslim Brotherhood] doesn’t have to act in the name of the Brotherhood, but can infiltrate existing entities. They can thus avoid being located and neutralized.” The document also advocates creating a network of religious, educational, and charitable institutions in Europe and the US to increase influence there. [Unknown, 12/1982; Le Temps (Geneva), 10/6/2005]
Entity Tags: Muslim Brotherhood
Category Tags: Al Taqwa Bank, Terrorism Financing
1983: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Emerges as Most Powerful ISI Client
A young Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. [Source: Public domain]Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar emerges as the most powerful of ISI’s mujaheddin clients, just as Rep. Charlie Wilson (D-TX) and CIA Director William Casey, along with Saudi Intelligence Minister Prince Turki al-Faisal, are pouring “hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of new and more lethal supplies into ISI warehouses” (see 1983). Hekmatyar is among the most ruthless and extreme of the Afghan Islamic warlords. [Coll, 2004, pp. 119] Casey is said to particularly like Hekmatyar because they share a goal of extending the fighting beyond Afghanistan into the Soviet Union itself. [Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 268] Hekmatyar receives about half of all the CIA’s covert weapons directed at Afghanistan despite being a known major drug trafficker (see 1982-1991). He develops close ties with bin Laden by 1984 while continuing to receive large amounts of assistance from the CIA and ISI (see 1984).
Entity Tags: Charlie Wilson, William Casey, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Turki al-Faisal
1983: Rep. Charlie Wilson Brokers Weapons Sale Between Pakistan and Israel for Use in Afghan War
Representative Charlie Wilson (D-TX) travels to Israel where he meets with Zvi Rafiah and other Israeli officials. From Israel he travels to Egypt and then Pakistan, where he secretly negotiates a major weapons deal with Pakistan (see November-December 1982) on behalf of the Israelis in support of the mujaheddin fighting Soviets in Afghanistan. Among other things, the deal includes the delivery of T-55 tanks. Author George Crile will later comment, “The Israelis were hoping this deal would serve as the beginning of a range of under-the-table understandings with Pakistan that the congressman would continue to quietly negotiate for them.” [Crile, 2003, pp. 141]
Entity Tags: Charlie Wilson, Muhammad Zia ul-Haq
1983: Pakistani Government Allows Drug Traffickers to Deposit Profits in BCCI Bank
According to Alfred W. McCoy, author of The Politics of Heroin, in 1983 Pakistani President Muhammad Zia ul-Haq allows Pakistani drug traffickers to deposit their drug profits in the BCCI bank without getting punished. The criminal BCCI bank has close ties to the Pakistani government and the US funding of the Afghan war. It will be shut down in 1991. BCCI also plays a critical role in facilitating the movement of Pakistan’s heroin money. By 1989, Pakistan’s heroin trade will be valued at $4 billion a year, more than all of Pakistan’s legal exports. [McCoy, 2003, pp. 480]
Entity Tags: Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, Alfred McCoy, Bank of Credit and Commerce International
1983-July 2008: 9/11 Hijacker’s Two Cousins Allegedly Work as Israeli Spies
Ali al-Jarrah. [Source: Lebanese Military/Public Domain]Starting in 1983, a Lebanese man named Ali al-Jarrah, cousin of 9/11 hijacker Ziad Jarrah, allegedly works as a spy for the Israeli government. Living in rural Lebanon as a school administrator, it is claimed he also is a valued spy, sending reports and taking clandestine photos of Palestinians and Hezbollah in Syria and south Lebanon, near the Israeli border. He is said to have been paid at least $300,000 over the years by Israel. Ali’s brother Yusuf al-Jarrah is said to have helped him spy, but few details of his case have been reported. Ali and Yusuf will be arrested by Hezbollah in July 2008 and then handed to the Lebanese military for trial by a military court. Ali will allegedly confess, but his wife will claim he has been tortured. He is also suspected of involvement in the assassination of Imad Mugniyah, a Hezbollah commander killed in Damascus in February 2008. Cases of such prolonged and involved spying have been very rare in Lebanon, and news of his arrest is said to have shocked the country. Ali and Ziad Jarrah were “20 years apart in age and do not appear to have known each other well.” [Jerusalem Post, 11/3/2008; London Times, 11/9/2008; Independent, 11/13/2008; New York Times, 2/19/2009] Curiously, Ziad Jarrah had another relative who has been accused of spying for three governments since the 1980s (see September 16, 2002).
Entity Tags: Imad Mugniyah, Yusuf al-Jarrah, Ali al-Jarrah, Ziad Jarrah
Category Tags: Ziad Jarrah, Israel
1983-1987: CIA Assets in Afghanistan Push Agency’s Interests within ISI
According to Mohammad Yousaf, director of the Pakistani ISI’s Afghan Bureau during this period, the CIA has many paid assets among the Afghan mujaheddin during this period. One function of these CIA assets is to lobby the ISI for the CIA’s policies, especially with regard to weapons procurement. [Yousaf and Adkin, 1992, pp. 91-92]
Entity Tags: Mohammad Yousaf, Central Intelligence Agency, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence
Early 1983-Late 1984: Afghan Arab Purchases Equipment for Mujaheddin in US and Britain
After being recruited by Abdullah Azzam, an Arab Afghan leader and Osama bin Laden’s mentor, Essam al Ridi travels to Pakistan to join the mujaheddin fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan. He works for the mujaheddin for about 18 months, mostly as a purchaser of equipment abroad. He buys two sets of scuba diving equipment and six range finders in Britain, as well as night vision goggles and six night vision scopes from the US. He also purchases video equipment and batteries, and acquires equipment in Japan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Al Ridi will later say, as a witness in a US trial, that he travels “extensively almost every 15 days to 20 days” and that he has so many stamps his passport is nearly full by 1985. Al Ridi leaves Asia to return to the US in late 1984 or early 1985, apparently due to an argument about Osama bin Laden’s role in the jihad, but he will continue to send equipment to the mujaheddin. For example, he will later purchase assassination rifles for the jihad, apparently with the CIA’s knowledge, but it is unclear whether the CIA knows about these earlier transactions (see Early 1989). [United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1/14/2001]
Entity Tags: Abdullah Azzam, Essam al Ridi
April 18-October 23, 1983: Beirut Bombings Begin Era of Suicide Attacks
The October 1983 bombing of US Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. [Source: US Marine Corps.]In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon and US Marines were sent to Lebanon as a peacekeeping force in September 1982. On April 18, 1983, the US embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, is bombed by a suicide truck attack, killing 63 people. On October 23, 1983, a Marine barracks in Beirut is bombed by another suicide truck attack, killing 241 Marines. In February 1984, the US military will depart Lebanon. The radical militant group Islamic Jihad will take credit for both attacks (note that this is not the group led by Ayman al-Zawahiri). The group is believed to be linked to Hezbollah. Prior to this year, attacks of this type were rare. But the perceived success of these attacks in getting the US to leave Lebanon will usher in a new era of suicide attacks around the world. The next two years in particular will see a wave of such attacks in the Middle East, many of them committed by the radical militant group Hezbollah. [US Congress, 7/24/2003; US Congress, 7/24/2003 ] The Beirut bombings will also inspire Osama bin Laden to believe that the US can be defeated by suicide attacks. For instance, he will say in a 1998 interview: “We have seen in the last decade the decline of the American government and the weakness of the American soldier who is ready to wage Cold Wars and unprepared to fight long wars. This was proven in Beirut when the Marines fled after two explosions.” [ABC News, 5/28/1998] In 1994, he will hold a meeting with a top Hezbollah leader (see Shortly After February 1994) and arrange for some of his operatives to be trained in the truck bombing techniques that were used in Beirut. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 48]
Entity Tags: Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad Organization, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden
Category Tags: Warning Signs, Ayman Al-Zawahiri
July 29, 1983: SAAR Network Is Founded
555 Grove Street, Herndon, Virginia. This is the location of the SAAR Foundation/Safa Group and many related businesses. [Source: Paul Sperry]The SAAR Foundation is incorporated in Herndon, Virginia, just outside Washington. It will become an umbrella organization for a cluster of over 100 charities, think tanks, and businesses known as the SAAR network. In 2002, the US government will raid the SAAR network looking for ties to the Al Taqwa Bank and the Muslim Brotherhood (see March 20, 2002). [Farah, 2004, pp. 153]
Entity Tags: SAAR Foundation
1984: US Agencies Keep US Senator in Dark about BCCI’s Criminal Activities
Paula Hawkins. [Source: Public domain]In 1984, Senator Paula Hawkins (R-FL) meets with Pakistani President Muhammad Zia ul-Haq in Pakistan. During the meeting, she mentions that she is concerned about a Pakistani bank that is laundering money out of the Cayman Islands. Her staff later clarifies to Zia that she was referring to BCCI (which technically is not a Pakistani bank, but almost all of its top officials are Pakistani). As a result, Abdur Sakhia, the top BCCI official in the US, meets with Hawkins in the US a short time later and assures her that BCCI is not laundering money out of the Cayman Islands. Then officials from the Justice Department, State Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) meet with Hawkins’s staffers and assure them that BCCI is not the subject of any investigation. Weeks later, the State Department formally notifies the Pakistani government that BCCI is not under investigation. As a result, Hawkins drops her brief interest in BCCI. However, by this time the State Department, Justice Department, and DEA have all been briefed by the CIA about BCCI’s many criminal activities. Apparently, this information is deliberately kept from the senator. [Beaty and Gwynne, 1993, pp. 324-325]
Entity Tags: US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, Paula Hawkins, Abdur Sakhia, US Department of State, Bank of Credit and Commerce International
1984: Ali Mohamed Works Briefly with CIA; Then Let Go Because of Connections to Islamic Fundamentalist Groups
Egyptian militants open fire on Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. [Source: Public domain]Ali Mohamed is a major in the Egyptian army. He is highly educated, speaking several languages and possessing two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s degree. In 1981 he was taking part in a special program for foreign officers at the US Army Special Forces school at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, while soldiers with radical Islamic beliefs from his Egyptian army unit assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. He is forced to quit in early 1984 on suspicions of becoming too religious. He approaches the CIA in Egypt and volunteers to be a spy. The CIA accepts, and he makes contact in Germany with a branch of Hezbollah, the Middle Eastern militant group. The CIA has claimed that Mohamed secretly tells Hezbollah members that he is working with the CIA, but the CIA quickly discovers this. The CIA supposedly suspects he wanted to help Hezbollah spy on the CIA and cuts off all further ties with him and tries to stop him from coming to the US. [New York Times, 12/1/1998; San Francisco Chronicle, 11/4/2001; Wall Street Journal, 11/26/2001] But there will be claims that Mohamed then will come to the US through a secret CIA program. If true, this would cast doubt on the CIA’s account of their interaction with Mohamed (see September 1985).
Entity Tags: Hezbollah, Ali Mohamed, Central Intelligence Agency
Category Tags: Ali Mohamed, US Intel Links to Islamic Militancy
1984: Bin Laden Develops Ties with Pakistani ISI and Afghan Warlord
Bin Laden first works for Maktab al-Khidamat from this building in Peshawar, a former British government guesthouse. [Source: PBS]Bin Laden moves to Peshawar, a Pakistani town bordering Afghanistan, and helps run a front organization for the mujaheddin known as Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK), which funnels money, arms, and fighters from the outside world into the Afghan war. [New Yorker, 1/24/2000] “MAK [is] nurtured by Pakistan’s state security services, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, the CIA’s primary conduit for conducting the covert war against Moscow’s occupation.” [MSNBC, 8/24/1998] Bin Laden becomes closely tied to the warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and greatly strengthens Hekmatyar’s opium smuggling operations. [Le Monde (Paris), 9/14/2001] Hekmatyar, who also has ties with bin Laden, the CIA, and drug running, has been called “an ISI stooge and creation.” [Asia Times, 11/15/2001] MAK is also known as Al-Kifah and its branch in New York is called the Al-Kifah Refugee Center. This branch will play a pivotal role in the 1993 WTC bombing and also has CIA ties (see January 24, 1994).
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Central Intelligence Agency, Maktab al-Khidamat, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Pakistan and the ISI, Al-Kifah/MAK, Drugs
(1984-2004): Richard Clarke Participates in Secret Continuity of Government Exercises
Richard Clarke, who will be the counterterrorism “tsar” on 9/11, regularly participates in a series of highly secret “Continuity of Government” (COG) exercises. [Washington Post, 4/7/2004] Throughout the 1980s, the COG exercises rehearse how to keep the federal government running during and after a nuclear war with the Soviet Union (see 1981-1992). After the fall of the Soviet Union, the exercises continue, but based instead around a possible terrorist attack on the United States (see 1992-2000). [Atlantic Monthly, 3/2004] In 2004, Clarke will reveal that he has participated regularly in these exercises over the previous 20 years. He recalls that he had “gone off into caves in mountains in remote locations and spent days on end in miserable conditions, pretending that the rest of the world had blown up, and going through the questions, going through the drill.” He adds: “Everyone there play acts that it’s really happened. You can’t go outside because of the radioactivity. You can’t use the phones because they’re not connected to anything.” He also describes the COG plan requiring coded communications, saying: “There’s an elaborate system for the people in this network, first of all, to verify each other’s identity. That person on the other end has a certain password and information that they have to pass for us to believe that they’re who they say they are.” [Washington Post, 4/7/2004; ABC News, 4/25/2004] Clarke was a senior analyst at the State Department since 1979, and rises to prominence during the Reagan administration when he becomes deputy assistant secretary of state for intelligence. [Washington Post, 3/13/2003; BBC, 3/22/2004] After being a member of the National Security Council since 1992, in 1998 he is appointed as counterterrorism “tsar” (see May 22, 1998). [9/11 Commission, 3/24/2004 ; New York Review of Books, 5/13/2004; Independent, 6/14/2004] According to journalist James Mann, the COG program is of particular interest because it helps explain the thinking and behavior of the Bush administration “in the hours, days, and months after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.” [Atlantic Monthly, 3/2004] On the morning of 9/11, Clarke is in fact responsible for activating the COG plan, the first time it is ever implemented (see (Between 9:45 a.m. and 9:56 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Clarke, 2004, pp. 8; ABC News, 4/25/2004] Also participating in the COG exercises, at least throughout at 1980s, are Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, who on 9/11 are the vice president and secretary of defense, respectively. [Atlantic Monthly, 3/2004]
Entity Tags: Richard A. Clarke
1984: Bin Laden and Other Mujaheddin Leaders Meet Mysterious Europeans in Pakistan
Osama bin Laden, his mentor Abdullah Azzam, and Afghan warlord Abdul Rasul Sayyaf meet two unnamed men in Peshawar, Pakistan. The two men are “supposed to be from somewhere in Europe” and cannot speak Arabic. As a result, Essam al Ridi, an Egyptian who has lived in the US, attends the meeting as a translator. Al Ridi will later say that the two men speak English “with an accent” and that he was invited to the meeting to translate between the men on the one hand and Sayyaf and Azzam on the other, indicating that bin Laden did not need a translator and could speak English. This is the first of several meetings between bin Laden and al Ridi, who purchases equipment for anti-Soviet fighters (see Early 1983-Late 1984 and Early 1989). [United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1/14/2001]
Entity Tags: Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, Abdullah Azzam, Essam al Ridi, Osama bin Laden
1984-1986: CIA Director Repeatedly Meets with Head of Criminal BCCI Bank, Funding of Afghan War Is Discussed
An ailing Agha Hasan Abedi in 1991. [Source: Associated Press]NBC News later reports that CIA Director William Casey secretly meets with the head of the criminal Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) from 1984 until 1986, shortly before Casey’s death. The NBC report, quoting unnamed BCCI sources, will claim that Casey met with BCCI head Agha Hasan Abedi every few months in a luxury suite at the Madison Hotel in Washington. The two men allegedly discussed the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages transactions and CIA weapons shipments to the mujaheddin in Afghanistan. The CIA denies all the allegations. [Associated Press, 2/21/1992] But books by Time magazine and Wall Street Journal reporters will corroborate that Casey repeatedly met with Abedi. [Scott, 2007, pp. 116] Casey also meets with Asaf Ali, a BCCI-connected arms dealer, in Washington, DC, and in Pakistan. On one occasion, Casey has a meeting in Washington with Abedi, Ali, and Pakistani President Muhammad Zia ul-Haq. [Beaty and Gwynne, 1993, pp. 308]
Entity Tags: Asaf Ali, Central Intelligence Agency, Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Agha Hasan Abedi, Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, William Casey
Timeline Tags: Iran-Contra Affair, War in Afghanistan
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Terrorism Financing, US Intel Links to Islamic Militancy, BCCI
1984-1994: CIA Funds Militant Textbooks for Afghanistan
The US, through USAID and the University of Nebraska, spends millions of dollars developing and printing textbooks for Afghan schoolchildren. The textbooks are “filled with violent images and militant Islamic teachings, part of covert attempts to spur resistance to the Soviet occupation.” For instance, children are “taught to count with illustrations showing tanks, missiles, and land mines.” Lacking any alternative, millions of these textbooks are used long after 1994; the Taliban will still be using them in 2001. In 2002, the US will start producing less violent versions of the same books, which President Bush says will have “respect for human dignity, instead of indoctrinating students with fanaticism and bigotry.” (He will fail to mention who created those earlier books.) [Washington Post, 3/23/2002; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 5/6/2002] A University of Nebraska academic named Thomas Gouttierre leads the textbook program. Journalist Robert Dreyfuss will later reveal that although funding for Gouttierre’s work went through USAID, it was actually paid for by the CIA. Unocal will pay Gouttierre to work with the Taliban (see December 1997) and he will host visits of Taliban leaders to the US, including trips in 1997 and 1999 (see December 4, 1997 and July-August 1999). [Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 328]
Entity Tags: USAID, University of Nebraska, Taliban, George W. Bush, Thomas Gouttierre, Central Intelligence Agency
Timeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, War in Afghanistan
1984-1986: CIA Reveals BCCI’s Drug and Terrorist Links to Other US Agencies, but No Action Taken
The CIA sends a report on the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) and its drug-related activities to other US government departments. It follows up with a report about BCCI’s links to notorious terrorists such as Abu Nidal, the most wanted man in the world at the time. Similar reports follow in 1986. However, the Justice Department, Treasury Department, and other departments keep silent about what they know and no action is taken against the bank. [US Congress, Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, 12/1992; Cooley, 2002, pp. 93]
Entity Tags: US Department of the Treasury, US Department of Justice, Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Central Intelligence Agency
1984 and After: BCCI Dominates Supply Chain of CIA Supplies and Weapons Meant for Mujaheddin
By 1984, huge amounts of arms and ammunition for the mujaheddin fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan are pouring into Pakistan. These weapons are funded by the CIA and Saudi government, and generally come into the port of Karachi. The criminal BCCI bank has an enforcement arm nicknamed the “Black Network.” Time magazine reporters Jonathan Beaty and S.C. Gwynne will later describe it as “a Karachi-based cadre of bank operatives, paramilitary units, spies, and enforcers who handled BCCI’s darkest operations around the globe and trafficked in bribery and corruption.” By 1984, BCCI and its Black Network takes effective control of Karachi’s port, dominating Pakistan’s customs service there with bribery and intimidation. BCCI is thus in a position to dominate the flow of supplies to the mujaheddin. Pakistan’s military handles the flow of weapons from Karachi to the Afghan border, but once there the supplies have to be carried by mules to reach the mujaheddin fighting in remote Afghan mountain ranges. BCCI controls this part of the supply chain as well. Sometimes BCCI personnel simply transport the supplies across Afghanistan to Iran and then sell them there for a profit. [Beaty and Gwynne, 1993, pp. 66, 315-316] The US government is aware of BCCI’s support role and cooperates with it. For instance, in 1987 USAID asks BCCI to buy 1,000 more mules to help the mujaheddin. [Los Angeles Times, 9/3/1991] At almost every step of the way, BCCI takes a cut of the profits and often steals some of the supplies. [Beaty and Gwynne, 1993, pp. 66, 315-316]
Entity Tags: Black Network, Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Central Intelligence Agency, USAID
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Pakistan and the ISI, BCCI
1984 and After: US and British Intelligence Are Aware that Terrorist Abu Nidal Is Using BCCI in London, but Take No Action
Abu Ndal circa 1982. [Source: Reuters / Corbis]The BBC will later suggest that US intelligence actually becomes aware of specific Abu Nidal accounts held in the criminal BCCI bank in 1984. This is because the FBI busts an illegal arms deal in New York City that involved Nidal’s BCCI accounts in London and a Nidal front company in Poland called SAS Trade at this time. [Herald Sun (Melbourne), 8/2/1991] In the 1980s, Nidal is considered the world’s most wanted terrorist. In December 1985, for instance, his network launches simultaneous attacks in Rome and Vienna, killing or wounding dozens. In 1986, the CIA tells the State Department in detail about the criminal BCCI bank’s links with Nidal and his terrorist network. They reveal that Nidal has multiple accounts at BCCI branches in Europe. [Beaty and Gwynne, 1993, pp. 328] In July 1987, Ghassan Qassem, manager of one of BCCI’s London branches, is contacted by the British intelligence agencies MI5 and MI6. They tell him that they know SAS Trade has many millions of dollars worth of accounts in his branch and that the company is an Abu Nidal front. Qassem agrees to be an informant. [Observer, 1/18/2004] Nidal first opened a BCCI account in London in 1980, depositing $50 million using an alias. In addition to being a terrorist, Nidal is an illegal arms dealer and BCCI helps him buy and sell weapons, oftentimes involving British companies. [Los Angeles Times, 9/30/1991] Qassem will later claim that he saw Nidal in Britain on three separate occasions and went shopping with him. In 1983, Nidal was interviewed by police, who took him straight to the airport and put him on a plane to leave the country. [Guardian, 7/30/1991; Observer, 1/18/2004] Qassem recognizes Nidal as a terrorist from a photograph in a magazine in 1987 and tells this to his BCCI superior, but he is told to keep quiet. The CIA and British intelligence use their knowledge of Nidal’s BCCI accounts to force SAS Trade to shut down in 1986, but usually they merely monitor terrorist activity. For instance, Nidal’s group teaches urban terrorist tactics to Peru’s Maoist Shining Path guerrillas in 1988. Shining Path pays Nidal $4 million for this work through his BCCI account and then attempts to bomb the US embassy in Lima later that year. Intelligence agencies also merely watch as Middle Eastern governments give tens of millions to Nidal through his BCCI accounts (see 1987-1990). In December 1989, Qassem tells his BCCI superiors that he is working with British intelligence. He is quickly fired. [Los Angeles Times, 9/30/1991] Nidal learns of the surveillance and empties the accounts before they can be frozen. [Guardian, 7/30/1991; Observer, 1/18/2004]
Entity Tags: UK Security Service (MI5), SAS Trade, Abu Nidal Organization, Central Intelligence Agency, US Department of State, Abu Nidal, UK Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)
1984-March 1985: US and Pakistan Begin Training Afghans to Attack Inside Soviet Union
Following a March 1985 directive signed by President Reagan that sharply escalates US covert action in Afghanistan, the Pakistani ISI begins training Afghans to launch strikes directly into Soviet territory. Apparently the idea originated with CIA Director William Casey who first proposed harassing Soviet territory in 1984 (see October 1984). According to Graham Fuller, a senior US intelligence official, most top US officials consider such military raids “an incredible escalation” and fear a large-scale Soviet response if they are carried out. The Reagan administration decides not to give Pakistan detailed satellite photographs of military targets inside the Soviet Union. [Washington Post, 7/19/1992] Mohammad Yousaf, a high-ranking ISI officer, will later claim that the training actually began in 1984. “During this period we were specifically to train and dispatch hundreds of mujaheddin up to 25 kilometers deep inside the Soviet Union. They were probably the most secret and sensitive operations of the war.” He notes that, “By 1985, it became obvious that the United States had got cold feet. Somebody at the top in the American administration was getting frightened.” But, he claims, “the CIA, and others, gave us every encouragement unofficially to take the war into the Soviet Union.” [Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 286-287] Casey will approve of such attacks and the first attack inside the Soviet Union will take place in 1985 (see 1985-1987).
Entity Tags: William Casey, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, Graham Fuller, Central Intelligence Agency, Mohammad Yousaf
January 4, 1984: Alleged Terrorist Plot to Bomb WTC Uncovered
Peter Caram. [Source: SRR Training]The New York Port Authority, which owns the World Trade Center, is aware of terrorism occurring around the world and that the WTC is vulnerable to attack. It has therefore created the Terrorist Intelligence Unit within its police department, headed by Detective Sergeant Peter Caram, to gather information about terrorist groups and assess the vulnerability of its numerous facilities to attack. On this day, Caram writes a memo to the assistant superintendent of the Port Authority Police Department, reporting that the FBI has uncovered a terrorist threat: Two supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini are allegedly planning to bomb the WTC in the near future. Although the attack never occurs, this is the first of numerous occasions during the 1980s where the WTC is considered a potential target for a terrorist attack. [Caram, 2001, pp. 4-5; New York County Supreme Court, 1/20/2004]
Entity Tags: World Trade Center, Peter Caram
Category Tags: 1993 WTC Bombing
January 17, 1984: Port Authority Terrorist Intelligence Unit Issues Report on WTC Security
Detective Sergeant Peter Caram, the head of the New York Port Authority’s Terrorist Intelligence Unit, has been directed by the assistant superintendent of the Port Authority Police Department to compile a report on the vulnerability of the WTC to a terrorist attack. Having previously worked at the WTC Command, Caram has exclusive knowledge of some of the center’s security weaknesses. On this day he issues his four-page report, titled “Terrorist Threat and Targeting Assessment: World Trade Center.” It looks at the reasoning behind why the WTC might be singled out for attack, and identifies three areas of particular vulnerability: the perimeter of the WTC complex, the truck dock entrance, and the subgrade area (the lower floors below ground level). Caram specifically mentions that terrorists could use a car bomb in the subgrade area—a situation similar to what occurs in the 1993 bombing (see February 26, 1993). [Caram, 2001, pp. 5, 84-85; New York County Supreme Court, 1/20/2004] This is the first of several reports during the 1980s, identifying the WTC as a potential terrorist target.
Early 1984: Port Authority Establishes Office of Special Planning
Peter Goldmark. [Source: Environmental Defense Fund]Peter Goldmark, the executive director of the New York Port Authority, is concerned that, in light of terrorist attacks occurring around the world (see April 18-October 23, 1983), Port Authority facilities, including the World Trade Center, could become terrorist targets. [Associated Press, 9/28/2005; New York Times, 10/27/2005] He therefore creates a unit called the Office of Special Planning (OSP) to evaluate the vulnerabilities of all Port Authority facilities and present recommendations to minimize the risks of attack. The OSP is staffed by Port Authority police and civilian workers, and is headed by Edward O’Sullivan, who has experience in counterterrorism from earlier careers in the Navy and Marine Corps. In carrying out its work, the OSP will consult with such US agencies as the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, NSA, and Defense Department. It will also consult with security officials from other countries that have gained expertise in combating terrorism, such as England, France, Italy, and Israel. [Glanz and Lipton, 2004, pp. 226; New York County Supreme Court, 1/20/2004] According to Peter Caram, head of the Port Authority’s Terrorist Intelligence Unit, the OSP will develop “an expertise unmatched in the United States.” [Caram, 2001, pp. 12] In 1985 it will issue a report called “Counter-Terrorism Perspectives: The World Trade Center” (see November 1985). [New York Court of Appeals, 2/16/1999] It will exist until 1987. [Village Voice, 1/5/2000]
Entity Tags: Office of Special Planning, Peter Goldmark, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
(Between Early 1984 and October 1985): Office of Special Planning Studies Vulnerability of WTC to Terrorist Attack
The Office of Special Planning (OSP), a unit set up by the New York Port Authority to assess the security of its facilities against terrorist attacks (see Early 1984), spends four to six months studying the World Trade Center. It examines the center’s design through looking at photographs, blueprints, and plans. It brings in experts such as the builders of the center, plus experts in sabotage and explosives, and has them walk through the WTC to identify any areas of vulnerability. According to New York Times reporters James Glanz and Eric Lipton, when Edward O’Sullivan, head of the OSP, looks at WTC security, he finds “one vulnerability after another. Explosive charges could be placed at key locations in the power system. Chemical or biological agents could be dropped into the coolant system. The Hudson River water intake could be blown up. Someone might even try to infiltrate the large and vulnerable subterranean realms of the World Trade Center site.” In particular, “There was no control at all over access to the underground, two-thousand-car parking garage.” However, O’Sullivan consults “one of the trade center’s original structural engineers, Les Robertson, on whether the towers would collapse because of a bomb or a collision with a slow-moving airplane.” He is told there is “little likelihood of a collapse no matter how the building was attacked.” [Glanz and Lipton, 2004, pp. 227; New York County Supreme Court, 1/20/2004] The OSP will issue its report called “Counter-Terrorism Perspectives: The World Trade Center” late in 1985 (see November 1985).
Entity Tags: Office of Special Planning, Leslie Robertson, Edward O’Sullivan, World Trade Center
October 1984: CIA Director Secretly Visits Afghan Training Camps; Urges Spread of Violence into Soviet Union
William Casey (left, with glasses) and General Akhtar Abdur Rahman (center) touring Afghan training camps in the 1980s. [Source: Associated Press]CIA Director William Casey makes a secret visit to Pakistan to plan a strategy to defeat Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Casey is flown to secret training camps near the Afghan border where he watches trainees fire weapons and make bombs. According to the Washington Post: “During the visit, Casey startled his Pakistani hosts by proposing that they take the Afghan war into enemy territory—into the Soviet Union itself. Casey wanted to ship subversive propaganda through Afghanistan to the Soviet Union’s predominantly Muslim southern republics.” The Pakistanis agree to the plan and soon the CIA begins sending subversive literature and thousands of Korans to Soviet republics such as Uzbekistan. Mohammad Yousaf, a Pakistani general who attends the meeting, will later say that Casey said, “We can do a lot of damage to the Soviet Union.” [Washington Post, 7/19/1992] This will eventually evolve into CIA and ISI sponsored Afghan attacks inside the Soviet Union (see 1984-March 1985 and 1985-1987).
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Akhtar Abdur Rahman, William Casey, Mohammad Yousaf, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence
October 1984: CIA Afghan Covert Operations Budget Increases
Rep. Charlie Wilson. [Source: Sam Houston State University]Primarily due to the pressure from Rep. Charlie Wilson (D-TX), the CIA’s budget for the Afghan covert operations is tripled in a matter of a few weeks. The CIA initially resisted accepting the funds, but according to William Casey’s executive assistant Robert Gates, “Wilson just steamrolled [CIA Near East Division Chief Charles]—and the CIA for that matter.” [Crile, 2003, pp. 102] Richard Clarke, a State Department analyst who later will become counterterrorism “tsar” for Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush, will claim, “Unclassified studies show that [covert aid] grew from $35 million in 1982 to $600 million in 1987. With few exceptions, the funds bought materiel that was given to Afghan fighters by [the ISI]. CIA personnel were not authorized to enter Afghanistan, except rarely.” [Clarke, 2004, pp. 50]
Entity Tags: Robert M. Gates, Charlie Wilson, Richard A. Clarke, Central Intelligence Agency, Charles Cogen, William Casey
Late 1984: Bin Laden and His Mentor Azzam Set Up Precursor Organization to Al-Qaeda
Sheikh Abdullah Azzam and his son-in-law Abdullah Anas in Afghanistan during the 1980s. [Source: History Channel]Osama bin Laden, Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, bin Laden’s mentor, and Abdullah Anas, Azzam’s son-in-law, create an organization called Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK), known in English as the Services Office. It is also known as Al-Kifah. This organization will become a key node in the private funding network for the Afghan war. [Bergen, 2006, pp. 28-30] The US government will later call it the “precursor organization to al-Qaeda.” [9/11 Commission, 8/21/2004, pp. 89 ] Initially, Azzam runs it while bin Laden funds it. They create a guesthouse in Peshawar, Pakistan, to help foreign volunteers connect with rebel forces in Afghanistan. Prior to this time, the number of such volunteers is very small, perhaps only several dozen. But the number begins to dramatically expand. [New York Times, 1/14/2001; Bergen, 2006, pp. 28-30] Donors will include the Saudi intelligence agency, the Saudi Red Crescent, the Muslim World League, and private donors, including Saudi princes. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/23/2001] MAK/Al-Kifah begins fundraising in the US one year later (see 1985-1989).
Entity Tags: Maktab al-Khidamat, Abdullah Anas, Abdullah Azzam, Osama bin Laden
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Al-Kifah/MAK
1984 and After: CIA Allegedly Funds Bin Laden’s Main Charity Front
Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK), also known as Al-Kifah, is Osama bin Laden’s main charity front in the 1980s. The US government will later call it the “precursor organization to al-Qaeda” (see Late 1984). In 2005, investigative journalist Joe Trento will write, “CIA money was actually funneled to MAK, since it was recruiting young men to come join the jihad in Afghanistan.” Trento will explain this information comes from “a former CIA officer who actually filed these reports” but who cannot be identified because he still works in Afghanistan. MAK was founded in 1984 (see Late 1984) and was disbanded around 1996 (see Shortly After November 19, 1995). However, Trento will not specify exactly when CIA aid to MAK began or how long it lasted. [Trento, 2005, pp. 342] Bin Laden appears to have other at least indirect contact with the CIA around this time (see 1986).
Entity Tags: Joseph Trento, Maktab al-Khidamat, Central Intelligence Agency
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, US Intel Links to Islamic Militancy, Terrorism Financing, Al-Kifah/MAK
1985: Arrest of Pakistan Proliferator Endangers Program of US Aid to Mujaheddin
The arrest of a Pakistani agent attempting to buy components for Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program in the US starts a crisis that could potentially lead to the cutting off of US aid to Pakistan, and an end to US support for the mujaheddin in the Soviet-Afghan War. When Stephen Solarz (D-NY), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs and an opponent of Pakistan, learns of the attempted purchase—of Kryton high-speed triggers that are used to fire nuclear weapons—he calls for hearings to look into the affair. The crisis passes, but it is unclear exactly how. Author George Crile will attribute the resolution to threats made to Solarz by Congressman Charlie Wilson (D-TX), a strong supporter of US involvement in the war: “Wilson understood that this was a battle that could not be won with debating points; reportedly, he went to Solarz armed with certain classified intelligence about India’s nuclear program. He is said to have suggested that India might be more exposed than Pakistan when it came to the issue of the bomb.” [Crile, 2003, pp. 463-4]
Entity Tags: Charlie Wilson, Stephen Solarz, House Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, George Crile
Mid-1980s: US Officials Allegedly Meet Directly with Bin Laden
Journalist Simon Reeve will claim in the 1999 book The New Jackals that US officials directly met with bin Laden in Afghanistan in the 1980s. He will write, “American emissaries are understood to have traveled to Pakistan for meetings with mujaheddin leaders… [A former CIA official] even suggests the US emissaries met directly with bin Laden, and that it was bin Laden, acting on advice from his friends in Saudi intelligence, who first suggested the mujaheddin should be given Stingers.” [Reeve, 1999, pp. 167, 176] The CIA begins supplying Stinger missiles to the mujaheddin in 1986 (see September 1986). After 9/11, the CIA will state, “Numerous comments in the media recently have reiterated a widely circulated but incorrect notion that the CIA once had a relationship with Osama bin Laden. For the record, you should know that the CIA never employed, paid, or maintained any relationship whatsoever with bin Laden.” [US State Department, 1/14/2005]
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, United States
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Osama Bin Laden, US Intel Links to Islamic Militancy
Timeline Tags: Alleged Use of False Flag Attacks, US confrontation with Iran
1985-1986: CIA Becomes Unhappy with Afghan Fighters, Begins Supporting Islamist Volunteers from Other Countries
The Central Intelligence Agency, which has been supporting indigenous Afghan groups fighting occupying Soviet forces, becomes unhappy with them due to infighting, and searches for alternative anti-Soviet allies. MSNBC will later comment: “[T]he CIA, concerned about the factionalism of Afghanistan made famous by Rudyard Kipling, found that Arab zealots who flocked to aid the Afghans were easier to ‘read’ than the rivalry-ridden natives. While the Arab volunteers might well prove troublesome later, the agency reasoned, they at least were one-dimensionally anti-Soviet for now. So [Osama] bin Laden, along with a small group of Islamic militants from Egypt, Pakistan, Lebanon, Syria and Palestinian refugee camps all over the Middle East, became the ‘reliable’ partners of the CIA in its war against Moscow.” The CIA does not usually deal with the Afghan Arabs directly, but through an intermediary, Pakistan’s ISI, which helps the Arabs through the Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK) run by Abdullah Azzam. [MSNBC, 8/24/1998] The agreement is sealed during a secret visit to Pakistan, where CIA Director William Casey commits the agency to support the ISI program of recruiting radical Muslims for the Afghan war from other Muslim countries around the world. In addition to the Gulf States, these include Turkey, the Philippines, and China. The ISI started their recruitment of radicals from other countries in 1982 (see 1982). This CIA cooperation is part of a joint CIA-ISI plan begun the year before to expand the “Jihad” beyond Afghanistan (see 1984-March 1985). [Rashid, 2001, pp. 128-129] Thousands of militant Arabs are trained under this program (see 1986-1992).
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Maktab al-Khidamat, Abdullah Azzam, William Casey, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Pakistan and the ISI, Philippine Militant Collusion, US Intel Links to Islamic Militancy
1985-1989: Precursor to Al-Qaeda Puts Down US Roots
Makhtab al-Khidamat offices in the US in the late 1980s. Some of the offices in fact were represented by single individuals. [Source: National Geographic] (click image to enlarge)Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, bin Laden’s mentor, makes repeated trips to the US and other countries, building up his Pakistan-based organization, Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK), or “Services Office” in English. It is also known as Al-Kifah, which means “struggle.” Azzam founded the Al-Kifah/MAK in 1984 (see Late 1984). Branches open in over 30 US cities, as Muslim-Americans donate millions of dollars to support the Afghan war against the Soviet Union. The most important branch, called the Al-Kifah Refugee Center, opens in Brooklyn, New York (see 1986-1993). Azzam is assassinated in a car bomb attack in late 1989 (see November 24, 1989). Bin Laden soon takes over the organization, which effectively morphs into al-Qaeda. His followers take over the US offices and they become financial conduits for al-Qaeda operations. [Lance, 2003, pp. 40-41]
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, Al-Kifah Refugee Center, Maktab al-Khidamat, Al-Qaeda, Abdullah Azzam
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Al-Kifah/MAK, US Intel Links to Islamic Militancy
1985-1987: US Helps Afghan Allies Launch Attacks into Soviet Union
In 1985, the CIA, MI6 (Britain’s intelligence agency), and the Pakistani ISI agree to launch guerrilla attacks from Afghanistan into then Soviet-controlled Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, attacking military installations, factories, and storage depots within Soviet territory. Some Afghans have been trained for this purpose since 1984 (see 1984-March 1985). The task is given to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghan warlord closely linked to the ISI. According to an account in the Washington Post, in March 1987, small units cross from bases in northern Afghanistan into Tajikistan and launched their first rocket attacks against villages there. [Washington Post, 7/19/1992; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/23/2001] However, Mohammad Yousaf, a high-ranking ISI officer at the time, will later write a well regarded book about the Soviet-Afghan war and will give a different account. He will claim the attacks in the Soviet Union actually begin in 1985 and are much more numerous. He says, “These cross-border strikes were at their peak in 1986. Scores of attacks were made across the Amu (River)… Sometimes Soviet citizens joined in these operations, or came back into Afghanistan to join the mujaheddin… That we were hitting a sore spot was confirmed by the ferocity of the Soviets’ reaction. Virtually every incursion provoked massive aerial bombing and gunship attacks on all villages south of the river in the vicinity of our strike.” [Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 286] By all accounts, these secret attacks are strongly backed by CIA Director William Casey and come to an end when he dies later in 1987. [Washington Post, 7/19/1992; Dreyfuss, 2005, pp. 285-286]
Entity Tags: UK Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Central Intelligence Agency, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, William Casey
1985-1989: Bin Laden’s Mentor Azzam Recruits Fighters All Over World with Apparent CIA Support
Sheikh Abdullah Azzam giving a speech in the US in February 1988. [Source: CNN]Bin Laden’s mentor Abdullah Azzam frequently travels all over the world with the apparent support of the CIA. Slate will later write, “Azzam trotted the globe during the 1980s to promote the Afghan jihad against the Soviets. By the time of his death in 1989, he had recruited between 16,000 and 20,000 mujaheddin from 20 countries to Afghanistan, visited 50 American cities to advance his cause, and dispatched acolytes to spread the gospel in 26 US states, not to mention across the Middle East and Europe.” Slate calls him “the Lenin of international jihad,” noting that he “didn’t invent his movement’s ideas, but he furthered them and put them into practice around the world.” [Slate, 4/16/2002] At the time, the US is supporting the Afghans fighting the Soviets and it will later be alleged that the CIA supported Azzam as part of this effort. Barnett Rubin, a Columbia University professor and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, will claim in 1995 that sources told him Azzam was “enlisted” by the CIA to help unite the fractious Afghan rebel groups. Rubin claims Azzam was considered a prime asset because of his “close connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, Saudi intelligence, and the Muslim World League.” But Azzam made no secret of his desire for a no compromise jihad to conquer the entire world. In 1988 in New Jersey, he says, “Blood and martyrdom are the only way to create a Muslim society” and he wants “to ignite the spark that may one day burn Western interests all over the world.” He is frequently accompanied on his US lecture tours by El-Sayyid Nosair and Clement Rodney Hampton-El, both of whom will later be convicted of al-Qaeda-linked attacks in the US. [New York Magazine, 3/17/1995] CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) Executive Director Nihad Awad is a leader in the IAP (Islamic Association for Palestine) at this time. ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) affiliates, such as IAP and the MAYA (Muslim Arab Youth Association), host Azzam and arrange his visits to Islamic centers throughout the US. [New Republic, 2/27/2007]
Entity Tags: Islamic Association for Palestine, Barnett Rubin, Abdullah Azzam, Clement Rodney Hampton-El, El Sayyid Nosair, Muslim World League, Nihad Awad, Muslim Arab Youth Association, Muslim Brotherhood, Council on American-Islamic Relations
Mid-1980s: Pakistani ISI and CIA Gain from Drug Production
ISI headquarters in Islamabad, Pakistan. [Source: Banded Artists Productions]The Pakistani ISI starts a special cell of agents who use profits from heroin production for covert actions “at the insistence of the CIA.” “This cell promotes the cultivation of opium, the extraction of heroin in Pakistani and Afghan territories under mujaheddin control. The heroin is then smuggled into the Soviet controlled areas, in an attempt to turn the Soviet troops into heroin addicts. After the withdrawal of the Soviet troops, the ISI’s heroin cell started using its network of refineries and smugglers for smuggling heroin to the Western countries and using the money as a supplement to its legitimate economy. But for these heroin dollars, Pakistan’s legitimate economy must have collapsed many years ago.” [Financial Times, 8/10/2001] The ISI grows so powerful on this money, that “even by the shadowy standards of spy agencies, the ISI is notorious. It is commonly branded ‘a state within the state,’ or Pakistan’s ‘invisible government.’” [Time, 5/6/2002]
Entity Tags: Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Pakistan and the ISI, Drugs
Early 1985: Salem Bin Laden Says Brother Osama Is Liaison between US, Afghan Rebels, and Saudi Government
Salem bin Laden tells one of his employees, George Harrington, that his brother Osama, is, according to a later account by Harrington, “the liaison between the US, the Saudi government, and the Afghan rebels.” Salem, head of the bin Laden family, also says that he must visit Osama in Peshawar, a base inside Pakistan for the anti-Soviet mujaheddin, to check on what equipment the Saudi government is funneling to him. The two men fly up together with another employee, Bengt Johansson, and meet Osama that day. Osama also gives his brother and the two employees a tour of some facilities in Peshawar, including refugee camps, a hospital and an orphanage, and Salem films them to publicize his brother’s charitable work. [Coll, 2008, pp. 7-9]
Entity Tags: Salem bin Laden, Osama bin Laden, Bengt Johansson, George Harrington
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Osama Bin Laden, Saudi Arabia, US Intel Links to Islamic Militancy, Bin Laden Family
January 1985: Treasury Secretary Regan Reads ‘Dynamite’ CIA Report on BCCI Crimes, But Takes No Action
In January 1985, the CIA delivers a secret report about the criminal BCCI back to the Treasury Department. In an extraordinary departure from standard procedure, the report is hand-delivered by a CIA agent and printed on plain paper with no markings to indicate it came from the CIA. The report is given to Douglas Mulholland, a Treasury official serving as the CIA’s main link to that department. Mulholland then hand-delivers the report to Treasury Secretary Donald Regan, and calls its contents “dynamite.” It is not known what is in the report, but the Treasury Department sends back word that it wants to know more. However, as Time magazine reporters Jonathan Beaty and S. C. Gwynne will later relate: “Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, Treasury lost all interest in BCCI.… Someone had… gotten to Regan and Mulholland, and the message had been unambiguous: back off.” The Treasury Department takes no action against BCCI, even though the evidence of the bank’s involvement in money laundering by this time is overwhelming. [Beaty and Gwynne, 1993, pp. 325-328]
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Douglas Mulholland, US Department of the Treasury, Donald Regan
Mid 1980s: MI6 Agent Gets to Know Future Al-Qaeda Leaders
Alastair Crooke. [Source: Conflicts Forum]Alastair Crooke, an agent for the British intelligence service MI6, helps out with the anti-Soviet jihad and gets “to know some of the militants who would become leaders of al-Qaeda.” [New Statesman, 4/11/2005] He also spends “years during the 1980s with Osama Bin Laden’s henchmen in Afghanistan.” [Sunday Express, 6/12/2005] Crooke, whose role is to coordinate British assistance to the mujaheddin, will later be described by CIA officer Milton Bearden as “a natural on the frontier” and “a British agent straight out of the Great Game.” Details of exactly which future al-Qaeda leaders he gets to know are not available. In the 1990s, Crooke will move to Palestine, where he will come into contact with Hamas leaders. [New Statesman, 4/11/2005]
Entity Tags: UK Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Milton Bearden, Al-Qaeda, Alastair Crooke
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Londonistan - UK Counterterrorism, US Intel Links to Islamic Militancy
Mid-1980s: Osama Bin Laden’s Brother Is Allegedly Involved in the Iran-Contra Affair
Quoting a French intelligence report posted by PBS Frontline, The New Yorker reports, “During the nineteen-eighties, when the Reagan administration secretly arranged for an estimated $34 million to be funneled through Saudi Arabia to the Contras in Nicaragua, [Osama’s eldest brother] Salem bin Laden aided in this cause.” [PBS Frontline, 2001; New Yorker, 11/5/2001]
Entity Tags: Salem bin Laden, Contras, Reagan administration
Category Tags: Saudi Arabia, US Intel Links to Islamic Militancy, Bin Laden Family
Mid-1980s: ISI Head Regularly Meets with Bin Laden
According to controversial author Gerald Posner, ex-CIA officials claim that General Akhtar Abdur Rahman, Pakistani ISI’s head from 1980 to 1987, regularly meets bin Laden in Peshawar, Pakistan. The ISI and bin Laden form a partnership that forces Afghan tribal warlords to pay a “tax” on the opium trade. By 1985, bin Laden and the ISI are splitting annual profits of up to $100 million a year. [Posner, 2003, pp. 29]
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, Akhtar Abdur Rahman
February 1985: Reagan Possibly Views Afghan Video Made by Bin Laden Brothers
According to author Steve Coll, US President Ronald Reagan may be given a briefing about Osama bin Laden’s charitable work in the Soviet-Afghan War, and may also see a video showing aspects of the work. If this is true, the briefing and video would come from Salem bin Laden, head of the bin Laden family, who made the video recently when visiting his brother Osama (see Early 1985).
Summit - Salem is in Washington at this time to attend a summit between Reagan and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. It is unclear what Salem’s role is at the summit, although one of the key areas of co-operation between the US and Saudi Arabia is support for the Afghan mujaheddin, and his brother Osama is a key figure who frequently travels between Saudi Arabia and mujaheddin bases in Pakistan. An attorney will later recall seeing a photograph of Salem and Reagan together at the meeting, but the photo will apparently be destroyed before it can be published.
Possible Briefing - Coll will comment: “It seems probable that when Salem reached Washington that winter, he would have passed to King Fahd, if not directly to the White House, the video evidence he had just gathered documenting Osama’s humanitarian work on the Afghan frontier.” Coll will add that Reagan takes pains to acknowledge Saudi Arabia’s efforts to support Afghan refugees on the Pakistani frontier, saying: “Their many humanitarian contributions touch us deeply.… Saudi aid to refugees uprooted from their homes in Afghanistan has not gone unnoticed here.” Coll will point out that the leading Saudi provider of such aid is Osama bin Laden, and that “Reagan’s language suggested that he had been given at least a general briefing about Osama’s work.” [Coll, 2008, pp. 11-12]
Entity Tags: Steve Coll, Osama bin Laden, Ronald Reagan, Salem bin Laden
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Saudi Arabia, US Intel Links to Islamic Militancy, Bin Laden Family
March 1985: Reagan Sharply Increases Covert Support to Afghan Rebels
Ronald Reagan with Afghan mujaheddin leaders. [Source: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library] (click image to enlarge)President Reagan issues a secret National Security Decision Directive to sharply escalate US covert action in Afghanistan. No longer content to simply help harass Soviet forces in Afghanistan, the directive leads to sharp increase in military and other aid to the mujaheddin to completely defeat the Soviets. The CIA begins supplying mujaheddin rebels with “extensive satellite reconnaissance data of Soviet targets on the Afghan battlefield, plans for military operations based on the satellite intelligence, intercepts of Soviet communications, secret communications networks for the rebels, delayed timing devices for tons of C-4 plastic explosives for urban sabotage and sophisticated guerrilla attacks, long-range sniper rifles, a targeting device for mortars that was linked to a US Navy satellite, wire-guided anti-tank missiles, and other equipment.” CIA Director William Casey also sees the directive as an opportunity to launch attacks inside the Soviet Union itself (see 1984-March 1985 and 1985-1987). [Washington Post, 7/19/1992]
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Ronald Reagan, William Casey
July 1985: Report Outlines Terrorism Threat to WTC
Charles Schnabolk. [Source: Institute for Design Professionals]While the Office of Special Planning is still working on its report about the vulnerability of the World Trade Center to terrorist attack, the New York Port Authority hired security consultant Charles Schnabolk to also review the center’s security systems. [UExpress (.com), 10/12/2001; New York County Supreme Court, 1/20/2004] Schnabolk was involved in designing the original security system when the WTC complex was built. [Institue for Design Professionals, 2009; The Security Design Group, 2010] This month his secret report, titled “Terrorism Threat Perspective and Proposed Response for the World Trade Center” is released. It sets out four levels of possible terrorism against the center, and gives examples of each: ”(1) PREDICTABLE—Bomb threats; (2) PROBABLE—Bombing attempts, computer crime; (3) POSSIBLE—Hostage taking; (4) CATASTROPHIC—Aerial bombing, chemical agents in water supply or air conditioning (caused by agents of a foreign government or a programmed suicide).” Similar to other reports in the mid-1980s, it also warns that the WTC “is highly vulnerable through the parking lot.” [UExpress (.com), 10/12/2001; New York County Supreme Court, 1/20/2004]
Entity Tags: Charles Schnabolk, World Trade Center
August 1985: Solarz Amendment Passed Penalizing Nations Exporting Nuclear Materials from US
Congressman Stephen Solarz. [Source: AP]The “Solarz Amendment” to the Foreign Assistance Act is passed by the US Congress and becomes law. The amendment, championed by Congressman Stephen Solarz (D-NY), cuts off all military and economic aid to purportedly non-nuclear nations that illegally export or attempt to export nuclear-related materials from the US. [New Yorker, 3/29/1993] There are subsequently several examples of Pakistan exporting nuclear weapons technology from the US, but they are not punished until the end of the Soviet-Afghan War (see August 1985-October 1990).
Entity Tags: Foreign Assistance Act, Stephen Solarz
August 1985: Pressler Amendment Passed, Requiring Yearly Certification that Pakistan Does Not Have Nuclear Weapons
Senator Larry Pressler. [Source: Public domain]The US Congress passes the “Pressler Amendment,” requiring the president to certify that Pakistan does not have nuclear weapons every year. The amendment was championed by Senator Larry Pressler (R-SD). If the president does not issue such certification, Pakistan cannot not get any foreign aid from the US. Presidents Reagan and Bush will falsely certify Pakistan does not have nuclear weapons several times (see August 1985-October 1990). Journalist Seymour Hersh will later comment: “There is indisputable evidence that Pakistan has been able to escape public scrutiny for its violations of the law because senior officials of the Reagan and the Bush administrations chose not to share the intelligence about nuclear purchases with Congress. The two Republican administrations obviously feared that the legislators, who had voted for the Solarz (see August 1985) and Pressler Amendments, would cut off funds for the war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. It was yet another clash between a much desired foreign-policy goal and the law.” [New Yorker, 3/29/1993]
Entity Tags: Seymour Hersh, Larry Pressler, George Herbert Walker Bush, Ronald Reagan
August 1985-October 1990: White House Defies Congress and Allows Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons Program to Progress
In 1985, US Congress passes legislation requiring US economic sanctions on Pakistan unless the White House can certify that Pakistan has not embarked on a nuclear weapons program (see August 1985 and August 1985). The White House certifies this every year until 1990 (see 1987-1989). However, it is known all the time that Pakistan does have a continuing nuclear program. For instance, in 1983 a State Department memo said Pakistan clearly has a nuclear weapons program that relies on stolen European technology. Pakistan successfully builds a nuclear bomb in 1987 but does not test it to keep it a secret (see 1987). With the Soviet-Afghan war ending in 1989, the US no longer relies on Pakistan to contain the Soviet Union. So in 1990 the Pakistani nuclear program is finally recognized and sweeping sanctions are applied (see June 1989). [Gannon, 2005] Journalist Seymour Hersh will comment, “The certification process became farcical in the last years of the Reagan Administration, whose yearly certification—despite explicit American intelligence about Pakistan’s nuclear-weapons program—was seen as little more than a payoff to the Pakistani leadership for its support in Afghanistan.” [New Yorker, 3/29/1993] The government of Pakistan will keep their nuclear program a secret until they successfully test a nuclear weapon in 1998 (see May 28, 1998).
Entity Tags: US Congress, White House, Pakistan
Category Tags: Soviet-Afghan War, Pakistan and the ISI, Pakistani Nukes & Islamic Militancy
September 1985: Ali Mohamed Moves to US; CIA Role Is Disputed
Al Mohamed, pictured in a US army video. [Source: US Army]The CIA claims to have put Ali Mohamed on a terrorist watch list to prevent him from coming to the US (see 1984). Somehow, Mohamed gets a US visa anyway. After learning that he has been given a visa, the CIA supposedly issues a warning to other Federal agencies that a suspicious character might be traveling to the US. Mohamed is able to move to the US nonetheless. [New York Times, 12/1/1998; San Francisco Chronicle, 11/4/2001] The State Department will not explain how he is able to move to the US despite such warnings. [New York Times, 12/1/1998] In 1995, after Mohamed’s name publicly surfaces at the trial of Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman, the Boston Globe will report that Mohamed had been admitted to the US under a special visa program controlled by the CIA’s clandestine service. This will contradict the CIA’s later claims of disassociating themselves from Mohamed and attempting to stop him from entering the US. [Boston Globe, 2/3/1995; New York Times, 10/30/1998] Mohamed befriends an American woman he meets on the airplane flight to the US. They get married less than two months later, and he moves to her residence in Santa Clara, California. The marriage will help him to become a US citizen in 1989. [San Francisco Chronicle, 9/21/2001]
Entity Tags: US Department of State, Ali Mohamed, Central Intelligence Agency
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Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on brooding artist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And, after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer break, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to face uncertainty about their futures, and the very real possibility of being apart. Set against the stunning backdrops of New York, Paris and Barcelona, this is a gorgeous, heart-wrenching and irresistible story of true love, and the perfect conclusion to Stephanie Perkins’s beloved series.
I am not okay.
This book may have ruined me. Actually, no, it has ruined me.
Everything about Perkins' final book in the Anna and the French Kiss series was just perfect. The book follows Isla, who we saw briefly in Anna and the French Kiss as she enters her senior year of high school and hopes to pursue her love for fellow student, Josh. At the start of the book we meet Isla once again, in New York where - drugged up on painkillers in the dead of night, she stumbles across Josh in a cafe and nevertheless - she embarrasses herself. Whilst a bit of an unusual opening chapter, Isla came across as witty and entertaining - basically classic Stephanie Perkins.
The characters in Isla and the Happily Ever After were stunning; so detailed and richly described. This means that within 400 pages you get to know the characters so well that at the end you don't really want to let go. Stephanie Perkins has a way with words that means once you dive into this world, you'll never want to re-emerge from the depths of her writing.
Isla was a character that was very easy to relate to, and that's one of the things I liked the most about this book. Whilst I love the idea of fluffy romance which we saw in ANNA and LOLA, this was honest, and truthful, and quite frankly, very real. The idea of Isla and Josh (for the record, this is on the blurb, not a spoiler) getting together very early on and then experiencing the ups and downs of a typical relationship was great and certainly memorable. Kurt as well! I love how this book dealt with Asperger's Syndrome so well. Bringing mental health into books about love and romance makes this story all the more real.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that ANNA AND ST CLAIR ARE ENGAGED?!? I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING! One of the brilliant things about seeing characters from the previous book- no matter how briefly- is that there just this huge amount of love for these people, who seem so real. It was brilliant to see Anna, St Clair, Lola, and Cricket once again, and see characters that we've grown to love so much.
Whether this is my favourite of the trilogy or not? I'm not too sure. Once again, this was definitely the most relatable book in the trilogy and that's something I really appreciated. Right now, it's between ISLA and ANNA. But really these books are on a whole other level to a lot of fiction. Often people say that you should read a lot of books by the same author to be able to say that they're your favourite author, but really I only need three books to say that Stephanie Perkins is definitely one of my favourites.
Personally, I can't stand fluffy books, and so if you told me a year ago that I'd read all three in the trilogy and adore them - Isla being the first book I've ever cried at - then I would have laughed. But I honestly cannot recommend these three books highly enough.
August Book Haul
Pottering On: 1 Year Later
Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perki...
The British Tag
Undone by Cat Clarke
London Day 2: Warner Bros. Studio Tour
Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Roomies by Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando
The Fault in Our Stars Film Review
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn ...
Published in August
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Steel Guitars, Sacred and Secular in Black
The old adage that all black popular musicians get there start in the church has been played out to the point of cliche. Nonetheless, with the exception of Hip Hop - although many folk will make the claim that the mc is linked to a lineage that traces back through the preacher to African griots - cultural idioms nurtured in black churches have played an all too formidable force in the formation of popular cultures the world over. What follows is an insightful recent article from the New York Times that captures some of the creative ironies that emerge at the intersections of "sacred and secular."
NEW YORK TIMES - August 5, 2007 Music Singers Grounded by Sacred Roots By GEOFFREY HIMES
WHEN Ryan Shaw performed at the Artscape festival here last month, he brought a refreshing authenticity to the soul-revival movement that has made stars out of Amy Winehouse, Joss Stone and John Legend. Mr. Shaw, 26, could shake the oldies dust off songs from the late 1950s and early ’60s because he came to the music the same way the originals did: in the black church. And when he sang “Nobody,” his own composition and the new single from his debut album, “This Is Ryan Shaw” (Columbia/One Haven/Red Ink), it resembled the hymns that Ray Charles and Wilson Pickett once turned into pop hits by changing a few words.
Mr. Shaw, who was born in Georgia and now lives in Brooklyn, invited the sun-baked fans to imagine themselves with him in the Free Church of God in Christ of Atlanta, where he learned to sing. Sporting a black shirt with red piping and a bundle of thin braids with burnt orange tips, he sang the familiar words to “If I Had a Hammer,” delivered in the soul style of Sam Cooke. And when he led the crowd in a call-and-response sing-along, he swooped his outstretched arms as if he were still a choir director.
But he’s not a choir director anymore, and he would have trouble returning to the post given the mixed reactions to his pop music career. While some of his fellow churchgoers have been supportive, others have told him that he’s going to hell for singing secular music. Mr. Shaw acknowledged that he couldn’t sing the way he does if not for all those years in church, but he added that such criticism can make it difficult to grow as an artist.
“It’s that Catch-22,” he explained backstage at Artscape. “The traditions of the church allow it to preserve musical styles that might otherwise be lost, but it can also make for stagnation. Things are always changing in youth culture, especially in black music, and young people want to hear those changes in church.
“If the church gives in too easily to those changes, gospel music will lose its identity,” he said, “but if it resists those changes too much, it will alienate the youth. That’s why you have all these battles about what is gospel music and what God wants to hear.”
It’s a familiar story: A musician tries to take the music he learned in church out into the pop marketplace, and the church reacts by shutting its doors on the apostate. From Georgia Tom Dorsey, the minister’s son who played the blues for Ma Rainey in the 1920s; to Al Green, who gave up pop stardom to become a minister himself in the 1970s; to Robert Randolph, who was barred from playing in church after becoming a jam-band star in this decade, hundreds of artists have taken their turns as protagonists in this tale.
It is usually told in terms of a forward-thinking youngster and a hidebound institution, but it’s more complicated than that. If Mr. Shaw’s church, for example, hadn’t been so stubbornly old-fashioned, he never would have mastered the art of melodic shouting and never would have sounded so natural when he turned to retro-soul. Maybe these churches provide a valuable service by being narrow-minded about music.
“There are so few areas in popular culture that remain untouched by the mainstream,” said Peter Guralnick, author of “Sweet Soul Music” and “Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke,” “that any area that remains separate and retains its attachment to a tradition is going to sound pure and distinctive.
“Some churches are more untouched than others, but all of them tend to preserve older styles of American music, whether you’re talking about soul music or bluegrass. That’s especially true in this era of hip-hop and rap, which are really the first popular forms of black music in my lifetime that haven’t sprung directly from the church.”
It’s funny, Mr. Shaw said, what churches will and won’t accept. “When R&B started using jazzy chords like 7ths, 9ths and 13ths, you couldn’t use them in church because that was ‘the devil’s music,’ ” he said. “But as soon as R&B moved on to something else, suddenly it was O.K. to use those chords because the devil wasn’t using them anymore.
“Just like in the clothes world, where some stores will sell last year’s fashions, the church often ends up using the last decade’s R&B fashions.”
Thus stars like Kirk Franklin and Da’ T.R.U.T.H. might bring funk and old-school rap to the gospel charts, but there’s still a time lag between the sounds on urban radio and those on gospel radio. And in more conservative churches you’ll find the styles of ’60s soul, ’50s doo-wop or ’40s quartets perfectly preserved. If you want to learn the craft of those genres, the church is the place to study.
“My church was very traditional,” Mr. Shaw said, “and for a long time the only songs I learned were gospel songs. It was a very aggressive kind of singing. We didn’t warm into a song. We were in it full throttle from the get-go. When I moved to New York and got a job at the Motown Cafe, those Motown songs felt like the music I’d been singing all my life, even if the lyrics and melodies were different.”
Sometimes a black church incubates a style that doesn’t exist anywhere else. That’s the case with the House of God, which adopted the steel guitar, an instrument associated with Hawaiian and country music, and adapted it to its liturgy.
If you had attended the House of God’s national assembly in Nashville in 2000, you might have seen a 22-year-old nobody in a brown pinstripe suit sitting behind a pedal steel guitar. As the preachers thundered and the congregants shouted back, he laced it all together with vocal-like swoops across the 13 strings of his tablelike instrument and wild, psychedelic digressions in the distinctive style known as sacred steel.
That nobody was Robert Randolph, and within a year, thanks in part to John Medeski and the North Mississippi Allstars, who recorded with him as the Word, he was headlining at rock clubs. When he came with his Family Band to the Sonar Lounge in Baltimore in December, his signature song, “I Need More Love,” didn’t sound all that different from the processional and offertory hymns he used to play in the House of God. Mr. Randolph, who still lives in his native New Jersey, was wearing a sports jersey rather than a suit, and the lyrics spoke of love in terms of universal brotherhood rather than obeisance to a deity, but the impact was much the same.
Sitting in his tour bus before the Sonar Lounge show Mr. Randolph kept glancing at the football game on the television because he had told the story of learning to play black gospel music on an unlikely instrument dozens of times before. But when asked about playing in the church today, his expression darkened and he gazed directly at a reporter.
“We were kicked out of playing in church in 2001,” he said. “They said we were playing the blues and our songs didn’t talk about God. But my goal was to take the sound I learned in church and show that that sound can find a place in the secular world. I wanted to prove that a young kid doesn’t have to talk about drugs, guns and booty. He can be successful singing about love and happiness.”
“When blessings keep coming down on this band,” he continued, “when we get calls from Eric Clapton and Dave Matthews, when people who have listened to thousands of records hear something special in what we’re doing, I know this is what God has carved out for me. It’s not up to anyone else to tell me what his plan is.”
Maurice (Ted) Beard is one of the sacred steel guitarists that Mr. Randolph learned from during his church’s national assemblies. Today Mr. Beard, a 72-year-old Detroit pastor, is minister of music for the Keith Dominion of the House of God, and he describes Mr. Randolph as a “very gifted musician.” He said that he regrets that the younger guitarist can no longer play in church, but that he understands the decision, which came down from the chief overseer of the church.
“We really feel our musical style is something God gave us to use to enhance our worship,” Mr. Beard said, “so we should really keep it in the church. If you play out in the so-called world, you’re barred. There are different thoughts on the policy, but that’s what it is. It’s because we developed our music in the church and kept it in the church that it sounds so different from everything else.
“I’ve had offers to play out in the world, but I made a promise to my grandmother to stay in the church, so I did.”
Mr. Clapton and Mr. Matthews are both guests on “Colorblind” (Warner Brothers), the new album from Mr. Randolph, who will play at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, N.J., next Saturday. Mr. Shaw frequently performs at all-ages festivals like Bumbershoot in Seattle; he’ll play there on Sept. 2, and he’ll play at Radio City Music Hall on Sept. 18 as part of the multi-artist Dream Concert.
Both Mr. Shaw and Mr. Randolph say they don’t care what their fellow churchgoers think of their secular careers, but neither is very convincing. They are obviously pained by the criticism and argue that far from abandoning their religion, they’re furthering it.
Mr. Shaw insisted: “As long as I’m singing about love and not being derogatory to anyone, I feel my music is still a part of Christianity, even if the songs don’t mention God. It’s the spirit behind the music and how it’s delivered that’s important.”
Mr. Randolph would agree. “Church is about spreading the word, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” he said. “Even though some of our songs have more of a secular sound, it’s all about life, love and understanding. Sometimes we’re in church preaching the word and we think it only applies to us in the church, but there’s a whole world out there.”
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Home - President's Award, 2017 - The social basis of criminal law protection of banking in Ukraine
The social basis of criminal law protection of banking in Ukraine
Work number - M 36
Is presented by Sumy State University.
Author: Alyona M. Klochko, Сandidate of Law Sciences.
The primary purpose of the research was to create a concept of criminal protection of banking in Ukraine. Concluded that banking activity is
an independent object of criminal law protection, provided suggestions on improvement and increasing of the efficiency of criminal laws in this sphere.
The conclusions and proposals formulated in the research can be used for further development of theoretical and applied problems of criminal law protection of banking in general, issues of criminal liability for certain types of such crimes. Proposed model of the chapter of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “Crimes in the Sphere of Banking” may be used during the next codification of criminal law, and some proposals for improving of the criminal law may be used in the provisions of the current lawmaking.
Recommendations to prevent crimes in the sphere of bankingcan be used by practical workers during verification of information on potential borrowers of credit resourcesin banking institutions and for the detection of suspicious banking transactions. Is proposed a solution to the problem of criminal law protection of banking activity in Ukraine, manifested in the development of theoretical principles of its protection and a number of proposals to improve the criminal law in this sphere.
Number of scientific publications: on the topic of scientific work 38 scientific papers are published, including 1 monograph, 14 scientific articles
(1 article in foreign journals included in the scientific metric database Scopus, 2 articles in the publication Ukraine included in the scientific metric database Index Copernicus), 21 conference thesis (including 8 in the foreign editions) and 1 manual, 1 study guide in English, and 2 patents.
According to the database (scholar.google.com.ua) the total number of citations of scientific papers of A.M.Klochko included in the cycle of scientific publications is 68, h-index is equal to 2. According to a database (www.scopus.com) the total number of citations of scientific papers of A.M.Klochko included in the cycle of scientific publications is 2, h-index is 1.
Name Type Size File
Essay (Ukr.) .doc 68.00 KB Download
Information about the creative contribution .pdf 84.80 KB Download
President's Award, 2017
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“A Modest Proposal” (or, “How Dirk and I Got Engaged Even Though We Were Already Married”)
Dec 29, 2014 /27 Comments/in My Porn Romance /by Jesse
It was anticlimactic, really. We were in San Francisco, having fun at Folsom and celebrating three years since we’d first met. As often happens at these things, we’d committed ourselves to too many events and by Saturday afternoon were feeling a bit burnt out. We even started getting irritated with each other, squabbling about which events we should go to and which we would have to skip. Things were going downhill quickly, so we decided to give ourselves a time out; we retreated to our friends’ house in Duboce Triangle where we were staying, and took a nap.
When I woke up, I felt really relaxed. Taking a break had been the right thing to do. As we lay there in each others’ arms, an unplanned thought crossed my mind. This place was important (we’d met in San Francisco), this time was important (it was our third anniversary)… and truth be told, I’m a pretty sentimental guy. Now would be as good a time as any. We’d been talking in hypotheticals for the past two years — “If I were to ever ask you to marry me, would you?” (the answer always being yes) — so without thinking about it too much, I blurted it out (in retrospect, it felt very similar to the way I blurted out my invitation for him to join me in Houston almost three years earlier, which kicked off our relationship):
“Uh, we’ve been talking about it long enough, so I might as well ask. Will you marry me?”
“Well, yuh! We pretty much already are, ya know.”
And just like that, we were engaged. I have to confess that, for me, it actually didn’t seem like a big deal. It was such a natural progression that it felt like a tiny step instead of a huge, daunting, terrifying one. Dirk was right: we were pretty much already married. We were just adding another layer — civil marriage — to our already fruitful union.
The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that I’d been downplaying the importance of civil marriage, especially in a modern context. We’d been referring to each other as “hubby” for a couple of years already, in agreement with our belief in the concept of “traditional” marriage that I laid out in my Huffington Post article. Maybe that’s why our engagement didn’t seem like such a big deal to me at the time. As far as we were concerned, we were already married. We’d merged our lives, and I’d already become a member of Dirk’s family, as Dirk had become a member of mine. By getting legally married, sure, we’ll be afforded the rights that are extended to all married couples. But the outpouring of congratulations and support we’ve received since announcing our engagement has convinced me that our society values civil marriage as much as the traditional arrangement, and I believe it’s fitting to honor these new traditions alongside the old.
Dirk and I got engaged to be legally married on September 20, 2014. We knew we were a long way from setting a wedding date, but there was one order of business we could address immediately: engagement rings. (Yay, shopping!) Dirk had long ago floated an idea for our wedding rings, one that I love. Each ring would be an ouroboros, an ancient symbol of a snake eating its own tail, representing infinity. Dirk’s idea has a bit of a twist, literally and figuratively: instead of a single snake eating its own tail, both of our rings would be comprised of two intertwined snakes eating each others’ tails. We’ve already talked to our friends at Tribal Son about creating these custom rings, but in the meantime we wanted something in the same vein for our engagement bands. So we found rings with two snakes on them, heading towards each other… soon to be intertwined.
Dirk and I bought the rings at the end of September, but we didn’t exchange them right away. We wanted to find some meaningful place or time to do it. And then on October 6 the Supreme Court declined to rule on any federal gay marriage cases, making gay marriage the de facto law of the land in 30 states (that number now stands at 35). That evening, we were engaged in our nightly ritual of watching The Rachel Maddow Show. During her coverage of the Supreme Court decision, Dirk and I were discussing what a momentous day it was. And to celebrate — again, rather impulsively — we exchanged rings right there on our living room sofa.
We didn’t tell many people right away; we wanted to wait until we got a chance to tell our families. So we played a little game… we’d start wearing our rings and see who noticed. Interestingly, and I’m not sure what to make of this, but most of the people who noticed were women. A few of our gay friends noticed too, but most people, if they did notice, didn’t say anything. I think a lot of people assumed we were already married… and in many ways, we were. (I also have to apologize to a few of my fans on the Facebook page. From time to time, someone would point out the rings in a picture I’d posted, and ask something like “Does that mean what I think it means?” I’d always deflect the questions with responses like “not necessarily” or “If it was something that important, don’t you think I’d mention it on Facebook?” Sorry, guys!)
The first opportunity we got to tell our families was on Christmas, and their reactions were pretty great. I’ll tell you all about them shortly in a follow-up blog post. For now, though, I’ll just say that they’re as happy as we are… and that my mom’s response included a lot of repetition.
More soon …
http://jessejackman.xxx/files/2014/12/photo-31.jpg 960 1280 Jesse http://jessejackman.xxx/files/2013/11/Enfolded-JesseJackmanXXX-6.png Jesse2014-12-29 11:19:062014-12-29 11:19:06"A Modest Proposal" (or, "How Dirk and I Got Engaged Even Though We Were Already Married")
Three years ago today…
Sep 22, 2014 /20 Comments/in My Porn Romance /by Jesse
Three years ago today — September 22, 2011 — I met a man who would change my life for the better, forever.
I’m talking, of course, about Dirk.
Back then, there was a lot of change in my life. I’d only filmed two scenes with Titan (Surveillance and Incubus, neither of which had been released yet), and had just signed an exclusivity agreement with the studio. I’d also started to date a guy in Boston who was generally supportive of my decision to work in adult films (I was upfront about it from the day I met him), although he had his doubts and wasn’t sure how it would play out. I was clear about my desire for an emotionally committed but sexually open relationship, though, and he agreed to stick around until my movies started coming out to see how things would go.
I was filled with questions about my new job: At 38 years old, had I made the right decision? What will my friends and family think now that I’m about to go public with my decision? And most importantly, would working in porn ruin my chances of building a relationship with the guy I’d been seeing… or with any guy, for that matter?
At the studio’s request, I flew to San Francisco to work for Titan at the Folsom Street Fair. My friend David — but everyone calls him “Cubbie” — picked me up at the airport. I’d been talking to him a lot over the past several weeks about my questions and concerns; he’s a true friend and I love him dearly. On the ride into town, Cubbie seemed excited. “There’s someone I’d like you to meet,” he said. “He’s been working in the industry for about a year, and I think he’d be able to help you with a lot of your questions. He’s a wonderful guy.” I admit that I kind of rolled my eyes, thinking he was trying to set me up on a date or something. Then Cubbie showed me a picture of this mystery man. I recognized him instantly; it was Dirk. I’d actually never met him, but was a big fan of his Titan films, especially Sting.
Dirk (on the table) along with Hunter Marx and Shay Michaels, from TitanMen’s Sting
Cubbie and I met up with Dirk at a club called Beatbox later that night. I was starstruck, but Dirk’s deep and soothing voice put me at ease. What I especially remember from that night was his touch; when we first met he put his hand on the small of my back, and for some reason all of the nervousness fled from my body. We danced a little and talked a lot, and although we occasionally made separate rounds of the club, we always seemed to find each other again.
We agreed to meet the next day at the BigMuscle Meet and Greet party, a really fun event that’s run by the owners of BigMuscle.com who are longtime friends of mine. Rather than immerse ourselves in the crowd, though, Dirk and I found a quiet spot on the balcony and talked for hours. The conversation was fascinating and fun; it turns out we had a lot in common.
Dirk, like me, was working at the Titan booth at the street fair, so we hung out together all day Sunday too, laughing and signing autographs. I was even caught on camera caressing Dirk’s ass at the end of the Name That Butt video. What can I say… it’s a beautiful butt.
On Monday I met Dirk, Cubbie, Dirk’s friend Dolan Wolf, and a couple other friends for lunch at a Castro institution called Squat & Gobble to recap the events of the weekend and talk about how much fun we’d had. Eventually the conversation turned to my new relationship back in Boston. I was convinced that I could balance the adult film work with my life back home, and be emotionally faithful to the guy I’d been dating — and share it with him, if he wanted — but how could I convince him of that? Right in the middle of this engaging discussion, the email arrived. The guy in Boston had decided not to take the “wait and see” approach after all. He’d broken up with me, by email, while I was on the other side of the fucking country.
I was crushed. I tried to hold myself together, but that lasted maybe 5 seconds before I burst into tears right in the middle of the restaurant. I couldn’t stay. I ran all the way back to Cubbie’s house, flung myself on the bed, buried my head in the pillow, and started wailing. My friends came to sit with me, one or two at a time. And, amazingly, Dirk held me tight as I wailed and screamed and shuttered. And, in a way, since that day, since that day he’s never let go.
Once my tears had dried, Dirk and I started talking. About porn, about fidelity, about sex, about relationships, about work and play and death and love and life. And we’ve never stopped, not really… not for three whole years.
A lot has happened since that fateful day in September of 2011 when I first felt his hand on the small of my back. In October of that year he surprised me by flying to Houston to watch me play in the national LGBT flag football tournament. We spent Halloween together in Chicago, where he lived, and laughed the night away as he worked an event for Manhunt. (We’ve since worked at several events for them, and they’ve always been great to us.) That Thanksgiving we met each others’ families. That Christmas we watched Dirk’s giddy nieces and nephews rip open their presents underneath his sister’s enormous Christmas tree. In March we filmed our first Titan scene together (we’ve since filmed three more). On Christmas day in 2012, after more than a year of biweekly trips back and forth from Chicago to Boston to see each other, he announced his intentions to move to Boston. And on Memorial Day 2013, we packed up a giant U-Haul filled with his furniture and musical instruments and books and sex toys and drove 800 miles eastward, to begin our new lives together.
The lives of Dirk Caber and Jesse Jackman have been intertwined for three years now, and I love him more than I ever thought I could have loved anyone at all. And, astoundingly, he’s equally in love with me. It’s almost like we’d been waiting for each other. We’re building a truly amazing, rewarding, open, trusting, loving relationship while continuing to work with Titan (and, in his case, several other studios) and also exploring our own boundaries, always growing and changing together. It’s been nothing short of incredible, and it’s only getting better.
So, on this third anniversary of the the most amazing love I’ve ever known, I just want to say thank you to the sweetest, sexiest, most amazing man I’ve ever known. Dirk Caber… I love you. You’ve been holding me tight for three years, through good times and bad… but mostly good. And you know what? I’ll never let go of you, either.
http://jessejackman.xxx/files/2014/09/Img_5799_crop.jpg 644 952 Jesse http://jessejackman.xxx/files/2013/11/Enfolded-JesseJackmanXXX-6.png Jesse2014-09-22 14:25:452014-09-22 23:21:15Three years ago today...
Every rose has its porn
Mar 12, 2014 /33 Comments/in My Porn Romance /by Jesse
This blog post was a tough one to write. All too often, what we see or post online suffers from the “Facebook Effect”: we only share the good things in our lives, and at the same time we get the false impression that everyone else’s world is nothing short of perfect. I confess, I’ve fallen into that trap as well. You’ve probably noticed that most of what I post is happy, upbeat, optimistic. I believe there’s value in doing that: not only does it send positive energy out into the world, but it also forces me to focus on at least one positive thing every day, even if my day is shit.
There is, of course, a darker side… one that I don’t usually show.
A few weeks ago, I sat down with Manhattan Digest to talk about life, liberty, and the pursuit of good porn. (You can read the entire interview here.) One of the questions that came up concerned the hurdles that Dirk and I face in our rather unique relationship. I answered as follows:
We have our share of trials, successes, and failures, just like all couples do. I’d say that the biggest challenge so far has been adjusting to living together. I’ve never lived with a partner before, and Dirk only did so very briefly when he lived in New York, so it’s a big change for both of us.
But that, my friends, is only the tiniest fraction of the story.
It’s been said that there are three issues that can and do cause major strife in any relationship: money, sex, and trust (or, in any of those three cases, lack thereof). I like to think that Dirk and I have got the sex part covered, and when you take our One Rule — “never bring home anything you don’t want to share” — into account, the same goes for trust. I also know that whatever each of us does, we do for the benefit of the relationship… not just ourselves. So the only thing left is money. And money is a big problem.
I’ll be brutally honest with you: Dirk and I are going through a very difficult time. It’s not that we’re on the verge of being homeless or anything; I’m financially solvent and have been all my life, and have enough banked to keep us both afloat (though not indefinitely). Dirk, on the other hand, is struggling mightily. He actually did quite well for himself in New York for over 10 years as an orchestra librarian and freelance musician, but then the recession hit and he found himself out of work. That was almost four years ago. Since then, he’s been scraping by on whatever consulting work he can find, mostly editing other people’s music and (rarely) picking up the odd performance gig either as a tuba player or low bass singer. The porn work has been a decent stop-gap measure, but as I’ve said many times, porn is not a career. It’s not guaranteed work, and besides, eventually our bodies will fail us and that resource will be no more.
The effect this has had on my husband has been nothing short of devastating. I have never seen Dirk happier or more focused than when he is listening to music, performing it, talking about it with others, or — especially — creating new works of his own. The last few years have almost completely deprived him of the one thing he loves most. It’s almost like he’s devoid of nourishment. His creative output is a fraction of what it once was. When I listen to some of the pieces he composed back in his twenties and thirties, I often laugh out loud at their creative playfulness or cry at their sublime beauty. That was in the past, though. He’s barely composed anything since I’ve known him, and I’ve seen him perform just three times in almost three years. He’s started to lose faith in himself, his abilities, and his incredible gift for music… and it’s left him with an increasingly dark and empty void where an amazing soul once dared to flourish and shine.
Moreover, the toll that all this has taken on our relationship has been grave. Dirk and I place great importance upon egalitarianism: we believe that, as partners and companions, each of us should contribute equally to building the life we now share. This financial imbalance has thrown a big, fat, ugly spanner into those works. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve actually managed to do quite well for myself: I own my house (a beautiful early 19th century colonial in a quiet Boston suburb), have worked in IT at the same supportive, progressive company for over 20 years, and have even built up a modest but significant savings. Dirk, on the other hand, has been living hand-to-mouth for the better part of four years as he struggles to pay off the substantial debt he amassed during the recession just so he could put food on his table and a roof over his head. (He marked a major milestone last month in paying off his credit card debt, but he still has a long way to go before he can finally declare himself entirely debt-free.) As such, I have been paying the vast majority of expenses for both of us, killing any hope we might have had for financial equality. And on top of that, the imbalance has put tremendous strain on his innate and, at times, stubbornly strong sense of pride. As if the erosion of his artistic passion wasn’t enough, the thought that he might be a burden to me has further scorched that place in his heart which was once so bright. And, empathic as I am, it has started to blacken my heart as well. I’ve been no saint about it, either: Dirk and I have gotten into some really awful arguments, fanned by my fears for our future and, when things seem especially bleak, my irrational doubts about his commitment to “making this work.”
One bright spot is that, throughout all this, the porn studios have been absolutely wonderful to us. Dirk has been working tirelessly — he once filmed four scenes in five days! — to pull himself up by his black leather bootstraps. As he wrote in a recent blog post, “I’ve been dealing with coming to the end of a long dark tunnel in my life, finally pushing through to the end of the debt I started to accrue when the economy tanked.” Thankfully, all of the studios have stuck by Dirk and provided him with much-needed work during his greatest time of need. Without the help of studios like TitanMen, COLT, MEN.com, Kink.com, and all of the other companies that have continued to work with Dirk despite his heavy heart and daunting financial woes, I fear that he (and, by extension, we) would be in an even darker place than he is now. Our good friends at Titan in particular have really gone out out of their way to give Dirk as many opportunities as practically possible, and for that we are eternally, enduringly grateful.
I’ve done what little I can as well. Shouldering more than my share of the financial burden, while perhaps necessary in the short term, is something that neither of us wants, so I’ve been trying to help in other ways. As you may know, in addition to getting paid for actual performances, porn actors have the opportunity to join what are called “affiliate programs”: for every website membership or physical DVD that we sell through our blogs or social media using special link codes, we claim a share of the profits (usually in 50-60% range). To that end, over the last few weeks I’ve set up affiliate accounts for Dirk with every studio he’s ever worked with. Now whenever anyone buys a website membership or DVD through his blog, he gets to claim a commission. (This is why I’ve been working so diligently on completing his videography, by the way.)
You may also have noticed that I’ve been posting a lot about his musical endeavors lately. It’s been an absolute joy for me to be able to share some of his beautiful compositions with you, even if they were created during a happier time in his life. I’m immensely proud of my husband for what he has created, and it’s my hope that your responses to his music, which have been overwhelmingly positive (nay… downright glowing), will help buoy him and encourage him to continue creating such magnificent art. While he hasn’t written much lately, I’m so dearly wishing that, someday soon, the impressive spirit that I know lies deep with him — wounded, perhaps, but still there — will triumphantly surface once again. And who knows… maybe someone will happen across this post and recommend him to an ensemble or even commission one of his gorgeous creations. (If you haven’t heard Dirk’s music, you can listen to it here and here. I’m also hoping to find a way to make his music available for purchase, but there are certain logistical hurdles that need to be addressed first.)
So why am I writing all this? First of all, I find writing cathartic. It lends a certain concreteness to these abstract concepts of friction and loss, and once those problems are visible to me, either on paper on on a computer screen, I can begin to address them systematically. (It’s the engineer in me.) Also, for whatever reason you guys have expressed an interest in learning about the inner workings of our somewhat unconventional relationship. With that in mind, I think it’s only fair that you see a balanced glimpse of out reality… not just the “Facebook Effect” good stuff.
Where do Dirk and I go from here? I’m honestly not sure. Dirk is making progress, however slowly; due to the somewhat steady stream of income he’s received through the porn work, he’s working hard to pay off his creditors. But, as I mentioned, porn can only carry him so far. He’s been struggling to break into Boston’s classical music scene, but his new home is somewhat notorious for looking after its own and being wary of “outsiders.” He’s not quite ready to give up on his dream of spinning his love of music into a sustainable career — after all, he accomplished that in New York for eleven years before he was forced to give it up — but that road tilts far more uphill now than it ever has before.
That said, I don’t believe that money — despite the tremendous strain it’s putting on our relationship — is going to break us. What I believe will get us through this is, ironically, one of the other make-or-break issues in any relationship: trust. And what goes hand-in-hand with trust, of course, is faith. I’m not going to sit here and lob platitudes at you like “faith is all we need” or whatever. All I can tell you is that I have faith in Dirk and in myself, and I believe that we’ll each do whatever we can to overcome this economic turmoil and accompanying discord, no matter how bleak the outlook may seem. Mine is not a loud faith, nor is there an associated ounce of bluster or bravado. It is, rather, a quiet but strong belief. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but I do know this: this can, this can’t not, get better… because every night, as they say, has its dawn.
http://jessejackman.xxx/files/2014/03/vlcsnap-2014-03-12-00h38m14s138.png 304 720 Jesse http://jessejackman.xxx/files/2013/11/Enfolded-JesseJackmanXXX-6.png Jesse2014-03-12 14:36:472014-03-12 16:45:38Every rose has its porn
A Musical Valentine
Feb 14, 2014 /24 Comments/in Classical Caber, Music, My Porn Romance, Random Posts /by Jesse
Here’s something very special for Valentine’s Day. When Dirk lived in New York several years ago, he shared a modest one-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side with a roommate, a dog, and a very large Steinway grand piano. Early one morning (at 5 am, I think; good thing the apartment was soundproofed!) he sat down at that piano to record this nocturne. I think it’s beautiful beyond description.
He wrote it for his mother.
Just another one of the countless reasons why I love him.
http://jessejackman.xxx/files/2014/02/Dirk-Blog-Image-720-Crop.jpg 400 720 Jesse http://jessejackman.xxx/files/2013/11/Enfolded-JesseJackmanXXX-6.png Jesse2014-02-14 11:00:192015-09-20 12:01:08A Musical Valentine
Grow not in each other’s shadow
Nov 11, 2013 /25 Comments/in My Porn Romance, Random Posts /by Jesse
As you may know, I’m working on a new Huffington Post article that addresses the question of why Dirk and I call each other “husband” even though we’re not legally married. I’m a little nervous about it because what I have to say might be a little controversial, even among the LGBT community. I’ve had some very interesting discussions with different people about the subject, so at the very least I’m hoping to get more people talking… even if we don’t all agree. (UPDATE: The article has been published; you can read it here.)
Anyway, as I was researching the article I came across this amazing quote by Khalil Gibran (yes, I’m turning into my father and quoting from The Prophet… LOL), and I wanted to post it because it so perfectly sums up the relationship that Dirk and I share. It’s a beautiful passage… and let me tell you, living a relationship like this an absolutely incredible, life-altering experience. I am truly blessed.
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.
http://jessejackman.xxx/files/2013/11/Shadow-Crop-2.jpg 1000 1000 Jesse http://jessejackman.xxx/files/2013/11/Enfolded-JesseJackmanXXX-6.png Jesse2013-11-11 15:54:192014-09-12 21:39:54Grow not in each other's shadow
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>Berthe Morisot
As I said in my last blog, I have been studying painting of late to help me along in my new endeavor of mastering the medium of oils. In particular, I have been studying female painters because I draw inspiration from them, being a female too. I have been copying an Impressionist painting but I find that my natural style seems to pull toward realism and, at times, Rococo. The very idea of abstract art makes me homicidal. I can’t tolerate it.
On the left, you’ll see a portrait of Berthe Morisot done by her brother-in-law, Édouard Manet. She was a girl in a boys club, being part of the circle of French Impressionists including Édouard Manet, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley. Who wouldn’t want to be a fly on the wall for those dinner party conversations?!
She was born in 1841 to a bourgeois family that held fast to a tradition that they were related to the great Rococo painter of the ancien régime, Fragonard. At the young age of 23, her work was exhibited in the Salon de Paris, and her work was selected for six future salons. However, in 1874, she chose to exhibit her work with the other “rejected” Impressionists in their own salon exhibition. Remember, at that time, Impressionism was considered rebellious and lacked structure, technique and talent. The French just weren’t sure of how to interpret the work because no one had ever seen it before. Morisot painted like the other Impressionists, mostly domestic scenes of daily life, class restrictions, women, landscapes and so forth. She avoided dirty urban scenes and full nudes due to her haute bourgeois lifestyle, which would have been entirely inappropriate. Like Le Brun in the generation before, she married within the art community and had a daughter named Julie, who was the subject of many of her paintings. She died at the age of 54 of pneumonia.
This is a photograph of Berthe Morisot by Felix Nadar.
Here are some works by Berthe Morisot for study. Note the freedom of expression in Impressionism that was not present in the Rococo movement of the previous generations.
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Leonardo (Don) A.N. Dioko
Methodology 2016-2017Jun
Data is collected via field survey twice a year, in June and December. Interviews take place in major transportation hubs in Macao as well as several residential areas. Respondents are selected following a systematic random sampling technique and interviews are conducted face-to-face with the help of a structured questionnaire. Interviews are conducted in either English or Chinese. Respondents are interviewed if they are permanent, non-permanent residents, or hold non-resident worker’s permit, and are employed full-time in Macao at the time of the survey. The targeted sample size every year is 1,050.
Since December 2016, MHRM online data collection has been launched in parallel with field data collection to further expand the scope of targeted samples and to obtain a more holistic view based on the employment population.
Definition, source, and measurement of key variables monitored
The following four variables are monitored yearly (since 2012). Other variables are added as needs and trends dictate, and are subject to feedback from colleagues in industry, academia, and policymakers.
Job satisfaction is measured using the JDS scale (Hackman & Oldham, 1974) and is composed of the average of three survey items: “Generally speaking, I am very satisfied with my current job”, “I am generally satisfied with the kind of work I do in my current job”, and “I frequently think of quitting my current job” (reverse coded).
Perceived fairness of compensation and benefits is measured using a two-item scale developed by Mount & Bartlett (2002). The two items are: “Compared to similar companies in my industry, I am paid fairly for the work I do,” and “Compared to similar companies in my industry, the benefits I receive at my company are fair.”
Intent-to-stay (ISS) is measured using a scale developed by Hunt, Osborn & Martin (1981) and is assessed as the average level of agreement with four survey items: “I will definitely leave this organization in the next year”, “It is very unlikely that I would ever consider leaving this company”, “If I were completely free to choose, I would prefer very much not to continue working for this organization”, and “It is very important for me to spend my career in this organization.” ISS can be considered a proxy for employee loyalty (though it has other dimensions as well) and may be able to predict short- to medium-term turnover levels at organizations.
Work stress is measured using the job stress scale (JSS) developed by Lambert, Hogan, Camp & Ventura (2006) and is assessed as the average of respondents’ level of agreement with four survey items: “A lot of time my job makes me very frustrated or angry”, “I am usually under a lot of pressure when I am at work”, “When I’m at work I often feel tense or uptight”, “I am usually calm and at ease when I am working” (reverse coded), and “There are a lot of aspects of my job that make me upset.”
Response scale
Respondents’ level of agreement is captured using a 5-point Likert scale with 5 indicating strong agreement and 1 indicating strong disagreement. The higher the score, the higher level is the job satisfaction, perceived fairness of compensation and benefits, intention to stay and job stress. All scales reported in the charts correspond to this 5-point agreement scale, unless otherwise indicated.
Survey respondents characteristics
Demographic and job characteristics of survey respondents for 2016 and 2017 (June) waves are reported in the Table M1 below. All analyses in the regular MHRM general report are weight-adjusted by industry based on the relative distribution of the working population in Macao reported by the Statistics and Census Service of Macao SAR government. For previous characteristics of respondents, please click here.
Table M1
Survey respondent characteristics (Weighted sample)
Tagged: Methodology
Virginia Hong
Objectives and Methodology
To provide tourism policy and decision makers, planners and members of the tourism and hospitality industry with up-to-date, regular and insightful information regarding the profile of visitors to Macao and how they evolve over time.
To supplement general visitor (tourism) data currently provided by the Macao Census and Statistics Department (DSEC), MGTO and the Immigration Service by:
Providing greater detail and analysis of behavioral and psychological variables.
Providing cross tabulated data analysis and presentation of practical use to managers and decision makers in both government and private organizations.
To provide a source of reference and information archive over time of the short- and long-term changes to the mix of visitors to Macao.
To provide reference data to help evaluate the impact and effectiveness of destination management and marketing efforts.
Data for the Macao Visitor Profile comes from field surveys of visitors conducted over a 9-day period every quarter. Each survey date targeted a sample size of about 114 visitors who completed at least half of their visit at the time of interview. Interview locations included major sites and terminals including the Border Gate, Ruins of St. Paul’s, Rua do Cunha at Taipa, Senado Square, Hong Kong Macao Ferry Terminal and Macao International Airport. The target final annaul sample will consist of aboiut 4,000 visitors. The VPS seeks information from visitors primarily on (1) their purpose and reasons for visiting Macao, (2) their trip and travel characteristics, (3) travel and transportation arrangements, (4) accommodation arrangements, (5) major information source, (6) spending behavior, (7) visitor attractions visited, (8) gaming behavior, and (9) evaluation of their overall travel experience.
Methodology 2014-2015
Demographic and job characteristics of survey respondents for 2014 and 2015 waves are reported in the Table M1 below. All analyses in the regular MHRM general report are weight-adjusted by industry based on the relative distribution of the working population in Macao reported annually by the Statistics and Census Service of Macao SAR government.
Tagged: Methodology, Past methodology
Demographic and job characteristics of survey respondents for 2012 and 2013 are reported in the Table M1 below. All analyses undertaken and reported in the 2012 and 2013 MHRM studies are weight-adjusted following the relative distribution of workers in Macao by industry as contained in the report issued by the Statistics and Census Service of Macao SAR government.
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«KINOSVET» 2019
Cinema campus
РУС/ENG
Regulation of the International Children’s Film and Television Festival “KINOSVET”
The International Children’s Film and Television Festival “KINOSVET” includes various programs for participation.
In the “KinoLeader” ( CinemaLeader) Academy, children aged 10-18 who enrolled in film / television studios, film schools, creative associations, or film their own work on a camera, , video camera, or phone.
The program “KinoProfi” (CinemaPro) will include short films for children and adolescents that will be selected by the Festival’s Selection Committee. Selected works will be exhibit as charity shows at selected Latvian cinemas.
Those wishing to present their work for participation in the festival must submit to the Organizing Committee of the festival an application for participation by the deadline set by the Organizing Committee. Selection of films for participation in the festival is carried out by the Festival’s Selection Committee.
All films participating in the festival must be sent together with the application to the organizing committee of the festival no later than May 1, 2019.
Films previously presented at other film festivals can take part in the competition.
The festival management reserves the right to use the fragments of the film for promotional purposes of the festival.
All submitted works must be free of:
– Scenes and subjects that offend and discriminate the feelings, looks, associations etc of devotees (of various faiths and religions);
– plots and frames that advertise or promote drugs, alcohol, smoking, and other vices.
– scenes of cruelty and violence
– non-normative vocabulary and obscene language
The festival selection committee gives priority to films that elevates and promotes questions of friendship, loyalty, honor, love, compassion, mercy, respect, diligence, responsibility, patience, sincerity, and other moral values.
To pre-qualify for the festival selection, you need to send a link for downloading the movie. By agreement of the parties, another form of transfer of materials may be used. For any questions, please contact us at: festivalkinosvet@gmail.com
Duration of the work is not limited.
To participate in the festival, you need to provide materials for the booklet: an abstract of the film; A photo of the director; 2 frames from the competitive film. These should be sent to the festivalkinosvet@gmail.com before June 1, 2019.
Materials submitted to the festival are not returned to the authors.
The organizers of the festival are not responsible for errors and inaccuracies contained in the application. Mounted fragments or excerpts from several programs are not accepted.
The organizers of the festival do not bear responsibility for violation of copyright by third parties.
The festival includes the following programs:
«KinoLider»:
TV program for children’s
Five works from all over the world will be selected from each nomination.
The festival of cinema and television «KINOSVET» is not aimed at supporting rivalry among young artists, but calls for collaboration and cooperation. ALL of the works selected for the festival already will be victorious. And ALL will receive memorable prizes at the festival.
“KinoProfi”
One work from all over the world will be selected from each nomination.
© 2019 KINOSVET
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Lost Boys Have Found Their Place in Prague
Svetlana Kirichenko
Passing the Letná wall at Nábřeží Kapitána Jaroše, one cannot help but notice the photographs of young men the size of billboards. They immediately capture attention of the passersby, making them wonder about the origins of the pictures. “Lost Boys: From Russia with Love” is the name of this exhibition by the exiled Russian artist Slava Mogutin. Hosted by Artwall Gallery and opened as a part of the August LGBT Prague Pride festival, the installation offers a fresh perspective on the post-Soviet Russian generation.
Mogutin is the last Soviet dissident who received political asylum in the United States. “The most popular open gay of the 90’s”: that’s what the Russian media usually calls him. In 1994, he officially tried to marry a person of the same sex, the unacceptable act in Russia. A year later, Mogutin was accused of “malicious hooliganism with exceptional cynicism and extreme insolence” and had no other option but to flee his country. Today, Mogutin lives in New York where he writes poems, takes photos and creates different art objects.
He shot the “Lost Boys” during his trips back to Russia in early 2000s, which resulted in the collection of very provocative and controversial photos. The series presents masculinity in some unusual ways, offering photographs of nude boys, skinheads, military cadets and boxers. An atmosphere of lost lives and internal rebellion unites the photos, and makes the viewer go on an adventure beyond the borders of what is acceptable in our society. Alienation, displacement and the identity crises caused by the absence of tolerance and social decay are the main themes of the “Lost Boys” collection.
The majority of the men in the photos are Mogutin’s friends. “I never took those pictures for vanity or any specific reason other than honest, sentimental and at times sexy documentation,” said Mogutin in the interview for Crave magazine. He only wanted to share these special moments and people with the world.
One of the exhibition photos shows Mogutin’s muse of that time named Anton. Mogutin admits that he had a romantic interest in Anton and even took one trip back to Russia to make many iconic portraits of him. However, other photographs feature just different strangers whom Mogutin met on the streets or at some official events like the Victory Day Parade or the Russia Day celebration on Red Square in Moscow. Together, these photos represent the new generation of today’s Russia and shed light on the difficulty of being young and different in an economically and politically corrupted society. The portraits highlight the problems of gay youth caused by Russian homophobia and anti-gay laws, such as bans on gay “propaganda” and child adoption by gay couples.
Overall, the “Lost Boys” series contains 84 photographs taken not only in Russia but also in Berlin, Amsterdam and the U.S. The Prague curators chose only five of them for the Nábřeží Kapitána Jaroše exhibit because of their political implications. According to Mogutin, his works have political impact, as the young boys in different uniforms represent the militarization of Russian society and the repressive system of the country which forces boys to serve in the army.
The decision about the place for the exhibition was not made randomly. Prague is the “perfect intersection between the East and the West, the Communist past and the capitalist present,” Mogutin told Crave magazine. This city can be considered a “geographical middle point” in Mogutin’s life as he comes from the East and lives in the West. More than that, the photographs are installed below Letná Park where the reminder of Communist oppression – the world’s largest monument of Stalin – used to be.
The presentation of the photographs on the street rather than in a gallery or a museum is another thing which arouses interest. The idea of the outdoors exhibition appeals to Mogutin: presented in this way, the photos become a part of people’s everyday life. “My work originated on the street and I’m happy to see it come full circle, back in the street domain,” said Mogutin to Hero magazine.
As the Prague Pride festival, which supported the installation, is already over, the exhibition will also be closed soon. It is on view until September 30, so hurry up to have a look at the photos and travel to hidden corners of Russia with Slava Mogutin.
Photos by Leila Mekhdiyeva
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Harris County Public Library, Montgomery County Memorial Library System, Lone Star College (HCPL MCML LSC)
For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., Congressional Sales Office
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97 Items by the Agent For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., Congressional Sales Office
Are the financial records of the federal government reliable? : hearing before the Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial, Management and Intergovernmental Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, March 30, 2001
Beyond community standards and a constitutional level of care? : a review of services, costs, and staffing levels at the corrections medical receiver for the District of Columbia Jail : hearing before the Subcommittee on the District of Columbia of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, June 30, 2000
Buyer beware : public health concerns of counterfeit medicine : hearing before the Special Committee on Aging, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, Washington, DC, July 9, 2002
Challenges confronting the machine tool industry : hearing before the Subcommittee on Manufacturing and Competitiveness of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, October 28, 1999
Combating terrorism : federal response to a biological weapons attack : hearing before the Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs, and International Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, July 23, 2001
Combating terrorism : in search of a national strategy : hearing before the Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs, and International Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, March 27, 2001
Combating terrorism : management of medical supplies : hearing before the Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs, and International Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, May 1, 2001
Comprehensive national energy policy : hearings before the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundred Eighth Congress, first session, March 5, 12, and 13, 2003
Computer security report card : hearing before the Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, and Technology of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, September 11, 2000
Conflict with Iraq : an Israeli perspective : hearing before the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, September 12, 2002
Copyright Royalty and Distribution Reform Act of 2003 : hearing before the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectural Property of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Eighth Congress, first session on H.R. 1417, April 1, 2003
Coral reef conservation and the reauthorization of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act : hearing before the Subcommittee on Oceans and Fisheries of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, June 30, 1999
Customer choice in automotive repair shops : hearing before the Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Foreign Commerce and Tourism of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, July 30, 2002
Defrauding Medicare : how easy is it and what can we do to stop it : hearing before the Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, and Technology of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, July 25, 2000
District of Columbia School Reform Act of 1995 : blueprint for educational reform in the District of Columbia : hearing before the Subcommittee on the District of Columbia of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, December 7, 2001
Effective drug prevention efforts in our schools and communities : hearing before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, June 5, 2000
Effects of performance enhancing drugs on the health of athletes and athletic competition : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, October 20, 1999
Effects of subtitle B of S. 1766 to the Public Utility Holding Company Act : hearing before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session to examine the effects of subtitle B of S. 1766, amendments to the Public Utility Holding Company Act, on energy markets and energy consumers, February 6, 2002
Ensuring coordination, reducing redundancy : a review of OMB's freeze on IT spending at homeland security agencies : hearing before the Subcommittee on Technology and Procurement Policy of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, October 1, 2002
Ethnic minority disparities in cancer treatment : why the unequal burden? : hearing before the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, September 25, 2000
Examining security at federal facilities : are Atlanta's federal employees at risk? : hearing before the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, April 30, 2002
Families in funeral practices : hearing before the Subcommittee on Children and Families of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, One Hundred-Seventh Congress, second session on examining recent accounts of misleading practices and potential violations of state and federal regulatory standards in the funeral industry, April 26, 2002
Federal Communications Commission oversight hearing : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, May 26, 1999
Federal information technology modernization : assessing compliance with the Government Paperwork Elimination Act : hearing before the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, June 21, 2001
Free trade deals : is the United States losing ground as its trading partners move ahead? : hearing before the Subcommittee on Trade of the Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, March 29, 2001
H.R. 3844, the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 : hearing before the Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovernmental Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session on H.R. 3844 to strengthen federal government information security, including through the requirement for the development of mandatory information security risk management standards, May 2, 2002
H.R. 4749, the Magnuson-Stevens Act Amendments of 2002 : legislative hearing before the Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans of the Committee on Resources, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, May 2, 2002
Has the Department of Justice given preferential treatment to the President and Vice President? : hearing before the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, July 20, 2000
Hearings regarding Executive Order 13233 and the Presidential Records Act : hearings before the Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovernmental Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first and second sessions, November 6, 2001, April 11 and 24, 2002
House practice : a guide to the rules, precedents, and procedures of the House, Wm. Holmes Brown, Charles W. Johnson
How mergers in the nation's agricultural industry impact consumers : field hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, July 24, 1999
ICANN, new gTLDS, and the protection of intellectual property : hearing before the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, March 22, 2001
Improving security and facilitating commerce at the northern border : hearing before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, December 10, 2001
Internet Tax Fairness Act of 2001 : hearing before the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session on H.R. 2526, September 11, 2001
Joint strike fighter acquisition reform : will it fly? : hearing before the Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs, and International Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, May 10, 2000
Keeping a strong federal law enforcement work force : hearing before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, October 17, 2001
Local competition in the voice and data marketplace : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, November 4, 1999
Managing radio frequency spectrum : military readiness and national security : hearing before the Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs, and International Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, April 23, 2002
Markets for a new millennium : field hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, June 19, 1999
Mass transit in the National Capital Region : meeting future capital needs : hearing before the Subcommittee on the District of Columbia of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, September 21, 2001
Mercury in dental amalgams : an examination of the science : hearing before the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, November 14, 2002
Mercury in medicine--are we taking unnecessary risks? : hearing before the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, July 18, 2000
Mergers in the telecommunications industry : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, November 8, 1999
Methamphetamine and date rape drugs : a new generation of killers : hearing before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, September 18, 2000
Missile defense : a new organization, evolutionary technologies and unrestricted testing : hearing before the Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs, and International Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, July 16, 2002
Missing White House e-mails : mismanagement of subpoenaed records : hearings before the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, March 23, March 30, May 3, and May 4, 2000
National Technical Information Service : hearing before the Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, October 21, 1999
Nomination of Delmond Won to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, June 15, 2000
Nomination of Dr. James R. Mahoney to be Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere and Deputy Administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, January 24, 2002
Nomination of Harold D. Stratton, Jr., to be Commissioner and Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, April 25, 2002
Nomination of Mary Sheila Gall, to chair the Consumer Product Safety Commission : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, July 25, 2001
Nomination of Mr. Emil Frankel to be Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy and Mr. Jeffrey Shane to be Associate Deputy Secretary of Transportation at the Department of Transportation : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, December 6, 2001
Nomination of Rebecca Dye to be Commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, July 31, 2002
Nomination of Steven Robert Blust to be Commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, June 5, 2002
Nomination of Susan Ness to be a member of the Federal Communications Commission : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, March 22, 2000
Nomination of Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr. to be Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere at the U.S. Department of Commerce and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, Thursday, November 8, 2001
Nomination of Vice Admiral Thomas H. Collins to be Commandant of the United States Coast Guard : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, Tuesday, March 19, 2002
Nominations of Arden L. Bement, Jr., to be Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Robert David Paulison to be Administrator of the Fire Administration at the Federal Emergency Management Agency : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, November 1, 2001
Nominations of John J. Goglia for reappointment, and Carol J. Carmody for appointment as members of the National Transportation Safety Board : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, March 1, 2000
Nominations of Linda J. Morgan, to be a member of the Surface Transportation Board; and Stephen D. Van Beek, to be Associate Deputy Secretary and Director, Office of Intermodalism, and Michael J. Frazier, to be Assistant Secretary for Government [i.e. Governmental] Affairs, of the U.S. Department of Transportation : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, September 28, 1999, (electronic resource)
Nominations of Mr. David McQueen Laney to be a member of the Reform Board (Amtrak) and Mr. Roger P. Nober to be Commissioner of the Surface Transportation Board : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, September 5, 2002
Nominations of Thomas B. Leary to be a Commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission; and Gregory L. Rohde to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, September 9, 1999
Nominations to the Federal Aviation Management Advisory Council : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, May 4, 2000
Oversight hearing on the STB's moratorium on major rail mergers and 15-month rulemaking proceedings on future mergers : hearing before the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, March 23, 2000
Oversight of the Internal Revenue Service : hearing before the Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovernmental Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, April 2, 2001
Preparing for the war on terrorism : hearing before the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, September 20, 2001
Prisoner release in the District of Columbia : the role of halfway houses and community supervision in prisoner rehabilitation : hearing before the Subcommittee on the District of Columbia of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, July 20, 2001
Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act : hearing before the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Eighth Congress, first session on H.R. 1036, April 2, 2003
Reauthorization of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) : hearing before the Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Foreign Commerce, and Tourism of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, February 9, 2000
Reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act : field hearing before the Subcommittee on Oceans and Fisheries of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, September 25, 1999
Reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act : field hearing before the Subcommittee on Oceans and Fisheries of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, January 18, 2000
Reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act : hearing before the Subcommittee on Oceans and Fisheries of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, July 29, 1999
Recovery now initiative : hearing before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Eighth Congress, first session, February 27, 2003
Reform of the Family Division of the District of Columbia Superior Court : improving services to families and children : hearing before the Subcommittee on District of Columbia of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, June 26, 2001
Report of the National Academy of Sciences on the effectiveness and impact of corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards : joint hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, August 2, 2001
Results of the Department of Defense's fiscal year 1999 financial statements audit : hearing before the Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, and Technology of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, May 9, 2000
Risk communication : national security and public health : hearing before the Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs, and International Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, November 29, 2001
Rule of law assistance programs : hearing before the Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs, and International Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, May 17, 2001
S. 1233, the Product Packaging Protection Act : keeping offensive material out of our cereal boxes : hearing before the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business Rights, and Competition of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, August 1, 2001
S. 1501, the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 : hearing before the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, September 29, 1999
S. 2454, wireless high speed internet access for rural areas : hearing before the Subcommittee on Communications of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Technology, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, June 14, 2000
S. 376, Open-market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications Act : hearing before the Subcommittee on Communications of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, March 25, 1999
S. 798, the Promote Reliable On-line Transactions to Encourage Commerce and Trade (PROTECT) Act of 1999 : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, June 10, 1999
S. 809, Online Privacy Protection Act of 1999 : hearing before the Subcommittee on Communications of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, July 27, 1999
T'uf Shur Bien Preservation Trust Area Act : joint hearing before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Committee on Indian Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, S. 2016 to establish the T'uf Shur Bien Preservation Trust Area within the Cibola National Forest in the state of New Mexico to resolve a land claim involving the Sandia Mountain Wilderness and for other purposes, April 24, 2002
TEA-21 reauthorization : freight issues : joint hearing before the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate and the Subcommittee on Transportation, Infrastructure, and Nuclear Safety of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session on September 9, 2002
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) : hearings before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session on welfare reform, what have we learned? : requiring and supporting work, building stronger families, March 12, April 10, and May 16, 2002
The Coastal Zone Management Act : hearing before the Subcommittee on Oceans and Fisheries of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, May 6, 1999
The Defense Security Service : how big is the backlog of personnel security investigations? : hearing before the Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs, and International Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, September 20, 2000
The U.S. Postal Service's uncertain financial outlook, parts 1 and 2 : hearing before the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, April 4, and May 16, 2001
The federal government's consolidated financial statements : are they reliable? : hearing before the Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovernmental Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, April 9, 2002
The impact of pilot shortages on air service to smaller and rural markets : field hearing before the Subcommittee on Aviation of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, September 10, 1999
The role of standards in the growth of global electronic commerce : hearing before the Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, October 28, 1999
Transforming the Department of Defense financial management : a strategy for change : hearing before the Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs, and International Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, June 4, 2002
United States Patent and Trademark Fee Modernization Act of 2003 : hearing before the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Eighth Congress, first session, on H.R. 1561, April 3, 2003
Village elections in China : roundtable before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, July 8, 2002
Context of For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., Congressional Sales Office
Washington, U.S. G.P.O | For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., Congressional Sales Office, 2003
Washington, U.S. G.P.O. | For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., Congressional Sales Office, 2001
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Longwood Central School District » Community » Longwood Journey » Modern History » Gordon Heights » The Gordon Heights Fire Department
GORDON HEIGHTS FIRE DEPARTMENT
Photo from the collection of Russell Wilson.
In the words of Tyrell Wilson, the second president of the Civic Association, "The Gordon Heights Progressive Association was the parent body of the Gordon Heights Fire Department and Gordon Heights Fire District. It gave the Gordon Heights Fire Department absolute use of the present building and grounds It bought the first fire truck and, in 1948, there was an organized fire department."
For many years there was no fire department in the area for Gordon Heights. Outside areas, which had a department, were under no obligation to come and put out fires in this community. The burning down of the first church building convinced the community even more of its need for fire protection.
The Civic Association worked hard toward a fire department in order to resolve their problem. The men were offered and accepted training from the Medford Fire Department. Later, the Gordon Heights Fire Department was incorporated. When the firehouse became too small for the fire department and the Civic Association, the residents moved toward a fire district whereby taxes would be levied and financial assistance given for the expansion of the department. Petitions were signed by residents and taken to the Town Board. The first commissioners were selected until an election could take place in one year. These men were appointed from 1952-53.
The first ambulance was bought by the Civic Association and the residents financially supported other things needed that the tax money did not cover. Even though some areas of the community were not in the fire district, the Gordon Heights Fire Department would come to the "no man's land" whenever needed.
It is most significant that these pioneers of the Gordon Heights community not only established the first black fire department and fire district in New York State, but did it out of a need to survive and protect their life investment- their community.
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^ Smith-Spangler, C; Brandeau, ML; Hunter, GE; Bavinger, JC; Pearson, M; Eschbach, PJ; Sundaram, V; Liu, H; Schirmer, P; Stave, C; Olkin, I; Bravata, DM (September 4, 2012). "Are organic foods safer or healthier than conventional alternatives?: a systematic review". Annals of Internal Medicine. 157 (5): 348–66. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-157-5-201209040-00007. PMID 22944875.
^ Hornsey, Ian (2003). A History of Beer and Brewing. Royal Society of Chemistry. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-85404-630-0. ...mead was known in Europe long before wine, although archaeological evidence of it is rather ambiguous. This is principally because the confirmed presence of beeswax or certain types of pollen ... is only indicative of the presence of honey (which could have been used for sweetening some other drink) – not necessarily of the production of mead.
^ Fraga, Helder; Malheiro, Aureliano C.; Moutinho-Pereira, José; Cardoso, Rita M.; Soares, Pedro M. M.; Cancela, Javier J.; Pinto, Joaquim G.; Santos, João A.; et al. (24 September 2014). "Integrated Analysis of Climate, Soil, Topography and Vegetative Growth in Iberian Viticultural Regions". PLoS ONE. 9 (9): e108078. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0108078. PMC 4176712. PMID 25251495.
Ultimate Indo-European origin of the word is the subject of continued debate. Some scholars have noted the similarities between the words for wine in Indo-European languages (e.g. Armenian gini, Latin vinum, Ancient Greek οἶνος, Russian вино [vʲɪˈno]), Kartvelian (e.g. Georgian ღვინო [ɣvinɔ]), and Semitic (*wayn; Hebrew יין [jaiin]), pointing to the possibility of a common origin of the word denoting "wine" in these language families.[50] The Georgian word goes back to Proto-Kartvelian *ɣwino-,[51] which is either a borrowing from Proto-Indo-European[51][52][53][54][55][56] or the lexeme was specifically borrowed from Proto-Armenian *ɣʷeinyo-, whence Armenian gini.[57][58][59][60][51] An alternate hypothesis by Fähnrich supposes *ɣwino- a native Kartvelian word derived from the verbal root *ɣun- ('to bend').[61] See *ɣwino- for more. All these theories place the origin of the word in the same geographical location, Trans-Caucasia, that has been established based on archeological and biomolecular studies as the origin of viticulture.
Fermentation of the non-colored grape pulp produces white wine. The grapes from which white wine is produced are typically green or yellow. Some varieties are well-known, such as the Chardonnay, Sauvignon, and Riesling. Other white wines are blended from multiple varieties; Tokay, Sherry, and Sauternes are examples of these. Dark-skinned grapes may be used to produce white wine if the wine-maker is careful not to let the skin stain the wort during the separation of the pulp-juice. Pinot noir, for example, is commonly used to produce champagne.
Wine is important in cuisine not just for its value as a drink, but as a flavor agent, primarily in stocks and braising, since its acidity lends balance to rich savory or sweet dishes.[106] Wine sauce is an example of a culinary sauce that uses wine as a primary ingredient.[107] Natural wines may exhibit a broad range of alcohol content, from below 9% to above 16% ABV, with most wines being in the 12.5–14.5% range.[108] Fortified wines (usually with brandy) may contain 20% alcohol or more.
Various types of cook-tops are used as well. They carry the same variations of fuel types as the ovens mentioned above. Cook-tops are used to heat vessels placed on top of the heat source, such as a sauté pan, sauce pot, frying pan, or pressure cooker. These pieces of equipment can use either a moist or dry cooking method and include methods such as steaming, simmering, boiling, and poaching for moist methods, while the dry methods include sautéing, pan frying, and deep-frying.[93]
Most wines are sold in glass bottles and sealed with corks (50% of which come from Portugal).[136] An increasing number of wine producers have been using alternative closures such as screwcaps and synthetic plastic "corks". Although alternative closures are less expensive and prevent cork taint, they have been blamed for such problems as excessive reduction.[137]
Food safety and food security are monitored by agencies like the International Association for Food Protection, World Resources Institute, World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization, and International Food Information Council. They address issues such as sustainability, biological diversity, climate change, nutritional economics, population growth, water supply, and access to food.
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The Lynching Memorial & Legacy Museum
I had never been to Montgomery, Alabama but I went recently to bear witness to a profound and important new monument. Bryan Stevenson is a human rights lawyer who has spent his entire career trying to bring justice to the wrongfully convicted and he wants to free more than one man at a time: he wants to awaken the entire country to the continuing evils of racism, to the way in which slavery has never ended but only evolved.
Last year, I read Stevenson’s powerful bestselling book Just Mercy, and then I had the privilege of hearing him speak (listening to his riveting 2012 TED talk will give you a good taste). When I read in a New Yorker profile that he was about to open a memorial to the victims of lynching in this country, I felt both squeamish and curious. Why do this? And how?
I decided I wanted to see it with my own eyes, and although I’m not a professional activist, I decided to attend the 2-day conference on civil rights that Stevenson’s organization, the Equal Justice Initiative, was going to hold in Montgomery the same weekend the memorial opened to the public.
What I saw on a hilltop in Montgomery was a sacred site, brilliantly conceived as a way to feel the true weight of a terrible history. There is a blunt spareness to the memorial and a disconcerting dissonance when you enter: the sides are open to the surrounding greenery and city views in the distance, but inside, you feel claustrophobic. You are surrounded by rows of heavy, metal boxes the size of coffins standing upright. Each monument represents a county in the United States where the staff of EJI documented at least one lynching: there are 805 of these death boxes.
Inscribed on each monument, carved into the metal, are the names of those lynched and the dates. There might be just one name carved into the metal, or dozens. Some have a date but the name is “Unknown.” The day I went, there was a somber silence as I walked, though there were many people there. At first, I tried to say every name to myself but after several hundred, it became overwhelming. Altogether, there are 4,400 lynchings documented here. As you may have heard or seen in the press coverage, as one turns a corner inside the memorial, the heavy monuments are placed very differently: hung up overhead, like lifeless bodies. This feels ominous in a different way: all that weight, so much heaviness.
When you walk through the corridor under these massive memorials, you observe signs on the wooden walls to the left and right listing some of the given reasons why specific people were hanged. One woman was lynched because she protested the lynching of her husband. An unnamed black man was lynched in Millersburg, Ohio in 1892 for “standing around” in a white neighborhood. Fred Alexander, a military veteran, was lynched and burned alive before thousands of spectators in Leavenworth, Kansas in 1901.
There are some (necessarily) wordy plaques as one walks toward the memorial that explain the history that inspired this cathartic structure. But once inside, verbiage is kept to a minimum. The words below honor the victims and suggest how we should move forward in their names.
After the blazing words above, you turn another corner and find a calming sight: sheets of cooling water cascade down a long, wooden wall. And in front of that wall sits a clear plexiglas box shaped like a coffin and filled with dirt from several dozen sites where lynchings occurred. The day I was there, a bouquet of white roses had been placed on top of the box of dirt and I was able to take this photo reflecting the bright sky outside. I walked out feeling like I had attended the memorial service after a massive, senseless terrorist attack: so many victims, no words.
And then there is more: a brilliant touch that I didn’t understand immediately. When you walk away from the memorial building, you find yourself in a sort of courtyard space filled with rows and rows of the memorial boxes. It turns out there are 805 of them, a copy for every single documented county: local officials are invited to take these home because real healing can’t happen unless these stories are also memorialized in the specific places where the lynchings occurred. The idea is that as these duplicate memorials are claimed and removed, this courtyard space will be transformed into a lush garden. (You can watch a TED talk with designer Michael Murphy, who says his chosen path as an architect is to create “buildings that heal.” The Montgomery memorial is in the last third of his talk.)
Bryan Stevenson talks about how other countries that endured brutal attempts to exterminate an entire tribe or religion have come to grips with those evils. There were Truth and Reconciliation commissions. Memorials and museums were built in Germany, Rwanda, South Africa and elsewhere. Slavery and systemic racism are America’s Holocaust as far as Stevenson is concerned, and he believes we’ll never truly be the free and fair country our founding fathers promised until we face these evils.
So Stevenson didn’t stop with the memorial to lynching victims. He also wanted to make the case that he’s assembled through years of working in a broken justice system about how slavery morphed into Jim Crow racism after the Civil War and then into lynching and eventually into our current biased system of mass incarceration. The meticulous research that made the lynching memorial possible, the same persistence that has helped him exonerate more than 100 wrongfully convicted people through the courts, is also very evident in the compact museum Stevenson built in downtown Montgomery (photo below). An enormous amount of harrowing information is packed into this small museum, in a former warehouse that housed slaves (and livestock) before they were auctioned off. I’m not going to give a detailed review now because I think the lynching memorial is the more powerful draw and I’ll assume that if you travel to Montgomery, you’ll see both. Montgomery is one of the most rewarding stops on the brand new U.S. Civil Rights trail that goes through 14 states. I hope I’ve convinced you to go!
I have to close with this: one of the most powerful proofs of Brian Stevenson’s arguments about our biased justice system is one of his clients, Anthony Ray Hinton. Born poor and black in Alabama, Hinton served 30 years on Death Row for murders he didn’t commit and Stevenson had to argue his case all the way to the Supreme Court (where it was unanimous). Free since 2015, Hinton has become a passionate advocate for prison reform and recently released a memoir. After hearing him speak at EJI’s conference, I had the privilege of meeting Ray Hinton, literally in the street, and I have now read his book, The Sun Does Shine. I recommend it with all my heart: it made me cry, but gave me hope. (It also made me laugh: Hinton talks about how a terrific imagination helped him survive Death Row. For example, he pretended for 15 years that he was married to Halle Berry. He also had vivid fantasies of visiting Queen Elizabeth, and now he has, for real.)
Tagged With: Bryan Stevenson, EJI, Equal Justice Initiative, Lynching Memorial, Montgomery Civil Rights, National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Slavery, The Legacy Museum, U.S. Civil Rights TrailBy MegCox May 4, 2018 1 Comment
I have heard Bryan Stevenson speak and found him to be so compelling. Whenever there are stories of the police being called for ridiculous reasons like not playing golf fast enough while black, moving into an apartment while black, holding a toy gun and being killed while black, I think of the horrible history of lynching.
As white people, we have to stand up when we see these injustices. Our history is fatally intwined with enslaving people, American natives and enslaved Africans. The memorial sounds like a must see for all U.S.A. Citizens. Thanks for sharing your experience!
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Showing posts with label Bellamy Brothers. Show all posts
If I said you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me - Bellamy Brothers
Easily one of the longest titles of a hit single ever, this song was written by David Bellamy and recorded by the Bellamy Brothers. It was released in March 1979 as the second single from their album 'The Two and Only'.
'If I said you had a beautiful body...' derived its double entendre title from a Groucho Marx line. Songwriter David Bellamy told country music journalist Tom Roland that he regularly watched Marx's program, You Bet Your Life, where Marx sometimes used the quote while interviewing an attractive female contestant, then shake his cigar and raise his eyebrows to elicit a reaction. The comment stuck in Bellamy's head as a possible hook line for a song.
Cost: 0,5 euro
Tracks: 'If I said you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me' / 'Make me over'
Labels: Bellamy Brothers, Seventies
Let your love flow - Bellamy Brothers
'Let your love flow' was written by Larry E. Williams, a former roadie for Neil Diamond, and made popular by the American country music duo The Bellamy Brothers. It was offered to Neil Diamond first, but he turned it down.
The single reached number 1 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, number 7 in the UK singles chart and number 6 in the Dutch Top 40. In 2008 the song was used in an advert in the United Kingdom for Barclaycard (right - 'Let your money flow'...). Subsequently, the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart and peaked at number 21.
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011
Tracks: 'Let your love flow' / 'Inside my guitar'
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The life of an eulachon:
May 22, 2008
During most of their lives, eulachon (Thaleicthys pacificus) spend their days at a depth of about 100 metres, just off the sandy bottom of the continental shelf, eating krill and larval shrimp and trying not to get eaten themselves, or caught in a shrimp-trawl net. In late fall, the mature four-year-olds start to school up, ready to move toward the spawning grounds.
Unlike salmon that home accurately to their natal rivers, eulachon home to a region—the one they imprinted on in their early days as they drifted in the sea near the mouth of the river where they hatched. By New Year’s Eve our school of eulachon, containing maybe five tons of fish—just one school of many—is dodging halibut 50 kilometres from the mouth of the river. These days the Nass River has the largest eulachon run of the 14 rivers in BC that have (or had) regular runs.
Now it’s March, and the eulachon are massing in the salt water that lies under the fresh water where the river meets the sea. While travelling, they’ve absorbed the minerals out of their long sharp teeth, which are now gone completely. Together with stored fat, the minerals are used to mature their gonads so eggs are ripe and free-flowing, and milt (sperm) is ready to blow.
Everyone is here for this party. Halibut and salmon are gorging on the oily fish. Seals, sea lions, otters, gulls, eagles, mergansers—even wolves and bears—are trying to get some, craving the nutrition after a long hungry winter. The Nass could have close to 2000 tons in a big run. In addition to what is eaten by other fish, the wildlife around the river might take several tons themselves. And those pesky humans will take another few hundred tons, leaving, in a good year, enough to replenish the stock.
Some males run upriver ahead of the others, and are said to be checking the conditions. Several runs will follow, using the tide—sometimes under the ice in February, sometimes later into April or May. But now, on a big rising night tide during the lowest river flows of the year, our school of eulachon surf up the river, using the reversed flow to help them up as far as possible. Eulachon, like other anadromous fish, try to prevent marine predators from preying on their eggs, but aren’t strong enough to venture very far above the tidal influence.
A frenzy of sexual activity begins. By the millions the eulachon locate glides—areas of faster moving current—to spawn. The females wriggle close to the bottom, accompanied by one or many males. The surface of the females is slippery and very smooth, while the males are bumpy and less slippery. This may help them identify who they are spawning with in the darkness. The males have a distinctive ridge down their midline and extraordinary ventral fins that may help hold the female to his side for the few seconds of their act.
Within a few hours, hundreds of tons of eulachon will have spawned, turning the entire river white, like watery cow’s milk. The females
disappear downstream immediately, but males stay around, likely hoping to spawn with any less punctual females and exhaust the last bits of their milt and energy before washing out to die.
The fertilized eggs become sticky and sink out downstream in clean sandy areas, forming a mat of eggs that resists being moved. The three-week incubation period may be the only peaceful time in an eulachon’s existence—that is if the egg is anchored well enough to survive the blast of spring runoff.
A few weeks later a tiny, half-centimetre-long larva hatches out at night to begin its perilous existence as a delicious food item. Fueled by a yolk sac that will last a few days, the little larva drifts downstream and begins to float around, together with millions of other larval fish and the rest of the microscopic life in the estuarine circulation. Over a period of days to weeks the larvae gradually grow and drift with the current away from the river; this is where they imprint to the region, rather than the site where they were born. Over the next months they gradually swim out to the rearing grounds on the continental shelf, where they will spend most of the four years of their life growing—and trying to avoid being eaten themselves—before returning to the river to start the process over again.
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Olympic joke
The whole thing is a joke, but at least we can also get some jokes from the whole disaster...Why anyone thought that a Labour government could organise a large scale operation is anyone's guess. Last time they tried to do anything like that we ended up with a 3 day week and the dead unburied...
For Friday amusement, may I present...
As you may know, East London will be hosting the Olympic Games in 2012. What you may not know, is that many aspects of the games have been especially altered to embrace the culture of the area. A copy of these changes has been leaked and is reproduced below.
The flame will be ignited by a petrol bomb thrown by a native of the city. The flame will be contained in a large, overturned police van situated on the roof of the stadium.
In previous Olympic games East London 's competitors have not been particularly successful. In order to redress the balance some of the events have been altered slightly to the advantage of local athletes.
100 Metres Sprint - Competitors will have to hold a DVD player and microwave oven (one under each arm) and on the sound of the starting pistol a police dog will be released from a cage 10 yards behind the athletes.
110 Metres hurdles - As above, but with added obstacles (car bonnets, hedges, garden fences, walls, etc).
Hammer - Competitors may choose the type of hammer they wish to use (claw, sledge, etc). The winner will be the one who can cause the most physical damage within three attempts.
Fencing - Entrants will be asked to dispose of as many stolen goods as possible in 5 minutes.
Shooting - A strong challenge is expected from local men in this event. The first target will be a moving police van. In the second round competitors will aim at a post office clerk, bank teller, or Securicor style wages delivery man. The traditional .22 rifle has been replaced in this event by a choice of either a Browning automatic pistol, or a sawn-off 12 bore shotgun.
Boxing - Entry to the boxing event will be restricted to husband and wife teams and will take place on a Friday night. The husband will be given 15 pints of lager, while the wife will be told not to make him any tea when he gets home. The bout will then commence.
Cycling Time Trials - Competitors will be asked to break in to the University bike shed and take an expensive mountain bike owned by some mummy's boy on his first trip away from home, all against the clock.
Cycling pursuit - As above, but the bike will be owned by a visiting member of the Fiji rugby sevens team, who will witness the theft.
Modern Pentathlon - Amended to include mugging, breaking and entering, flashing, joyriding and arson.
Swimming Events - All waterways are currently being tested for toxicity levels. Once one is found that can support human life, swimming events will be organised. Please note that the synchronised swimming event for this year will comprise of dropping acid and watching all the funky ripples on the pool. The specific musical support to this event will be provided by "The Verve".
The Marathon - A safe route has yet to be decided.
Men's 50km Walk - Unfortunately, this event will have to be cancelled as the police cannot guarantee the safety of anyone walking the streets of Stratford , especially anyone that appears to be mincing.
Entertainment will include formation rave dancing by members of the Stratford Health in the Community, anti-drug campaigners, synchronised rock throwing and music by The Walthamstow Community Choir. The flame will be extinguished by riot police water cannon following the inevitable pitch invasion by confused West Ham supporters.
The stadium itself will then be boarded up before the local athletes break in and remove all the copper piping and the central heating boiler.
LATE NEWS
Apparently Liverpool were set to put in a bid very similar to the above, but with the Pentathlon modified to include killing a spouse, digging a hole, burying the body, laying a patio and the strangely named 'Calm Down' contest.
To guarantee the entry of any athletes from the local area at all, drug testing has been waived for the duration of the games.
Posted by Trixy at 10:45 am
It IS the constitution
I don't really know how much clearer it can be. The Conference of Presidents, which is a meeting in the European Parliament comprising of the Presidents of the political groups, had this on their meeting summary:
Conference of Presidents Thursday 30 August 2007
Organisational arrangements for the 'Citizens' Forum'/Agora meetings in 2007
The Conference agreed to postpone the holding of the first Citizens' Forum on the
Constitutional Treaty issues from 18-19 October to 8-9 November 2007.
It couldn't be plainer, could it. It is being referred to by MEPs as the 'Constitutional Treaty'. It's not a 'reform treaty' and Brown and Miliband are wrong when they say that they are fundamentally different treaties. And they know they are wrong, because even though they come out with claims about 'red lines' even European Commissioners are saying that they are lines in the sand, and not concrete.
Other political leaders and politicians across the EU have had the decency to admit what the treaty is, if not the honour to allow the people the chance to have a say in a referendum. Well, they might come back with the wrong answer you see, like last time. Terribly inconvenient, that was, and then the EU had to instead put everything through piecemeal and make a song and dance and pretend to be listening to the people. What a bore, eh?
However, we still have on the record that amongst the detritus which emerges from the mouths of elected officials, there is:
"The fundamentals of the Constitution have been maintained in large part. We have renounced everything that makes people think of a state, like the flag and the national anthem." El Pais (25 June)
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier
The mandate approved by the EU will "preserve the substance of the constitutional treaty". Agence Europe (25 June)
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero
"A great part of the content of the European Constitution is captured in the new treaties", Zapatero said. "Everyone has conceded a little so that we all gain a lot", added Zapatero. El Pais (25 June)
Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern
"Given the fact that there was strong legal advice that the draft constitution in 2004 would require a referendum in Ireland, and given the fact that these changes haven't made any dramatic change to the substance of what was agreed back in 2004, I think it is likely that a referendum will be held... thankfully they haven't changed the substance - 90 per cent of it is still there."
On the change of name for the EU Foreign Minister he said:
"It's the original job as proposed but they just put on this long title - High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and also vice President of the Commission. It's the same job [.] it's still going to be the same position." Irish Independent (24 June)
Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen
"The good thing is...that all the symbolic elements are gone, and that which really matters - the core - is left." Jyllands-Posten (25 June)
Finland's Europe Minister Astrid Thors
"There's nothing from the original institutional package that has been changed" TV-Nytt, (23 June)
Finland's State Secretary for EU Affairs Jari Luoto
There are few differences between it and "the constitutional treaty which has already been ratified by Finland's Parliament". YLE News
Elmar Brok MEP
"Despite all the compromises, the substance of the draft EU Constitution has been safeguarded." Euractiv (25 June)
Jo Leinen MEP
"We kept the substance of the Constitution"
Gerard Onesta MEP
"It's incredible to see what we slipped under the carpet"
Johannes Voggenhuber MEP
"All the Constitution is there! Nothing is missing!"
When is that bastard of a Prime Minister going to stop lying to us and grant us a referendum? No one is saying that he can't go round campaigning for a 'yes' vote, the misguided idiot, but to lie so openly and often and to break a major manifesto pledge is not even worthy of a Labour politician, so low it goes. The Tories have done it before and the Lib Dems are always trying to deceive people, since if most people knew what they really stood for I suspect they would rather cut off their hand than put a cross next to their candidate.
So maybe it is exactly what we should expect from all politicians, because all the parties are perfectly happy to deceive us, the public, the people who pay their wages, to suit their own personal ends.
What do we know, eh? And what do we matter. They just tell us lies and it's our own fault for letting them get away with it. If their lies and promises they can't keep weren't reported as if they were genuine pledges it would be a good start. But if when we caught them out, we stopped voting for the bastards, I think that would be an altogether better way of sending a message along the lines of:
Stop taking the piss out of us, you deluded freaks!
Opinions to the usual address, on a shoe box.
This month's bottle of Krug to anyone who can tell me what the Lib Dems are up to these days.
Posted by Trixy at 10:06 pm
EU undertake self regulation
From my Bruges Group update, I see that the EU have passed a new law which requires them to monitor their actions themselves...
* Rules on examining vegetables
Commission Directive 2007/49/EC amending Directive 2003/91/EC setting out implementing measures for the purposes of Article 7 of Council Directive 2002/55/EC as regards the characteristics to be covered as a minimum by the examination and the minimum conditions for examining certain varieties of vegetable species
Did anyone else read the really funny piece by David Cameron in The Sun yesterday? It contained hilarious tongue-in-cheek lines such as:
...what makes you think you can change the way our country is governemd without asking the British people first?
Well, as a Conservative he is well placed to answer his own question which he did with absolute accuracy..
...Arrogance.
Just like the Conservatives taking Britain into the Common Market, knowing full well the plans were for a political union, but denying the British people their say in a referendum? Just like the Maastricht Treaty, where Conservative Party forced through huge changes to how this country was governed without so much as a by your leave to the people who pay their wages?
I hope people see through the lies and arrogance of the Boy Dave. He really is a C**t.
Not the hokey cokey
Look. It's not down to the Human Rights Act, okay? Back in 2003 all those lying, mendacious bastards who are supposed to represent what people want yet do one thing in Brussels and say quite another back home, voting for a law which allowed the free movement of people.
I've written about it before, but just for you here is a snippet from the directive about people from the EU and criminal records:
2. Measures taken on grounds of public policy or public security shall comply with the principle of proportionality and shall be based exclusively on the personal conduct of the individual concerned. Previous criminal convictions shall not in themselves constitute grounds for taking such measures.
Expulsion orders may not be issued by the host Member State as a penalty or legal consequence of a custodial penalty, unless they conform to the requirements of Articles 27, 28, and 29.
That and, of course:
The fundamental and personal right of residence in another Member State is conferred directly on Union citizens by the Treaty and is not dependent upon their
having fulfilled administrative procedures.
Want to be able to expel people from this country? Better vote UKIP, then.
just a little note....
I know there's lots of crap going on in the world, like EU regulations meaning that the murderer of Philip Lawrence can't be deported and so on, but apart from all that, I just want to say that I am really bloody happy.
I must thank the waitress the other day who seated me at a restaurant table where, lo and behold! The Redwood briefing on deregulation had been left for all and sundry to see. That was lucky.
Being rather interested in how Redwood was proposing to do all these promises, including opting out of all this EU legislation, I decided to have a peek. Well, no harm would be done, would it?
I'm glad I did in a way, but also cross that once again I know that the Tories are getting coverage for proposing to do something that they can't do without a huge legal battle. Namely, opt out of EU legislation which is incorporated into Treaties we have signed, unilaterally. Let me explain:
The regulatory cost to businesses in the UK is estimated by the EU to be £70 billion. The Conservative Party wish to change that through a series of deregulatory alterations in structure and legislation. As most of this regulation comes from the EU, there are mountains to climb if they wish to achieve their goal.
Over half the regulations applying to businesses in the UK are from the EU. The proposals to seek opt outs from the areas of regulation considered 'most damaging' are wishful thinking given the reality of the EU and our membership thereof.
The areas mainly focussed on by these proposals are those pertaining to employment legislation and social policy. The headline calls are for opting back out of the Social Chapter whilst remaining part of the EU which in itself is ridiculous.
When the Maastrict Treaty was signed by the Conservative Party they secured an 'opt out' of what was then known as the 'Social Chapter'. The Amsterdam Treaty, signed by the Labour government in 2000 allowed the full incorporation of the agreement into the new document.
The feasibility of a Member State withdrawing from the Social Chapter under the current treaties is limited: In a reply to this question, the President of the European Commission, Mr Barroso, wrote:
'The Commission assumes that when the honourable member refers to the Social Chapter in the Treaties, he is referring to the social provisions contained in Articles 136 to 145 of the EC Treaty. These provisions are part of the whole Treaty and cannot be isolated. All member states are bound by the Treaties they have signed and ratified and which have entered into force, including the social provisions they contain. Consequently, a withdrawal from these provisions by a Member State would require an amendment of the EU Treaty in accordance with Article 48 of the Treaty on European Union.'
Article 48 states that:
'The government of any Member State of the Commission may submit to the Council proposals for the amendment of the Treaties on which the Union is founded.
If the Council, after consulting the European Parliament and, where appropriate, the Commission, delivers an opinion in favour of calling a conference of representatives of the governments of the Member States, the conference shall be convened by the President of the Council for the purpose of determining by common accord the amendments to be made to those Treaties...
The amendments shall enter into force after being ratified by all the Member States in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements.'
In short, the Social Chapter does not exist and is now part of the Acquis Communautaire. It is not possible for one country to 'opt out' of a section of the Treaty without the Treaty being altered which requires unanimity in the Council of Ministers: 27 countries agreeing to the same thing.
The proposals by the Conservatives that
'We should legislate in the UK if our partners do not grant us reasonable opt outs from the regulations we find are most damaging. This could be done, as a last resort, by means of an amendment to the 1972 European Communities Act to allow the UK to dis apply EU regulation unilaterally where we think it is against our national interest to apply it.'
Apart from this being a very ambiguous way of deciding which regulations to opt out of, it is also rather risky for a party wishing to stay members of the EU.
It is perfectly possible for the amendments to the Act of Parliament to be made in this country, but the impacts, of course, are not limited to the borders of the UK. Such amendments would constitute a breach of the Treaty of Rome and the European Commission would be able to take the UK to the European Court of Justice which, is the highest court in the EU. According to the Factortame case (1990) national courts can dis apply domestic legislation that contravenes EU law, thus reaffirming the primacy of EU law over UK law.
Even if by some miracle, Call-me-Dave did agree to these proposals, it would in all probability end up in a costly legal battle with the EU in the ECJ. Given that Dave isn't really a eurosceptic, I can't see the Tories actually going through with any of this. In fact, all I can really see this as is a way for the Shadow Cabinet to gag John Redwood into any more attacks on the party leadership and meaningless headlines to stop people leaving the Tory party by lying to them that they are actually going to so something about these montrous EU regulations, many of which their MEPs voted for.
In the case of some of the financial ones, the former MEP Theresa Villiers, now MP, was instrumental in the Financial Services Action Plan. (She, of course, said on Question Time that she thought that holocaust denial should be a crime so is evidently not in favour of freedom of speech...or maybe she is, but she just represents a constituency with a large Jewish community?).
It's much the same as these tax cuts. Lots of lovely headlines about getting rid of IHT (a UKIP proposal which was launched last October with no corresponding increases in other taxes) but how far does one have to read to find out that these will be 'offset' by Environmental Taxes? So, the Tories have still not got to grips with this idea that tax cutting is expansionary fiscal policy, and think that they can only cut taxes when the economy is doing a bit better.
Surely, given the demostration of the last 10 years when we are told that our standards of living are rising, yet more and more people are deep in the red, young people can't get on the housing ladder and recently a flagship NHS hospital did not have any trained medical staff to help a woman give birth, we can read this as being complete crap. The rises in tax on everything from income to ice cream, savings to stockings and that pound down the side of your sofa have resulted in a worse standard of living.
The government simply cannot run every aspect of our lives. We need the state to be rolled back. We need less government, less tax and less meaningless spin. We need action, not words and someone to stand up to these politicians and tell them that they are speaking shit, and we're sick of being patronised and lied to.
Any offers?
Emergency Kevlars required
After last night my desire to own a kevlar hoodie has increased exponentially.
We have always had problems with the group of vile kids who hang around outside our house screaming, breaking the fence and beating each other up with the wooden planks, throwing milk bottles and rocks around, playing loud music at all hours of the night and scream in a very loud, very common, very irritating nasal whine. And they like to drug deal outside there, too. Their mate comes round on a bike and they sit around boasting about their narcotic intake whilst keeping lots of people, mainly my housemate whose window they like to sit under, awake.
Before I went away it was so bad that I had decided I would be moving back to Suburbia so I could try get a decent nights sleep and not walk to work through a mound of broken glass each morning. I had also decided that I would not be putting up with the noise from the kids, or the complete and utter ineptitude of the local council and the local police.
I had spent hours and hours on the phone trying to get through to *anyone* to sort them out, but I never managed to get through to a human being. Nice. Last night, though, I tried a different station and finally got through to someone. Shortly after explaining what had happened, house mate and I looked out of the window and saw a kid of about 16 with the typical chav uniform of baseball cap and trainers, eyes glazed with a slightly confused look typically found in those with a low IQ, walking down the road with two huge knives in his hand. HUGE knives. Behind him was his 'robin', also holding a knife.
They were shouting at someone down the road, and saying something along the lines of 'you want to see a fucking knife? This is a fucking knife!'
It's two knives, actually, you pathetic little retard.
So I call up the police and tell them that on top of kids drug dealing under the window they are now trying to knife each other, sans keflon hoodie. Well, they get a bit more interested and take details, including the name of the guy which HM managed to glean and what he was wearing.
The police van drove by, got to the end of the road, and turned back again. They drove straight past a gang of 6 pikeys standing by the side of the road who all knew exactly what happened and possibly contained the little blade-loving turd himself, but they didn't stop. And I never saw them again.
Can someone tell me why I pay my council tax? I know it's supposed to be the lowest in the country, and isn't that wonderful and blah blah, but they've halved our bin collections but we still only have the one dustbin so we get half the service. There are bin bags in the house because there's no room outside and if we leave the bin bags out then the foxes shred them and no one cleans up because there is no street cleaning. And the kids who live in the council houses make the people who have to go to work's lives a misery by keeping them up all night with their screaming and shouting and loud music and desire to smash everything.
Why should I pay for them to exist to make my life a misery, and why should I pay for the police when they have no desire to protect me against people with knives?
Answers on a shoebox, to the usual address.
Very serious problem
Some pupils at a school that their parents have to pay extra money for have done something humourous and clever. The SNP MSP for Perth is 'outraged'. Everyone else wonders why she didn't just keep her trap shut...
New fashion item
Avid readers will know that I am a style guru extraordinaire with a large collection of shoes (the latest ones are hot pink stilettos and a very nice orange dress from Nicole Farhi) but I have found an item which should be in even greater demand than the Roland Mouret Moon dress
For the lad about town, the city gent, the lady who lunches or anyone who doesn't want a knife in their back, I present the Kevlar Hoodie:
From their website we can see that the specially designed hoodie gives the wearer additional protection from knife attacks. Because those white slashes in the picture above we made when a 15 year old was slashed more than 20 times across his back when he was using the cash machine. The hoodies are made from stab and fire resistant material work by British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am going to invest in one; they company have now brought them out in pink....
Crazy country
Honestly. I leave the country and the next day we have a foot and mouth outbreak.
I had a lovely time away from all the crap here but now I am back I am once again depressed by the state of this country.
Take this story:
A HOME owner has been arrested after confronting an intruder who plunged from the balcony of his top floor flat. It is understood that Patrick Walsh, 56, awoke to find the 43-year-old intruder rifling through his flat at about 6.00am on Monday.
A confrontation followed and it is believed the intruder made his escape through the window before dropping on to a concrete yard.
So some guy breaks into someone else's house, falls out of the window and the victim in all of this gets arrested.
There needs to be an end to this idea where people defending themselves and their property end up in trouble with the law. The law should be there to defend people who abide by it. With rights comes responsibilities and I don't see why someone who breaks the law should then be defended by it. If someone hurts themselves when they break the law, I think tough shit. If they hadn't put themselves in a situation where they could get hurt by breaking the law then they wouldn't be in that position. DOn't want to fall out of a top floor flat? Then don't break into a top floor flat.
Mr Walsh was then arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. He has been bailed until November...Det Insp Will Chatterton, who is leading the inquiry, said arresting Mr Walsh was the right course of action given the `ambiguities' of the case...
Personally, given the state of crime in this country, with people being let out of prison early only to re offend, the inability of immigration officers to deny entry to people from EU countries who have criminal records and police too tied up with paper work to actually go out and fight crime, the police should probably stop arresting people who were trying to defend their person and their property. If people who committed crimes didn't have the knowledge that anyone trying to protect themselves would probably end up in more trouble than they would for committing the crime in the first place, maybe there would be a few less burglaries?
Break the law, and expect to get shafted, I say. We should be deterring people from being thieving arseholes, not slamming the people who are the victims in the whole situation.
*once again I say, don't come moaning to me with your bleeding heart socialism about how everyone has human rights and all that shit. Stick to the law and it should be there to protect you. Don't keep your side of the bargain and expect to be cast out in the cold.
Some good news for everyone!
Alongside the fact that already my sun tan is progressing nicely, some good news from yesterday:
A badly burned man detained after the suspected terror attack at Glasgow Airport has died in a Glasgow hospital.
Kafeel Ahmed was one of two men held at the airport after a Jeep struck the terminal and burst into flames.
The 27-year-old, from Bangalore, India, had suffered burns to 90% of his body when he was arrested.
Good. One less murdering terrorist on the streets of Britain. Although to be honest, reading:
The man died in Glasgow Royal Infirmary on Thursday evening. He had been transferred to the specialist burns unit there from the Royal Alexandra Hospital, in Paisley.
I do actually object somewhat to my tax money being spent on someone who tried to murder hundreds of people and cause hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage. Because of our NHS, the people he tried to kill essentially paid for his medical treatment.
But the story reminds me of a text message forwarded to me from Beloved:
1 can of petrol £5.40, 2 Calor Gas bottles £42.50, 2nsd hand Jeep Cherokee £2,450. Watching two murdering terrorists try and burn themselves alive? Priceless!
P.s if anyone moans at me about how this is terrible taste, how could I want them to die blah blah, don't bother. Fuck off, am not interested in your politically correct rubbish. If we spent less time making excuses and more time doing something about scum like this maybe the country would be in a better situation than it is now.
These things are sent to try us....
Considering that I’m a stroppy cow at the best of times, I thought that surviving six and a half hours before having a tantrum was pretty good going. It’s not even my fault really that I did; it’s that I have had to spend so much time in the company of other people. Airports are shitty places anyway but airports in summer are just evil, cursed places full of disappointment and stress.
London Gatwick on a muggy Thursday is not a nice place to be. Thankfully, Air Malta had laid on lunch for us fortunate passengers delayed by the non arrival of our plane at the Hilton Hotel. I paid for possibly the most expensive internet connection in history so for a few hours I could get on with doing some work, and fuck around on facebook. Well worth it, I say. I was even in such a jolly mood I lent my copy of heat magazine to some girls sitting next to me. I didn’t even complain when the Hilton bent me over and buggered me senseless by charging me £2.40 for half a lemonade which, it turned out, was mainly ice. C’est la vie! Thought I, sipping my drink, before trotting outside for a cigarette.
Cigarette. Hmmm. I’d kill for one of those now. No, really, I mean kill. At the very least throttle someone. Preferably someone who voted for the jizz stain that is this pointless piece of legislation. Because I think that’s why I was so stressed. There were shops for me to busy myself in, shoes for me to look at and alcohol to be purchased. But as I gazed longingly towards the tables where the smoking section used to be, I just felt unsatisfied. I felt more than unsatisfied. I felt a gnawing sensation of frustration rush over me like the waves on a beach as the tide comes in. Hungrily, I trotted off in search of something to eat.
Since there was only about 40 minutes until we would be called to the gate, I settled for something quick, easy and probably, gross. Ah! There were the golden arches of the McDonalds, with the satisfyingly long queues for the tills manned by talking monkeys!
I was not disappointed. McShops are normally fairly irritating places where one has to explain a million times that you don’t want that, you want the other thing. No....that one. This one really took the biscuit, though. I stood for 10 minutes in a queue that didn’t move, served by a girl who was getting confused about a chicken sandwich. Luckily, The Boy called me, and I hastily departed away from the cause of so much angst to hear his voice and listen to his words sooth me. That still left me somewhat hungry, though, and I mooched around the other possible watering holes to find a cure for my twitching tummy.
And tripped over about 30 screaming children.
Argh! Why have they all come out to bother me? And why are they all ginger? Why do their parents not keep them under control? When I was younger, I was under no illusions that misbehaving, especially in public, brought about the swift arrival of Mr Smack, and consequently I behaved myself. My parents didn’t bribe me with ice cream or other e-numbered sticky delights, nor did they simper at someone who may have had their foot run over by a suitcase which was being treated like a toy from a fractious child, instead of apologising.
Yet I have to put up with all this nonsense, and because I’m a woman, I’m expected to like children and tolerate it. Well, I don’t tolerate it, goddamit. I especially don’t tolerate it when I have not had a cigarette for hours and some dim twat at McCraps has just told me, after being in a queue for 15 minutes (Fast food anyone?) that the only thing they serve for vegetarians is a chicken fucking sandwich.
One problem with that, sunshine. It’s got chicken in it. If I didn’t have a problem about eating meat then I would order a burger. Sod that, I’d order a fillet steak, rare, with some mushrooms on the side and béarnaise sauce. Yum.
And I really don’t tolerate anyone being badly behaved, except myself, when I haven’t had a cigarette for 5 hours and I can’t get one because I’m in departures and there is no longer a smoking section, I have to queue up with a load of people who look like they are flying to Malta to join the rest of the cast from Coronation Street and I am hungry.
Am now on the flight and I can hear some of those children. I have at least another two hours before I can have a cigarette and, someone near me is farting with such frequency and power that I think they have some kind of rotting animal in their bowels. It’s either one of the two brassy divorcees from Essex or similar who are going to Malta to find Shirley Valentine style love, the blonde woman in front who is wearing stone washed denim, her boyfriend who is wearing a straw hat and chewing gum (with that hat it should really be an ear of corn) or the guy next to me on the other side who is reading Harry Potter and has come in his best line dancing outfit.
Just to be sure, I think I’ll kill ‘em all.
That is, after I have killed the person at Air Malta who failed to book me a vegetarian meal. It’s quite a long flight I’m on, and since didn’t manage to get anything in the airport apart from a bottle of water, I’m still rather hungry. I ordered a vegetarian meal when I booked my flight. I sent an e-mail yesterday when I tried to check in on line but found out that I couldn’t. And yet, I do not have a vegetarian meal. No; instead I have a dish of dog poo with green beans and rice. I hate rice and most of the beans are mixed up with the dog poo / beef so I can’t have those. And the pudding just looks gross. Ah! Emergency bread, cheese spread and maltese biscuits, thank the lord. Well, not that much, though, since he didn’t get me the original meal which would have at least allowed me some veggies.
The Air Malta staff are simply wonderful, though. Bringing me extra cheese and biscuits and plying me with lots of vodka and tonic. Thank heavens for them. And they’ve made sure that my ‘v-freak (as my beloved would call it) meal is ordered for my return journey. But I’m not going to dwell on that because the decent has started, and finally, my holiday is about to begin. Yippee!
I had a little rant to myself the other morning when I heard that the Energy Saving Trust (save your own energy: shut the fuck up) wanted to ban patio heaters and were telling people to 'wear jumpers' instead.
Look, sunshine, you and your other little fascist bastards wanted to ban smoking in public places, so now us smokers go outside. I, personally, choose a place outside near a group of people who hate smoke. Don't like it? Fuck off inside, because I sure as hell can't. And I dare not stop smoking in case the NHS runs out of money.
So of course we have more patio heaters now because there are more people sitting outside now who need warming up. But whose fault is that? It's the people who wanted a smoking ban, that's who. So shove that in your pipe and smoke it, you little Hitler, you, Philip Sellwood.
You want to put on a jumper? You put on a sodding jumper. These bastards tell me how long I can work for, what I can do at work, they're trying to tell me what to eat, trying to lock people up for having the nerve to voice opinions,now they tell me I can't smoke, but more importantly, they are now trying to dicate fashion.
I suspect that Ol' Trix can manage perfectly well without being told by
a man with a hair style based on a loo brush and the complexion of a clumsy bee keeper how she should look.
In the words of the Devil himself, in a piece of linguistic genius:
you are a shit-stain on the trousers of the world.
Yes! Finally the day has come! I'm off to the sunshine. Factor 2 Sun oil and rather expensive, yet beautiful bikini is packed. Well, I would be if the flight hadn't been delayed by 5 hours, but with a technical error I'd rather they fixed it before I boarded. I'm a good swimmer and all, but generally not when I've plummeted 33,000 ft before taking the plunge.
So my already light blogging may become 'blogging lite' as I write about frivilous items instead, or I could have a full scale week long rant as I see how the place has changed with all these new EU directives and immigration problems since I was last there.
Anyone taking bets on which ones?
I must thank the waitress the other day who seated...
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Cited Book: Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition and Other Confusions of Our Time
Cited Books
Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition and Other Confusions of Our Time
Book referral for Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition and Other Confusions of Our Time
recommend book⇒Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition and Other Confusions of Our Time
Michael Shermer 978-0-8050-7089-7
1954-09-08 age:63 978-0-7167-3090-3
Holt 978-1-4299-9676-1
2002-09-01 978-1-55927-513-2
B004TNH6ME
The title is a bit of a misnomer. It is mostly about the kooky things people believe and why those beliefs are not true, not why people believe them. People believe in quantum mechanics and relativity, which are far weirder than any alien abduction or holocaust denial. That is not what the book is about. It about people believing in things for which there is almost no evidence and for which there is a ton of counter-evidence. It covers Holocaust denial and creationism in considerable detail and has chapters on abductions, Satanism, Afrocentrism, near-death experiences, Ayn Randian positivism and psychics. His five reasons people hold crank beliefs are:
for consolation
for immediate gratification
for simplicity
for moral meaning
because hope springs eternal
As a former fundamentalist Christian, he has first hand knowledge. He is also founder of the Skeptics Society.
Online bookstores carrying Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition and Other Confusions of Our Time
http://mindprod.com/book/9780805070897.html
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CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED IN PLAY WITH JIMMY ROBERTS RETURNS TUESDAY, APRIL 23 ON GOLF CHANNEL
13-Time Emmy Award-Winner Jimmy Roberts Uncovers the Game’s Most Compelling Stories
Al Geiberger Watches Lost Footage of His 1977 Record-Breaking 59 For First Time
Former Atlanta Constitution Editor Reg Murphy Discusses How Golf Helped Him Survive 1974 Kidnapping
Rich Lerner Explores Most Unusual Golf Tournaments in the U.S.A.
Video: Rich Lerner Discusses How Unusual Tournaments are Good for Golf
Video: In Play with Jimmy Roberts April 23 Preview
ORLANDO, Fla., (April 17, 2013) – In Play with Jimmy Roberts returns Tuesday, April 23 at 10:30 p.m. ET on Golf Channel with a new slate of real-life stories that encompass the game of golf in this critically-acclaimed newsmagazine series.
Tuesday’s new episode features Al Geiberger – the first player in history to shoot a record-low score of 59 in a PGA TOUR sanctioned event – watching his achievement for the first time; former Atlanta Constitution editorial page editor Reg Murphy recalling how golf helped him survive a 1974 kidnapping; and Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner taking viewers on a fun-filled tour to some of the most unusual golf tournaments imaginable.
Host and managing editor Jimmy Roberts, a 13-time Emmy Award-winner, has drawn critical praise for telling some of sports’ greatest stories during his distinguished career at NBC Sports, ESPN and ABC News and ABC Sports, which includes covering 14 Olympics. Described as “an enterprising new original series” by Sports Illustrated and a “gorgeously shot magazine show” by CableFAX Daily, In Play with Jimmy Roberts is a monthly series that chronicles stories ranging from celebrities to everyday people who are all unified by golf.
Scheduled features on the Tuesday, April 23 episode:
– Al Geiberger’s Historic 59 Revealed – Al Geiberger was the first player to record a 59 in a PGA TOUR sanctioned event during the second round of the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic in 1977. The tournament did not air on any broadcast networks. However, a local news crew from WMC-TV in Memphis captured this historic achievement, but Geiberger never saw that evening’s news. Unfortunately, a few weeks later, a fire destroyed the station, which housed the only known video footage. In Play chronicles how the video resurfaced and surprises Geiberger and his family by showing them the historic 59 for the first time.
– Kidnapped: But Golf Helped Me Survive – While serving as an editor for the Atlanta Constitution, Reg Murphy was the victim of a kidnapping in 1974. He credits golf with helping him survive while being locked in the trunk of a car during the 49-hour ordeal. He visualized a recent round, shot by shot, at Augusta National, home of the Masters. With contributions from NBC News’ Tom Brokaw and longtime Atlanta Journal-Constitution editor Jim Minter, Murphy shares his harrowing tale with Jimmy Roberts.
– Unusual Golf Tournaments – Rich Lerner takes viewers on a journey to some of the most unusual golf tournaments and profiles the characters that make these “off-the-track” events so popular. The Mustache Open, the Cow Pasture Open in Montana, the National Hickory Championship in West Virginia, the Snow Golf Tournament at Alpine Meadows, and the annual Bobby Jones Open, where all participants are aptly named, “Bobby Jones,” are featured.
In Play with Jimmy Roberts complements Golf Channel’s award-winning and critically-acclaimed slate of original programming, including Feherty, The Haney Project: Michael Phelps and Big Break. The Haney Project: Michael Phelps and Feherty have bolstered Golf Channel’s Monday primetime lineup since their season premieres in February, up 21 percent vs. 2012 and 62 percent vs. 2011 for the same time span. Big Break, Golf Channel’s successful reality competition series, returns Monday, May 13 for its 19th season in Riviera Maya, Mexico.
About Golf Channel
As the fastest-growing network on television, Golf Channel is a multimedia, golf entertainment and services company based in Orlando, Fla. The Golf Channel cable network, co-founded by Arnold Palmer in 1995 and part of the NBC Sports Group, is available in more than 120 million homes worldwide through cable, satellite and wireless companies. As part of the NBC Sports Group, professional golf coverage on NBC is branded “Golf Channel on NBC,” further extending the Golf Channel brand to NBC’s broadcast audiences. Exclusive partnerships with the world’s top tours allow Golf Channel to feature more live golf coverage than all other networks combined, added to a programming schedule distinguished by golf’s best news, instruction and original programming. Golf Channel’s digital platform of businesses is led by www.GolfChannel.com, a leading golf destination on the Internet, delivering unmatched coverage of the world of golf, as well as services that help the recreational player with how to play, what to play and where to play golf.
BEST LACROSSE PLAYERS IN THE WORLD COMPETE THIS SUNDAY AT PLL ALL-STAR GAME AT 8 P.M. ET ON NBCSN
David Feherty (@Fehertwit) talks the historical significance of Northern Ireland hosting #TheOpen: https://t.co/yW8t4Ej7xo
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Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Papers
The Government of India had decided to declassify the files relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and make them accessible to public. This was announced by Shri Narendra Modi the Prime Minister of India on 14 October 2015 when he met a delegation of members of Netaji family at his residence in New Delhi. The first lot of 33 files which were declassified were handed over by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to National Archives of India on 4 December 2015.
Ministry/Department
File Number
61 Safe custody of ashes of Sh. Subhash Chandra Bose in the Renkoji Temple. Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) 25/4/ NGO-Vol-X
62 Safe custody of ashes of Sh. Subhash Chandra Bose in the Renkoji Temple. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) 25/4/ NGO-Vol-XVIII
63 Mortal remains of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) 25/4/NGO Vol – IV (LW-KW-I)
64 Safe custody of ashes of Sh. Subhash Chandra Bose in the Renkoji Temple Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) 25/4/NGO Vol. II
65 Netaji & INA Treasure. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) 25/4/NGO – Vol III (LW – One Annexure)(photocopies)
66 Investigation of Subhash Chandra Bose case. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) 25/4/NGO – Vol, XIII
67 Safe custody of ashes of Sh. Subhash Chandra Bose in the Renkoji Temple. (2) Establishment of an Enquiry (INA Treasure) Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) 25/4/NGO – Vol-I
68 Safe custody of ashes of Sh. Subhash Chandra Bose in the Renkoji Temple. (2) establishment of an Enquiry (INA Treasure) Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) 25/4/NGO – Vol. II with KW (photocopy)
69 Routine Papers. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) 25/4/NGO – Vol. III (annex.)
70 Noting Portion. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) 25/4/NGO – Vol. IX + X (Part)
Maintained By National Archives of India, Ministry of Culture, Government of India
Visitors:2105153
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market_konus@mail.ru Personnel Department:
kbkonus@tut.by Reception:
About Hot-dip Galvanizing
Notes for a Customer
Requirements for Steel Structures
Grodno Region News and Events
Belarusian specialized territorial division Konus was established at order no. 517 issued by the USSR Ministry of Radio Industry of August 30, 1984. It was assigned to provide supply and technical maintenance of the automated troop command system (ACS front «Maneuver»); later it was transferred into the ownership of the Republic of Belarus subject to Resolution no. 385 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus from October 14, 1991 «On the procedure of taking of the enterprises, associations, organizations and institutions of Union subordination into the ownership of the Republic of Belarus».
Belarusian specialized regional division Konus (BSRD) was registered as the Republican Unitary Production Enterprise (RUPE) Konus by the resolution of Lida Municipal Executive Committee.
RUPE Konus was transferred from the subordination of the Ministry of Industry of the Republic of Belarus to the jurisdiction of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus pursuant to the Resolution no. 1553 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus of October 21, 2008 «On the Amendments to Resolution no. 980 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus of July 31, 2006».
RUPE Konus passed to the control of the Republican Unitary Enterprise Scientific and Practical Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Agricultural Mechanization in compliance with Resolution no.59 of the Presidium of NAS of Belarus from July 9, 2009 «On the transfer of the Republican Unitary Enterprises to the Scientific and Practical Centers».
According to the Charter of the Company, adopted on September 30, 2009 the Company was given its full name – Republican Branch Unitary Production Enterprise Konus of the Republican Unitary Enterprise Scientific and Practical Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Agricultural Mechanization.
The capital investment project «Establishment of the plant for anti-corrosion protection of metal structures by hot-dip galvanizing method» was built for protection of large-size metal structures against corrosion. RUE The Scientific and Practical Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Agricultural Mechanization is a project initiator.
The foundation stone of the new enterprise - "Hot-dip galvanizing plant" was laid with the participation of Prime Minister Sergey S. Sidorsky, the Chairman of Grodno Regional Executive Committee Semyon B. Shapiro, and the Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Mikhail V. Myasnikovich.
The investment project was implemented in the free economic area «Grodnoinvest» (Dolina village, Lida District). The production is aimed at protection of large-sized metal structures by hot-dip galvanizing with the use of the most advanced and high-tech equipment on the territory of the Republic of Belarus.
Lida TV report about the production start-up of the hot-dip galvanizing plant SE Konus (video)
State Enterprise KONUS. Hot-dip Galvanizing Plant
5 Zavodskaya Str., 231293 Lida, Grodno Region, Republic of Belarus.
Reception (Belarus):
Reception (for Russia and CIS Countries):
Technologists:
Personnel Department:
Purchase Department:
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Puckarinen Hits A Post
Chance and circumstance
by Puckarinen on 01/10/12 at 12:10 PM ET
Last week in Sweden, some 600 000 people stayed up or got up in the middle of the night to watch the World Juniors final between Sweden and Russia on TV. The average was 530 000 and by the time Mika Zibanejad beat Andrei Makarov in the Russian net, 600 000 people had tuned in.
And the way the game ended, it was obviously worth losing some sleep.
After the game, Sweden’s Jeremy Boyce-Rotevall said that Zibanejad had told him before the game that he’d “finish this game off.’’ A bold prediction coming from a player who had scored just three goals in the tournament, against Latvia and Slovakia – but he backed it up.
“I [repeated it to Boyce-Rotevall] before the overtime too so it was good to get that goal,’’ Zibanejad said. “You have to decide if you want to win this. In the morning, it was a joke, but obviously it’s not a joke anymore.”
No, it’s no joke. And every time we repeat it, it becomes a little more of a truth until it becomes a true legend.
And when Zibanejad goes on to having a great career, winning Stanley Cups, and World Championship and Olympic golds - I throw those in here to show that I am European and that we do care about such things - it will all come back to the World Juniors overtime goal, the golden goal, he scored.
Sometimes it seems that people’s careers are made (and broken) in moments like that. Somebody is in the right place at the right time, and scores a big goal and everything seems to change.
Mike Eruzione scored the game winner against the Soviet Union, and clinched the Miracle on Ice in the 1980 Olympics. A few years ago that goal was voted “the greatest highlight of all time” on ESPN. Eruzione retired after the Olympics but the goal opened doors and other opportunities that probably wouldn’t have opened for him.
In the fall of 1981, I showed a bearded, young American guy how to strike a Finnish 20-pence coins really hard into the slot of the Helsinki arena cafeteria pinball machine to start a game that actually cost a whole one markka.
His name was Phil Verchota, and he, too, had been a miracle worker in the winter of 1980. In Helsinki, he played for the Helsinki Jokerit in the Finnish SM-liiga, scored 15 goals in 32 games, but his team finished last, and he took a sabbatical from hockey.
At least Verchota had made the US Olympic team, but somebody also has to be the last player not to make the team. On Herb Brooks’s Olympic team, that player was Ralph Cox, who came to Finland a year after Verchota.
They could just as easily have had reverse roles.
When coaches say that the games are so close that a lucky bounce can be the difference, they’re not kidding, especially in tournament play, like the Olympics or the World Championships. Last May, when Finland won the Worlds in Bratislava, Slovakia, it had to go through one overtime win, and three wins in a penalty shootout to get to the playoff stage.
The Swedish junior team beat Switzerland in a shootout, Russia in OT, Finland in the semifinal in a shootout, and Russia again, in OT, in the final.
And then, suddenly, a good backcheck by a Swedish defenseman going one way, a moment of hesitation by a Russian defenseman going the other, and Zibanejad found himself on a breakaway – and then under a pile of teammates, on fake stamps in the papers, and on a stage in downtown Stockholm in front of 6,000 people who were screaming his name.
Zibanejad’s Elitserien teammate Pontus Åberg has seven goals and 14 points in 29 games with Djurgården, fourth on the team in goals, and sixth in points. (Zibanejad has six points in 13 games). Åberg, too, could have been on the stage, but he suffered a shoulder injury in the team’s last exhibition game before the tournament, against Canada, and had to return to Sweden.
His replacement flew in from Sweden the next day. His name was Jeremy Boyce-Rotevall.
Risto Pakarinen is a Finnish freelance writer who happens to live in Sweden. You can follow him on Twitter, as Puckarinen.
Filed in: | Puckarinen Hits A Post | Permalink
Tags: herb+brooks, jeremy+boyce-rotevall, mika+zibanejad, mike+eruzione, miracle, phil+verchota, pontus+Åberg, ralph+cox, world+juniors
Outstanding! I’m getting to be a big fan of this rarity in blogging: a narrative blog.
“You have to decide if you want to win this. In the morning, it was a joke, but obviously it’s not a joke anymore.”
Kid’s gonna be a good one.
Posted by SYF from Jackie Redmond's blue eyes on 01/10/12 at 03:23 PM ET
Why Sundin
The times they’ve a-changed
Time to believe
They used to be kings
Teemu and Saku
National treasures
Finland’s classic winters
About Puckarinen Hits A Post
Risto Pakarinen is a Finnish freelance writer, based in Stockholm, Sweden.
That's right, he's deep behind the enemy lines. He's also a regular contributor to IIHF.com, NHL.com, The Hockey News, and several publications in Finland and Sweden. He's also covered four World Championships and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics for the IIHF.
And since he foolishly hoisted the Stanley Cup in his twenties, he wakes up every morning knowing he will never be able to win it.
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Ad-Liner
James J. Miller
Died Jan. 18, 2019
Posted Thursday, January 24, 2019 12:00 am
James Jeffrey Miller, 78, formerly of Fairview, passed away Jan. 18, 2019.
Jim entered this world March 28, 1940, in the small Northern Michigan town of Fairview. The youngest by 10 years, Carrie and Chancy Miller welcomed Jim to the lineup of Dick, Edna, Mildred “Mud”, Ruth, Otis and Lotis (the Twins) and Willard “Wop.” Jim grew up on the farm and eventually helped run the family grocery store and coffee shop. Jim was a dreamer: creative, musical, philosophical and ready for adventure. He headed off to Goshen College in Indiana after high school; however, the Vietnam War rerouted him to Portland, Ore., as a conscientious objector, fulfilling his 1-W service. While in Portland, he served as an orderly and eventually a surgical assistant at Good Samaritan Hospital. He lived at the Voluntary Service unit provided by the Mennonite Board of Missions, along with 11 other young people fulfilling their service. In the evenings and on weekends, the unit held church and Bible studies, hosted youth events and grew their own spiritual lives (while also pulling a few pranks). The 12 young people in the VS house became lifelong friends. While in Portland, Jim met and fell in love with a pretty young nurse named Judith Miller when she joined the Bible study at the VS unit. He often said “she chased me until I caught her.”
After turning down a full-ride medical scholarship, Jim followed Judi to work at La Junta Hospital in La Junta, Colo., where they were married Aug. 9, 1963. Married life started with a return to college for Jim at Hesston College in Kansas, where Judi served as the school nurse. He continued his dream of missionary work by pursuing his teaching degree at Goshen College in Indiana, where their first daughter, Rachel, was born. With degree in hand, the young family headed to their first assignment in Robstown, Texas. Jim taught school and worked with the local VS programs and churches. Amy was born in Robstown. When he was accepted into grad school, Jim moved the family to Edinburgh, Texas, completing his master’s in education. After the birth and death of infant son Stephen, the family felt unsure of the future, despite buying a house and settling into a teaching job at the local elementary school. After Kevin was born a year later, extended family and the mission board felt it was time for Jim to bring the family back to Fairview to help take care of his mother, Carrie.
Ten great years followed in Michigan. Jim became a teacher and then the elementary principal/ guidance counselor. Jim brought music and storytelling to Fairview Mennonite Church, leading many of the children’s stories and singing with the Watchman Quartet. His greatest achievement was in dreaming and then building a nursing home in his hometown. However, Jim had the adventurer’s itch, which led to five exciting years at Kodaikanal International School in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, India. Jim served as the school’s counselor, taught psychology, was a dorm parent to 34 middle school boys and eventually helped design and build a middle school complex, becoming the first middle school administrator. India, its people and the many children he met affected Jim and his philosophy on life and spirituality for the rest of his life. His motto of “seek and share the truth” was the driving force behind his daily interactions.
With Rachel back in the U.S., Amy on her way to college and Kevin ready to head back, Jim moved the family first to Indiana, then to Arizona and finally to Salem, Ore., where he became the development director for Western Mennonite School. Jim was actively involved with growing the international student population of the school. Jim and Judi often served as “adopted parents” of kids from around the globe. By building their unique hillside home in west Salem, Jim and Judi provided a warm and inviting place for kids, grandkids and friends to eat, play and laugh together. Eventually, Jim’s career moved back to his roots as a counselor at Englewood Elementary School in Salem, Ore. He also served as a court-appointed special advocate volunteer, putting his heart and soul into healing and justice for many children who needed him.
Jim’s heart had a difficult time keeping up with his vivacious personality and drive. After several heart attacks and in need of a heart surgery, Jim finally retired in 2010. In 2012, Jim and Judi made the tough decision to leave their lovely home and move to Eugene to be close to Rachel, her husband Tom and their kids. Jim’s woodworking, coffee club and men’s group (who searched for the best pancakes in town) slowed down and a move was necessary late in 2018 to Bayberry Commons. There, Jim found a way to endear himself to the staff, while struggling to live the philosophical and creative life he always loved. On Jan. 18, 2019, he decided to slip off to see his parents, siblings and son after Judi told him it was OK to go.
Jim leaves behind Judith Miller, his wife of 55 years; daughters, Rachel (Thomas) Ulrich and Amy (Dan) Miller; son, Kevin (Uyen) Miller; along with seven grandchildren, Ben (Jenae) Ulrich, Alex (Jade) Ulrich, Chris (Chelsey) Chupp, Shawn (Jordan) Chupp, Shannon (Nathaniel) Clanton, Carrie (Seth) Chupp and Audrey Miller; and three wonderful great-grandsons, Kayden, Walden and Elliott, who will hear stories and be raised to know this amazing man. Jim’s brother, Willard, resides in Fairview; and many nieces and nephews are scattered across the Midwest.
A memorial service will be held at Western Mennonite Church on the campus of Western Christian School, 9045 Wallace Rd. NW, Salem, Ore., on Saturday, Feb. 2, at 3 p.m. The service will be streamed live on the Facebook page of Western Mennonite Church so that our friends and family around the world can join in tribute to James J. Miller.
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Polaroid Instant Film Dead Stock to go on sale today
Aug 21st, 2009 by Isaiah Beard
If you’re interested in grabbing some of the last of Polaroid’s instant film, or even interested in picking up a Polaroidcamera, today may be your last remaining chance to do so, at least for a while. Starting at 10:00 a.m. today, a number of Urban Outfitters stores in New York, Los Angeles, Cambridge, MA and Vancouver BC will begin selling remaining Polaroid Supplies. On August 28, anything that’s left will be sold at these store locations.
This sale is in partnership with the Impossible Project, which purchased up Polaroid’s last stocks of instant film (theyceased production in 2008) as well as the last factory to produce it, in the Netherlands.
The Impossible Project’s eventual aim, according their site, is “NOT to re-build Polaroid Integral film but (with the help of strategic partners) to develop a new product with new characteristics, consisting of new optimised components, produced with a streamlined modern setup. An innovative and fresh analog material, sold under a new brand name that perfectly will match the global re-positioning of Integral Films.”
A documentary on Polaroid film’s final year is also in the works.
analog, film, format, Polaroid, rebirth, transition
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Ecocide – An Evolution of Law
Published on Post Growth Institute April 2014.
How do we stop the destruction of the Earths’ living systems, the glaring result of the industrial growth society? From rainforests turned to palm oil plantations, to seas deprived of many fish species, to mines opened in ancient lands of indigenous peoples – like the Sami in Sweden: the story repeats itself all over the world.
I recently met lawyer Pablo Fajardo, a former oil field worker who completed his law degree by correspondence course and is now the lead attorney for 30 000 inhabitants of Amazonian Ecuador in a lawsuit against the oil giant Chevron, who have refused to take responsibility for their oil operations over the course of three decades. While drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon from 1964 to 1990, Texaco (now Chevron) deliberately dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater, spilled roughly 17 million gallons of crude oil, and left hazardous waste in hundreds of open pits dug out of the forest floor.
By comparison, 10.8 million gallons were spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska 1989. However, the Texaco oil spills were not an accident but a conscious operation during many years. The contamination of petroleum hydrocarbons in these areas are on average 20 times higher than the Ecuadorean norms for the time of operation, and the oil has contaminated water, rendered agricultural land unusable and lead to severe health problems among the inhabitants, including more than a thousand deaths from cancer. The Ecuadorean citizens’ struggle for justice began in 1993. In November 2013, The Supreme Court of Ecuador condemned Chevron to pay compensatory damages for over USD 9 billion.
In this, one of the worst cases of oil-related contamination on Earth, often referred to as the Amazon Chernobyl, liability is in other words determined. But that doesn´t help, as Chevron, one of the largest companies on the planet, doesn´t accept it. They refuse to pay. Total revenues for Chevron in 2012 amounted to $230 billion dollars. Ecuador, with 13 million inhabitants, has a total annual fiscal budget of barely $26 billion.
Who will hold Chevron accountable?
The world has become increasingly global and consequences of ever increasing consumption are invisible from where that consumption is taking place. Power relations are shifting so that the greatest economies now are large corporations, with one underlying motive: profit. In this situation we find ourselves in, there is great need for new practices and institutions to preserve values we hold dear, like the health of people and ecosystems.
One such new institution might be the law of ecocide, proposed by among others Earth lawyer Polly Higgins. The law of ecocide recognizes other living beings as subjects with rights, not mere resources:
Ecocide is the extensive damage to, destruction of or loss of ecosystem(s) of a given territory, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been or will be severely diminished.
Ecocide is not a new invention – the history of the idea can be traced back to the 1950s. Polly believes that the Rome Statute, the treaty that regulates the International Criminal Court in The Hague, should include ecocide as the fifth crime against peace alongside genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression.
Many cases of potential ecocides are committed in countries that don´t have the political or economical strength to protect the interests of their citizens, but that is not always the case. The tar sands of Athabasca, Canada, the destruction of the Amazonian rainforest by logging, mining and beef production, and the oil extraction in the Niger Delta have been suggested as potential ecocides.
While we worry about levels of emissions from greenhouse gases, we still invest heavily in a fossil economy. The largest companies in the world are dealing with fossil energy. The large pension funds in Sweden, for example, have approximately 5 billion dollars invested in these companies. These investments not only lead to climate change, they are also extremely damaging at the sites of extraction.
The Chevron case described above is an attempt to hold a corporation accountable to the polluter pays principle. Even that seems impossible within current legislation. A law of ecocide would be much more bold – it would be an attempt to make polluters stop polluting. Decision-makers in business and politics who have had a possibility to foresee risks of ecocide would be personally accountable and would run the risk of prosecution.
However, the aim of a law of ecocide is not to put CEOs behind bars, but to shift to a society that puts people and planet before profit. Large corporations are very bad at that at the moment. Their foremost goal is to produce revenue for shareholders. According to that logic, a CEO who abstains from projects that are profitable but destructive could rightly be sacked. A law of ecocide would be a factor beyond profit present in boardrooms. It would support decision-makers to be conscious about the impact of their decisions on living systems. It could shift flows of investments from damaging ecosystems to sustainable innovation. A law of ecocide would support a shift to a circular economy.
The concept of ecocide reflects a worldview where humans are part of living systems, instead of dominating them, where nature is valuable in itself, not just as a resource for humans. The need for such a cultural shift is growing, and support for a law of ecocide is actually not very far away. When the Rome Statute was negotiated, ecocide was considered for inclusion, but was left out for unclear reasons. Today the cases of ecocide are painfully obvious. It is time for a law for life.
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A Closer Look At
Finished Product Testing
Jim Prevor’s Perishable Pundit, September 7, 2007
Few issues are more contentious… or more important to the industry than finished product testing. In our piece, Church Brothers/True Leaf Recalls, Then ‘Unrecalls’ Spring Mix/Arugula After Testing Mishap, we urged the industry to cease its common practice of “test and release” and switch to a “test and hold” system. Here is how we put it:
…this business of testing finished product and releasing the product before the test result is back is a disaster waiting to happen. There are new 12-hour salmonella tests being required by McDonald’s and already in use by companies such as Earthbound Farms. They should become the industry standard, and the practice should be test and hold — release only after the results are in. Most product doesn’t ship out the instant it comes off the line, so this 12-hour test is not going to pose many problems.
Almost immediately, we received a note from a processor urging caution on the 12-hour tests. We ran that piece under the title, Hold The Train…12-Hour Test May Not Be Best Answer, and it included the following excerpt from the processor:
After reading the Pundit on True Leaf and the false positives, I couldn’t help but think there may be an issue regarding the effectiveness of the 12-hour PCR based tests on the market. Many in the industry, us included, are using it based on pressure from accounts and not necessarily based on scientific accuracy. The PCR is a presence / absence test that looks for genetic material of e-coli and salmonella. It does not tell you if the cells are dead or alive, if it was one or one million cells, or if the genetic material was from a current or past event (i.e., a bird strike on the ground 12 months ago).
The developer stands behind the results and is very reputable so there is no issue from that standpoint. However, no one seems to have the scientific data (at least it’s not shared) that helps us determine the true accuracy. We all know painfully well the rate of false positives with the conventional testing methods.There was also a symposium held May 31, in Chicago, in which FDA and CA Dept of Health participated. One concern raised was the accuracy of the PCR test based on the very limited data complied and the speed at which the industry is ramping it up.
A well known food safety expert wrote us shortly thereafter and we ran his thoughts in a piece entitled No Quick Fix With 12-Hour Test:
A visiting scientist from the UK commented on how flabbergasted he was by the entire concept and the lack of critical commentary from the food safety community associated with the fresh produce industry.
We let him know that many of us agree with his comments but have been advised to keep our opinions to our selves.
The primary advocate for this program calls for a massive level of testing.When the dust settles, I don’t believe this will be viewed as one of the fresh produce industry’s brighter moments.
It is taking a validation tool and turning it into the center of a food safety program. That should, in and of itself, raise questions.
There are many problems with the program but the largest is the over selling of the effectiveness of the sampling effectiveness in identifying sporadic contamination events.
In reality much of the testing is primarily used to test artificially reduced lot sizes to minimize economic damage. This will ultimately be challenged by the FDA.Only time will tell if the program accomplishes this goal. These are not dollars spent to address the problems.
A few issues the industry might consider before we join a bandwagon for this test:
The test is not AOAC approved. Advocates have been saying it will be AOAC approved in 4 to 6 weeks. Unfortunately they have been saying that for nine months! AOAC is the third-party arbiter, devoted to analytical excellence, which gives the recognized “stamp of approval” to these types of tests.
The test is not widely used by professional microbiologists. It is limited to a single firm and not part of standard industry practice.
The industry seems to be attempting to “test in” quality or safety, Unfortunately, though testing can be useful for verification, substantive improvements in process are necessary for significantly enhanced safety. Resources spent on testing programs are typically not available for more substantive efforts.
Testing is a feel-good approach for buyers who prefer a simple test rather than having to wrestle with the difficult task of prevention.
Resources are being pulled away from the implementation of preventative and more sustainable solutions.
The testing program provides a false sense of security. Testing — if you are testing for that thing — may be a good way to identify certain types of things such as a chemical incorrectly applied to a whole field. However, testing for bacteria cannot reliably find things such as E. coli 0157:H7, which may be due to sporadic animal entry in one tiny part of the field.
The sampling from a fresh produce matrix (in contrast to homogenized liquids) may not deliver the level of assurance claimed. We don’t actually know enough about this test yet, to leap to the conclusion that it can have any place much less the determinative place in our industry food safety programs.
The math on testing is daunting. Has anyone attempted to project the increased testing in the fresh produce industry required to accomplish gains similar to the improvement in beef? For example, if the beef industry has succeeded in lowering a 1.5% level to say 0.6%, what level of testing might it require in produce if our contamination level starts at, say, 0.015% or even lower?
We then ran prevention Should Be Higher Priority Than Testing/Auditing, which included a letter from a recognized food safety expert that included this salient point:
The current issue with ginger is a classic example of the limits of any testing program. After spending literally millions of dollars testing for microbes, which is what is being spent by one firm, the industry is once again blind-sided by a pesticide issue. And all of the microbial testing in the world wouldn’t have addressed the ginger issue.
The industry, including the buyers, needs to stay true to the basic concepts of hazard analysis and make prevention from physical, chemical and microbial contamination their highest priority.
Neglecting or ignoring any of these points in order to deal with the crisis of the day is short-sighted.
After the Metz Fresh recall, which we discussed both here and here, the issue faced the industry front-and-center. Clearly any recalls because of presumptive positives are a real problem for the industry, creating doubts about the trade’s ability to protect consumers from contaminated products.
Yet many food safety experts and many companies known for stringent food safety protocols are concerned about testing.
To learn more about the subject, we turned to Mansour Samadpour. A microbiologist and founder of a food safety company, he became well known to many in the produce trade when, in the aftermath of the Fall 2006 spinach crisis, Natural Selection Foods turned to him for assistance in revising its food safety program. Here is how the Los Angeles Times described the meeting:
Days after the tragedy unfolded in mid-September, the company hired food safety microbiologist Mansour Samadpour. Known for his no-nonsense approach, Samadpour sat down with Daniels and Earthbound Farm President Charles Sweat and warned them that they were delusional if they thought it wouldn’t happen again.
“Another bullet is coming your way,” he warned. “Are pathogens in raw product reasonably likely to occur? Some say yes, some say no. The group saying no is delusional,” Samadpour said. “The question you have to answer is, will the processing eliminate the hazard? The answer for this industry is no. You can reduce; you cannot eliminate.”
Under the scientist’s guidance, Earthbound rapidly put in place the most aggressive testing and safety program in the industry. All its greens are now checked for pathogens, from seed to sale. Each lot is tested twice — upon arrival from a farm, and again when packaged products roll off processing line
The testing has confirmed what Samadpour already suspected: Inevitably, some crops are still contaminated with disease-causing bacteria. The challenge for the company is to make sure none reaches consumers. Hunting down pathogens in produce has become a personal crusade at Earthbound Farm. In the year since the E. coli outbreak, other companies have mounted costly safety efforts, but no one else tests all greens.
Mira Slott, Pundit Investigator and Special Projects Editor, spoke with Dr. Samadpour:
Dr. Mansour Samadpour
Founder, Principal
IEH Laboratories & Consulting Group
Lake Forest Park, Washington
Q: To start, could you tell us about your background and experience, as well as an overview of what IEH does?
A: I had microbiologist training at University of Washington. After getting my PhD, I did post-doctorate work and joined the faculty of the School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health, involved in early detection of foodborne outbreaks and progressing into preventing outbreaks from happening.
I have done work related to almost all major foodborne outbreaks for the last 20 years or so. Most of the serious ones happened in the beef and the ready-to-eat industries. My involvement included areas of managing the outbreaks and the recalls, and gathering information to identify contaminated lots and making sure recalls were comprehensive. I also looked into causes of the outbreaks, and coming up with measures to prevent them from happening again.
I started IEH about six years ago and at this point have about 27 offices with more than 45 PhD scientists on staff. I tried to create an environment with the necessary expertise to cover all the consequences of recalls and for getting clients to have preventative measures against outbreaks.
Q: What is the evolutionary history behind the 12-hour food safety test? What is it exactly? How and why did it start to be administered in the produce industry? Could you discuss the testing methods and procedures out on the market?
A: The first point I need to draw attention to is the fact a lot of rapid methods are available. A number of tests allow detecting pathogens in food in approximately 10 to 12 hours. Twenty years ago maybe it was distinctive, but certainly not now.
Q: Why is the produce industry so late in adapting it then?
A: There is not a lot of familiarity with this microbiological access. The industry is accustomed to using services with those specializing in the industry and never had the need to move to rapid methods.
A major need arose when the beef industry went to test-and-hold. A similar profile applies to the produce industry since the spinach E. coli crisis. Product with a 17- to 20-day shelf life can’t afford to lose two or three days for testing. For some time, the beef industry testing process was 24 to 48 hours, and then as needs dictated, E. coliH:O157 tests were cut to 18 hours and then 12 hours.. There is a misconception in the produce industry that this is something ultimately new and what we do is unique. We’re not the only game in town.
Q: How does the rapid test work? What does it show? What are its limitations? For example, some industry executives say this is a presence/absence test but won’t determine if it’s one cell or 1 million cells or whether it’s dead or alive or from a current or past event.
A: First let me reiterate that there are many rapid screening tests in the market. The IEH method is only one of the several methods that are being used for the produce industry. They are generally divided into two broad categories of immunochemistry-based or genetic-based.
The immunochemistry-based methods are mostly lateral flow devices. They resemble pregnancy test devices, which are sold in pharmacies. The genetic-based ones in the market are usually PCR-based. PCR stands for polymerase chain reaction. As a general rule in food microbiology, we always have to enrich the samples. This means adding appropriate nutrients to the sample and incubating the samples at 35-42 degree Centigrade for a period of time (usually eight hours). This allows very low levels of pathogens in the sample to grow to high enough numbers that they can be detected by the detection method (lateral flow devices or the genetic-based methods usually a PCR method).
Although both methods in theory can detect dead cells, in reality there are never enough dead cells (or live cells) in a sample to give a positive signal with any of these test methods. That is why we need to enrich the samples. In an eight hour enrichment, the pathogens will go through 16-20 multiplication cycle (one cell going to two, four, eight….1000…….1000,000 cells) . It is only after the enrichment process that the pathogens can be detected by the available methods.
The assertion that the methods detect dead cells in samples is simply wrong. As long as live cells are present in the sample that is being tested, the issue of when it was added is irrelevant.
Q: How accurate are these rapid tests?
A: The accuracy of the test results is a function of the sensitivity and specificity of the test method, and the skills/proficiency/competency of the laboratory personnel who are conducting the tests. The second factor is often overlooked. The best available methods used by incompetent technicians will result in a large percentage of false positive or false negative results.
For a method to be used, it has to have been validated for the type of samples for which it is used to test. For a laboratory to use a method, they also need to do their own internal validation studies to be conforming with ISO 17025 standards. The labs should also receive check samples.
Your readers can go to the American Proficiency Institute website to see examples of proficiency test results for various methods/labs.
Q: Can you discuss the reasons behind the false positives in recent, highly-publicized food safety incidents?
A: Let’s talk about the issue of false-positive results. I’m aware of two situations; one was last year’s false-positive green onion sample. In all fairness, we should say it was a presumptive positive, which was due to cross reactive antigens (a common problem with lateral flow devices). Another false positive was the recent incident with finished product testing that showed a positive Salmonella and precipitated a recall with True Leaf Farms’ spring mix and arugula products.
[Editor’s note: True Leaf Farms later received notice from Silliker Inc., the Northern California laboratory that previously reported the PCR positive result for Salmonella, that it was probably erroneous and admitted that the test had been tainted by laboratory error. The type of Salmonella isolated was identical with the lab-positive control strain indicating lab contamination was the most likely cause for the positive result. The lab-positive control strain is an extremely rare strain not normally found in foods, further reflecting that laboratory error led to the positive finding. New test results on the same product batches from another independent lab showed no indication of contamination. All tests were negative.] [ Editor’s note: IEH Laboratories was not involved in the above-mentioned false positives].
There are two main reasons why there are false positives. One is the test is cross reacting with a different bacteria. For example, other bacteria with the same DNA sequences or antigens can cross react with the detection system and give false positive results.
The second mechanism is that a sample will get contaminated (through technician error) by the positive-control organisms, which microbiology labs use as a part of their quality-control program, or byorganisms from a positive sample (a sample that contains the target organism), which is being run in the proximity of the sample (in time or place).
Q: How often does that occur? What you describe sounds like a lesson that should be learned in science lab 101.
A: This happens more than you think! When you grow bacteria, a tiny droplet could have more than 100 million cells in it. It can result in massive contamination.
In the beef industry, during a daily testing of the production, a company had 22 lots of beef trim test positive for E. coli O157 using a rapid screening test. The samples were flown to IEH Labs in Seattle. In four hours, we confirmed that the samples were positive for E. coli O157 (using molecular confirmation). Two days later, we had isolated E. coli O157 from the samples. When we subjected the isolates to genetic fingerprinting, we found that the O157 isolates has identical fingerprints as the test lab’s positive control strain. This clearly showed that the samples were contaminated by the lab’s positive control.
Q: What steps can be taken to alleviate these problems?
A: We have taken drastic measures to eliminate the cross contamination issue in our labs. This includes the unprecedented step of using a combination of non-pathogenic bacteria and DNA to replace pathogenic control strains. We simply don’t grow pathogens in our labs. Different types of samples and different runs are bracketed by negative control samples.
Another unique way in which we have addressed the false-positive issue is by using a large number of signals to detect a given pathogen. Almost all test kits in the market rely on using a single signal to detect a given pathogen.In our initial screening of a sample, we use five signals to detect E. coli O157.
Some of the five signals have to be simultaneously present to give a pathogen profile for E. coli O157.While using other test-rapid screening methods, other labs have to pronounce a sample as presumptive positive at this stage (remember the green onion debacle). Using five signals, if we see a pathogen profile for E. coli O157, we call the sample “Initial Reactive” (IR). It is only after going through “Molecular Confirmation” that we call a sample “presumptive positive”.
Q. What is Molecular Confirmation?
A: When testing for fresh food industries, no one has 3-5 days to wait for a sample to be subjected to culture confirmation. Culture-confirmation protocols have two problems; first they are slow, second, by their nature they are not as sensitive as molecular methods, and a truly positive sample with high background of non-target organisms can test negative in culture confirmation. For this reason, most beef companies take action on the basis of rapid-screening methods.
In order to bypass both of these deficiencies, we have developed “Molecular Confirmation”. Each IR is examined using 17 signals to determine if it is E. coli O157. This is accomplished in a few hours. If a sample is positive for E. coli O157 using Molecular Confirmation, we will report the sample presumptive positive. At this point we rely on the client’s instructions as to whether or not to perform culture confirmation.
Q: Has your Molecular Confirmation method ever been published in a peer-reviewed journal and/or other places for independent assessment?
A: I haven’t published a paper on the methodology. Sometimes in published works, the methodology is described. We do have several papers in which we have used our methodology with this particular method of detection. When we are doing an investigation, samples are tested and processed using molecular confirmation and we get conclusions and we publish a paper. I’ve never published a paper on the development of testing methods for E. coli.
Q. What about false positives?
A: From the stand point of public health and safety of consumers, we consider false negatives to be a far more significant problem. Inability of a method/lab to detect contaminated samples can result in release of contaminated products into the market. Having said that you also have to realize that for a lab to be able to detect a positive sample, the sample has to be positive above the lower detection limit of the test method.
There is also the issue of whether the sample represents the lot from which it was taken and the statistical confidence behind negative results. For instance, in a lot-acceptance testing program, when a sample is negative for a given pathogen and the lot is accepted, the probability of having accepted a defective lot is a function of the number of samples that were taken from the lot. We also believe that when the contamination is unevenly distributed, increase in the size of the test lot results in a decrease in the confidence in negative results.
Q. Some industry executives say there are naturally occurring good bacteria in produce that could throw the test and give a lot of false positive results creating additional challenges. Could you discuss?
A: What these industry executives have heard is correct. However the problem is not unique to the produce industry. It all goes to proper design of a test method. The problem with rapid-screening tests (affectionately known to your industry as 12-hour tests), is that most tests have been simplified to a level that have left a door open for non-target organisms to give false positive signals.
Even more dangerous than the false positives are the false negatives generated by some of these methods. Our way of eliminating this problem has been to take the simple out of these simple tests. Our methods of detection are very complicated and above the competency.
Q: We’re hearing from industry executives that about six percent of product is testing presumptive positive by PCR methods but that about 85 percent of the PCR tests are not confirmed positive. With all the additional measures you take, what percentage of false positives are you getting on your tests?
A: We’re getting zero false positives. In doing these rapid tests, you get a tremendous mixture of bacterias that can give you false positives. Everyone else calls this presumptive positives. We call this stage initial reactive. We tease out this bacteria through molecular confirmation. This examination is so comprehensive that when you call it a positive, it is a positive, no maybes, ifs or buts.
The process of growing presumptive positive samples out traditionally takes three to five days. We have invented this method of molecular confirmation to speed the process to about four hours. We are the only one that does this molecular confirmation.
Q: Can a company buy this molecular confirmation method from you?
A: No one has approached us to buy this test. When a company has a presumptive positive, it can send the sample to us to do a confirmation. We have this service. In an emergency, we will do this free of charge. When there is a serious situation and the possibility of an outbreak, for God’s sake, send the samples to us and we’ll run the molecular confirmation test at no charge. In emergency recalls, people in the industry know what we do and they could bring in the samples and we wouldn’t charge them a dime.
Q: If this test eliminates the chance of false positives, I don’t understand why industry executives aren’t clamoring to buy this molecular confirmation test from you. If after a testing lab or produce company reads this interview, and they come to you to purchase the kit, will you sell it them?
A: The problem is that the test is complex and requires a high level of competency to use it. If you have a fantastic rifle designed for sharp shooters, you do not want it in the hands of people without training. These are issues we’re struggling with. I could have sold so many test kits. Testing produce is much more challenging then testing raw beef. A gram of leafy greens can have anywhere between 1,000 and 100 million or more bacterias. It makes testing a difficult, challenging process and takes a lot of expertise to do it properly.
Q: Why don’t you just control distribution to reputable companies with expert skills?
A: We could have partnerships; we have acted as a reference lab for years. There are many companies that send their samples to our forensic analysis lab. It has never been our intention to be a test manufacturer and it’s not our business model.
It takes much expertise to run these samples, and our molecular confirmation method is not designed like a regular test kit that has been simplified for general use. I want to reiterate that in a crisis situation, we are willing to do confirmation from any location for any company at no charge and are willing to give them answers in a few hours.
For me personally, although people talk about test methods as the issue, once you use a reputable, ISO-certified lab, the biggest challenge and problem that we have as an industry is the issue of proper design and execution of sampling plans. An improperly designed sampling plan will generate negative results with very little confidence, and once it finds a positive sample, even if the test lot is under control, may result in massive recalls. We have to make sure that a sampling plan will deliver what it was intended, and will not have unintended consequences.
Q: What do you mean exactly?
A: For instance, when a company designs and implements a testing program, the sampling plan should have statistical justification to ensure an appropriate confidence in negative test results. It must also be prepared to deal with all consequences of having a positive test result. If the testing program is poorly designed, the company could end up doing a massive unnecessary recall.
For instance, Customer A requires finished goods testing.If all you do is test finished product, you may test positive. Let’s say there has been at least one confirmed finished goods positive test by another laboratory. It then can implicate everything you co-produced, plus everything harvested from the same fields/ranches (which were not tested through a field or a raw material testing program).
The implicated fields may implicate other processors (if they don’t have a defensible testing program). It can mushroom and get out of hand really fast. People have to be really careful.
My advice is that if you are not going to have a properly designed and comprehensive verification/testing program, you shouldn’t have one at all. If you are testing final product, you have to test raw product coming into the processing plant and the fields from where you harvest.
Q: There is talk in the industry that batch testing by lots using numerical formulas and statistics is an artificial way to test.For example, say each lot consists of 400 boxes, you test one lot and get a positive so throw out those 400 boxes. Then on the next 400 boxes you get a negative result, so you don’t need to throw it out. But what if that next lot came from the same field with the same characteristics? Wouldn’t it be better to set up testing by characteristics, such as where the product came from, when it was sanitized, etc.
A: When doing a testing program, you don’t go willy nilly taking two samples from this line, and two from this one. You assess products through the same line and joined from the next line, sharing the same raw material, etc. This is a science based on flow of production, how product moves through the processes, as well as statistics defining sample sizes and lots and controls backward and forward.
You can’t grab one sample and say it represents the entire production of one shift of 50,000 pounds. The sample you take has to represent the lots from which it’s being taken. There are international standards of the number of samples you take for E. coli O157 testing salmonella or lysteria, etc. This is lot -acceptance testing. This standard was written on consensus of scientists and on severity of outcome based on the pathogen.There’s an international organization called ICMSF, where you can read more about this.
General indicator samples may be five, lysteria samples may be 30. The smaller the size of the lot, the more confident you’ll be in your data. Say every two hours, every line. We take a lot of samples. From a single line, you may take 15 lots, 60 samples each. This goes into the design of the sampling plan. Then you have to have a hold program. Everything implicated is on hold and going backwards you’re also safe.
These are lot-acceptance programs. You set up standards for accepting this lot. Before you send this raw lot, it has to pass through your microbiological criteria for no salmonella, E. coli O157, or lysteria. Anything that doesn’t pass is rejected. You’ll have a lot of negatives. All you’re saying is they met your criteria, not that they are free of pathogens. Now you accept the raw material and put it through the wash system, and now you are testing final product with microbiological criteria, using the sensitivity of your test, it must meet your criteria or it’s rejected.
There are people who say guilt by association; this field is 100 acres, we should never touch that field again. There isn’t much science behind that assertion. Within the limits of the detection of the test, these are safeguards in the system.
Q: Do you have a recommendation of what percentage of product needs to be tested for there to be meaningful results? Could you give us a statistical perspective? If some 99 percent of produce is safe, what amount of testing would need to be done to catch that 1 percent? Do you believe, for example, if Natural Selections quadrupled the number of tests it conducted, we would see that many more positives?
A: In the beginning when designing the program, you have a food safety objective you are trying to achieve. The purpose of testing is not a magic bullet to make everything safe. It’s a component of a food safety program. If you go to a university, you prepare before taking the tests. It’s a verification step. The test is a means to establish if the student has learned anything.
In food safety testing, you see if the food has met the standard of microbiological acceptance criteria you’ve established. It’s a verification and validation of everything else you’ve done. If the company has great GAP programs, it won’t have a problem.There are two groups of testing philosophies: the first, despite the fact we have a strong food safety program in place, in order to verify it and establish it works, we’re going to test raw material and finished product, and another group saying, we don’t need to test because we have good practices in place.
Q: With the relatively small percentage of product actually being tested out of the millions of products being produced, could this be like finding a needle in a haystack, in essence identifying sporadic contamination events?
A: Again the key is to have a statistically defensible sampling plan. The needle in a haystack argument is useless here. The fact is that we are testing and we are finding pathogens in leafy greens. Raw materials that test positive are diverted from processing and are destroyed. Finished products that test positive are diverted from the market and are destroyed.
The second part of your question is actually correct. In most instances we are dealing with sporadic events. So far we have seen one instance where the problem has been systematic and not sporadic. Having said that, when the consequence of a sporadic event can be a massive outbreak, we all have a moral duty to minimize the possibility of a sporadic contamination event mushrooming into an outbreak.
Q: Hypothetically, a company has an extra $3 million a year to spend on food safety. Should they spend it on additional testing and/or improving soil, field and processing food safety systems?
A: Look at your budget and proportion it out. You have to continuously improve, validate and verify systems. It’s silly to put all of it in A and never measure whether A is useful.
Q: Some in the industry are concerned that testing could create a false sense of safety; a danger of taking a validation tool and turning it into the center of a food safety program. Some argue that while there is nothing wrong with testing, it could pull valuable resources away from the implementation of preventative and more sustainable solutions. What are the costs involved with testing? Could you address these concerns?
A: At the end of the day, each company has its own risk management, and it is not my place to make a comment on that. Suffice to say, for anybody that produces food in this country, it’s a matter of law that food is safe. It’s a felony to sell unsafe food. Now if you believe that through GAPS you can control bacteria and guarantee raw materials are not contaminated, and you can’t possibly have E. coli and salmonella, or washing will eliminate the pathogens, then that’s the level of risk you’re comfortable with.
Another company decides not to take any shortcuts, makes sure all preventative measures and interventions are established, but on top of that is also going to use testing to validate and insure all of these things are working. There are deviations to the norm in perishables, and contaminations can occur. Testing is another part of the food safety program; it enhances food safety. You can’t control what you are not measuring. It’s another component.
Just like your industry, at one time, the majority of decision makers in the beef industry were against having an E. coli O157 testing program. Outbreak after outbreak and recall after recall became the impetus behind the testing program, alongside massive efforts in interventions and improving the process. It came to a point that with a single directive in 2002 USDA-FSIS directed the industry to comprehensive testing programs for components of ground beef.
Each year more than 100 million pounds of beef trim and ground beef test positive for E. coli O157, and they are diverted from the fresh market. In the absence of the testing program, even with a comprehensive array of interventions, the beef industry would have unknowingly shipped more than a 100 million pounds of highly contaminated products to grocery stores and restaurants. This is a prime example of the positive role of testing as a verification step in a food safety program.
Q: But in the best scenario, wouldn’t the percentage of contaminated product discovered through testing in the produce industry be a very small fraction of that found in the beef industry based on the nature of the product?
A: We don’t know that yet. After a few years of testing, we will have a much better handle on the statistics (that is if the companies stop using food safety as a competitive advantage and start sharing data and protocols). But even if the percentage of the finished goods that test positive are low, given the fact that unlike ground beef, few people cook their salads, and any level of contamination with frank pathogens can result in a public health impact, are we comfortable with having our processes go without verification and not doing our best to find them, and letting the contaminated lots get into the chain of commerce?
Q: Could you discuss the issue of mounting recalls in the produce industry?
A: No one in a sampling program should have recalls because the essence of this testing program is that everything is on hold, and everything tested is also controlled. We put a lot of emphasis in developing proper programs. Presumptive positives come in different rates and in different ways. My opinion is that the importance of designing a proper program is 90 percent and choosing the method is 10 percent.
A lot of people are testing with no plan of action. And that results in recalls. There is no reason we should have had false positives in a lab or presumptive positives that resulted in recalls. In the absence of properly designed testing programs, companies are going to continue having recalls that will hurt the entire industry. These types of recalls are crises that could have been avoided and are truly self-inflicted wounds.
Q: What overall advice could you share with the industry on the best strategies to improve food safety?
A: Food safety is a constant struggle, with the constant need to measure and assess what’s working and what’s not. There are many, many challenges. No one at any point should get proud enough that they say they don’t have a problem.
Food safety is not an event that should be used as a comparative advantage. The industry needs to work together, share information and strategies and ways to begin to improve. We have many hurdles to overcome. This type of attitude that someone is using testing and not using anything else is just wrong.At the end of the day anything you do in a food safety program has a cost and introduces a level of complication. Testing helps take away some of the recalls and outbreaks and provides a chance for the industry to grow.
Whether it’s adding a new wash system or introducing different chemicals and strategies for reducing microbials, it should be encouraged. The last thing the industry should be doing is compiling reasons for why something to improve food safety shouldn’t be done.
This is a lengthy interview with a lengthy introduction, but on this issue much depends. Routine testing of raw material and finished product will cost the industry tens of millions each year just for fresh-cut leafy greens. If we were to extend testing to other types of produce, we could add another zero.
Yet, if it works, it could save the industry countless dollars by avoiding recalls and public outbreaks.
And, of course, this is a priceless benefit: If it works it could save lives and prevent serious illness.
We appreciate Dr. Samadpour speaking with us. He has been around a long time, going back to the famous Jack–in-the-Box outbreak. He has a long-established reputation among many of the food safety experts who have worked in beef, and he is frequently called on by the media for comment.
We confess that we want to believe. Although testing is expensive, it seems to us much, much less expensive than food safety outbreaks. So if we can really test everything in less than 12 hours and then release it confident in its safety, it would be worth the price.
Yet even after reading Dr. Samadpour’s words and recognizing him as both intelligent and knowledgeable, we find ourselves still asking questions:
1) PEER REVIEW
When people develop new ways of doing scientific work, one expects these new methods to be tested against the old methods. So, if a new test is developed, one would expect a trial to be done in which the old standard and the new test are done side by side. The results of these two tests would be written up in a Journal article, submitted for peer review, then published.
When Dr. Samadpour tells us about his test and procedures we, of course, get excited about the implications for the industry. But without a peer-reviewed assessment, we really don’t know if the things that Dr. Samadpour cites are accurate or not.
This has nothing to do with Dr. Samadpour’s ethics. We have no reason to think he is anything but scrupulously honest. However, the peer review process is designed not just to catch dishonesty but flaws in study design, insufficiency of data and other problems.
2) SEMANTICS
When we read a comment such as this, “We’re getting zero false positives. In doing these rapid tests, you get a tremendous mixture of bacterias that can give you false positives. Everyone else calls this presumptive positives. We call this stage initial reactive,” we wonder if there isn’t a touch of gilding the lily here.
Now if the product is being held, and that is what Dr. Samadpour recommends, then it doesn’t matter what it is called. But in terms of the test’s ability to avoid “presumptive positives,” we are not sure this is a solution as much as a redefinition of the problem.
One of the really big questions on the efficacy of testing is the question of whether the testing program can legitimately limit the scope of recalls. In the LA Times article, here is the way they describe the Natural Selection Foods program:
A worker named Sonia, wearing sanitized gloves, a hard hat and a face mask, rolls a cart to the towering stacks of pallets. With forceps, she randomly pulls out three to five arugula leaves at a time. For each 1,600-pound lot of greens, Sonia plucks 60 of these “grab” samples, about 3 ounces total, then drops the leaves into a plastic bag labeled with a bar code identifying the farm and the date harvested.
Since the outbreak, Sonia and other Earthbound employees have extracted several million samples from the 40 truckloads that arrive daily, carrying enough salad greens to fill more than half a million bags every day. Each sealed bag is delivered to a trailer, where microbiologists are waiting to look for two strains of E. coli — including O157:H7, the virulent one that caused last year’s illnesses — and salmonella.
A lab worker adds nutrients and heats the leaves to 109 degrees for eight hours. Then he inserts a pink stick — a lateral flow device that resembles a drugstore pregnancy test — while another technician extracts DNA.
If those dual tests are positive, the lot is held four hours for two more sophisticated genetic tests that confirm the results.
Once cleared, greens are moved onto conveyor belts, where they are trimmed and triple-washed in chlorinated rinses. (After the outbreak, Earthbound added a third wash.) Then they are zapped with lasers to detect foreign objects. At the end of the line, packaged greens are held 12 hours and tested again.
Once a week, on average, a load of raw greens from a farm fails the tests.
Since the test-and-hold program began last October, 58 out of about 76,000 lots entering Earthbound’s plants in San Juan Bautista and Yuma, Ariz., have tested positive for pathogens, a rate of 0.0008%. That amounts to about 93,000 pounds of greens destroyed out of about 122 million pounds that growers sent to Earthbound in the last 10 1/2 months. They came from many farms — most in the Salinas area, but also in Arizona and the Coachella Valley. Investigators were dispatched to the fields the next day, but the sources remain a mystery.
Tests for finished products were added in February, and so far no packaged greens have failed. But odds are, pathogens will soon be found after processing. Chlorinated washes can reduce bacteria counts but not kill them all
Samadpour predicts that four of Earthbound’s finished lots, nearly 4 tons, will test positive every year, most often in summer. If — or when, Samadpour says — that happens, Earthbound will dump it all in the trash, shut down the line and re-sanitize the plant.
The question is this: If a positive is found on finished product, what product, precisely, should a company “dump in the trash”? Just the 1,600 pounds in the lot?
Many food safety experts say this would be arbitrary. That the fact that test on the previous 1,600 pounds might have come back negative proves nothing as the testing is not frequent enough to guarantee the absence of a pathogen.
Several experts told us they think the FDA will ultimately prohibit this type of effort as an artificial attempt to limit the impact of a pathogen — that the FDA will insist on dumping all of the product since the plant was last sanitized. Others mentioned looking for “relevant factors,” such as other product from the same field.
The resolution of this issue is crucial because even under a “test and hold” program, once a lot is “cleared,” it gets shipped. If that lot will still get recalled because another lot comes back positive, then “test and hold” won’t prevent recalls.
In other words, the testing program doesn’t prove things are safe. As Dr. Samadpour states:
“These are lot acceptance programs. You set up standards for accepting this lot. Before you send this raw lot, it has to pass through your microbiological criteria for no salmonella, E. coli O157, or lysteria. Anything that doesn’t pass is rejected. You’ll have a lot of negatives. All you’re saying is they met your criteria, not that they are free of pathogens. Now you accept the raw material and put it through the wash system, and now you are testing final product with microbiological criteria, using the sensitivity of your test, it must meet your criteria or it’s rejected.”
So a company can elect to set any criteria it chooses but once a food safety problem is identified, the solution, typically a recall, has to be acceptable to the FDA. We need some guidance here on how the FDA will view these testing programs.
If the FDA’s opinion is that if a company tests every 400 boxes then that is an acceptable lot to recall or not release, that will significantly increase the argument for testing. If the FDA says that it doesn’t respect such limits and that a positive means the processor should recall everything from the previous sanitation of the plant, this will lessen the argument for testing.
4) CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Part of the problem in resolving this issue is that, although in media reports Dr. Samadpour is often referred to as a consultant and articles will say things implying he is acting in a consulting capacity — for example, the LA Times article explains that “Samadpour advised Sweat and Daniels to immediately begin checking all greens for pathogens, which no one in the industry was doing” — our discussion with Dr. Samadpour indicates that he has made his company, consultant, test developer, laboratory and more all in one.
Although this doesn’t mean his advice is incorrect, there is something sort of disconcerting about a situation like this. One would prefer that one’s consultant didn’t have a financial interest in one outcome over another. If Dr. Samadpour recommends spending $3 million dollars a year leasing land to increase buffer zones, he gets nothing. If someone uses his company to run a testing program, he could have a large continuing income.
We don’t want to make too much of this. We have no reason to believe he hasn’t always given his best advice, but it strikes us as a consideration for many people. We suspect his advice to the trade would be seen as more influential if people did not see him as having a financial stake in the outcome.
To some extent the advocates of testing attack a straw man in attacking those who “oppose testing.” In speaking with food safety experts and industry leaders, we can’t find anyone who “opposes” testing. If a company wants to test, raw materials or finished product, more power to it.
The problem really comes in marketing the testing program.
Inevitably in going out to the industry and promoting testing, one is implying that the tests “prove” something. Much as to use Dr. Samadpour’s analogy, we assume that someone who passes a French test at a University actually learned some French.
The fear, and it strikes us as a reasonable one, is that the promotion of testing will bias industry efforts in favor of testing — at the expensive of other efforts.
In other words, if Processor One doubles its buffer zones, triples its water testing, sanitizes the plant twice as frequently, has its growers put traps in twice as often and Processor Two does none of this but tests, the market, composed of layman produce buyers, not microbiologists, will assume the testing provides a better security on food safety and go that route.
Dr. Samadpour makes a strong argument when he is asked whether an extra $3 million should be spent on testing or other food safety systems, he replies: “Look at your budget and proportion it out. You have to continuously improve, validate and verify systems. It’s silly to put all of it in A and never measure whether A is useful.”
We are still learning a lot here and testing is not only desirable but, in fact, required in order to evaluate the effectiveness of various food safety measures. If a processor were to require its growers to double their buffer zones, what effect would that have on pathogens in produce? Only by testing can we see if we are doing effective things.
We also take to heart Dr. Samadpour’s admonition about retail-driven testing. Too many processors that do not have comprehensive testing programs have implemented testing on some finished product to suit a particular customer, such as Jack-in-the-Box or Costco. This seems likely to cause problems down the road. As Dr. Samadpour explains:
For me personally, although people talk about test methods as the issue, once you use a reputable, ISO-certified lab, the biggest challenge and problem that we have as an industry is the issue of proper design and execution of sampling plans. An improperly designed sampling plan will generate negative results with very little confidence, and once it finds a positive sample, even if the test lot is under control, may result in massive recalls.We have to make sure that a sampling plan will deliver what it was intended, and will not have unintended consequences.
For instance, Customer A requires finished goods testing.If all you do is test finished product, you may test positive. Let’s say there has been at least one confirmed finished goods positive test by another laboratory. It then can implicate everything you co-produced, plus everything harvested from the same fields/ranches (which were not tested through a field or a raw material testing program). The implicated fields may implicate other processors (if they don’t have a defensible testing program. It can mushroom and get out of hand really fast. People have to be really careful.
My advice is that if you are not going to have a properly designed and comprehensive verification/testing program, you shouldn’t have one at all. If you are testing final product, you have to test raw product coming into the processing plant, and the fields from where you harvest.
Put another way, random testing done just because it gets a customer is going to cause enormous recalls every time there is a positive test.
So, after all this, where do we come out?
Dr. Samadpour is obviously very intelligent and knowledgeable. We as an industry and any processor as a company would be foolish not to pay attention to what he says. He has obviously thought about food safety for a long time.
At the same time, most of his experience seems to be in meat, and produce is not meat. Tests that may not be “new” can be “new in produce,” which means we don’t have the data history to judge some of these things.
His involvement in so many aspects of the business inevitably raises questions, justified or not, about conflicts of interest. Many a produce executive wouldn’t hire a financial advisor who gets paid more by recommending certain funds as opposed to other ones. By the same standard, ideally, one would like a food safety consultant who doesn’t gain or lose by the decision to do testing as opposed to increase buffer zones.
The problem is not testing per se; it is the marketing of testing as part of a food safety program as opposed to quietly doing testing to verify everything else works.
Dr. Samadpour offers the industry important guidance in saying that testing is essential to verify we are investing food safety dollars in the right places.
He also correctly identifies customer-driven testing without a comprehensive program as likely to cause real problems.
A key piece of information is missing: How does the FDA feel about the use of testing to limit the scope of a recall?
The industry could benefit by additional data, and Dr. Samadpour should be encouraged to write and publish in a respected peer-reviewed journal an article on his test and methodology so that the science behind what he is doing is transparent and confirmed by independent scientists.
Basically, there are two ways that the industry can go: Fresh Express says it is so confident of its food safety systems that no such program is necessary. Companies can certainly go this route — and pay the consequences if they are incorrect about their own systems.
Alternatively, we can move to a “test and hold” system in which testing verifies, before the product leaves the plant, that the product is safe in a statistical sense. Once again, if the underlying food safety isn’t strong enough or the testing is not frequent enough or performed properly, companies have to be prepared to pay for that error.
As an industry, we will know soon enough which system works better.
What we have to stop is the “test and ship” programs that are basically guarantees of public recalls.
This is a tough and important industry issue, and we thank Dr. Samadpour for being willing to share his perspective with the trade. He deserves commendation for being willing to speak out on such a controversial issue.
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13 Hitchcock Films That Were Never Made
BY Ethan Trex
Even legendary directors like Alfred Hitchcock don't always get their way. Over the course of his illustrious career, Hitchcock had to abandon quite a few projects due to budgetary concerns, issues with stars, the whims of studio heads or, in some cases, his own instincts that the film wasn't going to turn out the way he had envisioned it.
On what would have been The Master of Suspense's 117th birthday, let's take a look at a few of the legendary auteur's unproduced projects, including the one that studio execs hated so much, they made Hitch sign a contract promising he wouldn't make it.
1. NUMBER 13
This silent 1922 feature for Gainsborough Pictures was set to be Hitchcock's directorial debut. The film was to star Clare Greet and Ernest Thesiger in a script written by "a woman working at the studio who had worked with (Charlie) Chaplin." Hitchcock only filmed a few scenes before the budget fell through, and the script is now lost. The film of the few completed scenes is also lost, possibly because the studio melted it down to recycle the film's silver nitrate. Don't worry too much about missing out on this one, though; Hitchcock later admitted, "It wasn't very good, really."
2. NO BAIL FOR THE JUDGE
Hitchcock spent the early part of 1959 preparing to adapt Henry Cecil's novel of the same name into a film starring Audrey Hepburn. On May 19th of that year, though, Hepburn dropped out of the project, with some sources saying she was reluctant to do a film so soon after delivering a child, and others claiming she refused the part when she found out her character was involved in a rape scene. The project died when Hepburn backed out, and although Hitchcock was privately livid, he regrouped nicely by making Psycho instead.
3. THE BLIND MAN
In 1960 Hitchcock and legendary screenwriter Ernest Lehman began to work on a script called The Blind Man about a blind pianist who regains his sight after receiving an eye transplant from a murder victim. Hitchcock envisioned Jimmy Stewart in the lead role, and one of the film's main scenes was to be set in Disneyland. That's where the trouble started; Walt Disney had seen Psycho and truly hated it. Disney reportedly wouldn't let Hitchcock shoot in his park, so the project died.
In the late 1940s, Hitchcock hit on an odd idea: He wanted to produce a modernized version of Hamlet set in England with Cary Grant in the title role. According to Hitchcock, the project "would be presented as a psychological melodrama." The idea hit the rocks after Hitchcock's studio, Transatlantic, announced the project and a professor who had written a modernized version of Shakespeare's tale threatened a lawsuit.
5. FLAMINGO FEATHER
In 1956, Hitchcock bought a story called Flamingo Feather from South African author and diplomat Laurens van der Post. The plot involved a Russian scheme to train South Africans for nefarious Communist purposes. When Hitchcock went to South Africa to scout shooting locations, though, the project quickly fell apart. The director wanted Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly as the leads, which would be pricey, and he felt he needed 50,000 African extras. Hitchcock didn't love the look of the country's terrain, and it became apparent that even in South Africa it would be tough to get together 50,000 extras when most of the country's population worked long hours at farming jobs. Hitchcock later said, "It was all so confusing that I dropped the whole idea."
6. MARY ROSE
Toward the end of his career, Hitchcock frequently mentioned an unproduced 1964 film called Mary Rose whenever he was asked about his professional regrets. In Hitchcock's amazing book-length interview with François Truffaut, he describes the project as "a little like a science fiction story" and details the plot, which involves a woman who hears celestial voices and mysteriously vanishes at odd intervals.
Hitchcock put a lot of thought into this project—he even explained to Truffaut exactly how he would light certain scenes and tried to talk the French director into making the film—but the ghostly supernatural elements of the film were a non-starter for studio execs. Hitchcock revealed in another late-career interview, "Do you know, it's written specifically into my present contract that I cannot do Mary Rose?" Hitch could allegedly make any film he wanted as long as he kept the budget under $3 million—and didn't make Mary Rose.
7. R.R.R.R.
In 1965, Hitchcock hired the Italian writing duo Age and Scarpelli—perhaps best known in America for their screenplay for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly—to pen a script about an Italian immigrant to America who rises in the hotel world, then sends for his Sicilian family. Unbeknownst to the hotelier, his relatives are a pack of thieves. Eventually the sticky-fingered family tries to swipe a valuable coin collection from the hotel; the title comes from numismatic jargon. Hitchcock told Truffaut, "I dropped the project because it seemed to be shapeless. Aside from that, you know that Italians are very slipshod in matters of story construction. They just ramble on."
8. THE THREE HOSTAGES
The Three Hostages is another of the unsuccessful projects at which Hitchcock took a crack after making Marnie. The film was an adaptation of John Buchan's 1924 novel of the same name in which a government plans to crack down on a criminal gang on a certain date. The gang catches wind of the plan and kidnaps three children to regain some leverage against the government.
Hitchcock announced the project, but he ended up eventually abandoning it over difficulties in obtaining the screen rights and concerns over the script's reliance on hypnotism as a plot device. He later said, "I feel you cannot put hypnotism on the screen and expect it to hold water. It is a condition too remote from the audience's own experiences."
9. KALEIDOSCOPE/FRENZY
In 1969, Hitchcock planned to make a triumphant comeback after a string of films that received middling commercial and critical reactions by making Kaleidoscope (also referred to as Frenzy), a grisly tale of a serial rapist and murderer. The film was set to feature a handsome young killer who lured women to their death; Hitchcock considered it a prequel to his 1943 tour de force Shadow of a Doubt. The script included some elements—including necrophilia and the use of acid baths to dispose of bodies—that Hitchcock had pulled from newspaper reports about notorious British criminals.
Hitchcock actually shot an hour or so of silent test footage, but Universal nixed the film as it didn't think audiences would warm to a sex- and murder-filled flick that featured a serial killer as its protagonist. Hitchcock was irritated about having to abandon the project, but he revived a few plot points and one of the working titles when he made 1972's Frenzy, a serial killer tale that may have been the director's last great film in spite of a decidedly mediocre cast.
10. THE SHORT NIGHT
Hitchcock's final project before his death in 1980 was The Short Night, an espionage picture based on a Ronald Kirkbride novel and set in Finland. Hitchcock made it as far as considering Walter Matthau, Clint Eastwood, Sean Connery, Catherine Deneuve, and Liv Ullmann for the lead roles, but Universal squashed the project in 1979 due to the director's failing health.
11. GREENMANTLE
Hitchcock had such great luck with his adaptation of John Buchan's novel The Thirty-Nine Steps that when it came time to direct a follow-up, he decided to go back to the well with an adaptation of Buchan's novel Greenmantle. Hitchcock wanted to pair Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in the lead roles, but Buchan's estate wanted too much money for the screen rights. Hitchcock eventually realized his dream pairing of Grant and Bergman with the 1946 classic Notorious.
12. THE BRAMBLE BUSH
Hitchcock spent part of 1951 adapting David Duncan's novel into a screenplay. The story involved a Communist agitator on the run from the authorities who steals another man's passport, only to learn that the man is wanted for murder. Hitchcock eventually decided "it wasn't any good," and he abandoned the idea to work on a project to which Warner Bros. had just purchased the rights: the Broadway hit Dial M for Murder.
13. THE WRECK OF THE MARY DEARE
Hitchcock always wanted to do a movie with Gary Cooper. He offered Cooper the lead role in Foreign Correspondent only to have the star turn it down because it was a thriller; Joel McCrea ended up memorably playing the part instead. In 1959, though, Hitchcock had another shot when MGM optioned the rights to the novel The Wreck of the Mary Deare for a Hitchcock-Cooper collaboration.
Hitchcock and Ernest Lehman spent weeks working on the script, but they eventually decided that the story really became a snooze of a courtroom drama and shifted their focus to the early planning for North by Northwest instead.
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Funding success for Wordsley Community Centre
Home / Funding success for Wordsley Community Centre
190426 - Florence Jepson and Mike Wood MP cutting the ribbon at Wordsley Community Centre.jpg
With Floss Jepson, opening the new kitchen at Wordsley Community Centre
Mike was pleased to join volunteers and centre users at Wordsley Community Centre for the official opening of their brand-new kitchen facilities and serving area.
The Community Centre recently won Tesco’s prestigious ‘Bags of Help’ competition to secure £4,000 worth of funding that has all been used to renovate the kitchen area.
The local MP for Dudley South, Mike Wood, cut the ribbon for the official opening of the new facilities and thanked the community volunteers who helped to secure the funding.
Tesco’s annual competition, which is run by the charity Groundwork, provides sizeable grants to projects that will benefit communities across the country as part of the supermarket giant’s community outreach programme.
Various events are held at the community centre throughout the year, which is run by centre manager Janet Blakeway.
Speaking at the opening event, Mike Wood said, “The new kitchen facilities look fantastic and congratulations to everyone involved in securing the funding to make it possible.
“The community centre has always been a focal point for the people of Wordsley at the heart of our community and I know Janet Blakeway and her team work tirelessly to ensure everything runs smoothly.
“I always enjoying coming over to see what’s going on at the community centre whenever I’m invited, whether it be for the famous Chirstmas Bazaar or for my Older Person’s Information Fair.
“The new kitchen facilities will make a big difference to the kind of events that can be hosted at the community centre in the future and I’m looking forward to seeing it in action for years to come.”
Friday 26th April 2019
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Money down the toilet?
Added: Wed, 07/18/2018 - 11:21pm
Rédacteur / Managing Editor
A former editorial explored the relation between guns and violence, demonstrating that tighter regulations, like those in Canada, are at least partially responsible for the low rate of school and mass public shootings we experience compared to our southern neighbours.
According to studies referenced, between 2009 and May 21, 2018, the U.S. had 57 times (288) more school shootings than the other six G7 countries combined (Canada had two) and there have been more public mass shootings in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world (90 between 1966 and 2012, whereas Canada has had under 25 in the last 50 years). While the U.S. has 5% of the world's
population, it represents 31% of all public mass shootings.
One study found the biggest determinant of mass shootings is the availability of firearms. The U.S. has more guns than any other country in the world: nearly one for every American. And there is evidence that restricting firearms reduces mass shootings; in Australia, gun control laws and a major buy-back program launched in 1996 so far have eliminated mass shootings in a country stricken with them prior to that point.
After the Conservatives abolished the federal long gun registry in 2012, Québec began plans to establish their own system.The Firearms Registration Act came into effect January 29, 2018, coincidentally one year after the fatal Québec City mosque shooting. According to the Service d’immatriculation des armes à feu du Québec, all non-restricted firearms, which generally includes rifles and shotguns,
present in Québec must be registered. Reports estimate the new registry will cost about $20 million.
While the registry is intended to save lives and speed up crime solving by
allowing authorities to trace recovered firearms to their owners and identify if they are present in dangerous situations, many argue the system is more of a useless expense than an essential tool. It mainly tracks law-abiding gun owners and
recreational shooters and there are no convincing reports confirming it has
actually saved lives or that it is a widely used, indispensable tool for solving crimes.
There is one major problem with the registry: it only tells police who has
registered firearms and it cannot prevent illegal possession. Dangerous criminals do not generally register firearms and trusting the registry can be a danger in itself when police approach threatening situations.
With few clear results, could the funds be better used elsewhere to combat gun
violence including creating better systems for tracking violent criminals on probation or parole? Or is the answer to direct resources to mental health, poverty, counselling services, youth programming, etc. – areas that generally suffer from insufficient and reduced funding and that target the root causes of crime?
Where would it do the most good?
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Words of Pope Francis on Poverty
These words of Pope Francis can help us to reflect more deeply on how our experience of God’s love can open our hearts to solidarity with our neighbors, and move us to action. As you read these quotes, ask for the Holy Spirit to help you discern how you might be called to love-inspired action to address poverty.
“I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be ‘protectors’ of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.” (Pope Francis, Homily at Inauguration, 3/19/13)
“The times talk to us of so much poverty in the world and this is a scandal. Poverty in the world is a scandal. In a world where there is so much wealth, so many resources to feed everyone, it is unfathomable that there are so many hungry children, that there are so many children without an education, so many poor persons. Poverty today is a cry.” (Pope Francis, Meeting with Students of Jesuit Schools—Q & A, 6/7/13)
“A way has to be found to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table, but above all to satisfy the demands of justice, fairness and respect for every human being.” (Pope Francis, Address to the Food and Agricultural Organization, 6/20/13)
“Poverty calls us to sow hope. . . . Poverty is the flesh of the poor Jesus, in that child who is hungry, in the one who is sick, in those unjust social structures.” (Pope Francis, Meeting with Students of Jesuit Schools—Q & A, 6/7/13)
“While encouraging the development of a better world, we cannot remain silent about the scandal of poverty in its various forms. Violence, exploitation, discrimination, marginalization, restrictive approaches to fundamental freedoms, whether of individuals or of groups: these are some of the chief elements of poverty which need to be overcome. Often these are precisely the elements which mark migratory movements, thus linking migration to poverty.” (Pope Francis, Message for World Day of Migrants and Refugees, 8/5/13)
“We are not simply talking about ensuring nourishment or a ‘dignified sustenance’ for all people, but also their ‘general temporal welfare and prosperity’.[159] This means education, access to health care, and above all employment, for it is through free, creative, participatory and mutually supportive labor that human beings express and enhance the dignity of their lives. A just wage enables them to have adequate access to all the other goods which are destined for our common use. (Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 11/24/13, no. 192)
“In today’s world, voices are being raised which we cannot ignore and which implore our Churches to live deeply our identity as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first of these voices is that of the poor. In the world, there are too many women and men who suffer from severe malnutrition, growing unemployment, the rising numbers of unemployed youth, and from increasing social exclusion. These can give rise to criminal activity and even the recruitment of terrorists. We cannot remain indifferent before the cries of our brothers and sisters. These ask of us not only material assistance – needed in so many circumstances – but above all, our help to defend their dignity as human persons, so that they can find the spiritual energy to become once again protagonists in their own lives. They ask us to fight, in the light of the Gospel, the structural causes of poverty: inequality, the shortage of dignified work and housing, and the denial of their rights as members of society and as workers. As Christians we are called together to eliminate that globalization of indifference which today seems to reign supreme, while building a new civilization of love and solidarity.” (Pope Francis, Address at Patriarchal Church of St. George, Istanbul, 11/30/14)
“Discussions are needed in which all those directly or indirectly affected (farmers, consumers, civil authorities, scientists, seed producers, people living near fumigated fields, and others) can make known their problems and concerns, and have access to adequate and reliable information in order to make decisions for the common good, present and future.” (Pope Francis, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, 5/24/15, no. 135)
“The coexistence of wealth and poverty is a scandal, it is a disgrace for humanity.” (Pope Francis, General Audience, 12/2/15)
“Let us open our eyes to our neighbor, especially to our brothers and sisters who are forgotten and excluded, to the “Lazarus” at our door. That is where the Church’s magnifying glass is pointed…. By right but also by evangelical duty, for it is our responsibility to care for the true riches which are the poor.” (Pope Francis, Homily for Jubilee for Socially Excluded People, 11/13/16)
“Combat poverty and at the same time learn from the poor.” (Pope Francis, Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to the Members of the Representative Council and Personnel of Caritas Internationalis, 11/17/16)
“The principal ethical dilemma of this capitalism is the creation of discarded people, then trying to hide them or make sure they are no longer seen. A serious form of poverty in a civilization is when it is no longer able to see its poor, who are first discarded and then hidden. The economy of communion, if it wants to be faithful to its charism, must not only care for the victims, but build a system where there are ever fewer victims, where, possibly, there may no longer be any.” (Pope Francis, Address to Participants in the Meeting of the Economy of Communion, 2/4/17)
“If we truly wish to encounter Christ, we have to touch his body in the suffering bodies of the poor, as a response to the sacramental communion bestowed in the Eucharist. The Body of Christ, broken in the sacred liturgy, can be seen, through charity and sharing, in the faces and persons of the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters. Saint John Chrysostom’s admonition remains ever timely: “If you want to honor the body of Christ, do not scorn it when it is naked; do not honor the Eucharistic Christ with silk vestments, and then, leaving the church, neglect the other Christ suffering from cold and nakedness’.” (Pope Francis, First World Day of the Poor, 11/19/17, no. 3)
“Tragically, in our own time, even as ostentatious wealth accumulates in the hands of the privileged few, often in connection with illegal activities and the appalling exploitation of human dignity, there is a scandalous growth of poverty in broad sectors of society throughout our world. Faced with this scenario, we cannot remain passive, much less resigned. . . . To all these forms of poverty we must respond with a new vision of life and society.” (Pope Francis, First World Day of the Poor, 11/19/17, no. 5)
“Today as in the past, liberating the poor, the oppressed and the persecuted is an integral part of the mission entrusted by God to the Church.” (Pope Francis, Address to International Catholic Migration Commission, 3/8/18)
“This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him” (Ps 34:6). The words of the Psalmist become our own whenever we are called to encounter the different conditions of suffering and marginalization experienced by so many of our brothers and sisters whom we are accustomed to label generically as “the poor”. The Psalmist is not alien to suffering; quite the contrary. He has a direct experience of poverty and yet transforms it into a song of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. Psalm 34 allows us today, surrounded as we are by many different forms of poverty, to know those who are truly poor. It enables us to open our eyes to them, to hear their cry and to recognize their needs.” (Pope Francis, Second World Day of the Poor, 11/18/18, no. 1)
“The Lord listens to those who, trampled in their dignity, still find the strength to look up to him for light and comfort. He listens to those persecuted in the name of a false justice, oppressed by policies unworthy of the name, and terrified by violence, yet know that God is their Savior.” (Pope Francis, Second World Day of the Poor, 11/18/18, no. 1)
“God’s answer to the poor is always a saving act that heals wounds of body and soul, restores justice and helps to live life anew in dignity. God’s answer is also a summons to those who believe in him to do likewise, within the limits of what is humanly possible.” (Pope Francis, Second World Day of the Poor, 11/18/18, no. 3)
Policies That Help
Catholic Foundation
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Search Result for "ã å ã"
No Movie Found for this search
A Family Tale (08 Jan 2018)
A Fading Summer (18 Jan 2015)
A Bear's Tail (08 Jul 2005)
Imam al-do’a (19 Jul 2019)
A Woman's Trickery (05 Mar 2015)
Life's a Bitch (01 Oct 2003)
Schemes of a Beauty (15 Mar 2010)
It's a Business (01 Mar 1952)
It's A Miracle (01 Sep 1998)
You're A Star (01 Nov 2002)
The Accursed Kings (2005) (11 Jul 2005)
A Gentleman's Club (01 Sep 1988)
A Man's Story (06 Apr 2009)
A Hundred Year Legacy (05 Jan 2013)
Life's a Zoo (01 Sep 2008)
Ryomaden (03 Jan 2010)
A Mother's Son (03 Sep 2012)
A Dog's Life (15 Jun 2000)
The A-Team (23 Jan 1983)
©2017 TV Shows & Movies - All rights reserved.
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Hall of Fame Entries for "sessie"
Break Away 87 Thu, Dec 18, 2014, at 15:27:32
Break Away 102 Thu, Dec 18, 2014, at 15:13:45
Snow Dragon 154 Sun, Aug 25, 2013, at 09:38:47
Snow Dragon 168 Wed, Jun 13, 2018, at 15:52:36
Snow Dragon 176 Fri, Apr 13, 2012, at 19:59:34
Snow Dragon 182 Fri, Dec 30, 2011, at 16:18:53
Escape! 200 Fri, Dec 30, 2011, at 18:44:35
Escape! 252 Thu, Aug 8, 2013, at 19:51:44
Escape! 329 Tue, Feb 28, 2012, at 16:33:08
Break Away 353 Fri, Dec 30, 2011, at 17:37:10
Assault On Vampire Island 467 Tue, Aug 6, 2013, at 17:08:54
Break Away 510 Tue, Dec 16, 2014, at 16:13:15
The Mystery of Brackly Hall 529 Sat, Apr 21, 2012, at 14:20:21
The Mystery of Brackly Hall 586 Sun, Nov 21, 2004, at 23:49:38
The Mystery of Brackly Hall 683 Tue, Jan 21, 2014, at 18:45:34
The Mystery of Brackly Hall 692 Sat, Oct 11, 2008, at 18:23:18
The Mystery of Brackly Hall 704 Thu, Feb 9, 2006, at 19:24:30
The Mystery of Brackly Hall 769 Tue, Sep 8, 2009, at 17:52:22
The Mystery of Brackly Hall 805 Sat, Nov 19, 2016, at 22:42:28
Escape From St. Mary's 931 Tue, Nov 21, 2006, at 01:02:36
Trail of Anguish 970 Thu, Feb 16, 2006, at 21:13:14
The Mystery of Brackly Hall 1025 Mon, Dec 26, 2011, at 12:04:55
Trail of Anguish 1065 Sun, Jan 27, 2013, at 19:09:35
Trail of Anguish 1072 Tue, Oct 12, 2010, at 18:01:32
Trail of Anguish 1198 Tue, Nov 15, 2016, at 12:28:55
Fantasy Quest II 1215 Fri, Oct 3, 2014, at 15:51:32
Trail of Anguish 1218 Tue, Jul 28, 2009, at 11:30:00
Fantasy Quest II 1253 Wed, Jan 8, 2014, at 21:55:01
Trail of Anguish 1276 Mon, Dec 12, 2005, at 20:57:11
Fantasy Quest II 1319 Mon, Apr 23, 2018, at 16:28:03
Fantasy Quest 1320 Tue, Sep 23, 2014, at 10:24:40
Fantasy Quest 1356 Sun, Dec 29, 2013, at 17:38:08
Trail of Anguish 1400 Thu, Dec 18, 2014, at 18:34:23
Fantasy Quest II 1489 Thu, Aug 1, 2013, at 20:38:54
Escape From St. Mary's 1493 Fri, May 2, 2008, at 22:43:37
Escape From St. Mary's 1534 Mon, Dec 28, 2009, at 20:26:41
Trail of Anguish 1545 Tue, Dec 7, 2004, at 20:24:01
Fantasy Quest 1552 Tue, Jul 30, 2013, at 21:48:35
Escape From St. Mary's 1555 Sat, Jun 13, 2015, at 21:55:57
The Game of the Ages 1594 Thu, May 30, 2013, at 22:52:19
Fantasy Quest 1622 Mon, Apr 23, 2018, at 14:14:23
Fantasy Quest II 1624 Mon, Sep 13, 2010, at 16:45:04
Fantasy Quest II 1643 Mon, Feb 4, 2013, at 22:17:43
Fantasy Quest 1654 Thu, Jul 16, 2009, at 15:11:25
Fantasy Quest II 1669 Fri, Nov 18, 2016, at 10:14:21
Fantasy Quest II 1675 Fri, Jul 17, 2009, at 12:22:21
The Game of the Ages 1685 Wed, Sep 15, 2010, at 16:19:45
The Game of the Ages 1702 Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 21:00:27
Fantasy Quest II 1712 Tue, Oct 14, 2008, at 12:32:16
Fantasy Quest 1739 Wed, Nov 16, 2016, at 16:16:20
Escape From St. Mary's 1741 Mon, Jan 16, 2006, at 00:18:01
The Game of the Ages 1759 Wed, May 29, 2013, at 17:46:49
Fantasy Quest 1763 Fri, Sep 3, 2010, at 17:29:27
The Game of the Ages 1811 Mon, Dec 24, 2012, at 04:59:59
The Game of the Ages 1818 Mon, Nov 14, 2016, at 12:59:29
Fantasy Quest 1853 Sun, Feb 3, 2013, at 06:57:32
The Game of the Ages 1859 Thu, Oct 23, 2008, at 21:37:13
Fantasy Quest II 1906 Tue, May 1, 2012, at 17:10:44
Fantasy Quest 1912 Sun, Oct 12, 2008, at 19:54:41
The Game of the Ages 1932 Thu, Jan 9, 2014, at 17:22:58
The Game of the Ages 2038 Tue, Aug 25, 2009, at 12:55:07
Fantasy Quest II 2048 Tue, Jan 24, 2006, at 19:17:05
The Game of the Ages 2062 Sat, Apr 28, 2018, at 12:51:06
Escape From St. Mary's 2100 Fri, Oct 17, 2008, at 01:07:45
The Game of the Ages 2234 Mon, Mar 16, 2009, at 20:58:48
Escape From St. Mary's 2260 Wed, Jul 17, 2013, at 19:15:03
The Game of the Ages 2312 Mon, Oct 6, 2008, at 17:25:52
Escape From St. Mary's 2442 Mon, Nov 20, 2006, at 17:24:19
Fantasy Quest 2469 Thu, Jan 19, 2006, at 17:58:45
The Game of the Ages 2484 Wed, Feb 8, 2006, at 15:30:42
Escape From St. Mary's 2786 Sun, Jun 10, 2018, at 15:37:33
Outlaws of the Sierra Nevadas 3326 Sat, Nov 20, 2004, at 01:31:27
African Adventure 3711 Tue, Dec 9, 2014, at 15:45:21
The Perils of Akumos 4019 Tue, Oct 21, 2008, at 13:15:52
Escape From St. Mary's 4204 Sun, Jan 8, 2006, at 18:05:00
More Early Years 5651 Sun, Jan 5, 2014, at 21:09:14
More Early Years 5843 Mon, Jul 2, 2018, at 15:28:43
The Early Years 7307 Tue, Jun 19, 2018, at 14:52:44
The Early Years 7924 Wed, Dec 18, 2013, at 22:58:52
The Perils of Akumos unknown Fri, Oct 8, 2004, at 23:35:23
Trail of Anguish unknown Sun, Dec 14, 2003, at 00:06:41
Trail of Anguish unknown Thu, Sep 9, 2004, at 02:25:17
The Mystery of Brackly Hall unknown Mon, Dec 8, 2003, at 00:53:30
The Mystery of Brackly Hall unknown Sun, Mar 7, 2004, at 14:53:57
The Mystery of Brackly Hall unknown Mon, Sep 6, 2004, at 01:23:43
Fantasy Quest II unknown Sat, Dec 13, 2003, at 01:49:27
Fantasy Quest II unknown Tue, Oct 12, 2004, at 04:43:06
The Game of the Ages unknown Fri, Dec 19, 2003, at 18:42:38
The Game of the Ages unknown Sat, Jun 5, 2004, at 17:04:31
Fantasy Quest unknown Tue, Dec 9, 2003, at 23:18:31
Fantasy Quest unknown Tue, Jun 8, 2004, at 14:01:54
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Amano looks to future of international fuel reserves
23 June, 2015 / 14:01
The International Uranium Enrichment Centre (IUEC) in Angarsk, Russia will serve as a reference point for similar regional International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)-sponsored fuel 'banks', the Vienna-based agency's director general, Yukiya Amano, said last week. Speaking to reporters during his visit to the site of Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Complex and IUEC on 20 June, Amano also said the IAEA may one day revisit a proposal to set up an international centre for the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel.
The guaranteed physical reserve of low-enriched uranium (LEU) maintained by Russia at the IUEC is one of several global efforts to create an assured supply of nuclear fuel. Other assurance of supply mechanisms, established with IAEA approval, include a proposed LEU fuel bank in Kazakhstan and a UK assurance of supply guarantee for supplies of LEU enrichment services. The USA also operates its own LEU reserve.
"The LEU bank in Angarsk will be a very good reference design for other regional LEU banks, which are planned to be created in the future, such as the LEU bank in Kazakhstan," Amano said, according to Nuclear.ru. The IUEC "was created very effectively and will be a model for similar projects in the future," he added.
The IAEA last week signed a transit agreement for the transport of LEU and equipment through Russia to and from an IAEA LEU bank being set up in Kazakhstan. The LEU bank, which the IAEA approved earlier this month, will be built at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in Oskemen.
Asked whether the IAEA planned to establish other regional banks, in addition to the one planned in Kazakhstan, Amano said that this project involves "an enormous amount of work" and that his priority is its successful completion.
"The idea of reprocessing used nuclear fuel with the participation of several countries has already matured and investigations into this are under way, but I believe that this matter should be discussed in the future," Amano reportedly said. Amano was responding to the question whether international centres would be created for the various stages of the nuclear fuel cycle. The final stage of the nuclear fuel cycle is "of a different nature" to the idea of an international bank of low-enriched uranium, "so there has been limited progress", he said.
Established in 2007, the IUEC provides uranium enrichment services to its shareholders through guaranteed access to the enrichment and conversion capacities of all Russian enterprises. Its creation followed Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement the previous year of Russia's intention to develop a network of multilateral nuclear fuel cycle centers. These centers would provide assured nuclear fuel cycle services to states on a non-discriminatory basis, while limiting the proliferation of uranium enrichment technology. The IUEC was incorporated as a joint venture between Russia's TENEX and Kazakhstan's Kazatomprom.
2019 News Floating nuclear power plant The Akademik Lomonosov has received an operating license MORE
2019 News Floating nuclear power plant The Akademik Lomonosov has received an operating license MORE 12 July
2019 News ROSATOM and CEA strengthen cooperation in the field of atomic energy MORE 17 July
2019 News ROSATOM has commenced production of long-lead manufacture equipment for Units 7 and 8 of Tianwan NPP (China) MORE 1 July
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Distracted Driving: Dog Is Innocent
At this point, it seems that plastic surgeon to the stars Frank Ryan died as a result of texting a Tweet about his dog, a border collie named Jill. Police are still investigating, but according to the surgeon’s ex-girlfriend the family was told that the fatal car accident was caused by texting. The surgeon was driving along the famous, curvy cliffside Pacific Coast Highway when his car went off the road, killing him. Police have confirmed that he had been texting, and, according to an officer on the case, “It is one of the elements that we are investigating.”
Distracted driving, especially text messaging and cell phone use, are the focus of a new campaign by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Studies performed by the NHTSA and others have shown that texting can have as big an impact on driving and reaction time as driving drunk.
The ex-girlfriend says she hopes that others will learn from the accident that “people should not text and drive at all.” And just as many worry more about animals than people in movies, hopefully they will take this accident to heart. Although Jill survived, she suffered serious injuries to her head, eye, and paw.
Distracted drivers endanger not only themselves and their passengers, but everyone else on the road. If you have been hurt or lost a loved one in an accident with a distracted driver, you may be able to receive compensation for your loss. To learn more, please contact the Ohio personal injury lawyers at Robert W. Kerpsack CO, LPA today for a free case evaluation.
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Scottish Independent Media
ScottishIndependentMedia.co.uk
News Cuttings
Cystic Fibrosis sufferer to tackle 13-mile fundraiser
Story by Claire Elliot
ONCE too weak to even walk up stairs, cystic fibrosis sufferer Robbie Black was not expected to see his 17th birthday.
But now almost 30 - and an incredible 13 years after a life-saving heart and lung transplant - he plans to run a half marathon in a bid to help others with the disease.
The 29-year-old, who also survived two heart attacks when he was just 26, is one of only around a third of patients to survive more than 10 years after the transplant.
And remarkably he is as fit and healthy today as he was just after the operation, carried out by surgeons at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Mr Black, who has lost several friends to the killer lung disease, now plans to put his organs to the test by running the Inverness Half Marathon to raise funds to help find a cure.
He said: “The transplant changed my life and if I hadn’t got it I wouldn’t be here.
“I was two months short of my 17th birthday and doctors said I wouldn’t make it to 17. I got the transplant just in time – I don’t think I could hold on any longer.
“I was bedridden and on oxygen 24 hours a day.
“It’s a horrible disease and in the last year or so I have known several people who have died with it and they were all about the same age as me. It’s definitely starting to hit home a lot more.
“The best age most people can hope to get to is 30 so a cure would be great. I just want to raise as much money as possible.”
Mr Black, a restaurant supervisor, still needs to take 40 to 50 tablets a day to stop his body rejecting the implanted organs.
But he goes to the gym three times a week, plays badminton, and is fit enough to enjoy three rounds of golf a week when he has the time.
He even completed the Inverness 10k in just one hour a few weeks ago, has got his golf handicap down to 18 and, is now busy training for the 13-mile run in March.
He said: “When I did the 10k my chest felt fine. Within two minutes I was back talking and chatting away. It was my legs that were wreaked.
“I know I am very lucky. I can pretty much do everything and I know it helps me, like it does everyone, to keep fit.”
Mr Black was first diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was only three months old.
It left him tired and breathless for much of his childhood, which was spent in and out of hospital and, by the time he was 16, he was virtually bedridden.
He was put on the transplant list but, just weeks away from his 17th birthday and dependent on oxygen 24 hours a day, doctors warned he would not survive without a transplant.
There were even talks about admitting him to a hospice, when a donor was found just in time.
Mr Black said: “It took 15 months to find a donor. By this point I was too ill to care. But it was a worry for my parents who had to look after me.
“I could barely walk up the stairs, I was so tired from being ill. For the last couple of months before the transplant I would just stay downstairs on the couch on oxygen.”
Two days after the life-saving surgery, however, Mr Black was up on his feet walking, and breathing on his own for the first time in months.
“It was unbelievable,” he said. “Before I could hardly breathe and I was coughing all the time and all of a sudden I was breathing normally. Even being able to walk down the hospital corridor was something special.”
Since the operation he has enjoyed a normal life.
But aged just 26, he suffered two heart attacks within half an hour of each other, which was though to be a result of the gradual deterioration of the organ.
At first he thought his blood sugar levels were low as the condition, which also affects the pancreas, has left him with diabetes.
But doctors at Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, confirmed he had suffered a heart attack and he suffered a second one just 30 minutes later.
He was then airlifted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where surgeons operated to unblock his right artery.
He said: “It was a bit of a shock because it’s not something you expect to happen when you are 26 years old.”
“But I know I am very lucky and for 13 years I have pretty much not had any major setbacks. I’ve had no rejection to the transplant.”
Mr Black takes a daily cocktail of drugs to stop his body rejecting the implanted organs, taking between 40 and 50 tables a day.
But he said: “It’s probably better than the alternative to not getting the transplant.
“It has changed my life – the difference is 100%.
“I don’t know what the future holds but I am lucky enough to have a future and I’m just making the most of it.”
He still gets hospital check-ups every six months but to date doctors are happy with his progress.
He now hopes by raising vital funds to help research a gene therapy cure for the lung disease it can help other sufferers in the future.
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