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Opposing Jim Crow: African Americans and the Soviet Indictment of U.S. Racism, 1928-1937
3. The Scottsboro Campaign: Personalizing American Racismand Speaking Antiracism
Meredith L. Roman
91 While a black migrant laborer from Detroit became the de facto poster child for Soviet antiracism, in the early 1930s nine black male teenagers from Tennessee became the faces of U.S. racial apartheid. They were, of course, not the only African American males presented as victims of the U.S. racial regime (as chapter 2 demonstrates), but they were certainly the most visible.1 From May 1931 through the fall of 1932, these young men constituted the subject of pamphlets, banners , news articles, poems, protest resolutions, rallies, cartoons, and photographs. On March 25, 1931, police had hauled the nine black teenagers off a freight train in Paint Rock, Alabama. They initially charged them with assaulting a group of white male hitchers until they persuaded two white prostitutes, whom they had also pulled off the train, to accuse the nine unsuspecting black youth of rape. The trials, for which the alleged gang of rapists were refused impartial legal counsel, began on April 6, 1931, in Scottsboro, Alabama, with a lynch mob surrounding the courthouse. Although evidence in the case was extremely weak, by April 9 an all-white jury had condemned eight of the defendants to death and sentenced the youngest (who was only thirteen) to life imprisonment. Their execution was scheduled for July 10, 1931. A campaign to liberate the Scottsboro prisoners was organized in the USSR by the Soviet branch of mopr, or the International Organization for Assistance to Revolutionary Fighters, known more popularly abroad as International Red Aid (ira). As a subsidiary organization of The Scottsboro Campaign Personalizing American Racism and Speaking Antiracism 3 92 the scottsboro campaign the Communist International, mopr was best suited to oversee the protest; its main organizational objectives were systematically exposing the atrocities (acts they termed “white terror”) committed against revolutionaries in capitalist countries and fostering support among the Soviet toiling masses for their imprisoned brethren.2 mopr leaders instructed branches of the organization in the United States, as well as throughout Latin America and Europe, to lead similar protests. As a result of these campaigns and the efforts of the International Labor Defense (ild), which was mopr’s American affiliate, the Scottsboro prisoners were not executed in July. After the ild successfully appealed other execution dates, the U.S. Supreme Court in November 1932 ordered a new trial for the young black men on the grounds that the rights guaranteed them under the Fourteenth Amendment had been violated.3 As James Miller, Susan D. Pennybacker, and Eve Rosenhaft argue in their important 2001 article in the American Historical Review, the Scottsboro campaigns in England, Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States fostered a global racial dialogue in the 1930s.4 This chapter adds nuance to their conclusion by situating the Scottsboro protest within the broader Soviet indictment of U.S. racism. It demonstrates that mopr authorities conceived of it as the duty of the Soviet people, as citizens of the first country to be building a socialist society, to lead this antiracist dialogue and raise the most massive, far-reaching Scottsboro campaign. More precisely, as the “shock brigade of the international proletariat,” they were supposed to lead the struggle to liberate the nine African American prisoners and to inspire toilers around the world to follow their example.5 mopr’s use of the liberation movement to glorify the Soviet state as enlightened rendered it distinct—in both content and form—from the Scottsboro campaigns in the United States and Europe.6 As will be elaborated below, expressing solidarity with the Scottsboro defendants became an alternate means of expressing support for the project of building socialism. The Scottsboro protest made abundantly clear, in other words, that “speaking antiracism” was another form of “speaking Bolshevik.” Accordingly, segments of society that had the scottsboro campaign 93 been perceived as suspect in their loyalty to the Soviet state were portrayed rallying to the Scottsboro prisoners’ defense with particular enthusiasm. This included members of the Soviet intellectual and cultural community who, in the spring of 1931, were just emerging from the most militant phase of the Cultural Revolution (1928–31). Their prominent role in a campaign to denounce the hypocrisy of freedom in “bourgeois” America served as evidence that “bourgeois” elements had been eradicated from the intellectual spheres of Soviet society. Similarly, workers and collective farmers who inhabited border regions of the USSR, agricultural areas subjected to forced collectivization, and/or republics that had a history of ethnic con- flict or recent anti...
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Something Unique
Roomful of Teeth founded and directed by Brad Wells ’98 MM, ’05 DMA; members include YSM alumni Caroline Shaw, Eric Dudley Dashon Burton, Virginia Warnken
Central Jersey Entertainment
By Anthony Stoeckert
The word “unique” is tossed around so liberally that its true meaning gets lost. But the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth truly is unique, in a unique sort of way.
The group was founded five years ago by Brad Wells, and performs music written specifically for its members. In fact, the groups says the pieces it performs cannot be sung by any other group.
“They are written specifically for our voices,” says Roomful of Teeth member, and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw. Of her own piece, she says, “it’s specifically for this group, so it couldn’t be done, not only by any other instrumental ensemble, but by any other vocal ensemble that exists in the world.”
That piece is the “Partita for 8 Voices,” which won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for music. It was written by Ms. Shaw, an alto in the group and a graduate student at Princeton University. Her Partita is the first strictly a cappella work to win the Pulitzer, and Ms. Shaw is the youngest winner of the Pulitzer for music. Earlier this month, her win was followed up by Roomful of Teeth’s Grammy win for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.
in the press, roomful of teeth
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← How a Twitter conversation led to a nifty short story sale
I’m going to Phoenix Comicon! And here’s what I’ll be doing! →
A look at outlining in Excel
With the release of The Venusian Gambit, I’ve been doing a fair amount of stuff, including a guest post on the writing process at Chuck Wendig’s Terribleminds, as well as a Reddit AMA on r/Fantasy. And a question came up in both places: What’s with this Excel outlining you keep talking about?
Well, it’s a long answer, but I figured I’d give it a go. I use Excel to outline my novels in a far more complete, intensive way — more like a storyboard, really. I can include not just what happens, but to whom it happens, why, their reactions, the effect on the setting, etc. I found Excel useful because my books tend to have some complexity to them — different dimensions, multiple POV characters, lots of moving parts — and it helps me keep things straight. Plus, I like being able to storyboard a scene before writing it because I’ve spent two decades writing to spec, and that’s what works for me — even if I create the spec.
OK, let’s see what one of these outlines looks like. Below is a screencap of the Excel outline of my second novel, The Enceladus Crisis.
Click to embiggen.
Yep. It’s that big, and that’s just the first eight scenes out of 45 that went into the book. I chose to show you Enceladus because it was in this book that I really refined how I use Excel. Looking back, the first outlines of The Daedalus Incident took me by surprise, frankly, in that they were very underdeveloped compared to this. And, really, I didn’t want to offer any spoilers for Gambit!
So let’s look at these fields, shall we? We’ll use the fourth scene of Enceladus.
Click to zoominate.
The first field is just a scene number to help me keep track, while the second is the year — which serves to help me figure out whether I’m in the late 18th century or the early 22nd. The third is the month and day, which is especially important in timing out historical events, such as the historic Battle of the Nile and its aftermath. The fourth is said battle, and yes, HMS Fortitude does indeed swoop down from the Void to insert herself into the fray. After that comes the characters involved in the scene, so I know who’s supposed to be there.
Click to gargantuize.
Next, we have Plot Development. This is the beginning of the novel for Weatherby, so I wanted him to essentially have his hero shot while setting up the Battle of the Nile, a key to Napoleon’s long stay in Egypt. After that is Character Development, which again is pretty introductory at this juncture; later on, it describes how characters feel/react to what’s going on, and perhaps how it changes their stance on things.
Click to enlarginate.
These final two cells are of my own creation. “Wonder” is essentially a gee-whiz-bang thing about the setting. I wanted to be sure I was worldbuilding in each scene, whenever possible. I wanted to show how the tech or the future society works in the 22nd century, or how sailing ships or alien cultures work in the late 18th. It didn’t have to be much, though in some places it’s practically the whole scene — such as when Fortitude visited the ring-cities of Saturn for the first time later on in the novel.
Finally, the last cell is the “Kicker.” I like to end my scenes with a little something to make you want to keep reading. Sometimes it’s an out-and-out cliffhanger. Sometimes, like here, it’s more of a poignant thing — Weatherby opts to take Franklin as a prize, instead of blowing her out of the water, in honor of his friend Benjamin Franklin (from The Daedalus Incident).
I’ve found a lot of flexibility in how these cells can be formatted. For a current project already outlined, I added a “Focus Character” cell, which is essentially POV, as well as “Location.” I could see cells for each character’s arc, perhaps, or for managing what’s happening off-screen so that elements of those outside events could be included. Really, whatever helps you keep it straight.
So there you go. Basically, I know how the story’s going to go down before I open the draft. Now, bear in mind that I’m not a slave to the outline — if I get a brilliant idea halfway through, I’ll just make a comment in the margins and head off down that other path, leaving it to revisions to sort it all out. Sometimes, I’ll find that the outline is just in error — this happens most frequently in character arcs, when I realize that a character just wouldn’t do what I thought they would. Again, happy to diverge. But for me, I need that map before I can go off-roading with confidence.
Outlining in Excel certainly isn’t for everyone — and especially for folks who prefer to sit down and just write (“pantsers” in writing-geek parlance, as in “seat of”). I’ve honestly tried to write like that, mostly as an exercise, and found myself scribbling notes in the Word file as to what comes next. “Pantsing” just isn’t in my nature, I guess.
I hope you found this helpful. Happy writing, y’all.
Tagged as Enceladus Crisis, Venusian Gambit
6 responses to “A look at outlining in Excel”
D.I. Ozier
Very interesting. I’m very fond of outlines, myself, but I don’t usually get as detailed as you do. However, for work like yours, which is complicated by the existence of multiple time periods and plot threads, making a chart like this in Excel is a great way of keeping all of the subplots and settings in your story straight in your mind.
I’m working on a somewhat simpler project at the moment — well, at least it doesn’t have multiple dimensions — and I still found Excel helpful. I’ve found I can customize the process for a lot of different types of writing. That’s just me, of course. Other folks may not like it, and that’s cool.
Yes, exactly! Everyone’s different, and should try to figure out the planning method that works best for them.
Bingo! Whatever works and gets words from brain to page.
moteridgerider
I’m finding that having a ‘safety net’ in the form of a detailed outline like this ensures that you keep the momentum going. Especially in the ‘swampy middle’. I recently read a book by James McCreet called ‘Before you write a word’ who also writes historical fiction. He spends about three months writing and rearranging his plot in this way. When he’s finally ready, he ‘blitzes’ his first draft and produces something that requires significantly less editing. Personally, I use Scrivener’s corkboard for this process but excel can be a useful tool also. A fellow teacher friend of mine uses excel to plan his schemes of work to great effect. I liked some of your custom cell ideas like the ‘whizz bang’ and ‘kicker’ cells. I’ll certainly be using these in future. I’m already thinking that you could create a specific template for the ever-important first chapter, ensuring that all the right elements are in there to get the reader hooked. Thanks for sharing.
Shawn Kobb (@ShawnKobb)
Looks great. I’m going to try it on a future project. I’m tweaking it a bit, of course. I’m going to add a column for the various story structure elements to hit at the right times (i.e. plot points, pinch points, etc.)
Leave a Reply to Michael J. Martinez Cancel reply
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The biggest danger of Hollywood becoming a purely corporate town resides in the creative process.
Peter Bart
Peter Bart's quotes
The green-light meeting, when I first started at Paramount, would consist of maybe three or four of us in a room. Perhaps two or three of us would have read the script under discussion.
Though gay lifestyles have certainly moved into the open, there's little evidence that society has become more open in its basic attitudes or that entertainers should feel cozy in emerging from the velvet underground.
It's only in relatively recent years that Hollywood became the playground of multinational corporations which regard movies and TV shows as a minor irritant to their overall activity.
The major media companies are significantly reducing their financial commitment to the motion picture sector.
It really hasn't been demonstrated at any level by any major corporation that it can nurture what is euphemistically called creativity.
Study the public behavior of top stars and you can detect a keen attentiveness to brand value.
The green-light decision process today consists of maybe of 30 or 40 people.
Analyses of the movie marketplace points to an interesting phenomenon: High-profile movies are continuing to do well year-to-year in the U.S. and overseas - this past summer, for example, the top 10 movies registered at the same level as in '04.
Historically, filmmakers always fall in love with every frame, but now that even neophytes are given final cut, this love affair carries with it serious economic implications.
Most movie-goers are overdosing on star coverage; it's the ultimate example of too much information.
Michael Eisner let it be known last week that he had no intention of leaving the entertainment business once he steps down as CEO of Disney in October.
One of Brando's problems is that he can't have a conversation with anyone.
We're going to see a very, very commercial kind of picture-making.
A green-light meeting is when the decision is made finally whether or not to make a given picture.
The model today is that as much as 70 percent of the financing of the picture would come from overseas. Now we're beginning to run out of suckers, because there are not that many people overseas who are willing to put up more than half the money for a movie.
That's how you get surprises, because what movies are all about is surprises.
Substantially fewer films will be produced over the next year or two. And a significant portion of the production costs of the reduced slate will be borne by hedge funds and other investment groups.
I wasn't hanging around the movie theaters in New York where I grew up, a Manhattan brat.
Hollywood is going to have to find a way of meeting those profit goals.
Corporate partners help UNICEF fund our programmes for children, advocate with us on their behalf, or facilitate our work through logistical, technical, research or supply support.
If we can just take a few companies, and use those as models, as examples, to show the rest of corporate America how they can become more competitive, that's what I'd like to do and that's what I hope to do.
Henry Kravis
I don't see it in terms of changing things, but rather using language and music as weapons for fighting a mainstream media which is predominately right wing, and loyal to the political framework and its corporate interests.
The cultivation of sensibility on purely personal lines may, in fact, be the very worst training for a world where only the corporate and the cooperative will matter.
I think most corporate executives are good honorable honest men and women who do good work.
Don Nickles
My expertise was in public finance, particularly corporate taxation, since I had worked at the US Treasury.
Merton Miller
Pulling the plug on the BlackBerry could cost corporate America millions of dollars. The BlackBerry is more than e-mail but a handheld office, and if you shut down the BlackBerry, you shut off the data that powers American business.
Al Smith
First, his job approval ratings have been trending down for many months, a trend that has accelerated in recent weeks as the war on terrorism has been supplanted in the public's mind by corporate scandals, stock market declines, and a growing sense of economic insecurity.
Thomas E. Mann
The number of great museums and nonprofits versus the number of corporate headquarters is incredibly out of whack.
Richard Stengel
This is a struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party, which in too many cases has become so corporate and identified with corporate interests that you can't tell the difference between Democrats and Republicans.
Yes, we have the freedom to do what we please, but it only works because we don't do everything we might please - we should exercise some degree of personal, and corporate, responsibility.
Pixar is going in the direction of the early Disney. And it's also corporate, where they have four or five projects in the works. I don't want to get into that subject.
Joe Grant
We have in this country a federal government that increasingly is engaged in trying to determine which business, which regions, which industries will succeed, which will not through a whole range of economic development, regional development corporate subsidization programs.
Welfare distorts behavior, makes one less personally responsible and reduces the role of private charity. This principle applies to corporate welfare.
When we give a subsidy, the benefits to the public ought to exceed the benefits to the company. When it doesn't, that's our definition of corporate welfare.
The corporate outings were fun, but after doing them for 25 years, they got to be a little old hat.
Tom Kite
Even now it is no longer composed of the traditional political class, but of a composite layer of corporate leaders, high-level administrators, and the heads of the major professional, labor, political, and religious organisations.
The most meaningful engine of change, powerful enough to confront corporate power, may be not so much environmental quality, as the economic development and growth associated with the effort to improve it.
Barry Commoner
Also, the commercial media in a superior position, really, to any other corporate lobby, because where would people hear about commercial media or corporate media criticism, where would they hear criticism of them other than in the commercial media?
Robert McChesney
The trouble, in my opinion, with corporate America today, is that everything is thought of in quarters.
I felt devalued and disrespected. The energy behind it felt disingenuous and motivated by corporate profit.
America's corporate and political elites now form a regime of their own and they're privatizing democracy. All the benefits - the tax cuts, policies and rewards flow in one direction: up.
Any corporate policy and plan which is typical of the industry is doomed to mediocrity. Where this is not so, it should be possible to demonstrate that all other competitors are at a distinct disadvantage.
Bruce Henderson
Whereas money is a means to an end for a filmmaker, to the corporate mind money is the end. Right now, I think independent film is very confused, because there's excess pressure in the marketplace for entertainment to pay off.
I don't understand why people whose entire lives or their corporate success depends on communication, and yet they are led on occasion by CEOs who cannot talk their way out of a paper bag and don't care to.
Frank Luntz
The corporate lobby in Washington is basically designed to stifle all legislative activity on behalf of consumers.
And sometimes I actually start to think human life is just as cheap to corporate America as animal life, so long as there are big profits to be made.
What is new is that environmentalism intensely illuminates the need to confront the corporate domain at its most powerful and guarded point - the exclusive right to govern the systems of production.
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Where does SALDEN rank in the most common names in the U.S.?
SALDEN is identified by the U.S. Bureau of the Census as a surname with more than 100 occurrences in the United States for the year-2000 U.S. Census. In "Demographic Aspects of Surnames from Census 2000", the Census Bureau tabulated the surnames of all people who had obtained Social Security Numbers by the year 2000.
SALDEN ranks # 124872 in terms of the most common surnames in America for 2000.
SALDEN had 127 occurrences in the 2000 Census, according the U.S. government records.
Out of a sample of 100,000 people in the United States, SALDEN would occur an average of 0.05 times.
For the last name of SALDEN the Census Bureau reports the following race / ethnic origin breakdown:
0 percent, or None reported total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only"
0 percent, or None reported total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native"
Insignificant percent, or Less than 100 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races"
Search the web for more on the name SALDEN :
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Women must be silent in church? Bible was doctored to read no women priests: scholar
Recent research has suggested that the passage was not written by the apostle Paul - as is widely believed - but was added later
New priests at the Freisinger Dom cathedral on June 29, 2013 in Freising, GermanyAlexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
Olivia Rudgard
A biblical passage used to prevent women from being ordained is not original and was inserted after initial publication, an academic insists.
The section of Corinthians that states women must remain silent in church has been used to justify restricting the priesthood to men.
But recent research has suggested that the passage was not written by the apostle Paul – as is widely believed – but was added later.
An academic claims to have discovered a key symbol that proves the passage is not authentic.
The fact is that no single surviving manuscript omits the two verses altogether
Research published in the journal New Testament Studies casts doubt on the text, 1 Corinthians 14:34, which says: “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.”
In the article, published by the Cambridge University Press last week, U.S. academic Dr Philip Barton Payne claims that a symbol next to the passage shows that the writer, known as “scribe B”, believed it was not part of the original but had been added later.
His analysis of the Codex Vaticanus, one of the oldest versions of the Greek Bible, identifies a symbol called a “distigme-obelos”, which appears next to the relevant passage.
Payne says these were used to identify added text and lists several other cases where they were deployed.
The symbol, two small dots and a dash, appears in the left margin of the text at the start of verse 34.
He also argues that the passage is inconsistent with other sections of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, such as “… every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head”, suggesting that women were allowed to preach.
Payne writes: “This study demonstrates that scribe B was a careful textual critic who identifies 1 Cor 14.34-5, the only Bible passage silencing women in the church, as added text. This is important since it offers a resolution to the notorious difficulty of reconciling vv. 34-5 with Paul’s many affirmations of women in vocal ministry and their equal standing with men in Christ.”
However, other scholars have criticized the claim. Dr Pieter Lalleman, tutor in Biblical studies at Spurgeon’s College, south London, said: “The fact is that no single surviving manuscript omits the two verses altogether.”
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Venezuela's Juan Guaido urges further military defections as protests continue
Guaido declared himself Venezuela's legitimate ruler on Jan. 23, and has the support of Washington and most South American nations
Manuel Rueda And Fabiola Sanchez
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s opposition leader called on more members of the military to abandon the country’s socialist government following the defection of a high-ranking general, while President Nicolas Maduro proposed holding early National Assembly elections that could potentially oust his challenger.
Maduro’s call for early legislative voting is likely to intensify his standoff with rival Juan Guaido, who heads the opposition-controlled National Assembly and is demanding a new presidential election. Guaido declared himself Venezuela’s legitimate ruler on Jan. 23, and has the support of Washington and most South American nations.
Speaking from behind a podium decorated with Venezuela’s presidential seal, Guaido told supporters he would keep his opposition movement in the streets until Maduro stopped “usurping” the presidency and agreed to a presidential election overseen by international observers. On Saturday, tens of thousands of Venezuelans joined opposition protests against Maduro in Caracas and other cities.
Guaido called on “blocks” of the military to defect from Maduro’s administration and “get on the side of the Venezuelan people.”
“We don’t just want you to stop shooting at protesters,” Guaido said in a hoarse voice. “We want you to be part of the reconstruction of Venezuela.”
I agree that the legislative power of the country be re-legitimized and that we hold free elections with guarantees, and the people choose a new National Assembly
He said in the coming days, the opposition would try to move humanitarian aid into the country by land and sea along three border points, including the Colombian city of Cucuta. He described the move as a “test” for Venezuela’s armed forces, which will have to choose if they allow the much needed aid to pass, or if they instead obey the orders of Maduro’s government.
Maduro also dug in his heels, insisting he was the only president of Venezuela and describing Saturday’s anti-government protests as part of a U.S.-led coup attempt.
“I agree that the legislative power of the country be re-legitimized and that we hold free elections with guarantees, and the people choose a new National Assembly,” Maduro said at a pro-government demonstration in Caracas.
The opposition controls the National Assembly while government supporters control the more-powerful Constituent Assembly, so calls for a vote to replace the former and not the latter was seen as a move against Guaido.
Opposition leader Juan Guaido gives his thumb up to thousands of supporters, in Caracas on February 2, 2019. JUAN BARRETO/AFP/Getty Images
The socialist leader also had words for the administration of President Donald Trump, which recently imposed sanctions on Venezuelan oil exports in an effort to undermine Maduro’s main source of income and weaken his grip on power.
“Do you think you are the emperor of the world?” he asked Trump. “Do you think Venezuela is going to give up and obey your orders? We will not surrender.”
The standoff comes amid what appears to be growing dissension among the ranks of Venezuela’s powerful military.
Earlier Saturday, a Venezuelan air force general defected from Maduro’s administration and called on his compatriots to participate in protests against the socialist leader’s rule.
Gen. Francisco Yanez is the first high-ranking officer to leave Maduro’s government since Jan. 23, when Guaido declared himself the country’s legitimate leader by invoking two articles of the Venezuelan constitution that he argues give him the right to assume presidential powers. He considers Maduro’s election win fraudulent.
In a YouTube video, Yanez described Maduro as a dictator and referred to Guaido as his president. He didn’t say where he was.
We reject the declarations made by General Yanez who betrayed his oath of loyalty to our nation and chose to follow foreign plans
The officer confirmed in a phone call with The Associated Press, from a Colombian number, the veracity of his declaration. He said he would not speak further until given authorization by “the commander-in-chief of the legal armed force, which is President Juan Guaido.”
The military controls some of Venezuela’s key assets, including the state-run oil company, and until now, its top brass has helped Maduro to survive rounds of mass protests in 2014 and 2017 by jailing activists and repressing protesters.
Yanez said in his video that “90 per cent of the military” is against Maduro, but it is unclear how many will actively support the opposition.
Shortly after protests broke out against Maduro last week, Venezuela’s most important regional military commanders and its defence minister issued a statement in support of Maduro, describing Guaido as a coup-monger backed by Washington.
Venezuela’s aerospace command of the armed forces shared a picture of Yanez on its Twitter account with the words “traitor” above it.
“We reject the declarations made by General Yanez who betrayed his oath of loyalty to our nation and chose to follow foreign plans,” the command wrote.
On Saturday, Maduro said he was willing to sit down for talks with the opposition in an effort to promote national “harmony.”
But that offer has been rejected by Guaido, who describes it as a ploy by the Maduro administration to buy time.
Previous talks between the government and opposition have failed to change electoral conditions in the South American country, and many political leaders have been forced into exile.
At a pro-Maduro rally, supporters blamed the opposition for undermining the Bolivarian Revolution with years of protests and seeking financial sanctions against the Venezuelan government.
Zeleyka Muskus, a 53-year-old tax collector from Caracas, said the opposition was responsible for the country’s current economic woes, saying they have staged years of protests that have gotten people injured and killed.
Angry Venezuelans march on capital to demand fresh elections
Venezuela air force general defects from Maduro government
Canada’s largest union sides with maligned Venezuela president over Canadian government
“Chavez is the love of my life,” she said, referring to late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
Other public workers attending the pro-government demonstration said they had been forced to go there by their bosses.
Meanwhile, marchers from middle-class and poor neighbourhoods walked to another part of the capital and said they were demanding Maduro’s resignation and a transitional government that would hold a new presidential election.
Xiomara Espinoza, 59, said she felt a change of energy in the crowd, whose hopes for a transition in Venezuela have previously been dashed.
“We are around the corner from freedom,” she said, banging on a pot and wearing a Venezuelan flag.
— Associated Press writers Scott Smith, Joshua Goodman and Jorge Rueda contributed reporting from Caracas, Venezuela
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Gerhard Ernst, Andreas Hüttemann (eds.)
Time, Chance, and Reduction: Philosophical Aspects of Statistical Mechanics
Gerhard Ernst and Andreas Hüttemann (eds.), Time, Chance, and Reduction: Philosophical Aspects of Statistical Mechanics, Cambridge UP, 2010, 211pp., $85.00 (hbk), ISBN 9780521884013.
Reviewed by David Albert, Columbia University
The first thing to say is that one comes away from this collection with the impression that the conversation about the foundations of statistical mechanics is still very much in its infancy: there seems to be no stable and general consensus among the investigators represented here even about how some of the basic statistical-mechanical terminology is to be understood, or about what the central foundational problems of statistical mechanics are, or about what might or might not count as solving them.[1]
Consider (for example) the problem of the arrow, or arrows, of time. Claus Kiefer begins his essay "Quantum gravity and the arrow of time" by identifying the main such arrows as follows:
· The preponderance of outgoing over incoming radiation
· The increase of entropy dictated by the second law of thermodynamics
· The quantum-mechanical measurement process, and the emergence of classical properties
· The expansion of the universe and the emergence of structure by gravitational condensation
But this list will strike many investigators as almost perversely incomplete. What about the fact that (for example) the sorts of things that we can find out about the past are radically different from the sorts of things we can find out about the future? And what about the fact that the means we find we need to employ in order to find out about the past are radically different from the means we find we need to employ in order to find out about the future? And what about the fact that by acting now we can apparently affect the future but not the past?
If Professor Kiefer thinks that these time-asymmetries of knowledge and intervention are somehow not physical, or somehow not susceptible of physical explanation, or if (on the contrary) he thinks that they follow from the straightforwardly physical time-asymmetries already on his list by so obvious and so familiar a route as not to warrant separate and individual attention, then he is wrong -- and (indeed) the necessity and the non-triviality of explaining these asymmetries as mechanical phenomena of nature turns out to be the central preoccupation of the opening essay in this collection, an excellent piece by Mathias Frisch (of which more later) called "Does a low-entropy constraint prevent us from influencing the past?".
There are, of course, a number of very important temporal asymmetries that Professor Kiefer does mention in his essay -- but his discussion of these asymmetries is impaired by what seems to be a misunderstanding about what some of them actually amount to.
Take (for example) the second law of thermodynamics. The particular variety of entropy whose decrease is prohibited by that law has to do with exchanges of heat among macroscopic physical systems. The particular variety of entropy whose decrease is prohibited by that law is a function of macroscopic physical variables like temperature and pressure and volume. And it is among the principal tasks of statistical mechanics to provide an interpretation of that particular variety of entropy -- the entropy (that is) that we run into in thermodynamics -- in terms of the exact microscopic physical conditions of the individual particulate constituents of the macroscopic systems that thermodynamics treats. And it was among the principal achievements of Boltzmann to have given us an interpretation like that.
There are other entropies floating around in the scientific literature -- there is (for example) an entropy due to Shannon, which has to do with the mathematical theory of information, and there is an entropy due to von Neumann, which is a measure of the purity of Quantum-Mechanical states -- which are referred to as 'entropies' in virtue of an abstract, formal, mathematical resemblance which they bear to the entropy of Boltzmann, and which (unlike Boltzmann's entropy) have nothing directly to do with the entropy we encounter in thermodynamics.[2] And the failure to keep these various different entropies clearly distinct, or the explicit thought that they are somehow equivalent, or some more psychologically complicated combination of the two, has generated veritable oceans of wasted ink over the years.
And there is some such confusion, it seems to me, in Professor Kiefer's discussion of the microscopic underpinnings of the second law, which appeals not to the entropy of Boltzmann, but to the thermodynamically irrelevant entropy of von Neumann.
And I have no idea what to make of the apparently serious and straight-faced consideration that Jos Uffink gives, in his essay on "Irreversibility in stochastic dynamics", to coarse-graining and interventionist accounts of the approach to thermodynamic equilibrium. I had thought we were done with all that years ago. I had thought that everybody who had given this business any serious consideration had long since agreed that if the exact fundamental laws of the time-evolution of the entirety of the physical world are exactly symmetric under time-reversal, then it can contribute nothing whatever to a foundational discussion of the phenomenon of irreversibility (it can amount, at best, to a not particularly interesting mathematical curiosity) to point out that there are course-grained approximations to those laws that happen to lack that symmetry. And I had thought that everybody who had given this business any serious consideration had long since agreed that if the exact fundamental laws of the time-evolution of the entirety of the physical world are exactly symmetric under time-reversal, then it can contribute nothing whatever to a foundational discussion of the phenomenon of irreversibility (again, it can amount, at best, to a not particularly interesting mathematical curiosity) to point out that there are useful practical techniques for guessing at the behaviors of relatively well isolated sub-systems of the world, in the absence of detailed knowledge of the environments of those sub-systems, that happen to lack that symmetry.[3]
And I was puzzled, in a similar vein, by Robert Batterman's emphasis, in his very learned essay on "Reduction and renormalization", on the exactness of the reduction of thermodynamics to statistical mechanics in the limit as the number of particles in the system under consideration goes to infinity. What sort of foundational or philosophical good does it do us, exactly, to be told that there is a certain undisputed falsehood about thermodynamic systems (that such systems consist of infinite numbers of particles) such that if it were true, then the truth of thermodynamics would follow from that of statistical mechanics?
Thermodynamics (to begin with) isn't true -- it is merely, and in a very complicated sense, approximately so. And what we want, or should want, from an account of the relationship between thermodynamics and the true underlying fundamental laws of physics, is not anything along the lines of a derivation, but (rather) a way of making it clear to ourselves that the class of natural phenomena to which thermodynamics usefully applies, that the class of natural phenomena of which thermodynamics amounts to a relatively accurate summary, can be given a complete and exact account in terms of the laws of statistical mechanics. And from this point of view, it is not of the slightest interest, on the face of it, whether or not there happen to be patently unphysical limits in which these two 'theories' exactly coincide. The project of microscopic understanding could presumably proceed just as well (couldn't it?) if no such limit existed -- if statistical mechanics, in that limit, somehow simply broke down, or made no sense, or behaved oddly.
That having been said, there are a number of essays in this volume that focus with considerable precision and imagination on what strike me as genuine and well-posed and important and still unsolved problems.
There is (to begin with) the Mathias Frisch piece that I mentioned above. Professor Frisch's essay is a clear and accessible summary, and (more importantly) an incisive and well-reasoned critique, of a proposed mechanical account -- due to Barry Loewer and myself -- of the fact that what we do now can apparently influence the future but not the past. I hope to have the opportunity to give Professor Frisch's essay the careful and detailed consideration it deserves in another place -- let it suffice, for the moment, and for whatever it may be worth, to say that I have learned a great deal from the business of thinking Professor Frisch's objections through, and that I suspect that, at the end of the day, they can be successfully answered.
And there is a very helpful piece called "The past-hypothesis meets gravity", by Craig Callender, which rightly emphasizes the enormous megalomaniacal ambition of the Boltzmannian understanding of Statistical Mechanics -- particularly as it has been elaborated in books like Time and Chance -- and presents (with considerable sobriety and intelligence) some of the many obstacles that a program like Boltzmann's is going to need to overcome. I suspect that Professor Callender may be slightly overestimating the seriousness of some of those obstacles, and that he may be slightly underestimating the generality and the flexibility of core idea of Boltzmann's program -- but these are minor quibbles, and the proof (of course) will be in the pudding.
And there is, finally, an interesting trio of essays on the philosophical analysis of probability -- but even here, there seems to be no general consensus as to what the interesting options are.[4]
Jacob Rosenthal (for example) in his essay on "The natural-range conception of probability" dismisses frequentist conceptions of probability without ever mentioning the one that (in so far as I understand the matter) has by far the widest contemporary allegiance among philosophers -- the one which is embedded in Lewis' 'Best-System' conception of natural law, and which has been developed, over the last ten years or so, by Barry Loewer.
Michael Esfeld, in his essay on "Humean metaphysics versus a metaphysics of powers", provides an admirably clear and concise summary of the controversy referred to in his title, and then comes down decisively on the side of a robust metaphysics of powers -- and (more particularly) of a propensitist conception of chance. What's puzzling -- particularly in light of the explicit topic of the book in which his essay appears -- is that he makes no mention whatever of the chances in statistical mechanics. Indeed, he sometimes writes as if chances can only come up, as if chances can only present themselves, in the absence of determinism. And this (it needs to be said) is no small omission -- since it is precisely the business of making sense of chances in deterministic theories like statistical mechanics that is widely regarded as the most obvious, urgent, and serious challenge to conceptions of chance as some sort of primitive dynamical tendency.[5]
Roman Frigg, in his piece on "Probability in Boltzmannian statistical mechanics" focuses with considerable clarity and precision on the question of defining 'fit' for the Lewis-Loewer account of probability. Professor Frigg raises indisputably important and difficult problems here -- but I'm more optimistic than he is about the ultimate possibilities of solving them. Humean conceptions of probability have always seemed to me -- much more so (apparently) than they seem to Professor Frigg -- to be a deeply pragmatic business. And what the Humean probabilities need to fit -- according to this pragmatic understanding -- are (very crudely) the patterns that are important to us. And if one keeps that at the center of one's attention, many of the worries raised by Professor Frigg seem, at least, to recede.[6]
[1] I have a dog (by the way) in any number of the controversies which are taken up in the essays in this book. Indeed, several of these essays respond quite explicitly to a way of understanding the foundations of statistical mechanics that Barry Loewer and I have been writing about for several years now -- and even the title of this collection (which is "Time, Chance, and Reduction", italics in the original) seems to allude to an earlier book of my own called Time and Chance. The reader is invited to take these remarks (then) with as many grains of salt as she thinks fit.
[2] The reader who is familiar with the definitions of these various different entropies will have no trouble at all (for example) writing down a pair of exact possible microconditions of a gas -- call them A and B -- each of which has perfectly well-defined values of both thermodynamic and von Neumann entropy, and such that the thermodynamic entropy of B is higher than that of A and the von Neumann entropy of A is higher than that of B.
[3] There is, in fact, at least one serious proposal in the literature -- the so-called GRW theory of the collapse of the quantum-mechanical wave-function -- according to which the exact fundamental laws of the time-evolution of the entirety of the physical world are genuinely stochastic. And there are good reasons to suppose that the GRW theory, if it should turn out to be true, would indeed provide an altogether different and in many ways more satisfactory account of the approach to thermodynamic equilibrium than the one we have from traditional statistical mechanics. But of this, for reasons I cannot understand, Professor Uffink makes no mention whatever.
[4] I am leaving altogether out of account here -- not because it does not merit talking about, but (rather) because I feel altogether unqualified to talk about it -- a fascinating historical essay by C. Ulises Moulines called "The crystallization of Clausis's phenomenological thermodynamics".
[5] Professor Esfeld also strikes me as much too glib in his dismissal of Russell's famous 1912 critique of the very idea of causation. He says (for example) that "one can conceive charge, for instance, as the power to build up an electromagnetic field". But this is simply not true. The electromagnetic field, on the Maxwellian account, is not determined by the charge-distribution, or even by the complete history of the charge distribution. Period. End of story. Russell's critique applies to Maxwellian Electromagnetism in precisely the same way, insofar as I can see, as it applies to Newtonian Mechanics.
[6] Professor Frigg seems to think, by the way, that the Lewis-Loewer program somehow overlooks the role of the Hamiltonian -- and here he is simply and explicitly mistaken. Speaking for myself -- and I am certain that precisely the same applies to Barry Loewer, and I am nearly certain that the same applied to David Lewis -- whenever I speak, in this context, of (say) 'The Newtonian Laws of Motion', I am (of course!) referring not just to F=ma, but to the full equations of motion, whose solutions take the form of particular trajectories in phase-space.
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Drinking age needs another look
Ryan Williams | Thursday, September 2, 2010
By now we have all probably heard that relations between Notre Dame and the South Bend community are a little tense at the moment. It seems like wherever you go on campus, someone is talking about how they or someone they know were at an off-campus party that got busted over the weekend. If you’re a regular reader of the Observer, you’ll know that nearly sixty Notre Dame students have been arrested by the South Bend Police in the last week and a half. This unusually high number is in addition to the much-publicized arrest of 43 students at an off-campus party over the summer. Many people claim that the police are breaking up more parties than usual, and are arresting underage drinkers far more frequently, as opposed to merely issuing them citations. As a result, students are increasingly afraid to go off campus on weekends, for fear of running into the South Bend Police. Supporters of the police attest that they are just doing their job and enforcing the law, and that students should do more to discourage underage drinking in order to avoid contentious run-ins with cops. Critics contend that the police are focusing on petty drinking violations at the expense of some of the more dangerous violent crime that plagues South Bend.
The roots of the current tension between the South Bend Police Department and the Notre Dame student body can be traced back to a law enacted on July 17, 1984, called the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. This bill, cosponsored by a bipartisan group of senators (including both our current Vice-President, Joseph Biden, and Indiana’s senior United States Senator, Richard Lugar), mandated that any state which did not enforce a minimum drinking age of 21 years would be subjected to a ten percent reduction in its annual highway funding from the federal government. Prior to the enactment of this law, each individual state was free to set its own drinking age. In the aftermath of the act’s passage, the state of Indiana took an additional step, banning all consumption of alcohol by minors, including in private settings (the federal law only applied to public places).
There are several problems with the current situation. First of all, what goes on in a private home (so long as it is not harmful to the general population) is neither the business of the South Bend Police Department, nor of the State of Indiana. Allowing these entities to enter personal residences to stop underage drinking is an egregious violation of the fundamental values of privacy and personal freedom that are so cherished in this country. Additionally, the current illegal nature of underage drinking encourages a culture of rebellion that leads to irresponsible and dangerous drinking patterns. Dr. Ruth Engs, a professor of Applied Health Sciences at Indiana University believes that, “Drinking by [people under 21] is seen as an enticing ‘forbidden fruit,’ a ‘badge of rebellion against authority’ and a symbol of ‘adulthood.'” Dr. Engs contends that the drinking age should be lowered in order to teach and encourage responsible drinking habits among college-aged Americans. Indeed, this train of thought has been embraced by a number of university presidents, 135 of whom have formed an organization called the Amethyst Initiative, which seeks to reopen the national debate about the drinking age (and no, John Jenkins is not a member of this group).
But perhaps the most significant criticism of the current drinking age is that it is a straight up abuse of justice. In this country, 18-year olds are entrusted with the right to vote, can be selected to serve on juries, and can no longer be convicted of crimes as minors. In addition, men who turn 18 become eligible to be drafted into the armed services, should the draft ever be reinstated. That means they can be sent off to fight and die for their country in some far off place like Iraq or Afghanistan, but cannot even buy themselves a beer. We already hold 18-21 year olds to the same legal standards as all other adults in this country. Let’s ensure they receive all the benefits of adulthood in return, and restore their right to have a drink.
Ryan Williams is a sophomore finance and economics major. He can be reached at [email protected]
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
So long bike shop, sustainability
Dear Students and Faculty, This may come as a surprise to some of you,...
Exposing NDH
Lessons from Bruce
When to compromise and when not to
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April 19, 2015: More than 1400 educators in 22 public schools across the island have received training in the use of Positive Behaviour Intervention System as a means of resocialising students who display anti-social behaviour.
The Positive Behaviour Intervention System or PBIS is one of several approches being employed by the Ministry of Education to address the incidence of negative behaviour of children in schools. These challenges have continued to disrupt the normal flow of learning and in most cases are affecting the general quality of education that is being provided for students.
At a recent (April 17) workshop held at the Jamaica Theological Seminary in Kingston, several participants welcomed the exposure to PBIS. Among them was Grace-Ann Thomas-Serinash, a teacher at the Tacius Golding High School in St. Catherine. She said although having some initial reservations about the effectiveness of the PBIS as a corrective measure, the school has now embraced it and has begun to sensitise the students about its objectives.
These include a reduction in the use of reactive disciplinary measures such as detention, suspension and expulsion; and the implementation of effective intervention strategies for students with emotional and behavioural problems to support their academic and social functioning and evaluate their success across various settings such as school, home and community.
The PBIS programme will be intensified during the 2015-2016 academic year, targeting an additional 25 schools and 1800 members of staff. It is expected that at the end of three years a significant number of children will emerge from this transforming programme.
Another participant at the recent workshop, Sonia Woodstock-Brown, senior teacher at the Aabuthnott Gallimore High School in St. Ann, said the PBIS programme had given teachers an alternative to dealing with maladaptive behavior in such a way that punishment does not come off as abusive. She added that it was important to show students that there was an option and that they can behave in a socially accepted manner.
Yasheika Samuda, teacher at the Vere Technical High School said the workshop taught her, among other things, that teachers needed to be more proactive than reactive with the students. She was now more comfortable with PBIS approach and had a better understanding of how it should be implemented.
Duane Hartley, dean of discipline at the Port Antonio High School, said the workshop presented a more wholesome approach to how schools should discipline their students. “The entire school family should play an active role in developing and re-enforcing the morals of its students,” Hartley said.
Meanwhile Lisa Douglas, teacher at the Kemps Hill High School in Clarendon, said teachers and administrators were enthusiastic to get the PBIS programme fully off the ground. “We need it at our school because we really need to change the culture of our students. We have cemented the implementation plan and we now know how to go forward”, she stated.
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Europe is getting a new stock exchange giant
by Mark Thompson @MarkThompsonCNN March 16, 2016: 5:24 AM ET
Europe is about to get a new financial markets giant with the scale to compete with U.S. rivals.
The London Stock Exchange (LDNXF), one of the world's oldest with a history stretching back more than 300 years, has agreed to join forces with Deutsche Boerse, which operates the main German stock market in Frankfurt.
Billed as a "merger of equals," the all-share transaction is effectively a takeover: Deutsche Boerse (DBOEF) shareholders will end up owning more than 54% of the new combined group, and the company's CEO -- Carsten Kengeter -- will be chief executive.
The agreement, announced Wednesday, should be completed by the end of 2016 or during the first quarter of 2017.
"As a combined group we will create a European player that will compete on a global basis," Kengeter said in a statement.
By acquiring its rival, Deutsche Boerse is building a powerful bridge between Europe's premier financial centers. London is a global center for banking and insurance, and Frankfurt is home to the European Central Bank and is the finance hub for Germany, the world's fourth biggest economy.
Related: Bank of England chief warns of Brexit risks
The deal still carries plenty of risk, not least the possibility that the U.K. will vote to leave the European Union in a referendum on June 23. A decision to quit the EU would create enormous uncertainty about how financial trading between the U.K. and Europe would be governed.
The companies said it was "impossible to model" the number of scenarios such a vote would throw up. They have set up a committee to advise them on the possible ramifications of the so-called Brexit, if it happens.
There's also still a chance that the agreed merger could scuppered by a rival bid for the LSE.
New York Stock Exchange operator Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which owns markets in France, the Netherlands and the U.K. through its Euronext business, may yet enter the fray with a more generous offer.
It said earlier this month that it was considering making a bid for the LSE.
"No approach has been made to the Board of LSE, and no decision has yet been made as to whether to pursue such an offer," ICE said on March 1.
CNNMoney (London) First published March 16, 2016: 5:06 AM ET
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The year late night picked a side
by Frank Pallotta @frankpallotta October 20, 2016: 4:28 PM ET
Since Donald Trump joined the presidential race, late night hosts have pulled out the stops to take him on.
Late night hosts from Johnny Carson on have always gone after political figures, and the hosts this year haven't given Trump's opponent Hillary Clinton a free pass, but 2016 is different in that hosts have gone so far in making fun of Trump that they've actually changed up the repertoire of late night TV.
In part they're doing this because they feel Trump is dangerous -- but of course they're also doing it because he's a really easy target.
Here's how late night TV has taken on Trump:
Before 2016, the best place to find late night take downs was "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" with Stewart satirizing and sometimes even reporting the news with his distinct point of view. Now, Stewart's disciples -- and, separately, Seth Meyers -- have taken up the former host's mantle and format for use against one of his favorite targets.
John Oliver has used long-form segments on his HBO show "Last Week Tonight" to take on Trump, most notoriously in one segment during which he filed paperwork to trademark the name "Drumpf," the Trump family's ancestral name.
Samantha Bee has used editorials on her TBS show "Full Frontal" to scorch Trump, including a blistering piece on the candidate's hot mic tape.
"Take a Tic Tac and grab 'em by the p***y is the closest thing to a plan Donald Trump has described this entire election," she said.
Stephen Colbert is used to having a sharp point of view thanks to his years on "The Colbert Report," but he switched up his Trump takes a bit on CBS' "The Late Show" by using a chalkboard.
He used one in June to "explain" Trump's reaction to the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida. Once he was done connecting all of Trump's reactions Colbert's diagram resembled a giant swastika.
He did it again earlier this week, tying together all of the so-called conspiracies against Trump in a way that ended up creating the look of a, well, something that's censored on network TV.
The man who took over for Stewart on "The Daily Show," Trevor Noah, has of course continued the editorial style pioneered by his predecessor.
Noah, who is from South Africa, compared Trump to brutal African leaders like Idi Amin and Muammar Gaddafi last year.
"For me, as an African, there's something familiar about Trump that makes me feel like home," Noah said last year. "What I'm trying to say is Donald Trump is presidential. He's just running on the wrong continent."
Seth Meyers, who famously mocked Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner, has used his segment "Closer Look" throughout the election to call out Trump.
He did so most notably regarding Trump's comments on birtherism last month, when Trump finally acknowledged that President Obama was born in United States, reversing his previous position on the subject.
" 'Obama was born in the United States, period'? F*** you, exclamation point!" Meyers said. "You don't get to peddle racist rhetoric for five years and decide when it's over. We decide when it's over. And it's certainly not over after a 30-second statement in the middle of a hotel commercial."
Impersonations have always had a place in late night thanks to "Saturday Night Live," but other late shows aren't really known for their impressions.
This year that changed with NBC's "Tonight Show" host, Jimmy Fallon, transforming into Trump for multiple sketches and seemingly every host doing their best Trump voice during bits.
Others have used impressions to not just tease Trump, but those in the campaign as well.
"The Late Show" made headlines in July by opening an episode with Laura Benanti playing Trump's wife, Melania, following the controversy over her speech at the Republican Convention, parts of which were apparently plagiarized.
"My fellow Americans, this is truly the best of times, it is the worst of times," Benanti as Melania said. "I did not plagiarize my speech last night. I would never do such a thing. I would not, could not with a goat. I would not, could not on a boat."
Colbert brought Benanti's Melania back on Tuesday night for an "interview" about Trump's "locker room talk."
Colbert's late night counterpart, James Corden, went the other way and used Denis Leary as Bill Clinton to Corden's Hillary Clinton to have Leary sing a riff on Leary's song "A**hole" called "(Trump's an) A**hole."
Taking on Trump himself
Presidential candidates have long gone on late night to introduce themselves to new viewers and voters, and that's been no different this year -- but Trump's appearances have led to criticism of and even regret on the part of the hosts.
Fallon received harsh criticism, including from Bee, for not going after Trump on his show last month and instead having a light-hearted interview where he tussled Trump's hair.
Others like ABC's Jimmy Kimmel pushed Trump on issues like his proposed Muslim ban while also still lampooning the candidate.
Colbert, who had Trump on last year, actually showed remorse afterward for not having been harder on Trump.
"I tried being gracious and pointed at the same time, and got almost nothing out of him," Colbert told the New York Times last month. "It was actually boring, because he wouldn't even look me in the eye. Being nice to a guy who isn't nice to other people, it doesn't serve you that much."
CNNMoney (New York) First published October 20, 2016: 4:21 PM ET
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Roswell: The World Below
Nick Redfern August 21, 2013
Before his death in late 2009, Mac Tonnies was digging deep into the strange and enigmatic world of what he termed the cryptoterrestrials. Mac’s theory was that, perhaps, the intelligences behind the UFO phenomenon were not extraterrestrial or inter-dimensional, as many assume or believe them to be, after all. Rather, Mac was following the idea that the so-called “Grays” and many of the other bizarre humanoid creatures seen and presumed to have alien origins, were from right here, on Earth.
Mac offered the theory (and he was very careful to admit it was just a theory) that his aliens of the terrestrial variety are, actually, a very ancient and advanced body of people, closely related to the Human Race, who have lived alongside us in secret – deep underground – for countless millennia.
In addition, Mac theorized that in today’s world they may well be declining, in terms of both their numbers and their health. Mac also suggested that the cryptoterrestrials might make use of a great deal of subterfuge, camouflage and deception to try and ensure they appear far more in advance of us, when – in reality – they may not be so far advanced, after all. Mac also had an interesting theory as to why the supposed aliens constantly warn abductees and contactees that we should not destroy, or pollute, our planet.
Let’s face it, why would extraterrestrials from countless light-years away care even in the slightest about our small, insignificant world? A reasonable argument could be made that they wouldn’t care. If, however, the extraterrestrials are actually cryptoterrestrials who – due to circumstances beyond both their and our control – are forced to secretly share the planet with us, then their desire to see the Earth preserved wouldn’t just be a wish or a desire. It would, for their continued survival, be an overwhelming necessity.
Of course, such a theory is most assuredly not a new one: tales, stories, myths and legends of advanced, humanoid entities living deep below the planet’s surface have circulated not just for decades or hundreds of years, but for thousands of years. But, of the many reasons why Mac’s book thrust the entire issue into the modern era, one in particular was his take on Roswell.
Now before people get their blood-pressure all out of sync, this article is not intended to demonstrate that my views on Roswell are forever changing, so chill the “F” out. The fact is that none of us really knows what happened back in 1947 when something came down on the Foster Ranch, Lincoln County, New Mexico. So, I see nothing wrong with addressing, and contemplating, the merits – or the lack of merits – of the many and varied theories. And that’s all I’m doing with Mac’s theory: addressing it and contemplating on it. So, with that said, back to the story.
In his 2009 book, The Cryptoterrestrials, Mac speculated on the possibility that the Roswell craft was built, flown, and disastrously crashed, by ancient humanoids that lurk in the depths of the planet. Controversial? Hell, yes! But Mac made some interesting observations on this possibility. In his own words:
“The device that crashed near Roswell in the summer of 1947, whatever it was, featured properties at least superficially like the high-altitude balloon trains ultimately cited as an explanation by the Air Force. Debunkers have, of course, seized on the lack of revealingly ‘high-tech’ components found among the debris to dismiss the possibility that the crash was anything but a case of misidentification; not even Maj. Jesse Marcel. the intelligence officer who advocated an ET origin for the unusual foil and structural beams, mentioned anything remotely resembling an engine or power-plant.”
Mac continued, in a fashion that emphasized the cryptoterrestrials may not be as scientifically and technologically advanced as they might prefer us to think they are: “The cryptoterrestrial hypothesis offers a speculative alternative: maybe the Roswell device wasn’t high-tech. It could indeed have been a balloon-borne surveillance device brought down in a storm, but it doesn’t logically follow that is was one of our own.”
Mac concluded: “Upon happening across such a troubling find, the Air Force’s excessive secrecy begins to make sense.”
Regardless of what you, me, or indeed any number of the well known Roswell researchers – such as Bill Moore, Kevin Randle, Stan Friedman, or Don Schmitt – might think or conclude, the fact is that Mac’s cryptoterrestrial theory is probably the only one that allows for the Roswell crash site to have been comprised of very unusual, non-Homo-sapiens, but, at the same time, incredibly simplistic technology.
The alien theory should, of course, require highly advanced technology to have been recovered – yet, we hear very little on this matter, aside from talk of fields full of foil-like material with curious properties. Accounts of the military coming across alien-created “power-plants” and “engines” – as Mac described them – are curiously absent from the Roswell affair. It’s that aforementioned foil and not much else.
And Mac was not alone in talking about this particular theory. Walter Bosley, formerly of the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, has revealed an interesting and notable story told to him by his very own father, also of the USAF, and someone who worked on issues connected to the United States’ space-program. According to the account related to Walter, yes, a very significant and highly anomalous event did occur some miles from the New Mexico town of Roswell. Not only did the crash have nothing to do with literal extraterrestrials, said Walter’s father, but it had nothing to do with us, either.
In a briefing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Walter’s father was told, essentially, the same thing upon which Mac Tonnies theorized – namely, that Roswell represented the crash of a device piloted by ancient humanoids that dwelled within the Earth, deep in hidden, cavernous abodes. Only occasionally did they ever surface, usually taking careful and stealthy steps to mask their presence – that is, until one of their fairly simple devices crashed outside of Roswell, and revealed to a select, few, senior military personnel that we share our planet with…something else…something from below…
Tags Cryptoterrestrials Mac Tonnies Roswell Walter Bosley
Nick Redfern works full time as a writer, lecturer, and journalist. He writes about a wide range of unsolved mysteries, including Bigfoot, UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, alien encounters, and government conspiracies. Nick has written 41 books, writes for Mysterious Universe and has appeared on numerous television shows on the The History Channel, National Geographic Channel and SyFy Channel.
You can follow Nick on and
Orbitz Promotes Travel to Places with Extraterrestrial Encounters
Paul Seaburn September 1, 2018
“Roswell Slides”: What Will They Prove?
Nick Redfern February 6, 2015
Where are the UFOs?
Nick Redfern October 7, 2013
Why is the Roswell Saga Important?
Nick Redfern March 14, 2016
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Woodrow Wilson School
Predictability in a highly stochastic system: final size of measles epidemics in small populations
Author(s): Caudron, Quentin; Mahmud, Ayesha S.; Metcalf, C. Jessica E.; Gottfrethsson, M.; Viboud, C.; et al
To refer to this page use: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/pr1gh74
Abstract: A standard assumption in the modelling of epidemic dynamics is that the population of interest is well mixed, and that no clusters of metapopulations exist. The well-known and oft-used SIR model, arguably the most important compartmental model in theoretical epidemiology, assumes that the disease being modelled is strongly immunizing, directly transmitted and has a well-defined period of infection, in addition to these population mixing assumptions. Childhood infections, such as measles, are prime examples of diseases that fit the SIR-like mechanism. These infections have been well studied for many systems with large, well-mixed populations with endemic infection. Here, we consider a setting where populations are small and isolated. The dynamics of infection are driven by stochastic extinction–recolonization events, producing large, sudden and short-lived epidemics before rapidly dying out from a lack of susceptible hosts. Using a TSIR model, we fit prevaccination measles incidence and demographic data in Bornholm, the Faroe Islands and four districts of Iceland, between 1901 and 1965. The datasets for each of these countries suffer from different levels of data heterogeneity and sparsity. We explore the potential for prediction of this model: given historical incidence data and up-to-date demographic information, and knowing that a new epidemic has just begun, can we predict how large it will be? We show that, despite a lack of significant seasonality in the incidence of measles cases, and potentially severe heterogeneity at the population level, we are able to estimate the size of upcoming epidemics, conditioned on the first time step, to within reasonable confidence. Our results have potential implications for possible control measures for the early stages of new epidemics in small populations.
Publication Date: 19-Nov-2014
Electronic Publication Date: 19-Nov-2014
Citation: Caudron, Q., Mahmud, A. S., Metcalf, C. J. E., Gottfrethsson, M., Viboud, C., Cliff, A. D., Grenfell, B. T. (2014). Predictability in a highly stochastic system: final size of measles epidemics in small populations. Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 12 (102), 20141125 - 20141125. doi:10.1098/rsif.2014.1125
DOI: doi:10.1098/rsif.2014.1125
Pages: 20141125 - 20141125
Journal/Proceeding Title: Journal of The Royal Society Interface
All Woodrow Wilson School
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Hispanic Teens Losing Sleep Over Trump's Immigration Policies
MONDAY, June 24, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Hispanic teens are being driven to anxiety and sleeplessness over the Trump Administration's immigration policies, even though they are U.S.-born citizens and face no threat of deportation, a new study shows.
Nearly half of a group of 16-year-old Hispanic children in the Salinas Valley region of California reported that they worry that U.S. immigration policy could tear their families apart, researchers found.
Those teens had five times higher levels of anxiety as kids without similar worries, the study shows. They also had poorer sleep quality.
"These are U.S. citizens and these are 16-year-olds, and kids who have this kind of high level of anxiety, it's not fleeting," said lead researcher Brenda Eskenazi, director of the Center for Environmental Research and Children's Health at the University of California, Berkeley.
"It's likely to affect their ability to focus in school, stay in school, criminality, their health," Eskenazi continued. "If you're living with this level of anxiety, there are likely to be long-term consequences. It's likely to affect other aspects of their life and well-being."
Worse, this particular group of teenagers likely reflect only a hint of the ongoing fear that's simmering in other parts of the nation, Eskenazi added.
The city of Salinas is promoted as a welcoming city nestled within the sanctuary state of California, researchers noted. Three out of four people in the Salinas Valley are Hispanic, and the percentage of undocumented immigrants likely exceeds 29%.
"These kids are living in a pretty exclusive environment. We're not seeing a whole lot of ICE raids in this area. And yet, as U.S. citizens, they are experiencing effects," Eskenazi said. "We may see more of this in kids around the United States who aren't living in such a protective environment."
There are an estimated 18 million children in the United States with at least one immigrant parent -- 1 in every 4 kids, the researchers noted. Nearly 1 in 10 has at least one parent who's an undocumented immigrant.
Just last week, U.S. President Donald Trump promised raids targeting about 2,000 in 10 major cities across the country.
Trump then announced Saturday that he was delaying the raids for two weeks, to put pressure on Democratic lawmakers to accept changes that would tighten the nation's asylum laws.
Eskenazi and her colleagues are engaged in a long-term study of about 400 children born to Hispanic farmworker families in the Salinas Valley. The kids are U.S. citizens born to at least one parent from Mexico or Central America.
"We have been following them since they were in utero, at least half of these kids," Eskenazi said.
By chance, these kids underwent a health assessment at age 14, just before the 2016 presidential election, and another at age 16 in the first year after the election.
The researchers realized this would give them a unique chance to see how anti-immigration policies are affecting the children of immigrants.
About 45% of the kids in the study said they worry at least sometimes about how U.S. immigration policy would affect them personally, or whether their families would be separated due to deportation.
Two in five said they worried about being reported to the immigration office, even though they are citizens.
The teens with immigration worries had much higher anxiety levels, and those levels nearly tripled between their pre- and post-election checkups, researchers calculated.
This anxiety appears to be affecting their sleep. One in five said it takes them a long time to get to sleep, 16% said they have fairly or very bad sleep quality, and 11% said they had trouble staying awake during the day.
Stress and sleeplessness can affect teens' performance in school and increase their risks of future health problems like obesity and high blood pressure, said Dr. Elizabeth Dawson-Hahn, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington in Seattle. She co-authored an editorial accompanying the study, published online June 24 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
Kids dealing with anxiety also are at increased risk for substance abuse, and have poorer future job prospects, the researchers noted.
"It's not setting them up for success or a healthy life ahead to add this additional stressor to their lives," Dawson-Hahn said. "It's important to recognize that policies do have public health impacts."
These teens will likely need more help in the future. "At the very least we need to track these kids and we need to provide legal and mental health services," Eskenazi said.
Health care professionals also can help by encouraging advanced care planning amongst these families, Dawson-Hahn said.
Families should make plans to determine with whom a teen would stay if one or both parents are arrested by immigration agents, and whether the teen would leave the country if their parents are deported or stay in the United States with a trusted adult, Dawson-Hahn said.
"This is a legitimate concern. The concern youth have about their parents potentially being deported, it is real," Dawson-Hahn said. "We need to help families think through planning if they were to be deported, while acknowledging that we hope that is not the outcome for the family."
The American Psychological Association has more about teens and stress.
SOURCES: Brenda Eskenazi, Ph.D., chair, public health, and director, Center for Environmental Research and Children's Health, University of California, Berkeley; Elizabeth Dawson-Hahn, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor, pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle; June 24, 2019, JAMA Pediatrics, online
Health News is provided as a service to Odenville Drugs site users by HealthDay. Odenville Drugs nor its employees, agents, or contractors, review, control, or take responsibility for the content of these articles. Please seek medical advice directly from your pharmacist or physician.
Safety &, Public Health
Safety &, Public Health: Misc.
Safety: Child
Sleep Problems: Misc.
Adolescents / Teens
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Off The Pitch is a subscription-based digital news service, which aims to be the leading provider of business news for and about the English football industry.
Off The Pitch focus on the 44 clubs in the Premier League and the Championship. As a business news site we only write about financial developments, ownership and leadership of clubs and of course about the different strategies the clubs pursue.
We believe that such a big, important and fast-moving industry deserves serious and fair day-to-day news coverage based on facts and written with a deep understanding of what it takes to run a professional company.
But because we want to be more than just a news site, we have also developed a data section with reliable, detailed data about every club. Our goal is for everything of interest to the industry to be found here on Off The Pitch.
Kasper Kronenberg, editor-in-chief, kk@offthepitch.com.
Kasper has been doing business journalism for almost 20 years. Starting at Borsen, the leading financial newspaper in Denmark, he moved on to Berlingske Business, where he was appointed editor. He also held leading roles at FinansWatch and TV 2 Business, before returning to Borsen in 2017. Author of an award-winning book about the chairman of F.C. Copenhagen, in 2016 Kasper also wrote a biography of the CEO of one of Denmark’s largest banks — Jyske Bank.
Mads Meisner Christensen, CEO, mm@offthepitch.com.
Mads has 12 years of experience in business journalism – half of them at senior level. Before co-founding Off The Pitch, he was the companies editor at Danish financial daily Borsen. He also covered the financial industry at the news agency Ritzau. Mads also has a degree in political science from the University of Aarhus.
Mark Bisson: Former editor of World Football INSIDER, a website which covered the global football industry. A sports business reporter with over 20 years experience, including time as an Olympic journalist, he is the author of the Football Fans Guide — 'The Ultimate Football Travel Book', first published in 2007.
Alex Miller: A freelance sports finance journalist and editor with 23 years of experience. He has published articles in a variety of media, including the BBC, The Sunday Express, The Independent, The Mail on Sunday, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mirror, The Sunday Mirror, Sky News, www.sportingintelligence.com, SportBusiness International, fcbusiness, The Economist, Press Association and Accounting and Business.
James Corbett: An international sports correspondent, author and editor. He was born in Liverpool and educated at the London School of Economics and Birkbeck College. Over a two-decade career, he has reported from every continent and contributed to numerous national, international and specialist publications, including the BBC, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Observer and many more. He is the founder of the leading sports publisher deCoubertin Books and has authored and co-authored 10 books. His specialisms are international sports politics, governance, mega-events, CSR and Everton FC. He divides his time between his home in Ireland and his home city of Liverpool.
Martin Hardy: Martin has been a football journalist in England for more than 20 years, writing for the Daily Mail, the News of the World, The Independent and the Sunday Times. He has written three books — Touching Distance, Tunnel of Love and Rafa's Way — and was shortlisted for the best new writer award at the Cross British Sportsbook Awards in 2016.
Simon Hart: Simon is a longstanding contributor to UEFA’s website and publications, and has written regularly for UK newspapers, notably The Independent and ‘the i’. He is also an author and his most recent book, World In Motion: The Inside Story of Italia ’90, was published in 2018.
Richard Jolly: Richard is a football journalist for the National, the Guardian, the Observer, the Staits Times, FourFourTwo, the Daily Telegraph and the Blizzard. He has written for 16 British national newspapers and wrote for ESPN for 16 years, including as Manchester Correspondent.
Henrik Lønne: A freelance journalist and observer of football for more than 15 years. His work has been published in several Danish media outlets. With a broad knowledge of business, politics and society, his speciality is to understand what happens when these worlds intersect with the beautiful game.
Off The Pitch is financially backed by Søren Rump and Morten Bugge, founders, owners and executives at Global Evolution, the specialist emerging and frontier markets investment manager.
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Medical Bill Review
2009 Year End Update on Health Care Reform Legislation, House & Senate Bills
Michael Arrigo
health care reform / Health Information Technology Standards / HIPAA / Innovation / lobbyists / WEDI
WASHINGTON - DECEMBER 21: Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) talks to reporters after the Senate passed a procedural vote on health care reform on December 21, 2009 in Washington, DC. The Senate passed the first of three crucial procedural votes on health care by a 60 to 40 margin. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Copyright 2009 Getty Images. All rights reserved.
Health Care Technology Update: As required by the HITECH Act, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published an initial set of standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria to enhance the interoperability, functionality, utility, and security of health information technology. These criteria are outlined in the interim final rule (IFR) on Standards & Certification Criteria issued today by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).
Federal Developments: In the past week, the Senate’s health care reform legislation has run the political gauntlet, with Republicans trying to filibuster other legislation to create a roadblock, liberal Democrats complaining loudly about the loss of some favorite provisions, and independent-minded Democrats forcing some significant changes. But the holiday break and the President’s stated goals have given Senate Democrats powerful motivation to get health care reform to a vote this week. Regardless of what happens in the Senate this week, the House has adjourned, which means that the health reform debate will certainly carry over into 2010. Conference committee deliberations between House and Senate leaders are expected to be difficult.
The Democratic Party’s decades-long push to remake the U.S. health care system cleared a major hurdle early Monday morning, with the Senate voting to move ahead on a massive $871 billion bill (according to the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the cost of the bill).
Despite the 60 vote milestone in the Senate, deep divisions over abortion are the Democratic Party’s biggest obstacle to combining the Senate and House bills, which also differ on a public plan and how to pay to expand insurance coverage.
Continuing debate as to whether the Senate bill would do anything significant to slow rising health care costs. A Bloomberg story points out that a number of economists and analysts are doubtful that it will.
Less than two days after releasing a bill with 383 pages of changes, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) corralled his politically diverse caucus and delivered the 60 votes necessary for the most crucial test vote in the legislative process so far — effectively ensuring the reform package will clear the Senate later this week.
The final tally was a straight party-line vote, 60-40. All Democrats and two independents voted yes and all Republicans voted no — and each side bitterly accused the other of trying to thwart true reform through petty gamesmanship. The senators voted just after 1 a.m. while seated at their desks, a rarely used practice implemented only for historic votes.
Roughly 31 million people would receive new coverage under the legislation.
Key new items in the bill include:
the 10-year $6.7 billion-a-year insurance tax set to start in 2010 would now start in 2011, and it has been dramatically reduced in the early years;
both the public plan option and the Medicare buy-in have been dropped and replaced with a multi-state plan option authority;
some insurance rules (medical cost ratio and lifetime/annual limits) have been tightened;
The so-called repeal of McCarran-Ferguson provision has been dropped.
If this bill passes the Senate as expected, there will have to be a conference with the House to resolve major differences between the two bills. Whether this conference amounts to much depends on many variables, but the chances are probably better than even that the President will get a bill to sign in the next month or two.
Similarities Between House, Senate Health Care Bills
The House and Senate bills agree on a number of measures. Both mandate that all Americans buy insurance or face fines, both call for subsidies for low-income families to buy insurance, and both would limit out-of-pocket expenses and prevent insurance companies from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
Both bills would expand Medicaid coverage to include more poverty-levelAmericans and create health insurance exchanges where uninsured Americans and small companies could buy health insurance at competitive prices.
But there remain significant hurdles to passage. The bills hold several obstacles that may be difficult to resolve in conference, including the use of federal funding for abortion, a public health option and the price tag. Senate leaders have been criticized for watering down their bill to gain votes, including eliminating a public healthcare option. House leaders have said they will not compromise on issues such as the public option.
White House officials have indicated that the president hopes to have the bill on his desk before his State of the Union speech in late January, but others on Capitol Hill have speculated it will be difficult for Congress to meet that deadline.
Nonetheless, in remarks Thursday morning following the Senate vote, the President was optimistic.
“Ever since Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform in 1912, seven Presidents — Democrats and Republicans alike — have taken up the cause of reform,” President Obama said. “Time and time again, such efforts have been blocked by special interest lobbyists who’ve perpetuated a status quo that works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people. But with passage of reform bills in both the House and the Senate, we are now finally poised to deliver on the promise of real, meaningful health insurance reform that will bring additional security and stability to the American people.”
Related Federal Legislation
The Senate agreed (88 to 10) with the House to pass the Defense Appropriations funding bill. It contains two health measures of some importance.
First, the bill extends until February 28 the federal subsidy of 65 percent to pay for COBRA coverage for certain individuals who have lost their jobs.
A longer extension of the subsidy (until June 30) will be debated in January. Second, the bill staves off (until February 28) the 21 percent reimbursement cut that doctors in Medicare would have faced on January 1. Doctors continue to bargain for a permanent fix to eliminate the year-to-year game of dropping scheduled cuts at the last minute.
Cost Savings Prospects
From Blooberg: “As the lawmakers struggle to reach consensus on the nation’s most far-reaching health legislation in four decades, some economists and analysts don’t share that confidence in either the Senate or the House bills.
“None of the bills so far would reduce total health-care costs as a percentage of the economy,” said David Walker, U.S. comptroller general from 1998 to 2008. “If there’s one thing that can bankrupt the country, it’s health-care costs.”
The White House defends the bill’s ability to slow costs, but some analysts predict that Congress will need to make many more tough decisions to have a real impact. According to Bloomberg, a group of Senators that includes Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) is taking aim at rising costs with an amendment that would include new requirements on providers to try to wring more costs out of the system. Anyone concerned about the rising cost of health care should be engaged in the process by reaching out to their Senators to urge a greater focus on bending the cost curve.
Technology Efficiencies from Electronic Health Records
Near the close of 2009, Medicare officials detailed plans to distribute billions of dollars in stimulus to upgrade the nation’s paper medical records to electronic files, however at the same time reductions in the incentives the Federal Government plans to pay are envisioned. Under the proposal, doctors and hospitals that keep updated electronic medical records of their patients could receive bonus payments for using the software. Officials for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services stressed to reporters on a conference call that the proposal is preliminary and won’t be finalized until next spring. The proposal was posted to the agency’s Web site. Using electronic records could reduce costly medical errors and duplicative testing, according to Obama administration officials.
“Widespread adoption of electronic health records holds great promise for improving health care quality, efficiency, and patient safety,” said David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. However, Health care providers have been waiting for clarity on who will be eligible for stimulus payments because the law, signed early this year, says only that health care providers must show “meaningful use” of health information technology.
The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) has sent letters to Dr. Blumenthal which provide good insight as to the challenges of adopting electronic health records (EHR). One of WEDI’s key comments regarding adoption: for consumers, the “…population of Personal Health Records (PHRs) by 2015 may not be feasible as all patients may not have PHR’s by 2015. It may not be technically feasible to populate PHR’s from (EHRs/EMRs), and the Security and Privacy concerns related to populating PHRs from EHR/PHRs may not be resolved by 2015.
Fewer than one in five American doctors and hospitals now use digital record systems. Many health policy experts say that computerizing health records could not only cut costs by reducing dangerous medical mistakes and wasteful spending but also improve the quality of care. Federal officials hope that among other things patients would be able to take custody of their medical histories and send them to doctors and hospitals as they choose.
Under the proposed Meaningful Use rule, health care professionals who use electronic records for 80 percent of their medical instructions could receive bonus payments. They also would have to provide patients with printouts of their medical history and use computers to check for potential drug interactions. Hospitals would have to complete 10 percent of their orders electronically.
Ben Nelson’s “Cornhusker Kickback,” as the GOP is calling it, received a great deal of attention because he provided a swing vote for approval. But other senators lined up for deals as Majority Leader Harry Reid corralled the last few votes for a health reform package. Nelson’s might be the most blatant – a deal carved out for a single state, a permanent exemption from the state share of Medicaid expansion for Nebraska, meaning federal taxpayers have to kick in an additional $45 million in the first decade.
But another Democratic holdout, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), took credit for $10 billion in new funding for community health centers, while denying it was a “sweetheart deal.” He was clearly more enthusiastic about a bill he said he couldn’t support just three days ago.
The Senate slowly made making its way through a number of amendments.
Key votes so far include: approved an amendment that would require first-dollar coverage (no cost sharing) for certain preventive services; approved an amendment stating that nothing in the bill reduce guaranteed benefits under Medicare;
defeated a motion that would have sent the bill back to the Finance Committee for the purpose of removing proposed cuts to Medicare;
defeated an amendment that would have removed the CLASS Act provisions from the bill; defeated a motion that would have sent the bill back to the Finance Committee to eliminate the proposed Medicare Advantage funding cuts;
approved an amendment requiring that nothing in the bill shall eliminate benefits “guaranteed by law” to Medicare Advantage enrollees (protects only benefits also covered by traditional Medicare and does not protect extra benefits and services provided by MA plans);
Defeated an amendment that would have placed limits on how much attorneys can earn from medical malpractice lawsuits.
ALL STATES: The National Governors Association (NGA) has announced an initiative outlining preparations for federal health care reform.
Titled “Rx for Health Reform – Affordable, Accessible, Accountable,” the 2009-2010 initiative is led by Vermont Governor and NGA Chair James Douglas. It will focus on: providing governors with the information needed to transition to a new health care system; developing state-based system improvements and cost containment measures, including tools necessary to develop delivery system enhancements, looking at what is required under federal legislation, and highlighting other reforms the states could undertake to create a more efficient and effective health care system; and preparing states for implementing insurance market reforms, state-based exchanges, new mechanisms to support delivery system reform, and other national health reforms.
· The NGA’s Health Care Task Force includes Governor Douglas and West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, both serving as co-chairs, as well as Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch, and Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski.
ARIZONA: Governor Jan Brewer called a fifth special session of the legislature in her quest to address the state’s $1.65 billion budget deficit through the generation of additional revenue rather than continuing to cut services and government staffing. She has revived the idea that increasing taxes is the best option, although legislative support is weak. The focus remains on the state sales tax as the most viable vehicle. The proposed one-cent increase would have to be approved by voters in a statewide referendum.
CALIFORNIA: California Medical Association (CMA), second largest in the nation announced opposition to the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” bill being debated in the Senate. The CMA opposed Governor Schwarzenegger’s health care reform proposal in 2007.
CMS have suggested the plan may fail to meet certain regulatory requirements and are questioning the taxing of insurers that administer benefits for Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program. Rejection of this Medicaid tax could cause the legislature to seek a broader insurance-based tax to fund Healthy Families. However, CMS informed the state last week that it will not be formally reviewing the gross premiums tax.
Instead, the tax arrangement can stay in place until the federal government promulgates regulations on the issue, which won’t occur until June 2011 at the earliest. With this news, the gross premiums tax on Medicaid plans can continue to draw down federal funding and support the Healthy Families Program through the next year.
COLORADO: The Colorado Medical Society (CMS) seeks support for a bill that would define the practice of medicine as including medical necessity determinations and utilization reviews performed by health plan medical directors.
As currently drafted, the proposal would potentially expose medical directors to disciplinary action by the state Board of Medicine when medical necessity or utilization review decisions are challenged. Several discussions have been held with the executive director of CMS to ascertain the nature of the problem the association is trying to address, particularly since the organization as a whole may not be supporting the bill.
The Division of Insurance is backing a “plain language” bill applicable to health, dental, long-term care and auto insurance policies that would become part of the unfair competition or deceptive acts statute. The bill would require carriers to report the readability scores prior to the issuance or renewal of a policy. The requirements would include a readability score not to exceed a 10th-grade level, as measured by the Flesch-Kincaid scale; a minimum font size of 12-point type for written policies; and an index or table of contents if the policy is more than three pages in length or greater than 3,000 words.
ILLINOIS: The Illinois’ fiscal situation was described as “grim and getting worse.” Illinois has a $12 billion structural budget deficit. Comptroller Hynes said Illinois had nearly $4.6 billion in unpaid bills at the end of September, a record for the first quarter of a fiscal year. This, despite the state having borrowed $2.25 billion in short-term loans, which must be repaid before the end of FY 2010.
Hynes identified two factors that have had a major impact on the deteriorating fiscal position: the large decline in personal and corporate income tax and sales taxes receipts, and record spending. Hynes predicted fiscal pressures would continue for most of FY2011 and warned of payment delays for most state programs and operations, including health care and social services. There will be more pressure on health care programs as economic stimulus funds expire. There are already delays in State employee health plan payments. The budgets will the leading topic in the General Assembly when it reconvenes in January.
MARYLAND: Maryland Insurance Commissioner Ralph S. Tyler has announced that he will be resigning effective January 8, 2010, to accept an appointment as Chief Counsel to the Food and Drug Administration. It is not yet known who will replace Tyler, who has served as the Commissioner since 2007.
OHIO: Governor Ted Strickland last week unveiled his strategic growth plan for Ohio’s insurance industry. The plan was developed under the direction of the Ohio Department of Development’s Office of Insurance and Financial Development. Key initiatives include strengthening collaboration between the state, insurance businesses, and the university system; and creating a one-stop shop approach for workforce development issues, site selection as well as a link to state resources.
The plan notes that Ohio is home to more than 250 insurance companies and 81,000 agents, and ranks seventh in the nation in insurance industry employment with 15,000 health insurance industry jobs and an additional 35,888 supporting jobs. In addition, Ohio’s health insurance plans also pay more than $200 million in taxes.
The legislature’s State Employee Health Insurance Review Working Group has unanimously adopted recommendations from Milliman, Inc. that call for combining two state agencies into one. The recently published study recommends: combining the two current agencies (Employee Benefits Council and Oklahoma State and Education Employees Group Insurance Board) into one agency with common oversight, confidential rate information, lower overhead, and an expanded wellness program with medical management; maximizing the benefits of competitive bidding by HMOs by using a “winner takes all” approach, limiting the number of HMOs being offered (currently four), expanding coverage, requiring actuarial certifications of premiums, DOI review of all plan premiums, and a definition/clarification of “excessive” HMO pricing; modifying the current benefit allowance to match the expected impact of HMO bidding process changes; and establishing a minimum benefit allowance of HealthChoice premium plus other core benefit premiums for state employees. This approach represents a significant change over the two-agency system, in which one agency offers a choice of multiple HMO plans that compete against the other agency’s home-grown state plan. Legislation is expected to be filed to implement these recommendations, some of which insurers support and some of which it does not.
FLORIDA: A final draft of the voluntary compact regarding coverage for cancer clinical trials was circulated to interested parties late last week by legislative leadership. Insurers have been working with leadership, both directly and through the Florida Association of Health Plans, to assure the language follows current coverage guidelines. Insurers anticipate being a signatory to the compact.
KANSAS: At the request of Kansas Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins, Kansas Health Policy Authority announced that it estimates the health reform bill passed by the U.S. House would provide health insurance for 240,000 Kansans without coverage and possibly save the state treasury up to $25 million a year. It estimated the U.S. Senate Finance Committee bill would insure an estimated 190,000 Kansans and reduce state costs by $25 million to $50 million a year. The KHPA concluded that the House bill would provide more federal matching dollars for Medicaid and likely would allow a reduced package of benefits for Medicaid beneficiaries added to the state rolls as a result of health reform.
Current Kansas Medicaid eligibility is among the strictest in the nation, with benefits generally available only to the oldest and youngest of the state’s poor. Childless adults of working age are not eligible and parents are enrolled only if they earn less than about 27 percent of poverty guidelines. Exceptions are made for pregnant women.
MASSACHUSETTS: The Massachusetts Joint Health Care Financing Committee held a hearing on legislation requiring every full-and part-time college student in Massachusetts to have at least the basic level of health insurance required under the state’s 2006 health reform law. If enacted, the new law would require students to carry the minimum credible coverage to be considered insured. Universities and colleges that fail to carry out their “responsibilities” to ensure student compliance would be fined a penalty of $1 per student for every day their “failure” continues. The bill also would require the Division of Insurance to issue regulations establishing procedures for implementation and monitoring of compliance. Massachusetts’ existing individual mandate applies to students age 18 or older who pay in-state tuition rates for themselves at a Massachusetts community college, state college, or university.
MICHIGAN: State House Democrats announced cuts in auto insurance through tighter restrictions on insurance companies and the medical portion of claims, affecting subrogation and coordination of benefits for some. The proposal requires auto insurance companies to offer low-cost insurance to low income drivers with good driving records, limits rate increases in many cases without state approval, and requires insurers in the state to offer lower levels of medical coverage. Michigan is the only state that had previously required insurers to provide unlimited medical coverage.
MISSOURI: The state Department of Insurance released a 2008 Annual Report of the HMO market showing that managed care is declining. The report shows enrollment in either an HMO or medical health insurance plan decreased 15 percent in the last two years since 2006. PPO plans are gaining more share, POS plans remain more popular in some areas than HMO plans. Total premiums for managed increased 7.5 percent from 2004 to 2008. HMOs Missouri, covering only Missouri business, had a slightly lower cost ratio of 82 percent in 2008, compared to the national average of 83.6 percent.
Several pre-filed bills that failed to pass in the first regular session included an autism spectrum disorder mandate as well as a bill to amend the current prompt-pay statute. Both are expected to continue to be debated again in 2010. New to the Assembly are bills to pursue a constitutional amendment to prohibit compelling a patient, employer or health care provider to participate in any government- or privately run health system and to prohibit banning a person or employer from paying directly for legal health care services. Another new bill would pursue a constitutional amendment to penalize a political subdivision for participating in a health insurance option sponsored by the federal government. New also is a bill to provide premium refunds for consumers with cancelled long-term care and/or Medicare supplement policies and to make it an unfair trade practice to engage in certain practices when selling Medicare products. Insurers will continue to monitor the pre-filing of bills through the start of the next legislative session in January 2010.
NEW JERSEY: The legislature returned from its extended recess and took action on legislation to establish a medical home demonstration project for the Medicaid population. Upon federal approval, the state Medicaid program would set out a three-year demonstration project with an annual evaluation and reporting requirement by the Division of Medicaid Assistance Services to the Governor and legislature. On the Senate side, payors offered support for legislation requiring chain restaurants to provide nutritional information for food and beverages on their menus. Similar legislation is currently making its way through the Assembly and will likely receive a full vote in both chambers prior to the end of the session.
NEW YORK: The state legislature passed an additional deficit reduction plan, reducing spending and using remaining funds to cover a $2.7 billion deficit. A large portion of the revenue used to fill the gap came from federal stimulus funds that were initially designated for the 2010 budget, and reductions to Medicaid. The legislature did not pass the Governor’s proposed 0.25 percent increase to the patient services assessment or “sick tax”. In addition, the Senate did not pass the Marriage Equality Act, defeating the bill for the year. The legislature will return to face a multi-billion dollar deficit again in January, and it is likely that increases to health insurance taxes will be back on the table.
The Governor introduced a bill during 2009 that would have given the Superintendent of Insurance sole authority to approve rates at his or her discretion, but that bill failed to pass. Given this latest press statement, it is expected that the Governor will ask the legislature to re-introduce his program bill for 2010. The Governor tied his support for the prior approval of rates to plans’ dividend requests. The dividend requests were $800 million from Oxford (18.7 percent of 2008 New York premiums), $200 million from Empire (2.5 percent) and $134 million from Aetna (16 percent). The state’s insurance lobby, the HPA, responded that the dividends reflect multiple years’ earnings, and the plans’ margins are in the 2 percent to 3 percent range.
UTAH: The Department of Insurance remains is working on legislation to expand the Utah Health Exchange Network Portal to include master patient indices that providers may access to view coverage eligibility information. The bill entails a provision to troubleshoot monthly health plan batch reporting. Also included is a July 1, 2010 effective date which would allow no time to update and test affected internal systems.
WISCONSIN: Proposed legislation is pending that would create statutory authority for the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) to oversee of self-funded plans serving public-sector employees, resolve consumer complaints, and monitor reserve and reinsurance levels. Additionally, the bill would apply state minimum coverage requirements, such as mammograms, chiropractic care, diabetes education and care, and require a governmental body that provides a self-funded health plan to provide reports and replies to requests for information to the OCI as they relate to the plan. This bill is aimed at self-funded plans offered by cities, towns, villages, counties and school districts.
Tags: California, CMS, Colorado, federal health care reform, Florida, health care, health care reform, HIPAA, Massachusetts, Meaningful Use, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, state health care reform, Utah, WEDI, Wisconsin
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Michael is Managing Partner & CEO of No World Borders, a leading healthcare management and IT consulting firm. He serves as an expert witness in Federal and State Court and was recently ruled as an expert by a 9th Circuit Federal Judge. He serves as a patent expert witness on intellectual property disputes, both as a Technical Expert and a Damages expert. He leads a team that provides Cybersecurity best practices for healthcare clients, ICD-10 Consulting, Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records. He advises legal teams as an expert witness in HIPAA Privacy and Security, medical coding and billing and usual and customary cost of care, the Affordable Care Act and benefits enrollment, white collar crime, False Claims Act, Anti-Kickback, Stark Law, Insurance Fraud, payor-provider disputes, and consults to venture capital and private equity firms on mHealth, Cloud Computing in Healthcare, and Software as a Service. He advises self-insured employers on cost of care and regulations. Arrigo was recently retained by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding a significant false claims act investigation. He has provided opinions on over $1 billion in health care claims and due diligence on over $8 billion in healthcare mergers and acquisitions. Education: UC Irvine - Economics and Computer Science, University of Southern California - Business, studies at Stanford Medical School - Biomedical Informatics, studies at Harvard Medical School - Bioethics. Trained in over 10 medical specialties in medical billing and coding. Trained by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and PTAB Judges on patent statutes, rules and case law (as a non-attorney to better advise clients on Technical and Damages aspects of patent construction and claims). Mr. Arrigo has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and National Public Radio.
MACRA : “A” is for Access and “C” is for Children
Global Lessons: Planning and Preparation are Keys to ICD-10 Success
ICD-10 Implementation and Medical Management are Co-mingled with Revenue Cycles
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Home > News Releases > Union Springs High School Senior Awarded Berkeley College Scholarship
Union Springs High School Senior Awarded Berkeley College Scholarship
Mar 4, 2015 9:46:00 AM Comms Team
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015 Contact: Ilene Greenfield
UNION SPRINGS HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR
AWARDED BERKELEY COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP
Brianna Schmitt of Union Springs in Cayuga County, NY, a senior at Southern Cayuga Junior/Senior High School, has received a scholarship to attend Berkeley College. Each year, these scholarships are awarded to high school seniors who demonstrate a high level of achievement. The scholarships are renewable, based on the recipient’s cumulative grade point average at the end of each academic year and continued enrollment as a full-time student.
“These students have demonstrated their ability and desire to further their achievements by pursuing a college degree,” said Dario A. Cortes, PhD, President of Berkeley College. “They deserve these scholarships, which can go a long way in helping the next generation of students access a well-rounded, career-focused education.”
Berkeley College provides traditional and online degree options and blended learning opportunities to prepare students for careers in some of today’s most in-demand professions. The College was recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the Best Colleges in the 2014 and 2015 Online Bachelor Degree category rankings. Students at Berkeley College benefit from a supportive, flexible, diverse learning environment that connects them with workplace experiences in their areas of study and pathways to dynamic careers.
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Glasgow: Putting the pieces of an alternative economy together
Published: 4th Jul 2016
Glaswegians are unconventional and often disrespectful of power. But can they bring together the disparate pieces of the city’s emerging alternative economy and challenge the status quo?
‘All these planks somehow go together and make a boat. And that boat somehow can hold us, take us all on a voyage. The voyage of a busted-up community to a better future.’ Colin MacLeod
In a forgotten corner of Govan in Glasgow you can glimpse how regeneration could be if it was driven – not by spreadsheets and buildings – but by trust, empathy and strengthening the individual and collective agency of people.
Galgael is a social enterprise set up by Colin Macleod after his failed attempt as leader of the ‘Pollak Free State’ to stop the M77 motorway being constructed through the park in the neighbourhood he grew up in.
Here, in the former shipbuilding capital of the world, men – and some women – who are long-term unemployed, suffering from mental health problems or otherwise battered by life can come to learn the skills needed to build the traditional wooden boats that once sailed on the Clyde.
‘The old ways of doing things – paternalistic, centralised, focused on the
physical and financial – are no longer working for places like Glasgow’
MacLeod learnt his own woodworking craft among native Americans, and Galgael is imbued with the reconnection to land and to native culture that they taught him. When he died in 2005 at the age of 39, many who had railed against him as a protester celebrated his powers as a chieftain and community builder.
We don’t know what MacLeod would have to say about the Clyde Waterfront regeneration plans that are now transforming the city’s riverfront, but a recent report from the Centre for Population Health suggests such regeneration – big and distant from local needs – is doing more harm than good to the people of Glasgow.
History, politics and vulnerability: explaining excess mortality in Scotland and Glasgow is the latest attempt to try to understand why Scotland – and in particular Glasgow – have such high levels of ‘excess mortality’– rates of death that are above and beyond that which can be explained by socio-economic deprivation alone. The so-called ‘Glasgow effect’ is increasing and can be observed across all adult age groups in the country.
The new report suggests that the displacement of people from inner-city neighbourhoods from the 1970s onwards made Glasgow more vulnerable than similar post-industrial cities to poverty and deprivation. The city suffered more than places like Liverpool and Manchester, with larger-scale slum clearances, a greater emphasis on high-rise development and fewer protections for its citizens, the report said.
That the Commonwealth Games, held in the city in 2014, planned to include in its opening ceremony the demolition of the Red Road flats suggests that few of the mistakes of regeneration past have been learned. Typifying public policy of the 70s, the demolition of the Red Road flats was seen as symbolic of the city’s rebirth. But for those living in the neighbourhood, their destruction was seen as another example of regeneration ‘being done to them’.
And the motorways that now criss-cross Glasgow city centre and which Colin MacLeod and other citizens protested about have created a city with poor connectivity and outlying estates cut off from economic opportunities.
Clare Goff
Clare Goff is former Editor of New Start magazine
← Sheffield: The beauty of small in a region getting bigger
Devo Manc: A new contract for social progress? →
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Soul Force Vol. 1 No. 3
Wiebenson, John Jacob, American, died 2003
ink on paper (fiber product)
H x W: 16 × 11 1/2 in. (40.6 × 29.2 cm)
The May 15, 1968 edition of Soul Force, the official journal of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The cover reads [POOR FOLKS' CAMPAIGN HITS D.C. / YOU CAN HELP / "TO MAKE THIS DREAM A REALITY"] and features an illustration by Henry Brownlee of the faces of five individuals. Stories include "Mule Train Moves Out," about travel to Washington, D.C.; "Poor People's University," about a curriculum developed for college students joining the campaign to educate on issues of poverty; and "Campaña De Los Pobres Proposito," a Spanish-language piece on goals and grievances that the Chicano movement seeks to achieve and address through participation in the Poor People's Campaign. Eight numbered pages.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Abigail Wiebenson & sons, John, Derek & Sam in honor of John Wiebenson
@ SCLC, Henry Brownlee, Brig Cabe, Bill Mahoney, Fletcher Drake.. Permission required for use.
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Life at Siemens
Careers at Siemens
Brain stew and other perks of electronics
“You manage to face things you wouldn’t expect”
Filmon Debru, Apprentice
Meet the refugee engineering a new future
Filmon Debru is one of 100 new starters on the Siemens Internship for Refugees Program, launched last year as part of Germany’s commitment to settling and integrating the thousands of displaced people.
We’re sitting in one of the offices tucked inside Siemens’ Munich headquarters. Listening to Filmon, as he tells us about life back in his home country, we feel very far away from Eritrea. It’s easy to read about refugees in newspapers over breakfast in a removed way, but it’s a privilege to sit down with somebody and hear their stories firsthand.
Telling us about some of the smaller trials he’s faced since coming to Germany, Filmon gives a wry laugh as he describes getting to grips with German grammar. “I like it because it’s a bit like programming… the verbs change depending on the sentence.”
Filmon fled Eritrea after being subjected to over three years of enforced military service. Getting there, to a new life in Munich, has taken him years and it’s a journey that was soberingly brutal in parts. But, he tell us, finding work has been crucial to becoming integrated in a new country.
“I want to improve myself little by little,” he says. And with a background in Computer Engineering, working in the IT development department in Munich is helping him achieve that.
Ambition for life
Staying focused on his ambitions and the future has allowed Filmon to endure the most turbulent moments of the last few years. Although military school was particularly gruelling and at times violent, incredibly, Filmon still managed to study Computer Engineering. “I was motivated by the hope that I could continue doing the work I was passionate about. I thought ‘I can learn this stuff on my own.’”
As a student, Filmon and a bunch of classmates worked independently from a book on C-programming, giving each other challenges to complete outside of class. But there was one snag: their military school only allowed them four hours of access to computer labs a week, and the group didn’t own laptops. The solution? “I started fixing other students’ laptops,” Filmon says. “In exchange for using it for three days.”
When a swell of student protests at military school resulted in multiple arrests, Filmon made plans to flee the country. At this time, leaving Eritrea was illegal.
“Perhaps I have Steve Jobs to thank,” says Filmon, reflecting on his time hiding in the capital city of Asmara, fixing software to save money. “Because smart phones became so popular, I could fix one screen for the same price as 10 TV screens.”
“I managed to get a book about programming, and me and my classmates gave each other challenges to complete outside of classes. We’d analyze solutions and try to make things better.”
With enough money saved to finally flee, Filmon travelled to Sudan on foot in 2012. “We made it to a Sudanese refugee camp but while there I was kidnapped, chained and taken to Northern Egypt where I was sold on a major human trafficking route.”
Here, Filmon tells us in detail about the torture he endured. It was non-stop, and because he suffered blood poisoning from his wounds, he had to have a number of fingers amputated from both hands.
His family and friends managed to scrape together a ransom, and he was released. “I knew without medical care I’d die.” He got to an Israeli hospital just in time for life-saving surgery.
It took several false starts and unsuccessful attempts to settle legally in other European cities before Filmon arrived in Germany. There, a family offered to host him after reading his story in the press. They helped him to organize reconstructive surgery for his hand, to learn German, and find safety and stability for the first time in years.
Enrolling on the Internship for Refugees Program at Siemens has allowed Filmon to put his skills to use and realise his ambition to continue studying. After learning that German universities would not recognise his Eritrean qualifications, the dignity of getting back to work was especially important.
Splitting his time between theoretical and practical lessons, Filmon has already worked on developing a new app to facilitate project management. “I had to learn a new technology and then implement it, which was exactly what I wanted. It’s always fun to learn a new programming language.”
“My passion is creating code for microcontrollers, and working on circuit boards to control a mechanical hand, or robot.” But since his amputation, handling intricate equipment has been difficult. “I’m trying to find solutions for that; I have a special fiber splint that fits into my hand, so I can hold a removable knife or a screwdriver. The next step is designing something that would allow me to hold a soldering gun and small devices like resistors and transistors.”
The program offers the chance to move between departments and work with new teams, so interns like Filmon have scope to learn more on the job. But working with the development department has confirmed it’s where his passion lies.
When asked what he misses most about Eritrea, Filmon says: “I miss my family, and my neighborhood, and just being able to look at the trees.” He dreams of returning but, unless the political situation changes in Eritrea, his long term plans involve Germany and Europe.
“Based on my previous experiences I’ve stopped making long term plans because you always get surprised.” He says. But reflecting on the ordeal of his journey, he continues to have faith in the resilience of people. “Sometimes,” he says, “you manage to face the things you wouldn’t expect to.”
But concrete plans aside, Filmon is sure of one thing: “I want to specialize in one field.” He says, looking thoughtful. “To be at the frontier.”
Bridging the gap between refugees and society
The career internships offering a new way of life at Siemens.
The power of being different
Janina Kugel talks about diversity and how to cultivate your individuality in the workplace.
How to turn your hometown into a digital hub
Qi Zhi heard a Digital Factory was opening in her hometown, and knew she was the person for the job.
Working with robots: the future of collaboration
Dr Wang envisions a world where humans and robots innovate together.
Electric flight: turning the dream into a reality
Dr Frank Anton takes us inside the third revolution in the history of aviation.
The unseen technology powering our world
Nothing would work without industrial drives: meet the team that keeps them moving.
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2018 Freightliner Cascadia Release Date, Design
Freightliner By admin December 30, 2016 No Comments
The Daimler Trucks revealed a completely new and revamped version of the 2018 Freightliner Cascadia semi-truck; this is the first redesign since its introduction in 2007. The model will go into production in early 2018 and has been specifically designed to improve fuel economy, enhance connectivity and encourage driver comfort. Apart from this, the company aims to increase safety quality and performance. The Martin Daum, chief executive of Daimler Trucks North America, said “This is the new frontier when it comes to fuel efficiency and there are still improvements to come,”
2018 Freightliner Cascadia – Design Updates:
The exterior of the truck involves an aerodynamic style with sleek updates, just for the sake of fuel efficiency gains. The updated enhancements include the following:
Upper door seal.
Sloped hood.
Elliptical shaped mirrors.
Integrated antennas.
Bumper with integrated air deflector.
Drive wheel covers.
Longer side extenders.
Additional aerodynamic flow is achieved with the help of optional Aero and AeroX packages.
The interior enhancements focus on new and improved ergonomics. For this purpose DTNA partnered with Teague, a company that specializes in manufacturing Boeings, to design the interior of the Freightliner. The improvements involve more comfortable living conditions for drivers traveling long distances, LED lights to reduce the strain on eyes, and additional grab handles.
Furthermore, they have also installed a dashboard that makes it easier for drivers of all sizes and statures to drive the truck. A front suspension has also been put in, which provides a smoother ride, accompanied by a 5 inches display.
2018 Freightliner Cascadia – Safety Features:
To enhance the safety features of the truck, the 2018 Freightliner Cascadia uses a full LED system, including LED headlights. It also has a one-piece windshield, and the optional Detroit Assurance 4.0, which includes Active Brakes Assist. The Detroit Assurance Safety can be contacted using the Detroit Connect Analytics, which will be available to customers from next year.
The 2018 Freightliner Cascadia also offers a new connectivity system that works as a virtual technician. This system provides services and tools to analyze the fuel efficiency and safety performances. It also allows over-the-engine programming. The Freightliner truck will be the biggest electronic device on the road.
2018 Freightliner Cascadia – Recapitulate and Release Date:
In addition to all the above-mentioned details, the company also carried out extensive tests to ensure that the truck, in fact, was fuel efficient. A pre-launch test involved a 2,400 miles trip from Detroit to Portland. The result of this was that the new truck consumed 8 percent less than other models of the Cascadia, specifically the Cascadia Evolution.
Hence, I think it is safe to say that the new 2018 Freightliner Cascadia looks very promising. Most customers are willing to purchase it, while some, on the other hand, will wait to see the truck in action before making a decision. The production on the truck will commence in January and continue through spring 2017.
Tags:2018 Freightliner Cascadia, Freightliner Cascadia
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For Legal Cannabis Industry, 2018 Proves to be a Great Year
AP ∙ December 30, 2018 4:20 pm PDT |
PORTLAND, Ore. — The last year was a 12-month Champagne toast for the legal marijuana industry as the global market exploded and cannabis pushed its way further into the financial and cultural mainstream.
Liberal California became the largest legal United States marketplace, while conservative Utah and Oklahoma embraced medical marijuana. Canada ushered in broad legalization, and Mexico's Supreme Court set the stage for the country to follow.
U.S. drug regulators approved the first marijuana-based pharmaceutical to treat kids with a form of epilepsy, and billions of investment dollars poured into cannabis companies. Even main street brands such as Coca-Cola said they are considering joining the party.
“I have been working on this for decades, and this was the year that the movement crested,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, working to overturn the federal ban on marijuana. “It's clear that this is all coming to a head.”
Steve Fagan, grower and collective owner of SLOgrown Genetics, attends to his organically cultivated cannabis at his farm in the coastal mountain range of San Luis Obispo, Calif. California became America's largest legal marketplace in 2018, while Canada became the second and largest country with nationwide legal recreational marijuana. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
With buzz building across the globe, the momentum will continue into 2019.
Luxembourg is poised to become the first European country to legalize recreational marijuana, and South Africa is moving in that direction. Israel's Parliament approved a law allowing exports of medical cannabis. Thailand legalized medicinal use of marijuana, and other Southeastern Asian countries may follow South Korea's lead in legalizing cannabidiol (CBD). It's a non-intoxicating compound found in marijuana and hemp plants and used for treatment of certain medical problems.
“It's not just the U.S. now. It's spreading,” said Ben Curren, CEO of Green Bits, a San Jose, California, company that develops software for marijuana retailers and businesses.
Curren's firm is one of many that blossomed as the industry grew. He started the company in 2014 with two friends. Now, he has 85 employees, and the company's software processes $2.5 billion in sales transactions a year for more than 1,000 U.S. retail stores and dispensaries.
Green Bits raised $17 million in April 2018, pulling in money from investment firms including Snoop Dogg's Casa Verde Capital. Curren hopes to expand internationally by 2020.
“A lot of the problem is keeping up with growth,” he said.
Bud tender Kansas, right, offers up a puff of cannabis concentrates at the Turtle Puddles' booth at the cannabis-themed Kushstock Festival at Adelanto, Calif. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Legal marijuana was a $10.4 billion industry in the U.S. in 2018, with a quarter-million jobs devoted just to the handling of cannabis plants, said Beau Whitney, vice president and senior economist at New Frontier Data, a leading cannabis market research and data analysis firm. There are many other jobs that don't involve direct work with the plants, but they are harder to quantify, Whitney said.
Investors poured $10 billion into cannabis in North America in 2018, twice what was invested in the last three years combined, he said, and the combined North American market is expected to reach more than $16 billion in 2019.
“Investors are getting much savvier when it comes to this space because even just a couple of years ago, you'd throw money at it and hope that something would stick,” he said. “But now investors are much more discerning.”
Increasingly, U.S. lawmakers see that success and want it for their states.
Nearly two-thirds of U.S. states now have legalized some form of medical marijuana.
Voters in November made Michigan the 10th state, and first in the Midwest, to legalize adult-use marijuana. Governors in New York and New Jersey are pushing for a similar law in their states in 2019, and momentum for broad legalization is building in Pennsylvania and Illinois.
“Let's legalize the adult use of recreational marijuana once and for all,” Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in late December 2018.
Two state senators in Nebraska, Anna Wishart and Adam Morfeld, formed a campaign committee to put a medical cannabis initiative to voters in 2020. Nebraska shares a border with Colorado, one of the first two states to legalize recreational marijuana, and Iowa, which recently started a limited medical marijuana program.
“Attitudes have been rapidly evolving and changing. I know that my attitude toward it has also changed," Morfeld said. “Seeing the medical benefits and seeing other states implement it ... has convinced me that it's not the dangerous drug it's made out to be.”
With all its success, the U.S. marijuana industry continues to be undercut by a robust black market and federal law that treats marijuana as a controlled substance like heroin. Even in U.S. states where cannabis businesses are legal, financial institutions are skittish about them and investors until recently have been reluctant to put their money behind marijuana.
Marijuana businesses can't deduct their business expenses on their federal taxes and face huge challenges getting insurance and finding real estate for their brick-and-mortar operations.
“Until you have complete federal legalization, you're going to be living with that structure,” said Marc Press, a New Jersey attorney who advises cannabis businesses.
At the start of the year, the industry was chilled when then-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the Cole memorandum that shielded state-licensed medical marijuana operators from federal drug prosecutions. Ultimately the move had minimal impact because federal prosecutors showed little interest in going after legal operators.
Sessions, a staunch marijuana opponent, later lost his job while President Donald Trump said he was inclined to support an effort by U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican, to relax the federal prohibition.
In November 2018, Democrats won control of the U.S. House and want to use it in 2019 to pass legislation that eases federal restrictions on the legal marijuana industry without removing it from the controlled substances list.
Gardner and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have proposed legislation allowing state-approved commercial cannabis activity under federal law. The bill also would let states and Indian tribes determine how best to regulate marijuana commerce within their boundaries without fear of federal intervention.
If those provisions become law, they could open up banking for the marijuana industry nationwide and make it easier for cannabis companies to secure capital.
Oregon Rep. Blumenauer's “blueprint” to legalize marijuana also calls for the federal government to provide medical marijuana for veterans, more equitable taxation for marijuana businesses, and rolling back federal prohibitions on marijuana research, among other things.
“We have elected the most pro-cannabis Congress in history and more important, some of the people who were roadblocks to our work ... are gone,” Blumenauer said. “If we're able to jump-start it in the House, I think there will be support in the Senate, particularly if we deal with things that are important, like veterans' access and banking.”
— Gillian Flaccus
Months Early, Hundreds File Pre-applications for Missouri Licenses
ST. LOUIS — More than 400 pre-applications from potential marijuana growers and sellers have already been filed with Missouri, months before licenses will be awarded. St. Louis Public Radio reported...
Cory Booker's Campaign Message Emphasizes Marijuana Legalization, Equity
Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey explained why marijuana legalization is no laughing matter March 17, 2019, and seemed to take a dig at his Senate colleague, Kamala Harris...
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newsinfo / World
US readies possible solo action against Syria
Associated Press / 08:46 AM August 30, 2013
President Barack Obama. AP Photo
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Thursday prepared for the possibility of launching unilateral American military action against Syria within days as Britain opted out in a stunning vote by Parliament.
Facing skepticism at home, too, the administration shared intelligence with lawmakers aimed at convincing them the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people and must be punished.
Despite roadblocks in forming an international coalition, Obama appeared undeterred and advisers said he would be willing to retaliate against Syria on his own.
“The president of the United States is elected with the duty to protect the national security interests in the United States of America,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
Even before the vote in London, the U.S. was preparing to act without formal authorization from the United Nations, where Russia has blocked efforts to seek a resolution authorizing the use of force, or from Capitol Hill. But the U.S. had expected Britain, a major ally, to join in the effort.
Top U.S. officials spoke with certain lawmakers for more than 90 minutes in a teleconference Thursday evening to explain why they believe Bashar Assad’s government was the culprit in a suspected chemical attack last week. Lawmakers from both parties have been pressing Obama to provide a legal rationale for military action and specify objectives, as well as to lay out a firm case linking Assad to the attack.
Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and already a supporter of moving against Syria in a limited way, said after the briefing that “strong evidence of the Assad regime’s continued use of chemical warfare” merited a military response.
Wary US swimmers share waves with deadly sharks off Cape Cod
It remained to be seen whether any skeptics were swayed, given the expectation that officials would hold back classified information to protect intelligence sources and methods.
In London, Prime Minister David Cameron argued a military strike would be legal on humanitarian grounds. But he faced deep pressure from lawmakers and had already promised not to undertake military action until a U.N. chemical weapons team on the ground in Syria released its findings about the Aug. 21 attack.
The prime minister said in terse comments after the vote that while he believes in a “tough response” to the use of chemical weapons, he would respect the will of the House of Commons.
Caitlin Hayden, Obama’s National Security Council spokeswoman, said the U.S. would continue to consult with Britain but Obama would make decisions based on “the best interests of the United States.”
It was not certain the U.S. would have to act alone. France announced that its armed forces “have been put in position to respond” if President Francois Hollande commits forces to intervention against Syria. Hollande does not need French parliamentary approval to launch military action that lasts less than four months.
Obama discussed the situation in Syria with Republican House Speaker John Boehner, who wrote to the president earlier this week seeking a legal justification for a military strike and the objectives of any potential action.
Assad, who has denied using chemical weapons, vowed his country “will defend itself against any aggression.”
Some of the U.N. chemical weapons experts will travel directly from Syria on Saturday to different laboratories around Europe to deliver “an extensive amount of material” gathered, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said. While the mandate of the U.N. team is to determine whether chemical agents were used in the attack, not who was responsible, Haq suggested the evidence — which includes biological samples and witness interviews — might give an indication of who deployed gases.
Obama and other top officials have not revealed definitive evidence to back claims that Assad used chemical weapons on Syrians. U.S. officials say the intelligence assessments are no “slam dunk,” with questions remaining about who actually controls some of Syria’s chemical weapons stores and doubts about whether Assad himself ordered the strike.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the intelligence publicly.
Despite shortcomings in the intelligence, the White House signaled urgency in acting, with Earnest, the White House spokesman saying the president believes there is a “compressed time frame” for responding.
“It is important for the Assad regime and other totalitarian dictators around the world to understand that the international community will not tolerate the indiscriminate, widespread use of chemical weapons, particularly against women and children as they’re sleeping in their beds,” he said.
But many Congress members were pressing Obama to explain the need for military action and address fears that such a move might draw the U.S. deeper into the Syrian civil war.
The White House has not responded directly to Boehner’s letter seeking more answers about Syria operations and the speaker’s office appeared unsatisfied after the president’s call Thursday.
“Only the president can answer these questions, and it is clear that further dialogue and consultation with Congress, as well as communication with the American public, will be needed,” Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said.
Washington Rep. Adam Smith, senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, cautioned that an attack might be ineffective and might draw the United States into the Syrian civil war, now in its third year.
“Simply lashing out with military force under the banner of ‘doing something’ will not secure our interests in Syria,” Smith said in a statement.
Thursday’s briefing for lawmakers was expected to include only unclassified intelligence, meaning that key details that could more clearly link Assad to a chemical attack might not have been part of it. A similar intelligence report is also expected to be released publicly on Friday.
Obama continued making his case for a robust response to world leaders, speaking Thursday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. With national elections scheduled in Germany for next month, Merkel is unlikely to pull her country into a military conflict.
Merkel also discussed Syria by phone Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, insisting that the attack “requires an international reaction,” Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert said.
Obama has ruled out putting American forces on the ground in Syria or setting up a no-fly zone over the country. He’s also said any U.S. response to the chemical weapons attack would be limited in scope and aimed solely at punishing Assad for deploying deadly gases, not at regime change.
“We do have to make sure that when countries break international norms on weapons like chemical weapons that could threaten us, that they are held accountable,” he said during a television interview.
The most likely military option would be Tomahawk cruise missile strikes from four Navy destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. At a minimum, Western forces are expected to strike targets that symbolize Assad’s military and political might: military and national police headquarters, including the Defense Ministry; the Syrian military’s general staff; and the four-brigade Republican Guard that is in charge of protecting Damascus, Assad’s seat of power. Assad’s ruling Baath Party headquarters could be targeted, too.
U.S. officials also are considering attacking military command centers and vital forces, communications hubs and weapons caches, including ballistic missile batteries.
2 kittens that stopped NYC subway service rescued
TAGS: Barack Obama, Conflicts, Defense, intelligence, Military, Syria, US, Violence
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by Keith Channing
“How can that be?” Rodney asked Jacob, “I thought this stuff was regular.”
“It always has been. Alex has been studying the phenomenon for a long time, and I have never known him not agree with Ingvildr’s forecast. Only this morning, he told me it would happen tomorrow.”
“So, what’s happened?”
“I don’t know. Should I find Alex?”
“Yes, but get the sentries out first. Look at the sky; is it normal for the moons to move that quickly?”
“No, it’s not. I’ll get the perimeter watchers out straight away.”
The moons were certainly moving more quickly than Rodney expected them to. Whether that was normal or not, he couldn’t say, but his gut told him that something was going seriously wrong.
There was nothing he could do about that, but he started thinking. Has Norman asked the Architect to correct the anomaly he was talking about earlier? Is he trying to reset something himself, without involving the Architect? Is there some connection with Ruth’s new role? Norman had told Rodney that he now had the people he wanted in key positions in all three realms: Bill in the Settlement, Chad and Tracey in the Smoke, and Rodney himself in the Village. Does the Arikatoteshika think that gives him the power base he needs to run the show his way? And is he finding out, a little too late, that it doesn’t?
Rodney heard a lot of commotion from all around, and as he peered through the increasing darkness, he could make out Villagers setting themselves up at their sentry stations. Looking up, it seemed to Rodney as though the smaller moon pulsed brighter for an instant. Immediately after that, there was a flash of light and a body rolled along the ground towards him. Before he saw who it was, it reminded him of the day Hemi was literally physically thrown out of a pub when he’d tried to go in under-age. Whoever it was, stood in front of him, covered in soot from head to toe, and looked him straight in the eye. Rodney couldn’t make out who it was, but he had an idea that it was someone from the Smoke, arrived to steal provisions.
Disregarding his own instruction to the sentries not to engage with the intruders, merely to note their arrival and record their actions, Rodney said, “Identify yourself. Who are you, where have you come from, and why are you here?”
“Jav?”
“My name is Rodney Dean. I am the Curator’s chosen representative in this realm.”
“Oooh. I am the Curator’s chosen representative in this realm,” the intruder said, mockingly. “You are Javelin of the Motorhead Gang, and I am Hemi. I am the leader of this gang, and you will do exactly as I tell you.”
“Chad?”
“Bugger. It didn’t work.”
“What didn’t?”
“I hoped I’d be sent back to the Smoke if I started giving orders, like I was before.”
“Come with me, Chad. Let’s get you cleaned up and into some fresh clothes. Mine should fit you okay.” Rodney led Chad into his house and ran a hot bath for his friend. “I’ll be outside when you’ve finished,” he said, and went back to the place where his friend had arrived.
Jacob returned, accompanied by Alex.
“Strange things are happening,” Rodney said.
“I know,” Jacob replied, “The small moon pulsed, and a few people said they saw a bright light near your position right afterwards.”
“Yeah, I clocked that.”
“Then the large moon pulsed. Did you see a bright light after it?”
“I didn’t see the pulse, I had to go into the house for a moment. What do you make of it, Alex?” Rodney asked.
“It is a significant departure from the mathematical projections,” he said, “and I think we should be concerned. No, not concerned, worried. We should make plans; plans for a very different future.”
“He’s right,” Chadwick said, approaching the group, “the wisest people in the Smoke are worried, and I was grabbed by some sort of vortex and dumped here, which is not how it’s supposed to happen.”
Alexander of Samos looked pensive. He crouched to the ground, picked up a stick and drew a circle. Through the middle of the circle, he drew a straight line. “There is an ancient prophecy, one that hasn’t been referenced for an unconscionably long time. It is said that in the last days, the moons’ orbits will accelerate, the lesser sun will become visible, and the distinction between night and day will fade.”
“According to the First Ones, the Smoke, including the cavern system that supports its people, is actually on the lesser sun.”
“Who are the First Ones?” Rodney asked.
“They are the most senior residents of the Smoke. They alone have access to the Temple, and the secrets it holds.”
“Who is worshipped in this Temple?”
“I don’t know, Jav. I don’t have access to it.”
“Could it be the Arikatoteshika?”
“I told you, I don’t know, and I certainly have no idea who or what this Harry Toshak is.”
“Who is this person, Rodney?” Jacob asked.
“Don’t you recognise him? This is Chadwick, known as Hemi in the gang. He was the first of us to disappear, after he broke one of the Curator’s rules.”
“I can see that now. Gosh, he’s aged a lot since he left us.”
“The Smoke will do that to a person,” Chad said, a note of sadness, or maybe resignation, in his voice.
“What else does the prophecy say, Alex?” Rodney asked.
“Nothing beyond what I said just now.”
“What can you tell us about the Smoke, Chad, and how and why you come across here to steal our produce?”
“The why is simple. Nothing grows in the Smoke. Our only source of food is, and has always been, the Village and the Settlement. As to the how: there is a place where, at the time of the twin full moons, a doorway to the Village opens for one hour, giving us enough time for two or three people to get through, collect some food and get back safely. After that, a doorway to the Settlement opens for a little longer. That’s all I know; today was the first time I’d been into the crossing place.”
“And you were chosen to cross today?”
“No. I was supposed to be guarding the entrance, in case anyone tried to cross from the Village to the Smoke.”
“So why are you here?”
“I told you, Jav, I was grabbed by some sort of vortex. The last thing I knew before landing here was being drawn into the vortex, and Astair, one of the elders, trying to hold me back.”
“And how do you get back?”
“I don’t know if I can. It’s been more than an hour since I arrived, and there’s no sign of a doorway. I think I’m stuck here.”
“Jacob,” Rodney said, “can you round up Cobra, Cougar, Mustang and Rambler, please? They can bring their girlfriends as well. I think I need to have a group meeting.”
“What about Cobra’s boyfriend?” Jacob asked.
“Cobra has a boyfriend?” Chad asked.
“Sure. You do know he’s gay, don’t you?”
“Cobra’s gay?”
“Yeah. There’s more to him than meets the eye. Speaking of relationships, how’s Tracey?”
“Tracey? Oh, Comet. Yeah, she’s good. At least, she was when I last saw her, an hour ago. God, I hope I get to see her again.”
Rodney saw a tear running down Chad’s cheek. “Are you crying?” he asked.
“No, mate. Motorheads don’t cry. Must be watering ‘cos of some stuff left over from the Smoke.”
If you missed a chapter, click to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6,Part 7, Part 8, Part 9,Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16,Part 17, Part 18,Part 19,Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31, Part 32, Part 33
From → A-to-Z Challenge 2016, Uncategorized
« #SoCS Nov. 12/16 – Memory Tricks #poetry
Zanzibar – Part 33 »
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Scinet > PSA > Main Page
From PSA
Revision as of 14:25, 25 September 2012 by Hraelt (Talk | contribs)
Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae
Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa) causes canker on kiwifruit (Actinidia spp.). The disease was first reported in Japan and Korea in 1984. Around 2008 there was a very serious outbreak in Italy which has spread throughout Europe affecting predominantly 'Hort16A' (Actinidia chinensis). The highly aggressive strain Psa-V produces an abundance of inoculum and can spread rapidly by aerosols. It infects through natural openings such as stomata, wounds, hydathodes and lenticels. Control options are very limited. Currently they include cutting out infected material and removing secondary infected plants. Maintaining hygiene within orchards is (particularly equipment) very important. Topical applications such as copper-based bactericidal sprays and biological control agents, and the use of elicitors (Actigard, also known as Bion) which induces systemic acquired resistance are currently being trialled.
We have sequenced a number of Psa genomes from New Zealand and other countries where the disease occurs. This information has helped us understand the phylogenitic relationships between strains, design a robust detection system that is specific for Psa-V, and identify effectors and pathogenicity factors unique to the virulent isolate.
Vine symptoms
Bacteria exude from stomata
Bacteria exuding from stomata
Sequenced strains
See here for an overview of sequenced strains
The Psa whole genome sequencing project is a collaboration between Plant & Food Research and Massey University. We have high-quality draft sequences of 25 Psa isolates from around the world. Two of these isolates, Psa V-13 and the type strain ICMP 9617, have been completely sequenced. If you would like to access the Psa whole genome project please contact Matt Templeton. Consult the User's Guide for information on using the wiki software.
Retrieved from ‘https://psa.scinet.org.nz/index.php?title=Main_Page&oldid=64’
Content is available under Terms of Use unless otherwise noted.
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Irmin Schmidt & Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg / Can Tribute - Live 2018.12.16 Volksbühne, Berlin, Germany
Of the four "core" or (loosely speaking) "original" members of the legendary Can, only one is still alive: Irmin Schmidt. Best known as the dramatic keyboardist, he now is mostly busy with film soundtracks. In recognition of his talents and legacy, this concert paired Schmidt the composer with Schmidt the influential sound synthesist. It seemed like an odd concept, but well worth the chance.
Event: Irmin Schmidt & Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg / Can Tribute
Venue: Volksbühne
Irmin Schmidt & Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg setlist:
01. Filmmusiken I
02. Filmmusiken II
03. Filmmusiken III
04. Can Dialog: Halleluhwah
05. Can Dialog: One More Night
06. Can Dialog: Spoon
Can Tribute setlist:
01. Vitamin C [featuring Peaches]
02. Bel Air [featuring Bettina Köster]
03. Don't Say No [featuring Tikiman]
04. Deadlock [featuring Gemma Ray]
05. I Want More [featuring Gemma Ray]
06. She Brings the Rain [featuring Bettina Köster]
07. Mother Sky [featuring Tikiman]
08. Halleluhwah [featuring Peaches]
09. ...and More [with everyone]
The night began with Irmin Schmidt conducting the Deutsche Filmorchester Babelsberg, based in nearby Potsdam. They performed about 45 minutes worth of symphonic music apparently gathered from Schmidt's various soundtrack works and arranged by Gregor Schwellenbach. Without the intended film accompaniment, the music was disembodied and abstract. I (unsurprisingly) didn't recognize any of the compositional elements. The instrumentation was rarely particularly technically challenging and instead focused more on mood and atmosphere. Many sections relied on tension and heavy suspense. Unusual percussion abruptly interrupted the quiet moments. The one extended section of serenity and melody was followed by an equally long section of dissonance and uncomfortable tone clusters. The effect was a bit disconcerting as the jumbled themes jumped from scene to scene.
This was followed by "Can Dialog", a "composition for a large orchestra" in three parts by Schmidt and Schwellenbach. In total, the work lasted about 30 minutes. Each of the three parts seemed to primarily revolve around one of Can's most famous songs. In each case, it wasn't initially obvious what was what, and there seemed to be elements of other songs mixed in as well. The composers freely reinterpreted the original works and let them grow into new directions with logical extensions. The performance was more aggressive, upbeat, and physically challenging than the film soundtrack sections. The orchestra was not always as tight as they could've been, but they brought a delightful energy that I'd rarely seen before in a symphonic setting. Similarly, there was far more fast-paced repetition and propulsive percussion than I was used to. The unpredictability made it quite enjoyable despite any faults.
[Irmin Schmidt & Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg.]
After a break to reconfigure the stage, the second half of the night commenced with a Can Tribute led by Automat, a Berlin-based band featuring Jochen Arbeit (of Einstürzende Neubauten) on guitar, Achim Färber on drums, and Georg Zeitblom on bass. They were augmented by Max Loderbauer on keyboards and synthesizer and Andrew Zammit on percussion and more keyboards. Vocals were handled by trading off between four Berlin-based performers: Peaches, Bettina Köster, Tikiman, and Gemma Ray.
Peaches started off with an aggressive take on "Vitamin C". It was a good way to get things going, but the music didn't quite gel. This was followed by an abbreviated but formless version of "Bel Air" led by Bettina Köster, perhaps best known for fronting Malaria!. Unfortunately, the band wasn't able to capture the beauty of the original, and Köster's raw energy only seemed to throw it off. Tikiman's rendition of the latter-day "Don't Say No" managed to get a bit funkier, but his mic was initially inaudible and he seemed to have trouble getting into it.
[Can Tribute with Bettina Köster.]
Much to my surprise, it was Gemma Ray's versions of "Deadlock" and "I Want More" that finally convinced me that the show was going somewhere. I barely knew her beforehand, and considering her background in retro-noir blues, I wasn't exactly expecting her to fit into the right vibe. However, her voice was the most powerful and effective of the four, and her guitar added just the right touch of additional melody to the blend. Arbeit spent most of the night playing in the same effects-heavy style as he does with Neubauten, again often with an ebow, which meant that he was building more of a soundbed than taking the lead. Ray finally took that role. Her parts were generally fairly simple, but they were exactly what was needed. She also wasn't afraid to experiment: she kept a large knife wedged behind her instrument's neck that she occasionally wielded against the strings.
After that, Ray stuck around on guitar for the rest of the night. Köster came back out to sing "She Brings the Rain", and this time, her vocal performance suitably matched the band's restraint and it came off beautifully. Similarly, when Tikiman came out for a truncated "Mother Sky", he seemed in his element and the band worked up a powerful groove. Peaches came back for "Halleluhwah", which initially seemed like an odd choice after the orchestra had already done a version of it. The tribute band's version was another shortened take, but it's hard to complain about anything when given a convincing performance of that irresistible rhythm. Färber and Zeitblom held it down with fluid skill and Peaches had fun invoking the spirit of Suzuki.
For the final number, all four vocalists came out to do "...and More", the simplistic b-side version of "I Want More". It still jammed and they clearly had fun with it, but it made me wonder why that was the song they chose to close on. Of all the idiosyncratic, unique, and influential songs from Can, they chose the one that was a deliberately derivative alternate version of a song they'd already done. And that was it! The tribute didn't even last a full hour.
[Can Tribute with Peaches, Tikiman, Gemma Ray, and Bettina Köster. Note Ray's knife!]
The concept of the evening was a bit ill-defined, but it was cool to see so many famous figures united in their Can fandom, and the juxtaposition of modern orchestra against a backwards-looking rock tribute was amusing. While Schmidt's film music was only mildly pleasant, his reimagining of Can's classics was perhaps the highlight of the night. The tribute took some time to get its footing, but they largely lived up to the premise. They were never going to best the originals, but they got to play around and experiment with the themes, and if they were halfway successful, then they reached their goal. My only real disappointment was that Schmidt didn't stick around to play the keyboards in the tribute band!
Irmin Schmidt & Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg: B
Can Tribute: B-
Labels: 2018, Automat, Berlin, Bettina Köster, Can, Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg, Gemma Ray, Irmin Schmidt, live review, Peaches, Tikiman
John Cale - Live 2018.12.08 Verti Music Hall, Berlin, Germany
Venue: Verti Music Hall
01. Frozen Warnings [Nico cover]
02. Story of Blood
04. Hedda Gabler
05. The Endless Plain of Fortune
06. Chums of Dumpty (We All Are)
07. Mary
08. Half Past France
09. Amsterdam
10. I Keep a Close Watch
13. Hatred
14. I'm Waiting for the Man [Velvet Underground song]
The first concert I ever wrote a review for was a John Cale show that I saw in Vienna in 2007. (It was originally published on the Fear Is a Man's Best Friend fansite and later revised for my own blog once I started it.) Shortly thereafter, I also published a review of Circus Live from the same year. Back then, he already seemed rather old, but he still had a lot of energy. He was touring with three backing musicians and mixing elements of rock, pop, drone, and noise.
This concert was billed as "John Cale & Orchestra", and sure enough, he appeared on stage with a string section and three horn players (sousaphone, bass clarinet, and mellophone/trumpet), conducted by Randall Woolf. However, he also had a rock band backing him up: Dustin Boyer on guitar, Deantoni Parks on drums, and Joey Maramba on bass. This time around, Cale's age was more apparent in that he didn't seem quite as mobile as before, but his voice has remained strong and he still played his keyboard and guitar with deftness.
Cale opened the show with a droning cover of Nico's "Frozen Warnings", the original studio version of which he arranged and performed on. It was a convincing rendition, an oddly appropriate tribute, and a strong start to the evening. Unfortunately, rarely again during the show would Cale manage to balance vision, palatability, style, experimentation, and recognizability so effectively. In fact, most of the set felt deliberately confrontational.
The setlist wandered across his entire career, from "Amsterdam" from his solo debut, Vintage Violence (1970), to "Mary" from his last album of original music, Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood (2012). A few songs, such as the latter and the encore "Emily" (frustratingly performed without the orchestra) were performed rather straight – as in, close to the beloved and familiar original studio versions, but perhaps a bit more darkly textured and drawn out. "I Keep a Close Watch" was also done more like the beauteous and grand versions from Helen of Troy (1975) and Music for a New Society (1982) than the recent reimagining as an electro-R&B groove from Cale's latest release M:FANS (2016).
But that was about as far as anything comfortable or accommodating went. "Story of Blood", a new song, was dark, brooding, and looming. The classic "The Endless Plain of Fortune" from Paris 1919 (1973), originally a lush, dramatic duel between clear skies and stormclouds, was spitefully performed without the orchestra. It instead featured a long keyboard solo with an unsettlingly cheesy tone. "Half Past France" was transformed into an amelodic dirge augmented by strange samples, again without the orchestra. "Hatred", an obscurity from the Nookie Wood era, was another intense and dark morass oddly accompanied by samples of neighing horses.
Thankfully, not every song was quite that bizarre and difficult. "Magritte" was about as weird as the original version and almost as good. "Hedda Gabler", already dark and long in the studio version from the Animal Justice EP (1977) was notably heavier and stranger. Instead of the choir and guitar solo that dominated the second half of the original, Cale let the orchestra step in to perform an extended, exciting, and varied instrumental passage. "Helen of Troy" was about as heavy and aggressive as ever, but it featured a long solo incorporating Boyer's guitar, the bass clarinet, and the mellophone. It was a combination I'd never seen before, and it was fascinating.
"I'm Waiting for the Man" was another interesting rearrangement. It is one of the only Velvet Underground songs that Cale regularly performs, along with "Venus in Furs", despite that he is not credited with writing either one. However, it was Cale that gave those songs their trademark sounds. Lou Reed usually turned "I'm Waiting for the Man" into a glam or hard rock song. Cale has always done strange things with it. This time, it was a protracted drone rendition that seemed to erase most of the chord changes. At least he kept most of the melody, so it almost felt like something you could hold on to.
The entire show was also accompanied by a visual projection above the stage designed by Abby Portner. The psychedelic patterns were about what I would expect from the sister of Animal Collective's Avey Tare, but some of the imagery such as an emaciated woman in a swimsuit (during "Wasteland") was fairly disturbing. A couple other segments also felt a bit exploitative. It helps to know that the visual artist was a woman, but the old-timey images of dancing women jarred with Cale's sound and style.
The aesthetics and location of the venue also made for a bizarre experience. The venue is named after an insurance company and only opened in October. The building is shared with a bunch of international chain restaurants and stores that I would probably never enter by choice. It sits on the Mercedes-Platz, which is surrounded by further bland establishments and filled with coordinated electronic advertising columns. On one side is the Mercedes-Benz Arena, a building whose construction in the late 00s was heavily criticized, in part because the developers convinced the city to shift a section of the nearby East Side Gallery, a part of the Berlin Wall covered in artwork created during the reunification. It was my first time ever walking around the commercial district, and it was terrifying.
Ignoring the environment, I enjoyed the show, although I'm not sure if Cale wanted me to. He continues to defy expectations and baffle the unwitting, but this is the same guy who was kicked out of The Velvet Underground for being too weird. It's a bold move to hire an orchestra and then have them sit out on all the songs originally recorded with orchestral accompaniment. When they did play, it was rarely in a traditional, melodic style. Even with Cale's aggravating elements, some songs were still enjoyable, and I appreciate that Cale isn't willing to compromise. I don't really understand what his goal was, or what he was trying to get across, but I'm glad that he hasn't mellowed out with age. He's always been a challenging artist, and it doesn't look that is going to change any time soon.
Labels: 2018, Berlin, John Cale, live review, Velvet Underground
Peter Murphy with David J / Desert Mountain Tribe - Live 2018.11.27 Columbia Theater, Berlin, Germany
I've expressed plenty of skepticism for full-album concerts in the past, but I wasn't about to miss an opportunity to see Peter Murphy and David J play together on their first tour together since the last Bauhaus shows in 2006. Although I have seen Murphy play some Bauhaus classics over the years, I missed my chance to see J's rock outfit at Levitation a couple years ago. If this is as close to seeing a reunited Bauhaus as I can get, I'll take it. These are two of my favorite artists and I've written a lot about both of them over the years.
Artist: Peter Murphy with David J
Venue: Columbia Theater
Opening Act: Desert Mountain Tribe
01. In the Flat Field
02. Double Dare
03. A God in an Alcove
05. Spy in the Cab
06. Small Talk Stinks
07. St. Vitus Dance
08. Stigmata Martyr
09. Nerves
10. Burning from the Inside
11. Silent Hedges
12. Bela Lugosi's Dead
13. She's in Parties
14. Adrenalin
15. Kick in the Eye
16. The Passion of Lovers
17. Telegram Sam [T. Rex cover]
18. Ziggy Stardust [David Bowie cover]
19. Severance [Dead Can Dance cover]
A band with a name like Desert Mountain Tribe could really go either way. At first, the roughly growled vocals and heavy sound had me worried that they were some bland hard rock band. However, I detected some nice psych and drone touches that piqued my curiosity. And then after just two songs, Peter Murphy appeared on stage! He sang two songs that coincidentally had bits of gothic rock guitar. He may have had to read some of the lyrics, but his soaring voice really made the songs hit home, and the audience was clearly thrilled. After he left, the band veered into a more Krautrock direction. I was oddly reminded a bit of Jesus & Mary Chain (simultaneously coarse but cool) and U2 (simultaneously grandiose but melodramatic). I liked their blend of styles, even if the individual songs didn't make a strong impression. They were great at building up their jams and maintaining a driving energy.
[Desert Mountain Tribe with Peter Murphy.]
I had always heard that Bauhaus were a powerful live band, and their live albums and bootlegs are reasonable proof of this. Seeing them live, or even half of them, is the real deal. Most of their songs (and particularly the opening trio of In the Flat Field) are propulsive, expansive, and dramatic. On stage, they were all the more captivating. Peter Murphy was in his element. He danced and moved with natural grace and perfectly played the role of a messianic glam-rock vampire. He connected with the crowd, sang every note with effortless ease, and filled the venue with his stage presence. His action was all the more enhanced by the stark, theatric stage lighting.
The band backed up Murphy just as well as any recording of Bauhaus that I've heard. David J appeared cool and restrained, but his performance was spot-on. I've never seen him play bass, let alone fretless bass, but you'd never guess such a solid bassist could also be a folky singer-songwriter and guitarist. Frequent collaborator Mark Gemini Thwaite played guitar and joined J for the backing vocals. Unlike when I saw Thwaite with Murphy in 2009, when I criticized him as "no Ash, let alone Mick Ronson", this time around he was almost a match for Daniel Ash's erstwhile guitar flash. Drummer Marc Slutsky was also a suitable fill-in for Kevin Haskins; he was able to replicate both the energy of the intense songs and the unusual rhythms of weirder tracks.
[Peter Murphy, David J, and two Marks.]
Choosing the strangest Bauhaus album is difficult, but In the Flat Field might take the cake. After blasting through the first three tracks, the band had to tackle six rather unconvential songs that had been largely ignored since circa 1981. "Dive" and "The Spy in the Cab" remained lesser tracks, but the band's patient meditation of the bizarre rhythm of the latter was enlightening to behold. (It took me years to realize that it was J's bass making the bleep sound and that that was basically the entirety of his part.) For "Small Talk Stinks", Murphy brought out a megaphone, presumably just as he did on the studio recording. He was clearly have fun with it in a way that was never quite apparent in the sarcastic bite of the original. He also used the megaphone to introduce "St. Vitus Dance", another opportunity for play and dance. "Nerves" required a sampled piano, but the taut precision and eventual release worked nonetheless.
With only a brief pause, the band continued onwards as if they hadn't just played an entire album from start to finish. The first post-Flat Field pick was "Burning from the Inside", which has never been one of my favorites. While I could again appreciate the meditative simplicity of it, it always seems to go on too long. But after that, every song they played was a winner.
Murphy, J, and company mostly stuck to the beloved classics from the original incarnation of Bauhaus, but they also threw in "Adrenalin", a solid rocker from their reunion album Go Away White (2008). "Bela Lugosi's Dead" might be an obvious choice, but I'd never seen any member of Bauhaus play it in full, and it was a dark delight. Murphy even used some sort of delay pedal to modulate the snare in a manner quite similar to the recorded version, except in stereo and to a much greater extent. "She's in Parties" gave Murphy a chance to play a melodica and even a bit of electronic percussion at the end. Meanwhile, J played a spirited take on one of my favorite dub jam basslines. "Kick in the Eye" was another funky highlight.
For the encore, the band gave us a rendition of one of Bauhaus' first covers, the excellent "Telegram Sam". It was played in the same tense, amped-up style as their studio recording. Much to my surprise and delight, just as on the 1998 live album Gotham, they segued right into their (rather faithful) version of "Ziggy Stardust". Bauhaus might not be Bowie, but they did the best version of the song I've heard that didn't come from the Spiders from Mars. This was a rather transcendental experience.
That seemed like a fitting end to the night, and some of the audience departed, but to my surprise, the house lights did not come on. After a bit of a wait, the band came back and offered "Severance", the somber Dead Can Dance song that first appeared in Bauhaus' setlists during their first reunion in 1998. It was a beautiful performance with a grand crescendo. Murphy's vocals were sublime.
This was an awesome show. I really wasn't sure how they'd pull it off, but Murphy and J were at their prime, and their bandmates were an excellent support. I've never seen Murphy perform at this level. Perhaps J's presence spurred him to greater heights, or maybe Murphy is just particularly well suited to the Bauhaus spirit, but whatever the cause, this show surpassed my high expectations.
[Peter Murphy and David J.]
Desert Mountain Tribe: B+
Peter Murphy with David J: A
Labels: 2018, Bauhaus, Berlin, David J, Desert Mountain Tribe, live review, Peter Murphy
Psychic TV / Michael Cashmore & Shaltmira - Live 2018.11.15 Astra Kulturhaus, Berlin, Germany
Everything about Genesis P-Orridge fascinated me from a young age: hearing Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats thanks to my sister, finding Psychic TV's The Magickal Mystery D Tour EP at a used record store in Kansas, learning about Genesis' and Lady Jaye's gender transformations, seeing an exhibit of their photography at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and so on. However, Throbbing Gristle disintegrated a few years ago, Psychic TV hasn't toured as much in recent history, and Genesis' health has not been particularly good lately. Opportunities to see them or the band are probably quite limited.
Artist: Psychic TV
Venue: Astra Kulturhaus
Opening Act: Michael Cashmore & Shaltmira
Setlist (approximate):
01. New Sexuality
02. We Kiss
03. Burning the Old Home
04. Alien Brain
05. White Nights
06. Just Like Arcadia
07. Jump Into the Fire [Harry Nilsson cover]
08. After You're Dead, She Said
09. Suspicious
10. Mother Sky [Can cover]
Opening the night were Lithuanian visual artist and vocalist Shaltmira and British musician and Current 93 member Michael Cashmore. In addition to singing and chanting, Shaltmira danced, played with masks, and performed various ritualistic actions. Cashmore mostly stayed behind a table with a laptop and some electronics and produced a dark electronic soundscape. Twice he stepped to the front of the stage to briefly sing along with Shaltmira. The music had elements of techno, industrial, and darkwave. This was matched with a weird, dark, magic-oriented visual display designed by Shaltmira. It made for quite a strange experience, one that I wasn't sure how to connect with. It didn't speak to me, but I found their dedication to some version of magical ritual to be captivating. The more cohesive musical elements had some appeal to me, but much of it felt purposeless and vague.
[Michael Cashmore & Shaltmira.]
Psychic TV hit the stage at an uneven time while the house music was still playing, suggesting that they were either late or in a hurry to get going. Genesis P-Orridge came last and took the central spot. The rest of the band consisted of longtime members Edward O'Dowd and Alice Genese on drums and bass, respectively, Jeff Berner on guitar, and John Weingarten on keyboards. They started with a long instrumental passage before Genesis joined in with their vocals.
Musically, the band incorporated elements of psychedelia and classic rock, but stretched out into long jams that felt trance-like and droning. They performed only ten songs over the course of almost two hours. The songs rarely felt tiresome, perhaps because of the energy of the performers, the subtle variations in the musical and lyrical themes, or the weird kaleidoscopic patterns of the slideshow, which exhibited an obsession with twisting classical art images into unusual forms in constant motion.
Many of Genesis' lyrics seemed to related to their explorations and experiences with gender and sexuality. The ghost of the departed Lady Jaye was frequently present, either via their shared pandrogeny or Genesis' tribute to and obvious sadness for her passing. Another dominant theme was finding personal freedom.
While I found Genesis' lyrics poignant, their vocals were not at their best. Whatever the cause, Genesis frequently sang jarringly off-key and sometimes even out of time. If I hadn't been particularly interested in understanding their experience, and if the music hadn't been strong enough behind them, the vocals might've been overwhelmingly distracting.
However, there were a few shorter numbers where Genesis seemed slightly more lively and consciously engaged, such as the pseudo-Christmas song "White Nights". I missed the psychedelic reverb and other effects that often grace the vocals on their studio recordings, but Genesis' trademark unconcerned drawl was still quite present. Their humor and openness were also on display. At one point, Genesis urged the audience to reject coolness and hug one's neighbors. Between many songs, the band played samples from old movies, PSAs, and similar media, including the famous Bill Clinton denial quote. Genesis often mimed to them or made a quick joke as the next song began.
Psychic TV might be a profoundly strange band, but they are also profoundly fascinating. The music was compelling, the visual aspect was hard to stop watching, and Genesis barely has to try to still have a captivating stage presence. I just hope this isn't the end of Psychic TV as a live unit. O'Dowd had to appeal twice to the crowd to stop smoking cigarettes, as Genesis was apparently on oxygen before the show and would be again immediately afterwards. They're either dedicated to their craft or desperate for financial support. I hope it's the former.
[Psychic TV.]
Michael Cashmore & Shaltmira: C
Psychic TV: B-
Labels: 2018, Berlin, Genesis P-Orridge, live review, Michael Cashmore, Psychic TV, Shaltmira
Human League / Shelter - Live 2018.11.12 Huxleys Neue Welt, Berlin, Germany
Similar to my experience with Fehlfarben, one of my first reviews on this blog was of my favorite album by The Human League, Travelogue (Dare comes second!), and it took until now for me to finally get a chance to see them live. Of course, the band that recorded Travelogue only shares one member with the current lineup, but it still seemed worth a shot.
Artist: The Human League
Opening Act: Shelter
01. The Sound of the Crowd
02. Sky
03. Heart Like a Wheel
04. Open Your Heart
05. Soundtrack to a Generation
06. Seconds
07. The Lebanon
08. One Man in My Heart
09. Louise
10. Human
11. Behind the Mask [Yellow Magic Orchestra cover]
12. Love Action (I Believe in Love)
13. All I Ever Wanted
14. Mirror Man
15. Tell Me When
16. (Keep Feeling) Fascination
17. Don't You Want Me
18. Being Boiled
19. Together in Electric Dreams [Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder song]
When I read that the opening band was Shelter, I was expecting the American Krishnacore band. It seemed like a strange combination, but you never know with these things. When I showed up, I was instead presented with a British electronic pop duo featuring a singer that addressed the crowd in fluent German. I liked the queer vibes I got from them, but that was about it. The songs sounded like they were written by stealing one bit of a song by New Order, Gary Numan, or Depeche Mode, and then using that as the only hook. The lyrics were bland and the music just made me wish for the real thing. The singer was decent, but most of the music and backing vocals were programmed. I kind of wished I'd seen the hardcore band instead.
The Human League appeared as a six piece: original singer Philip Oakey, Dare-era backing vocalists Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley, two keyboard players (Nic and Ben), and Rob Barton on electronic drums. Off to the side of the stage was David Beevers, their sound engineer, who was important enough to receive an introduction by Philip along with the others. Both keyboard players came onstage with keytars, so clearly things were off to a good start.
[Two keytars!]
I had no idea of what to expect from the concert. Unsurprisingly, they played half of Dare along with both subsequent non-album singles, all of which were well done even if predictable. Otherwise, they played various singles from throughout their career, of which some were markedly better than others. "One Man in My Heart" was a welcome opportunity for Sulley to take the lead, but the song itself was not a winner. "Behind the Mask", on the other hand, was a compelling reminder of the band's collaboration with Yellow Magic Orchestra.
"Don't You Want Me" was naturally the closer of the main set, but the instrumentalists led an extended intro with an opportunity for the crowd to sing a round of the refrain before the singers came back on stage. I was particularly curious what they would offer for an encore after already playing their biggest hits. The answer was "Being Boiled", the only song they played from the original incarnation of the band. It's a weird song, but I still like it, and it was markedly heavier than anything else they played. The last song was "Together in Electric Dreams", originally a collaboration by Oakey and Giorgio Moroder for the Electric Dreams soundtrack. Naturally, it fits right into the Human League mold, and the crowd was into it.
From what I could tell, almost everything was performed live. One of the keyboardists even played a guitar for a couple of the songs! Oakey's vocals were still quite strong, and while no one ever pretended that Catherall and Sulley were virtuosos, their vocals were solid additions. I wish they'd been a bit higher in the mix at times, though. While the backstory of the women's addition to the band still sounds bizarre today, I've got to hand it to them that they've stuck with the band ever since they joined in 1980. It'd be a lot weirder if it didn't work.
The band clearly tries to fight the notion of being a boring synth band just standing statically behind their rigs. Oakey kept active and ran all over the stage. Catherall and Sulley were both in constant motion, swaying and dancing on the sides. (All three also had a few costume changes throughout the night.) The drumkit and keytars also helped with the movement on stage. And true to tradition, they had a massive array of video screens. The visuals were sometimes bits of their music videos but often just weird pseudo-sci-fi imagery or scenes from old video games (e.g. Pac-Man) and movies (e.g. Tron). The weirdest was for "Together in Electric Dreams":
[Are those mechanical sheep with telephones for heads?]
Despite the many things the band did right, there was still something missing from the show. Although they did their best to keep the attention of the audience, there was something a bit too easy, clean, and predictable about it all. They leaned hard on the pop side of their catalog, but their presentation lacked depth. I appreciate the politically charged nature of some of their songs, but many were straightforward and uncomplicated. It felt a bit too cheesy at times, like the audience was being pandered to. Where were the experimental elements? The willful weirdness? Obviously, I wanted more from Travelogue, but that's not the last album in their career to feature experimentation and exploration. I liked what I heard, but I was hoping for more.
Shelter: D
The Human League: C+
Labels: 2018, Berlin, Human League, live review, Shelter
Boogarins / Love'n'Joy - Live 2018.11.08 Musik und Frieden, Berlin, Germany
I had the good fortune to see Boogarins three times in Austin at various festivals while I lived there. They seem to be constantly growing and changing, so they were always worth taking a chance on. Although their second album, Manual (2015), didn't initially appeal to me as much as their first, As Plantas Que Curam (2013), it has grown on me in the meantime, and their latest album, Lá Vem a Morte (2017, reissued in "deluxe" form with three bonus tracks in 2018), is a delightful collage of psychedelic sound. 11€ seemed like a bargain to see them headline a show in a compact venue.
Artist: Boogarins
Venue: Musik und Frieden
Date: 8 November 2018
Opening Act: Love'n'Joy
02. Foimal
03. 6000 Dias (Ou Mantra dos 20 Anos)
04. Lucifernandis →
05. Auchma [Extended]
06. Avalanche
07. LVCO 4
08. Corredor Polonês →
09. Lá Vem a Morte [Extended]
10. Onda Negra
11. San Lorenzo
12. Doce [Extended]
Unsurprisingly, the opener was another psychedelic band: Love'n'Joy from Ukraine. They were a three-piece with a garage rock foundation and a load of riffs and harmonies. The English lyrics that I could understand were nothing special, but they sure managed to make the music translate effectively. All three musicians were solid performers and held their own. This was put to the test when the guitarist broke a string and the bassist and drummer carried on and jammed on their own for a bit. The guitarist ended up just grabbing a different guitar (which turned out to be one of Boogarins'), but something went wrong with the cables or pedals and he ended up playing most of the next song plugged directly into the amp. It's practically a joke that some bands would sound completely mundane if the effects were removed, but thankfully Love'n'Joy mostly still worked even without the pedals. They kept it together and showed no sign of weakness despite the troubles. I was impressed.
[Love'n'Joy.]
The core of Boogarins' music has remained constant: melodic psychedelic rock with intertwined guitar work, Portuguese lyrics, and a healthy dose of experimentation. Lá Vem a Morte brings the experimental characteristics to the fore, but unlike some of the jam sections of the last show of theirs I saw, the record is focused, cohesive, and surprisingly bright. The propulsive drumming of Ynaiã Benthroldo was also given more room to shine.
However, I honestly wasn't sure how the new album would translate to the stage. Thankfully, they pulled it off quite successfully. Benthroldo's drumming retained a prominent place, particularly in songs like "Foimal", but his energy made the entire setlist groove, and his improvisational ability was essential for the jam sections. Bassist Raphael Vaz lent an electronic edge by playing most of the new songs on a keyboard. Dinho Almeida and Benke Ferraz kept their traditional roles, but they've only continued to expand their skill of playing off each other's parts. Almeida's rhythm guitar parts were often bouncy and dynamic enough that in another band they could be the lead part. Ferraz's lead guitar just jumped off from there. I was happy to see him singing more harmonies again as well.
Their set opened per tradition with a jam that I didn't recognize, and from there they jumped all over their catalog, frequently rearannging and extending the songs along the way. "LVCO 4", a quite new song from the reissue of Lá Vem a Morte, was a surprisingly restrained and sparse number, although a few parts of their various jams had similarly minimalist breakdowns. "Lá Vem a Morte", which appeared on the album in three parts, each quite cacophonous and scatterbrained, was performed in a nine-minute continuous version. It still shifted from section to section, but it was focused more on the guitar jams instead of the samples and noise from the record. It was a highlight.
The house lights and music came on after "Onda Negra", but the band hadn't even been on stage for an hour. Thankfully, the crowd and band convinced the venue to let them carry on. The crowd had repeatedly and enthusiastically requested the song "San Lorenzo", and the band finally obliged, although Almeida had to struggle to remember the guitar part in the middle. He figured it out after a few tries, and the audience cheered him on instead of grumbling or jeering.
They played a strong set, and the show felt full and fulfilling despite being shorter than I expected. I liked the mix of songs and the many changes they made to the songs to adapt them to the stage. Even the new songs felt like they were retooled and reworked to keep them interesting and impressive without studio effects and samples. The only weak moments were when some of the sparser sections dragged on a bit too long, and I was surprised that they closed the show with such a section. Instead of building up to a big finish, the gradually worked their way down until there was nothing left to remove. I hoped they might come back for a brief second encore to do one more rocker, but that was it.
[Boogarins.]
Love'n'Joy: B+
Boogarins: A-
Labels: 2018, Berlin, Boogarins, live review, Love'n'Joy
Echo & the Bunnymen / And They Spoke in Anthems - Live 2018.10.31 Admiralspalast, Berlin, Germany
It's almost hard to believe I've made it this far in life without seeing Echo & the Bunnymen live. Coincidentally, the first album of theirs I bought was Ocean Rain right here in Berlin on my first visit in 2004. And they played on Halloween of all nights!
Artist: Echo & the Bunnymen
Venue: Admiralspalast
Opening Act: And They Spoke in Anthems
01. Going Up
02. Bedbugs and Ballyhoo
03. Rescue
04. Never Stop
05. All That Jazz
06. All My Colours
07. Over the Wall
08. The Somnambulist
09. Villiers Terrace → Roadhouse Blues [The Doors cover tease] → The Jean Genie [David Bowie cover tease]
10. Nothing Lasts Forever → Walk on the Wild Side [Lou Reed cover tease] → Don't Let Me Down [The Beatles cover tease] → In the Midnight Hour [Wilson Pickett cover tease]
11. Seven Seas
12. Rust
13. Bring On the Dancing Horses
15. The Killing Moon
16. Lips Like Sugar
17. Ocean Rain
I didn't see any reference to an opening band, so I had no idea what to expect. After the bells stopped ringing, the lights went down, and the spotlight came on, I was surprised to see a single man surrounded by instruments. This was And They Spoke in Anthems from Belgium. His shtick was looping. He mostly stuck to guitar and vocals with occasional bits of organ and percussion. Unfortunately, his foot-tapping on the hi-hat with a tambourine was rarely in time, so it was more of distraction than anything. Otherwise, his songs were fine and the looping generally worked. The highlight was some classical or folk-styled guitar parts, particularly one where he looped a lead part to simulate double-stop thirds.
Half an hour later, the bells rang again, but it took another conspicuous 15 minutes for Echo & the Bunnymen meander on stage to the sound of a Gregorian chant, just like they used to in the old days. They even opened with the traditional choice of "Going Up". The band, nominally just Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant, was augmented by Stephen Brannan on bass, Gordy Goudie on guitar, Nick Kilroe on drums, and Jez Wing on keyboards.
It quickly became apparent that they weren't planning on deviating from their typical sound and approach, despite that just weeks ago they released an album of orchestral rearrangements of some of their classic songs (The Stars, The Oceans & The Moon). I had half-expected that the band would be touring with strings players as a result. The album is exactly what you would expect: relatively tired and sappy versions of songs that don't stand of a chance of improving on the originals. The idea is obvious and not even executed particularly well. That said, the two new songs are actually decent.
At the concert, however, you might as well have not known that the new album exists. They made no mention of it whatsoever, and although the setlist is unsurprisingly similar to the album's tracklist, the renditions were essentially the classic arrangements that they've been playing since the beginning. The only exceptions to the standard mold were that Mac sang the updated lyrics to "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo" and they performed one of the new songs from the album, "The Somnambulist". Although it's a good song and it did fit in with the rest of the set, Mac's claim that "Everyone'll say that's a classic in twenty years" is probably unrealistic.
The only other surprises were the various teases of the band's favorite songs that they threw into the middle of "Villiers Terrace" and "Nothing Lasts Forever". However, even that wasn't really a surprise at all; they've been doing that practically since the beginning. Still, it's fun to see them do it live. Musically, they were consistently on point. The could hammer out these songs without even trying, but thankfully they still invest them with energy and strength. The fact that the setlist is so predictable is a bit disappointing, but at least the songs they do always play are a superb selection.
The biggest disappointment, however, was Mac's voice. For the most part, he still sings well enough, but he can't hit the notes like he used to. In "Never Stop", "The Cutter", and "Ocean Rain" in particular, he changed some of the melodies to a lower register. It seemed like he was trying to give his all for "The Cutter", but he couldn't quite make it each time and he sometimes opted for the easy route. On other songs, you could hear his voice stretch and fail. "The Killing Moon" was unfortunately the worst example. Most of the song was great, but I guess he figured he couldn't just skip the highest parts. He tried his best, but he just couldn't do it. In general, there was an element of power in his voice that was missing. The best Bunnymen songs feature sections where Mac would belt out in an almost unbelievably strong voice, and that just didn't quite happen.
For a band that got their start just about 40 years ago, though, they still have a lot to offer. The songs are as good as ever, and the fact that they are still able to throw a new one in the mix that isn't an obvious dud is reassuring. I wish they would've thrown in some more obscurities or simply played a longer set, but they lived up to their reputation of being a capable and well-honed band.
And They Spoke in Anthems: C
Echo & the Bunnymen: B
P.S. Unfortunately, we weren't granted any special treats for Halloween. In fact, Mac claimed to "hate Halloween". I wasn't able to understand his explanation, though.
Labels: 2018, And They Spoke in Anthems, Berlin, Echo & the Bunnymen, live review
Irmin Schmidt & Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg...
John Cale - Live 2018.12.08 Verti Music Hall, Berl...
Peter Murphy with David J / Desert Mountain Tribe ...
Psychic TV / Michael Cashmore & Shaltmira - Live 2...
Human League / Shelter - Live 2018.11.12 Huxleys N...
Boogarins / Love'n'Joy - Live 2018.11.08 Musik und...
Echo & the Bunnymen / And They Spoke in Anthems - ...
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Colorado Legislation 1
Patient Disclosure
Incentives 17
Malpractice Litigation 53
Computerized Adverse Event Detection 1
Transparency and Accountability 10
Wrong Patient 2
Wrong-Site Surgery 2
Hospital Medicine 14
Mental Health Care (Psychiatry & Clinical Psychology) 1
Allied Health Professionals 1
To Resuscitate or Not?
Albert W. Wu, MD, MPH; Peter J. Pronovost, MD, PhD; January 2004
A patient receiving end-of-life care, whose code status was DNR, encounters a potentially life-threatening medication error.
The Unintended Consequences of Florida Medical Liability Legislation
with commentary by Paul Barach, MD, MPH , The Law and Patient Safety, December 2005
Quality health care and patient safety have emerged as major concerns in society. The Institute of Medicine’s report entitled To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System led to considerable discussion in both the public and private sectors on the need...
What Can the Rest of the Health Care System Learn from the VA's Quality and Safety Transformation?
with commentary by Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH, The Transformation of Patient Safety at the VA, September 2006
Five years after the landmark Crossing the Quality Chasm report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the quality and safety of health care in the United States remains far from ideal.(1) It is easy to feel pessimistic. Can health care organizations really...
In Conversation with...Sorrel King
The Patient's Role in Safety, March 2007
Sorrel King is the mother of Josie King, who died tragically in 2001 at age 18 months because of medical errors during a hospitalization at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She has subsequently become one of the nation’s foremost patient advocates for safety, forming an influential foundation (the Josie King Foundation) and partnering with Johns Hopkins to promote the field of patient safety around the world.
In Conversation with…Albert Wu, MD, MPH
The Second Victim, May 2011
A Professor at Johns Hopkins University, he coined the term “second victim” to describe the toll that errors take on providers.
In Conversation with...Geri Amori, PhD
Risk Management and Patient Safety, December 2010
Geri Amori, PhD, is Vice President for the Education Center at The Risk Management and Patient Safety Institute, and a popular writer and speaker.
In Conversation With… … Jennifer Schulz Moore, LLB, MA, PhD
New Insights Into Apology and Disclosure Programs, April 2019
Dr. Schulz Moore is the Director of Learning and Teaching at the University of New South Wales Faculty of Law and an Associate with the University of New South Wales School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Her research in health law draws from her unique training in public health, law, and health social sciences. We spoke with her about disclosure and apology in health care as well as the intersection between health and legal systems in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.
Promoting Patient Safety: An Ethical Basis for Policy Deliberation.
Sharpe VA. Hasting Center Rep. 2003;33(suppl):S1-S20.
The results of a two-year Hastings Center project to elucidate ethical concerns that affect the dialogue in developing effective patient safety policies.
Disclosure of unanticipated events: creating an effective patient communication policy (part 2 of 3).
Chicago, IL: American Society of Healthcare Risk Management; 2003.
The process for crafting a policy to support effective disclosure initiatives is reviewed. Discussion includes a summary of the key document elements and highlights legal considerations.
Risk management: extreme honesty may be the best policy. Get Citation
Kraman SS, Hamm G. Ann Intern Med. 1999;131:963-967.
This article reviews a humanistic risk management policy. The authors discuss principles of such a policy, including early injury review, maintenance of the hospital-patient relationship, full disclosure, and fair compensation for injuries. The experiences of one Veterans Affairs medical center are presented to illustrate the role a humanistic policy can play in controlling liability payments. The authors examine the complexity of embracing this proposed strategy while weighing the factors that lead to claims being filed. They conclude by suggesting that prioritizing patients’ interests may reduce expenses associated with malpractice claims.
HIPAA and patient care: the role for professional judgment. Get Citation
Lo B, Dornbrand L, Dubler NN. JAMA. 2005;293:1766-1771.
This commentary discusses federal health privacy regulations, commonly known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the misconceptions many providers share about its impact on incidental disclosures. The authors outline the current regulation requirements and offer strategies for interpretation, particularly in areas where gaps exist and professional judgment is needed. Discussion includes the ethical aspect of interpreting the regulations with criteria that should be met for an incidental disclosure to be permissible. Numerous examples are provided throughout the article. The authors conclude with recommendations to both comply with regulatory policy and ensure the best clinical care and professional ethics. They point out that giving absolute priority to maintaining a patient's confidentiality should never compromise care.
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Home / Hydraulic hybrid vehicles may improve public transportation energy efficiency
Written by John O'Malley | October 27, 2017 | Research, Realizing the Digital Enterprise
Electric vehicles equipped with hydraulic hybrid transmissions have the potential to be considerably more energy efficient than electric hybrids which do not use hydraulics. Jorge León, a graduate research assistant working with José Garcia-Bravo in the School of Engineering Technology, hopes to use hydraulic devices and fuzzy logic theory to maximize the energy efficiency in electric busses.
Hybrid vehicles may have two or more sources of power. A conventional hybrid car is equipped with an internal combustion engine and an electric motor. Either or both power sources can put the vehicle in motion.
“When you’re going along in your car, you have kinetic energy,” León said. “But when you slow down, you lose that energy in your brakes as heat.”
Conventional hybrid cars, which became popular after the worldwide launch in 2000 of the Toyota Prius, capture some of that energy to recharge their batteries during braking. Electric busses equipped with hydraulic transmissions have the promise of technology which will increase the life and the range of an electric battery. They employ the movement of fluids in confined spaces under pressure to store kinetic energy. The nature of their drive cycles makes them good subjects for research, León said.
“In a bus, you have a lot of braking events,” said León, “A hydraulic accumulator, which has the ability to charge and discharge very fast, would allow you to regenerate energy quickly.”
León is researching how to optimize vehicle power management systems to take full advantage of the hydraulic transmissions’ ability to regenerate energy quickly. He found that fuzzy logic control theory might increase energy efficiency.
“With fuzzy logic, it is possible to make a refined control in the more critical zones and a general control in the zones where it is not necessary to have high accuracy,” said León.
León created a case study based on the Chevrolet NKR Reward Euro IV, a commercial passenger bus used by the Integrated Public System of Transportation (SITP) in Bogotá, Colombia. Using fuzzy logic theory in the control strategy to simulate driver input, León used Matlab and Simulink software to create numerical models. The results suggested that a hydrostatic transmission could increase energy efficiency noticeably as compared to transmissions in a conventional electric hybrid bus and significantly as compared to an identical non-hybrid bus.
“At this stage of the research, the model is saying that yes, fuzzy logic can be useful,” León said. “Now we are constructing systems on a test bench to validate those results and to see if it works in the real world.”
In the United States during 2016, the transportation sector was responsible for 29% of all energy consumption. Improvements in that sector’s energy efficiency could significantly reduce global energy usage, León said.
León earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering at the University of los Andes in Bogotá. During his master’s research, he met García-Bravo, assistant professor of engineering technology, and gained experience in hydraulics.
“I’ve always been interested in numerical methods to solve engineering problems,” said León. “I like the Polytechnic approach to education. We are doing theoretical work with simulations and numerical models, but we are also making real stuff on our test bench which will help prove whether our model is sound.”
People in this Article:
Engineering Technology grads develop Presso, the “microwave of laundry”
Dudley Hall to provide major expansion of Polytechnic, Engineering instructional space
Purdue Polytechnic receives $12 million award to create cybersecurity apprentice program
Researchers simplify BIM software development for architecture, engineering and construction industry
Construction management grad researcher aims to improve synergy within building information modeling
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Home / Charts / Regulatory Accumulation since 1970
Regulatory Accumulation since 1970
Patrick McLaughlin and Oliver Sherouse
It is difficult to quantify the trends in and effects of federal regulation, and it is all too easy to mistake rhetoric for reality. In debates about regulation and regulatory reform, people often cherry-pick their favorite anecdote as evidence to support their points of view, and disagree over who the biggest regulators or deregulators were. To us, the slippery nature of these debates simply proves that Lord Kelvin (after whom the temperature unit is named) was correct when he wrote, in 1883,
“When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the stage of science.”
Similarly, a lack of measurement and data has limited our knowledge about regulation and its effects, at least until recently.
RegData 3.0 is a revised and updated version of the five-year-old RegData Project hosted by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. This version of RegData gives us a more precise history of federal regulation spanning nearly five decades. Produced using the QuantGov framework, RegData includes counts of the number of regulatory restrictions—phrases like shall, must, and others that indicate prohibited or required activity—that are published annually in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The chart below shows the total count of regulatory restrictions for each year from 1970 to 2016.
The most striking aspect of the chart is the inexorable accumulation of regulatory restrictions over time. Steady growth occurred over three long periods, with two quick intermissions when the growth rate slowed dramatically and the number of restrictions even declined. From 1970 to 1981, restrictions were added at an average rate of about 24,000 per year. From 1981 to 1985, that pace slowed to an average of 620 restrictions per year, before accelerating back to 18,000 restrictions per year from 1985 to 1995. A decrease of 27,000 restrictions occurred from 1995 to 1996—3.2 percent of the 1995 total—and in the 20 years since then, regulation has grown steadily by about 13,000 restrictions per year. These periods do not match up neatly with any president or party; rather, regulatory accumulation seems to be a bipartisan trend—or perhaps a bureaucratic trend independent of elected officials’ ideologies.
The magnitude of regulatory accumulation is striking—the CFR contained over 1,080,000 total restrictions as of 2016. Unfortunately, it is doubtful that all these regulations were carefully crafted. The Mercatus Center’s Regulatory Report Card project consistently found that agencies failed either to fully demonstrate the existence of the problem that they could solve with a new regulation or to show that they explored alternative approaches—regulatory or otherwise—for addressing the problem.
With the overall body of regulations having grown for several decades, its cumulative restrictiveness may also have sweeping unintended consequences. Some recent studies show that regulatory accumulation not only slows economic growth, but is also associated with consumer price increases that disproportionately impact lower-income households. These are some of the costs of a regulatory process that results in regulatory accumulation—consequences that should be relevant to any discussion of its reform.
The good news is that there are ways to improve the regulatory process so that it can help us solve real problems at reasonable costs. Proposals like instituting legislative impact accounting, requiring better analysis from agencies, clarifying the role of the courts, and performing retrospective analysis could all improve the system of federal regulation. For a fuller perspective on these and other possible reforms, please see the “Comprehensive Regulatory Reform” Mercatus Policy Primer.
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« Oct May »
« The Life and Death of Virginia Woolf | Radfem Hub is now an archives »
By Witchwind
These 4 days of feminist film festival in London have brought me back the hope, the sisterly, positive and creative energy that Patriarchy and men were stealing away from me for the last few months of activism. Being in the company of radical feminists from different parts of the world and spending entire days watching feminist films about women bravely fighting against men’s violence, bonding together, pushing the boundaries of their captivity in the male system and creating new worlds of their own, was enough to fill me with renewed joy and fire. The number and quality of films shown was truly impressive, most of which I had not seen before. I was amazed by how refreshingly radical some of the films and debates were, the organisers had done a great job at selecting the films and panellists from many different backgrounds.
The clear-cut radicalism of certain films, the unflinching sisterhood, love of women and separatism from men conveyed during some of the screenings contrasted somewhat with the more liberal politics of the festival however, since the choice was made to hold the festival in a mainstream cinema where women-only screenings were impossible. I’m tempted to ignore this aspect to avoid negativity and simply focus on what made me happy, as this did not in itself abate my exhilaration and joy of seeing the films, participating in women’s culture and meeting with radical lesbian feminists. Yet it raises important political issues which are true for any event that calls itself feminist, so I will discuss it briefly.
The fear of reprisals for excluding men from our spaces is a reasonable one given that being isolated from the wider feminist community, cut from access to venues, being subjected to public libelling, vile harassment and receiving death threats are very possible risks, intended to destroy our resistance to male supremacy and drive women out of feminism. On the other hand, the immediate and long-term effects of opening feminist events to men are – amongst others – to dull down our resistance, to give men access to our precious few tools of liberation (which most then use against us) perpetuate fearful deference/ trauma-bonding to men and contempt for ourselves and other women, perpetuate the incapacity to think or act outside of male parameters for thought and action (which are inherently women-hating and destructive), prevent genuine female bonding, promote divisiveness, etc – basically, to maintain men’s control over us, some way or another.
To create a safe, women-only and women-centred space where we can go to the end of our thoughts is necessary so that we find the lucidity, courage, force and solidarity we need to resist men and build a world in our own terms. How is this possible and what message about feminism are we conveying to women, if for instance, men are allowed to be present during the screening and discussion of Lesbiana: A Parallel Revolution on lesbian separatism? It is quite significant that during the panel discussion following this film, a panellist named Julia Long was condemned and accused of sabotage after and during the festival for having kindly – and bravely – invited men to consider leaving the room, out of respect for women’s autonomous spaces (her response to an attack in the Guardian can be found here). As if the political conclusions and implications to be drawn from the film on lesbian separatism were respectable so long as they remained abstract, something from the past and disconnected from our own reality, here and now. That’s the thing: fear to displease men or male-defined “wider audiences” will always be thought and action-terminating, because that is the very purpose of oppression. In patriarchy (and there is no other system outside of it) male-identification and male presence are antinomic to freedom, female bonding and liberation. I know no other feminism than that of separatism, as it is the sine qua non condition for our liberation.
I understand how difficult it is to organise such a big event but I do hope the LFFF will be women-only next year. That said, men are very welcome to donate the extra resources they earn from stealing, exploiting, raping and murdering women, to support the festival – but when it comes to actually helping us getting things done without invading the few spaces we manage to build for ourselves or using feminism as another way to emotionally or sexually abuse women, surprise surprise, there aren’t so many left.
Anyway, back to the films. From a radical feminist perspective, my awards go to the three following films: Lesbiana: a Parallel Revolutionby Myriam Fougère, 2012; Kung Fu Grandmaby Jeong-One Park, 2012 and the feminist classic A question of Silenceby Marleen Gorris, 1982.
Lesbiana: A Parallel Revolution, was the film that opened the festival on Thursday evening, a UK premiere, and it was an honour to be able to attend the screening and panel discussion.
(Picture from lesbiana-film.com)
As Femi Otitoju said, who introduced the film before its screening; “if you were there, you’re going to love this film. If you weren’t there, Lesbiana is going to make you wish you were there”. I wasn’t there, and it definitely made me wish I were there. Lesbiana was a delicious and wonderful moment of discovery of the many worlds that Lesbian feminists created during and after the women’s revolution in the 70’s and 80’s.
“A parallel revolution was born out of the feminist movement of the 1970’s, coming to an end around 1995. Filmmaker Myriam Fougère takes us on a journey to meet the lesbian writers, philosophers and activists who were key players in creating a revolutionary sisterhood. From Montréal to Texas, by way of New York, Myriam encounters lesbians who chose to live only among women. This marginal yet international movement is brought to life through archival footage and photographs, and evocative interviews with these courageous women, many of whom are now in their seventies and eighties.” (Summary on lesbiana-film.com).
This film is the result of more than 20 years of footage of lesbian feminist music festivals, demonstrations, conferences, women’s lands, gatherings, women’s bookstores, lesbian art, dozens of interviews and roughly 200 photos from then and now filmed and edited by Myriam Fougère: and the final cut is beautiful. Her voice occasionally commenting, she takes us from place to place, year to year to share with us her experience and the experiences of many other women of the parallel lesbian revolution: it was a gift to be able to hear and see all these foresisters’ testimonies. I remember amongst others the interviews of Marilyn Frye, Sonia Johnson, Julia Penelope, Carolyn Gage, the painter and illustrator for Mary Daly’s Wickedary, and discovered many other lesbian feminists I had not heard of or read – from Quebec, Canada and the United States.
What I also loved about the film is that it managed to represent some of the divisions within the movement without sadistically lingering on in-fights in a way that depressingly casts doom on our capacity to organise together, as sometimes is the case in films or articles – which generally leaves me with a horrible sense of anxiety and pessimism. Quite on the opposite, it felt healthy, positive, very respectful of the different positions and showed how some tensions made the movement grow stronger.
The panel discussion was very lively, and we had the honour to see and hear Myriam Fougère who had come all the way from Québec to the festival! As Julia Long said to Ms Fougère, the film was very moving and generous. I completely identify to the following statement she made: “for me and for a handful of active lesbian feminists that I know in this country at this point, we are used to being quite heartbroken, enraged, we’re used to being exhausted, and we’re used to being isolated even in the wider feminist community. We’re not often used to be quite overwhelmed and overjoyed, and that’s how I feel seeing that”.
This film reminded me of the time when shortly after becoming radical lesbian feminist, a whole new world of women’s culture, writings, art, songs and communities suddenly opened up to me. It was electrifying. I discovered we were a people and that we had a culture, history and spirituality that belonged only to ourselves, spanning back to millennia – one that men did all in their power to erase, destroy, shame and annihilate – but it was still alive. It made me feel strong, for the first time in my life I felt part of something, I had found myself and my place, even though it was just a beginning. It made me feel proud to be women more than ever before, and especially, it helped me to imagine a world and relationships beyond the male system of sadism and subordination. It really felt like a parallel world.
I was inspired by the spontaneity and daring of the women interviewed. They needed houses? They built them! They wanted music of their own? They organised women-only festivals and learned how to do sound engineering! Seeing this moved me to decide to build my own house too, and not to wait any longer to start these women-only workshops I’ve been wanting to do for ages. After all, why shouldn’t I? Finally, Lesbiana promotes separatism better than any long-winded demonstration. Several women told me during discussions about the film that it made them want to dump their boyfriends immediately and start a women’s commune!
Now to the next film, Kung Fu Grandma, by Jeong-One Park. Oh what a film!
(picture from londonfeministfilmfestival.com)
It is a short documentary set in Kenya, in the slums of Korogocho (I don’t like this word but it is the term used in the film). In this area young men frequently target old women to rape them, because, according to their own sayings and to those of the elderly women, the elders are the few women not to be contaminated by HIV or not to be owned by men, as they usually outlive them. Although it was not stated in the film, the raping and then infecting of elderly women with HIV immediately struck me as a deliberate logic of men expanding the destruction and killing of women to those not yet completely destroyed, a logic which clearly qualifies as male-orchestrated genocide of women (see Diana Russel, Aids as mass feminicide).
In this context, the documentary follows the everyday lives of a group of elderly women who form part of a self defense Kung Fu class, so they can learn to defend themselves from the rapists and no longer be afraid to go out by themselves. I absolutely jubilated to watch them kick, punch, scream, shout “we are brave” and stomp together in circles. Their courage, wisdom, lucidity and humanity within the inhumanity of their condition shine and irradiate the film. The way they care for each other deeply and the sincere solidarity between each other is palpable and very moving. I immediately felt part of it, felt close to these women and where they lived, and identified to these experiences of ancient sisterhood. The beauty of who they were made the place look familiar and beautiful, as when you travel to somewhere and you become attached to the place because of the memories of the people you met. One scene that stayed in my mind was where they walk in a group through the street to meet one of their sisters who lives alone, is extremely vulnerable and was recently attacked and almost strangled to death. They appear as imperturbable crones, indestructible, walking slowly but wisely. Their togetherness stands out against the men drifting alone in the path like drunkards. The respect they showed to their sister brought tears to my eyes. No pity, nor misplaced pride in helping out: but an earnest concern and worry for their peer, their sister.
You can sense that the women were very aware of what they were giving to the camera and every word they said felt like a gift, something important from their lives that they agreed to share with us, in a very dignified way.
Funnily enough, the film apparently was not intended to be radical feminist, as the film director herself said she was not active in feminism and that she was simply moved by these women’s stories (although she was probably being very modest about her work). It is very subtle but you do sense the slight neutral, not-too-politically-engaged approach of formulaic documentary style, since she included two interviews of men clearly presented as an “opinion”, their opinion being: yes we have heard of other men who rape + justifications (they took drugs, he had sex drives, we don’t know why they do this) + but we’re good guys. What utter liars.
Interestingly, they all used the terms rape and sex interchangeably when talking about the atrocious acts of rape, torture, murder and deliberate sentencing to death through HIV infection. I immediately thought about the recent discussions on PIV as rape that took place here, here and here. This shows again how, across time and space, rape is always sex to men since rape and sex are the same to them – whereas “sex” as men define and experience it in fact always only means rape for women, once we see the power dynamics, the way it is enforced either through violence or decades of grooming, and the harmful consequences it has on women, which death. The implications of what they say can only be deciphered by a trained feminist eye however, because it is not shot or edited in a way that makes the complicity with the rapists or denial obvious, for example by taking a clear position against what they say one way or another or by explicitly naming it as such (which would basically amount to adding the feminist lens to what is filmed so it is not uncritically reproduced).
However this slight glitch certainly does not take away the beauty and powerful, moving women-centredness of the film, which I wholeheartedly include in the top 3 of the festival.
Finally, A question of silence by Marleen Gorris, Netherlands, 1982.
(pictures from londonfeministfilmfestival.com)
I will not delve too long on this film because there is way too much to say about every single shot, the film being an absolute masterpiece – or perhaps sisterpiece. But in a few words, this is truly the best feminist classic I have ever seen (I have yet to see burning in flames though). The plot, the point of view, the characters, the overall analysis and structure, the shots and editing – all are clear-cut feminist and women-centred, on the top of being artistically brilliant. I thank the organisers for having put their hands on this film and allowing us to discover it (or re-discover it).
Unfortunately there are only very few copies left of the film, but it should be available online by streaming or downloading.
Three women who never met before spontaneously murder a shopkeeper, and are then convicted and imprisoned. The entire film follows the internal evolution of a woman psychiatrist expected to measure the degree of these women’s insanity, so that she can argue for their liberation at court by saying they were crazy and out of their minds, that the act was irrational. She starts off adopting the male perspective that the act of murder is utterly inexplicable, gratuitous and horrendous, and wants to understand the women’s motives for the murder. However, as she goes through the interviews with the women, she is troubled and frustrated by the fact that they have nothing much to say about the murder, have no remorse and don’t even care about it. The interviews are interwoven between shots of the women’s everyday lives in the male world, as secretary, housewife and waitress, where we witness their everyday drudge of being treated as subordinates and slaves by men. The psychiatrist slowly realises that the women are in fact perfectly normal and sane and that their acts and behaviour were rational in the light of this system dominated by men. She comes to identify with the women and see her situation in theirs. We are gradually brought to a completely female perspective, where at the very end, the full farce and scam of the male “judicial” system comes to light, and men are completely ridiculed.
A question of silence felt like a mix between the views of Valerie Solanas and Mary Daly on male society. The way the film stresses the complete meaninglessness and grim boredom of women’s lives in men’s world instantly reminded me of Valerie Solanas’ very first sentence in SCUM manifesto; “Life in this society being, at best, an utter bore and no aspect of society being at all relevant to women, there remains to civic-minded, responsible, thrill-seeking females only to overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and destroy the male sex” (Valerie Solanas, SCUM Manifesto). Added to the fact that they spontaneously gang up to murder a random male shopkeeper, I felt the same transgressive glee as I did by reading Valerie Solanas’ call for getting rid of men – attacking men directly being the ultimate taboo in patriarchy.
The contempt for and exposure of men’s pompous, vacuous processions by ridiculing them also reminded me of a quote of Mary Daly: “There is nothing like the sound of women really laughing. The roaring laughter of women is like the roaring of the eternal sea. Hags can cackle and roar at themselves, but more and more, one hears them roaring at the reversal that is patriarchy, that monstrous jock’s joke, the Male Mothers Club that gives birth only to putrefaction and deception. One can hear pain and perhaps cynicism in the laughter of Hags who witness the spectacle of Male Mothers (Murderers) dismembering a planet they have already condemned to death. But this laughter is the one true hope, for as long as it is audible there is evidence that someone is seeing through the Dirty Joke”. (Mary Daly, Gynecology).
The other films that I most enjoyed and recommend are:
Taxi sister, by Theresa Traore Dahlberg, Sénegal, 2011
Ladies’ turn, by Hélène Harder, Sénegal, 2012
Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years 1984 to 1992: by Dagmar Schultz, Germany, 2012, website here and trailer here and here
Give us a smile, by the Leeds Animation Workshop, UK, 1983
Posted on December 8, 2012 at 3:01 pm in herstory, media | RSS feed
Tags: LFFF, London Feminist Film Festival
7 Comments to “Back from the London Feminist Film Festival”
DavinaSquirrel
Excellent, thank you Witchwind for a brilliant review of some of the films shown at the Festival.
beyourownwomon
Reblogged this on Women's liberation without borders..
goldymarx
As a screen writer and ardent feminist, I know what it’s like to be working in an industry which privlieges male thought. More power to the women who challenge androcentrism.
zrusilla
There is also the International Lesbian and Feminist Film Festival in Paris at the Theatre de Ménilmontant. It is billed as ‘non-mixte’ i.e. women-only, I did see some hipsters be turned away at the door (with some grumblings about ‘feministes’). It features screenings, an art exhibit, a exhibitors’ area, concerts, panel discussions and much food and hanging out.
I attended a few screenings: two features and a program of short film.
“Margarita,” a Canadian film about the relationships Margarita, an undocumented nanny and lesbian in an affluent family in Toronto, has with her lover, employers and their teenage daughter. It was a bit sitcom-y and heavy on the stereotypes. Not bad. http://margaritathefilm.com/
“Mosquita y Mari” is a beautiful film about the deepening bond between two Chicana girls in Huntington Park, Los Angeles. This is a first film by Aurora Guerrero. She seems to know the place and its people profoundly and it translates beautifully to the screen. http://www.mosquitaymari.com/
The program of shorts included Barbara Hammer’s ‘Dyketactics’ and ‘Women I Love’, now classics in experimental film, and a tribute to the late Laurence Chanfro (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Chanfro) , French lesbian artist and filmmaker. Her photographs rival anything by Robert Mapplethorpe. http://lesborama.free.fr/
The exhibitors included Osez le Féminisme, a basically liberal feminist group, and Violette and Co, a gay, lesbian and feminist bookstore in the 11th arrondissement of Paris.
Site of Cineffable, the organizers of the festival: the http://www.cineffable.fr/fr/edito.htm
sehkmet721
Thank you for the reviews. I will be looking for these films. I hope they are available on DVD or on-line. I live in rural Ohio and it i unlikely that I will find them in theater here.
Thank you for the comments!
I forgot some of the hyperlinks regarding the PIV discussions, I meant to link to the following:
http://factcheckme.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/and-with-that-the-entire-house-came-crumbling-down/
http://factcheckme.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/more-framing-rape-also-zomg-h8-tumblr-so-much-i-cant-even-im-completely-unable-to-even-i-have-lost-the-ability-to-even/
http://factcheckme.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/hate-song/
@ zrusilla: thanks for the info on that festival. I did not see the films you mentioned, I’ll look them up! I actually know about the festival and sadly it supports and shows the work of lesbian BDSM pornographers and queer artists, even though there are many other good artists too. Given that it is the only women-only film festival in Paris it is quite significant that patriarchy has so strongly infiltrated via extremely violent and women-hating material – to make sure that the women-onlyness is as male-identified and depoliticised as possible. This is clearly the influence of the now porn-driven, women-hating, male-centric and transinfiltrated LGBT community on Lesbians.
@sehkmet: you can probably contact some of the filmmakers through their websites, for those who have one, to order a DVD!
thanks for this reporting WW. 🙂 also, thanks for addressing the julia long “controversy” and making the salient point that pro-feminist men might seem fine with “womens liberation” as long as it stays abstract and doesnt impede the free movement of men — once its no longer abstract, and women start making requests that men dont want to accommodate, the gloves come off. this should make it more than obvious that men are determined and deliberate colonizers who are hiding behind the “consent” of the locals. and that they are using surveillance tactics to invade our spaces and our minds, as do all totalitarian regimes, and as orwell detailed nicely in 1984. the pattern becomes more obvious the more times it happens, and reporting on it makes it more likely that other women will see whats going on, and the more men openly act like oppressors, women become more likely to recognize themselves as an oppressed class. so, thanks for documenting and discussing that here.
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As we begin 2011, I want to thank my readers for their support and their inputs for the site during 2010. It appears that more and more folks are interested in knowing “the rest of the story”. Traffic on the site expanded seven fold during the year. Interestingly, there were also a numerous amounts of inquiries asking to “buy ad space” on my site. Just for the record, this site is and always will be 100% sponsor free. It is a simple philosophy. This site is responsible to everyone and beholding to none. As the jackboots start attacking the web this year in earnest, and they will, we will try to stay visible as long as possible.
As we face the beginning of 2011we wonder “what next”. When we look back at 2010, it played out much like we anticipated. Last spring, we said look out for the summer of hell. Between the weather and the economy, I think my European readers, especially, would agree it could have been called “hellish”. I believe the lack of economic recovery has created hellish situations in more than 150,000,000 families globally who lost their homes and jobs.
So what is next? Let’s start with what the Trends Research Institute has published.
By Gerald Celente – Trends Research Institute
KINGSTON, NY, 28 December 2010 — After the tumultuous years of the Great Recession, a battered people may wish that 2011 will bring a return to kinder, gentler times. But that is not what we are predicting:
1. Wake-Up Call The people of all nations, having become convinced of the inability of leaders and know-it-all “arbiters of everything” to fulfill their promises, will do more than just question authority, they will defy it. The seeds of revolution will be sown….
2. Crack-Up 2011 In 2011, with the bailout funds and arsenal of other schemes to prop up the economy depleted, teetering economies will collapse, currency wars will ensue, trade barriers will be erected, economic unions will splinter, and the onset of the “Greatest Depression” (a trend we forecasted before the massive bailouts existed) will be recognized by everyone….
3. Screw the People As times get even tougher and people get even poorer, the “authorities” will intensify their efforts to extract the funds needed to meet fiscal obligations. While there will be variations on the theme, the governments’ song will be the same: cut what you give, raise what you take….
4. Crime Waves No job + no money + compounding debt = high stress, strained relations, short fuses. In 2011, with the fuse lit, it will be prime time for Crime Time. As Gerald Celente says, “When people lose everything and they have nothing left to lose, they lose it.” And “lose it” they will….
5. Crackdown on Liberty As crime rates rise, so will the voices demanding a crackdown. A national crusade to “Get Tough on Crime” will be waged against the citizenry. And just as in the “War on Terror,” where “suspected terrorists” are killed before proven guilty or jailed without trial, in the “War on Crime” everyone is a suspect until proven innocent….
6. Alternative Energy In laboratories and workshops unnoticed by mainstream analysts, scientific visionaries and entrepreneurs are forging a new physics incorporating principles once thought impossible, working to create devices that liberate more energy than they consume. What are they, and how long will it be before they can be brought to market?
7. Journalism 2.0 2011 will mark the year that new methods of news and information distribution will render the 20th century model obsolete. With its unparalleled reach across borders and language barriers, “Journalism 2.0” has the potential to influence and educate citizens in a way that governments and corporate media moguls would never permit….
8. Cyberwars In 2010, every major government acknowledged that Cyberwar was a clear and present danger and, in fact, had already begun. The demonstrable effects of Cyberwar and its companion, Cybercrime, are already significant – and will come of age in 2011. Equally disruptive will be the harsh measures taken by global governments to control free access to the web, identify its users, and literally shut down computers that it considers a threat to national security….
9. Youth of the World Unite University degrees in hand yet out of work, in debt and with no prospects on the horizon, feeling betrayed and angry, young adults and 20-somethings are mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore. Not mature enough to control their impulses, the confrontations they engage in will escalate disproportionately….
10. End of The World! The closer we get to 2012, the louder the calls will be that “The End is near!” Among Armageddonites the actual end of the world, and annihilation of the Earth in 2012, is a matter of certainty. Even the rational and informed may sometimes feel the world is in a perilous state. Both streams of thought are leading many to reevaluate their chances for personal survival, be it in heaven or on earth….
Gonzalo Lira, one of the most prolific bloggers on the EU economy, thinks as I do that Europe is in deep shit—there’s really no polite way to say it. Back in the spring of 2010, Greece went down the tubes, as its sovereign debt collapsed in price, and its ability to borrow money from the open markets—and thereby continue to operate—for all intents and purposes ceased.
Then in November/December of 2010, the Irish sovereign debt also began to tumble, as it became increasingly clear that Ireland simply does not have the wherewithal to backstop it’s disproportionately large—and insolvent—banking sector. Angela Merkel’s less than clever words in an interview (to the effect that Irish debt holders might have to take a haircut) sparked a rise in Irish debt yields, squeezing Ireland’s ability to borrow fresh cash to keep its insolvent banks afloat—thereby creating the need for a rescue package from the IMF, the UK, the European Union, and the European Central Bank. What was painfully apparent in 2010 was that the Eurozone and the European Union had no mechanism to handle a crisis in one of its member states. Nor is it moving forward to correct the single biggest weakness of the euro scheme—namely, the ability of each member state to issue its own debt.
Possible EMU Collapse: What To Pay Attention To In 2011. After the Greek and Irish bailouts, it looks like Portugal and possibly Belgium are up next in this perverse game of musical chairs played to the tune of sovereign debt, but these smaller countries are dwarfed by Spain: Spain is where the European game is really at.
As Lira pointed out, Spain is twice the size of Greece, Ireland and Portugal combined—Spain is roughly half the size of Germany—Spain has a fiscal deficit of over 11% of GDP for 2010, and a total debt of over 80% of GDP, data here (I am counting the accumulated debt of comunidades autónomas, which is so far 10.2% of GDP and steadily rising; data here)—Spain has an unemployment of over 20%—in short, Spain is trouble. Not “Spain is in trouble”—that’s obvious, but that’s not my point: Spain is trouble, trouble for the German banks that own so much of the Spanish debt. Trouble for Germany, which is propping up its insolvent banks (What, you think German politicians are any less craven than American politicians?). Spain is trouble for the European Union, for what a German banking crisis might mean for the EU as a whole and as an institution. More than anything, Spain is trouble for the European Financial Stability Facility, because Spain is too big to be saved—and there’s really no way to finesse that hard fact.
Do you know what a lynchpin is? According to the dictionary, a lynchpin is “a pin passed through the end of an axle to keep the wheel in position”. Hence the figure of speech: Without a lynchpin, the wheel comes off, and the whole vehicle crashes. In the case of Europe, the lynchpin can come off awfully fast—think of Ireland. A few impolitic words from Angela Merkel, and suddenly the Irish bond market panics. Suddenly, Ireland is teetering on the brink of insolvency, unable to meet its funding needs. And that was Ireland—all due respect to those wonderful people, but we’re talking a GDP of a paltry $227 billion. Ben Bernanke takes a morning dump bigger than that. What’s Ireland’s $227 billion when compared to Spain’s economy of $1.5 trillion?
How the EU and the ECB handle an eventual Spanish sovereign debt crisis will determine the very future of the European Union. If the EU and the ECB are clever, and brave, and humble in the face of failure, then they’ll expel Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy from the European Monetary Union. The euro will remain the currency of the stronger economies—France, Holland, Germany—while the weaker economies will go back to their original currencies, and immediately devalue so as to kickstart their economies.
In the US, I believe we are going to see the dollar fail three times in 2011. First, the dollar is going to be challenged against the Euro. It will fail, but shortly there after, the Euro will begin its final demise. Then the dollar will be challenged as the world’s reserve currency, and once again it will fail and about this time everyone in mainstream media will introduce the world to the Bancor. Finally, the federal reserve note will be challenged as the US currency. Already we are seeing many areas and communities developing alternative currencies in the US.
Commodities rose drastically all throughout 2010: Every single commodity class, every single one of them rising by double digit percentage points—at least. The winter weather globally will cause huge impacts to food supplies and hyperinflation will rear its ugly head everywhere.
However, I think the most serious stories and realities of 2011 will be civil unrest. People all over the world have lost faith in their governmental bodies and hungry, homeless, hopeless people are really going to start taking actions, and most of those actions will be violent and irrational. This is going to invoke governmental response and things are going to escalate quickly.
So, bottom line, if you haven’t followed my advice in 2010, I ask you to reconsider this one question. If you wake tomorrow morning and there is no job, no food, no utilities, and soldiers on your street to maintain order, are you ready to survive for the next three months without leaving your home? Are you? I want to wish you all a Happy New Year, but this year, I hope you accept my sincerest wishes to have a safe and secure New Year.
Author redhawk500Posted on December 30, 2010 Categories World EventsTags 2011, commodities, current events, economic crisis, Economy, EU, finance, financial crisis, IMF, mainstream media, martial law, national debt, natural disasters, Political Action, preparedness, Riots, The economy and geopolitics, trends, world changes, World Events1 Comment on Trends For 2011
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Robert Plant collects decades-old debt from famous UK music agent at honorary degree ceremony
Posted less than an hour ago
Courtesy of University of ExeterRobert Plant was at the U.K.'s University of Exeter this week for the presentation of an honorary degree to his old friend, famous British music agent Rod MacSween.
During the ceremony, MacSween settled a long overdue eight-pound debt he owed Plant for a concert he booked Robert to play decades ago. As he was receiving his degree, MacSween offered the Led Zeppelin legend a 10-pound note, which the singer came up on the stage to collect.
Plant then joked that the payment wasn't enough, before telling his pal that it'd been "great sharing my adventures with you."
MacSween studied chemistry and statistics at the University of Exeter, which is where he got his first experience working with music artists: He served as social secretary of the Students' Guild in 1969. Among the acts he booked while at Exeter were Pink Floyd and Plant's pre-Led Zeppelin group, Band of Joy.
After he graduated, MacSween worked at a number of major booking agencies before founding his own, ITB, in 1976. Among the many music stars he's gone on to represent: Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Def Leppard, Guns N' Roses, KISS, Pearl Jam, Scorpions, Tool and The Who.
Discussing his achievements at the ceremony, MacSween said, "My work as an international music agent has brought me in contact with celebrated musicians and legendary bands, many of who I was in contact with early in my career."
"Nourished by fierce loyalty and mutual trust these relationships have endured through the decades and I am deeply proud to represent some of the greatest musicians and artists in the world," he added. "I love the music and I love working with the artists I represent, they have become like family."
David Crosby says Woodstock 50 is "dead": "It's not happening"
Posted today at 3:15pm
Scott Dudelson/Getty ImagesDavid Crosby won't be finding a way back to the garden: The folk-rock legend believes that Woodstock 50 will not take place next month as scheduled.
During an interview to promote his new documentary, David Crosby: Remember My Name, which hits theaters on Friday, ABC Radio asked Crosby if he knew anything about the status of the troubled festival , since he was among the many acts originally scheduled to perform at the event.
"It's not happening," Crosby declared. "It's dead."
The 77-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, who also performed at the original 1969 Woodstock as a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, added, "There is a person in that situation who is a scammer, and has always been a scammer, and he scammed this."
Asked if he was referring to promoter Michael Lang, who's at the center of the effort to keep Woodstock 50 alive, Crosby wouldn't name names.
Earlier this week, the town of Vernon, New York, denied an appeal by Lang and others involved in Woodstock 50 to hold the event at the Vernon Downs racetrack.
The originally announced site of the festival, Watkins Glen International racetrack in Watkins Glen, New York, pulled out of the event several weeks ago after permit problems and issues with the festival's financial backers.
Woodstock 50 is still scheduled to be held August 16-18, exactly 50 years after the original festival, but that seems unlikely, as there's less than a month to go and it still doesn't have a venue.
The Doors putting out 50th anniversary "Soft Parade" reissue with unreleased bonus tracks
The Doors' fourth studio album, The Soft Parade, hit stores 50 years ago today, and in celebration of the milestone, an expanded reissue of the record will be released on October 18.
The Soft Parade: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition is a three-CD/one-LP set that features a newly remastered version of the original album on the vinyl disc, the remastered album plus the B-side "Who Scared You" on one CD, and a variety of unreleased and rare tracks and mixes on the other CDs.
The Soft Parade peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200, and featured the #3 hit "Touch Me." It's gone on to sell more than a million copies in the U.S. The album is considered a polarizing project because many fans didn't embrace the horn and string arrangements featured on most of the tracks.
Among the reissue's bonus tracks are mixes of five songs with the horns and strings stripped off, and three other mixes minus the horns and strings and with new guitar overdubs by The Doors' Robby Krieger.
Other extras include three rehearsal outtakes from the Soft Parade sessions, featuring lead vocals by keyboardist Ray Manzarek under the pseudonym Screamin' Ray Daniels, one of which is an early version of "Roadhouse Blues." Those three tracks feature newly recorded bass parts by Stone Temple Pilots' Robert DeLeo.
The "Roadhouse Blues" rehearsal is available now as a digital single and via streaming services, and you also can hear it at The Doors' official YouTube channel.
The third CD includes the previously unreleased full, hour-long version of a frequently bootlegged jam called "Rock Is Dead," which features The Doors riffing through the history of rock 'n roll.
Here's the full track list of The Soft Parade deluxe reissue's CDs:
"Tell All the People"
"Touch Me"
"Shaman's Blues"
"Do It"
"Easy Ride"
"Wild Child"
"Runnin' Blue"
"Wishful Sinful"
"The Soft Parade"
"Who Scared You" (B-side)
Disc Two
"Tell All the People" (Doors only mix)*
"Touch Me" (Doors only mix w/new Robby Krieger guitar overdub)*
"Runnin' Blue" (Doors only mix w/new Robby Krieger guitar overdub)*
"Wishful Sinful" (Doors only mix w/new Robby Krieger guitar overdub)*
"Who Scared You" (Doors only mix)*
"Roadhouse Blues" -- Screamin' Ray Daniels (a.k.a. Ray Manzarek) on vocal*
"(You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further" -- Screamin' Ray Daniels (a.k.a. Ray Manzarek) on vocal*
"I'm Your Doctor" -- Screamin' Ray Daniels (a.k.a. Ray Manzarek) on vocal*
"Touch Me" (Doors only mix)*
"Runnin' Blue" (Doors only mix)*
"Wishful Sinful" (Doors only mix)*
Disc Three
"I Am Troubled"
"Seminary School" (a.k.a. "Petition the Lord with Prayer")*
"Rock Is Dead" (Complete Version)*
"Chaos"*
* = previously unreleased
Earth Wind & Fire, Linda Ronstadt among 2019 Kennedy Center Honorees
Posted today at 11:56am
Douglas Mason/Getty ImagesR&B superstars Earth Wind & Fire and legendary singer Linda Ronstadt are among this year's recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors.
They, along with actress Sally Field, the TV show Sesame Street and famed classical conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, will receive their tributes during a star-studded Washington, D.C., ceremony on December 8, which will subsequently air December 15 on CBS.
The recipients are being honored for their "lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts," with the primary criterion being "excellence."
In a statement, Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein said, "Earth, Wind & Fire's hooks and grooves are the foundation of a seminal style that continues to shape our musical landscape...Linda Ronstadt is the defining voice of a generation, spanning genres, languages and continents."
EWF members Philip Bailey, Verdine White and Ralph Johnson will be on hand to accept the Kennedy Center Honors on behalf of the entire band. Over the past five decades, they have sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, scored eight #1 hits, won nine Grammys, and been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In 2014, the band performed at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony in tribute to one of that year's honorees, the Rev. Al Green.
Ronstadt, who announced in 2013 that she is no longer able to sing due to Parkinson's disease, is one of pop music's most versatile vocalists, tackling rock, big band, country, jazz, opera, standards and Mexican music during her four-decade career. She's sold more than 50 million albums and won 10 Grammys. A 2014 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Ronstadt also received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama that same year.
Performers who'll appear in tribute to this year's honorees will be announced later.
The Moody Blues' Justin Hayward adds fall US tour leg to 2019 itinerary
Credit: Mark OwenJustin Hayward kicks off a 16-date U.S. summer tour August 6 in Burnsville, Minnesota, and now the Moody Blues singer/guitarist has added a second stateside leg in the fall.
While the August outing will visit venues in the Midwest and Western U.S., the fall tour will mainly stick to cities on the East Coast, starting with an October 6 concert in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and running through a November 10 show in Melbourne, Florida.
Tickets for most of the dates are on sale now. Visit JustinHayward.com for more details.
Between his two U.S. tour legs, Justin will play eight shows in his U.K. homeland in September.
Here are all of Hayward's forthcoming U.S. tour dates:
8/6 -- Burnsville, MN, Ames Center
8/7 -- Eau Claire, WI, Jamf Theatre at Pablo Center
8/8 -- Wausau, WI, Grand Theater
8/9 -- Chicago, IL, Athenaeum Theater
8/11 -- St. Louis, MO, River City Casino and Hotel
8/14 -- Arvada, CO, Arvada Center
8/15 -- Aspen, CO, Belly Up
8/17 -- Scottsdale, AZ, Talking Stick Resort
8/18 -- Tucson, AZ, Fox Tucson Theatre
8/20 -- Solana Beach, CA, Belly Up Tavern
8/21 -- San Juan Capistrano, CA, The Coach House
8/23 -- Big Bear Lake, CA, The Cave Big Bear
8/24 -- Ventura, CA, Majestic Ventura Theatre
8/25 -- Napa, CA, Uptown Theater
8/27 -- Folsom, CA, Harris Center for the Arts
8/28 -- Monterey, CA, Golden State Theatre
10/6 -- Harrisburg, PA, Whitaker Center for the Arts
10/7 -- Annapolis, MD, Rams Head
10/9 -- Fall River, MA, Narrows Center
10/10 -- Ridgefield, CT, Ridgefield Playhouse
10/12 -- New London, CT, Garde Arts Center
10/15 -- Albany, NY, The Egg Center for the Performing Arts
10/18 -- New York, NY, Concert Hall
10/21 -- Sellersville, PA, Sellersville Theatre
10/24 -- Alexandria, VA, Birchmere Music Hall
10/26 -- Durham, NC, Carolina Theatre
10/27 -- Charlotte, NC, McGlohon Theater at Spirit Square
10/29 -- Knoxville, TN, Bijou Theatre
10/30 -- Nashville, TN, City Winery – Nashville
11/3 -- Atlanta, GA, Center Stage Theater
11/5 -- Clearwater, FL, Capitol Theater
11/7 -- Delray Beach, FL, Crest Theatre at Old School Square
11/8 -- Key West, FL, Key West Theater
11/10 -- Melbourne, FL, King Center for the Arts
Posted today at 9:51am
Miller Mobley for BillboardWhile music biopics are all the rage in Hollywood these days, one legendary musician who isn't interested seeing his life story depicted onscreen is Billy Joel -- in part, because he's concerned about who'd play him.
In a new cover story for Billboard, Billy says, "There are things in my life that could make a good movie. 'He married this supermodel, then they had a kid, then they got divorced, then he crashed a car, then he went to rehab.' [But] that was like five minutes in my life. It wasn’t all sensational."
He adds, "I just hope they don’t get a short, fat, ugly guy to play me."
Billy's attitude towards a biopic is the same as his attitude towards the memoir he wrote in 2011. When the publisher told him to include more "scandalous stuff," Billy abandoned the project and paid back his advance money.
While another memoir or a biopic are unlikely, a new Billy Joel album is even more unlikely. He hasn't released a pop album since 1993, and he's just fine with that.
"I know some artists struggle with the idea of being relevant: 'I have to come up with new stuff and have hit
singles,'" he says. "I stopped buying that a long time ago."
Noting that he's made 12 albums, just like The Beatles, he adds, "I wrote some good stuff. I wrote some crap, too. But some of the good stuff is pretty damn good."
Meanwhile, Billy's live concert business is booming: He sells out New York's Madison Square Garden every month and regularly fills stadiums.
"It's a miracle," says Billy, adding, "Onstage [I’m thinking], 'Are you f**king kidding me? When are they going to find me out? Women are screaming at me?' I know what I look like in the mirror."
"It's a Wonderful Life": Paul McCartney's writing his first musical
Jim Dyson/Getty ImagesHe's written a movie, a classical music oratorio and, of course, dozens of the world's most beloved pop songs. Now, Paul McCartney's writing his first musical.
Unlike his other projects, however, the subject isn't original to Sir Paul. He'll adapt the 1946 film classic It's a Wonderful Life, writing the music and lyrics, while Tony-winning playwright Lee Hall will co-write the lyrics and also write the book -- that's musical theatre speak for the show's non-musical dialogue. Hall's best-known for writing the 2000 film Billy Elliot and later adapting it into an award-winning stage musical. Most recently, he wrote the Elton John biopic Rocketman.
According to the announcement on McCartney's official website, producer Bill Kenwright approached Paul three years ago about the project.
"Writing a musical is not something that had ever really appealed to me but Bill and I met up with Lee Hall and had a chat and I found myself thinking this could be interesting and fun," said McCartney. "It’s a Wonderful Life is a universal story we can all relate to.”
If you've never seen the film, It's a Wonderful Life tells the story of George Bailey, played by the late Hollywood legend Jimmy Stewart, who's about to take his own life after a run of bad luck. But then an angel intervenes and shows George how much worse the lives he's touched would be, had George never been born.
Paul McCartney last weekend completed the U.S. leg of his Freshen Up world tour in front of a sell-out audience at Los Angeles Dodgers Stadium, with fellow Beatles member Ringo Starr as a surprise special guest.
It’s a Wonderful Life is scheduled for a late 2020 debut, though whether that'll be on Broadway or on London's West End isn't yet known.
The Kinks' Dave Davies says reunion project is still in the works, although it's "not a done deal"
Ray and Dave Davies (David M. Benett/ Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Earlier this year, Kinks guitarist Dave Davies revealed to ABC Radio that he'd spent about a month working with his brother and longtime band mate Ray on material for a Kinks project that may include both archival and new songs. Now Dave has shared an update on the project's status, saying it's moving forward but it's "not a done deal."
"This has really been going on for a couple of years," the 72-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer tells Rolling Stone. "We keep going backwards and listening to a lot of old stuff. Some of that is very good, and some of it needs a bit of work."
Dave says the process has involved completing unfinished archival tracks and sometimes re-recording parts. He reports that some tracks feature original Kinks drummer Mick Avory, while others feature Bob Henrit, who replaced Avory in 1984 and remained with the band until its 1996 split.
"The songs are really just in demo form now," Dave reveals. "But good demos. Ray is still dissecting various other material we might use. The intention is to get the work out, but it's not a done deal."
Dave also says he isn't sure who might handle bass duties if or when the tracks are formally recorded.
Meanwhile, Dave reports that an expanded 50th anniversary reissue of The Kinks' 1969 concept album Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) is "virtually done," and will be released in October.
As for whether he thinks a Kinks reunion tour is possible, Dave said with a laugh, "I really don’t know. I think it's possible. It's not out of the question. But at this stage, it's far too early to say. It would be fun though, wouldn't it?"
Janet Jackson to reissue more of her classic albums on vinyl next week
Posted yesterday at 6:00pm
A&M/Virgin/UME
Janet Jackson is taking full Control of her vinyl legacy.
Wednesday, it was announced that the recent Rock & Rock Hall of Fame inductee is set to reissue five more of her groundbreaking albums on vinyl. Following the release on vinyl of 1986’s Control, next week sees the release of 1987’s Control: The Remixes, 1989’s Rhythm Nation 1814, 1993’s janet., 1997’s The Velvet Rope, and 2001’s All for You.
This in-depth catalog reissue is designed to reinforces Jackson's legacy "as a singular visionary creative artist" and "inherent instinct for fusing together a variety of musical styles," according to her record label.
With the exception of Control, which has already been released, all of the records are due to arrive on July 26 to coincide with the launch of the second set of dates of Jackson’s Metamorphosis Las Vegas residency.
Some will be available in different colors, or as picture discs. You can pre-order the global star's reissued vinyl catalog via Jackson's dedicated website.
Janet's Metamorphosis returns to Las Vegas for 18 more performances, starting July 24-31, and continuing August 2-17, at the Park Theater at Park MGM.
In addition to her Vegas dates, last month, the singer made her debut at the U.K.'s prestigious Glastonbury Festival, and also appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
His Hometown: Exhibit of Bruce Springsteen artifacts opening this September in Freehold, New Jersey
Credit: Danny ClinchBruce Springsteen's hometown of Freehold, New Jersey, will host an exhibition later this year focusing on the rock legend and how his local surroundings influenced him and his music.
The "Springsteen: His Hometown" exhibit will open at the Monmouth County Historical Association on September 29, just six days after The Boss celebrates his 70th birthday. It runs through the fall of 2020.
According to the association's website, the exhibit "will provide a comprehensive look of how Monmouth County, NJ has been thematically woven into Bruce Springsteen's music and art throughout his career."
More than 150 artifacts will be displayed, culled from the collections of the Monmouth County Historical Association and The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University, located in West Long Branch, NJ.
The Asbury Park Press reports that among the items featured in the exhibit will be a personal handmade scrapbook's from Springsteen's mother, Adele, and previously unseen alternate album covers.
In addition, oral histories are being contributed by ex-E Street Band drummer Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez, "Born to Run" drummer Ernest "Boom" Carter and Bruce's one-time manager, Carl "Tinker" West.
Tickets for the exhibition are available at the association's official website, MonmouthHistory.org.
The evening before the exhibit opens, a VIP kickoff party, dubbed "Dancing in the Dark," will be held at the museum. The event will feature performances by Joe Grushecky & the Houserockers and ex-Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes guitarist Bobby Bandiera, while TV news anchor Brian Williams will serve as Honorary Chair. Tickets cost $250, with proceeds benefiting the Monmouth County Historical Association.
Meanwhile, according to the Asbury Park Press, a preview of "Springsteen: His Hometown" is on display at Monmouth University's Guggenheim Memorial Library.
Watch Duran Duran perform at concert celebrating 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 launch
Credit: Paul HennessyDuran Duran took part in a special concert event on Tuesday, July 16, at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Merritt Island, Florida, as they marked the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Apollo 11 moon mission.
The British band performed at the facility's Rocket Garden, and kicked the show off with a rendition of their 2015 song "The Universe Alone" with accompaniment from a 40-person choir and 16-piece orchestra. The show was enhanced by a choreographed presentation featuring hundreds of lighted drones.
Other tunes Duran Duran played at the concert included a medley of their song "Planet Earth" and David Bowie's "Space Oddity," plus hits like "Rio," "Hungry Like the Wolf," "New Moon on Monday," "Save a Prayer," "Wild Boys," "Ordinary World" and "Girls on Film."
Profits from ticket sales for the event were donated to the Aldrin Family Foundation's education programs, which hope to inspire students to strive to bring humans to Mars. That was one of Apollo 11 astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin's dreams for the future.
Meanwhile, in advance of the concert, videos of Duran Duran's members sharing their recollections of the Apollo 11 mission and discussing the show were posted on the band's official YouTube channel.
In one clip, keyboardist Nick Rhodes says, "I was very young when the Apollo 11 took place, but I still remember it extremely well. I have vivid memories of the TV broadcast…It was one of those moments that brought the world together in a very positive way."
He added, "There are few things I can think of in the last half a century where people have all been focused around the world on one event."
AC/DC posts new logo, rare video celebrating 40th anniversary of the "Highway to Hell" album
Courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment
AC/DC has taken to its social media pages to mark the impending 40th anniversary of its classic album Highway to Hell, which was released July 27, 1979, and was the last studio effort to feature late lead singer Bon Scott.
On Tuesday, the Australian hard-rock legends posted a brief video on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages featuring a logo incorporating the Highway to Hell cover photo and the dates 1979-2019, along with a snippet of the album's title track.
The post also included the message, "Celebrate with us all month long! #H2H40." The logo also is also the new cover photo for the group's socials.
Then today, AC/DC posted on its YouTube channel the first of a planned series of rare videos from the group's 2007 Plug Me In DVD box set. The first clip features a performance of "Highway to Hell" from a July 13, 1979, appearance on the Dutch TV show Countdown.
The Highway to Hell posts mark the band's first social media activity since the November 2017 announcement that founding guitarist Malcolm Young had died after a long battle with dementia.
It's not known if AC/DC is planning any special releases to mark the album's anniversary, or if any other announcement may be forthcoming about the band's future plans.
Rumors about the group possibly preparing a new recording project have been circulating since August 2018, when photos were posted online showing longtime singer Brian Johnson and drummer Phil Rudd at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, Canada, where the group had recorded its last three studio albums.
Another report claimed that a new AC/DC album was being put together using unfinished archival recordings that featured Malcolm. However, nothing has been confirmed by the band.
Watch first trailer for Roger Waters' dynamic new concert film, "Us + Them"
Trafalger Releasing/Sony MusicRoger Waters has debuted the first trailer from his new concert film Roger Waters Us Them, which, as recently reported, will be screened in select cinemas around the world on October 2 and 6.
The movie features performances filmed in Amsterdam during the ex-Pink Floyd singer/bassist's 2017-2018 Us Them Tour. On that tour, Waters performed a mix of classic Pink Floyd songs from the 1970s, as well as selections from his 2017 solo album, Is This the Life We Really Want?
The 30-second trailer offers quick glimpses of the dynamic, politically charged concert, which features videos displayed on a massive high-def screen. We hear audio of performances of Pink Floyd's "Eclipse" and "Us and Them," and see Roger interacting with the crowd, plus scenes of the enthusiastic audience. We also hear Waters declaring in a voiceover, "All of the love in this room needs to spread over this fragile planet."
In a statement, Waters says, "US THEM is not standard rock and roll fare: Some in the audience may 'yee haaaa!!!' Which is ok, but many will weep. That is what I hope for."
"US THEM is a call to action," he continues. "Homo Sapiens stand at a crossroads: We can either pool our love, develop our capacity to empathize with others and act collectively for the good of our planet, or we can remain Comfortably Numb, and continue, like blind lemmings, on our current omnicidal death march towards extinction. US THEM is a vote for love and life."
Roger Waters' Us Them movie was co-directed by Waters and Sean Evans, with whom Rogers also collaborated on his 2014 concert film The Wall. Tickets for screenings are on sale now at RogerWatersUsandThem.com.
Neil Young to perform at Harvest Moon, a new benefit concert taking place in September outside of L.A.
Posted yesterday at 10:00am
Credit: Daryl HannahThree years after Neil Young's last Bridge School Benefit Concert was staged, a new event is slated to take place that will help raise money for the facility co-founded by Young's late ex-wife Pegi.
The concert, dubbed Harvest Moon: A Gathering, is scheduled for September 14 at the Painted Turtle camp in Lake Hughes, California, and will feature performances by Neil, singer/songwriter Norah Jones and indie-rock artist Father John Misty.
The show will benefit The Bridge School, which provides education to children with severe speech and physical impairments, and The Painted Turtle, a nonprofit founded by late actor Paul Newman that offers children with serious medical conditions a traditional camp experience for free.
Those purchasing tickets for the Harvest Moon gathering also will be able to enjoy a picnic cooked and served by local celebrity chefs, and beer and wine tastings presented by California breweries and wineries.
The Painted Turtle camp is located about 65 miles north of Los Angeles on a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains.
Tickets for the event go on sale this Friday, July 19, at 10 a.m. PT. Visit HarvestMoonGathering.com for full details.
The Bridge School Benefit Concert, a series of star-studded acoustic shows, took place almost every year from 1986 to 2016.
David Crosby says he's open to a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young reunion
Posted yesterday at 5:00am
Andrew Lipovsky/NBC
The doc, produced by Cameron Crowe, who joined Crosby for the interview, talks about David's fractured relationships with his old bandmates, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young, leading host Jimmy Fallon to ask if there was ever a chance of them getting back together again.
"Never say never," said the 77-year-old Crosby, explaining, "I have no bad stuff in my heart about any of those guys, man, I made too much great music with them."
He continued, "We've bashed heads with each other so many times, I mean, we were so awful to each other so many times. All of us were. And I think we all know that."
So how does Crosby think a reunion might happen?
"About 10 times a day I get a tweet saying, 'Will you guys get your act together and do your job; we need you to go out and be a voice for the people that love you,'" he said. "'Ohio' is stuck in their minds. And it would be a great time for us to be out there singing like that."
Added Crosby, "If they want to do that, you know, like a 'Get Out the Vote' tour, something like that, I'd jump on it."
Later, David was joined by Fallon's house band The Roots for a version of the Crosby, Stills & Nash classic "Long Time Gone."
David Crosby: Remember My Name hits theaters on Friday.
Woodstock 50 organizers again denied venue permission
Courtesy of Woodstock 50The bad news just won't stop for Woodstock 50 organizers. They just lost their appeal to hold their planned event at Vernon Downs racetrack in Vernon, New York.
Town officials initially denied the request last week but gave promoters five days to appeal that decision. However, Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente Jr. told Variety at the time that "what [promoters] have submitted to date has not met many of the requirements" to stage the festival, and that the chances of Woodstock 50 being held in Oneida County seemed "highly unlikely."
Tuesday night, town officials voted unanimously to deny the appeal.
"Woodstock 50 is disappointed that the Town of Vernon has passed up the opportunity to hold the historic 50th Anniversary Festival by denying our robust and thoughtful proposal," promoters said in a statement in response to Tuesday night's vote.
"We regret that those in Vernon who supported Woodstock have been deprived of the once-in-a-lifetime chance to be part of the rebirth of a cultural peace movement that changed the world in 1969 and is what the world needs now," the statement concluded, adding, "We want to thank the artists who stood by us."
Woodstock 50 originally was supposed to happen August 16-18 at Watkins Glen International speedway in Watkins Glen, New York, about 120 miles southwest of Vernon. A variety of issues have plagued the event since plans for the festival were announced in March, including the original financial backer pulling out and Watkins Glen speedway terminating the organizers' license for the site, prompting the change of proposed venue to Vernon Downs.
Given that organizers now have just 29 days to secure a new site, if they're to stick with their original proposed festival dates, the changes of Woodstock 50 happening appear very slim indeed.
Foreigner concert special, featuring band performing with original members, premieres Friday on DirecTV
Credit: Karsten StaigerA new concert special featuring Foreigner performing one of its recent "Double Vision: Then and Now" reunion shows will get its world premiere this Friday, July 19 on the DirecTV broadcast satellite service at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
The show, which will air in ultra-high definition, features Foreigner's current lineup and the band's surviving original members -- including founding frontman Lou Gramm -- performing both together and separately.
The concert special will be released as a home video this October with bonus features.
Foreigner has been playing occasional "Double Vision: Then and Now" shows since 2017. The band recently announced four new reunion performances that will take place this October.
The veteran rockers, playing with just the current lineup, are on tour in Europe through a July 21 show in Kent, U.K. The group will then launch a North American trek on August 7 in Jackson, Mississippi, that will run into the fall and include the aforementioned "Double Vision" shows.
Here are all of Foreigner's forthcoming North American tour dates:
8/7 -- Jackson, MI, Jackson County Fair
8/8 -- St. Ignace, MI, Kewadin Casino St. Ignace
8/9 -- Bay City, MI, Rock the Hill - Veterans Memorial Park
8/11 -- Grand Rapids, MI, Frederik Meijer Gardens
8/12 -- Huber Heights, OH, Rose Music Center at the Heights
8/13 -- Evansville, IN, Old National Events Plaza
8/15 -- Des Moines, IA, Iowa State Fair@
8/16 -- Sedalia, MO, Missouri State Fair
8/17 -- Newkirk, OK, 7 Clans First Council Casino
8/20 -- Wellington, OH, Lorain County Fair
8/21 -- Watertown, NY, Jefferson County Fair
8/23 -- Hyannis, MA, Cape Cod Melody Tent
8/24 -- Cohasset, MA, South Shore Music Circus
8/25 -- Hampton Beach, NH, Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
8/27 -- Lewiston, NY, Artpark
8/29 -- Rama, ON, Canada, Casino Rama
9/1 -- Wauseon, OH, Fulton County Fair
9/3 -- Kitchener, ON, Canada, Centre in the Square
9/4 -- Wabash, IN, Honeywell Center
9/7 -- Spencer, IA, Clay County Fair
9/9 -- Bonner, MT, KettleHouse Amphitheatre
9/11 -- Spokane, WA, Spokane County Interstate Fair
9/12 -- Boise, ID, Outlaw Field at the Idaho Botanical Garden
9/13 -- Salt Lake City, UT, Utah State Fair
9/15 -- Toppenish, WA, Legends Casino Event Center
9/18 -- Puyallup, WA, Washington State Fair@
9/26 -- Roanoke, VA, Budweiser Summer Series at Elmwood Park
9/27 -- Bloomsburg, PA, Bloomsburg Fair#
9/29 -- West Springfield, MA, Xfinity Arena - The Big E
10/3 -- Uncasville, CT, Mohegan Sun Arena*
10/4 -- Atlantic City, NJ, Mark G. Etess Arena at Hard Rock*
10/12 -- Tuolumne, CA, Westside Pavilion at Black Oak Casino*
10/13 -- Ridgefield, WA, Ilani Cowlitz Ballroom*
1/16/20 -- Nashville, TN, Nashville Symphony
= with Styx
@ = with Night Ranger
# = with Lover Boy
* = "Double Vision: Then and Now" shows.
Daily lineups announced for Sammy Hagar's second annual High Tide Beach Party & Car Show
Posted Tuesday evening
Courtesy of Sammy Hagar's High Tide Beach PartyThe daily lineups have been revealed for Sammy Hagar's second annual High Tide Beach Party & Car Show, which is scheduled for September 28 and 29 in Huntington Beach, California.
Serving as main-stage headliners for the festival's first day will be Hagar and his current group The Circle, which features ex-Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and veteran drummer Jason Bonham, along with former Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora and other special guests.
The September 28 bill also includes The Beach Boys, Blue Öyster Cult and ex-Outfield frontman Tony Lewis.
Headlining day two of the bash will be KC and the Sunshine Band. The September 29 lineup also features Mötley Crüe's Vince Neil, Night Ranger, Extreme and Patty Smyth and Scandal.
In addition, Car Show Awards will be presented both days on the festival's main stage. As previously reported, the event offers an expansive display of unique automobiles, including Hagar's Ferrari BB512i, which appeared in his "I Can't Drive 55" music video. There also beach activities and games, special photo opportunities and a temporary beachside version of Sammy's Cabo Wabo Cantina.
Tickets and VIP packages for the 2019 High Tide Beach Party & Car Show are on sale now. Visit HighTideBeachParty.com to buy tickets, check out the full performance lineup and find out more details about the festival.
Elton John throwing star-studded charity bash in the south of France, starring Chris Martin
Posted Tuesday afternoon
Dominique Charriau/WireImageElton John hosts a number of annual events to raise money for his AIDS Foundation, including a gala in New York City, an Oscar viewing party in Los Angeles, and his White Tie and Tiara Ball in the U.K. Next week, he and husband David Furnish are adding a new event to the calendar in one of their favorite places: the south of France.
The bash, called A Midsummer Party, will be held Wednesday, July 24, at a private villa at Cap d'Antibes, a resort on France's Côte d'Azur. In addition to a cocktail reception, a dinner featuring locally inspired cuisine and a live charity auction, the party also will feature a performance by Coldplay's Chris Martin.
The founding event chairs include Rocketman stars Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell and Richard Madden, Katy Perry, Julia Roberts, Sharon Stone, Tiffany Haddish, Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie, Bryce Dallas Howard, Quincy Jones, Spike Lee and Gerard Butler, among other celebs.
In a statement, Elton and David say, "The Côte d'Azur has a special place in our hearts. It is where we love to spend our summers, and we want to make our inaugural fundraising gala here a true highlight of the summer season."
If you want to hop on a plane and join in the fun, contact events@ejaf.org, or call the Foundation's New York office at 212-219-0670.
Richie Furay lines up joint fall shows with Dave Mason; schedules Facebook Live event
Courtesy of Richie Furay; Al Pereira/ Getty ImagesEx-Poco and Buffalo Springfield singer/guitarist Richie Furay recently lined up a series of joint performances with former Traffic member Dave Mason in California this fall.
The five-gig run kicks off October 2 in Yountville and is plotted out through an October 7 show in Riverside. The shows will feature the two Rock & Roll Hall of Famers hitting the stage together.
Furay also has a trio of headlining concerts scheduled in Ohio during early August as part his tour celebrating Poco's 50th anniversary. The shows also will include tunes by Buffalo Springfield, the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band and from Richie's solo career. Among the dates is a sold-out August 10 appearance at ex-Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch in Pomeroy, Ohio.
In other news, Furay will take part in a Facebook Live event next Wednesday, July 24, starting at 9 p.m. ET. Richie will be playing some songs, chatting with fans and sharing details about his upcoming plans.
Here are all of Furay's upcoming concerts:
8/9 -- Kent, OH, Kent Stage
8/10 -- Pomeroy, OH, Fur Peace Ranch
8/11 -- Worthington, OH, Natalie's Live Music
10/2 -- Yountville, CA, Napa Valley Performing Arts Center*
10/3 -- San Francisco, CA, Palace of Fine Arts Theatre*
10/5 -- Santa Cruz, CA, Rio Theatre*
10/6 -- Beverly Hills, CA, Saban Theatre*
10/7 -- Riverside, CA, Fox Performing Arts Center*
* = with Dave Mason.
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1967 Chevrolet Impala the Most Wanted Vintage Cars
The Impala has been an American legend for decades. According to Wikipedia The Chevrolet Impala is a full-size car built by Chevrolet for model years 1958 to 1985, 1994 to 1996, and 2000 to present. This Vintage Cars has a 2 door coupé type body with a front mounted engine powering the rear wheels. The Impala was Chevrolet’s most expensive passenger model through 1965, the Impala would be the #2-selling convertible in the U.S. in 1966, with 38,000 sold. This car is more than what meets the eye. Among the impala models, the 1967 impala production is one of the most popular models. Especially after A 1967 Sport Sedan 4-door hardtop made its TV debut in the series Supernatural. also due to impala 1967 has introduced safety features due to federal regulations, including a fully collapsible energy-absorbing steering column, side marker lights, and shoulder belts for closed models. Continue…
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Magazine #5: HIDDEN THINGS arrived!
Don't miss anything
Hidden beauty: how César Manrique turned Lanzarote into a jewel
A volcano from the land of volcanoes – When the artist and architect César Manrique was killed in a car accident on 25 September 1992, he had already set himself a monument on his native island of Lanzarote, a lifetime achievement that has shaped the identity of the island.
The oeuvre of Manrique is omnipresent on the Canary Islands. Scores of his sculptures embellish its numerous roundabouts. His great wish was that tourism on Lanzarote be developed in a gentler and more sustainable way than on the neighbouring islands of Gran Canaria and Teneriffa. His buildings rank among the island’s most important sights. He opened people’s eyes to the special beauty of his homeland.
Meanwhile, far more people have discovered this beauty for themselves than would have pleased César Manrique: he would have preferred a limited amount of tourism, and “no rich tourists, but curious, well-educated, sensitive, in short, civilized tourists instead”. The island has some 140,000 inhabitants. By now, the number of visitors each year is about twenty times that number. The Canarian writer Alberto Vázquez Figueroa tells the following story about the death of this pugnacious universal artist: “I was one of the first people to see César Manrique on the day he died. (…) I said: ‘Now it is all over with Lanzarote. There will not be anyone who can stop those greedy hyenas from destroying everything that is beautiful on this island.’ César was the only person who could keep those political and financial crooks in check.”
The most beautiful place in the world
What he really achieved was to transform Lanzarote, the “ugly duckling” among the Canary Islands, into a jewel. Most notably, he created underground quarters and buildings hidden in the landscape, such as the Mirador del Rio lookout, which is perfectly integrated in its surroundings. Tangible proof that volcanic rock can be an excellent living environment. In 1968, as the first signs of mass tourism loomed on the horizon, the anti-globalisation protester Manrique persuaded his friend, the president of the island’s administration, to enact a new regulation for the island: no building was allowed to exceed the height of three storeys. Allegedly the height of an average palm tree, so people say. With this move, the multi-talented activist intended to prevent “chaos in urban development and architectural barbarism”. In an interview in 1971, he stated the following: “I believe that the special characteristics of every place on this planet must be preserved by all means, otherwise we will soon be living in a boring standard culture without any creative imagination.”
In the 18th century, Lanzarote had been literally buried under streams of lava from several volcanic eruptions – there are actually about 300 volcanic cones on the island. Since then, a barren, red-black landscape with an almost extraterrestrial appearance has been the most outstanding feature of the countryside. Even the islanders first needed to be persuaded that this spot could be a jewel, as proclaimed by César Manrique. But the artist announced confidently: “I will transform our island into the most beautiful place in the world.” Not everyone may agree with this superlative, but surely no one can deny that Manrique took a huge step in that direction with his organic buildings designed to be in harmony with nature. The initial move that came in 1966 was the inauguration of the first part of the “Jameos del Agua”, a system of caves in which the passionate environmentalist had discovered a rubbish dump. He had the rubbish removed from the volcanic bubbles and found an underground lake. With his architectural adaptations, he created there a fantastic place that could have come from a James Bond film – with a restaurant, a museum, a pool and a unique auditorium.
The true nature of life
His own private residence, which today houses the foundation bearing his name today and is definitely worth a visit, also testifies to César Manrique’s talent for ingenious interweaving of architecture with nature. During a trip across the island, he had allegedly discovered a fig tree which stood in the middle of solidified lava near the village of Tahíche. When he came closer, he saw that the tree was growing directly out of a lava bubble. He climbed into it and found four more cavities. He bought this piece of land and carried out his idea of a partly subterranean residence. Here, he also implemented his ideas of good architecture, which is coordinated in every detail – trees stand in the middle of rooms, furniture seems to grow out of the walls as if alive, sculptures and decorative natural objects are combined into an inviting synthesis of the arts, where visitors would wish to stay forever if they could. Materials, colours and forms – everything seems to belong precisely here. The illuminated pool in the inner courtyard gives visitors the impression of having arrived in an oasis of beauty in the middle of the volcanic landscape.
Today, the residential buildings created by the artist are museums and landmarks that, like all of his other works of art, serve to reveal to the viewer the beauty of nature, the incomparable volcanic landscape, the wind, the light and the wild beaches where he spent his childhood.
But Manrique’s architectural influence, this myth of Lanzarote, goes much further. In his 1974 book, “Lanzarote: unpublished architecture“, he praises the local style of architecture: white cubic houses, no higher than two storeys. The traditional rural architecture has been promoted ever since. The houses are whitewashed – with shutters and doors painted green, or blue near the ocean; today a hallmark of Lanzarote. And yet another milestone can be largely attributed to the artist: Lanzarote was the first complete island to be declared a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1993. A posthumous triumph for César Manrique, who always thought big: “Humans must integrate themselves carefully into the hindmost corners of nature in order to understand the true nature of life.”
Part of the series:
HIDDEN THINGS [#5] or: What are you concealing?
More about this theme
César Manrique was born on Lanzarote in 1924. He abandoned his civil engineering studies, which he had begun at the request of his father, to dedicate himself to the fine arts. He had his first solo exhibition at the age of 24. From 1945, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid and soon became successful as a painter – so much so that he exhibited at the Biennale in Venice in 1955 and 1960. Thanks to a scholarship from the “International Institute of Art Education”, he moved to New York in 1965, where his success continued, but in 1968 he returned to Lanzarote to stay for good. His final resting place is also located there. His tomb is overshadowed by a Canary Island date palm.
Top 5 sights to see:
Mirador del Rio
Artistically designed lookout platform on a cliff with a café Carretera de Yé S/N HARÍA, 35541 Lanzarote, Las Palmas, Spain
Jameos del Agua
Centre of arts and culture, tourist attraction with a restaurant and shop Carretera Arrieta-Órzola, S/N, 35542, Las Palmas, Spain
Fundación César Manrique
Foundation located inside the artist’s former residence Calle Jorge Luis Borges, 16, 35507 Tahiche, Las Palmas, Spain
Jardín de Cactus
Artistically designed cactus garden Av. Garafía, 35544 Guatiza, Las Palmas, Spain
LagOmar
Former residence of the actor Omar Sharif Calle los Loros, 2, 35539 Nazaret, Las Palmas, Spain
Magazine #4LifestyleTheory
Under the spell of dimensions
Individuality: „…BECAUSE I’M SPECIAL!“
Magazine #4LifestylePhotography
A fascinating perspective
Communicating on common ground: as an interdisciplinary online magazine, POINTS of contact showcases fascinating, diverse and inspiring content focusing on the many facets of architecture, design and life. POINTS of contact has already become an institution at the Venice Biennale of Architecture: every two years, we welcome architects and architecture enthusiasts to the historic surroundings of our meeting point.
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#5 Hidden Things
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#2 Unique
#1 Magic in Detail
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C.N.E. Corbin
Ph.D. Candidate, UC Berkeley
Chryl N.E. Corbin is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of California, Berkeley in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management within the Division of Society & Environment. Corbin’s research examines the relationships between society and nature within the built environment by investigating the concept of the green city within the United States. As an urban environmentalist and political ecologist her work focuses on how environmental policies and practices in cities impact low-income neighborhoods and communities of color and their access to public green spaces, urban nature. She uses media as a tool of investigation to understand how visual media represents and influences environmental thought and spatial understandings within the urban landscape.
Corbin is also a City of Oakland Parks and Recreation Advisory Commissioner (PRAC) whose main duties include researching, reporting, and making recommendations to the City Council on Park and Recreation policies. As part of the three member PRAC Park Ordinance Task Force, Corbin has been working with the Oakland community and the Parks and Recreation Department to update and create new park rules and regulations. She is also the PRAC Liaison to DeFremery Park, Mosswood Park, and Willie Keyes (Polar) recreation center. Corbin is dedicated to making sure that all urban residents have a place and space to enjoy their city’s nature.
D.C. Carr
Visitor Services and Communications, Pacific Southwest Region , U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
D.C. Carr grew up in Indiana and Wisconsin, then went on to work for National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands across the nation. He is dedicated to enhancing access to public lands and to ensuring that local communities benefit from the recreational opportunities that nearby public lands offer. As visitor services planner for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s regional office in Sacramento, he seeks to build partnerships to make National Wildlife Refuges welcoming places to recreate and to have amazing experiences in the natural world. He lives in Oakland and enjoys finding public transit connections to public parks and wild places. DC is pictured before the grand entrance to the Waldo Arms Hotel in Kaktovik, Alaska, at the edge of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Gina Fromer
Chief Executive Officer, San Francisco Education Fund
Gina Fromer has devoted her energy and talent to serving the needs of families in San Francisco and communities across California. In 2017, following more than three decades of leadership in youth and family services and education programs—including in some of San Francisco’s most underserved neighborhoods—Gina joined the San Francisco Education Fund as CEO, where she manages a staff of 14 and oversees the organization’s partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District, SF Citi, and the training and placement volunteers across the district. Gina believes that a quality education is a basic human right.
Prior to joining the Ed Fund, Gina served as the California State Director at The Trust for Public Land, where she created new parks in park-poor neighborhoods in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and protected treasured landscapes from the forests of the North Coast to the most southern parts of the state.
Raised in San Francisco’s Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood, Gina is the recipient of the prestigious Jefferson Award for Community Service, the KQED Local Heroes Award, and a host of other awards and honors. She is the mother of three sons and continues to serve the community where she grew up as the Volunteer Coordinator of the food pantry at her local church.
Jim Bacon
Director, Public Services, Pacific Southwest Region, U.S. Forest Service
Jim has more than ten years of experience with the federal government, primarily with the National Park Service. However, he is currently the Director of Public Services for the Pacific Southwest Region of the US Forest Service, located in Vallejo, California. This position oversees public use and access of 18 National Forest units across the state of California and related assistance to the Pacific Islands. Prior to moving to the Forest Service, Jim was a Project Manager for the NPS Denver Service Center, Planning Division. Previously he was the Superintendent of the National Park of American Samoa and spent several years as an Outdoor Recreation Planner at Yosemite National Park. He has a technical background in planning and management of recreational use of public lands and waters having addressed challenging national-level issues such as carrying capacity, wild and scenic river management, and commercial use of wilderness, among others. Jim served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala where he advanced sustainable ecotourism development and environmental education projects and programs. Over his Federal career he has provided technical assistance oversees on several assignments including work in Belize, Costa Rica, Mexico and Argentina. He holds a Master’s of Science Degree in Natural Resource Planning from the University of Vermont. Jim is married with two small children. They enjoy hiking and camping trips, snow skiing, and enjoying the outdoors as a family.
Kim Moore Bailey
Executive Director, Youth Outside
Kim Moore Bailey brings a wealth of experience to her role as Executive Director for Youth Outside. Kim provides the leadership and vision that drives its mission of connecting youth to nature by eliminating barriers, providing resources, and promoting outdoor programming. Inspired by her own passion for the outdoors and years of both professional and personal experiences, Kim focuses on Youth Outside's strategic direction, grantmaking portfolio, and working to achieve measurable results. Kim believes that Youth Outside serves as an intermediary to develop the critical connections required to engage underrepresented youth to nature and to encourage the capacity building of the organizations supported. Prior to joining Youth Outside, Kim was the Chief Operating Officer for College Possible, overseeing program delivery sites across the country and managing the organization’s growth strategy. Kim earned her Master’s Degree in Counselor Education at New York University and her Bachelor of Science from Northeastern University. Kim is currently serving on the Board of Directors for The Children and Nature Network, Environmental Grantmakers Association and the North American Association for Environmental Education; an Advisory Board Member for ChangeScale and as the Co-Chair for the Environmental Educators Funders Collaborative. Kim enjoys spending time with her loved ones, yoga and being outdoors.
Nooshin Razani
Director, Center for Nature and Health, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland
Dr. Nooshin Razani is a pediatrician, researcher, and passionate advocate of the healing power of nature. She is the founder and director of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland’s Center for Nature and Health - whose mission is to conduct primary research on the clinical applications of nature, provide clinical care for low income patients in nature, and to advocate for nature as a public health priority. Dr. Razani is an attending physician at UCSF Benioff Oakland’s Ambulatory Department and Assistant Clinical Scientist at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI).
In 2009, Dr. Razani partnered with the East Bay Regional Park District to refer patients to the outdoors as a clinical intervention. By 2013, the hospital’s primary care clinic and East Bay Regional Parks District and Foundation collaborated to create the hospital’s groundbreaking park prescription program. Now in its third year, the program has conducted more than 500 park visits and 32 outings to local parks for patients and families. Through this program, Dr. Razani has created validated protocols for physicians and health systems to integrate nature-based interventions into practice nationwide.
Dr. Razani received the National Environmental Education Fund and US Fish and Wildlife Service Nature Champion Certification in 2010, and was awarded the Community Champion Award by California State Parks in 2015. From 2013-2014, Dr. Razani served as the Senior Health Fellow and Medical Consultant at the Institute at the Golden Gate where she played an important role in the development of the Healthy Parks, Healthy People Bay Area initiative.
Ray Murray
Partnerships Program Chief, Pacific West Region, National Park Service
As Partnerships Program Chief, Ray Murray coordinates fundraising and partnership activities and programs and tourism for 63 National Park units and recreation grants and technical assistance programs for state and local agencies in the six states and territories of the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service. He also administers the Land and Water Conservation Fund, Federal Lands-to- Parks, National Heritage Areas and the Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Programs. Serves as the Partnerships and Tourism Lead for the Pacific West Region. He has provided leadership in recent years on: Connecting People to the Outdoors, Children in Nature, Healthy Parks, Urban Parks, Economic Impacts of Parks, Rivers, Trails and Greenways, Visitor Use Management, Conflict Resolution, Arts in Parks, Fund Raising, Planned Giving, Park Friends Groups, the California Roundtable on Parks, Recreation and Tourism, the California Watchable Wildlife Committee, and Pacific Coast Immigration. Board experiences include: Freight and Salvage Coffee House, San Francisco Live Arts, New Games Foundation, and American Adventure Play Association.
Stephanie Stephens
Executive Director, California Park & Recreation Society
After spending the vast majority of her life in Colorado, Stephanie Stephens took the plunge and came to beautiful California to serve as the Executive Director of the California Park and Recreation Society in spring 2014. Her passion for parks and recreation, coupled with her love of non-profit management shows in the heart she brings to the work she does. As one of only 5,000 Certified Association Executives (CAE) in the US, she also brings a strong knowledge base on non-profit management. Managing a $2.5 million dollar budget and working with a team of 10, she works to advance the profession of parks and recreation through strategic initiatives, legislative efforts, action-planning and leadership. When Stef isn’t busy in a meeting, developing a partnership or working on the next best resource for members, you can find her gardening, hiking, or trying out a new recipe in the kitchen.
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On October 3, 2015, 8-year-old MaKayla Dyer and her sister were playing with their new puppy outside their mobile home when their 11-year-old neighbor called to them from inside his home, asking if he could play with the puppy. MaKayla refused, so the 11-year-old boy retrieved his father’s loaded shotgun, aimed it out the window and fired. MaKayla was struck in the chest, just below the heart. She died in the yard. Her obituary noted that she had celebrated her 8th birthday just three weeks before her life was taken. The 11-year-old boy was arrested, charged with first degree murder, convicted and sentenced to eight years in juvenile prison. He will remain incarcerated until his 19th birthday, according to court documents. The boy’s father, the individual responsible for leaving the loaded gun unsecured and accessible, was home at the time of the shooting and was in another room watching television. He was not charged and remains free. Reports indicate that he and his family have since moved out of state.
While it may seem surprising to some that the father, the person whose choice to leave a loaded gun unsecured led to the death of 8-year-old MaKayla, faced no charges, this is often the case. In Tennessee, it is not uncommon for the gun owning adult in these cases not to be charged. The first year MaKayla’s Law was filed and presented before the Senate Judiciary Committee, District Attorney Ray Whitley was called to testify. He spoke in favor of the bill as well, noting the difficulty in prosecuting reckless endangerment cases, the lack of legal guidance when it comes to filing charges in these cases, and the inconsistency of when or if charges are filed. General Whitley testified that “this would be a good bill to pass.”
Since March of 2016, the first time Tennessee legislators voted against passing MaKayla’s Law, there have been 60 shootings involving minor children and unsecured firearms. Twelve of the shooters were toddlers. Twenty-two of the unintentional shootings were fatal.
The vast majority of adult gun owners in Tennessee are law abiding and responsible. They understand that securing firearms and keeping them out of the wrong hands, especially the hands of children, is the most important responsibility a gun owner has. Safe storage of firearms is emphasized by organizations from the National Rifle Association to the National Shooting Sports Foundation to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Safe storage of firearms, keeping guns locked in a safe or with a trigger lock, can prevent not just unintentional shootings involving children, but also intentional shootings as well, such as in the case of MaKayla Dyer. Safe storage also can prevent children taking guns to school. And, safe storage of firearms can prevent teen and tween firearm suicides. Data shows that the number of tweens and teens taking their lives with guns is on the rise. According to numerous studies, adult and juvenile firearm suicides are unique in both their impulsivity and their lethality.
Unfortunately, these types of shootings are all too common in Tennessee. In a joint 2016 report by the Associated Press and USA Today, Tennessee was found to be fourth in the nation for unintentional shootings of children. Of all cities, Memphis led the country and Nashville was sixth. In 2017, Tennessee led to the entire country in shootings involving children and unsecured guns, according to data from the Children’s Firearm Safety Alliance. Once again, Memphis had more of these shootings than any other US city. Nashville tied with three other cities for fourth. Although there were fewer of these types of shootings in 2018, Tennessee still ranked fourth in the nation for kids pulling the trigger of irresponsibly stored guns.
Peer-reviewed research studies have looked at the relationship between child access prevention (CAP) laws and pediatric gun injuries and death. “Variability of child access prevention laws and pediatric firearm injuries”, published in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery in 2018, reported an association in the strength CAP laws and pediatric gunshot injuries:
After adjusting for race, sex, age, and socioeconomic income quartile, strong child access prevention (CAP) laws were associated with a significant reduction in all, self-inflicted , and unintentional pediatric firearm injuries. Weak CAP laws, which only impose liability for reckless endangerment, were associated with an increased risk of all pediatric firearm injuries. The association of CAP laws on hospitalizations for pediatric firearm injuries differed greatly depending on whether a state had adopted a strong CAP law or a weak CAP law. Implementation of strong CAP laws by each state, which require safe storage of firearms, has the potential to significantly reduce pediatric firearm injuries.
Other studies have come to similar conclusions.
Once again, Safe Tennessee is recommending that our state pass “MaKayla’s Law”, legislation that would hold adult gun owners responsible if they leave a loaded gun unsecured accessible, and a child aged 13-years or younger fires the gun and injures or kills themselves or another person. What we propose is a simple amendment to the current statute pertaining to reckless endangerment to address child access prevention and eliminate ambiguity in the current child access prevention statute. It would not mandate how guns are to be stored in a home, but it would impose a penalty on the gun owner if a negligently-stored gun is used unintentionally or unintentionally to injure or kill another person.
It is important to note that this legislation would absolutely no impact whatsoever on the vast majority of responsible Tennessee gun owners who would never leave a loaded gun unsecured and accessible to children. This legislation would apply only to adult gun owners whose irresponsible decision to leave a loaded gun laying around results in an injury or death.
These shootings are not “accidents” – they are preventable tragedies. Laws exist not only to provide a consequence, but also to create a deterrent. DUI laws have resulted in fewer DUI accidents. Laws that require homeowners with pools to keep them fenced have resulted in fewer accidental drownings. Guns and children can co-exist. Children should be taught gun safety, but the onus to prevent these preventable shootings rests squarely on adults and they must be held accountable when their actions result in a child’s injury or death.
Read our full report on MaKayla’s Law here.
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6 Cody Jinks Songs You Have to See Performed Live
Cody Jinks performing live. (Cody Jinks Facebook)
By Joe Hyde | Apr. 22, 2019 1:19 am
SAN ANGELO, TX — Cody Jinks is the bearded songwriter from the Fort Worth side of the Metroplex. Appearance-wise, he has become the Texas version of Jamey Johnson in a way. The two have even performed together. At first listen, his songs, with titles like “Loud and Heavy” and “Must Be the Whiskey”, the beard matches the image of a heavy-drinking party animal. But there’s more to his music than that. Much more.
Cody Jinks headlines Saturday night, May 4, of the three-day Concho Valley Spring Jam on May 3-5. In order for you to prepare for the show, here are our suggested 6 Cody Jinks Songs You Have to See Performed Live.
6. I’m Not the Devil
“We’ve all got the choice everyday. You want to be God or do you want to be the Devil?” is how he introduces his title track to his 2016 record titled "I’m Not the Devil." The song begins with a denunciation of everything written in the first paragraph of this article (that is, he’s really not whiskey bent and hell bound).
The song begins, “I’m not the Devil you think that I am.” With a nod to the Christian doctrine of The Fall of Man, he continues, “I have no excuse, I’m just a man.” In ¾ time, Jinks explains to his girl how he “stumbled and made his bed.” The words are searching for forgiveness and redemption.
Video of Cody Jinks - I'm Not The Devil (Acoustic)
5. David
A closer look at many of Jinks’ lyrics, and his stoic delivery with his deep baritone voice that trends close to the lower bass octaves, you’ll hear songs about yourself, sometimes in unexpected ways. In “David” from his 2015 record Adobe Sessions, the lyrics tell a story about “my friend David” of his childhood. Of Jinks’ lack of career choices because of his small town roots, he explains, “Yeah, poor folks, they go to work, or they go to war.” As the storyline of the song continues, we learn that Jinks served 1500 days in the Marine Corps and upon returning home, everything had changed. This is especially true about friend David, who by then had two kids and a rap sheet. Jinks’ relationship with his old high school buddy who lost his way resonates with any guy who grew up in public schools in Texas. Like Jinks describes in this song, we all wonder what could have been with close friends from our childhoods. Sadly, here’s what happened to David:
Video of Set 2 - 01 Cody Jinks - David
4. Loud and Heavy
Writing songs that relate to a large audience is fueling Jinks’ popularity that has taken nearly two decades to ferment. His first debut in the DFW music scene was as the front man for the metal band named Unchecked Aggression in the late 1990s. After one record (The Massacre Begins (2003)), the band broke up and Jinks took time off before re-emerging in the alt-country genre. Paying his way while awaiting discovery saw Jinks working jobs like as a bartender in the Fort Worth Stockyards.
This year, Jinks is selling out venues. It was just announced he sold out his July 13 show in the 9,000-seat Denver Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
The genesis of this song is his then-2-year-old son who highlighted a song hook, “loud thunder, heavy rain” when riding through a Fort Worth thunderstorm while sitting in a car seat in the back of the van that Papa Jinks was driving.
Video of Cody Jinks "Loud & Heavy" LIVE on The Texas Music Scene
3. Mamma Song
Every successful man has a mamma having “late night talks with Jesus” to keep their boy in line with the challenge of “raising my father’s son.” The song is a tribute to his mother. For all mothers everywhere, you can’t wish for anything better than this!
Video of Mama's Song - Cody Jinks and The Tone Deaf Hippies
2. Must be the Whiskey
From his latest record, Lifers, this is a hard-charging country song written by Josh Morningstar. But Josh said he wrote it with Jinks in mind. “I was like, ‘Man, that sounds like a Cody Jinks song.’ So I started diving into his catalogue to get familiar with the type of songs he did,” Morningstar explained how he approached writing the song to his local paper in Pennsylvania.
The song is more about the regrets of drinking rather than the glorification of it.
“No I'm not goin' crazy, but lately these thoughts in my head / Are a whirlwind of a world of a million regrets. / All the things I should've done, all the things I should've said. / All the pain that comes with hatin' the mess you've made of yourself.”
Video of “It must be the whiskey” Cody Jinks 3-22-19 the Sylvee Madison Wi
1. Hippies and the Outlaws
Jerry Jeff Walker had his 1970s hit “Redneck Mother” (written by Ray Wylie Hubbard) about the perpetual tension between rednecks and hippies. Jinks takes it to a new level, directing his ire at the Nashville music scene and news media music reviewers, while uniting the hippies and the cowboys in the task. In this song, hippies and cowboys are all in it together. It’s Jinks’ anthem about the way he’s approached his craft and how he hopes his fans do too.
“Raising hell with the hippies and the cowboys. / They don’t care about no trends. / They don’t care about songs that sell.”
Video of Cody Jinks - Hippies and Cowboys - Portland, OR - Backroader21
Knowing these six songs will prepare you for Cody Jinks’ big performance in San Angelo May 4 at the San Angelo RiverStage in downtown San Angelo. If you’d like to continue listening to more Cody Jinks, and the other 9 performers at the festival, link your Spotify to the Concho Valley Spring Jam Spotify playlist here.
Advance tickets to the Jam are available at Blair’s Western Wear or online at Stubwire.
DTMN: Bumblebee Featured Friday Night
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"Mary Poppins Returns" Featured Friday at Down Town Movie Night
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Grant helps shelter stay open for the season
Homeless client Gene Castro Jr. picks out some clean clothes at the shelter with the help from Shauna Hoggard as the shelter opened for the season last year.
Homeless Coalition anticipates fall grant for permanent housing
The Homeless Coalition of San Benito County received word last week that it will receive an $86,000 federal emergency shelter grant that will help to cover operational costs for the remainder of the shelter season.
Doug Emerson, a Hollister city councilman and a member of the Homeless Coalition board, said the grant will help the shelter immensely in a year when community development block grants failed to deliver. The shelter had been running on reserve funds from private donations since opening Nov 1.
“I was going to talk to the board about closing early this year,” Emerson said. “Without this grant, at the end of March we would have no money. Now we will definitely be able to stay open this year.”
Emerson said it is the fourth time the coalition has applied for the federal shelter grant program, which gave out a total of $6.6 million to California shelters.
One of the key changes that made the coalition eligible for the competitive grant is that San Benito County joined a Continuum of Care with Monterey County. A Continuum of Care is a group of nonprofits and government agencies that work together to provide services to the homeless. In the past, Emerson said previous local applications have been denied up to 75 points in the competitive process for not being part of a COC. He said San Benito has also been hurt by not having received the federal grant in the past – those who have had one get points based on their track record with audits.
This year, Emerson also adjusted the amount that he applied for to be half the shelter’s annual budget to maximize the number of points for that portion of the application.
“Now we have a history established,” Emerson said, noting that it should be easier to apply for the grant in the future. “You really have to say exactly how you are going to use it and you are held accountable.”
Moving forward, the FESG program may emphasize a need for permanent shelter space. It is one of the tenets of the 10-year plan to end homeless that the Continuum of Care developed last year. Emerson said that the coalition may be receiving funding through the COC to offer 11 permanent housing units in the fall.
“This is a huge step,” said Cindy Parr, the executive director of the Homeless Coalition. “This is big for San Benito County.”
Through the program, COC provides funding to lease the units for families or individuals. Some of the units will go to residents of the temporary shelter, some to families who are in the winter shelter program offered through the county’s Community Service and Workforce Development, and some for the Emmaus House, a temporary shelter for victims of domestic violence.
“Right now what we see is a lot of clients coming back every year and then we close,” Parr said, of people who work on recovering from substance abuse or other issues. “We have two that are really strong in recovery. The rest are so deep in the hole they don’t see the light. They have five months and then they are back out (on the streets.)”
Emerson and Parr said that one of the key components for the permanent units will be extensive case management. The case management would help clients with finding employment, getting into substance abuse treatment or dealing with mental health or physical disabilities.
“Someone will have to do that,” Emerson said, noting that the CDBG and FESG programs limit the way that funding can be spent – it cannot be used for administrative costs.
He said private donations are one way to cover administrative expenses – and donations are down about $3,000 this year. The group is working with the Monterey Peninsula Foundation on a Birdies for Charity fundraiser (see below for more information.)
One of the requirements in selecting residents for the permanent housing units is that the individual has a documented disability. Parr said it can be physical, mental or substance abuse. She said that of the clients she’s seen this year at the shelter, about half of them would qualify for the permanent housing program. She and Emerson said that they are identifying potential residents now, but will work with Enrique Arreola at Community Services and Workforce Development to decide how to prioritize which clients will be invited to stay in the 11 units.
The shelter has had 30 returning clients so far this season as well as 32 new intakes, Parr said. A new homeless management information system software program has made it easier to track clients who stay at the shelter. Parr said the shelter hasn’t been full yet this season, but she attributed it to the lack of rain.
“The rain really brings them in,” she said. “We will probably get it later, right before we close.”
Parr said that one thing she would like to work with some of the faith-based organizations on is providing a day room – somewhere some of the shelter clients could go during the day to work on resumes or look for jobs.
“They really need a day room to really get serious about recovery,” she said. “At churches, they could do a little yard work or clean up. It gives the guys a little bit to do.”
Birdies for Charity
The Homeless Coalition of San Benito is one of a few local charities that are participating in the Monterey Peninsula Foundation’s Birdies for Charity Fundraiser.
The Monterey Peninsula Foundation is the host of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and it ties that in with a fundraiser each year.
The Pledge Drive component of Birdies For Charity invites Monterey County, San Francisco and Silicon Valley area 501(c)(3) organizations to involve their communities in a pledge drive, similar to a walk-a-thon, based on the total number of birdies made by PGA Tour professionals during the 2010 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Anyone can fill out a pledge form and pledge, one cent or more per birdie or a flat rate, to participate in the program. Donor incentives include various great prizes all awarded through random drawings of completed pledge forms throughout the pledging season.
The Monterey Peninsula Foundation covers the program cost and provides a 15 percent match for all pledges received. Visit https://birdies.attpbgolf.com/ to make a donation, or call Cindy Parr at 801-9531.
cindy parr
doug emerson
homeless coalition
monterey peninsula foundation
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Buyer Motivation
This week I’m turning my comments away from all of the endless market commentary focused on prices, values, supply and interest rates, leaving behind almost everything financial to concentrate on buyer motivation.
I’ve previously quoted the three ‘Ds’ of death, divorce and debit as the big drivers of why people buy and sell homes. None of these three ideas are that inspiring and so I’m going to suggest a fourth ‘D’ and that’s desire. Desire after all is a very strong emotion.
Let’s start with an example of desire that’s outside of the housing market but, it’s a great example of how desire drives demand. There’s also a neat fix when we’re talking about d-words as here, I’m talking about diamonds. Right now, in the heart of Sydney in the new flagship store just opened for Tiffany, the Tiffany diamond is on display.
The Tiffany diamond is a sparkling example of how desire absolutely drives demand. The diamond was acquired by Charles Tiffany for US$18,000 in 1877 and today its valued at somewhere around US$30/35 million.
The desire to own a diamond as intensely beautiful is perhaps understandable, when you see it however, no less powerful is the desire that in part also drives the motivation for owning your own home. And that’s usually well-below $30m.
This is a fascinating topic and one of the basic ideas that helps understand buyer motivation comes I’m suggesting, from considering the wider meaning of the word ‘tenure’ and tenure is accepted as the essential foundation of property ownership.
The word tenure tells us a lot about how anyone seeking to own their own home might feel, might be motivated and that’s even though the word may not be used in everyday casual conversation. However, tenure is very much related to security, and security and home ownership are almost inseparable ideas.
Tenure is derived from a medieval French word meaning “to hold.” Reference from 1414, as “holding of a tenement,” from Anglo-French tenure “a tenure, estate in land”. The word also links with the Latin ‘tenere” which has a number of definitions that we can relate to owning a home: to hold, keep, possess and preserve (secure) it.
These same ideas suggest security, and security of tenure is I would suggest perhaps the most basic and important motivation for a majority of people buying a home. Security is one of those words that in 2019 has taken on much greater meaning and weight across society, it’s a key motivation.
Defining Housing Security
Away from the three ‘Ds’ I’m always keenly interested in what motivates the majority of homebuyers. Consider why do people want to buy and ultimately own a home once any mortgage is paid-off?
What’s in their hearts and minds? Why do so many of us work, sacrifice and save, for years, in order to pull together a home-loan deposit?
It’s a mind-set that also extends to governments and policy makers and it’s perhaps demonstrated by the policy settings being proposed in the race for the current Federal election. Where we see housing and property becoming a central policy debate.
In short why do so many people still see home ownership a key life and personal goal. And for much the same reasons do we see people renting now looking for much greater long-term tenure and security.
It appears that from various research projects and surveys that the main motivation for buying is simply the desire to own a home of your own, to have a place that is yours, to make your own.
A secure space, secure tenure, a home that’s a buffer against the outside world that is often seen as harsh and brutal. A goal that’s so topical and so important that housing affordability (both buying and renting) is always a concern of governments and the whole of society.
Cocooning Re-Booted
Thinking about buyer motivation and with a focus on how important security is, I’m reminded of ‘Cocooning’ a term first coined by Faith Popcorn in 1981, cocooning is sometimes described as “the stay-at-home syndrome.” However, it’s an idea that does help pin-point in everyday terms, some of the ideas that I’ve just touched upon earlier.
Faith Popcorn’s idea was a trend setting one in 1981, and soon because a part of popular culture. Cocooning is all about staying at one’s own home, insulated from potential ‘danger’, or simply the distractions and hurdles of everyday life.
The term took on greater relevance as evidence from Popcorn’s work revealed an intensifying home focused behaviour. She forecast it would be a trend, not a fad and in 1986 said that the concept involved building a “shell of safety” around oneself, around your home and family.
Commentators have described the trend as a shield against the harassments of daily life, and big issues like a nuclear war and terrorism that have driven people to ”cocooning”.
As home becomes the centre of our security, cocooning is made easier by somewhat related trends that include UBER eats. Although not directly referring to UBER eats, Popcorn has cited the increased use of gourmet frozen foods as examples of cocooning behaviour however, now with UBER eats and Google drone deliveries, you don’t even need to visit the supermarket as food and other items of every kind are just a few clicks away on your smartphone App.
Social media has also emerged as a counter trend allowing people to be cocooned but still digitally connected, even with social media facing its own problems.
Well before 9/11 and the GFC, Popcorn saw a need for people to seek a safe place. Today with technology like self-driving cars, intrusive identity theft tactics and the suggestion of foreign powers infiltrating our internet space, people are more than ever looking for places that feel safe, and often that space is at home.
It’s a key trend and a big reason for the central role of housing and home ownership in modern Australia, it gives us stability and reassurance.
As people look to their safe spaces in their homes, Popcorn however, now sees that we need to reach inside the cocoon and pull people back out without scaring them. This is one reason why we may have seen new apartment projects and housing estates offering more and better facilities, like shared dining rooms, community cinema rooms and even private clubs.
The idea of home as a ‘cocoon’ will soon be 40-years old, however, it would still appear to be a core idea and motivation for owning a home or renting with long-term security, where tenure is a cocoon, even if it’s achieved at a high cost and a big mortgage.
Peter Chittenden
Buyer Trust
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The ideas for which many of us have sacrificed are very much alive and embodied in this collection of posters. I acknowledge feelings of great pride, that in spite of all the difficulties our people have had to face, they were able to produce such work.
Imagery: F/C & B/W photographs
Genre: Cultural History
Date of publication: August 2004
Having already produced the widely acclaimed film, On the Bowery, about New York City’s skid row, Lionel Rogosin came to South Africa in the late 1950s to explore the idea of making a film that would ‘give a voice to the oppressed’. He quickly made contact with Can Themba, Bloke Modisane and Lewis Nkosi; writers associated with the crusading magazine, Drum, who have become legends in their own right. It was Rogosin’s willingness to place Blacks at the centre of the film-making process and let them speak for themselves about life under apartheid that made this film entirely unique. Fortunately, Lionel Rogosin wrote down the story of what he and his Come Back Africa colleagues went through to make this important film. Peter Davis, a filmmaker who knew Rogosin well, has edited this into a highly readable account of what was, in effect, a grueling and often dangerous encounter with apartheid society.
Come Back Africa reads like a suspense story as we are caught up in Rogosin’s obsession. It takes us on a journey back in time to when the foundations of the apartheid state were being laid and give us a wonderful sense of what life was like in 1950s Johannesburg — especially the much mythologised Sophiatown.
Rogosin’s insights and comments, as he tries to unravel and come to grips with the perplexing mess of racial intolerance, domination and bigotry that was South Africa, are revealing — about the times but also about Rogosin’s own views and prejudices.
This book is a wonderful addition to the few treasured resources available to us about that period.
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Home > TFR > Vol. 10 (2018) > Iss. 3
A Visionary Organization: From Donor Intent to New Horizons of Race and Gender Equity
Carolyn Chernoff, Moore College of Art and DesignFollow
V Varun Chaudhry, Northwestern University
10.9707/1944-5660.1427
This article documents the unique trajectory of the Leeway Foundation and its transition from sole-director family foundation to an independent foundation. Over 25 years, Leeway shifted in structure and grantmaking, yet has remained in line with its founder’s original mission: to fund women artists in the Philadelphia region.
This article focuses on the shift from the founder’s initial intentions to what is now an organization informed by models of racial and gender equity, funding women, trans, and gender nonconforming artists working for social change. Leeway thus serves as a case study for examining transformational shifts in mission, vision, and constituency with leadership after an initial donation.
Through analysis of qualitative data, this article addresses donor intent and (unintentional) legacy in changing social and political circumstances. We consider how the organization’s development was enabled but not constrained by the circumstances of its founding and identify strategies and best practices for other foundations in transition, whether in terms of population served or organizational structure.
Chernoff, C., & Chaudhry, V. (2018). A Visionary Organization: From Donor Intent to New Horizons of Race and Gender Equity. The Foundation Review, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.9707/1944-5660.1427
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Lie To Me's Shawn Ryan Talks About Season Two
Kelli Williams (as Dr. Gillian Foster) and Tim Roth (as Dr. Cal Lightman) in Lie to Me. Photo by Adam Taylor and copyright of Fox.
IN Beat the Devil, the spring premiere of Lie to Me, Cal Lightman plays a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a brilliant, charming psychology graduate student whom Lightman identifies as a psychopath. When nobody believes him, he sets out to prove the doubters wrong and catch the psychopath before he kills again. Complicating matters is Lightman's former mentor, a renowned psychologist who, also fooled by the charismatic young man, is protecting him for personal and professional reasons. Meanwhile, Loker and Torres travel to a small town to look into a UFO sighting. Lie to Me returns on Monday, June 7th @ 8:oo p.m. EST/PST.
Last Wednesday, series executive producer Shawn Ryan spoke with myself along with other journalists on a conference call about the latter half of the show's second season. The following is an edited version of our call. Enjoy!
Shawn, could you philosophize a little bit on the role of lying on drama. It seems like lying usually is the best thing for drama. It worked wonders for The Shield, which was, essentially, always about the lies that the main character was acting on and so forth. Is it an important part of drama, and is it kind of weird to be doing a show where one of the people can tell when you’re lying?
SHAWN RYAN - Yes, I would say that lying goes hand-in-hand with secrets, and secrets are often times the key to drama. That was something we talked about a great deal on The Shield, which was about who knew what, who didn’t know that, and who was keeping secrets from who. In this case, to have a show that’s about secrets as well as lies and is really, really fun. The initial instinct is, well, Jeez, if you’ve got a guy who can just tell when people are lying, doesn’t that make it simple? But what we’ve tried to do on the show - and this was something that Sam Baum, who created the show, initiated right from the beginning - is that a lot of times it’s not enough to just know that someone is lying. You need to know why they’re lying, what they’re hiding, what’s the motivation behind their actions. That, often times, is what leads us to a full hour of television. I think I saw an ad for a movie within the last couple years where everyone had to tell the truth and I thought to myself, "Well, that’s going to be a tough one to tell." It’s much more fun when you can have your characters deceive other people, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for bad.
What was your reaction when they said you’re going to have new episodes during the summer? What did you think of that?
SR - My first reaction was grateful that they were picking us up for a back nine, because we were told at the same time, OK, we want nine more episodes but because our schedule is looking pretty full right now, we’re going to save them until summer. It’s mixed feelings because traditionally, in the past, that’s been a burn-off spot, but when I was told that they were pairing us up with The Good Guys, which I knew was an important element in their schedule, and they had been talking for a while about really making a true commitment to year-round programming, I chose to look at the glass half full and say, well I guess they want us to be pioneers for them in that regard and see if we can get an audience there.
Also, it was a very tough time slot that we were in on Mondays at 9 p.m. in the fall. We had Dancing with the Stars along with Two and a Half Men, Big Bang Theory and Monday Night Football and we were holding our own and doing OK in the ratings. But now we have a chance to hopefully attract some audience attention and get some eyeballs that maybe were tuning into other things during the fall. So I’m definitely looking at it as an opportunity more than a punishment.
I’m wondering with this back nine, were you able to map out a road towards any sort of a season finale cliffhanger that we’re going to get this summer?
SR - Yes, is the short answer. A lot of episodes are standalone so I wouldn’t say that we crafted a nine-story serialized arc, but we did get to plan for some things, and it did allow us to look at the episodes after we finished them all and to decide in concert with the network and the studio what would be the best way to air them. And we think we’ve got some really strong last couple episodes that will launch the show into the third season fall schedule.
There's an episode coming up where Cal (Tim Roth) check himself into a psych ward; what can you tease us about that?
SR - That is true, and it's during our very special Shield reunion episode where I brought back six of our actors from The Shield and had them co-star in it. I don’t have the schedule in front of me but I have a feeling that’s like the fourth of fifth episode to air. It’s called Pied Piper, so if anyone else on the call has a schedule, they might be able to tell you the specific date (August 16th). I know it’s in the middle of the run. Yes, for a good reason, Cal has his motivations, but he does check himself into a psych ward and maybe fits in a little too well.
Will the potential romance between Cal and Gillian (Kelli Williams) be explored further during the back nine? And the same question for Loker (Brendan Hines) and Torres (Monica Raymund).
SR - What I would say on the Cal/Gillian front is that the relationship deepens and gets explored, but there is a character that comes in between them, played by Melissa George, for a few episodes. And we certainly leave – we have a back nine but it’s actually 12 episodes that we still have to air, that we’ve made, so in those 12 summer episodes, we’re going to learn a lot more about Cal and Gillian and how they came together. We’ve got an episode that shows in flashback how they first met and what they mean to each other, so I don’t necessarily want to label it “romance,” but their relationship deepens in a way that I think the audience will find satisfying. As for the Loker/Torres relationship, we definitely get some advancement on that front.
Do you enjoy playing with the audience with these kinds of relationships? Do you enjoy bringing the characters close and then ripping them apart again?
SR - Well, I don’t want to make it seem like I’m some bemused God up in the skies toying with the audience, but we like thinking about what these characters would actually do in these situations if they were to occur. Certainly in the Torres/Loker case, you’ve got two attractive people working in close quarters, dealing with each other a lot. They have different styles and they get on each other’s nerves, but there’s also an attraction there. On the Cal/Gillian front, there’s just a really, really deep bond, and we were very interested in finding out where that came from. That’s something that was written from the beginning of the series but I also think it’s just something that naturally plays between Kelli Williams and Tim Roth. They really like each other a lot in real life and have a lot of respect for each other, and there’s something on-screen that plays. As a writer, when you see that playing in the editing room, it’s a great inspiration for stories going forward. It’s less to do with sort of playing with the audience, dangling it out and pulling it back, more than just trying to be realistic to the situations.
Working with Tim Roth, I would think he has a very distinctive face, a very distinctive style and a very distinctive set of acting skills. I’m wondering, are there paths that you have gone down, things that you can do, that you can say we’re doing this because of him, because you think he can handle this, because he can pull this off, because he looks this way, that maybe if you had another actor in this role, maybe you couldn’t do. What is it specifically about Tim?
SR - Yes. Tim is a real live wire, very, very smart actor, a very instinctual actor, and someone who really likes to be challenged on a scene-by-scene basis. I would say that his instincts fall in line with an audience. He doesn’t like to play just straight ahead procedural scenes. He likes to find a different new angle in the scenes, which is a real challenge to write, but it’s very satisfying once you meet that challenge.
So Tim is someone who has a range that not a lot of other actors have so it’s an unspoken contest in the writers’ room. What kind of fun situation can we put Tim into, whether it’s role playing, whether it’s acting more outraged than he really is, whether it’s going to be spy in a certain scene trying to detect something while flying under someone’s radar, or as was previously mentioned, checking himself into a mental ward to get access to someone there but knowing exactly the right buttons to push with the doctor to get himself admitted. Those are the kinds of things that are our challenge. One thing I’ve found in all the shows I’ve worked on is the better you know your actors in real life, the better you’re able to write for them. So one of the keys to writing for Tim is just spending a lot of time with him, on-set, just hanging out, having meals, talking to him, getting that voice in your head, which is interesting because obviously I’m an American and obviously he’s English and so my natural speech rhythms are not the same as his, so that was a challenge for a lot of the writers to write him authentically British. But I think we managed to do that and we also had a ringer British guy on staff that helped with that.
Cal can be kind of a jerk a lot of the time. He’s abrasive and arrogant, and yet we still like him somehow. How do you walk that line between having somebody who’s actually quite irritating on a day-to-day basis, and yet we’re still in his corner.
SR - I think, ultimately, honesty can be the ultimate pain killer. Oftentimes, while being a jerk, Cal is also being honest and that’s something that we can appreciate because a lot of us feel we don’t get enough honesty in our lives, and feel like people are hiding things in disguise and things from us. There’s a scene in an upcoming episode that’s, once again, in this highly-touted Pied Piper episode, I believe, where he makes a very strong accusation towards someone, the actor Benito Martinez in this case, and coming on very strong and very much like a jerk because he has an instinct that Benito is hiding something. And then Cal learns pretty quickly that he’s not hiding something and immediately reverts to a very apologetic state, which is a pretty comedic scene, I think. Cal has self-awareness of when he’s being a jerk, and will acknowledge it, and then in this case, apologize for it. I think that buys you some interesting behavior if you know that A) his motives are pure, he’s trying to get to the bottom of these various mysteries that he’s assigned to, B) he ultimately wants the right thing by people, and C) a lot of times his jerkiness is because he’s interacting with an outside world that is not being honest. Now is that to say that he still doesn’t occasionally act like a jerk? He can, but those major things, I think, buy a lot back from the audience.
Jason Dohring is going to be guest starring in an upcoming episode as a psychopathic grad student; can you talk a little bit about him and his character and also some of the other upcoming guest-stars that you have for the rest of the season?
SR - OK, I’m going to have to go off memory so you’ll have to be a little patient with me, but that character is evolved in story where Cal Lightman believes, through his research and through his instinct, that he may be a very, very bad person. And yet, the other people in his life feel like he’s reaching, like there may be an ulterior motive for Lightman’s feelings, and he may be off base. So it becomes an episode about Cal trying to prove his theory, either right or wrong, and obtaining a great nemesis in the process. That’s about all I’d want to say about that character in that episode.
In terms of other guest-stars in the season, I know I’m going to space on some names, but we have in that very same episode, Howard Hesseman as a teacher who’s gotten himself into a jam because he claims to have seen a UFO. He’s a teacher in the school and the school certainly doesn’t want a crazy, delusional person teaching their children. The firm is employed to try to figure out if he’s telling the truth about this.
I mentioned that we have Melissa George for a few episodes and she did great for us. Jennifer Beals is back for a couple more episodes before I hijack her to my new Fox show. Max Martini, who was a series regular for us on The Unit, plays a recurring role as someone who, in the same way that Melissa George comes in between Cal and Gillian, on Cal’s side, Max Martini plays someone who comes a little bit between Cal and Gillian on Gillian’s side. And he’s in three or four episodes, I believe.
I think we did a pretty good job guest casting the show. Enver Gjokaj, who was on Dollhouse, also has a really, really great guest performance, in an episode about an Iraq war soldier who comes back and is having some mental problems from that experience that threatens his family, and Cal takes it upon himself to try to solve these problems. Those are the ones that are off the top of my head, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a couple of big ones. But that’s one of the fun things to do on this show that I didn’t always get to do on The Shield or The Unit was to really bring in a guest star and just give them some really meaty, fun stuff to do in just one episode.
Since you’ve steered Season 2 of Lie to Me, and then you’re going off to your other projects, how does it feel to pass the show off to somebody else? Is there any kind of parental feeling that you might have about that?
SR - Yes. When I came in, Sam Baum who created the show, asked me to join up and try to help with some internal leaks on the ship and get the ship righted, and I feel that I, with a lot of help, did my part in doing that. At the time, I had some things in development but nothing was a go, and as you all know, it’s very difficult to get something on the air. After we started working on the show, I was unlucky enough to get two shows on the air. The show Terriers for FX that’s going to premiere in the fall that we’ve been making episodes for, and then just recently my pilot, Ride Along, got picked up, first the pilot and then the series.
So it became obvious in the last couple months that it was going to be too much work for me and I really do care a lot about Lie to Me and its future and its success. I realized that it would be better if I went to the studio and said I can’t finish this but let’s work out a transition together. We had developed what I thought was a very good team and a team that really picked up a lot of slack for me when I was in Chicago making my pilot. They proved to me that they were ready to accept a lot more responsibility. So there are a few writers from last year that are staying on and taking over the reins of the show. I really have complete faith in them. I’m in the position that I’m in now because Kevin Reilly and Peter Liguori… had a lot of faith in me to make The Shield when I had no experience to indicate that really I was capable of it.
So I feel like it’s a situation where there are a couple of writers, Alex Cary and David Graziano on the show, who certainly have more experience that I had when I started The Shield, who I think have a really great grasp of the show, who have a lot of fantastic ideas for Season 3. They went and pitched the network on how they saw Season 3 and it was an impressive enough meeting that I think it had an impact on the show getting picked up for a third season. I’ve been trying to help them, sort of grandfatherly-advice style along the way. They drop in my office two or three times each week and update me on what’s going on with the transition and what’s going on with staffing and hiring and ask me some questions and I give them some advice, some of which they take and other of which they ignore. It’s really nice to see guys I like who I think are really talented writers getting this opportunity. I think they’re going to do a really, really great job.
As noted above, photo by Adam Taylor and copyright of Fox Television, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
Posted at 03:00 AM in Alex Cary, Benito Martinez, Brendan Hines, Crime Drama, David Graziano, Dollhouse, Dr. Cal Lightman, Dr. Gillian Foster, Entertainment, Enver Gjokaj, Fox, Howard Hesseman, Jason Dohring, Jennifer Beals, Kelli Williams, Kevin Reilly, Lie To Me, Max Martini, Melissa George, Monica Raymund, Peter Liguori, Sam Baum, Shawn Ryan, The Shield, The Unit, Tim Roth, TV, Uncategorized | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: Alex Cary, Benito Martinez, Brendan Hines, Crime Drama, David Graziano, Dollhouse, Dr. Cal Lightman, Dr. Gillian Foster, Entertainment, Enver Gjokaj, Fox, Howard Hesseman, Jason Dohring, Jennifer Beals, Kelli Williams, Kevin Reilly, Lie To Me, Max Martini, Melissa George, Monica Raymund, Peter Liguori, Sam Baum, Shawn Ryan, The Shield, The Unit, Tim Roth, TV
Lie To Me ' s Mekhi Phifer - Reynolds ' Rap
[caption id="attachment_3466" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Mekhi Phifer as FBI Agent Ben Reynolds in Lie To Me. Photo copyright of Fox Television"] [/caption] In the season one Lie to Me episode Blinded, FBI Agent Ben Reynolds enlists the help of Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth and his team to help in the hunt for a serial rapist. This marked the debut of Mekhi Phifer as Reynolds, who by the end of the episode is made a member of Lightman's team. Perhaps best recognized for his starring role on ER, which garnered him two NAACP Image Award nominations, Phifer is also known for his many successful feature films. He began his acting career in Spike Lee's Clockers and then went on to star in such movies as 8 Mile opposite Eminem, O opposite Josh Hartnett and Julia Stiles and Soul Food with Vanessa Williams. The actor's other TV credits include The Tuskegee Airmen, Subway Stories: Takes from the Underground, Brian's Song and Carmen: A Hip Hopera. Additionally, he earned a third NAACP nomination for the film A Lesson Before Dying. At the end of September, I joined several other journalists on a conference call with Mehki Phifer. The following is an edited version of our Q & A. Enjoy! What are the similarities and differences between your role on Lie To Me and your character of Dr. Gregory Pratt on ER, which you were so good in? MEKHI PHIFER - Thanks, I really appreciate that. The only similarity is that they're pretty strong characters. They have different backgrounds and things of that nature, and, while both men save lives, they do it in different ways. Obviously, being able to, for example, carry a badge along with a gun and having gone undercover adds more layers to my character in Lie to Me and makes him different from Greg Pratt. So I'm having a lot of fun unveiling all those layers. As the season goes on are we going to find out a lot more about your character and get more into the personal side of things? MP - Yes, definitely. Shawn Ryan [series executive producer] and the rest of us really want to delve into this character and see what makes him tick. Can you tell us a little bit about how you first become involved in the series and your audition process for the role of Ben Reynolds. MP - Fortunately, they [the show's producers] knew my work and loved it, so I didn't have to audition. This job was an offer to come do the last two episodes of the first season and see how it all worked out, including how we gelled as a cast, and it worked out great. So once hiatus came I was officially asked to join the cast for season two. What were some of the acting challenges you found first stepping into the role, and how have you seen your character grow and develop so far in year two? MP - It's always hard, especially those last two episodes I did for season one because my character wasn't at all scoped out yet. Starting out, you kind of have to make it up as you go along, so you're sort of walking on egg shells when it comes to character choices that you're making because those choices affect the next episode and the one after that and so forth. I just knew that I wanted to portray someone who could go in many different directions, so I tried to bring a three-dimensional side to Ben. In season two, we have a little bit more clarity on the way we want things to go. You will get to see into Ben's past as an FBI agent and even him doing undercover work and how that affected his professional as well as personal life and what he's had to deal with because of that. I wanted to talk a little bit about your production company; as an actor, how important do you think it is to have a role behind the camera as well as in front of it? MP - I guess it's personal preference. Me, personally, I like to be able to tell the stories that I want to tell and do the things I want do to. It takes a little bit more work, but that's what the production side is. You're still going to have to sell [the idea] to someone who's going to give you the money and things like that. However, it does give you a bit more control to tell the story that you want to tell as opposed to just reading a script that somebody else wrote and saying, "Yes, please, can you hire me for this job." It allows you to be a bit more hands-on and closer to the heart. What influence do you ultimately hope to have or leave in Hollywood? MP - The point for us actors, just from the creative side, is to entertain and affect people. It's always the best compliment when people come up to you and say that they were affected by your film or performance on a TV series or whatever. I don't know yet what my ultimate legacy is that I want to leave. I'm still a fairly young man and hopefully I have a lot more to do. You character on Lie to Me is kind of like the "cops and robbers" type while everyone else is more scientific. Can you talk about the push and pull between the characters and what that friction is like? MP - You're right, Tim Roth's character and all the other guys at The Lightman Group are a bunch of scientists who may want to do something that's beyond the limits of the law if you will. My character is kind of the liason between them and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We do bump heads a lot because I don't necessarily understand, at least right now, how much their methods really do help solve cases. As the series goes on, he'll come to better understand that. Ben Reynolds has his own methods and it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks, but ultimately both sides come together for the betterment of these cases. In terms of your breadth of work, you seem to be drawn to drama more than comedy - is that correct, and if so, why do you think that is? MP - I can do comedy but it's a certain type. I'm not a physical comedy guy or slapstick. That's not my style. Even when I was on Curb Your Enthusiasm I wasn't playing this over-the-top crazy character. I was playing it kind of straight, but it was funny because the situation was funny, do you know what I mean? That's how I portrayed him. I like dramas because you can laugh and joke and still be serious and real. I like the realism of the genre. You did such a great job in The Shield, which was such an edgy show. Are we going to see the same thing in Lie to Me? Is it going to be a little edgier and darker this year? MP - Yes, I think so. It's already kind of going there. The networks are different so they have a different approach. Obviously, The Shield was on the FX Network, so they had a bit more leeway as far as the dialogue was concerned, as well as with the content and what they showed viewers, which is a great thing. But on Lie to Me we will push it to the limit as far as Fox will let us go, that's for damn sure. What sticks out most in your mind about our first day on the Lie to Me set and shooting your first episode? MP - The first day, in particular, is always one of those weird days because you're thrown into your trailer, given your wardrobe, haven't really been on the set, etc. Fortunately I had been watching Lie to Me, so when I walked onto the set for the first time it was like, "Wow, this is what I've been watching on TV." You're also meeting people for the first time. I had never met Tim Roth before, even though I've always loved his work. It was the same thing with the rest of the cast, and to come on and have everyone welcome you with open arms and really be there for each other was definitely a breath of fresh air. It was the same thing on ER. We had a great camaraderie and that's more or less what I was concerned about more than anything else. It's a great group of people here and we're having a lot of fun. What did you enjoy most about working on ER and playing the character of Gregg Pratt? MP - I was able to be here [in Los Angeles] and be close to home and my kids every night and all that kind of stuff. Again, though, it was the people. The cast and crew on that show hung out together, we travelled together and did so much together. I always like having that sort of rapport with the people I work with because life is too short not to. What would you say makes a career in this industry rewarding for you so far? MP - What makes a career rewarding is being able to do good work and know that people respect and appreciate your work. As an artist and a creative person you always want to receive the accolades of others who are watching you or you wouldn't be doing it, do you know what I'm saying? No one wants to do this if people say, "Man, you stink." Actors want to do well and, to me, that's the basis of having a stellar career, earning peoples' respect. When your name comes up and people go, "Oh, yeah, he's a good actor, and I loved him in this or I loved him in that." It's a good feeling to have people appreciate you. You're on a show that has a multi-cultural cast just like ER. Can you talk about the importance of having a multi-cultural cast and what that brings to television? MP - I just think it opens up the viewership. The beauty of watching a good television program or a good movie is that, yes, you may have a multi-cultural cast, but those roles could go to anyone - they could be played by persons of any color, you know? To show the world that we have more in common then we have different from each other is, to me, the ultimate goal. It helps reinforce in peoples' minds that thought that we're all the same. Yes, there are going to be cultural differences, but for the most part we are all the same as human beings. Was the character of Ben Reynolds written with you in mind? MP - Yes, I think so. I know that they wanted to introduce a character who could go toe-to-toe with Tim Roth's character and be a sort of on-site lawman with a badge and a gun to deal with crisis situations right there without having to outsource or try to find an agent who was willing to work with The Lightman Group. As a Black man in Hollywood who is specifically doing drama, can you talk about the challenges of that. Do you feel there are challenges in finding work, having been fortunate with ER and now Lie to Me? MP - It was tough, just like anything else. I've been in the industry for 15 years and throughout that time I've mainly done dramas, but I've always tried to portray each character differently and make them three-dimensional. Lie to Me came up as a testament to my work in the past. Again, I didn't have to audition for it; the producers and director had seen my work as well as heard about my work ethic and asked me to come on. So in order to really be respected in this town, you have to have a foundation of good work. Without that, you have a shell of a career out here, rather than the meat and bones of it all. As noted above, photo is copyright of Fox Television, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
Posted at 03:00 AM in Dr. Cal Lightman, Dr. Gregory Pratt, Drama, Entertainment, ER, FBI Agent Ben Reynolds, Fox TV, Lie To Me, Mehki Phifer, Shawn Ryan, The Lightman Group, The Shield, Tim Roth, TV, Uncategorized | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Defying Gravity ' s Paula Garces - Act Of Faith
[caption id="attachment_3279" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Paula Garces as Paula Morales on Defying Gravity. Photo by Kharen Hill and copyright of Fox Studios and ABC"] [/caption] If you have to go to work, it helps if you like your job, and that is definitely true of Defying Gravity's Paula Garces. It is only the middle of what looks to be a long day on the show's Vancouver set, but the actess is still full of energy and eager to talk about her involvement in the series. Her character of Paula Morales is part of an international team of eight astronauts who, after five years of intense training, set off in 2052 on a six-year journey to explore our solar system onboard the spaceship Antares. Besides her duties as mission payload specialist, Paula is also transmitting daily status reports back to school classrooms on Earth. It goes without saying that she wears a lot of proverbial hats, and Morales could not wait to try on every single one of them. "My character is obviously of Latin descent, although we haven't specified exactly from where," notes the actress, who is back in her trailer after a quick visit to make-up in preparation for her next scene. "Paula is also a scientist and a pilot as well as extremely religious and conservative, so she's constantly having to deal with conflicts between her faith and science as well as religion. On top of that, Paula is experiencing the various difficulties that I think anyone in real life would be faced with if they were travelling in space and separated from their family and friends for an extended period of time. She's in charge of a space classroom as well, and when you lump all that together, Paula can occasionally be a little bit off-putting because she's quite misunderstood by those around her. "So she needs to be a number of different people at the same time. Paula has to be bubbly and smart along with cute and charming so that the kids back on Earth will listen and actually learn something from her. At the same time, she has some dark issues to deal with and, again, is conflicted, which sometimes ticks off the people she works with. So it's been really interesting to see her develop, and I've been very lucky as far as the writing. The show's producers/writers have given me a great storyline that I can wrap myself around and lose myself in. It's a lot to do, but I love it and I hope I'm doing a good job. "This part is full of layers and, again, I'm thrilled with the fact that my character is not only a scientist and astronaut, but also someone of faith. At the beginning I was wondering how that would work, but in researching the role I discovered that several astronauts are religious, specifically Catholic, and have even taken communion up in space and things of that nature. There is so much I can play with as Paula, including the fact that she's petite and cute and sometimes doesn't get taken very seriously. Yes, there are still stereotypes that she has to fight against, even in the not-so-distant future. It only goes to show that everything changes, and yet some things remain the same." [caption id="attachment_3280" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Paula Morales holding "virtual class" with her students back on Earth. Photo by Sergei Bachlakov and copyright of Fox Studios and ABC"] [/caption] Like most acting opportunities, Garces was sent the pilot script for Defying Gravity by her manager, and as soon as she began reading it, she became enamored of the Paula Morales character. "That can sometimes be the kiss of death for an actor," she says. "We get sent so many scripts, a lot of which aren't very good. So when a good script does come along, you fall in love with it, but you don't want to deal with the heartbreak in case things don't work out. "I actually flew to Toronto to audition for the role with Michael Edelstein [series executive producer] and David Straiton, who directed our first episode. I was very nervous, but David read with me and said, 'Don't worry, you're totally rocking it.' As soon as I heard that, it kind of gave me the confidence that I think the role needed. I also feel that was something that James Parriott [series creator/executive producer] needed to subsequently see from me in-person, too, because prior to this they had just watched a tape of my work. Once that saw that confidence, though, I think that's what made them decide, 'OK, maybe we should give Paula Garces a shot at this role.' So I really have to thank David for saying what he did to me during my audition, which is not typical. You usually don't know that early on whether or not they like you. Sometimes I think I'm totally awesome during an audition, but I guess I stink because I don't get the job," jokes the actress. "Other times, I think I blew it and I get hired. It's a crazy business, but in this case I'm delighted that things worked out the way they did." Although Garces' audition jitters soon became a distant memory, those butterflies in her stomach returned, albeit briefly, when filming began on Defying Gravity's opening episode. "I think we were all terrified because it's such a big show," she says. "We had to establish the ship and the outer space elements as well as our characters' training and them being astronauts and so forth. Then there were the technical elements, including getting to know the sets, dealing with green screen and the wire work, the latter of which is necessary with any scene where there is zero gravity and our characters have to 'float.' "So that was all pretty daunting simply because there was so much foundation for us to lay, and if you don't do it right away and grab your audience's attention, then they won't give the series a chance. Having said that, I think our first episode stands on its own and hooks you into our story and all its wonder, which includes hope for the future and finding answers to the unknown. [caption id="attachment_3281" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="All smiles inside the Antares' lab. Photo by Sergei Bachlakov and copyright of Fox Studios and ABC"] [/caption] "The thing is, I see this show as being less Science Fiction and more Science Fact. It deals with things that are happening now in the real world with regard to space travel and how it's likely to change or improve over the next 40 or 50 years. That's a huge undertaking because you have to keep things real. You can't be like, 'OK, we're going to magically teleport ourselves to that planet.' Everything has to be thought out and make sense. So our first story really gives you a taste of what the relationships between these people are like and what they'll be facing in their next six years together on this extraordinary mission that I believe humankind would one day want to take." When it comes to relationships, perhaps the oddest one onboard the Antares is between Paula and theoretical physicist Steve Wassenfelder (Dylan Taylor). The two formed an unexpected bond during training, specifically during medical training when a man under the influence of an unusual drug died in front of them. Since leaving Earth orbit, "Wass" has taken pot shots at Paula's religious beliefs, and at one point even accidentally injured her, but despite this there remains a connection between them. "Now that I've watched some of the footage, I find Paula and Wass to be the 'youth vote' on the ship if you will," muses Garces. "As for the actual reason why she feels connected to him, I believe it's because she finds Wass brilliant. At first he comes across as a slacker, and I think Paula sees him as a waste of talent. My character is someone who works hard and is very disciplined, so she doesn't quite get the whole slacker mentality. However, what Paula eventually comes to realize is that this is just Wass' way of dealing with the isolation of space and being on this mission, which is actually a pretty smart way of looking at things. "As these two characters have their conversations and debates, because they have quite a few debates on science and religion, Paula sees that underneath all that information and 'I don't care' attitude, Wass has a huge heart. And I think vice versa, he admires how disciplined she is. He begins to realize that maybe he should worry about Paula and try to give her certain [scientific] information that perhaps she's a little too stubborn to see because of her faith." [caption id="attachment_3282" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Moments before an unfortunate accident that nearly ended Paula's involvement in the Antares mission. Photo by Sergei Bachlakov and copyright of Fox Studios and ABC"] [/caption] Coincidentally, one of Garces' favorite Defying Gravity moments is with her and Dylan Taylor. "I love doing wire work, and there's a scene between Paula and Wass where a section of the ship loses gravity," says the actress. "As tricky as it was doing the wire work, there was a great deal of humor in that scene. I don't want to spoil it for those who might not have seen the episode yet, but one of these two characters isn't a very good astronaut when it comes to floating, but I'm not going to tell you who," she teases. "That scene was so funny and realistic, because if you stop and think about it, astronauts are human beings, right, and not robots. Once they finish whatever tasks they're supposed to do in a day when they're up there in space, they have to live their lives. So they're working out, eating, sleeping, reading, acting silly, whatever, and I think this particular scene with Paula and Wass helped bring out the human side of what could happen to someone up in space who's not accustomed to being in zero gravity. The special effects in the scene are incredible and how we shot it was really cool. It was done in a very different style and we used a bunch of tricks that I didn't even know about, so it was a great learning experience as well." The eldest of two sisters, Garces grew up in New York's Spanish Harlem and was raised by her mother, who encouraged her interest in the arts. "I had braces when I was 12, and by coincidence I met this agent at a dinner party that my mom gave," recalls the actress. "She thought I was cute and said to me, 'Come see me when you get your braces off because I think you can make some money doing TV commercials.' "A year later that same agent came to our house again and she asked me, 'Why didn't you come see me?' Later on, my mom asked me to at least make an effort to go see this woman because she was her friend, so I did and ended up getting five auditions, including one with [producer/writer/director] Martin Scorsese. Of course, I had no idea who he was, and when I got home from the audition my mom asked how it went. I told her it was OK and that I spoke with some guy whose last name sounded like Spacey. My mom called her friend to find out more, and this woman told her, 'Well, first of all, your daughter was auditioning for Martin Scorcese, who is directing a public service announcement about drugs, alcohol, teenage sex and AIDS. It's going to be shown in theaters nationwide and, oh, by the way, she got the job. Paula is super-funny, down-to-Earth and was the only one who was completely honest and kind of told him [Martin] off.' [caption id="attachment_3283" align="aligncenter" width="199" caption="Having previously worked together on another series, Paula Garces and Malik Yoba (Ted Shaw) are reunited on Defying Gravity. Photo be Sergei Bachlakov and copyright of Fox Studios and ABC"] [/caption] "My mom was like, 'Oh, my God,' and after hanging up the phone she immediately educated me on who Martin Scorsese was," laughs Garces. "He's the reason I got my SAG [Screen Actors Guild] card, and from there I was lucky enough to get work on most of the New York-based TV series including Law and Order as well as New York Undercover with Malik Yoba [Ted Shaw on Defying Gravity], Oz and The Sopranos. I got my big break when Jerry Bruckheimer cast me in Dangerous Minds starring Michelle Pfeiffer. Following that I did a soap opera [The Guiding Light] for three years, then [the feature films] Clockstoppers and Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, and I just carried on from there." On TV, the actress is perhaps best known for her performance as Officer Tina Hanlon on the crticially-acclaimed FX series The Shield. "Every single day on the The Shield was a wonderful challenge," she says. "I was only supposed to do one episode. From what I remember, the producers were auditioning very muscular women for this particular role, and here I was this tiny little thing. However, I thought, 'The easy route for a female cop would be a big, muscular, in-shape, tough looking woman. But what about the female cops out there who don't necessarily look intimidating, but who are still street-smart, know they can kick ass, and have an intuition about them that would be an asset on the streets as far as fighting crime.' "So that's how I spun it, and I think they saw in my audition that I would be good next to this big guy, Michael Jace [Officer Julian Lowe], who ended up being my partner on the show, and the dynamic worked. After that first episode, they asked me if I would continue as a recurring character, and the next season they invited me to be part of the regular cast. It was a fantastic program to work on and, of course, after they established my character, they took great pleasure in having this cute little girl run through the streets, beating up bad guys with a baton, and cuffing them," laughs Garces. "They gave me all this nasty, gritty material, and I think the show's writers enjoyed seeing the expression on my face when I'd first read the scripts. It's that quality and high standard of writing that keeps you on your toes and interested in your job. It's the same on Defying Gravity." As the actress approaches her 20th year in the business, Garces has not become at all jaded about the work, and has no intensions of falling into that trap. "I still get a thrill out of booking a job," she enthuses. "You study your lines, go into the audition room, bear your soul and hope that they like you. I don't know what it is about us actors, but we're desperate for other people to like us and reward us for just memorizing our lines. So when I get that phone call from my agent or my manager saying I got the job, it's such a high for me. It's the best phone call you can get as an actor." Steve Eramo Defying Gravity is produced by Fox Television Studios and OmniFilm Productions in association with the BBC, Canada's CTV and Germany's ProSieben. As noted above, all photos by Sergei Bachlakov or Kharen Hill and copyright of Fox Studios and ABC, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
Posted at 03:00 AM in ABC, BBC, CTV, David Straiton, Defying Gravity, Dylan Taylor, Entertainment, Fox Television Studios, James Parriott, Jerry Bruckheimer, Malik Yoba, Martin Scorsese, Michael Edelstein, Michael Jace, Officer Julian Lowe, Officer Tina Hanlon, OmniFilm Productions, Paula Garces, Paula Morales, ProSieben, Sciencie Fiction, Steve Wassenfelder, Ted Shaw, The Shield, TV, Uncategorized | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
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'Romeo and Juliet' Review
It's a respectable adaptation that most moviegoers (young and old) will be able to appreciate, but also the kind that you suspect will leave junior high/high school students bored.
Romeo and Juliet is a traditional cinematic adaptation of William Shakespeare's famous tragedy play, as was filmed on location in the original setting of Verona, Veneto, Italy. The story centers on teenagers Romeo (Douglas Booth) of the House of Montague and Juliet (Hailee Steinfeld) of the House of Capulet, who are immediately smitten with one another upon their first meeting - despite the long-standing open hostilities between their respective families, that is.
The young lovers, caught in the maelstrom of impassioned romance (but without the wisdom of age and experience), decide to get married in secret, which the Friar Laurence (Paul Giamatti) consents to, believing that their union could be the key to ending the blood feud between the Capulets and Montagues. However, the couple's future is soon put in jeopardy by a terrible chain of events, as though fate itself is conspiring to teach Romeo and Juliet's warring kin a lesson they will never forget.
Oscar-winning actor/writer Julian Fellowes (creator of Downton Abbey) adapted Shakespeare's classic theatrical work about doomed romance for this 21st century film version of Romeo and Juliet. Fellowes' script retains the thematic essence of the Bard's original play, yet neither he nor Italian director Carlo Carlei prove able to capture the desired emotional sizzle, nor expand upon the narrative's substance and insights in a timely fashion. The end movie result is a perfectly competent, yet unremarkable revitalization of Shakespeare's play on the big screen.
Hailee Steinfeld and Douglas Booth in 'Romeo and Juliet'
The 2013 film version of Romeo and Juliet is a far more purist interpretation of the original story than other retellings over the years (see: Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet), yet it fails to capture how the drama was originally intended to feel to those watching in the audience. Although the elegant costumes manufactured by Carlo Poggioli (Cold Mountain) and find craftsmanship of the historical production design by Tonino Zera (Miracle at St. Anna) deserve to be recognized, the movie isn't so colorful or expressive in spirit, resulting in an adequate re-staging that nonetheless comes off as too timid for its own good.
Most of the blame for that belongs to director Carlo Carlei, seeing how the script by Fellowes largely amounts to an effective streamlining of the source material (then again, Fellowes could be criticized for not having something new and substantial to add to the text). Carlei gives little cinematic flavor to the scenes that are word-for-word from the Bard's original play, but he and cinematographer David Tattersall (Star Wars: Episode I-III) still capture the physical/verbal conflicts and the scenes of swooning romance with a satisfactory amount of flair. Unfortunately, the transitional beats in the film usually amount to either a bland montage (showing characters moving to a new location) or a clunky fade to black.
Paul Giamatti and Hailee Steinfeld in 'Romeo and Juliet'
Booth and Steinfeld have the proper adolescent look to portray the titular lovers, in addition to being strong performers who have solid (though, not quite palpable) romantic chemistry onscreen. Giamatti as the Friar Laurence is excellent as ever; in many ways, he is the heart of the film, as he captures the character's full range of emotions and imbues the climactic drama in the third act with more emotional resonance than it might've possessed otherwise. Similarly, Lesley Manville as Juliet's attendant Nurse plays her sidekick role with charm and rousing spirit (even though it is a little uncomfortable when the character starts waxing poetic about the much-younger Romeo).
The remainder of the cast is likewise solid, including Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In) as the earnest Benvolio, Christian Cooke (Magic City) as the fiery Mercutio, Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl) as the impetuous Tybalt, Damien Lewis (Homeland) as the borderline-insecure Lord Capulet, Tom Wisdom (Pirate Radio) as the pitiable Count Paris, and Natascha McElhone (Californication) as Lady Capulet. The only actor who feels somewhat out of place is Stellan Skarsgård (Thor), whose turn as the Prince of Verona is a bit too menacing and unfeeling when he's meant to be righteously angry and world-weary.
As a whole, though, Romeo and Juliet (2013) benefits from good casting decisions and lovely production values, yet the story execution is stilted and doesn't feel inspired enough, considering this is supposed to feel like the most powerful tragic romance tale ever told. It's a respectable adaptation that most moviegoers (young and old) will be able to appreciate, but also the kind that you suspect will leave junior high/high school students bored when they're forced to watch it for class in the future.
In case you're still undecided, here is the trailer for Romeo and Juliet:
Romeo and Juliet is now playing in limited theatrical release. It is 118 minutes long and Rated PG-13 for some violence and thematic elements.
2.5 out of 5 (Fairly Good)
Tags: romeo and juliet
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Hackulous and the Mac App Store
From an article on TorrentFreak: Pirate Apple App Store Innovates With ‘Reverse BitTorrent’
'''The other announcement from Hackulous is also very significant. On January 6th, Apple will release the Mac App Store and before it’s even released, Hackulous have cracked its security.
By removing DRM from products available from the Mac App Store with a new product called ‘Kickback’, Hackulous will be able to offer the same kind of free download service for Mac as they do for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.'''
'''“Most of the applications that go on the Mac App Store [in the first instance] will be decent, they’ll be pretty good. Apple isn’t going to put crap on the App Store as soon as it gets released. It’ll probably take months for the App Store to actually have a bunch of crappy applications and when we feel that it has a lot of crap in it, we’ll probably release Kickback,” says Dissident.
“So we’re not going to release Kickback until well after the store’s been established, well after developers have gotten their applications up. We don’t want to devalue applications and frustrate developers.”'''
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Ronnie James Dio’s Hologram Is Going on Tour
Debra Filcman
EyeIllusion
Wendy Dio can't bring the dead back to life, but she's certainly coming close, as far as fans are concerned. After recently defending her decision to pursue hologram technology, it looks like her late husband, Ronnie James Dio, will sorta set out on a world tour this fall.
Dio Returns kicks off on Nov. 30 in Helsinki and runs through the end of the year. You can see the initial list of tour dates below. Dio Disciples -- a band that includes guitarist Craig Goldy, bassist Bjorn Englen, drummer Simon Wright and keyboardist Scott Warren -- will back Dio's hologram at the shows.
The virtual Dio debuted at last year's Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany, joining Dio Disciples onstage after a year of preparations. Fans were treated to Dio's recorded voice along with live performance by his former collaborators.
The Dio estate has worked with the company Eyellusion to create a hologram that can perform many different songs from Dio's catalog that will change from show to show. “A lot of people don’t like the idea and some people do,” Wendy Dio told Ultimate Classic Rock earlier this year. “It’s done with love for the fans. It’s for those who would love to see him on the stage again with his bandmates, and for those who never got the chance to see him.”
Dio says she's far from the "cash cow" some have called her, saying the tour is actually quite expensive, but she believes her husband would have approved. “We always tried to make a hologram, Ronnie and I,” she says. “In 1986, those who saw the Sacred Heart tour saw that we did a rear projection of Ronnie’s head in a crystal ball, talking. Ronnie was always very very fascinated by Disney World and all the holograms that were in there. So I think he’d give his blessing to this. He was also an innovator in music, so why not an innovator in technology?”
The band is planning between 80 and 100 shows with the hologram, according to Rolling Stone. "Ronnie was and still is so revered by his fans, which really are his extended family, and they, too, had a special relationship with the man himself which entitles them to a voice," Goldy said. "Like all families, not everyone agrees, but this was a gift to the fans that was created in the very same spirit in which Ronnie gave throughout his whole career and created these amazing stage shows that rivaled Madonna and Michael Jackson."
Dio Returns 2017 Tour
Nov. 30 — Helsinki, Finland — The Circus
Dec. 3 — Stockholm, Sweden — Fryshuset
Dec. 4 — Oslo, Norway — Rockefeller Music Hall
Dec. 6 — Warsaw, Poland — Progresja
Dec. 13 — Barcelona, Spain — Bikini
Dec. 15 — Santander, Spain — Escenario Santander
Dec. 17 — Bucharest, Romania — Arelene Romane
Dec. 20 — Antwerp, Belgium — Trix
Dec. 21 - Tilburg, Netherlands — 013
Dio Albums Ranked Worst to Best
Next: Top 10 Ronnie James Dio Songs
Source: Ronnie James Dio’s Hologram Is Going on Tour
Categories: Concerts, News
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'Sanctuary Churches' Vow to Shield Immigrants From Trump Crackdown
By Elizabeth Evans, Religion News Service, Yonat Shimron, Religion News Service
First came the mayors of New York, Chicago, and Seattle declaring their cities “sanctuaries,” and saying they will protect undocumented immigrants from President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to deport them.
Then thousands of students, professors, alumni, and others at elite universities, including Harvard, Yale, and Brown, signed petitions, asking their schools to protect undocumented students from any executive order.
Now, religious congregations, including churches and synagogues, are declaring themselves “sanctuaries” for immigrants fleeing deportation.
On Nov. 15 an undocumented Mexican and father of three, who says he is determined to stay in the United States, for the sake of his children, appeared at a news conference at Arch Street United Methodist Church, where he is seeking sanctuary from deportation by federal authorities.
Javier Flores fled to the church, ahead of an order to surrender to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The 40-year-old north Philadelphia resident had entered the United States without papers in 1997. Since then, he was deported and re-entered several times.
“Today, and every day, if Javier and his family choose to stay with us, they will have a home with us,” said the Rev. Robin Hynicka, senior pastor, at the news conference at his Center City church.
During his campaign, Trump vowed to deport an estimated 11 million foreigners. Since his election victory, he said he would immediately deport 2 to 3 million undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of crimes.
“What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, we have a lot of these people, probably 2 million, it could be even 3 million, we are getting them out of our country, or we are going to incarcerate,” Trump told 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl.
Alongside enforcement of immigration laws, Trump vowed to build a massive wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep out immigrants.
In the wake of the elections, there’s been an “outpouring of inquiries and support” from congregations across the country that want to sign on as sanctuary sites, said Peter Pedemonti, executive director of the New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia.
“Churches are saying, ‘We want to do this. How do we get started?’” said Pedemonti, whose coalition includes 17 churches and two synagogues that have banded together to oppose deportations and offer their sanctuaries as safe havens.
But just how many faith communities are willing to harbor undocumented immigrants is hard to gauge.
Since 2014, 13 churches in nine cities have provided sanctuary to 15 people at risk of imminent deportation, said Noel Andersen, national grass-roots coordinator for Church World Service, which provides legal services for immigrants.
Andersen estimated there are 400 congregations nationwide that support the efforts, or are willing to open their doors to people fearing repatriation.
Churches, along with schools and hospitals, are considered “sensitive locations” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That means federal agents will avoid arresting, searching, or interviewing people there under most circumstances.
The sanctuary tradition can be traced back to the Hebrew Bible. The book of Numbers cites six sanctuary cities, throughout biblical Israel, where a person who accidentally killed another could take refuge from anyone avenging the killing.
A more contemporary version is the American “sanctuary church” movement of the 1980s, in which hundreds of Central American refugees, trying to avoid deportation, sought shelter in churches.
But it’s far from clear how big a role houses of worship will play in harboring undocumented immigrants, in today’s political climate.
President-elect Trump won 81 percent of white evangelical voters. While some evangelical groups, such as the Evangelical Immigration Table, have championed immigration reform, their efforts have not led to movement on the national level.
The major Hispanic evangelical organizations are socially conservative, opposing abortion and favoring broader religious freedom laws. They have advocated for comprehensive immigration reform, but have not joined the sanctuary movement.
“Churches need to follow their conscience,” said the Rev. Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.
“If they feel they need to protect undocumented immigrants, they’re within their biblical and theological right to do so. But the real preference is immigration reform. Sanctuary churches is a response. It’s not the answer.”
About 65 percent of Hispanic voters voted for Hillary Clinton, according to exit poll data. Trump won 29 percent of their vote.
“What we have been seeking is a true change in the system,” said Tony Suarez, who serves on Trump’s Evangelical Executive Advisory Board. “All this is a result of a broken system.”
Suarez is executive vice president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, which counts 40,118 participating churches, the largest Hispanic evangelical association in the country.
He said the advisory board has been meeting with the president-elect, or his advisers, on a weekly basis, and that their immigration policy is “still evolving.” But he added the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference will advocate for “justice and mercy” for all undocumented people.
The case of Flores, who has no criminal convictions, shows how difficult it may be for undocumented immigrants to flee to churches.
He is a Catholic, but he sought refuge in a United Methodist Church. Although U.S. Catholic bishops urged Trump to adopt humane policies toward immigrants and refugees earlier this week, not every bishop is likely to advocate for sanctuary churches.
Trump won the overall Catholic vote, by 7 percentage points, over Hillary Clinton, 52-45.
Protestant mainline churches, more liberal Catholic churches, and Jewish synagogues, however, are expected to join the movement and open their doors to people seeking refuge.
“It’s really key that people of faith be active, especially white America,” said Hynicka, of Arch Street United Methodist. “It’s time to put your bodies, buildings, and assets on the line.”
Via Religion News Service.
Elizabeth Evans, Religion News Service
Elizabeth Eisenstadt Evans is an Episcopal priest and a freelance writer.
Yonat Shimron, Religion News Service
Yonat Shimron is the managing editor of Religion News Service.
Image via Thanate Rooprasert/Shutterstock.com
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Beans On Toast – Wedgwood Rooms Dec 9 2014
Jay McAllister is an uncompromising UK based folk singer, better known to his fans as ‘Beans on Toast’. His uncompromising, down to earth style combined with irreverent lyrics, delivered with a sense of fun has won him legions of fans up and down the country. To date he has released 5 albums, appeared at numerous festivals, including several appearances at Glastonbury, and toured with his friend, collaborator and label mate Frank Turner.
‘Beans on Toast’ is currently on a 16 date headlining tour which covers the length and breadth of the UK. I managed to catch up with Jay before his show at Portsmouth’s Wedgwood Rooms last night. As always McAllister was relaxed and smiling despite the fact that he had been rushing around all afternoon getting set up and playing an in store set before the gig. Jay told me that he has really enjoyed the current ‘Beans On Toast ‘tour, he had played in great venues to great crowds and that he had a great time with support act Will Varley. The tour was in support of his 6th album ‘The Grand Scheme of Things’, released on his birthday, Dec 1.
I suggested to McAllister that this album was a little bit of a departure from his previous offerings, that there was more of an ‘Americana’ feel to it and that he was perhaps showing his softer side. He felt that he has always written about his life experiences and that this hasn’t changed. Jay went on to say that ‘I am more settled now, I am getting married a week on Sunday so I am writing about things like that. I can’t spend my life writing songs about drink, drugs and getting wrecked’. After the wedding Jay will be taking Lizzy to have the ‘New Orleans Honeymoon’ that he sings about on the album.
Jays experiences touring in the USA have clearly influenced his sound on this album, several songs have a distinct Country feel, most notable in ‘Fuck you Nashville’. McAllister acknowledges that there is a country feel to some of the songs but that this was just the way they came out, there was no deliberate plan, it just felt right for the song. He will be returning to the USA for some more shows in 2015 and will also be playing in South Africa in the Spring.
Throughout this ‘Beans on Toast’ tour, support has been from Will Varley and tonights show also featured a short set from McAllister’s long time friend and local boy Sam McCarthy who played a short but very well received solo set. Varley played a 40 minute solo set which again was very well received by the crowd. Varley has a very nice guitar style and creates a lovely sound from his nylon stringed classic guitar. He plays self penned folk songs that have a touch of ‘Americana’ about them. The majority of his songs were from his recent album ‘As The Crow Flies’ I was particularly taken with ‘Weddings and Wars’, ‘I Got This e-mail’ and ‘She’s Been Drinking’ all of which are engaging, interesting and well written songs.
Beans On Toast began his set at 10 p.m. and as you would expect the focus was on ‘The Grand Scheme of Things’ with ‘Folk Singer, ‘War On War’, ‘Fuck You Nashville’, ‘A Whole Lot Of Loving’ and others getting a run out. McAllister clearly enjoyed being so close to the crowd, there were no barriers so they were within touching distance. In his usual inimitable style Jay was very soon performing from the middle of the crowd rather than from the stage. He was certainly enjoying himself when he agreed with the crowd that they would take turns picking songs. There are no set-lists at ‘Beans on Toast’ gigs and this meant that a string of crowd favourites were played. There was one sour moment when Jay invited a young man onto the stage and the less than friendly security promptly threw him out. This did drag the atmosphere down but Jay soon got things back on track by delivering the Chicken Song. Jay also ensured that he showed who’s side he was on by going back into the crowd, climbing on a fans shoulders to sing and inviting the crowd to get up on each others shoulders to join in. Irreverent and no-holds-barred as usual. As the show grew to a close ‘Beans on Toast’ invited dozens of fans onto the stage to form a ‘virtual’ campfire circle whilst he played ‘Flying Clothes Line’.
As the show closed it was clear that everyone had enjoyed a very solid show from an artist who can be relied on to deliver on every occasion, an artist who enjoys performing and who does his utmost to ensure everyone at his shows goes home happy.
This entry was posted in Gig Photography, Live Music and tagged beans on toast, frank turner, Jay McAllister, live music, Review, Wedgewood Rooms, Will Varley on December 13, 2014 by Alan Ewart.
← 75 Essential Albums – Day #61 – Carole King Sweet Lydie Masonic Are Unreliable and Ignore Complaints →
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New Non-Fiction Working by Robert Caro
PreviousWright and New York by Anthony Alofsin NextBlockchain by Stephen P. Williams
Working by Robert Caro
For the first time in book form, Robert Caro gives us a glimpse into his own life and work in these evocatively written, personal pieces. He describes what it was like to interview the mighty Robert Moses; what it felt like to begin discovering the extent of the political power Moses wielded; the combination of discouragement and exhilaration he felt confronting the vast holdings of the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Austin, Texas; his encounters with witnesses, including longtime residents wrenchingly displaced by the construction of Moses' Cross-Bronx Expressway and Lady Bird Johnson acknowledging the beauty and influence of one of LBJ's mistresses. He gratefully remembers how, after years of working in solitude, he found a writers' community at the New York Public Library, and details the ways he goes about planning and composing his books.
Caro recalls the moments at which he came to understand that he wanted to write not just about the men who wielded power but about the people and the politics that were shaped by that power. And he talks about the importance to him of the writing itself, of how he tries to infuse it with a sense of place and mood to bring characters and situations to life on the page. Taken together, these reminiscences--some previously published, some written expressly for this book--bring into focus the passion, the wry self-deprecation, and the integrity with which this brilliant historian has always approached his work.
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Fleming to mark Cleveland Orchestra’s decade in Miami
By Lawrence A. Johnson
Renee Fleming will make her Arsht Center debut with the Cleveland Orchestra January 23, 2016.
Renée Fleming will be the starry guest artist marking the tenth anniversary of the Cleveland Orchestra’s Miami residency.
The celebrated soprano will appear in a one-night event January 23, 2016 (vocal selections TBA). Franz Welser-Möst will also conduct the orchestra in Mozart’s “Haffner” Symphony (No. 35) and Ravel’s La Valse.
Cleveland’s 2015-16 residency will open November 13 and 14 with Giancarlo Guerrero conducting Saint-Saens’ Symphony No. 3 “Organ,” Chavez’s Symphony No. 2 and Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with soloist Johannes Moser.
Prefacing the Fleming event, Welser-Möst leads a mostly Tchaikovsky program January 21 and 22, including the Russian composer’s Symphony No. 1 “Winter Daydreams” and the Romeo and Juliet Overture. Leif Ove Andsnes performs Schumann’s Piano Concerto as the centerpiece.
The following week two Cleveland principals will be in the spotlight with concertmaster William Preucil and cellist Mark Kosower teaming up for Brahms’ “Double” Concerto. The program also includes Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 3.
The season will close March 17-19 with the world premiere of a work by composer Avner Dorman, commissioned by the Arsht Center to mark the ten-year anniversary of the Cleveland’s Miami residency. Guerrero is on the podium for a program that also includes Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
Subscriptions are now on sale. arshtcenter.org
Sat Mar 7, 2015
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Archive for WillIam Castle
The House on Haunted Hill
Posted in Horror History, Horror Showcase with tags 1959, b-movie, B-Movie Horror, genre, genre films, Ghost Story, horror, horror movie, horror movies, House on Haunted Hill, movie review, scary, Skeleton Gimmick, splatterpictures, Vincent Price, WillIam Castle on September 12, 2011 by splatterpictures
For some reason the year (1999) when the remakes of The Haunting and the House on Haunted Hill sticks out in my mind a lot. My brother really wanted to go and see the latter. So we went and I really enjoyed it. It was the very first time I had ever seen that 32 frame per second type ghost effect. You know where it ends up looking really frigging weird, and unnaturally fast?
It wouldn’t be until years later that I would finally sit down and watch the original. The house on Haunted Hill was released in 1959. The film was directed and produced by B movie legend and shameless promoter William Castle. The film stars Vincent Price (I swear this is just a coincidence) and Carolyn Craig.
The basic plot is this. Fredrick Loren (Price) is an eccentric millionaire who hosts a party at a supposedly haunted house. He gathers together a group of virtual strangers and tells them that he will pay them each ten thousand dollars if they would spend the night in the mansion. He says he is doing this because his wife had the idea of throwing a “ghost party”. He informs the guests that the servants will be leaving the grounds and locking all of the doors and they won’t be opened again until 8 AM the next day. Anyone who makes it, will be given their money. This is all treated as light hearted at first and each of the guests seem to be enjoying themselves.
None of the guests are very remarkable. Waston Pritchard is the current owner of the property is there who knows the most about the place. He tells the others that his brother and sister-in-law were murdered in the house and he is legitimately terrified of the place.
Nora Manning (Craig) is just a secretary for one of Lorens companies. Ruth Bridges is a columnist; Lance Schroeder is a pilot and finally Dr. David Trent is the resident psychiatrist. I honestly had a hard time telling some of them apart. The one thing they all have in common is that they need money and this seems like a golden opportunity.
It seems that spooky things start to happen to Nora only who freaks out and hysterically screams at numerous different situations. One of the moments that stood out for me is when she encounters the creepy old hag with the long fingernails that scares her half to death. The movie relies for sudden shocks and special effects for their scares, but it’s a pretty typical case of Nora seeing something and everybody arriving too late. That all changes when the body of Loren’s wife is found hanging from the staircase and everyone seems dumbfounded. At this point it isn’t really clear what happened. They had shown scenes of Loren and his wife fighting and it’s reasonable to assume she had killed herself. The movie takes a swift turn to a whodunit motif that carries it for the rest of the story.
Castle was well known for his use of theatre gimmicks and this movie was no different. During the films final moments a skeleton rises out of an acid bath and starts to stalk it’s prey. Apparently when that moment happened in the movie the theatre goers were treated to a plastic skeleton flying over their heads. It was things like that which elevated this B horror movie into the cult classic that it is today. The famous macabre director Alfred Hitchcock was so impressed with the movie that it was said that it would inspire him to make the classic Psycho. Among the skeleton gag the movie also breaks the forth wall both at the very start and the very end. It’s not too often that this happens anymore (probably for the best).
Well, since its release this movie has become public domain, so it’s free to watch in a variety of ways. I recommend that people check it out when they got a chance. It has some great thrills and special effects so cheesy they become genius. Plus, it has the unforgettably talented Vincent Price. Okay I promise this will be the last Price movie for awhile.
See yah next time, and thanks for reading!
"Do I have something in my teeth?!"
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Ichiro draws from lessons learned from friend Buck O'Neil as he ponders future with Mariners
Yahoo! Sports July 19, 2012, 7:43 PM UTC
When Ichiro Suzuki crashed the major leagues in 2001, what struck many, beyond his wizardry with the bat, was this inimitable presence, a style and savoir-faire that ran in deep contrast to the tobacco-stained American ballplayer. It wasn't that Ichiro was Japanese; he was new, magnetic, mysterious.
He valued the same thing in others, too. He appreciated Rod Carew's austerity with words, Paul Molitor's quiet strength, Buck O'Neil's aura. Ichiro loved everything about Buck. They were two men from different eras with different skin colors, different bank accounts, different perspectives. And yet their love of baseball and desire to make the game better bridged the language gap and forged a relationship likelier than one might think.
Buck's joy was osmotic, and Ichiro will think about him in moments like today, in which his struggles are undeniable. Whether it's age or something else, Ichiro, 38, is struggling like never before: an on-base percentage below .300, a batting average almost 60 points shy of his career norm and questions about his future following this season, when he's due to hit free agency.
Before he died in 2006, Buck often spoke of players he enjoyed watching. He had an affinity for those who stayed in one place their whole career. Ichiro's marriage to the Seattle Mariners seemed a fait accompli until recently, and in a rare interview, he told Yahoo! Sports this week that his return is no certainty.
"It's going to go both ways," Ichiro said through his translator, Antony Suzuki. "It can't just come from the player. It's got to come from the team, too. If the team is saying they need you, you're necessary, then it becomes a piece. But if it's just coming from the player, it's not going to happen."
Asked whether he's concerned about the Mariners not sharing his feelings, he demurred – "We can't talk about that," he said – and shifted the conversation back to O'Neil, the Negro League icon whose lessons Ichiro draws from today.
[MLB Full Count: Watch live look-ins and highlights for free all season long]
They shared the struggles of pioneers, though Ichiro doesn't dare try to compare his to a man judged and discriminated against because he was black. During his rookie MVP season, Ichiro met Buck, listened to his improbable story, accompanied him to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum to learn more and made sure to seek him out every time the Mariners came to Kansas City. Buck would hang behind the batting cage and watch Ichiro pepper balls to all fields, then launch home runs to right with power belying his size. Ichiro showed off for him. He saw something great in a man from whom so much had been taken but who never stopped giving.
"With Buck, I felt something big," Ichiro said. "The way he carried himself, you can see and tell and feel he loved this game. And when you see that presence, it makes you want to know more about him. That's what I looked to. We're all trying to play better baseball. Make it a better sport. That's what I see, and that's what I look forward to doing."
Those are not the words of a man who seems poised to retire, as columnists in Seattle are suggesting he do. A cloud teeming with fear and negativity hovers over Ichiro right now, ready to weep on him at any moment and potentially damage a 12-year relationship with the Mariners.
Former teammate Jay Buhner telling Seattle radio station 710 AM "I'd vomit" if Seattle signed Ichiro to a multi-year, big-money deal did little to dissipate the sentiment. Ichiro: yay or nay has replaced Clay Bennett: electric chair or firing squad as the great Seattle debate. It is almost the same as Derek Jeter's free agency two years ago. Coming off the worst season of his career, Jeter re-signed with the New York Yankees for three years and $51 million.
[Big League Stew: Former teammate's blunt assessment of Ichiro situation]
Balancing a legendary career with personal feelings and fears of intractable regression make for an incendiary concoction the Mariners must handle with great care. There is no easy answer.
And for Ichiro, someone who shared with Buck the idea of appreciating players staying with one team for their whole career, the coming months afford him time to prepare for a number of possibilities. Seattle could reward him as much for his past as his future. The Mariners could offer him a respectable deal with a large pay cut from his current $18 million knowing he won't accept. They could threaten to dissolve the relationship by lowballing him. He could leave via free agency and chase the 471 hits separating him from 3,000 elsewhere. He could head back to Japan. There are a million in-between scenarios, all of which lead back to this offseason providing more insight into Ichiro's fascinating mind.
"I can say this: I believe I've learned a lot the last 12 years," Ichiro said. "If I stayed in Japan for the last 12 years and never came here, I would not feel this way, like I do now, and I wouldn't feel the pain."
He wouldn't expound on what sort of pain, Ichiro evermore dangling threads of allure only to yank them back. He looks at the autographed Buck O'Neil ball at his home sometimes and remembers: This game is more about the joy than the pain.
Ichiro may not be new anymore. The magnetism has lost some of its pull. The mystery, however, won't go away anytime soon. For one of the greatest pure hitters ever, it grows bigger by the day.
Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
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• British Open: Watch Tiger Woods hack out of a divot on the 10th hole
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Home News Global news Student news wrap 15/11/18
News from around the world for and about students.
African Universities week 2018
African University Day, celebrated on November 12 across Africa, focuses attention on the African higher education sector; reflecting on progress, challenges and opportunities as well as attracting increased support for African higher education. The theme for 2018 is “Achieving the Africa We Want: The role of young people”. Many higher education institutions are hosting events for this week and today’s (November 15) theme is #IAmAfrican. Students are encouraged to dress African and share it on social media. – Visit the AAU site for info on this week’s events
Minister urges SA youth to get involved in tourism
With National Imbizo Focus Week kicking off on Monday (November 12), Deputy Minister of Tourism Elizabeth Thabethe has urged young people interested in tourism to approach her department for information and assistance in establishing their own businesses. “South Africa is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. People all over the world want to come to South Africa for many reasons. During the [Soccer] World Cup, we showed the world who we are and people loved our country,” said the deputy minister. She also encouraged young people to pursue careers in scarce skills. In 2011, the department implemented the National Youth Chefs Training Programme to address the urgent need for cooks and chefs in South Africa’s growing hospitality industry. Officials from the department made presentations on the various programmes that are currently in place and how citizens can access them. These included enterprise development, skills development as well as the Tourism Incentive Programme. – Read more on the Tourism Update site
New journal will protect authors of controversial publications
A group of international university researchers aim to launch a new journal allowing articles on sensitive debates to be written under pseudonyms. The Journal of Controversial Ideas will be launched next year. One of the organisers, University of Oxford professor of moral philosophy Jeff McMahan said: “It would enable people whose ideas might get them in trouble either with the left or with the right or with their own university administration, to publish under a pseudonym.” McMahan stressed that the new cross-disciplinary publication will be fully peer-reviewed in line with normal academic standards. The group is establishing an intellectually diverse international editorial board with representation from the left and the right, as well as religious and secular thinkers, to ensure the journal is not identified with a specific viewpoint. McMahan feels the reason for the journal stems from a need for more open discussion because “there’s greater inhibition on university campuses about taking certain positions for fear of what will happen”. – Read more on this article on the BCC news site
UK universities implement more paperless exams
A growing number of students in the United Kingdom (UK) are doing their exams on computers, moving away from traditional handwritten papers. Universities such as Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge are testing the move. They are however adopting differing policies on whether to allow spell-checking. While undergraduates at Oxford and Cambridge are not allowed to use the spell-check function during the trial exams, Brunel University London are allowing students to do so. Over 60% of universities have brought in ‘e-exams’ in at least one or two modules, while one in five have introduced it in entire departments, according to a survey. Professor Alan Smithers, from the University of Buckingham, said he worried the move could lead to “the death of handwriting”. Critics also cite that allowing access to spell-checking in exams will lead to dumbing down. – Read more on this story on the University World News site.
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Category: African American Issues
African American Issues, Black Cinema, Cable Television, Entertainment 1 Jun 2019
The Young Actors Of ‘When They See Us’ On Becoming The Exonerated Five Of The Central Park Jogger Case
As When They See Us, the limited series on The Central Park Jogger case from Ava DuVernay, bows on Netflix this week, the world will come to learn the true story about what happened that night and how the case impacted the young men that were wrongly accused of the crime. For the young actors who stepped into the shoes of the five, it was a daunting task, but something they were fully prepared for and exceeded at, which is something you’ll realize almost instantly once they appear on the screen.
Shadow And Act sat down with Asante Blackk (Kevin Richardson), Jharrel Jerome (Korey Wise), Ethan Herisse (Yusef Salaam), Caleel Harris (Antron McCray) and Marquis Rodriguez (Raymond Santana) ahead of the series premiere at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
As a New York City native, getting into the role wasn’t that hard for Jerome, who holds the distinction of being the only actor that portrays both the teen and adult versions of his character. The young actor got his start in Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight and, if all is right in the world, he’s poised for a breakout awards season and a potential Emmy win for When They See Us. “I’m from the Bronx, so I’ve been kind of doing research my whole life in a way — understanding you have to talk polite to the police, understanding that you have to stay away from the park at night, stay out of the streets at night. It was kind of this subconscious feeling of I kind of understand the intensity and the fear of the project, but it took watching the documentary a couple of times, they gave us transcripts, they gave us the actual documents, I got to watch Korey’s entire confession over and over. Ava opened up this world for us to get us into their minds.” Rodriguez, who has been cast in the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel pilot, agreed and added, “We had so much source material that was unbelievably helpful.”
For Blackk, a series standout as Richardson, he has one thing in particular that he wants viewers unfamiliar with the case to take away. “Humanity, for the most part,” he said. “These guys were painted as everything but human in 1989, painted as a wolfpack, as criminals. And just to take that step back and realize that these guys are human, they have entire lives outside of just this horrible one part of their life. They are real people, they have goals, dreams and aspirations. [I’d want them] to just see that in these men.”
With this material that hit so close to home, the young men all agreed that the story and content stayed with them long after the cameras were off and filming was over. Harris, who starred in the new Goosebumps film, as well as Hulu’s Castle Rock last year, explained that feeling. “Even still, those scenes..they stay a part of you. They never really leave you. When you truly put yourself in that situation, it’s hard to get out of it. It sticks with you and it just marinates. It really never leaves you. It stays a part of your soul, really,” he said. Herisse added, “After doing the verdict scene, I went back to my room and my dad was with me on set. He could see that I was clearly shaken up, and he was like, ‘It’s OK, the scene’s over,’ and I was like, ‘No, it’s not OK, it’s not over. This is still happening.”
Jerome added, “No matter what, we’re still people of color, so we leave set looking around, almost a little more scared now. That naivety that I had before the project is gone. I’m no longer naive to the brutality of a police officer or justice system. You kind of go around and you want to take this project as a lesson for you.”
“It’s one thing to have empathy for a story, but we were steeping in it for so long…that does something different to you,” Rodriguez said.
When They See Us is now streaming on Netflix.
Filed under: Ava DuVernay, Central Park Jogger Case, netflix, They See Us
African American Issues, CIVIL LIBERTIES 20 May 2019
African-American strippers awarded more than $3 million in discrimination case
Five African-American dancers will split more than $3 million awarded to them Wednesday for back pay and suffering while working in a Mississippi strip club. The attorney for Danny’s Downtown Cabaret in Jackson, Bill Walter, said he would ask a federal judge to reduce the award. If the judge doesn’t agree, he said he will appeal.
“Obviously, the client is disappointed in the verdict,” Walter said.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued the club several years ago, alleging that black dancers worked limited hours and were fined $25 if they missed a shift. White strippers were allowed flexible schedules and were not fined for missing work, the commission argued.
he agency also said the manager called one black dancer a racial slur and club owners forced black women to work at another club they owned called Black Diamonds, where conditions and security were worse and dancers were paid less.
“This case shows the EEOC will sue any employer, operating any type of business, who violates federal anti-discrimination laws, especially those who will not stop discriminating even after being given repeated chances to do so,” Rucker said. “The jury … sent a powerful message to Danny’s and any employer who thinks they are above the law.”
Filed under: commentary, discrimination, Strippers
African American Issues, Community Events, Cultural Events, Economic Trends 20 May 2019
Morehouse Graduates’ Student Loans to Be Paid Off by Billionaire
Not even Morehouse College administrators knew the announcement was coming.
Addressing the college’s class of 2019, Robert F. Smith, a man who is richer than Oprah Winfrey, made a grand gesture straight out of the television mogul’s playbook.
“My family is going to create a grant to eliminate your student loans,” he said on Sunday morning, bringing the approximately 400 students in caps and gowns to their feet.
“This is my class,” he said.
In January, Mr. Smith, a billionaire, donated $1.5 million to the college to fund student scholarships and a new park on campus. He received an honorary degree at the graduation on Sunday.
[Who is Robert F. Smith? Read more.]
The value of the new gift is unclear because of the varying amounts the students owe, but the money will be disbursed through Morehouse College and will apply to “loans students directly have for their college education,” a representative for Mr. Smith said.
Because Morehouse was not informed of Mr. Smith’s plans before the ceremony, details about how the money would be distributed were not immediately available.
A private equity titan, Mr. Smith founded Vista Equity Partners in 2000.
After making a fortune in software, he was named the nation’s richest African-American by Forbes. According to that financial magazine, Mr. Smith’s estimated net worth is $5 billion, making him richer than Ms. Winfrey, who previously held the title of the wealthiest black person.
Mr. Smith studied chemical engineering at Cornell University and finance and marketing at Columbia Business School. Although he shunned the spotlight for many years, Mr. Smith has recently embraced a more public role, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and making major charitable contributions. Cornell named its chemical and biomolecular engineering school for him after he announced a $50 million gift, and he has made major donations to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. He started the Fund II Foundation, which is focused in part on preserving African-American history and culture, and signed the Giving Pledge, a campaign through which wealthy individuals and families commit more than half their wealth to charitable causes, either during their lifetimes or in their wills.
Anand Giridharadas, the author of “Winners Take All” and a frequent critic of big philanthropy, said Mr. Smith’s offer was “generous.” But, he added, “a gift like this can make people believe that billionaires are taking care of our problems, and distract us from the ways in which others in finance are working to cause problems like student debt or the subprime crisis on an epically greater scale.”
Sunday’s announcement came amid growing calls to address the crushing burden of student loan debt in the United States, which has more than doubled in the past decade.
Over the past 20 years, average tuition and fees at private four-year colleges rose 58 percent, after accounting for inflation, while tuition at four-year public colleges increased even more, by over 100 percent, according to research from the College Board.
According to federal data, the average federal student loan debt is $32,000. The standard repayment plan for federal student loans is up to 10 years, but most students, according to research, take far longer than that to pay off their balances.
For the students at Morehouse, an all-male, historically black college in Atlanta that costs about $48,500 per year to attend, the gift could be transformative, especially in the unsettled years after graduation.
In an interview with the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Elijah Dormeus, a 22-year-old business administration major carrying $90,000 in student debt, said: “If I could do a backflip, I would. I am deeply ecstatic.”
Mr. Smith’s prepared speech did not include his plan to pay off the students’ debts.
“Now, I know my class, who will make sure they pay this forward,” Mr. Smith said on Sunday morning. “And I want my class to look at these alumni, these beautiful Morehouse brothers — and let’s make sure every class has the same opportunity moving forward — because we are enough to take care of our own community.”
Filed under: Class of 2019, Morehouse, Robert F Smith
African American Issues, CIVIL LIBERTIES 1 Apr 2019 1 Apr 2019
50 Years of Affirmative Action: What Went Right, and What It Got Wrong
On cold mornings, Les Goodson shows up early outside the University Club, on a wealthy stretch of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, and races two panhandlers he has nicknamed Catman and Pimp-the-Baby for a warm spot in front of a steam vent. He launches into “Take Five” on his saxophone, leaving his case open for bills and coins.
In a good week, it’s a living — enough to pay the rent on his railroad flat in Harlem and put food on the table. A few times, he has seen a former classmate, Gregory Peterson, bound into the social club without so much as a nod.
Mr. Goodson, 67, and his classmate were among a record number of black students admitted to Columbia University in 1969. Columbia and other competitive colleges had already begun changing the racial makeup of their campuses as the civil rights movement gained ground, but the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, and the resulting student strikes and urban uprisings, prompted them to redouble their efforts.
They acted partly out of a moral imperative, but also out of fear that the fabric of society was being torn apart by racial conflict. They took chances on promising black students from poor neighborhoods they had long ignored, in addition to black students groomed by boarding schools.
A look back through the decades shows what went right in the early years of affirmative action in college admissions, but also what can go wrong even with the best of intentions.
Those who were able, through luck or experience or hard work, to adapt to the culture of institutions that had long been pillars of the white establishment succeeded by most conventional measures. Others could not break through because of personal trauma, family troubles, financial issues, culture shock — the kind of problems felt by many white students as well, but compounded by being in such a tiny minority. And universities at the time, they said, did not have the will or the knowledge to help.
“I think it’s a fair question to ask: Did we really understand or know what we were doing, or could we have predicted what the issues would be?” said Robert L. Kirkpatrick Jr., who at the time was dean of admissions at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., which was part of these early efforts. “The answer is no. I think we were instinctively trying to do the right thing.”
Columbia — an Ivy League campus right next to Harlem — was a particularly revelatory setting. Perhaps nowhere else were the divisions more striking between the privilege inside university gates and the troubles and demands of black people outside them.
The New York Times tracked down many of the nearly 50 black students in Columbia’s Class of 1973, who arrived on campus as freshmen in 1969. Some of them have remained close friends and helped locate others from directories and photographs.
READ MORE: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/30/us/affirmative-action-50-years.html?emc=edit_th_190331&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=728232290331
Filed under: Affirmative Action, african-american, civil rights
African American Issues, CIVIL LIBERTIES, Court System, Legal Issues 24 Mar 2019
San Francisco To Pay $13.1 Million To Man Framed By Police For Murder
San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to approve a $13.1 million settlement for a man framed by police for murder.
Jamal Trulove spent more than six years in prison for a 2007 murder before being acquitted in a 2015 retrial.
“And trust me I’m not done with them by a long shot!!” a profile appearing to be Trulove wrote on Twitter. “After what these cowards of the law did to me, I will lit my freedom ring through every platform I get to show what injustice really looks like. Me!”
He sued in January 2016. In April of last year, a jury in Oakland found that two police officers on the case, Maureen D’Amico and Michael Johnson, deliberately fabricated evidence and failed to disclose exculpatory material.
Alex Reisman, one of the lawyers for Trulove, told the Associated Press that Trulove “endured a lot,” spending years in maximum security prisons in Southern California, hundreds of miles away from his family.
Police arrested Trulove for the 2007 murder of his friend Seu Kuka, who was shot in a public housing project in San Francisco. Trulove was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to 50 years to life in prison.
But a California appeals court overturned that conviction in 2014 and ordered a new trial. He was acquitted in a retrial in 2015.
Trulove’s attorneys said police manipulated a witness into misidentifying Trulove as the shooter.
The police officers named in the lawsuit have retired, and none were disciplined for their actions in the case, Reisman told the AP.
Trulove was pursuing a career in acting and hip-hop at the time of his arrest. He appeared in the reality TV show I Love New York 2. This year he appears in the movie The Last Black Man in San Francisco, which is scheduled for release in June.
Trulove wrote on Instagram in March that he has been dealing with PTSD from the experience.
“Theres nothing I could do to make up for that time I missed,” he wrote. “No amount of money could ever reverse the time I missed with my kids and the affect that it’s had on there up bringing and our relationship.”
Filed under: Jamal Trulove, Legal Settlement, Police Corruption
African American Issues, Black Films, CIVIL LIBERTIES, Cultural Events, Entertainment, Film Projects 24 Mar 2019
The Last Black Man in San Francisco | Official Trailer
Directed by Joe Talbot and starring Jimmie Fails, Jonathan Majors, Rob Morgan, Tichina Arnold, and Danny Glover. Winner of the Sundance Best Director and Special Jury Awards. The Last Black Man in San Francisco — Summer 2019 SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/A24subscribe From writer/director Joe Talbot and starring Jimmie Fails, Jonathan Majors, Rob Morgan, Tichina Arnold, and Danny Glover. The Last Man in San Francisco – In Theaters Summer 2019. RELEASE DATE: Summer 2019 DIRECTOR: Joe Talbot CAST: Jimmie Fails, Jonathan Majors, Rob Morgan, Tichina Arnold, and Danny Glover Like The Last Black Man in San Francisco on FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/facebook_LastBlackManSF Follow The Last Black Man in San Francisco on Twitter: http://bit.ly/twitter_LastBlackManSF Follow The Last Black Man in San Francisco on Instagram: http://bit.ly/instagram_LastBlackManSF
Filed under: Joe Talbot, Last Black Man in SF, Sundance Film Festival
African American Issues, Black Cinema, Cable Television, CIVIL LIBERTIES, Cultural Events 4 Mar 2019 4 Mar 2019
‘When They See Us’: Teaser, First Images Unveiled For Ava DuVernay’s Netflix Limited Series On Central Park Five
Unveiling a name change for the limited series, Netflix has dropped the first teaser for When They See Us, Ava DuVernay’s scripted, four-part project on The Central Park Five. The release coincides with the 30th anniversary of the incident.
In a statement, Netflix says in part: “The media dubbed the men The Central Park Five and they were forever linked to that name. The new title aims to break them free from that moniker. This is a story told from the perspective of the five men. It is important to everyone involved in the project to give these men an opportunity to tell their story and the series should have a title that represents their story.”
“In 1989, five Black and brown teen boys were wrongly accused of a crime they did not commit and branded The Central Park Five, a moniker that has followed them since that time. In 2019, our series gives the five men a platform to finally raise their voices and tell their full stories. In doing so, Korey, Antron, Raymond, Kevin and Yusef also tell the story of many young people of color unjustly ensnared in the criminal justice system. We wanted to reflect this perspective in our title, embracing the humanity of the men and not their politicized moniker,” says DuVernay.
The official description of the series: Based on a true story that gripped the country, When They See Us will chronicle the notorious case of five teenagers of color, labeled the Central Park Five, who were convicted of a rape they did not commit. The four-part limited series will focus on the five teenagers from Harlem — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise. Beginning in the spring of 1989, when the teenagers were first questioned about the incident, the series will span 25 years, highlighting their exoneration in 2002 and the settlement reached with the city of New York in 2014.
Portraying the young versions of the five are Jharrel Jerome, Ethan Herisse, Caleel Harris, Asante Blackk and Marquis Rodriguez. Jerome will also play the adult version of his character, alongside Chris Chalk, Freddy Miyares, Jovan Adepo and Justin Cunningham as the others.
Felicity Huffman and Vera Farmiga will play members of the prosecution team, while Michael K. Williams, John Leguizamo, Niecy Nash, Aunjanue Ellis, Kylie Bunbury, Storm Reid and Marsha Stephanie Blake play family members of the accused. Famke Janssen, Aurora Perrineau, Omar J. Dorsey and Adepero Oduye also have roles.
The series was created by Ava DuVernay, who also co-wrote and directed the four parts. Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King from Participant Media, Oprah Winfrey from Harpo Films and Jane Rosenthal, Berry Welsh and Robert De Niro from Tribeca Productions will executive produce the limited series alongside DuVernay through her banner, Forward Movement. DuVernay, Attica Locke, Robin Swicord and Michael Starrburry also serve as writers on the limited series.
Watch the teaser and check out the images below:
Filed under: Ava DuVernay, Central Park Five, netflix
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ACCC fines Uncle Tobys for false and misleading statements
November 30, 2015 December 14, 2015 rogermagnusson Uncategorized consumer protection law;, Food advertising
A reminder last week about the important role that consumer protection laws play in public health, and in holding – in this case – a food manufacturers accountable.
Cereal Partners Australia, which owns the Uncle Tobys brand, has paid a penalty of $32,400 imposed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for allegedly making false and misleading statements about the protein content of porridge.
Porridge is a protein superfood (if you add milk)
Uncle Tobys labelled its oat porridge satchets as “protein superfood”*, adding in small print “*when prepared with [1/2 or 2/3] cup of skim milk”.
This was not enough to satisfy the ACCC, which felt that the dominant impression created by the packaging was that oats are high in protein, when this is not the case.
Provisions in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) permit the ACCC to issue an infringement notice as an alternative to taking court proceedings against a person or company for breach of a range of provisions in the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), as well as many other provisions in the Act itself.
[Reckitt Benckiser, which manufactures the painkiller Nurofen, was not so lucky: the ACCC launched Federal Court action against the company for misleading statements made about the ability of Nurofen products to target particular kinds of pain. The Court has ordered that Nurofen products for back, period, migraine pain and tension headaches be removed from shelves].
The Australian Consumer Law in contained Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) . It commenced operation on 1 January 2011. It is a single, national law covering consumer protection and fair trading. It contains revised versions of provisions in the old Trade Practices Act, as well as provisions from Fair Trading Acts at State level. It implements agreements reached by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in 2008 to create a single, national consumer law. The Australian Consumer Law applies at Commonwealth, state and territory level.
Part 3-1 of the ACL contains a range of provisions relating to false or misleading representations.
In issuing three infringement notices against Cereal Partners, the ACCC would appear to have been referring to breaches of provisions in ACL Part 3-1, such as s 29, which provides that a person must not, in trade or commerce, make false or misleading representations about the standard, quality or composition of goods purchased by the consumer.
By claiming through its advertising that oats are rich in protein, the ACCC took the view that Uncle Tobys was making false or misleading representations.
According to its nutrition panel, one serving of oats gives you 4.4g of protein: about 9% of daily recommended intake for a normal adult.
Uncle Tobys was fined $32,400; that’s 3 X $10,800 for each of the 3 infringement notices issued.
That’s probably a few minutes of revenues for Cereal Partners Australia, which is the Australian subsidiary of Cereal Partners Worldwide, a joint venture between Nestle SA and General Mills Inc.
But it’s still 6,700 times larger than a 10 pack of oats satchets, which retails for $4.83 at Coles.
When trust is such a vital ingredient for sales and revenues, the publicity given to penalties provides part of the wider incentive structure for food manufacturers to avoid false and misleading statements in their advertising.
Complaint to the Advertising Standards Board
In addition to advertising Uncle Tobys oats as a protein superfood on its packaging, the manufacturer ran TV advertisements claiming that “UNCLE TOBYS Oats with milk are naturally rich in protein which helps build muscles… and they’re a superfood”.
A disgruntled viewer made a complaint to the Advertising Standards Board, which administers a number of voluntary codes , including the AANA Food & Beverages Advertising & Marketing Communications Code (the “Food Code”).
Section 2.1 of the Food Code states that: “ Advertising or Marketing Communications for Food or Beverage Products shall be truthful and honest, shall not be or be designed to be misleading or deceptive or otherwise contravene Prevailing Community Standards…”
The Board’s determination is here (0225/15).
The Board did not consider the term “superfood” was misleading; however, it did consider the advertisement breached section 2.1 because it suggested to a reasonable viewer that the product was naturally high in protein and failed to “make sufficiently clear that the product needs to be combined with milk to achieve the heightened nutritional content of protein”.
Unlike the ACCC’s action, the ASB’s determination received no publicity that we are aware of.
Wouldn’t it be clearer for consumers if food manufacturers focused their advertising on the nutritional characteristics of their product, rather than the nutritional features of quite separate products which – if consumed at the same time – can yield the nutritional benefits that are claimed?
Is your summer barbeque under fire? Chewing over the evidence on meat and cancer, and digesting the implications for regulation
November 23, 2015 November 23, 2015 Jenny Kaldor Food, Health Policy, Public Health Law World Health Organisation;
We’ve now had a few weeks to chew over the latest report linking food and cancer. Only this time it wasn’t a puff-piece in your Sunday newspaper, but an extremely comprehensive report from IARC, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. After a systematic review, IARC’s findings on the links between red and processed meat consumption, and cancer, were published in a press release and in The Lancet in late October (the full findings will be published later as a monograph).
In brief, red meat (“all mammalian muscle meat, including, beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse, and goat”) was classified as being probably carcinogenic to humans. Processed meat (“meat that has been transformed through salting, curing, fermentation, smoking, or other processes to enhance flavour or improve preservation”) was classified as carcinogenic to humans. This means that, based on epidemiological studies, IARC found “convincing evidence” that meat products like ham, sausages, corned beef and biltong cause colorectal cancer.
Is meat the “new tobacco”?
Despite widespread media reporting that red and processed meats were now “as big a threat as cigarettes”, IARC did not actually make this comparison. Rather, it rated the strength of the evidence for the link as “Group 1”, meaning that the evidence is strong. So, the evidence linking tobacco and lung cancer is equally persuasive (Group 1) but this does not mean that eating meat is as dangerous as smoking. (This classification system is widely used in systematic assessments of nutritional evidence, including in the Australian Dietary Guidelines.)
Among those who denounced the comparison between eating meat and smoking cigarettes was Australia’s Agriculture Minister, Barnaby Joyce. Clearly, Mr Joyce has an interest in dampening any concerns that might threaten Australia’s reputation as a nation of meat-eaters – but in this case his assessment of the evidence was correct.
Regulation of bacon: the next frontier for public health law?
All in all, you may want to consider throwing a few extra vegetable skewers on your next barbeque. But more interestingly for our purposes, what – if any – are the implications for law and regulation?
As countries such as India and China undergo rapid social and nutritional transitions, the demand for meat will only grow – worldwide, meat-eating is correlated with greater wealth. This has environmental as well as health implications. Together, these implications may eventually prompt countries to take regulatory action.
While there are currently no jurisdictions that regulate the consumption of meat, the following developments may be indicative of an early trend:
“Meatless Mondays” or “meat-free Mondays” campaigns have been springing up around the world since the early 2000s. These tend to be grassroots civil society initiatives aimed at making vegetarian food more acceptable and available.
In 2009, the Belgian city of Ghent became the first in the world to proclaim an official “Veggie Thursday”.
The most recent iteration of the US government’s dietary guidelines, “MyPlate”, refers to daily “protein” rather than “meat” consumption.
In the early 1990s, Ghana introduced food standards setting maximum fat limits for pork, beef, mutton and poultry, in response to concerns about diet-related NCDs. While not a curb on meat consumption per se, this regulatory response does speak to some of the concerns raised by IARC.
Perhaps most tellingly, the food industry has come to recognise the commercial potential of vegetarian foods, which are now said to have “gone mainstream” after decades on the hippie fringe.
This is where the comparison with tobacco control may be more salient. The evidence linking tobacco to cancer was recognised by some governments as early as the mid-1950s, but the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was not enacted until 2003. Biltong regulation will no doubt require a similar fermentation period. But the mix of voluntary, regulatory and commercial developments above suggests that the goal of curbing meat consumption is not far-fetched or conceptually unappealing. More controversial perhaps will be the methods of achieving that goal. Warning labels on a pack of sausages? A tax on bacon? A ban on quarter-pounders? We’ll get back to you in 30 years…
Vodka and Vita Brits: will the alcohol industry successfully reverse the 10pm closing time for bottleshops, and other alcohol retail restrictions?
November 16, 2015 November 23, 2015 rogermagnusson Uncategorized Alcohol; alcohol industry; health policy; supermarkets
Credit: shutterstock_69600322
People sometimes say that the law is a blunt instrument. Roughly translated, what they often seem to mean is “I don’t like this law”.
The comment holds a measure of truth. When the law tries to address social problems, it can sometimes have unintended consequences. For example, it may place regulatory burdens on innocent parties, or reduce competition.
Expect to see plenty of these objections as the Office of Liquor, Gaming & Racing moves to the next stage of its review of the 10pm curfew on take-away liquor sales across NSW.
10pm curfew for bottle shop sales in NSW
The 10pm closing time for bottle-shops and other take-away retail outlets was introduced in 2014. It was one of a number of measures introduced by the NSW Liberal government in response to “one-punch assaults” and alcohol-related violence.
Of all the measures introduced, the 10pm closing time is perhaps the most vulnerable to being rolled back, although achieving this will require legislative change.
A mere 7 submissions were received during the consultation process on the impact of the restrictions in regional NSW. However, in 2016 when the review considers the impact of the 10pm sales curfew in Sydney metropolitan and surrounding areas, expect to see many more.
A summary of the NSW government’s “one-punch” reforms will appear in a subsequent post.
Liquor sales in convenience stores and supermarkets
Other retail restrictions on the retailing of alcohol are also under pressure.
The Australian Government’s Competition Policy Review (the Harper review) was released in March 2015. Panel members recognised that alcohol is different from cornflakes, washing powder and orange juice (pp 145-6), and that policymakers should not be prevented from pursuing harm minimisation objectives. However, they also cautioned that liquor laws should not benefit particular competitors or classes of competitor.
In NSW, certain kinds of business are prevented from holding a packaged liquor licence. These include general stores (mixed businesses with a floor area of 240 sq m or less), take-away food shops and service stations.
Exceptions apply to general stores in localities where there is no other take-away liquor service reasonably available to the public.
The Australasian Association of Convenience Stores argues (Harper review, p 147) that these restrictions make it harder for its members to compete with Coles and Woolworths – which locate the alcohol retail chains they own adjacent to their supermarket premises.
As Wardle and Chang show, supermarkets do treat alcohol like cornflakes, giving shoppers hefty discounts for alcohol purchases from co-located alcohol stores.
Buy a banana for $1, as these researchers did, and your sales receipt could give you an unprompted wine discount of $19.99.
But why not sell alcohol in supermarket aisles, stocking a selection of red wine with the pasta sauce, perhaps? And if convenience stores and service stations can sell cigarettes and lottery tickets, why can’t they sell booze as well?
Vodka and Vita Brits?
At the level of policy, the contest over retailing regulation is ultimately about whether we see beer as no different to breakfast cereal, and vodka as no different to Vita Brits, or whether we see alcohol as “no ordinary commodity” because of its mind-altering effects, and because it is so clearly associated with a heavy burden of preventable injury and disease.
Current retailing laws reflect the assumption, at least hitherto, that although it is a consumer product, alcohol should not be ubiquitous, and that limits on accessibility play a role in reducing the negative social consequences of harmful levels of consumption.
Liquor laws in NSW do not prohibit supermarkets from selling liquor within the store. They merely provide that the liquor sales area must be “adequately separated” from the rest of the store.
Relying on this, Aldi has recently begun selling alcohol from dedicated zones within the interior of its stores.
Coles and Woolworths are watching closely.
Melbourne’s Herald Sun reported recently that the NSW government is considering plans to allow alcohol sales to be integrated into supermarket aisles. The story is illustrated by a photo of crates of beer in a Russian supermarket.
Russia may not be the smartest model for retail alcohol regulation, given that a quarter of Russian men are dead before they reach 55, mostly due to alcohol.
In Australia, according to the National Drug Strategy Household Survey, in 2013 almost 5 million people – more than 25% of those aged 14 years or older – reported being a victim of an alcohol-related incident (including verbal abuse, physical abuse, or being put in fear) during the previous year.
Nearly 18% of people aged 18-24 reported being at very high risk of alcohol-related harm (defined as 11 or more standard drinks) at least once a month.
One-punch retail alcohol reforms: why did the NSW government act?
This video (0:58) shows the moment a Sydney bouncer was king-hit in an unprovoked attack by an intoxicated man refused entry to Bar 333 in George St.
Faidy Taiba suffered a traumatic brain injury and was in a coma for 19 days. His wife spoke of the “ripple effects” of his injury on her family.
These ripple effects are important.
Beyond the pain and physical injury to the assault victim, the ripple effects of alcohol-related violence may include:
The costs of rehabilitation;
The opportunity costs: not only the lost earnings of both victim and perpetrator, but the lost earnings of the spouse, mother or family member who goes part-time or gives up their job to care for the victim;
The perpetrator ends up with a criminal record, despite wearing a suit in court as the defence barrister explains that they come from a really good family, and that this was an isolated incident;
There may be longer-term consequences as well. They will vary from case to case. For example, the perpetrator (or equally the victim) may respond to the life-jolt they have experienced with substance abuse, or they may slide into depression. These, in turn, will carry other longer-term consequences. Relationships may be lost. Careers ended, life trajectories forever altered.
According to one estimate, the societal costs of alcohol-related problems in 2010 were in excess of $14 billion. Ultimately, the personal costs can never be quantified.
And this pattern is repeated over and over again.
According to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, “ there were 913 police-recorded incidents of grievous bodily harm, 10,427 ambulance calls for assault and 14,106 emergency department presentations for acute alcohol illness in the [Sydney] CBD” over the period 2004-2013. This was prior to the government’s 2014 “lock-out” laws.
Between 2010 and 2013, although the proportion of those experiencing physical abuse by persons who were intoxicated remained constant, the number of persons experiencing physical abuse rose from 1.5 million to 1.7 million (NDSHS 2013, p 45).
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, at least once a year, 45% of Australians drink so much on a single occasion that they are at risk of an alcohol-related injury. More men binge drink than women (58% vs 32%) (Australia’s Health 2014, p 164).
That’s excluding the risk of chronic harm caused by excess drinking, which affects one in five Australian adults.
Let’s include this evidence in the conversation when we talk about alcohol retailing restrictions. Current laws may appear a bit less blunt than the pro-alcohol lobby would have you believe.
The role of law in noncommunicable disease prevention: an easy-to-digest explanation
November 9, 2015 November 9, 2015 Belinda Reeve Public Health Law alcohol, Chronic disease prevention, food policy
Public health lawyers like me are often challenged on their claim that the law can (and should) play a significant role in the prevention of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Future Leaders, an Australian philanthropic organisation, has recently published an open-access, clearly written book on NCD prevention called Dancing in the Rain: Living with NCDs, which includes a chapter by Professor Larry Gostin and I on the role of law in NCD prevention. Here we describe the growing global governance framework for NCD prevention, and the range of new initiatives that governments around the world are using to combat NCDs, including measures that draw upon law and regulation. We contrast this widespread global innovation with Australia’s failure to take decisive action in relation to the prevention of obesity and excessive alcohol consumption, asking why Australia has ended up as a ‘laggard’ in these areas when it remains the world leader in tobacco control. This is an easy-to-digest introduction to the interaction between law and NCD prevention, and it sits alongside a number of other insightful chapters from prominent Australian activists and academics, including Dr Alessandro Demaio, Professor Fiona Stanley, and Professor Rob Moodie.
Dancing in the Rain is accessible in full via the following link: http://bit.ly/1QoDyLS
Lifetime achievement award for Professor Lawrence Gostin
November 4, 2015 November 4, 2015 rogermagnusson Uncategorized
Professor Lawrence Gostin, the Linda and Timothy O’Neill Professor of Global Health Law, Georgetown University, and a longtime friend of Sydney Law School and the Centre for Health Governance, Law & Ethics, has been honoured by the American Public Health Association’s Law Section for “Lifetime Achievement in Public Health Law ”.
Professor Gostin teaches a popular unit, Global Health Law, in Sydney Law School’s Master of Health Law program.
In his short acceptance speech, Professor Gostin reflected on how the field of public health law has flourished over the course of his professional career, and of the challenges and opportunities for younger scholars.
Professor Lawrence Gostin (centre), seen here at a Sydney Law School event in July 2015, standing with: L to R: Dr Belinda Reeve (Sydney Law School), The Honourable Michael Kirby AC CMG, Ms Alexandra Phelan (SJD candidate, Georgetown University Law School), and Professor Glenn Cohen, Harvard Law School and Faculty Director, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics)
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How Does the Legalization of Sports Betting Affect Las Vegas?
This year, the United States Supreme Court lifted the federal ban on sports gambling, allowing widespread bets to be placed for the first time across the United States. After the high court’s decision, more than 30 states are expected to implement some form of betting on sports. This places Nevada, and by natural extension, Las Vegas, in the midst of a new gambling landscape. How will the city adapt to its newest competition?
The Silver State Sets a Gold Standard
Local representatives and state senators are optimistic about the ways in which Nevada and Las Vegas will lead the way for other states. State Rep. Dina Titus, whose district overlaps much of Las Vegas, feels the Supreme Court’s decision will help consumers at large, noting that a “regulated market is always better than an unregulated one.”
State Senator Catherine Cortez Masto suggests that Nevada can help design systems that offer superior protection for consumers, who might otherwise be tempted to place money in the $150 billion per year illegal online sports betting market. Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairwoman Becky Harris agrees, adding that the Board looks forward to “acting as a resource and sharing [their] model with other jurisdictions.”
Ahead of the Game
Unique to Nevada, bettors can place wagers on individual games in professional and amateur sports. There is currently no other state that can offer that, and the Supreme Court’s decision does not change that status. Though a short list of eastern states — including New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Connecticut — have already approved sports betting laws, most will only implement sports betting at pre-existing casinos and race tracks.
In addition, existing Las Vegas-based companies with strong geographic diversity, such as Caesars, Boyd Gaming, and MGM Resorts, are positioned to expand across the country and claim a piece of these new markets, occasionally with more mainstream ventures than you might think: MGM recently closed a deal to become the National Basketball Association’s first-ever gambling partner.
Beyond Bookmaking
Bookmakers aren’t overly worried about a drop-off in their overall volume because Las Vegas offers much more than simply gambling on sports. While sports betting is a category that’s grown steadily over the last few years, visiting Las Vegas just to place sports bets would be like visiting the Grand Canyon only to check out the gift shop. With the sheer volume of nightly performances, music, world-renowned casinos, top-tier restaurants, and live sports, tourists and other visitors have come to expect plenty from Las Vegas that they cannot find anywhere else.
Ace in the Hole
Let’s face it: Las Vegas is used to competition. Once upon a time, Atlantic City struck fear into the hearts of Las Vegas officials. Next, it was the riverboat casinos floating up and down the mighty Mississippi. Then casinos on native reservations were projected to take a considerable chunk out of Las Vegas’ share.
Sin City has seen a number of competitors and threats emerge over the past century, but the city just keeps thriving. Nationwide sports gambling ought to be viewed in the same prism. Basically, the fears of being outpaced by smaller gambling operations in far-flung locales are overblown.
As Bill McBeath, CEO of Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, explains, the majority of those who live far from Las Vegas and want to bet on sports do so illegally, regardless of the laws on the books. Those people not visiting Vegas won’t affect the local economy in the slightest. Ultimately, people who do come here prefer the full buffet of entertainment options that Las Vegas provides — not just sports gambling.
Those who visit Las Vegas often never want to leave, so many buy in and become part of the local tapestry. Living here adds a whole new appreciation for the wonder of this city. Sky Condos offers the best possible experience with its portfolio of luxury housing just a roll of the die away from the Strip. Come join us today!
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THE LEICESTER LESSON
Filed under: Leicester City, Uncategorized | Tags: Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Blackburn Rovers, Bournemouth, Brighton, Championship League, Chelsea, Claudio Ranieri, Derby County, English F.A. Cup, English First Division, English League Cup, English Premier League, Europa League, FC Barcelona, Filberts, Foxes, Germany, Hull, Kasey Keller, La Liga, Leicester City, Liverpool, Major League Soccer, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Nigel Pearson, Norwich, Real Madrid, Sevilla, Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur, UEFA Champions League, Villarreal
Leicester City, a 5,000-to-1 shot to win it all at the beginning of the 2015-16 English Premier League campaign, pulled off the near-impossible when its closest challenger, Tottenham Hotspur, came from ahead to tie host Chelsea, 2-2, allowing the Foxes to assume a seven-point lead with two matches remaining.
It was the first top-division championship in the 132-year history of Leicester, which had not finished higher than second in the then-English First Division since 1929. A four-time loser in the English F.A. Cup final, its trophy case previously consisted of English League Cups won in 1964, 1997 and 2000.
The Foxes–or Filberts, take your pick–were on the verge of relegation this time last year, but the unfashionable club from the English Midlands won seven of its last nine matches under then-coach Nigel Pearson. It was an omen that this band of unknowns, with ex-Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri hired to replace Pearson during the summer, had bigger things in store this season. [May 2]
Comment I: Leicester City, previously known on these shores only as the club for whom U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller once toiled in relative anonymity (1996-99), indeed took the EPL by surprise. The Foxes were a true party crasher, finishing ahead of the usual suspects named Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City.
So Leicester’s surprise climb to the top was amazing, fun, worth a headline or two even in the U.S. sports pages, and a refreshing break from the usual routine, which has seen previous EPL titles–since the Premier League was created in 1992–go to Manchester United 13 times, Chelsea four times, Arsenal three, Manchester City twice and Blackburn Rovers once. And it sent a wave of hope rolling across the country, lapping up against fans of clubs as pitiful as Middlesbrough, Brighton, Hull, Derby County, Norwich, Sunderland, Bournemouth–for such a small country, the list is long.
But it serves as a lesson in America, where Major League Soccer, now at 20 teams, has designs on expanding soon to 28. This isn’t about dilution of talent, it’s about dilution of interest.
The reason leagues like the EPL can hold their public’s interest with–usually–one of the same small cluster of clubs finishing first year after year is because of promotion/relegation. No season is completely uninteresting for the fan of a mediocre-to-poor club as long as there’s the thrill of booing a perennial bully and the terror of dropping into the second division, or the generously named “Championship League.”
Without promotion/relegation, a bloated MLS runs the risk of being saddled with a dozen or more clubs that endure years–decades, even–in which they neither truly contend for a championship nor get punished for their mediocrity. Death by boredom.
Will MLS ever adopt promotion/relegation? No. But perhaps it will reconsider its race to over-expansion, or at least try to publicly offer a justification for its “bigger is better” approach to running a soccer league.
Comment II: The point was made in some quarters that outsider Leicester rolled to its 22-3-11 record and the league crown partly because it could keep its eyes on the prize while EPL royalty was wrung out by pesky midweek UEFA Champions League and Europa League commitments.
Or, in other words, the EPL’s top clubs sure are impressive, but they don’t win in Europe because winning the lucrative Premiership is Job One and they don’t have the luxury of playing in a league that’s dominated by one club (Germany, Bayern Munich) or two (Spain, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid). Alas, they have to play one another on Saturdays, so the pursuit of Continental silverware is an afterthought left for midweek nights at faraway places.
That’s an excuse that England would do well to retire.
Deep pockets mean player depth, which means the means to get through league, domestic cup and European cup matches, and there are few clubs more wealthy than England’s big five. If need be, they can just study Spain’s La Liga, where teams manage to find a way to win a variety of trophies or at least come within touching distance. The UEFA Champions League final will feature, for the second time in three years, two clubs from one city, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, one year after FC Barcelona came out on top. Atletico won Europa League crowns in 2010 and 2012, and Sevilla, a Europa League winner in 2006 and ’07, just won its third consecutive Europa title, beating Spanish rival Villarreal in the semifinal. And all these clubs had the wherewithal to compete in La Liga, a league that’s supposedly FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and a bunch of nobodies.
HISTORIC, OR ANOTHER OF THOSE OCCASIONAL SPIKES ON THE GRAPH?
March 2, 2012, 11:23 pm
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: adidas, Algarve Cup, Argentina, Arsenal, Azzurri, Belgium, Borrusia Dortmund, Brussels, Cesare Prandelli, Clint Dempsey, Colombia, CONCACAF Gold Cup, Copa America, Denmark, England, FIFA Confederations Cup, Genoa, Germany, Gianluigi Buffon, Italian National Team, Juergen Klinsmann, Juventus, Mexico, Miami, Nike, Portugal, Sebastian Giovinco, Serie A, Spain, Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Terrence Boyd, Tim Howard, U.S. Cup, U.S. National Team, U.S. National Under-23 Team, U.S. National Women's Team
The U.S. National Team upset Italy, 1-0, in a friendly at Genoa’s Stadio Luigi Ferraris to post its first victory over the Italians in 78 years. Clint Dempsey rolled a shot from the top of the penalty area past the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in the 55th minute and the Americans, behind some stout defending, held on for their fourth consecutive win under new coach Juergen Klinsman. [February 29]
Comment I: The triumph was described in many quarters as historic, and given the fact that the U.S. went into the match with a 0-7-3 record against the Azzurri and had been out-scored, 32-4, over those 10 matches, the feat was indeed historic. Italian commentators no doubt shrugged it off as an aberration. Dempsey’s goal, they no doubt pointed out, came against the run of play–decidedly. Italy out-shot the U.S., 19-4, and would have had more had the pesky Sebastian Giovinco and mates not been flagged for offside nine times (to the USA’s zero), mostly on hopeful balls lofted over the U.S. back line. Italy also had the edge in corner kicks, 8-2, and Buffon was forced to make only one save to U.S. ‘keeper Tim Howard’s seven, which included a clutch kick-save in the fourth minute. This also wasn’t a full-strength Italian squad; neither could it be said of the U.S., but while the Americans remain sorely lacking in depth, Italy coach Cesare Prandelli could trot out a starting lineup heavy on players from Juventus, at the moment Serie A’s second-place club. Moreover, all would agree that a better look at reality came in the teams’ last meeting, at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, a competitive match in which Italy took the U.S. to school in a 3-1 win that left the Americans’ hopes in that tournament on life support.
So was this upset truly meaningful? If so, the U.S. in recent years has enough such moments to fill a history book, starting with the 2-0 win over Mexico in the 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals, and followed on a semi-regular basis by England 2-0 at U.S. Cup ’93, Colombia 2-1 at the 1994 World Cup, Argentina 3-0 at the 1995 Copa America, Brazil 1-0 at the 1998 Gold Cup semifinals, Germany 2-0 at the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup, Portugal 3-2 at the 2002 World Cup, and the biggest of all, World-Cup-champion-to-be Spain 2-0 at the 2009 Confederations Cup semifinals.
The best way to describe what happened in Genoa is to suggest that the U.S. further cemented its reputation as a team capable of anything at anytime, an erratic opponent who’s a no-win proposition for the world powers. Why should they relish facing an opponent they’re expected to beat when, on the odd day, they’ll fall victim to grit, fitness and just enough skill to get the job done? At the same time, this giant killer can’t get past the mid-level teams on a consistent basis, as it demonstrated in its 1-0 loss to Belgium in Brussels in September, Klinsmann’s third match in charge.
What may have been most noteworthy about Italy 0, U.S. 1 is that Klinsmann stuck his neck out and agreed to have the game scheduled at all. He rolled the dice in Genoa and won with a conservative 4-5-1. His 4-4-2 may come and go, depending on the opposition and the circumstances, but it’s clear that he intends, as he’s said, to pull the Americans out of their “comfort zone” and tap into the bravura and blue-collar characteristics that made the U.S. job so appealing to the German in the first place. In sum, Klinsmann with nothing to lose, the fellow hired to be the anti-Bob Bradley.
Comment II: Klinsmann’s boldness crossed a line when he substituted a spent Jozy Altidore with Terrence Boyd. a striker who has yet to work his way from the Borussia Dortmund reserves into the club’s first team. Boyd was clearly a fish out of water, and it can be gently said that he was lucky not to be shown a yellow card for a high foot a few minutes into his 11-minute cameo. A 21-year-old kid making his debut against Italy in a one-goal game? There are limits.
Comment III: It’s been nearly 20 years since Nike took over for adidas as the national teams’ outfitter, and it still hasn’t gotten it right. The same company that has repeatedly ruined Brazil’s classic jersey–and those of the countless other national teams and prominent clubs it has come to sponsor–dressed the U.S. for its Italy match in something that could best be described as a bad version of Arsenal in navy blue. In fact, it simply looked like the Americans had their sleeves ripped off, revealing their white long underwear. Fortunately, the U.S. played better than it looked, sartorially speaking.
Comment IV: On one day, the U.S. National Women’s Team routed Denmark, 5-0, in Portugal in its Algarve Cup opener; the U.S. National Under-23 Team blanked Mexico’s U-23s, 2-0, in Dallas in an Olympic qualifying tune-up; and the U.S. National Team shocked Italy, 1-0, in a friendly in Genoa. Oh, and the Mexican National Team bowed to Colombia, 2-0, in a friendly in Miami.
It won’t take away the sting of a day like June 25 last year, when Mexico thumped the U.S., 4-2, at the CONCACAF Gold Cup final … but for American fans, it doesn’t hurt.
HENRY’S HOLLYWOOD RETURN
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alexandre Song, Andy Lonergan, Arsenal, Emirates, English F.A. Cup, FC Barcelona, Gunners, Leeds United, New York Red Bulls, Thierry Henry
Thierry Henry celebrated his return to Arsenal by scoring the lone goal in the Gunners’ 1-0 victory over Leeds United in the fourth round of the English F.A. Cup.
The 34-year-old French star, on loan from the New York Red Bulls, entered the match in the 68th minute to a tremendous ovation. He delivered just 11 minutes later. Running onto a diagonal pass from Alexandre Song, Henry right-footed a shot from the left side of the box past Leeds goalkeeper Andy Lonergan that settled inside the far post. [January 9]
Henry’s appearance was his first for Arsenal since 2007, when he joined FC Barcelona. He’d departed after eight seasons as the Gunners’ all-time scoring leader with 227 goals.
Comment: Once in a while, a great player is handed a perfect script and follows it to the letter.
Comment II: Henry’s dream start at the Emirates wasn’t foreseen by at least one observer, who, nevertheless, may be proven right before the veteran striker’s two-month stay in London ends:
http://hosted2.ap.org/ALDEC/TDSports/Article_2012-01-06-SOC-John-Leicester-010612/id-5a17b43f37a44f04884d754c9db7ed4f
SO-CALLED ‘BECKHAM EXPERIMENT’ HAS BEEN WORTH IT
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: "The Beckham Experiment." Giants Stadium, AC Milan, Arsenal, Beckham Academy, Carlos Valderrama, CONCACAF Champions League, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, David Beckham, David Ferreira, Denilson, Dwayne De Rosario, FC Dallas, Home Depot Center, Houston Dynamo, Jamie Moreno, Lamar Hunt U.S. National Open Cup, Los Angeles Galaxy, Major League Soccer, Marco Etcheverry, Mike Petke, MLS Comeback Player of the Year, MLS Cup final, NBA, NHL, Paris Saint-Germain, Queens Park Rangers, Rafael Marquez, Robbie Keane, Rodney Marsh, Tab Ramos, Thierry Henry, Tottenham Hotspur
A pair of two-time Major League Soccer champions, the Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy, will meet Sunday, November 20, before a sellout crowd at the Home Depot Center outside Los Angeles in the 2011 MLS Cup final. Kickoff will be at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST (ESPN and Galavision). [November 13]
Comment: The game could mark David Beckham’s final appearance in the U.S., and that’s not a good thing.
The 36-year-old English icon’s five-year, $32.5 million contract with the Galaxy expires at the end of the year, and among Beckham’s reported suitors are Paris Saint-Germain, Tottenham Hotspur and even Queens Park Rangers.
If he leaves, despite the Galaxy’s reported interest in re-signing him, what sort of grade does the so-called “Beckham Experiment”–the title of a rather premature book on his MLS adventure published a couple of years ago–deserve?
Call it a high “B”; not quite a low “A”. That’s an “A-” for overall effect, dragged down by an “S” (satisfactory) for effort.
There were just as many highs as lows over the five-year period. More than a quarter-million Galaxy/No. 23 jerseys were sold before Beckham was even introduced as a member of the Galaxy, a media event that attracted 700 journalists. As advertised, there were memorable free kicks that produced goals, and that crowd of 66,000 that poured into Giants Stadium to see the man with the educated right foot make his Big Apple debut. There also, however, were injuries, plus the controversial loans to AC Milan and training spells with Arsenal and Tottenham that caused many to question Beckham’s commitment to his American team. The collapse of the much-vaunted Beckham youth academy in L.A. didn’t help. So mixed has been the Beckham legacy in MLS that he earned–or was saddled with–the 2011 MLS Comeback Player of the Year award for assisting on 15 goals in 26 games a year after a torn Achilles limited him to just seven league appearances in 2010. Oh, and no MLS championships or U.S. National Open Cups or CONCACAF Champions League trophies.
Nevertheless, Beckham will forever be linked with a brief period in MLS history when things went from flat to positive, from indifference to optimism. The year before Beckham’s arrival, the league had 12 teams, too many of them troubled. The charter U.S. internationals and key foreign starts like Carlos Valderrama and Marco Etcheverry who had given the teams their initial identities back in 1996 had retired. It wasn’t, to quote Rodney Marsh’s assessment of English soccer in the early ’70s, “A gray game played on gray days by gray men,” but it was close.
The creation of the so-called Beckham Rule–the introduction of the designated player exception that allowed teams to reach beyond their salary cap and sign marquee foreign players like Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Denilson (sorry, FC Dallas), Thierry Henry, Rafael Marquez and, most recently, Robbie Keane–changed all that. Beckham’s arrival and how it lured other big names to MLS added the necessary flesh and blood to the brick and mortar as MLS grew by six clubs and added an impressive list of soccer-specific stadiums.
Most Americans aren’t aware that MLS (17,872) has surpassed the NBA (17,323) and NHL (17,132) in average attendance; that the expansion team fee has ballooned from $10 million, pre-Beckham, to $40 million; that the league’s most recent TV rights deal, with outsider NBC, hit $30 million for three years. What they do know is that they can name one soccer player–David Beckham–where before they didn’t know Tab Ramos from Jamie Moreno from Mike Petke. Back when the league was just trying to gain any sort of traction, back when the Galaxy was 11th out of 13 teams in 2007 (9-14-7) and 13th out of 14 the following year (8-13-9), people were talking and writing about Becks, or at least the photogenic Becks and wife Posh.
And that’s why Beckham will be missed if he chooses to close out his playing career elsewhere. If and when he goes, don’t count on the general American public and the typical U.S. sports columnist or commentator to magically shift their attention to Dwayne De Rosario or David Ferreira or even Henry. In that sense, Beckham has proved to be irreplaceable.
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Keeping the Taps Flowing in Kandy City
Life & Economy
This case study was released in March 2013, prior to the merger of Hitachi Plant Technologies with Hitachi, Ltd. The company is renamed as Hitachi, Ltd. Infrastructure Systems Company (Sri Lanka Branch Office).
Residents of Sri Lanka's second largest city enjoy a plentiful supply of safe drinking water.
Overview: Residents of Sri Lanka's second largest city enjoy a plentiful supply of safe drinking water.
In this video: Mr P.H. Sarath Gamini, Project Director, National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) and Mr. M. S. Pinto, Chief Engineer, Hitachi Plant Technologies Ltd. (Sri Lanka), talks about the challenges and solutions of constructing water treatment system in Kandy City.
In 1997, the demand for water in Sri Lanka's Central Province, Greater Kandy, had far outgrown the amount of clean water that was supplied by the existing water treatment plants. The escalating water shortfall within the city of Kandy and in the northern part of Greater Kandy was particularly worrying. Furthermore, even for districts with water treatment facilities, the supply of water had to be rationed to certain days and hours due to supply capacity restrictions. The irregular access to clean water supply meant that crucial operations of the healthcare and tourism industry were greatly impeded and the livelihood of many Sri Lankans was affected too.
A pressing need for an advanced water treatment system to meet the growing demand for clean water of the population was called for. In view of Hitachi Plant Technologies' expertise in building advanced pump systems projects, the company, together with Taisei Corporation, was selected by the Sri Lankan government to construct an advanced water treatment system facility.
Challenges of the water supply project in Greater Kandy: To supply a large volume of treated water to the growing population in Sri Lanka, To support with durable pumps that would be functioning without disruptions, To monitor and control the process of water treatment over multiple sites in the region
Solutions delivered by Hitachi Plant Technologies: Delivery of quality pumps that ensure durability in the lifetime of the water treatment system, SCADA system that enables the monitoring of the water treatment process in multiple sites, training of local engineers in the operation of the water treatment plants
The constant availability of clean water in Greater Kandy today is a great improvement from its past.
Rising Demand for Clean Water: Challenges of Kandy's water needs
The expanding population in the Central province of Sri Lanka had far outstripped the threshold that the supply of available potable water could support. Water supply was available only once every week, thus the people of Greater Kandy had to rely on either large water storage tanks to store water or to go to remote wells to collect water. The lack of access to clean water impeded economic growth to Greater Kandy as one of its significant sources of revenue came from the tourism industry.
It was predicted by the 2001 Sri Lanka census that rapid population growth in the Greater Kandy area was definite, making the augmentation of clean water supply to the area a pressing need for the people. The Sri Lankan government decided to implement a water supply project to increase the clean water supply to the people of Greater Kandy. Mr. PH Sarath Gamini, project director of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) called for a project tender with the following requirements.
Supply of water to the growing population in Greater Kandy
At the request of the Sri Lankan government, a study was conducted by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to determine the feasibility of increasing the supply of potable water to the Greater Kandy area. The study revealed that a project to augment the supply of potable water had to face up to several engineering challenges. The narrow and meandering roads as well as the harsh state of access lines to service reservoir sites increased the complexity in the construction of pipelines.
The mechanical and electrical engineering component of the project was very important for its success, and we have to select a competent contractor for it
Mr P.H. Sarath Gamini
Project Director, National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB)
Support with durable pumps that would function without disruptions
In the past, a water treatment plant that was constructed in 1989 mainly supplied clean water to the area. The project was called the Kandy Municipality water supply project.
Apart from the insufficient water capacity provided by the previous water treatment plant, the quality of the pumps were unreliable which caused frequent pipe bursts that disrupted the supply of water to the locals. The presence of sand in the water wore down the pumps, which also led to the bursting of pipes. It was expensive to repair the situation each time a pipe burst occurred, hence an important requirement laid down by the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) of the Sri Lankan government was to have the successful project bidder ensure the quality of its pumps.
The project director of National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB)'s goal was to increase the capacity of water supply to meet the needs of the rising population of Kandy City and of the Greater Kandy area. Upon the completion of the project, it was imperative for the area to have uninterrupted access to clean water supply as that would steer the economic growth of the area through better public health, a more vibrant tourism industry as well as the improved living condition of the locals.
The quality of the previous pump system was not durable, as the sand that had entered the system soon led to its wear and tear.
Mr. M. S. Pinto, Chief Engineer
Hitachi Plant Technologies Ltd. (Sri Lanka)
Monitor and control the process of water treatment over multiple sites in the region
The enormous scale of the project meant that the monitoring of the water treatment process would incur high operating costs. A great number of personnel had to be hired to inspect the site regularly so as to ensure the smooth operation of the treatment process.
Another key requirement that NWSDB had laid out was to have a low operation and maintenance cost upon the project completion. Being able to monitor the status of the water treatment process efficiently was an engineering challenge that the Hitachi engineers had to undertake. They were to design and construct a water treatment supply system using only the most advanced practices. But importantly, there was now promise of clean water for the people of Greater Kandy.
Hitachi's Advanced Water Treatment System
The National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) of Sri Lanka highlighted certain requirements that the new water treatment system had to fulfill. The new water treatment system that was constructed had to supply a large volume of treated water to the growing population in Greater Kandy. In addition, there had to be little maintenance work necessary upon the completion of the project through the procurement of high quality pumps. As the supply of treated water was important to future economic growth in the area, there must not be any disruption in its supply. Hitachi Plant Technologies understood the importance in the successful delivery of the project and set out to bring about solutions that would meet the pressing needs of the Sri Lankan population.
Delivery of quality pumps
Under Phase I, Stage I, an Intake structure was constructed to obtain water from the Mahaweli River. The transmission pipeline was 700mm in diameter and it was to be built across the Mahaweli River. A pump bridge was constructed at Gohagoda for the purpose of pumping water across the bridge. The water would then be purified at a treatment plant that was constructed at Katugastota and the purified water would then be distributed to service reservoirs through a 26.5 km pipeline in the greater Kandy area. Besides the need to supply large volume of water to the Greater Kandy region, the pumping station also had to be able to pump water up to elevated areas within Kandy such as Kurugoda.
To meet the sophisticated challenges of the project, Hitachi Plant Technologies chose pumps that were of the highest quality to ensure the smooth delivery of water to its required location. The distribution system of water in the project was extensive and there were several opportunities for lapses had there not been excellent quality in the pump system of Hitachi Plant Technologies. Since its inception in 2006, the water treatment system built by Hitachi is still functioning at high performance without any disruption.
Hitachi selected high quality pumps from Japan for the project. And in the six years of operation since its completion, there is not a single issue with the water treatment system.
Mr. M. S. Pinto, Chief Engineer,
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA)
As the project was massive in nature with the pumping facilities and reservoirs spanning a wide area, it was important to have a central control system to monitor the status of the facilities. Hitachi constructed a SCADA system that is currently situated in NWSDB headquarters with trained operators currently monitoring it. One of the main benefits of the SCADA system is that the water losses in existing systems could be identified that would call for immediate remedies.
The SCADA system consists of several subsystems that operate together. Firstly a computer system acquires data of the process taking place in the facilities. There are remote terminal units that are attached to the sensors in the process. They are responsible for transmitting the digital data to the supervisory computer system. It also comprises of a communication network that is used for the transmission of data between the supervisory system and the remote terminal units. Finally, the process data and the analysis of the facilities are displayed on an interface in real-time. Through the interface, the trained operators gain access to critical diagnostic data so as to monitor and control the process more effectively.
Through the implementation of the SCADA system, the preservation of the limited clean water resource is enhanced. Also, maximum utility could be derived from the money spent out of foreign loans and this helps with the future expansion of the pipe borne water supply facility to the rest of the Sri Lankan population.
View Water Recycling Process (438kbytes)
They have trained our people and even though it's outside of the contract, they were able to help us, especially in the operation of the SCADA system, which is new to our country.
Enhancing the Quality of Life in Greater Kandy
The project has far exceeded the expectations of Mr P.H. Sarath Gamini, the project director from the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB). It was noteworthy that the project kept within the budgeted amount.
Besides, the amount of water supplied had served the target population of this project well. The constant availability of clean water in Greater Kandy today is a great improvement from its past. Mr. Gamini and other Sri Lankans that resided in Kandy had witnessed numerous positive impacts contributed by the project. These included the improvement to both the public health and the business environment in Kandy. The tourism industry is flourishing with investors showing confidence in the area with the reliable supply of clean water.
In the six years of operation since the project's completion, there had not been a single case of disruption.
Promoting the awareness of the importance of procurement of quality goods and services
The successful implementation of the project coincided with Mr. Gamini's belief in the importance of procuring quality goods. While a lower cost option might be attractive in the near term to the authorities, the procurement of quality goods and equipment will prove to be the more prudent choice in the long term. He had identified that the cause for leakages to be due to poor quality pipes and fittings as well as poor pipe laying practices. Most of the fittings in the past did not have performance-based indicators nor quality-based test results. And as there were no specifications and guidelines that were followed by the plumbers and pipe fitters, these led to the imminent leakages.
On a mission to establish a system that reduces water leakages, Mr. Gamini leads a campaign that promotes the awareness of the importance of procuring quality goods and services to the identified stakeholders within the government. Hitachi Plant Technologies is proud to deliver an effective water treatment system that had proved to offer better economic value to NWSDB.
Hitachi has achieved our requirements such as procuring quality goods and equipment, training our staff and of providing long-term sustainable service. Procuring quality goods and services such as what Hitachi has achieved will ensure the sustainability of a long-term benefit.
Hitachi, Ltd. Infrastructure Systems Company (Sri Lanka Branch Office)
Hitachi Plant Technologies, being the core branch of the Hitachi Group in the field of infrastructure systems is the driving force behind the global expansion of the infrastructure system group and is striving to reinforce and expand the group's ability to provide total solutions that resolve all issues.
In April 2013, Hitachi Plant Technologies merged with Hitachi, Ltd. and is renamed as Hitachi, Ltd. Infrastructure Systems Company (Sri Lanka Branch Office).
Hitachi, Ltd. Infrastructure Systems Company (Sri Lanka Branch Office) and other local subsidiaries were established to promote and achieve an autonomous, dispersed and rapid global expansion, as well as provide services that are focused on the particular needs of each individual customer.
For more information on water solutions, please visit Hitachi Drinking Water Treatment Systems Solution.
Hitachi pump technologies: Advancing over 100 years in pursuit of solutions to water resource problems
Hitachi's ICT solutions for water use and management help prevent the loss of precious water resources in Southeast Asia and elsewhere
Optimizing Broadcast Transmission Technology
Financial Inclusion for Everyone
'Oliena Model': Hitachi Water Saving Project on Italian Best Practices List 2017 (Sardinia)
Assessing the PVC Controversy from Both Sides
Providing Water to Help Create Desert Ecosystems
A FLOURISHING GREEN COMMUNITY
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Tag Archives: attorney
Article IX: Conclusion: What’s at Stake with Social Ventures in Africa:
The Lives of 400 Million People Living on Less than $1.25 per Day
How many people in this world live on less than $2.50 per day? A staggering 3,000,000,000 (3 billion people) or roughly half of the world’s population lives in desperate poverty according to the World Bank.[1] In Africa alone, there are 400 million people living on less than $1.25 per day according to the United Nations. And, even more shocking, over 21,000 children under the age of five die everyday from malnutrition and starvation according to UNICEF.[2] In a given year, that’s 7.6 million children dying from preventable things such as lack of food, water or basic medicine. Finally, the BBC reports that 200,000 children are sold into slavery and the sex trade each year in Africa.[3]
Many people ask me “why do you still work on social ventures after all that has happened?” At the same time, I continue to ask myself and others “why aren’t more people working on social ventures to help the poor?” The world’s population cannot sit by and let the preventable deaths of 7.6 million children occur each and every year without doing more. I, for one, know that I cannot sit by without doing everything I can to help the poor and dying children of Africa.
Life is too short. Material possessions and the comforts of life are fleeting. The years of hard work at a job to simply receive a paycheck does not ultimately provide satisfaction for me and many other people – especially when our recent economic downturn shows us that it can all be taken away in a flash. My family and my children give me a great sense of happiness and satisfaction in life as does my relationship with God. It is because of my family and my belief in God that I am committed to helping others in need. The Bible (along with most religions) teaches us that:
“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”[4]
What does it take to care for and help children and the poor? One of two things: your time or your money. There are many people who have dedicated their lives to serving in charities, churches, missions organizations and even doctors without borders who give of their time to help those in need. Yes, most of these people are paid – but they still give of their time and of themselves to help others. Most of the world can help by giving money to help those in need. Now, how much money is needed to help those children dying of starvation and the other three billion people living around the world in poverty. A LOT! But, each of us can help by donating to UNICEF, World Vision and organizations that feed and help needy children around the world. Companies, individuals and organizations can also become financial partners by investing into social venture projects – which seek to help the poor and do even more – provide for jobs and a future for these children while also hopefully providing a financial return to the partners.
It is not an easy task! In trying to help children and those in need in Africa, there are and will be many ups and downs: children will still die, businesses and social venture projects will fail, people will do crazy things and pirates, dictators and rebel armies will still terrorize Africa and the rest of the world. However, the real success is this: some children will live by being helped by me or the many others who are working in Africa and around the world; some social venture projects will succeed; and more and more people will be given jobs and hope for a better future for themselves and their children. In fact, if I can only help one child from starving then I believe that all my work in this life has been a success.[5]
I am truly proud to say that our social venture projects employed up to 60 full-time workers – which, in turn, fed 60 families or typically 300 people![6] Now, how many more people could we help and jobs could we create when the social venture projects succeed? A LOT! Liz Hamburg in an article for The Huffington Post reported a 30:1 ratio for job creation from micro enterprise and social venture job creation at Women’s Initiative for Self Employment in San Francisco. Meaning, for each of 30 jobs created, those employed women paid taxes and helped others with employment or other assistance thereby helping up to 900 total people.[7] Ms. Hamburg reported,
“There’s a 30:1 return on investment as women create businesses, pay taxes, employ others and come off of public assistance. That means for every one invested in the program, 30 go back into the community through clients paying taxes, hiring others and leaving the welfare system.”[8]
Thus, one successful social venture project in a rural community in Africa will change that community forever – and the lives of hundreds of people. It was estimated by the Development Bank of South Africa that the Hole in the Wall project would have employed 23 people. If the project succeeds, it will create up to 57 full-time jobs in the local community feeding up to 285 people. If you use the Women’s Initiative job multiplier as reported by The Huffington Post, then you could ultimately create up to 1500 jobs through a successful social venture project in one community in Africa.
You may be asking – what are these social venture projects? What is it like at a community project in Africa? What is the value of this property to the local community? How about $98,818,000 of the most sought-after beautiful, untouched oceanfront land on the Indian Ocean in South Africa? This is the value of the raw, undeveloped land held by the social venture between the community and Pure Africa as determined by a South African property expert and a real estate developer.[9] For these rural communities in Africa, this land is their future and a means to lift their entire communities out of poverty. The local impoverished community should and must benefit substantially from the sustainable development of their land – it is their right and heritage. Even if our social venture partners and I cannot finish the task, someone must help these communities benefit from the heritage, culture and land that they have had for generations. It is a moral imperative and a social responsibility!
In order for you to fully understand the above statements, I will share a bit of our project vision for the local people in Africa with you and why the community land is so special. The local Xhosa people are very poor – most live on less than $1.00 per day, on average. They are impoverished in a worldly sense but they are blessed with tremendous natural resources – their oceanfront land. The average tribal leader has less than a sixth grade education, so while they have amazing land – they do not have the tools, skills or education to know how to maximize the value of the land. This is where our social venture partners bring in the education, know-how, a professional team of lawyers and real estate companies and the finances to help the local community sustainably develop a real estate project to create jobs, job skills training and hopefully profits. Don’t get me wrong – social venture projects are for-profit – so our goal was to maximize the value of the community land so that the community, our social venture partners and financial partners can all benefit.
Hole in the Wall is a cultural[10] and National icon in South Africa. It is a large rock mountain in the Indian Ocean that boasts beautiful scenery and ocean views. In 2004, the Development Bank of South Africa “DBSA” and the South African Government funded a study on creating a tourism project at Hole in the Wall. In 2004, DBSA, the government and Incopho created a project summary for several projects including Hole in the Wall.[11] In 2005, our social venture partners received a Lease from the South African National Government to develop the community project at Hole in the Wall[12] and a Record of Decision (building permit and authorization) was issued in late 2005.[13]
Now, it is well-known that nothing happens in Africa without a meeting: we literally had hundreds of hours of meetings with the local chiefs, the tribal counsel, the community trust and the local people to show them the business plan and the proposed benefits to the local community. In Africa, everyone has a right to speak so the meetings were attended by hundreds of people – both young and old. Once everyone had a chance to voice their opinions and concerns, then we would finalize our social venture project plan. Finally, after our projects were approved by the local community, we then sought approvals from the National, Provincial and local government. Once everyone was happy with and had approved the business plan at a social venture like Hole in the Wall, then we would begin. This initial process takes from 18 months to several years for each project!
At Hole in the Wall, after three years of meetings, the approved plan was to build a tourism site with 50 oceanfront rental homes and a boutique hotel[14] which would create a minimum of 57 jobs for the local community and the potential for hundreds of micro business jobs such as beadwork, tours, sea shell jewelry and other tourism souvenirs and hopefully profits from the development (the community owned 45% of the Hole in the Wall development as our partner).
Our professional team provided great endorsements of the projects. We agreed to approach Sotheby’s International Realty to market the Hole in the Wall project.[15] On May 6, 2008, Lofty Nel, a Principal with the firm of Sotheby’s International Realty provided a letter to the project, which reads:
“Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty are extremely proud and honoured to be granted the exclusive mandate to market Pure Africa Development LLC Hole in the Wall project on the Wild Coast in South Africa. Marketing of the project has commenced by word of mouth with the official launch of the project scheduled for the end of May, 2008.
The development comprises 51 Ocean front homes in a gated estate at the Hole in the Wall, a national landmark in South Africa. Earth Conservancy have also been appointed to manage approximately 5000 acres of pristine land adjacent to the project as part of a conservancy. This will ensure that the amazing views and natural beauty of Hole in the Wall will remain intact for guests and owners at the Hole in the Wall development.”[16]
The 50 lots plus a hotel site were priced for long term lease at an average price of $120,000 per lot for total projected revenue to the social venture project of $6 million.[17] The engineering firm prepared a lot layout for the Hole in the Wall and architects, engineers, and home builders were appointed to get the project ready to market.[18]
In addition to community and government approval, we also sought the approval of specialized real estate legal counsel. On September 1, 2008, the law firm of Smith Tabata provided Pure Africa with a legal opinion letter:
“We act on behalf of the aforesaid Pure Africa, LLC as majority shareholder of Incopho Wild Coast Development Projects (Pty) Ltd. Incopho, in turn, is the majority shareholder of the project company, The Reserve at Hole in the Wall (Pty) Ltd. Our firm has represented The Reserve at Hole in the Wall project on behalf of Pure Africa since 2007 as legal counsel. We also assisted in the referral of the project auditor, Charteris & Barnes, auditors.
Based upon a review of the documentation, The Reserve at Hole in the Wall is an oceanfront and oceanview real estate development consisting of 50 stands and a small hotel. The Reserve at Hole in the Wall is being marketed by Lofty Nel of Sotheby’s International Realty in East London, South Africa.
The original documentation for this project dates back to September, 2004. For this letter, I have reviewed the following:
The Final Scoping Report dated September, 2004;
The Review of Documents relating to proposed Coffee Bay and Hole in the Wall developments by East Cape Development Corporation and the Development Bank of South Africa;
The Ground Lease by and between the Kwa Tshezi Community and Earth Conservancy dated February 6, 2006;
The Lease Agreement between The Government of the Republic of South Africa through the Department of Land Affairs, the Kwa Tshezi Community and Incopho dated February 2, 2006;
The Record of Decision from the Department of Affairs, Environment and Tourism dated August 10, 2005 authorizing Incopho “to construct 50 single storey chalets, a central restaurant, a curio shop and amenities and association infrastructure at Hole in the Wall, KSD Municipal Area.
The Lease Agreement between The Government of the Republic of South Africa through the Department of Land Affairs, the Kwa Tshezi Community and Incopho dated June 21, 2008 which is a 30 year renewable lease at the option of Incopho for up to 90 years and continuing thereafter.
It is also my understanding that Title Deed to the land comprising the Hole in the Wall development is forthcoming to the Community in the next 6 months or longer from the Government of South Africa and the Department of Land Affairs.
Based upon a review of this documentation, Incopho has a valid lease with the Government of South Africa and the Kwa Tshezi Community for up to 90 years or more. Under South African law, Incopho through The Reserve at Hole in the Wall (Pty) Ltd. can sublease the 50 stands to interested sublessees for rental payments over the term of the lease or the rent and lease may be prepaid. It is my understanding that sublessees can “purchase” or sublease one or more of the 50 stands for an up-front payment of rent or with 10% downpayment of rent and the balance of the rent payments over 10 years at 12% interest.
It is my understanding that Sotheby’s International Realty will be acting as estate agent in the “sale” of the 50 subleased stands to the general public. A separate company, Villager Homes, will be constructing homes on the 50 subleased stands under separate written agreement between Villager Homes and the stand “purchasers” or sublessees.
Finally, when Title Deed is ultimately vested with the Kwa Tshezi Community, it is planned that the 50 stand sublessees may have the opportunity to convert their lease to Title Deed ownership of their stand.”[19]
By May, 2008, all architectural designs, engineering, lot layout, utilities and infrastructure plans were completed and a contract to install all utilities, roads and services to The Reserve at Hole in the Wall were completed. These crucial steps made it possible for marketing of long term leases for the 50 lots by Sotheby’s International Realty.
In May, 2008, Sotheby’s began to issue marketing materials for Hole in the Wall[20] and in September, 2008, Hole in the Wall was listed as a “hot property” in Conde Nast Home in South Africa and Media Press Releases were issued.[21] Sotheby’s also went to great expense to create glossy brochures to begin marketing and they also launched a marketing website for the Hole in the Wall project.[22] Pure Africa and the social venture partners put up a marketing Sign Board at the Hole in the Wall project.[23] Everyone was excited because Sotheby’s and their marketing experts were certain that the property would lease quickly and that meant up to $6 million of projected revenue for the social venture project and the local community.
However, just as the marketing campaign was beginning, the aggressive bad press campaign team of Batte, Stiner and others jumped in to actively interfere with and destroy the marketing efforts at the Hole in the Wall project. This was the most damaging tortious interference that resulted from the aggressive bad press campaign – anonymous phone calls from this coordinated group to our real estate professional team and social venture partners.[24] At the launch of the Hole in the Wall project and at other projects, Sotheby’s International Realty, government officials and others received several anonymous phone calls from Virginia and from South Africa stating that the projects were false, that we were trying to sell (versus lease) community land and that I was not someone to be trusted. The callers also threatened to and did take the matter to the newspapers to discredit Sotheby’s and the social venture projects. In discussions with Sotheby’s and other real estate firms, we were told that a new development, especially a social venture development, is a delicate matter and you only want positive information for the general public to view when seeking to spend money on a new oceanfront resort. The decision was made to halt the marketing campaign at Hole in the Wall and try to regroup later. This was devastating to us because it meant that years of time, effort, money and relationships were wasted.
Each time a project was halted by the malicious and negative actions of Batte and his coordinated bad press campaign, we had to stop everything and try to work on a new project that hadn’t yet been attacked by this group. However, each time the task grew harder and everyone on the social venture team was tired of the negative attacks and the disappointment and damage that resulted from the negative attacks.
As I have said before, I am still working on social ventures in Africa and will continue to do so. Each day that I work in trying to help create jobs for the needy in Africa will hopefully help save one or more of those 21,000 children dying everyday. Does it take money to help save the needy in Africa and elsewhere? Yes, a lot of money. Does it take time and hard work? Yes, a lot of time, effort and thankless hours. Will this work get done by itself? No – people have to get involved and do it.
Can you be paid to do this work? Yes, you can be paid – just like I was paid and millions of others in the public and nonprofit sectors are paid. And, that pay comes from donations, taxes and investment dollars – just like my consulting compensation.[25] How does President Obama get paid? He gets paid from our voluntarily contributed tax dollars. The fact is public service and charity work is paid for by people contributing money to get a job or a project or a public service done. If getting paid for social venture work or public service was wrong, then millions of people are guilty of the same thing on a daily basis in the United States. Did you know that your tax dollars went to pay an abortion doctor to perform abortions or for a soldier to fight in Afghanistan or for a social worker to help inner city children learn to read – probably not but perhaps indirectly you were aware of it.
In our social venture projects, donors and financial partners were given hundreds of pages of legal documents, business plans and other project-related information to review, study and provide to their lawyers and accountants. Each of these financial partners or donors then chose to donate or invest pursuant to those legal documents and business plans. In donating funds, there is no return other than the charitable donation deduction you receive for donating. In becoming a financial partner, it was abundantly disclosed that like most businesses in the world, the social venture projects can fail. The financial partners were informed that they could lose all of their investment and they were advised of the risks.[26] While I hope that the social venture projects can be completed, even despite all of the obstacles and interference and crazy actions of others, it will still take a lot of time, money and hard work to get it done. However, the rewards of completing the social venture projects and helping to create jobs, feed families and save as many lives as possible in Africa make it all worthwhile.
God Bless you all.
[1] http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats
[2] http://www.unicef.org/media/files/Child_Mortality_Report_2011_Final.pdf
[3] BBC 5 October, 2001 & Anti-Slavery Society. See http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Sold-into-Slavery/
[4] James 1:27 New Living Translation (2007).
[5] Like many other people, I sponsor a little girl in Zambia through World Vision by providing enough money – roughly $1 per day – so that she has food, clothing and school supplies. While this is clearly not enough – it is something invaluable to her and frankly, it means the world to me. To help a child in need, see www.worldvision.org.
[6] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liz-hamburg/microenterprise-an-exciti_b_813738.html. Liz Hamburg reports that each job created fed a family of five from the income from that job.
[7] For a report on the multiplication effect from job creation in social ventures, see http://www.fieldus.org/Microtest/SROI.pdf
[8] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liz-hamburg/microenterprise-an-exciti_b_813738.html
[9] See Wild Coast Property Valuation. This valuation was prepared by real estate expert Alan Bell and real estate developer David Stefano based upon comparable property values on existing real estate for sale on the Wild Coast of South Africa.
[10] Known in Xhosa tradition as the place of The Great Cattle Killing, Hole in the Wall is steeped in cultural fokelore and significance for the Xhosa people. For a short version of the legend, see http://www.southafrica-travel.net/eastcape/wildcoast.htm
[11] See DBSA – Incopho Project Overview as Article 6 FN 4.
[12] See National Government Lease to Incopho. There are dozens of leases between the local community partners and the social venture partners, which document the projects and the hopeful social benefit to the local community partners. For years, the social venture projects paid lease payments to the various communities, paid local workers and paid development costs.
[13] See Record of Decision to Incopho.
[14] See Site Plan at Article 6 FN 7.
[15] See Pure Africa letter to Sotheby’s at Article 6 FN 10.
[16] See Letter from Lofty Nel of Sotheby’s International Realty at Article 6 FN 11.
[17] See Plot and Plan Pricing at Article 6 FN 12.
[18] See Model Home specifications by Villager Homes at Article 6 FN 13.
[19] See Opinion Letter of Smith Tabata Law Firm at Article 6 FN 14.
[20] Sotheby’s Booklet showing Hole in the Wall Development at Article 6 FN 15.
[21] See Conde Nast Home article naming Hole in the Wall a “Hot Property” at Article 6 FN 16.
[22] See Sotheby’s website layout at Article 6 FN 17.
[23] See Pure Africa Hole in the Wall signboard at Article 6 FN 18.
[24] See Pam Golding Properties Letter.
[25] My consulting compensation was paid pursuant to signed agreements on an hourly rate basis and payment of costs and expenses and it was acknowledged by the managers and boards of the various companies that agreed to hire me as a consultant. See William Brown Letter.
[26] See Private Placement Memorandum of the Fund and the signed Subscription Agreement of Dr. Allan Stiner.
Tagged as africa, aid, allan stiner, attorney, b ray, brian dinning, brian r. dinning, brian ray dinning, children, community, dinning, energy, entrepreneurship, fbi, george bowles, granville batte, hole in the wall, jason roper, joint venture, law, lawyer, legal, LLC, malnutrition, mdumbi, murrill, norfolk, ray dinning, social, social entrepreneurship, social venture, south africa, starvation, starving, unicef, us attorney, usaid, virginia beach, washington, wild coast, william granville batte, World Bank, xhosa
Article VIII: The Lawyers: Lying, False Claims, Threats and Insanity
By: Brian Ray Dinning, JD, LLM and Social Venture Lawyer[1]
What does a lawyer who was suspended from practicing law for three years for making false claims against me and others and not being truthful with a court and other unprofessional and tortious behavior with a history of insanity have to do with this story? A LOT! He is one of the lawyers for the bad press collaborators (see Articles III through VII at www.socialentrepreneurshipinafrica.com). Jason Christopher Roper and his close friend and former law partner, George Bowles are the lawyers for the aggressive bad press campaign collaborators. These two lawyers not only participated in most, if not all, of the aggressive bad press campaign, they are the two people who have profited substantially by representing this group – earning hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
George Bowles was the lawyer for Batte and Stiner. Bowles contacted business associates of Pure Africa, Earth Conservancy and me in an effort to damage and discredit the social venture projects in South Africa and me and to support his claims. On at least two occasions, Bowles contacted our business partners (general contractors and builders from Virginia who were overseeing the development work on the Wild Coast of South Africa) to discredit me and to engage in a fishing expedition to solicit them as clients in a possible legal action against me. Interfering with and damaging existing business relationships, providing false and inflammatory information and then seeking to represent these people is wrong – it is illegal and actionable (tortious interference) but it is also against a lawyer’s code of ethics.
These actions by Bowles are not only unprofessional and unethical but they cost the projects hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost investment and the loss of two or more business relationships. Our business relationships with general contractors a year or more to develop since the projects are in Africa and generally included one or more due diligence trips to South Africa. Each time one of these relationships was destroyed by Bowles, it cost the social venture projects in time, money and valuable resources. Bowles and his clients also sent confidential and privileged information to Bossie Bosman, which was used to discredit us in South Africa with the government, our professional team, our local community partners and our business partners.[2] He also admittedly shared confidential and privileged information with his good friend and former partner Roper. It is unclear whether Bowles’ law firm, Williams Mullen is aware of the tortious, interfering and damaging conduct.[3]
Jason Christopher Roper was actively involved in the aggressive negative press campaign in an illegal and actionable way as well. He openly advertised for new clients on the blog of Jeff Brown and he admitted to contacting the South African government and others in an effort to damage and discredit the projects and me. He also admitted to working in concert with and sharing confidential and protected information with his good friend, Bowles. Together, these two worked hard to damage and discredit the projects and me and they profited handsomely from their efforts through the payment of legal fees by Batte, Stiner and the other bad press campaign collaborators.[4]
The contact by Roper and Bowles to the government of South Africa, to Sotheby’s International Realty, to Pam Golding Properties and others stopped our projects on at least three specific instances directly: at Mdumbi Bay with Fresh Properties,[5] at Hole in the Wall with Sotheby’s International Realty,[6] and with Pam Golding Properties.[7] Each time this occurred, it stopped the marketing campaign and cost the social venture projects millions of dollars in revenue. This revenue would have been used to repay our financial partners and to provide for a financial return to the local community and the social venture partners. It is unclear how many indirect opportunities were lost to the bad press campaign but I know of several instances where business relationships ended due to the blog of Jeff Brown and others.
Many times, we tried to stop them from interfering by sending letters of support and seeking endorsements from all of our professional team members.[8] We also sought and received endorsement letters and support from the Government of South Africa including South African President Jacob Zuma, National Cabinet Members and National and local government.[9]
Roper and Bowles coordinated the legal attack on me and the social venture projects to line their pockets with legal fees. Instead of simply asking the social venture projects for a return of their money, they sued first using a generic fraud complaint. Since the only way to get to an individual personally instead of the business is by alleging fraud, they started off by using a general allegation of fraud to file a lawsuit against me personally as well as against the social venture companies. In the first three cases, the social venture partners and myself settled three lawsuits by paying back the investors in full with interest and attorneys’ fees. The next legal battle was with the Stiners. The social venture companies would have eventually paid them back as well when funding was available to settle the lawsuit but the damage that they did to the social venture projects through the aggressive bad press campaign plus the death threats against me led us to agree that settling the lawsuit was not appropriate and a countersuit was filed. It was then that the Stiners dismissed their lawsuit forever. The final lawsuit (other than the $30 million lawsuit pending against the bad press campaign club filed by me) was a lawsuit filed by Roper. This suit cost Jason Christopher Roper his job because my legal counsel and I were present when the senior partners of his firm at McKenry Dancigars said to him that “there is no case.” Roper continued with the lawsuit contrary to his firm’s advice and was fired. Strangely, he then reportedly attempted to commit suicide, was hospitalized and then continued to practice law until his recent suspension.[10]
I was finally able to achieve a small victory with Roper through the Virginia State Bar. Judge Karen Burrell documented Roper’s negative, unprofessional and attacking behavior against me in both correspondence and court order.[11] On February 17, 2012, Jason Christopher Roper was suspended from practicing law for three years by the Virginia State Bar. The announcement from the Virginia State Bar reads:
“Jason Christopher Roper, 702 Lakeview Court, Mars, PA 16046
VSB Docket Nos. 09-021-080040, 10-021-080199, 10-021-080602
On February 17, 2012, the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board suspended Jason Christopher Roper’s license to practice law for three years for violating rules governing candor toward the tribunal; fairness to opposing party or counsel; respect for rights of third persons; confidentiality of information; conflict of interest: general rule; conflict of interest: former client; declining or terminating representation; meritorious claims and contentions; ; communication with persons represented by counsel; bar admission and disciplinary matters; and misconduct.”
This, in turn, gave me the necessary evidence to prepare and file the current $30 million lawsuit including claims for federal civil RICO against Jason Christopher Roper, George Bowles and the bad press campaign collaborators. My goal with the lawsuit is to fight for the rights of the social venture partners, the investors and donors, the local poor communities in Africa and me against this negative and actionable conduct by a small group of people. These people cost us millions of dollars in potential profit, millions of dollars of costs and expenses and years of hard work and effort for the people of Africa.
Just to highlight the attacking, unprofessional and unbalanced thinking of this group, Roper sent this scary and threatening email to me:
“Mr. Dinning:
Good morning and congratulations on your indictment! May you enjoy the next twenty to thirty years in a nice federal peneteniary without the comforts of your bimbo wife, your kids, or the finer things in life . . . Don’t worry about your wife. If she appears at your trial, I will make sure to inform her that if she needs a good serving, she can always give me a call.
Laughing still.
Jason C. Roper”
My legal counsel responded with:
“Mr. Roper –
I was just forwarded your communication with Mr. Dinning. Note that your communication itself, as well as the content, are not only violative of PA ethical rules, but are unlawful in and of themselves. Besides being disgusting and offensive.
Given your history of unstable and violent behavior, I must take your statements, especially as to threatened sexual assault on Mrs. Dinning, as real threats to her well being and report the same as well as insist that you never, in any manner, communicate with my client again. If you do so, appropriate legal action will be taken in Pennsylvania.
I’m not saying this to argue with you, and I will not respond to any response or argument that you make in return. You either comply or don’t. If you don’t, I will take appropriate action.”
After sending this to my lawyer, misconduct bar complaints were filed by my legal counsel and me in both Virginia and Pennsylvania for this shocking and threatening behavior.
This is not the conduct of rational people. What I have shared with you is the actual, documented conduct of some of our financial partners and their legal counsel in social ventures in Africa. It is also the conduct of the principle instigators behind the current charges pending against me in the United States as a final blow in their aggressive bad press campaign.
While I am happy to face them in court, I wanted to tell my side of the story and to share with you my heart for the people of Africa. While no one is perfect, all of my consulting fees, expenses, personal expenses and draw compensation was documented in consulting agreements and authorized by the social venture companies. You do not have to take my word for it though, as I have attached a letter from one of our social venture partners, Dr. William Brown, Ph.D Professor and Fulbright Scholar to Assistant US Attorney Steve Haynie in February, 2012. In this letter, Dr. Brown (which can be supported and corroborated by “dozens of people” according to Dr. Brown) openly discusses the aggressive bad press campaign and the fact that my consulting fees and expenses were all authorized and approved by the Board of Directors and by my consulting agreements.[12]
While I am happy to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth in court, I can tell you that my reputation, family and over 16 years of work on social ventures has been irreparably damaged by this unjust process. The truly sad thing is that the real impact of this will be against the local people in Africa, who were and are counting on us for help not to mention the wildlife that is counting on us for safety and protection.[13] I can only hope that others will take up the cause of social ventures in Africa (despite the risks I have described) and help the local people of Africa to help preserve and conserve their land and natural resources for future generations to enjoy.
[1] My background is at http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/23321-va-brian-dinning-629141.html
[2] George Bowles, for his part in the aggressive bad press campaign, is listed as one of the defendants in the pending $30 million lawsuit by me and Pure Africa to reclaim some of the damage caused by their reckless and intentional actions in damaging me and the social venture projects. Our goal is to ensure that the projects move forward for the benefit of the local communities in Africa.
[3] See http://www.williamsmullen.com/gbowles/
[4] Jason Christopher Roper has already been suspended for three years from practicing law for his unprofessional and attacking conduct against me by the Virginia State Bar as documented by Judge Karen Burrell in both correspondence and court order. Jason Roper, for his part in the aggressive bad press campaign, is listed as one of the defendants in the pending $30 million lawsuit by me and Pure Africa to reclaim some of the damage caused by their reckless and intentional actions in damaging me and the social venture projects. For his background, see http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/15219-pa-jason-roper-537025/reviews.html
[5] Fresh emails. Fresh Cash Buyers for 39 lots
[6] Sotheby’s emails.
[7] See PGP Emails. Article 8 FN PGP Explorer Club Anonymous Calls and Article 8 FN Umidi to PGP on Attack and Article 8 FN Vandeventer Black About Disruption
[8] See Endorsement Letters. WCEC T&B Log Homes 15.04.2009 See also ACI Roper Letter p 1 and ACI Roper Letter p 2 and Article 8 FN XC Letter to Roper p 1 and Article 8 FN XC Letter to Roper p 2
[9] See letters from the South African Government. Article 8 FN Letter from President Jacob Zuma and see also Article 8 FN National Minister Letter Ningta or Tambo ltr.
[10] It should also be noted that Jason Christopher Roper was fired from his last two law firms (Blumling & Gusky and McKenry Dancigars) and it is reported to me by other attorneys that he was fired from two previous law firms for similarly bizarre and unprofessional behavior.
[11] See Letter from Judge Karen Burrell. Article 8 FN Judge Burrell Letter re Roper
[12] See Letter of Dr. William Brown to Steve Haynie, Asst. US Attorney Article 1 FN 1 Letter from William Brown to Mr. Haynie
[13] Letter from Xolile at Mdumbi Bay Community Trust. Article 8 FN Xolile 2012 Letter
Tagged as actionable, africa, aid, attorney, b ray, bowles, brian dinning, brian r. dinning, brian ray dinning, dc, dinning, energy, entrepreneurship, george bowles, green power, indictment, innocent, interference, jacob zuma, jason christopher roper, jason roper, joint venture, lawsuit, legal, malpractice, micro enterprise, misconduct, national minister, ntinga, pam golding properteis, pam golding properties, pennsylvania, pennsylvania state bar, president, ray dinning, RICO, roper, social, social entrepreneurship, social entreprenuer, social venture, sotheby's, south africa, tax, tortious, trevor manuel, us attorney, virginia, virginia state bar, walmart, washington, wild coast, williams mullen, xhosa
Article VII: On the Ground in Africa: Not Much Better.
With social venture projects in Africa, there is generally a team of social venture partners on the ground who are responsible for managing the project and the day-to-day operations. For example, I’m currently working with an organic farmer in community farming projects in Africa, where there is a local non-profit organization with six full-time workers (providing free seeds and education to the local community), a for-profit farm manager (providing oversight and management to the community farmers) and the local community providing land and workers. These are the project managers and workers who run the project on the ground. Every organization, including the United Nations, USAID and the World Bank work with local partners on projects in Africa.[1]
With the initial farming social venture, the mining project and the tourism project, our local project manager was Michael van der Merwe and his brother, Pieter van der Merwe. Whenever funding is needed on the ground in Africa for the social venture projects, there is a team of people who become financial partners and others who generally work on the projects. In our projects, the funding partners were part of limited liability companies in the United States or a United States non-profit corporation. The funding project company was managed by Pure Africa and funds were loaned to the social venture project in South Africa. Those loan funds were then managed by the social venture project manager and invested into the project or used to pay project fees and expenses. Finally, the financial partners would receive loan documentation and social venture project ownership for their loan to the social venture project or, in the case of funding provided by a US non-profit corporation, like Earth Conservancy, the funding was sent in the form of a grant.
The loan funds would then be under the control of the local social venture project manager, who had the responsibility of managing those funds to complete the projects and then repay the loan. At Hole in the Wall and on the Wild Coast of South Africa, our local partner was Bossie Bosman, who was one of the founders of the social venture work at Hole in the Wall and other projects. Like with Michael van der Merwe, funding for the Hole in the Wall project was generally wired from the United States to Bossie Bosman, who had responsibility of managing those funds, completing the project and repaying the loan.
Although we had sent considerable funding to Michael van der Merwe to secure rights to the three projects and to conduct due diligence, purchase reclamation bonding for the mining project and scoping and other costs, the Pure Africa Sustainable Development Fund and Pure Africa along with our nonprofit social venture partner, Earth Conservancy, did not want to do any projects with Michael van der Merwe. There was a lack of business reporting, a lack of accounting and most of all, Michael van der Merwe maintained close ties with Wextrust Capital. As stated before, a private investigation report was later ordered for Michael van der Merwe, which confirmed that he was not a man to trust[2] as he owned seven or more luxury homes in Pretoria, Waterkloof, Waterkloof Ridge, Midrand and East London, an office building in Midrand, a dozen or more luxury automobiles, motorcycles and other toys and his brother, Pieter, built a 20,000 square foot mansion. This list doesn’t include the assets, which were given to the girlfriends of van der Merwe and Shereshevsky. The Fund and Pure Africa did not want to risk any further involvement with Michael van der Merwe. Despite his claims of profitability and viability of these projects, the decision was made to drop them and it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in loan capital sent to him that will likely never be recovered.
In 2009, after a lengthy private investigation to locate loan funds sent to Michael van der Merwe on behalf of our financial partners, my brother and I confronted Michael van der Merwe at his luxury oceanfront home in East London, South Africa. I asked Michael van der Merwe,
“what did you do with our financial partner’s loan capital and my money?” A nervous van der Merwe said, “I am in the process of selling the tourism project and I will repay all of your loan money to you and your financial partners.” In blaming Wextrust Capital, he said, “Joe [Shereshevsky] was a thief and we all lost money.” When asked directly about his luxury cars, luxury homes and his brother’s mansion that were all paid for with cash, he said that he “bought them with money given to him by Joe Shereshevsky and Wextrust Capital.” With promises of repayment from van der Merwe, we left after an hour-long meeting. Of course, we all waited for years for a promised repayment from Michael van der Merwe that never came. Naturally, when I was asked by our financial partners about the repayment of our loans, I could only pass along what van der Merwe told us many times: that the projects were being sold and that he would repay all of loan money to us. This – we found out – was one of many lies told to us by Michael van der Merwe and his brother – Pieter. The fact is – they stole the loan money of our financial partners (and of Wextrust Capital’s investors) and used it to buy an estimated ten million dollars of luxury homes, cars and other items for cash.[3]
Again, this was another significant negative action that made us change our entire business strategy and move on to other projects. Thus, Hole in the Wall and the Wild Coast projects became our principle focus.[4]
The Fund managers, Rick, Lou and John, along with Pure Africa, wanted to have someone “on the ground” in Africa and since my brother, Steve, has a passion for missions work, I suggested that he go to Africa to watch over the developments. Steve traveled to Africa in the summer of 2006 with promises of an annual salary plus living expenses. With all of the interruptions, bizarre and criminal conduct and the aggressive bad press campaign, it was very difficult to locate funding partners. Everyone was turned off by the negative press campaign.
One of the first issues Steve encountered was with our local social venture project manager, Bossie Bosman. Shortly after arriving in South Africa, Steve soon discovered that Bossie Bosman has misappropriated funds designated for the Hole in the Wall project to buy a new Landrover LR3 for cash in his personal name at a cost of $100,000 – a devastating blow – as the funds that he misappropriated were supposed to be used to pay the contractual wages for the local community workers, for my brother and the project managers.[5] It was six months worth of budgeted expenses stolen by Bosman to purchase a Landrover for himself. Ultimately, Bossie Bosman was reported to the police in South Africa and he was voted off the Board of Directors of the social venture project.[6] Angry, Bossie Bosman then became the ally of Dr. Batte and Dr. Stiner and they corresponding regularly in their bad press campaign and coup attempt, which commenced in April, 2007.
The beautiful oceanfront and riverfront project at Mdumbi Bay
As our projects on the Wild Coast were moving closer to launching, they had great potential and we received many assurances that the Hole in the Wall and Mdumbi Bay projects would lease out in quickly. This meant millions of potential dollars of revenue for the social venture projects and for the local community. With these funds, all investors could be repaid and the local community would receive a large windfall of profits that they could use to build schools, medical clinics and other needed facilities.
However, despite great potential projects, the intentional damage and interference by Batte, Stiner, Bosman and others killed the project at Mdumbi Bay (see photo above). In June, 2007, the project at Mdumbi Bay was ready to commence marketing by Fresh Properties in East London, South Africa.[7] There were multiple meetings and conference calls between the marketing company, the financial partners and Pure Africa. The project would entail the long-term lease of 46 home sites and a small tourism lodge. On or about June 14, 2007, Fresh Properties set a meeting to discuss the current status of the Mdumbi Bay Marketing Plan. In this correspondence, Mark Trow of Fresh Properties lists “definite potential cash buyers” for 39 of the 46 lots, with names of the buyers listed next to the lot they had chosen, which represented over $6 million in social venture project revenue.[8] However, several anonymous phone calls were made to the South African government claiming that we were trying to “sell” the land instead of “lease” the land to potential buyers. This immediately stopped the marketing effort and in November, 2007, we switched real estate sale companies to Sotheby’s International Realty. Once again, we were so close to a social venture project success before the proverbial rug was pulled out from under us by Bossie Bosman, Batte and others.[9]
Bosman, Batte, Stiner and others then began to utilize the blog of Jeff Brown, a hotel owner and opponent of any development (other than his) at Hole in the Wall. Jeff Brown told my brother that he will do anything he can to stop the development at Hole in the Wall and he became the bulletin board for all of the aggressive bad press, libel, slander and false information against the social venture projects and me. They coordinated with Jeff Brown because he could post all of their information anonymously and he has sent it by automatically generated email to our investors, donors and the general public to discredit the social venture projects and me. They have even utilized the blog to post supposed messages from my children and others – of course – all anonymously. The unfortunate consequence of the Internet is that it is practically impossible to stop someone overseas from posting false and defamatory articles about you.
Hole in the Wall was another social venture project with great potential. Our professional team provided great endorsements of the project. On May 6, 2008, Lofty Nel, a Principal with the firm of Sotheby’s International Realty provided a letter to the project, which reads:
The 51 lots were priced for long term lease at an average price of $120,000 for a total projected revenue to the social venture project of $6 million. The project was on the verge of success.
On September 1, 2008, Russell Linde, South African real estate attorney of the law firm of Smith Tabata provided Dinning and Pure Africa, LLC with a legal opinion letter which states:
By June 2008, all architectural designs, engineering, lot layout, utilities and infrastructure plans were completed and a contract to install all utilities, roads and services to The Reserve at Hole in the Wall were completed. These steps made it possible for marketing of long term leases for the 51 lots by Sotheby’s International Realty.
In May, 2008, Sotheby’s began to issue marketing materials for Hole in the Wall and in September, 2008, Hole in the Wall was listed as a “hot property” in Conde Nast Home in South Africa and Media Press Releases were issued. Sotheby’s also went to great expense to create glossy brochures to begin marketing and they also launched a marketing website for the Hole in the Wall project.
Then, the aggressive bad press campaign team started their bad press campaign in South Africa. This was the most difficult interference that resulted from the aggressive bad press campaign was the anonymous phone calls from this coordinated group to our real estate professional team. At the launch of the Hole in the Wall project and then at the second marketing launch of the project at Mdumbi Bay, Sotheby’s International Realty received several anonymous phone calls from Virginia in the United States and from one or more individuals in South Africa stating that the projects were false, that they did not exist and that I was not someone to be trusted. The callers also threatened to take the matter to the newspapers to discredit Sotheby’s and the social venture projects. In discussions with Sotheby’s, we were told that a new development, especially a social venture development, is a delicate matter and you only want positive information for the general public to view when seeking to spend money on a new oceanfront resort. The decision was made to halt the marketing campaigns and try to regroup under a new development company.[12] This interference also cost us R25,000,000 or $4M from The Development Bank of South Africa.[13]
When another marketing project called The Wild Coast Explorer Club was preparing to launch in the Fall of 2009, similar anonymous phone calls were made to Pam Golding Properties, the real estate company handling the development and launch of this new project. The callers again threatened to take the matter to the newspapers and to tarnish the name of Pam Golding Properties if they continued to represent the project.[14] Sadly, again, this malicious, bad press campaign had succeeded in stopping a very promising project. The Wild Coast Explorer Club had received endorsements from our law firm, accounting firm, real estate professionals, home builders and many others but marketing a new project cannot stand up to bad press – even if it is false.[15]
Each time a project was halted by the malicious and negative actions of Batte and his coordinated bad press campaign, we had to stop everything and try to work on a new project that hadn’t yet been attacked by this group. However, each time the task grew harder and everyone on the social venture team was tired of the negative attacks and the disappointment and damage that resulted from the negative attacks. In 2010, my brother had to return home penniless as he too was paid only a small fraction of the salary and living expenses he was promised by the social venture projects.
With regard to the negative attacks, there are emails, correspondence and witnesses to corroborate and confirm everything that I have said here today. Additionally, in February, 2012, I filed a $30 million civil RICO lawsuit against Batte, Stiner and the group responsible for the aggressive bad press campaign in Suffolk Circuit Court in Virginia. The goal is to recoup the social venture revenue lost to their libel, slander and interference and to complete one or more of the social venture projects, repay the financial partners and provide jobs and profits to the local Xhosa community. It is no wonder that they have filed false reports and charges against me because they have to try to justify their negative actions and cover up their own wrongs.
Finally, many of you may say, the government is accusing you of using funds to buy a luxury home and cars. In 2006, with my consulting contracts in hand from Pure Africa and Earth Conservancy, I was able to put a down payment on a nice home (along with significant financial help from my family) with a large mortgage. In 2008, after learning that all of our money was stolen by Michael van der Merwe and Bosman and the interference by Batte and others, Pure Africa and Earth Conservancy were unable to pay me and my home was sold in a short sale per an agreement with the bank so that we could avoid foreclosure. I sold or had two cars repossessed to pay the car loans. The real difference between my compensation and van der Merwe’s and Bosman’s theft is that I was paid a fraction of the consulting fees promised to me by written consulting agreements and my home and cars were bought with bank financing like most people – not with stolen cash like the van der Merwes and Bosman.[16]
The next and final article in the series is: The Malicious Lawyers: Lying, False Claims, Threats and Insa
[1] See http://www.standardnewswire.com/news/483504557.html and http://web.undp.org/africa/
[2] In the Investigation Report of Michael van der Merwe dated April, 2008, it is noted that the Lion’s Walk project was sold but the funds never went into the company nor were taxes paid. We are still trying to recover our loan funds from Michael van der Merwe.
[3] There are many more sordid and salacious details to the stories about Joe Shereshevsky, Wextrust Capital and Michael van der Merwe and their rampant thievery and fraud but those stories will have to be told in another Article or series of Articles. The real question is: where are the Volvo loaders, trucks, excavators and other moveable equipment from all those mining projects? Each mining project had approximately $5M of equipment and in my last conversation with van der Merwe – he said he and Wextrust Capital had seven mining projects. That is perhaps $35M of moveable equipment that may be unaccounted for and likely liquidated by the van der Merwes at or about the time of the Wextrust Capital scandal.
[4] See Status Report of Fund dated July 2007 and September 2007. Article 7 FN 4 Fund Status Report July 2007
[5] See Minutes voting Bossie off the Board and Bossie Crimes letter.
[6] We were also told later by local community and governmental leaders that Bosman was a hated man in the local black communities because it was widely known that he was a mean and malicious police officer in the Apartheid era and treated the local people very harshly. It was also rumored that Bosman was present and participated in the beating death of black student peace advocate Stephen Biko in Port Elizabeth. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Biko
[7] See Fresh Letter. Fresh Purchasers are Waiting
[8] See Fresh 39 Cash Buyers email. Fresh Cash Buyers for 39 lots
[9] The $6 million of revenue from the sale of the lease lots at Mdumbi Bay would have paid all project costs, paid back the financial partners of Mdumbi Bay project and generated a significant profit for the local community and our social and financial partners.
[10] See Letter from Lofty Nel of Sotheby’s International Realty. Article 7 FN 10 Sotheby’s Endorsement Letter copy
[11] See Opinion Letter of Smith Tabata Law Firm. Article 7 FN 11 Pure Africa (Opinion Letter for Hole in the Wall
[12] Sotheby’s Correspondence Bill Brown Letter to Land Affairs Mtata Ltr Oct08 re false information from Bosman Stiner
[13] See DBSA Correspondence. Article 7 FN 13 and Article 7 FN 13.1
[14] PGP Email
[15] Endorsement Letters White and Case and Grant Thornton Endorsement
[16] The completely false and slanderous news articles written about me state that our financial partners invested or donated $2.9M and I kept $2M. Actually, most of the financial partners were recruited by Dr. John O’Neil, Rick Lally, Lou Dommer, Granville Batte and Dr. McTavish. Of the $2.9M, approximately $800,000 was sent to Michael van der Merwe, Bosman and our project managers as loans and was managed and spent by them presumably on project expenses, $900,000 to the law firm trust account of attorney Gerhard Dreyer for his mining projects with Granville Batte, approximately $250,000 was used to repay loans and settle disputes by financial partners and the balance was used to pay company expenses such as rent, consulting fees for me and others, travel, repayment of loans and other business costs and expenses. From 2005 to 2010, I was paid less than half of the consulting income I was contractually promised by the social venture projects. In 2011 and 2012, I continue to work with social venture community projects in Africa on a volunteer basis without any compensation. I live off consulting income from tax consulting with energy companies, teaching them to utilize tax incentives to become more environmentally-friendly and emitting less pollution.
Tagged as africa, aid, allan stiner, attorney, b ray, bossie bosman, brian dinning, brian r. dinning, brian ray dinning, coffee bay, dbsa, dc, defamatory, development bank of south africa, dinning, energy, entrepreneurship, false, fbi, fraud, grant thornton, granville batte, hole in the wall, indictment, joint venture, law, lawyer, legal, libel, LLC, loan, low income limited liability company, michael van der merwe, micro enterprise, micro finance, pieter van der merwe, ray, ray dinning, RICO, slander, social, social entrepreneurship, social venture, south africa, tax, us attorney, washington, wextrust capital, white and case, wild coast, xhosa
Article 6: What’s at Stake with the Social Ventures in Africa:
The Community’s Heritage and Prized Treasures
You may be asking – what are these social venture projects? What is it like at Hole in the Wall? Why would people like Granville Batte, Jeff Brown (White South African hotel owner at Hole in the Wall and slanderous blogger) and Allan Stiner want to steal projects from the community, our social venture partners and me? How about $98,818,000 of the most sought-after beautiful, untouched oceanfront land on the Indian Ocean in South Africa? This is the value of the raw, undeveloped land held by the social venture between the community and Pure Africa as determined by a South African property expert and a real estate developer.[1] To those trying to steal our social venture projects, this is like hitting the lottery – to the local community, it is their future and a means to lift their entire communities out of poverty. My vision is to stop the cycle of Apartheid and the exploitation of the local community at the hands of people like Batte, Stiner and Brown, to a social venture structure where the community owns 25% to 45% of every project. The local impoverished community should and must benefit substantially from the sustainable development of their land – it is their right and heritage.
In order for you to fully understand the above statements, I will share a bit of our project vision for the local people in Africa with you and why the community land is so special. The local Xhosa people live on less than $1.00 per day, on average. They are very poor in a worldly sense but they are blessed with tremendous natural resources – their oceanfront land. The average tribal leader has less than a sixth grade education, so while they have amazing land – they do not have the tools, skills or education to know how to maximize the value of the land. This is where our social venture partners bring in the education, know-how, a professional team of lawyers and real estate companies and the finances to help the local community sustainably develop a real estate project to create jobs, job skills training and hopefully profits. Don’t get me wrong – social venture projects are for-profit – so our goal was to maximize the value of the community land so that the community, our social venture partners and financial partners can all benefit.
Hole in the Wall is a cultural[2] and National icon in South Africa (see photo below). It is a large rock mountain in the Indian Ocean that boasts beautiful scenery and ocean views. In 2004, the Development Bank of South Africa “DBSA” and the South African Government funded a study on creating a tourism project at Hole in the Wall.[3] Our social venture project company was called Incopho, headed up by Bossie Bosman. In 2004, DBSA, the government and Incopho created a project summary for several projects including: Hole in the Wall and the Golf Course at Coffee Bay.[4] In 2005, our social venture partners received a Lease from the South African National Government to develop the community project at Hole in the Wall[5] and a Record of Decision (building permit and authorization) was issued in late 2005.[6]
Views of Hole in the Wall from Development Site
At Hole in the Wall, after three years of meetings, the approved plan was to build a tourism site with 50 oceanfront rental homes and a boutique hotel[7] which would create a minimum of 57 jobs for the local community and the potential for hundreds of micro business jobs such as beadwork, tours, sea shell jewelry and other tourism souvenirs and hopefully profits from the development (the community owned 45% of the Hole in the Wall development as our partner).
Architect’s Rendering of Proposed Lodging at Hole in the Wall
In order to help fund the social venture project, Earth Conservancy and The Pure Africa Sustainable Development Fund provided initial funding of $563,000 to pay for engineering fees, architects, plans and approvals and initial project consulting and development costs. However, funding for construction costs and utilities installation was still needed. The Development Bank of South Africa expressed initial interest in providing funding to Incopho as early as 2006.[8] The Development Bank of South Africa then told me that they submitted the social venture project at Hole in the Wall for approval for funding of R25,000,000 or $4,000,000 to put in utilities and facilities.[9] One of the conditions of DBSA funding is matching funds from the social venture partners so we needed financial partners to assist in funding the project at Hole in the Wall.
In addition to community and government approval, we also sought the approval of specialized real estate legal counsel. On September 1, 2008, Russell Linde, South African real estate attorney of the law firm of Smith Tabata provided Pure Africa with a legal opinion letter:
While the social venture projects on the Wild Coast in partnership with the Xhosa community have great potential, many people want to take them over for their own personal gain. Why does it seem to be so difficult to help the poor in Africa? I know that Oprah Winfrey had a very hard time starting up her social venture project in Africa[20] and the Washington Post and others have reported on the United Nations aid workers sexual abuse of children[21] and also on billions in stolen aid money[22] and corrupt practices by US companies.[23] In fact, this must be commonplace because I was on the phone with two other social venture project managers in Africa who have had similar experiences to mine.
The next Article describes how Batte, Stiner and others started coordinating with people in Africa in an organized “Wonga-style” coup attempt to either take the social venture projects for themselves or destroy them and me. The next Article is entitled: On the Ground in South Africa: Not Much Better – Social Ventures in Africa.
[1] See Wild Coast Property Valuation at Article 6 FN 1. This valuation was prepared by real estate expert Alan Bell and real estate developer David Stefano based upon comparable property values on existing real estate for sale on the Wild Coast of South Africa.
[2] Known in Xhosa tradition as the place of The Great Cattle Killing, Hole in the Wall is steeped in cultural fokelore and significance for the Xhosa people. For a short version of the legend, see http://www.southafrica-travel.net/eastcape/wildcoast.htm
[3] DBSA Scoping Report is attached hereto as Article 6 FN 3.
[4] See DBSA – Incopho Project Overview as Article 6 FN 4.
[5] See National Government Lease to Incopho as Article 6 FN 5.
[6] See Record of Decision to Incopho as Article 6 FN 6.
[7] See Hole in the Wall Aerial Lot Layout and Site Plan at Article 6 FN 7.
[8] See Development Bank of South Africa letter to Incopho at Article 6 FN 8.
[9] See Development Bank of South Africa email to me at Article 6 FN 9
[19] See Letter from Dr. Brown to South Africa Department of Land Affairs at Article 6 FN 19.
[20] For an overview of the sexual abuse and other scandals at Oprah’s social venture projects, see http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1939460_1939452_1939416,00.html
[21] See United Nations Sex Scandal at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30286-2005Mar12.html
[22] See http://seunfakze.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/the-smart-way-to-fight-corruption-part-i-by-ayittey/
[23] See http://humanosphere.kplu.org/2012/05/corruption-investigation-of-key-player-in-obamas-plan-to-fight-african-hunger/ and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44147002/ns/world_news-africa/t/somalia-famine-aid-stolen-sold-markets/
FOOTNOTE ATTACHMENTS:
Article 6 FN 1 Land Valuation
Article 6 FN 3 DBSA HITW Scoping Report
Article 6 FN 4 DBSA Overview of Projects
Article 6 FN 5 South African National Government Lease for HITW
Article 6 FN 6 Record of Decision
Article 6 FN 8 Development Bank of South Africa initial letter
Article 6 FN 9 Development Bank of South Africa R25 Million email
Article 6 FN 10 Pure Africa letter to Sotheby’s
Article 6 FN 11 Sotheby’s Endorsement Letter copy
Article 6 FN 13 Villager Home design for Hole in the Wall
Article 6 FN 14 Pure Africa (Opinion Letter for Hole in the Wall
Article 6 FN 15 Hole in the Wall Listing in Sotheby’s
Article 6 FN 19 William Brown Letter to Land Affairs Mtata Ltr Oct08 re false information from Bosman Stiner
Tagged as africa, aid, allan stiner, attorney, bossie bosman, brian dinning, brian ray dinning, coffee bay, community, dbsa, development bank of south africa, dinning, energy, entrepreneurship, golf course, granville batte, hole in the wall, jeff brown, joint venture, kruger, law, lawyer, legal, ray dinning, social, social entrepreneurship, social entreprenuer, social venture, sotheby's, tax, us attorney, washington, wild coast, xhosa
Article V: Murder for Hire, Aggressive Bad Press Campaign and other Distasteful Actions: Social Ventures in Africa?
I know that some of these stories are hard to believe, and my reason for telling them is not out of revenge, hatred or bitterness, but rather to simply tell truth and the reason for why it has been a great challenge to accomplish the goals, vision and mission I have had for Africa. I am sure most of you reading this have had obstacles standing between you and your dreams. For the social venture partners and me, it was not just one person or one thing standing in the way, it was a mixture of people, many of whom I thought were my friends and business partners. Unfortunately, many of these people demonstrated a lack of integrity, honesty and professionalism. While I along with others have lost a great deal trying to help the people of Africa, one thing that I still have is the heart and passion to help the needy communities and hopefully make a positive change for future generations.
So up to this point, my vision for the social venture projects in Africa was slowed down or hindered by the fraud of Wextrust Capital and then by the drug-using financial partners. Can you see why changes had to be made to the entire business structure and social venture projects so that the projects could continue to move forward? I thought the situation with Rick, Lou and John described in the “Article IV: Cocaine, Ecstasy and Swingers: Social Ventures in Africa?” was inconceivable,[1] however, the next situation is one that I never thought would ever happen, especially from doctors like Granville Batte and Allan Stiner.
Upon our return to the United States in January, 2006 from the crazy trip to South Africa with Rick, Lou and John, I was shaken and unsure about the reliability of the Pure Africa Management funding sources and the new management team. As our South African social venture partners asked me to “not allow those guys (John, Rick and Lou) to come back to the local community” based upon their drug use, partying and overall unprofessional behavior, I was unsure of what to do. Many of you might ask, why did you continue to work at these social venture projects with so many interruptions, bad behavior and illegal actions by our financial partners? Because I, along with my social venture partners in Africa, believe that we were called into this ministry to help the poor in Africa become more sustainable and self-sufficient and to help them maximize their resources to create income and jobs for them and for us. In fact, the entire world was beginning to take notice of social ventures because of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Oprah Winfrey and the Grameen Bank. Furthermore, a number of us had already donated or invested money to start these projects and we wanted to work hard to try to save that investment of money along with years of hard work.
I had to begin making plans to slowly distance myself from my new partners and yet at the same time, I had accepted a new job with them and I needed the consulting income until I could find new financial partners. Additionally, the four of us had already started setting up a new fund, The Pure Africa Sustainable Development Fund that would be operated by Pure Africa Management. John had invited friends and colleagues to meet for a presentation on the Fund on several occasions in late 2005 and early 2006 and several people were interested in investing into the social ventures.
Rick, Lou and John offered me a consulting job from the Fund at an annual consulting salary of $250,000 pursuant to a written Consulting Agreement with the Fund. As funding for my position was not regular and would only be available when funding was available, I was offered a draw salary with use of debit cards and bank accounts as money was available. As I was the only full-time consultant, I was also told that my consulting income was first priority over payment of all other expenses. As I was (and still am) entirely committed to our African projects, I offered to pay back my draw compensation if the projects didn’t succeed within ten years.
By mid-2006, the Fund had five investors who invested a total of $545,000, one of whom was John and the others were his friends and colleagues, whom he invited and recruited into the Fund. Lou prepared financial statements and Rick prepared status reports for the investors. I provided needed help from the business plan writing and draft legal documents. However, the Fund was dysfunctional because of the prior drug use and unprofessional behavior by John and others and the inherent mistrust caused by their partying lifestyle and criminal actions. I was forced to adapt and change the projects already underway and restructure midway through or lose everything. At my request, we all agreed that the Fund would stop raising money for the foreseeable future, in my mind, to protect others against any further potential loss or negative actions and to secure a management team that the local community and social venture partners would accept.
One of the first investors into the Fund was a long time friend of John and also a friend of Rick and Lou. His name was Dr. Allan Stiner of Norfolk, Virginia.[2] Pure Africa Management agreed to allow Dr. Stiner to invest his $250,000 into the Fund in February, 2006. In February, 2006, in a meeting with Dr. Stiner at his home, he reviewed the legal documents a final time and signed the Subscription Agreement. However, in making his investment, he had one other request: he would only invest his money if Rick, Lou and John had no access to his funds as he was aware of the bad behavior of the group in South Africa the month before.
As the Fund was intentionally winding down in the Summer of 2006, two of John’s colleagues, Dr. Jeff McTavish and Dr. Granville Batte[3] approached me. We began to discuss the establishment of a new consulting company called Pure Africa, LLC to take over management of the social venture projects as they agreed that the social venture projects should disassociate from Rick, Lou and John. Batte had recently lost his job and he had time to spend on the projects. Dr. McTavish said he could devote his spare time to helping manage the projects. This opportunity seemed like it had the potential to replace the failed management team from Pure Africa Management. I discussed openly the past failures of the prior financial partners with both McTavish and Batte as it is always wise to provide full disclosure to everyone involved.
Like all other financial partners, Batte and Dr. McTavish were interested in taking a due diligence trip to view the projects for themselves. In October, 2006, Dr. Batte and I took a trip to South Africa to visit the project at Coffee Bay and Hole in the Wall. The trip went well and everything seemed ok. At the conclusion of the trip, however, Batte decided to stay on in South Africa and travel with some male companions of very ill repute[4] he had just met – they were going for a month or so to Coffee Bay and then to Lake Kariba for a fishing trip. I warned Batte that he should not go on this trip as he had just met these nefarious companions and that many places in remote Africa can be very dangerous. Oddly enough, Batte stayed on with the travel companions for a month or so in Africa and I returned back to the United States.
In January, 2007, Dr. McTavish, Batte, Stiner and others went on a trip to the Wild Coast of South Africa. Everyone had agreed to focus on the projects on the Wild Coast of South Africa because of the sheer beauty and market potential of these social ventures. Furthermore, no one seemed to trust the social venture partner, Michael van der Merwe, who was one of the founders of the farm, tourism lodge and diamond mine projects.[5]
The trip was generally good and everyone was excited about the projects. We met with our legal team, Sotheby’s, and other professional team members as well as our social venture partners and the local community. However, toward the end of the trip I began to grow concerned about Stiner’s behavior. He seemed kind of withdrawn and emotional, erratic, as if in the throes of a personal crisis. Commenting about Stiner’s emotional behavior, a fellow traveller on our trip said Stiner “seemed fine at the beginning of our trip, but the last few days of our time in Africa he was acting odd: not making eye contact, crying, and distancing himself from the group.”
During this time, Stiner gave me a book called “The Wonga Coup” and he stated that I should read it because it was going to happen to me.[6] I immediately read the book about a group of wealthy men and mercenaries who organized a plot to overthrow a country in Africa to take over the oil and other riches of the country for themselves. I did not understand what he meant at that time but over the next few months and up to the present time, I now have a much better understanding of what he meant. He meant that from that time forward, Batte, Dirk Uys and others began to think about how they could either take over the projects for themselves and assume management control or discredit me and destroy the projects.[7] After our experience with Wextrust Capital, this was unfortunately not a novel concept.
At the end of our trip, an acquaintance, Gerhard Dreyer, a minerals and mining attorney from South Africa came to visit me with Batte in the lobby of my hotel in Pretoria. Dreyer pitched two new mining projects to me, but I wasn’t interested as I already had too much work on my plate. Batte stepped in and agreed to do the financing for the new mining projects, while I would remain separate concentrating on the Wild Coast social venture projects.
Upon our return to the United States, Batte, McTavish and I began to solidify the Pure Africa consulting company to allow us to keep track of our time and expenses. Dr. Batte wanted to have a salary of $350,000 per year as he lost from his job as a doctor in 2006. I signed my consulting agreement with Pure Africa and we all began to track our time and expenses as they related to specific projects through an Excel spreadsheet program created by Dr. McTavish.[8]
Just a few weeks later, Batte became increasingly dictatorial, making an aggressive push to control Pure Africa and her social venture projects, especially the new mining projects. He told both Dr. McTavish and I that he wanted to manage and control the projects of Pure Africa as the primary person in charge. It was surprising that he did this as Pure Africa was a collaborative, communal venture and not one that was singularly directed. In addition to Batte’s misunderstanding of our mission, he also had zero business experience and we just learned that Batte and his travel companions were reviled by the tribal leaders for some terrible behavior. So, of course, we refused his request.
Word of the conduct of Batte’s travel companions and, by implication Batte, was making the rounds and it was worse than we ever could have imagined. The tribal leaders reported that members of his party were paying young boys in the local community for sex. We were shocked. The economic inequities that we were trying to address between America and Africa are staggering, and to take advantage of that gap in wealth to pressure children with little opportunity into prostituting themselves is appalling. It turns out that the month-long trip that Batte took, that seemed so risky and puzzling to me at the time, was reportedly a male-only sex party, which later carried over into the Hole in the Wall and Coffee Bay area causing us to have to take immediate action to protect the local children and the social venture projects. I had the unfortunate difficulty of carefully documenting this in an email to Batte in April, 2007.[9] I was asked by our social venture partners and the community tribal leaders to not allow Batte and his companions to come back to Hole in the Wall and Coffee Bay.[10]
Again, terrible conduct by others made us have to restructure our entire business model and work toward insulating the local community and the projects from any further harm from people with bad intentions. Dr. McTavish and I immediately demanded that Batte leave Pure Africa. However, Batte did not go gracefully, but implemented every bullying tactic in the book “The Wonga Coup” by launching a planned and coordinated attack on my character and the social venture projects. Through this slanderous and calculated attack, Batte not only took over the mining projects but he also permanently damaged business relationships and projects.
Batte began an aggressive bad press campaign against me by sending emails to our social venture partners and financial partners. Steve Geller, a golf course renovator who was working with Earth Conservancy on the golf course project in Coffee Bay, received one of these emails from Batte. In forwarding the email, Geller said about Batte, “I can usually tell when someone is “different”, very different!!!” In the email, Batte states:
“my suggestion is to start an AGGRESSIVE ‘bad press’ campain, and I will happy to pitch in as well . . . I also know of others who are very unhappy and might be willing to coordinate as well. The most important thing is to ‘DO IT’ and not just talk about wanting to do it . . . I don’t know exactly how much help I can be, but we can surely share stories and information. Yes, I’m pissed-off too, and like many others, have my own ax to grind.”[11]
This was the first real evidence I had of the coordinated and planned attack on my character and the attempted “coup” or take-over of our projects. One of the “others” that Dr. Batte began his coordinated his aggressive bad press campaign with was Stiner. On February 17, 2007, shortly after our trip to South Africa, Stiner asked me to meet him at the Pure Africa office in Norfolk Virginia. At this meeting, Stiner clearly wanted out of the projects. He was in the midst of a failed real estate venture with his brother and no longer wanted to participate in our African projects, demanding that we return his money. Stiner said to me, “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Stiner laid out six notecards in front of me. On the note cards were written names and addresses “of friends and fraternity brothers in high places who can bring you a world of pain” Stiner stated. He named the individuals on the cards as a litigation attorney, a journalist, a US attorney, an FBI agent, a Federal Judge and lastly, an organized crime person from Philadelphia. Stiner said, if he did not get his money back by April 15, 2007 that he would ask all of “his friends in high places” to come after me. Referring to the organized crime contact, Stiner ominously said, “if you want to spend the rest of your life with your children and family, you better get my money back.”
Since Stiner’s money had already been used to pay consulting fees, business expenses and project expenses, the companies did not have the money to give him. Trying to stop him from hurting me or anyone else, the companies offered him a promissory note and company shares to placate him. On April 12, 2007, Stiner again asked me to meet him. I stated that it had to be in a public place like Starbucks. Speaking loudly and aggressively at this lengthy meeting, Stiner stated that he had hired some sort of mobster from Philadelphia who would “fuck me up,” and “that the days of your life are numbered.”
I wrote Stiner on April 24, 2007 by certified mail to remind him that he’d threatened my life and those of my family, and that he was recklessly heading down a very dangerous path.[12] His response was chilling and simple, he said “the sand in the hourglass is almost empty.”[13]
Stiner, having seemingly come unhinged, called Dr. McTavish and told him of his plot. Dr. McTavish recounted to me that Stiner calmly and deliberately described his plan to hurt or kill me. Stiner informed McTavish about his mafia friends in Philadelphia and the fact that he had hired or was about to hire someone from Philadelphia to travel to Virginia for the purpose of hurting or killing me. Dr. McTavish’s wife urged McTavish to call me immediately and to warn me of Dr. Stiner’s plan. Upon hearing of the plan from McTavish, I immediately called my wife to warn her of Stiner’s threat. I also called my children’s school to warn them as well.
I contacted the local police to tell them of Stiner’s threats against me, my wife and my children and the officer gave me a police report number and assured me that they would dispatch police to patrol the area around my home. I was also referred to the police in Norfolk, Virginia because Stiner’s threats occurred in Norfolk. I visited the Norfolk Police Department and informed the Norfolk Police of Stiner’s threats. An Emergency Protective Order was entered against Stiner prohibiting him from any contact with me or my family and he was later arrested for stalking and threats to my life. The Emergency Protective Order issued by a Judge reads:
“Mr. Dinning works for Earth Conservancy and received a cash donation from Dr. Stiner earlier this year. Since that time Dr. Stiner has requested the return of his donation. Mr. Dinning alleges that Dr. Stiner has been extremely aggressive and hostile in his attempts to get the money returned. Accordingly, Dr. Stiner has made numerous phone calls and met with Mr. Dinning in person making threats to his person and his family. He is in fear for his life and that of his family.” [14]
Stiner, however, was not finished. Calling my church, Stiner told my church leaders that the social venture projects are not real and that I should not be allowed to lead a Bible study (which my wife and I did for three years). Stiner also contacted Professor Dr. William Brown, Fulbright Scholar, Church Deacon and Board Member at Earth Conservancy and Dr. Brown’s employer at Regent University to discredit me and the social venture projects as part of the aggressive bad press campaign. Dr. Brown told me that he interpreted these actions by Dr. Stiner as “aggressive and threatening”. In an email, Brown states that Dr. Stiner’s statements were “untrue” and “slanderous.”[15] Stiner also contacted Professor Joseph Umidi, a Senior Pastor and Board Member at Earth Conservancy at his place of employment at Regent University to discredit me and the social venture projects. In an email confirming Stiner’s negative call, Dr. Umidi states that Stiner’s statements were “bothersome and bordering on intimidation.”[16]
This aggressive bad press campaign by Batte, Stiner and others was a planned and coordinated coup attempt to take over the projects for themselves. In departing from Pure Africa, Batte filed a lawsuit through his father against me. As part of this lawsuit, Batte demanded the rights to two mining projects in exchange for agreeing to stay away from the community and projects at Coffee Bay and Hole in the Wall. It is my understanding that Batte ruined the two mining projects shortly thereafter by threats and intimidation against Attorney Gerhard Dreyer.
Even to this day, Batte, Stiner and others have continued to harass me, slander me and try to harm me and my family. This current action is the work of Batte and Stiner starting in early 2007 as part of the negative bad press campaign. When enough negative information (even if false) is spoken, written and reported by people, it begins to look like the truth. The truth is: I look forward to the opportunity to face these men in court and see them testify on the witness stand about their aggressive bad press campaign and more importantly – the murder-for-hire plot of Stiner and the reckless and damaging actions of Batte and his travel companions in Hole in the Wall and Coffee Bay. These two people, more than any other, have delayed, damaged and even halted the beautiful community projects on the Wild Coast of South Africa.
So, the social venture partners, Dr. McTavish and I began to reorganize, regroup and continue to move forward in our vision to help the people of Africa. Many times I have questioned whether it is worth it – is helping others worth the loss of reputation, the loss of liberty and freedom and even the loss of life. I am comforted by the words of so many business pioneers who state that perseverance is the key to success. Like President Nelson Mandela states: “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
NELSON MANDELA, Autobiography
[1] See www.socialentrepreneurshipinafrica.com for the full series of Articles.
[2] Dr. Allan Stiner’s background is at http://www.vitals.com/doctors/Dr_Allan_Stiner.html
[3] Dr. Granville Batte’s background is at http://www.vitals.com/doctors/Dr_William_Batte.html
[4] Dirk Uys and his friends are South African professional hunters and anti-poaching mercenaries that frequent a bar named “At the Asshole” (in English). Dirk told many stories about poachers and “kaffirs” he had killed over the years and he bragged about a collection of knives, spears and other possessions he had taken from his victims. Our social venture partner, Bossie Bosman, and a game ranger warned me about their past background and bad reputation in January, 2007.
[5] An investigation of Michael van der Merwe was conducted in 2008 and our concerns about his character, his projects and the loss of our investment were confirmed by the investigator.
[6] See http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/13/books/review/Elkins.t.html
[7] According to Sotheby’s International Realty and many others, the project at Hole in the Wall and other breath-taking sites were some of the finest oceanfront real estate in South Africa. In fact, the social venture project at Hole in the Wall was written up on Conde Nast Home “Hot Properties” in 2008 and the projects had the potential of making millions of dollars for the the local communities in Africa, the social venture partners and the financial partners.
[8] Dr. McTavish created an Excel spreadsheet so that all of our consulting time, business expenses and personal expenses could be tracked and allocated on a project by project basis.
[9] See attached email dated April 22, 2007 from me to Dr. Batte.
[10] Child trafficking and pedophilia is a major problem in Coffee Bay and Hole in the Wall. In addressing this problem, our church-based missions teams and I organized two full-time orphan care missionaries to work in Coffee Bay and we built a church/community center and orphanage playground. Most of the child sex trade centered around a local Shabeen or bar in Coffee Bay. To the joy of the local community and the church missions teams, the owner of the bar was subsequently charged with 104 counts of sexual assault of children. We all agreed that Batte and his travel companions had to leave Pure Africa and the social venture projects. For more information on the child trafficking problem on the Wild Coast, see http://ufh.netd.ac.za/bitstream/10353/364/1/Ngwira%20(M%20Sc)%20Geography.pdf
[11] See email from Dr. Batte to Steve Geller. To this day, Dr. Batte and his coordinated group have maliciously attacked me, my family and the social venture projects in South Africa and they are the principle motivators of the current charges pending against me.
[12] See Certified Letter to Stiner dated April 24, 2007.
[13] See Email from Stiner. I interpreted Dr. Stiner’s statement to mean that I did not have many days of his life remaining, because Stiner was going to carry out one of his threats to kill me. Based on this statement, I truly feared for my life and the lives of my wife and children.
[14] See Emergency Protective Order against Dr. Allan Stiner.
[15] See Email from Dr. William Brown, Ph.D regarding Stiner.
[16] See Email by Professor and Senior Pastor Joseph Umidi regarding Stiner.
Article 5 FN 9 Granville and Dirk
Article 5 FN 11 Granville Batte Aggressive %22bad press%22 Campaign
Article 5 FN 12 Stiner Certified Letter dated April 24, 2007
Article 5 FN 13
Article 5 FN 14 Emergency Protective Order
Article 5 FN 15 Dr. William Brown on slander by Stiner
Article 5 FN 16 Pastor Joseph Umidi on intimidation by Stiner
Tagged as africa, aid, allan stiner, attorney, bodily harm, bossie bosman, brian dinning, brian r. dinning, brian ray dinning, dinning, Dr. McTavish, dr. william batte, energy, entrepreneurship, extortion, granville batte, harm, john, joint venture, law, lawyer, legal, lou, pedophile, ray dinning, rick, sex, social entrepreneurship, social entreprenuer, social venture, tax, threats, tribe, us attorney, violence, washington, wild coast, william, william batte, william g. batte, william granville batte, xhosa
Article 4: Cocaine, Ecstasy and Swingers: Social Ventures in Africa?
As you have read in the prior Articles in this Series, for years my goal, vision and passion was, and still is very much so, to help dozens of needy communities in Africa by helping them to create jobs, hope and a better future. But, as you have also read, unpredictable and unfortunate situations, such as the fraud of Wextrust Capital, created obstacles and roadblocks, which necessitated a change in partners or strategy or the direction of the project to ultimately accomplish what I have hoped for and worked toward for many years. Each new change of direction however added a year or more onto each project as it took time to locate new partners, rebuild relationships and hold community and governmental meetings in Africa to communicate the new strategy with our social venture partners.
What do you do when people who you thought you could rely on for professionalism, honesty and integrity demonstrate the complete opposite and instead get in the way of the goal of helping others or your dreams? Think about it – do you just give up on that dream? Does it just become a thing of the past? Or, do you pick yourself up and know that you can overcome any challenge (big or small) by making some changes so you can ultimately fulfill that dream and vision? What you are about to read is one of the many challenging obstacles that created a course for change in the goal of helping the people of Africa.
Since I no longer had a job after quitting Wextrust Captial, having witnessed Joe Shereshevsky reveal himself as a man only too eager to sexually harass women, commit all manner of fraud and indulge himself with prostitutes, I needed to find a new job. Furthermore, I wasn’t the only person hurt by Wextrust Capital – many of us had lost time, effort, money and ownership in the three social venture projects. While I had to find a job, we all wanted to continue to move forward with our vision, not willing to give up on the people and projects we’d invested so much in. We all wanted to continue to move forward with our vision of helping the local people of Africa with social venture projects and we all immediately started over – not willing to give up on people in need and on social venture projects that we had all worked so diligently on.
I was hired by a company in Fairfax, Virginia in March 2005 at an annual salary of $250,000 plus bonuses. All of my spare time went toward working on social ventures in Africa. Earth Conservancy, a non-profit that I consulted with over the years, opened an office in Alexandria, Virginia and employed four full-time consultants and several web designers and grant writers. I was asked to coordinate the office in my spare time and to oversee the launch of a fundraising and social venture campaign for Earth Conservancy and Sunpoints Southern Africa to help rebuild the social venture projects. Based upon the hard work of these consultants, I was asked to draft a treatise and power point presentation for the United States Department of State on the subject of for-profit/non-profit ventures entitled “Beyond Micro Enterprise,” and was invited by the State Department to speak at the World Africa Growth Opportunity Act Conference in Dakar, Senegal and Washington, DC in 2005 and 2006.
After losing projects to Wextrust Capital, the social venture partners still had the opportunity to resurrect portions of the first three projects as Wextrust Capital’s main pursuit was diamond mining. So, once again, we were in need of other financial partners. Having two venture capital firms fail to provide the agreed upon help to the local communities and fail to live up to the promises and agreements made to Sunpoints and the social venture partners, the group discussed raising the needed funds through friends and family to avoid the problems and shortcomings of the Wall Street Investment Banking world. Unfortunately, as you will see, the friends and family option can also be full of challenges and perils.
In 2005, I was discussing my social venture work with Dr. John O, a doctor and former client (“John”). He was fascinated with the social venture work and wanted me to meet two of his friends, Richard L. and Louis D (“Rick” and “Lou”). Both MBAs, Rick was a Business MBA and Lou was a Finance MBA – both very valuable skill sets for any business or social venture project and they operated a successful business. They seemed like the perfect fit and they truly embraced the idea of helping the local communities in Africa. At that time, the social venture partners were seeking to resurrect several community projects including: Honingklip II, a mining project adjacent to the one taken from us by Wextrust Capital, Sunpoints Farm, a farm project, and Lion’s Walk Lodge a planned tourism lodge. These projects were controlled by Michael van der Merwe and his brother, Pieter van der Merwe, as the social venture partners. Other social venture projects including amazingly beautiful properties on the Wild Coast of South Africa, which were started by Bossie Bosman as the social venture partner.
After discussing the non-profit and for-profit model of social ventures, Rick, Lou and John said that we should form a company to develop these projects and raise the necessary funding, which they calculated was approximately $10 million. In helping to conduct due diligence, enter into contracts and scope out these potential the projects in 2005, the three men donated money to Earth Conservancy as charitable donations. The donations were used to pay due diligence costs, development expenses, operating expenses for Earth Conservancy, consulting fees, business expenses, travel and entertainment expenses and personal expenses pursuant to written Consulting Agreements and Business Plans.[1] All funds that were wired to South Africa in 2005 for the scoping of these potential projects were sent to two South African social venture partners: Michael van der Merwe and Bossie Bosman.
On the for-profit side, Rick, Lou, John and I agreed to form a company called Pure Africa Management so that the four of us could all keep track of our consulting time and expenses and be reimbursed for that time and expenses as money became available from investors or from the potential project cash flow. This was all documented in the voluminous Private Placement Memorandum and other documentation of the newly-forming Pure Africa Sustainable Development Fund, managed by Pure Africa Management. I was asked to work full-time on the documentation, business plans and power point presentations. John said that he would set up meetings at his home or at the office of Rick and Lou and they would invite their friends and colleagues to explain the projects to them so that they could raise the $10 million of necessary funding. Rick would handle business administration and community relations in the Hampton Roads area and Lou would be the Chief Financial Officer and manage the funds and books of the business including the preparation of financial statements.
Before taking any outside investment, all four of us agreed that a due diligence trip to verify the existence of the projects, review the documentation, meet the South African social venture partners, meet the professional team including Sotheby’s International Realty and Smith Tabata Law Firm was necessary and prudent. In January, 2006, we traveled to South Africa to view all projects and determine which projects to focus on. In taking this trip, I was again asked to work full-time as a consultant for Pure Africa Management and the Pure Africa Sustainable Development Fund, LLC starting in February, 2006 by Rick, Lou and John. In accepting this position, a Consulting Agreement documenting my consulting compensation was agreed to and signed. Like everyone, I had bills to pay and personal obligations like child support, housing, food, car payments and more plus I would be leaving a lucrative job to focus on more risky social ventures start-up projects as a consultant.
The three men assured me that they would raise the necessary funds to pay my consulting fees of $250,000 plus all expenses for me to work full-time. My employer did not want me working on African projects and instead wanted all my time and effort devoted to their company. When I went on the due diligence trip in January, 2006 and committed to full-time work with these three men at Pure Africa Sustainable Development Fund, LLC, I would be leaving a good job. However, I was excited by the new consulting work and the help from Rick, Lou and John on the social ventures and with this newly forming endeavor, we headed out for South Africa.
The trip was truly amazing at first and we visited the tourism site at Lion’s Walk Lodge, where Sunpoints Southern Africa had secured a contract to purchase this farm in 2004 and a financial partner was needed to help build a tourism lodge there. We also visited a possible diamond mine claim at the Farm Rugalatte named Honingklip II[2] and the Sunpoints Farms, large operating farms in the Free State of South Africa.[3] We then flew to the Wild Coast of South Africa to view the project at Hole in the Wall and other sites.[4] Hole in the Wall is a National Heritage Site for South Africa and it is truly beautiful.[5] The trip was going very well and Rick, Lou and John seemed to be excellent business and financial partners to grow these social ventures for the people of Africa and provide the necessary funding.
But, as always, circumstances change and the entire project would have to be radically altered by what I and two other trip participants refer to as “The Trip from Hell.” Once we were at the Wild Coast, we set up camp in Jeffreys Bay, a world-renowned surfing town located a few hours from the Wild Coast. The first night, we ate at a local Mexican restaurant, as it was the only restaurant that was open. When we were getting ready to leave after dinner, I noticed that John was gone. I asked Rick and Lou “What happened to John?” They replied, “he went with a guy he met at the bar to get some party supplies.” “What party supplies? – Africa is a dangerous place at night and he left with a total stranger,” I said. I was genuinely worried and concerned for John’s safety.
Later that night, I went to the room of Rick, Lou and John to check if John had returned. On the glass dining room table, I witnessed several bags of white powder and lots of pills. I asked “what is this?” John said he “bought eight grams of cocaine and 100 ecstasy pills to make the trip more fun.” Shocked by this, I said to John and the other guys: “this is so wrong – first, because you bought drugs, second, because this is Africa and you could go to prison and third, we are on a business trip to help represent our social venture partners and this is not the way to help others in need.” Laughing off my comments, John asked after he snorted a long line of white powder, “do you guys want to do some coke with us?” Disgusted and dismayed by John, three of us declined and went back to our own rooms leaving John, Rick, Lou and one of our companions in their room with their newly-acquired drug cache.
Back at my room, we all discussed what we had just seen. I worried most of the night and the rest of the trip. I did not even want to be in he same vehicle or lodging with these guys. Thoughts of Rick, Lou and John going to jail in South Africa for illegal drug possession, harming the other members on our business trip, going to the hospital for a drug overdose and other concerns about their conduct plagued me for the rest of the trip. I was awoken later that same night by sounds outside my third floor balcony so I jumped out of bed and ran to the balcony door. There was Rick and Lou trying to break into my room by climbing from balcony to balcony some twenty feet or more above the ground. I said, “what in the world are you guys doing?” In an excited and intoxicated state, they said, “we want the car keys to go get some food and drinks.” “At two o’clock in the morning?” I asked. I told them to “go back to bed because we have a schedule to keep tomorrow morning” and with that the men laughed, took the car keys and left.
The next morning we were late for our scheduled activities so three of us went to check on John and the others. John and a travel companion came out to open the door and we went into the kitchen and sat down – trying to get everyone up and moving. Scantily clad and with white powder and crusty snot outlining their noses, the travel companion told us that “we stayed up most of the night partying” as this person drank directly out of a two liter bottle of coca cola and burped loudly. John just seemed groggy and out-of-it. Needless to say, the three of them and a companion proceeded to party for a week straight, while being late to most of the scheduled meetings. They stayed up all night and slept most of the day. Their partying and behavior was so obvious and embarrassing that Bossie Bosman and our local partners asked me to never bring them to the local community projects again. The embarrassment was only heightened when one of the men, apparently too intoxicated to get up, simply went to the bathroom in his bed, which cost us $500 in damages from the lodge owner. I also received bar bills for thousands of dollars of drinks from the places we stayed from their late night drinking and partying binges that they simply did not pay.
Do these seem like the type of people you would want working with you to you help you accomplish your goals and vision?
Because the local people are working with us on a trust relationship, I was told that we cannot have Rick, Lou and John representing the social venture partners in front of the local chiefs, the tribal council, the community and the government. I was shocked and embarrassed and I did not know what to do at that point. What would you do if you were working with a poor community in Africa who is counting on you and the social venture partners to help them with their most valuable assets and you find out that some of the people on your team were using drugs and acting inappropriately?
Furthermore, unbeknownst to me, John and his wife were swingers and near the end of the trip, he said, “I think my wife would like you and your wife, so would you be interested in swapping wives when we get home?” Stunned by this question, I said to him that my wife and I loved each other and we were not interested in that lifestyle. However, I was stunned and amazed at this turn of events: I just left my job to start a new company with these three men and now I am in the middle of a complete mess. This is one aspect of social ventures that I did not expect to encounter: cocaine, ecstasy and swingers.
Upon our return to the United States, I had to begin making plans to slowly distance myself from my new partners and yet at the same time, we were already setting up a new fund, The Pure Africa Sustainable Development Fund that would be operated by Pure Africa Management with project ownership to be held by Pure Africa Holdings. John had already invited friends and colleagues to meet for presentations on the Fund on several occasions in late 2005 and early 2006. One of the first investors into the Fund was a long time friend of John and also a friend of Rick and Lou. His name was Dr. Allan Stiner of Norfolk, Virginia. After one of these informal gatherings organized by John, Dr. Stiner told the Fund that he wanted to invest in the social ventures because he had just inherited millions of dollars from his father and had money to invest. At Dr. Stiner’s request, a Private Placement Memorandum documenting the potential projects and the risks inherent in investing in projects in Africa, a Subscription Agreement and other legal documents were provided to Dr. Stiner for he and his legal counsel to review.
Pure Africa Management agreed to allow Dr. Stiner to invest his $250,000 into the Fund in February, 2006. In February, 2006, in a meeting with Dr. Stiner at his home, he reviewed the legal documents one final time and signed the Subscription Agreement. However, in making his investment, he had one other request: he would only invest his money if Rick, Lou and John had no access to it as he was aware of the bad behavior of the group in South Africa the month before. Dr. Stiner read the substantial Private Placement Memorandum of the Fund and he signed his Subscription Agreement (both legal documents which detail the risks of the project along with background information). Dr. Stiner then gave me a check written out to me personally as the Fund had not yet set up its bank accounts. The $250,000 was deposited into the Sunpoints Southern Africa bank account as the Fund had acquired all of the Sunpoints Southern Africa projects in South Africa including its bank account. With these funds, my outstanding invoices were paid for the time and effort I had put into the social venture projects and necessary project and business expenses were paid.
Based upon the strange events of The Trip from Hell in January, 2006 and my recent departure from my paying job, I was paid as a consultant pursuant to a written Consulting Agreement with the Fund through its bank account in Sunpoints Southern Africa for a large portion of my 2006 pay because I was feeling very uncertain about my future with Rick, Lou and John. Furthermore, since I was the only person working full-time, the Fund managers knew that I was relying on my consulting pay to relocate from Washington, DC to the Virginia Beach area. With my consulting pay and funds loaned to me by my family, I was able to purchase a home in Suffolk, Virginia. With my two children and the hopes of having additional children and/or adopting children, my wife and I bought a five-bedroom home in a nice neighborhood where my children had many friends and an area that was very safe and close to my children’s school. [6]
By mid-2006, the Fund had five investors who invested a total of $545,000, one of whom was John and the others were his friends and colleagues, whom he invited and recruited into the Fund. Lou prepared financial statements and balance sheets and Rick prepared status reports for the Fund investors. I provided needed help from the business plan writing and coordinating with South Africa and US legal counsel. However, the Fund was dysfunctional because of the prior serious actions by John and others and the inherent mistrust caused by their potentially criminal actions. Furthermore, the drug use, partying and lack of professionalism had ruined their reputation with the social venture partners. I was forced to adapt and change the projects already underway and restructure midway or have all of us lose everything to financial partners once again. At my request, we all agreed that the Fund would stop raising money for the foreseeable future, in my mind, to protect other financial partners against any further potential loss or negative actions.
Once again, I had just left a high-paying job to work full-time on social venture projects as a consultant for Pure Africa Management and the Fund and now, I was faced with an uncertain future: a new home and social venture projects that did not have a reliable funding source or a reliable management team.
While the events of this story seem outlandish or unbelievable, there were seven witnesses to the cocaine, ecstasy and swinger Trip from Hell (including John, Rick and Lou). One witness stated, “it was the worst trip I have ever taken in my life.” Another witness said that, “I was initially excited to see three professional men like Rick, Lou and John getting involved to help the needy in Africa but I was deeply saddened and disturbed when I saw this unethical behavior by three professional men who were husbands and who had families acting in such a reckless manner by taking drugs and partying in an out-of-control way. While on the trip, I was scared to be anywhere near them because they were carrying such a large amount of drugs and acting so childishly and unprofessional. Later, I was hurt that these men not only let down the poor people in Africa and potentially ruined the vision of the company because they misrepresented the company, the projects and they gave the people of Africa a negative impression of Americans. In meeting with government officials, Sotheby’s, the local chiefs and the community, it was embarrassing to have them in meetings because they looked hung over and unprofessional.”
If you do not believe me, then perhaps legal counsel will ask them on the witness stand under penalty of perjury to tell the truth. If they do not do so, then there are four witnesses who can testify to their actions. Once again, the social venture projects needed a funding partner and a management team and, unfortunately, the next partners were equally as challenging in their behavior and more devastating to the projects than anyone else.
Again I will ask, what would you do in a situation like this? Give up your dream? Give up the opportunity to help thousands of people have a better life? Or, do you pick yourself up and know that you can overcome any challenge (big or small) by restructuring and making some changes so you can ultimately fulfill that dream and vision and protect others from the negative actions of a few.
The next article in the series is: Murder-for-Hire, Aggressive Bad Press Campaign and Other Distasteful Actions: Social Ventures in Africa?
[1] See Letter from William Brown, Ph.D to Asst. United States Attorney, Stephen Haynie acknowledging my consulting agreement at Earth Conservancy and payment of consulting fees, and personal and business expenses.
[2] See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDRhTrs7PyM&feature=channel&list=UL Social venture partners, Michael van der Merwe and his brother Pieter van der Merwe, take us on a tour of the Honingklip I Diamond Mine and show us the adjacent site of The Farm Rugalatte named Honingklip II. Funds were sent to Michael van der Merwe in 2005 to secure the mining claim and necessary bonding so that due diligence could be done on the potential mining project.
[3] See Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxE7zjXsgTo&feature=channel&list=UL Social venture partners Pieter van der Merwe along with the farm manager take us on a tour of the Sunpoints Farms in the Free State Province of South Africa. As working farms, the goal of this social venture projects was to educate the local people in modern farming methods and to operate profitable farms. Funds were sent to Michael van der Merwe in 2005 and 2006 to sign contracts to become a social venture partner in this existing farming operation.
[4] See Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OysOjCVKXB0&feature=channel&list=UL After the local leaders and our Xhosa community social venture partners greeted us with traditional dancing, Rick, Lou, John and I were escorted around The Cliffs at Coffee Bay golf course by social venture partner, Bossie Bosman. The golf course is owned by the local community and they leased it to Earth Conservancy and Pure Africa so that the golf course could be renovated. World renowned golf architects and other golf experts were flown in to prepare a plan to renovate the golf course in 2006 and 2007. Ault Clark and other golf experts commented that The Cliffs at Coffee Bay was similar to Pebble Beach with cliffs and sweeping ocean views.
[5] See Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-9E-8qtpW0&feature=channel&list=UL Social venture partner, Bossie Bosman takes us on a tour of the Hole in the Wall project. Hole in the Wall is a National Heritage Site for South Africa and it holds significant cultural value for the Xhosa community. As one of the premier natural tourist sites in South Africa, Hole in the Wall is regarded by Sotheby’s and other professionals as a major tourism lodging site. Funds were sent to Bossie Bosman in 2005 and continuing to allow for Earth Conservancy and Pure Africa to become social venture partners at the Hole in the Wall project. With 50 oceanfront lodge sites and a hotel site, the plans at Hole in the Wall would allow for up to $6M of lodge lease income and continuing revenues from the hotel site. The project is structured with 45% ownership by the local Xhosa community.
[6] When Rick, Lou and John first set up investor presentations in 2005 and early 2006, I was working full-time for Trident Systems, Inc. for $250,000 plus bonuses and I was also working as a consultant for several social venture companies. In February, 2006, I was hired as a consultant by the Pure Africa Sustainable Development Fund and I was also a consultant for Earth Conservancy and other projects. My combined consulting contracts were designed to provide me with $350,000 or more of income as and when funding was available.
Article 4 FN 1 Letter from William Brown to Mr. Haynie
Tagged as africa, aid, allan stiner, attorney, bossie bosman, brian dinning, brian r. dinning, brian ray dinning, cocaine, coffee bay, community, diamond mine, dinning, ecstasy, entrepreneurship, farm, golf course, hole in the wall, honingklip, joint venture, law, lawyer, legal, michael van der merwe, micro finance, pieter van der merwe, social venture, sotheby, south africa, sunpoints, swingers, us attorney, washington, wild coast, xhosa, zambia
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The Who Just Released A New Song In London
via ExtremeNoiseVideos/YouTube
They’re Back With New Material
The Who just debuted a brand new song during their show last July 6 at London’s Wembley Stadium – the last time they played in this venue was during Live Aid in 1985. Titled “Hero Ground Zero”, it will most likely appear on their upcoming album – their first in over a decade. There’s no exact release date yet but it’s is expected to drop later this year. It’s their follow-up to the 2006 album Endless Wire.
For over two hours, the legendary group went all out with a full orchestra and performed several of their classic hits and deep cuts. Pete Townshend agreed to this symphonic tour only because they had new material to perform. He told Rolling Stone:
“I said I was not going to sign any contracts unless we have new material. This has nothing to do with wanting a hit album. It has nothing to do with the fact that the Who need a new album. It’s purely personal. It’s about my pride, my sense of self-worth and self-dignity as a writer.”
In the same show, they pulled out all the stops when The Who brought out Eddie Vedder to perform “The Punk And The Godfather” from the 1973 Quadrophenia, Vedder’s favorite album.
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Max Hill QC: Reflections on my time as Independent Reviewer
This was my final week in office as Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.
I became Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation on 1st March 2017. Just in time to witness the horror that unfolded on Westminster Bridge exactly three weeks later. My first annual report into the operation of the Terrorism Acts in 2016 was delivered to the Home Office in November 2017 and published in January 2018, see here. My second report, here, addressed the police investigation which followed the Westminster Bridge attack; the operation name of the investigation was Classific, and it encompassed the arrest of 12 people, who were detained for between 1 and 6 days, but then released without charge in every case.
Review into the cases of Mr Creagh and Ms Southern
In my last week as Independent Reviewer, I am trying to conclude any unfinished business. Some aspects of my work take weeks if not months to complete, but it can be difficult to find an opportunity to publish the outcome. With that in mind, those who follow me on Twitter may have noticed messages in March this year concerning the trial of Mr Daniel Creagh. I resolved to look into the circumstances of this case, which I have done with the assistance of his solicitor. At around the same time, I also resolved to enquire into the circumstances in which Ms Lauren Southern was detained whilst attempting to enter the UK, also in March this year. There was a suggestion that Ms Southern’s temporary detention may have been a misuse of police powers under Schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000. I have completed my work in both cases. In Mr Creagh’s case, my short Note is attached here. In Ms Southern’s case, my Note is here.
Update – 12 September
I have been waiting for the Government to respond to my formal written reports; it has been eight months since publication of my Annual Report for 2016, and over five months since publication of my Report into the Westminster Bridge attack investigation. I was informed yesterday afternoon that the Government intends to publish both responses tomorrow, Thursday 13th September, and I welcome this.
I have also been told today that I may not see either report, or be told anything about the content, until publication. It is of course a feature of the role of Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation that s/he holds the highest security classification and is afforded unfettered access to the most sensitive information and intelligence. This is why whenever the Government intends to publish draft legislation – including the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Bill in June, and the amendments tabled last week – they call me in for confidential meetings to discuss the content. I have never breached confidentiality, and everyone knows that my own reports are provided to the Home Office months in advance of publication so that they may be scrutinised for factual accuracy and to ensure that sensitive information is not released. This makes their decision not to share the responses with me odd, but I shall have to read and react to the Government responses to my own reports after they are released to the public.
All of this leads me to reinforce my call for the Government to get on with the urgent task of appointing the next Independent Reviewer. After all that we have been through during 2017, there has never been a more important time for robust and entirely independent scrutiny of our legislation, and for a national conversation about where we go next in maintaining the twin imperatives of national security and fundamental rights. Whatever you may think of my work since March 2017, I have been proud to follow in the footsteps of my predecessors who have served in an unbroken line over four decades. It is vital that a new and independent lawyer is found to carry on my work. I am willing to play any part in encouraging the right candidates to come forward, and I am in no doubt that there are independent self-employed barristers who are eminently suited to this work. The sooner this process is started, the better. The passage of the Counter Terrorism and Border security Bill 2018 through Parliament requires the assistance of an experienced lawyer who is entirely free from the machinery of Government.
IRTL update
Following the announcement in July that I am to become the DPP later this year, I was in early discussion with the Home Office about the need to appoint the next IRTL. With the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Bill 2018 making its way through Parliament, I am concerned lest there is a gap between Reviewers, particularly at this time. My concerns about many of the provisions in the new Bill have been clearly documented. Last week, the Government tabled some amendments to the Bill. I welcome some of the changes, but have serious and principled concerns about others. I shall write on this subject as soon as possible. Meanwhile, I attach my formal resignation letter to the Home Secretary here, but am sorry to note that there remains little sign of any competition to appoint the next IRTL. This is becoming urgent.
My appointment as Director of Public Prosecutions
I have been appointed as the next Director of Public Prosecutions, to take up office later this year. This will mean I have to step down as Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.
It has been a privilege to continue the work of my illustrious predecessors, conducting scrutiny and oversight of our terrorism legislation. From my background and long history in prosecuting terrorism trials, I have been lucky to enjoy the support and assistance of so many who have engaged with me since March 2017. I give special thanks to my Special Advisors Professor Clive Walker QC (Hon), Hashi Mohamed and Alyson Kilpatrick.
As I approach the end of my work as Independent Reviewer later this year, I will finalise my Annual Report on the operation of the four statutes. The Report is being provided to the Home Office this month, July, to enable the necessary checks to be carried out over the summer.
Any requests relating to my DPP appointment should be directed to the Crown Prosecution Service Press Office.
Submission in relation to Clause 3 of the Counter Terrorism & Border Security Bill 2018
COUNTER TERRORISM AND BORDER SECURITY BILL: SUBMISSION IN RELATION TO CLAUSE 3
BY MAX HILL QC AND PROFESSOR CLIVE WALKER
This paper follows evidence given to the Bill Scrutiny Committee on 26th June 2018 by Max Hill QC, Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation. Together with Professor Clive Walker QC (Hon), Senior Special Adviser to the Independent Reviewer, the premise of this paper is to ask the question, if a new variant of section 58 is needed at all, what might that look like ?[1]
[1] This paper should be read in conjunction with the analysis already given in Professor Walker’s written submission to the Joint Committee on Human Rights.
COUNTER-TERRORISM AND BORDER SECURITY BILL 2018
The CT Bill 2018 was introduced in Parliament by the Home Secretary on 6th June.
I offer a cautious welcome.
The Bill offers several Chapters, of which only Chapter 1 is entitled ‘Terrorist Offences’. There are six sections, of which one extends extra-territorial jurisdiction to a number of existing offences, and the other five propose some amendments to existing offences.
In other words, the CT Bill does not contain a single new terrorist offence. This despite the announcement of a CT strategy review by the Prime Minister on 4th June 2017, and the commitment in the Queen’s Speech later that month to create a new Bill.
Therefore, the Government has scoured the statute book as part of the CT strategy, inspecting all of the existing terrorist offences, and has not come up with a single new terrorist offence despite the atrocities in London and Manchester last year.
This is a good thing. Moreover, I am pleased to say that it makes good my declaration ever since appointment as IRTL in March last year, namely we have sufficient offences and do not need any more.
So what do the ‘terrorist offences’ in Chapter 1 of the new Bill entail? When the Home Secretary re-launched CONTEST with his speech on 4th June, he indicated that the new Bill amounted to ‘digital fixes’ to existing law. If I may say so, that is good shorthand for what Chapter 1 of the Bill contains. The headline offence is ‘obtaining or viewing material over the internet’ (clause 2 of Chapter 1). Not a new offence, but a clarification of the existing offence under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000. We have known that it was the Government’s intention to attempt this clarification since the former Home Secretary’s Party Conference speech last autumn, to which I have responded in previous writings and lectures including the Tom Sargant Memorial lecture for JUSTICE, available here. This new clarification of the section 58 offence is difficult, in my view. Well intentioned, but difficult.
I look forward to saying more about this and the other terrorist offence provisions within Chapter 1 when the Parliamentary Bill Committee sits down to scrutinise the new Bill, probably later this month.
Statement on the appointment of a new Home Secretary
I congratulate Sajid Javid on his appointment as Home Secretary and wish him luck as he embarks on his many important tasks. Giving credit where it is due, Amber Rudd should be remembered for her calmness and strength in the face of the terror attacks in London and Manchester during 2017 – supported by the Security Minister Ben Wallace – and for resisting the immediate urge to create new terrorism offences. In her resignation letter, she rightly referred to her own championing of the Global Internet Forum for Counter Terrorism, one of the initiatives that will help in ridding the internet of terrorist propaganda, without curtailing the ability of citizens here and worldwide to exercise free speech.
Sir Christopher Staughton Memorial Lecture: Reflections on my first year as Independent Reviewer
UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORSHIRE
SIR CHRISTOPHER STAUGHTON MEMORIAL LECTURE
14TH MARCH 2018.
MAX HILL Q.C.
REFLECTIONS ON MY FIRST YEAR AS INDEPENDENT REVIEWER
On Wednesday 22 March 2017, 52-year old British-born Khalid Masood drove a hired vehicle across Westminster Bridge in the direction of the Palace of Westminster. He mounted the pavement twice colliding with pedestrians and then a third time crashing into the east perimeter gates of the Palace of Westminster. Masood then exited the car and ran into the vehicle entrance gateway of the Palace of Westminster, Carriage Gates, where he attacked and fatally injured PC Keith Palmer using a knife. Masood was shot at the scene by armed police protection officers who were in Parliament at the time of the attack. The whole incident lasted approximately 82 seconds. The attack resulted in 29 people injured and 6 fatalities.
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Wilkerson on the Real “Vice” – Cheney’s BP Disaster (2/4)
Cheney's support for pro-industry "regulators" created massive damage to America - says Larry Wilkerson, depicted in the film VICE and former Chief of Staff to Sec. State Colin Powell - a REPLAY from a 2010 interview by Paul Jay
Wilkerson on the Real “Vice” - Cheney
Wilkerson’s Real “Vice” – Cheney Moved GOP to Far Right (4/4)
Wilkerson’s Real “Vice” – Cheney’s Cold War and Regime Change (3/4)
Wilkerson on the Real “Vice” Cheney – (1/4)
PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome back to The Real News Network. I’m Paul Jay in Washington. And we’re talking about Vice President Dick Cheney, 46th vice president of the United States, also known as a friend of big oil. Now joining us to talk about Dick Cheney is Larry Wilkerson. He was Colin Powell’s chief of staff, and he teaches national security policy in Washington. Thanks for joining us again.
LAWRENCE WILKERSON, FMR. CHIEF OF STAFF TO COLIN POWELL: Good to be here.
JAY: So talk about the dynamic of Cheney’s economic alliances. He was CEO of Halliburton. He’s known as a friend of oil. What are the actual mechanics of that? Like, does he actually sit—like, we’ve seen it in the movies; we’ve seen politicians sitting in rooms, you know, private clubs, with expensive cigars and nice cognac, and they talk to their political minions. What’s the dynamic?
WILKERSON: It’s an extraordinary dynamic, actually, and I think ultimately it’s going to be more damaging to the American republic, to our country, than perhaps the Iraq War or the interrogation policies and so forth that Dick Cheney’s more famous for. A book by a political scientist at Gettysburg College, Shirley Anne Warshaw, called The Co-Presidency of Bush and Cheney, documents a lot of what Cheney did to destroy about a half-century or more’s regulatory work with regard to oversight of fisheries, forestry, oil, gas, minerals in general. You name it. If it was supervised, if it was overseen, if it was regulated by the federal government, Cheney with his marvellous bureaucratic talent moved in and essentially replaced the people who were in the positions that were central to this regulation, this oversight, with people who were either lobbyists for the industry being regulated or executives from that industry.
JAY: SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission] is one of the examples of it.
WILKERSON: He destroyed the regulatory mechanisms in America.
JAY: Give us some examples.
WILKERSON: Well, he put—as I recall, he put a 20-year veteran of lobbying for the oil industry into the position overseeing, essentially, the regulation of offshore drilling and that sort of thing, the MMS [Minerals Management Service]. You name it, there’s a Cheneyite there. And here’s the further genius of the man. Every president since World War II, and before that, too, in different ways, has left his mark on the administration that a incoming president really can’t erase very easily. Cheney did this par excellence. I mean, Cheney left, I’m told, somewhere around 1,600-plus people in the administration whom he had converted from being political or he had recruited as civil service. He converted them to civil service if they were political and left them in these positions that are very key to regulation and oversight. And those people will take a year or a year and a half, maybe even two years, for the Obama administration to root out and get rid of. First they’ve got to identify them, and second they’ve got to go through the civil service procedures to fire them, which are onerous, arduous, and difficult. So eighteen months to two years to get rid of some of them.
JAY: So you can draw a line between Cheney and what’s happening with BP in the Gulf.
WILKERSON: Absolutely. Absolutely. Cheney is responsible for what’s happening in the Gulf, in my view, for two very distinct reasons. One, he was CEO of Halliburton, and Halliburton was the company, I think, that was on Deep Horizon doing the cement cap which has caused so much problems because it wasn’t done properly, apparently, and it exploded and allowed the oil to begin leaking. So, I mean, this is the company that he guided and ran (and he’s very proud of that, as he’s said many times) for several years. And he also—and I think this is a more direct responsibility—.
JAY: Well, just to be fair, we don’t know that he was running the company at a time that had a direct connection with BP’s pipe in the Gulf.
WILKERSON: No, we don’t. But I would suspect that his lack of oversight and lack of expertise in the things that they do was very appreciated by the people who did them at Halliburton. I mean, you bring in a Rolodex guy and not a guy who really knows about the nitty-gritty of what you’re doing, and the nitty-gritty gets done however you want to do it because the guy’s bringing you the cash. So I don’t have a problem ascribing responsibility to Cheney’s leadership of Haliburton leading into Halliburton’s [inaudible]
JAY: ‘Cause you’re saying it helps create a culture that allows something like this.
WILKERSON: Absolutely. Absolutely. And we saw that in Iraq, too. We saw Halliburton charging prices that were out of this world.
JAY: And even convicted of [inaudible]
WILKERSON: Yeah, [inaudible] convicted of this sort of thing, and actually having to break off Kellogg Brown & Root, its subsidiary, because Kellogg Brown & Root was getting so nefarious in what it was doing that Halliburton didn’t want to be associated with it anymore—and, of course, all this was cast as financial decisions and so forth. But in the second way, and I think the more profound way, Cheney’s responsible for the deregulation that leads to, I think, lots more problems down the pipe. In fact, I’m told there are—in this same category, I’m told there are platforms out there that are drilling at 7,000 feet. This one, Deep Horizon, was about 5,000 feet. I’m told that the same kind of procedures are being used on all of them. Just this morning I heard about the MMS again being embroiled in these kickbacks from the industry and so forth, people at the MMS, on NPR. This is all a part of the culture that Cheney created in the eight years that he was vice president. And I don’t want to blame it all on Cheney, because this has been a Republican mantra for a long time. And whether it’s Mitch McConnell in the Senate or whether it’s someone else in the Republican guard, we—I’m a Republican—we have been spouting this deregulation, spouting this “the market is the best guide”, spouting this business about let private industry do everything and all things will be wonderful, and don’t have any government interference at all. And what we’ve done is stripped government regulation and oversight from so many things across this country, we’re going to be paying for it for years to come. We’re going to be paying dearly for it. There are going to be more oil spills, there are going to be more bridges collapsing, there are going to be more hurricanes that surprise us in their devastation and so forth, because we Republicans have stripped government of its ability, of its capacity to do the kinds of things that it should do that no one else can do, certainly not someone with a profit motive can do.
JAY: What, did you used to believe in this?
WILKERSON: I’m a more balanced Republican, I think. I recognize the need for government in some places. I recognize the power of the market. I recognize the power of entrepreneurship. I recognize the power of the American economy, the way it runs. But I am not for divorcing government entirely from that economy, because when you do so you get what we just went through. You get financial banks, for example, breaking all kinds of previous rules until they were stripped away, Glass-Steagall on, and you get messes and you get incredible maldistribution of wealth. You get—what are we now? We’re at something like 13 percent of households in America own 40 percent of the wealth, I think. I can’t remember the figures exactly, but the distribution of wealth in this country right now is horrible. It’s worse than the UK.
JAY: So a lot of these things get dressed up as ideological positions like “we believe in the power of the free market”. The war in Iraq is “we believe in democracy”. But a lot of this is just about money-making.
WILKERSON: It is about money-making. It’s about commercialism. I had a student at George Washington University who wrote a great paper about Colombia. Why have we been putting $750 million, roughly, a year, about $1 billion a year, some $6.8 billion overall, I think, into the Andean region, into Plan Colombia? Why have we been doing it? Has it really been to fight drugs? Has it really been to fight drugs? Is that what we’re really interested in? Well, if you look at where we’re talking about building our military bases, they’re not near the FARC, the group that is involved in narcotrafficking. They’re not near the coca fields. The bases are near the pipelines, the pipelines in Colombia, the oil pipelines. Where are we laying down our troops in Afghanistan? Near the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India proposed pipeline. It’s all about commercial interest in the long run. And I don’t fault the country for that; I don’t fault our leadership for that. We do have to have a sound economy, and we do have to be competitive in the world. But I do fault them for making this less than transparent to the American people, and even to lying about it at times.
JAY: Well, it’s also a little difficult to get young Americans to go give up their lives to defend somebody’s oil pipeline.
WILKERSON: Absolutely.
JAY: So in the next segment of our interview, let’s talk about the waning years of Cheney in the White House, and then we’ll get caught up with where he is today. Please join us for the next segment of this interview on The Real News Network.
END OF TRANSCRIPT
DISCLAIMER: Please note that transcripts for The Real News Network are typed from a recording of the program. TRNN cannot guarantee their complete accuracy.
Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Government and Public Policy Lawrence Wilkerson’s last positions in government were as Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Chief of Staff (2002-05), Associate Director of the State Department’s Policy Planning staff under the directorship of Ambassador Richard N. Haass, and member of that staff responsible for East Asia and the Pacific, political-military…
Paul Jay
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Manufactured Iranian Threat in the Persian Gulf
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Minnesota Teenager Killed in Car-Tractor Crash
Minnesota State Patrol (Facebook)
Akeley, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Minnesota teenager was killed Friday in a traffic crash involving a farm tractor.
The State Patrol says 18-year-old Anneka Davis was a passenger in a car that collided with a tractor pulling a haybine at the crest of a hill on a rural highway. The car then went into the ditch and rolled. The crash was reported around 11:30 in the morning just south of the town of Akeley in Hubbard County.
The State Patrol report notes the young woman from Nevis was not wearing a seatbelt. The driver of the car, only identified as a 17-year-old boy, was wearing a seatbelt and was not injured. A second passenger, also not wearing a seatbelt, was transported to a hospital in Fargo with non-life threatening injuries. The driver of the tractor was not injured.
News update: Fireworks Shell Fired into Minnesota Man's Face
Source: Minnesota Teenager Killed in Car-Tractor Crash
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Home FOREX Forex News Forex – U.S. Dollar Rises as Sterling Struggles Ahead of Brexit Vote
Forex – U.S. Dollar Rises as Sterling Struggles Ahead of Brexit Vote
Forex5 minutes ago (Jan 29, 2019 11:07AM ET)
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Investing.com – The greenback inched up on Tuesday, despite confidence among U.S. consumers falling to a one-and-a-half year low in January.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence fell to its lowest level since July 2017, as the government shutdown decreased optimism.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.09% to 95.507 as of 11:07 AM ET (16:07 GMT).
“Shock events such as government shutdowns (i.e. 2013) tend to have sharp, but temporary, impacts on consumer confidence. Thus, it appears that this month’s decline is more the result of a temporary shock than a precursor to a significant slowdown in the coming months,” Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board, said.
Investors are looking ahead to the upcoming Federal Reserve policy announcement on Wednesday, where the central bank is expected to adopt a more cautious stance on monetary policy amid fears of economic slowdown at home and abroad.
Meanwhile, the pound slipped as the UK Parliament is expected to vote on a series of votes on Brexit amendments starting at 2:00 PM ET (19:00 GMT).
Britain is set to leave the European Union on March 29, but the country’s members of parliament remain far from agreeing a divorce deal, after the overwhelming rejection of Prime Minister Teresa’s May’s Brexit plan earlier this month.
GBP/USD fell 0.08% to 1.3149.
Elsewhere, the euro dipped with EUR/USD slipping 0.11% to 1.1419.
The risk sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars were mostly lower, with AUD/USD falling 0.22% to 0.7148 and NZD/USD flat at 0.6831.
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Home Floyd On Cars
Toyota’s new tier 1 supplier is a champion
South Africa in the early ‘80s was very different to today. Television was still a novelty, typewriters, telexes and adding machines were must-haves for businesses, and fishing on the Free State side of the Vaal River was illegal on Sundays. And then there was Apartheid. The future for a small black girl, even one from a relatively wealthy background, looked dismal. Judith Serafim was just four years old when her father died, but she was very lucky indeed that her mother was an extraordinarily strong woman.
“My Dad came from Mozambique to make a new life in the ‘60s with nothing to his name,” remembers Judith. “He started two businesses and did very well through the 1970s until he passed away. When he died my Mom carried on with the businesses – a mail order company retailing homeopathic medicines, and a franchised slimming clinic. In those days it was virtually unheard of for a black woman to be successful in business, but she did exceptionally well in taking over where my Dad left off so we were very comfortable financially, and we moved from the township to suburbia. With the growing violence and the political uproar of the late ‘80s she decided to send us – me, my older brother and our younger sister – to a Catholic boarding school in Ixopo. I believe that made all the difference in our lives, having a better life in terms of education.
My Mom was adamant that an education was the only thing that could give her kids a chance of making something of themselves in a wider world. To have this background – first moving out of the township and later going to a boarding school at a young age, it was remarkable. When I think back on those nuns, it was all about responsibility, discipline and structures. Everything worked according to a plan. I think that the Christian ethos that comes out of it moulds you into doing and understanding things better. It was hard. We cried every time we were dropped off there, but after some time when you look back you appreciate the lessons you learnt. We were incredibly fortunate.”
Being fortunate isn’t enough, though. You have to give your luck all the help you can, and after matriculating Judith studied for her finance qualification with the SA Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and then followed up by achieving her Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) in Marketing Management through part time studying. “My first full-time employment was with a parastatal in KZN where I was exposed to the world of marketing,” she remembers. While juggling her time between her studies and her work Judith had a son, so she had to factor parenting into her career plan. “My son was with me the whole time,” she laughs. “I’d go to work, then pick him up from school afterwards and take him to my lectures at the marketing college. He’d sit in their canteen and do his homework. As he grew older, when he got bored he’d walk home and cook himself noodles while he waited for me to get home. To this day he can’t stand noodles – he had enough of them back then!”
Judith has never been a job-hopper using her status as a black woman to stalk larger salaries, more status and bigger perks. Her most recent position as Regional Manager (KZN and Gauteng) of Sasfin Commercial Solutions saw her actively involved in the administration of governmental incentives for industries over a period of twelve years. This often concerned the automotive industry, which garnered her loads of experience with the International Trade Administration Commission’s incentive programmes, the Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP) and various other incentive and development schemes. “I like to do my job well and build relationships, networks and contacts, and carry on growing. For me job-hopping on BEE would not work. I’m a person who likes to cement myself, so people who see me realise my value, and I like to make a difference. People need to see who you really are.”
And then, of course, there was the dream. “I’ve always had this longing for entrepreneurship,” she says. “I knew what the next step for me would be – my own business. I wanted to leave a legacy for my children the same as my Mom and Dad did for me. It was just a matter of what it would be. I didn’t do this because I was unhappy at work – I wasn’t.” Judith spoke to various friends and business contacts in the automotive industry about her intention to go into business and did a lot of research over two or three years. “I had discussions with several companies whose people knew me from outside business and I soon had a few offers. I needed to do the right thing at the right time, and didn’t want a partnership just for the sake of it. I needed the same commonalities, the same values, and I eventually found exactly the right team to work with.”
Judith took up her post as MD of a new company Imvusa Interior Trim in January, which will focus on interior trim components. “I’m intimately involved with the business and we’re going to be fully up and running in a couple of months. We have our engineering staff on board already and I’m very fortunate to be working closely with such a skilled team from Toyota. I don’t have automotive manufacturing experience so this is all new to me, but my team does, and I’ve worked closely with the industry for years. I’ve read many business plans, studied automotive production processes, bills of materials, everything that goes with the business except actual manufacturing. Then there are my marketing and financial skills so we fit together perfectly. Toyota is being wonderful – they’re drilling us in terms of doing things the Toyota way, on quality assurance, on safety, and on personnel development and I’ve learnt so much it’s been incredible. One thing I need to say is that a lot of people talk about BEE and it just remains talk. But we’re going to do it and well, because Toyota is so supportive. They’ve been like a big brother holding my hand all the way.”
NAACAM SIDEBAR
At the recent NAACAM (National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers) convention in Durban speakers made a few points very clear. To comply with the APDP and the South African Automotive Masterplan to escalate car production from today’s 600,000 to 1.4 million by 2035, South African manufacturers need to find buyers for locally built cars and components in a rapidly expanding African marketplace. In terms of the APDP and masterplan, local content also has to be lifted from just under 40% to 60% over the next few years, and small and medium black-owned businesses must be brought into the supply chain to help the country succeed in transformation. Toyota’s strategy to support SAAM is clear and developing small Black Owned suppliers is a priority. The Interior Trim commodity is one in which there is room for another supplier to allow competition and increase the number of small black businesses. Toyota selected Judith and her company as an early Tier 1 supplier, and are doing everything they can to ensure that she and Imvusa are successful.
SOURCEArticle and images supplied
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That's What She Read
she is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.
About Alaina
Fiction: “Just Like Heaven” by Julia Quinn
Posted on August 28, 2016 by Alaina
Just a heads-up: this is the first “silly little romance novel” out of four I’ve read so far this year. My average for the past couple of years has been two, max. I do not have an explanation as to why I’m suddenly picking up these things left and right; something to do with escapism, maybe? I mean, in the past six months, I have helped my family with my sister’s bridal shower, bachelorette party, and wedding, and after each event I have found myself withdrawing from social interactions. After the wedding, I didn’t really talk to any of my friends or make plans to do anything for about two weeks after? Maybe three? I spent time in my apartment watching Netflix and taking naps. And this isn’t the first time I’ve done this – after the Christmas Party last year, I started looking at Caribbean vacation deals that were cheap for one person (spoiler alert!: there were none. Goddamn double occupancy!), because all I wanted to do was escape.
And for the first time in a very long time, I found myself escaping in the books I was reading. Some of the “silly little romance novels” are quite silly – wait till you hear the one about the Lucius Malfoy-look-alike who enjoys light bondage! – but ever since March, I have been reading two books at a time: one of these historical romances at home, and then a Lunch Break Book I could bring to work to read on my lunch break without getting weird looks from the woman who always asks what I’m reading now.
(Not that I think she’d judge me; I just don’t feel comfortable reading romance novels in public. Don’t therapy me.)
So sometime in late March I felt the need to pick up a romance novel, and my choice came down to two things: 1) the way the back cover described the plot (which I’ll get to in a minute), and 2) the fact that Goodreads told me it was the first in a series.
And look, I know that while 99.9% of all “silly little romance novels” belong to a series of some sort – whether a trio or a quartet, or even, in the case of Elizabeth Hoyt’s Maiden Lane series or Stephanie Laurens’ Cynster series (hey guys, remember that shit show?! I sure don’t!), more than 10 titles to its grouping – you usually never have to read them in order. I get that; I do. Does it make me feel weird to know that I’m reading a series out of order? Hell yes! Do I do everything I can to avoid that feeling and just start with the first book in a series as much as possible? Hell yes!
Here’s how the book cover is written:
Honoria Smythe-Smith is:
A) a really bad violinist
B) still miffed at being nicknamed “Bug” as a child
C) NOT in love with her older brother’s best friend
D) all of the above
Marcus Holroyd is:
A) the Earl of Chatteris
B) regrettably prone to sprained ankles
C) NOT in love with his best friend’s younger sister
Together they:
A) eat quite a bit of chocolate cake
B) survive a deadly fever AND the world’s worst musical performance
C) fall desperately in love
It’s Julia Quinn at her best, so you KNOW the answer is …
Being unfamiliar with Julia Quinn’s writings, I couldn’t really attest to that last D), but I was willing to give it a shot. I mean – the girl’s name is Smythe-Smith, and the dude’s last name is Holroyd, so clearly Ms. Quinn is aware of my Rule of Y (“never use an ‘I’ when you could use a ‘Y’ instead). Also, the world’s worst musical performance? I don’t think so, unless Honoria and Marcus also attended that Third Eye Blind show at Merrill Auditorium back in 2010 with the WORST opening band I have ever had to sit through – actually, I didn’t sit through it, I went out into the lobby and ordered a second tequila. Straight. They were that bad. They were so bad, I couldn’t tell you who it was; I tried so hard to block it from memory. They were even worse than Longwave, the middle band that opened for O.K. Go back in 2009 (p.s., shout out to Google for telling me when these shows were because my memory is terrible with dates).
But also, there’s cake?! Sign me UP!
Marcus was indeed best friends with Daniel Smythe-Smith when they were lads, and Honoria tended to trail after them like a mosquito – hence, the nickname “Bug.” When they were older, Daniel got into some trouble that I can’t quite recall and he had to shove off to France – but not before getting Marcus’s promise that he (Marcus) would look after Honoria in Daniel’s absence.
Flash-forward to the beginning of the story, and Honoria runs into Marcus unexpectedly. She is shopping with her friends and gets caught in a downpour, and Marcus offers her temporary shelter in his carriage. Also, he has cake. And it’s not like Marcus is a stranger offering cake; she knows him, so it’s safe to get into his vehicle!
Honoria is on the hunt for a husband – not because she feels the need to succumb to matrimony, but because she’s currently in the Smythe-Smith Quartet, and every year they put on a musicale. I don’t know why there’s an extra ‘e’ on the end of that word. But also, apparently this musicale is mentioned in Ms. Quinn’s other series, related to the Bridgertons. Anyway, once one of the female cousins gets married, she doesn’t have to perform in the musicale anymore. So, in an effort to get herself noticed by Gregory Bridgerton, Honoria steals a small shovel from the house where she’s staying and digs a mole hole in the hopes of making it look like she twisted her ankle in it and needs his assistance. This would have worked splendidly, if it wasn’t right next to Marcus’s property, and he comes upon her just as she practices her fainting. And then he steps into the mole hole, spraining his ankle.
Honoria walks him back to his manse, at which point he has to cut his boot off of his foot because his ankle has swollen so much. He accidentally slices his leg, which then gets infected – because remember, y’all, this is a historical romance; it takes place in 1824. When Honoria learns that Marcus has locked himself in his mansion by himself (he’s an orphaned Earl and doesn’t really have a lot of friends now that Daniel has absconded to France), Honoria grabs her mother and the two of them go and save Marcus, including cutting out the infected tissue of the wound.
Now, I’ve read a few historical romance novels, but I’ve never seen one where a woman is able to pretty much do surgery on the hero. So I really appreciated the novelty of this.
During his recuperation, Honoria steals him a treacle tart so the cake theme continues. Honoria’s mother tells Marcus that they wouldn’t have come if Honoria hadn’t insisted, because they’re not really related and it’s improper for an unmarried woman to be in the same house as an unmarried man. And Honoria learns that Marcus interpreted Daniel’s plea to keep an eye on his sister as “interfering with the dudes who tried to court Honoria.” Marcus’s reasons were always that he didn’t think those dudes deserved Honoria; never did it cross Marcus’s mind that he wanted Honoria for himself. Honoria also comes to realize that her feelings for Marcus are more than brotherly love. Their declaration of love comes after a veritable comedy of errors.
I can’t tell you how much I liked this book. In fact, it’s probably going to be the first “silly little romance novel” I’ve read here that I’m going to rate 4 stars. For one thing, I really appreciated that Marcus was not a rake. Not that I have anything against rakes, but it was very refreshing to have the male character not be in need of reform in any way. He’s a respectable member of society; in fact, great mention is made of his being quiet and solitary. He hasn’t had a lot of affairs, he’s not trying to marry for money, he’s not a spy, he’s not a secret twin. He’s just Marcus.
Same with Honoria – she has a loving family and while she’s looking for a husband at the beginning of the book, it’s not because she’s trying to escape from something or move up in society – she’s just trying to get out of her family’s musical quartet, and also, it’s a thing women had to do back then.
I also appreciated that the relationship between Marcus and Honoria was built out of a long history together. There were no obstacles of personality to overcome, no secrets that needed to be got over – and no, I’m not counting the whole “Marcus keeps an eye on Honoria by intimidating her potential suitors” as a “secret.” They just know each other so well, that it paves the way to a romance between them quite nicely:
“I like the rehearsals. Especially now that all of my siblings are gone, and my house is nothing but ticking clocks and means on trays. It’s lovely to gather together and have someone to talk to.” She looked over at him with a sheepish expression. “We talk at least as much as we rehearse.”
“This does not surprise me,” Marcus muttered.
She gave him a look that said she had not missed his little dig. But she did not take offense; he had known she would not.
And then he realized: he rather liked that he had known she would not take offense. There was something wonderful about knowing another person so well. [p. 242]
Their banter together was adorable; and if there’s one thing that gets me every time, it’s banter.
“You will have a terrible scar.”
He smiled wryly. “I shall wear it with pride and mendacity.”
“Mendacity?” she echoed, unable to contain her amusement.
He cocked his head to the side as he regarded the huge wound on his leg. “I was thinking I might set it about that I’d wrestled with a tiger.”
“A tiger. In Cambridgeshire.”
He shrugged. “It’s more likely than a shark.”
“Wild boar,” she decided.
“Now that’s just undignified.” [p. 206]
And finally, and probably the most important part – they all value dessert above all other foods.
But just before he turned to greet her, she turned in the opposite direction, and he could have sworn he heard her mutter, “Blast it all, I’m getting an éclair.”
She drifted off, weaving her way through the crowds. Marcus watched her with interest; she seemed to know exactly where she was going. Which meant that if he’d heard her correctly …
She knew where one could get an éclair. [p. 276]
I don’t know – I found this book so refreshing. It’s the first book I’ve read in this genre in at least a few years where the drama originated from internal forces rather than external, and there was no deception in any measure happening between the two main characters. It was just … cute? and happy? and escapist? But I enjoyed every word of it?
PS guess what I found in my bookcase: the second book in this series. boo. yah.
Grade for Just Like Heaven: 4 stars
This entry was posted in genre: historical romance and tagged 3/16, author: julia quinn, rating: 4 stars, series: smythe-smith quartet. Bookmark the permalink.
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Best Family Hotels in St. Louis
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Pets AllowedPets Allowed
All NeighborhoodsDowntown St. Louis
Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis
There are a variety of activities available on-site to keep the little ones entertained, including board games, puzzles, a DVD library, books and coloring books with crayons. Childrens amenities include welcome cookies and milk, toiletries for babies and children, play pens, childrens menus and a gift from the hotel's toy wagon.
The Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis
The Ritz Kids program provides children with a free scavenger hunt throughout the hotel, but no supervised program is available. Parents can also take advantage of the Protecting Our Little Ones program, which provides guests with covers for outlets and faucets and an emergency kit.
The Westin St. Louis
This Westin is situated near Busch Stadium in the Cupples Station area of St. Louis, making it an ideal place for Cardinals fans to hang their hat. In fact, its high rating from guests is, in part, due to its location downtown on Spruce Street. But the friendly staff, the American cuisine at the on-site Clark Street Grill, and the large, comfortable rooms definitely add to the hotel's charm, too. And if your ideal St. Louis getaway includes treatments like Swedish massages, facials or body scrubs, The Westin St. Louis offers these too, both in-room and at the Health Club & Spa. The biggest drawback for recent visitors was the high parking fees, both for self parking and valet. The hotel is home to a car rental booth, though, making it easy for guests without a car to find their way to the city's top attractions like the Anheuser-Busch Brewery or the Gateway Arch. And because this hotel is part of the Marriott hotel family, Marriott Bonvoy members can earn and use points here.
Featuring rooms with views of the Gateway Arch, this Hyatt is ideal for visitors wanting a downtown St. Louis locale. Plus, if you want to experience Midwest baseball at its best, you're just a few blocks from the beloved Cardinals' Busch Stadium. Recent guests also appreciated the hotel's friendly staff, in-house restaurants (Ruth's Chris Steak House, Brewhouse Historical Sports Bar and the RED Kitchen), and the lobby-level Starbucks. Inside the guest rooms, you'll find modern comforts like coffee makers, high-speed Internet access, 37-inch flat-screen TVs and pillow-top mattresses. Outside your digs, you'll find a 24-hour gym and an 18th-floor outdoor terrace overlooking the Mississippi and the Gateway Arch, among other amenities. Another perk to staying here: Members of the World of Hyatt loyalty program can earn or cash in points here.
The Chase Park Plaza Royal Sonesta St. Louis
This Sonesta-affiliated hotel, located at the northeast corner of Forest Park (and less than 10 miles northwest of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery), offers guests plenty of services. Inside your room, you'll find pillow-top mattresses, terry cloth robes and coffee makers, while property amenities include a spa, an outdoor pool, a barber shop and a sizable gym. The elegant cafes and dining options at The Chase Park Plaza Royal Sonesta St. Louis, including The Preston, Chase Club and The Tenderloin Room, are a big hit among recent guests who had the chance to explore the property and surrounding area. While most past visitors were exceedingly happy with their accomodations, some noted having a spotty internet connection.
Marriott St. Louis Grand Hotel
Located on Washington Avenue near the convention center in downtown St. Louis, this Marriott hotel offers plenty of amenities to keep guests satisfied. In addition to a fitness center, guests can take advantage of the American cuisine (including St. Louis-style barbecue) at Zenia Bar & Grille. When you're feeling stuffed, retreat into one of 917 rooms, which feature luxury bath products and in-room coffee makers –although many recent visitors express dissatisfaction with the room size and older feel. Both business and leisure travelers do appreciate the hotel's central location, but found issue with the separate parking garage (located a block away). Still, if you're in St. Louis for a game, the hotel is less than a mile from Busch Stadium. Members of the Marriott Bonvoy program can earn or cash in accumulated points here.
St. Louis Union Station Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton
Located at the ornate St. Louis Union Station – a National Historic Landmark – this Curio Collection hotel is an ideal home base for St. Louis tourists thanks to its proximity to sites like the Gateway Arch. Baseball fans will also be happy to know that this hotel is located a little more than a mile from Busch Stadium. When you're not exploring the Gateway to the West, unwind at the property's seasonal outdoor pool, or in your digs, which are outfitted with flat-screen TVs, minifridges and coffee makers. You'll find the Station Grille and the Grand Hall restaurant at the hotel, as well as a Starbucks. Recent guests offered glowing reviews of the rooms and customer service, and are pleased with the property's iconic location. If you're a Hilton Honors member, you can also accrue or redeem points at this hotel.
The Cheshire
Richmond Heights, MO
Situated just about 8 miles west of St. Louis' iconic Gateway Arch and within walking distance of Forest Park, The Cheshire attracts visitors with its blend of Midwestern charm and British flair. Outfitted with English-inspired decor, including 18th-century antiques and accents, The Cheshire earned rave reviews from recent visitors for its warm atmosphere and comfortable accommodations. Standard guest rooms feature 37-inch flat-screen TVs, Keurig coffee makers, pillow-top beds and free Wi-Fi access. For a truly memorable experience, you'll want to reserve one of the hotel's themed suites, like the James Bond or the "Romeo and Juliet" suite. Previous guests particularly praise the "Passage to India" novelty suite, noting the room's Far East accents deliver a unique visual display. When it comes to dining, you can grab a seat at Basso, Fox and Hounds or BOUNDARY. Plus, you'll have the benefit of complimentary breakfasts and tea service throughout the duration of your stay. If you're planning a visit during the warmer months, don't forget to bring your swimsuit to take a dip in hotel's outdoor pool (open seasonally).
Hilton St. Louis Downtown at the Arch
The centralized location makes the Hilton St. Louis Downtown at the Arch convenient and a good choice for families – it is within walking distance of a movie theater, shopping and restaurants and sits near other family-friendly attractions like the Missouri Botanical Gardens and the Magic House, an interactive children's museum. The property has some perks to keep kids happy and entertained, including coloring books at check in, a kid-friendly attraction visitor guide and seasonal activities with the chef, including sugar cookie decorating.
The Hotel Majestic St. Louis
The Hotel Majestic St. Louis is a solid choice for travelers who want to be close to the Gateway Arch and more of the city's top attractions. The Hotel Majestic's downtown location also makes it a convenient place for business travelers to stay – and the complimentary Wi-Fi access doesn't hurt, either. The hotel's address will also come in handy when it's time to eat: The property doesn't have a restaurant on-site, so you'll need to venture in to the neighborhood for meals (except breakfast; the property offers a free continental breakfast every morning). Meanwhile, rooms are equipped with flat-screen TVs, free Wi-Fi access and work desks, among other amenities. Though some recent lodgers said rooms were a bit outdated, other reviewers appreciated the hotel's charming history (the building originally opened in 1913). One element all travelers seemed to agree on: the friendly and helpful staff.
HoteLumière
The HoteLumière is located along the banks of the Mississippi River. On a map, it looks like it's situated near the Gateway Arch, but keep in mind that you'll have to cross a major highway to get there. Guests note that the main reason to book here is to hit the slots and card tables – this hotel is connected by skywalk to the 24-hour Lumière Place Casino. A stay at the hotel will earn you access to a pool, fitness center, the Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis Spa and several restaurants with cuisine ranging from sushi to pizza. Guest rooms come complete with complimentary Wi-Fi access, two flat-panel TVs and iPod docking stations. Yet, despite all the bells and whistles, many recent guests report a inconsistent (and sometimes even rude) service staff and rooms that lack proper cleaning.
Moonrise Hotel
This luxury boutique property is a convenient place to book if you're planning to bar hop in The Loop, a six-block area filled with shops, restaurants and nightlife venues. The Moonrise Hotel is within walking distance to places like the Blueberry Hill restaurant and music venue and The Pageant nightclub. Plus, the hotel's own rooftop terrace bar (with views of the city's iconic Gateway Arch) isn't a bad place to lounge all night. Inside your room, which is dressed in colorful and whimsical decor (think bold patterns and space-themed art), you'll find complimentary Wi-Fi, Serta Enrapture pillow-top mattresses, 32-inch plasma TVs, walk-in rain showers and Aveda toiletries. While many guests praise the Moonrise's location, the contemporary casual fare at Eclipse Restaurant and the dedicated and helpful hotel staff also earn top marks.
More St. Louis Hotel Rankings
Lambert St Louis Intl Airport (STL)
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Spotlight: The Underground Railroad on the Shawnee National Forest
By: Mary McCorvie
The Underground Railroad was not an actual railroad, but a network of secret routes and safe places to freedom extending from the southern to northern United States and into Canada.
The goal of many enslaved African Americans in the South during the early 1800s was to reach refuge in southern Illinois, where they would find shelter along these Ohio River borderlands. Underground Railroad routes skirted cities, where a greater population meant a greater chance of being captured. Many first-hand accounts of the Underground Railroad mention topographical features within the Shawnee National Forest, rock shelters and bluff tops that hold nooks and crannies like Ox-Lot, Sand Cave, Crow Knob, Brasher Cave and Fat Man’s Squeeze (alternatively, Fat Man’s Misery) where African Americans reportedly passed through on their escape to freedom.
The Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois is bordered by the Ohio River on the east and the Mississippi River on the west in southernmost Illinois. You’ll easily be able to find the forest’s location, but to get to the Underground Railroad sites you may need the help of Forest Service staff.
Shawnee National Forest offers several first-come, first-serve campgrounds as well as other accommodation in the surrounding area.
Rock formations at Shawnee National Forest
Illinois visitor information
Shawnee National Forest
Shawnee National Forest: camping and cabins
Illinois’ Heritage Corridor: Road Trip
A Nod to History
Make sure you visit the Miller Grove area near the town of Glendale. This is the site of a free black community that was founded in the years leading up to the Civil War. Today, the community exists only as an archaeological site, but was the former home of more than 100 farmers and their families at the turn of the century. People like those living at Miller Grove would certainly have aided fugitive slaves traveling on the Underground Railroad. Not far from Miller Grove, you’ll find Crow Knob, a high sandstone bluff allegedly used as a “look-out” and Sand Cave, thought to have been a hiding place.
Near the town of Jonesboro, stop at the Lincoln Memorial, site of the third in a series of seven Lincoln-Douglas debates. This is where Abraham Lincoln, then candidate for the Illinois Senate, spoke out against slavery.
Unique rock formation near Glendale
Cultural Landscape of Miller Grove
People of Miller Grove
Crow Knob
Sand Cave
Exploring Nature and Remembering the Past
Hike one of the many trails of the Shawnee National Forest. Walk through meadows edged with blackberries in June, or overhung with hickory nuts in October, for an idea of the wild foods the fugitives might have eaten as they fled. Pause to hear the sounds of nature. While you hear only the sounds of rustling leaves or a startled deer, imagine how those who traveled before might have paused to listen for dogs or hoof beats. Imagine this is the first time you experience what it is like to be free.
Reflect on the history of the area in the Garden of the Gods Recreation Area, where you'll experience sandstone rock formations as well as panoramic views, or the Bell Smith Springs Recreation Area, one of the most beautiful areas on the Shawnee. Freedom meant making your own choices for the first time: choosing simple things like the clothes you would wear or the foods you would eat, or more complex choices like who to marry, where to live or how to support your family.
Scenic view at Shawnee National Forest
Garden of the Gods Recreation Area
The Ohio River Scenic Byway
The Shawnee is located at the junction of five geographic regions and at the southern margin of the area glaciated during the Great Ice Age. This results in unique geologic features as well as diverse flora and fauna in one of the richest “ecotones” (ecological transition areas) in the nation. To experience some of this spectacular scenery and wildlife, consider a drive on the Illinois section of the Ohio River Scenic Byway.
Trail at Shawnee National Forest
Ohio River Scenic Byway
Visit the Shawnee National Forest website to start planning your trip. Many vestiges of these routes and places are not signed or marked, and you may need assistance to find them. Contact the Shawnee National Forest at or stop at the Hidden Springs Ranger Station near the town of Vienna for directions.
Shawnee National Forest - Special Places
Hidden Springs Ranger District
Illinois: Home of Outdoor Adventures and Thrills
Dine Here: 5 Historic Gems in the Midwest
Foodie Favorites along Illinois’ Great River Road
Route 66 in Illinois: Retro Dining on the Mother Road
Historic Sites in Illinois: Lincoln and the Colonial Era
Top Cycling Spots in the USA
Explore Old and New Classics Along Illinois’ Ale Trail
Illinois: Cruise the Sights of the Great River Road
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Pope to meet U.S. Church leaders after archbishop's accusations - Vatican
FILE PHOTO: Pope Francis arrives to lead the Wednesday general audience in Saint Peter's square at the Vatican, September 5, 2018. REUTERS/Max Rossi/File Photo
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis will meet on Thursday with U.S. Catholic Church leaders who want to discuss the fallout from a scandal involving a former American cardinal and demands from an archbishop that the pontiff step down.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), asked for the meeting after Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano last month accused the pope of knowing for years about sexual misconduct by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and of doing nothing about it.
The Vatican said in a statement the pope would meet on Thursday with DiNardo, Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley of Boston, and two USCCB officials.
In the 11-page statement published on Aug. 26, Vigano, the former Vatican ambassador to Washington, launched an unprecedented broadside by a Church insider against the pope and a long list of Vatican and U.S. Church officials.
DiNardo has said Vigano’s accusations “deserve answers that are conclusive and based on evidence”.
The accusations shook the U.S. Church, following a damning Grand Jury report in the state of Pennsylvania that found that 301 priests in the state had sexually abused minors over the past 70 years.
Di Nardo has called for the Vatican to help with an investigation into how McCarrick could have risen steadily through the ranks of the U.S. Church although many people knew that he had engaged for years in sexual misconduct with adult male seminarians.
Reporting by Philip Pullella, Editing by Angus MacSwan
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Looming [unedited]
Posted on October 15, 2017 by John Cronin in Indie Rock, Looming, USA
Looming on Spotify
Interview & Review
“I don’t think it’s not normal, but I think that women aren’t exactly encouraged to start playing music necessary at a young age. Some are and some are really lucky to have that. But for the most part, at least in my experience, I wasn’t really like encouraged to pick up and play the guitar or drums.” This view comes “without music ever being brought up to me that I could be good at.” Well thank God she motivated herself because I wouldn’t have found these great songs like Waves and Leaves. Looming is just one of the few female-led bands that I find a great thankfulness in knowing, along with Small Talks, Rachel Grace Music, and Janxx.
Looming consists of Mitch Baker (guitarist), Jordan Fein (guitarist and backup vocals), Jessica Knight (bassist and vocals), Cassie (keyboard/guitarist), and Brandon Carnes (drummer), and come from Springfield, Illinois. Their first album, Nailbiter, came out in 2015 with personal favorite songs like Linear Lines and Output. However, Nailbiter was just the beginning of Looming’s great achievements. This year, the band, fortunately, got the chance to play at Audiotree, playing my favorite songs like Wave, Tried and True, and Seed. They reached out to Audiotree because they were touring in the same area as Audiotree, and they got the gig. The venue has had big performers playing at their studio, such as Shakey Graves. Finally, on September 25th of this year, their album Seed came out. The album is about “(moving)to Austin, Texas from Illinois for a while, and so it was about that and everything that comes with that. From being happy and feeling motivated to feeling alone and missing home and feeling like you can’t go back.” The way Jessica usually writes songs are like many other songwriters, “I go through my day-to-day life just writing things down all the time, and so when I write my songs it’s just inspired (by that).”
“It’s about my relationship with my dad….. It’s about taking good things and learning from your parents. But not falling in their negative patterns.” Jessica says, “that’s kind of like my relationship with my family is like I just have to take the good in and not let the negative get to me too much.” She is now back in Illinois.
The band’s fan base “ranges of all ages… We have young kids that come out and even their parents will come with them… Especially in Springfield (Illinois).” Jessica tells me. They currently have over 6 thousand monthly listeners and two songs with over 100k listen on Spotify. The band didn’t even know about their success on Spotify until I told them during the interview, they say that they travel a lot, and that’s one of the reasons why they might have those numbers.
Knight says she hopes for the next 5 years for the band to be “either dead or still going… I don’t know!” They don’t know what they will do in the future, but that is okay because they are in the middle of touring and aren’t thinking about that at the moment.
Overview: ★★★★1/2
Seed: ★★★★1/2
Looming at Audiotree Live: ★★★★1/2
Nailbiter: ★★★★☆
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Climate Change & Drought
Toxins & Pollution
FARMS & LABOR
Nutrition & Food Access
Oceans & Freshwater
Our Critical Public-Health Story Goes Viral
In “Imagining the Post-Antibiotics Future,” reporter Maryn McKenna details how antibiotic resistance is spreading and why, and what could be done to quell the problem. She frames the importance of modern antibiotics around the story of her distant relative, who died of an infection from a simple injury, just before the discovery of penicillin.
The piece immediately went viral on Medium.com, a news-and-views site created by one of the founders of Twitter. As of April 2014, four months after its publication, it continued to gain readership, with more than 400,000 pageviews, and 57 percent of viewers reading the entire story.
In addition, the story was re-reported in over 30 other outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, News Hour, Salon and the popular technology site Boing Boing. McKenna’s piece also was selected as one of the best of 2013 by National Geographic, Business Week, and Medium.com, and was translated into Russian and French and republished at major outlets abroad.
New York Congresswoman Louise Slaughter included the story in an e-mail seeking support for legislation that would alter rules on the use of antibiotics in agriculture, under the subject heading: “The most important stories about the antibiotic resistance crisis of the last six months.”
FERN Takes the Lead on Ractopamine Coverage
“Dispute Over Drug in Feed Limiting U.S. Meat Exports,” which was published January 25, 2012 (and was our second story after our launch in 2011), on MSNBC.com (now NBCnews.com), was the first in-depth article on the growth-promoting drug ractopamine in the U.S. mainstream press. We knew we’d hit a nerve when the story starting receiving a lot of coverage by other outlets and queries from Taiwanese reporters and legislators. At the time, Taiwan was considering lifting the country’s ban on ractopamine, and at least five articles in the Taiwanese media followed our reporting, heightening tensions over the issue.
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) responded to the article by revising its statistics on pig illnesses and deaths attributed to the drug. We wrote this Editor’s Note at the time in response to the FDA’s decision.
FERN continued to follow the story, noting in 2013 that Russia joined China and Taiwan in banning U.S. beef and pork that had been raised with the drug. Then, in June 2013, Smithfield Foods, which had quietly decreased the amount of pork it produced with ractopamine, was sold to China’s largest meat processor. This prompted our follow-up report and a look at how our reporting had helped spur the public to ask more questions about the drug’s safety for humans.
Since then, the FDA has issued voluntary guidelines recommending that the livestock industry discontinue the use of micro-doses of antibiotics to fatten up animals. Ractopamine was included on that list, so its use could continue to decrease.
The following is a timeline of policy changes that flowed from FERN’s story:
Key Story on Antibiotic-resistance Brought to a Mainstream Audience
In May 2013, “Antibiotics In Your Food: What’s Causing The Rise In Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria In Our Food Supply,” appeared in the popular consumer magazine, EatingWell. Reporter Barry Estabrook took a deep dive into the growing issue of antibiotic resistance due to routine antibiotic use in livestock production. Estabrook, author of The New York Times bestseller Tomatoland, detailed how livestock are fed a diet laced with “sub-therapeutic” doses of antibiotics, not to cure illness but to make the animals grow faster and survive cramped living conditions. EatingWell has a print circulation of 500,000 and an estimated North American audience of 1.8+ million per issue. Online, the story received 882 likes on Facebook and 195 tweets, including by Michael Pollan (307,000+ followers), Mark Bittman (370,000+ followers), Bay Area Bites (71,000+ followers) and The Ecologist magazine (54,000 followers). The story also was highlighted by OnEarth.
FERN Put Food Distribution on the Policy Radar
Elizabeth Grossman’s groundbreaking piece, “Climate Change Poses Serious Threats to Food Distribution,” introduced a new and troubling frame to the conversation about climate change, agriculture, and access to good food. Published March 2015, by Earth Island Journal, it was shared on social media 500 times and the 1,500 (and counting) folks who read it on the Journal’s site spent an average of five minutes with the piece—pretty good engagement in our click-and-flit digital world. More important, perhaps, is that among the places that picked up Grossman’s piece was AGree: Transforming Food & Agriculture, the reform effort led by Dan Glickman, a former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and Kathleen Merrigan, a former Deputy Secretary of the USDA. In other words, the article got to people who can actually make a difference.
FERN Decodes the Water Wars of California’s Drought
In March 2015, we published a profile of Cannon Michael, a Central Valley farmer who devised a water-sharing scheme to help his struggling neighbors cope with the epic drought. “How One California Farmer Is Battling the Worst Drought in 1,200 years,” published by Ensia, was more than a feel-good story about one man’s selflessness. It also exposed the deeply flawed water-allocation system that has evolved over more than 100 years in California, and that is exacerbating the problems currently facing America’s most-important agricultural region. The story had legs. After more than 60,000 views on Ensia and its syndication partners, Business Insider, Quartz, and Climate Central, it had nearly 2,000 social-media shares. Twitter highlights include Ensia (30.3K followers); Sunset Magazine (62.6K followers) and NPRFood (48K followers). The story also made Michael a farmer in demand, as he began turning up in stories about the drought in outlets like The New York Times and NPR.
We Capture the Migrant’s Story in California’s Drought
In “Scorched,” published in print and online by Pacific Standard, Lauren Markham recounts the harrowing saga of a young woman and her daughter who make the trek across the U.S. border to flee political unrest in Honduras. They were caught by immigration authorities and detained for several days. Even after Clara (not her real name) reunites with her husband in California, the family is haunted by a lack of work due to the drought.
Markham brings a razor-sharp focus to the people in this tightly written saga. The narrative approach is particularly powerful, since whether it’s immigration or drought, the human toll can often be forgotten and the personal stories lost amid the larger political and cultural debates. In this piece, however, the issues Clara faces are anything but abstract.
Markham made a number of media appearances to discuss this piece, most notably on Southern California Public Radio KPCC’s Take Two.
FERN Reports From America’s Under-reported Midwest
Our April 2014 piece for American Prospect, “Plowed Under,” looked at native grassland across America’s Western Corn Belt, which are being plowed under and replaced with row crops at an unprecedented rate. The story reached an audience of 625,000 and had more than 3,000 shares on social media.
FERN’s Palm-oil Expose Helps Force World Bank to Fix Policy
“Children Left Vulnerable By World Bank Amid Push For Development,” which was published on The Huffington Post in October 2015, is the latest installment of “Evicted and Abandoned,” a yearlong investigation into the hidden toll of World Bank-financed development projects on the some of the planet’s poorest people. The story was part of a collaboration with the International Center for Investigative Journalists and HuffPost. It explores the dramatic expansion of palm-oil plantations in the rainforests of Indonesia. Reporters Jocelyn Zuckerman and Michael Hudson detail abuses committed against Batin Sembilan, an indigenous community in Sumatra that was forcibly resettled by the largest agribusiness in Asia, Wilmar International Ltd.
As of January 2016, the series had generated more than 600,000 views on HuffPost alone, along with millions more viewers/listeners/readers on National Public Radio, German broadcasters NDR and WDR, The Guardian, Le Monde, and more than 20 other media partners. More than 50 journalists were involved in producing the series, which won an Online News Association award for journalistic innovation.
Finally, and most significantly, the series also prompted the World Bank in December to announce sweeping reform of its social criterion for bank loans, in an effort to better protect people in the path of development.
We Dissect Corrupt Relationship Between Corn and Politics in Iowa
“The Trouble with Iowa: Corn, corruption, and the presidential caucuses,” by Richard Manning, was the cover story in the February issue of Harper’s Magazine. That alone is impact, as the venerable magazine has a gravitas that extends beyond its 560,000 monthly readers; it is one of a handful of publications that continues to help set the media world’s broader agenda. Also, the timing of the piece was perfect, appearing as it did on the cusp of the much-anticipated Iowa caucuses. People were ready to read something that was intelligently provocative—as Manning always is—and that put all the political blather and horserace coverage of the preceding months in meaningful context.
Manning powerfully described the way politics, agriculture, and environmental degradation intersect in Iowa, which is held up as a presidential kingmaker every four years. For all these reasons, this piece echoed across the informational landscape. Manning was interviewed on MSNBC, The Leonard Lopate Show (WNYC), WHYY, Wisconsin Public Radio, Heritage Radio, and by prominent blogger April Streeter for Ethical Corporation.
In the social realm, it was lauded with prominent tweets from Michael Pollan, Josh Viertel (the former head of Slow Food USA), the Christian Science Monitor’s David Unger, Stephanie Miller with New Food Economy, and many others. The political, media, and food elite took note, with mentions from Politico, The Nation, AgWeb, Food Tank and others.
Manning’s piece was the type of sharply-drawn essay that FERN is well-positioned to deliver. It is a different kind of piece than the deep investigative and explanatory dives that have thus far been our signature offerings. And while that work will continue to be at the heart of what we do, “The Trouble With Iowa” demonstrated another effective way for FERN to cover our beat. To read a Q&A with Manning and FERN Editor at Large, George Black, click here.
A Riveting Reminder of the Vietnam War’s Ongoing Fallout
George Black’s powerful cover story, “The Lethal Legacy of the Vietnam War,” in The Nation, showed how tons of unexploded ordnance, herbicides, and defoliants the U.S. dropped on Vietnam during the war continue to plague farmers there today. The piece, which appeared online in late February 2015, had considerable reach. The Nation has 1.3 million monthly readers in print and online, and as of April 15, 2015, the story had received nearly 18,000 views at the magazine’s website. Prominent political activist Tom Hayden was among the many who sent The Nation letters praising Black’s skill, calling the story “one of the finest works of journalism I have read in years.” He went on to say, “Black uses the long-form approach to a long story, but in a way that will engage anyone with an ounce of curiosity or humanity. Not that social media doesn’t have its place, but Black shows us what our culture is losing to chatter.”
Black told the tragic story of Vietnam’s farmers through the lens of Chuck Searcy, a veteran from Georgia who has devoted his life to helping the Vietnamese overcome their deadly legacy. Black was interviewed on TV by Al-Jazeera America, and on a number of radio programs, including the Legal Broadcasting Network, the Morning Briefing on SiriusXM, and Chuck Morse Speaks on USA Networks. The combination of a vet as the main character and the still-controversial war assured that Black’s piece also was picked up and referenced in alt-weeklies and niche blogs around the country, places that don’t typically hit the radar of the East Coast media. That’s an important audience for a story about unintended consequences of American power and human suffering in a far-off land.
And while cause and effect is hard to pin down, there is reason to believe Black’s article spurred further coverage of the issue. In April, for instance, Reuters published a major photo essay on the toxic legacy of Agent Orange in Vietnam.
FERN Investigation Drives Political Action on Pesticides Near Schools
In April 2015, we took another deep dive into the issue of farmworker health with The Nation. Liza Gross’s unsettling piece, “Fields of Toxic Pesticides Surround the Schools of Ventura County,” revealed how California’s Latino communities—and the public schools they attend—are disproportionately dosed with pesticides, many of which are linked to a range of health problems. The piece took off, rising to No. 3 on The Nation’s most-read stories list and staying there for three days. It lit up on social media, too, with nearly 5,000 shares that included high praise from the likes of Michael Pollan, Anna Lappé, Mother Jones columnist Tom Philpott, Guardian business writer Marc Gunther, Silk (the soy milk company), the Institute for Non-profit News (formerly the Investigative News Network), and UC Berkeley News. The story later earned an investigative reporting award from the Association of Health Care Journalists.
But that was just the beginning. Gross’s piece shook the political timber in California and beyond, with advocates like Paul Towers at the Pesticide Action Network and Tracey Brieger at Californians for Pesticide Reform asking for PDFs of the story to circulate among legislators, policymakers, and the public. Towers invited Gross to brief legislators in Sacramento on pesticide use near schools, as part of their preparation for a series of Department of Pesticide Regulation workshops with the community and industry. Then in May, state pesticide regulators finally said they will seek to strengthen restrictions on pesticide use near schools.
Gross says an acquaintance at EPA told her that the story was remarkable for having put environmental justice back into the framework of civil rights, and that staff members at the agency who are on the “right side” of the Environmental Justice program were trying to figure out how to capitalize on the way the story “moved the discourse” in a way they hadn’t seen before. As journalists, we can’t ask for more significant impact than that.
We Tackle Fracking in One of the Nation’s Most Popular Lifestyle Magazines
Our March 2014 story, “Nervous Energy,” on the potential impact of fracking on the food and water of California, appeared in Sunset Magazine, which has a monthly circulation of nearly 1.3 million. A companion radio piece was broadcast on Capital Public Radio to an audience of 470,000. In May of that year, FERN co-hosted a public panel discussion at Sunset Magazine, based on “Nervous Energy.” The panel featured Barry Yeoman, the reporter who wrote the story; Amy Quinton, who produced the companion radio segment for; Paula Getzelman, a wine grower in Monterey County who was featured in the story; and Jayni Hein, the author of a report on the potential impact of fracking. Sam Fromartz, FERN’s editor-in-chief, moderated the panel.
FERN Shines Spotlight on Regulatory Void and Looming Public-Health Crisis in Legal Weed Industry
In October 2015, With No U.S. Standards, Pot Pesticide Use Is Rising Public Health Threat was produced for broadcast and online in collaboration with Rocky Mountain PBS I-News. Reporters Erica Berry, of FERN, and Katie Wilcox, of I-News, found a glaring absence of oversight on the marijuana industry. Their work was the top story of a rolling 30-day period surrounding its publication on the I-News site in terms of traffic.
I-News distributes its stories to news partners and other institutions including all members of the Colorado Press Association, public radio and commercial TV stations, some schools and university addresses, and several foundations and businesses. The promotional campaign for our story received interest from 50% of this audience. It was the lead story in their newsletter, Rocky Mountain PBS I-News Weekly, an opt-in subscription list of RMPBS members which has 1,100 subscribers. The story was also featured on their weekly public affairs television show, Colorado State of Mind, on Oct. 2. It drew an audience of 5,557 households.
In the wake of the story, Jim Jones, who heads the EPA’s office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, reached out to I-News. He said his office had gotten specific approval from the Justice Department to begin working with states that had legalized marijuana cultivation to test which pesticides can be used safely on marijuana.
FERN grabbed the attention of policy makers when we broke the story on SNAP benefits being canceled at farmers markets
Jane Black and Leah Douglas, in a FERN collaboration with The Washington Post, broke news on how an electronic payment system for SNAP benefits at farmers markets was floundering. A key vendor in this chain overseen by the USDA was about to exit the business, leaving 1,700 farmers markets with no way to process electronic SNAP benefits and many low-income recipients without access to fresh, local food.
After our story ran, a non-profit funder stepped into the gap, helping the provider continue in business until the end of August. Politicians also demanded that the USDA come up with a new solution to avoid service interruptions. Fourteen Democratic senators wrote a letter to the USDA, asking the department to “explore every possible option to ensure there is no disruption in EBT [Electronic Benefits Transfer] service at farmers markets during this critical market time.” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote a scathing letter to the USDA, and several U.S. representatives also weighed in. But this is not a partisan issue; many conservatives support the program as a market-based approach that helps both farmers and low-income consumers.
FERN Wins a Second James Beard Award for Quinoa Coverage
We were gratified to learn in May 2015 that FERN won a second James Beard Foundation Award for our story, “The Quinoa Quarrel: Who Owns The Greatest Superfood?” Written by Lisa Hamilton, the story appeared with original photography, also by Hamilton, in Harper’s Magazine. FERN, Harper’s and Hamilton took home the award for best reporting in the category of Food Politics, Policy and the Environment for the piece, which tracks the political fight over one of the world’s most important indigenous foods.
Critical Investigation Into a “Sacred Cow” of the Food Movement
One of our biggest hits of 2014 was also one of our most-important pieces, in terms of challenging conventional wisdom and taking on the food-reform movement’s sacred cows in a critical but constructive way. In November 2014, Slate published Tracie McMillan’s provocative look at the first Whole Foods’ store in downtown Detroit, which the company claimed would be more than just a market for rich people. “Can Whole Foods Change the Way Poor People Eat?” spurred a broad, ongoing and overdue conversation about whether the food movement—which has been largely an elite phenomenon—can reach a mass audience. It was about access, but also about class and the motives of a food icon with big business interests.
The piece got more than 8,000 social media shares, including from some of the most influential media and food thinkers like Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, and Emily Badger of The Washington Post’s Wonkblog. McMillan was interviewed by Huffington Post Live and Michigan Public Radio, and the story was picked up by the Metro Times and Deadline Detroit. It also was named one of 2014’s 15 best longform food stories by Eater, and was included in Best #CityReads of the Week on The Atlantic’s CityLab. McMillan also wrote an award-winning article for FERN on wage-theft among California farmworkers.
FERN Partners With the Longest-running Latino Radio Program
In April 2014 we established an important partnership with Latino USA, which airs on 141 NPR stations nationwide, with a wonderful story about a woman who singlehandedly changed the game on the sprawling and complex problem of food waste. Reporter Lisa Morehouse traveled to Nogales, Arizona, to profile Yolanda Soto, who runs Borderlands Food Bank. Soto rescues between 35 and 40 million pounds of safe, edible fruits and vegetables each year that cross the border from Mexico but are rejected by USDA inspectors for largely aesthetic reasons. This food used to get dumped in a landfill, but now Soto sells it to food-relief operations at bargain rates—offering a new model for food re-distribution.
Morehouse’s piece was featured on NPR’s The Salt blog, and was picked up by Georgia Public Broadcasting and cited on The Huffington Post’s What’s Working blog. It got more than 800 SoundCloud plays, reached nearly 3,000 journalists—some of whom no doubt followed up with their own stories—and the podcast was downloaded 30,000 times. Who says there’s never any “good” in the news?
FERN Asks Tough Questions About Urban Ag
In “Urban Farming Is Booming, But What Does It Really Yield?” reporter Elizabeth Royte explored whether community gardens and rooftop farms can really play a role in feeding our burgeoning population. With the help of leading researchers and growers across the country, she scrutinized the challenges facing both for- and non-profit urban farms as they try to take a “bite out of long-distance food chains.” The piece was published by Ensia in April 2015.
Worldwide, 15-20 percent of our food is currently grown in cities. In the U.S., Detroit produced nearly 400,000 pounds of food in 2014—enough to feed more than 600 people—with about 1,300 gardens. In addition to fresh fruits and vegetables, many urban farms also provide health-and-nutrition education, community building, and job training.
Royte notes that many urban farms are not interested in making money, but rather in fostering a larger cultural change: “Whether these gardens ultimately produce more food or more knowledge about food—where it comes from, what it takes to produce it, how to prepare and eat it—they still have enormous value as gathering places and classrooms, as conduits between people and nature.”
This piece also was published by Ensia partners Greenbiz, Business Insider, and Quartz, where it garnered more than 35,000 reads and almost 10,000 social media shares.
We Scrutinize the Science Behind Gluten’s Hype
In “Unraveling The Gluten-Free Trend,” published in EatingWell magazine in May 2014, FERN editor-in-chief Sam Fromartz investigates the science and controversy behind the “gluten-free” craze. He draws on the latest medical research to explain what we really know about gluten’s health effects, and how much of what we think we know might be hype. The story focuses on the emerging research around “gluten sensitivity,” which, as Fromartz shows, isn’t well understood, and thus is prone to conjecture.
While writing his most recent book, In Search of the Perfect Loaf: A Homebaker’s Odyssey, Fromartz traveled the world studying bread baking and the history of our relationship with this ancient, staple food. It’s a relationship that has become more complicated, though, as a growing number of people see gluten in bread and other products as the source of a wide variety of health problems.
EatingWell has a print circulation of 500,000 and reaches 1.8 million readers per month. The story reached 27,000 on Facebook and roughly 900,000 Twitter followers, and remains in the top 20 most popular stories on the EatingWell site.
FERN Visualizes A Reformed American Diet
In September 2013 we published an infographic, based on new data, which showed how 127,000 fewer people would die of heart disease, and the nation would save $17 billion in medical costs, if Americans ate the recommended 4 1/2 cups of fruit and vegetables every day. The graphic appeared online at The Daily Meal, a fast-growing site that draws a million unique visitors per month.
The New Yorker Follows Our Reporting on Food Stamps
In August 2013, Slate (10 million monthly readers) published “SNAP Judgment,” in which reporter Jane Black explained why anti-hunger groups were protesting limitations on junk food purchased with SNAP, or food stamps. The story was subsequently syndicated to other print and online outlets through the Washington Post Media Service, and was cited by The New Yorker. Black also appeared on Heritage Radio Network to discuss the story.
FERN Story Helps Push Chinese Tuna-Fishing Firm to Withdraw Its IPO Application
Shannon Service’s October 2014 story in The Guardian on the “shady dealings” of a massive Chinese tuna-fishing firm had real-world impact. Notorious for going after threatened species like Yellowfin and Bigeye, the China Tuna Industry Group was forced to withdraw its IPO application after negative media coverage, including our piece, exposed the company’s nefarious operation.
In January 2013, FERN expanded its broadcast collaboration with its first international report and first radio story, “Tuna’s Last Stand,” which appeared on PRI’s The World. Shannon Service reported from Palau in the Western Pacific, where the island-nation struggled to protect the world’s last healthy stock of tuna. The full investigation appeared online at Slate as “The Saudi Arabia of Sashimi” in early April of that year. The story received 1,100 likes on Facebook, was tweeted 257 times, including by Mark Bittman (370,000+ followers), Michael Pollan (307,000+ followers), Slate (600,000+ followers) Slow Food USA (340,000+ followers) and Bay Area Bites (71,000+ followers). In June 2013, the story was translated and republished by Newsweek Japan.
We Connect Chefs to Oceans
In February 2013, we produced our first story in partnership with the San Francisco Chronicle, about the booming herring population in the San Francisco Bay following a near collapse in 2009. The boom was being supported by Bay Area chefs who were serving the fish, which often is used to feed larger fish species, in an effort to bring attention to the herring’s plight. The Chronicle has a weekday circulation of around 218,000 readers. In addition to print, the story received 130 likes on Facebook, and 10 tweets, including by Michael Pollan (307,000+ followers); Bay Area Bites (71,000+ followers); and Edible San Francisco (34,000 followers). KQED followed up with its own piece on the herring situation.
Tracing the Path to a Dead Zone
In “A River Runs Through It,” reporter Paul Greenberg, author of The New York Times bestseller Four Fish, explained how the hypoxic “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico is the result of U.S. agricultural practices. Greenberg went on to explore some of the most promising solutions to the problem. The first such piece of its kind, the story was published in 2013 by The American Prospect. It was shared 481 times on Facebook and tweeted 233 times, including by Mark Bittman (370,000+ followers), Michael Pollan (307,000+ followers), Andy Revkin (50,000+ followers) and chef Dan Barber. The circulation of The American Prospect is 45,000.
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360° Video Gives an Inside Look into the Bell Tower at Staten Island's St. Peter's Church
on Jun. 16, 2017 at 2:30 PM
at 2:30 PM on June 16, 2017
St Peters Church is a large parish church in St George, Staten Island that was established in 1839, with the current structure being built in 1903. Over the decades, parts of the church have fallen into disrepair, including the bells and machinery within clock tower. In this immersive 360° video from the Staten Island Advance, peek inside the tower as restorations efforts seek to return the tower to its former glory.
Michael Cavanaugh and his son, Danny Cavanaugh are volunteering at St. Peter Church in St. George to restore the bell tower. The bells have not rung in over 30 years (Video: Shira Stoll).
If you can't move the view around, you need to use the Google Chrome browser on desktop, or the YouTube App for iOS or Android to move around inside the video.
via Staten Island Advance
53 St Marks Pl, Staten Island, NY 10301
assumptionstpaulsi.com
Watch This 360° Video Tour of Staten Island's Historic St. George Theater
Take This 360° Video Ride on the Staten Island Ferry
360° Video Gives an Immersive Peek Inside Staten Island's Historic Conference House
360° Video Gives an Immersive View of Five New York CIty’s L.G.B.T.Q. Historical Sites
Viewing NYC on Instagram, July 26th, 2018 at 12:27 PM
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DMHL and Other Documents
< back to all reports & publications
Search for Documents:
Decisions to Initiate Involuntary Commitment: The Role of Intensive Community Services and Other Factors
February 01, 2013 / Katherine Faris
Elizabeth Lloyd McGarvey, Ed.D., MaGuadalupe Leon-Verdin, M.S., Tanya Nicole Wanchek, Ph.D., J.D., and Richard J. Bonnie, LL.B.
Objective: This study examined the predictors of actions to initiate involuntary commitment of individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. Methods: Emergency services clinicians throughout Virginia completed a questionnaire following each face-to-face evaluation of individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. Over a one-month period in 2007, a total of 2,624 adults were evaluated. Logistic hierarchical multiple regression was used to analyze the relationship between demographic, clinical, and service-related variables and outcomes of the emergency evaluations. Results: Several factors predicted 84% of the actions taken to initiate involuntary commitment. These included unavailability of alternatives to hospitalization, such as temporary housing or residential crisis stabilization; evaluation of the client in a hospital emergency room or police station or while in police custody; current enrollment in treatment; and clinical factors related to the commitment criteria, including risk of self-harm or harm to others, acuity and severity of the crisis, and current drug abuse or dependence. Conclusions: A lack of intensive communitybased treatment and support in lieu of hospitalization accounted for a significant portion of variance in actions to initiate involuntary commitment. Comprehensive community services and supports for individuals experiencing mental health crises may reduce the rate of involuntary hospitalization. There is a need to enrich intensive community mental health services and supports and to evaluate the impact of these enhancements on the frequency of involuntary mental health interventions. (Psychiatric Services 64:120–126, 2013; doi: 10.1176/ appi.ps.000692012)
February 01, 2013 / Katherine Faris/
Civil Commitments, Published Work
Use of Longer Periods of Temporary Detention to Reduce Mental Health Civil Commitments
Tanya Nicole Wanchek, Ph.D., J.D. and Richard J. Bonnie, LL.B.
Objective: This study examined whether lengthening the holding period for an individual experiencing a mental health crisis under a temporary detention order (TDO) can reduce the number and length of postTDO involuntary hospital commitments. Methods: Data from the Virginia Court System were matched to the Commonwealth of Virginia Medicaid claims database for July 1, 2008, through March 30, 2009. The final data set included 500 Medicaid recipients who had a mental health diagnosis and at least one TDO during the study period. Covariates included sex, race, age, primary diagnosis, and Community Service Board serving the individual. Logistic and multivariate regression models were used. Results: Longer TDO periods were correlated with an increased probability of a dismissal of the commitment petition rather than hospitalization after a TDO. Among individuals who were hospitalized, longer TDO periods were correlated with an increased likelihood of voluntary hospitalization, rather than involuntary commitment, and shorter hospitalizations, although the net care time (TDO period plus post-TDO hospitalization) increased for individuals whose TDO length was greater than 24 hours. Conclusions: Longer TDO periods were correlated with shorter hospital stays and fewer involuntary commitments. These findings support previous work showing that short TDO periods provide insufficient time to stabilize and evaluate individuals. More research is needed to establish a causal link between TDO length and health outcomes. (Psychiatric Services 63:643–648, 2012; doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201100359)
Published Work, Civil Commitments
The Effect of Community Mental Health Services on Hospitalization Rates in Virginia
Tanya Nicole Wanchek, Ph.D., J.D., Elizabeth L. McGarvey, Ed.D., MaGuadalupe Leon-Verdin, M.S., and Richard J. Bonnie, LL.B.
This study examined the relationship between the availability of mental health outpatient services provided by 40 publicly funded community service boards (CSBs) and the use of inpatient mental health treatment among Medicaid recipients. Methods: Three-year data were obtained for Medicaid recipients aged 18–64 from the Medicaid claims database for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Medicaid recipients who had a mental disorder diagnosis and who had received at least one community mental health service were included in the sample. A multivariate regression model was used for the analyses. Results: Of the 11,107 individuals included, 27% had schizophrenia-related disorders and 32% had affective psychoses; 60% were white and 37% were black; and the average age was 40.1±13.1 years. In this sample, greater use of outpatient mental health services, but not greater variety of services available, was correlated with fewer inpatient hospital days for mental health treatment (–1.0±.2 days of hospitalization). Conclusions: Virginia’s CSBs provide a range of outpatient mental health services that are designed to enable individuals to remain in their community. The availability of community-based mental health services was correlated with lower rates of inpatient hospitalization for mental illness. More research, however, is needed to establish causality and to determine which services are most effective at reducing the need for inpatient care. (Psychiatric Services 62:194–199, 2011)
Mental Health System Transformation After The Virginia Tech Tragedy
June 01, 2009 / Katherine Faris
Richard J. Bonnie, James S. Reinhard, Phillip Hamilton and Elizabeth L. McGarvey
Health Affairs 28, no.3 (2009):793-804
doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.3.793
ABSTRACT: On 16 April 2007, a deeply disturbed Virginia Tech student murdered thirty-two fellow students and faculty and then shot himself. Less than one year later, the Virginia legislature improved the emergency evaluation process, modified the criteria for involuntary commitment, tightened procedures for mandatory outpatient treatment, and increased state funding for community mental health services. The unanswered question, however, is whether the necessary political momentum can be sustained for the long-term investment in community services and the fundamental legal changes needed to transform a system focused on managing access to scarce hospital beds to a community-based system of accessible voluntary services. [Health Affairs 28, no. 3 (2009): 793–804; 10.1377/ hlthaff.28.3.793]
June 01, 2009 / Katherine Faris/
Case Law 2
Civil Commitments 22
Commission- MH Law Reform 11
Criminal Justice 2
DMHL Reports 57
Mandated Comm. Treatment 1
Policy Papers 10
Published Work 4
VA CSB Evaluations 6
VA College MH Study 6
Variations Reports 5
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Cyber-focused President & CEO
Charles Green is the President & CEO of Assured Information Security, Inc. (AIS), a cyber-focused company founded in 2001 and headquartered in Rome, NY just outside the gates of AFRL/RI.
Chuck has been a part of Rome’s “cyber” initiatives at the Air Force Research Laboratory since 1997 when he was invited to be one of two contractors supporting the newly formed Information Warfare Team (IWT). IWT investigates software and technologies that can better protect critical military and civil information systems & data from the growing threat of attacks.
Today, Chuck leads Assured Information Security, which focuses on cyber needs for the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. AIS currently employs approx. 170 employees in 10 locations throughout the United States and one location in France. Under Chuck’s leadership, AIS is on track to execute $100MM in business for calendar year 2016.
Charles Green is a strong advocate for regional initiatives and economic development. As a company, AIS and its employees volunteer to support many regional and local organizations; United Way of Rome, Greater Utica Chamber of Commerce, Upstate Cerebral Palsy, RIDC, CNYA, Leadership Mohawk Valley, Griffiss Institute, Rome School District, MVCC, SUNYIT, Rome Rescue Mission, and many others.
Chuck was a member of the Rome Industrial Development Corporation (RIDC) Board of Directors from 2008 – 2014. Supporting the organization’s goals to maintain and improve the economic vitality and quality of life of the City of Rome and its environs by supporting, nurturing and encouraging its commercial, industrial and financial development.
Beginning in late 2010, Chuck and Igor Plonisch worked together to advocate for the creation of the organization now known as the Cyber New York Alliance. Chuck and Dr. Plonisch worked diligently to bring together New York businesses, academia, government agencies, and community leaders in support of the regional defense community and AFRL/RI’s C4ISR mission.
In 2011 Chuck was invited by NYS Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy to join the Mohawk Valley Regional Economic Development Council (MVREDC). As a member of the MVREDC, Chuck currently sits on the Executive Committee. MVREDC is responsible for guiding economic development for the region (Schoharie, Otsego, Montgomery, Fulton, Herkimer, and Oneida counties) representing 500,000 people and 5,000 square miles. To date, MVREDC has been responsible for bringing in over $188MM for the region and impacting 3500 jobs.
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As Messaging Grows, Brands Are Evolving To Be a New Kind of Friend
by Wired Insider | Feb 8, 2019 | Industry News
This post first appeared on this site.
WHAT DO YOU look for in a friend?
If you’re like most people, you want a friend who is reliable, authentic, and who “gets” you as an individual. Increasingly, that’s also what many of us look for in our favorite brand, according to recent research from Disney and Omnicom.
There are a few reasons why. One is that we choose to associate with brands the way we choose to hang out with our friends, so brands are reacting accordingly. “This is the year that brands that succeed will need to act like humans,” said Mark Taylor, Global Head of Customer Engagement at Capgemini Invent.
Another factor is the way we talk to brands has changed. We might subscribe to a brand’s social media feed because it’s funny or talks about issues we care about,which gives us a chance to trade witticisms or to talk about the news of the day.
Messaging ups the stakes, bringing brands into the inner circle where you talk to your closest friends. Some have dubbed this “conversational commerce”—the practice of living up to consumers’ expectations of real-time communications.
Messaging provides an opportunity for brands to build deeper relationships with their consumers. But to be effective, brands need to navigate the uncharted area between marketing and friendship. Messaging is a new arena for making such connections. It’s not just another advertising channel, but a means of forging deeper connections with consumers.
Reliability Means 24/7 Access and the Ability to Solve Problems
Gone are the days when the only way to get in touch with a brand was to lob an email or make a phone call. Consumers expect brands to get back to them immediately. Always-on communication among friends coupled with a marketing arms race have created this expectation. Airline KLM, for instance, promises to respond to consumers’ requests on Twitter within one hour. Telecom brand T-Mobile is also known for engaging with consumers on social media at any time of day.
Messaging ups the expectation. Unlike email, messaging is an “always on” medium in which an immediate response is the norm—the average first-response time is 47 seconds. Using a combination of live and automated solutions (a.k.a. chatbots), brands can live up to this requirement.
By most estimates, about 80 percent of text-based requests can easily be handled by bots. For instance, if your order hasn’t shown up on time, a bot can help you track your package. Their abilities get more sophisticated all the time. Natural language processing (NLP) used in chat and voice-based search is reaching near-parity with human understanding of speech. Bots can also now intuitively leave conversations and hand them off to a live representative in a seamless fashion.
In such cases, marketing experts advise disclosing when people take over from bots. CapGemini has surveyed 10,000 consumer and found that most are “amazingly sensitive” to transparency issues, Taylor said
Having a Distinct Voice and ‘Getting’ You as a Person
If consumers view brands as quasi-human, then brands need to create a voice that feels authentically human. This is a new discipline for marketers who need to create a living interpretation of their brand. In practice, it’s where a brand’s stated guidelines adapt to a more relatable approach
Branding in this milieu is a new form of creative development. It’s not about an ad or a video or a headline but rather imagining what it would be like to have a conversation with your brand. The need for a brand voice coincides with the rise of voice-recognition systems (which are prompting brands to create actual voices) and a shift away from celebrity spokespeople to founders who don’t look like supermodels or actors. A recent survey by CivicScience found 89 percent of consumers said their purchases wouldn’t be influenced by a celebrity endorsement.
We see glimpses of a brand’s written tone in emails to consumers and even in 404 error messages. Zappos, a brand known for its fun-loving voice, provides a joke of the day to anyone who calls in to customer service. But being authentic isn’t just how you say something but what you say.
The final attribute is the hardest to pull off. C.S. Lewis once said that the typical expression of opening a friendship was something like “What? You too? I thought I was the only one.”
To gain this level of insight, brands have conversations with their consumers. Such interactions allow brands to create a complex portrait of the consumer’s needs and desires. Over time, brands can provide uncannily accurate suggestions that illustrate a level of understanding that is based on firsthand knowledge and interaction. Such anticipatory suggestions will help consumers remove friction from their daily lives.
The Race to Solve Messaging
As more consumer conversations shift to messaging, there’s a fundamental change in how we engage with brands. Marketing has traditionally been a top-down activity: brands create ads or messages that are designed to filter to the masses. But consumers are looking to establish a dialogue with their favorite brands. Marketers that aren’t aware of this shift will be left behind.
“If you’re not doing it, your competitors are,” said Derek Top, head of editorial for Opus Research, a conversational commerce consultancy. “Brand are already having conversations and learning from them.”
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Environmental Collapse: Excerpt From “War Is A Lie” By David Swanson
The environment as we know it will not survive nuclear war. It also may not survive “conventional” war, understood to mean the sorts of wars we now wage. Intense damage has already been done by wars and by the research, testing, and production done in preparation for wars. At least since the Romans sowed salt on Carthaginian fields during the Third Punic War, wars have damaged the earth, both intentionally and — more often — as a reckless side-effect.
General Philip Sheridan, having destroyed farmland in Virginia during the Civil War, proceeded to destroy American bison herds as a means of restricting Native Americans to reservations. World War I saw European land destroyed with trenches and poison gas. During World War II, the Norwegians started landslides in their valleys, while the Dutch flooded a third of their farmland, the Germans destroyed Czech forests, and the British burned forests in Germany and France.
Wars in recent years have rendered large areas uninhabitable and generated tens of millions of refugees. War “rivals infectious disease as a global cause of morbidity and mortality,” according to Jennifer Leaning of Harvard Medical School. Leaning divides war’s environmental impact into four areas: “production and testing of nuclear weapons, aerial and naval bombardment of terrain, dispersal and persistence of land mines and buried ordnance, and use or storage of military despoliants, toxins, and waste.”
Nuclear weapons testing by the United States and the Soviet Union involved at least 423 atmospheric tests between 1945 and 1957 and 1,400 underground tests between 1957 and 1989. The damage from that radiation is still not fully known, but it is still spreading, as is our knowledge of the past. New research in 2009 suggested that Chinese nuclear tests between 1964 and 1996 killed more people directly than the nuclear testing of any other nation. Jun Takada, a Japanese physicist, calculated that up to 1.48 million people were exposed to fallout and 190,000 of them may have died from diseases linked to radiation from those Chinese tests. In the United States, testing in the 1950s led to untold thousands of deaths from cancer in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, the areas most downwind from the testing.
In 1955, movie star John Wayne, who avoided participating in World War II by opting instead to make movies glorifying war, decided that he had to play Genghis Khan. The Conqueror was filmed in Utah, and the conqueror was conquered. Of the 220 people who worked on the film, by the early 1980s 91 of them had contracted cancer and 46 had died of it, including John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Agnes Moorehead, and director Dick Powell. Statistics suggest that 30 of the 220 might ordinarily have gotten cancer, not 91. In 1953 the military had tested 11 atomic bombs nearby in Nevada, and by the 1980s half the residents of St. George, Utah, where the film was shot, had cancer. You can run from war, but you can’t hide.
The military knew its nuclear detonations would impact those downwind, and monitored the results, effectively engaging in human experimentation. In numerous other studies during and in the decades following World War II, in violation of the Nuremberg Code of 1947, the military and the CIA have subjected veterans, prisoners, the poor, the mentally disabled, and other populations to unwitting human experimentation for the purpose of testing nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, as well as drugs like LSD, which the United States went so far as to put into the air and food of an entire French village in 1951, with horrific and deadly results.
A report prepared in 1994 for the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs begins:
“During the last 50 years, hundreds of thousands of military personnel have been involved in human experimentation and other intentional exposures conducted by the Department of Defense (DOD), often without a servicemember’s knowledge or consent. In some cases, soldiers who consented to serve as human subjects found themselves participating in experiments quite different from those described at the time they volunteered. For example, thousands of World War II veterans who originally volunteered to ‘test summer clothing’ in exchange for extra leave time, found themselves in gas chambers testing the effects of mustard gas and lewisite. Additionally, soldiers were sometimes ordered by commanding officers to ‘volunteer’ to participate in research or face dire consequences. For example, several Persian Gulf War veterans interviewed by Committee staff reported that they were ordered to take experimental vaccines during Operation Desert Shield or face prison.”
The full report contains numerous complaints about the secrecy of the military and suggests that its findings may be only scraping the surface of what has been hidden.
In 1993, the U.S. Secretary of Energy released records of U.S. testing of plutonium on unwitting U.S. victims immediately following World War II. Newsweek commented reassuringly, on December 27, 1993:
“The scientists who had conducted those tests so long ago surely had rational reasons: the struggle with the Soviet Union, the fear of imminent nuclear war, the urgent need to unlock all the secrets of the atom, for purposes both military and medical.”
Oh, well that’s all right then.
Nuclear weapons production sites in Washington, Tennessee, Colorado, Georgia, and elsewhere have poisoned the surrounding environment as well as their employees, over 3,000 of whom were awarded compensation in 2000. When my 2009-2010 book tour took me to more than 50 cities around the country, I was surprised that many of the peace groups in town after town were focused on stopping the damage that local weapons factories were doing to the environment and their workers with subsidies from local governments, even more than they were focused on stopping the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In Kansas City, active citizens had recently delayed and were seeking to block the relocation and expansion of a major weapons factory. It seems that President Harry Truman, who had made his name by opposing waste on weaponry, planted a factory back home that polluted the land and water for over 60 years while manufacturing parts for instruments of death thus far used only by Truman. The private, but tax-break-subsidized factory will likely continue to produce, but on a larger scale, 85 percent of the components of nuclear weapons.
I joined several local activists in staging a protest outside the factory gates, similar to protests I’ve been part of at sites in Nebraska and Tennessee, and the support from people driving by was phenomenal: many more positive reactions than negative. One man who stopped his car at the light told us that his grandmother had died of cancer after making bombs there in the 1960s. Maurice Copeland, who was part of our protest, told me he’d worked at the plant for 32 years. When a car drove out of the gates containing a man and a smiling little girl, Copeland remarked that toxic substances were on the man’s clothes and that he had probably hugged the little girl and possibly killed her. I can’t verify what, if anything, was on the man’s clothes, but Copeland claimed that such occurrences had been part of the Kansas City plant for decades, with neither the government, nor the private owner (Honeywell), nor the labor union (the International Association of Machinists) properly informing workers or the public.
With the replacement of President Bush with President Obama in 2010, opponents of the plant expansion deal hoped for change, but the Obama administration gave the project its full support. The city government promoted the effort as a source of jobs and tax revenue. As we’ll see in the next section of this chapter, it was not.
Weapons production is the least of it. Non-nuclear bombs in World War II destroyed cities, farms, and irrigation systems, producing 50 million refugees and displaced people. The U.S. bombing of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia produced 17 million refugees, and as of the end of 2008 there were 13.5 million refugees and asylum seekers around the world. A long civil war in Sudan led to a famine there in 1988. Rwanda’s brutal civil war pushed people into areas inhabited by endangered species, including gorillas. The displacement of populations around the world to less habitable areas has damaged ecosystems severely.
Wars leave a lot behind. Between 1944 and 1970 the U.S. military dumped huge quantities of chemical weapons into the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In 1943 German bombs had sunk a U.S. ship at Bari, Italy, that was secretly carrying a million pounds of mustard gas. Many of the U.S. sailors died from the poison, which the United States dishonestly claimed to have been using as a “deterrent,” despite keeping it secret. The ship is expected to keep leaking the gas into the sea for centuries. Meanwhile the United States and Japan left over 1,000 ships on the floor of the Pacific, including fuel tankers. In 2001, one such ship, the USS Mississinewa was found to be leaking oil. In 2003 the military removed what oil it could from the wreck.
Perhaps the most deadly weapons left behind by wars are land mines and cluster bombs. Tens of millions of them are estimated to be lying around on the earth, oblivious to any announcements that peace has been declared. Most of their victims are civilians, a large percentage of them children. A 1993 U.S. State Department report called land mines “the most toxic and widespread pollution facing mankind.” Land mines damage the environment in four ways, writes Jennifer Leaning:
“fear of mines denies access to abundant natural resources and arable land; populations are forced to move preferentially into marginal and fragile environments in order to avoid minefields; this migration speeds depletion of biological diversity; and land-mine explosions disrupt essential soil and water processes.”
The amount of the earth’s surface impacted is not minor. Millions of hectares in Europe, North Africa, and Asia are under interdiction. One-third of the land in Libya conceals land mines and unexploded World War II munitions. Many of the world’s nations have agreed to ban land mines and cluster bombs. The United States has not.
From 1965 to 1971, the United States developed new ways of destroying plant and animal (including human) life; it sprayed 14 percent of South Vietnam’s forests with herbicides, burned farm land, and shot livestock. One of the worst chemical herbicides, Agent Orange, still threatens the health of the Vietnamese and has caused some half million birth defects. During the Gulf War, Iraq released 10 million gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf and set 732 oil wells on fire, causing extensive damage to wildlife and poisoning ground water with oil spills. In its wars in Yugoslavia and Iraq, the United States has left behind depleted uranium. A 1994 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs survey of Gulf War veterans in Mississippi found 67 percent of their children conceived since the war had severe illnesses or birth defects. Wars in Angola eliminated 90 percent of the wildlife between 1975 and 1991. A civil war in Sri Lanka felled five million trees.
The Soviet and U.S. occupations of Afghanistan have destroyed or damaged thousands of villages and sources of water. The Taliban has illegally traded timber to Pakistan, resulting in significant deforestation. U.S. bombs and refugees in need of firewood have added to the damage. Afghanistan’s forests are almost gone. Most of the migratory birds that used to pass through Afghanistan no longer do so. Its air and water have been poisoned with explosives and rocket propellants.
To these examples of the types of environmental damage done by war must be added two key facts about how our wars are fought and why. As we saw in chapter six, wars are often fought for resources, especially oil. Oil can be leaked or burned off, as in the Gulf War, but primarily it is put to use polluting the earth’s atmosphere, placing us all at risk. Oil and war lovers associate the consumption of oil with the glory and heroism of war, so that renewable energies that do not risk global catastrophe are viewed as cowardly and unpatriotic ways to fuel our machines.
The interplay of war with oil goes beyond that, however. The wars themselves, whether or not fought for oil, consume huge quantities of it. The world’s top consumer of oil, in fact, is the U.S. military. Not only do we fight wars in areas of the globe that happen to be rich in oil; we also burn more oil fighting those wars than we do in any other activity. Author and cartoonist Ted Rall writes:
“The U.S. Department of [War] is the world’s worst polluter, belching, dumping, and spilling more pesticides, defoliants, solvents, petroleum, lead, mercury, and depleted uranium than the five biggest American chemical corporations combined. According to Steve Kretzmann, director of Oil Change International, 60 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions between 2003 and 2007 originated in U.S.-occupied Iraq, due to the enormous amount of oil and gas required to maintain hundreds of thousands of American military forces and private contractors, not to mention the toxins released by fighter jets, drone planes, and the missiles and other ordnance they fire at Iraqis.”
We pollute the air in the process of poisoning the earth with all variety of weaponry. The U.S. military burns through about 340,000 barrels of oil each day. If the Pentagon were a country, it would rank 38th in oil consumption. If you removed the Pentagon from the total oil consumption by the United States, then the United States would still rank first with nobody else anywhere close. But you would have spared the atmosphere the burning of more oil than most countries consume, and would have spared the planet all the mischief our military manages to fuel with it. No other institution in the United States consumes nearly as much oil as the military.
In October 2010, the Pentagon announced plans to try a small shift in the direction of renewable energy. The military’s concern did not seem to be continued life on the planet or financial expense, but rather the fact that people kept blowing up its fuel tankers in Pakistan and Afghanistan before they could reach their destinations.
How is it that environmentalists have not prioritized ending wars? Do they believe the war lies, or are they afraid to confront them? Each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spends $622 million trying to figure out how we can produce power without oil, while the military spends hundreds of billions burning oil in wars fought to control the oil supplies. The million dollars spent to keep each soldier in a foreign occupation for a year could create 20 green energy jobs at $50,000 each. Is this a difficult choice?
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Ruins of Ancient City Discovered in Australian Desert
TOPICS:ArcheologyAustraliaHistoryScience
Alice Springs | A team of archaeologists working for the Australian National University, who were proceeding to an excavation near the sandstone rock formation of Uluru, has unearthed the ruins of a large pre-colonial city dating back to more than 1500 years ago.
The important number of tombs and artifacts already discovered on the site suggests that it could have been the capital of an ancient empire, completely unknown to historians until now.
The site which was first noticed on satellite pictures taken in October 2013, using a newly developed ground-penetrating radar.
The images revealed many 90° angles and various common geographic figures over a 16 km2 area, leading the team of scientists to direct some archaeological excavations on the spot, starting in May 2014.
Over the last few months, many structures have been unearthed including what looks like a royal palace, a few temples, large rainwater reservoirs, workshops and dozens of houses.
287 individual tombs have already been discovered in a small necropolis located just outside the ancient city. The bodies are mostly of proto-aboriginal origins, but also surprisingly include a few Polynesian and Asian individuals.
Professor Walter Reese, in charge of the site, claims that the extent of the site and the superposition of various layers of constructions, suggests that it was occupied for 400 to 500 years, from approximately 470-80 AD, up until the 9th Century.
He believes that the city could have held between 20000 and 30000 inhabitants, making it the most important center of civilization in the Southern Pacific at the time.
“This was certainly the capital of a vast empire, that practised some sort of international trade” says Mr Reese. “The fact that we have discovered some bodies of various origins suggests that this state could have been a very influential throughout the Pacific islands and Southeast Asia. We have found many objects on the site that were obviously imported from other regions, like rice, flax or lacquer.”
The various artifacts gathered from the site suggest that the city flourished thanks to some form of control over various gold mining operations in Southern Australia.
The precious metal was purified and transformed by the hundreds of goldsmiths of the city before being traded for various other goods through an extensive network reaching as far as New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and even China and India.
Thousands of artifacts have been recovered, including some 756 items made of gold. This bowl weighing 2.8 kilograms was found inside one of the temples.
Professor Reese believes that the city could have been abandoned after some climatic changes in the 9th Century brought a dramatic decrease in the level of rainfall, making the city unsustainable.
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1 Comment on "Ruins of Ancient City Discovered in Australian Desert"
Ex-Liberal | April 17, 2018 at 3:44 am | Reply
Dear Michael Doyle, actually Aboriginals have the lowest average IQ on the planet.
Leave a Reply to Bonnie Cancel reply
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Seth Rollins Reveals Initial Concerns About Bringing Becky Lynch Relationship To WWE TV
Published 26th June 2019 at 9:36pm by Louis Dangoor
In the final match at WWE Stomping Grounds, Becky Lynch came to the aid of Seth Rollins, her real-life boyfriend, after he was low-blowed by Lacey Evans.
Evans had been personally selected as the special guest referee by Baron Corbin for his Universal Championship match at Sunday’s pay-per-view against Rollins.
The couple then kicked off Raw the following night, where they were booked into a mixed tag team match for next months Extreme Rules where Rollins and Lynch’s respective championships will be on the line.
In a recent interview, Becky Lynch discussed what it was like to make the save for her boyfriend on Sunday night, and how the idea of her relationship with Rollins being played out on WWE TV came to be.
Speaking to Sports Illustrated, Seth has also commented on his relationship with “The Man”. The Universal Champion revealed when he and Lynch started officially dating.
“We started dating in February. It was a couple of months. We didn’t really keep it a secret that much. We were in public, went to some concerts and took pictures. We were friends for years beforehand, so I think people were like, “Well, I don’t know.” It’s not like we hadn’t taken pictures at the gym or elsewhere before, so I think people were just like, “Maybe they’re just friends or whatever.” We’re like, “Yeah, we’re just friends.”
“We started seeing each other in February. I don’t think we let the cat out of the bag until April or May. But it wasn’t like we were taking extreme measures. She wasn’t walking around with a mustache or anything like that. We did what we did. And eventually she put the thing on Twitter when she was arguing with Beth and Edge and I was like, “Hey, I had this picture for safe keeping.” So I popped it up there and that was it. There wasn’t too much thought put into it.”
Rollins also noted that while he was initially concerned about bringing his relationship with Becky onto WWE TV, he now really enjoys doing it:
When you’re first approached about the idea, you’re like, “Ehh, I don’t know how this is going to work. Is it going to work?” I’ve never done anything like that. I don’t think she has either, as far as I know. If you look at the way couples have been portrayed in the past, sometimes it’s a bit sketchy, especially on the woman’s end. I know some of her concerns about that and mine as well, so we had discussions, but once we sat down and brainstormed about it — because at the end of the day, they’re not gonna go forward with the idea if it’s not something we’re comfortable with — so once we sat down and brainstormed to talk about how cool it might be and the options that were in front of us on the table”.
“I think that we decided it would actually be a pretty fun thing to do and a cool thing to do and to strike while the iron is hot. It’s not like this would be as cool if we did it in a year from now — that’s assuming I’m lucky enough to keep her for a full year. I think watching [Sunday] night and me being in the ring during the main event of the [Stomping Grounds] pay-per-view and hearing the reaction when she hit the ring and seeing the reaction on social [the next day], everyone seems to be pretty psyched about the role reversal thing. It’s pretty sick to me. I think we nailed it and I’m pretty happy with it and so is she.”
This is certainly not the only interesting thing to come from Rollins’ interview with Sports Illustrated. During the discussion, Seth also fired back at former tag team partner Jon Moxley over comments the former WWE Champion has made in interviews.
Thanks to WrestleZone for the transcription.
Buy WrestleTalk’s Almanac Volume 2 by clicking the image below.
WWE Announces Smackville Event For WWE Network 18th July 2019 at 8:31pm by Liam Winnard
Paul Heyman Makes Surprise Appearance At Evolve 131 14th July 2019 at 3:13pm by Liam Winnard
Shane McMahon’s WWE SummerSlam Opponent Revealed? 12th July 2019 at 4:18pm by Louis Dangoor
Fight For The Fallen
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Officials investigating cause of massive Boston-area fire
BOSTON (AP) — Fire investigators on Sunday were trying to determine what caused a massive blaze that ripped through a Boston-area neighborhood, displacing an estimated 60 to 80 people but “miraculously” resulting in no serious injuries or deaths.
While the 10-alarm fire Saturday afternoon in Cambridge destroyed or damaged 15 structures and several first responders suffered minor injuries, Cambridge Assistant Fire Chief Gerard Mahoney said it’s “nothing short of a miracle” no one was killed.
“If this fire was in the middle of the night, there’s no doubt in my mind we would have had fatalities and serious injuries,” he said. The fire department received the first emergency calls shortly before 3 p.m. About 25 nearby communities provided aid.
Mahoney said fire crews spent Sunday morning hosing down hot spots and later assessing the structural integrity of the damaged buildings. He said some buildings are beyond repair while others had only broken windows. Mahoney said about 10 vehicles also were damaged or destroyed.
“Some of these buildings are going to have to come down. There’s no doubt about it,” he said from the densely populated neighborhood, as the sound of heavy equipment moving debris could be heard in the background. “It’s going to be a very lengthy process, a very lengthy process.”
Mahoney said it was the largest fire he’d seen in Cambridge during his 33 years with the department.
Both state and local fire investigators were on the scene trying to determine a cause for the fire, which jumped from one building to another and that witnesses said looked like a fireball.
“We’re just scratching the surface,” Mahoney said, when asked about a potential cause.
Alpert Neal, chief of staff to Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons, said in an email that the Red Cross and local officials were meeting affected families to assess their short- and long-term needs. Simmons has set up the Mayor’s Fire Relief Fund online to collect money donations for the residents. Checks can also be sent to the mayor’s office.
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Tor Dahl, Founder, Chairman and CEO
in Team
Tor Dahl is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Tor Dahl & Associates. He is an economist, consultant, and associate professor at the University of Minnesota.
Tor has written extensively in professional journals, served as a consultant to a number of foreign governments and U.S. corporations, states, governmental departments, and universities. He coordinated and edited the Proceedings from the White House Conference on the Vinland National Center, and chaired international conferences on lifestyle and health. He is Chairman Emeritus of the World Confederation of Productivity Science, founder of the World Academy of Productivity Science and has served on a number of national and state councils and task forces. He served as the Governor’s Representative on the Minnesota Coalition on Health Care Costs, and on the blue ribbon task force on State Health Priorities.
A Fulbright Scholar in Economics, Tor has published works on economics, management, health, productivity, and behavioral change. He was educated at the Norwegian University School of Economics and Business Administration in Bergen, Norway, and at the University of Minnesota. In recent years, he has worked with sophisticated electronic instrumentation that measures productivity, stress, and job satisfaction of executives and managers on the job, and studied the linkages between these variables and such factors as health status and successful behavioral change.
Tor has been a keynote speaker or presenter at a number of national meetings of the American Hospital Association, the Society for the Advancement of Management, the World Confederation of Productivity Science, the Operations Research Society of America, the American Economics Association, the American Public Health Association, the National Science Foundation, the American Heart Association, and others.
He is a founder of “Ski for Light”, the Vinland National Center, the Extensor Corporation, the Norwegian American Cultural Institute, and his own consulting firm—Tor Dahl & Associates. In 2008, he was recognized by King Harald of Norway for his work in economics and productivity and also for his contributions to furthering Norwegian-American relations, having been dubbed knight and officer of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit.
Loretta Hazlett, President
With a diverse professional background in sales, marketing, advertising, education, theatre, horse racing, the automotive business, and automotive financing, Ms. Hazlett has particular strength in the area of facilitating change to accommodate productivity growth in service sectors of every kind.
Dan Barr
Dan Barr has held a wide variety of leadership positions since first elected to office in 1955. He served on the Boards of three corporations during the early 1960s and has worked with individuals, groups and organizations interested in constructive change ever since.
Elin Kaafjeld
Elin first worked with TDA as part of The Performance Group in Oslo, Norway, a TDA licensee. Elin's strengths and accomplishments include planning, scheduling and managing projects both in Norway and in other countries.
Gaute Sandberg, Senior Associate
Gaute Sandberg is a certified interviewer, data analyst, and work group facilitator in the Tor Dahl Performance Improvement Process.
Paula Sandberg, Associate
Paula has more than 27 years of experience in group facilitation, event planning, organizational communication, team development and project implementation.
Jane White Schneeweis, M.A., Associate
Jane White Schneeweis holds a B.A. in Education from the College of St. Benedict, and a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from St. Mary’s University.
Maureen Schriner, Ph.D., Senior Associate
Maureen Schriner, PhD, brings a wide array of professional and academic experiences to her work as a consultant for TDA.
Cameron Strong
Cam is a consultant and former healthcare operations executive with extensive and diversified experience, both public and private, in insurance and hospital and clinic administration.
Dwayne Earl Tharp
Dwayne Earl Tharp worked for DuPont Films for 13 years in production before moving onto the High Performance Team as Coordinator.
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Ian Rankin on The Impossible Dead
Broadcast:
Thursday 1 December 2011 10:05AM (view full episode)
Image: The Impossible Dead
One of the UK's best selling authors Ian Rankin talks about his new book The Impossible Dead. He's written more than 30 novels, including 17 featuring the Edinburgh-based Detective Inspector John Rebus. Many of them were adapted into a successful TV series. But now with the hugely popular Rebus retired Ian Rankin has a new man on the force. Detective Inspector Malcolm Fox has the unsavoury job of investigating his own. He's part of the Complaints and Conduct department in the Professional Standards Unit. Internally it's dubbed the Dark Side. In the first book Complaints we meet Fox and his sidekicks, sniffing out a possible police paedophile with links to a Melbourne internet ring, but as in all his novels it has a number of complex threads winding up in some unexpected places—including the impact of the Global Financial Crisis in the underworld. In the latest in the series, An Impossible Dead Man, Fox goes out of Edinburgh into the Scottish lowlands to investigate a policeman accused of misconduct. From there it links to a murder with a revolver that shouldn't exist and to an era of extreme Scottish nationalism in the 1980s.
Anita Barraud: Today, Ian Rankin. He's one of the UK's best selling authors, he's written more than 30 novels, including 17 featuring the Edinburgh-based Detective Inspector John Rebus. Many of them were adapted into a very successful TV series. But now with the hugely popular Rebus retired, Ian Rankin has a new man on the force. Meet Detective Inspector Malcolm Fox who has the unsavoury job of investigating his own. He's part of the Complaints and Conduct Department in the Professional Standards Unit. Internally it's dubbed the Dark Side.
In the first book Complaints we meet Fox and his sidekicks, sniffing out a possible police paedophile with links to a Melbourne internet ring, but as in all his novels it has a number of complex threads winding up in some unexpected places, including the impact of the Global Financial Crisis in the underworld. In the latest in the series, The Impossible Dead, Fox goes out of Edinburgh into the Scottish lowlands to investigate a policeman accused of misconduct. From there it links to a murder with a revolver that shouldn't exist and to an era of extreme Scottish nationalism in the 1980s.
So Ian Rankin joins me now from his home in Edinburgh. Welcome to The Book Show, Ian Rankin.
Ian Rankin: Hi there.
Anita Barraud: And I believe that celebrations are in order.
Ian Rankin: Well, today, this evening here it is St Andrew's Day which is the patron saint of Scotland, so we tend to eat haggis for tea.
Anita Barraud: And was that good?
Ian Rankin: It was pretty good, yes, it came from the local butchers, and we have it with mashed potato and turnip with lots of butter and pepper.
Anita Barraud: Let's meet Detective Inspector Malcolm Fox, your new man on the force. Can you describe him?
Ian Rankin: Well, he is a very different kind of person and a very different kind of cop from Rebus. Rebus is the kind of cop that Malcolm Fox would probably investigate. He's not a maverick, or he is not a natural maverick, he is a team player, he enjoys having other offices around him who he can trust, he is not a loner in the way that Rebus was. He's not a rule breaker. Here's a guy who has to enforce the rules, so he has to be whiter than white, cleaner than clean.
And then my job is to try to take him into situations where he might have to cross the line a little bit and just see how far I can push him and make him have to become proactive, because in reality the internal affairs cops are fairly passive. You know, they kind of sit and wait for stuff to happen, they are waiting for a police officer to do something wrong. So I try and change him from this fairly passive individual to more of a man of action.
Anita Barraud: Although he is a guy more likely to listen to birdsong on the radio rather than Black Sabbath.
Ian Rankin: I had to make him different from Rebus, I didn't want anybody to read the books and think they were just getting Rebus with a different name. So I decided, okay, Rebus listens to a lot of music, so Malcolm cannot listen to music, he must to listen to something else. And there is a radio channel here that plays nothing but birdsong. So I thought, okay, that's what he listens to to just kind of chill out, to relax of an evening or a morning. And he doesn't smoke and he doesn't drink. He is also very close to his family. One of the nicest things I find about writing about Malcolm Fox is that he actually has close family in a way that Rebus didn't. Rebus preferred his own company whereas Malcolm likes to go and visit his father and hang out with his sister.
Anita Barraud: You have to wonder though about the motives for getting into such an unpopular job. Is that something you discussed with your contacts when you were researching for this book?
Ian Rankin: What happened is once I saw a newspaper story about internal affairs and I thought, oh, I've never really tackled that in the Rebus books, and I should have because Rebus is the kind of cop who would obviously get into trouble with internal affairs. So then I pulled a few strings and managed to take an internal affairs detective out for lunch and listen to them talk about their job, and it's a very different job from normal detective work. They are more like spies, they are professional voyeurs, they'll sit in a surveillance van for weeks and months on end to try and build a case against a potentially corrupt cop. And they have extraordinary powers at their disposal, and there are lots of phone taps and stuff like that. And I thought, well, this is going to get into spy territory, it's kind of Le Carre territory. So haven taken this detective out for a meal I thought, yes, I'm intrigued by these people and I'm intrigued by the kind of person you would have to be to do that job.
Anita Barraud: You mentioned it as being like a spy rather than a cop. But you're a bit of a spy yourself, you've often quoted Muriel Spark, that writers loiter with intent, stealing characters and anecdotes.
Ian Rankin: Loitering with intent is a criminal act, so I guess writers are more like criminals than anything else. But she is right, we sit in cafes and we eavesdrop on people's conversations and we might steal their little mannerisms or their dress sense to try and people our alternative universes. One of the nice things about being a writer is you get to play God, so if anybody has upset you or upset your friends, well, you can have terrible things happen to them in your next novel.
Anita Barraud: Watch out! I'm wondering though if that's a good thing or a bad thing, I'm wondering if you can ever go down to the pub for a few quiet beers or read a newspaper without having that sort of antenna on, that thieving antenna.
Ian Rankin: Yes, antenna is a very good way of putting it because it is a bit like that. I mean, you might overhear a scrap of conversation and you think that's intriguing, what are they actually talking about. And then you start to invent a scenario, so you start to imagine what kind of people they are and what they are talking about, what they are hiding from each other. Usually I just jot these moments down on scraps of paper, and then once a year I get this big file out and open it up and there are all these scraps of paper, and I look through them to see if there is some kind of theme or some sort of storyline emerging. Then I sit and give it a structure and start to write a novel.
Anita Barraud: I wonder what it does to your world view though, this constant antenna on?
Ian Rankin: I don't think you can be a novelist unless you're empathetic, you've got to be able to empathise with people around you, you've got to be able to jump into different skins, different people's heads, and try to imagine what the world is like from their perspective. That's quite fun. Crime writers specifically in real life are usually fairly boring, well-balanced people because we get all our kicks creatively by writing this stuff down. So, these amazing vicarious adventures all the time sitting at a computer or sitting with a pad of paper and a pen. And it's a way of getting out a lot of quite dark stuff from inside your head, so it's also I think very therapeutic. There's a great deal of catharsis when you're writing crime fiction. And that keeps crime writers well balanced.
Anita Barraud: So who do you think you'd be if you weren't a crime writer?
Ian Rankin: Quite a dangerous individual I dare say, maybe a master criminal, who knows.
Anita Barraud: And the department Detective Inspector Malcolm Fox works in, the Complaints and Conduct, it's going through a constant rename, as these things do, and they are supposed to be I think the Professional Ethics and Standards, but they are always going to be described internally as the Dark Side or the Rubber Sole Brigade.
Ian Rankin: Yes, the Rubber Heels because you never hear them coming. Everybody hates them. This is one of the interesting things about writing about internal affairs, is that everybody hates them, their own people hate them, cops hate them as well as villains. Villains hate them because they are the police, cops hate them because they might be investigating you, there might be something you're hiding from them and you don't want them to find out about it, so they are mistrusted. So you get a siege mentality with them, which is great, because the team is then a very close-knit team. It's like the whole world is against us, that makes us stronger. So I do enjoy that side of writing about internal affairs.
What I have found out, sadly, I didn't notice when I sat down to write the first book with Malcolm Fox, is that yet again I have created a character with inbuilt decrepitude. You don't become an internal affairs cop for your whole professional life, you go in for two or three or four or five years, and Malcolm has already been in internal affairs for a couple of years, so I guess one or two more books and then he's got to go back to normal detective duties.
Anita Barraud: Well, he could go back to CID.
Ian Rankin: Yes, that's probably what would happen, and surrounded by people who don't like him because of a previous job that he did.
Anita Barraud: And maybe he'll meet Rebus somehow.
Ian Rankin: Well, Rebus is still around. Rebus in fact works in the same building as Malcolm Fox because...it's kind of hinted at near the end of Rebus's retirement book Exit Music that one possibility for him is to work on unresolved cases, cold cases. And there is a real unit in Edinburgh that comprises four police officers, three of them are retired and one of them is a serving detective, and they just dust off old unsolved murders and see if there's any progress that can be made. And that's exactly what Rebus is doing. So when Malcolm Fox walks down the corridors of police headquarters he is basically walking past Rebus, seeing him in the canteen, passing him in the corridor. So Rebus has not left the building.
Anita Barraud: I don't think they'd get on terribly well. This book was inspired by a real-life unsolved story. Can you describe what it was and how you came across it?
Ian Rankin: Yes, last year in a newspaper there was a mention made of this suicide that happened in the mid-'80s, a lawyer found dead in his car. It looks like a car crash, it looks like the car had gone off the road, but then when they took him to hospital they found a bullet hole, and later on they eventually found a gun. But there were lots of question marks about this. He was a very successful lawyer, why would he want to commit suicide?
He had become very friendly with paramilitaries, with Scottish nationalists who didn't think that the official nationalist party were doing any good so they decided they would do the same thing that was happening in Northern Ireland and start to use the bullet and the bomb rather than the ballot box to try and bully people into taking Scotland towards independence.
And this lawyer had been helping them to escape the law, he had given them money so they could flee from being prosecuted. Several people said he was their paymaster, as a result of which his office had been burgled, his home had been burgled, potentially by the authorities, by the spies, the spooks, MI5 and the type. He was probably under surveillance. So there were a lot of question marks as to how this death had actually happened.
And what got me thinking about was the changes that had happened in the society between the mid-'80s and now because back then when I started looking at newspapers from the time, there were all these things we were terrified over, we were terrified that the Americans were going to put nuclear missiles in space and then the Russians would have to do the same thing, so Reagan and Gorbachev would have these talks. Global cooling, there was going to be a new ice age, we were terrified of this forthcoming ice age. And so on and so forth. And I thought, these fears that we used to have have been replaced by new fears. It's as though there is no vacuum; when you get rid of one problem, another problem comes along. So I just wanted to look at that, I wanted to look at the fact that the terrorists that we had then are not the same terrorists we have now but there are still things that we are terrified of.
Anita Barraud: It's a reminder really that terrorism isn't new.
Ian Rankin: Nothing new under the sun, no. And these guys were fairly active up into the 1990s when Prince William went to Saint Andrews University, they sent street maps and guides to the town to the IRA over in Belfast in Northern Ireland, with the expectation that the IRA would attempt to assassinate Prince William.
Anita Barraud: And there was another one I think...this book investigates...one of the offshoots of the Scottish National Liberation Army which were the radical arm, but there were lots of splinter groups, this was the Dark Harvest Commando group. I was intrigued by one discussion about the island of Gruinard and their involvement, again, with...
Ian Rankin: Again, this is a true story. There is an island that doesn't exist in that it is not on any maps, and the reason it's not on any maps is during World War II they carried out experiments with anthrax on this unmanned iland off the west coast of Scotland. They did it because they were thinking of dropping anthrax over Germany. So after the war was ended, people weren't allowed to go onto the island, so they erased it from maps so people wouldn't be tempted, and they put up lots of warning signs. So this group went and they got anthrax spores and they started sending them through the mail to 10 Downing Street, to political parties...
Anita Barraud: A Conservative Party conference in Blackpool I think too.
Ian Rankin: Yes, they sent it to the Conservative Party conference, they sent letter bombs to people, they sent corrosive liquids through the mail to Tony Blair's wife Cherie Blair, they set fire to the headquarters of the Conservative Party and the Labour Party in Scotland, they sent letter bombs to various people, they sent a letter bomb to Glasgow City Chambers on a day when Princess Diana was visiting, they poured petrol through the letterbox of an MP in Glasgow. I mean, they were small, nobody thinks there were more than a few dozen of them at any one time, but they were very active for a short period of time. And I'd forgotten this had ever happened because I was happily ensconced at Edinburgh University as a student and just, you know, if I wasn't in the library reading books and writing essays I was in the pub.
Anita Barraud: And in fact I think they or it least a splinter group of that Scottish Nationalist Liberation Army were implicated in sending that same soil from the Gruinard Island to Prince Andrew when he was at university I think as soon as 2001.
Ian Rankin: Yes, that was one of the things I was trying to find out and I didn't have much success with, was what happened to these people. The novel is really about that, it's about the fact that people who were paramilitaries, who were terrorists, can be brought into the political process, as we've seen in Northern Ireland. And maybe now that the Scottish National Party is in power in Scotland...I mean, some of these past terrorists could actually be happily working away in any range of job because very few of them were unmasked at the time, very few of them were tried or sent to jail.
Anita Barraud: And you have to wonder, because there is going to be a referendum on Scottish independence I think perhaps as early as next year.
Ian Rankin: Yes, the Scottish National party, now they are in power, have...I mean, it was part of their manifesto and they have promised that it's coming, but they're not going to have that referendum until they are fairly sure they can win it. And polls keep suggesting that at the moment people are very happy to have the National Party in power in Scotland, but they're not quite so ready to leap into full-scale independence. This was put into sharp focus by the financial crisis because the Scottish National Party had been making much of the fact that a small independent Scotland would be a wonderfully balanced country, very similar to Iceland or Ireland. Well, when those two countries look like going bankrupt, suddenly that wasn't the rallying cry any more.
Anita Barraud: Not looking so good.
Ian Rankin: No.
Anita Barraud: You set your stories in real time, mixing fact with fiction, and it makes your books kind of an anthropological study, in a way. It's something that you don't usually find with hard-boiled crime fiction novels.
Ian Rankin: Well, it's a lesson I sort of learned from some of the writers whose work I admired, like in the early days when I was just starting off as a crime writer, people like James Ellroy. When I discovered that the James Ellroy not only set his books in real time and real cities but also sometimes used real cases, real unsolved mysteries and real characters from the history of Los Angeles, and what you then start to get is a blurring of the line between fact and fiction. So if readers know that this character really existed and here they are in this book, maybe all the other stuff in this book is real as well. So you get that lovely suspension of disbelief.
Other writers…I mean, George Pelecanos, if you want to find out the history of 20th century Washington DC, his books are a terrific place to start. And in various cultures and countries around the world, crime fiction has been used to comment on social problems, to comment on the political situation at the time. That's what I'm interested in, I'm interested in writing fairly realistic depictions of the mess we are in, and I find that a detective is the perfect means to do that because a detective has access to every layer of society, from the politicians and the corporations down to the dispossessed, the disenfranchised, and the desperate.
Anita Barraud: And also you get a real sense of time and place and moving through it and a physical presence, you inhabit the streets and the pubs. And I know there are people who go to Rebus's pub, the Oxford Club. And with poor old Malcolm, DI Fox, you have him going to the supermarket for his microwave meals.
Ian Rankin: Again, a nice thing about the Complaints Department is that if you are a CID detective, you probably don't travel very far outside your own area. So Rebus realistically wouldn't go to Glasgow or Aberdeen or any of these other places that I have occasionally taken him in the book, he would stick to his own jurisdiction. But if you are Internal Affairs you get invited by other police forces of other jurisdictions to go and investigate potential corruption, because they don't want their own Internal Affairs Department to be investigating their own police stations.
And then this new book, one of the main reasons why it's set in Fife is because at a charity auction I optioned off the right to be in the next book and the guy who won, who paid the most money, said he wanted his restaurant that he owned to be mentioned, and his restaurant was in Cardenden, Fife.
Anita Barraud: Which is near where you were born.
Ian Rankin: Yes, five miles away from where I was born. So I thought, well, how am I going to get this restaurant into this book if the book is set in Edinburgh? So I thought, well, in that case I'll take the internal affairs, I'll take them over to Fife to investigate a police station there. So the fact that the whole book is based there is really because this guy paid to have his restaurant, The Pancake Place, mentioned in my next book.
Anita Barraud: Which it is mentioned, a number of times, and the Fife area is in the lowlands and it's where you grew up.
Ian Rankin: Yes, it's weirdly where a lot of writers of my age grew up. Val McDermid, she was born and brought up in Kirkcaldy which is five miles away from where I grew up, Iain Banks who writes fiction and science fiction grew up about seven miles away in Dunfermline, the poet John Burnside was about three or four miles away, and lots of artists and musicians as well. We've come to the conclusion that we're part of some cruel genetic experiment, that something was being put into the water in Fife in the late '50s and early '60s, because it's odd that so many creative people have come out of that very small geographical area of Scotland at the same time.
Anita Barraud: And particularly with crime fiction, and I know you are often described as the king of Tartan Noir, there are so many British crime writers from Scotland, it really is a kind of takeover.
Ian Rankin: I think what happened is around about the time that Val McDermid and I were starting off as crime writers, there were no rules. In Scotland there was no Agatha Christie or Raymond Chandler. So there was no tradition or history of crime fiction...
Anita Barraud: John Buchan, wasn't he Scottish? And Conan Doyle was Scottish...
Ian Rankin: Conan Doyle was, but you wouldn't know that to read his books. He purposely set his books in London with this English detective and didn't set anything in Scotland. So it's hard to think of him as being part of this kind of new tradition. But what happened was this younger school of crime writers came along who wanted to write socially aware fiction about urban life in 20th-century Britain, and found that the crime novel was a very good way of doing it.
And then when Val and I got successful, lots of younger writers came along thinking, oh well, if they can do it, maybe I'll have a go as well, and nobody is writing books about my city Aberdeen, so we get Stuart MacBride, and then in Glasgow we get Denise Mina and we get Christopher Brookmyre…
Anita Barraud: Louise Welsh.
Ian Rankin: And just so many of them now. And for a very small country really internationally punching above its weight in terms of the number of successful crime writers, good crime writers that we do have.
Anita Barraud: And Scotland has only got a population of about 5.5 million people...
Ian Rankin: Yes, 5 million.
Anita Barraud: And is there sort of a friendly competition between the Tartan Noir in, say...I'm thinking Glasgow versus Edinburgh? You've got Val McDermid, Denise Mina, and Louise, they are Glaswegian, and then you've got Alexander McCall and Glen Chandler...
Ian Rankin: No, I don't think there is rivalry, quite the opposite. We are actually in the midst of organising the first Scottish crime fiction festival, which will be in September 2012, and all the writers are working together to try and make it happen, to put together the best program of events. I think it's because we are not accepted by the literary establishment, so there's a kind of 'us and them' thing. We are the gang from the wrong side of the tracks, the wrong side of town.
And because we are not welcome when it comes to the Booker Prize or the other literary prizes, we try and fight for each other, we help each other as much as we possibly can. So no, I don't see much in the way of rivalry. Of course when it comes to getting number one bestsellers you might want your book to go to number one rather than some other crime writer's book going to number one, but when we get together we usually have a really good time. And if you're ever at a festival you know where you'll find the crime writers, you'll find them in the bar.
Anita Barraud: But there is a difference I think in terms of the setting, say, between Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Ian Rankin: Glasgow is a proper city, it's a proper big industrial city with a population of around one million, Greater Glasgow that is. Edinburgh's got a population of about half a million and to the visitor seems much more genteel, seems cultured, it's where you'll find the big museums and the art gallery, it's where you'll find the Scottish parliament and all the members of parliament. It has lots of Michelin restaurants which Glasgow doesn't have, but Edinburgh doesn't feel like a proper city, it feels like a village that has aspirations.
Edinburgh feels to me like this Jekyll and Hyde city. Robert Louis Stevenson who's been a huge influence on me wrote Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, he was really thinking of Edinburgh, and I think it was about the nature of Edinburgh, this city that on the surface seems very civilised and cultured but where all manner of terrible things could be happening underneath or just bubbling away underneath. Several times writers have approached Edinburgh in that way, of saying it's a city of haves and have-nots.
And structurally the city feels like that as well because there are two bits to it, the old town and the new town. And the old town is the original part of the city. It was built chaotically, there was no plan or structure to it, people were crammed in together. And then when it became unsanitary in the late 18th century they built the new town, which was rational, planned, almost like a geometric sketch, if you ever see a plan of it. And that was the rational versus the irrational.
And Robert Louis Stevenson as a young man, as a teenager, was living in the new town, his family were engineers, he was part of that rational Edinburgh, the Edinburgh of the Enlightenment. But he was very much attracted to this darker Gothic Edinburgh that was just up the hill, and he would tiptoe out of the house at night when his parents were asleep and he would go up to the old town, to the taverns, to the sleazy end of town, to consort with vagabonds, poets, prostitutes, drug addicts, you name it. So the two cities are there in Jekyll and Hyde, the two cities are still there, the city of great culture and great learning, but also of great poverty and desperation. And crime fiction allows me to discuss that, to discuss the nature of the city.
Anita Barraud: But you are really an accidental crime writer. I believe you were quite shocked when your first Rebus book was put in the mystery section.
Ian Rankin: Yes, because I thought I was rewriting Jekyll and Hyde. The first book, Knots and Crosses, was very consciously meant to be based on Jekyll and Hyde. But when it was published and it had a cop in it, it went into the crime section of the book stores. So I tried again and I wrote another book and called it Hide and Seek, where the name Hide, as in Jekyll and Hyde, is actually a pun in the title. And I quoted from Jekyll and Hyde throughout the book and I have characters named after characters in Jekyll and Hyde. Still nobody got it, it was still a crime novel and into the crime section it went. Luckily by then I had made it okay with myself to write crime fiction, I didn't see it as being a lesser form or a lesser genre. But at first, when I wrote the first book I was wanting to be a professor of literature and I was doing a PhD on the novels of Muriel Spark, and when the first book was published I was bemused to see it in the crime section. I wanted it to be in the literature section beside Muriel Spark and Robert Louis Stevenson.
Anita Barraud: Although I guess it might have softened it when you were reading the literary theorist Umberto Eco, who I think was one of your inspirations for writing crime fiction. He investigated the narrative structure of Bond and so forth, didn't he.
Ian Rankin: Yes, he did, and in The Name of the Rose he wrote a very wonderful loving pastiche to crime fiction which also manages to be a really good crime novel. His hero is called Baskerville and it's very playful. And the very first Rebus novel is very playful. The crime is solved with the help of a professor of literature at the university. So I hadn't travelled very far from studying literature to writing crime fiction. And of course the name Rebus means puzzle, it means a picture puzzle, so I had given my detective a name that was actually very playful as well.
But back then I didn't really know Rebus, Rebus was a way of telling the story, a means of taking us from A to B to C to D. It was only after maybe three or four books that I really started to get a sense not only that I enjoyed being inside this guy's head but that he was holding information back from me, and the only way I could find out what he was keeping from me was to continue to write about him.
Anita Barraud: And are you going to do the same with Malcolm as you get to know him? I know you're feeling that he may only have a few parts...
Ian Rankin: The second book was written because I enjoyed spending time with him in the first book and there was stuff I wanted to find out, I wanted to find out what's going to happen with his father, what's going to happen with his sister, how is his relationship with the officers around him going to develop? The only way I could find these things out was to write another book. I don't know what's going to happen next. I should right now be thinking about the next book because I should start writing the next book in January.
Anita Barraud: Because you have a very tight schedule, don't you, you stick to a structure.
Ian Rankin: Yes, November, December are usually getting the ideas and doing the research, January to June writing the book, July editing the book, August holiday, September pre-publicity for the publication, October publication tour, and in November back to thinking about the next book. All my holidays are kind of shoehorned into the month of August.
Anita Barraud: You must be a very tidy, meticulous person, organised.
Ian Rankin: You wouldn't say that if you saw my office. It looks like chaos to the outsider but I know where everything is. Everything is important to me, I can put my hand on it in seconds.
Anita Barraud: But you keep a really busy, don't you, apart from other things, from the fiction, you've written an opera libretto, you've written a graphic novel, you've done some documentary series, you also I think have some involvement with music. And you don't even have a personal assistant to reply to your letters.
Ian Rankin: No, well, I'm a control freak, so I won't let anybody else do that stuff for me. So yes, I pay the bills, I do the shopping, I go to the post office to post parcels, I reply to emails, I am on Twitter all the time, I do all of that, and somehow bizarrely manage to write a book as well.
Anita Barraud: And you don't seem very big-noting really for such a successful author, you seem pretty normal. What keeps you grounded?
Ian Rankin: Well, the books weren't successful for a long time. For many, many years I was either not being published or I was on the verge of being dropped by my publisher for not selling enough books. So success came relatively late. You know, I had probably published maybe 12 novels before I could afford to buy a small flat in Edinburgh, get a mortgage on a small flat in Edinburgh. And so when success did come, I think I was fairly well grounded because it didn't come quickly and it didn't come that easily.
And also I think my background, you know, two parents, working class, never owned their own home, never owned a car, worked hard all their lives, would be saving up a little bit out of each week's pay packet to go towards Christmas, a little bit out of each week's pay packet to go towards the summer holiday. I'm thankful for all the success but I think I come from a very grounded background.
Anita Barraud: And you have a family too, which probably helps.
Ian Rankin: Yes, I've got two kids, 19 and 17. The oldest one has gone off to university and I'm still worrying about him, and I think when he's 40 or 50 I'll probably still worrying about him, if I'm about to do it.
Anita Barraud: And one of your children has a disability, I understand.
Ian Rankin: Yes, the youngest kid, the 17-year-old.
Anita Barraud: And you are quite an advocate for disability rights. Are there particular issues in Scotland around services for..?
Ian Rankin: In fact Scotland is not bad for disability, but there is this...we're just about to face this thing called transition which is where your child is about to leave the schooling system because they've reached the age of 18, and there is this changeover when you go from children's services to adult services and when you leave the education behind. For example, we think he would benefit from an extra year at school and the school are happy for him to stay on an extra year, but the school's department, the council won't pay for that because he'll be 18 and they only have a statutory obligation to pay for his education until he's 18 and after that they don't.
At the same time, adult services, and he is going to suddenly fall under their remit, won't pay for education. So nobody is going to pay for this extra year at school except us, although we all agreed it's the best thing for him. So these are the kinds of hoops that families of children and adults with special needs all around the world have to try and deal with on a regular basis. And we are incredibly lucky because the success of my books means that we can just bite the bullet and say, well, look, if nobody is going to pay for it, we'll pay for it.
Anita Barraud: But other people can't, so you…
Ian Rankin: Other people can't. I see stories all the time, I hear stories from people who have got fundraisers, you know, their local pub is having a fund-raising night because they want to buy a wheelchair for their kid, and money is very tight, we know money is very tight everywhere. But when it's your child and you really think they are going to benefit from this, it's galling when you can't get it, it's galling when it is there but you just can't get access to it unless you raise the money yourself.
Anita Barraud: And is it difficult balancing his high and special needs with the care of your other son who, as you say, is a teenager, so I would argue has special needs as well?
Ian Rankin: He's left home now, he is 150 miles away now at a university in England, so he's making his own life now. We always and still do, even this year, we have our summer holiday together. Grandma comes as well and my younger son's carer comes with us, so six of us head off.
And we found that cruise ships are great because my younger son is in a wheelchair and cruise ships are very wheelchair-friendly. And usually when you get to the port, if you are visiting a port you can usually get the wheelchair off the ship and you can go and visit the town or the city or whatever. Not always, but sometimes. So we take holidays together.
My oldest son is very keen on music, like I am, so he and I will go to concerts. He'll come home at weekends and we might go and see a movie or we'll get a DVD. It is a balancing act, but I've been really lucky because I work from home, so if there's any problem with the kids, usually I'm sitting in the office here and I can just put the pen down or shut up the computer and deal with it. Not every parent has that luxury.
Anita Barraud: So what's next?
Ian Rankin: Oh Lord, what's next? Well, I guess I need to get my thinking cap on and I need to start finding an idea for the next book. All I know so far is that come June I'd better have something to show to my publisher.
Anita Barraud: Ian Rankin, thanks so much for joining me on The Book Show.
Ian Rankin: Thank you.
Anita Barraud: Ian Rankin's The Impossible Dead is published by Orion Books, distributed here in Australia by Hachette.
Ian Rankin
Scottish crime writer
The Impossible Dead
Anita Barraud
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Previous Media Monitor
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The LaRouche Democrats
by Cliff Kincaid on October 1, 2003
http://www.aim.org/mp3/2003/10/01.mp3
The Democratic presidential debate, sponsored by Fox News and the Congressional Black Caucus, was interrupted several times by supporters of Lyndon LaRouche. Washington Post columnist David Broder noted that front-runner Howard Dean, in response to a heckler’s question, “Where is LaRouche?,” replied, “I suspect he’s in jail.” LaRouche had served time in prison on fraud charges. That was a funny exchange, but the fact is that LaRouche is a Democratic presidential candidate with significant support in the party. And he is making some of the same charges against Bush and the Republicans that are being made by other Democrats.
Christine Hall of CNSNews.com reports that LaRouche has raised nearly $5 million for a 2004 White House bid. She says that’s “more money than four major candidates whom the Democratic National Committee acknowledges and invites to its events.” LaRouche has raised a total of $4.8 million for his 2004 presidential campaign, which places him sixth in the Democratic fundraising field of 10 declared candidates. Hall quoted Steven Weiss of the Center for Responsive Politics as saying that LaRouche “does raise substantial amounts of money. And he is a candidate with a…substantial following.”
A one-time Marxist, LaRouche is affiliated with Executive Intelligence Review, which issued a release on May 9, 2003, saying that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s overhaul of the Pentagon was “virtually identical in outline to the changes that Hitler’s Nazi Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick imposed upon the civil service of Germany in the Spring of 1933.” On October 4, 2002, LaRouche had issued a statement asking the United Nations to declare President Bush and Vice President Cheney insane. Larouche claimed, “By their pattern of bizarre behavior, the President?and the Vice-President?of the United States, have shown themselves to be insane.”
LaRouche’s Executive Intelligence Review has also released an article headlined, “Cheney’s Carpetbaggers: Looking for the Loot at the End of the Tunnel.” The theme was that companies associated with Cheney would make big money from the rebuilding of Iraq. Roll Call newspaper reports that Congressional Democrats have made the same charge, warning that the energy concern once headed by Vice President Cheney, Halliburton, must not benefit from “excessive profiteering” from the rebuilding of Iraq.
In the Democratic presidential debate, Senator Bob Graham of Florida said he might support the administration’s request for $87 billion in new funds for Iraq, but added: “I will not support a dime to protect the profits of Halliburton in Iraq.” Tim Russert of Meet the Press also brought up the Halliburton matter in his interview of Cheney.
Cheney replied that he has had no financial interest in Halliburton for three years. He said it was a “great company with great people” and that the criticism amounted to “political cheap shots.” LaRouche may not be getting invitations to the debates or Meet the Press, but some of his charges against the Bush administration are being echoed by other Democrats.
Cliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism and can be contacted at cliff.kincaid@aim.org. View the complete archives from Cliff Kincaid.
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Articles relating to: UCLA
Liberal Media Glance Over Another Disrupted Speech on College Campus
by Spencer Irvine on April 10, 2017
This time, instead of Charles Murray receiving the ire of Middlebury College protesters, it’s Heather MacDonald, a Manhattan Institute fellow and author of the book, “War on Cops.” But why did the liberal media ignore this protest at Claremont McKenna College? MacDonald had to be escorted out of the lecture hall and continued her speech […]
UCLA Campus was Locked Down due to Murder-Suicide
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What a tragedy. Two dead in an apparent murder-suicide.
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Fraudulent Gay Marriage Study Dupes the Media
by Don Irvine on May 21, 2015
The mainstream media have some egg on their face today after being forced to retract their reports on a gay-marriage study that was found to have been based on fraudulent research. The study, which appeared in the December 12, 2014 edition of Science, claimed that support for same-sex marriage among voters increased with the use […]
4/10/2017 - Liberal Media Glance Over Another Disrupted Speech on College Campus
6/2/2016 - UCLA Campus was Locked Down due to Murder-Suicide
4/1/2016 - UCLA Professors: FDR’s Policies Prolonged the Great Depression
5/21/2015 - Fraudulent Gay Marriage Study Dupes the Media
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Home Travel Experience Another Side of Amish Country
Experience Another Side of Amish Country
Amish country
Premier Carriage House Cottage
Qualcrest Farm
The Inn at Honey Run
P.Graham Dunn.
After a stressful month of deadlines, special projects and settling into our new office building, I think everyone here at Akron Life & Leisure could have used a break in mid-March. Luckily, a few of us were able to do just that, as we headed down to Amish Country in the name of “work.”
We spent two days exploring parts of Wayne and Holmes counties in order to share our ideas for a great weekend (or midweek) getaway. As you read along, keep in mind that we’ve barely scratched the surface of what Amish Country has to offer. In our part of Ohio, several Amish communities exist in Geauga, Stark and Tuscarawas counties, in addition to Wayne and Holmes.
And while buggy rides and homestyle cooking are certainly part of the package (and something everyone should experience at least once), we chose not to focus on those aspects this time. In a way, we’re exposing a side of Amish Country many might not even realize exists.
Our trip began with an early morning visit to P. Graham Dunn’s new Dalton headquarters. The new facilities include a factory and gallery of the stunning, inspirational wood décor P. Graham Dunn is known for.
From the moment you step inside, you’ll be taken aback by the stunning crown molding and grand staircase with a cherry finish that leads up to the gallery. Underneath the staircase, windows allow visitors to watch as machines laser engrave scriptural messages on some of the products. Upstairs, another set of windows line each side of the gallery, overlooking the production process as workers paint and assemble various items.
Although the gallery is a shopper’s paradise—complete with everything from jewelry, lithographs and picture frames to larger home décor items and even high-end furniture—it’s much more than that. As we were told during our tour, “It’s not just a store, not just a gallery; it’s an experience with a history.”
It’s a history that goes back more than 30 years and is centered around family and faith. In 1972, Peter Dunn and his wife LeAnna were on a mission assignment in Staten Island, N.Y., where they were assigned to a home for troubled girls. Peter put a workshop in the basement of the home and discovered that he really enjoyed that part of the ministry. Four years later, the Dunns returned to their Ohio home and Peter began designing and carving plaques from a chicken house on the family farm. At that time, in 1976, a neighbor named Carol Shoup and her cousin Robert Shetler began working with Peter. Today, Robert supervises all areas of production for P. Graham Dunn and also heads the company’s human resources department. Carol (now Carol Curie) continues to work daily in the shipping department, sending orders to customers around the world.
What visitors to P. Graham Dunn take away from their experience varies, says Peter Dunn, company president. But everyone is guaranteed an interactive experience. “We engage the consumer,” he says.
The next stop on our journey was to Shisler’s Cheese House in Orrville. Known as the “Best Little Cheese House in Orrville,” Shisler’s is a great place to pick up goodies for your drive or to take to your overnight destination. And with the store’s nice selection of cheese and crackers, it’s a perfect stop along the way to any of the local wineries.
No cheese is actually made in this shop, but Shisler’s carries a huge selection. One of the best sellers is Pearl Valley Swiss, of which owner Rita says she sells about 1,000 pounds per week. Shisler’s also sells Heggy’s and Coblentz chocolates in addition to nuts, Amish baked goods, honey and so much more. Shisler’s turns 50 in August, and Rita plans throw a “big, blow-out party” in celebration.
If you’re overwhelmed and not sure what to purchase, the samples table at store’s entrance might help you decide. We decided on the fresh pepperoni rolls and some Troyer’s trail bologna to save for later in the trip.
After leaving Shisler’s Cheese House, we headed to the J.M. Smucker Company Store and Café, also in Orrville. The first thing that caught my eye when we walked inside was the rainbow wall of jelly jars in the back of the store. In addition to jellies and jams, the beautifully arranged store also features nooks of products from Smucker’s family of brands including Pillsbury, Jif, Hungry Jack and Eagle Brand.
The eye-catching displays throughout the store are likely to whet your appetite, and for that reason the store features a tasting station complete with samples and recipes. There’s also a custom gift basket station, which might inspire you to put together a tasty gift in time for Mother’s Day.
In the back of the store, we walked through a miniature museum that includes a timeline of the company’s history from the 1897 original apple butter crock to today. The timeline also shows television clips from Johnny Carson, past and present commercials and other fun details, such as the fact that Smucker’s was named one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in 2004 by Fortune magazine.
Driving southwest from Orrville, we headed to Wooster, where we stopped in at The Cat’s Meow Village, home of the wooden, two-dimensional buildings and accessories designed by artist Faline Jones since 1982. Faline began by creating replicas of local architecture, each featuring her signature along with her famous black cat trademark, Casper. Originally, Faline had 12 designs, which were sold in two local stores. Today, the keepsakes are found in more than 600 retail locations throughout the country. In addition to popular landmarks and buildings, replicas can also be made of individual homes and with personal photographs.
During our visit, we watched a short video narrated by a cartoon Casper. With a bit of history and plenty of cat puns, the video is entertaining and informative for adults and children alike. Next, we toured the “mewseum,” which features interactive displays and a guessing game. The museum includes a cyber-café where children can have fun with computer puzzles and games while Mom shops in the retail store. To end our visit, we were able to screen-print our own Cat’s Meow collectible.
By this point, we’d worked up quite an appetite and decided to stop for lunch at Matsos in downtown Wooster. This friendly neighborhood restaurant serves authentic Greek fare as well as a variety of pastas and pizzas. The restaurant’s walls are covered with framed photographs from the Ohio Light Opera, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this summer. Restaurant owner Spiro Matsos has been a longtime performer with opera, and exudes enthusiasm about the upcoming season.
After lunch, we checked in at the Wayne County Convention & Visitors Bureau, where Martha Starkey and her staff are always willing to pass along information and recommendations.
Although we didn’t have time during this trip, another site worth checking out in Wooster is Quailcrest Farm. Begun as a perennial nursery in 1975, Quailcrest is now known throughout the state for its herbs, perennials, old roses, flowering shrubs and scented geraniums for the serious and hobby gardener. It’s the perfect destination for gardening information, eclectic shopping and a tour of the relaxing gardens.
Before leaving Wooster, we had one more stop to make: Troutman Vineyards. Opened in 2001 by Deanna and Andy Troutman, who also own The Winery at Wolf Creek, Troutman Vineyards features a unique selection of locally grown wines. The most popular, and my personal favorite, is the Farmers White, a German-style white wine with apricot, apple and peach aromas. After sampling several wines, we couldn’t resist purchasing a few bottles to take back to the Premier Carriage House Cottages in Berlin, where we were staying for the night.
The Premier Carriage House Cottages include six individual cottages that can comfortably fit between four to 10 people each, with average rates ranging from $145-$245 each. Complete with a full kitchen, table, sofa, TVs, stereo, two beds, two bathrooms, Jacuzzi tub and more, theses cottages have all the comforts of home but in the beauty of rural Holmes County. In addition to the indoor amenities, guests also have use of an outdoor pool and hot tub as well as complimentary breakfast served daily from about 9:30-11:30 a.m. in the office just a short walk down the road from the cottages.
Guests have come from as far as England, New Zealand and South Africa to stay at the cottages, which make an ideal setting for a girls’ getaway, a family vacation or a romantic weekend. And the staff will do whatever necessary to ensure guests have an enjoyable stay, whether that means creating custom gift baskets, arranging in-room massages and spa treatments or scheduling activities such as horseback or hot air balloon rides.
For dinner, we drove just a couple miles down the road for dinner at the Inn at Honey Run, another Berlin lodging site. Built 25 years ago with the intent of being a “green” building even before the environmental movement was in vogue, the Inn at Honey Run sits on 70 acres of land between Millersburg and Berlin. Each room has a different décor and includes wildflower, tree and bird identification books as well as a CD of bird songs.
The inn also has a spa, basement lounge and full-service restaurant, all open to the public. The menu changes seasonally, and during our March visit we sampled the lobster saffron ravioli, shrimp and penne pasta, and the salmon entrees. For dessert, we shared the créme brulée and the upside down apple pie. Everything was exquisite, and in my opinion, the food alone is worth the drive down from Akron.
Our visit was on the eve of spring, but apparently Old Man Winter had one more trick up his sleeve. While we were inside filling up on Chef Thomas Hunt’s creations and enjoying pleasant conversation, a blizzard was brewing outside. Our drive back to Premier Carriage House Cottages took twice as much time in the white-out conditions. We arrived back safely, though, and with our tummies full, enjoyed a good night’s sleep.
Thankfully the snow has stopped by morning and we were able to stroll down to the office for waffles and coffee before continuing our trip. Next, we headed to Mount Hope to visit Homestead Furniture, started in 1990 by owner Ernest Hershberger, whose family has an extensive background in woodworking.
Homestead prides itself on selling hand-tooled, solid hardwood furniture that will last a lifetime. We browsed through the three-level showroom and were amazed at the fine craftsmanship of the furniture. Every piece is customizable and once ordered is ready for delivery or pick-up in about six weeks.
It’s worth mentioning that Homestead Furniture is part of The Best of Ohio’s Amish Country, a group that includes Amish Door Village, Coblentz Chocolates, Lehman’s, P. Graham Dunn and Walnut Creek Cheese. While there wasn’t enough time to stop at them all during this trip, I’ve been to each and highly recommend a visit.
Although most of our trip was planned out, we did make one unexpected stop to the Kidron Livestock Auction. Having never been to a livestock auction before, it was quite a shock for me to see the animals paraded around for sale. It was especially difficult knowing that many of the cute farm animals would likely become someone’s next meal, and for that reason, these auctions are not for the faint of heart.
Once we got back on track, we stopped by the Ashery Country Store in Fredericksburg. Owned by Curt and Rhonda Yoder, Ashery markets itself as the “Grandma of the Bulk Food Stores.” With 36 varieties of cheeses, more than 90 spices and an assortment of homemade jams, cereal, baking supplies, bulk candy and more, you’re likely to find all your cooking and baking needs, and at reasonable prices.
After roaming the crowded aisles at Ashery Country Store, it was time to head back to work, but feeling a little more rested and invigorated than before.
For more information about these and other destinations in Ohio’s Amish Country call the local visitors bureau or visit them on the Web.
Wayne County Convention & Visitors Bureau
www.waynecountycvb.com
Holmes County Chamber of Commerce
www.visitamishcountry.com
Tuscarawas County Convention & Visitors Bureau
www.ohiotimelessadventures.com
Stark County Convention & Visitors Bureau
www.cantonstarkcvb.com
Geauga County Tourism Council
www.tourgeaugua.com
THE 330 Amish Country akronlife Akron Akron Life Magazine akron life Amish
19 reasons you need to hit downtown Akron ASAP
Here's some of the great places to go and things to do in downtown Akron right now.
Fat Head’s Strange Magic
With its latest production facility now in full swing, Fat Head’s Brewery finally has the capacity to expand its packaged beers.
Fertile Ground
A new book preserves Kent’s rock ‘n’ roll history with personal accounts of legendary rock stars before they were famous.
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Conflict decimates Syria tourism: official report
تارخ النشر: Wednesday Wednesday, 29 August 2012 - 29 August 2012 KSA 18:40 - GMT 15:40
Syrian Tourism Minister suggested that Syrians holiday at home and that expatriates “spend their holidays in their country of origin.” (Reuters)
Tourism in Syria has been decimated by more than 17 months of deadly conflict, with hotel rooms once let to foreigners now often occupied by people who are refugees in their own country, official figures show.
Revenue from tourism has plummeted 75.4 percent since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule erupted, the prime minister’s office was quoted as saying by the government daily Tishrin on Wednesday.
A government study showed that tourism generated just 12.8 billion Syrian pounds ($178 million at current rates) in the first quarter of 2012, compared with 52 billion in the same period last year -- one billion dollars at the time.
The tourism ministry said the industry in 2010 accounted for 12 percent of GDP, generating more than 6.5 billion dollars and employing 11 percent of the workforce.
But the anti-regime revolt, which began as a peaceful movement in March 2011 and has steadily militarized in the face of repression, has seen tourist numbers fall by a staggering 76.4 percent and tourism jobs decline by nearly two thirds.
In an effort to halt the slide, Tourism Minister Hala Mohammed al-Nasser only last month suggested that Syrians holiday at home and that expatriates “spend their holidays in their country of origin.”
Her comments came amidst ongoing bloodshed which one watchdog says has killed more than 25,000 people.
Nasser also stressed the importance of “religious tourism,” only weeks before dozens of Iranians were kidnapped by rebels.
Many hotel rooms in Damascus are now occupied not by tourists, but by displaced families fleeing conflict in their home towns or even neighboring districts of the capital.
The sites that in the past made Syria a favored tourist destination are themselves also under threat.
According to UNESCO, five of Syria’s six World heritage sites have been affected by the fighting: Damascus, Palmyra, the Crac des Chevaliers crusader castle, the ancient northern villages (or Forgotten Cities) and Aleppo, where fighting has raged for more than a month.
The country’s petroleum sector has also suffered, with oil exports falling from 13,500 tons in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 7,500 tons in the first quarter of 2012.
Petroleum imports, on the other hand, rose from $817 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 to $844.2 million in the first quarter.
In August and September 2011, the United States and the European Union banned the import of Syrian petroleum and petroleum products to put additional pressure on the Assad regime.
Europe had previously bought 95 percent of Syrian oil, generating a third of the country’s revenue.
The then petroleum minister Sufian Allaw said in May that Western sanctions on Syrian oil had cost the country nearly $4 billion dollars in losses and contributed to a domestic shortage.
Overall investment in Syria has also taken a nosedive, falling 85.7 percent since the first quarter of 2011, the government study showed.
Investment projects already nearly halved in the first half of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010, official figures showed.
The Institute of Statistics said that year-on-year inflation reached 36.1 percent in June.
The Syrian economy, weakened by nearly a year and a half of revolt, can hold out against international sanctions with the help of “friendly countries” such as Russia, Iraq, Iran and Venezuela, experts believe.
But all indicators are red in the strife-torn country: GDP has collapsed, inflation has skyrocketed, unemployment continues to rise and the current account deficit is widening.
عودة حركة الملاحة بمطار معيتيقة بعد ضربة جوية 21:02 GMT
واشنطن: على إيران الإفراج فورا عن ناقلة النفط المحتجزة 17:03 GMT
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Alaska Pink Salmon Fishing Information
The pink salmon, or Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, is the smallest of the Pacific salmon, weighing up to five pounds. Known otherwise as the “humpback” or “humpy” because of its very pronounced, laterally flattened hump, the pink salmon is called the “bread and butter” fish in many Alaskan coastal fishing communities. This is because of its importance to commercial fisheries. Sport anglers and subsistence fisherman both benefit substantially from the pink salmon. Pink salmon are native to Pacific and arctic coastal waters, from northern California to the Mackenzie River, Canada, and to the west from the Lena River in Siberia to Korea. On even numbered years, from late July through the summer until mid-August, pink salmon enter the river in numbers so plentiful, it appears one could traverse the river on their backs.
The pink salmon has an average weight of about three and a half to four pounds and average length of twenty to twenty five inches. Adult pink salmon returning to coastal waters are a bright, steely blue on top with silvery sides. The back and tail are covered in black spots. The humpy’s scales are very small and their flesh is pink. As the pink salmon approaches its spawning streams, the male’s bright appearance changes to brown or black above with a white belly; females become olive green with dusky bars or patches above and a light-colored belly. Upon entering the spawning grounds, a male pink has developed its characteristic hump, along with hooked jaws. Young pink salmon are almost entirely silvery, and do not bear the stripes or parr mark common to other salmon.
Between late June and mid-October, adult pink salmon enter Alaska spawning streams. It is quite common to see different species of salmon spawning in the same stream or run as pink salmon. Pink salmon frequently spawn within a few miles of the coast and within the intertidal zone. Spawning in the mouths of streams is also common for the pink salmon. Pink salmon favor areas with fast flowing water over coarse, gravelly floors. Depending on its size, a female pink may carry fifteen hundred to two thousand eggs. Like other salmon, the female pink will lay her eggs in a nest in gravelly areas. The eggs are immediately fertilized by one or more males and then covered further by the digging action of the female. The process is repeated several times until all the female’s eggs have been released. Spawning males and females commonly die two weeks after finishing the spawning process. These eggs hatch sometime during midwinter. These young fry, called alveins, take nourishment from the yolk sac as they develop. The fry swim up out of the gravel and migrate downstream into salt water, in late winter or early spring. Most fry emerge and begin migration during the dark hours. Following entry into salt water, the juvenile pink salmon move along the beaches in dense schools near the surface. They feed on plankton, larval fishes, and occasional insects.
While predation is heavy on the very small, newly emerged fry, their growth rate is rapid. The juvenile pink salmon are four to six inches long by the fall, and are moving into the ocean feeding grounds in the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands areas. Tag and recapture experiments conducted on the high seas have revealed that pink salmon, originating from specific coastal areas, have characteristic distributions at sea which are overlapping, nonrandom, and nearly identical from year to year.
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WATER FOR HWANGE
Sustainable solutions for an African park
During the harsh dry season, thousands of elephants and other wildlife compete for scarce water in Zimbabwe's oldest and largest game reserve, Hwange National Park. With no rivers flowing through it and few natural water sources, Hwange has long depended on artificially pumped water, as have communities bordering the park.
Hwange's water is mostly pumped from underground boreholes using diesel engines, which are dirty, unreliable and expensive to maintain. Solar hybrid pumps offer a cleaner, more sustainable and cost-effective alternative.
Water for Hwange is an initiative co-driven by Zimbabwe's Imvelo Safari Lodges and Seattle's Wildland Adventures. The goal is to raise funds to purchase, install and maintain solar hybrid water pumps in and around Hwange National Park. These pumps will provide more sustainable and reliable water sources for Hwange's wildlife, as well as clean drinking water for local villages. Water for Hwange recently won a $20,000 grant from the Adventure Travel Conservation Fund.
Donate to the D3 Foundation's Water for Wildlife campaign, which funds new water pumps in Hwange Park.
Join a Water for Hwange Safari. Enjoy incredible wildlife viewing, experience village life, participate in community development, and meet the game rangers and scientists working on the front lines of African wildlife protection and rural community development. Part of your trip fee will go directly toward new water pumps for Hwange. For more information, contact Wildland Adventures' Chris Moriarty.
Mark 'Butch' Butcher, Imvelo Safari Lodges' Managing Director, has spent a lifetime working on the frontlines of conservation. A native Zimbabwean, he spent decades as a Hwange Park game ranger before entering the safari lodge industry. Today, he oversees Imvelo's efforts to protect and preserve Hwange's wildlife, mitigate human-wildlife conflict, and improve the lives of thousands of rural villagers who live on the periphery of Zimbabwe's greatest national park.
Kurt Kutay, the founding President and CEO of Wildland Adventures and the director of the non-profit Travelers Conservation Trust, has traveled and guided throughout the world since 1975. As a recognized industry pioneer in adventure travel and ecotourism, he has served on numerous professional boards and conservation organizations.
Chris Moriarty, Wildland Adventures' Africa Program Director, has travelled to remote corners of the African continent on numerous private and self-guided safaris in eight countries. International travel, conservation and community development have shaped his life, and have nurtured his passion for sharing his knowledge and experience to design transformational travel opportunities to Africa.
Mark Sissons, a Canadian travel journalist, has visited Hwange National Park on assignment for a number of international publications. His feature stories in the San Francisco Chronicle, NUVO, Present Magazine and other outlets mainly focus on Hwange's conservation challenges and triumphs.
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Largest Virginia Informed Consent Case at the Time (Part 1)
This is the story of a case I handled around 1985 in Norfolk, Virginia regarding a gentleman we will call Mr. Jones.
Mr. Jones was about 50 years old and worked for the Norfolk school system as a maintenance man and janitor. On Sundays he was a minister at a church.
Mr. Jones started having some problems with his neck and his back. He went to see a doctor who mainly did work as an orthopedic surgeon but was also a neurosurgeon. He talked to Mr. Jones and recommended to Mr. Jones that he have an operation on his neck, but the doctor did not adequately explain the risks of the surgery.
One day Mr. Jones was in the hospital on a preliminary visit when they were trying to make the decision on if he was going to have the operation. As Mr. Jones sat talking to his daughters in the hospital the doctor happened to come in and they started discussing the risks of the surgery. The doctor was really selling the operation and one of the daughters asked “What are the chances that things could go wrong and something could happen and our father might become paralyzed?” The doctor said there is almost no risk 1-2% at most. She said “Would you mind writing that on this napkin?” She had a napkin from the food service in the hospital and the doctor wrote a note for her and she took the note and put it in her bible that she was carrying.
In any event they went ahead with the operation and Mr. Jones was paralyzed from his waist down as a result of the operation. A very serious injury obviously.
When suit was filed the case came up for trial in Norfolk Circuit Court. The jury pool was sitting in one room and there were jury panels from six different courtrooms so there were a large number of jurors. All the jurors that had been called that day were sitting in the room waiting to be assigned to different cases.
One of the jurors had a heart attack and the doctor that was being sued in the Mr. Jones case went over to the jury room and tried to administer help to the juror who had a heart attack, and as it turned out the juror died, but the entire jury panel had seen this doctor helping the juror and, as a consequence of that, the trial was continued because it was felt that the jury pool had been poisoned by the fact that the doctor had looked so good in front of the jury by trying to rescue the juror.
When Mr. Jones was told that the case had to be continued he told us that he didn’t mind because he had been talking to God and God had told him that today was not a particularly good day to try the case. So the case was continued about several months and it came back to court and Mr. Jones was asked if he had talked to God about the trial going forward on that day. He said that he had and that everything was good, that God was good for that day.
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Indonesia’s Colonial Transmigration is intentional annihilation of Papua’s Indigenous peoples
October 19, 2015 Analysis, Briefing by Papuan Civil Society members, Investigative Journalism, News alert, Written by regular contributor for WPMannihiliation, colonisation, demographic genocide, demographic marginalisation, military occupation, slow motiion genociide, Transmigration program, UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peopleswestpapuamedia
THE INTENTIONAL ANNIHILATION OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF PAPUA BY THE GOVERNMENT THROUGH THE TRANSMIGRATION APPROACH
Special analysis and investigation
By Santon Tekege
This piece was originally sent to be published for the International Day of Peace, September 21, however given its length, editing translation has taken several weeks.
Population growth charts of indigenous Papuans vs transmigrants under Indonesian occupation (Illustrative Graph: Awikaituma)
I write these words with tears falling down my face. As an indigenous Papuan I feel like I have been expelled from my own land. It’s as if we have been removed far away from the land of Papua, like the land is being purged of all indigenous Papuans. My people have become observers of all the changes that we are being subjected to and of all the games and manoeuvres being played out by the Indonesian Government in Papua. I ask myself what I have done wrong, such that I as one of the owners of this land should have been pushed to the margins in this way. Marginalised and expelled from my own land.
The marginalisation of the indigenous Papuan population is happening not only as a result of the flood of non-Papuans arriving in the land week after week, but also is being contributed to by the low birth rates of indigenous Papuans at this time, whilst there is also an continuous increase in their death rate. The native peoples of the land of Papua are being annihilated intentionally by the Indonesian Government. Annihilated on the soil of their own ancestors.
Marginalisation of the Indigenous Papuan Community through Transmigration.
The plan of the central Indonesian Government at this time to restart the transmigration program to Papua, is a matter of great concern. Not only for Papuans themselves, but it should also be of great concern for others as in every location where Papuans are being increasingly pushed out to the margins there is a growing risk of conflict at some future date.
As has been previously reported in the national Indonesian media, Marwan Jafar – recently appointed by President Widodo as the Minister for Villages, Transmigration and the Development of Undeveloped Regions – has stated that there would be a new program that would take residents from the overpopulated regions of Java to the still underpopulated region of Papua. Jafar stated that he would carry out a large scale socialisation of the area in stages, and that he’d work closely with the Indonesian military and police to ensure safety for the new transmigrants so they felt safe to make the shift to a transmigration area (see Antara 5 November 2014).
In response, Cypri Jehan Paju Dale, a researcher who since 2012 has been carrying out research into social issues in Papua, has stated that a new transmigration program would worsen the already occurring marginalisation of the indigenous Papuan population. Dale together with an activist Pastor John Djonga in 2011 wrote “The Papuan Paradox”. He stated that at this time there is a real feeling of dread amongst Papuans. They are anxious as they can already see the reality that the numbers of non-Papuans is continuing to rapidly increase as Non-Papuans quickly become a growing majority of the population in Papua. Those anxieties already are very much present amongst Papuans, so to hear that the Government is going to relocate yet more transmigrants, causes people great concern indeed. They are well aware that this will make the already existing threat even more immediate and increase the level of injustices against indigenous Papuans.
By way of background, the transmigration program has been in operation in Indonesia since the 1950’s when today’s Indonesian was still partly under Dutch control. The program failed continuously throughout the Suharto era. He then went on to be removed as president in 1998. According to Dale’s research the extent of numbers of transmigrants that have been moved to Papua from other islands in the archipelago have changed the demographics of Papua such that in recent years the indigenous Papuan sector of the population has been reduced to below 50 percent of the total population.
As can be seen clearly on the map below, according to 2003 census data the relative proportions of indigenous Papuans and non-Papuans were at that time 52% and 48% respectively, from a total population of 1.9 million. By 2010 census data showed indigenous Papuans having reduced to 49% compared to non-Papuans 51%, from a total population of 2,833,381.
Demographic dispersal in Papua
In some kabupaten (local administration areas) the numbers of non-Papuans are now much higher than the numbers of indigenous Papuans. In Keerom kabupaten for example according to the 2010 census, the total of indigenous persons in the population was only 40.64%. Similarly in the Merauke kabupaten it was only 37.34% indigenous, in Mimika 41.36% , Nabire 39.90%, Sorong 40.03%, Fakfak 41.78% and in Manokwari 49.45%. In the main towns of every kabupaten in both provinces – Papua and West Papua – the non-Papuans now exceed the numbers of indigenous Papuans (refer to the map above for detail).
According to the Writer not only has there been a change in demographics but also an imbalance in economics of the Papuan and non-Papuan sectors of the society. With non-Papuans having taken control of all the economic centres in the main towns and cities, whilst the larger majority of the indigenous population continues to be spread throughout the interior living with very minimal facilities. The benefits of development seen through the Special Autonomy program in Papua have been and continue to be enjoyed primarily by non-Papuans (despite continuous claims that it is indigenous Papuans who are benefiting). This is what Papuans refer to as development that has been ‘snatched by the transmigrants’. There are very small number of Papuans who are enjoying those fruits of Special Autonomy, but they are a very small group only of the Papuan elite. By far the larger majority of indigenous Papuans are far from being able to access any benefits such as those that are being espoused to the wider public.
A key figure of the Amungme community in Timika kabupaten, Papua Mr Thomas Wanmang, has stated in an interview that his people have experienced many injustices as a result of the large influx of non-Papuans into their area. This includes those who have come through transmigration programs and others who have transmigrated independently of those formal programs. Wanmang claims that the transmigration process at this time is itself what is causing the increasingly serious lack of attention that is being shown by the government towards the indigenous sector of the Papuan population. “As Papuans we are being given nothing whatsoever. What’s happening is that those who have transmigrated here are being spoilt and treated like they are something special.” He stressed that the presence of the transmigrants is creating a sense of jealousy in Papuan circles. “As we as the owners of this land meanwhile can’t go forward.”
The Papuan Provincial Governor Lukas Enembe in an interview with Tabloid Jubi in Jayapura on 5 November 2014 firmly stated his rejection of the plan of Minister Marwan Jafar to reactivate the Transmigration Program. According to Enembe further transmigration would result in the needs of the indigenous population being increasingly ignored and of them becoming an increasing minority in their own land. In that interview Enembe admitted that the Papuan population had already become much smaller than the non-Papuan sector. He went on to say that it wasn’t the Papuan provincial government that had agreed to the new transmigration program but rather the new government of Jokowi. “Indigenous Papuans are now small in number and the government is not able to treat them any better than this. So why would yet more people be tranmigrated from Java? For this reason there is as yet no plan in place (by the Papuan Provincial Government) to bring more transmigrants here.”
The need for serious attention to the situation.
The invasion of Papua by peoples from other regions of the Indonesian archipelago has increasingly become a mechanism of colonialism, a way of taking control of a region through a policy of systematically populating the area with a new people. A human invasion into Papua which has been accompanied by a ‘securitisation’ of the region by the State which is so very excessive. A securitisation which includes the practice of torture and which controls and oppresses the Papuan people by every political means possible.
An awareness of the potentially negative effects of further transmigration on the indigenous Papuan population were obviously evident to Minister Marwan Jafar as reflected by his statement that the Ministers would work together with the Indonesian military and police to make Papua safe for transmigrants. This is even worse than the colonialism experienced by Papuans during the period when the Dutch held the colonial power in the archipelago. The numbers of the Dutch were largely limited to those on the islands of Nusantara. Whereas at this time Papuans have become a minority in all the major towns and cities throughout Papua.
Many at this time are saying that Indonesian has been extremely effective in colonising Papua. They have ‘achieved’ that by applying policies and practices that have involved major risks. Risks of future problems that are hard to even imagine at this time. It is for this reason that some parties have been lobbying President Jokowi to place a moratorium on transmigration to Papua. However it is very clear that Indonesia needs a continuing mechanism for the ongoing organised invasion of Papua such that the Papuan people become increasingly marginalised and become as if foreigners in their own native land. “There must be constant pressure created by policies towards indigenous Papuans and in particular in the areas of economics, education and health” Jafar explained.
The critical importance of dialogue at this time between Papua and the central government has been stressed by humanitarian organisations, churches, lecturers and university aged students. For so long dialogue has been called for. “Within the forum of dialogue all problems can be spoken of openly, be put on the table for resolution” Pastor John Djonga stated. Proper Dialogue, did not impose any limitations on the framework under discussion, for example final full independence (Merdeka harga mati) or non-negotiable final acceptance of remaining with NKRI.
“At the same time as stressing the importance of bringing an end to the problems of history which are indeed complex (WPM: Demand of “Rectification of History”), dialogue is also considered as one way which can bring about an appropriate solution to the many urgent problems that people are observing each day with their own eyes. Problems including marginalisation of Papuans, being made a minority in their own land, and injustices related to the transfer of a population to the land of Papua” he continued.
Pastor John Djonga has also urged the government to carry out an overall evaluation of the results of the practice of transmigration until this time. He points out one particular effect of the transmigration which has been the lack of regard of the Indonesian government for the ways of the indigenous Papuan community. He writes of the practice of the government which has been to take land from Papuans for giving to transmigrants. He explains that in Papuan culture the land is held communally, whereas the government persists in just approaching a very few people nominated by the tribal head, with the money given for the land is then split between those few only. He stresses “whereas in reality that land is the property of the entire community concerned. This creates the seed of division in a community that until that time was strong and united.”
Pastor Djonga himself acknowledges that it’s impossible to close ones eyes to the imbalance that now exists between the indigenous Papuans and the transmigrants. He points out that the newcomers arrive with high levels of motivation to improve their standard of living and willingness to work hard to do so. What’s more they come already having certain skills, whereas Papuans have an attitude of going along just as normal and they continue with their usual traditional way of life. With the consequence that the gap between the races is progressively widening.” However he says, the situation as it is in this regard cannot be blamed totally on the work ethic of the Papuans, as “for a long time now Papuans have not been receiving any serious attention from the government.” According to Pastor Djonga the government must not force further transmigration on the Papuan community. “Don’t let it get to the point that the government plants further seeds of problems. The transmigrants will also then be responsible for the consequences.”
Similar views have been expressed by Gunawan Iggeruhi, a 30 year old human rights activist in Papua, who said “it is better that the government listens first to the voices of Papuans before they go ahead and make policies that are totally rejected by the people of Papua.”
According to Iggeruhi, until this time Papuans have appeared on the surface to respond to the arrival of the countless transmigrants like it was nothing extraordinary, “however the reality is that Papuans inside are carrying constant wounds in their hearts over the massive transmigration.
“Wounds that have not been allowed to heal due to the incessant actions of the government against the Papuan people; actions which have become increasingly serious”. Iggeruhi continued, “to stop those wounds continuing to deepen the transmigration needs to stop and truly allow the real life of indigenous Papuans to be planted in this land so that they do not forever feel like they are treated as second class citizens.”
It is now visibly apparent that the proportion of indigenous Papuans is progressively decreasing each month in Papua. This is contributed to by the low birth rates together with the increasing death rates amongst Papuans. This is in comparison to the birth rates of Non-Papuans in the land which are rapidly increasing whilst the death rates of Non-Papuans are at a real minimum. These realities need to be considered together with other factors and in particular that the number of migrants coming to Papua continue to grow and that all towns, cities and in fact every corner of Papua have now been taken over by Non-Papuans. As a result the indigenous Papuan population is now on a path heading towards extinction. It has been estimated that if the current trends continue that indigenous Papuans may be no longer by the year 2040.
The claim that indigenous Papuans will be ‘wiped out’ by the year 2040
What has the life of indigenous Papuans been like since they became a part of the Republic of Indonesia, and how has that reflected in changing population statistics from prior eras to now? Results of research by Dr. Jim Elmslie & Dr. Camellia Webb Gannon from the University of Sydney’s Peace & Conflict Studies in Australia are very telling. Two years following the 1969 Act of Free Choice in 1971, indigenous Papuans comprised 96% of the population (887,000 out of the total 923,000 population). Whilst the Non-Papuan total at that time was stated as 36,000 (4% of the population). Within 53 years of Papua being part of Indonesia the total of Non-Papuans has reached 53% at 1.956 million, whilst the indigenous Papuan population has decreased to 1.7 million being 47% of the total population.
The data published by Dr Elmslie & Dr Webb-Gannon from Australia has since been re-analysed by a Mr Ir. Yan Awikaitumaa Ukago, M.M in Papua (10 August 2015), who used a method involving the use of non-linear segregation graphics mathematics (refer diagram above). According to Ukago “The growth of the indigenous Papuan population (shown by the red line in the diagram) tended to stagnate over a period of a decade and declined following 2005. Meaning that from 1971 until 2004 the numbers of Indigenous Papuans in Papua were still dominant (shown by the red area). However following that year the numbers of Non-Papuans (shown by the yellow area) became dominant. Reading from the diagram, the red line is the graphic representation of the growth rate of indigenous Papuans, whereas the yellow refers to the growth rate of the Non-Papuan sector of the population. It appears that the total of Non-Papuans at the start in 1971 was very few. However the population of that sector increased until in 2004 it was equal with that of Papuans (when the Papuan sector numbered 1.65 million (50%) and the Non-Papuan sector also numbered 1.65 million (50%). From 2005 onwards the growth rate of Indigenous Papuans tended to fall whilst that of Non-Papuans sharply rose and even more so in the era of Special Autonomy in Papua.”
Based on his segregation analysis (shown by the dotted lines in the diagram above), it is estimated that by the year 2025 the population of indigenous Papuans will have fallen to 1.5 million persons (36%) whilst the Non-Papuan population will have risen to 2.7 million persons (64% of the total population). Furthermore, under such conditions where there is no protection of the race, it is expected that the indigenous Papuans will become extinct by the year 2040. This means that “by 2040 the population in Papua will have reached 6 million but it will not be indigenous Papuans who will own the land” Ukago stated.
The decline in the population of indigenous Papuans was acknowledged by the previous Governor of the Papuan Province, Barnabas Suebu S.H, in his written address at the official appointment of the Merauke Bupati on 8 January 2011. According to then Governor Suebu “Indigenous Papuans are going to continue to decline in number as a consequence particularly of the migration of Non-Papuans, which is in turn the result of the growth of the (Indonesian) population which is the highest in the world (at 5.7%) per annum …. Accordingly the division into new kabupatens must not result in causing indigenous Papuans to become separated from and even forcibly removed from their ancestors’ lands.”
According to a population census carried out in 2010 in the West Papuan Province the number of indigenous Papuans in that province was 760,000, amounting to 51.67% of the total population in the province. That is, the populations of Papuan and non-Papuan in the western province were reported as being roughly equal. The head of the BPS (Badan Pusat Statistik or Indonesia’s Central Statistics Body, which carried out the census) Tanda Siriat stated that BPS applied six criteria in collecting data to determine who was categorised as ‘indigenous Papuans’.
Any person with both the mother and father were indigenous Papuans.
Any person with a father who was indigenous Papuan but the mother of non-Papuan descent.
Any person with a mother who was indigenous Papuan but the father of non-Papuan descent.
Any person who was non-ethnic Papuan but through Papuan traditional customary law and as acknowledged by the Papuan community was regarded as an indigenous Papuan.
Any person who was non-ethnic Papuan but who had been adopted or was acknowledged through family name as having been adopted into the indigenous Papuan community.
Any person who had been living continuously in Papua for more than 25 years.
Jim Elmslie’s “Slow Motion Genocide in Land of Papua”
Jim Elmslie in his book, “West Papuan Demographic Transition and the 2010 Indonesian Census: “Slow Motion Genocide” or not?” (University of Sydney, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies) states that as at 1971 the indigenous Papuan population was 887,000. Then by 2000 it had risen to 1,505,405, a growth on average of 1.84% per year. Whereas he reports the total of Non-Papuans in 1971 was 36,000 which he claims rose to 708,425 by the year 2000, with an average yearly growth rate of 10.82%.
So that by mid-2010 according to Elmslie, the total of indigenous Papuans had reached 1,730.336 (47.89% of the population) whilst Non-Papuans had that same year reached 1,882,517 (52.10%). By the end of 2010 the respective populations had reached: Indigenous Papuans 1,760,557 (48.73%) and Non-Papuans, 1,852,297 (51.27%), giving the figure he states for the total population in 2010 of 3,612,854 (100%).
Elmslie estimates that by 2020 with these current trends that the overall combined population of Papua will have reached 7,287,463, comprising a forecast total of indigenous Papuans 2,112,681 (28.99% ) and Non-Papuans 5,174,782 (71.01%), indicating a slower population growth rate of indigenous Papuans than of Non-Papuans. In his analysis of the reasons for the difference Elmslie points out that apart from the impact of social factors and human rights violations, the primary cause is the transmigration of population from outside of Papua which is excessive.
The Head of the BPS in the Papuan Province Ir. J.A. Djarot Soetanto, MM has criticised Elmslie’s analysis of the situation when he claims the problem is intentional acts of genocide or the annihilation of indigenous Papuans. According to Soetanto that is untrue. He made a very different conclusion stating that the census data for Papua for the year 2010 pointed to a total combined population of 2,833,381 of which indigenous Papuans were still the majority with 76% as compared to Non-Papuans of only 24%.
It is the opinion of Yan Ukago that if indigenous Papuans were asked which of these two interpretations they believed was correct, that he has no doubt they would agree with the reports of the BPS census in each respective province, the conclusions of Jim Elmslie and the Papuan Governor’s statement as stated above. There’s a number of reasons for this. Firstly that Papuans are now so far removed from trusting the government in Papua which has tended to act in the interests of the central Indonesian government until now. Secondly the death rates of Papuans from babies through to adult ages has continued to rise and that is obvious to people from everyday observation. Thirdly every week Papuans see large number of Non-Papuans arriving from other parts of Indonesia by ocean going boats and planes. And then of course the fact that the history of the integration of Papua into Indonesia is regarded by Papuans as most unjust. Furthermore as Papuans’ human rights have been ignored until now such that they never feel free to live as human beings even on their own ancestors land.
It is the Writer’s observation that the butchery that has occurred against the Papuan community has actually become an intentional agenda of Indonesian government tradition. Those implementing that agenda have had two approaches. The first is overt. This has been carried out through military regional operations, shootings, creating so called local conflict, intentional creation of situations of violence, a range of stigmatism against indigenous Papuans including their alleged stupidity, the use of homebrew alcohol {WPM Eds: strong, often tainted or poisoned alcohol distributed by intelligence and military operatives believed by many Papuans to be a tool of genocide}.
The second is the covert approach of killing, which Papuans refer to as ‘slow motion genocide’. This continues to take place by way of kidnappings, killings, poisoning through food and drink, the intentional introduction of HIV/AIDS into Papua through prostitution, injection needles and tattoos, and HIV infection through {bad sexual health practices through the use of} alcohol. And so the list goes on. The overall impact of both approaches being the dramatic and continual decline of the indigenous Papuan population.
Many calls from the Papuan community are heard constantly as to the steps required to solve the problems of Papua. These are the offers of dialogue between Jakarta and Papua, a referendum and the third, independence for Papua. To dilute the lack of acceptance of the status quo, there have been efforts from the provincial governments and the Central Government to improve the quality of life of Indigenous Papuans.
The Indonesian Government would do well at this time to invite an international census team to independently carry out a census through the entire region of Papua, to verify whether the BPS or alternatively the KPU (General Election Commission) version is reflective of reality. Accurate data from an international source such as this could be just what they need to counter Elmslie’s data and analyses, as this matter has become really a thorn in the side for Indonesia. Elmslie’s data published by Sydney University is perceived as a threat to Indonesia’s sovereignty over Papua. (WPM Editorial note: The Writer is not implying Elmslie’s data is incorrect, rather making the case that the only way for Indonesian to counter this data is through the conduct of a free and unimpeded census by an international team.)
If Indonesia’s butchery is allowed to continue then sooner or later the Land of Papua will be surely have to be released from the Republic of Indonesia as a direct result of the treatment of the indigenous peoples of Papua already being classified as ‘slow motion genocide’. A genocide that has been allowed to happen through the application of a range of approaches by Indonesia that have killed and violated the human rights of the people of the land. As has been seen time and time again in the killings by the Indonesian Armed Forces that have become known locally as ‘Paniai Berdarah’ (‘berdarah’ referring to a flowing of blood), ‘Biak Berdarah’, ‘Wamena Berdarah.’ ‘Timika Berdarah’ and others. These conditions paint a picture of a land that exists at the threshold of extinction.
This means of course that a part of the Melanesian race is drowning in the bosom of Motherland (Indonesian state). If what is happening in Papua is a ‘slow motion genocide’, then surely we will see support come for Papua to be set free, not only from the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) and Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), but also surely in time from the members of ASEAN and other nations. The Indonesian Government will undoubtedly view that support when it comes as if those nations want to see the land of Papua released by Indonesia to independence; however their efforts are really intended to try and save indigenous Papuans from extinction.
“I dedicate this writing on the International Day of Peace.”
Timika, Papua. 21 September 2015
Brother Santon Tekege is a Pastoral Support Worker in the Diocese of Timika, Papua. He chooses to publish under his own name, however his safety is monitored 24 hours a day by an international protection network. (please give at West Papua Media to support our monitoring efforts for writers and journalists at risk in West Papua.)
← Sorrow Yet Again in the City of Gold, aka Dollar City: Timika’s drains flowing with spilt Papuan Blood RSF: Indonesian president fails to keep media freedom pledges in first year →
1 thought on “Indonesia’s Colonial Transmigration is intentional annihilation of Papua’s Indigenous peoples”
The invasion and occupation of Papua by ‘Indonesia’ obscures the reality that the resultant atrocities and genocide are the inevitable outcome of the imposition of the same neo-liberal,neo-colonial agenda causing widespread unemployment, ‘austerity’, wars and environmental degredation on a global scale.
The Capitalist mode of production, distribution and exchange of life-sustaining and life-enhancing natural resources and life-chances today dominates social, economic and political relations worldwide. Hence the ‘crises’ in Greece, Spain, France, Italy and increasing parts of the ‘Eurozone’, the Middle East, the whole of ‘Latin’ America, the former USSR, Japan, the USA, the small Pacific Island communities and Australia…. as our manufacturing industries are shut down and jobs transferred to ‘cheap labour’, societies across (mainly) Asia and South East Asia.
No amount of prayer and ‘diplomatic’ petitions or missions will change this reality whilst the purveyors of a mind-boggling array of deadly arms, drugs and misleading ‘news’ and education agendas are allowed to peddle their anti-social, anti-democratic and immoral (but nonetheless highly profitable) wares.
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How the Water Crisis Put a $136 Price Tag On Flint Lives
Tree Riddle
Tree Riddle, Banana 101.5
What if I told you that one of the most violent and poverty-stricken places has a government that is knowingly poisoning its children? Now, what if I told you that place Is not in a war-torn foreign country but is a city in America called Flint, Michigan?
This hasn't exactly been a banner year for Flint, Michigan. Statistics has placed us at the top of several "Worst _______ in the United States" lists. Here's just a few of those lists and where we've placed on them:
2015's Fastest Shrinking Cities in America (Ranked 12th)
2014's Most Dangerous Cities in America (Ranked 4th, reportedly on pace to be 1st in 2015)
2015's Poorest Cities in America (Ranked 2nd poorest for city its size)
2015's Most Deteriorated Roads in America (Ranked 1st)
When you add a serious health hazard to the city's drinking water to those bullet points, you have to start questioning why anyone in their right mind would live in a city like this. Well, most of us have no choice.
If you are unaware of the water issues I'm referring to -- check out this detailed timeline of Flint's water woes from WNEM TV5
After much debate, misdirection, flat-out denial, and a possible cover-up of the lead contamination by the city, independent studies by Virginia Tech University and Hurley Hospital (that found elevated lead levels in the blood of children in Flint) have forced the officials to admit that there is a problem.
While switching back to Detroit as a water source seems to be the easy fix here, the $12 million price tag has the local and state government saying no. Instead, the state is putting $1 million towards filters for people's taps and offering a mere "hang in there, the new pipeline is coming soon." It's the equivalent of putting a band-aid on a broken leg and, god dammit, it's just not good enough.
Any politician will tell you that there's no price you can put on a human life. However, actions speak louder than words, and the actions of our state and local officials reveal that they have put a pretty specific dollar amount on your life. They are putting roughly 88,000 people at risk of lead poisoning to avoid paying $12,000,000, so they're basically saying that a life in Flint is worth less than $136.36 (give or take). That breaks down to about $352.94 per household -- about two and a half times the average monthly water bill of a Flint resident (which is eight times higher than the national average, by the way).
In my opinion, the local and state government have failed the city in many ways, but none as crucial as this. When I first wrote about the dangers of Governor Rick Snyder's EFM bill in 2011, I wasn't as interested in or as well-informed about politics as I am now. I'm by no means an expert, but even then I understood the dangers to which the bill could open the door. It gives Snyder, a businessman and accountant, the power to overthrow the elected local government as he sees fit. Once the chips were down in Flint, that's exactly what he did.
Snyder appointed several emergency managers in Flint, one of whom (Darnell Earley) made the decision to cut costs by pulling our water from the Flint River as oppose to Detroit. It was a decision that was not favored by residents and was pretty quickly identifiable to all as a huge mistake, but it's a year and a half later and they're refusing to pull the plug on this. This is what happens when you put accountants in charge of human lives. They make cost-effective decisions and since there is no exact dollar figure you can put on a human life -- to them our lives are essentially worthless.
If the local government isn't going to help, and the state government isn't going to help, who is going to save Flint from these ruthless bean counters that are selling our future for $136 a head? Is it Amnesty International? FEMA? The Supreme Court? President Obama? Whoever it is, will someone please get them on the horn before things get too far out of control?
The opinions and views expressed within this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Townsquare Media or their advertisers.
Categories: Commentary, Flint News, Michigan News
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AFL Forms
Massive budget surplus proves deep cuts were unnecessary
Posted by · June 21, 1999 10:00 PM
EDMONTON - News that the Alberta government is sitting on yet another massive budget surplus proves that Premier Ralph Klein and members of the ruling Conservative party greatly exaggerated the extent of the Alberta's "debt crisis," says the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.
"During the elections of 1993 and 1997, the Tories whipped up fears that Alberta was about to hit a so-called debt wall. They used these fears to sell voters on a radical plan of budget cuts and public-sector down-sizing," says Audrey Cormack.
"But within one year of taking power, the Klein government was recording multi-million-dollar surpluses. In fact, if the surplus tops $1 billion this year as expected, the cumulative surplus for the past five years will be more than $8.3 billion. What this tells me is that the government could have balanced its books and paid off substantial portions of the province's debt without resorting to such deep cuts in areas like health care, education and municipal services."
Cormack says Albertans are still reeling from the massive and poorly planned cuts imposed by the Tories between 1993 and 1997 - and she firmly rejects the argument that the cuts were necessary to balance the books.
"If you look at the numbers, it's clear that cuts in government services played only a secondary role in building the surplus. The lion's share of the government's current wealth has come from increased resource royalties and increased tax revenue generated by the growing economy," says Cormack. "Premier Klein and Stockwell Day like to take all the credit, but the truth is that, to a large extent, the deficits of the early 90s and the surpluses of recent years were both a product of the business cycle. As a result, the deficit would have disappeared even if nothing had been done to reduce spending levels."
Cormack say the big danger now is that the government will use the huge surplus as an excuse to move ahead even more quickly with its plans for sweeping tax cuts - contrary to the wishes of most Albertans and even many people in the business community.
"Albertans want the surplus spent on things like education, health care and fixing our crumbling infrastructure," she says. "That message has come across loud and clear in opinion polls and in public forums like the Growth Summit. Even business leaders have agreed that re-investment in people, services and infrastructure should be a higher priority than tax cuts."
Cormack says the government's plan for a flat provincial income tax is particularly dangerous. She says it would provide disproportionate advantages to the wealthy and rob the government of billions of dollars in revenue it needs to fund core public services.
The flat tax plan is so obviously flawed, that it was almost unanimously p anned by business, municipal and labour leaders attending last Fall's Alberta Congress Board conference, she adds.
"Alberta is clearly still a wealthy province," says Cormack. "But the government seems intent on using its huge surpluses as an excuse to keep our public services impoverished. What Alberta needs is more investment in core services like education and health care - not tax cuts that benefit the wealthy."
For more information call:
Audrey Cormack, President: (780) 483-3021(work)
(780) 428-9367(home)
LRB decision proves that Alberta labour laws are seriously flawed
EDMONTON - The decision to prohibit Alberta nurses from holding a vote on the latest contract offer from their employers proves that Alberta's labour laws are seriously flawed, says the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.
"There is something seriously wrong with a law that makes criminals out of people who are simply trying to defend their rights in the workplace," says Audrey Cormack, president of Alberta's largest union organization.
"Nurses and other health care workers in this province have been pushed to the brink by budget cuts and under-staffing. Now they face the prospect of being branded as criminals for having the audacity to fight for a better health care system. What's really criminal here is the way the nurses are being treated by the regional health authorities and the provincial government."
Cormack says Alberta's labour laws impose more restrictions on the rights of workers to organize and bargain collectively than any other province.
"In a democracy, workers should not be forced to work against their will by threats of violence, fines or imprisonment," she says. "But that's exactly what's happening in this case and in the case of all other public sector workers who are denied the right to strike. They are being denied a fundamental democratic freedom."
Cormack says the health authorities and the provincial government are using Alberta's labour law to avoid addressing the serious issues that nurses have brought to the table - like concerns over under-staffing, declining morale and inadequate compensation.
"The experience of the 1988 nurses strike proves that you can't find solutions by imposing injunctions and levying fines," says Cormack. "This kind of unnecessarily aggressive approach to bargaining won't stop a strike and it certainly won't do anything to address the crisis in our health care system."
In the short term, Cormack says the solution to the problem lies with the provincial government. She says more money has to be given to the regional health authorities so they can hire more nurses and increase their compensation. In the long term, Cormack says something has to be done with Alberta's labour laws.
"The labour laws in this province are backward and punitive. Far too many workers are being denied the right to strike - which is a fundamental democratic right recognized by the United Nations. Our leaders are going to have to acknowledge that criminalizing strike activity does nothing to solve problems in the workplace."
Audrey Cormack, AFL President @ (780) 499-6530 (cell)
Concerns of working people ignored in reorganization scheme
Posted by · May 25, 1999 10:00 PM
EDMONTON - Working people in Alberta are being short-changed by a plan announced earlier today to re-organize government departments, says the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour. Audrey Cormack says Premier Klein's plan to establish a new Human Resources and Employment department is "a slap in the face for working people."
"The Premier can go on as much as he likes about stream-lining government and preparing Albertans for the new millennium," says Cormack. "But the bottom line is that the concerns of working people are going to get lost in the shuffle within this new super-department."
According to the plan unveiled by Klein this afternoon, the new Human Resources and Employment department will take responsibility for issues previously handled by the Labour department, the Family and Social Services Department and the Career Development branch of the Economic Development department.
Cormack says the new "super department" will put labour programs in the awkward position of having to compete for resources with programs from the family and social services side of the department.
"There are more than one and half million Albertans who work for a living," says Cormack. "Workplace issues like health and safety and the administration of the Labour Code and the Employment Standards Code are so important that they clearly deserve to be handled in their own separate department."
Cormack says the only rationale given by the Premier to justify the re-organization is that it meshes with the government's promises about putting a higher priority on education and training. But Cormack says there is a lot more to labour issues than training.
"We in the labour movement support efforts to improve training for Albertans - in fact, we've been urging the government to invest more in education and apprenticeships for years," says Cormack.
"But the labour department isn't just about preparing people for work. It's also about promoting health and safety. It's about making sure workers know their rights. It's about protecting those rights in the workplace. And it's about making sure employers know and uphold the law. We're afraid that these issues are not going to get the attention they deserve in the new department."
Audrey Cormack, AFL President @ 483-3021(wk)/499-6530(cell)/428-9367(hm)
AFL expresses concern about new Human Resources minister
EDMONTON - The president of Alberta's largest workers' organization has some serious concerns about the man who has been appointed minister of the new Human Resources and Employment department.
AFL president Audrey Cormack says a number of "red flags" were raised when she reviewed Clint Dunford's record as an MLA and former Minister of Advanced Education.
"As the new Human Resources minister, Mr. Dunford is now responsible for upholding the rights and interests of Albertans in the workplace," says Cormack. "But based on his track record, I'm not entirely sure that he's the best person for the job."
Cormack says her concerns are based on a number of controversial statements and policy positions taken by Dunford over the past few years. Cormack's list of concerns include the following:
In November 1997, Dunford said he would like to see the government abolish the minimum wage. He was quoted as saying that wages should be established by the market with no government-guaranteed minimum. "Eventually, labour is going to find its own level based on supply and demand," he told a reporter from the Edmonton Journal.
In an in-depth interview on the Alberta economy published in the Edmonton Journal in January 1998, Dunford suggested that too many working people take advantage of good economic times to bid up their wages and benefits. Ignoring his earlier arguments about letting the market decide wages, he heaped scorn on workers who capitalize on market conditions to improve their income.
In April 1998, Dunford was one of several cabinet ministers who supported a plan to raise salaries for deputy ministers and other top provincial bureaucrats by up to $38,000 per year. Dunford's support for huge salary increases for senior bureaucrats came at the same time that the government was negotiating much more meager wage increases with rank-and-file public sector workers.
Throughout his tenure as Advanced Education minister, Dunford allowed tuition fees to rise dramatically at universities, colleges and technical schools throughout the province. As recently as this winter, he was quoted as saying that tuition increases are inevitable.
"I am deeply troubled by some of the positions that Mr. Dunford has taken over the years," says Cormack. "How can workers be confident that their interests are being taken care of by a minister who says the minimum wage should be abolished and that workers should not be allowed to share in the success of their employers during good economic times?"
Despite her concerns about Dunford's controversial remarks and policy positions, Cormack says she is willing to work with the new minister in order to protect the interests and uphold the rights of working Albertans.
"Our big concern is that workplace issues like health and safety and the enforcement of the Employment Standards Code and the Labour Code are going to get lost in the shuffle now that the Labour department has basically been merged with the Family and Social Services department," says Cormack. "We will be watching the new minister and reminding him of the importance of these functions. And we will work with him to make sure that the rights of Albertans in the workplace are not ignored."
Day of Mourning Commemorates Workers Killed At Work
Posted by · April 25, 1999 10:00 PM
On Wednesday, April 28, Alberta workers will be marking the 4th International Day of Mourning in their worksites and at special ceremonies.
The Alberta Federation of Labour, in conjunction with the Edmonton and District Labour Council and the Alberta Building Trades Council, are organizing a ceremony to mark the day:
Wednesday, April 28 - 7:00 pm at City Hall
The event mixes cultural performances with speakers and a candle lighting to commemorate Day of Mourning. Strong visual images make up an important piece of the ceremony. A representative of the City will read out the official proclamation.
"Around the world, a worker is killed every 30 seconds," says Audrey Cormack, President of the Alberta Federation of Labour. "Here in Alberta, we lose two workers every week to workplace accidents or occupational disease. And that is just the official statistics. The real numbers are likely much higher."
"Even a single death is not tolerable in this day and age," says Cormack. "We need to make the public aware of the scourge of work-related death so we can work together to wipe it out." Raising the profile of the issue is why the International Day of Mourning was created. Across Alberta, tens of thousands of workers will be marking the day at their local worksite. Many workplaces will respect a minute of silence. Others will wear black armbands, or hold a short lunch hour event, or fly flags at half-mast.
"Interest in Day of Mourning is growing," says Cormack. "More Alberta workers are participating this year than ever before." Day of Mourning actually began in Canada, first proclaimed by Parliament in 1986. It became the International Day of Mourning in 1996 and is now commemorated in over 70 countries worldwide.
"This day is as much about a commitment to safer workplaces as it is about remembering those who were killed. We want this day to remind everyone of the need for safe workplaces." Cormack concludes.
Audrey Cormack, President @ 499-6530 (cell)
Jason Foster, Executive Director @ 483-3021 (work)
AFL Announces New Environment Policy for 21st Century
To mark this year's Earth Day, the Alberta Federation of Labour is announcing a new Environment Policy for Alberta's labour movement. The policy is intended to guide unions in making decisions about Alberta's environment.
The policy was ratified at the AFL's biennial convention in Calgary last week. The policy paper passed with resounding support from delegates.
"The labour movement is looking forward. We know that environmental change must happen, and we need to be a constructive part of the discussion," says Audrey Cormack, AFL President.
The policy outlines a distinctly labour perspective on environmental issues. "We must end the false jobs vs. environment debate and turn it into a jobs and environment discussion," says Cormack.
Among other initiatives, the policy paper calls for a new type of decision-making process for environmental issues, one that includes government, business and labour working as equals. The key, says the policy, is to look at the long term and make decisions well in advance of economic change.
"Working people pay the highest price when the wrong decisions are made. We pay with our jobs and with the environment in our communities," highlights Cormack. "We need to be a part of the decisions that get made to ensure we can create a healthy environment and good jobs."
Over the years, the AFL has done its part in promoting environmental awareness and encouraging members to become more environmentally sensitive in their activities. It will become even more active in the future to ensure the voice of working people is heard.
Other highlights from the policy include calling for a "just transition" fund to help workers displaced by environmental change and demanding increased government enforcement of environmental laws and regulations. It also calls on the AFL to encourage unions to "bargain for the environment".
"The message for Albertans is clear. All of us have to take a leadership role in protecting the environment. The labour movement has heard the message," concludes Cormack.
Audrey Cormack, President @ 499-6530 (cell) / 428-9367 (hm)
AFL wraps up successful convention
CALGARY - Unions in Alberta are prepared to face the challenges of the 21st century, said Audrey Cormack president of the Alberta Federation of Labour as the AFL wrapped up its biennial convention in Calgary today.
"In the dog-eat-dog global economy of the next century, workers here in Alberta and around the world are going to need unions more than ever," said Cormack.
"Protecting the interests of working people from attacks by conservative governments and unscrupulous business people has never been easy. But based on the energy and commitment that was demonstrated at our convention this week, I'm convinced that unions in Alberta are up to the challenge."
More than 350 union members representing dozens of unions from across the province attended the AFL convention - which is the last of the 20th century.
Over the course of the four-day gathering, convention delegates dealt with a wide range of issues - everything from workplace health and safety to funding for schools and from basic worker rights to privatization in the health care system.
Among other things, the AFL committed itself to continue its fight against government cutbacks and the spread of private, for-profit hospitals. Delegates also pledged to support workers currently on strike against Dynamic Furniture in Calgary; Georgia Pacific in Edmonton; and Bell Canada in Ontario and Quebec.
Delegates also passed a strongly worded resolution condemning the Saskatchewan government for attempting to legislate striking nurses back to work.
The convention concluded this afternoon with elections in which Cormack and AFL Secretary-Treasurer Les Steel were each acclaimed for another term. Delegates also debated and passed a statement of workers� rights and principles.
"The Alberta labour movement is strong and united," said Cormack. "We are ready, willing and able to do what we do best - and that's to fight for the interests of working people."
Audrey Cormack, AFL President: (780) 499-6530 (cell)
Gil McGowan, AFL Communications: (780) 910-1137 (cell)
AFL Convention Wraps up Tomorrow
CALGARY - The biennial convention of the Alberta Federation of Labour wraps up in Calgary tomorrow afternoon.
Elections for Executive Officers and members of the AFL Executive Council will take place at 11:00 a.m. Closing ceremonies will begin at 12:30 p.m. and the convention will adjourn at 1:00 p.m.
The AFL convention is being held at the Calgary Westin Hotel, located at 320 - 4th Avenue, SW in Calgary.
Reporters are asked to register at the convention office. No one will be allowed on the convention floor without proper credentials.
Gil McGowan, AFL Communications: (780) 910-1137
Convention Delegates join picket line outside Dynamic Furniture
CALGARY - Hundreds of delegates attending the Alberta Federation of Labour's biennial convention in Calgary will be joining striking workers on the picket line outside Dynamic Furniture (5300 - 6th Avenue, SE) today at 4:00 p.m.
Workers at Dynamic Furniture have been on strike for nearly a year in an effort to win a first contract. "These workers have been terribly mistreated by their employer," says AFL president Audrey Cormack. "We felt it was important to show support for them in their struggle."
Delegates to explore the role of unions in protecting Medicare
CALGARY - The Alberta Federation of Labour's biennial convention continues in Calgary tomorrow.
Highlights from the convention agenda for Saturday, April 18 include the following:
A panel of labour leaders will discuss the role that workers and unions can play in protecting Canada's system of public health care. The panel will be made up of: Dianne Wyntjes, Alberta Director of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE); Pauline Worsfold, Vice President of the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA); Kathleen Connor, President of the National Federation of Nurses Unions (NFNU), and Dianne Mair, Provincial Executive Board Member of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE). The panel discussion will start at 10:00 a.m. and continue until 11:15 a.m.
Barbara Sarria Aparicio, Secretary Treasurer of the Cuban national communications union, will discussion the concerns of workers in Latin America. Ms. Aparicio will address the convention at 2:45 p.m.
The AFL convention is being held at the Calgary Westin Hotel, which is located at 320-4th Ave. S.W. in Calgary.
All speeches and presentations will be made in the hotel's main ballroom unless otherwise stated. Reporters are asked to report to the convention registration office before preceding to the hall. No one will be allowed on the convention floor without the proper credentials.
Gil McGowan, AFL Communications: (403) 508-5129 (office) or (780) 910-1137 (cell)
Alberta Federation of Labour © 2019
#300, 10408 - 124 Street
Edmonton, Alberta T5N 1R5
Email: afl@afl.org
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Kurt Eisner
19th and 20th-century German politician and journalist
Minister President of Bavaria
Otto Ritter von Dandl
Johannes Hoffmann
Head of State of Bavaria
(1867-05-14)14 May 1867
Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia
21 February 1919(1919-02-21) (aged 51)
Munich, Weimar Republic
Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany
Kurt Eisner (German pronunciation: [kʊɐ̯t ˈʔaɪ̯snɐ] ; 14 May 1867 –21 February 1919) [1] was a journalist and theatre critic. As a socialist journalist, he organised the Socialist Revolution that overthrew the Wittelsbach monarchy in Bavaria in November 1918, which led to his being described as "the symbol of the Bavarian revolution". [2] [1] He is used as an example of charismatic authority by Max Weber. [3] He proclaimed the Free State of Bavaria. He was assassinated in Munich by a German nationalist on 21 February 1919.
A journalist is a person who collects, writes, or distributes news or other current information to the public. A journalist's work is called journalism. A journalist can work with general issues or specialize in certain issues. However, most journalists tend to specialize, and by cooperating with other journalists, produce journals that span many topics. For example, a sports journalist covers news within the world of sports, but this journalist may be a part of a newspaper that covers many different topics.
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a landlocked federal state of Germany, occupying its southeastern corner. With an area of 70,550.19 square kilometres, Bavaria is the largest German state by land area comprising roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany. With 13 million inhabitants, it is Germany's second-most-populous state after North Rhine-Westphalia. Bavaria's main cities are Munich and Nuremberg.
Charismatic authority is a concept of leadership developed by the German sociologist Max Weber. It involves a type of organization or a type of leadership in which authority derives from the charisma of the leader. This stands in contrast to two other types of authority: legal authority and traditional authority. Each of the three types forms part of Max Weber's tripartite classification of authority.
Kurt Eisner was born in Berlin on 14 May 1867 to Emanuel Eisner and Hedwig Levenstein, both Jewish. Newspaper reports of his death identify him as being born in the Kingdom of Galicia. [4] From 1892 to 1917 he was married to painter Elisabeth Hendrich, with whom he had five children. They divorced and Eisner then married Elise Belli, an editor. With her, he had two daughters.
Eisner studied philosophy, but then became a journalist in Marburg. From 1890 to 1895, he was contributing editor of the Frankfurter Zeitung , during which time he wrote an article attacking Kaiser Wilhelm II, and for which he spent nine months in prison. [5] Eisner was always an open republican as well as a Social-Democrat, joining the SPD in 1898, although for tactical reasons, German Social-Democracy, particularly in its later stages, rather cold-shouldered anything in the shape of republican propaganda as unnecessary and included in general Social-Democratic aims. Consequently, he fought actively for political democracy as well as Social-Democracy. He became editor of Vorwärts after the death of Wilhelm Liebknecht in 1900, but in 1905 was called upon to resign by a majority of the editorial board, which favored more orthodox Marxists. [6] After that, his activities were confined in the main to Bavaria, though he toured other parts of Germany. [7] [8] He was chief editor of the Fränkische Tagespost in Nuremberg from 1907 to 1910, and afterward became a freelance journalist in Munich.
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. The term was probably coined by Pythagoras. Philosophical methods include questioning, critical discussion, rational argument, and systematic presentation. Classic philosophical questions include: Is it possible to know anything and to prove it? What is most real? Philosophers also pose more practical and concrete questions such as: Is there a best way to live? Is it better to be just or unjust? Do humans have free will?
Marburg is a university town in the German federal state (Bundesland) of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (Landkreis). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximately 72,000.
The Frankfurter Zeitung was a German language newspaper that appeared from 1856 to 1943. It emerged from a market letter that was published in Frankfurt. In Nazi Germany it was considered the only mass publication not completely controlled by the Propagandaministerium under Joseph Goebbels.
Eisner joined the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1917, at the height of World War I, and was convicted of treason in 1918 for his role in inciting a strike of munitions workers. He spent nine months in Cell 70 of Stadelheim Prison, but was released during the General Amnesty in October of that year. [9]
The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany was a short-lived political party in Germany during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. The organization was established in 1917 as the result of a split of left wing members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The organization attempted to chart a centrist course between electorally oriented revisionism on the one hand and Bolshevism on the other. The organization was terminated in 1931 through merger with the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAPD).
World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.
In law, treason is criminal disloyalty to the state. It is a crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's nation or sovereign. This usually includes things such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state. A person who commits treason is known in law as a traitor.
After his release from prison, Eisner organized the revolution that overthrew the monarchy in Bavaria (see German Revolution ). He declared Bavaria to be a free state and republic, the People's State of Bavaria, on 8 November 1918, becoming the first republican premier of Bavaria. On 23 November 1918, he leaked documents from the Bavarian plenipotentiary in Berlin during July and August 1914 that he thought proved that the war was caused by "a small horde of mad Prussian military" men as well as "allied" industrialists, capitalists, politicians, and princes. [10] At the Berne Conference of Socialists held in Berne, Switzerland, he attacked moderate German socialists for their refusal to acknowledge Germany's part in bringing about World War I. For that speech, and for his uncompromising hostility to Prussia, he became bitterly hated by large sections of the German people. [5]
King of Bavaria was a title held by the hereditary Wittelsbach rulers of Bavaria in the state known as the Kingdom of Bavaria from 1805 until 1918, when the kingdom was abolished. It was the second kingdom, almost a thousand years after the short-lived Carolingian kingdom of Bavaria.
Free state is a term occasionally used in the official titles of some states throughout the world with varying meanings depending on the context. In principle, the title asserts and emphasises a particular freedom of the state in question, but this is not always reflected in practice. Some states use the title to assert sovereignty or independence from foreign domination, while others have used it to assert autonomy within a larger nation-state. Sometimes "free state" is used as a synonym for "republic".
A republic is a form of government in which the country is considered a “public matter”, not the private concern or property of the rulers. The primary positions of power within a republic are not inherited, but are attained through democracy, oligarchy or autocracy. It is a form of government under which the head of state is not a hereditary monarch.
Monument to Kurt Eisner on the sidewalk where he fell when he was assassinated in Munich
As the new government was unable to provide basic services, Eisner's Independent Social Democrats were soundly defeated in the January 1919 election.
Eisner was assassinated in Munich when German nationalist Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley shot him in the back on 21 February 1919. Eisner was on his way to present his resignation to the Bavarian parliament. [11] His assassination resulted in the elected government of the People's State of Bavaria fleeing Munich and the establishment of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament. [12]
When the Passau labor union tried to stage a play about Eisner at the bishopric theater in 1920, Reichswehr soldiers and high school students sabotaged it, using weapons from the military arsenal. Among other things, 11 machine guns were used. The incident, dubbed the Passau Theater Scandal, triggered media headlines and a variety of judicial procedures. [13]
In 1989, a monument was installed in the pavement at the site of Eisner's assassination. It reads, Kurt Eisner, der am 9. November 1918 die Bayerische Republik ausrief, nachmaliger Ministerpräsident des Volksstaates Bayern, wurde an dieser Stelle am 21. Februar 1919 ermordet ("Kurt Eisner, who proclaimed the Bavarian republic on 8 November 1918 – later Prime Minister of the Republic of Bavaria – was murdered here on 21 February 1919"). [14]
Eisner was the author of various books and pamphlets, including: [8]
Psychopathia Spiritualis (1892, "Spiritual Psychopathy")
Eine Junkerrevolte (1899, "A Junker revolt")
Wilhelm Liebknecht (1900)
Feste der Festlosen (1903, "Fortress of those without feasts")
Die Neue Zeit (1919, "The New Age")
Rosa Luxemburg was a Polish Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist, anti-war activist and revolutionary socialist who became a naturalized German citizen at the age of 28. Successively, she was a member of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL), the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD) and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).
Wilhelm Martin Philipp Christian Ludwig Liebknecht was a German socialist and one of the principal founders of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). His political career was a pioneering project combining Marxist revolutionary theory with practical legal political activity. Under his leadership, the SPD grew from a tiny sect to become Germany's largest political party. He was the father of Karl Liebknecht and Theodor Liebknecht.
Ludwig III was the last King of Bavaria, reigning from 1913 to 1918.
The German Revolution or November Revolution was a civil conflict in the German Empire at the end of the First World War that resulted in the replacement of the German federal constitutional monarchy with a democratic parliamentary republic that later became known as the Weimar Republic. The revolutionary period lasted from November 1918 until the adoption in August 1919 of the Weimar Constitution.
Soviets were political organizations and governmental bodies, primarily associated with the Russian Revolutions and the history of the Soviet Union, and which gave the name to the latter state.
The Bavarian Soviet Republic was a short-lived unrecognised socialist state in Bavaria during the German Revolution of 1918–19. It took the form of a workers' council republic. Its name is variously rendered in English as the Bavarian Council Republic or the Munich Soviet Republic after its capital, Munich. It was established in April 1919 after the demise of Kurt Eisner's People's State of Bavaria and sought independence from the also newly proclaimed Weimar Republic. It was overthrown less than a month later by elements of the German Army and the paramilitary Freikorps.
Georg Heinrich Ritter (Chevalier) von Vollmar auf Veldheim was a democratic socialist politician from Bavaria.
Johannes Hoffmann was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party. He served as Minister-President of Bavaria from 1919 to 1920.
Eugen Leviné was a German communist revolutionary and leader of the short-lived Bavarian Council Republic.
Franz Xaver Ritter von Epp, from 1916 Ritter von Epp, was a German general and politician who started his military career in the Bavarian Army. Successful wartime military service earned him a knighthood in 1916. After the end of World War I and the dissolution of the German Empire, von Epp was a commanding officer in the Freikorps and the Reichswehr. He was a member of Bavarian People's Party, before joining the Nazi Party in 1928, when he was elected as a member of the German parliament or Reichstag, a position he held until the fall of Nazi Germany. He was the Reichskommissar, later Reichsstatthalter, for Bavaria.
Martin Segitz was an acting Bavarian Minister-President and member of the SPD.
Otto Ritter von Dandl was the last Minister-President of the Kingdom of Bavaria.
The Anif declaration was issued by the king of Bavaria Ludwig III on 12 November 1918 at Anif Palace, Austria,
The People's Courts of Bavaria were Sondergerichte established by Kurt Eisner during the German Revolution in November 1918 and part of the Ordnungszelle that lasted until May 1924 after handing out more than 31,000 sentences. It was composed of two judges and three lay judges. One of its most notable trials was that of the Beer Hall Putsch conspirators, including Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff, Wilhelm Frick, Friedrich Weber, and Ernst Röhm, which lasted from 26 February 1924 until 1 April 1924.
The Ostfriedhof in Munich, situated in the district of Obergiesing, was established in 1821 and is still in use. It contains an area of more than 30 hectares and approximately 34,700 burial plots.
Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht was a German socialist, originally in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and later a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany which split away from the SPD. He is best known for his opposition to World War I in the Reichstag and his role in the Spartacist uprising of 1919. The uprising was crushed by the SPD government and the Freikorps. Liebknecht and Luxemburg were executed.
The Spartacus League was a Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany during World War I. The League was named after Spartacus, leader of the largest slave rebellion of the Roman Republic. It was founded by Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, Clara Zetkin, and others. The League subsequently renamed itself the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD), joining the Comintern in 1919. Its period of greatest activity was during the German Revolution of 1918, when it sought to incite a revolution by circulating the newspaper Spartacus Letters.
The People's State of Bavaria was a short-lived socialist state in Bavaria from 1918 to 1919. The People's State of Bavaria was established on 8 November 1918 during the German Revolution, as an attempt at a socialist state to replace the Kingdom of Bavaria within the Weimar Republic. The state was led by Kurt Eisner until his assassination in February 1919, and co-existed with the rival Bavarian Soviet Republic from 6 April 1919, with its government under Johannes Hoffmann exiled in Bamberg. The People's State of Bavaria was dissolved upon the establishment of the Free State of Bavaria on 14 August 1919.
Karl Ignatz Freiherr von Schrenck was a German administrative lawyer and a deputy in Bavaria who served for a time as Minister-President of Bavaria.
1 2 "Kurt Eisner – Encyclopædia Britannica" (biography), Encyclopædia Britannica, 2006, Britannica.com webpage: Britannica-KurtEisner Archived 4 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine .
↑ https://jacobinmag.com/2019/03/german-revolution-1919-strikes-uprising-democracy
↑ Max Weber, (London 1987) p.634
↑ Frederick Moore, Eisner, A Great Loss, New York Tribune, 25 February 1919, page 10, and others
1 2 Reynolds, Francis J., ed. (1921). "Eisner, Kurt" . Collier's New Encyclopedia . New York: P.F. Collier & Son Company.
↑ Bernhard Grau: Kurt Eisner: 1867–1919. Eine Biografie. Munich 2001, pp. 210–219.
↑ Obituary, Unsigned, Justice, 27 February 1919, p.6; transcribed by Ted Crawford. Please see: "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 November 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2010. CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
1 2 Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). "Eisner, Kurt" . Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York.
↑ Richard J. Evans The Coming of the Third Reich, 2003.
↑ Holgar, Herwig (1987) "Clio Deceived: Patriotic self-censorship in Germany after the Great War". International Security12(2), 9. [ permanent dead link ]
↑ Newton, Michael (17 April 2014). Famous Assassinations in World History: An Encyclopedia [2 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. pp. 131–132. ISBN 9781610692861.
↑ Burleigh, Michael (2000) The Third Reich: A New History, New York: Hill and Wang, p. 40 ISBN 0-8090-9325-1
↑ Anna Rosmus Hitlers Nibelungen, Samples Grafenau 2015, pp. 27f
↑ Baumgärtner, Ulrich; Fenn, Monika (2002). Geschichte zwischen Kunst und Politik (in German). Herbert Utz Verlag. p. 87. ISBN 9783896759788.
Universitätsbibliothek Regensburg – Bosls bayrische Biographie – Kurt Eisner (in German), author: Karl Bosl, publisher: Pustet, page 172
Biography Kurt Eisner (in German)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kurt Eisner .
Picture of Kurt Eisner, taken in early 1918 Historisches Lexikon Bayerns
Newspaper clippings about Kurt Eisner in the 20th Century Press Archives of the German National Library of Economics (ZBW)
Otto Ritter von Dandl Prime Minister of Bavaria
Ministers-President of the Free State of Bavaria
Revolutionary period (1918–19)
Martin Segitz (acting)
Weimar period (1919–33)
Gustav Ritter von Kahr
Graf von Lerchenfeld-Köfering
Eugen von Knilling
Heinrich Held
Nazi period (1933–45)
Ludwig Siebert
Paul Giesler
Modern Bavaria (since 1945)
Fritz Schäffer
Wilhelm Hoegner
Hans Ehard
Hanns Seidel
Alfons Goppel
Franz Josef Strauss
Max Streibl
Edmund Stoiber
Günther Beckstein
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Home /Reviving History
Reviving History
Reviving History: New owners give Henry River Mill Village a fresh lease on life
Jen Nathan Orris
Calvin Reyes (left), with Elaine and Michael Namour are behind the revitalization of the 1905 mill town in Burke County.
Visiting Henry River Mill Village in Burke County is like entering a ghost town where paint peels off dilapidated houses and vines weave through old brick structures. But when it was built in 1905, the village bustled with factory workers who produced cotton yarn for the Henry River Manufacturing Company.
Now, a local family is working with former residents and their descendants to transform the village into a community and tourism hub. They aim to renovate the historic buildings into a restaurant, housing for overnight guests, an event space, and a walking museum.
The company town was comprised of a three-story brick mill surrounded by 35 worker homes, a boarding house, and a company store. The mill burned to the ground and closed for good in 1977, and after the last resident moved out in the late 1990s, the village has slowly decayed. In 2012, however, the neglected mill town got a taste of fame when scenes from the blockbuster The Hunger Games were filmed there.
Calvin Reyes and Elaine and Michael Namour purchased the property in 2017, when they were looking for a homestead for their family. “We went into the company store and just fell in love,” Reyes remembers. They were determined to preserve the buildings and their history. Former residents are eager to help revive the village, whether they’re clearing brush or sharing memories. “Their stories are endless, and it just moves you,” says Reyes. “I realized that this place is bigger than all of us.”
The public is invited to volunteer on Saturdays, by appointment, and tours are available on request. For more information and special event details, visit www.henryrivermillvillage.com.
Henry River Manufacturing Company
Henry River Mill Village
Photographs courtesy of Henry River Preservation Fund
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Organisation and financing of social support to people with dementia and carers
Background information on the social/healthcare system in Poland
During the period of independence (between 1918 and 1939), a limited Bismarckian social health insurance system was introduced, covering about 7% of the population. In 1945, a Ministry of Health was created and the State took over responsibility for health care.
In the 1980s, there was a series of health reforms aimed at decentralisation. Integrated healthcare management units, known as ZOZ (Zespól Opieki Zdrowotnej) that had been created in the 1970s were given greater power.
However, the general health insurance act of 1997 (enforced on 1 January 1999) brought back an insurance-budgetary model of health care funding whereby the State budget was no longer responsible for funding health services. Unfortunately, there were considerable regional differences in service provision and even different prices for the same service. These and other problems with the system led to the Law on General Insurance in the National Health Fund (enforced on 1 April 2003) which established the National Health Fund. The branches of the National Health Fund are responsible for providing health services to insured people. In 2004, the National Health Fund was officially declared not in accordance with the Constitution.
There is currently very little State provision of community care services. NGOs play an important role but services are still scarce. According to Kuszewski et al. (2005), there has been a parliamentary debate about a possible role for mutual insurances for health and social care, which would include separate long-term care insurance for the elderly. Source: Ministry of Health (2007) and WHO (2005).
The organisation of social support for people with dementia and carers
There is no system of social support specifically designed for people with dementia and their carers. However, people who are ailing or need social support, because they live alone or are dependent, are entitled to receive paid (or partly paid) home help and support organised by local governments.
There are special services for the elderly but none specifically for people with dementia. The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy is responsible for social support to people with dementia/dependent elderly people. The Ministry of Health is responsible for medical services only.
NGOs are involved in various activities aimed at providing services for people with dementia and their carers. The Ministry of Health may (or may not) co-finance certain activities and tasks of NGOs, but it is up to NGOs to fight for a better quality of life for people with dementia in Poland. The private sector provides some services, e.g. nursing homes, but they are not specially designed for people with dementia.
Support from the State (mainly the Ministry of Health) is inadequate and sporadic. The amount of money that organisations apply for from the government to finance their activities, which could help people with dementia and their families cope with the disease, is much greater than what they actually receive and the amount is decreasing every year, while the number of NGOs seeking financial support is increasing. For example, to cover the costs of the awareness activities and campaigns of the Polish Alzheimer Association, it has to look for other sponsors, as the government refuses to fund such activities. Since 2004, financial support from the Ministry of Health has been provided every year but very late in the year, so the resources that are eventually granted cover a period of just 4 or 6 months. Self-help organisations also apply to local government for financial support and, as in the above situation, the money only covers 8 to 9 months. In both cases, organisations must compete for financial support.
The overall funding of social support for people with dementia and carers
Social support for people with dementia and carers is funded through general taxation and an obligatory health insurance. In addition, people are asked to contribute towards the cost of any services they receive.
The legal framework surrounding the provision of social support
Certain articles of the Polish Constitution of 2 April 1997, covering economic, social and cultural freedoms and rights, could be of relevance to the provision of social support to people with dementia. For example:
A citizen shall have the right to social security whenever incapacitated for work by reason of sickness or invalidity as well as having attained retirement age. The scope and forms of social security shall be specified by statute.
Everyone shall have the right to have his/her health protected.
Equal access to health care services, financed from public funds, shall be ensured by public authorities to citizens, irrespective of their material situation. The conditions for, and scope of, the provision of services shall be established by statute.
Public authorities shall ensure special health care to children, pregnant women, handicapped people and persons of advanced age.
(http://www.sejm.gov.pl/prawo/konst/angielski/kon1.htm)
Other relevant legislation includes:
The Social Welfare Act of 12 March 2004 (Ustawa nr 64 z dnia 12 marca 2004 o pomocy spo?ecznej)
The Psychiatric Act (Ustawa o ochronie zdrowia psychicznego z 1994 r. - Dziennik Ustaw nr 111, poz 535 wraz z pó?niejszymi zmianami)
The Polish Alzheimer Society is not aware of any reforms underway which might eventually affect the level of support provided to people with dementia and their carers. It does not feel that people with dementia and their carers are the focus of the current government or MPs.
The suitability of social support for people with dementia and carers
Adequacy and accessibility in general
Social support for people with dementia and carers is neither adequate nor accessible. In fact, it is not generally available at all. The situation is very difficult especially in rural areas. Larger towns, where Alzheimer associations have been set up and are active, help people with dementia and their carers make use of the existing services available to the general public. The problem is that although general care services should be available to everybody in need, they are actually only accessible to low-income families.
Unfortunately, the available services do not meet the needs of people with dementia. Home helpers responsible for providing care at home are rarely qualified or properly trained to understand the needs of people with dementia. Family carers who are members of the Polish Alzheimer Association are often responsible for training the professional carers themselves.
People living in rural areas
As stated above, the provision of social support is especially difficult in rural areas. Services such as assistance with personal hygiene, day care centres and counselling for people with dementia are particularly difficult to find.
People with different types of dementia
As there are no services specifically designed for people with dementia in general, there are none for specific types of dementia either.
People from ethnic minorities
There are no specific services for people with dementia and carers from ethnic minorities.
Younger people with dementia
Age does not seem to be important as if a person has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, he/she has the same rights to use available services, especially if he/she has been granted the status of dependent person. However, there are no services specifically designed for younger people with dementia.
Services and support for people with dementia and their carers
Day care is partly funded by the Sate and partly by service users.
However, very few cities have day-care centres. Some are run by NGOs, others by local governments. The latter are quite rare. In Warsaw, for example, there is only one such facility yet it is estimated that at least 11,000 people in Warsaw have dementia, with only 15% having been diagnosed. The Polish Alzheimer Association considers the provision of day care totally insufficient.
A few Alzheimer associations (e.g. in Lodz, Poznan, Lublin, Torun and Olsztyn) have managed to set up day-care centres but there is always a threat that the local government will suddenly withdraw financial backing for such services.
The Church also provides day-care services e.g. in Plock, but the quality of the service is questionable and without logistic support from NGOs there is a risk, according to the Polish Alzheimer Association, of doing more harm than good to people with dementia who are usually treated like children.
Sitting services are generally available during the day but professional carers are not sufficiently trained and the service is only available for families on a low income. Moreover, it is not specifically designed for people with dementia. There is no night time respite service in Poland.
The State may contribute towards the cost of this service and service users may also have to pay a fee for this service. This is based on the income of the whole family in a particular household.
Short-term residential respite care exists but is insufficient. Existing long-term residential homes seldom want to admit people with dementia, simply because they are afraid of not being able to cope with various problems. It is not profitable for them to allow people to stay for short periods. Generally, such institutions do not want patients to stay for less than a month. The State contributes towards the cost of short-term and long-term respite care and service users must also pay a fee.
Long-term residential care
Although there are very few long-term residential homes solely for people with dementia, there are numerous homes for the elderly and frail. On average, 30% of the people admitted to such homes have dementia. Many have no prior diagnosis. Long-term residential care is partly funded by the state and partly by service users when the person using the service, or members of his/her family, cannot cover the full cost i.e. when their income is too low. The cost of long-term care varies. A few years ago long-term care homes charged 70% of a person’s pension, however much the pension was, but nowadays, each home calculates the costs and expects the users to cover them. The local government is only responsible for covering the remaining costs in the case of very poor people.
Palliative care is only available for people with cancer.
Monitoring in the home via alarm systems
Monitoring in the home via alarm systems is insufficient. It is provided solely by private agencies and is not specifically designed to be used by people with dementia.
Personal assistance and home help
Assistance with personal hygiene is available, especially in big towns, but insufficient. Rural areas are usually neglected. As with other services, it is not designed specifically for people with dementia. Another problem is that only people on a low income are entitled to this service. If provided, it is partly financed by the State and partly by the service user.
Assistance with mobility e.g. lifting, moving and walking and social companionship/activities form part of the social support services that are generally available but they are not specifically designed for the needs of people with dementia. Therefore, they are insufficient. These services are partly financed by the State and partly by service users.
Social community nurses from outpatient clinics in a patient’s place of residence may, if available, visit the patient and instruct the family carer on how to deal with pressure sores. The family carer may then ask the nurse again if he/she can’t cope. This is totally insufficient. Service users with a high income/pension have to pay the full cost of the service. The state partly or in some cases almost fully pays for the service for people on a low income/pension. Alzheimer associations also provide training to carers on how to deal with such problems and where to find help. The Polish Alzheimer Association arranges for nurses to visit people with dementia at home.
Some NGOs provide nursing services to people with dementia in their own homes, but this is scarce. Moreover, it is costly to NGOs and financial support from the State is difficult to obtain for this service.
Disabled people who adapt their homes are entitled to refunds from the government. This only covers part of the cost.
The following services are not available:
Supervision/assistance taking medication
Assistance eating and drinking
Assistance dealing with incontinence
Occupation therapy/ergotherapy (unless available through day care centre)
Assistive devices/assisted technology
However, people with dementia are entitled to 60 incontinence pads at half price provided that they obtain a prescription for them from a general practitioner.
A few home help services are available and partly funded by the State. They include:
Assistance with housework
Help with the preparation of meals (incl. meals-on-wheels)
Assistance with shopping
However, as these services are not specifically designed for people with dementia and only available to people on a low income, they are insufficient.
There is no laundry service and no special means of transport for people with dementia. Carers who order a normal taxi may be entitled to some discount if they can prove that the patient is disabled.
Psychosocial support and training for people with dementia and carers
There is no general service to provide information about access to services in general. The Polish Alzheimer Association has a telephone helpline.
Counselling services for people with dementia and for carers are solely provided by Alzheimer Associations. For this reason, counselling services only exist in towns where there is an Alzheimer Association and there is a lack of such services in small towns and rural areas. This is insufficient. The Alzheimer Associations do not receive any funds from the State for counselling people with dementia. Counselling for carers is partly funded by the State.
Holiday services, specially designed for people with dementia, are only available if and when an Alzheimer Association can run them. The Polish Alzheimer Association has been running such forms of respite for more than 10 years, but it is getting more and more difficult, especially when no financial support is provided by the State. The State may contribute towards the cost but many carers are still unable to afford such holidays (two weeks may cost as much as their monthly salary/pension). There are no provisions for carers to have a holiday e.g. by providing a respite carer so that the carer can have a break.
The Polish Alzheimer Association and local Alzheimer’s organisations are the sole providers of training for family carers and this is considered insufficient. The State does not, as a rule, contribute towards the cost of this training, unless the Alzheimer associations are lucky enough to receive some funds from the Ministry of Health or from the local government for educational projects.
Work/tax related support for people with dementia
There are no protective measures for people with dementia in paid employment. They are not entitled to tax refunds for employing people to provide home care services and they are not entitled to direct payments to pay for services. However, a person with dementia, like any other disabled or elderly person (i.e. over 75 years of age), is entitled to a care benefit of 150 zloty (EUR 35) per month.
People with dementia, like disabled people, are entitled to tax refunds/benefits due to their incapacity and also for home adaptations. This is based on tax legislation.
People with dementia who have been granted the status of disability of the first category (i.e. they are unable to live independently) are entitled to certain reductions e.g. on television and radio licences. Public transport (buses, trams, the underground and some trains) can be used free of charge by people with dementia and their carers. This is covered by tax law, the Acts Monitor, nr.14 of 2004, article 176 (ORDYNACJA PODATKOWA, DZIENNIK USTAW nr 14 z 2004, pozycja 176).
Work/tax related support for carers and carer allowances
According to the Labour Code (KODEKS PRACY), every spouse or child caring for a sick adult is entitled to 14 days’ paid time off work per year. There are no legal provisions granting a right to unpaid time off work or flexible working hours.
The State takes over responsibility for the payment of pension contributions but only partly so that a carer can retire earlier to look after a person with dementia or any other sickness. However, each year spent caring, before one’s legal date of retirement, is calculated as if it were 7 months and not 12 months. The relevant law is the Labour Code (KODEKS PRACY).
Carers are not entitled to direct or indirect payment from the State for caring. They are not entitled to tax benefits/incentives for the care they provide either.
Unless otherwise stated, information provided by Mirka Wojciechowska (Polish Alzheimer Society) between April and September 2007
Kuszewski, K. et al. (2005), HIT Summary for Poland (2005), http://www.euro.who.int/Document/E88670sum.pdf
Ministry of Health official website (2007): http://www.mz.gov.pl/wwwmzold/index?mr= m0&ms=&ml=en&mi=535&mx=0&mt=&my=464&ma=5166 – accessed on 11 April 2007
Last Updated: Wednesday 15 July 2009
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DJ, Producer, Parisian re-mixer, ex Resident Dj at theQueen club, FG Dj radio and ex-résident of L’Enfer. He played his first turntables when he was 13, and at the age of 19 was one of the youngest resident DJ’s in Paris. Since this time, influenced by the great DJs of the world, he worked non-stop to find his technique and style until he reached top international DJ-level.
20 years of experience mixing, beginning with 7 years of Hip-Hop. With the influence of the « Rave party » phenomenon and the new talent revealed by the electronic wave which swept through Paris, he gradually developed a techno sound. This opened up a new horizon and he was soon in his element. His flycases were gradually filled with records from Detroit, Chicago, Germany or England (Axis, Trax, Relief, Synwave, Trésor…). He played in a number of raves parties, making a name for himself and gaining public recognition. From then on his intention was to mix in a new creative way.
From 1997, at the end of his sound ingeneer studies, onwards he worked in clubs, developing his style more progressively, House music being his choice of records. This was a revelation to him.At the time clubs preferred it to techno and Hip-Hop, this movement coming onto the scene as a melting pot of all cultures and musics. He handles this style magnificently, combining his teenage groove with funk, disco, jazz and even techno sound. At the time he mixed five days a week, on the turntables of the French capital’s biggest clubs. He refined his three-turntable-mix, which has become his means of expression.
Thanks to the numerous club residences he can carry out his long eclectic sets. He has been side-by-side with many well-known Dj’s such as Dj Sneak, Johnny Corporate, Dj Spen, Little Louie Vega, Dj Deep, Frankie Feliciano, Jazzanova, Kerri Chandler, Roger Sanchez, Dennis Ferrer, Danny Krivit, Martin Solveig, Jamie Lewis … In 1999, he began to travel abroad as a guest in foreign clubs. His present, very club-style, « Pumping Soulful House » influenced by the French and New-york scene, can be qualified as unique. In his element from Deep House to Techno, he handles his vinyls and Cds like a raw product. His aim, whilst concentrating on the frequencies and the organic side of his mix, is above all to be at one with his public and to give them a show. Read more
Listen to Yass
Wouter Koops
Henrik Lücke Olsen
Paul Hartnoll
Marc Romboy
Headhunterz
Tiësto
Danny Tenaglia
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Date: May 26, 2019 Author: admin Comments: 0
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John Brown’s Body Poem Stephen Vincent Benet
–One of the most widely read poems of our time, John Brown’s Body is Stephen Vincent Benet s masterful retelling of the Civil War. A book of great energy and sweep, it swings into view the entire course of that terrible and decisive war, lighting up the lives of soldiers, leaders, and civilians, North and South, amidst the conflict.
A Diamante Poem About Summer A model leaves little to imagination as she shows off her hot-bod in a bikini! (Source: Peter Rollans – Australian Swimsuit Edition) A model leaves little to imagination as she shows off her hot-bod. Rich Dad Poor Dad Author Bankrupt Poetry Poems For Kids Sharon Ashley, a public library patron, won first prize in the
Stephen Vincent Benet Stephen Vincent Benet (1898-1943) was an American poet and fiction writer best known for his long poem.
Dec 19, 2018 · Benét is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, John Brown’s Body (1928), for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in.
READING – Shoestring Productions presentS an adaptation of Stephen Vincent Benet’s: John Brown’s Body, his epic poem spanning the U.S. Civil War, at the Miller Center for the Arts at 4 North Second St.
Benet, Stephen Vincent. John Brown’s Body: a Poem. Illustrated by John Steuart Curry Hardcover, Norwalk, Connecticut: Heritage Press, 1994. Near Fine. Introduction by Douglas Southall Freeman. Fourteen illustrations by John Steuart Curry. The poem was awarded the.
Rich Dad Poor Dad Author Bankrupt Poetry Poems For Kids Sharon Ashley, a public library patron, won first prize in the adult category for her poem, “The Beauty of Spring.” Carrie. A child experiences a poem not primarily as words a person is using, but as sounds a voice is making. In practice, this means children’s poetry foregrounds the art form’s
The film follows rehearsals for a production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “John Brown’s Body” by Stephen Vincent Benet, at San Quentin, performed by nine inmates and directed by Joe DeFrancesco.
WHITE PLAINS, N. Y., Dec. 15 — The new presentation of Stephen Vincent Benet’s "John Brown’s Body," arranged for the stage and directed by Charles Laughton as a sequel to last season’s "Don Juan in.
a 1928 memo to the wife of the law partner of Lincoln’s son Robert Todd Lincoln and a 1948 limited edition copy of Stephen Vincent Benet’s poem John Brown’s Body. Selling such items would hardly make.
A 1928 memo to the wife of the law partner of Lincoln’s son Robert Todd Lincoln? A 1948 limited edition copy of "John Brown’s Body," the Stephen Vincent Benet poem? Maybe not. But selling them would.
John Brown’s Body [There were three. Stephen Vincent Benét was born July 22, 1898, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, into a military family. His most famous work is the long poem John Brown’s Body for which he received the Pulitzer Prize in 1929—a long narrative poem which interweaves historical and fictional characters to relate important.
Please send reports of such problems to [email protected] Stephen Vincent Benet rose to literary fame on the strong wings of an epic poem. "John Brown’s Body" is an American Iliad. Written.
Buy Age Of Mythology Download Rich Dad Poor Dad Author Bankrupt Poetry Poems For Kids Sharon Ashley, a public library patron, won first prize in the adult category for her poem, “The Beauty of Spring.” Carrie. A child experiences a poem not primarily as words a person is using, but as sounds a voice is making. In practice, this means
May 02, 2019 · Stephen Vincent Benet (1898-1943) was an American poet and fiction writer best known for his long poem about the American Civil War John Brown’s Body, published in 1928.Benet…
John Brown’s Body (epic poem) Jump to navigation Jump to search. John Brown’s Body is an epic poem by American poet Stephen Vincent Benét. History. In 1925 Stephen Vincent Benét decided to write a long poem. With this proposal he approached the Guggenheim Foundation. He asked for 2 500 dollars and got it. Then he went to France.
John Brown’s body: a poem. New York: The Heritage Press, 1948. 4to. xvi, ii, 454 pp. Original publisher’s cloth, preserved in the original box. Interior excellent. Item #10478 Price: $150.00. Add to Cart Ask a Question. See all items in Literature. See all items by Stephen Vincent BENET. B & L Rootenberg; Post Office Box 5049 Sherman Oaks.
A 1928 memo to the wife of the law partner of Lincoln’s son Robert Todd Lincoln? A 1948 limited edition copy of ‘John Brown’s Body,’ the Stephen Vincent Benet poem? “Maybe not. But selling them would.
Dive deep into Stephen Vincent Benét’s John Brown’s Body with extended analysis, commentary, and discussion. John Brown’s Body Analysis Stephen Vincent Benét. The Poetry of Benet. Stephen.
It was one of a number of movies produced by Mr. Gregory.CreditUnited Artists/Photofest In 1952, Mr. Gregory turned Stephen Vincent Benét’s Civil War poem “John Brown’s Body” into a dramatic reading.
Some matters of technique in the re-creation of history in fiction form were explained yesterday by Stephen Vincent Benet. His cycloramic poem, "John Brown’s Body," which established sales records in.
Short Story Author Info. STUDY. PLAY. Born in 1930 in the Ibo village of Ogibi, Nigeria. Stephen Vincent Benét. Most of his or her works stem from American history and ideals. Stephen Vincent Benét. Won Pulitzer Prize for his or her epic poem "John Brown’s Body" Stephen Vincent Benét. Won a pulitzer prize after the unfinished epic.
Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein wrote for its literary journal. Stephen Vincent Benét composed his poem "John Brown’s Body" at the library. When the Nazis occupied Paris in 1940, director Dorothy.
Theme Of Death In Emily Dickinson Poetry More than a century after her 1886 death, whether she wanted. carried on as just one of many themes. Another is the tick-tock of clocks, a reminder of mortality as well as a poet’s meter. Cynthia. Jack A Nape Shakespeare Definition Search the history of over 362 billion web pages on the Internet. Her bleached
John Brown’s body. by Benét, Stephen Vincent, 1898-1943. Publication date 1928. Topics Brown, John, 1800-1859. Language English. A narrative poem "First edition after the printing of 201 deluxe copies." Bibliography: 3d prelim. leaf English Poetry copy: author’s inscription on the fly-leaf English Poetry.
Stephen Vincent Benet, Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet and writer, is being immortalized by the U.S. Postal Service on the centenary of his birth. In 1928, Benet wrote "John Brown’s Body," a book.
Teacher Poems To Students End Of Year The end of the school year is almost here for most students across the country. With the summer approaching, it’s a great time to let teachers know the impact they have on young people’s lives. Rich Dad Poor Dad Author Bankrupt Poetry Poems For Kids Sharon Ashley, a public library patron, won first prize in
He will premiere a "theatrical jazz" production composed specifically for the commemoration, combining music and a spoken-word performance of passages from Stephen Vincent Benét’s epic poem, "John.
in Stephen Vincent Benet’s Pulitzer Prize‐winning dramatic poem “John Brown’s Body.” Performances will be tonight at 8 o’clock and tomorrow afternoon at 5. Tickets for reserved seating are $5; general.
Traveling as a second-class passenger, Stephen Vincent Benet, young American poet, whose recently published "John Brown’s Body," a narrative poem dealing with the Civil War, has attracted favor,
A 1928 memo to the wife of the law partner of Lincoln’s son Robert Todd Lincoln? A 1948 limited edition copy of “John Brown’s Body,” the Stephen Vincent Benet poem? Maybe not. But selling them would.
You’ll Meet Me In The Light Poem Head to any bookshop and you’ll. poem’s impact, from Maggie Smith’s Good Bones capturing the bleak fear of a world that’s “at least/ fifty percent terrible”, to the late Mary Oliver’s now. "The Inner Light" is a song by the English rock group the Beatles, written by George Harrison. It was released on a non-album
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Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish Plays at San Francisco Festival (VIDEO)
by Deby Medrez Pier
Editors note: Although Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish was released last year, The Algemeiner publishes this story today in honor of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival taking place this week where the film will be viewed.
Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish is a film Written and Directed by Eve Annenberg, which just opened in San Francisco for the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
The film centers on Ava, a woman in graduate school who needs to translate Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet from English to Yiddish. In order to take on such a task she employs a few young Orthodox men to assist her. With Ava’s descriptions of the novel and some fairy dust, the young men’s minds begin to whirl bringing us to a parallel universe where the timeless characters of Shakespeare’s play are replaced with Hasidic Jews.
The entire film was shot in 30 days for $175,000, and it won an audience award when it premiered at the Berlin Jewish Film Festival last year.
The musical score bursts liturgical Jewish A Cappella wailing in minor keys and was composed by Joel Diamond, with the contributions of Pharoah’s daughter and Lior.
To watch the film’s trailer, click below.
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Zimbabwe unity talks to resume
The MDC says two activists have been killed by suspected Zanu-PF supporters.
MDC members have said the talks are deadlocked [AFP]
Mbeki is mediating the talks at a secret location near Pretoria, the South African capital.
"There are naturally some matters which require the negotiators to come back to consult. That's why they are all here in Harare today," he said.
Mbeki said he had already met Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the MDC in Pretoria on Tuesday after the negotiations had adjourned.
In Harare, he also met Arthur Mutambara, the leader of another MDC faction.
'Total commitment'
"Yes there is progress and we remain committed to a settlement to the Zimbabwean crisis," Mutambara told AFP news agency
Earlier, the 84-year-old Mugabe expressed his "total commitment" to the negotiations, insisting they were "going well".
Tsvangirai, Mugabe and Mutambara signed an accord on July 21 to begin talks on sharing power after a months-long election dispute.
While Tsvangirai believes his victory in the first round of a presidential election in March should give him the right to a greater share of power, sources inside the MDC say Mugabe's negotiators are only offering him the chance to become one of several vice-presidents.
The former trade union leader has twice been charged with treason and needed hospital treatment for head injuries last year as he was assaulted by members of the security forces ahead of an anti-government rally.
The MDC said in a statement on Wednesday that two more of its activists were killed last week, allegedly by Zanu-PF supporters.
"The deaths show that there is no sincerity on the part of Zanu-PF. The death of the two brings to 122 the number of MDC activists who have been murdered since the March 29 harmonised elections," the statement said.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai are under pressure from within Africa and the rest of the world to negotiate a national unity government to end a crisis that has ruined Zimbabwe's economy and flooded neighbouring states with millions of refugees.
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Giro d'Italia honours crash cyclist
Giro cyclists hold 'stage of respect' following death of Belgian rider Wouter Weylandt.
Tue May 10 2011 14:30:30 GMT+0000
Leopard Trek riders hold a minute of silence at the beginning of the fourth stage on Tuesday [EPA]
Giro d'Italia competitors paid tribute to fallen Belgian rider Wouter Weylandt on Tuesday, following his death in a crash on the previous day's third stage.
Cyclists, sporting black armbands, took part in a "stage of respect" for Weylandt after organisers ruled that the day's placings would not count towards the race's final result.
The 216km fourth stage from Genoa to Livorno was preceded by a minute's silence with riders relaying each other at the head of the peloton. Weylandt's Leopard Trek team were invited to cross the finish line in the lead.
Leopard Trek general manager Brian Nygaard added: "We will start Tuesday out of respect for the family Weylandt and also to share our grief with the world of cycling.
"The boys were totally devastated. If there is anyone who did not want to continue, we accept that."
The 26-year-old Belgian crashed on Monday during a descent after clipping a wall during the third stage of the race and died at the scene despite medical staff trying to revive him for 40 minutes.
Race officials said his left pedal got stuck in a wall at the side of the road, forcing Weylandt to tumble around 20 metres to the ground below, and appearing to land heavily on his face.
On Monday, organisers said that there would be no music or festivities on the route and that the presentation ceremony would again not take place.
"It will be a day of mourning at the start and at the finish,'' race director Angelo Zomegnan said.
Weylandt won the same stage of the Giro last year [AFP]
Britain's race leader David Millar told reporters: "Wouter was a guy you thought would never die. It is a shock because he was so full of life.
"We have his best friend Tyler Farrar in the team and he's going home tonight because for him it's too much.
"It's not a day for racing for position or for the white (finishing) line on the road. We've just got to finish the stage as quickly as we can and ride well out of respect for Wouter."
The eight remaining members of Weylandt's Leopard-Trek team and the leaders of the Giro's four classifications lined up together before the start prior to moving off.
Weylandt was in his fifth year as a professional cyclist, and was due to become a father for the first time in September. His biggest wins were stage victories in the 2010 Giro d'Italia and the 2008 Tour of Spain.
Weylandt's was the first fatality at the Italian race in 25 years.
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