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Couchbase Appoints Chief Revenue Officer to Deliver Next Growth Phase
Silicon Valley veteran, Denis Murphy, joins Couchbase’s executive leadership team
June 19, 2019 11:10 ET | Source: Couchbase
Santa Clara, Calif., June 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
Couchbase, Inc. today announced the appointment of Denis Murphy to the executive leadership team as Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), bringing more than two decades’ experience in global sales strategy and execution. At Couchbase, Murphy will lead the company’s overall go-to-market optimization and expansion efforts to capitalize on the $45B+ database market as demand for Couchbase’s enterprise-class multi-cloud NoSQL database grows.
Murphy brings to Couchbase deep experience with taking technology companies from early-stage all the way through successfully scaled public companies, serving as both an operator and an advisor in the fields of SaaS, networking, storage, and security.
Of late, in addition to serving as a strategic advisor to various companies, he spent nearly three years as the Worldwide Sales leader at Nimble Storage, which was eventually acquired by HPE. While there, he transformed Nimble’s field operations and doubled the company’s revenues to just under $1 billion. Murphy also notably served a nine-year tenure at Riverbed Technology, where he started as the first sales hire and ultimately became Senior Vice President of the Americas where he helped the company grow through a successful IPO to an $800M annual run rate.
“Couchbase’s success, both today and tomorrow, is rooted in the capability of our world-class leadership team,” said Matt Cain, President and CEO of Couchbase. “As Couchbase continues our journey to help organizations accelerate the innovation of their business-critical applications, I’m delighted that Denis has joined us in the pivotal CRO role. He has an extraordinary track record of success helping enterprises digitally transform to better serve their customers.”
“Modern applications require a level of flexibility, agility and cost-effective scaling that simply can’t be delivered in a rigid, complex and expensive relational database environment,” said Murphy. “As a result, enterprises are now choosing NoSQL databases but want to retain the power and familiarity of SQL in their development and operational environments. Unlike other NoSQL databases, Couchbase offers robust capabilities for business-critical enterprise applications on a highly scalable and available NoSQL platform, built on open standards to simplify the transition from legacy databases. I’m excited to contribute to our customers’ and partners’ success as the company continues to innovate and grow.”
About Couchbase
Couchbase's mission is to be the platform that accelerates application innovation. To make this possible, Couchbase created an enterprise-class, multi-cloud NoSQL database architected on top of an open source foundation. Couchbase is the only database that combines the best of NoSQL with the power and familiarity of SQL, all in a single, elegant platform spanning from any cloud to the edge.
Couchbase has become pervasive in our everyday lives; our customers include industry leaders Amadeus, AT&T, BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), Carrefour, Comcast, Disney, DreamWorks Animation, eBay, Marriott, Neiman Marcus, Tesco, Tommy Hilfiger, United, Verizon, Wells Fargo, as well as hundreds of other household names. For more information, visit www.couchbase.com.
Christina Knittel
christina.knittel@couchbase.com
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Top 10 UK Sales Chart: Prey Beaten In Debut Week By Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe holds off Prey in the UK this week.
By Oscar Dayus | @dayusz on May 8, 2017 at 3:06AM PDT
Now Playing: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Video Review
Bethesda's Prey failed to knock Mario Kart 8 Deluxe off the top of the UK physical sales chart this week. The sci-fi action game finished at No.2, below Nintendo's racer, for the week ending May 6.
The rest of the top five is made up of the evergreen Grand Theft Auto V, which maintains its place at No.3, while Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (No.4) and Lego Worlds (No.5) both rise, week-on-week.
Elsewhere in the chart, Telltale's Guardians of the Galaxy debuts at No.31. The episodic game's physical version launched this week--just a few days after Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hit cinemas in the UK--though the first episode has been available digitally since April 18.
It is worth noting that Prey launched on Friday, May 5, so it had less time on the market this week compared to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which launched a week earlier. Deluxe is, however, exclusive to Nintendo Switch, whereas Prey is available for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Last week, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe set a new franchise sales record in the US and zoomed to the top of both the Australian and UK games charts. In our Mario Kart 8 Deluxe review, Kallie Plagge said Nintendo's racer was already a "great racing game" when it was released in 2014 on Wii U, but the overhaul of Battle Mode makes it "well worth reinvesting yourself in Mario Kart 8 on Switch."
Our Prey review in progress, meanwhile, noted the game's frustrating Mimic enemies, and critic Tamoor Hussain said that, so far, the game offers a "vanilla combat experience." Keep an eye on GameSpot for our full Prey review in the near future.
You can read the full top 10 sales chart below, courtesy of sales monitor Chart-Track. Note this table does not include digital sales data, and so should not be considered representative of all UK game sales.
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Workers to be controlled in use of government software
BY: Caroline Boateng
Public servants would be controlled in the use of ICT software procured by the government in downloading movies and other private social activities at their various workplaces soon.
These are part of wide-ranging operational improvement measures, as the government strives to ensure the digitisation of all sectors, the Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has stated.
She was speaking at a forum on IT organised by the ministry and it's agency, the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) in Accra on Monday (April 15, 2019).
The forum was on the theme: The new NITA and is line with provisions of the Electronic Transaction Act 2008 (Act 772) for continuous engagements with industry players.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said the government had negotiated software and hardware enterprise agreements with Microsoft, standardised desktops and the reduction of fake and pirated software in the system.
Student and teachers would also benefit from the Microsoft suites, which, according to the minister, was the most widely used in the country.
"This will help reduce the overall ICT budget of the government and improve network security
She said the same negotiations would be engaged in for Oracle and other software in regular use across ministries, departments and agencies.
"Please note that these tools are for official use only and not for downloading movies and other such private content. The requisite firewalls and other security features will be deployed to ensure it is kept that way," she stated.
The Acting Director General of NITA, Mr David Gyewu, while affirming the minister's statements on the controls, however said that some allowance in the provision would be made available for staff to use privately.
The main thing, however, was not to bog down government's network to impact negatively on efficiency and rapid business transactions.
Writer's E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Boy to undergo therapy for rare, fatal disease
Local | November 16, 2004
Melissa Cassutt
One-year-old Vinny Warden laughs as he watches his parents pick up the toys he has thrown from his highchair. As he searches for more toys to throw, his parents are burdened by another search — a search the Windsor couple hope will postpone their son’s inevitable early death.
Four months ago, Vinny was diagnosed with Canavan’s disease, a rare degenerative disorder that prevents his brain from developing. In hopes of prolonging Vinny’s life, Kara and Brian Warden will have their son undergo a breakthrough gene therapy that could improve his muscle tone, one of the biggest problems children with Canavan’s suffer. Although the procedure may help, his parents have come to realize that their little redheaded boy’s future is bleak.
He will likely die a child even with the therapy.
“You just have to deal with what’s happening now,” Kara said. “These kids end up having so many medical problems. You’d just drive yourself crazy.”
The gene therapy procedure is done in Camden, N.J. After Vinny’s first surgery in February, he’ll need to revisit the New Jersey hospital every two months for the next two years. And there are no guarantees for Vinny.
“There’s always a chance that he could be worse afterward,” Brian said. “But he’s a very functioning Canavan kid. He stands to benefit more from gene therapy, theoretically.”
The Wardens considered moving to New Jersey, but thought it might be too disruptive to their lives and their 11-year-old daughter, Kayla. Kayla attends Windsor Middle School. Although Brian and Kara make a conscious effort to keep Kayla updated about Vinny, Kayla doesn’t really understand what is happening to her brother.
“How can she really grasp it?” Kara said. “She knows he’s going to be different than any of the other kids she’s known. We try not to let the sickness take us away from who he is. He definitely has his own personality apart from being a Canavan’s kid.”
Kara is convinced that, if Vinny were able to crawl, walk or speak, he would be a “holy terror.” He’s expressive in his anger and annoyance. And what he can get into, he does.
“His sister was so sweet and easy,” she said. “We always figured if we had another kid, we were going to get retribution.”
Despite their differences, Kayla and Vinny share at least one thing in common — their bright red hair they didn’t get from either of their parents. But for Kara and Brian, their kids’ hair color, strangely, helps them understand Canavan’s a little better.
“It helps identify that we were carrying genes that we don’t know anything about,” Brian said.
They also may share the gene deficiency. When Kayla is older, Kara and Brian want to have her tested to see if she is a carrier of Canavan’s. Children of parents who are carriers of Canavan’s disease have a 50 percent chance they’ll be a carrier. However, even if Kayla is a carrier, both parents have to be a carrier to potentially affect their children.
There isn’t a cure for Canavan’s. They know their search won’t save Vinny. But they won’t surrender to sadness before it’s due.
“We know that he doesn’t have a long-term future as things stand right now,” Brian said. “That sucks, but that’s kind of our reality. A lot of parents lose their kids suddenly. To me, that would be worse. That would be way, way worse.”
Children with Canavan’s disease are born without the gene that helps regulate levels of N-acetylaspartic acid in the brain. The abundance of this acid causes the brain to deteriorate and, eventually, leads to death.
Children with Canavan’s suffer from low muscle tone and can’t crawl, walk or talk. Many also have problems with hearing and sight. There are only 500 reported cases in the United States and about 4,000 worldwide. Canavan’s children are not expected to live past 3 or 4 years, although a few have survived to be teens. There is no cure.
An innovative gene therapy in Camden, N.J., has shown lessen the effects of Canavan’s disease. The procedure, which consists of drilling six holes into the skull and injecting a synthetic gene into the brain, has been performed on only 26 children. Vinny will be the youngest child to ever go through the surgery, and he’ll receive the largest dosage of the gene.
Source: http://www.vincentshope.org
Kara and Brian Warden are hosting a benefit to raise $5,000 for Vinny’s gene therapy. The fund-raising event will include a silent auction, door prizes and a pool tournament.
Vincent’s Hope Benefit starts at 1 p.m. Sunday at White Buffalo, 5400 N. Garfield St. in Loveland. For more information or to register for the pool tournament, call Maria Spoon at (970) 231-5810.
To help pay for other equipment Vinny needs, such as a bath chair and a kid cart adaptive stroller, donations may be made to Vincent’s Hope in care of Union Colony Bank, 1505 Main St., Windsor, CO 80550.
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Automation, Artificial Intelligence, and the Changing Role of Building Managers
A follow-up to the question: Will increasing automation destroy jobs in facilities management?
Joe Aamidor February 14, 2018
Examining the future of facilities management in an automated world.
Building automation systems have been common for decades, providing comfort and achieving energy efficiency by managing HVAC, lighting and other systems. These on-premise technologies have made facility management a more productive, effective and enjoyable job.
Moreover, automation in buildings provides capabilities that aren't feasible for a human to perform effectively. This was true when Warren Johnson (founder of Johnson Controls) patented the thermostat in 1883. Johnson didn’t like the disruptions in his classroom when janitors and other staff came in to check the temperature.
Across the broader economy, there continues to be concern that advanced automation technologies will destroy jobs. Among other key trends, many point to the “great decoupling," a term coined by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson of MIT, which refers to the deviation of productivity and wage growth. Until the 1980s, these two metrics grew hand in hand. Now, productivity continues to rise while wages are stagnant. Many believe technology and automation are to blame.
Since I wrote my last article on automation in buildings, which argued that these technologies would be a job creator in buildings, there have been a number of interesting papers on the broader topic of automation and jobs.
First, research and advisory firm Gartner highlighted the significant benefits of AI augmentation -- humans working with technology. Gartner notes that the impact is nonlinear: “Many significant innovations in the past have been associated with a transition period of temporary job loss, followed by recovery, then business transformation, and AI will likely follow this route."
Deloitte published a white paper that analyzed job changes in England and Wales over the past 144 years (since 1871) and the impact of technology. Deloitte’s high-level findings are that technology has created many more jobs than it destroyed, saved Britons from “dull, repetitive, and dangerous work,” and “lowered the cost of essentials, raising disposable incomes and creating new demand and jobs.”
Are these wider economic trends relevant to the building and real estate industry? What does a similar analysis of job growth indicate?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes detailed employment data by job category. Recent editions of the Energy Information Administration’s Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) include penetration rates for building automation systems (and other technologies). One can draw some conclusions by comparing these data sets, much as the Deloitte researchers did. (Note: BLS states that due to its collection methodology, year-over-year comparisons are not precise. That said, directionally they are indicative of changes in employment.)
A few BLS occupations were selected for this brief analysis: Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers (49-9021), Engineering Managers (11-9041), Security and Fire System Installers (49-2098), Elevator Installers and Repairers (47-4021), and Construction and Building Inspectors (47-4011). These are not the only roles within building management, but they are specific enough to buildings that some insights and conclusions can be made. BLS combines other key building and facility roles within larger employment buckets, making it difficult to identify trends within this industry.
Three of these positions have shown healthy growth in employment over the past 15 years. The number of HVAC mechanics and installers has increased from 197,930 in 2000 to 294,730 in 2016, a growth rate of 2.5 percent per year. Security and fire installation employment, a much smaller employment group, has grown more significantly, from 38,810 in 2000 to 67,700 in 2016 (a growth rate of 3.5 percent per year). Employment in construction and building inspection also has grown over this time, from 68,690 to 94,960 (a growth rate of 2 percent per year).
There are two relevant employment categories that have seen reductions in employment numbers. Architectural and Engineering Managers, which include occupations like Mechanical Engineering Director and Global Engineering Manager, have dropped from 242,280 in 2000 to 178,390 in 2016. The Elevator Installers and Repairers role has seen a slight decline from 25,100 jobs to 22,240. These are declines of 1.9 percent and .75 percent each year, respectively.
Architectural and engineering manager employment could be declining due to more outsourcing of facility management to roles like HVAC mechanics. Or, broader economic trends like the great recession could have impacted the total job count as corporations shed some auxiliary and support roles. The slight decline in elevator installation and repair may be due to increasingly reliable equipment that needs less maintenance and lasts longer.
CBECS does not align directly with these employment categories, but it does indicate that more buildings are being automated and equipped with technology. For example, the survey notes an increase in the penetration of "Energy Management and Control Systems,” an analogue for a building automation system (BAS), from 9.9 percent of all commercial buildings in 1999, to 14.1 percent of buildings in 2012 (the most recent year of CBECS data).
At the same time, there has been a slight decline in HVAC maintenance, from 59.8 percent to 57.2 percent. With around 5.5 million commercial buildings in the U.S., a 2.6 percent decline means that many buildings no longer conduct routine maintenance. That alone should lead to a reduction in total HVAC employment, because it is a very manual service- and human-driven job. However, the exact opposite is happening: There are many more HVAC installers and maintainers.
At the same time, CBECS also reports that more buildings are cooling their floor space: The percentage of space that is not cooled has dropped from 23.6 percent in 1999 to 19.7 percent in 2012. And, the percentage of space that has 100 percent of the floor cooled has increased from 38.6 percent to 43 percent. Overall, it seems that the increase in HVAC penetration and the increase in BAS penetration are driving higher employment, while the reduction in HVAC maintenance may be due to more reliable equipment that requires less ongoing service.
Based on these reliable data sources, it appears that buildings are being automated and employment in the industry is growing. Moreover, beyond raw employment numbers, other key trends are starting to impact building operations. First, the roles themselves are changing.
In its Future of Work report, the World Economic Forum investigates the skills that will be required in the future for many different jobs. When looking at installation and maintenance jobs, the researchers note that the role “will see great productivity enhancements and strong growth in green jobs such as the installation, retrofitting, repair and maintenance of smart meters and renewable energy technologies in residential and office buildings, but -- at an aggregate level -- will also come face-to-face with the efficiency-saving and labour-substituting aspect of the Internet of Things.”
The report also notes that while some tasks will be automated, others will simply become more analytical or change in other ways. It’s safe to assume that with the substantial increase in data from buildings, many of the roles operating and maintaining them will become more data-driven.
Moreover, the International Facility Management Association and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors released last year the third edition of a report focusing on the talent gap in facility management. The high-level findings are that the industry needs an influx of young, new talent (more RICS members are over 70 than under 30).
In general, the role as practiced continues to be too tactical. Based on a survey of 2,500 facility managers, the report notes that the head of facility management role still spends almost 50 percent of his/her time on day-to-day tasks and only 30 percent on strategic planning. The report notes that occupant demands of the office are rising, a war for talent continues, and concerns like health and well-being are becoming top of mind.
Facilities management leaders (and their teams) will need to adapt to these expectations, which will change the role and responsibilities. The survey also notes that many respondents suggested that facilities management should be focused on “helping people to do work rather than managing service provision.“ It seems that more automation may help facility managers and their teams become more strategic and adapt to the changing expectations of the role.
Second, there is an emerging talent gap in facility management. Siemens recently said that it is having trouble filling factory maintenance jobs, which entail diagnosing problems in industrial machinery. Siemens representatives profiled in the article note that in the past, a technician could listen to a machine and quickly diagnose the problem. These days, it’s rare to find employees with such a skill set, so automation and artificial intelligence could fill the gap while continuing to employ workers to make repairs and cultivate relationships with clients.
Facility management employment continues to grow, as does demand for advanced technology in buildings. A recent study commissioned by Dell and Intel found that 44 percent of employees think their office is not smart enough, and 57 percent believe that within five years, they will be working in a smart office. Dell and Intel include an IOT-enabled workplace in their definition of a smart office.
For now, it does not appear that automation will lead to significant job losses in the industry. However, facility and building managers need to address other, more critical issues, such as training employees to be prepared to use rapidly advancing technology and attracting more talent to the industry.
Joseph Aamidor is a senior product and market strategy consultant focused on smart buildings, IOT and energy. He helps startups and established industry players understand the smart buildings market, develop competitive strategy and forge partnerships. He previously served in senior product management roles at Lucid and Johnson Controls.
Europe’s Offshore Wind Market Continues Hammering Down Costs
07.09.19 Sponsored Media
The Challenge of Greening America’s Cannabis Industry
07.05.19 Grid Edge
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Carnival Cruise Line to return to Europe in 2020
Carnival Cruise Line has revealed that it’ll be returning to Europe in 2020 as part of its ship Carnival Radiance’s inaugural season.
As part of the schedule for the transformed Carnival Radiance, the cruise line will return with a selection of European voyages.
In addition to its European sailings, the ship will also voyage to Cuba, the Caribbean and Canada in 2020.
Carnival Radiance’s diverse season
Following a $200 million dry dock that will take place in Cadiz, Carnival Radiance will debut on 29th April 2020 with a ten-day Mediterranean sailing from Barcelona followed by nine-and 12-day departures visiting top destinations throughout the region, including Italy, France, Croatia, Greece, Malta and Spain.
The ship will then embark on a 13-day trans-Atlantic crossing from Barcelona to New York from 11th to 24th June 2020.
Once in New York, Carnival Radiance will offer a series of four- and six-day Bermuda cruises as well as a four-day cruise to Saint John, New Brunswick, eight-day eastern Caribbean voyages and the line’s first Cuba cruises from the city.
The New York programme will conclude with a series of Canada/New England voyages featuring stops in Boston, Portland, Saint John, and Halifax.
Carnival Radiance will then reposition to Port Canaveral, to operate a winter schedule of six- to eight-day voyages to the Caribbean and Cuba beginning 8th November 2020.
Exciting changes onboard
Carnival Sunrise and Carnival Radiance will each undergo extensive dry docks in 2019 and 2020 that will add an array of food, beverage and entertainment choices.
A new WaterWorks aqua park featuring the new AquaTunnel slide as well as a SportSquare open-air recreation complex with a suspended ropes course will be added, as well.
All staterooms will be renovated with a tropical colour palette reminiscent of the ships’ Caribbean itineraries.
Group travel and excursions are available with Carnival and GTOs can request more information via an online form.
For more information, visit www.carnival.com.
Scenic announces new itineraries on board latest ship
Scenic Luxury Tours Cruises has unveiled two itineraries for its newest ship, the Scenic Eclipse, travelling to the Caribbean and South America.
HRH The Duchess of Cornwall becomes godmother to Saga’s Spirit of Discovery in Kent
Spirit of Discovery is the first cruise ship to be named at the Port of Dover for more than a decade and the occasion signalled the start of a new era for Saga Cruises.
North York Moors National Park unveils new visitor experience at Danby
The attraction is part of the Land of Iron project which has seen £4m investment into showcasing how the National Park’s landscape has been shaped over time by nature, climate, industry and people.
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Browsing: Innovation
Browse all features
Patients & consumers
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To challenge, to change
Harnessing the electrical language of the body to treat disease
Related tags: Biosensors Innovation Science Technology
Bioelectronic medicine is a vision far from today’s medical practice. But we believe that one day, tiny devices, smaller than grains of rice, could be used to restore health in a range of chronic diseases centred on organs and biological functions.
These devices would be programmed to read and modify electrical signals that pass along nerves in the body, including irregular or altered impulses that occur in association with a broad range of diseases. The hope is that through these devices, disorders as diverse as inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis, asthma, hypertension and diabetes could be treated. We believe bioelectronic medicines could allow us to treat these with greater precision and fewer side effects than with conventional medicines.
Treatment of medical conditions with electrical impulses has been used in the past – from cardiac pacemakers to deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s. But existing devices target large areas of tissue indiscriminately, rather than honing in on specific groups of neurons within circuits. We believe that recent scientific advances have made it possible to control specific sets of neurons, which create potential to develop more precise bioelectronic medicines.
But we don’t believe we can succeed in this field alone. We recognise that experts across a range of disciplines need to work together. Unlike more traditional areas of science, bioelectronics requires the combined skills of world-leading physiologists, engineers, neuroscientists and informatics experts. That’s why we’re seeking to grow and integrate a research network that will become a new bioelectronics community.
We describe the research we’re doing in bioelectronics as like learning a new language – the electrical language of the body. Through learning to read and write the electrical signals that travel between the brain and the body’s organs, we believe we can open up a whole new frontier in treating disease. It may sound like science fiction, but we’re edging closer to a future where precision electronic therapies sit alongside the medicines and vaccines we use today.
Igniting a revolution in scientific research and development
How can partnerships between science, business and charities help tackle some of the world's most challenging healthcare issues?
Bioelectronics at SXSW 2016
SXSW Interactive is a cutting edge technology and digital festival that brings together the brightest minds in emerging technology.
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Buy Sympathy Gifts
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Why Hansen-Spear?
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History of the Hansen-Spear Funeral Home
For nearly 90 years the Hansen-Spear Funeral Home has served the families of Quincy and its surrounding communities. Founded in 1929 by Walter D. and Helene H. Hansen, the original Hansen Funeral Chapel was located at Eighth and Jefferson where the couple set out to support families in times of loss.
Both were licensed funeral directors who understood that their role in the community was larger than the gentle services they provided. They were lifelong members of St. James Lutheran Church serving in roles such as Sunday School Superintendent (Walter), the Altar Guild, St. James Ladies Aid and the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (Helene). Their community service stretched across organizations to include Walter’s long-time participation in the Quincy Noon Kiwanis Club where he served as president in 1944 and district lieutenant governor in 1977-78. He also served on the Visiting Nurses Board, was past president of the South Side Commercial Club and the Good Samaritan Home. Walter had served as president of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association and visited every funeral home in the state of Illinois (outside of Chicago), while he was president.
Helene was also a member of the Women’s City Club, Valparaiso University Guild, a lifetime member of the Good Samaritan Home and a charter member of the Quincy Chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons. Volunteering and service were essential aspects of Walter and Helene’s lives.
Their son-in-law, George H. Spear, joined the business in 1955 becoming a full partner in 1962. At that time the company name was changed to Hansen-Spear Funeral Home. By 1965 their daughter Charlotte was actively involved in the management of the funeral home. George and Charlotte’s son Jeff and his wife Theresa Powers Spear joined the corporation in 1979 and eventually became partners in ownership and leading the family business into the 21st century. In 2007, they were joined in the business by their son, William “Will” Spear. In 2016, Will Spear and long time Hansen-Spear funeral director, Brian Durante, joined as partners at Hansen-Spear to lead the firm into the future.
Today, the example set by Walter and Helene stretches across four generations of family and staff inspiring a continued commitment to providing excellence in bereavement care services on behalf of Quincy and the surrounding communities.
The Heritage of Hansen-Spear
Helene A. Hansen
Helene A. Hansen, 87, of 12 Wilmar Drive, died at 1 p.m. Monday, May 8, 1988 in Blessing Hospital.
Mrs. Hansen was born July 3, 1900, in Quincy, a daughter of Peter and Fredericka Siebrasse Bruenger. She married Walter D. Hansen in Quincy, June 8, 1928. He survives.
Mrs. Hansen attended St. James Lutheran School. She was a licensed funeral director with Hansen-Spear Funeral Home which opened March 1, 1929 as Hansen Funeral Home at Eighth and Jefferson. She retired in 1965.
Mrs. Hansen was a member of St. James Lutheran Church, Altar Guild and the St. James Ladies Aid, and the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League which she had served as president. She was also a member of Women’s City Club and Valparaiso University Guild, a life member of Good Samaritan Home and a charter member of Quincy Chapter of American Association of Retired Persons. She was a former member of the Blessing Hospital Guild and had previously volunteered at Good Samaritan home.Survivors also include a son, Robert D. Hansen of Midland, MI; two daughters; Mrs. George H. (Charlotte) Spear of Quincy, and Mrs. James R. (Rosemary) Tobias of Crestwood, MO; nine grandchildren, John Spear of Bonita Springs, FL, Tom Tobias of St. Louis, Mo, Dr. Robert Spear of Baltimore, MD, Jeffrey Spear of Quincy, MRs. Kirk (Peggy) Gerstacker, Robert Hansen Jr., and Jane Hansen, all of Midland, MI and Mark and Jana Tobias, both of Crestwood, MO; and 10 great-grandchildren.Mrs. Hansen was preceded in death by four brothers, Walter, Hugo, Elmer and Ray Bruenger; four sisters, Edith Bruenger, Ella Buxman, Esther Hempleman and Norma Heckenkamp, and two infant siblings.
Walter D. Hansen
Walter Douglass was born April 16, 1900 in St. Louis, Missouri. He was put in an orphanage and adopted at the age of 3 by Mr. & Mrs. Fred Hansen of Freeport, Illinois. He came to Quincy as a young boy and attended St. James Grade School. In March 1990, he received the first Distinguished Alumnus Award at St. James Lutheran School where the fourth generation of his family was in attendance. He went to work in a stove foundry and at the age of 17 moved to Detroit, Mi. to live with his sister. He went to Worsham School of Mortuary Science in Chicago and graduated in 1927. He then returned to Quincy and married his grade school sweetheart, Helen Bruenger, June 8, 1928.
Mr. Hansen was a member of St. James Lutheran Church since childhood and served many years as Sunday School Superintendent. He was a former member of the Church Board and Church Council. He joined the Quincy Noon Kiwanis Club in November 1929, 9 years after it had been organized in Quincy. He had 65 years perfect attendance. He served as President in 1944 and district lieutenant governor in 1977-78. He had long been active in the club’s “Travel & Adventure” series and also in recruiting new members. In June 1992 the Noon Kiwanis established the Walt Hansen Scholarship Fund in his honor. This scholarship goes to a graduating senior. He also served many years on the visiting nurses Board. He was also a past president of the South Side Commercial Club and of the Good Samaritan Home where he also served as a board member. He was also a graduate of Gem City Business College.
Mr. Hansen opened Hansen Funeral Home on March 1, 1929 at 8th & Jefferson. The business was later moved to 835 State and then to 16th & State. His son-in-law joined the firm in 1955 and became a partner in 1962 when the business was changed to Hansen-Spear Funeral Home. In 1957 he was selected State President of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association (IFDA) where he was always active.
Mr. Hansen died January 14, 1999 at the age of 98. He was Quincy’s oldest funeral director.
Charlotte H. Spear
Charlotte Hansen Spear, of 617 Garden Court, Quincy died Friday, November 2, 2007 at 11:30 pm in Blessing Hospital. She was born February 12, 1931 in Quincy, Illinois, the daughter of Walter Douglass and Helene Bruenger Hansen. She is survived by her husband, George H. Spear whom she married on August 25, 1951 in Quincy, IL.
Charlotte was a 1948 graduate of Quincy High School and a 1952 graduate of Valparaiso University. She was actively involved with the Quincy High School Alumni Association. She taught English for 1 year at Chesterton High School in Chesterton, Indiana. She later taught Spanish for 1 year at Quincy High School. Since 1965, Charlotte was actively involved in the management of Hansen-Spear Funeral Home which her parents founded in 1929.
Her husband has been with the funeral home since 1955, her son, Jeffrey and his wife Theresa Powers Spear since 1979, and her grandson William Spear just joined the firm. Charlotte was a member of St. James Lutheran Church and formerly an active member of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary Society, the Sunday School and the Parent Teachers League of St. James School where she held numerous offices. She was a member of the American Association of Universitiy Women, Women’s City Club where she was a past president of the board, Chapter EC, P.E.O., and the Quincy Country Club. She was a former member of the Board of Directors of the Quincy Public Library, Altrusa Club of Quincy, and the Board of Directors of the local chapter of the American Cancer Society. In 2004, George and Charlotte received the Mississippi Valley Conference of Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Citizen Award.
George H. Spear
George Harry Spear, age 85, of 617 Garden Court, died Wednesday (June 19, 2013) at 11:29 p.m. in Blessing Hospital.
He was born November 5, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois the son of Harry G. and Suzanne Strban Spear. On August 25, 1951 he married Charlotte Hansen in St. James Lutheran Church. She preceded him in death on Nov. 2, 2007.
After high school graduation, George served in the U. S. Army during World War II. In 1953 he graduated from Valparaiso University and worked for U. S. Steel Corporation in Management training until he enrolled in St. Louis College of Mortuary Science. He graduated in 1955 and came to Quincy where he became a partner in the Hansen-Spear Funeral Home in 1962.
In his early years in Quincy, George was actively involved in many Jaycee projects and received the Distinguished Service Award in 1962. He also was very active with the Y.M.C.A. in membership campaigns and building campaigns. He was a member of St. James Lutheran Church where he had served on the church council and was head usher for many years. He was an active member of the Quincy Rotary Club where he was a Paul Harris Fellow and a Rotary Benefactor, and was a member of the Quincy Country Club. He was a member of Quincy Blue Devil Sports Hall of Fame and the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. He had been chairman of the trustees of Quincy Athletic Development Association and was an avid QHS Blue Devil basketball fan, having been a long time member and former chair of the Thanksgiving Basketball Tournament Committee.
George was a former member of the Quincy School Board, the Salvation Army Advisory Board and was the First Chairman of the Salvation Army Home Town Endowment Campaign. He served six years on the Blessing Hospital Board, the facility that took such wonderful care of him last week at the E.R., the ICU and the Cardiovascular Unit. He was also a former member of South Side Commercial Club, the Adams County Chapter of the American Cancer Society where he chaired the Crusade in 1962. He was also actively involved with the United Way and served on the Board of Directors. He was on the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce and was vice-president of GREDF. In 2004, George and Charlotte received the Mississippi Valley Council of Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Citizen Award, and he was honored by the Girls Scouts in 2010 for community service. If some organization needed funds, George would either give it or get it. His big heart finally gave out.
George and Charlotte enjoyed traveling to Chicago to see his beloved Chicago Cubs, although dinner at Gibsons afterwards, where he was considered a ‘local’ was just as special. Dinner out anywhere was the norm for George and Charlotte, and they dearly loved all of the waiters and waitresses who took such good care of them.
George and Charlotte also enjoyed the winter months in Bonita Springs, Florida where they vacationed, first for short periods and more recently during November and the three winter months. George was a “Rotary Regular” at the Rotary Club of Bonita Springs, regularly attended services and volunteered folding bulletins at Hope Lutheran Church, and spent countless hours soaking up the warm Florida sunshine on Bonita Beach.
Survivors include 3 sons; John D. (Lisa) Spear of Bonita Springs, FL, Dr. Robert M. (Jan) Spear of Coronado, CA, and Jeffrey G. (Theresa) Spear of Quincy; 4 grandsons, William A. (Dr. Kristin) Spear of Quincy, Capt. Nicholas J. (Sarah) Spear of Sacramento, CA, Nicholas R. Spear and Matthew G. Spear of Coronado, CA; 1 step granddaughter, Jessica Eaton of Chicago, IL; 2 step grandsons, Zachary Eaton and Joshua (Casey) Eaton, all of Bonita Springs, FL; 2 step great grandchildren, Kylie and Madison Eaton, both of Bonita Springs, FL; 3 brothers, Clarence (Carol) Spear, John (Sherry) Spear, and Louis Spear, all of LaPorte, IN; 2 sisters, Anne (Bob) Salay of Cadillac, MI, and Mary Jane (Jim) Goad of Fort Worth, TX, and his special friend, Monica Wickliffe of Bonita Springs, FL. He was also preceded in death by his parents, two brothers, Capt. William Spear and James Spear, and a sister Sue Brown.
Services: Monday (July 1, 2013) at 11 a.m.St. James Lutheran Church with the Rev. Marlin Rempfer and Rev. Mike Fieberkorn officiating.
Burial will be in Greenmount Cemetery.
Visitation: Sunday (June 30, 2013) from 1 until 5 pm at the Hansen-Spear Funeral Home.
Memorials: The Community Foundation of the Quincy Area
Hansen-Spear Funeral Directors are in charge of arrangements.
www.hansenspear.com
We cannot thank you enough for your most generous love and support with the passing of our dad. May God continue to bless you and give you His peace to carry on to others with your care, love and hope of strength to continue to serve.
G.H.
This funeral home is head and shoulders above the other funeral homes in this area. They do an excellent service and are highly respected in this community.
In-as-much as I married into a fourth generation funeral home family, I had expectations, right or wrong about what to expect. Consequently I want you to know what all of my expectations were met, and then some.
W.R.P.
You were always there for us, lending support, offering suggestions, and yet being unobtrusive. With appreciation to the Spear family – and their ‘crew”.
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Jurassic (West) Park dinosaur adventure for hundreds of kids
Hundreds of nine and ten year-olds have been fossil hunting in Hartlepool.
Digging up the past. Sacred Heart RC Primary School pupils Finley McGeorge and Evie Chapman took part in the Dino-dig High Tunstall College
High Tunstall College of Science invited year-five pupils from nearby primary schools to its “Dino-dig”, to unearth dinosaur remains during two days of fun and adventure on the college’s grounds.
The budding palaeontologists came from eight different schools, including Sacred Heart, Eldon Grove and Throston. Many of the children will attend the college when they are older.
It’s been a while since dinosaurs roamed around the West Park area; yet each trowelled-up school successfully found a bone from a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a pterodactyl wing and, most terrifying of all, coprolite (dinosaur poo).
They were also allowed to dissect parts of the ancient reptiles, but under strict supervision.
Each youngster took part in five different sessions at the college. The sessions were part of a STEM Day (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths); an initiative aimed at inspiring primary school students to take an interest in the technical subjects that High Tunstall has to offer.
The “archaeological site” was set up by BAM Construction, the firm currently building the college’s new £17million block which is due to open in November this year. BAM also supplied suitably sized hard hats and hi-vis jackets.
Sarra Peek is the Discovery Faculty leader at High Tunstall. She was delighted with the visit of the youngsters and praised their behaviour.
She said: “We had about 360 Year-five children here over two days and they has a wonderful time.
“STEM days in the past have been about things like artificial intelligence and Harry Potter. This time the theme was dinosaurs.
“The children came to learn about all things dinosaurs and they really, really enjoyed the experience. We try to engage them in new things. It’s very rare that they get to dissect things; especially a dinosaur.
“We all know that employment opportunities in the North East are limited, so it will stand them in good stead if they can learn about the STEM subjects we teach here.
“I also think it’s nice for them to experience what big school will be like when they’re older.”
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Humanity Washed Ashore: Drowned Syrian toddler’s body being taken by policeman (Watch Video)
The video can be disturbing; viewer discretion is advised
Published: September 3, 2015 10:49 AM IST
By Sakshita Khosla Email
September 3: The image of a lifeless body lying face down in the sand on a resort beach in Turkey, sent shock waves through the Internet, right after it began circulating on cyber space on Wednesday. The image is just plain shameful and is perhaps the most harrowing reminder of the plight of the Syrian refugees, trying to escape from a war torn land towards safety and peace.
The baby was just one of the 12 Syrians who were in a boat, trying to escape to the Greek island of Kos, from Bodrum in Turkey. The escape was not to be and the boat capsized, bringing the bodies of the dead, back on Turkish shore. The baby, who has been identified as Aylan Kurdi, was just three years old and was in the boat with his five year old brother and their parents. Also Read: Shocking! Statue crushes crying baby! (Watch video)
Aylan’s mother lived, but she is in a very bad mental state right now. The video shows the baby lying on the beach amongst the oncoming waves, as a grim Turkish policeman looks over. The policeman then carries the baby and takes the lifeless body out of sight. The video can be extremely disturbing and viewer discretion is advised.
Published Date: September 3, 2015 10:49 AM IST
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Home » Lifestyle » Health & Fitness » Cancer: Breaking the bad news to patients
Cancer: Breaking the bad news to patients
Dec 31, 2014 555 Viewed Gautam Comments Off on Cancer: Breaking the bad news to patients
For Dr Ranjana Srivastava, who began working as an oncologist in Australia 10 years ago, breaking the news to patients suffering from cancer is part of the job.
“A doctor must be able to read a patient in order to break bad news. I ensure they have at least one close family member present when I tell them. This way, the patient has another pair of ears as well as support after I leave the room,” she says, over a telephone call from Melbourne.
Srivastava’s decision to be a cancer specialist, she says, was influenced by her experience of watching her grandmother, who was diagnosed with cancer, slip into a coma and pass away. She was 10 at the time. While the family consulted a reputed doctor in Bhagalpur, Bihar, where she grew up, they were given little information about the disease or what the patient would go through. “I wish that the oncologist had held my Nanima’s hand and told her what to expect,” she says.
In her book Tell me the truth; conversations with my patients about cancer, life and death (published by Harper Element), Srivastava uses real patient experiences to discuss how different patients deal with the news and how families can cope.
The C-word: According to the World Cancer Report from the World Health Organisation (WHO), nearly seven lakh Indians die of cancer every year, while over 10 lakh are newly diagnosed with some form of the disease. While doctors are consumed by growing queues in hospital waiting rooms, and the churn of diagnosis and treatment, in most cases, patients are left with inadequate knowledge of their condition.
In many cases, patients have a hint about the disease while going through the tests. The prolonged wait to be diagnosed only adds to the stress. Srivastava prefers to tell a patient that she needs to discuss serious news and suggests calling in a family member. It’s important to be prompt in organising such a meeting, she says.
“Cancer is a frightening term and countless patients have said that once they hear the word, they are incapable of processing anything more. So, I keep the initial discussion short until the patient has gained some control of their thoughts,” she says.
There are many patients, who want to protect their family, and insist on hearing the news alone, Srivastava ensures her staff or a social worker is present to talk to the patient. “This doesn’t mean that they will never want their family involved; often it’s a matter of time before they let others in,” she explains.
Focus on facts: Not all cancer is terminal, especially when the disease is caught in the early stages. “It is vital to inform and educate patients about their particular cancer, available treatment and outcomes,” says Srivastava. A large part of her job, she reveals, includes listening to patients who are simply left feeling vulnerable and overwhelmed.
Families go through a particularly hard conundrum. They feel bad for the patient but don’t know how to help, she says. Part of her role is also to speak with families about how they can best help the patient.
Ask Questions: The initial shock, patients have revealed, leaves them with a lot of questions but they are unable to articulate them. It’s important to tell patients to expect this. Srivastava advises them to write down questions as they come up.
No question is too small or simple to ask, reiterates Srivastava.
“Never be afraid of sounding silly or uneducated in front of your doctor.
Cancer is a highly specialised field and many experts in the profession also aren’t able to fully understand the workings of the human body,” she offers to families seeking answers. If you are unable to understand medical terms, ask the doctor to simplify it in plain language.
If you are a web junkie, be careful not to trust all the information you find online. Srivastava suggests taking along the research to clarify it with a doctor.
Dealing with pain: When it comes to palliative care, an area of medicine that deals with controlling pain and ensuring comfort of the patient when a disease is not curable, Srivastava’s focus includes dealing with anxiety and emotions as well.
For many patients, home-based palliative care is suitable, where trained workers monitor symptoms and provide advice under the supervision of doctors. Patients who are too ill to be managed at home or whose complex symptoms require closer attention may be admitted to an in-patient hospice for stabilisation or end-of-life care.
Barriers to palliative care remain with a lack of awareness and availability of facilities. “When people believe that palliative care equates to just letting a patient die, it is natural to avoid discussing it and even being against such care. But the focus is on making sure the patient lives with dignity,” explains Srivastava.
In Melbourne, Srivastava conducts a communication workshop for healthcare professionals on dealing with patients. Key notes include; talk less, listen more; be comfortable in silence; look for and respond to emotion; and avoid information overload.
Her efforts are to allow an open doctor-patient relationship. She says, “It is fundamental to cancer treatment, which relies not only on medications but also on human touch which is vital.”
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Home / Article: Denis Darveau retires
Denis Darveau retires
16 July 2018 HGO Staff
LOUISEVILLE, Québec – Denis Darveau, vice president of sales for the Bermex and Bertanie divisions of BDM+ Furniture has retired after 15 years in the post. His responsibilities will be assumed by his nephew, Phillippe Darveau.
“The time had come for his to turn over a new leaf and start a new chapter in his life by spending quality time with his family living in the western part of our country,” the family owned-and-operated furniture maker said in an announcement.
Two of BDM’s five divisions, Bermex and Bertanie specialise in dining and occasional case goods.
Describing him as “a pillar of our company, an inspiring and passionate man,” the company credited him with a number of important achievements, including the development of the Century finish, which is still in use and is among the most popular offered by the company and the creation of the Bertanie trademark. He was also a moving force behind the development of The Factory, BDM’s permanent showroom facility in High Point, North Carolina.
“Always offering good advice, his experience, dedication and knowledge will be greatly missed,” the company said. “On behalf of the whole team at BDM + Furniture, we sincerely thank you for your many years of service and wish you health and happiness.”
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Kemptville District Hospital Auxiliary recognizes long-serving volunteers at its 58th annual Hey Day fundraiser
Avalon Pinhey and Marian McGahey. Photo submitted.
As the last pieces of furniture were lined up, shoes unpacked from boxes, and pieces of silver were polished, the Kemptville District Hospital (KDH) Auxiliary took a few moments on the afternoon of June 8, 2018 to recognize the contributions of the long-serving volunteers at its major yearly fundraiser, Hey Day.
Set-up was now complete for the 58th annual giant garage and yard sale, and all was in readiness for the eager bargain-hunters who would be lined up outside the doors of the Kemptville Curling Club a few hours later.
Jolene Stover, the energetic Convener of Hey Day for four years running, stepped up to the microphone. She began to call out the names of the volunteers who had helped out at Hey Day for 10 years or more.
This took several minutes, as 77 names were called out, and those in attendance lined up for a group photo. Stover was visibly emotional as she expressed the Auxiliary’s gratitude for this inspirational commitment to their annual fundraiser for Kemptville District Hospital.
Stover noted that there were an additional nine volunteers who had helped out at Hey Day for 25, 30, and 40 years or more: Crawford Barkhouse, the Churchill Family, Norma Fisher, Liz Forbes, Bev Fry, Marian McGahey, Avalon Pinhey, Cecile Prodonick, and Eleanor Scott. Three of these – Marian, Avalon, and Cecile, had been volunteering at Hey Day since the beginning.
Marian remembered the first organizing meeting at the home of Mary Prosser, the founder of Hey Day, in 1959. Mary had decided they needed to hold a fundraiser for the hospital; at that point they were raising money to build the hospital – its doors wouldn’t open until June of 1960.
Marian and Avalon reminisced about the days when the arena had a dirt floor that got muddy when it rained. In the early days, there were ducks and chickens for sale at Hey Day, as well as goats and other farm animals. Not to mention bales of hay. Although some volunteers speculated that the fundraiser’s name was a result of the sale of hay, Marian and Avalon set the record straight: the name was meant to signify “when you do something big!”, as per the Oxford Dictionary’s definition of ‘heyday’ as “the period of a person’s or thing’s greatest success, popularity, activity, or vigour.”
Marian and Avalon also recollected that the annual date of the second weekend of June was selected as local Moms would have received their family allowance cheques and have some money to spend, at a time when the monthly government family allowance was $3 per child.
Avalon and her husband Harold looked after collecting and counting the money at Hey Day for many years. Marian, whose four children were all born at KDH, has been in charge of the ‘What Have You’ table for longer than she can remember. She explained that whatever doesn’t seem to fit at another booth goes at the ‘What Have You’ table. Both women have been President of the Auxiliary at various times over the years.
Well-known Kemptville resident Norma Fisher has been volunteering at Hey Day for 46 years. She works in the silver, crystal and china department, personally polishing every piece of silver donated by the community to be sold at Hey Day. Norma has no plans to retire from the annual event!
Liz Forbes started volunteering at Hey Day in 1971. As a 17-year-old, she was helping out Gert Barkley, who ran the jams and jellies department. Gert’s husband Ernest ran the bingo, and that year had a “young lad” working for him. Liz and the young lad got talking at Hey Day and “the rest is history” – they married a few years later and are celebrating their 44th anniversary this year.
Hey Day volunteers 10 years plus. Photo submitted.
Liz recalled that sometime in the 1970s, the jams and jellies department was replaced by the Cakewalk, an extremely popular feature at Hey Day that volunteers and shoppers alike are still talking about. Members of the community would donate their best home-made cakes, as many as 90 each Hey Day, and people could buy in (for 25 cents, originally) for the chance to play a version of musical chairs. If you were lucky enough to land in a chair, you would win the cake associated with that chair. The Cakewalk was particularly popular with children, who would get in the Cakewalk line-up as soon as they entered the building. Liz now works in the ‘Boutique’ section of Hey Day.
Crawford Barkhouse has been volunteering at the event for 43 years, since he moved out from Ottawa to the River Road, not far from where Hey Day founder Mary Prosser lived. He remembers selling hay and small farm equipment at the event. For a number of years now he has been in charge of the furniture section, where shoppers can find tables, chairs, lamps, pictures and more inside the curling club – and out back, bicycles, tools, vacuums, lawn equipment, lawn tractors and more. At one point, Crawford left the River Road neighbourhood and moved to nearby Merrickville, but that hasn’t stopped him from coming back to help out at Hey Day year after year.
Eleanor Scott has been volunteering at Hey Day for more than a quarter-century and is the niece of Mary Prosser. Eleanor has memories of coming to Hey Day as a five-year-old with her mother Fern Prosser, who was also an active volunteer; when Eleanor was 13 or so she started helping with the sorting of donated items. She remembers goats and geese for sale in the earlier years and, one time, two little piglets in a crate. She has been helping out in the shoe department for several years.
Eleanor remembers piling into the family truck along with her six siblings for the annual outing to shop at Hey Day. “Nobody had a lot of money then, and you could outfit your whole family at Hey Day without breaking the budget,” she said.
Several of the long-serving volunteers commented that, “Once you start volunteering at Hey Day, you don’t stop!” Connie Parsons, the current President of the KDH Auxiliary, echoed that sentiment, adding that, “Hey Day volunteers come from all over, with several coming from Montreal, and even one who comes all the way from Penetanguishene every year to help out.”
For the volunteers who come back year after year, Hey Day is an important social event – a chance to reconnect with people they may not have seen since the previous Hey Day. Along with the opportunity to support their local hospital, this seems to be what keeps people coming back.
KDH threw a pizza party on June 13, 2018 to thank the Hey Day volunteers. Approximately 90 volunteers of all ages attended the inaugural event, held in the hospital’s courtyard and courtyard lounge. A number of the volunteers said how nice to was to have the chance to visit with each other in a relaxed setting away from the hustle and bustle of the fundraiser.
Frank J. Vassallo, KDH’s CEO, expressed his appreciation to the Hey Day volunteers. “On behalf of our staff, physicians, and our Board of Directors, please accept our gratitude for your longtime commitment to our Auxiliary’s annual fundraiser. KDH is so fortunate to be the beneficiary of the generous gift of your time, year after year. Funds raised at Hey Day are used to purchase essential medical equipment for patient care. This means that your efforts put the best tools into the expert hands of our healthcare teams.”
The last word goes to Convener Jolene Stover: “We are so proud that the KDH Auxiliary has one of the longest running annual events of its kind, with perhaps the most volunteers! It takes about 200 volunteers to make Hey Day happen every year, and we are grateful for every single one!”
Kemptville District Hospital Auxiliary donates $65,000 to the Hospital in lead-up to National Volunteer Week
Kemptville District Hospital staff recognized for their hard work during the busy winter period
Brockville General Hospital and Kemptville District Hospital celebrate their successful BeADonor campaign
Community Paramedic Program helps high risk patients live independently longer
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The Theology of the French Reformed Churches: From Henry IV to the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes - EBOOK
Klauber, Martin I. (ed.)
The Theology of the French Reformed Churches introduces us to the Huguenots of the seventeenth century. The period was an unusual one in which France boasted two state religions, Roman Catholic and Protestant, due to the protections afforded the latter by the Edict of Nantes in 1598. In this book, Martin I. Klauber and his team of scholars survey the development of and diffi culties facing the early French Reformed tradition as well as the ecclesiastical, theological, and political challenges it faced during the seventeenth century.
They also investigate the important contributions made by some of its most significant theologians: Moïse Amyraut, Pierre du Moulin, Jean Daillé, Andreas Rivetus, Charles Drelincourt, Claude Pajon, Jean Claude, and Pierre Jurieu. The theologians of the seventeenth-century French Reformed churches displayed a theological richness rarely remembered even among Reformed believers in the centuries following their labor, and this volume resurrects some of their vitality for a new audience.
Introduction — Martin I. Klauber
Part One: The Historical Background
1. The Cradle of Reformed Theology: The Reformed Churches from Calvin’s Geneva through Henry IV & the Edict of Nantes —Jeanine Olson
2. Theodore Beza (1519–1605) and the Crisis of Reformed Protestantism in France —Scott M. Manetsch
3. The French Reformed Synods of the Seventeenth Century —Theodore G. Van Raalte
4. The French Reformed Churches, Arminianism, and the Synod of Dort (1618–1619) —Donald Sinnema
5. The French Reformed Churches: Caught between the Rise of Absolute Monarchy and the Counter Reformation —John B. Roney
6. The Edict of Nantes “à la rigueur” (1661–1685) —Marianne Carbonnier-Burkard
Part Two: Theology and Theologians in the French Reformed Churches
7. John Cameron (ca. 1579–1625) and the French Universalist Tradition — Albert Gootjes
8. Beyond Hypothetical Universalism: Moïse Amyraut (1596–1664) on Faith, Reason, and Ethics —Richard A. Muller
9. Defender of the Faith or Reformed Rabelias? Pierre du Moulin (1568–1658) and the Arminians —Martin I. Klauber
10. Whose Side are They on? Jean Daillé (1594–1670) on the Church Fathers — Martin I. Klauber
11. Andreas Rivetus (1572–1651): International Theologian and Diplomat — Willem J. van Asselt
12. The Pastoral and Polemical Theology of Charles Drelincourt (1595–1669) — R. Jane McKee
13. Polemics, Rhetoric, and Exegesis: Claude Pajon (1626–1685) on Romans 8:7 — Albert Gootjes
14. “This glorious seal of God”: Jean Claude (1619–1687), Ephesians 4:30, and Huguenot Pneumatology —Michael A. G. Haykin
15. The Devotional Theology of Pierre Jurieu (1637–1713) —Jason Zuidema
Martin I. Klauber is an Affiliate Professor of Church History at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
“Aside from the Wars of Religion and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, French Protestantism is largely ignored in most discussions of early modern history. This important book will help fill that void. The collected essays by many leading scholars highlight the theological contributions and historical travails of the seventeenth-century Huguenots, allowing them to resume their rightful place in a pivotal century in European history.” — Glenn S. Sunshine, professor of history, Central Connecticut State University
“This most welcome collection of essays, authored by an impressive team of leading scholars, goes to the heart of the Huguenot experience during the increasingly troubled seventeenth century. The initial chapters set the context with lucidity and precision. Subsequent contributions offer a superb exploration of the thought and influence of eight celebrated French Reformed theologians. Professor Klauber and his colleagues have provided an encompassing, informative, and absorbing assessment of Reformed theological positions and their elaboration during a critical era in the history of French Protestantism.” — Raymond A. Mentzer, Daniel J. Krumm Family Chair in Reformation Studies, University of Iowa
The Theology of the French Reformed Churches: From Henry IV to the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
The Spiritual Brotherhood: Cambridge Puritans and the Nature of Christian Piety - EBOOK
The Spiritual Brotherhood: Cambridge Puritans and the Nature of Christian Piety - Reformed Historical Theological Studies (Schaefer)
Introduction to Reformed Scholasticism - EBOOK
McGoldrick, James
Presbyterian and Reformed Churches: A Global History - EBOOK
Mason, William
COMBO: A Spiritual Treasury for the Children of God + The Believer's Pocket Companion
Blanchard, John
The Truth About Hell (Blanchard) : 5 Pack
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COLUMN: We should focus more time on our local politicians
By Emily Shaffer
Published Nov 14, 2018 3:25 pm
Another election season has come and gone, leaving behind a mess of soggy candidate yard signs and “I Voted!” stickers ruined by the Election Day rain.
This year, Indiana experienced a spike in voter turnout fueled by the contentious Senate race between incumbent Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Indiana, and now Republican Senator-elect Mike Braun. The $104 million spent on the Indiana Senate race was used to portray Indiana’s Senate seat as an exceptionally critical position for both political parties, which helped increase voter turnout across the state.
Although it’s nice to see so many people engaged in their government during election season, it’s likely many voters only showed up to the polls to vote for the candidates running for federal offices. While electing our federal representatives is important, of course, Hoosiers need to remember that they’ve elected more than just federal legislators and that the end of election season doesn’t signify an end to their civic engagement.
Though this year’s federal Senate race was vicious and heavily polarized, its results won’t have nearly as much of an effect on you and your community as state and local elections do.
Annually, state legislatures enact far more laws than the federal governments does. State legislatures introduce 23 times the number of bills than the United States Congress does, totaling an average 128,145 bills per year. Indiana alone passed 215 bills between January and May of this year, with 210 passed during the regular legislative session and an additional five passed during a special session called by Governor Eric Holcomb.
Not only do state legislatures pass more legislation annually than the federal government does, but they also affect the lives of their constituencies in a much more direct way.
In Indiana, our state legislature has passed several bills in recent years that many Hoosiers have directly benefited from. The content of these bills include legalizing Sunday sales of alcohol, authorizing the use and sale of cannabidiol, or CBD oil, and establishing an assistance fund for the victims of sexual assault.
Along with the work of our state legislature, local governments have a significant influence on many Hoosiers's day-to-day lives, too. From road construction to law enforcement to K-12 education — your local officials all have a say in what happens in your city.
Yet while Indiana’s state legislators and public officials continue to work diligently for their constituents, too few of their electors even know their names.
This November, half the members in the state Senate and all of the 100 members in the State House of Representative were up for re-election. Hundreds more ran for city and county offices throughout the state. Across Indiana, leaders within our communities actively campaigned for public office and sought your vote. Some were able to earn it, while others fell short.
While it’s easy to be pessimistic about government because of the polarized gridlock at the federal level, state and local governments are more accessible, more collaborative and often more capable of serving their constituents. Many of the issues Hoosiers care deeply about can be better addressed by their state and local governments than by the federal government, which is exactly why voters need to remain engaged all year round.
Now, as we begin to take down our favorite candidates’s yard signs and peel campaign stickers off our car bumpers, our newly elected state legislators and local officials are preparing to take office and begin their terms. Although election season may be over, for now, this shouldn’t be the end of public engagement in government — it should be just the beginning.
COLUMN: Why crowning African-American pageant winners still matters
This year, Miss America, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA are black women.
OPINION: Black journalists matter
Diversity of thought is critical, and American newsrooms need more of it.
LETTER: Recent letter to the editor on Israel was misleading
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Where to Stream 4K Content
Where to find the best 4K content for your new TV.
By josh norem
Updated: 16 Nov 2017 5:03 pm
Posted: 15 Nov 2017 5:00 pm
Be sure to visit IGN Tech for all the latest comprehensive hands-on reviews and best-of roundups.
Maybe you have an PS4 Pro, or you ordered an Xbox One X, or perhaps you just bought a sweet 4K TV and are ready to fire up some righteous, high-resolution content. We hear you, and we're here to help. 4K content is indeed glorious, offering four times the number of pixels as 1080p, and if you've made the plunge you're going to want to reap the rewards. But the truth is, it can be a little hard to know where to stream 4K content, and what you need to view 4K Blu-Rays.
Over the last few years there has been a large influx of 4K (also called Ultra HD or UHD) displays that are consistently getting cheaper. But a 4K display or 4K TV is only half of the equation if you want to enjoy an epic 4K experience. Source material has been a bit slow to arrive, but distribution companies, streaming services, and game studios are now ramping up their offerings. Here’s where you can find all the content your resolution-loving heart desires.
Streaming the Day Away in 4K
It has now been over two years since I’ve bought a physical disc for a movie, television show, or video game. With the speed of internet connections, the size of hard drives, and the original content available online, the need to go to the store for a new release is dwindling. And now a lot of that online content is available in 4K. But the amount provided by each service can vary dramatically. Let's take a look:
Streaming and Netflix are almost synonymous at this point. With its constantly updated selection of movies, television and original content there’s a mind boggling amount of material at your fingertips. And the amount of 4K content is pretty good. The main draw of 4K on Netflix is the company's original programming. All of its shows since 2014 have been shot in 4K, including favorites like Orange is the New Black and Stranger Things. Netflix also has broadcast TV favorites like Breaking Bad and The Blacklist, as well as a bunch of documentaries, comedy specials, and movies. In order to access the 4K Ultra HD library though, you’ll need to be subscribed to their Premium tier for $13.99 a month. This also gets you 4-screen simultaneous viewing.
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It’s only a matter of time before everything on the planet is owned and distributed by Amazon. But in comparison to Netflix, the breadth of content included with a subscription is more limited. At the time of publish, there are around 50 studio movies, such as Spectre and Ex Machina, original programming shows and some beautiful video of scenic vistas and shots from space. If you have an existing Prime membership they’re worth checking out. Prime is available for $99 annually or $10.99 a month and comes with benefits such as free shipping on Amazon orders. There is also a video-only option, Prime Video, for $8.99 a month. There is a hefty amount of movies and a handful of broadcast shows you can rent or buy that are not included in a Prime membership. Most rentals are $5.99 and most purchases are $19.99.
Hulu rolled out its 4K service at the end of 2016 with a handful of offerings, but its selection is still kind of limited. The Handmaid’s Tale, 11.22.63, and other original programming is available as well as the Bond films, but we’re still waiting for a significant growth to its 4k library. Hulu’s monthly subscription price is $11.99.
Unlike the services above, VUDU doesn’t have a subscription model. Instead you’re able to rent or buy the movies without any future commitment. Which movies are available to rent, buy, or both varies from title to title as does the resolution format. Some will allow you to buy the movie in UHD, but not rent, and some you might not be able to rent at all. There are over 100 individual titles available as well as some movie bundles (the Bourne series, for instance). UHD rental prices start at $3.99 and they have occasional deals.
YouTube currently offers about 70 movies in 4k resolution.
There is huge potential for 4K material on YouTube since anyone can upload what they have filmed. The problem is anyone can upload what they have filmed, so quality 4K could be more difficult to come by. Basic YouTube is free, as revenue is generated by ads that play before videos. YouTube Red is a $9.99 subscription service that gets rid of the ads, includes free music streaming, and allows access to a bunch of original programming, although it isn’t UHD quality. Much like VUDU, YouTube has a selection of over 70 movies – including blockbusters like Wonder Woman – that can be rented or purchased in 4K. YouTube Red is not necessary to rent or purchase the movies.
UltraFlix
UltraFlix only offers 4K content. The catch is it has different grades of 4K depending on the source material. Silver is 4K converted from an HD master, Gold is 4K from older material that was shot on film, and Platinum is content that was shot in 4K originally. There are over 600 hours of 4K content in total, with around 100 of those hours available at no charge. For the rest of the content they currently only have a 48-hour rental policy. Pricing is between $2 and $10 per title, and is dependent on how recently the title was released.
Formerly M-Go, FandangoNOW is another rental/purchase site. It has over 200 titles and prices vary depending on the title from a $5.99 rental to a $29.99 purchase. It also have a VIP program where you can collect points to use for discounts.
If your TV or streaming box supports the Google Play app there are over 90 movies available for rent or purchase, depending on the title. Prices for rentals are $4.99 and purchases can go up to $29.99.
When the Apple TV 4K was released in September, Apple began adding 4K content to iTunes. But unlike other movie purchase services, the 4K version of a movie costs the same as the HD version in order to get more people to upgrade. And if you already own the HD version of a movie that is now released in UHD, you get the UHD version for free. Note that you can only stream 4K movies; no downloads are allowed.
Signals from the skies
DirecTV has been in the 4K business for a few years now and has a robust collection of OnDemand offerings that’s constantly changing. They also have two dedicated 4K channels (104 and 106) that show documentaries, original programming, and travel shows. Where they separate themselves from the streaming services mentioned above is in their broadcast of live sporting events (on channel 106). These include select UFC fights, MLB, NBA, English Premier League, and College Football games. Packages start at $50 per month before fees.
DISH has movies available OnDemand and sports through Pay-Per-View channels. To boost its 4K catalogue, the DVR is integrated with a Netflix app so you’re able to access the entire Netflix library. But a Netflix subscription is not included with the DISH packages that start at $50 a month before the cost of the DVR rental and other fees.
The Old Standby
If you want the best video and audio quality, discs are still king. Even with a fast internet connection there can still be issues with artifacts due to the amount of information that needs to be streamed to your source. For game consoles, that source will have to be Microsoft. The Xbox One S and Xbox One X play 4K Blu-rays (though black levels appear to be elevated at launch for the X, which Microsoft will patch shortly) and support Dolby Atmos and DTS:X bitstreams.
Sadly Playstation users are out of luck. The PS4 Pro supports 4K streaming and gaming, but lacks a 4K Blu-ray drive. All of the consoles only have a single HDMI out. So if you’re using an AVR for sound decoding, you’ll need to make sure it supports 4K. Many UHD Blu-ray discs are also coming with HDR support, and getting any 4K HDR content with anything better than a stereo audio signal is not currently possible. And there’s still something special to holding a movie disc in your hand. At least to frosted-tip me.
Image credit: Microsoft
Up until November 7, 2017 the only option for true 4K gaming on consoles was the PS4 Pro. The Xbox One S supports 4K streaming and playback of UHD Blu-rays, but its 4K gaming content is all upsampled from lower resolutions. It looks beautiful, but it isn’t a true 4K image from creation to display. With the release of the Xbox One X, Microsoft now has a console that will play games designed to display a native 4K image. These games are badged with a “4K Ultra HD” icon.
There’s also “Xbox One X Enhanced” games that take advantage of the X’s processing power. Some of these games can be patched to provide true 4K resolutions, but it’s game-dependent. The Playstation 4 Pro has a similar icon system. Native 4K games are listed with a “4K Pro” icon. Games with the moniker that has an arrow pointing to a 4K icon only upscale lower resolutions and are not native 4K.
And of course, 4K gaming on PC has been getting more and more accessible for several years now. 1080 Ti GPUs can push 4K pixels without breaking a sweat, and eve the cheaper 1070 Ti does a decent job.
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A Rare Look at What the Queen Is Really Like As a Mother
Prince Charles apparently has a very different take on her role than his siblings.
By Olivia Blair
Queen Elizabeth II became a mother almost 70 years go, when she welcomed her first son Prince Charles in 1948. Next, the Queen gave birth to Princess Anne in 1950, just three years before she was thrust into one of the most prominent positions in the world as the reigning monarch of Great Britain and head of the Commonwealth.
After her first two children, Queen Elizabeth II waited more than a decade before having more — she was busy being Queen after all. She and Prince Philip welcomed Andrew in 1960 and Prince Edward in 1964.
The second season of The Crown, which resumes in December on Netflix, picks up roughly a decade after the Queen's coronation, meaning viewers will get an insight into her family life. Ahead of the new episodes, we look into the monarch's private role as a mother to four children.
The relationship between the Queen and her heir has been a source of much fascination and debate. Elizabeth's official royal duties fell on her while her children were still quite young — she and Phillip famously embarked on a six month Commonwealth tour soon after her coronation and left the children at home in England — and Elizabeth was part of a generation and class that routinely left the daily care of small children in the hands of household staff.
This has led to suggestions that Charles did not form as strong a bond with his mother as he had with nannies and his beloved grandmother.
According to historian Robert Lacy, who also served as an advisor for The Crown and is the author of The Crown: The Official Companion, the Queen believed it was better to leave the children in the care of nannies rather than drag them around the world.
"She had been brought up in that style herself, after all, with her parents leaving her at home and entrusting her entire schooling to a governess and home tutors," he told Town & Country.
In his controversial 1994 authorized biography of Prince Charles, Jonathan Dimblebyquotes the Prince of Wales saying it was "inevitably the nursery staff" who taught him to play, witnessed his first steps and punished and rewarded him.
And in her recent biography of Prince Charles, Sally Bedell-Smith shares a similar view. "When Elizabeth became Queen on the death of her father, her dedication to her duties meant even less time for her children," the historian wrote. "She relied increasingly on her husband to make the major family decisions and she depended on the nannies to supervise the daily lives," adding that the Queen and Duke saw the children after breakfast and teatime but "in the manner of the upper class, neither of them were physically demonstrative."
Prince Charles was very close to his grandmother, the Queen Mother, and that she doted on him. In 2013, private letters revealed that she had tried to persuade her daughter and son-in-law to send young Charles to Eton, which was closer to London, rather than send him to Gordonstoun School in Scotland, where he was eventually educated.
At the Queen Mother's funeral in 2002, Prince Charles delivered an emotional tribute: "For me, she meant everything and I had dreaded, dreaded this moment along with, I know, countless others. Somehow, I never thought it would come. She seemed gloriously unstoppable and, since I was a child, I adored her."
The Queen's only daughter has publicly opposed the opinion that her mother was not as caring or involved as she perhaps should have been. "I simply don't believe there is any evidence what so ever to suggest that she wasn't caring. It just beggars belief," Anne said during a characteristically sharp-tongued 2002 interview with the BBC to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee.
According to Lacy, Anne grew close to mother as a teenager. "Princess Anne and the Princes Andrew and Edward have all made public their disagreement with Charles in his criticism of the parenting they received. With her love of horses, Anne developed an especially close relationship with her mother during her teenage years, giving her advice about fashion and clothes," he said.
Anne isn't the only one who offered proof of her mother's motherly warmth. Lacy notes that Lord Mountbatten, Prince Philip's uncle, once said that the Queen's favorite night of the week was "Mabel's night off" — Mabel was the nanny to both Charles and Anne as children. "When nanny Mabel was off duty, Elizabeth could kneel beside the bath, bathe her babies, read to them and put them to bed herself," he added.
There is an almost 12-year gap between the Queen and Duke's first and third children, Charles and Andrew. By the time Andrew was born, the Queen had been on the throne for eight years, and, as Lacy notes, "evidence suggests she became warmer and more flexible as time went by." She also stepped back from her Royal duties to spend more time with her young children.
The Queen playing with Princes Edward and Andrew in June, 1965
"Early in the 1960’s, Her Majesty decided that she had done her duty by her country, and took the best part of 18 months off work to produce and enjoy her ‘second family,' the young princes Andrew and Edward, born in 1960 and 1964 respectively," says Lacy.
In footage, shot in 1960s, the Queen was filmed on holiday in Balmoral, Scotland doting on 7-month-old Prince Andrew.
The Queen's youngest child was born just a few years later in 1964. In the late 1960s, the Royal Family allowed cameras into their home for a BBC documentary and the British people got to see their Queen as a "playful mother relaxing with her children," said Lacy.
The program included footage of the Queen sweetly holding her youngest son's hand while the family took a walk around the grounds of Windsor Castle.
The Queen has maintained an especially close relationship with her fourth child. Just two years ago, in advance of her 90th birthday celebrations, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, told Sky News that they continue to spend time with the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh most weekends and that she is actively a part of her grandchildren's lives.
"Today Elizabeth II enjoys life as a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother," Lacy said. "She clearly delights in the time she can spend with her family, and she seems to be anything but emotionally reserved.
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh with their children in 2007 to mark their diamond wedding anniversary
"Would she have mothered her children differently if she had the chance? As one of her close friends has said, the Queen was rather scared of parenting when she started out—she’d not been taught it by her own mother. But as she grew into the job, her successive children helped remove her fears," says lacy.
Indeed, in 2012, when Kate Winslet was awarded with a CBE, she told the Queen she "loves being a mum" even more than being an actress, to which the Queen reportedly replied: "Yes. That's the only job which matters."
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AndreaD
About AndreaD
Pearland; soon to be retired in The Woodlands
Architecture, interior design, art, photography, travel
Life Forms Homes, circa 1984-1990
AndreaD replied to Parrothead's topic in Other Houston Neighborhoods
It turns out that the photos that were uploaded for the home at 11 N. Mossrock show a nicely updated interior -- not shabby at all. New SS appliances, including a SS fridge, and some new lighting. Yesterday (3/13/12) its price was reduced to $174,900. Did you ever go and take a look at it?
Gigijen22, The house at 2 Shallow Pond Place is too small for you, you said (it has 2129 sq. ft.). Well, I have a new possibility for you. This past week a Life Forms home at 11 North Mossrock Rd. came on the market; the listing says it's at 11 Mossrock Rd., which is incorrect. It's in the heart of Grogan's Mill. This one has 2601 sq. ft., so it's quite a bit larger. The lot is also larger, at 7480 sq. ft. The asking price is $179,900, or just $9200 more than the one on Shallow Pond. Unfortunately the agent hasn't posted a single picture of this new listing, but you can get a very good look at the front of the house with Google maps' street view. With that low of an asking price, I suspect that the inside hasn't been updated at all, but it's in a great location. See it at http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=14366867 Andrea
Trader Joe's is coming to the Woodlands!
AndreaD posted a topic in Other Houston Neighborhoods
Yesterday evening the article below announced that they are finally going to open a store in The Woodlands -- NOT in the former Alabama Theater, inside Loop 610, as was rumored before. http://blog.chron.co...-the-woodlands/ The grocery chain spokeswoman confirmed that in spring 2012, they will open a store in the new Woodlands Crossing Shopping Center, located at the SE corner of Woodlands Parkway and Kuykendahl Rd. On opposite corners of that intersection are HEB and Kroger stores. The only other store Trader Joe’s is opening in Texas will be in Ft. Worth. You can find out more about the Woodlands Crossing Shopping Center (including maps) at http://www.realmreal.../woodlands2.htm. I am very, very familiar with the chain because they have a huge presence in California, where I used to live. Their prices are very reasonable – this is not a Whole Foods kind of place. For example, Trader Joe’s is home of “Two Buck Chuck” wines. You can find out more about the stores at http://www.traderjoes.com.
What I read elsewhere is that they shut down their business around 2005, after they got hit with several lawsuits relating to their use of EIFS (artificial stucco). They felt they just couldn't survive with the expense of so many lawsuits facing them. I imagine that a lot of homeowners who chose EIFS probably ended up replacing the siding with real, hard-coat stucco at their own expense. But Life Forms wasn't the only builder this happened to: many others across the country also used EIFS and had subsequent warranty problems. Andrea
Life Form for Sale
AndreaD replied to FrediK's topic in Other Houston Neighborhoods
There are probably even more Life Forms homes for sale currently. As far as I know, that builder built homes only in The Woodlands. They shut down their business a lot later than the 1980s, more like 2004-05, after they got hit with several lawsuits relating to their use of EIFS (artificial stucco). You mentioned Spring vs. the Woodlands. I don't know how it evolved that Spring became the address for so many homes in the Woodlands; if you go by the post offices for 77381 and 77380, etc., you'll see plainly that "The Woodlands Texas" is written on the front of those buildings. And in May 2014 or later, the residents will be able to vote for incorporating The Woodlands as a real city. Right now it's officially organized as The Woodlands Township. Read more about this incorporation at http://www.thewoodlandstownship-tx.gov/FAQ.aspx?TID=14
AndreaD replied to wxman's topic in Other Houston Neighborhoods
Just make sure to title the list, "What to watch for in the Town Center area in 2010" to clarify it. I wasn't aware of Exxon planning to build a campus there: that sounds great! Is it supposed to be in addition to their research center in the Greenspoint office complex? Or replace it? I know a PhD who works at Greenspoint and he might know more. Andrea
How can I find the address to my cousin's 22 acres in Shannon Owen
AndreaD replied to sttombiz's topic in Off Topic
A better, more direct URL is this: http://orion.mcad-tx.org/appraisal/publica...=&NodeID=11 1. When a result comes up, click on the Rxxxxx Property ID link to the left of your cousin's name. 2. The next page will be the Property Detail Sheet with lots more info, including the value that MCAD wants to assess it at for 2009. 3. Click on the GIS Map link at the top, and a new window will appear, showing a map ... usually. But as the other people in this forum have shown you, that property is not mapped and available online, unfortunately. The message I got was: "MCAD GIS Error: The parcel requested was not found in the Database." I think you'll have to call the MCAD office to find out where it's located. Good luck, Andrea
Life Forms One Story Floor Plans
AndreaD replied to Lori's topic in Other Houston Neighborhoods
Lori, I can tell you that there are a number of patio homes/townhomes/condos or whatever you want to call them, previously sold and now for sale. They are mostly one story, and are in the Ashbury Square subdivision, all on Douvaine Ct. in Sterling Ridge, near the intersection of Lake Woodlands Dr. and Sterling Ridge Dr. They're not cheap, though; the lowest one of the three currently for sale is asking $210,000. The other two are in the $240s. They were built in 2004 and are very nicely finished inside. Of the 4 floorplans there, only one was a two-story (the largest one). These are legally structured as condos, I think, but many/most resales are marketed as single-family homes. I don't know why the Realtors do that. The other Life Forms subdivisions I looked at rarely had one-story single-family homes, which is why I pretty much ruled them out in my home search. The only one recently sold that I could find was at 78 Winter Wheat Pl. in the Reedy Pond subdivision (it had 1837 sq. ft.). It was last asking $181,900 before being sold; it closed in Aug. 2007. Andrea
New FEMA flood maps to expand the flood plain into Grogan's Forest
AndreaD replied to AndreaD's topic in Other Houston Neighborhoods
I think the answer is your 2nd choice: they remapped the floodplain elevations. As the Chronicle article said, "The new flood map would be an upgrade over the one currently in effect, which was established in 1999, he said. The new version is digital, providing a more accurate representation of the flood plain." So blame it on newer technology. I just wonder now if this digital imaging will affect other areas near creeks elsewhere in The Woodlands. Andrea
I read on Feb. 26th in the Chronicle that the city of Shenandoah got new proposed floodplain maps from a consultant. This news doesn't only affect Shenandoah, but also a lot of the Grogan's Forest area, especially the newly-built areas on both sides of Grogan's Mill Road
East Shore in the Recession
AndreaD replied to RivaRow's topic in Other Houston Neighborhoods
I speak from the perspective of searching for a retirement home in East Shore. While they were constructed, I watched Village Builders
Expansion of Woodlands Parkway
AndreaD replied to celiene's topic in Other Houston Neighborhoods
Celiene, One year ago (on Oct. 17th, 2007), the Chronicle published a story about all the major road expansions that The Woodlands Development Co. plans to do. That article is no longer available online, unless you have a paid subscription to the newspaper, maybe. Two days after that story was published, I captured the article as a PDF and added maps with markups to show where the roads are being widened: see the file I've uploaded. I don't know how accurate these plans are, now that one year is passed. For more up-to-date info, see another topic in the Woodlands forum: "Mobility project for The Woodlands." I think that has more details. Road_widening_in_The_Woodlands.pdf
Settler's Corner
AndreaD replied to snickstx's topic in Other Houston Neighborhoods
I looked up in my copy of the book, "The Woodlands: The Inside Story of Creating a Better Hometown" by Roger Galatas. On page 49 it says that The Woodlands' grand opening was on Oct. 19, 1974. On Jan. 1, 1975, the first family moved into a townhome in Settler's Corner, and within days, 10 more townhomes were occupied. So you’re right: Settler's Corner was the first subdivision to be built in The Woodlands. All townhomes there were built in 1975, as far as I have seen. Some single-family homes in the nearby neighborhoods off Red Cedar Circle and Timberwild St. were also finished in 1975. I can tell you from my research that Settler's Corner is a good choice for a townhome, because of its convenient location across the street from Grogan's Mill Village Shopping Center and possibly walking distance to the Town Center and Mall (it’s 2 miles to Market Street, so it depends on how energetic you are). In the last two years, the highest asking price for previously-sold townhomes here was $140,000 (for the largest unit that has 1954 sq. ft.). But many smaller units without a golf course view are asking in the low-$100s. The highest-priced unit for sale right now is asking $149,900 and has the largest floor plan (1954 sq. ft.) with lots of upgrades. See it at Settler's Corner listing. Others here are asking around $120K. Some people have very nicely upgraded their townhomes inside, from what I've seen in listing pictures. And many plans have high ceilings for a spacious feeling. But keep in mind that a lot of units here are rentals, and many have only one-car garages, if that matters to you. And their appreciation in general hasn't been huge in the last five years; maybe this year will be different. The best homes to look for are those with a golf course view; they are along the northern and eastern perimeter of this complex. I don’t know about the build quality; you’ll have to get another HAIF member’s opinion, if you can. Or better, walk through the neighborhood and try to find someone who lives there and ask them how good the soundproofing is. I’d also recommend that when you make an offer, ask the seller to pay for one year of home warranty coverage, and get the townhome inspected before you buy. The green space in the middle of Settler’s Corner is an open forested common area; I suppose you could call it a park. To see the best aerial views of this complex, go to Microsoft’s Virtual Earth site at: Bird's eye aerial view of Settler's Corner You can pan, zoom in and rotate the viewpoint to any of the four compass directions; the default is facing north, of course. Good luck in your home search!
Home inflation in The Woodlands
AndreaD replied to woody_hawkeye's topic in Other Houston Neighborhoods
No, it's a bit off. I can direct you to an excellent website that says in June 2008, The Woodlands now stands at 5.9 months of inventory, so whoever told you it was 3 months was perhaps talking about a different area of Houston. See this page (scroll down almost to the bottom): http://home.earthlink.net/~acihou/images/m...ketmainpage.htm I got to that page from http://www.micheleflory.com/Community/Curr...ket-Conditions/. Her website is excellent because it slices and dices all the data, she updates it every month, and even breaks down the market activity by $100K price ranges ($100K-200K, $200k-300K, etc.). Hope this info helps. Andrea
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November 16, 2018 3:56PM EST Dispatches
Death Threats Leveled Against Mozambican Journalist
Police Should Investigate and Protect All Citizens, Including Critics
Zenaida Machado
Researcher, Africa Division @zenaidamz
Journalist and Editor of Mozambican NewsPaper Dossiers & Factos, Serodio Towo.
© 2018 VOA Português
A Mozambican journalist received phone texts and calls from unidentified people threatening to kill him if he continues to write articles criticizing the government.
Serôdio Towo, editor of the weekly newspaper Dossiers & Factos, recently published articles about the involvement of Mozambique’s Labour Minister in alleged financial mismanagement at the National Institute for Social Security.
Towo told me that, on Saturday morning, he received three calls from an unidentified number telling him to “watch out”, “write a will” and that “he was being watched.” That evening, a man called and warned him to “abandon” his current work or “risk losing his life.”
This is not the first time that Towo has been threatened or intimidated. Last March, he reported to police that vehicles without number plates followed him around the capital, Maputo. The police promised to investigate but have yet to reveal the probe’s results. Last Monday, he informed the police and the attorney general about the recent threats. The police told him to change his daily routine but offered him no physical protection.
Threats against journalists and other government critics have become a common occurrence in Mozambique, in some cases ending in violent attacks.
Last month, following disputed local elections, at least eight people received anonymous phone calls and text messages making death threats for allegedly contributing to the defeat of the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) in the northern province of Nampula. One person went into hiding because of the threats. Calls by Amnesty International and free speech group MISA Mozambique for the police to investigate the alleged death threats and intimidation appear to have been ignored.
In April, Human Rights spoke with six activists who were living in fear after receiving threatening phone messages for criticizing the government. A month earlier, journalist and human rights activist Ericino de Salema was abducted and beaten after receiving threatening messages. In May 2016, political analyst Jose Macuane was abducted and shot four times in the legs by unidentified gunmen. Both Macuane’s and Salema’s cases are unresolved.
Mozambique’s government cannot continue to ignore its responsibility to effectively investigate allegations of abuse and protect all its citizens. The failure to investigate physical violence and threats against journalists and activists is contributing to an environment of fear in the country.
August 17, 2018 News Release
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Wisconsin Badgers alumna Rose Lavelle scores twice in first World Cup soccer game
Rose Lavelle, who spent four decorated seasons with the Wisconsin Badgers, scored twice in her first World Cup game for the U.S. women's soccer team.
Wisconsin Badgers alumna Rose Lavelle scores twice in first World Cup soccer game Rose Lavelle, who spent four decorated seasons with the Wisconsin Badgers, scored twice in her first World Cup game for the U.S. women's soccer team. Check out this story on htrnews.com: https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/2019/06/11/former-uw-soccer-player-lavelle-scores-world-cup-opener/1423417001/
JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Published 2:39 p.m. CT June 11, 2019 | Updated 5:36 p.m. CT June 11, 2019
United States midfielder Rose Lavelle (16) controls the ball against Thailand during the first half in group stage play during the FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019 at Stade Auguste-Delaune on June 11. (Photo: Michael Chow-USA TODAY Sports)
In her first career World Cup game, University of Wisconsin product Rose Lavelle scored twice in the United States women's soccer team's 13-0 victory over Thailand Tuesday.
Her first goal gave the Americans a 2-0 lead with a powerful left-footed strike.
.@roselavelle’s day so far: first World Cup game, first World Cup start and first World Cup goal.
Do you even have to ask? We will ALWAYS accept this 🌹 pic.twitter.com/7ZuBBzgjek
— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) June 11, 2019
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!#OneNationOneTeam#OnWisconsinpic.twitter.com/ZJ41XIHoqH
— Wisconsin Soccer (@BadgerWSoccer) June 11, 2019
In the second half with the rout in full effect, she scored to spot her team a 7-0 lead, one minute after she helped set up the Samantha Mewis goal that gave the Americans a 6-0 lead.
LAVELLE AGAIN!@roselavelle matches Sam Mewis with a brace of her own and it is SEVEN for the @USWNT 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/aAA9DH643v
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 11, 2019
Lavelle, 24, earned All-American status three times at Wisconsin and was named to the Big Ten all-conference squad four times in her career with the Badgers from 2013-16. She was the first overall pick in the 2017 National Women's Soccer League draft.
RELATED: Rose Lavelle always believed she would represent the United States on soccer's biggest stage
The midfielder's bulldog, Wilma, has become one of the more celebrated members of the extended national-team family during the ramp up to the World Cup.
Bought Wilma rain boots but she's ungrateful and hates them pic.twitter.com/YLEQNCpYnW
— Rose Lavelle (@roselavelle) January 26, 2017
The 13-0 score marked a new World Cup record for goals scored and margin of victory.
JR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or jradcliffe@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.
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Economic transformation still hampered by B-BBEE fronting: Davies
Politics / 14 March 2019, 10:36pm / ANA Reporter
Minister Rob Davies speaking at the annual B-BBEE Commission Conference. Photo supplied
Durban - More economic transformation would take place in South Africa when more black people were able to exercise true business ownership powers, said Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies on Thursday.
Davies was speaking at the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Commission (B-BBEE Commission) annual conference at Emperors Palace in Ekurhuleni.
The commission is a statutory entity operating under the Department of Trade and Industry as a watchdog over B-BBEE implementation.
The 2019 conference explored black ownership and particularly major black ownership transactions – defined as transactions amounting to R25 million or more. The value of the B-BBEE transactions reported in 2017 and 2018 was around R115-billion, said the commission.
“In South Africa, too much [black] ownership is not real economic ownership; too often it is only legal ownership,” said Davies.
Black people only experienced real ownership of a business entity when they were involved in major decision-making and day-to-day operations, added Davies.
These elements had been incorporated into the new B-BBEE scorecards, he said. The intention with the incorporation was to “develop and nurture” new black business owners.
Fronting, which had been made a criminal offence through the B-BBEE Amendment Act of 2013, was becoming more sophisticated and complex as entities such as the B-BBEE Commission cracked down on it, said Davies.
In terms of the Act, the B-BBEE Commission was empowered to investigate and refer for prosecution any conduct that “directly or indirectly undermines or frustrates” the Act’s objectives. All such conduct was defined as fronting.
While fronting was still a challenge to true economic transformation and needed to be “ruthlessly” eradicated, Davies said it was equally important to “identify, support and value those who are doing the right thing” by implementing B-BBEE in the spirit in which it was intended.
The B-BBEE Commission handed out awards to four entities that had "truly worked towards South Africa’s economic transformation in 2018/19". Recipients were:
● The Gauteng Department of Economic Development (Empowering Province)
● The Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (Empowering Public Service Organisation)
● Leomat Construction Pty (Ltd) and Menston Holdings Pty (Ltd) (Transformed Agent)
● Mthokozeleni Mbili (B-BBEE Commissioner’s Special Award)
The B-BBEE Commission will release its first monitoring report on major B-BBEE transactions next month.
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In the News Slider
Grafton Merchanting joins the Irish Green Building Council
November 14, 2018 The Editor 811 Views
Grafton Merchanting, Ireland’s leading building merchanting company has announced that it has joined the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC). Today’s announcement forms part of Grafton Merchanting’s ongoing commitment to sustainability at a national and local level. Grafton Merchanting is the first reseller to join the IGBC which was set up in 2011 to create a sustainable built environment.
In addition to working with the IGBC, Grafton Merchanting has put several initiatives in place to help reduce waste, use more sustainable materials and reduce energy in its branches. An internal Environmental Committee with representatives from across the Grafton Merchanting business including area managers, marketing and health & safety has been set up to help drive these initiatives.
As part of its ongoing sustainability agenda, over 90% of branches have now switched to environmentally friendly LED lighting and combined with movement and light sensors, has reduced energy usage by approximately 30%. All branches also have segregated waste streams and, in a bid, to reduce used building materials going into landfill, the recycling of timber, steel and plastics is promoted in branches. WEEE recycling is also available in selected branches nationwide.
Recognising the need to provide the construction industry with more sustainable materials, all timber in Grafton Merchanting branches is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The FSC is an international not-for-profit organisation which promotes the responsible management of the world’s forests. It also stocks a host of sustainable-friendly building solutions including solar panels and solar thermal technology products, rainwater harvesting and heat recovery ventilation systems, biomass heating and air source heat pumps.
Grafton Merchanting is also working closely with its suppliers to look at how packaging can be reduced, and more environmentally friendly alternatives can be used.
Patrick Atkinson, CEO, Grafton Merchanting commented: “We are delighted to announce that we are joining the IGBC as part of our ongoing commitment to sustainability. We are the first reseller to come on board and we look forward to working with the IGBC and its partners to help realise its vision of creating a sustainable built environment. As Ireland’s leading supplier of building materials, we have an important role to play in helping the construction sector become more sustainable and we have initiatives in place such as stocking sustainable materials and products.”
“We’re also looking at our own branches. While we have made good strides in reducing emissions, we know there’s still more to do. In 2019 we will create a detailed carbon footprint for each of our branches to allow us to focus on improving performance on a local level.”
Pat Barry, CEO, IGBC said: “We are pleased to welcome Grafton Merchanting as our newest member of the IGBC. As an organisation we our focussed on creating a more sustainable built environment and the addition of Grafton Merchanting as a member is another important step in helping us achieve this. We look forward to supporting Grafton Merchanting on their various sustainability initiatives over the next year.”
Pictured above: Pat Barry, CEO, IGBC and Patrick Atkinson, CEO, Grafton Merchanting.
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Linesight highlights increasingly important role of build-to-rent (BTR) in addressing Ireland’s housing shortage →
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Rising to the occasion: a portrait of the nation, 100 years on
Centenary – Ireland Remembers 1916 is not a book about 1916, but a book about 2016, says its editor Ronan McGreevy
Tue, Dec 5, 2017, 06:00 Updated: Tue, Dec 5, 2017, 14:14
Ronan McGreevy
Mary Hannon (10) wears her great-grandfather’s Old IRA service medal at a Defence Forces ceremony to commemorate the centenary of the 1916 Rising, in Celbridge. File photograph: Eric Luke
In October 1963, a month before he was assassinated, US President John F Kennedy gave a speech at Amherst College in honour of the poet Robert Frost, who had died the previous January.
“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces,” he said, “but also by the men it honours, the men it remembers.”
By men he presumably meant, as was the shorthand at the time, notable men and women.
The centenary commemorations, which took place in Ireland in 2015 and 2016, revealed a lot about the nation – much of it good. It revealed a country at ease with the contradictions of its past, wise to its shortcomings in the present and hopeful for the future.
Centenary – Ireland Remembers 1916, which I edited, is not a book about 1916, but a book about 2016.
I was privileged to attend dozens of commemorations, from the O’Donovan Rossa funeral centenary at Glasnevin Cemetery in August 2015 to the national conference in NUI Galway in November 2016, the two events which begin and end Centenary.
The commemorations could have been divisive. Many feared they would become another opportunity to ventilate the tired arguments of who was right and who was wrong 100 years ago.
Instead, they became a grassroots success. The Government proposed, but the people disposed. That stretched from the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets over the Easter weekend 2016 in Dublin to the thousands who clambered up on Banna Strand’s sand dunes for the Casement event in April 2016.
The late Liam Cosgrave stands in front of a photograph of his father WT Cosgrave at the GPO Witness History visitor centre during its official opening. Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons
Those involved in organising the 3,500 events, both large and small, in every community in Ireland, did so voluntarily because they wanted to mark this exceptional centenary in their own way.
Children too embraced the commemorations with the Flags for Schools initiative giving them a new perspective on the tricolour. Thousands of schoolchildren also took the opportunity to write a proclamation for a new generation.
The book was commissioned by former minister for arts, heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys. I was approached in the summer by the then director of Ireland 2016, John Concannon, to edit it.
Niall Casement with his baby Thomas at Glasnevin Cemetery for the centenary ceremony to commemorate the execution of his relative Roger Casement. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
The Royal Irish Academy came on board as a partner – a wise choice given its track record of producing not just books of substance, but beautiful publications. The aesthetic of the book was most important from the beginning. The layout and look, the green and gold linen cover, and the tricolour bookmarks, a unique detail, were the work of Ciaran Ó Gaora and his design team at Zero G.
Together we were set a goal of producing a book that was an accurate and comprehensive chronicle of the year, recognising that, while the commemorations were generally a success, some took exception to aspects of them – such as the future of Moore Street and the remembrance wall at Glasnevin Cemetery.
We were fortunate to have at our disposal the work of talented photographers who took so many memorable images. Photographers such as Brenda Fitzsimons, Cyril Byrne and Eric Luke from this newspaper, Gerry Mooney from the Irish Independent, Mal McCann of the Irish News, the Maxwell brothers, Tony and Mark, Joe O’Shaughnessy from the Connaught Tribune, to name but a few, told the story of the year. The words provided the context.
We were grateful too to be able to showcase the wonderful work of artists including Mick O’Dea, Jethro Sheen from Galway, Ciara O’Keeffe and Katie Moore, the artist in residence at the Jackie Clarke Collection in Ballina.
It was the year, as Fintan O’Toole put it, that “official Ireland trusted artists”.
It was important the book reflected the breath of events across the island of Ireland. Every county is represented. Due regard was paid to the North where both communities have radically different takes on the Rising in comparison to those who live in the Republic.
Printers Alf McCormack, Billy Ryan and Freddie Snowe check the special limited edition print run of 100 copies of the Proclamation, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Rising, at the National Print Museum. Photograph: Cyril Byrne
The Easter Rising was an event of international significance. It presaged many of the independence movements which led to the redrawing of the map of Europe after the first World War. It also provided the inspiration for many ex-colonies to win their independence.
The diaspora was one of seven strands to the commemoration program identified by the Irish Government. Recognising the role of the diaspora was also an imperative for us involved in the production of the book.
There were events in 60 countries and 156 cities around the world from places you would expect such as New York and London, but also place you would not expect such as Manuas in the Brazilian rainforest and the Nigerian capital Abuja.
The most important people in the book are the testimonies of 50 individuals involved in the commemoration year. Some are well-known. President Michael D Higgins outlined about how the Civil War left lasting divisions in his family. Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill wrote about how the Irish fans carried the spirit of the commemorations into the European Championships in 2016. Senator George Mitchell remembered how the history of modern Ireland is bookended by events that happened at Easter – the Rising and the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
Some of the most powerful testimonies come from those who are not public figures. Christina Hannon spoke of the pride she felt in her daughter Mary, who has special needs, accepting the national flag on behalf of St Raphael’s Special School in Celbridge, Co Kildare.
Johnny Lynn, from Edgeworthstown, Co Longford, spoke movingly of his father Jackie, who rode the winner in the Irish Grand National on Easter Monday 1916 and died young. He also recounted the multiple racing tragedies which befell his family afterwards.
The 50th anniversary commemorations in 1966 represented only one narrative of the 1916 story. Women were barely mentioned; neither were civilians who constituted the majority of those killed in the Rising. The Irishmen who died in the first World War in their thousands during those years were simply forgotten about. They did not fit the national narrative.
The centenary commemorations showed a more generous minded country. Women, who were one in six of those rebels who participated in Easter Week, were honoured in a way which reflected their contribution to the national story. Waking the Feminists, which arose out of the Abbey Theatre’s centenary programme and its absence of women playwrights, was not only cathartic, but prophetic, knowing what we know now about the abuse of power in the performing arts.
The event to remember the British soldiers who died in the Easter Rising would have been unthinkable a generation ago, but indicative of how Ireland and the troubled relationship between Ireland and Britain have been transformed.
A chapter in the book also reflects on the centenary of the Battle of the Somme and the other commemoration events around the first World War which took place in 2016.
The commemorations brought some pride back to the country following the collapse of the Celtic Tiger and the subsequent loss of economic sovereignty.
Much was made in the centenary year of how this country has fallen short of the ideals as outlined in the Proclamation. The problems of homelessness and inequality are a stain on the country’s conscience.
Yet, it also clear that Irish people, when given the chance to express it, are proud of Ireland’s status as an independent nation and proud of the men and women whose vision brought it about. The evidence is in every page in this book.
Centenary – Ireland Remembers 1916 is published by Government Publications priced €25. It will be available at the special price of €20 at The Irish Times Charity Christmas Fair, which takes place in The Irish Times, Tara Street, on Sunday, December 10th from 10am. Proceeds will go to Feilicean, the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Association of Ireland, and Women’s Aid.
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English Soccer
Sportswoman of the Year
Irishracing.com
Ireland’s Call: standing tall for 20 years
Liked by some, loathed by others, Phil Coulter’s song was the answer to enduring problem
Sat, Jan 31, 2015, 06:12 Updated: Sat, Jan 31, 2015, 12:24
Malachy Clerkin
Ireland’s players singing ‘Ireland’s Call’. Photograph: Cathal Noonan/Inpho
Ireland’s Call. It’s just a song, right? Four-line verse, four-line chorus, key change, four-line chorus again. Shoulder to shoulder, all that malarkey. Ninety seconds, tops. No big deal.
Except, it is. It’s a very big deal. It’s nothing less than an expression of what we can be as a race, the sound of two peoples listening to each other, peace dropping slow between the staves.
Or, if you prefer, it’s a thundering disgrace, a spit in the eye of our forefathers, an ersatz sop to Nordie belly-ache. Pick a side, stand a post.
In the 20 years since Phil Coulter sat down in the offices of Slattery PR and took his brief from the IRFU, Ireland’s Call has put down roots.
It is part of the wallpaper of Irish life, one of the few pieces of culture on which it is almost impolite not to have an opinion. It has been mentioned in the letters page of this newspaper almost twice as often as Saipan. It made John Hayes cry.
Hostile public
“I did sound a caution in those early discussions with the IRFU that the song wasn’t going to be welcomed overnight,” says Coulter. “It just wasn’t going to happen. I knew there would be resistance. And somebody said, ‘No, don’t worry about it – sure look at the way the soccer crowd sing The Fields Of Athenry.
“But there was a big difference there. For one, The Fields Of Athenry had already been a big song. Paddy Reilly had been singing it for years and everyone knew it. But on top of that, Ireland’s Call was a case of telling people straight out: ‘This is the song you will sing.’ And as a race, we don’t like being told what to do.”
The story of Ireland’s Call starts with The Rose Of Tralee. Actually no, we’ll get to that in a bit. In fact, the story of Ireland’s Call really starts with Land Of Our Fathers, the Welsh national anthem. Back in 1905, when the All Blacks came to Cardiff Arms Park to play Wales, the home side’s response to the Haka was for winger Teddy Morgan to sing Land Of Our Fathers back. The crowd joined in, and thus was the tradition of singing anthems before sporting events born.
In Ireland, Amhrán na bhFiann only officially became the national anthem in 1926. It was played at rugby internationals in Lansdowne Road from soon after but never further afield.
The tradition had taken hold in rugby of playing the home side’s anthem only – it would be close to the end of the century before it became common practice for both anthems to be heard.
When Ireland played Scotland at Ravenhill in 1954, God Save The Queen was played. It took an intervention from the IRFU committee on the morning of the match to cajole the nine southerners in the team to stand for the preliminaries and they only agreed to it on the proviso that they were never to be put in a similar position again. The fact that their northern teammates had always stood for The Soldier’s Song in Dublin was evoked as persuasion too.
All of which brings us to The Rose of Tralee. A month before the 1987 World Cup, an IRA bomb killed Lord Justice Maurice Gibson. Caught up in the blast were Nigel Carr, Philip Rainey and David Irwin, on their way back from Dublin after pre-World Cup training. Carr never played rugby again.
“A month later,” says Trevor Ringland, “we were standing in line in Wellington waiting to play in a World Cup but we were without one of our best players because Nigel had had his career ended by an IRA bomb. So you can see why The Soldier’s Song wouldn’t have felt very appropriate to some of us.
Second Captains
“We were standing there, and I actually didn’t know what song was going to come on. And then it was The Rose of Tralee. Wales had Land Of My Fathers, a big rousing rendition of it. And I remember thinking, ‘God, you wouldn’t really lay down your life for The Rose Of Tralee, would you?’ It wasn’t the most stirring version of it I ever heard, that’s for sure. I think it was Con Houlihan who said afterwards that maybe next time we should try singing God Save The Rose of Tralee.”
Worst compromise
Neil Francis
Ringland’s father was an RUC officer and he himself would go on to become a unionist politician. He left the UUP in 2010 over a row with party leader Tom Elliott when Elliott refused to accompany him to an All-Ireland football final. He played for Ireland through some of the worst days of The Troubles and never had any trouble squaring the circle of his personal convictions and the symbols that accompanied his rugby career.
“The way it always was for me was that coming to Lansdowne Road to play under the tricolour and stand for the anthem was never a problem because I was coming into an environment of friendship and one that wanted me to be there. As opposed to the people who wrapped themselves in the flag and the anthem and who were trying to murder people like me.
“I think if you use symbols in the right way, with respect to each other, then you take them away from the other guys – on both sides – who would use those symbols to cause division. But it was a gesture for us to come and stand for the anthem. I’m not sure everybody got that.”
By early 1995, the IRFU knew they had to act. The World Cup in South Africa was looming and they couldn’t have a repeat of The Rose Of Tralee farrago. They met with political parties in the north and eventually asked Coulter to do his thing.
Buzzwords “The big challenge was the imagery,” says Coulter. “You are trying to be all-inclusive so there were certain images and certain buzzwords that you had to stay away from.
“You want it to feel inclusive of north and south but you don’t want to spell that out in too crass a way either. Musically, you want a song that can be pretty instantly picked up by people in the stadium so it can’t be too complicated. It had to be accessible, stirring and recognisable. Those were the boxes that had to be ticked.
“The tricky part for a song like that is the lyric. That was the hard part to figure out. You don’t want to get this message across without being too obvious about it. So that’s where this idea of the four proud provinces of Ireland came from. This spells it out without making it a matter of the south joining the north and the north joining the south and us all joining hands together kind of thing.”
The song was unveiled simultaneously on The Late Late Show and The Gerry Kelly Show on the first Friday in April 1995. Andrew Strong sang it, backed by the Culwick Choral Society, Dublin, and the Portadown Male Voice Choir. At one point that summer, the Ireland squad itself assembled to record their own version.
“To my shame, we did a Band Aid effort,” says Francis. “They got all of us into a studio in Dublin and made us wail our way through this moany old dirge. There’s a recording of it somewhere. Somebody must have it. The royalties keep rolling in.”
Coulter’s instinct was on the money – initial reception was almost universally negative. Some saw it as wiping the eye of Amhrán na bhFiann (itself widely panned upon its arrival, by the by, with one TD using a Dáil debate in 1933 to declare it a “jaunty little piece of vulgarity”). Many refused to stay standing for it when it played at Lansdowne – some still do to this day.
“I knew that you would have the conspiracy theorists who would be convinced that you were out to usurp Amhrán na bhFiann,” says Coulter. “Or even replace it, which was never, ever on the agenda at all. But I knew that would happen and I knew that it would take while before the song took root with Irish people.”
Over time, the song gradually melted into the island’s consciousness. It travelled the globe, went to five World Cups in rugby and two in cricket. It was co-opted by the men and women’s national hockey teams and the Ireland rugby league side. It was used in motorsport by Team Ireland for the short-lived A1 Grand Prix series. It became more than just a rugby song.
When the Irish cricket team shocked the 2007 World Cup by beating Pakistan on St Patrick’s Day, they shook the walls of the Sabina Park dressingroom with it. Ever since, it has become tradition for them to sing it in the dressingroom after a victory. The hockey teams had historically used the Londonderry Air – aka Danny Boy – but switched to Ireland’s Call in 2000.
Still, there are plenty of people who plain don’t like the song and who will never warm to it. Francis is one of only four players in the history of Irish rugby to have lined up for three different songs – Michael Bradley, Terry Kingston and Brendan Mullin are the others, since you ask – but Ireland’s Call has never been his cup of camomile.
“I guarantee you that given a few hours over a few pints and a blank sheet of paper, a couple of us could come up with a better song,” he says. “I mean, Phil Coulter has produced some half-decent ditties in his time but this wasn’t one of them.
“It’s too late now obviously, they can’t go back and change it. It’s like the water tax – they have to stick with it now. There’s nothing anyone can do. People just kind of sing it now, no matter how awful it is. The northern players did appreciate it and they did sing it. This was a special set of circumstances and we all acknowledged that.
“It’s just a pity that they couldn’t come up with something that would be properly anthemic, something better than this. Listen to the French or Italian national anthems, even off the pitch they have the ability to get the spine going. Flower of Scotland isn’t perfect but it’s pretty good. Land of My Fathers and Bread of Heaven as well. But not Ireland’s Call. It’s a very poor song, it really is.”
Matters of taste
“I think it took until the England game in Croke Park in 2007 for it to happen. I thought to myself that day that finally, the begrudgers had been sidelined. The decibel levels and respect for God Save The Queen impressed everyone and then Amhrán na bhFiann was full-throated. But then when Ireland’s Call came, there was no hanging back. And I thought at the time that this is when the song has earned its corn.”
Ringland stood in Croke Park that day and sang all three songs and meant every word of each of them. The IRFU’s decision not to play God Save The Queen later that year when Ireland played Italy in Ravenhill annoyed him but he could see why they went that way.
“I think a lot of people in Ulster do appreciate it. The four proud provinces of Ireland standing together – I personally like the song and I like what it stands for. It shows that there is a different way and for me, rugby has always symbolised that. I think it lost it a wee bit when the team came to Belfast.
“I understand the difficulties that it would have brought with it had they played God Save The Queen. But I thought it showed no understanding of the difficulties that there were for me to stand for The Soldier’s Song during the worst of The Troubles. I wouldn’t make a big thing out of it. I think friends can always work their way through these issues. You don’t destroy a friendship over something like that, you find a way around it.”
It could nearly be the song’s subtitle.
Ireland’s Call (The Way Around It).
Nigel Carr
Phil Coulter
Trevor Ringland
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O’Brien provides highlight in tame Wolfhounds defeat
Rhys Webb brings fresh twist to Warrenball at scrumhalf for Wales
Shane Lowry cruises to an opening 67 at British Open
Sonia O’Sullivan: Medals aren’t the only tell-tale signs of success
Joanne O’Riordan: Free to air sport better for all in the long run
Ireland World Cup build-up Match reports, player ratings, points scored and minutes played since November 2018
This month's rugby fixtures The big finals take centre stage with St James' Park in Newcastle and Celtic Park in Glasgow hosting the finals of the Champions Cup and Pro 14
Rugby World Cup 2019: To win, publish a short video to Land Rover’s social media accounts of your child showing why they would make the perfect team mascot
Pro14 Table & Fixtures
A Conference
Glasgow (Q) 21 16 0 5 621 380 17 81
Munster (q) 21 16 0 5 612 348 13 77
Connacht (q) 21 12 0 9 475 394 13 61
Ospreys 21 12 0 9 445 404 10 58
Cardiff 21 10 0 11 497 451 14 54
Cheetahs 21 8 1 12 541 606 12 46
Zebre 21 3 0 18 260 640 7 19
B Conference
Leinster (Q) 21 15 1 5 672 385 14 76
Ulster (q) 21 13 2 6 441 424 7 63
Benetton (q) 21 11 2 8 474 431 8 56
Scarlets 21 10 0 11 510 470 12 52
Edinburgh 21 10 0 11 431 436 11 51
Dragons 21 5 1 15 339 599 4 26
Southern Kings 21 2 1 18 385 735 12 22
European Champions Cup Pools
Knock-out rounds & Results
Pool 1 Fixtures & Results
Follow all of the action from Portrush; Brian Hurley the Cork goal machine
Kerry need a different plan for Donegal; British Open for Portmarnock anyone?
Darragh Ó Sé: Improving Kerry will need a different game plan for Donegal
Allianz Cuman na mBunscol Finals 2019
Champions Cup Final
Most Read in Sport
1 Jack Byrne scores and assists as Rovers progress in Europe
2 JB Holmes holds first round lead as Portrush gives mental examination
3 Treatment table rather than the range beckons for sore Tiger
4 Cork rip up formbook to thrash Kerry in Munster Under-20 final
5 Tour de France: Roche frustrated after launching vain bid for stage victory
Jack Byrne scores and assists as Rovers progress in Europe 22:13
St Patrick’s Athletic bow out of Europa League in Sweden 21:48
Cork rip up formbook to thrash Kerry in Munster Under-20 final 21:53
JB Holmes holds first round lead as Portrush gives mental examination 21:31
Treatment table rather than the range beckons for sore Tiger 21:14
Here is your handy guide to sport on television this week
Monday – Sunday, July 15th – 21st
Crossword Get access to over 6,000 interactive crosswords
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Word or two about the women
Posted on October 19, 2015 by Admin in Tennis
Word or two about the women No.1 Serena Williams
The world Number 1 on the women ATP rankings made the long awaited appearance at the International Premier tennis League on Sunday, but failed to lift the trophy as her team failed for the third time in the first leg. She was better than Kristen Flipkens in singles, but failed to win the doubles with Andy Murray against her site.
The games was not even close to easy, but Serena Williams had lots of fun as she said, right after the match against her home team Manila Mavericks in front of 12 000 people at the Mall of Asia Arena. According to her comments the atmosphere in the Arena was awesome, and she admired the positive energy of the team, that is even more supportive after losing a match. There is no way you could get down mentally.
Serena Williams did take on Manila Mavericks Kristen Flipkens and won by 6-3 in the women’s singles, but failed to keep up the good work when teaming with Lleyton Hewitt, with who were playing against Andy Murray and Kristen Flipkens. Serena Williams and her partner Hewitt only managed to take one set from their opponents, with the final score standing 6-1.
The results in this competition is in a different and interesting way, where the result is decided by the aggregating games won from five one-set matches, and those matches are two singles, men and women, followed by men’s doubles and mixed doubles, and Legends singles at the end, unlike the results from the matches in all the other similar tournaments. Manila Mavericks previously beat the Singapore Slammers with 27-19 as the final result.
Andy Murray, who helped the Manila Mavericks, won’t be available in the next three legs in the 1 million dollar contest that will be played in Singapore, New Delhi and Dubai.
The best team so far in this competition is the Indian Aces, who got three out of three wins despite the absence of Roger Federer and Pete Sampras in the third leg.
Other teniers that are participating in the tournament are the World No.1 Novak Djokovic, Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, Andre Agassi, Goran Ivanisevi, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic are all past and present players that will take part in some of the upcoming legs, so don’t forget to check for online betting forums and bet for your favorite, maybe he will win together with you.
The traditional tiebreaker will be put aside at this event, but rather than that, the IPTL format consists of one set-matches that will be declared by four minute 5-5 shootout.
There are also power points which a player can ask for before the serve, for once on every match before his serve. There are other interesting terms in this event that include time outs, each player get x a match (still unknown number) and getting away with the advantage points.
Tennis: Victoria
Were last years ATP
Andy Murray is the new winner of Valencia Open
Radwanska looking forward to take another winning of Rogers cup
Two match points saved for Maria Sharapova
Canadian tennis is well showed this season
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National / Science & Health | NATURAL SELECTIONS
Autism may not be confined to the brain
by Rowan Hooper
Special To The Japan Times
Online: Jun 18, 2016
Thirteen-year-old Naoki Higashida describes his own personal feelings about having autism as follows:
“I feel a deep envy of people who can know what their own minds are saying, and who have the power to act accordingly. My brain is always sending me off on little missions, whether or not I want to do them. And if I don’t obey, then I have to fight a feeling of horror. Really, it’s like I’m being pushed over the brink into a kind of hell. For people with autism, living itself is a battle.”
Naoki’s book, “The Reason I Jump,” was published in Japanese in 2007. The book, a memoir and personal insight into what life is like with autism, came to international attention when it was published in English in 2013, having been translated by Keiko Yoshida, the wife of English novelist David Mitchell.
The book has been successful, deservedly so, because it offers “neurotypicals” — that is, people not on the autism spectrum — a flavor of what it is like to be on the spectrum. However, it has also changed perceptions of what it means to have autism. If you’ve ever read the book or have personal experience with autism, you may assume that the condition is entirely connected with how the brain is wired. Certainly that was my assumption.
However, a new study suggests that autism may be more complex.
It turns out that some aspects of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) — notably, how the sensation of touch is perceived, how anxiety is generated and certain aspects of social interaction — seem to be linked to defects not in central but in the peripheral nervous system. The peripheral nervous system contains nerves outside of the brain — in our hands and feet, in our limbs, and in all the regions that communicate sensory data to the brain.
The new work has been done at Harvard Medical School, using a mouse model for autism. This method is used to study diseases and disorders that have genetic elements. A mouse strain is made with gene mutations known to be associated with ASD in people, and researchers then study the effects of the genes.
“Advances in mouse genetics have made it possible for us to study genes linked to ASD by altering them only in certain types of nerve cells and studying the effects,” says David Ginty, a professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School.
Autism is a complex condition and the causes are not completely understood. There are several genes that have been linked to ASD, however, including one called “Mecp2,” and another called “Gabrb3.”
These, as well as a couple more the study looked at, are important for the normal function of nerve cells. The scientists knew from previous work that mutations in these genes prevent neurons from properly communicating with each other.
“Although we know about several genes associated with ASD, a challenge and a major goal has been to find where in the nervous system the problems occur,” Ginty says. “By engineering mice that have these mutations only in their peripheral sensory neurons, which detect light touch stimuli acting on the skin, we’ve shown that mutations there are both necessary and sufficient for creating mice with an abnormal hypersensitivity to touch.”
People with autism and their friends and families will be well aware of this. People with ASD often report discomfort with certain textures. Simon Baron-Cohen, an autism researcher at Cambridge University in Britain calls this “sensory hypersensitivity.” For children with autism, their bodies are on constant red alert for irritations, which can be triggered by touch and the feeling of clothes that neurotypicals tolerate without a thought.
Ginty and his colleagues measured how the mice reacted to different stimuli, such as a light puff of air on their backs, and they tested whether the mice could discriminate between objects with different textures. Mice with the gene mutations in only their sensory neurons showed heightened sensitivity to touch and weren’t able to discriminate between textures.
Another thing that is commonly commented on about people with autism is their anxiety with social interactions.
“What we’re anxious about is that we’re causing trouble for the rest of you, or even getting on your nerves,” Naoki says.
The Harvard team examined anxiety in the mice by looking at how much mice avoided being out in the open and how much they interacted with mice they’d never seen before. An unexpected result was that the mice with the gene mutations only in peripheral neurons were more anxious and interacted less with other mice. Of course, all these results come with the not inconsiderable caveat that they apply to mice.
“How closely these behaviors mimic anxiety seen in ASD in humans is up for debate,” says Ginty, “but in our field, these are well-established measures of what we consider to be anxiety-like behavior and social interaction deficits.”
One way of thinking about what is causing this behavior in the mice is that they have a problem with the “volume control” in their peripheral sensory neurons. What this means, says Lauren Orefice, a colleague of Ginty’s, is that the volume is turned up all the way in these neurons, leading the animals to feel touch at an exaggerated, heightened level.
Again, this will be familiar to parents of children with autism, who are often extremely sensitive to noise.
“We think it works the same way in humans with ASD,” Ginty says. If they are right, they could look for ways to turn the volume switch back down to normal levels, perhaps through drugs.
Naoki is now 23 and the author of more than 20 books of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. It seems fitting to close this month’s column with another extract from his memoir:
“Criticizing people, winding them up, making idiots of them or fooling them doesn’t make people with autism laugh. What makes us smile from the inside is seeing something beautiful or a memory that makes us laugh.”
Rowan Hooper is the news editor of New Scientist magazine. The second volume of Natural Selections columns translated into Japanese is published by Shinchosha. The title is “Hito wa Ima mo Shinka Shiteru” (“The Evolving Human”). Follow Rowan on Twitter @rowhoop.
autism, Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump, nervous system
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Polls show Democratic gains as Trump campaigns in Florida
Democrats have pulled ahead in Florida's marquee races for the U.S. Senate and governor, a new Reuters opinion poll showed on Wednesday, as President Donald Trump returned to the battleground state in a closing bid to bail out Republicans.
U.S. Senator Bill Nelson is leading Rick Scott, Florida's Republican governor, by 5 percentage points among likely voters, according to the Reuters/Ipsos/UVA Center for Politics poll.A win by Nelson would be critical for Democrats' hopes of taking a majority in the Senate, which would require a net gain of two seats in the Nov. 6 elections. Most opinion polls and forecasters give Democrats a slim chance of winning control of the chamber, because they have to defend 10 seats in states that Trump won in 2016, including Florida.
Addressing a crowd in Estero, Florida, Trump reeled off his usual attacks on the Democrats, saying they stood for high taxes, crime, open borders and uncontrolled immigration.
It was the first stop on a six-day, eight-state, 11-rally tour that will bring Trump to eight states, including Missouri, Indiana and Tennessee, which are also home to hard-fought Senate races.
Democrat Andrew Gillum, the Tallahassee mayor, is holding on to momentum in his bid to become Florida's first black governor. He drew the support of 50 percent of likely voters, unchanged from the last Reuters polling a month ago, compared with 44 percent supporting former U.S. Representative Ron DeSantis.
"Ron is running against a radical socialist who wants to turn Florida into Venezuela," Trump told his supporters.
Gillum's candidacy may be boosting a Democratic ticket that includes Nelson, who has opened up a significant lead in a Senate race that was tied last month in another Reuters/Ipsos poll. In the latest poll https://tmsnrt.rs/2piev5l, 49 percent of likely voters said they would return Nelson to Washington for a fourth term in the Senate, while 44 percent wanted to replace him with Scott.
The Democratic strength at the top of the ballot could affect as many as a half dozen competitive contests across Florida for the U.S. House of Representatives. Democrats are seen as having a strong chance of winning at least the 23 seats needed to gain control of the House, and with it the power to derail Trump's agenda.
Seeking to drive up turnout by his core supporters, Trump in recent weeks has tossed out a rapid-fire set of policy proposals: Sending up to 15,000 troops to the border with Mexico to address illegal immigration, calling for a 10 percent tax cut and floating a plan to reverse a guarantee of citizenship for everyone born in the United States.
"This is a referendum on Donald Trump," said Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida, noting that Trump's reputation rode on a governor's race where his endorsement delivered the Republican nomination to DeSantis. "If DeSantis loses, that is a direct reflection on Donald Trump in Florida and the power and influence that Trump has over Florida voters currently."
Although Trump narrowly won Florida in the 2016 election, 51 percent of likely voters in the state now disapprove of how he is handling the presidency, according to the new Reuters poll.
Oprah Winfrey, whom fans early this year tried to lure into taking Trump on in a 2020 White House run, is due in Georgia on Thursday to campaign with Democrat Stacey Abrams, who is seeking to become the United States' first black woman governor.
SENATE BATTLEFIELD
The Reuters poll painted a brighter picture for the Republican slate in Arizona, where two U.S. congresswomen are battling for the Senate seat being vacated by Jeff Flake, a Republican who has been a prominent Trump critic.
Republican Martha McSally leads Democrat Kyrsten Sinema by 2 percentage points, according to the new Reuters poll. Sinema led a Reuters poll last month.
A NBC News/Marist poll released this week showed Sinema with a 6-point lead.
The Reuters poll showed the state's Republican governor, Doug Ducey, on track to win his re-election fight, with a 20-percentage-point lead over Democrat David Garcia.
Florida Democrats are trying this year to turn out more young and diverse voters, who lean Democratic but often sit out midterm elections. Leaders in the party hope Gillum's candidacy will see a repeat of the voting coalition that enabled former President Barack Obama to carry the state twice, before it swung for Trump.
Obama will stump for Gillum and Nelson in Miami on Friday.
The Reuters/Ipsos/UVA poll was conducted online, in English, from Oct. 17 to 26. It surveyed at least 799 likely voters in each state and had a confidence interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points in Florida and 4 points in Arizona.
The poll results measured how voters felt at the time of the survey. Those feelings may change: In 2016, one in eight Americans reported making the presidential pick in the week before Election Day, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
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'Hamas members training in Iran'
Shin Bet chief warns FADC, says 31 tons of TNT smuggled into Gaza in 2006.
jp.services1. (photo credit: )
Hamas has sent dozens of its members to Iran to receive military training, and hundreds more are preparing to go, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Yuval Diskin told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday. Diskin told the panel the training was part of a trend of Hamas and Islamic Jihad strengthening their ties with Teheran. "These men who have been sent to Iran for training are not training for periods of a week, two weeks or a month, but for long-term, high-quality training," he said. "They are returning with knowledge of intelligence and weaponry that they did not have before."
Gaza preparing for IDF incursion While only Hamas members were currently going to Iran for training, Islamic Jihad was also interested in deepening ties with Iran in order to strengthen its militia in the Gaza Strip. Both terrorist organizations were using tunnels from Sinai to smuggle weapons and people in and out of Gaza, said Diskin. "We are seeing all of these groups interested in rebuilding. They all want to be more effective," he said. "They are using the current lull in violence to rebuild." Diskin said that 31 tons of dynamite were smuggled into Gaza during 2006, up from 5 tons in 2005. He also said that 50 terrorist attacks were currently being planned in the Gaza Strip, but ultimately meant to be launched from the West Bank. "The more time that passes, the more difficult it will be to stop these organizations," said Diskin. He said the Shin Bet projected that if the smuggling was not stopped, terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip would develop sophisticated rockets with ranges of 13 to 20 km., bringing bringing Ashkelon within easy reach. "The longer they continue to develop these weapons, the better they'll get. It is still possible for us to stop this but it will become more difficult in time," said Diskin. Asked about the chances of Hamas and Fatah overcoming their differences and forming a national unity government, Diskin described the relations between the rival factions as a "ticking bomb." He said that it was possible that violent confrontations would erupt before the March 23 deadline for Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to announce his new cabinet. The committee had been given several briefings recently in which high-ranking members of the defense establishment expressed concern about the growing trend of Hamas fighters being trained in Iran. MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud) called on the IDF to increase its operations in the Gaza strip. "Israel shouldn't deceive itself that the current lull in the Gaza Strip is indicative of peaceful intentions, but rather that Hamas members there were using the time to rearm themselves and to smuggle weapons," Steinitz said. Also on Tuesday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert went to talk to soldiers and officers of the Gaza Division and to get a first hand feeling of the situation along the border, looking into the Strip from several look-out positions. He also went to the Kerem Shalom region, where Cpl. Gilad Schalit was kidnapped in June, to assess the situation there. Meeting with a Beduin unit, he said he knew what they were dealing with everyday. "I know how hard it is. I completely understand what you mean when you say that it is better for you to be on this side of the fence, rather than on the other side of the fence, because from this side you can see what they want to plan ahead of time," he said. Olmert said there was definitely a systematic attempt to infiltrate into Israel through the border fence. "The distances are short, the possibility to dig tunnels is well known and problematic, and we need to find ways to deal with that," he said. Herb Keinon contributed to this report.
Residents of Jisr az-Zarqa beckon Israel Trail hikers to enjoy their town
By SHARON UDASIN
Pope receives Madonna lily seeds from BGU scientists to bloom for spring Annunciation
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Architect, Israel Prize laureate Prof. Avraham Yaski dies at age 87
By LEV SELMON
Harvard law students get a legal tour of Israel
MK Regev forms new Knesset panel headed by Henin to address Haifa Bay area pollution
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Panama Papers muted issue in presidential race
Posted: 10:47 PM, Apr 05, 2016
David Keyton
<p>People hold banners and protest in front of Parliament building in Reykjavik, Iceland, Tuesday April 5, 2016. The leak of millions of records on offshore accounts claims its first high-profile victim as Iceland's prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigns amid outrage over revelations he used such a shell company to conceal a conflict of interest. (AP Photo/David Keyton)</p>
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Panama Papers, which illustrate how a small class of global elites find elaborate ways to shield their wealth from tax collectors, bank regulators and police, offer a glimpse into what's driving the populist outrage that has marked this year's presidential campaign.
The trove of 11.5 million leaked documents have thus far shed light mostly on foreign figures such as the prime minister of Iceland, who resigned Tuesday after the public learned that he used a shell company to shelter large sums of money while his country's economy foundered.
The reaction in the U.S., meanwhile, has been relatively muted. But voters and experts say the documents validate the frustration felt by Bernie Sanders supporters on the left, who feel hard work is no longer enough to get ahead in America, and the anger of Donald Trump partisans on the right who say it will take someone who knows the insider system to dismantle it.
"We've recently heard the startling revelations about the tax dodge that is taking place in Panama," Sanders told supporters in Wyoming Tuesday night after his win in the Wisconsin Democratic primary. "In a time of massive income and wealth inequality, how does it happen that you have large, profitable multinational corporations who in a given year pay zero, not a penny, in federal income taxes?"
Retired Wisconsin high school teacher Steve Nibbe, who was voting for the Vermont senator in Tuesday's primary, said word of the documents made him "sit up and take notice." But he said he was not shocked.
"It just seems that those who have wealth — and sometimes that comes with privilege — are able to do things that other people are not," said Nibbe, 60, from Verona, outside the state capital of Madison.
Joe Brettell, a Republican strategist based in Houston, doubted whether the public's fury could get much worse.
"The populist anger being fueled primarily by white working-class Americans didn't need any more fuel," Brettell said. "They've already lived through the financial meltdown. They've already lived through the lack of middle class wage increases even as the stock market boomed."
The passports of at least 200 Americans are included in the documents, according to news organizations that have access to them, though none are thought to be as famous as celebrities and politicians from other countries, such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi.
In all, 12 current or former heads of state are included in the legal records from Panama's Mossack Fonseca law firm. They were first leaked Sunday to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper based in Munich, Germany.
Charles Postel, a history professor at San Francisco State University who has studied American populism and wrote a book titled "The Populist Vision," said of Sanders, "This is just the type of thing that is animating his base."
He described Trump as "more of a nationalist."
"His issue is not that these rich people are not playing by the rules. It's that we need powerful people who will protect Americans," Postel said. "That's a different thing that provokes outrage."
The New York billionaire might even actually win points with supporters if he were among the rich and famous mentioned in the documents, Postel said.
"If Trump said, 'Of course I put half of my money in the Virgin Islands,' none of his voters would object to that," Postel said. "They'd say: 'Sure, he's a billionaire. If I was a billionaire, I wouldn't pay my taxes either.'"
That was a sentiment echoed somewhat by 24-year-old factory worker Demetrius Rimmer of Milwaukee, who had not heard about the scandal before a reporter mentioned it. But he was none too impressed: "It's always about money."
Rimmer voted for Sanders.
If the papers become more of a presidential issue, it won't be confined to the Trump or Sanders camp.
"Both sides do it," said Mike Feiler, a 52-year-old auto dealer in Verona who said he voted for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the primary. "Both sides try to hide their money."
Associated Press 2016
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Molinari builds 2-shot lead over Woods, Finau in Masters
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Record scores on the white boards at Augusta National. Ground-shaking roars for Tiger Woods along the back nine.
Francesco Molinari blocked out the buzz on a delirious day of nine players sharing space atop the leaderboard Saturday. He emerged with another rock-solid round that looked spectacular only on his scorecard.
Molinari ran off four straight birdies on the back nine for a 6-under 66 that kept Woods and everyone else at a short arm's length going into a Sunday unlike any other at the Masters — an early start because of storms forecast for Sunday afternoon, with threesomes going off the first and 10th tees. The leaders were to tee off at 9:20 a.m.
That puts Woods in the final group at the Masters for the first time in 12 years, two shots behind.
Molinari played with Woods on the final day at Carnoustie last summer and outplayed the 14-time major champion amid a crowded leaderboard to win the British Open.
This is different.
This is Augusta National, where the gallery that cheered louder with each birdie by Woods made it clear they were aching to see the four-time champion slip a green jacket over a red shirt for the first time since 2005.
"He obviously loves this place, and he's playing great golf," Molinari said. "So I'm aware that it's not going to be easy tomorrow and, like I said, I can just do my best."
Woods has not played in the final group at a major since he gave up a two-shot lead to Y.E. Yang at Hazeltine in the 2009 PGA Championship
He got there Saturday with three straight birdies on the front and finished with three birdies over his last six holes for a 67, his best score at the Masters since the final round in 2011.
Joining them will be Tony Finau, playing this year on two good ankles after a self-inflicted injury a year ago . He was part of a history-making Saturday as one of three players to shoot 64.
Molinari was at 13-under 203.
The Italian doesn't get excited easily, whether he's cradling a claret jug or going 5-0 in the Ryder Cup. His strategy doesn't change in any environment — try to hit the ball squarely, play smart, avoid bogeys. It's working so well that Molinari goes into the final round having gone 43 consecutive holes without a bogey.
"A lot of guys are playing great. I wish I only had to worry about him," Molinari said of Woods.
Another shot behind was Brooks Koepka, who has won three of the last six majors and had a 69 despite four bogeys.
Woods has won all 14 of his majors when he had at least a share of the lead going into the final round. He brings momentum to this major, having contended in the last two.
"It's been a while since I've been in contention here," Woods said. "But then again, the last two majors count for something. I've been in the mix with a chance to win major championships in the last two years, and so that helps."
Molinari knows what kind of atmosphere Woods brings to a major. Woods briefly took the lead at Carnoustie last year, but the Italian never flinched, playing bogey-free to capture his first major.
Augusta National might sound different than a tough links along the North Sea of Scotland.
This is where Woods first captured the attention of the sporting public when he set 20 records in winning the first of his four green jackets. This is the gallery that has longed to see him recapture the past, especially after four back surgeries that only two years ago left him hobbling up the stairs, wondering if he would play again.
Woods looked good as new this week, even for a 43-year-old who hasn't won a major in nearly 11 years.
"I'm just thankful to be able to come back here and play again," Woods said.
He joined the chasing pack on a day when going neutral meant losing ground. The 65 players combined to go 80-under par, at 70.77 the second-lowest scoring average in Masters history.
When he rolled in a 7-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th, and the massive gallery rose to their feet with yet another ear-splitting roar, Woods became the ninth player who had at least a share of the lead Saturday. Molinari, playing in the final group, kept right on rolling.
"I hit the ball a little less well than yesterday," Molinari said. "But I holed some really good putts at 4 and 5 to save par. I can only be happy about today. It will be an exciting day tomorrow."
No one figures to be as excited as Finau, who turned his ankle celebrating a hole-in-one in the par 3 contest last year. He still managed to tie for 10th in his first Masters.
He nearly holed a 4-iron on the par-5 eighth Saturday on his way to a record-tying 30 on the front nine.
Because of the change in starting times, Finau gets to play alongside Woods — his golfing hero.
"As a kid, I always wanted to compete against him and have the opportunity to ... you know, I've dreamed of playing in the final group with him in a major championship."
Webb Simpson, who also shot 64, joined Ian Poulter (68) at 9-under 207, four shots behind and very much in the picture. The group another shot back included Dustin Johnson, who only made birdies on the par 5s and bogeyed his last hole for a 70.
The crowd favors Woods. The performance over the last year favors Molinari, whose British Open title is among four big tournaments he has won since last year's Masters. Molinari sees it another way.
"The favorite is probably the golf course out there waiting for us," he said.
For more AP golf coverage: https://apnews.com/apf-Golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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Armando Bachi
Category » Biography
Actors and Comedians
Medal of Freedom Recipients
Musicians and Singers
Nobel Prize Laureates
Producers/Directors/Screenwriters
Supreme Court Justices
U.S. Members of Congress
Top 50 American Jews
BACHI, ARMANDO (1883–1943) Italian soldier. Born in Verona, Bachi went into the artillery where he was commissioned in 1902 and remained in this branch of the army for most of his career. In World War I he became deputy chief of staff of the 48th and 30th divisions, and was awarded the Military Cross. After the war he was a lecturer in artillery at the Turin Military Academy and in 1934 was given command of an artillery corps. By 1938 he had become a lieutenant general in command of a motorized army corps, but when the racial laws were enacted that year, he was forced to resign his commission. In 1943 he and his family were arrested in Parma and died in Auschwitz.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
A. Rovighi, I Militari di Origine Ebraica nel Primo Secolo di Vita dello Stato Italiano (1999), 96.
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Location: UK Other Salary: £30,395 to £39,609 per annum, depending on skills and experience. Salary progression beyond this scale is subject to performance. Interview Date: To be confirmed This is an exciting opportunity to join the research team in the Precision Imaging Beacon of Excellence and Sir Peter Mansfield...
Lecturer in Physiology (Clinical Exercise)
University of Portsmouth - Department of Sport and Exercise Science
Placed on: 19/06/2019 Salary: £35,211 - £38,460 per annum
Interview date: 20 August 2019 The Department of Sport and Exercise Science is seeking to appoint a committed individual to a new full time permanent Lectureship in Physiology. The Department is based within the Faculty of Science and holds strong teaching, research and innovation links with many areas of the Faculty. The Department performed well in...
Lecturer in Physiology (Sport and Performance)
Faculty of Science Interview date: 20 August 2019 The Department of Sport and Exercise Science is seeking to appoint a committed individual to new full time permanent Lectureship in Physiology (Sport and Performance, ZZ005410). The Department is based within the Faculty of Science and holds strong teaching, research and innovation links with many...
Head of School of Nursing and Midwifery
University of Newcastle, Australia - School of Nursing and Midwifery
Recognised as one of Australia’s strongest educational brands, The University of Newcastle has developed the most comprehensive health faculty of its kind in Australia, underpinned by unique local and international research collaboration. The Faculty brings together a wide variety of undergraduate, postgraduate and professional training programs...
PhD Studentship in Engineering Technologies
University of Gloucestershire
Placed on: 19/06/2019 Salary: Fully Funded Studentship for 3-4 years
Three Dimensions Engineering’s view in developing Medical Diagnostic AI based at the University of Gloucestershire (Cheltenham) starting 1 October 2019. The diverse nature of cerebral activity, as measured using neuroimaging techniques, has been recognised long ago. It seems obvious that using single modality recordings can be limited when it...
Research Associate in Cognitive Neuroscience
Placed on: 19/06/2019 Salary: £32,236 to £39,609 per annum (according to experience).
Job Reference: BM&H-14123 Location: Oxford Road, Manchester Closing Date (DD-MM-YYYY): 22/07/2019 Salary: £32,236 - £39.609 per annum (according to experience) Employment Type: Fixed Term Faculty / Organisational Unit: Biology, Medicine & Health Division: Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology Hours Per week: Full Time Contract...
Research Associate in Health Economics
University of East Anglia - Norwich Medical School Health Economics Consulting (HEC)
Health Economics Consulting are looking to recruit a Research Associate with relevant skills and aptitude for health economic consulting. HEC specialises in a variety of health economic projects for industry and government. Our clients are spread across both the public and private sectors and we have a very balanced and varied portfolio of projects,...
Research Associate/Fellow - Pharmaceutical Synthetic Biology (Fixed Term) SCI196319
University of Nottingham - Pharmacy
Placed on: 19/06/2019 Salary: £27,025 to £33,199
Salary: £27,025 to £33,199 per annum, depending on skills and experience (£30395 with relevant PhD). As part of the exciting new research area of astropharmacy, we are seeking to recruit a highly motivated and enthusiastic synthetic biologist for a Research Associate/Fellow post within the Division of Molecular Therapeutics and...
Senior Lecturer (Academic) in Data Science for Medical Imaging and Visualisation
Placed on: 19/06/2019 Salary: £40,792 to £48,677 per annum with further progression opportunities to £53,174
Accelerate your career at BU Bournemouth University’s vision is worldwide recognition as a leading university for inspiring learning, advancing knowledge and enriching society through the fusion of research education, and practice. Our highly skilled and creative workforce is comprised of individuals drawn from a broad cross section of the...
Senior Lecturer (Academic) in Evidence-Based Persuasive Communication for Public Health
Accelerate your career at BU Bournemouth University’s vision is worldwide recognition as a leading university for inspiring learning, advancing knowledge and enriching society through the fusion of research education, and practice. Our highly skilled and creative workforce is comprised of individuals drawn from a broad cross section of the globe,...
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Kenji Maeda, artsVest program manager, speaks in Kelowna about the program that helps teach arts organization how to attract business-world partners and sponsors. -Image: Alistair Waters/Capital News
Successful program marrying arts and business groups in Kelowna comes to an end
But city officials say knowledge learned from artsVest program will continue to help local groups
Alistair Waters
Feb. 22, 2018 5:30 a.m.
After four years, an innovative program that links business and the arts in Kelowna has come to an end.
And, according to city and program officials, the artsVest has been a stunning success.
Business for the Arts and the City of Kelowna announced at its wrap-up celebration on Tuesday evening participants of the artVest program provided a boost of more than $1 million to the arts and culture community in Kelowna from 2014 to 2017.
The artsVest program is a sponsorship training and matching incentive program that helps small and medium–sized arts and culture organizations secure sponsorships from businesses in their communities. The program is delivered by Business for the Arts in communities across B.C. with funding from Canadian Heritage and the province.
In Kelowna, the city provided $100,000 over the last four year for the program which kept it operating her for four years. Typically, it runs for just one year in a community.
Kenji Maeda, artsVest program manager said over the last two years, Kelowna was the only municipality in B.C. providing seed money for the program to help bring the business and arts worlds together.
“The $1 million investment in our local arts and culture community is a substantial accomplishment,” said Christine McWillis, the city’s cultural services manager. “We have been excited to see the development of strong and sustainable community partnerships between the arts organizations and businesses over the last four years.”
Between 2014 and 2017, 34 Kelowna based arts organizations benefited from participating in the program, and 176 new business partnerships were created.
“We are thrilled to see arts and business leaders in Kelowna collaborate through artsVest to invest in the city’s cultural life,” says Nichole Anderson, president and CEO of Business for the Arts, which runs the program.
“A vibrant arts and culture enlivens our civic life, gives a boost to business and leads to a better quality of life for all in our communities. I notice also that so many of the partnerships in Kelowna between arts and business are long-term investment relationships, which shows great leadership on the part of the business community to invest in the creative sector in Kelowna.”
While the formal artsVest program has come to an end in the city, Kelowna officials say they hope to see knowledge learned from the program continue to help arts and culture organizations here attract business sponsors and spread to other groups, such as sports organizations.
“Its not about the money as much as it is about the knowledge gained (in how to attract business world partners and sponsorships),” said Sandra Kochan, Kelowna partnerships manager, and the woman who brought the artsVest initiative to the city in 2014 when she was the city’s cultural services manager.
“artsVest was invaluable to our organization,” said Karma Lacoff, executive and creative director of Creative Okanagan Artist and Event Development Society. “The training supports arts organizations in more ways than just sponsorship training. I look forward to seeing the impact it makes in other small centres.”
According to Mayor Colin Basran, the City of Kelowna provides nearly $2 million in support for the cultural community each year, including major cultural facilities and grants for organizations. This year, 23 operating and project grants representing a $163,265 investment was made in the arts, culture and heritage community.
Founded in 1974, Business for the Arts is Canada’s only national association of business leaders who support the arts. It aims to strengthen arts and culture in Canada by connecting arts organizations to business patrons, volunteers and ambassadors, and by providing resources for arts and business leaders to establish and build successful partnerships.
Alberta takes out full-page ads in B.C. over strained relationship
Feds can’t do much to fight fake news in Canada
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Danbury, TX Cremation Services
What to Expect from Cremation Services in Danbury, TX
Cremation services in Danbury, TX completely understand how you will be devastated by the loss of a loved one and will need help and assistance in arranging a cremation.
One of the main reasons that people regularly choose a cremation over a burial is linked to the cremation costs in Danbury, TX. The final bill for cremating a person is usually far lower than the cost of arranging a burial because you do not have to pay for the land, its preparation and then the long-term upkeep.
Across all of America cremations are rapidly increasing as the most popular choice of interment and it is predicted that over 50% of people will choose cremation within the next 20 years or so. An exact and full price list will be passed to the person organizing the cremation so that you fully understand all of the cremation costs in Danbury, TX.
Why Do People Choose Cremation in Danbury, TX?
When you have experienced standing around a graveside as the body is lowered into the earth, it is an experience that many prefer to forget. The very different, and less dramatic experience of attending a cremation, focuses more on the person who has died rather than the events organized by Danbury, TX cremation services.
Some religions will only accept a cremation as the only option for interment and this will be explained by cremation services in Danbury, TX. In the past, other religions would not accept a cremation as an alternative, but in modern times, the majority of religions are completely accepting of the cremation method being used.
Were you to cast a survey, you would find that modern cemeteries are regarded as extremely sterile and lacking of great character and if you live in a colder area, a grave is a difficult place to visit because of the weather, especially the snow and even more so in a northern state. This explains why many people look at the Danbury, TX cremation costs and choose it as their best option
In the majority of states, you can care for the deceased at your own home, but the majority of people will prefer that cremation services in Danbury, TX will undertake the facility.
Danbury, TX cremation services will explain that the body of the deceased is placed into a container which can be a coffin or casket, but a simple and suitable container is all that the law requires. At the crematorium, the employees will remove jewelry and medical devices, like pacemakers, to reduce the safety hazards for the cremation process. An efficient tagging system is used so that the individual can always be properly identified.
The individual will be cremated in the furnace at temperatures between 1400?F and 2000?F during the course of 2 to 3 hours, when the body will be reduced completely to fine powder, mostly a grey color. These are the ashes that are then returned to the nominated person as part of the cremation costs in Danbury, TX.
All of the options related to the memorial service will be carefully discussed with Danbury, TX cremation services.
The Danbury, TX cremation costs will detail whether the crematorium will be supplying a standard urn to return the ashes to you or whether you have opted to purchase a model for display which you may decide to use for a number of years.
The individual is always cremated alone, so you can rest assured that the ashes being returned to you are always correct and all of the procedures will be explained in detail by Danbury, TX cremation services.
Religious Questions in Danbury, TX
Some religious groups will require for a cremation to be completed inside 24 hours after the death of the person. This will be arranged by the funeral director and included within the Danbury, TX cremation costs, once all of the legal documentation is complete.
There are so many things that you need to think about after someone has died so you should not be worried about leaning heavily on the skills and experience offered by Danbury, TX cremation services.
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A History of Libertarianism
by David Boaz
In this excerpt from Libertarianism: A Primer, Boaz tells the history of the movement for liberty, from Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu through the 20th century.
In a sense there have always and ever been only two political philosophies: liberty and power. Either people should be free to live their lives as they see fit, as long as they respect the equal rights of others, or some people should be able to use force to make other people act in ways they wouldn’t choose.
It’s no surprise, of course, that the philosophy of power has always been more appealing to those in power. It has gone by many names—Caesarism, Oriental despotism, theocracy, socialism, fascism, communism, monarchism, ujamaa, welfare-statism—and the arguments for each of these systems have been different enough to conceal the essential similarity. The philosophy of liberty has also gone by different names, but its defenders have always had a common thread of respect for the individual, confidence in the ability of ordinary people to make wise decisions about their own lives, and hostility to those who would use violence to get what they want.
The first known libertarian may have been the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, who lived around the sixth century B.C. and is best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching. Lao Tzu advised, “Without law or compulsion, men would dwell in harmony.” Most of the Tao is not political; it is a classic statement of the spiritual serenity associated with Eastern philosophy. To many Americans, steeped in the assertiveness and individualism of the West, it may seem to counsel too much passivity and acceptance in the face of obstacles. Of course, Lao Tzu may have thought that such quiet acceptance was the only way to achieve a degree of personal peace and liberty in the all-encompassing totalitarianism of ancient China.
Despite the example of Lao Tzu, libertarianism really arose in the West. Does that make it a narrowly Western idea? No. The principles of liberty and individual rights are universal, just as the principles of science are universal, even though most of the discovery of those scientific principles took place in the West.
The Pre-History of Libertarianism
Both the two main lines of Western thought, the Greek and the Judeo-Christian, contributed to the development of freedom. According to the Old Testament, the people of Israel lived without a king or any other coercive authority, governing themselves not by force but by their mutual adherence to their covenant with God. Then, as recorded in the first book of Samuel, the Jews went to Samuel and said, “Make us a king to judge us like all the other nations.” But when Samuel prayed to God about their request, God said,
This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, for his chariots. And he will take your daughters, to be cooks. And he will take your fields, and your oliveyards, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and of your sheep. And ye shall be his servants.
And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.
Although the people of Israel defied this awful warning and created a monarchy, the story served as a constant reminder that the origins of the State were by no means divinely inspired. God’s warning resonated not just in ancient Israel but on down to modern times. Thomas Paine cited it in Common Sense to remind Americans that “the few good kings” in the 3000 years since Samuel could not “blot out the sinfulness of the origin” of monarchy. The great historian of liberty, Lord Acton, assuming that all 19th-century British readers were familiar with it, referred casually to Samuel’s “momentous protestation.”
Although they installed a king, the Jews may have been the first people to develop the idea that the king was subordinate to a higher law. In other civilizations, the king was the law, generally because he was considered divine. But the Jews said to the Egyptian Pharaoh, and to their own kings, a king is still just a man and every man is judged by God’s law.
That concept of a higher law also developed in ancient Greece. The playwright Sophocles, in the fifth century B.C., told the story of Antigone, whose brother Polyneices had attacked the city of Thebes and been killed in battle. For his treason the tyrant Creon ordered that his body be left to rot outside the gates, unburied and unmourned. His sister Antigone defied Creon and buried her brother. Brought before Creon, she declared that a law made by a mere man, even a king, could not override “the gods’ unwritten and unfailing laws,” which had existed longer than anyone could say.
The notion of a law by which even rulers could be judged grew and endured throughout European civilization. It was developed in the Roman world by the Stoic philosophers, who argued that even if the ruler is the people, they still may do only what is just according to natural law. The enduring power of this Stoic idea in the West was partly due to a happy accident: The Stoic lawyer Cicero was regarded in later years as the greatest writer of Latin prose, so his essays were read by educated Europeans for many centuries.
Shortly after Cicero’s time, in a famous encounter, Jesus was asked whether his followers should pay taxes. “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s,” he replied. In so doing he divided the world into two realms, making it clear that not all of life is under the control of the state. This radical notion took hold in Western Christianity—though not in the Eastern Church, which was totally under the control of the state, leaving no space in society where alternative sources of power might develop.
The independence of the Western Church, which came to be known as Roman Catholic, meant that throughout Europe there were two powerful institutions contending for power. Neither State nor Church particularly liked the situation, but their divided power gave breathing space for individuals and civil society to develop. Popes and emperors frequently denounced each other’s character, contributing to a delegitimization of both. Again, this conflict between Church and State was virtually unique in the world, explaining why the principles of freedom were discovered first in the West.
In the 4th century the emperor Theodosius ordered the bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose, to hand over his cathedral to the empire. Ambrose rebuked the emperor, saying, “It is not lawful for us to deliver it up nor for your majesty to receive it. By no law can you violate the house of a private man. Do you think that the house of God may be taken away? It is asserted that all things are lawful to the emperor, that all things are his. But do not burden your conscience with the thought that you have any right as emperor over sacred things. Exalt not yourself, but if you would reign the longer be subject to God. It is written, God’s to God and Caesar’s to Caesar.” The emperor was forced to come to Ambrose’s church and beg forgiveness for his wrongdoing.
Centuries later a similar conflict took place in England. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas a Becket, defended the church’s rights against Henry II’s usurpations. Henry wished aloud that he could be rid of “this meddlesome priest,” whereupon four knights rode off to murder Becket. Within four years Becket had been made a saint, and Henry had been forced to walk barefoot through the snow to Becket’s church as penance for his crime and to back down from his demands on the church.
Because the struggle between Church and State prevented any absolute power from arising, there was space for autonomous institutions to develop. Because the Church lacked absolute power, dissident religious views were able to ferment. Markets and associations, oath-bound relationships, guilds, universities, and chartered cities all contributed to the development of pluralism and civil society.
Religious Toleration
Libertarianism is often seen as primarily a philosophy of economic freedom, but its real historical roots lie more in the struggle for religious toleration. Early Christians began to develop theories of toleration to counter their persecution by the Roman state. One of the earliest was Tertullian, a Carthaginian known as “the Father of Latin theology,” who wrote around A.D. 200,
It is a fundamental human right, a privilege of nature, that every man should worship according to his own convictions. One man’s religion neither harms nor helps another man. It is assuredly no part of religion to compel religion, to which free will and not force should lead us.
Already the case for freedom is being made in terms of fundamental, or natural, rights.
The growth of trade, of varying religious interpretations, and of civil society meant that there were more sources of influence within each community, and that pluralism led to demands for formal limitations on government. In one remarkable decade there were major steps toward limited, representative government in three widely dispersed parts of Europe. The most famous, at least in the United States, took place in England in 1215, when the barons confronted King John at Runnymede and forced him to sign Magna Carta, or the Great Charter. Magna Carta guaranteed every free man security from illegal interference in his person or property and justice to everyone. The king’s ability to raise revenue was limited, the church was guaranteed a degree of freedom, and liberties of the boroughs were confirmed.
Meanwhile, around 1220 the German town of Magdeburg developed a set of town laws that emphasized freedom and self-government. Magdeburg Law was so widely respected that it was adopted by hundreds of the newly forming towns all over central Europe, and legal cases in some central-eastern European towns were referred to Magdeburg judges. Finally, in 1222 the lesser nobles and gentry of Hungary—then very much a part of the European mainstream—forced King Andrew II to sign the Golden Bull, which exempted the gentry and the clergy from taxation, granted them freedom to dispose of their domains as they saw fit, guaranteed them against arbitrary imprisonment and confiscation, assured them an annual assembly to present grievances, and even gave them the Jus Resistendi, the right to resist the king if he attacked the liberties and privileges of the Golden Bull.
The principles found in these documents were far from libertarianism; they still excluded many people from their guarantees of liberties, and both Magna Carta and the Golden Bull explicitly discriminated against Jews. Still, they are milestones in a continuing advance toward liberty, limited government, and the expansion of the concept of personhood to include all persons. They demonstrated that people all over Europe were thinking about concepts of freedom, and they created classes of people jealous to defend their liberties.
Later in the 13th century St. Thomas Aquinas, perhaps the greatest Catholic theologian of all time, and other philosophers developed the theological argument for limits on royal power. Aquinas wrote,
A king who is unfaithful to his duty forfeits his claim to obedience. It is not rebellion to depose him, for he is himself a rebel whom the nation has a right to put down. But it is better to abridge his power, that he may be unable to abuse it.
Thus was theological authority put behind the idea that tyrants could be deposed. Both John of Salisbury, an English bishop who witnessed Becket’s murder in the 12th century, and Roger Bacon, a 13th-century scholar—whom Lord Acton describes as the most distinguished English writers of their respective epochs—defended even the right to kill tyrants, an argument unimaginable virtually anywhere else in the world.
The 16th-century scholar Francisco de Vitoria led the Spanish Scholastic thinkers, sometimes known as the school of Salamanca, whose explorations of theology, natural law, and economics built on the work of Aquinas and anticipated many of the themes later found in the works of Adam Smith and the Austrian School. From his post at the University of Salamanca, Vitoria condemned the Spanish enslavement of the Indians in the New World in terms of individualism and natural rights: “Every Indian is a man and thus capable of achieving salvation or damnation… . Inasmuch as he is a person, every Indian has free will and, consequently, is the master of his actions… . Every man has the right to his own life and to physical and mental integrity.” Vitoria and his colleagues also developed natural-law doctrine in such areas as private property, profits, interest, and taxation; their works influenced Hugo Grotius, Samuel Pufendorf, and through them Adam Smith and his Scottish associates.
The pre-history of libertarianism culminates in the period of the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation. The rediscovery of classical learning and the humanism that marked the Renaissance are usually regarded as the emergence of the modern world after the Middle Ages. With her usual bluntness, Ayn Rand summed up one view of the Renaissance, that of the rationalist, individualist, secular strain of liberalism: “The Middle Ages were an era of mysticism, ruled by blind faith and blind obedience to the dogma that faith is superior to reason. The Renaissance was specifically the rebirth of reason, the liberation of man’s mind, the triumph of rationality over mysticism—a faltering, incomplete, but impassioned triumph that led to the birth of science, of individualism, of freedom.” However, the historian Ralph Raico argues that the Renaissance can be overrated as a progenitor of liberalism; the medieval charters of rights provided a more secure footing for freedom than the Promethean individualism of the Renaissance. One great Renaissance contribution to the liberal attitude toward power, though, was the work of Machiavelli, the Italian statesman and political scientist, who told the truth about politics: that politics is about power, that politicians talk about justice as a gambit to maintain their power. This healthy cynicism about political power is a theme through much of Italian political thought, down to such late 19th-century scholars as Gaetano Mosca and Vilfredo Pareto.
The Reformation contributed more to the development of liberal ideas. The Protestant reformers, such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, were by no means liberals. But by breaking the monopoly of the Catholic church they inadvertently encouraged a proliferation of Protestant sects, some of which—such as the Quakers and Baptists—did nurture liberal thought. After the Wars of Religion people began to question the notion that a community had to have only one religion. It had been thought that without a single religious and moral authority a community would witness an endless proliferation of moral commitments and literally fall to pieces. That profoundly conservative idea has a long history. It goes back at least to Plato’s insistence on regulating even the music in an ideal society. It has been enunciated in our own time by the socialist writer Robert Heilbroner, who says that socialism requires “a deliberately embraced collective moral goal” to which “every dissenting voice raises a threat.” And it can also be heard in the fears of the residents of rural Catlett, Virginia, who told the Washington Post about their worries when a Buddhist temple was built in their small town: “We believe in one true God, and I guess we were afraid with a false religion like that, maybe it would have an influence on our children.” Fortunately, most people noticed after the Reformation that society did not fall apart in the presence of differing religious and moral views.
The Response to Absolutism
By the end of the 16th century the church, weakened by its own corruption and by the Reformation, needed the support of the state more than the state needed the church. The church’s weakness created an opening for the rise of royal absolutism, seen especially in the reigns of Louis XIV in France and the Stuart kings in England. Monarchs began to set up their own bureaucracies, impose new taxes, establish standing armies, and make increasing claims for their own power. Drawing on the work of Copernicus, who proved that the planets revolve around the sun, Louis XIV called himself the Sun King because he was the center of life in France and famously declared, “L’etat, c’est moi” (“I am the state”). He banned Protestantism and tried to make himself head of the Catholic Church in France. In his reign of almost 70 years, he never called a session of the representative assembly, the estates-general. His finance minister Colbert implemented a policy of mercantilism, under which the state would supervise, guide, plan, design, and monitor the economy, as necessary subsidizing, prohibiting, granting monopolies, nationalizing, setting wages and prices, and ensuring quality.
In England the Stuart kings also tried to institute absolute rule. They sought to ignore the common law and to raise taxes without the approval of England’s representative assembly, Parliament. But civil society and the authority of Parliament proved more durable in England than on the Continent, and the Stuarts’ absolutist campaign was stymied within 40 years of James I’s accession to the throne. The resistance to absolutism culminated in the beheading of James’s son Charles I in 1649.
Meanwhile, as absolutism took root in France and Spain, the Netherlands became a beacon of religious toleration, commercial freedom, and limited central government. After the Dutch gained their independence from Spain in the early 17th century, they created a loose confederation of cities and provinces. They became the century’s leading commercial power and a haven for refugees from oppression. Books and pamphlets by dissident Englishmen and Frenchmen were often published in the Dutch cities. One of those refugees, the philosopher Baruch Spinoza, whose Jewish parents had fled Catholic persecution in Portugal, described the happy interplay of religious toleration and prosperity in 17th-century Amsterdam:
The city of Amsterdam reaps the fruit of freedom in its own great prosperity and in the admiration of all other people. For in this most flourishing state, and most splendid city, men of every nation and religion live together in the greatest harmony, and ask no questions before trusting their goods to a fellow-citizen. A citizen’s religion and sect is considered of no importance: for it has no effect before the judges in gaining or losing a cause, and there is no sect so despised that its followers, provided that they harm no one, pay every man his due, and live uprightly, are deprived of the protection of the magisterial authority.
Holland’s example of social harmony and economic progress inspired proto-liberals in England and other countries.
The English Revolution
English opposition to royal absolutism created a great deal of intellectual ferment, and the first stirrings of clearly proto-liberal ideas can be seen in 17th-century England. Again, liberal ideas developed out of the defense of religious toleration. The great poet John Milton published Areopagitica in 1644, a powerful argument for freedom of religion and against official licensing of the press. Dealing with the relationship between freedom and virtue, an issue that vexes American politics to this day, Milton wrote, “Liberty is the best school of virtue.” Virtue, he said, is only virtuous if chosen freely. On freedom of speech, he wrote, “Who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?”
During the Interregnum, the time after the beheading of Charles I when England was between kings and under the rule of Oliver Cromwell, there was tremendous intellectual debate. A group known as the Levellers began enunciating the full set of ideas that would come to be known as liberalism. They placed the defense of religious liberty and the ancient rights of Englishmen in a context of self-ownership and natural rights. In a famous essay, “An Arrow against All Tyrants,” the Leveller leader Richard Overton argued that every individual has a “self-propriety”; that is, everyone owns himself and thus has rights to life, liberty, and property. “No man hath power over my rights and liberties, and I over no man’s.”
Despite the efforts of the Levellers and other radicals, the Stuart dynasty returned to the throne in 1660, in the person of Charles II. Charles promised to respect liberty of conscience and the rights of landowners, but he and his brother James II again tried to extend royal power. In the Glorious Revolution of 1688 Parliament offered the crown to William and Mary of Holland (both grandchildren of Charles I). William and Mary agreed to respect the “true, ancient, and indubitable rights” of Englishmen, as put down in the Bill of Rights in 1689.
We can date the birth of liberalism to the Glorious Revolution. John Locke is rightly seen as the first real liberal and as the father of modern political philosophy. If you don’t know the ideas of Locke, you really can’t understand the world we live in. Locke’s great work The Second Treatise of Government was published in 1690, but it had been written a few years earlier, to refute the absolutist philosopher Sir Robert Filmer, making its defense of individual rights and representative government that much more radical. Locke asked, what is the point of government? Why do we have it? He answered, people have rights prior to the existence of government—thus we call them natural rights, because they exist in nature. People form a government to protect their rights. They could do that without government, but a government is an efficient system for protecting rights. And if government exceeds that role, people are justified in revolting. Representative government is the best way to ensure that government sticks to its proper purpose. Echoing a philosophical tradition that had been entrenched in the West for centuries, he wrote, “A Government is not free to do as it pleases… . The law of nature stands as an eternal rule to all men, legislators as well as others.”
Locke also articulated clearly the idea of property rights:
Every Man has a Property in his own Person. This no Body has any Right to but himself. The Labour of his Body, and the Work of his Hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the State that Nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his Labour with, and joyned to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his Property.
People have an inalienable right to life and liberty, and they acquire a right to previously unowned property that they “mix their labor with,” such as by farming. It is the role of government to protect the “Lives, Liberties, and Estates” of the people.
These ideas were enthusiastically received. Europe was still in the grip of royal absolutism, but thanks to their experience with the Stuarts the English were suspicious of all forms of government. They warmly embraced this powerful philosophical defense of natural rights, the rule of law, and the right of revolution. They also, of course, began carrying the ideas of Locke and the Levellers on ships bound for the New World.
The Liberal 18th Century
England prospered under limited government. As Holland had inspired liberals a century earlier, the English model began to be cited by liberal thinkers on the Continent and eventually around the world. We might date the Enlightenment from 1720, when the French writer Voltaire fled from French tyranny and arrived in England. He saw religious toleration, representative government, and a prosperous middle class. He noticed that trade was more respected than it was in France, where aristocrats looked down their noses at those involved in commerce. He also saw that when you allow people to trade freely, their prejudices may take second place to self-interest, as in his famous description of the stock exchange:
Go into the London Stock Exchange—a more respectable place than many a court—and you will see representatives of all nations gathered there for the service of mankind. There the Jew, the Mohammedan, and the Christian deal with each other as if they were of the same religion, and give the name of infidel only to those who go bankrupt. There the Presbyterian trusts the Anabaptist, and the Anglican accepts the Quaker’s promise. On leaving these peaceful and free assemblies, some go to the synagogue, others go to drink … others go to their church to wait the inspiration of God, their hats on their heads, and all are content.
The 18th century was the great century of liberal thought. Locke’s ideas were developed by many writers, notably John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, who wrote a series of newspaper essays signed “Cato,” after Cato the Younger, the defender of the Roman Republic against Julius Caesar’s quest for power. These essays, which denounced the government for continuing to infringe upon the rights of Englishmen, came to be known as Cato’s Letters. (Names reminiscent of the Roman Republic were popular with 18th-century writers; compare the Federalist Papers, which were signed “Publius.”) In France the Physiocrats developed the modern science of economics. Their name came from the Greek physis, nature, and kratos, rule; they argued for the rule of nature, by which they meant that natural laws similar to those of physics governed society and the creation of wealth. The best way to increase the supply of real goods was to allow free commerce, unhindered by monopolies, guild restrictions, and high taxes. The absence of coercive constraints would produce harmony and abundance. It is from this period that the famous libertarian rallying cry laissez-faire comes. According to legend, Louis XV asked a group of merchants, How can I help you? They responded, “Laissez-nous faire, laissez-nous passer. Le monde va de lui-meme.” Let us do, let us alone; the world runs by itself.
The leading Physiocrats included Francois Quesnay and Pierre Dupont de Nemours, who fled the French Revolution and came to America, where his son founded a small business in Delaware. An associate of the Physiocrats, A. R. J. Turgot, was a great economist who was named finance minister by Louis XVI, an “enlightened despot” who wanted to ease the burden of government on the French people—and perhaps create more wealth to be taxed, since the Physiocrats had pointed out that “poor peasants, poor kingdom; poor kingdom, poor king.” Turgot issued the Six Edicts to abolish the guilds (which had become calcified monopolies), abolish internal taxes and forced labor (the corvee), and establish toleration for Protestants. He ran into stiff resistance from the vested interests, and he was dismissed in 1776. With him, says Raico, “went the last hope for the French monarchy,” which indeed fell to revolution 13 years later.
The French Enlightenment is better known to history, but there was an important Scottish Enlightenment as well. Scots had long resented English domination, they had suffered greatly under British mercantilism, and they had within the past century achieved a higher literacy rate and better schools than in England. They were well suited to develop liberal ideas (and to dominate English intellectual life for a century). Adam Ferguson, author of An Essay on the History of Civil Society, who coined the phrase “the result of human action but not of human design,” which would inspire future scholars of spontaneous order; Francis Hutcheson, who anticipated the utilitarians with his notion of “the greatest good for the greatest number”; and Dugald Stewart, whose Philosophy of the Human Mind was widely read in early American universities, were among the best-known scholars of the Scottish Enlightenment. But the most prominent were David Hume and his friend Adam Smith.
Hume was a philosopher, an economist, and a historian, in the days before the university aristocracy decreed that knowledge must be divided into discrete categories. He is best known to modern students for his philosophical skepticism, but he also helped to develop our modern understanding of the productiveness and benevolence of the free market. He defended property and contract, free-market banking, and the spontaneous order of a free society. Arguing against the balance-of-trade doctrine of the mercantilists, he pointed out that everyone benefits from the prosperity of others, even the prosperity of people in other countries.
Along with John Locke, Adam Smith is the other father of liberalism, or what we now call libertarianism. And since we live in a liberal world, Locke and Smith may be seen as the architects of the modern world. In his best-known book, The Wealth of Nations, Smith laid the groundwork for the modern science of economics. He said that he was describing “the simple system of natural liberty.” In the modern vernacular, we might say that capitalism is what happens when you leave people alone. Smith showed how, when people produce and trade in their own self-interest, they are led “by an invisible hand” to benefit others. To get a job, or to sell something for money, each person must figure out what others would like to have. Benevolence is important, but “it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” Thus the free market allows more people to satisfy more of their desires, and ultimately to enjoy a higher standard of living, than any other social system.
Over the years many critics have said that Adam Smith, or economists generally, or libertarians, believe that all behavior is motivated by self-interest. But almost two decades before The Wealth of Nations, in The Theory of Moral Sentiments Smith distinguished between two kinds of behavior, self-interest and beneficence. He made clear that people sometimes act out of benevolence, and society should encourage such sentiments. But, he said, if necessary society could exist without beneficence extending beyond the family; people would still get fed, the economy would still function, knowledge would progress; but society cannot exist without justice, which means the protection of the rights of life, liberty, and property. Justice, therefore, must be the first concern of the state.
Smith’s most important contribution to libertarian theory was to develop the idea of spontaneous order. We frequently hear that there is a conflict between freedom and order, and such a perspective seems logical. But, more completely than the Physiocrats and other earlier thinkers, Smith stressed that order in human affairs arises spontaneously. Let people interact freely with each other, protect their rights to liberty and property, and order will emerge without central direction. The market economy is one form of spontaneous order; hundreds or thousands—or today billions—of people enter the marketplace or the business world every day wondering how they can produce more goods or get a better job or make more money for themselves and their families. They are not guided by any central authority, nor by the biological instinct that drives bees to make honey, yet they produce wealth for themselves and others by producing and trading.
But the market economy is not the only form of spontaneous order. Consider language. No one sat down to write the English language and then teach it to early Englishmen. It arose and changed naturally, spontaneously, in response to human needs. Consider also law. Today we think of laws as something passed by Congress, but the common law grew up long before any king or legislature sought to write it down. When two people had a dispute, they asked another to serve as a judge. Sometimes juries were assembled to hear a case. Judges and juries were not supposed to “make” the law; rather, they sought to “find” the law, to ask what the customary practice was or what had been decided in similar cases. Thus in case after case the legal order developed. Money is another product of spontaneous order; it arose naturally when people needed something to facilitate trade. Hayek wrote that “if [law] had been deliberately designed, it would deserve to rank among the greatest of human inventions. But it has, of course, been as little invented by any one mind as language or money or most of the practices and conventions on which social life rests.” Law, language, money, markets—the most important institutions in human society arose spontaneously.
With Smith’s systematic elaboration of the principle of spontaneous order, the basic principles of liberalism were essentially complete. We might define those basic principles as the idea of a higher law or natural law, the dignity of the individual, natural rights to liberty and property, and the social theory of spontaneous order. Many more specific ideas flow from these fundamentals: individual freedom, limited and representative government, free markets. It had taken a long time to define them; it was still necessary to fight for them.
Making a Liberal World
Like the English Revolution, the period leading up to the American Revolution was one of great ideological debate. Even more than the 17th-century English world, the 18th-century American climate of opinion was dominated by liberal ideas. Indeed, we might say that there were virtually no non-liberal ideas circulating in America; there were only conservative liberals, who urged that Americans continue to peacefully petition for their rights as Englishmen, and radical liberals, who eventually rejected even a constitutional monarchy and called for independence. The most galvanizing of the radical liberals was Thomas Paine. Paine was what we might call an outside agitator, a traveling missionary of liberty. Born in England, he went to America to help make a revolution, and when his task was done, he crossed the Atlantic again to help the French with their revolution.
Society vs. Government
Paine’s great contribution to the revolutionary cause was his pamphlet Common Sense, which is said to have sold some 100,000 copies within a few months, in a country of three million people. Everyone read it; those who could not read heard it read in taverns and participated in debating its ideas. Common Sense was not just a call for independence. It offered a radically libertarian theory to justify natural rights and independence. Paine began by making a distinction between society and government: “Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness… . Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.” He went on to denounce the origins of monarchy: “Could we take off the dark covering of antiquity … we should find the first [king] nothing better than the principal ruffian of some restless gang, whose savage manners or pre-eminence in subtlety obtained him the title of chief among plunderers.”
In Common Sense and in his later writings Paine developed the idea that civil society exists prior to government and that people can peacefully interact to create spontaneous order. His belief in spontaneous order was strengthened when he saw society continue to function after the colonial governments were kicked out of American cities and colonies. In his writings he neatly fused the normative theory of individual rights with the positive analysis of spontaneous order.
Neither Common Sense nor Adam Smith’s publication of the The Wealth of Nations was, of course, the only milestone in the struggle for liberty that happened in 1776. Neither may even have been the most important thing in that banner year. For in 1776 the American colonies issued their Declaration of Independence probably the finest piece of libertarian writing in history. Thomas Jefferson’s eloquent words proclaimed to all the world the liberal vision:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.
The influence of the Levellers and John Locke is obvious. Jefferson succinctly made three points: That people have natural rights, that the purpose of government is to protect those rights, and that if government exceeds its proper purpose, people have the right “to alter or abolish it.” For his eloquence in stating the liberal case, and for his lifelong role in the liberal revolution that changed the world, the columnist George F. Will named Jefferson “the man of the millennium.” But it should be noted that in writing the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson did not break much new ground. John Adams, perhaps resentful of the attention Jefferson got, said years later that “there is not an idea in [the Declaration] but what had been hackneyed in Congress for two years before.” Jefferson himself said that while he “turned to neither book nor pamphlet in writing it,” his goal was “not to find out new principles, or new arguments,” but merely to produce “an expression of the American mind.” The ideas in the Declaration were, he said, the “sentiments of the day, whether expressed in conversation, in letters, printed essays, or the elementary books of public right.” The triumph of liberal ideas in the United States was overwhelming.
Limiting Government
After their military victory, the independent Americans set about putting into practice the ideas that English liberals had been developing throughout the 18th century. The distinguished Harvard University historian Bernard Bailyn says that
the major themes of eighteenth-century radical libertarianism [were] brought to realization here. The first is the belief that power is evil, a necessity perhaps but an evil necessity; that it is infinitely corrupting; and that it must be controlled, limited, restricted in every way compatible with a minimum of civil order. Written constitutions; the separation of powers; bills of rights; limitations on executives, on legislatures, and courts; restrictions on the right to coerce and wage war—all express the profound distrust of power that lies at the ideological heart of the American Revolution and that has remained with us as a permanent legacy ever after.
The Constitution of the United States built on the ideas of the Declaration to establish a government suitable for free people. It was based on the principle that individuals have natural rights that precede the establishment of government and that all the power a government has is delegated to it by individuals for the protection of their rights. Based on that understanding, the Framers did not set up a monarchy, nor did they create an unlimited democracy, a government of plenary powers limited only by popular vote. Instead, they carefully enumerated (in Article I, Section 8) the powers that the federal government would have. The Constitution, whose greatest theorist and architect was Jefferson’s friend and neighbor James Madison, was truly revolutionary in its establishment of a government of delegated, enumerated, and thus limited powers.
When a Bill of Rights was first proposed, many of the Framers responded that one was not needed because the enumerated powers were so limited that government would be unable to infringe on individual rights. Eventually, it was decided to add a Bill of Rights, in Madison’s words, “for greater caution.” After enumerating specific rights in the first eight amendments, the first Congress added two more that summarize the whole structure of the federal government as it was created: The Ninth Amendment provides that “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” The Tenth Amendment says, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people.” Again, the fundamental tenets of liberalism: People have rights before they create government, and they retain all the rights they haven’t expressly delegated to government; and the national government has no powers not specifically granted in the Constitution.
In both the United States and Europe the century after the American Revolution was marked by the spread of liberalism. Written constitutions and bills of rights protected liberty and guaranteed the rule of law. Guilds and monopolies were largely eliminated, with all trades thrown open to competition on the basis of merit. Freedom of the press and of religion was greatly expanded, property rights were made more secure, international trade was freed.
Individualism, natural rights, and free markets led logically to agitation for the extension of civil and political rights to those who had been excluded from liberty, as they were from power—notably slaves, serfs, and women. The world’s first anti-slavery society was founded in Philadelphia in 1775, and slavery and serfdom were abolished throughout the Western world within a century. During the debate in the British parliament over the idea of compensating slaveholders for the loss of their “property,” the libertarian Benjamin Pearson replied “he had thought it was the slaves who should have been compensated.” Tom Paine’s Pennsylvania Journal published a stirring early defense of women’s rights in 1775. Mary Wollstonecraft, a friend of Paine and other liberals, published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in England in 1792. The first feminist convention in the United States took place in 1848, as women began to demand the natural rights that white men had claimed in 1776 and that were being demanded for black men. In the phrase of the English historian Henry Sumner Maine, the world was moving from a society of status to a society of contract.
Liberals also took on the age-old scourge of war. In England, Richard Cobden and John Bright tirelessly argued that free trade would bind people of different nations together peacefully, reducing the likelihood of war. The new limits on governments, and greater public skepticism toward rulers, made it more difficult for political leaders to meddle abroad and to go to war. After the turmoil of the French Revolution and the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815, and with the exception of the Crimean War and the wars of national unification, most of the people of Europe enjoyed a century of relative peace and progress.
The Results of Liberalism
This liberation of human creativity created astounding scientific and material progress. The Nation magazine, which was then a truly liberal journal, looking back in 1900, wrote, “Freed from the vexatious meddling of governments, men devoted themselves to their natural task, the bettering of their condition, with the wonderful results which surround us.” The technological advances of the liberal 19th century are innumerable: the steam engine, the railroad, the telegraph, the telephone, electricity, the internal combustion engine. Thanks to the accumulation of capital and “the miracle of compound interest,” in Europe and America the great masses of people began to be liberated from the back-breaking toil that had been the natural condition of mankind since time immemorial. Infant mortality fell, and life expectancy began to rise to unprecedented levels. A person looking back from 1800 would see a world that for most people had changed little in thousands of years; by 1900, the world was unrecognizable.
Liberal thought had continued to develop throughout the 19th century. Jeremy Bentham propounded the theory of utilitarianism, the idea that government should promote “the greatest happiness for the greatest number.” Although his philosophical premises were different from those of natural rights, he came to most of the same conclusions about limited government and free markets. Alexis de Tocqueville came to America to see how a free society worked and published his brilliant observations as Democracy in America between 1834 and 1840. John Stuart Mill published On Liberty, a powerful case for individual freedom, in 1859. In 1851 Herbert Spencer, a towering scholar whose work is unjustly neglected and often misrepresented today, published Social Statics, in which he set forth his “law of equal freedom,” an early and explicit statement of the modern libertarian credo. Spencer’s principle was “that every man may claim the fullest liberty to exercise his faculties compatible with the possession of like liberty by every other man.” Spencer pointed out that “the law of equal freedom manifestly applies to the whole race—female as well as male.” He also extended the classical liberal critique of war to distinguish between two kinds of societies: industrial society, where people produce and trade peacefully and in voluntary association, and militant society, in which war prevails and the government controls the lives of its subjects as means to its own ends.
In its Golden Age, Germany produced great writers, such as Goethe and Schiller, who were liberals, and it contributed to liberal philosophy in the thought of philosophers and scholars such as Immanuel Kant and Wilhelm von Humboldt. Kant’s work emphasized individual autonomy and attempted to ground individual rights and liberties in the requirements of reason itself. He called for a “legal constitution which guarantees everyone his freedom within the law, so that each remains free to seek his happiness in whatever way he thinks best, so long as he does not violate the lawful freedom and rights of his fellow subjects.” In von Humboldt’s classic work The Sphere and Duties of Government, which heavily influenced Mill’s On Liberty, he argued that the full flourishing of the individual requires not only freedom but “a manifoldness of situations,” by which he meant that people should have available to them a wide variety of circumstances and living arrangements—the modern term might be “alternative lifestyles”—which they can continually test and choose. In France, Benjamin Constant was the best-known liberal on the Continent in the early part of the century. “He loved liberty as other men love power,” a contemporary said. Like von Humboldt, he saw liberty as a system in which people could best discover and develop their own personalities and interests. In an important essay, he contrasted the meaning of liberty in the ancient republics—equal participation in public life—with modern liberty—the individual freedoms to speak, write, own property, trade, and pursue one’s private interests. An associate of Constant was Madame de Stael, a novelist, perhaps best known for the saying, “Liberty is ancient; it is despotism that is new,” referring to the attempt of the royal absolutists to take away the hard-won chartered liberties of the Middle Ages.
Another French liberal, Frederic Bastiat, served in parliament as an avid free-trader and wrote a multitude of witty and hard-hitting essays attacking the state and all its actions. His last essay, “What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen,” offered the important insight that whatever a government does—build a bridge, subsidize the arts, pay out pensions—has simple and obvious effects. Money is circulated, jobs are created, and people think that the government has generated economic growth. The task of the economist is to see what is not so easily seen—the houses not built, the clothes not bought, the jobs not created because money was taxed away from those who would have spent it on their own behalf. In “The Law,” he attacked the concept of “legal plunder,” by which people use government to appropriate what others have produced. And in “The Petition of the Candlemakers against the Competition of the Sun,” he mocked French industrialists who wanted to be protected from competition by pretending to speak on behalf of the candlemakers who wanted parliament to block out the sun, which was causing people not to need candles during daytime—an early refutation of “anti-dumping” laws.
In the United States the abolitionist movement was naturally led by libertarians. Leading abolitionists called slavery “man-stealing,” in that it sought to deny self-ownership and steal a man’s very self. Their arguments paralleled those of the Levellers and John Locke. William Lloyd Garrison wrote that his goal was not just the abolition of slavery but “the emancipation of our whole race from the dominion of man, from the thraldom of self, from the government of brute force.” Another abolitionist, Lysander Spooner, proceeded from the natural-rights argument against slavery to the conclusion that no one could be held to have given up any of his natural rights under any contract, including the Constitution, that he had not personally signed. Frederick Douglass likewise made his arguments for abolition in the terms of classical liberalism—self-ownership and natural rights.
The Decline of Liberalism
Toward the end of the 19th century classical liberalism began to give way to new forms of collectivism and State power. If liberalism had been so successful—liberating the great mass of humanity from the crushing burden of statism and unleashing an unprecedented improvement in living standards—what happened? That question has vexed liberals and libertarians throughout the 20th century.
One problem was that the liberals got lazy; they forgot Jefferson’s admonition that “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty” and figured that the obvious social harmony and abundance brought about by liberalism would mean that no one would want to revive the Old Order. Some liberal intellectuals gave the impression that liberalism was a closed system, with no more interesting work to be done. Socialism, especially the Marxist variety, came along, with a whole new theory to develop, and attracted younger intellectuals.
It may also be that people forgot how hard it had been to create a society of abundance. Americans and Britons born in the latter part of the 19th century entered a world of rapidly improving wealth, technology, and living standards; it was not so obvious to them that the world had not always been like that. And even those who understood that the world was different may have assumed that the age-old problem of poverty had been solved. It was no longer important to maintain the social institutions that had solved it.
A related problem was the separation of the issue of production from that of distribution. In a world of abundance, people began to take production for granted and discuss “the problem of distribution.” The great philosopher Friedrich Hayek once told me in an interview, I am personally convinced that the reason which led the intellectuals, particularly of the English-speaking world, to socialism was a man who is regarded as a great hero of classical liberalism, John Stuart Mill. In his famous textbook, Principles of Political Economy, which came out in 1848 and for some decades was a widely read text on the subject, he makes the following statement as he passes from the theory of production to the theory of distribution: “The things once there, mankind, individually or collectively, can do with them as they like.” Now, if that were true, there would be a clear moral obligation to see that it is justly distributed. But it isn’t true, because if we did do with that product whatever we pleased, it would never be there again. Because if you did it once, people would never produce those things again.
Besides, for the first time in history people began to question the existence of poverty. Before the Industrial Revolution, everyone was poor; there was no problem to study. Only when most people became rich—by the standards of history—did people begin to wonder why some were still poor. Thus Charles Dickens bemoaned the already waning practice of child labor that kept alive many children who in earlier eras would have died, as most children had from time immemorial; and Karl Marx offered a vision of a world of perfect freedom and plenty. Meanwhile, the success of science and business gave rise to the notion that engineers and corporate executives could design and run a whole society as well as a large corporation.
Bentham and Mill’s utilitarian emphasis on “the greatest good for the greatest number” caused some scholars to begin questioning the need for limited government and protection of individual rights. If the point of it all was to generate prosperity and happiness, why take the roundabout way of protecting rights? Why not just aim directly at economic growth and widespread prosperity? Again, people forgot the concept of spontaneous order, assumed away the problem of production, and developed schemes to guide the economy in a politically chosen direction.
Of course, we must not neglect the age-old human desire for power over others. Some forgot the roots of economic progress, some mourned the disruption of family and community that freedom and affluence brought, others genuinely believed that Marxism could make everyone prosperous and free without the necessity of work in dark Satanic mills. But many others used those ideas as a means to power. If the divine right of kings would no longer persuade people to hand over their liberty and property, then the power-seekers would use nationalism, or egalitarianism, or racial prejudice, or class warfare, or the vague promise that the State would alleviate whatever ailed you.
By the turn of the century the remaining liberals despaired of the future. The Nation editorialized that “material comfort has blinded the eyes of the present generation to the cause which made it possible” and worried that “before [statism] is again repudiated there must be international struggles on a terrific scale.” Herbert Spencer published The Coming Slavery and mourned at his death in 1903 that the world was returning to war and barbarism.
Indeed, as the liberals feared, the century of European peace that began in 1815 came crashing down in 1914, with what rightly came to be called the First World War. The replacement of liberalism by statism and nationalism was in large part to blame, and the war itself may have delivered the death blow to liberalism. In the United States and Europe governments enlarged their scope and power in response to the war. Exorbitant taxation, conscription, censorship, nationalization, and central planning—not to mention the 10 million deaths at Flanders fields and Verdun and elsewhere—signaled that the era of liberalism, which had so recently supplanted the Old Order, was now itself supplanted by the era of the megastate.
The Rise of the Modern Libertarian Movement
Through the Progressive Era, World War I, the New Deal, and World War II, there was tremendous enthusiasm for bigger government among American intellectuals. Herbert Croly, the first editor of The New Republic, wrote The Promise of American Life, in which he said that promise would be fulfilled “not by … economic freedom, but by a certain measure of discipline; not by the abundant satisfaction of individual desires, but by a large measure of individual subordination and self-denial.” Even the awful collectivism beginning to emerge in Europe was not repugnant to many “progressive” journalists and intellectuals in America. Anne O’Hare McCormick reported in the New York Times in the first months of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal,
“The atmosphere [in Washington] is strangely reminiscent of Rome in the first weeks after the march of the Blackshirts, of Moscow at the beginning of the Five-Year Plan… .
Something far more positive than acquiescence vests the President with the authority of a dictator. This authority is a free gift, a sort of unanimous power of attorney… . America today literally asks for orders… . Not only does the present occupant of the White House possess more authority than any of his predecessors, but he presides over a government that has more control over more private activities than any other that has ever existed in the United States… . [The Roosevelt administration] envisages a federation of industry, labor and government after the fashion of the corporative State as it exists in Italy.
Though a few liberals—notably the journalist H. L. Mencken —remained outspoken, there was indeed a general intellectual and popular acquiescence in the trend toward big government. The government’s apparent success in ending the Depression and winning World War II gave impetus to the notion that government could solve all sorts of problems. Not until 25 years or so after the end of the war did popular sentiment start to turn sharply against the megastate.
The Austrian Economists
Meanwhile, though, even in the darkest hour of libertarianism, great thinkers continued to emerge and to refine liberal ideas. One of the greatest was Ludwig von Mises, an Austrian economist who fled the Nazis, first to Switzerland in 1934 and then to the United States in 1940. Mises’s devastating book Socialism showed that socialism could not possibly work because without private property and a price system there is no way to determine what should be produced and how. His student Friedrich Hayek related the influence that Socialism had on some of the most promising young intellectuals of the time:
When Socialism first appeared in 1922, its impact was profound. It gradually but fundamentally altered the outlook of many of the young idealists returning to their university studies after World War I. I know, for I was one of them… . Socialism promised to fulfill our hopes for a more rational, more just world. And then came this book. Our hopes were dashed.
Another young intellectual whose faith in socialism was dashed by Mises was Wilhelm Roepke, who went on to be the chief adviser to Ludwig Erhard, the German economics minister after World War II and chief architect of the “German economic miracle” of the 1950s and 1960s. Others took longer to learn. The American economist and bestselling author Robert Heilbroner, wrote that in the 1930s, when he was studying economics, Mises’s argument about the impossibility of planning “did not seem a particularly cogent reason to reject socialism.” Fifty years later, Heilbroner wrote in the New Yorker, “It turns out, of course, that Mises was right.” Better late than never.
Mises’s magnum opus was Human Action, a comprehensive treatise on economics. In it he developed a complete science of economics, which he considered to be the study of all purposeful human action. He was an uncompromising free-marketer, who forcefully pointed out how every government intervention in the marketplace tends to reduce wealth and the overall standard of living.
Mises’s student Hayek became not only a brilliant economist—he won the Nobel Prize in 1974—but perhaps the greatest social thinker of the century. His books The Sensory Order, The Counter-Revolution of Science, The Constitution of Liberty, and Law, Legislation, and Liberty explored topics ranging from psychology and the misapplication of the methods of the physical sciences in the social sciences to law and political theory. In his most famous work, The Road to Serfdom, published in 1944, he warned the very countries that were then engaged in a war against totalitarianism that economic planning would lead not to equality but to a new system of class and status, not to prosperity but to poverty, not to liberty but to serfdom. The book was bitterly attacked by socialist and left-leaning intellectuals in England and the United States, but it sold very well—perhaps one of the reasons that the writers of academic books resented it—and inspired a new generation of young people to explore libertarian ideas. Hayek’s last book, The Fatal Conceit, published in 1988 when he was approaching 90, returned to the problem that had occupied most of his scholarly interest: the spontaneous order, that order which is “of human action but not of human design.” The fatal conceit of intellectuals, he said, is to think that smart people can design an economy or a society better than the apparently chaotic interactions of millions of people. Such intellectuals fail to realize how much they don’t know or how a market makes use of all the localized knowledge each of us possesses.
The Last Classical Liberals
Meanwhile, along with the development of the “Austrian School” of economics, a group of writers and political thinkers was also keeping libertarian ideas alive. H. L. Mencken was best known as a journalist and literary critic, but he thought deeply about politics; he said his ideal was “a government that barely escapes being no government at all.” [Albert Jay Nock], the author of Our Enemy, the State, Garet Garrett, John T. Flynn, Felix Morley, and Frank Chodorov worried about the future of limited, constitutional government in the face of the New Deal and what seemed to be a permanent war footing that the United States had entered during the 20th century. Henry Hazlitt, a journalist who wrote about economics, served as a link between these schools. He worked for the Nation and the New York Times, wrote a column for Newsweek, gave Mises’s Human Action a rave review, and popularized free-market economics in a little book called Economics in One Lesson, which drew out the implications of Bastiat’s “what is seen and what is not seen.” Mencken said, “He was one of the few economists in human history who could really write.”
In the dark year of 1943, in the depths of World War II and the Holocaust, when the most powerful government in the history of the United States was allied with one totalitarian power to defeat another, three remarkable women published books that could be said to have given birth to the modern libertarian movement. Rose Wilder Lane, the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, who had written Little House on the Prairie and other stories of American rugged individualism, published a passionate historical essay called The Discovery of Freedom. Isabel Paterson, a novelist and literary critic, produced The God of the Machine, which defended individualism as the source of progress in the world.
The other great book of 1943 was The Fountainhead, a sprawling novel about architecture and integrity by Ayn Rand. The book’s individualist theme did not fit the spirit of the age, and reviewers savaged it. But it found its intended readers. Its sales started slowly, then built and built. It was still on the New York Times bestseller list two full years later. Hundreds of thousands of people read it in the 1940s, millions eventually, and some thousands of them were inspired enough to seek more information about Ayn Rand’s ideas. Rand went on to write an even more successful novel, Atlas Shrugged, in 1957, and to found an association of people who shared her philosophy, which she called Objectivism. Although her political philosophy was libertarian, not all libertarians shared her views on metaphysics, ethics, and religion. Others were put off by the starkness of her presentation and by her cult following.
Like Mises and Hayek, Rand demonstrates the importance of immigration not just to America but to American libertarianism. Mises had fled the Nazis, Rand fled the Communists who came to power in her native Russia. When a heckler asked her at a public speech, “Why should we care what a foreigner thinks?”, she replied with her usual fire, “I chose to be an American. What did you ever do, except for having been born?”
The Post-War Revival
Not long after Atlas Shrugged, the University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman published Capitalism and Freedom, in which he argued that political freedom could not exist without private property and economic freedom. Friedman’s stature as an economist, which won him a Nobel Prize in 1976, was based on his work in monetary economics. But through Capitalism and Freedom, his long-running Newsweek column, and the 1980 book and television series Free to Choose, he became the most prominent American libertarian of the past generation.
Another economist, Murray Rothbard, achieved less fame but played an important role in building both a theoretical structure for modern libertarian thought and a political movement devoted to those ideas. Rothbard wrote a major economic treatise, Man, Economy, and State; a four-volume history of the American Revolution, Conceived in Liberty; a concise guide to the theory of natural rights and its implications, The Ethics of Liberty; a popular libertarian manifesto, For a New Liberty; and countless pamphlets and articles in magazines and newsletters. Libertarians compared him to both Marx, the builder of an integrated political-economic theory, and Lenin, the indefatigable organizer of a radical movement.
Libertarianism got a major boost in scholarly respect in 1974 with the publication of Anarchy, State, and Utopia by the Harvard University philosopher Robert Nozick. With wit and fine-toothed logic, Nozick laid out a case for rights that concluded that
a minimal state, limited to the narrow functions of protection against force, theft, [and] fraud, enforcement of contracts, and so on, is justified; that any more extensive state will violate persons’ rights not to be forced to do certain things, and is unjustified; and that the minimal state is inspiring as well as right.
In a catchier vein, he called for the legalization of “capitalist acts between consenting adults.” Nozick’s book—along with Rothbard’s For a New Liberty and Rand’s essays on political philosophy—defined the “hard-core” version of modern libertarianism, which essentially restated Spencer’s law of equal freedom: Individuals have the right to do whatever they want to, so long as they respect the equal rights of others. The role of government is to protect individual rights from foreign aggressors and from neighbors who murder, rape, rob, assault, or defraud us. And if government seeks to do more than that, it will itself be depriving us of our rights and liberties.
Libertarianism Today
Libertarianism is sometimes accused of being rigid and dogmatic, but it is in fact merely a basic framework for societies in which free individuals can live together in peace and harmony, each undertaking what Jefferson called “their own pursuits of industry and improvement.” The society created by a libertarian framework is the most dynamic and innovative ever seen on earth, as witness the unprecedented advances in science, technology, and standard of living since the liberal revolution of the late 18th century. A libertarian society is marked by widespread charity undertaken as a result of personal benevolence, not left to state coercion.
Libertarianism is also a creative and dynamic framework for intellectual activity. Today it is statist ideas that seem old and tired, while there is an explosion of libertarian scholarship in such fields as economics, law, history, philosophy, psychology, feminism, economic development, civil rights, education, the environment, social theory, bioethics, civil liberties, foreign policy, technology, the Information Age, and more. Libertarianism has developed a framework for scholarship and problem-solving, but our understanding of the dynamics of free and unfree societies will continue to develop.
Today the intellectual development of libertarian ideas continues, but the broader impact of those ideas derives from the growing network of libertarian magazines and think-tanks, the revival of traditional American hostility to centralized government, and most important, the continuing failure of big government to deliver on its promises.
Excerpted from LIBERTARIANISM: A PRIMER by David Boaz. Copyright © 1997 by David Boaz. Reprinted by permission of Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
David Boaz
David Boaz is the executive vice president of the Cato Institute and has played a key role in both the Institute’s development and the growth of the American libertarian movement at large. Prior to joining Cato in 1981, he served as editor of New Guard magazine and executive director of the Council for a Competitive Economy.
In 1993, Boaz co-edited Market Liberalism: A Paradigm for the 21st Century with Edward H. Crane, president of the Cato Institute. His own work, Libertarianism: A Primer was published in 1997. That same year, The Libertarian Reader, which Boaz edited, was published. Boaz co-edited the 2003 Cato Handbook for Congress and the 2005 Cato Handbook on Policy. His book, The Politics of Freedom: Taking on The Left, The Right and Threats to Our Liberties, came out in 2008.
Boaz often appears in the media to discuss such issues as education choice, the growth of government, the ownership society, drug legalization, and the rise of libertarianism.
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Document › Details
Arcus Biosciences, Inc.. (6/24/19). "Press Release: Arcus Biosciences Appoints Global Immuno-Oncology Commercial Leader, Eric Hoefer as Chief Commercial Officer". Hayward, CA.
Organisation Arcus Biosciences Inc. (NYSE: RCUS)
Organisation 2 AstraZeneca (Group)
Product cancer immunotherapy (immuno-oncology, I-O)
Person Hoefer, Eric (Arcus Biosciences 201906– CCO before AstraZeneca + Roche/Genentech + Glaxo Wellcome)
Person 2 Rosen, Terry (Arcus Biosciences 201609 CEO)
Arcus Biosciences, Inc. (NYSE:RCUS), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on creating innovative cancer therapies, today announced that Eric Hoefer has joined the Company as Chief Commercial Officer. Mr. Hoefer will oversee all aspects of the Company’s global commercial strategy and operations as the Company works to ensure that it most efficiently leverages the clinical and market development opportunities for its therapeutic candidates.
“Eric has extensive knowledge of the global clinical and commercial oncology treatment landscape. He will bring significant content expertise and leadership as Arcus advances its product candidates through clinical studies to potentially expand access broadly to all patients who may benefit from these therapies,” said Terry Rosen, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Arcus. “His insights into identifying underserved patient populations and settings, market development opportunities and potential approaches to accelerate development programs will be invaluable as the company evolves towards later-stage clinical studies.”
“I am honored to join this highly regarded team of experts in both oncology and immunology,” commented Mr. Hoefer. “I look forward to building the capabilities to potentially accelerate how we’ll bring new options to patients with significant unmet medical needs.”
During the span of Mr. Hoefer’s 20-year career in biopharma, he has been instrumental to the development and commercialization of 15 new medicines, including Avastin®, Tarceva®, Tecentriq®, and Imfinzi®. His diverse experience spans global product strategy, global marketing, product development, and U.S. marketing and sales leadership. Mr. Hoefer was most recently at AstraZeneca, where he led Immuno-Oncology (IO) Global Marketing and launched Imfinzi as the first immuno-oncology medicine approved in the curative-intent lung cancer setting. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Mr. Hoefer launched seven new medicines during an approximately 14-year tenure with Roche/Genentech. From 2015-2017, Mr. Hoefer co-led the creation of Roche’s Phase 1b/2 IO platform (MORPHEUS) to adaptively assess and accelerate novel combination approvals across seven tumor types. Also, during his tenure, Mr. Hoefer led the commercial development for late-stage GI oncology assets. Mr. Hoefer began his biopharma career in primary care and specialty care sales for GlaxoWellcome. In 2002, as a Congressional Health Policy Analyst for the Chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, he was involved in developing the Medicare Modernization Act, including Part B reform and the Part D prescription drug benefit.
Mr. Hoefer received Master’s degrees in Business Administration and Public Policy from Duke University. In addition, Mr. Hoefer holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Molecular Biology and Economics from Duke University.
About Arcus Biosciences
Arcus Biosciences is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on creating innovative cancer therapies. Arcus has several programs targeting important oncology/immuno-oncology pathways, including a dual adenosine receptor antagonist, AB928, which is in a Phase 1/1b program to evaluate AB928 in combination with other agents in multiple tumor types, and an anti-PD-1 antibody, AB122, which is being evaluated in a Phase 1 trial and is being tested in combination with Arcus’s other product candidates. Arcus’s other programs include AB154, an anti-TIGIT antibody, which is being evaluated in a Phase 1 trial as monotherapy and in combination with AB122, and AB680, a small-molecule inhibitor of CD73, which is in a Phase 1 healthy volunteer study. Arcus has extensive in-house expertise in medicinal chemistry, oncology, immunology, biochemistry, pharmacology and structural biology. Utilizing these unique capabilities, Arcus has developed a robust and active early-stage discovery effort focused on small-molecule pipeline expansion. For more information about Arcus Biosciences, please visit www.arcusbio.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained herein, including, but not limited to, the potential of our product candidates, clinical and market development opportunities, and potential to accelerate our development programs, are forward-looking statements reflecting the current beliefs and expectations of management made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause Arcus’s actual results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from those expressed or implied. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the inherent uncertainty associated with pharmaceutical product development and clinical trials, the emergence of adverse events or other undesirable side effects, delays in our clinical trials due to difficulties or delays in the regulatory process, enrolling subjects or manufacturing or supplying product for such clinical trials, disagreements with regulatory authorities regarding our clinical development plans and changes in the competitive landscape for our programs. Risks and uncertainties facing Arcus are described more fully in Arcus’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Arcus disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update, supplement or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
The Arcus name and logo are trademarks of Arcus. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.
Katherine Bock
kbock@arcusbio.com
Nicole Arndt
narndt@arcusbio.com
More documents for Arcus Biosciences Inc. (NYSE: RCUS)
[1] Taiho Ventures, LLC. (9/1/16). "Press Release: Taiho Ventures Invests in Arcus Biosciences, Inc. as Part of $70 Million Series B Investment Round". San José, CA....
[2] Lawrence, Stacy [Fierce Biotech]. (8/29/16). "News: Exclusive – Stealthy Arcus Emerges with $120M to Make Personalized I/O Therapy a Reality"....
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Lincolnshire Police
Inquests opened into deaths of two teenagers on A46 outside Lincoln
Their families and friends have been left devastated
Alex Ross and Sian Chambers (Image: Facebook)
Inquests into the deaths of two talented young musicians killed in a crash on the A46 have been opened and adjourned.
Siân Chambers, from South Clifton, Nottinghamshire, and Alex Ross, from Binbrook, both 19, died in a crash on the A46 just outside Lincoln in the early hours on December 22.
The blue Ford Mondeo they were travelling in was involved in a collision with a white Citroen C3 on the bypass between the Skellingthorpe and Carholme roundabouts.
Alex Ross (Image: Facebook)
An inquest into Alex's death opened at Lincoln Coroner's Court today, Tuesday, February 18.
Man, 26, named and charged over deaths of two teens on A46 near Lincoln
The brief hearing was told the date of death was December 22, 2018 and the place of death was given as a lay-by on the A46 in Lincoln.
The court was given evidence of formal identification and heard that a post mortem examination established the cause of death as head, chest and abdominal injuries sustained in a road traffic collision.
An inquest into former North Kesteven schoolgirl Sian was opened on February 13, it has now emerged.
The place and date of death was given as the same as in Alex's case, formal identification was established, and the cause of death was head and abdominal injuries sustained in a road crash.
A full hearing into the deaths will be held later this year.
An inquest is a fact-finding inquiry held to answer four questions: who the deceased was, when and where they died, the medical cause of death and how they came by their death.
Inquests do not apportion blame or deal with issues of criminal or civil liability.
Sian Chambers died in a crash on the A46 (Image: Lincolnshire Police)
Matthew Jacobs, of Lindholme Road, Lincoln, appeared at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on Friday, February 8 accused of causing their deaths by dangerous driving.
He is further charged with driving a motor vehicle while over the prescribed limit, aggravated vehicle taking, driving while uninsured and failing to stop at the scene of a collision.
Jacobs was remanded in custody and will appear at Lincoln Crown Court on Monday, March 4.
Heartbroken family devastated after 'talented' teen killed in crash on A46 near Lincoln
Both Siân and Alex were double bassists with the Lincolnshire Youth Symphony Orchestra, performing in the UK and in Europe, and played in places such as Spain and the Czech Republic.
Siân's family previously issued the following tribute to her: "Siân was a much loved daughter, sister and friend.
"We are totally devastated by her passing and are struggling to, in any way, come to terms with the loss.
“Siân was working as an engraver and, as a talented double bass player, was continuing to make music with local ensembles.
“She loved animals and was having a gap year before taking up animal science at university.
“As a family, we would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who stopped and offered assistance to Siân and Alex and the emergency services who attended.
“We would appreciate privacy at this time, and wish to allow the police to carry out a full investigation in order to give us the answers that we need.”
Alex Ross was a talented musician (Image: Facebook)
Alex's family have also told of their devastation.
They said: "Alex was an extremely talented musician. He was a former pupil at Caistor Grammar School where he won a scholarship to the Purcell School of Music in London.
"A double bass player, he was training at the Royal Academy of Music, also in London, where he was a second year student.
"He had a brilliant future ahead of him which has been sadly taken away."
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-1 Suspect Sought in 2 Hit-and-Runs
Police in Riverside are looking for a hit-and-run driver who fled from two crashes, including one caught-on-camera collision in which in which a group of children narrowly escaped serious injury earlier this week, officials said.
The incident began about 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, Riverside Police Department said in a written statement.
The driver was involved in one crash near the junction between the 60 and 215 freeways, then sped away, police said.
"The suspect vehicle exited the freeway at Blaine (Street) at a high rate of speed, crossing all lanes, where it collided with a van on the opposite corner, knocking the van onto the sidewalk where several teens were walking," according to the police statement. "It is thought the van may have struck at least one of the teens, but the teens left before police arrived."
Surveillance video was rolling as the suspect got out of his damaged car with a small dog and began walking away, police said.
"Several bystanders followed the suspect, using their phones to possibly capture videos or photos, until he ran and jumped over a fence into an apartment complex," the statement said.
An investigation determined the car belonged to another person, who had not given the suspect permission to drive it, officials said.
Detectives continued working Friday to determine the identity of the hit-and-run driver.
He was described as a black man in his 20s with a short, Afro-style haircut, according to police. He wore a blue shirt, blue pant and black shoes.
Added: May-18-2019
By: ThisIsButter (32909.70)
Tags: Vehicles, accidents, hit and run
Location: Riverside, CA, USA
Views: 1333 Replies: 9 Score: -1
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India stresses ‘equity’ at climate talks in Cancun
2 min read . Updated: 05 Dec 2010, 04:16 PM IST Betwa Sharma / PTI
India stresses ‘equity’ at climate talks in Cancun
CancunJairam RameshClimate talksGrowthEnvironmentCarbon emissionsInternational NewsRest Of The World
Cancun: As pressure builds on China and India to accept greater obligations to cut down carbon emissions, both countries have asserted that measures to combat climate change need to factor in the principle of equitable access to development opportunities.
Environment minister Jairam Ramesh said developing countries have to strike a balance between growth objectives and emission mitigation as experts reminded that developed nations have over-used their fair share.
“I want to reiterate that we are not talking about the right to pollute... Sustainable development is a fundamental right," said Ramesh at an event hosted by India on the sidelines of climate talks here.
The larger developing countries, he said, “needed to ensure that the commitments that they take or have taken does not come in the way of these growth objectives," the minister said.
He pointed out that academic work on equitable access was not being factored into negotiations.
“Somehow the negotiating committed is oblivious of this work," he added.
China, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has also maintained that developed countries should take major responsibility for climate change and shoulder due obligations as the unrestrained emission during their 200-year industrialisation process was largely to blame for the global warming.
Michael Khor, executive director of South Center, said that between 1850 and today about 1300 gigatonnes of CO2 have been emitted, and in the next five-year the world could only afford to pump 600 gigatonnes more, if global average temperature rise had to be limited to 2 degree Celsius.
“What is the historical situation and who has put it into the atmosphere... the developed countries have over-used what is their fair share (by 500 gigatonnes from 1850 to 2008)," he said, defining fair share as the share in accordance with the country’s share in the world’s population.
“We need the environment, we need development and we need equity to clinch the two," he added.
Most developed countries, however, do not see the vast amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as their fault since for the majority phase of their development, they did not realise the long-term impact of their actions, he said.
Indian scientist T. Jayaraman said that even if developed countries slashed their carbon emissions by 90% from 1990 levels, India would develop as much as Portugal and developing countries would still never have their fair share of atmospheric space.
“Even with the technology transfer it is not very clear developing countries would be entirely able to take care of their development needs without some fancy innovative work in the future," he said.
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Binge buddies: 'The World's End' and 'Prince Avalanche' - Macleans.ca
Binge buddies: ‘The World’s End’ and ‘Prince Avalanche’
Chasing bromance to the ends of the earth
by Brian D. Johnson
(From left) Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Eddie Marsan in 'The World's End.' (Photo by eOne Films)
What a fitting way to wind down a summer of blockbusters about the end of the world. We’ve seen Armageddon come and go, week after week—Oblivion, The Host, After Earth, World War Z, Elysium, This is The End—often landing with a thud at the box office. Now it’s closing time at the Apocalypse Lounge, and bringing us the last word on Doomsday are Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and their merry band of Brit pranksters, drinking themselves to the brink of destruction in The World’s End. This antic comedy is about a bunch of former schoolmates who reunite for a hometown pub crawl and barge headlong into the zombie apocalypse. Or, more precisely, an alien invasion of body snatchers.
Simultaneously smart and silly, The World’s End displays an ambidextrous wit that’s uniquely English, and proves that not all Hangover farces have to be dumb and ugly. But if you’re not quite up for the end of the world, you can settle for the end of the road with Prince Avalanche, an offbeat bromance about an odd couple of squabbling losers who bond over the bottle on a desolate highway running through a burnt-out forest.
So this is the way the world ends—or at least the summer—not with a bang but with a binge.
The World’s End was scripted by its director, Edgar Wright, and its star, Simon Pegg. They’re the duo who created Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz with actors Nick Frost and Martin Freeman, who are back on board for this film. Although the stories and the characters in the three movies are distinct, The World’s End is being loosely billed as the third installment of a trilogy—linked to the previous films by a pub-centric setting and a diabolical blend of physical comedy, genre spoof and verbal wit.
The script was germinated by an idea for a pub crawl comedy that Wright had as a teenager, which he revived after seeing Superbad, the hit comedy that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote as kids growing up in Vancouver. And, coincidentally, there are close parallels between The World’s End and the apocalyptic farce of This is the End, the feature directing debut from Rogen and Goldberg. Both involve an Armageddon party of intoxicated guys who end up brawling with aliens amid a splatter fest of cheesy special effects. But they could be case studies in the difference between American and British humour. For all its hilarity, This is the End serves up its broad gags squarely on the nose, one at a time. But amid the physical comedy of The World’s End, the verbal wit flows with such speed and subtlety, the mind has to race to catch all of the jokes.
Pegg leads the ensemble cast with charismatic swagger as Gary King, a 40-year-old adolescent who pursues his triumphant alcoholism with militant showmanship. Although he’s playing a buffoon, there’s a theatrical cadence to his performance that’s almost Shakespearean. This is a drunken lout in Falstaff’s league. As his straight man, a teetotaler who will inevitably fall off the wagon, Frost makes a magnificent foil. And as the boys attempt a 12-pub marathon, along for the ride is a token female, played by a spunky Rosamund Pike, who deflects Gary’s repeated bids for a sexual reunion in one handicapped washroom after another. I could go on to describe the zombie aliens, and what happens when you rip their heads off, but it would be a shame to spoil the party.
Emile Hirsch (left) and Paul Rudd in 'Prince Avalanche'
By contrast, the humour is strictly deadpan in Prince Avalanche, and it’s not the laugh-out-loud variety. This minimalist two-hander marks a stoic retreat to the indie frontier by writer-director David Gordon Green, whose career has ranged from the modest George Washington to the blockbuster Pineapple Express. Movies don’t get much quirkier than Prince Avalanche, a picture that’s every bit as odd as its title, which I still don’t get even after seeing the movie. Not that it matters. I did get the movie (I think), and grew to like it by the time it was over. It’s an acquired taste, one that starts to take you unawares mid-way through the movie, as an initial skepticism gives way to a warm buzz of affection for the characters. Prince Avalanche is a road movie that happily goes nowhere. It’s also a buddy comedy, yet one entirely lacking in the usual amenities—there’s no girl, at least not one who appears on screen. There’s nothing, in fact, to mediate the relationship: just a yellow traffic line that our reluctant buddies, Alvin (Paul Rudd) and Lance (Emile Hirsch), are painting down the middle of a two-lane road in the middle of nowhere. The location is a scarred tract of forest in a Texas state park that has been ravaged by fire, but it looks like it could be another planet. The film’s other worldly quality may also owe something to the fact that Green adapted it from an Icelandic movie, Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson‘s Either Way.
The men work alone on the road by day, and spend their nights together in a tent. Lance is not a happy camper. Alvin, who is in love with Lance’s sister back home, has hired him as a favour, but it’s one that this indolent young man deeply resents. His only goal in life is to go back to the city and get laid. Alvin, meanwhile, acting like an uptight scoutmaster, tries to keep him (literally) in line while patronizing him with unwelcome advice. The two men are stuck with each other, and aside from brief interludes with an eccentric trucker and a mysterious woman rummaging through the ruins of her house, they are the only characters in the movie. Eventually they break the tension of their fractious relationship by getting blind drunk.
A long way out of his romcom wheelhouse, Rudd wears a mustache that makes him look like a young Kevin Kline, and he’s replaced his usual easy-going persona with a punctilious, tight-ass manner that is, well, strangely reminiscent of Kevin Kline. But Hirsch, whose potential as an actor has sadly faded since the wonderful Into the Wild, has gained some weight—something his character morosely alludes to—and at times seems to be channeling Jack Black. And Hirsch conveys a young man’s torpid ennui with a raw candour that’s seems uncomfortably close to home.
But both actors’ performances ripen nicely, gaining authentic heft from what starts out as a cute contrivance. Green ekes an over-saturated beauty from vistas of the burnt-out forest and the emptiness of the road. In the tradition of David Lynch’s The Straight Story, or just about anything by Wes Anderson, this field trip into the wilds of American minimalism is strangely enchanting.
Also opening this week in Toronto theatres is The Grandmaster, a martial arts rhapsody by Wong Kar Wai, reviewed here.
apocalpyse
Labor Day turns up the heat
Get ready to weep at the trailer for The Fault In Our Stars
Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In: The Movie
There's no unravelling this 'Devil's Knot'
TIFF unearths the Stones' taboo sex-and-drugs doc
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Canadian jailed in Iran over 'feminism and security' issues - Macleans.ca
Canadian jailed in Iran over ‘feminism and security’ issues
Family rejects claims from Iranian media outlets that Homa Hoodfar was ‘fomenting a feminist soft revolution’
This undated photo made available by Amanda Ghahremani shows retired Canadian-Iranian professor Homa Hoodfar. The family of a Montreal-based university professor jailed in Iran says she is being investigated for dabbling in feminism and security matters. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO – Amanda Ghahremani)
MONTREAL – A Montreal-based university professor being held in an Iranian jail is being investigated for ‘dabbling in feminism and security matters,’ according to her family.
Homa Hoodfar’s niece, Amanda Ghahremani, said the Tehran public prosecutor made a statement to Iranian media on the case on Friday.
Ghahremani said the family doesn’t know whether Hoodfar has been charged with a crime.
She said the prosecutor’s statement was the first indication of why the 65-year-old professor has been held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison since her arrest on June 6.
“We’re very concerned that we have no news from her, that the family hasn’t been able to see her, that the lawyer hasn’t been able to see her, and we don’t know her mental state, her health, or the conditions of her detention,” Ghahremani told The Canadian Press.
She said the family wanted to refute other “baseless” accusations that have circulated in some Iranian media outlets stating her aunt was “fomenting a feminist soft revolution.”
Hoodfar, a professor at Montreal’s Concordia University, was born in Iran but has been living in Montreal for 30 years.
Her family said she travelled to Iran in February to see family and conduct academic research.
She was initially arrested in March, shortly before she was to return home, but was released on bail.
She was arrested again on June 6 and has not been allowed to contact her family or her lawyer since then, according to her family.
Ghahremani said her aunt is foremost an anthropologist whose work focuses on improving the lives of women.
She said Hoodfar’s work is not political and the accusations against her are unfounded.
“All the work she’s done has always been within the legal parameters of the context in which she does her work,” she said.
A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion said the government is actively involved in Hoodfar’s case and is doing what it can to help her.
“The Minister has met Dr. Hoodfar’s family, and the Parliamentary Secretary and consular officials remain in close contact with them,” Joseph Pickerill said in an email.
“We are also working closely with our like-minded allies in order to best assist Dr. Hoodfar.”
Ghahremani said she met with Dion on Thursday and was satisfied the Canadian government “is doing what they can do” to help her aunt.
Amnesty International has called on the Iranian government to release Hoodfar, calling her a prisoner of conscience.
Over 4,600 professors have also signed a petition on the Hoodfar family’s website calling for her release.
Homa Hoodfar
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Trump suggests Iran’s shootdown of drone was accidental
In this June 18, 2019 photo, President Donald Trump speaks during his re-election kickoff rally at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla. Trump declared Thursday that “Iran made a very big mistake” in shooting down a U.S. drone. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump declared Thursday that “Iran made a very big mistake” in shooting down a U.S. drone but suggested it was an accident rather than a strategic error. Asked about a U.S. response, he said repeatedly, “You’ll find out.”
A few minutes earlier, a senior U.S. military officer said Iran shot down the huge, unmanned American aircraftover international waters in an attempt to disrupt U.S. efforts to monitor the Persian Gulf area where Trump has blamed Iran for attacking shipping vessels.
But Trump said he could not imagine the missile attack on the drone was intentional and he had a feeling “a general or somebody” mistakenly ordered the attack.
Some members of Congress expressed alarm at the possibility of open conflict in the Middle East, especially after Trump’s morning tweet that said only, “Iran made a very big mistake.” But when asked about it later, he merely described the incident as a “new wrinkle” in escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran — a “fly in the ointment.”
Still he said the U.S. “will not stand for it.”
Shortly before Trump spoke, at a photo opportunity with visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Air Force Lt. Gen. Joseph Guastella, commander of U.S. Central Command air forces in the region, took a different tack from Trump’s idea of an accidental shootdown.
“This attack is an attempt to disrupt our ability to monitor the area following recent threats to international shipping and free flow of commerce,” he said.
Iran said earlier that it shot down the drone after it violated its territorial airspace. Guastella disputed that contention, telling reporters that the unmanned aircraft was 34 kilometers from the nearest Iranian territory and flying at high altitude when struck by a surface-to-air missile.
The downing of the drone follows of weeks of escalating tensions in the Middle East, starting with the U.S. announcement last month that it was rushing an aircraft carrier strike group and other military assets to the Persian Gulf area in response to Iranian threats.
The Trump administration has been putting increasing economic pressure for more than a year. It reinstated punishing sanctions following Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of an international agreement intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from earlier sanctions.
Trump has said repeatedly that the U.S. does not want war in the Mideast, yet members of Congress reacted quickly with that possibility as background.
The Senate’s top Democrat called the downing of the American drone “deeply concerning” and accused the administration of not having an Iran strategy and keeping Congress and the American people in the dark.
“The president needs to explain to the American people why he’s driving us toward another endless conflict in the Middle East,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she doesn’t think Trump wants war with Iran and the American people have “no appetite” for it either.
She said the U.S. needs to be “strong and strategic” about protecting its interests and “cannot be reckless.”
by JIM MUSTIAN, Associated Press / Jul 18, 2019
NEW YORK (AP) — Court records released Thursday show that President Donald Trump took part in a flurry of phone calls in the weeks before the 2016 election as his close aides and allies scrambled to pay porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair.
The documents detailing calls and text messages were made public as federal prosecutors closed their investigation into the payoff — and a similar payment to Playboy model Karen McDougal — with no plans to charge anyone in the scandal beyond Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen.
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Kyiv Boryspil Airport
Guide to Boryspil International Kyiv Airport (KBP)
Boryspil International Kyiv Airport (KBP)
Kiev Boryspil Airport Terminals
Boryspil International Kyiv Airport was first opened in 1959 as a civilian passenger hub under the Soviet Union. It was named Kyiv – Tsentralny Airport. On July of the same year, its first scheduled flight set to Moscow and also to Leningrad (Saint Petersburg nowadays).
A new passenger terminal, Terminal B, was built and opened in 1965. The first international flights began to start in the 80s. It wasn’t until 1993 it was renamed as Boryspil State International Airport and officially began its international activity.
In the 00s, it became a major international transit hub in Eastern Europe, connecting many international flights from and to Europe, Asia and America. It also became the largest airport in Ukraine not only for its facilities, so as for its figures.
During the following years, Boryspil International Kyiv Airport underwent under major developments such as the expansion of Terminal B and the construction and completion of Terminal F in 2010 and Terminal D, which began to serve flights in 2012.
It is expected that by 2020, Boryspil International Kyiv Airport will be able to handle over 18 million passengers per year.
Transfer between terminals
All Airport terminals are located relatively close to each other except Terminal D, which is located southwest of Terminal B. There is an inter-terminal special shuttle bus which transfers passengers from any of the four terminals to the parking lots and ground transportation options (bus stands and taxi ranks). Frequency is of 5 up to 15 minutes during the day and of 3 minutes at night.
Terminal B is functional since 1965 and it currently hosts both domestic and international charter flights and domestic regular flights.
Terminal C is just used for both business flights, private jets and VIP passengers.
Terminal D was inaugurated in 2012 and is the main international terminal.
Terminal F
Terminal F opened its gates in 2010 in order to handle the crescent passenger traffic in the airport; however, in 2013, all flights were transferred to both Terminal B and Terminal D and nowadays it is just used as a cargo terminal closed to aircraft passengers.
Arrivals Departures Terminals Terminal B Terminal D Hotels Transport Bus Taxi Car Rental Parking Services Area Maps Transfers Lounges
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ADDA Awards
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Monday Morning Memo for December 5, 2016
December 5, 2016 /in 2016, Monday Morning Memo /by jkonze
Jury selection to begin in former LA County Sheriff Lee Baca trial Monday
Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, whose trial on federal corruption charges is scheduled to begin Monday, will now face two separate juries after a federal judge decided Friday to split the trial into two parts. U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson ruled that an expert on dementia can testify about Baca’s mental state, but only as it relates to charges of making false statements to the federal government in 2013, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.
City News Service
Judge rules ex-L.A. Times reporter must testify in corruption trial of former Sheriff Lee Baca
A federal judge ruled Thursday that a former Los Angeles Times reporter who interviewed then-Sheriff Lee Baca during an unfolding scandal over abuses in the county jails must testify in the former sheriff’s corruption trial. Prosecutors want the reporter, Robert Faturechi, to testify about a Sept. 29, 2011, article in which Baca described an FBI undercover sting and a visit that sheriff’s investigators made to an FBI agent’s home. They also want to ask Faturechi about statements he made on KCRW radio earlier this year.
A shotgun on the beach and a bounced check are key clues to a Hollywood murder, prosecutor says
Carrie Jean Melvin and her boyfriend were walking to a Thai restaurant in their bustling Hollywood neighborhood one July evening last year when they heard footsteps behind them. When they turned to look, a man in dark, baggy clothing raised a black pistol-grip shotgun. Without a word, he fired one round into her face from about 10 feet away and fled. On Wednesday, a prosecutor told a downtown Los Angeles jury that the mysterious gunman was Ezeoma Obioha, a security guard at a marijuana dispensary and the owner of a clothing line who owed Melvin money for marketing his business on social media and had developed a romantic interest in her.
Criminal charge against SoCalGas for Aliso Canyon gas leak OK: Judge rejects residents restitution demands
A judge Tuesday approved a settlement between Los Angeles County prosecutors and Southern California Gas Co. to resolve criminal charges against the company stemming from the gas leak at the Aliso Canyon storage facility in Porter Ranch. The judge rejected a request by Porter Ranch residents to have the deal tossed so they could seek restitution. Attorneys representing a group of residents suing the Gas Co. over the leak contended the residents weren’t notified of the settlement agreement, which they said does not include provisions giving residents a chance to submit restitution claims against the Gas Co.
Conviction & Sentencing
Darren Sharper sentenced in rape case
Former pro football player Darren Sharper was sentenced today to 20 years in state prison and ordered to register for life as a sex offender after earlier admitting to drugging and raping two women, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced. Sharper, 41, pleaded no contest almost two years ago to two counts of rape by use of drugs and four counts of furnishing a controlled substance in case BA421442. His sentence was delayed pending completion of federal and state cases in Louisiana where he was held until his return this month to Los Angeles. Deputy District Attorneys Alison Foster and Michele Hanisee prosecuted the case.
Sentinel News Service
Wife of slain Bell Gardens mayor guilty of voluntary manslaughter
The wife of slain Bell Gardens Mayor Daniel Crespo pleaded guilty Wednesday to voluntary manslaughter for shooting him three times in their home just over two years ago. Lyvette Crespo, 45, is facing three months in county jail, 500 hours of community service, an anger management course and five years formal probation under a disposition reached with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, according to Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman.
Gangsters killed ‘slow’ teen wearing red shoes: 50 years to life
Two gang members were sentenced Wednesday to 50 years to life in state prison for the killing of a 19-year-old mentally disabled man who prosecutors said was gunned down near a South Los Angeles car wash over the red shoes he was wearing. “This was a tragic, callous and cowardly crime,” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo said just before imposing the sentence on Kanasho Johns, 29, and Kevin Deon Johnson, 26.
Ex-Sierra High student gets 16 months for creepy clown threats against school
A Pomona Superior Court commissioner on Friday sentenced a former Sierra High School student to 16 months in prison for threatening to attack his alma mater. He posted the threats on Instagram and Facebook accounts dedicated to creepy clowns. William Salazar, 19, took a deal and pleaded no contest Friday to one felony count of making criminal threats, according to Sarah Ardalani, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Deputies who beat, pepper-sprayed mentally ill inmate sentenced
Two former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who beat and pepper-sprayed a mentally ill county jail inmate without provocation and then lied about it were sentenced Monday to federal prison. Bryan Brunsting was sentenced to a year and nine months in prison, while Jason “Johnson” Branum was given five months behind bars.
60 law enforcement officers fatally shot this year, 20 in ambushes, report says
A total of 60 law enforcement officers have died in firearms-related incidents in 2016, marking a 67 percent increase since 2015, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund reported. Citing a preliminary report from January 1 through November 23, the organization said that Texas has seen the most fatalities this year with 18. So far, 130 officers have died nationwide.
Metro Board delays vote on new policing contract
Grappling with an issue often raised by Metro riders – the presence of police on the system, or sometimes the lack thereof – the Metro Board of Directors voted 7 to 4 on Thursday to delay a vote on a new policing contract. The vote gives the Metro Board until February to mull a Metro staff proposal to split policing of the Metro system between three police departments – the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Long Beach Police Department – instead of the current deal which relies solely on the LASD.
Hate crimes are rising but don’t expect them to be prosecuted
Last week, the FBI announced there were 5,850 hate crimes in 2015-a 7 percent increase over the year before. But that total, which is based on voluntary reports of hate crimes from local and state police departments, is likely far lower than the real number. The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimated about 260,000 hate crimes annually in a 2013 report looking at hate crimes between 2007 and 2011. The BJS’s estimate was based on anonymous responses to the National Crime Victimization Survey, which the bureau conducts every year.
Heroin tightens deadly grip on county
Overdoses involving heroin killed 33 people in Ventura County last year, the fatalities rising after two years of decline in a trend experts say shows the hammerlock the drug holds on communities as different as Oxnard and Simi Valley. “There are no racial boundaries. There are no financial boundaries. There are no geographic boundaries,” said Joseph May, deputy chief of police in Simi Valley. Two sets of data from the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office showed deaths involving heroin overdoses – in some cases paired with other drugs – descended from 43 in 2012 to 23 in 2014. But fatalities climbed in 2015 with 12 deaths in the city of Ventura alone.
LAPD could roll out ‘less-lethal’ weapon citywide to curb escalation
Los Angeles police have long used “less-lethal” launchers with sponge rounds for crowd control and by their elite SWAT team on individuals when less than deadly force may have been needed. But in July, the Los Angeles Police Department equipped patrol officers from several stations, including the Mission Community Police Station in Mission Hills, with these “guns” and their 40 mm sponge rounds, which are intended to incapacitate but not kill a subject, to use on their beats for the first time.
LAPD Skid Row homeless killing ruled OK
A Los Angeles Police Department sergeant and two officers were legally justified in the deadly shooting of a homeless man on Skid Row and will not face criminal charges, according to a document released Thursday by the District Attorney’s Office. According to a 22-page report prepared by the District Attorney’s Justice System Integrity Division, Sgt. Chand Syed and Officers Francisco Martinez and Daniel Torres “acted lawfully in self-defense and in defense of others” on March 1, 2015, when they opened fire on 39-year-old Charly Keunang, who was known on Skid Row as “Africa.”
Wage theft is common in garment manufacturing in Southern California
Beating drums and waving hand-lettered signs, 40 garment workers marched in front of a Los Angeles Ross Dress For Less outlet chanting “Ross Stores, you can’t hide! We can see your greedy side!” Among the protesters on a sunny Saturday before Thanksgiving, Maribelia Quiroz, 46, mother of three, said she stitches blouses for Ross at a downtown contractor, earning $300 a week for up to 60 hours of work, with no overtime. That’s less than half California’s legal minimum wage. “The bosses fire anyone who asks for more,” she said.
Carjackers’ big mistake: Armed victim is fed cop, shoots attacker
Two carjacking suspects picked the wrong victim as their target turned out to be an armed off-duty ICE agent in Wilmington who wounded one of his attackers, police said. The shooting occurred around 7:45 p.m. Wednesday near Figueroa and Anaheim streets, prompting the closure of the Anaheim Street off-ramp from the northbound Harbor (110) Freeway. The agent fired shots at the female driver and her male passenger as they took off in his white Mazda, according to reports from the scene.
Strangled with a shoelace: Slaying of inmate in Lancaster prison came after ‘extremely vicious’ fight
When Leron Morris summoned guards to his cell at a state prison in Lancaster, he showed them a gruesome, bloody scene and a lifeless body. Morris and his cellmate, Rashell Clarke Jr., had a furious fight that ended only after Morris bit off part of the other man’s ear and wrapped a shoelace around his neck, strangling him, according to investigative reports. By the time guards began performing CPR on Clarke, his body was already showing signs of rigor mortis, suggesting he may have been dead for a while.
Tear gas terminates tense squatter SWAT standoff
A homeless man taking shelter in a residence under construction was forced out with a volley of tear gas and arrested Wednesday after a tense, hours-long standoff with a SWAT team. The incident began about 9:30 a.m. near Beverly and Plymouth boulevards, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The unidentified suspect was taken into custody shortly before 2 p.m. KNX Newsradio reported that the man was squatting in a home under construction and had threatened workers, but he was not believed to be armed.
Understanding police use of force: Right vs. reasonable
In a front page article from the New York Times titled “Training Officers to Shoot First and He Will Answer Questions Later”, the author attacks Dr. Bill Lewinski. Dr. Lewinski is a use-of-force expert, police trainer and researcher. Through Force Science Institute, he has examined controversial use-of-force scenarios and explained why police react within the constitutionally reasonable realm in most instances. The comments in articles, the letters to the editor and national media commentary on police use-of-force incidents don’t reflect the reality of what would really happen if those critics were faced with any of those use-of-force situations.
Police One
Gridiron gangster: How a vigilante gambler took down an alleged crime boss
Inside the story of Owen Hanson, former USC athlete suspected of heading an international gambling and drug syndicate.
Sheriff McDonnell looking to improve LASD’s community relations
Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell was this week’s guest on a special Eyewitness Newsmakers. He wanted to open a community dialogue following last month’s shooting death of veteran deputy Sgt. Steve Owen. McDonnell acknowledged his deputies might not get policing right 100 percent of the time, but it’s time to talk about making relations better between law enforcement and the community. McDonnell heads the nation’s second-largest police agency and the largest jail system.
A project honoring fallen LAPD officers also says a lot about the city
Along the First Street entrance to the Police Administration Building, there is a memorial that stands cold and apart from the living challenges and social media-fueled tensions faced by the Los Angeles Police Department. Here, 207 badges are mounted on a wall to honor the LAPD officers who have died in the line of duty since 1907. Forty-two of those bronzed shields recall men who died in Downtown. That is not the only place where the department’s fallen are remembered.
Los Angeles Downtown News
Police Chief: Understaffing and AB109 contribute to rising violent crime rates in Redding
Redding Police Chief Robert Paoletti says violent crime rates are higher in 2016 than they were in 2015. He gave residents an in-depth look at this year’s crime statistics at the fourth quarterly Redding Town Hall, held in the Redding City Council chambers. According to the report, violent crime has increased 24%, from 409 cases reported at this point in 2015, to 540 cases this year. Paoletti says the increased cases of rape victims and cases of aggravated assault are the most alarming. Cases of rape increased nearly 33% in the last year, while cases of aggravated assault went up nearly 29%.
KRCR-TV Redding
Local authorities still determining impact of Prop 57 passage
San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said he will continue working with the Secretary of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to determine what impact the passage of Proposition 57 will have in the county. California voters approved the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act, better known as Prop 57, last week. It is supposed to help reduce the state’s prison population by providing more parole opportunities for some convicted felons. The proposition allows parole consideration for nonviolent felons, authorizes sentence credits for rehabilitation, good behavior and education and allows juvenile court judges to decide whether a juvenile will be prosecuted as an adult.
Victorville Daily Press
Young man convicted in 2014 murder wants new trial after Prop. 57 passes
Kurese Bell was 17 when he was charged with murder. Despite his age, his case was handled in adult criminal court based on a determination that both he and the crime he was accused of committing were not suited for the juvenile system. Until recently, state law allowed prosecuting agencies in California – including the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office – to make those determinations in certain cases without taking the issue to a judge first. It’s a process known as “direct filing.” But that changed when voters on Nov. 8 approved Proposition 57.
Prop. 57’s passage worries local officials
Local officials say the passage of the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act, aka Proposition 57, on the November ballot could potentially cause an upswing in criminal activity. Speaking on behalf of El Dorado County Sheriff John D’Agostini, Sgt. Tasha Thompson called Prop. 57 “deceptive.” “With the passing of Prop. 57 California is going to witness the overturn of 40 years of criminal reform. In addition, it is going to allow the early release of 16,000 violent felons,” Thompson explained. “California will now reclassify violent crimes as nonviolent and add more fear to the victims of crimes already committed.
In legalizing marijuana, California clears small-time criminals
Chris Phillips, a marijuana entrepreneur and Livermore father of four, faced five felony counts and possible prison time after he was accused of illegally growing pot at his home, which police raided in June. But when California voters legalized cannabis for recreational use Nov. 8, they retroactively erased several small-time pot crimes and reduced the penalties for bigger ones like growing, selling and transporting.
New York Times Syndication
Kamala Harris will step in to defend SF cash bail system after City Attorney, Sheriff Refuse
City Attorney Dennis Herrera has refused to fight a class-action lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of San Francisco’s bail system because he agrees it unfairly punishes the poor, but whether she agrees with Herrera or not, California Attorney General and Senator-Elect Kamala Harris will step in to defend San Francisco against the legal challenge. To do so, Harris will seek approval from a federal judge in Oakland, her spokesperson Kristin Ford said, according to the Chronicle.
Becerra’s attorney general selection sets off scurry for House replacement
It didn’t take long after Xavier Becerra was selected as California’s next attorney general for the race to succeed him to begin. Less than an hour after Gov. Jerry Brown announced Thursday morning that the Democratic congressman from Los Angeles would take over for Attorney General Kamala Harris when she heads to the U.S. Senate next year, the first candidate emerged for this rare open House seat: former Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez.
Term limit tears: Supervisors Antonovich, Knabe end decades as ‘little kings’
It was a tearful farewell Tuesday for the two long-time “legends” of the Los Angeles County Supervisors, as Michael Antonovich and Don Knabe ended decades of service by attending one last meeting. In an era of national harsh political turmoil, supervisors praised the pair as cooperating with other supervisors regardless of their philosophical views. With term limits, it’s unlikely any supervisor will come close to the lengthy records of Antonovich and Knabe in an era when powerful, long-term supervisors were called “little kings.”
Court rules against driver who lost AC job over health disclosure
A doctor’s concern for public safety entitled her to disclose a patient’s medical information to the Department of Motor Vehicles, a disclosure that cost the man his job as an AC Transit bus driver, a state appeals court has ruled. The driver, a San Francisco resident, obtained a commercial license in 2000 and was hired by AC Transit in April 2006. When he applied for a permit to drive a school bus six months later, his primary care physician, Dr. Ann Kim of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, wrote a letter to the DMV over her patient’s objections, saying he had been diagnosed with a cognitive disorder.
https://www.laadda.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/la-adda-logo-400.png 0 0 jkonze https://www.laadda.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/la-adda-logo-400.png jkonze2016-12-05 08:42:072017-07-09 13:14:04Monday Morning Memo for December 5, 2016
Monday Morning Memo for November 28, 2016
November 28, 2016 /in 2016, Monday Morning Memo /by jkonze
Cops battle cops in court: Wrongdoing by LAPD top staff?
Six members of the Los Angeles Police Internal Affairs Group are suing the city over “whistleblower retaliation,” alleging they were wrongfully reprimanded in a dispute about unlawful activities and nepotism within the department’s upper levels. The lawsuit says the six believe they were targeted because a deputy chief thought they would speak in support of another internal affairs cop who was vocal about the supposed wrongdoing.
Police encourage more hate crime reports
Law enforcement leaders in Los Angeles called on the public Wednesday to report any sort of hate-motivated incidents. “Should they become a victim of a hate crime, they should call the police and report it,” said L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey at an event that also included LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer.
Free after 16 years, innocent man sues LAPD
One year ago, a state judge exonerated Luis Lorenzo Vargas of three sexual assaults for which he’d spent 16 years in prison. On Monday, Vargas sued the Los Angeles Police and Sheriff’s departments and the District Attorney’s Office, for putting him there. Vargas claims police and prosecutors never disclosed that strikingly similar assaults continued even after he was in custody, all apparently committed by a man known as the Teardrop Rapist.
Courthouse News
DA mulls case against Saugus High ‘hoaxer’ – School also takes stock of lockdown procedures
The case of the Saugus High School 11th-grader who allegedly perpetrated a hoax at the school last Friday – spreading the rumor of an armed student, and leading to a brief lockdown – is now in the hands of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office. Meanwhile, school principal Bill Bolde told The Signal that while the lockdown went smoothly, he was busy Monday debriefing school staff, with an eye toward taking stock and improving areas that could have gone better still.
‘America’s Invisible Crime’: Cargo theft expected to surge during holidays
Truckers are being warned about the risk of cargo theft during the holiday weekend, especially in Southern California. Since the beginning of the year, nearly $30 million in cargo has been stolen off of highways and from distribution centers throughout California. That is a 40% increase over last year, according to CargoNet, a cargo theft prevention and recovery network.
eBay and Amazon risky for holiday shoppers
When e-commerce giants eBay and Amazon try to maximize profits, the collateral damage to manufacturers and consumers can be enormous, and devastating. Both eBay and Amazon have channeled their business model into online “Marketplace” retail outlets which allow un-vetted global sellers to peddle hugely profitable counterfeit goods to unsuspecting consumers.
The Counterfeit Report
Local law enforcement agencies stay hands-off on immigration
Local law enforcement officials said this week they will not actively enforce federal immigration laws, in keeping with their longstanding effort to maintain the public’s trust. In an interview with “60 Minutes,” President-elect Donald Trump said he plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants with criminal records, but agencies in Ventura County said they will generally continue their hands-off policy on the issue.
Grand Jury latest to launch probe of jailhouse snitch scandal
Orange County’s jailhouse snitch scandal has taken a new turn, with revelations that the county grand jury has launched an investigation into alleged illegal conduct by prosecutors and sheriff’s deputies and is being assisted in the probe by a former United States attorney. At some point this summer, the grand jury asked state Attorney General Kamala Harris to hire attorneys to “investigate and present evidence” for its informants investigation, according to AG records released by the county Tuesday.
Voice of OC
LA County Sheriff: Our relationship with ICE won’t change for Trump
Immigration has been a hot topic of discussion in Southern California following the election of Donald Trump as president, and many immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally are wondering what the future holds for them and their families. Here in Los Angeles County, Sheriff Jim McDonnell says his department’s relationship with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will remain status quo.
KPCC
LA prepares to battle Trump over deportation
The battle lines have been drawn, and the City of Los Angeles is preparing for war with President-elect Donald Trump over potential deportation efforts to decrease the number of undocumented citizens in the United States. Trump campaigned with a vow to remove the estimated 11 million people who entered the country illegally, although since winning the election, he has lowered that number to roughly 2 or 3 million who have criminal records.
Law Newz
‘Sanctuary Cities’ vs. national security and public safety
The lunacy of the immigration executive orders and other actions of the Obama administration to block the enforcement of our immigration laws and immigration anarchy will be brought to a screeching halt on the day that Donald Trump replaces Mr. Obama in the Oval Office. However the “Immigration All-Clear” will not be sounded across the United States in cities and states that have been declared “Sanctuaries” by the mayors and governors who have created a false and very dangerous narrative that equates immigration law enforcement with racism and bigotry.
How a dispute over dog droppings put a celebrated homicide detective and a judge under scrutiny
Throughout his more than three-decade career, Det. Mark Lillienfeld built a reputation as one of the finest homicide detectives in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The murder case of racing legend Mickey Thompson languished for years until Lillienfeld took over the investigation and saw it through to a conviction. In 2009, he helped send music producer Phil Spector to prison for the fatal shooting of actress Lana Clarkson.
Worst mass killer in OC gets DA ousted
Orange County’s worst mass killer apparently won’t see the local district attorney in court any longer after an appeals panel agreed with a judge that prosecutors would not ensure a fair penalty phase trial due to loyalty to law enforcement. A state appellate panel upheld a Superior Court judge’s recusal of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office from prosecuting the penalty trial of Scott Evans Dekraai, the worst mass killer in the county’s history.
Judge withholds ruling during ex-LA Sheriff Lee Baca’s hearing
A federal judge withheld his ruling Tuesday on whether testimony would be allowed from a defense expert who is expected to say former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease while being investigated in a jail corruption scandal. After hearing both sides, U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson said he would take the motion under consideration and submit a written response.
Appellate panel upholds West Hollywood man’s 12-year prison sentence for live-in boyfriend’s killing
A state appeals court panel last week upheld a man’s 12- year prison sentence for fatally stabbing and mutilating his live-in boyfriend at the West Hollywood apartment they briefly shared. The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Windham should have sentenced Andre Davids to six years in prison for the March 29, 2014, death of Kurtland Ma.
California marijuana industry is a ‘$25 billion opportunity’
MedMen likens itself, as many cannabis companies do, to an early tech startup. Its West Hollywood dispensary looks a bit like an Apple store, with samples of product in polished glass cases and information about each on iPads. In a grow facility in Sun Valley, north of Los Angeles, marijuana plants grow in coconut fiber, sustained by drip irrigation and marked by thin plastic labels stuck in soil.
Jerry Brown’s pension reforms have done little to rein in costs
A year after his 2010 election, Gov. Jerry Brown made a rare appearance at a legislative committee hearing to confront lawmakers about the steep cost of public employee pensions – and to demand that they pass his 12-point pension overhaul. Brown challenged fellow Democrats to drink political “castor oil” so public retirement costs would not overburden future generations.
CALmatters
Paying for public retirees has never cost L.A. taxpayers more. And that’s after pension reform
Los Angeles officials often boast about how they stemmed the rising cost of employee pensions, an expense that has hobbled cash-strapped cities throughout California. Former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said changes he oversaw in 2011 and 2012, which included lower pensions for new employees and higher retirement contributions from city workers, were “the most far-reaching effort in the nation.”
California Democratic Party leaders may be asked to fess up when paid to back ballot measures
The California Democratic Party is considering a new policy that would require party leaders to fully disclose any compensation they receive to advocate for a statewide ballot initiative or candidate for state office. The push for transparency comes after Eric Bauman, chairman of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party and a candidate for state party chairman, faced criticism after his political consulting firm was paid by opponents of Proposition 61, which voters rejected on Nov. 8.
Law enforcement’s hands tied by Prop. 57: Laren Leichliter
This election season has shocked many and made history in ways nobody had anticipated. And as the reality of the results are starting to slowly sink in, we are reminded to trust in our democratic process, even when the outcome is not in our favor. It is certainly easier said than done.
California secessionists unveil independence measure
It still doesn’t have much of a ring – or chance of ever happening – but Calexit isn’t going away just yet. As President-elect Donald Trump continued interviewing prospective appointees on Monday, the left-leaning leaders of a movement to make California a sovereign nation filed paperwork to take their case to voters in two years.
Clearing the smoke for employers on California Proposition 64
On November 8, Californians passed Proposition 64, legalizing recreational use of marijuana for adults 21 years or older in California. Proposition 64 took effect November 9, 2016. California previously legalized the use of medical marijuana with the passage of the Compassionate Use Act of 1996.
Lexology
Jerry Brown’s election successes preserve streak, set him up for 2018
Four days before the election, Gov. Jerry Brown briefly ducked into a union hall in San Francisco to denounce an initiative that threatened to imperil his high-speed rail and Delta water tunnel projects. “I just want to cut to the chase here,” Brown said of Proposition 53, paid for by wealthy Stockton-area food processor Dean Cortopassi.
Democrats still rule the roost in Sacramento
While Democrats question their diminishing national footprint, the party remains strong in California, with Democrats earning a second supermajority in four years in the Assembly. Democrats took two seats from Republicans in this month’s election to regain a supermajority in the lower house. The Senate is awaiting the results of a race separated by less than two percentage points to find out whether it too will have a two-thirds voting bloc of Democrats.
Democrats close to supermajority in Legislature, Newman takes lead
Democrat Josh Newman now has a lead of nearly 1,400 votes in the Southern California state Senate seat upon which rests Democrats’ chance of a supermajority in the Legislature. Newman, a political neophyte, had been running behind Republican Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang since Election Day. But Chang’s lead began slipping away in recent days.
Demographics in the California Legislature
Highlights: November 2016 California Legislative Election Results
California State Library
Criminal-justice experts hunt for clues on Trump
One plank of the platform that won the election for President-elect Donald Trump was a tough-on-crime promise to “Make America Safe Again.” “When I take the oath of office next year, I will restore law and order to our country,” Trump proclaimed during his speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland four months ago.
In California, a bastion of red waits for Trump to nudge this blue state
Sandra Eudy has considered leaving for Texas. Tina Larson finds it hard to envision retiring here, with the state’s high taxes eating into her savings. And Greg Surgener would leave, if not for family obligations. Republicans are something of an endangered species in California, where Democrats control both houses of the Legislature and all statewide elected offices.
Trump’s pick for Justice Department could influence immigration
As a senator, Jeff Sessions became Congress’ leading advocate not only for a cracking down on illegal immigration, but also for slowing all immigration, increasing mass deportations and scrutinizing more strictly those entering the U.S. As attorney general, he’d be well positioned to turn those ideas into reality. Immigration laws are enforced by other agencies, but the Justice Department plays a crucial role in setting the policies and legal underpinnings that shape the system.
LA City Council to discuss plan to legalize sidewalk vending next month
A long-stalled plan to legalize sidewalk vending in Los Angeles will be taken up at a public hearing next month, amid concerns that misdemeanor penalties now on the books could put vendors, many of whom are undocumented immigrants, at risk for deportation under Donald Trump’s presidency.
LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, President-elect Trump talk immigration, Olympics
Amid growing concerns among Los Angeles leaders about what the future may hold when President-elect Donald Trump takes office, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti spoke with Trump on Wednesday by telephone in what was described as a “productive conversation.” The two discussed “ways to expand infrastructure investments and opportunities in communities across America,” the mayor’s spokeswoman Connie Llanos said in a statement.
Supervisors relax regulations on winemakers
The L.A. County health department no longer has the local wine industry over a barrel. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday freed L.A. County winemakers from rules under which they had been regulated like any other food-processing plant – creating what the winemakers said were unnecessary and burdensome costs that strangled the industry in the county while it booms elsewhere in the state.
County selects developer for mixed-use project at site of San Pedro’s old courthouse
Los Angeles County officials Tuesday unanimously approved granting exclusive negotiation rights to Holland Partner Group of Vancouver to bring a residential-retail complex to the 1.8-acre property where San Pedro’s shuttered courthouse sits. “The supervisor was extremely humbled and thrilled to be part of this downtown San Pedro renaissance,” said Andrew Veis, assistant press deputy to outgoing county Supervisor Don Knabe.
Forget living in your car in LA: Homeless ban OK’d
The Los Angeles City Council gave final approval Tuesday to an ordinance barring people from living in cars near homes, parks, schools and daycare facilities. Under the ordinance, which must be signed by the mayor before taking effect, parking for habitation purposes will be prohibited from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. along residential streets with both single- and multi-family homes.
Here are 5 of California’s dumbest laws for motorists
In California, a $25 fix-it ticket can snowball into $1,000 worth of fees and fines and a loss of driving privileges if the alleged violator doesn’t show up in court. State Sen. Bob Hertzberg of Van Nuys has been fighting this injustice, which disproportionately affects the poor, with legislation that allows people to see a judge “before paying fines, restores driver’s licenses to those with a payment plan and reduces exorbitant fee debts by taking a person’s income into account,” according to Hertzberg’s office.
Marcia Clark leaves her trials behind: The onetime O.J. Simpson prosecutor, now-bestselling novelist has become a role model for career women
Two decades before presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton became the target of nonstop, unsolicited advice on how to win the White House – smile more, change that hairstyle, lose the pantsuit – the media were focused on Marcia Clark and all her missteps toward winning the trial of the century.
https://www.laadda.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/la-adda-logo-400.png 0 0 jkonze https://www.laadda.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/la-adda-logo-400.png jkonze2016-11-28 08:40:152017-07-09 13:14:21Monday Morning Memo for November 28, 2016
LAPD report on biased policing finds problem is more perception than reality
The Los Angeles Police Department has made “significant strides” in diversifying its ranks, training officers to avoid bias policing, rigorously investigating complaints and expanding community outreach programs, according to a new report on biased policing from Chief Charlie Beck. The five-member civilian police commission that oversees the department requested the report in September after a series of controversial shootings over the summer that sparked angry protests.
Documents show CalGang uses error-prone facial recognition
California’s secretive gang database, with information on hundreds of thousands of predominantly black and Latino men, uses a controversial overlay of sophisticated data analysis and surveillance technologies. The tools long have been dogged by allegations of racial profiling, inaccuracy and unconstitutional monitoring of free speech.
Jones: Undocumented license law in California may have led to UM drop
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced that Assembly Bill 60, a law which provided driver’s licenses to those who could not submit proof of legal presence in the U.S., may have led to a modest decrease in the number of uninsured motorists in the state. A preliminary analysis by the California Department of Insurance shows that in 2015, the first year since the passage of AB 60, the number of insured vehicles rose by 200,000 more vehicles than would have been expected.
LA regional human trafficking task force celebrates first year efforts
When Sheriff Jim McDonnell cut the ribbon launching the LA Sheriff’s Human Trafficking Bureau, he knew the impact would be felt throughout Southern California. Now, as the host to the LA Regional Human Trafficking Task Force, it celebrates its first year of efforts, and includes 18 governmental partners and 10 community based organizations who aid in the fight to end human trafficking.
SCV News
A possible shift in L.A. transit patrols
Transportation officials are seeking to shift Metro policing duties from the Sheriff’s Department to the Los Angeles and Long Beach police departments, a significant change in approach to public safety on the county’s sprawling bus and rail system. A report written by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and reviewed by The Times recommends transferring public safety responsibilities for more than half the subway and light rail system and 60% of the region’s bus service away from the Sheriff’s Department.
The heroin epidemic: A look inside an intervention in Simi Valley
Heroin use has grown at an exponential rate across the nation and experts say the addiction is a difficult one to break. ABC7 met with Action Family Counseling, a drug rehab facility headquartered in Santa Clarita, as it helped to facilitate an intervention for a family in Simi Valley. Robert Murphy has struggled to accept what’s become of his son. Once a happy and healthy child, Ryan Murphy became an addict on a dark and dangerous path.
LA Police Protective League will request audit to determine cause of low staff numbers
The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing the LAPD rank-and-file, said Monday it will request a city audit to determine the cause of “dangerously low” police staffing levels during the post-election protests last week and provide recommendations to ensure the safety of residents and officers.
Westside Today
Sheriff: Wanted man killed California deputy in ‘execution’
A man shot and killed a deputy in what police termed “an execution,” then stole a car and drove 150 miles to a small central California town where he was arrested after trying to steal a purse from a woman, who fought back and called authorities. Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Deputy Dennis Wallace was shot twice in the head as he checked on a report of a suspicious van parked near a fishing access spot outside the city of Hughson, about 10 miles southeast of Modesto.
Smoked pot? No college? The police still might hire you
Police departments are relaxing age-old standards for accepting recruits, from lowering educational requirements to forgiving some prior drug use, to try to attract more people to their ranks. The changes are designed to deal with decreased interest in a job that offers low pay, rigorous physical demands and the possibility of getting killed on duty all while under intense public scrutiny.
NBC LA
Ex-LA Sheriff Lee Baca mentally competent: Defense won’t oppose expert’s opinion
Attorneys for Los Angeles County’s former sheriff will not oppose a court-appointed medical expert’s conclusion that the retired lawman, now in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, is competent to stand trial on obstruction of justice charges, according to court papers.
LA County counted on Prop 47 to save money. It hasn’t yet
A California law that turned some felony offenses into misdemeanors to save costs has had no monetary benefits so far for Los Angeles County, according to a report presented on Tuesday. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors heard updates from eight department leaders – including Sheriff Jim McDonnell – on whether or not Proposition 47 has had any cost saving effects.
Investigation: How effective in curbing violent crime is Prop 47?
Dubbed the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act” before its passage in 2014, Proposition 47 divides law enforcement officials over its impact to the state criminal justice system. The proposition reduced the following felony crimes to misdemeanors: Shoplifting, where the value of property stolen does not exceed $950. Grand theft, where the value of the stolen property does not exceed $950.
Bakersfield Now
A pot shop on every L.A. corner?
In the city of Los Angeles, no more than 135 pot shops are considered to be somewhat legit. They enjoy limited legal immunity under 2013’s voter-approved Proposition D. But state tax officials say there are more than 900 dispensaries in the city, and some experts estimate the number could be as high as 1,500 – the vast majority of them illegal. It isn’t exactly amnesty, but there’s a movement afoot to legalize at least some of them.
Appellate panel upholds man’s 12-year prison sentence for live-in boyfriend’s killing
A state appeals court panel Thursday upheld a man’s 12-year prison sentence for fatally stabbing and mutilating his live-in boyfriend at the West Hollywood apartment they briefly shared. The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Windham should have sentenced Andre Davids to six years in prison for the March 29, 2014, death of Kurtland Ma.
Court: California sentencing measure applies to plea deals
A voter-approved ballot measure that reduced penalties for certain drug and property crimes applies to prisoners convicted under plea deals, the California Supreme Court said Thursday. A unanimous court overruled a lower court decision that could have limited the number of inmates eligible for Proposition 47’s benefits.
NBC7 San Diego
Canyon Country man sentenced to 27 years, eight months, for attack on deputies
A Canyon Country man who fought four sheriff’s deputies who responded to a domestic violence call was sentenced Wednesday to 27 years and eight months in prison. Calvin Charles Lynch, 29, appeared Wednesday in San Fernando Superior Court where he was sentenced. “Lynch was sentenced to 27 years, 8 months which is the maximum he faced,” Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, said Wednesday.
Santa Clarita Valley Signal
California prosecutor faces one-year suspension for falsifying confession
A county prosecutor in California who falsified a defendant’s confession and then said it was just a “joke” he was playing on a public defender now faces a year’s suspension of his law license. The California State Bar announced the action Thursday against Kern County Deputy District Attorney Robert Alan Murray.
He was supposed to drive an intoxicated teenager home. Prosecutors say this Uber driver raped her instead.
An Uber driver was charged with raping an unconscious teenager after she passed out in the back of his car while she was intoxicated, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors charged Samer Alaaeldin Mahran, 23, a resident of Huntington Beach, Calif., with multiple felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, forcible oral copulation upon a minor over 14 years of age, sexual penetration of a child over age 14 by a foreign object and force and unlawful sexual intercourse.
Ex-rehab owner accused of sexually assaulting patients, $175M billing fraud
The ex-operator of more than a dozen Southland drug treatment and rehabilitation facilities pleaded not guilty today to nearly 100 felony counts accusing him of sexually assaulting nine patients and masterminding a $175 million billing scheme. Christopher Bathum, 55, formerly owned and operated 13 Community Recovery treatment centers in Los Angeles County and Orange County, as well as six in the state of Colorado, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Lancaster man charged with murder of LASD officer has arraignment pushed back
The man charged with killing Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Steve Owen in Lancaster last month had his scheduled arraignment on Monday pushed back to Dec. 15 so his public defender could gather more information about the case. Deputy District Attorney Michael Blake told the judge in the courtroom he had spoken with Trenton Trevon Lovell’s public defender Monica Thelen about trying to provide a preliminary list of witnesses sometime this week.
Antonovich calls for more support for crime victims owed restitution
The county is trying to preserve restitution for crime victims, after voters once again approved a ballot measure – this time, Prop 57 – which has made it more difficult for the courts to collect from criminals. The increasing rate of recidivism since voters passed Proposition 47 in 2014, combined with the fact voters have once again lessened the penalties for many crimes – Prop 47 reduced nearly all drug and theft charges to misdemeanors – have hampered efforts by county officials to help victims.
KHTS Hometown Station
Janice Hahn taps Supervisor Don Knabe’s aide as her chief of staff
An aide to Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe has been tapped as the new chief of staff for Rep. Janice Hahn when she succeeds the veteran Fourth District supervisor in December. Hahn’s office announced Wednesday that Nick Ippolito will serve as her top staffer. Ippolito has worked for the county for 25 years and currently serves as Knabe’s assistant chief of staff.
Torrance Daily Breeze
Pension battle pushes precedent in distressed California town
Letters sent by certified mail usually aren’t how state and local governments signal they’re about to breach the promise that public workers consider ironclad when it comes to retirement benefits. But that’s how Patsy Jardin, 71, of Loyalton, California, found out that she may lose much of her $48,000 annual pension because the town government failed to fund its long-term liabilities. Reading the letter delivered to her rural home made the former clerk “sick,” she said in an interview. “It’s my livelihood.”
Here’s why Mike Ramos wants to be appointed California attorney general
San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos said Monday, Nov. 14, that he’s interested in being appointed to serve the remainder of Kamala Harris’ term as California attorney general now that she’s been elected to the U.S. Senate. Ramos announced his intention two years ago to run for attorney general in 2018, when Harris’ term expires. But now that she’s a senator-elect Gov. Jerry Brown will have to appoint a replacement with approval from a majority of the Assembly and state Senate.
Riverside Press-Enterprise
SF, LA police unions target SF DA Gascón in letter to Gov. Brown
Police union officials took another shot Wednesday at their longtime nemesis, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, this time in a letter sent to Gov. Jerry Brown asking that he not appoint a “failed prosecutor” to replace U.S. Sen.-elect Kamala Harris as state attorney general. Gascón, whose push to reform the police force has been met with stiff resistance, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for attorney general, but could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday. In the past, he has said he had no plans to run for the job.
Lots of strong prospects for California attorney general
Gov. Jerry Brown won’t have a hard time finding a well-qualified candidate to succeed U.S. Sen.-elect Kamala Harris as state attorney general. If there is one thing California has in abundance, it is lawyers with skill, steel spines and ambition. The difficulty will be in coming up with just one nominee.
Is Sacramento really boys’ town? Women lose ground in California’s Legislature
On a night many believed would be a milestone for women in politics, Cristina Garcia donned a Hillary Clinton T-shirt and a gray pantsuit and left her house in southeast Los Angeles. “Buenas noches,” the Democratic assemblywoman from Bell Gardens greeted her neighbors as she walked to an election-night party. Garcia was hopeful not only that voters would send a woman to the White House, but also that they would propel a bumper crop of women to the California Capitol.
A dozen hopefuls step up to the starting line for Los Angeles mayoral race
Y.J. Draiman would take Mayor Eric Garcetti’s job by boosting business. David Hernandez would supplant the mayor by building infrastructure. And Garcetti would be re-elected mayor by having already led Los Angeles. They were among the dozen candidates to formally declare they would run for mayor before the deadline ends at noon today. Candidates have until Dec. 7 to collect enough signatures to get onto the March 7 city election ballot.
L.A.’s March ballot has more than a mayor race
The election is over. Get ready for the election. In only a little more than 100 days, Los Angeles residents will go back to the polls to vote for mayor, city attorney, city controller, eight of the 15 L.A. City Council members and three of the seven L.A. Unified School Board members. Dozens of candidates have declared their intention to run. Quietly, serious campaigns are well under way. Where should the focus be?
Post-Election 2016
California parole changes may speed end to federal oversight
Voters’ approval of Gov. Jerry Brown’s sentencing reform initiative may finally give California the long-term solution it needs to end a decade-long legal battle over prison conditions that twice reached the U.S. Supreme Court and has cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Proposition 57 was pitched as a safety valve to reduce an inmate population that is steadily increasing despite state efforts to shift felons from overcrowded state prisons into equally burdened county jails over the past five years.
Passage of Prop. 57 poses questions
Law enforcement officials say they are concerned the passage of a new law that provides early parole consideration will place more felons “back on the streets” without addressing crucial program gaps. California voters on Tuesday passed Proposition 57 by a wide margin, with about 64 percent voting yes. The proposition, backed by Gov. Jerry Brown, was touted as a cost-saving measure to address the ballooning prison population.
Why Brown must actively guide Prop. 57’s criminal justice reform
Proposition 47, the 2014 state ballot measure that reclassified many felonies as misdemeanors, has proven divisive. Some strongly defend it, but many in law enforcement say it has led to more crime. Now Gov. Jerry Brown’s latest criminal justice reform measure, Proposition 57, has passed. It will make it easier for many felons – mostly those convicted of nonviolent crimes – to win parole from the state Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections by earning sentence credits for good behavior, rehabilitation or educational achievements.
Law enforcement leaders brace for Prop. 57 impacts
Law enforcement leaders are bracing for the impacts of Proposition 57, the voter-approved initiative that will make thousands of prison inmates eligible for earlier parole, allow state prison officials to expand credit for rehabilitation and give judges authority as to whether juveniles should be tried as adults. “There is less offender accountably and to a degree it also revictimizes the victims of crimes,” Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said.
Redding Record Searchlight
San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said he will continue working with the Secretary of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to determine what impact the passage of Proposition 57 will have in the county. California voters approved the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act, better known as Prop 57, last week. It is supposed to help reduce the state’s prison population by providing more parole opportunities for some convicted felons.
Criminal justice reform rolls on in California, much to the chagrin of police leaders
Another defeat at the ballot box this week for California law enforcement leaders. For months, many police chiefs, sheriffs and prosecutors urged voters to reject Proposition 57, which will give thousands of state prisoners an early opportunity to be released. Voters overwhelmingly approved the measure 63.59 percent to 36.41 percent. The passage of Proposition 57 is only the latest measure to roll back the policies of the 1980s and 90s when crime rates were much higher than they are today.
ACLU fights California’s new death-penalty law
Following Californians’ Election Day approval of a proposition to keep the death penalty and speed executions, the ACLU sued the state, claiming Proposition 66 gives unelected officials “unbridled discretion” over executions. The ACLU of Northern California and two death-row inmates, Mitchell Sims and Michael Morales, claim California’s death-penalty law violates the state constitution’s separation of powers clause by allowing the defendant Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation instead of legislators to develop execution procedures.
Trump election won’t change immigration enforcement at some Southern California police agencies
Several major Southern California police agencies have no plans to alter immigration policies despite a pledge from President-elect Donald Trump to impose tougher immigration laws and deport some 2 million to 3 million immigrants with criminal records. The Los Angeles Police Department will not change its immigration policies, Chief Charlie Beck said in remarks reported Monday. “I don’t intend on doing anything different,” Beck said in a Los Angeles Times story.
In CA, some winners and losers
It’s all over and, with a few exceptions, it will stay that way for two more years. But like any other public event, ranging from bridge tournaments to the Super Bowl, there were winners and losers. Here’s our take on who came out winners and who lost in the 2016 general election. WINNERS: Jerry Brown – California voters approved his Proposition 57, a move to loosen parole restrictions and reduce the prison population. The governor must be thinking “If only I were a few years younger, I could have clobbered Trump!”
Capitol Weekly
Poll: Republican gubernatorial candidates would perform well behind Democrat Newsom
Good news for California Republicans: In a field of nine candidates for the 2018 gubernatorial race, they have two of the top three names, according to a poll released Tuesday. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Ashley Swearengin, the termed-out mayor of Fresno, placed just behind Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom in a poll of registered voters taken prior to last week’s presidential election, conducted by The Field Poll and the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley.
The Riggs Report: Death and taxes on the ballot
Benjamin Franklin is famously quoted as saying, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.” California voters underscored that saying in last week’s election, turning down another effort to repeal the death penalty while also approving a higher tobacco tax and an extension of higher income taxes for the state’s wealthiest residents. But with the dust settling on the outcome of a ballot crammed with the most propositions in 16 years, the overall results defy an easy explanation or road map of where the state may be heading.
GOP assemblyman defeated, giving California Democrats supermajority
Republican Assemblyman Eric Linder has been defeated by Democratic challenger Sabrina Cervantes, giving the Democrats an expected supermajority in the California Assembly. Linder was one of at least two GOP incumbents who lost after last week’s election. Assemblyman David Hadley of Torrance also was defeated. Results from Riverside County showed Wednesday that Cervantes won 53 percent to 47 percent.
His party’s refusal to keep illegals out let Trump stomp his way in
America’s Republican elites are as stunned by Donald Trump’s conquest of the White House as the Democrats and the press. They shouldn’t be, since they created the conditions that led to Trump’s improbable victory. For decades the Republican establishment suppressed debate about the costs of mass low-skilled immigration. Anyone who questioned the wisdom of America’s de facto open borders policy was silenced with charges of xenophobia or simply ignored.
L.A. leaders just vowed to fight deportations under Trump. Here’s what they’ve proposed
s Angeles city officials on Thursday began outlining a wide-ranging battle plan for dealing with the Donald Trump presidency, vowing to push back against efforts to deport people in this country illegally while also working to protect – and perhaps even increase – federal funding for projects ranging from transportation to homelessness.
Texas was Obama’s chief antagonist. In Trump’s America, California is eager for the part
In the early morning hours after Donald Trump became president-elect of the United States, California Senate leader Kevin de León and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon were on the phone grappling with what comes next. Trump’s upset victory left the two Democrats reeling. They saw the incoming administration as an existential threat to the progressive work they accomplished in the nation’s most populous state.
California voters embrace anti-gun ammunition control
Cementing California’s status as the most anti-gun state, voters overwhelmingly voted on Election Day for stronger gun control regulations, including new ammunition controls. The proposition features a provision that requires a person or business to get a single year license from the state Department of Justice to sell ammunition and requires sellers to conduct background checks for ammunition purchases.
Watchdog.org
The marijuana-initiative blunder that could cost California millions of dollars
Benjamin Franklin said that taxes, like death, are one of life’s few certainties. But due to a glitch in the technical language of California’s successful marijuana legalization initiative, the state’s pot smokers may prove him wrong. California’s marijuana legalization initiative is designed to raise significant tax revenue for the state.
November 14, 2016 /in 2016, Monday Morning Memo /by Nathan Bartos
Jump in assaults on California police officers alarms police, communities
Nine police officers have died in the line of duty so far this year in California, five of them since October. The total is not unusual – California loses 10 officers per year on average, according to the Attorney General – but the concentration of killings jammed into just a few weeks is unnerving to many on all sides of the thin blue line. More disturbing, perhaps, is the jump in assaults on police officers. Such attacks can include anything from armed ambush, similar to the one that killed two officers in Iowa on Wednesday, to a push or punch from a recalcitrant suspect.
Murdered LA deputy honored
A sign designating the interchange of the San Bernardino (10) and Long Beach (710) freeways in memory of slain Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Thomas H. Pohlman was unveiled Tuesday. Sheriff Jim McDonnell, Pohlman’s widow, Jenny Liepitz, and children Bryan Pohlman and Kelly Padilla-Pohlman attended the ceremony at Biscailuz Center Training Academy in East Los Angeles, said Eric W. Rose of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs.
LAPD fires two officers following death of UCLA student
The Los Angeles Police Department fired two officers who visited the apartment of UCLA student Andrea “Andy” DelVesco shortly after she was killed in September 2015. Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck fired Rhoadell Sudduth in May and Alisha Williams in September, according to documents obtained by CNN. An internal LAPD investigation found both officers guilty of misconduct because they responded to an emergency call from DelVesco’s neighbor but did not enter DelVesco’s apartment.
Daily Bruin
Women who alleged sexual assault by 2 LAPD officers testify: ‘I didn’t really feel like I had a choice’
She first met the two narcotics officers in July 2009 when they drove her to jail after she was caught buying methamphetamine in Hollywood. If she gave them names of drug dealers, they said, they could get her out of jail. The woman didn’t make any promises, she recounted, but took one cop’s phone number before she was booked.
Are Los Angeles police chases worth the risk to bystanders? Last year saw record injuries
Los Angeles police chases injured more bystanders in 2015 than in any other year in at least a decade, a surge that has renewed calls for the LAPD to reform a pursuit policy considered one of the most permissive in California. Seventy-eight people were hurt during LAPD chases they had nothing to do with last year, eclipsing the previous highest tally of 61 in 2005, according to a Times review of pursuit data reported to the California Highway Patrol.
California movie producer arrested in $26 million fraud
A California movie producer has been arrested on charges in a $26 million investment fraud. Prosecutors said David Bergstein was arrested Wednesday in Hidden Hills, California, and faces an initial court hearing in Los Angeles. The government said the 54-year-old Bergstein and a co-defendant – Keith Wellner – carried out the fraud by cheating investors at Weston Capital Asset Management, an investor adviser firm.
Robert Durst appears in LA court, enters plea in Susan Berman’s 2000 slaying
Real estate heir and documentary figure Robert Durst made a long-awaited appearance Monday in a Los Angeles courtroom on a charge of killing his friend 16 years ago. Durst pleaded not guilty during an afternoon arraignment at the Airport Branch courthouse in Los Angeles for the killing of his one-time spokeswoman Susan Berman in 2000.
Ex-Sheriff Lee Baca mentally incompetent? Trial awaits
Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca is seeking to introduce testimony at his forthcoming trial linking actions charged in a felony indictment to a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment he received years later. Baca’s attorneys want a jury to hear opinions from a psychiatrist, Dr. James Spar, regarding the retired lawman’s mental state in 2011 and 2013, according to court papers obtained Wednesday by City News Service.
Prosecutors reject criminal case against Manhattan Beach teacher
The District Attorney’s Office has rejected filing criminal charges against a Manhattan Beach Middle School teacher placed on leave last month in an alleged child annoyance case, police said Monday. The unidentified teacher, however, will remain on administrative leave from school while Manhattan Beach Unified School District officials conduct their own inquiry into the matter, authorities said.
Jury finds reporter, Rolling Stone responsible for defaming U-Va. dean with gang rape story
A federal court jury decided Friday that a Rolling Stone journalist defamed a former University of Virginia associate dean in a 2014 magazine article about sexual assault on campus that included a debunked account of a fraternity gang rape. The 10-member jury concluded that the Rolling Stone reporter, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, was responsible for defamation, with actual malice, in the case brought by Nicole Eramo, a U-Va. administrator who oversaw sexual violence cases at the time of the article’s publication.
Dallas Raines’ wife sentenced to probation, drug rehab for trying to strangle daughter
e wife of KABC-TV’s longtime weatherman Dallas Raines was sentenced to three years’ probation and drug rehabilitation for beating and trying to strangle their adult daughter as they drove home from a La Cañada country club, prosecutors said. As part of a plea deal, Danielle Raines pleaded no contest Friday to one felony count of assault by means likely to produce great bodily harm on her 25-year-old daughter, according to Ricardo Santiago, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
Driver gets 10 years for hit-run death of junior high teacher-cyclist
A Canyon Country man was sentenced to 10 years in state prison Monday for hitting a 53-year-old bicyclist with his car and then fleeing the scene of the crash, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced. Deputy District Attorney SuSu Scott said Lucas Guidroz, 28, pleaded no contest on Oct. 4 to one count each of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and hit-and-run driving resulting in death.
Killer gets life term for rampage at Los Angeles Airport
A gunman who killed a federal transportation security officer and wounded three other people during a rampage at Los Angeles International Airport was sentenced to life plus 60 years in prison Monday for the attack that crippled the nation’s second-busiest airport and disrupted travel nationwide. Paul Ciancia, 26, had faced the mandatory life sentence for murdering a federal officer, but prosecutors also sought the additional 60-year term because he showed no remorse and still clings to the beliefs that led to the violence in 2013.
Prison & Jail
Onetime jails chief returns to head troubled probation
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Wednesday formally appointed Terri McDonald, the onetime jails chief, to head the troubled Probation Department. Supervisor Hilda Solis called McDonald a proven leader and said she “will provide the seasoned command, leadership and management skills that the county needs right now.” Solis said the board had been looking for a candidate with a commitment to both public safety and the rehabilitation of offenders.
LA County jail problems linger with big lawsuits
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed Wednesday to pay more than $3 million to the families of two people who died while in county jail. One case is from 2009, the other from 2013 – before reforms were underway in the jails, sheriff’s officials say. Helen Jones alleged her son John Horton, 22, was never properly placed in a mental health unit, despite a court order instructing jailers to do so.
Washington state prison department to stop calling prisoners ‘offenders’
The Washington state Department of Corrections is phasing out the word “offender” in an attempt to shake a negative social stigma connected with the term. For prisoners in classes, staff should now use “students.” And for those in the infirmary, they should say “patients.” “Individuals” is a better term, too, the department says.
Prop. 64: What to know now that marijuana is legal in California
California has joined a growing trend across the country by legalizing the recreational use of marijuana and hemp. By passing Proposition 64, Californians over 21 years of age can now legally smoke marijuana privately, and can have up to 28.5 grams of marijuana and up to 8 grams of concentrated marijuana, such as hash, in their possession, according to the Official Voter Information Guide for the proposition.
Calif. voters decide to uphold death penalty, streamline the process
California voters rejected a ballot measure that would have abolished the death penalty, and narrowly approved a competing measure designed to streamline the execution process. Proposition 62, which was opposed by about 56 percent of voters, would have repealed the death penalty for murder and replaced it with life in prison without parole.
Suit filed to block death-penalty measure Prop. 66
Opponents of a newly passed initiative aimed at speeding up executions have asked the state Supreme Court to block it from taking effect. Proposition 66, approved by voters Tuesday, will cause “confusion and upheaval” in the courts, interfere with their authority, and force both courts and lawyers into hurried and less-reliable decisions in capital cases, said the suit filed Wednesday by former state Attorney General John Van de Kamp and Ron Briggs, a former El Dorado County supervisor.
Proposition 57 passed
Law enforcement thinks they’ll be a lot busier now that one of the more controversial measures, Proposition 57, passed yesterday. “Law enforcement and the citizens are going to have to live with the effects of Proposition 57.” George Hofstetter with the Association For Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs is afraid that crime will go up… now that many violent felons will be reclassified as non-violent.
790 KABC
After Prop. 57, DA says we can’t forget about victims
At least 30,000 of California’s 130,000 state inmates could soon be considered for early release, the latest step in an unprecedented five-year effort to reduce California’s prison population, after voters approved a sentencing reform measure championed by Gov. Jerry Brown.
Visalia Times-Delta
Voters approve California gun control law
A gun- and ammunition-control initiative, the provisions of which include prohibiting the possession of large-capacity magazines, will become the law of the land in California thanks to voters’ approval. In addition to requiring the destruction or removal from the state of large-capacity ammunition magazines, Proposition 63 will also require most individuals to pass background checks and obtain Department of Justice authorization to purchase ammunition.
CBS8
With Hahn and Barger elected as L.A. County supervisors, board will see its first female majority
Even in a state known for its diversity and progressive culture, women remain seriously underrepresented in California’s state and local government. The 15-member Los Angeles City Council has only one woman on it, and a report released two years ago found that women occupied fewer than 30% of elective city, county and state posts. But with Tuesday’s election, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has become a major exception.
California Democrats’ supermajority quest hinges on close races
Democrats were within striking distance of a supermajority in the California Assembly Wednesday, and liberal groups were successful in their bid to throw out a moderate Democratic Assemblywoman who has opposed labor and environmental regulations. But elsewhere, moderates reigned, and voters did little to upend the fractious balance of power between moderate and liberal lawmakers in the Democratic Party, giving Democrats only tepid gains on a night when they had hoped to sweep in more liberal candidates and score supermajorities in both houses.
Democratic supermajority won’t stop intraparty fighting, but may grow center
Democrats on Election Day have a very real chance at winning a two-thirds “supermajority” in the California Legislature. While that would be a major disaster for Republicans politically – if it were to happen – it would likely have little effect on the legislative process if recent history is any guide. In fact, most of the larger defeats over the last year or so have been due to intraparty fighting.
Cal Watchdog
Candidate filing period opens for LA mayor, city attorney, council seats
The exhausting, never-ending 2016 presidential election isn’t even over yet, but local Los Angeles candidates are already gearing up for the March election. The candidate-filing period for the Los Angeles mayoral, city attorney, controller and council seats opened Monday. Aspiring candidates will have until Friday to submit their declarations of intent to run, and about a month – from Nov. 12 to Dec. 7 – to submit nominating petitions.
CBS Los Angeles
See how they run: Candidates lining up for 2018 governor’s race
Up and down the state, candidates are gearing up for the next election. The 2018 gubernatorial election, that is. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is in and is quickly assembling a war chest. Ditto state Treasurer John Chiang. Former California schools superintendent and East Bay Assemblywoman Delaine Eastin says she’s gearing up to run, and Bay Area billionaire Tom Steyer is said to be considering it, too. And former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says he’ll be jumping in as soon as next week.
Antonio Villaraigosa, former L.A. mayor, jumps into the California governor’s race
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Thursday began his 2018 bid for governor after a three-year hiatus from the political limelight, joining a heady field of candidates that is expected to grow larger in the months ahead. The former mayor, who was raised by a single mother in Boyle Heights, said his campaign will focus on rebuilding the middle class and assisting Californians who have been “left behind” in the new economy, along with improving public schools and repairing the state’s deteriorating roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
State Bar
State Bar does not have to disclose racial data, judge rules
The State Bar does not have to disclose the race or ethnicity of the many thousands of Californians who took the bar exam because it would invade their privacy, a judge ruled Monday in a setback for a researcher who hoped the data would support his opposition to affirmative action. Richard Sander, a UCLA law professor, sued in 2008, seeking information on everyone who had taken the exam since 1972 – their race or ethnicity, what law school they attended and their scores on the exam.
Post-Election
Here is what Donald Trump wants to do in his first 100 days
At the end of October, Donald Trump spoke in Gettysburg, Pa., and released a plan for his first 100 days in office. The plan outlines three main areas of focus: cleaning up Washington, including by imposing term limits on Congress; protecting American workers; and restoring rule of law. He also laid out his plan for working with Congress to introduce 10 pieces of legislation that would repeal Obamacare, fund the construction of a wall at the Southern border, encourage infrastructure investment, rebuild military bases, promote school choice and more.
What does Donald Trump have in store for California?
Californians gave Donald Trump a stern rebuke Tuesday, handing Hillary Clinton a victory so lopsided that she ended up winning the nationwide popular vote. Now the multibillion-dollar question is: What does the president-elect have in store for California? As some disheartened California Democrats launched an online movement to secede from the United States, policy experts tried to gauge what to expect from a president-elect who thinks global warming is a hoax, free trade is a job killer and the Affordable Care Act must be repealed.
Liberal California braces for a Donald Trump presidency: ‘We are on high alert’
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee was avoiding questions about his interest in joining a possible Hillary Clinton administration last week, instead stressing the urgent need for more affordable housing to help lessen the scourge of homelessness in his city. “I need a good partner in the White House,” Lee, a Democrat, said at a campaign stop, where he touted his party’s presidential hopeful and sharply criticized her Republican rival, Donald Trump.
President Trump’s Justice Dept. could see less scrutiny of police, more surveillance of Muslims
The Justice Department is set to significantly shift its priorities under Donald Trump, reflecting the themes of a presidential candidate who consistently described the country as riven by chaos and in need of more powerful law enforcement. The department, which under President Obama built an aggressive civil rights division, is likely to take a more hands-off approach toward police departments alleged to have overused force and to loosen restrictions on surveillance in Muslim communities, according to legal analysts and Trump’s public statements.
California today: With Trump’s rise, a return to the ‘rebel state’
As the nation delivered Donald J. Trump a stunning victory, California went the other direction, embracing a progressive agenda. The state resoundingly backed Hillary Clinton, delivering her its 55 electoral votes, but it wasn’t enough to stem the wave of battleground states that lined up for Mr. Trump. “Probably no state is going to be more shocked by tomorrow morning’s headlines than California,” Bruce E. Cain, a professor of political science at Stanford University, said late Tuesday.
Trump plan calls for nationwide concealed carry and an end to gun bans
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump — who said he has a concealed carry permit — called for the expansion of gun rights Friday, including making those permits applicable nationwide. In a position paper published on his website Friday afternoon, Trump called for the elimination of gun and magazine bans, labeling them a “total failure.”
What now for true-blue California?
This was supposed to be, in the minds of many, the election that moved the rest of the nation closer to pluralistic, pro-tax, anti-gun, “progressive” California. Never mind. California voters reinforced the state’s image in a big way, favoring Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by a nearly 2-to-1 margin and passing ballot measures to tax the rich, regulate ammunition sales, soften criminal punishment, ban plastic bags, lift the ban on bilingual education and legalize marijuana.
What a difference a year makes!
One year ago the Dow was 5000 points higher than it opened today. Did I hear that right? Can this be? One year ago the Dow was at 14165! Now it is down 35%. Even Cramer, the thoroughly entertaining (to me, anyway) and highly energized TV financial markets commentator, now says get out of stocks. Get out of stocks? Who’da thunk? And, most of the rest of the world’s organized economies are in the same, sinking boat.
Fox & Hounds
What we’ve learned about the media industry during this election
When the 2016 campaign began, legacy news organizations already faced dim industry projections. Slides in print revenue at newspapers and magazines were accelerating; online advertising, the escape plan for these businesses, teetered. Television executives, lamenting smaller audiences and less enthusiastic advertisers, had finally realized that the huge changes elsewhere in the media industry were coming for them, too.
Why the Latino vote didn’t save America
As someone who had, just 24 hours earlier, asserted that Latino voters would turn out in droves for Hillary Clinton and help save the republic from Donald Trump, I spent Election Night with huevos rancheros on my face. I was wrong. Actually, I was right but I was wrong. I was right that Latinos did turn out big, at least in early voting. According to The Washington Post, Latinos accounted for a larger percentage of early voters than they did four years ago.
Who will Jerry Brown pick to fill very powerful office?
Tuesday’s election may be history, but another contest for one of California most influential offices looms – with just one voter who counts. With Attorney General Kamala Harris easily claiming a U.S. Senate seat Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown must appoint her successor, subject to confirmation by both legislative houses. Brown could name a caretaker to oversee the Department of Justice for the next two years or launch someone on a political career that could lead to the governorship, a U.S. Senate seat or even the presidency.
LA leaders to state: Don’t let SoCalGas resume at Aliso Canyon – yet
County supervisors voted Wednesday to press regulators to deny Southern California Gas Co.’s request to resume injecting natural gas into wells at the Aliso Canyon storage facility, where a four-month leak emitted 109,000 metric tons of methane and displaced thousands of residents. Supervisor Michael Antonovich recommended sending a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission and the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources asking that no new injections be allowed until regulators complete an analysis of the root cause of the leak.
Say goodbye to government by the people
When San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced that he would not defend the city in a federal lawsuit challenging state bail laws, he said, “Keeping people locked up for no reason other than they can’t afford to post bail can have far-reaching consequences. People lose their jobs and their homes. Families fall apart. Taxpayers shoulder the cost of jailing people who don’t need to be there. In other words, the current bail system is not just unconstitutional, it’s bad public policy.”
https://www.laadda.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/la-adda-logo-400.png 0 0 Nathan Bartos https://www.laadda.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/la-adda-logo-400.png Nathan Bartos2016-11-14 08:47:192017-07-09 13:14:36Monday Morning Memo for November 14, 2016
Monday Morning Memo for November 7, 2016
November 7, 2016 /in 2016, Monday Morning Memo /by jkonze
Ballot Initiatives
California’s 17 Propositions explained
Along with national and local races, Californians will be asked to vote on 17 state propositions November 8th. Marianne Kast with the Fresno League of Women Voters stopped by Eyewitness News This Morning, to explain some of them. Kast says the League is frequently asked about the propositions that receive the most advertisement. Those include: Proposition 53, a statewide approval for use of revenue bonds above $2 billion.
Your Central Valley
California voters poised to pass new gun and ammo restrictions
California voters will decide Tuesday whether to approve an ammunition and gun-control initiative, that would prohibit the possession of large-capacity magazines and require background checks for the purchase of ammunition. According to a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll released Thursday, the measure has strong voter support with 58 percent in favor of it versus 35 percent opposed.
Hollywood Patch/City News Service
Gun control measure divides California’s politicians, law enforcement
A gun control measure on California’s ballot Nov. 8 is pitting sheriffs, police chiefs, and prosecutors against most of the state’s political establishment. A state that already has some of the strictest limits on gun ownership in the nation is asking voters to impose regulations on ammunition sales and make it a crime not to report a stolen gun.
The Daily Signal
Propositions 62 and 66: Two death penalty initiatives to appear on upcoming ballot
California voters will decide on two opposing ballot initiatives — Propositions 62 and 66 — that have to do with the death penalty — including one that seeks to repeal it — when they head to the polls on Nov. 8. Chris Wolfe reports for the KTLA 5 News.
Props 62 and 66: Death penalty debate behind enemy lines
I just saw the first ad from the supporters of Prop 62. Mike Ferrell, the head of that movement, claimed that a “yes” vote on Prop 62 saves innocent lives on Death Row, by giving them all Life-Without-the-Possibility-of-Parole death sentences. What a myth and twist in thinking. Would Mr. Ferrell be willing to debate any LWOP prisoners he has demonized? Or is he afraid of the truth?
San Francisco BayView
If Prop 64 passes, what happens to prisoners convicted of marijuana charges?
Though his fate will hang in the balance on Election Day, Corvain Cooper won’t get to cast a ballot. The 37-year-old will be in a cell in central California’s Atwater federal prison, where he’s serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for convictions involving marijuana. “I was placed in a federal prison at its highest level, with felons who all committed acts of violence,” the Los Angeles native said in a series of monitored emails sent from prison.
Got bank? Election could create flood of marijuana cash with no place to go
Although the sale of marijuana is a federal crime, the number of U.S. banks working with pot businesses, now sanctioned in many states, is growing, up 45 percent in the last year alone. Still, marijuana merchants say there are not nearly enough banks willing to take their cash. So many dispensaries resort to stashing cash in storage units, back offices and armored vans.
Public safety united in opposition to Prop 57
Top law enforcement officials, peace officer and district attorneys’ associations, victims’ rights organizations and civic leaders from across the state have joined forces to speak out against Proposition 57, which will be voted on in California’s general election on November 8. More than 50 county district attorneys, 30 county sheriffs, 20 police chiefs, 30 congressional members and thousands of peace officers, crime victims and criminal justice advocates represented by over 45 associations unequivocally urge voters to vote No on Prop 57.
Prop 57: Not just a ‘juvenile’ initiative
When touting the merits of The Public Safety & Rehabilitation Act of 2016 (also known as Proposition 57,) the 2016 California voters guide addresses the question surrounding juvenile arrests for violent or serious criminal offenses to be charged as adults. Those convicted could spend years incarcerated in California State prisons.
CityWatch Los Angeles
Inmates supporting Prop 57 Public safety ballot initiative
NBC4 was given exclusive access into law enforcement’s four-year-long investigation, which led to the burglary ring raid. It led them to uncover another enterprise, in which they discovered inmates urging friends and associates to approve Proposition 57. Proposition 57 would make approximately 7,000 prisoners eligible for parole after they complete their primary sentence.
Yolo County’s top prosecutor opposes Prop. 57
In what has been a statewide effort by prosecutors and county supervisors, Yolo County officials are opposing Prop. 57 on next Tuesday’s ballot. In a letter to local newspapers, District Attorney Jeff Reisig, and supervisor Jim Provenza and Matt Rexroad are asking people to think about Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Owen, who was murdered while responding to a burglary call at an apartment building four weeks ago.
Woodland Daily Democrat
Ballot measure could shorten prison time for inmates
Few politicians debate the notion that prison incarceration is an issue demanding attention. The question for California voters is if Prop. 57 addresses the problem adequately. Prop. 57 is called the “California Parole for Non-Violent Criminals and Juvenile Court Trial Requirements Initiative” and will be on the Nov. 8 ballot as a constitutional amendment and state statute.
Marinscope
DA’s office will review campaign contributions from donors with ties to Sea Breeze developer
The Los Angeles district attorney’s office said Monday that it would review a series of campaign contributions made by donors with ties to a developer who secured approval for a controversial $72-million apartment complex. On Sunday, a Times investigation showed that more than 100 donors who were directly or indirectly connected to developer Samuel Leung had made donations totaling more than $600,000 to L.A.-area politicians while his 352-unit Sea Breeze project was being reviewed.
Playboy Playmate Dani Mathers charged in fitness center body shaming case
A Playboy playmate was charged Friday after allegedly secretly photographing a nude woman in a fitness club locker room and posting the image to social media. Dani Mathers was charged with one count of invasion of privacy, the city attorney’s office announced Friday. If convicted, the 29-year-old faces up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Justice Department sues AT&T-DirecTV, alleges collusion in blocking Dodgers channel
For three seasons, thousands of frustrated Los Angeles Dodgers fans have missed Clayton Kershaw’s brilliant pitches. They also never got to watch Vin Scully’s emotional final season and a dominant march to the playoffs. Now, the U.S. Department of Justice says that baseball fans were shut out because of unfair play by DirecTV, which allegedly colluded with rival pay-TV companies in an effort to make sure that Dodgers games were not widely available in Los Angeles.
Attorney embezzles $150,000 to pay own debt
A disbarred attorney pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of taking nearly $150,000 from three people and using their money to pay personal debts. Fred Raymond Hunter Jr., 50, of Riverside, who was disbarred Oct. 16, 2014, was charged Friday with three felony counts of embezzlement by a fiduciary of trust, with sentencing enhancement allegations for theft exceeding $100,000 and aggravated white collar crime exceeding $100,000.
Why ex-Sheriff Lee Baca’s jail corruption trial will stay in LA County
Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca will be tried in Los Angeles County in December in connection with a jail corruption case after a federal judge denied his request Monday to hold the trial outside the area. U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson denied the motion to change the venue by Baca’s attorneys, who argued that thousands of news stories about the high-profile case this year have saturated the public to the point Baca could not get a fair trial in Los Angeles County.
Gun battle with LAPD gets high-speed chase driver 32 years behind bars
A young man who led Los Angeles police on a high-speed chase during which his passenger fired shots at officers was sentenced Wednesday to 32 years in state prison. Avel Jowan Turks, now 20, was sentenced by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon immediately after pleading no contest to two counts of assault on a peace officer.
Eleven years for man who killed fellow transient outside fast-food restaurant
One of two homeless men convicted in the beating and stomping death of a fellow transient outside a fast-food restaurant in downtown Los Angeles was sentenced Monday to 11 years in prison. Derek Miller, 31, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the Feb. 7, 2015, death of Derrick Hamilton. Co-defendant Charles Allender, 42, was charged along with Miller and convicted of second-degree murder following a trial.
Woman gets 21 years in prison for Hollywood fight
A woman shot by police after pointing a gun during a fight in a Hollywood parking structure was sentenced Monday to 21 years in prison. Diamond Shirley Vargas, 49, of Los Angeles was convicted of one felony count of assault with a firearm. Jurors deadlocked on five identical counts. Vargas was shot in the leg following a confrontation on Dec. 26, 2014, in the parking structure of the Hollywood & Highland center.
Rapist pulls victim into car, drives to vacant home, 150 years to life prison!
A rapist convicted of sexually assaulting three women in Los Angeles and two women in Lancaster was sentenced Wednesday to 150 years to life in state prison. James Smith was convicted of nine felony charges stemming from attacks on a 21-year-old woman in Los Angeles on Dec. 24, 2009; a 43-year-old woman in Los Angeles on Sept. 24, 2011; a 33-year-old woman in Los Angeles on March 22, 2012; a 28-year-old woman in Lancaster on Dec. 6, 2013; and a 19-year-old college student in Lancaster on June 16, 2014.
Many secret service agents’ overtime pay maxing out in raucous year (Video)
Many of the U.S. Secret Service agents on the campaign trail are not getting paid for all the overtime they’re putting in.
L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell discusses Hatzolah, Israel and Black Lives Matter
While appearing as a guest of attorney Andrew Friedman at the Nov. 1 American Friends of Magen David Adom Red Star Ball, which was held at the Beverly Hilton, drew more than 1,000 attendees and raised more than $14 million to support Israel’s ambulance, blood-services, and disaster relief organization, Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell discussed what local emergency medical response services could learn from similar organizations in Israel, the state of police and African-American relations in Los Angeles in the age of Black Lives Matter and more with the Journal.
Former Long Beach officer arrested after alleged domestic assault and death threat
A former Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) officer was arrested today by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) and charged with felony counts by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Justice System Integrity Division, including burglary, assault with a firearm and false imprisonment charges, the LBPD announced.
Long Beach Post
New law aims for police accountability in use of force cases
A new law aimed at holding police accountable for use of force incidents has raised concerns among both police departments and civil rights groups. California Assembly Bill 71 requires police departments to submit annual data of their use of force, from shootings to altercations resulting in great bodily harm, and makes the records accessible to the public.
Parents of Ezell Ford, who was fatally shot by LAPD officers, settle lawsuit with city
The parents of Ezell Ford, a mentally ill man who was fatally shot by Los Angeles police officers in 2014, have settled their wrongful death and state civil rights lawsuit with the city of L.A., according to court papers. Attorneys for Ford’s parents and the city reached the tentative settlement Oct. 21, according to an order filed by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rita Miller.
Trans women want cops to stop prostitution crackdowns
A coalition of activist groups is asking the Los Angeles Police Department to back off of its operations against transgender women suspected of prostitution. Those crackdowns usually happen in Hollywood, along Santa Monica Boulevard.
FBI in internal feud over Hillary Clinton probe
The surprise disclosure that agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation are taking a new look at Hillary Clinton’s email use lays bare, just days before the election, tensions inside the bureau and the Justice Department over how to investigate the Democratic presidential nominee.
Body cameras end guesswork in controversial cop stops? 1,000 deputies get them
The Los Angeles Police Department isn’t the only massive Southern California law enforcement agency grappling with the use of body-worn cameras in the wake of controversial shootings and confrontations around the nation. The Riverside county Board of Supervisors next week is expected to authorize Sheriff Stan Sniff to move ahead with plans to outfit all patrol deputies with body-worn cameras to “improve employee and citizen accountability.”
Fairbanks officer who predicted his own shooting has died
Fairbanks Police Sgt. Allen Brandt has died. The officer, who was shot earlier this month, suffered complications during surgery on his eye on Thursday. His condition deteriorated, and he was not able to recover, according to Acting Police Chief Brad Johnson. “Fairbanks lost a hero today,” Johnson said. “Our community, our department, our families and our friends are hurting.”
KTUU
As threat evolves, Riverside County Sheriff’s gear up
Sheriff Stan Sniff, concerned that law enforcement officers in Riverside County and nationwide are increasingly encountering shooters firing high-powered weapons and refusing to surrender, has authorized his patrol deputies to wear special ceramic vests that are more likely to stop a bullet from a rifle than the vests they currently wear under their uniform shirts.
Prison & Parole
These puppies have a ‘magical’ effect on a state prison. Can they help inmates change?
When a pair of puppies stepped into a state prison’s highest security yard on a scorching summer day, dozens of felons fretted that the Labradors would singe their feet on hot pavement. “Pick them up! You’ve got to carry them. Watch out for their paws!” inmate Andre Ramnanan remembers his worried peers shouting at him.
Woman fights against early release of her brother’s killer
A Bakersfield woman is carrying on a lone fight against the early release of her brother’s killer, who was killed in a fiery car crash in August 2007 in Carson. William, better known as Bill, Cunha was 62 years old. According to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s reports, Cunha died when his vehicle was broadsided by another driver in a Chevy Avalanche.
Help stop parole of cop killer Voltaire Williams
We need your help to prevent a cop killer from walking free. Twice in two years, Voltaire Williams CDC# E17796, the convicted murderer of LAPD Detective Thomas Williams, has been up for parole. Both times, after organized efforts by the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) to send letters to Governor Brown and the Board of Parole Hearings, Williams was denied parole.
LA supervisors to vote on civilian oversight of sheriff
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected Tuesday to take the long awaited step of creating a civilian commission to act as a watchdog for the sheriff’s department. The idea of a citizen’s panel arose three years ago amid a federal investigation into inmate abuse inside LA County jails. That investigation led to the indictment of more than 20 deputies and the abrupt resignation of former Sheriff Lee Baca.
When CA voters cleaned house at the State Supreme Court
Thirty years ago, on November 4, 1986, California voters ousted Rose Bird, chief justice of the California Supreme Court, by a margin of 67 to 33 percent. This landslide vote confirmed that, contrary to current rhetoric, a bipartisan ruling class out of touch with the people is not a new development. Bird had been the first female public defender in Santa Clara County before serving as campaign chauffeur for Jerry Brown during his run for governor in 1974.
Court: The crime is what you did, not what you could have done
California’s Proposition 47 reduces felony convictions to misdemeanors for property crimes of less than $950. But when Jullian Rendon tried to reclassify her forgery conviction as a misdemeanor because she was caught with $260 in counterfeit bills, prosecutors objected because Rendon also possessed materials – blank pre-cut paper money, Benjamin Franklin faces and other items – that she could have used to fabricate tens of thousands of dollars in additional fake bills.
SF city attorney Dennis Herrera condemns state’s bail system
A decades-old California law that keeps people in jail if they can’t afford bail after their arrest came under renewed attack Tuesday from San Francisco’s city attorney, who said the city wouldn’t defend the law in court, and a Bay Area legislator, who promised a bill to repeal it.
The law “creates a two-tiered system: one for those with money and another for those without.
Judge excoriates Orange County sheriff for alleged concealment of jailhouse informant evidence
Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals blasted county Sheriff Sandra Hutchens in court Friday over a seeming refusal to turn over all evidence related to a tainted jailhouse informant program that has allegedly violated the rights of numerous defendants and threatens to upend multiple murder cases in the county.
Changing face of Los Angeles reflected in judicial candidates
The extraordinary diversity within the population of Los Angeles is reflected in a judicial race that pits a British born prosecutor against a Vietnamese American civil litigator in a race that has brought background, experience and temperament to the fore. One candidate was educated in London and steeped in the culture that produced the “Rumpole of the Bailey” television series.
Courthouse News Service
Jerry Brown touted his pension reforms as a game-changer. But they’ve done little to rein in costs
year after his 2010 election, Gov. Jerry Brown made a rare appearance at a legislative committee hearing to confront lawmakers about the steep cost of public employee pensions – and to demand that they pass his 12-point pension overhaul. Brown challenged fellow Democrats to drink political “castor oil” so public retirement costs would not overburden future generations.
As California turns left, conservatives’ culture war victories are being erased
Culture wars dominated California politics during the 1980s and 1990s, and for the most part those on the conservative side of the ideological scale prevailed. But then is then and now is now, and the tide appears to have turned.
Villaraigosa looks to former Newsom confidant to guide campaign
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa plans to turn to a San Francisco-based consultant and former confidant of rival Gavin Newsom to help guide his 2018 gubernatorial campaign, as he seeks to make inroads outside of Southern California. Villaraigosa’s plan to use Eric Jaye as a strategist, confirmed by multiple sources Monday, comes as Villaraigosa prepares to announce his candidacy shortly after the presidential election on Nov. 8.
L.A. City Council President wants to legalize pot shops, because they’re actually not legal
Pot shops in the city of Los Angeles technically are illegal. In 2013 voters approved a look-the-other-way law, Proposition D, which grants “limited legal immunity” to 135 or fewer dispensaries in L.A. that have kept up with certain regulations since 2007. Those collectives, however, could be outlawed on Jan. 1, 2018, when a package of state cannabis bills takes effect.
Anne Gust Brown for attorney general? She’s got a job, Jerry says
Perhaps no political parlor game has stirred as much curiosity among California politicos as Gov. Jerry Brown’s possible selection for state attorney general. Brown will have the opportunity to elevate the state’s next top law enforcement official if frontrunner Kamala Harris wins the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer in the Nov. 8 election.
Politicians and activists demand answers on mystery donations tied to ‘Sea Breeze’ developer
Two Los Angeles-area elected officials and several neighborhood activists called Sunday for an investigation into campaign donations made by people with ties to a developer who secured City Hall approval for a controversial 352-unit apartment complex last year. The Times reported that dozens of donors with direct or indirect connections to real estate developer Samuel Leung gave more than $600,000 to L.A.-area politicians as his $72-million project was being reviewed.
https://www.laadda.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/MMM.png 177 672 jkonze https://www.laadda.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/la-adda-logo-400.png jkonze2016-11-07 07:02:452017-07-09 13:14:43Monday Morning Memo for November 7, 2016
Monday Morning Memo for October 31, 2016
October 31, 2016 /in Monday Morning Memo /by Nathan Bartos
Local law enforcement leaders say Prop 57 is ‘deceptive,’ will roll back victims’ rights, lowers criminal penalties
As voters prepare to decide on a slate of statewide ballot measures, local and regional law enforcement leaders have come out with a strong warning against Proposition 57, which they say will endanger the safety of the communities and citizens they serve. They’re also concerned that it will undermine the authority of local elected judges and erode four decades’ worth of advances in victims’ rights in California.
Lake County News
No on Prop. 57: Early release of violent criminals would be allowed
Proposition 57 is a dangerous and misleading constitutional amendment that will put the citizens of California at serious risk. The proponents of Proposition 57 have said this law will only affect “nonviolent” felons. They claim that only people in prison for “nonviolent” offenses will be eligible for early release. But the truth is there are few prisoners left in state prison that are truly “nonviolent.”
Proposition 57 would let thieves nonviolently steal our stuff
Vote “no” on Proposition 57 – unless, of course, you would like to go back to wondering if your auto has been nonviolently stolen while you’re sitting at the movies, unless you would like to go back to wondering while you’re at work all day, if your house has been nonviolently ransacked and your valuables purloined. It’s actually more cost-effective to keep thieves jailed than to “wonder.” How much is your peace of mind worth to you?
Governor’s Prop. 57 could be a danger to our communities
Is Proposition 57 a get-out-of-jail-free card containing dire consequences for our cities, streets and homes, or is it a desperately needed constitutional change that will make our prisons less crowded and provide hope to prisoners seeking redemption? Jerry Brown is perhaps the most popular politician in California history, having been elected governor four times. Proposition 57 is his personal crusade.
Prop. 57 puts every Californian in danger
Every once in a while the American people decide to change their mind on a contentious, hot-button issue of the day. It usually happens gradually, as people age and newer generations with different opinions replace them. We’ve seen this happen on a large scale with policy regarding civil rights, gay marriage and how we treat the mentally ill.
Proposition 57: Do you feel lucky?
Sponsors say Proposition 57, the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016, will save taxpayers money by making nonviolent felons eligible for parole earlier and improve fairness by having judges, not prosecutors, decide whether juveniles are tried as adults. Critics call it a “get out of jail early” card. I would add that it’s the sort of dishonest measure that becomes commonplace under unaccountable one-party rule.
Governor playing key role in two California ballot battles
California Governor Jerry Brown isn’t on the November ballot, but he’s playing a key role in two state initiative campaigns. He is the author of Proposition 57, a measure aimed at reducing overcrowding in the state’s prisons, and his ballot measure committee has contributed over $4 million — more than a third of the $11.5 million raised for the initiative, a MapLight analysis has found.
Standard Examiner
What you need to know about California’s 17 ballot measures
The Nov. 8 election is upon us, and Californians are already voting in record numbers. They face 17 ballot measures – tax increases, condom requirements, ammunition controls and marijuana legalization among them. What to do? Our complete voter guide is available here. But below you can find direct links to a brief rundown of what each measure does, what it costs and who’s taken a position on it and why.
California ballot initiative goes further on bullet background checks
A ballot initiative in California looks to go a step further on a bullet background check law already passed by the state’s legislature in May. Some of the major bullet points of Proposition 63 have already been voted on by California lawmakers and signed by the governor. The law is set to take effect in January 2019. But Prop. 63 adds more red tape to one of the processes getting the most attention – the bullet background check.
Guns.com
Burglaries up in Benicia since Proposition 47 passed two years ago
Crime reports show burglaries are up significantly in Benicia since voters passed state Proposition 47 two years ago. The latest crime report from the Police Department in September shows a year-to-date increase over last year’s numbers, and law enforcement officials are fighting back, Benicia Police Department spokesmen said.
Times-Herald
Kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard opposes Prop. 57
Seven years after she was freed from captivity, Jaycee Dugard has kept a relatively low profile. Despite writing a couple of best-selling first-person books about a life defined by her 1991 kidnapping and subsequent near-slavery, her precise whereabouts remain a mystery. Dugard is single, according to interviews, and spends her time focusing on her children.
Prop. 57 would release violent criminals and undermine victims’ rights
Make no mistake about it: Proposition 57 is a dangerous, dangerous ballot initiative that poses a great threat to the people of California. The ballot title and summary called the “Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016” could not be more misleading or further from the truth as to what it does or, worse yet, for what it would do.
Sergeant’s widow has strong words against Prop. 57
Families of local law enforcement officers killed in shootings this month spoke out Tuesday against Proposition 57, the so-called safety and rehabilitation act that Gov. Jerry Brown strongly supports. Brown supports it so much that he has put up $5 million of his own campaign money in support of the proposition.
CBS LA
Families of 2 slain officers call Governor’s Prop 57 campaign deceptive
Family members of two law enforcement officers slain in recent weeks have come out against Proposition 57, accusing Gov. Jerry Brown of attempting to deceive voters about the measure that would enable some inmates to be paroled sooner. “Governor Brown, I’m calling you out on this,” said Tania Owen, widow of Los Angeles Sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Owen, who was shot to death on Oct. 5 while pursuing a burglary suspect in Lancaster.
NBC4 Los Angeles
LA County Sheriff Jim McDonnell weighs in on upcoming ballot measures
Voters will be tasked with deciding on several measures during Election Day on Nov. 8, including measures that could have an impact on public safety. Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell and other law enforcement officials voiced their opposition to Proposition 57 and 62 and their backing of Proposition 66 on Tuesday. Proposition 57 would increase parole chances for felons convicted of non-violent crimes.
California voters are being asked to force transparency in the Legislature. Here’s a Proposition 54 explainer.
The backers of Proposition 54 don’t have to do much to explain their motivation for imposing a waiting period for final action on bills by the California Legislature. History, it turns out, does it for them just fine. There was the time in 2014 when an extension of a tax break for installing solar panels mysteriously appeared in the state budget and was on the governor’s desk in less than two days.
Gil Garcetti and Eric Siddall weigh in on Proposition 62
California is one of 30 states where the death penalty is legal, but on Election Day here in California – things could change. Proposition 62 is a ballot initiative designed to abolish the death penalty. A ‘Yes’ vote means…you want to get rid of the death penalty and replace it with life in prison, without the possibility of parole. A ‘No’ vote means…you want to keep things as they are and keep the death penalty in place.
California correctional officers launch pro-death penalty campaign
With polls showing California voters poised to abolish the death penalty in just two weeks, the state correctional officers’ union is underwriting a major drive to save capital punishment. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association on Monday released a pair of ads encouraging voters to reject Proposition 62, which would replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without parole, and support a competing measure, Proposition 66, that aims to expedite the process and resume long-stalled executions.
Death penalty opponents exaggerate cost of executions in new ad
If voters approve Proposition 62 this November, California would replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Rather than focusing on moral arguments, supporters of the initiative have sought to make the campaign an issue of fiscal sensibility. In a new television ad, Ron Briggs, who managed his father’s successful 1978 ballot measure to expand California’s death penalty, says it was a mistake, emphasizing that the state would save money if it abolishes capital punishment.
Fleischman: The 7 ugliest propositions on the California ballot
There are 17 propositions on the California ballot next month. They range from good, to bad, to downright ugly. Below is a quick summary of the seven ugliest of the bunch – those easily deserving your “no” vote. Prop. 55 & Prop. 56 – Because we need taxes in California to be the highest in the nation, here are two massive tax increases placed right in front of you. Both of these are in the vein of the expression, “Don’t tax me, tax the guy behind the tree.”
Meet the main man fighting against California’s Prop. 64
The leading advocates for Proposition 64, the California initiative that would legalize and regulate the adult use of cannabis, are well known: Gavin Newsom, the dashing lieutenant governor; Sean Parker, the tech startup billionaire; and Jay Z, musician and general mogul. But who’s fighting it? That would be John Lovell. Lovell is a longtime law enforcement lobbyist who’s emerged as one of the leading voices against legalization in the nation’s largest state.
Terror attack put Californians behind sweeping gun-control initiative
In the aftermath of the 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack which devastated the working-class Southern California community, Golden state lawmakers revitalized a longstanding gun-control debate. Backed by public polling and overwhelming support in many of California’s most populated districts, California Democrats responded quickly to the tragic mass shooting and proposed a barrage of new gun bills that were eventually inked by Gov. Jerry Brown.
Manson follower ‘Tex’ Watson denied parole in California
California parole officials recommended Thursday that Charles “Tex” Watson, the self-described right-hand man of murderous cult leader Charles Manson, should remain in prison 47 years after he helped plan and carry out the slayings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six other people. Watson’s 17th parole hearing was held at Mule Creek State Prison, near Sacramento. He can seek parole again in five years.
Will California counties rethink charging parents fees for locked up kids?
If your kid gets arrested and locked up, it turns out you (the parent) might end up footing the bill. This might seem strange – after all, the state doesn’t charge adults for the cost of incarcerating them – but there is a little-known law that allows counties to collect money from parents for the cost of upkeep while their kids are in custody. One such parent is M.C., an Antioch resident who didn’t want her full name used because she worries for her and her son’s safety.
Man accused of killing Modoc sheriff’s deputy could face death penalty
A man accused of killing a Modoc County sheriff’s deputy has been charged with murder and could face the death penalty, authorities said. Jack Lee Breiner, 47, faces one count of willful, deliberate and premeditated murder for the death of Deputy Jack Hopkins, one count of attempted murder for shooting at Modoc Sheriff Mike Poindexter and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the Modoc County district attorney’s office.
Backpage sex ad fight thrown out of court
A federal judge Monday threw out Backpage.com’s claim that the U.S. attorney general is enforcing an unconstitutional law against advertising the sex trafficking of children. Law enforcement agencies for years have claimed that Backpage.com’s online “Escort” and “Adult Services” ads are thinly disguised ads for prostitution, sometimes forced prostitution, sometimes of children.
Australian man charged with attempted murder at Miranda Kerr’s home
A man has been charged with the attempted murder of a security guard who was stabbed at the home of supermodel Miranda Kerr. Shaun Anthony Haywood, 29, allegedly slashed the guard’s face with a knife after breaking into the Australian model’s Los Angeles property to deliver a letter on 14 October, prosecutors say. Haywood, from Australia, was then shot by the armed security guard, the Los Angeles county district attorney’s office said.
California man gets 1,503 years in prison for raping teen daughter
A Fresno man was sentenced to 1,503 years in prison for raping his teenage daughter over a four-year period, a case that stands in stark contrast to a recent controversial ruling in a Montana rape and incest case. The 41-year-old California man was sentenced Friday to the longest-known prison sentence in Fresno Superior Court history, the Fresno Bee reported. The Associated Press and CBS News are avoiding naming the man because it could identify his daughter.
2 L.A. gang members convicted of killing special-needs man for wearing red shoes, prosecutors say
Two gang members were convicted Monday of killing a 19-year-old man with special needs because he was wearing red shoes, prosecutors said. The eight-man, four-woman jury deliberated less than three hours before reaching guilty verdicts for Kanasho Johns, 29, and Kevin Deon Johnson, 26. They were charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Tavin Price on May 29, 2015 near a South Los Angeles car wash.
Prosecutor’s plea: Lock up for life killer of TSA agent at LAX
The man who opened fire inside a Los Angeles International Airport terminal in 2013, killing a TSA officer and wounding three other people, was bent on committing mass murder and should be sentenced to life behind bars, a federal prosecutor wrote in court papers obtained by City News Service.
‘El Chapo’ cohort gets 15 years for drug ring
A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced one of the most wanted Mexican cartel drug traffickers who also had ties to “El Chapo” Guzman to 15 years in prison. Victor Emilio Cazares Gastellum, 53, also known as “El Licenciado,” was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William Hayes for his role as the leader of a large-scale drug trafficking ring which moved drugs from Colombia and Venezuela through Central America to Mexico.
Feds: 24 charged with bringing drugs from LA to Chicago on Amtrak
Twenty-four people have been charged by federal authorities with using Amtrak trains to transport drugs from Los Angeles to Chicago. The indictments allege wholesale quantities of cocaine and heroin, obtained from Mexico and Southern California, were transported from Los Angeles to Union Station aboard Amtrak Express trains, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Crime down in Atwater, but public safety remains key political issue
It’s not every day a prominent Realtor and former city councilman uses a public forum to say his community is “going in a sh–hole.” Andy Krotik, director of government affairs for the Merced County Realtor Association, said during a meeting Oct. 6 that he was concerned about the public’s safety in Atwater.
Merced Sun-Star
Gaps in SF, state counts of police killings hinder grasp of issue
A little more than a year ago, outrage over police shootings around the country led California Attorney General Kamala Harris to launch an “unprecedented” project called Open Justice to provide user-friendly statistics – including counts of fatal police encounters – to researchers and regular citizens. But the public still isn’t getting a complete picture of these deadly incidents. Not even close.
The myth of the racist cop
FBI Director James Comey has again defied the official White House line on policing and the Black Lives Matter movement. The “narrative that policing is biased and violent and unfair” is resulting in “more dead young black men,” Mr. Comey warned in an Oct. 16 address to the International Association of Chiefs of Police in San Diego. That narrative, he added, also “threatens the future of policing.”
Report: half of US adults are in facial recognition databases used by police
A new report finds images of more than half of adults living in the US are stored in a series of police facial recognition databases, in many cases without any prior contact with police. That’s according to a new report that raising concerns and inconsistencies about privacy. A Martinez spoke with Alvaro Bedoya, executive director of Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology, who authored the report.
Dead sheriff’s sergeant had heart attack before crashing patrol car in Compton
A 47-year-old sheriff’s sergeant who died after his patrol car crashed in Compton had suffered a heart attack, the coroner’s office reported Wednesday. The crash occurred about 5:20 a.m. Monday at Myrrh Street and Willowbrook Avenue. Sgt. Al Lopez, a 26-year veteran of the department, died at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, according to the sheriff’s department.
‘The father of the modern police novel’ Joseph Wambaugh on ‘Dragnet,’ police shootings and Hollywood’s action addiction
Joseph Wambaugh earned the title “father of the modern police novel” in 1971 when he published “The New Centurions,” a raw, emotional look at the experiences of a class of new Los Angeles Police Department cadets in the years leading up to the 1965 Watts riots. No matter who had written it, “The New Centurions” would be a masterpiece, as are Wambaugh’s other police books, including “The Onion Field,” a nonfiction account of the kidnapping of two LAPD officers.
Americans’ respect for police reaches highest level since 1967, poll finds
Americans’ respect for local police jumped to its highest levels since 1967, according to a new Gallup poll Monday. The poll, conducted earlier this month, found 76% of Americans said they have “a great deal” of respect for police in their area, up 12 percentage points from last year. The findings follow high-profile fatal attacks on police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, and come amid ongoing protests over police shootings of black men across the country.
Washington sheriff fires back at NFL over Josh Brown case
King County Sheriff John Urquhart fired back at the NFL, which called his agency out for not disclosing the extent of New York Giants kicker Josh Brown’s domestic violence accusations. “I don’t like to get pushed around by a bully,” Urquhart told KIRO-FM on Thursday. “Or I can be charitable and say they don’t know the facts. They don’t understand how public disclosure works. That’s a better way to put it, if I felt like being charitable.
California city proposes mandatory gun lock law
City leaders in San Jose, the third-largest city in the California, are evaluating a plan that would require gun owners to secure their firearms when they are not in use. Councilman Ash Kalra, a Democrat currently running for an open seat in the California State Assembly, is sponsoring the legislation along with Councilman Raul Peralez, a former San Jose police officer, in what he terms an effort to increase public safety.
Angelenos fight city’s ‘anti-gang’ orders
The Los Angeles Police Department unconstitutionally expands the reach of gang injunctions to impose “probation-like conditions” on thousands of people who are not gang members, a Youth Justice Coalition claims in a federal class action. The Youth Justice Coalition and two men claim the city and its police force’s repeated violations of due process disproportionately affect men of color.
California spent all-time high $21 billion on crime last year
A new report lays out a stunning price tag for the cost of crime in California last year: nearly $21 billion. Even as the state has launched criminal justice reforms in recent years aimed at reducing its prison population, California’s expenses related to responding to crime and incarceration have continued to rise to an all-time high for the state.
The Chronicle of Social Change
L.A. County Sheriff making naughty list of deputies
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has begun to compile a list of its own employees who’s past bad behavior could be problematic if those employees were called to testify about criminal investigations in court. For the first time that list is expected to be forwarded to the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office so prosecutors can check to see if a deputy or detective could be challenged in court about past dishonesty, law breaking, or incidents considered to be, “acts of moral turpitude.”
After $38-million deal collapsed, L.A. County secretly launched public corruption probe of retired CEO
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors secretly launched a public corruption investigation of its former Chief Executive William T Fujioka shortly after his retirement two years ago, examining his role in real estate dealings, a multimillion-dollar emergency communications project and other county business, according to a document obtained by The Times and officials familiar with the probe.
Hahn, Napolitano vie for powerful Los Angeles board seat
The race features someone who has worked in the trenches of Los Angeles County government against a longtime elected official who’s also among the region’s political elite. Put another way, the contest between Steve Napolitano and Congresswoman Janice Hahn is between and a man who is spending more than a million dollars on his own campaign against a woman who seeks to follow in the footsteps of her politically famous father.
On anniversary of blowout, activists vow to ‘keep fighting’ to shut down Aliso Canyon facility
On the one-year anniversary of the start of the catastrophic natural gas leak at the Aliso Canyon storage facility, environmental activists, Porter Ranch-area residents and political candidates renewed their call Sunday to “Shut. It. All. Down.” More than 125 people gathered at Holleigh Bernson Memorial Park in neighboring Porter Ranch for a community fair and rally that was followed by a march to Southern California Gas Co.’s Aliso Canyon facility and a “memorial ceremony.”
Californian’s fight against illegal college subsidies for illegal immigrants heads to court
The next front in the battle over in-state tuition rates for illegal immigrants will play out in a California appeals court on Nov. 3 in a lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch on behalf of California resident and taxpayer Earl De Vries. The issue there is not whether the California Legislature can authorize in-state tuition to illegal immigrants-courts have held that they can-but whether the University of California Board of Regents, an independent body from the state Legislature, can lawfully authorize in-state tuition for illegal immigrants at all University of California campuses in direct violation of federal law.
Opponents of Beverly Hilton project allege voter fraud
Opponents of the Beverly Hilton’s bid to erect the tallest building in Beverly Hills have asked Los Angeles County prosecutors and elections officials to investigate allegations of voter registration fraud. The allegations, including that more than 300 Beverly Hills voters are registered illegally to post office boxes rather than their home addresses, were made by a lawyer for Beverly Hills Residents and Businesses to Preserve Our City, a committee sponsored by a competing developer, Chinese entertainment and real estate giant Wanda Group.
Feud escalates between OC Supervisor Spitzer and DA Rackauckas
The ongoing feud between Supervisor Todd Spitzer and District Attorney Tony Rackauckas escalated Tuesday, with the supervisor using a relatively routine item on the board meeting agenda to bash Orange County’s top prosecutor for not having a “day-to-day” professional running the office. The discussion about whether Rackauckas should have a chief deputy as a second-in-command began when Patrick Dixon, a member of the committee Rackauckas formed to review the jailhouse snitch scandal, raised the issue at Tuesday’s meeting.
https://www.laadda.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/MMM.png 177 672 Nathan Bartos https://www.laadda.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/la-adda-logo-400.png Nathan Bartos2016-10-31 06:57:452017-07-09 13:14:51Monday Morning Memo for October 31, 2016
Second man charged in Venice Veterans Memorial vandalism
Vandalism charges have been filed against a second man accused of defacing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Venice just before Memorial Day, prosecutors said Thursday. Luis Daniel Medina, also known as “Pheb,” is scheduled to be arraigned today on one felony count of vandalism with over $400 in damage and one misdemeanor count of possession of tools to commit vandalism or graffiti.
Massage therapist pleads not guilty to sexually assaulting client during private session
A massage therapist from Burbank pleaded not guilty Wednesday to sexually assaulting a client he met while working out of a North Hollywood gym, officials said. Daniel Holbert, 48, was charged in July with one felony count of sexual penetration by a foreign object by fraudulent representation, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. He is due back in court next month.
West Covina councilman pleads not guilty to misdemeanor DUI charge
A West Covina councilman pleaded not guilty Thursday to drunk driving charges in connection with a crash in June, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Michael Herman Spence, 50, had an attorney enter his plea Thursday morning to a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of a drug.
Woman pleads no contest to manslaughter in stabbing of brother’s girlfriend in Rowland Heights
A woman pleaded no contest Wednesday to one count of voluntary manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of her brother’s girlfriend, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. Lisette Kimberly Moreno pleaded no contest to a felony count of voluntary manslaughter for killing Annette Martinez, 21, with scissors.
She killed abusive hubby mayor of Bell Gardens: Self-defense plea deal falls apart
Efforts to reach a plea deal with no jail time have fallen apart for the wife of slain Bell Gardens Mayor Daniel Crespo Sr., who claims she shot and killed him in self-defense after enduring years of abuse at his hands, her attorneys said Monday. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy asked whether a plea deal had been struck when the parties were discussing potential trial dates for Lyvette Crespo, 45.
The feds had an open-and-shut bribery case against 2 brothers. Then it unraveled
The case against the brothers seemed like a sure thing. Last October, FBI agents arrested Sukhbir Singh and his brother Jimmy Sandhu, the owners of a tow truck company. The men were charged with bribing a member of the Huntington Park City Council in an effort to buy his support for higher towing fees.
Former Sen. Ron Calderon sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for bribery
Former state Sen. Ron Calderon was sentenced to three and a half years in federal prison Friday, four months after pleading guilty to one count of mail fraud. He also will be required to do 150 hours of community service after he is released from prison. The federal corruption case against Calderon, D-Montebello, also swept up his brother, former state Assemblyman Tom Calderon, D-Montebello, who on Sept. 12 was sentenced to 10 months in federal custody for money laundering after pleading guilty to hiding the tens of thousands of dollars in bribes paid to his brother.
Moments after his child sexual assault conviction, an ex-teacher slit his own throat in court
The first indication that something was amiss came when Jeffrey Scott Jones slumped suddenly in the Southern California courtroom. His head struck the table in front of him, and shocked attorneys saw blood streaming from his neck. Jones, 56, had been on trial in Orange County Superior Court on Wednesday, accused of sexually assaulting and raping a girl when she was 13, according to court documents.
Killer teacher’s never getting out: Appeal rejected in wife’s slasher murder
The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to review the case against a former Los Angeles Unified School District elementary school teacher convicted of the slashing murder of his estranged wife who had taken refuge at a friend’s home in West Hills. Michael Rodney Kane was found guilty in March 2015 of first-degree murder for the June 15, 2013, stabbing death of his estranged wife, Michelle, 43.
Former Calif. college student sentenced to 30 years for trying to aid ISIS
A former California college student was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison for trying to aid the Islamic State group. Muhanad Badawi, 25, was also sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release during a hearing in federal court in Santa Ana. He was convicted earlier this year of conspiracy to aid a foreign terrorist organization and other crimes.
Jury finds Camarillo man guilty of murder in deputy death
A Camarillo man accused of killing a Ventura County sheriff’s deputy was found guilty of second-degree murder Friday, ending a years-long saga that began with the death of Yevhen “Eugene” Kostiuchenko in October 2014. After nearly two days of deliberations – jurors agreed that Kevin Hogrefe, 27, was guilty of the death of Kostiuchenko while driving drunk.
Long Beach officer shoots and wounds man armed with a knife, police say
A Long Beach police officer shot and wounded a man who authorities said was armed with a knife and came toward the officer. The shooting occurred about 9:30 p.m. Thursday in the 100 block of the Colonnade in Naples, a tony district on the east end of Long Beach. Police were called to a home there after a man who appeared to be intoxicated tried to enter the home’s front door, Long Beach police spokeswoman Marlene Arrona said.
Thousands mourn Sgt. Steven C. Owen, who ‘fed the hungry,’ at Lancaster memorial service
The penetrating sound of bagpipes wailed as the flag-draped casket of Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt. Steven C. Owen, who was fatally shot by a parolee on Oct. 5, was escorted into Lancaster Baptist Church on Thursday for a memorial that celebrated “a life well-lived.” Thousands of law enforcement personnel, family, friends and dignitaries from around the nation came to the Lancaster church to pay their respects to the slain 29-year Sheriff’s Department veteran, who was remembered as a tireless patrol deputy, a consummate sergeant, a devout Christian and true family man.
New use-of-force reforms are shift in focus, not disciplinary change
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said a sweeping set of reforms approved by the Police Commission earlier this month won’t have a huge impact on police training or policy, but will mean a new focus for both. “I don’t think there’s gonna be a huge change,” Beck told Airtalk host Larry Mantle, “because we already do role-playing. We already do scenario-based training. We already have our fire arms trainings simulators. Much of this is in place, and it’s a further refinementof things we already do.”
Assassination attempt on Vallejo cops linked to boy’s shooting
A 41-year-old North Bay man with a felony criminal record attempted to assassinate two Vallejo police officers on a coffee break Sunday night, but his modified assault rifle jammed, police officials said Monday. Authorities said officers ultimately chased Adam Powell, who was wearing body armor, out of the Starbucks on Lincoln Road and shot him three times as he continued to fiddle with the weapon – shutting down what police said could have been a bloodbath.
Wait for facts before convicting Pasadena police: Guest commentary
Across the nation, a narrative has emerged that is most often false and feeds into race antagonism. It is the story of violent interactions between police and African Americans, ending with the death of an African-American man. Whatever the particulars, the resulting death is consistently used as a demonstration of “systemic racism.”
Registered sex offender accused of killing California deputy
A sheriff’s deputy shot dead in rural northern California was killed by a man listed in state records as a registered sex offender shortly after the deputy arrived at a home to investigate a domestic disturbance, authorities said Thursday. Deputy Jack Hopkins, 31, died instantly Wednesday morning and the suspect, Jack Lee Breiner, was arrested after a chase and shootout with another officer that left both wounded, the Modoc County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Video of St. Paul cop’s arrest attempt grabbed views. Here’s what you don’t see.
“Don’t shoot me!” a young man told a St. Paul police officer over and over again. The officer had his gun out, pointing at the ground, as the man walked away from him. A woman videotaped the encounter last month and posted it on Facebook, where it’s received much attention. The video ends after about one minute and doesn’t show what happened next. Police say the man was not shot – he ran away and remains at large.
Pioneer Press
Judge: Ex-LAPD sergeant violated ethics rules after stop of ‘Django Unchained’ actress, but shouldn’t be fined
A former Los Angeles police sergeant violated city ethics rules when he leaked to the media a recording from his controversial stop of an actress from “Django Unchained” – but should not be fined for doing so, a judge has determined. In a proposed order signed Friday, administrative law Judge Samuel D. Reyes agreed with city ethics officials that now-retired Sgt. Jim Parker inappropriately shared confidential information – audio from his personal recorder – and created a private advantage for himself “as it protected his reputation against allegations of racism.”
Man dies after exploding pipe bomb inside Oakland health clinic
A man has died after exploding a pipe bomb inside an Oakland health clinic Tuesday evening. The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office confirmed a report of an explosion at the San Antonio Neighborhood Health Center, located at 1030 International Blvd. just before 6:30 p.m. Witnesses told Oakland police that a man in a wheelchair entered the lobby of the clinic armed with what appeared to be a pipe bomb. He then detonated the bomb, taking his own life.
CBS SF
Law enforcement officers killed and assaulted report released
Today, the FBI released its annual Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) report-this one covering the 41 felonious deaths, the 45 accidental deaths, and the 50,212 line-of-duty assaults of officers during 2015. Among the report’s highlights: The number of officers killed as a result of criminal acts in 2015-41-decreased from the 2014 figure of 51. The average age of the officers killed feloniously in 2015 was 40, and the average length of service was 12 years.
Head of nation’s largest police chief group issues formal apology for ‘historical mistreatment’ of racial minorities
The president of the country’s largest police chief organization formally apologized Monday for the “historical mistreatment” of racial minorities – one of the strongest statements a national police figure has made to date on race. Law enforcement officers have been the “face of oppression for far too many of our fellow citizens,” Terrence Cunningham, president of the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, told thousands of police chiefs from across the country at the group’s annual conference in San Diego.
Injured sheriff prevails in medical records privacy case
A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy (identified as John Doe) and the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS) filed a complaint against the County of Los Angeles and other parties alleging that the defendants unlawfully accessed Doe’s medical information, and later discriminated and retaliated against him for asserting his right to keep that information confidential.
WorkCompAcademy.com
Slain Modoc County deputy to be transported to Redding
The body of the Modoc County Sheriff’s deputy who was killed while responding to a disturbance call Wednesday will be transported to his family in Redding on Thursday morning, according to spokeswoman Kristen Wilburn, a California Highway Patrol officer. Jack Hopkins, 31, was killed while responding to a disturbance call on Wednesday, according to the Modoc County Sheriff’s Office. Hopkins had worked as a deputy with the department since 2015.
Game Changer: The FBI’s RISC Mobile ID Query
If criminals on the streets often have the best and latest technology to help them commit crimes and conceal identities, shouldn’t the officer on the street be equally well equipped to fight these crimes? While cost is often a factor for agencies when considering elite technology for investigation and protection, one of the most useful tools for detection and safety is readily available and free of charge.
The Police Chief Magazine
Cybersecurity: A call to action for police executives
Police executives need to understand four things about cybersecurity. First, there has been a dramatic increase in both the frequency and sophistication of cyber attacks such as ransomware and ad malware attacks that systematically target police systems. Second, police executives in both large and small organizations are responsible for the well-being of their entire organization.
White House plan aims to do the (almost) impossible: Identify homegrown extremists
The White House announced a plan Wednesday to help prevent Americans from falling prey to violent ideologies of the sort that drove mass killings in New York, San Bernardino, Calif., Chattanooga, Tenn., and Orlando in the past year. The effort, which is being overseen by the Department of Homeland Security, is short on details and new funding.
Failure to prosecute officers for bad shootings underscores need for discipline disclosure
The important difference between the decision by Los Angeles County prosecutors not to criminally charge Long Beach Police Officer Jeffrey Meyer for his deadly shooting of a man in 2015 and their many previous decisions not to charge police in shootings is that they pointedly took Meyer to task for substantial “tactical deficiencies” that needlessly turned an investigation deadly.
VIDEO: Should California abolish the death penalty or make it easier to execute?
Among the heap of statewide propositions California voters weigh in on next month, two are literally life and death decisions. Proposition 62 would abolish capital punishment in California, making life without the possibility of parole the maximum punishment for murder. The Yes on 62 campaign argues that the death penalty in California is a failed, immoral and incredibly expensive system, costing taxpayers upwards of $150 million a year.
KQED News
LAPD officer fatally shot someone 12 days before killing another
An LAPD officer fatally shot someone 12 days before killing another, NBC4 has learned from our sister station Telemundo52. The mother of a 14-year-old Jesse Romero who was fatally shot by a Los Angeles police officer was shocked to learn the news. Teresa Dominguez, who is suing the department for the death of her son, wondered why did the department allowed the officer back to work after he had just killed someone else.
Our relationship with cops is not one of equals. Nor should it be.
Reading about the Chicago cop fearful of drawing her gun while being beaten by a convicted felon because she did not want to be judged on national news reminds me that it is time to talk straight about cops. Cops are not our friends. Nor should they be. To be sure, they are not our enemies either. Rather, they are here to do a job. A tough job. A job that is, frankly, boring some of the time, but then can turn on a dime into a life-or-death encounter.
VIDEO: San Francisco police officer suffering some paralysis after Friday’s shooting
A San Francisco police officer who was shot in the head Friday night in the city’s Lake Shore neighborhood is partially paralyzed on one side of his body, interim Police Chief Toney Chaplin said Saturday. Chaplin said police are not releasing the name of the officer, but he has been with the department for two years and is assigned to Taraval Station.
KRON4
Officers to run in full uniform from LA to Sacramento to benefit fallen comrades
It’s gonna hurt. But it will go for a cause that benefits devastated law enforcement agencies and families like in the cases of a Los Angeles Sheriff’s department sergeant and two Palm Springs police officers this month. For the past six months, before he ever starts his job as a senior lead officer at LAPD’s Olympic Division, Joe Cirrito is already at work.
Prosecutors: Long Beach police officer turned a minor call into deadly shooting, but he won’t face charges
As he responded to a trespassing call last year, Long Beach Police Officer Jeffrey Meyer walked away from his partner and headed down an alleyway alongside an apartment complex tagged with gang graffiti. He stopped moving when he noticed a broken window in the rear of the apartment he’d been trying to access. Meyer believed there were squatters inside.
Saluting a new kind of hero
It is standard practice of police departments across the country to honor officers who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in doing their jobs. But a recent ceremony of the Los Angeles Police Department deserves special attention. For the first time, the department saluted officers who resolved dangerous situations without loss of life – even when their own lives were threatened and use of deadly force would have been justified.
Fundraising page created for children of LAPD detective who committed suicide
A GoFundMe page has been created to raise money for the education of the three children of a Los Angeles Police detective who took her own life Tuesday. Nadine Hernandez, 44, was found suffering from a gunshot wound after officers responded to a home in Whittier, according to Lt. Jay Tatman of the Whittier Police Department. She was later pronounced dead at a local hospital and the case is being handled as a suicide, officials said.
Tesla luxury electrics may have future in law enforcement
Just months after adding 100 electric cars for non-emergency duty, the Los Angeles Police Department plans to test a Tesla sedan as a patrol car, a department official said Friday. The large battery capacity of the Tesla sedan, affording it both high performance and longer range, sets it apart from the smaller electric cars on the market. However, the cost of the batteries puts the Tesla in the realm of luxury cars.
Justice Department will track police killings and use of force
Promising information that is more standardized and complete than has previously been available, Attorney General Loretta Lynch says the Department of Justice will collect data on the police use of deadly force in the line of duty. Lynch’s announcement amplifies a statement by FBI Director James Comey at the end of September, when he told a congressional panel that the bureau is in the process of setting up a database that can track police killings and other use of force during interactions with the public.
LA County Sheriff McDonnell, DA Lacey speak out against Prop 57
Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell and District Attorney Jackie Lacey added their voices Thursday to the chorus of law enforcement opposing Proposition 57, the statewide ballot measure that would make non-violent felons eligible for early parole. McDonnell and Lacey echoed opponents’ arguments that under Prop. 57, some violent felons might come up for early parole consideration.
Law Enforcement: Prop. 57 will put ‘hard-core criminals’ back on streets
A group of law enforcement officials gathered in downtown Los Angeles Thursday to blast a measure on the November ballot billed as an effort to keep “non-violent” convicts out of prison, saying the proposition will put dangerous people back on the streets. “Do we really need more parolees and hard-core criminals on the streets? That’s what Proposition 57 does,” said Brian Moriguchi, president of the Professional Peace Officers Association of Los Angeles.
No on Prop 57: The increasing burden of crime
Ninety nine police officers have lost their lives this year, 44 of them from gunfire. There has been a 78% increase in shooting deaths compared to last year and ambush style attacks have increased as well. In October alone, five officers have been killed, three here in California. The murderers of these police officers are exactly the types of criminals Proposition 57 seeks to release back into our communities.
The Californian
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck addresses false reports on his position on Prop 57
Amid several recently published false reports, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck reaffirmed that he does not support nor has he taken a position on Proposition 57. If passed, Prop 57 would modify California state law and the California Constitution to allow early release for certain felony offenders and require judges, instead of prosecutors, to determine whether a juvenile will be tried as an adult.
LAPD News Release
Prop. 57 not a good idea
Here we go again. To fix the state’s bloated, well over cost prison system, the governor simply just wants to put more criminals back on the streets. Voters should have learned the lessons from Proposition 47 and must say no to Prop. 57. Prop. 57 on the Nov. 8 ballot is titled Criminal Sentences Parole and what it would do is make more criminals eligible to be released back into the communities, would make it more difficult to try a juvenile as an adult and would switch millions of dollars in law enforcement costs from the state to the counties and cities.
The Porterville Recorder
It’s a question of conscience for Props 62, 66
Those who take another’s life in a way that merits California’s death penalty often lack remorse, guilt or anything approaching empathy. They have no conscience. But what about the rest of us? Do we put ourselves on the same plane? Is our thirst for revenge so overpowering that it blinds us to the injustices implicit in carrying out our state’s most severe and irreversible punishment?
California’s dying death penalty
Californians will abolish the death penalty sooner or later, it doesn’t really matter which argument ultimately convinces them, be it moral, financial or risk of executing innocent people. But the sooner Californians discontinue the death penalty, a primitive system that kills people, the better. On the ballot this Nov. 8 there will be two competing measures addressing the death penalty in California.
Pasadena City College Courier
Commentary: Fix death penalty, don’t abandon it
Californians who want to abolish the death penalty and give heinous criminals life in prison without parole give various reasons. Some say taxpayers will save money. Others cite the chance of executing the wrong person. They say the system can’t be fixed. I disagree. It is far more expensive to house, feed, clothe, guard and provide healthcare for these depraved criminals for endless decades.
A proposition to legalize pot raises DUI concerns: ‘We are going to start losing folks in astronomical numbers’
The defendant told an LAPD officer he had smoked pot five hours before he was pulled over on Melrose Avenue for driving erratically. A blood test found a significant level of the chemical THC in his system, and a drug recognition expert ruled he was too impaired to drive safely. But a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury deadlocked on whether the young, off-duty valet had committed a crime by driving under the influence of marijuana, which he said he smokes for back pain and anxiety.
City Manager calls for an additional investigation into police custody death of Reginald “JR” Thomas
City Manager Steve Mermell announced Monday evening that the city will be hiring an independent investigator to conduct a review of the recent death of Reginald “JR” Thomas, a 35-year old African-American Pasadena resident who died in police custody after being tasered and struggling with officers early on the morning of September 30.
Pasadena News Now
Guns? Marijuana? Death penalty? Porn? Which California ballot proposition is most important? Question of the Week
Next month, California voters will be asked to make decisions about some hot-button issues: the death penalty, gun control, marijuana and pornography. And those propositions are only a few of the 17 measures on the Nov. 8 ballot, as you already know if you’ve begun to study the state’s 224-page Official Voter Information Guide that arrived in the mail recently.
No Prop. 63; these gun laws won’t make us safer: Endorsement
California has the strictest gun laws in the nation, but that hasn’t quelled our state politicians’ need to “do something.” In this election, Proposition 63 seeks to add yet another layer of rules, especially on the purchase of ammunition, on top of already stringent gun laws. On the surface, Prop. 63 is largely duplicative of a raft of gun bills passed by the state Legislature earlier this year – overriding some, while also imposing a few extra burdens on law-abiding gun owners.
Law enforcement, elected officials oppose governor’s Prop. 57
Officials from Merced, Mariposa and Stanislaus counties came together Thursday to voice opposition to Proposition 57, the governor’s public safety and rehabilitation act. Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse II led a news conference in front of the Merced County Courthouse Museum on Thursday morning as law enforcement and government officials formed a semicircle around him.
Reading ballot initiatives-fixing errors
Perhaps the worst of the many bad things about the California method of direct democracy is that inflexibility is the default. We’re the only place in the known universe where a law passed by the voters can’t be altered or fixed without another vote of the people. The good news is that some initiative sponsors don’t accept this default. They insert provisions into their measures allowing them to be amended.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey walks out of heated town hall meeting
Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey tried to hold a town hall meeting, but things got so heated, she ended up walking out. Lacey thought the meeting could offer a chance to explain how her office operates and also explain the law, especially as it pertains to officer-involved shootings. “I think that the district attorney’s office and the role is misunderstood,” Lacey said at the meeting, to which community members in the crowd yelled back, “No it’s not.”
Liberty Mutual settles false advertising claim for $925K
Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced a $925,000 settlement Thursday with auto insurance provider Liberty Mutual Group Inc., for advertising an accident forgiveness program that was not available in California. The civil complaint was jointly filed yesterday in Riverside County Superior Court by district attorneys in Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego counties and alleges unfair competition by Liberty Mutual.
District Attorney Press Release
Porter Ranch residents try intervening in gas leak plea deal
Complaining that their rights as victims of a massive natural gas leak were ignored, Porter Ranch residents are asking to intervene in a $4 million plea deal that Southern California Gas Company reached with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Attorney R. Rex Parris said the deal shortchanged residents because prosecutors did not consult the residents about their rights to restitution under the state constitution.
Parts of money bail fight in California advance
A federal judge refused to toss a constitutional challenge to San Francisco’s cash bail system, saying a class of pretrial detainees can pursue a 14th Amendment claim against San Francisco County Sheriff Vicki Hennessy. U.S. District Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers dismissed only part of a putative class action claiming the city and county of San Francisco unconstitutionally criminalizes poverty by jailing poor arrestees because they can’t afford to post bail.
No more Porter Ranch gas leak disasters: Feds find 44 fixes
A federal task force created following the Aliso Canyon natural gas leak near Porter Ranch issued dozens of recommendations Tuesday aimed at bolstering safety at underground gas-storage field, including design changes to ensure that a single “point of failure” in a well cannot lead to an uncontrolled leak.
Backpage arrests change little in Humboldt County
California Attorney General’s efforts to crackdown on sex trafficking and the arrests of Backpage.com’s CEO and top shareholders looks like it will have little effect in Humboldt County. For those engaged in the world’s oldest profession and the law enforcement agencies that crack down on it, the status quo appears to remain. Backpage.com is one of the nation’s largest online classified advertising sites and serves more than 30 cities across the state.
Times-Standard
These 12 races will determine the California Legislature’s balance of power
The question for California legislative races is no longer whether Democrats will secure a majority. It’s how large their margin will be. Once again, liberal leadership is contemplating a two-thirds majority that would allow them to pass taxes, amend political spending laws and move measures to the ballot without any Republican support.
Tramadol: The opioid crisis for the rest of the world
Noot long ago, a Dutch neurobiologist announced a surprising discovery: A root used by rural West African healers to treat pain contains an apparently natural version of a man-made opioid. The root from northern Cameroon had such high levels of a painkiller called tramadol that mice given an extract and placed on a hot plate didn’t feel their feet burning at first.
Judge: Huge Southern Calif. wiretap program was legal
A Riverside County judge Friday upheld the legality of a massive wiretapping operation that secretly intercepted phone calls and text messages by tens of thousands of people to make arrests throughout the United States. Superior Court Judge John Molloy ruled that the district attorney was allowed to delegate the responsibility of approving wiretap applications to his second-in-command.
The Desert Sun
Heroin crime immunity yields mixed results, AP review finds
Reeling from a surge in heroin overdoses, authorities in the Cincinnati area made an offer: Hand in potentially deadly drugs and you won’t be charged. But the blanket immunity granted by a judge there over a month ago hasn’t brought in any heroin so far. Results from similar efforts elsewhere have also yielded few drugs, according to a review by The Associated Press.
Manson follower denied parole for 1969 murder
California officials said Friday that they have again denied parole for a follower of cult leader Charles Manson who is serving a life sentence for a murder he committed 47 years ago. Parole officials decided that Robert Beausoleil, 68, should remain in prison for the 1969 death of musician Gary Hinman. He can seek parole again in three years, said board spokesman Luis Patino.
Lancaster mayor blames Gov. Jerry Brown in sheriff’s sergeant death
The mayor of Lancaster claimed Thursday that a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department sergeant who served his area until being shot to death on duty last week would be alive if not for Gov. Jerry Brown’s “realignment” plan to reduce the state prison population. The governor’s spokesman said the mayor’s “wild claims” are baseless.
GoFundMe account for Sgt. Steve Owen raises more than $40,000
A GoFundMe page created for deceased Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Steve Owen has raised more than $40,000 as of Monday morning. Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association president Brian Moriguchi created the fund on Oct. 6 for Owen, who was a member of the association.
Officer’s Kevlar helmet deflects gunman’s bullet, but mother and 9-month-old baby are wounded
A suspect who barricaded himself inside a home is dead after he gravely wounded his girlfriend and 9-month-old daughter Thursday, then fired numerous shots at police, striking an officer’s Kevlar helmet, authorities in Tulare said. Larry Zamora, 37, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound following an hours-long standoff and gun battle with law enforcement, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said at a news conference.
It’s time for our input on use-of-force policies
News headlines from around the nation make clear the concerted effort by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) to convince the public and legislators to enact its principles on the use of force. The national debate on police training regarding “de-escalation” have portrayed the PERF principles as the vetted solution to the issue of police use of force.
PubSecAlliance
Deputies hailed as heroes after saving suicidal woman from 5-story fall
Three sheriff’s deputies were hailed as heroes Wednesday for preventing a suicidal woman from falling several stories at the Gov. George Deukmejian Courthouse in Long Beach. The incident occurred about 4 p.m. Tuesday at the facility at 275 Magnolia Ave., the sheriff’s department reported. The 44-year-old woman had just appeared in court “regarding a family law matter,” a sheriff’s statement said.
Killings of officers increases stress for SoCal law enforcement
When Long Beach police Lt. Steve James first heard that three Palm Springs police officers had been gunned down Saturday afternoon, he immediately texted a friend at the desert town department. James, the president of the Long Beach Police Officers Association, endured some tense moments when he believed his friend could have been one of the officers shot.
Latest fad in policing: ‘de-escalation’
Among the challenges faced by today’s police officers is trying to stay abreast of the latest fashions in law enforcement training. The challenge is all the greater when those fashions are dictated by politics, and greater still when adhering to them can get you killed. Witness the latest fashion in police work: “de-escalation.”
Jack Dunphy/PJ Media
Social media companies suspend Geofeedia’s access after reported police tracking
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have suspended Geofeedia, a platform that collects real-time social media information based on location, from having access to its data. The decision follows an investigation that law enforcement used the tool to track activists and protests, the American Civil Liberties Union of North California (ACLU) published in a blog post Tuesday.
Death of LAPD detective investigating Derrick Rose rape allegations called likely suicide
Los Angeles Police Department detective who was investigating rape allegations against NBA star Derrick Rose died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said Wednesday. Officers found LAPD Det. Nadine Hernandez, 44, suffering from a single gunshot wound to the chest Tuesday afternoon in a Whittier home, according to the Whittier Police Department.
Crime rose in California in 2015
In a new report, the California Police Chief Association calculates violent crime increased more than 2 percent from 2014. There were almost four incidents of violent crime for each thousand state residents, a similar increase to the country as a whole. But police chiefs blame Proposition 47 for an even larger uptick in property crimes. The measure, which voters approved in 2014, reduced some nonviolent felonies to misdemeanors, particularly those involving theft or drugs.
Capital Public Radio
LA County Sheriff seeks dialogue after law enforcement deaths
LA County Sheriff Jim McDonnell is calling for a community dialogue following the shooting deaths of three law enforcement officers recently in Southern California. “There’s an opportunity I think to use these tragedies as a springboard to hopefully get past some of the things we’ve seen over the past couple years … and be able to address grievances that people have with the police but also for us in the profession to be able to explain why we do what we do,” he said.
‘Ferguson effect’? Savagely beaten cop didn’t draw gun for fear of media uproar, says Chicago police chief
A Chicago police officer who was savagely beaten at a car accident scene this week did not draw her gun on her attacker – even though she feared for her life – because she was afraid of the media attention that would come if she shot him, the city’s police chief said Thursday. Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson said the officer, a 17-year veteran of the force, knew she should shoot the attacker but hesitated because “she didn’t want her family or the department to go through the scrutiny the next day on the national news,” the Chicago Tribune reported.
How an amateur genealogist solved a 48-year-old ‘Jane Doe’ case
The petite woman with bleached blonde hair was found slumped over a picnic table near Mount Hollywood Drive inside Los Angeles’ scenic Griffith Park. The brown-eyed beauty in her 20s was clad in a red-and-white polka dotted bikini, a white or light tan overcoat and dark sandals. On her manicured finger was a gold wedding ring with the inscription “C.B. to E.J. 9-4-20.” The date was June 8, 1968.
LA County to approve $1.5 million settlement for man killed by sheriff’s deputy
The family of a man killed by a sheriff’s deputy in 2012 is expected to receive a $1.5 million settlement from Los Angeles County. The county admits no wrongdoing in the settlement. On Tuesday, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve the settlement for the lawsuit brought by the two minor sons of Kenneth Rivera III and their biological mother.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s bomb/arson truck stolen, recovered in Los Angeles County
A San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Bomb/Arson Detail utility truck was recovered Saturday, Oct. 8, after being stolen from a deputy’s home in Victor Valley. The deputy noticed the truck was missing from his driveway about 9:30 a.m. after waking up, according to a Sheriff’s Department news release. The truck was listed as stolen and investigators began canvassing the area in search of it.
Proposition 57 proposes earlier release for some non-violent prisoners
For the fourth time in five years, California voters are being asked to weigh in on the earlier release of certain prisoners, in this case, those convicted of “non-violent crimes.” Proposition 57, titled “The Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016,” would consider certain state-prison inmates convicted of non-violent felony offenses for release earlier than through previous release guidelines.
Idyllwild Town Crier
Law enforcement speaks out against Proposition 57
SLO County’s law enforcement community is trying to warn voters against supporting a ballot measure that would shorten prison sentences for less-violent offenders. SLO County District Attorney Dan Dow led a press conference Oct. 12 with representatives from multiple SLO County law enforcement agencies and police officers associations to oppose the passage of Proposition 57, which they claim could put dangerous criminals back on the streets and endanger public safety.
New Times SLO
Santa Clarita’s legislative panel says “no” to the release of more prisoners
The Santa Clarita City Council will stand up and be heard on the controversial issue of Proposition 57. Meeting on Tuesday, the council’s two-member Legislative Committee embraced a recommendation that the full council oppose Prop 57 – the state-wide ballot measure that would hasten the release of some non-violent offenders from prisons, as part of a federal-court-ordered means of addressing overcrowding.
The Signal Santa Clarita Valley
Ventura County opponents of Proposition 57 speak out
Members of local law enforcement agencies and city officials say a ballot initiative that would amend sentencing credits for inmates convicted of “nonviolent” crimes would increase violent crimes and endanger the lives of peace officers. Flanked by top law enforcement officials from throughout the county, District Attorney Greg Totten spoke to members of the media Tuesday at the Ventura County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association headquarters about what they say are “false claims” made by supporters of Proposition 57.
Proposition 63 won’t keep Californians any safer from gun violence
This summer the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown did something remarkable: They approved $5 million of taxpayers’ funds over five years to create the University of California Firearm Violence Research Center. We applauded the start of such a center at UC Davis because we believed strong steps must be taken to end the gun violence epidemic that has a maddening and deadly grip on our country.
The Fresno Bee
California’s bad example for criminal-justice reformers
The vagrancy endemic to San Francisco seems to be spreading to the Golden State’s suburbs. Blame it, at least in part, on Californians’ well-intentioned efforts to reform the criminal-justice system by releasing low-level offenders from jail. Encampments with an estimated 500 homeless have formed in the dry Santa Ana riverbed by Angel Stadium and the city’s civic center.
Californians to decide fate of State’s death row
Stunted by federal challenges and a litany of habeas corpus petitions that have overwhelmed the courts, California’s seldom-used death penalty has come to a standstill. Despite having the most inmates awaiting execution – 700 currently housed on death row – the Golden State has not executed an inmate since 2006.
How could a sergeant’s alleged killer be in a program that worked with parolees?
On Friday, prosecutors filed a capital murder charge against 27-year-old Trenton Lovell for the shooting death of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Steven Owen. Authorities say Owen was shot multiple times in Lancaster Wednesday as he confronted Lovell at a burglary call. Sheriff Jim McDonnell called it a “calculated execution.” Michelle Egberts is the founder of AV East Kern Second Chance, a group that helps former offenders integrate back into society.
Prop. 57: Voters asked to allow earlier parole
For the third time in four years, California voters are being asked to approve an initiative that would soften the state’s tough-on-crime laws – this time by allowing prison inmates to seek parole earlier. Gov. Jerry Brown and other proponents, including the Democratic Party, say Proposition 57 is necessary to keep the prison population permanently below a cap imposed in 2011 after a panel of federal judges found that appalling health care services in the crowded lockups constituted cruel and unusual punishment.
California voters once again eye legalizing recreational pot
For the second time in six years, California voters will consider legalizing recreational use of marijuana. This time, supporters of the move have much more financial backing and professional campaign help than they did in 2010. And polls show Proposition 64 with more than the 50 percent of voter support needed to pass. Silicon Valley billionaires and wealthy backers from the already legal medicinal marijuana industry are among the top financial supporters, contributing a combined $21 million.
Garcetti eyes LAPD video policy change, advocates 2 tax measures on ballot
On ABC7’s “Eyewitness Newsmakers: Ask the Mayor,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said the Police Commission will begin hearings on the release of Los Angeles Police Department video, and in a few months, there is likely to be a change in policy. He cautioned that while video may be released sooner, it will not be released immediately after an incident. Garcetti pointed to the recent police shooting of a suicidal 16-year-old.
Assemblyman Steinorth proposes tax deduction to combat the costs of increased crime
Assemblyman Marc Steinorth has outlined a plan for new legislation to provide relief for citizens forced to purchase additional security measures to ensure their families’ safety. The cost of crime prevention in California is growing and previously safe neighborhoods are seeing a rise in crime. Under the proposal, all taxpayers would be allowed to claim a tax deduction against the cost of specified security equipment, including alarms, security cameras, and fencing.
Highland Community News
Rapper Coolio charged with felony firearm possession in Los Angeles
Grammy-winning rapper Coolio was charged on Thursday with unlawful firearm possession stemming from a handgun that prosecutors said was found in his backpack during baggage screening at Los Angeles International Airport last month. The recording star, whose legal name is Artis Leon Ivey, 53, could be sentenced to as much as three years in state prison if convicted, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Pressure builds on Los Angeles DA Jackie Lacey – Prosecute killer cops
Eight months after the LAPD killing of Jose “Peruzzi” Mendez – the 16-year-old killed by LAPD, and four other police killings of young Chicanos in Boyle Heights, an Oct. 6 call-in day action was organized by Centro CSO. “It felt good to call DA Jackie Lacey’s office today,” says Juan Mendez father of Jose “Peruzzi” Mendez.
Fight Back! News
Lawyer: Backpage.com CEO will fight sex trafficking charges
Handcuffed and dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, the chief executive of an internet site authorities accuse of being “a hub for the illegal sex trade” waived extradition to California on Friday, and his attorney vowed to fight the “trumped up” sex trafficking and money laundering charges he faces. Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer was arrested Thursday and his Dallas headquarters was raided after officials in California accused him of felony pimping a minor, pimping, and conspiracy to commit pimping.
District attorney mulling charges after Sikh man was beaten and his hair was cut off
Sikh community leaders are urging that hate crime charges be filed against two men who were arrested on suspicion of severely beating a Sikh man in Richmond, Ca., last month and cutting off some of his hair. Maan Singh Khalsa, 41, was attacked in what Sikh leaders say was a hate-motivated assaulted directed at Khalsa’s religious beliefs and ethnicity.
Man pleads no contest to manslaughter in West Covina stabbing death of father
A man pleaded no contest Wednesday in the fatal stabbing of his father at their West Covina home in 2015, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. Maverick Jacob Jimenez pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter in the killing of Joey Alfred Jimenez, 49. Prosecutors said that on Aug. 16, 2015, Maverick Jimenez stabbed his father during a fight in their home.
Man charged in death of 70-year-old mother, who was pushed from a window and stomped on, police say
A 40-year-old man was charged Wednesday in the death of his 70-year-old mother, who police say was pushed out of a second-story window in Van Nuys and then stomped on. Fernando Vargas faces one count of murder in the attack, which occurred Tuesday at 2:52 a.m. at an apartment complex in the 7400 block of Hazeltine Avenue, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
Man charged with trying to kill 2 L.A. sheriff’s deputies at Santa Monica Metro station
A 31-year-old man was charged Wednesday with trying to kill two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who were patrolling a Metro station in Santa Monica, authorities said. Thomas Napack, 31, faces two counts of attempted murder of a peace officer. If convicted, he faces up to life in state prison, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
On way to prison, defendant tells prosecutor: ‘Better hope I don’t get out’
A Fresno man was sentenced Tuesday in Fresno County Superior Court to 44 years to life in prison for shooting his unarmed friend in the back in a domestic violence case. Before George Xeng Fang was sentenced he took a verbal shot at prosecutor Andrew Janz: “Better hope I don’t get out.” In July, a jury found Fang, 33, guilty of assault with a firearm, being a felon in possession of a gun and shooting at an inhabited dwelling in the shooting of Dao Vang in February.
No death penalty for convict found guilty in 1979 rape, murder of Glendale woman
A man convicted of raping and murdering a Glendale woman in 1979 was spared the death penalty after a jury deadlocked Thursday on the third day of deliberations. Ten jurors voted for Darrell Gurule to spend the rest of his life in prison, while two felt he should be executed. The same jury convicted Gurule last month of killing Barbara Ballman, whose naked body, lying across the front seat of her Volkswagen Beetle, was found by fourth-graders on their way to Thomas Edison Elementary School one September morning in 1979.
Torrance wrestling coach found guilty of lewd acts with 25 students
A South Bay high school’s former head wrestling coach was found guilty Thursday of molesting 25 students – a conviction that could put him in state prison for life. The conviction of Thomas Joseph Snider, 48, came after a dramatic trial in Torrance’s courthouse, where victims testified that the longtime educator touched their genitals under the pretense of nude “skin inspections,” according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
18-year-old is convicted of murder in 2014 beating death of USC graduate student from China
A jury convicted an 18-year-old woman of murder on Thursday for her role in the 2014 bludgeoning death of a USC graduate student from China that led to heightened campus security and shock across the Pacific in the victim’s homeland. Alejandra Guerrero – who was 16 at the time of the attack near the university campus – fidgeted with her hair as a clerk read the verdict in a downtown courtroom.
Man sentenced for fatal Monterey Park pizza parlor stabbing
A Bakersfield man received a sentence of more than 16 years in state prison Thursday for stabbing another man 15 times, killing him, at a Monterey Park pizza parlor four years ago, officials said. A Los Angeles Superior Court jury in Burbank convicted Jose De Jesus Ruiz, also known as Jose De Jesus Salas, 26, in July of second-degree murder for the Oct. 6, 2012, stabbing death of 25-year-old Patrick Raymond Ortega at Shakey’s, 1955 S. Atlantic Blvd.
Man to get 10 years in hit and run of Arroyo Seco teacher
Lucas Guidroz, 26, of Canyon Country, is expected to receive 10 years in state prison as a result of his plea to one count each of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and hit-and-run driving resulting in death. Deputy District Attorney SuSu Scott prosecuted the case.
Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 7 in Department I of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, San Fernando Branch.
KHTS
New $350M federal courthouse unveiled; first case ex-LA Sheriff Baca
Almost four years in the making, downtown Los Angeles’ new $350 million federal courthouse was unveiled Thursday for the first time. While the U.S. Marshals Service has begun operations at the mirror-and- glass building, judges will begin moving to the sleek structure at Broadway and First Street in the next few weeks.
Justices appear inclined to preserve plea bargains affected by Proposition 47
The California Supreme Court appeared unwilling Wednesday to allow prosecutors to withdraw plea bargains affected by Proposition 47, which reduced some felonies to misdemeanors. During a hearing, several justices cited a precedent that said plea bargains can’t be revoked even if a subsequent change in the law results in a different penalty.
How a judge’s ‘horrible experiences’ with plumbers led to a murder conviction getting tossed out
If Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter’s experiences with plumbers had been better, the murder case of Vincent Tatum might have gone differently. Addressing a panel of potential jurors in her Compton courtroom, Hunter explained the importance of not prejudging witnesses and used her unfortunate run-ins with the tradesmen to illustrate her point.
Ruling challenges prevailing view of pension law
Three appeals court justices, citing the alarming view of critics that unaffordable public pensions are headed for the financial cliff, looked for a new way to allow a change in direction and found one. In a ruling in a Marin County case last August that reformers called a “game changer,” the panel weakened the “California rule” protecting the pensions of current workers. Most cost-cutting reforms have been limited to new hires, which can take decades to yield savings.
Calpensions
Sacramento County annual gun sales increase 406 percent in last 15 years
Sacramento County residents continue to buy firearms at an unprecedented rate, according to data released Wednesday by the California Department of Justice. Annual gun sales increased 406 percent in Sacramento County during the last 15 years, a larger jump than in any other urban California county. Each year since 2001, on average, about three guns were sold for every 100 county residents.
California Attorney General
Attorney General releases Reentry, Recidivism Reduction Programs report
Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today released a report outlining best practices for developing reentry and recidivism reduction programs, based on the Attorney General’s “Back on Track – Los Angeles” pilot program. Back on Track – Los Angeles, an evidence-based pilot program, is an initiative of the Attorney General’s Division of Recidivism Reduction and Reentry.
State gains control of Los Angeles-area prison’s health care
California is regaining responsibility for providing medical care at an eighth state prison after 10 years of oversight. The federal court-appointed receiver who runs the inmate health care system on Friday gave the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation control over care at the California Institution for Men. The prison houses nearly 3,800 minimum- and medium-security inmates in Chino, about 35 miles east of Los Angeles.
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Arts & Culture Featured - Home Page Our Scene
Surviving the 20th Century – “Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story” at Lagoon Cinema
By John Townsend March 2, 2018
Categories: Arts & Culture, Featured - Home Page, Our Scene
Photo courtesy of Adrian Curry (Zeitgeist Films).
Heddy Lamarr (1914-2000) looms as one of the sirens of Old Hollywood. To many of those who remember her or who have heard of her, they might lump the actress in with any number of other sex symbols of the 1930s and 1940s: Garbo, Harlow, Dietrich, Tierney, Hayworth, Stanwyck. Of course it’s a mistake to lump these diverse individuals into one basket, and Lamarr’s story is definitely one of a kind. For those of us who grew up in the ’60s and ’70s, well after her heyday, we might recall television broadcasts of what had been a movie theater blockbuster a generation earlier: Samson and Delilah with beefcake Victor Mature as her title co-star. It was actually the highest grossing film of the 1940s after Gone With the Wind. So that gives you an idea of how great this woman’s cultural imprint was, whatever you may think of the Cecil B. DeMille epic.
Director Alexandra Dean. Photo courtesy of Adrian Curry (Zeitgeist Films).
Alexandra Dean’ s documentary, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, benefits immeasurably from actual taped recordings by the subject herself, luckily discovered in 1990. Interviews with family members, friends, directors (including an excessively adoring Mel Brooks) and film scholars piece together the epic life of a brave woman with intellectual gifts, outspokenness, character flaws, and as the film relentlessly points out, extraordinary physical beauty. All of these different elements factored into ruthless treatment waged against her by film moguls like Louis B. Mayer and nontransparent figures in the U.S. military. The information here is solid, yet Dean seems to distrust that viewers will grasp how unfairly and unjustly Lamarr was treated by some. Certain interviews swerve into “ain’t it awful” land and in effect, perhaps unwittingly, they try to diminish this woman’s gorgeous audacity. But we don’t need that. It’s right there on the screen in the information. The audience will get it and will sympathize.
Lamarr was born Hedy Kiesler to well-to-do Jewish parents in Vienna. Her doting father nurtured her intellect and both parents saw that she was exposed to rich cultural experiences available in that fabled city before World War II. Up to her death in 2000 it seems that she may well have taken her deepest sense of personal identity from being Austrian. She kept her Jewish background under wraps, and for all the difficulties she endured in America’s film business and as an inventor, she was nonetheless lucky to escape central Europe before the Nazis exterminated six million of her fellow Jews. Moreover, as difficult and exploited as her life stateside was, Lamarr was genuinely deeply patriotic toward the U.S. and vibrantly entertained soldiers during the war. Bombshell comments critically on this.
If there is one yawning gap in Bombshell, it is its failure to explicate how anti-Semitism ironically infused Hollywood’s studio system, despite the fact that many of its most influential figures were Jewish. Studios were utterly phobic about the background of Jewish actors and actresses being too widely known, in fear of some American right-wing social and economic backlash. (Neal Gabler’s magisterial An Empire of their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood is the seminal historical volume on this subject.) The same was true of their insistence that gays and lesbians were to be either closeted or fired. Obviously, this sort of shaming could have had and did have negative consequences for many of those who had to remain silent. However, what Bombshell definitely does deliver on is in relating the callous way the studios continually tried to compel their “property” into exploitive films that traded on her physical beauty. That said, the noble actress, whose Hollywood career began in 1938, fought back exhaustively.
Something that haunted Lamarr throughout her life was that, as a teenager, she was manipulated into a controversial sex scene in the Czech film, Ecstasy. Ironically, the film was banned in Germany, not because of its erotic content, but because the actress was Jewish. To add insult to injury, in Hollywood this stigmatized Lamarr and was used by misogynistic moguls to largely shut her out of serious roles. Mayer was among the worst offenders.
As for her career as an inventor, Lamarr had to keep it under wraps as well because it was for the WWII victory effort. Therefore, battle plan secrecy was sacrosanct. For those who doubt this accomplishment as some overstated feminist glory tale, Bombshell reveals her scientific talent as bona fide fact and ably explains how the so-called “frequency-jumping” concept, a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes, did in fact originate with Lamarr herself and composer friend George Antheil. Unfortunately, if not tragically, she never profited from it like she had a right to. Immigration status injustice figured into this. Moreover, she only got public credit for it late in life. As for Antheil, he died in 1959 and never saw any profit either. In 1962 this technology was used during the Cuban missile crisis.
Bombshell also reflects on the way treacherous drugs were prescribed to Lamarr systematically by studio powers and the notorious Max “Dr. Feelgood” Jacobson, who also tended to Tennessee Williams, Judy Garland, President Kennedy, and other icons. She also suffered horribly from further medical abuse, as a guinea pig for the plastic surgery profession. Though today’s cosmetic surgery has generally improved, Lamarr of course was not a beneficiary of that. Yet through it all, she insisted that we as human beings have control and choice in our lives, if we choose to recognize breakdowns and take action. As you watch her fascinating story, it is impossible not to notice how Hedy Lamarr was a woman who always walked straightforward into the unknown, sometimes with destructive consequences and sometimes with happy ones. In spite of certain interviewees, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story is a beguilingly inspirational account of how that bold approach to circumstances guided her throughout a most extraordinary life. She was a unique survivor of vicissitudes natively specific to the turbulent 20th century.
Opens March 2
Lagoon Cinema, 1320 Lagoon Ave., Minneapolis
www.landmarktheatres.com
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Home / 4th seminar / Proliferation of Free Trade Agreements and Currency Conflicts
K.N.Harilal, May 23rd 2013, Moscow, 4th Euro-BRICS seminar
K.N.Harilal is Coordinator, Research Unit on Local Governments, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, India
I am extremely happy and feel highly privileged to have got this opportunity to ‘address’ the distinguished participants of the EURO-BRICS conference in spite of my inability to reach Moscow. I thank the chairperson Ms. Marie Calliol for giving me this opportunity. I also wish the Moscow conference a big success.
In a way my presentation here can be seen as a continuation of the paper I presented in the previous EURO-BRICS conference at Cannes. In the Cannes conference the focus of my presentation was on the growing contradiction between global accumulation of capital and the idea of democracy. Let me recapitulate main points so that the present paper is understood in the right background. Global governance is taking over hitherto unreached spaces of policy making including internal policies of nation-states and even those of local governments. It is undertaken with the overriding objective of facilitating global accumulation of capital. Globalisation of governance, however, cannot be a smooth process because of its obvious contradiction with the institutions of democracy. Democracy, if it is genuine, cannot undermine all other interests including those of labour, gender, environment, local capital, etc., to favour the interests of transnational monopoly capital. Yet, because of the competition to woo capital, the nation-states, and governments at various levels, are under pressure to favour monopoly capital even at the expense of other interests. But, the success of capital is fast eroding its social constituency. The spread of popular movements, including wall-street movement, are a sign of growing incongruence in the global system, which is only going to aggravate in the future. Nation-states, governments, political parties, and their leaders will be constrained by popular opinion to take positions that are not necessarily friendly to international monopoly capital. But, they cannot do that in isolation. They will need to build up global collective action in favour of an alternative and balanced global governance system, that allow democracy to recapture its meaning, that is sensitive to environmental issues as well as various rights of the people, and that help sustain national economic habitats and the economic diversity they conserve, against the forces of devastating economic homogenisation. It will be the movement of the new century. I concluded by noting that Europe and BRICS cannot but be in the forefront of this global movement of the future.
Obviously, policy space available for nation states or local governments is fast disappearing under the pressure of globalisation of governance, which is heightening in the context of global economic crisis. In this paper my attempt will be to establish the connection between the ongoing process of globalisation of governance and the threat of currency conflicts. Currency conflicts over the past decade, which at several points were about to break into full fledged currency wars among leading nations of the world, are nothing but a reflection of the loss national policy space on the one hand its pressure on institutions of democracy on the other. Currency conflicts in other words underline the need to have a more balanced approach to global governance that protect national and local policy space and the democratic right of self determination of different peoples of the world.
It should be mentioned at the outset that the overriding ideology that inform global economic governance is that of free trade and unfettered competition. Following the mainstream theories of trade, free trade is portrayed as a win-win game which augments world welfare and benefits all the participants. Therefore, global governance arrangements almost invariably sought to promote free trade and unhindered competition among countries. It endeavoured to facilitate free competition among foreign suppliers and between domestic and foreign sources of supply, first by forcing the most favoured nation (MFN) principle, second by scaling down border barriers through multilateral trade negotiations and third, by extending national treatment to foreign suppliers [1].
What about the impact of proliferation of Preferential Trading Arrangements (hereafter PTAs) on national policy space? Introduction of free trade among member countries would definitely limit the policy space available to the participating countries. But, there are no easy answers to the question whether PTAs among member countries would help strengthen the multilateral trading system or not. The PTAs are known to generate impulses that strengthen as well as weaken the multilateral arrangement. The question, however, assumes special importance in the context of the stalemate in the Doha round on the one hand and the recent mushrooming growth of PTAs on the other. The race among countries and regions to get into more and more PTAs is attributed to the failure of the multilateral system, especially the Doha Round impasse. The PTAs apparently offered a bypass to the flow of trade across countries when it was constrained by blocks in the main (multilateral) system of circulation of goods and services. The question is whether the bypass would make the main system redundant and obstruct its revival. In this paper our endeavour is to argue in favour of the opposite line of causation. We argue that the PTAs, especially the recently formed ones are likely to weaken the resistance against non-discriminatory, i.e., MFN liberalization of trade barriers. In other words they are likely to contribute in a big way to the contraction of autonomous policy space available to nation states.
A PTA Road to Multilateralism
Regionalism and multilateralism cannot normally go together for the former would tend to develop forces that strengthen it at the expense of the latter (Bhagwati 2008). This is true of PTAs as well. The PTAs are known to generate trade diverting as well as creating tendencies. Trade diversion occurs because preferential reduction in tariffs shifts trade from efficient external sources to relatively inefficient sources
within the PTA. The beneficiaries of the preference margin – between tariff rates applicable to PTA members and MFN rates – would not like to lose the advantage. They will be normally opposed to MFN reduction in tariffs proposed in multilateral negotiations or elsewhere. But, it is only logical to argue that such vested interests behind preferential tariff treatment would take time to emerge and consolidate so that they have the required clout to influence commercial policy making in individual PTA partners. We consider this argument important in the current juncture because a good proportion of present PTAs are of very recent origin. Further, customs unions are too rare to be seen among the new PTAs. They are mostly free trade areas (FTAs), wherein members are free to maintain their own external tariffs. In order to protect the preference margin those who enjoy the benefits of such margin will have to ensure that the FTA members fulfil two important conditions. First, the FTA partners are not reducing their MFN tariffs. Second, they are not entering into preferential trading arrangements individually or collectively with other countries. If so the existing FTA partners will be forced to share preferential access with the newly accessed partners. But, these conditions are difficult to be satisfied because in an FTA there is no agreement on common external tariff (CET); members retain the freedom to decide their foreign trade policy. In the absence of common external tariff policy those who wish to protect regional preference margins will have to lobby for it at the level of individual countries and not at the FTA level. Each FTA member state will have to be convinced not to reduce the MFN tariffs that too with respect to each tariff line. It is likely to be a difficult proposition because the policy concerns as well as choices would differ significantly among FTA member countries.
An FTA member country that does not have much import competing production in the case of a given product need not prefer sourcing it from high cost FTA partners. Instead by lowering the MFN tariff it can source the product from least cost sources outside the FTA[2]. In the case of many products, there could be one or more members in the FTA who do not have much import competing production to protect. They could very well opt for reducing the MFN tariffs on such products. Unlike in customs unions this tendency among members to cut MFN tariffs can be a major trade policy problem in FTAs. Imports would tend to enter through the lowest tariff member and get re-exported to other members of the FTA (Krishna and Kruegar 1995).
A solution to the problem of such trade deflection in FTAs is to have stringent Rules of Origin (RoO), which would help prevent simple transhipment of goods by requiring products to originate in exporting member countries. But, the current tendency among PTAs is to go for more and more liberal RoO. If weak RoO norms were designed it would lead to trade deflection, making protection of domestic value added by way of MFN tariffs almost impossible. All members will be forced to scale down their tariffs to the level of the lowest tariff member of the FTA.
Another important threat to preference margin within an FTA perhaps is the PTA contagion by which preferential regional arrangements tend to multiply (Baldwin 1993). The contagion of preferential arrangements can take various shapes. The original FTA, for instance, can allow entry of new members. Similarly, members of the FTA in question can enter into other already existing or new PTAs. The fear of isolation and trade diversion might induce even countries which were initially reluctant to join the bandwagon of preferential trading arrangements[3]. The expansion of the PTA network would introduce new claimants for the preference margin and make the markets more contested.
It is fairly clear from our discussion so far that the trade diversion impulses generated by the FTA would tend to subside over time. In the conflict between those who want to protect the preference margin and those who wish to reduce MFN tariffs the latter is more likely to gain an upper hand. In sharp contrast the trade creation impulse generated by the FTAs is likely to spread and get strengthened over time. Trade creation occurs because of the shift in trade from inefficient domestic sources to relatively more efficient member sources. Such trade creation is made possible by the commitment to remove trade barriers on intra-FTA trade. Notably, this commitment to liberalize trade among FTA members is nearly irreversible.
Even though, non-discrimination is the founding principle of the WTO regime it allows for discriminatory arrangements such as free trade areas and customs unions under Article XXIV of the GATT 1994. The Article XXIV provision for the FTAs, however, is subject to stringent conditions set to discourage misuse of the provision for perpetrating discriminatory trade policies (Snyder 2009). It insists on well laid out road maps and early completion of the process of formation of the FTA. Tariffs on intra-PTA trade will have to be completely removed as per the road maps and deadlines set for the purpose. Further, discrimination between members and non-members is allowed provided it is achieved by removing tariffs on intra-PTA trade and not by raising the MFN rates. Clearly, the spirit of the Article XXIV is against any upward revision of MFN tariffs. Admittedly, Article XXIV does not insist on any reduction in MFN tariffs. But, as we have already seen, there are forces within the new generation PTAs that favour MFN liberalization. We may conclude by noting that liberalization of trade among PTA members might provide further impetus for trade liberalization and facilitate reduction even in MFN tariffs. Liberalization of trade among members would expose domestic industry in each member country to competition from other PTA partners. In some cases the domestic industry might even fail to survive such competition. If so there may not be much domestic interests left to clamour for maintaining the level MFN protection granted to the industry. A similar situation will arise if the PTA partners were the leading players in the international market of the product in question. In such cases the very formation of the PTA would be exposing the domestic industry to the full heat of international competition. In such cases there would not be much point in maintaining high MFN tariffs. There may not be much competition to be warded off from the MFN sources.
It should be reiterated here that MFN tariff cuts in WTO negotiations as well as preferential cuts in PTAs are virtually irreversible. In WTO most tariffs are bound and it is not allowed, except in rare cases, to raise them beyond the bound rates. Further as we have already seen WTO discipline is not in favour of upward revision of MFN tariffs; preferential cuts are also rarely reversed. Therefore, there is hardly any room for raising tariffs to protect domestic production, or to stabilise the external sector.
In the absence of control over the borders and trade, what mechanisms are left with the nation states in handling external sector imbalances? Monetary and fiscal policy tools can be used to reduce the level of economic activity and perhaps also to deflate the economy. The environment of austerity that it entails may not be politically acceptable, especially when recessionary conditions prevail and unemployment levels reach unacceptable levels. Needless to say the environment of global economic crisis, which is worldwide in nature, tends to complicate and aggravate the policy crises. The global crisis is driving capital as well as nation-states to partake in a predatory hunt for market on the one hand investment opportunities on the other. It is this struggle for existence that drives nation states to engage in competitive devaluation. Devaluation of the national currency will make exports of the nation cheap and imports costly. If certain well known conditions are satisfied it can ease the policy stress by enhancing exports and restricting imports. But, as is well known such beggar thy neighbour policies are likely to encounter retaliatory action from competitor countries. It can even prove to be a disastrous contagion. The risk of it being contagious is high when major economic powers engage in currency manipulation. For instance, China being the leading trading power houses of the contemporary world, all its competitors will be concerned about its currency policy. The US complaint against alleged undervaluation of Yuan over the last one decade or so is important to be cited here.
The contagion of competitive devaluation to say the least will be disastrous to the world. The uncertainty that it is sure to produce is not good for economic activity. This certainly is what economic history of the world teaches us. Obviously, major economic powers should refrain from such beggar thy neighbour policies. But, it is important to ask why many nation-states are forced to resort such exchange rate policy to correct external imbalances. Clearly it is absence of alternative policy tools that necessitate currency interventions. The democratic pressure from below make it imperative to adopt expansionary policies. Since the nation state is deprived of other policy measures they take currency manipulation as the last resort.
There is no doubt that countries should have the freedom to fashion their exchange rate policy. But, it is advisable that they have sufficient policy space to support democracy. Therefore, the currency conflicts can be avoided only when the nation-states are endowed and empowered with alternative economic policy measures. In the absence of such policy space exchange rates are likely to be in the centre stage of the global political drama for some time to come.
K.N.Harilal,
Centre for Development Studies,
Trivandrum, Kerala, India
Baldwin, Richard and Jaimovich, Dany (2010), ‘Are Free Trade Agreements Contagious?’ Working Paper 16084, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge.
Baldwin, Richard (1993), ‘A Domino Theory of Regionalism’, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 4465, Cambridge.
Bhagwati, Jagdish (2008), Termites in the Trading System: How Preferential Trading System Undermine Free Trade, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Harilal, K.N. (2012), ‘Regional Route to Multilateralism: Proliferation of PTAs among Developing Countries and WTO Negotiations’, Millennial Asia, January-June, New Delhi
Harilal, K. N. and Sejuti, Jha (2006), ‘Rules of Origin Regimes and South Asia: A preliminary Survey of Issues’, South Asian Yearbook of Trade and Development, Centre for Trade and Development, New Delhi, 357-87.
Krishna, Kala and Anne, O. Krueger (1995), ‘Implementing Free Trade Areas: Rules of Origin and Hidden Protection’, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper No 4983, Cambridge.
Snyder, Francis (2009), ‘China Regional Trade Agreements and WTO Law’, Journal of World Trade, 43, 1, 1-57.
[1] Here we do not overlook the exceptions to the general rule of unfettered competition and integration. The rule was followed quite assiduously when it suited big capital, but not so much when it was the need of lesser players. For instance, the restrictions on competition introduced by the WTO agreement on trade related intellectual property rights (TRIPS) in a way are barriers to international mobility of capital. Needless to say that mobility of labour is even more stringently regulated.
[2] In fact, there are real economic incentives that may prompt the FTA members to go for such tariff cuts. For instance, if the product in question were a critical input for other industries such tariff cuts would enhance the effective rate of protection given to the final goods producing industries. Liberalisation of imports of natural rubber, for example, will be advantageous, at least in the short-run, for the rubber manufacturing industries, including automobile tyres. If the final good producing industry is export oriented liberalisation of imports of inputs would add to its international competitiveness.
[3] For a recent empirical verification of the ‘domino effect’ see Baldwin and Jaimovich (2010), ‘Are Free Trade Agreements Contagious?’, Working Paper 16084, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge.
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Next: The experience of the ECSC, the status of the concept of pooling resources in Europe today, and lessons for Europe and the World of Tomorrow
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Princess Diana Was Reportedly Set to Star in a 'Bodyguard' Movie Sequel
Actor Kevin Costner recalled discussing the role with the late princess.
Tim GrahamGetty Images
Actor Kevin Costner has revealed that Princess Diana was reportedly set to star in the Bodyguard movie sequel.
The actor told People that he received the script to the film, with the late Princess cast in a lead role, the day before she died in August 1997.
Costner stated that Diana was planning to take on an acting part “in the same kind of capacity as Whitney [Houston].”
In news that may blow your mind just a little, actor Kevin Costner has claimed that Diana, Princess of Wales, was set to star alongside him in the sequel to hit movie, Bodyguard. The original box office smash starring Whitney Houston was first released in 1992, and still boasts the best-selling film soundtrack of all time.
Costner has spoken of the rumored connection to Diana previously (how did I miss this?), but in a new interview with People, the actor explained that Prince William and Prince Harry’s late mother was expected to make a lead cameo in the movie before her tragic death.
Revealing that Diana had been cast “in the same kind of capacity as Whitney,” Costner said: “Nobody really knew that for about a year.” The actor claims that he received the script to the film just the day before she tragically died in August 1997.
It's thought that Bodyguard 2 was supposed to tell the story of Costner's character, Frank Farmer, protecting Diana’s character from paparazzi and stalkers, with romance eventually blossoming between the two.
The Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves star went on to recall phone conversations that he shared with the late princess regarding their romantic onscreen moments together. “I just remember her being incredibly sweet on the phone, and she asked the question, ‘Are we going to have, like a kissing scene?’” Costner shared.
He continued: “She said it in a very respectful … she was a little nervous because her life was very governed. And I said, ‘Yeah, there’s going to be a little bit of that, but we can make that OK too.’”
Georges De Keerle
The unexpected scenario was allegedly down to the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson. “Sarah was really important," Costner said. “I always respect Sarah because she’s the one that set up the conversation between me and Diana. And she never said, ‘Well, what about me? I’m a princess too.’ She was just so supportive of the idea.”
Alexa, play “I Will Always Love You.”
How Archie's Secret Godparents May Be Revealed
Princess Diana Reportedly Always Wanted a Daughter
Prince Harry Set To Receive A Sentimental Birthday Gift From Princess Diana
The Princess Diana Musical is Coming In 2019
Prince William and Harry Commission Diana Statue
A New Princess Diana Documentary Is Coming
New Photos of Princess Diana Have Been Released
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Friends Reunited set to roll out ‘social’ service
By Marketing Week 5 Aug 2004 12:00 am
Friends Reunited is preparing to launch a new service – codenamed Friends Reunited Live – which will allow registered users to find new friends online, rather than regain contact with old ones.
The news comes as the social networking site ramps up its marketing, with the launch of a global identity and a customer acquisition campaign for the core site, created by integrated agency Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw.
Friends Reunited marketing director Tim Ward says the Live service will allow members to contact people with similar interests or hobbies. He adds: “This is not a dating site – we already have Friends Reunited Dating for that. This is an opportunity for people to make new friends with common interests online.”
Similar online discussion forums and community sites already exist, including Yahoo! Groups (formerly eGroups), but Ward believes that the Friends Reunited brand is strong enough to break into the market.
Meanwhile, the Kitcatt Nohr-created online campaign for the core Friends Reunited site goes live this week. Seven ads focus on nostalgia, including playground romances, classroom pranks and musical tastes.
The executions will run as pop-unders on a range of sites, including Contactmusic.com, Daily Express, Excite, Square Meal and Virgin Flyer, and take viewers directly to the Friends Reunited site.
The new global identity, which is being phased in over the next few months, has the Friends Reunited name against a background of a map of the world, rather than the snapshots of four people which appeared on the original.
The logo will appear on all the sites the company operates, including those run by Schoolfriends, the recently acquired Australian website company. Schoolfriends has sites in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Friends Reunited also has links with English-language reunion websites in Malaysia and Singapore.
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Amy Hoak's Home Economics
The financial costs of aging in place
By Amy Hoak
Published: June 9, 2014 11:56 a.m. ET
What to budget for when you want to stay in your home for the long haul
AmyHoak
Many people approaching retirement express a desire to age in place, living in their current home or community until it is no longer physically possible.
To do that, however, it’s best to budget the dream into your financial plan. By doing some preparation, you have a greater likelihood of being able to stay where you are, or moving on your own terms — not because you’re forced financially to make a change, said Roger Roemmich, chief investment officer of ROKA Wealth Strategists and author of the book “Don’t Eat Dog Food When You’re Old.”
Because so many people want to stay put during retirement, it’s becoming more common for financial planners to put extra focus on the unique costs involved with aging in place when formulating their clients’ financial plans, said Janice Cackowski, a financial planner with Strategic Wealth Partners in Independence, Ohio. “We’re trying to build in a basic cost into the financial plan… so that they do have the ability to update their house or build a ramp,” she said.
Here are some tips to consider if you want to spend retirement in your home.
Ensure cash flow
An important start to an aging-in-place plan is making sure you’ll have a monthly cash flow that will exceed your expenses, Roemmich said. This is best done before retirement begins.
Otherwise, you could discover years after retiring you have insufficient funds to stay in your home, covering necessary upgrades, taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance, and possibly a mortgage — as well as other necessary and discretionary costs, from visiting grandchildren to dining out.
“I don’t like to see people who have made the decision to retire too early or retire completely [at an early age],” Roemmich said. “A lot of times, it’s the difference that allows them the age in place.”
Also, defer taking Social Security as long as you can, to get the most out of your entitlements, said Charles Bennett Sachs, principal and wealth manager of Private Wealth Counsel in Miami, Fla. By not taking Social Security payments until you’re eligible for the full benefit, you guarantee higher cash flow in the future. “Anything that allows you higher income down the road is important,” he said.
For some, reverse mortgages are a good option for increasing cash flow, Sachs added.
Lock up health care
People tend to underestimate medical costs in retirement, figuring that Medicare coverage will suffice, Roemmich said. They can end up with large, unexpected bills if they don’t plan for health-care costs in retirement. Those costs can crush your finances, making it less likely that you can maintain your current residence at the same time.
That’s saying nothing of the long-term care that many Americans will end up needing, given longer life expectancies. “More people will be living into their 90s and beyond,” Roemmich said.
Living longer increases the chances of needing long-term care, whether you need an in-home caretaker or eventually require a move to a facility that can provide more assistance.
Some may opt to purchase long-term care insurance, though policies can be somewhat expensive, Cackowski said. Others choose instead to invest money specifically for long-term care, should they end up needing it, she said. Either way, it’s important to have a plan.
Assess the house
Occasionally, customers will ask Vittorio Lisi, co-owner of JVA Construction Services in Baldwinsville, N.Y., to examine their home to see what it would take to make it more accessible as they age. That helps people estimate their future remodeling costs.
Suggested improvements could include moving the laundry from the basement to the first floor, creating a roll-in shower without a threshold, installing raised toilets, changing the door knobs to door levers and installing roll-out shelves in kitchen cabinets, he said. Sometimes, doorways need to be widened, to allow wheelchairs or walkers to pass through. Sometimes, exterior ramps are needed if the homeowner can no longer walk up stairs.
Some of the work can be done in little steps along the way, as needed, Lisi said, and homeowners can budget for that. Keep in mind, however, that you may save if you do some projects together, since it cuts down on the number of trips that the remodeler needs to make to your home, he added.
Improvements in the bathroom are among the most common in increasing a home’s accessibility; it’s likely to come with a price tag of between $12,000 and $17,000 for a basic bathroom remodel, Lisi said. Just changing the shower area (including taking out the tub, creating an entry without a threshold and adding some other safety features) can run between $8,000 and $10,000, said Dan Bawden, president of Legal Eagle Contractors in Houston.
And the expenses add up. Widening a doorway from two feet to 34 inches can cost between $1,700 and $2,500, since it often also involves moving light switches, Bawden said. Changing out just one doorknob for a door lever can cost $50, given labor and materials, Lisi said.
Often, the sum cost of all the improvements needed to make the average existing home more livable can reach between $70,000 and $100,000, Bawden said. His advice to people who know their home will need these tweaks in the upcoming years? Start saving now.
“What I tell the clients who are looking at [the cost] and are balking at it, I ask: ‘Do you know what it costs in your area for one year of assisted living or a nursing home?’” he said. “‘Which is better, living in the home you love and paying the $70,000 once,’” or paying it many times over, by living in an assisted living or nursing home, he asks them.
Know when it’s time to go
“People think they want to stay in their home because that is what is comfortable to them,” Cackowski said. “Especially when they’re older…it’s difficult for them to part with the familiar.”
If the home isn’t conducive to staying for the long run, however, a couple may be wise to consider a move sooner than later — when their significant other is still alive so that they can make the decision, and the eventual move, together. When put that way, many people, her parents included, don’t like the possibility of the survivor doing the move on his or her own, Cackowski said.
They move together, and sometimes sooner than anticipated, instead.
Also on MarketWatch:
Bathtubs are out, big showers are in
7 features of an age-in-place community
Most popular remodeling projects
Amy Hoak
Amy Hoak is a MarketWatch editor and columnist based in Chicago. Follow her on Twitter @amyhoak.
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Mandela Magdalene Memorial Fellow
The Future of Africa’s Past: Establishing the first Professorship of the Deep History and Archaeology of Africa
The Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge University are immensely grateful to the Jonathan and Jennifer Oppenheimer Foundation for a generous benefaction which will endow a new high-level research post: the Jennifer Ward Oppenheimer Professorship of the Deep History and Archaeology of Africa.
The core focus of the Jennifer Ward Oppenheimer Professorship will be to lead ambitious research projects and teaching initiatives that will advance and expand our understanding of humanity’s deep-time to more recent history across the continent of Africa, with a particular focus on sub-Saharan regions; areas which as of yet has been significantly understudied. He or she will also work to extend Cambridge’s already broad network of archaeological collaborators in Africa, partnering with institutions to build native research capacity.
Professor Cyprian Broodbank, Head of the Division of Archaeology, commented, ‘the new professorship will help lead the world in forging a new understanding of Africa’s past and help shape a dynamic future built upon the continent’s unique history, cultural heritage and achievements.’
‘They will engage with leading institutions and sites of archaeological importance across the continent to not only push forward the bounds of our knowledge using the latest scientific technologies and ideas, but also work with communities to promote the protection and interpretation of their material heritage.’
Cambridge is committed to the principle of research-led teaching and the postholder will instigate unique collaborative research projects with African institutions. The resources of the digital age will enhance this potential, leading to Cambridge’s technological expertise promoting a better understanding of Africa’s deep history, to the benefit of local communities.
‘Future generations of Africans will be empowered and trained with the tools to write their own deep histories,’ Professor Broodbank concluded.
It is envisaged that the post holder of the Professorship will also be named the Mandela Magdalene Memorial Fellow at Magdalene College in memory of Nelson Mandela who was an Honorary Fellow of the College. Magdalene College established 'The Mandela Magdalene Scholarships' in 1994 which are awarded annually to up to three postgraduate students from South African universities. The Scholarships represent a deeply positive and fruitful relationship between the University of Cambridge and the people of South Africa.
Of the establishment of the Mandela Magdalene Scholarships, Dr Mandela said:
“I approve the use of my name for the Scholarship to assist South African students. Our country is in dire need of skilled men and women to service our new democracy. We are deeply grateful that Magdalene College took the initiative to assist.”
Magdalene has a proud tradition of association with Africa and this Fellowship will ensure the Professor joins a vibrant community of scholars and students undertaking research across the continent’s varied history and present.
Dr Rowan Williams, Master of Magdalene, commented: “‘The College is delighted to continue its association with the memory of Africa’s greatest modern leader. We are committed as a College to doing what we can to promote his vision for Africa’s future by supporting as fully as we can the next generation of African scholars, teachers and thinkers, and we look forward enormously to this exciting new appointment.”
It is with thanks to the extraordinary generosity of the Jonathan and Jennifer Oppenheimer Foundation that the successful applicant will be able to take up the post in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology and the Fellowship at Magdalene as early as Spring 2018.
Britain from the air: 1945-2000
Mr Michael Keall (1989) 1931-2019
Land’s End to John o’Groats Astride a Charging Bullet
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Reducing emissions
Integrated & reliable
Transmission solutions
Sustainable projects
Hydro Current Newsletter
Vol. 2, Issue 1 - Summer 2019
Vol. 1, Issue 3 - Winter 2019
Vol. 1, Issue 2 - Fall 2018
Keeyask Generating Station building legacy of reliable, renewable energy
Another major construction season is underway at Keeyask Generating Station project, 725 kilometers (approximately 450 miles) north of Manitoba Hydro’s headquarters in downtown Winnipeg.
Located on the Lower Nelson River, the 695-megawatt hydroelectric station is currently on track to meet its $8.7 billion budget, with the first generator expected to go into service in October 2020 — 10 months ahead of schedule. These schedule advances were gained during the 2018 construction season, which ended with all major milestones met and some targets even exceeded.
The critical milestones ahead include completing 97% of all concrete; 90% of all earthworks; and all permanent earth structures (dams and dykes) by year-end. More intensive work has already begun on the mechanical and electrical systems to ready for commissioning.
When complete, Keeyask will create a legacy of renewable, reliable, non-GHG emitting electricity for Manitobans — and our neighbours — well into the future. Keeyask will generate approximately 4,400 gigawatt-hours of renewable electricity per year — enough to power almost 400,000 homes.
Meeting construction targets is just one aspect of success for this mega-project. Keeyask is being developed by the Keeyask Hydropower Limited Partnership (KHLP) — a venture between Manitoba Hydro and four northern Indigenous communities: Tataskweyak Cree Nation, War Lake First Nation, York Factory First Nation, and the Fox Lake Cree Nation. Working together, the KHLP, and Manitoba Hydro as the project manager, are building Keeyask with attention to quality, safety, environmental performance, and significant partner community participation in employment and business opportunities.
Visit keeyask.com for more detailed information on this project.
Scott Powell
Manitoba Hydro
spowell@hydro.mb.ca
© Manitoba Hydro
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MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
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Interview: The Cult's Billy Duffy talks new album, Choice Of Weapon
By Joe Bosso 2012-03-06T17:10:00.65Z Guitars
Billy Duffy, backstage with a few of his Gretsch beauties. On the couch, 1970s models; seated with a new moel 2011. © Michael Schulz
"We're winning!" crows Billy Duffy, guitarist for The Cult, echoing the now-infamous words of Charlie Sheen. But he's in on the joke, and he punches his statement with a laugh before turning serious. "OK, we're still in the game, we're still standing. In many ways, I think we've probably lived up to the prophecy of our name."
The release of She Sells Sanctuary from The Cult's 1985 album Love put the then-British-based band on the map. And nearly 30 years later, the song is still paying dividends - it was recently featured in a Super Bowl Budweiser ad. An omnipresent track such as this could be viewed as an albatross, but as Duffy sees it, "A big song is a big song. I'm certainly not going to complain. If we did something a while ago that people still love, that's a remarkable achievement."
On 22 May, The Cult are set to release Choice Of Weapon, their ninth studio effort and their first full-length album in five years. Co-produced by Chris Goss and Bob Rock, it's a strong, expansive set of psychedelic rock served up bold and brassy, led by the slamming first single Lucifer. "We like to hit people fast," says Duffy. "Nuances and finer points are in our music, but rock 'n' roll is still about getting to the point."
MusicRadar sat down with Billy Duffy recently to talk about the new album, his relationship with singer Ian Astbury and his ongoing love of Gretsch White Falcons.
How are you and Ian after all these years? Are things generally OK?
"There's been some roadblocks. We're both very stubborn people. But I think we've made more good decisions than bad. Ian and I got together and started writing songs back in 1983 - that's a long time. We've had a few hiatuses and hibernations, but we're still going."
"We're the head and the heart of The Cult. We each do things the other one can't. It doesn't matter who's in England, who's in the States, any of that thing. Geography never had any bearing on us, really, because we've always considered ourselves a global enterprise.
"Ian and I are English guys, so we have that sort of sensibility - we always will. But we never considered The Cult to be a typical teabag/bowler hats/umbrella band, if you know what I mean. As far as our own relationship goes and what we bring to the group, it's fine."
Let's talk about your approach to the guitar - in particular, your use of the Gretsch White Falcon.
"The Gretsch, absolutely. You know, I'm not a hoarder of guitars. I've got a few Gretsches, and they're all good, working guitars. I don't use them all the time, but I use them when I can. It's a pretty big thing, you know, the Gretsch - it's heavy. And we're working on a signature model, too, so that'll be something nice to look forward to."
You must have some pretty nice vintage models.
"Well, I have what I could afford back in the '80s, which was a 1970s Gretsch. I always liked the way that guitar felt. Gretsches were always expensive, even then, because they were imported into the UK from the US. Of course, I didn't have any special backing then, so as you can imagine, buying a guitar like that was a really big deal.
"In fact, back in '82, I bought a double cutaway that was stereo, which made it difficult to use - I had to get a stereo jack for it. Then I got a single cutaway mono version, and that's the one people have seen a lot. It was easier for me to handle, too. I didn't like the stereo guitar too much; I don't know what it was made for - some kind of country-jazz-fusion thing, I guess. But I wanted to rock, so the other one suited me fine."
Who was your inspiration for picking the White Falcon? Not many people automatically go for that kind of guitar.
"It was a long-term/short-term thing. Long-term, pre-punk rock, around 1976, I was playing in my high school band, and we were all into Neil Young and Ted Nugent. I went to see Nugent around this time in England. He was playing the big Byrdland and all that. So I was very impressed by the large, semi-acoustics. They were more exotic, even though I still liked Les Pauls - and a black Les Paul copy was my very first guitar.
"The Gretsch thing was just a search for a different sound, something unique. And what brought it into focus was when I went to see Bow Wow Wow. I kind of knew those guys a little bit, but seeing Matthew Ashman with that Gretsch… I was transfixed. I said, 'If I get any money, I'm buying a Gretsch.'
"Soon after, I got in the band Theatre Of Hate, and ironically, the singer played a Gretsch. He had an odd-green model, with the pickup by the neck - it was great. He asked me one day what kind of guitar I was going to play, and I said, 'Well, I've got a job now, don't I? I'm buying a Gretsch!' Took all my money and got the double cutaway.
"Gretsch's are great. They've got their sound, obviously, but there's the look - it's distinctive. You strap on a Gretsch, and you're saying something with how you look. The visual thing is very important in rock 'n' roll. A Gretsch is a fashion statement, as well as an instrument for sound."
They do look cool, but the sound is the thing.
"Without a doubt, and it's something I've really experimented with. I've tried to go for something… cinematic. I didn't want the surf thing or rockabilly, and I didn't even want to do Ennio Morricone - I wanted it to be psychedelic. It's a feeling I pursued, and I still am."
Amp-wise, what have you liked to pair the White Falcon with?
"The signature sound of the first two Cult albums was the Gretsch and a Roland JC120. That amp had a very nice, clean chorus sound. Looking at pictures of me live from around this time, I went for a double amp setup - there was always a valve amp to give everything some balls.
"Even though I considered a Marshall and a 4x12 to be very 'rock,' and almost a bit 'metal,' I tended to go with them. Fender Twins didn't have what I wanted, and Vox AC30s were a bit shrill for me. But I haven't had a lot of changes. In the '90s, I discovered Matchless amps, and they're really good."
Are you a bit surprised at the longevity of the Love album? She Sells Sanctuary is a gift that just keeps on giving.
"Yeah, I am surprised, but then… The song has a certain magic, and I have to confess that I never tire of playing it. It's uplifting, a real feel-good song you can get all caught up in. Ian and I never had a moment when we didn't want to play it. It's an easy, graceful song with a rolling energy. To tell you the truth, it almost plays itself!" [laughs]
You reference it somewhat on the new album. The song The Wolf has a similar kind of intro.
"Sure. We're very conscious of that - Ian, especially. There's a signature thing I do on the guitar, the droning, repetitive chordal bit. It's a cool thing, and you can do endless combinations or variations of it. A lot of our songs have that - Fire Woman, Rain, Rise… there's quite a few."
It's similar to what The Edge did on some of U2's earlier songs.
"Yeah, yeah, it is. But he was always a picking-minor-chords kind of guy. With The Cult, it's more of a driving thing. We're all from the same punk era, you know. All any of us did was say, 'How the fuck do you follow the Sex Pistols?'" [laughs]
You're not known for taking big guitar solos, but you do have a few on the new album. Death and Amnesia have some nice lead breaks.
"Yeah, there's a few. I'm not a big solo guy. I go in and just wing them. The guitarists from the era I came from weren't into solos, and I'm probably the best soloist of the bunch. That's not to say it's my thing, 'cause it's not. I like melodic interpretations, like Roxy Music and Bowie - although Mick Ronson was a massive soloist.
"But you know what I mean - I never wanted to practice guitar solos. It always seemed like a kid practicing the violin. I always thought that there were more exciting things to do, people to meet and all that."
Billy Duffy on stage in 2011. © Aurore Belot
What was it like working with Bob Rock on the new album? The band has a history with him…
"Bob is great. We've done four albums with him, and he really 'gets' us. Ian is always trying to bring different elements into The Cult, and he got Chris Goss to be involved. They've worked together in the past. And all credit to Chris, he did a lot of heavy lifting on this album. But Bob came in and really finished things. That's what he was: The Finisher. He'd come in when we were floundering, and he knew just what to do.
"Bob is a real hook guy; he knows what the songs need to grab people. But he's also big picture. He'd listen to songs and go, 'Where's The Cult? Where's Ian and Billy?' He can zone in very quickly and see where we have to go."
The word 'comeback' is overused, but do you think it applies to this album?
"No, not at all. I'd never look to it like that. For us - and I do understand the Wide World Of Sports aspect to culture and all that - it's like we never went away. We might not make as many records as we used to, but it's only because we don't want to do anything until we're ready. I don't want to inflict mediocrity on Cult fans. Anybody with a cheap recording device and access to the Internet can do that.
"That's the problem nowadays: Anybody can do anything. Anybody can be a rock star - or at least they think they are. But just because you put stuff out there doesn't mean you have talent. It's just stuff, interference in the airwaves. With The Cult, we always felt that if we're going to take up people's oxygen, we might as well make it count.
"But if I can bring up my one peccadillo with the band, I think we don't follow things up as we should. We get going in the writing process, and we get recording, and then we don't follow it up quick enough. Having said that, I'm going to try to get Ian to agree that we should continue writing and working faster. The last album was 2007. This record isn't a comeback, but we could be around more. Sure, we could."
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Lifetime Book Club
Available on Audible
All Movies Based on Jane Green Novels
! 4 days left to watch
“To Have and to Hold” centers on Alice who still can’t believe her high school crush, the dashing, wealthy and successful Joe Chambers, would choose to marry her and willingly allows him to mold her into his ideal socialite wife. Despite Alice’s best efforts to be the woman of Joe’s dreams, he can’t help but be unfaithful to her. When Joe’s indiscretions impact his career, Alice’s life is further turned upside down. Alice unexpectedly finds herself falling for her best friend’s boyfriend and begins to wonder if her fairy tale ending could exist after all.
"To Have and to Hold" centers on Alice who still can't believe her high school crush, the dashing, wealthy and successful Joe Chambers, would choose to marry her and willingly allows him to mold her into his ideal socialite wife. Despite Alice's best efforts to be the woman of Joe's dreams, he can't help but be unfaithful to her. When Joe's indiscretions impact his career, Alice's life is further turned upside down. Alice unexpectedly finds herself falling for her best friend's boyfriend and begins to wonder if her fairy tale ending could exist after all.
don't miss the drama!
Get the scoop on new movies with exclusive clips, sneak peeks and more when you sign up for Lifetime Movies email updates.
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People Don’t Fear Climate Change Enough
With respect to the science of climate change, many experts regard the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as the world’s authoritative institution. A draft summary of its forthcoming report was leaked last week. It describes the panel’s growing confidence that climate change is real, that it is a result of human action, and that if the world continues on its current course, it will face exceedingly serious losses and threats (including a significant rise in sea levels by century’s end).
While the draft report states these conclusions with unprecedented conviction, they are broadly consistent with the panel’s judgments from the past two decades, which raises an obvious question: Why have so many nations (including China and the U.S., the world’s leading greenhouse-gas emitters) not done more in response?
About Cass R Sunstein»
Cass R. Sunstein, the former administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, is ...MORE
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There are many answers. Skeptics say that the IPCC is biased and wrong. Companies whose economic interests are at stake continue to fight against regulatory controls. The leaders of some nations think that if they acted unilaterally to reduce their emissions, they would impose significant costs on their citizens without doing much to reduce climate change. Especially in a difficult economic period, they don’t think it makes sense to act on their own.
To this extent, the real challenge lies in producing an international agreement. It isn’t easy to obtain a consensus on the timing and expense of reductions, especially because developing nations (including China) insist that developed nations (including the U.S.) are obliged to take the most costly steps toward reducing emissions.
Psychological Barriers
All of these positions play a major role. But we should not disregard purely psychological factors. An understanding of what human beings fear -- and what they do not -- helps to explain why nations haven’t insisted on more significant emissions reductions.
The first obstacle is that people tend to evaluate risks by way of “the availability heuristic,” which leads them to assess the probability of harm by asking whether a readily available example comes to mind. An act of terrorism, for example, is likely to be both available and salient, and hence makes people fear that another such event will occur (whether it is likely to or not). So, too, a recent crime or accident can activate attention and significantly inflate people’s assessment of risk.
By contrast, climate change is difficult to associate with any particular tragedy or disaster. To be sure, many scientists think that climate change makes extreme weather events, such asHurricane Sandy, substantially more likely. But it is hard to prove that climate change “caused” any particular event, and as a result, the association tends to be at best speculative in many people’s minds.
Second, people tend to be especially focused on risks or hazards that have an identifiable perpetrator, and for that reason produce outrage. Warmer temperatures are a product not of any particular human being or group, but the interaction between nature and countless decisions by countless people. There are no obvious devils or demons -- no individuals who intend to create the harms associated with climate change. For terrorism, a “we-they” narrative fits the facts; in the context of climate change, those who are the solution might well also be, or seem to be, the problem. In these circumstances, public outrage is much harder to fuel.
Third, human beings are far more attentive to immediate threats than to long-term ones. Behavioral scientists have emphasized that in their private lives, people sometimes display a form of myopia. They may neglect the future, seeing it as a kind of foreign country, one they may not ever visit. For this reason, they might fail to save for retirement, or they might engage in risk-taking behavior (such as smoking or unhealthy eating) that will harm their future selves.
Future Threat
In a political context, citizens might demand protection against a risk that threatens them today, tomorrow or next month. But if they perceive climate change as mostly a threat to future generations -- if significant sea-level rises seem to be decades away -- they are unlikely to have a sense of urgency.
Climate change lacks other characteristics that spur public concern about risks. It is gradual rather than sudden. The idea of warmer climates doesn’t produce anger, revulsion or disgust. Depletion of the ozone layer was probably the most closely analogous environmental concern; public attention to that problem was easier to mobilize because of fears of a huge rise in skin cancer.
In this light, it should not be surprising if people don’t get much exercised by the IPCC’s forthcoming report. All the obstacles are daunting -- skepticism about the science, economic self-interest, and the difficulties of designing cost-effective approaches and obtaining an international agreement. But the world is unlikely to make much progress on climate change until the barrier of human psychology is squarely addressed.
(Cass R. Sunstein, the Robert Walmsley University professor at Harvard Law School, is a Bloomberg View columnist. He is the former administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the co-author of “Nudge” and author of “Simpler: The Future of Government.”)
To contact the writer of this article: Cass R. Sunstein at csunstei@law.harvard.edu.
To contact the editor responsible for this article: Katy Roberts at kroberts29@bloomberg.net
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Book Review - Song of Silence
Lucy and Charlie Tuttle agree on one thing: they're committed to each other for life. Trouble is, neither of them expected life to look like this. Charlie retired early, but Lucy is devoted to a long-term career . . . until the day she has no choice.
Forced to retire from her position as music educator in a small Midwestern K-8 school, Lucy can only watch helplessly as the program her father started years ago disintegrates before her eyes. As the music fades and a chasm separates her form the passion of her heart, Lucy wonders if her faith's song has gone silent, too. The musical score of her life seems to be missing all the notes.
When a simple misstep threatens to silence Lucy forever, a young boy and his soundless mother change the way she sees---and hears---everything.
Cynthia Ruchti tells stories hemmed in hope. She's the award-winning author of 17 books and a frequent speaker for women's ministry events. She serves as the Professional Relations Liaison for American Christian Fiction Writers, where she helps retailers, libraries, and book clubs connect with the authors and books they love. She lives with her husband in Central Wisconsin.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest
I enjoy Cynthia Ruchti's books so much and this is another keeper! I think the biggest thing I enjoy is that she writes from the point of view of people of an older age (of which I'm one now) and I can totally relate to how they are feeling as their lives change and not always for the better.
Lucy is a music teacher - it is actually her passion and her mission in life. The opening scene of the book shows this in a really profound way as she helps her flute student with cystic fibrosis play despite her health issues. The girl tells her that her doctor says this has helped her more than anything. I love that Lucy is so caring about her students and makes their best interest her priority. When she loses her position due to budgetary cuts, it's devastating to her because her music has been her whole life.
I love her husband, Charlie. He is a totally different personality than Lucy - he finds joy in just living and doesn't have a big passion in his life that he can't live without, except for Lucy. His love for her is so sweet and kind and I just really liked him.
When Lucy her her misstep (you'll have to read it to find out what this is) I found myself heavily invested in her life and how she was going to deal with everything. I love how their faith shines through and it becomes really important for Lucy. I also love their grown children and how they are invested in their parent's lives.
This book really spoke to my heart. Changes can come in so many ways and can be devastating if we let them be. This story shows how faith and love can really pull us through even the most difficult things in our lives. I love this book and highly recommend it!
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W. Steven Bryant - Overview
W. Steven Bryant
sbryant@lockelord.com
Steven Bryant's bankruptcy and restructuring experience spans a broad range of industries. Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, he has represented both corporate debtors as well as secured and unsecured creditors in complex business bankruptcy cases across the United States. Steven also represents plaintiffs and defendants in bankruptcy-related litigation.
Represented the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 1245 as its bankruptcy counsel in In re PG&E Corp., et al., Case No. 19-30088, which is pending in the Northern District of California. The IBEW represents thousands of PG&E employees and contractors and is a member of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of PG&E. The PG&E Chapter 11 cases are among the largest and most complex Chapter 11 cases ever filed in the United States.
Represented Texas Pellets, Inc. and German Pellets Texas, LLC as bankruptcy counsel in In re Texas Pellets, Inc., Case No. 16-90126, which is pending in the Eastern District of Texas. These Chapter 11 debtors own one of the largest wood-pellet manufacturing facilities in the United States and had over $185 million in secured, prepetition bond debt as of April 30, 2016.
Served as co-counsel to the exit financier in the Chapter 11 case In re SH130 Concession Co., LLC, Case No. 16-10262, in the Western District of Texas. The financier provided over $200 million in exit financing to the debtor, a toll-road operator located near Austin, Texas. With these funds, the debtors were able to confirm a Chapter 11 plan in May 2017 and restructure over $1 billion in prepetition debt.
Represented a buyer (backed by private equity) in In GreenHunter Resources, Inc., Case No. 16-40956, in the Northern District of Texas. The debtors were oil-field services companies with several million in secured debt. The client prevailed at an open auction with a bid of over $20 million in total consideration for substantially all of the debtors’ assets. The bankruptcy court approved the sale, which enabled the debtors to confirm a Chapter 11 plan.
Represented the Official Unsecured Creditors’ Committee in the Chapter 11 case In re University General Health System, Inc., et al., Case No. 15-31086, in the Southern District of Texas. With the Committee’s assistance, the debtors, who owned a large, Texas-based hospital system, sold their assets for $33,000,000 and then confirmed a Chapter 11 liquidating plan, thereby returning value to unsecured creditors.
Counseled a Fortune 500 bank in In re WMF Airport Hotel Ltd, Case No. 11-34676, a Chapter 11 case brought by a Holiday Inn hotel in Houston, Texas. The parties eventually restructured the bank's $11 million loan as part of an agreed Chapter 11 plan of reorganization.
Represented major energy companies in multiple oil and gas bankruptcy cases, including SemCrude, ATP Oil and Gas, Delta Petroleum, Tri-Union, and Capco, Inc.
Represented clients in numerous bankruptcy-related lawsuits, including adversary proceedings alleging violations of the Bankruptcy Code, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).
Structured complex commercial transactions, including syndicated and non-syndicated loans and capital-equipment finance leases, outside of bankruptcy. Among other projects, conducted a top-to-bottom review of a Fortune 500 client's finance-leasing and loan documentation.
President, Turnaround Management Association, Central Texas Chapter (2019)
Member, Austin Bar Association Bankruptcy Section
Member, Abiding Love Lutheran Church
Member, Austin Sister Cities International Committee
Business Bankruptcy Law by Texas Board of Legal Specialization
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Counsel to Senior Secured Lender in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case of A’Gaci, L.L.C.
A Locke Lord team served as counsel to a senior secured lender in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of A’Gaci, L.L.C. A’Gaci, a women’s fast-fashion clothing retailer with stores located throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, filed its Chapter 11 case in January 2018 in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio Division).
White Deer Energy
Locke Lord represented White Deer Energy in the acquisition of oil services company, RockPile Energy Services, LLC, for an undisclosed amount announced on September 8, 2016.
Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell Promotes 12 Lawyers to Partners in Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and L.A.
News Release December 17, 2010
Local Bankruptcy Rules: Texas (W.D. Tex.)
Outside Publication Co-Author Practical Law Practice Note (Thomson Reuters) 2017
Section 363 "Free and Clear" Sales Preferences
Speaking Engagement Speaker Locke Lord’s 2014 Insolvency & Restructuring Conference - "What Lurks Beneath …," London October 22, 2014
2019 Bankruptcy Bench Bar Conference
Austin, Texas 04/17/2019 8:00 AM - 04/19/2019 12:00 PM
TMA Southwest Regional Conference
San Antonio, Texas 04/25/2018 5:30 PM - 04/26/2018 8:00 PM
Locke Lord's Insolvency & Restructuring Conference 2014
London, United Kingdom 10/22/2014 8:30 AM - 10/22/2014 12:00 AM
Bankruptcy, Restructuring & Insolvency
Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution
Corporate Trust
Investment Adviser & Alternative Funds
Consumer Products, Retail & Franchise
J.D.,
, The University of Texas School of Law, 2000
M.A., Government, The University of Texas at Austin, 1997
B.A., History and Political Science,
, Rice University, 1993
Texas, 2000
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, 2003
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, 2004
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, 2004
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, 2004
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Ennis & His Editor - Talking Battlefields and War Comics
By Joe Rybandt, Special to Newsarama October 28, 2008 11:51am ET
Preview: Battlefields: Night Witches #1
Hi there (again)… Dynamite Associate Editor Joe Rybandt back again, keeping his promises and presenting the second part of my talk with writer Garth Ennis. What are we going on about this time?
Garth Ennis’ Battlefields: Night Witches #1 (OF 3) Preview here
Dynamite Entertainment is proud to be the new home for the next series of Garth Ennis' "war" books, all under the “Battlfields" header!
Late summer, 1942. As the German army smashes deep into Soviet Russia and the defenders of the Motherland retreat in disarray, a new bomber squadron arrives at a Russian forward airbase. Its crews will fly flimsy wooden biplanes on lethal night missions over German lines, risking fiery death as they fling themselves against the invader- but for these pilots, the consequences of capture will be even worse. For the pilots of the 599th Night Bomber Regiment are women. In the deadly skies of the Eastern front, they will become a legend- known, to friend and foe alike, as the Night Witches.
Featuring two covers, one by John Cassaday and the other by Garry (Dan Dare) Leach!
That’s what! The first issue of our all-new Battlefields series hits store shelves this week, and we spent some time with Ennis talking about not only the first issue, but all three series that make up Battlefields!
Joe Rybandt: You’ve described these stories, that will make up the Battlefields series from Dynamite and previously from DC/Vertigo, as your favorite to write, why is that?
Garth Ennis: I think it's because I get to do them so rarely. When I look back over the past fifteen, twenty years or so that I've been writing I've not gotten as many opportunities to write war comics as I'd have liked, there’s Battlefields, there's the two Vertigo series, there's Enemy Ace and Battler Britton and Phantom Eagle and that's it -- that's a small part, a small percentage of my output over the past twenty years. Yet, when I was growing up, the two comics that I read, the two British comics that I grew up on were Battle on the one hand -- which was a World War II title -- and 2000AD on the other -- 2000AD was science-fiction, of course. That meant that war comics made up essentially 50% of my reading in those days, and from that grew a fascination with military history, with first hand accounts and with military fiction too, mostly to do with the Second World War, and yet I get so few opportunities to indulge that now that I'm writing myself. So when I actually get around to it, it's an opportunity to use just the immense amounts of research and reading that I've done over the years, and to explore all these quite incredible characters and situations that have occurred to me.
JR: Now the Battle series, was that like what we had over in the states in the form of Sgt. Rock or Our Fighting Forces…
GE: Like most British comics it was a weekly anthology, as opposed to a monthly comic featuring one character. You typically got five or six, four or five page stories every week; they were in black and white. There was a strong focus on characterization, quick, simple characterization, very direct storytelling. In some of them, there was a nice streak of dark humor. There was also a good deal of violent material that appeared largely because of a movement in British comics during the mid to late seventies where -- I hesitate to use the term “realism” -- there was more of a concentration on making the stories a little more down to earth, a little more believable. Now, it would be wrong for me to say that Battle itself was some sort of supremely accurate military document. The best stories that appeared in it were certainly well researched, well written, very accurately drawn. The majority of it was, I suppose okay, but there was some quite exceptional material. In comparison with American titles like Sgt. Rock and so on, I'd say there was a more of a down to earth, even down at heel feel to the British stories, the characters were not invulnerable, while the lead character in a particular story might survive simply because he had to, that did not go for the supporting characters. If Rock , for instance had been a British character, if he'd appeared in Battle, Easy Company would have been wiped out ten times over.
JR: Right, yeah and certainly in the stuff that you’re doing now, you don't downplay any of the misery and the horror and the abject despair that sometimes comes across in what any of these real world situations would have been…
GE: I try not to, the fatality factor is, I think, inevitable if you are writing any kind of believable war fiction -- you only have to look at first-hand accounts by say, a young soldier when he joins a squad, or a pilot when he joins a squadron, or a sailor when he joins the crew of a ship and you then follow him through this autobiographical account, and usually at the end he'll make a point of telling you how many of the guys he started out with made it. And it's usually a depressingly small number -- most of them got killed or wounded along the way.
JR: Now, WWII, maybe just because it was so well documented, it's certainly the thing that people think of and go to often in film and historical documentaries and books, and we see resurgence here in the states probably every five to ten years… It was obviously a world changing event, but is there anything in particular that roots you to it, in terms of going to that particular ground? You're not telling Civil War stories, you're telling WWII stuff… you use Vietnam every once in a while in the Punisher when you use Frank as a stand-in there, but for the most part you're rooted in the ‘40s, is there a reason for that?
GE: I think because WWII largely formed a good deal of fiction and even every day political life when I was growing up. The long term results of WWII were still being felt around the world in the ‘70s -- the cold war was not over, the Iron Curtain was still very much in place… that's probably the most obvious and most visible aspect. But it was also visible in a different way, not just in the comics that we read and the movies that we watched but WWII even informed the games that we played in the schoolyard. When I was about, I don't know, six through ten, it seemed everyone knew a little bit about WWII, perhaps they'd had a father, grandfather or uncle who'd served in the forces. Perhaps they themselves even knew of someone, someone they'd met; I can remember for instance walking along the street in the little town I grew up in and my mother or my father pointing someone out to me, like a guy who would be lining up for his fish and chips or something and saying ‘that's so and so, he fought at Arnhem,’ or ‘that guy over there he was on Lancasters.’ That kind of thing, it wouldn't mean anything to anyone today, but at the time it immediately locked you into these books, comics, films you'd seen and you realized that this was real and again you're talking about what, thirty years in the past? It seemed to inform everything somehow, so it was only natural that you'd pick up on a good deal of this stuff. Now I personally believe that there's a moral aspect to WWI that I think makes it easy for people to comfortably seize on it and to use it as an example of fighting for what is right.
JR: A “just” war…
GE: A just war, I suppose you might say there's a desire to inspire… it goes beyond that WWII is seized upon and looked upon by even political leaders today as an inspirational time that should perhaps inspire us to attempt the same thing again, to go out into the world and fight for what's right. That gives it a relevance that cannot be ignored. Particularly when you consider that what they are asking us to fight for may not have the same clear cut moral results as WWII at all.
JR: Yeah and you and I may have discussed this, but it seems like it was a black and white issue back then, but it certainly wasn't… there were still a lot of grays, but it was more black and white than what we are dealing with in today's world.
GE: By far, by far. That's the other interesting aspect to this which is that moral victory that it might have been, it was highly compromised. Never mind some of the things that we had to do to win, there is the fact that the allies, the Western allies, teamed up with Soviet Russia. Some of whose excesses approached that of the Nazi's… in some cases, eclipsed them entirely.
JR: Lesser of two evils at that point, it was all about strategy and not about good deeds at that point….
GE: That's right. It's almost as if in America in particular, they took a break from hating the communists just long enough for them to defeat the Nazi's, then they were able to go right back to hating the communists.
JR: The fascists were worse at that point in time.
GE: That's right.
JR: One other question, concerning generalities, then we'll get into some specifics here. But, you also in this series of work, as well as in your previous series of work, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you also seem to tell stories that are not about American troops… it seems we get a lot of British, but not an American group. Have you done one of these with an American group or is there a reason why . . . ?
GE: There was an American cast in one of the first four I did for Vertigo, it was called Screaming Eagles, it was about the 101st Airborne. You're right though, I have shied away from American characters largely because I feel as if, not that their story's been told, but that at least there is an awareness, particularly in this country of America's contribution in WWII.
JR: Right, I was going to say it's a good thing, as we're such an introspective nation, I think we know our story, well we don't know all of our stories, but we don't know what they went through in Britain, or we don't know what they went through in Africa, and we don't know you know . . . as much as we know our own particular story… well our grandfather's story….
GE: That's right. I think if I was able to write some more war stories -- we talked earlier about how they make up such a small part of my output by necessity, by simply having to face the reality of the market. If I were able to do more, then yes, of course I'd look at American figures in WWII. One story I'm particularly interested in telling, at some stage down the road, is that of a B-17 crew in the raids over Germany… I'd also be interested in looking at Marines in the Pacific, but I do have limited space and a limited number of stories I can tell at any one time, and that does mean I may choose some slightly more obscure aspect of the war for an American audience to look at.
JR: Right, and speaking of that, we can segue into the three stories that make up Battlefields, because they do each have a different perspective. Can you go into a little of the historical context for each of the three series? We'll talk about Night Witches… then Dear Billy and then Tankies…
GE: Oh well, let's see, Night Witches is based on a true story. There was a unit of Russian, Soviet Russian, bomber pilots who flew at night beginning in 1942. They were known at the Night Witches, partly because they had a habit of showing up over the German lines and bombing the hell out of everyone before the Germans even knew they were coming, partly because they were women. And the Soviets were, as far as I know, the only, certainly the only major power, to field women in combat roles in WWII -- I'm not including here groups perhaps in western or southern Europe where you're talking about civilians being thrown into warfare almost against their will; the Soviets did it as a matter of policy. In all kinds of roles actually: tank drivers, machine gunners, medics, line infantry and all kinds of pilots -- there were women fighter squadrons, bomber squadrons and in this instance, night bomber squadrons, and the Night Witches, the story that I'm doing with Russ Braun tells the story of a squadron of rookie female pilots who arrive south of Stalingrad in the summer of 1942 and they're really thrown in at the deep end. At the same time, we meet a squad of German infantry who are just beginning to realize exactly what it means and what an undertaking it is for them to have invaded Russia, and in fact, just how far into the deep end they themselves have been thrown. They are a thousand miles from home, they are very, very deep into enemy territory and once they realize that they're up against women pilots they get the feeling that all of Russia is rising up to fight them. I think the German army itself discovered in WWII, after a string of victories in the west and in the south taking on Russia proved to be another matter entirely.
JR: Of course. Yes, absolutely.
GE: So, that's the Night Witches…. Dear Billy is a very strange story, the art on that one is by Peter Snjeberg; it's about a young British nurse, called Carrie Sutton, who is taken prisoner by the Japanese in the retreat from Singapore, after it fell in the early part of 1942. Carrie has a bad time at the hands of her captors, she manages to survive and after returning to India ,which was still held by the British at that point, she finds herself working as a nurse, and forming a tentative relationship with a young pilot who's passed through her hospital, and that's probably where the story would end, but then fate drops the chance for revenge in Carrie's lap and she takes it in possibly … I suppose you might say it's a rather grim, ill advised way of going about things, but when you see the social mores that someone like Carrie would have to face at that stage in, well not in that stage of the war, but in fact in that stage of British society, British colonial society, you realize, that there really wasn't much other opportunity for her to go about getting her revenge -- she never even really expected that she would get a chance to. I suppose culturally, what you're looking at is the difference between a colonial power, the British Empire, albeit in decline, and the social standards that it set for women, and in comparison to the Night Witches, communist Russia which for all its flaws did ostensibly push the idea of equality, and gave women the chance to fight back against the invaders of their country, just as strongly as the men.
JR: Yeah, it's [Dear Billy] a very touching and very bleak piece… but I think it's one of the best things that you've written, it's very, very good…
GE: Well, thanks. It's one of those stories, where it came from; I'm not sure exactly how it developed. It began, I think with the strange, rather haunting image that Peter Snjeberg captured perfectly that opens the story, and the odd little five-page scene that it leads to, that image in particular has been kind of cooking away in my head for the past eight or nine years. And, again as I say I don't know where this stuff comes from …
JR: Right…
GE: It's like a story I did for Avatar called 303, it's like the last Punisher story I did called “Valley Forge, Valley Forge” -- it's strange stuff and I'm never quite sure what it's born of, but when you get that kind of imagery, and those kind of characters, there's a conviction that come with that that the story has to be told….
JR: [Laughs] Have you ever thought that your muse is just f###ed up?
GE: [Laughs] A possibility … and I think others would agree.
JR: And then we have the Tankies, which rounds out the three, tell us about the Tankies…
GE: The Tankies is a story illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra, of the three it's perhaps the straightest war story. It concerns a British tank crew in the often chaotic fighting in the Normandy countryside after D-Day, which was a two to three month cauldron battle involving some of the most vicious action of the war. The Germans, being the Germans, fought like hell -- hey had better equipment, at least in terms of tanks and infantry, and the British, many of whom were inexperienced at that point -- it was a comparatively small number of British soldiers who'd been fighting overseas in Burma, Africa, Sicily and Italy, most of the army had been held back in training for what I think the British Generals knew was going to be the major test, and that was the invasion of Europe . . . and so the British did find themselves, much like the Americans in fact, did find themselves groping their way at first, and that led to some heavy casualties, because the Germans were pretty harsh teachers; but the story concerns one particular crew, one particular British tank crew, cut off from their unit, trying to find out what's going on largely against the background of the battle as it develops. Their number one concern is not running into the much feared German Tiger tank, in which the disparity between German and Allied designs was probably at its most obvious. Tiger was an absolute monster which could barely even be scratched by an Allied tank; most of the Allied tanks could be blown to bits by the Tiger with relative impunity.
JR: You mentioned the three artists, but maybe you could talk… you were very specific in who you wanted for these particular books -- I’ll also say that you’re a soup-to-nuts guy, both on this, and The Boys -- you give these guys the reference they need from your archives, you’re there every step of the way… you chose Russ Braun for Night Witches, what was it about Russ?
GE: Well, one thing is all three are excellent storytellers, that’s not just in terms of how the scenes and the characters develop but they, all three of them, Carlos, Peter and Russ are all keen to use research and to get things right. There’s very little flash to what they do, there’s real substance, and I knew that that would bear fruit when it came to telling these stories. Russ is a good friend of mine, he’s a guy that I’ve known for a long time and he’s actually been in comics for a long time, I guess he’s actually never quite worked on anything major. He’s neither had a long run on a familiar book, or one big project that makes his name -- he’s like one of many foot soldiers stuck in the trenches waiting for his moment, this may be it. I don’t know, but what I do know is that I thoroughly enjoyed working with him. Great storyteller, very down to earth and not afraid of research… and a great sense of character too. which for the two groups in the story -- the women pilots and the German infantry unit -- has been very important because each is made up of a number of distinct individuals that I do want to have their own personalities.
Peter Snjeberg [Dear Billy] again, those same qualities. Peter’s a guy who I’ve worked with many times in the past but always on fill-ins -- The Boys, Hellblazer, Preacher, The Demon even The Midnighter, we’ve just never created something from the ground up before, and this is at last our chance. There is a tremendous intelligence to Peter’s work, a great subtlety that I think comes through in the characters, particularly the faces and as some parts of Dear Billy are, I suppose, you would say quite “talky”… I suppose that’s going to be important. He’s also, however, not shy when it comes to pouring on the fire and brimstone.
JR: No, and his pages are beautiful, I mean his first issue is incredible, great stuff….
GE: It is, and I have high hopes for the second one too. There’s some of the quite violent scenes toward the end of that that I’m sure he is going to handle quite well, indeed.
And finally there’s Carlos Ezquerra [Tankies] who, gosh must be a thirty, thirty-five year veteran of comics now. I’m fond of reminding him that I grew up reading his stuff, he loves that. [laughs] But tremendous attention to detail… great storyteller again and brilliant creator of characters. There is a slightly caricaturist aspect to the way Carlos draws faces that, even if it does make some of the characters a little bit larger than life, it makes them instantly recognizable. You get a nice, basic template of each personality in each face that he draws.
JR: That script was the one that when I read it I could visualize it knowing that he was drawing it. The other two, we were certainly expecting Russ and Peter to do an excellent job, but couldn’t visualize it as much as knowing Carlos’ work.. him having been a veteran and doing similar types of stories. Maybe not specific… but with exactly what you say, the characters.
GE: I think so. It’s tough enough to draw five guys, well five white guys in the same uniform, of roughly the same age and make them separate personalities. It’s even harder when the five of them are stuck in the interior of a gloomy tank. And there are few people I would trust to do that, but Carlos I know will take it completely in his stride.
JR: Just to wrap it up, I know you’re a lover of film, and obviously this is a genre that has been done and done and done… but there’s very few stand outs, things that you can go back to time and time again and say that they’re classics. If you had to choose let’s say, three movies covering the genre, the stories of war, and one book…
GE: I read a lot of fiction. The genre of military fiction, particularly WWII fiction is one that’s almost passed from the earth. You do get the occasional novel coming out. When I was growing up again the seventies and early eighties there were a slew of paperbacks in any book store, the fiction section would have tons of material by, there were writers like Gunther Lutz and Sven Hassel and David Williams and they would be -- they were pulp fiction, but they were tremendously enjoyable too. Nowadays you just don’t get that, uh, so there’s one writer I would mention… a guy called Derek Robinson who’s written some absolutely tremendous books, I have to say if you think my humor’s black .you should try this guy. He wrote books called Goshawk Squadron, Piece of Cake, A Good Clean Fight… mostly deals with the war in the air and a great debunker of myths, but tremendously entertaining, quite violent, very funny, brilliant characters -- so he’s someone I would recommend to any fans of that kind of fiction.
And when it comes to movies I would be hard pressed to get it down to three; I would imagine probably my favorite straight war movie is A Bridge Too Far, which I think is tremendous, a great anti-war film, as well as being a great war film. And beyond that it’s very hard to say Ice Cold in Alex is a bit of a classic. I’m a big fan of the sixties and early seventies war movies where they had a cast of thousands and everyone came in and did five minutes…a John Wayne, followed by Robert Redford, followed by Lee Marvin. Things like: Battle of Britain, Battle of the Bulge, Longest Day and I imagine if I had to nail it down, my favorites, just in terms of the sheer enjoyment, I would differential these two from A Bridge Too Far because I think A Bridge Too Far is a straight war film, these are more, what term? Do you know “guys on a mission film” kind of like Kelly’s Heroes and Where Eagles Dare.
JR: Okay, kind of like a caper flick to some extent too.
GE: In terms of sheer enjoyment I think it’s very, very hard to beat those two.
JR: What about Dirty Dozen? A little overplayed?
GE: You know, I think, I think this one of those American/British things. I was never a fan of The Dirty Dozen. I think Where Eagles Dare is a much better for a "guys on a mission" movie. I seem to recall enjoying the first half of the movie where they are training much more than the second half where they actually go into action.
JR: Yeah, there some stunt casting in that movie and it goes on a little long… I mean it is enjoyable, I mean it’s got lee Marvin so it gets definite points for that and is Ernest Borgnine in that? I think he is… he must have been.
GE: Is he?
JR: Yeah, I think he the he plays like a military attaché he’s not a lead….
GE: He’s not one of the Dozen….
JR: Thanks for the chat Garth…
GE: Cheers.
PRIEST On BLACK PANTHER, Pt. 1: 'Everyone Kind Of Forgot Who PANTHER Was'
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NZ observe two minute silence for Christchurch victims
New Zealand will broadcast the Islamic call to prayer and observe a two minute silence in ceremonies to mark a week since the Christchurch attacks.
Amid tight security, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will join mourners near the Al-Noor mosque, one of the two places of worship targeted in last Friday’s shootings. Later a mass burial will take place for many of the victims.
Fifty people were killed and dozens more wounded in the attacks.
Australian Brenton Tarrant, a self-proclaimed white supremacist, has been charged with one murder and is expected to face further charges.
On Thursday Ardern announced a ban on all types of semi-automatic weapons.
Thousands are expected to gather in Hagley Park, near the Al-Noor mosque, to mark Friday’s national day of reflection for the victims.
The Muslim call to prayer, or adhan, will be broadcast on national television and radio at 13:30 local time and be followed by the two-minute silence.
Many mosques across the country are expected to open their doors to visitors and human chains will be formed outside some in symbolic acts of protection and solidarity.
All national cricket coaches urged to resign
The Sports Minister has reportedly informed SLC to demand the resignation of all national level coaches following Bangladesh series
Bangladesh series tickets now online
Match Day Tickets for the upcoming three-game ODI series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are now available for sale online.
Concussion subs in international cricket soon
Concussion substitutes are likely to be introduced to international cricket in time for the men's Ashes Test series next month.
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Home / Crime / News / Court Issues Bench Warrant for Ex-NIA DG Oke and Wife
Court Issues Bench Warrant for Ex-NIA DG Oke and Wife
February 07, 2019 Crime, News
The Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday ordered the arrest of former National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Director-General Ambassador Ayodele Oke and his wife Folasade.
Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke issued a bench warrant for the couple’s arrest and detention following an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to that effect.
Prosecuting counsel Rotimi Oyedepo told Justice Aneke that the defendants could not be found so as to be served with a money laundering charge filed against them.
He said the couple also refused to answer phone calls from EFCC operatives.
Moving the application, Oyedepo also urged the court to declare the defendants wanted.
He said: “The defendants are not in court and not represented. They are yet to be served with the charge.
“In the course of investigation, they provided an address in their statements. We have gone to that address but we didn’t find them. Their security confirmed they live there.
“We also made repeated calls to their numbers, but they chose not to pick our calls.
“In view of these, I urge your lordship to grant us a warrant of arrest of the defendants for the purpose of compelling their attendance in court.
“Section 114 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) empowers your lordship to do so. We’re ready to produce them if we obtain the order.”
Oyedepo said the suspects, who had no legal representation, could not claim ignorant of the charge as the case had been in the news since it was initiated.
“We pray for an additional order declaring them wanted,” the lawyer prayed.
Ruling, Justice Aneke held that the application was meritorious in view of the prosecutions explanations.
“Consequent upon the difficulties encountered by the prosecution in having them appear before the honourable court to stand their trial, I am convinced that the application is not without merit.
“In the circumstances, I hereby accordingly issue an order of warrant of arrest against the first defendant in accordance with Section 114 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015.”
Justice Aneke, however, refused the prayer to declare them wanted.
He said they would only be declared wanted if EFCC does not succeed in executing the bench warrant after trying.
Oke and his wife were charged in connection with the $43, 449, 947, 000 found in Flat 7B, No. 16 Osborne Road, Osborne Towers in Ikoyi Lagos.
Justice Muslim Hassan had on June 6, 2017, granted a final forfeiture order of the funds.
EFCC said the Okes, on or about April 12, 2017 in Lagos, concealed $43, 449, 947, 000, property of the Federal Government in Flat 7B, No. 16 Osborne Road, Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.
It said they reasonably ought to have known that the sum formed part of proceeds of an unlawful act to wit: criminal breach of trust.
The commission said the couple, between August 25 and September 2, 2015 in Lagos, indirectly used $1, 658, 000, property of the Federal Government, to acquire the flat.
They were also accused of directly retaining $160, 777, 136.85, property of the Federal Government, between August 25 and September 2, 2015 in Lagos.
EFCC said they “reasonably ought to have known” that the sum “formed part of proceeds of an unlawful act to wit: criminal breach of trust”.
In the fourth and final count, the prosecution said Oke and his wife, within the same period, “directly converted $160, 777, 136.85, property of the Federal Government of Nigeria to your own use”.
The alleged offence in all the counts, EFCC said, are contrary to Section 15 (2) (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act 2012 and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.
Justice Aneke adjourned until March 18 for report of compliance.
Court Issues Bench Warrant for Ex-NIA DG Oke and Wife Reviewed by newsrepublique media on February 07, 2019 Rating: 5
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I hold no grudge against Ganduje – Emir Sanusi
The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, has stated that the Kano Emirate Council holds no grudge against the state government as being speculated.
The monarch made the remarks while addressing members of Kano State Assembly led by the Speaker, Alhaji Abdul’aziz Gafasa, who paid him a courtesy visit at his palace yesterday in Kano.
He said the council was always ready to work towards the development of Kano State in the present democratic dispensation.
Sanusi said that the state government, under Governor Abdullahi Ganduje had in the last two years entrusted him with the task of seeking ways and means to revitalise the industrial profile of Kano for the moribund industries to be resuscitated.
According to him, his mission to China in that regard has opened the gate for the state government to take complete inventory of what is most needed in effecting such an industrial revolution in the state.
He said the report he gave to the state government was taken into cognisance for such an objective to be realised.
He, however, noted that no state in the country could ever develop with its industries folding-up, adding that concerted efforts had to be made to ensure that viable avenues for employment were created.
He said the status of Kano as a commercial nerve centre of northern Nigeria had to be sustained and consolidated in the interest of creating jobs for the teeming unemployed youths in the state.
The monarch expressed optimism that his mission to China in ways to explore avenues of revitalising Kano industries would not be an exercise in futility.
On the legislature, the monarch charged the lawmakers to be diligent and committed in fulfilling the responsibilities bestowed on them by the electorate.
He pointed out that their mission at the assembly, was to ensure that they fulfilled all their campaign promises with regards to the issue of good governance.
“As leaders, you are expected to be spectacularly honest and have the fear of God in whatever you are doing.
“You should all remember that you will one day die and be made to account for your deeds, while in the saddle of authority.
“We are not immune to such investigation by God, who created us to serve humanity as leaders.
“We will be made to account for our deeds and we will also be judged by posterity for being at the helm of affairs and what we did whether it is good or bad, will be the legacy we will all leave behind,” he said
He told the lawmakers that the emirate council had also given its contributions along with other notable opinion leaders to the issue of presenting a bill on marriage, which a copy would soon be sent to them for their perusal and consideration.
“We want some gray areas to be cleared. We are serious on achieving such objectives by the grace of God,” he said.
Earlier in his remarks, the speaker told the monarch that they were at the palace to seek his blessings on ways to develop Kano in the present democratic dispensation.
“We are also here in the palace to introduce the principal officers of the house to you,” the speaker said.
EU Observers berate INEC for lack of transparency
Govs: We’ve received N2trn as refunds of Paris Club, others
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Video: Soleá, the Flamenco of Seville
Flamenco music and dance have existed since the eighteenth century, and today it’s a tradition around the globe. But flamenco’s roots remain strongest in its birthplace, Andalusia, a region of southern Spain, where it’s performed in bars, dance halls, and on the streets. The music’s classic forms, called palos, range from light-hearted and fun to mournful and passionate. The soleá is among the oldest forms, and “one of the most haunting,” as one New Yorker contributor recently described it.
The short film “Soleá,” which premières today at the Seville International Film Festival, follows a day in the life of Juan Ramírez, a flamenco guitarist living in Seville, the Andalusian capital. “Essentially, there are two Sevilles,” Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, who co-directed the film with Pedro Kos, says. “There’s one where the tourists visit that’s well kempt. And the other is the grittier one, with laundry hanging outside. That’s where the musicians live—who’ve come from all around the world to learn, and to study, and to live this musical tradition.”
Watch more New Yorker videos at our video hub, and follow us on Twitter at @NewYorkerVideo.
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Canadiens acquire left-winger Stefan Matteau
MONTREAL (February 29, 2016) – Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin announced today the acquisition of forward Stefan Matteau from the New Jersey Devils, in return for forward Devante Smith-Pelly.
Matteau, 22, appeared in 20 games with the Devils, registering 1 goal, 13 penalty minutes and 39 hits, while playing an average of 10:04 per game. The 6’2’’ and 220 lbs forward added four penalty minutes in one game with the AHL’s Albany Devils.
In 44 career games in the NHL, Matteau has collected five points (3 goals, 2 assists) and 23 penalty minutes. He contributed 53 points (25 goals, 28 assists) and 110 penalty minutes in 129 career games in the AHL.
On the international stage, Matteau suited up for Team USA at the World Junior Championship in 2014, collecting four points (3 goals, 1 assist) and 10 penalty minutes in five games.
A native of Chicago, Illinois, Matteau was the Devils’ first round pick, 29th overall, of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. A product of the QMJHL’s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and USHL’s U.S. National Development Team, he produced 47 points (28 goals, 19 assists) in 81 games at the junior level.
Devante Smith-Pelly, 23, registered 12 points (6 goals, 6 assists) and 22 penalty minutes in 46 games with the Canadiens thus far this season. The Scarborough, Ontario native was acquired by the Canadiens from the Anaheim Ducks in return for Jiri Sekac on February 24, 2015.
Mike Brown claimed off waivers
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ADULT ZONE!
NME Oct 15, 2000 5:05 pm BST
Mikey Graham spills the beans on the boyband's future...
Mikey Graham is off on tour next year – and he’s phoned nme.com for a chat about it. Tickets for the tour, which the Boyzone star says he’s “really excited” about, go on sale from today (October 14), exclusively via his website [url=]www.mikeygraham.co.uk .
Says Mikey: “I can’t wait. I really can’t wait. I’m a bit nervous about it, but really excited too. It’s going to be very weird getting used to being on stage with the audience on my own rather than the quickfire jokes from Keith Duffy all the time.”
He added: “I’m looking forward to playing smaller venues than we’ve been playing with Boyzone in recent years – it’s a lot more up close and personal. But you have to remember that I’m the least known member of Boyzone and it’s the beginning for me, I’m building up a fanbase and reaching out to a new audience.”
On the subject of selling tickets exclusively through his website, Mikey tells nme.com: “I personally have a great interest in the Internet and it’s the way of the future . We’ll be selling them in the high street too, but the web thing is exclusive.”
Mikey‘s been spending time working on his debut album following the release of `You’re My Angel’ in June. “The album’s an adult kind of album,” he says. “Obviously without discrimination against the younger audience, but of course the Boyzone audience were 14 when we started and are in their early-20s now, so can relate to the songs I’ve written. It’s weird seeing them growing up, you think `I’ve got to get a real job’, haha!”
Moving on to the subject of Boyzone colleagues Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch covering Milli Vanilli‘s ‘Girl You Know It’s True’ as a satire on the music industry, Mikey chuckles: “I’ve not heard it myself but Keith was telling me it’s hilarious. They’re just having a laugh, it’s a bit of a pisstake, slagging off a couple of people so god knows what they’ve said about me! They said they wouldn’t be saying anything about me but you know what they’re like, haha!”
The full dates for the tour are: Motherwell Civic Hall (January 25) Glenrothes Rothes Hall (26) Irvine Magnum Centre (27) Bridlington Spa (29) Liverpool Philharmonic (30) Warrington Parr Hall (31) Sheffield City Hall (February 2) York Barbican (3) Newcastle City Hall (4) Cheltenham Town Hall (6) Aylesbury Civic (7) Croydon Fairfield Hall (8) Eastbourne Congress Theatre (10) Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall (11) Southend Cliffs Pavillion (12) Leicester De Montford Hall (14) Cardiff St Davids Hall (15) London Shepherd’s Bush Empire (17)
The Big Read – EXCLUSIVE – The Cure: “Glastonbury won’t be the only time I’ll burst into tears on stage this summer”
Lil Wayne on the joint Blink-182 tour which he might be leaving Credit: Getty
Watch Lil Wayne walk off stage and announce he “might” quit Blink-182 joint tour
R Kelly has been arrested on federal sex trafficking charges Credit: Getty
R Kelly is arrested on 13 federal sex trafficking charges
This week’s biggest vinyl releases to buy and pre-order: Florence + The Machine, Frightened Rabbit, New Order and more
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Michael Palin wants you to become a Friend of the UK's churches
Published: Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Michael Palin is supporting the National Churches Trust with a voiceover for a new animated film.
The 80 second animation, which you can watch below, highlights why churches are some of the nation’s best loved buildings.
It also shows some of the dangers facing church buildings, including leaking roofs, crumbling stonework and the dreaded Deathwatch Beetle, Xestobium rufovillosum.
You can share the video with other people by sending them this link https://vimeo.com/340385102
The changing climate has led to a upturn in pest infestations and insect and fungal pests such as the Deathwatch Beetle have become more active, according to historic building experts. The Deathwatch Beetle is a particular problem because it bores into old timbers and eats the wood. A serious recent infestation has affected Lincoln Cathedral.
Become a Friend and help the UK's churches
In the film Michael Palin urges people who want to save historic churches for the future to support the work of the National Churches Trust by joining its Friends scheme.
The first 50 people who become Friends in June and July 2019 will receive a joining gift of English Parish Churches and Chapels, a delightful and inspiring book of photographs by Dr Matthew Byrne, specially signed by Michael Palin. The book has a special Foreword by Michael Palin.
You can become a Friend of the National Churches Trust online or for further information, please call 020 7222 0605
Michael Palin said:
“The National Churches Trust does so much to help keep the UK’s church buildings open and in good repair.”
“The animation shows just how important churches are to our history and heritage and also to local communities. With post offices, shops and even pubs closing, churches are often the only community building left in many parts of the country.”
“The National Churches Trust is a great charity to support. Friends get a chance to visit some of the UK’s most fascinating churches and learn about their history and heritage. Even more importantly, they help the Trust safeguard more historic churches for the future.”
Claire Walker, CEO of the National Churches Trust said:
"The National Churches Trust supports churches throughout the UK by providing grants for urgent repairs and community facilities. In 2018, it gave 228 grants to support projects around the UK. Repair demand for its grants in 2018 rose by 24% compared to 2017."
"The Trust receives no regular funding from Government or church authorities and its work is only possible through the support of its Friends, donors and other trusts and foundations."
“ We are delighted that Michael Palin has become the voice of the National Churches Trust in a new animated film about our work.”
“This animation will allow more people to find out about our work. I hope it will also bring us new Friends and supporters so that together we can ensure that the UK’s churches and chapels continue to be at the heart of our national heritage for many, many years to come.”
Michael Palin © John Swannell)
Michael Palin (c) John Swannell
Death Watch Beetle - Xestobium rufovillosum
Urgent Repairs Man
Love churches handshake
Death Watch Beetle 2
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How the Clintons Got Rich Selling Influence While Decrying Greed
About Victor Davis Hanson
Follow Victor Davis Hanson on Twitter
Hillary and Bill at a rally in Las Vegas, Nev. (David Becker/Reuters)
Peddling access and elite status, the Clintons have turned progressivism into a lucrative global venture.
Most presidents, before and after holding office, are offered multifarious opportunities to get rich, most of them unimaginable to Americans without access to influential and wealthy concerns. But none have so flagrantly circumvented laws and ethical norms as have Bill and Hillary Clinton, a tandem who in little more than a decade went from self-described financial want to a net worth likely over $100 million, or even $150 million.
The media had been critical of former president Jerry Ford’s schmoozing with Southern California elites, with Ronald Reagan’s brief but lucrative post-presidential speaking, and with George W. Bush’s youthful and pre-presidential windfall profits from his association with the Texas Rangers. And all presidents emeriti glad-hand and lobby the rich to donate to their presidential libraries, but with important distinctions. One can argue that Jimmy Carter sought donations to his nonprofit Carter Library and Center out of either ego or a sincere belief in doing good works. The same holds true of the libraries of the Bushes and Reagan. No president, however, sought to create a surrogate nonprofit organization to provide free private-jet travel for the former first family while offering sinecures to veteran operatives between campaigns. The worth of both the Clinton family and the Clinton Foundation (augmented by a recent ten-month drive to raise $250 million for the foundation’s endowment) is truly staggering, and to a great extent accrued from non-transparent pay-for-play aggrandizement.
What, then, makes the Clintons in general, and Hillary in particular, so avaricious, given that as lifelong public officials with generous pensions and paid expenses they nevertheless labored so hard to accumulate millions in ways that sometimes bothered even friends and supporters? Wall Street profiteering aside, why, while decrying soaring tuition and student indebtedness, would Hillary Clinton charge the underfunded University of California, Los Angeles, a reported $300,000 — rather than, say, $50,000 — for a 30-minute chat?
Some have suggested that Bill Clinton’s impoverished upbringing accounts for his near-feral ambition to get rich. But he also seized a unique moment in which to do so. Globalization of the early 21st century and a rather new phenomenon of progressive Silicon Valley and Wall Street families’ having fabulous fortunes certainly made the idea of being a multimillionaire many times over hardly embarrassing in the fashion of the old caricatures of the robber barons in the days of J. P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller. Banking, investment, and high technology seemed a less grubby route to elite financial status than did the old pathways of oil, minerals, agriculture, railroads, steel, and construction. The Clintons discovered that one could become very rich from a host of sources and still be considered quite progressive; indeed, liberal pieties both assuaged any guilt about one’s privilege and in a more public manner provided exemption from the logical ramifications of one’s own redistributionist rhetoric.
RELATED: How the Clinton Foundation Got Rich off Poor Haitians
After a decade of loud liberal pronouncements, a Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, George Soros, Mark Zuckerberg, or Steyer brother is likely to be seen as coolly progressive rather than inordinately wealthy and exploitative. So the Clintons had unprecedented opportunities to shoulder-rub with liberal financial titans without suffering the class invective reserved for the Koch brothers or Sheldon Adelson.
Former vice president Al Gore is emblematic of the progressive contradictions in leveraging politics to get rich. After winning the popular vote in 2000 and losing the presidency, he discovered that the road to multimillionaire status was to mouth green and progressive pieties while monetizing his political contacts and celebrity among new networks of the global liberal rich. Fearing that new capital-gains taxes of the sort he supported would kick in, Gore then rushed to sell a failed cable station to the often anti-Semitic Al Jazeera, a Middle East media conglomerate funded from the carbon-exporting wealth of the right-wing royal autocracy in Qatar.
RELATED: The Dirty Business of the Billary Machine, Again
But Clinton greed was empowered not just by the unique opportunity of being both a former president and a liberal operator in the age of progressive billionaires who sought access and influence. More important, unlike other presidents, Bill Clinton never quite entered emeritus status. Hillary Clinton was no Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, or Barbara or Laura Bush but, while her husband was still in office, sought a U.S. Senate seat from New York in an undisguised trajectory designed for the 2008 presidential campaign and predicated on the idea that a mature Bill would de facto be back in the Oval Office as well. Indeed, well before Hillary Clinton’s failure in the Democratic primaries in 2008 and her subsequent appointment as secretary of state, the Clintons had found a way to exploit the idea that both of them would return to the White House. That reality gave them access to quid pro quo opportunities, often funneled through a philanthropic foundation, of a sort unknown to any past American president. Most important, the Clintons had long since discovered that public outrage at their impropriety could be dismissed as the empty and vindictive charges of a “vast right-wing conspiracy,” be they allegations of sexual assault or criticisms of Bill’s becoming the highest-paid “chancellor” in the history of higher education, hired by private for-profit Laureate University at some $4 million a year.
#share#But if the Clintons’ opportunities for lucre were unique — in both what the couple had to sell and the huge resources of those who wished to buy — and if they could peddle myths that they were perennial victims of right-wing witch hunts, still, what accounts for their inordinate greed? Why not settle for a fortune of $50 million — in Obama’s formulation that “at some point you’ve made enough money” — rather than risk the public opprobrium of Bill’s globetrotting shakedowns or Hillary’s efforts to hide personal e-mails that were tangential to her job as secretary of state? Their previous embarrassments, from the mundane to the existential (Whitewater, the Clinton Foundation troubles, writing used underwear off as IRS deductions, the all-but-impossible odds of making a $100,000 profit in cattle futures from a $1,000 initial investment, etc.), all reflect a nonstop drive for lucre.
RELATED: Clinton Cash Is the Movie Every Voter Should See before the Election
The answer is likely that the Clintons thought of themselves as elites: educated, affluent, worthy of exalted social and cultural status, pillars of Eastern Corridor good taste, and recipients of media adulation. In other words, they sensed that they were entitled to a good life rare for politicians who entered public service without family wealth or prosperous investments and businesses. The Clintons’ quest for riches was probably reinforced by their belief that they deserved some recompense for all their hard work for progressive causes, especially when they realized that thousands in their newfound social circles had access to multiple homes, private-jet travel, and expensive socializing but were no more gifted than they and had hardly sacrificed commensurately for the public good.
There was a final component to the Clinton fortune: Both were shameless.
The Clinton litany of whiny victimization and excuse-making reflects that sense of entitlement — one not uncommon among academics, journalists, and politicians who believe that those in the business world hardly deserve to enjoy more opulence than do those who are more refined and cultured. In sum, the Clintons left the presidency at a historic moment of globalized wealth creation, especially in fields considered progressive and green. They were unique in that, unlike other retiring first families, who could offer wealthy profiteers little more than nostalgic signed group portraits, they could provide an avenue to the buying of influence in a second Clinton presidency. They felt no shame about their drive for riches, not just because they were liberals who sacrificed for the underprivileged and therefore deserved their belated rewards, but also because they were convinced that, as correct-thinking elites, they needed a vast fortune commensurate with their sense of self-worth.
#related#There was a final component to the Clinton fortune: Both were shameless. If it was a choice of earning opprobrium for raking in $300,000 from a cash-strapped university for a 30-minute chat or, a few months after stepping down as secretary of state, earning $225,000 from Goldman Sachs, Hillary Clinton always chose the money over the chance to skirt embarrassment.
For now, the Clintons again have avoided the final wages of the classical sequence of overweening greed (koros) leading to arrogance and disdain (hubris) descending into a sort of recklessness (ate) and ultimately earning divine retribution (nemesis). But the tragedian Sophocles reminds us that for such people there is never self-reflection or enough money — and thus nemesis is still on the Clinton horizon.
NRO contributor Victor Davis Hanson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the author, most recently, of The Case for Trump. @vdhanson
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Opinion|WhoseTube?
Opinion | Op-Ed Contributor
WhoseTube?
By DAMIAN KULASH Jr. FEB. 19, 2010
MY band is famous for music videos. We direct them ourselves or with the help of friends, we shoot them on shoestring budgets and, like our songs, albums and concerts, we see them as creative works and not as our record company’s marketing tool.
In 2006 we made a video of us dancing on treadmills for our song “Here It Goes Again.” We shot it at my sister’s house without telling EMI, our record company, and posted it on the fledgling YouTube without EMI’s permission. Technically, this put us afoul of our contract, since we need our record company’s approval to distribute copies of the songs that they finance. It also exposed YouTube to all sorts of liability for streaming an EMI recording across the globe. But back then record companies saw videos as advertisements, so if my band wanted to produce them, and if YouTube wanted to help people watch them, EMI wasn’t going to get in the way.
As the age of viral video dawned, “Here It Goes Again” was viewed millions, then tens of millions of times. It brought big crowds to our concerts on five continents, and by the time we returned to the studio, 700 shows, one Grammy and nearly three years later, EMI’s ledger had a black number in our column. To the band, “Here It Goes Again” was a successful creative project. To the record company, it was a successful, completely free advertisement.
Now we’ve released a new album and a couple of new videos. But the fans and bloggers who helped spread “Here It Goes Again” across the Internet can no longer do what they did before, because our record company has blocked them from embedding our video on their sites. Believe it or not, in the four years since our treadmill dance got such attention, YouTube and EMI have actually made it harder to share our videos.
A few years ago, reeling from plummeting record sales, record companies went after YouTube, demanding payment for streams of their material. They saw videos, suddenly, as potential sources of revenue. YouTube agreed to pay the record companies a tiny amount for each stream, but — here’s the crux of the problem — they pay only when the videos are viewed on YouTube’s own site.
Embedded videos — those hosted by YouTube but streamed on blogs and other Web sites — don’t generate any revenue for record companies, so EMI disabled the embedding feature. Now we can’t post the YouTube versions of our videos on our own site, nor can our fans post them on theirs. If you want to watch them, you have to do so on YouTube.
But this isn’t how the Internet works. Viral content doesn’t spread just from primary sources like YouTube or Flickr. Blogs, Web sites and video aggregators serve as cultural curators, daily collecting the items that will interest their audiences the most. By ignoring the power of these tastemakers, our record company is cutting off its nose to spite its face.
The numbers are shocking: When EMI disabled the embedding feature, views of our treadmill video dropped 90 percent, from about 10,000 per day to just over 1,000. Our last royalty statement from the label, which covered six months of streams, shows a whopping $27.77 credit to our account.
Clearly the embedding restriction is bad news for our band, but is it worth it for EMI? The terms of YouTube’s deals with record companies aren’t public, but news reports say that the labels receive $.004 to $.008 per stream, so the most EMI could have grossed for the streams in question is a little over $5,400.
It’s decisions like these that have earned record companies a reputation for being greedy and short-sighted. And by and large they deserve it. But before we cheer for the demise of the big bad machine, it’s important to remember that record companies provide the music industry with a vital service: they’re risk aggregators. Or at least, they used to be.
To go from playing at a local club once a month to actually supporting yourself with music requires big investments in touring, recording and promotion — investments young musicians can’t afford. My band didn’t sign a contract with EMI because we believed labels magically created stars. We signed because no banker in his right mind would give a band the startup capital it needs.
Record companies, on the other hand, didn’t used to expect that all their advances would be repaid. They spread the risk by betting on hundreds of artists at once, and they recouped their investments by taking the lion’s share of the profits on the few acts that succeeded.
At least, this was all true when we signed our deal in 2000. Today, as the record industry’s revenue model has collapsed with the digitization of its biggest commodities, companies are cutting back spending on all but their biggest stars, and not signing nearly as many new acts. If record companies can’t adapt to this new world, they will die out; and without advances, so will the futures of many talented bands.
In these tight times, it’s no surprise that EMI is trying to wring revenue out of everything we make, including our videos. But it needs to recognize the basic mechanics of the Internet. Curbing the viral spread of videos isn’t benefiting the company’s bottom line, or the music it’s there to support. The sooner record companies realize this, the better — though I fear it may already be too late.
Damian Kulash Jr. is the lead singer and guitarist of the band OK Go.
A version of this op-ed appears in print on February 20, 2010, on Page A17 of the New York edition with the headline: WhoseTube?. Today's Paper|Subscribe
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U.S.|A Lingering, Deadly Legacy of Wars: Unexploded Bombs
Retro Report
A Lingering, Deadly Legacy of Wars: Unexploded Bombs
In 1997, Princess Diana brought public attention to land mine victims. But, almost two decades after her death, how much progress has been made in the worldwide fight against leftover munitions?
By Clyde Haberman
The Vietnam War ended in 1975. It did for Americans anyway. Not so for the Vietnamese.
Since 1975, more than 40,000 Vietnamese are believed to have been killed and about 60,000 others maimed by what is known as unexploded ordnance — land mines, artillery shells, cluster bombs and the like that failed to detonate decades ago. Quang Tri Province alone, along the border that once divided Vietnam into North and South, is said to have been more heavily bombed than all of Germany was in World War II.
Unexploded yet active remains of the Vietnam War now lie in wait for incautious scrap-metal scavengers or for unsuspecting children at play. They are Vietnamese like Ho Van Lai. He was 10 years old in August 2000 when he and two cousins happened upon remnants of a cluster bomb. One of the cousins accidentally set it off, and was killed. Mr. Lai, now 26, was luckier, if losing both legs and much of his right arm can qualify as good fortune.
“I imagined that I would become a useless person,” he said when interviewed in Da Nang by Retro Report, a series of video documentaries exploring how major news stories of old shape modern events. “I was supposed to be living in peace,” Mr. Lai said. “Yet I was entangled with the war.”
The video focuses on Vietnam, but unexploded ordnance is a worldwide concern, from the detritus of long-ago combat to the armaments of modern battlegrounds like Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Ukraine. Bombs and artillery shells from the two world wars still turn up in Belgium, England and France. By some estimates, 100 million or more antipersonnel land mines remain strewn across the globe, lurking as menaces.
“Land mines, in many senses, are the perfect soldier,” said Paul Heslop, the director of programs for the United Nations Mine Action Service. “They don’t go to sleep. They don’t need to rest. You plant them and you arm them, and they will last for 20, 30, 40, 50 years.”
It could be argued that the danger, while ever-present, is less dire than it once was, thanks to global accords to rein in the weaponry. In 2014, the last year with available statistics, there were 3,678 known casualties from various types of old ordnance, as recorded by the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, a tracking organization. The 2014 figure was 12 percent higher than the previous year’s, but it was well below the 9,220 dead and wounded in 1999.
That was when a mine ban treaty went into effect. It had been adopted in 1997 — in part, as the video notes, the product of a well-publicized campaign by Princess Diana, who was killed that year in a car crash in Paris. In 2008, a comparable treaty to outlaw cluster munitions was approved, taking effect in 2010.
Cluster bombs, a reality of war since the 1940s, are singularly nasty. One of them can contain dozens, even hundreds, of baseball-size “bomblets.” When the mother bomb opens, its bomblets are sprayed in all directions, tearing apart whatever is in their paths.
There are no time limits to their destructive abilities. If they fail to explode right away, they can remain active for years, lying on the ground and potentially lethal to unwary civilians. All too often, the victims are children drawn to these intriguing objects, as Ho Van Lai and his cousins were. Despite the decline in the toll since the 1990s, lingering ordnance continues to kill or maim an average of 10 people a day.
Thus far, 162 nations have joined the land mine treaty and 119 the ban on cluster munitions. But the nonsigners are some of modern warfare’s most formidable players, including China, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
American officials have defended their nonparticipation as an act of prudence. In 2008, a State Department spokesman said that “cluster munitions have demonstrated military utility, and their elimination from U.S. stockpiles would put the lives of our soldiers and those of our coalition partners at risk.”
As for land mines, the Pentagon describes them as especially helpful in the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea. Critics say that mining that area is a pointless vestige of the Cold War. But United States military strategists regard the explosives as a useful first-line defense against a possible North Korean invasion of the South.
That said, the treaties have plainly had an effect even on the Americans. Land mines are so stigmatized that the United States has barely used them since the Persian Gulf war of 1991. Its stockpile, estimated at three million mines, is diminished.
President Obama’s administration has also signaled a willingness to sign the anti-mine treaty (not that any action seems likely before the clock runs out on his term). In early September, Mr. Obama visited Laos, which American forces secretly, and heavily, bombed during the Vietnam War. He pledged to double American support, to $90 million over the next three years, to help Laotians find and dismantle active explosives buried in fields and forests.
The United States’ reliance on cluster munitions has also waned, having peaked in 2003 in the early days of the Iraq war. Military spokesmen say none have been used in the air war against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
Although the United States continues to export these munitions, it attaches a requirement that they not be used in civilian areas, and they must be designed to explode in short order or else self-destruct. By the end of 2018, manufacturers will have to ensure that the failure rate for bomblet explosions does not exceed 1 percent, thereby reducing the potential future risk to civilians.
All the same, the world is obviously not at peace. The Landmine and Cluster Munitions Monitor identifies 57 countries as threatened by mines. Russia is suspected of having dropped cluster bombs in Syria. Saudi Arabia has used American-supplied cluster munitions in Yemen, including in civilian areas. Antigovernment forces resort to roadside bombs in countries like Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, Libya, Myanmar and Ukraine.
Vietnam stands as an example of the difficult future that may await them all if ever the guns are silenced. Chuck Searcy knows a lot about that. Mr. Searcy was an American intelligence officer in Vietnam in the 1960s. He is now an adviser to Vietnamese who as part of Project Renew are cleaning up unexploded ordnance and helping victims like Mr. Lai.
“This was our responsibility,” he said, referring to the United States military. “We had created the problem.”
By some reckonings, it could take another century to complete the mop-up.
Countries around the world that are now in conflict, Mr. Searcy said, will “face the same problem 20 or 30, 40 years from now that Vietnam is facing.”
The video with this article is part of a documentary series presented by The New York Times. The video project was started with a grant from Christopher Buck. Retro Report has a staff of 13 journalists and 10 contributors led by Kyra Darnton. It is a nonprofit video news organization that aims to provide a thoughtful counterweight to today’s 24/7 news cycle. Previous episodes are at nytimes.com/retroreport. To suggest ideas for future reports, email retroreport@nytimes.com.
For breaking news and in-depth reporting, follow @NYTNational on Twitter.
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Rugby sevens: Fiji beat NZ in Gold Coast final
27 Nov, 2011 12:22am Quick Read
Golf: Kiwis chase down big guns in China
27 Nov, 2011 5:35am 3 minutes to read
Soccer: Win exorcises ghosts of 31-0
By: Michael Burgess
Sports writer for NZME
michael.burgess@nzherald.co.nz @mikeburgess99
Imagine the worst day of your working life. Then imagine the whole world knowing about it and being reminded about it constantly over a decade. Nicky Salapu was the goalkeeper for American Samoa when they were beaten 31-0 by Australia in 2001, which remains the record defeat in international competition.
Salapu didn't quit. He ignored the barbs and the constant jibes and kept on playing. In one of the feel good sporting stories of the year - move over Stephen Donald - Salapu has found redemption.
Ten years on, he has starred for American Samoa this week in stage one of Oceania World Cup qualifying, making several crucial saves as the tiny US protectorate recorded its first ever win (2-1 vs Tonga), after 30 consecutive losses. Two days later they grabbed an historic draw (1-1 vs Cook Islands).
Salapu is the only survivor from 2001 and today they face hosts Samoa with the winner moving on to the second stage next year, which will feature the All Whites. Salapu has made history for the second time but this version is much more wanted.
"You know what, before that first victory everything was on my shoulders, on my back, on my brain - just all of that frustration," he told the Herald on Sunday. "[Over the years] so many players kept asking me [who I played for] and then telling me 'Oh, you guys are the ones that lost 31-0'. It's frustrating and embarrassing."
Salapu, who has lived in the USA for the last eight years, says he can now return home with his head held high: "Right now [it feels like] everything is all gone. I'll bury that over here and go back to Seattle and everything will be perfect."
National coach Thomas Rongen, a former MLS and US under-20 coach who has been 'loaned' to America Samoa, noted the extreme satisfaction and relief felt by his goalkeeper.
"This guy's got major demons going on," Rongen told the Sydney Morning Herald. "He's totally driven by the 31-0 score and erasing it for himself and his family. When he mentions American Samoa, people say, 'You're the guy that gave up 31 goals.' But he said to me after the win, 'I'm healed, I'm cured.' There are incredible scars there."
Sometimes statistics can be shaped but there are no twists in this tale. Before last week American Samoa's record was played 30, lost 30, 12 goals for, 229 goals against. In 12 World Cup qualifying matches, they had conceded 129 goals and notched just two.
That infamous game in Coffs Harbour remains one of the most bizarre sporting mismatches. Archie Thompson scored a world record 13 goals while David Zdrilic grabbed eight, the second highest individual haul since World War One. After being held out for the first 10 minutes, the Socceroos accumulated 16 goals by halftime. Salapu actually made some impressive saves as his defence crumbled around him but that was rarely noted as the world laughed. British newspapers joked that Salapu had "held Australia to 31" while the New York Times made much of the electronic scoreboard having a meltdown and displaying the score as 32-0.
Soccer: Tomorrow the world - but first, Manawatu
Soccer: Pritchett secures Club Cup call-up
Soccer: Paston frustrated at playing second fiddle
Soccer: City dines out on Spanish
A Google search on the game reveals almost 88 million hits, most veering towards the comedy rather than sporting theme, with titles like 'A goalie with a difference'.
What was overlooked was the mitigating factors around the game. A FIFA decree just before the tournament meant that US citizens were not eligible and all players had to hold American Samoan nationality. That ruling, combined with passport issues, meant that Salapu was one of the few members of the original 20-man squad able to travel to Australia.
The federation were also unable to bring in players from their under-20 side as most were sitting high school exams at the time so they had to turn to youth players. There were three 15-year-olds in the side that had an average age of just 18 and some had reputedly never played a full 90-minute match.
The result sparked change, leading to the current scenario where the smaller island nations play in preliminary tournaments before meeting the big boys.
"It makes me excited because the younger generation is going to look up and say I want to be a part of that team," says Salapu. "We've proved to everyone that we're not the same team that lost 31-0. I'm very proud of what we've done to make that difference."
American Samoa have also fielded the first transgender player to play a World Cup match. Defender Johnny Saelua, who has previously played American football, is a Fa'afafine, a biological male raised as a female, common in Samoan culture.
"I've really got a female starting at centre back," Rongen told an American newspaper. "Can you imagine that in England or Spain?"
Samoa will be favourites to progress in Apia today, but just being in contention has been a huge buzz for Salapu and his men.
"It's a big thing, it's a big deal for us," says Salapu. "You know, we've never been here. We know that a lot of people around the world are talking about us and that's overwhelming."
The eventual group winners will join Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu and the All Whites in the second stage. The results mean that American Samoa will also move off the bottom of the FIFA rankings.
Salapu will return to the USA next week but the 33-year-old has no thoughts of retirement: "I play six times a week in Seattle but not for a big club," says Salapu. "It's mainly for fun and to maintain my fitness. I just love soccer." Our hero has just one more item remaining on his football bucket list.
"For me personally, after that experience [31-0]," he laughs, "I really want to go back and play Australia one more time before I die."
* Area: Consists of seven islands comprising a total of 197 square kilometres.
* Population: 55,000.
* Official languages: English and Samoan.
* American Samoa reputedly produces more NFL players per capita than any other nation.
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Auctions frustrating buyers
Landlords.co.nz
It's not just first-hone buyers frustrated by the prevalence of auctions in the Auckland market, says Auckland Property Investors Association president David Whitburn.
The most recent Real Estate Institute statistics show that 1203 properties sold by auction in June, almost 20% of sales nationwide and more than two-thirds more than sold under the hammer the same time the year before.
But three-quarters of those auction sales were in Auckland.
Almost 40% of the homes sold in the country's biggest city were sold by auction.
Waikato/Bay of Plenty made up another 8.5% of the national total and Canterbury another 8.5%. The remaining 6.7% of auctions were conducted across the rest of the country.
Whitburn said vendors were being encouraged to use auctions to sell their properties because agents were banking on buyers paying an "emotional premium" for properties. "It's not good for investors, looking at the numbers."
He said investors would want certainty so they knew it was worth getting reports such as building inspections done. "Why would you spend $1000 if it's unlikely the deal is going to go through?"
Whitburn said some buyers were getting desperate to purchase and not bothering to do any due diligence - just bidding and hoping for the best. "I don't like seeing that in the market. You've got to do due diligence on every property you buy."
Tags: david whitburn
Source: Landlords.co.nz
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OHCHR > English > Your Human Rights > Development > GoodGovernance > Documents on human rights and anti-corruption
Selected documents on human rights and anti-corruption
A/HRC/RES/7/11 - The role of good governance in the promotion and protection of human rights
A/HRC/RES/19/20 - The role of good governance in the promotion and protection of human rights
A/HRC/RES/21/13 - Panel discussion on the negative impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rights
A/HRC/RES/23/9 - The negative impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rights
A/HRC/RES/17/23 - The negative impact of the non-repatriation of funds of illicit origin to the countries of origin on the enjoyment of human rights
A/HRC/19/42 - Report of the HC - Comprehensive study on the negative impact of the non-repatriation of funds of illicit origin to the countries of origin on the enjoyment of human rights, in particular economic, social and cultural rights
A/HRC/RES/19/38 - The negative impact of the non-repatriation of funds of illicit origin to the countries of origin on the enjoyment of human rights, and the importance of improving international cooperation
Former Sub-Commission Special Rapporteur on corruption and its impact on the full enjoyment of human rights
Working paper of the Special Rapporteur, Ms. Christy Mbonu, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/18, 14 May 2003
Preliminary report of the Special Rapporteur, Ms. Christy Mbonu, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2004/23, 7 July 2004
First progress report of the Special Rapporteur, Ms. Christy Mbonu, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/18, 22 June 2005
Second progress report of the Special Rapporteur, Ms. Christy Mbonu, A/HRC/11/CRP.1, 18 May 2009
Other relevant documents
Cross regional statement on human rights and anti-corruption to the20th session of the HRC, June 2012
Charter-based bodies documents relevant to the subject matter
A/HRC 25/27- Report of the HC- Role of public service as an essential component of good governance in the promotion and protection of human rights
A C E F R S
Contributions to the High Commissioner's report on the role of the public service as an essential component of good governance in the promotion and protection of human rights (HRC resolution 19/20)
Argentina (E,S)
Mauritius I & II
Qatar I & II
Spain I & II
Economic Commission for Europe (ECE)
Equality and Human Rights Commission (United Kingdom)
Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM), United Nations Department of Economic and Social affairs (UNDESA)
Holly See
Rwanda National Commisssion for Human Rights
Solidarité Internationale pour l’Afrique- NGO SIA (Mali) -
United Nations Conference on anti-corruption measures, good governance and human rights, (Warsaw, 8-9 November 2006)
Good Governance Practices that Promote Human Rights (Seoul, 15-16 September 2004)
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OHCHR > русский язык > Новости и события > DisplayNews
Mexico: Killing of indigenous rights defender is "reprehensible" say UN experts
GENEVA (6 November 2018) – UN experts have strongly condemned the killing of Julián Carrillo, an indigenous rights defender from the state of Chihuahua, who had worked tirelessly for over two decades to defend his community against the exploitation of Rarámuri ancestral lands.
On 23 October 23 2018, Julián Carrillo told a friend by phone that he believed he was being watched and said he would go into the forest in an attempt to hide. On the evening of 25 October, his body was found. He had multiple bullet wounds.
"We urge the Mexican authorities to identify the perpetrators of this reprehensible crime and to bring them to justice in accordance with the law," the experts said.
The experts also urged the Government to address the underlying causes of such violence. "The killing of Julián Carrillo highlights the serious situation in the Sierra Tarahumara where the lack of recognition of indigenous land rights is a root cause of the recurring violence against and displacements of indigenous communities."
The Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples and the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression have all visited the state of Chihuahua. In the course of the past year they have expressed grave concern over the lack of adequate protection measures for human rights defenders and indigenous communities at risk.
"The Mexican authorities must urgently act to provide culturally appropriate protection for indigenous rights defenders so they can carry out their work in an enabling environment," the experts said.
Julián Carrillo’s murder is one of a spate of killings of human rights defenders in the country. According to official OHCHR figures, 21 human rights defenders have been killed so far this year, nine of them from indigenous communities. Four members of Julián Carrillo’s family - his son, son-in-law and two nephews - have been killed since February 2016.
"We urgently appeal to the Mexican Government to put an end to these appalling acts of violence against human rights defenders, including indigenous rights defenders," the experts said.
*The UN expert: Mr. Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Ms. Victoria Tauli Corpuz, Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples; Ms. Agnès Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; and Ms. Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons.
The Special Rapporteurs and Independent Experts are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
UN Human Rights, country page – Mexico
For further information and media requests, please contact Ms. Jessica Ní Mhainín defenders@ohchr.org
For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts please contact Jeremy Laurence, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+41 22 917 9383) jlaurence@ohchr.org
This year is the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948. The Universal Declaration – translated into a world record 500 languages – is rooted in the principle that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." It remains relevant to everyone, every day. In honour of the 70th anniversary of this extraordinarily influential document, and to prevent its vital principles from being eroded, we are urging people everywhere to Stand Up for Human Rights: www.standup4humanrights.org.
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Brazil's Star Soccer Player Neymar Denies Rape Allegation Brazil football star Neymar is battling a rape allegation which resulted in the suspension of a sponsorship. He denies the allegation, which the accuser claims happened in Paris last month.
Brazil's Star Soccer Player Neymar Denies Rape Allegation
Brazil's Star Soccer Player Neymar Denies Rape Allegation 4:03
Heard on All Things Considered
Philip Reeves
Brazil football star Neymar is battling a rape allegation which resulted in the suspension of a sponsorship. He denies the allegation, which the accuser claims happened in Paris last month.
We turn now to Brazil and to a case involving one of the world's most celebrated sports stars, the soccer player so big he is usually called just by one name - Neymar. A 26-year-old woman is accusing Neymar da Silva Santos Jr. of raping her in Paris last month. Neymar denies it. The case has been dominating the headlines in Brazil and beyond for days. NPR's Philip Reeves is following all this. He joins us now from Rio de Janeiro. And I want to warn people that there may be some graphic details to come. Hey there, Phil.
PHILIP REEVES, BYLINE: Hi.
KELLY: So when I said this is dominating the headlines, how much impact is this case having there?
REEVES: Oh, it's huge. I mean, it's impossible to overstate how important a player Neymar is. You know, he's one of the world's top soccer stars. And when his club, Paris Saint-Germain, bought him from Barcelona a couple of years back, they paid more than $260 million for him, a world record. Until very recently, he was captain of Brazil's fated national side. He's a striker who wears the coveted number 10 shirt. He's worth a fortune in commercial sponsorship. And you'd be very hard pushed to find someone in this soccer-mad country who hasn't heard of him.
KELLY: What are the specific allegations being made against him?
REEVES: Well, these are being made by a woman called Najila Trindade. She's a model, aged 26. She's from Brazil. We know her identity because she decided to appear on TV here, outlining these allegations.
She says she met Neymar on Instagram. He invited her to Paris, where he lives, and paid her airfare. They met in a five-star hotel there in the middle of last month. She says she was prepared for consensual sex and was in fact expecting that to happen. But she alleges, though, that Neymar became aggressive after she told him she wouldn't have unprotected sex with him. She alleges he hit her. She repeatedly asked him to stop, she says. He carried on and raped her, she says.
Neymar has posted a video online in which he wholly denies this and alleges that he is the victim of attempted extortion.
KELLY: And what is the reaction to this in Brazil? You said it's a huge deal, hard to overstate. But how are people lining up in terms of standing by or not standing by Neymar?
REEVES: Well, you know, this case has arisen at a time when the treatment of women and respect for women's rights is a particularly contentious issue here following last year's election of the far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who has a record of denigrating women. And although the facts of this case, you know, are really still far from clear, Bolsonaro has already spoken out in support of Neymar, saying that the player's enduring a difficult moment and that he believes in him. This has produced an angry reaction from women's groups, who accuse Bolsonaro of normalizing violence against women in a country where this is already a huge problem.
KELLY: What about Neymar's sponsors? He's got all kinds of contracts. Are his sponsors fleeing in droves?
REEVES: Well, he has some very big international sponsors - I mean MasterCard, Nike and many others. His marketing company has issued a statement saying that up until now, the evidence conclusively shows that Neymar's the victim of what it calls a malicious criminal complaint. And it also says, though, that some of the planned advertising campaigns he's involved in are on hold for now, I think, until this issue is resolved.
KELLY: And how might it be resolved? Just briefly, what happens next?
REEVES: Well, last week, Trindade went to a police station in the Brazilian city of Sao Paolo to testify. That's where she filed her original complaint. She emerged six hours later being carried, apparently exhausted, in the arms of a lawyer. Neymar's expected to go along to testify before the end of this week. That's sure to be a dramatic moment. It's fair to say that, you know, this case is going to go on generating big headlines, not least because of the way both sides are using the public domain to fight their corner.
KELLY: Thank you, Phil.
REEVES: You're welcome.
KELLY: NPR's Philip Reeves in Rio de Janeiro.
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7th Largest Punitive Verdict in U.S. History Awarded in Actos Lawsuit
/Actos and Bladder Cancer | Nager, Romaine and Schneiberg
/7th Largest Punitive Verdict in U.S. History Awarded in Actos Lawsuit
The controversial drug Actos (pioglitazone) used to treat Type 2 Diabetes has been linked to an 83% increased risk of bladder cancer (www.bmj.com). As a result, thousands of lawsuits have been filed against the drug’s manufacturer, Takeda Pharmaceuticals and its partner Eli Lily. In April of this year, a Louisiana jury in the first of several of bellwhether cases, granted the plaintiff an award of $1.475 million in compensatory damages and $9 billion in punitive damages – $6 billion by Takeda and $3 billion by Lily. The plaintiff, a man who had been diagnosed with bladder cancer after using Actos for several years, argued that he believed the drug to be safe as indicated by the drug’s promotion, advertisements, marketing, and labeling. The jury found that Takeda and Eli Lilly recklessly endangered the lives of unwilling patients by knowingly hiding the drug’s harmful effects from consumers. Takeda and Lily were also found to have accidently or intentionally destroyed incriminating but relevant evidence before the trial started.
While Takeda and Lily seek to appeal the verdict, altogether, 3,000 lawsuits relating to the drug Actos are pending in the federal courts, with an estimation of that number growing to 10,000 (www.bloomberg.com). Actos is a popular medication and at one point was the 10th most prescribed drug in the United States as well as Takeda’s best-selling drug with sales of $3.4 billion in 2013.
Be advised that the following symptoms are potentially associated with bladder cancer: bloody urine, pain with urinating, increased urge to urinate, and unusual back pain. Actos has been recalled in France, Germany, and India, and although the drug has not been recalled in the United States, you still have rights and legal options as a consumer.
The mass tort attorneys at Nager, Romaine & Schneiberg Co., L.P.A., are investigating claims involving the development of bladder cancer after one year of using any of the medications including: Actos, Actoplus Met, Actoplus Met XR, and Duetact. Contact us TODAY at 216-289-4740, toll free from Ohio at (855) GOT-HURT, or fill out our contact form.
Actos and Bladder Cancer | Nager, Romaine and Schneiberg , Mass Tort Litigation - MDL | NRS Injury Law Blogs
When do Pedestrians have the Right of Way Crossing a Roadway? →← The Dangers of Metal-On-Metal Hip Replacements
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Mystic Seaport Museum to Host Major Exhibition of J.M.W. Turner Watercolors
The exclusive show from Tate, London will highlight select works from the artist’s personal collection.
Northshore Magazine March 13, 2019
Mystic, Conn. – Mystic Seaport Museum, in partnership with Tate, London, will host a major monographic exhibition devoted to the watercolors of one Britain’s greatest painters: J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). The Museum will be the only North American venue for J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors from Tate, on display October 5, 2019 to February 23, 2020.
Mystic Seaport Museum, the nation’s leading maritime museum, houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography.
The exhibition, curated by David Blayney Brown, Tate’s Manton Senior Curator of British Art 1790-1850, will show works spanning the entire career of the famous artist. The collection includes about 90 works, and sheds light on the evolution of the artist’s creative process.
“Few artists have captured the beauty and majesty of the sea as J.M.W. Turner. Anyone who has sought art that accurately represents their personal experience of the sea has had to contend with the sheer genius of his lifelong look at that subject,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport Museum. “This remarkable exhibition is a unique opportunity to step into his world and view in this country some of the riches he left his nation upon his death.”
The exhibition at the Museum, divided into six thematic sections, focuses on the critical role played by watercolors in defining Turner’s deeply personal style.
The works have been selected from the “Turner Bequest,” comprising more than 30,000 works on paper, 300 oil paintings, and 280 sketchbooks from the artist’s personal studio. They were donated to Great Britain after the artist’s death in 1851 and mostly conserved at Tate Britain.
While Turner is perhaps better known for his oil paintings, he was a lifelong watercolorist and fundamentally shaped what was understood to be possible within the medium during his lifetime and after. An inveterate traveler, Turner rarely left home without a sketchbook, pencils, and a small traveling case of watercolors. These memories of journeys, emotions, and fragments of landscapes seen during his long stays abroad illustrate the development of Turner’s stylistic language and the expressive potential of light and color.
The intimate character of the works on display provide viewers an opportunity to explore the man himself, gaining an understanding of how the radical developments in Turner’s style anticipated trends of the late 19th century. From his love of seaside towns to his interest in depicting atmospheric English and Alpine landscapes, and his detailed study of domestic interiors and architectural reliefs, the artist devoted himself tirelessly to experimentation, particularly in watercolors, with a stylistic freedom and an innovative use of colors that led his peers to believe that Turner “appeared to paint with his eyes and nose as well as his hand.”
Conversations with Turner: The Watercolors, a major new publication edited by Nicholas Bell, the Museum’s senior vice president for Curatorial Affairs, accompanies the exhibit. The book brings together scholars of Turner’s art from around the world to engage with each other about the force of his paintings and why they continue to serve as a touchstone for Western culture.
For more information, please visit www.mysticseaport.org.
Steps: Dining in Salem
Karen Scalia of Salem Food Tours/North Shore Food Tours July 2, 2019
DeCordova Sculpture Museum Integrates with the Trustees
Sculptural Exhibition Brings Castle Hill Landscape to Life
Stephanie Cole’s Mixed Media Works on View at Cape Ann Museum
Paint, Weave, Sing, and Eat through ArtWeek
Alexandra Pecci April 23, 2019
Peabody Essex Museum Names Brian Kennedy as Executive Director and CEO
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Chihuly Chandeliers & Towers
The Chandeliers and Towers are another great accomplishment of the artist not widely represented in his publications. Most recall the groundbreaking exhibitions with his Chandeliers over the Venice canals in 1996. And yet, some are not aware that the artist has composed towers with as many as 3,200 individual pieces of glass, reaching more than 43 feet in height. This edition is illustrated throughout with handsome full-color images selected by the artist, representing a wide range of these projects.
Baskets, Putti, and Chandeliers & Towers are the first three books in a collectable set of ten. Specific only to one series, these titles chronicle the renowned artist's glass sculptures. Certainly compact in appearance but not in content, each book within the collection boasts 112 pages comprised of images reflective of the series after which they are named. View the making of a Chandelier, learn about the mischievous Putti, and become immersed in the classic beauty of the Baskets.
Each title in the boxed set chronicles the growth of a particular series from the renowned artist's glass sculptures. Compact in size but not in content, each book in the collection contains more than a hundred pages of images from the series. Essays by Davira Taragin speak directly to the historical and aesthetic context out of which these series arose.
A companion DVD accompanies each book that includes artist commentary on the history of each series, all approximately 15 minutes in running time.
Chihuly merchandise is excluded from all promotional discounts.
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Things to Do > Events Calendar > Exhibition by Ruth Marshall: Closely Knit: A Textile Analysis of Animals
Exhibition by Ruth Marshall: Closely Knit: A Textile Analysis of Animals
This event repeats every weekday between 5/1/2014 and 6/20/2014.
Closely Knit: A Textile Analysis of Animals by Ruth Marshall brings attention to illegal wildlife trade and species loss in a way that unites a widened audience of scientists, art enthusiasts and the general public. Her life-size, knitted textile pelts of tigers, leopards, coral snakes and Australian marsupials exemplify how artisan goods have the potential to have higher commercial value than poached skins on the black market. Her textiles reinforce the ideology that support for conservation and culture is a more sustainable, viable and lucrative endeavor than the illegal wildlife trade.
She has conducted research at the American Museum of Natural History, Melbourne Museum and the Berlin Zoo. For Closely Knit, Marshall studied Askai, Central Park Zoo’s six-year-old male snow leopard and created a new knitted work based on his distinctive coat. The exhibition is staged in the historic Arsenal building, which housed a menagerie of gifted animals on the basement level from 1859 to 1871, and was the first home of the American Museum of Natural History from 1869 to 1877 before it moved to its current home on Manhattan’s West Side.
Arsenal in Central Park
artandantiquities@parks.nyc.gov
NYC Parks Department of Art & Antiquities
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Archives|Streetscapes: The Belleclaire; A 1903 Home for the Homeless
https://nyti.ms/29bsoKu
Streetscapes: The Belleclaire; A 1903 Home for the Homeless
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY DEC. 27, 1992
December 27, 1992, Page 010005Buy Reprints The New York Times Archives
IN the recent controversy about lodging homeless families in two Upper West Side hotels, much protest was heard from tenants of one of the buildings, at 333 West 86th Street, a plain-vanilla 1926 apartment hotel.
But the tenants of the other have been silent, the reverse of what those who know the building's history might have expected, because the 1903 Belleclaire at 77th Street and Broadway was one of the flashiest buildings of turn-of-the-century Manhattan.
In 1900 Albert Saxe hired the young architect Emery Roth to design an apartment hotel on newly fashionable Broadway. Completed in 1903, the 10-story Hotel Belleclaire had nonhousekeeping apartments of one to four bedrooms. Tenants took their meals in a Moorish dining room or a Louis XVI ladies' dining room or a Flemish cafe.
The Belleclaire made a solid addition to the growing list of impressive, generally French-inspired apartment houses on Broadway, like the Dorilton and the Ansonia. What set it apart was the outside: the fullest example yet of the Art Nouveau and Secession styles, related movements sweeping Europe.
Characteristic elements of that style as seen in the Belleclaire's exterior include the pendant panel decorations on the tall limestone pilasters, the stone spandrel and lintel ornament on the fourth floor and the asymmetrical window panes, 12 in the top sash, 3 in the bottom. As originally built, the Belleclaire also had elaborate sidewalk railings that could have come from Hector Guimard's Metro stations in Paris. There was also similar iron work at the roof and the ninth-floor balcony and a long bay of sinuous, Art Nouveau windows lighting a dining room on 77th Street.
In Manhattan, new buildings in the Art Nouveau style were limited to a handful -- the Liberty Theater at 214 West 42d Street, the Evening Post building at 20 Vesey Street and the Jones Speedometer Building at the northeast corner of 76th Street and Broadway, built in 1906 but now much altered.
In 1915, Roth designed an apartment house for Saxe at 601 West End Avenue where the Art Nouveau influence is barely discernible, but it was a stale reference, for by that time architects shook their heads at the silly "Art Nouveau craze." Roth later became famous for twin-towered apartment houses like the San Remo and the Beresford, and his sons oversaw a firm that became synonymous with new office buildings of the 60's.
The 1905 census lists 63 families at the Belleclaire. Many were already used to communal living and prior addresses include the Hotels Bartholdi, Empire and Marie Antoinette. One resident was the artist-author Jessie Livermore.The other heads of households were brokers, merchants and businessmen.
It was into this upper-middle-class environment that Maxim Gorky, the Russian socialist author, arrived in 1906 on a lecture tour, taking rooms with at the Belleclaire. He and his companion, who was listed as his wife, were there but a few days when it was discovered that his supposed spouse was actually the Russian actress Madame Andreieva and that his legal wife, from whom he was separated, was in Russia.
Milton Roblee, manager of the Belleclaire, ejected the Gorky party, saying, "My hotel is a family hotel." Indignant, Gorky replied to newspaper controversy, "for us still remains the human right to overlook the gossip of others." After being ejected from two other hotels, Gorky found peace at the house of the John Martin family on Staten Island, whom The New York Times described as "less scrupulous than their neighbors."
IN the 20's the ground-floor public rooms of the Belleclaire were replaced with storefronts and by the 1930's the hotel had lost any claim to distinction. At some point after 1950 its unusual corner dome was removed.
Last November, the Mayor's Office on Homelessness and S.R.O. Housing announced a plan to lodge homeless families at 333 West 86th Street, whose residents objected vehemently, and at the Belleclaire, whose residents have not. The proposal has seesawed since then and Marsha A. Martin, director of the office, says that meetings are now planned with the residents of both buildings, "to correct a community perception about how the city handles the homeless."
Of eight residents at the Belleclaire contacted at random, only two had any comment for a reporter. Tim Simonson, a chauffeur, said, "I don't think the building is the type to rally around a cause." And Judy Accurso, who has been at the Belleclaire since 1974, says that the residents are taking a wait-and-see attitude. But she notes that 50 families in only two hotels "doesn't sound like sharing the burden to me."
"What makes us different," she asked, "from a hotel like the Plaza?"
A version of this article appears in print on December 27, 1992, on Page 10010005 of the National edition with the headline: Streetscapes: The Belleclaire; A 1903 Home for the Homeless. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
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Archives|Ice-T and Warner Are Parting Company
https://nyti.ms/29jhnr1
Ice-T and Warner Are Parting Company
By SHEILA RULE JAN. 29, 1993
January 29, 1993, Page 00006Buy Reprints The New York Times Archives
Warner Brothers Records, which last year was at the center of a national controversy over Ice-T's song "Cop Killer," has released the rap and rock artist from his recording contract because of what it calls "creative differences." The company has also abandoned plans to release his new album next month.
A statement released Wednesday by Warner Brothers said that by "mutual agreement," Ice-T had been "granted an unconditional release" from his contract. The statement did not specify the differences that precipitated the move, but a lawyer familiar with the situation said that it involved a disagreement over artwork for the cover of the new album, "Home Invasion."
He did not elaborate, and an employee at an answering service taking calls for Ice-T's management company said he had been instructed to answer inquiries with "no comment." Details Kept Private
Mo Ostin, the chairman of Warner Brothers Records, said in the statement: "The decision to end this seven-year relationship was a difficult one for all concerned, but in the final analysis, we believe that this was the best way to resolve our creative differences. The collaborative process between the label and the artist has traditionally been a private one, and we will continue to honor that privacy. We wish Ice-T all the best."
The company said that Ice-T's heavy-metal band, Body Count, was also released from its contract and that the master tapes for "Home Invasion" had been returned to Ice-T. Bob Merlis, a Warner Brothers spokesman, said he did not know the length of Ice-T's contract but that Warner had issued four of his solo albums, as well one with Body Count and three soundtracks on which he had participated.
Last summer, Ice-T dropped the song "Cop Killer" from his first heavy-metal album, called "Body Count," after it provoked a storm of protest. Political figures and law-enforcement groups -- including the New York Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, the National Rifle Association and Oliver North's Freedom Alliance -- contended that the song's lyrics condoned the murder of police officers. They urged boycotts and other actions against Time Warner, which distributed the album. A Question of Free Speech?
But the reaction was not unanimous. Some police groups, including the National Black Police Association and the African-American Peace Officers Association, cited the right of free speech and opposed actions against the producers.
While Time Warner had maintained an official stance of refusal to withdraw "Body Count," there were widespread reports that the company's board was uncomfortable and was seeking a way to revolve the situation.
A version of this article appears in print on January 29, 1993, on Page C00006 of the National edition with the headline: Ice-T and Warner Are Parting Company. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
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U.S.|Manufacturer in $2 Million Accord With U.S. on Deficient Kevlar in Military Helmets
Manufacturer in $2 Million Accord With U.S. on Deficient Kevlar in Military Helmets
By BRUCE LAMBERT FEB. 6, 2008
A North Dakota manufacturer has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a suit saying it had repeatedly shortchanged the armor in up to 2.2 million helmets for the military, including those for the first troops sent to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Twelve days before the settlement with the Justice Department was announced, the company, Sioux Manufacturing of Fort Totten, was given a new contract of up to $74 million to make more armor for helmets to replace the old ones, which were made from the late 1980s to last year.
Sioux upgraded its looms in 2006, company executives say, and the government says it has started inspections at the plant.
The United States attorney for North Dakota, Drew H. Wrigley, called the accord “an appropriate resolution” because the Defense Department had said that 200 sample helmets passed ballistic tests and that it “has no information of injuries or deaths due to inadequate Pasgt helmet protection.”
Pasgt, pronounced “pass-get,” stands for the Personal Armor System for Ground Troops, which includes the helmet model being replaced.
At the core of the investigation was the contention by two former plant managers that Kevlar woven at Sioux failed to meet the government’s “critical” minimum standard of 35 by 35 threads a square inch.
When properly woven, Kevlar, a polymer thread made by Dupont, is stronger than steel, and able to deflect shrapnel and some bullets. Government regulations call for rejecting Kevlar below the 35-by-35 standard.
The company “was underweaving,” Mr. Wrigley said.
“That is undebatable,” he said.
The factory’s own inspection records often showed weaves of 34 by 34 threads or as low as 32 by 34 and 33 by 34. Looms were “always set for 34 by 34, always,” said Jeff Kenner, who operated and repaired the looms and oversaw crews on all three shifts.
In a statement, the company president, Carl R. McKay, denied “any and all of the allegations originally brought to the attention of the Department of Justice by disgruntled ex-employees.”
Settling the case, United States v. Spirit Lake Tribe, filed in Federal District Court in Fargo, Mr. McKay said, was “a prudent business decision” to avoid legal costs and “should not be construed as an admission of wrongdoing.”
The potential harm is difficult to judge. Helmet damage depends on the projectile. Whether a damaged helmet would hold up better with a tighter weave is hard to calculate, experts said.
“You must have a certain amount of protection, and you can’t go below that,” said Gwynedd A. Thomas, associate professor of ballistics and protective fabrics at Auburn University.
Although the difference between 34 and 35 threads a square inch seems modest, the cumulative loss in layers of fabric is significant, Dr. Thomas said.
“Every time that you’re losing some mass, you’re losing some integrity,” she said.
The strength comes from crossed yarns, the points that disperse projectile impact. “The fewer crossovers, the less energy dissipation you’re going to have,” she added.
A 34-by-34 weave results in 5 percent fewer crossovers than 35 by 35, a difference Dr. Thomas called “quite a lot.”
Jeff Kenner and Tamra Elshaug, former managers, filed a whistle-blower suit accusing Sioux Manufacturing of fraud and safety violations. Credit Joyce Dopkeen/The New York Times
“I’m surprised somebody is not pursuing that more vigorously from the government,” she added. Were she a soldier’s parent, she said, “I would want to give my son a better helmet.”
The $2 million settlement is far short of what the two former managers, Mr. Kenner and Tamra Elshaug, hoped for in 2006 when they filed a whistle-blower suit. The suit, for $159 million in damages, accused the company of defrauding the government and violating safety standards.
“I think they got away with it,” said Mr. Kenner, who worked at Sioux for 20 years and was the weaving supervisor. “Sioux Manufacturing basically got a slap on the wrist,” he said. “The Justice Department did a really good job, but the Department of Defense is really just downplaying this. They’re embarrassed and want it to go away and would not admit to anybody’s getting hurt or even killed.”
Mr. Kenner and Ms. Elshaug’s lawyer, Andrew J. Campanelli, challenged Defense Department contentions that it was unaware of injuries from defective helmets. “There are tons of injuries with shrapnel and bullets going through helmets,” he said. “My clients documented that American soldiers did not get the protection that the government paid for, that the taxpayers paid for.”
In the evidence in the suit were hundreds of daily inspection records showing repeated violations of the weaving standards, as well as tape recordings of six managers and employees’ admitting covering up violations.
In a conversation Mr. Kenner secretly taped, Rhea Crane, quality assurance officer, worried “if we ever had someone get killed, and they decided to investigate because they thought maybe the helmet wasn’t any good.”
“If we ever got audited,” she said, “you know what they would do to us. Shut us down and fine us big time. Probably never see another government contract.”
Ms. Crane did not return repeated calls for comment.
Justice Department officials said some Sioux records listed looms with 35-by-35 counts, with a few at 36. Dr. Thomas agreed looms could be adjusted to do so.
Mr. Kenner and Ms. Elshaug, who worked at the plant for 26 years and was in charge of buying Kevlar, say thread counts were routinely rounded up to reach the 35-by-35 minimum.
The papers in the suit showed a Kevlar surplus of up to 30,000 pounds and a resin shortage. Extra resin was applied to the Kevlar to bring it up to a specified weight, the former employees said.
Extra resin also poses a hazard to soldiers, Dr. Thomas said, adding, “If they were putting more resin in, they were doing something that will hurt soldiers, because it reduces elasticity and increases brittleness.”
Mr. Kenner said, according to the suit, that when he asked Mr. McKay about the violations, he responded: “That is the way we are going to weave it. Don’t you worry about it.”
Mr. McKay did not respond to e-mail and phone messages.
Despite excellent job ratings, Mr. Kenner and Ms. Elshaug were fired after protesting the violations. Mr. Campanelli will share part of the settlement totaling $406,350. There is no further legal recourse, he added.
Soldiers generally cannot sue the government. And Sioux is owned by an Indian tribe, the Spirit Lake Nation, that can, he said, assert sovereign immunity against private suits.
The company also benefits from a 5 percent federal incentive program for Indian contractors and preferences for disadvantaged small businesses.
Ms. Elshaug and Mr. Kenner said they did not regret suing. “It was never about the money,” he said. “It was about the soldiers. I’m still shocked. I wouldn’t be wearing one of those helmets.”
A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A17 of the New York edition with the headline: Manufacturer in $2 Million Accord With U.S. on Deficient Kevlar in Military Helmets. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
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Parents Comfort Daughter, 5, Dying From Brain Tumor in Emotional Photo Taken Hours Before Her Death
The doting mother says something was “different” about her daughter on the 4th of July, and she and husband Ben “just knew” it would be her final day.
By Char Adams
Courtesy of Casey Dagget
On July 4, Casey and Ben Daggett, of Fairport, New York, took an emotional photo of their 5-year-old daughter Zoey fast asleep in their laps. They didn’t know then that it would be last photo they’d ever take of their little girl.
RELATED: Town Bands Together to Help 6-Year-Old Fighting Rare Brain Cancer
“We were noticing that her fingers were turning bluer and she was getting more pale,” Casey tells PEOPLE of her daughter. “We had the nurses come and visit in the morning and we were just sitting with her. They knew that she was getting closer [to death]. So we sat with her and held on to her. We all just sat with her and waited.”
The Daggetts have shared updates on Zoey’s health via their “Zoey’s Fight” Facebook page. Casey says she was committed to sharing “the good photos and the bad photos,” and that she wanted to share the “peaceful photo” to “give others hope.”
On July 12, 2016, doctors found a brain tumor and diagnosed Zoey with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). After years of treatment, and many ups and downs, her health began to decline rapidly in March. By the end of June, Casey says she and Ben knew their daughter wouldn’t live much longer.
“Her tumor started to grow again so we tried another round of radiation. She just never recovered and she just kept getting worse and worse,” Casey says. “Last Monday, she woke up and she couldn’t drink from a straw anymore and she couldn’t talk and each day after that it kept getting a little worse. She couldn’t walk anymore, she couldn’t move anymore and she started to sleep all the time. Within a week, it just went downhill very fast.”
The day before Zoey’s death, she didn’t sleep through the night, Casey says. The doting mother says something was “different” about her daughter on the 4th of July, and she and Ben “just knew” it would be her final day.
“I was extremely sad. I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. It was just heartbreaking,” she says. “Everything just fell to the pit of my stomach and I just sobbed and cried. I didn’t want to let her go. It was a horrible day.”
Around 11:30 a.m. nurses snapped the photo of the Daggett’s holding their little girl.
“We were both talking to her and crying,” Casey recalls of the moment. “I was saying, ‘It’s okay. It’s okay to let go. You’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna see people that you love. Just let go.’ I was trying to talk her into letting go because I knew her body had already gone through so much. It was so sad.”
RELATED: Arkansas Dad Mourns Death of 4-Year-Old Daughter After Fighting for Cancer Treatment
Zoey died at 4:17 p.m. The Daggetts have shared updates on Zoey’s health via their “Zoey’s Fight” Facebook page. They broke the tragic news on the account, writing that their daughter was “finally allowed peace.”
“We knew this journey was coming to an end, so I felt at peace with that. But I was just extremely sad and gut-wrenched,” she tells PEOPLE of the death. “It was devastating.”
RELATED: 11 Inspiring Families Raising Funds to Fight Childhood Cancer
The grieving parents have been on “auto-pilot” in the day’s since Zoey’s passing, Casey says. The family held a funeral for the girl on Monday and Casey tells PEOPLE she’ll always have the memories of her daughter’s final day.
“I’m gonna miss her snuggles. [She] just had to be with me all the time and I miss that,” she says. “I loved her laugh and the way she always wanted to talk to people and say “hello” to people. She was so outgoing and would run up to people and give them big hugs. It was who she was in spirit. She was a giant ball of happiness.”
This article originally appeared on People.com.
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[SOUTH AUSTRALIA]
THURSDAY 19 MARCH 1998
Council met pursuant to adjournment. The President (The Hon. J. C. Irwin) took the Chair.
A Messenger from the Governor having been announced by Black Rod, the following Message was received and read:
Message No. 4.
The Governor informs the Legislative Council that, in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen, the following Act has been assented to during the present Session, viz.:
No. 1 of 1998 - An Act to amend the Mutual Recognition (South Australia) Act 1993.
Government House, Adelaide, 17 March 1998. E. J. NEAL, Governor.
Assent to Bill.
The Clerk announced that the following Petition had been lodged for presentation:
By the Hon. P. Holloway from 79 residents of South Australia concerning Voluntary Euthanasia. The Petitioners pray that this Honourable House will reject euthanasia legislation in any form.
Petition No. 4 -
Voluntary Euthanasia.
Answers to Questions on Notice Nos. 15, 52 to 56, 59, 62 and 89 received this day were tabled by the President who directed that they be distributed and printed in Hansard.
Answers to
Questions on
The Attorney-General (The Hon. K. T. Griffin) tabled a copy of a Ministerial Statement made by the Minister for Education, Children’s Services and Training (The Hon. M. R. Buckby, M.P.) concerning a World Class Curriculum for South Australia.
Tabled.
The Hon. C. A. Pickles, by leave, tabled a copy of a letter to an unnamed person from
K. L. Lindner, Senior Sergeant, Expiation Notice Branch, South Australian Police, dated
The Minister for Transport and Urban Planning (The Hon. D. V. Laidlaw), without notice, moved - That the Standing Orders be so far suspended as to enable Question Time to be extended to enable her to give a reply to a question asked by the Hon. N. Xenophon.
Suspension of Standing
Orders.
The Attorney-General, according to order, moved - That the Barley Marketing (Application of Parts 4 and 5) Amendment Bill be now read a second time.
On motion of the Hon. P. Holloway, the debate was adjourned until next day of sitting.
Barley Marketing (Application
of Parts 4 and 5) Amendment
Bill.
Ordered - That Orders of the Day (Government Business) No. 6 to No. 10 be postponed and taken into consideration after Order of the Day (Government Business) No. 12.
On the Order of the Day being read for the adjourned debate on the question - That the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation (Self Managed Employer Scheme) Amendment Bill be now read a second time:
On motion of the Hon. N. Xenophon, the debate was adjourned until next day of sitting.
Workers Rehabilitation
(Self Managed Employer Scheme)
Ordered - That Order of the Day (Government Business) No. 12 be postponed and taken into consideration on motion.
Ordered - That Orders of the Day (Government Business) No. 6 to No. 8 be postponed and taken into consideration on motion.
On the Order of the Day being read for the adjourned debate on the question - That the Aboriginal Lands Trust (Native Title) Amendment Bill be now read a second time:
The Minister for Transport and Urban Planning, pursuant to contingent notice, moved - That the Standing Orders be so far suspended as to enable the Bill to pass through its remaining stages without delay.
Committee divided:
Lands Trust
(Native Title)
Ayes, 15
The Hon. T. Crothers
The Hon. L. H. Davis
The Hon. K. T. Griffin
The Hon. R. R. Roberts
The Hon. D. V. Laidlaw (Teller)
Noes, 3.
The Hon. M. J. Elliott
So it was resolved in the affirmative.
The following Messages from the House of Assembly were received and read:
Message No. 40
MR. PRESIDENT - The House of Assembly has passed the Bill transmitted herewith, entitled an Act to amend the National Wine Centre Act 1997, to which it desires the concurrence of the Legislative Council.
House of Assembly, 18 March 1998. J.K.G. OSWALD, Speaker.
Bill read a first time.
The Attorney-General then moved - That this Bill be now read a second time.
Messages from
National Wine
Centre (Land
of Centre)
MR. PRESIDENT - The House of Assembly has passed the Bill transmitted herewith, entitled an Act to amend the Local Government Act 1934, to which it desires the concurrence of the Legislative Council.
Government (Memorial
Drive Tennis
Centre)
MR. PRESIDENT - The House of Assembly has agreed to the Bill returned herewith, entitled an Act to amend the Highways Act 1926, without any amendment.
Highways (Miscellaneous) Amendment
MR. PRESIDENT - The House of Assembly has agreed to the Bill returned herewith, entitled an Act to provide for carrying out forensic procedures to obtain evidence relevant to the investigation of criminal offences; and for other purposes, with the amendments indicated by the annexed Schedule, to which amendments the House of Assembly desires the concurrence of the Legislative Council.
Criminal Law (Forensic
Procedures) Bill.
Schedule of the amendments made by the House of Assembly
No. 1. Clause 15, page 6, lines 16 and 17 - Leave out paragraph (c).
No. 2. Clause 16, page 6, lines 32 to 34 - Leave out paragraph (f) and insert -
“(f) that, if the person does not consent to the proposed procedure -
(i) if the proposed procedure is an intrusive forensic procedure and the suspected offence is a summary offence - the person cannot be compelled to undergo the procedure; or
(ii) in any other case - an application may be made to an appropriate authority for an order authorising the procedure and the use of force reasonably necessary for the purpose of carrying it out; and”.
No. 3. Clause 20, page 8, line 27 - After “application” insert “or, if it is not reasonably practicable to fax the application, the application may be read to the appropriate authority over the telephone (however, in such a case, a copy of the application must be provided to the appropriate authority as soon as practicable after the application is made).”
G. D. MITCHELL, Clerk of the House of Assembly.
Ordered - That the Message be taken into consideration forthwith.
Resolved - That the amendments be agreed to.
The President resumed the Chair, and reported accordingly; whereupon the Council adopted such report.
MR. PRESIDENT - The House of Assembly has passed the Bill transmitted herewith, entitled an Act to amend the Freedom of Information Act 1991, to which it desires the concurrence of the Legislative Council.
Ordered - That the second reading be an Order of the Day for next day of sitting.
(Public
Opinion Polls) Amendment
Ordered - That the adjourned debate on the question - That the MFP Development (Winding-Up) Amendment Bill be now read a second time - be now resumed.
Ordered - That the Committee stages be an Order of the Day for next day of sitting.
Development (Winding-Up) Amendment
Ordered - That the adjourned debate on the question - That the Children’s Services (Child Care) Amendment Bill be now read a second time - be now resumed.
(Child Care) Amendment
On the Order of the Day being read for the adjourned debate on the question - That the Financial Institutions Duty (Dutiable Receipts) Amendment Bill be now read a second time:
The Attorney-General, pursuant to contingent notice, moved - That the Standing Orders be so far suspended as to enable the Bill to pass through its remaining stages without delay.
Duty (Dutiable Receipts)
Ordered - That Orders of the Day (Government Business) No. 13 to No. 18 be Orders of the Day for next day of sitting.
MR. PRESIDENT - The House of Assembly has passed the Bill transmitted herewith, entitled an Act to amend the Petroleum Products Regulation Act 1995, to which it desires the concurrence of the Legislative Council.
(Licence Fees
and Subsidies)
MR. PRESIDENT - The House of Assembly has agreed to the Bill returned herewith, entitled an Act relating to the transfer of prisoners to and from Australia, without any amendment.
Transfer of
Prisoners (South Australia) Bill.
Ordered - That the remaining Orders of the Day (Government Business) be Orders of the Day for next day of sitting.
Council adjourned at twenty-two minutes to five o’clock until Tuesday next, at fifteen minutes past two o’clock.
The Hon. D. V. Laidlaw
The Hon. C. A. Pickles
The Hon. G. Weatherill
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Home » Arts & Entertainment » World Premiere Production of ‘Ladies’ in Pasadena
World Premiere Production of ‘Ladies’ in Pasadena
– Courtesy photo / Boston Court
They were pioneers who tried to accomplish something no one had ever done before with no path, no road map, and no rules. And, in the short term, they failed spectacularly. “Ladies,” running May 24 – June 30, is a fictional account of the birth of The Blue Stocking Society, the world’s first major feminist movement in 1750s London, told through a modern lens. The ladies’ ambitious goals soon create scandal in London society and conflicts amongst themselves, escalating into a tangled knot of electric and jagged relationships. These women are emboldened by their righteous cause and burdened by being revolutionaries far ahead of their time. This deliciously funny and irreverent world premiere examines the humanity and passion of these trailblazing ladies, and inspires us to carry on the work they began.
Age & Content Guidelines: Please note that this production contains nudity, adult content, and profanity, and is recommended for ages 15+.
Boston Court’s upcoming world premiere of “Ladies” imagines the lives of four women who were members of the real-life Blue Stocking Society; brilliant artists, writers and thinkers who made significant contributions to society under their own names. But who were Elizabeth Montagu, Frances Burney, Elizabeth Carter, and Angelica Kauffman really?
Join Boston Court for an evening that explores the world and the work of these amazing women. Actors will share some of their correspondence, their writings and their very prominent artwork followed by a Q&A with dramaturg Angelina Del Balzo about these trailblazing women’s stories and what they have to say to us today. Tickets are free, but reservations are required.
May 10 – May 16
PUSD AAPC Presents Black History Living Museum Project
Pasadena’s ANW Partners With LA Companies for Free Resident Artist Reading Festival
‘Dames at Sea’ Docks at Sierra Madre Playhouse
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Apr 17 The Significance of the Leadership Change at Vogue Arabia
“I didn’t grow up with a Vogue of my own, one that reflected my identity, that reflected my background, my area, my authenticity. So for me to actually be present for that? It makes it very, very beautiful.”
- Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz as told to The Cut
Last week, the newly established Vogue Arabia announced the departure of editor in chief Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz, who produced the magazine's two first and only issues before being replaced by Manuel Arnaut. Beyond a confirmation from Ms. Abdulaziz that she was fired, and a statement she released about refusing to compromise on her values, it’s not clear what happened exactly, and it seems futile to speculate. What is clear is that Vogue Arabia, a nascent publication created to celebrate and elevate women's fashion in the Arab world, is now being headed by a non-Arab man rather than an Arab woman. This matters. I say this both as a woman with a personal connection to the Middle East, but also as someone who believes that in order to be relevant, it's more important than ever for fashion to be contextualized. And who better to contextualize fashion for Arab women than an Arab woman? After all, Vogue India is run by an Indian woman (Priya Tanna), Vogue China is run by a Chinese woman (Angelica Cheung), Vogue Turkey is run by a Turkish woman (Seda Domaniç). In general, in all the media we consume, but particularly in emerging markets, ones in which women are perhaps striving more ardently to articulate their roles in their rapidly changing societies, it matters whose voice it is that women are listening to.
I'm not saying that it's impossible for a man to understand what modern women need from a fashion magazine. Nor is it impossible for a non-Arab to cater to an Arab audience. We're all human and fashion is, in many respects, cross-cultural in nature, even more so in the digital age. But what's at issue here is who can speak most clearly to women and about women in the Arab world in a way that enables them to feel represented, empowered, and validated on their own terms in their own context. This is the real power of fashion.
"Arabs have been responsible for making couture stay in business from the late ’60s through today. And, you know, back during the Gulf War, the couture houses were on the verge of extinction because the Gulf customer wasn’t coming to Europe to shop, because of the war, yet nobody acknowledges their contribution to an art form. It bothers me to no end. I would like to shed light that we have actually been around way before other emerging areas came into the picture, and I’d like to understand why we are undervalued and looked on as people who just spend money. That bothers me. Of course it does. For good reason."
Which is why I think Ms. Abdulaziz's firing is a loss for women in the Arab world and for fashion in general. For Vogue Arabia to succeed, for it to make women's lives in the region better and more fulfilling, it's insufficient for it to adopt the business-as-usual commercial approach: get women to buy more things. Instead, it must help guide women in the region to a richer relationship with their clothes and themselves by contextualizing fashion for the Arab woman. It must help them answer questions like: What does Middle Eastern fashion look like? What can women in the region expect their clothes to do for them? What role do clothes play in the lives of women in Arab societies? How can a woman hold a desire to be fashion forward with the realities that come with living in a more conservative society? It must also show women that an interest in fashion is valid, that career ambitions in fashion are not futile, that there is a path forward for them if they take fashion seriously. And what better way to concretely demonstrate that than for an Arab woman to head the region's most significant fashion publication?
Ms. Abdulaziz's first cover, featuring Gigi Hadid, March 2017. Photo by Inez & Vinoodh.
Everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves, so Mr. Arnaut will certainly get that from me. But I am left with the question: if it feels like our modern relationship with fashion consistently fails at getting beyond the surface level, then why aren't we trying something different? An Arab woman in charge of telling the narrative about the power of fashion and the potential of women in the Arab world felt fresh and revolutionary, particularly in the context of the region's struggles with gender equality and the concept of female power. A non-Arab man telling that story, well, that feels like something I've definitely heard before.
Feature image: Ms. Abdulaziz photographed by Kevin Tachman.
Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz, Vogue, Vogue Arabia, The Role of Fashion in Society
Apr 18 Cues on Glamour from Federico Beltrán Massés
Apr 11 Etel Adnan on Women & Freedom
Dec 17 Resisting the Impulse to Trivialize Fashion
Sep 6 Christian Dior, Couturier du Rêve
May 9 Met Gala Musings: 2018 Edition
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Sign In Article Navigation
<p> Printed from Grove Art Online. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy).</p><p>date: 18 July 2019</p>
Alişar Hüyük [Alishar]
Donald F. Easton
https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T001840
[Alishar]
Site in north-central Turkey, c. 45 km south-east of Yozgat, once occupied by a town of considerable importance in the development of Anatolia, ancient. It flourished from the Early Bronze Age (eb), before c. 3000 /date BC, and reached its apogee in the Middle Bronze Age (mb), c. 2000–c. 1500 /date BC, when it boasted an Assyrian trading colony and was probably the seat of an Anatolian king. It comprises a mound (245×145 m), which rises 32 m beside a tributary of the Konak Su, and a lower terrace (520×350 m). The site was excavated by the University of Chicago from 1927 to 1932, clearing the mound to Post-Hittite levels and then trenching down to ground-water level; virgin soil was reached only on the terrace. Nineteen occupation phases were distinguished on the mound and fourteen on the terrace. Finds from the excavations are housed in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara....
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Renaissance and Mannerism
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Agabiti [Agapiti], Pietro Paolo
Gennaro Toscano
(b Sassoferrato, c. 1470; d Cupramontana, c. 1540).
Italian painter and possible woodcutter. He spent his early years in Sassoferrato, where his family owned a ceramics workshop. Around 1497 he probably visited the Veneto region, since his Virgin and Child with Saints (Padua, Mus. Civ.) painted that year shows the strong influence of painters active there such as Cima da Conegliano. The painting also reflects the Bolognese style of Francesco Francia and that of the Romagnian Marco Palmezzano. In Venice, Agabiti may have made woodcuts after the illustrations for Francesco Colonna’s Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (Venice, 1499). By 1502 he had returned to the Marches, where he executed a painting (untraced) for S Rocco, Jesi, the town where in 1507 he is documented as residing. After 1510 he was again in Sassoferrato, where in 1511 he signed and dated both the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints (Sassoferrato, Gal. A. Mod. & Contemp.) and the Nativity in S Maria del Piano. In ...
Aldegrever [Trippenmeker], Heinrich
Rosemarie Bergmann
(b Paderborn, 1502; d Soest, Westphalia, 1555–61).
German engraver, painter and designer. He was the most important graphic artist in Westphalia in the 16th century. His reputation rests largely on his ornamental designs, which make up about one third of his c. 300 engravings. They were principally intended as models for metalworkers but were also adapted by other craftsmen for such decorative arts as enamel, intarsia and book illustration. Aldegrever followed Dürer and the Nuremberg Little Masters, deriving models for his paintings and subject prints as well as a full repertory of Renaissance ornamental motifs: fig and Acanthus foliage, vases and cornucopia, combined with putti and satyrs, tritons, mermaids and dolphins, sphinxes, masks and medallions. From the beginning of his career Aldegrever was aware of the artistic trends of the time: the Dürer influence was strongest at its outset yielding somewhat in work of the 1530s to Mannerist tendencies under Netherlandish influence, though never waning entirely.
Aldegrever was the son of Hermann Trippenmeker (...
Amman [Ammann], Jost
Ilse O’Dell-Franke
[Jobst, Jos]
(b Zurich, bapt June 13, 1539; d Nuremberg, March 17, 1591).
Swiss draughtsman, woodcutter, engraver, etcher and painter. He was the youngest son of the noted scholar and Chorherr in Zurich, Johann Jakob Amman, a friend of Ulrich Zwingli and Gessner family §(2). Although a successful pupil at the renowned Collegium Carolinum where his father was a professor, Jost, like his brother Josua (1531–64), who became a goldsmith, did not take up a scholarly career. As early as 1556–7 his copies of prints by other artists, for example Dürer family, §1 (b. 94) and Solis family §(1) (b. 249), show an independent and original approach. For his apprenticeship Amman may have been in Basle or Zurich, but he probably spent some time in Paris or Lyon, since his early works show a close similarity to French book illustrations.
In 1561 Amman was in Nuremberg, where he may have worked with Solis, the chief illustrator for the Frankfurt am Main publisher ...
Zoan [Giovanni] Andrea
Marco Collareta
( fl c. 1475–?1519).
Italian engraver and painter. A painter named Zoan Andrea is recorded in a letter of September 1475 written to Ludovico II Gonzaga, 2nd Marchese of Mantua, by Simone Ardizoni da Reggio, a painter and engraver. Simone claimed that he and Zoan Andrea had been brutally assaulted on the orders of Andrea Mantegna. Mantegna was enraged to hear that the two had remade some of his prints. Their exact crime is not clear, but it has been suggested that they had re-engraved Mantegna’s original plates. Given this connection with Mantegna’s circle of engravers, it is likely that Zoan Andrea can be identified with the anonymous artist who signed himself za on 20 engravings, the earliest of which show a strong dependence on Mantegna, both in technique and composition. The three monogrammed engravings closest to Mantegna are of Hercules and Deianira (b. 2509.005), Judith and Holofernes (b. 2509.001) and an ...
Andreani, Andrea
Jan Johnson
(b Mantua, 1558–9; d 1629).
Italian woodcutter and printer. He was the only printmaker to produce a significant number of chiaroscuro woodcuts in Italy in the second half of the 16th century; he also reprinted chiaroscuro woodblocks originally cut 60 or 70 years earlier. He made at least 35 prints in both black and white and colour (many multiple-sheet), using a sophisticated style of cutting characterized by thin, closed contours. Based in Florence in 1584–5 and from 1586 in Siena, by 1590 he was also finding work in his native Mantua, where he is documented as establishing a workshop. He reproduced the designs of artists in diverse media with great fidelity: for example he made several prints (1586–90) after Domenico Beccafumi’s intarsia pavement designs in Siena Cathedral, three prints (1584) from different angles of Giambologna’s marble sculpture of the Rape of the Sabines (Florence, Loggia dei Lanzi; see fig.), as well as of the bas-relief on the base of the same group and of Giambologna’s relief of ...
Anshelm, Thomas
Jetty E. van der Sterre
(fl Basle, 1485; d 1524).
German engraver and printer. He established himself in Basle in 1485 but subsequently worked as a printer in Strasbourg (1487, 1488), Pforzheim (1500–10), Tübingen (1511–17) and Hagenau (1516–22). Although a few of his prints bear dates between 1501 and 1506, stylistically his work belongs to the 15th-century tradition....
Anthonisz. [Teunissen; Theunissen; Thoniszoon], Cornelis
Christine Armstrong
(b Amsterdam, c. 1505; d Amsterdam, 1553).
Dutch printmaker, painter and cartographer, maternal grandson of Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen. He was the dominant figure in the creation of north Netherlandish woodcuts from the mid-1530s until his death. His monogram, which combines the initials ‘C’ and ‘T’ with the staff and bell of St Anthony, was probably inspired by his father’s first name. The greater part of his career was apparently spent in his native Amsterdam, where he probably trained with his grandfather.
Cornelis Anthonisz.’s earliest extant work is a signed and dated panel painting known as the Braspenningsmaaltijd (‘Banquet of the copper coin’, 1533; Amsterdam, Hist. Mus.), which depicts 17 members of the Crossbowmen’s Guild, one of Amsterdam’s civic militia companies. Departing from the traditional isocephalic format for such paintings, Cornelis introduced a narrative element by arranging his subjects around a banquet table. The young man standing directly below the monogram and date at the upper left is probably a self-portrait. His next extant, autograph painting is a ...
Baldini, Baccio
Lucy Whitaker
(b ?1436; ? bur Florence, Dec 12, 1487).
Italian goldsmith and engraver . According to Vasari, he was a follower of Maso Finiguerra and engraved a series of 19 prints after designs by Botticelli. These illustrate an edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy published in 1481. A group of prints in the same Fine Manner style is attributed to Baldini. His designs incorporate figures and motifs derived from Botticelli, Piero Pollaiuolo and also German printmakers, such as the Master E.S. and Martin Schongauer, but particularly from Finiguerra. Baldini’s Fine Manner style developed from Finiguerra’s niello print technique; the rendering of spatial recession in the large Judgement Hall of Pilate (435×598 mm) suggests it was designed by Finiguerra. With the other prints, however, it shares the decorative quality and emphasis on pattern characteristic of Baldini.
Prints attributed to Baldini include the series of Planets (c. 1465), based on northern woodcuts, and a series of Prophets and Sibyls (early 1470s), as adapted from the characters in a mystery play; the exotic costumes reflect those worn in festival processions. Antonio Bettini’s ...
Baldung [Grien], Hans
Christiane Andersson
(b ?Schwäbisch Gmünd, 1484 or 1485; d Strassburg [now Strasbourg, France], 1545).
German painter, printmaker, draughtsman and stained-glass designer. Such contemporaries as Jean Pélerin (De artificiali perspectiva, 1521) and the Alsatian humanist Beatus Rhenanus in 1526 counted him among the greatest artists of his time. In the opinion of specialists today, Baldung’s work places him only half a step behind Grünewald, Dürer and Hans Holbein the younger. A prodigious and imaginative artist of great originality, versatility and passion, Baldung was fascinated with witchcraft and superstition and possessed a desire for novelty of subjects and interpretation that sometimes borders on the eccentric. The new themes he introduced include the supernatural and the erotic. He was the first to show the erotic nature of the Fall in his chiaroscuro woodcut of Adam and Eve (1511; Hollstein, no. 3) and illustrated the successive stages of mating behaviour of horses in his woodcut series of Wild Horses in the forest (1534; Hollstein, nos 238–40); and he is remembered especially for his images of witches. Dürer influenced him only in an early stage but not lastingly. Baldung had a very different sensibility and lacked Dürer’s sense of decorum. Grünewald, whose monumental ...
Baltens [Balten; Balthazarszoon; Custodis], Peeter
Jan Van der Stock
[Pieter]
(b Antwerp, c. 1526–28; d Antwerp, 1584).
South Netherlandish painter, draughtsman, engraver and publisher. He was the son of the sculptor Balten Janszoon de Costere (fl 1524). In 1550 he became a master in the Guild of St Luke in Antwerp and in 1569 its dean. Primarily on the authority of van Mander, Baltens was long considered to be an inferior imitator of Bruegel family, §1 the elder. Baltens’s best-known work, the signed St Martin’s Day Kermis (e.g. versions Amsterdam, Rijksmus.; Antwerp, Kon. Mus. S. Kst.), was formerly thought to be a free copy after Bruegel’s treatment of the subject, known through an engraving and the Gift of St Martin, a fragment on cloth (Vienna, Ksthist. Mus.). The relationship between Baltens and Bruegel is, however, more complicated. In 1551 they collaborated on an altarpiece (destr.) for the Mechelen Glovemakers. Baltens’s other works, for example the Ecce homo (Antwerp, Kon. Acad. S. Kst.), reveal that the two artists were closely associated: a group from the ...
Barbari, Jacopo de’
Jay A. Levenson
(b ?Venice, c. 1460–70; d Mechelen or Brussels, before July 17, 1516).
Italian painter and printmaker . He was the first Italian Renaissance artist of note who travelled to the courts of Germany and the Netherlands. His earliest known works appear to date from the late 1490s, suggesting that he was born c.1460–70. The birthdate of c. 1440 traditionally assigned to him reflects the misinterpretation of a document of 1512 in which his patron, Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands, awarded him a stipend because of his ‘weakness and old age’. In fact, at this date a man could be described as ‘old’ while in his fifties or even younger (Gilbert).
Barbari probably trained with Alvise Vivarini in Venice in the 1490s. His earliest dated work, the celebrated bird’s-eye View of Venice, a monumental woodcut produced between 1497 and 1500, can be securely attributed to him on the basis of style (12 extant copies, e.g. London, BM; original blocks in Venice, Correr). It also bears the caduceus, with which Barbari signed nearly all his works. Two other large woodcut compositions, the ...
Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe
[Bononia, Baveram de; Carocci, Baverio de’]
(fl c. 1515–after 1527).
Italian printer. From northern Italy, possibly of German descent, he was an assistant in Raphael’s workshop in Rome. From 1515–16 he was the workshop printer of the engraved plates that Raphael commissioned from Marcantonio Raimondi. He is mentioned in documents dated 1515, 1516 and 1523. After Raphael’s death in 1520, he evidently continued in his position under the new head of the workshop, Giulio Romano. He became an independent printer in 1524 and was still working in Rome after the Sack in 1527. According to Vasari, Baviera printed plates engraved by Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio, including the Labours of Hercules (b. 44–9), the Gods and Goddesses in Niches (b. 24–43), the Loves of the Gods (b. 9–23) and the Rape of the Sabine Women (b. 63).
Thieme–Becker; ‘Carocci, Baverio de’’ G. Vasari: Vite (1550, rev. 2/1568); ed. G. Milanesi (1878–85), 4, p. 354; v, pp. 424, 611...
Beatrizet, Nicolas
Marianne Grivel
(b Thionville, 1507, or Lunéville, 1515; d Rome, c. 1565).
French engraver. He was probably related to a family of goldsmiths from Nancy, but his working life was spent in Italy. He produced many engravings for publishers in Rome and specialized mostly in reproducing Italian paintings, views of ancient Rome and to a lesser extent portraits. He worked for the engraver and publisher Tommaso Barlacchi in 1541 and 1550, producing Joseph Interpreting Pharaoh’s Dreams (Robert-Dumesnil, no. 2), the Ascension (rd 14) and Christ Delivering Souls from Limbo (rd 15) after Raphael. He also worked for Antonio Salamanca, for whom he made versions of paintings by Raphael, Michelangelo (e.g. Virgin of Sorrows, 1547; rd 18) and Baccio Bandinelli (e.g. Struggle between Reason and the Passions, 1545; rd 36).
After 1547 Beatrizet seems to have worked for Antoine Lafréry, for whom he made engravings of views of Roman monuments and antique sculptures—for example The Pantheon (rd 103) and the ...
Beccafumi [Mecarino, Mecherino], Domenico
Fiorella Sricchia Santoro
(di Giacomo di Pace)
(b Cortine in Valdibiana Montaperti, 1484; d Siena, between Jan and May 1551).
Italian painter, sculptor, draughtsman, printmaker and illuminator. He was one of the protagonists, perhaps even the most precocious, of Tuscan Mannerism, which he practised with a strong sense of his Sienese artistic background but at the same time with an awareness of contemporary developments in Florence and Rome. He responded to the new demand for feeling and fantasy while retaining the formal language of the early 16th century. None of Beccafumi’s works is signed or dated, but his highly personal maniera has facilitated almost unanimous agreement regarding the definition of his corpus and the principal areas of influence on it. However, some questions concerning the circumstances of his early career and the choices available to him remain unanswered. The more extreme forms of Beccafumi’s reckless experimentation underwent a critical reappraisal only in the later 20th century.
The primary sources of information concerning Beccafumi are Vasari’s biography (1568) and archival findings, mostly 19th century, relating to the artist. Vasari, although a direct acquaintance of Beccafumi in his last years and in a position to gather information from mutual friends, was, predictably, unreliable in regard to his early career. According to Vasari, Mecherino, the son of a poor farmer named Giacomo di Pace, became the protégé of ...
Bellange, Jacques
Michel Sylvestre
(Charles) (de)
(b ?Bassigny, c. 1575; d Nancy, 1616).
French painter, etcher and draughtsman. His known artistic activity dates only from 1602 to 1616 and he is now familiar chiefly for his etchings and drawings, all his decorative works and most of his paintings having perished. His highly idiosyncratic style was inspired by such Italian artists as Parmigianino, by the School of Fontainebleau and by northern artists including Albrecht Dürer and Bartholomeus Spranger. His work would seem to express a private and nervous religious sensibility through a style of the greatest refinement. It is among the latest and most extreme expressions of Mannerism. He was influential on other Lorraine artists: Claude Déruet was his pupil, as, perhaps, was Georges de La Tour.
He may have had his earliest artistic training in Bassigny, the south-west part of the then independent duchy of Lorraine, or in Nancy, its capital. He may have completed it in Italy, perhaps in Florence, and/or in Paris. On ...
Bertelli family
Feliciano Benvenuti
Italian family of typographers, engravers, publishers and print dealers. Members of the family were active in Venice and Padua in the 16th century and the early 17th. Most notable among them were Luca Bertelli (fl Venice, c. 1560; fl Padua, 1594), Orazio Bertelli (fl Venice, 1562–88), who was possibly Luca’s brother, and Ferdinando (Ferrando, Ferrante) Bertelli (fl Venice, 1561–72). It is difficult to determine the extent of Luca Bertelli’s participation in the execution of the prints he published; they were mainly historical, religious and mythological. Orazio Bertelli probably encouraged Agostino Carracci’s visit to Venice in 1582. Orazio’s engravings included the works of Federico Barocci, Domenico Tibaldi and Paolo Veronese, notably a Pietà (De Grazia, p. 125, no. 102). Ferdinando Bertelli was best known for his publication of a vast number of maps, by both Italian and foreign cartographers.
DBI; Thieme–Becker D. De Grazia: Le stampe dei Carracci...
Binck, Jakob
Torbjörn Fulton
[Jacob]
(b Cologne, c. 1500; d Königsberg [now Kaliningrad], c. 1569).
German painter, engraver and designer, active in Denmark and Sweden. While he worked as a court painter in Denmark c. 1530–50, he also served the Swedish court temporarily (1541–2) under Gustav Vasa, of whom he executed a portrait: this is untraced but is known through an old copy (Uppsala, U. Kstsaml.). Binck’s picture, according to the copy, belonged to the so-called South German portrait school, showing the King half-figure against a neutral background. It is dominated more by the mass of the body and costume than by the impassive, three-quarter-profile face. Binck’s picture has long since been widely distributed, represented on Swedish banknotes. A similar bust portrait of Christian III was engraved by Binck in 1535 Later, when he returned to Denmark from Sweden, he was influenced by the Dutch art of portraiture, with its more penetrating depiction of character. This can be seen in the portrait of the Danish chancellor ...
Birago, Giovanni [Giovan] Pietro
Mark L. Evans
[Giampietrino]
(fl c. 1471/4–1513).
Italian illuminator and engraver. In 1894 he was tentatively associated with his principal work, the Hours of Bona Sforza (London, BL, Add. MSS 34294, 45722 and 62997), and became known as the Master of the Sforza Book of Hours or the Pseudo-Antonio da Monza; in 1956 he was conclusively identified by his signature psbr io petr biragvs ft on the frontispiece of a copy (Warsaw, N. Lib., Inc. F. 1347) of Giovanni Simonetta’s life of Francesco Sforza, the Sforziada, published first in Latin and then in Italian translation at Milan in 1490.
Three choir-books from Brescia Cathedral dated c. 1471–4 (Brescia, Pin. Civ. Tosio-Martinengo, nos 22, 23 and 25) are the earliest known works signed by Birago. It has been suggested that he was active in Venice during the 1480s. Miniatures attributed to him appear in a Breviary of the Venetian Barozzo family, printed on parchment by Nicolas Jenson at Venice in ...
Blum [Bloem; Bloome], Hans
M. J. T. M. Stompé
(b Lohr, c. 1525).
German architect, engraver and writer. After training as an architect in his native town, Hans Blum left Lohr because two architects were already working there: Peter Volckner (fl 1539–48) and Jost Wenzel (fl 1548–70). He then moved to Zurich, where he married Ragali Kuchymeister in 1550. Their eldest son Christoffel Blum (bapt 21 Jan 1552) was named after the publisher Christoffel Froschauer (?1490–1564), who later published Hans Blum’s treatises on architecture.
Hans Blum is primarily known as the author of Quinque columnarum exacta descriptio atque delinaeatio cum symmetrica (1550), a book on the five orders of architecture. He based his work on the fourth volume of Serlio’s Regole generali di architettura (Venice, 1537), a German edition of which was published in 1542. The second source for Blum’s book was Gualtherus Rivius’s edition of Vitruvius, published in 1548 and illustrated by Peter Flettner (...
Bockstorffer, Christoph
Michael Eissenhauer
(b ?Memmingen; fl c. 1511; d Mulhouse, 1553).
German painter, draughtsman and etcher. The son of a Memmingen artist, he was in Lucerne in 1512–13 and was taxed in Konstanz from 1515 to 1544. Leaving Konstanz in 1543, he stayed briefly in Colmar, then worked in Montbéliard (1544–6). From 1552 until his death he was employed painting the town hall (built 1551) of Mulhouse. His principal work was the high altar (1523–4; destr. 1529) of the church at St Gall Abbey. His surviving work was formerly thought to include the triptych (1524) in the cathedral at Konstanz, and the etchings of the Augsburg monogrammist Master CB were also attributed to him, but the triptych is now known to be the work of Matthäus Gutrecht II (fl 1517–24), and the monogrammist CB has been identified as Conrad Bauer (fl 1525–31). Thus Bockstorffer is no longer seen as a painter of Augsburg training who had a lasting influence on, and introduced significant innovations to, the painting of the Bodensee area. His oeuvre, of which only a few samples survive (along with the St Gall altarpiece, all the murals were lost), shows him as an artist of slight originality. A winged altarpiece (...
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The October 2015 update included the addition of 85 new and revised articles across 31 subject areas, and also welcomed Oxford Bibliographies in Environmental Science.
The September 2015 update included the addition of 78 new and revised articles across 25 subject areas.
The August 2015 update included the addition of 130 new and revised articles across 33 subject areas.
The June 2015 update included the addition of 114 new and revised articles across 32 subject areas.
The May 2015 update included the addition of 89 new and revised articles across 24 subject areas.
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Are age laws courting disaster?
By Michael Millar on 10 Oct 2006 in Equality & diversity, Employment Law Features, Age discrimination
A High Court challenge to the mandatory retirement age of 65 means there could be trouble ahead for the government.
After months of consultation and wranglings at the highest levels, the new age laws have already been labelled as incompatible with the EU legislation they aim to implement.
The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 bring into force the age-related provisions of the European Equal Treatment Directive.
But Heyday, a membership group for baby boomers (people born between 1945 and 1957), has been granted a judicial review of the regulations before the High Court, challenging the mandatory retirement age (MRA), which allows employers to force workers to retire at 65 without giving any reason.
Ailsa Ogilvie, director of Heyday, said the government was sending a stark to over-65s – that “they are not worth having in the workplace”.
“People want the choice to continue to work, but they don’t want to feel they are being given their P45 on the basis of their birth certificate,” she told Personnel Today.
Unprotective
You can see why Heyday is upset. Most people believe the age regulations are designed to protect them against discrimination in their old age. Unfortunately, they are in for a shock. For the first time, employers have a cast-iron excuse to discriminate against those aged 65 and over – and there’s nothing retirees can do about it.
This situation seems to run contrary to the EU legislation, which says “any direct or indirect discrimination based on age… should be prohibited throughout the [EU] community”.
Where the confusion arises is article six of the directive, which adds that EU member states may effectively discriminate on grounds of age if, “within the context of national law, they are objectively and reasonably justifying a legitimate aim… and if the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary”. Then add the fact that “the directive shall be without prejudice to national provisions laying down retirement ages”, and the lawyers have really got something to get their teeth into.
So just what is a legitimate aim, and did the UK already have national retirement ages? And what are the chances the government has mucked it all up?
The Department for Trade and Industry would only say that “the government is confident that the [age] regulations implement the directive correctly”, and points out the MRA will be reviewed in 2011 anyway.
However, the CBI was more than happy to elaborate. Richard Wainer, principal policy officer at the employers’ group, which lobbied hard for a retirement age, said the MRA would create better workplace relations.
“It will encourage dialogue between employers and employees that will lead to a more fruitful and consensual discussion over retirement,” he said. “Abolition [of the MRA] could lead to conflict as companies try to manage people out.”
The CBI believes that having the MRA will help aid workforce planning, adding weight to its assertion that a default retirement age is a legitimate aim. It also argues that the state retirement age already operates as a default retirement age, which the EU directive explicitly recognises as a bona fide reason to discriminate.
Challenged
It’s difficult to predict how the High Court will approach this matter. A judicial review has only ever once successfully forced the government to change a law. That was back in 1999, when it was successfully argued that a two-year qualification period for a claim for unfair dismissal had an adverse impact on women.
Jane Amphlett, a partner at law firm Addleshaw Goddard, said the courts would be reluctant to declare the government acted illegally, as it would “raise arguments over whether the judiciary is more powerful than the government”.
In this case, the High Court does not seem too perturbed – it has taken the unusual step of granting Heyday a ‘rolled-up’ hearing, which means that a judge will consider the application for the case to proceed in an oral hearing, which, if given the green light, will lead straight into a full trial. Usually, judicial reviews have to wait six months to be heard.
However, as Heyday’s solicitor Andrew Lockley points out, the group is not challenging the whole of the regulations, but just one part, which would limit the impact of any constitutional issues.
Ashley Norman, employment partner at law firm Pinsent Masons, said the whole question should be sent back from whence it came.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if this was referred up to the European Court of Justice – that’s the usual route for employment decisions to be challenged,” he said.
If that comes to pass, then employers will be in for the long haul. In the meantime, businesses might have come to recognise that young employees are harder to find, and they might not have much choice when it comes to keeping older workers on the payroll.
Heyday claims having a mandatory retirement age in the new age regulations is contrary to the European Equal Treatment Framework Directive (Council Directive 2000/78/EC).
It is challenging articles three and 30 of the UK law, which cover discrimination on grounds of age and the default retirement age respectively.
What is a judicial review?
Judicial reviews are the power of a court to review a law or an official act of a government employee or other public body if it is claimed the law or act is itself illegal. To bring a judicial review, you must show you have ‘sufficient interest’ in the decision.
For more on retirement, see legal dilemma
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Michael Jovishoff
Mr. Jovishoff joined Phillips Preiss in 1986. He directs the firm’s relocation services program and is an expert in the application of the New Jersey State and federal laws governing the relocation of businesses and residents displaced by public agencies. Clients include the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, Burlington and Essex counties and numerous municipal redevelopment agencies. Mr. Jovishoff has also prepared numerous redevelopment studies and commercial and industrial market and feasibility studies, for a range of non-profit and government clients. He is a licensed Professional Planner in New Jersey and provides expert testimony for applicants before municipal boards, as well as advises planning and zoning boards on planning matters. Mr. Jovishoff holds a Master of City and Regional Planning degree from the Pratt Institute.
Planning and Design Staff
Kathleen Thielman Puniello, AICP, PP
Senior Planner Kathleen Thielman Puniello joined Phillips Preiss in 2008 and has a background in environmental science and transportation planning. Her work with the firm includes the preparation of master plans, redevelopment studies and plans and land use and zoning analysis and environmental impact analysis for communities in New Jersey and New York. She is trained in ArcGIS and provides GIS analysis and mapping services on a full range of projects. Ms. Puniello is a licensed Professional Planner in New Jersey and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. She holds a Master of City and Regional Planning degree from Rutgers University and a Bachelors of Science degree in Environmental Science from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
Kate Keller, AICP, pp
Ms. Keller joined Phillips Preiss as a planner in 2012. She is experienced in local zoning review and land use planning, and has a comprehensive academic background that includes economic development, real estate market analysis, and site planning skills. Ms. Keller, whose work with Phillips Preiss has included preparation of redevelopment studies, reviewing development applications and advising planning and zoning boards, is a licensed Professional Planner in New Jersey and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. She holds a master’s degree in planning with a concentration in urban development from the University of Pennsylvania, from where she also earned an undergraduate degree.
Dijia Chen, Aicp, pp
Ms. Chen joined PPGLH as a planner in June 2018. With a background in land use and transportation planning, Ms. Chen’s experiences span widely from comprehensive planning and redevelopment to active transportation planning and real estate market analysis. With rigorous training in spatial and regional analysis as well as geographic information systems, she is skilled in combining data analysis, mapping, research, and engagement to assist with a variety of planning projects. Ms. Chen holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College. She is an active member of the American Planning Association.
Elizabeth Jordan
Ms. Jordan joined Phillips Preiss in 1987. She directs the firm’s graphic design work and constantly evolving desktop publishing capabilities. Ms. Jordan possesses extensive knowledge of current design software, and brings aesthetic principles to exhibits, maps, illustrations, informational graphics and page layouts. Combined with her keen eye and design talents, she ensures that Phillips Preiss’ clients receive quality products that clearly and effectively communicate information and ideas. Ms. Jordan holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of South Florida and is a painter and sculptor.
Diana Marsh, PE, AICP
Ms. Marsh is a consulting urban designer and planner at Phillips Preiss. She brings to Phillips Preiss her expertise in pedestrian-friendly development, the influence of land use on travel behavior, and green design. The scale of her work includes streetscape and corridor planning; revitalization, infill, and redevelopment of urban and suburban locations; and large-scale master planning. She has extensive experience in writing design guidelines and zoning, conducting development reviews, preparing conceptual site plans, and creating 3D massing models. Her work at Phillips Preiss has garnered awards from APA-NJ, New Jersey Future, Downtown New Jersey, and others. A licensed civil engineer, Ms. Marsh also has a strong background in infrastructure and environmental resource planning. Ms. Marsh earned her Masters in City Planning at the University of California, Berkeley and her undergraduate degree at Cornell University.
Administrative/Support Staff
Moy Pang
Ms. Pang became Phillips Preiss' bookkeeper and accounting manager in 2007. She brings a wealth of experience to the firm in managing billing and other financial matters for professional service companies.
Deborah van Renterghem
Ms. van Renterghem has been with Phillips Preiss since 2003, and currently provides the firm with marketing, office management and administrative support. Ms. van Renterghem also is an accomplished opera singer who has performed in professional productions throughout the United States and Europe.
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Phoenix-Born Country Singer Chelsea Bain May Live in Nashville, But She's Back for Super Bowl
K.C. Libman
B. Craig Campbell/Campbell Entertainment Group
K.C. Libman | January 30, 2015 | 11:20am
Saguaros, roadrunners and palo verde trees rarely call country music to mind for most aficionados of the genre. For Chelsea Bain, the Arizona-raised 25-year-old country artist who's made waves with her single "James Dean," it's the desert that's most conducive to her upbringing and music, that inspires her most. She's back in town this week for a series of performances centering around the Super Bowl, including the Celebrity Flag Football Challenge and the NFL Game Day Fan Plaza, and it seems that there's nowhere else she'd rather be.
See also: 20 Best Concerts of Super Bowl Week
When Bain gets on the phone, as chipper as anyone who's about to shine bright in the glow of the biggest sporting event of the year, she has her mother, aunt, manager and publicist in tow. While, yes, this weekend is a hell of a lot of work for her, part of this trip is a homecoming for Bain -- she's been in Nashville proper for two years now, having traveled between Tennessee and Phoenix for seven years.
Unlike a lot of Nashville transplants who have blown in on the wind from places less country than Music City, Bain wears her Arizona nativity on her sleeve. Whether it's in interviews, press packets or even trying to imbue her sound with what she perceives to be a Southwestern influence, Arizona is where her heart remains.
"That's the thing I try to tell anybody whenever I talk to anybody: Country music is huge out here, and we have two huge stations here in Phoenix and I love them both," Bain says. "All my friends I've had out here are all country music fans, more so than a lot of states I've been to. People forget that the Southwest, this is where cowboys come from. This is John Wayne country."
Raised partly in the city of Phoenix, it was the Bain family's move to north Scottsdale, near Pinnacle Peak and what she calls "horse country, biker country," that exacerbated her love of country music. You can't blame her; being raised on in that gorgeous, expansive northern desert on a ranch and becoming a fierce competitor in the American Paint Horse Association would bolster the genre's appreciation for anyone.
"I grew up until I was probably too old of an age thinking that country music was the only genre that existed, and so I thought KNIX and KMLE were what you listened to and that was it, that's where you got your music from, so I didn't know any different from when I was little. Since before I can remember, I said, 'That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to be a country music artist,' and as a very small child I made that decision very firmly."
That decision hasn't come without its pitfalls, however. After a record deal with the now-defunct Bigger Picture Group fell apart, Bain was left slightly discouraged and has since been an independent act. The past year alone has been marked by a continuous upswing, however, with Bain procuring new management and signing on with the prestigious William Morris Booking Agency, all while using her independent status to determine the direction of career.
"People think there's like overnight success and everything and all of these people I see pop up, it's like 'No, they've been at it for years,'" she says. "They've been building this and creating for however long and I think that that's just the thing -- it takes a little bit of time, no matter how far you are, before you move to Nashville. It takes time to build that up, and for me that's been really fun."
Though she now calls Nashville home, it was her childhood in Arizona and trips home that continue to motivate and inspire her. With names like Buck Owens, Waylon Jennings, Tanya Tucker, and most recently, Dierks Bentley, coming out of Arizona, there's a wealth of pedigree that Bain has to live up to. Unlike most of those artists, she's unabashedly vocal about the Grand Canyon State being at the core of her life, from both artistic and familial standpoints.
"I want people to know that this is country," Bain explains. "You don't have to be in South Carolina for it to be country. I had just got off the airplane [last night] and it had just rained and there's something special about it, there's something so special about Arizona, and if I can in any way find any possibility of saying that through my music then that's what I'm going to do."
Top 40 Songs with Arizona in the Title 9 Tips for Using A Fake ID To Get Into A Show Why Indie Band Oregon Trail Is The Hardest Game Ever The 30 Most Disturbing Songs of All Time
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Judge To Rule On Martinson Murder Case Motions Soon: UPDATE
Paul Rubin | March 26, 2012 | 11:00am
The judge in the Jeffrey Martinson murder case told the attorneys at a hearing this morning that she will issue rulings on critical defense motions in a few days.
Martinson's defense team has filed a motion for a new trial based on, among other reasons, alleged juror misconduct (here's our extended story on that piece of the puzzle), and because of a recent appellate decision we wrote about just the other day in Valley Fever.
A jury convicted Martinson of murdering his 5-year-old son Josh back in 2004 by administering an overdose of Soma at his Ahwatukee apartment.
Three of the Martinson trial jurors attending this morning's hearing, interested in what's going to happen in this tragic and increasingly controversial case.
One of those jurors, alternate Carlos Amaro, took time off from his job with the city's Parks and Recreation Department to listen in. He said he's still upset he didn't get to sit in the deliberations, and told us that he wouldn't have voted to convict Martinson on anything except a far-lesser charge than first-degree felony murder and child abuse.
We will do a blog on Judge Duncan's ruling, which promises to be quite interesting, no matter what she does.
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By Amy Glynn | February 13, 2017 | 7:51pm
Movies Reviews Fifty Shades Darker
Fifty Shades Darker continues where Fifty Shades of Grey leaves off, presenting the next chapter in the story of wide-eyed, plucky Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and her sadistic megabillionaire lover, Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan), who in fact does not have fifty shades of anything, except possibly silk restraints. We open on the blank-faced if highly six-packed billionaire having a nightmare about his abusive childhood—because, yeah, it was a complete mystery in the first movie what those cigarette-sized burns all over his chest are. Oddly, this ham-fisted opening is one of the sequel’s more coherent parts. Apparently it is why this film is called Fifty Shades Darker because it’s not any darker than the first film; in fact, it has a conventional Hollywood happy ending. (Not to mention the other kind of Happy Ending.)
Anyway, in this chapter, Ana has moved on. Gotten a job. Her boss has a neon sign on his forehead that says, “I’m totes going to try to rape you about halfway through this film,” but, you know, nobody’s perfect. Christian shows up, begs for her to come back, says he won’t try to “dominate” her any more, that they can have a “vanilla” relationship if that’s what it takes because he’ll just simply die without her. She says “no” very firmly two times before jumping into bed with him. That’s okay, because we’re here for the sex scenes, right?
This ability to assume principled stances that she immediately abandons is sort of Ana’s defining trait in this movie. She wants independence at work. Christian buys the company, becoming her boss. She’s infuriated. Then she hops into bed with him. She doesn’t want to take the 25K check he wants to write her (because independence!), and he announces that he makes that much money every fifteen minutes. She holds firm, so Christian simply wires the money into her bank account because, for reasons that are never explained, he has access to her account data. Of course, she’s livid, and who wouldn’t be? So she hops into bed with him. Between Ana’s love for this man and her occasionally noticing and not being okay with him controlling her entire life, can you can feel the tension mounting? Okay, me neither—if we were watching a vital signs monitor someone would be pronouncing time of death and covering a body with a sheet. But again, no big—we’re here for the sex scenes. Right?
Several narratively unjustified sex scenes later, Christian crashes his helicopter and can’t be located. It’s not relevant to the “plot”, but let’s set that aside. I’m not sure if you’ve ever been in a helicopter crash but from what I understand they’re pretty lethal, or at least, “hospital stay triggering.” But in a feat that requires “Jason Bourne or Rambo levels of disbelief suspension, Christian walks into his own apartment with some blood on his head, all the family well-wishers say, “Oh. Sweet. You’re not dead,” and leave, allowing Ana and Christian to have some post-helicopter-crash sex. (In the next scene, it’s as if the crash never happened.)
Oh. There’s this older woman who looks like Kim Basinger (Kim Basinger), whom Ana instantly intuits is the “Mrs. Robinson” who made Christian her “submissive” back when the words “statutory rape” would have still been relevant. She says menacing things to Ana. Don’t worry, Ana, she’s just a friend, and a business partner—her business is a hair salon!—but … let it go. We’re here for the sex.
I should also mention there is this waif-junkie-I-see-dead-people girl who shows up in an ominous way. Somehow Christian knows without having been there that she’s a disgruntled former submissive who, deprived of Christian’s magic penis and arbitrary floggings, has become suicidal. But he can’t explain why the sketchy little bitch can get into his garage and trash Ana’s car, or into his apartment to watch them sleep, or … well, she doesn’t add anything to plot. As you can guess by now, we’re going to let that go, as well. We know why we’re here.
But that’s Fifty Shades Darker’s biggest problem—the sex scenes are actually pretty boring. Beyond a couple of slightly cute moments where Ana almost admits to herself that she actually kinda likes being tied up, it’s basically all One Shade of Sex Scene.
Though it’s only fair to lay some of the blame on the script or the actors, the true culprit lies in the true object of our gaze. This film is not about experiencing a voyeuristic thrill in watching a tryst involving a wide-eyed nymphet discovering her sexual dark side and a guy with awesome lats work through some serious intimacy issues. Or rather, describing it as such is leaving out a third participant. The affair in this film version of E.L. James’ novel is not a twosome—it’s a ménage à trois, and the third partner is money. Filthy, filthy lucre. Every scene is soaked in it. You don’t have a ball gown? Here, I’ll buy thirty Monique L’Huilliers; choose whichever one you like. No, I’m choosing for you. I’m proposing to you so I’ve purchased a small tropical island’s worth of flowers and decked out the indoor pool area with them just for that moment, even though you already said yes despite the fact that I am badly damaged and abusive. Money is everywhere. Every character other than Ana and the guy who drives Christian’s car are bazillionaires. Every shot of his apartment, his office drip wealth—even the wine glasses look overpriced. Everything they do and everywhere they go is absolutely soaked in money.
From the perspective of narrative, you’ve set yourself a pretty daunting task when you have a protagonist that makes one million dollars an hour and can literally solve any problem instantaneously with his debit card, his dick or both. And the gratification by luxe sensory overload thing? It’s like the glass is full and you’re still pouring something into it even though it has already spilled over, destroying the finish on the table and staining the rug. Not only does it quickly become ineffective—it’s just plain annoying.
There’s an easy takeaway triggered by bad film adaptations: it can be very difficult to make a good movie out of a novel (regardless of the latter’s quality). Fifty Shades Darker provides a corollary to this particular truism: sometimes a fitting or “true” adaptation is nothing to celebrate.
Director: James Foley
Writer: Niall Leonard (screenplay); E.L. James (based on the novel by)
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Eric Johnson, Eloise Mumford
Crawl By Cole Henry July 17, 2019
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More from Fifty Shades Darker More
Fifty Shades of Furious: A Young Reporter Analyzes Popular Quotes from Fifty Shades Darker By Jason Rhode February 10, 2017 | 1:30pm
Fifty Shades Darker Soundtrack Features Nicki Minaj, Sia, Taylor Swift By Jared McNett January 11, 2017 | 4:15pm
Fifty Shades Darker Trailer Tops The Force Awakens For Most Views in 24 Hours By Spencer King September 16, 2016 | 12:37pm
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John Vanderslice 2009-10-16T00:00:00-06:00
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Historical | Penllyn Collectables
info@penllyncollectables.co.uk - tel. 07935 997530
Guides & Blogs
Max's Garden
Sir George Henry Makins GCMG CB FRCS (1853-1933) Signed 1901 Letter
Description: Sir George Henry Makins GCMG CB FRCS (1853-1933) Signed 1901 Letter
Wiki: "Sir George Henry Makins GCMG CB FRCS (3 November 1853 - 2 November 1933) was an English surgeon.
He was born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, the son of George Hogarth Makins, MRCS, and educated at The King's School, Gloucester, St Thomas' Hospital and Halle, Vienna.
He was appointed resident Assistant Surgeon at St Thomas' Hospital (1880-85), then Surgical Registrar (1885-87), Assistant Surgeon (1888-1898) and full Surgeon (1898-1913). He was also Assistant Surgeon at the Evelina Hospital for Sick Children (the forerunner of Evelina Children's Hospital).
During wartime Makins was a Consulting Surgeon to the South African Field Force, 1899-1900 and again a Consulting Surgeon, alongside Sir Anthony Bowlby, during the First World War, 1914-18. He spent much of the latter conflict in France, working in hospitals in Paris and Boulogne before taking over the supervision of new hospitals at Camiers and Étaples, where he established a research centre to trial new methods of wound treatment.
He was a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, gave the Bradshaw Lecture in 1913, the Hunterian Oration in 1917 and served as President from 1917 to 1919. He was awarded CB in 1900, GCMG in 1918 and KCMG in 1915]"
This item was found in a very large collection of genuine autographs, letters and other ephemera purchased at an auction in Cardiff
Condition: Mounted on card, old fold creases, small marks/foxing, wrinkles
Stockref: EF05/9170407
Sir George Henry Makins Autograph Signature
Autographs & Letters
Peter Townend Letters
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© 2019 Penllyn Collectables
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http://www.penllyncollectables.co.uk/autographs-and-letters/historical/?Page_ID=3610&refpid=73155&id=764593
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Intel TV news
Paddington: The tech behind the much-loved bear's big screen debut
Mike Lowe | 3 December 2014
1/8 ©P&Co.Ltd/ SC 2014
©P&Co.Ltd/ SC 2014
Best TV and movies you must not miss this week: Moon landings, Poldark and much more
Whatever age you are, there's something undeniably lovable about Paddington Bear. First brought to life in the 1958 book, he's since appeared on screen in almost every decade since the 1970s, from stop-motion animation to the hand-drawn Hanna-Barbera cartoons and beyond. Or perhaps you simply remember the stuffed toys? Either way, we expect those memories to be fond.
Now he's back. In 2014, Paddington is hot property once again, appearing in computer-animated form for the first time. Through this technological change Paddington has lost none of his charm and quintessential Britishness; his trademark blue duffle coat and Wellington boots remain very much in tact.
The box office hit, Paddington, directed by Paul King, is set to be the Christmas feel-good film for all the family. But what challenges did the team at Framestore - the visual effects and post-production house, well known for work in Harry Potter, Narnia, Guardians of the Galaxy, Gravity and many more - face in the journey of bringing the much-loved bear to life in digital form?
We chatted with Framestore's Steve MacPherson, chief technical officer, and Pablo Grillo, animation director, to get the lowdown on how Paddington Bear was brought to life for the big screen.
A big part of Paddington's personality is his fur, which looks amazing in the film. Just how difficult is it to achieve?
Pablo Grillo: "There was a time when you'd run screaming at the idea of creating fur in a photo-real world, but I think these days rendering something that looks very physically present and real is amazing.
"We've adopted a rendering process that's based on light bounce, using a renderer called Arnold, that's really just revolutionised the way that we work - to the point that we're able to very quickly generate low-resolution images that show what that final Bear looks like, before going to the final quality.
"I think this was really the first time that I'd experienced that. In the past you'd be working with very different representations, very graphic representations of the character and, to a degree, you'd sort of cross your fingers when you'd see the renders of the fur - which are very expensive to produce.
"The process was fundamental on a film like Paddington where you're dealing with a character who's defined by that fur. The face, the expression, everything that is him, is so tightly bound by that look, that without being able to see those renders, to see how he feels in any given situation, you'd be really limited and working blind."
We've seen motion capture used for characters such as Gollum in Lord of the Rings, is Paddington created in a similar way?
PG: "Paddington, no, it wasn't motion capture. We find when you're dealing with something that's so different to a human that inspiration is essential. What we do is use a lot of reference.
"Having an actor - Ben Wishaw [who voices Paddington] - helps the director work with someone in real-time and gives us a great source of inspiration. What we do is shoot a lot of reference, a lot of angles to cover it, and the animators usually serve as a better conduit for interpreting that into something as different as a little bear."
What about lip sync?
PG: "We used a head-mounted camera on the actor during the voice record. That gives us an excellent guide as to how the lips are moving. Again, a tremendous amount of data to wrangle in the end process."
Is that because there's a fine line between being too realistic; to maintain that sense of fantasy?
Steve MacPherson: "I used to work at The Creature Shop [founded by puppeteer Jim Henson] and I remember Kermit the frog and those characters from The Muppets.
"People had such affection for those characters that when somebody would come in they could see all of the puppeteers underneath. All of a sudden you'd have the character in the raw, but it only took a few minutes before those puppeteers were completely invisible and it was just Kermit again. Especially with children - but even with adults.
"I think if the character is likeable and has a personality that is believable then that carries through."
PG: "With Paddington you have to maintain a degree of charm. Otherwise you get to a point where it's so realistic that it loses appeal. And that's a really difficult balance to strike."
How long does it take to render a full and final scene? When do you know it's time to push the button and let it go?
PG: "I couldn't tell you exactly a time, that's one of those questions…"
SMP: "But that's like pushing the button before launching a nuclear strike. You really want to give it some thought."
PG: "You need to be sure that it's going to work."
SMP: "In general, trying to drive more simulations from the desktop - for creature effects and the teams who specialise a lot in that type of interaction - the better it is. When the desktop matches what the render farm is going to deliver that helps a lot too."
PG: "That's the thing we didn't mention: the massively complex thing about fur is getting it to move in the right way; getting it to interact with things. In a film like Paddington where he's wearing a jacket, where he's touching a lot of things, getting that hair to not intersect, that's very…
SMP: "Or even just water… water and marmalade!"
PG: "Yeah, there are layers and layers of craft that go into having your initial fur look, but then on top of that seeing that fur drop every droplet of water and change shape; seeing it shake in response to the movement of the character; getting all those values right.
"Fortunately with this sort of process we're able to set off these low-res renders and see the results in the morning. It allows us to go a lot further and create far more sophisticated artistry. Before you hit the big button for the 2K resolution renders."
This must all take a tremendous amount of time?
PG: "There are 600-odd shots. Actually executing the shots was probably over the space of a year, or just under, for the bulk the work. The whole project, with pre-visualisation, was about three years."
SMP: "I think the average render time, historically, hasn't changed much. So if you were to go back 15-20 years you'll find that people are still looking at 8-25 hour renders, but the level of complexity has changed enormously."
PG: "I think the thing that's really going to test us is as we move further into 4K [3840 x 2160 resolution].
"The problem is we're not making it easy for ourselves. As soon as the processing power arrives we set the bar a lot higher. We're always, to a degree, chasing those higher resolutions, levels of detail, frame rates and so on."
It's amazing how far visual effects has come and the computational power behind that.
SMP: "Oh there have been massive leaps forward. When you talk about starting, 2-terabytes was our entire setup for all the disc storage that we had for the entire film. That was about 15-years ago."
"Now our in-house production storage puts us at about 3-petabytes [3-million gigabytes]."
What tools were used to create Paddington?
SMP: "Our whole infrastructure - everything from our software development to our pipeline and filesystems - is all in a native Linux environment. It gives us a very high degree of control. We write a lot of code, so our tools are all very comfortable in a Linux world."
How high-spec are the machines used behind the scenes?
SMP: "There are a couple of different approaches that we've used over time. At one point what we did is pump everything into cores. We had a lot of 12-core machines - this is going back about 2-3 years - and were just moving into 16-core machines on the desktop workstations. On the back-end, for the render farm, it's the same thing but with faster clock speeds - the latest generation 3.6Ghz.
"It was the Intel chips that drove a lot of the scale. It wasn't even just about out-performing the MIPS chips at the time, it was that you could pack two dozen Intel machines where you'd had one large machine before. And the economics were a huge factor too."
PG: "One of the biggest factors, especially for animators, is the speed. We're always pushing the rigs in terms of what we can do."
Does it feel like a technological process when you're animating?
SMP: "That really depends on who you ask."
PG: "For the animators the process is now free enough, or there's enough dexterity, that you see through the technical aspects and are able to get quite tactile and feel in touch with performance and motion."
SMP: "From the technology side there's a lot of effort that goes into making our tools easier to use for animators. The last thing you want is people slowing down without having to stop and think 'is that a half a per cent?' or 'what's the cosine of that number?'.
"But there are times when the technology really helps, when a little bit of scripting or programming can accelerate a repetitive task."
What was one of the biggest technical hurdles you faced?
PG: "There were things that were very unusual. There's this one moment with Sellotape. Paddington finds himself getting more and more tangled in this tape. Not only was the physical development of the performance complex, but the fact we had to simulate the stuff that sticks all around him and tie-in the simulation with the positions of his arms. It looks like a simple thing on screen but it was actually an incredible feat.
What about your proudest moment in Paddington?
PG: "I think for me it's always the moments when people respond emotionally. There's this moment where Paddington's at the top of a chimney and it falls - and the whole cinema gasped. I wasn't expecting that. And I thought 'wow, brilliant, that worked'.
"Things like that, such as in the Harry Potter series with Dobby dying, that really moves people. It's kind of wonderful when that has impact - because that's what we're doing it for."
SMP: "If there's no story or no emotional heart to it, then no matter how brilliant the technology is, and no matter what problem has been solved that hasn't before, it's still not worth watching. Then it's just an historical moment of technology rather than an emotional moment in film-making."
Sections Intel Apps TV
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Baltimore County Conducting National Search for New Chief
December 6, 2018 • by Staff Writer
Photo: Baltimore PD/Facebook
Baltimore County Chief of Police Terrence Sheridan has about six months remaining on the job while County Executive Johnny Olszewski conducts a national search for a replacement, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Olszewski said in a statement that " Chief Sheridan is a first-class public safety professional who is well-respected by his officers and the community," but that he will be examining candidates from around the country to lead the police force for Maryland’s third largest county.
Sheridan has led the department since January 2017, when former County Executive Kevin Kamenetz pushed out then-chief Jim Johnson.
Read more about Police Chiefs Career Advancement Maryland the south patrol Maryland agencies
A deputy with the Stone County (AR) Sheriff's Office was shot and killed in the line of duty Thursday morning, the Stone County Office of Emergency Management announced on Twitter.
According to the Dallas Morning News, police were called to respond to reports of an active shooter event at a little before 11:30 local time on Thursday morning. The suspect was reported to be in custody at around 12:45.
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History Dept.
Epic Fails of U.S. Presidential History
Jeb Bush isn’t the only one who was supposed to win and didn’t.
By JOSH ZEITZ
Josh Zeitz has taught American history and politics at Cambridge University and Princeton University and is the author of Lincoln’s Boys: John Hay, John Nicolay, and the War for Lincoln's Image. He is currently writing a book on the making of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. Follow him @joshuamzeitz.
Jeb Bush’s rise and fall are now complete. The once “inevitable” “front-runner” with the “rock star name” is doomed to watch from the sidelines as his golden(ish)-haired debate nemesis and his upstart “protégé” trade barbs and compete for votes.
The bad news: Jeb! doesn’t win the White House—thus preventing his family from becoming America’s first triple-crown White House winner. The good news: Jeb! now joins a small but distinguished club of illustrious political losers: those who could have won the presidency, should have won the presidency—but didn’t. Aside from the losing-the-presidency part, this list really isn’t bad company, as far as history is concerned.
Here are seven of the most epic fails in American presidential history, with the decline of Jeb Bush now ranked among them.
1. Thomas Dewey, 1948: By all rights, the 1948 presidential election belonged to Republican Thomas Dewey. A former crime-busting district attorney of Manhattan and current governor of New York, in 1944 Dewey accepted the thankless task of running against Franklin Roosevelt and came the closest of any candidate to unseating him. Four years later, he was the consensus nominee of his party. Running against Democratic incumbent Harry Truman, whose party was fracturing and whose presidency had been marred by economic troubles, allegations of cronyism and crippling industrial strikes, Dewey was the undisputed favorite to win.
To win, Truman needed to pitch a perfect game. And he did.
Truman’s advisers brilliantly conceived of the electorate as a collection of diverse building blocks. The trick, they observed, was to court and assemble the right collection of blocks (organized labor, the farm belt, African-Americans, Jews) to get to 50 percent plus one.
Truman, meanwhile, knowing he was the underdog, ran like a man possessed. He barnstormed the country by train and made bold moves, supporting civil rights (and betting that the South would ultimately reject the Dixiecrat challenge), recognizing the new state of Israel and uniting the old farmer-labor alliance.
Dewey—a placid and uninspiring character whom Alice Roosevelt Longworth once mocked as “the little man on the wedding cake”—put up an admirable fight, but his stiff demeanor and conventional, cautious, lackluster campaign was no match for Truman’s spirited yet disciplined run. In the closing weeks of the race, the president unleashed a fury of attacks on his Republican opponent, raising the specter that he would dismantle many popular elements of the New Deal that Americans had come to expect. Firm in his belief that he was destined to win, Dewey refused to counterattack.
Truman’s win was so unexpected that the Chicago Daily Tribune prematurely ran with the headline “Dewey Defeats Truman.” History recorded otherwise.
Dewey went on to serve a third term as governor and later build a lucrative law practice in Manhattan. Disturbed by his party’s sharp rightward turn, he declined to attend the 1964 Republican convention that nominated Sen. Barry Goldwater.
2. Henry Clay, 1844: The most unfortunate of political parties, the American Whigs captured the presidency in 1840, only to see their candidate, William Harrison, die within 30 days of taking office. His vice president, John Tyler, a nominal member of the party, quickly went turncoat and allied himself with the opposition Democrats, thereby leaving national Whigs in an all-too-familiar place: on the outside looking in. But 1844 would be different. The Whig nominee that year was Henry Clay—the star of the West. Standing over six feet tall, with strong features and a stentorian voice, Clay, along with Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun, was one-third of the “great triumvirate” that overshadowed the United States Senate from the 1820s through the early 1850s.
A former House speaker and secretary of state, Clay had tried twice before—and failed—to win the presidency. This time, most Whigs (and not a few Democrats) agreed, it was Harry’s year. Champion of internal improvements, a national banking system and a mixed economy comprised of both farms and factories, he represented the millions of Americans who believed that progress should be measured by what the country did with its vast human and natural resources, rather than how much land it conquered. Abraham Lincoln later spoke for many Whigs when he observed that Clay was his “beau-ideal of a statesman, the man for whom I fought all my humble life.”
Clay expected to face off against former President Martin Van Buren, a master political operator and onetime consigliere to Andrew Jackson. But when no Democratic candidate was able to secure the requisite number of delegates to win nomination, the convention turned to a compromise choice: James K. Polk, a former House speaker who subsequently served one term as governor of Tennessee before being denied re-election. He struck most political observers as a non-entity. “Who is James K. Polk?” went the popular Whig taunt that summer.
By late fall, the Whigs weren’t laughing.
Polk’s improbable presidential victory stemmed from multiple sources: an expanding population of foreign-born voters, many of them Catholic, who felt alienated by Whig nativism; a popular thirst for territorial expansion, best embodied by cries to annex the Republic of Texas, which Polk vigorously supported and Clay steadfastly opposed; a growing urban electorate that tended to support the Democratic economic platform; and—not least of all—slavery.
Clay was a critic of slavery, but not an immediate abolitionist; instead, he maintained a lifelong interest in both voluntary, compensated emancipation and colonization of ex-slaves in Africa. As a Southern Democrat, Polk was a more stalwart defender of the peculiar institution. Despite their differences on the issue, the small but determined antislavery movement viewed both candidates and both parties as equally complicit in a great sin. That year, the activists coalesced around James G. Birney, a former Kentucky state legislator who ran as the candidate of the Liberty Party. As expected, Birney performed poorly, garnering just 2.3 percent of the national vote. But in New York State, he proved a spoiler. Of more than 485,000 ballots cast, Clay lost to Polk by a razor-thin margin of 5,107. Over three times that number of Empire State voters supported Birney.
In the absence of his third-party challenge, most of Birney’s support would undoubtedly have flowed to the moderate antislavery Whig. Of course, that’s not how it happened. Clay lost New York, and with it, the presidency. He went onto several more years of distinguished service in the Senate and died shortly before his beloved Whig party dissolved over the growing sectional conflict.
3. William Henry Seward, 1860: New York politics has long been a byzantine affair, and those who excelled at it have been formidable characters—few so much as William Henry Seward, a two-term Whig governor who went on to serve 12 years in the United States Senate, where he emerged as one of the leading congressional opponents of slavery.
In late 1859, Seward was the presumptive nominee of the still relatively new Republican Party. He enjoyed the backing of powerful political machines, widespread name recognition and national stature. But his reputation for radicalism, and his complacent assumption that he enjoyed a clear path to the nomination proved fatal. So confident was he in his position that, rather than launch an early campaign, he embarked on a long trip abroad in late 1859. In his absence, a hungrier candidate lay waiting in the wings.
In January 1860, just as Seward returned home, Abraham Lincoln—a former one-term congressman and twice-failed Senate candidate—visited New York City at the invitation of leading Republican boosters, where he defied the expectations of his eastern audience, many of whom expected “something weird, rough, and uncultivated,” by delivering a powerful antislavery broadside. On the heels of his success, Lincoln worked a speaking circuit through New England. He was again received by enthusiastic crowds who were intrigued by the rough-hewn Illinois politician who spoke so mightily, yet in a strange Kentucky-Indiana tongue. By spring, he was a credible contender.
Lincoln’s strategy going into the convention was simple: “I am not the first choice of a very great many,” he conceded. “Our policy, then, is to give no offense to others—leave them in a mood to come to us, if they shall be compelled to give up their first love.” On the first ballot, Seward won 173½ votes to Lincoln’s 102, with other candidates trailing far behind. No candidate came close to the magic number—233. Lincoln’s aide, John Nicolay, remembered the “groundswell of suppressed excitement which pervaded the hall,” as Lincoln supporters, sensing that momentum was on their side, cried out, “Call the roll!” On the next ballot, Seward won 184½ votes to Lincoln’s 181. “The third ballot,” reported Nicolay, “was begun amid a breathless suspense; hundreds of pencils kept pace with the roll-call, and nervously marked the changes on their tally sheets.” When the chairman announced the totals, Lincoln was ahead with 231½ votes—just one and a half shy of the nomination—with Seward trailing far behind at 180. “A profound silence suddenly fell upon the wigwam; the men ceased to talk and the ladies to flutter their fans; one could distinctly hear the scratching of pencils and the ticking of telegraph instruments on the reporters’ tables. … While every one was leaning forward in intense expectancy, David K. Cartter sprang upon his chair and reported a change of four Ohio votes from Chase to Lincoln. There was a moment’s pause—a teller waved his tally-sheet towards the skylight and shouted a name—and then the boom of a cannon on the roof of the wigwam announced the nomination to the crowds in the streets, where shouts and salutes took up and spread the news. In the convention the Lincoln river now became an inundation. Amid the wildest hurrahs, delegation after delegation changed its vote to the victor.”
Jeb, the Unluckiest Bush
By Matt Latimer
How Marco Slew His ‘Mentor’
Inside Jeb Bush's $150 Million Failure
By Eli Stokols
Seward went on to eight years of distinguished service as secretary of state. But he never achieved the top prize.
4. John Connally, 1980: A conservative Democrat and onetime protégé of Lyndon Johnson, John Connally is best-remembered today for catching one of the bullets intended for President John F. Kennedy in 1963. The son of sharecroppers, he rose to become student body president at the University of Texas, then secretary of the Navy under JFK, and finally, a three-term governor of Texas. Connally joined Richard Nixon’s cabinet as Treasury secretary in 1971 and subsequently switched parties. Henry Kissinger later noted that his “swaggering self-assurance was Nixon’s Walter Mitty image of himself. He was the one person whom Nixon never denigrated behind his back.” A man of loose ideological commitments, Connally liked to brag, “I can play it round or I can play it flat, just tell me how to play it.”
In 1980 he entered the GOP presidential contest and quickly raised $11 million—a spectacular amount of money at the time. Despite high-profile endorsements, a handsome Lear jet that shuttled him from one high-dollar fundraiser to the next, and early expectations, he never gained traction. As a former Democrat, he was still an interloper in someone else party. “After 13½ months of nonstop campaigning, spending $11 million and winning only one delegate, Ada Mills, 67, from Clarksville, Ark.,” Time reported in March 1980, “former Texas Governor John Connally last week withdrew from the Republican presidential race.” Despite being a longtime political enemy of George H. W. Bush, who was also running for the GOP nomination, Connally quickly endorsed Ronald Reagan, whom he had only recently dubbed the most dangerous individual in America. Reagan, he explained with a cool grin, was “the second-best man for the job.”
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Father of Jacob Thompson grateful for outpouring of support for cancer-stricken son
Before he died Sunday, the 9-year-old received more than 66,000 cards, gifts and video messages from around the world.
By Megan GrayStaff Writer
When Jacob Thompson’s family made a plea for holiday cards for their 9-year-old son, they quietly hoped they would get a response from every New England state.
Jacob was diagnosed four years ago with Stage 4 neuroblastoma, a rare type of cancerous tumor, his family said. When it became clear Jacob would not live until Christmas, his family decided to celebrate early. They invited people through social media to send cards to Jacob at Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland.
Jacob Thompson
Saco boy, 9, dies after inspiring thousands during battle with cancer
Before he died Sunday, Jacob received more than 66,000 cards, gifts and video messages from around the world.
“It made us feel good that his love went around the world,” said Roger Guay, Jacob’s father, in an interview Tuesday. “People who don’t even know him, he touched their lives.”
As the cards and Christmas wishes poured in, Guay said he used Google Maps to show his son how far the request had reached. They pointed to Germany and Sweden, Japan and China. They told him mail from Australia traveled 18 hours in an airplane to reach his bedside.
“He gave a smile and a nose scrunch, which means that was special for him,” Guay said. “Toward the end, he realized his nose scrunch said everything he wanted to. He used that more often than words.”
Jacob’s story made national headlines in The Washington Post, ABC News and other outlets. His well-wishers included a number of politicians and celebrities, among them former first lady Barbara Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maine native Anna Kendrick. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft sent Jacob a personal letter along with the autographs of players. A convoy of more than 100 police cruisers and motorcycles that originated in Stoughton, Massachusetts, traveled to Portland to drive by Jacob’s hospital room. A local magician performed for Jacob and his family, and the boy got to pick the first song of the holiday season for radio station 94.9 WHOM. The Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut brought live penguins – Jacob’s favorite animal – to the hospital for a visit.
“We’re just overwhelmed with the love and support we’ve gotten from all over the world,” Guay said.
Jacob’s obituary, to be published in full on Wednesday, describes his passions as those of a normal 9 year old: “MineCraft, Legos, YouTuber TDM, Trolls, swimming and singing along to his favorite songs.”
“Jacob loved spending time with his Memere Claire, having Sunday dinner with his Memere and Pepere Guay; playing video games with his older brother, Christopher, and younger cousins, Joey and Alex, playing with matchbox cars with his younger brother Joel and going on adventures with cousins, Bella and Peter. Jacob was always accompanied by his entourage of stuffed animal supports, ‘Penguin’ and ‘Baby Penguin’ and his orange blanket,” the obituary says.
The little boy’s motto was “live life like a penguin,” which meant “be friendly, stand by each other, go the extra mile, jump into life and be cool,” said his mother, Michelle Thompson Simard.
Jacob attended St. Louis Child Development Center in Biddeford and Young School in Saco. He was in the second grade. On Tuesday, Simard visited Young School to give stuffed animal penguins to students there, according to WCSH-TV reporter Lee Goldberg.
“We’re all sad,” Guay said. “We all are comforting each other.”
A GoFundMe campaign to pay for Jacob’s funeral expenses had raised nearly $165,000 as of Tuesday afternoon. In his obituary, Jacob’s family suggested people who would like to make a donation in his honor to do so to the penguin department at New England Aquarium. On a Facebook page called Jacob Thompson’s Journey, the family has also suggested making donations to another penguin rescue operation or to Operation Gratitude.
Going forward, Guay said they want to find a way to honor Jacob’s memory but haven’t settled on anything specific.
“We want to pay it forward,” he said.
Public visitation for Jacob will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at the Cote Funeral Home Chapel in Saco. The family has requested that the funeral service and burial be private.
portland maine, saco maine
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Reuters is an international news agency headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, England, United Kingdom and is a division of Thomson Reuters.
Full story - March 03, 2018
A new search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will end mid-June
Plans to recover the Boeing 777's wreckage or its flight recorders, in the event the aircraft is found, will be finalized in two weeks, and will involve several Malaysian and Australian agencies.
Thousands pour into Sydney to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
The event started in 1978 as a protest march for gay rights and the decriminalization of homosexuality but has since grown into a major tourist spectacle featuring leather, sequins, glitter, lasers and dance music. It is now Sydney's biggest street party and a major focal point for Australia's gay and lesbian community.
Dubai tests self-driving pods in drive to become 'smart city'
Several projects are being developed, including self-driving buses and a marine transportation system.
Not-so-fresh ink: Tattoos discovered on Egyptian mummies
The discoveries push back by 1,000 years evidence for tattooing in Africa.
Trump defiant after criticism of steel and aluminum tariffs
President Donald Trump said on Friday trade wars were good and easy to win, striking a defiant tone after global criticism of his plan to slap tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum that triggered a slide in world stock markets.
Report: China using 'big data' to crack down on suspected extremists
Chinese authorities in the far western region of Xinjiang are detaining suspects flagged by predictive software that combines data on everything from security camera footage to health and banking records, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.
Putin, before election, unveils new nuclear weapons to counter West
President Vladimir Putin unveiled an array of new nuclear weapons on Thursday, in one of his most bellicose speeches in years, saying they could hit almost any point in the world and not be intercepted.
Full story - February 28, 2018
Oscars' #MeToo dilemma
The job of policing accusations against filmmakers, agents and actors among the academy's members has proved slow and difficult.
Duterte, rejecting talk of dictatorship, suggests he will step down early
"I am old. I have no more ambition. I really would like to rest."
Kushner loses access to top intelligence briefing
President Donald Trump's son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, has lost access to the most valued US intelligence report, the President's Daily Brief, as the White House imposes greater discipline on access to secrets, two US officials familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
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Should tenured profs be allowed to teach as long as they want?
WGBH News
August 20, 2015 · 7:45 AM EDT
By Kirk Carapezza
Seth Sawyers/CC BY 2.0
Since the Great Recession, postponing retirement is becoming more common in some professions, including higher education. A new survey shows two-thirds of college professors now plan to work past age 67. That trend comes with serious consequences.
Emerson College professor Mike Brown says he can afford to retire, since he’s saved a reasonable amount of money during his 45 year tenure as a journalism teacher. He just doesn't want to.
"Right now, I'm making more money than I ever have in my life,” Brown says. “I’m not getting rich being a teacher, but I teach what I want. I teach the times that I want. I get the classroom that I want. So why would I stop doing any of those things?”
Brown wouldn’t tell us his age, but he is the second longest-serving faculty member on the Boston campus. He’s hoping to reach the top spot.
"One of the privileges of being the longest tenured member of the faculty is you get to lead the procession at graduation. I'm holding on big time for that,” jokes Brown.
Journalism professor Mike Brown is the second longest-serving faculty member at Emerson College.
Kirk Carapezza/WGBH
A new survey by the financial group TIAA-CREF shows almost half of tenured faculty 50 or older would like to and expect to work past the age of 67.
"My favorite thing in the world is being in a classroom. It's still in a visceral way something that I really enjoy,” says Brown.
Professor Brown says he not only loves his job, but he’s also hard-pressed to figure out what he’d do next, something the survey indicates is a commonly stated reason for staying on campus.
Economist Paul Yakoboski put Brown and others like him into a group called “reluctant by choice.”
Yakoboski authored the TIAA-CREF study, which finds just 35 percent of those surveyed plan to stop teaching at the normal retirement age. Another 16 percent would like to retire but cannot afford to for financial reasons. But the largest group — those who want to and plan to stay on — are doing so, in part, because they haven’t seriously explored other options.
"It's an assumption that there's nothing else out there for me that would provide the same level of fulfillment," says Yakoboski.
He adds that the fact that some professors are simply afraid to leave can lead to stagnation in the university setting.
"A certain amount of churn is a healthy thing — fresh blood, fresh ideas, people who are up-to-date on the most current pedagogies,” Yakoboski says. “And if you don't have a dynamic where that churn is occurring, you don't get the benefit."
Reluctant retirees may also be undermining attempts to cut costs, according to Herman Berliner, former provost for academic affairs at Hofstra University. Berliner argues that lack of churn boosts tuition.
“Reluctant retirees put us in a higher cost situation because you have a more senior, more highly-paid faculty member in place of potentially having a more junior faculty member at more of an entry-level salary,” says Berliner.
After enrollment dropped at Hofstra’s law school, the university offered a generous buyout package: two full years of salary. No one took it. Berliner says students are losing out.
“We have faculty who are tenured in areas where there has been a change in student demand over the years,” he says. “So we have departments that in effect have more tenured faculty than we presently have a need for. There are other departments, which are rapidly growing, where you need the additional faculty.”
Earlier: Movement To Unionize Adjunct Faculty Gains Traction
At Emerson College, journalism professor Mike Brown doesn’t have any plans to retire.
"I still jog. I swim. I feel great,” he says. “Why should I stop doing what it is I’m doing, especially if I don’t have to?”
And especially, he says, if he’s good at it. This semester he’s teaching an online course, and he’s still hoping to lead the procession at Emerson’s graduation.
This story was produced by On Campus, a public radio reporting initiative focused on higher education produced in Boston at WGBH. What are you views on reluctant retirees? Should tenured workers be allowed to work as long as they want to, as long as they perform well, or should some be encouraged to leave to make way for others? Let us know in our comments section below.
France combats extremism with secularism — and a hotline
Mandatory sex ed curriculum stirs controversy in Argentina
Visa rules are restricting the future of international students in the US
Development & EducationEducation
BostonNorth AmericaUnited SatesMassachusettsretirementhigher educationEmerson College
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Home > Projects > EU-LISTCO
EU-LISTCO
Led by Siri Aas Rustad
Mar 2018 - Feb 2021
EU-LISTCO investigates the challenges posed to European foreign policy by identifying risks connected to areas of limited statehood and contested orders.
Through the analysis of the EU Global Strategy and Europe’s foreign policy instruments, the project assesses how the preparedness of the EU and its member states can be strengthened to better anticipate, prevent and respond to threats of governance breakdown and to foster resilience in Europe’s neighbourhoods.
Continuous knowledge exchange between researchers and foreign policy practitioners is at the cornerstone of EU-LISTCO. Since the project's inception, a consortium of fourteen leading universities and think tanks works together to develop policy recommendations for the EU's external action toolbox, in close coordination with European decision-makers.
The project is being funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme and will run from March 2018 through February 2021.
EU-LISTCO encompasses a consortium of 14 universities and think tanks located in the EU, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The EU-LISTCO project is being coordinated by Prof. Dr. Tanja A. Börzel and Prof. Dr. Thomas Risse at the Freie Universität in Berlin.
Andreas Forø Tollefsen
Håvard Mokleiv Nygård
Jonas Vestby
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Equinix Announces Proposed Public Offering of €750 Million of Senior Notes
Equinix, Inc.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the global interconnection and data center company, today announced that it intends to offer, subject to market and other conditions, €750 million in aggregate principal amount of its senior notes due 2025 (the "notes") in a transaction registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Notes Offering"). The Notes Offering will be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus under Equinix's effective shelf registration statement.
The notes will be Equinix's general senior obligations, and will rank equal in right of payment to all of its existing and future senior indebtedness. The interest rate, offering price and other terms of the notes will be determined by Equinix and the underwriters of the Notes Offering.
Equinix intends to use approximately €430.6 million (or approximately $512.2 million) of the net proceeds of the Notes Offering to redeem all of its outstanding 4.875% senior notes due 2020 (the "2020 Notes") pursuant to the optional redemption provisions of the 2020 Notes, and the balance for general corporate purposes, which may include repayment of indebtedness, capital expenditures, working capital and acquisitions of complementary businesses or assets.
Barclays, BofA Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan and ING are acting as joint book-running managers, and RBC Capital Markets, Citigroup, TD Securities, HSBC, MUFG, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, US Bancorp and Wells Fargo Securities are acting as co-managers for the Notes Offering.
Equinix has filed a registration statement (including a preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") for the Notes Offering to which this communication relates. The Notes Offering may be made only by means of the prospectus supplement relating to such offering and the accompanying prospectus. Before you invest, you should read the registration statement (including the preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus) for more complete information about Equinix and the Notes Offering. You may get the preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, copies of the preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the Notes Offering may be obtained from Barclays Capital Inc., c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, or by calling 888-603-5847, or by e-mail: Barclaysprospectus@broadridge.com, or Merrill Lynch International, 2 King Edward Street, London EC1A 1HQ, Attention: High Yield Syndicate Desk, or by calling +44 (0)20 7995 1999, or J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, Attention Prospectus Department, or by calling 1-866-803-9204, or ING Bank N.V., London Branch, 8-10 Moorgate, London EC2R 6DA, Attention: Thomas Canham, or by calling Tel: +44 207 767 5107, or by e-mail: thomas.canham@ing.com.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.
About Equinix
Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) connects the world's leading businesses to their customers, employees and partners inside the most interconnected data centers. In 44 markets across five continents, Equinix is where companies come together to realize new opportunities and accelerate their business, IT and cloud strategies.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on Equinix management's current expectations. Such statements include plans, projections and estimates regarding the Notes Offering and the receipt and use of the net proceeds from the Notes Offering. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including investor demand, market conditions, customary closing conditions and other factors. In particular, there can be no assurance that Equinix will complete the Notes Offering or the redemption of the 2020 Notes. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected. More information about potential risk factors that could affect Equinix and its results is included in Equinix's filings with the SEC. Equinix does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.
SOURCE Equinix, Inc.
http://www.equinix.com
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