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Around 40 foreign suicide bombers ‘enter Iraq each month’
Number of foreign fighters now exceeds number of Iraqis in IS
BAGHDAD - Around 40 foreign suicide bombers enter Iraq each month, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Monday, calling for countries in the region to curb the flow of foreign fighters.
Suicide bombers are one of the deadliest weapons of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which deploys them in explosives-packed vehicles to breach Iraqi defences or cause mass civilian casualties in crowded areas.
"An average of 40 suicide (bombers) enter Iraq per month," Abadi said in televised remarks.
"The number of foreign fighters in Iraq now exceeds the number of Iraqis" in IS, Abadi said, and there are suicide bombers "from every country" in the region.
"There is a problem to be addressed by these countries," Abadi said.
"It is up to others... to stop these terrorists from coming to our country, and to stop this machine of killing and destruction and terrorism."
IS launched a brutally effective offensive last June that overran a third of Iraq, including swathes of its border with Syria where the group also holds significant territory, making it easy for fighters to enter the country.
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Former Gov. says the president ‘doesn’t need the revenue from a G-7 conference to be able to pay his electric bill next month’
Chris Ford | The BL 10/21/19, 02:02
Trump National Doral clubhouse in Doral, Fla., on March 7, 2016. (Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo, File)
Hosting the G-7 Summit at the president’s resort in Doral would have appeared both generous and sensible.
President Trump is a self-made billionaire and has all the money he could ever need or want. He was prepared to share some of his wealth with the American public by hosting the G-7 at his resort, saving taxpayers perhaps $40 million. Not to mention the other benefits to world leaders of staying in a convenient resort, with easy access to the media.
President Donald J. Trump spoke with members of the press in the White House South Lawn on Oct.11, 2019. (Shealah Craighead/Official White House Photo)
However, owing to hatred of him by the Democrats and MSM, he was forced to withdraw his offer.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said the president was correct in withdrawing the offer, “They [Democrats] went berserk over this,” he said on “Fox & Friends” on Sunday, Oct. 20.
“I think the president made the right move to say we are not going to go there. It’s just something he doesn’t need to add to the plate. His plate’s overwhelmed with things he’s being criticized for,” he added.
Democratic lawmakers claimed the past G-7 summits costs have been “upwards of $40 million.” Instead of accepting the president’s offer of hosting the summit, they instead introduced legislation on Friday to block the president from hosting the summit at Doral. It’s called the Trump’s Heist Undermines the G-7 (THUG) Act.
The president withdrew his offer on Saturday. He tweeted, “Based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020,” adding”We will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately.”
….Therefore, based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020. We will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately. Thank you!
I thought I was doing something very good for our Country by using Trump National Doral, in Miami, for hosting the G-7 Leaders. It is big, grand, on hundreds of acres, next to MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, has tremendous ballrooms & meeting rooms, and each delegation would have…
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney announced Thursday that next year’s G-7 meeting was to be held at Doral, saving taxpayers millions.
Huckabee agreed with this, criticizing the media for calling out the president on the issue.
“For them [the media] to try to make it that Donald Trump was even considering Doral because he was going to feather his own nest, my gosh, the man gives away every single penny of his entire presidential salary. He’s a billionaire,” Huckabee said. “He doesn’t need the revenue from a G-7 conference to be able to pay his electric bill next month. This is absurd.”
He continued, “The president is a fighter. He fights the right fight. Sometimes you just say, ‘This fight isn’t worth the trouble. Let me use my energy to fight something that matters to the American people.'”
“So now the press will have to find something else and, trust me, they will. It doesn’t matter what this president does; they’re going to find something they don’t like,” Huckabee said.
Mr. Trump is abusing the office of the Presidency and violating law by directing millions of dollars of American and foreign money to his family enterprises by holding an important meeting of world leaders at his Doral resort. https://t.co/Mr13lURtLu
— Rep. Lois Frankel (@RepLoisFrankel) October 18, 2019
Sad for both the president and the American people.
Tags:U.S. G-7 Categories: U.S. Politics
Opinions 10/11/19, 05:10
Impeachment, corruption, and the media
By Matt Tullar | The BL
Saint Cecilia: The Patron Saint of musicians and her incorruptible body
What is the higher purpose of art?
President Trump achieves ‘the dream’ of US energy independence for the first time in 70 years
Europe 10/18/19, 15:59
More than 300 suspected pedophiles fall in a successful worldwide investigation on the dark web
Asia & Pacific 10/15/19, 15:56
Tens of thousands of demonstrators in Hong Kong ask the United States for help
Israeli companies align with US and start rejecting Chinese investments
Florida Governor: ‘Stay safe, remain vigilant’ as Dorian heads for US
3,000 African immigrants demand entry to the US with the support of George Soros organizations
Can China Be Successful With The Communist Party?—Lenczowski-Part8
Inhumane Display of Human Bodies
20 years of illegal detainment, torture, and death in China
The effect of music on shaping the soul
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Meghan Markle Prince Harry The Royal Family
Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Markle Want Their Privacy, Someone in the Royal Family on Their Side
Gettyimages | WPA Pool
Nov 26, 2019 at 16:33 pm UTC By Clarissa Wilson
Being a member of the Royal Family means many things and one thing is for sure, it definitely means living in the spotlight your whole life. However, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are trying to keep their lives and their family life private as much as possible. This also means, though that they are busy shielding their son, Prince Archie from the press,
Although they have a right to some privacy, just like anyone else, are they going too far with it? How much privacy should they be allowed to have and still let their fans know some stuff about their family life?
Many members of the Royal Family are raising their eyebrows at how much of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are trying to keep private about them and their son. However, they do have one member of the Royal Family on their side and even giving them advice. Who is it and what advice did this person give them?
The Cast Of 'The Crown' Supports Prince Harry And Meghan Markle's Exit
Prince Harry Actually Pitched Meghan Markle For Voiceover Work Twice
Did prince Harry Even Want to Step Down as a Senior Royal?
What Was the Reason For Quitting From the Royal Family? Prince Harry Finally Speaks Out
Harry Claims He Had "No Option" But To Quit; Then Why Is He Trying To Be A Celebrity?
Gettyimages | Anwar Hussein
Many of the fans of the Royal Family are not happy with the way Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan are going about trying to keep their family life private. They feel that being a part of such a family means that they should let the public, especially their adoring fans, in on some of the things happening to them. Especially anything about baby Archie.
Although brother Prince William and sister-n-law Duchess Kate Middleton kept some of their life private as well, they also shared a lot of their life with the public. They even shared pictures of both babies when they were born and still share a lot about their children with everyone.
Giphy | BBC
Meghan Markle is used to being in the spotlight because before she married Prince Harry, she was an actress in America. So, she was used to going to Red Carpet Events and being in front of the camera a lot. She was also used to her private life being put out there by the media.
Prince Harry is also used to it because he was born and grew up in the spotlight. He was the topic of every household in Britain and even America, as was Prince William, when they were children and when Princess Diana died. Even before that since Princess Diana also had a responsibility to share some, maybe not all, of her life with the public.
Wikimedia | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harry_and_Meghan_on_Christmas_Day_2017_(cropped).jpg
Although this may be the case, the new parents and Prince and Duchess of Sussex still want as much privacy as they can get for as long as they can get it. One thing is for sure, Prince Harry has a problem with the paparazzi because of him and the rest of the Royal Family may put some blame onto the paparazzi for Princess Diana's death. Many other people blame them as well.
With this being the case, Prince Harry wants to do whatever he can to keep his wife and son protected, even from the media. And, he has every right to. But maybe not take it as far, perhaps?
Princess Diana's Former Butler Claims Meghan Markle 'Had No Idea What She Was Getting Herself Int
Did Meghan Markle Know What She Was Getting Herself Into When Marrying Prince Harry?
Duchess of Cornwall Camilla Gives Response When Asked if She Will Miss Meghan Markle and Prince H…
Serena Serena Williams Wants No More Reporters Asking About Meghan Markle
Gettyimages | Pool
However, even though they do have many of the fans upset about their request for privacy and they have much of the Royal Family looking at them in a funny way, they do have one unsuspected, but important person who is also a member of the Royal Family who is taking their side and even helping them with his own experience of being hounded by the media. He has also given them some good advice.
Who is this unsuspecting ally for the Duke and Duchess? Who is helping them take as much privacy as they can get? Prince Albert, the ruler of Monaco and the son of Princess Grace. Princess Grace, like Duchess Meghan, also used to be an American actress, Grace Kelly.
Since Princess Grace used to be an actress, she is also used to being in the spotlight, and now that she is a Princess, she is still in the spotlight. Because of this, Prince Albert also grew up in the eyes of the public. However, he, just as with many celebrities and the members of the Royal Family were and most of the time still is, bullied and hounded by the press just to get a picture of them.
With this being the case, Prince Albert gave Prince Harry and Duchess Markle some advice. Prince Albert told them, "Just do what you have to do to ensure your privacy."
What do you think about this? Sound off with your thoughts on all of this and let everyone know what you think!
Prince William and Prince Harry Patching Things Up?
What's Prince Charles' Role In the Megxit Story?
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Posted on January 20, 2014 January 20, 2014 by The Blogging Hounds
Report: Persecution of Christians reveals most abuse in Muslim countries
Nine of top 10 countries where Christians suffer are Islamic, according to Open Doors USA.
The majority of anti-Christian persecution in the world in 2013 took place at the hands of Muslims, according to a list by Open Doors USA .
The nondenominational group supporting persecuted Christians worldwide recently released its 2014 World Watch List, that describes and ranks anti-Christian persecution in a list of the 50 worst countries for the past year.
It reported increasing violence against Christians in Africa, and said radical Muslims were the main source of persecution in 36 countries on its list – both in Islamic countries and in non-Muslim countries such as Kenya (ranked 40th), Ethiopia (17th) and Tanzania (49th).
The top country where Christians suffer, for the 12th consecutive year, remained communist North Korea, though the nine following countries in the top ten were Islamic: Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Maldives, Pakistan, Iran and Yemen.
Open Doors said earlier this month that it had documented 2,123 “martyr” killings over the year, compared with 1,201 in 2012. There were 1,213 such deaths in Syria alone last year, it said.
“The one glaring fact that emerges from this report,” American-born scholar Raymond Ibrahim said in his analysis of the statistics on the Christian Broadcasting Network News website, “is that the overwhelming majority of Christian persecution around the world today is being committed at the hands of Muslims of all races, languages, cultures and socio-political circumstances: Muslims from among America’s allies (Saudi Arabia) and its enemies (Iran); Muslims from economically rich nations (Qatar) and from poor nations (Somalia and Yemen); Muslims from ‘Islamic republic’ nations (Afghanistan) and from ‘moderate’ nations (Malaysia and Indonesia); [and] Muslims from nations rescued by America (Kuwait).”
Ibrahim, the son of Coptic Christian Egyptian parents, is a Shillman fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, an associate fellow at the Middle East Forum and author of a new book, titled Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians, that documents the suffering of Christians in the region.
He noted that in countries that underwent “Arab Spring” uprisings, increased persecution occurred after the regimes collapsed.
“Muslim persecution of Christians,” Ibrahim said, is “part of a continuum that started nearly 14 centuries ago.”
Click to http://www.jpost.com/International/Report-charting-persecution-of-Christians-worldwide-reveals-most-abuse-in-Muslim-countries-338682
CategoriesALTERNATIVE NEWS, EndTimes News, POLITICS, PROPHECY, Uncategorized TagsAfghanistan, Africa, anti-Christian persecution, Arab Spring, Coptic Christian Egyptians, Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians, end times persecution, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Islamic countries, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Maldives, Muslim countries, Muslim persecution of Christians, non-Muslim countries, North Korea, Open Doors USA, Pakistan, Persecution of Christians, persecution of the saints, Qatar, Raymond Ibrahim, Saudi Arabia, Second Coming of Jesus Christ, Somalia, Syria, Tanzania, the rise of the Antichrist, Yemen
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Hero of the Maine: Chaplain John P. Chidwick
Published Friday, July 24, A.D. 2009 (exclusive of pictures) | By Donald R. McClarey – at The American Catholic
Night, February 15, 1898, the American battleship USS Maine lay at anchor in the harbor of Havana. Although tensions were running high between the US government and Spain, the colonial power occupying Cuba, the night was calm. Suddenly, at 9:40 PM, a huge explosion devastated the forward section of the Maine, an external explosion setting off the powder in the magazines of the Maine. Into this vision of hell on Earth strode the Catholic Chaplain of the Maine, John P. Chidwick.
Born in New York City on October 23, 1863, John Chidwick graduated from Manhattan College with a BA (1883) and an MA (1885). Ordained at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, New York in 1887, he spent several years serving as a parish priest before being commissioned in 1895 as the third Catholic Chaplain in the history of the United States Navy. He was eventually assigned to the Maine. He rapidly became popular with the members of the crew, no matter their religion. Friendly and outgoing, he did whatever he could to help the crew and was always available to listen to their problems.
When he arrived on deck on the night of the destruction of the Maine, Father Chidwick instantly gave a mass absolution. He then sprang into action, rescuing wounded, giving first aid, and giving the last rites. He seemed to be everywhere that grim night. W. T. Culverius, who was serving on the Maine as a naval cadet and who later rose to the rank of Rear Admiral had this to say about Chaplain Chidwick : “On that dread night in 1898 when the MAINE was destroyed, Chaplain Chidwick was everywhere present. He had a word of cheer to the injured which soothed their pain. Without thought of himself he helped the helpless and he ministered to the dying who will welcome him now in that Great Ship’s Company above, where shipmates never part.” It should be remembered that Chaplain Chidwick and the other men engaged in the rescue of their stricken crewmates had no way of knowing that at any moment further blasts might send them all to eternity. Father Chidwick was one of the last men to leave the Maine that night. 266 sailors died in the sinking of the Maine and 89 survived.
The funeral of the dead of the Maine was held in Havana on February 17, 1898 in the Christobal Colon cemetery in ground donated by the Spanish government. Father Chidwick conducted the burial service.
After the sinking, Chaplain Chidwick busied himself sending letters of condolences to the next of kin of the dead of the Maine. Here is one of the letters he sent:
Havana, Cuba March 2 [1898]
Dear Miss Harrington,
I grieve with you most profoundly in your awful loss. Your brother was a good man. I do not remember a Sunday when he missed mass, when he could have attended. He was a faithful member of the Sacred Heart society and daily recited his decades of the rosary. I think he was at his communion at Christmas and I know he was preparing for his Easter duty. These are many consolations, especially when we know that an all-merciful God will judge him who has more pity on our dead that we ourselves have. You know it is a promise of the Sacred Heart to grant the blessing of a happy death. When I came on deck during the disaster, I immediately granted absolution. May we not hope that this had its Effect on good souls as his was.
I do not know if I have recovered the body, I mean, to identify it. It is most likely that the body has been recovered and I think I have identified it. We received a body about his size, with Marine underclothing, and faintly marked on the clothing J.B. The letters washed out but I an certain they were there. I believe this is the body of your brother. If so, it lies buried in the Catholic cemetery of Havana and was interred with Catholic rites.
Recommending you to the consolations of Holy Mother Church and begging a remembrance in your prayers for myself and all our men here living and dead.
John P. Chidwick
The sinking of the Maine remains a matter of controversy. I think it unlikely that this was an official Spanish action, as no documents have come forth to reveal this and the Spanish Navy distinguished itself that night in attempts to rescue the men of the Maine. The official Navy investigation concluded that a mine sank the Maine, although it also stated that the board of inquiry was unable to definitively assign blame for the incident to Spain. Subsequent investigations have reached varying conclusions, with some concluding that spontaneous combustion in a coalbunker of the Maine was the cause of the explosion. A 1999 investigation by National Geographic reached the same conclusion as the Navy did at the time that a mine was responsible. Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt stated prophetically after the sinking that he doubted that it would be possible to learn just what caused it.
Father Chidwick as a result of his actions on the Maine became a huge national hero. He was a much sought after speaker, as this article here from the New York Times on January 30, 1899 indicates. Father Chidwick was a firm patriot, but he also was willing to oppose the policy of the US when he believed it was mistaken as he did in the Friars Controversy in the Philippines, as this outraged article here by a liberal Protestant journal of the day indicates.
The fight of Pope Saint Pius X against Modernism led to Father Chidwick’s assignment in 1908 as rector of his old seminary after Father Driscoll, his predecessor, made an ill-fated attempted to produce a Modernist leaning journal. In 1924 he became the President of the College of New Rochelle a post he held until his death in 1935. Throughout the years Monsignor Chidwick, as he eventually became, remained active in Spanish American War veteran groups. After his death a monument to the Maine was erected in New York City in Columbus Circle.
The monument bears this inscription:
RT. REV. MSGR. JOHN P. CHIDWICK
CHAPLAIN IN CHIEF
UNITED SPANISH WAR VETERANS
CHAPLAIN, UNITED STATES NAVY,
IN SERVICE ON THE
BATTLESHIP MAINE
AT THE TIME OF HER DESTRUCTION.
THE UNITED SPANISH WAR VETERANS
See this story at the original website at The American Catholic
U.S.S. Maine explosion:
http://www.homeofheroes.com/wallofhonor/spanish_am/02_maine.html
Chaplain Chidwick:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=118444619&PIpi=90398172
Maine crewmen funeral:
http://www.spanamwar.com/mainefuneral.html
Maine Monument:
http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/geology/core332/central.htm
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Book Review: Freedom Next Time ~ Reviewed by Jim Miles, Special to PalestineChronicle.com, June 4, 2007.
Freedom Next Time – Resisting the Empire. John Pilger. Nation Books, New York, 2007.
John Pilger is one of the foremost journalists today who, in the current vernacular, ‘walks the walk’. He has been to most of the world’s hotspots, and whether or not the standard media has considered them ‘hot’, has revealed much of the truth behind the cynical and disguised if not hidden rhetoric of politicians, businessmen, and, discouragingly, former freedom fighters. In Freedom Next Time, Pilger explores five countries, exposing the contradictions between the actions viewed by the people of the land and the words of rationalization supplied by the politicians.
Pilger starts very directly and succinctly, stating with his very opening line, “This book is about empire, its facades and the enduring struggle of people for their freedom.” He examines two empires working in unison, the American, globally powerful after a quick post war ascendancy, accompanied with a heavy dose of remnant British Imperialism, the two combining in all areas to some degree or other. The introduction discusses the changes of viewpoint created within the media, the dichotomy of ‘ours’ and ‘the other’, formed in part by the spin of what is reported as newsworthy and what is ignored. The current American government’s political devices are reminiscent of approaching fascism, especially as one considers George Bush’s considerable powers with his ‘presidential signing statements’ most recently used with “The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive,” giving him virtual unitary power over all facets of government in an emergency (signed May 9, 2007). The current liberalism cloaks a renewed pride in empire, the rhetoric of bringing freedom, democracy, and capitalist free-market structures to the world (mostly the latter).
Freedom Next Time is a story of the majority of people looking for their own individual peace and security, away from the grip of encroaching empires, in spite of the weaknesses of their own governments. And it is, ironically, the people, the public, who hold considerable power, if only they were well informed. The ‘leaders’ of the new militaristic neoliberalism know “that if power was truly invincible it would not fear the people so much as to expend vast resources trying to distract and deceive them.”
With his directions clearly stated and outlined, Pilger starts with the mostly unheard of Chagossians. More than three decades ago, the British and the Americans conspired, colluded, to give the American forces the island of Diego Garcia for a major military base. Formerly a tropical paradise, free of tropical storms, a sustainable economy and lifestyle, it had, more importantly a large protected natural harbour and plenty of room to build a major airbase. Through trickery, conniving, and back-room political manoeuvring that kept it out of sight of Parliament, Congress, and the media, the people within the Chagos Archipelago where Diego Garcia is located, were forcefully expelled, tricked into leaving, and refused the right of return (that has a familiar ring to it). Pilger fills in many of the details of “La lutte” (“struggle” in French) calling it a “crime that allows us to glimpse how great power works behind its respectable, democratic façade and helps us to understand how much of the world is run for the benefit of the powerful, and how governments justify their actions with lies.” Much of the criticism here is directed at the British crown, whose “collusion demonstrates where elite royalty so often lies – not with the home country, its citizens or its democratic institutions, but with a rapacious foreign regime seeking to occupy sovereign territory for reasons it wishes to conceal from its own people.” Harsh words, but accurate.
Used as a prime military base, its location in the centre of the Indian Ocean gives it paramount strategic importance to the United States for controlling, or attempting to control, the strategic resources of the Middle East. Unfortunately, it is entirely an illegal occupation. The Chagossians have persisted with their court actions, succeeding in receiving the right to return in 2000, and just recently (May 23, 2007), after many trips to court because of various appeals, had that right upheld. What remains to be seen is whether there will be still more appeals (which from the obvious illegality of the initial action should probably just be thrown out) and how those rights will be “interpreted” and acted upon. If patterns of the past are any indication (Guantanamo comes to mind), the American military is there to stay.
The longest section of the work is “The Last Taboo”, that taboo being to recognize the ongoing occupation and conflict in Palestine as an historic injustice. While the United States is currently acknowledged as the main supporter of the Israeli government, Pilger identifies “Britain [as] a principal architect of the historic disaster in Palestine,” suggesting that the “Balfour Declaration invests the British government with a special responsibility to honour its commitment…to support international action aimed at ending Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.” In modern times, the now defunct Blair government “disguised the fact that British support for Israeli repression was secretly accelerating.”
Many familiar arguments and much historical information is provided to support the idea of the last taboo: the brutal assault on Jenin; the defiance of UN resolutions; the warlike nature of many Israeli leaders – Begin, Shamir, and Sharon – the latter responsible for several notable massacres, including Sabra and Chatila; the “gross acts of vandalism….to destroy the infrastructure of organised society”, the violence, the attacks on children, women, the elderly, the murder and incarceration of adults; home demolitions and roadblocks; the reversal of the argument of occupation such that the Palestinians become the perpetrators of the violence (a similar imperial story in most areas from South Africa to Iraq); military connections with South Africa’s apartheid regime, along with many comparisons to the actuality of apartheid; and on. What differentiates Pilger’s work from others is his extensive record of interviews with a variety of people within the upper echelons of Israeli society, interviews that clearly show their racist and ‘victimizing’ perspectives.
Israel/Palestine is a prime example of how media bias serves the purpose of those in power. The BBC news is seen as having “an overwhelming bias towards the policies of the State of Israel,” again the perpetrator becoming the victim, their attacks being part of the ‘war on terror’. One of the larger media constructions still remains the so called ‘peace process’, a powerfully flawed process that eventually led to the ‘disengagement plan’ whose actual purpose was “to distract attention from international criticism of Israel’s construction of a wall across the West Bank [ruled illegal by the ICJ]” and “designed to freeze the peace process” such as to “ensure permanent Israeli control over the entire Land of Israel while foreclosing the emergence of a viable Palestinian state.”
The comparisons with apartheid South Africa are frequent. Both governments “deprived millions…of their liberty and property perpetuat[ing] a system of discrimination.” Ostensibly democratic with all the trappings of democratic institutions, both are primarily racist. The separation of families, the forced separation of races, the use and abuse of workers, the development of military technology, in particular nuclear weapons outside the standards of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, are paralleled in each. What is missing in the commonalities is that of boycott. The South African boycott worked to a degree, but anytime an Israeli boycott is mentioned, it becomes an act of anti-Semitism, of academic freedom in relation to the universities, of keeping politics out of sports, of freedom to trade. While the Americans superficially sided with the boycott on South Africa, the likelihood of it doing so with Israel is extremely minimal (South Africa after all was not as important for geopolitical strategy).
Before discussing the idea that “Apartheid did not die”, Pilger takes a brief tour into India, where the same themes arise. In India, more than elsewhere, Britain has done the most at impoverishing the masses in order to enrich the few. It began with the East Indian Company and is recognized in the Hindi word “loot”, now commonly recognized in English, defined as “goods taken from enemy, spoil; booty, illicit gains made by official.” Today India is one of the poorest countries in the world as it is “home to more people living in poverty than any other country in the world (recognizing that India has more people than all countries except China, which has its own problems with the rich-poor gap).
Life in India is mainly one of poverty, of “ a life preordained by powerful groups for their benefit…they need the poverty…for their enrichment.” Health services are poor, ranking 171st out of 175 countries, while private health spending “is among the highest in the world.” Accompanying this are the abuse of drugs in clinical tests, food and water contamination in most areas, and the abject desperation of “thousands of ‘globalised’ Indian farmers sell[ing] their kidneys in order barely to survive.” As with most states worried about their wealth growth, the military is an important factor, in India “consuming almost half the national budget” (recognize that most military budget comparisons are to the GDP, a significantly different and more misleading figure).
Democracy in India is seen as a direct result of “the non-violence of the freedom movement. Democracy perhaps, but freedom waits.”
This provides Pilger with an excellent sequitur into conditions in South Africa, discussed above in relation to Palestine/Israel, his emphasis being that “Apartheid Did Not Die.” Pilger had been to South Africa in the 1960s where he found “Humiliation and brutality, at once systematic and arbitrary, exemplified apartheid.” It becomes familiar territory. Forced removals from homes and home demolitions moved the black population to ‘bantustans’ or tribal homelands with all the “fake trappings of self-government,” and serving as a source for the “cheapest labour possible.” As elsewhere, poverty and its associated ills of poor health, lack of education, and ultimately violent resistance became the norm.
With apartheid legally abolished, the unfortunate record is that of continuing black oppression. The leaders of apartheid, including the much beloved Nelson Mandela, have been co-opted into the neoliberal economic policies of the ruling white class, the “inclusion of a small group of blacks in the country’s white corporate masonry….has allowed white and foreign capital to fulfil its legal obligations under new corporate charters.” This means, as elsewhere, low wages, poor working conditions, union stripping, poor social services including health and education for the masses, and alternately the increasing wealth and control of the corporate elite. Those blacks that ‘succeeded’, “proved they could be as ruthless as their former white masters in labour relations, cronyism and the pursuit of profit, hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost in mergers and ‘restructuring’.” The latter, as is too frequent in African oppression, as a result of “World Bank-supported tyrants.”
The British remain in the picture, as the “Old symbiotic relationship with Britain has a special place.” Again through a combination of personal interviews and economic information, Pilger presents a picture showing “that apartheid and capitalist exploitation were twos ideas of the same coin,” while the new “liberal humanitarianism turned out to be a shallow, tawdry, deceptive thing.”
Probably the same motives could be applied to “Liberating Afghanistan” with the current government described as a “façade”. The usual – well perhaps not so usual for mainstream media – history of American and British complicity in the Afghani problems is provided. Afghanistan has become minor news in Pilger’s world (whereas in Canada it frequently dominates due to our ongoing occupation). As with the previous chapters, the anecdotal style of reporting his various interviews with those in power and those suffering from that power demonstrate the arrogance and social blindness of the rulers.
The theme of the facades of imperialism and the enduring struggle for freedom is well supported throughout Freedom Next Time. While I sometimes wondered what timeline I was on while reading some of the anecdotal material, that perhaps demonstrates again the similarities of empires past and present, the militaristic grab for wealth and power at the expense of the people of the land. John Pilger’s writing is clear and accessible, presenting a picture to the reader of people struggling against the almost overwhelming power of the global corporate elite. Perhaps ‘next time’, a different story will be available because of that enduring struggle.
– Jim Miles is a Canadian educator and a regular contributor/columnist of opinion pieces and book reviews to Palestine Chronicles. His interest in this topic stems originally from an environmental perspective, which encompasses the militarization and economic subjugation of the global community and its commodification by corporate governance and by the American government.
Book Review: Rise of World
Book Review: Web of Deceit
Book Review: America
Book Review: Naked Imperialism
Book Review: Showdown With Nuclear Iran
Freedom Next Time, by John Pilger; A hero’s blinded eye ~ JOHANN HARI, The Independent, Friday 09 June 2006.
John Pilger is the most polarising journalist in Britain. To his fans, he is a lank-haired Australian Messiah, the only man who cuts through the lies of the corporate media to bring The Truth. But his detractors despise him so much they even coined a verb – “to pilgerise” – in his honour: “to present information in a sensationalist manner to reach a foregone conclusion”. Few people stand between these two positions, admiring his great skills and exposés but weeping over his occasional follies. I try to.
Freedom Next Time mostly showcases Pilger at his best. There are none of the wild statements that sometimes scar his New Statesman columns. In a long discussion of 9/11 here, he does not repeat his recent claim – based on a single source he has not met – that, unless there was an “extraordinary coincidence”, the US government deliberately stood down their defences to let the massacre proceed. Nor does he repeat his statement that he has “seldom felt as safe in any country” as in Saddam’s Iraq, a claim he usually follows up by presenting Blair’s Britain in contrast as “a police state”.
Instead, he writes up the superb investigative films he has made over the past five years. Two chapters in particular are world-class journalism, reaching the heights of Pilger’s old friend and mentor Martha Gellhorn. “Stealing a Nation” tells the shamefully under-reported story of how the British government ethnically cleansed thousands of its own citizens – a “crime against humanity”, according to the International Criminal Court. In secrecy, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, British governments “tricked, coerced and finally expelled the entire population” of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, “to give the principal island, Diego Garcia, a paradise, to the Americans for a military base”.
Pilger brilliantly cuts from melancholic close-ups of islanders, dumped in distant countries, homeless and suicidal, to the high politics of Whitehall. After telling of dead babies and wrist-slashing mothers, he unearths memos in which civil servants declare they must present the islands as empty, “because to recognise that there are permanent inhabitants will imply there is a population whose democratic rights will have to be safeguarded”. Pilger draws a subtle comparison with the response to a threat to the Falkland Islands a few years later, when the invasion by the Argentines was (rightly) depicted as a fascist monstrosity.
The chapter “Apartheid Did Not Die” is just as contrarian and just as true. Pilger returns to South Africa after 30 years, the ban imposed by the apartheid tyranny having dissolved into dust. He finds that the ultra-neoliberal policies imposed by the IMF and World Bank – with the complicity of the ANC elite – have pickled the racial divisions of the old regime and suffocated dreams of black freedom. More black farmers have been evicted under ANC democracy than under apartheid, and the World Bank is even lobbying the ANC to stop paying wages to whole sections of public sector workers, suggesting instead they offer “food for work”.
He offers a blizzard of bleak human stories that lie behind the figures: while white average income has risen by 15 per cent under the ANC, average black household income has fallen by 19 per cent. Yet again, the promise of Thatcher-style trickle-down economics is a hallucination, and yet again racial divisions become stronger. This is an end to apartheid?
And yet… despite these hand-grenade passages, Pilger’s flaws can be spotted elsewhere. His concluding chapter on Afghanistan declares “the liberation of women is a mirage”, but Afghan women do not agree. A coalition of aid agencies including Oxfam and Save the Children – hardly stooges of the US government – conducted detailed polls that found a vast majority believe they are better off since the fall of the Taliban. Yet Pilger says “the plight of rural women is often more desperate now, because whereas the Taliban… punished crimes against women”, the warlords do not. Talibanism was itself a crime against women, reducing them to chattels. The Taliban were the perpetrators of crimes against women; in what bizarre circumstances could they be presented as their protectors?
Worse still, Pilger praises the Taliban’s eradication of heroin crops, approvingly quoting an aid worker who calls it a “modern miracle”. How is this something for a left-winger to praise? This eradication was achieved by mass terror, with the Taliban slaying bitterly poor farmers dependent on the opium crop – a tactic the most hardline in the Bush administration now want to repeat by trashing the crops and leaving the farmers to die. The humane solution is legalisation of the heroin trade, not praise for the most vicious and insane drug eradication programme of all. This passage is a reminder that when Pilger is good, he is great, but when Pilger is bad, he reeks.
Author of Voice of the Unpeople, Mark Curtis is awed by journalist John Pilger and his novel Freedom Next Time! ~ The Guardian, Saturday 3 June 2006.
Buy Freedom Next Time at the Guardian bookshop [Public domain]
Freedom Next Time
by John Pilger
352pp, Bantam, £17.99
John Pilger is a very unusual journalist. He writes about people on the receiving end of grisly western policies – whether bombs or economic “advice” – and then exposes the motivations of those who are responsible. One might think Pilger is just doing his job. In fact, it is an indictment of western journalism that this way of working is rather unusual and Pilger unique. He opens by writing: “This book is about empire, its facades and the enduring struggle of people for their freedom. It offers an antidote to authorised versions of contemporary history that censor by omission and impose double standards.” Chagossians, Palestinians, Afghans, South Africans and Indians are the voiceless given a voice.Chagossians? The media, especially TV, has largely failed to report Britain’s forced depopulation of the Chagos islands (including Diego Garcia, now a US military base), which must count as one of the great state propaganda triumphs in recent history. “What upsets you the most?” Pilger asks Olivier Bancoult, the Chagossians’ leader in exile. “The lie that we didn’t exist,” he replies. Why, with 24-hour news coverage and hundreds of channels, have these people been invisible for so long?A secret document drawn up by British planners in 1968 was called “maintaining the fiction”, and argued (knowing it was untrue) that the islanders were not permanent inhabitants. The author, one Anthony Ivall Aust, then a legal adviser to the Foreign Office, was subsequently awarded a CMG in the Queen’s birthday honours. The story is a good indication of mainstream British political culture – buried in the mainstream media, the perpetrators of crimes against foreign unpeople shower honours on themselves while the US is appeased.
Yet “maintaining the fiction” also nicely describes Whitehall’s current stance in the Middle East, where the official story is that Britain is an “honest broker” between Israel and Palestine. The reality is that Britain has provided more than £70m in military equipment to Israel in the past five years, acts as Israel’s chief defender in the EU by resisting calls to rescind preferential trade arrangements and virtually never even calls for an end to the occupation of Palestinian territory. Pilger writes that Britain, and France, gave Israel a “green light” to attack the West Bank in 2001, having been shown a secret plan for an all-out reoccupation. He also counters the “absurd claim” – widely reported – that Israel’s former prime minister Ehud Barak previously offered to give up 90% of the West Bank.
Pilger’s interviews with Palestinians are among the most moving in the book, such as with Liana Badr, the director of the Palestinian Cultural Centre, just after it has been hideously destroyed by Israeli soldiers. “We have been raped; and all the while, the perpetrators are crying that they are the victims, demanding the world’s sorrow and perpetual silence about us while their powerful army demolishes our culture, our lives,” she says.
What about the “authorised version” of reality in South Africa since the end of apartheid? Pilger notes that while average household income has risen by 15%, average black household income has fallen by 19%. The World Bank in effect imposed a traditional “structural adjustment programme” after apartheid, but with the complicity of the African National Congress (ANC) government. Although the ANC certainly has its achievements, it has failed to reclaim sufficient land for the dispossessed and presides over a growing gap between rich and poor.
“The unspoken deal,” Pilger writes, “was that whites would retain economic control in exchange for black majority rule.” Thus secret meetings were held in Britain before 1994 between the current president, Thabo Mbeki, members of the Afrikaner elite and companies with big commercial stakes in the country. Mandela told Pilger: “We do not want to challenge big business that can take fright and take away their money . . . You can call it Thatcherite but, for this country, privatisation is the fundamental policy.”
Pilger is virtually alone in daring to expose the “ambiguity of Mandela” himself. Though recognising Mandela’s role in alerting the world to the dangers of the Bush administration, Pilger writes that “as the first liberation president, he ordered a ridiculous and bloody invasion of tiny Lesotho. He allowed South African armaments to be sold to Algeria, Colombia and Peru, which have notorious human rights records. He invited the Indonesian mass murderer General Suharto to South Africa and gave him the country’s highest award . . . He recognised the brutal Burmese junta as a legitimate government.”
In some of Pilger’s other interviews, such as those with Bush administration officials John Bolton and Douglas Feith, the absurdity of modern imperialism stands out. Bolton was described by Senator Jesse Helms as “the kind of man with whom I would want to stand at Armageddon”; Feith, meanwhile, after his fall from the Pentagon, was described by General Tommy Franks, the US commander in Iraq, as “the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth”.
Pilger sees the low turnout in the 2005 election – when only a fifth of the adult population voted for Blair – as showing not apathy but “an undeclared strike that reflects a rising awareness, consciousness even, offering more than hope”.
Freedom Next Time allows us to hear the personal testimonies of those challenging power. The array of interviews with the voiceless and abused provides an indispensable corrective to the litany of disinformation we are fed by the media, and for this achievement Pilger is surely the most outstanding journalist in the world today.
Mark Curtis’s Unpeople: Britain’s Secret Human Rights Abuses is published by Vintage. Freedom Next Time is launched at the Hay festival tomorrow.
CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER REVIEW
COMMENTS ON JOHN PILGER’S NEW BOOK FREEDOM NEXT TIME ~ STEPHEN LENDMAN, THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2006.
John Pilger is an award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker and one of the truly great ones of our time. For nearly 50 years, he’s courageously and brilliantly done what too few others in his profession, in fact, do – his job. John has also been a war correspondent, is the author of 10 books and is best known in his adopted country Great Britain for his investigative documentaries exposing the crimes of US and Western imperialism.
Freedom Next Time is John’s newest book just published and the fifth one of his I’ve read. The others were magnificent, and when I learned a new one was due out, I couldn’t wait to read it knowing it would be vintage Pilger and not to be missed. I wasn’t disappointed and am delighted to share with readers what it’s about. What else, as John himself says in his opening paragraph: “This book is about empire, its facades and the enduring struggle of people for their freedom. It offers an antidote to authorized versions of contemporary history that censor by omission and impose double standards.” Indeed it does, and John devotes his book to exposing the crimes of empire in five countries. I’ll cover each one in a separate section.
The Introduction – An Explanation of the Imperial Mindset
In his introduction, John explains how the imperial notion of “colonial assumptions have not changed,” and to sustain them the great majority of people everywhere “remain invisible and expendable.” He poignantly recounts how while on September 11, 2001 a few thousand people tragically died in New York and Washington, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization reported the daily mortality rate of 36,615 children alone from the effects of extreme poverty. Not a word of it was in the news that day or any other. Nor was there any explanation of why these people were denied the bare essentials to survive in a world able to provide them. These and the ones killed daily in Iraq and elsewhere are what John calls the “unworthy victims” as distinguished from the “worthy ones” in the US on 9/11 and those in London on July 7, 2005 who died in a “terrorist” bombing. The only crimes we recognize are the ones committed by others – those we call “terrorists” or label as enemies, never any by us. Nobel laureate Harold Pinter refers to this as “a vast tapestry of lies, upon which we feed.” We only know what our leaders and complicit corporate media (BBC, NPR and PBS included) choose to tell us, and it’s never the truth or full disclosure we’re entitled to have. What they suppress is far more important than what they report.
Until the fall of the Soviet Union, the notion of imperialism in the US was that it was a European, not an American tradition. It was untrue, of course, but a proper education in the US, like the one I got, never let on. It hid the true history of my country that from inception practiced a policy of imperial expansion west and south and engaged in plunder and genocide against the original inhabitants living there to make it possible. George Washington was its first practitioner, referring to the new nation as a “rising empire.” He helped build it by removing and exterminating its native Indians so expansion could proceed as the Founding Fathers and those who followed them wished. Washington believed the Indian peoples were subhumans (no different from how we view Iraqis today) and compared them to wolves and “beasts of prey” who must be destroyed. And our sacred Declaration of Independence contained the language “merciless Indian savages” which left no room for their independence or any justice either.
The tradition begun at the republic’s birth never changed but until the end of the “cold war” was well hidden behind a respectable democratic facade and still mostly is. Any notion of imperialism was never something taught in school at any level, discussed in polite society or acknowledged publicly. But all that changed in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union. What never before could be admitted now began to be seen as something respectable and even a matter of national pride. And with the advent of the Bush administration, imperial dominance and expansion began to be portrayed as something positive and contributing to the advance of civilization. How low we’ve sunk in coming so far.
John explains how fraudulent and dangerous Bush’s priorities are based on its policy papers and one conceived a few years before it came to power. It began with a 1997 “messianic conspiracy theory” called The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) written by many of the far right neoconservative ideologues now in power. This document is an imperial plan for US global dominance to extend well into the future and be enforced with unchallengeable military power. It was a blueprint for the current “war on terror” (which John calls a “war of terror’) and “preventive war” that began after 9/11 and is now ongoing in Iraq and Afghanistan with further conflicts likely ahead. The Pentagon goes even further in its Vision 2020 that lays out a goal that calls for “full spectrum dominance.” By this is meant the total, unchallengeable control of all land, sea, air and space and the self-given right to enforce it with the use of nuclear or any other kinds of weapons.
The British government under Tony Blair is part of the same scheme as a complicit junior partner. It sees it in its own interest to be allied with the US and Bush administration and supports its imperial policies. As a result, John explains, it’s no surprise Mr. Blair has taken his nation to war more often than any British Prime Minister in modern times. For him and George Bush, international law, norms and any sense of morality are irrelevant and aren’t allowed to stand in the way of their unrestricted political violence portrayed as having a democratic face and purpose. Freedom Next Time exposes this hypocrisy to show that “imperialism, in whatever guise, is the antithesis of the ‘benevolent and moralistic.’ ” It examines the history and events in five countries John knows well as a journalist and filmmaker.
Before beginning, John first addresses the present in his introduction. He quotes those who see the seeds of fascism and disturbing similarities in the US (and UK) today to Nazi Germany and Hitler’s demonic appeal to his divine mission as that country’s savior that he sold to his people in Christian religious terms. He did it in a country that was the pride of Western civilization and a very model of democracy. If it can happen there, it can anywhere and will unless enough committed people work to prevent it. But John stresses he hasn’t written a pessimistic book. He cites the alternate seeds of hope, rebirth of democracy, and social equity in Latin America – especially in Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela and the poorest of all the continent’s nations Evo Morales’ Bolivia. He sees these forces as part of a “worldwide movement against poverty, war and misinformation that has arisen in less than a decade, and is more diverse, enterprising, internationalist and tolerant of difference than anything in my lifetime.” John concludes his message of hope saying that the “wisest… know that just as the conquest of Iraq is unraveling, so a whole system of domination and impoverishment can unravel, too.”
John’s book is divided into five chapters for each nation he covers. Four are well-known, but few readers may know about the first one discussed below in the Chagos archipelago or even know where it is.
Chapter One: Stealing A Nation Called Diego Garcia
Diego Garcia is a small 84 square mile British controlled island in the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean(officially known as British Indian Ocean Territory) that lies strategically half way between Asia and Africa. It was once the home of 2,000 “gentle Creole” people who are British citizens, but between 1967 – 1973 they were tricked and expelled by the UK government so their island home could be given to the US for a military base. They were sent into exile to a very inhospitable new home in Mauritius where seven British governments watched their displaced citizens suffer and perish in the shanties they were forced to live in and the desperate poverty they were forced to endure.
This “act of mass kidnapping” was so devious and deceitful, it was carried out in secrecy, and for almost a decade was concealed from the Parliament and US Congress. The Chagossians were treated with contempt as they not only lost their homeland, they were “deemed not to exist.” It was the US that made the demands and cut the deal. Washington wanted the entire population expelled and the whole dirty business covered up. Then as today, the British went along with the ugly scheme. The people had no say, and those who refused were lied to and told they had no choice because “their removal was ‘legal’ under the rules of the colony.”
In their new home, life became a living hell. The Chagossians found themselves in a society foreign to their simple way of life, and they were unable to adjust. On Diego Garcia they had their own home, grew their own food, fished and worked on a plantation. In Mauritius they had to find jobs to survive and most couldn’t. The result was by the mid-70s most of the exiles were unemployed, impoverished and began to die. The British Foreign Office and High Commission contemptuously ignored their plight saying the Chagossians should take up their problem with the Mauritian government. It hardly mattered that these people were British citizens and entitled to the same rights as all other Brits. All they got in compensation was 1,000 pounds (about $1,800) in exchange for agreeing to renounce their right ever to return to their homeland and do it on a document they couldn’t read.
The history of this disgraceful episode was well hidden until the 1990s when a “treasure trove of declassified documents” was found in the National Archives at Kew in London. It proved there was a conspiracy between two governments that Article 7 of the statute of the International Criminal Court referred to as a “deportation or forcible transfer of a population (and) a crime against humanity.” It also violated Article 73 of the UN Charter that obliges a colonial government like Britain to obey its “sacred trust” to protect the human rights of its people. Britain shamelessly did none of this and instead dutifully bowed to the wishes of Washington and obeyed its commands as it still does today. The two countries also engaged is a huge cover-up for a decade that went to the highest level of both governments hoping to hide the truth from ever coming out. Those involved included Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Queen Elizabeth and Presidents Johnson and Nixon among others. Everything was hidden including a secret financial kickback Washington made that was also concealed from the US Congress and British Parliament.
But once the truth began to come out, things changed. On November 3, 2000 the British High Court stunned the government by citing the Magna Carta and annulled the original deportation order. It meant the people were entitled to British passports and had the right to go home. But it was a short-lived pyrrhic victory as one year later the Chagossians were back in the High Court seeking compensation for their ordeal. This time they faced a hostile judge who described their case as “unmeritorious” and denied their claim. Then three months later, the Foreign Office minister responsible for the Chagos sent an “order-in-council” to the Queen for her “rubber-stamped” approval which overturned the High Court 2000 victory and banned the islanders from ever returning home. As John was writing, he reported the Chagossians were back in London for a last chance judicial review before the High Court to annul the government’s denial of their right of return to their homeland. Even after all these years, these courageous people were and still are fiercely determined to achieve the justice they so rightfully deserve.
It finally came in late March 2006 (after John’s book was finished), in a damning High Court verdict that condemned as “repugnant” the decision to remove the Chagossians at the US insistence. It overturned the Blair government “order-in-council” discussed above. The Foreign Office must now decide if it will appeal the verdict and may be pressured to do so by the US. But even if all litigation ends favorably for the Chagossians, it’s by no means certain they’ll ever be allowed to return as long as Diego Garcia remains an important US military base. The Bush administration is contemptuous of the law, may likely ignore it and a new US administration elected in 2008 may do the same. It thus remains to be seen if justice will ever be served in this long-running tragedy. However, it’s likely the Chagossians will never stop seeking it.
Chapter Two: The Last Taboo – The Five and A Half Decade Cover-Up of Israel’s Oppression of the Palestinians
John chose the title of this chapter from an essay with that title written by the eminent and courageous Palestinian-born writer, scholar and activist Edward Said shortly before his death in September, 2003. Said was a brilliant man and passionate fighter for justice for his people. In his essay he wrote: “The extermination of the Native Americans can be admitted, the morality of Hiroshima attacked, the national flag (of the United States) publicly committed to flames. But the systematic continuity of Israel’s 52-year oppression and maltreatment of the Palestinians is virtually unmentionable, a narrative that has no permission to appear.”
It appears boldly and courageously in John’s chapter as he recounts the unexplained and irrational hatred most Israelis have for Palestinians, a people whose country they stole and have relentlessly oppressed for many decades. He explains what life is like for these defenseless people under a cruel occupying power in the refugee camps or the world’s two largest open-air prisons of Gaza and the West Bank. He recounts how ordinary people who only want to live in peace and have normal lives are denied their most basic personal, economic and political freedoms, dignity and any sort of justice. He shows how Israelis with full financial and political backing from the US and the West have terrorized the Palestinian people with impunity, and when the victims dare defend themselves or resist they’re called “terrorists.”
I, too, have written about Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people in a recent article I called Life in Occupied Palestine. What John documented on the ground from the people who endure this brutal daily onslaught, I summarized in a few paragraphs I’d like to share here. I wrote as follows:
Try to imagine daily life under these conditions:
You live in limbo in a country occupied by an oppressive foreign army and a system of institutionalized and codified racism. You have no recognized nation, no right of citizenship and no power over your daily life. You live in a constant state of fear. The occupier imposes economic strangulation and collective punishment by restricting free movement; enclosing population centers; closing borders; barring most of your people from working inside their border; imposing regular curfews, roadblocks, checkpoints, electric fences and separation walls and continues to build new settlements in your Occupied Territories (on your land in your country) violating the Geneva Conventions prohibiting an occupier from settling its population on conquered land.
The occupier denies your people their basic human rights including those under the Fourth Geneva Convention which governs the treatment of civilians in war and under occupation. There are 149 articles of this Convention. The occupier’s government violates almost all of them and in so doing is committing war crimes according to international law. The UN Human Rights Commission determined it’s also committing “crimes against humanity” against your people. This concept comes from the 1945 Nuremberg Charter drafted by the U.S. to try Nazi war criminals. The international notion of a “crime against humanity” was established to define what Hitler did to the Jews. The UNHRC ruled this is what the occupier is doing to your people, and that this act is the historical and legal precursor to the international crime of genocide as defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
The occupier also sends its troops, tanks and heavy armor into neighborhoods at will to maraud and destroy. It strikes at will from the air with sophisticated missle-firing attack helicopters and F-16s and deliberately inflicts eardrum shattering and terrifying sonic booms. And it gives its military the right to freely harass, arrest or kill extra-judicially any of your people – man, woman or child on any pretext with impunity. It bulldozes homes and the people in them if they don’t escape in time (usually in middle of the night and without warning or notice) as punishment or for lacking a permit to build on their own land, in their own country or for any other reason. It steals land relentlessly hoping it will have it all one day or at least all the parts it wants. It detains, imprisons and tortures thousands of your people for the real or perceived crime of fighting for their freedom against an oppressive occupier.
To enact vengeance and to provide security for its illegal settlers in the Occupied Territories, it restricts or prevents access to essential and emergency health care, education, employment, the right to move goods and services from producer/suppliers to end users, and even enough food and water. It created a state of economic siege forcing up to nearly two-thirds of your people (according to the UN) below the poverty line of $2.20 a day (and half of those two-thirds on $1.60 or less) and over half the work force to be unemployed (the number varying with the intensity of the Israeli lockdown). It destroys your peoples’ crops and orchards including more than 1 million olive trees. It imposes punitive taxes and provides few services or withholds them at will as collective punishment. You have no power to stop any of these abuses or receive any redress in the occupier’s courts. How can you as a Muslim in a racist Jewish state.
John explains that Britain was the architect of this historic disaster and injustice. In 1917, it wanted a client state in the Middle East to watch over its economic interests and got one with the Balfour Declaration that promised a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. The Declaration also made a hollow promise to the Palestinians who’d been living there for centuries that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities.” It was not to be. The Jewish state came into being in 1948 and was born in the original sin of mass slaughter and forcible expulsion of the people living there, and nothing was ever the same thereafter. Israel systematically defies all international laws and norms, has the full backing and financial support of the US and the West, and the Palestinians are forced to endure the most outrageous abuses without end and with no help from the outside to stop them.
Most people in the West have little knowledge of any of this because the major media refuse to report it and only portray Israel as a beacon of democracy in a region that has precious little of it. It’s a myth, but one that’s widely believed. Those who dare expose it or Israeli crimes are called anti-semites or self-hating Jews. They also face extreme denunciation and even ostracism. There’s an unwritten binding rule no one dare violate in the US especially: Israel can do no wrong and must be fully supported whatever it does. As a result, the myth of a so-called “peace process” that never was and never will be persists as well as the false hope that the Palestinians will ever have a state of their own beyond the bantustans the Israeli’s have in mind for them after they’ve been fully ethnically cleansed or murdered in the areas the Israelis want for themselves.
John also exposes the fraud of the Oslo Accords and later Camp David meetings hosted by Bill Clinton at which Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered nothing to Yasar Arafat. The public was fraudulently told otherwise and Arafat was unfairly blamed for turning down a proposal no sane and responsible leader could ever accept. We learned about the many massacres from the hundreds of Palestinians killed at Deir Yassin in 1948, the 18,000 slaughtered when Israel illegally invaded Lebanon in 1982 including the Ariel Sharon ordered massacre of up to 3,000 defenseless men, women and children at the Sabra and Shatila camps, to the rape of Jenin in April, 2002 when the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) invaded this city of 35,000 (including its refugee camp), cut it off from any outside help, destroyed hundreds of buildings (many with people buried alive under the rubble), cut off power and availability of food and water from the outside, prevented outside help from entering the city and murdered an unknown number of Palestinians.
John covers much more including the daily killings of defenseless people, the mass Israeli inflicted unemployment, poverty and deprivation, and the life of unending desperation these people are forced to endure. Yet they do and continue to cling to the hope that one day their stolen land will be returned and their rights fully restored. One of the many untold stories is that many outraged Israeli Jews have the same hope and are courageously defying their government and supporting the Palestinians to achieve it.
Chapter Three: Shining India – The False Facade of A Nation Where Over One Third of the People Live in Desperate Poverty
John explains how India is a nation of stark contrasts, and the country’s richest city, Bombay, may show it best. At one extreme is a thriving business community of maritime trade, merchant banks and two stock exchanges. At the other is a city of one million humans per square mile and typified by the “rail roads” district foreigners and outsiders know nothing about. It teems with desperate people living under conditions “barely describable – a packing case for a home with sewage “ebbing and flowing in the monsoon.” John asks how can a nation with memories of “great popular struggle” and democracy allow this. The answer is its leaders chose to sell its sovereignty to the neoliberal model of a global economy dominated by giant transnational corporations, especially those in the US.
The rise of the Hindu nationalist (proto fascist) BJP-led government in the 1990s accelerated the process. It removed the barriers in place to protect Indian industry and opened the country to invasion by foreign predatory corporations that took full advantage. The result is a nation that could be a poster child for how an adopted economic model got it all wrong and caused mass human misery. It’s seen in an increase in “absolute poverty” to over one third of the population or about 364 million people. John explains that although India’s growth rate is high, “this is about capital, not labour, about liberated profits, not people.” He also exposes the myth of India being a high-tech juggernaut. While the nation has risen to “pre-eminence” in computer and other technology, the new “technocratic class” is tiny. Also, the so-called consumer boom has benefitted at most about 15% of the population.
Over two thirds of the people live in rural villages and depend on small scale agriculture for their livelihood and survival. These people have been devastated by the nation’s embrace of the Western economic model. It’s caused a hidden epidemic of suicides among them because they can’t compete with agribusiness. Those opting for a less severe solution are forced off their land in a futile attempt to seek refuge among the teeming masses in the cities. The result is growing poverty, deprivation and extreme human misery on a massive scale. Because of its huge population of over one billion, India stands out as a warning of the kind of future people everywhere will face unless a way is found to reverse a failed economic model that enriches the few, devastates the many and is strangling the ability of the planet to continue sustaining the abuse afflicted on it.
Chapter Four: Apartheid Did Not Die – Predatory Capitalism Made It Worse
The hated apartheid may have ended in South Africa about 16 years ago, but the new neoliberal Washington Consensus was even worse. The obsession with race in a white supremacist society was replaced by the dominance and pursuit of wealth allowed only a privileged minority at the expense of the great mostly black majority. The result is that while average household income has risen for about 15% of the population (including some blacks), the overall black majority household income has fallen by about 20% making conditions today far worse than under apartheid.
The new South Africa under its heroic new president Nelson Mandela chose to embrace the Western economic model. He agreed to an “unspoken deal” that allowed the white elite to retain economic control in exchange for black majority rule that would be subservient to the former white government. The current president Thabo Mbeki cut the deal when he led a group of ANC officials in secret meetings in London between 1987 – 1990. They agreed to essentially betray their people and their 40 year struggle for freedom now lost. In came the World Bank and IMF dictating mass privatizations and structural adjustments to cut essential social services in return for financial aid. It’s caused an oppressive level of debt, unemployment of about 38%, an HIV infection rate of about 20%, 40% of the schools with no electricity, 25% of the people with no access to clean water and most of those with access unable afford the cost, 60% with inadequate sanitation and 40% with no telephones. The result has been an economic apartheid replacing a legal one with the majority black population worse off today than under the political oppression of the past. It’s a disturbing story of what’s occurred in all countries that agreed to the Washington Consensus under which they sold their sovereignty to the interests of capital. The difference in South Africa is that the man oppressed blacks thought would win their freedom, in fact, sold them out instead.
John returned to South Africa after a 30 year absence following his expulsion by the apartheid government he abhorred. He interviewed Mandela in retirement and is nearly alone explaining the first ANC president’s “ambiguity.” He posed tough questions asking how could the ANC that struggled so long for freedom now have embraced “Thatcherism.” Why would he allow his long-suffering people to suffer even greater harm under a system where virtually everything, including essential services, is privatized and deregulation allows big business free reign to pursue profit at the expense of the public interest. Mandela responded that “You can put any label on it you like; you can call it Thatcherite but, for this country, privatization is the fundamental policy.” A sorrowful answer from a man who knows better. John also confronted Mandela about why he supported and showed deference to oppressive governments in Indonesia, Burma, Algeria, Colombia and Peru and even ordered a bloody invasion of neighboring tiny Lesotho. Again the answer he got was none too impressive and from a man who once was and still is in important ways a giant in the fight for social equity and justice.
Once again John shows how he discovered on his return that the spirit of resistance had survived. He found it among numerous “social movement” and allied organizations that he called the most “sophisticated and dynamic in the world.” They’ve forged links to international human rights and anti-capitalist movements along with independent trade unionists. He said what South Africa has in abundance is a force called “ubuntu” – “a humanism that is never still…..a subtle concept….that says a person’s humanity is expressed through empathy and solidarity with others; through community and standing together.” It’s what Steve Biko called “authentic black communalism.” It’s in that spirit that John hopes the future of South Africa lies.
Chapter Five: Liberating Afghanistan – the US Inflicted Nightmare on Another Long-Suffering People
John begins describing Afghanistan like it’s more a moonscape than a functioning country – Kabul streets with “contours of rubble rather than streets, where people live in collapsed buildings, like earthquake victims waiting for rescue……(with) no light or heat.” It’s an age-old story for these beleaguered people who’ve had a long history of conflict and suffering with little relief ever. For almost a century the country was victimized by the “Great Game” of competition between the British empire vying with Tsarist Russia for control of this part of the world. In recent history, it paid dearly again in the 1980s when a US recruited mujahedin guerrilla army battled against a Soviet occupation. It forced the occupiers out but only at the expense of a ravaged country that never recovered throughout the 1990s as a brutal civil conflict followed the Soviet withdrawal. Then came 9/11 and the US inflicted nightmare that continues to this day with no end in sight.
John explains that Afghanistan today is what the CIA called during the Vietnam war “the grand illusion of the American cause.” While Kabul has some freedoms denied by the Taliban, the rest of the country has virtually none. In place of the Taliban, who’ve begun a resurgence, are the brutal regional “warlords” that human rights groups say have “essentially hijacked the country.” The nation is a war zone and failed narco-state with regional “warlords” and drug kingpins controlling everything outside the capitol. The country’s US selected and nominal president Hamid Karzai (a former CIA asset) is a caricature of a man and willing stooge who’s little more than the mayor of Kabul. He has no mandate or support and wouldn’t last a day on his own without the heavy protection afforded him round the clock by the US military.
Life was no bed of roses under the Taliban. But despite their ultra-puritanical ways and harsh treatment for the disobedient, at least they kept order and wouldn’t tolerate banditry, rape or murder. They also virtually ended opium production. Now all that’s changed. The US-British invasion in 2001 ended the ban on opium production, allowed the “warlords” to replant and the result is that 87% of the world trade in this drug is from these fields. In addition, unemployment is soaring at about 45%; there’s been little reconstruction; the poverty is overwhelming; there’s little electricity, clean water or most other essential services; lawlessness is back; Sharia law has been reinstated; the internal conflict has resumed; and no one is safe either from the country’s warring factions or from the hostile occupying force. In addition, the Taliban have reclaimed parts of southern Afghanistan and are gaining supporters among the people fed up with the misery inflicted on them by the US and multinational force invaders. It may just be a matter of time before the violence again explodes into another catastrophic guerrilla war just like in Iraq. Already it seems to be beginning.
So what was the invasion and occupation all about? We now know it was planned before 9/11 and had nothing to do with a Muslim fundamentalist government that treated its people harshly. It had everything to do with an Afghan leadership that wouldn’t surrender its authority to US demands and its imperial quest to dominate this strategically important region. It was explained earlier by former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski under President Carter in his 1997 book The Grand Chessboard. He referred to Eurasia as the “center of world power extending from Germany and Poland in the East through Russia and China to the Pacific and including the Middle East and Indian subcontinent. By dominating this region, the US would assure itself control of a vast supply of energy and other essential resources. Afghanistan was a key part of the plan as it was across this country that the US wanted to build the oil pipelines needed to transship the Caspian basin oil to deep water ports where it could easily be shipped to the parts of the world the US would allow it to go.
At first the US was very content to work with the Taliban when they were in power. As long as it was felt a deal with them was possible, their religious extremism and human rights abuses were of no concern. It was only when agreement couldn’t be reached that the decision was taken to remove them. And that brings us to the present. The country is in ruins, the conflict continues without end, and the people are suffering more than ever with no visible hope on the horizon for relief.
John wrote his book to document the history of imperial abuse he witnessed first-hand in five countries. But he also wants it to be a message of the hope he found that may one day lead to the same rebirth of democracy and social equity now growing in parts of Latin America like Venezuela. He finds courageous and dedicated people everywhere, even in Afghanistan where conditions are so bad it’s hard finding any. He said that “Through all the humanitarian crises in living memory, no country has been abused and suffered more, and none has been helped less, than Afghanistan.” It’s still that way and seemingly getting worse. Unless it changes, a time of peace and an end to the violence and suffering of the Afghan people is a long way off at best. And yet hope persists. John finds it everywhere in the hearts of people who’ll never give up the struggle for the fair and just world they want and are fighting to get.
A Summation
John has once again written a brilliant and magnificent book. Everyone should read it to learn from this great man what was and is ongoing in the five countries he chose to cover from among the many he knows well from having witnessed events around the world first-hand over his long career. He explains what few others do or would dare to help us understand how peoples’ lives everywhere have been affected by the US economic model that’s based on militarism and imperial expansion to control the world’s markets, essential resources and cheap labor with no challengers to its dominance allowed. That’s one message the book imparts. But it also breathes a special hope that the human spirit is indomitable and will find a way to overcome adversity and oppression and be able to endure. John believes a time of deliverance is ahead because committed people everywhere will never give up working for it.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVLd8a4Iab0
https://youtu.be/IxBi9s-s_Ys
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What Doctors should Know when Joining a Startup – Five Key Books
Nov 12, 2015 • 0
By DAVIS LIU, MD
What should doctors know before joining a startup? I don’t know if these were questions medical school graduates in the Bay Area asked themselves as they opted to join a startup rather than completing their medical training in residency programs. These new doctors felt they could make a bigger impact on patient care by leaving the system and its current status quo.
Why not? In the Bay Area, small startups and former startups like Facebook, Google, and Apple are literally blocks away from academic medical centers. Everyone knows someone working at a startup. At a healthcare innovation summit, Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and venture capitalist reassured technology entrepreneurs that the opportunities to disrupt healthcare were tremendous. After all,
“Health care is like witchcraft and just based on tradition.”
Khosla encouraged attendees to develop technology that would stop doctors from practicing like “voodoo doctors” and be more like scientists. Disruption required having an outsider point of view. Khosla highlighted how CEO Jack Dorsey of Square was able to disrupt and provide services more cheaply than the traditional methods of the electronic payment system accepting Visa and Mastercard because only 2 percent of the employees at Square ever worked in the industry.
Former Executive Editor of WIRED Thomas Goetz interviewing venture capitalist Vinod Khosla
There is the lingering perception that technology can make health care cheaper, more accessible, and better without physician insights. Yet there have been few public successes so far. In an interview with Malcolm Gladwell, venture capitalist Bill Gurley seemed resigned to the fact that finding such a startup to fix healthcare will not happen.
Yet, I believe there are opportunities for startups to help. For healthcare to be disrupted, doctors and Silicon Valley need to collaborate. Each group brings valid and important points of view that the other cannot fully understand simply because you don’t know what you don’t know. For doctors joining a startup, add tremendous value by understanding the challenges the healthcare system faces as well as the challenges and mindset of a startup. Here are five recommended books to get you started.
What is Disruption? The Innovator’s Prescription
You hear how startups will disrupt the status quo. Who came up with this? Harvard Business School Professor Clay Christensen has often been credited with the concept of a disruptive innovation. A disruptive innovation is a product or service that not very good initially. It serves a market or need that is currently ignored by incumbents. Over time the disruptive innovation gets so much better that it serves larger markets or needs that it overtakes the incumbent companies. At this point it is too late for the incumbents to respond. An example of such an disruptive innovation might be Apple’s iPhone where much of the initial functionality has now become so robust that incumbents creating digital camera, GPS, camcorders, or laptop computers are in trouble.
Christensen’s book, The Innovator’s Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care, is the best book on how disruption in health care might occur. By looking at other industries where initially products and services offered were “so complicated and expensive that only people with a lot of money can afford them, and only people with a lot of expertise can provide or use them” and how over time everyone now had access to telephones, computers, and airline travel, the book provides a framework on how that will happen in health care.
Anyone wanting to succeed in the new world of health care as predicted by this comprehensive and thoughtful analysis would be wise to add this book to their list of must reads.
The Hard Things About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
Written by entrepreneurs, Peter Thiel and Ben Horowitz respectively, these books provide an insider’s perspective on both the promise and perils of being in a startup. Venture capitalist Peter Thiel was the co-founder and CEO of PayPal and founder of Planitir. Thiel believes technology can solve our problems and the importance of using the strengths of technology and people to make an impact.Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future notes there is only one moment in time when something is invented and you go from zero to one. The creation of Google was such a moment.
If Thiel’s book captures the optimism of a better future, Horowitz’s book details the gritty realities of a startup CEO in The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers. Venture capitalist Horowitz was CEO of Opsware. He pivoted the business multiple times when things looked bleak, found capital during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression when everyone thought he was insane, and led the company through multiple layoffs before successfully being sold. A sobering yet incredibly important read, Horowitz shatters the allure, mystic, and promise of startups and replaces it with the stark frankness that the world is competitive and startups are fragile and the path to success difficult.
Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer
Understanding the current healthcare status quo is important if one is to understand the variation in medical care and outcomes. Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer is the best book to quickly get you up to speed on why we are the most expensive in the world and the worst at keeping us healthy. Balanced and thoroughly researched, this book illustrates how the failings of our healthcare system are more complex than simply claiming that insurers are greedy and malpractice insurance premiums are too expensive. Learn what you are up against if you plan on disrupting healthcare.
Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate and Compete in the Knowledge Economy
Doctors don’t work well in teams. This was outlined by New Yorker writer, best-selling author, and surgeon Dr. Atul Gawande in Cowboys and Pit Crews. Yet it is teamwork across disciplines that matter in a startup. Here is where Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmonson’s Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy is helpful. To maximize learning, conflict and failure are necessary for teaming to be successful. Successful teaming requires an environment where it is psychologically safe to speak up, which is not typically true in a hospital environment where a strict hierarchy still pervades. Edmonson highlights how individual and organizational psychology, the reality of hierarchical status, cultural differences, and distance can and do separate team members which can prevent successful teaming. Leaders can close these gaps by understanding the existence of these obstacles and by adapting their leadership style to support and facilitate teaming successfully. She gives plenty of examples where teaming went well and not so well (the “impossible” rescue of miners in Chile and space shuttle Columbia tragedy). Learning thoughtfully from these failures and framing them as essential for continuous improvement and innovation is key for organizations to benefit from teaming. So by understanding these dynamics, you can determine whether your startup has the dynamics it needs to be successful and how to lead one.
There you have it. Five books. Five perspectives. Good luck! I can’t wait to hear what you come up with!
Davis Liu, M.D., is a practicing board-certified family physician with the Permanente Medical Group in Northern California since 2000
Categories: THCB
Tagged as: Davis Liu
Interoperability: Faster Than We Think – An Interview with Ed Park
Can Community Organizing and The “third place” Improve Public Health?
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The Ho Chi Minh Trail
Historical Tours Down The Ho Chi Minh Trail
14 DAY TOUR – The Ho Chi Minh Trail Adventure
Chris Corbett
No seats
I established Lao Adv Tours with a group of friends so that I could live my passion for the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and take families, veterans and fellow adventurers on extraordinary tours along this historic route.
My voyage started back in 2008, whilst I was in Thailand. I had always been interested in the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and when I was told that most of it ran in Laos I wanted to go to this mysterious land to discover history. I went back to the UK and started my research, and then Christmas 2009, I departed to take on the trail.
I first came across Virginia’s work when in 2012 I bought her publication, A History of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, The Road to Freedom. This book soon became my travel companion, but it was not until I was half way through it that I realized that her and her husband had walked the trail in the late 1990’s, which is some feat. There can be no doubt that there is no better guide than Virginia if you want to travel the trail.
The only westerner to receive the campaign medal.
My journey with Chris started when he contacted me on social media about my book on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. I replied by return and I am pleased that I did because he has achieved great things in Laos and he is now an experienced tour operator.
I first went to Thailand in 1991, and it was that visit which sparked my curiosity for the Vietnam War. Unbeknown to me, years later I would become the first Westerner in peacetime to walk the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, a tough ask because I needed special approval by the government to go into these area. I went on to work with top Vietnamese communist strategies to write my second book, Ho Chi Minh’s Blueprint for Revolution, and was awarded a campaign medal as sign of friendship by the Vietnamese People’s Army for my work in this field.After working for years with the Ho Chi Minh Trail, I am looking forward to traveling with Chris and fellow trail enthusiasts, to expose how Ho Chi Minh won Vietnam and changed World events.
All this started many years ago for both parties, the commitment and enthusiasm is unwavering…..
Copyright © 2019 The Ho Chi Minh Trail | Powered by Astra
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Category: Judex 1963
Postcards From Shadowland No.12
Baby Doll (1956) Elia Kazan directs Carroll Baker, Eli Wallach, Karl Malden and Mildred Dunnock as Aunt Rose Comfort
Robert Cummings and Priscilla Lane in Alfred Hitchcock’s Saboteur (1942)
Richard Attenborough in director John Boulting’s British Noir Brighton Rock (1947)
David Wayne in Jospeh Losey’s version of M (1951)
F.W. Murnau’s Faust (1926)
George Franju Judex (1963)
Gloria Grahame in Fritz Lang’s noir classic The Big Heat (1953)
Hedy Lamarr in “Lady of the Tropics” 1939
Ida Lupino in Nicholas Ray’s On Dangerous Ground (1952)
George Franju’s Judex (1963) with Channing Pollock
Joseph Losey’s remake of the classic M (1951) starring David Wayne and a creepy clown balloon.
James Mason and Arlene Dahl in Jules Verne’s Journey To the Center of The Earth 1959
Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) Brigitte Helm
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) Directed by Robert Wise staring Robert Ryan, Harry Belafonte, Gloria Grahame and Shelley Winters. Cinematography by Joseph C. Brun
On Dangerous Ground (1952) Directed by Nicholas Ray & an uncredited Ida Lupino-Starring Ida Lupino and Robert Ryan
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) Robert Ryan as racist ex-con Earle Slater and Mel Stewart (Henry Jefferson) as Hotel Juno’s Elevator Operator.
Douglas Sirk’s Sleep My Love (1948) Starring lovely Claudette Colbert, Robert Cummings & Don Ameche
Archie Mayo’s Svengali (1931) starring Lionel Barrymore & Marian Marsh
Carole Lombard stars in Vigil in the Night (1940) directed by George Stevens
Lew Landers’ The Mask of Diijon (1949) starring Erich von Stroheim and Jeanne Bates
Rita Hayworth in The Lady from Shanghai 1947
Fernando Méndez’s The Vampire’s Coffin (1958) starring Abel Salazar and Ariadna Welter
Lewis Seiler’s Women’s Prison 1955 starring Ida Lupino, Cleo Moore, Jan Sterling, Audrey Totter, and pictured here Phyllis Thaxter
Posted on June 1, 2013 June 1, 2013 by monstergirlPosted in 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Baby Doll (1956), Brighton Rock 1947, Classic Film Noir, Classic Horror, Fantasy, Faust 1926, Journey To the Center of the Earth 1959, Judex 1963, Killer's Kiss 1955, M (1951), Metropolis 1927, Odds Against Tomorrow 1959, On Dangerous Ground 1952, Postcards From Shadowland, Saboteur 1942, Sleep My Love 1948, Svengali 1931, The Big Heat 1953, The Lady From Shanghai 1947, The Mask of Diijon 1946, The Vampire, The Vampire's Coffin 1958, The Vampire's Coffin 1958, Vigil in the Night 1940, Women's Prison 19554 Comments
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Bulandshahr Violence: Delhi Taxi Driver Arrested For Killing Inspector
Published : 28 Dec 2018 10:55 AM GMT
On December 3, a police inspector from Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh and a youth were killed in clashes that broke out in Shyana area over alleged cow slaughter. Three weeks after the incident now the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case has arrested a Delhi taxi driver, Prashant Natt in connection to the cop’s death.
Cornered and shot him dead
The accused, Natt from Chingrawthi village has confessed to his crime. While speaking to the media, Bulandshahr SSP Prabhakar Chaudhary told The Indian Express claimed that at the time of the incident Natt caught hold of the inspector, who was already surrounded by the mob in an open field. While the other policemen fled, cop, Subodh Kumar Singh fired in his defence, injuring a local youth Sumit, who later scummed to his injuries. Reportedly, Natt then shot inspector Subodh dead after snatching his pistol. However, the police have not recovered the inspector’s missing 32 bore pistol which was allegedly used in the crime, as reported by Hindustan Times.
The police also informed that Natt was not initially named in the FIR, his arrest was made after going through the CCTV recordings and eyewitness’ testimonies. Earlier, six of the 27 accused named in the case were arrested. As many as 19 others have been held after they were caught on video footages of the violence.
According to SSP Chaudhary, Natt was the shooter, while the others helped in restricting the inspector Subodh’s movement. On December 27, Natt was arrested by the UP Police from the Noida-Bulandshahr border. He would be sent to the judicial custody. As per the sources, Natt has a criminal background. Earlier, he was named in Arms Act and liquor smuggling cases are being probed, reports The Indian Express.
Soon after the incident on December 3, the police in the FIR had named Bajrang Dal activist Yogesh Raj as the prime accused in the killing of Inspector Subodh. Raj – who is still on the run- is still an accused in the case.
What happened that day?
On December 3, the incident took place when a few people started to protest in the area after they found the alleged carcass of a cow in the field, said the District Magistrate to The Indian Express. Allegedly, the mob was also protesting against illegal slaughterhouses.
The protestors had blocked the roads in the area. Following this, the police were informed about the incident. When the police reached the spot to get the roads opened, some unknown people started pelting stones at the at the police.
According to The Indian Express, the inspector, Subodh was again attacked while he was being taken to the hospital. The inspector died before he could have been treated.
Also Read: “UP CM Only Talks About Cow, While Law And Order Deteriorates,” Says Slain Bulandshahr Inspector’s Sister
Tags: policeUttar PradeshBulandshahr ViolenceKilling Inspector
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Cold War Kids announce double career-spanning anthology
Buddy Iahn | October 15, 2018 | Notable Releases, Rock News
In their impressive, steadily rising career, soulful, blues-tinted rockers Cold War Kids have proven to be one of the most prolific commercially successful bands around. Never ones to rest, from the beginning they’ve utilized all manners of getting their music out to their fans, releasing a steady stream of EPs and digital singles between their full-length studio albums. As they peer over the horizon at their 15 year anniversary next year and reflect on how far they’ve come since forming in Southern California’s burgeoning indie rock scene in 2004, the band, now signed to Capitol Records, has collected together all of their radio singles spanning their tenure on Downtown Records, from 2005-2015, along with some of their best unreleased and rare tracks for a double disc collection titled This Will All Blow Over In Time. The anthology will be released December 7th via Downtown Records/UMe on 2 CD and digital with a 2 LP on translucent yellow vinyl to follow in February. Pre-orders come with an instant grat download of the unreleased track “Vacation In Chicago,” a live version of fan favorite “We Used To Vacation,” appropriately recorded in Chicago.
Led by rousing frontman Nathan Willett (vocals/piano/guitar), Cold War Kids exploded onto the national spotlight in 2006 with their first single, “Hang Me Up To Dry,” which led to appearances on “Letterman” and “Conan” and prompted Rolling Stone to dub it one of “The 100 Best Songs Of The Year,” enthusing: “Indie rock with a little sex: Nathan Willett howls like a country bluesman as the other three Kids elbow their way through a mess of art-damaged funk.” Originally released on their third independently released EP Up In Rags, the song was included on the band’s breakout debut full-length Robbers & Cowards along with fellow radio hits “We Used To Vacation” and “Hospital Beds.” This Will All Blow Over In Time includes these songs as well as all their radio singles from their first five records.
Sequenced in chronological order from year of full-length album release, the first half of the retrospective, aptly titled Singles Worked At Radio, ranges from the soulful urgency of tracks “I’ve Seen Enough” and “Something Is Not Right With Me,” from Loyalty to Loyalty, the band’s first album to reach the top 50 on the Billboard 200, to “Louder Than Ever” and “Royal Blue” from 2011’s bigger and bolder Jacquire King-produced Mine Is Yours, to the funky, anthemic “Audience Of One” from their 2009 EP Behave Yourself, to the driving piano stomper “Miracle Mile,” their fifth top 40 hot in Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart, and the electro-tinged “Lost That Easy” from 2013’s Dear Miss Lonelyhearts. Their final record for Downtown, 2014’s Hold My Home, is represented with the infectious, dramatic rocker “All This Could Be Yours” and the clap-along anthem “First,” which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart earning the band their highest charting single which has since been certified Gold.
Titled Songs From All Over The Place, the second half brings together an exciting mix of 11 unreleased songs and rarities to give a fuller picture of the band’s eclectic and prolific output over the last decade and a half. Kicking off with the aforementioned “Vacation In Chicago,” it includes the demo for “First,” a cover of Nick Cave’s “Opium Tea,” previously only available to stream online only, and “Goodnight Tennessee,” originally released as an iTunes bonus track for Mine Is Yours. Some of the many other highlights include the dubby remake of “Minimum Day” titled “Minimum Mistake,” produced by the late Richard Swift and originally only available as a download, “Coffee Spoon,” a standout from their seventh EP Behave Yourself, and “In Harmony In Silver” and “Quiet Please” from their long-out-of-print debut EP Mulberry Street released in 2005 on Monarchy Music. The set closes with “Fashionable,” a sprawling track released on the deluxe edition of Mine Is Yours.
This Will All Blow Over Time serves as both the first collection of the band’s many hits and a gift to longtime fans who will revel in the unreleased songs and rare tracks from their hard to find early releases. It also chronicles the band’s trajectory and showcases their continued artistic evolution as they get ready to celebrate a milestone anniversary.
2 CD | 2 LP
CD 1: Singles Worked At Radio
1. Hang Me Up To Dry
2. We Used To Vacation
3. Hospital Beds
4. I’ve Seen Enough
5. Something Is Not Right With Me
6. Louder Than Ever
7. Royal Blue
8. Audience of One
9. Miracle Mile
10. Lost That Easy
11. All This Could Be Yours
12. First
CD 2: Songs From All Over The Place
1. Vacation In Chicago
2. First (Demo)
3. Opium Tea
4. Goodnight Tennessee
5. Coffee Spoon
6. Minimum Mistake
7. In Harmony In Silver
8. Quiet, Please
9. Expensive Tastes
10. Romance Languages #1
11. Fashionable
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The Newest ‘The Walking Dead’ Character Looks ‘Lost’ In This First Look
Dustin RowlesTwitterEntertainment Features
Last week, as part of AMC’s TWD X Reveals campaign, The Walking Dead released the first look of the unmasked Thora Birch, who will be playing Gamma, a Whisperer created for the television series. This week, in the second installment, we get our first glimpse of Virgil, a character played by Kevin Carroll of The Leftovers fame.
The photo above, interestingly, looks like something out of the pilot for Lost, a show ran by Damon Lindelof, who also created Carroll’s The Leftovers. Carroll, however, is not playing a character who survived a plane crash (the plane crash apparently takes place on the new The Walking Dead spin-off, Monument). However, Carroll is playing a character who is “lost” on The Walking Dead. Virgil, another television-only creation, is described as “a highly intelligent and resourceful man who is desperately trying to get home to his family.”
From the looks of the image above, Virgil is stranded on The Oceanside, which — based on the season 10 trailer for The Walking Dead — will be the location of a huge battle between Alexandria and its allies and The Whisperers. There’s also a small ship and a sailboat in the season ten trailer, either of which could account for Virgil’s appearance in the next season.
Here’s a second look at Virgil.
There are eight more reveals as part of the TWD X campaign, which means eight more weeks until the return of The Walking Dead. Fear the Walking Dead, however, will return on August 11th, while the new spinoff is expected to debut in the spring, after the season 10 run of The Walking Dead has completed.
Topics: #The Walking DeadTags: The Walking Dead
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All about TV Shows
Top five most anticipated TV shows that are premiering this week
Most Anticipated New TV Shows of 2017 | IndieWire - indiewire.com
‘American Crime’ will be aired this weekend, and we've high expectations.
by Zari Khan
April 11, 2017 at 6:47 PM April 11, 2017 at 6:47 PM
Video of the Day: 'Sister Wives' Meri getting chased from her home was real says Janelle Brown
This week, “American Crime,” “Blackish,” and three other TV Shows will premier. Television has become the biggest source of entertainment. After the success of “I Love Lucy” and “Gilligan’s Island,” modern television discovered new ways to plumb the hearts of viewers. Many new programs are premiered every month, and some gross higher than Hollywood movies. The competition among entertainment channels is very high. As the society is plagued by issues of race, gender and inequality, the right shows teach us various moral lessons.
Hopefully, these programs will leave a good impression on the minds of viewers.
1 - ‘American Crime’
“American Crime” is an anticipated TV show of the week. The story is about a wealthy housewife who is tired of the male-dominating society. The lady decides to bring a change, but that’s not easy as she faces a lot of problems. Ana Mulvoy-Ten plays the main character, Shae Reese. This week will see her dipping back into the world of exploitation. Fans want to know more about the character of Shae who is set to change the current social system.
Regina King, Elvis Nolasco, Richard Cabral, Lili Taylor Mickaëlle X. Bizet, and Timothy Hutton are also a part of this project. The series will be premiered on ABC.
2 - ‘Blackish’
After the success of three seasons, a new season of “Blackish” is back. The show will be premiered this weekend on ABC, and fans have high expectations. This American sitcom stars Anthony Anderson, and Tracee Ellis Ross in the lead roles.
The series began in 2014, and was renewed for a third season in 2016. For this particular project, Tracee received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, and Emmy got a TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. We look forward to the fourth season, and have high expectations. A recent teaser trailer gives glimpses of the characters of Tracee and Emmy.
3 - ‘The Odd Couple’
ABC has recruited Yvette Nicole Brown to play the lead role opposite Brandon Micheal Hall.
“The Odd Couple” is one of the most anticipated TV shows. The channel has claimed that Lea Michele will appear in a supporting character. This comedy sitcom is produced by Daveed Diggs, who was previously in the news for “Hamilton.” Written by Jeremy Bronson, the series is about an artist who struggles to achieve success. James Griffith is directing the series, and it consists of sixteen episodes.
4 - ‘Code Black’
“Code Black” is one of the shows that is making its returns after several months of encores. The first season received very good reviews from critics, and it’s time to look forward to another season. CBS says that “Code Black” will premiere this weekend. Based on a documentary of the same name, this series follows the staff members in a busy emergency room as they cope with an infectious disease of patients.
Executive producers of the program are Michael Seitzman, and David Semel. Joe Dinicol is returning from season 1 as David Wagner.
5 - ‘Blindspot’
NBC recently announced its summer lineup, and “Blindspot” is a returning series. “The Carmichael Show,” “Chicago Fire,” “Hollywood Game Night,” “Law & Order: SVU,” and "Shades of Blue” are also in the lineup. The channel claims that it has hired Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys for the new season of “Blindspot.” The story is about a serial killer who has lost interest in this world, and wants to kill innocent people in a large number. Emmy Award winner Mike Schur is returning to the program as Kristen.
'90 Day Fiance': Anna Campisi urges fans to check with doctors after she got blood clots
'90 Day Fiance' : Corey Rathgeber admits meeting Larissa Lima was a bad idea
Zari Khan
Read more on the same topic from Zari Khan:
Steam Summer Sale: Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, Mafia III, and Shadow of Mordor NBC pushes ‘Blacklist’ season 5 until October for ‘The Voice’ CBS confirms new cast members for ‘Big Brother’ season 19
Blasting News recommends Al Roker goes from tender to temperamental over ties on ‘3rd Hour of Today’ '90 Day Fiancé': Geoffrey Paschel faces criminal charges for allegedly kidnapping his ex 'Better Call Saul' renewed for final season on AMC '90 Day Fiance': Some fans think Syngin left Tania, returned to South Africa '3rd Hour of Today:' Al Roker shows photos of himself with Dylan Dreyer and baby Oliver Video '90 Day Fiance': Anna Campisi sick with blood clots in her lungs Video
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Home > Distributed Publishers > Second Story Press
Guardian Angel House
By (author): Kathy Clark
Themes: Holocaust, Judaica, Second World War
Publisher: Second Story Press
Pub Date: 01/Apr/2009
Momma had always told Susan that there was no safe place for a Jew, especially in German occupied Hungary in 1944. Why then were twelve-year-old Susan and her little sister, Vera, being sent to a convent to be kept safe. Susan and her sister soon discover the true nature of courage, sheltered by a group of nuns who risk their lives to protect them. Based on true events, the Guardian Angel House was the nickname given to a convent operated by the Sisters of Charity in Budapest. The nuns there sheltered over 120 Jewish children during the German invasion of Hungary, including author Kathy Clark's mother and aunt.
Kathy Clark was born in Budapest, Hungary, and moved to Canada as a young girl. She based this book on the true story of her mother and aunt after hearing their amazing story. She lives in Ontario, Canada, with her family.
"A gripping story...The truth is not sugar-coated, nor is it graphically stated, stirking a perfect balance. Clark does the true story justice in this well-written account of one family's struggle through Holocaust."
Canadian Children's Book News
"Offers a glimpse of some of the many small but heroic acts of the Holocaust – and an interesting portrait of an institution that reached out across any religious barriers to save the lives of many children."
Canadian Jewish News
"Well told and fast paced. Young readers, especially girls, will admire the characters and find the book suspenseful and easy to understand, yet also very educational."
Children’s Bookwatch
"A moving story with roots in fact, Guardian Angel House is a great way to teach young readers about the Holocaust through fiction."
"This is a touching and heartwarming tribute to the Righteous Gentiles of the Guardian Angel House and a highly readable, accessible resource to introduce students to the Holocaust."
CM Magazine
"Clark details aspects of their daily life so that children in the target age group will be able to identify with the difficulties and unhappiness the sisters experienced...Guardian Angel House will prove to be a popular book in school libraries and for personal purchases."
TeensReadToo.com
"A thoughtful exploration of World War II from a unique perspective...Clark paints an accurate portrait of the young Jewish girls protected by the safe haven that the Catholic convent offered...Both tragic and hopeful, Clark molds non-fiction into an adventurous tale suitable for younger readers."
"This books serves not only as a reminder of the inhumanity of the holocaust, but also of the strength of will of the survivors of this most horrific period of history...Highly recommended."
Resource Links "The Year's Best" | 2009 | Commended
CCBC Best Books | 2010 | Commended
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TOOL Reveals Track Listing For 'Fear Inoculum' Physical, Digital Editions
posted by Andrew Magnotta @AndrewMagnotta - Aug 14, 2019
With its fifth studio album and first album in 13 years due out in just a few weeks, Tool has dropped the track list for Fear Inoculum on its eager fan base.
Just like guitarist Adam Jones explained to Guitar World last week, despite being over 80-minutes long the album contains just seven tracks.
The band explained that there are "bonus tracks" on the digital release of the album and the physical copy will include a digital download card for the bonus content. It's unclear whether the additional tracks on the digital release are entirely new songs or segues.
It's likely the bonus tracks were left off the physical edition of the album because the record is too long to fit on a CD otherwise.
Jones did not mention bonus tracks in an Instagram post on the subject. Some reported track listings indicate that the so-called bonus tracks are interspersed through the album, not tacked onto the end.
Metal Injection reported that track three, "Litanie contre la Peur," from the digital edition is an interlude, but noted that the track was not played at the listening session the website was granted.
Tool Fear Inoculum Track List
Physical Edition
Tool fever is in full force as the band set a new record with the longest song to ever hit the Billboard Hot 100 with "Fear Inoculum."
All four of the band's prior full-length albums have returned to Billboard's Top 20.
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Tag: Supernatural season 15 episode 6 top moments
Ranking the top 5 moments from “Supernatural” Season 15 Episode 6: “I Learned From The Best”
Happy Friday TV fans! After watching The CW’s Supernatural season 15 episode 6, we learned that even if we don’t make the rules, that doesn’t mean that we should give up. What we do matters, but sometimes we have to see it for ourselves to be convinced. Please note major spoilers are ahead if you have not gotten a chance to watch yet.
In last night’s episode, “Golden Time,” an old friend crosses paths with Sam and Dean. Meanwhile, Castiel attempts a case of his own, realizing that perhaps he is needed after all.
“I know how it ends…”
In the beginning of the episode, Sam crosses paths with Eileen. Remember her? Well, Eileen is now a ghost and she escaped from hell, but she is now disappointed to find out that she will not be able to get into heaven either, as the Winchesters share what they learned from Kevin.
Sam decides to try and help Eileen by obtaining one of Rowena’s crystals, hoping that he can do something for her soul, but Dean wants to sit this one out for now.
I always felt a vibe between Sam and Eileen in previous episodes, so I’m wondering if there may be a chance for them now…
“You miss her.”
Rowena kept a secret stash for her powerful spells and documents, as Sam begins to go through some of her journals. Eileen recognizes that Sam really misses Rowena and it’s clear that he is still feeling guilty about killing her, even though he knows it had to be done.
Sam comes across a spell that Rowena had been working on for their mother to bring her back to life and now suddenly realizes that perhaps he can finish it and help Eileen.
I love that we are still feeling Rowena’s presence even though she is gone. Sam is the only living person who can apparently walk into her place unharmed and it seems like she has left everything for him to find, knowing that he would be able to continue her work.
“I learned from the best!”
Witches are after Rowena’s secret stash as well and the head witch plans on using Rowena’s spell to bring back her daughter. Magic like this can only be used once, so Sam is not about to miss his chance to help someone he loves again.
After Dean shows up with perfect timing to help, it looks like Sam may be out of luck, but he ends up showing off how he learned from Rowena, taking down his enemy with a spell of his own. Go Sam! Rowena would be so proud!
“It’s time for me to get back in the game.”
We finally catch up with Castiel in this episode and learn that he is on…vacation! Well, at least he’s trying to enjoy some time relaxing and fishing, but Castiel finds himself caught up with his very own case after a boy goes missing.
Castiel agrees to help a worried mother and runs into a Djinn, taking him out, and reminding him that nothing will be able to protect him from Cass. I was absolutely loving bad-ass Castiel in this moment!
Castiel heals the boy and reunites him with his mother, now realizing that perhaps it is finally time for him to get back in the game. We need you Cass!
“Because we’re the guys who break the rules.”
Sam is able to use the spell to bring Eileen back to life, so I think it’s safe to say that perhaps romance isn’t off the table for these two. Either way, this was a heartwarming moment and I think Sam really needed to do this to remind him that their actions do matter.
Dean is now taking his turn at feeling defeated, but Sam reminds him that he needs him and that they will find a way to beat Chuck/God.
Perhaps we need everyone back together again in order to make some real progress here, but I’m hoping that Sam and Dean can put their angst aside in order to continue the good fight.
The Dreaming of Wonderland Book Series is available here!
Posted on November 22, 2019 Categories Supernatural, UncategorizedTags angels, Castiel, Castiel is on vacation, Chuck/God, Dean Winchester, Demons, Djinn, drama, Eileen returns, Episode 6, fantasy, Golden Time, horror, magic, Ranking, romance for Sam and Eileen?, Rowena, Sam and Eileen, Sam casts a spell, Sam helps Eileen, Sam Winchester, season 15, SPN, SPN family, SPN Family Forever, SPN fans, spoilers, Supernatural, Supernatural season 15 episode 6 recap, Supernatural season 15 episode 6 top moments, television, The CW, theories, top 5 list, Top 5 moments, TV, witchesLeave a comment on Ranking the top 5 moments from “Supernatural” Season 15 Episode 6: “I Learned From The Best”
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Hong Kong airport shuts down amid pro-democracy protest
by By YANAN WANG and CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
HONG KONG (AP) — One of the world's busiest airports canceled all flights after thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators crowded into Hong Kong's main terminal Monday, while the central government in Beijing issued an ominous characterization of the protest movement as something approaching "terrorism."
The extreme action by the largely leaderless movement seemed calculated to prompt a stern response from Beijing, and Communist Party leader Xi Jinping's administration responded within hours.
No new violence was reported by Monday evening, although the city remained on edge after more than two months of near-daily and increasingly bloody confrontations between protesters and police.
Beijing tends toward a broad definition of terrorism, including in it nonviolent protests of government policies on the environment or in minority regions such as Xinjiang and Tibet. Such a designation adds to the regime's descriptions of protesters as clowns, criminals and traitors intent on overthrowing Chinese rule in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong International Airport said in a statement the demonstration "seriously disrupted" airport operations. Only flights that had already started boarding or those cleared for landing were allowed to use runways at the airport.
"All other flights have been canceled for the rest of today," the airport statement said. It later said flights would resume at 6 a.m. Tuesday (2200 GMT, 6 p.m. EDT Monday).
Joydeep Chakravarti, a software engineer whose connecting flight to San Francisco was canceled during a layover in Hong Kong, expressed frustration that he was told to leave the airport when he wanted to stay inside the terminal.
"I don't know what's out there, so I don't want to leave. I didn't make any plans for Hong Kong," said Chakravarti, who had a carry-on bag with laptop, charger and an extra shirt while the rest of his luggage already was checked in on his Singapore Airlines flight.
A massive traffic jam soon formed on the highway leading back to Hong Kong's city center. Some protesters were seen walking toward the airport amid the stifling heat.
The demonstrations that have drawn more than 1 million people at times call for democratic reforms and an independent inquiry into police conduct, with both protesters and police adopting ever-more extreme tactics.
In Beijing, the Cabinet's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office issued a statement saying the situation in Hong Kong was "beginning to show the sprouts of terrorism" and constituted an "existential threat" to the population.
"One must take resolute action toward this violent criminality, showing no leniency or mercy," said the statement, attributed to spokesman Yang Guang. "Hong Kong has reached an inflection point where all those who are concerned about Hong Kong's future must say 'no,' to law breakers and 'no' to those engaged in violence."
The chief executive of Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways said there would be "disciplinary consequences" for employees involved in "illegal protests," as the airline joined businesses that have apologized to China in recent days over political flaps. Rupert Hogg warned in an internal memo that the company has a "zero tolerance approach to illegal activities," apparently referring to unapproved protests.
Companies from luxury fashion brands to bubble tea shops are under pressure to distance themselves from protesters and declare their support for the ruling Communist Party's position on Hong Kong. China had said it would bar any airline employees found to have taken part in demonstrations.
Earlier Monday, Hong Kong police showed off water cannons that could be deployed, a development that Amnesty International has warned could lead to serious injuries if misused in the densely populated city.
Legislators and journalists were invited to witness the display of crowd-control tactics, which came after a weekend of protests at the airport and in one of Hong Kong's main shopping districts.
During the weekend protests, website Hong Kong Free Press showed footage of one arrest that appeared to include officers in plain clothes pinning a demonstrator to the ground. The young man, who said his name was Chow Ka-lok and asked for a lawyer, was shown with a bleeding head wound and said he had a broken tooth.
Police defended their tactics and tried to fend off criticism over widely shared videos from Sunday night's clashes, including graphic images of Chow's arrest and of a female protester who was shot in the eye.
Deputy Commissioner Tang Ping-keung acknowledged that police use decoy officers in some operations but would not go into details.
"Our decoy officers do not take part in any unlawful activities," Tang insisted.
Police also have reported injuries, including eye irritation from laser pointers, burns from fire bombs and bruises and cuts from flying debris.
Protesters hurled bricks at officers and ignored warnings to leave before tear gas was used in the Sham Shui Po area, police said, calling a march there an "unauthorized assembly."
Tear gas also was used in central Hong Kong's Tsim Sha Tsui area on the Kowloon side of Victoria Harbour, and in Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island. At one point, protesters blocked a plaza to keep police out.
A train station in Kwai Fong filled with smoke after police fired tear gas inside. It was not clear how many protesters were in the station at the time, but it has been rare for officers to fire tear gas indoors.
Earlier, a large group of protesters marched down Hennessey Road, a main shopping drag in the Causeway Bay area, as a rally was held in nearby Victoria Park. Many wore face masks to shield their identities, and a few had helmets. Others just carried backpacks over the black T-shirts that have become their uniform.
The protest movement's demands include the resignation of the Chinese territory's leader, Carrie Lam, democratic elections for her successor, the release of those arrested in earlier protests and an investigation into police use of force.
A former British colony, Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997 under the principle of "one country, two systems," which promises the city certain democratic rights not afforded to people on the mainland. But in recent years, some have accused Beijing of steadily eroding their freedoms.
Banners at the rally in Victoria Park read "Give Hong Kong back to us" and "Withdraw the evil law," the latter a reference to an extradition bill that was the original spark for the protests. A large crowd sat under umbrellas, which are both a protest symbol in Hong Kong and protection from the summer heat.
At the airport, a flight attendant protesting on his day off, who gave only his surname, Lau, to avoid repercussions from his employer, said heavy-handed police tactics had alienated some people.
"The police have told a lot of lies to Hong Kong people. We cannot believe them anymore. We have to come here to protest," Lau said. China has reportedly threatened to bar air crews taking part in protests.
Another protester, who identified herself only as Bea, said she took the day off from work to express her outrage because "I feel that I have to do something. ... It's just too sad to see what has happened. The police action has gone totally nonsensical."
In an interview in Berlin, Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei said China's leadership can now only resort to force, since it has failed in its quest to win hearts and minds in Hong Kong.
Ai, who has lived in Berlin since 2015, said U.S. President Donald Trump's characterization of the protests as "riots" and as an issue between Hong Kong and China seems to have only encouraged the authorities.
The U.S. "should be supporting freedom, and democracy, and freedom of speech — for a major power to give that kind of signal to another, authoritarian society is very improper and it will cost more life and more blood," he said.
"Hong Kong people will not be the loser, because they're on the right side of history," he said.
Associated Press writers Katie Tam and Raf Wober and journalist Royston Chan in Hong Kong, and Associated Press writers David Rising and Dorothee Thiesing in Berlin contributed.
An anti-riot vehicle equipped with water cannon shows its water spraying skill during a demonstration at the Police Tactical Unit Headquarters in Hong Kong, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. Hong Kong police showed off water cannons during the demonstration of specially equipped armored cars came after another weekend of protests at Hong Kong's bustling international airport and on the streets of one of the city's main shopping districts. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
An anti-riot vehicle equipped with water cannon sprays water on a dummy as a protester during a demonstration at the Police Tactical Unit Headquarters in Hong Kong, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. Hong Kong police showed off water cannons during the demonstration of specially equipped armored cars came after another weekend of protests at Hong Kong's bustling international airport and on the streets of one of the city's main shopping districts. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho, left, argues with pro-democracy lawmakers Au Nok-hin, in yellow helmet, and, Claudia Mo, right, during a demonstration of an anti-riot vehicle equipped with water cannon by Hong Kong police at the Police Tactical Unit Headquarters in Hong Kong, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. Hong Kong police showed off water cannons during the demonstration of specially equipped armored cars came after another weekend of protests at Hong Kong's bustling international airport and on the streets of one of the city's main shopping districts. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Protesters stage a sit-in protest at the Hong Kong International Airport, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. One of the world's busiest airports canceled all flights after thousands of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters crowded into the main terminal Monday afternoon. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Protesters gather at the closed check-in counters at the Hong Kong International Airport, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. One of the world's busiest airports canceled all flights after thousands of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters crowded into the main terminal Monday afternoon. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Protesters surround banners that read: "Those charge to the street on today is brave!," top, and "Release all the detainees!" during a sit-in rally at the arrival hall of the Hong Kong International airport, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. Hong Kong police showed off water cannons Monday as pro-democracy street protests stretched into their 10th week with no sign of either side backing down. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei poses for a photo after an interview with The Associated Press in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
A protester wears a goggle with a word "Return" during a protest at the arrival hall of the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. It is reported that police shot a woman in the eye with a projectile Sunday night during confrontations between protesters and police. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Passengers stranded at the Hong Kong International airport, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. One of the world's busiest airports cancelled all remaining departing and arriving flights after thousands of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters crowded into the main terminal. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Pro-democracy lawmakers Au Nok-hin, in yellow helmet, and, Claudia Mo, second from left, hold placards that reads: "Teargas in indoor, grasshopper life" as they watch a demonstration by an anti-riot vehicle equipped with water cannon at the Police Tactical Unit Headquarters in Hong Kong, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. Hong Kong police showed off water cannons during the demonstration of specially equipped armored cars came after another weekend of protests at Hong Kong's bustling international airport and on the streets of one of the city's main shopping districts. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Protesters surround banners that read "Those charge to the street on today is brave!," center top, and "Release all the detainees!" during a sit-in rally at the arrival hall of the Hong Kong International airport in Hong Kong, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. Hong Kong airport suspends check-in for all remaining flights Monday due to ongoing pro-democracy protest in terminal. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
An anti-riot vehicle equipped with water cannon sprays water during a demonstration at the Police Tactical Unit Headquarters in Hong Kong, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. Hong Kong police showed off water cannons during the demonstration of specially equipped armored cars came after another weekend of protests at Hong Kong's bustling international airport and on the streets of one of the city's main shopping districts. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Protesters gather near a flights information board during a protest at the Hong Kong International Airport, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. One of the world's busiest airports canceled all flights after thousands of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters crowded into the main terminal Monday afternoon. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Protesters wave flags at the Hong Kong International Airport, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. One of the world's busiest airports canceled all flights after thousands of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters crowded into the main terminal Monday afternoon. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A protester displays a placard during a sit-in protest at the arrival hall of the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. It is reported that police shot a woman in the eye with a projectile Sunday night during confrontations between protesters and police. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
People hold signs which read " Black Police, Return eye," bottom center, during a protest at the arrival hall of the Hong Kong International airport in Hong Kong, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. It is reported that police shot a woman in the eye with a projectile Sunday night during confrontations between protesters and police. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
A dummy as a protester is showered by an anti-riot vehicle equipped with water cannon during a demonstration at the Police Tactical Unit Headquarters in Hong Kong, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. Hong Kong police showed off water cannons during the demonstration of specially equipped armored cars came after another weekend of protests at Hong Kong's bustling international airport and on the streets of one of the city's main shopping districts. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
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Journalist's death helps to reshape US handling of hostages
WASHINGTON (AP) — Diane Foley learned her son's fate not from any government official but from a sobbing journalist who asked if she'd been on Twitter.
Foley had not, but the ghastly images weren't hard to find. President Barack Obama soon confirmed the news to the world: James Foley, a 40-year-old American journalist kidnapped in Syria two years earlier, was the American beheaded by Islamic State militants in a video circulating online.
For many in the United States, the August 2014 video brought home the extent of the Islamic State's violence and brutality. For Diane Foley it was a galvanizing moment, emblematic of the helplessness she felt during her son's captivity and the lack of urgency she sensed from American officials tasked with helping her. The New Hampshire woman channeled her grief into action, becoming an unofficial ambassador for hostages and their loved ones and helping reshape the U.S. government response when Americans are captured by terrorists and kidnappers across the globe.
"I wouldn't be doing this work had everything remained the way it was," said Foley, who retired from nursing after her son's capture. Though she always thought of doing something more global, "I didn't expect or ever want to do it in this way."
In the five years since her son's murder, Foley and the foundation she formed in her son's name have successfully pushed the U.S. government to overhaul the hostage rescue process, advocated legislation to punish kidnappers and pressed for additional attention for thousands of Americans detained unlawfully. Through research and public statements, she's also challenged the conventional wisdom that negotiating with captors and making concessions to them are inherently counterproductive.
"There was no structure or no accountability to bring Americans home at that point," Foley said in an interview with The Associated Press, "and how I wished our government had been honest with me that they really didn't know how, if possible, they could bring him home. I really wish they had been more honest."
The goal is to prevent other families from experiencing the fragmented, ineffective government response she says she endured, when multiple officials and agencies worked the case without anyone being singularly responsible for getting him home, and warned her and other hostage families of potential prosecution if they paid ransom to kidnappers.
"Having gone through everything that Diane went through with Jim and the tragedy involved with that, for her to do what she's doing right now, is probably one of the most noble things I've ever seen in a person," former fusion cell director Rob Saale said.
The most meaningful change was a 2015 Obama administration directive that led to an FBI-led fusion cell to work full-time on hostage cases and a State Department special envoy to handle diplomatic negotiations.
A June survey sponsored by Foley's foundation said hostage families report significantly more helpful government interactions than before that overhaul, but still want more communication. Current and former government officials describe the hostage recovery process, and communicating with families, as an urgent priority.
The fusion cell structure remains intact under President Donald Trump, who Foley praises for his interest in hostage issues despite an occasional collision of values with his administration.
U.S. officials have secured the release of several high-profile American hostages and foreign government detainees, though other cases remain unresolved, including journalist Austin Tice , who officials believe is alive in Syria following his 2012 capture, and a group of Citgo Petroleum executives held by Venezuela known collectively as the Citgo 6.
"To talk to someone that on a human level understands and maybe has even resolved their case, it's huge, it's really huge," said Cristina Vadell, whose father Tomeu is among the executives.
Foley knows where they are because she was there herself, twice.
Jim, who'd turned to conflict journalism after trying his hand at teaching, was captured for six weeks in 2011 by pro-Qaddafi forces while covering Libyan unrest. He returned home restless, then resumed reporting in the Middle East in time to chronicle ISIS's rise.
The 2012 Thanksgiving holiday came and went with no word from Foley, which his family found disquieting since he'd always been good at checking in. She learned from his colleagues the next morning that he'd been apprehended by a jihadist group.
The next two years brought promising leads but also bouts of inactivity and frustrating government interactions.
The first FBI official assigned to the case was inexperienced, Foley said. When she'd contact the State Department, it seemed she was speaking to a different person each time. And she felt out of the loop on developments, learning of an unsuccessful Navy SEALs rescue attempt — Foley and other hostages had already been relocated — only after her son's death.
The captors established contact in the fall of 2013, making a series of demands, including for $100 million euros and the release of Muslim prisoners. Foley raised $1 million in pledges despite White House warnings that ransom payments could violate a law against supporting foreign terrorist organizations, an admonishment she still finds cruel and unnecessary.
Communications ceased around Christmas, resurfacing in July with a threat to murder Foley.
The video the following month showed Foley kneeling in an orange jumpsuit beside a man in black clutching a knife to his captive's throat. It fades to black before the beheading is completed. The killer, Mohammed Emwazi, was later killed in a U.S. strike.
"I think everyone was in shock," Foley said. "I think our FBI was in shock. We were caught with our pants down. Nobody ever expected this."
Foley was the first of several Western hostages killed by ISIS that year, murders that shook the Obama administration into action and humbled officials who conceded shortcomings.
"The government was letting the families down, letting the hostages down. We were not well-coordinated," said Jen Easterly, former Obama administration senior counterterrorism director.
The next June, Obama announced the fusion cell's creation , saying the government was "changing how we do business." He also softened the rhetoric on ransom payments: while the government would not make them, Obama said, it had also never prosecuted families who had done so on their own and had no interest in compounding their pain.
Yet a recent survey from Foley's foundation shows hostage families still want better clarity on U.S. policies and laws, including on ransom and just how far immunity from prosecution will extend.
Though Foley said she doesn't think such payments, which are common among European countries and in some cases have facilitated releases, are necessarily the answer, she believes it's imperative U.S. officials interact directly with captors. She points to research challenging the premise that concessions only serve to incentivize kidnappers.
"Part of the problem is, if you don't engage with captors, there's zero chance of getting anyone home," Foley said. "Are our citizens enough of a priority that we will use all that we can as a government to negotiate ... to find out what do they really want."
More work remains, though, including support on basic quality-of-life issues for hostages who do make it home.
The foundation aims to fill that void, with a support network of sorts so hostage families can connect with each other. It's also asserted itself politically, with Foley publicly opposing U.S. withdrawal from Syria and advocating for legislation named after former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who vanished in Iran, to give more resources to hostages and sanction captors.
And it's encouraged additional attention for Americans who are held by foreign governments, rather than terror groups, and therefore not technically regarded as hostages entitled to the fusion cell's services.
None of those issues was on her mind before her son's captivity. Now they're collectively her life's work, her sole occupation and mission.
"There's been a part of this that's been very healing and very good," Foley said, "because I feel rather certain that Jim would have wanted us to try to make a difference."
Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com
In this June 19, 2019, photo, Diane Foley, mother of journalist James Foley, who was killed by the Islamic State terrorist group in a graphic video released online, speaks to the Associated Press during an interview in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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San Jose mayor wants gun owners to get liability insurance
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The mayor of San Jose has proposed requiring gun owners in the nation's 10th largest city to carry liability insurance to cover taxpayer costs associated with firearm violence.
If approved, Mayor Sam Liccardo's strict new measure proposed Monday would be the first of its kind in the nation to curb gun violence, the Mercury News reported .
The city of 1 million was home to two children killed in a July 28 mass shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival.
"With this measure, we won't suddenly end gun violence," Liccardo said. "But we're going to stop paying for it."
Under Liccardo's proposal, which would require approval from the City Council, gun owners would have to either carry liability insurance or pay a fee to cover emergency response and medical care for victims of gun violence.
Liccardo likened the proposal to attempts to lower smoking rates and car crashes. Motorists, he pointed out, are required to carry auto insurance, and tobacco consumption is taxed both to discourage smoking and cover the costs of smoke-related illnesses and death.
Gun rights groups are vowing to take San Jose to court if the City Council approves the measures. "We think it's really misguided," said George Lee, an attorney representing firearm groups like the Firearms Policy Coalition.
Under Liccardo's plan, liability insurance would cover the accidental discharge of a gun, along with intentional acts by people who steal or borrow a gun from a gun owner. He acknowledged that insurers won't cover intentional conduct by a gun owner.
But Lee pushed back at the idea that any intentional criminal acts, regardless of who commits them, would be insurable. And, he said, a liability insurance program wouldn't stop someone like the Gilroy shooter — who on July 28 killed three people and wounded more than a dozen others before turning the gun on himself at the world-famous Gilroy Garlic Festival.
"It's yet another burden on gun owners," he said of the idea, suggesting the mayor was grasping for a way to feel better about the incident.
Liccardo acknowledged there "may need to be some evolution in the (insurance) industry," but he hopes other cities locally and elsewhere will consider the proposal in the future.
None of the proposals will become law immediately. The insurance program and fee would have to be approved by the City Council, and a tax would have to make its way to voters through the ballot.
Information from: San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, http://www.mercurynews.com
FILE - In this July 21, 2015 file photo San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, center, attends a conference on Modern Slavery and Climate Change at the Vatican. Liccardo, on Monday, Aug. 12, 2019, has proposed gun owners in the nation's 10th largest city to carry liability insurance to cover taxpayer costs associated with firearm violence. If approved, Liccardo's strict new measure would be the first of its kind in the nation to curb gun violence. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia,File)
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The Latest: French, US officials talk tech tax at dinner
BIARRITZ, France (AP) — The Latest on the Group of Seven leaders' summit (all times local):
Taxes on tech giants and a French wine dispute are on the menu at a special dinner with top White House and French officials at the G-7 summit.
A French official says French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire invited U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, U.S. trade representative Robert Lightizer and White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow to dinner Sunday night in the French resort of Biarritz. U.S. President Donald Trump is dining with other world leaders nearby.
Le Maire wants to ease U.S. concerns about a 3% French tax on online companies that make significant revenues in France.
The Trump administration has lashed back by threatening retaliatory tariffs on French wine.
The French official, who was not authorized to be publicly named, insisted that the tax does not target American companies. It hits giants like Google, Amazon and Uber but also French, Chinese and other companies. The French goal is to stop tax avoidance by online multinationals, and France promises to scrap the tax if an international digital tax deal can be reached.
A senior French official says French President Emmanuel Macron personally informed U.S. President Donald Trump that Iran's chief diplomat was invited as G-7 leaders gathered for their summit.
The French official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive discussions, would not say when or how Trump was informed of the surprise arrival Sunday of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
The French president's office confirmed Zarif left the seaside resort of Biarritz after a five-hour visit. The official said several other meetings on the touchy subject of Iran's nuclear ambitions were planned before the end of the summit Monday afternoon.
Macron has taken a lead role in trying to save the 2015 nuclear accord, which has been unraveling since Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement.
Zarif met with Macron and French, German and British diplomats as well at an unprogrammed gathering in Biarritz' city hall.
-Sylvie Corbet
The secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says that a global attempt by more than 120 countries to find a way to more fairly tax global internet giants is moving ahead despite individual countries' deciding to impose their own tax.
Angel Gurria said that "what we are seeing is a very strong and a very clear signal of wanting to find a multilateral solution."
France introduced a 3 % tax on digital companies that may be headquartered elsewhere but do billions in digital business such as advertising and retail in France. It says it will drop the idea if there's a solution in the OECD process, which aims for a result by the end of 2020.
The plane of Iran's foreign minister has left Biarritz, just a few hours after his surprise arrival to the French city where the G-7 leaders are gathered.
The departure came within minutes of a tweet sent out by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif confirming he had met with French President Emmanuel Macron.
The French president's office said the Iranian envoy was on board.
A senior French official said there would be several meetings regarding Iran's disputed nuclear program before the summit ends on Monday.
Zarif's arrival shook up the Group of Seven summit, where U.S. President Donald Trump is meeting with other world leaders.
Chancellor Angela Merkel says Germany and others will talk with Brazil about reforestation in the Amazon once fires there have been extinguished.
Merkel said "of course (this is) Brazilian territory, but we have a question here of the rainforests that is really a global question; the lung of our whole Earth is affected, and so we must find common solutions."
Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron both spoke with Chile's president at the Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, and Merkel said that they offered "our entire potential logistical and other help," which will be organized for the European Union by Brussels. She noted that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is also putting "significant forces" into the fight against the rainforest fire.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says it's worth taking every opportunity to avoid a further escalation of the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, and that G-7 leaders had a "good, constructive discussion" on the subject Saturday evening.
Iran's foreign minister made a previously unannounced visit Sunday to Biarritz, France, where the G-7 summit was taking place. He came at France's invitation after a Saturday night discussion that Merkel said made clear all leaders agree that Iran must not get a nuclear weapon and that must be achieved by negotiations.
Merkel said Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif's presence is "a parallel event in the same place, but not a G-7 movement, and now we must see whether the immediate communication of how the talks went yesterday produces further possibilities to speak and perhaps negotiate with Iran."
A European Union source is describing the leaders' dinner at the Group of Seven as "quite tense" as leaders disagreed with U.S. President Donald Trump over issues including how to deal with Russia.
The person speaking on condition of anonymity due to lack of authorization to talk publicly said that Trump, who has proposed inviting Russia back to the G-7 summit, took the position that Russia was a major power that needed to be included in discussions.
Other participants said the G-7 was the wrong format since it is a group of democracies.
The difference from Saturday's dinner carried over into Sunday's session on trade with Trump favoring his tariff-backed push against China and others acknowledging China as a systemic problem but favoring a multilateral approach.
During a brief discussion of digital taxation, Trump did not repeat his threat to tax French wine in response to a French move to tax internet companies who do billions in business there but are taxed elsewhere, a move Trump has said is aimed at U.S. firms.
-David McHugh
A top French official says French President Emmanuel Macron made the decision to invite Iran's top diplomat to Biarritz after the dinner among G-7 leaders of the world's major democracies.
The Saturday night dinner involved tense exchanges over how to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal. Macron had met just Friday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and decided to invite him to France again, this time to Biarritz.
The official did not rule out another meeting between Macron and Zarif, who was speaking Sunday with France's foreign minister. Asked about a possible meeting between Trump and the Iranian, who faces U.S. sanctions, the official said, "not at this stage." The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive decision.
Likewise, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin did not rule out anything, saying Trump had not "set preconditions" to negotiations with Iran.
A senior French official says France invited Iran's foreign minister to the venue of the G-7 summit to try to ease tensions over its nuclear program.
The official said the decision to invite Jawad Zarif on Sunday to the Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, came after the G-7 leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, gathered for dinner Saturday night.
Asked whether the White House was aware of the visit, the French official said "we operate on our own terms" but noted that Macron and Trump met for two hours yesterday and discussed Iran at length, as well as at the group dinner with other leaders.
The French official, who was not authorized to be named publicly, said that France considers it important to check in with Zarif to continue to bring positions closer together and de-escalate tensions.
The official said the Americans in Biarritz will not meet with Zarif, and that France "is working in full transparency with the U.S. and in full transparency with European partners."
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman says the Islamic Republic's top diplomat has landed at the French city hosting the G-7 leaders' summit, though he won't be negotiating nor meeting with U.S. officials while there.
Abbas Mousavi wrote on Twitter on Sunday that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had arrived in Biarritz.
Mousavi made the announcement just after an Airbus A321 registered to the Iranian government landed there, fueling speculation Zarif could be on board.
This is a surprise trip by Zarif. He had only been known to be traveling in the coming days to Asia as part of his tour to get support for Iran amid the U.S. campaign against it since President Donald Trump withdrew America from Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Mousavi stressed in his tweet that "there will be no meetings or negotiations" with American officials during Zarif's trip.
An Airbus A321 registered to the Iranian government has landed in the French city where the ongoing G-7 leaders' summit is happening.
According to the flight tracking site FlightRadar24, the Airbus left Tehran and landed Sunday afternoon at the Biarritz airport, which has been closed to all air traffic except that linked to the summit of the Group of Seven, which includes U.S. President Donald Trump. The incoming flight has raised speculation a senior official could be on board.
This plane previously flew Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on his recent trip to Europe.
However, Zarif is only known to have plans to travel to Asia in the coming days.
There was no immediate word from Iranian state media.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has acknowledged that the prospect of a Brexit deal is "touch and go," as other European Union governments grasp the problems Britain has with the withdrawal agreement.
Johnson told the BBC on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in France that in the last few days "there has been a dawning realization in Brussels and other European capitals what the shape of the problem is for the U.K."
The British parliament has three times rejected a Brexit deal that Johnson's predecessor, Theresa May, had agreed upon with the EU. Among the key issues is how to prevent the return of a border between EU member Ireland and Britain's Northern Ireland.
Johnson said: "I think it's going to be touch and go but the important thing is to get ready to come out without a deal."
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Council President Donald Turk sought out a bit of common ground during a meeting at the Group of Seven summit, the day after a testy exchange about Britain's pending exit from the European Union.
The long-running tensions over Britain's departure from the EU got more personal on Saturday. Johnson and Tusk each suggested that the other is bent on scuttling the chances that the U.K. will break away from the single market of 500 million people with an agreement.
But on Sunday, the exchange was a bit friendlier. Johnson said he and Tusk largely agreed on the world's major issues, regardless of whether there is a deal on Brexit.
Tusk agreed Britain and Europe would remain close regardless of what happens at the Oct. 31 deadline.
French President Emmanuel Macron says leaders of the world's major democracies are nearing an agreement on how to help fight the fires burning in the Amazon and repair the damage.
He said they were trying to come up with appropriate mechanisms, both technical and financial. He thrust the Amazon fires to the top of the agenda of the G-7 summit after declaring it a global emergency and threatening to torpedo a trade deal with Brazil and other South American countries.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come down against blocking the so-called Mercosur trade accord but said she was in favor of treating the Amazon fires as an urgent threat. France claims a small part of the Amazon in its overseas department of French Guiana.
Anti-capitalist protesters have canceled demonstrations planned outside the G-7 summit in southwest France after one of their leaders was among dozens detained in skirmishes with police.
Alexis Chaussalet of activist group Attac said further actions Sunday are postponed because "conditions are not met" to demonstrate peacefully.
Police have locked down the area around the Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, and detained 68 people at a protest Saturday accused of throwing projectiles and other disruptions.
Local authorities said no one was injured but Chaussalet said dozens of demonstrators were hurt. He also said a protest leader who had been central to negotiations with local authorities to ensure peaceful demonstrations was arrested overnight.
The Group of Seven leaders are discussing economic inequality at their lunch Sunday, in a luxury resort on the Atlantic coast, prepared by a Michelin-starred chef.
French President Emmanuel Macron says France is ready to give up its tax on the digital services of tech companies as soon as there is a global agreement on how to tax internet giants such as Facebook and Google.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened tariffs on French wines in retaliation for the tax, which he says unfairly targets American companies. The tax is among the major focuses of this year's G-7 summit of the leaders of major democracies.
Macron told reporters Sunday: "I said very clearly to Trump yesterday that if we can come to an agreement together in the framework of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), we don't need to keep our tax."
Britain has proposed a similar tax.
French President Emmanuel Macron says he has no formal mandate to speak for the G-7 leaders in delivering a message to Iran, but said he would be able to address the issue in the context of what they agreed to during a dinner.
His comments came after U.S. President Donald Trump denied agreeing to anything regarding how to negotiate with Iran. Macron described the dinner as "an informal discussion, free, intense, extremely long" that touched especially on the fires in the Amazon, the Ukrainian crisis and Russia.
He said Trump is the president of the "world's number one power" who has to defend his voters' interest, and had made his views on Iran and other subjects quite clear. Macron is walking a fine line as the host of this year's G-7 summit of major democracies, which is focused on the threat of a global recession, climate change and other major issues.
Melania Trump, Brigitte Macron and other world leaders' wives are visiting the home of a famed French red pepper and tasting Basque country wine on the sidelines of the G-7 summit.
The women are visiting the village of Espelette on Sunday, famed for its piment d'Espelette peppers. The peppers were used in the dinner that the Group of Seven leaders shared in nearby Biarritz on Saturday night.
The spouses will have lunch at the Villa Arnaga, built by the French playwright who wrote "Cyrano de Bergerac." The villa is also where separatists from Basque group ETA signed a peace accord last year after decades of sometimes violent activism in Spain and France.
The U.S. and French first ladies are joined by Akie Abe, wife of Japan's prime minister, Chile's first lady Cecilia Morel, Jenny Morrison, wife of Australia's prime minister, and Malgorzata Tusk, wife of the European Council president.
French President Emmanuel Macron is treading the line on negotiations among G-7 leaders over how to handle Iran, after U.S. President Donald Trump disputed his claim that they had agreed he could deliver a message to Iran on the leaders' behalf.
In an interview on LCI television just before Trump spoke, Macron said the leaders had agreed on what to say to Iran on their objectives. But Trump said he had agreed to nothing, and within a half-hour the French president's office released a new statement apparently trying to assuage Trump.
Macron said he would continue his efforts to de-escalate the situation around Iran as president of the G-7. "He will address a message to the Iranians on the basis of the exchanges in the G-7 format last night. Everyone will pursue their own outreach."
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson began his G-7 summit with a swim outside the rocky outcrop near the Hotel du Palais in the French resort of Biarritz.
Johnson, who is known more as a runner than a swimmer, took a dip in the Atlantic with Britain's ambassador to France.
French security officers, including one on a surfboard, accompanied the British leader as he swam around the rock. Johnson took the dip before an early morning breakfast meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The beach is usually packed this time of year but is eerily empty this weekend because of heavy security for the Group of Seven summit with world leaders.
President Donald Trump is disputing statements by the French government that the Group of Seven nations agreed to empower French President Emmanuel Macron to send a message on behalf of the advanced democracies to Iran.
Asked if he signed onto the message, Trump told reporters, "I haven't discussed that."
The French presidency said earlier Sunday that the leaders of the G-7 countries agreed to allow French President Emmanuel Macron to address a message to Iran in their name and to hold talks with Iranian officials.
No details were provided on the message but the French presidency said the goal is to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons and avoid further escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Trump says during a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo that he's not stopping any leader from talking with Iran, noting Abe's recent outreach. He says: "If they want to talk, they can talk."
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, shaking the hand of French President Emmanuel Macron, congratulated him on his handling of a "difficult" discussion at the G-7 leaders' dinner the night before.
Before taking their seats around the negotiating table Sunday morning to discuss the world economy, the leaders chatted and exchanged greetings.
Johnson and Macron have sparred over Britain's plans to leave the European Union, but they were all smiles on Sunday. During a long handshake, Johnson told Macron "You did very well last night. My God, that was a difficult one."
He added, in French, "bien joué" - or "well played."
The leaders dined together Saturday to kick off a summit that has laid bare huge differences between longtime allies on a range of topics, from trade to climate change and how to save a deal on Iran's nuclear program.
The French presidency said they agreed to let Macron speak for the G-7 in a message to Iran.
Leaders of the G-7 countries agreed to allow French President Emmanuel Macron to address a message to Iran in their name.
The French presidency said Macron will hold talks with Iranian authorities on the basis of discussions at the Group of Seven summit informal dinner with U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders on Saturday night in the French town of Biarritz.
France holds the presidency of the Group of Seven rich democracies this year.
For several months, Macron has taken a lead role in trying to save the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, which has been unraveling since Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement.
Macron met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Paris on Friday before heading to Biarritz for the summit.
Critics of French President Emmanuel Macron are marching near the G-7 summit he is hosting to demand he do more to protect French workers and the planet.
A mix of activists, some wearing yellow vests, carried portraits of Macron as they marched Sunday through the southwest city of Bayonne. Some held the portraits upside down.
The march came as Macron hosted U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders of major democracies for talks Sunday in neighboring Biarritz on the shaky global economy.
The protesters are holding portraits in solidarity with environmental activists who removed official portraits of Macron from town halls around France earlier this year to protest his climate change policies.
Internationally, Macron is a vocal champion of fighting climate change, and has challenged Trump on the issue. At home in France, however, activists accuse him of lagging on promises to wean France from fossil fuels.
U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson say they are talking about the way forward on a comprehensive trade agreement after Britain leaves the European Union.
In a joint statement Sunday after their first meeting, on the sidelines of the G-7 summit, the two said they would create a working group on trade issues. Johnson has complained about American restrictions on imports of food and other items.
The British prime minister is meeting later Sunday with European Council President Donald Tusk, whose welcome will be considerably less warm. The two are widely expected to discuss the bill for Brexit.
Leaders of the Group of Seven are arriving for a working meeting focused on looming threats to the global economy.
U.S. President Donald Trump and the leaders of the other G-7 countries, France, Britain, Italy, Japan, Germany, Canada as well as the European Union were expected to discuss the spread of trade disputes, notably the U.S. trade war with China.
Sunday's gathering in the French seaside resort of Biarritz comes on the heels of the first face-to-face meeting between Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is hoping for a quick trade accord with the United States as Britain's exit from the European Union approaches.
U.S. President Donald Trump has offered British Prime Minister Boris Johnson a boost, saying he's the "right man" to deliver Brexit.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in France, Trump was asked what his advice was for Britain's departure from the European Union.
Trump responded: "He needs no advice. He is the right man for the job."
Johnson replied that the president was "on message there."
The much-anticipated meeting was the first since Johnson took Britain's top job last month. The pair met for a working breakfast on Sunday after being photographed on Saturday night walking and talking on the margins of the summit.
Johnson desperately needs a U.S. trade deal post-Brexit, as Britain will lose its easy access to the EU's single market.
Leaders of major world economies are meeting to discuss the shaky world economy amid trade disputes and uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's policies.
Trump tried to play down tensions among Group of Seven leaders after they had dinner Saturday in the southwest French resort of Biarritz. He is worried that the global economic slowdown is spreading to the U.S. before next year's elections.
The G-7 leaders are meeting Sunday morning to focus on what they can do together to boost the economy. They include the heads of Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and Italy.
Disputes on trade have unsettled the global economy because businesses don't know where tariffs will be imposed.
Anti-capitalist protesters also plan demonstrations Sunday after clashing with police near Biarritz on the summit's opening day Saturday.
U.S. First Lady Melania Trump and Malgorzata Tusk, left, wife of European Council President Donald Tusk arrive with leaders' spouses in a wine shop in the Basque village of Espelette, near Biarritz, southwestern France, Sunday Aug. 25, 2019. Leaders of major democracies are meeting to discuss the shaky world economy amid trade disputes, rising tensions with Iran and uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's go-it-alone policies. (Regis Duvignau/Pool via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attend a press conference on the situation in Sahel during the G7 summit in Biarritz, southwestern France, Sunday Aug. 25 2019. A top Iranian official paid an unannounced visit Sunday to the G-7 summit and headed straight to the building where leaders of the world's major democracies have been debating how to handle the country's nuclear ambitions. (Ian Langsdon, Pool via AP)
U.S. First Lady Melania Trump arrives to visit a wine shop in the Basque village of Espelette, near Biarritz, southwestern France, Sunday Aug. 25, 2019. Leaders of major democracies are meeting to discuss the shaky world economy amid trade disputes, rising tensions with Iran and uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's go-it-alone policies. (Regis Duvignau/Pool via AP)
U.S. First Lady Melania Trump looks at Espelette pepper in Espelette, near Biarritz, southwestern France, Sunday Aug. 25, 2019. Leaders of major democracies are meeting to discuss the shaky world economy amid trade disputes, rising tensions with Iran and uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's go-it-alone policies. (Regis Duvignau/Pool via AP)
Demonstrator hold upside down portraits of French President Emmanuel Macron during a protest through the streets of Bayonne, France Sunday, Aug. 25, 2019. Critics of French President Emmanuel Macron are marching near the G-7 summit he is hosting to demand he do more to protect French workers and the planet. A melange of activists, some wearing yellow vests, carried portraits of Macron as they marched Sunday through the southwest city of Bayonne. Some held the portraits upside down. (AP Photo/Bob Edme)
Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, left, Akie Abe, wife of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chile's First Lady Cecilia Morel, Jenny Morrison, wife of Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Malgorzata Tusk, wife of European Council President Donald Tusk and Espelette mayor Jean-Marie Iputcha, third left, taste wine in the Basque village of Espelette, near Biarritz, southwestern France, Sunday Aug. 25, 2019. Leaders of major democracies are meeting to discuss the shaky world economy amid trade disputes, rising tensions with Iran and uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's go-it-alone policies. (Regis Duvignau/Pool via AP)
In this handout photo taken from the Twitter account of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, shows French President Emmanuel Macron, right, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian, second right, meeting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, left in white shirt, Sunday, Aug.25, 2019 in Biarritz, southwestern France. Zarif paid an unannounced visit Sunday to the G-7 summit and headed straight to the buildings where leaders of the world's major democracies have been debating how to handle the country's nuclear ambitions. (Twitter account of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif via AP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he speaks to the press after a plenary session at the Bellevue centre in Biarritz, southwestern France, Sunday Aug. 25, 2019. The global economy craves a double shot of confidence right now. The most the leaders of the Group of Seven can offer is likely to be a less intoxicating cocktail: the simple promise not to make things any worse. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP)
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, reaches out to shakes hands with President of the European Council Donald Tusk before a meeting on the side of the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France Sunday, Aug. 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
French President Emmanuel Macron, center left, and President Donald Trump, center right, participate in a G-7 Working Session on the Global Economy, Foreign Policy, and Security Affairs the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2019. Also pictured is German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, second from left, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, third from left, President of the European Council Donald Tusk, center, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, top second from right, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)
Fire consumes a field in Novo Progresso, Para state, Brazil, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019. Under increasing international pressure to contain fires sweeping parts of Amazon, Brazilian President Jair will use of the military to battle the massive blazes. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
President Donald Trump and Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, attend a working breakfast at the Hotel du Palais on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
French President Emmanuel Macron, left, U.S. President Donald Trump with Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attend a G7 working session on "International Economy and Trade, and International Security Agenda" during the G7 summit in Biarritz, southwestern France, Saturday Aug. 25, 2019. Leaders of major world economies are meeting to discuss the shaky world economy amid trade disputes and uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's policies. (Philippe Wojazer/Pool via AP)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel attend a press conference on the situation in Sahel during the G7 summit in Biarritz, southwestern France, Sunday Aug. 25 2019. A top Iranian official paid an unannounced visit Sunday to the G-7 summit and headed straight to the building where leaders of the world's major democracies have been debating how to handle the country's nuclear ambitions. (Ian Langsdon Pool via AP)
Demonstrators hold up upside down portraits of French President Emmanuel Macron during a protest in Bayonne, France Sunday, Aug. 25, 2019. Critics of French President Emmanuel Macron marched near the G-7 summit he is hosting to demand he do more to protect French workers and the planet. A melange of activists, some wearing yellow vests, carried portraits of Macron as they marched Sunday through the southwest city of Bayonne. Some held the portraits upside down. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Mounted police officers patrol along the beach, with the G7 venue Bellevue in background, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019 in Biarritz. Leaders of the Group of Seven countries arrive on Saturday to discuss issues including the struggling global economy and climate change until Monday. They include the United States, Germany, Japan, Britain, France, Canada and Italy. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
French President Emmanuel Macron, center, U.S. President Donald Trump, right, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, second right, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, second left, German Chancellor Angela Merkel , center left, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, rear right, and European Council President Donald Tusk attend a G7 working session on "International Economy and Trade, and International Security Agenda" during the G7 summit in Biarritz, southwestern France, Saturday Aug. 25, 2019. (Philippe Wojazer/Pool via AP)
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‘Once Upon a Deadpool’ Has Subversive Delights But Feels Largely Uneven
Posted on December 16, 2018 by The Ultimate Rabbit
Well, it turns out we didn’t have to wait too long for another “Deadpool” movie to make its way to theaters everywhere. But as I’m sure you know by now, this is actually “Deadpool 2” rechristened as a Christmas movie and diluted down to a PG-13 rating, and it comes with the amusing title of “Once Upon a Deadpool.” This version comes with the added bonus of Wade Wilson/Deadpool reading the story of this sequel to Fred Savage who finds himself trapped in a painstakingly recreated set of his character’s bedroom from “The Princess Bride.” Is it worth the price of admission? Well, yes and no.
What makes this modified version of “Deadpool 2” worth seeing is the interplay between Ryan Reynolds and Savage who still looks like he has only aged so much from his child actor days. As much as Savage tries to convince Wade of how he has long since become an adult and, in addition to acting, also works as a writer and director. It’s also doesn’t help things that Wade has kidnapped Savage and taped him to the bed. But as Wade sees it, this is just “unsolicited location advancement.”
One thing “Once Upon a Deadpool” will forever make you remember is a certain comic book trope known as “fridging.” This refers to a female character, a girlfriend or spouse, getting killed off as a plot device to forward the main character’s actions and evolution. Many criticized “Deadpool 2” for being quick to kill off Wade’s girlfriend, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), as she was one of the most memorable characters from the original. This was complicated by the sequel’s co-writers, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, freely admitting they were never aware of this trope. Well, at least everyone credit here as Savage confronts Wade about this and describes it as “lazy writing.” Even now, he everyone involved in the “Deadpool” franchise is quick to have a sense of humor about the criticisms made about the movie. Whatever the writers’ intentions, it is good for a big laugh.
Even with a PG-13 rating, this revised version takes no prisoners as those in front of and behind the camera lay waste to Nickelback, the fact Deadpool is a Marvel character subsidized by 20th Century Fox and not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and of the number of F-bombs which can be included in a version, excluding of course the 4-letter words which are bleeped out. Then again, those bleeped out words may not be the ones you are thinking of.
As for Nickelback, I’m not sure if I have ever listened to any of their songs. All I know is everyone seems to think they suck. I wonder how they feel about all the derision they get for their music. Maybe the fact they are mentioned in this movie will raise their record sales a little. Remember, any publicity is good publicity.
In many ways, the whole of “Once Upon a Deadpool” is a send-up of the PG-13 rating in general. When you look at what is left of “Deadpool 2” after the removal of certain words and the copious amounts of blood, we are still left with a motion picture which is still pretty violent and features, among other things, characters getting run over by cars, Deadpool exploding into pieces, and T.J. Miller whom I figured would be removed from this version the same way Kevin Spacey was removed from “All the Money in the World.” Besides, we already know this actor will not be around for “Deadpool 3.”
This PG-13 rated version also serves as an amusing reminder of the hypocrisy of the MPAA as they are clearly more comfortable with violence than they are with sex. Imagine if there was a scene of Vanessa getting oral pleasure from Wade. The MPAA would flip over that more than any scene of ultra-violence this sequel has to offer and would be quick to give it an NC-17 for all the wrong reasons.
Having said all this, I have to say “Once Upon a Deadpool” is undone by this rating as scenes are excised and others added, and it throws off the whole rhythm of the film. The narrative feels severely uneven, and what was funny before now feels stilted and out of place this time around. “Deadpool 2” was one of the best times I had at the movies in 2018, but this version makes me wonder why I enjoyed it so much in the first place. If nothing else, it proves how the “Deadpool” movies work better in R-rated territory. When the first one came along, it was a cinematic grenade the realm of comic book/superhero movies needed as many of them were playing it safe. This made the first “Deadpool” all the more welcome as it shook things up and gave us something not all PC, but it was still filled with a lot of heart and taught everyone a great lesson about loving someone from the inside out and not the outside in.
So overall, “Once Upon a Deadpool” is a mixed bag. I loved the scenes between Savage and Reynolds as they add another subversive layer to the proceedings, but the rest of the movie feels off-balance. If you can handle that, then it is worth checking out, and a dollar from your ticket will be donated to the Fudge Cancer charity. It is actually known under another name, but again, we are in PG-13 territory and only so many F-bombs will be tolerated along with onscreen violence.
And yes, there are some enjoyable post-credit scenes to enjoy including an honorable tribute to the late Stan Lee. Yes, he was 95 years old, but he still left us way too soon.
* * ½ out of * * * *
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Elizabeth Warren turns down Fox News town hall, blasts network as a 'hate-for-profit machine'
Rudy Giuliani says Lev Parnas 'misled' him and 'lied stupidly'
Under McConnell's rules, Trump's impeachment trial could last well past midnight or end immediately
Intelligence officials: New ISIS leader is one of its founding members
Kellyanne Conway decides Martin Luther King Jr. would have opposed Trump's impeachment
CNN poll: 51 percent want Senate to remove Trump from office
McConnell plans a speedy impeachment trial
See More Speed Reads
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) isn't into this whole Fox News town hall thing.
The Democratic candidate for president in 2020 on Tuesday revealed that she has turned down an offer from Fox News to participate in a town hall, blasting the network as a "hate-for-profit racket that gives a megaphone to racists and conspiracists" and that is "designed to turn us against each other, risking life and death consequences."
The Democratic National Committee in March announced it would not be partnering with Fox News for any 2020 debates, citing the network's "inappropriate relationship" with President Trump. But since then, a number of prominent 2020 contenders have participated in town hall events with Fox News, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), whose April event was a ratings hit. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) also recently held a Fox News town hall, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg have both agreed to do so.
Since being rejected for 2020 debates by the DNC, Fox News personalities like Bill Hemmer have urged the committee to reconsider, arguing that their news division is different than the opinion programming. House Democrats have also recently been encouraging members to make appearances on Fox News to reach voters to the right who might be sympathetic to some of their ideas.
Warren said on Tuesday that Fox has "enough legit journalism to make the claim to advertisers that it's a reputable news outlet," but she says that a town hall event gives the sales team "a way to tell potential sponsors it's safe to buy ads on Fox" and "adds money to the hate-for-profit machine." For that reason, she concludes, "hard pass." Brendan Morrow
he said he said
Rudy Giuliani is "heartbroken" over recent comments made by his former associate Lev Parnas, who says he worked closely with Giuliani in Ukraine as part of an attempt to find damaging information about former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Speaking to Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Monday night, Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, said he was once "close to" Parnas, but was "misled by him." In October, Parnas and his business partner Igor Fruman were arrested and charged with campaign finance violations. Last week, Parnas made several public accusations against Giuliani, President Trump, and Attorney General William Barr, implicating all of them in the Ukraine scheme that is central to Trump's impeachment.
While Fruman did not cooperate with House impeachment investigators, Parnas did, turning over documents and other materials. Parnas said while he was in Ukraine trying to find dirt on the Bidens, he "wouldn't do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani and the president." Giuliani, a former U.S. attorney, refuted this, saying Parnas "in very large part did not tell the truth" and "lied stupidly."
Giuliani told Ingraham he would not discuss all of Parnas' accusations, but did deny ever talking about his Ukraine investigation with Barr and said Parnas' account of a meeting during a 2018 White House Hanukkah party was a lie. In November, CNN reported that Parnas told two people close to him that during the celebration, Trump let Parnas and Fruman know he wanted them to go on a "secret mission" to Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. Giuliani said this was "absolutely untrue," as they were never pulled into a private meeting.
Parnas posted a photo taken at the party on social media, showing him posing with Trump, Giuliani, Fruman, and Vice President Mike Pence. Trump has repeatedly denied knowing Parnas; Parnas has promised to keep releasing pictures of the two of them together. Catherine Garcia
Trump impeachment trial
The Senate will vote Tuesday on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-K.Y.) proposed rules for President Trump's impeachment trial. If they approve the rules, the senators will be voting for some very late nights at the office.
McConnell's rules allow 24 hours for opening arguments over two sessions. If Trump's team and the House Democratic impeachment managers use all their time, it "could push testimony past midnight," The Washington Post reports. That would be a long time for senators to sit quietly without checking their phones, assuming they show up for the trial, but arguably worse for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
Roberts should insist that he will not preside for 12 hours. He still has to be alert during the morning. This is coverup on steroids. We should all protest. https://t.co/8khPub1vRP
— Jill Wine-Banks (@JillWineBanks) January 21, 2020
After the opening arguments, senators would have 16 hours to question Trump's team and the House managers, then four hours to debate whether to allow witnesses and new evidence — and then, whether to allow the House's impeachment documents to be admissible as evidence. That's "a key difference from the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton," the Post notes. "Though the material will be printed and made available to senators, it won’t be automatically admissible unless a majority of senators approve it."
All this may be a moot point, though, because McConnell's rules also allow Trump's team to move to dismiss the charges at any time after the rules are adopted, so 51 senators could end the trial right away. Fox News congressional reporter Chad Pergram isn't impressed.
McConnell’s resolution stipulates that key facts be delivered in the wee hours of the night simply because he doesn’t want the American people to hear them. Any senator that votes for the McConnell resolution will be voting to hide information & evidence from the American people
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 20, 2020
University of Texas constitutional law professor Steve Vladeck suggests McConnell might not have had impartial justice in mind.
As @nycsouthpaw points out, inverting the process like this will create some real awkwardness—and seems designed, quite clearly, to make it much easier for Senators to argue against reopening the process to accommodate any new witnesses/testimony after the arguments are complete. https://t.co/c0pTIRa18k
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) January 20, 2020
"All 53 Republican senators are expected to support the rules as written by McConnell," the Post reports. Peter Weber
Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images
The Islamic State's new leader is Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi, one of the terrorist organization's founding members, intelligence officials told The Guardian.
Last October, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a raid in Syria, and officials said Salbi replaced him just hours after his death. Born to an Iraqi Turkmen family, Salbi has a background as an Islamic scholar, and came up with the ISIS religious rulings authorizing the enslavement of Iraq's Yazidi minority. Salbi met Baghdadi in 2004, when both were detained by U.S. forces at Camp Bucca in Iraq.
There aren't many founding members of ISIS left, and the group doesn't have nearly as many fighters as it did during its peak in the mid-2010s. ISIS no longer controls vast swaths of Iraq and Syria, but they are still behind assassinations and roadside bombings in northern Iraq, a senior Kurdish official told The Guardian. There are rural networks that "remain very much intact," the official said. "After all, ISIS members in Iraq still receive monthly salaries and training in remote mountainous areas. That network allows the organization to endure, even when militarily defeated."
Salbi's whereabouts are unknown, but intelligence officials believe it's likely he is near Mosul, Iraq. There is a $5 million bounty on his head. Catherine Garcia
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
An attorney for Lev Parnas, the indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani, sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr on Monday, requesting the he recuse himself from Parnas' criminal case.
Parnas was arrested last October and charged with campaign finance violations. In the letter, which was also filed in New York federal court, attorney Joseph Bondy said Barr has a conflict of interest and asked that a special prosecutor from outside the Justice Department handle Parnas' case. "Federal ethics guidelines bar federal employees from participating in matters in which their impartiality could be questioned, including matters in which they were personally involved or about which they have personal knowledge," Bondy wrote.
Bondy cited several reasons why Barr should recuse himself, noting that the reconstructed transcript released by the White House of President Trump's July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shows Trump telling Zelensky that Barr could help him facilitate an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden. Last week, Parnas told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow that Barr knew about efforts in the Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden, saying, "Attorney General Barr was basically on the team." Read Bondy's letter here. Catherine Garcia
and she knows this how?
Alexey Wong/Getty Images
Everyone knows that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for social justice, racial equality, and an end to poverty, but White House counselor Kellyanne Conway thinks he also wouldn't stand for President Trump's impeachment.
When asked by NBC News on Monday how Trump was observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Conway said he was getting ready to head to Davos for the World Economic Forum, then managed to connect the late civil rights leader to Trump's impeachment. "I don't think it was within Dr. King's vision to have Americans dragged through a process where the president is not going to be removed from office, is not being charged with bribery, extortion, high crimes, or misdemeanors," she said. "And I think that anybody who cares about 'and justice for all' on today or any day of the year will appreciate the fact that the president now will have a full throttle defense on the facts, and everybody should have that."
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both visited the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., and Trump also tweeted that it was "so appropriate" that "exactly three years ago today, Jan. 20, 2017, I was sworn into office." His impeachment trial will formally begin on Tuesday. Catherine Garcia
Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images
A new CNN poll out Monday shows that 51 percent of Americans think the Senate should vote to convict and remove President Trump from office during his upcoming impeachment trial.
Meanwhile, 45 percent believe the Senate should vote against conviction and removal. Almost 69 percent say the trial should include testimony from new witnesses who did not appear before House impeachment investigators. Republicans are split on whether there should be witnesses in the trial — 48 percent are in favor of new witnesses, while 44 percent are not.
This was the first major national phone poll conducted since the articles of impeachment were sent to the Senate and Lev Parnas, the indicted Rudy Giuliani associate, appeared on cable news shows and implicated Trump in the Ukraine pressure campaign. The poll was conducted by SSRS from Jan. 16 to 19, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. Catherine Garcia
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday submitted his impeachment trial rules proposal, which calls for a speedy trial.
The resolution will be voted on Tuesday afternoon, and needs a majority to pass the Senate. Under his plan, each side will have 24 hours over two days for opening statements, and senators will have up to 16 hours for questions and four hours of debate. After that, a vote will be held on calling additional witnesses. If other witnesses are called, the Senate will decide if any of them testify publicly.
"Sen. McConnell's resolution is nothing short of a national disgrace," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, adding that McConnell "is hell-bent on making it much more difficult to get witnesses and documents and intent on rushing the trial through." This proposal shows that McConnell "doesn't want to hear any of the existing evidence, and he doesn't want to hear any new evidence. A trial where there is no evidence — no existing record, no witnesses, no documents — isn't a trial at all."
Eric Ueland, the White House's legislative affairs director, said President Trump and his team are happy with the proposal, as they are "seeking an acquittal as swiftly as possible." Catherine Garcia
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Travel As Much
Tag: Historic Sites
A Philadelphia Ghost Tour
By Julie | December 30, 2019 | Comments 0 Comment
Last month, my daughter and three of her friends went to an AJR concert in Philadelphia. Hubs and I provided the transportation, so we had to figure out something to do while they were at the show. Luckily, I happened upon a Philadelphia ghost tour that sounded like it might be fun.
We made our reservation, dropped off the girls, and headed to the meeting place for the start of our tour. Our guide issued us glow sticks, provided a brief introduction, and away we went!
The Ghost of Carpenters’ Hall
Our first stop was Carpenters’ Hall (320 Chestnut Street), built in 1775 for the Carpenters’ Company for the City and County of Philadelphia, the oldest craft guild in the country, and still in existence today. This building was the meeting site of the first Continental Congress in 1774, and the Pennsylvania Provincial Conference in 1776. It was at the latter meeting that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was officially established and declared independent from British rule.
As for the ghost, the story goes that at one point in time, the attic floor of Carpenters’ Hall consisted of apartments rented to members of the guild. One of the residents, Tom Cunningham, died in his apartment in late 1879 from the yellow fever epidemic. (Yellow fever, as it turns out, was quite a big deal in Philly. More on that later.) After Cunningham’s death, other residents stated that they heard footsteps stomping down the hallway and loud banging noises from Cunningham’s old room.
Bishop White House
The Bishop White house (309 Walnut Street) was home to the Rev. Dr. William White, the first Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania and chaplain to the Second Constitutional Convention and the U.S. Senate. It was built in 1787, and was one of the first homes to have an indoor “necessary,” or toilet. While that sounds like a luxury of which most would be envious back in the day, it didn’t turn out that way. Servants emptied the waste from the toilets into Dock Creek… the waters of which flowed in back of the Bishop’s house. The waters from that stream were used, among other things, in food preparation for the White family. Five of the Bishop’s eight children contracted dysentery and died from the disease. (This is what our tour guide told us. Other accounts say that the deaths were due to yellow fever.)
Once called the “most genteel tavern in America” by founding father John Adams, Philadelphia’s City Tavern ( 138 S 2nd Street) boasts two ghosts of legend. The first is that of a waiter who unknowingly stepped into the line of fire at a duel on the tavern grounds around 1790. Some people have reported seeing his ghost fall to the ground as if shot. This spectre also purportedly moves table settings around and makes silverware clatter.
The second ghost is that of a bride-to-be who was upstairs with her attendants preparing for the wedding. During the excitement, a candle set a curtain on fire and the flame quickly engulfed the room, then spread to the rest of the building. The bride died in that 1834 fire which also destroyed part of the building. Visitors report seeing a ghostly woman dressed in her wedding gown with a long train.
The Merchants’ Exchange
This is probably the most beautiful building we saw on our Philadelphia ghost tour. The Merchants’ Exchange (143 S 3rd Street) was built in the 1830s and is the oldest existing stock exchange building in the United States. The ghosts at this location are those of Harold Thorn, a wealthy but ill-tempered business man, and Jack Osteen (no relation to Joel as far as I know), a blind beggar.
Jack hung around outside the Merchants’ Exchange building, hoping to get some money from a philanthropic business men. While there, he would often spend time with the horses tethered outside the building, petting them and, when he was able, feeding them apples.
One particular day in 1834, Thorn lost a lot of money inside the Merchants’ Exchange, putting him in a fouler mood than usual. As he stormed out, he bumped into Jack. The bling man stumbled to regain his footing and as a result, inadvertently stepped on Thorn’s shoes. Thorn went into a rage and began pommeling Jack with his fashionable walking stick. When his rage subsided, Jack was dead.
In the silence following the attack, one of the horses let out an unearthly shriek, reared up on its hind legs, and struck Thorn with its hooves. The blow killed him. Today people say that they sometimes see the figure of Thorn and a horse re-enacting the scene outside the Merchants’ Exchange building.
Physick House
Built in 1786, the Hill-Keith-Physick house (321 S. Fourth Street) was once owned by Philip Physick, the father of american surgery. One of the foremost surgeons of the time, Physick was one of the few doctors who stayed in Philadelphia to care for the sick during the yellow fever epidemic of 1793. His many patients included Dolley Madison and Chief Justice John Marshall.
The story goes that Physick hired men to dig up bodies from the grave yard and bring them back to his house, where he performed autopsies to study anatomy and discover their cause of death. Once he had finished with them, he buried the bodies in his back yard. The ghosts at the Physick House are supposed to be those of his dead subjects, robbed of their final resting place.
St. Peters Episcopal Church
In 1793, a group of Iroquois chief tribe chiefs traveled to Philadelphia to sign a peace treaty with George Washington. The city was going through a smallpox epidemic at the time. Unfortunately, all of the visiting chiefs contracted the disease and died. Washington buried them at St. Peter’s Church (3rd & Pine Streets) with military honors.
Today, their ghosts are said to haunt the area because they were buried in a location that was not consecrated for the Iroquois. And because their graves are unmarked, the bodies can’t be moved — no one knows for certain exactly where they are buried.
Old Pine Street Church
Old Pine St. Church & Cemetery (412 Pine Street) – also known as the cemetery that Nicholas Cage ran through in National Treasure – was occupied by the British Army from September 1777 – June 1778. The British soldiers stripped the church of its pews, and used the church building as a stable and hospital. They also used the cemetery as a target range to improve their marksmanship.
It is said that the spirits of those British soldiers have been condemned to remain there as an eternal punishment, and that the fancy fence that surrounds the cemetery is there to keep them locked in.
William Penn laid out five public squares in the 1680s to keep the green in his “greene Countrie Towne” of Philadelphia. One of those public squares is Washington Square, and during the Revolutionary War, it was a mass burial ground. It served as a mass burial site again during the yellow fever epidemic that struck Philadelphia in 1793.
Grave robbers were very common at that time, so Quaker nurses wearing black cloaks would patrol the area to keep the graves undisturbed. They say that today, the spirit of one such nurse named Leah still walks through the square.
Congress Hall
Next to the imposing and important Independence Hall is a smaller building called Congress Hall (6th & Chestnut Streets). The United States Senate and House of Representatives met at Congress Hall while Philadelphia was the capital of the United States, from 1790 to 1800. President George Washington took his second oath of office in this building, and John Adams’ inauguration also took place here.
They say that the ghosts of some of America’s early legislators inhabit the building, including President John Adams. The story goes that President Adams’ spirit regularly knocks the paintings on the walls so they hang crookedly.
How to Take a Philadelphia Ghost Tour
The ghost tour we enjoyed was the Spirits of ’76 Ghost Tour. It lasts about 75 minutes, and takes you to 20 different allegedly haunted sites in the historic center of Philadelphia. You can also buy a ghost tour combo ticket with a Constitutional Walking Tour.
While we did not see (or feel the presence of) any ghosts, we did enjoy seeing some of the historic buildings and learning about the history of the city. I would recommend taking this tour if you’re looking for a fun, family-friendly evening activity.
Please note that I paid for our tickets. Spirits of ’76 Ghost Tour was not aware that I was a blogger, nor that I would be writing a review of my experience.
The Medieval French Town of Dinan
There are six Celtic nations* – areas in which a Celtic language are still spoken to some extent today. Five of the six Celtic nations are in the UK. The sixth is in France; specifically, the northwestern region of Brittany. Because of my deep and abiding love of Cornwall, another Celtic nation, I knew that when I went to Paris, a day trip to Brittany was a must. I found a guided, one day tour of Brittany that included the fairy tale village of Dinan. The other two stops on the tour were St. Malo and Mont St. Michel. Adding a third stop seemed over-ambitious to me for a one day trip. I was skeptical as to the value of going there, so I looked Dinan up online. Once I saw what it was like, I couldn’t have been happier. It is the most beautiful medieval French town!
* In addition to Brittany and Cornwall, the other Celtic Nations are Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the Isle of Man.
About Dinan
The town of Dinan is built up on a hillside, overlooking the River Rance. We drove up to through the town straight to St. Sauveur Basilica, a Gothic-Romanesque church.
We arrived in this charming, medieval French town fairly late in the day but the cathedral doors were open, so we stepped inside to explore. There were lovely stained glass windows depicting the saints of the Roman Catholic Church.
We also saw a couple of stone sarcophagi (I think that’s the right name for them).
Then we ventured outside the church, and I wandered around to the back of the building. Here I found “Le Jardin Anglais” or The English Garden. Tucked away behind the imposing church, it was a place of beauty and peace. It was also a place of solitude, as I had the entire area to myself! I thought the name was quite appropriate, as it did remind me quite a bit of the gardens I’ve seen on my trips to England.
Wandering around the back of the church also gave me an opportunity to look over the town’s ramparts. The view of the town and the river below was excellent, and I highly recommend taking in the view from this spot if you visit Dinan.
The Town Center
I left the church and walked toward the historic center of this medieval French town. Because it was late afternoon/early evening, and a gloomy, rainy day to boot, there were very few people in the streets. Combined with the cobblestone streets and historic half-timbered buildings, the lack of pedestrians made me fantasize for a moment that I had stepped back though time to a different era. (One can always hope!)
There were creperies and small shops, but we were on a tight schedule with very little time to explore properly. I did not venture inside, but instead just walked around and took in all the beautiful details.
I saw half-timbered buildings in several different colors – dark red, light blue, and even a grayish green color. It seemed garish and artificial compared to the strictly black or brown Tudor style buildings I’ve seen in the UK. I asked our bus driver about this and he assured me that the colors were historically accurate for that region. (I remain skeptical, but not bothered enough by it to do the research and determine if this is the case.)
The weather was less than ideal when I visited Dinan, and it was still stunningly beautiful. I’m fairly confident in saying that there may not be a bad time to visit. However, if you are traveling to France in an even numbered year, I encourage you to visit Dinan in mid-July for the town’s Festival of the Ramparts (Fête des Remparts). The town is transformed with decoration and many locals dress up in medieval garb for this two-day festival held on the third weekend in July every other year.
Paris’ Church of Saint Sulpice
By Julie | October 10, 2019 | Comments 0 Comment
When I went to Paris earlier this year, I stayed in the most amazing Airbnb. It was super small and stuck up on the top floor of a large building with an open courtyard. Normally, it was not a place I would have chosen. But when I discovered that the tiny little apartment had a view of the Eiffel Tower, I booked it almost immediately. Because, my friends, if you are going to Paris, you might as well stay someplace that reminds you you’re in Paris every time you glance toward the window.
Okay, back to business. When I gazed out the window at the Eiffel Tower, I couldn’t help but notice the church off to the right with the two round towers. I consulted the map, determined that I had a great view of the Church of Saint Sulpice, and decided to check it out. I was glad I did, and I’ll tell you why you should visit the church when you’re in Paris.
A church has existed on the site since the 13th century, and construction began on the present building in 1646. If you’re into architecture, the Church of Saint Sulpice has a lot to offer: concave walls, Corinthian columns, pilasters, balustrades, double colonnade, loggia, Ionic order, and a bunch of other features about which, sadly, I have no clue.
At one time, there was a solid-silver statue by Edmé Bouchardon. Cast from silverware donated by parishioners, it was known as “Our Lady of the Old Tableware”. Sadly, it disappeared during the French Revolution. However, a breathtaking white marble sculpture of Mary by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle replaced it:
By Selbymay – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
During the French Revolution (1789-1799), Robespierre established the Cult of the Supreme Being during the Revolution as the new state religion, replacing Catholicism. At that time, the Church of Saint Sulpice became a place of worship for The Supreme Being. A sign at the church entrance said “Le Peuple Français Reconnoit L’Etre Suprême Et L’Immortalité de L’Âme”’ (“The French people recognize the Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul”).
Churches contain some of the most beautiful art in the world, and Saint Sulpice is no exception. It proudly displays not one, but three original murals by Eugene Delacroix.
Eugene Delacroix, widely regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school of art, has three paintings in the Church of Saint Sulpice: The Expulsion of Heliodorus, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, and Saint Michael Vanquishing the Demon. The first two are murals that are over 23 feet high, and the third is a ceiling mural that stretches 16 feet across.
The thing that struck me most about Delacroix’s paintings was that they were full of movement. This was especially the case with The Expulsion of Heliodorus:
The Expulsion of Heliodorus by Eugene Delacroix
Figures tumble down toward the bottom of the frame. Others are caught with a weapon in their hand mid-swing. An urn is toppling over, and the horse is rearing back on his hind legs. Chaos erupts from every brushstroke. The story depicted here comes from the Catholic Bible, in the book of 2 Maccabees. In reading it, you can see how vividly Delacroix captured the action:
But Heliodorus carried on with what had been decided. When he and his spearmen approached the treasury, however, the ruler of all spirits and all authority made an awesome display, so that all those daring to come with Heliodorus fainted, terrified and awestruck by God’s power. A horse appeared to them with a fearsome rider and decked out with a beautiful saddle. While running furiously, the horse attacked Heliodorus with its front hooves. The rider appeared to be clothed in full body armor made of gold. Two young men also appeared before him—unmatched in bodily strength, of superb beauty, and with magnificent robes. They stood on either side of Heliodorus and beat him continuously with many blows.
2 Maccabees 3: 23-26, CEB
The other mural, directly across from the Heliodorus mural, depicts a semi-violent scene from Genesis, wherein Jacob wrestles with an angel.
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel by Eugene Delacroix.
Note the French flag in the lower right corner.
This painting captures the pivotal moment in the Book of Genesis when Jacob’s receives a new name. No longer known as Jacob, from that moment forward he is Israel, which means “God contends”.
I loved the detail of the beautiful sculpture atop the tomb of Jean-Baptiste Languet de Gergy:
It was under Languet de Gergy’s tenure as priest at the Church of Saint Sulpice that the gnomon (see below) was built. He is the central figure of the sculpture, with death behind him and an angel before him.
The Gnomon
By definition, a gnomon is the part of a sundial that casts a shadow. The gnomon of Saint Sulpice was constructed to establish the exact astronomical time. Why? In order to ring the bells at the most appropriate time of day. This astronomical device consists of three parts that work together. The first: a brass line set in the marble floor of the church, oriented along the north-south axis.
Second: a small round opening in the southern stained-glass window of the transept. The opening is about 75 feet up from the floor. Sunlight shines through that opening and creates a circle of light on the floor. At noon each day, that circle of light crosses the brass meridian line in the floor.
Third: an obelisk, illuminated near its top when the sun is at its lowest at midday.
The obelisk at the church of Saint Sulpice
If the obelisk did not exist, the sunlight would hit an area about 60 feet beyond the wall of the church.
As an aside, you may notice in the photo above that there is a large rectangular area on the right side of the obelisk’s inscription that appears damaged. It originally made reference to the King and his ministers. The revolutionaries removed that part of the inscription during the French Revoluton.
Claims to Fame
Some random bits of trivia about the Church of Saint Sulpice:
It is the second-largest church in all of Paris. Only Notre Dame Cathedral is bigger.
The two towers of the church do not match. The north tower was replaced in 1780 but due to the French Revolution, the south tower was never replaced.
The Marquis de Sade (from whom we get the word sadism) was baptized in the Church of Saint Sulpice.
Author Victor Hugo (Les Miserables) married his wife in the church.
The church’s Great Organ is legendary. It has 102 stops. I gather that this is a big deal; however, I know as much about organs as I do about architecture.
Then there’s that bestseller…
The Da Vinci Code Connection
In Dan Brown’s best-selling novel, The DaVinci Code, the Church of Saint Sulpice was one of the key plot locations. In the novel, Brown refers to the gnomon of Saint Sulpice as “a vestige of the pagan temple that had once stood on this very spot,” although there is no evidence to support this. He also indicates that the meridian line running through Saint Sulpice is the Paris Meridian (which is actually about 2 kilometers away, at the Paris Observatory).
The novel misrepresented the Church of Saint Sulpice to such an extent that when Ron Howard wanted to use the church as a filming location for The DaVinci Code movie, the Archdiocese refused to allow it. Further, the church has had to serve as fact checker for fans of the book who have come to see the church in person. They display the following note:
Contrary to fanciful allegations in a recent best-selling novel, this [the line in the floor] is not a vestige of a pagan temple. No such temple ever existed in this place. It was never called a “Rose-Line”. It does not coincide with the meridian traced through the middle of the Paris Observatory, which serves as a reference for maps…. Please also note that the letters P and S in the small round windows at both ends of the transept refer to Peter and Sulpice, the patron saints of the church, and not an imaginary “Priory of Sion”.
— sign posted at the Church of Saint Sulpice
Oddly enough, while the Cathedral of Notre Dame caught fire a week after I left Paris, the Church of Saint Sulpice caught fire two weeks before I arrived. Some of the areas were not accessible to me, but at the time I did not know why. Other than some items oddly placed, like the chairs up against the gnomon in the photo above, I saw no evidence of a fire when I visited.
A stop at the Church of Saint Sulpice is a quick and easy addition to any itinerary, and it’s definitely worth a stop in between other destinations. When you’ve finished exploring the inside of the Church, be sure to take in the wonderful view and the gorgeous fountain in the plaza just outside.
Header image source: By Mbzt – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
Can’t visit Notre Dame while it undergoes repairs? Check out the Church of Saint Sulpice, Paris’ second largest cathedral.
A Murder Mystery Train Ride in Lancaster County PA
By Julie | October 1, 2019 | Comments 0 Comment
On a recent trip to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, we booked tickets for a Murder Mystery dinner. On a train. Because who can resist having dinner on a train? My companions for this murder mystery train ride were my daughter, the other girls in her Girl Scouts troop, and five or six Girl Scout moms. We had a blast!
But First, the History (of course!)
We arrived early enough that we got to look around a bit and learn about the place. I discovered that the Strasburg Railroad is the oldest continuously operating railroad in the western hemisphere! It opened in 1832, and today it is considered a heritage railroad. It has the United States’ only operational wooden dining car on which visitors may dine while riding.
Back in the 1820s, canals were becoming the most efficient and popular method of land transportation. And southeastern Pennsylvania was on the verge of being shut out of the pipeline as most goods were moved through Baltimore instead of Philadelphia via the Susquehanna Canal. The few goods that did go to Philadelphia traveled via wagon through the small town of Strasburg.
In 1831, Philadelphia tried to reclaim its status as a transportation hub by opening the Philadelphia and Columbia railroad. Unfortunately for Strasburg, the new railroad would have bypassed their town completely and, as a result, harmed them financially. A group of businessmen decided to petition the state for the opportunity to build a connecting railroad from Strasburg to the Philadelphia and Columbia.
And thus, the Strasburg Railroad was born. The railroad only measures 4.5 miles long. Typically, you can travel round trip on the railroad in about 45 minutes for special excursions, like the one we went on.
From the moment you leave the parking lot and step onto the platform at the Strasburg Railroad, it feels as though you have gone back in time.
What’s really interesting is that the Strasburg Rail Road is a real, operating steam railroad. Steam locomotives pull the Strasburg Rail Road trains, and passengers ride in authentically restored, turn-of-the-century wooden rail cars.
In all honesty, I tend to expect the worst when it comes to doing something that includes a meal. In my experience, dinner included experiences tend to be less than mediocre. Happily, that was not the case on Strasburg’s Murder Mystery Train Ride. It was both palatable and substantial. Their menu:
Choice of entrée – Chicken Marsala, Broiled Cajun Tilapia Filet, Prime Rib, or Vegetarian Chef’s Choice
Seasoned potatoes
Vegetable of the day
Dessert – Choice of Cheesecake, Shoo Fly Pie, Apple Pie or Chocolate Cake
Lemonade or water (additional beverage options available for purchase)
The murder mystery play was “The Choir Sang Murder!” by Act I Productions. The plot: Strasburg Rail Road is hosting a concert for its dinner guests, featuring The Strasburg Choir. The menu looks wonderful, but it was never meant to include murder! When the choir’s heavy-handed director is bumped off during the ride – in front of the guests – someone has hit a sour note! From the twisted mind of Debi Irene Wahl, this fun murder mystery sings madness, harmonizes murder, and serves up some serious discord!
No one in our group had ever been on an experience like this. We had no idea what to expect. So when three young ladies clad in choir robes came pushing and shoving their way into the dining car, arguing loudly, we were a bit surprised.
The first was Max, the choir treasurer who has a tendency to get in financial trouble. Then there was Carol, the Choir Director’s sister-in-law, who may have had some self-serving motives. And the third was George, a surly goth girl who had begrudgingly joined the choir as part of her court-ordered community service.
The girls squabbled among themselves for a few minutes, and during that time we learned of their suspicious pasts. Most of their character faults seemed to center around mishandling of finances. It almost seemed that this would be a mystery regarding a theft, not a murder.
Then Tillie, the Choir Director, entered our car. She was everything you might expect from a choir director – loud, theatrical, and in charge. She brought the protestations of the three singers to a halt. Dialogue ensued, there was a bit of a scuffle, and the next thing we knew, Tillie was dead. Oh, Tillie, we hardly knew ya!
Who was to blame for Tillie’s sudden demise? Thankfully, the conductor was on the case. He came to investigate, asking us passengers what we saw, and providing us with some background information as well.
The End (No Spoilers!)
You would think that a bunch of middle and high school girls would be too cool to get into a small scale dramatic production like the murder mystery train ride.
But you’d be wrong.
When it came time to declare who we thought the murderer was, these girls were soooo into it! They compared theories and argued with each other (sometimes vehemently). I couldn’t believe how much they enjoyed themselves! My daughter nearly wrote an entire thesis when she was filling out her “whodunit” form.
(potential spoilers concealed)
As a bonus, everyone who guessed the correct answer was entered in a drawing for a prize.
This was a really fun outing with the girls! I don’t know if I would have enjoyed it as much if I had been riding with just adults. But for family fun that’s not your usual activity, I highly recommend the murder mystery train ride and dinner at Strasburg Rail Road!
The Paris Deportation Memorial: Dark Side of the City’s History
By Julie | September 19, 2019 | Comments 0 Comment
At the eastern tip of Ile de la Cite, just behind Notre Dame Cathedral, the overlooked Paris Deportation Memorial honors some 200,000 of France’s victims from World War II. This memorial is not for the soldiers, however, but other casualties of that war. It honors the men, women and children who were arrested, rounded up like cattle, and sent out of Paris to Nazi death camps.
France’s role in WWII was a complicated one. What follows is undoubtedly an over-simplification. My goal is not to bore you with too many details, but provide some basic background information.
In 1939, France had invaded Germany, but by May/June of 1940, Germany had defeated France and its Benelux neighbors (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg). To make matters worse, Italy had also invaded France from the south. The French had little choice but to seek peace.
Hitler carried a grudge over the way WWI had ended so poorly for Germany. If the French wanted peace, it would be only on his terms. He wanted to have an armistice (truce) signing with the French in the same exact place where his country conceded defeat to the Allies at the end of WWI. Needless to say, he wasn’t feeling particularly generous toward the French. One witness on that day reportedly said of Hitler, “I have seen that face many times at the great moments of his life. But today! It is afire with scorn, anger, hate, revenge, triumph.”
Among the terms of the Armistice of 1940: the Germans would occupy almost two-thirds of France (at France’s expense). Any German national who had sought asylum in France would be turned over for deportation to a concentration camp. And no French soldiers who were prisoners of war would be released under the armistice. As a result, one million of them spent the next five years in German POW camps.
The Deporation
Beginning in 1942, Jews in France faced deportation. Tragically, the French police actually aided in the effort to take these families out of their homes and turn them over to Nazi authorities. (Hard to imagine? I highly recommend a novel set in Paris during this time period: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.)
In all, around 200,000 people were deported from France and sent to 15 different Nazi death camps. I learned that the term “death camp” covers different places: concentration camps, special camps of the SS, killing centers, internment camps, regroupment camps for deportation, retaliation camps for prisoners of war, etc.
I also learned that it wasn’t just Jews who were deported – of the 200,000 roughly 76,000 were Jews. Sadly, 11,000 of those were children. Each prisoner sent to a death camp wore a blue and white striped uniform with a special insignia – a colored triangle patch – to indicate his offense. Political prisoners wore a red triangle, Gypsies brown, homosexuals pink, Jehovah’s Witnesses purple, and criminals green. Jews were additionally identified by a yellow triangle, sometimes combined with another one.
Built in the location of a former morgue, the Paris Deportation Memorial is, fittingly, underground. I found it cold, impersonal, cramped, and dark. Which is exactly as it should be, given what it represents. Quite the contrast after strolling past Notre Dame Cathedral and taking in views of the Seine River.
Approaching the memorial from the outside, you can’t help but notice that the lettering declaring its purpose is crude and harsh, all straight lines. It almost looks as if the detainees had carved the letters and numbers into the stone themselves.
By Tangopaso – Own work, Public Domain
Entering through a narrow stone walkway that leads down below the ground, you approach one of the memorial’s few open spaces.
Overall, the memorial is shaped like the prow of a ship. Gazing out at the Seine River through the barred window, you can easily feel like a prisoner. Just imagine having to leave all that you know behind for such a grim future.
The Paris Deportation Memorial
From the open area shown above, you pass through a narrow, almost claustrophobia-inducing passage to explore the inner, underground areas of the memorial.
A plaque on the floor of the underground chamber bears the inscription: “They descended into the mouth of the earth and they did not return.”
Inside the memorial crypt lies the Tomb of the Unknown Deportee. The remains placed in the tomb are those of an individual who died in the Neustadt concentration camp. Pebbles line a long corridor known as the Hall of Remembrance to represent the Jewish tradition of placing a stone on the grave of a loved one.
One area had a concrete wall with fifteen triangular niches cut into it. Each triangle bore the name of a death camp to which French citizens had been deported.
Each triangle contains soil and the ashes of the victims from the corresponding camp. Elsewhere, a map of France showed the total number of people deported from each region:
I have often written about places that are not enjoyable to see, but that I feel should be seen, such as the 9/11 Museum & Memorial in New York City. As a history geek, I have a keen appreciation for the adage “Those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it.” I encourage you, if you are in Paris, to take an hour or so to visit this stunning memorial.
A Local’s Guide to Salisbury Maryland, Home of the National Folk Festival
By Julie | August 28, 2019 | Comments 1 comment
A Local’s Guide to Salisbury Maryland
The National Folk Festival will once again be held in my home town of Salisbury Maryland the weekend of September 6-8, 2019. What’s more, it will be held here next year as well! So here’s your guide to Salisbury, Maryland, written by someone who has lived here for nearly 25 years.
By Tichnor Brothers, Publisher [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
About Salisbury
With a population of some 30,000, it’s the largest city on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and the No. 1 fastest growing city in the state, according to city officials. Founded in 1732 and incorporated in 1854, it also is the county seat for Wicomico. The area offers the ideal mix of an urban center, nestled within a scenic rural region, centrally located to three major metropolitan areas (Baltimore, Washington DC, and Philadelphia). I’ve lived here since 1995, and I can’t imagine ever leaving to live someplace else.
The National Folk Festival
Free events are great, and the National Folk Festival is no exception. If you’re like me, you might think that a “folk” festival will be geared toward aging hippies who want to sit around and listen to mellow music. Not so! Folk does not mean folk music! The National Folk Festival is a celebration of the roots, richness and variety of American culture.
The three day event will feature musical performances and dancing by over 350 performers from all over the world. To name just a few:
Tahitian Drumming and Dance, performed by Meki’s Tamire Polynesian Arts Group
Not one, but two all-female barbershop quartets: the Lustre Quartet & Electric Avenue Quartet
Armenian dance and music by Carolyn Rapkievian & Kristine Antanesian
Honky tonk country music by Arty Hill & the Long Gone Daddys
The Sea Gull Century
Every year in early October, Salisbury University holds a nationally acclaimed bicycling event, beginning and ending on its campus. The event takes bicycle riders on a tour of the Eastern Shore and offers two routes (100 kilometers or 100 miles).
Riders will enjoy highlights such as live music, food and the National Seashore of Assateague Island where they will see wild ponies, sandy beaches, coastal marshes and maritime forest. All riders returning from the ride are welcomed back with a lively lawn party!
Whether you’re here for the National Folk Festival, the Sea Gull Century, or for some other reason, there is plenty to see and do in Salisbury. Here are my recommendations for visitors…
For some of the best thin crust pizza in town, head to Lombardis (315 Civic Ave; 410-749-0522). The decor isn’t much, but the wait staff are friendly and if you have kids with you, they will love the giant mural of cartoon characters and superheroes in the back dining room.
If you like your pizza to be a little more gourmet, then Mojos (213 E Main St., 443-944-9507) is the place to go. Their brick oven pizzas are amazingly tasty, and they offer some interesting topping combinations for their specials. They even have a pickle pizza! Their totally yummy cheese pizza is just $5 on Monday evenings – the same night that they have an entertaining live trivia game starting at 8:00 pm.
Who doesn’t love ice cream? A Chincoteague Virginia favorite, Island Creamery, recently opened a shop in Salisbury (306 Dogwood Dr, 410-831-3103). With all of the traditional favorites and unusual flavors like Cantaloupe and Wallops Rocket Fuel (chocolate with cinnamon and chili pepper), there’s something for everyone.
Back Street Grill (401 Snow Hill Road, 410-548-1588) offers a build-your-own sandwich menu and some of the tastiest salads in town. My favorite sandwich is the Back Street Deluxe: turkey and ham with cheddar and pineapple on a croissant, heated. So yummy! They also offer great specials on weeknights, like tacos for $1.25 each on Mondays and $5 burgers on Wednesdays.
Market Street Inn (130 W Market St, 410-742-4145) is an upscale restaurant located on the Wicomico (pronounced why-COMic-oh) River.
I’ve never had a dish here that was anything less than spectacular. In addition to gourmet fare, they have outdoor seating, which offers a great view of the riverfront. If you’re lucky, you might even see a Great Blue Heron while you’re there.
Brew River (502 W Main St, 410-677-6757) is a popular restaurant located on the Wicomico River. They have great dinner specials, with half price prime rib on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 2-for-1 crab cakes on Thursdays. The restaurant also features an outside dock bar that is one of the most happening nightlife spots in town. If you go, be sure to grab a coconut muffin from the bread basket – they’re delicious!
Rise Up Coffee Roasters is a local favorite. Go to their College Avenue location (105 East College Ave., 443-358-5248) to get breakfast or lunch, or just hang out for a while. Alternatively, you can hit their drive through location (529 Rivderside Drive, 410-202-2500) if you’re on the go. They only roast certified organic and fair trade coffee, so you can feel good about caffeinating here. But even if you’re not a coffee person, it’s worth a stop: the frozen hot chocolate is A-MAZ-ING!
Bordeleau Vineyard & Winery
Bordeleau Vineyard & Winery in the neighboring village of Eden (3155 Noble Farm Rd, Eden, 410-677-3334) offers both white and red wines on a beautiful estate (above) that often serves as a wedding venue. The Bordeleau tasting room is open Wednesday through Sunday and is a comfy, welcoming place to sample their vino.
The Brick Room (116 N Division St, 443-358-5092) is a quaint little bar with a comfy outdoor seating area.
For a real treat, go up to the bar and order an old fashioned. Watching them make it, you will be impressed by how much art goes into making the classic cocktail.
Acorn Market (150 W Market St, 410-334-2222) offers breakfast and lunch in a relaxed atmosphere. They offer a selection of freshly made to order sandwiches and salads, and some of the most scrumptious baked goods you will find. I especially love their sweet potato biscuits. You won’t be able to get dinner here, though, as they close at 3:00 pm each day.
Classic Cakes (1305 S Division St #8, 410-860-5300) makes Smith Island cakes. If you’ve never heard of such a thing, you are in for a treat! Maryland’s official state dessert is a nine-layer (yes, NINE!) yellow cake with chocolate ganache type frosting.
That’s the traditional version. But Classic Cakes has taken it up a few notches and made many delicious varieties: cookies and cream, Reese’s cup, coconut pineapple, banana, red velvet, and many more. I like the classic and the banana best. They also sell cupcakes but don’t let that tempt you… the cake is way better, and they even sell it by the slice.
Salisbury isn’t different from other cities in this regard. There’s a selection of hotels from 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 stars. If location is important to you, then you can’t do much better than LaQuinta, which is right next to the city’s Riverwalk Park and newly constructed amphitheater. Downtown bars, restaurants and shopping are a quick 10-15 minute walk, and a bank next door to the hotel has an ATM, should you need one.
If Airbnb is more your thing, there are quite a few properties to choose from in Salisbury, from single rooms to riverfront lofts. Just make sure before booking that the property is in Salisbury and not a nearby town like Crisfield or Pocomoke. Those towns, while technically nearby, would add 30-45 minutes of driving to your outings, and would provide you with fewer things to do/places to eat. Book an Airbnb through this link and you will receive a discount on your stay!
Finally, if you’re a camping kind of family, I’m sorry to say that there aren’t any campgrounds in Salisbury. The town of Berlin has several camping options, however, and is about 30 minutes away by car.
If you’re into country decor, Salisbury is your Mecca, as it is home to The Country House (805 E Main St, 410-749-1959). Set aside at least half a day to look through their items, as the store is huge – 48,000 square feet – and no space is wasted. They carry all sorts of wonderful items, from curtains to floral to apparel and seasonal items too.
Angello’s Unique Gifts (100 E Main St, 443-358-5152) is a great spot to browse. This is the perfect place to pick up a souvenir of your visit, or a gift for someone who is hard to shop for. They even do embroidery to personalize your purchase.
Some of Dana Simson’s ceramics.
If you’re into quirky and colorful handmade ceramic pieces, you must go to Chesapeake East (501 W Main St, 410-546-1534). From dinnerware to decorative items, artist Dana Simson creates whimsical pieces that will make you smile. In addition, she also sells stationery, paintings, and prints.
If you’re coming to Salisbury for a special event like the National Folk Festival or the 100 mile Seagull Century bike race, you might want to stay an extra day or two and check out some of the other things our little city has to offer. For instance:
The Salisbury Zoo (755 S Park Dr, open daily 9:00 to 4:30) is a 12-acre zoological park that has offered free admission ever since it first opened in 1954. The zoo is home to 100 animals, most of which are native to North and South America. The zoo is an absolute gem and one of the things that make Salisbury a great place to live and visit.
The alligator at the Salisbury Zoo is all smiles.
At one end of the zoo, children will absolutely love the playground known as Ben’s Red Swings. The playground was created to honor the memory of Ben Layton, a local boy who died of leukemia at age 4. Ben wished that when he got to heaven he would get red wings because red was his favorite color, and that was the inspiration for the name of the playground. The playground was largely funded, built, and maintained by community volunteers, and it is a real treasure to the children who live here. If you’re visiting with your family, be sure to let the little ones burn off some energy at Ben’s Red Swings.
Another way to let the kids (and adventurous adults) burn off some energy is to take them to Altitude Trampoline Park (30174 Foskey Ln, 410-896-2219) in the neighboring town of Delmar, Maryland. In addition to over 24,000 square feet of indoor trampolines, there is also a Foam Pit, Dodgeball Arena, Kid’s Arena, Aeroball and Laser Maze. Hours of fun! Rates range from $15-$20 for one to two hours of jumping fun.
Salisbury is home to a minor league baseball team, the Delmarva Shorebirds. The season will have ended before the National Folk Festival takes place, but if you’re visiting April thru August, consider spending an evening at the ballpark. Many games conclude with a great fireworks show, and there are often special events and giveaways as well. Tickets range from $2 to $13.
The Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art (909 S Schumaker Dr, 410-742-4988) has been recognized by USA Today as one of the 10 best places in the U.S. to view American folk art. Operated by Salisbury University, it showcases the contributions of artists who have carved birds both as tools for the hunt and as objects of artistic enjoyment. The museum regularly offers children’s programs and hosts community events at its beautiful waterfront location.
Finally, for garden enthusiasts, the campus of Salisbury University was recognized by the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta as an arboretum in 1988. The campus features over 2,000 species of plant life, including magnolia, rhododendron, viburnum, Japanese maple, bald cypress, and Crape myrtle. Notable areas of interest – and great Instagram spots – on campus include the pergola near the University Commons, the Holloway Hall courtyard garden, the Bellavance Honors Center’s Japanese garden, the Link of Nations, and the Miller Alumni Garden.
There are at least a half dozen beaches within an hour’s drive of Salisbury. They each have their own distinct vibe, and their own pros and cons. I’ll outline the three closest ones below.
The Cove (Cove Rd, Bivalve MD – about 30 minutes from Salisbury) is the perfect beach for families with young children. It is a sheltered cove off of the Chesapeake Bay. The water is shallow, warm, and has very little current, so it’s great for toddlers and preschoolers. Older kids and childless adults, on the other hand, will probably be pretty bored at this beach.
Assateague has two sections – the Assateague Island National Seashore (7206 National Seashore Lane, Berlin, 410-641-1441), and Maryland’s Assateague State Park (6915 Stephen Decatur Highway, Berlin, 410-641-2120). It takes about 45 minutes from Salisbury to reach either of them. Both charge a small entrance fee. You will be able to see the famous wild Assateague ponies at both.
Both offer ocean and bayfront beaches. Both allow pets in designated areas. You can camp at both, and both have bike trails. The biggest difference is that the state side has a restaurant/concession stand and gift shop, whereas the federal side does not provide any opportunities for you to spend money once you pay for admission. I prefer the federal side as it tends to be less crowded, and I almost always see the ponies when we go there.
Ocean City (paid parking at the Hugh T Cropper inlet parking lot – 809 S Atlantic Ave, Ocean City – about 45 minutes from Salisbury). Quite the opposite of Assateague, Ocean City has plenty of places for you to part with your cash. In addition to a stunning oceanfront beach with crashing waves, there is a 2.5 mile long boardwalk lined with restaurants, souvenir shops, hotels, and arcades. Be sure to get Thrasher’s fries while you’re there. It’s a must!
I hope you will find this guide to Salisbury Maryland useful. I love this town, and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. If you visit, I’m sure you will agree! Do you have any other suggestions to add? Did you try any of the places I recommended here? If so, leave a comment and tell me about it!
Happy traveling!
Inside Père Lachaise: The Most Interesting Cemetery in Paris
By Julie | July 24, 2019 | Comments 2 comments
If you’ve been a Travel As Much reader for any length of time at all, you know I have a long-standing fascination with and love of old cemeteries. So when I booked my trip to Paris, I knew visiting an old cemetery would definitely be one of my stops. I did a little research and discovered three big cemeteries from which to choose: Montmartre, Montparnasse, and Père Lachaise. Reading up on all three, it seemed that Père Lachaise was the biggest and the most interesting cemetery in Paris.
How Big Is It?
Rick Steves devotes several pages, a map, and a guided walking tour of Père Lachaise in his 2019 Paris Guidebook. I followed the walking tour dutifully for the first ten minutes or so, then managed to get lost. That was no fault of Rick’s – I am directionally challenged, not very good at reading maps, and often struggle with losing my bearings. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t find my way back to his neatly planned route. I decided to throw caution to the wind and just wing it.
Map of Père Lachaise Cemetery via Wikimedia
Whether I’d been able to stay on the Rick Steves route or not, there is no possible way I could have seen everything in Père Lachaise in just one day. The cemetery covers 110 acres, and contains 70,000 burial plots with over 1 million bodies. That means there are roughly twice as many dead people in this cemetery than there are living people in Miami, Florida!
I tried to take some photos that accurately depict just how massive this cemetery is. The best I managed was this shot:
If you zoom in on the angel’s feet and look at the graves behind her, you will see that they stretch back at least 10 rows! This one photograph probably has about 75 graves in it, perhaps even more.
As the biggest, most interesting cemetery in Paris, Père Lachaise sees about 3.5 million visitors every year. It is the most visited cemetery in the world.
According to Wikipedia, when Père Lachaise opened in 1804 it was not a very popular place to bury your loved ones. Roman Catholics did not wish to bury their dead at Père Lachaise because the site had not received an official blessing by their church. Others felt that it was too far away from the center of the city. In fact, it was such an unpopular choice that in its first year of operation, only 13 people were buried there.
The powers that be came up with a marketing plan to make burial at Père Lachaise seem more desirable. They had the remains of the popular poet Jean de la Fontaine and playwright/actor Molière transferred to the cemetery. That year, the burial numbers rose from 13 to 44.
Business continued to increase over the years and, in 1817, they tried a similar marketing stunt. This time they moved the 12th century philosopher Pierre Abélard and also Héloïse, the nun with whom he allegedly had an affair. Once again, the status of having one’s final resting place in the same cemetery as someone famous held great allure for Parisians. By 1830, the cemetery contained more than 33,000 graves and needed to be expanded. Today, the cemetery restricts who may be buried there (you must have either lived or died in Paris) and they even have a waiting list.
What Makes it the Most Interesting Cemetery in Paris?
The Graves of Famous People
One of the reasons Père Lachaise gets so many visitors is that some notable people are buried there. For Americans, the most famous is probably Jim Morrison, lead singer of the iconic 1960s/1970s band, The Doors. I’m not a fan, and as I’ve mentioned, I was hopelessly lost, so it wasn’t on my must-see list. I did, however, manage to find the grave of Marcel Proust, French author from the early 29th century. (Confession: I only found this because I saw someone else taking a photo and I was nosy enough to go see why they were taking a picture of an otherwise unremarkable grave.)
Other famous people buried at Père Lachaise include: playwright Oscar Wilde, composer Chopin, singer Edith Piaf, and the world’s most (only?) famous mime, Marcel Marceau. However, the casual visitor would overlook most of these. Like Marcel Proust’s grave, they are not overly ornate. I preferred to wander and look for more unusual and/or impressive gravesites rather than focusing on the people who occupied them.
Unusual Graves
Père Lachaise is full of unique graves and funerary art the likes of which I have never seen before. For instance:
Theodore Gericault’s grave was a fitting tribute for an artist. He lounges above a depiction of his best painting, The Raft of the Medusa, a paintbrush in one hand and a palette in the other.
I don’t know who this person was in life, nor do I know why he has a little man standing on the palm of his hand. If you know, please leave a comment and solve the mystery for me!
This massive chimney-like structure standing so much taller than all of the graves & vaults had me thinking it was the Crematorium, but it’s actually a grave marker, believe it or not. It belongs to one Felix de Beaujour. He was the French diplomat to the United States in the early nineteenth century.
Creepy Graves
I don’t know who she was in life, but she was definitely the creepiest thing I saw in Père Lachaise. The mystery here is whether her eyes are supposed to stare through the living, or if it’s just a coincidental streak in the patina. Either way, I almost didn’t want to turn my back on her.
Georges Rodenbach’s grave wins runner up for creepiest bit of funerary art in Père Lachaise. It reminds me just a little too much of a vampire coming out of his coffin once the sun has set. Yikes.
Graves Depicting Grief
Occasionally when touring a cemetery, I find gravesites that just overwhelm me with a sense of profound grief. For instance:
The person depicted by this statue slumps forward, face buried in her hands. I could almost see her shoulders shaking as she sobbed over her loss.
This statue atop a family grave touched me as well. A mourner leans over the body of the deceased, preparing (I suppose) to lay a wreath of flowers on her head.
And, at other times, a grave can be a symbol of the deceased’s grief for the ones they left behind.
Neglected/Overgrown Graves
As with any old cemetery, there are graves belonging to families who are no longer around. These graves eventually fall into disrepair and nature tries to reclaim them. I think they’re interesting because they show that, no matter how much you want the world to remember you, you may end up forgotten after all. (Is that too morbid?)
Thankfully, though, some people dedicate themselves to maintaining lovely old cemeteries like Père Lachaise. I stumbled upon one such group, spending their Saturday tidying up a plot.
The Most Interesting Cemetery in Paris
In summary, Père Lachaise is a fascinating place with amazing art, peaceful walkways, and just a touch of creepiness thrown in for good measure. If you enjoy touring old cemeteries, you should definitely check it out the next time you’re in Paris.
A Review of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, NYC
By Julie | May 28, 2019 | Comments 0 Comment
On our most recent trip to New York, we had a few hours to kill while my daughter and her friend went to see Dear Evan Hansen. There were any number of fun things we could have done – Gulliver’s Gate, Spyscape, Madame Tussaud’s, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty… I could go on and on. But rather than do something fun, we decided to do something important instead: The 9/11 Memorial & Museum.
I’ve wanted (and simultaneously not wanted) to visit the 9/11 Memorial & Museum ever since it opened in 2014. However, our trips to NYC usually left us with not enough time to fit it in. This time, we made it a priority.
Entering the 9/11 Memorial Plaza
As we approached the World Trade Center site, the first thing we saw was the new building – One World Trade Center. It was beautiful, not just in its appearance but also in what it represented: the determination to persevere after tragedy.
Impressive, isn’t it? It stands (including the spire) at 1776 feet tall,
the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and sixth tallest in the world. The height is not a coincidence; it was chosen to symbolize the independent spirit of America.
The new building is located on the site of the former 6 World Trade Center, heavily damaged in the 2001 attacks.
A one acre pool with the largest man-made waterfalls in the United States now stands on each footprint of the Twin Towers. Known collectively as Reflecting Absence, they symbolize both the loss of life and the physical void left by the attacks. The waterfalls drown out the sounds of the city, making this an ideal space for contemplation. A bronze ledge surrounding each pool bears the names of 2983 people – those who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks and the previous World Trade Center bombing of 1993.
The museum is housed in a strange looking building meant to resemble a partially collapsed building. Mostly glass, both clear and reflective, configured at odd angles.
Inside the 9/11 Museum
Once you enter the museum and pass through security, you start to get an inkling of (or remember) the enormity of the events that day. One of the first things we saw was the flag that was raised at Ground Zero.
Image via Flickr by Mr Ulster
On the day of the attacks, a firefighter saw the flag flying on a yacht in the nearby Hudson River basin. He cut the yardarm off the boat and took it to an evacuation site at Ground Zero. There, he and two other firefighters raised it over the rubble. A reporter captured the moment and from that point forward, it became an iconic and enduring image.
To so many people, the three firefighters raising this flag on September 11, 2001, symbolized the resilience of our nation. It also seemed an act of defiance to our attackers – telling them, in effect, “You cannot break us.”
After viewing the flag, we proceeded downstairs into the dark exhibit halls. The farther down we went, the quieter it got. We came upon a map of the mid-Atlantic region, or home, to me. It showed the location of the four terrorist-hijacked airplanes at the time of their crashes. The following two-paragraph summary accompanied the map, with September 11, 2001 spelled out in big letters overhead.
It struck me as odd that such large scale destruction and loss of life could be so easily summed up.
We also saw the rough slurry wall:
If, like me, you have no idea what a slurry wall is, or why it would be significant in this place, allow me to share what I have since learned. A slurry wall is a reinforced concrete wall in areas of soft earth that are close to open water. Its purpose is to keep water out and support the building from beneath. The building above the slurry wall (one of the Twin Towers) collapsed like a house of cards. When it did, the slurry wall could have caved in, resulting in a flooded lower Manhattan. But, thankfully, the wall held.
Of Tears and Twisted Metal
As we wandered through the space, we saw huge pieces of twisted metal hanging against the concrete walls. In a different setting, they could have been works of modern art. But here, they were a grim reminder of the force of destruction and lives lost. When destruction twists a steel beam into a grotesque shape, how could something as fragile as a human body possibly survive?
Looking at these items in person put me in a contemplative, somber mood. It wasn’t until I emerged on a balcony overlooking the lower level, however, that I began to tear up and cry.
Amid tiles in various shades of blue, Virgil’s quote from The Aeneid overwhelmed me with emotion. “No day shall erase you from the memory of time.” Not only is it a beautiful promise to remember the victims of the attacks, it is a memorial in itself. The letters were made from World Trade Center steel. The sign describing the display said:
“Originally trained as a blacksmith, [New Mexico artist Tom] Joyce was invited to harness the transformative process that occurs when iron is touched by fire. He took wounded, remnant steel – made of iron and carbon – and forged it, by heating and folding, into letters of beauty. The result reminds us that Virgil’s words are not just a statement; they are a promise.”
The Exhibition and Education Level
We went down to the lower level and saw, among other things, a portion of the “Survivors’ Staircase,” which came from an evacuation route used by many people on the day of the attacks. In the months and years following September 11, the staircase was the last remaining structure above ground level.
We also saw the remains of the box columns that provided structural support for the World Trade Center buildings. We saw part of a radio/TV antenna and a crumpled piece of shiny metal bearing an inscription from the World Trade Center Dedication Day in 1973. But it wasn’t until we turned and I saw the fire truck from Ladder Company 3 that I gasped.
Fire trucks, as any preschooler can tell you, are big, magnificent machines. They are red and shiny, loud and fast. They are strong, just like the men who ride in them. In a word, they are invincible.
Yet the fire truck before me had none of those characteristics. Its ladder more closely resembled the plastic-coated wire tie that you find on a loaf of bread. Bent doors on the side of the truck hung at odd angles, like an injured athlete’s broken arm.
A volunteer stood nearby to tell us the story of the truck and its captain. The truck, she explained, carried eleven responders, some of whom had just gone off duty after completing overnight shifts, to the WTC site. It was 8:46 when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower. By 9:21, the members of Ladder Company 3 had reached the 35th floor.
In his last recorded transmission, Ladder Company 3 Captain Patrick “Paddy” Brown stated, “We are still heading up”. When the building collapsed a little over an hour later, all eleven members of the company perished.
The Historical Exhibition
The guide finished by telling us that we could see the historical exhibit across from the fire engine. No photos are allowed in that part of the museum, so I have none to share. But I will do my best to tell you about it because it was the most thorough and interesting part of the museum.
The exhibit made use of video clips that looped on continuous playback on monitors. There we saw Matt Lauer reporting on the attacks from the Today Show set. We saw footage of the plane hitting the building. We saw footage of the towers collapsing. And hidden away in an alcove so sensitive visitors would not have to see it if they did not want to, we even saw the clips of people jumping to their deaths from the Twin Towers to avoid the slow and inevitable death they were facing inside the building.
It was almost too much to bear. Because instead of sitting in my office watching the events of the day unfold real time with my coworkers as I did on 9/11, this time I was immersed in it. I was a spectator, surrounded by the chaos and confusion and the fear and the overwhelming sadness of it all. And rather than having time to slowly let it all sink in, I was witnessing it all at once, as if time had somehow sped up. It was brutal.
The historical exhibit also examined what happened before the attacks. I saw redacted copies of government correspondence suggesting that an attack was imminent, and urging action in response. It made me angry. Why didn’t anyone take it seriously?
And I saw exhibits on what happened after the attack. The clean up, the search for people who were missing, the nation coming together united as it has never done since. And, eventually, the re-building, and the hope for the future.
Moving on from the historical exhibit to a quiet, somber, and dimly lit room, you can see portraits of all of the people who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and in the 1993 World Trade Center attack: men and women. Latino and African-American, Asian and White. Young and old and middle aged. People who earned six figures and those who earned minimum wage. Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist. Death is the great equalizer.
I looked for Juan Garcia’s photo. I never knew him, but I wrote about him on my old mommy blog as part of a 5 year anniversary blogger project. Seeing his picture on the wall made me feel sad. I can only imagine what it must be like for those who lost someone they knew personally.
If you have an opportunity to visit the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, you should. It is important to remind ourselves of how good this country can be when we stand united. It is equally important to remind ourselves of the ripple effect that senseless acts of violence can have on society. So go. And when you do, please come back here and tell me how it affected you. I’d love to hear about your experience. Maybe the more we talk about, the more we can do to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again.
My Notre Dame Cathedral Tour: 11 Days Before the Fire
By Julie | April 25, 2019 | Comments 1 comment
On Monday, April 15, I returned to work after taking nearly two weeks off for my first solo trip – to Paris. I emailed my co-workers to let them know that I had brought a box of Parisian chocolates and some other souvenir trinkets for them.
Around mid-day, one co-worker emailed me back. He wasn’t in the office but had checked his work email from home. Did you hear about what is happening in Paris? he wanted to know.
I had no idea what was going on in Paris, so I Googled it. And my mouth fell open when I saw the news that Notre Dame Cathedral was on fire. Nothing could have prepared me to see the iconic church set ablaze while millions watched, helpless. Especially since I had been there just eleven days earlier.
But that wasn’t my first time visiting Notre Dame cathedral…
1984: My First Notre Dame Cathedral Tour
This photo was taken in April 1984, when I took a trip to Paris with our high school’s French Club. Now, I wasn’t studying French… I was taking Spanish. But they needed extra people to go on the trip, and because my Spanish teacher considered me “gifted” with foreign languages, I got to go. Even though the only French I knew was basically “oui” and “non.”
Part of the pre-departure lecture my parents gave me was to make sure that I got lots of pictures of me in front of “French things”. At the time I rolled my eyes and thought that was just silly. However, I’m glad I followed their instructions. This picture alone is worth it. Here’s why:
It was our first day in Paris and we attended mass at Notre Dame cathedral. Jet lagged and confused by all the French (or maybe it was Latin – I couldn’t tell), I nearly fell asleep during the service. When it ended, the teacher ushered us outside and began speaking to us in French. I’d venture to guess that everyone knew what she was saying except for me. I assumed by the vigorous head nodding and enthusiastic responses of “oui!” that she had asked if anyone needed to go to the bathroom. I certainly did! So I too nodded my head and said “oui” like everyone else.
Off we marched, back inside the cathedral, up a stone staircase that twisted and turned. Up, up, up. Imagine my surprise when we emerged not near a public bathroom, but at the top of the cathedral!
So, dutiful to my parents’ instructions, I had a friend snap this picture. I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m sneering a little because (a) I still needed to go pee, (b) I’m afraid of heights, and (c) the gargoyles were really quite creepy. For the rest of my time in Paris, I made sure that I understood the question before I said, “oui.”
On this trip to Paris, I flew from Newark NJ to Zurich and then from Zurich to Paris. Unfortunately, my luggage stopped in Zurich and didn’t accompany me to the City of Lights.
I usually travel with only a carry on – a practice to which I will now return! – and I was at a loss as to how to proceed without all of my stuff. The way I saw it, I had two options. I could hole up in my Airbnb and stay there until the courier brought my luggage. Or I could get over the jet lag, then go ahead and see the sights as I had originally planned.
After a two hour nap and a bit of a meltdown with an emotional call to Hubs at home, I decided upon the second option. After all, I had a plan for every day of my trip and missing one day would throw all of my other plans off kilter.
The next morning, I awoke rested and determined to not let a thing like missing luggage derail my vacation. After getting a call that my luggage would arrive around 2:00 in the afternoon, I headed off to see Sainte Chapelle, Notre Dame, and the Deportation Memorial. All were located on Île de la Cité, one of two islands in the Seine River in Paris.
I’ll cover Sainte Chapelle and the Deportation Memorial in separate blog posts. Today, in light of the devastating fire that recently took place, I want to focus on Notre Dame Cathedral.
2019: My Second Notre Dame Cathedral Tour
Almost as soon as I arrived, the bells of Notre Dame started ringing:
As you can see, it was a beautiful day – all blue skies and sunshine. I stood outside the cathedral and took in all of the amazing architectural details.
Thought to be on the former site of a Roman temple to Jupiter, Notre Dame Cathedral has stood in Paris for over 850 years. Until the completion of the Eiffel Tower in 1889, the massive towers of Notre Dame were the tallest structure in the city of Paris (226 feet high).
I wish I could find a statistic for how many figures are carved into the stone facade of this amazing piece of Gothic architecture. Let’s just say a lot. But there’s a good reason for that. The cathedral is an example of a liber pauperum, or a “poor people’s book”, covered with sculptures that vividly illustrate biblical stories. During the era in which the cathedral was built, the vast majority of parishioners were illiterate. The only way they could learn about biblical stories was by looking at the figures carved into the church building.
For instance, if you face the towers of the cathedral, you will find above the middle doorway a vivid portrayal of the Final Judgment:
Jesus sits on his throne in Heaven. Beneath his feet there are two figures holding scales. On the left is the archangel Michael; on the right, Satan. Each side of the scale holds a person whose life is being judged. Those who have been condemned are being led away by a demon on the right hand side.
The stained glass windows at Notre Dame are just beautiful. There are three circular “rose” windows, and the one on the west facade over the Final Judgment scene is the smallest. That said, the window still measures over 31 feet in diameter. From the outside of the church, you can see three figures in front of the rose window: the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus, and an angel on either side of her.
Below the window you will find statues of the 28 kings of Judah in “The Gallery of Kings”. During the French Revolution, rebels thought that the statues represented the kings of France. As a result, the angry French citizens lobbed off the heads of the statues. Fortunately, the statues have been restored, and you can see some of the old heads at the Cluny Museum in Paris.
While I stood there admiring the cathedral’s exterior, I started to notice some odd details that I might have overlooked if I hadn’t paused to take it all in. For instance, this poor fellow:
I’m not sure who this king is, but a much larger man is standing on him!
Inside the Cathedral
As stunning as the outside of Notre Dame is, though, its real beauty lies within.
As with most Gothic cathedrals, Notre Dame has chapels on each side of the building. These alcoves, dedicated to saints, can hold some of the most beautiful artwork found inside the church building. For instance, a memorial to the 14th century heroine, Joan of Arc:
Statue of Joan of Arc
I especially liked this memorial, dedicated to Denis Auguste Affre, the Archbishop of Paris from 1840 to 1848. The phrase inscribed above his head translates to “May my blood be the last shed”.
Memorial to Denis Auguste Affre
Affre was led to believe that his personal involvement in the June Days uprising of 1848 could lead to peace between the French military and the insurgents. Mounting the military’s barricade, he waved a branch as a symbol of peace and began to speak. Insurgents heard some shots and suspected a betrayal, so they opened fire upon the National Guard. A stray bullet hit Affre, and he died two days later.
In another spot, there was a model depicting the construction of Notre Dame Cathedral.
The 14th century wall separating the choir from the main walkway of Notre Dame was decorated with stunning detail.
This scene shows Jesus with the apostles. the inscription, in Latin, says “Christ appears to the Apostles near Lake Tiberias” (Lake Tiberias = the Sea of Galilee). This scene constituted only a small portion of the scenes depicting the life of Jesus.
One massive piece of statuary that caught my eye was the mausoleum of the Earl of Harcourt:
Cancre [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]
Note that there are four figure here. An angel carelessly holding a torch, a woman kneeling as if pleading to someone, a man who appears to be coming out of a coffin, and a hooded skeleton holding an hourglass in his bony hand.
I read that this memorial’s name/theme was Conjugal Meeting. The angel has lifted the lid on the Count’s sarcophagus, and he has risen. The skeleton, AKA Death, is holding an hourglass to symbolize that the Countess’ time has come. The Countess is reaching out toward her husband and Death as if she is ready to join them. (She outlived her husband by ten and a half years.) It was beautiful and tragic all at the same time.
The South Rose Window, one of three in Notre Dame Cathedral.
The south rose window was constructed in 1260, and most of the original thirteenth century stained glass is still intact, even after last week’s tragic fire. Larger than the west rose window that I wrote about earlier, this one measures more than 42 feet across. Unlike the north rose window, which features Old Testament prophets and kings, this one is dedicated to the New Testament.
The center medallion features Jesus reigning as King in Heaven. The sixteen panels beneath the south rose window feature the prophets of the Bible. The four center panels depict the great Old Testament prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel) carrying the four New Testament evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) on their shoulders.
From outside the cathedral, the south rose window looks like this:
The south end of Notre Dame’s transept, featuring the south rose window.
You can see the church spire sticking up above the roof in this photo. Sadly, the spire was completely destroyed by the fire.
At the very back of the Cathedral, I found a small area with the most venerated holy relic in France: the Crown of Thorns.
The crown of thorns, worn by Jesus at the time of his crucifixion, has been in the possession of the French since 1238, when the Emperor of Constantinople gave it to King Louis IX.
King Louis IX had the cathedral of Sainte Chapelle built to receive and hold the crown of thorns and other holy relics. The crown stayed at Sainte Chapelle until the French Revolution, at which point authorities hid it at a different location. From 1806 until the fire, it was located in Notre Dame cathedral.
The reliquary holding the crown of thorns is in the case that you see between the candles in the above picture. A semi-translucent sheet of bright red material (resembling a cascade of blood) hangs over it. Through it, you can just make out the circular outline of the reliquary.
Inside the reliquary, the crown of thorns is actually thorn-less. Some 70 thorns were removed and distributed to holy sites across the world over the centuries, leaving just a band of rushes for this reliquary. One of the thorns was inside the rooster that sat atop the Notre Dame spire. The day after the fire, someone found the rooster in the rubble … dented but intact.
On the first Friday of every month at 3:00 p.m., the time of Jesus’ death, the faithful attend a special “veneration of the crown” church service.
The fire at Notre Dame Cathedral was certainly tragic, but it could have been much worse. I am so thankfully that I was able to see the beautiful building and all of its treasures before the fire took place. I am looking forward to the day when I hear that the cathedral has been fully restored and rebuilt. Until then, I will cherish the memories of my Notre Dame Cathedral Tour!
Historic Annapolis Maryland & the State House
By Julie | January 18, 2019 | Comments 0 Comment
Why You Should Visit the State House in Historic Annapolis Maryland:
Dating to 1772, the Maryland State House in Annapolis is the oldest state capitol building still in continuous legislative use in the USA. It housed the Continental Congress, and is the only state house to have ever served as our national capitol. It is such a significant symbol of Maryland’s history that it appears on the “tails” side of Maryland’s state quarter.
But that’s not the only thing that makes it special, and worth checking out if you travel to historic Annapolis. Here are some other reasons.
The Architecture & Grounds
The brick building consists of two stories constructed in the Georgian style, with large symmetrical windows. An imposing set of steps and a columned portico provide an dramatic entrance to the building.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Galens by CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The dome of the Maryland State House is the largest wooden dome in the United States. Constructed of cypress wood, the dome has eight sides. The dome was constructed without nails, held together instead by wooden pegs reinforced by iron straps. The dome differs from many similar structures in that it actually has a balcony from which the city can be seen. The story goes that in 1790, Thomas Jefferson spent three hours on the balcony with James Madison and two other men, one of whom entertained them with the gossip related to each of the houses they could see from their perch above the town.
A lightning rod built and grounded according to the specifications of Benjamin Franklin sits atop the State House. It has been protecting the building for over 225 years! The use of the Benjamin Franklin lightning rod could be interpreted not just as a precautionary measure, but also as a political statement, symbolizing the independence and ingenuity of our young nation.
(public domain photo)
The grounds feature a statue of Baltimore native and former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Justice Marshall was the first African-American to serve on that high court.
The Old Treasury Building, built in 1735, also stands on the grounds of the State House. It is the oldest public building in Annapolis. Currently, the building is closed to visitors as it undergoes extensive historic preservation and archaeological investigations. When it reopens, it will contain exhibits relating to its history and that of 17th century Maryland.
The Old Senate Chamber
Photo courtesy of Bestbudbrian [CC BY-SA 4.0], from Wikimedia Commons
The Old Senate Chamber served as the meeting room for the Continental Congress from November 1783 to August 1784. Two future presidents – Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe – participated in those meetings.
Also in this room, two days before Christmas 1783, General George Washington resigned his commission as commander in chief of the continental army. The State House Rotunda includes a display of Washington’s copy of the speech, which historians consider the fourth most important document in American history. Why? Because it set the precedent of the military being under civilian authority. A bronze statue of George Washington is placed where it is believed that he stood to deliver his address to Congress. Washington is depicted in the emotional moment when he was compelled to steady his handwritten speech with both hands.
Above, in the upstairs gallery overlooking the room, you will find a resin statue of Molly Ridout. The gallery was the only place where women could view the proceedings of Congress and the Maryland Senate. Molly witnessed the resignation and authored one of the only written accounts of the event.
The walls of this room also bore witness to the ratification of the Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the Revolutionary War in 1784.
The Caucus Room
The State House Caucus Room houses most of a 48-piece silver service from the armored cruiser USS Maryland. The pieces in the set show 167 scenes from Maryland history. Each piece focuses on one of Maryland’s 23 counties and Baltimore City.
In addition to the silver, the Caucus Room contains portraits of nine former Maryland Governors,and historical furniture.
The Old House of Delegates Room
The exhibits in the Old House of Delegates Room center around the expansion of rights in Maryland during the 19th century. For instance, during this time period Jews were given the right to hold public office and slavery was abolished in the state.
The Burning of the Peggy Stewart (public domain photo)
One painting in this room, The Burning of the Peggy Stewart, depicts the Annapolis protest over tea importation that took place in 1774, prior to the American Revolution.
The Archives Room
The Archives Room houses a portrait of Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, otherwise known as the Marquis de Lafayette. Fans of the Hamilton musical will recall that Lafayette was “America’s favorite fighting Frenchman”. He served as a major-general in the Continental Army under George Washington and became his close friend. Lafayette made several trips to Annapolis both during and after the war. In 1784, in gratitude for his service, Maryland named Lafayette and his male heirs natural-born citizens of the state.
The more modern (1902-1905) addition to the original State House is referred to as The Annex. The Annex is the part of the building that houses the current Senate and House of Delegates chambers. Each chamber contains a distinctive black and gold marble to represent the black and gold colors of the Maryland flag. Both chambers also feature skylights made by the studio of Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Senate Chamber By Irteagle102704 of English Wikipedia – self-taken photo by the author, Public Domain
Woven into the Senate chamber’s carpet is the state seal of 1648.
House of Delegates Chamber By Irteagle102704 of English Wikipedia – self-taken photo by the author, Public Domain
A line of black limestone with fossils dating to 450 million years ago separates the annex from the original State House. A large marble staircase, called the Grand Staircase, leads up to the second floor, where the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and other staff offices are located. The observation galleries for both houses of the Maryland government are also located on the second floor. The most important feature of the grand staircase is the 1858 painting of Washington Resigning His Commission, by Edwin White:
Washington Resigning His Commission by Edwin White [Public domain]
To Visit the State House:
If you’re in Annapolis, the State House is surely a must-see. It’s open to visitors from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm every day of the year except Christmas and New Years Day. Visitors may take a self-guided tour with information available in the Office of Interpretation on the first floor. Alternatively, specialized curatorial tours of the building and its artwork can be arranged by appointment by calling 410-260-6445.
Please note that security measures are in place for all state buildings in the Annapolis complex. Visitors must show a picture ID for entrance. Other security measures include metal detectors and bag searches.
Header & pinterest image photo via Flickr by Dougtone.
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Grain Silo Transformed into Breathtaking Museum and Hotel
in South Africa · about Culture & History
Within a year of its breathtaking reincarnation, Cape Town's historic Grain Silo has already been named one of the world's top 100 places.
When it was originally constructed in the 1920's, the Grain Silo on the city's waterfront was the tallest building in Sub-Saharan Africa, and a symbol of connection to the rest of the world.
A century later, after the Grain Silo was decommissioned, rejuvenation efforts could easily have seen it imploded to make way for bland new builds. Instead, the visionary conversion of the Grain Silo into a breathtaking museum, with a locally-owned and operated luxury hotel above, has resulted in a win for the waterfront district, for African culture, for the local history and people, and for travelers to South Africa.
Zeitz MOCAA
The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art is the largest in the world. Architects magically transformed the Grain Silo's 42, densely-aligned concrete silo cylinders by carving the concrete inside to create the BMW atrium (photos by museum sponsor BMW) and multiple galleries.
The carved cylinders lend their form to the museum's spectacular design. In places, cylinder tops were capped with pillowed glass windows, each with 56 panels of glass, allowing natural light to filter in.
The result is a complex of over a hundred thousand square feet with nine floors of exhibit space, education areas, a sculpture garden on part of the roof, as well as a restaurant and shop.
It's an architectural and design masterpiece – even before you consider the art.
German businessman and former Puma CEO Jochen Zeitz, considered one of the world's leading collectors of contemporary art from Africa and African artists abroad, loaned his extraordinary collection to the museum.
It provides the founding collection of art from eminent African artists as the museum continues to grow and actively collect and share to locals and visitors art from the vast range of African artists near and far, provide many levels of art education, give back to Africa, and become a leading voice for Africa in the international art world.
The Silo Hotel
Above the museum, the former Grain Silo rises to new heights with a six-floor addition housing the extraordinary, 5-star Silo Hotel.
Like the museum below, the hotel retains and reflects ties to the local community; the Silo Hotel is the 5th property of the local Biden family hospitality company The Royal Portfolio, with a selection of exclusive boutique hotels in southern Africa.
And like other hotels in the Royal Portfolio, the Silo Hotel has quickly become a beacon for luxury hospitality in Cape Town.
Multi-paned spectacular pillowed windows overlook the best scenery in Cape Town in every direction, including Table Mountain and the harbor into the Atlantic Ocean. The hotel celebrates its unique architecture with the Royal Portfolio's signature approach to art, style and design.
Co-founder and family matriarch Liz Biden designed the hotel's public spaces and 28 one-of-a-kind rooms with hand-selected art acquired throughout her travels, a combination of modern and colorfully re-upholstered antique furniture, and unique pieces that make each guest feel at home in this deluxe atmosphere.
The catch-your-breath, stylish bar on the 6th floor provides bubbles, fine international wines and bespoke cocktails along with awe-inspiring views through the pillowed glass windows, and the Granary Café maintains elegant traditions like Royal Tea and Sunday Roast.
Perched at the top of the tallest building on the waterfront, the Silo Rooftop pool, dining, and lounging are the premiere al fresco experience in Cape Town.
The visionary transformation of Cape Town's Grain Silo offers a master class for any global city's transition of its waterfront from industrial to cultural and public. The Zeitz MOCAA and Silo Hotel are magnets for international visitors and still retain and reflect deeply local heritage and values, and make a lengthy stay in Cape Town essential before or after your cruise, wine tour or safari.
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The Scooter, A Brief History
Two wheels and a plank. It would be a modest beginning for a mode of transportation characterized by peaks and troughs in use and popularity unrivaled by any other contemporary human propellant. Although difficult to pinpoint, it is generally accepted that a malaise-stricken child of a late 19th century European metropolis connected a set of skate wheels to a plank base, ushering in an era of swift, upright-motion. Creating a sound no doubt louder than the electric scooters of today and delivering – most importantly – speed, the crude instrument became a source of joy for children in both Europe and the United States in the pre WWI era. Reliable information on corporate producers of wooden kick scooters during the vehicle’s nascency remains scant; however, any interested party is sure to stumble upon photos of early 20th century children racing manufactured scooters on city streets.
Constructions would be iterated on by both children and adults in the early 1900s, culminating in a jewel of WW1 era design, the Autoped. Manufactured by Long Island City’s The Autoped Company, the NYC born and bred device featured a robust frame, with a steering beam angled towards the rider at a near 45 degrees, and a curved base that foreshadows many of the popular art-deco automobile designs of the 1930s.
Schematics for the Autoped were patented and awarded to inventor Arthur Hugo Cecil Gibson in 1916, although it would seem that Joseph F. Merkel - creator of the Flying Merkel motorcycle - played a large hand in the Autoped’s completion.
The Autoped featured 10-inch tires and an air-cooled, 4-stroke, 155cc engine on its front wheel which could reportedly generate (unstable) speeds up to 35mph. The rider would push the steering mechanism forward to engage the clutch and apply force to a handlebar-lever to control speed. Pulling back on the steering column would disengage the clutch and activate the Autoped’s brake. Much like our electric scooter, the Autoped’s steering rod was collapsible for easy storage and transportation, and, perhaps most strikingly, one version featured an electric motor. The Autoped was manufactured between 1915 and 1919 in the States, and in Germany by Krupp from 1919 to 1922. Although the device did not gain widespread adoption, it can be seen peppered through black and white photos, ridden by US Postal service delivery men, traffic officers, and fixtures of high society.
Other companies would enter the scooter fray following the Autoped, prominent among them ABC Motorcycles, a British motorcycling outfit that sponsored several moto films of the early 20th century. In 1919, ABC chief engineer Granville Bradshaw developed the Scootamota, a seated, single-cylinder, 123cc rear wheel powered scooter with a top speed of 15mph that was manufactured between 1919 and 1922.
The 1930s would see an increase in the use of motorized scooters around military bases, airports, across urban areas, and even on Hollywood studio lots, and, in the 1940s, featured usage as a low-energy mode of transport during wartime fuel rationing. Subsequent decades would witness an ebb and flow in the popularity of both standing and seated kick and motorized scooters, with a few brands throwing their hats into the production ring from time to time. In 1974, Honda created the Kick ‘n Go kick scooter and almost a decade later, Steve Patmont of Patmont Motor Werks invented and patented the Go-Ped.
Go-Ped kicked off a second, mini scooter revolution with a low-cost, fast, low-profile gasoline-powered scooter. Patmont originally started operations and production out of his garage in Pleasanton, California, and eventually expanded the family-managed business to a 70,000 square foot facility in Minden, Nevada. Still in business today, Go-Ped has expanded its line of scooters to include an electric standing scooter (2001) and varying propane based gokarts (2009). Although the success of Go-Ped’s original model brought startups world round into the motorized scooter market, it was the Razor that ignited a true consumer scooter frenzy in the mid 1990s.
It is an interesting debate whether Swissman Wim Ouboter invented his two-wheeled kick scooter out of laziness or industry. Ouboter’s favorite sausage stop, Zurich’s Sternen Grill (famed for its bratwurst) was too far to walk to, but close enough that he didn’t feel it warranted the trouble of a bike ride. Maybe sloth and productivity are two sides of the same coin, or maybe, more likely, one propels the other; whatever the case, Ouboter’s gastronomic dilemma would lead to the creation of one of the biggest worldwide product crazes of the early 2000s.
Ouboter worked out a prototype for a lithe, two-wheeled scooter that didn’t appeal to his friends, but caught the eye of automobile manufacturer Smart, which tentatively agreed to stock the creation in each of its cars. To Outboter’s dismay, Smart’s attention turned to internal struggles, and his sleeping giant was relegated to the attic. Although his first creation became an afterthought, Outboter kept tinkering, and created a three-wheeled version - the Kickboard - which he debuted in association with American sporting goods company K2 at the International Sports Fair in Munich in 1998. The success of the Kickboard precipitated the launch of Outboter’s Micro Mobility Systems in 1999 which manufactured his original two-wheeled concept. Demand for the scooter was so high, that Outober allowed his Taiwanese production partner to distribute the scooter to the United States for a commission under the name “Razor.”
The Razor quickly became a worldwide phenomenon, selling one million units in 2000 alone. Although fanfare for the scooter slid throughout the early 2000s, the brand continued to iterate on its original concept, creating different colored wheels, sparking elements, and - in competition with Go-Ped - a motorized, electric version.
The mid-2000s saw a decade long ebb in the popularity of scooters save for the media generated by an unusual, electric, self-balancing, two wheeled device called the Segway. Developed by Dean Kamen from Plymouth University’s “iBOT” self-balancing wheelchair design, the Segway PT was the subject of a massive wave of anticipation prior to its 2001 release. Fueled by a book, an information leak, and early, speculative praise from a number of tech visionaries - including Bill Gates - the bar for the Segway PT was set perhaps untenably high. Although Segway continued to produce iterations on its first model, the buzz around micro mobility faded for some time, until American businessman Shan Chen launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for his self balancing Hoverboard.
A hit with celebrities, the Hoverboard gained worldwide popularity in 2015 and spun off a near incalculable amount of copy-cats, but its fanfare would come into contest with the arrival of the dockless, share-riding scooters of present day. The rest, as it were, is in present view. Bird, Lime, and a horde of share based electric scooters - including the millennial dominator, Razor - line the streets and alleyways of contemporary urbanity.
As a contrarion option to the wasteland of the shared experience, Unagi seeks to make the ownership of the electric scooter a more practicable, efficient, and glamorous proposition than was levied by the Go-Peds and Razors of the early 2000s and the Autoped models on the 1910s. With over a century of technological advancement, the modern, owned electric scooter is able to provide its rider with a lighter, faster, longer, and smoother ride.
The The Unagi E450 dual motor electric scooter is a lightweight aluminum and carbon fiber cruiser with a 15.5 mph max speed, electrical brakes, and an instant maximum power of 900W. You don’t tie a prize-winning dog to a street sign, and neither do you an Unagi. Made to be ridden, folded, and brought into your favorite sushi bar, our creation is an ode to over one hundred years of technological and aesthetic progress across scooter categories. With continued efforts in research and development, the entire team at Unagi can’t wait to write another page in the not-so-brief history of the scooter.
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Tagged: Yorkshire and Humberside
Unemployment Still Higher Than Pre-Recession Levels, Warns TUC
Trade Union Congress (TUC) Media Release:
Unemployment rates and levels of joblessness are higher today than before the recession in every region and nation of the UK and across all working age groups – suggesting that the economy is still less healthy than it was before the recession, the TUC warns today (Monday) ahead of the publication of the latest jobs figures later this week.
The TUC analysis of official figures shows that half a million more people were unemployed in January-March 2014 (the latest available figures), compared to January-March 2008. Yorkshire and Humberside has the biggest jobs gap, with almost 100,000 more unemployed people today than before the recession.
Northern Ireland has the biggest gap between its current and pre-recession unemployment rates. Across Northern Ireland unemployment is currently running at 6.9 per cent, 68 per higher today than six years ago, when it was 4.1 per cent. The unemployment rates in Scotland and Yorkshire and the Humber are 50 per cent higher today than before the recession.
The biggest unemployment gap by age group is among young people, with the number of unemployed 16-24 year olds 167,000 higher than six years ago. In the West Midlands for example, there are currently 20,000 more young people out of work than there were six years ago.
In most parts of the UK the jobs gaps for young people are higher than for any other age group. Unemployment levels are only lower now than six years ago amongst 16-24 year olds in the East Midlands and 35-49 year olds in Wales.
Much of the debate around unemployment has been about the rate falling below seven per cent – the trigger set by the Bank of England for possible interest rate rises. However, with over two million people still out of work – half a million higher than before the recession – and many more under-employed it remains far too early for the Bank of England to be considering an interest rate rise, says the TUC.
The number of unemployed people across the UK is still far in excess of pre-recession levels, in spite of the recent upturn in the jobs market, says the TUC. While the size of the economy is likely to return to pre-recession levels soon, unemployment levels are recovering much more slowly and the analysis shows that more needs to be done to get people back into work.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The recent upturn in the economy has prompted lots of speculation about an increase in interest rates. Those hawks that are keen for interest rates to rise have forgotten that unemployment is still over two million.
“In some parts of the UK, unemployment is 50 per cent higher than it was before the recession. The talk in the City and around Westminster may be about a fast growing economy but the recovery still feels a good way off for millions of people still desperate for work across the rest of the country.
“The government should be doing more to get unemployment down in every part of the UK. High levels of youth joblessness are particularly concerning. The growing talk of an interest rise is a worrying distraction from this far bigger economic and social problem.”
Source: www.tuc.org.uk
Source – Welfare News Service, 14 July 2014
http://welfarenewsservice.com/unemployment-still-higher-pre-recession-levels-warns-tuc/
Written by untynewear 2 Comments Posted in Unemployment Tagged with All In It Together, £, Bank of England, benefit, benefit sanctions, benefits, capitialism, coalition Government., Conservative, County Durham, Department for Work & Pensions, dole, Durham, Durham City, DWP, Easington, East Midlands, employed, employment, foodbanks, forced work, Frances O’Grady, Gateshead, government, Hebburn, Hetton-le-Hole, Houghton-le-Spring, interest rate rises, Jarrow, job, Job Centre, job seeker, Jobcentre, Jobcentre Plus, joblessness, jobs, Jobseekers Allowance, JSA, Labour, Lib Dems, Liberal Democrats, Low Pay, National Minimum Wage, neo-liberal, neoliberal, neoliberalism, New Labour, Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, North East, North Tyneside, Northern Ireland, Northumberland, parliament, Peterlee, politicians, politics, recession, sanction, sanctions, Scotland, Seaham, slavery, Social Security, South Shields, South Tyneside, Sunderland, tax credits, Tory, Trade Union Congress, TUC, TUC analysis of official figures, Tyne, Tyne & Wear, Tyneside, under-employed, unemployed, Unemployed In Tyne & Wear, unemployed north east, unemployed tyne&wear, unemployedintyne&wear, unemployment, unemployment benefits, Unemployment levels, unemployment rates, Wales, Wallsend, Washington, Wear, Wearside, welfare-to-work, West Midlands, Westminster, Whitley Bay, work, work for benefits, Work Programme, workfare, worklessness, WP, Yorkshire and Humberside, Yorkshire and the Humber
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The robed figure wears a trailing magical scarf which allows the player to briefly fly; doing so uses up the scarf's magical charge, represented visually by glowing runes on the scarf. The scarf's runes are recharged by walking, or a variety of other means.[4] Touching glowing symbols scattered throughout the levels lengthens the initially vestigial scarf, allowing the player to remain airborne longer. Larger strips of cloth are present in the levels and can be transformed from a stiff, dull gray to vibrant red by singing near them. Doing so may have effects on the world such as releasing bits of cloth, forming bridges, or levitating the player. This, in turn, allows the player to progress in the level by opening doors or allowing them to reach previously inaccessible areas. The robed figure does not have visible arms to manipulate the game world directly.[3] Along the way, the player encounters flying creatures made of cloth, some of which help the player along. In later levels, the player also encounters hostile creatures made of stone, which upon spotting the player rip off parts of the figure's scarf.[2]
As one of the most populous nations in the world, India is bustling with a vibrant culture influenced by a variety of religions, including Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. Explore the Taj Mahal, one of the world’s seven wonders, or travel to the holy city of Varanasi on the Ganges River. Get a taste of how 70% of Indians live by visiting the rural, traditional Chendamangalam village.
Hi, I'm Sandy from Salt Lake I purchased my Toyota Rav4 from James at Sunburst auto, I was treated like family from the first step in the door, these guys are the best at customer service so helpful and friendly. I would absolutely recommend my friends and family shop for cars at sunburst, the best car buying experience I've ever had. I will be back in the future, Love these guys!!
The first lesson West learns is that all industry and all institutions are under the control of the national government, a system which, he is informed, has proved to be far more effective than the earlier one of free, private enterprise because of the elimination of wasteful competition. These enormous nationwide political and industrial institutions are structured on the plan of a military organization.
A Modern Utopia (1905) by H. G. Wells – An imaginary, progressive utopia on a planetary scale in which the social and technological environment are in continuous improvement, a world state owns all land and power sources, positive compulsion and physical labor have been all but eliminated, general freedom is assured, and an open, voluntary order of "samurai" rules.[27]
Voyage centres on a young psychiatrist (played by Ryo van Kooten) who leaves Hong Kong to embark on a long lone voyage from Hong Kong along the coast of South-East Asia to try to overcome the emotional turmoil he has experienced in his relationships with former clients. While travelling, he tries to come to terms with his experiences by making a detailed record of their stories, and decides to visit those places himself.
Thomas More lived from 1477 to 1535. He was convicted of treason and beheaded in 1535 for refusing to accept King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. Utopia, written in Latin, was published in 1516. It was translated to English by Ralph Robinson in 1551. The translation by Clarence Miller was published by Yale University Press in 2001. [This review is based on the Miller translation.]
Outside of Utopia, money is the cause of endless trouble. In Utopia, "once the use of money was abolished, and together with it all greed for it, what a mass of troubles was cut away, what a crop of crimes was pulled up by the roots! Is there anyone who does not know that fraud, theft, plunder, strife, turmoil, contention, rebellion, murder, treason, poisoning, crimes which are constantly punished but never held in check, would die away if money were eliminated?" (132)
Journey is a wordless story told through gameplay and visual-only cutscenes. The player's character begins on a sand dune in a vast desert. In the far distance looms a large, mysterious mountain with a glowing crevice that splits its peak. As the character approaches the mountain, they find remnants of a once-thriving civilization, eroded by sand over time. Scattered throughout the ruins at the end of each area are stones where the traveler rests and has visions of meeting a large, white-robed figure in a circular room. Art adorns the walls, describing the rise and fall of the player character's civilization, which also mirrors the player's journey. The player must also contend with roaming, ancient automatons left over from a war that ended the civilization.
Most scholars see it as a comment on or criticism of 16th-century Catholicism, for the evils of More's day are laid out in Book I and in many ways apparently solved in Book II.[8] Indeed, Utopia has many of the characteristics of satire, and there are many jokes and satirical asides such as how honest people are in Europe, but these are usually contrasted with the simple, uncomplicated society of the Utopians.
In this lecture, Moody will describe the common elements of near-death experiences, as medical doctors in many countries have studied them. Also, he will describe shared death experiences, an identical phenomenon reported by bystanders at the death of some other person. Moody traces debates on these topics back to Plato and Democritus, who argued about whether near-death experiences indicate an afterlife, or just a dying brain. Moody will discuss fascinating new ways of studying such experiences and their relationship to humanity's biggest question: what happens when we die?
Cicero's De republica (54–52 B.C.) is largely indebted to Plato, not only to the Republic but also to several other Platonic dialogues. Cicero discusses the attributes of various types of government — monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, and dictatorship — but without committing himself to a preference. One point, however, is clear. His concept of an ideal state is one based on reason and justice, where those who possess natural superiority rule over the inferiors.
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels. In this work of 1726, which was an immediate bestseller, Lemuel Gulliver actually visits four different fantasy worlds, but the one that’s especially interesting here is the world of the Houyhnhnms, horses endowed with reason and speech, and a world in which humans are yobbish Yahoos flinging their muck around. Gulliver interprets the Houyhnhnms’ society as a utopian world, though whether Swift is inviting us to agree, or to distance ourselves from Gulliver, remains a contentious point.
The name of "humanist," in the Renaissance, meant one who was trained in the study of Latin and Greek languages to the point of easy familiarity, who had read widely in those literatures, who had adopted the ancients' attitude toward man on earth, and who believed that the prescription for enlightenment in modern society was to be found chiefly through the study and imitation of those ancient classics.
AS someone who has brought almost 50 cars over the years I must day that Sands Ford has been my best experience ever.I went to look at a specific explorer that I saw on the internet, told the salesman Paul Boyer what my price range was and a deal was worked out in no time at all,my total tome at the dealership was about 2 hours and that was mostly waiting for the car to be serviced and after the sale Paul spent probably 30 minutes explaining everything about the car to my girlfriend and myself he even set up our phones for us and didn't leave is go until we we're comfortable knowing everything about the car we purchased.I would recommend seeing Paul and Sands Ford as the prices are very good. I also want to point out the finance manager Don, usually by the time you get to that part they try to tack on all kinds of additional expenses but Don wasn't pushy and explained everything to me and worked with me and I for what I needed found him to be a nice friendly man and talked about motorcycles and Ford pickups.I also would like to let it be known about his honesty , while at his office I left my wallets on his desk with not only my credit cards,drivers license but several hundred dollars in cash but Don tracked me down and returned it. Kudos to him .I will be going back to Sands Ford next year to purchase my King Ranch truck as I believe they are a reasonably price dealership with good honest employees.
Whether hiking Table Mountain for one of the world’s best views, riding horseback on safari, or engaging with local entrepreneurs in Cape Town, students always fall in love with South Africa. Full of adventure and captivating sights, Cape Town offers countless opportunities for cultural and natural exploration. Cape Town is also home to world-renowned social rights activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who students just may have the opportunity to meet as he is a member of the Institute for Shipboard Education Board of Trustees… and a big fan of Semester at Sea!
Prior to completing his M.D., Moody was an assistant professor of philosophy at East Carolina University from 1969-72. After completing his M.D., Moody was a visiting associate professor of philosophy at the University of Virginia from 1977-78, an as associate professor of psychology at the University of West Georgia from 1987-92, and the Bigelow Chair of Consciousness Studies at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas from 1992-2002.
The few criticisms for the game centered on its length and pacing. Clements noted that not all players would appreciate a game with a "deliberate, melancholic pace" and short duration, comments echoed by the Edge review.[3][5] Miller noted the lack of complex gameplay elements in Journey, and Shaw was disappointed that the game was only a few hours long, though Douglas said the length was perfect.[1][2][46] Miller concluded the game could be compared to "a musical concert, a well-directed film, or a long-awaited book", while Clements concluded, "completing Journey will create memories that last for years".[1][46]
Unlike many games, where different songs have different themes for each character or area, Wintory chose to base all of the pieces on one theme which stood for the player and their journey, with cello solos especially representing the player. Wintory describes the music as "like a big cello concerto where you are the soloist and all the rest of the instruments represent the world around you", though he describes it as not necessarily orchestral due to the inclusion of electronic aspects.[28][31] The cello begins the game as "immersed in a sea of electronic sound", before first emerging on its own and then merging into a full orchestra, mirroring the player's journey to the mountain.[32] While the game's art style is based on several different cultures, Wintory tried to remove any overt cultural influences from the music to make it "as universal and culture-less as possible".[28] Tina Guo features as the cellist for the soundtrack. She is a close friend of Wintory and has since performed "Woven Variations" with him, an eight-minute orchestral variation on the Journey soundtrack.[31] All of the non-electronic instruments in the soundtrack were recorded with a live orchestra.[29]
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Future Calling – The shape of phones to come
There’s no doubt that the future of mobile phones will look and feel very different to the present day.
November 26, 2019, by Milosz Krasiński
Chances are, you’re reading this article on your phone. You were probably directed to it by a friend sharing it on Facebook – which you were checking out after checking your emails.
For 5.15 billion of us worldwide, our phones have become no less than our life support system as we rely on them for everything from doing our banking to doing business.
It wasn’t so long ago that mobile phones could do two things – make and receive calls and, send and receive text messages.
In just a few short years, the humble phone has become more powerful than anybody could have imagined. As we get ready to ring in the year 2020, we take a look at the shape of phones to come in the not-too-distant future.
A flexible friend
As with so much of today’s technology, the future design of our phones will aim to address common pain points of users.
One such pain point is the fact that the size and solid shape of our phones means that we need a bag or pocket big enough to pop it into.
Smartphone companies are already working on the idea of a phone which can be bent and folded to fit even the smallest of pockets. You may be surprised to learn that Nokia was working on this back in 2008 when it introduced the idea of the ‘Morph Phone’ which could be snapped apart, bent in half and even wrapped around the wrist for easy transportation.
Although we don’t, as yet, have a flexible phone available on the market for commercial purchase, with several companies on the case, it’s unlikely to be too far off.
AI on the line
As artificial intelligence begins to creep into every aspect of our daily lives, it’s not difficult to imagine it coming to a phone near you in the very near future.
Techy types have begun envisioning a phone which will double up as a virtual assistant.
We know that the phones we have now can remind us of appointments, hold our shopping lists and connect us to all of our various accounts. The phone of the future will be able to do so much more.
Forward thinking companies are working on AI-integrated phones which will learn about our behaviour in order to help manage our daily lives – for example, your phone will alert you to the fact that you’ve overslept and, whilst you’re still dragging yourself from dreamland, will be notifying your work and calculating the fastest route to get you there on time.
In 2011, Julius Tarng began looking at his concept with his Modai phone which would manage daily events by adapting to different situations in much the way a human being would.
In terms of business, AI is likely to become even more important to marketers who, in the future, will be able to use social listening more proactively.
Increased use of our phones will mean that marketers are able to gather even more data in real time and, therefore, will be able to interact instantly with customers.
Green phones
As we become more and more reliant on our technology, we’re also becoming increasingly aware of the ways in which this technology drains our planet’s resources.
Leading phone companies have been pondering on this issue for some time, trying to figure out ways of making our phones more eco-friendly. Ideas that have been put forward so far include the use of biodegradable materials for the construction of our phones and methods of charging which use cleaner energy.
Kyocera is one such company and, at the 2016 Mobile World Congress trade show, it showcased a new prototype phone which runs on solar power. Although the company is still ironing out some kinks in the concept, this could prove to be a very real solution to the eco issues surrounding our phones.
Sci-fi or Sci-fact
Although green AI based, bendy phones are no doubt on their way, there are a few predictions which are still way off.
In the last few years, there’s been talk of mobile phones which would be capable of projecting holographic images and virtual displays onto the top of the screen for superior interaction. In 2014, rumors were abound that the iPhone 6 would contain this technology – rumors which proved to be just that.
Although this has not been a feature in the iPhone 6 – or the iPhone 8, for that matter, the idea shouldn’t be dismissed completely. Queen’s University in Canada has been working on a prototype of its ‘Holoflex’ phone which will be holographic and flexible; meaning that users can bend the handset to change the 3D holographic display. For the time being, however, portable holographic devices remain the realm of Hollywood movies.
Touchy subject
One of those pain points we talked about is the fact that, at the moment, in order to use our phones, we have to sully our delicate hands by touching them.
“As voice recognition becomes progressively more accurate, there are those who believe that our future phones will never leave our bag or pocket – as we’ll be able to access calls, texts and the internet through two-way voice control” says Fernando Angulo Head of Partnerships, Semrush. This means that we can look forward to a future of overhearing some very odd conversations as we go about our daily business.
A future without phones
Don’t worry, we’re not suggesting that, in the future, we’ll be shunning our phones in favour of real life interaction.
However, if we’re talking waaaaaay into the future then, it’s reasonable to assume that technology, as it continues its warp speed advancement, will bring about some changes.
There are those who feel that, in years to come, we’ll no longer have to carry an actual device around with us. There’s a possibility that, at some point, our phone technology will be provided by a tiny chip inserted into our skin, allowing us to carry out all of our necessary tasks instantly and, without a physical piece of equipment – which gives an entirely new meaning to the term ‘hands-free’.
There’s no doubt that the future of mobile phones will look and feel very different to the present day, however, it remains to be seen as to just how many of these predictions are just impossible and, which are just around the corner.
The Ultimate Guide to Mobile App KPIs in 2020
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Mobile UX Trends for 2020 that You Can’t Miss
Why Elon Musk’s Brain Will Change The Future of UX
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Help-to-Buy: More beneficial than the market thinks
Charles Goodhart, Melanie Baker 14 October 2013
Help-to-Buy was set up to stimulate the economy and help working people buy a home. Critics worry that it has no supply effect and thus just pushes up house prices. This column argues that the policy will boost supply and that it could also become a useful macroprudential tool. The Financial Policy Committee, in conjunction with others, could adjust parameters to manage volatility and avoid bubbles.
Why is housing such a popular investment? A new psychological explanation
Thomas Stephens, Jean-Robert Tyran
Housing bubbles and interest rates
Christian Hott, Terhi Jokipii
Monetary and macroprudential policies
Paolo Angelini, Stefano Neri, Fabio Panetta
Four reasons why Help to Buy in the UK should be positive:
It will help address to a gap in the market for affordable housing.
Supply-side dynamics should respond from historically low levels to this stimulus if house builders have confidence in its duration.
The private sector could take over some or all of this role after year 3 – by privatisation of the nascent mortgage indemnity insurer, by introducing private competition, or via re-insurance.
It could be used as a powerful macro-prudential tool. Regardless of whether it remains a government vehicle, we think the FPC should retain control over the key parameters – and the Canadian experience shows a possible role for tweaking terms.
The exit / retention strategy and how it dovetails with planning need to be spelled out early to maximise the multiplier to the real economy. Policy makers need to manage the scheme’s cliff risks and execute its smooth transition into the private sector. The lead-time to bring a new build to sale completion is 12 months, plus additional time for planning approvals, so maximum supply side impact from the scheme will require a view within 18 months.
Figure 1. Housing starts and completions in England are ~25% below the LT average – so could rise by one-third to 20-year pre-crisis average. This would come after an 18% increase already on the 2012 avg.
Source: ONS, Morgan Stanley Research. Data as at Q2 2013. Note that quarterly data has been annualised in this chart.
Help to Buy scheme – An anatomy
There are actually two elements of the ‘Help to Buy’ scheme. The first tranche is in the form of an equity loan scheme, which was launched in April this year. The second is the mortgage guarantee scheme on which we focus in this column.
The Government’s estimate of £130 billion of new lending on the back of the guarantee scheme encompasses the assumption that not all of the guarantee uptake will be executed at the maximum level – e.g. 14.25%. Looking into the numbers in more detail, if the maximum guarantee were to be applied to all loans, then there would be £84 billion of new lending, which is some £46 billion short of the government’s estimate. Backing out the implied guarantee from the £130 billion, we estimate that the government will provide for about 9% of the loan, equating to an 86% loan-to-value ratio on average.
Table 1. £130bn of new lending implies average LTV of 86%
Source: HM Treasury, Morgan Stanley Research estimates.
In the UK, the above 90% loan-to-value segment in UK mortgage lending has contracted significantly from about 14% of the market to about 2% of the market currently. Clearly, it would not be desirable to return to the Northern Rock era of high loan-to-value lending, with borrowers just hoping for capital appreciation. However, it could go some way to addressing the issue of ‘pent up demand’ where creditworthy borrowers who can afford a capital and repayment mortgage cannot access finance as they do not have enough cash for the substantial upfront deposit now required by most banks.
Figure 2. Help to Buy should stimulate lending at higher LTVs, although we expect 80-90% to be the sweet spot
Source: Morgan Stanley Research, Bank of England
Widening access to housing
Help to Buy can increase the availability of loans for affordable housing. Such mortgage indemnity insurance in the UK should, therefore, help to increase the availability of loans for affordable housing, since it addresses a current gap in the market for higher loan-to-value loans.
With material ongoing changes in bank regulation, the cost and availability of 80-95% mortgages has become dramatically tougher. To a large extent, this is the result of the Financial Services Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority intentionally putting much harsher capital charges against these loans, although it also reflects some risk aversion by banks, given the present numerous uncertainties. For instance, our discussions with the banks suggest that a 95% loan to value mortgage was being priced at about 1.5% per annum more than a 75% loan to value loan, although the estimated additional credit charges only amount to 25 basis points, according to one leading bank. This is primarily due to higher regulatory demands. In addition, the number of loans written in these categories, as we show later, has fallen to very low levels. By somewhat de-risking high loan-to-value mortgages from a lender (and, we assume regulatory) perspective, some of these problems should ease.
The policy can also boost housing supply – critical to an economic recovery. The main criticism of the guarantee initiative is centred around the idea that it will not boost supply, and rather will only serve to pump up house prices further. We disagree. Moreover, we think house building – as in the 1930s – is critical to a broader economic recovery.
The growing rehabilitation of the banks and the economy, plus policies like funding for lending, have already led to a pick-up in demand for first time and buy to let mortgages, as well as higher sales expectations at house builders. With the addition of Help-to-Buy, we think that this could be the trigger for a further supply side revival. At this stage, the government estimates that £12 billion of funding should catalyse £130 billion of new lending for both new and existing housing – about a 10% increase in the stock of lending, should it all come to fruition. This is in addition to the £3.5 billion equity segment of the scheme, which was introduced in England in April and applies solely to new housing. Further, the policy has the makings of a potentially powerful macro-prudential tool, which could be deployed to reduce rather than raise the risks of a housing bubble. Having more new, affordable homes is clearly also good for the UK, well beyond the GDP impact. We expect that the majority of mortgages under the scheme to be in the 80-90% range, as in Canada and Australia. As analysed above, backing out HMT’s numbers, we estimate HMT is assuming a mean of 86% loan-to-value ratio.
30-40% increase in English housing starts by 2015 looks possible
Housing starts and completions in England are running 25% below the long-term average (using the 20 years pre crisis), despite already bouncing 15% in the first half of this year from the average of 2012 levels. Reverting to the long-term mean could imply a one-third increase in housing starts and completions. To put this in context, in 2012 there were approximately 100,000 housing starts and in first half of 2013 they are running at an annualised rate of 115,000. The long-term average pre-crisis we calculate to be about 155,000, and our conversations with leading house builders suggest that it would not be implausible for them to close this gap, in part thanks to larger land banks – although planning rules and supply chain bottlenecks clearly remain a key constraint.
Our conversations with CEOs/CFOs at UK house builders point to a higher potential supply response. We have already seen an approximate 30% pick-up on average in reservations of new builds on the back of the equity loan segment of Help-to-Buy, but this could be just the first wave. Our interviews suggest that the house builders are expecting to see an uplift in supply volumes. Looking across the land bank data for the six largest house builders, there is certainly capacity to grow supply.
Figure 3. Large land banks are ready to be deployed. A return to historical levels could imply ~100k new properties or ~1 year supply on current completion levels
Source: Company Data, Morgan Stanley Research. Based on simple average of land bank data taken from: Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon, Barratt, Redrow, Bovis & Bellway. Data as at FY2012.
Our estimates show that average land banks are running at 5.7 years of average stock versus 3.8 years for the prior 15 years. If these stocks returned to previous levels, we could see an additional 100,000 houses being built, which equates to about a year’s supply based on current completion rates.
However, the supply side has been weakened post crisis, and more could be done. Clearly, house builders took a huge hit in the downturn, and capacity has been lost in some parts of the supply chain. As a result, it will take time for capacity to be rebuilt, although there are some recent positive signs. For instance, there has been a 21% increase in construction apprenticeships in the first half of 2013 – per Construction News August 2013. Planning is the area where policy makers need to be most effective, but there are other areas too. For instance, Housing Associations are far less keen to build, given that they have less access to finance these days. One by-product of bank regulation has been to create massive disincentives for long-dated loans to social housing. Every bank we speak with is reducing its book. Enabling larger social housing projects to be able to access insurance or broader market finance seems desirable, although this will require further policy changes.
Wider effects on the economy
Any improvement in residential construction could add to ‘escape velocity’. Construction has been a significant drag on overall GDP growth for much of the post-crisis period. Although only 16% of total construction, residential construction has a potentially sizable role to play in the recovery. For example, in the first half of 2013, looking at the expenditure side of the GDP accounts, residential investment already contributed 0.2% to GDP growth, where GDP only grew 0.3%.
Housing transactions are positively correlated with consumer spending. Housing transactions should pick up, and there is naturally a positive correlation between housing transactions and some elements of consumer spending (particularly spending on furnishings and household equipment).
Figure 4. More housing transactions … more furniture sold
Source: ONS, Morgan Stanley Research
Use of similar schemes elsewhere
Schemes such as Help-to-Buy are widely used in comparable countries, including Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Mexico and several others. Although mortgage indemnity insurance is compulsory in Canada for high loan-to-value mortgages, it is notable that some two-thirds of the values of all mortgages are insured. In Australia, where it is voluntary, we estimate that about one third are. There have been plenty of mistakes, most notably with Freddie and Fannie in the US, and hence we think using the private sector rather than relying on the government long term also makes sense. There is much to be learned from past mistakes when designing the scheme, including the issues Eagle Star and others had in the early 1990s. The Basel Committee working paper in April also noted aspects of best practice, which the UK could adopt.1
Regional effects
The equity scheme appears to have had bigger impacts beyond London – where the regional economies sorely need more impetus. In the first wave of new build properties reserved under the equity loan leg of the scheme, the largest share has been in the Midlands, with 7% in London (versus 15% of second quarter housing completions). The mortgage indemnity leg of the scheme may, however, not have such striking differential ratios, given of course new house supply is more constrained in London than in the rest of the country. With the inclusion of existing housing in the guarantee scheme, therefore, the impact in London could be greater.
What happens later?
But question marks persist over ‘cliff risk’. Policy makers need to get ahead of ‘cliff risk’ as well as get the contractual terms right. The key to whether this policy succeeds is whether it drives greater supply, and this will only happen if the house builders are confident that new properties coming to the market further down the line will be marketable. Currently, the scheme is only proposed for three years. The average time to build and sell a new house, including planning constraints, is around 18 months, so if uncertainty around the duration of the scheme persists, then house builders may cut supply back substantially during the second year, thus diluting the desired multiplier effect to the economy. It would be helpful to take a decision on the scheme within 18 months, rather than three years.
Private sector operation?
Greater private sector involvement has been the exit route of choice for a number of global schemes. This could help address the ‘cliff risks’. Mortgage guarantee schemes are not a new concept, though their global implementation has varied over time, with some opting for full state control – such as Hong Kong – and others partially state controlled – Canada. The most notable example of a full, successful privatisation was Australia in 1997, when the Housing Loans Insurance Co-operation (HLIC) was purchased by GE Capital. Today, six players make up the wholly privatised industry, which is highly regulated by APRA (Australian Prudential Regulation Authority) with solvency coverage ratios of about 150%. It would certainly make sense for the UK to get ahead of market concerns and think about the next step for the scheme, once the state-backed phase rolls off. Recent reports (FT, August 4th) indicate that the Treasury has been holding talks with several insurers, including Genworth.
Help-to-Buy has the potential to become a useful macro-prudential tool. Policy makers will understand at first hand the perils of a housing bubble, and thus will be mindful of the pitfalls associated with the scheme – but Help to Buy could become a useful macro-prudential tool. The FPC in conjunction with other parties could change the parameters of the scheme counter-cyclically to manage bouts of housing market and mortgage market volatility. Put differently, this scheme would mean that banks no longer have mortgages with LTVs above 80% on average and that policy makers would be able to control the grid of a conforming mortgage.
Charles Goodhart is a senior adviser to Morgan Stanley. In his personal capacity, Mr. Goodhart advises other organizations and firms on economic matters, including among others, the Financial Markets Group of the London School of Economics.
This article is based on research published for Morgan Stanley Research on September 4, 2013. It is not an offer to buy or sell any security/instruments or to participate in a trading strategy. For important disclosures as of the date of the publication of the research, please refer to the original piece available here. For important current disclosures that pertain to Morgan Stanley, please refer to the disclosures regarding the issuer(s) that are the subject of this article on Morgan Stanley’s disclosure website. https://www.morganstanley.com/researchdisclosures.
Please note that materials that are referenced here are intended for informational use only, so please do not forward the content contained herein. If you should have a need to use/share the materials externally, please contact Charlie Anderson, Centre for Economic Policy Research. Additionally, MS and CEPR have provided their materials here either through agreement or as a courtesy. Therefore, MS and CEPR do not undertake to advise you of changes in the opinions or information set forth in these materials. You should note the date.
1 February 2013 BIS report “Mortgage insurance: market structure, underwriting cycle and policy implications”, http://www.bis.org/publ/joint30.pdf
Topics: Monetary policy
Tags: housing bubble, macroprudential, Help-to-Buy
Charles Goodhart
Emeritus Professor in the Financial Markets Group, London School of Economics
Melanie Baker
UK economist at Morgan Stanley
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Home > News & Policies > Nominations by Name
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Office of the Press Secretary
President George W. Bush today announced his intention to nominate three individuals and appoint one individual to serve in his Administration.
The President intends to nominate Steven R. Chealander, of Texas, to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board for a term of five years. Mr. Chealander currently serves as a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board. Prior to this, he served as a Manager of Flight Operations Efficiency at the American Airlines Flight Academy. Earlier in his career, he served in the United States Air Force, where he was a Thunderbird pilot . Mr. Chealander received his bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California.
The President intends to nominate John H. Gibson, of Texas, to be Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Financial Management). Mr. Gibson currently serves as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Management Reform. Prior to this, he served as Managing Director of DK Consulting Group, LLC. Earlier in his career, he served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Galbraith Electric. Mr. Gibson received two bachelor's degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and his MBA from the University of Dallas.
The President intends to nominate Mark V. Rosenker, of Maryland, to be Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, for a two-year term beginning 08/09/08. Major General Rosenker currently serves as Member and Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. Prior to this, he served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Military Office. Earlier in his career, Major General Rosenker served in the United States Air Force Reserve. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland.
The President intends to appoint Kenneth C. Canterbury, Jr., of South Carolina, to be a Member of the Medal of Valor Review Board (Law Enforcement) for a term of four years.
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India: Steel-making POSCO strikes again
Posted on Feb 28, 2013. Included in Bulletin 187
On 3 February 2013, at around 4 am, twelve police platoons entered Govindpur and Nuagaon villages in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa (present Odisha) and started beating up sleeping women & children, injuring many of them seriously, and arresting people at random. They are demolishing the betel vines in the area – the traditional and one of the most viable local livelihoods.
The villagers of Govindpur and Nuagaon are protesting against a project that for the last eight years has met with stiff resistance. A resilient local movement by a cluster of strong-willed villages, including Govindpur and Nuagaon, have been resisting the forceful and illegal acquisition of their land to set up a steel plant, port and ancillary infrastructure project promoted by the South Korean-based transnational steel-making company POSCO in the Jagatsunghpur district of the eastern Indian province of Orissa, in an area which includes 6000 hectares of pristine forests, prime agricultural land and coastal economy. (See WRM Bulletin No 155)
In this phase there have been many ups and several downs. There have been constant shifts of power with the highest offices of the Government of India intervening so that POSCO’s men and machines could find their way into their earmarked project site.
Due to years of protest and other delays, the first set of environmental approvals to POSCO, granted in 2007, lapsed in 2012. These were valid for only five years. During this time local resistance, solidarity, and lack of the final set of permissions under other designated laws disallowed POSCO from starting operations. There were efforts to forcibly enter the area, local clashes, episodes where POSCO’s officials were prevented from entering, arrests of protesters and so on.
Now the state moved to take possession of the land forcefully disregarding the constitutional rights of the people and in a gross violation of Forest Rights Act 2006.
All India Forum of Forest Movements (AIFFM) strongly condemn this barbarous attack on people who are resisting forceful acquisition of their lands peacefully and demand immediate withdrawal of police from the area and immediate release of people who have been illegally arrested.
Article based on information sent by All India Forum of Forest Movements (AIFFM) Secretariat, e-mail: aiffmsecretariat@gmail.com: “POSCO isn’t a closed chapter”, by KanchiKohli; “Demolishing democracy: An Oppressive State violates its own rules”, AIFFM Statementcondemning State Violenceagainst Villagers in Orissa, India protesting against South Korean TNC promoted POSCO Project
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Why ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Really Pissed Off Fans
One of the most interesting side effects of early press screenings is that critics see films before their consensuses or controversies coalesce. If you go back and read my original review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, published three days before the movie opened in theaters, it’s utterly clueless as to the reception awaiting the film. The Force Awakens was an enormous critical and commercial success; four years later, it still holds the title of the biggest domestic box office in history. The Last Jedi seemed to do everything The Force Awakens did on a bigger and more emotional scale. How could it fail?
Technically, it didn’t. With The Rise of Skywalker about to open in theaters, The Last Jedi remains the ninth-biggest movie in U.S. history, and the 13th-biggest movie ever worldwide. Still, a vocal minority of fans hated the movie. (it’s weird how fans in this context means people who despise something, but that’s where we are these days.) Their complaints focused on a few areas. Naysayers accused The Last Jedi of being too jokey, or breaking certain established rules of Star Wars physics, or espousing progressive values, or dismissing some of the larger mysteries established in The Force Awakens by director J.J. Abrams, or turning the franchise’s foundational hero, Luke Skywalker, into a bitter old man.
In retrospect, I should have suspected some of these takes were coming, because while there were a lot of different objections to The Last Jedi, almost all of them are extensions of the film’s message. In its own quiet way, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is shockingly and almost perversely anti-Star Wars.
That doesn’t mean I think, as some of the more extreme and ill-informed fans argued upon The Last Jedi’s release, that writer/director Rian Johnson hates Star Wars. His love of the series, its characters, and its iconography is clear from The Last Jedi’s opening moments right through its final emotional tableau. What Johnson may not like — or at least what I see The Last Jedi as deeply suspicious of — is Star Wars’ endless need to return to the same concepts in movie after movie. The Last Jedi suggests this series needs to evolve beyond what it has been for 40 years if it’s going to remain relevant. The Last Jedi is his attempt to start that evolution — and to warn longtime Star Wars fans that they may need to loosen their grip on this thing that they love so dearly.
The film that preceded Johnson’s, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, did introduce a new generation of Star Wars characters, including Force-sensitive scavenger Rey and First Order defector Finn. The movie itself, though, was almost slavishly indebted to the original Star Wars trilogy. It brought back many of the series’ most beloved heroes and it put all the actors, old and new, into a story that recycled almost every significant beat from 1977’s Star Wars. It begins with a droid on a desert planet carrying a message of vital importance to an orphan and ends with the heroes blowing up a dollar store Death Star after a wise old hero sacrifices his life at the hands of a younger evildoer with whom he shares a complicated past.
The Last Jedi definitely shares some DNA with Star Wars’s very first sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, but Johnson’s film not only differs from it in several important ways, it strongly argues that any demand for blind devotion to the plot points of the earlier films is misguided. Throughout The Last Jedi, characters insist upon discarding the past and embracing the future. In fact, this is the only thing the heroes, represented by Luke Skywalker, and the villains, represented by Kylo Ren, agree on in the film.
Kylo repeatedly tries to convince Rey to join him on the Dark Side of the Force. His argument returns to the same key point: They should forget Luke, forget Supreme Leader Snoke, and rule together. (It’s basically “OK boomer” as a government platform.) When Kylo and Rey communicate telepathically via the Force, Kylo urges Rey to “let the past die. Kill it, if you have to.” Later, when they are physically reunited and work together to kill Snoke and his guards, he says once again “It’s time to let old things die. Snoke... Skywalker... the Sith... the Jedi... the rebels. Rey... I want you to join me. We can rule together and bring a new order to the galaxy.”
One might assume that because Kylo Ren is one of The Last Jedi’s antagonists that the audience is supposed to reject his philosophy. Instead, it’s curiously aligned with Luke Skywalker’s. Luke spends the entire film trying to convince Rey that she should not become a Jedi. “It's time for the Jedi to end,” he tells her during one of their earliest conversations. He insists that “if you strip away the myth and look at their deeds, the legacy of the Jedi is failure.” And after Rey finally gives up trying to convince Luke to teach her the ways of the Force, Luke attempts to burn down the ancient tree that serves as the repository of the books that hold all of the group’s accumulated knowledge.
At the last minute, Luke hesitates ... and the ghost of his Yoda shows up to finish the job for him.
Some of Yoda’s cavalier attitude toward the Jedi texts in this scene can be explained by the fact that unbeknownst to Luke (but clearly beknownst to Yoda) Rey has already stolen the books and taken them with her as she rejoined the Resistance, which means burning the tree is a meaningless gesture. (One of the cheekiest lines in Johnson’s entire screenplay is when Yoda says “That library contains nothing that the girl Rey does not already possess,” because literally Rey already possess the library.) Still, Yoda agrees on some level that the past should die. He burns the tree, an almost Biblical symbol of his religion’s wisdom. And he tells Luke that the “true burden of all masters” is that they are “what [their students] grow beyond.”
Yoda’s teachings would not, in most situations, be considered radical or even particularly controversial. But in this case, he is essentially advocating for Star Wars to stop living in the past — and no franchise focuses with more singular fervor on living in the past than Star Wars. The very concept of the series is rooted in nostalgia; George Lucas channeled his childhood love of movie serials and old science-fiction magazines when he created the original film. Its opening titles — “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” — are essentially an invitation to the audience to travel back to some imagined, unspoiled past. This, in turn, informs how a lot of Star Wars fans look at the property: It was always better a long time ago, and the series must always strive to return to those perfect early days.
Yet here is Yoda, telling Luke — and by extension, the older members of Star Wars’ audience — they need to stop obsessing over the “sacred Jedi texts.” (“Page turners, they were not!” he quips.) He’s referring to the archaic volumes Rey snuck onto the Millennium Falcon, but he might as well be talking about the original Star Wars trilogy. Even the phrase “sacred Jedi texts” reflects the near-religious passion some fans possess for those old Star Wars movies.
So many of the complaints about The Last Jedi are rooted in a rejection of Yoda’s argument. Some fans don’t want Star Wars to grow beyond what was in the Original Trilogy. They still want Star Wars to be about Luke Skywalker, the superhero who saves the day and redeems his dad. They don’t want inventive twists on the technology of Star Wars, even though all of Star Wars’ technology is ludicrous and made-up anyway. They don’t want characters like Rey to be entirely new to the saga; they don’t want her parents to be “nobody” as Kylo tells her. They want her lineage to have some key connection to the old films, yet again reaffirming their importance and continuing their primacy in this fictional universe.
There’s nothing wrong with loving the old Star Wars movies. 40 years later, they hold up extremely well. But you can’t just keep rehashing them over and over. Eventually, the formula will get stale. (Just ask Solo: A Star Wars Story.) Eventually your fanbase will get just as old as your story beats. Eventually, you won’t need to kill the past. It will be so old it will die off all on its own.
The only way to ensure Star Wars survives is to listen to what Yoda said, to pass on what the old generation has learned and then for the next generation to grow beyond it. Given that the man who directed The Force Awakens also directed The Rise of Skywalker, I am not sure this lesson from the great Jedi master will be heeded this time out. But Yoda has a lesson in The Last Jedi about that, too. When telling Luke what he should have passed on to Rey when he had the chance, Yoda lists “strength, mastery” but also “weakness” and most importantly “failure.” “The greatest teacher, failure is,” Yoda says.
Again, to a fanbase raised on “Do or do not; there is no try,” this might not be an appealing concept. Yoda’s philosophy in The Last Jedi almost reads like a correction to his earlier tenet. You might have to try and fail many times before doing something successfully — like, say, trying to make a Star Wars movie that really pushes the franchise into uncharted territory. But as Yoda reminds Luke as they sit in the shadow of that burning tree, it’s never too late to learn this particular lesson. And if we fail this time, we can simply try again.
Gallery — The Best TV Shows on Disney+:
Source: Why ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Really Pissed Off Fans
Filed Under: commerce, J.J. Abrams, Rian Johnson, Star Wars
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The Transformation From Adolescent Into Adulthood Essay
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Rating: Better Essays
The transformation from adolescent into adulthood can cause an individual to become conscious that it is time to uncover one’s whereabouts in the world. A majority of individuals reaches this transition effortlessly whereas others struggle to receive acceptance amongst their surroundings. In the short story “Soldiers Home” Harold Krebs’ character appears in two photographs which are critical to how his own existence transforms, beginning as a young fraternity student then following the likeness of a soldier under the effects of World War I. As well as, a third depiction apparent in images of black and white within the pages, exposing Krebs’s inability to “accept the old norms” and his failure to proceed in finding his function in life (DeFalco 90). This sparks Harold on a path of isolation in dealing with his family and community, all things considering he commences to exhibit traits of being lonely, a liar to endure in the town he calls home, and becomes an idle man.
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- The area that I would like to touch on is the different levels of adulthood, young adulthood, early adulthood and middle adulthood. These developmental stages are new to me, especially the Emerging adulthood theory that was discussed in this course. I will be discussing what stood out to me as I learned about these different stages, before this I was under the impression that once you turned 18 years old you were considered an adult. Not that I agreed with that theory, but until I took this course my thought had been confirmed and there are different “levels” of being an adult.... [tags: Adult, Adulthood, Developmental psychology]
Building Blocks Of A Home Based Business
The Us Foreign Policy Towards Israel
Internet Search Engine Or A Database
Materialism Is The Society Better
Writing Skills And Reading Skills
History Of 9 / 11
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Shawn Kelley
For other similarly named people, see Sean Kelly.
American baseball player
Kelley with the Nationals in 2018
Born: (1984-04-26) April 26, 1984 (age 35)
Louisville, Kentucky
Bats: Right Throws: Right
April 10, 2009, for the Seattle Mariners
MLB statistics
(through 2019 season)
Win–loss record
Earned run average
Seattle Mariners (2009–2012)
New York Yankees (2013–2014)
San Diego Padres (2015)
Washington Nationals (2016–2018)
Oakland Athletics (2018)
Texas Rangers (2019)
Shawn Andrew Kelley (born April 26, 1984) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners from 2009 to 2012, New York Yankees from 2013 to 2014, San Diego Padres in 2015, Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018, the Oakland Athletics in 2018 and the Texas Rangers in 2019.
Kelley with the Yankees in 2013
Kelley attended Ballard High School, and later Austin Peay State University. Kelley was drafted by the Mariners in the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft. He made his professional debut in 2007, and later made his major league debut in 2009. Kelley bats and throws right-handed.
✪ Shawn Kelley frustrated after Jackson's home run
✪ Righty Shawn Kelley signs with the Rangers
✪ Shawn Kelley after first appearance of 2018
✪ Texas Rangers 11, Astros 10, Shawn Kelley talks about getting a dramatic save, his first 2019 save
✪ Shawn Kelley discusses the crazy ending to the Nats-Braves game
1 Amateur career
1.1 High school
1.2 College
2 Professional career
2.1 Seattle Mariners
2.1.1 2007–2008 seasons
2.1.2 2009 season
2.2 New York Yankees
2.3 San Diego Padres
2.4 Washington Nationals
2.5 Oakland Athletics
2.6 Texas Rangers
3 Personal life
4 References
Kelley attended Ballard High School in Louisville, Kentucky. As a pitcher for the school's baseball team, Kelley went 9–1 with a 1.12 earned run average (ERA), and 95 strikeouts in 74 innings pitched.[1] He also batted .564 with seven home runs, and 21 stolen bases.[1]
Kelley hoped to play college baseball for the University of Louisville, but they did not offer him a scholarship. Kelley accepted the only scholarship offer he received, from Austin Peay State University.[2] In his first season, 2003, he was involved in no decisions with a 2.57 ERA in four games, one start. Kelley sustained an elbow injury in his first season and had Tommy John surgery, which ended his redshirt freshman season.[1] During his freshman season in 2004, Kelley went 3–3 with a 3.45 ERA, and 51 strikeouts in 16 games, 10 starts. That season, he finished with the third lowest ERA in the Ohio Valley Conference.[3] In his sophomore season in 2005, Kelley went 7–4 with a 3.59 ERA, one save, and 70 strikeouts in 17 games, 16 starts. That season, he was selected to the second-team All-Ohio Valley Conference.[4]
In his junior season, Kelley went 5–6 with a 3.30 ERA, and 89 strikeouts in 18 games, 14 starts. His final season, 2007, Kelley went 11–3 with a 2.40 ERA, and 82 strikeouts in 17 games, 16 starts. On April 9, 2007, he was named the Ohio Valley Conference's Pitcher of the Week.[5] He won his second Pitcher of the Week award on April 23.[6] At the end of the 2007 season, Kelley was named to the second-team American Baseball Coaches All-South Region.[7] On the academic side, Kelley received a bachelor's degree in political science.[8]
2007–2008 seasons
Kelley was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 13th round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft. He began his professional career that season with the Class-A Short-Season Everett AquaSox. With the AquaSox, he went 1–0 with a 3.00 ERA, and four strikeouts in three games, all in relief. After his stint in Everett, Kelley was promoted to the Class-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. In his debut with the Timber Rattlers, Kelley attained the win after pitching two relief innings.[9] In nine games with Wisconsin, Kelley went 1–1 with a 2.25 ERA, and 14 strikeouts. In 2008, Kelley split the season between the Class-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, the Class-A Advanced High Desert Mavericks, and the Double-A West Tenn Diamond Jaxx. With the Timber Rattlers, he was involved in no decisions, and record a 3.52 ERA with three saves, and 12 strikeouts in eight games. He was then promoted to the Mavericks where in 12 relief appearances he was involved in no decisions, gave-up no earned runs, saved three games, and struck-out 12. Finally, with the Diamond Jaxx, Kelley went 3–1 with a 2.11 ERA, nine saves, and 44 strikeouts in 29 games, all in relief. Kelley was tied for first among Diamond Jaxx pitchers in games finished (24), and was second in saves.[10] At the end of the 2008 regular season, Kelley played in the Venezuelan Winter League.[11]
At the start of the 2009 season, Kelley was invited to Mariners' spring training as a non-roster invitee.[12] During spring training, Mariners' manager Don Wakamatsu was reportedly impressed by Kelley's performance and was quoted as saying, "[Kelley's] stuff is outstanding. Very impressive."[13] Kelley made the Mariners' 25-man roster after spring training.[14] Kelley made his major league debut on April 10 against the Oakland Athletics and struck out two in one inning pitched.[15] On May 1, Kelley picked up his first major league win in 12⁄3 innings pitched against the Oakland Athletics.[16] On May 6, Kelley strained his left oblique and was placed on the 15-day disabled list.[17] As a result, the Mariners called up pitcher Garrett Olson from the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers to replace Kelley on the 25-man roster.[17] Kelley pitched three rehab games in the minor leagues. His first were with the rookie-level Arizona League Mariners, where he pitched two games, both starts, and gave up no earned runs. The last was with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers, where he gave up no earned runs in one relief appearance. On June 3, the Mariners' activated Kelley from the disabled list, and as a result optioned first baseman Mike Carp to Triple-A Tacoma.[18] On the season, Kelley went 5–4 with a 4.50 ERA, and 41 strikeouts in 41 games, all in relief for Seattle.
On February 24, 2010, during spring training workouts, Kelley was injured after he was accidentally kicked in the chin by teammate Mark Lowe.[19] The accident required Kelley to receive six stitches.[19] Kelley made the Mariners' 25-man roster out of spring training for the second time in his career in 2010. On April 30, after pitcher Cliff Lee was activated from the disabled list, the Mariners optioned Kelley to the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers.[20] However, on May 6, after Mark Lowe was placed on the disabled list, Kelley was recalled and placed on the Mariners' 25-man roster.[21]
The Mariners traded Kelley to the New York Yankees before the 2013 season for Abraham Almonte.[22] In the 2013 season, Kelley recorded 71 strikeouts in 53 innings pitched.[2]
Kelley filled in for David Robertson as the Yankees' closer while Robertson was on the disabled list in April 2014.[2]
On April 7, 2014, Kelley recorded his first career save.[23] On May 5, 2014, Kelley was ejected for the first time in his MLB career by home plate umpire Laz Díaz for arguing balls and strikes.[24][25] On May 13, 2014, Kelley was placed on the 15-day disabled list due to a strained lumbar spine in his back.[26][27]
On December 29, 2014, he was traded to the San Diego Padres in exchange for minor league pitcher Johnny Barbato.[28][29]
On December 11, 2015, Kelley signed a three-year, $15 million contract with the Washington Nationals.[30] Ticketed as the Nationals' primary setup man, Kelley filled in as closer while Jonathan Papelbon was on the disabled list in June 2016.[31] Kelley generally excelled in the role of setup man, but he surrendered the runs that ultimately ended the Nationals' year, with Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner hitting an RBI triple to deep center field in Game 5 of the 2016 National League Division Series. Kelley was removed from the game during the next at-bat with arm discomfort.[32]
During the 2017 season, Kelley was among the relievers manager Dusty Baker tried as closer, with Opening Day closer Blake Treinen being demoted due to ineffectiveness early in the season. Kelley himself lost the role by late May, with Baker moving rookie Koda Glover into the position due to Kelley's lack of durability.[33] Kelley experienced dramatic increases in his rates of walks and home runs allowed over the first half of the season,[34] landing on the disabled list twice (with a lower back strain in May and a right trapezius strain in June) as he struggled to a 7.00 ERA and 4.5 home run rate per nine innings.[35] Those tendencies continued after he returned from the disabled list; by the time he suffered a season-ending elbow injury on September 22, he had allowed 12 home runs in 26 innings at the major league level and finished the year with a 7.27 ERA.[36]
While still struggling with his home run rate and injury issues, Kelley enjoyed a rebound performance over the first half of the 2018 season, pitching to a 3.34 ERA through the month of July.[37] On July 31, 2018, Kelley was called to pitch the ninth inning with the Nationals holding a 25–1 lead over the New York Mets. After allowing a two-run home run to Austin Jackson, Kelley angrily threw his glove to the ground and glared into the Nationals' dugout. On August 1, Kelley was designated for assignment by the Nationals, who called his outburst "selfish" and "disrespectful to the organization". Kelley said he "acted like a baby" but denied his intent was to show up manager Dave Martinez.[38]
On August 5, the Oakland Athletics acquired Kelley from the Nationals for an international signing bonus slot.[39]
On January 29, 2019, Kelley signed a one-year contract with a club option, with the Texas Rangers.[40]
Kelley was born on April 26, 1984, in Louisville, Kentucky, to Dennis and Rhonda Kelley.[1] Before making it to the major leagues, Kelley worked at a golf course during the winter to make money. Kelley has a younger brother, Justin.[1] On May 16, 2019, he underwent surgery to remove two lumps from his vocal cords,[41] which tested as benign.[42]
^ a b c d e "2004 Austin Peay Governors Baseball Yearbook" (PDF). Austin Peay Athletics. Austin Peay State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ a b c "Mariners loss is Yankees gain when it comes to Shawn Kelley".
^ "2005 Austin Peay Governors Baseball Yearbook" (PDF). Austin Peay Athletics. Austin Peay State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ "Kelley named conference Pitcher of the Week". Austin Peay Athletics. Austin Peay State University. April 9, 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ "APSU's Kelley named OVC Pitcher of the Week". Austin Peay Athletics. Austin Peay State University. April 28, 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ "Kelley named to second-team ABCA All-South". Austin Peay Athletics. Austin Peay State University. May 30, 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ "Rattlers Roll Past Peoria". OurSports Central. June 25, 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ "2008 West Tenn Diamond Jaxx". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ Jim Street (October 15, 2008). "Eight Mariners begin play in Venezuela". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Archived from the original on June 17, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ Larry Stone (January 15, 2009). "Mariners will have 17 nonroster players going to spring training". The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times Company. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ Larry Stone (March 10, 2009). "Wakamatsu on Brandon Morrow". The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times Company. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ Jim Street (April 4, 2009). "Mariners finalize Opening Day roster". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ "April 10, 2009 Seattle Mariners at Oakland Athletics Box Score and Play-by-Play". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ "May 1, 2009 Oakland Athletics at Seattle Mariners Box Score and Play-by-Play". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ a b "Mariners recall Olson; Kelley to DL". Associated Press. USA Today. May 6, 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ "Mariners Activate RHP Shawn Kelley". Associated Press. ABC News. July 3, 2009. Archived from the original on June 19, 2014. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ a b Jim Street (February 24, 2010). "Freak accident leaves Kelley with stitches". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ Mason Kelley (April 30, 2010). "M's option Shawn Kelley to Triple-A Tacoma, pregame notes". The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times Company. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ "Mariners add to troubles with loss to Rays". The Spokesman-Review. May 6, 2010. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
^ http://blogs.seattletimes.com/mariners/2013/02/13/mariners-trade-shawn-kelley-to-yankees-for-minor-league-outfielder/
^ "Yankees hold off Orioles in Derek Jeter's final home opener". ESPN.com. Associated Press. April 7, 2014. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
^ Hoch, Bryan (May 6, 2014). "Girardi, Kelley tossed for arguing balls and strikes". MLB.com. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
^ Matthews, Wallace (May 6, 2014). "Joe Girardi ejected in loss". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
^ Hoch, Bryan (May 13, 2014). "Back issue lands Kelley on disabled list". MLB.com. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
^ Somers, Aaron (May 13, 2014). "Yankees place Shawn Kelley on disabled list, recall Zoilo Almonte". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
^ Calcaterra, Chris (December 29, 2014). "The Yankees trade Shawn Kelley to the Padres". NBC Sports. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
^ "Padres get Kelley from Yankees for Barbato". ESPN.com. Associated Press. December 29, 2014. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
^ Brostowitz, Kyle (December 11, 2015). "Nationals agree to terms with RHP Shawn Kelley". Curly W Live. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
^ Axisa, Mike (June 14, 2016). "Nationals will be without closer Jonathan Papelbon, need bullpen help". CBS Sports. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
^ Janes, Chelsea (October 14, 2016). "Shawn Kelley lost feeling in his fingers, does not fear long-term issue". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
^ Castillo, Jorge (May 22, 2017). "Koda Glover might be the new Nationals closer". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
^ Swift, Court (June 18, 2017). "Shawn Kelley is Not Shawn Kelley Anymore". The Nats Blog. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
^ Castillo, Jorge (June 18, 2017). "Nationals place Shawn Kelley on disabled list, recall A.J. Cole". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
^ Castillo, Jorge (October 1, 2017). "Done for the season with yet another injury, Shawn Kelley figuring out 'plan of attack'". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
^ Reddington, Patrick (August 1, 2018). "Washington Nationals DFA Shawn Kelley: "You're either in or you're in the way, and I thought he was in the way." - Nats' GM Mike Rizzo". Federal Baseball. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
^ Daniels, Tim (August 1, 2018). "Shawn Kelley DFA'd by Nationals After Throwing Glove in Anger During Blowout Win". Bleacher Report. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
^ "A's land reliever Kelley from Nationals".
^ "Rangers officially add Kelley to bullpen mix". MLB.com. January 29, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
^ Jeff Wilson (May 18, 2019). "Rangers' Kelley trying to keep medical scare out of his mind as he awaits biopsy results". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
^ Bob Hille (May 22, 2019). "What a relief! Rangers' Shawn Kelley gets save after learning lumps were benign". Sporting News. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shawn Kelley.
Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
Shawn Kelley on Twitter
Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Year
1992: Walker
1993: McLaury
1994: Dortch
1995: Michel
1996: Smith
1997: Maberry
1998: Spille
1999: Larson
2000: Weel
2001: Pennington
2002: Purcell
2003: Alvarez
2004: Mault
2005: Hardy
2006: Ehme
2007: Kelley
2008: Friedrich
2009: Calhoun
2010: Henry
2011: Dobbs
2012: Fyffe
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2017: McGuire
2018: Moths
2019: Farmer
Biography portal
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This page was last edited on 21 December 2019, at 01:55
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‘Geek Squad’ founder Stephens brings unique story to June 9-10 Entrepreneurs’ Conference
MILWAUKEE – Robert Stephens, who launched “The Geek Squad” in 1994 with $200, a peculiar but identifiable brand and a commitment to service, will help set the tone during the June 9-10, 2009 Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference in Milwaukee.
“Innovation through Starvation: The Geek Squad Story” is the title of Stephens’ speech to the seventh annual conference, which is designed to help entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of launching and growing companies.
To see the full conference agenda and to register, visit: http://www.wisconsintechnologycouncil.com/events/ent_conf/.
Stephens will speak 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 10 at the Hyatt Regency, 333 W. Kilbourn. He’ll describe how “The Geek Squad” took the boring world of computer support and turned it into a global service with “precincts” in the United States, Canada, China, Spain and the United Kingdom, and “agents” who are identified through their white, short-sleeve shirts and black clip-on ties.
A native of Chicago, Stephens left a scholarship at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1990 to pursue a degree in computer science at the University of Minnesota. While attending the university, he landed a job fixing computers for the Human Factors Research Laboratory and started a computer consulting business. In April 1994, after three years at the university, he formed The Geek Squad with a $200 investment.
In 2002, The Geek Squad partnered with Best Buy and opened Geek Squad precincts in all Best Buy stores. With more than 17,000 agents, the Geek Squad is now North America’s largest technology support company offering phone, in-store, and in-home support. Stephens is a vice president of Best Buy.
The Entrepreneurs’ Conference is produced by the Wisconsin Technology Council, the independent, non-profit science and technology advisers to the Governor and the Legislature. It serves as a catalyst for the growth of Wisconsin’s tech-based and entrepreneurial economy.
“The story of The Geek Squad demonstrates that the right idea and the right brand can take a company from start-up to global,” Tech Council President Tom Still said. “Entrepreneurs can learn a great deal from Robert Stephens, especially when it comes to succeeding on a shoestring budget.”
Other conference highlights include:
Workshops built around the themes of Refining the Dream, Building the Team and Making the Green;
Presentations by the top 12 finalists in the sixth annual Governor’s Business Plan Contest;
The sixth annual Ken Hendricks Memorial “Seize the Day” award, which goes to an entrepreneur whose perseverance helps to inspire others;
Exclusive forums for investors in Wisconsin and the upper Midwest;
“Entrepreneurs’ Edge” pitches to investors and peers;
Hands-on panel discussions.
Other speakers and panelists will be announced in the weeks leading up to the conference.
Register or learn more by visiting www.wisconsintechnologycouncil.com/events/ent_conf
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Mullins returns to head up Ireland’s show jumping high performance programme
High Performance chairman Gerry Mullins with Team Manager Rodrigo Pessoa (inset).
Date: January 17, 2018Author: The News Agency 0 Comments
After a number of tense weeks when the future of Irish senior show jumping seemed in doubt, the governing body on Tuesday released an unembellished statement confirming that international coach and former Irish Army rider Gerry Mullins would resume his post as chairman of the show jumping High Performance committee.
What steps led to Mullins deciding to rejoin the Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) committee after having claimed that “interference” had made his job untenable have not been revealed.
In early December, four months after seeing the Irish team become European champions after a gap of 16 years, he said: “I was forced into making a decision to resign because I felt the possibility of us being able to continue the good work was going to be lessened by unnecessary interference.”
He was soon joined by Irish team manager, the celebrated Brazilian rider Rodrigo Pessoa, who declared: “We had a very good team in place that worked very well and we saw the result this team achieved this year. This instability is not good. We should be now enjoying the rewards and thinking about next year, and (instead) we’re fiddling with these internal problems.”
Pessoa went on to say that he would have to consider his future with the team, following the departure of Gerry Mullins from the High Performance Committee.
August 2017: Ireland’s victorious European Championship team (from left) Chef d’Equipe Rodrigo Pessoa, Shane Sweetnam, Denis Lynch, Bertram Allen, Cian O’Connor, with Developmental Manager Michael Blake at rear of picture.
That the two main architects of Ireland’s remarkable resurgence as an international show jumping nation at senior team level might be lost to the country during the vital upcoming Olympic qualification year seemed unthinkable. But nevertheless, no hopeful or conciliatory statements emanated from the governing body for over a month. Yesterday’s press release was the first indication that behind-the-scenes negotiations had persuaded Mullins – and therefore Pessoa – to continue in their former roles.
However, Pessoa’s earlier remark that management should be “thinking about next year” may have helped focus the collective mind of the HSI Board on the tasks that will be rushing in at great speed throughout the weeks ahead – selecting potential team members for Nations Cups, the preparation of training and competition schedules so that the right horses are at the peak of their fitness for the crucial World Equestrian Games in the USA in September, and the co-ordination of team riders that proved so effective at the European Championships in August of last year.
Registering a strong awareness of the problems caused by the dispute, Pessoa told the Irish Examiner on Wednesday that it was back to business “without a minute to spare”.
He added: “I’m happy that it’s finally resolved. Now we’ll get back to work. We have a big appointment in September in Tryon and that’s what we have to focus on now.”
Paying tribute to the other members of the High Performance committee, all of whom will now stay in place for 2018, Gerry Mullins told The Examiner: “I’m very lucky that I have what I believe is a very strong committee. It’s not all about me. The priority is to have a strong team at the world games this year to qualify for the Olympics because it really is time for us to do that.”
As Ireland has not qualified a team for the Olympics since 2004, the pressure to do so in Tryon will be immense.
It is such a pity that so much time has been wasted with what Pessoa so aptly describes as “fiddling”. Time is one luxury that Ireland simply does not have. We can only hope that in the nine months ahead Mullins, Pessoa and their team are left to get on with the job that they know best – high performance.
-Colin McClelland
Gerry MullinsRodrigo Pessoa
Published by The News Agency
View all posts by The News Agency
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Classical music: Edgewood College’s annual Christmas concert is this Saturday and Sunday nights. Plus, local young piano virtuoso Garrick Olsen performs Chopin, Schumann and Liszt on Friday for FREE.
ALERT: Young local pianist Garrick Olsen will play a FREE recital at the Friday Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive. He will perform from 12:15 to 1 p.m. in the historic Landmark auditorium of the Meeting House that was designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. His program includes music that is both virtuosic and poetic: the Etude, Op. 10, No. 1, by Frederic Chopin; the Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17, by Robert Schumann (listen to the soulful final movement played by Claudio Arrau in the YouTube video at the bottom); and the dramatic, flashy Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 by Franz Liszt (also at the bottom played fantastically by George Cziffra in a popular YouTube video). In the spring, on May 2, 3 and 4 — Olsen, who won the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s concerto competition two years ago with Maurice Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand, will perform George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” Variations for piano and orchestra with the MSO under John DeMain.
Edgewood College will present its 86th Annual Christmas Concerts this coming weekend, at 7 p.m. on both Friday night, December 6, and Saturday night, December 7, in the St. Joseph Chapel, 1000 Edgewood College Drive, in Madison.
Featured performers of joyous seasonal holiday music include the Guitar Ensemble, the Chamber Singers (below), the Women’s Choir, the Men’s Choir, the Concert Band and the Jazz Ensemble.
Sorry, The Ear has no details about programs.
The annual Christmas celebration is one of Edgewood College’s oldest traditions. A highlight each year is the invitation for audience members to join in singing traditional carols.
Tickets are $10, and seating is limited for this very popular annual event, so please purchase tickets online by click here.
A limited number of tickets may be available at the door each night (cash or check only, please). Edgewood College strongly encourages patrons to purchase tickets online.
All proceeds for these concerts benefit Edgewood College students through the Edward Walters Music Scholarship Fund.
Tags: band music, choral music, Christmas, Claudio Arrau, Edgewood College, etude, fantasy, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Frank Lloyd Wright, Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, George Gershwin, Georges Cziffra, guitar, Hungarian Rhapsody, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, John DeMain, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Maurice Ravel, Piano, Robert Schumann, YouTube
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BBC launching global resources to fight fake news
by WFIS | Mar 22, 2018 | Education News
The BBC has set out its ambition to be a global leader in the fight against fake news, which is creating a huge decline in global audiences’ trust in news overall.
The BBC’s World Service Group will spearhead this, putting a major focus on global media literacy, and culminating in a live global broadcast bringing together young people from around the world to discuss how trust in media can be restored. Plans include:
The plan includes to build on the work that has already been done by School Report in the UK, and BBC Hindi, through the year the UK pubcaster will also be developing materials that can be rolled out globally to help young people combat fake and false news and information.
BBC’s Reality Check service will be launched in more parts of the world.
The group will also organise a global full-day media literacy event where teenagers from around the world will be brought together in a live broadcast to talk about the challenges they face in their home countries in assessing news, sharing ideas about solutions for the future. This will include broadcasts from Beirut, Nairobi, and Mumbai or Delhi.
A global survey on media trust issues, and a clickable map of fake news stories allowing audiences to see a heat map of disinformation around the world.
BBC Director, news and current affairs Fran Unsworth said, “The BBC has already been doing a lot to tackle the scourge of fake news – whether through Reality Check fact-checking claims and coming to a judgment, our journalists going into schools to educate youngsters or this brilliant game we’re launching in the UK today.
“But this is a global problem. Its vital people have access to the news they can trust – and know how to distinguish between fact and fiction. Broadcasters and the rest of the news industry have a responsibility to tackle fake news, and I want to use the BBC’s global reach to lead the way.”
In a drive to combat fake news, the BBC has launched BBC iReporter, an online interactive game to help young people in the UK identify ‘fake news’.
The game, launched on BBC School Report News Day and developed by Academy Award-winning studios Aardman, allows players to experience being a BBC journalist in the heart of the newsroom. BBC iReporter has a ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ style which gives the player first-hand experience of working in a newsroom facing the fast-paced pressures behind covering a breaking news story, whilst maintaining impeccable accuracy, impact, and speed and navigating the various pitfalls thrown up by potential fake news elements. The game is designed for 11-18-year-olds for use on mobile, tablet and desktop.
This is part of the broader BBC School Report national programme to help 11-18 year olds to identify fake and false stories by developing their critical thinking and media literacy skills. Resources will be available for young people and teachers across the UK via the School Report website. In addition, more than 100 BBC journalists, including Huw Edwards, Tina Daheley, Nikki Fox, Kamal Ahmed and Amol Rajan, will deliver workshops in schools and a roadshow of events will take place across the country.
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Rep. Ron DeSantis resigning from Congress to focus on Florida governor's race
Posted: 9:01 AM, Sep 10, 2018
Chip Somodevilla
<p>WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 12: The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's National Security Subcommittee Chairman Ron DeSantis (R-FL) delivers remarks during a hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill April 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. Witnesses gave testimony about a caravan of Central American migrants that drew President Donald Trump's ire and was stopped as it moved through Mexico earlier this month. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)</p>
Rep. Ron DeSantis announced Monday that he is resigning from Congress to focus on running as the Republican nominee in the Florida governor's race.
In a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan, DeSantis wrote that "it would be inappropriate" for him to accept a House salary, as his campaign work would likely keep him out of Washington for the "vast majority" of the rest of the current session of Congress, which ends in January.
"In order to honor my principles and protect the taxpayer, I officially resign from the House of Representatives immediately," he wrote.
DeSantis asked that his resignation be retroactive to September 1 so that he would not receive any pay for the month.
DeSantis is locked in a tight race against Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum. According to a Quinnipiac University poll released last week, the race was within the margin of error among likely Florida voters, with Gillum at 50% and DeSantis at 47%.
It has been an honor to serve the people of Florida's Sixth Congressional District. pic.twitter.com/j0SgILImyP
— Ron DeSantis (@RepDeSantis) September 10, 2018
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The Women’s History Association of Ireland (WHAI) is thirty years old in 2019. The precursors to the WHAI were the Feminist History Forum set up in Dublin in 1987, the Society for the History of Women (SHOW) set up by postgraduate students in UCD in 1988, with the Irish committee of the International Federation for Research in Women’s History also set up in 1989 in order to participate in the 1990 conference of the Federation in Madrid [1]
This led to the foundation of the Irish Association for Research in Women’s History, this organisation was renamed the Women’s History Association of Ireland (WHAI) and still plays a prominent and active role in the development of women’s history in Ireland today.
The first President of the WHAI was Mary Cullen, a founder of the discipline in Ireland, and the first conference was held in Belfast in 1989, the second in Dublin in 1990.
The aim of the WHAI is to promote research into the history of women in Ireland, to bring together scholars in Irish women’s history, to recognise excellence in research and to promote public engagement with women’s history in an Irish context.
One of the its achievements was The Women’s History Project which began work in September 1997 and completed its Directory of Sources in 1999. The aim of the Project was to survey, list and publish historical documents relating to the history of women in Ireland and it was managed by a committee appointed by the WHAI [2]
The WHAI has continued to support scholars at all stages of their career and in all kinds of institutions (academic and cultural) in addition to independent scholars. We have made it a policy to have all events and awards open to as wide an audience as possible: the Anna Parnell travel grant is open to all; most of our events (apart from the annual conference) have no fee attached to them and are open to all, and there is a reduced rate for those who are unemployed, retired or with a low income; the committee has consistently had one or more members who are independent scholars or representatives from cultural institutions; any member, regardless of academic affiliation, can do a book review; anyone can apply to speak at the annual conference or other events, regardless of academic affiliation; and finally, we regularly advertise events/books created by scholars outside of academic institutions.
Our Executive Committee is comprised of President, Secretary, Treasurer, International Secretary and ordinary members, and since 2016, a Web Officer and Membership Secretary. We also have a place on the Executive Committee for a member of the independent scholar community.
The WHAI is a community for those interested in women’s history in all time periods and we continue to welcome feedback on our activities.
[1] Mary Cullen, ‘Women’s History in Ireland’, in Karen Offen, Ruth Roach Pierson and Jane Rendall, (eds.) Writing Women’s History: International Perspectives, Macmillan: Houndmills, 1991, pp.429-442, page 430.
[2] http://www.nationalarchives.ie/wh/whp.html accessed 03/02/08.
Use the following form to contact us
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Longevity Anti-Aging Longevity and Age Management
London’s Annual Longevity Week Forum
The first Longevity Forum was held in London one year ago with the objective to facilitate the exchange of ideas between experts in the fields of science and social science to explore opportunities that may be presented by increased longevity; this forum was created as a place where cutting edge ideas could be generated, debated, and critiqued.
An increased number of individuals and organisation spanning the space of government, business, finance, research, academia, and NGOs across the sectors and countries will be attending this year, as such the scope of the forum was expanded to include a full week of events focused on helping people to achieve longer, healthier, and more fulfilled lives being which is being held in London from November 11-15, 2019.
This year’s theme for The Longevity Week forum is Longevity 2030 which will be a deeper look into the ideas and innovation that will help to shape humanity in the coming decade. The event will explore the ever expanding boundaries of science and technology; economic opportunities presented by longevity and implications; policy agenda supporting education, healthcare, and social care systems for the future; and the relationship between humans and machines and the governance framework needed to ensure this growing interdependence remains positive to help humans achieve full potential.
On Monday Singapore will kicked off The Global Longevity Agenda which is one of The Longevity Forum’s flagship initiatives that was developed in conjunction with the Stanford Center on Longevity. This event will discuss the findings of an initiative which outlined the principles that make longevity distinct from aging, and the objectives global governments need to achieve in the coming decade to support the longevity agenda.
On Tuesday, delegates will be welcomed at Oriel College in Oxford to the Science Summit which is bringing together leading experts in the space of longevity research to discuss their most recent findings with fellow researchers and investors in the field. Over at Kings College in London the International Longevity Policy and Governance Summit is hosting the world’s first international, cross border, cross sector summit on the current state of international longevity policy and governance.
Thursday will be the centerpiece for the Annual Longevity Forum which will be a full day of discussion involving a wide range of speakers from different disciplines and countries that are focused on how to achieve a change in the policy and attitudes which are required for societies to benefit from a significant longevity dividend and maximise the return on longevity.
Jim Mellon, Andrew Scott, and Dafina Grapci-Penney are the founders of this forum. Keynote speakers include Dr. Nir Barzilai who is the founding director of the Institute for Aging at The Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Andy Briggs who is the co-chair of the new UK Longevity Council; and Dr. Linda Fried who is Dean of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, among others.
It sparked interest to see Juvenescence listed in the partner and sponsors section. One can only hope that the biopharmaceutical has some good news to reveal about their research targeting aging which drives many chronic illnesses to extend healthspan and longevity.
https://www.longevity.technology/the-longevity-week-addressing-global-longevity/
https://thelongevityforum.com/the-longevity-week/
http://longevity.stanford.edu/a-global-agenda-for-a-new-map-of-life/
https://www.summit.longevity.international/
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/experts-to-help-uk-champion-ageing-society-opportunities
https://juvenescence.ltd/
Cooked Vs. Raw - How to Slow and Reverse the Aging Process
Curbing Calories Slows Aging
Deep Sleep - Gateway to Longevity?
Hydrogen Therapy: How it Prevents Aging and Disease
Cheese Compound Curtails Cancer
Vitamin B3 May Delay Aging
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…Žemaitė was born in the distant manor house in the Kovno Governorate of the Russian Empire. As a child, she was forbidden by her parents to play with the children of serfs or learn the Lithuanian language. Like many of the Lithuanian…
…Švob was born in Zagreb to a middle class Jewish family. As a child she survived the horror of the Holocaust and the NDH regime under a false identity. After the war, she attended a Gymnasium in Zagreb. Having completed her secondary education, she studied biology at the University of Zagreb from where she graduated successfully.
…Štěch rejected Yeovil’s offer and moved back to Czech club Sparta Prague, the club he represented as a child, to replace outgoing Sparta goalkeeper Tomáš Vaclík.
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…Šrámek had an interest in aviation from a young age, making model aircraft as a child. After graduating from secondary school, he attended the Czechoslovak Air Force Academy, a move which began his career in aviation.
…Şen came from a music-loving family and was esteemed for his singing. As a child, Şen performed hymns in the Armenian church and quickly became well-known. At age eleven, while visiting Bursa, he was introduced to Hacı Ârif Bey. As an…
…Ōtarō Maijō’s 2012 novel Jorge Joestar, follows the titular character, the father of Joseph Joestar, and his story as a child in the Canary Islands and pilot in the Royal Air Force, as well as an alternate version who lives in Japan and is investigating strange events regarding alternate dimensions.
…İzgü was born in Adana to a poor family, and as a child he had to work while furthering his education. Although he later became one of Turkey’s most popular authors, he continued to work until his retirement as a teacher in Turkish public schools.
…İsmail was born into an upper-class family that moved to Istanbul while he was still a child. After attending the public schools, he was enrolled at the Saint Benoit French High School in Istanbul. Inspired by his father’s interest in…
… nicknames Al Yazmalım (‘red scarf’). They fall in love, get married and have a child called Samet. One day İlyas stops to help some stranded bystanders, but in doing so, he is delayed and ends up getting fired. When Asya goes to his boss…
…Đuho was born in Foča (PR Bosnia-Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia) but moved to Dubrovnik as a child, where he started swimming in 1968 and joined VK Jug in 1974. He spent most of his career in Jug, winning with them five Yugoslav league titles, two Yugoslav cup titles, and the European Championship in 1980.
…Điện Đô Vương Trịnh Cán (鄭檊, 1777-1782) was a child heir of northern Vietnam’s Trịnh lords and the ninth lord of Trịnh lords. His mother was Đặng Thị Huệ who undertook a war to retain his place as lord, but her armies were defeated by warlord Trịnh Khải. He was born and died in Thang long (nowaday Hanoi).
…Česukai is famous by its bioenergetic pyramid build by a local resident Povilas Žėkas. It is on the site of where he had a mystical experience as a child of seven on 20 August 1990. It attracts a broad range of people such as Laima…
…Ørsted Pedersen was born in Osted, near Roskilde, on the Danish island of Zealand, the son of a church organist. As a child, Ørsted Pedersen played piano, but from the age of 13, he started learning to play upright bass and at the age of…
…Özgü-Amel Namal started acting at the Masal Gerçek Theatre when she was a child. She graduated the theatre department of the State Conservatory of Istanbul University. She made her television debut in Affet Bizi Hocam and then appeared in the TV series Karete Can, Yeditepe İstanbul and in Kurtlar Vadisi as Elif Eylül.
…Étienne Moulinié (10 October 1599 – 1676) was a French Baroque composer. He was born in Languedoc, and when he was a child he sang at the Narbonne Cathedral. Through the influence of his brother Antoine (died 1655), Moulinié gained an…
…Élie Barnavi (born 1946) is an Israeli historian and diplomat, who was the Israeli ambassador to France between 2000 and 2002. Born in Bucharest he moved as a child to Tel Aviv, Israel. He authored some fifteen books on France and Europe…
… daughters herself with the help of governesses. Even though Ève confessed later that as a child she had suffered from a lack of sufficient attention of her mother and that only later, in her teens, she developed a stronger emotional bond to her,…
…Çaka is a product of the KF Tirana academy which he joined as a child, before being promoted to the senior team in January 2013 where he featured in 5 league games in the 2012-13 season. He became the club’s first choice goalkeeper for the…
… he was six years old, thus his relationship with his father became tense in the following years. Göncz’s mother, who was a Unitarian, was born in Transylvania, she had Jewish and Székely roots. She became orphan as a child and after a brief orphanage, raised by the merchant Báthy family from Budapest.
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Home » Avery Dennison to Acquire Smartrac’s RFID Inlay Business
NewsAdhesives & Sealants HeadlinesAdhesives and Sealants TopicsMergers/AcquisitionsPressure-Sensitive Adhesives (PSAs)
Avery Dennison to Acquire Smartrac’s RFID Inlay Business
Headquartered in Amsterdam, Smartrac has manufacturing facilities in Germany, Malaysia, China, and the U.S.
KEYWORDS acquisitions / general business / labels
Avery Dennison Corp. recently announced a definitive agreement to acquire Smartrac’s Transponder (RFID Inlay) division for the purchase price of €225 million (approximately $248 million), subject to certain closing and post-closing adjustments. The division reportedly achieved 2019 estimated global revenue of approximately €125 million (~ $138 million) and has around 900 employees.
“This acquisition reflects a continuation of our strategy to invest, both organically and through M&A, to shift our portfolio towards faster growing, higher value categories,” said Mitch Butier, Avery Dennison chairman, president, and CEO. “Smartrac’s Transponder Division represents an excellent strategic fit for us, accelerating our strategy to expand our Intelligent Labels platform across a variety of end markets and customers within the industrial and retail segments, and extending our reach to new channels.”
According to Avery Dennison, the combination creates a platform with over $450 million in revenue offering long-term growth and profitability above the company average, with strong research and development capabilities, expanded product lines, and added manufacturing capacity. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Smartrac has manufacturing facilities in Germany, Malaysia, China, and the U.S.
“We believe in a future where every physical item will have a unique digital identity and digital life, which will transform the visibility of products throughout the supply chain, all the way to the consumer, helping to improve efficiencies, increase sustainability, and enhance consumer experience,” said Francisco Melo, vice president and general manager of Intelligent Labels for Avery Dennison. “The capabilities of Smartrac will enable us to continue delivering on this vision across multiple verticals.”
According to Christian Uhl, Smartrac’s CEO and chairman of the management board, “Our RFID transponder business is among the pioneers in the RFID industry, having built a very attractive product portfolio across a broad variety of customer needs and frequencies. The combination with Avery Dennison will help us to continue driving innovation that benefits our customers and the overall industry.”
For more information, visit www.averydennison.com. Smartrac can be found online at www.smartrac-group.com.
Avery Dennison to Acquire Mactac Europe
Avery Dennison to Sell Two Businesses to CCL Industries
Avery Dennison to Sell Office and Consumer Products Business to 3M
AVERY DENNISON: RFID-Blocking PSA Material
Additive Electronics Conference: PCB Scale to IC Scale
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MoneyConsumerBusiness News
E.W. Scripps Company sells Oklahoma radio stations
Griffin Communications has purchased five radio stations in the Tulsa, Oklahoma market from the E.W. Scripps Company.
Scripps announced the sale today; the group of stations sold for $12.5 million. Scripps is selling all of its radio stations, which totals 34 in eight markets.
Griffin is based in Oklahoma and bought KFAQ (1170 AM), KHTT (106.9 FM), KVOO (98.5 FM), KXBL (99.5 FM) and KBEZ (92.9 FM). The transaction closes in the fourth business quarter.
Griffin owns and operates four television stations and the accompanying digital platforms in Oklahoma City and Tulsa and runs a portfolio of advertising businesses, including a digital billboard company. It is headquartered in Oklahoma City.
Read more about the radio stations purchase here.
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NewsNews Photo Gallery
Photos: Florence leaves path of destruction on coast of Carolinas
Florence made landfall as a category 1 hurricane but has since been downgraded to a tropical storm.
Billy Hardee removes valuables from his home as floodwater caused by Hurricane Florence rises at Aberdeen Country Club on September 20, 2018 in Longs, South Carolina. Floodwaters are expected to rise through the weekend in the area. Photo by: Sean Rayford
A couple bails out their flooded home on September 20, 2018 in Longs, South Carolina. Floodwaters are expected to rise through the weekend in the area. Photo by: Sean Rayford
George Butler walks through floodwaters in his backyard caused by Hurricane Florence on September 20, 2018 in Longs, South Carolina. Floodwaters are expected to rise through the weekend in the area. Photo by: Sean Rayford
Volunteers from all over North Carolina help rescue residents and their pets from their flooded homes during Hurricane Florence September 14, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
Mike Pollack searches for a drain in the yard of his flooded waterfront home a day after Hurricane Florence hit the area, on September 15, 2018 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Photo by: Mark Wilson
People wait in line to fill up their gas cans at a gas station that was damaged when Hurricane Florence hit the area, on September 15, 2018 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Photo by: Mark Wilson
Flood waters surround a home after Hurricane Florence passed through the area on September 15, 2018 in Warsaw, North Carolina. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Betty Dunton searches through belongings in her garage after a four-foot storm surge produced by Hurricane Florence ripped through the Queen's Point condos along the Nuese River September 15, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
People wait in the rain to enter a Waffle House a day after Hurricane Florence hit the area, on September 15, 2018 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 storm Friday and at least five deaths have been attributed to the storm, which continues to produce heavy rain and strong winds extending out nearly 200 miles. Photo by: Mark Wilson
Jerry King uses a dustpan to scrape mud off of his floors after a four-foot storm surge produced by Hurricane Florence ripped through the Queen's Point condos along the Nuese River September 15, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
Flood waters surround a home after Hurricane Florence passed through the area on September 15, 2018 in Warsaw, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence hit the North Carolina and South Carolina coastline bringing high winds and rain. Photo by: Joe Raedle
A photograph blown out of a person's home lay in the flotsam after a four-foot storm surge produced by Hurricane Florence ripped through the Queen's Point condos along the Nuese River September 15, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
Bill Wheeler makes a video recording of the damge to his store, Nautical Wheelers, after the storm surge from Hurricane Florence filled it with four feet of water September 15, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
A boat lays smashed against a car garage, deposited there by the high winds and storm surge from Hurricane Florence along the Neuse River September 15, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 storm Friday and at least six deaths have been attributed to the storm, which continues to produce heavy rain and strong winds extending out nearly 200 miles. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
The courtyard at Queen's Point condos is filled with residents' belongings after the storm surge from Hurricane Florence tore open the lower floors with a four-foot high storm surge September 15, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
A section of a boardwalk is lodged inside a home at the Queen's Point condos after Hurricane Florence tore open the homes with a four-foot high storm surge September 15, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
A boat lays smashed against a car garage, deposited there by the high winds and storm surge from Hurricane Florence along the Neuse River September 15, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
High winds from Hurricane Florence uprooted a tree, crushing a car and toppling a wall surrounding a baseball diamond September 15, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
Kim Adams makes her way to her home that is surrounded by flood waters after Hurricane Florence passed through the area on September 15, 2018 in Southport, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence hit the North Carolina and South Carolina coastline bringing high winds and rain. Photo by: Joe Raedle
High winds from Hurricane Florence uprooted a tree, crushing a car and toppling a wall surrounding a baseball field September 15, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
A section of the Highway 17 exit ramp remains closed a day after Hurricane Florence's storm surge washed it out September 15, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina.Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
Homes are flooded after a storm surge from Hurricane Florence flooded the Neuse River September 14, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 storm and flooding from the heavy rain is forcing hundreds of people to call for emergency rescues in the area around New Bern, North Carolina, which sits at the confluence of the Nueces and Trent rivers. The storm has since been downgraded to a tropical storm. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
Neighborhoods are flooded after the storm surge from Hurricane Florence flooded the Neuse River September 14, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
A law enforcement officer blocks traffic from a downed tree on rural South Carolina state highway 51 on September 14, 2018 near Florence, South Carolina. The storm made landfall as a category 1 hurricane but has since been downgraded to a tropical storm. Photo by: Mark Wallheiser
Volunteers from all over North Carolina help rescue residents from their flooded homes during Hurricane Florence September 14, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 storm and flooding from the heavy rain is forcing hundreds of people to call for emergency rescues in the area around New Bern, North Carolina, which sits at the confluence of the Nuese and Trent rivers. The storm has since been downgraded to a tropical storm. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
Neighborhoods are flooded after the storm surge from Hurricane Florence flooded the Neuse River September 14, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 storm and flooding from the heavy rain is forcing hundreds of people to call for emergency rescues in the area around New Bern, North Carolina, which sits at the confluence of the Nueces and Trent rivers. The storm has since been downgraded to a tropical storm. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
A tree branch leans against a home as Hurricane Florence passed through the area on September 14, 2018 in North Myrtle Beach, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence is hitting along the North Carolina and South Carolina coastline bringing high winds and rain. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Jacob Fernandez and Josh Fernandez (L-R) play around on the tree that fell near their home as Hurricane Florence passed through the area on September 14, 2018 in Bolivia, North Carolina, United States. Hurricane Florence is hitting along the North Carolina and South Carolina coastline bringing high winds and rain. Photo by: Joe Raedle
A fire truck drives past a large tree blown over by Hurricane Florence on September 14, 2018 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence hit Wilmington as a category 1 storm causing widespread damage and flooding along the Carolina coastline.Photo by: Mark Wilson
A North Carolina National Guard truck drives underneath a fallen tree that is suspended by power lines blown down by Hurricane Florence September 14, 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 storm and flooding from the heavy rain is forcing hundreds of people to call for emergency rescues in the area around New Bern, North Carolina, which sits at the confluence of the Nueces and Trent rivers.Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
Members of the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 4 from Oakland, California, search a flooded neighborhood for evacuees during Hurricane Florence September 14, 2018 in Fairfield Harbour, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 storm and flooding from the heavy rain is forcing hundreds of people to call for emergency rescues in the communities around New Bern, North Carolina, which sits at the confluence of the Neuse and Trent rivers. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
Rescue personnel remove a man from a home that a large tree fell on after Hurricane Florence hit the area, on September 14, 2018 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence hit Wilmington as a category 1 storm causing widespread damage and flooding along the Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
Firefighters look into a home that a large tree fell on that has three people trapped after Hurricane Florence hit the area on September 14, 2018 in Wilmington, North Carolina. One man was taken out in critical condition, and the condition of two others is unknown. Hurricane Florence hit Wilmington as a category 1 storm causing widespread damage and flooding along the Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
Firefighters arrive at a home where a large tree fell on that had three people trapped, after Hurricane Florence hit the area, on September 14, 2018 in Wilmington, North Carolina. One man was taken out of the home in critical condition, and the condition of two others is unknown. Hurricane Florence hit Wilmington as a category 1 storm causing widespread damage and flooding along the Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
A damaged awning is seen as winds from Hurricane Florence on September 14, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is hitting along the North Carolina and South Carolina coastline bringing high winds and rain. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Firefighters try to gain access to 3 people in a home that a large tree fell on after Hurricane Florence hit the area, on September 14, 2018 in Wilmington, North Carolina. One man was taken out of the home in critical condition and the condition of two others is unknown. Hurricane Florence hit Wilmington as a category 1 storm causing widespread damage and flooding along the Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
Waves created by Hurricane Florence are seen along Cherry Grove Fishing Pier on September 14, 2018 in North Myrtle Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is hitting along the North Carolina and South Carolina coastline bringing high winds and rain. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Rescue workers from Township No. 7 Fire Department and volunteers from the Civilian Crisis Response Team use a boat to rescue a woman and her dog from their flooded home during Hurricane Florence September 14, 2018 in James City, United States. Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 storm and flooding from the heavy rain is forcing hundreds of people to call for emergency rescues in the area around New Bern, North Carolina, which sits at the confluence of the Nueces and Trent rivers.Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
Volunteer Amber Hersel from the Civilian Crisis Response Team helps rescue 7-year-old Keiyana Cromartie and her family from their flooded home September 14, 2018 in James City, United States. Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 storm and flooding from the heavy rain is forcing hundreds of people to call for emergency rescues in the area around New Bern, North Carolina, which sits at the confluence of the Nueces and Trent rivers. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
Volunteers from the Civilian Crisis Response Team rescue a man with chest pains from his flooded home September 14, 2018 in James City, United States. Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 storm and flooding from the heavy rain is forcing hundreds of people to call for emergency rescues in the area around New Bern, North Carolina, which sits at the confluence of the Nueces and Trent rivers. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
Volunteers from the Civilian Crisis Response Team help rescue three children from their flooded home September 14, 2018 in James City, United States. Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 storm and flooding from the heavy rain is forcing hundreds of people to call for emergency rescues in the area around New Bern, North Carolina, which sits at the confluence of the Nueces and Trent rivers. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
Residents wade through deep floodwater to retrieve belongings from the Trent Court public housing apartments after the Neuse River went over its banks during Hurricane Florence September 13, 2018 in New Bern, United States. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
The Trent River (background) overflows its banks and floods a neighborhood during Hurricane Florence September 13, 2018 in River Bend, North Carolina. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
Portions of a boat dock and boardwalk are destroyed by powerful wind and waves as Hurricane Florence arrives September 13, 2018 in Atlantic Beach, United States. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
Mike Pollack and his wife Meredith Pollack move a dock box from their dock as Hurricane Florence approaches the area, on September 13, 2018 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Photo by: Mark Wilson
Fayetteville, North Carolina rancher Buddy Young prepares to board his animals ahead of Hurricane Florence Sept. 13, 2018.Photo by: Nicole Vowell/The Now
Gasoline pumps are wrapped in plastic to prevent people from using them at a closed station before the arrival of Hurricane Florence September 12, 2018 in Morehead City, North Carolina. Photo by: Chip Somodevilla
Jason Morris takes down one of several American flags ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 13, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, United States.Photo by: Joe Raedle
Hurricane Party is written on plywood covering the window of the Lager Heads Tavern as they prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Wrightsville Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
Buildings are boarded Sept. 12, 2018 up as the Carolinas prepare for Hurricane Florence to strike.Photo by: Chris Stewart/Scripps
Members of the media report from from the Wrightsville Beach Pier ahead of the expected arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 12, 2018 in Wrightsville Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
A man stands on the beach as Hurricane Florence approaches, on September 12, 2018 in Wrightsville Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
In this handout photo provided by the U.S. Navy, sailors cast off mooring lines for the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) at Naval Station Norfolk in preparation for Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Norfolk, Virginia. Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command ordered all U.S. Navy ships in the Hampton Roads area to sortie on September 10, ahead of Hurricane Florence. Photo by: Handout
A surfer takes advantage of the large waves caused by the approaching Hurricane Florence, on September 12, 2018 in Wrightsville Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
In this handout photo provided by the U.S. Navy, A sailor heaves line during a heavy weather mooring evolution in preparation for Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Norfolk, Virginia. Some ships will not get underway due to maintenance and are taking extra precautions to avoid potential damage. Commanding officers have a number of options when staying in port. Some of these options include adding additional mooring and storm lines, dropping the anchor, and disconnecting shore power cables. Photo by: Handout
The sun rises over the ocean ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 12, 2018 in Nags Head, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Joe Raedle
In this handout photo provided by the U.S. Navy, in anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Florence, sailors of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 28 prepare MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopters to evacuate Naval Station Norfolk to ensure personnel safety and prevent damage to Navy assets on September 11, 2018 in Norfolk, Virginia. Photo by: Handout
In this handout photo provided by the U.S. Navy, The Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) evacuates from Naval Station Norfolk in preparation for Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Norfolk, Virginia. Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command ordered all U.S. Navy ships in the Hampton Roads area to sortie on September 10, ahead of Hurricane Florence. Photo by: Handout
Chris Cook stands on ladder while attaching a sheet of plywood over a window while his wife Jennifer stands nearby while they prepare their beach cottage for the pending arrival of Hurricane Florence, on September 11, 2018 in Surf City, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
Two surfers plan to take advantage of the large waves caused by the approaching Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Surf City, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence is expected on to make landfall Friday as a possible category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
A mandatory evacuation is in effect in preparation of the approaching Hurricane Florence, on September 11, 2018 in Topsail Beach, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline.Photo by: Mark Wilson
Jeff Bryant (L) and James Evans board the windows of a business ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Florence is expected to make landfall by late Thursday to near Category 5 strength along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline.Photo by: Joe Raedle
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) speaks while meeting with FEMA Administrator Brock Long (C) and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen (R) in the Oval Office September 11, 2018 in Washington, DC. Trump and Long warned coastal residents of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia to adhere to evacuation orders as Hurricane Florence approaches the east coast of the United States. Photo by: Win McNamee
John Edwards holds a ladder for his son William Edwards while he attaches a sheet of plywood over a window of their family's beach cottage while preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Surf City, North Carolina. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
Local resident Dave Collins loads a sand bag into a truck as the coastal area is preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Wrightsville Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
Local residents fill sand bags that was provided by the town as they prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Wrightsville Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
Workers board up a home while preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Wrightsville Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
Local resident Dave Collins shovels sand into a bag while the coastal area is preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Wrightsville Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
A store's bread shelves are bare as people stock up on food ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Florence, already packing 130 mph winds, is expected to make landfall by late Thursday at near Category 5 strength along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline.Photo by: Joe Raedle
Vehicle traffic travels along US 501 as the South Carolina government ordered that traffic use all the lanes on the route leading away from the coast to facilitate the evacuation of people ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Florence, already packing 130 mph winds, is expected to make landfall by late Thursday to near Category 5 strength along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Home Depot employee Ken Murphy helps Joe Spielman (L) load plywood ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Florence is expected to make landfall by late Thursday to near Category 5 strength along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Jack Ross from the South Carolina Highway Patrol directs traffic onto US 501 as the South Carolina government ordered that traffic use all the lanes on the route leading away from the coast to facilitate the evacuation of people ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected to arrive on Friday, possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Home Depot employee Richard Balderson helps a customer load plywood into his truck as residents prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, United States.Photo by: Joe Raedle
Jim Kelly buys plywood at a Home Depot ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Florence is expected to make landfall by late Thursday to near Category 5 strength along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline.Photo by: Joe Raedle
Jacob Whitehead (L) and Matt Jones hit golf balls into the surf as Hurricane Florence approaches, on September 11, 2018 in Wrightsville Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
Will Mcabee and Johnnie Brooks cut short their vacation and evacuate the South Bay Inn and Suites hotel ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Florence is expected to make landfall by late Thursday to near Category 5 strength along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Marcus Thurston and his wife Shenae Thurston cut short their vacation and evacuate the South Bay Inn and Suites hotel ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Florence is expected to make landfall by late Thursday to near Category 5 strength along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline.Photo by: Joe Raedle
Bob Kelly Jr. buys plywood at a Home Depot ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Florence is expected to make landfall by late Thursday to near Category 5 strength along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Carl Kerridge loads plywood at a Home Depot ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Florence is expected to make landfall by late Thursday to near Category 5 strength along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Marcus Thurston and his family cut short their vacation and evacuate the South Bay Inn and Suites hotel ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Florence is expected to make landfall by late Thursday to near Category 5 strength along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Home Depot employee Jim Brown helps a customer load plywood into his truck as residents prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Workers board up shops while preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Wrightsville Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
Bob Kelly Jr. (L) and Jim Kelly buy plywood at a Home Depot ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Florence is expected to make landfall by late Thursday to near Category 5 strength along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Shenae Thurston carries her baby as her family cuts short their vacation and evacuates the South Bay Inn and Suites hotel ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Florence is expected to make landfall by late Thursday to near Category 5 strength along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline.Photo by: Joe Raedle
Michael Schwartz (L) and Jay Schwartz secure plywood over the windows of their business ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Florence is expected to make landfall by late Thursday to near Category 5 strength along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Workers board up the Wrightsville Beach Art Co. while preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Wrightsville Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
Morgan Livingston and JC Gravitte (L-R) put plywood on the windows of Duffy's bar and restaurant ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Joe Raedle
MYRTLE BEACH, SC - SEPTEMBER 11: People walk along the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk & Promenade ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)Photo by: Joe Raedle
PFC. Traequan Shaw of the South Carolina National Guard directs traffic onto US 501 as the South Carolina government ordered that traffic use all the lanes on the route leading away from the coast to facilitate the evacuation of people ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected to arrive on Friday, possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Michael Schwartz boards up the windows of his business ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Florence is expected to make landfall by late Thursday to near Category 5 strength along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Scott Fleenor (seated) and Jeremiah Trendell board over the windows of a business ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Florence is expected to make landfall by late Thursday to near Category 5 strength along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Joe Raedle
Clint McBride (R) cuts plywood to be put over a homes window while preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Wrightsville Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
Windows are boarded up as local shops prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 11, 2018 in Wrightsville Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. Photo by: Mark Wilson
WRIGHTVILLE BEACH, NC- SEPTEMBER 11: People stand near a lifeguard stand as Hurricane Florence approaches, on September 11, 2018 in Wrightsville Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)Photo by: Mark Wilson
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A 4-alarm fire displaced hundreds on Christmas. Then, their community stepped in to help
The Minneapolis community has made so many donations for the more than 200 people displaced on Christmas by a four-alarm fire that officials had to stop accepting the outpouring of diapers, socks, mittens, blankets and other essentials."I've lived in Minnesota a long time and I've never seen anything like this here," Tiana Terry, one of the fire victims, told WCCO-TV. "So, this made me have more hope in my city."The Francis Drake Hotel, a low-income residential hotel, caught fire about 3 a.m. (4 a.m. ET) Wednesday, Minneapolis Assistant Fire Chief Bryan Tyner said.Crews concluded fire suppression efforts on Thursday afternoon, the Minneapolis Fire Department tweeted. The cause of the fire remains under investigation."These are real people that need a roof over their head, who need help," Mayor Jacob Frey told the Star Tribune. "These are people's lives. This is their home. They're concerned about everything from a wallet or a phone so they can get in touch with a loved one on Christmas, to where is their baby going to get formula."With temperatures dipping into the 30s, Metro Transit provided buses to keep warm the residents who were suddenly without a place to stay, spokesman Howie Padilla said. The Red Cross provided food and drinks, Tyner said, and they also worked to make arrangements for victims to find a place to stay overnight.But for all the other essentials, WCCO reported, Minnesotans came to immediate aid.Donations were brought in such large numbers in just a few hours that officials had to stop accepting them and ask that people give money instead, the station reported.Brothers Andrew and Brandon Brundidge even brought their own presents to donate to the fire victims."I decided we should take some of our Christmas gifts and donate them to the kids and people that lost things in the fire, since they're probably having a rough Christmas," Andrew Brundidge, who gave his autographed Kyrie Irving basketball sneakers to one of the children, told the station.Brandon donated his UNO card game."I decided to give it away because I was so excited to play it," he said.Fire surges after officials report it was controlledThere have been no reported deaths at this time, but three people with minor injuries were taken to the hospital. One person had suffered smoke inhalation, and two others suffered minor injuries when they evacuated the building.A tweet around 3:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m. ET) said four hotel rooms had caught fire on the second story of the three-story hotel. Rescuers were searching the building and the evacuation was near completion.Shortly thereafter, the department reported most of the blaze had been "knocked down" and rescuers had finished searching the building.Around 3:50 a.m., crews on the third floor reported that the fire had spread to the hotel's attic and then to the third floor. Crews themselves evacuated the building about 30 minutes later, "switching to an exterior defensive attack," the department tweeted.By 5:16 a.m., the fire was upgraded to four alarms.It's unlikely the entire building can be salvaged, Tyner said.Built in 1926 as a luxury hotel, the Drake Hotel now serves as temporary housing for the homeless and as an overflow shelter when other shelters are full, the Star Tribune reported. It has 146 rooms.
MINNEAPOLIS (Video from WCCO via CNN) —
The Minneapolis community has made so many donations for the more than 200 people displaced on Christmas by a four-alarm fire that officials had to stop accepting the outpouring of diapers, socks, mittens, blankets and other essentials.
"I've lived in Minnesota a long time and I've never seen anything like this here," Tiana Terry, one of the fire victims, told WCCO-TV. "So, this made me have more hope in my city."
The Francis Drake Hotel, a low-income residential hotel, caught fire about 3 a.m. (4 a.m. ET) Wednesday, Minneapolis Assistant Fire Chief Bryan Tyner said.
Crews concluded fire suppression efforts on Thursday afternoon, the Minneapolis Fire Department tweeted. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
"These are real people that need a roof over their head, who need help," Mayor Jacob Frey told the Star Tribune. "These are people's lives. This is their home. They're concerned about everything from a wallet or a phone so they can get in touch with a loved one on Christmas, to where is their baby going to get formula."
With temperatures dipping into the 30s, Metro Transit provided buses to keep warm the residents who were suddenly without a place to stay, spokesman Howie Padilla said. The Red Cross provided food and drinks, Tyner said, and they also worked to make arrangements for victims to find a place to stay overnight.
But for all the other essentials, WCCO reported, Minnesotans came to immediate aid.
Donations were brought in such large numbers in just a few hours that officials had to stop accepting them and ask that people give money instead, the station reported.
Brothers Andrew and Brandon Brundidge even brought their own presents to donate to the fire victims.
"I decided we should take some of our Christmas gifts and donate them to the kids and people that lost things in the fire, since they're probably having a rough Christmas," Andrew Brundidge, who gave his autographed Kyrie Irving basketball sneakers to one of the children, told the station.
Brandon donated his UNO card game.
"I decided to give it away because I was so excited to play it," he said.
Fire surges after officials report it was controlled
There have been no reported deaths at this time, but three people with minor injuries were taken to the hospital. One person had suffered smoke inhalation, and two others suffered minor injuries when they evacuated the building.
A tweet around 3:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m. ET) said four hotel rooms had caught fire on the second story of the three-story hotel. Rescuers were searching the building and the evacuation was near completion.
Shortly thereafter, the department reported most of the blaze had been "knocked down" and rescuers had finished searching the building.
Around 3:50 a.m., crews on the third floor reported that the fire had spread to the hotel's attic and then to the third floor. Crews themselves evacuated the building about 30 minutes later, "switching to an exterior defensive attack," the department tweeted.
By 5:16 a.m., the fire was upgraded to four alarms.
It's unlikely the entire building can be salvaged, Tyner said.
Built in 1926 as a luxury hotel, the Drake Hotel now serves as temporary housing for the homeless and as an overflow shelter when other shelters are full, the Star Tribune reported. It has 146 rooms.
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A-1 Home Appliance Center Privacy Policy
Storage and Security of Personal Information
Disposal of Customer Records
Dissemination of Individual Information
Do Not Track Requests
Residents of the European Union
Welcome to the A-1 Home Appliance Center, website located at a1maytag.com (hereinafter "We", "Us", "Our") and thank You (any visitor to Our web site) for considering Our products and services.
As stated in Our Terms of Service, Our Privacy Policy forms a part of Your legal agreement with Us. Your use of this Site, as well as the agreement with this policy that You clicked, signifies that You agree with all terms of this Policy. Please do not use this Site if You disagree with any part of Our Privacy Policy.
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While Your browser may contain a "do not track" signal or other mechanism that provides You the ability to exercise choice regarding the collection of personally identifiable information or about Your Internet activities over time and across third-party sites or online services, Our systems are not set up to accommodate Your browser's request.
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This Privacy Policy is effective as of September, 23, 2015. We reserve the right to revise this policy from time to time without prior notice. You will be notified of any material changes in Our Privacy Policy either by email or by a conspicuous posting on Our web site.
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Colombian offensive kills 17 rebels
Colombia's military says it has killed 17 guerrillas and captured 114 in the past six days during one of the biggest offensives against Marxist rebels this year.
The South American country has suffered a 39-year civil war
Two army brigades, backed up by helicopters and aircraft, launched Operation Scorpion at the Teofilo Forero rebel unit last week, an army spokesmen said on Monday.
The rebel group has been responsible for some of the major attacks by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), he said.
The military has engaged in 26 fire-fights with the FARC rebels in the offensive, which occurred in the southern province of Caqueta, in the heart of what once was a demilitarised zone set aside for peace talks with the guerrillas.
No soldier was killed or injured, the army said.
The announcement coincides with news that eight foreigners have been kidnapped by FARC guerrillas, prompting a massive manhunt in a mountainous area north of the capital Bogota.
Cocaine and kidnapping
The Teofilo Forero used to guard rebel peace negotiators. But it was also partly responsible for the collapse of talks in February 2002, when it hijacked a commercial plane and kidnapped a national senator.
President Alvaro Uribe has boosted defence spending and ordered the military to do more to fight the FARC - a 17,000-strong force funded by cocaine and kidnapping, which is fighting a 39-year-old guerrilla war.
But critics say the military has failed to capture or kill any senior FARC commanders and even Defence Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez has complained the armed forces have not dealt major blows to the rebels.
About 200,000 people have been killed in the civil conflict in the South American country since 1964.
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On the Road to Concord (A Report from New Hampshire)
VINE (Vegan Is the Next Evolution) Sanctuary
HB110 is an “ag gag” bill disguised as an animal welfare protection provision. It requires anyone who photographs, films, or otherwise records animal abuse or neglect to turn the unedited photograph or recording in to the police within 24 hours. Sounds reasonable, right? It’s only on closer inspection that it becomes clear that this proposed law would not be helpful—and might even be hurtful—to animals.
On Tuesday, January 15, two VINE staffers, one VINE volunteer, and one friend of the sanctuary traveled to New Hampshire in a Snoobaru to attend the hearing on HB110. It was a sometimes surreal journey to a land where meat producers argue for animal protection legislation that animal advocates oppose. We call this report “On the Road to Concord” because Concord is the state capitol of New Hampshire and because “concord” is a synonym for agreement. We hope that, in offering our perspectives on the hearing and the proposed bill, we can help the citizens of New Hampshire reach concord about how best to deter and detect animal abuse and neglect.
”Ag Gag”—An Overview
In the wake of 9/11, lobbyists for corporate agribusiness capitalized on fears of terrorism to pass the federal Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, which makes many common activist tactics into federal offenses carrying terrorism penalties if the target of the activism is a business that exploits animals. Both nonviolent civil disobedience and otherwise perfectly legal strategies, such as boycotts or picket lines on public sidewalks, become terrorist acts if they cause an animal enterprise to lose a substantial sum of money.
At the same time, at the state level, well-funded lobbyists began promoting legislation that would make it a terrorist act to take unauthorized films or photographs inside of an agricultural facility. The aim here was to intensify the penalties for activists who either go undercover as employees or trespass after hours to obtain evidence of animal abuse at such places. The quite obvious point of these laws was to silence–or “gag”–animal advocates.
Just as the AETA is now the subject of a federal lawsuit organized by the Center for Constitutional Rights, many of these state “ag gag” laws have met effective opposition from defenders of civil liberties affronted by such blatant attempts to suppress constitutionally protected free speech. The latest tactic is to rephrase laws intended to suppress animal advocacy to make them look like protection of animal welfare.
A close reading of the proposed New Hampshire law reveals that its structure places it into the “ag gag” category, whether or not this was what its sponsor intended. HB110 applies only to persons who have photographed or otherwise recorded animal abuse or neglect and applies only to farmed animals. A mandatory reporting law, by way of contrast, would require anyone witnessing abuse or neglect to report it and would apply to all animals.
So what if the purpose is to deter activists? Isn’t it good to require people to report animal abuse? How could this hurt animals?
First, anything that makes it more difficult to investigate and expose cruelty to animals is hurtful to them.
Next, and more urgently, animal abuse and neglect take many forms. A one-size-fits-all solution won’t work and could hurt. Sometimes, calling the police right away is the exact right thing to do. But at other times, calling the police is not helpful and might even be hurtful to the animal. Often, a witness to animal abuse or neglect is in a position to launch a more effective intervention than calling the police, such as offering material assistance in cases of neglect or using a personal relationship to persuade the perpetrator to surrender the animal. In contrast, sometimes animals die while authorities dither, hamstrung by regulations that prevent them from seizing animals they cannot prove are in immediate danger. Only in the most extreme cases are authorities able to immediately seize an animal. If authorities do not immediately seize the animal, but do let the perpetrator know that a complaint was made, the animal often ends up more isolated and endangered than before.
The guiding principle must be: What is in the best interests of this animal in this situation? By threatening well-meaning witnesses with a possible fine of up to a thousand dollars if they do not report within 24 hours, this law forces friends, neighbors, and family members to set aside their own knowledge of what might be most useful in a particular situation. The sister who sees that her sibling’s dogs are hungry must turn over the snapshots she took during her visit to the police, knowing that this means she probably won’t be welcome to stop by with dog food anymore.
This law also endangers witnesses by requiring them to report before they have taken self-protective measures and not allowing them to alter photographs to obscure features that would allow a possibly violent perpetrator to identify them. People are often rightly afraid of animal abusers, who may be their neighbors or family members. If actions like making an anonymous report to the local humane society may lead to prosecution for failing to contact the police instead, people will be less likely to report animal abuse at all.
Similarly, the farm employee who depends on the job to support his family ought to be afforded whistle-blower protection, rather than prosecution, if he sends photographs to a reporter at the local newspaper, exposing abuse or neglect that he dare not address directly with his boss. If employees know that they must report to the police—and may be prosecuted if they do not do so quickly enough—they are less likely to document any abuses they see.
This brings us to a final problem with the bill: its failure not only to protect whistle-blowers but also to preserve civil liberties. As it stands, the proposed bill violates the 1st, 4th, and 5th amendments of the U.S. Constitution, by inhibiting freedom of expression and freedom of the press; by subjecting witnesses to seizure of their private property; and by requiring witnesses who might have trespassed to collect evidence of animal abuse or neglect to incriminate themselves.
The hearing room was packed—standing room only!–with the preponderance of attendees opposing the bill. (By the end of the hearing, even a few people who had come to speak in the support of the bill were expressing some reservations.)
First up was the sponsor of the bill, who said that he was not lobbied by agribusiness and simply used a recent law passed by another state as a model in his quest to better protect both farmers and animals in New Hampshire. As would be the case for most of those who spoke in favor of the bill, he focused on the urgent importance of making sure that abused animals receive immediate aid but kept slipping into the subject of allegedly unjust accusations by camera-wielding activists who never report their findings to the police.
First up in opposition to the bill: The ASPCA. Now, since the ASPCA virtually invented animal protection legislation in the United States, one would think that their opposition to this bill would seal its fate as a credible animal protection measure. However, again as would be a pattern throughout the day, the ASPCA representative offered only vague answers when directly asked exactly how a requirement to report within 24 hours would be hurtful to animals. In yet another pattern, he was also questioned about his stance on animal rights.
So many more animal advocates testified that we cannot hope to list them all. One highlight, for us, was the early testimony of New Hampshire Animal Rights League representative (and VINE volunteer) Jennifer Wolf, who stood up well to hostile questioning from a cranky committee member. Another morning highlight was a concise overview of the civil liberties problems with the bill by a representative of the New Hampshire branch of the ACLU.
But one thing we could not help but notice was that some committee members who started out on the fence were getting restless and frustrated with what might have seemed to them like equivocation or even deliberate disingenuity by animal advocates who had all come well prepared, it seemed, to explain why this is an “ag gag” bill but not to explain exactly how it it would hurt animals. Often committee members asked for clarification but got only vague assertions or examples that weren’t quite on point. This may be because it’s nerve-wracking to testify and hard to think coherently when asked a question you didn’t expect. Everybody knows that terrible feeling of having your mind go blank when you’re on the spot. It’s also easy to forget to explain reasoning that seems self-evident to you but might not be so clear to those with less experience in your field. But meanwhile, proponents of the bill were portraying animal advocates as having a hidden agenda, and all of the indirect answers (not to mention refusals to answer by representatives of organizations not authorized to make comments beyond those in their written testimony) might have made it seem like maybe we really were hiding something.
Luckily, there were so many people lined up to testify that we ran into the lunch break, after which the committee had to attend to other business before reopening the hearing. This gave VINE’s representative the chance to revise her testimony, taking out the things that had already been well-covered and adding in some of those explanations and examples that committee members seemed to be asking for. Another speaker evidently had the same idea and offered concrete examples of how the bill might hinder prosecution of animal abusers or endanger animal rescuers. VINE’s representative also decided to directly address the allegations of hidden motives on both sides, thereby clearing the air and clearing the way (she hoped) for committee members who are sincere in their concern about animal abuse to figure out some way—other than this bill— to further protect animals in New Hampshire. VINE recommended that this bill be jettisoned and that members of the subcommittee formed to work on the bill meet with humane officers, prosecutors, and local animal welfare professionals with direct experience in rescuing abused animals in New Hampshire to find out what they think would help them to deter, detect, and prosecute animal abuse and neglect in the state. That, rather than some bill modeled on lobbyist-created legislation from some other state designed to solve some other problem, would be the most logical course for New Hampshire.
Action Alert (New Hampshire only)
The proposed HB110, which was proposed in the Environment and Agriculture Committee, has been sent to a subcommittee which will be meeting on Tuesday the 22nd. Until then, the chair of the Environment and Agriculture Committee will be accepting testimony on the bill by email. The chair of the committee is Representative Tara Sad, and the email address for the committee is [email protected]
If you are a New Hampshire resident, speak up! Draft a note to the committee, and send a copy to your own representative. Be polite and concise, clearly stating your reasons for opposing HB110. You don’t need to go on and on—the committee has been deluged by testimony, and committee members will appreciate brevity. A paragraph or two will do. Be sure to send a copy to your own representative. (If you don’t know who that is, look here to find out.)
Based on our experience at the hearing, during which we watched the committee members’ reactions to testimony very closely, we do not feel that it would be helpful for the committee to hear from persons or organizations outside of New Hampshire—with one exception: If you are a humane officer, veterinarian, shelter or sanctuary worker, or any other animal welfare professional who can tell a specific story about an instance when a report to authorities ended up being hurtful to witnesses or animals, please do share that information.
Here are some points you can make in your testimony. If, in making each point, you can include a real or hypothetical example, that would be very helpful. At the hearing, many of the representatives seemed to have a hard time imagining exactly how this law could hurt rather than help animals.
HB110 endangers both witnesses and animals by forcing witnesses to expose themselves to retaliation and by forcing neighbors, friends, and family to call in authorities before they have done all that they could do to aid or rescue an endangered animal.
In most instances, unless there is extensive documentation, the first report to authorities does not result in an animal being removed from the perpetrator’s care. Therefore, if a person is forced to make a report before gathering sufficient evidence, the subsequent police visit to the perpetrator may lead the perpetrator to retaliate against the animal once the authorities have left the premises.
In many instances, the only person in a position to document abuse or neglect is also the only person able to see and help the animal. If they are forced to immediately contact the authorities, the perpetrator usually will know who made the report and usually will ban that person from the premises. Now, the only person who was looking out for the animal is no longer able do so. Whether that person was bringing fresh food and water or simply looking out for injuries, they will no longer be able to help or monitor the animal.
In many instances, particularly in cases of neglect, neighbors or family members are able to convince the perpetrator to voluntarily surrender the animal to their care or to a sanctuary. If, instead of negotiating while caring for the animal, they are forced to call the police right away, then it will take a protracted court battle to remove the animal to safety, during which time the animal will continue to suffer and may die.
In most instances, the witness will be in the best position to know whether now is the time to call the police or, in the alternative, take other steps. A caring neighbor who elects to feed and eventually rescue a neglected animal should not be made into a criminal because she did not call the police instead.
Please notice that there is nothing in the above list that mentions “ag gag” or the intent to suppress animal advocacy. The bill does not say that this is its intent, and its sponsor insists that this is not his intent. It would not be useful, in our view, to argue that this is repression in disguise, even if you do feel that’s what it is. Just tell the representatives who really do care about animal welfare exactly how this bill would have an effect opposite of its stated intent.
You may also wish to mention civil liberties. Civil liberties are important not only because they preserve our right to advocate for animals but also because people are animals—and that means that civil liberties are animal rights! However, we feel that the civil liberties case has been made adeptly by the ACLU and other lawyers. Animal advocates should concentrate on explaining why this bill is bad for animals. If you mention civil liberties, stay with freedom of expression (which includes freedom to take and publish pictures) and then bring that back to the animals who may be helped by long-term investigations that would be cut short by a requirement to surrender photographs to police within 24 hours.
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Local 4001: Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System
AFSCME Local 4001 Constitution
Local 4001 Executive Board and Directors
Local 4001 Chief Stewards
MemberLink
Expense and Lost-Time Policies and Procedures
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WE MAKE MINNESOTA HAPPEN!
Minnesota Council 5
Local 4001 Calendar
Pete Levine on Monday, December 16 2019 - 5:19pm
As a public librarian for the Philadelphia Free Library, Sheila O’Steen embodies what we think of when we imagine a public service worker. Every day, she interacts with members of her community. Whether her patrons are young or old, affluent or impoverished, O’Steen shares knowledge and information with everyone she serves.
“I want to give my community whatever it needs – access to information, relevant programming, and an inviting community space,” says O’Steen, a member of AFSCME Local 2186 (District Council 47). Recently, as a branch manager, she’s been innovating by providing programs to children and adults about culinary literacy.
After 10 years as a librarian, O’Steen feels fulfilled in her job, and remains committed to the calling of public service, though she knows it will never make her wealthy.
In 2008, she learned about a federal program called the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), which seemed tailor-made for public service workers like her, a way to rise above the burden of student loans she’d taken on for her undergraduate and graduate degrees in library and information sciences.
O’Steen learned that to participate in PSLF she’d be required to continue her career in public service for at least 10 years and make a total of 120 timely student loan payments under a qualified repayment plan. At the end of those 10 years, she – and other public service workers like her who enrolled – would have the balance of their student loans forgiven.
PSLF was a way for the government to encourage people to pursue careers in public service, and a way for those in public service, many of whom gave up more lucrative salaries in the private sector, to rise above the student debt they’d shouldered to serve our communities.
For O’Steen, PSLF seemed like the perfect fit.
A Nightmare Begins
Prior to her enrolling in PSLF, representatives at the Department of Education had told O’Steen she would need to consolidate her undergraduate and graduate school loans. They consolidated her loans into a standard extended 30-year loan repayment plan since it offered the lowest monthly payment. Eventually, her loan was transferred from the Department of Education to a different loan servicer. She kept up with her on-time payments, dreaming of the day when the weight of student loans would fall away.
“I would pay every month,” said O’Steen. “It was all done over the phone. They just said, ‘Pay on time and every payment plan counts.’”
Unbeknownst to O’Steen and many other public service workers who had enrolled in PSLF, due to mismanagement by the Department of Education as well as confusing and misleading rule changes by the government, the loan repayment plan she’d been placed in didn’t qualify under the PSLF program. She needed an income-based repayment plan, not the standard extended repayment plan that she was in. Four years of payments, she was told by Education Department, would not count toward loan forgiveness.
“I was crying when they said none of those payments counted,” O’Steen said. “They told us we lost those years. There was nothing we could do.”
What O’Steen didn’t know was that tens of thousands of other public service workers were facing the same crisis, a crisis that would soon gain wider attention.
Temporary Relief is not Enough
As a result of the widespread failure and confusion surrounding the PSLF, Congress funded the Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (TEPSLF), which was meant to help borrowers who were having trouble with the original PSLF. The hope was the new program would decrease the staggering number of PSLF applicants who were rejected.
“I thought PSLF was a scam and that the government should do more to back what it promised to public service workers. I was optimistic when the TEPSLF was put forth,” said O’Steen. “I thought, ‘This program is designed for people like me those who were put in the wrong repayment plan.’”
However, O’Steen’s odyssey through the Department of Education’s bureaucracy continued. Despite call after call, review after review, O’Steen couldn’t get a straight answer as to where she stood with her loan payments.
The Education Department’s mishandling of loan payment records “is affecting whether dedicated public service workers can buy a house, retire on time, start a family,” says O’Steen.
O’Steen’s frustration led her to share her story with her congressman, Rep. Brendan Boyle. Boyle’s office contacted the Department of Education to help his constituent, and by the end of September, O’Steen’s loan was forgiven under TEPSLF. But not every public service worker has been that lucky.
Keeping America’s Promise to Public Service Workers
Engaged public service workers like O’Steen are part of a broad push to repair the PSLF, including a bill that has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.).
The College Affordability Act would make it easier for borrowers to repay loans, offer loan forgiveness to those who’ve applied but have been wrongly rejected and simplify the overly complex program.
By fixing the PSLF, public service workers will be able to focus less on navigating a broken system and more on doing what they do best: serving their communities.
AFSCME Local 4001
Minnesota State 2 year Colleges
300 Hardman Avenue South
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Great malaria awareness video
What happens to the plastic bags in which the nets are packaged?
Should nets be recycled?
Created on Thursday 28 Apr 2011 09:37 by Rob Mather
We are sometimes asked whether nets are, or should be, recycled when new nets are distributed or reach the end of their working life. We asked Jo Lines, at the World Health Organisation, who is leads research this area.
Jo's summary advice is: "Don't do it."
The reasons he cites are, and we quote:
"First, there is no evidence there is a pressing need to do it.
Second, when people stop using a net for sleeping, they normally put the net to a lot of other uses.
Third, and perhaps the most important point: these are not our nets, and there are legal and ethical limits to our right to take them away.
Also, if you try to give new nets only to families where the old ones are gone or in bad condition, and not to the families where the nets are still in good condition, you are creating a strong and perverse incentive for people to hide, damage or destroy nets when the project staff are approaching."
The full email from Jo is reproduced below.
Our view is that recycling of nets is very likely to happen but achieving this is not simple. The obvious benefit of the nets protecting people from malaria leaves us all with the clear choice that, even absent of net recycling, it is worth distributing nets.
Jo's email:
"We do have a couple of people in our team working on this and we are completing a SAICM and World Bank-supported three-country research project on it, with the help of an excellent team of consultants. There is also a long mailing list with a wide range of interested stakeholders - anyone who wants to join it should email Stephanie [guillaneuxs@who.int] or Aurelie [bottelina@who.int]. Many of the key questions cannot be given definitive answers until this research has been completed, but we do have some tentative and subject-to-revision observations and advice to offer in the meantime.
Our interim advice is : "don't do it".
First there's no evidence for a pressing need to do it: although the total amount of plastic in all those nets sounds large, it represents about 1% of the total plastic entering the region, according to industry estimates. There are concerns that worn out nets might block the use of new ones, but these remain unsupported by solid evidence. The point is: not all old nets are useless. We do have evidence that when a new net is given to net-owning families, the new one is sometimes stored for later use, but this could be because the old net is still working, and we have no evidence to contradict that hypothesis.
Second, we know that when people stop using a net for sleeping, they normally put the old net to a lot of other uses.... OK fishing is not a good idea, but the other purposes - as padding under the sleeping mat, a room divider, a door curtain, crop protection, fencing for the chicken coop - are probably not at all risky, and probably do have significant benefits. These are extremely poor families, so if we want to take something useful away from them, we should have a very good reason... and that reason has not yet been established.
Third, and perhaps the most important point : these are not our nets, and there are legal and ethical limits to our right to take them away. We gave them away freely, with no contract agreed or implied. We can offer to take them away from householders who voluntarily want to get rid of them, but it would probably not be ethical to put them under any pressure. In particular, it is probably not good practice to make the gift of a new net conditional on the surrender of an old one; this would be legal, but it would penalise people whose net was lost for legitimate accidental reasons, and lead to a gradual decline in overall coverage.
It probably IS a good idea to think of whether it would be possible to set up plastic recycling mechanisms, but such schemes should probably be voluntary (or commercial), not compulsory, and should probably embrace a wide range of plastics, not just old nets.
Finally, a note on the coverage gaps that can be caused when campaign nets wear out more quickly than expected. Some programmes have responded to these gaps by carrying out repeat campaigns after an interval of much less than 3 years since a previous campaign. This may be necessary as an interim response, but there is a long-term solution that is expected to be more effective. First, we must recognise that the lifespan of nets in a cohort has a very wide range, with some disappearing very quickly and some remaining functional for more than 4 or 5 years . For this reason, there are inevitable limitations on the capacity of repeated campaigns to maintain full coverage without waste. If you try to give new nets only to families where the old ones are gone or in bad condition, and not to the families where the nets are still in good condition, you are creating a strong and perverse incentive for people to hide, damage or destroy nets when the project staff are approaching. There are rumours that this is exactly what happened in parts of West Africa. If you give nets to everyone, then timing is never good: repeating the campaign after a short interval minimises the coverage gap but is wasteful; repeating it later is less wasteful but leaves a long period when many people are unprotected. Hence our advice is to deliver nets for free to ALL pregnant women and all infants attending EPI. This rate of continuous input will replace a large proportion of the nets that are lost, and greatly reduce the size of the coverage gap. WHO recommendation is that this kind of distribution through routine services should be equal priority to campaigns. As in immunisation, we must plan that in places where there has so far been no routine LLIN distribution, "the catch-up campaign must be Day One of the routine keep-up service".
Jo"
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Artbrain > Journal of Neuro-Aesthetic Theory > Journal of Neuro-Aesthetic Theory #1 (1997-99) > Can Art Investigate the Brain?
Can Art Investigate the Brain?
BY: Martina Siebert
Notes: Translated by Nicolas de Warren
To ask such a question is to presuppose that a certain form of empirical knowledge can arise by establishing relations of reciprocity among diverse structures. Be it in terms of contrast and polarity or in the form of shared qualities that emerge in correspondences which are manifest in a quasi-experimental manner, such a question assumes that something can be shown of the brain in art and, moreover, that the brain thus exposed would otherwise remain hidden from view. If one is to refrain from conceiving of this questions as either a construct or already as a description of “inner intuition” (as a kind of “atmosphere”), then one must approach this question on the assumption that something of the brain can be shown. For example, that the aesthetic world of images and language is able to grasp and represent the brain in ways that are different from neurobiology – but this must of course be taken for granted. At issue is thus the type of representation for the fundamental building-materials of the brain, and not any specific neurological data, or definitions, descriptive functions, language – in a word, “higher” cortex functions of the brain. Following E. Kris’s formulation of the meaning of the word art “in our culture,” art is a message and an invitation to a unique and common experience of a shared imaginative faculty. An idea can be met within the loci of imagination. An emotive dialogue starts off “playing” in the court of imagination (cf. Kant, Critique of Judgment, section 40, “On Taste as a Kind of Sensus Communis,” the last three paragraphs) which as an experience is realized actually (actual facts) but needs to speak in representations (cf. J. Albers’ distinction between factual facts and actual facts in Structural Constellation, 1957). With this definition in hand, the building-materials of the brain are simultaneously not reproduced as competing streams of consciousness in representations, but are rather always represented after the fact – simulated as an expression and not as an image (I will return to this point later).
These considerations recall the situation of experimental physics at the end of the 19th century. The juxtaposition of art and the brain can only function with the schemas and creation of “virtual images” (Scheinbildern), that is, images which are artificially produced and only appear to resemble existing natural forms, without thereby being deceptive (like “illusions”).
In these virtual images, questions as to the reality of the established relation between nature (“art”) and the human mind (in this case, the brain) are overcome by experience. Nevertheless, as H. Hertz pointed out, virtual/internal images are never direct images or objective images of nature, though the deductions drawn from these images – the ratio formula – which produce new images are necessary depictions of the necessary results and thereby an effect of nature. In his final work, The Principles of Mechanics (1894), Hertz stated that “we do form (bilden) internal virtual images or symbols of exterior objects, that is we form them in no other way as to allow for images whose mental effects and consistencies are the physically necessary consequences of the initially depicted objects. For something like this to happen a certain correspondence between nature and the human mind has to exist. Experience teaches us that this demand is met; that indeed, such correspondences do exist.” Hertz’s statement is made within the context of developing his laboratory notes on the “curious rays of electrical energy.” He concludes his reflections with the caveat that it is not necessary that these virtual images correspond with things.
We have here an example of a passive and basic, yet functioning “pictorial materials” (Bild-materialen: this includes the ‘mental material’ for an image which is accepted in a given social context). Through “experience” and perception, these function according to a method of analogical thinking (of memory) in order to depict the unrepresentable character of electro-magnetic waves, not in terms of a representation, but in terms of a virtual image that makes them visible on a piece of paper. For such waves, we are dealing with a movement of “anti-gravity” with no extension and which cannot be perceived. It becomes objectified in structural pictures and in turn becomes a point of departure for further experimental investigation. If we transport this model of the accumulation of knowledge over to art, we perceive a similar dichotomy in art between accessible and inaccessible elements. This dichotomy is especially important in the sciences (as is known, an electron microscope can reveal everything except electrons) and this means that art can only potentially – never fully and actually – represent the brain (just as with experimental physics and atomic particles). But art can – as mentioned before – create an emotive dialogue which perceives information as actual rather than factual, thereby allowing for the physically necessary, the experience of the mental or imaginative faculty which is bound to be realized as a “communion,” a spatial entity, a space, a body, so to speak. It is in this sense that art can not escape representation. In respect to the brain this would mean that art would create an image of the brain as a space within a space-setting. And still – with this model in hand, potentiality is the effective bond between art and the brain, and it becomes possible for the respective inaccessible elements of both art and the brain to encounter each other. In such an encounter, not an image, but a “portrait”, the “it-looks-as-if” comes into view. And in fact, one observes that 20th century art increasingly distances itself from the direct representation of things and turns instead toward less stylized presentations and art-settings. In contrast to Marcel Duchamp’s playful references to “non-retinal vision exercises” through the verbalization of neuronal retinal processes, the “content” of art in 20th century works such as Picasso’s “Harlequin,” Schwitters’ “W. C. Fields,” Borotsky’s “Dancing Clown,” and Naumann’s “Clown-Torture” emerges as an aesthetic object in the transformed role of the artist. Concomitant with these developments in art, neurological investigations of the brain, largely influenced by mechanics, represented brain functions in terms of linear forms. Cortex “spirituality” (Geistigkeit) and reason are organized in terms of the sensory and motor-reflexes. This is Helmholtz’s legacy, who professed in 1869 that the “final purpose of science” is to arrive at an explanation of “all the basic movements that underlie motions and bodily changes, and their mechanical forces.” From Helmholtz, a path is opened that leads to Paul McLean’s “Dreieiniges Gehirn” (1949). In this work, Freud’s schema of Id / Ego / Super-Ego is further radicalized and integrated into neurobiology. A structural transformation (quasi neo-Aristotelian separation of memory from recollection) is described here; learning is described as the transformation of network connections among cells and the maintenance of change.
Similarly, questions in experimental physics regarding the perceivability of photons, leptons, neutrinos and quarks are also relevant for neurobiological conceptions. Especially, it seems that data-points, graphs, formulas, and measurements are transformed into structural images of the surgical intervention into nature, thereby trying to integrate the maintenance of change (not dissimilar to art-settings). As a consequence, the common view of the brain as an “unaesthetic” object must be modified. The separation of science into its accessible and inaccessible elements is also affected.
The brain is suddenly surrounded by phenomenal qualities in an atmosphere. The brain is compelled to appear itself and to appear in a manner that is proportional to the experimental situation or interrogation (one can but hope that Heidegger’s stumbling block of the “vulgar” can be overcome by art). The aim of constructing an inner design of the “aestheticized surfaces” of the brain connects the work of the neurobiologist with that of the engineer and the material sciences. Representations of inner designs (for example, microphotography) play an important role for the makers of inner designs, especially in view of motivational factors, self-understanding, and the identification of materials (cf. Gernot Böhme, Atmosphäre, p. 59 ff.) But even this condition progressively disappears into the unseen (invisible) of a structural design.
The history of neurology demonstrates such examples of showing the brain as a two-dimensional circuit-design and as spatial architecture to an interested novice who is curious to investigate the functions of the brain. Both, however, cannot be brought into correspondence. The cyto-architecture of cell materials is organized according to the boundaries of localized functions (“lobes”). This is indeed curious since form and content are here separated. One can therefore surmise that the functional physiognomy of lobes does not reveal the inner spatiality of cell architecture and thus that concept and incarnation are not united.
This is similar to the description of a Greek statue, as given by Plato through the voice of Alcibiades in the Symposium, which depicts the figure of Socrates. Alcibiades evokes the image of Socrates: “Look at him! Isn’t he just like a statue of Silenus? You know the kind of statue I mean; you’ll find them in any shop in town. It’s a Silenus sitting, his flute or his pipes in his hands, and it’s hollow. It’s split right down the middle, and inside it’s full of tiny statues of the gods” (215b). A comparable complex difference between inner and outer appears in the functional descriptions of neurobiology. The recognition of this complex difference often ends up with the classical dilemma of circularity, as in the case of Phineas Gage. In this case, damage to the pre-central gyrus did not result in any motor-sensory damage; and this was taken as an indication that the frontal lobe was a silent region – even when a self-composed and restrained person suddenly becomes transformed into “a-no-longer-Gage-person.”
The emotive structure of the formula applied here (dilemma of circularity) – the unseen design of linearity – realizes purity of construction which falls short of the and/or construction already discovered in experimental physics.
A contrary course to the predicaments of neurobiology can be seen in the history of art within the parameters of the 19th and 20th century. Art appears foremost as a statement and self-reference, where what becomes important are the environmental qualities and material aesthetic, and less the rigorously substantive and pure constructions. Art creates spaces with affective shadings (from Impressionism to Turrell), which construes the subject as a receiver of the presence of something. The presence in question is, however, not comparable to the purposeful presence of portraits, historical representations, or icons.
Meanwhile neurobiology is still ruled by a tight scientific canon of “iconographical” conclusions. A central problem in neurobiology, for example, is the difficulty of bringing together a concept of energy (electromagnetic energy in vision, mechanical energy in touching and hearing, chemical energy in smell and taste) with an information concept of nerve impulses and stimuli. With this problem in mind, until the middle of the 20th century we see the dominance of the localization of brain functions and the preponderance of testing the nervous system in correspondence with external physical expressions (motor and sensory symptoms). However, the strategy of analyzing two-dimensional neuronal designs with a type of anatomy of complexity (or with an anatomy of emotions) on the basis of spatial and mechanical principles of cell construction could not be integrated with an analysis of chemical energy (smell and taste), since the pathways between the relay-circuits in the cortex does not, as is the case with other sense-organs, pass through the secondary associative region to a tertiary region (a kind of “sensus communis” which is not irrelevant to aesthetics and art). This explains perhaps why the senses of smell and taste are often relegated to a less important status. The “hyper-presence” of mechanical energy and the dominance of the function of knowing naturally leads to viewing the brain as topography of parameters. In this topography, the inaccessible or “invisible” of the brain dovetails into the function of a passive in an active construct, i.e., a machine without an and/or option.
A similar dilemma exposing the weakness of establishing a relation between inner and outer, active and passive, emerged for 18th century physiognomy. In this case, the facticity of the body could not be united with a concept of the soul as interiority and freedom. Even though Lichtenberg and Lavater were in agreement that “the soul constitutes the body,” Lichtenberg opposed Lavater with the observation that what made man specifically human was not that he possessed an external appearance of a body but his possession of an infinite perfectibility. Lichtenberg contested the necessary objective-subjective construction of Lavater’s order of things which assumed functional descriptions without any reference to specific subjects and without any self-organization; the nose of one figure or another no longer means either to be a libertine or an aesthete. With the concept of perfectibility there emerges a specific social reality of the nose and of the person. Linking concept and incarnation is a processed content and a type of story-telling – the quasi reversal of the Aristotelian claim that “wheat that isn’t rife is still called wheat.” The infinite concept of variability builds onto a structural constellation and onto a situational thinking in which the exchange between information-time and the invisible time-interval is manifest; what Albers detected in the interaction of color (see J. Albers, 1957). According to Albers, color is a virtual force that conditions a “culture of material production” (Flusser). Color’s extreme motility leads from abstraction to narration. Viewing Lichtenberg’s concept of “perfectibility” as a model for potential narratives and complex movements, it is possible to read this concept as an anticipation and perfection or as the expression of a decision which relates to the “efficient environment of partial information” (Cytowic). Efficiency arises from an empirical world from the concrete nexus of movement. In both cases, emancipation arises by way of a systematic nexus of movement which connects to a specific, but not necessarily a linear (systematic) capacity for responsiveness; in other words, for a mature potentiality of the subject. The “exo-cortex” of language/society points to what every person should reflect on – and which has to be done “purposefully,” as Kant would say, “with taste” (see Critique of Judgment, section 40).
This evokes Lacan’s “certitude anticipée,” which refers to the individual’s hope to be a mature/full member of the society. Without this feeling of anticipation an existential object that fortifies and thereby establishes a deeper connection between the brain`s cortex and the limbic system can not be created (see Kant, op. cit., section 41). According to Thierry de Duve, for whom art draws out the implicit ethical dimension of neurophysiology, because art’s maxim “emancipation” (regrettably realized as a “Project” of the avant-garde) means – to speak with Beuys – that everyone is an artist, that is, thus every person is an emancipated individual, every brain is its own avant-garde. If so, then every art object, even virtual objects like Heinrich Hertz’s virtual images of electromagnetism as well as the images from experimental physics, are not contemplations of an independent nature (cf. P. Mittelstaedt, Der Begriff der Natur in der modernen Physik).
In consequence, art that does not define things but describes them comes to approximate with its functional descriptions the systematic terrain of science and therefore gives up any systematic image that pretends by incarnation to communicate the presence of other things. Art thus receives a mediating role and a systematic function in the accomplishments of neurophysiology. The concept of “perfectibility” is reduced to the concept of dynamics as opposed to movement (cf. Marinetti’s various “bodies” and Tatlin’s memorial for the IIId International).
By contrast, we can also understand art as an act of recollection which presents to us representational-images are recognized as pictures. In the ecstatic condition of recollection, dependent objects are transformed into independent objects, much like Aristotle described that art must become “de-animated” in order to incorporate recollection. “Acts of recollection occur when one impulse [literally, movement–Ed.] naturally succeeds another” (Aristotle, On Memory and Recollection, 451b12, Loeb Classical Edition translation). Recollection seeks to discover those connections between earlier, similar, and contrasting movements and does so from the perspective of the present moment of thinking.
For recollection is neither the recovery nor the acquisition of memory […] [memory is not constructed out of the initial experiences, rather], it is only at the moment when the experience has been induced that there is memory […] It is in this that the difference between recollecting and learning lies […] For remembering consists in the potential existence in the mind of the effective stimulus [literally, movement–Ed.]; and this, as has been said, in such a way that the subject is stimulated from himself, and from the stimuli which he contains within him. But one must secure a starting-point. This is why some people seem, in recollecting, to proceed from loci. The reason for this is that they pass rapidly from one step to the next; for instance from milk to white, from white to air, from air to damp; from which one remembers autumn, if this is the season that he is trying to recall (On Memory and Recollection, 451a-452a).
As with Kleist’s conception of the soul in On the Marionette Theatre (vis motrix), Aristotle’s conception of physiognomy (connected as it is with his concept of recollection) ascribes a central role to the soul as the life-principle of all bodies; everything relates to movement. If a representation of movement were possible, and on its basis the possibility of an insight into the brain, one would be compelled to accept a non-linguistic system. The defining characteristic of such a system would not be “cross-modal associations” (kreuzmodale Assoziationen) even though these associations would build off such a system. One would therefore be compelled to discuss “color-spaces” (Farbenraum).
“The finest factor is color” (P. Florenski) and the quality of “petites perceptions” and the reality of their organization by the consciousness of color (which apprehends the structure of bodies) is what Goethe called the shadow or the gray of transformed nature “according to which colors are brighter as black and darker as white.” One recognizes the problem: the mixing and elevation in the background of a “massless” metaphor of light is thereby not fully possible. There emerges a complex and spatial darkness and an experience of a concrete threat which, when viewed as black, is apprehended directly and, when viewed as blue, is perceived as a demarcation. Color functions primarily for the creation of optical pictures and a series of information. The concrete meaning is then expanded by the brain with an elegant (gray) intervention. Color-space as perceptual space reveals the complex elasticity of information. Here the “multi-sensory shades” are sensorialized on surfaces. In the color signal the light signal appears as a time-signal (refer to the problem of ambivalent and polyvalent figures), thereby introducing into time the property of color: space and body. It is this which led up to the basically “moral” concept of the deceptive nature of color. But with the assistance of hemoglobins in neuro-transmitters, light – which entails color (even Newton mentions that in a strict sense light is not white) – can be transmitted by skin and blood-vessels to the brain (cf. “Surprise on Working of Body’s Clock” – The New York Times – Dr. Dan Oren / Yale School of Medicine). Skin and eyes, therefore are equally connected in a reciprocal fashion much as the cortex and the limbic system. In the case of the eyes, the received photons are represented by the sensitivity of photoreceptors and are not dependent on the energy of the photons.
To speak with Poincaré, colors are carriers of combinations. They are nevertheless a mimetic inheritance for the rational construction of phenomena. One often over-sees their positive ontological consistency. Nonetheless, the fusion of senses and series of tones in colors (which connects sound and color linguistically) are closely connected, as is shown in Mondrian’s efforts to construct a universal and linguistic meaning with the triad of primary colors. From similar reasons, Kandinsky’s linguistic painting (painting as a language of the world) used colors in their pictorial potential and introduced them into a “Denkraum” (for example in Kandinsky’s Rückblicke where we find a “virgin primal forest” of colors is subsumed to the will). For his part, Duchamp introduced colors into production and then in philosophy; A. Reinhardt introduced color into the space of recollection, the dogma and eschatology of a pure and final painting: “Painting is black.” Brent Berlin and Paul Kay see instead in their investigations Basic Color Terms the possibility of a non-verbal model for the construction of metaphors for the experience of gravity and visual experience that connects stimulation of the limbic system with wave-frequency-information, thereby overcoming the linguistic dimension of color-theory of the early 20th century, which has influenced art as well as art-theory ever since (Seurat/ Duchamp/ Kosuth). In his essay Basic Color Terms and Basic Color Categories, Clyde L. Hardin writes:
Berlin and Kay were struck by how easily common color terms could be translated between languages from places as diverse as Tahiti and Mesoamerica. But if, as cultural relativists had suggested, languages divide color space arbitrarily, and moreover, shape the way that their speakers perceive colored objects, how is this possible? […] Historical linguistics have performed several reconstructions of earlier states of present-day-languages, proto-Mayan, proto-Polynesian, and Anglo-Saxon for example, and have generally found the roots of their basic color terms to be in accord with the Kay-McDaniel sequence. It is of no small interest that in virtually all cases linguistic terms undergo development in time devolve as well as evolve. According to linguistic typologist Greville Corbett (oral communication), there are just two known counterexamples to this: numeral systems and systems of basic color terms. […] There remains the question of what drives the evolution of basic color terms as related to social complexity, though what one is to understand under ‘social complexity’ is a question that is bound to be provocative. Others link the development to color technology.
It remains to be noted that the responsiveness of the color spectrum as energy signals (tone-levels/time-signals) can only be conceived in a purposeful manner, for example, with the statement “everybody can recognize the color red.” The statement “x = red” assumes the nominal interest of a proto-ideological pluralism that is unable to designate the element of movement in color. The pedagogical utopia of modernism therefore borrowed from Diderot the statement that every color can be judged. With regard to the “purity of color,” the divisions in society must be transformed into possibilities of participation. This is precisely not what is meant here. Since in fact this line of thinking leads to the optimalization and the “de-corporation” (Entkörperlichung) of colors in the electronic media. For all that, color is not pure. It is basic and highly contextural, volatile and stable. But the pluralism of the electronic media need not specifically address the problem of co-presence (the and/or construction) even in colors.
Color is an anti-entropic model and a complex movement. When used to investigate the ways in which the brain functions, such a notion of color, and the notion of art as situated in social complexity (shared imaginative faculty) could contribute to a concrete representation of the brain.
Tags: color
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Article author Editor AFF
Author Archives: Editor AFF
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Kelantan dump Kedah out of Malaysia Cup
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Distinguished Lecturer Series
The Forbes School of Business & Technology welcomes lecturers to speak on pressing issues in today’s economy and larger culture. Students, alumni, and business leaders in the community are invited to attend and benefit from the wisdom and experience of these lecturers.
The views and opinions expressed are those of each speaker and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Ashford University.
2019 Lecturers
Samantha Ettus, March
As a dedicated champion of women, Sam Ettus has devoted her career to advancing and supporting women in the pursuit of their dreams. Since earning her undergraduate and MBA degrees from Harvard, Sam has become a bestselling author of five books, a writer for Forbes, a renowned speaker and host of a nationally syndicated call-in radio show. Sam’s most recent book is The Pie Life: A Guilt-Free Recipe for Success and Satisfaction. Sam makes regular national television appearances on shows including NBC News, The Doctors, Access Hollywood, Good Morning America and the TODAY Show, among others. Sam is active in causes relating to women and girls and is Co-founder of the Los Angeles Women’s Collective, aimed at supporting women to run for office and win. Watch the webinar that Sam presented at this event.
Steve Forbes, October
Steve Forbes was the Keynote speaker for the Thought Leader Summit, which also served as his fourth appearance as a speaker for the Distinguished Lecturer Series. He spoke about how we are on the cusp of a golden era of great prosperity. Steve Forbes is the Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media. He writes the “Fact and Comment” editorial columns for each issue of Forbes magazine. He is a four-time recipient of the Crystal Owl Award and has authored several books on economics and leadership. View the video of this event.
John Tamny, April
Contributor to numerous financial and economic publications, John Tamny is a frequent speaker and writer to National Review, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Investor's Business Daily, and London's Business Review. Tamny is also the author of numerous books, including his latest entitled “The End of Work: Why Your Passion Can Become Your Job.” View the video of the event.
Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious Forbes Media, Steve Forbes leads the publication of the nation’s leading business magazine Forbes and popular site Forbes.com. He is also the author of several books on economics and leadership, including Reviving America: How Repealing Obamacare, Replacing the Tax Code, and Reforming the Fed Will Restore Hope and Prosperity and Money: How the Destruction of the Dollar Threatens the Global Economy and What We Can Do About It. View the video of the event.
Olin Oedekoven, July
In his role as president and CEO, Dr. Oedekoven works with large and small companies on business process improvement, strategic planning and organizational development in both the private and public sectors. He has been creating and leading effective teams at all organizational levels from first-line leader through strategic leadership for nearly 30 years. Dr. Oedekoven is also a retired Brigadier General in the National Guard. Dr. Oedekoven discussed leadership and values in a presentation entitled Balridge-Based Leadership: Leading for Quality, Innovation, and Continuous Improvement at the July event.
John Tamny, March
Tamny, who contributes to a variety of financial publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Financial Times, National Review, and London’s Daily Telegraph, frequently writes on the topics of securities markets, along with tax, trade, and monetary policy issues that impact those markets. In addition, he has written several books and is a weekly guest on Fox News Channel’s “Forbes on Fox” financial show. Tamny spoke on the Federal Reserve -- the topic of his latest book, Who Needs the Fed? What Taylor Swift, Uber and Robots Tell Us About Money, Credit, and Why We Should Abolish America’s Central Bank.
Ken Fisher, August
Fisher Investments Founder, Executive Chairman, and Co-Chief Investment Officer, Ken is known for his prestigious Forbes “Portfolio Strategy” column. He is the second-longest running columnist in Forbes history and has authored 10 books about finance and investing. He shared his perspective and advice on finance at the August event.
Sarah Kunst, June
Kunst is the founder and CEO of Proday, a celebrity personal training fitness app, and is a contributing editor for Marie Claire magazine. She has also worked at Apple, Red Bull, Chanel, Mohr Davidow Ventures, and several startups. Her writing has appeared in Techcrunch, The Daily Beast, and Entrepreneur.com. Forbes magazine named Kunst to its 30 under 30 list, which features game-changing entrepreneurs under 30, and Cool Hunting listed her as a Top 25 Innovator in Tech. More than 400 in-house and online participants had the opportunity to hear from tech CEO Sarah Kunst as she spoke on the topic of entrepreneurship.
Consuelo Castillo Kickbusch, December
Kickbusch is a renowned, charismatic, passionate, and influential speaker on a mission to empower the next generation of leaders. Throughout her career, Kickbusch has shared her personal knowledge on becoming an effective leader in today’s global marketplace with hundreds of schools, colleges, universities, corporations, and government institutions both in the United States and abroad. Kickbusch shared an inspirational message at the event on overcoming hardship to help others succeed.
Roya Mahboob, October
Mahboob has defied the odds by succeeding as a technology entrepreneur in Afghanistan, where it is a bit more rare to see a women holding that position. She founded and serves as the CEO of the Afghan Citadel Software Company, a full-service software development company where a majority of the employees are women. In 2012, Mahboob launched the Women’s Annex, an online platform for women and girls to share their stories and earn income from their work. The following year, Mahboob was named to TIME magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World because of her work in creating the Women’s Annex, and because of her efforts to build internet classrooms in Afghan high schools. In her presentation, Mahboob discussed her experiences as an IT executive in Afghanistan.
Steve Forbes, January
Steve Forbes oversees the publication of the nation’s leading business magazine, Forbes Magazine, as well as the popular Forbes.com website; he is the chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media, and a monthly contributor to the magazine. Finally, he is the author of several books on economics and leadership, including Money: How the Destruction of the Dollar Threatens the Global Economy and What We Can Do About It. At the winter event, Forbes shared his perspective on economic and geopolitical issues.
John Tamny, October
John Tamny is the political economy editor at Forbes, senior economic adviser to H.C. Wainwright Economics, and senior economic adviser to Toreador Research and Trading. Tamny’s presentation covered “perspectives on the current economy,” in which he spoke about government barriers to economic growth, how political error created the Great Depression, and our present economic malaise. Though there are economic challenges to overcome, Tamny offered words of encouragement for those entering into the business world. “If you find something you love, by definition you are going to be good at it,” noted Tamny.
Rich Karlgaard, August
In addition to his role as Forbes publisher, Karlgaard is the author of two books, Life 2.0: How People Across America Are Transforming Their Lives by Finding the Where of Their Happiness and The Soft Edge: Where Great Companies Find Lasting Success.
“Where Great Companies Find Lasting Success” serves as the topic for Karlgaard’s presentation, and he talked about creating a wellspring of enduring innovation, harnessing trust as the force multiplier of all good things, and using smarts to help a company adapt quickly.
Ken Fisher, May
Perhaps best known for his Forbes "Portfolio Strategy" column, Fisher is one of the longest-running columnists in Forbes history. He is also a best-selling author, having written 10 books, including four New York Times bestsellers. His latest book, The Little Book of Market Myths, was published in 2013. In 1984, his Super Stocks was that year's best-selling stock market book. As an investment guru, Fisher has been published, interviewed, and/or been written about in numerous major American, British, and German finance and business periodicals. He writes a weekly column for Germany's Focus Money magazine as well as a monthly column on the UK's Interactive Investor website. From 2005 to 2012, his Forbes market forecasts were among the most accurate as reviewed by the third-party CXO Advisory Group whose “Guru Grades” rate the accuracy of publicly available expert forecasts on the stock market. Fisher discussed world economics and the attitude it takes to be successful. ”Will-do is more important than can-do, because ultimately will-do is what’s required to get any job done,” noted Fisher.
Steve Forbes, March
Forbes Media publishes Forbes Magazine, the nation’s leading business magazine and Forbes.com, and Steve Forbes sits at the helm. Author of several books and columnist for the publication, Forbes is a four-time recipient of the Crystal Owl Award for his contributions on economics and leadership. Forbes spoke on the state of business and empowered Ashford students to make a difference. He advised, “Giving people the confidence and the knowledge to go out into the world to do new things — that, by definition, is disruptive.”
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Boudicca was the Celtic Queen of the Iceni tribe of modern-day East Anglia, Britain, who led a revolt against Rome in 60/61 CE. The Iceni King, Prasutagus, an independent ally of Rome, divided his estate between his daughters and King Nero of Rome. When Prasutagus died, however, his lands were taken by Rome and the Iceni lost their status as allies.
When his wife, Boudicca, objected to this action she was flogged and her two daughters raped. She mounted a revolt against Rome which left the ancient Roman cities of Camulodunum, Londinium and Verulamium in ruins and over 80,000 Roman citizens of Britain dead. She was defeated at the Battle of Watling Street by the Roman Governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus chiefly by his judicious choice of battlefield and allowing her army to cut off its own escape route by encircling their rear with their wagons, animals and families. Boudicca is said to have committed suicide by poisoning herself after her defeat.
The primary sources of the story of Boudicca's revolt are the Roman historians, Publius Cornelius Tacitus (56-117 CE) and Cassius Dio (150-235 CE). These two offer different versions of the story in that Tacitus claims the revolt sprang from the ill treatment of the Iceni following Prasutagus' death while Dio writes that the cause of the uprising was a dispute over a loan.
The other significant difference in the versions is that Dio makes no mention of the flogging of Boudicca or the rape of her daughters and claims she died of wounds incurred in battle, not by poisoning. Tacitus' account is generally accepted as being more factual because his father-in-law, Gnaeus Julius Agricola (40-93 CE) was the governor in Britain chiefly responsible for the successful conquest of the region and served as Tacitus' primary source of information. There is no doubt of Agricola's participation in the suppression of Boudicca's revolt, serving under Suetonius as a young soldier in 61 CE.
Causes of Boudicca's Rebellion
Boudicca was flogged and her daughters raped.
Tacitus gives his account of the start of the rebellion in his Annals:
Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, after a life of long and renownded prosperity, had made the emperor co-heir with his own two daughters. Prasutagus hoped by this submissiveness to preserve his kingdom and household from attack. But it turned out otherwise. [After his death] kingdom and household alike were plundered like prizes of war, the one by Roman officers, the other by Roman slaves. As a beginning, his widow Boudicca was flogged and their daughters raped. The Icenian chiefs were deprived of their hereditary estates as if the Romans had been given the whole country. The king's own relatives were treated like slaves. And the humiliated Iceni feared still worse, now that they had been reduced to provincial status. So they rebelled. (Lewis, 197)
The historian Miranda Aldhouse-Green cites an earlier Iceni rebellion, in 47 CE, as the cause of Prasutagus' elevation to chief of the tribe. This rebellion was unsuccessful and it is unclear what role Prasutagus played in it but it seems clear that the Romans saw Prasutagus as a leader who could keep the peace between the Iceni and Rome.
Aldhouse-Green also notes the significance of Prasutagus' will, which divided his estate between his daughters and Rome and omitted Boudicca, as evidence of the queen's hostility toward Rome. It is argued that, by leaving her out of the will, Prasutagus hoped his daughters would continue his policy of cooperation. After his death, however, all hope of the Iceni existing peacefully with Rome was lost.
Boudicca's War
Boudicca first struck the city of Camulodunum (modern Colchester) where she massacred the inhabitants and destroyed the settlement. Governor Suetonius was engaged in putting down an uprising on the Island of Mona and so the Roman citizens appealed to imperial agent Catus Decianus. He sent a lightly armed force of 200 men who proved ineffective in defense of the city. The Ninth Roman Division, led by Rufus, marched to relieve the settlement but were routed and the infantry decimated by the Briton forces. Tacticus cites the greed and rapacity of men like Catus Decianus for the viciousness of the Britons in revolt.
Boadicea Haranguing the Britons
by John Opie (1761–1807) (Public Domain)
Suetonius, returning from Mona, marched to Londinium (modern London) but, upon receiving intelligence that Boudicca's forces far outnumbered his own, left the city to its fate and sought a field more advantageous for battle. Boudicca's army sacked Londinium and, as before, massacred the inhabitants.
Suetonius had offered the people of the city safe passage with his army and it seems many accepted this offer. However, Tacitus writes, "but those who stayed because they were women, or old, or attached to the place, were slaughtered by the enemy. Verulamium suffered the same fate."
The Battle of Watling Street
While the Britons were destroying Verulamium (modern St. Albans) Suetonius "chose a position in a defile with a wood behind him. There could be no enemy, he knew, except at his front, where there was open country without cover for ambushes" (Tacitus). The Britons arrived to battle in "unprecedented numbers. Their confidence was such that they brought their wives with them to see the victory, installing them in carts stationed at the edge of the battlefield"(Tacitus).
Both leaders are said to have encouraged and inspired their troops and then Suetonius gave the signal for battle and the infantry moved forward to throw their javelins. Boudicca's superior numbers were of no advantage in the narrow field Suetonius had chosen and, in fact, worked against her as the mass of men pushed together provided easy marks for the Romans.
Queen Boudica
The Britons fell back before the javelin assault and then the advancing wedge formation which cut through their ranks. Suetonius ordered in his auxiliary infantry and then his cavalry and the Britons turned to flee the field. The supply train they had arranged at their rear prevented their escape and the rout turned into a massacre.
Tacitus writes, "the remaining Britons fled with difficulty since their ring of wagons blocked the outlets. The Romans did not spare even the women. Baggage animals too, transfixed with weapons, added to the heaps of dead." Boudicca and her daughters apparently managed to escape but, soon after, poisoned themselves to escape capture.
While the site of the battle is unknown, it is referred to as The Battle of Watling Street and suggestions as to precise location range from King's Cross, London to Church Stowe, Northamptonshire. Following Boudicca's defeat, Suetonius instituted harsher laws on the indigenous people of Britain until he was replaced by Publius Petronius Turpilianus who further secured the south of the region for Rome through gentler measures.
Other, smaller, insurrections were mounted in the years following Boudicca's revolt but none gained the same wide spread support nor cost as many lives. The Romans would continue to hold Britain, without any further significant trouble, until their withdrawl from the region in 410 CE. Though she lost her battle and her cause, Boudicca is celebrated today as a national heroine and a universal symbol of the human desire for freedom and justice.
http://www.athenapub.com/tacitus1.htm
Aldhouse-Green, M. Boudica Britannia: Rebel, War Leader and Queen. (Pearson / Longman, 2006).
Lewis, J.E. The Mammoth Book of Eyewitness Ancient Rome. (Carroll & Graf Publishers, NY, 2003), 196-201.
Tacitus. Tacitus. (Loeb Classical Library, 1914).
Adkins, L. & Adkins, R. A. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. (Oxford University Press, 1998).
Boudicca: Queen of the Iceni, Scourge of Rome
Boudicca (died 61 CE) was the Celtic Queen of the Iceni tribe who...
Tacitus on Boudicca's Revolt
Tacitus (full name, Publius Gaius Cornelius Tacitus, ca. 56 &ndash...
Painting "Boadicea Haranguing the Britons" by John Opie (1761–1807...
Briton Woman Warrior
This is a concept of how a Briton woman warrior, such as Boudicca...
Iceni Territory
A map showing the territory of the Iceni tribe overlayed in red...
Bronze statue of Boudica with her daughters in her war chariot...
Boudicca's Rebellion AD 60-61: The Britons rise up against Rome
published by Osprey Publishing (19 April 2011)
Boudica: Iron Age Warrior Queen
by Richard Hingley
published by Hambledon Continuum (21 August 2006)
Statius: Dio Cassius: Roman History, Volume IX, Books 71-80
by Dio Cassius
published by Harvard University Press (01 January 1927)
The Mammoth Book of Eyewitness Ancient Rome: The History of the Rise...
published by Running Press (01 March 2003)
Tacitus: The Annals of Tacitus v2
by Goodyear
published by Cambridge University Press (20 May 2004)
Queen Boudica And Her Epic Revenge Against The Romans
Boudicca’s Revolt
unrv.com
Mark, J. J. (2013, November 08). Boudicca. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.ancient.eu/Boudicca/
Mark, Joshua J. "Boudicca." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Last modified November 08, 2013. https://www.ancient.eu/Boudicca/.
Mark, Joshua J. "Boudicca." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia, 08 Nov 2013. Web. 20 Jan 2020.
Written by Joshua J. Mark, published on 08 November 2013 under the following license: CC BY-NC-SA. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.
Caesar attempts to invade Britain.
Caesar successfully invades Britain but withdraws to Gaul.
43 CE
Romans invade Britain under Aulus Plautius.
43 CE - 47 CE
Romans conquer South Britain and claim the territory as part of Roman Empire.
Briton rebel leader Caratacus defeated, rebellion crushed.
Boudicca revolts, the Legio II Augusta does not respond to a call to arms.
The Romans withdraw from Britain.
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Submitting a Manuscript
Tony Ross
Tony Ross has been illustrating books for over 40 years, and has been published all over the world. He is perhaps best known for his much-loved Little Princess series, which has been adapted for TV and is currently showing on Channel 5s Milkshake, and for his collaboration on David Walliams’ best-selling children’s books. Tony’s books have been shortlisted for the The Laugh Out Loud Book Awards (Slug Needs a Hug) and the Kate Greenaway (Dr Xargle's Book of Earth Tiggers), and Tadpole’s Promise won the Silver Medal Smarties Prize. He has been named as the best-selling illustrator in the UK for three years in a row, and he is the UK’s libraries' most-borrowed illustrator. He lives in Macclesfield.
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My Favourite Fairy Tales
(Hardback) - 21-01-2020
This humorous and imaginative collection of classic fairy tales is ideal for reading aloud to young children. The collection consists of seven easy-to-read stories with hilariously detailed accompanying illustrations: Beauty and the Beast, Fairy Gifts, Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess, Rumpelstiltskin, Sweet Porridge, The Hedley Kow and The Musicians of Bremen.
Other Editions: Paperback
Age Range: 5+ years
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Allchurches Trust
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Allchurches’ grant supports ‘Tooth Fairy wish’ to end homelessness
Project Malachi grew out of the generosity of an eight-year old boy, who sent his £5 tooth fairy money to The Salvation Army in Ilford, East London, and asked them to use it to build homes for the homeless.
The boy’s name is Malachi and he is now proudly watching his dream come to life as the construction work has begun on a pop-up hostel made of 42 converted shipping containers, which will fundamentally change the lives of homeless people in Ilford, many of whom have no recourse to public funds.
Led by The Salvation Army, with a sponsoring committee of local Christian, Muslim and Sikh faith leaders and the Redbridge Council, this innovative and inspiring multi-faith project is the first of its kind in the country. It is being supported by a £24,000 Allchurches Trust grant.
It is a model that, it is hoped, can be replicated elsewhere to deal fundamentally with the underlying issues of the most entrenched rough sleepers in our communities and change our communities’ response to homelessness.
The innovative hostel and workshop has 42 self-contained studio flats, each a converted shipping container, stacked into a temporary three-storey building, sited on land provided for five years by Redbridge Council. If the site cannot be used beyond five years, the hostel is able to be dismantled and moved to a new location.
Interestingly, Project Malachi is located on the same site, 1a Chadwick Road, which hosted the first ever meeting of The Salvation Army in Ilford on 5 March, 1886, in the rooms above the funeral home that existed there for more than a hundred years.
Ilford is in the East London Borough of Redbridge, which has the third highest rate of rough sleepers in London, and the eighth highest in the country. Based on the last count in 2017, there were 60 rough sleepers in Redbridge, of which 42 people had ‘no recourse to public funds’ (meaning they cannot access state support to move on from the street). Some 36 of these 42 people have been sleeping on the street for more than two years.
The Salvation Army Ilford has received more and more homeless guests into its winter night shelter each year over the past six years. Sadly, in November 2017, three repeat guests passed away as a result of health complications associated with long-term rough sleeping. All three would have been likely residents in the new Project Malachi hostel; their sad loss giving all involved in the project more resolve to bring it to fruition as soon as possible.
Captain Dr John Clifton of The Salvation Army, Ilford, said: “The trauma to a person from extended rough sleeping is so severe that they literally lose the capacity to make decisions about their life. After years of rough sleeping, a person’s brain becomes trained to think in an incredibly short-term way. There is no point asking someone how they want to change their future when their brain is quite literally only able to think about the next 10 minutes or focus on where their next meal is coming from.
“Project Malachi is a real attempt to provide a more stable setting for entrenched rough sleepers so that their brains and bodies can recover from the trauma of long-term sleep deprivation, poor nutrition, lack of safety and other basic needs. This project is based on our learning and experience from thousands of conversations between staff, volunteers and our winter shelter guests over the last 6 years.”
Project Malachi is the first project to target rough sleepers who have no recourse to public funds in this way. Residents will stay for around six months and, during that time, will receive individual support each week, employment experience and accredited training in the on-site social enterprise workshop, Re-cycles. For those seeking asylum or leave to remain in the UK, there will be specialist support to assist them through the complex legal processes.
Within a stable living situation that offers safety, rest, space and support, residents will be encouraged and supported to make informed decisions about their future and choices, with the much needed resources to begin doing so: moving into employment to enable self-sufficiency; reconnecting to their country of origin and/or gaining leave to remain or naturalisation; and becoming eligible for support in mainstream society. Residents will be provided with post-residential support after they leave Project Malachi and pastoral support throughout their residency.
Allchurches Trust is proud to be funding the fit-out and furnishing of Project Malachi’s 42 studio flats for homeless people, which will be ready to move into before the coming winter. During the development of Project Malachi, the Salvation Army’s winter night shelter and Re-cycles social enterprise have remained open to guests, with continued support from more than 150 volunteers.
Malachi (who gave the first £5) with Mindaugus Peculionis (Salvation Army volunteer) visiting the sample accommodation unit
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Tel: 01452 873189. The named company above is registered in England No. 1043742 Registered Charity number: 263960
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International Development Questions
Alok Sharma answers MPs’ questions to the Department for International Development.
The Secretary of State was asked—
Thangam Debbonaire (Bristol West) (Lab)
1. What steps the Government are taking to help reduce the number of people who are forced to migrate. [912497]
The Secretary of State for International Development (Alok Sharma)
The Department is investing in migrant source countries to give people better opportunities to build decent lives at home. Over the past four years, support for UK aid across all programmes has enabled 14 million children to gain a decent education, and nearly 52 million people now have access to clean water and better sanitation.
Thangam Debbonaire
Refugee settlement is one way to allow people to secure a safe and legal route to a safe country if they are classified as refugees by the United Nations. DFID funds and supports that, but there is no commitment to long-term resettlement programmes. Will the Secretary of State consider committing himself to a minimum of 10,000 refugees per year via resettlement and for a minimum of five years?
Alok Sharma
As the hon. Lady will know, in every year since 2016, the UK has resettled more refugees from outside Europe than any other EU member state, and I pay tribute to the local authorities that have already settled 16,000 refugees from Syria. The hon. Lady will also know that we intend to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees, as well as up to 3,000 vulnerable children and their carers, by 2020. Under our new compact, there are global resettlement scheme plans to resettle 5,000 of the most vulnerable every year post 2020.
Alistair Burt (North East Bedfordshire) (Ind)
I welcome my right hon. Friend to what I think is his first session of questions as Secretary of State for International Development, and I wish him—as we all do—very well in the role. May I ask him to update the House on the quality of our £75 million safety, support and solutions programme, which has been used particularly on the migration route in Africa, including north Africa? A particular feature of the programme was the ability to return those who had escaped the clutches of traffickers to their home areas, where they could warn others that the outward route was dangerous and damaging. I should be grateful for an update.
I pay tribute to the fantastic work that my right hon. Friend did in this Department. He was an absolute champion for DFID.
Phase 2 of the safety, support and solutions programme is now running. We are delivering humanitarian protection to vulnerable migrants en route, as well as informing people about living conditions and—as my right hon. Friend mentioned—the other risks that they may face if they travel through the Sahel or the horn of Africa. One of our partners, the International Organisation for Migration, has reached more than 4,000 people with awareness-raising activities.
Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)
9. Global food insecurity is obviously a major factor in mass migration. Will the Secretary of State update us on what his Department is doing with aid agencies in respect of the merits of integrating nutrition into all areas of work? [912508]
The hon. Lady has raised an incredibly important point. We are working on nutrition with a range of multilateral agencies, and my ministerial colleagues and I continue to engage in discussions with them. At the United Nations General Assembly, it was announced that £61 million would be provided to develop crops that are better adapted to grow in higher temperatures and that can withstand drought. That is the sort of work that will make a long-term difference when it comes to food insecurity.
Sir Hugo Swire (East Devon) (Con)
Will my right hon. Friend update the House on the Rohingya situation and tell us what discussions he has had with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Government in Dhaka about the situation in Cox’s Bazar?
My right hon. Friend did an enormous amount of work in this area as Minister for Asia, and I pay tribute to him. He will know that the major humanitarian crisis is caused by Myanmar’s military. He will also know that we recently announced the provision of an extra £87 million for food, healthcare and shelter, not just for the refugees but for those who are hosting them. The Minister in the House of Lords, Baroness Sugg, is currently in Bangladesh looking into these issues.
Stephen Twigg (Liverpool, West Derby) (Lab/Co-op)
In north-east Nigeria, almost 2 million people have been internally displaced. In a disturbing development, the Nigerian Government have closed two major international non-governmental organisations, posing a risk to thousands of lives. May I urge the Secretary of State to do all that he can to press the Nigerian Government to enable those NGOs to operate, because they are about saving lives?
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. We are extremely concerned about this issue, and we have raised it with the Nigerian Government. We have asked them to complete their investigations as swiftly as possible. He is absolutely right: those organisations provide support to millions of vulnerable people, and we must make sure that that work continues.
Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)
A fortnight ago, I was privileged to be in Jordan to see some of the remarkable work of small organisations helping child refugees from the Syrian civil war recover from appalling injuries. What further support can DFID give to those small NGOs that make such a positive difference?
As my hon. Friend will know, we have pledged almost £3 billion since 2012 to provide support in Syria and neighbouring areas. We are working with a range of NGOs, and I would be happy to meet him to discuss the individual NGOs to which he referred.
Chris Law (Dundee West) (SNP)
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated that the greatest single impact of climate change could be on human migration. By 2050, it is forecast that up to 1 billion people could be on the move as a result of climate change. The Select Committee on International Development recommended that the UK use last week’s UN climate summit to address that, so will the Secretary of State tell us specifically what discussions he has had on this subject and what concrete actions his Departments will take?
The hon. Gentleman raises an important matter. The Prime Minister made a number of key announcements at the UN General Assembly, including the doubling of our investment and commitment to the international climate finance fund. That is something that we will work on, but the hon. Gentleman is right that that is a key issue. The way to tackle poverty is also to tackle climate change.
Preet Kaur Gill (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab/Co-op)
The world is on course to have 200 million climate refugees by 2050, so will the Secretary of State tell us why his Government continue to be part of the problem by funding fossil fuel overseas, both with the Overseas Development Administration budget and with export finance. If he wants to be part of the solution, will he commit to work with Cabinet colleagues to increase the number of refugee settlements in the UK, as recommended by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees?
I say gently to the hon. Lady that we are regarded as world-leading when it comes to tackling climate change. If she had been at the UN General Assembly, she would have seen that. A whole range of announcements were made there. I am always happy to have a discussion with her, but she should acknowledge that the UK is actively leading in this area across the world. That is acknowledged by Governments across the world, too.
Venezuela: Humanitarian Support
Sir Peter Bottomley (Worthing West) (Con)
2. What humanitarian support his Department is providing to Venezuelan people in (a) Venezuela and (b) neighbouring countries. [912498]
The humanitarian crisis in Venezuela is absolutely dire, with millions fleeing the Maduro regime. Last week, I announced an additional £30 million of vital humanitarian aid to deliver life-saving medicines and clean water, as well as support for vital health services for refugees in neighbouring countries.
Sir Peter Bottomley
Everyone will be glad that we are doing what we can to help. Would it be a good idea if party leaders together nominated members of the Youth Parliament to go and see what has caused this social, economic, humanitarian and political crisis in a country that should be the richest on its continent?
My hon. Friend makes an important point. Inflation is running at over 1 million per cent. in Venezuela and poverty has doubled. That is the economic model and regime that the Leader of the Opposition has been defending over a long period. People will know that Venezuela serves as a grim reminder of what might happen to the economy of our country and, indeed, the aid budget should the Opposition ever get their hands near government.
Mr Speaker
I welcome the invocation of the United Kingdom Youth Parliament, which, for the benefit of observers, customarily sits annually in the Chamber on a non-sitting Friday. A sitting is due to take place next month. It is a magnificent organisation that deserves the support of every one of us.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Brighton, Kemptown) (Lab/Co-op)
Until the Venezuelan Government were destabilised, HIV treatment was successful and deaths from AIDS were decreasing. Since destabilisation, HIV treatment is almost impossible for many people in Venezuela and the healthcare system has collapsed. What are the Government doing, particularly to ensure that antiretrovirals reach HIV-positive people in Venezuela?
The reason that the healthcare system and, indeed, public services have collapsed is the Maduro regime; that is something we have to acknowledge. As I have said, the support that we are providing includes healthcare support. There has been a big increase in disease outbreaks over recent periods, and that is why we are providing support for healthcare and vaccinations.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
How much are the UK Government giving to the UN central emergency response fund, and how much is that fund giving to the Venezuelan crisis?
We have given about £2 million of support to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and to national societies. In terms of additional funds that we have made available, we do not discuss the value of programmes inside Venezuela or name partners, for security reasons. I hope that my hon. Friend will understand that.
Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)
Given the extent of the problem, the millions of people fleeing Venezuela and the amount that the Minister has alluded to, what steps are we taking to ensure that that aid is offered directly to the people affected and not diverted by the regime?
The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. We have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to fraud, and we have robust controls against diversion. I can tell him that we have due diligence assessments in place to monitor the spending in Venezuela.
Supporting Women in Developing Countries
Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Ind)
5. What steps his Department is taking to support women in developing countries in (a) business and (b) further education after they have finished school. [912504]
DFID’s support for the SheTrades Commonwealth programme has trained over 2,700 women-owned businesses. We recently announced £30 million for the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa programme, which will help to unlock $3 billion of additional lending to women entrepreneurs.
Caroline Nokes
Some of the most inspirational, determined business leaders and entrepreneurs in Romsey and Southampton North are women. Do the Secretary of State and his Front-Bench team agree that female empowerment cannot begin and end in school, but has to continue into the workplace? Will he commit to giving more support to make sure that we have women business leaders in the developing world?
My right hon. Friend is right. Economic empowerment for women is vital, and I made mention of the affirmative finance programme, which is tackling issues such as access to finance, access to mentoring support and overcoming laws that discriminate against women. It is worth pointing out that women typically reinvest up to 90% of their income into education, health and nutrition, compared to 40% for men, so investing in female-led businesses can transform societies.
Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)
Specialist organisations such as Khwendo Kor that deliver services to women are being restricted by other NGOs in consortia by exclusivity clauses, so that they can only bid with one organisation for funding, so expertise is being lost. Can the Secretary of State ensure that exclusivity clauses are removed?
I would be happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss that case and to try to understand a bit better what we could do.
Mrs Anne Main (St Albans) (Con)
Menstruation stops many women participating in the business world and mostly affects the poorest, no more so than in the Rohingya camps, as Oxfam has told me. WUKA produces underwear that deals with the problem, is reusable and environmentally sustainable. Will his Department meet WUKA, Ruby Raut and others in St Albans who have developed the product to help women beat the problems of menstruation?
I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for all the work that she has done in Bangladesh in tackling humanitarian issues, and she raises an important point. We have a flagship programme called the Girls’ Education Challenge, which does fund support for 23 menstrual hygiene projects across 13 countries, but of course I would be happy to meet with her and the company in her constituency.
Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Glasgow South) (SNP)
Ukraine is a country that is perhaps redeveloping rather than developing. Can the Secretary of State tell us what projects he is supporting for women in business and education in the east of Ukraine, where there is a war with Russia, particularly through the International Committee of the Red Cross?
I am not aware of the details of programmes that the hon. Gentleman talks about, but I would be happy to meet him to discuss that case.
Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Con)
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities. [912512]
Governments around the world collectively spend around $140 billion every year on aid. However, the United Nations estimates that an additional $2.5 trillion is required annually in developing countries to meet the sustainable development goals. That investment gap needs to be met largely by the private sector. That is why I have established an international development infrastructure commission to advise the UK Government on how we can mobilise additional private sector funds, alongside public money, to deliver on the sustainable development goals.
Tim Loughton
I welcome the Secretary of State and the new Ministers to their posts. Representing a coastal constituency, I am only too well aware of the impact of pollution and plastic waste on marine life and our beaches. It was great to join many of my constituents at the recent great British beach clean. Given that much of the plastic problem affects developing countries—especially island nations—how are the Government using the aid budget to help to clear up our oceans?
My hon. Friend raises an incredibly vital point. He may be aware that the Prime Minister announced at the United Nations General Assembly last month that we are encouraging countries to join the UK-led global ocean alliance of countries in support of protecting at least 30% of the global oceans within marine protected areas by 2030.
Dan Carden (Liverpool, Walton) (Lab)
The Secretary of State has announced a new commission of business and finance leaders to mobilise private finance to invest in some of the world’s poorest countries. What action is he taking to guarantee that all aid-backed private investments uphold labour rights and living wages for workers in the global south?
I think that is a sort of welcome for the infrastructure commission we have set up. The hon. Gentleman is right to say that labour rights are vital. When I was Minister for Employment, I worked with the International Labour Organisation on these issues, and if he has particular suggestions to make, I would be happy to discuss those with him.
Dan Carden
The Secretary of State is failing to take labour rights seriously. He is a career investment banker by trade, and he has—[Interruption.] I think it is relevant that he has gone from corporate wealth management to managing the UK’s aid budget. Feronia, a Canadian palm oil company based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has received tens of millions of pounds of UK aid via the CDC Group; it has been plagued by scandal for years; and, in July, Joël Imbangola Lunea, a community activist involved in a land dispute with Feronia, was allegedly murdered by a security guard employed by the company. Joël was father to eight children—
Order. May I just appeal to the hon. Gentleman to get to his question mark, because a lot of colleagues want to contribute and they must do so?
Will the Department now launch its own investigation into this case and the litany of failures surrounding Feronia?
The hon. Gentleman is very welcome to write to me about the case. He wrote an article a few days back describing me as
“exploring ways to profit from human misery”.
May I just point out to him, with respect, that he could perhaps take some lessons from the Chairman of the Select Committee, who knows a lot more about development than he does?
Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con)
T5. Many of my constituents are concerned about plastic pollution, and I recently attended the launch of plastic-free Congleton. What are the UK Government doing to reduce, and indeed stop, plastic pollution in developing countries? [912516]
My hon. Friend is a true champion on humanitarian and environmental matters. I made reference in a previous answer to what we are doing about plastics, but I can also inform her that the UK Government have pledged £70 million to directly tackle this issue in developing countries, through the provision of technical assistance and testing practical approaches to increase plastic recycling rates.
Holly Lynch (Halifax) (Lab)
T2. This month, we are celebrating 25 years of Fairtrade in the UK. At his first appearance at the Dispatch Box, will the Secretary of State reaffirm this Government’s commitment to Fairtrade? Will he join me in celebrating, with the Fairtrade Foundation, such a milestone achievement? [912513]
The hon. Lady will know that we run a range of projects designed to ensure that we have fair trade, and of course I commend the work that goes on in this area.
John Spellar (Warley) (Lab)
T3. The Minister is aware of the devastating 2005 earthquake in Azad Kashmir, with massive loss of life and damage to housing and infrastructure—and of the gratifying international response, with assistance. Although the recent earthquakes were not on the same scale, they are causing major hardship; so what assistance is the Department providing to the authorities there, both for emergency relief and for long-term reconstruction, to help the long-suffering people of Azad Kashmir? [912514]
As the right hon. Gentleman knows, we are a major aid donor to Pakistan overall. We are in discussions with the National Disaster Management Authority in Pakistan, and we stand ready to respond and provide funding if it is indeed requested.
Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)
T6. Further to the question by my right hon. Friend the Member for Warley (John Spellar), will the Government press for the United Nations group on India and Pakistan to make a fact-finding visit to Kashmir to assess the humanitarian and human rights situation there? [912518]
We have a long-standing position on Kashmir, which has been reiterated and followed by successive Governments, but where there are matters related to humanitarian issues we of course always look at those.
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Wheels, Inc.
Wheels is the world's most experienced automotive fleet leasing and management company, and a trusted industry leader. Wheels provides organizations around the world with company cars and trucks along with state-of-the-art services and support.
Founded in 1939 by Zollie Frank and Armund Schoen, Wheels is one of the original leasing companies. Zollie Frank sat down with AF in 1986 and shared the company's history.
"En route from my Ohio hometown to California to make my fortune 50 years ago, I stopped in Chicago to buy a car. In addition to buying a car, I bought a car agency.
While at a dealership arranging to purchase the car, I met a Chrysler factory representative who was taken with my initiative. He told me that if I couldn't make my fortune in Chicago, I wouldn't make it anywhere. That started me thinking.
When I later stopped back to pick up the vehicle, I was sufficiently intrigued to set up a meeting with the man from Chrysler. He told me about a Chrysler dealership for sale. I decided to buy it and make my fortune not in California but in Chicago.
I started out in 1936 with just $7,500. I paid $2,500 for the Chrysler-Plymouth dealership at 6116 N. Western Ave., and saved the other $5,000 for working capital. Today, my organization is widespread and includes Wheels (originally Four Wheels), one of the country's biggest auto-and-truck-leasing operations with more than 90,000 vehicles on lease nationwide.
Many people contributed a great deal to our success. I had met the man who would become my brother-in-law when we were dating sisters. Armund Schoen joined me in business and helped me found Four Wheels. As it happened, we also married the sisters we were dating; the one sister is now my wife, Elaine, and the other, Armund's wife, Rita.
When Armund and I founded Four Wheels in 1939, a new Chevrolet cost about $495 - without a heater, radio, or spare tire. I figured we could lease that car for about $45 a month and make money on it.
In those days, automotive fleets existed, but they usually were owned by the individual corporations. Large dealerships handle these fleet sales. "Z" Frank was considered a small, neighborhood store, so we got very little of this kind of business, attractive though it was. We lacked the capital and contacts to compete effectively with large dealerships for fleet sales.
From the standpoint of operating a successful business, however, I saw that many advantages could come with diversification. Deriving income from corporate as well as retail business would provide more stability, since retail sales tend to be volatile and are easily affected by economic conditions in general. We were looking around for a way to expand our business while also providing greater corporate stability.
Corporate fleet leasing proved to be the answer.
A big Chicago pharmaceutical company - Petrolager - posed a particular problem: The company had 75 salesmen in those days and paid them for mileage and gasoline for using their own cars on the road. It also helped them buy their cars, lending them the required one-third down payment.
But, the salesmen often left the company before paying off the loan, and Petrolager was losing its down payment investment. In the 1930s, owning a car made a person a highly marketable commodity in the sales business. Once a salesman had his own car, he was ripe for pirating by other companies.
I happened to meet Petrolager's president and sales vice president when they stopped at my dealership to purchase two Chrysler Imperials for their own use. When I heard about their 75 salesmen and the problems Petrolager was having with their car arrangements, I knew there was an opportunity for me. I proposed a $45 per month lease arrangement, with the car replaced yearly and including tires, maintenance, oil changes, and collision insurance, with no deductible.
We started out leasing Petrolager five cars with the understanding that if the system worked well for both of us, the fleet would be expanded in one year. The Petrolager venture turned out to be profitable for all involved, so the next year they leased 75 cars.
Although company-owned fleets did exist in the "old days," what Armund and I did basically was to take several separate ideas and package them in a completely new way. By putting each car on a long-term (12 months back then) lease to businesses, we assured ourselves of a steady cash flow.
We named the company Four Wheels and designed the logo accordingly to pique companies' interest in this new idea. That helped when Armund and I went out to sell a concept with which few were familiar. Closed-end, full-maintenance leasing at that time was the most attractive proposal with which to approach corporate executives. It was a simple, easy-to-understand plan whereby Four Wheels assumed responsibility for virtually all costs except fuel and liability insurance.
Clients no longer had to worry about buying, selling, or maintaining cars, or what their costs might be. All that was required of them was to put gas in the cars and pay us $45 a month. Simplicity was necessary because this was such a new concept and little literature existed to explain what we were doing. We had to educate the public about automotive fleet leasing.
In cases where Four Wheels was competing against company-owned fleets, our job was to graphically demonstrate how leasing would give them more for their money than owning, and fewer headaches. In effect, we acted as a security blanket for client companies.
Of our original 21 clients, we still do business with 17.
In 1939, I borrowed my first million dollars to finance Four Wheels. National Bond and Investment, a well-known commercial finance organization of the day, approved the loan - not on my firm's bank statement, but on National's belief that we would make a success of the venture.
I have never forgotten that faith. For that reason, I still do business with the people who helped me get started. I have never left a vendor who treated me right and stayed competitive. Some of these ongoing vendor relationships started 40 and 50 years ago. We also still work with the same banks, accounting, and legal firms.
In 1953, we switched to General Motors and bought Chicago's smallest Chevrolet dealership. By the 1970s, we had built it into the world's largest volume dealership.
The 1950s was a busy decade, both in terms of fleet expansion and overall innovative contribution to the leasing industry as a whole. During this era, we developed the concept of volume drop-shipping cars.
As our business grew, there were other signs that the industry itself was coming of age. In 1955, Armund Schoen and I were instrumental in founding what has come to be known as AALA, the American Automotive Leasing Association. AALA has represented our industry's interests ever since. In 1961, we purchased some of the first ad pages in a new magazine which was to emerge as the voice of our industry, Automotive Fleet. You know your industry's arrived when it becomes sufficiently institutionalized to have its very own magazine.
Changing conditions in the 1950s also led to development of what was then called open-end, or finance, leasing. Today, that program is more commonly called TRAC leasing, because of the Terminal Rent Adjustment Clause that is a key element of the contract for these types of leases. Most of our business in 1986 falls into this category. To distinguish between the two forms of leasing, we formed Wheels, Inc., which today is the dominant business. All but about 2,500 of the 90,000 vehicles we now lease come under Wheels TRAC leases.
The types and range of services we provide have grown and changed over the years in response to client needs and market demands. Building on the data processing base I had installed during the 1950s, for example, Wheels moved heavily into computers in the 1960s. During that decade, we had over 30,000 vehicles on lease. We realized that the business was becoming increasingly sophisticated, and that computers would be instrumental for continued growth. In fact, we could not possibly have gown as we have without computerization.
As much fun as it is to reminisce, I also want to say I think this industry has a great future - even more interesting and challenging than its past."
Company Milestones:
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Home / Books & Videos / Catholic Books / Theology / History / Protestant Reformation / The King’s Good Servant but God: The Life and Writings of St. Thomas More
The King's Good Servant but God: The Life and Writings of St. Thomas More
SKU 40~IP-KGSP Categories Biographies & Autobiographies, Books & Videos, Catholic Books, History, History, Protestant Reformation, Theology Brand: Ignatius Press
St. Thomas More is widely recognized as the good-humored Renaissance humanist scholar who wrote Utopia and two decades later died a martyr's death in defense of papal primacy. Yet More's sacrifice of his life was but the culminating act of a lifelong dedication to his faith. This work seeks to provide a new portrait of Thomas More by engaging upon a comprehensive exploration of More's books and letters.
All of More's works are examined in detail, revealing the inner life of a saint molded by an ever-deepening reflection upon the Passion of Christ, climaxing in one of the most profound meditations upon the Agony in the Garden ever written. The correspondence of More during his imprisonment receives particular attention, an eloquent testament to the depth of More's love for his family and friends.
In addition to Thomas More's writing, the testimony of early biographies of the saint together with the recent finding of Tudor and Reformation era scholars are utilized to reconstruct the events of More's life and execution. Subjects explored include More's devotion to his family, the roots of his spiritual and intellectual formation, his participation in the Renaissance movement of Christian humanist scholarship, and the state of the pre-Reformation Church.
"This book is an eye-opener. Monti, a very skilled research writer, provides a unique, very readable book on St. Thomas More that gives new insights on this most powerful figure in the Catholic resistance in England."
– Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., Author, Arise from Darkness
"A thoroughly excellent work. More has many poignant things to say to us in our day."
– Fr. George Rutler, Author, A Crises of Saints
James Monti is an author, writer and historian who has contributed numerous articles to Catholic publications. His other books include The Week of Salvation and In the Presence of Our Lord.
St. Thomas More
God’s Healing Mercy
Overcoming Sinful Anger
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Jean Nouvel: The Latest Architecture and News
Jean Nouvel Imagines Aquarela, a Residential Development in Ecuador
Courtesy of Architect: Jean Nouvel - Ateliers Jean Nouvel. Associated architect: Alberto MEDEM - Humboldt Arquitectos S.L.
Jean Nouvel’s recently designed residential development, Aquarela, in Quito, Ecuador is under construction. In collaboration with local architectural developer Uribe & Schwarzkopf, the 136,580-square-metre organically designed project blends with the surrounding mountainous landscape.
https://www.archdaily.com/931436/jean-nouvel-imagines-aquarela-a-residential-development-in-ecuador Christele Harrouk
Building Boom: Qatar's Monumental New Architecture
© Iwan Baan
Qatar has been radically reshaped by growth and development. The sovereign state transformed since the second half of the twentieth century after the discovery of the Dukhan oil field in 1940. Capitalizing on over 70 years of economic development, Qatar now has the highest per capita income in the world. Reflecting the country’s wealth, its modern architectural projects are being built at a monumental scale.
https://www.archdaily.com/929902/building-boom-qatars-monumental-new-architecture Eric Baldwin
Spotlight: Jean Nouvel
The winner of the Wolf Prize in 2005 and the Pritzker of 2008, French architect Jean Nouvel has attempted to design each of his projects without any preconceived notions. The result is a variety of projects that, while strikingly different, always demonstrate a delicate play with light and shadow as well as a harmonious balance with their surroundings. It was this diverse approach that led the Pritzker Prize Jury in their citation to characterize Nouvel as primarily "courageous" in his "pursuit of new ideas and his challenge of accepted norms in order to stretch the boundaries of the field."
https://www.archdaily.com/537032/spotlight-jean-nouvel Rory Stott
“We’re a Possibilities Company”: Keely Colcleugh on Communicating the Future of the Built Environment
Viper Room - Morphosis. Image Courtesy of Kilograph
Architecture is defined by stories. It’s through visualization and communication of ideas that we construct new environments. Trained as an architect, Keely Colcleugh is a designer with a range of experience across the fields of architecture, graphic design, film, and visualization. In 2009, she founded Kilograph with a desire to combine leading edge visualization techniques with animation, interactive design, graphics, and branding. Now Keely is the CEO of a growing creative agency with offices in Los Angeles and Spain.
In an exclusive interview with ArchDaily, Keely talks about her transition to communication design, her love for Los Angeles, and how the art of visualization continues to evolve.
https://www.archdaily.com/917452/were-a-possibilities-company-keely-colcleugh-on-communicating-the-future-of-the-built-environment Eric Baldwin
Jean Nouvel's National Museum of Qatar Opens to the Public
The Jean Nouvel-designed National Museum of Qatar has opened to the public in Doha. The architectural concept for the scheme has been inspired by the desert rose, and seeks to create a dialogue between the fluid, contemporary architectural form of the museum, and the historic objects it will contain. As quoted in a recent press release by Qatar Museums, the scheme will “give a voice to Qatar’s heritage whilst celebrating its future.” The museum opened to a lavish ceremony attended by architect Nouvel, and celebrities such as Victoria Beckham and Johnny Depp.
https://www.archdaily.com/893374/jean-nouvels-national-museum-of-qatar-takes-shape-as-new-images-released Niall Patrick Walsh
Who Has Won the Pritzker Prize?
Pritzker Prize 2017 Ceremony: Ryue Nishizawa, Tadao Ando, Kazuyo Sejima, Rafael Aranda, Glenn Murcutt, Carme Pigem, Ramon Vilalta, Toyo Ito, Shigeru Ban. Image © The Hyatt Foundation / Pritzker Architecture Prize
The Pritzker Prize is the most important award in the field of architecture, awarded to a living architect whose built work "has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity through the art of architecture." The Prize rewards individuals, not entire offices, as took place in 2000 (when the jury selected Rem Koolhaas instead of his firm OMA) or in 2016 (with Alejandro Aravena selected instead of Elemental); however, the prize can also be awarded to multiple individuals working together, as took place in 2001 (Herzog & de Meuron), 2010 (Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA), and 2017 (Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, and Ramon Vilalta of RCR Arquitectes).
The award is an initiative funded by Jay Pritzker through the Hyatt Foundation, an organization associated with the hotel company of the same name that Jay founded with his brother Donald in 1957. The award was first given in 1979, when the American architect Philip Johnson, was awarded for his iconic works such as the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut.
The Pritzker Prize has been awarded for almost forty straight years without interruption, and there are now 18 countries with at least one winning architect. To date, half of the winners are European; while the Americas, Asia, and Oceania share the other twenty editions. So far, no African architect has been awarded, making it the only continent without a winner.
https://www.archdaily.com/889628/who-has-won-the-pritzker-prize Nicolás Valencia
Jean Nouvel's Man-Made Lagoon Highrise Tops Out in Miami
via Z Comm
Jean Nouvel’s first Miami project, Monad Terrace, has officially topped out. Designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel in collaboration with Kobi Karp, the highrise project is situated on West Avenue in the premier South Beach district of Miami Beach, setting a new standard of building integrity and climate resilience for the city.
The design innovation of Monad Terrace begins on the ground, where the lobby level has been raised 11.5 feet off the surface of West Avenue, allowing all interior spaces to be located significantly over flood plain levels and eliminating the need to dig down into the water table.
https://www.archdaily.com/912345/jean-nouvels-man-made-lagoon-highrise-tops-out-in-miami Niall Patrick Walsh
Jean Nouvel + OXO Architectes design Mountainous Mixed-Use Campus in Antibes
via Compagnie de Phalsbourg
Ateliers Jean Nouvel has collaborated with French practice OXO Architectes on a competition-winning design for a mountainous campus in the Sophia Antipolis technology park in Antibes, France. The “Ecotone Antibes” will serve as the main entrance to the technology park, which is home to over 2,000 companies.
Described as a 21st-century campus for France, the 40,000-square-meter mountainous structure is covered in lush vegetation, containing offices, a hotel, amenities, and co-working spaces. The campus, a rare exercise in biomimicry for the South of France, sought to capture the site’s rich landscaped surroundings, translating a natural ethos to the hard, technological campus.
https://www.archdaily.com/910548/jean-nouvel-plus-oxo-architectes-design-mountainous-mixed-use-campus-in-antibes Niall Patrick Walsh
Jean Nouvel's Vibrant La Marseillaise is Completed with 27 Shades of Red, White, and Blue
© Stéphane ABOUDARAM | WE ARE CONTENT(S)
The Jean Nouvel-designed La Marseillaise has been completed, decorating the skyline of Marseille, France with 27 shades of red, white, and blue concrete. Standing at 135 meters, the 31-story office tower contains a business restaurant, nursery, and retail.
The scheme sits in proximity to the CMA CGM Headquarters, which was the first Zaha Hadid Architects-designed tower to be built.
https://www.archdaily.com/905126/jean-nouvels-vibrant-la-marseillaise-is-completed-with-27-shades-of-red-white-and-blue Niall Patrick Walsh
Jean Nouvel Predicts 53 West 53rd Will Transform New York City's Iconic Skyline
Last month, we reported on the topping out of 53 West 53rd, a skyscraper designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel. The impressive 1,050-foot tall building will serve as a luxury residential condominium and offer its residents views across Central Park and downtown Manhattan. The Real Deal recently sat down with the architect to talk about his new project, and how he predicts it will transform the city’s iconic skyline.
https://www.archdaily.com/897511/jean-nouvel-predicts-53-west-53rd-will-transform-new-york-citys-iconic-skyline Kaley Overstreet
Jean Nouvel's 53 West 53rd Street Tops Out in New York City
© 53W53 website via NY YIMBY
Jean Nouvel’s 53 West 53rd Street (53W53) has topped out in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Rising 73 floors, the 145-condominium scheme is topped by a $70 million duplex, where celebrations were held last week attended by Nouvel, as reported by New York YIMBY.
Once the scheme has reached its peak of 1,050 feet, it will be tied with the Chrysler Building and New York Times Building as the sixth-tallest in New York City.
https://www.archdaily.com/896231/jean-nouvels-53-west-53rd-street-tops-out-in-new-york-city Niall Patrick Walsh
Round-Up: The Serpentine Pavilion Through the Years
Lasting for close to two decades now, the annual Serpentine Gallery Pavilion Exhibition has become one of the most anticipated architectural events in London and for the global architecture community. Each of the previous eighteen pavilions have been thought-provoking, leaving an indelible mark and strong message to the architectural community. And even though each of the past pavilions are removed from the site after their short summer stints to occupy far-flung private estates, they continue to be shared through photographs, and in architectural lectures. With the launch of the 18th Pavilion, we take a look back at all the previous pavilions and their significance to the architecturally-minded public.
https://www.archdaily.com/790106/round-up-the-serpentine-pavilion-through-the-years Jan Doroteo
The Engineering Behind the Louvre Abu Dhabi's Striking Geometric Dome
© Luc Boegly & Sergio Grazia
Walking into Abu Dhabi’s new Louvre Museum, one is immediately greeted by a flood of dappled light created by the stunning, multi-layered lattice covering the interweaving interior spaces of the building. The intricate geometric dome is both reminiscent of traditional Arabic architecture screens and crucial in achieving Architect’s Jean Nouvel’s vision for a “rain of light.” But what went into the design and construction of the building’s most striking element, and how does it function structurally? Ateliers Jean Nouvel worked for over one year in close collaboration with BuroHappold Engineering to develop a design which is both an architectural and structural masterpiece. We spoke with Andy Pottinger, Associate Director at BuroHappold, to understand the dome in more depth.
https://www.archdaily.com/886180/the-engineering-behind-the-louvre-abu-dhabis-striking-geometric-dome Alya Abourezk
See the Incredibly Complex Louvre Abu Dhabi Constructed Over 8 Years in This Timelapse
With its massive, intricate roof and man-made pools and canals, Ateliers Jean Nouvel's astonishingly complex Louvre Abu Dhabi was a project 10-years in the making before finally debuting to the public earlier this month. But even if the project missed it's original completion date, it certainly wasn't for lack of trying – and that's proven in this new video timelapse from EarthCam.
The video captures the 8-year-long construction process from groundbreaking to completion, showing the museum as it came together from a variety of perspectives, including how the roof was assembled in mid-air before being gently lowered into place, and the enormous effort of earth moving to build the unique site.
https://www.archdaily.com/884004/see-the-incredibly-complex-louvre-abu-dhabi-constructed-over-8-years-in-this-timelapse Patrick Lynch
Jean Nouvel's Louvre Abu Dhabi Photographed by Laurian Ghinitoiu
© Laurian Ghinitoiu
The much-anticipated Louvre Abu Dhabi, designed by Jean Nouvel, opens this week in the United Arab Emirates. The project has enormous significance as a transnational partnership between the French and Emirati governments, and is set to become a center for art and learning in the Gulf region. Located on Saadiyat Island and surrounded by the sea, the museum comprises twenty three permanent galleries and exhibition spaces, a Children's Museum, an auditorium, and a research center – all connected together by waterfront promenades and a vast, shimmering dome.
https://www.archdaily.com/883202/jean-nouvels-louvre-abu-dhabi-photographed-by-laurian-ghinitoiu AD Editorial Team
Jean Nouvel's Louvre Abu Dhabi Opens To The Public Following a Decade in Development
© Roland Halbe
Following ten years of multinational collaboration between France and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Jean Nouvel's Louvre Abu Dhabi opens this week to the public. Located on Saadiyat Island and surrounded by the sea, twenty three permanent galleries and exhibition spaces, a Children's Museum, an auditorium, and a research center are connected by waterfront promenades which weave beneath the building's iconic dome.
https://www.archdaily.com/883149/jean-nouvels-louvre-abu-dhabi-opens-to-the-public-following-a-decade-in-development AD Editorial Team
Architectural Adventures: Through Portugal and Northern Spain Architectural Tour
Immerse yourself in the cultural and architectural heritage of Portugal and Northern Spain on a once-in-a-lifetime 17-day journey with Architectural Adventures. From historic Lisbon to vibrant Barcelona, visit and explore 14 cities and 6 UNESCO World Heritage Sites while enjoying world-class accommodations and fine regional dining. Sip Oporto’s famed port wine, see Santiago’s monumental cathedral, tour the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, and see where the bulls run in Pamplona before traversing the breathtaking Pyrenees Mountains en route to Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea.
https://www.archdaily.com/881713/architectural-adventures-through-portugal-and-northern-spain-architectural-tour Rene Submissions
New Renderings Have Been Released for Jean Nouvel's Latest New York Skyscraper
Courtesy of VUW Studio
The latest rendering for Pritzker Prize-winning architect, Jean Nouvel's 53W53 has been released in anticipation for its completion next year as construction reaches the 58th floor out of the proposed 82. Capturing the entire design of the new landmark, the render provides a look to the tapering structure distinguished by its sculptural quality and the three floors of gallery space in the tower’s base adjoining the Museum of Modern Art as part of their expansion.
As 53W53 grows in front of New York’s eyes, the concrete skeleton currently standing forms the basis for the exposed structural system referred to by Nouvel as ‘diagrid’ as the tower’s silhouette is an ode to the iconic buildings that already grace the horizon in New York.
https://www.archdaily.com/879735/new-rendering-has-been-release-for-jean-nouvels-latest-new-york-skyscraper Ella Thorns
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About ASSA ABLOY Ghana
Our brands in Ghana
ASSA ABLOY was formed in 1994 through the merger of ASSA in Sweden and Abloy in Finland. Since then ASSA ABLOY has grown from a regional company into an international group with around 46,000 employees and annual sales close to €7.3 billion.
ASSA ABLOY operates in mature and emerging markets worldwide, with leading positions in much of Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region.
In the fast growing security segment, the Group has an unrivalled presence in areas such as access control, identification technology, entrance automation and hotel security.
The ASSA ABLOY Group is divided into three regional and two global divisions:
The Global Technologies division has a leading position as a supplier of electronic security solutions worldwide. Some of Global Technologies' industry leading brands include HID and ASSA ABLOY Hospitality (formerly VingCard Elsafe).
The Americas division manufactures and sells mechanical and electro-mechanical locks, cylinders, security doors and door frames. Some of Americas' industry leading brands include Corbin Russwin, Curries, Medeco, Sargent and Yale.
The EMEA division manufactures and sells mechanical, electro-mechanical and electronic locks, cylinders, security doors and fittings. Our offering is adapted to the local market’s standards and security requirements, thanks to the local knowledge of the Group’s brands. In EMEA, these include some of the most respected in the industry such as ABLOY, Yale, Mul-T-Lock, TESA, UNION and ASSA amongst others.
The Asia Pacific division manufactures and sells mechanical and electro-mechanical locks, digital door locks, high security doors and hardware. Some of APAC's industry leading brands include Guli, Pan Pan, King, Lockwood and Yale.
The Entrance Systems division is a global leader in entrance automation products, components and service. Entrance Systems' industry leading brands include Besam, Crawford, Megadoor and Albany.
For more information about the ASSA ABLOY Group, please visit www.assaabloy.com.
ASSA ABLOY has been ranked 93rd in Forbes' list of the world's most innovative companies in 2014.
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Project development and transaction support
Related areas:
Auction and market monitoring
Market power, market manipulation
Natural gas markets, infrastructure
Power market analysis, risk management
Regulatory support and market design
Renewable energy, demand response, and environmental policy
Transmission analysis and reliability assessment
Investments in the development of new or existing long-lived, capital-intensive assets and long-term, asset-based contracts can be especially risky in the current environment of market and regulatory change. Project investment risks are often driven by uncertainties in multiple areas. For the investment to be successfully carried out, risks must be assessed, allocated, and mitigated from the varying perspectives of the project developers/sponsors, lenders, owners, and insurers. Yet, regardless of the perspective and whether the project risks are physical or financial, the following sources of uncertainty are common to all:
Energy sector policy
Electric power markets
To assess the influence of uncertainties in these five key common risk areas, Bates White has assembled an outstanding team of recognized energy economists and engineers that possess expertise in policy and regulation, fuels pricing and transportation, and generation and transmission planning and operations. Our experts successfully bring together a thorough understanding of the latest changes in federal and state energy policies and regulations, the planning and operational protocols of the North American regional transmission systems, and the latest technical and financial analysis techniques and models.
Bates White helps maximize the value of generation assets by identifying and assessing the markets that can most effectively be served by comparing project generation and transmission costs to market prices. Our forecasts of revenues and costs employ widely used hourly, transmission-constrained, chronological-dispatch production costing models; custom models to forecast the production of solar thermal and photovoltaic generating plants; and empirically-obtained hourly wind generation data. The transmission power flow and voltage stability modeling techniques used by our analysts have withstood the highest degree of regulatory scrutiny. Our experts have testified before FERC and state regulatory agencies and have provided technical and policy assistance to regulators and transmission planning agencies.
For more information about our experience in supporting parties engaged in litigation, arbitration, and regulatory proceedings related to energy assets, click here.
Authored the Baja California electricity and natural gas supply and demand forecasts and infrastructure development plans sections of the Energy Supply and Demand Assessment for the Border Region—Consultant Report.
Supported a major wind project developer in the evaluation of transmission options to wheel several hundred megawatts from Northern Baja California, México, to California utilities.
Provided consulting services to California Energy Commission in developing the 33% renewable energy goals, market price referent, and feed-in tariff mechanism.
Advised CFE on the integration of its fuel (natural gas, oil, and coal) procurement and risk management functions.
Conducted valuations of all Central Maine Power power plants in support of the company’s negotiated sale of generation assets to FPL Energy.
Provided natural gas market and infrastructure support to sellers and buyers of electric generation facilities.
Developed a probabilistic risk management model for market price forecasting, asset valuation, and power supply cost analysis.
Conducted multiple reliability studies on behalf of Exelon Corporation related to the potential retirement of the Zion, Limerick, Three Mile Island, and Oyster Creek nuclear power plants.
Conducted a comprehensive production cost modeling study on behalf of New York Regional Interconnect, Inc. (NYRI), related to NYRI’s application to the New York Public Service Commission to construct and maintain a state-of-the-art 190-mile, 1,200 MW HVDC transmission line.
Expert witness in the independent reliability needs assessment and economic impact analysis for the proposed 275-mile-long 765-kV Potomac Allegheny Transmission Highline for the Public Utility Commission of West Virginia.
Conducted risk assessment and valuation of complex structured transactions involving power plants and associated long-term contracts using a proprietary fundamental price forecasting model with stochastic draws on key inputs.
Performed power plant valuation of the TNP One lignite-fueled unit for Texas–New Mexico Power Company to support the asset sale strategy, as well as litigation with respect to stranded costs.
On behalf of Union Fenosa, a major Spanish energy company, provided technical and regulatory advice regarding a 500-MW wind project in northern Baja California, México, on the technical, commercial, and regulatory aspects of interconnection and new transmission infrastructure for export to California.
Conducted a study on the implications of allowing the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit to expire at the end of 2010.
Managed the independent reliability needs assessment of the proposed 265-mile 502 Junction-Mt. Storm-Meadow Brook-Loudoun 500 kV Transmission Line for the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
Conducted economic due diligence and transaction structuring, including market assessment, price forecasting, and risk assessment on portfolios of generating assets and contracts on behalf of private equity investors. The portfolios included cogeneration and gas-fired assets, as well as contracts for power and thermal off-take and fuel supply and transport.
Retained by Macquarie Capital USA to conduct market and commercial due diligence in the acquisition of the partially built Norte III combined cycle power plant, one of the largest of its kind in Mexico, from its bankrupt developer.
For almost ten years, Bates White has conducted regulatory and economic due diligence of numerous shared wind and solar PV generation facilities in México. The projects typically serve hundreds of small businesses with diverse ownership, wheeling over the incumbent utility’s transmission and distribution systems. Over time, the government policies and regulations governing the economic incentives (subsidized transmission and virtual energy storage) and cost allocation to these projects have changed, requiring Bates White to properly represent their impact on the projects financial models. As independent economic, market and regulatory advisor to the investors or lenders to these projects Bates White has not only focused on verifying the model’s financial logic, flow and calculations, but has often interacted with the project’s engineers to ensure the technology’s performance is properly modeled in the calculation of expected revenue during operations and expected costs during operations.
Analysis of economic and environmental benefits and costs of proposed gas-fired generation facility for pending permit application in Pennsylvania.
Conducted a valuation of a run-of-river hydroelectric facility under development in Mexico.
For two Canadian pension funds, conducted market and regulatory due diligence on a portfolio of greenfield hydroelectric and wind generation projects in various stages of development, including the feasibility of transmission access and the risk of security and social unrest.
Led the market and regulatory due diligence for the acquisition of a series of run-of-the-river mini-hydro generating facilities with an aggregate capacity of 122 MW in Colombia.
As transmission advisor to a major Spanish energy company, advised on the technical and economic aspects of a proposed 500-MW wind farm located in the northern Baja California, México.
Carried out market, regulatory, and commercial due-diligence as independent market consultant to senior lenders in the financing of the 125-MW La Ventosa–Eléctrica del Valle de México wind farm in Oaxaca, México.
A Bates White expert conducted market, regulatory, and tariff analyses for financing due diligence of a 500-MW gas-fired combined-cycle plant independently owned and operated in México.
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Listen Technologies Hires New Manufacturer’s Representatives
By SCN Staff (Systems Contractor News) 2015-04-14T13:45:00Z
Listen Technologies Corporation, a leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of assistive listening products for more than 16 years, has appointed two new manufacturer’s representative firms. Maynard, Massachusetts-based D.L. Henderson Company will now cover New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont). Manalapan, New Jersey-based Sigmet Corporation will cover upstate New York, metro NYC/Long Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Tim Schaeffer, Listen Technologies VP of sales worldwide, made the announcement, reflecting Listen’s ongoing dedication to the strengthening of its global sales network and resources.
The D.L. Henderson Company offers a great wealth of knowledge and experience in the audiovisual world. It provides a complementary mix of high-quality audio products, and its strengths lie in its ability to identify, maintain, and facilitate the needs of Listen customers in the region.
“Part of the decision to partner with the D.L. Henderson Company was based around our shared value of education,” said Tim Schaeffer. “I’ve personally known Dave Henderson and his company for more than 25 years, and I know their work ethic. I am looking forward to working with his team on a personal level, as well as on behalf of all of Listen Technologies.”
Sigmet Corporation offers more than 80 years of combined experience in the field of manufacturers representation. Listen Technologies’ dealers can expect exemplary service with Sigmet, as they operate three support offices, one in each of the primary markets served, and a remote office for upstate New York.
“Sam Helms and Sigmet are known to be a major force in their territories with decades of experience supporting the markets within this vital region, and we’re excited about the number of seasoned professionals this adds for us within this important territory,” Tim Schaeffer said.
Sam Helms, president of Sigmet, added, “Sigmet Corporation is very proud to join the Listen Technologies team. Listen Technologies will fill a void that we have as a Systems Solution Rep Firm; this helps us confidently provide turnkey solutions for our clients.”
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Photo Essay: Is the Arizona Biltmore Actually a Frank Lloyd Wright? (Does It Matter?)
Maybe it's enough that Clark Gable and Carole Lombard honeymooned at the Biltmore in Phoenix...
...or that Ronald and Nancy Reagan celebrated their honeymoon there.
It's certainly has a storied history politically, with every president from Herbert Hoover through George W. Bush having been a guest...
...and Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain conceding defeat on the lawn there.
But I didn't visit the Arizona Biltmore for any of that. I wasn't even that compelled to honor the legacy of the Wrigleys there, though they were heavily involved and built a mansion just up the hill, overlooking it.
To be honest, I squeezed the Biltmore into my last day in Phoenix for Frank Lloyd Wright, whose "Saguaro Forms and Cactus Flowers"design (which appeared on the cover of Liberty Magazine in 1926) was fabricated by Taliesin students into stained glass and installed as part of a 1973 restoration. (The hotel was renovated again by Taliesin Associated Architects in 1979, after a fire.)
That's the only real "official" tie that FLW had to the Biltmore—not the gold-leaf ceiling...
...nor the illuminated milkglass bricks...
...or even seemingly "Prairie-style" lighting fixtures on the upper mezzanine of the lobby.
Officially, Wright had nothing to do with how the hotel circumvented Prohibition in a men-only
smoking and drinking room up a back stairway and on the terrace—in the so-called "mystery room."
And yet, as I was skulking around the hotel resort on my own, opening unlocked doors and tiptoeing across perhaps that same terrace...
...all I could seem to find were signs and signals of Frank Lloyd Wright's involvement.
Officially, the architecture of the Biltmore is credited to a former draftsman for Wright in his Oak Park Studio, Albert Chase McArthur.
And Wright did design the inspiration for the "Biltmore Block," a geometric rendering of a freshly-cut crown of a palm tree.
But apparently McArthur modified so many contributions that Wright had made at the time—including creating 34 different pattern variations on the pre-cast blocks—that Wright repudiated any affiliation with the building once it was finished.
Reportedly, he was also unhappy with contractors who rebuked any suggestion of unconventional building methods (and wouldn't even test them).
Wright hated it so much that he declared the finished product "even worse" than he thought. Yet when it opened in 1929, it was widely considered the "Jewel of the Desert."
FLW changed his tune a bit after the resort was warmly received, further muddying the issue of how much he'd been involved.
Later, if you were to ask him whether he'd designed it—or how much of it he had—he'd more or less tell you, "Look at it. What do you think?"
Of course, it does look very much like a Frank Lloyd Wright-style design, with its textile blocks.
And apparently, the Aztec Room and cottages (some of which were refurbished in 1988) show few or no adjustments to whatever design Wright may have contributed or influenced initially.
The most recognizable Frank Lloyd Wright design at the Biltmore (besides the saguaro stained glass) may be the Sprites, designed in 1914 for the (now demolished) Midway Gardens in Chicago, and sculpted by Italian artist Alfonso Ianelli. Six new casts of the "Solemn Sprite" statue were added to the grounds in 1985.
But we can't forget about William Wrigley Jr., who'd initially invested in the Biltmore and became full owner in 1930. The Catalina Pool, opened 1940, was his idea—and it became infamous as Marilyn Monroe’s favorite pool (though likely not where Irving Berlin composed "White Christmas," despite claims to the contrary).
The Wrigley family sold the Biltmore in 1970, and it's now operated as a Waldorf-Astoria hotel.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation embraces whatever affiliation FLW actually had with the construction of the hotel, and even contributed a Wright-inspired sculpture called "Wings of Phoenix" by Heloise Swaback from 1982.
We may never know what actually happened in Wright's collaboration with McArthur—but even if the Biltmore was merely inspired by FLW, it certainly feels like walking through the biggest of his textile block homes.
Photo Essay: Frank Lloyd Wright Ennis House, Exterior (Updated for 2018)
Photo Essay: Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House, Interior (Updated for 2018)
Photo Essay: A Mansion Built By A Chewing Gum Fortune But Saved By Lunch Meat
Tags: Architecture, Art, Art Deco, AZ, Hotels, Photography, Travel
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This 1950s Coffee Shop Is Back, Baby! (Or, The Pen...
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Pilgrimage to the Birthplace of the Caesar Salad, ...
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Aspectra B.V. ("us", "we", or "our") operates the https://www.avtec.nl website and the AVtec mobile application (hereinafter referred to as the "Service").
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Archive for the ‘Iraq War’ tag
GWB Among the Worst US Presidents
Stop Bitching Start a Revolution
Jean Edward Smith has a new biography of George W. Bush coming out soon. I’ll probably read it eventually, whenever I want to remember how horribly The Shrub screwed up the world…
Thomas Mallon of The New Yorker reviews the bio:
Jean Edward Smith’s biography of George W. Bush goes on sale a day before the former President’s seventieth birthday, and it’s safe to say that no one will be bringing it as a present to the ranch outside Crawford. Smith, a well-regarded practitioner of military history and Presidential-life writing, comes straight to the point in the first sentence of his preface: “Rarely in the history of the United States has the nation been so ill-served as during the presidency of George W. Bush.” By the book’s last sentence, Smith is predicting a long debate over whether Bush “was the worst president in American history,” and while the biographer doesn’t vote on the question himself, the unhappy shade of James Buchanan will feel strongly encouraged by his more than six hundred pages.
Smith points out that Bush attended no meetings of the National Security Council in the seven months prior to September 11, 2001. In her reports on these gatherings, Condoleezza Rice—Bush’s national-security adviser, workout partner, and something of an alter ego—tended to synthesize disagreements among the participants, leaving Bush with a false feeling of consensus. The President’s own focus was chiefly on matters like stem-cell-research regulation and the sort of educational reforms he had pushed through a Democratic legislature as governor of Texas. On the morning of 9/11, Laura Bush was in Ted Kennedy’s Senate office, having come to testify for the No Child Left Behind Act; the White House she returned to later that day was a wholly different place, a domestic cruise ship that had become an aircraft carrier.
In Smith’s view, the military and moral calamities began right then. If he is moderately critical of the President for being “asleep at the switch” in the period before the terrorist attacks—Bush felt no particular alarm when an August 6th C.I.A. briefing indicated that Osama bin Laden was up to at least something—the biographer is simply aghast once Bush seizes the controls. Within three days of September 11th, he says, the President had acquired a “boundless” confidence that put the country on a “permanent war footing” and the White House into a “hothouse climate of the President’s certitude.”
In another anti-superlative, Smith suspects that the invasion of Iraq will “likely go down in history as the worst foreign policy decision ever made by an American president.” The thirteen-year legacy of “preëmption” makes this a hard prophecy to counter, and Smith’s well-ordered scenes on the subject—Paul Wolfowitz pushing for war against Saddam on September 12th, just as he’d been pushing for it in April—do dismaying work. James Baker and Brent Scowcroft, the wise men of his father’s Administration, tell Bush to go slowly or not at all, but George Tenet, the holdover C.I.A. director from the Clinton years, assures him that convincing the public of the need to invade Iraq over W.M.D.s will be a “slam dunk.” As persuasively as anyone before him, Smith presents a strong story of how a successful military mission quickly unaccomplished itself; turned into quite something else (“the United States was going to bring democracy to the country”); and then festered into what Donald Rumsfeld himself, in his memoirs, judged to be “a long and heavy-handed occupation.”
(click here to continue reading W Is for Why – The New Yorker.)
Posted in Books,politics
Tagged with Bush, history, Iraq War, Worst President Ever
China Reaps Biggest Benefits of Iraq Oil Boom
A Couple of Jokers
Oh, dandy. Aren’t you glad that Bush Cheney and that merry band of war criminals decided to piss away trillions of dollars and uncounted lives in the sands of Iraq in order to free Iraqi oil from Saddam Hussein?
Since the American-led invasion of 2003, Iraq has become one of the world’s top oil producers, and China is now its biggest customer.
China already buys nearly half the oil that Iraq produces, nearly 1.5 million barrels a day, and is angling for an even bigger share, bidding for a stake now owned by Exxon Mobil in one of Iraq’s largest oil fields.
“The Chinese are the biggest beneficiary of this post-Saddam oil boom in Iraq,” said Denise Natali, a Middle East expert at the National Defense University in Washington. “They need energy, and they want to get into the market.”
“We lost out,” said Michael Makovsky, a former Defense Department official in the Bush administration who worked on Iraq oil policy. “The Chinese had nothing to do with the war, but from an economic standpoint they are benefiting from it, and our Fifth Fleet and air forces are helping to assure their supply.”
(click here to continue reading China Reaps Biggest Benefits of Iraq Oil Boom – NYTimes.com.)
Six Thousand Thirteen Too Many
Especially when it turns out Exxon Mobil and their ilk expected to be able to reap their usual massive profits…
Notably, what the Chinese are not doing is complaining. Unlike the executives of Western oil giants like Exxon Mobil, the Chinese happily accept the strict terms of Iraq’s oil contracts, which yield only minimal profits. China is more interested in energy to fuel its economy than profits to enrich its oil giants.
Chinese companies do not have to answer to shareholders, pay dividends or even generate profits. They are tools of Beijing’s foreign policy of securing a supply of energy for its increasingly prosperous and energy hungry population. “We don’t have any problems with them,” said Abdul Mahdi al-Meedi, an Iraqi Oil Ministry official who handles contracts with foreign oil companies. “They are very cooperative. There’s a big difference, the Chinese companies are state companies, while Exxon or BP or Shell are different.”
China is now making aggressive moves to expand its role, as Iraq is increasingly at odds with oil companies that have cut separate deals with Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region.
Or as Jeff Danziger’s comic puts it:
Posted in Business,politics
Tagged with Bush, Cheney, Iraq, Iraq War, oil, oil_industry, Operation Iraqi Liberation
Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.
— Kurt Vonnegut
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Jennifer Sanders - Vice President
Jennifer joined the Beaucare Board in 2014 and has been President and Chair for 4 years. Jennifer's passion for the organisation and the community along with her commitment and drive, has seen the development of a skilled based board and a new strategy for the future. Beaucare continues to provide excellent quality services to the region and the community and now owns the community centre at 44 Tina Street Beaudesert.
Her background is in management and financial control of small business. Jennifer has a degree in Australian Studies, a post graduate qualification in town planning and Diplomas in Local Government (Planning) and Project Management. Jennifer is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and a Justice of the Peace (Qual).
Jennifer is a Director of LGIAsuper (1 July 2018) and has been appointed to the ARTC (inland rail) Community consultative committee for 2 years from December 2017. She was chosen due to her local community connections, relationships and communication channels as well as her knowledge of disciplines related to infrastructure, water use and land management.
Caroline Hennessey
Caroline has been an active member of the Beaudesert Community for over 20 years having moved here from Brisbane in 1993.
Caroline is an Occupational Therapist who specialises in Paediatrics, particularly working with children with developmental and learning difficulties.
Caroline has been actively involved with many community groups and is interested in governance, marketing and encouraging early intervention programmes to improve health outcomes in the local community.
Caroline's 3 children have all attended Family Day Care prior to commencing local schooling. Caroline is delighted to be a Beaucare Board Member.
Dan Hunt - President
Dan has lived in Jimboomba since 2012 with his wife Bernadette and family. He is the Chairman of SEQWater and a Director of the Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence Ltd. He has a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) from QUT.
Dan has wealth of experience in public administration, change management and stakeholder management. He had a 38-year career with the Queensland Government, finishing fulltime work in July 2015. Between 2006 2015 he was Director-General of three Government Departments the Department of Mines and Energy, the Department of Natural Resources and Mines and the Department of Energy and Water Supply. Prior to that he worked for many years in senior leadership positions in Queensland Transport. Dan is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Nicole Ireland
Nicole has worked in senior roles with leading resources companies Rio Tinto and BHP for more than ten years and brings to the Beaucare Board proven experience in issues management, public affairs, communications, community engagement, media engagement and investor relations.
Nicole is a Graduate and Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Politics, a Diploma of Investor Relations and a Graduate Certificate in Aboriginal Relations.
Nicole provides strategic stakeholder engagement, Government relations and communications advice through her own company, Nicole Ireland Communications and has worked with QCoal Group, boutique consultancy the SAS Group and its clients ConocoPhillips Australia, Shenhua Watermark and Services Trades Queensland.
Nicole has served as a Committee member and Chair (State President) of Sands Queensland, is a member of the Lourdes Hill College and Sands Australia Boards and has held roles on two Community Development Funds in regional Queensland for a number of years.
David Bryant
David commenced his management career in 1993, working with a consulting firm in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Canberra. David moved to Dubai (UAE) in 1995, where he worked for four years jointly at the Higher Colleges of Technology and HR Director with The Sultan Group (civil and commercial construction).
Upon returning to Australia in 1999, David worked at the Australian International Hotel School in Canberra, and then the Department of Finance and Administration. This was followed by HR management role for Shell (Logistics), before moving on to the role of Global HR Manager - Emirates Airlines.
Positions as HR and Corporate Services Manager with Anglicare and HR Project Manager with the Department of Prime Minister followed. He was HR Director and COO for STA Consulting Engineers, before moving on to Sun Engineering as HR Manager, HR Manager for Affinity Education Group, Corporate Services Manager with Master Plumbers' Association of Queensland and is currently Human Resources Manager with the Royal Flying Doctor Service Queensland.
David prides himself on being a strategic partner to business units in all facets of organisations. He sees his role as the "remover of road blocks" and a champion of change and organisational development.
His ability to plan, lead and follow through on critical change projects, and deliver organisational capability development, is his forte. Driving cultural change and leading the change agenda is where David's passion lies.
Being innovative and adaptable, David also possesses a strong track record in leading both operational and strategic management. The ability to communicate with influence and build collaborative relationships with internal and external stakeholders has been key in all of David's roles to date.
Lynne Rule - Secretary
Lynne is a highly experienced professional in International Education Recruitment and Marketing who has developed and managed a strong and successful enterprise in the private tertiary pathway sector and has a strong track record of consistently achieving targets, meeting deadlines, satisfying clients and a reputation for getting things done.
Lynne brings to boards her energy, integrity and long experience in the international education sector, corporate governance, strong cross-cultural awareness and international networks from her 20+ years in the sector. Lynne's passions lie in the education and empowerment of women and youth. She was coordinator and developer of the Chrysalis Young Leaders Conference, a youth leadership program from 2010 2015, and has become involved in community festivals in the small town of Tamborine Mountain where she has recently moved.
Lynne is involved in other NFP enterprises including the Duke of Edinburgh International Award and is a mentor in Austrade's WIGB (Women in Global Business) program.
Jim Burkett
Jim has many years high level international business experience in trading, building relationships and assisting companies grow.
As a former Asia Pacific Senior Manager in freight and logistics had him travelling extensively to many countries, many times throughout the last few years adding value to many companies and developing people's careers. This time away and contributing to many other countries and regions prosperity has since encouraged him to devote more to his region.
Having lived in the Scenic Rim for 10 years with his boys attending local schools and partaking in community events reminded him to support more of his community. Beaucare represents a significant local contributor for young and old which with his empathy, mentoring, awareness and business knowledge will provide a contribution from a different perspective.
Pamela Ryan
Pamela Ryan has lived in Beaudesert since 1976. She is married with 3 adult children who were born in Beaudesert and educated at Beaudesert Community Kindergarten, Beaudesert State Preschool, St Mary's School and Beaudesert State High School.
Her 2 daughters reside in Beaudesert and teach at Beaudesert State School and her son lives on the Gold Coast. She has 5 grandchildren, 2 attending Beaudesert State School and 1 attending Beaudesert Community Kindergarten. Two grandchildren go to school at the coast.
She was employed as a teacher from 1974 to 2012 by Education Queensland and the Catholic Education Office. In 2012 she retired from fulltime teaching as a Band 6 Principal with Education Qld. During her teaching career, Pamela has been involved in many professional bodies and is a Life Member of the Queensland Teachers' Union. She presently does Casual Supply Teaching employment at schools in the Scenic Rim Area. Her Tertiary Qualifications include a Diploma of Teaching, Townsville Teachers' College, 1971 to 1973.
Her previous Community Involvement includes being a Civil Marriage Celebrant for the Beaudesert area from 1984 to 2000, a founding committee member of Beaudesert Community Kindergarten, a Meals on Wheels driver, Secretary of Beaudesert Pony Club and is currently a Beaudesert RSL member.
Scott Dorries - Treasurer
Scott Dorries joined the Board of Beaucare in 2017 and is currently the Chief Financial Officer for Invest Logan Pty Ltd and derives immense satisfaction out of creating economic, social and community support benefits and making a real difference for the Logan, Scenic Rim and Gold Coast Councils and Communities.
A Fellow CPA , Fellow GIA, and Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, He is an experienced financial executive in the NFP, Public (State and Local Government), and Private Sectors with a strong focus in strategic planning, commercial management, corporate governance, mergers, demergers, acquisitions, new entity formations, risk and HR management. Scott has extensive customer and community service knowledge and leadership experience to produce innovative insights and make sustainable, strategic, collective, ethical, and individual decisions.
In the NFP Sector, Scott has senior and executive experience in Early Childhood Education, Community Housing, and Membership Service organisations. He is a qualified Accountant who has a Bachelor of Business (Accounting and Business Law & Taxation) from QUT, and is also a Treasurer for the Robertson Scout Group.
Scott is a volunteer Lifesaver, Patrol Captain and Former Nipper Age Manager at Tallebudgera, who has kept the community safe at our beaches and provided junior members enriched lives through skill development and teamwork in challenging enjoyable environments and created great Australians and built better communities.
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Address: 44 Tina St, Beaudesert, Queensland, Australia, 4285
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The Ultimate Guide to Golf
Functionality Of Country Clubs
A country club is a club that is special in a sense that they are owned and managed by private individuals or brands and it is located on a large piece of land and wealthy appearances. It is required to register to become a member and go on paying membership fee if one desires to access the country club. This makes country clubs exclusive to certain people and not everyone.
Country clubs mostly aim to maintain a manageable number of members and to do so, their services and memberships are pretty expensive. Most people who qualify to become exclusive members are middle to upper class people. It is very difficult for a new member to join a country club because of the conditions that come with except for influential persons making the amount of people to be small. Most of the members of the clubs are above forty years because of the expensive nature of membership. For easy access to members, most country clubs are placed in a city’s suburbs or just outside a city because most members reside in cities.
If somebody wants to choose a country club, there are factors to be considered. Country club membership goes with certain costs so an interested party then weigh their options o that they can choose one that befits them. Location of the club is a factor to be put in thought so that the prospective member is not inconvenienced in terms of distance.
Most activities that take place in the clubs are recreational or sports for the members only. In the clubs, the two major sports that take place is tennis and golf. Golf especially requires a vast amount of lush land making it suitable for the clubs to host the sport. Other recreational activities include swimming and hostelry.
What No One Knows About Services
Members of a certain country club are given a certain level of identity just by virtue of them being members and they get to go there whenever they are free or during weekends. Average people cannot participate in the activities members do because the clubs are exclusive only to their members. Country clubs have such ambiance that members get to enjoy away from their busy lives.
Where To Start with Golf and More
Country clubs can host events such as weddings, golf tournaments and elite dinners because of the ample open space. Investing in a country club has proved benefitting to owners due to the constant income generated. The lush characteristic of the clubs makes them environmental friendly and contribute to the percentage of green cover of an area. Having membership of a country club is full of advantages and one gets to enjoy fully the benefits of them.
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Roller shutters automation systems
Automation systems for automatic pedestrian doors
Automation systems for rolling shutters
Job Privacy Policy
Marketing Privacy Policy
ANOTIFICATION WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 13 OF REGULATION (EU) 2016/679
Within the meaning of Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (hereafter “Regulation”), BFT S.p.A., whose registered office is located at Via Lago di Vico 44, Schio (VI), Italy (hereafter “Bft” or “Company”), in its capacity as Data Controller, provides you with the following information.
The personal data contained in your CV/resume will be processed for the sole purpose of evaluating the possibility of your working with or being employed by Bft. The aforementioned data will be processed either by electronic, computer and telematic means or be stored in paper form.
The provision of your personal data is necessary for us to be able to consider your application, and failure to provide such data may preclude such a process. We request that you include in your CV/resume only the data needed for evaluating your profile and that you refrain from providing particular categories of data (i.e. those that reveal, in particular, your racial or ethnic origin, political views, religious or philosophical beliefs, genetic or biometric data or data relating to your health or sex life), except where you believe that such data is necessary for better categorisation of your position. In that event, you will need to state your consent to the processing of the data concerned by including the following sentence at the end of your CV/resume: “Having viewed the notification from Bft that can be consulted in the “Careers” section of the Bft website, I expressly authorise the processing of my sensitive data for the purposes indicated therein.”
Your personal data will be stored for a maximum period of 18 months from the date on which we receive your CV/resume, or from the date of the most recent update of your CV/resume that you have communicated to us. Your personal data will be processed by employees and co-workers of Bft involved in recruitment, duly appointed as Persons in Charge of Processing, and may be communicated to third parties, appointed as Data Processors, that provide additional services or services instrumental to Bft in respect of its recruitment activities. The data will not be disseminated in any way.
We inform you that you may exercise the rights granted under Article 15 et seq. of the Regulation (including, without limitation, the right to obtain from the data controller access to your personal data, rectification or erasure of such data, restriction of the processing concerning you or the opportunity to object to the processing of such data, the right to withdraw your consent and to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority), by informally making a request to the Data Processor by means of an email sent to the following address: privacy@bft-automation.com. The list of nominated Data Processors can be consulted at the premises of the Data Processor.
Detailed information, including that concerning the rights recognised by Regulation (EU) 2016/679, are contained in our Privacy Policy, which can be found on the dedicated page of our website www.bft-automation.com.
The Data Controller in respect of personal data is BFT S.p.A., whose registered office is located at 44, Via Lago di Vico, Schio (VI), Italy, tel. + 39 0445 696511, fax + 39 0445 696522, info@bft.it.
The Data Processor in respect of personal data is Pallino & co srl, whose registered office is located at 57/a, Via Decorati al Valor Civile, Padua, Italy, contactable at privacy@pallino.it, tel. 049 8800329.
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T. +97148863553
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Falcon players, coaches are big fans of The Fanatics
By Matt Markey '76
When Lucas Zerkle attended his first sporting events four years ago as a BGSU freshman, he noticed right away that the student-athletes were talented, the facilities were fine and the tradition here was deep and rich.
But something very important was missing.
"My friends and I went to a few games and the place just seemed dead. There would be just a few students in the student section, and no real life in the crowd," he said. "We thought, 'This isn't right.' We were used to big crowds in high school, with everybody energized and going crazy at the games, so this was a bit of a shock to us."
So rather than accept what they perceived as complacency and apathy, Zerkle and his friends sought to change things on their own. They got together and tossed around the concept of forming a fan group. They started texting people.
And then we started getting the ball rolling."
The Falcon Fanatics were born, but their early days were not without some growing pains.
"At first, some students were excited about it, but others didn't catch on," Zerkle said. "It's been a process, and we just had to keep at it. Changing the existing atmosphere is a challenging thing, and it was difficult, but we had the support of the athletics department, and that was really important."
The group got backing from the cheerleading squad, and along with the informal blessing of BGSU Athletics came some ideas for enhancing the fan experience, and some funding.
"It was a big help having people higher up show they believed in you and what you were trying to do," Zerkle said. "We started out with just four or five very active people, but they encouraged us to keep at it."
The Falcon Fanatics began to grow, and they soon became a fixture at certain events, such as the volleyball and basketball games. The spirit generated by a few became contagious, and the student section at home games continued to grow.
"We started seeing some real dramatic results last fall, and we found that with the new freshmen coming in, many of them were used to being part of a very active environment at games in high school. This is just a continuation of that, and taking it to the next level," Zerkle said.
With the Fanatics becoming more active and expanding their numbers, student attendance rose at most of the Falcon sports venues, with hockey experiencing about a 35 percent increase.
"That shows us that things are moving in the right direction," said Zerkle, who added that a big push was on to pack Doyt Perry Stadium for the first football home opener against Tulsa on Aug. 29.
Volleyball head coach Danijela Tomic gave the Falcon Fanatics credit for having a significant impact on the success her team gained last fall, in her first season in Bowling Green. The Falcon Volleyball team won the Mid-American Conference tournament and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament, a first in the history of the program.
"It's the energy they bring - the Falcon Fanatics just do a lot for us," Tomic said. "They are passionate about supporting us, and even travel to some of our away games. They are really a special group of kids."
Tomic said she notices a difference in the way her players move and compete with large numbers of energized fans and with the Falcon Fanatics in full game mode at the Stroh Center.
"They usually pack our student section and they bring the whole arena alive. It makes a huge difference. I definitely think their energy really transfers to the court.""When you are an athlete, the court is your stage," she said. "If the fans are not there and actively involved, it is the same as performing in an empty theater. You probably won't give your best performance."
Senior volleyball player Ashley Dunn said she has watched the role of the Falcon Fanatics expand during her BGSU career.
"Their involvement has really grown since my freshman year," she said. "They usually pack our student section and they bring the whole arena alive. It makes a huge difference. I definitely think their energy really transfers to the court."
Dunn said the Falcon Fanatics probably don't get enough credit for the part they play in the success of the University's athletic teams.
"They've helped get more fans and more students to all the sports, and they definitely create the atmosphere you want to play in," she said. "They just bring a lot of pride every night, and it definitely can make a difference. In volleyball, so much of it is momentum, and in the close games especially, they can make all the difference."
Senior soccer player Ryan Comiskey said he has noticed BG's fan base grow in size and energy level as the Falcon Fanatics have expanded their ranks.
"I've seen the Falcon Fanatics in action, and you can see that they are really invested in the teams. They really care - you can tell it is definitely not an act," he said. "As an athlete out there competing, you are absolutely aware of the atmosphere around you, so having loud and energized fans helps out tremendously."
Comiskey said his BGSU team has been to venues where few fans show up or are actively involved in the game, "and there's no home field advantage there at all. Places with a solid fan base do have an advantage, especially when the fans go to extremes and really get involved. We're starting to get that here at BG."
Zerkle, who serves as president of the organization, said the Fanatics are encouraged to don creative and colorful attire, from full body paint to a wide range of costumes. They often follow a loose script, so some of their cheers and antics are choreographed or planned out, but a lot of what they do he calls "freestyle" or spontaneous.
"We're just reacting to what goes on out on the court or the field," he said.
Tomic said she envisioned a Falcon Fanatic type of atmosphere when she came to BGSU.
"Every university that has great tradition, also has a dedicated and passionate fan base," she said. "When I came here, I didn't just want to build a team - I wanted to build a program, and the Falcon Fanatics and that level of fan involvement - that is an important element of building a program."
"It creates pride and school spirit, and it gets across the point that we are all one team, in all of the sports."Zerkle said that while the group continues to grow in numbers, he also sees the commitment of the members surging. He plans to keep it informal, and let the energy and enthusiasm fuel its future.
Meanwhile, with her second season at BGSU ready to begin, Tomic remains one of the biggest fans of the Fanatics.
"What I love most about the Falcon Fanatics is that they created this. They started the organization. It's a student-generated thing," she said. "They did it themselves and they have made it grow. It creates pride and school spirit, and it gets across the point that we are all one team, in all of the sports."
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King Hui: The Man Who Owned All the Opium in Hong Kong1 x $17.95
Home/Biography, Culture, Current Affairs, Travel/Waiting for the Dalai Lama: Stories from all sides of the Tibetan debate
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Waiting for the Dalai Lama: Stories from all sides of the Tibetan debate
Why does the issue of Tibet rouse such passions on both sides? And is there any way to find common ground?
Chinese-speaking journalist Annelie Rozeboom worked as a foreign correspondent in China for ten years. During that time she was able to interview numerous Tibetan people inside and outside Tibet, as well as Chinese residents, Western observers and the Dalai Lama himself. As these people explain their life stories, it becomes clear to the reader why they think the way they do. The book also shows how history washed over this remote kingdom and how the Tibetans and the Chinese came to take such opposing positions.
Waiting for the Dalai Lama is a uniquely valuable book which approaches the emotive issue of Tibet from all angles.
Look inside this book
Click on this link to view sample pages from Waiting for the Dalai Lama. You will need a pdf reader to view this excerpt.
Waiting for the Dalai Lama: Stories from all sides of the Tibetan debate quantity
SKU: 978-988-17742-0-0 Categories: Biography, Culture, Current Affairs, Travel Tags: China, Tibet
Chinese-speaking journalist Annelie Rozeboom worked as a foreign correspondent in China for ten years. During that time she was able to interview numerous Tibetan people inside and outside Tibet, as well as Chinese residents, Western observers and the Dalai Lama himself. As these people explain their life stories, it becomes clear to the reader why they think the way they do. The book also shows how history washed over this remote kingdom and how the Tibetans and the Chinese came to take such opposing positions. Waiting for the Dalai Lama is a uniquely valuable book which approaches the emotive issue of Tibet from all angles.
“The format of the book is light and palatable: It’s chopped up into bite-sized interviews which are written as one-sided conversations interspersed with some analysis and background. Best of all, Rozeboom peppers it with her wry sense of humor. She has a knack for plucking out the bizarre, the ludicrous and the downright funny. Most often this is seen in the editing of the interview transcripts.” – Asia Times
“Almost everything that’s revealed in Waiting For the Dalai Lama sends extra rays of light into dark corners of the Tibet debate, taking readers closer to an objective, accurate assessment. Will anyone else in Asia publish a more forthright and revealing book this year? Unlike most questions about Tibet, this one has an obvious answer – almost certainly not.” – Cairns Media Magazine
“Annelie Rozeboom never really meant to become a China writer. She travelled to Asia seeking nothing more than adventure, but as a young Dutch study-abroad student living in Beijing in the late 1980s she was delivered the story of a lifetime when the Tiananmen protests erupted in the capital. Soon she was reporting from the front lines, her articles appearing on the front pages of Dutch newspapers, her voice on the radio, her interviews on the evening news. After “calm” was restored to Beijing, Rozeboom stayed on in China, working as the China correspondent for a Dutch national newspaper for 11 years. Much of her later work focused on Tibet. Throughout the late 1990s she travelled through China and India, interviewing individuals on every side of the Tibetan crisis – monks, former Tibetan slaves, resettled nomads, business people, Chinese officials, and ultimately the Dalai Lama himself.” – Time Out
“Rozeboom spoke with nomads, civil servants, farmers, intellectuals, monks, refugees, aid workers, rich and poor, oppressed and oppressors, and with the Dalai Lama himself. A masterpiece, considering the restrictions the Chinese imposed on her and the hesitancy of the Tibetans.” – Volkskrant
“Annelie Rozeboom, former correspondent in Beijing, visited this fascinating region, but without dwelling on its mysticism. … Little by little it becomes clear what a complicated and divided country Tibet is.” – Trouw
“An interesting book with two important qualities: thematic diversity and lots of attention to eyewitness accounts of people who were really there.” – Bibnet
“In a recent editorial in Xinhua, Li Hongmei made fun of India which, he said ‘needs to, first and foremost, break through its own psychological fence.’ India has an inferiority complex, explained Li: ‘India’s jealousy can sometimes be put in the same breath of inferiority. India could trace its sense of being so self-abased to the brief border war with China in 1960s, when it was beaten by the Chinese army.’ In this context, the new book of Annelie Rozeboom, Waiting for the Dalai Lama — Stories from all sides of the Tibetan debate, is worth reading. Though there are many facets to what the author calls the ‘Tibetan debate’, we are often more aware of the problems facing the Tibetan Diaspora, probably due to the Dalai Lama’s ceaseless activities. … Rozeboom, a journalist who has been posted in China for 11 years and has widely reported about the country’s rapid growth, beings out other aspects by interviewing personae on both sides of the Himalayan curtain.” – Claude Arpi
“Reading Waiting for the Dalai Lama elicits interesting responses in China. Foreigners keenly enquire about what you are reading whilst one Chinese friend said half-jokingly ‘You cannot read this. He is an enemy.’ The rhetoric both foreigners and Chinese have been fed is palpable. The book just published by Blacksmith Books in Hong Kong was written by Dutch journalist Annelie Rozeboom for the very reason that the issue of Tibet rouses passion on both sides of the argument- those for and against the Tibetan people’s independence from China.” – Daily Telegraph
After obtaining a degree in journalism, Annelie Rozeboom went to China for twelve months, and ended up staying eleven years. As the China correspondent for several national publications, she reported on the uprisings on Tiananmen Square, China’s subsequent growth into an economic superpower, and the issue of Tibet.
She now lives with her husband and their three children in Madagascar, where she runs the only English-language newspaper in the country and teaches journalism and English at the American School of Antananarivo.
King Hui: The Man Who Owned All the Opium in Hong Kong
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BLEEK NOIR
BNOIR
SINCE RAISING
ITS UGLY HEAD
into the world, in July 2017, Bleek Noir has spat out 11 releases.
Favouring the EP format, but supporting these releases with singles and videos,
“Fresh Born Animal (And I’m Not Sure Who I Am)” was the first EP to assault the public.
The second “The Garden de Sade” (a shamelessly dark and intense offering)
was released on 02.03.18, to unanimous praise.
“Crude Hissings” followed on 26.05.18, featuring an interpretation of the American traditional
“Black Betty”, and perhaps best synopsised by a quote from the Louder Than War EP review
– “He’s back to mess us up again”.
The fourth EP “Temple”, was unveiled on 06.10.18, revealing the
most accessible Bleek Noir to date.
An archive record of sorts, “Conception Tapes – Conceiving Bleek Noir”,
the first release of 2019, featured the previously unreleased recordings that lead to the birth of Bleek Noir,
and early versions of songs later re-recorded for the debut.
Summer 2019 brought with it a new single, “Don’t Stay Away”, which showed a sign of Bleek Noir never heard before.
The “Don’t Stay Away” EP, followed on October 26th, offering five tracks and a whole new sound for Bleek Noir.
Gone are the electronic elements utitlised previously, replaced by pounding arabic percussion, and strung bass.
Favouring the EP format, but supporting these releases with singles and videos, “Fresh Born Animal (And I’m Not Sure Who I Am)” was the first EP to assault the public.
The second “The Garden de Sade” (a shamelessly dark and intense offering) was released on 02.03.18, to unanimous praise.
“Crude Hissings” followed on 26.05.18, featuring an interpretation of the American traditional “Black Betty”, and perhaps best synopsised by a quote from the Louder Than War EP review – “He’s back to mess us up again”.
The fourth EP “Temple”, was unveiled on 06.10.18, revealing the most accessible Bleek Noir to date.
An archive record of sorts, “Conception Tapes – Conceiving Bleek Noir”, the first release of 2019, featured the previously unreleased recordings that lead to the birth of Bleek Noir, and early versions of songs later re-recorded for the debut.
The new single “Don’t Stay Away” shows a sign of Bleek Noir never heard before, with an EP recorded and set for release later this year.
is the alias of songwriter, musician, producer, and recording artist Christopher J Fox.
Bleek Noir has developed a truly signature dark, dramatic, head spinning, somewhat-angular and emotive sound. Reviews have praised Fox’s lyrical prowess, and the power of Bleek Noir.
With eleven releases under his belt, since the conception of Bleek Noir in 2017, Fox has amassed quite a discography of distinctive and compelling alternative music.
A prolific songwriter, Fox created Bleek Noir to be a studio animal, a vehicle for expression, experimentation, the wealth of material emanating from him and a way to explore publishing.
Until Summer 2019, when three live shows were announced, with a promise of more to come.
Touring professionally in various guises in the past, those familiar with Fox’s previous live work will know that his music’s intensity is not exclusive to his recorded works.
Look out for live dates in a city near you, and the new EP set for release later this year.
BLEEK
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Timeless classics – to last a lifetime! Church's was founded in 1873 by Thomas Church, who was characterised by his passion for quality and his innovative spirit: he was the first to manufacture left and right shoes on different lasts, while most other shoemakers still made pairs from two identically shaped shoes. The Northampton-based label was acquired by Prada in 1999. The change in management had virtually no impact on the traditional manufacturing processes. The classic design, the loafers, Oxford, or Derby models, all still reflect the high quality, flair, and love for detail of the family business. It takes around eight weeks and 250 production steps to manufacture these elegant leather shoes – it therefore comes as no surprise that the label is ranked among the best in the world. Excellent British shoemaking by Church's – now available at BRAUN Hamburg.
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Travel Events News / Tourism News
World Travel Awards founder Graham Cooke, centre left, celebrates with Chris Blackwell during the Caribbean & North America Gala Ceremony 2019
Island Records founder Chris Blackwell honoured by World Travel Awards
Music and hospitality pioneer Chris Blackwell has been honoured at a star-studded gala ceremony in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
The founder of Island Records and Island Outpost was acknowledged with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Travel Awards Caribbean & North America Gala Ceremony 2019.
The red-carpet evening, which was hosted at Sandals Montego Bay, marked the opening leg of the World Travel Awards Grand Tour 2019 – an annual search for the finest travel and tourism organisations in the world.
Winners at the ceremony included the paradise island of St. Lucia, which collected Caribbean’s Leading Honeymoon Destination, while Las Vegas fended off stiff competition to emerge as North America’s Leading Destination.
Jamaica was named Caribbean’s Leading Beach Destination and while the Jamaica Tourist Board took the title of Caribbean’s Leading Tourist Board.
Guests at the gala event enjoyed entertainment from the acclaimed queen of British soul, Beverley Knight, and the Grammy-nominated reggae vocalist, Etana.
The evening took place on the eve of the 37th edition of Caribbean Travel Marketplace.
Graham Cooke, founder of World Travel Awards, said: “What an incredible evening it has been here at the magnificent Sandals Montego Bay, the home of the Sandals brand, to mark the opening of our 26th annual Grand Tour.
“We have had the privilege of recognising the region’s leading destinations, hotels, resorts, airlines and travel providers and my congratulations to each of them.”
In the hospitality sector, winners included Tobago’s Coco Reef Resort & Spa (Caribbean’s Leading Hotel), Marriott Hotels (North America’s Leading Hotel Brand) and Conrad New York (North America’s Leading Hotel).
The beachside refinement of Rosewood Baha Mar, Bahamas was acknowledged with award for Caribbean’s Leading New Resort.
A relentless drive to innovate helped Sandals to lift the title of Caribbean’s Leading Hotel Brand.
In the aviation sector, Caribbean Airlines was named Caribbean’s Leading Airline, while Sangster International Airport, Jamaica, walked off with the trophy for Caribbean’s Leading Airport and Air Canada was voted North America’s Leading Airline.
Events on the World Travel Awards Grand Tour 2019 include Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), Madeira (Portugal), Mauritius, La Paz (Bolivia) and Phu Quoc (Vietnam).
The regional winners will progress to the Grand Final 2019, which is being hosted in Muscat (Oman) on November28th.
Find a full list of winners on the official World Travel Awards website.
World Travel Awards was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry.
Today, the brand is recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality, with winners setting the benchmark to which all others aspire.
Each year, World Travel Awards covers the globe with a series of regional gala ceremonies staged to recognise and celebrate individual and collective success within each key geographical region.
The gala ceremonies are widely regarded as the best networking opportunities in the travel industry, attended by government and industry leaders, luminaries and international print and broadcast media.
Ras Al Khaimah opens Prague office to drive central European tourism
Sharp fall in Norwegian shares as carrier reveals plans to raise funds
world travel awards sandals
World Travel Awards Caribbean & North America Gala Ceremony 2019
The 2019 winners of the Caribbean & North America World Travel Awards will be announced at the annual World Travel Awards Caribbean & North America Gala Ceremony, to be announced this year on 28 January.
World Travel Awards arrives at Sandals Royal Bahamian
Aeroflot reaches New Distribution Capability milestone
Shultz-Gelino to head up trade relations at American Cruise Lines
Kenya breaks two million guest barrier in 2019
Jannah Hotels offers new accommodation options for Expo 2020
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Gender Studies: Women
Physical Anthropology & Ethnography
Political Control & Freedoms
Civil Rights & Citizenship
Hands on the Freedom Plow : Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC
4.42 (132 ratings by Goodreads)
Edited by Faith S. Holsaert , Edited by Martha Prescod Norman Noonan , Edited by Judy Richardson , Edited by Betty Garman Robinson , Edited by Jean Smith Young , Edited by Dorothy M. Zellner
US$21.61 US$26.95 You save US$5.34
In Hands on the Freedom Plow, fifty-two women--northern and southern, young and old, urban and rural, black, white, and Latina--share their courageous personal stories of working for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) on the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement. The testimonies gathered here present a sweeping personal history of SNCC: early sit-ins, voter registration campaigns, and freedom rides; the 1963 March on Washington, the Mississippi Freedom Summer, and the movements in Alabama and Maryland; and Black Power and antiwar activism. Since the women spent time in the Deep South, many also describe risking their lives through beatings and arrests and witnessing unspeakable violence. These intense stories depict women, many very young, dealing with extreme fear and finding the remarkable strength to survive. The women in SNCC acquired new skills, experienced personal growth, sustained one another, and even had fun in the midst of serious struggle. Readers are privy to their analyses of the Movement, its tactics, strategies, and underlying philosophies. The contributors revisit central debates of the struggle including the role of nonviolence and self-defense, the role of white people in a black-led movement, and the role of women within the Movement and the society at large. Each story reveals how the struggle for social change was formed, supported, and maintained by the women who kept their "hands on the freedom plow." As the editors write in the introduction, "Though the voices are different, they all tell the same story--of women bursting out of constraints, leaving school, leaving their hometowns, meeting new people, talking into the night, laughing, going to jail, being afraid, teaching in Freedom Schools, working in the field, dancing at the Elks Hall, working the WATS line to relay horror story after horror story, telling the press, telling the story, telling the word. And making a difference in this world."
Dimensions 156 x 235 x 35.56mm | 907.18g
Publication date 30 Jul 2012
Publisher University of Illinois Press
Publication City/Country Baltimore, United States
Illustrations note 27 b&w photographs
"The testimonies of these remarkable women are an indispensable part of the history of the southern movement against racial segregation. They enable us to see the Movement up close through essays that are intensely personal, and at the same time they thoughtfully illuminate the larger struggle for justice."--Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present "This amazing book rethreads the needle of memory with a stronger cord woven of the testimonies of sisters who never gave up or in. Its gifts are immeasurable as a historical document and a blueprint for ongoing national and international struggles for human rights. We must take our cue from the lessons they teach and tighten our grip on freedom's plow, pushing on, regardless."--Darlene Clark Hine, coauthor of The African American Odyssey "Hats off to the Hands On sisters! Each story is a treasure, each woman a measure of the Civil Rights Movement's strength. An overdue and indispensable contribution to the Movement's historiography."--Julian Bond, Chairman Emeritus of the NAACP Board of Directors "Page after page reveals remarkable stories of courage and defiance. . . .The book opens a window onto the organizing tradition of the Southern civil rights movement."--The Root
"These primary source documents read like a modern novel. . . . Of immense interest and value to scholars and students of the Civil Rights Movement."--The Journal of African American History "Completely upend[s] both traditional and radical histories of the modern civil rights movement by placing women at the center of their narrative and interpretive process. This is a breathtaking achievement. . . . Because of the power of the storytelling, as a reader I felt as though I were living through events as they were unfolding. I felt the terror of the violence and the euphoria of triumph."--Women's Review of Books "Powerful, inspiring, and tremendously moving, the oral histories collected here highlight the essential role women played as organizers and activists with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the South of the early 1960s. . . . Essential reading for anyone interested in the Civil Rights Movement."--Library Journal "The stories of the 'beloved community' of unknown women in Hands on the Freedom Plow convey a transcendent message of how history can be changed by committed individuals who stand up to what is wrong and live by that old freedom song 'Ain't gonna let nobody turn me roun.'"--Essence, Charlayne Hunter-Gault "Hands on the Freedom Plow underscores the neglected role women played in the civil rights crusade. Women answered the call, assumed weighty responsibilities, experienced persecution and worked together in the cause of freedom and social justice. Their spirit remains alive in this remarkable book."--Charlotte Observer
About Faith S. Holsaert
Faith S. Holsaert, Durham, North Carolina, teacher and fiction writer, has remained active in lesbian and women's, antiwar, and justice struggles. Martha Prescod Norman Noonan, community organizer, activist, homemaker, and teacher of history including the civil rights movement, lives near Baltimore. Filmmaker and Movement lecturer Judy Richardson's projects include the PBS documentary series Eyes on the Prize and other historical documentaries. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Betty Garman Robinson, a community organizer, lives in Baltimore and is active in the reemerging grassroots social justice movement. Jean Smith Young is a child psychiatrist who works with community mental health programs in the Washington, DC area. New York City consultant Dorothy M. Zellner wrote and edited for the Center for Constitutional Rights and CUNY Law School. All of the editors worked for SNCC.
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How the US Government Deals With Debt in the Post-Bubble Era
The Daily Reckoning
“What went wrong?” we asked the cab driver.
“Well, they give you all kinds of nonsense reasons. But it’s pretty simple. People spent a lot more money than they should. Now, they don’t have any money left.
“They put up houses all over the place. But there was no one with the money to buy them. And then the developers went broke. And then the banks that lent them money went broke. And then the government went broke. And now we’re all broke.”
Booms go bust. Wealth disappears. Debt does not. Someone, somewhere, sometime has to pay it. If not the borrower…someone else.
The story of the bubble years was the build up of debt throughout the world.
The story of the post-bubble years has been the feds’ efforts to put the debt onto someone other than the people who borrowed it. Bailout the banks…stick the public with trillions in debt…or print up more paper money, disguise debt as inflation and spread it all over the world.
We saw how the bubble story ended. Now we will see the post-bubble story develop and eventually come to an end too. How? The debt will be repaid – by somebody.
Yesterday, stocks went down 168 points on the Dow. Gold rose $21. Is the post-bubble, post-crisis rally out of gas? Maybe… We’ll wait to find out.
Meanwhile… We turn to the grand tableau of history. The story of booms, busts, revolutions, wars…all the things that go wrong in man’s collective life.
(Private acts of charity, beauty, and courage do not make the history books.)
What will the history books of the future say? How will they describe us…our time…and what went wrong?
We believe they will tell how three groups brought down the US Empire:
1) The feds
2) The banks
3) The neo-cons
The feds destroyed the empire’s economy and corrupted its political institutions.
The banks (including the central bank) destroyed the empire’s finances, and its money.
And the neo-cons undermined the integrity of its military, with their expensive mock wars.
All of them worked together to twist the system into a grotesque new shape…and populate it with a race of zombies.
And they’re still at it…
The feds are spending $4 billion more PER DAY than they take in via tax collection. In addition, they’re printing up $3 billion more PER DAY just to help make ends meet.
Where does all that money go?
Well, here’s a report from The Wall Street Journal:
The US government has 15 different agencies overseeing food-safety laws, more than 20 separate programs to help the homeless and 80 programs for economic development.
These are a few of the findings in a massive study of overlapping and duplicative programs that cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year, according to the Government Accountability Office.
The GAO examined numerous federal agencies, including the departments of defense, agriculture and housing and urban development, and pointed to instances where different arms of the government should be coordinating or consolidating efforts to save taxpayers’ money.
The agency found 82 federal programs to improve teacher quality; 80 to help disadvantaged people with transportation; 47 for job training and employment; and 56 to help people understand finances, according to a draft of the report reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Naïve readers will think to themselves:
“How could the government do such stupid things?”
But that just goes to show how little they understand government.
Government labors to improve the quality of our lives. That’s the line used by both major parties. It’s what most people are taught in school. Even as adults, incredibly, they still believe it.
As reported above, in the WSJ, the feds have set up 82 separate programs to improve the quality of teaching in our schools. Guess they’re serious about education, right? But you don’t really think bureaucrats could improve the quality of teaching, do you? Of course not. What do they know about teaching?
Or agriculture? Or selling stocks? Or banking? Or anything else? What improvements have bureaucrats ever made? Name one! Who invented indoor plumbing? Who invented the repeating rifle or rolled the first cigarette? Who created Facebook?
Bureaucrats do not create wealth. They transfer it. From the people who earned it, to themselves and other zombies. Efficiency has nothing to do with it. The more programs the better. The more inefficient the better. The more zombies…the more voters to back their larceny.
And what about the banks? After nearly bankrupting the system, the bankers are still in business too. They take the feds’ money and lend it back to the feds for a cool 3% or 4% difference. Free money. You can’t beat that. And 3% of this year’s budget deficit alone is $45 billion. Not bad for government work.
The bankers are self-serving enablers, helping the feds bankrupt the empire. And making money for themselves in the process.
And don’t forget the neo-cons. They’re doing their part to discredit America’s military…sully the empire’s reputation…and waste its resources. Iraq, Afghanistan…and now they want to invade Libya!
But we don’t blame any of them. They’re only doing what comes naturally. Destiny requires that every great Empire ruin itself. They’re just playing their parts…
Bill Bonner
for The Daily Reckoning
How the US Government Deals With Debt in the Post-Bubble Era originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning has published articles on the impact of quantitative easing, bakken oil, and hyperinflation.
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Home News How to lose w...
How to lose weight after pregnancy and how long it will take to return to your previous weight
Marisa Iallonardo
Breastfeeding has been shown to help you lose weight after birth.
Christian Delbert/Shutterstock
Within the first two weeks after giving birth, you can expect to lose an average of eight to 20 pounds as your body clears out excess fluid.
It’s important to give your body four to six weeks to recover from giving birth before you try to lose weight. After that, losing about one and a half pounds per week is safe and won’t affect your milk supply if you’re breastfeeding.
One study published in 2015 suggests that breastfeeding can help you lose weight after birth. But other research has found conflicting results.
If you’re having a hard time losing weight because you’re still experiencing pregnancy cravings, you can expect them to disappear within six months after birth.
This article was reviewed by Julia Simon, MD, who is an assistant professor with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UChicago Medicine.
Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Doctors recommend that women gain between 15 to 40 pounds while pregnant depending on their pre-pregnancy BMI. However, a 2017 review in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports that most pregnant women gain more than they probably should.
In their study, researchers reported that close to half, 47%, of the over 1.3 million women in the review gained more than what’s recommended, while about a quarter put on less. And getting rid of those pesky pregnancy pounds can be tough. But be patient.
In general, new moms can expect to lose their pregnancy weight, “within a year of delivery of their child,” says Craig Salcido, MD, an OB-GYN with Mission Hospital in Orange County.
Here are some tips for how to manage your expectations for weight loss and get back to your normal weight after pregnancy.
First steps to losing weight after pregnancy
The first steps start even before you become pregnant.
“The amount of weight a woman gains during pregnancy depends on the following factors: their pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), the number of prior pregnancies, physical activity levels and nutritional habits,” says Craig Salcido, MD, an OB-GYN with Mission Hospital in Orange County, CA says,
But having a healthy pre-pregnancy BMI and staying within the gaining guidelines can make it easier to lose weight after you give birth, according to the Institute of Medicine.
What to expect after giving birth
“Women tend to shed weight immediately after giving birth because of the loss of the placenta and amniotic fluid,” says Salcido. And that will likely continue in the initial postpartum phase: “Expect that within the first two weeks after birth to lose an average of eight to 20 pounds as your body clears out excess fluid.”
But after that, you will most likely still retain some residual pregnancy weight. Now, it can be tempting to start counting calories and try to lose all of that weight fast. But if you’re breastfeeding that’s going to be difficult because breastfeeding moms need an extra 500 calories daily.
That said, it’s safe to start on a diet and exercise regimen while you’re breastfeeding, says Salcido. You just need to give your body enough time to recover first. You’ll need between four to six weeks:
Four weeks: If you had a vaginal delivery you can speak with your doctor about returning to a moderate exercise routine four weeks after giving birth.
Six weeks: If you had a C-section, Salcido says to wait six weeks before you start counting calories and exercising to lose weight.
“Weight loss of about a pound and a half a week is safe and likely won’t affect your milk supply if you are nursing,” he says. Therefore, if you have 30 pounds of residual pregnancy weight, and you lost 1.5 pounds per week, you can be back to your pre-pregnancy weight in 20 weeks, or 5 months.
How to lose weight after pregnancy
Breastfeeding could be helpful when it comes to weight loss. In one 2015 study, published in Preventive Medicine, US moms who exclusively breastfed for at least three months lost more weight-just over 3 pounds-and were more likely to return to their pre-pregnancy weight a year after giving birth compared to moms who didn’t breastfeed exclusively or at all.
While this is encouraging, other studies have found conflicting results. Overall, it seems that the longer you breastfeed, the more effective it is at helping you lose weight.
As far as which diet works best, Salcido says: “The safest and easiest way to lose pregnancy weight is to eat small meals throughout the day, instead of three large ones, to boost your metabolism.” He recommends always starting your day with breakfast, picking healthy snacks, like nuts, and drinking lots of water throughout the day.
Plus, as expected, sticking with fruits and veggies is smart. “Keep in mind to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables-they help provide your body with needed nutrients while also breaking up fatty deposits,” he says.
But if you find yourself with cravings, similar to the ones you had while pregnant, you’re not alone. “Some women may continue to experience cravings after birth because of changes in hormone levels,” says Salcido. Cravings may include anything from sugar to caffeine to protein.
Salcido says a good rule of thumb with postpartum cravings is to treat them like you would when you had them while pregnant: everything in moderation. Moreover, “these cravings tend to disappear within six months postpartum,” he says.
The bottom line is that when it comes to weight loss, studies show that eating well and working out is the way to go. Most women will get the OK from their OB to start exercising by 8 weeks after giving birth, says Salcido. And once you do, the usual advice for moderate exercise applies. About 2.5 hours every week, which equates to 30 minutes a day for five days a week.
Related stories about pregnancy:
Your baby bump will pop out between weeks 12 to 16. Here’s how to tell if you’ll show early or late.
How much weight you should gain during pregnancy, according to doctors
Foods to avoid during pregnancy and how to still stay healthy
How long it takes to recover from a C-section before you can drive a car, take a bath, and have sex
Yes, Tylenol is safe for pregnancy. Here’s the right dosage
Doctors debunk the 25 biggest pregnancy myths
4 in 10 people in Singapore are migrants – and almost 1 million are from Malaysia: UN
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'The Optimistic Decade' By Heather Abel Is About A 1990s Summer Camp — But It's Just The Novel To Read In This Political Moment
By E. Ce Miller
Heather Abel’s debut novel might be set in the post-Cold War, pre-Gulf War summer of 1990, but the story she tells — one of activism and idealism, wealth and inequality, the fissures between “blue collar Americans” and the “educated elite”, couldn’t be more timely. The Optimistic Decade transports readers to a back-to-the-land, commune-style camp that caters to the children of liberal, upper middle class, west coast parents who pay for the privilege of their children to pass a summer in chosen austerity — once-a-week showers, limited electricity, sleeping outdoors on unadorned wooden platforms, sharing in physically-demanding camp chores, taking strenuous character-building hikes.
The camp — Llamalo, (“why not?” in Hebrew) — is run by a zealous twenty-something named Caleb; known for giving charismatic speeches about how he single-handedly saved Llamalo’s land and sleeping with a different camp counselor every summer. Caleb’s cousin, Rebecca — fresh out of her first year at UC Berkeley and majoring in a self-designed field of study: “third world revolt and media,” — is an unwilling counselor, banished to Llamalo by her father who (unknown to her) is spending the summer shutting down her beloved, family-run, liberal newspaper, Our Side Now. And high school senior David — Rebecca’s former childhood friend and camp devotee — aspires to drop out of his final year of high school and move to Llamalo permanently.
"...the story she tells — one of activism and idealism, wealth and inequality, the fissures between “blue collar Americans” and the “educated elite”, couldn’t be more timely."
Caleb, Rebecca, and David stand in sharp contrast to the other two characters who make up the heart of Abel’s novel: Don and Donnie Talc — the father-and-son ranchers to whom Llamalo’s sparse, hard-worked land once belonged. Donnie, recently radicalized by an organization called People for the West!, is convinced Caleb’s acquisition of the Talc’s land was part of a national conspiracy involving Exxon oil and environmentalists, and is determined to take his ranch back from the “eco-Nazis" who stole it from him. And so, the battle unfolds: one between the rural poor and the over-educated youth purporting to save them.
The Optimistic Decade has been read as a metaphor for the ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestine — a generation of idealistic Jews (Caleb, Rebecca, and David are all somewhat lapsed) building the holy land of their dreams on someone else’s desert. But the novel also speaks directly to our current political moment in the United States, addressing idealism of youth alongside futility of activism, the audacity of optimism alongside the heartbreak of disillusionment.
“My assumption was simple,” Rebecca’s father, Ira Silver, writes in his final letter to his readers. “Devote enough column inches to the topic, and justice would come. Today that strikes me as a particularly narcissistic delusion. Look around. Eight years of articles about Reagan led only to the election of Bush.” (Imagine what Ira would have to say now.) And with the sting of shattered ideals, Our Side Now distributes its final issue.
"But the novel also speaks directly to our current political moment in the United States, addressing idealism of youth alongside futility of activism, the audacity of optimism alongside the heartbreak of disillusionment."
For Rebecca, who finds out the paper has shut down the same way all the Our Side Now readers do — with the arrival of the final issue — the end of the paper is the end of the politics she’d been raised on and the ideals she’s planned on dedicating her life to. But it’s also the end, in many ways, of who she understands herself to inherently be. “The thing is, he’s right. Ira’s right,” she says to David. “It makes me sick all the time. You go to a million rallies and make a million calls and still your candidate isn’t elected, or if he is, he takes money from Exxon and plays golf with the health insurance lobbyists. There’s nothing we can actually do, right?” Every voter who considered a Trump presidency impossible, until it wasn’t, has undoubtedly been here too.
David has his own moment of heartbreak, when he discovers Llamalo isn’t all he’s believed it to be, and his commitment to Caleb’s utopic vision hasn’t turned out at all the way he’d planned. And, for all his conspiracy-fed fervor, Donnie is clobbered by the shattering of his own ideals as well — ultimately realizing that his land will never be his again and that his actions have contributed to the severing of the last remaining tie he and his father had to their ranch. Before The Optimistic Decade’s end, the Talcs have left Llamalo behind forever.
"And, for all his conspiracy-fed fervor, Donnie is clobbered by the shattering of his own ideals as well..."
Still, of all Abel's layered, imperfect, hypocritical-in-their-own-ways characters, it’s Rebecca who perhaps has the farthest to fall. “Disillusionment was her true inheritance,” she thinks. “The very opposite of the buoyant idealism she’d pretended was passed down like an heirloom... The despair had been tempered by a golden aura of self-importance: nobody will come to the rally, but still we go; nobody will cover the rally, so we write about it; nobody will publish our point of view, so we’ll start a newspaper, which nobody will read but us,” — pinpointing the often insular nature of activist life: the preaching to the already-converted, engaging primarily with those who reinforce one’s own point of view, often unknowingly.
Rebecca's experience might be considered compassion fatigue — the fallout of caring too deeply about a world that does not care in return. It might just be the natural progression of growing up — there is, after all, an uncomfortable privilege to protest: those who suffer the greatest injustice often can’t afford, financially and otherwise, to spend their days marching in the street. There are bills to pay, families to care for, prison sentences to serve. (As my mother once chastened me, when I spent my days Occupying Wall Street: “stop sitting on your ass in a park and get a job.”) Rebecca's fall from idealism is, nonetheless, devastatingly relatable. No matter how many times the world tosses optimism back in our face, there's a clobbering hope that even if we can't cling to our optimism, someone out there will continue to fight the good fight; continue to cling to theirs.
"Rebecca's experience might be considered compassion fatigue — the fallout of caring too deeply about a world that does not care in return. It might just be the natural progression of growing up — there is, after all, an uncomfortable privilege to protest."
Which is why Rebecca's return to optimism — albeit a little less rose-colored, a little more hard-won, and (hopefully) a little more resilient — will leave readers with something to hope for. Home for the winter holidays from her second year at Berkeley, Rebecca, in a sudden moment of surprising faith, finds herself standing in a protest outside the Federal Building, just as the Gulf War is heating up. “We’re going in, taking over the building,” an activist, dressed all in black, says to her. “Are you up for it?” he asks, reaching for her hand. Though we don't see her follow him, readers can safely assume Rebecca does. Because even in the face of unthinkable darkness, we can’t help but lean into the light.
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Eating Out in Bristol
The UK's first audiophile restaurant outside London is opening in Bristol
The concept originated in Tokyo where it's hugely popular
The new restaurant will be opening on Cheltenham Road (Image: Google)
Plenty of new restaurants have opened in Bristol this year but none quite like the one set to open next month.
The UK’s first audiophile restaurant outside London will open on Cheltenham Road, in the building formerly occupied by Italian restaurant Amici, serving up a brand new and exciting experience for foodies and sound enthusiasts alike.
For those unfamiliar with the concept of an audiophile restaurant, it’s a place where people can have a bite to eat and chat while listening to music on an exceptionally good sound system that wouldn’t be out of place in a recording studio.
Chinese takeaway dubbed 'one of Bristol's best kept secrets' closes after 14 years
Bristol’s first ever example of this is being spearheaded by Dan Wild, founder of the long-running Just Jack club nights, his wife Rhiannon and their head chef Michiel Pel.
“We’re incredibly excited about this, it’s been a long time in the planning and it’ll be unlike anything else in Bristol,” said Dan, whose music industry experience goes far beyond the 12 years organising Just Jack parties.
A speaker from Klipsch's Heritage range
Needless to say, the couple have sourced a mightily impressive sound system and some seriously high-end tech for the restaurant, which will be called Edit Bar and Kitchen, and they're currently busy soundproofing the building to allow the sound to truly flourish.
There will be six speakers in total which all come from the renowned American company Klipsch’s ‘Heritage’ range, still manufactured to the same exacting standards and designs that made them the choice of dance culture pioneer David Mancuso for his infamous parties at ‘The Loft’ in 1970’s New York.
Massively popular Bristol restaurant Biblos is opening a new branch at Cabot Circus
Given the stature of the system, people would be forgiven for thinking it might be deafening in Edit, making conversations a struggle, but the emphasis of a system such as this is very much on quality and not volume, meaning people can chat away with ease.
It’s not all about the music, though; the food at Edit will also be to a high standard. The menu will be based around innovative Asian small plates, which means visitors can expect to find dumplings and salads, meat and fish dishes and more, accompanied by an extensive Sake selection.
Chef Michiel Pel is attempting to make 'the world's best dumplings'
To wash it down there will be a selection of wines, cocktails and a list of homemade, non-alcoholic drinks designed to complement the menu.
The concept of combining food with high-end speakers has been huge in Tokyo for years but is relatively unexplored in the UK with only two examples, both in London, called Spiritland and Brilliant Corners respectively.
It was after visits to these two sound havens that Dan and Rhiannon took their inspiration.
Bristol's SWX nightclub to be transformed into world-class live music venue
“The experience of enjoying food, drink and good conversation with your friends whilst listening to music on a beautiful sound system made perfect sense to us,” added Dan.
“We’ve wanted to open a restaurant in Bristol for a while and after visits to London's audiophile bars, we knew we wanted to bring our own concept to the city.”
The restaurant will serve Japanese small plates
DJs will play on custom-built decks at Edit from Thursday to Sunday, each being given the privilege of playing six-hour long sets, allowing them to delve deep into their respective record collections which will consist mainly of jazz, electronica, funk and soul.
A number of guest selectors have already been hand-picked to play by Dan and there will also be resident DJs, most of whom are local to Bristol.
Dan and Rhiannon hope to open Edit on December 9. For more information visit the Facebook page.
European UnionWetherspoons cutting price of beer and vodka after Brexit
Selected whiskeys are also included in the deal
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MY MOM IS TRYING TO RUIN MY LIFE World Premiere Set for Workshop Theater, Now thru 3/10
BroadwayWorld.com Feb. 16, 2013
WORKSHOP THEATER COMPANY in conjunction with JEM THEATRICALS is presenting the world premiere production of MY MOM IS TRYING TO RUIN MY LIFE, a new family musical comedy. The musical, with book by Kate Feiffer and MJ Bruder Munafo, music by Paul Jacobs, lyrics by Sarah Durkee, is based on the acclaimed picture book MY MOM IS TRYING TO RUIN MY LIFE, by Kate Feiffer with illustrations by Diane Goode (Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books). The musical will be directed by Debbi Katz and choreographed by Danyelle Demchock of the Young Performers Dance Academy. MY MOM IS TRYING TO RUIN MY LIFE will play a four-week limited engagement at the WorkShop Theater (312 West 36th Street). Performances begin today, February 16 at 12 pm and continue through Sunday, March 10 at 3 pm. Press are invited to all performances.
If Emma's mom is so great, why is she trying to ruin her daughter's life? She talks too loudly, worries about everything and kisses Emma in front of her friends. It wouldn't be that bad if she just gave her one kiss on top of the head, but no, she kisses Emma all over her face. Can Emma stop her mom before she ruins the rest of her life? A heartwarming coming of age story with spectacular original music, MY MOM IS TRYING TO RUIN MY LIFE will have audiences laughing and singing.
The first workshop production of MY MOM IS TRYING TO RUIN MY LIFE played to sold out audiences at The Vineyard Playhouse on Martha's Vineyard in 2010. In 2011, MJ Bruder Munafo (Artistic Director of the Vineyard Playhouse) and Kate Feiffer teamed up with multiple Emmy Award-winning songwriters Paul Jacobs and Sarah Durkee to turn the play into a musical. The Vineyard Playhouse presented the first staged reading of the musical in the summer of 2012. WorkShop Theater Company's Educational Wing presented a second reading in late 2012.
In keeping with the WorkShop Theater Company's overall mission, the Educational Wing is dedicated to providing a creative home for young actors to hone their talents and cultivate projects from inception through finished productions.
"We work with children of diverse backgrounds to introduce the process of synthesizing new works through Page to Stage adaptations and the collaborative relationships between writers, directors, actors and designers. We pair professional teaching artists and guide young actors through the process of creating new works," say Marie Mascia-Mancl, General Manager of Workshop Theater Company. "We have found that many professional kids are looking for a setting in which to work during the "tween" years when they can't find continuous employment. This program allows them that home and gives us the opportunity to teach college level skills and techniques. We are very excited to bring to life this wonderful piece as we combine this amazing cast with an incredibly talented creative team. Everyone involved is helping to fulfill our mission."
The production stars Michael Bernardi* (Surflight's Once Upon a Time in New Jersey) as Officer Smith, Maddie Glass as Isabelle, Andrew Hubacher* (WorkShop's Life on the Mississippi) as Dad, Kayla King as Mom, Claire Kwon as Julie, Noah Marlowe* (Bdwy: Mary Poppins) as Tommy, Shelly McPherson* as Tommy's Mom/Officer O'Dooley, Sydney Ryan Robles as Danielle, Madisyn Shipman* (Bdwy: Enron; Off-Bdwy: Pippi Longstockings) as Christina/Lulu the dog, Garielle Smith-Goldson as Malika, Ryan Bauer Walsh* (Nat'l Tour: Billy Elliot) as Mr. Lucky/Officer Ortiz, Lauren Weintraub* (North Shore's Annie) as Emma, and Ashton Woerz* (Bdwy: Priscilla Queen of the Desert; Nat'l Tour: Radio City Christmas Spectacular) as Andrew.
The production features scenic design by Dana Kenn and lighting design by Diana Duecker. Joe Marquet is the sound designer, Zach Rand is the production assistant, Evan Bernardin is the associate producer, Marie Mascia-Mancl is the general manager and Sierra Garland is the stage manager.
MY MOM IS TRYING TO RUIN MY LIFE plays the following schedule:
Saturday, February 16 at 12 pm and 3 pm
Sunday, February 17 at 12 pm
Monday, February 18 at 12 pm and 3 pm (President's Day)
Monday, February 25 at 7 (Special Simon & Schuster Performance)
Saturday, March 2 at 12 pm and 3 pm
Sunday, March 3 at 12 pm
Sunday, March 9 at 12 pm and 3 pm
Tickets are $15-18 and are now available online at workshoptheater.org. Tickets may also be purchased in person at the theater 30 minutes prior to performance. For special packages and donations, go to www.m3atyourservice.com. Running Time: 70 minutes.
Kate Feiffer (Book Writer) is the author of eleven highly acclaimed books for children. Her first book, Double Pink, illustrated by Bruce Ingman, was published by Simon & Schuster (S&S) in 2005. Her books Which Puppy? (S&S), Henry the Dog with No Tail (S&S), and My Side of The Car (Candlewick Press) are illustrated by her father, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer. Other books include President Pennybaker (S&S) and My Mom is Trying to Ruin My Life (S&S), illustrated by Caldecott award honoree Diane Goode. A former Boston-based television producer, Kate produced and wrote the award-winning documentary Matzo & Mistletoe.
MJ BRUDER MUNAFO (Book Writer) is the Artistic and Executive Director of The Vineyard Playhouse on Martha's Vineyard, where MY MOM began its life as a play in 2010. MJ has written dozens of children's plays over the years in addition to directing many shows and premieres on The Playhouse mainstage. Her most recent was an all-female cast production of Romeo & Juliet outdoors at the Tisbury Amphitheater.
Paul Jacobs (Composer) is a two-time Emmy-winning composer whose songs, co-written with lyricist Sarah Durkee, have been recorded by artists as diverse as Meatloaf, Mel Torme, Faith Hill, Brian McKnight, Roger Daltry, India Arie, Tricia Yearwood, Kermit the Frog, John Hiatt, and the London Philharmonic. Starting out as a classical pianist, he entered Juilliard at age eight and was soon performing Carnegie Hall and Radio Free Europe concerts. When the teen years and the guitar and rock world beckoned, he co-wrote the music for National Lampoon's Lemmings starring John Belushi, Chevy Chase and Christopher Guest, and for The National Lampoon Show with Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Richard Belzer and Harold Ramis. Paul was Meatloaf's musical director, keyboard player and guitarist for many years and also played with Edgar Winter and Roy Buchanan. Back to his classical roots once again, he won the 2000 Van Cliburn Institute Amateur Concerto Competition, and performed with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Paul's songs have been featured on over twenty years of Sesame Street, and he's currently the musical director of the PBS reading show Between The Lions.
SARAH DURKEE (Lyricist), since her days of performing, writing comedy for National Lampoon, and writing platinum-earning songs for Meat Loaf, Sarah has enjoyed a successful career writing scripts and songs for children's television for over 25 years. With composer Paul Jacobs, she's written Emmy-winning songs for Sesame Street, performed by artists as diverse as Mel Torme, Kermit the Frog, Brian McKnight and Trisha Yearwood. Her scripts and songwriting have been regularly featured on Between the Lions, Dora the Explorer, Arthur, Wonder Pets, Peep and the Big Wide World and others, and she recently won her fifth Emmy award for her writing for Between the Lions. Her scriptwriting for the claymation series Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures is also featured on Sesame Street and in the preschool music-based series Lomax: The Hound of Music. Sarah co-authored the adult satire The Book of Sequels with her fellow Lampoon alumni, and is the author of a middle grade novel The Fruit Bowl Project, a favorite of Writer's
Workshop teachers. In addition to My Mom Is Trying to Ruin My Life, this year's projects include songwriting for a musical adaptation of the Leo Lionni classic Frederick, a children's book series with an anti-bullying theme called Captain McFinn and Friends, and an educational video series for Curious George.
DEBBI KATZ (Director) is an equity actress, having performed in many Off-Broadway and regional shows, and seasoned director and producer. With more than 75 productions ranging from workshops to main-stage performances, Debbi has directed small-scale to full-ensemble productions. Recently, She spent six years at the Bendheim Performing Arts Center in Scarsdale as the Producing Director where she oversaw a thriving cultural arts center inclusive of a theater school, outside performance series, music school and camp. She ran large and small events, including the opening ceremonies for the JCC Maccabi Games at Madison Square Garden. She also developed and directed unique programs that combined the students of the theater school with top-notch Broadway talent as well as charitable groups that "gave back" to the community via musical performance around the tri-state area. Debbi has been an associate producer for Rockers on Broadway for four years, an organization that combines Broadway and Rock super star talent in order to raise money for Equity Fights Aids, as well as theatrical education companies. Debbi holds a BA in communications and theatre and a Masters in Special Education. The messaging in My Mom Is Ruining My Life provides a wonderful platform for her greatest passion, which is using theatre as a bridge for connecting kids and their families.
WorkShop Theater Company's mission is to provide a creative home for a diverse group of playwrights, directors, and actors. WorkShop has developed hundreds of plays, among them Eddie Antar's NY Times Critics' Pick, Drama Desk-nominated, and NY Innovative Theatre Award-winning hit The Navigator ("cruises in entertainingly high gear" - NY Times) and Ken Jaworowski's Interchange (NY Times Critics' Pick). Another WorkShop play, Allan Knee's The Man Who Was Peter Pan, became the acclaimed film Finding Neverland, which received an Academy Award nomination for its screenplay by David Magee and was produced by Nellie Bellflower - both of whom are WorkShop Theater Company alumni.
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Tennessee Shakespeare Company Presents The Regional Premiere Of THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE
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Krystian Lupa's THE TRIAL at NYU Skirball has Been Canceled Due to Withdrawal of Financial Support From the IAM
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OFF-OFF-BROADWAY SHOWS More
Mairi Dorman-Phaneuf, with Katie Thompson and Bob Stillman
Birdland (1/27 - 1/27)
A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur
Sargent Theater at ATA (1/23 - 1/26)
Doctors Jane and Alexander
HERE (1/24 - 2/15) CAST
Mario! A Salute to the Great Lanza
The Green Room 42 (1/30 - 1/30)
Off-Off-Broadway Email Alerts
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The millennial generation: A demographic bridge to America’s diverse future
William H. Frey January, 2018
MetroMediaRelations@brookings.edu 202.238.3139
Download Download
PDF File Full report
PDF File Press release
PDF File Infographic
Excel Spreadsheet File Appendix A - Race/ethnic composition of millennials in metro areas
Excel Spreadsheet File Appendix B - Metro and state data by various categories of the millennial population
Watch video coverage of January 30's Brookings event discussing the millennial generation.
The millennial generation, over 75 million strong is America’s largest—eclipsing the current size of the postwar baby boom generation. Millennials make up nearly a quarter of the total U.S. population, 30 percent of the voting age population, and almost two-fifths of the working age population.
William H. Frey
Senior Fellow - Metropolitan Policy Program
Most notably, the millennial generation, now 44 percent minority, is the most diverse adult generation in American history. While its lasting legacy is yet to be determined, this generation is set to serve as a social, economic, and political bridge to chronologically successive (and increasingly) racially diverse generations.
With an emphasis on its unique racial diversity, this report examines the demographic makeup of millennials for the nation, the 100 largest metropolitan areas, and all 50 states.
A bridge spanning the cultural generation gap
Despite today’s divisive generational politics, millennials are poised to become a demographic bridge between the largely white older generations (pre-millennials) and much more racially diverse younger generations (post-millennials). As they progress into middle age, millennials will continue to pave the way for the generations behind them as workers, consumers, and leaders in business and government in their acceptance by and participation in tomorrow’s more racially diverse America.
As the cultural generation gap graphic shows, while both the post-millennial and pre-millennial populations were majority white in 2015 (51.5 percent and 68.4 percent, respectively), both population groups are projected to substantially decrease their shares of white population by 2035, to 46 percent and 64.8 percent, respectively. Yet, even in 2035, the millennial generation will represent a bridge to the more racially diverse young adult population. Read more about the cultural generation gap on page 31
Cultural generation gap: Race/ethnicity projection by ages, 2015 and 2035
What makes millennials unique?
… and how do their characteristics vary by race/ethnicity?
Millennials are by far the most diverse generation when compared to older generations. Most white baby boomers and their elders were born in an era when immigration was at a historic low point and when the immigrants who did arrive in America were mostly white Europeans. Then, the nation’s much smaller minority population was composed mostly of black Americans, residing in highly segregated cities. The large waves of immigration to the U.S. in the 1980s and 1990s, especially from Latin America and Asia, coupled with the aging of the white population1, made millennials a more racially and ethnically diverse generation than any that preceded it. Read more about millennials’ unique racial/ethnic diversity on page 6
Millennials and seniors by race ethnicity, 2015
Education attainment
Compared to older generations at the same relative time in young adult life, millennials have attained higher levels of education, which, for their generation more than others, is tied to higher future earnings and well-being. More than a third of all millennials ages 25-34 achieved college educations by 2015, up from less than 30 percent for comparably aged young adults in 2000 and not quite a quarter for those in 1980.
Notably, postsecondary education attainment has risen for all racial and ethnic young adult groups. There have also been positive changes in related measures such as declines in high school dropout rates and increased college enrollment for all major ethnic groups. Still, there remain sharp disparities in education attainment across groups, with Hispanic and black millennials falling behind their Asian and white counterparts. Read more about millennials’ education attainment statistics on page 12
Education attainment of millennials, ages 25-34, by race/ethnicity, 2015
The housing bust and the Great Recession have affected millennials’ short-term, and potentially long-term, ability to buy homes. Nationally, homeownership rates have not shown long-term declines. They stayed relatively stable since the 1960s except for a housing boom from the late 1990s through 2006. The subsequent housing bust occurred just before most millennials entered the market. This tamped down their homeownership rate compared with young adults at earlier ages, as high interest rates, a reluctance to buy, and debt or low savings prompted many millennials to live with relatives or move to rental housing.
All racial groups registered recent housing-bust-related declines in homeownership, but this was especially the case for blacks who, along with many Hispanics, bore the brunt of fewer lower-cost, subprime loans amid a deficit of resources. This delay in homeownership may be robbing millennials of a head start toward a traditional means of wealth accumulation. Read more about millennials’ homeownership statistics on page 13
Homeownership rates of millennials, ages 25-34, by race/ethnicity, 2015
While the economy and employment have climbed back from the worst of the recession and post-recession years, as late as 2015, millennials were more likely to be in poverty than most baby boomers and Gen Xers at similar ages.
A 2016 GenForward Survey of millennials of different racial-ethnic groups found that blacks and Hispanics, in particular, consistently report more economic vulnerability than whites or Asians.2 Moreover, it has been estimated that the loss of wealth resulting from the foreclosure crisis between 2007 and 2009 disproportionately affected black and Hispanic families, making them less able to provide support for their own and their children’s education and home purchases.3 Read more about millennials’ poverty statistics on page 14
Poverty rates of millennials, ages 25-34, by race/ethnicity, 2015
Millennials are slower than earlier generations to get married, have children, and leave their parents’ homes. The median age of marriage was lowest during the 1950s—at age 20 for women and 22 for men. By 2015, these rose to ages 27 and 29, respectively. Allowing longer periods for higher education and rising women’s labor force participation have pushed up the ages of marriage and childbearing over the decades. However, the Great Recession and resulting housing crash led millennials to even further delay these domestic milestones.
The broad pattern toward delay in marriage has been followed by millennials in each racial and ethnic group. Blacks continue to exhibit the lowest share of persons who are currently married—halving their share, at ages 25-34, from 47 percent in 1980 to 23 percent. Just as with the national patterns, long term shifts toward later marriage have been amplified for all groups by recent economic conditions. Read more about millennials’ marriage statistics on page 11
Marital status of millennials, ages 25-34, by race/ethnicity, 2015
Where do millennials live?
100 largest metro areas, 2015
An inclusive, diverse America
Millennials are already making an indelible imprint on the nation as evident from the tremendous publicity they receive and the consumer base they represent. Yet, the most consequential characteristic embodied by the members of this unique generation, as the country evolves demographically, is their racial and ethnic diversity.
Despite coming of age in the midst of the Great Recession and the subsequent housing market crash, the racially and ethnically diverse millennial generation tends to be optimistic about the future. Amidst signs that the employment situation is improving, and indications that housing affordability is reviving, a majority of millennials say that they want to get married, have children, and purchase a home.4 Specifically, Hispanic, Asian, and black millennials are more likely than whites to say that they will do better financially than their parents and that the life of their generation will be better than that of their parents.5
By example and as advocates, millennials of all racial and ethnic backgrounds can make the case that investing in a more inclusive America is essential to the nation’s economic success and will, as well, benefit older populations. As they move into middle age, millennials will represent the new face of America in business, in politics, in popular culture, and as the nation’s image to the rest of the world.
Data visualization produced by Alec Friedhoff.
This report draws from a variety of U.S. Census Bureau data, including the Current Population Survey, the American Community Survey, census estimates and projections, as well as historical decennial censuses. It also presents metropolitan area projections conducted by the author. Millennials are defined in this report as persons born between 1981 and 1997.
Demographics & Population
States of Change: Demographic Shifts, Representation Gaps, and America’s Future
Rob Griffin, William H. Frey, and Ruy Teixeira
U.S. migration still at historically low levels, census shows
Race, American Identity and the Census
Report Produced by Metropolitan Policy Program
William H. Frey, Diversity Explosion: How New Racial Demographics are Remaking America. Brookings Institution Press, 2015
Cathy J. Cohen, Matthew D. Luttig, and Jon C. Rogowski, The Economic Lives of Millennials: GenForward June 2017 Report, http://genforwardsurvey.com/assets/uploads/2017/06/Millennials-Economic-Lives.pdf.
Thomas Shapiro, Tatjana Meschede, and Sam Osoro, “The Roots of the Widening Racial Wealth Gap: Explaining the Black-White Economic Divide,” Research and Policy Brief, Institute on Assets and Social Policy, Brandeis University, February 2013, https://iasp.brandeis.edu/pdfs/Author/shapiro-thomas-m/racialwealthgapbrief.pdf; Rakesh Kochhar and Richard Fry, “Wealth Inequality Has Widened Along Racial and Ethnic Lines Since the End of Great Recession,” Pew Research Center, December 2014, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/12/racial-wealth-gaps-great-recession/.
Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox, “Fading Promise: Millennial Prospects in the Golden State,” research brief, Center for Demographics & Policy, Chapman University Press: 10-12, http://joelkotkin.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FadingPromise_Millenial-Prospects-in-CA.pdf
Stay Current with Brookings Research and Events
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Steve Donnelly
Vice-President & Director of Safety
EMPLOYMENT: Manager at Miller Capilano Maintenance. Employed there for 25 years.
SKILLS: Heavy equipment operator including Snow Cat, Excavator, rubber tire Backhoe, Loader etc. First Aid, Environmental manager, Safety Committee member. Road construction/maintenance.
MEMBER SINCE: 2006/07
BTSC DIRECTOR: 9 YEARS
Tara Grant
Tara joined the club in 2012 and started attending meetings and snowmobile events with her now husband, Sam Grant Jr.
She has been the club treasurer for close to 4 years. Tara and her husband, Sam Jr, are the proud parents to two boys and two dogs and they live. in Langley BC. Tara works in the auto industry as a Special Finance Manager. She enjoys getting on the mountain whenever she can!
Erin Hart
Erin joined the club in 1999 and has been active within the club from the beginning. Under past-Presidents Barry Groundwater & Dean Little, he filled the club role of Secretary/Treasurer & snow groomer operator for a number of years before stepping up to the Provincial level to sit on the Board of Directors of the BC Snowmobile Federation. He was Vice-President of the BCSF for 2 years before being elected into the position as President of the BC Snowmobile Federation from 2011 - 2016. After this maximum 5 year term, he sat as Past-President for a year and is now very happy to be back serving at the club level once again. Erin and his wife Tammy and son, Brody live in the South Surrey/White Rock area.
Sam Grant Sr.
Sam joined the club in 2004 and has been a director in the club since 2006.
He is part owner and general manager of Impact Ironworks Ltd in Surrey who have been corporate sponsors since 2004.
Sam lives in Langley with his wife Nancy and enjoys spending most of his free time with his two grandsons who also love snowmobiling.
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Published: December 8, 2019, 1:03 pm
Tags: Religion, Pope Francis
Pope Francis prays to mark start of Italy's holiday season
Pope Francis prays in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary, near Rome's Spanish Steps, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019, an annual tradition marking the start of the city's holiday season. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
ROME – Pope Francis says small gestures can improve a city's life, as he spoke at a religious ceremony to mark the official start of Rome's Christmas season.
Francis prayed Sunday at the foot of a towering column topped by a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Italians consider Dec. 8 — a national holiday and a religious feast day honoring Mary for the Catholic church — the start of the holiday season.
Francis says it's in the ‘’little gestures and the big choices" that the quality of life can improve and the social climate can become ‘’more breathable."
The annual ceremony takes place near Rome's Spanish Steps and near its upscale shopping district and tourists and Romans flocked to see the pontiff, including the city's mayor.
Rome's frequent garbage pileups on the streets and its polluted air have plagued city residents, making quality-of-life discussions a key topic.
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Carnival cruise line hit with $20 million fine for allegedly dumping trash in ocean
Carnival Corp. will pay a $20 million fine after Princess Cruises, a subsidiary, was accused of dumping trash into the ocean.
Princess Cruises was already on probation, according to Business Insider, as a result of a 2017 case involving improper waste disposal. In that case, it was alleged oil was being dumped into the ocean.
In this latest case, Carnival is accused of dumping food and plastic into the ocean. It also reportedly kept sloppy records of how waste was being handled.
As part of the settlement, Carnival must make changes to the way it handles waste. If those changes don't happen quickly enough, there reportedly could be additional fines.
In a written statement released to Business Insider, Carnival said: "Carnival Corporation remains committed to environmental excellence and protecting the environment in which we live, work, and travel. Our aspiration is to leave the places we touch even better than when we first arrived."
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Home > Newsroom > Press Releases > Campbell CEO Recuperating after Traffic Accident
Jul 7, 2009 | Press Release
Campbell CEO Recuperating after Traffic Accident
CAMDEN, N.J., Jul 07, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) today announced that its
President and Chief Executive Officer, Douglas R. Conant, was injured in
an automobile accident in New Jersey on Thursday, July 2, 2009. Mr.
Conant was a passenger in the back seat of a vehicle, on his way home
from Campbell’s headquarters. He is recuperating from surgery performed
over the weekend and is expected to be hospitalized for a brief period.
Campbell Chairman Harvey Golub said, “All reports indicate that Doug is
doing very well, in good spirits, and progressing toward a full
recovery. We believe Doug can continue to lead the company effectively
during his recuperation.”
Campbell plans to hold its previously scheduled investor meeting in
Maxton, N.C. on July 14 and 15, 2009.
About Campbell Soup Company
Campbell Soup Company is a global manufacturer and marketer of
high-quality foods and simple meals, including soup, baked snacks, and
healthy beverages. Founded in 1869, the company has a portfolio of
market-leading brands, including “Campbell’s,” “Pepperidge Farm,”
“Arnott’s,” and “V8.” For more information on the company, visit
Campbell’s website at www.campbellsoup.com.
Anthony Sanzio (Media)
Leonard F. Griehs (Analysts)
Jennifer Driscoll (Analysts)
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James E. Wagner Cultivation Announces Closing of $2 Million Convertible Security under Previously Announced Agreement With Lind Global Macro Fund, LP
KITCHENER, Ontario, Jan. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — James E. Wagner Cultivation Corporation (“JWC” or the “Corporation”) (TSX VENTURE: JWCA; OTCQX: JWCAF) is pleased to announce that on January 10, 2020 (the “Closing Date”), it received an advance (the “First Tranche”) of CDN$2 million (the “Convertible Security”) from Lind Global Macro Fund, LP, an entity managed by The Lind Partners (together, “Lind”), pursuant to the previously-announced convertible security funding agreement dated December 29, 2019 (the “CSA”) between JWC and Lind. In addition, on the Closing Date, JWC issued Lind 4,000,640 warrants (the “Warrants”) to purchase common shares of JWC, exercisable until January 10, 2022 at an exercise price of CDN$0.3379 per common share. The Warrants are subject to a four month hold period in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws. JWC intends to use the proceeds of the Convertible Security for general working capital purposes.
Additional information regarding the terms and conditions of the Convertible Security and the CSA can be found in the news release of the Company dated December 30, 2019.
As of the Closing Date, JWC granted Lind a security interest in all current and after acquired property of the Corporation and its subsidiaries, subject to certain permitted liens, which security is subordinated to Trichome Financial Corp.’s security interest. James E. Wagner Cultivation Ltd. and GrowthStorm Inc., the Corporation’s direct wholly-owned subsidiaries, are guarantors of the obligations of the Corporation under the CSA.
About James E. Wagner Cultivation Corporation
James E. Wagner Cultivation Corporation’s wholly owned subsidiary is a Licensed Producer under the Cannabis Regulations, formerly the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (“ACMPR”). JWC is a premium cannabis brand, focusing on producing clean, consistent cannabis using an advanced and proprietary aeroponic platform named GrowthSTORM™. JWC began as a collective of patients and growers under the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (the precursor to ACMPR). Since its inception, JWC has remained focused on providing the best possible patient experience. JWC is a family-founded company with deep roots planted in the local community. JWC’s operations are based in Kitchener, Ontario. Learn more at www.jwc.ca.
Notice regarding forward-looking statements:
This press release contains statements including forward-looking information for purposes of applicable securities laws (“forward-looking statements”) about JWC and its business and operations which include, among other things, statements regarding JWC and any information with respect to the availability of funds under the CSA and the use of proceeds of funds advanced under the CSA. The forward-looking information contained in this news release are based on the Corporation’s current internal expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions, and beliefs and views of future events which management believes to be reasonable in the circumstances, including expectations and assumptions regarding: general economic conditions, the expected timing and cost of expanding the Corporation’s production capacity, the internal opportunities, the development of new products and product formats, the Corporation’s ability to retain key personnel, the Corporation’s ability to continue investing in its infrastructure to support growth, the impact of competition, trends in the Canadian cannabis industry and changes in laws, rules, and events, performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications as to whether, or the times at which, such events, performance or results will occur or be achieved. The forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of such words as “anticipated”, “will”, “expected”, “approximately”, “may”, “could”, “would” or similar words and phrases. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to differ materially from those implied in the forward-looking statements. For example, risks include risks regarding the cannabis industry, economic factors, the equity markets generally, funding and grant related risks and risks associated with growth and competition as well as the risks identified in the Corporation’s filings with the Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com. Although JWC has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release and are based on current assumptions which management believes to be reasonable. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Nathan Woodworth, President & CEO of JWC
Jonathan Leuchs
Neill Dixon of O’Cannabiz Conference & Expo
The producers of O’ Cannabiz have decades of experience producing national-profile events and creating global connections between business communities in the arts, broadcasting, media and technology. They have organized trade summit initiatives with governments around the world. And they have worked closely with sponsors in all levels of Canadian government.
FinCanna Capital Corp.
FinCanna is a royalty company that provides growth capital to rapidly emerging private companies operating in the licensed U.S cannabis industry.
Future Farm Technologies Inc.
Future Farm Technologies Inc. develops and acquires technologies that position it as a leader in the evolution of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA).
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The Prickly Dogfish (Oxynotus bruniensis) is found only around New Zealand and southern Australia, and eats nothing but the eggs of deep-sea egg-laying sharks and chimaeras. Photo: Brit Finucci
Shark expert joins extinction risk study in NZ
By Leanne Miles
A Charles Darwin University shark expert has travelled to New Zealand to study some of the more unusual species found deep in the ocean to help assess their risk of extinction.
Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods Senior Research Fellow Dr Peter Kyne is teaming up with colleagues across the Tasman to find out more about the group known as the chondrichthyan fishes, which includes sharks, rays and chimaeras.
“New Zealand is home to close to 120 chondrichthyan species, a quarter of which are endemic, and many of which occur out of sight in the deep ocean,” Dr Kyne said.
“This project will assess the extinction risk status of species found in New Zealand and the Oceania region, using the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global status of plant and animal species, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.”
He said that many shark species possessed biological traits, such as long lifespans and small litter sizes, which made them particularly susceptible to population depletion from overfishing.
“Some species are commercially important, while many others are often caught incidentally as ‘bycatch’ in fisheries targeting more productive or valuable bony fishes,” he said.
Dr Kyne will work with collaborators such as Brit Finucci from the Victoria University of Wellington, who has been studying some of the rare deep-sea species around New Zealand such as the Prickly Dogfish and the Pacific Spookfish.
“We have found that the Prickly Dogfish has a taste for the eggs of chimaeras, one of the few sharks to have such a specialised diet, and the only species known to feed solely on other chondrichthyans,” she said. “We’ve also found female spookfish are able to store sperm from males internally for later use.”
New Zealand has a long history of fisheries management, and the project aims to examine if this has resulted in lower extinction risk status of New Zealand species, compared with other locations where fishing management may be inadequate.
Dr Kyne said the project would include species assessments for wide-ranging deep-sea sharks that also occur in Australian waters and contribute to his research through the NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub.
“This information will feed into the NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub ‘Shark Action Plan’ project which aims to provide a conservation overview and management advice on Australia’s shark fauna.”
He said the research would contribute to the on-going global assessment of all chondrichthyan fishes and would help guide conservation and research efforts for this vulnerable group of fishes.
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One Meditation on Partition: Ken McMullen in Conversation
By James Leahy
Partition, 1987
British filmmaker Ken McMullen is a singular voice – innovative, engaged, enquiring – in international cultural life. Through his features, documentaries, plays, exhibitions and teaching he breaks down boundaries, between art and science, thought and action, life and its representation. Set in an asylum, Partition, his 1987 filmic collaboration with Tariq Ali, offers a unique take on South Asia’s turbulent twentieth century. Long unavailable, it has recently been released on dvd.
James Leahy: Can you say something about your fascination with mirrors? Here, I guess, there are some fairly obvious thematic implications to the mirror. For example, one can talk about the mad world of power and the bureaucrats mirrored in the sane world of the asylum, which is, I think, roughly how Manto (author of the original short story on which the film is based) saw things.
Ken McMullen: The mirrors extend the whole plane of action in Partition, doubling and then quadrupling the spatial possibilities. Furthermore the mirror, as Plato says, is the way the 'soul' identifies its true self. If a soul needs to know itself, first it must look into a soul, the friend and the enemy … you’ve seen him in the mirror! So the mirror gives the actor a way to play with what is not usually seen.... in the case of John Shrapnel’s character, it allows the articulation of deep misgivings about imperial policy.
JL: Mirror images, of course, turn up elsewhere in your work, but watching again the scene where Roshan walks through the mirror from the room of power (the map room) to the asylum, I felt very strongly that what was really important about it was the duration and the experience and feelings induced in the spectator.
KM: Yes, that’s probably the case. The power lies in the ability of Roshan to 'carry his head at a constant pace' whilst all around him massive changes are taking place, including his own clothes being ripped off and changed. It probably evokes a sense of the deep loneliness of aspects of the human condition. He was using yoga positions at the end, ultimately the 'corpse position’. This also probably evokes something well beyond conscious texts, a kind of 'off screen' response taking place in us the viewers.
JL: Can you talk then about your use of off-screen sound? The moment I like best here is when we see the cleaner/narrator throw the bucket of water, and the sound of it splashing down is off-screen.
KM: I wanted to suggest the idea that the consequences generated by the decisions and actions took place 'out of sight', that is to say off-screen. Elsewhere, the off-screen sound has in some ways to compensate for the confinement of shooting a film about India in a closed set built inside a dilapidated warehouse in East London.
JL: Renoir often uses sound in the same way, evoking nearby crowds or actions without showing them, with moments in La Grande Illusion, for example, and The Golden Coach. Whilst this obviously saves money, I find suggesting something rather than showing it often gives a film an unexpected beauty. I was also wondering if you could say something about your music choices?
KM: The music, like the whole sound score in Partition, is actually a text in itself. Of course it had to evoke the time and place but it is often also there to signify events off-screen. Barry Guard composed, with a small chamber orchestra.
JL: Can you comment on the repetition of various verbal motifs? The notions of seeing India through a veil, and of 5000 years of cultural stagnation?
KM: The themes repeat themselves but when they do they’re always different. There is something very powerful about the repetition of certain texts and actions. We know them and yet we don't. And there is a reference to the idea of Marx, who suggests the notion of historical repetition, but of this being always in a different 'costume.' And of Freud, who tells us that we are attracted to the repetition compulsion in our psychic life.
JL: Why do you like making films in both colour and black and white?
KM: I don't make the distinction between colour and black and white. I make a choice based on the mood of the scene, the material, the condition, the emotional content.
JL: Do you agree there's no space in the UK these days for the production of a film like this?
KM: It’s highly unlikely that a director would be able to use the visual structure and the unique dramatic performances in today’s climate, but it is always possible for one or two films to sneak past the contemporary dominant idioms.
JL: One reviewer has referred to your ‘dreamlike direction’. What do you feel about this description of the rhythm of the film?
KM: I’m not sure. I did originally want to call the film Ten Meditations on Partition. In some way I think this film is a kind of guided, concrete meditation on the events of 1947, indeed on all imperial history.
James Leahy is a screenwriter and film historian.
Vertigo Volume 3 | Issue 7 | Autumn 2007
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Home / Mac Wiseman: Most Requested
Mac Wiseman: Most Requested
CD - $13.98 USD MP3 - $9.99 USD Regular price
Bluegrass Hall of Fame inductee and music legend Mac Wiseman is known for his clear and powerful tenor voice. Now, for the first time in one collection, Wiseman's most-loved and requested songs are compiled in an incredible set of standards and contemporary classics. Featuring the country favorites "Wild Side Of Life" and "I'll Sail My Ship Alone" and traditional favorites such as "In The Pines" and "The Baggage Coach Ahead", this collection covers the best from an amazing career spanning nearly 60 years.
Merle Travis - Travis Pickin'
Country Music Heritage: The Legacy of CMH Records
Country Music Heritage: The Legacy of CMH Records - LP
Jim Silvers: Wait ‘til Next Year / Streets of Christmas
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Did Money on Mules Free French Hostages?
Published 8:02 AM ET Thu, 30 June 2011 CNBC.com
Herve Ghesquiere and Stephane Taponier, the two French journalists that had been held hostage in Afghanistan for 547 days, landed on French soil on Thursday morning. Sources talk about the unusual path taken by the ransom.
Stephane Victor | Getty Images
Cityscape at sunrise, Kabul, Afghanistan
Emotion, as well as champagne, flowed on Thursday morning after the two journalists reached French soil at the military airport of Villacoublay, West of Paris, and met with fellow journalists to describe their months of captivity in the Taliban-held Afghan region of Kapisa.
“Our lives have never been at threat, we were never physically harmed,” Stephane Taponier said at a press conference on the tarmac of the military base, “we would have been able to last even longer, we’re doing very well.”
Several attempts to free the French public television channel reporters have been aborted over the year-and-a-half long captivity in Taliban territory, Frederic Helbert, a source close to the DGSE - the French secret services – said on French television, but the latest one resulted in the two journalists reaching the French embassy in Kabul on Wednesday afternoon.
“(The Taliban's) main demand was the departure of all foreigners out of Afghanistan,” Taponier said.
The liberation of Ghesquiere and Taponier echoes the announcement by French president Nicolas Sarkozy last week that all French troops should be out of Afghanistan by 2014, following Barack Obama’s similar decision to repatriate all troops by September 2012.
The French ministry of defence’s press office declined any comment when reached by CNBC. “There is no link, at least official ones, between what you are talking about (the hostages’ liberation) and what you are referring to (the French troops exit),” a press officer told CNBC.
Frederic Helbert also said that there had been a ransom paid, and that the Afghan government had freed Taliban prisoners.
“There has been a ransom indeed,” he said. “The amount I was told from diplomatic sources is that of several million euros.”
The money was transported in local currency across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border on the back of mules, Helbert said.
The French government also officially denied the existence of a ransom, but the French foreign affairs minister Alain Juppé explained during an interview with the French public television that the "reasons of state" justified the complete secrecy on the matter.
Guillaume DesjardinsAssistant Editor, CNBC.com
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How 'deeply disturbing' police misstep derailed a sexual assault case
Nova Scotia judge throws out charge due to delays after RCMP lose rape kit
Lindsay Jones
Nicole, which is not her real name, said she was sexually assaulted in April 2017, but more than two years later the case was thrown out by a Nova Scotia judge due to delays. (Dave Laughlin/CBC)
When she pulled into the gas station in Granville Ferry, N.S., midmorning on April 21, 2017, he was there waiting, just as he said he'd be, in his two-door red Honda Civic with a spoiler on the back.
Nicole, a 35-year-old single mom, drove up next to Jordan Ellis, a 34-year-old fisherman from the nearby community of Hillsburn. She had recently joined the popular Facebook discussion group Nova Scotia Unfiltered, where she met Ellis, to become more social after leaving an abusive relationship.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-rcmp-rape-kit-delays-case...
Agressions sexuel
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Bitcoin, DLT and Bank Ledgers: A Central Banker’s View
Jun 19, 2018 at 12:00 UTC Updated Jun 20, 2018 at 00:07 UTC
Yao Qian
Yao Qian is the director-general of the Institute of Digital Money of the People’s Bank of China.
This article represents his personal, academic opinions, not those of the institution.
Bookkeeping refers to the recording of economic data in account books.
A ledger, therefore, is a book with a certain format based on original vouchers and recorded in sequence for all economic transactions. The original vouchers are those obtained when business occurs or is completed to record or prove the evidence of the occurrence or completion of the economic business.
It is the original data and an important basis for accounting, reflecting the most primitive transaction information. It is also key to clarifying economic responsibility.
Ledgers are kept in various material, traditionally, in paper form. But with the development of information technology (IT), ledgers have gradually been digitalized and various types of accounting databases have emerged. Indeed, accounting computerization has become the main tool for accounting work today.
The emergence of distributed ledger technology (DLT) may be another major leap forward after the digitization of ledgers. In the proof-of-work mechanism, miners complete the bookkeeping process for transaction records through “mining” and provide a publicly visible decentralized, shared ledger for each node of the network.
Each blockchain is a ledger, and there is no essential difference in the accounting sense from the traditional ledgers. However, from a technical point of view, the DLT ledger not only inherits the traditional bookkeeping philosophy, but also has incomparable advantages thanks to certain innovative aspects.
As such, DLT can play an important role in addressing some acute problems regarding corporate ledgers, country ledgers and industry ledgers.
A shared philosophy
The traditional model for bookkeeping is based on accounts.
In accounting, an account is set up according to accounting categories. It is used to record the increase and decrease of account elements and to reflect the result of the changes. In terms of system implementation, an account is the carrying body of a series of service agreement. An account can contain a variety of products and services. The balance of the account is changed as a result of recording, aggregating, categorizing and consolidating of the original transaction data from the products and services.
Traditional e-payments are achieved through changes in the balance of accounts opened at centralized institutions, relying entirely on the behavior of the central agency. In contrast, the bitcoin system uses another new model in bookkeeping processing: the UTXO (unspent transaction output) mode.
From the perspective of economics, a UTXO is essentially a claim on future value based on public consensus.
Specifically, when a transaction is completed, each node forms a consensus on the transaction behavior and its results. The consensus confirms that the seller, after selling the goods or services, obtains the right to buy the same valued goods and services from other sellers in the future. This future value-claiming right is widely accepted with no objection and is used in the next transaction for payment and is refused by no one.
The necessary and sufficient condition for obtaining this right is that there must be a corresponding transaction that has obtained the consensus between the nodes. With related terms, the input of a transaction (input) is required for getting the output of the transaction (output).
The blockchain system underlying bitcoin describes and completes the transfer of future value-claiming rights arising from transactions by constructing transaction inputs and transaction outputs that contain unlocking scripts and locking scripts. The input of a transaction is the hash value and the output index of the previous transaction, indicating that the transaction input corresponds to the previous transaction output.
The output of this transaction contains a locking script which will be unlocked by the unlocking script of next transaction in the future. The owner of the future value-claiming right constructs an unlocking script through the bitcoin transaction verification engine to prove his right in the transaction, and then transfers this right to the next entity by locking script, and so on. The unlocking script and the locking script are connected into a continuous value circulation chain.
The bitcoin blockchain does not require an account, but completes the “value” transfer through its UTXOs. UTXOs play the role of “currency.”
In fact, the essence of currency is a future value-claiming right that is widely recognized by society. A UTXO, then, is a kind of future value-claiming right obtained by consensus of the participants in the blockchain network, which is closer to the essence of currency.
However, it plays the role of a trading medium and performs a payment only within limited consensus.
The bitcoin system also stipulates that UTXO ‘s price unit is a “satoshi” and that a Satoshi is equal to one bitcoin in order to make UTXO perform better as a currency.
This is the essence of bitcoin. Bitcoin is a kind of value symbol or value unit that represents the future value-claiming right of a certain value on which a consensus has been reached.
UXTOs and accounts (differences)
When applied against other blockchains, we can understand more about this approach.
A UTXO is a form of value transfer completely different from an account, but the two things do not conflict with each other. In a sense, we can understand the blockchain as a transaction “journal account,” which immutably records all the transaction information by means of encoding.
In reality, the account information we are accustomed to is also the secondary processing of information on a transaction’s “journal account.” It is only that UTXO, through the design of the unlocking script and the locking script, concatenates a transfer and distribution channel for the future value-claiming right between the transactions with different timing. UTXO information and transaction information are unified.
Therefore, using the traditional account processing ideas, the value expressed by the UTXO forms can also be converted into that expressed by the account forms.
For example, the account balance in a bitcoin wallet is the result of the aggregation calculation of its UTXOs. Ethereum, on the other hand, introduces a traditional account based on the blockchain, and describes the process of trading on the account as a state transition function.
In this way, the state is composed of objects called “accounts,” and state transitions that transfer value and information between accounts. Each account is a 20-byte address, which can be trader’s address or the contract’s address. Through the state transition, the system automatically calculates the balance of each account.
Obviously, this is no different from the account processing originally undertaken by the central agency, except that the agency has been changed to the algorithm code. Thus, following the UTXO mode, in a DLT ledger, the account mode similar to the traditional ledger appeared.
Balance and flow
Balance and flow are two important concepts in accounting.
Balance refers to the amount of a variable at a certain point in time. Flow refers to the cumulative change over a period of time. The balance sheet reflects the “financial status” of a company on a specific balance sheet date, including the actual amount of the company’s assets, liabilities and the owner’s equity.
The cash flow statement reflects the “cash flow” of a certain accounting period of the company, and the income statement reflects the “business results” of a certain accounting period of the company.
Therefore, the statement of asset and liability is the balance accounting of the company’s economic information and is a “snapshot” of the company at a specific point in time. The cash flow statement and the income statement are the flow accounting of the economic information of the company and reflect the changes of the company during a specific period. The commonly seen periods include the month, quarter, half year and year.
The balance is static and reflects the status quo, and the flow is dynamic and ongoing. The two are linked to each other and can be converted into each other: (opening balance + increase in current period – reduction in current period = ending balance).
Among them, the balance at the beginning and the end of the period are balance. The increase in the current period and the reduction in the current period are flows.
The analysis of financial statements needs to not only analyze the financial status of a company at a certain point in time in terms of balance, but also compares with historical data, analyzing the changes in the financial status of the company and the reasons behind it in terms of flow, so as to provide a more thorough understanding of the financial situation of the company
As mentioned above, in essence, the UTXO mode immutably records all transaction information by means of encoding, and it is a mode of flow accounting.
Reduced by aggregation, UTXOs can be converted to account balances, and by splitting the account balance the UTXO result can be obtained. In computer terms, we can describe the conversion between UTXO and account as a split/map/reduce architecture. From UTXO to account, it is the process of map/reduce.
When a miner verifies and packages each transaction, it is map, which verifies and updates each UTXO, equivalent to generating a new key-value pair. The process of reduce is shifted to user’s wallets, and each UTXO is aggregated, thereby obtaining the fund balance based on the concept of the account in the user’s wallet.
From the account to UTXO is a split process, this work also occurs in user’s wallet. After receiving a currency transfer request, the wallet needs to split the transfer amount and quote multiple UTXOs as transaction input.
Compared with account mode, the advantage of the UTXO mode is that it is easy to parallelize and improve efficiency. However, the UTXO mode needs to store all flow information, and data storage burden is high. The account mode only requests the current balance information and ignores all flow information, but the premise is that the current balance information is reliable.
From a regulatory point of view, the UTXO mode stores all flow information and is more conducive to supervision and auditing. Still, it should be said that bitcoin’s UTXO model is rather extreme in that it removes the concept of an account in a sense.
However, UTXOs and accounts have their own advantages and disadvantages, and the two models can be integrated to show their respective strengths.
For example, in order to speed up synchronization, one can introduce an account in UTXO mode (ethereum is a typical example). For concurrent processing, account mode can refer to the UTXO concept to split accounts, that is, different departments create different accounts. the same user has multiple accounts, and the transactions of the respective accounts can naturally be processed in parallel.
After processing, the balances of all the accounts are added to obtain the total balance. Just as traditional bookkeeping accounts for both balance information and flow information, the integration of the UTXO model and the account model provides information demanders with more complete, three-dimensional ledger information, and is becoming the current trend in the development of DLT ledgers.
UXTOs and bookkeeping
A systematic exposition on the principle of double-entry bookkeeping was first presented in 1494 by Luca Pacioli an Italian, in his paper “Summary of arithmetic, geometry, proportions and proportionality.”
Double-entry bookkeeping is based on the equality between the asset amount and the amount of equity plus liability. It is a method of bookkeeping that, for every economic activity, records the corresponding changes in two or more linked accounts, thus systematically reflecting the result of fund movement.
A decrease in one account, there is an increase in another account, the debit and credit must equal. Taking capital as an example, the borrower is the receiver of funds, and the lender is the source of the funds.
If there is a spending of fund, the fund must come form somewhere. The “debit equals credit” means that the amount of the money spent equals the amount of the money deducted from the source. The double-entry bookkeeping method scientifically obtains important information on economic transactions and business results from relevant documents and creates a perfect bookkeeping methodology for the formation of modern enterprises and business society.
German philosopher Goethe praised it as “one of the wonderful creations of human wisdom, every shrewd businessman engaged in business activities must take advantage of it.”
Interestingly, like traditional account processing, UTXO ‘s processing also includes a bookkeeping philosophy of “A decrease in one account, there is an increase in another account, the debit and credit must equal.” The manifestation is that if UTXO has a transaction output, there should exist a transaction input, and if there is a transaction input, there should exist a transaction output.
The amount of transaction input should equal to the amount of transaction output, consistent with the connotation of, “A decrease in one account, there is an increase in another account, the debit and credit must equal.”
DLT ledger improvements
With this context, we can examine the benefits of distributed ledgers.
Hard to forge, difficult to falsify, highly efficient, traceable and easy to audit
Traditionally, both paper ledger and electronic ledger are easy to forge and falsify. And the accounting process from the original voucher to the accounting book is error-prone.The UTXO of blockchain technology is designed through sophisticated data structures such as hash functions, time stamps and Merkle trees, supplemented by cryptography and consensus algorithms, to achieve the unforgeability and immutability of historical transaction records, and uses algorithm functions (eg. ethereum’s state transition function) to automatically calculate the account balance.The whole process is of high efficiency and with no error. The UTXO accounting model is also traceable and easy to audit.
Ensures consistency of distributed ledgers through transaction signatures, consensus algorithms and cross-chain technologies, and automatic completion of account-document matching, ledger matching, and account-reality matchingIt should be said that any entity has its right to perform bookkeeping and has its own account. And the same entity usually holds a variety of ledgers, for example, a company has cashier ledger, cash ledger, bank deposit ledger, inventory ledger, invoice ledger, operating expenses ledger, general ledgers, administrative expense ledger, accounts receivable ledger, fixed assets ledger, 17 column breakdown ledger, intangible assets ledger, paid-in capital ledger, etc.From this perspective, ledgers are always “distributed” and there is no so-called centralized ledger. Because ledgers are easy to be forged and falsified, the question how to protect and maintain the consistency of various “distributed” accounts has become the key point of accounting and auditing.
Traditionally, a reconciliation regime is used to achieve consistency of various distributed ledgers.
The account reconciliation refers to checking and collating the relevant data recorded on the ledgers and accounts, so as to achieve the matching between account and document, between different accounts, and between account and real amount. Matching between account and document means that the account records match the related account documents. Matching between accounts means various books, including various books of an entity, various books from different entities that have matching entries. Matching between account and reality mean that the account balance of various property goods matches the actual amount.
DLT first guarantees the matching account and document through transaction signatures. The account is the document and the document is the account. The two are consistent and difficult to tamper with.
Second, DLT achieves the matching of accounts of various entities through a consensus mechanism.
The transaction information is written into the shared ledger only when consensus is reached. Information written into the account must have been agreed by the entities and the accounts are automatically matched. In addition, DLT uses cross-chain protocols to carry out cash-cash transaction and cash-voucher redemption, which automatically accomplishes the account-reality reconciliation.
Cross-chain technology not only guarantees the atomicity of pay in cash-cash transactions and cash-voucher redemption, it also guarantees the consistency between the accounts of different cross-chain entities.
Cross-chain technology includes three types:
Notary schemes – This is a centralized or multi-signature-based witness model. The main feature is that it does not focus on the structure and consensus characteristics of the cross-chain, but instead introduces a trusted third party to act as a notary, acting as an intermediary for cross-chain operations.
Sidechains and relays – The side chain is a kind of chain structure anchored to the primary chain. It is not a fork of the primary chain, but extracts specific information from the data flow of the primary chain to form a new chain structure. Relay is a channel for cross-chain information exchange and delivery. Whether it is a side chain or a relay, data is collected from the primary chain and it plays the role of a listener.
Hash-locking technology – It sets an interoperable trigger between different chains, usually a hash value of a random number to be disclosed. The hash value is equivalent to a puzzle for currency transfer, and only those who get the secret random number can get the money. At the same time, it also constructed two “redeem contracts,” which need to be double-signed to become effective and have a time limit, in which the redeem contract for the person making the transfer hash puzzle is longer in duration than the other. One can thus protect his rights and interests.
It can be said that through specific single-chain and cross-chain bookkeeping technology, DLT ledger eliminates a lot of time-consuming, costly and error-prone reconciliation work. It automatically achieves the consistency of all kinds of “distributed” ledgers in real time.
Returning data rights to individuals
Traditionally, individual information of many participants has been “marked out” on various types of ledgers.
Especially with the development of digital economy, privacy protection of personal data is becoming more and more prominent. China’s “Cyber Security Law” and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provide legal protection for data subject(owner) to enjoy such rights as the right to know, the right to access, the right to object others’ access, the right to carry the data elsewhere, and the right to be forgotten, in order to strengthen personal privacy protection.
With the signature, encryption and other technical methods, DLT is truly able to return data rights back to individuals on a technical level.
By using cryptographic primitives and schemes such as zero-knowledge proof, homomorphic encryption, secure multi-party computation, ring signature, group signature, hierarchical certificates, and coin shuffle, the privacy protection of transaction identities and contents can also be achieved.
Improving value of financial statement information
DLT ledgers are traceable, immutable and hard to be forged, which can guarantee the authenticity and reliability of financial statement information. Moreover, DLT ledgers can further enhance the value of financial statement information in the following aspects.
This can happen in three ways:
Improving the timeliness of financial statement information – Traditionally, account processing, recordkeeping, and reconciliation require costs. Therefore, based on the principle of cost-benefit, traditional accounting practices generally require one to create and disclose accounting statements on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual basis.This kind of financial statement is based on a periodic assumption that has serious time delay, which affects the timeliness of the financial information. Investors, creditors, financial analysts, business managers, and other entities that need such financial information make decisions continuously. They hope that they can obtain information needed at any time for decision-making.The timeliness of financial information is crucial.From the technical feasibility point of view, based on the DLT with automated execution, real-time accounting and achievable global consistency, instantaneous balance sheet generation has become possible. This may be an important innovation in financial accounting.Of course, some necessary preconditions are required. For example, the DLT ledger should have enough ubiquity to cover all types of accounting elements globally.
Improving the relevance of financial statement information – According to the principle of meeting demand, financial statements are designed to satisfy the information users’ decision-making needs. Therefore, financial statement information should be relevant to the decision process of the information user.Compared with historical cost information, fair value information is more relevant.However, traditionally, due to the difficulty in achieving the timeliness of the preparation and disclosure of the aforementioned financial statements, one has to rely more or less on historical cost method, which impair the relevance of the financial information to the user’s decision-making process.The use of DLT not only can achieve the reliability of financial information, but also can achieve the timeliness of the preparation of financial statements, making measurement based on fair value method more feasible, so as to better meet the needs of information users.
Improving the completeness of financial reporting. Similarly, because bookkeeping requires cost, based on the cost-benefit principle, traditional financial statements often selectively reflect information that is presumed to be useful or important to decision makers. Information users can only access the part of information about the company’s business activities, rather than global information.DLT not only reduces accounting costs and improves efficiency, but also allows the user to penetrate to the bottom of the business operation and obtain complete information, thus improving decision-making efficiency. However, in this process, it may touch upon the information disclosure boundary between the relevant stakeholders’ right to information and the company’s need for protection of trade secrets, which needs further balancing.In addition, the acquisition of global information means the large-scale growth of information, and how to extract information value better becomes crucial. From this perspective, the integration of DLT with big data analysis, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and other technologies will probably become the future direction of the ledger technology.
DLT for national ledgers
Although existing ledger technology can fully meet the economic needs, as the economic activities continue to evolve toward digitization and intelligence, the upgrading and transformation of traditional ledger technology will be inevitable.
As an emerging technology that is still developing, DLT is not necessarily a must-have item for future ledger technology. However, strengthening research and exploring its application in the generation of various types of ledgers are undoubtedly of practical significance.
In the modern economy, as government deepens its degree of economic participation, national balance sheet management is becoming increasingly important. The 1992 European currency crisis and the Mexican currency crisis from 1994 to 1995 indicate that serious sovereign country asset and liability maturity mismatches, currency mismatches, and fiscal deficits will trigger currency crises.
The outbreak of debt crisis in Europe and the U.S. is even more prominent.
Maintaining soundness of sovereign countries’ balance sheets is particularly important for the effective response to financial crisis and for achieving speedy economic recovery
Not only that, the compilation and management of national balance sheets has become an important part of promoting the modernization of national governance systems and governance capabilities. June 26, 2017, The 36th meeting of the Central Leadership Group for Comprehensive Deepening of Reform examined and adopted the “working scheme of national and local government balance sheet generation.”
Results so far
It can be said that the national ledger is an important support for finding out what is the bottom line, revealing risks, and helping the country’s governance. However, in the actual preparation process, it faces many challenges and difficulties. So far, only Canada has compiled the balance sheet of the local government, and other countries have not, which shows how difficult it is.
Among all the difficulties, the most fundamental issue is data collection.
National balance sheets require a large amount of basic data, high data quality and high technical requirements, and is difficult to implement.
For example, there are insufficient data and statistics; it involves a wide range of cross-agency cross-ministry, cross-industry, cross-regional transaction data, which is difficult to collect and aggregate. In this regard, DLT may have a role to play in making the preparation of the national accounts a reality.
Using blockchains to link natural resources, intangible assets, financial assets, and physical assets, and building a data sharing platform that breaks down various information barriers, unifies information entry, avoids a lot of duplicate work, and reduces the error rate of data validation. Data sharing, verification, and statistics among agencies, ministries, industries, and regions become more efficient.
Judging from the technical characteristics, each participant of the blockchain system is a remote multi-active node. It is an innate multi-active system and can achieve consistency of information across different ledgers through cross-chain technology, and it is suitable for a wide range of coverage.
DLT in financial accounts
The importance of comprehensive financial statistics is self-evident.
Accelerating the development of comprehensive financial statistics is the key information foundation to effectively monitor the effectiveness of the financial services for the real economy and to improve service efficiency. It is an urgent need to preemptively prevent and resolve systemic financial risks and safeguard financial stability. It is an important move to comprehensively deepening the reform of financial system and to establish a modern financial system.
On April 9, 2018, the State Council issued “Opinions on Fully Promoting Financial Comprehensive Statistics Work” to decisively deploy the comprehensive financial statics work, and made the request for a working mechanism of a unified standard, synchronous data capturing, centralized data validation, and aggregate data sharing.
Undoubtedly, from a technical point of view, DLT is more suitable for these four requirements and may become an infrastructure for comprehensive financial statistics.
Modernization of ledger technology is the foundation of modernization of corporate governance and even state governance. DLT has unique advantages and is expected to play an important role. Of course, it also has its shortcomings. For example, DLT is not scalable enough to meet requirements.
Data privacy and access control need to be improved. Integration of DLT into existing accounting systems still needs research. How to further applied it to generate various types of ledger requires further trial and error and exploration. Obviously, higher-level DLT ledger application is based on the maturity of lower-level application.
For example, it will be natural for DLT ledger to be applied at national and industry level when it is already widely used at enterprise level.
Therefore, attention should be paid to the scale effect and synergy effect of technology application, so as to release the positive energy of DLT ledger to the greatest extent.
Colorful straws image via Shutterstock
ChinaPBOCBitcoinBankingDLTFeaturesUse Cases & VerticalsBusiness News
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SASB Issues Sustainability Disclosure Standards for the Health Care Sector
By Cydney Posner
As reported in these articles from Bloomberg, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) July 31 released a set of voluntary sector-specific standards for disclosure in periodic reports on environmental, social and governance issues -- such as energy, climate change, drug safety and corruption and bribery -- for the health care sector. Sustainability accounting standards for the financial sector are expected to be released next, to be followed by technology and communication and seven other sectors. The standards will be tested "in a pilot program to see whether the costs of reporting such information matches the benefits," according to the WSJ. The standards are expected to be updated regularly.
While current SEC rules would require disclosure of material issues affecting companies, which could include material sustainability issues, at the present time, there is no sustainability reporting "infrastructure." According to the founder and executive director of SASB, quoted in Bloomberg, "'What's needed is an infrastructure in order for companies to understand what issues are likely to be material and a standardized form of disclosure that makes the information useful to investors….'" In the WSJ article, she argued that "'[i]nvestors really need to be able to benchmark peer-to-peer performance and that's what's been missing from this whole sustainability conversation' ….The aim is to get companies to disclose specific metrics on issues including employee turnover, ethical marketing, energy usage, supply chain quality management, and pricing fairness. For example, one metric would encourage companies to disclose the ratio of their net price increases to the U.S. Consumer Price Index." A SASB issues table organized by industry within the health care sector can be found here: http://www.sasb.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Health-Care-Table.pdf. (For comparative purposes, here is a draft issues table for the technology & communication sector: http://www.sasb.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/SASB-Tech-and-Comms-Draft-Issues-Table.pdf.)
The health care standards are designed to provide comparative information within the industry, as well as information about risk and risk mitigation that could be important to investors. For example, one company cited by the WSJ disclosed in its periodic report that there were risks associated with counterfeit medicines and, to address that risk, it had added serial numbers to certain products, resulting in a substantial reduction of reports of counterfeit medicine.
The health care standards apply to six health care industries: biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and equipment, health care delivery, health care distributors and managed care. According to the Bloomberg article, the "health care sector generates about 8 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, [and] also operates 24-7, with high water and energy use and solid, biohazardous, and hazardous waste production. But only about 20 percent of companies in the health care sector disclose industry-specific sustainability information, according to SASB research. About 35 percent of health care companies do not disclose material sustainability issues, while another third do not go beyond ‘boilerplate' statements." SASB has provided a hypothetical example of a biotech's 10-K MD&A disclosure that complies with the new standards here: http://www.sasb.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/SASB_Biotech_Example_10K_Disclosure.pdf
The SASB executive director "said the issues identified in the standards are likely to apply to ‘most, if not all companies' within the health care sector because they were prioritized by research, a public comment period, and industry working groups. Members of the industry working groups included Pfizer, Calvert Investments, and others that represent publicly traded companies with more than $800 billion in market capitalization and investment firms with more than $952 billion in assets under management….. SASB's efforts complement similar international initiatives, such as the International Integrated Reporting Committee, the Global Reporting Initiative, and the Carbon Disclosure Project, also known as CDP." A copy of the SASB report issued earlier this year can be found at http://www.sasb.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/SASB-Outcome-Review-Report-Healthcare.pdf.
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Women Rights in Saudi Arabia Essay
1803 Words Oct 17th, 2012 8 Pages
English 101 Essay #1 We can do it In most of the western civilization, particularly the Americans had heard or seen this female wartime propaganda poster created by J. Miller. There is much in our art and literature that romanticizes girls and women and the role they play in our culture. Nowadays, there is around 3.3 billion female living in our world. Sadly, one in every three women worldwide are victims of sexual, physical, emotional, and other abuse during their lifetime. Being female often means being sentenced to a life of poverty, exploitation, and deprivation. Therefore there are around 1 billion abused women around the world every single year. Being an ambassador’s son, I believe it is the most fortunate and …show more content…
Basha’ir if the Saudi government has any propose to change the constitution or at least pass some amendments to improve women rights. She sadly replied saying “recently King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud passed a law allowing women TO be able to vote and run in the 2015 local elections, and be appointed to the Consultative Assembly.” She added “Saudi Arabia and India are the only countries in the G-20 group to have few or none civil rights for women”. On one particular day, Ms. Basha’ir was late for her class. She arrived twenty minutes after the scheduled time. I knew something was not right, but I did not want to keep asking such a personal question to her or I could get her in a lot of trouble. But I could not resist and I ended up asked her why she was late for class. She said, “I missed the bus” I asked her if she does not drive. She made an ironic smile and replied saying “That her dream was to drive. Since in Saudi Arabia women are not allowed to drive – in fact, they cannot be seen in the front of a car, even if it’s on the passenger seat.” I just could not believe what I just heard. Many people dream to have their own apartment, a beautiful house or to go to a fancy trip. But Ms. Basha’ir just wanted be allowed to drive. On that same day I asked Ms. Basha’ir what she would do if she had the opportunity to change her country harsh law against women. She deeply looked at my eyes, and said “I would love to see a constitution that gives all women
Essay Women 's Rights Of Saudi Arabia
Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia The women of Saudi Arabia, and the surrounding countries, struggle with discrimination issues as well as retaining their rights. Historically, this is one of the oldest issues that is still ongoing. One of the main reasons women in the Middle East are treated poorly is because their culture does not view their rights as human rights; rather, they separate women’s rights or do not recognize them altogether. Women face discrimination in the Middle East more than anywhere…
Essay Womens Rights : Saudi Arabia And Other Asian Countries
Womens Rights: Saudi Arabia and Other Mid-Eastern Asian Countries For most women, waking up in the morning, getting ready for their day by picking out their outfit of choice and doing their daily makeup routine, eventually driving to wherever they need to go, sounds like a typical morning. Having a happy marriage with someone who shares the same interest and starting a loving family with them doesn’t sound odd either. Many women in America, Canada, and other democratic countries take for granted…
Argument Essay Outline
Outline I. Introduction a. Hook: Women make up one half of society. Our society will remain backward and in chains unless its women are liberated, enlightened, and educated b. Background Information: women play important role in the family, men in Saudi Arabia consider women as a second sort. c. Opposing Position: Men in Saudi Arabia believe women should enjoy their lives and follow religious customs d. Thesis Statement: women in Saudi Arabia are deprived many rights, such as driving and social restrictions…
Essay on Women in Saudi Arabia
the women in Saudi Arabia. This topic is not only interesting and timely; it shows that even the countries whose economy is highly developed, can still have problems within the country. Saudi Arabia may be a paradise and an attraction for many people to live in because of its economic stability and its high living standards, it is also a nightmare for many of the women who live there with no rights. Saudi Arabia is a prime example of how some countries still deprive women of their basic rights, and…
Essay about Saudi Women
Abstract Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries that set specific laws regarding women only. A woman is considered to be a second class citizen who must depend on a male relative in all situations. Until recently, women did not have their own identification cards separate from those of their fathers' or husbands'. Women were also limited to certain levels of education such as elementary or secondary school levels. More than that, they were restricted to limited job opportunities. The laws also…
Essay Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia
Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia Being born and raised in America, I and many other Americans have been taught that we live in a country of freedom. Women and men are treated equally; every human being has rights, and you have the freedom to move at will and without restrictions. Women have come a long way in our country, gaining rights ever since the dawn of patriarchy and proving that they are just as good as men with the ability to think, speak, and act for themselves. However, discrimination…
Saudi Arabia Implementing Women's Rights Essay
human rights rages on throughout the world, with the United Nations playing a critical role in the debate. That organization has largely been the group in charge of dictating to various nations what they can and cannot do in the human rights realm. Specifically, there have been a number of different international standards passed on how countries are to treat their women. Saudi Arabia has long been held up as an example of a culture that has not complied with these international human rights norms…
Essay on Domestic Punishment from Saudi Arabia to Sweden
threats and many more. One in every four women and one in every six men experience domestic abuse in their lifetime, in other words ninety five percent of all people that get domestically abused are all women and ninety percent of the abusers are men. Domestic violence has been around for a very long time and it is one of the main causes of death between women from the ages nineteen to forty four ("What Is Domestic Abuse?"). Domestic abuse in Saudi Arabia is not punished by capital crime, if someone…
Essay The Islamic Religion Of Saudi Arabia
When Americans think about women in Saudi Arabia, they think about women being deprived in all aspects in life. It might come as a shock to know that women are encouraged to participate in achieving a higher education. However, Saudi Arabia’s system still has some issues that they need to resolve when it comes to women’s education. Saudi Arabia still has issues with school rules, funding, and gender equity. Thinking about Saudi Arabia, one thing undoubtedly pops to mind…religion. The Islamic religion…
History and Development of Policies on Gender Issues in Iran and Saudi Arabia
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, both of which have very different, yet controversial policies in respects to gender issues. Thus, this essay will take a look at the historical and contextual development of these policies in each country. Next, it will take a close look at the development of gender policies, particularly focusing on the post-1979 period, and the reasons for such development. Finally, it will discuss and compare contemporary policies in a similar manner. In the case of Saudi Arabia, it must…
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New Shoes for Elizabeth
For A MouseKeeper Christmas
Parent/Guardian Guide
Tiananmen West: Why Nixon Ordered the Kent State Massacre
TIANANMEN WEST encompasses decades of research by the author in hopes of replacing conspiracy theories with facts. The FoIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests reveal some interesting new perspectives of not only the Kent State Massacre but how the mind of Richard Nixon could justify such an event. The book ends with a call to action that, if followed, might prevent the U.S. from ever allowing an unfit President to obtain the office again. The evidence presented in the book suggests that Nixon was insane while in office. It also buys in to the theory of others that Nixon acted like a Mafia boss. He was a man in charge of a homicidal reign unmatched in America’s history. It also suggests that his purpose for the Kent State Massacre was to help him end the Vietnam War using one more of his homicidal, disturbing, psychological twists. In the end, four innocent college students lost their lives. But in the mind of Richard M. Nixon, the ends justified the means.
Designed by S-Development
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He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Headlines
Sony Sets A Release Date For MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE; Moves Animated SPIDER-MAN Movie Away From AQUAMAN
We weren't certain this one would ever see the light of day, but Sony Pictures has finally set a release date for their live-action Masters of The Universe adaptation. More past the jump...
Mark Cassidy | 4/26/2017
Filed Under: "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe"
By the power of Graysull, it looks like we finally have some movement on Sony's new big-screen take on He-Man and The Master of The Universe we've been hearing about since the dawn of time. The studio will release their live-action adaptation of the classic animated series on December 18, 2019 - which is two days before Universal’s Wicked movie.
Last we heard, Terminator: Salvation director McG was in line to helm the picture, but that was back in June of last year and we've had no official updates since.
In addition, Sony has moved its Miles Morales-centric animated Spider-Man movie up by one week in order to swim away from James Wan’s Aquaman. The film will now swing into theaters on December 14, 2018.
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24: Legacy - Rules of Engagement
The clock has been reset, and this all-new series will explore the past of its new leading character, Eric Carter, who led the elite squad responsible for killing an infamous terrorist leader and was, consequently, forced into hiding. But before he was a national hero and a wanted man, Carter learned the Rules of Engagement in the streets of Iraq and Washington, D.C.
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BOOM! - Archaia
WHY WE LOVE IT: We've all spent hours glued to episodes of shows like True Detective and House of Cards that explore deeply flawed and morally complex characters. In BUTTERFLY, screenwriter Arash Amel (Grace of Monaco, Erased) brings that aesthetic to comics and the espionage genre, exploring the true nature of people who devote their lives to covert ops and the deceit, solitude, and violence that comes with it. WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT: Marguerite Bennett has been making a name for herself with her work on Lois Lane, Batgirl, and Earth 2: World's End and we can't wait for fans to see how she explores the dark world of spycraft. There's no one better in the espionage genre than Antonio Fuso, the artist behind the critically acclaimed run of GI Joe: Cobra. It's the perfect creative team for a morally complex story of violence and family set in the web of a global conspiracy. WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Butterfly is one of Project Delta's deep cover agents, no birth certificate, no social security number, a complete ghost. When her cover is blown and she is set up for a murder she did not commit, she is unknowingly led to her father's doorstep, a man she thought died 20 years ago. Codenamed Nightingale, her father was once a member of the very same Project Delta, a spy in the violent aftermath of the Cold War, and believes they are behind her set-up. Trained to trust nothing and no one, Butterfly must decide whether to seek answers with the Project, or believe the man who betrayed her years ago.
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Crest Nicholson awarded Silver for ongoing Armed Forces support
On Wednesday 4th September, Crest Nicholson was officially awarded the Silver Employer Recognition Award by Reserve Forces and Cadets Association at a ceremony onboard HMS Victory in the Historic Dock Yard in Portsmouth.
The Silver Award from The Defence Armed Forces Employer Covenant Recognition Scheme (ERS) is presented to organisations that promote and provide a range of initiative for those with ex-military backgrounds, including employment opportunities and training schemes.
This award comes less than a year after Crest Nicholson signed the Armed Forces Covenant, an agreement which promises to offer those that are leaving, or who have left the military, an opportunity to build a career in the housebuilding sector through a dedicated training scheme. In addition, the developer’s Arborfield Green development in Berkshire is being delivered in partnership with the Ministry of Defence on the site of the former Arborfield Garrison.
Mike Robb, Group HR Manager at Crest Nicholson, comments: “As a business, Crest Nicholson has an ongoing relationship with the Armed Forces. We currently employ approximately 40 members of staff with connections to the military, whether that be family members or those with ex-military backgrounds, including myself.
“It is a fantastic achievement to be nationally recognised for a Silver Award from the UK Ministry of Defence, reaffirming our work in the recruitment and training sphere, as well as our involvement with local charities and support groups. The awards ceremony was a fantastic celebration of our ongoing commitment to the Armed Forces community and it was an honour to be surrounded by various national businesses who also support these amazing men and women.”
Commenting on the announcement of the 2019 Employer Recognition Scheme Silver awards, Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace said: “These awards recognise the outstanding support for our armed forces from employers across Britain and I would like to thank and congratulate each and every one. Regardless of size, location or sector, employing ex-forces personnel is good for business and this year we have doubled the number of awards in recognition of the fantastic support they give.”
Minister for Defence People and Veterans Johnny Mercer, said: “Veterans make a huge contribution to businesses across the country and it’s fantastic to see a record breaking number of organisations recognised for their support. We’re working closely with businesses to help them further understand the huge value that veterans, reservists and military spouses can bring to their organisation.”
Awarded Best Training or Recruitment Initiative at the 2017 Housebuilder Awards, the Crest Nicholson Site Management Academy is open to ex-members of the Armed Forces. The industry-leading programme provides candidates with invaluable hands-on experience and the skills to build their careers.
Crest Nicholson has also recently signed up for the Forces Families job board, offering opportunities to Forces spouses and family members with valuable skills to apply to open vacancies. For more information, please visit www.crestnicholson.com/about-us/careers/training-and-development
Crest Nicholson Director recognised as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Engineering
Louise Hardy, Independent Non-Executive Board Director at Crest Nicholson has today been announced as one of the top 100 Most Influential Women in the Engineering Sector. The list, produced by board appointments firm Inclusive Boards in partnership with the Financial Times, will be officially released at the Inclusive Boards: Women in Engineering Leadership Conference on Tuesday 22nd October 2019.
Crest Nicholson gifts RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival plants to Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford
Housebuilder, Crest Nicholson has donated over 50 different species and varieties of plants from its award-winning wellness themed garden to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.
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