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Do I want to be anonymous? Yes! Do I want to be authenticated? Yes!
Those of us who want to see more protections created for individual’s privacy rights are sometimes characterized as either troublemakers, nuts, or perhaps participating in some nefarious activity. As someone to whom privacy is important, I don’t fall into any of those categories.
As I write this, I am attending the 2010 RSA Security Conference in San Francisco. In his keynote address this morning Scott Charney, Corporate Vice President Trustworthy Computing (TwC), for Microsoft pointed out that there are times when we just want to be anonymous, such as for the purpose of encouraging free speech and the exchange of ideas. However, there are other times when we truly want to be authenticated, such as when we do online banking. When I am banking online I want to know it is truly my bank with whom I am interacting, and I want my bank to make sure they know who I am.
Privacy doesn’t have to be an all or nothing affair. In its simplest form, privacy is about balance.
from → Microsoft, Privacy
U.S. House overwhelmingly passes cybersecurity research bill
The Cyber Security Research and Development Act of 2009, which passed by a vote of 422 to 5, authorizes the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop a cybersecurity education program that can help consumers, businesses, and government workers keep their computers secure.
“This bill will help improve the security of cyberspace by ensuring federal investments in cybersecurity are better focused, more effective, and that research into innovative, transformative security technologies is fully supported,” said Symantec CTO Mark Bregman. “HR 4061 represents a major step forward towards defining a clear research agenda that is necessary to stimulate investment in both the private and academic worlds, resulting in the creation of jobs in a badly understaffed industry.”
from → Homeland Security, InfoSec, Legislation
Search Giants Google & Microsoft Bing Compete on Privacy
In August 2008, Google cut the retention period of user search data to 9 months, down from 18 months. After 9 months it no longer retains the IP addresses that can be used to link a user search to an individual.
Recently Microsoft, not to be outdone, reduced the retention period of its users search data to a mere 6 months. Microsoft has accused Google of retaining a portion of the user’s IP address after it’s self-imposed 9 month retention period, while Microsoft claims it will remove the entire IP address.
“Quality of search won’t be reduced but privacy will be enhanced”
Brendon Lynch, Microsoft’s director of privacy policy
Microsoft’s actions appear to be in response to European Union data protection officials request that leading search engine makers respond to their privacy concerns by the end of this month over retaining IP address data.
I commend Microsoft for this move. We can only hope that increased competition will lead to improved privacy and data security by industry leaders, setting a course for others to follow.
from → Data, Google, Microsoft, Privacy
Shedding Your Identity in the Digital Age
tags: Data Privacy, Twitter
is the title of a new article in the December 2009 issue of Wired Magazine. For one month, Evan Ratliff shed his digital identity and tried to disappear. Wired offered $5000 to the first person who could locate him, say the password “fluke” and take his picture within the one month contest period. The premise of the contest was simple: “how hard is it to vanish in the digital age? The article chronicles his adventures on the run, and the phenomena it created on Twitter. Using the hashtag #vanish, contest participants were “tweeting” up to 600 tweets a day as they shared clues and personal information about Evan Ratliff (such as his middle name, a common question of private investigators).
I recommended you pick up the print edition of the article while still available, as it is better than the online version. Otherwise, check out the online version here.
from → Privacy, ThumbsUp
Data Privacy Day 2010 is just around the corner
Data Privacy Day 2010 is occurring on January 28th. Data Privacy Day is an annual international celebration to raise awareness and generate discussion about information privacy. In 2009, both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives recognized January 28th as National Data Privacy Day.
Over the past few years, privacy professionals, corporations, government officials and representatives, academics, and students in the United States, Canada, and 27 European countries have participated in a wide variety of privacy-focused events and educational initiatives in honor of Data Privacy Day. They have conducted discussions, examined materials and explored technologies in an effort to bring information privacy into our daily thoughts, conversations and actions.
“Despite all the benefits of new and innovative technologies, there are doubts and worries that persist about just how much personal information — our digital identity — is collected, stored, used, and shared to power these convenient and pervasive services.”
Richard Purcell, executive director of The Privacy Projects (www.theprivacyprojects.org), organizing sponsor of Data Privacy Day.
Data Privacy Day has also provided an opportunity to promote teen education and awareness about privacy challenges when using mobile devices, social networking sites and other online services.
Everyone is welcome to participate by sponsoring events, contributing writings and other educational resources, joining activities, and taking actions designed to raise privacy awareness.
More information can be found on the event website at: dataprivacyday2010.org.
from → Data, Events, Privacy
Facebook App Maker (RockYou) Hit With Data-Breach Class Action
tags: Data Privacy, Facebook
What is interesting about this story is not so much the SQL injection vulnerability that permitted this data breach, but rather the total disregard for the custodial care and privacy of user data by RockYou.
“RockYou, the popular provider of third-party apps for Facebook, MySpace and other social-networking services, is being hit with a proposed class-action accusing the company of having such poor data security that at least one hacker got away with 32 million e-mails and their passwords.”
It appears RockYou did not provide even a basic level of underlying security for this data:
“RockYou failed to use hashing, salting or any other common and reasonable method of data protection and therefore drastically exacerbated the consequences of a hacker bypassing its outer layer of web security,” according to the Monday complaint in San Francisco federal court.
from → Database, Social Networks
Is (U.S. Homeland) security at the price of privacy worth it?
I’ve just finished watching a CBS News video: “Airport Dilemma: Security Vs. Privacy” where privacy advocates call for the removal of full-body imaging machines used at 19 major U.S. airports. These machines perform what in essence appears to be a virtual “strip search”. It raises the question: “Is (homeland) security at the price of privacy worth it?” To my thinking, the privacy of one’s own body is the most basic of privacy rights, and one often touted by pro-abortion rights advocates.
Watch the video and decide for yourself.
Wikipedia: Physical Privacy
from → Government, Homeland Security, Privacy, Security, TSA
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shereekrider LATEST 1971, Cannabis, CSA, Hemp, Marijuana, prison industrial complex, Richard Nixon, WAR ON DRUGS 0
Scholar @Mark_J_Perry June 14, 2018
This Sunday, June 17 will mark the 47th anniversary of a shameful day in US history — it’s when President Richard Nixon’s declared what has been the US government’s longest and costliest war — the epic failure known as the War on Drugs. At a press conference on that day in 1971, Nixon identified drug abuse as “public enemy number one in the United States” and launched a failed, costly and inhumane federal war on Americans that continues to today. Early the following year, Nixon created the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement (ODALE) in January 1972 to wage a government war on otherwise peaceful and innocent Americans who voluntarily chose to ingest plants, weeds, and intoxicants proscribed by the government. In July 1973, ODALE was consolidated, along with several other federal drug agencies, into the newly established Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as a new “super agency” to handle all aspects of the War on Drugs Otherwise Peaceful Americans.
But as John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s counsel and Assistant for Domestic Affairs, revealed in 1994, the real public enemy in 1971 wasn’t really drugs or drug abuse. Rather the real enemies of the Nixon administration were the anti-war left and blacks, and the War on Drugs was designed as an evil, deceptive and sinister policy to wage a war on those two groups. In an article in the April 2016 issue of The Atlantic (“Legalize It All: How to win the war on drugs“) author and reporter Dan Baum explains how “John Ehrlichman, the Watergate co-conspirator, unlocked for me one of the great mysteries of modern American history: How did the United States entangle itself in a policy of drug prohibition that has yielded so much misery and so few good results?” As Baum discovered, here’s the dirty and disgusting secret to that great mystery of what must be the most expensive, shameful, and reprehensible failed government policy in US history.
Americans have been criminalizing psychoactive substances since San Francisco’s anti-opium law of 1875, but it was Ehrlichman’s boss, Richard Nixon, who declared the first “War on Drugs” in 1971 and set the country on the wildly punitive and counterproductive path it still pursues. I’d tracked Ehrlichman, who had been Nixon’s domestic-policy adviser, to an engineering firm in Atlanta, where he was working on minority recruitment. At the time, I was writing a book about the politics of drug prohibition. I started to ask Ehrlichman a series of earnest, wonky questions that he impatiently waved away.
“You want to know what this was really all about?” he asked with the bluntness of a man who, after public disgrace and a stretch in federal prison, had little left to protect. “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or blacks, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
Nixon’s invention of the War on Drugs as a political tool was cynical, but every president since — Democrat and Republican alike — has found it equally useful for one reason or another. Meanwhile, the growing cost of the Drug War is now impossible to ignore: billions of dollars wasted, bloodshed in Latin America and on the streets of our own cities, and millions of lives destroyed by draconian punishment that doesn’t end at the prison gate; one of every eight black men has been disenfranchised because of a felony conviction.
MP: As much as Prohibition (The War on Alcohol) was also an expensive, epic and misguided failure of government policy, it didn’t have its origins in any type of equivalent sinister and evil plot like the War on Drugs to destroy enemies of the Woodrow Wilson administration in 1919. In fact, President Wilson vetoed the Volstead Act, the popular name for the National Prohibition Act, but the House and Senate both voted quickly to override the veto and America started the War on Alchohol Otherwise Peaceful Americans Who Voluntarily Chose to Ingest Beer, Wine, and Spirits in 1920.
If the real goal of the War on Drugs was to target, convict and incarcerate subversive anti-war “hippies” and black Americans, as Ehrlichman describes it, it sure worked as the chart above of the male incarceration rate in the US shows. During the nearly 50-year period between 1925 and the early 1970s, the male incarceration rate was remarkably stable at about 200 men per 100,000 population, or 1 US male per 500, according to data from Bureau of Justice Statistics. By 1986, about a decade after the War on Drugs started locking up drug users and dealers in cages, the male incarceration rate doubled to 400 per 100,000 population. Then within another decade, the male incarceration rate doubled again to more than 800 by 1996 before reaching a historic peak of 956 in 2008 (about one in 100) that was almost five times higher than the stable rate before the War on Drugs. The arrest and incarceration data show that the War on Drugs had a significantly much greater negative effect on blacks and Hispanics than whites, making the Drug War even more shameful for its devastating and disproportionate adverse effects on America’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged populations.
Since the 2008 peak, the male incarceration rate has been gradually declining in each of the last seven years of available data through 2016, possibly because of three trends: a) decriminalization of weeds at the city and state level, b) the legalization of medical weeds at the state level, and c) now legalization of recreational weeds at the city and state levels.
While there could have been other factors that contributed to the nearly five-fold increase in the male incarceration rate between the early 1970s and the peak in 2008, research clearly shows that the War on Drugs, along with mandatory minimum sentencing in the 1980s and the disparate treatment of powdered cocaine and “crack cocaine” (powdered cocaine processed with baking soda into smokable rocks) were all significant contributing factors to the unprecedented rate of incarcerating Americans. Here are some conclusions from the 2014 book The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences (my emphasis):
The states’ combined incarceration rates increased across all crime categories between 1980 and 2010 (see chart above). Most striking, however, is the dramatic increase in the incarceration rate for drug-related crimes. In 1980, imprisonment for drug offenses was rare, with a combined state incarceration rate of 15 per 100,000 population. By 2010, the drug incarceration rate had increased nearly 10-fold to 143 per 100,000. Indeed, the rate of incarceration for the single category of drug-related offenses, excluding local jails and federal prisons, by itself exceeds by 50% the average incarceration rate for all crimes of Western European countries and is twice the average incarceration rate for all crimes of a significant number of European countries.
Arrest rates for federal drug offenses climbed in the 1970s, and mandatory prison time for these offenses became more common in the 1980s. Mandatory prison sentences, intensified enforcement of drug laws, and long sentences contributed not only to overall high rates of incarceration but also especially to extraordinary rates of incarceration in black and Latino communities. Intensified enforcement of drug laws subjected blacks, more than whites, to new mandatory minimum sentences—despite lower levels of drug use and no higher demonstrated levels of trafficking among the black than the white population.
As a result of the lengthening of sentences and greatly expanded drug law enforcement and imprisonment for drug offenses, criminal defendants became more likely to be sentenced to prison and remained there significantly longer than in the past. The policy shifts that propelled the growth in incarceration had disproportionately large effects on African Americans and Latinos. Indeed, serving time in prison has become a normal life event among recent birth cohorts of African American men who have not completed high school.
Bottom Line: Even without the nefarious, vile, and veiled origins revealed by Ehrlichman in 1994, the War on Drugs Otherwise Peaceful Americans Who Voluntarily Choose To Ingest or Sell Intoxicants Currently Proscribed by the Government, Which Will Lock Up Users or Sellers in Cages if Caught would represent one of the most shameful chapters in America’s history. But with its intention to destroy the black community and anti-war peace activists, which has certainly been “successfully” achieved for the black community, the shamefulness of the War on Drugs is elevated to a much higher level of despicable, evil immorality.
Mark J. Perry
TKP Thorne Peters–“I’m NOT crying – my eyes are running from the soapy tray.” May He Rest In Peace… This Is The Way It Works…
deer, LATEST, Vermont News
Activist Opinions, LATEST, Political
LATEST, Prisoner Abuse
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TOTT News Australia's Front Line
You are here: Home » Rotten Eggs: Corruption in Australia
Rotten Eggs: Corruption in Australia
Public trust in the establishment is slipping. Photo: AER
Ask citizens why their countries aren’t developing, or investors why they choose not to invest in some regions, and suspicions of deep-rooted corruption is almost always at the top of the list.
Australia, despite being an industrialised and developed nation, experiences a variety of corruption and conflict of interest sagas in industries such as banking, health, media and more.
CORRUPTION AND CONFLICT
Corruption and conflict of interest underpins the abuse of society and the political system.
In recent decades, scholars have preferred narrow legalistic definitions of corruption. However, restricting the ambit of corruption exposes a disconnect between legal standards and popular norms, and between the view of the political and business elite and the rest of society.
Public sector corruption in Australia is similar to that in other developed nations, ranging from sources measuring corruption perceived by experts and business executives. This includes the use of public office for private gain, nepotism, bribery, the diversion of public money and state capture.
Transparency International’s 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Australia 13th place, dropping six positions since 2012. According to this same index, corruption perception is increasing.
In addition, the phenomenon has also been studied by the Australian National University, which produced a report called Perceptions of Corruption and Ethical Conduct which concluded:
“There is a widespread perception that corruption in Australia has increased” and that “the media, trade unions and political parties were seen as Australia’s most corrupt institutions”.
Furthermore, in January 2018, a discussion paper published by the Australia Institute, suggested that the trust in the Australian government and establishment is at a historical low.
To target corruption, the Australia Institute recommends establishing a federal anti-corruption commission to investigate and expose corruption and misconduct in politics and government.
Over the last decade, Australians have lost faith in their represented officials, law enforcement agencies, healthcare workers, lawyers and judges, banking and much more.
Let’s briefly explore some of the most common conflicts of interest or corruption found in Australia.
POLITICAL LOBBYING
The public are becoming sceptical about lobbying, however the scepticism mainly directed towards the decision-makers themselves, not towards the hired professionals who lubricate the process.
Most lobbyists are former political advisers, like the 10 leading members of Canberra lobbying firms that have in common almost complete public anonymity — as is the case with most political staffers.
Of those 10, perhaps Michael Photios, a former NSW state minister, is the best known. Their former bosses include Tony Abbott, Kevin Rudd, Joe Hockey, Peter Costello and Mike Rann.
Their clients are a who’s who of the biggest Australian and international corporations, including Apple, Nike, McDonalds, Macquarie Group, Aldi, Woolworths, Commonwealth Bank and Theiss.
Explore more in this new piece: Australia’s political lobbying regime needs urgent reform
Australia’s banking system follows a similar tune to the political sphere, with the industry regularly commiting and profiting from fraud, becoming a way of life for most bankers.
Faked pay slips, forged documents and cash-stuffed envelopes used as bribes to secure loans are just some of the examples of dodgy practices exposed so far by the banking royal commission.
The commission also heard requests to the auditor general to investigate the declaration of interest and conflict of interest policies of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
As with most developed nations, Australia is captured by people falling over to get rich quick on commission-driven schemes to dish out bigger mortgages to borrowers who can’t afford them.
Not to mention that secret shareholders all intertwine behind the scenes at Australia’s ‘Big Four’ banks, connecting to a larger international spider web of deception.
The plethora of smart technologies and surveillance mechanisms being introduced across Australia also are being allowed under controversial connections that raise conflict of interest questions.
One recent example, includes the construction of Darwin’s new ‘smart city’, which is part of a national plan to transform Australia. The city is using technology directly inspired from China.
This is interesting when you consider reports that reveal Darwin’s Lord Mayor, Kon Vatskalis, has a Chinese wife and regularly makes trips to the nation on ‘political excursions’.
Online, the power of Facebook and Google needs regulatory oversight to avoid corruption and abuse of market position, Australian Community Media’s new owner Antony Catalano says.
The ACCC also recently made 23 recommendations to curb the power of digital platforms, including oversight and ability to question algorithm behaviour and a code of conduct to help media companies deal with the power imbalance in business negotiations with the duopoly.
VACCINATION IN AUSTRALIA
Australia is home to a powerful network of individuals and business interests that continue to exploit society to their benefit through vaccination programs, including Lucy Turnbull and Rupert Murdoch.
Lucy Turnbull, the first female Lord Mayor of Sydney and wife of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, is a former chairwoman of cervical cancer vaccine developer, Prima BioMed.
Furthermore, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, founded by Rupert Murdoch’s mother, is heavily involved in vaccinology, including ‘discovery’, clinical trials and evaluation, safety and more.
The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute’s Corporate Partners webpage states that News Corp and Foxtel support this institute — the same publications that initially launched the ‘No Jab, No Pay/Play’ campaign and boasted about their success on public websites.
Explore more in our detailed piece: Your guide to the dangers of vaccines in Australia
In many countries, including Australia, healthcare is among the most corrupt sectors, with many reports arguing it threatens the sustainability of healthcare systems worldwide.
The size, diversity and nature of the public health system creates corruption risks and vulnerabilities that are specific to the health sector, including include the theft of controlled drugs, covering up of clinical malpractice, fraudulent billing practices and bullying within the medical profession.
One example includes the Western Australia Corruption and Crime Commission’s report into bribery and corruption that recommended three former senior Western Australia health officials face criminal charges after its investigation uncovered one of the biggest corruption scandals in the state.
Furthermore, the independent statutory officer charged with oversight of South Australia’s health system will soon also be responsible for designing its strategy, taking the mental health policy and strategy from the Executive Director of Mental Health to the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist.
Spokesperson Stephen Wade said this raised “significant issues of conflict of interest” because the Chief Psychiatrist is responsible for independently assessing the functioning of the system.
Further beneath the surface, an oligopoly of pharmaceutical giants continue to influence Australian politics, media and regulatory industries, to promote an agenda of consumption over healing, disinformation over informed discussion and manipulation over security of their products.
Prescription drug addiction continues to be the leading cause of drug-induced deaths across the country, information suppressed to ensure medical giants continue to profit off pain and addiction.
Researchers from the University of Sydney analysed four years of Australian pharmaceutical industry-sponsored educational events for health workers dedicated to three conditions prone to overdiagnosis and overtreatment — depression, overactive bladder and osteoporosis.
Published in BMJ Open, the research reveals that a few companies sponsored the majority of the events, with GPs often targeted and most events offered attendees dinner. The provision of meals at such events has been shown in previous studies to influence prescribing behaviour.
Big Pharma’s footprint in Australia is undeniable, and you can learn more about this in our feature video: Monopoly: The Influence of Big Pharma in Australia
The mass media influences collective perception of society in a variety of ways, including the extent to which the content is appealing, the degree to which information channels are accessible and desirable, and the amount of social conflict and diversity there is in a community.
Despite Australia being a large, industrialized nation, consolidation of media control and programming is larger in this country than many other developed nations, according to reports.
Australia has ranked 30th on a world ‘Press Freedom Index Report’, falling behind countries such as Norway, Estonia, Cape Verde, Denmark, Japan and many more.
News Corp Australia currently owns Sky News Australia, news.com.au, Fox Sports, Foxtel, The Daily Telegraph, The Australian, The Sunday Telegraph, Herald Sun, The Courier-Mail, The Sunday Mail, The Gold Coast Bulletin, The Mercury, and the Brisbane Broncos.
Nine Corp/Fairfax Media currently operates a number of major newspapers in Australia, including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, The Canberra Times, The Sun-Herald, Stock And Land and The Land.
Former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, called this stranglehold on information across Australia a ‘cancer on democracy’, citing specifically Rupert Murdoch’s continued influence in the industry.
Corruption and conflicts of interest stories have a disproportionate impact on the poor and most vulnerable in Australian society, while also increasing costs and reducing access to services, including health, education and justice.
It erodes trust in the nation and undermines the social contract. This is cause for concern, but particularly in contexts of health and politics, as corruption fuels and perpetuates the inequalities and discontent that lead to dehumanization.
The fight against corruption is against the monopoly of the industrialised countries.
Civil society can help by denouncing corruption and putting pressure on the government, eliminate the interests of the politico-administrative apparatus and the ignorance of the victims, while removing a culture of fear nurtured by those who benefit from corruption.
To erode this problem in Australian society, citizens must help diagnose corruption areas and push for further anti-corruption, transparency and accountability approaches to be deployed in response.
Thank you to Full Member ChrisAtty for the feature pitch!
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← Google’s secret data network in Australia
Discussion: Smart cities, neuro-surveillance, biometrics →
2 Comments on “Rotten Eggs: Corruption in Australia”
October 21, 2019 at 19:58 #
Very obvious corruption also to a lot of us. How can we make a difference!? We need to unite
December 2, 2019 at 16:14 #
Society has been stratified using scientific and psychological means.
Unity is impossible.
In all honesty, unity has been and will be always impossible.
Things will only improve if a righteous faction takes power, and I mean takes it.
But those who have benefited from the corruption in society will view the Righteous as being corrupt.
Australia has been flooded with peoples from third world autocratic regimes.
Peoples from these countries are known to be politically apathetic.
Their in built tolerance of corruption will prevent them from action, especially if they are enjoying a higher socio economic standard in Australia, despite it’s corruption, than they did in their own supposed native lands.
Those native Australians who have benefited from the lack of genuine competition a meritocratic society has, those who have benefited from these absurd “Diversity Quotas” will also resist corruption being extirpated from society.
It’s weird how this is the End Times for some, while it is the dawn of a new beginning for others.
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School of Psychology - Metropolitan Campus
Master's Level Programs
M.S. in Clinical Psychopharmacology
Program Faculty/Staff
MS in Clinical Psychopharmacology Program Faculty/Staff
Michael A. Ansonoff, Ph.D.
Dr. Ansonoff received his Ph.D. from the Sue Golding Graduate program at Albert Einstein Medical School of Yeshiva University (Neuroscience Program) following training in the laboratory of Dr. Anne Etgen on cellular and behavioral mechanisms by which ovarian steroids regulate brain function. His research involved investigating the regulatory mechanisms by which ovarian steroids desensitize adrenergic receptors in the female rodent. He then completed a 5-year post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey studying the behavioral and pharmacological consequences of opioid receptor gene ablation in mice. Presently, he is still at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, however, his research interests have shifted towards examining the consequences of the knockout of the nociceptin receptor and its endogenous ligand on food consumption and obesity. In addition, he has developed a keen interest in science education leading him to complete a M.A. in education at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Anne R. Farrar-Anton, Ph.D., MSCP
Dr. Anne Farrar-Anton is a licensed psychologist in New Jersey and New York. Dr. Farrar-Anton earned her master's in Counseling and her doctorate degree in Counseling Psychology from Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ. Dr. Farrar-Anton completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in pediatric neuropsychology at the Institute for Child Development at Hackensack University Medical Center. Dr. Farrar-Anton completed a Post-Doctoral Master's of Science in Clinical Psychopharmacology (MSCP, 2009) from Fairleigh Dickinson University along with the Certificate Program in Integrated Primary Care (2011) in order to better understand psychotropic medications as well as how to collaborate/integrate psychology within a medical setting. Dr. Farrar-Anton is able to utilize her knowledge on psychotropic medications to better understand her patient's symptoms and be able to collaborate with the physicians prescribing these various medications.
Dr. Farrar-Anton currently serves as the Director of the Post-Doctoral Masters in Clinical Psychopharmacology Program at Fairleigh Dickinson University, which is 1 of the 4 programs designated by the American Psychological Association in the country, which trains licensed psychologists to be able to prescribe psychotropic medications. In addition, to her role as Director, she also services as an adjunct professor for the School of Psychology and the School of Education as well as a testing/therapy supervisor at the Center for Psychological Services. Dr. Farrar-Anton teaches the Professional Development and Ethics course (PSYC 7935) for the MSCP program along with the Psychopharmacology courses for the Clinical Ph.D. Program and the School/Clinical Psy.D. Program.
She has been with Hackensack University Medical Center for the past 18 years in various capacities and is currently on Medical Staff within the Department of Psychiatry and Pediatrics. She began working at the Institute for Child Development and was there for 5.5 years prior to transitioning to the Children's Cancer Institute where she has worked for the past 13 years; she has been working with the patients and their families who have been diagnosed with various types of cancer, blood disorders, or those requiring a bone marrow transplant. She currently serves as the Supervisor of the Psychological and Educational services; she conducts comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations, psychotherapy and crisis counseling with children and families, supervises and trains doctoral students, and has an active research agenda. Her primary goal is to assist the children and families suffering from various life-threatening medical illnesses to find adaptive ways to cope with the stressors that are presented to them and utilizes a biopsychosocial orientation. The focus can be anywhere on the spectrum from adjusting to diagnosis, survivorship issues and late effects of treatment, palliation, to end-of-life issues.
Dr. Farrar-Anton established a small private practice in 2010 in Bergen County and provides both psychological and neuropsychological services with weekend hours. She has been involved in numerous leadership positions at the county, state, and national level as well as is involved with national psychological and neuropsychological organizations. In July 2015, Dr. Farrar-Anton was appointed by the Governor to serve on the New Jersey Board of Psychological Examiners, which is the state licensing board. She is currently serving as Secretary of the New Jersey Neuropsychological Society. In addition, Dr. Farrar-Anton has been involved in the New Jersey Psychological Association in numerous capacities including previously completing serving several terms as a Member of the Executive Board. She is also an author of several journal publications and a book chapter. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her therapy and agility dog, learning ballroom dancing, and reading.
Laura G. Leahy, MSN, APRN, PMH-CNS/FNP, BC
Ms. Leahy received her B.S. in Psychology & Human Development from Duke University in 1987 and her B.S.N. (1989) and M.S.N. (1991) in Child and Family Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania. She is presently working on her DrNP at Drexel University and has completed all but her dissertation. Ms. Leahy has also been certified as a Master Psychopharmacologist through Stephen Stahl's Neuroscience Educational Institute. Laura has taught Advanced Psychopharmacology across the Lifespan at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing for the past ten years. She was also involved as a clinical instructor for the inaugural Post-Doctoral Psychopharmacology Program at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Presently, Ms. Leahy maintains a private outpatient practice, specializing in treatment-resistant symptoms and psychopharmacology. She has been prescribing and providing psychotherapy services as a Family Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner for over 23 years. She was the co-founder of Center for Family Guidance, the largest privately held psychiatric mental health organization in New Jersey.
Ms. Leahy recently (May 2013) published The Manual of Clinical Psychopharmacology for Nurses through the American Psychiatric Association and had previously published Pocket Psych Drugs (2010) through F. A. Davis. She presents extensively on the local, state and national levels on various topics related to psychopharmacology, pharmacogenetics, child & adolescent psychiatric disorders & pharmacological treatments as well as women's mental health, among other areas of psychiatry and mental health
Bret A. Moore, Psy.D., ABPP
Bret A. Moore is a board certified clinical psychologist in San Antonio, Texas, Prescribing Psychologist in New Mexico, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He is the author or editor of ten books including Pharmacotherapy for Psychologists: Prescribing and Collaborative Roles, Handbook of Clinical Psychopharmacology for Psychologists and Anxiety Disorders: A Guide for Integrating Psychopharmacology and Psychotherapy, which he co-edited with Stephen Stahl. He is also the series editor of Psychopharmacology and Psychotherapy in Clinical Practice for Routledge/Taylor & Francis Press.
Dr. Moore is a former active-duty Army psychologist and two-tour veteran of Iraq. He is a recipient of the Arthur W. Melton Award for Early Career Achievement in Military Psychology from Division 19 of the American Psychological Association and the Early Career Achievement Award from Division 18, and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. His views and opinions on clinical and military psychology have been quoted in USA Today, the New York Times, and the Boston Globe, and on NPR, the BBC, CNN, CBS News, Fox News and the CBC.
Merrill A. Norton, Pharm. D., D.Ph., ICCDP-D
Dr. Norton is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy with his specialty areas to include psychopharmacology and addiction pharmacy. He has also been a faculty member of the Fairleigh-Dickinson University Postdoctoral Training Program in the Masters of Psychopharmacology, Alliant International University of San Francisco College of Psychology, University of Georgia School of Continuing Education, and Berry College in the areas of Psychopharmacology and Addiction Pharmacy. His area of specialty in addiction pharmacy is the management of chronic pain in the addicted patient.
Dr. Merrill Norton was recently honored by the Georgia Addiction Counselors Association in receiving the prestigious Distinguished Service Award for 2015. The award is bestowed on individuals for recognition of their long term support and commitment to the treatment and welfare of those affected by alcohol and drug addiction in Georgia and nationally. Dr. Norton’s efforts of educating thousands of behavioral health practitioners nationally to the disease states of substance use disorders and his dedication to the early prevention and intervention of addictive disease in Georgia’s families makes him a person uniquely qualified for this award. Also, Dr. Norton was the 2009 recipient of the Georgia School of Addiction Studies (GSAS) Excellence in Addiction Treatment Individual Achievement Award “for his unselfish dedication to the treatment of addicted families, not only in the state of Georgia, but nationally.” Dr. Norton was recognized by the GSAS Board of Directors for the ongoing development of undergraduate and graduate curriculum and drug research in the area of addiction pharmacy.
His book, The Pharmacology of Psychoactive Chemical Use, Abuse, and Dependence, and his DVD series, “The Hijacking of the Brain” have been used to train thousands of mental health professionals nationally; they have become the standards of teaching excellence in the addiction treatment profession. His new book, The Pharmacology of Substance Use Disorders will be released in 2016.
Degree Requirements - M.S. in Clinical Psychopharmacology
FAQ's?
Resources for Psychologists
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DTLA land sales slim in 2016
Lack of activity suggests submarket could be headed for a downturn
By Laurie Dove
Downtown Los Angeles is coming off a banner year.
In 2015, third quarter land sales reached $2.5 billion, significantly more than any other quarter recorded in DTLA as far back as 1990, according to data compiled by JLL.
However, a lack of continued heightened activity in 2016 suggests that DTLA could be headed into a downturn.
“Land sales have really slowed down,” said Rob McRitchie, a senior vice president at JLL. “Downtown LA is certainly on the map as a maturing market that ebbs and flows. But large developments? Right now, they are going through an ebb.”
In the first quarter of 2016, $44 million in DTLA land changed hands at an average of $339 a square foot. It was far less than the $173.8 million of land that traded in the first quarter of 2015.
The fluctuations make sense in an area where old industrial buildings and empty lots are giving way to multifamily developments fetching higher asking rents. However, McRitchie expects the rate and activity spikes of the last several years to continue to mellow until this new housing supply is absorbed in 2017 and 2018.
As for available land, there isn’t much of it. Even in what was once the wild west, for a city center anyway.
“The deals of the future will center on analyzing in-place assets and the land’s residual value, and working on getting the highest and best use designed for that piece,” McRitchie said.
The blue sky days in 2014 and 2015 reached peak with the $130 million sale of 14.6 acres of land in Downtown’s Arts District.
The buyer, SunCal, is expected to replace the site’s cold storage facilities with a large-scale mixed-use office and residential development. It’s a feat that will be challenging to replicate as DTLA land sales slim in 2016.
As the second quarter closes, land trades are still reaching a desirable average of $328.51 a square foot. However, it’s far less than February 2015, when the unentitled lots at 1201 and 1229 South Grand Avenue near Staples Center reached a record-setting $578 a square foot in a $26 million deal with Shanghai-based developer, Shenglong Group. The developer plans to raze the site’s 1930s warehouse to make way for two condominium towers.
Shenglong was part of a rush of investors seeking to capture rental dollars from a new wave of residents enamored with an evolving Downtown. But whether all the planned projects will come to life remains to be seen.
“There are tens of thousands of residential units that will be delivered in 2017 and 2018,” McRitchie said. “It’s a ‘wait and see’ as material and labor costs are increasing. There are a lot of variables that are giving pause to developers, and because of that, we are starting to see a plateau in pricing.”
DevelopmentDowntown Los Angelesland prices
Boyle Heights slated for another mixed-use project
The threat of fire doomed this Tujunga resi project. Now the developer will sue
Haroni Investments to turn parking lot into new apartments
City will draw up “anti-displacement zone” ordinance
Greenland opts to go rental at Metropolis tower in DTLA
Developers rejoice: Newest state law aims to boost housing production
California passes landmark rent control law
Equity Residential’s long-stalled DTLA residential tower project is back
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Disaster Profiteers vs. the People of Puerto Rico
One year after Hurricane Maria, counting the dead is one of many challenges that Puerto Rico faces under massive debt, crippling austerity, and disaster profiteers. Aaron Maté speaks to writer and educator Rima Brusi and Carla Minet of the Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto Rico
AARON MATE: It’s The Real News. I’m Aaron Mate.
One year after Hurricane Maria, there is virtually no dispute that thousands of people lost their lives in Puerto Rico. A Harvard study earlier this year says the storm likely killed more than 4600. And ahead of Maria’s first anniversary, the Puerto Rican government officially acknowledged a toll of at least 2975. But there is one notable exception in the White House. President Trump recently said Democrats had inflated the toll to make him look bad. And FEMA director Brock Long made the rounds on cable news to downplay the numbers.
BROCK LONG: And it’s frustrating. Those studies, the Harvard study was done differently than the George Washington study, or this study or that study. And the numbers are all over the place. So the George Washington study looked at what happened six months after the fact. And you know what happens is – and even in this event you might see more deaths indirectly occur as time goes on because people have heart attacks due to stress, they fall off their house trying to fix their roof, they die in car crashes because they went through an intersection where the stoplights weren’t working. You know the other thing that goes on – there’s all kinds of studies on this that we take a look at. Spousal abuse goes through the roof. You can’t blame spousal abuse after a disaster on anybody.
AARON MATE: The Trump administration’s death toll denial has at least garnered some media attention. But it’s one of many tragedies that Puerto Rico is facing one year after Hurricane Maria. Well, joining me are two guests; Rima Brusi is a writer, educator and advocate, she’s formerly a faculty member at the University of Puerto Rico. And Carla Minet is executive director of the Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto Rico. Welcome to you both.
Carla, I’ll start with you. What do we know at this point about the death toll? Your group was on the story from the beginning, reporting that the early numbers were a huge undercount. Every study since then has corroborated your findings. What do we know today?
CARLA MINET: Well, we still know very little. What we have is the recent George Washington University report that says that around more than 3000 people died. But it’s another estimate. They haven’t done like an epidemiology kind of study. What we did is that we did a journalism investigation. We recently published the most complete database that has 487 cases of verified cases of people that died because of the hurricane, following the CDC guidelines. So that database is online, and there you have the most complete list and testimonies of the family members of the people that died because of the hurricane, though still no official new numbers have come out.
AARON MATE: And what do you think accounts for a sizable number of the deaths that came in the days and months after the hurricane, the people who didn’t die immediately in the storm?
CARLA MINET: Most of the deaths that we have been documenting our debt from people that died the next weeks and months following the hurricane. They died because of the lack of medical services, lack of medicines, lack of electricity to get their medical treatment, problems in hospitals, infections sepsis, lack of the possibility of having dialysis, and the kind of deaths that are considered related, but not directly, to the hurricane. But since the CDC still considers them related to a hurricane although they are indirectly related.
AARON MATE: And Rima Brusi, as you look at the media coverage of Hurricane Maria one year later, there was recently a round of commemorations, what’s your sense of how Puerto Rico is being covered today and what issues do you think are being most overlooked?
RIMA BRUSI: Well, there’s a lot of journalists and a lot of writers in general that are doing a really good job, a really nice job on that, are making a big effort to get at the roots of the crisis and to cover the issue in depth. Now that said, the mainstream press in general has a tendency to focus on the hurricane in itself as an isolated natural disaster and to portray Puerto Ricans as victims of a natural disaster and nothing else. Whereas there’s many processes that not only make a disaster much worse, like Carla was saying, in terms of debts and the impact in a general sense. Most of that predated the hurricane and had come from before, from 2015.
The stating by the local government of the debt unpayable, and by the reaction of the bondholders and by reaction the federal government and their decision to impose the Junta de Control Fiscal, this fiscal management board that is pretty much all-powerful, and that has an impact on the way things happen in every financial institution in Puerto Rico nowadays. So I guess what I’m saying is that journalists covering Puerto Rico sometimes do not go into the issue. So they don’t understand the economic roots and the ideological roads of many of the things that they’re covering, as if they were only a consequence of Hurricane Maria. No, there’s a lot of stuff going on from before. Stuff that places like the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, where Carla works, were covering before the hurricane.
AARON MATE: And for people who are unfamiliar with some of those structural issues, can you give us a brief survey and your assessment of where they are now? We’re talking about an island 72 billion dollars in bond debt. About 50 billion dollars when it comes to pension obligations. But what a lot of people don’t know is the strong connection that these huge obligations have to Wall Street.
RIMA BRUSI: Absolutely. Wall Street is not particularly concerned about the pension engagements part. But as soon as the governor in 2015 declared the debt unpayable, a group of … I think it was 34 hedge funds and vulture funds hurried, in a very rushed manner commissioned this report, and in about eight to ten pages sort of made a set of recommendations to the Puerto Rican government. Demands, really, more than recommendations because they reflect the demands later made in court by the same group of debtholders. And these demands included a number of austerity measures.
They want labor reform, they want education reform. And when they say education reform, they focus on two very specific things. They wanted to reduce the budget of the public university and they wanted to reduce, and I’m quoting almost verbatim, the number of teachers working in the K-12 system. So very early in the game, two years before the hurricane, already there was an agenda of closing schools, of attacking labor, of reducing union power or eliminating unions or undermining unions. All those things predated the hurricane.
So now the we are further debilitated by the hurricane, those measures are even more dangerous and undermine Puerto Rico’s ability to recover and to recover economically, and also frankly emotionally, from the hurricane. Now the overall frame for this, of course, is a frame that combines disaster capitalism, which I think a lot of your viewers are familiar with that the kind of framework, and the approach after disasters to sort of make a profit out of it by different actors. And then in the case of Puerto Rico, there’s also colonialism. We are powerless to take our own measures, in political terms, against disaster profiteering because the local government has pretty much no power. The federal government’s power trumps any decision the Puerto Rican government can make.
AARON MATE: Carla, let me ask you about the issue of disaster profiteering, because there was a recent study put out by the Center for a New Economy, which your group has covered, that found that ninety percent of federal contracts for post-Maria recovery have been issued to companies that are outside of Puerto Rico.
CARLA MINET: Yeah, definitely. Everybody has been wondering where this recovery money is going. And we now have just learned that almost 90 percent of this money is going to companies in the U.S. And I think it begs the question; with so much unemployment in Puerto Rico and so much need, so many people eager to work, people that even went to the U.S. and would be willing to come back to the island if they had a decent job, why is this recovery process not being distributed among Puerto Rican companies and Puerto Rican people? So it’s definitely part of this system, this federal system of contracting companies that are on their list. I don’t know if this has a political side. I can suppose it does. But definitely, it’s not being something that is for the benefit of the Puerto Rican economy that’s been for like 12 years now in depression.
AARON MATE: Rima Brusi, as we wrap, you mentioned a bit about some of the attacks on education. And let me ask you about that in the context of your former school, University of Puerto Rico. Can you talk about what has been happening there, and also the impact that cuts to education have on activism? Because it’s my understanding that campuses like the University of Puerto Rico have been sort of the center for so much resistance inside Puerto Rico, so much activism over many, many years.
RIMA BRUSI: So, yes. The university, since 1948 at least, has been very active in terms of leading the resistance, spearheading the resistance against not only disaster profiteering but before that, neoliberal measures, austerity measures and also colonialism and political colonialism in the sense of the federal power over Puerto Rican affairs. So I was not surprised when they became the first target by the Junta de Control Fiscal, the fiscal management board imposed by the federal government through the PROMESA law. As soon as they were officially established, their very first target was the public university. And they basically slashed the public university’s budget by a third. So at that point in time, the university’s budget was determined by a formula in terms of a portion, a percentage, of the Puerto Rico’s budget in general.
So when Puerto Rico was in financial trouble, the budget of the university went down in the same way every other budget for every other agency went down. And this was designed like that in order to protect the university from partisan bickering and from partisan actions. Now that the Junta has decided to cut the university’s budget by a third, the university is more vulnerable to partisanship and to partisan attacks from within, locally. But also outside of that, the federal government has been really unhelpful. Like from all the relief funds that the federal government assigned to relief efforts associated with Hurricane Maria, the University of Puerto Rico, which has 11 campuses and takes care of the majority of students on the island, received only 20 percent.
Now surprisingly, institutions like NYU, New York University, which has a lot of money, and Grand Canyon University, which was until very recently a for-profit and in many ways still is, got a lot of money from Hurricane Maria’s relief funds, even though they were not affected in any way by the hurricane. So this combination of local partisanship and colonialism and the intervention by the federal government, and the way the federal government has decided to distribute their funds, has affected the university to a great degree, to the point where we, and I say we because I consider myself still part of it, are frankly desperate.
Because the university generates 70 percent of all academic knowledge in the island. It generates 90 percent of all peer reviewed and basic research work. It is a bastion for the resistance in Puerto Rico. It is also one of the main motors, and I want to say the main but at least one of the main motors, in terms of upward mobility and economic opportunity for our people. And it’s being handicapped in such a way that we are afraid. And Joseph Stiglitz agrees with us on this and local economists like Jose Carballo-Cueto also do. The handicapping of the University of Puerto Rico is going to have a terrible effect, a terrible impact in terms of Puerto Rico’s recovery.
AARON MATE: As we wrap up, Carla, last question to you. You are the executive director of a Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto Rico. What are the key stories and issues that you have your eye on that you think are going to be shaping the direction that Puerto Rico goes in?
CARLA MINET: So the stories about the bankruptcy process and how it evolves now that we have a new scenario, I think it’s a very important story. Also, how is the federal government going to keep going at this recovery process in this scenario where we have very complex issues to tackle? Not only the economic situation and the devastation created by the hurricane, but the fact that the most impacted issue since the hurricane is the electric grid in Puerto Rico, which is probably the biggest problem in terms of how much it takes to have a new and resilient, as they want to call it, electric grid that is strong enough for the island looking into the future and knowing that we will get many other tropical storms, hurricanes, et cetera, because of climate change and the way we’ve been behaving with nature.
So I think it’s important to understand that all these stories, as Rima said, are very related to the political system in Puerto Rico, the political nature of us being a colony of the U.S., and how that would manifest into every decision that the federal government makes. I think it’s the best way to understand how the decisions are being taken. With the new elections coming up in the U.S. in the next months, I think it is a question of how will that be relevant to Puerto Rico’s case. I think many people are trying to figure that out, if it means something for us. And also, I think that in the end, the most important question is how can Puerto Ricans be the ones deciding their own future, their own recovery process, and not the federal government, not the bondholders, not the U.S. companies coming into Puerto Rico to profit from this disaster.
AARON MATE: We’ll leave it there. I want to thank both my guests. Rima Brusi is a writer, educator and advocate, formerly a faculty member at the University of Puerto Rico. And Carla Minet is Executive Director at the Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto Rico. Thanks to you both.
CARLA MINET: Thank you.
RIMA BRUSI: Thank you.
AARON MATE: And thank you for joining us on The Real News.
Rima Brusi
Rima Brusi is a writer, educator and advocate. Formerly a faculty member at the University of Puerto Rico and an applied anthropologist at The Education Trust, she is currently Writer-in-Residence at the Center for Human Rights and Peace Studies at CUNY-Lehman College.
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Puerto Rico’s Government Was Warned Climate Catastrophe Was Coming, But Didn’t Listen
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The Matinee April 20th
Published on April 20, 2017 April 20, 2017 by Ben Yung
The Matinee April 20th takes flight with nine new music singles. There are a couple of familiar names and others that you will want to take note of immediately. We start things off with one of indie’s great singer-songwriters.
Waxahatchee – “Silver” (Philadelphia via Birmingham, Alabama, USA)
RIYL: Liz Phair, Vivian Girls, Angel Olsen
Since the start of the decade, Katie Crutchfield has swooned us under project Waxahatchee. Her three albums, including 2015’s incredible Ivy Tripp, earned her recognition as one of indie’s great singer-songwriters, as she crafted personal stories that should be bound and forever stored in libraries across the world. Earlier this week, she unexpectedly revealed that album number four will be coming this summer, and the lead single offers a peek of what is to come. If “Silver” is any indication, then fans will be in for a treat.
“Silver” sounds a bit different from what Crutchfield has created in the past. It is a bit grittier and rougher around the edges, radiating with the energy of Liz Phair in the ’90s. Her sweet vocals, however, remain, offering the perfect juxtaposition to the reverb-drenched guitar and the driving melody. Yet, the song feels like spring – refreshing, bright, and awe-inspiring. Even the lyrics have a element of April and May, where the coldness of the past is shaken off with the oncoming warmth of the change of the season. As such, “Silver” is like seeing the first rose blooming in your garden and all you can do is smile at the thought of what is to come. The exact date is July 14th when Crutchfield’s new album, Out in the Storm, arrives. The fine folks at Merge Records will release it. Pre-order the LP here.
Alanna Eileen – “Knowledge” (New Zealand via Melbourne, Australia)
RIYL: Tiny Ruins, Lydia Cole, Nadia Reid
In a day and age where most artists and bands are either reinventing the wheel or going electronic, hearing a throwback song is akin to receiving an unexpected present. Playing the role of Santa Claus is Alanna Eileen, an Australian who crossed “The Ditch” and settled in New Zealand.
This week, she shared her gorgeous new single, “Knowledge”. The song haerkens to a day when folk music stirred your deepest emotions and desires. The arrangements are simple but beautiful with just an acoustic guitar, the occasional touch of the piano, and the echo of the steel guitar humming in the background. They provide the haunting and stunning canvas for Eileen’s striking vocals and her story of a lost soul finding solace to shine. Just close your eyes and let yourself be enchanted and taken back in time. In doing so, you just must shed a tear.
“Knowledge” is available for purchase on Bandcamp ($1 New Zealand, which is about 65 pence or $0.75 US).
Avante Black – “Make A Mess” (London, England via Uppsala, Sweden)
RIYL: Goldfrapp, Anteros, Vérité
Avante Black – the indie group spearheaded by London-via-Uppsala, Sweden artist Ottilia Zimmerman Kjulsten – have it all to be mega-stars. They’re young and hungry. They have the image to appeal to people of all ages. Most importantly, their brand of music is infectious yet fierce. So what gives? The answer lies within their new single.
“Make A Mess” is a brooding but stirring pop-rock number. It simultaneously haunts your mind while entices you to move freely to its dark, hypnotic melody. There’s no huge finish nor heavy electronics buzzing through the song. Instead, the heavy bass line and the crystalline guitars are ’80s-esque in their delivery. There also isn’t a repetitive chorus, as Kjulsten opts to tell a complete story of an ex who still occupies her thoughts. In other words, this is a band that has chosen to not succumb to Top-40 stereotypes. Instead, they’ve chosen to make awesome music like “Make A Mess”, leaving us indie fans to appreciate their art.
The song is out now via PIAS imprint Different Recordings.
Megafauna – “Doubt” (Austin, USA)
RIYL: L.A. Witch, The Pack A.D., The Melvins
When listing the great guitarists of the current generation, Dani Neff often gets ignored, which is a shame really. For nearly a decade, she’s been fronting prog-punk-rock outfit Megafauna while melting the faces of anyone who should come across them. Even within the Austin music scene, Neff and her bandmates Zack Humphrey, Will Krause, and Winston Barnett are highly underrated. Maybe this all changes when their new album is released next month.
To whet our appetites for what is to come, Megafauna have shared “Doubt”. With the eeriness of L.A. Witch and the pounding pace-setting of The Melvins, “Doubt” is a blazing rocker. The rhythm section is on point, reflecting a haemorrhaging heart that is about to explode. The guitar work, as expected, is awesome – fiery and intense when needed but calm at points to allow the drama to unfold. This is where Megafauna are underappreciated, as Neff has a knack for telling stories that everyone can relate to but in a creepy fashion. In this case, it is the sounds of the night (or those in our head) that shake us to our foundation.
And Megafauna will do just this when their fourth album, Welcome Home, arrives May 27th. The band is once again comprised of Dani Neff (lead guitar/vocals), Zack Humphrey (drums), Will Krause (bass), and Winston Barrett (guitar/keys).
Pr0files – “Money” (Los Angeles, USA)
RIYL: GEMS, Coves, early Phantogram
From their stellar debut album, Jurassic Technologie, to their reworking of Dear Boy’s “Alluria” – one of those rare re-makes that was better than the original – Los Angeles duo Pr0files have long enraptured us. Lauren Pardini and Danny Sternbaum’s brand of synth-pop has long reminded us the great bands of the ’80s. It is warm, majestic, and truly awe-inspiring, but it’s even more cinematic. Every one of their songs has a “wow” moment, where simply lose yourself in the song.
However, in the case of their brand new song, “Money”, the wow moment lasts from the first second to the very last. “Money” is truly an immaculate stunner. It epitomizes what synth-pop should be – breathtaking, captivating, and dazzling. The production work is fantastic, as Sternbaum chooses subtlety over heavy-handedness to create a dream-like soundscape. Pardini’s voice is alluring as always, where you cannot take your attention away from her vocals.
What separates Pr0files from so many similar artists is that they are exceptional storytellers. Whether personal or fictional tales, the duo are able to create stories within their songs. This time around, they focus on how people money, fame, and greed can corrupt the most tender soul and how they can destroy something as powerful as love.
And now I know that love is everything.
But you’d rather be a fucking celebrity.
And for that you’ll just be getting by.
Good luck cause I’ll see you on the other side.
I hope I don’t see you in another life
TUELO – “Saint Margaret” (Brooklyn, USA via South Africa)
RIYL: Lauren Hill, Alicia Keys, Valerie June
There are few things in this world that can heel the deepest wound. Music is one of them. It can provide a cure to any pain or anxiety and fill in gaps in a person’s life. It can also be a bridge between people, bringing them together despite being separated by thousands of miles. And this brings us to Tuelo Minah – or simply just TUELO.
Born in South Africa, TUELO left her family farm for the U.S.A., landing in Brooklyn. As what happens to many people who live in New York’s music borough, Minah discovered her musical side. Over the years, she has created music that blends soul and punk-rock – or “revival music”. Consequently, she’s been compared to everyone from Nina Simone to David Bowie. For her latest song, however, she channels some of soul and R&B’s great artists in arguably her most personal and endearing song to date.
“Saint Margaret” is an old-school soul number that even the greats like Aretha Franklin, Patti Labelle, and Mavis Staples would be honored to sing. The song, as such, is intimate and immediate, rich yet simple. Unsurprisingly, Minah’s impeccable vocals steal the show, as they glisten with the majesty of Alicia Keys and the late Whitney Houston. The power and emotion with which she sings will melt your heart, and learning that this song is dedicated to her mother, Seabi, who still resides in South Africa, will have you shedding a few tears. Now imagine what it would be like to hear this in a church – it would be an incomparable experience. Pretty soon, TUELO will be joining the aforementioned greats and likewise earn the word “incomparable”.
The Anaesthetics – “INCEPTOR” (Netherlands)
RIYL: M83, Phoria, Mt. Wolf
Once upon a time, M83 took listeners on an endless journey to the limits of the universe and back. His music was the definition of cosmic spirituality – songs which took over your body and soul and left your mind warped from the experience. A few artists and bands have been able to successfully capture that mood, including favorites like Phoria and Mt. Wolf, and the latest to join this select collective is taking a slightly different approach.
Meet Dutch quartet The Anaesthetics. Whereas the aforementioned artists have taken a more sensual approach, The Anaesthetics have adopted edgier, electro-rock arrangements. Their new single, “INCEPTOR”, explains everything. From the opening production work and soaring synths to the very last words, The Anaesthetics have created a sensational song. It is hypnotic and engrossing, dark and mesmerizing. Instead of gliding through space, “INCEPTOR” feels like a race through the time continuum in order to evade something deep from our past. The track is not just a listening experience; it’s a ride towards destiny.
Stijn Vullings (drums/backing vocals), Koen Huijs (guitar/keys/backing vocals), Des Spreeuwenberg (bass), and Sam Duijf (guitar/keys/vocals)
NoMBe – “Can’t Catch Me” (feat. New Mystics) (Los Angeles, USA)
RIYL: Chuck Berry, early Rolling Stones, Dan Auerbach (solo), Lenny Kravitz
Seems like Pharrell can do no wrong these days, as the superstar musician, producer, and promoter has been uncovering several hidden gems and made them stars. Maggie Rogers was last year’s fast-riser. This year, it could very well be NoMBe. Check that, he will be. The Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist defies categorization. Soul, soothing electro-pop, gritty indie rock – the man can do it all. However, what makes NoMBe an artist to watch is that he’s not solely creating songs based on a single sound, but he’s integrating multiple genres into one. He’s like Dr. Frankenstein, except his creations are works of art, such as his new single, “Can’t Catch Me”.
Featuring fellow LA-based band New Mystics, “Can’t Catch Me” is a fabulous soul-garage rock-classic rock ‘n roll mélange. It is catchy, fun, and a sheer delight. For nearly three-and-a-half minutes, the song will have you dancing, jumping, and possibly combusting. Even for the most conservative listener, you might just find yourself doing the occasional air guitar or head bobbing.
For music aficionados, listen closely and you’ll hear Chubby Checker, James Brown, Chuck Berry, Dan Auerbach, Lenny Kravitz, Rolling Stones, The Strokes, Twin Shadow, and The Arcs. Forget Dr. Frankenstein, NoMBe is more like a musical genius – the Michelangelo of a new era.
Penguin – “Not A Problem” – DEMO version (Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England)
RIYL: Foals, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, The Editors
Demos are not suppose to sound great. They should be grainy and raw, but just good enough to pique people’s interest. For newcomers Penguin, their new single is a first-cut demo, but you wouldn’t know that if you heard this streaming online or being played on the radio. Seriously, “Not A Problem” is pretty close to perfect as a song could be.
The percussion-driven intro is ear-popping, catching your attention immediately. When the electric guitar arrives and pierces the air, everything around you stops and all your senses are consumed by this monster of a track in a way that only the great bands can do. Think the anthemic, indie-rock brilliance of Foals merged with the electricity heard in Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s classics, and that is “Not A Problem” in a nutshell. Imagine what this song could sound like once it has been cleaned up a bit. It could be a serious contender for song of the year.
Music, Singles, The Revue Alanna Eileen, Alt-Rock, Avante Black, Different Recordings, Electro-Pop, Electro-rock, electro-soul, folk, Garage Rock, indie pop, Indie Rock, indietronica, Katie Crutchfield, Megafauna, Merge Records, New Mystics, NoMBe, Penguin, Pr0files, protopunk, punk rock, singer-songwriter, soulful R&B, The Anaesthetics, The Matinee, The Matinee April 20th, TUELO, Waxahatchee
Pavo Pavo
Boy Scout – “Bitter Blue”
Hospital – “Ariel”
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Tag Archives: bio-pic
4/6/14: This Mimic is an Ape
Apple Computers, Ashton Kutcher, Atari, bad films, bad movies, based on a true story, Bill Gates, bio-pic, biographical films, cinema, Dermot Mulroney, Ed Wood, film reviews, films, impersonation, James Woods, jerks, Jobs, John Sculley, Josh Gad, Joshua Michael Stern, Lesley Ann Warren, Lukas Haas, Matt Whiteley, Matthew Modine, Mike Markkula, Movies, nonsense, Punk'd, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Swing Vote, terrible films, That '70s Show, unlikable protagonist, worst films of the year
There’s an old saying that goes, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” In certain cases, that’s definitely good advice…after all, our modern world is already stuffed to bursting with enough snark, sarcasm and extreme eye-rolling to last us for the next thousand years. Moreover, if someone (or something) really makes an effort and gives it all that they have, who are we to completely destroy their efforts? By all accounts, Ed Wood was an awful filmmaker but he seemed to be a pretty decent guy. Why needlessly pee in his Cheerios? We’re surrounded by the continual evidence that good intentions don’t always produce good results but we can’t always be successful: that just part of the human experience. For my money, if something is good-natured, honest and ambitious, but inherently crappy, I tend to cut it a little slack. After all, we all had to learn to walk before we ran, entertainers/content-creators included. I appreciate the nice guys, even if they aren’t always the best guys.
On the flip-side, however, there are certain bits of “entertainment” so devoid of quality, craft, individual thought or reason for existence that they become the equivalent of the gum-bedecked underside of a groody road-side-diner-counter. Whether they be “movies,” “albums,” “TV shows” or some unnamed, terrifying “other,” these lazy tax write-offs exist for one reason and one reason only: commerce. There is no “art” to these festering piles of elephant dung, merely the depressing notion that some office-bound bean-counter has determined “this” (whatever it may be) to be the next step in whatever corporate plan they’ve downloaded from the internet. Such “entertainment” tends to be overly glossy, empty-headed, obvious, lazy and, above all else, inherently bored with itself: this, after all, has nothing to do with art and everything to do with business. Audiences around the world may laugh at Tommy Wiseau’s ridiculous “film” The Room but at least the film was made with passion…inarticulate, wrong-headed, mumble-brained passion, but passion, nonetheless. The best that can be said for Jobs, the outrageously terrible, unbelievably obnoxious “biopic” about the titular Apple co-founder, is that the film eventually ends. Strong viewers will eventually make it out, albeit in a slightly damaged, shell-shocked manner. Those unlucky enough to have their brains melted by Ashton Kutcher’s highly-slappable sneer, however, will find themselves trapped in a cinematic purgatory that’s one part Visa commercial, one part litter box liner. Gentle readers: you’ve been warned.
Most biopics, particularly those which stick us with a character for decades worth of screen-time, live or die by the actor portraying said role. These performances can be iconic (who doesn’t think of George C. Scott when they think of General Patton?), meticulous (Meryl Streep as Thatcher, Jim Carey as Kaufman) or ridiculously over-the-top (Barry Bostwick may not be regarding as the best-ever FDR but he’s certainly the best-ever werewolf-killing FDR and I’ll rabbit-punch anyone who says otherwise). A good biopic will do something to get to the heart of its subject, try to make a (perhaps) overly legendary subject into something a little more palatable for the average Joe. Good biopics teach us a little history, of course, but they also teach a little something about the human condition.
Bad biopics, on the other hand, are like little kids playing dress-up in their parents’ clothes: it’s all stage-dressing, with no inherent understanding of the forces beneath, the tics, traits and beliefs that made Andy Kaufman more than just a tall, gawky guy or Ed Wood some guy wearing Angora sweaters. There needs to be a basic level of understanding, something that cuts deeper than makeup and wardrobe: it’s this basic understanding of the character that is completely missing from Ashton Kutcher’s tone-deaf portrayal of Steve Jobs the dead-on-delivery Jobs.
In most cases, I would begin one of these with some sort of synopsis of the plot. In the case of Jobs, however, this is pretty much unnecessary: there really isn’t a plot. In fact, Jobs seems to exist for two reasons, reasons which wouldn’t inherently seem to go together but which become the twin pillars which hold up this entire house of cards: to depict Steve Jobs as the biggest asshole in the history of the world and to revere him as a god. To that end, the film enlists the capable assistance of Kutcher: when one is attempting such a feat, one must go right to the top of the food-chain.
Full disclosure: I don’t dislike Kutcher by default, although I do find that he wears out his welcome in anything more than small doses. I always thought he was brilliant in That ’70s Show: perhaps my inability to see him as anything but Kelso has unfairly clouded my perception of his post-’70s Show output. That being said, I don’t think that Kutcher is a talented actor: more like an entertaining individual. Unlike a more capable rubber-faced “funny man” like Jim Carey, Kutcher is all surface-level mugging: if he can’t communicate the particular emotion with an upraised eyebrow, sneer or sense of privileged ennui, he just doesn’t bother. As such, Kutcher’s Jobs is never anything more than a one-sentence descriptor, perhaps something along the lines of “sneering, driven, egotistical idea-man.”
The main problem with this “acting choice,” among many, is that the audience never gets any kind of feel for why we’re supposed to stick with Jobs throughout the film, much less stick up for him. Unlike a film such as A Beautiful Mind, where we get to witness some of the abstract “thinking” in action, we never witness anything relating to Jobs that comes close to explaining how the real-life man was held in such high esteem. We’re told that Jobs has dropped out of school but still hangs around his college campus, thanks to the kindly attention of a dean that seems to see more in him than we do. Jobs walks around with an arrogant bearing, conducting himself in much the same way as a feudal king might. The problem, of course, is that we never get any sense as to why anyone would put up with this pompous jackass for more than a few minutes.
Even worse, the filmmakers shoot the whole elongated mess with all of the visual flair and glossy color scheme of a Visa commercial, right down to the silly, “serious” musical score which seems to portend something greater than the film ever delivers. At every available opportunity, the film seems to draw attention to the grandeur of its themes while missing out on one very important bit of information: it’s never about anything. Ever. Time and time again, the film seems to strain and burst at the seams, pushing outward to become as big as it thinks it is, something like those little foam pellets that grow in size once they’re introduced to water. Unlike those cheerful pellets, however, Jobs is formless and ugly, a strange little piece of nothing that never resembles anything, no matter how many times you turn it over.
I wish that I could say that there was something of value to be found here, anything worth justifying the over two-hour running time. Alas, there’s really not much to write home about, lest one is feeling in a particularly spiteful mood. As mentioned, the film’s look is overly slick and commercial, coming across as nothing more than one of those “feel-good-and-spend-money” television adverts to always seem to show someone else having a great time. The dialogue, thanks to first-time writer Matt Whiteley, is overly obvious and trite, leading to moments like the one where Jobs looks profoundly at Steve Wozniak (Josh Gad) and proclaims: “This is freedom to create…to build…” Build me a boat and sail me out of here, Ashton: I ain’t buying it. As an audience, we don’t get any new insights into the subject or those around him…if anything, I was more confused about Jobs after watching the film than I was before-hand. If this film was an accurate portrayal of Steve Jobs (which, I’m fairly sure, it wasn’t, due to the endless other problems with the production), I’m left with only one thought: how the hell did he keep from getting his teeth kicked in? Truly, if Jobs was anything like Kutcher’s portrayal in the film, he must have been one of the nastiest, most petty and down-right obnoxious individuals to walk the earth. Which, of course, seems a little strange when one considers that every other character in the film treats him like an earthbound god. It makes absolutely no sense, especially because we’ve never been shown Jobs being innovative: his normal default seems to be angry, smug and smelly for most of the film.
Are there bright spots here? Not really. The acting, once one gets past Kutcher, is decent, although everyone has the tendency to overact whenever real “emotion” is called for. In particular, one of the film’s many low points has to be the howlingly bad scene where Wozniak and Jobs, in effect, “break up”: Josh Gad’s tearful performance is so ridiculous, so cringingly bad, that I found myself embarrassed for him, as an actor, rather than even mildly invested in whatever silliness his character was going through. There’s not one moment of the film that rings even faintly true or authentic, save for one single example: the 1984 commercial.
If there is anything successful about Jobs, it would have to be the short scene that recreates the famous “1984” commercial. For some reason, this scene ends up with some real impact, although I’m not sure why. Perhaps, subconsciously, I was remembering the original commercial. Perhaps, for once in the film, the filmmakers allowed a little genuine emotion to invest the proceedings. Whatever the reason, the scene ends up being highly effective which, ironically, only goes to underscore how bad the rest of the film is.
Is Jobs a bad movie? Absolutely…perhaps one of the worst films I’ve seen in the last decade or so. The film manages to fail on nearly every single level: acting, script, cinematography, editing…it’s almost a greatest hits of ineptitude. At times, the film almost (note that I say “almost”) achieves a dada level of absurdity, something closer to a Sharknado than an Ishtar. Often, I was left wondering if this were some sort of ultra-high concept prank, a Sacha Baron Cohen-esque attempt to portray its subject in the worst, most banal light imaginable. By the tenth or twentieth “raised eyebrow/cocky smile” combo, I was still ready to give them the benefit of the doubt and settle in for some “American Badass” levels of stupidity. By the 100th “raised eyebrow/cocky smile” combo, however, I had effectively abandoned hope: this was no satire or parody, unfortunately…this was just bad filmmakers making a bad film.
If you’ve ever wondered if Ashton Kutcher could carry a “serious” film, Jobs is for you. If you’ve ever felt like equating the introduction of the Ipod with a saintly vision, complete with blinding white, ethereal light, Jobs is for you. If you’ve ever wanted to witness Kutcher stride boldly through a convention center wearing a suit-vest combo guaranteed to induce epilepsy, Jobs is for you. If you’ve ever wanted to see Kutcher, wearing a bad bald cap, pretend to work peacefully in the garden, Jobs is for you. If, however, you find that you have zero tolerance for poorly made, self-indulgent crap, I might offer one kind suggestion: steer far clear from the steaming pile of “product” that is Jobs. If there were any justice, all those involved with its creation, including Kutcher, would be required to wait ten years before attempting another production.
Now that would be innovation even I can get behind.
2/9/14: A Place of One’s Own
absurdist, Alex Cox, American imperialism, anachronisms, anachronistic, auteur theory, bio-pic, biopic, cinema, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Ed Harris, Film auteurs, film reviews, films, Gary Oldman, historical drama, Honduras, Iran-Contra scandal, Joe Strummer, liberation, Manifest Destiny, Marlee Matlin, Movies, Nicaragua, Oliver North, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, Peter Boyle, Repo Man, Richard Masur, Ronald Reagan, Rudy Wurlitzer, Sid & Nancy, Straight to Hell, surreal, Walker, William Walker
We now finish up the Sunday double-feature with Alex Cox’s kind-of/sort-of biopic, Walker.
There are, quite possibly, as many different ways to film and present a biopic as there are people to make them about. Filmmakers can approach the subject as dry, historical fact, presenting only the information widely accepted as true. The subject can be approached from a bias, either for or against, with the entire film making a case for this particular reading. The film might even co-mingle elements of fact and fiction, using real people but playing up non-existent emotional quandaries in order to get to the psychological core of the characters. Any of these approaches are valid, depending on the overall intent of the filmmakers, but there’s usually an attempt to delineate (at least to some extent) what sort of biopic we’re watching. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter did not, for example, purport to be anything other than the goof it was: there certainly were no pretensions towards telling “the definitive” version of Lincoln’s life, as it were, just the part where he (apparently) fought vampires. All well and good, as it were.
What if, however, the overall slant of a particular biopic wasn’t quite so obvious? What if the line between real and fictional were blurred, leading the audience to wonder not only what the subject may have really been like but what actual events may have really been like? Depending on the particular director, this tactic could result in a severely disorienting experience, akin to being plagued by an internal unreliable narrator. When the director is Alex Cox, this is all but guaranteed.
Cox is the visionary behind one of the strangest films ever made (and one of my favorite films of all time), Repo Man (1984). He was also responsible for another biopic, Sid and Nancy (1986), which had the effect of unleashing Gary Oldman upon the world at large. Completing Cox’s trifecta was Straight to Hell (1987), perhaps the most bat-shit insane “Western” ever made, other than El Topo. Walker, Cox’s biopic of William Walker, was released the same year as Straight to Hell, and marks the end of Cox’s ’80s hot-streak. Falling somewhere in-between the nearly hallucinogenic insanity of Straight to Hell and the biopic stylings of Sid and Nancy, Walker is a constantly fascinating, if occasionally frustrating, experience, anchored by one massive performance by master thespian Ed Harris.
Walker purports to tell the story of William Walker (Ed Harris), an American “adventurer” who undertook several military incursions into Mexico and South America during the mid-part of the 1800’s. Walker took control of several territories in Mexico before finally being driven out by the government and arrested, tried and acquitted by the U.S. He (briefly) became Commander of the Armed Forces and, later, President, of Nicaragua before being deposed and executed by Honduran forces. These, as they say, are the basic facts. Cox and writer Randy Wurlitzer (Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid), however, have a few more tricks up their sleeve than just presenting us with a colorful historic figure. Their minds aren’t on Nicaragua’s past: they’re very much on the Nicaragua of the late ’80s, the one embroiled in that era’s Iran-Contra scandal.
More than anything, Walker is about U.S. imperialism and the dangerous effect it often has on other countries, particularly those we attempt to “liberate.” As a British expatriate remarks when Walker explains his plans to liberate the country: “How peculiar: you must be Americans.” We’ve already seen how Walker’s attempted conquest of Mexico is viewed, if not altogether favorably, as completely understandable and, in a way, desirable: his proclamation of Manifest Destiny earns him a pretty quick acquittal, after all. Walker is allowed to get as far as he does (and he gets pretty far, relatively speaking, for someone with absolutely no actual authority) because, inherently, the American system places high priority on both conquest and “liberation,” often seeing both as opposing sides of the same coin.
While the government might have been a bit “on-the-fence” regarding Walker’s activities, it becomes obvious rather quickly what side Cox takes. Practically from the jump, we’re introduced to that most subtly powerful of filmmaking tricks: the unreliable narrator. In a move that explicitly recalls the grand Michael Caine romp Pulp (1972), Harris narrates the film with an authority that can best be described as “questionable.” At one point, Walker describes how the Nicaraguan people “rejoice” when he has their President executed and takes his place: the image we actually see of the same event doesn’t resemble anything close to rejoicing, however. Rather, we see the people solemnly mourn their murdered leader, covering his body in white roses. This schism is reinforced when the local paper repeats the same sentiment as a headline: it’s pretty obvious who wrote that particular press-release.
Cox stacks the deck against Walker in a number of other, more subtle ways. There’s the oddly messianic way that Walker seems to stride through massive gunfights while obtaining nary a scratch, battles that lay waste to everyone else (friend or foe) that surrounds him, perhaps symbolic of the way in which American foreign policies often set up scenarios in which we emerge unscathed but our enemies (and allies) are obliterated. There are the ways in which none of Walker’s proclamations seem to be taken seriously: he makes a point to say that no excessive “drinking, whoring, carousing or fighting” will be tolerated from his men, even as we see all of this (plus some implied bestiality, to boot) taking place in the background. Walker can’t speak the local language, despite considering himself the leader, and, therefore, can’t actually comprehend what any of the native Nicaraguans are saying (hint: none of it’s nice). Walker spends most of the film dressed like the Tall Man from Phantasm, a get-up which constantly recalls fire-and-brimstone evangelical preachers (which Walker partakes in).
One of Cox’s greatest (and strangest) coups, however, is the subtle, almost subliminal, way that he weaves historical anachronisms into the film. It begins when you catch what appears to be the corner of a computer in one shot: a little strange, since computer’s weren’t exactly around in the 1850’s. Later on, there’s a soldier drinking from a modern (1980’s, at least) Coke bottle and someone else reading a copy of Time magazine that wouldn’t exist for about 70 more years. This all comes to a head in the film’s finale, when an ’80s-era military team, complete with helicopter, swoops in to rescue the Americans from a burning Grenada. While certainly different, the intent seems pretty clear: Cox isn’t so much telling the story of William Walker as he is setting the Iran-Contra scandal in the past. While the times may have changed, he seems to be saying, the scam remains the same.
As a film, Walker is consistently entertaining but falls short of Cox’s magnum opus (that would be Repo Man, in case you dozed off). The acting is always top-notch but I never expect less from Ed Harris. For my money, Harris is one of the most gifted, chameleonic actors in the business and is never less than a joy to watch. He seems to have a blast with the role and provides Walker with some truly interesting quirks and tics. Peter Boyle shows up as Cornelius Vanderbilt and is always larger than life: he punctuates the line “I’m entitled to do anything I want” with the single loudest cinematic fart since Blazing Saddles and nearly steals every scene he’s in. Marlee Matlin has an odd bit part as Walker’s doomed fiancée, Ellen, and Richard Masur shows up as Ephraim Squire, one of Vanderbilt’s lackeys.
Aesthetically, Walker recalls Straight to Hell more than either Repo Man or Sid & Nancy, lacking the grime of the others in favor of Hell’s more colorful palette. There isn’t much in the film that could legitimately be called “beautiful,” although the burning of Granada is conducted in a very dream-like, surreal way that features quite a few astounding images. Other than that, however, the film serves more as a showcase for Cox (and Wurlitzer’s) ideas than for David Bridges’ completely serviceable cinematography. Joe Strummer did the score which, to be honest, is less than noteworthy: I mostly recall the oddly inappropriate ’80s-era smooth sax that kept popping up everywhere more than I do any of Strummer’s contributions…unless he was actually playing the sax, at which point I’ll keep my mouth shut.
Ultimately, Walker is a fascinating, quick-paced curiosity, an attempt by a genuinely head-scratching auteur to fold, spindle and mutilate history, proving the old adage that there really is nothing new under the sun, a fact made even clearer by the closing-credit newsreel footage of then-president Ronald Reagan discussing the Iran-Contra affair. As the poster states: Before Rambo…before Oliver North…there was Walker. Cox posits a bizzaro-world scenario where all three were not only contemporaries but the same individual.
1/13/14: Two (or Three) Sides to Every Story
abusive relationships, Amanda Seyfried, autobiography, bio-pic, blind, Blindsided, Chris Noth, Chuck Traynor, cinema, Deep Throat, direct-to-video, Film, home invasion, Lifetime Network, Linda Lovelace, Lovelace, Michael Keaton, New Year's Eve, Penthouse North, Peter Sarsgaard, porn industry, porn stars, Sharon Stone, stolen diamonds, suspense, tell-all books, thriller
Truth, as we increasingly find in this day and age, can be a very relative concept. We’re told that history is written by the winners (sad but true) and that one person’s concept of truth can dissolve in the searing heat of another person’s certainty (however misplaced). This can be especially true when one examines the traditional cinematic biopic. Any biography (or autobiography, if we’re being completely honest) comes with its own bias: that’s just par for the course. What happens, however, when a biopic attempts to show all truths simultaneously? Which truth, then, does the audience hold firm to? How do we know what to believe? Does it technically even matter if we don’t know who or what to believe? What if the unreliable narrator is the actual subject of the biopic?
Lovelace, the recent biopic about former porn star Linda Lovelace’s relationship with her husband/manager Chuck Traynor and her experiences filming the porn blockbuster Deep Throat, is a tale of two cities (almost literally). The film splits its running time evenly, beginning with the idealized, air-brushed version of he story (local girl makes good, has a blast, has lots of sex and gets into interesting adventures) before restarting the whole narrative from Lovelace’s amended account of the proceedings (physical abuse, drug use, gang rape, gun violence, familial distress and, essentially, prostitution). Ultimately, despite some very good performances (and some very bad ones), Lovelace will probably be remembered more for its Rashomonish narrative gimmicks than for the actual film, itself.
The inspiration for the first half, at least from a filmmaking perspective, definitely seems to be PT Anderson’s classic porn epic, Boogie Nights. The first 45 minutes of the film fly by in a candy-coated, neon rush of big hair, funky clothes, crazy parties and sex, sex, sex. Even the titles and font choices at the beginning had me mentally comparing this to Boogie Nights (subject notwithstanding). Around the 45 minute mark, however, the film recasts everything in a decidedly grimmer, darker light. For this portion, the inspiration definitely seems to be Star 80, Bob Fosse’s grim look at the life and untimely death of porn star Dorothy Stratten. As Chuck Traynor becomes more and more abusive, Linda’s life becomes more and more hellish. We also get to see the older, wiser Linda (in the story’s timeline, at least), which provides an interesting contrast to the wide-eyed, naive ingenue from the beginning.
There’s a lot to like about Lovelace, particularly the strong performances by Amanda Seyfried and Peter Sarsgaard as Linda and Chuck. Seyfried brings a wholesome, winsome quality to her performance that feels 100% genuine: I’ve never been a big fan of hers but this is definitely some next-level work she’s doing here. Sarsgaard, likewise, is exceptional, managing to make Chuck equal parts pathetic puppy and abusive psycho. Kudos must certainly go to Sharon Stone, as Linda’s mother: she disappeared so far into the role that I didn’t even realize who she was until my wife recognized her in the final moments of the movie. Chris Noth and Hank Azaria bring some real humanity to their roles as a porn producer and director, respectively. The scene where Noth beats Sarsgaard with a belt, as retribution for his treatment of Linda, is a thing of absolute beauty.
The film has a very strong sense of time, helped by some really nice, subtle set design. The movie also found ways to connect both disparate halves in some truly sneaky machinations. My favorite example of this comes during the “happy” portion of the film, where party goers comment on the thumping and bumping “sex sounds” coming from behind the closed-door to Linda and Chucks room. The second half of the film actually takes us into the room, where we witness Chuck beating Linda. This upending of expectations was very nicely handled. To be honest, I wish they had done more of this.
Ultimately, Lovelace is a good film undone slightly by its unnerving similarities to the films mentioned previously. There’s not much that it gets wrong, although I will say that James Franco was the most ridiculous Hugh Hefner that they could possibly get. Absolutely nothing about Franco’s generic performance reminded me in any way, shape or form of the actual Hefner, which is pretty surprising considering how easy it would seem to be to mimic the iconic pornographer. Everything about the performance (mercifully short) reminded me of nothing more than another Franco performance.
The big question regarding the film, however, is more difficult to answer: is it entertaining? Yes and no. As mentioned, the first half glides along on an extremely likable cloud of rampant carnality with Lovelace as the wide-eyed country mouse newly arrived in town. It’s fun, in a fish-out-of-water, Boogie Nights kind of way. The second half, however, is the very definition of endurance match, with repeated rapes, beatings, humiliations and endless suffering bestowed upon Linda. We see how these events have beaten her into the person she becomes at the end, as invisible in her mousiness as she used to be in her naivety. Since we’re (essentially) watching the same story twice, the effect seems to be more of “do you believe A or B?” than an attempt to enlighten.
For the record, I don’t think there’s ever any doubt as to which version is the “truth”: the entertainment industry (in general) and the porn industry (in particular) are well-known for grinding up and spitting out tortured souls. I wonder, however, how much more impactful the film could have been if its creators would have had the temerity to give us the full bleak, dark story without easing us into it. It doesn’t seem that Lovelace’s autobiography pulled any punches and it’s kind of a shame that the film did.
First things first: this is one of those films that feature multiple titles. In a completely bizarre twist, however, the title that I saw appears to be the least available of the two. I streamed this modest little thriller under the name Blindsided but any and all related promotional material, including the image above, come from the other title: Penthouse North. In truth, both titles are absolutely awful but at least the original title wasn’t a groan-inducing pun. From what I can understand, Penthouse North was the original title, although it became Blindsided when sold to cable TV.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the other shoe: apparently, this film was premiered on the Lifetime Network. That’s correct: the Lifetime Network. Despite this little caveat, the film manages to slip in a couple graphic stabbings, several bloody bodies and lots of menace. It also manages to be quite silly.
Our protagonist is Sara, a photo-journalist who loses her eyesight due to a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan. The attack is vicious enough to cost her sight, yet not vicious enough to give her so much as a scratch anywhere else on her face. She’s also not big on the whole “dark shades” thing: she starts off a pair at the beginning but loses them early on so that we can focus on her eyes. Or so I’m assuming, since there seems to be no other rational explanation for her just ditching the sunglasses.
On New Year’s Eve, Sara has the misfortune of being trapped in her luxury, penthouse apartment by a pair of complete psychopaths. The psychos have killed her shiftless boyfriend (the scene where she continually and unknowingly steps over his bloody corpse in the kitchen is actually pretty brilliant, much more Hitchcockian than the rest of the film deserved) and are after a fortune in diamonds that he’s hidden somewhere in the apartment. They assume that Sara knows where the stolen diamonds are hidden: she doesn’t. Thus begins a long game of cat-and-mouse as Sara tries to maneuver around the killers, playing them off each other and attempting to prevent her untimely death. Alliances are formed, betrayals are had and much scenery is gnawed.
Blindsided (or Penthouse North) is the kind of film that flooded the DTV market in the ’90s. It features a recognizable box-office star (in this case, Michael Keaton, which was reason enough for me to watch), small-scale and scope (one location, two if you count the roof) and plenty of action. In fact, I was immediately reminded of these type of films when I saw that Dimension Films produced the movie: they’re still around? Wow…that takes me back!
As far as story goes, the film is definitely a ripoff (or homage, if you’re feeling kind) of the far better Wait Until Dark. Wait Until Dark featured Audrey Hepburn as a house-bound, recently blind woman who is menaced by three armed thugs, one played by Alan Arkin. Using the same basic formula but dropping one of the thugs definitely makes for a more economical film but it’s certainly not reinventing the wheel.
There’s certainly nothing inherently wrong with Blindsided and it does have one very big pull: Michael Keaton’s completely villainous turn as Hollander. He may look awful in the movie (I sure hope he just had a rough weekend during shooting) but he brings everything he has to the role, stopping just short of the over-the-top quality he brought to Beetlejuice. He’s genuinely scary, particularly in a nasty scene involving a cat (animal lovers, don’t fret: this has a very happy resolution), and I never doubted the lengths he would go to retrieve the diamonds. His partner, however, was a bit of a mixed bag. Barry Sloane, the actor who portrayed Chad, is a TV actor and there was quite a bit of mugging in his performance. At times, he seems lovelorn. Other times, he’s unnaturally angry. And then there’s his outburst over Hollander’s treatment of Sara’s cat. For a character that always seemed crazier and less in control than Hollander, his sudden swerve into animal lover seems completely unwarranted and more of a deux ex machine than anything.
Will Blindsided (or whatever it’s called) change your life? Absolutely not. Is it an entertaining way to kill 90 minutes? Absolutely. Let me say, however, that the final shot of the film, off the rooftop, may just be one of my favorite moments from a film in years. It’s the very definition of poetic justice and it ended the film on an extremely positive note for me. User results may vary.
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ASL Interpreted
Where We Start
Walk With The Children
Pilgrimage/Journey
Physical Preparation
Home/Our Path/Where We End
Where We Endwtmprod2020-01-16T16:11:35-06:00
We walk to Mary.
The Walk to Mary ends at the place Mary’s message and mission began: the National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help. It’s the only Church-approved Marian apparition site in the United States of America and a popular international pilgrimage destination.
Mass will be available after the walk at the following times:
with Bishop Ricken
She will be waiting to revive us.
About Champion Shrine
See Shrine Website
The National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help is located in the quiet, peaceful, humble farming community of Champion, WI where the Blessed Mother appeared in 1859 to Adele Brise, a young Belgian immigrant. According to Adele Brise, Mary stated, “I am the Queen of Heaven…Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation. …Teach them their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the sacraments; that is what I wish you to do. Go and fear nothing. I will help you.”
Adele dutifully followed Our Lady’s instructions to teach the children and catechize, traveling by foot throughout a 50-mile radius of the area that now serves as the Shrine’s main grounds, in the wild and then heavily forested country of Northeast Wisconsin. Eventually, Adele’s father built a chapel on the site and Adele started a school and a community of women to teach in it. The actual apparition site is on the grounds where the fourth and current chapel is located with a Shrine to Mary in the Chapel’s lower level. The Chapel was dedicated on July 12, 1942. Adele Brise is buried near the Apparition oratory site.
Walk to Mary MAY 2, 2020
Walk to Mary
How The Walk Can Support Children
Adele Brise never swayed from her mission to teach the children the Catholic faith, no matter the hardship. She carried the messages of salvation, healing and grace on the back of her perseverance. This awe-inspiring determination continues to captivate the faithful, guiding them to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help on their spiritual journeys. It is the Walk to Mary’s intention to continue the mission she started. Using the school kits provided as a starting point, Catholic schools are using the Walk to Mary as a fundraising opportunity, like Adele, supporting Catholic education. In addition to that, it is the intention of the Walk to Mary that any excess funds (after all expenses to support the pilgrimage are paid for) will be used to assist in teaching our children the faith.
Copyright 2019 - Walk to Mary | Site by BRING
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McCann named to lead EDS government sales
By David Hubler
EDS Corp. has chosen veteran employee Andy McCann to be vice president and geographic sales leader of its U.S. Government and Public Sector business.
McCann will be responsible for developing and expanding EDS' business with federal civilian agencies, the Defense Department, the intelligence community, state and local governments, and several nonprofit organizations that conduct business with the government. McCann will oversee a team of more than 150 sales and business development professionals.
He will focus on accelerating growth while providing thought leadership and the best information technology solutions to EDS government clients, according to a company news release. He will also be responsible for expanding EDS' capabilities through its Agility Alliance, small-business partnerships and strategic relationships with teaming partners.
Most recently, he led a major segment of EDS' state and local government health care business, with responsibility for a 14-state region and 1,000 employees.
McCann, a 20-year EDS employee, succeeds David Hadsell, who was promoted to vice president and geographic sales leader for EDS' commercial business and state and local government health care business.
EDS, of Plano, Texas, ranks No. 10 on Washington Technology's 2008 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.
David Hubler is the former print managing editor for GCN and senior editor for Washington Technology. He is freelance writer living in Annandale, Va.
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Objectivity In Journalism
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Going beyond a denunciation or defence of journalistic objectivity, Maras critically examines the different scholarly and professional arguments made in the area
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This book examines debates around objectivity as a transnational norm, focusing on the emergence of objectivity in the US, while broadening out discussion to include developments around objectivity in the UK, Australia, Asia and other regions.
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Objectivity in journalism is a key topic for debate in media, communication and journalism studies, and has been the subject of intensive historical and sociological research. In the first study
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Greater Bethesda News
Date ArticleType
1/14/2020 Member News
Rehab 2 Perform Launches Fourth Location in Bethesda, MD
Frederick, MD -- Rehab 2 Perform, the award-winning physical therapy and rehabilitation center, has opened its fourth location, and second location in Montgomery County. It’s newest location is in Bethesda, Maryland close to the 270 and 495 spur, as announced by CEO and Founder Dr. Josh Funk.
The Bethesda location joins the likes of Frederick, where R2P began in December 2014, Germantown, which opened in October 2017, and Mt. Airy which opened in May of 2019. R2P4 as Funk likes to call it, will be located in the Capital Gateway Center complex at 6710A Rockledge Drive. The new location shares a building with companies such as IBM, Healthy Directions, Harvey-Cleary Builders, Plumsea Law Group and Urgo Hotels.
Since Funk established his vision of innovative physical therapy and rehabilitation in 2014, R2P has about doubled every year in clients served, staff, and revenue. This leads to R2P’s next phase: serving the Southern Montgomery County and greater DC region.
“Montgomery County is the county in which I was born and raised in and having the opportunity to expand our footprint and increase the amount of people in which we can serve is truly exciting. The DMV is one of the most fitness conscious areas in the country, as evidenced by its #1 ranking in the ACSM’s American Fitness Index, which makes the Bethesda location an ideal site for our fourth location. Additional items, such as a high number of schools, booming youth sports market and a thriving business community, make the decision to bring Rehab 2 Perform to this area of the county a home run.”
R2P4 will be about 4,000 square feet, featuring the hybrid medical and fitness concept, which has become a staple of the environment that Rehab 2 Perform has provided over the years. Funk has a special color scheme too: scarlet and gray to pay homage to “where he first got this idea” as a student-athlete at Ohio State, his alma mater.
“The open-space, hybrid format has been a hallmark of ours and it is something we will continue at future locations. It’s very inviting for clients, is less intimidating than a traditional medical environment and makes it easier for them to engage with multiple members of our team and other clients,” Funk said. “The facility will have all the hallmarks of a Rehab 2 Perform facility: turf, functional fitness equipment, white boards we use from an educational standpoint and a gym “feel” that will best prepare them for life outside of our four walls.”
Dr. Anthony Iannarino, who was Rehab 2 Perform’s first ever Doctor of Physical Therapy student intern, will oversee the Bethesda location in a site director role. Iannarino has been an instrumental part of R2P’s growth in Montgomery County, immersing himself in the local fitness and sports community, as well as spending time as an assistant coach with the Bullis Track team.
“Anthony has been an amazing addition to our team, adding fresh ideas and taking initiative on new programs within our company. His passion towards personal development and mentorship of other team members has been instrumental in our companies continued evolution over these past few years,” Funk said. “He was very forthright about his desire to not only join our team, but positively impact it, during his time as a DPT intern. That drive has been channeled into someone who I feel is not only a leader of our team, but someone who will be a leader in our profession for the years to come.”
Anthony is also very familiar with the greater DC region. He is a resident of DC and currently resides in the Cleveland Park neighborhood with his fiancee Allison.
“It is really exciting for us to be able to introduce our passion for physical therapy, wellness, and our unique service model to new communities. We are proud to be able to serve the Southern Montgomery County community and expand upon the relationships we have established in the northern part of the county,” said Dr. Iannarino. “With a Bethesda location, we are happy to be accessible to clients from Northern Virginia to Silver Spring as well.”
Along with Iannarino, Dr. Tim Bifulco, Matt Cornell and Janay Stackhouse will also work at the Bethesda location.
“Those are people who are experienced members of our team,” said Funk, who will also be sharing time in the Bethesda location. “We want to make sure the people in that new location are bringing the same service, experience and culture that our clients are used to expecting.”
R2P accepts all major medical insurances with physical therapy and sports rehabilitation functioning as its primary services. Funk said R2P has recently added Concussion Rehabilitation and will be expanding in “more preventive and wellness-oriented services” in 2020, as it looks to diversify its portfolio of offerings.
Last year, R2P had a 93 percent Net Promoter Score, which placed it in the upper 5 percent of its industry. R2P was also named Clarksburg Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year in 2018 and ranked No. 233 on Entrepreneur Magazine’s 360 Most Entrepreneurial Companies. After being recognized as the Frederick Chamber of Commerce Emerging Small Business of the Year in 2016, R2P turned around in 2017 to win the Frederick Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year (small size).
Funk credits R2P’s success to his loyal staff, the numerous Chamber of Commerce’s along I-270, and mentors Dave Posin and Danny Farrar, both of whom own Soldier Fit.
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Art & Heritage
Molise, the undiscovered region of Italy - Wednesday March 13, 2019
Wednesday, March 13, 2019. 9 am - 11:00 am Light Breakfast (coffee & cookies), Networking, and Presentation. History of the Italian Immigration Museum, 1834 E. Passyunk Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19148. "Wedged between Abruzzo and Puglia, Molise is really the last undiscovered region of Italy, unknown even to some Italians. In fact it is joked - Il Molise non esiste….
Having first visited as a child, the hometown of my grandfather made a strong impression on me. When I went back, grownup, with the idea of learning Italian, I discovered the Italy I had never found as a tourist. My huge affection for the small town of Agnone in particular, and in Molise in general, spurs me to share some of my experiences with other discerning travellers, eager to discover hidden gems." (Jenifer Landor)
The event is FREE OF CHARGE for all Filitalia members and $5 for non members. RSVP is required, so please reserve your ticket online.
Jenifer Landor began her career as an actress, working mostly in the UK where she trained and was educated, but also in the US, where she was born. Working extensively on stage in the UK, and on film and TV on both sides of the Atlantic, she later segued into film production, developing and co-producing several independent films.
In 2012 she went to learn Italian in the hometown of her grandfather – and discovered it was the perfect place; no tourists, and no one with whom to speak English. She decided to harness film production expertise and acting talent, and set about to create a bespoke language and culture program in Agnone, Alto Molise.
Working closely with the community, harnessing their talents and expertise, each season brings more to a unique experience, ‘off the beaten track’ in Italy.
SOURCE: Filitalia International
TAG : Philadelphia Pennsylvania Filitalia International History of Italian Immigration Museum Molise
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The multilingual point: Patrick Keulemans
Somewhere in the vast universe, there is a small dot, our earth, ‘the multilingual point’. An assemblage of living and dead languages.
The work of Patrick Keulemans arises from a fascination with language. Language as a vehicle of communication and meaning but which, in its complexity, also gives rise to misunderstanding and the loss of meaning. Within this language, the point is the smallest and most universal symbol. It is a component of letters and characters. It marks the end of every sentence. It creates clarity, delimits, suggests, symbolizes.
In this exhibition, Patrick Keulemans often works with the diverse formal applications and layers of meanings associated with the point. It not only functions as a metaphor for our multilingual world, but also refers to (vestiges of) meaning. Sometimes it is a perforation, then a circle, or simply a point.
In linguistic terms, the primary function of the point is to separate sentences. They are the interrupting signals that increase the readability of a text. In Hermetic – James Joyce, Patrick Keulemans takes a classic piece of world literature – the last chapter of Ulysses – and, via the absence of points and other punctuation, renders it virtually unreadable. He mounts this fragment in a piece of leather, a reference to the first carriers of communication. In a long chain of points filled with letters, but without spaces between words, the linguistic structure completely disappears. The points become a continuous visual pattern. That similar patterns in perforated leather strips might just as easily be filled with bytes of computer language or references to the Israeli issue, raises questions about the interchangeability of symbols, and whether or not linguistic content determines our way of looking at an equivalent object.
The Copy Paste Society is a nod to John Baldessari, Damien Hirst, Roy Lichtenstein, Atsuko Tanaka and Yayoi Kusama, all of whom have turned the point – or sphere – into an identifying mark. The work refers to the question of the copying process. What is an original idea? How do you lend individuality to something as universal and recognizable as a point? Can you claim rights to universal forms and symbols, such as the circle or the point? And if you reproduce them, does it raise questions about copying or plagiarism? Are you a plagiarist if you repeat a trademark, but cast it in a different form? Isn’t language based, above all else, on conventions and repetition, and thus copying? These questions aside, The Copy Paste Society is a work of powerful poetic resonance. Titles of artworks by the aforementioned artists are framed between transparent glass plates and hung in a rhythmic pattern across the wall. The rhythm of the five works adds a further visual layer to the theme of the copy.
The new compact form of Peptalk comprises words and phrases in capsules, like pills to be consumed one by one, but also like the precious vestiges of language and meaning. These remnants can also be seen on two old vinyl records – circles – upon which lost languages are listed.
The tension between past and present is one of the threads running through the exhibition. Sometimes, you can simply feel the history in the beautiful patina that covers the work; at other times, it touches the memory of all that has been lost. On the other hand, the volatility and intractability of contemporary media is never far away, as in Wikileaks Cloud, for example. And despite the critical tone and the air of melancholy, Keulemans regularly succeeds in relativizing himself and eliciting a smile from visitors. With Framework, and its pin points, as a roguish wink.
At first glance, Story of a Tail appears to be a beautifully shaped page of type. Yet there is no visible text. Instead, there is pattern created by plastic tubes that are filled – as alluded to in the title – with horsehair. Small relics with a fascinating content. We see similar patterns in other works, such as 18 pages or DNA, a series of intricately carved, grooved panels that are filled with a sort of Morse code. Visual interpretations of textual representations.
In the attic of the gallery, the tone of the exhibition changes slightly. Conceptual strength and irony give way to a more personalized form of poetry. For the first time, Patrick Keulemans shows a number of self-portraits that were ‘written’, made with a home-made pen: a piece of wood through which the ink flows organically, like the life-giving sap of a tree. Thereby enclosing himself within his own linguistic universe.
Lies Daenen
17. 12. 15
H art, 21/01/2016
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Matthew Shepard Finally Laid to Rest: Equal Club Witnesses Interment
Found on twitter @wakfieldequal
Carla Barefoot '20, News Editor
Helen Keller, Woodrow Wilson, Bishop Satterlee, and as of October 26th, 2018, Matthew Shepard. These are the names of individuals whose final resting place is at the Washington National Cathedral. The ashes of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old student who was brutally beaten, tortured, and left to die tied to a fence for being homosexual, was interred at the second largest cathedral in the country about two weeks ago. This historic moment had people from all across the nation watching, including Wakefield’s Equal Club (whose interview with NBC you can watch here), who were the only high school group to actually attend the interment ceremony held at the Washington National Cathedral.
While none of the student’s in the Equal Club were alive when Matthew Shepard was murdered, they have all felt and seen the effects of it on other generations. Junior Gillian Arington said, “The LGBTQ+ community wouldn’t be where it is now without the attention that his murder got in the news.” Shepard’s death sparked a conversation about the prominent hatred in society which everyone ignored, but desperately needed to be acknowledged and addressed.
All the Equal Club members felt so grateful to be able to witness such a beautiful and historic event. Senior Grace Kalfatovic said, “Being there in person, you could really feel the emotions running through the room, hear the echo of each word spoken and each note sung. It just felt more powerful and real”. Grace also expressed how great it was to see how many people were there and still cared about Matthew.
The ceremony was especially important to the older generation who lived through the tragic death of Shepard. President of Equal Club, senior Hannah Jones said, “for the older LGBTQ+ people and allies at the event and witnessing it across the country, it was really important for them to put to rest their grief and feel a sense of justice. So many older people were crying and so deeply moved in a different way than the younger people were.” For the younger generations, the ceremony felt like a beam of hope for future change. Jones also said that “the support is such a turning point in encouraging other churches and denominations to follow the National Cathedral’s lead in honoring and welcoming LGBTQ+ people.”
The fact that the interment was at such a significant cathedral allowed the LGBTQ+ community to feel a sense of belonging. Junior Erik Carlson said, “It was nice to see a ceremony like that, in a place where it [homosexuality] was supposed to be treated like a sin. Getting something so controversial treated with the kindness and fairness it deserved felt nice.”
While hate crimes like Shepard’s continue to exist, the interment of Matthew Shepard in such a holy and religiously symbolic place sent an important message across the country. A message of acceptance, peace and unity regarding the LGBTQ+ community and religion, which has often been used against them.
It was a message that the life and death of Matthew Shepard should be held in equal regards with others buried in the Washington National Cathedral. It was a message of healing.
Carla Barefoot '20, Co Editor-in-Chief
Hey guys; I'm Carla. I'm a Co-Editor in Chief on The Chieftain and this my third year in journalism. I like to listen to all different genres and languages...
Ms. Deskins Retires after 33 Years in Arlington Public Schools
For Wakefield students, by Wakefield students
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$6.7 million energy contract approved by Owen J. Roberts School Board
In a move meant to save the Owen J. Roberts School District millions of dollars in utility costs over the next 20-years, the school board this week approved a $6.7 million energy deal.
The Daily Local News reports the contract with Johnson Controls Inc. includes installing solar panels at the high school and middle school and a series of building and mechanical upgrades in buildings across the district.
According to the report, a portion of the cost, $4 million, will be paid out of the district’s capital reserve account, while around $2.2 million will be borrowed through a municipal lease agreement.
The remaining amount relates to interest on a lease over a 20-year period.
The district tells The Daily Times the project will realize a guaranteed savings of $11 million in energy costs over 20-years. After the project costs, savings would amount to $4.2 million.
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Showcasing the best of the community and ethnic media
As of August 1, 2019, Voices of NY is a project of City Limits. This site is an archive of the material published up to May 31, 2019.
September 26, 2014 By Jehangir Khattak
Source: Voices of NY
Pakistan’s Political Divide on Display in NYC
Protestors against Nawaz Sharif near the U.N. on September 26. (Photo by Jehangir Khattak for Voices of NY)
Pakistan’s deep political divisions were on noisy display Friday September 26 as more than 3,000 supporters of the country’s opposition leader Imran Khan descended on New York City to protest the nation’s embattled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Sharif was addressing the General Assembly at the United Nations, as the protestors demanded his resignation and new elections.
Supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (which means ‘Pakistan Movement for Justice) crowded 47th Street between 1st and 2nd avenues, chanting “Go Nawaz Go.” A couple of hundred of Sharif’s supporters standing across the police barrier a few yards away responded with their own chants.
Khan and Allama Tahirul Qadri, the Canada-based religious firebrand cleric, have joined with their supporters in staging a largely peaceful sit-in in front of Pakistan’s parliament in Islamabad since August 19th. Khan accuses Sharif of winning the country’s 2013 general elections through massive electoral fraud and has been demanding an independent vote audit, sweeping electoral reforms and a more effective and transparent system of accountability.
Qadri, whose Pakistan Awami Tehrik (meaning Pakistan People’s Movement) has lost at least 17 of its supporters to Pakistani police shootings since June, wants extensive political reforms too.
Several rounds of talks between the government and opposition have failed. The government says political turmoil is hurting Pakistan’s already weak economy. The Asian Development Bank has also warned that political unrest, recent floods in central and southern Pakistan and precarious security situation pose a severe risk to the economy.
Supporters of Khan, who is a former cricket star, believe that electoral transparency and across-the-board accountability hold the key to facing the country’s complex economic and security challenges, and that only he can solve them. This belief was the driving force for the many attending Friday rally. They flew from as far as Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston, and drove from as far as Ohio, New Hampshire, Boston, the tri-state area and Long Island.
Qari Zubair came from Elmont, Long Island, along with his wife and two daughters, carrying a handful of PTI flags and anti-Nawaz banners. Saleha, a dentist by profession, drove with her husband, a software engineer, from Cleveland, Ohio, along with their two-year-old son and four-year-old daughter. She sounded optimistic that Khan’s campaign for reforms would succeed. “It doesn’t matter how many people show up at the anti-government protests. What matters is that the action tells the world that majority of Pakistanis are against political corruption in their country,” she said while holding the stroller of her two children.
Abdul Hameed and his wife Farrah Deeba, who drove to the protest from Toronto. (Photo by Jehangir Khattak for Voices of NY)
A sizeable number of Khan’s supporters came from Canada as well. Abdul Hameed, 62, a businessman, drove from Toronto with his 54-year-old wife Farrah Deeba.
“As a Pakistani, it’s our duty to tell the world what’s happening in Pakistan,” he told Voices of NY, referring to Pakistan’s huge corruption problem. He walked on Second Avenue holding a bag full of anti-Sharif posters, Khan party flags and Canadian flags.
Khan enjoys a huge and loyal following among Pakistanis living abroad, especially the youth. Some of the protesters at Friday rally proved that. Such was the enthusiasm that one of his supporters, Saad Umar Malizai, 23, quit his job in Lowell, New Hampshire, to join the protest.
“My boss wouldn’t let me go on a working day, so I had to resign my job where I was paid $1,000 dollars a week,” said Malizai. And he showed no regrets. “I came here to support my freedom,” he said. “You know there is so much corruption. I want no more looting, no more drama (in Pakistan),” he told Voices of NY.
But Sharif’s supporters also insist that he is bringing reforms and has put the country on path to economic revival. Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League, like most of Pakistani political parties, has a visible presence in New York. Almost all Pakistani political parties have registered themselves as nonprofits in the U.S., which they also use as a vehicles to transfer funds they raise here.
Nawaz Sharif supporters near the U.N. September 26. (Photo by Jehangir Khattak for Voices of NY)
Sharif’s supporters had hastily assembled to respond to the opposition’s political challenge on New York streets. “We received our permit only this past Tuesday,” Rohail Dar, the president of Muslim League’s U.S. branch, told Voices of NY. But he insisted that their rally was to welcome the Pakistani prime minister. “The decent people who believe in the rule of law are here to welcome the elected prime minister of Pakistan.”
“This protest shows that Pakistan has a divided opinion,” Dar said while pointing at the slogan-chanting opposition supporters. “They don’t represent just one political party. They represent at least six parties,” he said while referring to the large opposition supporters’ turnout.
Malik Khurram, another Sharif supporter who traveled from Yonkers, said Sharif is the elected prime minister and deserved the support and respect of people of Pakistan origin in the US. He said the opposition parties had a vested agenda, which would take Pakistan nowhere.
Saying that Pakistan’s parliament and not the streets of New York was the right forum to protest, Dar insisted that Sharif is the right leader to take the South Asian nation out of its economic and political mess.
But Abdul Hameed disagrees with him. To him most of Pakistan’s political leaders have had a tainted record. “Imran Khan is the only hope because he has a clean record.” When asked if such protests will bring any change, Hameed looks at his wife, who reluctantly responded: “The chance is 95%”. But Sheikh Elahi and Mehmood Awan, two founding members of the PTI who were in attendance at the protest, insist that the chances of Sharif’s resignation, sweeping electoral reforms and a transparent true democracy under Khan’s leadership are Pakistan’s destiny.
Tags: Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan
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Only two years ago there was no Guatemalan government representation in the Carolinas; today, the Raleigh consulate serves a thriving community of 120,000, Qué Pasa Noticias reports. Guatemalans live mostly in North Carolina (80,000), and their country’s native languages are well represented (mainly Mam, Chuj, Ixil and Kanjobal). They are known for their entrepreneurship and family businesses, from restaurants to construction companies, many of them started thanks to their U.S.-born children’s social security number. “Most car repair shops in Charlotte are run by Guatemalans,” said Mónica del Cid, co-owner of Red Light Auto Services. Link to original story →
Georgia Coalition of Latino Leaders Turns 13
Headquartered in the back of a small supermarket in Dalton, GA, the Coalición de Líderes Latinos de Georgia (CLILA) has served the area’s Hispanic community for 13 years, Mundo Hispánico reports. CLILA offers English and citizenship classes and DACA application help, among other legal and community services. The coalition was founded in 2006 by Mexican immigrant América Gruner, who sought to mobilize the area’s large Hispanic population (mostly working in the carpet industry) against anti-immigrant measures but found that many were not eligible to vote because they didn’t apply for citizenship, or didn’t speak the language. Link to original story →
Puerto Rico WIC Recipients Drop 43 Percent Due to Mass Migration
The number of Puerto Rican women receiving benefits from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) dropped by 43 percent in the past five years, El Vocero reports. The numbers reflect a childbirth drop partially caused by the Zika virus scare, during which many women avoided pregnancy, but the main cause is the mass emigration of young families away from the island. The decrease in the federal program of recipients has also hit businesses that provide WIC-funded foods: 18 percent of them have closed, and the rest have been forced to diversify their operations. Link to original story →
Debt and Depopulation Leave San Juan in ‘Extreme Decay’
An investigation by El Nuevo Día shows the “extreme decay” of San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital, as the municipal government reduced its contractual commitments almost by half compared to 2013. As residents complain of crumbling roads, criminality and lack of cleaning services, the city has had a population loss of more than 90,000 residents in the past 10 years. The loss in municipal income has resulted in a $183 million debt in spite of a $73 million budget cut. The problem is exacerbated by non-payments the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico and the city’s difficulties in borrowing money. Link to original story →
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Verandah-Curlee House
Curlee
Huggins
Lorenzo Thomas Speech
Major General Henry Wager Halleck
Henry Halleck, a native of Westernville, NY, ran away from home at an early age because he didn’t want to be a farmer. He graduated third in the West Point class of 1839. He had an eventful pre-war career and authored or translated a number of military texts. In 1854 he resigned from the army and joined a successful law firm in California, declining a number of powerful political appointments. He wrote more books on law and acquired a fortune in business.
At the outset of the war he was appointed a major general in the regular army and was the fourth highest ranking officer in the U.S. Army. Much was expected of him.
Halleck was sent to Missouri and quickly rose to command the department. Subordinates of his won important victories at Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Shiloh and Island No. 10. Though present at none of these battles he somehow managed to take credit for the triumphs. The high expectations were put to the test when Halleck took to the field to personally lead the Siege of Corinth.
Halleck is often criticized for the slow pace of the siege, a methodical advance that took thirty days to move twenty-eight miles. In his defense there were several factors that contributed to his less-than-rapid movement. First, some of his troops, those in Pope’s Army of the Mississippi, were on the outskirts of Corinth in just two days. Incessant rain, however, slowed the columns of Buell’s Army of the Ohio. Every stream and creek had to be bridged, often in several places, and muddy roads had to be courderoyed, a laborious process of laying tree trunks side by side to create a wooden road. Also to be considered was the logistics involved in feeding an army group of nearly 120,000 soldiers. Each soldier received a ration of two pounds of food a day; each of the 17,000 horses and mules got 26 pounds of grain and hay. This adds up to 341 tons of rations for a single day. Of course these rations had to be transported by wagons which took more horses and mules; it was a logistical nightmare for not only did the quartermasters have to deliver the food, they had to move bullets, telegraph wire, horseshoe nails, candles and a thousand other items needed for an army on campaign.
Halleck was also not going to be surprised, especially after a large engagement
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells succinctly described him; “[Halleck] originates nothing, anticipates nothing…takes no responsibility, plans nothing, suggests nothing, is good for nothing.” General George B. McClellan was even less generous, describing Halleck as “the most hopelessly stupid of all men in high position.”
Halleck set a slow methodical pace, never taking the least chance, and eventually his labors paid off with Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard abandoning the city on the evening of May 29/30. The following day the Union army began their occupation of the city.
The general did not move into the Verandah House immediately. He was stricken with dysentery and wrote to Gen. John Pope, “I would come and see you but have for several days been confined to my tent with the ‘evacuation of Corinth. ‘”
It was from the rooms of the Verandah House that Halleck issued the orders to break up the largest army on the continent. Buells’ Army of the Ohio was dispatched east toward Chattanooga while other troops were sent west to rebuild the railroad to Memphis.
Halleck’s stay in the Verandah House would not be a long one. On July 11 he was summoned east to Washington to become general in chief of all the armies of the United States. He summoned Gen. Grant from Memphis to report to Corinth immediatly. Unsure of what was in the wind, Grant asked if he should bring his staff along as well. Halleck answered with a telegram. “This place will be your headquarters. You can judge for yourself.”
Halleck spent two days with Grant, never telling him why he had been summoned to Corinth. He departed on July 17th, never to return.
As for Grant, he set up his headquarters across Childs Street in the home of Mr. Houston Mitchell
First Event of the Season!
Open Again!!
The Verandah House Christmas Candlelight Tour
The House is back!
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A native of Frederick County, Kendra grew up in Jefferson, MD. She’s married to her husband Curtis and enjoys spending time with her family. Kendra began her career working at Gladhill Furniture in Middletown, MD at the age of 16. She worked her way up through the ranks in her 18 years at Gladhill, starting as receptionist. Initially, her long term career goals did not include Gladhill Furniture, however she was promoted so rapidly that it soon became an unexpected career path. In 1999, she was promoted to office manager and by 2000 she became top salesperson and was invited to be a part of The President’s Club, selling over $1 million each year. Despite her success at Gladhill, in 2006 she decided to follow her heart and her passion for skincare and makeup and start her own business. She sold her products through in-home presentations and quickly built a large team and clientele. Her drive to own her life by owning her own business was undeniable. She met with much success and loved her work, yet she yearned for something bigger. This is where the partnership between Kendra and Nicole comes in. The two always had a unique dynamic and knew that one day they would partner and open a store together. That vision was held onto closely. Taking with her the best of what she had learned in her experiences and adding that to Nicole’s knowledge and experience, the two decided in 2009 that they could wait no longer! Smooch! studio was born! The doors opened on April 17, 2009 and the business growth has been exponential. With the partnership strong and the business booming, the long term vision is to be a national brand with smooch! studios all over the nation.
Andrew Simpson & Tanya Pershin
Nicole & Kendra Knight
Nicole has been married to her husband David for 25 years and enjoys spending time with their children and first grandchild! Growing up in Frederick County and graduating with honors from Mt. St. Mary’s University in 1991, she began working as a first grade teacher for Howard County Public Schools. The summer following her first year teaching, she discovered her entrepreneurial spirit! And once she caught ‘the bug’ it simply grew. She met a dynamic entrepreneur who would become her mentor and her inspiration. Faye was ironically enough a former teacher herself. She had her own line of cosmetics and skincare that she marketed through salons. Nicole spent that summer shadowing Faye, absorbing all she could. She continued teaching and worked part time selling Faye’s products and found that it was her calling. In 1996 Nicole took the leap of faith and quit her teaching job to dive into the makeup industry.
She began using Faye’s model combined with her own to sell her line in salons in Frederick. Her business model was a success and she knew it would be successful on a larger level. In 2009, the timing felt right and she and her sister in law Kendra convened to brainstorm. The two had always held the vision of growing the business model on a larger scale as partners. Combining their unique sets of skills and experience, they gave life to smooch! studio in April 2009..
Andrew founded Player’s Fitness and Performance in Frederick, MD during the Summer of 2013. He has been a competitive athlete his entire life. Sports are in his blood. He discovered he had a passion for Exercise Science, Nutrition, and Human Performance in 2010 and decided to blending this with his love for athletics. He and his team have been blessed with the responsibility to mentor and develop hundreds of middle and high school students in the Frederick area. Sports aside, Andrew's most genuine passion lies in helping others to see themselves as God sees them. To realize the potential for greatness that each person has inside them. His mission is to inspire others to live uncommon lives and to bold enough to accept the calling to become extraordinary leaders.
Tanya has been an avid athlete for as long as she can remember. She is a former Cheerleader for the University of Maryland. After college she continued cheering for the Baltimore Spirit. Tanya is married and has two boys who are very active in sports. She became connected with PFP when her older son began training with Coach Andrew for strength, speed, agility, and confidence enhancement. Tanya has always had a passion for teaching children. She was the cheerleading head coach at Walkersville High School for five years. Tanya has a passion for fitness herself, and plays a huge role in helping athletes and adults alike at Player’s Fitness and Performance realize their full potential.
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Revision as of 22:07, 6 December 2016 by Mbc07 (talk | contribs) (Template:Problems bug fix)
Developer(s) Chunsoft
Publisher(s) Chunsoft
Release date(s) JP April 29, 2005
Mode(s) Single-player, Online (32)
GameIDs GHEJ91
Homeland is a role-playing video game for the Nintendo GameCube developed by Chunsoft and released in Japan only. The game can be played offline in single-player mode or online in multiplayer mode over the internet or on a LAN. In online mode the player can assume the role of gamemaster and create an online game for up to thirty-five other players. It is one of only four titles for the GameCube designed for online play. It is unique among these games in a number of ways. It is the only one where the GameCube itself acts as the server, rather than the player using a central server. It is also the only online GameCube game that isn't a Phantasy Star Online title, and the only one not to get a release outside of Japan.
1.1 BBA Mode random crashes
BBA Mode random crashes
When playing on BBA (Broadband Adapter) online modes, the game will randomly crash. Fixed by 5.0-1064
This title does not need non-default settings to run properly.
The graph below charts the compatibility with Homeland since Dolphin's 2.0 release, listing revisions only where a compatibility change occurred.
5.0-424 Windows 10 Intel Core i5-3570K @ 3.4GHz NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Perfect. I wanted to test BBA as well but just poking around the game to play it was hard enough. JMC4789
Retrieved from "https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=Homeland&oldid=133914"
Chunsoft (Developer)
Chunsoft (Publisher)
Online (Game mode)
32 (Players supported)
GameCube Games with BBA-Modem Support
Pages with fixed problems
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Chicago Menu
Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center
Fri. 11am-5pm | Sat. 11am-5pm | Sun 11am-4pm
Abilities Expo > Chicago >
Chicago Ambassador Program
Local disability activists lead Abilities Expo’s community outreach efforts through ambassador program
For the Chicago event, Abilities Expo has appointed Ambassadors—members of the local community of people with disabilities—to spearhead community outreach initiatives. These individuals will meet face-to-face with rehab institutions, independent living centers, local manufacturers, service providers and local associations to generate excitement and increase attendance at each event.
Meet the impressive individuals who have chosen to represent Abilities Expo to the Community.
Mike Ervin
Mike Ervin is a writer and disability rights activist living in Chicago. His plays have been produced in theaters across America.
As a journalist, he has written extensively about the community of people with disabilities for several national newspapers and magazines. Currently, he is a columnist for New Mobility magazine and spinalcord.org. Mike is also a founding member of the Chicago chapter of the direct action disability rights organization ADAPT.
Vanessa Harris
Vanessa Harris, P.E. is an able-bodied/disabled licensed professional engineer and artist who creates short documentaries which can be seen at Fun 4 the Disabled to inspire joy for disabled and non-disabled persons alike about fun topics. She is constantly seeking new subjects around accessibility and aspires to make work that is both entertaining and educational. She documents and shares entertaining people, pastimes and products, because she wants people who are disabled and their friends and families to enjoy life with no one excluded for fun activities. Her short subjects are shown on her website, YouTube, and the Chicago Access Network Television Station.
As an artist and engineer, Harris has always worked to solve problems and is now focusing on how to provide solutions for topics as diverse as: buying an accessible car if you are a wheelchair user; interviewing disabled authors of comics; and discovering a ranch that has therapy equine animals. She covers each subject simply, clearly and with a sense of humor.
Harris has 30 years of experience in engineering and has won ten awards in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics arena. Her most recent honor was the Global Leadership Forum Superstar Award. She is an Ambassador for the Chicago Abilities Expo, and has been nominated to be a 2020 ADA25 Advancing Leadership Fellow. She not only loves film, but also music and dance and has featured several integrated dance companies and professional disabled dancers in her documentaries.
Vincenzo Tufano
Chicago Ambassador
For some it would seem like an impossible situation being told that you would never walk again and not to bother, but for Vincenzo it was a challenge worth meeting head on. The former aspirations of becoming an EMT were a thing of the past as, after a fall and a diagnosis of Muscular Dystrophy, he was paralyzed on his whole right side. It would take around five years for Vincenzo to be able to gain enough function in his arm to use a manual wheelchair and begin his journey into a new life he never thought was possible.
In 2016, Vincenzo began adaptive rowing with the Chicago Rowing Foundation and competed in several races, even taking first place home twice. However, his love for rowing was overshadowed by his passion for dance. He yearned to perform again! In November 2016, his dream became a reality when the director of Momenta Dance Company saw him dance in a workshop and invited him to join the company. Since then, he has performed with Momenta, dancing a duet with another male able-bodied dancer, and with the Academy of Movement and Music, which is the school that Momenta calls home. He was also honored to choreograph and perform a solo piece of his own for the 2017 Chicago Disability Pride Parade.
In addition, Vincenzo competed in the 2017 Chicago Triathlon as a parathlete and took home first place in the Wheely Division! He continues to train with Dare2tri, a group that prepares athletes with physical, cognitive and visual disabilities to compete in triathlons.
It is his courage and determination that has brought him to Abilities Expo as a new ambassador. He believes anything is possible as long as you believe and wants to bring others with disabilities the chance to shine.
Stephanie Woodward
National Disability Law Ambassador
Stephanie Woodward is a passionate Disability Rights activist and proud disabled person. She is the Director of Advocacy at the Center for Disability Rights, Inc. (CDR) a disability led, not-for-profit Corporation that works for national, state, and local systemic change to advance the rights of people with disabilities. Stephanie is also a member of ADAPT, a national grass-roots community that organizes disability rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action, including civil disobedience, to assure the civil and human rights of people with disabilities to live in freedom. Stephanie has been arrested multiple times while advocating for Disability Rights.
Prior to joining CDR Stephanie worked as a litigator in Miami, Florida focusing on Disability Rights. Stephanie attended Syracuse University College of Law where she earned her J.D. with a certificate in Disability Law and Policy and her M.S.Ed. in Disability Studies. Stephanie previously worked for Senator Tom Harkin (IA) and assisted his Disability Counsel on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions by researching, drafting legislation, and making recommendations for legislative action in regards to disability rights issues. Most recently, Stephanie, along with fellow members of ADAPT, assisted in drafting the Disability Integration Act (DIA) – a piece of legislation that, if passed, would affirm the rights of people with disabilities to receive long-term services in their homes, rather than nursing facilities and other institutions.
While Stephanie’s work spans across all areas of Disability Rights, she is particularly interested in deinstitutionalization, community living, ending violence against people with disabilities, and improving access in the community. She loves talking about legislation that will impact the Disability Community and helping others to become activists for Disability Rights. When Stephanie is not doing Disability Rights work, she can be found playing with her adorable nieces, taking care of her four cats, and eating copious amounts of cheeseburgers and onion rings.
Exhibitor List/Floorplan
Exhibitor List for Screen Readers
Directions/Transportation
Disability Services/Hotel
Chicago 2019 Show Directory
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What Is the Average Neonatal Nurse Salary?
by Louis Horkan
Neonatal nurses care for newborn infants during their first month of life.
1 How Much Do Baby Delivery Nurses Make?
2 How Much Do Registered Nurses Earn?
3 How Much Can an Oncology Pediatric Nurse Earn?
4 How Much Does an Emergency Room Nurse Make an Hour?
Neonatal nurses working in health care facilities throughout the U.S. specialize in the care of newborn infants during their first month of life. Neonatal nurses are registered nurses, and individual facilities can require additional specialty training for those dealing with ill or premature newborn infants in high-risk areas, such as neonatal intensive-care units. Compensation varies on the region of the country, advanced credentials and other factors.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics categorizes neonatal nurses with registered nurses. According to the May 2011 Occupational Employment Statistics report on wages published by the BLS, registered nurses, including neonatology nurses, reported earning a median annual wage of $65,950 or a median hourly wage of $31.71 nationwide. The lowest 10 percent earned $44,970 or less, while registered nurses reporting in the top 10 percent earned in excess of $96,630 annually. Simply Hired, an Internet job search website, estimates the average salary for a neonatal nurse to be $54,000 as of July 2012.
Location is a key factor influencing salary for neonatal nurses. According to the BLS, California sits atop the list of top-paying states, with an annual average wage of $90,860. Massachusetts follows with an average salary of $86,810 per year, joined by Hawaii at $83,950. Inversely, neonatal nurses in Iowa report the lowest annual average salary, at $53,300, joined by nurses in South Dakota and Oklahoma, who reported average yearly salaries of $55,710 and $56,130, respectively.
The BLS reports that many areas in the country remain underserved due to a nationwide shortage of nurses, especially in rural and inner-city areas. Specialty practitioners, such as neonatal nurses, who are willing to work in such areas are likely to benefit from greater employment opportunities. Advancement opportunities do exist for neonatal nurses, such as the advanced practice registered nurse and neonatal nurse practitioner positions, both of which require a master’s degree and advanced training.
Technology and treatment advancements continue to spur employment growth in the health care industry and especially in the nursing profession. The BLS predicts that registered nurses will remain in demand, projecting growth of 26 percent from 2010 to 2020, nearly twice the average growth rate projected across all industries in the United States. Job prospects and opportunities are expected to be even better for registered nurses practicing in specialized fields, such as neonatology.
Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics: Registered Nurses
Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook: Registered Nurses
Simply Hired: Neonatal Nurse
Louis Horkan is a veteran trader, analyst and business strategist with more than 25 years of experience trading in and writing about business and the global financial markets. His articles and commentary have been featured online and in magazines and he's appeared on radio and TV as a strategy/trading expert. Horkan is currently completing a book on commodities trading.
Horkan, Louis. "What Is the Average Neonatal Nurse Salary?" Work - Chron.com, http://work.chron.com/average-neonatal-nurse-salary-7415.html. Accessed 21 January 2020.
Horkan, Louis. (n.d.). What Is the Average Neonatal Nurse Salary? Work - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://work.chron.com/average-neonatal-nurse-salary-7415.html
Horkan, Louis. "What Is the Average Neonatal Nurse Salary?" accessed January 21, 2020. http://work.chron.com/average-neonatal-nurse-salary-7415.html
Salary of an L&D Nurse
Chemo Infusion RN Job Description
The Salary of a Prenatal Nurse
Neonatal Nurse Benefits
What Are the Salaries of OBGYN Nurses?
How Much Will I Make With an Associate's Degree in Nursing?
Become a Maternity Ward Nurse
How Much Does a CRNA Make a Year?
Can You Be an Advanced Practice Nurse Without a Master's Degree?
Top Paid Nursing Positions
The Average Salary of an IV Therapy Nurse
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Home » Current Issues » Society
For God's Sake
Sep 17, 2005 | by Rabbi Benjamin Blech
The challenge of our age: not to desecrate God's holy name with acts that profane all that He stands for.
Getting ready for the High Holy Days?
Let's see, there are two days of Rosh Hashana and then one day of Yom Kippur. That makes three in all. Not too hard to devote three days to God.
But it's not merely the days that are filled with lengthy synagogue services that matter. The truth is Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are just the "bookends" for a ten day period of repentance that is required for us to appreciate where we've gone wrong in the past year and to concentrate on how we can improve in the future. Ten days is exactly how long we need to begin the process of change and of Teshuva.
What's so special about ten? Just as we recite at the Passover Seder, "Who knows ten? I know ten. Ten are the Commandments" -- these ten days present us with the opportunity as well as the challenge to focus in on the ten major concepts of our faith.
Every day of the ten is devoted to one of the Commandments on the tablets.
Not surprising, then, that the two days of Rosh Hashana are inseparable and form one unit. Even in Israel, where the other holidays are but one day, Rosh Hashana is observed as two. They correspond to the first two commandments, "I am the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage" and "You shall have no other gods before Me."
These two and these two alone were heard by every Jew from the mouth of the Almighty Himself. After that, incapable of bearing more divine revelation, they begged Moses to take over and serve as spokesman. These two commandments were given as one -- and so they remain as one to this day in a 48 hour holy day.
On the first two days of the ten days of repentance we therefore try to capture the full meaning of this double imperative. We blow the shofar to proclaim God's kingship over the whole world. We go to a stream of water for Tashlich to enact a ceremony reminiscent of the coronation of a king, symbolic of rulership that extends across the seas. Our emphasis is on the uniqueness of God and His dominion over Creation.
But all this merely serves to prepare us for what the Midrash identifies as the world's greatest challenge!
When God spoke at Sinai and uttered the words of the third Commandment, the Midrash tells us "the whole earth shook in fear." What was so frightening?
It was the relevance of a law that was addressed to people who had already accepted God but might now be guilty of a sin that to this day threatens our survival. "Don't take God's name La'shov" -- the Hebrew text is not "in vain" but "to what is vain." Don't misuse God to justify evil. Don't commit atrocities and justify them as holy because they are committed in the name of the Lord.
History is a horrible saga of iniquity rationalized as sacred service to Heaven. All we need do is to turn to the first murder of all time. Why did Cain murder his brother Abel? Because, a Midrash tells us, they had a religious dispute between themselves. One said "On my portion of land will the Temple be built" and the other said, "No, on mine." And so "for God's sake," brother slew brother.
The world cannot exist without God. Nor can it survive with using God's name to sanctify evil and violence.
How many victims has the world known of this violation of the third commandment? For centuries, the Catholic Church performed the most bestial crimes with their Crusades, justified because they were all done in the name of God. In our times, September 11th is a day of infamy not only for the atrocity associated with it but for the recognition that those who were responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocents shouted Allah Akbar- God is great! as they brought on their mass destruction.
Remarkably enough, the third day of the ten days of repentance has a special name that relates it to an important historic event. It is called T'zom Gedalia -the Fast of Gedalia. Jews fast on the day after Rosh Hashana because many years ago, in an act of fanatic extremism, a Jew was slain by fellow Jews -- in the name of God. It happened precisely on the third day of Tishrei, the day set aside for us to pay particular attention to the message of the commandment that calls on us not to dare rationalize wrong-doing as divine will.
Just a few weeks ago, the new pope, Pope Benedict, met with Muslim leaders. To his great credit, he acknowledged that Christianity has in the past committed the grave sin of "killing in the name of religion." With profound awareness of this blot on his faith's past, he urged Muslims to reflect on what is now being perpetrated in the name of Islam that threatens all of mankind.
"How many pages of history," he said, "record battles and even wars that have been waged, with both sides invoking the name of God, as if fighting and killing the enemy could be pleasing to Him. The recollection of these sad events should fill us with shame, for we know only too well what atrocities have been committed in the name of religion."
Perhaps sanity will prevail even among those who still see suicide bombers as holy martyrs and jihad murderers as divine messengers.
But it is something that we Jews must also confront as we reflect on the hatred within our own world, all too often justified as actions "for the sake of God."
"A fanatic," as Finley Peter Dunne pointed out, "is a man who does what he thinks the Lord would do if only He knew the facts of the case." There is an egotistical side to fanaticism that believes no one else is as wise or as capable of coming to truth. Fanatics, William James pointed out, deify themselves, and that is why they can justify any kind of ungodly behavior.
The truth is we are not God. On the first two days of the holy period of the Ten Days of Teshuva, we must reinforce our acceptance of His power and His dominion. On the third we are challenged not to desecrate His holy name with acts that profane all that He stands for.
It is the challenge of our age. And it is a challenge we must meet -- "for God's sake" and for the sake of His name.
Rabbi Benjamin Blech
Rabbi Benjamin Blech, a frequent contributor to Aish, is a Professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University and an internationally recognized educator, religious leader, and lecturer. He is the author of 19 highly acclaimed books with combined sales of over a half million copies, A much sought after speaker, he is available as scholar in residence in your community. See his website at rabbibenjaminblech.com.
Click here to purchase Rabbi Blech’s new book, Hope Not Fear: Changing the Way We View Death.
Bombs Bursting in Air: The Growing Problem of Profanity
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The Challenges of Suffering
(8) Anonymous, May 25, 2010 11:37 AM
great article but- how are the rest of the 10 days devoted to the other commandments???
Commandments 4-10
Great Article but would love to see his commentary for the rest of the Commandments and how they tie into the rest of the days
Brilliant article and required reading.
A summary of this is an article really belongs in the pages of a Time, or USNews and World Report, or Newsweek magazine. Thought the readers of Aish.com certainly deserve an article of this caliber, it's far too good for it to appear only on Aish.com. It should be required reading for the world.
(5) Anonymous, September 5, 2006 11:33 AM
An excellent read at this time, or at any time, by Jews and Gentiles alike!
(4) Anonymous, October 12, 2005 12:00 AM
An insightful perspective on the term "vain".
Learning about the meaning of "taking G-d's name in (to)vain is very thought provoking and empowering. I would like to know the source from which the Rabbi cited William James...the father of psychology. Thank-you Rabbi Blech
(3) Justin Rosenthal, October 3, 2005 12:00 AM
Correction Needed
Great article. There is, however, a common mistranslation of the Arabic phrase "Allah Akbar" in the article. The phrase does NOT mean "G-d is great." The phrase means "Allah is greater." In Islam, Allah is not viewed as the same G-d of the Jews or Christians. Rather, Allah is GREATER than the G-d of the Jews and Christians.
(2) Anonymous, September 29, 2005 12:00 AM
stunningly well done
(1) Esther, September 21, 2005 12:00 AM
Thank you so much for this very important insight. We should all keep it in mind...
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Why the Blockchain Revolution Won’t Happen Overnight
By Andrew Deichler
During a panel discussion at the recent ACT Cash Management Conference in London, experts weighed in on how blockchain technology could be a major disruptive force—for good or evil. Nevertheless, one thing was clear: whatever big change is coming, it’s not going to happen overnight.
Panelist John Rowland, executive director of Cicero compared blockchain to “the Force” in Star Wars—whether it’s used for good or evil depends on who is wielding it. He noted that people are still somewhat suspicious of bitcoin and by extension blockchain due to their association with nefarious or questionable practices (the Silk Road online black market, the Mt. Gox fiasco, etc.).
However, Rowland does see a lot of potential for blockchain. “I think it could improve a lot of pretty stodgy but very important things like clearing and settlement—things that people don’t really know or care much about as long as they work,” he said. “I think it will be disruptive, but I think the change will be incremental at least to start with. It takes time to embed new technologies. It will take a lot of time to bring people along and persuade them that blockchain is actually a reasonable solution.”
Clive Cooke, securities executive for R3, agreed that blockchain technology won’t simply change everything overnight. Nevertheless, he does see it changing things over time. Unfortunately, “there aren’t any experts out there right now that are going to tell you exactly how things are going to pan out,” he said.
Cooke sees blockchain particularly making changes to financial transactions. “When a transaction occurs, anyone associated with that trade—rather than keeping their own record—gets the record at the same time and nobody can change it. So it really is going to make a lot of difference and it’s going to be a big change,” he said.
Ben Zevenbergen, research assistant for the Oxford Internet Institute, explained that he has spent considerable time with developers of bitcoin and blockchain technology. He explained that while their intentions are good, they also want to completely get rid of banks; they want to remove the middle men. “So they certainly want to do good, but their conception of good is different from your conception of good,” he said. “They want to create a decentralized society that is technologically mediated.”
Zevenbergen said that blockchain is “definitely a hype,” and compared it to big data. Two or three years ago, all the talk was around big data and how certain things like theory, academia and social sciences would no longer be needed. “But it turned out that we need social sciences and theory more than ever,” he said. “We have so much data that we need to make sense of it. So it’s difficult to predict how these things go. It’s open technology; it can be redesigned in any way you want it to be. It really depends on how you use it; you can’t really say whether it’s good or bad.”
Colin Tyler, chief executive of ACT, sees blockchain as being “incredibly disruptive,” noting that its potential is not restricted to the financial space. “We’re really now talking about the ability to share information in a broader sense; it’s not just financial information,” he said. “So for businesses, it won’t just be about financial transactions; it will be the entire business strategy. If you want to make sure that someone actually believes in the authenticity of a product that you’re selling and that it’s getting to the right consumer or business, and you’re loading that into your system, you want to make sure that it’s absolutely right. The blockchain or distributed ledger technology that’s coming down the track will do exactly that for you.”
Nevertheless, it’s going to take time and money, Tyler stressed. Right now, blockchain technology is incredible expensive and it’s going to take a while before it gets down to usable levels. But he advised attendees to think about how many of their processes already use a blockchain-like model. “We’ve had blockchain in business for a long time; it’s called management blockchain,” he said. “If you want to check the veracity of a particular transaction, you basically use a bunch of people in it to make sure it’s right before you let go and make the payment. This is just an extension of that.”
A longer version of this article appears in an upcoming edition of AFP Exchange.
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Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
by AFS USA on March 5, 2019
Sourced from the UN:
Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting national economies and affecting lives, costing people, communities and countries dearly today and even more tomorrow. Weather patterns are changing, sea levels are rising, weather events are becoming more extreme and greenhouse gas emissions are now at their highest levels in history. Without action, the world’s average surface temperature is likely to surpass 3 degrees centigrade this century. The poorest and most vulnerable people are being affected the most.
Affordable, scalable solutions are now available to enable countries to leapfrog to cleaner, more resilient economies. The pace of change is quickening as more people are turning to renewable energy and a range of other measures that will reduce emissions and increase adaptation efforts. Climate change, however, is a global challenge that does not respect national borders. It is an issue that requires solutions that need to be coordinated at the international level to help developing countries move toward a low-carbon economy.
To strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, countries adopted the Paris Agreement at the COP21 in Paris, which went into force in November of 2016. In the agreement, all countries agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees centigrade. As of April 2018, 175 parties had ratified the Paris Agreement and 10 developing countries had submitted their first iteration of their national adaptation plans for responding to climate change.
As of April 2018, 175 parties had ratified the Paris Agreement and 168 parties had communicated their first nationally determined contributions to the UN framework convention on Climate Change Secretariat.
As of April 2018, 10 developing countries had successfully completed and submitted their first iteration of their national adaptation plans for responding to climate change.
Developed country parties continue to make progress towards the goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion annually by 2020 for mitigation actions.
Thanks to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change we know:
From 1880 to 2012, average global temperature increased by 0.85°C. To put this into perspective, for each 1 degree of temperature increase, grain yields decline by about 5 percent. Maize, wheat and other major crops have experienced significant yield reductions at the global level of 40 megatons per year between 1981 and 2002 due to a warmer climate.
Oceans have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished and sea level has risen. From 1901 to 2010, the global average sea level rose by 19 cm as oceans expanded due to warming and ice melted. The Arctic’s sea ice extent has shrunk in every successive decade since 1979, with 1.07 million km² of ice loss every decade.
Given current concentrations and on-going emissions of greenhouse gases, it is likely that by the end of this century, the increase in global temperature will exceed 1.5°C compared to 1850 to 1900 for all but one scenario. The world’s oceans will warm and ice melt will continue. Average sea level rise is predicted as 24 – 30cm by 2065 and 40-63cm by 2100. Most aspects of climate change will persist for many centuries even if emissions are stopped.
Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) have increased by almost 50 percent since 1990.
Emissions grew more quickly between 2000 and 2010 than in each of the three previous decades.
It is still possible, using a wide array of technological measures and changes in behavior, to limit the increase in global mean temperature to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Major institutional and technological change will give a better than even chance that global warming will not exceed this threshold.
Resources & References
UN Sustainable Development Goals – Goal 13
The Global Goals – Goal 13
The World’s Largest Lesson – Goal 13
Global Prep Programs that Support Goal 13:
Summer Global Prep in Brazil
Summer Global Prep in China
Summer Global Prep in Costa Rica
Summer Global Prep in Kenya
Summer Global Prep in New Zealand
Goal 15: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss
Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
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Posted on November 10, 2009 May 4, 2010 by Anthony W. Orlando
Greatest Songs, #483: “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure
Album: Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (Fiction Records)
Written by: Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson, Lol Tolhurst, & Boris Williams
Billboard Hot 100: #40
From Rolling Stone:
“I’ve never been a big fan of irony,” Smith has said, which might explain why this reverie of love, cut at a vineyard in the South of France, is his favorite Cure song. Their girlfriends hung out at the sessions, which influenced the music. “The girls would sit on the sofa in the back of the control room and give the songs marks out of ten,” Smith said. “So there was a really big female input.” It was the Cure’s first U.S. Top Forty hit.
In order to develop material for Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Robert Smith forced himself to write music for 15 days of each month. During this regimen, he developed the chords and melody which form the basis of “Just Like Heaven”. Structurally, Smith found what he had written was similar to The Only Ones‘s 1979 hit “Another Girl, Another Planet“. When he brought an instrumental demo of the song to the album recording sessions in Southern France, Cure drummer Boris Williams increased the tempo and added an opening drum fill which inspired Smith to introduce each instrument singularly and in sequence.
When the French TV show Les Enfants du Rock asked The Cure to provide a theme song Smith offered the instrumental version. As he explained, “it meant the music would be familiar to millions of Europeans even before it was released”. He completed the lyrics when the group moved the sessions to Studio Miraval, located in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. The band completed the song quickly, and at the time Smith considered it to be the most obvious potential single from the songs the band had recorded during their two week stay at Miraval
“Just Like Heaven” is written in the key of A major and consists of an A–E–Bm–D chord progression which repeats throughout the song, except during the chorus when the band plays an F#m–G–D progression. The song’s central hook is formed from a descending guitar riff which appears between song verses and in parts of the bridge and the last verse. This guitar line contrasts with the “fuzzier mix” of the rhythm guitars. Keyboards are also prominent in the song, and a piano figure is played during the second verse and the bridge.
According to Smith, “The song is about hyperventilating—kissing and fainting to the floor.” The lyrics were inspired by a trip with his then-girlfriend (and later wife) Mary Poole to Beachy Head in southern England. Smith said the opening line of the song (“Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick”) refers to his childhood memories of mastering magic tricks, but added “on another [level], it’s about a seduction trick, from much later in my life”.
From the original Rolling Stone review in 1987:
The Cure is trying to deepen and refine an existing sensibility rather than reach outward to expand it. On previous efforts, guitarist and singer Robert Smith has flirted with everything from conceptually orchestrated studio pop (The Top) to sarcastic dance tracks (“Let’s Go to Bed“); now that the Cure has evolved into an actual band, he’s able to consummate those eclectic desires. Kiss Me is a breakthrough all right. For the first time, the Cure’s music is relatively unfettered by pretension and indulgence, and the results are remarkable
CategoriesFrom the Editor's Desk TagsBoris Williams, Entertainment/Culture, Just Like Heaven, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, Let's Go to Bed, Robert Smith, The Cure
Nice article, thumbs up! I love the chord progression in Just Like Heaven, such a great song.
Previous PostPrevious Greatest Songs, #484: “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” by Joan Jett
Next PostNext Greatest Songs, #482: “I’m Eighteen” by Alice Cooper
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Big Oil's Trouble Abroad
Aimee Duffy, The Motley Fool, AOL.com
Dec 5th 2011 7:57PM
As much as energy investors criticize government regulation that can increase production costs for oil and gas companies, operating in a politically stable country like the U.S. certainly has its advantages. We saw it with Libya at the beginning of the year, and while operations in that country are beginning to pick up, Africa and the Middle East remain trouble spots for oil and gas producers this year.
Getting out of Syria
Citing recent European Union sanctions, Royal Dutch Shell (NYS: RDS.A) is pulling out of Syria. Shell produced an average of 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent in Syria last year and has three production licenses in 40 Syrian fields.
Shell and Total (NYS: TOT) are the largest foreign oil producers operating in Syria. Total will also be affected by the sanctions but will continue to produce oil in Syria, even though the government has more or less stopped paying the company.
Europe banned Syrian imports in September, in an attempt to put pressure on the oppressive regime there. Though Syrian oil production accounts for less than 1% of daily global output, Europe is one of its biggest customers. Average daily production dropped from pre-ban levels of 380,000 barrels a day to 250,000 barrels a day, and the decline has already increased the value of other crudes.
Selling off assets in Nigeria
Syria is just one of the monkey wrenches in Shell's foreign production plan. The company's operations in Nigeria have been victimized and criticized for quite some time, but this past year has seen a surge in problems for the company. As a result of an increase in oil theft and sabotage, Shell is divesting some of its onshore assets in Nigeria. Shell joins Total and Eni's (NYS: E) Agip subsidiary in a license sell-off worth $732 million.
Shell maintains that it will continue to remain a presence in Nigeria, onshore and off, but selling off assets is just one example of how the company is beginning to change its focus.
Capex shift
There was a notable shift in Shell's capital expenditures from 2009 to 2010. The company trimmed its oil and gas exploration budget in Africa by about 30%, while the budget for North America more than doubled. Obviously, this coincides with the North American oil and gas boom, but the importance of political stability can never be understated.
Through the first nine months of this year, overall capital expenditures are down $5 billion compared with the same period last year.
There is a reason that global companies like Statoil (NYS: STO) are buying up small oil and gas producers in the United States: The ability to play an energy boom in a country with a stable government doesn't come around every day. Consider adding these global giants to My Watchlist, and stay up to date on foreign oil production and analysis.
At the time this article was published Fool contributorAimee Duffydoesn't own shares of the companies mentioned in this article. If you have the energy, check out what she's keeping an eye on by following her on Twitter, where she goes by@TMFDuffy.Motley Fool newsletter serviceshave recommended buying shares of Total and Statoil A. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
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Food-Truck Worker Fired After Tip-Shaming Customers on Twitter
Erik Sherman
Aug 1st 2013 6:39AM
Waitstaff publicly complaining about tips, a trend called tip-shaming, has become popular with the advent of social media. Restaurant servers have been fired for tweet-shaming, though.
Now you can add former food-truck worker Brendan O'Connor to the list. According to a post he wrote for the blog The Awl, where he is an intern, O'Connor was fired for tip-shaming Glass Lewis, a so-called proxy advisory service that advises large institutional investors on "good governance" issues with the companies they invest in, including whether executives are overpaid.
In his blog post, O'Connor describes how a dozen Glass Lewis employees raced up to the Milk Truck Grilled Cheese food truck in Manhattan and placed a large order of sandwiches and milk shakes for a total of "just under $170." (According to the Milk Truck menu, sandwiches run about $5.75 to $8.50 and milk shakes are $5.50.) The customers paid with a credit card but left no tip.
I asked some of the group as they were picking up their orders if they had intended to not tip. They hemmed and hawed and walked away.
So, he tweeted out his frustration, directing it to the corporate Twitter account of Glass Lewis.
Shout out to the good people of Glass, Lewis & Co. for placing a $170 order and not leaving a tip. @glasslewis
- Brendan O'Connor (@OConnorB_) July 22, 2013
O'Connor alleged that Glass Lewis -- which manages the pensions for 303,000 working and retired teachers -- did not appreciate being publicly tagged for something that a number of its employees did and called the owner of the Milk Truck. Two days later, O'Connor says that he received a text from the food truck's owner, who asked to speak to him on the phone.
He told me that he'd gotten a call from the company, Glass, Lewis & Co. The company provides shareholder advisory services. Apparently, those employees were mortified that their lunch truck had tip-shamed them -- the home office in San Francisco even got involved.
And it was unfortunate but he was going to have to let me go. The company has a way of doing things and he thought I'd understood that. I had embarrassed him and the company and that was that.
Then the Milk Truck owner went onto Twitter to publicly apologize to Glass Lewis, which replied, "We appreciate it, and look forward to doing business with you again!"
The exchange proceeded to receive a spate of tweeted responses, most of which condemned the actions of both Glass Lewis and Milk Truck in often raw language, although one person did opine that O'Connor deserved to be fired because "[i]n this economy restaurants should be happy to have the business!"
O'Connor, who declined to comment to AOL Jobs, admitted in his blog post for Awl that he could have complained without mentioning the firm. But he says that he named them "because of some misguided notions about having 'the courage of your convictions,' or whatever." O'Connor didn't appear to regret his decision, either. He'd already been thinking of leaving the job, he explained to the site The Daily Dot, adding, "I was only able to speak/tweet my mind because my family is supporting me as I get on my feet as a writer and editor and journalist here in New York. I have a safety net that lots -- most -- people don't."
With the safe assumption that among the famous and well-heeled there are still many poor tippers, that may be the point: Most food workers don't have the option to publicly complain because they can't afford to lose their jobs.
Glass Lewis and Milk Truck didn't respond to requests for interviews. But social media wasn't kind to either company. Here's a summation by Rob Beschizza at Boing Boing:
I understand why he had to be fired, but can you imagine working at the kind of company that would publicly accept a food truck's apology? They wanted their magnanimity known, in the matter of the food truck that was so very wrong about expecting tips.
Related Posts By Erik Sherman:
Nearly 1 In 3 Young Workers Now Regret Their Social Media Posts
Workers Post Vine, Instagram Videos That Could Get Them Fired
Lawyer Let Go After Obscene Rant Captured On Video
6 Most Outrageous Social Media Mistakes By Teachers
Chat about what's trending
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Prime Instant Video Greenlights Original Children's Pilot Maker Shack Agency
Aug 27th 2013 10:06AM
Live-action children's show to be produced by Electus for kids ages 6-11
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- (NAS: AMZN) —Amazon Studios, the original movie and series production arm of Amazon.com, today announced that it is greenlighting a pilot for the original children's series Maker Shack Agency, produced by Electus Studios (The Hero, Killer Women, and Get Out Alive).
Maker Shack Agency follows the exploits of 13-year-old inventor Angus Wolfe, aka "Wolfie," and his two best friends and fellow "makers," Jo and Merle, in the hardscrabble town of Akron, Ohio. These three teenage thinkers and tinkerers use all the branches of science and personal ingenuity to solve their client's problems by making a new invention every episode. Together, they make people's lives better by coming up with science and technology-inspired inventions for their various problems.
"We are incredibly excited for our first initiative with Amazon and we look forward to inspiring the next generation of makers," said Drew Buckley, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Digital for Electus. "With Maker Shack Agency, we hope to inspire kids to think about new and different ways to solve life's problems and to never be afraid of failure—as Wolfie always says, 'Fail Forward.'"
The production crew from Maker Shack Agency will team up with research and development company, Applied Minds, and their scientists, engineers and programmers to design exciting gadgets that will be featured in the show to inspire a new generation of inventors.
Just last month, Amazon Studios announced five new kids pilots including Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street, Grid Smasher, Hard-Boiled Eggheads, The Jo B. & G. RaffShow,and Wishenpoof! The pilots will be available on Amazon Instant Video in early next year for all customers to watch and provide feedback.
Amazon Studios' first set of pilots launched in April of 2013 with eight comedy pilots and six kids pilots. Of the 14 pilots, Alpha House, Betas, Annebots, Creative Galaxy and Tumble Leafwere chosen, with the help of customer feedback, to be produced as series. The shows will stream on Prime Instant Video later this year and in early 2014.
About Amazon Studios
Since its launch in November 2010, more than 18,000 movie scripts and 4,000 series projects have been submitted to Amazon Studios. There are currently 26 movies and 24 series on the development slate and in the process of being tested with audiences.
Amazon Studios continues to invite series creators to submit their proposals for comedy and children's programming to Amazon Studios at http://studios.amazon.com/getting-started/series.
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NAS: AMZN) , a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the most advanced e-reader ever constructed with 62% more pixels and 25% increased contrast, a patented built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, extra-long battery life, and a thin and light design. The new latest generation Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, now features new, improved fonts and faster page turns. Kindle Fire HD features a stunning custom high-definition display, exclusive Dolby audio with dual stereo speakers, high-end, laptop-grade Wi-Fi with dual-band support, dual-antennas and MIMO for faster streaming and downloads, enough storage for HD content, and the latest generation processor and graphics engine — and it is available in two display sizes — 7" and 8.9". The large-screen Kindle Fire HD is also available with 4G wireless. The all-new Kindle Fire features a 20% faster processor, 40% faster performance, twice the memory, and longer battery life.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, www.amazon.es, www.amazon.com.br and amazon.in. As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment and data center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.
Media Hotline, 206-266-7180
www.amazon.com/pr
KEYWORDS: United States North America Washington
The article Prime Instant Video Greenlights Original Children's Pilot Maker Shack Agency originally appeared on Fool.com.
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Nonsensus: Pretext and the Decennial Enumeration
Justin Levitt Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Law, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
ACS > Analysis > ACS Supreme Court Review > Nonsensus: Pretext and the Decennial Enumeration
It is impossible to overstate the importance of the Census. The obligation to conduct a decennial enumeration of the population appears in the sixth sentence of the Constitution, as the very first duty given to the new federal government: before the enumeration of legislative power, before the power to declare and wage war, before the resolution of federal judicial cases.[1] The Census enjoys this primacy because it is, logically, antecedent to the construction of a federal government that ostensibly obtains its power from the people. From the Founding, legislative representation in the federal government has always depended on knowing how many people live where.
Today, the Census continues to drive the allotment of congressional representation to various states, but it also does so very much more.[2] After the reapportionment revolution of the 1960s, our decennial population count determines the allocation of representation for federal, state, and local offices across the country.[3] The Constitution demands that districts foster equal representation. Whenever we take the Census to learn how many people are where, we redraw districts to recalibrate the representation we receive. Elections are the way Americans build the world we want to live in, together. The Census is the way we know who we are.
And the Census is also more than just the foundation of all government. It has also always been connected to funding: As early as 1798, it drove the apportionment of a new federal tax to backstop the federal government’s over-reliance on tariffs in the event of a coming war with France.[4] In the modern era, it is used more for giving than receiving: Hundreds of billions of federal dollars are distributed based on counts in the Census.[5] And it provides our national informational infrastructure: The reason we know that a survey or poll is representative, the way that local governments target policy interventions, one of the ways businesses decide to locate or relocate to a community with particular economic habits or characteristics—it all has the Census at its core.
I. The Controversy
In March of 2018, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross determined that, for the first time in the country’s history,[6] the Census Bureau would ask every household about the citizenship of its residents.[7] To be sure, the Census Bureau has asked questions about citizenship before, of greater or lesser slices of the public. Right now, the public is asked about their citizenship on the American Community Survey (ACS), a survey designed to reach an average of 0.2% of households each month.[8] The question sits in a twenty-eight page instrument including seventy-one inquiries (some with subparts) and designed to take about forty minutes.[9]
Adding a question about citizenship to the ten basic questions asked of every household in the country dramatically elevates the question’s prominence. The last time we asked a significant portion of the American population about their citizenship in the basic enumeration conducted door-to-door was 1950.[10] At the time, about seventy-three percent of the public trusted the federal government to do what is right.[11] As of December 2017, that number was eighteen percent.[12]
Secretary Ross’s decision was immediately and enormously controversial. Career officials at the Census Bureau (and a succession of former Bureau directors) had long warned that asking questions about citizenship in the decennial enumeration itself would compromise the enumeration’s accuracy.[13] On the one hand, there were serious concerns that the prospect of a question on citizenship in a house-to-house enumeration would cause people to decline to respond to the Census at all, or to omit people in the household. On the other, there were concerns that, administered in this fashion, the question would cause noncitizens to falsely claim citizenship status, distorting the information collected.[14]
Those concerns were only magnified in recent years, given the increasingly toxic political climate around immigration and the consequent spread of fear in minority communities.[15] As early as 2015, Census officials noted decreased ACS response rates, disproportionately large in tracts with substantial concentrations of noncitizens, and an additional growing refusal to answer citizenship questions even when responding to the remainder of the survey.[16] An internal qualitative survey reported “[f]indings across languages [and] regions of the country, from both pretesting respondents and field staff[, that] point to an unprecedented ground swell in confidentiality and data sharing concerns, particularly among immigrants or those who live with immigrants.”[17] It also found that unprecedented groundswell represented the reaction to a citizenship question in a less prominent context than the door-to-door enumeration.
The precise magnitude of the new question’s impact was difficult to assess. Normally, one would expect studies by the Census Bureau itself to provide a sense of the consequences for a change of this nature: If this were a movie, the Census Bureau would be the team of lab-coated, white-bootied scientists titrating the antidote or prepping the space probe. They undertake even the most modest adjustments with exceptional care and ample testing and retesting. But the Census Bureau was offered no opportunity to evaluate the potential impact through quantitative tests of its own, in real-world context, before Secretary Ross made his decision.[18] Indeed, Secretary Ross cited the absence of “definitive, empirical” evidence of the potential impact as additional support for his decision.[19]
In the absence of meaningful testing in a real-world context, the Census Bureau estimated the extent of damage the question would cause as precisely as it could. It compared the drop-off in response rates from the (short) enumeration to the (long) survey in households without a noncitizen and in demographically similar households with a noncitizen; in 2010, that comparative incremental drop-off rate was identified as approximately 5.1%.[20] The chief scientist of the Census Bureau stressed that this was a “lower bound” and a “conservative estimate,” and that the real rate of nonresponse to the decennial enumeration “could be much greater” than 5.1% of households with noncitizens, itself a sizable number.[21] For that reason, among others, the career officials at the Census Bureau suggested collecting the information through administrative records, rather than through a question on the enumeration that could damage the enumeration itself.[22] Secretary Ross rejected the suggestion.[23]
Indeed, there is plentiful reason to believe that the real rate of damage would be much greater. The conservative estimate assumes that nonresponse rates for a citizenship question on the house-to-house enumeration would be no larger than nonresponse rates for the relatively below-the-radar survey, despite the increased prominence of the decennial enumeration; that nonresponse driven by the question should be expected only of households containing at least one noncitizen, despite fear within the broader community; and that nonresponse for a 2020 Census would be no larger than nonresponse rates in the 2010 Census, despite the substantial difference in overall political climate. There are substantial reasons to doubt each assumption.[24] A private study conducted after the decision was announced, and credited in litigation, predicted a reduced response rate—not just among households with noncitizens, but total—of 6.3% to 8.0% nationally and 10.5% to 14.1% in California.[25]
II. The Ostensible Rationale
At the time, Secretary Ross attempted to justify his decision to add a question on citizenship to the decennial enumeration by claiming a desire to assist the Department of Justice (DOJ) with its enforcement of the Voting Rights Act (VRA).[26] The DOJ had in late 2017 purported to need the extra information for extra enforcement: Data from the ACS, it claimed, were insufficient for the purpose.[27] Yet simply on its face, there was substantial reason to doubt the legitimacy of that need.
In theory, there are three primary instances in which better citizenship data might assist VRA enforcement, all in the redistricting arena. Among the threshold elements of one type of VRA redistricting case is the need to prove that a minority group (or groups) is sufficiently large enough to have its voting power diluted by the absence of responsive districts.[28] This element has been interpreted to require a showing that the minority community could comprise at least half of the electorate of a district-sized population.[29] Another threshold element requires a showing that the electorate is polarized based on race; these assessments hinge on nuanced evaluations of electoral patterns calculated from data including, inter alia, the demographic composition of voters within each precinct.[30] And when liability is found, remedial measures must allow equitable opportunities for minorities to elect candidates of their choice, which also requires an assessment of local electoral power, similarly drawn from calculations using data including (but not limited to) the same demographic information above.[31] Each of these elements relies on information about the electorate—or, as a proxy, the citizen voting-age population.[32]
To date, each and every VRA case using information about the electorate has drawn its data from the existing decennial enumeration or—when citizenship has been implicated—from surveys, like the data in the ACS. Since the VRA’s passage in 1965, no case had ever been brought using data on citizenship from the decennial enumeration, because in fifty years, the decennial enumeration had not asked for that data. To my knowledge, before December 2017, no DOJ official had requested citizenship data from the decennial enumeration to enforce the VRA.[33] To my knowledge, no proponent or opponent of asking the question has identified even one concrete circumstance in which a potential VRA case failed or was not brought for want of citizenship data from the decennial enumeration.[34]
Indeed, there is only one case that has emerged even potentially implicating a role for citizenship data on the decennial enumeration—and that case demonstrates why such data are unnecessary. In 2010, Latino plaintiffs claimed that the at-large election system in Farmers Branch, Texas, unlawfully diluted their right to vote.[35] They presented evidence, from the ACS, showing that Latino citizens could meet the VRA’s litigation thresholds.[36] But ACS data have several limitations in small jurisdictions with growing minority populations.[37] So plaintiffs also utilized data directly from the voter files, tallying voters with surnames highly likely to be Latino; this is a method not only used by the DOJ in its own litigation,[38] but also validated in the legislative history of the VRA itself.[39] The court found that the plaintiffs had met their burden under the VRA.[40] Without the need for citizenship data collected in the decennial enumeration.
It is true that better data might hypothetically yield better enforcement. Though no case has been identified thus far, circumstances can be imagined in which better data would make the difference. But the key relevant insight is that in this climate, collecting citizenship data on the decennial enumeration would not yield better data. It would yield data that is ostensibly more precise, but actually less accurate, in a direction disfavoring enforcement. More precise data could help only in marginal cases, where the population is actually sufficiently large or robust to create liability, but statistical uncertainty precludes the predicate proof. But collecting data on citizenship in a door-to-door enumeration will only depress participation by exactly the minority populations in need of protection, leaving an inevitable undercount.
In other words, better data would help populations just on the margin of enforcement. But door-to-door enumeration data would not be better: It would drive down response rates precisely in those populations, turning uncertainty about reaching litigation thresholds into ostensible certainty of falling short of litigation thresholds. And that ostensible certainty would be false.
Perhaps this is why the DOJ had never before requested citizenship data from the decennial enumeration. Perhaps this is why every single one of the nonprofit groups engaged in vigorous private enforcement of the VRA met the Census Bureau’s decision with condemnation and not applause.[41]
If the proffered justification of VRA enforcement appeared odd at the time, on the face of the request, the administrative record revealed in litigation firmly exposed it as a sham. It emerged that as early as February 2, 2017, officials in the Department of Commerce were “very interested” in the topics for the decennial Census,[42] and in May, months before any request from the DOJ, Secretary Ross became agitated about his “months old request that we include the citizenship question.”[43] Earl Comstock, his director of the Office of Policy and Strategic Planning at Commerce, responded that “we will get that in place. . . . We need to work with Justice to get them to request that citizenship be added back as a census question . . . . I will arrange a meeting with DOJ staff this week to discuss.”[44] Commerce shopped the desire for a question to DOJ, which declined any interest, then to DHS, which also declined interest, and then back to DOJ, before a discussion between Secretary Ross and Attorney General Sessions spurred DOJ to make its VRA request in December of 2017.[45] The process looked emphatically like a decision in search of a reason.
We may never know the real source of Secretary Ross’s strong interest in placing a citizenship question on the decennial enumeration as early as early 2017, well before any request from DOJ. It is possible that the likely statistical impact was its own reward: Depressed participation among noncitizens would (inaccurately) show fewer noncitizens in the country, which would support the administration’s appeal among both nativists and proponents of expansive immigration enforcement.[46] It is possible that the real motive lay in hoping that reduced participation would yield comparative geographic, racial, or partisan gains, when (inaccurate) Census data were used to distribute funding and political power in familiar ways.[47] It is possible that the real motive lay in creating the data environment for restructuring political power in unfamiliar ways, building a legally questionable redistricting base predicated on the exclusionary representation only of citizens (or voting-age citizens) rather than representation of the population as a whole.[48] It is possible there was another motive entirely.
III. The Litigation
Everybody sued. The State of California filed the first complaint on the day that Secretary Ross announced his decision,[49] and five other primary cases followed shortly thereafter, joined or consolidated in three venues: the Southern District of New York, the Northern District of California, and the District of Maryland.
One of the New York cases would become the lead case in the set, with two principal claims.[50] First, a set of state and local government plaintiffs alleged that the inclusion of the citizenship question violated the Constitution’s “Enumerations Clause”—the provision establishing the Census’s only constitutional duty, the decennial requirement to conduct an “actual Enumeration” of the “whole number of persons” in the country.[51] According to the plaintiffs, the presence of the citizenship question would cause an undercount, predictably impeding the enumeration itself.[52] Second, plaintiffs alleged violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), including that the decision defied longstanding agency data-quality standards, that it was made without sufficiently complete or reasoned explanation, and that the rationale offered was pretextual.[53]
A second case, consolidated with the first, was brought on behalf of nonprofit groups. In addition to echoing the claims of the governmental plaintiffs above, these plaintiffs added equal protection claims based on intentional discrimination against immigrant communities of color and APA claims predicated on violations of specific additional statutory provisions governing Census Bureau procedures.[54]
Other sets of cases were lodged in California and Maryland, mostly with claims overlapping those brought in New York.[55] One, brought in California by the City of San Jose and the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, added a claim that the inevitable undercount would violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s clause requiring the apportionment of congressional seats according to the enumeration of population.[56] Another, brought in Maryland by a group of nonprofits, individuals, and caucuses of minority legislators, added a claim based on a conspiracy to interfere with civil rights—a claim originally codified in the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.[57]
In addition to the litigation above, two additional sets of plaintiffs lodged related suits. In Washington, D.C., the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) alleged that the Department of Commerce unlawfully failed to conduct full and complete Privacy Impact Assessments prior to announcing its decision to add the citizenship question to the enumeration.[58] And in New York, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) initiated a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit against the DOJ for records relating to the DOJ’s review of the citizenship question before issuing its December 2017 request.[59]
Litigation proceeded most quickly in New York, up against a June 30, 2019, deadline for determining the content of the Census forms to be printed.[60] In July 2018, the court dismissed claims brought under the Enumeration Clause, reasoning that the Clause permitted the government to ask demographic questions beyond a spare enumeration and that the Clause did not itself restrict the secretary’s discretion regarding which questions to ask.[61] But the court declined to dismiss the APA and equal protection claims.[62]
Over the government’s strenuous objection, the court granted discovery beyond the administrative record, including a September 2018 order permitting the deposition of Secretary Ross.[63] In part, the APA claims turned on whether Ross’s presented rationale fit the mustered evidence, was beyond the authority conveyed by Congress, or was pretextual. The equal protection claims turned, in part, on whether the rationale was discriminatory.[64] And though depositions of high-ranking government officials are permissible only in extraordinary circumstances, the court found that the unusual path to the decision and Secretary Ross’s increasingly questionable testimony, under oath to Congress, regarding the origin of the decision amounted to extraordinary circumstances warranting direct inquiry.[65] The Supreme Court first stayed the deposition of Secretary Ross and then agreed to take up the question of extra-record discovery more generally, though events would soon overtake this particular branch of the controversy.[66]
Meanwhile—despite eleven failed governmental applications for stays from various tribunals in the hierarchical chain[67]—a trial was held. On January 15, 2019, the court issued a 277-page opinion, vacating the decision to place the citizenship question on the enumeration.[68]
The court rejected the equal protection claim, finding insufficient evidence of intentional discrimination (even while acknowledging that the plaintiffs had not been able to depose the primary decisionmaker).[69] But it found violations of several technical statutory provisions governing the conduct of the Census.[70] And more sweepingly, the court found that Secretary Ross’s decision was unlawfully “arbitrary and capricious” under the APA—the “explanations for his decision were unsupported by, or even counter to, the evidence before the agency,”[71] the decision departed from established statistical quality standards without justification,[72] and “[f]inally, and perhaps most egregiously, the evidence is clear that Secretary Ross's rationale was pretextual—that is, that the real reason for his decision was something other than the sole reason he put forward in his Memorandum, namely enhancement of DOJ's VRA enforcement efforts.”[73]
Representing that the content of the Census was a matter of national importance, and that time was of the essence given the need to “finalize the decennial census questionnaire for printing by the end of June 2019,” the government sought Supreme Court review before Second Circuit proceedings.[74] The Court granted review and heard argument on the case in April.[75]
While Supreme Court review of the New York case was pending, litigation proceeded in California and Maryland. On March 6, 2019, the California federal court enjoined the secretary from adding a citizenship question to the Census; the court found statutory violations similar to those found in New York, but also granted relief on the Enumeration Clause claim, on the basis that including the question “will materially harm the accuracy of the census without advancing any legitimate governmental interest.”[76] On April 5, the Maryland court did likewise.[77] And between these two decisions, given the California judgment, the Supreme Court asked its New York litigants to brief the Enumeration Clause question as well.[78]
IV. The Supreme Court
On June 27, 2019, the last day of the 2018 Term, the Court handed down a split opinion with shifting majorities, affirming in part and reversing in part.[79] First, the Court addressed an important dispute over standing. The government contended that any harm to the plaintiffs occasioned by the citizenship question depended on the actions of individuals unlawfully refusing to respond to the Census, and that those independent legal violations broke any chain of causation tying Secretary Ross’s decision to the plaintiffs’ alleged harms.[80] The Court unanimously rejected that contention. It credited the trial court’s finding that individual nonresponse, while unlawful, was also predictable rather than speculative and that the injury required for Article III standing demanded no more.[81]
On the merits, the Court’s more conservative justices rejected the Enumeration Clause claim, agreeing with the trial court that the government had the constitutional authority to ask demographic questions—including a question on citizenship, if it chose—along with a headcount.[82] Unlike the trial court, however, the same bloc of justices also rejected the APA claim that Secretary Ross’s decision was not supported by the evidence before him.[83] Taking the secretary at his word that more precise data on citizenship were desirable for enforcing the VRA, the Court found that the secretary evaluated various means to get more precise data and selected a final approach consonant with, if not required by, the available evidence of likely harm and the merits and drawbacks of alternatives.[84] That is, the Court determined that the administrative record showed enough homework to justify the decision, even if it meant considering and rejecting the recommendations of career officials the secretary supervised.
A different majority of the Court, however, refused to take the secretary at his word as to the real reason for the decision. Chief Justice Roberts, joining the four more progressive justices, found that the evidence—the full administrative record and the extra-record discovery justified by the irregularities in the full administrative record—revealed that the secretary’s proffered explanation was a pretext.[85] Per the Court:
That evidence showed that the Secretary was determined to reinstate a citizenship question from the time he entered office; instructed his staff to make it happen; waited while Commerce officials explored whether another agency would request census-based citizenship data; subsequently contacted the Attorney General himself to ask if DOJ would make the request; and adopted the Voting Rights Act rationale late in the process.[86]
That is, the Court found that the secretary provided an explanation for his action “incongruent with what the record reveals about the agency’s priorities and decisionmaking process.”[87] And the absence of a genuine justification for the decision violated the APA.[88]
V. The Aftermath
The Supreme Court’s June 27 opinion affirmed the vacatur of Secretary Ross’s decision and returned the matter to the trial court for remand back to the agency under the APA. Separately, the Maryland court had enjoined adding a citizenship question to the enumeration—independent of the cure for any APA violation—based on its interpretation of the Enumeration Clause.[89] And the government had repeatedly insisted in the courts, including in the filing convincing the Supreme Court to take up the case directly, that June 30 was the practical deadline for any decision on the content of the enumeration.[90] Though the secretary of Commerce had the legal authority to place a citizenship question on the enumeration given a plausible rationale and sufficient homework, the government was simply out of time to redo that process for 2020.
And so it was not terribly surprising when government attorneys said on July 2 that “the decision has been made to print the 2020 Decennial Census questionnaire without a citizenship question, and that the printer has been instructed to begin the printing process.”[91] The same day, Secretary Ross confirmed the start of printing without a citizenship question.[92]
The president, however, was not on the same page. On July 3, the president tweeted that news reports about dropping the question were “FAKE!” and declared that the Department of Commerce would be moving forward.[93] Later that day, government attorneys reported that they had been asked to reevaluate all available options to include the citizenship question in the enumeration questionnaire.[94] Four days later, DOJ announced that it would be replacing all of the attorneys on the case, swapping out an expert team specialized in defending federal agencies with a hodgepodge of attorneys from elsewhere in the Department. Such a move is highly unusual at best and strongly suggests attorneys’ desire to avoid potential allegations of misconduct.[95] When DOJ attempted to effectuate the change, courts in New York and Maryland declined to execute the swap without a statement of sworn reasons for the wholesale removal and assurances that the change would not prejudice the continuing litigation schedule.[96]
That particular chaos lasted only a few days. On July 11, 2019, the president issued Executive Order 13,880, declaring that he acknowledged that there was “no practical mechanism for including the question on the 2020 decennial census” and instead directing federal government agencies to supply the Census Bureau with administrative records concerning citizenship and immigration status.[97] As with other demographic characteristics, the Census Bureau already collects some administrative data with respect to citizenship; the efficacy of incremental efforts described in the Executive Order in improving the coverage or accuracy of existing records for various purposes is as yet unknown. Both the New York and Maryland courts have entered permanent injunctions reflecting the Executive Order’s representation that there is no practical mechanism for including the question on the enumeration in 2020.[98]
VI. The Upshot
The scramble described immediately above reveals one takeaway from the combat: We survived a near miss of a real constitutional crisis.[99] We are perhaps too quick to brand a dispute a constitutional crisis these days, when what we are really describing is a social crisis or policy crisis or yawning chasm where political leadership should be; invaluable norms and operative systems that we used to take for granted and that we may never recover are fraying and tearing,[100] but the institutional structures to rein in the wrongs exist, if only enough of the public cared to make it happen. When we the people are divided, our representatives reflect that divide. And many of the outrages of the day reflect broken policy and broken politics—or even a broken underlying order[101]—more than the broken execution of the governmental order the current Constitution bequeaths us. It is not that those other problems are less serious. They can be deadly. It is that they represent pilot error or design error rather than a gremlin pulling apart the wing of the plane.[102]
Direct attacks on the rule of law are different: They are threats to the system that live outside of problems with the political order and outside of problems of constitutional design. Two weeks after the Court handed down its opinion, the attorney general of the United States declared that he “agree[d] with [the president] that the Supreme Court decision was wrong,” and seemed to be searching for a new pretext to force a do-over, rather than demonstrating compliance with the principle the Court established.[103] The administration appeared to be seeking to place a question on the Census despite a voidable but still valid injunction from a federal court.[104] And the DOJ seemed to be asking government attorneys to violate their oaths as civil servants and as officers of the court in pursuit of their goal. It is possible that all of these appearances were misleading. But it looked very scary for a moment.
And then the moment was gone, which should come as a real relief. The president blinked. And no direct confrontation between the executive and the judiciary provided a twenty-first-century reboot of Andrew Jackson’s apocryphal aphorism.[105]
Another takeaway from the combat is that there may yet be an opportunity to save the accuracy of the 2020 Census. We are in no way out of the woods. The immigration environment remains toxic,[106] large segments of the public remain both afraid and confused about the content of the Census,[107] and serious logistical and budgetary hurdles remain.[108] But the fact that the citizenship question will not be included in the enumeration allows advocates for a complete count to reassure a nervous public that the instrument itself is safe, in a way that would not have been possible had Secretary Ross prevailed. There are statistical methods to compensate for errors and gaps in survey responses, but few permissible means to correct the enumeration that anchors them all. We have one opportunity to get it right, or as right as possible, every ten years.[109] The Court’s decision makes it more likely that we will be successful.
A third takeaway from the decision concerns administrative law and our expectations of the administrative state—here, the mood should be less joyful. It is to be expected that new administrations arrive with distinct preferences and priorities, and it is to be expected that agency approaches to the same substantive statutes will shift with changes in leadership. In partial dissent from the Court’s opinion, Justice Thomas said that “there is nothing even unusual about a new cabinet secretary coming to office inclined to favor a different policy direction, soliciting support from other agencies to bolster his views, disagreeing with staff, or cutting through red tape.”[110] On that we agree. Elections have consequences. And in a republic premised on at least a modicum of responsiveness to the electorate, that’s a good thing.
But administrative agencies may not create or change policy based on pure ideological preference divorced from evidence. The pursuit of pure ideology implicates a deep separation-of-powers concern: Pure policy preference is acceptable in government, but it is the province of the legislature. As directly representative bodies, we allow legislatures in the normal course to act with flawed, incomplete, or contradictory logic,[111] on flawed, incomplete, or contradictory evidence. Absent some other constitutional restriction, courts will invent plausible hypothetical support for legislative action, testing only for imagined potential rationality.[112] Congress may choose option X over option Y simply because it prefers X, as long as it is possible to conjure a legitimate goal that X might further. Because legislators are the elected mechanism for channeling public will, we normally accept what emerges from the black box of legislative process as legitimate, even without double-checking that the reasoning was sound.
In the exercise of its constitutional prerogative to legislate, Congress has often given the executive branch broad, but not unending, discretion. In particular, Congress has not wholly delegated its sole authority to act purely on policy preferences. The fundamental predicate for the administrative state is that agencies are properly granted a modicum of policy discretion because they possess valuable experience and expertise. The APA stands as the leading congressional requirement that agencies actually use that experience and expertise in the course of exercising the discretion they are given.
That is, Congress has demanded that agencies give reasons for their action and do at least some degree of public homework showing that the extant evidence indicates that taking the action will help accomplish the proffered reason.[113] Even the most sweeping substantive delegation arrives with this procedural limitation, tying agency action to at least a thread of experience and expertise over and above pure preference.
Congress may constitutionally act based on nothing more than “because I said so,” as long as the outcome is capable of being explained by some post hoc logic. Agencies may not. And in preserving pure policy preference as a legislative prerogative, the APA helps to maintain the constitutional separation of powers.[114]
Even without accounting for real motive, Secretary Ross’s decision on the citizenship question came awfully close to pure policy preference. It is unremarkable for cabinet members to have instincts for policy change within the bounds of discretion granted by Congress, test those instincts, and arrive at conclusions ultimately in line with those instincts. It is unremarkable for evidence to be equivocal or uncertain and for decisionmakers to evaluate the evidence and arrive at a contested but reasoned outcome based on the weight or importance assigned to particular pieces of the puzzle that others might prioritize differently. It is a different matter entirely to have the answer first and attempt to build a record to support the preconceived answer, ignoring evidence that contradicts the predetermined solution.
Justice Breyer’s dissent in the recent litigation catalogs the evidence available to Secretary Ross and convincingly demonstrates that the evidence that was not inexplicably short-circuited by the secretary’s decision actually pointed overwhelmingly against it.[115] He concluded that the agency decided to add the question to the decennial enumeration “on the ground that it will improve the accuracy of citizenship data, when in fact the evidence indicates that adding the question will harm the accuracy of citizenship data.”[116] The majority on this point accused the dissent of substituting its judgment for that of the secretary.[117] But the dissent was not improperly re-weighing controverted evidence; it was merely noting that there was no meaningful evidence of benefit to controvert the evidence of harm.[118]
The majority’s review of the administrative record is considerably more forgiving. It does not represent the absolute maximum of deference to administrative discretion: Justice Alito, for example, would have found the decision wholly insulated from APA review.[119] And it is admittedly difficult in the abstract to determine the precise point at which a political appointee swimming against the facts amounts to a departure from the proper administrative role rather than a permissible judgment call. But the majority’s decision here nevertheless blesses as sufficient some exceedingly shoddy homework. For members of the Court particularly concerned about administrative self-aggrandizement,[120] the thin review put forth by the majority is a lost opportunity.
Yet the final takeaway from the Census opinion—the dispositive takeaway in the legality of the secretary’s decision—is important, and it shows that this Court is not wholly prepared to abdicate its role as a check on the executive branch. Tests of fit between means and ends like heightened scrutiny, or even loose tests like arbitrary and capricious review, represent both a direct review of process and an indirect review of motive. A sufficiently poor fit between articulated ends and chosen means may indicate that the decisionmaker’s expressed intent was not the real reason for action.[121] Here, what the Court refused to do indirectly, it did directly. Though the Court blessed Secretary Ross’s evidentiary record as sufficient, it also found that he lied about his reason for acting.
It was hardly a foregone conclusion that administrative motive would matter. Three justices would have upheld the secretary’s action as consistent with the APA because the agency had “articulate[d] a satisfactory explanation for its action,” and would apparently have accepted that explanation even if it were acknowledged to be false.[122] Moreover, recent controversies in other contexts gave some support to the notion that the Court might prove all too willing to duck any serious examination of executive motive. Just a few weeks earlier, the Court seriously limited the availability of First Amendment claims for retaliatory arrests.[123] And in the final week of last year’s Term, the Court shut down meaningful inquiries into government purpose in the context of the Trump administration’s travel ban.[124]
But these decisions did not stand for a global retreat from consideration of motive. The Court’s retaliatory arrest decision was steeped in the practicalities of policing, and even then it did not shut the door entirely: Claims may proceed even in the presence of probable cause to arrest when a litigant can present “objective evidence that he was arrested when otherwise similarly situated individuals not engaged in the same sort of protected speech had not been,”[125] or when he can “prove the existence and enforcement of an official policy motivated by retaliation.”[126] And the strikingly constrained review in Trump v. Hawaii was expressly predicated on a level of extreme deference due executive action affecting the entry of foreign nationals into the country.[127] These cases seem to represent exceptions from the judicial capacity to examine the reasons for executive action, rather than a new normal.[128]
Serious second-guessing of governmental motive should be rare and subject to a high standard of proof. There are legitimate concerns about the intrusive nature of fact-finding coerced in the name of the judicial process when determining why government officials acted as they did, with opportunities for potential abuse by partisan opponents.[129] And there are legitimate concerns that judges overly eager to strike policies they view as unwise may turn to skepticism about motive as convenient cover.
But both of these concerns are inherent in the judicial review of governmental action. They do not imply that it is necessary to throw the baby out with the bathwater, disarming judicial response when irregularities are abundantly apparent. Discovery can (and should) be managed, and evidentiary thresholds can (and should) be adjusted to guard against renegade invalidation. What we gain in exchange is a measure of judicial protection against the ultra vires application of government power.
Agencies owe Congress, and the public, an explanation for their actions. To ensure adequate accountability, the explanation provided must be the real explanation.[130] Courts are not particularly well equipped to assess the full veracity of the explanation provided—to determine whether the explanation offered by an agency represents the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. But they can evaluate whether the explanation provided is, in context, reasonably plausible. And by refusing to accept explanations that are not, courts provide a valuable service in policing the extreme boundaries of agency accountability. It is not necessary for courts to be able to detect every half-truth in order to provide a service in calling out obvious lies.
That is precisely what happened in the Census case. The notion that Secretary Ross decided to include a question about citizenship in the decennial enumeration in order to allow the DOJ to better enforce the Voting Rights Act simply could not hold water as the real reason for his action. As the majority explained, “Our review is deferential, but we are ‘not required to exhibit a naiveté from which ordinary citizens are free.’ United States v. Stanchich, 550 F.2d 1294, 1300 (CA2 1977) (Friendly, J.).”[131]
Had the secretary offered his real reason or reasons, Congress would have been able to determine whether the agency’s experience and expertise were used appropriately, in the service of the authority the legislature delegated or at odds with that delegation. The pretext deprived Congress of that opportunity. And so the Court found, correctly, that the resulting action could not stand. The outcome of the case is, let us hope, unusual. But the legal principle is hearteningly sound.[132]
*Levitt is Associate Dean for Research, Professor of Law, and Gerald T. McLaughlin Fellow, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. Some of this piece draws on my experience as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, but nothing herein should be understood to reflect any official position of the DOJ. I am grateful to Sara Rohani and Thomas Tai for their research assistance. All errors, of course, are my own.
[1] See U.S. Const. art. I, § 2, cl. 3.
[2] U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 2; id. art. II, § 1, cl. 2; 2 U.S.C. § 2a(a) (2012).
[3] In the 1960s, the Court ruled that constitutional claims challenging legislative districts that were unequal in population were justiciable. Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186 (1962). The Court went on to demand rough equality of representation, based on roughly equal headcount, from legislative districts at every level of government. See Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1, 17–18 (1964) (applying the equal representation principle to congressional districts); Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 577 (1964) (applying a similar principle to state legislative districts); Avery v. Midland Cty., 390 U.S. 474, 484–86 (1968) (applying a similar principle to local government districts).
[4] See U.S. Const. art. I, § 2, cl. 3; Act of July 14, 1798, ch. 75, 1 Stat. 597; Bruce Ackerman, Taxation and the Constitution, 99 Colum. L. Rev. 1, 24 & n.86 (1999).
[5] See Marisa Hotchkiss & Jessica Phelan, U.S. Census Bureau, Uses of Census Bureau Data in Federal Funds Distribution 3–10 (2017); Andrew Reamer, The George Washington Inst. of Pub. Policy, Counting for Dollars 2020: The Role of the Decennial Census in the Geographic Distribution of Federal Funds 5 tbl.2 (2017).
[6] See Thomas P. Wolf & Brianna Cea, A Critical History of the United States Census and Citizenship Questions, 108 Geo. L.J. Online 1 (2019).
[7] Letter from Wilbur Ross, Sec’y of Commerce, U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, to Karen Dunn Kelley, Under Sec’y for Econ. Affairs, U.S. Dep’t of Commerce (Mar. 26, 2018) [hereinafter Ross, Decision Letter].
[8] U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, American Community Survey: Information Guide 6 (2017).
[9] U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, The American Community Survey 28 (2018).
[10] Bureau of the Census, U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, 1950 Census of Population and Housing (1950).
[11] Public Trust in Government: 1958–2019, Pew Research Ctr. (Apr. 11, 2019). The earliest records date back to 1958, the first year that the National Election Study began reporting “trust in government” figures for the federal government in a manner comparable to the way the question is asked today. Id.
[12] Id. Similarly, 74.5% of Americans in 2017 reported being “afraid” or “very afraid” of corrupt government officials, making it the single largest source of fear among the population. See America’s Top Fears 2017, Chapman Univ. (Oct. 11, 2017).
[13] Letter from Vincent P. Barabba et al., Former Dirs., U.S. Census Bureau, to Wilbur L. Ross, Sec’y of Commerce, U.S. Dep’t of Commerce 1–2 (Jan. 26, 2018); Fed’n for Am. Immigration Reform v. Klutznick, 486 F. Supp. 564, 568 (D.D.C. 1980).
[14] In assessing the likely quality of the data to be gained from asking about citizenship in the enumeration, the Census Bureau compared answers given by individual respondents on the ACS against administrative data, and found that “nearly one third of [individuals listed as] noncitizens in the administrative data respond to the questionnaire indicating they are citizens.” Summary Analysis of the Key Differences Between Alternative C and Alternative D, Joint Appendix 145, at 147, Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. 2551 (2019) (No.18-966), 2019 WL 1114907. That is, about one-third of individuals listed as noncitizens in bureaucratic administrative data said in response to the ACS—an instrument on which the question is less salient than the enumeration—that they were citizens. Id.; see also J. David Brown et al., Understanding the Quality of Alternative Citizenship Data Sources for the 2020 Census 21, 23 (Ctr. for Econ. Studies, Working Paper No. CES 18-38, 2018) (finding a 37.6% discrepancy). It is possible that the administrative data are outdated and do not capture more recent naturalization, and it is possible that the administrative data are incorrect (or incorrectly linked to census responses). But it seems at least as likely that some of the respondents were falsely presenting themselves as citizens in their responses to the questionnaire.
[15] See Justin Levitt, Citizenship and the Census, 119 Colum. L. Rev. 1355, 1363-67 (2019).
[16] See, e.g., Brown et al., supra note 14, at 8–12; William P. O’Hare, Ctr. On Poverty and Inequality, Citizenship Question Nonresponse 11–12 (2018). The rates at which individuals refused to respond to the American Community Survey were higher in 2015 and 2016 than ever before in the survey’s history. See American Community Survey: Response Rates, U.S. Census Bureau (last visited July 23, 2019). This effect was broadly distributed: In twenty-nine different states, the rate at which individuals refused to respond to the ACS was higher in 2016 than ever before; in forty-four different states, the rate at which individuals refused to respond to the ACS was higher in either 2015 or 2016 than ever before. Id.
[17] Mikelyn Meyers, U.S. Census Bureau, Respondent Confidentiality Concerns and Possible Effects on Response Rates and Data Quality for the 2020 Census 15 (2017).
[18] See Levitt, supra note 15, at 1369-70.
[19] See Ross, Decision Letter, supra note 7, at 4.
[20] Memorandum from John M. Abowd, Chief Scientist and Assoc. Dir. for Research and Methodology, U.S. Census Bureau, to Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., Sec’y of Commerce (Jan. 19, 2018) [hereinafter Abowd Memorandum, Joint Appendix], Joint Appendix 104, at 111, Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. 2551 (2019) (No.18-966), 2019 WL 1114907.
[21] Id. at 115-16.
[22] Questions on the Jan 19 Draft Census Memo on the DOJ Citizenship Question Reinstatement Request no. 21, Joint Appendix 123, at 137, Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. 2551 (2019) (No.18-966), 2019 WL 1114907.
[23] Ross, Decision Letter, supra note 7, at 4.
[25] See California v. Ross, 358 F. Supp. 3d 965, 984-85 (N.D. Cal. 2019).
[27] Letter from Arthur E. Gary, Gen. Counsel, Justice Mgmt. Div., U.S. Dep’t of Justice, to Dr. Ron Jarmin (Dec. 12, 2017) [hereinafter DOJ Letter].
[28] Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 50 (1986).
[29] Bartlett v. Strickland, 556 U.S. 1, 14–15, 18–20 (2009) (plurality opinion).
[30] Gingles, 478 U.S. at 51-53.
[31] See, e.g., United States v. Brown, 561 F.3d 420, 435 (5th Cir. 2009); Bone Shirt v. Hazeltine, 461 F.3d 1011, 1022 (8th Cir. 2006).
[32] Demographic information is necessary, but in no way sufficient, for the assessment of electoral power. See generally Justin Levitt, Quick and Dirty: The New Misreading of the Voting Rights Act, 43 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 573 (2016).
[33] See Levitt, supra note 15, at 1375.
[34] Id. at 1380-82.
[35] Fabela v. City of Farmers Branch, No. 3:10-cv-01425, 2012 WL 3135545 (N.D. Tex. Aug. 2, 2012).
[36] Id. at *4-5.
[37] These limitations include the margin of error in any survey, and the fact that ACS data are most accurate when collected over a five-year span, which necessarily underestimates the size of populations that are swiftly growing. See Levitt, supra note 15, at 1378-80.
[38] See, e.g., United States v. Alamosa County, 306 F. Supp. 2d 1016, 1022 (D. Colo. 2004); see also United States’ Brief in Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Exclude Bayesian Improved Surname Geocoding (BISG) Evidence, United States v. City of Eastpointe, 378 F. Supp. 3d 589 (E.D. Mich. 2019) (No. 4:17-cv-10079), 2018 WL 4144225.
[39] Congress explained, when it expanded VRA coverage to include language minorities, that “persons . . . of Spanish heritage” under the statute, 52 U.S.C. § 10310(c)(3), included “‘persons of Spanish language’ as well as ‘persons of Spanish surname’ in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.” S. Rep. No. 94-295, at 24 n.14 (1975).
[40] Fabela, 2012 WL 3135545, at *8.
[41] 140+ Civil Rights Groups Call on Commerce Department to Strike Unnecessary Citizenship Question, The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights (Aug. 1, 2018); Nick Brown, U.S. Census Citizenship Question Panned by Scientists, Civil Rights Groups, Reuters (Aug. 9, 2018).
[42] Email from Ellen Herbst, CFO & Ass’t Sec’y for Admin., U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, to David Langdon, Senior Policy Advisor, U.S. Dep’t of Commerce (Feb. 2, 2017).
[43] Email from Earl Comstock to Wilbur Ross (May 2, 2017, 02:19 PM), Joint Appendix 276, at 276, Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. 2551 (2019) (No.18-966), 2019 WL 1470266.
[44] Id. (emphasis added).
[45] See Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. 2551, 2575 (2019).
[47] See id. at 1388-90.
[48] See id. at 1390-97. Evidence discovered quite dramatically in mid-2019 lends incremental support to this latter possibility. Longtime Republican redistricting consultant Thomas Hofeller passed away in 2018. There were contested proceedings concerning his surviving spouse and the estate; and in the course of a conversation with Common Cause about a referral for those proceedings, Hofeller’s estranged daughter mentioned that she’d found hard drives among his effects. Charles Bethea, A Father, A Daughter, and the Attempt to Change the Census, New Yorker (July 12, 2019); Michael Wines, Deceased G.O.P. Strategist’s Hard Drives Reveal New Details on the Census Citizenship Question, N.Y. Times (May 30, 2019). Common Cause subpoenaed the hard drives for North Carolina redistricting litigation and found, inter alia, a 2015 Hofeller study concluding that drawing districts based on citizen voting-age population—a “radical departure” from the status quo—“would be advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites,” but that it would be necessary to ask a citizenship question on the enumeration in order to get the data to make that change. NYIC Plaintiffs’ Motion for Sanctions exh. 6 at 8-9, New York v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, No. 1:18-cv-02921 (S.D.N.Y. July 16, 2019). Hofeller had spoken about adding a citizenship question to the enumeration with Secretary Ross’s advisor Mark Neuman, who had in turn delivered a draft letter concerning the need for data to the DOJ official actually drafting the request for citizenship data; a paragraph in Hofeller’s files concerning the Voting Rights Act justification for asking the question was incorporated verbatim in the draft letter Neuman gave to DOJ. See Kravitz v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, 382 F. Supp. 3d 393, 398-99 (D. Md. 2019). The variance between the Commerce Department’s origin story of the question, including in litigation, and the story suggested by these documents has become the subject of a motion for sanctions. NYIC Plaintiffs’ Motion for Sanctions, supra.
[49] Complaint, California v. Ross, No. 3:18-cv-01865 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 26, 2018).
[50] See Second Amended Complaint, New York v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, No. 1:18-cv-02921 (S.D.N.Y. July 25, 2018).
[51] Id. at 54; U.S. Const. art. I, § 2, cl. 3; id. amend. XIV, § 2.
[52] Second Amended Complaint at 54-55, New York v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, No. 1:18-cv-02921.
[53] Id. at 56-57.
[54] Complaint at 61-66, N.Y. Immigration Coal. v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, No. 1:18-cv-05025 (S.D.N.Y. June 6, 2018). Because the claims ran against the federal government, the equal protection claims were Fifth Amendment claims predicated on reverse incorporation. See Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 U.S. 497, 500 (1954).
[55] See, e.g., First Amended Complaint at 13-15, California v. Ross, No. 3:18-cv-01865 (N.D. Cal. May 4, 2018); Third Amended Complaint at 52-59, Kravitz v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, No. 8:18-cv-01041 (D. Md. Dec. 28, 2018); Second Amended Complaint at 37-39, NAACP v. Bureau of the Census, No. 8:18-cv-00891 (D. Md. Apr. 1, 2019).
[56] Complaint at 29-30, City of San Jose v. Ross, No. 5:18-cv-02279 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 17, 2018).
[57] First Amended Complaint at 106-09, La Unión del Pueblo Entero, No. 8:18-cv-01570 (D. Md. July 9, 2018); see 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3); Enforcement Act of 1871, Pub. L. No. 42-22, § 2, 17 Stat. 13 (1871).
[58] Complaint at 24-26, Elect. Privacy Info. Ctr. v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, No. 1:18-cv-02711 (D.D.C. Nov. 20, 2018). The suit was dismissed in June 2019 for lack of standing, Elec. Privacy Info. Ctr. v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, 928 F.3d 95 (D.C. Cir. 2019).
[59] Complaint at 13-16, NAACP Legal Def. & Educ. Fund, Inc., v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, No. 1:18-cv-09363 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 12, 2018). As of publication, this litigation continues. Separately, Alabama has sued based not on what the Department of Commerce did do, but what it has not done. Alabama sued in order to force the Department to exclude from the enumeration undocumented individuals, as allegedly not “persons in each State.” U.S. Const. amend. IV, § 2; Complaint, Alabama v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, No. 2:18-cv-00772 (N.D. Ala. May 21, 2018).
[60] See Plaintiffs’ Memo. of Law in Support of their Motion to Amend Judgment on Remand Pursuant to Rule 59(E), or for Injunctive Relief Pursuant to the All Writs Act at 11-15, New York v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, No. 1:18-cv-02921 (S.D.N.Y. July 5, 2019) [hereinafter Motion to Amend Judgment].
[61] New York v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, 315 F. Supp. 3d 766, 774-75 (S.D.N.Y. 2018).
[63] New York v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, 333 F. Supp. 3d 282 (S.D.N.Y. 2018), vacated as moot by 351 F. Supp. 3d 502, 680 (S.D.N.Y. 2019).
[66] See In re Dep’t of Commerce, 139 S. Ct. 16 (2018); In re Dep’t of Commerce, 139 S. Ct. 566 (2018). The Court never substantively addressed the propriety of the Ross deposition: the deposition order was vacated after the trial court issued its substantive decision, New York v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, 351 F. Supp. 3d at 680, and the Supreme Court vacated the remaining underlying disputes after issuing its substantive decision. See Dep’t of Commerce v. U.S. Dist. Ct. S.D.N.Y., No. 18-557, 2019 WL 2649788 (U.S. June 28, 2019).
[67] See New York v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, No. 18-CV-2921, 2018 WL 6060304 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 20, 2018).
[68] New York v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, 351 F. Supp. 3d at 679. Given the pending Supreme Court review of the propriety of extra-record evidence, the court carefully justified its opinion on the administrative record alone—but then also noted the consonance of the accumulated extra-record evidence. Id. at 635-36.
[70] These included the requirement for the Census to seek information from sources other than direct inquiries where possible, like the administrative records career Census staff had recommended, see supra text accompanying note 22, and the requirement to present topics to Congress at least two years before the Census date itself. See New York v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, 351 F. Supp. 3d at 636-47.
[73] Id. at 660; see also id. at 660-64.
[74] Pet. for Writ of Certiorari before Judgment at *13-*14, U.S. Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, No. 18-966 (U.S. Jan. 25, 2019), 2019 WL 338906.
[75] Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. 953 (2019).
[76] California v. Ross, 358 F. Supp. 3d 965, 1048-49 (N.D. Cal. 2019). As in New York, the government petitioned for certiorari before judgment, and the Court ultimately vacated the trial court’s decision in light of its final decision in the New York litigation. Ross v. California, No.18-1214, 2019 WL 1243674 (U.S. June 28, 2019).
[77] Kravitz v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, 366 F. Supp. 3d 681 (D. Md. 2019). As in New York, the Maryland court rejected the equal protection (and conspiracy) claim, finding insufficient evidence of the intent to discriminate. Id. at 752-54.
[78] Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. 1316 (2019).
[80] Id. at 2565-66; see also 13 U.S.C. § 221.
[81] Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. at 2566.
[83] Id. at 2569-71. The same justices also reversed the trial court’s holdings with respect to the other claimed statutory violations. Id. at 2571-73; see supra note 70.
[84] Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. at 2569-71. Curiously, the Court misstated the evidence of harm even in validating the secretary’s reliance on it. Following the misrepresentation of the Solicitor General, Transcript of Oral Argument at 89, Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, No. 18-966 (U.S. Apr. 23, 2019), 2019 WL 1778161, the Court stated that “[t]he Bureau predicted a 5.1% decline in response rates among noncitizen households if the citizenship question were reinstated.” Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. at 2570. This is untrue. As mentioned above, the Bureau found that it was likely that at least 5.1% of households with noncitizens would decline to respond, but that this was a “lower bound” and a “conservative estimate,” and that the real rate “could be much greater.” See supra text accompanying notes 20-21; Brief for Gov’t Respondents 10, Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 18-966 (U.S. Apr. 1, 2019), 2019 WL 1468270.
[85] Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. at 2574-76.
[86] Id. at 2574.
[89] Kravitz v. Dep’t of Commerce, 366 F. Supp. 3d 681, 755-56 (D. Md. 2019). Though the Supreme Court’s decision on the Enumeration Clause, Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. at 2566-67, likely rendered that injunction voidable, no filing had requested that relief before the end of June.
[90] See Motion to Amend Judgment, supra note 60, at 11-15.
[91] Id. at 8.
[93] Donald Trump (@realdonaldtrump), Twitter (July 3, 2019, 11:06 AM), https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1146435093491277824.
[94] Motion to Amend Judgment, supra note 60, at 9-10.
[95] See Katie Benner, Barr Says Legal Path to Census Citizenship Question Exists, but He Gives No Details, N.Y. Times (July 8, 2019); Michael Wines et al., Justice Dept. to Replace Lawyers in Census Citizenship Question Case, N.Y. Times (July 7, 2019); Marty Lederman (@marty_lederman), Twitter (July 8, 2019, 3:31 PM), https://twitter.com/marty_lederman/status/1148358851378524160.
[96] Memorandum Opinion and Order, New York v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, No. 1:18-cv-02921, 2019 WL 2949908 (S.D.N.Y. July 9, 2019); Memorandum Opinion and Order, Kravitz v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, No. 8:18-cv-01041 (D. Md. July 10, 2019). It appears that the effort to swap out the attorneys was abandoned; though new attorneys entered appearances in the cases, the government did not pursue withdrawal orders for those who had been representing the Department of Commerce since the inception of the litigation.
[97] Exec. Order 13,880, 84 Fed. Reg. 33,821 (July 16, 2019). The Executive Order describes several reasons to pursue these additional administrative records beyond the Voting Rights Act rationale found to be pretextual; none of these reasons appears to warrant the collection of citizenship data with sufficient precision to justify the inclusion of the question in the decennial enumeration. Justin Levitt, Trump’s Executive Order on the Census, Election L. Blog (July 12, 2019).
[98] Order, New York v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, No. 1:18-cv-02921 (S.D.N.Y. July 16, 2019); Order, Kravitz v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, No. 8:18-cv-01041 (D. Md. July 16, 2019).
[99] See, e.g., Linda Greenhouse, A ‘Train Wreck’ Was Averted at the Supreme Court, but for How Long?, N.Y. Times (July 18, 2019).
[100] See generally Neil S. Siegel, Political Norms, Constitutional Conventions, and President Donald Trump, 93 Ind. L.J. 177 (2018); Daphna Renan, Presidential Norms and Article II, 131 Harv. L. Rev. 2187 (2018).
[101] See generally Sanford Levinson, Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (And How We the People can Correct It) (2008).
[102] Cf. The Twilight Zone: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (CBS television broadcast Oct. 11, 1963).
[103] Mike Balsamo, Barr Sees A Way for Census to Legally Ask About Citizenship, AP News (July 8, 2019).
[104] See supra note 89.
[105] In response to Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515 (1832), regarding tribal sovereignty, President Andrew Jackson is often quoted as saying, “Marshall has made his ruling, now let him enforce it!” The remark is likely apocryphal. See, e.g., Matt Ford, When the President Defies the Supreme Court, New Republic (Apr. 24, 2018).
[106] See, e.g., Gwendolyn Wu et al., Few ICE Raids, but Much-Hyped Plans Stoke Fears in Immigrant Communities, S.F. Chron. (July 14, 2019); Lindsay M. Harris, Trump’s New Asylum Rule Will Guarantee More Separated Families, Wash. Post (July 17, 2019); Ted Hesson, Trump Officials Pressing to Slash Refugee Admissions to Zero Next Year, Politico (July 18, 2019).
[107] See, e.g., Alexis Dominguez, Scam or Not: Census Test Mailed Out May Seem Fake, but It’s Legitimate, KRDO (July 12, 2019) (describing a test of the decennial enumeration containing the citizenship question, mailed out while the Supreme Court case was pending and still in the field after the Court’s decision).
[108] See, e.g., Caitlin Emma, Budget Gridlock Imperils 2020 Census, Politico (July 15, 2019); Jeffrey Mervis, Census Citizenship Question is Dropped, but Challenges Linger, 365 Science 211 (2019); U.S. Gov’t Accountability Office, 2020 Census: Actions Needed to Address Key Risks to A Successful Enumeration GAO-19-588T (2019).
[109] See, e.g., David Russell, ‘We Get One Chance Every 10 Years,’ Queens Chron. (July 18, 2019).
[110] Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. 2551, 2580 (2019) (Thomas, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (internal quotation marks omitted).
[111] Cf. Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558, 604 (2003) (Scalia, J., dissenting) (noting that legislatures “need not carry things to their logical conclusion”).
[112] See, e.g., City of New Orleans v. Dukes, 427 U.S. 297, 303-05 (1976).
[113] Hence the requirement, made clear in the Senate Report to the APA, that “[t]he agency must analyze and consider all relevant matter presented,” and that “[t]he required statement of the basis and purpose of rules issued should not only relate to the data so presented but with reasonable fullness explain the actual basis and objectives of the rule.” S. Rep. No. 752, at 201 (1945).
[114] Cf., e.g., Kisor v. Wilkie, 139 S. Ct. 2400, 2432 (Gorsuch, J., concurring in the judgment) (“Some have even described [the APA] as a kind of constitution for our ‘administrative state.’”); Todd David Peterson, Procedural Checks: How the Constitution (and Congress) Control the Power of the Three Branches, 13 Duke J. Const. L. & Pub. Pol’y 209, 251-59 (2017) (describing the APA as a means of enforcing the separation of powers, albeit without focus on the function of the APA in requiring deployment of experience and expertise).
[115] Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. 2551, 2587-93 (2019) (Breyer, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).
[116] Id. at 2592.
[117] Id. at 2571 (majority opinion).
[118] Id. at 2592-93 (Breyer, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).
[119] Id. at 2596-2606 (Alito, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).
[120] See, e.g., Gundy v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 2116, 2133-35 (2019) (Gorsuch, J., dissenting); Kisor v. Wilkie, 139 S. Ct. 2400, 2425-42 (Gorsuch, J., concurring in the judgment).
[121] See, e.g., Elena Kagan, Private Speech, Public Purpose: The Role of Governmental Motive in First Amendment Doctrine, 63 U. Chi. L. Rev. 413, 453-55 (1996).
[122] Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. at 2577-79 (Thomas, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (determining that “ordinary arbitrary-and-capricious review,” on the face of the materials presented, should end the inquiry).
[123] See Nieves v. Bartlett, 139 S. Ct. 1715 (2019).
[124] See Trump v. Hawaii, 138 S. Ct. 2392 (2018); Abbott v. Perez, 138 S. Ct. 2305 (2018).
[125] Nieves, 139 S. Ct. at 1727.
[126] Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, 138 S. Ct. 1945, 1954 (2018).
[127] See Hawaii, 138 S. Ct. at 2418-20.
[128] Though government action enjoys the presumption of regularity, see, e.g., Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. 2551, 2577 (2019) (Thomas, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part), many legal doctrines turn on the assessment of an executive actor’s impetus for action, and the Court will set aside that presumption of regularity where it feels the evidence so warrants. See, e.g., Flowers v. Mississippi, 139 S. Ct. 2228 (2019) (racial discrimination); J.E.B. v. Alabama, 511 U.S. 127 (1994) (gender discrimination); Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colo. Civil Rights Comm’n, 138 S. Ct. 1719 (2018) (religious discrimination); Crawford-El v. Britton, 523 U.S. 574 (1998) (First Amendment); Florida v. Jardines, 133 S. Ct. 1409 (2013) (Fourth Amendment); Missouri v. Siebert, 542 U.S. 600 (2004) (Fifth Amendment); Michigan v. Bryant, 562 U.S. 344 (2011) (Sixth Amendment); Hudson v. McMillian, 503 U.S. 1 (1992) (Eighth Amendment).
[129] See, e.g., Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. at 2583 (Thomas, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (warning that “the Court’s decision enables partisans to use the courts to harangue executive officers through depositions, discovery, delay, and distraction”); cf. Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 719-24 (1997) (Breyer, J., concurring in the judgment) (describing the potential for legal proceedings to distract from the time and energy of the president).
[130] The Senate Report for the APA makes plain what should otherwise be obvious: “The required statement of the basis and purpose of rules issued should not only relate to the data so presented but with reasonable fullness explain the actual basis and objectives of the rule.” S. Rep. No. 752, at 201 (1945) (emphasis added); see also H.R. Rep. No. 1980, at 259 (1946); Peterson, supra note 114, at 254; cf. Kenneth F. Warren, Administrative Law in the Political System 184 (3d ed. 1995) (highlighting the APA as a source of accountability).
[131] Dep’t of Commerce v. New York, 139 S. Ct. at 2575. The quotation—and, more vital, the sentiment—was perhaps particularly notable to Chief Justice Roberts, who specifically left the reference as denoted in the text. Stanchich was a unanimous appellate panel opinion, and its author would normally go unmentioned in a citation—but Roberts clerked for Judge Friendly two years after Stanchich was issued. See Todd S. Purdum et al., Court Nominee’s Life is Rooted in Faith and Respect for Law, N.Y. Times (July 21, 2005). The quote also echoes the wisdom of an earlier court, almost 100 years before: “Besides, we cannot shut our eyes to matters of public notoriety and general cognizance. When we take our seats on the bench we are not struck with blindness, and forbidden to know as judges what we see as men . . . .” Ho Ah Kow v. Nunan, 12 F. Cas. 252, 255 (C.C.D. Cal. 1879).
[132] There are cases ahead that will further develop the limits on pretextual explanations for executive action. Just one day after its decision in the Census case, the Court granted certiorari in Kelly v. United States, concerning the Bridgegate scandal in New Jersey, and criminal fraud prosecutions for the pretextual execution of a “traffic study” that was actually conducted purely for raw political payback. See, e.g., Kelly v. United States, No. 18-1059, 2019 WL 588845 (U.S. June 28, 2019); Respondent William Baroni’s Brief in Support of the Petition for a Writ of Certiorari, Kelly v. United States, No. 18-1059 (U.S. Mar. 15, 2019), 2019 WL 1240050. It will be interesting to see whether the Court expands, maintains, or constricts its vision of proper inquiry into the rationale for executive conduct in this substantially different context.
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Tendulkar scoops cricket awards
India's Sachin Tendulkar walks away with the cricketer of the year award at a glittering ceremony in Bangalore.
Wed Oct 06 2010 21:11:35 GMT+0000
Tendulkar scored a sensational 1064 runs in 10 test matches at an average of 81.84 over the calender year. [AFP]
India's record-breaking batsman Sachin Tendulkar has been named the player of the year at the International Cricket Council's annual awards function.
Tendulkar, 37, was picked over Hashim Amla of South Africa, team-mate Virender Sehwag and Graeme Swann of England to win his first ever ICC award.
The master batsman, who became the seventh recipient of the Garfield Sobers Trophy on Wednesday, also took the People's Choice award in a grand double at a glittering ceremony in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.
"To win both of these awards tonight is special and it's the game's way of appreciating someone's performance," Tendulkar said.
"It feels great to have two trophies in front of me and I am feeling very proud and happy."
During the 12-month voting period of August, 2009 to August 2010, Tendulkar scored 1,064 runs in 10 Tests with six centuries at an average of 81.84.
He also made 914 runs in 17 one-day internationals, including the first-ever double century in the history of the limited-overs game, against South Africa in Gwalior.
Tendulkar, however, lost out in two other major categories as Sehwag picked up the Test player of the year award, while South Africa's AB de Villiers was adjudged the one-day player of the year.
The awards were decided by the ICC's 25-member voting academy that included former players, members of the media and representatives of the elite panel of referees and umpires.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India's captain, was chosen to lead the ICC's Test team of the year that included Sehwag, Kumar Sangakkara, Swann, Tendulkar, Amla, Simon Katich, Dale Steyn, Jacques Kallis, James Anderson and Doug Bollinger.
One-day team
Australia's Ricky Ponting was picked to captain the one-day team of the year that included Tendulkar, Shane Watson, Michael Hussey, de Villiers, Paul Collingwood, Dhoni, Daniel Vettori, Stuart Broad,
Bollinger and Ryan Harris.
New Zealand batsman Brendon McCullum's 116 not out off 56 balls against Australia in Christchurch in February was adjudged the best performance in Twenty20 internationals.
Lanky England seamer Steven Finn was named the emerging player of the year, while Dutchman Ryan ten Doeschate won the Associate player of the year award.
New Zealand took the Spirit of Cricket award for the second time in row, while Pakistani official Aleem Dar was voted the umpire of the year for the second year in succession.
Australian all-rounder Shelley Nitschke was named the woman cricketer of the year.
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Mystical drama, consisting of 25 parts.
The hero of the film is a Syrian-Armenian young man who loses everything, during the Syrian war, his beloved girlfriend, relatives and friends, his father's house, property and his health. Because of a concussion, he is being discharged from military service. Coming to Armenia, he finds the strength to live again and to start everything from scratch.
On the first working day the bus rolls into the gorge, and the most unexpected occurs: calls for help remain unanswered, and all attempts of exiting the gorge ends with death. People in the gorge have no idea, in what unordinary place they were, why they were trapped in this trap and who are destined to leave the gorge and be survived. A story about how the war turns a person's life into a nightmare, even when it seems that it has already ended...
Save Our Souls, Episode 25, Promo
31 january 2018 - 11:28
Save Our Souls, Episode 9, Promo
Save Our Souls, Soon
A rapidly growing plot and unexpected solutions, the hero of the film, consisting of 24 parts, is trying to return to life after four years of imprisonment, but troubles are facing him everywhere. Vain efforts to find a job, problems of his pregnant wife, creates a maze for Hayk, with no way out.
It seems that everything is hopeless and cannot be worse.
But the past love to return and once knocks on the door of Hayk. Four years spent in prison because of an accident, is not enough for a man whom Hayk left without a family.
For solving problems Hayk must lose everything. In his way of making money, Hayk sells his family, in order to not lose them.
And, in the end, when he has nothing to lose, he starts the story of revenge himself.
Countdown, Episode 19, Promo
Countdown, Episode 9, Promo
Countdown, From October 21, Promo 3
Countdown, From October 21, Anons 2
Children of the Orchestra
"Children of the Orchestra" - first youth musical TV series of national television.
The actions of the musical develops in an imaginary musical school, where heroes manage to find themselves in a variety of funny and challenging situations for which they need to show unity, creativity and willpower.
The songs of this TV series were created specifically for this project.
The project "Children of the Orchestra" is not a borrowed or adapted foreign format
Children of the Orchestra, Episode 12, Promo
Children of the Orchestra, Episode 9, Promo
Children of the Orchestra, From October 15
In the second season, Virab Virabich manages to escape from the Dutch prison and reach Armenia. It seems that Marcel has everything to be adjusted, he will receive his earned amount and return to his peaceful life. But Virab does not want to leave him alive, he does not need witnesses in this story. Trying to save his life, Marcel manages to create chaos, so Bogaz hits Virab on the head. As a result, Virab loses the consciousness, and when he comes to his senses, it turns out that he has amnesia and he does not remember anything. New problems that can not be solved without the help of Marcel.
Change 2, Episode 24, Promo
Change 2, Episode 9, Promo
Change, Episode 24, Promo
Change, Episode 9, Promo
Change, From 1st of November
The million in a trap
“The million in a trap” in this new TV series which includes 25 series, you’ll find such dynamic events with intricate intrigues and fatal twists, love and treachery, escape from reality and unexpected appearance, new generation’s wrong perception of freedom. It’s a story of a once well-known lawyer, who finds himself in the place of the defendant in strange conditions and has to go against all written laws for the sake of one unwritten law - the right to live.
A Strange will and a mysterious murder, which turn the lives of all heroes in 180 degrees - love turns into hate, former relatives become enemies, the accuser becomes a criminal, and the real lawbreakers enjoy their life.
It seems that the family that has fallen into chaos, will be ruined and there is no rescue, but any darkness can be overcome if there is a light inside, love, one believes in great power of love and finds the strength again to stand up and fight for justice and kindness. The point is in a struggle not to lose yourself - as a simple human being. The TV series is about a false and fake reality where people give in to the false morality, where a person is described not by the intelligence and kindness, but by the money and property, where they are ready to tear each other's throats out for money, and the number of those who are fighting for justice keeps decreasing. They idolize money, but in the end, they still worship for love. Live for love and love life for justice, to be a human at any cost – heroes are fighting for love, kindness and for justice - this is the main message of this TV series.
"Million in a trap" is a chronicle of our days; hero of the film is Louise – a 40 years old wealthy lawyer, having a good family, lawyer’s office and money. However, everything changes when Jacques - a friend of her husband, comes from Paris. He falls in love with Louise and without receiving mutual feelings, decides to take the desired by force. Louise, trying to defend herself, accidentally kills Jacques. Louise is forced to hide herself from the law and falsify her identity. She realizes that no law will protect her, because all the evidences lead to her, and she cannot even prove her innocence to her husband. A hope for life appears only when Louise accidentally finds out that Jacques came to Armenia and made all that by the order of her husband. Husband wanted to deprive Louise from the maternal rights and to overreach the wealth that Louise’s father inherited to Nika - Louise's daughter. Louise decides to restore justice, punish her husband and retrieve what has been lost. At the same time with the storyline of Louise, the TV series also develops the love story of her daughter Nika and Eric - a young courier. A clever and honest courier, a young student from the faculty of history, manages to bring the girl from a rich family back to the right path, and prove that it is not the times anymore to make up an opinion about a person by his position and his clothes. A human is characterized not only by his position and abilities, but also by his intelligence, kindness, love and compassion.
The million in a trap, Episode 25, Promo
The million in a trap, Episode 9, Promo
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Art Categories Announcement Appointments architecture Art Market Art News Art Prize Art Stolen Artbytch Artist Profile Artist Profile Auction Biennale Book Review Competition Course Degree Shows Essay Event/Talk Events Exhibition Fair Feature Features Festival Forgery Gallery Profile Guide How To International Artist Spotlight Interviews Member Articles Milestones News Obituary Open Call Opinion Opinion Performance Photo Feature Photo Features Photography Preview Quiz Reviews Talk Top 10
Troy – A State of Mind – Edward Lucie-Smith
21 November 2019 / Art Categories Art News / Art Tags Edward Lucie-Smith, myth and reality, Troy / / / / /
The latest in an excellent series of significant exhibitions at the British Museum – much better than the smaller ones the B.M. does in the cramped spaces of what used to be the reading rooms of the British Library – is about the legendary city of Troy, long besieged and finally at last taken and destroyed by a coalition of Greek states.
Basically, though there has certainly been a lot of art inspired by the story of Troy – the siege and what happened after it – the relics from the site itself, at long last, discovered and excavated by the buccaneering German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, are less impressive than one might like. A group of gold objects, perhaps of not quite the same date as the legendary siege, discovered by Schliemann in the course of his excavations, were removed during the closing days of World War II from the German museum to which Schliemann had presented them. These are now locked away in Moscow and St Petersburg and are represented here at the B.M. by modern replicas, which inevitably fail to excite the imagination in quite the same fashion. Old gold is better than new.
Troy: Myth and Reality – British Museum
What remains are the works of art inspired by three great poetic narratives, two in Greek, and one in Latin. There were other narratives as well, but these have survived only in fragments. The three narratives concerned are the Iliad and the Odyssey, both by Homer, and Virgil’s Aeneid. The Iliad is the one that focuses directly on the closing phase of the siege. The Odyssey tells the story of the long road home followed by Odysseus, one of the Greek commanders. The Aeneid is about the post-siege wanderings of Aeneas, a Trojan survivor, who ended his travels in Italy and became the founder of what became the Roman state, though not of the city of Roman itself. Both the Odyssey and the Aeneid contain many episodes that are obviously legendary. The Iliad gives the impression of having a core of truth. Though gods and goddesses intervene in the narrative, the heroes on both sides of the conflict are recognisably human, with human faults as well as human virtues. Women also figure, but mostly either as victims or as goddesses. The latter are, of course, impervious to the risks of mortality.
These three narratives have resonated, to varying degrees, throughout the whole history of Western culture, and sometimes in other cultures as well. The Arabs who conquered Constantinople, and put an end to the Byzantine Empire, saw themselves as the heirs of Troy, which is situated just on the other side of the Dardanelles.
What the show now at the British Museum does is to show how the three Troy stories develop in Western art, to the point of being, in a sense, competitors with the Christian narrative that for so long dominated Western painting and sculpture. There is an array of Geek and Greco-Roman narrative reliefs, featuring different aspects of the three underlying narratives. And, manifesting themselves again after a hiatus after the fall of Rome, there is the way in which the three narratives once again took hold of the Western imagination. This hold only started to falter in the 20th century, despite the impact made by Schliemann’s excavations, which served to establish a very possible factual basis for events that some 19th-century scholars had deemed to be purely fictional.
The few absolutely contemporary artworks included, one at the beginning and the other at the very end of the show, are abstract gestures that don’t seize the imagination in the same direct fashion as the narrative images that form the bulk of what is on view, entirely out-competing the group of not very distinguished examples of pottery and other bits-and-pieces from the now-rediscovered site of Troy itself. Perhaps the fabled city is at long last losing its grip on our imaginations. Or maybe – just maybe – this show will help to revive it.
Troy: Myth and Reality – British Museum Until 8 March 2019 Tickets from £20
The Independent Art Voice
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Covering news issues with comics: 7 good questions with Jake Halpern
By Emily Case June 28, 2017
Experimenting with visual storytelling formats can allow a newsroom to rise above the clutter by taking a fresh angle to news topics. Last January, The New York Times did that by launching Welcome to the New World, a fully reported graphic narrative. It is the first series of its kind, according to editor Bruce Headlam.
The comic follows two Syrian brothers and their families, who entered the United States on Election Day 2016. Although the family members’ names and location are protected, everything that happens to their characters is a true account of their lives in close to real time.
From “Should We Stay or Should We Go?” | Illustrations courtesy Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan
New World is published in the Sunday Review and online in biweekly installments of eight-panel comic strips. Its creators are author Jake Halpern and illustrator Michael Sloan. We talked with Halpern about how the series is made, the advantages and challenges of using a new storytelling format, and the importance of visual storytelling in journalism today.
You’ve been in many professional areas: journalism, fiction writing, and now comic writing. How did your varied background help as you started writing New World?
Jake Halpern
At first glance, there’s nothing in common between all the different things I do, but the commonality is storytelling. At the core of all this is how to tell a story where you build characters and build narrative tension. Whether I’m writing a New Yorker story or a Young Adult (YA) novel, I’m thinking about what the plot points are.
Weirdly, the YA fiction was really helpful making me think about how story works, because YA fiction —at least the stuff I write — is heavily plot. So I feel like in some ways what I really am is a storyteller. That’s the way I approach the comic too, as just another way of telling a story but the principles are the same: build the narrative tension and build the characters and make them likable.
What is New World’s production process?
I go out to visit the family wherever they are on a pretty regular basis. Sometimes I gather material and sometimes I just hang out with the family. Part of the project is just having a relationship with them and being there. I take notes, interview them pretty in-depth, come back and think about the story and its most boiled-down essence of the plot points.
From “Welcome to the New World”
Then I take a stab at writing a script based on the notes that I’ve taken. I send the script to Bruce; sometimes he’ll make very small edits and sometimes he’ll come back and say, “I think you need to go back to the drawing board on this.” When he likes the script, I send it to Michael to do a pencil sketch and I simultaneously send a script to my translator who translates the script for the family. So Michael makes the pencil sketch, then Bruce, the art director and Rachel Dry are looking at the pencil sketch, the sketch gets copyedited and it goes back to Michael and he inks it.
I would never give a subject a draft of what I’ve written about them in print journalism. But because there’s a language barrier here, and because this is kind of a vulnerable population, I really want to make every possible effort to make sure that I’m being fair and accurate to them.
What are the strengths and constraints of using graphic narration when covering Syrian refugee issues?
The idea of a graphic narrative, where you can read it in about 60 seconds but somehow have it resonate on an emotional level in a way a more straight-news story couldn’t do, was very appealing to me. It was a challenge — I didn’t know if we could do it, but it seemed like it would be a really cool way to blow a breath of life into refugee issues.
One challenge is the graphic narrative in general: Almost everything has to be done in dialogue or picture, so it’s hard to explain things. It’s hard to explain the process of how much money refugees get from the government or how long they have to find a job or how they found housing. It all has to be done by dialogue.
A lot of times I wish I had more space — more panels to delve in deeper so you could see a little bit more the rhythm of the family’s life and also tell the story. I think also because the strip appears in the Sunday Review, there’s definitely pressure to keep it “newsy,” current events-focused. But there’s just a lot of storytelling moments that I’m missing and if I had more space I could tell them.
From “After a Threat, the F.B.I. Comes to Call”
The strengths are these quiet visual moments that speak more than words could. In the May 27 installment, the FBI agent is visiting their house in response to the death threat they received. You see the image of the FBI agent leaving them on their own and you feel their aloneness in that moment. You can imagine being in their shoes and wanting this guy to stay with you to keep you safe, and you see him walking down the walkway and leaving them. Visually, their fragility and their aloneness is very palpable in a way I that don’t necessarily think I could achieve if I was just using words. So there’s a cinematic quality to it.
What misconceptions have others had about New World?
Occasionally I talk to people who think it’s loosely based on a true story. When it runs in the Times, it says something like, “A true story,” but people aren’t expecting a cartoon format to adhere strictly to the truth. Given what I’ve explained about what lengths I’ve gone to, people sometimes are surprised. I think that’s a little bit of a challenge because people aren’t used to getting news or journalistic reporting in this format.
From “A Caller Threatens to Kill Ammar’s Family”
I don’t think that even my fellow journalists probably appreciate the amount of reporting that goes into it. They also don’t understand that it’s happening in real-time, which is maybe something that we should make clearer. I think people think I went and found this family and I interviewed them a few times and I’m just spacing the timeline out. I’m really visiting them and checking in with them almost every week. And you’re getting updates on them in real time. So I think that all that — sometimes it’s lost, sometimes it’s not. But that’s the challenge of a new format.
What is the importance of visual storytelling in this era, especially when it comes to news?
People talk about how attention spans are getting shorter and shorter and how people don’t have time to read or an interest in reading super in-depth reporting. It’s kind of sad if that’s true, but I will say one really nice feature of a graphic narrative like this is that it takes almost no time. My wife will read new installments and I will watch her read it in literally 30 seconds. There is value in that it’s not a big time commitment.
The other thing is that it appeals to a very wide audience. It is a New York Times production, but I hoped that maybe the accessibility of it gives it a wider reach than those who read the Times, especially online. It’s great — the refugees who I’m writing about, even with their somewhat limited grasp of written English, can read it. So the advantage of few words and visual images is that it expands the realm of people who can process it and appreciate it.
There’s a scene in the the first installment where the dad has a flashback to basically being tortured in Syria. And my son who’s 10 was able to get what was going on in that scene and appreciate the seriousness and gravity and sadness of it, but it wasn’t so gruesome that he was going to be horribly upset or traumatized by it. And so I think if you would have described a torture scene in print it would have been somehow more disturbing, really. There are ways that its format can make it — without watering it down — more accessible.
What can other newsrooms learn from New World about covering Syrian refugees in their communities?
One is that it requires investment. The Times supported us to do a long-term project where we follow the families over the course of many months. I think what happens is that there are layers to the story and you have to build up trust. And part of what’s happening with these two families is that because we’ve been following them for more than six months, they’ve really let us into their lives, and that allows us and the reader to have a deeper connection with them. But none of that’s possible if the news organization you’re working for doesn’t support the people who are doing it to spend that kind of time going into a deep dive.
Every one of these refugees has some sort of epic story … there’s an abundance of powerful narratives in towns wherever these folks are being resettled.
The other thing is that, it seems obvious perhaps, but everyone has a story. Every one of these refugees has some sort of epic story. You know, you have to find someone who’s willing to tell it, but there’s an abundance of powerful narratives like this in towns wherever these folks are being resettled.
It’s not easy to sell the reader into reading a story that they think is going to be a downer in a time where there’s already a lot of bad news. I think in some ways you need to lure the reader into these stories in different ways and then they’re surprised that they’re actually as invested as they are. The value of new formats is that people would be willing to try a narrative that otherwise they might not.
What have you learned from New World?
Clinging to the old format of, “This is how journalism is done and it doesn’t involve x, y and z,” I don’t think that’s a winning strategy at this point. Editors are going to have to take risks to come up with innovative ways to tell stories. If they do, they’re going to get followings and if they don’t, it’s going to be a kind of slow death.
READ MORE FROM: Good Questions Q&As, Publications
MORE ARTICLES ABOUT: Diversity and minority audiences, New story forms, Photography and visual journalism
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Marketplace’s Lizzie O’Leary and Krissy Clark Named 2016 Gracies Award Winners
Los Angeles, March 21, 2016 – Marketplace Weekend host, Lizzie O’Leary, and Marketplace correspondent, Krissy Clark, were named as honorees of the 2016 Gracie Awards, presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation. The Gracies recognize exemplary programming created by women, for women and about women in all facets of media and entertainment, as well as individuals who have made contributions to the industry.
O’Leary was recognized with The Gracie Award for her work as host of a national radio news program. She is the host of Marketplace Weekend – the Marketplace portfolio’s newest program, which O’Leary helped launch in 2014. As host, O’Leary combines her strong journalistic skills with her ability to bring the economy to life for audiences to better understand complex economic topics in an interesting and relatable way.
Krissy Clark is the senior correspondent for Marketplace’s Wealth & Poverty Desk, where she helps make sense of some of the most fundamental shifts happening in the U.S. economy, including the growth of the low-wage service sector and the shrinking of middle-wage, middle-class jobs. Krissy tracks the widening gap between rich and poor in the U.S. and what it means for economic mobility in America. Clark won two awards – one highlighting her work as a reporter and correspondent for Marketplace’s daily radio program, and another for her in-depth reporting on gentrification, in a series called “York and Fig.”
“It’s such an honor to see two of our incredible journalists recognized for their outstanding work,” said Deborah Clark, vice president and executive producer, Marketplace. “Both Lizzie and Krissy are compelling storytellers and help break down the macro economy by telling stories at the micro level – about the real people who make up our economy.”
O’Leary and Clark will be honored at the 41st Annual Gracie Awards Gala on May, 24, 2016 in Beverly Hills. The event benefits the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation, a charitable non-profit that creates educational programs, charitable activities and scholarship initiatives to benefit the public and women in the media.
Marketplace® is produced and distributed by American Public Media™ (APM), one of the largest producers and distributors of public radio programming in the world with a portfolio reaching 19 million listeners via nearly 1,000 radio stations nationwide each week. Produced in association with the University of Southern California, Marketplace® programs (Marketplace, Marketplace Weekend, Marketplace Morning Report and Marketplace Tech) are currently broadcast by nearly 800 public radio stations nationwide and heard by more than 12 million weekly listeners and Marketplace, the weekday evening program, is the largest business news program, on radio or TV, in the country. Marketplace programs are noted for their timely, relevant and accessible coverage of business, economic and personal finance focusing on the latest business news both nationally and internationally, the global economy and wider events linked to the financial markets. For more information on Marketplace visit marketplace.org. Source: Data are copyright Nielsen Audio and StreamGuys. Data are estimates only.
Previous: Lynne Rossetto Kasper to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award
Next: American Public Media Prepares for Next Chapter of A Prairie Home Companion with Chris Thile as Host
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Iraq: Fears for safety of civilians during battle for Mosul
Every effort must be made to protect civilians from the onslaught of war and potential revenge attacks in Mosul, said Amnesty International today as the operation to recapture the city from the armed group calling itself the Islamic State gets under way.
Tomorrow, 18 October 2016, Amnesty International will launch a major new report ‘Punished for Daesh’s crimes’: Displaced Iraqis abused by militias and government forces which documents serious human rights violations - including war crimes committed by Iraqi militias and government forces against displaced civilians during past military operations. The report warns against a repeat of such violations on an even greater scale in the Mosul offensive.
“Iraqi authorities must take concrete steps to ensure there is no repeat of the gross violations witnessed in Falluja and other parts of Iraq during confrontations between government forces and the Islamic State armed group,” said Philip Luther, Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
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Sun 2 Sep 2018 03:13 PM
Norway-style proposal could bridge Brexit impasse
As the clock ticks on Brexit talks, options for a Brexit deal May can get through Parliament appear to be vanishing
Most of the criticism of Theresa May’s cabinet-backed “Chequers Plan” has come from Conservatives linked to the European Research Group, which seeks maximum distance from the EU and is pushing for an exit without a deal.
Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit strategy has come under fresh fire, this time from a senior lawmaker in her own party who opposes a hard departure from the European Union.
Most of the criticism of May’s cabinet-backed “Chequers Plan” has come from Conservatives linked to the European Research Group, which seeks maximum distance from the EU and is pushing for an exit without a deal. They have rallied behind Boris Johnson, who withdrew his backing for May’s plan and quit as Foreign Secretary.
As the clock ticks on Brexit talks, options for a Brexit deal May can get through Parliament appear to be vanishing.
The prime minister now finds herself taking fire from her other flank. On Sunday Nick Boles, a former minister who previously was loyal to May, said he couldn’t support the “humiliation” of the path she is taking, which he believes will end with the EU dictating Britain’s terms of departure.
His proposed “Better Brexit” alternative would see Britain abandon its current negotiation and instead attempt to continue membership of the European Economic Area from March 29, 2019, applying to become an associate member of the European Free Trade Association. This would give Britain a trading relationship with the EU similar to Norway’s. Boles then suggests using that position of safety to negotiate a long-term agreement with the EU that would be closer to Canada’s.
Boles insisted his plan wasn’t part of a move to get rid of May, but rather to find a Brexit path that the divided Conservative Party could unite behind. Although he acknowledged that ERG members would smell a trap to keep Britain tied to the EU forever, he pointed out that this style of departure had originally been proposed by Brexiteers.
“This is an interim soft Brexit in order to be able to achieve a hard Brexit,” Boles said in an interview. “If you’re a proper ERG supporter, you should find this appealing. It’s much more likely to get through Parliament than ‘No Deal.”’
He insisted he wasn’t trying to stop Brexit: “We can do it in a sane way without shooting our foot off.”
Pentagon moves to scrap $300m in aid to Pakistan
Kuwaiti Emir, President Trump to meet this week
Palestinian anger as US ends funding for UN agency
Which of the UAE's 49 free zones is the one for you?
Sweden to promote sustainability at Expo 2020
Emaar's Mohamed Alabbar included on Saudi Future Investment Initiative advisory board
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Uber Plans to Roll Out Its First Self-Driving Cars in Pittsburgh This Month
The company will use a specially modified Volvo XC90 sport-utility vehicle outfitted with dozens of sensors to safely drive through the streets
By Nick Mafi
An image of the modified Volvo XC90 sport-utility vehicle Uber plans to roll out later this month.Courtesy of Uber
For Uber, the future is now. The ride-hailing company announced today that its first self-driving fleet will hit the streets of Pittsburgh later this month. The move signals to customers and investors how seriously, and quickly, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick plans to pursue the technology. By debuting autonomous vehicles in the city, Kalanick is driving the firm ahead of competitors, such as Google, which have invested millions in driverless technology but have yet to bring it to the marketplace. Later this month in Pittsburgh, riders summoning an Uber vehicle from their app will be paired up at random with a self-driving car. A person will be behind the wheel, but the driver will not touch the steering wheel or pedals, rather remaining in the car as a safety precaution during the test phase. Eventually, the technology is expected to become safe enough where no driver is necessary. Earlier this year, Uber paired with Volvo, which built a specially modified XC90 sport-utility vehicle for the San Francisco–based company. The vehicles are outfitted with dozens of sensors that use cameras, lasers, radar, and GPS receivers to safely navigate the streets. Best of all? For the time being, autonomously driven Uber rides will be free to all customers.
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Thomas Kennedy Named Hertz CFO
December 3, 2013 • by Staff
The Hertz Corp. has announced that Thomas (Tom) C. Kennedy has been appointed senior executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective Dec. 9.
David J. Rosenberg, who has been serving as interim chief financial officer since Oct. 1, will assist Kennedy during a transition period before taking on another senior role in the company's finance area.
Kennedy has been serving as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Hilton Worldwide Inc. since 2008. In this position, he has been responsible for balance sheet restructuring and deleveraging initiatives, financial planning and forecasting process improvements, and company-wide efficiency programs.
From 2003 through 2007, Kennedy served as executive vice president and chief financial officer for the Vanguard Car Rental Group (National Car Rental and Alamo Rent-A-Car brands). He was part of the senior leadership team, which engineered the transformation and ultimate sale of Vanguard's European business to Eurazeo and the sale of the North American business to Enterprise Rent-a-Car.
"Tom has demonstrated excellent leadership skills in two previous CFO assignments with multi-national, travel industry companies," said Mark P. Frissora, Hertz chairman and chief executive officer. "His experience will be invaluable at Hertz as we continue to integrate Dollar Thrifty and evaluate strategic options and future capital deployment strategies going forward."
Read more about Hertz chief financial officer
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Home » Flour output data reveal quandary
Flour output data reveal quandary
By Morton Sosland
Considering all that happened last year in grain-based foods, both as internal structural change and as an array of external forces affecting consumer demand, the solidity just revealed in the single number often used to define how the industry is faring is truly striking. That single number is production of wheat flour by U.S. mills, which is widely acknowledged as portraying in the broadest possible way the reality of demand for all food products made using wheat flour. To have that output total for 2015 nearly identical to the two previous years is an outcome that appears to fly in the face of all that transpired. The latter’s rush seemed almost to guarantee considerable change was at hand. Instead, flour production in 2015 reached 424,894,000 hundredweights, hardly different from 424,949,000 in 2014 and 424,550,000 in 2013.
Before delving into the reasons and consequences of flour production holding within a hair’s breadth of a new record it is worthwhile to consider what happened in the past year. Most important perhaps, it was the year following the implementation of a significant restructuring of the milling industry’s leadership, with a single newly-organized company now having nearly twice the capacity of the prior largest miller. The ten largest milling companies now account for 86 per cent of daily capacity, and their number includes a new company among the top three and, for the first time in many years, ownership of one of the ten largest millers is by a foreign company.
At the same time these major changes were under way, the industry faced a consumer marketplace where a plethora of forces were intent on discouraging eating of wheat-based foods, often for spurious reasons. As a consequence, 2015 stands as the year, perhaps unlike any other, in which maintaining record flour foods demand is remarkable.
In reaction to this combination of positive and negative forces, which appears unprecedented, the industry itself reflected optimism by adding daily capacity. What enthusiasm prevailed and for what reason, the result was a drop in mill runs to 84.7 per cent of average quarterly capacity during the year. Considering that mills operated near 90 per cent of capacity in each of the three previous years emphasizes how hopes for the evolution of the flour foods market stretched beyond reality in encouraging new capacity. Indeed, the average mill operating rate in 2015 fell to the lowest since 2001. This revelation serves as a warning against overambitious expansion, instead of replacing equipment to assure efficient operations.
If one is looking for the unusual in 2015 flour milling statistics, most appealing is the increase in the number of mills, by two, to 170 mills operating. Yes, gains in the number of mills have occurred rarely in the past, but this increase came from the modern era’s low since the count began. Even with the increase, the one constantly rising number did not reverse or even slow, and that is the average daily capacity of all U.S. mills. The latter reached 9,046 hundredweights in 2015, marking the first time 9,000 has been exceeded. That average was 7,556 at the beginning of the 21st century and exceeded 4,000 hundredweights for the first time in 1979.
A new order of state flour production also has clearly emerged in this year’s data. Kansas, the state that ranked No. 1 in flour output from just before the beginning of World War II, has slipped to third behind California and Minnesota. The leadership of California reflects not just that state’s population growth, but affirms that the location of mills has been leaning toward population centers.
No comments on 2015 milling statistics are complete without saluting the National Agricultural Statistical Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the efficient, and, yes, helpful way the agency has assumed responsibility for gathering this quarterly flour output data. It is a great boost to analysis of this important information to have it compiled in a responsible manner.
Flour output data from new source
Flour output data point to eating trends
Accuracy at long last in quarterly flour output data
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Trump administration’s approach to telework old school and irrational | COMMENTARY
By Baltimore Sun Editorial Board
Edwin Gotico, a contractor employed by the General Services Administration, worked in 2014 from his home in northern Virginia two days per week using his laptop computer and his basement as his office. File. (Kenneth K. Lam, Baltimore Sun)
Since 2010, telework has been lauded by federal agencies, including the Social Security Administration in Woodlawn, as the wave of the future. The flexibility of working by computer from home yields numerous advantages, from easing rush hour traffic and allowing families to monitor ailing children or elderly parents, to increasing productivity and reducing government’s carbon footprint. It also mirrored what was going on in the private sector. Yet across the Trump administration, telework is being scaled back. Not because it’s proven to be ineffective, but apparently because President Donald Trump and other senior government fear that somewhere, somehow, some government employees might be goldbricking — presumably because their immediate supervisors don’t see them sitting in a chair down the hall.
Maryland senators urging Social Security to reinstate telework program »
Nothing better illustrates this than what’s happened at SSA, which last November cancelled without explanation a popular telework program involving an estimated 12,000 federal employees who, since 2013, have had an opportunity to work one or two days per week from home. After the decision was made, Commissioner Andrew Saul issued a statement describing his agency as in the midst of a “workload crisis” and telework as an “experiment” that might jeopardize his goal of lowering wait times and improving performance.
Did the commissioner have evidence that telework was hurting performance? If he did, he hasn’t released it. And it’s noteworthy, too, that his decision was done without consultation with the union representing Social Security employees. That gives this decision all the trappings of classic Trump administration posturing: It was done without solid information, it gives the appearance of cracking down, reverses Obama administration policy that was widely lauded in the press, attacks organized labor and maintains the narrative of career federal workers as shiftless, lazy and ineffectual. Never mind that some of the most profitable companies in the United States rely on telecommuting from Fortune 500′s Google to American Express, Cigna to Deloitte.
And it would be one thing if this was only about Social Security, but the elimination of telecommuting appears widespread. As The Washington Post recently reported, it’s happening across multiple federal agencies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Are these decisions carefully considered and based on the best metrics available? Again, not that anyone has so far identified. Meanwhile, the most recent survey out of the government’s own Census Bureau is that roughly one-quarter of private employees teleworked in 2018. Telecommuting isn’t a fad, it’s become a way of life for millions of Americans. See the disconnect here?
Why should Americans who don’t work for the government care about this? There are lots of reasons. Not the least of which is that companies find it more efficient and effective. So why not make government more productive and cost-effective, too? Surely, telecommuting can be done badly if workers are not properly supervised, but so can employees who show up for cubicle duty and simply pretend to be engaged. Proper supervision is proper supervision whether it’s in person or across the internet. And one of the reasons telework has become so popular is that it helps companies recruit the best and the brightest. Why put government at a disadvantage in hiring?
Op-Ed: Morale low at Social Security Administration amid Trump administration changes »
But we would be remiss if we did not acknowledge that telework is a particular help to the Baltimore area. Not only because of the presence of Social Security, but because while Maryland is home to an estimated 144,542 federal jobs, it’s within telecommuting distance of about 2.6 million others — or, in other words, the total nationwide federal workforce. Maryland’s location, its convenience to New York and D.C., its growing investment in education and the knowledge economy, relatively mild climate, and quality health care and longtime support for the civil service and the military, make it an attractive home for government workers. Baltimore is a mere MARC commuter train ride away from downtown D.C., but how much easier to make that choice to work at an organization based there if one doesn’t face a hour-plus commute every day?
If the Trump administration is so certain that telework is just an excuse for laziness, let agencies take a rational approach and measure the effects of existing programs or perhaps design new opportunities that can be documented. If telework doesn’t work, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of CEO’s who would benefit from that information, since it’s so far eluded them.
Most Read • Editorial
Maryland community colleges deserve to be a higher educational priority | COMMENTARY
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Bank of Canada Issues Upgraded $5 Bank Note
The Bank of Canada today put into circulation a $5 note with upgraded security features in order to improve the security of Canadian bank notes. The note will be available across Canada within a few weeks.
The design, colour, and illustrations of the upgraded note remain the same as those of the previously issued $5 notes from the Canadian Journey series.
The upgraded $5 note will include the now-familiar set of improved security features found on all other notes in the Canadian Journey series. These features include a metallic holographic stripe, a watermark portrait, a windowed colour-shifting thread woven into the paper, and a see-through number. To increase its durability, the upgraded $5 note is printed on a slightly heavier paper and is coated with a protective varnish.
"The high level of security now found on the $5 bank note will make it harder than ever to counterfeit," said RCMP Inspector Barry Baxter, Officer in Charge, Counterfeit and Identity Fraud. "Nonetheless, it is important that Canadians check their bank notes. Not only to protect themselves, but to make it harder for criminals to pass counterfeit money."
For more information on Canadian bank notes and their security features, as well as for educational and training materials, visit https://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/banknotes/.
Images of the front and back of the upgraded $5 note are available to the media upon request. Anyone wishing to publish bank note images must first obtain written permission from the Bank of Canada.
Chinese - 15 Nov. 2006
Vietnamese - 15 Nov. 2006
Arabic - 15 Nov. 2006
Punjabi - 15 Nov. 2006
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Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth
© Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung, Achim Bunz
Home Experiences City, country, culture UNESCO-world heritage sites in Bavaria Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth
The Margravial Opera House is considered the most beautiful Baroque Theatre in Europe and was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO on 30th June 2012.
The World Heritage Committee, which is meeting in Saint Petersburg, called the opera house "a unique monument of European baroque music festival culture," UNESCO's German Commission said in a statement.
Built between 1746 and 1750 by Italian architecht Guiseppe Galli Bibiena for margrave Frederick III of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, the opera house has a ballroom typical of the Absolutist society at the time with wooden dressing rooms, unique streaked marble and painted decoration.
"Even the acoustic sounds like it did 270 years ago," according to UNESCO. The opera became the 37th site in Germany named onto UNESCO's prestigious list, making the country one of the most prolific in World Heritage sites.
After a comprehensively restoring the Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth was re-opened in April 2018. Thus, the UNESCO World Heritage building will return to its original function: in addition to the museum, orchestras and singers will again fill the opera house with music.
Schloss- und Gartenverwaltung Bayreuth-Eremitage
Opernstraße 14
+49 (0)921) 759 69-22
sgvbayreuth@bsv.bayern.de
www.bayreuth-wilhelmine.de
Total distance: km
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Europe selected
Russian athletes ban is 'unfair', says Vladimir Putin
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36565863
Image copyright AP
Image caption Mr Putin said innocent athletes should not be punished for the actions of others
Russia President Vladimir Putin has said it is unfair the Russian athletics team remains banned from international contests, including the Rio Olympics.
The International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) decided not to lift the suspension, imposed after accusations of state-sponsored doping.
Individual athletes may compete as neutrals if they prove they are clean.
Mr Putin called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to intervene.
Doping, violence: What's gone wrong with Russian sport?
The IOC executive board said it would hold a telephone conference on Saturday to discuss the issue ahead of a full IOC summit in Lausanne on Tuesday.
"There are universally recognised principles of law and one of them is that the responsibility should be always personified," said President Putin.
"The people who have nothing to do with violations, why should they suffer for those who committed the violations?"
The country was suspended by the IAAF in November 2015, after an independent World Anti-Doping Association (Wada) report depicted a culture of widespread doping, with even the secret services involved.
After that, Russia introduced reforms including an overhaul of the rules, the introduction of independent testing, and anti-doping lessons in schools.
A task force has been studying those reforms but a fresh Wada report, issued on Wednesday, made more damaging claims.
Although significant progress has been made to meet the IAAF's criteria, it said, work still remains. In particular:
The deep-seated culture of tolerance for doping appears not to have changed. The head coach of the athletics team and athletes appear unwilling to acknowledge the extent of the doping problem.
A strong and effective anti-doping infrastructure capable of detecting and deterring doping has still not been created.
There are detailed allegations that the Ministry of Sport has orchestrated systematic doping and cover-ups.
Wada said officials in Russia were being stopped from testing athletes and threatened by security services.
Rune Andersen of the IAAF said Russian athletics had been "tainted by doping from the top level down."
"The systematic doping that has been ongoing in Russia - it's difficult to pick the clean athletes," he said.
Media captionIAAF's Rune Andersen: "A hundred negative tests does not mean that an athlete is clean"
IOC vice-president John Coates said Russia's athletes should remain banned and not be allowed to take part in the Rio Games this summer.
He also said Russia's anti-doping agency and athletics body were "rotten to the core".
Meanwhile, Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva said she would challenge the IAAF's decision in court, saying she was "disappointed and angry".
"We are blamed for something we have not done," she said. "I will not remain silent, I will take measures. I will appeal to the human rights court."
In a statement, Russia's Ministry of Sport said it was "extremely disappointed" by the IAAF decision.
IAAF president Lord Coe said "no politics" were involved in the decision over Russia's ban. He emphasised the unanimous nature of the verdict and the international range of council members.
On Saturday, Russia said it was investigating its former top anti-doping official, who raised the alert before fleeing to the US.
A criminal investigation has been opened into whether Grigory Rodchenkov abused his authority.
Mr Rodchenkov alleged that the Sochi winter Olympics were the apex of a decade-long effort to perfect Russia's doping strategy.
Video Russian athletics 'tainted from the top level down'
Athletics doping: Key questions answered following Wada report
Russia should remain banned, says leading IOC official
Rio 2016: Russia 'sorry' for cheats but should be allowed to compete
Russian doping claims: 99% of athletes guilty, German TV alleges
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Laura Landy
Lauren's mother Marina shares her story
I wasn’t at all worried and kids have aches and pains, she was only 15. In the September after the summer school holidays the pain in the leg became worse and Lauren started to limp and asked for a note saying that she couldn’t do aerobics.
I made her an appointment to see the GP. Lauren loved her aerobics. It was at this time she started to take pain killers, very unusual for her, the pain was getting worse.
We as a family were very lucky. Lauren had an x-ray immediately and that is when our lives and her life changed. MRI bone CT scans and biopsies all followed very quickly. Six months chemo in our local hospital, limb-saving surgery in the middle of this chemo and a thoracotomy in April 2002, followed by another admission. Lauren's heart was affected by the chemo and she had to have fluid drained from her lung.
Summer saw Lauren becoming stronger, although sadly her artificial knee joint never worked properly and Lauren had to always use crutches. That July her leg was straightened but not successfully. Lauren enjoyed the summer and started back to school to continue her GCSE's after a year's break.
In the November we enjoyed a holiday to Norway to see the Orcas and the fjords and it was a dream come true. At the end of the month the pain returned to the knee and following an ultrasound and biopsy the cancer had returned, that was it, she knew that the only chance was to have an above-the-knee amputation. This news was just before Christmas. Lauren coped in her usual matter-of-fact way and kept her leg for Christmas. In January 2003 Lauren underwent her amputation and a CT scan in February showed metastases in both lungs. Five months chemotherapy commenced again, this time the majority of it being in Bristol, 184 miles away from home, family and friends. A further thoracotomy in April and another in June followed. The chemotherapy ended in August.
Lauren looked so fit and well. The September CT scan showed further metastases in the lung and Lauren underwent her fourth thoracotomy in October 2003. By this stage of her illness she was well used to the anaesthetist and thoracic surgeon and always remained realistic and optimistic. Ten days following surgery Lauren met Beyonce before seeing her in concert and she dedicated the song 'survivor' to her. It was a great night! Music was one of her loves. Christmas was her best since 2000, however a CT scan in January showed further metastases but this time an operation was not an option that could be considered due to the close proximity of major blood vessels. Lauren never asked too much. That was her way of dealing with it, she just got on with life, as it made it so much easier for me. I was convinced this was at the back of her mind, she was always protecting me. Radiotherapy commenced and Lauren was told that she may have surgery once the tumour had shrunk a little and the swelling had subsided. This still gave her hope. Five further radiotherapy treatments to the lung took place in May.
Lauren still had quality of life although she still had to use her wheelchair when going out. The exertion of using her crutches made her breathless. Visits to stay with her cousin in Birmingham, clothes shopping in the new Bull-ring, watching seals at Godreavy, days out at the marine aquarium and a trip on a speed boat watching marine life were all things that she packed into the last four months of her life. Lauren always looked amazing and never wanted anyone to know too much about her illness. She wanted to be seen as normal.
As her illness progressed she gradually became weaker and tired and enjoyed time watching TV, listening to music and sitting by her pond in the garden. I have a lovely memory of her sitting in her sun chair listening to music, eating plums and slapping on the sun tan lotion, dressed in a very skimpy quicksilver bikini. This was three days before she died. Lauren went into a deep sleep with all of her family around her and passed away on Wednesday 16th June 2004, aged eighteen and a half.
Her strength, courage, compassion and love of life will never be forgotten. She is in our hearts forever until we meet again.
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Conferences-Events
List of Papers
Provisional Program
Sponsoring & Advertising
Abstract Books
Abstract Books by subject
Conference Paper Series
Paper Series by subject
Mediterranean Streams
Streams organized as part of the
13th Annual International Conference on Mediterranean Studies, 6-9 April 2020, Athens, Greece
Abstract Submission Information
1 6-9 April 2020 Mythology: Approaches, Theories, and Narratives
Stream Leader: Dr. Steven Oberhelman, Vice President of International Programs, ATINER & Professor of Classics, Holder of the George Sumey Jr Endowed Professorship of Liberal Arts, and Associate Dean, Texas A&M University, USA
This stream is dedicated to exploring mythological stories, figures, and narratives from all cultures of all historical periods in all countries. Papers may center on any aspect of mythology: myths and literary influences, myth and tradition, myth and science, myth and genre, myth and painting, myth and literary criticism, myth and popular culture (including cinema, television, computer games, comics, graphic novels, traditional literature, visual arts, performing arts). All theoretical approaches to mythology (for example, archaeology, cultural anthropology, psychology and psychoanalysis, structuralism, comparative analysis) are welcome. Deadline: 24 February 2020
Abstract Submitting Form
2 6-9 April 2020 Mediterranean Studies in Asia
Stream Leader: Dr. Kyong-Son Kang, Emeritus Professor, Korea National Open University, South Korea.
The aim of the stream is to bring together academics and researchers from all areas of Mediterranean Studies, such as history, arts, archaeology, philosophy, culture, sociology, politics, international relations, economics, business, sports, environment and ecology, etc.
Deadline: 24 February 2020
3 6-9 April 2020 Mediterranean and China, Past and Present: A Few Notes
Academic Responsible: Dr. Giuseppa Tamburello, Senior Lecturer, University of Palermo, Italy
The symposium is aimed at introducing the topic of China and the Mediterranean area. Seen from the actual interest of China towards the South of Europe, this symposium intends to introduce some ideas about this issue. Starting points on the matter can be many, but this panel begins from the humanities.
4 6-9 April 2020 The Mediterranean Diet in the Post Genomic Era
Academics Responsible:
Dr. Antonino De Lorenzo, Professor of Human Nutrition, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy.
Dr. Laura Di Renzo, Associate Professor, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy.
The diet of the citizens of Nicotera, the Italian pilot court where the study began in 1960, was considered the Reference Italian Mediterranean Diet. Today the considerable modifications induced in the lifestyle, with a strong impact on nutritional behavior, probably due to the acquisition of improper dietary models, contribute to the increase of chronic non-communicable diseases. In order to maintain a high nutritional quality of the diet and prevent the diet itself from becoming a vehicle for diseases, the role of the different cooking methods of food is important. The adoption of the Italian Mediterranean Diet of Reference allows to safeguard not only human health, but also protects the environment in which it lives. In our post-genomic era, the development of knowledge of the interactions between nutrients and genes has allowed us to broaden the meaning of nutrient, which can influence or regulate DNA transcription, translation into proteins or post-transductional metabolic processes. The results of our studies show how, thanks to the Nutrigenetics, Nutrigenomics, there is now the possibility of preventing the pathological event, starting from the administration of personalized Mediterranean nutritional plans. The Nutrient Analysis of Critical Control Point (NACCP) process guarantees health and nutritional Total Quality Management (TMQ) of the food, starting from the production of raw materials to the final consumer. The application of the NACCP process, allows to prepare the bases for the achievement of health claims (Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2006) for food products typical of the Mediterranean Diet, conferring the necessary health certifications, based on the scientific evidence of the data collected in the whole agro-food supply chain and in clinical trials.
5 6-9 April 2020 The Monotheistic Idea in the Mediterranean Basin
Academic Responsible:
Dr. Maria Rosaria, D’Acierno, Academic Member, ATINER & Associate Professor, Parthenope University of Naples, Italy.
This symposium wants to highlight how important is to establish a clear and fruitful relationship among people all over the world, and above all among the ones living around the shore of the Mediterranean sea. Knowing the culture of those peoples as well as their creed and faith is the starting point to eliminate prejudices and false clishés which tend to raise misunderstandings generating hate. In addition, creed and culture stimulate the learning of the languages linked to those peoples, a good way to enrich our mind and to better understand their religion.
Previous Years’ Streams
2019 Tourism and the Mediterranean Countries
Academic Responsible: Dr. Valia Kasimati, Head, Tourism, Leisure & Recreation Unit, ATINER & Researcher, Department of Economic Analysis & Research, Central Bank of Greece, Greece.
The aim of the stream is to bring together academics and researchers from all areas of Tourism in the Mediterranean basin.
Mediterranean History
Academic Responsible: Dr. Steven Oberhelman, Professor of Classics, Holder of the George Sumey Jr Endowed Professorship of Liberal Arts, and Associate Dean, Texas A&M University, USA, Vice President of International Programs, ATINER and Editor of the Athens Journal of History.
The aim of the stream is to bring together academics and researchers from all areas of History of the Mediterranean region.
Heritage of Braudel’s Mediterranean
Academic Responsible: Dr. Elina Gugliuzzo, Academic Member, ATINER & Professor, Pegaso University (Unipegaso), Italy.
The starting point is a reflection on the French historian and founder of the Annales school, Fernand Braudel, whose great work, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, provides a commanding overview of this region as a whole, of the forces, long-term, conjunctural and immediate, that shaped it, and of the manner in which, in the second half of the sixteenth century as much as in the first part of the twenty-first, the countries of the Mediterranean interact and engage as much with the world beyond, to the east, north and west, as they do with each other. Braudel’s inheritance on the Mediterranean area is a “must” of our historiography. But following Braudel’inheritance, other tools have to be extracted from the new trends in the social sciences and the humanities: the global perspective, but also new approaches to ecology and environmental history and studies, the development of “Border Studies” and Transnational Studies. Most of these topics and trends have been identified and intensely deployed in other parts of the world, like the Carribean, the southern border of the United States, the Indian Ocean, whereas the actual and contemporary Mediterranean seems to be too old-fashioned, too impressive, too dissuasive.
2017 Beyond the Mediterranean: The Diaspora of Greek Tragedy
Academic Responsible: Dr. Daniela Cavallaro, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Commenting on a recent staging of Sophocles’ Antigone in Melbourne, Australian playwright Christine Lambrianidis claimed that “Greek tragedy remains the most modern form of drama [because] it is unafraid to question everything we value”. This stream will look at the continual appeal of Greek tragedy beyond the Mediterranean countries, focusing on modern stagings and adaptations throughout the world. Papers are invited that discuss the use of Greek tragedy in fiction, comic books, theatre, opera, television and cinema beyond the Southern European area, and explore the motivation for the use of the classics for audiences that may not be familiar with them. Topics may include the use of Greek tragedy to discuss contemporary political and historical events, gender issues, post-colonial identities, social and war trauma, religious debates and ethical concerns; revisionist rewritings by women authors; adaptations in non-Western theatrical traditions and in post-dramatic theatre; new translations; productions in higher education settings; directors’ perspectives.
Nordic Origins of the Homeric Poems
Academic Responsible: Mr. Felice Vinci, Independent Researcher, Writer, Italy.
Iliad and the Odyssey can be identified not as the Mediterranean sea, where it proves to be undermined by many incongruities, but rather in the north of Europe, is presented here. The sagas that gave rise to the two poems came from the Baltic regions, where the Bronze Age flourished in the second millennium BC and where many Homeric places, such as Troy and Ithaca, can still be identified today, not to mention the places of Odysseus’s wanderings. The seafarers who founded the Mycenaean civilization in the Aegean Sea in the 16th century B.C. brought these tales from Scandinavia to Greece after the end of the climatic optimum. They were the Homeric Iaones, Ionians coming from Sweden, who reached the Aegean area by following the River Dnieper (as the Swedish Vikings called Varangians did 2500 years after, during the Middle Ages). They rebuilt their original world, where the Trojan War and many other events of Greek mythology had taken place, in the Mediterranean, transferring significant names from north to south. Through many generations, they preserved the memory of the heroic age and the feats performed by their ancestors in their lost Hyperborean homeland, until this oral tradition was put into written form around the 8th Century BC, when alphabetical writing was introduced in Greece. This new prospect sheds light on the peoples of the northern Early Bronze Age and allows us to reconstruct their life, culture, religion and history, which have been almost totally unknown till now. Besides, this prospect is susceptible of far-reaching, unexpected developments, as for the European prehistory and the dawn of the Greek civilization.
Copyright © 2020 Athens Institute for Education & Research
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MILEY CYRUS Covers METALLICA's 'Nothing Else Matters' At GLASTONBURY
Miley Cyrus performed a cover of METALLICA's "Nothing Else Matters" at U.K.'s Glastonbury festival this past weekend. She also played her previously released version of NINE INCH NAILS' "Head Like A Hole", which was featured in the TV series "Black Mirror".
Cyrus's rendition of the METALLICA classic — which can be heard below — comes five months after drummer Lars Ulrich says that he was "stunned" by her take on TEMPLE OF THE DOG's "Say Hello 2 Heaven" at the "I Am The Highway: A Tribute To Chris Cornell" concert at the Forum in Los Angeles.
Back in January, Ulrich took to his Instagram to post a photo of him backstage with Cyrus, along with the message: "Still stunned by your next level version of 'Say Hello 2 Heaven' for Chris! Beyond inspiring."
The 26-year-old former "Hannah Montana" star had never performed at the iconic music festival before her set on the Pyramid Stage Sunday evening.
She was joined during the concert by DJ and producer Mark Ronson. Also appearing with the singer was Lil Nas X, who performed the remix of "Old Town Road" alongside Miley's father Billy Ray Cyrus.
"In many ways, this show has changed my fucking life drastically: a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication, and a lot of sacrifice," she told the crowd at one point.
Tags: miley cyrus
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Mind Freeze
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Drug raid in Philadelphia results in shoot-out, 6 officers shot
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania - Hundreds of police officers surrounded a building in North Philadelphia on Wednesday, after a drug raid turned into a shoot-out.
Two officers who arrested suspects at the building were trapped inside the building, in the Tioga section of the city with the people they had arrested, however they were safely evacuated by a SWAT team towards the end of the operation.
Another person in the building opened fire on police resulting in the shoot-out. Six Philadelphia police officers were shot and trushed to local hospitals for treatment. Police say their injuries are not life-threatening. They were wearing body armour, and all six have now been released from hospital.
"Suspect is still firing. SIX (6) PPD Officers shot - at area hospitals with non life threatening injuries. Additional officers also receiving treatment for non-gunshot injuries. Continue to avoid area. Situation is active and ongoing," Philadelphia police said in a tweet during the operation.
"Officers are attempting to communicate with the shooter; imploring him to surrender and avoid further injuries," a post a few minutes later said.
Later in the day the man is believed to have surrendered himself to police. The SWAT team then began clearing the house.
Police asked onlookers to stay away from the area. They also asked media personnel and anyone else to not use drones during the operation.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney visited the six police officers in hospital prior to their release. "It has been a traumatic experience for them, " he said. He said there was obviosuly a concern, and a little anger, that someone had all the weapon that was used, but said police would get to that, right now the focus was on the welfare of the six injured officers.
"Tonight is another reminder of the selfless sacrifice of law enforcement and first responders," Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf said in a statement released on Wednesday night. "We are praying for a peaceful resolution and the recovery of all those injured. We must remain committed to combatting violence and getting dangerous weapons out of our communities," he said.
(Photo credit: Matt Rourke, AP).
By Jay Jackson, Big News Network
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Kelly, No.16 Notre Dame facing red-hot Virginia Tech
by: JOHN FINERAN, Associated Press
Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster, front left, and linebacker Dax Hollifield (4) celebrate at the conclusion of an NCAA college football game against North Carolina, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019, in Blacksburg, Va. (Matt Gentry/The Roanoke Times via AP)
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Coach Brian Kelly doesn’t want No. 16 Notre Dame looking in the rear-view mirror when it has danger lurking Saturday in a visit from red-hot Virginia Tech.
Kelly was asked this week why his team, after a bye week, looked so flat in its 45-14 loss at Michigan last Saturday. He wasn’t interested.
“Are we going to get to Virginia Tech?” Kelly said. “That game is past us. This will be the last question on Michigan.”
The reality is that Notre Dame (5-2) will try to salvage a season that once had high promise. The Irish begin a five-game November stretch against the Hokies (5-2), who have won three straight games following a 45-10 loss to Duke that had prompted questions about coach Justin Fuente’s job status.
Fuente believes his young Hokies, who beat Miami (42-35), Rhode Island (34-17) and North Carolina (43-41 in six overtimes), will see an inspired opponent trying to keep alive its 15-game winning streak at Notre Dame Stadium.
“I know that we will see the Notre Dame team that we saw in all the weeks before that,” Fuente said.
Virginia Tech’s improvement has come on the offensive side of the ball where sophomore quarterback Hendon Hooker has won his first three starts, throwing for 572 yards and seven touchdowns and adding another 160 yards and a TD on the ground.
“A dual-threat quarterback . an exciting player who has really sparked their offense,” said Kelly, who has his own quarterback concerns.
Senior Ian Book suffered through his worst outing against Michigan, completing 8 of 25 passes for 73 yards and one touchdown as the Irish managed just 180 total yards. Sophomore backup Phil Jurkovec threw for 60 yards and a touchdown late, but Kelly wasn’t about to create a quarterback controversy.
“Ian didn’t play well; I didn’t coach well,” Kelly said. “There isn’t any conversation about making a change. Ian Book is our starter, will be our starter, and Phil will continue to be ready if he’s called upon.”
BYE BYES
The Hokies had their second bye week last Saturday following their marathon victory against North Carolina on Oct. 19 that left them a half-game behind the Tar Heels and Virginia in the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division race. Their first bye came Sept. 21 and Virginia Tech followed it by getting thumped by Duke, their worst home loss since 1974.
Notre Dame’s loss at Michigan followed the second bye week of the season. The Irish followed their first bye Sept. 7 with a 66-14 rout of New Mexico. Kelly indicated practices Tuesday and Wednesday were physical, including periods where the No. 1 offense went against the No. 1 defense.
“You don’t lose a game on Saturday; you lose it during the week,” safety Alohi Gilman, one of the team’s six captains, said. “Those are the things like taking pride in your work, the little things that can slip so easily but that add up.”
IN A RUSH
During their three-game winning streak, the Hokies have averaged 210.3 rushing yards, with a season-high 254 against North Carolina, and scored six touchdowns That’s up from 148.8 yards per game and four rushing TDs in their first four games. Junior Deshawn McClease has 253 yards on 39 carries and three TDs in the three victories.
The Irish, meanwhile, managed just 47 rushing yards on 31 carries against the Wolverines after rushing for a season-high 311 yards against USC. Tony Jones Jr., who has four 100-yard games this season including a career-high 176 against the Trojans, had 14 yards on eight carries before being sidelined with a rib injury. Kelly said Jones will be a game-day decision with Jafar Armstrong or Jahmir Smith next up.
The teams had never played before the Irish began a scheduling agreement to play an average of five ACC teams yearly through 2037. During Notre Dame’s 4-8 campaign in 2016, Fuente brought his first Tech team to South Bend, trailed 17-0 early but then scored the final 13 points in a 34-31 victory that the Irish followed with a 45-27 loss at USC, the last time they lost two straight games.
Last season in Blacksburg, the No. 6 Irish won 45-23 behind Book’s 271 passing yards and Dexter Williams’ 178 rushing yards, including a 97-yard TD run.
The teams meet again Oct. 9, 2021, in Blacksburg.
The Hokies have only five seniors on their roster, fewest among Bowl Subdivision teams, and two of them, defensive back Jovonn Quillen and offensive lineman Tyrell Smith, made the 2016 trip. That means some of the Hokies are wide-eyed about visiting Notre Dame.
“They’ve got their own TV station,” sophomore defensive end TyJuan Garbutt said in apparent reference to NBC. “They’re kind of like the godfather of college football.”
AP Sports Writer Hank Kurz of Richmond, Va., contributed to this preview.
More AP college football: http://apnews.com/tag/Collegefootball and http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25
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Djokovic and Nadal on course to meet in Paris Masters final
by: JEROME PUGMIRE, Associated Press
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic celebrates after defeating Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in a quarterfinal match of the Paris Masters tennis tournament Friday, Nov. 1, 2019 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
PARIS (AP) — Top-ranked Novak Djokovic and No. 2 Rafael Nadal remain on course to face off in the Paris Masters final, a 55th match in their intense rivalry, after winning their quarterfinals in straight sets on Friday.
Djokovic demolished seventh-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-1, 6-2 after losing to the Greek three weeks ago in the Shanghai quarterfinals. It could have been even quicker since he led the first set 5-0, 40-0, but Tsitsipas saved three set points and held serve.
Nadal had a more demanding contest against 2008 champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, with the first set tiebreak reaching 3-3 after Nadal double faulted. But when the veteran Spaniard broke the unseeded Frenchman at the start of the second he took control in a 7-6 (4), 6-1 win.
“It was a tough first set where I had to play at a very high level,” Nadal said after beating Tsonga for the 10th time in 14 meetings.
Nadal and Djokovic are vying for the year-end No. 1 ranking. Nadal will guarantee it for the fifth time if he wins the Paris Masters for the first time, while Djokovic is chasing a fifth title at Bercy Arena and a sixth year-end finish as No. 1.
Iin Saturday’s semifinals, he takes on Grigor Dimitrov while Nadal plays Denis Shapovalov.
Nadal is 1-1 in career meetings with the Canadian, while Djokovic has an 8-1 lead over the U.S. Open semifinalist Dimitrov.
Djokovic, chasing a 77th career title, even impressed himself with the level of his performance.
“I played one of the best matches of the season. I prepared myself very well for this match. I lost to Stefanos in Shanghai and obviously I went through the videos, understanding what I did well, what I didn’t do so well,” Djokovic said. “I served well. I read his serve very well, as well. Put him under pressure constantly.”
He broke Tsitsipas in the third game of the second set, then held and broke to love for 4-1. Tsitsipas, who dropped his serve four times, appeared to hurt his left ankle when retrieving a shot near the baseline in the second set.
Serving for the match, Djokovic clinched it on his first match point when Tsitsipas whipped a forehand long following a short rally.
Djokovic, last year’s runner-up, is wary of Dimitrov, who beat Roger Federer in the U.S. Open quarterfinals. Although Dimitrov has won only eight career titles — and none since the ATP Finals in 2017 for his biggest prize — Djokovic talked him up.
“He has been one of the best talents we had in the sport in the last decade for sure. There’s been a lot of comparison with his game and Federer’s game,” Djokovic said. “Since the U.S. Open he’s playing at a different level, a high level. He always had the game; it’s just sometimes it’s a matter of things coming together, really, mentally and at the right time.”
Djokovic also noted that Dimitrov, who is set to break back into the top 20 rankings next week after plummeting to No. 78 in August, has found a way to overcome a weakness on backhand.
“The backhand was always his kind of weaker shot … so most of the players (tried) to attack that vulnerable side of his game,” Djokovic said. “But he mixes it up really well with the slice. He blocks a lot of returns and gets back into play and he moves extremely well. He’s one of the fittest guys on the tour. So that helps him, always being in the right position.”
Dimitrov reached his second semifinal this season by beating Cristian Garin 6-2, 7-5.
Shapovalov crushed Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-2, ending the Frenchman’s hopes of reaching the season-ending ATP Finals in London and sending U.S. Open semifinalist Matteo Berrettini there instead.
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Broadband in Ballingeary, Co. Cork
Find a great broadband deal in Ballingeary, Co. Cork and place your order right here in just 3 minutes!
Broadband in Ballingeary
How many broadband providers are there in Ballingeary?
There are 6 broadband providers available in Ballingeary. These include Digiweb, eir, Pure Telecom, Sky Ireland, Virgin Media, and Vodafone.
Is fibre broadband available in Ballingeary?
In Ballingeary there are 6 providers that offer fibre broadband, including:
What is the cheapest broadband deal available in Ballingeary?
The cheapest broadband deal in Ballingeary is Vodafone Simply Broadband at a cost of €25 per month for the first 6 months, €40 per month for the next 6 months, and €45 per month thereafter. The speed of this package is 100Mb/s.
What is the fastest broadband deal available in Ballingeary?
The fastest broadband deal in Ballingeary is Vodafone Gigabit 1000 Mbps with a speed of 1Gb/s. The cost of this package is €25 per month for the first 6 months, €50 per month for the next 6 months, and €55 per month thereafter.
What is the minimum contract length in Ballingeary?
Virgin Media is the provider that offers the shortest contract length in Ballingeary. Their Freedom 250 bundle has a contract duration of 1 month, offers a download speed of 250Mb/s, and costs €59 per month.
Can I have Broadband, Phone and TV in a bundle in Ballingeary?
The following providers offer bundles with Broadband, Phone, and TV in Ballingeary:
How do I get the best broadband deal in Ballingeary?
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The Province of South Australia (1894)
By (author) James Dominick Woods , By (author) H D Wilson
Available. Dispatched from the UK in 3 business days
This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!
Format Hardback | 456 pages
Dimensions 152 x 229 x 29mm | 835g
Publication date 10 Sep 2010
Publisher Kessinger Publishing
Publication City/Country Whitefish MT, United States
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Coldstream’s new Town Action Plan unveiled this month
Coldstream needs to make the most of its situation on the banks of the Tweed on the England/Scotland border.
Published: 07:00 Thursday 14 June 2018
For the past year Coldstream Community Trust and the community council have been working on an action plan for the town and it is about to be unveiled to the public.
At the first Coldstream Community Action Plan Forum on Wednesday, June 27, in the community centre at 7pm, members of the public will hear about the 15 key actions that are included in the action plan, drawn up from responses to last year’s questionnaire which was sent to every household in the town.
The action plan is the first step in creating a brighter future for the town, reflecting the hopes and aspirations of the community.
The existence of such a plan, drawn up by the community for the community, will help to draw in grant funding and public money to different projects over the coming years.
The trust and community council said: “We want Coldstream to be a vibrant town; a town that harnesses the benefits of its unique location on the River Tweed and its position on the Scottish/English border.
“This Community Action Plan is a vision for what Coldstream people would like the town to look like in the short, medium and long-term and is based on their responses to questionnaires sent out to residents, businesses and organisations. The plan lays out the town’s aspirations to inspire businesses to strive for success and to encourage residents to be involved in building the future.
“This plan is a clear demonstration that Coldstream is a town determined to help itself; a town with ambition.”
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Agree/Disagree? Digital Mind Essential for Business Analysts
Summary: Let's put you on the hot spot. You are forced to agree or disagree with the following statement and defend your answer. "The most valuable asset of a business analyst is a digital mind." What would you say? Here's how Ron Ross answers: "I agree." Find out why in this month's column and see if you concur.
Let's put you on the hot spot. You are forced to agree or disagree with the following statement and defend your answer.
The most valuable asset of a business analyst is a digital mind.
Here's how I answer: I agree.
My reasoning: I almost certainly don't agree with the statement in the way you think I might. It's not the business analyst who needs a digital mind. It's our machines that need the digital minds.
As we increasingly disintermediate customers and company workers, we will no longer have our workers in the loop to convey and apply operational business knowledge at the point of interaction to make things right. Machines will have to do that work. And those machines must be equipped with the knowledge to do so.
The key to launching us successfully into the digital age is setting up deep knowledge reservoirs in the company. Obviously, they will be digital.
The first and most basic step toward treating knowledge as a first-class citizen is true business rules. Business rules represent explicit operational knowledge. By the way, because of the need for compliance and traceability, business rules (think obligations) will never go away.
There are, of course, other ways in which knowledge can be applied to processes, ones where traceability and compliance aren't so important — for example, machine learning and neural nets. Those technologies can also be used to build digital minds for your organization.
As a professional, how do you future-proof yourself? The secret is to make yourself indispensable, both to the business and to machines in the business with digital minds.
Given that insight, what is the most valuable asset of the business analyst in the long term? It's not agile; it's not empowerment; it's not even critical thinking. It's the ability to communicate deeply and creatively using concise terminology about the problem space. If you're still speaking in codes and data fields — in ITSpeak — I'm afraid you're not on the critical path.
For further information, please visit BRSolutions.com
Ronald G. Ross , "Agree/Disagree? Digital Mind Essential for Business Analysts" Business Rules Journal Vol. 18, No. 11, (Nov. 2017)
The Issue Is THE ENTERPRISE By John A. Zachman Jan. 2017 | Vol. 18, Iss. 1
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Hillsboro, city, seat (1850) of Washington county, northwestern Oregon, U.S., adjacent to the Tualatin River. Settled in 1841, it was laid out by David Hill in 1842, called Columbia, and later renamed (by court order) for its founder. The city developed as a processing-shipping centre for wheat, truck-garden produce, and dairy products. Electronics manufacturing and specialty horticulture are the most important components of the modern economy. The city maintains the Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve, a 650-acre (263-hectare) wetland. Hillsboro’s Old Scotch Church (1873) remains in use; its cemetery contains the graves of several well-known pioneers. Inc. 1876. Pop. (2000) 70,186; Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro Metro Area, 1,927,881; (2010) 91,611; Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro Metro Area, 2,226,009.
Hillsboro: Jackson Bottom Education CenterJackson Bottom Wetlands Education Center, Hillsboro, Ore. Aboutmovies
This article was most recently revised and updated by Kenneth Pletcher, Senior Editor.
Oregon, constituent state of the United States of America. Oregon is bounded to the north by Washington state, from which it receives the waters of the Columbia River; to the east by Idaho, more than half the border with which is formed by the winding Snake River and Hells Canyon;…
United States, country in North America, a federal republic of 50 states. Besides the 48 conterminous states that occupy the middle latitudes of the continent, the United States includes the state of Alaska, at the northwestern extreme of North America, and the island state of Hawaii, in the…
Fact Monster - United States - Hillsboro, Oregon, United States
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Take an exam
School and teacher resources
Arts, education and society
The benefits of new technology in language learning
By Gary Motteram
Current word processors allow us to create and re-create our texts until they are fully comprehensible to others. Photo ©
Mat Wright
Gary Motteram, editor of the British Council publication Innovations in learning technologies for English language teaching, explains how the arrival of digital technologies in the classroom has helped learning.
Technology is very much part of language learning throughout the world at all different levels. We are as likely to find it in the primary sector as much as in adult education.
I no longer need to make the case for computers to be provided in education, because computers are there in abundance in all their modern forms.We may see traditional computers in labs, teachers and students walking around with laptops or tablet PCs, and many people will have a mobile phone in their pocket that is capable of doing rather more than the mainframe computers that started computer-assisted language learning in the 1960s. I do recognise that there are many kinds of digital divide, and that this is not true everywhere.
What can put teachers off using technology
What is still sometimes an issue is the reliability of these technologies for classroom use. This can discourage teachers from making use of technology as often as they would want to. It's compounded by the fact that, if these teachers are working in schools, they are faced with classes of learners who may, on the surface at least, appear to be more digitally competent than their teachers are. Learners can therefore challenge their teachers, in ways that put the latter off using the technologies that could potentially make such a difference to what happens in the classroom.
How technology can help learners test their skills
In my recent book for the British Council, Innovations in learning technologies for English language teaching, I argue that digital technologies are ideally placed to help teachers working with learners, and learners working independently, to do the necessary ‘languaging’ (M. Swain) that makes their language development possible. We are talking here about doing things with language rather than just learning about language. Swain argues that learners can’t simply develop based on input. We must engage with other people using that language, and try to make meaning together. Whenever I speak or write something, if I don’t produce language with someone else in mind, I have no way of knowing whether others can understand what I say or write. Of course, I need to read and listen as well, but unless I progress to this further stage, I can’t complete the process.
If we take writing as a starting point, technology in the form of word processors (and the many other ways we now have of producing text) allows us to work at the language. We go through a process of creating and re-creating text until it is fully comprehensible to others and is accurate. We can create a draft, show it to others and, based on feedback, can make changes to improve the text. The tools can also help us by showing that our spelling or grammar needs work, too. Technology makes this much easier, and makes it more likely that learners will engage with the editing process to produce the highest-quality text that they can. This writing can then be displayed for others to look at and comment on.
Trying to find ways for people to do meaningful spoken language practice in a class can be very challenging, particularly if, as a teacher, you lack confidence in your own spoken language skills. Linking your class to other classes around the world, using tools such as video conferencing, can give a reason for a learner to ask a question and then try to understand the response. It might also provide support for the teacher, too. The technology mediates the process, getting language out there and giving feedback that shows whether someone has or hasn’t understood what you have said.
The benefits of technology in language learning that is integrated with project work
Another area that technology supports very effectively is project work. We have always tried to encourage learners to learn about things through language. Getting learners to do work about topics that are of interest to them, or topics that are taught in other parts of the curriculum (sometimes called Content and Language Integrated Learning or CLIL) is a great way to improve their skills. Technology makes this possible wherever you are in the world. Teachers and learners can go online to read or listen to material about different areas of interest, and can then write or speak about what they have discovered, telling others in the class or other classes elsewhere in the world.
In the book, there are plenty of examples of case studies of teachers doing these kinds of activities, so you can see how technology can be effectively used to support the language development process.
The publication Innovations in learning technologies for English language teaching was presented at a British Council seminar for English language teachers in the UK yesterday. Book your seat at our next seminar in the UK.
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Meet Buddy
Buddy with Frank Hargrove, Sr.
~Meet Delegate Buddy Fowler~
Hyland F. "Buddy" Fowler Jr. is honored to represent Virginia's 55th House District. The 55th is comprised of approximately 80,000 people in parts of Hanover, Caroline, and Spotsylvania counties. Hanover County comprises approximately 65% of the district.
Buddy serves on the General Laws Committee and currently Chairs Subcommittee #1. He also serves on the Privileges and Elections Committee where he is a member of the Election Law and Constitutional Amendment Subcommittees. Finally, Buddy serves on the Finance Committee (where he keeps taxes low!). Buddy has also been appointed to serve on the Board of the Virginia War Memorial, the Joint Sub-committee on Block Grants, the History of Enslaved African Americans in Virginia, the Volunteer Firefighters and Rescue Squad Workers’ Service Program (VOLSAP) and the Joint Committee on Election Law.
Buddy is a graduate of Hermitage High School and is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the University of Mary Washington with a degree in History. Buddy worked primarily in the private sector and was also a small business owner before coming to the Virginia General Assembly as an aide to former Delegates Frank Hargrove and John Cox.
A lifelong resident of Virginia, Buddy and his wife, Patsy, reside in Hanover County where they raised their three children. Buddy is a member of Slash Christian Church where he has served as a Diaconate, and currently chairs the Investment Committee. Buddy is a member of the Clay Springs Ruritan Club and has been an active member of Ashland Boy Scout Troop 700, and the Ashland Little League. Buddy is an active outdoors enthusiast and enjoys fishing and hunting and is a member of numerous outdoor organizations including Ducks Unlimited, the National Wild Turkey Federation, and the Virginia Hunting Dog Owner’s Association. Buddy is also involved and supports numerous historical organizations including the Hanover Historical Society.
Follow Buddy on Facebook
10321 Washington Highway
Capitol Office:
General Assembley Building, Room 810
BuddyFowlerforDelegate@gmail.com
© Buddy Fowler for Delegate 2015
Paid for and authorized by Buddy Fowler for House of Delegates
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Former Arsenal and AC Milan man joins Getafe
07 February at 21:00
The French midfielder Mathieu Flamini, who's been out of contract since the summer, has announced that he will re-join Getafe, who was his previous employer.
The 34-year-old has played a total of 122 games for AC Milan, being a part of the club between 2008-2013. However, he's most remembered for his two spells at Arsenal, racking up a total of 246 games.
"It's the right club for me," Flamini stated about Getafe at the press conference.
For more news, visit our homepage.
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Arsenal target discusses future at Sampdoria
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Caledonian MacBrayne makes positive steps towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Caledonian MacBrayne is on track to meet its own greenhouse gas emissions reduction target.
CalMac's target to cut CO2 emissions by two per cent equates to some 1,800 tonnes, which is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of 4,285,714 miles driven by an average passenger car, or 645 tonnes of waste sent to landfill.
Innovative, state-of-the-art fuel management systems have been fitted across the company's entire large vessel fleet - the first ferry company in the UK to do so - as part of Project Ecoship, allowing both the master and chief engineer to make small adjustments in real time to reduce fuel consumption.
These minor tweaks, whilst not affecting the delivery of the timetable, have shown encouraging results with the company's two per cent reduction target looking highly likely.
It has encouraged increased close working between the bridge and engineering crews and has also opened up collaborative dialogue across the fleet with staff exchanging ideas and tips.
"We are finding some encouraging results," said Drew Collier, CalMac's Operations Director. "While it is too early to reveal any kind of scientifically concrete data, the initial figures we are seeing, as well as the anecdotal feedback from the teams on board, are optimistic.
"Our target is to make a two per cent reduction in our release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. At the moment, we are confident that we are on track to achieve this and, importantly, we now have the technology in place to make accurate measurement.
"Whilst the effect of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases and pollutants on air quality are well known, what is perhaps less known is that carbon dioxide is linked to acidification within our seas.
"We are very keen to ensure that our ferries help to preserve Scotland's marine environment in so far as possible and we are determined to work towards better and better solutions."
Ocean acidification could have significant impact on both fisheries and sensitive marine life, causing damage not only to fish and shellfish stocks, but also to cold-water corals, like those found within the Mingulay Reef Complex in the Western Isles.
During a routine crossing from Ardrossan to Brodick on the Isle of Arran, Minister for Transport and Islands Derek Mackay said: "I am pleased to get a chance to see this state-of-the-art technology in action first hand.
"It brings clear environmental benefits, cutting the carbon footprint in some of Scotland's most striking coastlines and sensitive marine environments."
The first of CalMac's ships to have a fuel management system fitted was MV Caledonian Isles and she has now been operating with it for some seven months. The company considers that it is still in a bedding-in phase, with on-going learning by the crew and software updates being made.
Installed at a cost of £450k, the 10 fuel management systems, produced by Royston enginei, will, if the targets are met, pay for themselves within a single year.
Picture shows (picture by Ian Watson Photography):
Minister for Transport and Islands Derek Mackay MSP hears about the company's efforts to play a full role in greenhouse gas emissions reduction. He joined Chief Officer Stuart Griffin on the bridge of Isle of Arran ferry, MV Caledonian Isles, to find out more
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His record was 18 days. Two-and-a-half weeks without sleep and fuelled by methamphetamine, ''Dean'' descended into a madness that threatened to rip apart his entire family. Dean is in his early 20s and lives on a farm in the far west of Victoria. He did not seek out methamphetamine, more commonly known as ice, but it found him last year at a turbulent time in his life. "The first time it makes you feel 10 feet tall and bulletproof,'' he says. ''But after a couple of months I was coming down that hard that I needed more to feel normal in myself. Even when I had more, it didn't do anything. I wasn't sleeping, wasn't eating and I didn't trust anyone.'' His mother ''Melissa'' recalls the many days and nights where she just held Dean as tightly as she could, feeling his heart racing while his head raged inside. "We had got back from a holiday and found our son exploding," she says. Good rains have made the crops on Dean's family property and those surrounding it thick and green. Hopes may be high for a bountiful season, but all is not well in Victoria's wheat belt. Here, and in other parts of country Victoria, there are fears about methamphetamine and the damage the highly addictive drug is doing to communities that have traditionally been among the state's most conservative. Methamphetamine is not a new drug, but all the evidence points to the fact that its use across Victoria is rising sharply and the producers and pushers are making serious money. According to the recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australians are spending more than $1.7 billion a year on amphetamines. For the past 12 months newspapers in Geelong, Bendigo, Horsham, Mildura, Morwell and Warrnambool have featured reports of court appearances by ice users who cannot remember doing 150km/h in a 60km/h zone, holding a knife to their mother's throat or stealing from work colleagues. "Country Victoria has never seen anything like this," says Daryl Clifton, the police commander in central Victoria. Over the past year, armed robberies in Clifton's region have quadrupled, with most found to be ice-related. A four-month drug operation in the area resulted in the arrests of several young people who had never before been in trouble with police. Brendan Scale, a co-ordinator with the Wimmera Drug Action Taskforce, says a member of one of the most conservative farming communities in Victoria's west recently told him that "you would be gobsmacked by how far ice is reaching into the remotest communities''. Why is country Victoria in the grip of this ice epidemic? Long-time residents of small country towns believe cheap housing and a negligible police presence is attracting manufacturers and dealers. In the Mallee township of Yaapeet, police uncovered a meth lab in the old post office in March. The identities of those running the lab remain unknown, since the person paying the rates used a false name, suggesting the involvement of organised crime. Methamphetamine is an addictive stimulant that alters the chemical composition of a user's brain, triggering sleeplessness, euphoria, paranoia and hostility. Costing about $100 for a point, or one tenth, of a gram, ice can be smoked, snorted, injected or ingested, and has become socially acceptable across a variety of socio-economic and age groups. Here's how a contributor to an Australian online forum last week described how ice made him feel: "Smoking meth feels like having my head blown off then have metamorphic shift into an invincible god. The stimulation and euphoric feelings are very strong; it can be frightening. Meth doesn't make you want to cuddle everyone, it's more likely you'd want to f--- every woman in sight.'' It is reactions like this that have left some of Victoria's top police officers extremely worried about methamphetamine use and its effects on the community. Ice has been linked to a host of murders, rapes, assaults and robberies. It is getting people with no criminal history into serious strife. "It's probably one of the most harmful substances we've come across in recent years in terms of impact on community and it's really challenging us,'' says police assistant commissioner Steve Fontana. ''It's not just the police, it's emergency services, the hospital system. People are off their heads on this stuff, they're violent, aggressive and really hard to control.'' Last year, Dean was trying to deal with breaking up with his girlfriend when a friend introduced him to ice. A highly addictive drug, he was soon hooked and would go days, sometimes weeks, without sleeping or eating. He was angry, anxious and would sometimes drive for hours while high as a kite. "I lost all care and hope and everything. You feel like everyone's against you even when they're not," he says. Dean was a heavy user of ice for several months in 2012. His family did not know what to do. Was there any way out of this? Melissa was driving her car to nowhere in particular one day when she just burst into tears. It was a turning point. She ended up driving to a health service in a regional city some distance from her farm. There she spoke to a drug counsellor she had never met and the months of anguish flooded out. "From then on it got a bit easier,'' Melissa says. ''You can't talk to anyone here. Not even family, no one gets it. "You think of drugs and druggies, but this is my son, not some bloke on the street shooting up in an alley, and it was really hard to find someone for us just to bounce off." Since then, with counselling and the support of his family, Dean has been able to get off, and stay off, methamphetamine. Even so, he still has bad days and is nagged by an underlying depression. "I still find it hard,'' he says. ''I have my days where I think what the f--- am I doing? I've still got problems to deal with. But I think if you haven't got a good family you've got no chance of getting out of this." Dean is not alone. Methamphetamine is being pushed heavily into some of Victoria's most vulnerable communities where many users do not have the resources or family support that have helped people like him. In Mildura, a six-month campaign has just been launched to reach out to the region's youth to educate them about ice. Of particular concern is targeting of the local Koori community by dealers. Anecdotal reports have linked recent youth suicides to ice. The Murray River city campaign is being led by the local council, police, health services and Aboriginal support agencies. Such groups are also being brought together in cities and towns across the state, with Bendigo police, health services and other agencies holding a forum next month to address ice use in their community. Raelene Stephens, nurse unit manager of the Mildura District Aboriginal Service's alcohol and other drugs program says ice use has reached epidemic proportions over the past two years, with children as young as 12 being exposed to the drug. She says dealers have been targeting Aboriginal youths who have an income through jobs in food or hospitality. They are sold large amounts of ice in the knowledge they will rack up large debts. "Then they come after the families for payment," Stephens says. Victoria's new Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Youth, Andrew Jackomos, warned in July that ice use was reaching a crisis point. He says various Koori groups comprising senior indigenous community leaders want the Napthine government to convene a forum. "People are frustrated that they can't do anything … They don't know where to turn to. Ice is a huge problem in our community," Jackomos told Fairfax Media in July. It is not just Koori groups looking for leadership from Spring Street: communities right across Victoria want a whole-of-government approach to dealing with the ice problem. Victoria's amphetamine strategy expired last year and a new one has yet to be announced. Crios O'Mahony has a keen sense of humour enhanced by a gentle Irish lilt. Sleeve tattoos and years of experience treating crack addicts in London add street credibility. During the past 12 months, his services have been in great demand from drug and alcohol workers seeking an insight into why more of their clients are being trapped by ice. O'Mahony is a project leader at Anex, a not-for-profit group based in Carlton that is at the forefront of drug education and harm reduction programs. Anex's presenters have conducted almost 50 forums across Victoria since late last year to provide information on methamphetamine to more than 2000 drug and alcohol workers, police, ambulance crews and child protection workers. O'Mahony and his colleagues say that despite there being widespread concern about ice there is little understanding of how the drug affects the brain, even among many health workers trained to help affected people. At one of these forums O'Mahony explained why dopamine is the key to understanding why ice is so addictive. Put simply, the first hits trigger huge releases of dopamine, a chemical the brain releases when it recognises pleasure. It feels good. But the brain can produce only so much dopamine. So within a short time, a user will need greater amounts of ice to try to match those first euphoric feelings. Eventually, dopamine in the brain depletes, the chemistry in the brain is altered and the user's ability to feel pleasure is reduced. It takes months to replenish, hence the depression felt by some ice users when they stop using the drug. O'Mahony and his Anex colleagues say every early warning system in the state, from police statistics to reports of increasing demand from mental health services, points to a rise in methamphetamine use. He says one of the biggest problems in treating ice users is the lack of a pharmacological substitute such as methadone which is used to treat heroin addicts. "Meth is completely different to treat,'' O'Mahony says. ''Seven-day detox which is what is currently available can help but it's not very effective for someone trying to get off ice. An ice user will come in wrecked, sleep for days and when the cravings hit or the days are up then they leave. ''You need a month but that's hugely expensive, and even then it can take months for a person to feel results with additional treatment and support." So in the absence of a pharmacological response, how should Victoria treat its methamphetamine addicts? Sherri Bruinhout, director of justice and homelessness at the Melbourne City Mission, says Victoria needs to introduce rapid response services to help ice users in order to protect others and themselves from harm. When Fairfax Media visited the mission's King Street office in Melbourne's CBD, Bruinhout pointed to a smashed front window. ''This was done by a young, petite woman affected by ice on the weekend,'' she says. ''She went away and was back 30 minutes later. She didn't remember what had happened.'' While rapid response services and detoxification facilities are a first step, Bruinhout says addicts need education and a dedicated support worker to get their lives back together. ''It's expensive and not very sexy. But from our experience it is what works,'' she says. For police, stopping the supply of methamphetamine is but one part of a wider battle. Fontana says Victoria's methamphetamine supply comes from several sources, from international criminal syndicates and local organised crime groups to low-level manufacturers who can make ice from the boot of a car. "Enforcement is only one part, it's really coming back to a change in attitudes about drug use and education about drug use,'' Fontana says. Back on the farm in the far west of Victoria, Dean is relieved he is no longer addicted to ice. ''If you don't get off you've got a good chance ending up in jail or dead,'' he says. For his parents, the most pleasing thing about Dean's revival is the joy it has brought his younger siblings. ''They are just so happy that he talks to them again now,'' says Melissa. ''It's like the brother is back on his pedestal.''
https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/resize/frm/silverstone-feed-data/7df6efa8-8d7a-4dff-b9dd-d2fce56b1ce5.jpg/w1200_h678_fcrop.jpg
August 30 2013 - 8:37AM
Ice use reaches crisis point in Victoria
Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie
Recovering ice addict 'Dean', in western Victoria, is one of an escalating number of people using the drug in country Victoria. Photo: Jason South
His record was 18 days. Two-and-a-half weeks without sleep and fuelled by methamphetamine, ''Dean'' descended into a madness that threatened to rip apart his entire family.
Dean is in his early 20s and lives on a farm in the far west of Victoria. He did not seek out methamphetamine, more commonly known as ice, but it found him last year at a turbulent time in his life.
"The first time it makes you feel 10 feet tall and bulletproof,'' he says. ''But after a couple of months I was coming down that hard that I needed more to feel normal in myself. Even when I had more, it didn't do anything. I wasn't sleeping, wasn't eating and I didn't trust anyone.''
His mother ''Melissa'' recalls the many days and nights where she just held Dean as tightly as she could, feeling his heart racing while his head raged inside. "We had got back from a holiday and found our son exploding," she says.
Good rains have made the crops on Dean's family property and those surrounding it thick and green. Hopes may be high for a bountiful season, but all is not well in Victoria's wheat belt.
Here, and in other parts of country Victoria, there are fears about methamphetamine and the damage the highly addictive drug is doing to communities that have traditionally been among the state's most conservative.
Methamphetamine is not a new drug, but all the evidence points to the fact that its use across Victoria is rising sharply and the producers and pushers are making serious money.
According to the recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australians are spending more than $1.7 billion a year on amphetamines.
For the past 12 months newspapers in Geelong, Bendigo, Horsham, Mildura, Morwell and Warrnambool have featured reports of court appearances by ice users who cannot remember doing 150km/h in a 60km/h zone, holding a knife to their mother's throat or stealing from work colleagues.
"Country Victoria has never seen anything like this," says Daryl Clifton, the police commander in central Victoria.
Over the past year, armed robberies in Clifton's region have quadrupled, with most found to be ice-related. A four-month drug operation in the area resulted in the arrests of several young people who had never before been in trouble with police.
Brendan Scale, a co-ordinator with the Wimmera Drug Action Taskforce, says a member of one of the most conservative farming communities in Victoria's west recently told him that "you would be gobsmacked by how far ice is reaching into the remotest communities''.
Why is country Victoria in the grip of this ice epidemic? Long-time residents of small country towns believe cheap housing and a negligible police presence is attracting manufacturers and dealers.
In the Mallee township of Yaapeet, police uncovered a meth lab in the old post office in March. The identities of those running the lab remain unknown, since the person paying the rates used a false name, suggesting the involvement of organised crime.
Methamphetamine is an addictive stimulant that alters the chemical composition of a user's brain, triggering sleeplessness, euphoria, paranoia and hostility. Costing about $100 for a point, or one tenth, of a gram, ice can be smoked, snorted, injected or ingested, and has become socially acceptable across a variety of socio-economic and age groups.
Here's how a contributor to an Australian online forum last week described how ice made him feel: "Smoking meth feels like having my head blown off then have metamorphic shift into an invincible god. The stimulation and euphoric feelings are very strong; it can be frightening. Meth doesn't make you want to cuddle everyone, it's more likely you'd want to f--- every woman in sight.''
It is reactions like this that have left some of Victoria's top police officers extremely worried about methamphetamine use and its effects on the community. Ice has been linked to a host of murders, rapes, assaults and robberies. It is getting people with no criminal history into serious strife.
"It's probably one of the most harmful substances we've come across in recent years in terms of impact on community and it's really challenging us,'' says police assistant commissioner Steve Fontana. ''It's not just the police, it's emergency services, the hospital system. People are off their heads on this stuff, they're violent, aggressive and really hard to control.''
Last year, Dean was trying to deal with breaking up with his girlfriend when a friend introduced him to ice. A highly addictive drug, he was soon hooked and would go days, sometimes weeks, without sleeping or eating. He was angry, anxious and would sometimes drive for hours while high as a kite.
"I lost all care and hope and everything. You feel like everyone's against you even when they're not," he says.
Dean was a heavy user of ice for several months in 2012. His family did not know what to do. Was there any way out of this?
Melissa was driving her car to nowhere in particular one day when she just burst into tears. It was a turning point.
She ended up driving to a health service in a regional city some distance from her farm. There she spoke to a drug counsellor she had never met and the months of anguish flooded out.
"From then on it got a bit easier,'' Melissa says. ''You can't talk to anyone here. Not even family, no one gets it.
"You think of drugs and druggies, but this is my son, not some bloke on the street shooting up in an alley, and it was really hard to find someone for us just to bounce off."
Since then, with counselling and the support of his family, Dean has been able to get off, and stay off, methamphetamine. Even so, he still has bad days and is nagged by an underlying depression.
"I still find it hard,'' he says. ''I have my days where I think what the f--- am I doing? I've still got problems to deal with. But I think if you haven't got a good family you've got no chance of getting out of this."
Dean is not alone. Methamphetamine is being pushed heavily into some of Victoria's most vulnerable communities where many users do not have the resources or family support that have helped people like him.
In Mildura, a six-month campaign has just been launched to reach out to the region's youth to educate them about ice. Of particular concern is targeting of the local Koori community by dealers. Anecdotal reports have linked recent youth suicides to ice.
The Murray River city campaign is being led by the local council, police, health services and Aboriginal support agencies. Such groups are also being brought together in cities and towns across the state, with Bendigo police, health services and other agencies holding a forum next month to address ice use in their community.
Raelene Stephens, nurse unit manager of the Mildura District Aboriginal Service's alcohol and other drugs program says ice use has reached epidemic proportions over the past two years, with children as young as 12 being exposed to the drug.
She says dealers have been targeting Aboriginal youths who have an income through jobs in food or hospitality. They are sold large amounts of ice in the knowledge they will rack up large debts. "Then they come after the families for payment," Stephens says.
Victoria's new Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Youth, Andrew Jackomos, warned in July that ice use was reaching a crisis point. He says various Koori groups comprising senior indigenous community leaders want the Napthine government to convene a forum.
"People are frustrated that they can't do anything … They don't know where to turn to. Ice is a huge problem in our community," Jackomos told Fairfax Media in July.
It is not just Koori groups looking for leadership from Spring Street: communities right across Victoria want a whole-of-government approach to dealing with the ice problem. Victoria's amphetamine strategy expired last year and a new one has yet to be announced.
Crios O'Mahony has a keen sense of humour enhanced by a gentle Irish lilt. Sleeve tattoos and years of experience treating crack addicts in London add street credibility.
During the past 12 months, his services have been in great demand from drug and alcohol workers seeking an insight into why more of their clients are being trapped by ice.
O'Mahony is a project leader at Anex, a not-for-profit group based in Carlton that is at the forefront of drug education and harm reduction programs.
Anex's presenters have conducted almost 50 forums across Victoria since late last year to provide information on methamphetamine to more than 2000 drug and alcohol workers, police, ambulance crews and child protection workers.
O'Mahony and his colleagues say that despite there being widespread concern about ice there is little understanding of how the drug affects the brain, even among many health workers trained to help affected people.
At one of these forums O'Mahony explained why dopamine is the key to understanding why ice is so addictive. Put simply, the first hits trigger huge releases of dopamine, a chemical the brain releases when it recognises pleasure. It feels good.
But the brain can produce only so much dopamine. So within a short time, a user will need greater amounts of ice to try to match those first euphoric feelings. Eventually, dopamine in the brain depletes, the chemistry in the brain is altered and the user's ability to feel pleasure is reduced. It takes months to replenish, hence the depression felt by some ice users when they stop using the drug.
O'Mahony and his Anex colleagues say every early warning system in the state, from police statistics to reports of increasing demand from mental health services, points to a rise in methamphetamine use.
He says one of the biggest problems in treating ice users is the lack of a pharmacological substitute such as methadone which is used to treat heroin addicts.
"Meth is completely different to treat,'' O'Mahony says. ''Seven-day detox which is what is currently available can help but it's not very effective for someone trying to get off ice. An ice user will come in wrecked, sleep for days and when the cravings hit or the days are up then they leave.
''You need a month but that's hugely expensive, and even then it can take months for a person to feel results with additional treatment and support."
So in the absence of a pharmacological response, how should Victoria treat its methamphetamine addicts?
Sherri Bruinhout, director of justice and homelessness at the Melbourne City Mission, says Victoria needs to introduce rapid response services to help ice users in order to protect others and themselves from harm.
When Fairfax Media visited the mission's King Street office in Melbourne's CBD, Bruinhout pointed to a smashed front window.
''This was done by a young, petite woman affected by ice on the weekend,'' she says.
''She went away and was back 30 minutes later. She didn't remember what had happened.''
While rapid response services and detoxification facilities are a first step, Bruinhout says addicts need education and a dedicated support worker to get their lives back together.
''It's expensive and not very sexy. But from our experience it is what works,'' she says.
For police, stopping the supply of methamphetamine is but one part of a wider battle. Fontana says Victoria's methamphetamine supply comes from several sources, from international criminal syndicates and local organised crime groups to low-level manufacturers who can make ice from the boot of a car.
"Enforcement is only one part, it's really coming back to a change in attitudes about drug use and education about drug use,'' Fontana says.
Back on the farm in the far west of Victoria, Dean is relieved he is no longer addicted to ice.
''If you don't get off you've got a good chance ending up in jail or dead,'' he says.
For his parents, the most pleasing thing about Dean's revival is the joy it has brought his younger siblings.
''They are just so happy that he talks to them again now,'' says Melissa.
''It's like the brother is back on his pedestal.''
This story The ice in their veins first appeared on The Age.
All-Aussie talent on show for inaugural Out of Bounds festival
Get ready to celebrate Australia Day in Camden
More school zones in place at Camden's new schools
Crowd enjoys All-American Day car show at Macarthur Square | photos
Eagle Vale mum's bright idea to support local firies
Camden-Narellan Advertiser
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Construction Partnership Continues!
@buryfccommercial
Bury FC are pleased to announce that Decipher have signed a three-year agreement with the Club.
Decipher has been granted the naming rights for the East Stand at Gigg Lane.
Decipher provides construction services ranging from professional consultancy in the form of Quantity Surveying, Estimating, Commercial Management, Project Management, Dispute Resolution and Expert Witness Reports. In addition, Decipher provides Construction Management services across all sectors of the construction industry from residential extensions & new builds to student accommodation, commercial and sports stadia.
You can view more information on the Decipher businesses by clicking on www.decipher-group.com
Decipher is based locally but in order to satisfy a nationwide demand for its services it has recently opened an office in the south east which enables the organisation to cover the whole of the country.
Paul Gibbons, Decipher's Managing Director commented… “We are extremely proud to be associated with Bury FC; the professionalism and direction of the club exemplify our own values and we look forward to building a long lasting relationship which will be of benefit to both organisations”
Daniel Bowerbank, Business Development Manager added, “This deal shows the ambition of the Club in continuing to develop Partnerships with North West businesses. Following lengthy discussions about the Club and the ambition of the Chairman, it seemed fitting that both parties shared the same ambition through drive and determination. We look forward to working with Decipher over the coming seasons.”
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Cabot Corporation to Acquire Shenzhen Sanshun Nano New Materials Co., Ltd (SUSN)
Acquisition strengthens market position and formulations capabilities in high-growth batteries space
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cabot China Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cabot Corporation (NYSE: CBT), entered into an agreement to purchase Shenzhen Sanshun Nano New Materials Co., Ltd (SUSN), a leading carbon nanotube (CNT) producer in China, for approximately $115 million in enterprise value that includes liabilities and contingent payments, company officials announced today. The acquisition significantly strengthens Cabot’s market position and formulation capabilities in the high-growth batteries market, particularly in China, which is the largest and fastest growing electric vehicle market in the world.
As the second largest producer of CNTs globally, SUSN has capability to manufacture both dry powder CNTs and dispersions and has a proven track record of commercial success in the lithium-ion battery market. The addition of CNTs enhances Cabot’s suite of conductive carbon product offerings, which today includes the VULCAN XC-series carbon blacks, PBX® carbon performance additives for advanced lead-acid batteries, LITX® conductive additives for lithium-ion batteries, and the recently announced ATHLOS™ carbon nanostructures. With this acquisition, Cabot will be the only carbon additive supplier with commercially proven carbon black, CNT, carbon nanostructure and dispersion capabilities.
“SUSN fits strongly with our strategy of growing in the formulations space and provides a new technology platform for our energy materials business,” said Jeff Zhu, senior vice president and president, Performance Additives business. “Combining their leading CNT and dispersion capabilities with our carbon additive technology and battery expertise will create new opportunities to grow our position in the fast-growing energy storage market. This acquisition will not only strengthen our global leadership position in carbon additives but allows us to deliver new innovative solutions enabling improved battery performance at an optimized price/performance ratio.”
Blended conductive carbon additive (CCA) dispersions are being increasingly adopted by battery manufacturers to improve performance and reduce the cost of materials and CNTs are the fastest growing conductive carbon additive in energy storage.
“This acquisition creates a unique opportunity for Cabot to create world-class formulated solutions and provide customers with an even more comprehensive range of products to meet their needs,” said Jim Makuc, vice president and general manager, Energy Materials.
SUSN’s trailing twelve-month revenue was $28 million and the combination of Cabot’s energy materials portfolio and SUSN will create a business with approximately $50 million in revenue. Revenue is expected to grow at a rate of 20-25% over the next five years from continued growth in electric vehicles and other lithium-ion battery storage applications, making this a meaningful part of Cabot’s portfolio of specialty chemicals businesses.
SUSN commissioned a new CNT plant in China in November 2018, which has sufficient capacity to support growth over the next several years. The company will be managed as part of Cabot’s global energy materials business within the Performance Chemicals segment. The parties expect to close the transaction in the second quarter of fiscal 2020.
About Cabot Corporation
Cabot Corporation (NYSE: CBT) is a global specialty chemicals and performance materials company, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The company is a leading provider of rubber and specialty carbons, activated carbon, inkjet colorants, masterbatches and conductive compounds, fumed silica, and aerogel. For more information on Cabot, please visit the company’s website at: http://www.cabotcorp.com.
About Shenzhen Sanshun Nano New Materials Co., Ltd (SUSN)
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Shenzhen, China, SUSN is a leading carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and dispersions producer that supplies lithium-ion battery manufacturers both in China and globally. SUSN has a wide range of products covering single-walled CNTs, multi-walled CNTs and various blends to meet the ever-increasing needs of the battery industry.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release involving the Company that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties inherent in projecting future conditions, events and results. Such forward looking statements include statements regarding Cabot’s expectations pertaining to the timing of completion of the acquisition, SUSN’s capacity for growth over the next several years and the expected benefits of the acquisition, including to Cabot’s future financial performance. Such expectations are based upon certain preliminary information, internal estimates and management assumptions, expectations and plans. For a discussion of the risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ from those expressed in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Vanessa Craigie
Steve Delahunt
Cabot Corp to acquire Shenzhen Sanshun Nano New Materials Co., Ltd (SUSN) to strengthen market position and formulations capabilities in battery space
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Engage | Culture | Environment
Jaws of life | Green
Pop culture has given sharks an undeservedly scary reputation. What’s truly frightening, reports Erline Andrews, is a sea without sharks, vital for a healthy marine ecosystem. And after decades of neglect, the countries of the Caribbean are finally waking up to the importance of shark conservation — for the environment, but also for their economies
By Erline Andrews | Issue 153 (September/October 2018) 0 Comments
Tagging a shark off Sint Maarten. Photo by Tadzio Bervoets/courtesy Nature Foundation Sint Maarten
Photo by Fiona Ayerst/Shutterstock.com
In late 2017, aquatic environment experts from around the Americas came together at UN House in Marine Gardens, Barbados, for the region’s biggest-ever meeting devoted to the ocean’s most important resident. The building’s sleek exterior is dominated by glass panes as azure as the water off the beaches surrounding many Caribbean islands, making the location even more fitting.
“Sharks play an important role in maintaining the balance of marine ecosystems,” said Vyjayanthi Lopez, a representative from the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation, welcoming more than thirty men and women from fifteen countries, which included the United States, the biggest, and Antigua and Barbuda, the smallest. The FAO organised the meeting.
“Aside from contributing to the ecological sustainability of marine life,” Lopez continued, “the shark species also contribute to social and economic sustainability.”
The Barbados meeting was the culmination of a burst of activity within recent years, after decades of apathy that saw shark numbers dwindle because of overfishing and habitat destruction. About a third of shark and ray species in the Americas are listed as endangered, vulnerable, or threatened by the international organisation responsible for keeping track. But the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has only been able to give assessments for species for which there are enough data to make a determination. Almost half of the sharks and rays in the region have been deemed “data deficient” — not enough information has been collected about them.
To help make up lost ground in shark monitoring and protection, a couple of data collection projects started in 2012, with the Belize-based research organisation MarAlliance using underwater cameras, tagging, and other techniques to track sharks and rays in Belize, Cuba, and elsewhere in the region. In 2015, Florida International University started the Global FinPrint, a three-year underwater camera survey of sharks and rays around the world. Researchers in the Caribbean countries of Belize, the Dominican Republic, Barbados, the Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands are participating.
The only legally binding multilateral agreement to protect wildlife in the Caribbean, the Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (known as the SPAW Protocol), last year for the first time extended protections to sharks and rays, prohibiting the commercial exploitation of one type of sawfish and listing whale sharks, oceanic whitetip sharks, hammerhead sharks, and manta rays as vulnerable and in need of fishing controls.
In 2015 and 2016, environmental philanthropist Richard Branson co-hosted symposia in the Bahamas and Sint Maarten, bringing government leaders together to hear marine experts and activists promote shark sanctuaries, areas prohibiting shark fishing and the trading of shark parts. This led to a group of Caribbean countries declaring their waters as shark sanctuaries. Shark sanctuaries around the world are located in areas that rely on sun and sea to attract tourists. And the health of the sea relies on sharks, which are at the top of the ocean food chain. Like other predators, they control the populations of animals lower on the chain and maintain balance in nature.
The Bahamas established the first shark sanctuary in the Caribbean in 2011. It was followed by the British Virgin Islands (2014), the Caribbean Netherlands (Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Bonaire, 2015), the Cayman Islands (2016), Sint Maarten (2016), Curaçao (2016), and Grenada (2016). “Our surveys have shown that most tourists come for our pristine waters and vibrant marine ecosystem,” says Johanna Kohler, a shark researcher and conservationist in the Cayman Islands. “Most divers love to see sharks when diving, and even tourists who don’t want to see a shark while diving or swimming appreciate knowing that sharks are present, because it is a well-known fact that sharks are important to our oceans.”
One country on its own can protect the animals in its land space. The sea is a different prospect, especially in a region as small as the Caribbean. To have any real impact, efforts to protect marine life need the involvement of all or most countries in the region.
“We’ve tagged a tiger shark in Sint Maarten, and it swam the breadth of the Caribbean,” says Tadzio Bervoets, who’s heading a research and public education project in the Dutch Caribbean called Save Our Sharks. “It swam all the way to Trinidad, then it went to Barbados, hung out there for a while. Then it swam up to the Dominican Republic, almost made it to Jamaica. Now it’s hanging around Puerto Rico,” he says.
“It’s not like the shark is not going to go to St Lucia because there’s a risk of being caught there. A joint effort has to be put in place to manage our ocean resources sustainably.”
The FAO’s Caribbean reps have put together what’s called an RPOA — a regional plan of action to protect sharks. The hope is that each country will take the RPOA and design an NPOA — national plan of action — that meets its own needs and abilities, empowered through legislation and enforcement.
An IPOA — international plan of action — was already issued by the FAO at the turn of the century. Only four Caribbean countries — Cuba, Belize, Barbados, and Antigua and Barbuda — followed up with an NPOA. As laid out in the RPOA, shark conservation efforts would require research, training, enforcement, monitoring, public education, and financial investment. Countries are at different stages of making the commitment.
Jamaica was not part of the FAO meeting, and it has not ratified the SPAW Protocol. The country’s attitude has a possible explanation in an academic survey of divers conducted between 2015 and 2016, to analyse the effectiveness of shark sanctuaries by comparing them to places without sanctuaries. The researcher couldn’t get participants from Jamaica — she was told, “there are no sharks here.” This may not necessarily be the case, Barbadian marine biologist Nikola Simpson explains.
“The average individual is highly unlikely to see a shark where they usually swim. Most sharks are found further offshore,” she says. “It’s hard to tell what our regional population [of sharks] is because no one has really done an extensive study of it.”
Trinidad and Tobago did have a representative at the FAO meeting. The country’s support for shark conservation is important, because it is a major shipping point in the shark fin trade, which provides the main ingredient for a popular Asian soup. The trade has been condemned because it leads to the cruel and wasteful practice — called finning — of cutting off a shark’s fins and throwing the dismembered animal, still alive, back into the sea to drown or be eaten.
T&T also has its own popular shark-based dish: bake and shark. The country has ratified the SPAW Protocol, and at the FAO meeting indicated that it planned to draft an NPOA. In 2014, alarmed that it ranked high on a list of the countries that were the biggest exporters of shark fins, the government added T&T to the growing list of countries that banned finning. But there’s skepticism about how well the ban is being enforced.
“We are an international shark trade hub,” says Trinidadian environmentalist Marc de Verteuil. “If we were an international ivory trade hub, there would be a greater sense of emergency.”
And as some countries decide on whether or when to act, there’s disagreement about how exactly to act. There are reasons to doubt the effectiveness of shark sanctuaries. “Any fishing, especially with nets and longlines, is going to catch sharks and negate the basis of a sanctuary,” says Rachel Graham, a renowned shark researcher and conservationist who founded and runs Belize’s MarAlliance.
Sanctuary legislation mandates the release of incidentally caught sharks. But, says Graham, “fishers usually leave nets and longlines to soak for several hours if not overnight, and there is therefore little chance that most captured sharks or rays will survive. I much prefer a focus on banning the use of certain fishing gears that are really unsustainable, like nets. Or at least restricting their use during certain seasons.”
Graham recommends “some really well-enforced closed seasons, so females can live to give birth and pups have a fighting chance to grow.” She adds: “And the areas where the young pups grow up — called nursery areas, which also benefit many other marine species when they’re young — might be set aside for more stringent protection.”
The FAO researchers, writing in a report following the Barbados meeting, agree there’s no single way to protect sharks. It will take multiple different actions by each country in the region, making adjustments for the particular conditions in that country. This makes shark conservation in the Caribbean a complicated process. The FAO sets a long-term timeframe of seven to ten years for implementation of the recommendations in the RPOA.
The worry, of course, is the likelihood of irreversible depletion of shark species, harming not only the environment and national economies, but robbing us of learning from and enjoying the presence of these often misunderstood creatures. Part of speeding up the shark conservation process is convincing people that sharks should be treasured, not feared.
“I know people are afraid of them, but they’re amazing,” says Nikola Simpson. “When you see them in the water, it puts everything into perspective. They gracefully glide through the water. They’re beautiful.”
“Quite often you’re lucky to see a shark,” she adds. “There’s a quote I use sometimes. I can’t remember who it’s by. It says, ‘If you’re in the ocean and you don’t see sharks, you should be afraid.’ If you are diving where you expect to see sharks and you don’t, then you know something is wrong.”
Why sharks matter
When most people in the Caribbean think of sharks, they either imagine them as scary predators — thanks to pop-culture depictions like Jaws — or, conversely, as a source of meat. But shark species play a major role in keeping marine ecosystems healthy. At the top of the ocean food chain, sharks help keep fish populations in check. When sharks disappear, other fish species can explode in numbers, throwing things off balance. Other carnivorous fish start to dominate, at the expense of algae-eating fish which keep coral reefs healthy.
There’s another reason to protect sharks in the tourism-dependent Caribbean. Around the world, shark tourism is estimated to earn more than US$300 million per year, as eco-tourists pay to observe and experience sharks in the wild. It’s already a thriving business in the Bahamas, and other Caribbean countries stand to benefit also — if they can keep their shark populations from disappearing.
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PRAYER TO SAINT MARY MAGDALENE - SHARE
PRAYER TO ST. MARY MAGDALEN BY ST. ANSELM:
Feast July 22
Patroness of Women, penitent sinners, pharmacists, prostitutes, sexual temptations, hairdressers.
Prayer-
St Mary Magdalene, you came with springing tears to the spring of mercy, Christ; from him your burning thirst was abundantly refreshed through him your sins were forgiven; by him your bitter sorrow was consoled.
My dearest lady, well you know by your own life how a sinful soul can be reconciled with its creator, what counsel a soul in misery needs, what medicine will restore the sick to health.
It is enough for us to understand, dear friend of God, to whom were many sins forgiven, because she loved much.
Most blessed lady, I who am the most evil and sinful of men do not recall your sins as a reproach, but call upon the boundless mercy by which they were blotted out.
This is my reassurance, so that I do not despair; this is my longing, so that I shall not perish.
I say this of myself, miserably cast down into the depths of vice, bowed down with the weight of crimes, thrust down by my own hand into a dark prison of sins, wrapped round with the shadows of darkness.
Therefore, since you are now with the chosen because you are beloved and are beloved because you are chosen of God, 1, in my misery, pray to you, in bliss; in my darkness, I ask for light; in my sins, redemption; impure, I ask for purity.
Recall in loving kindness what you used to be, how much you needed mercy, and seek for me that same forgiving love that you received when you were wanting it. Ask urgently that I may have the love that pierces the heart; tears that are humble; desire for the homeland of heaven; impatience with this earthly exile; searing repentance; and a dread of torments in eternity.
Turn to my good that ready access that you once had and still have to the spring of mercy.
Draw me to him where I may wash away my sins; bring me to him who can slake my thirst; pour over me those waters that will make my dry places fresh. You will not find it hard to gain all you desire from so loving and so kind a Lord, who is alive and reigns and is your friend.
For who can tell, beloved and blest of God, with what kind familiarity and familiar kindness he himself replied on your behalf to the calumnies of those who were against you? How he defended you, when the proud Pharisee was indignant, how he excused you, when your sister complained, how highly he praised your deed, when Judas begrudged it.
And, more than all this, what can I say, how can I find words to tell, about the burning love with which you sought him, weeping at the sepulchre, and wept for him in your seeking?
How he came, who can say how or with what kindness, to comfort you, and made you burn with love still more; how he hid from you when you wanted to see him, and showed himself when you did not think to see him; how he was there all the time you sought him, and how he sought you when, seeking him, you wept.
But you, most holy Lord, why do you ask her why she weeps?
Surely you can see; her heart, the dear life of her soul, is cruelly slain.
O love to be wondered at;
O evil to be shuddered at;
you hung on the wood, pierced by iron nails, stretched out like a thief for the mockery of wicked men; and yet, 'Woman,' you say, 'why are you weeping?' She had not been able to prevent them from killing you, but at least she longed to keep your body for a while with ointments lest it decay.
No longer able to speak with you living, at least she could mourn for you dead. So, near to death and hating her own life, she repeats in broken tones the words of life which she had heard from the living.
And now, besides all this, even the body which she was glad, in a way, to have kept, she believes to have gone.
And can you ask her, 'Woman, why are you weeping?'
Had she not reason to weep?
For she had seen with her own eyes--if she could bear to look--what cruel men cruelly did to you; and now all that was left of you from their hands she thinks she has lost.
All hope of you has fled, for now she has not even your lifeless body to remind her of you.
And someone asks, 'Who are you looking for? Why are you weeping?'
You, her sole joy, should be the last thus to increase her sorrow. But you know it all well, and thus you wish it to be, for only in such broken words and sighs can she convey a cause of grief as great as hers. The love you have inspired you do not ignore,
And indeed you know her well, the gardener, who planted her soul in his garden. What you plant, I think you also water.
Do you water, I wonder, or do you test her?
In fact, you are both watering and putting to the test.
But now, good Lord, gentle Master, look upon your faithful servant and disciple, so lately redeemed by your blood, and see how she burns with anxiety, desiring you, searching all round, questioning, and what she longs for is nowhere found.
Nothing she sees can satisfy her, since you whom alone she would behold, she sees not.
How long will my Lord leave his beloved to suffer thus?
Have you put off compassion now you have put on incorruption? Did you let go of goodness when you laid hold of immortality?
Let it not be so, Lord.
You will not despise us mortals now you have made yourself immortal, for you made yourself a mortal in order to give us immortality.
And so it is; for love's sake he cannot bear her grief for long or go on hiding himself. For the sweetness of love he shows himself who would not for the bitterness of tears.
The Lord calls his servant by the name she has often heard and the servant knows the voice of her own Lord.
I think, or rather I am sure, that she responded to the gentle tone with which he was accustomed to call, 'Mary'. What joy filled that voice, so gentle and full of love.
He could not have put it more simply and clearly:
'I know who you are and what you want; behold me; do not weep, behold me; I am he whom you seek.'
At once the tears are changed; I do not believe that they stopped at once, but where once they were wrung from a heart broken and self-tormenting they flow now from a heart exulting. How different is, 'Master!' from 'If you have taken him away, tell me'; and, 'They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him,' has a very different sound from,
'I have seen the Lord, and he has spoken to me.'
But how should I, in misery and without love, dare to describe the love of God and the blessed friend of God? Such a flavour of goodness will make my heart sick if it has in itself nothing of that same virtue.
But in truth, you who are very truth, you know me well and can testify that I write this for the love of your love, my Lord, my most dear Jesus.
I want your love to burn in me as you command so that I may desire to love you alone and sacrifice to you a troubled spirit, 'a broken and a contrite heart'.
Give me, 0 Lord, in this exile, the bread of tears and sorrow for which I hunger more than for any choice delights.
Hear me, for your love, and for the dear merits of your beloved Mary, and your blessed Mother, the greater Mary.
Redeemer, my good Jesus, do not despise the prayers of one who has sinned against you but strengthen the efforts of a weakling that loves you.
Shake my heart out of its indolence, Lord, and in the ardour of your love bring me to the everlasting sight of your glory where with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, God, for ever. Amen.
ATTRIBUTED TO ST. ANSELM
TODAY'S SAINT: JULY 22: ST. MARY MAGDELENE
FOLLOWER OF JESUS, MODEL OF PENITENCE
Feast: July 22
1st century AD, Magdala
Died: 1st century AD, Ephesus, Asia Minor or Marseilles, France
Patron of: apothecaries; contemplative life; converts; glove makers; hairdressers; penitent sinners; people ridiculed for their piety; perfumeries; pharmacists; reformed prostitutes; sexual temptation; tanners; women
EWTN Live Special Edition
Fr. Mitch Pacwa and Fr. Thomas Michelet Discuss the story of St. Mary Magdalene and the relic, which came to the U.S. from France for the first time: 100K300K
Mary Magdalen was so called either from Magdala near Tiberias, on the west shore of Galilee, or possibly from a Talmudic expression meaning "curling women's hair," which the Talmud explains as of an adulteress.
In the New Testament she is mentioned among the women who accompanied Christ and ministered to Him (Luke 8:2-3), where it is also said that seven devils had been cast out of her (Mark 16:9). She is next named as standing at the foot of the cross (Mark 15:40; Matthew 27:56; John 19:25; Luke 23:49). She saw Christ laid in the tomb, and she was the first recorded witness of the Resurrection.
The Greek Fathers, as a whole, distinguish the three persons:
* the "sinner" of Luke 7:36-50;
* the sister of Martha and Lazarus, Luke 10:38-42 and John 11; and
* Mary Magdalen.
On the other hand most of the Latins hold that these three were one and the same. Protestant critics, however, believe there were two, if not three, distinct persons. It is impossible to demonstrate the identity of the three; but those commentators undoubtedly go too far who assert, as does Westcott (on John 11:1), "that the identity of Mary with Mary Magdalene is a mere conjecture supported by no direct evidence, and opposed to the general tenour of the gospels." It is the identification of Mary of Bethany with the "sinner" of Luke 7:37, which is most combatted by Protestants. It almost seems as if this reluctance to identify the "sinner" with the sister of Martha were due to a failure to grasp the full significance of the forgiveness of sin. The harmonizing tendencies of so many modern critics, too, are responsible for much of the existing confusion.
The first fact, mentioned in the Gospel relating to the question under discussion is the anointing of Christ's feet by a woman, a "sinner" in the city (Luke 7:37-50). This belongs to the Galilean ministry, it precedes the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand and the third Passover. Immediately afterwards St. Luke describes a missionary circuit in Galilee and tells us of the women who ministered to Christ, among them being "Mary who is called Magdalen, out of whom seven devils were gone forth" (Luke 8:2); but he does not tell us that she is to be identified with the "sinner" of the previous chapter. In 10:38-42, he tells us of Christ's visit to Martha and Mary "in a certain town"; it is impossible to identify this town, but it is clear from 9:53, that Christ had definitively left Galilee, and it is quite possible that this "town" was Bethany. This seems confirmed by the preceding parable of the good Samaritan, which must almost certainly have been spoken on the road between Jericho and Jerusalem. But here again we note that there is no suggestion of an identification of the three persons (the "sinner", Mary Magdalen, and Mary of Bethany), and if we had only St. Luke to guide us we should certainly have no grounds for so identifying them. St. John, however, clearly identifies Mary of Bethany with the woman who anointed Christ's feet (12; cf. Matthew 26 and Mark 14). It is remarkable that already in 11:2, St. John has spoken of Mary as "she that anointed the Lord's feet", he aleipsasa; It is commonly said that he refers to the subsequent anointing which he himself describes in 12:3-8; but it may be questioned whether he would have used he aleipsasa if another woman, and she a "sinner" in the city, had done the same. It is conceivable that St. John, just because he is writing so long after the event and at a time when Mary was dead, wishes to point out to us that she was really the same as the "sinner." In the same way St. Luke may have veiled her identity precisely because he did not wish to defame one who was yet living; he certainly does something similar in the case of St. Matthew whose identity with Levi the publican (5:7) he conceals.
If the foregoing argument holds good, Mary of Bethany and the "sinner" are one and the same. But an examination of St. John's Gospel makes it almost impossible to deny the identity of Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalen. From St. John we learn the name of the "woman" who anointed Christ's feet previous to the last supper. We may remark here that it seems unnecessary to hold that because St. Matthew and St. Mark say "two days before the Passover", while St. John says "six days" there were, therefore, two distinct anointings following one another. St. John does not necessarily mean that the supper and the anointing took place six days before, but only that Christ came to Bethany six days before the Passover. At that supper, then, Mary received the glorious encomium, "she hath wrought a good work upon Me . . . in pouring this ointment upon My body she hath done it for My burial . . . wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached . . . that also which she hath done shall be told for a memory of her." Is it credible, in view of all this, that this Mary should have no place at the foot of the cross, nor at the tomb of Christ? Yet it is Mary Magdalen who, according to all the Evangelists, stood at the foot of the cross and assisted at the entombment and was the first recorded witness of the Resurrection. And while St. John calls her "Mary Magdalen" in 19:25, 20:1, and 20:18, he calls her simply "Mary" in 20:11 and 20:16.
In the view we have advocated the series of events forms a consistent whole; the "sinner" comes early in the ministry to seek for pardon; she is described immediately afterwards as Mary Magdalen "out of whom seven devils were gone forth"; shortly after, we find her "sitting at the Lord's feet and hearing His words." To the Catholic mind it all seems fitting and natural. At a later period Mary and Martha turn to "the Christ, the Son of the Living God", and He restores to them their brother Lazarus; a short time afterwards they make Him a supper and Mary once more repeats the act she had performed when a penitent. At the Passion she stands near by; she sees Him laid in the tomb; and she is the first witness of His Resurrection--excepting always His Mother, to whom He must needs have appeared first, though the New Testament is silent on this point. In our view, then, there were two anointings of Christ's feet--it should surely be no difficulty that St. Matthew and St. Mark speak of His head--the first (Luke 7) took place at a comparatively early date; the second, two days before the last Passover. But it was one and the same woman who performed this pious act on each occasion.
The Greek Church maintains that the saint retired to Ephesus with the Blessed Virgin and there died, that her relics were transferred to Constantinople in 886 and are there preserved. Gregory of Tours (De miraculis, I, xxx) supports the statement that she went to Ephesus. However, according to a French tradition , Mary, Lazarus, and some companions came to Marseilles and converted the whole of Provence. Magdalen is said to have retired to a hill, La Sainte-Baume, near by, where she gave herself up to a life of penance for thirty years. When the time of her death arrived she was carried by angels to Aix and into the oratory of St. Maximinus, where she received the viaticum; her body was then laid in an oratory constructed by St. Maximinus at Villa Lata, afterwards called St. Maximin. History is silent about these relics till 745, when according to the chronicler Sigebert, they were removed to Vézelay through fear of the Saracens. No record is preserved of their return, but in 1279, when Charles II, King of Naples, erected a convent at La Sainte-Baume for the Dominicans, the shrine was found intact, with an inscription stating why they were hidden. In 1600 the relics were placed in a sarcophagus sent by Clement VIII, the head being placed in a separate vessel. In 1814 the church of La Sainte-Baume, wrecked during the Revolution, was restored, and in 1822 the grotto was consecrated afresh. The head of the saint now lies there, where it has lain so long, and where it has been the centre of so many pilgrimages.
SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/M/stmarymagdalen.asp#ixzz1Sqkdudkg
TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : MON. JULY 22, 2013
Memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene
Lectionary: 395/603
Reading 1 EX 14:5-18
When it was reported to the king of Egypt
that the people had fled,
Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about them.
They exclaimed, “What have we done!
Why, we have released Israel from our service!”
So Pharaoh made his chariots ready and mustered his soldiersB
six hundred first-class chariots
and all the other chariots of Egypt, with warriors on them all.
So obstinate had the LORD made Pharaoh
that he pursued the children of Israel
even while they were marching away in triumph.
The Egyptians, then, pursued them;
Pharaoh’s whole army, his horses, chariots and charioteers,
caught up with them as they lay encamped by the sea,
at Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
Pharaoh was already near when the children of Israel looked up
and saw that the Egyptians were on the march in pursuit of them.
In great fright they cried out to the LORD.
And they complained to Moses,
“Were there no burial places in Egypt
that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert?
Why did you do this to us?
Why did you bring us out of Egypt?
Did we not tell you this in Egypt, when we said,
‘Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians’?
Far better for us to be the slaves of the Egyptians
than to die in the desert.”
But Moses answered the people,
“Fear not! Stand your ground,
and you will see the victory the LORD will win for you today.
These Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again.
The LORD himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still.”
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me?
Tell the children of Israel to go forward.
And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea,
split the sea in two,
that the children of Israel may pass through it on dry land.
But I will make the Egyptians so obstinate
that they will go in after them.
Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army,
his chariots and charioteers.
The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD,
when I receive glory through Pharaoh
and his chariots and charioteers.”
Responsorial Psalm EX 15:1BC-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. (1b) Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant;
horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
He is my God, I praise him;
the God of my father, I extol him.
R. Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
The LORD is a warrior,
LORD is his name!
Pharaoh’s chariots and army he hurled into the sea;
the elite of his officers were submerged in the Red Sea.
The flood waters covered them,
they sank into the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, O LORD, magnificent in power,
your right hand, O LORD, has shattered the enemy.
Gospel JN 20:1-2, 11-18
On the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”
Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping.
And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb
and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet
where the Body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “They have taken my Lord,
and I don’t know where they laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there,
but did not know it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?”
She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
“Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew,
“Rabbouni,” which means Teacher.
Jesus said to her,
“Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
But go to my brothers and tell them,
‘I am going to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and then reported what he told her.
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An unforgiving sun, a parched earth, and a failed economy have left a small Texas town desolate. For ten years Promise, Texas has known nothing but one curse after another. It's barren, broken, and dying, leaving a town full of despair. When a couple finds a boy walking along a dusty road, alone in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but a mat tucked under his arm, they pick him up in hopes of helping him. What they don't realize is that he has come to help them and the residents of Promise. No one knows who he is or where he came from. Some think he's an answer to prayer. Others think he's a runaway or a false prophet. And the only thing this boy will say about himself is that he's here to help. The town's sheriff, Brody, is determined to uncover the truth. But Brody has his own problems trying to hold a dying town together. Miracle after miracle takes place and the residents of Promise embrace the boy. But when the beloved town doctor dies, it is time for the truth to be revealed. The boy pleads with Brody in front of the whole town to believe that he's come to help, not to hurt anyone. Finally, with his back against the wall the boy reveals his true identity. Written by Mike Norris
NEW KING OF BELGIUM AS FORMER ALBERT II ABDICATES
BELGIUM'S KING has abdicated the throne due to old age. King Albert II, age 79, stepped down and let his son Crown Prince Philippe be sworn in on Sunday, July 21, 2013. "I have noticed how my age and my health have not permitted me to exercise my duties the way I would like to." King Philippe is 53 and speaks both official languages of Flemish and French. He was trained in Belgium as a pilot. His wife is now Queen Mathilde. They have four children, Princess Elizabeth, Prince Emmanuel, Princess Eléonore, and Prince Gabriel.
Here is the speech of King Philippe upon taking office:
Your Majesties, Mr. President of the Chamber of Representatives, Madam President of the Senate, Deputies, Senators, Ladies and Gentlemen,
In taking the constitutional oath before you, I am aware of the responsibility which is now incumbent upon me. This oath is a solemn promise which renews the relationship of trust that has existed for nearly two hundred years between the King and the Belgian people.
Today I am succeeding six other Kings, including my father, King Albert. Sire, for twenty years, you have maintained this trust by showing yourself to be on the one hand close to everyone, warm and profoundly human, and on the other attentive and committed in the exercising of your responsibility as Head of State. Queen Paola has assisted you in your task, whilst devoting herself more specifically to such essential fields as education and culture.
With serenity, dignity and devotion, you have accompanied the Belgian people on sometimes difficult occasions, as well as during happy moments, at a time marked by profound change throughout the world. We are most grateful to you.
I am aware of my great fortune to be able to count on the permanent support of my wife, Queen Mathilde. Dear Mathilde, for many years you have channelled your efforts wholeheartedly into numerous activities. You have an innate sense of human contact. Along with our dear children, we shall confidently begin this new chapter in our lives and that of our country.
I am beginning my reign with the determination to place myself at the service of all Belgians. I shall therefore work in perfect understanding with the government and consistent with the Constitution. Over the years, I have been able to build ever-stronger ties with a great many of my fellow citizens. I intend to intensify this dialogue.
The wealth of our country and our institutional system resides notably in the fact that we have turned our diversity into a strength. Each time, we succeed in striking the balance between unity and diversity. Belgium’s strength is precisely its ability to give meaning to our diversity.
The latest State reform has brought about a major transfer of powers to the federated entities. It will bring citizens closer to decision making and enable us to deal more effectively with challenges in the future. Belgium’s strength also resides in its federated entities. I intend to maintain constructive contacts with their leaders. I am convinced that cooperation between the Federal State, the Communities and the Regions will bring about greater benefits for our citizens and businesses.
Together we can highlight each individual’s talents. This is the source of the genius of our country, which has developed throughout our history. It is a state of mind that has shaped our character and our values. Facing up to the most complex problems together, reconciling various aspirations and integrating them without losing any of their originality and strength has also helped forge our inventiveness and our sense of moderation.
The values that inspire us have guided generations of men and women before us. Through their commitment in society and politics, they have ensured our country has acquired a high level of prosperity and solidarity. They have provided both a solid framework for enterprise and effective social security.
We are now confronted with a crisis that is hitting many of our fellow citizens very hard. Today I would like to encourage every man and woman to face up to this challenge. I am profoundly convinced that there is unsuspected potential in each one of us which is waiting to be revealed. Besides we have together the means to surmount our difficulties and guarantee everyone the opportunity to progress.
Now more than ever, the European project has to give us hope and confidence. The Europe we are working towards must bring growth and solidarity. We are proud that our capital city is also the capital of Europe and that at each moment in its history, Belgian leaders have worked at the heart of this great project. During my missions abroad, I have been able to observe how much Belgium’s assets, its talents and strengths are appreciated throughout the world.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the spirit in which I shall work during my reign. I shall support all of our qualities, in Belgium and abroad.
Together, let us bring a new surge of enthusiasm to our country.
Long live Belgium! Vive la Belgique! Leve België! Es lebe Belgien!
Source of Speech: http://www.21july.monarchie.be/content/swearing-hm-king
COOL SURFER PRIEST FR. CALLOWAY WRITES AMAZING NEW BOOK - UNDER THE MANTLE
Under the Mantle: Marian Thoughts from a 21st Century Priest [Paperback]
Fr. Donald Calloway (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
1 new from $18.95 6 used from $17.64
Under the Mantle: Marian Thoughts from a 21st Century Priest is the long-awaited book by Fr. Donald Calloway, author of the bestselling book No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy. In Under the Mantle, Fr. Calloway deftly shares his personal insights on topics including the Eucharist, the papacy, the Church, confession, Divine Mercy, prayer, the cross, masculinity and femininity. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the central thread weaving a tapestry throughout with quotes about Our Lady from saints, blesseds, and popes. Under the Mantle is certain to become a "tour de force" Marian book for the Year of Faith!
BUY NOW - http://www.amazon.com/Under-Mantle-Marian-Thoughts-Century/dp/1596142731/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374433828&sr=8-1&keywords=under+the+mantle
ABOUT FR. CALLOWAY
Date of Birth: June 29, 1972
Place of Birth: Dearborn, Michigan
Religious Community: Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary
Priesthood Ordination: May 31, 2003 at The National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA
B.A. (Franciscan University of Steubenville)
M.Div. (Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC)
S.T.B. (Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC)
S.T.L. (International Marian Research Institute, Dayton)
Favorite Saints: Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, Guardian Angel, St. Michael the Archangel
Favorite Devotions: Rosary, Divine Mercy
Favorite Books: True Devotion to Mary (St. Louis de Montfort),
The World's First Love (Fulton J. Sheen), Diary of St. Faustina
Favorite Sacred Places: Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, Shrine of Our Lady of Lichen in Poland
Favorite Secular Places: San Diego, New Zealand, Scotland, Canadian Rockies, Glacier National Park (Montana),
Favorite Hobby: Surfing!
Praise for Under the Mantle!
We are living in an extraordinary time of grace and mercy. It is a time in which many people, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, are experiencing a renewed appreciation for the sacred and unchanging truths of Catholicism. Though the vast majority of universities and colleges today indoctrinate their students into the dictatorship of moral relativism, the media puts forth an ideology of rampant secularism, and the political realm is filled with proponents of a culture of death, nevertheless, it is in these times that Jesus, through the Immaculata, is raising up a new generation of Catholics. In Under the Mantle: Marian Thoughts from a 21st Century Priest, Fr. Calloway masterfully blends together aspects of his own conversion story with profound theological insights into Catholicism, presenting everyone from "Joe six-pack in the pew" to a seminary rector with incredibly vivid and thought-provoking analogies into why it is so important for a Christian to live under the mantle of Mary. I very highly recommend that everyone read this book!
-Very Rev. Douglas Mosey, C.S.B., Ph.D. President-Rector
Holy Apostles College & Seminary. Cromwell, CT
One of the biggest challenges facing Catholics today is the risk of becoming jaded, lukewarm, disillusioned, or unenthused about their Catholic faith. Indeed, not being madly in love with Jesus, Mary, and the Church is an increasing threat in the lives of many today. For this reason, this book could not have come at a better time. In this book Fr. Calloway weaves both his personal conversion story and love for Our Lady with wave after wave of fascinating insights into the Catholic faith, offering the reader ample reasons for rediscovering and falling back in love with the saving mysteries of Catholicism. This book is a must read for all!
-Derry Connolly, Ph.D. President
John Paul the Great Catholic University. San Diego, CA
Raw, unapologetic, and inspiring! A book that is easily understood, yet delving deep, beyond the litany of filters, and challenging spiritually hungry souls to wake up. A truly unique and extraordinary Marian gem for the New Evangelization. You will be thanked when you pass it on!
-Milanka Lachman, L.H.S. Founder & President
206 Tours (Catholic Pilgrimages). Hauppauge, NY
TOP 10 CATHOLIC UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES OF NORTH AMERICA
In order to promote Catholic Education JESUSCARITASEST.ORG, Daily News, will feature A Catholic Educational Institution GUIDE YEARLY. These Colleges and Universities are in no particular order since they serve different needs, talents and gifts. They have been chosen from an examination of numerous Catholic guides of Catholic higher education. Please note that these are only accredited universities.
FOR BREAKING NEWS AND MORE LIKE US ON FACEBOOK NOW
https://www.facebook.com/catholicnewsworld
POPE JOHN PAUL II's encyclical on Education states:
In the world today, characterized by such rapid developments in science and technology, the tasks of a Catholic University assume an ever greater importance and urgency. Scientific and technological discoveries create an enormous economic and industrial growth, but they also inescapably require the correspondingly necessary search for meaning in order to guarantee that the new discoveries be used for the authentic good of individuals and of human society as a whole. If it is the responsibility of every University to search for such meaning, a Catholic University is called in a particular way to respond to this need: its Christian inspiration enables it to include the moral, spiritual and religious dimension in its research, and to evaluate the attainments of science and technology in the perspective of the totality of the human person.
EX CORDE ECCLESIAE
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_15081990_ex-corde-ecclesiae_en.html
1. AVE MARIA UNIVERSITY
Ave Maria University is a vibrant university located in beautiful southwest Florida. It is an academic institution that pledges faithfulness to the teachings of the Church and is committed to offering one of the finest classical liberal arts curricula available, as well as opportunities for specialized study in all of the sciences, social sciences, and humanities.
Ave Maria University
5050 Ave Maria Blvd.
Ave Maria, FL 34142
http://www.avemaria.edu/
SEE http://jceworld.blogspot.ca/2011/10/america-usa-ave-maria-university.html
2. CATHOLIC DISTANCE UNIVERSITY:
CDU was founded in 1983 as the first catechetical institute in the United States to award the Catechetical Diploma and t each the Catholic faith to adults using distance education. 2008 marked CDU’s 25th year as a Catholic institution of higher learning. Location: The school’s academic and administrative offices are located in Hamilton, Virginia, about 50 miles west of Washington, DC. CDU students are located in all 50 states and over 40 countries.
Chairman of the Board: The Most Reverend Paul S. Loverde, DD
Contact Information: Our web site can be reached at http://www.cdu.edu/ . Contact us at admissions@cdu.edu , 1.888.254.4238 ext. 700 or you can write CDU at 120 East Colonial Highway, Hamilton, VA 20158.
SEE: http://jesuscaritasest.blogspot.ca/2010/03/catholic-world-news-wed-march-10-2010.html
CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA: Located near the heart of Washington, D.C., The Catholic University of America is unique as the national University of the Catholic Church and the only higher education institution founded by the U.S. bishops. It is committed to being a comprehensive Catholic and American institution of higher learning.
Today the private and coeducational campus has approximately 3,694 undergraduate and 3,144 graduate students from all 50 states and 86 countries enrolled in 12 schools of architecture and planning, arts and sciences, business and economics, canon law, engineering, law, music, nursing, philosophy, professional studies, social service, and theology and religious studies. Eighty percent of undergraduates and 57 percent of graduate students are Catholic.
School of Architecture and Planning
Benjamin T. Rome School of Music
School of Philosophy
National Catholic School of Social Service
Pre-Professional Studies
Metropolitan School of Professional Studies
620 Michigan Ave., N.E.
http://www.cua.edu/
4. JOHN PAUL THE GREAT CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
JP CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY RELEASE: John Paul the Great Catholic University, which opened in September 2006, is a visionary teaching institution focused on and dedicated to molding students into future innovators and creators, leaders and entrepreneurs. Students have the opportunity to acquire a deep and personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. Catholic ethical, moral, and social values provide a guiding compass for everything we do.
SEE: http://jceworld.blogspot.ca/2011/11/america-usa-john-paul-great-university.html
5. FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY OF STEUBENVILLE
Why Franciscan? Get the Facts
Our 42 undergraduate majors and 32 minors, as well as seven graduate programs, offer a variety of academic challenges within the spirit of Christian humanism that educates you as a whole person. Inside and outside the classroom, you’ll experience the joy-filled Franciscan spirituality that enables you to answer the call of the Holy Father to evangelize the culture through volunteer work, mission trips, and community service. Our dynamic campus life, where unique faith “households” create a family away from home and lifelong connections, encourages your participation in everything from intramural sports and NCAA Division III athletics to Chapel Ministries, student government, clubs, and organizations for faith, fun, and friendship.
740-283-6226 voice
admissions@franciscan.edu
www.franciscan.edu
SEE : http://jceworld.blogspot.ca/2011/09/america-usa-franciscan-university.html
6. REDEEMER PACIFIC COLLEGE CANADA
Redeemer Pacific College (RPC) is a Catholic liberal arts college with a unique partnership with Trinity Western University (TWU), providing students with a solid foundation in Catholic liberal arts as they work towards an undergraduate degree in any one of the 40 + undergraduate majors offered by TWU. RPC functions in fidelity to the teaching authority of the Catholic Church as we lead our students to grow in knowledge and love of Christ and His Church.
http://www.redeemerpacific.ca/
inShare0
SEE http://jceworld.blogspot.ca/2012/06/america-featured-university-redeemer.html
7. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS COLLEGE
It Roman Catholic with Lay Administration. They offer Bachelor of Arts degree.
Room & Board $7,550
Other Costs $450 (books & supplies, no additional fees)
(805) 525-4417 | contact
http://www.thomasaquinas.edu/
8. DE SALES UNIVERSITY
A private, four-year Catholic university for men and women administered by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. http://www.desales.edu/
1,576 full-time undergraduate day students. Total full-time enrollment for traditional, graduate, and evening
(ACCESS) students: 2,468.
45% male, 55% female; 11% minority; 24 states and 4 other countries represented. Faculty
103 full-time faculty members; 76% have the highest degree attainable in their field.
Center Valley Campus
DeSales University
2755 Station Avenue
Center Valley, PA 18034
Expenses (2011-2012)
Room & Board $10,520
Student & Technology Fee $1,200
SEE http://jceworld.blogspot.ca/2011/12/america-usa-university-featured-de.html
9. HOLY APOSTLES COLLEGE AND SEMINARY
Holy Apostles College and Seminary is Approved by The Cardinal Newman Society. Holy Apostle's commitment to fostering a strong sense of Catholic identity.
Holy Apostles College & Seminary - 33 Prospect Hill Road Cromwell, CT 06416-2027, USA
http://www.holyapostles.edu/
HOLY APOSTLES WEBSITE: Holy Apostles College & Seminary is a regionally accredited, co-educational Catholic college located in historic Cromwell, Connecticut. We welcome and serve lay commuter students, distance learning students, as well as seminarians.
We offer undergraduate, graduate, and seminary degrees in philosophy & theology, in on-campus, on-line, and blended formats.
SEE: http://jceworld.blogspot.ca/2011/10/america-usa-holy-apostles-college.html
CHRISTENDOM COLLEGE
Basic Statistical Data for the 2012-2013 Undergraduate Academic Year
Religious Affiliation: Roman Catholic
Degrees: Associate of Arts (A.A.), Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Master of Arts (M.A.)
Total Undergraduates: 388 (from 45 States and 5 foreign countries)
Male/Female Ratio: 42:58
Freshman Class Stats: 105 freshmen:
48% are siblings of either current Christendom students or alumni, 13% are legacy students, 47% attended one of the College's Summer Programs, from 33 US States, UK, Canada, Greece, and Ireland, 35% of them are on academic scholarship.
Freshman SAT Midranges:
Reading: 560-700
Writing: 570-690
Average SAT score: 1820
Tuition: $21,000
Room & Board: $7,970
Freshman Retention Rate: 83%
Graduation Rate: 69% 4 years 70% 6 years
% Courses with fewer than 20 students: 59%
Student/Faculty Ratio: 14:1
% Courses Taught by Our Graduate Students: 0
3 Most Popular Majors: History, Philosophy, Political Science
% Students Living on Campus: 95%
% Students receiving need-based financial aid: 51%
% Students receiving need-based or merit-based aid: 75%
Yield Rate: 51%
What is Christendom College?
Christendom College is a four-year coeducational Roman Catholic Liberal Arts College with undergraduate and graduate programs offered on three campuses in Front Royal and Alexandria, Virginia, and Rome, Italy.
Founded in 1977 in response to the devastating blow inflicted on Catholic higher education by the cultural revolution which swept across America in the 1960s, Christendom's goal is to provide a truly Catholic education in fidelity to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and thereby to prepare students for their role of restoring all things in Christ.
SEE: http://www.christendom.edu/
Front Royal Campus
Department/Office
134 Christendom Drive
Front Royal, VA 22630-6534 Alexandria Campus (Graduate School)
Christendom Graduate School
4407 Sano Street
Main Number: 800.877.5456 or 540.636.2900
Fax: 540.636.1655 / Email
EMAIL US YOUR SUGGESTIONS OF CATHOLIC UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES @
jesuscaritasest@gmail.com
COOL SURFER PRIEST FR. CALLOWAY WRITES AMAZING NEW...
TOP 10 CATHOLIC UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES OF NORTH...
POPE FRANCIS LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF JESUS - SUNDAY...
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RAY MEAD "DANCING LEGS", 1998
Although Ray Mead (1921-1988) was born in the UK, and studied at the famed Slade School of Art, and served in the Royal Air Force during the war, his career as an artist was established and blossomed in Canada.
Mead immigrated to Canada and settled in Hamilton in 1946. He had important relationships with Walter Yarwood and Hortense Gordon. The later shared many of her lessons that she had absorbed from studying with Hans Hoffmann.
In the early 1950s, Mead made several trips to New York City being influenced by the nascent dominance of Abstract Expressionism. As a result, Mead's work is a fine synthesis of both European Modernism and mid-century American abstraction. Mead would be part of the core group of members of Painters Eleven.
Mead was not nearly as active as some of his contemporaries (notably Harold Town and William Ronald) after the demise of Painters Eleven. He, in fact, took a significant amount of time off from being a studio artist in order to focus on graphic design.
Despite the art market's predictable preference for works created during the 1950's, Mead is one member of Painters Eleven who arguably became more distinctive (and perhaps better!) towards the end of his life. His compositions become more confident and graphic, often alluding to the late works of Robert Motherwell. This intimate work is a fine example of Ray Mead's fantastic later work.
Questions about this artwork? Contact us or call +1.416.704.1720
"Dancing Legs"
Acrylic, gouache and collage on board
Signed and dated by the artist
Canada, 1998
10.5"W 8.5"H (work)
16.5"W 14.5"H (framed)
Notes: additional images are coming
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Vibration - Measurement, Control and Standards
How can you measure vibration?
A complete assessment of exposure to vibration requires the measurement of vibration acceleration in meters per second squared (m/s2). Vibration exposure direction is also important and is measured in defined directions. Vibration frequencies and duration of exposure are also determined. How hard a person grips a tool affects the amount of vibrational energy entering the hands; therefore, hand-grip force is another important factor in the exposure assessment.
The amount of exposure is determined by measuring acceleration in the units of m/s2. Acceleration is often used as a measure of vibration exposure for the following reasons:
Several types of instruments are available for measuring acceleration, the rate of change of velocity in speed or direction per unit time (e.g., per second).
Measuring acceleration can also give information about velocity and amplitude of vibration.
The degree of harm is related to the magnitude of acceleration.
Health research data tells us that the degree of harm is related to the magnitude of acceleration.
A typical vibration measurement system includes a device to sense the vibration (accelerometer), and an instrument to measure the level of vibration. This equipment also has settings for measuring frequency, a frequency-weighting network, and a display such as a meter, printer or recorder.
The accelerometer produces an electrical signal. The size of this signal is proportional to the acceleration applied to it. The frequency-weighting network mimics the human sensitivity to vibration of different frequencies. The use of weighting networks gives a single number as a measure of vibration exposure and is expressed as the frequency-weighted vibration exposure in metres per second squared (m/s2) units of acceleration.
The frequency-weighting network for hand-arm vibration is given in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard ISO 5349. Human hand is not equally sensitive to vibration energy at all frequencies. The sensitivity is the highest around 8-16 Hz (Hertz or cycles per second). Measuring equipment takes this fact into account by using a weighting network. The gain is assigned a value of 1 for vibration frequencies to which the hand-arm system has the highest sensitivity. The dashed lines in Figure 1 represent the filter tolerances in the weighting network.
Are there methods for controlling exposure to vibration?
Protecting workers from the effects of vibration usually requires a combination of appropriate tool selection, the use of appropriate vibration-absorbing materials (in gloves, for example), good work practices, and education programs.
What are some examples of controlling exposure to vibration?
Anti-Vibration Tools
Tools can be designed or mounted in ways that help reduce the vibration level. For example, using anti-vibration chain saws reduces acceleration levels by a factor of about 10. These types of chain saws must be well maintained. Maintenance must include periodic replacement of shock absorbers. Some pneumatic tool companies manufacture anti-vibration tools such as anti-vibration pneumatic chipping hammers, pavement breakers and vibration-damped pneumatic riveting guns.
Conventional protective gloves (e.g., cotton, leather), commonly used by workers, do not reduce the vibration that is transferred to workers' hands when they are using vibrating tools or equipment. Anti-vibration gloves are made using a layer of viscoelastic material. Actual measurements have shown that such gloves have limited effectiveness. When the vibration hazard cannot be removed or controlled adequately, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as anti-vibration gloves may be used.
Safe Work Practices
Along with using anti-vibration tools and gloves, workers can reduce the risk of hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) by following work practices:
Use a minimum strength hand grip that still allows the safe operation of the tool or process.
Wear sufficient clothing, including gloves, to keep warm.
Avoid continuous exposure by taking rest periods.
Rest the tool on the work piece whenever practical.
Do not use faulty tools.
Maintain tools properly. Tools that are worn, blunt or out of alignment will vibrate more.
Consult a doctor at the first sign of vibration disease and ask about the possibility of changing to a job with less exposure.
Training programs are an effective means of heightening the awareness of HAVS in the workplace. Training should include proper use and maintain vibrating tools to avoid unnecessary exposure to vibration. Vibrating machines and equipment often produce loud noise as well. Therefore, training and education in controlling vibration should also address concerns about noise control.
Whole-Body Vibration
The following precautions help to reduce whole-body vibration exposure:
Limit the time spent by workers on a vibrating surface.
Mechanically isolate the vibrating source or surface to reduce exposure.
Ensure that equipment is well maintained to avoid excessive vibration.
Install vibration damping seats.
The vibration control design is an intricate engineering problem and must be set up by qualified professionals. Many factors specific to the individual work station govern the choice of the vibration isolation material and the machine mounting methods.
Are there any Canadian regulations or guidelines for vibration exposure?
Many Canadian jurisdictions do not have regulations concerning vibration exposure. However, it is prudent to reduce the level of exposure as much as practical since vibration causes ill health effects. It is possible to do this by using engineering controls, safe work practices, and protective equipment. The design of vibration-damped equipment and engine mountings are the most effective engineering methods of controlling vibration exposure.
In the absence of formal regulations, Canadian agencies often use the Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) and guidelines recommended by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). These TLVs are based on the recommendations of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
What are the standards or guidelines for exposure to hand-arm vibration?
The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) has developed Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) for hand-arm vibration exposure. The 2016 edition refers to a daily vibration exposure [8 hour equivalent total value] of 5 metres/sec2 to represent conditions where it is believed that most workers may be exposed repeatedly without progressing beyond Stage 1 of the Stockholm Workshop Classification System for Vibration-Induced White Finger. Stage 1 is termed “mild” and is described as “occasional attacks affecting only the tips of one or more fingers”.
What are the standards or guidelines for exposure to whole-body vibration?
The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) has developed Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) for whole-body vibration exposure. The 2016 edition refers to the ISO Standard 2631-1 “Mechanical vibration and shock - Evaluation of human exposure to whole-body vibration” (published in1997, and confirmed current in 2014). The Standard focuses on the possible effects of vibration on health, comfort and perception, and on the incidence of motion sickness. They caution that vibration is often complex, contains many frequencies, occurs in several directions, and changes over time.
The ACGIH TLVs use a “curve” which compares ISO 2631 Health Guidance Caution Zones, the weighted acceleration, and the exposure time, as well as a series of calculations to assist users. Use of the ACGIH and/or ISO guidelines directly is recommended.
Also, it is important to remember that people vary in their susceptibility to effects of exposure to vibration so the “exposure limits” should be considered as guides in controlling exposure: they should not be considered as an upper “safe” limit of exposure or a boundary between safe and harmful levels.
Document last updated on December 1, 2016
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Our Historydcwd2018-09-14T12:32:55-04:00
The Charles County Public Library (CCPL) was originally formed in 1922 by the Homemaker’s Clubs of Charles County with the help of Extension Agent Paul Dennis “PD” Brown. The first library was housed in La Plata on the second floor of the old town jail (which still stands behind the County Courthouse today). The collection contained 3,000 volumes and additional books were delivered by railroad from Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library.
Until 1950, the library was funded through private donations and fundraising. That year the Board of Trustees was formed and the library hired its first full-time librarian. Soon after, the system added a bookmobile to deliver materials throughout the county. Additional library branches were set up in 1959 at Potomac Heights and in 1964 at Waldorf. A fourth branch was added in 1973 at the Bryans Road Shopping Center.
The Potomac Heights location was called Glymont. Glymont Library moved to Rt. 210 and Glymont Road in 1982. Glymont closed in 1991 and merged with the library branch in Bryans Road. These combined libraries are now known as the Potomac Branch and moved into the current location on Ruth B. Swann Drive in November, 1996.
In the summer of 1966, the La Plata Library moved into its current home at the corner of Garrett and Charles Streets. In June of 1981, after outgrowing a series of smaller spaces, Waldorf opened at its current location in a building bearing the name of the Charles County Public Library’s founder, P.D. Brown. The P.D. Brown Memorial Branch in Waldorf underwent an expansion and remodeling in September 2001.
Much has changed since the books arrived by train and were kept in a jail. The Charles County Public Library now has a staff of more than 80 full-time and part-time employees. Our three branches house over 200,000 volumes of printed material, audio books, film, and other documents. A fourth branch, Waldorf West, opened in October 2012. Currently, there are over 70,000 county residents who have library cards and that number grows every day. If you don’t have a card yet, come in and see us.
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Jonita Aadland has been a professional violinist/fiddler since 1988 when she was recruited by Disney to perform at the Norway Pavilion at EPCOT. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from Belmont University in Nashville, TN in 1993 having also attended Iowa State University, receiving an Associate of Arts degree from Valencia Community College, and also studied World Arts and Cultures and Music Education at UCLA in Los Angeles, CA. She regularly supplied various World Music acts for Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL as a producer and leader/front musician of Celtic, Norwegian, Country, and French bands at EPCOT from 2000 to the present. She also performs regularly at other local Orlando venues such as SeaWorld, Portofino Hotel at Universal, Ritz Carlton and Gaylord Hotels, as well as numerous conventions and weddings in the area.
Jonita performed regularly with her friend, and legendary guitarist, Chet Atkins during her time living in Nashville during the 1990s. She also created and produced several large fiddle contests across the country and fiddle camps, promoting traditional fiddling. Jonita grew up in Iowa and spent her teenage years as a competitor at national fiddle championships and is a passionate scholar of Texas and contest fiddle styles, as well as European styles, especially Scandinavian. Her true calling is to teach young people the joy of music and to play the violin, through the Suzuki method, and also expanding their horizons to other styles of the violin.
Jonita is has been an instructor of violin at Osceola County Schools in Florida with PreK students ages 4 &5 since 2010. She also teaches at the Foreign Language Immersion School in Celebration, Florida as well as Creation Kids Village and Ladybird Academy and has numerous private students, some of whom are members of the Florida Youth Symphony. She completed her Book 1 and 2 Suzuki violin training at the Colorado Suzuki Institute with Charles Krigbaum in June 2015 and Book 3 at the Florida Music Institute in 2016 with Anna Montzka-Smelser.
Please go to JonitaFiddler.com for complete bio and pictures.
TUITION/PROGRAM INFO
SCHEDULE/EVENTS
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Should Josh Duggar Make His Return to Reality TV in Episode of ‘Counting On’?
Michelle Kapusta
In 2015, a scandal rocked the stars of reality TV show 19 Kids and Counting when it was reported that Josh Duggar, the eldest child of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, had molested five young girls — two of whom are his own sisters. After the accusations came to light, the older Duggar son released a statement acknowledging and apologizing for his “wrongdoing.” TLC later canceled the popular series that had been on the air since 2008.
This wasn’t the only scandal Duggar was involved in, but through it all his wife, Anna, stuck by her husband’s side. It seems now that some time has passed, his fans are ready to move on from his past too — which is good news for Duggar, because he reportedly wants to return to reality TV.
Here’s what’s been going on with Duggar since he’s been out the spotlight and more on his possible return to the small screen.
Ashley Madison hack revealed Duggar as a member
Josh Duggar was revealed to be a member of the infidelity site, Ashley Madison. | Brian Frank/Reuters
Following the molestation allegations, Duggar was involved in another scandal when Ashley Madison, a website catering to people seeking extramarital affairs, was hacked, and the names of its members were released. He admitted to being unfaithful to his wife and apologized again to her and all the fans he let down.
In 2017, In Touch reported that a lawsuit was filed against the reality TV star by Matthew McCarthy, a DJ in Los Angeles who claimed Duggar used his image as his profile picture on the site without his permission.
He entered and completed faith-based rehab
Josh and Anna Duggar have been trying to save their marriage. | TLC
Less than a week after he confessed to infidelity, his family announced that Duggar entered a faith-based treatment facility. In March 2016, he left the rehab center in Illinois and returned home to Arkansas.
Prior to his completion of the rehabilitation program, his wife, Anna Duggar, addressed the scandals and spoke out about how hard things had been for the couple. She said that she decided to go see her husband while he was away because she believed that was “an important step on a long difficult road.”
19 Kids and Counting spinoff doesn’t include him
Josh Duggar won’t appear in the 19 Kids and Counting spinoff. | TLC
After TLC pulled the plug on 19 Kids and Counting, the network created the spinoff show Counting On.
The series premiered in December 2015 and featured all of the Duggar children except for Josh. However, Anna Duggar and his children have made several appearances on the show.
The couple revealed pregnancy and marriage issues
We're expecting a little boy!
A post shared by Joshua Duggar (@joshduggarr) on Mar 18, 2017 at 1:32am PDT
A year after Duggar left rehab, he and wife Anna announced on the Duggar family webpage that they were working on their marriage and are expecting baby No. 5. The couple’s statement read:
For nearly the last two years, we have quietly worked to save our marriage, focus on our children, and rebuild our lives together as a family. Doing so is never easy after a breach of trust. We’ve learned that a life of faith and rebuilding a life together is simply done one day at a time. As we continue our journey as a family and rebuild our lives, we are delighted to share with you that we are expecting a new baby boy later this year. Beauty comes from ashes and we cannot wait to see and kiss the face of this sweet new boy!
Duggar may be returning to TV with his wife and family
It's my Birthday & my Family ❤ #29
A post shared by Joshua Duggar (@joshduggarr) on Mar 3, 2017 at 1:30pm PST
For the most part, Duggar has laid low and stayed out of the spotlight ever since news of his various scandals broke, but now, he reportedly wants to return to TV. That possible return will likely come on a future episode of Counting On with the rest of his family. According to In Touch, in an effort to boost ratings for Counting On, Jim Bob Duggar has asked the network to bring their older son back.
“He spent a month trying to convince TLC that Josh should be back on the show. They finally caved and agreed to let him film an upcoming Counting On webisode where he’ll talk about his joy at learning he’s going to be a father again,” a source told the publication, also adding that if the episode is well-received, “He’ll appear on the next season of Counting On.”
Anna gave birth to a fifth child
Mason Garett Duggar
A post shared by Joshua Duggar (@joshduggarr) on Sep 12, 2017 at 11:42pm PDT
On Sept. 12, 2017, Duggar and his wife welcomed their fifth child, Mason Garrett Duggar.
The couple posted the happy news on the Duggar family website and shared a picture of their little one who weighed in at 9 pounds, 1 ounce.
They’re still trying to work on their marriage
A post shared by Joshua Duggar (@joshduggarr) on Sep 14, 2017 at 1:01am PDT
The talk about Josh and Anna Duggar’s marriage being broken beyond repair hasn’t really died down since the molestation scandal first made headlines. An insider claimed that while the pair has been in therapy together for quite some time, their marriage is still on the rocks.
“They have continued to work through their issues in couples counseling,” a source told RadarOnline, adding that their marriage is only hanging on by a thread.
Follow Michelle Kapusta on Twitter @philamichelle.
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Mylan profit misses estimates as EpiPen sales decline
Home Mylan profit misses estimates as EpiPen sales decline
Mylan’s third-quarter profit missed analysts’ estimates as the drugmaker sold fewer EpiPen emergency allergy shots ahead of a cheaper version of the product that could be launched before next year.
Under pressure from lawmakers who criticized EpiPen’s high price of $600 for a two-pack, Mylan announced in August that it would offer a half-price, generic version of the life-saving hand-held auto-injectors. The anticipation of the generic launch resulted in a drop in EpiPen’s sales volume in the third quarter, leading to a 4 percent decline in revenue at the specialty-drug division, which sells the shot.
EpiPen has been a major driver of profit at Mylan, generating about 40 percent of its operating profits. The company, which has a legal address in the Netherlands and is run from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, said Wednesday it expects to launch the product in the first half of December, and more than 80 percent of patients using EpiPen are projected to switch to it.
Earnings excluding some items totaled $1.38 a share, the company said in a statement, compared to the $1.45 average of predictions compiled by Bloomberg.
Sales at Mylan’s generics unit, its biggest business, jumped 17 percent to $2.61 billion, boosted by the acquisition of Swedish pharmaceutical company Meda AB. The deal expanded Mylan’s market reach and brought in a cache of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. The company told analysts that integrating Meda’s business continues.
Chief Commercial Officer Anthony Mauro said on a conference call that generic price declines in the third quarter compared to a year earlier were in the mid-single digits and expected to continue through the end of the year. He said the generic industry is based on “vigorous competition,” and Mylan often experiences “a net deflationary price environment.”
“Our business model has never been premised on price increases for our growth, and this remains the case today,” Mauro said on the call.
The EpiPen generic could help Mylan maintain some of the market share it would have lost with the introduction of a rival generic. Competitors have failed to receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for their own treatments, but EpiPen’s position will be challenged next year when a recalled product, Auvi-Q from closely held Kaleo Inc., will resume sales. Kaleo’s product was recalled over potential malfunctions that could give patients the wrong dose of drug. It hasn’t settled on a price.
EpiPen pricing first drew attention from Congress in August, and lawmakers asked about Medicaid payments the following month, when Chief Executive Officer Heather Bresch testified Sept. 21 before a House committee.
Bresch told analysts on Wednesday that the company wished it had anticipated how some patients would be paying full list price for EpiPen. She said the health care system “was not built for consumerism” and “needs to be completely reinvented.” She also said the company has applied to extend EpiPen’s expiration date.
“I would like to re-emphasize that Mylan is much more than any one product and our reach goes far beyond any one market,” she said.
Mylan posted a third-quarter net loss of $119.8 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with net income of $428.6 million, or 83 cents, a year earlier, primarily as a result of a $465 million settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over Medicaid rebates for EpiPen announced last month. In addition, the company still faces investigations by the West Virginia attorney general and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Congress continues to criticize the EpiPen-related settlement. Medicaid, which provides health insurance to the poor, gets a 23 percent discount on brand-name drugs and a 13 percent discount on generics. EpiPen had been classified incorrectly as a generic since at least 1997, both by Mylan and previous makers of the life-saving medicine, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service.
Bresch said the company remains interested in “bolt-on” deals, which she said wouldn’t be major acquisitions such as Meda.
Source: http://www.pellachronicle.com/
November 10, 2016 / Pharma News
Oral Contraceptive Balcoltra Gets FDA Approval
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Gilead Announces Data Demonstrating Non-Inferiority of Once-Daily Descovy® vs. Once-Daily Truvada® for Prevention of HIV Infection
Watch out for this antibiotic if you have heart disease, FDA says
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Exhibits & History
Chester County Feme Sole Trader
Hannah H. T. Elliott: Chester County Feme Sole Trader
Under the early Pennsylvania legal system, single women or femes sole enjoyed relatively equal legal rights, with regards to property, as did men. Such was not the case for femes covert, or married women. In keeping with the English principle “Unity of person” the law recognized man and wife as a single legal entity under the husband’s management. Upon marriage, women relinquished essentially all of their public rights and responsibilities. They could not institute legal suit or even execute contracts (and thus conduct business) in their own names; such public activities had to be executed by their husbands.1 Furthermore, until the 1848 married women’s property act, which gave women ownership of and disposal rights to their own property2, husbands had the legal right to manage their wives’ real estate and collect all profits produced therefrom, and to use and dispose of their wives’ personal property and wages as they pleased.
Theoretically, if a marriage were ideal- that is, if a husband provided for his wife and represented her wishes- this arrangement might not have been immediately troublesome. However, in a more realistic and dire situation, such as marital desertion, this could have put a woman in a precarious position. Without legal authority to publicly take action (and no husband present to do so for them) or to control the profits from her own work, a woman might not have had a means to support herself and her children. In an attempt to prevent abandoned women from becoming a burden on the public, Pennsylvania legislators passed an act in 1718 that stipulated that women, who were left while their husbands were at sea, could petition the court for feme sole trader status, whereby a feme covert could conduct business as if she were unmarried, in order to earn a livelihood.3
In 1855, the legislature expanded this statute. On 1 hand, it reinforced that a man does, in fact, have the right to claim against his wife’s will under normal circumstances. On the other hand, however, the statute actually further empowered feme sole traders in that it specifically invalidated a deserter husband’s right to claim his wife’s property. The act reads:
That whensoever any husband, from drunkenness, profligacy or other cause, shall neglect or refuse to provide for his wife, or shall desert her, she shall have all the rights and privileges secured to a feme sole trader, under the act of the twenty-second of February, 1 thousand 7 hundred and 18, entitled “An Act concerning feme sole traders,” and be subject as therein provided, and her property, real and personal, howsoever acquired, shall be subject to her free and absolute disposal during life, or by will, without any liability to be interfered with or obtained by such husband, and in case of her intestacy shall go to her next of kin, as if her husband were previously dead.4
In December of 1865, Mrs. Hannah H. T. Elliot of West Chester, Pennsylvania testified to the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County that her husband William, a traveling lecturer in Phrenology, had absented himself from her household several years earlier and had since failed to provide for his family.
Having been left responsible for 3 children (2 being from her previous marriage) and a household, Hannah was forced to borrow money from friends and relatives in order to open a small trimmings store from which to earn a living.
To protect herself and her interests, Hannah petitioned the court and was granted feme sole trader status, whereby she could legally conduct business on her own behalf and retain the profits. 5
Mrs. H.H.T. Elliot, as she was referred to professionally, ran the store at 7 West Gay Street for nearly 15 years (1861-75), selling various notions, trimmings, and Butterick clothing patterns.
She appears to have been a successful independent entrepreneur, as by the time of her death in 1875 Hannah H. T. Elliot was a “well-known lady…who was highly esteemed for her estimable qualities, as well as for her business energy and connections.” 6
Although the Elliots never legally divorced, there is no indication that Hannah ever reunited with her husband. On the contrary, evidence suggests that she maintained her financial and legal independence until her untimely death at age 57. In fact, in her last will and testament she makes no mention of her roving spouse, yet, perhaps derisively, alludes to him in her final statement:
Having been duly declared entitled to the rights and privileges of a feme sole trader…I trust that the small property which I shall leave, which is almost wholly the product of my own labor, will not from any cause have my disposition (as herein declared) interfered with.7
Without the proceeds of her business, Hannah H. T. Elliot and her children certainly would have faced trying times. Deserted, lacking the sponsorship of her husband, and technically unable to earn an independent living, Hannah likely would have become a burden on her family or even the state. However, because feme sole trader statutes permitted abandoned women to conduct business on their own and prevented their husbands from making claim to their property, Hannah Elliot, as well as other feme sole traders in Pennsylvania, was able to build a life separate from her husband in a time when it was not acceptable for married women to do so.
Other Sole Trader Petitions
To view the feme sole trader petitions of other Chester County women, please visit the Chester County Archives and ask about the files contained in the Miscellaneous Common Pleas Papers.
Marylynn Salmon, “Feme Covert Status in Early Pennsylvania,” in Women of America: A History, eds. Carol Ruth Berkin and Mary Beth Norton (Boston, 1979); Women and the Law of Property in Early America (Chapel Hill, 1986).
Supplement of 11 April 1848, Laws of Pennsylvania, 536.
Act of 22 February 1718, Laws of Pennsylvania, 99.
Act of 4 May 1855, Laws of Pennsylvania, 430.
Petition of H.H.T. Elliot to be made a feme sole trader, 22 December 1865, Miscellaneous Common Pleas Papers, Court of Common Pleas, Chester County Archives (CCA), West Chester, PA.
Daily Local News, 5 October 1875, Clippings Files, Chester County Historical Society, West Chester, PA.
Hannah H. T. Elliot, will dated 25 December 1873, proved 7 October 1875, file 1789, CCA.
History of the Chester County Archives
John Reed Murder Trial
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US Officials Suspect Iran Is Behind Tanker Attacks Near Gulf
By Patrick Goodenough | May 14, 2019 | 4:38am EDT
A hole at the waterline is visible in the hull of the the Norwegian-flagged oil tanker Andrea Victory, off the coast of the UAE. (Screen capture: WAM)
(CNSNews.com) – Early investigations into Sunday’s attacks on four tankers near the Persian Gulf suggest that explosives were used to hole the vessels, and unnamed U.S. officials have told wire services that Iran or Iranian proxies are suspected to be responsible.
Footage of one of the vessels – the Norwegian-flagged oil tanker Andrea Victory – released by the United Arab Emirates’ WAM news agency, show a gaping hole in the stern hull, along the waterline.
The other three ships targeted were two Saudi tankers, the Amjad and Al Marzoqah, and a UAE-flagged vessel, the A. Michel.
UAE authorities have so far spoken only of acts of “sabotage” on the four ships near the port of Fujairah, about 80 nautical miles south of the Strait of Hormuz, but the Associated Press, citing an anonymous U.S. official, reported that a U.S. “military team’s initial assessment is that Iranian or Iranian-backed proxies used explosives” to damage the ships.
A U.S. official also told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, that Iran was a leading candidate for the perpetrator, but that the U.S. does not have conclusive proof of its involvement.
State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus told reporters in Brussels that the Department of Defense at the UAE’s request was “aiding the investigation.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday amended his travel itinerary, for the third time in a week, for reasons related to reported threats from Iran. Canceling one of two scheduled stops in Russia, he flew to Brussels instead to discuss with NATO allies “the multiple plot vectors emerging from Iran,” U.S. special representative for Iran Brian Hook, said in the Belgian capital.
Hook confirmed that the Fujairah ship attacks had featured in the talks, but asked whether he believes Iran may have played a role he declined to comment.
Speaking of Iranian threats in general, Hook said the U.S. would hold the regime responsible for any attacks its proxies may carry out.
“We have put in place an entirely new foreign policy with respect to the Iranian regime,” he said. “Iran’s era of deniable attacks is over. Tehran will be held accountable for the attacks of its proxies. They cannot organize, train, and equip their proxies and then expect anyone to believe that they had no role. And so we will not make a distinction between the Iranian Government and its proxies.”
Most prominent among Iran’s “proxies” are Hezbollah in Lebanon, several Shi’ite militias in Iraq, and the Shi’ite Houthi militia in Yemen. All have been linked to terror attacks aimed at the U.S. and its allies for decades – from Hezbollah’s suicide bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks and U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983, to Iraqi militias’ deadly IED attacks on U.S. soldiers, to Houthi missile attacks targeting Saudi Arabia.
‘Adventurism by foreign elements’
As Iran’s rivals in the Arab world lined up to express support for the UAE, the foreign ministry in Tehran implicitly denied involvement, called the incident “alarming and regrettable.”
Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi warned against “plots by ill-wishers to disrupt regional security,” and called for regional states to be vigilant “in the face of any adventurism by foreign elements.”
A B-52H Stratofortress strategic bomber takes off from Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar on May 12, on the first mission of the Bomber Task Force deployed to defend American forces and interests in the region. (Photo: U.S. Air Force/Tech. Sgt. Nichelle Anderson)
Asked at the White House about the attacks on the oil tankers, President Trump said, “We’ll see what happens. It’s going to be a bad problem for Iran if something happens, I can tell you that. They’re not going to be happy.”
Asked what he meant by that, Trump replied, “You can figure it out yourself. They know what I mean by it.”
WAM reported Monday that Fujairah port was operating as normal, and that no oil spills had occurred as a result of the damage to the ships off the coast.
The Andrea Victory is a 184 meter-long, 47,210-ton tanker, the Saudi-flagged Al Marzoqah, is a 105,084-ton, 243 meter-long tanker, and the UAE-flagged A. Michel is a smaller bunkering tanker, 6,711 tons and 108 meters long.
All are dwarfed by the other Saudi-owned vessel targeted in the incident, Amjad, a 298,886-ton very large crude carrier (VLCC). At 330 meters in length, the two-year-old supertanker is roughly as long as the USS Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. Navy carrier now approaching the region.
Saudi energy minister Khalid Al-Falih said damage to the two Saudi ships was “significant.”
UAE foreign minister Anwar Gargash said on Twitter professional investigations were underway into the acts of “deliberate sabotage” and that the UAE would determine its own “readings and evaluations.”
Air Forces Central Command posted photos Monday of B-52 strategic bombers – deployed to Qatar last week as announced earlier by National Security Advisor John Bolton – beginning to carry out missions in the region aimed at defending U.S. forces and interests.
Meanwhile the head of the IRGC Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) aerospace division, Amirali Hajizadeh, was quoted by Iranian media outlets as saying that a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Gulf was an opportunity, rather than a threat.
“An aircraft carrier that has at least 40 to 50 planes on it and 6,000 forces gathered within it was a serious threat for us in the past, but now it is a target and the threats have switched to opportunities,” he said.
“The Americans in the region are like a piece of meat under our teeth,” Hajizadeh said. “We will hit them in the head if they move.”
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Home > Shows > Ripley's Believe it or Not
Date Tuesday - August 29, 2006
Guests Tim O'Brien, Ryan Mauro
Life of Ripley
Gunnarson: Narrow Escapes
'Jim Mouth' Stunts
Ripley Entertainment Communications VP Tim O'Brien spoke about the life of Robert L. Ripley, the originator of Ripley's Believe it or Not, during the middle two hours of the show. In 1918, while doing sports illustrations for the New York Globe, Ripley came up with the idea for his Believe it or Not cartoon, which by 1929 was seen by millions as a syndicated daily cartoon. Ripley also branched out into radio and public exhibitions such as the "Odditorium" at the Chicago World's Fair. In 1936, Ripley was voted the most popular man in America, said O'Brien.
Currently Ripley Entertainment has 54 attractions in 10 countries and its daily comic strip is still seen in 200 newspapers. Their website is hosting a "Dear Mr. Ripley" contest in search of fantastic feats and finds. One of the contestants, David Gonzales, aka, 'The Mighty Gonzales,' joined the show to share accounts of his exhibitions of strength and endurance. For the contest, he said he'll attempt to lift two million pounds in weights during a marathon 12-hour workout session.
Also appearing during the discussion, were two people featured in Ripley's latest book: escape artist Dean Gunnarson and comedic entertainer Jim Mouth.Gunnarson told of one of his escapes that went awry when he was chained to a coffin that had been lowered into an icy river. Mouth's specialty is fitting large amounts of 'stuff' into his mouth-- such as 150 straws!
The last hour of the show was devoted to Open Lines.
Mauro Analysis
First hour guest, geopolitical analyst Ryan Mauro offered commentary on terrorism and the Middle East. He believes there were indeed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but the Russians moved them into Syria before the US attacked.
Bumper music from Tuesday August 29, 2006
Evil Ways
It's a Mistake
Long Cool Woman
Midnight Confessions
She Blinded Me With Science
Thomas Dolby
Student Pressures
Vintage Psychical Studies
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Research Roundups
The gastro intestinal (GI) tract provides the means for the body to digest and absorb nutrients contained in food and drink and comprises the mouth, stomach, small intestine and large intestine. The digestive process is also dependent upon other organs including the pancreas, gallbladder and liver. A healthy GI tract promotes healthy digestion. Damage, disease or infection in any part of the GI tract can limit the effectiveness of digestive processes and may have an impact on the nutritional status of the individual.
A number of conditions are known to affect the functioning of the GI tract. Approximately 1 in 3 adults in the European Union (>150 million) are affected by GI problems such as dyspepsia, IBS or constipation.
Dyspepsia is a term covering a group of symptoms that include poor digestion, pain and discomfort in the upper digestive tract. The prevalence of dyspepsia is estimated at 20- 30%1 of the population
Gastro oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) is an uncomfortable acid reflux condition caused by the return of stomach acid into the oesophagus. It is suggested that common causes are the consumption of spicy or fatty food and overeating.2 GORD affects 10-20% of the population in Western countries and has an annual incidence of approximately five per 1000 persons.1 In European primary care practices, 3.4% of consultations are for GORD-related reasons and 24.7% of the patients had been previously diagnosed with acid reflux.1
Peptic ulcers are lesions that develop in the mucosa of the stomach wall causing pain and discomfort. In the past coffee was linked with the development of peptic ulcers. However, in recent years research has focussed on understanding the role of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori in the development of peptic ulcers.3
Gastritis is a slight inflammation of the stomach wall, which is generally unnoticed. However, more serious gastritis can cause ulcers, with associated pain.
Small Intestines
Duodenal ulcers arise in the wall of the duodenum, which is normally protected from stomach acid by a mucus covering, however infection or use of certain drugs including painkillers and anti-inflammatories can disrupt the production of mucus and lead to the development of ulcers.4
Fluid Balance is important in the small intestine as fluid is a major component of digestive juices, enabling nutrients to be broken down into a solution prior to absorption. Approximately nine litres of digestive juices are added to the first part of digestive tract daily, the majority of which are reabsorbed during the process of digestion.
Peristalsis is the process of muscular contraction in the intestines, which encourages the movement of food along the intestine
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is described as a chronic disturbance of the intestine, but the cause is often difficult to specify. The symptoms that patients describe include abnormal bowel motions, stomach pain and bloating, complaints that may also be experienced by those who do not suffer IBS. The prevalence of IBS is estimated at 10 – 20% of the population in Europe,1 and the economic impact of IBS has been reported to be as high as €1600 annually per patient, including healthcare and indirect costs.1
Other disorders have a variety of causes including diverticulitis, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) of which the two main conditions are Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis. IBD is found in almost 1-2% of the population with accompanying annual healthcare costs of € 2 billion.1 There are an estimated 50,000-100,000 new cases of IBD per year across Europe.1
United European Gastroenterology (2011) UEG Position Paper on the EU Research Framework Programmes https://www.ueg.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/Publications/UEG_Position_Paper_Version2.pdf
Bolin T.D. et al. (2000) Esophagogastroduodenal Diseases and Pathophysiology, Heartburn: Community perceptions. J Gastroenterol Hepatol, 15:35-39.
Moayyedi P. et al. (2000) The Proportion of Upper Gastrointestinal Symptoms in the community Associated With Helicobacter pylori, Lifestyle Factors, and Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs. Am J Gastroenterol, 95(6):1448-1455.
Rosenstock S. et al. (2003) Risk factors for peptic ulcer disease: a population based prospective cohort study comprising 2,416 Danish adults. Gut, 52:186-193.
The content in this section can be searched by date or topic using the left-hand-side menu dropdowns.
This information is intended for healthcare professional audiences however, all these resources are freely available for media use.
If you have any questions on the content available, please contact: pressoffice@coffeeandhealth.org
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Discover the Boyne Valley - Birthplace of Ireland’s Ancient East
The Boyne Valley is situated in the east of Ireland. It is at once Ireland’s ancient capital and it’s most sacred and mythical landscape.
In 1849 William Wilde, father of Oscar, wrote of the Boyne that the history of Ireland may be traced through its monuments. This remains true today. Moreover, its sites and monuments are amongst the best examples of their kind in Europe and are all within a short distance of each other. In one day you can visit the great prehistoric tombs at Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange) and the site of the infamous Battle of the Boyne. You can look out from the Hill of Tara, sharing the view with the ancient High Kings of Ireland, or be mesmerised by the detail of the Celtic Crosses at Kells.
You can stand in awe at the gates of Trim Castle, the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Europe, or pay your respects at the shrine of St. Oliver Plunkett. The River Boyne is the principal waterway in Leinster, the most easterly of the Irish provinces. The river rises at Trinity Well, near Cadbury, Co. Kildare and meanders slowly north-eastwards through the gentle and fertile plains of Co. Meath before entering the Irish Sea at Drogheda, Co. Louth. The valley through which it flows is a landscape of large farms, celebrated for their fine pastures, picturesque villages and thriving towns.
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बुधवार, जनवरी 22 2020
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Home/Uncategorized/Brief Article Teaches You the Ins and Outs of Organic Chemistry Nomenclature Practice and What You Should Do Today
Brief Article Teaches You the Ins and Outs of Organic Chemistry Nomenclature Practice and What You Should Do Today
Kamlesh Nishad Send an email नवम्बर 9, 2019
The Little-Known Secrets to Organic Chemistry Nomenclature Practice
A comprehension of bonding enables a more thorough understanding of molecular help with excel behavior. Forensic teams leverage chemists to seek out trace components at crime scenes, which can act as evidence in a trial. Many tend to create mistakes within this aspect as they make mistakes in numbering or don’t understand the meaning.
Enantiomers have exactly the same bodily properties. There’s a good deal of memorising involved in Organic Chemistry since there is a range of reactions within this unit of chemistry. Naming of compounds in organic chemistry is a significant aspect in order to spot the particular structure. The second isomer obviously still has the exact atoms at every end, yet this time the greater priority atoms are on opposite surfaces of the double bond. Each of the reactions are going to have brief description, and a chemical structure showed.
So, you’ll have to start numbering on the face of the chain that’s closest to the double bond. If there’s not a prefix before the very first element, it’s assumed that there’s only 1 atom of that element. If you can’t work out the whole structure at the same time, it is helpful to produce fragments of the molecule that you could stick together into larger and larger groups until you’ve got the whole structure.
So How About Organic Chemistry Nomenclature Practice?
It could be located on numerous unique molecules. The source compound is referred to as a monomer. Various compounds having the exact same molecular formula are called isomers.
Chemistry Without Math might be a catchy phrase to sell text books, but it isn’t reality! So as to conserve space, structural formulas will frequently https://www.dukestores.duke.edu/retail/universitystore/ be written out in 1 line. Customized titles may also be created that you meet specific applications or requirements.
Top Choices of Organic Chemistry Nomenclature Practice
This is a huge question, as few rules are expected to follow in the fixed order while few of different rules may be used at anytime with no sequence whilst writing chemical name of compounds. Be aware that CE within this section indicates an appropriate explanation of the relationship. Here is an easy collection of rules to follow.
Some compounds are known for so long a systematic nomenclature can’t compete with well-established common names. Thus, the presence of preferred IUPAC names does not prevent the usage of different names to take into consideration a particular context or maybe to emphasize structural features common to a succession of compounds. As a way to name organic compounds you have to first memorize a few essential names.
Allyl is thought to be a typical name. Each region of the name offers you some practical information concerning the compound. A modern-day organic name is merely a code.
The stock process is used when there’s a metallic component in the compound. Search tool is available to assist you in finding info on a certain chemical reaction more easily. The triple bond is provided the variety of the very first triply-bonded carbon encountered, beginning from the conclusion of the chain nearest the triple bond.
Chemistry plays a significant role in our everyday life. Newly highlighted Problem-Solving Strategies guide students about how to approach a variety of troubles and help to create critical thinking skills. Through an interactive strategy, students learn to place the pieces of organic chemistry with each other to address problems.
What You Don’t Know About Organic Chemistry Nomenclature Practice
The additional point I am attempting to make with this bit of the instance is that you have to just concentrate on a single bit of a chain at one time. Do the issues in the rear of the textbook if you’re looking for a few additional practicethere are literally hundreds at the conclusion of each chapter. If this is the case, you are on the way to being chemistry-literate!
Whenever there are different halogens they’re named in alphabetical order. In an exam, if you domyhomeworkfor.me can’t compose a formula for a particular compound, you aren’t likely to understand what the examiner is talking about and might lose a great deal of marks. The very first thing you ought to do is figure out what the most important chain is named.
Since you may see, it’s a work in progress. What’s more, it’s possible, indeed likely, that lots of the concepts in the course will get clear only after you’ve had an opportunity to ponder them for some time. Learning organic chemistry isn’t a passive job.
So as to detect them, it’s crucial to convert them into ionisable inorganic substances. To assist you build that good foundation I’ve put together this brief quiz testing your understanding of reactions, reagents, products and extra molecule concepts. Naming of compounds in organic chemistry is a significant aspect in order to spot the particular structure. The second isomer obviously still has the exact atoms at every end, yet this time the greater priority atoms are on opposite surfaces of the double bond. When forming compounds, it’s important to understand something about the way atoms will react with one another.
Organic Chemistry Nomenclature Practice – Overview
Therefore a suitable method was introduced to be able to name the organic compounds. Pyruvic acid, among the end products of glycolysis, is usually called acetylformic acid. Altering the states of polymerization alters the chemical composition of the item and its properties.
They’re more accurately called conformers. Make the the majority of the resources that are available to you. However, there are hundreds and hundreds of different compounds that are uncommon or have several names.
This chain is known as the parent chain. When a group is believed to be principle functional group, it’s indicated by suffix and as soon as it acts as side chain, it’s indicated by prefix. If there’s a functional group in your compound, you will have to find the suffix which goes with it and set it at the conclusion of your name.
Organic Chemistry Nomenclature Practice for Dummies
In a couple of instances, the 1979 rules and the 1993 recommendations are modified to attain consistency within the whole system. The use of the study guide is helpful, but only as long as you initially attempt the problems all on your own. Simply take a look at these examples.
Organic Chemistry Nomenclature Practice Fundamentals Explained
If you start with drawing the C atom backbone, you can return and finish the structure with the addition of H atoms to provide each C atom four covalent bonds. The source compound is referred to as a monomer. Various compounds having the exact same molecular formula are called isomers.
कन्हैया कुमार और उमर खालिद के खिलाफ सुप्रीम कोर्ट में याचिका दायर
पूर्व व्हालीबाल इंडियन प्लेयर आशीष अरोरा ने शादी की सालगिरह पर पत्नी विशाखा को अनोखे अंदाज में दी बधाई
2 करोड़ बांग्लादेशी मुस्लिम घुसपैठियों ने किया भारत में प्रवेश : दिलीप घोष
पश्चिमी सिंहभूम के गुदडी में सात पत्थलगड़ी विरोधियों की हत्या
गुरु
रवि
« दिसम्बर
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Report Explores Use of Knowledge Organization Systems in Dig...
Home / 2000 / April / Report Explores Use ...
Report Explores Use of Knowledge Organization Systems in Digital Libraries
CLIR Press Release
Contact: Dan Greenstein 202-939-4762
Report Explores Use of Knowledge Organization Systems
in Digital Libraries
WASHINGTON, D.C.A new report from the Digital Library Federation (DLF) examines the
use of knowledge organization systemsschemes for organizing information and
facilitating knowledge managementin a digital environment. Systems of Knowledge Organization
for Digital Libraries: Beyond Traditional Authority
Files, by Gail Hodge, is the DLF’s fourth
published report.
Knowledge organization systems serve as bridges between a user’s information needs and
the material in a collection. Examples of such systems include term lists, such as
dictionaries; classification schemes, such as Library of Congress Subject Headings; and relationship
lists, such as thesauri. These and other types of knowledge organization systems, which vary
in complexity, structure, and function, can improve the organization of digital libraries
and facilitate access to their content.
The report provides examples of how knowledge organization systems can be used to
enhance digital libraries in a variety of disciplines. For example, they can be used to link a
digital resource to related material. They can be used directly or indirectly to provide
more descriptive records for entities in the digital resource. Finally, they can provide access not
only to a descriptive record, but also to location information about a relevant physical object.
The author also discusses how knowledge organization systems can be used to
provide disparate communities with access to digital library resources. They can provide
alternate subject or multilingual access, support free-text searching, or add a new mode of access such as visual or geographicto the digital library.
The report concludes with a discussion of what to consider when using knowledge organization systems with digital libraries. It provides a framework for the design, planning, implementation, and maintenance of these systems in digital library environments.
Systems of Knowledge Organization for Digital Libraries is available electronically at
www.clir.org/pubs/reports. Print copies may be ordered for $15, prepaid, from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). Checks should be made payable to CLIR and mailed to CLIR Publication Orders, 1755 Massachusetts Avenue, NW,
Suite 500, Washington, D.C., 20036-2124. Credit card orders may be placed by calling CLIR at 202-939-4750, sending a fax to 202-939-4765, or sending e-mail to info@clir.org.
The Digital Library Federation is a partnership of research libraries dedicated to creating,
maintaining, expanding, and preserving a distributed collection of digital materials accessible to scholars and to a wider public. It operates under the umbrella of CLIR, which works in partnership with libraries, archives, and other information providers to advocate collaborative approaches to preserving the nation’s intellectual heritage and strengthening the many components of its information system.
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Colombo Telegraph
Our Moment Of Destiny
By David Blacker –
David Blacker
I think every generation faces its own particular challenges; but the greatest and most defining ones are those of morality and courage. That moment, if missed, condemns that generation — and often many that follow — to a world far more unpleasant and evil than we would wish it to be. For many in the free world of the late 1930s, that moment came with the invasion of Poland and the bombing of Pearl Harbour. It was a moment when my grandfather’s generation had to decide if they would simply stand on the sidelines or go out and fight someone else’s cause. Fortunately for them, the choice was easy; their respective governments took the right fork, and millions of young men — my grandfather included — went out into the deserts, the jungles, and across the seas to ensure that tyranny and racism would not shape our world. For 1960s America, the moment of destiny was in fact a place — Vietnam — and a moral choice. America made its decision, albeit a little late for millions of Vietnamese.
But when that hour of destiny arrived thirty years ago in Sri Lanka, our parents’ generation failed us. For decades, they had watched as extremist rhetoric leveled at the Tamil community gave way to physical violence. They stood by as our constitution was changed to remove any protection the minorities had a right to under law. They were silent when the nation’s leadership was silent on the racism and hatred that was all around them. They did nothing when their elected politicians in fact helped instigate the violence that climaxed in the orgy of assault, murder, rape, and destruction now known as Black July. For thirty years we have wondered how our parents could have been so docile, so shortsighted, so wrong in their choices. We have watched our country torn apart by suicide bombers and child soldiers, by tanks and artillery. We have watched a hundred thousand die, because our parents didn’t say “stop!”
Thirty years later, the clock is back at five minutes to midnight; racists are calling for violence, for this country to be only for Sinhalese Buddhists. They are calling for a tiny minority to change their lifestyles or leave; they are calling for their right to worship to be curbed. And they are threatening violence if their demands are not met. Our government is at best silent; at worst in collusion. Our police force is standing by while Muslims are attacked. There are no arrests. There is no condemnation. There is no justice.
The last time this happened, I was eleven years old; an uncomprehending child. I grew up to wonder why my father who could ride a motorcycle through a wall of fire to get me home that July, hadn’t been able to stop what was done to the Tamils and to my country. Was he scared? Didn’t he care? I ask the same questions from myself today. Why am I doing nothing as my country heads towards the flames again. I ask it of my friends — especially the Buddhists — my colleagues, my girlfriend. None of you are racists, I think. None of you believe that Muslims must be persecuted and harassed. Why are you not speaking out? Why are you not protesting? What will it take? Or is there nothing that will drive us out of our homes and on to the streets to brave the thugs and the tear gas, the water cannon and the bullets? Have we no fucking shame?
I feel ashamed right now; ashamed of my government; ashamed of my friends; ashamed of my country. More than anything, I am ashamed of myself. I have never felt this way about my country, and I never thought I would, but I feel it now. And I hate feeling this way. In the worst of the war, I told myself that it wasn’t my fault; that I hadn’t chosen this war to fight. But this is now. This is me. This is us. This is our country and our moment of destiny is here. Why are we doing nothing?
US Bombing In Iraq And Crisis In The Middle East
My Submission To The PSC On Political And Constitutional Changes
Sri Lanka And The UN – Stricter Standards
Eric And Hector Gossip About Life And Times
Is Lankan Corporate Responsibility, “Ebolitic”?
« Help Me Find My Brother From Matale Mass Grave – Says A Brother
We Know Where We Are Sitting – But Don’t Need “Consultants” To Find Answers »
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New ‘Halloween’ Photos Recall the Original Film in the Best Way
BY Johnny Brayson • August 22, 2018
We’re getting ever so close to the release of the new Halloween sequel/reboot, and these newly released photos from the production are only going to make the remaining wait that much more excruciating.
Perhaps the coolest thing about the new Halloween is that it’s picking up where the 1978 original left off. The film is ignoring the events of that film’s many sequels and going back to basics. Jamie Lee Curtis is back as Laurie Strode, John Carpenter is involved in the production and is scoring the film, and even Nick Castle — the original man behind the Michael Myers mask — has returned to his old role for portions of the film. And speaking of Castle, he had a little fun on set when he recreated one of the original film’s most famous behind-the-scenes photos of himself feeding his mask a little Dr. Pepper. You can check out the original pic below, along with Castle’s new recreation.
Drink it in, man. @ncastlez pic.twitter.com/sdqF94IMzl
— Post Mortem Podcast (@PostMortemMG) August 18, 2018
In addition to Castle’s fun pic, the studio has also released two new images from the movie, and they’re definitely going for that old school slasher movie feel. The images, seen in the pages of Rue Morgue magazine and put online by Bloody Disgusting, show two of Michael Myers’ victims in the film. One is a cop who’s had his throat slashed, which occurred either before or after he had a human head Jack-o-lantern dumped in his lap. The other is an auto mechanic who appears to have had his lower jaw ripped out. You can check them out over at Bloody Disgusting, although the scanned quality isn’t the greatest. For better clarity, pick up issue #183 of Rue Morgue.
Halloween hits theaters on Oct 19, just in time for you-know-what.
Images courtesy of Universal Pictures
Hey ‘90s Kids, Animorophs Are Back in Graphic Novel Form
Watch Thomas Jane Battle a Werewolf in the Trailer for ‘Hunter’s Moon’
A ‘Firefly’ Revival Could Be in the Works
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Member of Parliament for Tamworth
In Tamworth
View From The House
Tamworth trailblazer mental health
Tamworth announced as a ‘trailblazer’ area to benefit from Mental Health support teams.
Christopher Pincher MP has welcomed news that children and young people in Tamworth are to benefit from additional mental health support.
Last week the Government announced that Tamworth will be among the second wave of trailblazer areas to benefit from Mental Health support teams. These will work with schools and colleges to provide a link with young people’s mental health services, ensuring more pupils people get the help and support they need, when they need it. Local schools and colleges will also get priority access next year to mental health training.
The mental health training announced today is backed by £9.3 million of Government funds and will be provided through workshops which bring together school and college staff and NHS professionals. It will raise awareness of mental health concerns and improve referrals to specialist help when needed. All schools will have access to training over the next four years.
The announcement is part of the Government’s wider programme to support young people’s mental health, which includes an additional £1.4 billion investment and the introduction of compulsory health education lessons from 2020.
Commenting, Christopher Pincher MP said:
“I am very pleased that we have been able to secure this money for our town. Bringing school and college staff into the same room as NHS professionals, and encouraging them to work together, will ensure more pupils get the right support at the right time.
“With half of all lifetime cases of mental health disorders beginning by the age of 14, bridging the gap between education and NHS services is vital if we are to ensure all children get the best possible start in life. This is good news for Tamworth”
Support Our NHS
Demand for the NHS only continues to rise, and as the population ages, there are a growing number of widespread chronic conditions which will be increasingly expensive and challenging to address, without a credible and effective plan to fund the NHS and social care.
Improving The Welfare Benefits System
Getting benefits right is a concern of mine, the benefit system is there as a safety net for those who need support and should not be abused. However it is also important that for benefit claimants, the system is actually helping, not hindering their progress.
Opening up our courts
TV cameras will be allowed to film in Crown Courts in England and Wales for the first time.
Christopher Pincher Member of Parliament for Tamworth
Promoted by Jeremy Oates on behalf of Christopher Pincher, both at 93 Lichfield Street, Tamworth, B79 7QF.
Copyright 2020 Christopher Pincher Member of Parliament for Tamworth. All rights reserved.
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Churchill Archives Centre By-Fellowship Report — Dr Gary Love 30th June 2014 in Archives Centre, People
Report by Dr Gary Love on his By-Fellowship at the Archives Centre last term.
Celebrating 50 years since the official opening of Churchill College in the presence of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh 26th June 2014 in Alumni, Archives Centre, News and Events
Remembering our genesis: 50 years since the official opening of Churchill College, June 1964 Churchill College celebrated the 50th anniversary of its official opening with a dinner for over 160 members and partners in its magnificent dining hall in the presence of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh on 25th June 2014.
Special archive display celebrates 50 years since the opening of Churchill College 19th June 2014 in Archives Centre, Art & Exhibitions, News and Events
Churchill College is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its official opening with a special display featuring materials from the College archive, which will be open to the public from 20–27 June & 3–7 July in the JCR.
Churchill College celebrates the 50th anniversary of its official opening with a special archival display 16th June 2014 in Archives Centre, News and Events
Churchill College is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its official opening with a special display featuring materials from the College archive. Open to the public from 20—27th June 2014.
Remembering our genesis: 50 years since the opening of Churchill College, June 1964 12th June 2014 in Archives Centre, News and Events
We’re busy in the Archives Centre getting ready to install a display next week to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the official opening of Churchill College.
D-Day’s ‘forgotten man’ 6th June 2014 in Archives Centre, News and Events
Seventy years after Allied soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy, the Churchill Archives Centre has released a short film commemorating Admiral Bertram Ramsay, the ‘forgotten architect’ of D-Day.
Lady Soames LG, DBE, 1922-2014 2nd June 2014 in Archives Centre, News and Events, People
Churchill College is deeply saddened to learn of the death of the Lady Soames, an Honorary Fellow and daughter of our founder.
Preserving Nanny Wanstall’s WWI Scrapbook 28th May 2014 in Archives Centre, Conservation, Our Collections
How our conservators dealt with a very unusual First World War scrapbook.
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Engineering Psychology and Human Performance
Christopher D. Wickens, Justin G. Hollands, Simon Banbury, Raja Parasuraman
Textbook - 544 Pages
August 20, 2015 by Psychology Press
12 Month Rental - $114.00
Select Format: Hardback eBook - VitalSource eBook - VitalSource 6 Month Rental eBook - VitalSource 12 Month Rental Quantity:
Forming connections between human performance and design Engineering Psychology and Human Performance, 4e examines human-machine interaction. The book is organized directly from the psychological perspective of human information processing. The chapters generally correspond to the flow of information as it is processed by a human being--from the senses, through the brain, to action--rather than from the perspective of system components or engineering design concepts. This book is ideal for a psychology student, engineering student, or actual practitioner in engineering psychology, human performance, and human factors Learning Goals Upon completing this book, readers should be able to: * Identify how human ability contributes to the design of technology. * Understand the connections within human information processing and human performance. * Challenge the way they think about technology's influence on human performance. * show how theoretical advances have been, or might be, applied to improving human-machine interaction
1. Introduction to Engineering Psychology and Human Performance 2. Signal Detection, Information Theory and Absolute Judgment 3. Attention in Perception and Display Space 4. Spatial Displays 5. Spatial Cognition, Navigation and Manual Control 6. Language and Communications 7. Memory and Training 8. Decision Making 9. Selection of Action 10. Attention, Time sharing and Workload 11. Mental Workload, Stress, and Individual Differences: Cognitive and Neuroergonomic Perspectives 12. Automation 13. Epilogue
Chris Wickens is Professor Emeritus from the University of Illinois Department of Psychology , Adjunct Professor University of Colorado Department of Psychology, and Senior Scientist at AlionSciences Company Boulder, Colorado. He taught engineering and experimental psychology, human factors engineering and aviation psychology for 30 years at the University of Illinois, where he supervised 38 PhD students. For 20 years he was also head of the Aviation Human Factors program at Illinois. He has won teaching awards including the Psi-Chi award for excellence in undergraduate teaching, and the Paul M Fitts award from the Human Factors & Ergonomics Society for outstanding contributions to the education and training of human factors specialists. He has also received the annual FAA Excellence in Aviation Award. He is a Fellow of the Human Factors Society. His main research interests are in applied attention theory and human performance modeling. He is an avid mountain climber.
Justin G. Hollands is a Defense Scientist and Senior Advisor to the Human Systems Integration Section at Defense Research and Development Canada - Toronto. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto. From 1994 to 1999, Dr. Hollands was an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Idaho. He received his PhD in cognitive psychology from the University of Toronto in 1993, and an MA in human factors psychology from the University of Guelph in 1989. He received a BA in psychology (honors--co-operative program) from the University of Waterloo in 1986. His experience as a co-op student in work term placements at the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Bell-Northern Research, and IBM Canada sparked his interest in human factors and engineering psychology. Dr. Hollands has authored or co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed articles. He is interested in display and interface design, human reliance on automated systems, visual momentum, visual attention, and human perception and psychophysical scaling.
Simon Banbury is the owner and President of Looking Glass HF Inc., an independent Canadian-based Human Factors consultancy specializing in optimizing how people interact with technology. He is also a Professeur Associé of the School of Psychology at the Université Laval (Canada) where he supervises PhD students and supports research on teamwork and medical decision making. Simon has almost twenty years of Human Factors consultancy and applied research experience in defence, industrial and academic domains; he has worked as a Human Factors consultant in the defence and industrial sectors, a lecturer in Psychology at Cardiff University (U.K.), and a defence scientist for the United Kingdom’s Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. Simon has published widely on the applied aspects of attention and memory; including the effects of extraneous noise on performance in the office and on the flight deck.
Raja Parasuraman, Ph.D. is University Professor of Psychology at George Mason University. He is Director of the Graduate Program in Human Factors and Applied Cognition and Director of the Center of Excellence in Neuroergonomics, Technology, and Cognition (CENTEC). His research interests are in attention, automation, neuroimaging, and genetics. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and 10 books, including Varieties of Attention,Automation and Human Performance, Neuroergonomics: The Brain at Work,and Nurturing the Older Brain and Mind. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Society, and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. His awards include the Franklin Taylor Award for Lifetime Achievement from the American Psychological Association, the Paul Fitts Education Award from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, and the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council for Higher Education for the State of Virginia. For more information, see http://archlab.gmu.edu/people/rparasur/
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Home Entertainment Doctor Who virtual reality experience The Runaway comes to YouTube
Doctor Who virtual reality experience The Runaway comes to YouTube
More Doctor Who fans than ever can now step inside a VR version of the TARDIS as the BBC’s hit virtual reality experience Doctor Who: The Runaway comes to the Doctor Who YouTube channel and launches internationally.
The VR experience stars Jodie Whittaker voicing an animated version of the Thirteenth Doctor, a role she’s just reprised in the new series on TV. The viewer crash lands in the TARDIS and is quickly recruited by the Doctor to help return a strange and potentially dangerous creature called Volta to its home planet.
Where previously the experience has only been available to view on VR headsets like the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Samsung Gear VR, the YouTube 360 version enables anyone with an entry level VR headset like a Google Cardboard to step into the TARDIS and try out the adventure for themselves.
Doctor Who: The Runaway has been produced by the BBC’s digital drama team, BBC VR Hub and Passion Animation Studios. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last year and has since been shown at the Sandbox Immersive Festival in China and the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France, among many others.
The BBC VR Hub has also taken it on an extensive tour of UK libraries, enabling people without VR headsets to try it in their local library.
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MILITARY LEADERS LOOK TO ADAPT TO ENEMY
HUGH LESSIGDaily Press
You know how it goes in the military: Orders from upper ranks are carried out by men and women down below.
It is a classic hierarchy, and it doesn't allow for rapid change.
Forget that stereotype - or at least modify it.
That was the message Tuesday from the 2009 Joint Warfighting Conference, which began Tuesday at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.
The third annual exposition, which continues through Thursday, attracted more than 6,000 from the public and private sectors.
The Joint Warfighting Conference is considered one of the premier forums on the East Coast for leaders who are shaping future military strategy.
Coincidentally, it began the day after the Obama administration announced a shake-up in its leadership in Afghanistan. Out is Gen. David McKiernan, a graduate of Hampton's Kecoughtan High School and the College of William and Mary, just named as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2009. Coming in is Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a longtime Special Operations commander.
An analysis in The Washington Post noted that McChrystal has pushed for the type of counterinsurgency tactics that differ from the Army's conventional war-fighting approach.
On Tuesday, McChrystal's name was invoked in passing during a lunchtime speech to more than 1,000 attendees.
Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, who heads the Army Training and Doctrine Command headquartered at Fort Monroe in Hampton, praised McChrystal as an innovative thinker who can thrive in the complex environment that military leaders face today.
The political and tribal boundaries in Afghanistan speak to an enemy that has no traditional center, a far cry from battles of past generations where armies massed on clearly drawn battlefields.
If you attack a decentralized force in a conventional way, it becomes more decentralized, Dempsey said.
That's when things change.
"We cannot expect that we will have the option of selecting a particular category of conflict, and implementing our strategy and confining it to that category," Dempsey said. "Simply stated, the enemy has a vote."
Leaders must consider the culture, religion and social structure of the country in which they're fighting.
They must consider unconventional tactics, such as U.S.-backed local militia.
And because the enemy can adapt so quickly, top leaders must be OK with lower-ranking officers making the occasional tough call.
Chatting with reporters afterward, Dempsey declined to comment directly on the decision to replace McKiernan or whether he was surprised by it.
But he expanded on his upbeat assessment of McChrystal, joking that he "wrote that speech before yesterday."
McChrystal "is very comfortable in complexity and understands the power of decentralization in those kinds of environments," he said, describing Afghanistan as "a series of valleys in which tribal networks exist. They are, in may cases, not connected to each other and very rarely connected to the center."
Dempsey said the Army should not junk the top-down approach. Officers must still lead. Orders must still be followed.
But it must be more flexible.
"We can find that sweet spot," said Dempsey, "where we leverage our hierarchical benefits but yet defuse authority at the execution, so that they have authority to shape the environment."
Martin Dempsey
Stanley A. McChrystal
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'Big Bang Theory' bids emotional farewell with final episode, ending 12-year run
Updated 17.05.2019 12:11
Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch participate in the cement handprints ceremony for "The Big Bang Theory" at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX in Hollywood, May 1, 2019. (REUTERS Photo)
"The Big Bang Theory" closed out its run as television's top-rated comedy with an emotional final episode that saw some big changes for the show's group of geeky misfits.
The long-running series on CBS concluded with two final episodes, "The Change Constant" and "The Stockholm Syndrome," in an hour-long finale Thursday evening. The series exited the TV airwaves with the most episodes for a multi-camera series ever with 279 episodes. It edged past NBC's "Cheers," which aired for 11 seasons and 275 episodes.
"The Big Bang Theory" debuted in 2007 and overcame early doubts to become a cult classic after some questioned the show's chances of survival. The show was led by a crew of nerdy misfits starring Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Mayim Bialik, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar and Melissa Rauch.
Thursday's finale was followed by a behind-the-scenes look at the show in "Unraveling the Mystery: A Big Bang Farewell" with Galecki and Cuoco as hosts.
The series began about geeky physicist roommates portrayed by Parsons and Galecki and expanded to include their friends, girlfriends and then wives. It inevitably made being nerds and comic book lovers a cool phenomenon in pop culture.
During its tenure, "Big Bang Theory" won 10 Emmy Awards. Parsons took home four of those trophies, including lead actor in a comedy series in 2014.
The final episodes were filled with a few surprises, a pregnancy, cameos and a speech about the importance of friendship in the series' emotional conclusion.
Parson's character Sheldon and Bialik's Amy anxiously awaited the decision on whether the married couple would win the Noble Prize. The final episode also highlighted the fate of the broken elevator, which has been nonfunctional for much of the series.
It included a scene in which Bialik, who is a neuroscientist in real life, urges young girls to pursue careers in science. "Little girls who dream about science" should pursue it as a career and ignore naysayers, she said.
The comedy leaves on a high as one of television's most popular shows. Last week's episode was the most-watched program on broadcast or cable TV with 12.5 million viewers, beating out HBO's "Game of Thrones," which ends its series on Sunday after an eight-year run.
Parsons had said the end of the series feels like a "real rite of passage moment," which was full of memories and some tears. Galecki said the show has touched "so many hearts."
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Escalating anti-Muslim sentiments in Europe manifest itself in recent bans on headscarf
ŞEYMA NAZLI GÜRBÜZ @SeymNazli
People take part in a march organized by an anti-Muslim movement in Cologne, Jan. 5, 2015.
European countries let Muslims down not only by adopting anti-Muslim attitudes but by also reflecting these sentiments with discriminatory laws
There is only one week left until the European Parliament elections. As politicians ramped up their election campaigns and Europeans turned their attention to the upcoming polls, there was yet another significant development behind the scenes that affected millions of people on the continent. The past week was marked by a series of laws against Muslims in Europe, mostly on banning the Muslim headscarf, causing millions of Muslim women to suffer when practicing their religion in public spaces. Although the number and intense influence of the laws was a shock at first, in reality, seeing such moves from various European states is not very surprising since they are basically the manifestation of anti-Muslim sentiments on the continent that have been on the rise in recent years. "There are ongoing policies against Muslims [in Europe]. Since 2008, we have seen the rise of populism and populist parties. Not only right-wing but left-wing populism is also on the rise. This movement gained new momentum in 2015 when the migration crisis started to emerge," said Belgium parliamentarian Mahinur Özdemir, speaking on the rise of anti-Muslim hatred in Europe. "In this political environment, democrats cannot find a place for themselves," she added.
"The traditional parties, as they become unable to answer the people's needs through traditional ways, instead of getting more democratized, get more populist and grasp racist rhetoric," she emphasized.
Austrian lawmakers recently approved controversial plans to ban girls in elementary schools from wearing headscarves, a move that would add to existing restrictions on veils. The Austria Press Agency reported that lawmakers from the governing coalition of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz's conservative People's Party (ÖVP) and the anti-migration Freedom Party (FPÖ) supported the measure late Wednesday.
Although the measure bans wearing "ideologically or religiously characterized clothing" that covers the head, and specifies that it refers to items "that cover the whole or large parts of the hair," to avoid charges that the law discriminates against Muslims, still, the representatives of both parts of the governing coalition have made it clear that the law is targeted at the Islamic headscarf. The government says the patka head covering worn by Sikh boys or the Jewish kippah would not be affected.
Austria is home to around 700,000 Muslims, including 300,000 of Turkish origin. Many of them are second or third-generation Austrian citizens from Turkish families who migrated to the country in the 1960s. Amid widespread fears stemming from the refugee crisis and international terrorism, Austria's right-wing parties proposed several controversial measures including strict controls on mosques and Muslim associations and immediately closing them in the case of suspicious activity.
However, Austria is not the only European country that has a discriminatory stance toward Muslims. France's upper house of parliament on Thursday adopted a bill that prohibits mothers from wearing a headscarf while accompanying students on school trips. The bill was presented in the country's senate by the conservative Republican Party. The bill was passed with 186 yes and 100 no votes, while 159 senators abstained. The bill has to be approved by the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, to enter into force.
France has the largest Muslim minority in Europe, estimated at 5 million or more out of a population of 67 million. The place of religion and religious symbols worn in public can be a matter of controversy in the staunchly secular country. For years, rights groups have argued that France's secular laws foster anti-Muslim sentiment and discriminate against Muslim women. It was also the first country in Europe to ban Islamic face veils, such as the burqa and the niqab, in public places in 2010. In 2014, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) upheld the ban but said the law could appear excessive and encourage stereotyping. France was also embroiled in a row over bans on the burkini, a full-body Islamic swimsuit, in resorts around the Riviera.
European countries violate human rights
Although these laws were a crisis in the making, according to Özdemir, by approving these votes, European countries are actually violating human rights.
"The 9th article of the EU's constitution protects individual rights and liberties. However, these kinds of laws are directly in conflict with that article," she said, speaking of the European values that constitute the foundation of their societies.
However, Özdemir further indicated that in her opinion, there is no direct demand from people for politicians to be more populist or even racist.
"The demand of the people is to live a better, more stable life. However, when politicians come up with such [racist] policies, people are affected by that and get scared of the things that they are unfamiliar with [such as Muslims]," she said.
Anti-Muslim hatred has been on the rise for years. Far-right extremism and xenophobia have fueled anti-Muslim hatred in Western countries, where terror attacks by Daesh and al-Qaida are used as an excuse to legitimize those views. Although enmity toward Muslims is not a new phenomenon, it intensified after 2001 when airplanes crashed into the twin towers in New York City. Since then, for almost two decades, Islam has been unjustly tarnished with labels that have negative connotations and been portrayed as a religion of hate and violence with anti-Western sentiment and women's oppression. This trend of intolerance has triggered deadly attacks against Muslims and immigrants since then.
Attending the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on Friday, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also touched upon the issue, calling the council to stand against anti-Muslim acts.
"[The council] must fight together against rising xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, hate speech and populism," Çavuşoğlu said.
Muslims should unite against anti-Muslim acts
In Özdemir's opinion, it is not too late for anything since there is still the option to counter-act on the part of Muslims.
"In Austria, Muslims, if they get together, may bring the issue to a higher court and go for an appeal since the law directly targets Muslims' headscarf. This means that this is an openly racist act since it excludes other religious symbols or clothing such as Sikh's turban," she said.
"However," she underlined, "Muslims should unite first and act together. Not only legal struggles, but also civil struggle is crucial. The important thing is to not quit no matter what. If we [as Muslims] continue our struggle to protect our rights, then we would get recognized by the state as well."
As the first Belgium parliamentarian with a headscarf, Özdemir said that the biggest issue is to not give up in the face of various tests that being a woman Muslim politician in Europe presents to you.
"When I was first elected 10 years ago, of course I received many reactions. I've received lots of criticism and even death threats since I was the first woman parliamentarian in Brussels to wear a headscarf," Özdemir said, indicating she has to do her job without giving into the challenges she faces.
"Right now, there are lots of women politicians all over Europe who wear headscarves. This shows that we have made some progress. When you, as the first in something, manage to overcome the challenges, the ones that come after you are more at ease," she said.
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J. Cole is Playing a Surprise $1 Concert in Dallas on Sunday
H. Drew Blackburn
H. Drew Blackburn | June 18, 2015 | 8:46am
2015 is shaping up to be the year of the free, surprise concert in Dallas. Just last month, for instance, The Bomb Factory hosted a "VIP party" at its newly renovated digs with a free-to-the-public appearance by Marina and the Diamonds — a clever bit of publicity in which attendees didn't even know who would be playing, but hey, it was free. It's not an entirely new trend; in a much less radical sense, Red Bull has been hosting dirt-cheap-with-an-RSVP shows every month for a couple years. Now it looks like North Carolina rapper J. Cole is getting in on the fun.
Well, OK, this one isn't exclusive to Dallas, but it's still a win for local concertgoers. Cole is about to embark on his third annual Dollar and a Dream tour, in which fans can catch him performing for the "dream" price of just $1, and the tour kicks off in Dallas this Sunday, June 21. Still, the idea feels a little more special given the guerrilla nature of its announcement — Cole only dropped the news on Twitter this week, just a few days before the show is set to take place.
The details remain sparse, which adds a little extra mystery to the whole thing: He'll reportedly perform his acclaimed mixtape, Friday Night Lights, in full. For the time being that's all the information that's out there. The rest of the pertinent info, as in where and exactly what time the show takes place, will be announced via J. Cole and his label Dreamville's Twitter accounts on the day of the show. So, Cole fans (Cole Blooded Americans?) should keep an eye on those pages.
Believe it or not, Cole is one of the most sought-after rappers out there today. His latest album, 2014's Forest Hills Drive, sold over 350,000 copies in its first week. That was after it had been announced just three weeks prior, with a minuscule amount of promotion in terms of what you'd expect from an artist on a major label. His hook, though, was fan service. He's all about the fans and the sentiment still reigns supreme.
As far as speculation on where Cole is performing? It would make sense if he did a Live Nation-approved venue, as he's signed to the Roc Nation record label. He'll actually be back in Dallas on August 23 at Gexa Energy Pavillion to play with Big Sean, YG and Jeremih as part of the Forest Hills Drive tour, so he may try avoiding overlap at Gexa. With that said, Gexa doesn't have a show Sunday, nor does the Live Nation-owned House of Blues. Don't count out a place like The Bomb Factory either, seeing how they already have the Marina and the Diamonds show in their CV.
Really, though, your guess is as good as ours.
Follow @DC9AtNight
DFW Music News
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'My family are desperate to see me win a trophy,' says Maguire
Stephen Maguire outlined his desire to win the Betway UK Championship for his family, as he powered into Sunday’s showpiece in emphatic style.
The 38-year-old had somewhat edged past Matthew Stevens in the quarter-finals – and Michael White before that – but demonstrated some of his best form to whitewash 2018 Masters winner Mark Allen 6-0 and book his spot in the final.
Having raced into a 2-0 lead with breaks of 95 and 129, Maguire looked on course to be pegged back by Allen in the third when the Northern Irishman notched 67 before he returned to the table and cleared up with 72 to firmly set himself up for victory.
A further ton and a half-century followed, and after sealing victory the 2004 champion explained he is hopeful of continuing his scintillating form and securing the coveted UK Championship trophy.
“I’m very proud of that performance,” he said. “I felt strong from the start, I wanted to pot everything out there and it was a really good feeling.
“You can’t go out and go for absolutely everything because that’d be suicide against the likes of Mark, but tonight all the balls I went for just seemed to go in.
“Getting to the final is special but I want that title badly now. These sorts of games don’t come by that often and my boy keeps asking me when I’m going to win a tournament.
“I know it’s going to be tough but I’d love to take the trophy home for the family. I’m pushing 40 now so I might not have long left to get this far again.”
Maguire faces a shoot off with Ding Junhui to claim the top prize at the first Triple Crown event of the season, and the Chinese star has similarly shown flashes of his previous best at the York Barbican with a win over defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the last 16.
But while he acknowledged the threats posed by the 13-time ranking event winner, world No.14 Maguire insisted he will simply concentrate on his own game throughout the best-of-19 encounter.
He said: “I’ve got a lot of respect for Ding. I love the way he plays, everything about his game is strong and he’s a nice guy as well. I’ve definitely got my work cut out.
“But I’m not too bothered how he approaches the match because I’m going to attack and try and impose my own game.
“I’ll be opening the reds up and if he scores better than me then he’ll win. But if the reds are there then I fancy taking them myself and I’m hopeful that will see me over the line.”
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Taking the Next Step: How to Be a Better Parent
Laureen sought help from Dr. Phil because she was struggling to parent her 16-year-old daughter, Shannon:
"My daughter, Shannon, doesn't treat me very well. I'm being bullied. She yells at me a lot of the time," Laureen said. "Shannon wants what she wants when she wants it, and if she doesn't get it all the time, it's sort of like dealing with a 5-year-old. I try not to give in, but as she gets older, it's getting harder, and I'm getting worn down. She was taking my credit card, and going online and charging things. I told her I was putting my room under lock and key, and she broke in. At one point, there was an altercation here one night, and Shannon got very angry at me and hit me, and I ended up calling the police. I have a lot of anxiety. I don't sleep. I cry a lot. There are times when Shannon takes off and won't tell me, and I'm frantic, searching, calling friends on the phone, trying to find her, and she does it on purpose to get to me. Shannon has been suspended for excessive class cuts. If Shannon's future keeps going the way it is, I'm afraid she's going to end up in jail."
Laureen gives an update since the show:
It is truly amazing what has changed in my life since I first wrote to, and went on, the Dr. Phil show. So much has changed. My 16-year-old daughter is attending Copper Canyon Academy (CCA) in Arizona. CCA is an all-girls therapeutic residential school, which is part of Aspen Education Group.
Her journey to get where she is today began over three-and-a-half years ago by skipping school. From there, she progressed to stealing from me (including credit cards), lying about basically everything, drinking, swearing at me and at teachers and hitting me on a couple of occasions. She was suspended from school for excessive class cuts, insubordination, vulgar obscene language, excessive office referrals and disturbing school assembly. As for the last offense, she could have been charged criminally. At one of her many court hearings the judge presented copies of 64 office referrals that she had from her teachers to her head master... The judge told her that she was a bad person. He told her that if the school was a person that she was the cancer that was festering. Needless to say, she repeated the eighth grade and was failing ninth with solid Fs. Truthfully, I am condensing about three years of outrageous behavior for the sake of this letter... Her behavior, I have found out, was more destructive than I was aware of at the time.
Nothing that I tried worked. I turned to many services for help. The front door of our home was a revolving door of therapists. It was the most difficult, emotionally draining, fearful time I have ever had to deal with in my life. For me, there are no words to capture the "panicked" state that I was in. Just thinking back on it I go right back to the anxiety that I lived every day during that time. I was so afraid for my daughter and the direction she was headed, but I wasn't ready to give up.
All along I had been writing to the Dr. Phil show. Sometimes very late at night I would have "panic attacks" about my daughter. I would be crying. I would literally get down on my knees and pray to God for her and pray for help. My whole family was praying for her. When I couldn't sleep I would write e-mails to the Dr. Phil show, sometimes I would send them, sometimes I wouldn't … Most of the time, I sent them. I was desperate, and desperate times call for desperate measures. I also thought it would be helpful getting my feelings out. I never thought in a million years, that me, unimportant, uninteresting me, would hear back from the Dr. Phil show. One day, after one of my many e-mails to the show, and one of my desperate pleas for help, I got an e-mail back. Am I ever glad I didn't give up!
That day was the beginning of a new direction for me. More importantly, I attribute (without a doubt) what followed after that first e-mail from the Dr. Phil show, and when we (my daughter & I) went on the Dr Phil show, to literally saving my daughter. Going on the show wasn't easy for me. I wasn't the same person that I used to be. I was worn out and felt "beat down" and Dr Phil recognized that (of course he did, dah!) He also saw all the qualities of my beautiful daughter, but he knew that I needed help. Dr Phil told me that I was "in over my head" with her. He met with my daughter, and she was cooperating with him, talking openly with him, and she cried when he asked her when the last time was that she was proud of herself. She said she couldn't remember. I also think the fact that Dr. Phil was interested in helping her encouraged her to want to help herself. Dr Phil told me that help had arrived. That was music to my ears. He told me that he believed that she needed a therapeutic, residential school situation. He asked me if I was interested. I told him that I was very interested. He told me about Aspen Education Group. He went on to say that it was very expensive. He also knew that as a single parent, I didn't have the financial means to pay for it. He told me that he would make the resources available to me and my daughter and no cost to our family if we wanted it. Miracles do happen... once in awhile.
In April 2009, my daughter began her new school life at Turn-About Ranch (TAR), part of Aspen Education Group. It is a Christian based program on a real working ranch. It is a very difficult and demanding program with strict rules. The kids have to earn everything. Nothing is taken for granted. My daughter worked so hard, and I am so proud of her. Academically, she went from Fs at her previous school to A-plusses at TAR. She worked very hard on her self-destructive issues and her self-esteem. She communicated openly with the staff, she obeyed the rules, and they began the process of helping us build a new relationship; a healthy relationship. The staff members at TAR are caring, open and the most giving people you'll ever meet. I love them all and owe them so much. In the local community of TAR, I met kind and generous people who have inspired me to be a better person. When she graduated from TAR, the staff members were sad to see her leave. She had become a leader for the other students. They said that they would miss her helping them; they said they would miss her big smile. I was/am so proud of her. What a difference the right kind of help makes. Compare that to "that judge" who said she was a cancer.
She is now at Copper Canyon Academy (Aspen Education Group) in Arizona. I found out last Monday that because she is doing so well, she will be "fast tracked" from level one to level two. CCA is a therapeutic, residential college prep school with strong academics. This is the new phase in our journey and where we are right now.
I have recently left my RN job in Massachusetts and moved to Arizona so that I can participate in the family component of CCA. This includes family seminars and workshops, plus living closer will permit me to visit with her, according to the school's regulations, and participate in family therapy. She will also be allowed home visits as part of the process later in the program and according to her progress. I have also started training for a new career as a dialysis nurse. It hasn't been easy for me in many ways but particularly since I miss my daughter so much. I remember how things use to be though, and the gift that we have been given is priceless.
I remember on the Dr Phil show that I had told Dr Phil that I would do anything for my daughter. He told me that he believed that I would. I was glad that he said that. I remember that I told Shannon that I would never give up on her. I am proud that I didn't give up. If I had, where would she be right now? She has thanked me over and over for not giving up on her. The better she's doing, the better I'm doing. We are more connected now than ever before. I love her so much.
My advice (and I don't think I'm one who should be giving advice) if I were to give it is: do whatever you need to do to save your kids and don't ever, ever, ever give up on them.
Now I have so many people to thank, beginning with the Dr Phil show. So many people have shown that they care, and I am amazed by the generosity of Turn-About Ranch, Copper Canyon Academy, and Aspen Education Group. I have met so many kind people because of this journey that it has sort of "restored my faith" when I was so down and pretty negative about life. I am beginning to regain some joy in my life … a work in progress. It took me a long time to realize what's really important. Every day, I am thankful."
Guest Follow-Ups - Original Show Page
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Smart Phones Have Been Burnt Under The Pillow
Samsung Galaxy S4 smart phone a device for charging during the night, but this young man, 13-year-old girl placed smart phone under her pillow, she is charging the phone, it is a normal routine. However, no casualties occurred in the North Texas. Phone’s owner. The smell of burnt breaks his sleep at night. At one point, she is able to find its location and have sighted pillowcase smart phone has been burnt down.
His father said in an interview with Fox TV, “We always think we have already purchased products, they are safe for us. According to him, the incident occurred due to excessive heat. “
The Samsung representative said in a message, in charge of keeping up with the phone pressed Lang could not ventilate. This happened as a result. At the same time, the company said, this matter will be given instructions about the users beforehand.
But the funny thing is, Samsung has the phone and hit the pillow and the bed will change. In this regard, a Samsung representative said, “Samsung is very serious about product quality and customer satisfaction.”
The representative said, they’re trying to rescue a damaged phone, and they will look at why this phenomenon occurred. He said, “We tell all our customers to comply with the instructions given by CTIA and handling wireless batteries. Additionally, our user manuals warn customers that phones must have adequate ventilation Our user manual is called, the phone is always in the air flow. It’s the same with anything that should not be covered. “
Despite the miscues by the owner of the Samsung galaxy, Samsung to FOX
Our Texas family recently received a similar story on Reddit user should be able to hope for better service than that. Although it would have been the owner of the use of the charger and the battery while charging, claiming his Galaxy S4 was fried. Now, despite being told by Samsung will replace the broken unit, a month later, Redditor was still waiting.
Many iPhone 4 fires, especially for a woman of her “popping” and her phone charging on the nightstand next to her head during the “sizzling” woke up, claiming reported in 2011 and 2012. Recent Stories from Samsung, the Colorado women’s cross-country trip with her in a hotel room during the incident, as a result, Apple replaced the unit without any of the “classic corporate runaround”
“So part of the recalls of the device, gadget instructions, and best safety practices for managing your electronics are constantly evolving, do your best to keep up with the list. We promise you’ll sleep better if you do.”
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Jonathan Taylor is appointed Member of the Management Committee
On the basis of a nomination from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Board of Directors decided on 15 November 2012 to submit the candidature of Mr Jonathan Taylor to the Board of Governors for the post of Vice-President and Member of the Management Committee, to succeed Mr Simon Brooks, who had tendered his resignation with effect from 1st January 2013. The written procedure inviting the Board of Governors to vote on this proposal was launched on 19 November 2012.
The decision to appoint Mr Jonathan Taylor was taken on 6 December 2012, the date on which the requisite majority of votes was reached. Mr Jonathan Taylor has therefore been appointed as Vice-President and Member of the Management Committee, taking up his post with effect from 1st January 2013.
The Board of Governors also conferred the title of Honorary Vice-President on Mr Simon Brooks.
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Venezuela’s presidential campaign
The opposition has got its act together at last. Will that be enough to topple a convalescent and vulnerable Hugo Chávez?
The AmericasFeb 11th 2012 edition
FOR the moment, Henrique Capriles has reason to be confident. The governor of Miranda state is the front-runner in the Democratic Unity (MUD) coalition's primary, due on February 12th. According to Datanálisis, a pollster, he leads Pablo Pérez, his closest rival, by 62% to 16%, though the margin of error is high and turnout could have a big effect on the results.
Assuming Mr Capriles (pictured) wins, however, he will not get such an easy run from his next rival, Hugo Chávez, seeking a third six-year term as Venezuela's president. Mr Chávez underwent surgery for cancer last June. But he says he is “cured” and has already nominated himself as the candidate of his United Socialist Party (PSUV). “I wish him a long life,” Mr Capriles said recently, “because I want him to see the changes in Venezuela with his own eyes.”
In 2006, the previous time Mr Chávez ran for re-election, the opposition was in disarray. Its bevy of anti-Chávez parties was still tainted by association with a coup attempt in 2002. They could agree on little save their distaste for the government, and had unwisely boycotted the 2005 legislative elections, leaving them with no lawmakers. Moreover, the opposition parties were dominated by media, business and trade-union leaders and by pressure groups, rather than by politicians. They chose their presidential candidate, Manuel Rosales, via back-room consensus instead of a primary. Mr Chávez trounced him.
They have learned from their mistakes. In 2008 a dozen opposition parties formed the MUD, an alliance modelled on the Concertación coalition that ousted Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile. Two years later they fielded a joint slate of legislative candidates, which narrowly won the popular vote and took 67 of 165 congressional seats in mid-term elections. The forthcoming MUD primary is open to all Venezuelans registered to vote. “There's a new generation of leaders,” says Alonso Moleiro, a political analyst. “They are totally committed to the electoral road to power, and to co-existing with chavismo.”
By publishing a detailed platform, the MUD has also insulated itself from the charge that it stands only for removing Mr Chávez. Its plan aims to reverse the president's blurring of the distinctions between the executive, the PSUV and the state as a whole. It would restore the central bank's autonomy; relieve the state oil company, PDVSA, of its role as a welfare agency; abolish the president's personal militia; move control of social-welfare schemes to the ministries; and put the army at the service of the state instead of Mr Chávez's “socialist revolution”. However, it takes a gradualist approach to restoring confiscated property, undoing currency controls and abolishing unconstitutional laws.
Five of the six of the original primary contenders supported the platform. The two early front-runners were Mr Pérez, the governor of Zulia state, and Mr Capriles. Although both have won the support of parties with diverse ideologies, Mr Pérez is broadly seen as representing the centre-left and Mr Capriles the centre-right.
Mr Pérez says his social-democratic views will appeal to disgruntled former chavistas. His darker skin may help persuade them that he is a man of the people. But despite a wealthy background, Mr Capriles has also run as a moderate, focusing on education and social issues. And he has implicitly accused Mr Pérez, who is backed by the two dominant parties of the pre-Chávez era, of representing the machine politics that alienated voters and made Mr Chávez's rise possible. Mr Capriles all but secured the nomination when the third-placed Leopoldo López withdrew from the race last month to run his campaign.
Mr Capriles has reason to be optimistic about his chances in the October general election. At 39, he has already been a mayor, a governor and the vice-president of congress. And Mr Chávez has never looked so weak, politically or physically. Venezuela has South America's highest rates of both inflation and murder. Basic goods and housing are scarce. His illness will probably hinder his campaign, undermining his image of invincibility.
Yet the challenger will still face an uphill battle. Mr Capriles cannot match the charisma of Mr Chávez, who remains Venezuela's most popular politician. The president has freely spent public money in past campaigns, and has packed the electoral authority with supporters, letting him flout campaign rules and perhaps even tweak the result. “If you don't have witnesses [at polling stations],” Mr Capriles warns, “you can be absolutely sure your votes will be stolen.” Mr Capriles has just a few days left before the hard part begins.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "Mano a mano"
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Baseball-mad Andrés Manuel López Obrador throws money at the game
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Tata Steel to lay 3,000 jobs in Europe
Indian steelmaker Tata Steel has announced that 3,000 people will be laid off in its European operations.
In the announcement made by Tata Steel it was stated that the company is going through restructuring due to the deterioration in international market conditions and plans to increase production with high added value in the company's European operations. Within this framework, 3 thousand people to be laid off and about two-thirds of those are of the office positions stated in the statement and emphasized that the European facilities will not be closed.
Henrik Adam, Tata Steel's Senior Manager states in the announcement, "We are working together to create a better and faster decision-making process, This will give us the opportunity to be self-sufficient and to have cash in unprecedented market conditions."
Indian Tata Steel employs approximately 20,000 people in Europe and 8,358 in England, Wales. On the company's decision, Ken Skates, Welsh Economy Minister concluded, "We are urgently trying to negotiate with Tata Steel to determine what the announcement means for employees in Wales and how we can support those affected by the decision."
The Chinese Jingye Group announced that it has acquired British steelmaker British Steel, which was known to be experiencing financial difficulties for a long time, and plans to invest £ 1.2 billion to modernize its production facilities.
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Fayetteville physician Eric Mansfield is bidding for U.S. Senate
Paul Woolverton Staff writer @FO_Woolverton
Jun 18, 2019 at 10:30 AM Jun 25, 2019 at 12:06 PM
The Democrat, whose political career started in Cumberland County, enters a crowded field for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Thom Tillis.
Fayetteville physician Eric Mansfield announced on Tuesday he is running for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate next year.
Mansfield, 54, who served one term representing Fayetteville and Spring Lake in the North Carolina Senate, announced his decision with a news release and a video on YouTube.
“I’m Eric Mansfield and I’m running for the United States Senate because I believe there is a sickness in our politics and I believe that we can do better,” he says in the video.
The video cites a near-death experience Mansfield had a year ago, when his heart stopped while he was driving home from a gym workout and he crashed. Mansfield’s life was saved by a man who saw the crash and gave him CPR.
It was a second chance, Mansfield said.
At least seven announced candidates mow are in the 2020 election for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Thom Tillis.
On the Democratic side, Mansfield faces state Sen. Erica Smith of Northampton County, Mecklenburg County Commissioner Trevor Fuller and former state Sen. Cal Cunningham of Raleigh. Cunningham lost the U.S. Senate Democratic primary in 2010.
Tillis faces Garland Tucker of Raleigh and Sandy Smith of Winterville in the Republican primary.
The 2020 primary is set for March.
Mansfield is a former Army doctor who was stationed at Fort Bragg. He lived in Fayetteville for many years before moving to Holly Springs in Wake County. In Fayetteville, Mansfield founded Cape Fear Otolaryngology, an ear-nose-and-throat practice that he continues to operate. He also was a minister at Lewis Chapel Missionary Baptist Church here.
He served in the legislature in the 2011-2012 session, then made an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor.
“I’ve always said Cumberland County has been my base because everything that I’ve done in North Carolina has happened because of what Cumberland County has done for me and my family,” Mansfield said. “So I’m really excited to represent them and my prayer is that we’ll run a campaign that makes Cumberland County and Fayetteville very proud of us.”
Tuesday’s Senate announcement follows several months in which Mansfield operated an exploratory committee. In part this was to consider whether he wanted to return to politics after seven years out. He traveled around North Carolina to meet voters and called 1,500 to find out what is on their minds, he said.
“Healthcare just kept coming up,” Mansfield said. “I would say that was the first thing everybody said."
People are worried by rising costs for prescription drugs and medical treatment, Mansfield said, while employers say health insurance for their workers is a large and growing expense.
Most people Mansfield talked to are frustrated with the amount of harsh and angry discourse in America politics, he said. The voices on TV — whether they be on the right on Fox or the left on MSNBC — don’t reflect most people’s thoughts and attitudes, he said.
“I think that in this country we’ve hit a tipping point where, kind of the just really loud and just kind of angry stuff that people are saying, has begun to make people think and go, 'Hey, that’s not how we really want to be, that’s not how we want our politics to be,'" Mansfield said. “And so that kind of gave me more desire to get back in so I could really help. For me, if I couldn’t really help then I didn’t want to be in it.”
The exploratory period also helped Mansfield gauge whether he can get the financial and political support he needs to mount a statewide campaign, he said. He thinks he can, and he has raised more than $100,000, he said.
Democratic political consultant and blogger Thomas Mills made a quick analysis of the Democratic primary on Tuesday that largely described a run between Mansfield and Cunningham.
“If he [Mansfield] can consolidate the African-American voters, he would be the odds-on favorite in a primary where black voters make up 40% of the electorate and a candidate only needs 30% of the vote to secure the nomination without a runoff,” Mills said.
But Mills pointed out that Mansfield is one of three black candidates in the race, and that the others, Fuller and Smith, could split the black vote with Mansfield.
Staff writer Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3512.
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A Theology of Love: Reimagining Christianity through A Course in Miracles
By Richard Smoley
Read by Kathleen Roche-Zujko
Richard Smoley Inner Traditions Audio 9781620559253
A spirituality based on love, not fear • Shares key, inspiring teachings from A Course in Miracles as well as Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, and the Sefer Yetzirah, the oldest known Kabbalistic text • Cites philosophical wisdom from Kant, Blake, Jung, and Gurdjieff, alongside cognitive science, to reveal how the world is not difficult and flawed, but our fear-based mind-sets lead us to see it that way • Offers a path to help you regenerate from the “fallen” state and experience God as infinite love and light In the West, theology has almost always meant Christian theology--a hodgepodge of beliefs that are hard to make sense of. Why, for example, should an all-loving, merciful God have gotten mad at the human race because someone ate a piece of fruit six thousand years ago? And why would he send part of himself down to earth to be tortured to death? These beliefs, stated baldly, are nonsensical. Millions of people are realizing this and losing their faith. The time has come to reenvision Christian theology without contradictory teachings laced with fear. It is time for a theology of love and miracles. Richard Smoley reframes Christian theology using logical, consistent, and easy-to-understand teachings of unconditional love and forgiveness. He draws inspiration not only from the Bible, but also from Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, and from esoteric and mystical teachings, such as A Course in Miracles and the Sefer Yetzirah, the oldest known Kabbalistic text. He explains how the “fallen” state of the human condition, not one of sin but of oblivion, leads us to experience the world as flawed and problematic--not wholly evil, but not wholly good. Citing philosophical wisdom from Kant, Blake, Jung, and Gurdjieff, alongside cognitive science, Smoley reveals how it is not the world that is flawed, but the way we see the world. Sharing key teachings from A Course in Miracles, he shows that our fear-based mind-sets--often filled with anxiety, suffering, and shame--lead us to feel separated from God when, in fact, we are all extensions of a God of infinite love and light. Offering a path to help you regenerate from the “fallen” state and see the real spiritual world and loving God that lies behind it, the author provides ways for each of us to craft our own self-consistent theology. He also lays out a vision for the future of spirituality, a path for present-day religion to transform into something higher and more universal.
A spirituality based on love, not fear
• Shares key, inspiring teachings from A Course in Miracles as well as Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, and the Sefer Yetzirah, the oldest known Kabbalistic text
• Cites philosophical wisdom from Kant, Blake, Jung, and Gurdjieff, alongside cognitive science, to reveal how the world is not difficult and flawed, but our fear-based mind-sets lead us to see it that way
• Offers a path to help you regenerate from the “fallen” state and experience God as infinite love and light
In the West, theology has almost always meant Christian theology--a hodgepodge of beliefs that are hard to make sense of. Why, for example, should an all-loving, merciful God have gotten mad at the human race because someone ate a piece of fruit six thousand years ago? And why would he send part of himself down to earth to be tortured to death? These beliefs, stated baldly, are nonsensical. Millions of people are realizing this and losing their faith. The time has come to reenvision Christian theology without contradictory teachings laced with fear. It is time for a theology of love and miracles.
Richard Smoley reframes Christian theology using logical, consistent, and easy-to-understand teachings of unconditional love and forgiveness. He draws inspiration not only from the Bible, but also from Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, and from esoteric and mystical teachings, such as A Course in Miracles and the Sefer Yetzirah, the oldest known Kabbalistic text. He explains how the “fallen” state of the human condition, not one of sin but of oblivion, leads us to experience the world as flawed and problematic--not wholly evil, but not wholly good.
Citing philosophical wisdom from Kant, Blake, Jung, and Gurdjieff, alongside cognitive science, Smoley reveals how it is not the world that is flawed, but the way we see the world. Sharing key teachings from A Course in Miracles, he shows that our fear-based mind-sets--often filled with anxiety, suffering, and shame--lead us to feel separated from God when, in fact, we are all extensions of a God of infinite love and light.
Offering a path to help you regenerate from the “fallen” state and see the real spiritual world and loving God that lies behind it, the author provides ways for each of us to craft our own self-consistent theology. He also lays out a vision for the future of spirituality, a path for present-day religion to transform into something higher and more universal.
Far and away the most exciting examination of the core Christian promise and its continuing relevance for us today that I have read in years.” —
No one gives a deeper and more balanced account of what he calls ‘inner Christianity’ than Richard Smoley. Historically erudite and theologically awake, he is that rare scholar who is a practitioner--well versed in the spiritual practices of all those currents of ‘true Christianity’ that recognize that to be a ‘Christian’ is to become a ‘Christ’ and embody his unconditional love of human beings (individually, as beings of infinite and absolute value) and humanity as such: the human project. Too much of contemporary Christian thought ignores this fundamental teaching--at its and our peril. A Theology of Love will perhaps deepen the understanding of those who seek a deeper, healthier Christian path.” —
This book addresses some very important issues for the community that calls itself Christian. The author’s breadth of knowledge and his ability to talk the ecclesiastical talk should help his message reach many readers who know nothing about A Course in Miracles but would find that it speaks to them. And maybe it will help to dispel the glut of misinformation that’s out there, too.” —
In our increasingly secular world, people hunger for a way of harmonizing their actual spiritual experiences and their inner knowing with religious traditions that no longer affirm them. In A Theology of Love, Richard Smoley shows how this is possible. This is a powerful contribution, powerful because it is also simple and uncomplicated. To those who grieve that Christianity has lost its way because of its sellout to tawdry, unprincipled politicians, Smoley’s message is CPR for the soul.” —
I literally cannot think of another scholar who could reasonably attempt what Richard Smoley not only attempts but succeeds in doing in A Theology of Love. Smoley constructs a new, mysterious, utterly practical, and broadly gnostic Christian-based approach to life; it is one of mysticism, questioning, critical belief, and personal change. Some contemporary scholars possess the intellect, some possess the inner experience--but none, other than Smoley, possess both, and in sufficient amounts, to achieve this unprecedented task. When you read A Theology of Love you will understand why Richard is our generation’s premier independent scholar of spirituality.” —
If there is anything that can help humanity towards an age of the Holy Spirit (the subject of a wonderful discussion in chapter 17), it is surely radical forgiveness. For the vision of such love, and help along the way of living it, we can be grateful to both A Course in Miracles and Richard Smoley." —
Author Bio: Richard Smoley
Richard Smoley is one of today’s most highly regarded writers on esoteric topics. A graduate of Harvard College and the University of Oxford, he was a longtime editor of the venerated spiritual journal Gnosis. Smoley’s books include Inner Christianity. He is editor of Quest: Journal of the Theosophical Society in America and of Quest Books.
Category: Nonfiction/Body, Mind & Spirit
Publisher: Inner Traditions Audio
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China's Wuzhou says it will take 10% stake in oral insulin specialist Oramed for $52M
Jul 5, 2015 12:34pm
China's Guangxi Wuzhou Zhongheng Group disclosed that it intends to purchase a 10% stake in Israeli pharma company Oramed for $52 million, in return for exclusive Chinese distribution rights to its oral insulin following regulatory approval, according to a briefing from Reuters.
Oramed ($ORMP) aims to deploy its Protein Oral Delivery platform to commercialize oral insulin capsules for Type 1 and 2 diabetes, as well as an oral Glucagon-like peptide-1. Both insulin and GLP-1 are mainly available in injectable form at the moment. The company says its drug delivery technology protects orally administered proteins from acids and enzymes within the gut, and has an enhancer that improves absorption across the intestinal wall.
Wuzhou's intention reflects the rapid rise of diabetes in China, where more than 100 million adults already have the disease, according to the Lancet, which states the population is particularly vulnerable to Type 2 diabetes.
Wuzhou previously purchased Oramed shares in November, when it paid $5 million in to buy 696,378 shares for $7.18 apiece. "China offers a substantial market opportunity for our diabetes focused pipeline and we are delighted to have Wuzhou as a supportive shareholder, as they can help strategically guide our development and commercial entrance into China," said Oramed CEO Nadav Kidron in a statement made at the time.
Other Chinese investors have shown an appetite for the diabetes market as well. In May, China's Sinocare and state-owned investment company Citic Group reportedly made a made a joint bid of about $1 billion for Bayer's blood glucose monitoring business. Private equity backed Panasonic Healthcare later won the unit for about $1.2 billion.
Meanwhile, Oramed suffered a setback in April 2014, when one-third of the patients in its Phase IIa trial of oral insulin for Type 2 diabetes absorbed less than half of the intended dosage due to a formulation issue. That knocked the stock price from a high of $26 earlier that year to around $10, and it hasn't bounced back since, making the potential $52 million in funding even more important.
Oramed just announced that it is pushing the candidate forward anyway and recently enrolled the first patient in the med's Phase IIb trial.
Mannkind ($MNKD) and Sanofi's ($SNY) inhaled Afrezza is a current alterative to injectable insulin. It's off to a slow launch, but showing some signs of gaining traction, if social media and doctors' surveys are to be believed. An oral insulin would offer an even bigger upgrade over injections compared with the inhaled option, at least in terms of convenience as an administration pathway.
- here's the news from Reuters
U.K. adopts UCB and kitchenware maker OXO's Cimzia self-injection pen
A self-injection pen prefilled with Brussels-based UCB’s Cimzia (certolizumab pegol) has been made available this week in the U.K. after a positive opinion…
by Michael Gibney Oct 25, 2016 9:42am
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CSU-LONG BEACH LEADS NATIONAL GUARD FLW WESTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP ON UTAH LAKE
FLW press release
PROVO, Utah (Aug. 31, 2012) – The California State University-Long Beach team of Justin Gangel of Valley Center, Calif., and Alex Cox of Long Beach, Calif., caught four bass Thursday weighing 5 pounds, 14 ounces to take the lead after day two of the National Guard FLW College Fishing Western Conference Championship on Utah Lake. The team now holds a 1 pound, 13 ounce lead over the day one leaders, Chico State University. Teams are fishing in this event for a top award of a Ranger Z117 bass boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and a berth in the National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship tournament.
“I think that we did a good job today,” said Gangel, an Environmental Science major. “Yesterday we were getting bites all day long, but today, it was every couple of hours. One bite here, one bite there, you really had to capitalize when you got one. We stayed on one stretch of bank for the entire day. We just went back and forth and grinded it out. We knew the fish were there, we just had to get the bites. We’re both throwing only one main bait.”
“The bait we are using is actually what I use back home at El Dorado Park in Long Beach,” said Cox, a Kinesiology major. “When we came out to practice on Wednesday, I was looking at my tackle and figured it would be perfect for this lake. We shook off a lot of bites in pre-fish, then yesterday we threw it and we both caught good fish on it. We had six more packs of it shipped to our hotel today, so we’re good to go for tomorrow. I’m confident in it.”
Although the anglers wanted to keep their baits a secret, it’s really no secret where they have been fishing on the vast body of water that is Utah Lake.
“We’re fishing the south end of the lake,” said Gangel. “The biggest key for us is just getting away from everybody else and the areas that have been pounded all week long. We had four fish today that were about a ¼-inch too short, so we’re going to have to wait until tomorrow to see how crucial those would have been for us. The main thing has been just to really slow it down. Fishing real slow has been crucial for us.”
The weather Friday was cooler and overcast, a big change from the sun and heat on day one. When asked about their gameplan for tomorrow, the Long Beach team has one thing on their mind.
“Ideal conditions for us tomorrow would be hot and sunny,” Gangel said. “However, I don’t think it’s going to be that way. We’re hoping for five, but if we can get three bites tomorrow I think it’ll be looking pretty good for us.”
“The gameplan for tomorrow is to win!” Cox said.
The top five teams fishing tomorrow and qualifying for the 2013 National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship are:
1st: California State University-Long Beach –Justin Gangel, Valley Center, Calif., and Alex Cox, Long Beach, Calif., nine bass, 14-3
2nd: Chico State University – Anthony Dayton, Walnut Creek, Calif., and Nic Carrico, Oroville, Calif., five bass, 12-6
3rd: Arizona State University – Jason Karseboom, Tempe, Ariz., and Bobby Fletcher, Gilbert, Ariz., six bass, 11-3
4th: Oregon State University – Zach MacDonald, Willits, Calif., and Ryan Sparks, Haines, Alaska, four bass, 10-10
5th: University of California-Santa Cruz – Sam Sayad, Carmel Valley, Calif., and Chris Rhoden, Pearlblossom, Calif., six bass, 9-1
Complete results can be found at CollegeFishing.com.
Overall there were 26 bass weighing 51 pounds even caught by college anglers on Friday. There were zero five-bass limits.
Final take off will be at 7 a.m. Saturday from Utah Lake State Park located at 4400 West Center St. in Provo, Utah, at 7 a.m. each morning. The final weigh-in will be held at the Walmart located at 1355 Sandhill Road in Orem, Utah, beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public and are being hosted by the Utah Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Utah Lake Commission.
Fans will be treated to the FLW Expo at Walmart on Saturday from noon-4 p.m. before the final weigh-in. The Expo includes Ranger boat simulators, interactive games, activities and giveaways provided by sponsors, and fans can learn more about the sport of fishing and other outdoor activities. All activities are free and open to the public.
Four regular-season qualifying events are held in each conference – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Texas and Western. The top five teams from each qualifying tournament will advance to one of five televised three-day National Guard FLW College Fishing Conference Championships, where the first-place team wins a Ranger Z117 bass boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard. The top five teams from each conference championship advance to the National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship.
College Fishing is free to enter and FLW provides boats and drivers for each competing team along with travel allowances. All participants must be registered, full-time undergraduate students at a four-year college or university and members of a fishing club recognized by their college or university.
Coverage of the Western Conference Championship will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports Network when “FLW” airs Nov. 4 from 1-2 p.m. ET. "FLW College Fishing" is hosted by Jason Harper and is broadcast to more than 559 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow College Fishing on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing. Visit CollegeFishing.com to sign up or to start a club at your school.
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