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Fact-Checking Governor Pence's Job Creation Claim From Highway Spending Bill
When Gov. Mike Pence signed into law last week a $400 million highway spending bill, he claimed projects funded by the new spending would create nearly 10,000 new jobs. WTHR's Bob Segall fact-checks the claim and find it's bogus. The governor's office relied on a 2007 federal highway report that suggested that every $1 billion spent on highway spending equates to about 27,800 jobs. The job claim number used by the governor's office was extrapolated from that estimate.
What Segall found was that the 2007 report cautioned that the job numbers referred to the number of jobs supported by the spending, not the actual number of new jobs created by the spending. Segall also found another more recent federal report that suggested the actual number of jobs supported by $400 million in spending would be closer to 4,300 jobs rather than the 9,800 job number touted by Pence.
In a separate report this past weekend by the Evansville Courier & Press, questions were raised about the wisdom of Gov. Pence's plan to build the I-69 extension from Bloomington to Martinsville through the use of a public-private agreement. The Pence administration has awarded the project to a Netherlands-based company, Isolux Infrastructure, to upgrade the 21-mile stretch of State Road 37 as another connecting link for I-69. The state will kick in $80 million upfront, while the private contractor will provide $325 million in funding for the extension. In addition, Indiana will make annual payments of $21.8 million to the private consortium over the next 35 years, or a total of $763 million, in exchange for the private consortium agreeing to maintain the highway.
By comparison, $700 million in Major Moves funding was provided for construction of the the nearly 100-mile stretch of new highway from Evansville to Bloomington. State Road 37 between Martinsville and Bloomington is already a 4-lane interstate quality highway absent the interchanges. It looks like Pence is just relying on a public-private agreement for the sake of privatization without any regard to the the extra cost future generations of taxpayers will bear to pay for this small stretch of highway. I hate to see the tab for the final leg between Martinsville and Indianapolis.
Posted by Gary R. Welsh at 8:29 PM 4 comments: Links to this post
Walgreen's Executive Used Pharmacy Board Position To Win Approval For Company's "Well Experience"
The Star's John Russell has a disturbing investigative story today about how William Cover, a corporate manager of pharmacy affairs for Walgreen's, used his position as chairman of Indiana's Board of Pharmacy to convince other members of the board to approve Walgreen's "Well Experience" program. "The plan was to move pharmacists out from behind the counter to a workstation on the floor, where they could answer questions from the public and provide health counseling," Russell writes. "Indiana was the pilot site."
As you might imagine, this approach to providing pharmacy services potentially compromises patient privacy and increases the chances of errors in filling prescriptions. Phil Wickizer, who Gov. Daniels had appointed as executive director of the pharmacy board's staff, exchanged numerous e-mails with Cover discussing the "Well Experience" program and arranging trips for the pharmacy board members to make to a site in Illinois to meet with Walgreen's officials and see the new design. The e-mails were obtained by a watchdog group, Change to Win, through numerous public records requests. In a highly unethical move, Wickizer wrote in one e-mail to the Indiana Professional License Agency: “Walgreens wants to partner with the Board and get your buy-in before making such a commitment. He said the company wanted to keep the plans confidential. I told them this would not be an issue.”
When the professional license agency raised concerns with Wickizer that the meeting with Walgreen's officials by board members would violate Indiana's Open Door Law, Wickizer wrote to Walgreen's officials that it would be necessary to break the meeting up into two separate trips to prevent a quorum of the board members from being present at the same time. Cover at one point inquired of Wickizer whether the other board members reacted favorably to the plan. After Wickizer responded that at least three of the six other board members had responded affirmatively, Cover wrote back: “Thanks for all your hard work on this project. It is certainly appreciated.”
When the board met on July 11, 2011 to consider Walgreen's proposal, it voted 6-0 to support it. Cover abstained from the vote after engineering its approval behind the scenes with Wickizer's assistance. Neither Wickizer, who is an attorney, nor other members of his staff bothered to research Indiana law to determine if what Walgreen's proposed doing complied with state laws and regulations in their rush to get approval of the plan. It didn't. Two years after Walgreen's plan was approved, the pharmacy board adopted new regulations to permit the type of remote supervision authorized by the board's action two years earlier. Watchdog groups claim that the plan clearly violates patient's privacy rights.
Change to Win said it has made more than 100 visits to Well Experience stores and has found widespread risks to patient privacy and public health. Pharmacists often leave their desks in a public area of the store to talk to patients in consulting rooms or to unlock a cabinet in the dispensing area.
When the pharmacist leaves, the public can look at the computer screens or at labeled bottles of medicine on their desk, the organization said. About 80 percent of the stores visited violated privacy laws in this way, the group alleged.
A year after the pharmacy board approved Walgreen's "Well Experience" program, Wickizer landed a job as a senior counsel at St. Louis-based Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit manager giant. This is the same company that has partnered with Walgreen's to form an alliance to compete against Walgreen's chief competitor, CVS, and its CVS Caremark, a mail-order pharmacy business. Under their alliance, Walgreen's customers have the choice of filling their prescriptions for 90 days at one of its pharmacies, or by receiving 90-day supplies of their drugs delivered to their home. Cover still sits on the pharmacy board, although he no longer serves as its chairman. I wonder what kind of a bonus he got from Walgreen's for pulling this fast move off? This pretty much seemed to be standard operating procedure in the Daniels' administration for appointees to blatantly use their positions in government for self-dealing purposes.
Lafayette's Gain Is Fort Wayne's Loss
State officials haled a decision this week by GE Aviation to locate a jet engine manufacturing plant in Lafayette this week that will eventually employ about 200 employees. The plant will build engines to be used in Boeing's 737 MAX and Airbus' A320neo. State officials awarded the company incentives worth at least $5 million, while Lafayette officials will grant the company a 10-year tax abatement.
A story getting less play in the media was the announcement made only a day later that GE will close its motor testing lab and executive center in Fort Wayne, the last two facilities it operated in Fort Wayne where the company once employed 10,000 workers. The closures will result in the loss of about 90 jobs, which the company is moving to Monterrey, Mexico.
Posted by Gary R. Welsh at 7:53 AM 4 comments: Links to this post
Bloomington's Parking Meters Net $1 Million In Six-Month Period
Indianapolis officials were recently gloating that its privatization agreement for the city's parking meter assets netted the City $3 million in the most recent year. The City of Bloomington, which has a population less than one-tenth the size of Indianapolis, installed electronic parking meters in its downtown area last year to generate revenues to pay for sidewalk and street improvements. In its first six months of operation, the city-owned parking meters netted the City $1 million. Bloomington parking meter rates are $1 an hour compared to $1.50 an hour in downtown Indianapolis and Broad Ripple. If that rate of revenue generation persists, Bloomington will net about $2 million annually. If Indianapolis had simply installed its own electronic meters and not entered into the 50-year lease of the parking meter assets with ParkIndy, the City would be generating more than $6 million annually. The amount of revenues the City will give away to the private vendor over the life of the 50-year lease is staggering, but it's making a lot of money for the pay-to-play vendors and that's all that seems to matter with this administration.
IMPD Officer Facing Criminal Charges
A young IMPD officer, Corey Owensby, son of FOP President Bill Owensby, has been indicted by a Marion County grand jury on multiple charges of misconduct and false reporting according to the Indianapolis Star. Charging documents cite five different cases over the past couple of years where Owensby mishandled evidence. He faces 13 criminal counts, including 5 counts of official misconduct, a Class D felony. Owensby has been suspended without pay pending a termination hearing before the merit board. “Any misconduct by one of our employees is taken seriously,” said IMPD Chief Rick Hite in a statement Thursday. “I want the community to know that IMPD’s internal systems identified the issue and we acted on the accusations. Officers are expected to act within department policies and the law; those who choose not to will be held accountable.”
Calumet Township Trustee's Office In Lake County Raided By FBI
Well, the FBI is raiding government offices everywhere else but here in Indianapolis it seems where wholesale fraud of taxpayers is occurring on a daily basis. Today, FBI agents descended on the Calumet Township Trustee's Office in Lake County. A search warrant was served on Trustee Mary Elgin (D) in Gary as part of a joint effort by the FBI, the IRS and Indiana State Police. Spending by Elgin's office has been under a microscope for some time according to the Northwest Indiana Times. Calumet Township's tax rate is 22.6 times the state average. A Times investigation found that her office spends almost as much on employee salaries and administrative expenses as it does on assistance for the poor.
Firing Of Two Hendricks County Deputies Sought Over $250,000 They Were Safe-Keeping For Man
Details have emerged to explain why Hendricks County Sheriff Dave Galloway wants two of his deputy sheriffs fired from their jobs. The husband and wife duo, Jason and Teresa Woods, were allegedly safe-keeping $250,000 for a man in a built-in safe inside their new Brownsburg home when the owner of the money says it went missing. Neither Woods showed up for a merit review hearing scheduled concerning their employment yesterday.
According to WTHR's Steve Jefferson, a private investigator for the owner of the missing money hired him to help track it down. The private investigator interviewed Deputy Woods, who identified himself as a photographer rather than a deputy sheriff. Woods allegedly told the private investigator he was to deliver the money to a man at a local McDonald's restaurant where the two would exchange passwords to identify themselves. As Jefferson explained:
Deputy Woods was to deliver the money by saying, "Oysters with pearls are in the river" and receiving the response, "When monkeys fly." The deputy reportedly says that's just what happened, so he no longer has the money. Deputy Woods allegedly took a photo of the person's car, an unoccupied Black Chrysler, and showed that photo to the private investigator. The money was in two large plastic bags, according to merit board testimony.
The man who was suppose to receive $250,000 from Woods told the private investigator that he went to the McDonald's, but no one ever showed up. The private investigator told merit board members he noticed the Black Chrysler he was driving was not the same Black Chrysler shown to him by Woods.
Sheriff Galloway also interviewed Deputy Teresa Woods about the so-called missing money.
"She knew about keeping a large amount of money for a friend in their safe," said Galloway, "and although she claims she did not know the amount, she failed to question where the money came from, saying their friend is just not fond of banks and asked them to keep it."
Colts Owner Jim Irsay Had Over $29,000 In Cash Stuffed In Brief Case And Laundry Bag At Time Of OWI Arrest
In addition to being drugged and disoriented at the time of his arrest, Colts owner Jim Irsay had more than $29,000 in cash stuffed in a brief case and laundry bag in his automobile according to a Carmel Police Department arrest record obtained by the Indianapolis Star. No wonder he's so popular with our local politicians. The arresting police officer also found prescription drug bottles containing pills in the briefcase and other bags stored in Irsay's vehicle after he stopped him for driving erratically at 11:40 p.m. on March 16, 2014.
When the officer first pulled Irsay over, the report indicates that he told the officer that he had become confused in trying to find his home. His home on 116th Street was 3.5 miles from the scene of his arrest; however, the Star report indicates that Irsay recently acquired a second $1.4 million home in West Clay, which was less than a half-mile from where he was stopped. The police report describes Irsay's speech as "very slow and slurred" and indicated that Irsay "appeared to be disoriented." "I also observed that his eyes were red and watery. He also displayed poor manual dexterity." Irsay failed several field sobriety tests and had difficulty standing according to the report.
There were 11 pieces of evidence identified in the police report as "drugs/prescription." The report didn't distinguish whether that referred to 11 pills or 11 different types of pills. The report also didn't identify the type of pills seized by police. Police charged Irsay with four felony counts for possession of controlled substances, along with driving a vehicle while intoxicated. Police believed Irsay's intoxication was caused by drugs and not alcohol, although Irsay refused to voluntarily submit to a blood alcohol test. Results of a portable breathalyzer test were redacted from the police report according to the Star. Irsay declined to answer police questions after being transported to the Hamilton County jail without the presence of his attorney.
The Hamilton Co. Prosecutor's Office, which has yet to file any formal criminal charges against Irsay, agreed to postpone his initial hearing this week. Irsay has voluntarily admitted himself to an out-of-state rehab center for treatment of his drug addiction. More than a decade ago, news reports uncovered the fact that Irsay had been hospitalized at least three times for drug overdoses. Despite evidence that Irsay had engaged in prescription drug fraud to obtain controlled substances, local law enforcement authorities agreed not to pursue criminal charges against him after the downtown mafia expressed concern that he might lose ownership of the Colts if he faced felony drug charges.
Posted by Gary R. Welsh at 10:41 PM 6 comments: Links to this post
Phony Conservative Governor Signs Mass Transit Boondoggle Legislation Into Law
Prepare to bend over and take it up the butt from fake Republican Mayors Greg Ballard, James Brainard and Andy Cook after they've been given the green light to hit you up for another local income tax increase to finance a regional mass transit boondoggle that will give an unelected, unaccountable regional authority control over billions of dollars in new taxing, spending and borrowing authority. Gov. Mike Pence said that, while he had "reservations about the sustainability of expanded mass transit services," he signed it into law anyway because it contains "no new, corporate tax." So what if taxes on individuals will increase sharply. This governor is absolutely at war with the working men and women of this state. His primary goal is to shift as many taxes away from businesses onto the backs of the working people as he possibly can. He could give a damn less about the tax burden on average Hoosiers. Here's a sampling of videos to demonstrate just why anyone who can avoid public transit will do so no matter how much of our tax dollars are spent subsidizing it.
Posted by Gary R. Welsh at 4:19 PM 10 comments: Links to this post
Labels: Mike Pence
Charlotte Mayor Arrested In FBI Sting For Accepting Bribes
It's standard operating procedure in the City of Indianapolis, but in other cities there is something called a U.S. Attorney and FBI agents who work to weed out corrupt politicians who are accepting bribes in exchange for handing out hundreds of millions of our tax dollars to private real estate developers. Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon (D) was arrested today on public corruption charges uncovered through an FBI sting. The U.S. Attorney's Office in North Carolina says that the investigation began years ago when federal law enforcement officers were tipped off about alleged illegal activities undertaken by Cannon, whose city hosted the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Cannon, a former city council member, was elected mayor last November after President Obama named his successor, Anthony Foxx, as Secretary of the Department of Transportation.
During the course of that probe, the mayor allegedly accepted bribes from undercover FBI agents on five separate occasions, in exchange for access to city officials responsible for planning, zoning and permitting.
A criminal complaint said Cannon is accused of soliciting and accepting more than $48,000 in cash, airline tickets, a hotel room and the use of a luxury apartment as bribes.
During the last encounter, according to the U.S. attorney's office, he accepted $20,000 in cash.
If convicted on all the charges, he faces 20 years in prison and more than $1 million in fines . . .
Cannon was also accused of accepting $12,500 from an undercover agent to help him develop a feminine hygiene product called "Hers" to be marketed and sold in the United States. In exchange, Cannon offered to help the undercover agent -- posing as a business manager for a venture capital company -- get the necessary permits to open a nightclub.
During the meeting, an undercover agent told Cannon: "You know, again whatever you can do to get our application moved up towards the top, uh, business license and things like that, that we need."
According to the complaint, Cannon responded: "Yeah, not a problem."
Separately, Mercury News reports that the FBI also conducted a series of raids in San Francisco and Sacramento that included the arrest of State Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) on public corruption charges. Yee had been expected to be the Democratic Party's candidate for Secretary of State this year. Yee's arrest coincided with the arrest of a Honk Kong gang leader, Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, on a variety of racketeering and drug-related charges. Federal officials would not say whether Yee's arrest was linked to Chow. Yee is the third California state lawmaker facing criminal charges this year. In February, State Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) was indicted on bribery charges. In January, State Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) was convicted of voter fraud and perjury stemming from a 2010 indictment.
UPDATE: An updated report by the Mercury News indicates that arms trafficking is among the charges Yee is facing. Naturally, Yee's legislative record is hostile to gun owner rights.
The New York Observer has details on an FBI raid of the offices of Bill Scarborough, a Democratic state assemblyman from Queens today. Early reports indicate that the feds are investigating discrepancies in Scarborough's travel expense reporting.
Dirty Harry Reid Caught Giving $17,000 In Campaign Money To Granddaughter For "Holiday Gifts"
The Las Vegas Sun reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has been forced to repay $17,000 to his campaign committee after FEC investigators questioned him about two payments listed as "holiday gifts" made to his granddaughter, 23-year old Ryan Elizabeth Reid of Berkeley, California, in December, 2013. Reid claimed the purpose of the payments to his granddaughter was to pay for gifts to staff and campaign supporters. According to the Las Vegas Sun, Reid's granddaughter ran a now-defunct business making jewelry. “I thought it would be nice to give supporters and staff thank-you gifts that had a personal connection and a Searchlight connection,” Reid said in a prepared statement. “But I have decided to reimburse the campaign for the amount of the expenditure.” I don't what kind of crime Reid is going to have to commit before the man is finally thrown in prison where he belongs. The guy is the biggest crook in the U.S. Senate. The Washington Times recently revealed that the Obama Justice Department blocked a federal investigation into Reid's corrupt activities.
Ethics Statements For City-County Council Missing For The Past Two Years
A few weeks back, I inquired of a member of the Indianapolis City-County Council why ethics statements for all of the council members for the past two years have not been posted on the council's website. After inquiring with the clerk, the council member informed me that the statements posted online were up-to-date and that the statements filed in January would be posted shortly. When I informed the council member that the last statements made available were those filed in January, 2012 for the 2011 calendar year, the council member assured me the matter would be corrected shortly. We're still waiting.
Posted by Gary R. Welsh at 11:45 AM No comments: Links to this post
The Man Who Could Be Your State Treasurer
A Marion Chronicle-Tribune editorial has this to say about its city's mayor, who is asking Republicans to this year's state convention to nominate him as its 2014 State Treasurer candidate:
Of all the matters we find outrageous regarding the unaccounted millions of dollars of tax money in the effort to rehabilitate the old YMCA on Third Street, what is most disappointing is that we, the people, should have known it would go as it has gone.
That is because the financial story of local city government is often not told completely and correctly, according to state auditors.
Marion has a history of poor record-keeping, according to its annual audits by the state. The Indiana State Board of Accounts cited inconsistent bank account reconciliations in the city’s 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012 audits. The latest audit, for 2012, was released in September. The one for 2013 is about to start.
As reporter Karla Bowsher previously reported, state auditors noted entire departments were missing from the city’s 2011 and 2012 annual statements — both of which also underestimated the city’s outstanding leases and debts by at least $9 million. Financial records for another bond anticipation note, taken out in 2010 for up to $3.5 million, also showed omissions. The 2010 BAN was refinanced in December like the $2.5 million YMCA bond.
“Some deposits and checks that were posted to the demand deposit account were omitted from the city financial records,” the 2010 audit states. “Drawdowns from a $3.5 million line of credit and disbursements for land purchases, professional fees and site development expenses were not recorded.”
So how many times does it have to happen before something is done to make the administration accountable for the money we trust it with?
It is a question to be answered, perhaps this year.
Posted by Gary R. Welsh at 10:03 AM 1 comment: Links to this post
Labels: Wayne Seybold
BP's Whiting Refinery Spills Oil Into Lake Michigan
Oil spilling from BP's Whiting refinery into Lake Michigan was supposed to be an impossibility, but the impossible has happened this week as crude oil leaked into the refinery's sealed cooling system that circulates water between Lake Michigan and the refinery. According to the Chicago Tribune, oil is never is supposed to come in direct contact with cooling water used at the refinery. Lake Michigan is a source of water for many communities near the Great Lake. Illinois' senators have vowed to hold BP accountable for the spill. "In a joint statement, U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk of Illinois said they are concerned that BP’s move to increase production could lead to more oil spills," the Tribune reported. "We plan to hold BP accountable for this spill,” the senators said, “and will ask for a thorough report about the cause of this spill ... and steps are being taken to prevent any future spill. Indiana officials, who generally don't give a damn about environmental protection, had nothing to say.
Posted by Gary R. Welsh at 9:27 AM 1 comment: Links to this post
Indianapolis Diverts Nearly $120 Million Annually To TIF Slush Funds
UPDATED: Fellow blogger Pat Andrews continues to do yeoman's work ignored by the mainstream media about the financial hole created in Indianapolis' city-county budget through the diversion of property tax revenues to TIF slush funds used to finance development projects for the politicians' campaign contributors. The latest numbers she's obtained from the Marion County Auditor's Office show that Indianapolis' far-flung TIF districts are expected to capture close to $118 million this year in property tax revenues. The consolidated downtown TIF district alone will capture $68 million. About $2 billion worth of the assessed value of real property in Indianapolis falls within a TIF district. These figures don't even account for the hundreds of millions of dollars lost annually through property tax abatement passed out by the administration and council to reward campaign contributors.
The numbers for the new North Midtown TIF are quite startling. In its first year of operation, the TIF district went from a zero increment to $470,000 despite the fact that there was no new construction to add to the TIF's increment, $283,000 worth of property within the district was demolished and over $755,000 came off the tax rolls due to tax abatements awarded by the council. So how could $470,000 be attributed to the increment? According to Andrews, all property tax abatements granted prior to the creation of the TIF district are attributed to the newly-created TIF district. Note: Andrews corrected her initial number for the North Midtown TIF, which was incorrectly stated as $470 million instead of $470,000. She now estimates the old abatements will spin off about $4 million to the TIF district over the next decade.
Meanwhile, the Ballard administration is gloating over another planned downtown development being announced today that Cummins intends to build a $30 million corporate office building downtown on the remaining Market Square Arena property adjacent to Flaherty & Collins' planned 28-story, high-rise luxury apartment building to which the downtown TIF will contribute at least $40 million over the next 25 years. According to the Star, Cummins will receive a 10-year tax abatement and will be donated the land valued at $4.3 million. The City will also spend $3.3 million to build a new parking garage and other infrastructure improvements for Cummins. Add up all the benefits and city taxpayers are fronting at least one-third of the cost of constructing the $30 million building. The office building will house up to 400 employees, about 100 of which will initially come from office space the company currently leases at two other downtown locations. Cummins plans to transfer about 150 employees from its Columbus office to the new location.
You people need to ponder these numbers very carefully. This administration and our city-county council will be going public with a plan to raise your taxes within the next few months, which you will be told is absolutely necessary to adequately fund public safety and pay for basic city services. That's in addition to the new income tax the mayor and council intend to levy on you to pay for an expansion of the mass transit system into a regional system that extends into the suburbs. In 2007, your income taxes were raised 65% for what was dubbed as a public safety tax increase. This administration and council diverts more money to the TIF slush funds every year than you started paying in higher taxes back in 2007. We don't have money to pay for basic services because these rat bastards believe that funding the private development projects of their largest campaign contributors is more important than spending our money for the purposes it was intended to be spent. TIFs are nothing more than a criminal racket that grants a license to our elected officials to steal our tax dollars and give them away to people stuffing money in their pockets. Until you rise up and stop this madness, this criminal racket will continue unabated, your taxes will keep rising and your standard of living will continue to fall as it has precipitously over the past several years. You must get in the politicians' faces, show them your intense anger and make them fear for their political lives if you expect any changes to come.
Yesterday, Gov. Mike Pence signed into law massive tax cuts for businesses that will do nothing more than create a shift in taxes to individuals. The corporate tax rate is being slashed to a rate Gov. Pence boasts will be the second-lowest in the country. That legislation also allows local governments to award super tax abatements to businesses for up to 20 years on their personal property business taxes. That's likely to set off a competition among communities across the state to see who can outdo other communities in offering larger tax breaks to attract businesses to move within the state to localities promising the least amount of taxes. Somebody has to pay for all of this madness, and the burden will ultimately fall on individual taxpayers. You mark my word.
Labels: TIFS
Three Arrested In Warsaw Overbilling Scheme
Two employees of ProForm Pipe Lining Company in Mishawaka and the City of Warsaw's public works superintendent were arrested today as part of a joint federal, state and local investigation into allegations that the three men were engaged in a scheme to overbill Warsaw's public works department for work performed by the Mishawaka company. According to the Journal-Gazette, the FBI simultaneously executed four search warrants and arrest warrants for the men's arrest. Arrest warrants were served on the following three individuals:
Kevin R. Brown , 45, of Mishawaka, identified by police as a ProForm field supervisor, on charges of corrupt business influence; aiding, inducing or causing theft; and four counts of providing false information to a governmental entity to obtain contract.
Marc V. Campbell, 53, of Mishawaka, identified by police as ProForm's owner and president, on charges of corrupt business influence; theft; and four counts of providing false information to a governmental entity to obtain contract.
Lacy Francis Jr., 59, of Warsaw, identified by police as the former Warsaw city Public Works superintendent, on charges of corrupt business influence; aiding, inducing or causing theft; two counts of theft; providing false information to a governmental entity to obtain contract; two counts of official misconduct; and conflict of interest.
According to the report, Warsaw's Mayor Joe Thallemer sought the investigation after he learned of potential billing discrepancies last December. The investigation uncovered overcharges during a two-year period exceeding $250,000 from May 2011 to May 2013.
Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office Still Hasn't Filed Charges Against Irsay, Preliminary Hearing Cancelled
You can't conduct an initial hearing in a criminal case if the prosecutor's office hasn't filed charges. More than a week after Carmel Police arrested Colts owner Jim Irsay for driving under the influence and four felony counts of possession of controlled substances, the Hamilton Co. Prosecutor's Office cancelled a scheduled initial court appearance for Irsay because the office has yet to file any formal charges against Irsay in the case. The AP reports that no hearing will take place "unless or until" formal charges are filed against him. "Hamilton County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Andre Miksha said prosecutors aren't bound by preliminary booking charges."
This is the same prosecutor's office which: failed to charge Nancy Irsay after eyewitnesses fingered her in a hit-and-run incident; claimed no criminal charges could be brought against a Fishers physician who served alcohol at a party in his home to an under aged teen who later died after leaving the physician's residence and driving his car into a retention pond where he drowned; and declined to press rape charges in the past against Carmel High School basketball players or swim team members who sodomized male teammates as part of a twisted hazing ritual. So yeah, it wouldn't be surprising if this same prosecutor's office drops some, if not all, of the charges against Irsay.
Gerald Forsythe
A case appealed from the federal bankruptcy court in Terre Haute to the federal district court in Indianapolis is raising a lot of eyebrows. Multi-millionaire businessman and former CHAMP Car Series owner Gerald Forsythe contested the bankruptcy filing of a 29-year old fertilizer salesman originally from my hometown of Marshall, Illinois based on a claim that the bankrupt salesman defrauded him out of $3 million. Reading the facts from Judge William Lawrence's opinion this past week, it's hard to have any sympathy for Forsythe.
According to the opinion, Forsythe, whose reported net worth was $600 million many years ago, entered into an oral agreement on July 6, 2004 with Yeley, who he came to know when he sold him fertilizer for his vast farming interests in Illinois, to purchase Cabela's stock when its initial public offering was launched. Forsythe agreed to put up $3 million, which he transferred into a brokerage account opened up by Yeley at Pershing, LLC. The funds were to be used solely by Yeley for purchasing Cabela's stock and when the stock was sold the two were to share in any profits realized from the sale of the stock. The two also agreed that Forsythe could demand the return of his money at any time. You can pretty much guess what happened thereafter.
Forsythe cut a check made payable to the brokerage account at Pershing for $3 million from Indeck Energy Services. Shortly after the deposit was made, Yeley began withdrawing funds from the account and transferring them into his personal bank accounts. Between September 24, 2004 and December 18, 2006, Yeley withdrew a total of $2,365,939 from his Pershing account, which he spent on personal expenses. What little of the money Yeley used to purchased Cabela's stock, he wound up selling for a loss. He also used part of the money to buy stock in a different company. On November 1, 2006, Forsythe asked Yeley to sell enough of the Cabelas' stock in order to return the $3 million "loan" he provided to him. Yeley tendered a $3 million check payable Forsythe drawn on an Old National Bank account, but he told Forsythe to hold the check until he had marshaled all of the necessary funds to cover the full amount of the check. Not surprisingly, Yeley never came up with the funds necessary to allow the bank to honor the check.
In 2007, Forsythe sued Yeley, his former spouse and Pershing, alleging breach of contract and conversion. The court opinion does not say how that case ended, but in January, 2012, Yeley filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in the bankruptcy court in Terre Haute to avoid Forsythe's $3 million claim against him. Yeley alleged that Forsythe used him to launder the money because he was supposedly barred from participating in Cabela's initial public offering, although Judge Lawrence's opinion says that Yeley did not produce evidence to prove his claim. At a trial held last year, the bankruptcy court found Yeley liable to Forsythe for $1.5 million and, while it granted him a discharge from bankruptcy, it found that Yeley's $1.5 million debt owed to Forsythe was non-dischargeable. Forsythe appealed the bankruptcy court's decision, arguing that the judgment should have been for the full $3 million, and that Yeley should be denied discharge from bankruptcy due to his fraud.
The bankruptcy court had reasoned that Forsythe shared some of the responsibility for his loss by "doing what he did with who he selected." Judge Lawrence agreed, in part, with Forsythe in concluding that Yeley should at least be responsible for the more than $2.3 million he drew out of the account to spend on personal expenses. On remand, Judge Lawrence ordered the bankruptcy court to determine the exact amount that Yeley acquired through fraud and set that amount as the non-dischargeable debt still owed to Forsythe. Judge Lawrence, however, sided with Yeley in finding that he had not engaged in acts of dishonesty through the filing of his bankruptcy petition. Forsythe had argued that Yeley had failed to file tax returns, failed to disclose interests in businesses, failed to provide documentation of his financial affairs and respond to discovery requests and could not document the dissipation of large sums of money, as a basis for arguing that Yeley had engaged in fraud throughout the bankruptcy proceeding. Judge Lawrence deferred to the bankruptcy court judge's determination that there was "no overt effort in the petitions to mislead anybody or lead them down the road that they shouldn't go."
By way of disclosure, I'm from Marshall, Illinois and am a little more familiar with the involved parties than a person with a passing interest. Yeley's family farms near my parent's farm, and our families are well-acquainted with one another. Forsythe has bought up a great deal of farmland around my parents' farm and doesn't shy away from showing off his wealth. It's no secret that Chris has been fighting a lot of demons and has been in and out of rehab over the years. What is difficult for most people in the community to figure out is why a highly-successful businessman like Forsythe would have ever entrusted $3 million with Yeley based solely on an oral promise and an arrangement that included virtually no adult supervision by Forsythe of Yeley's activities. When Chris started spending money like a millionaire buying expensive homes in an upscale subdivision in Terre Haute and down on Dale Hollow Lake, people around town knew instinctively that something was amiss. I'm told that he made no secret of the claim that he was laundering money for Forsythe. Forsythe never engendered much sympathy in the Marshall community by boasting to anyone within ear shot how little he paid in taxes to the government because of his business acumen. Frankly, if I had been in Forsythe's shoes, I would have been too embarrassed to have resorted to the courts to recover the money he essentially gave to Yeley.
Forsythe, who is from Marshall originally, made his fortune from Indeck, a family of companies that specialize in the sale and lease of power-generating equipment, as well as owning and operating cogenerating power facilities throughout North America. He also owns tens of thousands of acres of farmland in Illinois, car dealerships, banks and auto racing tracks. Indy Car fans will recall that he once owned a race team that featured a number of prominent race car drivers, including Teo Fabi, Greg Moore, Patrick Carpentier, Alex Tagliani and Paul Tracy. Forsythe was best known in auto racing as the guy who hated Tony George and wanted no part of his IndyCar series.
Forsythe owns the largest house in Cook County, Illinois, a nearly 25,000 square foot home in Inverness, and perhaps the most ritzy log cabin home in all of North America in rural Marshall that features an 18-hole golf course rated as one of the best private golf courses in the country by Golf Digest. Forsythe likes telling the story about Peyton Manning calling him up and asking to play on his golf course. Forsythe told him he would be happy to have him visit his golf course. After Forsythe told Manning how much he would have to pay for a round of golf, Manning said no. He mistakenly assumed he could play for free as a guest because of his celebrity status. Forsythe is much more generous with his money towards the politicians, mostly Republicans, having contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to various candidates and political action committees over the past two decades.
Believe me, Forsythe will never miss that $3 million. If I had known he was passing out money like candy, I would have approached him myself long ago for a "loan." Who knew? I'll never forget going to a CART race down in Homestead, Florida with my brother, who worked for Forsythe at the time, and my nephews on guest tickets we thought had been given to us by Forsythe. Rock singer Lenny Kravitz was a special guest of Forsythe, and Forsythe's racing team had two drivers that day, Greg Moore, who won the race, and Patrick Carpentier. Moore refused to mingle with Forsythe's invited guests at a race party following his win, which angered Forsythe. I'll still never forget my reaction when Forsythe came over to my brother to collect money from us for the cost of each of our tickets. I looked at my brother and said, "You're kidding, right?" I reached into my wallet and paid for cost of the ticket in cash, even as I couldn't help but think what a cheap skate Forsythe was.
A few years ago, Forsythe wanted to treat his high school classmates in Marshall to a class reunion they would never forget. They boarded buses in Marshall and were taken to Terre Haute's historic Indiana Theater, where they were treated to a surprise live performance by singer Wayne Newton. Forsythe turned red-faced when his "close friend" Newton got his wife's name wrong during introductions. I wondered if Newton had to fight for his performance fee after that faux pas.
UPDATE (4-25-14): Advance Indiana received an e-mail this week from Chris Yeley concerning the facts described in the post above. He sought to clarify that the home in Allendale in which he lives is owned by his father and rented to him by his father. The public records for the property show that ownership of the home was transferred to him by a trustee's deed on November 6, 2008. On the following day, the property was transferred by quit claim deed from Chris to his father, Norman P. Yeley, from whom he now says he rents the property. As to the information Advance Indiana reported on the Dale Hollow home, Chris says that information is incorrect and that he has never been to the lake. Yeley sought to clarify his role in acquiring the Cabella's stock with facts not included in the court's opinion and to explain how he believed that Forsythe contributed to his financial predicament by allegedly stiffing him on purchases he made from him:
One thing that was never mentioned was the Barge Load of potash that Forsythe had me buy then stuck me with. Or the Anhydrous Ammonia he wanted but would not pay for. He did pay for part of his ammonia but in typical Forsythe fashion he changed the deal. He was supposed to have a tank but instead wanted it all delivered to the field. When the stock was down under 6 dollars and Jerry had stuck me with these kinds of debts what do you do. I wish I had never met him . . . Jerry wanted me to buy the stock on margin and he said he would bare all loss. He told me to buy five million. The order was put in but when Jerry sent me three million I was already in trouble before the thing got started. You can't buy an IPO on margin and it was a setup from the beginning. I made a lot of mistakes no doubt. I just didn't know what to do when he started stiffing me on purchases. A barge load of potash goes for around a million dollars by the way and when the stock is 70% less that what it was when you purchased it what do you do?
Ballard Administration Fails To Comply With ROC Subpoena
The Ballard administration's conspiracy to cover up multiple possible criminal law violations committed to defraud Indianapolis taxpayers out of tens of millions of dollars in order to reward a campaign contributor continues unabated. Fox59 News' Russ McQuaid reports that the administration ignored a deadline to respond to a subpoena issued on March 10, 2014 by the ROC Investigating Committee to produce dozens of documents the committee has sought from the administration for more than four months. A few outstanding document requests trickled in to the council's attorney's office after the deadline passed but many others were not produced. According to news reports, former Public Safety Director Frank Straub ordered many documents related to the controversial 25-year, $20 million lease for the regional operations center shredded after his forced resignation but before he left his job to become the new police chief for the Spokane, Washington police department. The committee may have to go to court to force the administration to comply with the subpoena. Here's more from McQuaid's report tonight:
“What we got today is unacceptable and most of it was on the documents request since November,” said Councilman Joe Simpson. “You heard the same story from the word, ‘Go!’ ‘We don’t have them. We don’t know where they are. It’s not my job.’ My job is for you to tell me if you don’t have them, then, why? Where are they?”
Hours after the committee’s deadline, passed over republican objections, passed, Simpson said partial documents began trickling into the council’s attorney from the city’s lawyers.
“There were about ten documents that had no documents attached to it. Some we’re not able to find and four of them, there were no documents period.” . . .
Meanwhile, Indianapolis taxpayers continue to shell out nearly $60,000 a month in rent for a building it cannot occupy while it awaits a punch list of more than 100 repair items the City never bothered getting around to identifying until months after it abandoned the building because of its unsafe conditions and only after it entered into a settlement agreement late last year which left the City without any legal remedy, and which ratified the terms of the long-term, credit tenant financing lease agreement that Straub executed without proper authority in 2011 in a rush to get the ROC operating prior to the Super Bowl in 2012. In any other city in America people would be going to jail for all the fraud perpetrated on the public in this deal, but this is Indianapolis where it's an acceptable practice to defraud taxpayers any way you can in order to reward campaign contributors.
Unnerved by their pathetic handling of the regional operations center, the Ballard administration is pushing forward with its first public hearing tonight to privatize Marion County's criminal justice system. The plan calls for moving the county's jail, sheriff's department, criminal courts, prosecutors, public defenders and other related criminal justice agencies out of their current downtown locations into a new, single facility. The administration wants to award a long-term, credit lease financing agreement to a private vendor to build, operate and maintain a new criminal justice center at a single location, a plan that will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars more in the long-run than if the City financed, owned and operated its own facility. The administration's consultant originally picked a site near the county line on the far west side next to the airport as the preferred location. After being bombarded with public criticism, the Ballard administration switched course and announced that its new preferred site is the former GM stamping plant site just west of the downtown across from the zoo on West Washington Street. This has nothing to do with what is best for the taxpaying public; it's all about doing what will provide the biggest financial reward to the campaign contributors stuffing money in the politicians' pockets.
Labels: Frank Straub, Greg Ballard, Regional Operations Center
Minnesota Legislature Asked To Approve Tax Breaks Worth $10 Million To Lure Super Bowl
Minnesota taxpayers are learning that picking up more than half the tab to build a billion-dollar new stadium for the Vikings isn't enough for the greedy billionaire NFL team owners. If the City of Minneapolis hopes to beat out Indianapolis and New Orleans to host the 2018 Super Bowl, state lawmakers will need to approve tax breaks worth at least $10 million to entice NFL owners that their city is worthy of hosting a Super Bowl. The Star-Tribune discusses the battle brewing in the Land of 10,000 Lakes:
A tax relief package designed to lure the Super Bowl to Minneapolis is running up against the limits of bipartisan zeal for cutting taxes at the Capitol this year.
DFL Gov. Mark Dayton met recently with legislative leaders from both parties to press his case, and cautioned against a partisan fight that could doom the state’s Super Bowl bid.
“Life will go on if we can’t keep this out of the partisan politics,” Dayton said. “We’ll just have to let the opportunity go by.”
Under consideration is roughly $10 million in tax breaks for gameday player salaries, NFL Super Bowl events and even tickets to the big game, which can reach $2,600 for the best seats.
Hanging in the balance is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to showcase the state and the new $1 billion Vikings stadium before an international audience totaling hundreds of millions. State leaders must weigh it all against the political consequences of handing out tax breaks to the National Football League and potentially some of the nation’s most highly paid athletes.
Minneapolis is competing against Indianapolis and New Orleans for the right to host the 2018 Super Bowl. With the final pieces of the old Metrodome coming down, stadium officials face a deadline to put together a proposal by next month. A decision is expected in May.
“The new stadium is a significant component in analyzing Super Bowl bids, but that alone won’t deliver it,” said Lester Bagley, Vikings vice president of stadium development. “If the public sector is not fully on board, it won’t work.” . . .
“No, no, no,” said Sen. David Osmek, R-Mound. “Why should we be giving tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires when we can’t fill potholes in Minnesota?”
Osmek said the NFL gins up the competition and then works community leaders into a frenzy over who can offer more.
“The NFL is playing us all against each other,” he said. “Why can’t Minnesota be the first one to get off this train and say, ‘Stop?’ If the Super Bowl wants to come to Minnesota, then you pay the same taxes as Joe Taxpayer in Minnetonka.”
The proposal scrambles the usual partisan dynamics around the Capitol, with Republicans speaking stridently against the kind of tax breaks they usually embrace and Democrats open to tax relief for the multibillion-dollar NFL.
House Taxes Committee Chairwoman Ann Lenczewski said she hopes legislators move past the divisive fight over the new stadium, which pulled together one of the most politically diverse and fragile coalitions in recent history.
“People need to think about this a little differently, now that the stadium is approved,” said Lenczewski, DFL-Bloomington. If the economic benefits can be proven, “it probably warrants some help,” she said.
One major snag for many legislators is the proposed tax break for players’ gameday salaries.
“If you are an NFL player, and you get to go to the Super Bowl, are you not going to come if your income taxes aren’t exempted that day?” Lenczewski asked. “That one would be off the table, for me personally.” . . .
Indiana lawmakers approved nearly identical tax breaks for the NFL as part of its efforts to lure the 2012 Super Bowl, a law that remains on the books. As with Indianapolis, the proponents of Minnesota's Super Bowl efforts are throwing out outlandish economic benefit numbers to tout the tax breaks for the billionaire team owners. Boosters of Minneapolis' bid to host the Super Bowl claim that the event will generate over $300 million in economic benefits to the state of Minnesota, although the newspaper notes that some independent analysts put the actual benefit well below $100 million.
Experts who study the economic impact of Super Bowls remain deeply skeptical about the sky-high predictions.
Lost in the hoopla over the highly touted benefits, they say, is a list of unaccounted-for costs, like additional law enforcement, preparation and cleanup.
Robert Baade, an economics professor at Lake Forest College, said much of the reported economic impact is for player salaries, souvenirs and other money that leaves the community after the game.
Oftentimes, the hassle of the event drives away people who would have visited the city otherwise. Studies show that this year’s Super Bowl resulted in disappointing occupancy rates for hotels in New York and New Jersey.
“When you consider all of that, the economic evidence is significantly muted, or close to zero in some instances,” Baade said . . .
I remain convinced that Indianapolis actually realized no net economic benefit from hosting the Super Bowl in 2012. Public outlays to host the event reached close to $50 million when factoring in all costs, including expenditures and foregone tax revenues. Most of the businesses that saw the greatest windfall from the event were hotels, restaurants, limousine services and other service-related businesses that aren't locally-owned, which means most of the revenue windfall flowed out of the city and state. Many of those businesses even imported temporary workers into the City to work at their establishments who left with the wages they earned following the event. Making matters worse was the over-utilization of hundreds of volunteers by the local host committee instead of putting unemployed persons to work.
UPDATE: Fellow blogger Doug Masson picks up on an executive order that Gov. Mike Pence issued without fanfare earlier this month in which he makes a pledge to the billionaire NFL teams that the state of Indiana agrees that "neither the NFL, the teams, nor any director, shareholder, officer, agency, employee or other representative of the NFL or the Teams shall be held accountable for or incur any financial responsibility or liability of any kind whatsoever in connection with the governmental services planned and/or provided by the State of Indiana relating to Super Bowl LII and related official events." He also pledges state resources to protect against "any unauthorized promotional activities during the two weeks prior through the week following Super Bowl LII and related official events . . . " I guess Gov. Pence is officially a whore for the billionaire NFL team owners. Too bad he isn't as generous with state resources when it comes to ordinary Hoosiers.
Labels: Super Bowl
State Auditors Office Says Marion Officials Should Have Documentation For More Than $2 Million In Missing Bond Funds Spent On Failed Project
Last month, I discussed the discovery of a Chronicle-Tribune investigative report that uncovered the fact that documentation for more than $2 million Marion city officials spent from a $2.5 million bond issuance for redevelopment of the old YMCA building cannot be furnished. In 2009, Marion Mayor Wayne Seybold's administration obtained city council approval to issue $2.5 million in bonds to aid a Korean businessman from California, Michael An, in redeveloping the closed YMCA building for a mixed use purpose. Two years later, Marion officials refinanced that debt after the project failed with little work to show for the investment and the building still vacant and the property subject to sheriff's sale for failure to pay property taxes. When the Chronicle-Tribune attempted to obtain documentation for how more than $2 million of the bond proceeds was spent, city officials claimed no documentation for the spent funds existed.
The State Board of Accounts tells the Chronicle-Tribune's Karla Bowsher that the $2.5 million in bond proceeds, by law, should have been deposited into a dedicated construction account. "You should have been able to track all those (construction fund expenditures) beginning to end," the State Board of Accounts Charlie Pride told Bowsher. City officials provided the Chronicle-Tribune no bank statements detailing the construction fund account, including receipt for vendor invoices detailing any expenditures spent on renovation work at the YMCA building in response to its public records request. What little documentation was provided showed that renovation work on behalf of An's Global Investment Consulting had been paid out to another company owned by An, World Enterprise Group.
Raising alarming conflict of interest concerns is the fact that Mayor Wayne Seybold's brother, Chad, was employed by and earning money from World Enterprise Group. According to the Chronicle-Tribune, Seybold served as a director of operations and construction for the company at the time. A company owned by Marion Building Commissioner Larry Oradat, Erma's Home Improvement, is suing World Enterprise Group for construction work it claims it is owed by An's company for work on the building. City council members tell the Chronicle-Tribune that they are becoming increasingly concerned, particularly since Mayor Seybold's administration won't comment on the missing documentation for the more than $2 million debt the city is on the hook for repaying with TIF funds.
Meanwhile, a Whitley County businessman, Bill Reece, tells the Chronicle-Tribune that his company, RCM Real Estate, has entered into a contract with An's Global Investment Consulting to purchase the YMCA building. Reece declined to discuss his plans for the building or any work that was supposed to have been completed with the more than $2 million in missing construction funds.
Labels: TIFS, Wayne Seybold
Rhode Island's First Gay Speaker Resigns After Law Enforcement Raid On His State House Office And Home
Rhode Island Rep. Gordon Fox (right) with his same-sex partner, Marcus LaFond
Rhode Island's first gay Speaker of the House of Representatives, Gordon Fox (D-Providence), resigned yesterday after FBI, state police and IRS agents searched his State House office and home in Providence on Friday during the middle of a legislative session. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office would only tell reporters that the agencies were engaged in a law enforcement action. A Providence Journal story, however, indicates that Fox's actions as a state lawmaker have frequently drawn ethical scrutiny as he used his position to financially advance his law practice.
In 2004, the Journal says Fox supported legislation to award a privatization agreement of the state's lottery to GTECH, the same Italian-owned company that Indiana recently awarded control of its Hoosier Lottery. Fox later agreed to pay a $10,000 ethics fine after it was disclosed that he knew that he would get legal work from the lottery giant when he backed passage of the privatization bill. I truly believe there was similar corrupt influence involved in the awarding of the lottery contract to GTECH here in Indiana, but per usual operating procedure, nothing was done about it.
Earlier this year, Fox agreed to pay another $1,500 ethics fine for failing to report $43,000 in legal fees he was paid to prepare loan documentation work for Providence's economic development agency. Many of those loans became an issue in his last re-election campaign after it was disclosed that many of the recipients were not qualified borrowers and many defaulted on their loans. Rhode Island lawmakers are required under state law to disclose all work they do for public agencies. Fox said that he didn't believe he was required to disclose the work because he performed it as a subcontractor for another law firm, a practice that I believe happens here in Indiana quite frequently without the general public's knowledge. It's an easy way for bigger law firms and other vendors that perform work for public agencies to purchase control of other people who serve in state legislatures and as members of county and municipal councils.
The Journal notes that Fox also played a key role in securing a $125 million state loan guarantee for a video company, 38 Studios, which was owned by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling. The company later went bankrupt, leaving Rhode Island taxpayers on the hook to repay $100 million in debt owed by the company. Fox supposedly had close ties to another attorney who brokered the deal.
The highlight of Fox's tenure according to the Journal was the passage of the state's law in 2013 legalizing same-sex marriages, making it the 13th state in the country at the time to do so. In November, 2013, Fox married his long-time gay partner, Marcus LaFond, a hair salon owner, in his State House office. Fox is described as being African-American based on his ethnicity of his mother, who is from Cape Verde.
It's interesting that there are so many public corruption cases taking place in other states involving key state and local officials while our U.S. Attorney's Office does absolutely nothing about corruption that is equally as bad as what we read about being prosecuted in other states. Joe Hogsett should hold his head in shame at his lack of action, but he won't because he knows that he will benefit greatly in the future by protecting the corrupt ruling class that runs the state of Indiana and the City of Indianapolis.
Former LaPorte School Superintendent And Wife Charged With Defrauding Joliet Casino
Randal Thorpe resigned as superintendent of LaPorte County Schools back in January after an arrest in Tunica, Mississippi for allegedly tampering with a slot machine at a casino. Now he and his wife have both been charged with being part of a ring of gambling cheats that manipulated video keno machines at Harrah's Joliet casino. The Post-Tribune reports on the couple's arrest:
Rande Thorpe, 57, and his wife, Virginia, 59, now of Corpus Christi, Texas, are accused of scheming with three Las Vegas residents to rig the machines at a Harrah’s casino in April 2013 so they paid five times the actual winnings, according to an indictment. The alleged accomplices remain at large, authorities said.
The couple are charged with burglary, computer fraud, computer tampering and cheating at a gambling game. They were released after posting 10 percent of their $50,000 bail, and a judge allowed them to return to Texas while the case is pending.
Virginia Thorpe reportedly is also wanted on a fugitive warrant out of Mississippi.
WSBT-TV in South Bend reported that Rande Thorpe was arrested Jan. 22 in Tunica, Miss., for allegedly manipulating a slot machine at a casino there.
Federal Agents Investigate Former Illinois Lawmaker For Child Pornography
State Rep. Keith Farnham (Tribune Photo)
An Illinois Democratic lawmaker, State Rep. Keith Farnham, abruptly resigned from office earlier this week a day after he won re-nomination to his seat in Tuesday's Democratic Party unopposed after it was learned that federal agents executed a search warrant on his district office and home in Elgin, Illinois earlier this month and seized several computers. Farnham cited health reasons for his resignation, but the contents of the search warrant executed on his office indicates that federal agents were searching for child pornography on his computer according to the Chicago Tribune.
An attachment to the March 7 warrant to search Farnham’s district office indicated agents were searching for “documents in any format and medium pertaining to the possession, receipt or distribution of child pornography” as well as computer files, copies and negatives of child pornography or any documents that depicted minors “engaged in sexually explicit conduct.” Agents also sought accounts tied to any Internet service provider or computer file sharing, according to the records.
The Tribune reports that officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") also seized a laptop computer from his Illinois State House office on Thursday that he used for his legislative work.
Still A Tax Scofflaw After All These Years
As opinionated as radio talk show host Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is about how much our taxes should be in Indiana, one would think he would at least have the common decency to comply with the tax laws that apply to all other Indiana residents. How many decades does he have to live in Indianapolis before he starts paying taxes here like all the rest of us?
Posted by Gary R. Welsh at 11:54 AM 9 comments: Links to this post
IMPD Staffing Commission Wants 500 New Police Officers Despite Claims That Crime Is Falling
The administration of Mayor Greg Ballard insists that crime rates for virtually all categories of crime other than homicide in Indianapolis are down sharply in recent years. Yet an IMPD Staffing Commission established by the City-County Council has just concluded that at least 500 more police officers need to be added to the police force over the next five years. This has nothing to do about public safety. What this represents is another scheme to raise taxes like they did in 2007 when they raised our local income taxes by 65%, or about $90 million a year a that time, supposedly for the purpose of hiring 100 more police officers and funding public safety agencies in general at appropriate levels. Not one additional police officer was added as a result of the 2007 public safety tax increase. The only new police officers hired to maintain current staffing levels was accomplished through a federal COPS grant earmarked for hiring 50 new police officers. Will you be fooled again by our lying public officials? They don't want more money for public safety; they want more money to pass out to their pay-to-play campaign contributors for their development projects that they believe you have a moral obligation to finance.
Hawaii Police Fight To Keep State Law That Allows Them To Have Sex With Prostitutes
Readers may recall our previous discussions about the fact that the Carmel Police Department allows its undercover police officers to engage in sex acts with prostitutes in conducting their investigations. The police claim that most prostitutes are too sophisticated to communicate an actual agreement to perform sex for money before the actual sex act occurs. Believe it or not, the state of Hawaii has long had a state law that expressly allows police officers investigating prostitution to engage in sex acts during their investigations. A bill making its way through the state legislature this year to crack down on prostitution proposed the elimination of the exemption in the law that allowed police officers to have sex with prostitutes. After strong protests from law enforcement, lawmakers restored the exemption. The Associated Press has more on the debate:
Honolulu police officers have urged lawmakers to keep an exemption in state law that allows undercover officers to have sex with prostitutes during investigations, touching off a heated debate.
Authorities say they need the legal protection to catch lawbreakers in the act. Critics, including human trafficking experts and other police, say it's unnecessary and could further victimize sex workers, many of whom have been forced into the trade.
Police haven't said how often - or even if - they use the provision. And when they asked legislators to preserve it, they made assurances that internal policies and procedures are in place to prevent officers from taking advantage of it.
But expert Derek Marsh says the exemption is 'antiquated at best' and that police can easily do without it.
'It doesn't help your case, and at worst you further traumatize someone. And do you think he or she is going to trust a cop again?' asked Marsh, who trains California police in best practices on human trafficking cases and twice has testified to Congress about the issue.
A Hawaii bill cracking down on prostitution (HB 1926) was originally written to scrap the sex exemption for officers on duty. It was amended to restore that protection after police testimony.
The revised proposal passed the state House and will go before a Senate committee on Friday.
It's not immediately clear whether similar provisions are in place elsewhere as state law or department policy. But advocates were shocked that Hawaii exempts police from its prostitution laws, suggesting it's an invitation for misconduct.
'Police abuse is part of the life of prostitution,' said Melissa Farley, the executive director of the San Francisco-based group Prostitution Research and Education.
Farley said that in places without such police protections 'women who have escaped prostitution' commonly report being coerced into giving police sexual favors to keep from being arrested.
The Hawaii bill aims to ratchet up penalties on johns and pimps. Selling sex would remain a petty misdemeanor.
During recent testimony, Honolulu police said the sex exemption protects investigations and should remain in place.
Much to my surprise, I learned after my initial reports on the Carmel Police Department's practice of allowing their police officers to have sex with prostitutes that IMPD vice officers have similarly been allowed to have sex with prostitutes, although their rule makes it clear that the prosecutor's office typically won't prosecute the case if a sex act occurs as a matter of policy, which begs the question of why allow it at all.
House Speaker Announces Ethics Probe Of Eric Turner
I don't expect much to come of it, but House Speaker Brian Bosma moved to silence critics by opening an ethics probe to investigate news reports earlier this week which claimed that State Rep. Eric Turner (R-Cicero), who serves as Speaker Pro Tempore in the Republican caucus, had lobbied Republican members to kill legislation that would have placed a moratorium on the construction of new nursing homes in Indiana. Turner's family has a financial interest in Mainstreet Property Group, which had announced plans to build 24 skilled nursing home facilities throughout the state when the legislation was introduced this session at the behest of a trade group representing nursing home owners to place a moratorium on new construction. Turner had pledged to his fellow colleagues earlier in the session that he would recuse himself from participating in any vote or discussions regarding the legislation which members of his family, including his son and daughter, were lobbying to defeat. News reports cited several Republican lawmakers as claiming that Turner's lobbying efforts within the Republican caucus played a key role in the defeat of the legislation.
Labels: Eric Turner
Sen. Dan Coats Among U.S. Officials Banned From Entering Russia By Putin
In retaliation for a move by President Barack Obama on Monday to bar 11 Russian, Ukranian and Crimean officials from entering the U.S. and freezing assets they hold here, Russian President Vladimir Putin has hit back by barring nine U.S. officials from his country, including Indiana's Sen. Dan Coats (R), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The list is reported to include Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), House Speaker John Boehner, senior White House adviser Daniel Pfeiffer and White House national security advisors Ben Rhodes and Caroline Atkinson. "We have repeatedly warned that sanctions are a double-edged instrument and would hit the United States like a boomerang," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "There must be no doubt: We will respond adequately to every hostile thrust."
I'm no fan of Putin, but what the media doesn't tell the American people is that American-backed covert operations led to the ouster of the democratically-elected president in the Ukraine and all the turmoil within that country that has resulted in Russia's actions to annex Crimea, a state within the Ukraine whose people are predominantly Russian in ethnicity and who overwhelmingly favor being a part of Russia. U.S. foreign policy has been focused on creating as much instability in the region as possible to weaken Russia economically and militarily. Listening to Sen. Coats or Sen. McCain speak out on the issue, it's obvious they're just aping the talking points of the Council of Foreign Relations, which is nothing more than a thinly-disguised creature of the military industrial complex to promote their permanent war industry and subversion of human rights throughout the world, while feigning an interest in world peace and respect for the sovereignty of independent nations and democratic governance.
Posted by Gary R. Welsh at 12:44 PM 1 comment: Links to this post
Why Everything The Media Has Told You About The Disappearance Of Flight 370 To Date Has Been False
There is a basic fact about every Boeing aircraft flying in the skies around the world today that is never mentioned by the news media or the talking head experts they trot out to mislead us in its coverage of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The Boeing 777 carrying 227 passengers that disappeared on March 8, 2014 was equipped with Boeing's Uninterruptible Autopilot System. That has been a matter of public record since at least 2007 when Boeing announced that all of its planes would be equipped with the anti-hijacking software. This program was designed not only to protect a commercial aircraft from hijacking by terrorists but also from the actions of rogue crew members piloting the plane. Essentially, once this software program is enabled, nobody can control the plane except the folks on the ground whose interest is ensuring that the flight makes it either to its intended destination point or other safe location in the event of any human or mechanical emergency. In short, the plane is operated as a drone to ensure the safety of passengers and crew members in the event of any emergency short of catastrophic failure of the aircraft due to mechanical failure, which would be a very rare occurrence in any modern Boeing jet, or collision with another object, such as another aircraft or missile fired at the plane.
Once you accept the fact that the people on the ground in charge of this particular aircraft at the airline had the ability to control Flight 370 and the claim that the plane's disappearance occurred as the result of an intentional act, perhaps by the flight's crew, the focus should be on Boeing and Malaysia Airlines to explain why they didn't activate the Uninterruptible Autopilot System. As a retired commercial airline pilot for Delta Airlines and former military pilot, Field McConnell explains in the interview above, that a French-owned aerospace company, Thales, developed the Uninterruptible Autopilot System for Boeing. McConnell takes credit for public disclosure of the Uninterruptible Autopilot System as a result of a lawsuit he filed in federal court back in 2006 to prove its existence, which he claimed had been installed on some Boeing aircraft at least as far back as the date of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
It's also been revealed that Rolls Royce, whose engine is installed in the Boeing 777, has embedded software that periodically connects to a satellite and uploads the latest information concerning the plane's engines to assist mechanical crews on the ground in performing routine maintenance and repairs to the plane's engines. It was that streaming data that informed officials that the plane had flown for at least five more hours before the system was shut off either intentionally to prevent further data from being uploaded to the satellite or by human intervention.
In McConnell's interview above, he also draws attention to the 20 highly-technical employees of Freescale Semicondutor who were passengers on Flight 370. Freescale is an Austin-based technology company that produces and designs embedded hardware used in a variety of applications, including aerospace applications for use by the U.S. military. When the company was still a division of the Motorola Company back in the 1960s, it provided semiconductor devices, ground-based tracking and on-board tracking devices for the Apollo missions to the moon. According to McConnell, Freescale has a pending patent for making non-stealth aircraft invisible to radar. The Carlyle Group and Blackstone Group, two business entities that played prominently in the lead-up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S, led a buyout of Freescale from Motorola in 2006. In light of the nature of Freescale's technological capabilities, special attention should be paid to the unlikely chance that 20 of its most skilled professionals would be on board Flight 370. Suffice it to say that the U.S. government and its controlled military contractors know much more about the disappearance of Flight 370 than they're sharing with the public. Let's hope the secrecy revolving around the disappearance of Flight 370 doesn't lead to yet another 9/11-styled attack.
Per standard operating procedure, the Communist News Network (a/k/a CNN), has been at the forefront in the disinformation campaign regarding Flight 370's disappearance. I find it too coincidental that their international anchor, Richard Quest, just happened to fly along with Flight 370's co-pilot in another Boeing plane's cockpit only days before Flight 370 disappeared. Quest, who describes himself as a gay, Jewish man, created controversy for himself in 2008 when he was busted at New York's Central Park at 3:40 a.m. for possessing crystal meth. He was ordered by a judge to undergo drug counseling for six months, even as he insisted that the "highly regrettable incident, is that nothing is as it seems – and certainly not the way it was reported at the time."
Labels: Boeing, Uninterruptible Autopilot System
IURC Slaps Citizens Energy On The Wrist And Then Okays 9% Water Rate Increase
Citizens Energy initially asked for a 14.7% increase in Indianapolis water rates, or a hike of $25.3 million in operating revenues. During the hearing of its rate increase, the nonprofit utility lowered its rate increase request to 13.26%, or $23 million in annual operating revenues. The IURC today approved a 9% increase that will generate about $15.7 million in annual operating revenues. That's a lot higher than the 2.6% rate increase the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor contended that the rate increase evidence justified. So we wouldn't feel too bad about the decision, the IURC put out a press release to scold Citizens Energy for paying excessive salaries to its top executives and tells us it's going to investigate the utility's billing and customer service practices. Here are the numbers the press related provided to explain the IURC's reduction from 13.26% to 9% rate increase:
$1.4 million for reduction in excessive executive pay paid to 16 executives;
$1.6 million attributed to a projected drop in water consumption;
$1.2 million for nonrecurring charges because Citizens had used 2 years' data from years when Veolia still operated the water utility; and
$2 million savings from capital expenditures that would have been allowed for current and 2015 infrastructure investments.
I've got to be thinking that Carey Lykins is celebrating a big victory tonight. You have to figure that utilities always pad their rate increase requests knowing that the IURC will make some reductions in it just to make the public believe that it's conducting a thorough review of utility rate increase requests. The bottom line is that the promised savings and smaller future rate increases promised by Mayor Greg Ballard and Citizens Energy when the deal was consummated has proven to be a load of hog wash. Ballard wanted us to believe that all that money the City got from Citizens Energy for his ReBuild Indy program was found money. No, we're paying for it through higher rate increases just as I predicted.
WTHR's Mary Milz Credits Parking Meter Revenue Increase To Privatization
Whenever the Ballard administration, Indianapolis Downtown, Inc. or VisitIndy wants to communicate propaganda about one of their rackets, they can always rely on WTHR's Mary Milz to help communicate their message. Milz' latest press release for the Ballard administration is all about the big revenue windfall the city is receiving from ACS/Xerox under the terms of its 50-year lease of the city's parking meter assets. Milz sees $3 million in higher revenues, while I see the $6 million going into the private operator's pocket that could be going into city coffers.
New figures from the city show Indianapolis is cashing in on parking.
Three years after it began a 50-year lease with ACS, a Xerox Company, to modernize and manage metered parking, revenues are up substantially.
Figures from the city show it went from netting $339,165 in 2010, when the city ran parking, to $3,066,546 in 2013 under ParkIndy. That's an 800% increase.
Mark Murphy, who was at a pay box along Mass. Avenue Wednesday, said, "I have no complaints. I still think the price is reasonable and I think in the private sector things tend to go better." . . .
While the new parking system hasn't always been popular with drivers, David Andrichick, who owns the Chatter Box and co-chairs the Mass. Avenue Merchants Association is pleased with it. He said the longer hours and higher parking rates have increased turnover.
He said before there were "many abuses of the parking spaces by workers who would park here (through the day) and keep running back to feed the meter or (those who lived in apartments) parking here because it was more convenient than in the spaces they leased."
Andrichick said concertgoers are also more likely now to park in private lots.
"Absolutely there's more turnover and it's really changed people's behavior," he said. "And it's good for business owners."
Milz is apparently only familiar with one business owner on Mass Avenue, the Chatter Box's David Andrichick, who formerly worked for the Department of Metropolitan Development. He's one of the few business owners who was supportive of privatizing the parking meters. His building is chocked with code violations the City's code enforcement folks don't ever seem to get around to doing anything about despite the public eyesore it creates and numerous complaints lodged about the unsafe and unsanitary conditions of the building.
Operating parking meters is one of the easiest tasks the City had to perform. The Ballard administration deliberately ran revenues from the parking meters into the ground to make the case for privatization by not adjusting rates and continuing to use decades' old mechanical meters, which frequently malfunctioned and allowed motorists to park for free. The City netted only $339,000 on $3.5 million in revenues in 2010 before privatization. Last year, it netted just over $3 million on a little more than $9 million in revenues. What I don't see in the revenue numbers the City provided Milz is how much money the City paid to the private operator for the temporary closure of metered spaces for street and sidewalk repairs or for special events.
When the City turned over control of the parking meters to the private operator, the parking rates doubled, metered parking hours were expanded to include evenings and weekends and more meters were added, along with the introduction of electronic parking meters. So when you double rates, expand the hours of coverage, incentivize the operator to increase enforcement and install electronic meters that, to a fault, never short the meter box but often overcharge the patron, guess what happens? Yeah, your revenues skyrocket. Stepped up enforcement through the issuance of $20 tickets alone pushed up revenues about $1 million. There's nothing magical about the electronic meters used by ParkIndy. They're identical to electronic meters used by many other cities which found a way of using them without privatizing the asset. Yet somehow our City-County Council was too stupid to figure that out and bought the Ballard administration's argument hook, line and sinker.
Meter revenue $2,149,949 $2,882,847 $5,325,041 $6,079,420
Meter enforcement $1,276,213 $1,684,189 $2,130,663 $2,019,409
Permit/Temp closure $101,865 $497,280 $289,452 $674,938
Net revenue to city $339,165 $1,519,295 $2,530,391 $3,066,546
UPDATE: Pat Andrews actually cross-referenced the net revenue numbers cited by Milz in her story, which were furnished to her by the City. The administration grossly misrepresented the net profit the City realized from parking meters assets prior to privatization. Using the numbers in the city's past approved budgets, she finds that the City realized profits of $2.65 million, $2.5 million and $2.6 million, respectively, during the 2009-11 fiscal years. Obviously, the Ballard administration deliberately fudged the numbers to make the privatization deal appear better than it actually is.
Labels: ACS/Xerox, Parking Meter Lease
Rahm's Republican Candidate For Illinois Governor Wins
Polls show that incumbent Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) is very unpopular with Illinois voters and could be in danger of losing an office he barely won four years ago over a downstate state senator, Bill Brady. Illinois Republicans had their best opportunity to win the governor's race in the past 12 years until Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who is not too fond of Gov. Quinn, urged his close pal, Bruce Rauner, a billionaire investment banker from Winnetka with the business ethics of a reptile, to seek the Republican nomination for governor. So Rauner entered the Republican primary despite the fact that he's been as likely to contribute money to Democrats in the past as he has Republicans and opened up his wallet to buy the GOP nomination.
The average voter had never heard of Rauner before he entered the race. His Republican opponents included the party's 2010 nominee, Bill Brady, Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford and State Sen. Kirk Dillard, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination in 2010 but lost a close primary race to Brady. Brady failed to raise much money from Republicans due to concerns that he ran a bad campaign four years ago. The Chicago Tribune teamed up with Rauner's campaign to dig into the personal life of Rutherford to successfully label him as a predatory closeted homosexual. And Dillard was forced to rely on the support of public employees unions to counter the millions of dollars Rauner poured into his campaign that he couldn't come close to matching by urging them to cross over and vote in the Republican primary. The result was that Rauner edged out Dillard for the Republican nomination by a 43-40% margin. So Illinois Republicans now have a candidate leading their ticket that most despise as much as they dislike Gov. Quinn. It's just another example of how the two-party system has become so corrupted by big money that voters are increasingly becoming irrelevant and are offered only false choices. Remind me of how we're different from Russia?
What Constitutes A Glitch In Voting?
Last month, the Metropolitan Development Commission voted 5-3 to reject a proposed development in the 5900 block of North College Avenue that called for the demolition of two residential homes in order to make way for a mixed use development. The neighborhood's council member, Will Gooden (R), whose law firm represents developers, sided with the developer in this case over the strong opposition of neighborhood residents as he has done in every case since his appointment to the council seat vacated by Ryan Vaughn. WTHR is now reporting that another vote will be taken due to a glitch in the voting. "The commission originally rejected the plan by a 5-3 vote but one of the tallies was difficult to read so it will be reconsidered at a meeting Wednesday," WTHR reports. The video above shows the part of the proceeding where the vote was taken. The commission's clerk can be seen lingering by a couple of the commission members for a lengthy period before announcing the vote tally. The glitch must mean that someone didn't get the memo from the mayor's office on how they were supposed to vote. Adam Kirsch was confirmed at Monday night's council meeting as the latest appointee to the commission.
UPDATE: Naturally, the re-vote led to a reversal of the vote with 5 members now supporting its approval to only 2 votes against. Republican appointee Bruce Schumacher's vote supposedly was misread by the clerk at the first meeting as a "no" instead of a "yes," which would have made the vote an indecisive 4-4 vote.
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Testimony of Richard L. Trumka on Deterring Unfair Labor Practices and the Protecting the Right to Organize Act
Legislative Testimony | Labor Law
Richard L. Trumka
On behalf of the 12.5 million members and 55 unions of the AFL-CIO, thank you for inviting me to testify on the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act (H.R. 2474). The AFL-CIO strongly supports the PRO Act, and I personally want to commend Chairman Scott and the many co-sponsors of this bill for taking a bold step to restore fairness to the economy by strengthening the rights of working people to negotiate with our employers for better wages and working conditions.
Congress recognized that unions benefit all workers, not just union members, when it passed the National Labor Relations Act more than 80 years ago. The act’s stated purpose is to encourage the practice of collective bargaining and protect the right of workers to form unions. In the depths of the Great Depression, Congress concluded that giving workers the power to form unions and bargain collectively would strengthen our economy and safeguard our democracy.
Unfortunately, since the act’s passage, corporations and their political supporters have pushed America in the wrong direction. Almost every amendment to the NLRA has made it harder for workers to form unions. Every year, union-busting consultants have taken more and more corporate money to prevent workers from coming together to form unions and, when an election is won, to undermine the process of collective bargaining. State “right to work” laws, promoted by a network of billionaires, super PACs and special interest groups, have given even more power to big corporations at the expense of working people.
Today, unions represent the smallest share of the private sector workforce since before passage of the NLRA. As the density of unions has declined, income inequality has skyrocketed. Although income inequality is seen as one of the most intractable economic problems facing our nation, we know how to reverse it. The simple truth is that when a greater share of workers were in unions, our economy and society were more equal. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the decline in union density accounts for one-third of the rise in wage inequality among men and one-fifth among women.
Unions win better wages and benefits for all types of working people. Union members earn, on average, 13% higher pay than nonunion members in the same occupation with the same level of experience and education. The union advantage is even greater for people of color and those without a college degree. Similarly, hourly wages for women in unions are more than 9% higher on average than for nonunion women with comparable characteristics.
Union members also have the power to negotiate for better, quality health insurance and retirement security, as well as paid sick and family leave. For example, 94% of workers with a union contract receive employer-provided health insurance versus 67% of workers without a union, and our plans tend to be better. Some 90% of union members participate in a retirement plan compared to 75% of nonunion members. Eighty-seven percent of union members have access to paid sick days versus 69% of nonunion members.
Unions also help workers without a union get ahead. In 2016, worker wages in states with lower union density lagged behind states with higher density by more than $100 a week. Unions also provide upward mobility for low-income families. Researchers at Harvard University found that children born to low-income families typically ascend to higher incomes in metropolitan areas where union membership is higher.
So it is little surprise that workers in every sector and every region are embracing the transformational power that comes from joining together in common cause. The year 2018 was the biggest for collective action in three decades and that surge is defining 2019 and shaping the early contours of the 2020 presidential election. Programmers at Google, school teachers in West Virginia and manufacturing workers at Volkswagen in Tennessee are standing up and speaking out.
Today, public support for unions is at a more than 15-year high. Importantly, the people who make up labor unions, our members and families, are the most supportive, but even a majority of nonunion members favor unions. Equally important, the strongest support for unions is from those ages 18–29, and the biggest jump in favorable attitudes toward unions has come from 30–39-year-olds.
Working people want union representation. A growing number of workers see unions as the preeminent source of power that will give them a voice on the job and a say in their own futures. Professor Thomas Kochan and colleagues at MIT and Columbia University found in their 2017 Worker Voice Survey that 48% of nonunion members would vote for a union if an election were held at their workplace, a 50% jump from similar studies conducted in 1977 and 1995. Some 48% of nonunion members want a union—that’s more than 60 million people. But only 11.7%—or 14.7 million—were actually represented in 2018. Something is wrong. And that something is the law.
Our current labor law is frustrating workers’ clear and growing desire to be represented. In too many ways, it’s giving employers the power to decide whether or not their workers can unionize. This is a gross violation of the NLRA’s stated mission, and it’s why labor law reform is an urgent national necessity.
So what are workers up against? Let me give you just four examples and apply them to your experience as elected officials.
First, when you campaign for office, you have to talk to voters. You engage with them at town halls, coffee shops and worksites. For workers wanting to form a union, that communication is greatly restricted. Conversations about unionization must be done on breaks, and representatives from unions can be denied access to worksites altogether.
Yet employers can force employees to listen to their anti-union rhetoric in forced “captive audience meetings.” Employers can fire workers who simply stand up and leave such meetings and even those who have the audacity to express their own opinions after being told their role is only to listen.
Captive audience meetings give employers an unfair and often insurmountable advantage over unions in reaching voters with their message, particularly undecided voters. Yet this clearly coercive practice has been held to be lawful since passage of the anti-worker amendments to the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947. In addition, by forcing employees to listen to anti-union propaganda, employers are signaling the threat of consequences for a “yes” vote.
This is not a theoretical practice. It happens time and time again before union elections. A study of more than 200 representation elections found that employers conducted mandatory meetings 67% of the time. A more recent study found that in 89% of campaigns surveyed, employers required employees to attend captive audience meetings during work time and that the majority of employees attended at least five such meetings during the course of the campaign.
Let me give you an example. In late 2017, over 80% of the workers at a Kumho Tire plant in Macon, Georgia, had signed union authorization cards asking to be represented by the United Steelworkers (USW). The workers had been motivated by serious concerns about chemical exposures and inadequate safety training. In the period preceding the National Labor Relations Board election, workers were forced into daily captive audience meetings, grilled by supervisors in one-on-one interrogations and compelled to watch anti-union videos playing repeatedly on monitors in the facility. Ultimately, workers voted narrowly against union representation—164–136—despite 80% having supported the union prior to the employer’s pressure tactics.
This PRO Act would ban captive audience meetings and require employers to attract an audience with the power of their ideas, just like candidates for public office. Importantly, it would not limit anyone’s freedom to speak. Employers, like unions, would be free to express their views about union representation. The bill would simply ensure that no party can gain an unfair advantage by forcing employees to listen. Freedom of speech and the freedom not to listen would both be protected.
Second, when you run for office, you have no power over individual voters and you certainly would not consider punishing a constituent who voted for your opponent even if you had the power to do so. But in the workplace, employers have the power to terminate or take other adverse actions against employees; and before many union elections, employers abuse that power by firing employees who actively campaign for union representation.
Last year, the NLRB awarded over $50 million to employees the agency found to have been discriminatorily discharged or otherwise punished. More than 1,250 employees were ordered reinstated by the agency. But these number who have been scared out of exercising the right to support unions. And the NLRA’s paltry fines have done little to nothing to deter employers from this illegal and destructive practice.
Right now, an employer who fires a union activist to chill an organizing drive faces merely the prospect of paying the employee back pay many years later. In fact, back pay awards only happen after a charge is filed, the General Counsel issues a complaint, a hearing is held, an administrative law judge finds a violation, the NLRB affirms the judge’s finding and the board’s order is enforced in a federal appeals court. During that typically multi-year period, the illegally fired employee is forced by law and by practical necessity to seek other employment, and any interim earnings ultimately reduce the employer’s back pay liability.
Often the back pay award is no more than a couple thousand dollars, and sometimes less. And while the board can order an illegally fired employee reinstated, that order comes far too late to bring the worker back before a union election. In fact, a reinstatement offer often comes so late that most employees have moved on and decline to return. In 2018, only one-third of employees who were granted reinstatement after a board order accepted the offer. So if violating the law chilled the organizing drive, the employer will consider it a good investment. In other words, violating the law just makes good economic sense for many employers, nothing more than the cost of doing business.
And even after organizing drives have resulted in successful elections, union supporters are sometimes subjected to reprisal firings. In May 2018, flight engineers at Boeing’s facility in South Carolina voted to form a union, but right before Christmas that year the company fired six pro-union engineers as it continued to appeal and delay the contract bargaining that should have been the immediate result of the election.
The PRO Act would fix these flaws and create a real deterrent by eliminating the reduction of back pay awards for interim earnings, providing for double back pay and permitting the award of civil penalties in an amount up to $50,000 against the employer and responsible owners and managers.
The bill also requires the NLRB to go into District Court to seek temporary reinstatement of a pro-union worker illegally fired during an organizing drive. This will eliminate the unequal treatment of unions and employers under existing law whereby the board is required to seek such relief against a union that merely engages in picketing of the wrong employer, but not against an employer who fires a union supporter.
Third, when you are elected in November, you take office in January. But when employees vote for a union, there is no set timetable, and often, the employer refuses to recognize its employees’ chosen representative for years. That is like your opponent holding the seat after you win the election and continuing to occupy it throughout what should be your first term in office. How is that even possible? Again, flaws in current labor law permit this perverse outcome.
Today, when workers vote to be represented by a union, the NLRB certifies the election, but that certification is not enforceable and employers often disregard their employees’ wishes and refuse to bargain with the union. The board is powerless to compel the employer to recognize the union until the union files an unfair labor practice charge and the board finds the employer has violated the law. But even then, the board’s order is not immediately enforceable. Rather, the board must proceed to a U.S. Court of Appeals to obtain an enforceable order to bargain.
This convoluted process can delay workers’ democratically won first contract for years. And, at the end of it all, all the board is empowered to do is issue an order to bargain. Employees are not entitled to any form of compensation that would have resulted from bargaining had the employer recognized the results of the election in a timely manner— no back pay for lost wages and no compensation for lost pension contributions, for example.
Let me give you just one typical example. On Dec. 3 and 4, 2015, skilled trades workers at Volkswagen’s factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted to be represented by the UAW. The vote was 108 to 44 with 95% turnout. The NLRB’s regional director certified those results on Dec. 14, 2015. But because the employer exploited every avenue of delay open to it under existing law, appealing to the board, refusing to bargain in order to force the board to cite it for committing an unfair labor practice and appealing that citation to an appeals court, for three and a half years after the vote, the workers’ chosen representative was not recognized, bargaining did not begin and the board was powerless to do anything about it. The UAW had now taken matters into its own hands and petitioned to represent all employees at the factory.
The PRO Act would fix this problem in a straightforward manner. When employees vote to be represented, the board would not simply certify the union as the representative but, at the same time, order the employer to bargain. That order would be enforceable by the board in a federal district court after 30 days. Under the bill, when employees vote to be represented, bargaining will commence within a matter of months, just as you took your office shortly after you were elected.
And the PRO Act would take one more sensible step toward preventing delay even before employees are permitted to vote. The act removes the employer as a party to the hearing that often precedes an election. That makes sense because the election is to determine who will represent the employees in negotiations with the employer. The employer should not be given standing to delay that election or shape the voting unit through the preelection hearing. That is like Canada trying to influence your election because it is involved in trade negotiations with the U.S.
Finally, when you are elected and sworn into office, you immediately assume the duties of a sitting member of Congress. In contrast, when employees vote to be represented by a union, overcoming the myriad of obstacles I have just described, the union can be prevented from engaging in the type of workplace governance envisioned by the authors of the NLRA. That is because in far too many cases the employer never enters into a collective bargaining agreement with the workers. In over 30% of successful elections, employees who have voted for representation never receive the benefit of a negotiated agreement covering wages, benefits and working conditions. Can you imagine if 30% of elected officials were never seated?
How can this happen? Again, the answer lies in the weakness of existing law. Under the current NLRA, if an employer engages in surface bargaining, dragging out the process without a good faith effort to reach a first contract, the NLRB is powerless to provide a remedy. The board cannot order the employer to agree to any contract term. The board cannot award damages to workers for lost wages or other injuries suffered as a result of the employer’s failure to bargain in good faith, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that the unlawful conduct caused the injury. All the board can do is order the employer to bargain in good faith—a toothless remedy that does nothing to change these behaviors and tactics.
The PRO Act addresses this flaw by guaranteeing that workers who vote for a union get a collective bargaining agreement. The bill provides that if the parties are not able to reach agreement after 90 days, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service will assist the parties to reach agreement. And if there is still no agreement after 30 days, FMCS will appoint a tripartite panel to arbitrate the dispute and arrive at a fair agreement.
The PRO Act also recognizes that employees need the freedom to picket or withhold our labor in order to push for the workplace changes we seek. The bill protects employees’ right to strike by preventing employers from hiring permanent replacement workers. It also allows unrepresented employees to engage in collective action or class action lawsuits to enforce basic workplace rights, rather than being forced to arbitrate such claims alone. Finally, the bill would ensure that employees are not deprived of our right to a union because an employer deliberately misclassified us as supervisors or independent contractors.
The PRO Act would go a long way toward bringing U.S. labor law into compliance with international norms. The International Labor Organization has adopted eight conventions containing core labor standards. The U.S. has ratified only two, not including number 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize and number 98 on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining. Only five other ILO member states have ratified two or fewer core conventions.
In 2007, the U.S. Council for International Business reported that U.S. law had been found to “directly conflict with” five of the core conventions, including both 87 and 98, and was inconsistent with international norms in numerous respects, including failing to cover low-level supervisors, many public employees and other workers, permitting coercive employer interference with organizing and restricting the right to strike. The PRO Act addresses each of those deficiencies.
Our outdated labor laws are making us weaker at home and diminishing our standing in the world. In more cases than not, a free and fair process for forming a union simply does not exist in America today. That must change. And it starts with making the PRO Act the law of the land. Thank you very much.
Tags: Workplace Rights
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Letter Opposing Nomination of Peter Phipps to the Court of Appeals
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Support Our Right to Organize
Unions help build a better life for working people, but outdated laws have hampered our basic right to join together and negotiate for better pay, benefits and working conditions. A new bill, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, would modernize our nation's labor laws.
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On hp-streamline diffusion and Nitsche schemes for the relativistic Vlasov-Maxwell system
Elastic limit and vanishing external force for granular systems
February 2019, 12(1): 133-158. doi: 10.3934/krm.2019006
Convergence of a vector-BGK approximation for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations
Roberta Bianchini 1, and Roberto Natalini 2,,
Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, UMPA, ENS-Lyon, 46, allée d'Italie, 69364-Lyon Cedex 07, France
Istituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo "Mauro Picone", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via dei Taurini 19, I-00185 Rome, Italy
* Corresponding author: Roberto Natalini
Received July 2017 Published July 2018
Fund Project: The first author was supported by a Ph. D. grant of University of Rome Tor Vergata
We present a rigorous convergence result for smooth solutions to a singular semilinear hyperbolic approximation, called vector-BGK model, to the solutions to the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in Sobolev spaces. Our proof deeply relies on the dissipative properties of the system and on the use of an energy which is provided by a symmetrizer, whose entries are weighted in a suitable way with respect to the singular perturbation parameter. This strategy allows us to perform uniform energy estimates and to prove the convergence by compactness.
Keywords: Vector-BGK model, discrete velocities, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, conservative-dissipative form.
Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary: 35Q35, 35Q30; Secondary: 75M45, 35L40.
Citation: Roberta Bianchini, Roberto Natalini. Convergence of a vector-BGK approximation for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. Kinetic & Related Models, 2019, 12 (1) : 133-158. doi: 10.3934/krm.2019006
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Roberta Bianchini Roberto Natalini
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Home Page | Artists | Alice Clark | Alice Clark “Alice Clark” (Wewantsounds)
Categories: Alice Clark, Jazz, WEWANTSOUNDS
Alice Clark “Alice Clark” (Wewantsounds)
Following the success of Wewantsounds’ Alice Clark RSD edition featuring an extra 20-page booklet, the label reissues the standard version of Alice Clark’s highly sought-after soul jazz classic produced by Mainstream Records’ Bob Shad in 1972. Featuring original artwork, remastered sound making this reissue is the first official reissue of Alice Clark’s original album for decades, a long overdue release of one of the best Soul albums ever recorded. When it comes to legendary albums, very few can match the cult status achieved on the international jazz and funk scene, by Alice Clark’s eponymous album, recorded for Mainstream Records in 1972. The record which went unnoticed when it first came out has become one of the most sought-after albums ever since it became cult on the London jazz and funk scene in the late ’80s. It is now being acknowledged as one of the best soul albums of all-times. Recorded live over two days at the Record Plant studios in New York City, the album was produced by Bob Shad and arranged by jazz veteran Ernie Wilkins with a big band setting. The music is a superb mix of jazz and soul blessed by Clark’s superb singing and including two all-time favorites, “Don’t You Care” and “Never Did I Stop Loving You” plus a selection of heart-wrenching songs beautifully sung by Clark. Hailed as a soul masterpiece alongside Aretha Franklin or Roberta Flack’s best albums, Alice Clark’s LP took almost fifty years to achieve classic status and Alice Clark is now finally getting the recognition she deserves.
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GoFundMe Campaign Seeks To Bring ‘Trump Baby’ Balloon To President’s New Jersey Golf Club
Filed Under:Local TV, Talkers
(CBS Philly/CBS Local) — A local activist has created a GoFundMe campaign to bring the “Trump Baby” balloon to President Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Didier Jiménez-Castro created the “Fund To Bring Baby Trump To America” campaign on July 13, the same day that London’s “Trump Baby” balloon made its debut at a protest.
Jiménez-Castro, who says the London balloon inspired him to act, currently works for a homeless shelter that helps families.
“Humor is a huge tool,” Jiménez-Castro noted in regards to the ballon’s ability to be an effective way to bring attention to important issues.
Protesting Paraglider Flies ‘Resist’ Sign Over President Trump
In one day, 230 people backed the GoFundMe campaign and helped it exceed its $4,500 goal by nearly $800.
Sixty percent of the donations were raised by women and Jiménez said he was “really proud of women for leading in this.”
The Trump administration has been receiving immense backlash for how its handled the immigration policy that has allowed for the separation of parents and children that illegally enter the United States.
While Jiménez-Castro disagrees with Trump’s policies like Social Security and immigration, he emphasizes that he isn’t interested in being seen as anti-Trump.
“This is about doing some real activism,” Jiménez-Castro explained.
Some of those issues were at the center of protests in Philadelphia in early July outside of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building.
Police and protesters clashed outside of the ICE building on July 3 and July 5. Multiple states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, sued the Trump administration for separating immigrant families.
The balloon originally made news when London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan approved of protesters to use the balloon during Trump’s visit after 10,000 people signed a petition. A similar petition was created and backed by over 16,000 in Scotland for Trump’s three-day tour of the United Kingdom.
‘Trump Baby’ Balloon Gets Green Light From London Mayor
Jiménez-Castro and other organizers hope that they will be able to fly the balloon at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster.
“We want to go on a tour. We will definitely bring [the balloon] to Central Park,” he said.
It is not yet known when or if officials will allow the balloon to fly in Bedminster. However, Jiménez-Castro gave a rough timeline of three to four weeks before the manufacturer said it will arrive stateside.
“This project has united a lot of people,” he said as he attributes teamwork to making the balloon come to the U.S. possible.
A CBS News poll found that Trump’s approval rating has inched up to 42 percent in June — his highest rating in more than a year.
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Can we keep our technology from slipping out of control?
In A Dangerous Master, a bioethicist argues for debate before tech is adopted.
Diana Gitig - Oct 4, 2015 4:00 pm UTC
A Dangerous Master is reminiscent of—and sometimes even references—about a million popular books and movies: Robert Heinlein's I Will Fear No Evil; Isaac Asimov's I, Robot; David Mitchell's The Bone Doctors; Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go; Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age; GATTACCA; The Matrix; The X Men; The Phantom Menace.
But while these works and the various dystopias they depict are characterized as speculative fiction, Wendell Wallach's book and the various dystopias it depicts warrant neither qualifier. They reside firmly in the real world—or could imminently, if we do not heed his warning to vigilantly track technological developments and constantly assess if the benefits they provide are worth the risks they inevitably engender.
All technological innovations, starting with the fire brought down from Olympus by Prometheus, are a hopelessly entangled mass of risks and benefits. Wallach is in a good position to know. He's chaired of the Technology and Ethics study group at Yale University's Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics for most of its thirteen year existence. He knows that scientific inquiry and discovery will inevitably lead to technologies that can be used for ill as well as for good.
And he is ok with that—he does not want to curb scientific inquiry or discovery. He just doesn't want us adopting technologies blindly. As of now, that seems to be exactly what we're doing. Too many potentially dangerous, or at the very least highly controversial, technologies become facts on the ground before the public is even aware of them. The public—meaning us—never gets the chance to reflect on the utility of these innovations and debate whether or not they're worth it.
Wallach gives numerous examples of the tradeoffs inherent in adopting new technologies, some of which are familiar from headlines and some of which are less so. The push and pull between surveillance and privacy provides a perfect case study. After September 11, stopping terrorists became one of the US government's highest priorities. While obviously an admirable goal, our desperation for security led to a surveillance program that is (a) hardly in line with the ideals of democracy and freedom upon which our society is based and (b) not even necessarily effective.
A mature, introspective society needs to reflect on the ramifications and potential uses and abuses of technologies like those employed for mass surveillance and decide if they are worthwhile before those technologies are put into action. Times of crisis and communal panic, like the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center, are the exact wrong time for such reflection.
Some of the technologies Wallach considers, like the drastic extension of life via cryonic preservation or the uploading of personalities into "mind-files," seem so speculative and far off that it seems almost silly to debate their merits. But today's science fiction tropes have a habit of turning into tomorrow's realities. And debating something that seems abstract can sometimes shed light on issues that are too hot-button to be debated calmly.
Will these mind-files have rights? Will only the wealthy be able to achieve this kind of techno-immortality? How will a glut of older minds and perhaps bodies affect the job prospects, creative impulses, and resources of younger generations? Wallach insists that the time to hammer out the extent to which we as a society are willing to accept the risks of a particular technology is precisely when it is so speculative that it seems unreal. Because once it is real, it is too late.
So, ok, we must sit down and weigh the costs and benefits of a given path and then decide whether that path should be taken. But Wallach also wonders whether there are certain paths we should never go down, ever, just on principle, no matter how great the potential benefits. If so, who gets to decide which roads those are?
This is a particularly confounding question in terms of biological innovations, which trigger people's "yuck" factor—they can't exactly articulate why something is wrong, they just know viscerally that it is. Although there are those who claim that this type of primal revulsion is a valuable evolutionary metric and shouldn't be discounted, it is too often used to condemn activities that run counter the religious beliefs of one particular group. To give an example, the "yuck" argument is the one used to vilify both homosexuality and genetically modified crops.
As of now, the same genetic engineering that can be used to make a synthetic energy-producing organism can also be used to make a synthetic pathogen; it can cure genetic disorders but it can also be used to create only blonde, blue eyed progeny. And this technology is not confined to tightly regulated laboratory settings—DIY biologists can already do some of these things in their garages.
No global consensus has been reached about whether this is "playing God" and should be absolutely verboten or a great therapeutic stride forward and should be embraced and promoted. That's largely because there has been barely any public debate over it.
The military arena is another where Wallach thinks that there are lines that should not be crossed, and things that should not be done. But rather than the "yuck" factor, here he cites the concept that Roman philosophers deemed mala en se—things that are evil in themselves. Rape and biological weapons, he says, are both mala en se (not that this has seemed to preclude their use in war). He thinks the same thing about killer robots—not the drones we have now, which are ultimately directed by human beings, but machines that will autonomously "decide" to take a human life without any input from a human agent.
He thinks this because machines cannot be held responsible for their actions. While this seems like a fairly uncontroversial claim (especially when applied to killer robots) what about self driving cars? They are machines that will undoubtedly kill someone at some point. Before that point, we had better have some ideas as to who, precisely, can be held accountable when a machine kills a person.
Between the time of this books writing and its publication, France expanded its domestic surveillance in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, even as the NSA's mass surveillance program as revealed by Edward Snowden was declared illegal, Google was awarded a patent for downloading specific personalities and embalming them in robotic form, the genomes of human embryos were edited, and the idea that robots can take over almost any job previously thought to need a human touch reached the mainstream.
We clearly missed our chance to figure out whether or not we want these technologies. Wallach is adamant that we don't also miss the chance to figure out how to best harness them.
Listing image by Photograph by Ged Carroll
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We hope to increase public awareness of this region’s unique botanical diversity by maintaining gardens for the enjoyment of the public and by providing educational programs and research resources for the community. Our Cole Library contains more than 1,000 books relating to botany, horticulture, ecology, and ornithology.
The grounds of the BGA are open year round from sunrise to sunset for the enjoyment of the community. We do not charge for admission or parking but do encourage donations to help with maintenance. We hope that our Gardens will inspire our visitors to turn away from non-native plants in landscaping. It’s one of the easiest things you can do personally for the health of our environment. To learn more, we encourage you to get a copy of Doug Tallamy’s book, “Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants,” which we sell in our Visitor Center.
The Botanical Gardens is an independent nonprofit corporation financially supported by memberships, donations, endowments, proceeds from the Garden Path Gift Shop, and fees from special events and programs that are offered to the public. With the exception of the occasional competitive grant, we receive no city, state, or federal tax dollars. Although the Gardens is located on land belonging to the adjacent University of North Carolina at Asheville, we operate independently and are overseen by a Board of Directors elected from and by the general membership of the Botanical Gardens.
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CNN Joins The Hit Piece Parade Against Pope Benedict XVI and The Catholic Church
It would appear that those in the mainstream media who want to do hit pieces on Pope Benedict XVI need to take a number. The latest to engage in Yellow Journalism is CNN. The “network of record” dispatched Gary Tuchman to do the dirty work. One might recall that it was none other than Tuchman who remarked how distressing it was travelling in the heartland during the 2008 Election campaign. He complained that some who recognized him told him that their Middle American views and ideas were repeatedly mocked by the mainstream media, all the while those of the liberal establishment were hailed. Tuchman’s words were quite revealing when it comes to this story.
CNN has been advertising their hit piece on Pope Benedict XVI as if he was already guilty of some sort of cover up, even though during the Abuse Scandal it was none other than the New York Times who praised then Cardinal Ratzinger for tackling the tough problems. What tough problems did he tackle? The most notable example being Father founder of the Legionaries of Christ. Father Marcial Maciel was one of the few prominent conservatives caught up in the Abuse Scandal, most of the abusers were Church liberals who wanted to change the Church. Cardinal Ratzinger took on Father Maciel at the height of his power and popularity. One might recall that Father Maciel was quite close to Pope John Paul II. So from this example we can see that Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) showed no favorites and pulled no punches. The Legionaries of Christ were shaken to the core and as pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI removed their leadership and installed his own, hardly the work of someone who was timid.
The CNN piece was perhaps even more despicable than the New York Times hit piece, because in the interim much of the modus operandi of the Old Gray Lady was exposed. Still CNN used the same material and claimed that they had something new. There is nothing new here. The crux of their argument comes from material provided by Jeffrey Anderson the attorney who has made millions off the scandal. Anderson says he is one a mision to “reform the Church.” What kind of reform would that be? Some Catholic dioceses have been forced into bankruptcy, which means the poor whom they dioceses assisted through their social programs are left in the cold. For all his concern of “reform” Anderson hasn’t provided a penny to these particular poor.
In addition, we have the disgraced ex Archbishop of Milwaukee Rembert Weakland. The former prelate has made his anger at Pope Benedict XVI no secret. Archbishop Weakland’s overt liberal leadership and a homosexual affair, which led to him being blackmailed by the man he was having the affair with, resulted in a tenure of disgrace. Rather than admit his faults, Archbishop Weakland took on the Church via her teachings and leaders like Pope Benedict XVI. The liberal mainstream media hailed Archbishop Weakland and a book he recently wrote.
What do those who do hit pieces on Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church and hope to gain by this? Saul Alinksy and other mentors of the radical left spoke of attacking the head and then the body, what better target than the Catholic Church with its established hierarchy? If one can get away with attacking the Catholic Church, than other churches, especially Evangelical ones, would be easier targets for those on the radical left who despise the teachings and beliefs of Christianity. It won’t stop there; Orthodox Judaism would be next target, and so on until religion is nothing but a social club with leftist political activism at its core. With the basis of the western Judeo Christian ethic destroyed, the radical left could start their own ethos.
Does this sound outlandish or farfetched? All one has to do is read the writings of those who started the French Revolution (which is often widely praised and celebrated in the West) along with those who participated in violent revolution in the 1960s. The unapologetic William Ayres is friends with some of the most powerful people in the country and he has the awards to prove it.
The Abuse Scandal gave those in the mainstream media, the chance of a lifetime to attack the religious faithful. Poll after poll has shown that the mainstream media is at least 5x more likely to have a dim view of religion in general, and the Catholic Church and Evangelical churches in particular, due to their conservative views on sexuality. These churches are in the crosshairs of those who hate this stance. Add to this Pope Benedict’s off repeated line, The Dictatorship of Relativism and you have the same result as if you stepped on a hornet’s nest.
If the country elected the most liberal Presidential ticket and Congress in the nation’s history, why is the mainstream media upset with conservative oriented religious believers, wouldn’t they just be relics of a bygone age? The answer is quite simple those who believe in that “old time religion” are the last line of defense, once they are removed, the radicals will have their way with the culture. When the Jesuits were removed from France before the French Revolution, a gleeful Voltaire voiced the opinion that the next step was defeating the Catholic Church, which would make eliminating Christianity that much easier. Voltaire didn’t live long enough to see the horrid results of Reign of Terror when thousands of French Catholics, both peasant and clergy, were hauled off to the guillotine for their religious and cultural views. How odd that it was the elites who funded the radicals in Paris and later Saint Petersburg (during the Russian Revolution,) were the very elites who lost some of their family and friends to the plague of violence unleashed with their help.
In our modern times, some in the mainstream media are appalled that the great liberal experiment in Washington is fast unraveling. The hoped for liberal religious blossoms never bloomed and the conservative blossoms never faded, try as the militant secularists might to stomp them into the ground. Certain code words have appeared in liberal circles like Tea Partiers, Fox News and those who believed in “established religious beliefs.” If one has sympathies with one, than one must have sympathy with all, therefore making them not only dangerous but unintelligent, the worst insult one could be assigned by the left.
The poor has always been the foil for the far left, a group the left has little sympathy for, otherwise why would they mock those who went to state colleges and were not members of the clubs and associations to which the elite political and religious left belong? One of the true goals of the left has always been about control of culture. Don’t believe me? Do you remember how much television has changed in the last 25 years? What do you think popular culture would be like if the left was in total control? (For more on this please read The Jesus the Political Left Chose to Ignore as well as The Coming Open Rebellion Against God.
Yet, for Catholics the Springtime of Evangelization promised by the late Pope John Paul II has been made manifest in ordination numbers. 64 to 6 and 14 to 4 stand out. What does this mean? In 2006 when writing my book, The Tide is Turning Toward Catholicism, I noted that even though the Diocese of Rochester had more Catholics than the dioceses of Lincoln and Omaha combined, Rochester had 6 men studying for the priesthood while Lincoln and Omaha had 64. That same year of 2006 Denver had 14 young men ordained to the priesthood (eleven in May and three earlier in the academic year) while Los Angeles had four; a staggering statistic when one considers that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has 4,300,000 Catholic residents compared to 385,000 Catholics for the Archdiocese of Denver.
In 2006 Los Angeles and Rochester were led by two of the most liberal prelates in the Church, while Omaha, Lincoln and Denver were led by three of the more conservative bishops in the US, a revelatory statistic to say the least. For more on this read my column, If You Want the Political Left to Run Governments, Look at What the Religious Left Has Done to Religion, (Left It In Tatters,)
While liberal convents are strapped for cash because they haven’t had a postulant in years, more conservative orders like the Sister of Mary in Ann Arbor, Michigan are running out of room due to the large number of young professional women coming their way. They are not the only conservative order growing; the Nashville Dominicans among others are also experiencing growing pains. All of these statistics drive the liberal establishment crazy. While mocking Catholics and Evangelicals, the liberal Protestant mainline churches, the liberal media loves to hail, are literally dying on the vine. Some have seen their congregation size drop in half, all the while the Catholic and Evangelical churches grow, especially so for Catholic churches in Africa and Asia.
As recent as fifty years ago, the Anglican Church in Britain had one of the highest rates of church attendance in the western world. Her teachings were mirrored by the life of those CS Lewis. Fifty years later, her teachings are mirrored by the likes of Elton John. However, to be fair to Sir Elton, even he is to the right of the Anglican Church on matters like welcoming Islamic Sharia Law to Britain as the spiritual leader of the Anglicans, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams recently did. It is now estimated that more people attend Friday prayers at their respective mosques in Britain, than Anglicans attend church services on Sunday morning.
Do you recall hearing this on CNN, or reading this in the New York Times? What about Pope Benedict’s just concluded triumphant visit to the UK? There are so many Anglican clergy leaving their church, due to its liberal stance on the theological and social issues that some of them appealed to the Vatican for a special provision. Because of the extreme liberalism of the worldwide Anglican Communion, Pope Benedict XVI had to create a Personal Ordinate to welcome some of those Anglican clergy swimming the Tiber (coming to the Catholic Church.) How about this story have you read a in depth expose in the Old Gray Lady or seen an in depth report of the “network of record? Sadly, you have not.
Before I conclude I want to make a personal note to this story. When I was a Catholic grade school and Catholic high school student (in the 1970s and 1980s,) our little rust belt parish had two priests pass through who would later be kicked out of the priesthood for molestation, both spent a good deal of time in prison. Sadly, there were those I knew who were the victims of these evil men. Fortunately, I was not one of them. I take this Abuse Scandal very seriously and having lived through it, know more than I care to know about the makeup of these men and their modus operandi. Believe me statistics bear this out, Father Maciel notwithstanding the overwhelming majority of these men made no secret about how they wanted to change the Church to conform with the liberal tide of the 1960s and 1970s. As young as I was their agenda was so striking clear, change the Church. Yet too many in the mainstream media would have you believe that the majority of these evil doers were pre Vatican II types; bitter, old and sexually repressed. Believe me; nothing could be further from the truth.
I could go on and one about the falsehood perpetrated by the likes of the New York Times and CNN. However for a great summary report click here and here for a lengthy refutation of these scurrilous accusations written by a group of Catholic professors. Here’s another great article that delves into CNN’s factual handling of the matter, or lack thereof. For a very unique perspective you might want to especially read this link from former Newsweek Editor Kenneth Woodward, hardly a friend of the conservative Catholic establishment and this excellent article from Michael Sean Winters of the liberal National Catholic Reporter, again hardly stalwarts in the German pontiff’s camp.
One might conclude that those who attack Pope Benedict XVI may not firmly grasp that they are attacking the Successor to Saint Peter, the long chain of leaders Christ established starting with Saint Peter to ensure the teachings Jesus gave us would be followed and built upon here on earth. Yet, by the venom in their attacks we know those in the liberal media who attack the Church are more than cognizant of what they are doing. Jesus rarely used images of hell but he did for those who would harm children, throw away their talents and gifts, and attempt to destroy His Kingdom and message. As he was giving Peter the figurative keys, Jesus reminded all that the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church (Matthew 16:15-20.) Through the centuries, whether they were evil molesters, marauding armies, heretics, or even those in our modern times who used more surreptitious means; many have tried to destroy the Church, but none have succeeded. Perhaps those in the liberal media, whose egos believe they know better than God might want to consider, if for nothing else, what their actions are doing for their own salvation.
This entry was posted on Sunday, September 26th, 2010 at 10:03am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
17 Responses to CNN Joins The Hit Piece Parade Against Pope Benedict XVI and The Catholic Church
Ken Proefrock says:
Sunday, September 26, 2010 \PM\.\Sun\. at 2:21pm
This is a message for Dave Hartline:
I was in Woodlawn in Chicago during the early years of
The Woodlawn Organization when it was taken over by the
Alinsky operatives, including, Fr. Egan, Nick Von
Hoffman,et.al. I was one of two clergy who opted out
of the movement for moral and ethical reasons. I read
your article with comments on Alinsky and the”Radical”
modus operandi in Fr. Dick Kim’s blog last week. You
have a far different perspective than the Chicago Diocese at that time. Interesting.
Dave Hartline says:
Thank you for your post. I do believe there were many people like Alinsky who had great influence on those in the pre Vatican II Church. It was reported that Pope Pius XII wanted to convene the Conference but became too ill to do so. In some US Archdiocese, as well as a few in France and Belgium, movements arose that today one would view as being heretical or schismatic. I do recall the Catholic author Dave Armstrong (who was brought into the Church by Father Hardon SJ) saying that Father Hardon would often say, “The Revolution began…” Dave Armstrong couldn’t remember the precise date but it was sometime in the 1930s or 1940s.
Anyway, what I am getting at it is before the modern communications era there were folks like Alinksy who claimed to be in line with what the Church was teaching (even though Alinsky was an Agnostic.) In reference to those who say that Alinsky’s book, “Rules for Radicals,” which was dedicated to Lucifer among others was really sort of tongue and cheek. One generally doesn’t dedicate books to the leader of the dark side as some sort of joke. I find that dedication intersting because it happened in 1971, the twilight of his life. Why didin’t he dedicate his previous books to Lucifer? The reason I feel this happened is because it would have caused a stir. Perhaps in the twilight of his life, Alinsky was being more open about his agenda.
The first time I had heard of Alinsky occurred in my freshman year of college when some radical graduate students were quoting him like most fervent believers would quote the Gospel. In the turmoil that was the Church in the 1970s, I don’t think many people paid much heed to the role of these radicals until recently. However, I dare say that the likes of Father McBrien were quite familiar with the lofty aspirations of Alinksy and those of a similar mindset. This doesn’t even touch on those in the media who were influenced by Alinsky, and who today run those organizations. Does anyone think that the hit pieces on Pope Benedict in particular and the Church in general would have been possible had not these poeple been calling the shots?
Fortunately as I have said before the tide is turning. I can’t help but refer back to a priest I know who was ordained some five years ago. There was quite a stir when he made no bones about his orthodox or conservative views. I spoke with him recently and he laughed saying, “those in the seminary now make me look like a milquetoast moderate.” Now that is what really drives the left up a wall, they thought the Election of 2008 would end any talk of conservatism prevailing in any sector of society. With the coming election, it appears that it is liberalism whose back is against the wall.
For my taste, Mr. Hartline, you seem too optimistic.
Also, not just from you but from others I keep hearing of how good “new” seminarians are but I have not seen much to bouy my spirits among those have seen.
Benedict is too little too late. The trials are upon us.
Karl with all due respect, it isn’t about your taste or mine, it is about facts. The fact is the Church was ruderless in the 1970s, Pope Paul VI said as much when uttered his famous words, “The Smoke of Satan had entered the Church.” However, Pope John Paul II’s Springtime of the Evangelization is here. We didn’t get into the mess we are in overnight, and we won’t get out of it overnight either. However, with Pope Benedict at the helm (perhaps fulfilling St John Bosco’s vision of the Twin Pillars) we will make great strides. The trials have been upon us many times before; the Islamic Invasions, the Protestant Reformation, the French Revolution, the 1960s Cultural Revolution, and yet here we are still Fighting the Good Fight!
I see the same facts but interpret them differently. It is not about taste though, you are spot on. The shoes we walk in influences our take. I remember into the early sixties. I have lived throughout this tempest. I believe we have seen, nothing yet.
T. Shaw says:
In light of the customary, infernally low level of intellectual honesty in the Commie News Net pile-on piece of journalistic excrement, here’s my proposed response:
Keep the Faith.
Karl, I certainly agree with you on your concluding point. However, I think we are in much better shape that we were 35 years ago. Pope John Paul II and now Pope Benedict XVI, through their leadership and those seminarians, women religious and laity whom they influence, are at least beginning to waft out the Smoke of Satan that had entered the Church.
T Shaw, the Haku War Dance. I wonder if the Knights Templar did something similar before battle? May God Keep Us All Safe from enemies within and without!
DP says:
Sunday, September 26, 2010 \PM\.\Sun\. at 10:08pm
“All one has to do is read the writings of those who started the French Revolution (which is often widely praised and celebrated in the West)…”
During the 1780’s, many who made up the Third Estate, particulary the bourgeoisie (merchants, bankers, lawyers, etc), were fed up with the inequities of the ruling class.
The First Estate (Clergy) and the Second Estate (Nobility) were a small minority of privileged men who made up the Aristocracy. As a result of the blurred lines between the two classes,(holding high positions under the Church’s provision, for example) the Aristocratic ruling class was exempt from almost all taxes. Many of the bourgeoisie were also exempt, which left the burden of paying for wars, affairs of state, etc. on the backs of the peasantry.
The causes of the French Revolution were many and historians still argue over them but there are aspects of the Enlightenment that conservatives, particularly American conservatives, should appreciate and identify with.
Those who advocated for change at the time, pushed for positions in government, the Church and the military to be open to men of talent and merit. They fought for a constitution and a Parliament that would limit the king’s power. Religious toleration and fair trials were also part of their agenda.
Now, as we all know, the French Revolution got totally out of hand but there are reasons for those of us in the West to identify with the philosophes of the 18th century.
Afghani"Stan" says:
Monday, September 27, 2010 \AM\.\Mon\. at 9:30am
It was Louis the XVI who called the Estates General. The likes of Robespierre, Danton et al were not interested in what you suggest above they wanted real power and to remake society as they saw fit. They wanted to import their revolution to all of Europe.
You know sort of like Lenin and Stalin.
Monday, September 27, 2010 \PM\.\Mon\. at 4:01pm
Afghani Stan, excellent point. I would also ask that our friend DP consider that some of the ideas that Enlightenment is given credit for dates back to the Magna Carta. In addition, there were already primitive forms of government in some Swiss Cantons (Catholic cantons at that) which espoused early democratic ideals. Sadly, Ulrich Zwingli tried to put a stop to that, which in some ways was the start of the Left’s War on Rural Inhabitants.
If memory serves (John Robinson, Dungeons, Fire and Sword), the Templars entered battle assuring each other that, “Whether we live or whether we die, we are The Lord’s.”
Stan and Dave,
Yes, Louis XVI did convene the Estates General at the last minute but only after a hiatus of 170+ yrs and to no avail.
Robespierre was, of course, an extreme leftist and a tyrant as well. But there are other Enlightenment notables such as Locke (a champion of America’s Founding Fathers), Newton and Montesquieu who contributed a great deal with regard to the expansion of thought and science in secular society.
In fact, Pope Benedict XIV respected Montesquieu and the advances of the Enlightenment (especially tolerance) even though many of his bishops didn’t share his sensibilities at the time.
In any case, some of the ideas and ideals of the philosophes should be celebrated by both the West and the Church.
E. J. Dionne & Maureen Dowd Are Playing With A Dangerous Fire « The American Catholic says:
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 \AM\.\Tue\. at 12:49am
[…] XVI) for his role in investigating the Abuse Scandal. (You may want to this article entitled; CNN Joins the Hit Piece Parade Against Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church. In addition this article written by several Catholic professors refutes the entire New York Times […]
AP’s Article On The Catholic Blogosphere & NPR’s Firing Of Juan Williams Are Par For The Course « The American Catholic says:
Monday, October 25, 2010 \PM\.\Mon\. at 1:03pm
AP’s Article On The Catholic Blogosphere & NPR’s Firing Of Juan Williams Are Par For The Course: The American Catholic « Deacon John's Space says:
Midterm Election Results Show The Tide Continues To Turn Toward Catholic Orthodoxy « The American Catholic says:
Wednesday, November 3, 2010 \AM\.\Wed\. at 11:41am
Midterm Election Results Show The Tide Continues To Turn Toward Catholic Orthodoxy : The American Catholic « Deacon John's Space says:
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Terror Threat to Mozambican Gas Plans
Suspected Islamic militants carried out two attacks on assets of the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation in Mozambique on February 21, killing one and injuring six. This represents the first coordinated attack by the militants, who operate in the northernmost Cabo Delgado province, against the $ 50 billion worth of natural gas investments planned in that area.
Anadarko has 75 million trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves in the offshore Rovuma gasfield. About a third of the company is owned by Bharat Petroleum, Oil India and ONGC.
This month Anadarko agreed to sell one million metric tonnes of LNG per year for 15 years to Bharat Petroleum. The contract would take Anadarko over the demand threshold it had said would commit it to expanding its Mozambique LNG terminal to nearly 13 million tonnes capacity.
The shadowy militant group has become an additional complication for Mozambique’s plans to become a major LNG exporter. While locally called “Al Shabaab” – after the Al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia – this terror group has issued no statements and its motives, ideology and even if it has a name are unknown.
The members seem to be from a radical sect which split off from a conservative Islamic group Ansaru Sunna that was, in turn, a member of the official Islamic Council. The council, worried about the sects violent attempts to force Sharia on villagers, urged the Mozambican government to act against them. The group fled into the bush, but emerged to carry out its first terrorist attack in October 2017. It has now carried out a steady stream of attacks along a coastal strip running from Pemba to the Tanzanian border. The Anadarko attack was unusual in its sophistication and may indicate the sect has tied up with Tanzanian Islamicist militants who shifted across the border after Dar es Salaam began moving against them in early 2017, a belief held by US intelligence agencies.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-22/multiple-raids-are-said-to-occur-near-anadarko-mozambique-site
https://qz.com/africa/1558111/mozambiques-islamist-threat-al-shabaab-has-roots-in-tanzania/
Pramit Pal Chaudhury
Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, Foreign Editor, Hindustan Times, and Distinguished Fellow & Head, Strategic Affairs, Ananta Aspen Centre
Pramit Pal Chaudhuri writes on political, security, and economic issues. He previously wrote for the Statesman and the Telegraph in Calcutta. He served on the National Security Advisory Board of the Indian government from 2011-2015. Among other affiliations, he is a member of the Asia Society Global Council, the Aspen Institute Italia, the International Institute of Strategic Studies, and the Mont Pelerin Society. Pramit is also a senior associate of Rhodium Group, New York City, advisor to the Bower Group Asia in India, a member of the Council on Emerging Markets, Washington, DC, and a delegate for the Confederation of Indian Industry-Aspen Strategy Group Indo-U.S. Strategic Dialogue and the Ananta Aspen Strategic Dialogues with Japan, China and Israel. Born in 1964, he has visited over fifty countries on five continents. Mr. Pal Chaudhuri is a history graduate from Cornell University.
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Political Developments - December 2018
1. Saudi Arabia: The Khashoggi murder
The murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on 2 October by Saudi officials sent to Turkey for this purpose continued to reverberate through the last month, with Turkey adopting a tough position and Saudi Arabia attempting to distance the crown prince from the deed. US opinion was divided between the White House backing Prince Mohammed bin Salman and upholding the importance US-Saudi ties, while sections of the Congress, US commentators and the media castigated the prince and called for his indictment for the murder. On 6 December, Human Rights Watch called on Turkey to formally submit a request to the UN secretary-general to establish an international, independent investigation into Saudi Arabia’s murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
CIA director Gina Haspel made a presentation on the murder before Congress, after which Senator Bob Corker told reporters that a jury would find the prince guilty “in thirty minutes.” Senator Lindsey Graham said he had "high confidence" Mohammed bin Salman was complicit in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. The senator described the Saudi royal as "a wrecking ball", "crazy" and "dangerous". Some commentators saw in the murder an opportunity to pressurise Saudi Arabia to end the war in Yemen, with some calls to try the crown prince as a “war criminal”.
The President continued to assert that “we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi.” Justifying the importance of US-Saudi relations, secretary of state Mike Pompeo said: “The kingdom is a powerful force for stability in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is working to secure Iraq’s fragile democracy and keep Baghdad tethered to the West’s interests, not Tehran’s. Riyadh is helping manage the flood of refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war by working with host countries, cooperating closely with Egypt, and establishing stronger ties with Israel. Saudi Arabia has also contributed millions of dollars to the U.S.-led effort to fight Islamic State and other terrorist organizations. Saudi oil production and economic stability are keys to regional prosperity and global energy security.” The US President put it more succinctly: “Very simply,” he said, “it is called America First!”
The leaking of its findings by the CIA, which challenge the positions of the US President and the Saudi crown prince, has evoked considerable comment. Rami Khouri has noted: “Never in modern history has the effective ruler of the Arab region’s biggest power and the president of the world’s most powerful country both been publicly challenged by the CIA, which essentially calls them both liars, and the crown prince a murderer.”
Khouri points out that the CIA report has put in place several contentions in the US which will reverberate in the months to come: between the President and his principal external intelligence agency; between the President and Congress and the Republican Party, and between the President and the US’ western allies.
Crown prince at the G-20 summit
Prince Mohammed bin Salman signalled to the international community his ability to handle the fallout of the murder effectively by attending the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. He had very public interactions with the leaders of Russia, China and India. Western leaders however appeared to avoid him during the family photo; according to an observer, “the prince stood rather isolated at the end of the line, at times looking uncertain and nervous”. French President Emmanuel Macron told the prince that Europe would insist on international experts being part of the investigation into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
At home, Saudi Arabia’s media gave extensive coverage to Mohammed bin Salman’s meetings with world leaders, tweeting pictures of his encounters, which also included the presidents of South Korea, Mexico, and South Africa.
Saudi lobbying in the US
Emma Ashford wrote an article in The New Republic in which she provided details of Saudi Arabia’s lobbying efforts in the US which also embrace the White House and Trump and his family personally. She quoted a report that noted that “Saudi lobbying in Washington has grown exponentially in recent years, costing $27.3 million in 2017 alone. In addition to the money that goes to traditional lobbyists, Saudi funding goes to think tanks, universities, and other institutions which can influence U.S. foreign policy.” She pointed out that arms sales had bought considerable clout for Gulf monarchies: these sales, she notes, are hugely beneficial to the Saudi government, allowing them access advanced weapons and to replenish armament stocks.
The article also suggested that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is very close to the Saudi crown prince, “even pushed to inflate the reported value of arms sales to the Kingdom in order to further bolster the partnership.” She concluded: “Perhaps the most striking indication of the administration’s excessive willingness to bend to Saudi interests is in its refusal to criticize the murder of Khashoggi. … In the Trump era, the administration has displayed scepticism towards its own intelligence agencies, while maintaining its support for Saudi leaders.”
2. Syria: The Astana conference
The heads of state of the three nations pursuing the Astana peace process – Russia, Turkey and Iran – had their 11th summit at Astana on 28-29 November. The meeting lasted just one day, the joint statement being issued on 29th morning itself.
The statement reiterated the leaders’ unswerving commitment to Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The three countries also opposed “all attempts to create new realities on the ground”, thus rejecting US plans to set up a long-term presence in northeast Syria.
Before the conference, Putin had indicated the need to promote the constitutional process by finalising the 150-member constitutional committee agreed to at the Sochi conference in January this year. Though 142 names have been finalised, the remaining names have not been approved due to Syrian government opposition. This led the outgoing UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura to describe the meeting as a “missed opportunity”.
Idlib was the main topic of discussion at Astana. Nearly two months after the deadline accepted by Turkey to evict the extremists from Idlib and finalise the 15-20 km wide de-militarised zone, there has been hardly any change in the ground situation: Jabhat Nusra, going under the name “Hayat Tahreer al Shaam”, remains firmly positioned at Idlib.
The security scenario has also visibly deteriorated – there was a chemical attack in Aleppo on 24 November, allegedly by rebel forces, in which over a hundred persons were injured, leading Russia to launch a sharp air attack on rebel targets in Hama and Idlib provinces.
Much of the blame for this situation is being directed by regional observers at Turkey. Turkey views with deep concern the steady consolidation of Kurdish territorial claims in northeast Syria through the US-sponsored Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). To counter this, it is seeking to bring territories in northern Syria – north Aleppo, Idlib and lands up to the Euphrates – under its control, with its interests being projected by the National Liberation Front (NLF), made up largely of elements of the Free Syrian Army and Turkomen fighters affiliated with it.
Given Turkey’s desire to remain in northern Syria to confront the Kurds militarily, it has little interest at present in neutralising Jabhat Nusra, since this group could prove a useful ally against the SDF at the appropriate time. This opportunism has no takers among Turkey’s partners in the Astana process: while they may dislike the US presence in Syria, they prioritise the destruction of Jabhat Nusra; hence their frustration with Turkey.
Idlib, the last bastion in rebel hands, is at the heart of ongoing competitions in Syria between domestic forces and their external sponsors. For, with the end of the standoff at this city, the next phase of the brutal struggle to obtain spoils from the eight-year conflict will commence.
The Syrian president is keen to initiate military action to bring Idlib under his control. Russia is certainly frustrated with Turkish pussy-footing with Jabhat Nusra but is reluctant to wage war: the large civilian casualties will almost certainly bring in western intervention, including bombings of Syrian forces, possibly even putting Russia in direct military confrontation with the US.
For the same reason, while Iran too would like to end Jabhat Nusra as a military threat, it is not keen to provoke the volatile US president and for now prefers a lowkey role, particularly since Trump’s officials continue to speak of Iran’s expulsion from Syria. These considerations suggest that the stalemate at Idlib will continue for now, at least until Turkey decides to intervene militarily against the extremist group. This will set the stage for the next round of confrontations in Syria, which will be as bloody and destructive as the first round of eight years.
3. Palestine:On November 1, Hamas announced that it had accepted security understandings with Israel in Gaza. Thus, while demonstrations will continue, these will be non-violent, will keep away from the border fence, and there will be no attacks on Israeli security personnel. In return, Israel will ease living conditions in Gaza by allowing the entry of fuel into the strip and the monthly transfer of $15 million of Qatari funding to pay the salaries of government employees. This agreement will last for six months.
Hamas has been anxious to maintain the momentum of the weekly “Great March of Return” demonstrations in Gaza, which have highlighted the Palestinian cause through the international media, revealing unarmed Palestinian youngsters bravely fighting for their homeland against a powerful, bloodthirsty and cruel enemy. But Hamas has also been concerned about the high casualties — since the protests began at the end of March this year, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed and 10,000-plus have been injured. The agreement allows it to continue the protests but without harm to the demonstrators.
The agreement between Hamas and Israel is important for the latter as well. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in candid remarks to the media on October 29, said that Israel “has no interest in toppling the Hamas regime” in Gaza. He said the collapse of the Hamas administration “would blow up in our faces.” He pointed out that military action in Gaza would give no advantage to Israel. This is because “we would still have no-one to give it to,” he said. He was making it clear that he had no interest in assuming responsibility for the administration of two million disgruntled Palestinians in Gaza, who are living in squalid conditions in the world’s largest prison.
According to observers, once the “tahdi’a” (lull or calming down) holds in Gaza, Egypt is likely to promote further indirect engagement between Hamas and Israel to address other issues, such as the return of the bodies of two Israeli soldiers and the release of two civilians in custody in Gaza.
4. Iraq: Iraq’s new Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi took the oath of office end-October along with 14 ministers of a Cabinet that needs 22 members. This marked the culmination of a month-long process of political uncertainty, turbulence and deal-making since he was named prime minister by newly appointed President Barham Salih.
Muqtada Al-Sadr, whose Sairoon alliance romped home with the highest number of seats in Parliament, had wanted to see a government of technocrats, not politicians, in Baghdad. As the complex process of coalition development came to an end in late September, with Al-Sadr aligning with the No. 2 grouping, the Fatah alliance headed by Hadi Al-Amiri of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Units militia, he identified Abdul Mahdi, former finance minister and vice president, as the appropriate leader of the next government.
However, Al-Sadr and Al-Amiri do not share the same views on government formation. Al-Sadr rejects the old “quota” system of allotting ministerial portfolios to political groups — a veritable division of national spoils — while Al-Amiri wishes to see rewards for groups like his own that have made great efforts to combat Daesh. His focus is on the interior and defence portfolios.
This divide prevented Abdul Mahdi from obtaining parliamentary approval for eight ministers, including the interior, defence and justice ministers. The two competing alliances, though ostensibly on the same side, vetoed each other’s nominees in a destructive zero-sum endeavour. However, the prime minister was able to get ministers for foreign affairs, oil and finance, and is retaining with himself the interior and defence portfolios. There are threats of impeachment against some ministers for past misdemeanours.
Fifteen years since the end of the Saddam Hussein regime, the country is experiencing nationwide civil conflict, deepening ethnic and sectarian divides, and widespread destruction of infrastructure and governmental institutions. People are witnessing the near-total collapse of civic services, including the supply of drinking water and electricity, continued violence from extremist elements, and pervasive corruption on the part of politicians they elected to provide governance.
This popular rage was exhibited through agitations in southern Iraq in September, which finally persuaded the normally apolitical Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani to break his silence and demand that the next government meet the people’s requirements.
But not much has changed on the ground. Reports from Basra, which provides the bulk of Iraq’s oil revenues, suggest that popular anger remains unassuaged, but the people now see no advantage in street protests. The national security situation also remains parlous, with daily reports of bombings by Daesh elements even a year after they had been comprehensively defeated.
This violence reflects the feeble character of the official security forces, since effective power remains with the numerous militia that have not been disbanded or disarmed. They remain a lethal and fractious presence and are often accused of targeting their opponents on a sectarian basis. There are widespread concerns that Iraq could see the revival of earlier conflicts with extremist elements.
The divided national edifice is also constantly buffeted by the rival claims on the government in Iraq from Iran and the US. Though Iran was able to obtain the government of its choice in Baghdad, the US has made life difficult for Iraq by insisting on enforcing sanctions on Tehran: A blow to Iraq’s crucial energy and trade ties with its neighbour. While Iraq’s leaders have publicly accepted US demands, most observers believe this is just lip service since the ties between Iraq and Iran are too deep and mutually important to be abandoned at the behest of Washington.
Amid the grim scenario that is Iraq’s reality, all eyes are once again turning to Al-Sistani. His all-too-infrequent interventions in the political space have had extraordinary implications for a nation that is groaning under the twin scourges of conflict and corruption. The Iraqi people appear to be waiting for him to swing his magic wand.
5. Libya: Italy provided the latest platform to address the divisions that have wracked Libya for nearly eight years. Groups bitterly feuding at home came together in Palermo on Nov. 12-13, accompanied by their regional sponsors and representatives of Western countries with an interest in Libya’s security and energy resources.
There have been several efforts to bring peace to this beleaguered country. In 2015 in Skhirat, Morocco, the Libyan Political Accord had set up the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, headed by Fayez Al-Sarraj, but this received no backing from the House of Representatives (HOR) government in Tobruk, which sees the GNA as extremist and supported by Qatar and Turkey. The HOR is ostensibly backed by military strongman Gen. Khalifa Haftar and gets political and military support from Egypt and the UAE.
Both Tripoli and Tobruk are backed by numerous armed militia that frequently engage in internecine fighting in which hundreds of people have been killed.
France and Italy are the principal European states with a stake in Libya. While their companies vie for Libya’s energy resources, Italy is immediately concerned about the flow of hundreds of poverty-stricken African migrants who sail for Italian shores from the Libyan coast.
After the Skhirat accord, the UN special envoy for Libya, Ghassan Salame, prepared an action plan in September 2017 that called for a national reconciliation conference, the framing of a new constitution, its approval through a national referendum, and fresh elections for a new national government.
Salame has now come up with an updated plan under which the reconciliation conference will take place early next year. Here, the blueprint for the reorganization and revitalization of Libya’s political, military, economic, financial and energy institutions will be finalized, setting the stage for elections in the spring of 2019.
In the run-up to the Palermo conference, a new player made its presence felt quite forcefully: Russia. On the eve of the conference, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov met the leaders of all the major Libyan factions in Moscow. The surprise visitor to Moscow was Haftar, who met with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and the head of the general staff of the Russian Army, Valery Gerasimov.
The alleged head of the Wagner private military contractor group, Evgeniy Progozhin, was seen at the meetings, which encouraged talk about the possible deployment of Russian mercenaries in Libya.
The other player active diplomatically before Palermo was Turkey. On Nov. 5-6, Defence Minister Hulusi Akar and the Chief of General Staff Yasar Guler met top political leaders in the Tripoli government,
who sought assurances of a Turkish role in reorganizing and upgrading a unified national army, competing with a similar Egyptian initiative for Haftar and the Tobruk government.
This was followed by a visit by the Tripoli-based foreign minister, the central bank governor and the deputy health minister to Istanbul, where they were hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They sought an increased Turkish role in their country’s reconstruction and easier access to Turkey for Libyan nationals.
The Palermo conference attracted 36 delegations; Russia’s was led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. He was president when Moscow backed the UN Security Council resolution that was later (mis)used by Western powers to bomb Tripoli and effect regime change, the origin of Libya’s current discord and malaise.
The conference got off to a bad start for Turkey. On Haftar’s insistence, its delegation was not invited to an informal closed-door meeting of principal delegation heads. Hence, the delegation, headed by Vice President Fuat Oktay, left Palermo. This suggested an Egyptian hand since President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi had been instrumental in getting a seemingly reluctant Haftar to attend the meeting, the latter’s presence being crucial to the conference’s success.
The conference, as expected, did not yield any dramatic results, but affirmed support for the Salame action plan and the reconciliation process.
Medvedev said Russia had a long-term interest in Libya that would include “the restoration of the economy” and of “the social sphere” in order to resume normal life. But observers’ focus remains Russia’s military role, including the possible deployment of mercenaries, the building up of a national army via weapons’ supplies and training, and even the setting up of bases in Libya, though this is hotly denied by Russian officials.
Despite the fiasco in Palermo, Turkey is likely to remain committed to the Tripoli-based Islamist group and challenge Haftar and the regional powers that back him. A game-changer would be greater Turkish-Russian cooperation to reconcile the warring factions, as in the case of Syria.
Strong ties between Ankara and Moscow, and their constructive role in the Astana process regarding Syria, suggest that this is doable. Until then, there will be no peace on the Libyan horizon.
6. The GCC: On December 3, Qatar’s energy minister, Saad al-Kaabi, said his country was quitting OPEC to focus on gas production. The decision takes effect on January 1. A tiny country of just 2.7m, Qatar is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. It is a minor producer of oil, pumping about 600,000 barrels per day. Of the 15 OPEC members, it ranks 11th and generates less than 2% of OPEC’s output.
Commentators see its departure as a political move aimed at Saudi Arabia, the most influential member of both OPEC and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC). The GCC was West Asia’s most effective multilateral body. But last year three members—Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—imposed a trade-and-travel embargo on Qatar. The dispute paralysed the GCC and left its two other members, Oman and Kuwait, increasingly uncomfortable.
Kuwait has signed a military co-operation agreement with Turkey. Turkey has become an important player in the Gulf, a competitor to the Saudi-led camp. It has troops deployed in Qatar to guard against a possible invasion. Turkey’s relations with Saudi Arabia have deteriorated since October, when Saudi hitmen killed Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist, inside the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul.
In September more than 5,000 British troops landed in Oman for a big military exercise. It is also making new allies. Although none of the Gulf states has diplomatic relations with Israel, several are racing to establish ties. Oman has moved fastest. It welcomed Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to Muscat in October. His trip allowed Sultan Qaboos to cast ties with Iran in a positive light, suggesting that Oman could be an intermediary between Iran and Israel.
7. Iran: A car bombing struck the Iranian port city of Chabahar on Thursday, 6 December, in the morning, killing two and injuring at least 40 others outside the city’s police headquarters. Ansar Al-Furqan, a Salafist Baluch insurgent group has claimed responsibility.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused "foreign-backed terrorists" for the attacks, while the Revolutionary Guard hinted at a Saudi role. Zarif added: "In 2010, our security services intercepted & captures extremists en route from UAE. Mark my words: Iran WILL bring terrorists & their masters to justice." He was referring to the capture, trial and subsequent execution in June 2010 of Abdolmalek Rigi, the leader of the Sunni militant group Jundallah who had waged a deadly insurgency in Sistan-Baluchistan.
For his part, IRGC Spokesman Brigadier General Ramadan Sharif said the attack was executed by a terrorist groups linked to intelligence agencies in foreign countries, including Saudi Arabia.
Chabahar lies in Sistan-Baluchistan province some 100 kilometres west of the Pakistan border. The province has a large, mainly Sunni Muslim ethnic Baluchi community which straddles the border and has long been a flashpoint, with Pakistan-based Baluchi separatists and jihadists carrying out cross-border attacks targeting the Shia authorities.
Chabahar has a deep-water port on the Gulf of Oman and with Indian assistance Iran has been developing it as a major energy and freight hub between Central Asia and India, bypassing Pakistan.
While rare, Iran has been targeted in recent years by militant attacks. In September, gunmen disguised as soldiers opened fire on a military parade in Ahvaz, killing at least 24 people and wounding over 60.
Arab separatists and the Islamic State group both claimed the assault. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, blamed Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for the attack, allegations denied by both countries.
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American Idol, Auditions 5 (LA) - Tomorrow is Another Day ...
26 January 2010 @ 09:43 pm
American Idol, Auditions 5 (LA)
Oh, please to being done soon. I'd LOVE to believe that tomorrow is the last audition, but I'm sure, we'll get another two days of it next week before even heading to Hollywood. GROAN!
Avril Lavigne is not doing herself any favors, in my book. She's coming across mostly as a bratty spoiled princess.
Mary Powers - Maybe, just maybe we'll finally get a rocker-sounding chick who can sell it. She was a bit more vibrato-y than I like, but I'm hoping that's just nerves.
Back to Avril, whatever complaint I may have about her, I'd gladly keep her all episode if it meant I didn't have to deal with Katy Perry. UGH! Gonna do my best to ff through every moment of her so that I don't have to even hear her speak.
Andrew Garcia - Very good, slightly John Legend-ish (which is a VERY good thing, in my opinion), he may have to work on his appearance a bit, but good voice, and good story. If he makes it through to top 24, I could actually see him making it into the top 12.
Chris Golightly - I think he has a shot, but I don't particularly like him. I feel for him, but his singing feels fake to me, but I think he could win over others.
Tags: american idol, tv
butterfly on January 27th, 2010 05:31 am (UTC)
Aw, if you ff'd through Katy Perry, you missed the part where she told Kara that they were there to listen to people's voices and not give them passes because the judges 'felt bad for them' or because they 'had good stories'. I really appreciated her saying that, even if it totally isn't true.
There are things about Katy Perry that annoy me, but I do think she made a good judge.
arabian on January 27th, 2010 05:52 am (UTC)
She's on my OMYGODKILLMEDEADWITHHOWYOUIRKMESCALE. Can't help it; everything about Katy Perry annoys me. And frankly, I don't think that's a fair thing to say to Kara, because in the last two years, I haven't seen Kara do that. Paula did, but not Kara. But if she got a warm niggle from you, that's good. I'm just glad I don't have to deal with her again, until she likely returns to "mentor" the singers sometime during the top twelve.
Based on this, though, she may have wound up being better than Avril -- of course that's not saying much since Avril was terrible, but yeah, I'll give her that.
Kara had just told someone that she was going to let them through because of exactly that (IIRC, though I don't have it recorded, so I can't double-check). Katy was responding directly to something that Kara was doing at that moment.
But, again, I don't have any personal affection for Katy Perry. I'm annoyed at the song IKAG because it's faux-lesbianism for the sake of male attention, but that's about as far as my feelings toward her go one way or the other.
Avril was definitely not good as a judge and I don't like her music, so she was a complete fail from my perspective.
I'm really, really surprised Kara did that, it's so unlike her that I'm pretty positive it was producer-induced and KP didn't know that.
Agree about IKAG, the difference between her and AL for me is that, sadly (I can't help it), I do like her songs. I'm so non-discriminating when it comes to some music, but then again, her voice doesn't make me want to stick a plastic fork in my eardrum and twist as KP's does.
sourisvho on January 27th, 2010 04:56 pm (UTC)
Is it just me or are we getting to see a LOT fewer singers during the auditions this year? It's annoying me. They said that 20-some got golden tickets, but we saw only THREE who made it. I think they've gone too far the other way with showing too much backstory. Or they're wasting time somewhere else, because I feel like we see hardly anyone. Or maybe they only care about showing us the ones who make past Hollywood.
eolivet on January 27th, 2010 08:04 pm (UTC)
It's not just you. :/ We saw three last night and...five in Chicago? And yet, 30-ish people get Golden Tickets? Fail, Fox...fail. :x
arabian on January 27th, 2010 10:52 pm (UTC)
Actually, can't blame Fox for this one. This is totally the AI producers way of doing things. UGH!
No, there was definitely less good ones, but in no way do I believe that ...
they only care about showing us the ones who make past Hollywood
Because my continued number one complaint with this show is that they do NOT feature all of the top 24 heavily in the auditions round, in fact, they barely even show some of them. Such as no Kelly singing in s1 to Kris as part of the Matt Giraud highlighted group number in Hwood. I doubt highly they'd wise up and change that direction now.
unicorn23 on January 28th, 2010 12:20 am (UTC)
Nothing else to add here but this: Brooke and Cook!! I miss S7. :(
I had my Kris last season, but I also had to deal with three other performers I was not terribly fond of them, two who outright made me cringe, so yeah, I miss s7 too. :(
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Miguel Angel V. Calanchini was the project head for Site number 6: Happiness. I was delighted to walk with Miguel around the installations and have a very inspiring conversation during the Lights in Alingsas opening day.
Holds a Licentiate Degree in Architecture at La Salle and was first introduced to lighting while working as an interior architect. Miguel Angel started working as a lighting designer for Starco Iluminación in Mexico City in early 2000 where he attended seminars in Europe, he later worked as head of design for Gustavo Aviles. In 2003 founded his own studio in Guadalajara, México and later moved to San Miguel de Allende. Some of the projects: residential lighting design, landscape, public spaces, monuments, retail, museum among other types. Attended seminars and workshops in Germany, US, Italy, and México. An active lecturer and writer in Mexico about his design process and his vision of light and design. Became an Associate Member of IES in 2003 to later receive his professional member in 2012, in 2017 became an IALD Associate Member. Recently participating as a guest head of design in the International Workshop Lights in Alingsas. In 2009 he received an Award of Merit for his project Plaza Civica in San Miguel de Allende by the Illuminating Engineering Society. Most recently he has been the recipient of LIT Awards 2017 Professional Honorable Mention, 4th place Darc Awards 2017 – Spaces, 5th place Darc Awards 2017 – Structures, Top 100 Coda Awards 2016, 3rd place Darc Awards 2015 – Landscape, Judge for Construlita Lighting Awards 2018 edition and collaborated as one of the guest writers for Insights & Inspiration book for Expo Lighting America 2018.
What makes you passionate about your daily work?
Satisfaction. Light is a complex material to explain to people who are not knowledgeable about it. For that reason, you have to aim to the final results. Personally, I think that when you see the facial expressions of someone who gets what you are trying to express through metaphors, sketches, even with CGI software and who can materialize what you have ambitioned, it is the best payment and encouragement. After the completion of a project, either is a residential project when people need good lighting or just the right light on the right spot, or an outdoor public space project, it is very important to see how people experience the final space and observe how you have achieved the projects’ goal.
Can you describe Lights in Alingsas workshop week in 5 words?
EXHAUSTING, THRILLING, INTENSE, GRATIFYING, A CHALLENGE
© Patrik Gunnar Helin
You had a very multidisciplinary team in the workshop, would you like to share the secret for making this team work so well in 5 days?
It was a multidisciplinary team indeed, we had four people from the theatre, one architect and one architectural lighting designer on the team. In the end, it was a very interesting formula. For an intervention like “Lights in Alingsas” project, you must have a very organized and effective plan. The “theatre” people are very pragmatic in terms of optimizing processes while architectural lighting designers, we always tend to anticipate things for long time installations, in our case, I think it was the perfect balance for our team and it worked out as a big advantage.
What development would you like to see in the lighting design field in the next five years?
I would say “professionalization” in countries like Mexico, where Lighting Design is not considered yet as a profession. I would like to see the lighting design recognized as a profession by everyone in terms of responsibility and the value that we add in the projects.
What advice would you give to a passionate young designer who is starting now his career?
Never lose your curiosity! Always keep yourself hungry for knowledge and experimentation. Get away from computers! Get your hands into things and produce light, play with light, sketch and most importantly observe! Light is a phenomenon that it is hard to describe, once you start paying attention to what light does and what it can produce to spaces, you want to learn more, you want to convert the accidental things that you observe like the refraction from a window or any other light effect, and finally, you want to have the knowledge of how to reproduce those effects on your projects.
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ArchtopGuitar.net
…jazz…classical…folk…plectrum…fingerstyle…
GVEps
Barry Galbraith
William Bay
Linear Artistry
Vasseur
Gilbert Isbin
Ivor Mairants
Selmer-Style
Ivor Mairants (1908-1998) was a major contributor to the development of the guitar in the UK from the early jazz era (where he initially played banjo in one of the greatest banjo bands of the period) to the Blues boom of the 60s and 70s. Through his recordings, performances, publications, and running his world-famous guitar store in London, he has had a major influence on many players.
The young Ivor studied banjo with the great Emile Grimshaw, the leading banjo player and educator in England at the time. Here are two sides of a 78rpm recording of Emile Grimshaw’s Banjo Quartet playing from my own collection. They were an incredibly tight ensemble:
Whistling Rufus and Swanee Sing Song
Line up: (Left to Right) Stan Hollings, Emile Grimshaw, Ivor Mairants and Monty Grimshaw.
Like many great and fine early jazz guitar players, Ivor started out as a tenor-banjo player, although Mairants studied banjo with Emile Grimshaw for “only 12 lessons…his interest in my career went far beyond that of a teacher…my guardian angel.” (See Mairants’ autobiography, My Fifty Fretting Years – recommended reading, not just for Mairants’ own life, but as a history of jazz, classical, flamenco, blues and pop music in the UK).
Although Mairants was said to be a fine jazz improviser, there is unfortunately little recorded evidence. His Ivor Mairants’ Guitar Group made some recordings, but, as with the banjo quartet above, the emphasis was more on ensemble arrangement. He seems to have been a laid-back player, lacking the fire of a Django (one of his heroes) perhaps, but having a beautiful, lyrical, singing quality instead. Here are a couple of examples from a 1950s BBC recording:
I’ve Got You Under My String:
and Idle Gossip
Although he published many guitar books, the two that I have found most useful and interesting are the Ivor Mairants Complete & Up To Date Guitar Tutor In Theory And Practice (1965), and Eight World-Famous melodies…based on the Harmonies of George Shearing (no date).
Ivor Mairants Complete & Up To Date Guitar Tutor
In Theory And Practice (1965)
The image above is of my own green-tape-edged copy – I added the tape myself to save it falling apart.
This is a curious guitar tutor, in four main parts.
Part 1: The Basics: how to hold the guitar, how to read notation (no tab, of course), theory of chord and scale construction, plectrum exercises (Mairants advocated strict down-up strokes, always starting the bar on a down stroke – he also used a free-floating right hand, not anchored in any way), and scales: major, melodic and harmonic minor. Also triads all over the fretboard for major, minor, diminished and augmented chords. All this stuff is still relevant, of course.
Part 2: Exercises. These are 12 solo pieces which, when played without open strings, could then be transposed to other keys, simply by moving them up and down the fretboard. As they do jump around a lot, this is not as easy as playing the same scale fingering in a different position. These are great sight-reading pieces, in various keys and rhythms, employing single-note runs interspersed with mainly three and four-part chords. There then follows a section on arpeggios: major, minor, V7, diminished 7, augmented 5, major 7, major 9, minor add 9, V9, V11, V13, major add 6, minor 7, minor 6, V7#5, V9#5, V11+, V7b5, V9b5, V7#9 – fairly comprehensive.
Part 3: Seven full and fine arrangements of jazz and popular standards: Chinatown, My Chinatown; Blue Skies; Shine On, Harvest Moon; Chloe; My Melancholy Baby, You Forgot To remember; After You’ve Gone. These are well worth studying. Here’s my attempt at the first: Chinatown, My Chinatown. The solos are all quite full, so I have not recorded the accompaniment parts.
Be prepared to steal licks and progressions from everything you read or hear – all players do it. For instance, in bars 15 to 17 we have what is basically a ii/V/I cadence, which Mairants realises as Dm7, Em7 (the Em being a Relative Minor Substitution of G), Dm7, Db9 (being a Tritone Substitution of G7), C6.
Part 4: Here Mairants copies the first Guitar Method by George Van Eps – it’s almost a straight lift from GVE’s book, except Mairants harmonises the vi chord of C Major as A minor. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been asked why GVE harmonises it with an F chord. He said in an interview with Ted Green, that most guitar players at the time did not expect a minor chord there, or something to that effect. Well, for those who find that upsetting, here is the version you have been looking for. Despite changing GVE’s harmonisation of the vi chord, he does preserve some of GVE’s “odd” left-hand fingerings – see the third chord in formation 4 below:
He does the same for the harmonic and melodic minor scales.
There follows an appendix largely devoted to The Electric Acoustic Guitar, and is quite amusing from a modern perspective. Mairants seems to assume that most people don’t know what a pickup or an amplifier is. Although this book was published in 1965, it does seem backward looking at times.
Eight World-Famous melodies…based on the
Harmonies of George Shearing (no date)
This is a wonderful book, the closest we get to Ivor Mairants the jazz musician. Here is my performance of Over The Rainbow, and below it, the score:
Here is the complete score as a pdf file: Rainbow-Mairants-Shearing
Let’s look at the first page of the arrangement, as it gives the outline for all the pieces in the book.
The solo guitar part is complete in itself, and that is what I play in the video. It could have the second guitar part added, and I’d like to try that some day. Between the two parts, the full outline of George Shearing’s reharmonisation can be realised. On top we have a voice part, with some guitar chords for an alternative, semi-improvised accompaniment. That’s a lot of information. In short, we have George Shearing’s reharmonisations, rearranged for guitars and voice. The arrangements for guitar are brilliant, and sometimes quite tricky.
The Great Jazz Guitarists
There are two volumes of transcriptions Mairants published under the names of The Great Jazz Guitarists Volumes 1 & 2:
However, there is an expanded edition, with 642 (!) pages, in a limited run of 100 copies. It is a large, heavy tome, gilt-edged, and beautifully printed, and must have been Ivor’s Magnum Opus. I managed to find a copy online for only £65. Here are some images from it:
Although his transcriptions (I’ve been informed) are not exactly 100% accurate, it’s still an edition worth having. That also goes for the two-volume paperback editions. As Jim Hall says in his Foreward:
I had hopes for “8 To The Bar Guitar”, but it consists of a hundred or so ways of playing a boogie-woogie-style bass line. I had thought it would be interesting jazz licks in eighth notes, but no…Avoid, unless boogie-woogie bass lines are your thing. That said, you can hear similar things in heads by Benny Goodman’s sextet with Charlie Parker, but you’d be better off transcribing them instead.
This book also looked hopeful, and, to be fair, it is a lot better than “8 To The Bar Guitar”. It’s a posthumous work, edited by Tim Pells from an incomplete manuscript. Because of this, it is a bit patchwork, with no gradual path through the book, but there are some individually very attractive patches to be found. For example, here’s an interesting way to go from C7 to F:
As you can see, the book has tab. There are some complete pieces, not just exercises, but they tend to be for fingerstyle technique.
Mairants advocates a free-floating right hand, and strict alteration of down and up strokes, beginning each bar with a down stroke. “Part 1: Chromatic Scales and Exercises and all major and minor Scales with many fingerings in all positions. Incorporating the full range of the fingerboard. Part 2: Studies, Arpeggios and exercises in single string runs and chords in major and minor keys to help finger facility and extemporisation. Incorporating the full range of the fingerboard. Chords of the dominant including seventh, ninth, aug. fifth, flattened fifth, aug. ninth, flattened ninth, etc. Special scales on diminished chords and augmented chords. Whole Tone Scales.”
In short, this is a major workout for any plectrum player.
The Jazz Sonatas book is for classical guitar, but could be played fingerstyle on an archtop. Very advanced technique and reading required. These are Mairants’s most advanced jazz or classical compositions. I believe they were recorded by classical guitar maestro, Simon Dinnigan, but I haven’t heard that recording. But we can all listen to the brilliant Eric Hill play these and many other pieces on his website: http://www.erichillguitardownloads.co.uk/mairants.htm – thanks, Eric! These are high-quality compositions, and great guitar solos.
I asked Eric for his reminiscences of Ivor:
“As a teenager, I had plectrum guitar lessons from Ivor at “The Central School Of Dance Music” in London. At the time, I was recovering from poor classical guitar teaching. eg. I had been taught to rest your right hand little finger on the bridge. Ivor’s lessons were a revelation. An instinctive autodidact, Ivor’s work ethic was inspirational. You were in no doubt that regular practice was necessary. His technical principles for the left hand were transferable to the classical guitar, which I later concentrated on. Eg Knuckles parallel to the fingerboard and on ascending scales keeping fingers pressing down when on the same string. Ivor’s “Daily Exercises Tutor Book” formed the core of the lessons, (down and up plectrum technique), and he often finished off by playing his latest composition or an arrangement I remember him playing the lovely Vernon Duke tune “I Can’t Get Started” in a very complex arrangement. He also dazzled me with his answer to Paganini; a piece called “Moto Perpetuo”. He was always very enthusiastic. I bought a new “Hofner Committee” guitar off him, paid for by working in a farm, and my dad came along to sign the HP forms. Ivor said to him, “This boy could be a professional”; this planted the seed in me. It didn’t go down too well with my dad though.
This was just before the solid electric guitar and rock guitar groups really took off. The style of guitar playing that Ivor taught matched my own aspirations. My local heroes were Dave Goldberg, Judd Proctor, Ike|Isaacs and, of course, Julian Bream.
Ivor had a dream of combining classical technique with jazz “feel” and wrote a substantial repertoire to that effect. They were all written down; ie there was no space for improvisation. The selection that I recorded was drawn from his tutor books and appeared on an audiocassette, (hence the sound quality), and was done with Ivor as the producer. He was very exacting! My favourite is “Theme and Improvisation in A” where Ivor is great on rhythm guitar in a style drawn more from Freddie Green than Django. We did a couple of concerts together around that time, (early 80’s); I remember Rolf Harris sitting in the front row, and Ivor generously lent me his wonderful Fleta guitar for a Purcell Room concert.
I did some performances of the Claude Bolling’s guitar concerto with the John Horler Trio, (John, Jeff Clyne and Trevor Tomkins), and Ivor was very helpful in the rehearsals with the difficulty, at that time, of balancing a classical guitar against a jazz trio. We forget how revolutionary it was to make an acoustic classical guitar loud without destroying it’s sound quality.
For a guitarist running a business, (with his wife Lily), under the epithet “Britains Leading Guitar Expert” Ivor was surprisingly quite modest and unassuming about his own abilities. I remember an interesting conversation about the physical nature of guitar playing that can only be obtained by hours of sustained practice as opposed to the somewhat easier intellectual knowledge of where to put your fingers. I remember that the supposedly illiterate Django Reinhardt featured in the chat. We both loved his playing.”
Other Ivor Mairants books which might be of interest are the following.
As always, your comments/suggestions are welcome below.
Rob MacKillop
Edinburgh, 2018
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Measures to Promote Revivals.
Lectures on Revivals of Religion — Charles Grandison Finney
Text. -- These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. -- Acts xvi.20, 21.
"THESE men," here spoken of, were Paul and Silas, who went to Philippi to preach the Gospel, and very much disturbed the people of that city, because they supposed the preaching would interfere with their worldly gains. And so they arranged the preachers of the Gospel before the magistrates of the city, as culprits, and charged them with teaching doctrines, and especially employing measures, that were not lawful.
In discoursing from these words I design to show,
I. That under the Gospel dispensation, God has established no particular system of measures to be employed and invariably adhered to in promoting religion.
II. To show that our present forms of public worship, and everything, so far as measures are concerned, have been arrived at by degrees, and by a succession of New Measures.
I. I am to show that under the Gospel, God has established no particular measures to be used.
Under the Jewish dispensation, there were particular forms enjoined and prescribed by God himself, from which it was not lawful to depart. But these forms were all typical, and were designed to shadow forth Christ, or something connected with the new dispensation that Christ was to introduce. And therefore they were fixed, and all their details particularly prescribed by Divine authority. But it was never so under the Gospel. When Christ came, the ceremonial or typical dispensation was abrogated, because the design of those forms was fulfilled, and therefore themselves of no further use. He, being the anti-type, the types were of course done away at his coming. THE GOSPEL was then preached as the appointed means of promoting religion; and it was left to the discretion of the church to determine, from time to time, what measures shall be adopted, and what forms pursued, in giving the Gospel its power. We are left in the dark as to the measures which were pursued by the apostles and primitive preachers, except so far as we can gather it from occasional hints in the book of Acts. We do not know how many times they sung and how many times they prayed in public worship, nor even whether they sung or prayed at all in their ordinary meetings for preaching. When Jesus Christ was on earth, laboring among his disciples, he had nothing to do with forms or measures. He did from time to time in this respect just as it would be natural for any man to do in such cases, without anything like a set form or mode of doing it. The Jews accused him of disregarding their forms. His object was to preach and teach mankind the true religion. And when the apostles preached afterwards, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, we hear nothing about their having a particular system of measures to carry on their work, or one apostle doing a thing in a particular way because others did it in that way. Their commission was, "Go and preach the Gospel, and disciple all nations." It did not prescribe any forms. It did not admit any. No person can pretend to get any set of forms or particular directions as to measures, out of this commission. Do it -- the best way you can -- ask wisdom from God -- use the faculties he has given you -- seek the direction of the Holy Ghost -- go forward and do it. This was their commission. And their object was to make known the Gospel in the most effectual way, to make the truth stand out strikingly, so as to obtain the attention and secure the obedience of the greatest number possible. No person can find any form of doing this laid down in the Bible. It is preaching the Gospel that stands out prominently there as the great thing. The form is left out of the question.
It is manifest, that, in preaching the Gospel, there must be some kind of measures adopted. The Gospel must be gotten before the minds of the people, and measures must be taken so that they can hear it, and to induce them to attend to it. This is done by building churches, holding stated or other meetings, and so on. Without some measures, it can never be made to take effect among men.
II. I am to show that our present forms of public worship, and everything, so far as measures are concerned, have been arrived at by degrees, and by a succession of New Measures.
1. I will mention some things in regard to the ministry.
Many years ago, ministers were accustomed to wear a peculiar habit. It is so now in Catholic countries. It used to be so here. Ministers had a peculiar dress as much as soldiers. They used to wear a cocked hat, and bands instead of a cravat or stock, and small clothes, and a wig. No matter how much hair a man had on his head, he must cut it off and wear a wig. And then he must wear a gown. All these things were customary, and every clergyman was held bound to wear them, and it was not considered proper for him to officiate without them. All these had doubtless been introduced by a succession of innovations, for we have no good reason for believing that the apostles and primitive ministers dressed differently from other men.
But now all these things have been given up, one by one, by a succession of innovations or new measures, until now in many churches a minister can go into the pulpit and preach without being noticed, although dressed like any other man. And when it was done in regard to each one of them, the church complained as much as if it had been a Divine institution given up. It was denounced as an innovation. When ministers began to lay aside their cocked hats, and wear hats like other men, it grieved the elderly people very much; it looked so "undignified," they said, for a minister to wear a round hat. When, in 1827 I wore a fur cap, a minister said, "that was too bad for a minister."
When ministers first began, a few years since, to wear white hats, it was thought by many to be a sad and very undignified innovation. And even now, they are so bigoted in some places, that a clergyman told me but a few days since, in travelling through New England last summer with a white hat, he could perceive that it injured his influence. This spirit should not be looked upon as harmless; I have good reason to know that it is not harmless. Thinking men see it to be mere bigotry, and are exceedingly in danger of viewing everything about religion in the same light on this account. This has been the result in many instances. There is at this day scarcely a minister in the land who does not feel himself obliged to wear a black coat, as much as if it were a divine institution. The church is yet filled with a kind of superstitious reverence for such things. This is a great stumbling block to many minds.
So, in like manner, when ministers laid aside their bands, and wore cravats or stocks, it was said they were becoming secular, and many found fault. Even now, in some places, a minister would not dare to be seen in the pulpit in a cravat or stock. The people would feel as if they had no clergyman, if he had no bands. A minister in this city asked another, but a few days since, if it would do to wear a black stock in the pulpit. He wore one in his ordinary intercourse with his people, but doubted whether it would do to wear it in the pulpit.
So in regard to short clothes; they used to be thought essential to the ministerial character. Even now, in Catholic countries, every priest wears small clothes. Even the little boys there, who are training for the priest's office, wear their cocked hats, and black stockings, and small clothes. This would look ridiculous amongst us. But it used to be practised in this country. The time was when good people would have been shocked if a minister had gone into the pulpit with pantaloons on. They would have thought he was certainly going to ruin the church by his innovations. I have been told that some years ago, in New England, a certain elderly clergyman was so opposed to the new measure of a minister's wearing pantaloons, that he would on no account allow them in his pulpit. A young man was going to preach for him, who had no small clothes, and the old minister would not let him officiate in pantaloons. "Why," said he, "my people would think I had brought a fop into the pulpit, to see a man there with pantaloons on, and it would produce an excitement among them." And so, finally, the young man was obliged to borrow a pair of the old gentleman's clothes, and they were too short for him, and made a ridiculous figure enough. But any thing was better than such a terrible innovation as preaching in pantaloons. But reason has triumphed.
Just so it was in regard to wigs. I remember one minister, who, though quite a young man, used to wear an enormous white wig. And the people talked as if there was a divine right about it, and it was as hard to give it up, almost, as to give up the Bible itself. Gowns also were considered essential to the ministerial character. And even now, in many congregations in this country, the people will not tolerate a minister in the pulpit, unless he has a flowing silk gown, with enormous sleeves as big as his body. Even in some of the Congregational Churches in New England, they cannot bear to give it up. Now, how came people to suppose a minister must have a gown or a wig, in order to preach with effect? Why was it that every clergyman was held obliged to use these things? How is it that not one of these things have been given up in the churches, without producing a shock among them? They have all been given up, one by one, and many congregations have been distracted for a time by the innovation. But will any one pretend that the cause of religion has been injured by it? People felt as if they could hardly worship God without them, but plainly their attachment to them was no part of their religion, that is, no part of the Christian religion. It was mere superstition. And when these things were taken away they complained, as Micah did, "Ye have taken away my gods." But no doubt their religious character was improved, by removing these objects of superstitious reverence. So that the church, on the whole, has been greatly the gainer by the innovations. Thus you see that the present mode of a minister's dress has been gained by a series of new measures.
2. In regard to the order of public worship.
The same difficulties have been met in effecting every change, because the church have felt as if God had established just the mode which they were used to.
(1.) Psalm Books. Formerly it was customary to sing David's Psalms. By and by there was introduced a version of the Psalms in rhyme. This was very bad, to be sure. When ministers tried to introduce them, the churches were distracted, people violently opposed, and great trouble was created by the innovation. But the new measure triumphed.
Afterwards another version was brought forward in a better style of poetry, and its introduction was opposed with much contention, as a new measure. And finally Watt's version, which is still opposed in many churches. No longer ago than 1828, when I was in Philadelphia, I was told that a minister there was preaching a course of lectures on psalmody to his congregation, for the purpose of bringing them to use a better version of psalms and hymns than the one they were accustomed to. And even now, in a great many congregations, there are people who will go out of church, if a psalm or hymn is given out from a new book. And if Watt's Psalms should be adopted, they would secede and form a new congregation, rather than tolerate such an innovation. The same sort of feeling has been excited by introducing the "Village Hymns" in prayer meetings. In one Presbyterian congregation in this city, within a few years, the minister's wife wished to introduce the Village Hymns into the female prayer meetings, not daring to go any further. She thought she was going to succeed. But some of the careful souls found out that is was made in New England, and refused to admit it. "It is a Hopkinsian thing, I dare say."
(2.) Lining the Hymns. Formerly, when there were but few books, it was the custom to line the hymns, as it was called. The deacon used to stand up before the pulpit, and read off the psalm or hymn, a line at a time, or two lines at a time, and then sing, and the rest would all fall in. By and by, they began to introduce books, and let every one sing from his book. And what an innovation! Alas, what confusion and disorder it made! How could the good people worship God in singing, without having the deacon to line off the hymn in his holy tone, for the holiness of it seemed to consist very much in the tone, which was such that you could hardly tell whether he was reading or singing.
(3.) Choirs. Afterwards another innovation was carried. It was thought best to have a select choir of singers sit by themselves and sing, so as to give an opportunity to improve the music. But this was bitterly opposed. Oh, how many congregations were torn and rent in sunder, by the desire of ministers and some leading individuals to bring about an improvement in the cultivation of music, by forming choirs of singers. People talked about innovations and new measures, and thought great evils were coming to the churches, because the singers were seated by themselves, and cultivated music, and learned new tunes that the old people could not sing. It did not use to be so when they were young, and they would not tolerate such new lights and novelties in the church.
(4.) Pitchpipes. When music was cultivated, and choirs seated together, then the singers wanted a pitchpipe. Formerly, when the lines were given out by the deacon or clerk, he would strike off into the tune, and the rest would follow as well as they could. But when the leaders of choirs begun to use pitchpipes for the purpose of pitching all their voices on precisely the same key, what vast confusion it made! I heard a clergyman say that an elder in the town where he used to live, would get up and leave the house whenever he heard the chorister blow his pipe. "Away with your whistle," said he. "What! whistle in the house of God!" He thought it a profanation.
(5.) Instrumental Music. By and by, in some congregations, various instruments were introduced for the purpose of aiding the singers, and improving the music. When the bass viol was first introduced, it made a great commotion. People insisted they might just as well have a fiddle in the house of God. "Why, it is a fiddle, it is made just like a fiddle, only a little larger, and who can worship where there is a fiddle? By and by you will want to dance in the meeting house." Who has not heard these things talked of, as matters of the most vital importance to the cause of religion and the purity of the church? Ministers, in grave ecclesiastical assemblies, have spent days in discussing them. In a synod in the Presbyterian church, only a few years ago, it was seriously talked of by some, as a matter worthy of discipline in a certain church, that they had an organ in the house of God. This within a few years. And there are many churches now who would not tolerate an organ. They would not be half so much excited to be told that sinners are going to hell, as to be told that there is going to be an organ in the meeting house. Oh, in how many places can you get the church to do anything else, easier than to come along in an easy and natural way to do what is needed, and wisest, and best, for promoting religion and saving souls! They act as if they had a "Thus saith the Lord," for every custom and practice that has been handed down to them, or that they have long followed themselves, however absurd or injurious.
(6.) Extemporary Prayers. How many people are there, who talk just as if the Prayer Book was of divine institution! And I suppose multitudes believe it is. And in some parts of the church a man would not be allowed to pray without his book before him.
(7.) Preaching without notes. A few years since, a lady in Philadelphia was invited to hear a certain minister preach, and she refused, because he did not read his sermons. She seemed to think it would be profane for a man to go into the pulpit and talk, just as if he was talking to the people about some interesting and important subject. Just as if God had enjoined the use of notes and written sermons. They do not know that notes themselves are an innovation, and a modern one too. They were introduced in a time of political difficulties in England. The ministers were afraid they should be accused of preaching something against the government, unless they could show what they had preached, by having all written down beforehand. And with a time-serving spirit, they yielded to political considerations, and imposed a yoke of bondage upon the church. And, now in many places, they cannot tolerate extempore preaching.
(8.) Kneeling in Prayer. This has made a great disturbance in many parts of the country. The time has been in the Congregational churches in New England, when a man or woman would be ashamed to be seen kneeling at a prayer meeting, for fear of being taken for a Methodist. I have prayed in families where I was the only person that would kneel. The others all stood, lest they should imitate the Methodists, I suppose, and thus countenance innovations upon the established form. Others, again, talk as if there was no other posture but kneeling, that could be acceptable in prayer.
3. Labors of Laymen.
(1.) Lay Prayers. Much objection was formerly made against allowing any man to pray or to take a part in managing a prayer meeting, unless he was a clergyman. It used to be said that for a layman to pray in public, was interfering with the dignity of ministers, and was not to be tolerated. A minister in Pennsylvania told me that, a few years ago, he appointed a prayer meeting in the church, and the elders opposed it and turned it out of the house. They said they would not have such work, they had hired a minister to do the praying, and he should do it, and they were not going to have common men praying.
Ministers and many others have very extensively objected against a layman's praying in public, and especially in the presence of a minister. That would let down the authority of the clergy, and was not to be tolerated. At a synod held in this State, there was a synodical prayer meeting appointed. The committee of arrangements, as it was to be a formal thing, designated beforehand the persons who were to take part, and named two clergymen and one layman. The layman was a man of talents and information equal to most ministers. But one doctor of divinity got up and seriously objected to a layman's being asked to pray before that synod. It was not usual, he said; it infringed upon the rights of the clergy, and he wished no innovations. What a state of things!
(2.) Lay exhortation. This has been made a question of vast importance, one which has agitated all New England, and many other parts of the country, whether laymen ought to be allowed to exhort in public meetings. Many ministers have labored to shut up the mouths of laymen entirely. They overlooked the practice of the primitive churches. So much opposition was made to this practice nearly a hundred years ago, that President Edwards actually had to take up the subject, and write a labored defence of the rights and duties of laymen. But the opposition has not entirely ceased to this day. "What! A man that is not a minister, to talk in public! it will create confusion, it will let down the ministry; what will people think of us, ministers, if we allow common men to do the same things that we do?" Astonishing!
But now, all these things are gone by, in most places, and laymen can pray and exhort without the least objection. The evils that were feared, from the labors of laymen, have not been realized, and many ministers are glad to have them exercise their gifts in doing good.
4. Female Prayer Meetings. Within the last few years, female prayer meetings have been extensively opposed in this State. What dreadful things! A minister, now dead, said that when he first attempted to establish these meetings, he had all the clergy around opposed to him. "Set women to praying? Why, the next thing, I suppose, will be to set them to preaching." And serious apprehensions were entertained for the safety of Zion, if women should be allowed to get together to pray. And even now, they are not tolerated in some churches.
So it has been in regard to all the active movements of the church. Missions, Sunday Schools, and everything of the kind, have been opposed, and have gained their present hold in the church only by a succession of struggles and a series of innovations. A Baptist Association in Pennsylvania, some years since, disclaimed all fellowship with any minister that had been liberally educated, or that supported Missions, Bible Societies, Sabbath Schools, Temperance Societies, etc. All these were denounced as New Measures, not found in the Bible, and that would necessarily lead to distraction and confusion in the churches. The same thing has been done by some among the German churches. And in many Presbyterian churches, there are found those who will take the same ground, and denounce all these things, with the exception, perhaps, of an educated ministry, as innovations, new measures, new lights, going in their own strength, and the like, and as calculated to do great evil.
5. I will mention several men who have in Divine providence been set forward as prominent in introducing these innovations.
(1.) The apostles were great innovators, as you all know. After the resurrection, and after the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them, they set out to remodel the church. They broke down the Jewish system of measures and rooted it out, so as to leave scarcely a vestige.
(2.) Luther and the Reformers. You all know what difficulties they had to contend with, and the reason was, that they were trying to introduce new measures -- new modes of performing the public duties of religion, and new expedients to bring the Gospel with power to the hearts of men. All the strange and ridiculous things of the Roman Catholics were held to in the church with pertinacious obstinacy, as if they were of Divine authority. And such an excitement was raised by the attempt to change them, as well nigh involved all Europe in blood.
(3.) Wesley and his coadjutors. Wesley did not at first tear off from the Established Church in England, but formed little classes everywhere, that grew into a church within a church. He remained in the Episcopal church, but he introduced so much of new measures, as to fill all England with excitement and uproar and opposition, and he was everywhere denounced as an innovator and a stirrer up of sedition, and a teacher of new things which it was not lawful to receive.
Whitefield was a man of the same school, and like Wesley was an innovator. I believe he and several individuals of his associates were expelled from college for getting up such a new measure, as a social prayer meeting. They would pray together and expound the Scriptures, and this was such a daring novelty that it could not be borne. When Whitefield came to this country, what an astonishing opposition was raised! Often he well nigh lost his life, and barely escaped by the skin of his teeth. Now, everybody looks upon him as the glory of the age in which he lived. And many of our own denomination have so far divested themselves of prejudice as to think Wesley not only a good but a wise and pre-eminently useful man. Then almost the entire church viewed them with animosity, fearing that the innovations he introduced would destroy the church.
(4.) President Edwards. This great man was famous in his day for new measures. Among other innovations, he refused to baptize the children of impenitent parents. The practice of baptizing the children of the ungodly had been introduced in the New England churches in the preceding century, and had become nearly universal, President Edwards saw that the practice was wrong, and he refused to do it, and the refusal shook all the churches of New England. A hundred ministers joined and determined to put him down. He wrote a book on the subject, and defeated them all. It produced one of the greatest excitements there ever was in New England. Nothing, unless it was the Revolutionary War, ever produced an equal excitement.
The General Association of Connecticut refused to countenance Whitefield, he was such an innovator. "Why, he will preach out of doors and anywhere!" Awful! What a terrible thing, that a man should preach in the fields or in the streets. Cast him out.
All these were devoted men, seeking out ways to do good and save souls. And precisely the same kind of opposition was experienced by all the ecclesiastical bodies, obstructing their path and trying to destroy their character and influence. A book, now extant, was written in President Edwards' time, by a doctor of divinity, and signed by a multitude of ministers, against Whitefield and Edwards, their associates and their measures. A letter was published in this city by a minister against Whitefield, which brought up the same objections against innovations that we hear now. In the time of the late opposition to revivals in the State of New York, a copy of this letter was taken to the editor of a religious periodical with a request that he would publish it. He refused, and gave for a reason, that if published, many would apply it to the controversy that is going on now. I mention it merely to show how identical is the opposition that is raised in different ages against all new measures designed to advance the cause of religion.
6. In the present generation, many things have been introduced which have proved useful, but have been opposed on the ground that they were innovations. And as many are still unsettled in regard to them, I have thought it best to make some remarks concerning them. There are three things in particular which have chiefly attracted remark, and therefore I shall speak of them. They are Anxious Meetings, Protracted Meetings, and the Anxious Seat. These are all opposed, and are called new measures.
(1.) Anxious Meetings. The first that I ever heard of under that name, was in New England, where they were appointed for the purpose of holding personal conversation with anxious sinners, and to adapt instruction to the cases of individuals, so as to lead them immediately to Christ. The design of them is evidently philosophical, but they have been opposed because they were new. There are two modes of conducting an anxious meeting, either of which may effect the object of them.
(a.) By spending a few moments in personal conversation and learning the state of mind of each individual, and then in a address to the whole, take up all their errors and remove their difficulties together.
(b.) By going round to each, and taking up each individual case, and going over the whole ground with each one separately, and getting them to promise to give up their hearts to God. Either way they are important, and have been found most successful in practice. But multitudes have objected to them because they were new.
(2.) Protracted Meetings. These are not new, but have always been practised, in some form or other, ever since there was a church on earth. The Jewish festivals were nothing else but protracted meetings. In regard to the manner, they were conducted differently from what they are now. But the design was the same, to devote a series of days to religious services, in order to make a more powerful impression of divine things upon the minds of the people. All denominations of Christians, when religion prospers among them, hold protracted meetings. In Scotland they used to begin on Thursday at all their communion seasons, and continue until after the Sabbath. The Episcopalians, Baptists, and Methodists all hold protracted meetings. Yet now in our day they have been opposed, particularly among Presbyterians, and called new measures, and regarded as fraught with all manner of evil, notwithstanding they have been so manifestly and so extensively blessed. I will suggest a few things that ought to be considered in regard to them.
(a.) In appointing them, regard should be had to the circumstances of the people; whether the church are able to give their attention and devote their time to carry on the meeting. In some instances this rule has been neglected. Some have thought it right to break in upon the necessary business of the community. In the country, they would appoint the meeting in harvest time, and in the city in the height of the business season, when all the men were necessarily occupied and pressed with their temporal labors. In defence of this course it is said that our business should always be made to yield to God's business; that eternal things are of so much more importance than temporal things, that worldly business of any kind, and at any time, should be made to yield and give place to a protracted meeting. But the worldly business in which we are engaged is not our business. It is as much God's business, and as much our duty, as our prayers and protracted meetings are. If we do not consider our business in this light, we have not yet taken the first lesson in religion; we have not learned to do all things to the glory of God. With this view of the subject, separating our business from religion, we are living six days for ourselves, and the seventh for God. Real duties never interfere with each other. Week days have their appropriate duties, and the Sabbath its appropriate duties, and we are to be equally pious on every day in the week, and in the performance of the duties of every day. We are to plough, and sow, and sell our goods, and attend to our various callings, with the same singleness of view to the glory of God, that we go to church on the Sabbath, and pray in our families, and read our Bibles. This is a first principle in religion. He that does not know and act on this principle has not learned the A B C of piety as yet. Now there are particular seasons of the year in which God in his providence calls upon men to attend to business, because worldly business at the time is particularly urgent, and must be done at that season, if done at all; seed time and harvest for the farmer, and the business seasons for the merchant. And we have no right to say, in those particular seasons, that we will quit our business and have a protracted meeting. The fact is, the business is not ours. And unless God, by some special indication of his providence, shown it to be his pleasure that we should turn aside and have a protracted meeting at such times, I look upon it as tempting God to appoint them. It is saying, "O God, this worldly business is our business, and we are willing to lay it aside for thy business." Unless God has indicated it to be his pleasure to pour out his Spirit, and revive his work at such a season, and has thus called upon his people to quit, for the time being, their ordinary employments, and attend especially to a protracted meeting, it appears to me that God might say to us in such circumstances, "Who hath required this of your hand?"
God has a right to dispose of our time as he pleases, to require us to give up any portion of our time, or all our time, to duties of instruction and devotion. And when circumstances plainly call for it, it is our duty to lay aside every other business, and make direct and continuous efforts for the salvation of souls. If we transact our business upon right principles, and from right motives, and wholly for the glory of God, we shall never object to go aside to attend a protracted meeting whenever there appears to be a call for it in the providence of God. A man who considers himself a steward or a clerk, does not consider it a hardship to rest from his labors on the Sabbath, but a privilege. The selfish owner may feel unwilling to suspend his business on the Sabbath. But the clerk, who transacts business not for himself but for his employer, considers it a privilege to rest upon the Sabbath. So we, if we do our business for God, shall not think it hard if he makes it our duty to suspend our worldly business and attend a protracted meeting. We should rather consider it in the light of a holiday. Whenever, therefore, you hear a man pleading that he cannot leave his business to attend a protracted meeting -- that it is his duty to attend to business, there is reason to fear that he considers the business as his own, and the meeting as God's business. If he felt that the business of the store or farm was as much God's business as attending a protracted meeting, he would doubtless be very willing to rest from his worldly toils, and go up to the house of God and be refreshed whenever there was an indication, on the part of God, that the community was called to that work. It is highly worthy of remark, that the Jewish festivals were appointed at those seasons of the year when there was the least pressure of indispensable worldly business.
In some instances, such meetings have been appointed in the very pressure of the business seasons, and have been followed with no good results, evidently for the want of attention to the rule here laid down. In other cases, meetings have been appointed in seasons when there was a great pressure of worldly business, and have been signally blessed. But in those cases the blessing followed because the meeting was appointed in obedience to the indications of the will of God, by those who had spiritual discernment, and understood the signs of the times. And in many cases, doubtless, individuals have attended who really supposed themselves to be giving up their own business, to attend to God's business, and in such cases they made what they supposed to be a real sacrifice, and God in mercy granted them the blessing.
(b.) Ordinarily, a protracted meeting should be conducted through, and the labor chiefly performed by, the same minister, if possible. Sometimes protracted meetings have been held and dependence placed on ministers coming in from day to day. And they would have no blessing. And the reason was obvious. They did not come in a state of mind to enter into the work, and they did not know the state of people's minds, so as to know what to preach. Suppose a person who was sick should call in a different physician every day. He would not know what the symptoms had been, nor what was the course of the disease or of the treatment, nor what remedies had been tried, nor what the patient could bear. Why, he would certainly kill the patient. Just so in a protracted meeting, carried on by a succession of ministers. None of them get into the spirit of it, and generally they do more hurt than good.
A protracted meeting should not, ordinarily, be appointed, unless they can secure the right kind of help, and get a minister or two who will agree to stay on the ground till the meeting is done. Then they will probably secure a rich blessing.
(c.) There should not be so many public meetings as to interfere with the duties of the closet and of the family. Otherwise Christians will lose their spirituality and let go their hold of God, and the meeting will run down.
(d.) Families should not put themselves out so much in entertaining strangers as to neglect prayer and other duties. It is often the case that when a protracted meeting is held, some of the principal families in the church, I mean those who are principally relied on to sustain the meetings, do not get into the work at all. And the reason is, that they are encumbered with much serving. They often take needless trouble to provide for guests who come from a distance to the meeting, and lay themselves out very foolishly to make an entertainment, not only comfortable but sumptuous. It should always be understood that it is the duty of families to have as little working and parade as possible, and to get along with their hospitality in the easiest way, so that they may all have time to pray, and go to the meeting, and to attend to the things of the kingdom.
(e.) By all means guard against unnecessarily keeping late hours. If people keep late hours, night after night, they will inevitably wear out the body, and their health will fail, and there will be a reaction. They sometimes allow themselves to get so excited as to lose their sleep, and become irregular in their meals, till they break down, and a reaction must come. Unless there is the greatest pains taken to keep regular, the excitement will get so great that nature will give way, and they run down, and the work stops.
(f.) All sectarianism should be carefully avoided. If a sectarian spirit breaks out either in the preaching, or praying, or conversation, it will counteract all the good of the meeting.
(g.) Be watchful against placing dependence on a protracted meeting, as if that of itself would produce a revival. This is a point of great danger, and has always been so. This is the great reason why the church in successive generations has always had to give up her measures -- because Christians had come to rely on them for success. So it has been in some places, in regard to Protracted Meetings. They have been so blessed that in some places the people have thought that if they should only have a protracted meeting, they would have a blessing, and sinners would be converted of course. And so they have appointed their meeting, without any preparation in the church, and just sent abroad for some minister of note, and set him to preaching, as if that would convert sinners. It is obvious that the blessing would be withheld from a meeting got up in this way.
(h.) Avoid adopting the idea that a revival cannot be enjoyed without a Protracted Meeting. Some churches have got into a morbid state of feeling on this subject. Their zeal has become all spasmodic and feverish, so that they never think of doing anything to promote a revival, only in that way. When a protracted meeting is held, they will seem to be wonderfully zealous, and then sink down to a torpid state till another protracted meeting produces another spasm. And now multitudes in the church think it is necessary to give up protracted meetings because they are abused in this way. This ought to be guarded against, in every church, so that they may not be driven to give them up, and lose all the benefits that protracted meetings are calculated to produce.
(3.) The Anxious Seat.
By this I mean the appointment of some particular seat in the place of meeting, where the anxious may come and be addressed particularly, and be made subjects of prayer, and sometimes be conversed with individually. Of late this measure has met with more opposition than any of the others. What is the great objection? I cannot see it. The design of the anxious seat is undoubtedly philosophical, and according to the laws of mind. It has two bearings:
1. When a person is seriously troubled in mind, everybody knows that there is a powerful tendency to conceal it. When a person is borne down with a sense of his condition, if you can get him willing to have it known, if you can get him to break away from the chains of pride, you have gained an important point towards his conversion. This is agreeable to the philosophy of the human mind. How many thousands are there who will bless God to eternity, that when pressed by the truth they were ever brought to take this step, by which they threw off the idea that it was a dreadful thing to have anybody know that they were serious about their souls.
2. Another bearing of the anxious seat, is to detect deception and delusion, and thus prevent false hopes. It has been opposed on the ground, that it was calculated to create delusion and false hopes. But this objection is unreasonable. The truth is the other way. Suppose I were preaching on the subject of Temperance, and that I should first show the evils of intemperance, and bring up the drunkard and his family, and show the various evils produced, till every heart is beating with emotion. Then I portray the great danger of moderate drinking, and show how it leads to intoxication and ruin, and that there is no safety but in TOTAL ABSTINENCE, till a hundred hearts are ready to say, "I will never drink another drop of ardent spirit in the world; if I do, I shall expect to find a drunkard's grave." Now, I stop short, and let the pledge be circulated, and everyone that is fully resolved is ready to sign it. But how many will begin to draw back and hesitate, when you begin to call on them to sign a pledge of total abstinence. One says to himself "Shall I sign it, or not? I thought my mind was made up, but this signing a pledge never to drink again, I do not know about that." Thus you see that when a person is called upon to give a pledge, if he is found not to be decided, he makes it manifest that he was not sincere. That is, he never came to that resolution on the subject, which could be relied on to control his future life. Just so with the awakened sinner. Preach to him, and at the moment he thinks he is willing to do anything; he thinks he is determined to serve the Lord; but bring him to the test, call on him to do one thing, to take one step that shall identify him with the people of God, or cross his pride -- his pride comes up, and he refuses; his delusion is brought out, and he finds himself a lost sinner still; whereas, if you had not done it, he might have gone away flattering himself that he was a Christian. If you say to him, "There is the anxious seat, come out and avow your determination to be on the Lord's side," and if he is not willing to do so small a thing as that, then he is not willing to do anything, and there he is, brought out before his own conscience. It uncovers the delusion of the human heart, and prevents a great many spurious conversions, by showing those who might otherwise imagine themselves willing to do anything for Christ, that in fact they are willing to do nothing.
The church has always felt it necessary to have something of the kind to answer this very purpose. In the days of the apostles baptism answered this purpose. The Gospel was preached to the people, and then all those who were willing to be on the side of Christ were called on to be baptized. It held the precise place that the anxious seat does now, as a public manifestation of their determination to be Christians. And in modern times, those who have been violently opposed to the anxious seat have been obliged to adopt some substitute, or they could not get along in promoting a revival. Some have adopted the expedient of inviting the people who were anxious for their souls to stay for conversation after the rest of the congregation had retired. But what is the difference? This is as much setting up a test as the other. Others, who would be much ashamed to employ the anxious seat, have asked those who have any feeling on the subject to sit still in their seats when the rest retire. Others have called the anxious to retire into the lecture room. The object of all these is the same, and the principle is the same, to bring people out from the refuge of false shame. One man I heard of who was very far gone in his opposition to new measures, in one of his meetings requested all those who were willing to submit to God, or desired to be made subjects of prayer, to signify it by leaning forward and putting their heads down upon the pew before them. Who does not see that this was a mere evasion of the anxious seat, and that it was designed to answer the purpose in its place, and he adopted this because he felt that something of the kind was important?
Now what objection is there against taking a particular seat, or rising up, or going into the lecture-room? They all mean the same thing, when properly conducted. And they are not novelties in principle at all. The thing has always been done in substance. In Joshua's day, he called on the people to decide what they would do, and they spoke right out in the meeting, "We will serve the Lord; the Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey."
REMARKS.
1. If we examine the history of the church we shall find that there never has been an extensive reformation, except by new measures. Whenever the churches get settled down into a form of doing things, they soon get to rely upon the outward doing of it, and so retain the form of religion while they lose the substance. And then it has always been found impossible to arouse them so as to bring about a reformation of the evils, and produce a revival of religion, by simply pursuing that established form. Perhaps it is not too much to say, that it is impossible for God himself to bring about reformations but by new measures. At least, it is a fact that God has always chosen this way, as the wisest and best that he could devise or adopt. And although it has always been the case, that the very measures which God has chosen to employ, and which he has blessed in reviving his work, have been opposed as new measures, and have been denounced, yet he has continued to act upon the same principle. When he has found that a certain mode has lost its influence by having become a form, he brings up some new measure, which will BREAK IN upon their lazy habits, and WAKE UP a slumbering church. And great good has resulted.
2. The same distinctions, in substance, that now exist, have always existed, in all seasons of reformation and revival of religion. There have always been those who particularly adhered to their forms and notions, and precise way of doing things, as if they had a "Thus saith the Lord" for every one of them. They have called those that differed from them, who were trying to roll the ark of salvation forward, Methodists, New Lights, Radicals, New School, New Divinity, and various other opprobrious names. And the declensions that have followed have been uniformly owing to two causes, which should by no means be overlooked by the church.
(1.) The Old School, or Old Measure party, have persevered in their opposition, and eagerly seized hold of any real or apparent indiscretion in the friends of the work.
In such cases, the churches have gradually lost their confidence in the opposition to new measures, and the cry of "New Divinity," and "Innovation" has ceased to alarm them. They see that the blessing of God is with those that are thus accused of new measures and innovation, and the continued opposition of the Old School, together with the continued success of the New School, have destroyed their confidence in the opposition, and they get tired of hearing the incessant cry of "New Lights," and "New Divinity," and "New Measures." Thus the scale has turned, and the churches have pronounced a verdict in favor of the New School, and of condemnation against the Old School.
(2.) But now, mark me: right here in this state of things, the devil has, again and again, taken the advantage, and individuals have risen up, and being sustained by the confidence of the churches in the New Measure party, and finding them sick of opposition, and ready to do anything that would promote the interests of Christ's kingdom, they have driven headlong themselves, and in some instances have carried the churches into the very vortex of those difficulties which have been predicted by their opposers. Thus, when the battle had been fought, and the victory gained, the rash zeal of some well-meaning but headlong individuals, has brought about a reaction that has spread a pall over the churches for years. This was the case, as is well known, in the days of President Edwards. Here is a rock, upon which a light-house is now built, and upon which if the church now run aground, both parties are entirely without excuse. It is now well known, or ought to be known, that the declension which followed the revivals in those days, together with the declensions which have repeatedly occurred, were owing to the combined influence of the continued and pertinacious opposition of the Old School, and the ultimate bad spirit and recklessness of some individuals of the New School.
And here the note of alarm should be distinctly sounded to both parties, lest the devil should prevail against us, at the very point, and under the very circumstances, where he has so often prevailed. Shall the church never learn wisdom from experience? How often, Oh, how often must these scenes be acted over before the millennium shall come! When will it once be, that the church may be revived, and religion prevail, without exciting such opposition in the church, as eventually to bring about a reaction?
3. The present cry against new measures is highly ridiculous, when we consider the quarter from which it comes, and all the circumstances in the case. It is truly astonishing that grave ministers should really feel alarmed at the new measures of the present day, as if new measures were something new under the sun, and as if the present form and manner of doing things had descended from the apostles, and were established by a "Thus saith the Lord:" when the truth is, that every step of the church's advance from the gross darkness of Popery, has been through the introduction of one new measure after another. We now look with astonishment, and are inclined to look almost with contempt, upon the cry of "Innovation," that has preceded our day; and as we review the fears that multitudes in the church have entertained in by-gone days with respect to innovation, we find it difficult to account for what appear to us the groundless and absurd, at least, if not ridiculous objections and difficulties which they made. But, my hearers, is it not wonderful, that at this late day, after the church has had so much experience in these matters, that grave and pious men should seriously feel alarmed at the introduction of the simple, the philosophical, and greatly prospered measures of the last ten years? As if new measures were something not to be tolerated, of highly disastrous tendency, and that should wake the notes and echoes of alarm in every nook and corner of the church.
4. We see why it is that those who have been making the ado about new measures have not been successful in promoting revivals.
They have been taken up with the evils, real or imaginary, which have attended this great and blessed work of God. That there have been evils, no one will pretend to deny. But I do believe, that no revival ever existed since the world began, of so great power and extent as the one that has prevailed for the last ten years, which has not been attended with as great or greater evils. Still a large portion of the church have been frightening themselves and others, by giving constant attention to the evils of revivals. One of the professors in a Presbyterian Theological Seminary, felt it his duty to write a series of letters to Presbyterians, which were extensively circulated, the object of which seemed to be to sound the note of alarm throughout all the borders of the church, in regard to the evils attending revivals. While men are taken up with the evils instead of the excellencies of a blessed work of God, how can it be expected that they will be useful in promoting it? I would say all this in great kindness, but still it is a point upon which I must not be silent.
5. Without new measures it is impossible that the church should succeed in gaining the attention of the world to religion. There are so many exciting subjects constantly brought before the public mind, such a running to and fro, so many that cry "Lo here," and "Lo there," that the church cannot maintain her ground, cannot command attention, without very exciting preaching, and sufficient novelty in measures, to get the public ear. The measures of politicians, of infidels and heretics, the scrambling after wealth, the increase of luxury, and the ten thousand exciting and counteracting influences that bear upon the church and upon the world, will gain their attention and turn all men away from the sanctuary and from the altars of the Lord, unless we increase in wisdom and piety, and wisely adopt such new measures as are calculated to get the attention of men to the Gospel of Christ. I have already said, in the course of these lectures, that novelties should be introduced no faster than they are really called for. They should be introduced with the greatest wisdom, and caution, and prayerfulness, and in a manner calculated to excite as little opposition as possible. But new measures we must have. And may God prevent the church from settling down in any set of forms, and getting the present or any other edition of her measures stereotyped.
6. It is evident that we must have more exciting preaching, to meet the character and wants of the age. Ministers are generally beginning to find this out. And some of them complain of it, and suppose it to be owing to new measures, as they call them. They say that such ministers as our fathers would have been glad to hear, now cannot be heard, cannot get a settlement, nor collect an audience. And they think that new measures have perverted the taste of the people. But this is not the difficulty. The character of the age is changed, and these men have not conformed to it, but retain the same stiff, dry, prosing style of preaching that answered half a century ago.
Look at the Methodists. Many of their ministers are unlearned, in the common sense of the term, many of them taken right from the shop or the farm, and yet they have gathered congregations, and pushed their way, and won souls everywhere. Wherever the Methodists have gone, their plain, pointed and simple, but warm and animated mode of preaching has always gathered congregations. Few Presbyterian ministers have gathered so large assemblies, or won so many souls. Now are we to be told that we must pursue the same old, formal mode of doing things, amidst all these changes? As well might the North River be rolled back, as the world converted under such preaching. Those who adopt a different style of preaching, as the Methodists have done, will run away from us. The world will escape from under the influence of this old fashioned or rather new fashioned ministry. It is impossible that the public mind should be held by such preaching. We must have exciting, powerful preaching, or the devil will have the people, except what the Methodists can save. It is impossible that our ministers should continue to do good, unless we have innovations in regard to the style of preaching. Many ministers are finding it out already, that a Methodist preacher, without the advantages of a liberal education will draw a congregation around him which a Presbyterian minister, with perhaps ten times as much learning, cannot equal, because he has not the earnest manner of the other, and does not pour out fire upon his hearers when he preaches.
7. We see the importance of having young ministers obtain right views of revivals. In a multitude of cases, I have seen that great pains are taken to frighten our young men, who are preparing for the ministry, about the evils of revivals, new measures, and the like. Young men in some theological seminaries are taught to look upon new measures as if they were the very inventions of the devil. How can such men have revivals. So when they come out, they look about, and watch, and start, as if the devil was there. Some young men in Princeton, a few years ago, came out with an essay upon the "evils of revivals." I should like to know, now, how many of those young men have enjoyed revivals among their people, since they have been in the ministry; and if any have, I should like to know whether they have not repented of that piece about the evils of revivals.
If I had a voice so loud as to be heard at Princeton, I would speak to those young men on this subject. It is high time to talk plainly on this point. The church is groaning in all her borders for the want of suitable ministers. Good men are laboring and are willing to labor night and day to assist in educating young men for the ministry, to promote revivals of religion; and when they come out of the seminary, some of them are as shy of all the measures that God blesses as they are of popery itself.
Shall it be so always? Must we educate young men for the ministry, and have them come out frightened to death about new measures, as if there had never been any such thing as new measures. They ought to know that new measures are no new thing in the church. Let them GO ALONG, and keep at work themselves, and not be frightened about new measures. I have been pained to see that some men, in giving accounts of revivals, have evidently felt themselves obliged to be particular in detailing the measures used, to avoid the inference that new measures were introduced; evidently feeling that even the church would undervalue the revival unless it appeared to have been promoted without new measures. Besides, this caution in detailing the measures to demonstrate that there was nothing new, looks like admitting that new measures are wrong because they are new, and that a revival is more valuable because it was not promoted by new measures. In this way, I apprehend that much evil has been done, already, and if the practice is to continue, it must come to this, that a revival must be judged of, by the fact that it occurred in connection with new or old measures. I never will countenance such a spirit, nor condescend to guard an account of a revival against the imputation of new or old measures. I believe new measures are right, that is, that it is no objection to a measure that it is new or old.
Let a minister enter fully into his work, and pour out his heart to God for a blessing, and whenever he sees the want of any measure to bring the truth more powerfully before the minds of the people, let him adopt it and not be afraid, and God will not withhold his blessing. If ministers will not go forward, and will not preach the Gospel with power and earnestness, and will not turn out of their tracks to do anything new for the purpose of saving souls, they will grieve the Holy Spirit away, and God will visit them with his curse, and raise up other ministers to do work in the world.
8. It is the right and duty of ministers to adopt new measures for promoting revivals. In some places the church have opposed their minister when he has attempted to employ those measures which God has blessed for a revival, and have gone so far as to give up their prayer meetings, and give up laboring to save souls, and stand aloof from everything, because their minister has adopted what they call new measures. No matter how reasonable the measures are in themselves, nor how seasonable, nor how much God may bless them. It is enough that they are called new measures, and they will not have anything to do with new measures, nor tolerate them among the people. And thus they fall out by the way, and grieve away the Spirit of God, and put a stop to the revival, when the world around them is going to hell.
Finally. -- This zealous adherence to particular forms and modes of doing things, which has led the church to resist innovations in measures, savors strongly of fanaticism. And what is not a little singular, is that fanatics of this stamp are always the first to cry out "fanaticism." What is that but fanaticism in the Roman Catholic Church, that causes them to adhere with such pertinacity to their particular modes, and forms, and ceremonies, and fooleries? They act as if all these things were established by divine authority; as if there were a "Thus saith the Lord" for every one of them. Now we justly style this a spirit of fanaticism, and esteem it worthy of rebuke. But it is just as absolutely fanatical, for the Presbyterian Church, or any other church, to be sticklish for her particular forms, and to act as if they were established by divine authority. The fact is, that God has established, in no church, any particular form, or manner of worship, for promoting the interests of religion. The scriptures are entirely silent on these subjects, under the Gospel dispensation, and the church is left to exercise her own discretion in relation to all such matters. And I hope it will not be thought unkind, when I say again, that to me it appears, that the unkind, angry zeal for a certain mode and manner of doing things, and the overbearing, exterminating cry against new measures, SAVORS STRONGLY OF FANATICISM.
The only thing insisted upon under the Gospel dispensation, in regard to measures, is that there should be decency and order. "Let all things be done decently and in order." We are required to guard against all confusion and disorderly conduct. But what is decency and order? Will it be pretended that an anxious meeting, or a protracted meeting, or an anxious seat, is inconsistent with decency and order? I should most sincerely deprecate, and most firmly resist whatever was indecent and disorderly in the worship of God's house. But I do not suppose that by "order" we are to understand any particular set mode, in which any church may have been accustomed to perform their service.
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Collisions with Structures
Pesticides and Other Toxic Chemicals
Tidal marsh sparrows on Atlantic coast are subject to greater mercury (Hg) exposure on breeding than on overwintering grounds ( Cristol, D. A., F. M. Smith, C. W. Varian-Ramos, and B. D. Watts. (2011). Mercury levels of Nelson's and Saltmarsh sparrows at wintering grounds in Virginia, USA. Ecotoxicology 20 (8):1773-1779. doi: 10.1007/s10646-011-0710-5.
207). Saltmarsh Sparrows bioaccumulate Hg ( Shriver, W. G., D. C. Evers, T. P. Hodgman, B. J. MacCulloch, and R. J. Taylor. (2006). Mercury in Sharp-tailed Sparrows breeding in coastal wetlands. Environmental Bioindicators 1 (2):129-135. doi: 10.1080/15555270600695734.
208) and individuals exhibit body loads averaging 0.7 ppm wet weight in summer and 0.4 ppm in winter ( Cristol, D. A., F. M. Smith, C. W. Varian-Ramos, and B. D. Watts. (2011). Mercury levels of Nelson's and Saltmarsh sparrows at wintering grounds in Virginia, USA. Ecotoxicology 20 (8):1773-1779. doi: 10.1007/s10646-011-0710-5.
207). Lower loads in winter may depend on dietary shift to greater seed consumption in winter compared to invertebrate use in summer. Winder and Emslie ( Winder, V. L., and S. D. Emslie. (2012). Mercury in non-breeding sparrows of North Carolina salt marshes. Ecotoxicology 21 (2):325-335. doi: 10.1007/s10646-011-0794-y.
209) found higher concentrations in Saltmarsh Sparrow than other tidal marsh sparrows, though the reasons for this difference are unknown. Hg levels seen in a large proportion of Saltmarsh Sparrow are similar to those that can have physiological impacts on birds, potentially influencing reproductive success and survival, especially in areas of high contamination ( Lane, O. P., K. M. O'Brien, D. C. Evers, T. P. Hodgman, A. Major, N. Pau, M. J. Ducey, R. Taylor, and D. Perry. (2011). Mercury in breeding Saltmarsh Sparrows (Ammodramus caudacutus caudacutus). Ecotoxicology 20 (8):1984-1991. doi: 10.1007/s10646-011-0740-z.
210, Winder, V. L., and S. D. Emslie. (2012). Mercury in non-breeding sparrows of North Carolina salt marshes. Ecotoxicology 21 (2):325-335. doi: 10.1007/s10646-011-0794-y.
209). No evidence for effects on reproductive success detected, however, in study of 9 sites between New Jersey and Maine (K. Ruskin, unpublished data). No information on pesticides or other toxic chemicals.
Degradation of Habitat
Long-term marsh degradation and loss due to coastal development has presumably affected Saltmarsh Sparrows throughout their range for decades: New Jersey ( Stone, W. (1937). Bird studies at old Cape May: an ornithology of coastal New Jersey. Philadelphia, PA: Delaware Valley Ornithol. Club.
91), New York ( Cruickshank, A. D. (1942). Birds around New York City. Handbook Series no. 13, New York: American Mus. Nat. Hist.
211, Elliott, J. J. (1962). Sharp-tailed and Seaside Sparrows on Long Island, New York. Kingbird 12:115-123.
140), Connecticut ( Sage, J. H., L. B. Bishop and W. P. Bliss. (1913). The birds of Connecticut. Hartford, CN: Bull. no. 20, Connecticut Geol. and Nat. Hist. Surv.
76), Massachusetts ( Brewster, W. (1906). The Birds of the Cambridge Region of Massachusetts. Memoirs of the Nuttall Ornithological Club 4, Cambridge, MA, USA.
212). Coastal marsh area has declined by ~40% in the U.S. North Atlantic since the 1800s ( Gedan, K. B., and B. R. Silliman. (2009). Patterns of salt marsh loss within coastal regions of North America. In Human impacts on salt marshes: A global perspective (S. R. Silliman, E. D. Grosholz, and M. D. Bertness, Eds.). University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. pp. 253-265.
213), and what remains has undergone widespread changes due to altered hydrology, introduced species, pollution, and increasingly sea-level rise. Not all changes have necessarily harmed the Saltmarsh Sparrow as efforts to drain marshes via ditching might have increased areas of Spartina patens meadows and reduced the risk of nest flooding.
Strong population declines since at least the 1990s suggest that recent changes have been detrimental (see Population Status: Trends). Causes of declines uncertain, but apparently linked to tidal restrictions on many marshes, which perhaps reduce sediment flow ( Correll, M. D., W. A. Wiest, T. P. Hodgman, W. G. Shriver, C. S. Elphick, B. J. McGill, K. M. O'Brien, and B. J. Olsen. (2017). Predictors of specialist avifaunal decline in coastal marshes. Conservation Biology 31 (1):172-182. doi: 10.1111/cobi.12797.
74). No evidence for demographic differences between a ditched and an unditched marsh in New Jersey ( Roberts, S. G., R. A. Longenecker, M. A. Etterson, K. J. Ruskin, C. S. Elphick, B. J. Olsen, and W. G. Shriver. (2017). Factors that influence vital rates of Seaside and Saltmarsh sparrows in coastal New Jersey, USA. Journal of Field Ornithology 88 (2):115-131. doi: 10.1111/jofo.12199.
46), nor for a link between ditching and recent population trends ( Correll, M. D., W. A. Wiest, T. P. Hodgman, W. G. Shriver, C. S. Elphick, B. J. McGill, K. M. O'Brien, and B. J. Olsen. (2017). Predictors of specialist avifaunal decline in coastal marshes. Conservation Biology 31 (1):172-182. doi: 10.1111/cobi.12797.
74), but paucity of unditched sites makes comparisons difficult. Widespread vegetation changes and accretion data also suggest that marshes are getting wetter throughout large portions of the species range ( Crosby, S. C., D. F. Sax, M. E. Palmer, H. S. Booth, L. A. Deegan, M. D. Bertness, and H. M. Leslie. (2016). Salt marsh persistence is threatened by predicted sea-level rise. Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science 181:93-99. doi: 10.1016/j.ecss.2016.08.018.
214, Field, C. R., C. Gjerdrum, and C. S. Elphick. (2016). Forest resistance to sea-level rise prevents landward migration of tidal marsh. Biological Conservation 201:363-369. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2016.07.035.
215), which in turn suggests an increased risk of tidal flooding during nesting.
Human/Research Impacts
No direct tests, but anecdotal observations suggest that activity around nests during nest building can cause abandonment (CSE, JSG). Telemetry studies have resulted in mortality due to antenna entanglement as birds move through dense marsh grasses and possible abandonment of fledglings with transmitters ( Hill, J. M., and C. S. Elphick. (2011). Are grassland passerines especially susceptible to negative transmitter impacts? Wildlife Society Bulletin 35 (4):362-367. doi: 10.1002/wsb.84.
216); subsequent field tests suggest that careful choice of antenna material can reduce entanglement problems (CSE).
Recent studies suggest that, under current conditions, there is a low chance of the Saltmarsh Sparrow persisting beyond the middle of this century. The current ~9% per annum decline across the species’ range ( Correll, M. D., W. A. Wiest, T. P. Hodgman, W. G. Shriver, C. S. Elphick, B. J. McGill, K. M. O'Brien, and B. J. Olsen. (2017). Predictors of specialist avifaunal decline in coastal marshes. Conservation Biology 31 (1):172-182. doi: 10.1111/cobi.12797.
74) suggests a 75% population decline between 1998 and 2012. Analysis of vital rates at 21 study sites from Maine to southern New Jersey found that mean growth rates were negative at 17 sites, and that only one site had rates that would allow unambiguously positive growth ( Field, C. R., K. J. Ruskin, B. Benvenuti, A. Borowske, J. B. Cohen, L. Garey, T. P. Hodgman, R. A. Kern, E. King, A. R. Kocek, A. I. Kovach, K. M. O’Brien, B. J. Olsen, N. Pau, S. G. Roberts, E. Shelly, W. G. Shriver, J. Walsh, and C. S. Elphick. (2017). Quantifying the importance of geographic replication and representativeness when estimating demographic rates, using a coastal species as a case study. Ecography.
201). Two smaller-scale regional analyses also have been conducted. The first found a 95% chance of extinction in coastal Long Island Sound between 2032 and 2056 ( Field, C. R., T. S. Bayard, C. Gjerdrum, J. M. Hill, S. Meiman, and C. S. Elphick. (2017). High-resolution tide projections reveal extinction threshold in response to sea-level rise. Global Change Biology 23 (5):2058-2070. doi: 10.1111/gcb.13519.
188). The second predicted a high chance of near-term extinction at Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey ( Roberts, S. G. (2016). Population viability of Seaside and Saltmarsh sparrows in New Jersey. Unpubl. M.Sc. thesis, University of Delaware, Newark, DE.
217). Given the consistency in population declines ( Correll, M. D., W. A. Wiest, T. P. Hodgman, W. G. Shriver, C. S. Elphick, B. J. McGill, K. M. O'Brien, and B. J. Olsen. (2017). Predictors of specialist avifaunal decline in coastal marshes. Conservation Biology 31 (1):172-182. doi: 10.1111/cobi.12797.
74) and population growth rates ( Field, C. R., K. J. Ruskin, B. Benvenuti, A. Borowske, J. B. Cohen, L. Garey, T. P. Hodgman, R. A. Kern, E. King, A. R. Kocek, A. I. Kovach, K. M. O’Brien, B. J. Olsen, N. Pau, S. G. Roberts, E. Shelly, W. G. Shriver, J. Walsh, and C. S. Elphick. (2017). Quantifying the importance of geographic replication and representativeness when estimating demographic rates, using a coastal species as a case study. Ecography.
201), it is likely that these detailed local studies are representative of populations across the species range.
Even before recent trend and viability analyses were conducted, Saltmarsh Sparrow was listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List ( BirdLife International. (2016). Ammospiza caudacuta. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22721129A94699828. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22721129A94699828.en. Downloaded on 02 June 2017.
218). Re-evaluation in light of new data suggests species should be classified as Endangered based on a population decline of > 50% within 10 years with no sign that the decline has ceased (CSE, based on criteria in IUCN. (2017). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2017-1. 2001. Categories & Criteria (version 3.1). Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org/static/categories_criteria_3_1. Accessed April 2017.
219). Listed as a Red Watch List species by Partners in Flight ( Rosenberg, K. V., J. A. Kennedy, R. Dettmers, R. P. Ford, D. Reynolds, J. D. Alexander, C. J. Beardmore, P. J. Blancher, R. E. Bogart, G. S. Butcher, A. F. Camfield, A. Couturier, D. W. Demarest, W. E. Easton, J. J. Giocomo, R. H. Keller, A. E. Mini, A. O. Panjabi, D. N. Pashley, T. D. Rich, J. M. Ruth, H. Stabins, J. Stanton, and T. Will (2016). Partners in Flight Landbird Conservation Plan: 2016 Revision for Canada and Continental United States. Partners in Flight Science Committee.
220); as a species of concern by state agencies in Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia; and as a species of Greatest Conservation Need in all states in which it breeds.
Measures Proposed
Severity of ongoing and projected declines has resulted in suggestion that listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act may be warranted and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service species status assessment is in progress. Atlantic Coast Joint Venture has identified Saltmarsh Sparrow as a flagship species around which to focus conservation actions, and many partner states are developing plans to protect and enhance habitat. Rate of habitat change, however, is high ( Crosby, S. C., D. F. Sax, M. E. Palmer, H. S. Booth, L. A. Deegan, M. D. Bertness, and H. M. Leslie. (2016). Salt marsh persistence is threatened by predicted sea-level rise. Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science 181:93-99. doi: 10.1016/j.ecss.2016.08.018.
215) and impediments to inland marsh movement is considerable due to both ecological ( Field, C. R., C. Gjerdrum, and C. S. Elphick. (2016). Forest resistance to sea-level rise prevents landward migration of tidal marsh. Biological Conservation 201:363-369. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2016.07.035.
215) and human ( Field, C. R., A. A. Dayer, and C. S. Elphick. (2017). Landowner behavior can determine the success of conservation strategies for ecosystem migration under sea-level rise. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 114 (34):9134-9139. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1620319114.
221) constraints.
Management actions under consideration comprise long-term solutions focused on ensuring that coastal marshes persist in the face of future sea-level rise and short-term solutions designed to “buy time” while longer-term solutions are implemented. Potential long-term solutions include protection of upland areas that marshes can migrate into, clearing of forest and other manipulations in areas adjacent to marshes to facilitate and speed up the migration of marsh habitats, increasing sediment flow down rivers to enhance the ability of existing marshes to build elevation, and living shorelines to help trap sediment and protect marshes from erosion. Shorter-term solutions under consideration include the use of temporary tidal restrictions during the nesting season to reduce nest losses by dampening the most extreme high tides and sediment deposition to build elevation in existing marshes. Restoration activities to keep invasive Phragmites out of marshes are also important, but restoring tidal flow for this purpose has not resulted in improved habitat as the restored marshes tend to be dominated by low elevation marsh plants suggesting that flooding is too frequent for successful nesting ( Elphick, C. S., S. Meiman, and M. A. Rubega. (2015). Tidal-flow restoration provides little nesting habitat for a globally vulnerable saltmarsh bird. Restoration Ecology 23 (4):439-446. doi: 10.1111/rec.12194.
More extreme solutions such as the creation of floating marsh islands and captive breeding also have been discussed; initial experimentation has been conducted on the former (e.g., B. Benvenuti, unpublished data). These options, however, likely to be useful only in worst-case scenarios. Most methods described above remain untested, although pilot investigations for several have begun (CSE). Conservation planning work has also been conducted to identify marsh patches that most birds use (W. Wiest, unpublished data) and most cost-effectively support current populations (B. Klingbeil, unpublished data), and to identify how this set of marshes will change under future sea-level rise scenarios (B. Klingbeil, unpublished data).
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Woman told to 'drop' boyfriend after finding vile texts
Sarah Carty
Yahoo Lifestyle 19 February 2019
A woman has turned to the internet for advice, after she found shocking messages on her boyfriend’s phone.
The 27-year-old woman took to Mumsnet to ask whether she should break up with her other half, after discovering his group of friends had been mocking her about her weight over a group chat.
She revealed they’ve been together for three years and live in her 29-year-old boyfriend’s hometown.
However, while It might be nice to be surrounded by his family, it also means that they see his questionable friends regularly, who she initially thought she had a good relationship with.
A woman has turned to the internet for advice, after she found shocking messages on her boyfriend’s phone. Photo: Getty Images
She said she’s struggled with her weight her whole life and is currently a size 14/16 but all of her boyfriend’s friends have girlfriends who are a size 8/10.
“Earlier this year, DP (darling partner) asked me to check his phone to see if his mum had text. As i clicked on the home screen, notifications from his group chat popped up- calling me a whale, saying I must crush DP when we have sex, and that they can’t believe he’d go out with me- must be ashamed etc.,” the woman wrote on Mumsnet.
She confronted her partner and while he said he’d told them to stop, she didn’t feel like socialising with them after that.
I confronted DP and was upset, and he told me that they are just messing about, but that he does warn them to stop.
“He said that they’re sorry, and that it’s just ‘lad banter’ which in my eyes makes it even more vile, and that I can’t be upset as I was never meant to see it,” she continued.
“He agrees it’s wrong, but basically has said he can’t police the group chat and tells them to stop it. I don’t feel up to socialising, as I know they will rip me apart in the group chat as soon as I leave.”
The 27-year-old woman took to Mumsnet to ask whether she should break up with her other half, after discovering his group of friends had been mocking her about her weight over a group chat. Photo: Getty Images
Then fast-forward to a week later and her partner once again asked her to put his phone on charge,
“Once again there are comments about weight and me, calling me porky etc. I got upset again and DP said that he cannot control what his friends say- but always defends me and tells them to shut up etc.,” she said.
“It’s really affecting our relationship, I love DP and I know he adores me. We have a lovely relationship, very kissy/cuddly, same life goals, interests, weekends away etc but I feel he’s being really weak regarding sticking up for me.
“I don’t know what to do either about future events, as I really can’t stand to be in the same room as them, and have refused to invite them to our upcoming wedding- it’s causing a lot of friction”.
People were quick to dish out the advice, telling the woman her boyfriend was showing weakness by not sticking up for her and ditching his so-called mates.
“This would be a dealbreaker for me and I would definitely be ending the relationship. You deserve better,” one person said.
“Honestly I think it’s unreasonable of your DP to expect you to just suck it up and socialise with people who speak about you like that,” another person said.
Others couldn’t understand how he could still be friends with them and urged her to kick him to the curb.
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World Cup Match 7: Afghanistan v Sri Lanka
Jun 4, 2019 Jun 4, 2019 LordCanisLupus14 Comments
Today sees the game which might, just might, sort out who finishes 10th in the competition. Yes, it’s a bit early to say that, but given their performances on Saturday, worthy though Afghanistan’s was, there is a sense that neither of these two teams will be in the shake up when the group phase ends in about a month or two’s time. The game is being played at Cardiff, and the rain radar looks less than great, so it may be that this is all for nought in anyway. Let’s hope not. Afghanistan look a particularly intriguing team, and in many ways are the poster child for all those, very vociferous, advocates of a larger World Cup (in terms of participants, not games).
Comments, as always, below.
As for yesterday’s events in Nottingham, it was always going to be interesting to see how England fans and media (and soon to see also how the players) would react to the first reverse. It was always going to happen, but maybe it was envisaged that it wouldn’t be this early in the competition, and that the early loss, if there was to be one, would be against South Africa (who may also be scrapping for 10th place if their form is maintained!). The immediate response, judging by Sky and some of Twitter, is that this was a freakishly bad fielding performance, that England will need to improve, but we really are very good at this format and so no worries fellow travelers.
As Lee Corsey on College Game Day (obscure US reference) would say “Not so fast”. Now I know a fellow writer is more sanguine about the loss, but I didn’t get to this point in my blogging life without knowingly under-reacting, and in truth I genuinely don’t think I am. I think the ability of this England team is under question because it has not won the massive game. That’s because they have, really, only had one, which was a semi-final against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy. I might let you have Australia in the opening game of that tournament, if Australia were ever that bothered about the Champions Trophy, which they hadn’t been much previously. I thought, last night, about England football team’s qualifying performance in the lead up the 2010 World Cup, and how we won 4-1 and 5-1 against Croatia, and dropped points in a game that really didn’t matter because we’s already qualified. We then made a horlicks of the main tournament.
It’s always a bit arrogant to say England try their hardest in routine ODIs, and other teams don’t really care that much, but maybe there is a small case to say this is true here. After all, the pressure was put on in 2015 when Andrew Strauss said we would focus more on white ball cricket, and that has certainly been the case – other nations don’t make it so blindingly obvious. The media have, by and large, got on board with this, and perhaps explaining away or excusing some issues with the test team as if there is a trade off for the white ball team’s success. And it has been successful. England have been an entertaining batting side to watch, while the bowling leaves a little to be desired. Indeed, if ever the team plays to a less than full audience on these shores, some of the key media figures exhort the host to lose fixtures because they won’t pay exorbitant prices to watch “the greatest England ODI team ever” (a title I will not anoint them to until they match what the 1992 team did).
There’s always a problem commenting on a game I haven’t watched. But I knew from the outset of the run chase that chasing 349 to win in a World Cup isn’t like chasing it down in the 3rd ODI of a tedious five match series where each squad is chopping and changing its players. The jeopardy of defeat is much, much higher. If you are thinking you can lose just three games to be certain to qualify, England will need to beat two out of India, Australia, New Zealand, and I am going to throw our kryptonite, West Indies, into that mix. And that’s taking for granted Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, which may be foolish. This isn’t a bump in the road, but a clear warning sign. England played tightly against South Africa, but had enough to beat them. They got lured into a pace attack and bouncer strategy by Pakistan’s atrocious first game. By the time the messages appeared to get through, Pakistan were off to a decent start, and 348 was possibly reining them in a bit. There’s a lot of positives taken from Root and Buttler making hundreds, but the supporting cast did not step up and that’s a concern. Given the nature of pitches and boundaries, this won’t be the last time we could be chasing 350. It’s not easy, and perhaps the sin of this team is that they’ve made it look like it during the cricket equivalent of the “qualifying campaign”.
Pakistan are a walking cliche for unpredictability, and so losing 11 in a row and then beating the “World Champion Elect” seems like a Ruiz felling Joshua. But it really shouldn’t be. They have talented batting, and the bowling can never be taken for granted. Sometimes they lose their minds, sometimes they put it together. It makes them eminently watchable, and a dangerous foe. For all the beatings England have administered to them in bilateral series, they’ve now played them, as New White Ball England, twice in major competitions and lost. It’s when the game is played that really matters.
So yes, I am concerned for England. Contrary to the views of people who hate this format, this loss does matter. With ten teams, a 5-4 win loss record could be recorded by the 5th and 6th place teams if one or two of the countries fail to raise themselves if they know elimination is certain. England have Bangladesh up next, on Saturday at Cardiff, and then face the West Indies the following Friday in Southampton. We will have a feel for how the qualification is going by then, and if England sit at 2-2 in the win-loss column (and let’s definitely not take Bangladesh for granted) then the alarm bells will be ringing.
One last note. I have to say it. While I’ve made most of my peace with England’s cricket team (as if they give a stuff), the whole long-term problem with what happened in 2014, and what Harrison is doing now, is that these defeats don’t sting like they used to. An England football defeat stings much more, especially under this Southgate team. This doesn’t. They seem decent players, hell, I like quite a few of them. But it doesn’t matter that much to me. We had a word with a media guy a few months ago who thought that if England got on a roll, the country would go mad for this tournament. I said that how could they? They won’t be able to watch it if they don’t have Sky. And some cricket fans like me are so cheesed off with the suits who pick the boots, that we’ll see any victory marred by the ECB patting themselves on the back for coming to the conclusion that the 2015 World Cup was a bit embarrassing. Because we know that this would give Citizen Kane Harrison even more fuel for his ego-driven campaign to destroy English domestic cricket as it exists now. (Oh yes, we saw the Standard article, where Harrison is bathing in overwhelming support none of us have noticed). So while Buttler makes hundreds, Joe Root plays the anchor as the others hit around him (a run a ball hundred is an anchor role these days), and the entertainment is there, the suits have ruined it.
Actually, while I am here, I have one last note. Notice how Australia have seamlessly assimilated Smith and Warner back into the fold, with the media it appears massively behind them, despite them “shaming the nation” and in the case of Warner, reports that he’d been “ostracised” and “made to dine alone by the team” and being the outcast blamed for the sandpaper incident. Notice how prime outlets like ABC are confident enough to have articles using these two to have a pop at England fans for understandable wind-ups (and calling England fans boorish). Notice how the “abuse” is seen as a positive for Warner, that it will make him play better. Notice that picture of Warner taking selfies with Aussie fans? I have. Perhaps our suits, perhaps our hierarchy should stop babbling on about culture and trust, and pick our best players on every occasions. It seems other nations just try harder and don’t hang themselves on managerial and coaching gods, but on players. Who play. And yes, I am talking about Pietersen. Of course I am.
OK, enough from me. Comments below on today’s action…..
2019 Cricket World Cup, Afghanistan, Andrew Strauss, Australia, Bangladesh, England, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Uncategorized2019 Cricket World Cup, Afghanistan, David Warner, England, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
England vs India: Fifth Test, Day Four – The Long Farewell.
Inevitable really. Once he’d survived the new ball, it was written in the stars that Cook would finish off with a century, and while fairy tale endings are rare in sport, this one just seemed like it was always going to happen. Cook batted better than he has done for a couple of years, the mental freedom gained by the decision to retire lending a fluidity and, dare I say it, style that had been absent for even longer than his best form.
Of course, scoring a century meant that some were all too quick to say he shouldn’t retire at all, a superb missing of the context of this final innings if ever there was one. Yet with Cook, this happens all too often – the determination not to allow his record to speak for itself, but to demand and insist that it be recognised as something far more has caused irritation where it was never required. This peculiar demand that “greatness” be recognised without qualification, often by those who insist otherwise when it isn’t a player they are so keen on has managed to generate ill feeling where a final superb innings should have been cause for celebration for all, even those who may have objected to the media beatification of him over the years.
For Cook has been a truly excellent opener for England, with a record that reflects longevity, skill and mental strength. He deserves the plaudits for an outstanding career as a batsman, and if his ability as captain wasn’t at the same level, he’s not the first and won’t be the last of whom that will be said. His achievements do not need artificially inflating, and particularly not if the intention is to try to prove some kind of point about the moral rightness of past decisions rather than a player being judged on his own merits. Any player.
For Cook, the best tribute that can be paid to him is the one he said himself – that he was the best player he could possibly be. There have been many more talented, but few have extracted the maximum from their ability the way he has. As both a statement of record, and indeed as advice and aspiration for any cricketer, at whatever level, it is profoundly important, and the one he may well be most proud about. His weaknesses as a batsman were obvious, his flaws laid bare particularly when out of form and struggling technically. Yet his strengths too were substantial, perhaps nothing quite so much as an extraordinary degree of concentration. He will be partly defined by the fall out that led to the sacking of Kevin Pietersen, and the sides taken in that argument. Both of those batsmen have departed the scene now, but the schism in English cricket remains, and is by far a more troubling and damaging issue than two players. Perhaps both will reflect on their parts in that, perhaps not, but the personalisation of the whole affair reflected badly on all sides.
Today was a day for paying tribute to an excellent player, and deservedly so. If few get the opportunity to go out in style, players of distinction do at least deserve to be recognised properly for their contributions. This appears too much to ask, sometimes.
If Cook was all about saying farewell, for Root it was for smacking down those who complained about his clear pulling of rank in terms of batting at number four. He looked more fluent and in command than he has all summer, and while a dead rubber is hardly the time to make definitive judgements, allowing England’s best player to bat where he feels most comfortable is surely the best way forward rather than trying to patch weaknesses elsewere with him.
The two of them took the game far beyond India, who were already going through the motions midway through the day and simply waiting for the England declaration. The usual fun and games late on added to the total, and with the target an improbable 464, Root finally decided enough was enough.
If India were going through the motions with the ball, they had one foot on the plane home with the bat, as James Anderson threatened to steal some of Cook’s thunder by drawing level with Glenn McGrath on the all time list. There’s an irony here – in the determination of some to do all possible to inflate Cook’s record, a particular line has emerged about him being worth far more due to opening the batting in England against the Duke ball. Yet if that is accepted, it automatically lessens Anderson’s achievements on English pitches using the same Duke ball. Watching certain observers attempt to square that particular circle could prove amusing.
Rahul and Rahane steadied the ship from 2-3, but this game is more or less done, and England are almost certain to win it 4-1. India should be wondering how this has happened, England will just be relieved that it has. The future is an unknown except that at the end of play tomorrow, there’s only one candidate for that Man of the Match award.
Alastair Cook, England, England Summer 2018, England vs India 2018, India, Joe Root, Uncategorized
Guest Post – Man In A Barrel Gives Us The Numbers
Aug 9, 2017 Aug 8, 2017 LordCanisLupus67 Comments
Just before this latest test match MiaB, before his metamorphosis into Shane Warne on steroids (and not his mum’s diuretics) when it comes to declarations :-), did some interesting, unsolicited analysis of batting trends for England’s key players of the past and present. I found it interesting anyway. Please note this was written before the last test, so if there are any amendments MiAB wants to make, I’m sure he’ll let you know.
I’ll let Man in a Barrel take it from here…many thanks for the time and effort sir. It’s fascinating stuff. As always, comments welcome, and be nice. Well, as nice as you can be!
A New Way….
For a while, I have been trying to think of a better way of assessing batsmen than their career average. It has some very real disadvantages to counteract the fact that it is widely used and understood and that it does tend to winnow out who the best performers are – no one, for example, disputes that Bradman was the greatest ever and nor can anyone dispute the fact that WG Grace was much, much better than any of his contemporaries, at least when he was in his prime. However, it does have its problems. For example Victor Trumper has a Test average of 39.04 and yet most commentators who watched him state that he was the best of his era – 1899-1912. His average for that period is in fact bettered by, among others, Clem Hill, Jack Hobbs, Ranjitsinhji, George Gunn, RE Foster, and Aubrey Faulkner of South Africa. For me, though, the real problem is that it gives undue emphasis on a big innings – if you make a score such as 364 or 294, it certainly helps to boost your average although, of course, its impact is mitigated the longer your career extends. The career average also gives little information on your value to the team at a particular point of time. Is it better to make a lot of 50s and the occasional daddy hundred or to make a series of 30s and a lot of small hundreds? Those questions cannot be answered by inspecting your career average because the information simply isn’t contained in that single figure. Nor does it contain any information about the way your career is trending – are you in decline or on a rise? To some extent, you can gauge that by common sense and watching how the career average is moving but those are fairly blunt instruments.
To overcome some of those problems, I have been investigating the use of a moving average, as widely used in the investment community to discern underlying trends in noisy data. The question immediately arises as to how many innings should be included in the moving average. I looked at a number of options. An average over 30 innings seems to flatten out the data too much. A 20 innings’ average looks about right. Broadly it should cover 10 Test matches – essentially a year’s worth of data – and it is long enough to let a batsman move in and out of form, to show the impact of a major innings and yet not allow it to have too much effect on the new data as it arrives. For convenience, I will call this measure the Twenty Innings Moving Average – TIMA.
To put it to the test, I put Geoff Boycott under the microscope – 8114 runs at 47.73 in 193 innings. Obviously these are very distinguished figures especially when you consider that he played to the age of 42, in an era of uncovered pitches, no helmets for the most part and inadequate gloves – in the first part of his career he was often incapacitated by broken fingers. If you graph it it makes for interesting viewing but I don’t think it will come out in WordPress. So to present the results, I will use a histogram. The moving average breaks a series of data into chunks of 20 innings, over which I calculate an average. Each successive TIMA drops one innings from the start and adds a new innings. This is repeated until you get to the end of Boycott’s career. So I have calculated 174 averages. These I have summarised into how many of these averages were between 10 and 20, 20 and 30, 30 and 40, etc. And the results are very much as you might expect:
I think this gives a sense of just how consistent he was. His TIMA was below 40 for only 26% of his career. However, if you could see the graph, you would also note that he was in decline towards the end. His TIMA was above 40 in the Oval Test against Australia in 1981. Then he went to India and it moved into the 30s apart from a blip up to 42 when he scored 105 in the third Test of that dismal series – does anyone remember Tavare’s 147? The last time before this that his TIMA was below 40 was the Mumbai Test of 1980, when his figures still showed the effect of his dismal Ashes tour of 1978-79. He ended up at 37.05, rather below his career average.
Given what I thought was a successful trial of the method, I then moved on to the current team, starting with the obvious comparison, Alastair Cook.
A slightly higher percentage below 40 and more time averaging between 70 and 90 but pretty comparable to Boycott. However, his early career was much more consistent. After the Ashes tour of 2010-11 and his feats against India in 2011 the swings in his TIMA become very noticeable. The last period of time his TIMA was above 60 was in the wake of his 263 at Abu Dhabi and only lasted until the Sharjah Test. The last time it was above 50 was in the recent Mohali Test against India, after his last century to date. It bears out the importance of LCL’s focus on the number of big scores he has made lately: there have not been many. By the end of that tour his TIMA was at 41.68 and it has continued to go south. TIMA also highlights the prolonged period when he averaged less than 40 between the 2nd innings of the Chester-Le-Street Test of 2013 and the 1st May 2015 match against West Indies when he got his first century since the 130 against New Zealand at Leeds in 2013. After the recent Oval Test, he is hovering in the mid to low 30s. It has dropped from 54.53 at the end of the first innings of the Mohali Test to 33.50 today, in the course of 11 innings. The decline in comparison with his career average, which is still 46, is marked.
Turning to Joe Root:
These are impressive figures by any criterion. The only times his TIMA was below 30 was during the 2 Ashes series of 2013. It hit a pinnacle of 84.75 in the Lords Test against New Zealand in 2015 – after innings of 98 and 84. More recently, since the Sharjah Test of 2015, his TIMA has bounced around between 57.39 and 43.17. More worrying is that his overall time series shows a declining trend but that is probably because he hit such a peak so early in his career. He is just reverting to a more “normal” level. Another point of interest is the really low amount of time he has spent below 30.
With these 3 batsmen, the results just confirm what we know already, I suggest. Now let’s see what we learn about the more controversial selections. Jonny Bairstow for example:
The sample size is smaller – only 50 data points. But 44% is a lot of time to spend averaging under 40. The point of concern is that since the Dhaka Test last year, his TIMA has gone into steep decline, from 71.24 down to 41.05. I am sure that LCL will remind us that it is 25 innings since his last century. However, it has stayed in the 40s for his last 6 innings, against his career average of 40.86, so I believe he justifies his position. If your TIMA is above your career average, it does suggest that you are making a real contribution.
Moeen
Stokes and Moeen have quite similar records. Stokes has 2120 runs at 34.19 from 63 innings; Moeen has 2090 runs at 34.26 from 68 innings. But the TIMA shows a very different picture. Stokes has been below 40 for 76% of his career and has never climbed above 50. Moeen’s figures are, in one sense, far superior in that he has spent more time above 40 but it must also be said that he has also been in the 20s more than Stokes. If you look at Stokes, you would expect the 258 to have a massive impact on his TIMA. In fact it raised it from 27.15 to 35.45, so poor had his record been over the previous 20 innings. At the time it dropped out of the TIMA computation, it dropped from 46.37 to 34, which highlights his real lack of consistency. This happened a mere 7 innings ago and he has stayed in the mid to low 30s. In his last 20 innings, he has been in the 40s nine times, ten times in the 30s and once in the 20s, with a highpoint of 46.47 after Mumbai. These are disappointing figures for a #6. In comparison, Moeen’s last 20 innings have shown TIMA in the 40s and 50s, with just one blip down to 35.17 when his 155 against Sri Lanka fell out of his moving average. But it immediately went back above 40 when he scored 146 at Chennai. As a result of the Oval Test, his TIMA has dropped to 33. Moeen’s TIMA has dipped below his career average and Stokes has blipped above his: perhaps the selectors have the right batting order.
And just because I am a controversialist, guess this batsman:
Yes….KP
Thanks MiaB. Any excuse for a KP shot…
Alastair Cook, Ben Stokes, Guest Post, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, KP, Moeen Ali, Uncategorized
Day 2 of Test 2 – Asserting Dominance
Jul 23, 2016 Jul 23, 2016 LordCanisLupus16 Comments
Back in 2010, when England last met Pakistan on these fair shores, the tests were of dubious quality, and eventually of dubious intention. But although England won the series 3-1, they always had that control of the series, thanks, we tend to forget, for a magnificent hundred that saved our bacon at Trent Bridge by…..*
Anyway, he’s not in our test team any more, and by the end of that series Saeed Ajmal had him fidgeting about like a cat on a hot tin roof. But England’s frail batting in that series, and the awesome, at times, nature of the visitors bowling always kept tests on the edge. They won a close battle at The Oval. When we saw another such test at Lord’s, those of us on here who worry that such a frail batting side as England are (with two top order places, at least, and possibly three, up for grabs) could ascend to the top of the pile, placed world test cricket’s travails towards the back for a while. This test has them back, front and centre. In Antigua, India are walking over a mediocre West Indies. Here, we are doing the same in this test to Pakistan.
England have done what good test sides do, of course. They’ve taken their opportunity to bat on a great wicket, piled up a massive score, and then knocked off half the top order in no time, with Woakes, yet again, having a terrific day. That two of the more reliable men, or at least billed as reliables, in Hafeez and Younus are struggling is a real concern for the visitors. They simply have to bowl sides out for manageable totals and hope their batsmen can keep them in clover, but I don’t see this Pakistan team topping 500 in English conditions. I may be wrong, and The Oval might be the surface to do it, but it doesn’t look to be in form enough for me. So when England racked up 589/8 in their first innings, the pressure to score nearly 400 just to force England to make a decision looks daunting. Misbah and Shafiq are going to need to play out of their skins.
England were ruthless. Root eschewed risk early, and took the morning session very steadily as Woakes took advantage of his promotion up the order to remind us how good his batting was when he’s 150 wickets into his test career and faded like Stuart Broad! Bairstow and Stokes played their part, and kept the train on the tracks, while Root expanded his game a little more and got past 200. Then, in something I love seeing from England players and always lamented we didn’t do enough of it, he got past the 200s, the 210s and the 220s and piled on. In my days of watching cricket only Gooch and Cook (twice) have made larger scores for England, and of course, almost forgetting Stokes as well – silly me.
Some little nuggets? His is the third 254 in tests, the others by Bradman at Lord’s in 1930 and Virender Sehwag in Lahore in 2006 (his coming in a Sehwag-esque 247 balls). If he’d made 252, he would have been the first person in tests ever to do so. It’s the 5th double hundred of the year, with England having the top two scores so far. It was two short of the English record at Old Trafford (Ken Barrington) and the third highest individual test innings in Manchester.
Oh, and I must not doubt @norcrosscricket stats ever again (x100)
So while England’s mastery is obvious in this match, and Pakistan’s route to survival will need the intervention of weather in some ways, this feels to someone not wedded as strongly to this England team like a disappointment. I want a scrap. I want a match which is won with fight and tenacity. This is a steamrollering and it doesn’t please me any more. Joe Root is a super player, a brilliant talent, temperament to die for, an all round game that one can only marvel at, but….. I can’t put my finger on it. As with Woakes, who is coming good (and yes, I doubted him as well, of course I did) you feel great for people like this. I really do. But it’s the bigger picture. Azhar Ali appears a fine player in the UAE, but he’s like a fish out of water in this series. Why?
That’s enough for tonight, and please keep the comments coming tomorrow. Somehow it doesn’t still feel right having a Day 2 on a Saturday, but I realise I’m an old fuddy duddy now. Day 3 tomorrow, have your say in the usual place. I’m off to read what the “highly respected Cricket Correspondent” ( (c) Charlie Sale) of the Mail has had to say. It’s sure to be enlightening.
* Eoin Morgan, of course…..
England v Pakistan 2016, Joe Root, UncategorizedEngland v Pakistan 2016, Joe Root
Day 1 of Test 2 -The Big Two
Jul 22, 2016 LordCanisLupus29 Comments
Evening all. Pleased to know, no doubt, that my laptop appears to be in its final cycle of life for reasons best known to itself, so it has taken a while to get up and running. Add to that my little appointment this afternoon, and cricket has been on the periphery. So the round up will be brief.
314 for 4 after winning the toss is a very good position. Joe Root took the honours with a very impressive 141 not out, and must be looking to convert this one into a super daddy century tomorrow. Virat Kohli, a man he is compared to in this new breed of top test batsmen, has been filling his boots with a double in Antigua and it would be nice to match. I heard Vic Marks say on the radio that this sealed the issue with him at number three, which is a little premature given in 2013, when he played his second test as opener at Lord’s he made a 180+. We do seem to be in an awful rush to anoint changes as successes. Joe is a fine player, I still think he’s better suited at 4, but that doesn’t matter at the moment. What does is that he made a century, has taken England into a strong position, and 314 for 4 seems even stronger knowing he’s back tomorrow.
Of course there was a century for Alastair Cook. These are now greeted like Christmas Day – of course, the birthday of our captain – by children. The punditerati fall over themselves to celebrate his genius. They compare his records to the greats – he matched Bradman’s 29 centuries today, don’t you know, and also the most hundreds by an England captain too – and give off the effect that his hundred today is a return to some normalcy. Well, it isn’t, is it? It’s his second test hundred at home since May/June 2013. Since then he has gone home series against Australia, Sri Lanka, India, Australia and Sri Lanka again without making a century, with just the excellent 162 v New Zealand in there to break the duck. It was Cook’s first first innings ton at home since his century v South Africa at The Oval in 2012. Cook’s centuries are becoming more spaced apart – his last was 11 test matches ago – and yet we are constantly reminded of his record. I know, people will think this is just me nitpicking because I am anti-Cook. I’m anti people telling me incorrect assumptions, that’s what I am. Cook has played a very good innings today, and one that may have taken the initiative back in this series. Well done.
I noted the Manchester humourists were crying out no-ball whenever Amir bowled. You pay your money, you are entitled to have your say as long as it isn’t abusive or offensive. Amir took a couple of wickets and was viewed as the pick of the bowlers, while Yasir Shah had one of those days, and now seems a lot more human.
Chuntering will start over Alex Hales and James Vince. The latter is going to get it first, no doubt. James Vince has never convinced me he’s remotely test class, but I’ve also got to caveat that by saying I’ve not seen a lot of him. Vince was one of those guys that came with a reputation, but George Dobell said last year, or even the year before, that he scores runs off bad balls fine, but has real difficulties with good ones. His penchant here seems to be nicking off after playing a couple of glorious shots. Pringle has been a staunch advocate, but he’s selling his shares now, as once again he invokes Ramprakash (what did Mark do to him to make him invoke him so) in the “he looks nice but doesn’t have the temperament” piece. England are in a quandary now with Vince. Boot him out and what do you replace him with? Keep him, and know that one score could be the outlier that Robson and Lyth (two other discards) scored rather earlier in their truncated test careers. The knives were doubly sharpened for Compton, both this and the first time around, whereas the arms are ready to be put around Vince’s shoulders. There there. Meanwhile, Hales is not starting the innings well for us, and those whispers are going to start.
OK, enough from me. This was a good toss to win, and England have made hay. They find themselves in a strong position, and Root going on will make that stronger. Still Bairstow, Stokes and Moeen to come after Woakes too. Let’s all go off and read what Newman has had to say to complete a wonderful day.
Comments on Day 2 tomorrow, and wishing Chris a safe evening and return to England after the events in Munich. Keep as safe as you can, sir.
Alastair Cook, England v Pakistan 2016, Joe Root, UncategorizedEngland v Pakistan 2016
The First 2015 Dmitri – Joe Root
Joe Root – Lord’s 2015 – A Dmitri Pic
It needs to be stressed up front. These “awards” are not to be confused with “Player of the Year” awards because there’s an additional unquantifiable criteria that I want to bring in. That said, you’d need to put a pretty good case against Joe being our player of the year. He’s vital across all formats, he has a joy about him when he’s playing the game, he’s a right royal pain in the arse for the opposition, and no person can deny that he has a rock-like temperament. The main problem, if it is one, is that Joe Root is taken for granted.
The Joe Root story goes back (for me) to his county season before he broke into the team. The ageing World #1 outfit were going to need fresh blood to put pressure on the middle order. But the most urgent need, as Andrew Strauss was struggling for form, was for an opener. Yorkshire appeared to have one. A young kid banging out big scores at the top of the order for his county, playing on the mythically difficult Headingley wicket. It was second division cricket, which wasn’t used against him, but 700+ runs at an average comfortably over 40 indicated a real talent. A 222 not out at Southampton, out of a score of 350 for 9, indicated an appetite for big runs, and especially when the pressure was on him. He was on the radar.
His debut for England came under intense pressure. Brought in for the 4th test, with England 2-1 up, it was not an easy position for him to enter the fray. It might have been a good wicket to start you career – a road that tested the batsman’s patience rather than technique – but it was 119 for 4, and he was to lose KP very soon after. No worries – 130-odd for 5 on a dead deck, trying to keep the series in our hands. The temperament shown was exemplary. He dug in, he put on 103 with Matt Prior, and made a hugely impressive 73 in 289 minutes. In his first game, he’d played a massive part in saving a series. After the match Vic Marks wrote of his selection:
Root knew that he was going to play 24 hours before the match began. The day before that the England think-tank had watched him carefully in the nets, noting that he played an assortment of respectable Indian spinners exclusively with the middle of his bat. That net may have convinced them to take the plunge and to select Root for this vital Test – ahead of Samit Patel, Jonny Bairstow and Eoin Morgan. Having come to their decision against the expectation of all those on the outside, what did they say to him? “They just said I was playing,” explained Root. “They didn’t say why.
He has had travails since then (all players d0), over the 10 tests against Australia he was moved up to open, then dropped to three, before being dropped entirely, and a 180 apart (which is the anchor point for Root Maths because he was let off very early by Haddin) at Lord’s, questions were asked. But a return to the side in 2014 brought a double hundred at Lord’s, more big scores against India (all three of his hundreds that summer were unbeaten) and suddenly the man we were questioning was now the anchor of the middle order, batting at 5. Given another go at Australia overseas, I think most people believe he’ll be a much finer player than the one on the 2013-14 disaster.
This summer his contributions in the middle order were vital. In fact, I’m not sure “vital” does it justice. His 98 and 84 at Lord’s kept England afloat in that tumultuous first test at Lord’s, with the 98 impressive because of the enormous pressure England were under (and why I rate Stokes’s innings in the first better than the second -although I realise that’s a personal choice) in the match. Without that Root and Stokes fightback, the summer may have turned out totally differently. His 134 in the first innings at Cardiff played a part in laying the Johnson bogeyman to rest (allied with the wicket) and allowed England to post an extremely competitive score, and his 60 in the second innings allowed us to post a large target. His 63 in the first innings at Edgbaston was important to allow England to post a sizeable lead when his cheap early dismissal may have put us in strife. His 38 not out to take us home against a small target was also not to be underestimated. As Joe went so did we. His innings of the year candidate at Trent Bridge, on a wicket Australia had been dismissed on for 60, when he made 124 by the close in quick-fire style had pretty much sealed the Ashes. It was fitting that it should be him to do so.
Joe is also a fine part of an attractive ODI team, playing the role of the relentless accumulator with the big shot, in amongst the pyrotechnics of Roy, Hales, Morgan and Buttler. You almost take him for granted now, yet we would not want to be without him. He’s a T20 player of some class too and will be a part of our World Cup line-up. As I’ve said, he’s easily taken for granted. His 182 not out was largely forgotten in Grenada due to Jimmy’s last day heroics, but was immense, class, ruthless and brilliant. 8 test hundreds before he is 25, 6 ODI tons in the same period, a 90 not out in a T20 showing he can take to international attacks in that format. Even his UAE experience wasn’t too shabby. No hundreds but two good matches in Abu Dhabi and Dubai where he wasn’t dismissed below 70, was followed up by a poor one in Sharjah. That his standards are so high meant we were disappointed.
I like to start off with a positive Dmitri and I have nothing but praise for the way Root keeps that England middle order afloat. In the ODI team he is a part of the puzzle, in the test team, he’d be the missing piece if he wasn’t there. We’ve put a lot of weight on his shoulders, look to put more on him by making him test vice-captain and FEC, and ascending to the top post has had bad long-term effects for all who take it on. His off spin is not to be taken lightly, but his back may restrict how many times he is able to turn his arm over. He looks the popular leader on the field, the leader of the foot soldiers rather than pure officer class. He’s had off-field run ins with oppo players. He’s a pest on the field. Without him, certainly in tests, we’re bang in trouble.Look at five of our six losses this calendar year – 33&1 in Bridgetown, 0&1 at Leeds, 1&17 at Lord’s, 6&11 at The Oval, 4&6 at Sharjah (only Dubai, with twin 50s saw him succeed in a losing cause) – where his failure has played a key part in losses. In tests England did not lose this calendar year, the lowest score he was dismissed for was….59!!!!!
But he’s our man. And he is the first of this year’s Dmitris.
Joe Root, The 2015 Dmitris, Uncategorized2015 Dmitris, Joe Root
Ashes 4th Test, Day two review
Aug 7, 2015 Aug 8, 2015 thelegglance64 Comments
And that is pretty much that. Still 90 runs adrift, only three wickets left, short of a cricketing miracle for Australia, or the arrival of a freak hurricane, England will go 3-1 up sometime tomorrow, probably in the morning and regain the Ashes. After the carnage of day one, to all intents and purposes the game was already up.
Being bowled out for 60 more or less guarantees defeat anyway, so today was in some ways a fairly normal panning out of the situation as expected from the end of day one. Australia did bowl a little bit better, though that’s not especially unusual when a day has been as bad as that, it would be hard to imagine Australia could do any worse. Yet such was the total dominance of England’s position, they could happily play their shots safe in the knowledge that it mattered little.
Mitchell Starc got just rewards for a bowling performance that was a cut above those of his colleagues, but with the game already pretty much gone, it will hardly be a successful set of figures he will look back on with too much pleasure. Once again, Moeen and Broad showed they like batting together. Moeen is simply gorgeous to watch when in full flow, reminiscent of David Gower, to the point you want him to succeed simply because of that. His batting this series has been a major plus point, the debate over him will certainly continue, but his performances at key times with the willow have been the least of the issues.
As for Broad, some time ago it started to look as though he was just beginning to get his batting back. It’s not entirely there yet, but he is staying in line, and looking to play shots, rather than desperately slogging. A Broad who plays like that is a serious asset in the lower order.
Australia couldn’t possibly have batted as badly as they did in the first innings, and the opening stand from Warner and Rogers restored both a little respect and a fair degree of sanity to proceedings. Yet the problems were still there, Rogers never looked entirely comfortable, while Warner was consistently squared up. England have clearly identified that his strength to the short ball is also his weakness when he’s cramped for room, hence coming around the wicket. His arms don’t extend and the ball can only go up. Other teams will be watching.
From a promising start, Australia collapsed horribly yet again. In each case it was a grim shot, even allowing for the two lives provided when England bowlers overstepped; Smith looks completely at sea at present, which is remarkable when only four innings ago he looked imperious at Lords. His idiosyncratic technique was always going to be examined in conditions where the ball moves in the air and off the pitch. He’s more than good enough to work that out, but it’s far too late for this series, and not alone in having serious difficulty against the moving ball. Clarke too was hopelessly out of touch, while Marsh’s dreadful shot did little to change the minds of those who simply don’t think he’s good enough for Test cricket.
As previously mentioned, it is never quite evident that a team has lost it until it actually happens, any more than anyone expected England’s hammering last time out. The signs were there after the first Test of a team showing signs of distress, and only a pitch that couldn’t have been better prepared to entirely nullify England’s bowlers got Australia back into it. Yet the abject, spineless capitulation of Australia’s batting in the last two Tests has been every bit as shambolic as anything England produced in 2013/14.
Well as England have bowled, time and again players have been dismissed playing attacking shots that are exceptionally high risk, with no evidence of a willingness to graft in less than perfect batting conditions. These are not bad players, to be getting out in this way repeatedly betrays minds that are completely shot, a team that has no idea how to arrest the slide. There is always a temptation when England win to limit the praise to them by pointing out the faults of the opposition. Yet in just the same way as the most recent 5-0 said more about England’s abysmal surrender than it did a great Australian side, so this almost certain series victory is less about England being outstanding than Australia being dire.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t plenty of things to praise England for, the catching has been excellent, the on field direction has simply been far better than anyone could possibly have expected from the captain given his performance to date, while Joe Root in particular is starting to look the real deal, and Ben Stokes might still be inconsistent but is a major talent in the making with both bat and ball. Yet when Australia keep being bowled out to self inflicted calamity rather than England brilliance, that praise does need to be tempered by a recognition that England haven’t suddenly become a great side.
Future opponents will not be anything like so meek. That isn’t meant to be grudging, more a reflection on an astounding collapse in morale and stomach for the fight from Australia. England can certainly take pleasure from the way they have pressurised Australia – unforced errors are rarely entirely unforced when it afflicts the whole team – but there can have been few tours where Australia have been so appallingly inept on such a regular basis.
This has been a truly bizarre series, no match has even had the resemblance of a close contest, and this fourth match has been even more one sided than the three previous. Australia are shot to pieces. Quite why that is, will be a debate for the future. For now, they deserve every bit of the kicking they are getting from their own media who at least seem to recognise a team shambles when they see one.
@BlueEarthMngmnt
Australia, England, Joe Root2015 Ashes, Australia, England
The Ashes Mumblings – Day 1 Review
Jul 8, 2015 Jul 8, 2015 LordCanisLupus36 Comments
Well, what to make of that?
England, I think, would probably have taken the position they are in at the end of this day. It’s not dominant, but it’s not disastrous either. The first thing that England needed to do was convince us, and themselves, that this opposition isn’t some sort of unrelenting tide of aggression and superior skills. This was a day that England found themselves three down early, recovered, and made 343/7. That’s not too bad at all.
It’s too tough to gauge really how things went while you are in the office and not able to watch. I got to see a little of the play after lunch, and I saw a pudding of a pitch and a team with positive intent. I like the latter. This is a team that needed to have a result for that attitude today. If they’d gone all guns blazing and been bowled out for 150, it would have been horrendous. And who knows what would have happened had Haddin held on to that catch from Root.
Joe Root was amazing, once over his let-off. He’s making a lovely habit of making hundreds regularly. They are usually very watchable, and his reliability is massively important.
I’m going to hand it over to you lot who have commented away and kept me informed all day. Did Australia bowl badly (I thought Johnson looked decidedly unthreatening when I watched and Starc appeared to be floating it up at too full a length too often) or did England wrest the intiative? What do you think about Ian Bell’s alarming lack of form? What was the coverage like? Who or what caught your eye?
I leave you with Martin Samuel. A man who makes me almost pine for Paul Newman:
And then there was Alastair Cook, the captain’s rhythm expertly broken not by Australia’s bowlers, but by the practice of knocking off for a round of refreshments every hour, no matter the weather.
This meant that on a chilly morning when most were regretting not packing a second jumper, rather than sun cream, spectators had to sit through the arrival of the drinks tray roughly 55 minutes in. Maybe they were dispensing hot toddies.
Cook had batted like a dream until then but lasted just two balls after the interlude, before clipping one to Brad Haddin off the bowling of Nathan Lyon. The distractions were proving as valuable as Australia’s bowlers, and Test cricket has plenty of them these days.
Fire away…..
Ashes 2015, Joe Root2015 Ashes, Joe Root
England v New Zealand: 1st Test 5th Day – Open Thread
May 24, 2015 May 24, 2015 LordCanisLupus106 Comments
England 389 & 429/6 (Cook 153 not out, Stokes 101, Root 84) lead New Zealand 523 by 295 runs.
England have, it seemed, turned the game around. From a position of weakness two contrasting centuries have put the home team in the position to win this match, if things go our way. Alastair Cook’s epic knock, one that he played on a fairly regular basis a few years ago is the “welcome return to form” that we hoped from for our opening batsman for a while now. He looked better from the start, scored at the pace we are used to from our opener (around 120 runs in a day) and laid the foundation for the others to express themselves.
My main take from the day is that it was a joy to see Ben Stokes and Joe Root play their games and not the game. Too many times when England face difficult situations, they revert in on themselves. They seek to defend their way out of trouble. I sometimes believe it is because they are frightened to get out playing attacking shots. Somehow, in England, it is always worse getting out to a positive shot because you make a mental error, or hit it too well and it carries to outfielders, than having your technique undressed. Always worse to be the talent not “fulfilling themselves” rather than the “grafter” who isn’t good enough to score. So beware all those lauding Ben Stokes today for the way his attacking game turned the match, for many of them were lining him up and calling him all sorts last year. Stokes is going to infuriate me every bit as much as Freddie did with the bat, but you have to get over it. When he clicks, as he has twice now in this match with the bat, he’s going to change a match. He bailed us out in the first innings, and turned it in the second.
Joe Root’s role must not be underestimated either. With Ian Bell falling to the third ball (I was walking the dog at the time), he came in at a time of real danger with a wicket then being the recipe for perhaps a BlackCap win today. With Cook looking solid at the other end, Root got himself in and kept the score ticking over (Cook was actually scoring at a decent pace by his standards) and then he accelerated. He’ll be kicking himself that he never went on to three figures in both innings, but he’s our middle order rock, and while I think 5 is one spot too low for him, it looks like that’s where he will stay.
Before we get on to the main man, I thought I’d say I was disappointed with what I saw from the BlackCaps bowling today. It was a tough morning, but I wasn’t buying the narrative that it was THAT tough. Sure, it was decent enough, but maybe this attack has been a little over-rated, maybe based on ODI form rather than tests. As for the spinner, Craig, I’ve been really disappointed. He appears to have been easily dominated at times. Still, that would be nit-picking.
Now to the main matter of the day. Alastair Cook has made 153 not out. I am not going to churlish, nor am I going to be a hypocrite. I think the way he has been projected, the way he has acted, the way he has been protected and the way he has been canonised has been every bit as big a disaster in its handling and its duration as the KP saga with which he is intertwined. If it is true that he is keeping you know who out of the team for whatever personal reasons he cannot tell us, then the opprobrium I have for him, and others here, is well deserved. That said, you cannot argue with the facts. That was an excellent innings today. An excellent innings. I can sit back and say that without any fear, nor any rancour. I’ve been hard on him for his protected status and I was not wrong that his form at times last year did not mean he should be the automatic choice he was. Those who tell us to do one today are the short-termists, not me.
So, to repeat, that was an excellent knock today, it’s what we need him to do, it does not make him a great leader of men, it did not merit the widespread sychophancy eminating from the press and Sky Sports box for how much his team loves him. As I said, I’m more neutral towards this team than I would like – I can’t help it, sorry – and so I look at these things more dispassionately, and Cook’s knock was one of his best given the context of the match. But I couldn’t cheer it to the rafters. Rather appreciate it for what it was – a very good openers knock – rather than those who oppose KP, who seem to spit blood every time he did anything any good, and disparage him at every turn.
I know others here are more passionately against this team, and I can understand that. I will not condemn that. Because when you see those bastards in their box, no doubt believing this vindicates their tough choices, I get it. But today was a good day to look to the future, with the rock opening and allowing them to express themselves. We’ve shown less fear in this game. That I welcome.
Comments for Day 5 should follow below. Century Watch will follow this test match.
Alastair Cook, Ben Stokes, England in West Indies - 2015, England v New Zealand 2015, Joe RootAlastair Cook, Ben Stokes, England, England v New Zealand 2015, Joe Root
2015 Test Century Watch #14 – Joe Root
Apr 26, 2015 LordCanisLupus7 Comments
Joe Root – 182 not out v West Indies at St. George’s
You’ve read all the stuff about over 150 scores for Joe Root, but the century watch is for my statistical buffoonery, and not those boring old stats. We’ll be talking DBTA and all sorts.
Joe Root’s 182 not out is his first century overseas, and adds on to the five made at home. It his second highest score in test cricket, nestling behind his double ton against Sri Lanka last spring at Lord’s. His DBTA now stands at 184.5, which is rather good and reflects he has a Steve Waugh propensity to make 150s and stay unbeaten in doing so. This is, of course, a small sample size, and will come down with time, but still amazing.
This was the 17th score of 182 in tests, and the sixth unbeaten score. I actually saw the start of the last 182 not out in tests – I walked out of the match because I was fed up – which was made by Jacques Kallis at The Oval in 2012. The last 182 in tests was made a few days after Kallis’s efforts, when Alviro Petersen made that score at Headingley. Root is the third Englishman to make 182 in a test match – CP Mead and MC Cowdrey being the others. Of the 17 scores of 182, two each have been made at The Oval, Sydney, Georgetown (Bourda), Headingley and Kolkata.
For me there is one score of 182 seared on my memory, and it is this one. It is one of the best innings I’ve ever seen (but then I loved Richie Richardson):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uouZo1lUZx0
Greg Chappell has two scores of 182. 182 links two other West Indian greats – Lara and Richards. It’s a venerable old score.
This was the 4th century at St. George’s and the second highest. The record is held by Chris Gayle who made 204 against New Zealand at this venue in 2009. Samuels was the third century maker, and we have the fifth to come… It was the second by an overseas player, and the highest (obviously) beating Scott Styris who made 107 in 2002. Not many tests are played at Grenada (this was the 4th) so there isn’t a huge track record to go on.
This was England’s 12th highest score against the West Indies. The best is by Andrew Sandham who made 325 in Jamaica back in 1930, and is, along with Bob Cowper and John Edrich, one of those frequently forgotten on the list of test triple centurions. The last double made against the West Indies is by current fan favourite Kevin Pietersen, who made 226 against them at Headingley in 2007. Three of our top ten scores were made at Sabina Park. Root’s 182 was the fifth highest score made in the West Indies by an England man.
Joe Root’s century came up in 125 balls with 13×4 and 2×6. His innings consisted of 229 balls with 17×4 and 4×6.
Century Watch, Joe RootCentury Watch, Joe Root
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Nov.1,2010
Dr. Judith Curry is the latest scientist to be branded a heretic by the climate community.
(Image from Wikipedia)
Dr. Judith A. Curry is the chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology. She is a member of the National Research Council’s Climate Research Committee, and she currently has 144 refereed publications to her credit. An active climate researcher, Curry is considered an expert on hurricanes, atmospheric modeling, polar climates, and air-sea interactions. She is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and has won awards from both NASA and the American Meteorological Society for her excellent climate research. She has also been officially branded a heretic by Scientific American.. What horrible offense has caused her to be labeled this way? She actually started thinking for herself rather than blindly following the reports of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Curry’s story is a classic one and is very similar to my own in many ways. She says that when she reviewed the parts of the IPCC’s third report that were related to her expertise:
I told them that their perspective was far too simplistic and that they didn’t even mention the issue of aerosol impacts on the nucleation of ice clouds. So it’s not so much as finding things that were wrong, but rather ignorance that was unrecognized and confidence that was overstated.
In other words, she had doubts about the IPCC’s report when it came to the areas in which she had serious expertise. However, when push came to shove, she says:
I had decided that the responsible thing to do in making public statements on the subject of global warming was to adopt the position of the IPCC. My decision was based on two reasons: 1) the subject was very complex and I had personally investigated a relatively small subset of the topic; 2) I bought into the meme of “don’t trust what one scientists says, trust what thousands of IPCC scientists say.”
As time went on, however, she began to question her supposedly “responsible” position.
As she says in the same article:
During 2008 and 2009, I became increasingly concerned by the lack of “policy neutrality” by people involved in the IPCC and policies that didn’t make sense to me. But after all, “don’t trust what one scientist says,” and I continued to substitute the IPCC assessment for my own personal judgment [in my public statements].
So even though she had concerns, she accepted the dogma as presented by the high priests of climate science (at least in her public statements), because she was still convinced by the argument from majority – you have to believe what the majority of scientists believe on an issue. After all, how could most of the experts be wrong?
Well, she found out how. When the E-MAILS from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (CRU) were leaked, it really affected her. The content of those E-MAILs and the swift way most in the climate community tried to rally around the scientists involved seemed to confirm her view that many of the IPCC scientists were not policy-neutral and, as a result, the IPCC reports were probably not the best way to evaluate the climate change issue.
As a result, Dr. Curry decided to investigate the broad claims of the IPCC reports, not just the claims that related to her specific areas of expertise. She didn’t like what she found and is now a harsh critic of the IPCC. Please understand that she does not think the majority of the science in the IPCC reports is wrong. She is mostly concerned that the reports (a) do not adequately address the uncertainties that are inherent in studying the long-term changes in global climate, (b) oversimplify the incredibly complex processes that govern global climate, and (c) are not properly peer reviewed. Because of these weaknesses, she does not think that policy makers should take the IPCC reports seriously.
So now that she is actively thinking for herself, she is considered to be a heretic. As is often the case, however, this heretic has some very interesting perspectives on climate science. If you are interested in the whole “global warming” debate, you might want to follow her blog, called “Climate Etc.”
adminGlobal Warming, Modern Science
Go Dr. Curry! I’m so glad whenever I hear about scientists like her. Thanks for posting this.
It’s continually amazing to me that a community that prides itself on ‘unbiased’ science based on evidence ignores evidence that it doesn’t like.. also, how often people will believe in things like global warming. As my dad puts it, “If Al Gore and Stephen Hawking say it, it must be true, right?” ;)
jlwile says:
I am glad you liked the post, Miranda. The problem is that science is not unbiased. You are right that the scientific community tries to PORTRAY itself that way, but it certainly is not.
That cannot be correct. Science is unbiased. The problem however is twofold: Representatives of Science are humans with their own policies to promote, and the majority of the population lacks the ability, self-confidence, initiative, or some combination needed to actually see what Science herself says.
I understand what you are trying to say, Josiah, but I disagree. In the end, it is really impossible to separate the science from the people who do it. In the end, people design the experiments (or the studies), people collect the data, and people interpret that data. All along the way, their biases affect the process. I might agree that some conceptualized, ideal version of “Science” is unbiased, but I would also argue that it would be impossible for people to ever do that kind of Science.
Thank God for Whale Poop! How Bacteria Talk
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Educating young people in justice and peace
Young Americans carry a replica of the World Youth Day cross in preparation for the celebration last year. CNS photo
VATICAN CITY – When young people recognise the dignity and beauty of every human life, including their own, and are supported in their natural desire to make the world a better place, they become agents of justice and peace in the world, Pope Benedict XVI said.
Peace and justice are built on “a profound respect for every human being and helping others to live a life consonant with this supreme dignity”, the pope said in his message for the World Day of Peace 2012.
The Catholic Church celebrates World Peace Day on Jan 1. The pope’s message for the occasion was released last month at the Vatican and sent, through Vatican ambassadors, to the leaders of nations around the world.
The theme the pontiff chose for the 2012 celebration was Educating Young People in Justice and Peace.
He asked parents and teachers to be more attentive to the hopes and fears of young people today and to their search for true values, and he asked governments to put more resources into education and job creation.
The pope asked young people themselves to take their schooling seriously and to be open to the example and knowledge their elders have to share.
He asked them “to be patient and persevering in seeking justice and peace, in cultivating the taste for what is just and true, even when it involves sacrifice and swimming against the tide”.
Adults have a serious responsibility to help the young fulfil their potential, not just by sharing information with them, but by being examples of what it means to live lives marked by the joy of faith, charity and respect for others, he said.
“Today, more than ever we need authentic witnesses, and not simply people who parcel out rules and facts: We need witnesses capable of seeing farther than others because their life is so much broader,” the pope said.
Educating people in justice and peace begins in the family, where they learn to value the gift of life, solidarity, respect for rules, forgiveness and hospitality, he said.
Too many young people today are missing that basic human formation because “we are living in a world where families, and life itself, are constantly threatened and not infrequently fragmented”.
Pope Benedict appealed to parents to give their children “the most precious of treasures”, which is the gift of their time.
He also urged governments to make it possible for parents to choose the type of education they want their children to receive and to enact immigration reforms aimed at “reuniting families separated by the need to earn a living”.
The heart of the pope’s message focused on what he called the “integral formation of the person, including the moral and spiritual dimension”.
“Man is a being who bears within his heart a thirst for truth – a truth which is not partial, but capable of explaining life’s meaning – since he was created in the image and likeness of God,” the pope said in his message.
Acknowledging God as creator leads to recognising “one’s own profound dignity and the inviolability of every single person”, he added.
Based on that dignity, people come to understand that there are certain things that always are either right or wrong, he said.
“Deep within his conscience, man discovers a law that he did not lay upon himself, but which he must obey. Its voice calls him to love and do what is good, to avoid evil and to take responsibility for the good he does and the evil he commits,” the pope said.
Pope Benedict said peace is not simply a gift to be received from God, it is a task people of good will must undertake.
“In order to be true peacemakers, we must educate ourselves in compassion, solidarity, working together, fraternity, in being active within the community and concerned to raise awareness about national and international issues and the importance of seeking adequate mechanisms for the redistribution of wealth, the promotion of growth, cooperation for development and conflict resolution,” he said. CNS
The full text of the pope’s message is at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20111208_xlv-world-day-peace_en.html
Category: JANUARY 15, 2012, Vol 62, No 1
Educating Young People in Justice and Peace (5 matches)
Importance of Educating Young People in Justice and Peace (5 matches)
Message for the end of Ramadan: Educating young Christians and Muslims for justice and peace (4 matches)
Educating young people, adults, educators (3 matches)
Priests spend long hours working out solutions at Synod on Young People (2 matches)
A call to help those living with HIV/AIDS to experience God’s love (2 matches)
A dialogue of love among people of different faiths (2 matches)
A mission trip to provide aid and interact with Philippine villagers (2 matches)
A night of youthful praise, worship and outreach (2 matches)
ACCT swings into action when disasters strike (2 matches)
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Captured and Exposed
Tales from the Annals of Crime
Captured and Exposed-the book!
“With Long Criminal Records”
Posted on December 9, 2018 by Shayne Davidson
Warrants charging larceny were issued yesterday by the Circuit Attorney’s office against three women arrested last week in their room in Hotel Statler for shop-lifting. Police reported finding the wallet of a victim in the room. The women, all of whom said they are from Milwaukee, Wis., are: Ruth Stehling, 34 years old; Louise R. Smith, 32, and Jean Miller, 34. In the room police found a wallet containing $14, some checks and personal papers belonging to Mrs. Katherine Rueckert, 3435 Halliday avenue. Mrs. Rueckert had reported that the wallet was snatched from her in a downtown department store.
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri), March 27, 1934
The Kusch family crime poster has the look of a kid’s school project, with the awkward placement of text, some of which was hand-drawn, and the amateurish attempt at a symmetrical layout. It was made by a St. Louis police officer in 1934 and photographed as a magic lantern slide, possibly for use as a lecture aid.
I suspect the point of the poster was to demonstrate how suspects might avoid being identified as repeat offenders by using aliases. The real names of the three ladies in stand-up mugshot were (left to right) Helen, Anna and Julia Kusch.
Another aim of the poster was to demonstrate that crime was a career choice that occasionally ran in families.
The mother of two of the three women in the photo was Mary Meka Kusch. Mary was a German immigrant to the United States who tutored her young daughters in how to steal ladies’ purses and forced them to become pickpockets. Mary’s husband, Michael, who was also born in Germany, was not involved in the “family business.”
In 1909 Anna Kusch was the youngest child ever arrested by the detective bureau in Buffalo, New York, after she was caught stealing shoppers’ purses in department stores. At the ripe old age of eight Anna was a suspect in many purse thefts.
Anna and her older sister, Helen, were serial pickpockets while they were still in grade school. The girls strolled the streets, stealing ladies’ purses as the opportunity arose, and hiding their loot in a baby carriage. Imagine the surprise of the beat officer who leaned over to give the “baby” a tickle on the chin!
In 1910 the Kusch sisters were taken into police custody for pickpocketing. Mama Kusch got three months probation for teaching her children to be thieves.
The following year Helen was arrested again for stealing cash from the purses of women shopping on the main drag of Buffalo. She told the police that her mother sent her out every day after school to steal money and if she didn’t do it she got a whipping. Mary was charged with receiving stolen property. Helen was sent to a detention home for juveniles.
Meanwhile the sisters’ older brothers, John and Albert Kusch, were engaged in robbing the poor box at a local Catholic church. They drank enough whiskey to put Albert and a friend in the hospital in critical condition with alcohol poisoning. Albert subsequently recovered. John went on to be convicted of burglary and sent to New York’s Elmira Reformatory at the age of 19.
As Helen and Anna blossomed into their teen years they continued to shoplift and pickpocket. Both were caught and earned themselves another stay in a Buffalo detention home.
The Kusch family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by 1920. The change of state may have been motivated by their notoriety in Buffalo because their crime careers continued in “America’s Dairyland.” When Helen was 28, in 1926, she was arrested for pickpocketing in Milwaukee. She jumped bail and forfeited her $1000 bond.
John was arrested for passing bad checks in 1931 when he was 38 years old. Over the previous 20 years he’d accumulated 16 arrests, including one for contributing to the delinquency of a minor after he’d picked up an underage girl and had sex with her. He was sentenced to five to seven years in a Wisconsin state prison on the bad check charge. John joined Albert, who was already in state prison, serving a three-year sentence for the attempted robbery of a pharmacy.
When the Kusch ladies were arrested for pickpocketing in St. Louis, Helen and Anna had 25 years of experience under their belts. They knew it would be a smart move to give the police false names to fool them into believing it was their first offense. Julia Kusch was not their sister but she may have been their sister-in-law because Albert was married for a while to a woman named Julia.
Helen was picked up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for shoplifting an item worth $1.50 in 1935. Police there claimed she’d been arrested many times in the past. She was given a six month suspended sentence and a $100 fine. Anna was also arrested and later released without charge.
The 1935 arrests of Helen and Anna were last time any Kusch family members appeared in the police news. It’s impossible to know if the poster put an end to their criminal activities, however there’s an old saying, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” That little proverb may have run through the mind of the police officer when he got out his glue and pen to make the Kusch Family crime poster.
Featured photo: St. Louis Police Lantern Slides, collection of the Missouri History Museum.
This entry was posted in 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s and tagged Buffalo, burglar, burglary, child abuse, child prisoner, family crime, female criminal, female prisoner, Grand Larceny, lantern slide, Milwaukee, Pickpocket, pickpockets, purse snatching, robbery, sex with minor, shoplifter, shoplifting, St. Louis. Bookmark the permalink.
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5 thoughts on ““With Long Criminal Records””
Liz Gauffreau says:
Pickpockets and buglars and forgers, oh my!
Tokens of Companionship says:
I doubt the poster did much to curtail their activities, but I like it!
Shayne Davidson says:
Very true! We’ll never know if it did the job, but it’s a fascinating piece of historical ephemera!
I can tell you right now it did NOT do the job, haha! Even jail didn’t have a deterrent effect on this family. Evidently the rewards of petty crime were worth the minor punishments to them.
Might have kept them out of St. Louis and that’s probably all the police there cared about!
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500 Startups: How Diversity Drives Deals
By Barbara Stewart, CFA
Posted In: Drivers of Value, Economics, Standards, Ethics & Regulations (SER)
The venture fund 500 Startups was named the “Most active global investor by VC deal count” in PitchBook’s 2018 Annual Global League Tables, a comprehensive ranking of global private equity and venture capital activity for the year.
I recently interviewed 500 Startups’ innovation director Vera Futorjanski. Futorjanski has a diverse and fascinating background: In her early career, she was a professional Argentine tango dancer, and she has lived in 10 countries and is fluent in five languages. In addition to her role at 500 Startups, she serves as a global ambassador and mentor for Vital Voices, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) led by Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright that works with women leaders.
We talked at length about what it takes to be a deal leader. The big takeaway for me is that diversity drives deals: There are many ways to do business, so don’t be afraid to be different.
Barbara Stewart, CFA: 500 Startups invests in geographically diverse markets. How does this factor into your success in terms of deal activity?
Vera Futorjanski: What makes 500 Startups stand out is that we have been looking at emerging markets from the very beginning of our firm. Almost half of our portfolio companies (49%) are from outside of the US. We don’t shy away from investing in founders and companies in markets that are not necessarily known for their big tech successes (yet!). We invest in them because we believe in them.
Our mission is to discover and back the world’s most talented entrepreneurs, help them create successful companies at scale, and build thriving global ecosystems. 500 Startups has been investing globally since 2010. The number of countries we’ve invested in is now 74, which means we’ve invested in almost 40% of the world’s nations. We recently added 155 new companies, bringing our total portfolio count to 2,210 companies and over 5,000 founders.
Half of our unicorns are from emerging markets— I think that is impressive. We have 10 unicorns in our portfolio — Talkdesk, Credit Karma, Twilio, Grab, SendGrid, Canva, Intercom, Bukalapak, GitLab, and Revolution Precrafted. We are also the most active VC in the region where I am based (Middle East and North Africa), and we aim to maintain that lead and continue to get access to the best deal flow through our No. 1 position in the market.
How and why does gender diversity come into play in your organization?
Diversity permeates throughout the 500 Startups organization, and one of our core values is to “Be Inclusive.” Understanding the importance of a gender-inclusive culture, we believe that venture capital and private equity firms of the future shouldn’t look like firms from the past and that moving toward greater diversity will differentiate us.
We are a team of over 150 professionals of which 51% are women. Our CEO is a woman. When we run investor training courses hosted in partnership with top universities like Stanford and Berkeley for up-and-coming investors around the world, we always ensure that at least one-third of each group of the course participants are women, and we offer scholarships for female investors when needed.
You have a big focus on investing in female founders. Why?
I think it’s this inclusive outlook on the world that contributes to 500 Startups’ success, combined with a very strong female leadership.
First Round’s 2016 research findings showed that portfolio investments in startups with at least one woman founder performed 63% better than investments in exclusively male teams. What an opportunity!
I am proud to say that 26% of our investments are led by at least one female founder. At Batch 24 — they recently hosted a full-house demo day — 40% of the companies had a female founder and 50% had a female minority founder.
Moreover, 525 companies in our portfolio of 2000-plus startups have at least one female founding team member, which is more than three times the industry average. In the two most recent batches of our San Francisco Seed Program, more than one-third of the companies had at least one female founder. Additionally, 4 of the 10 “unicorns” 500 Startups has invested in — Canva, Credit Karma, Grab, and Talkdesk — include a female co-founder.
It is truly shocking to me that, as per TechCrunch, only 2% of US VC dollars go to women-led startups. My driving force is to ensure we get more money and more opportunities for women-led startups to empower them and help them thrive.
What advice can you give those who aspire to become founders?
First of all, at a high level, think not in terms of “I want to be a founder” but rather, “What real issue am I solving?” From there, clearly you need to be passionate about what you do, but you also need to be persistent and resilient at the same time. In other words, don’t give up when the going gets tough. But importantly, also be able to recognize if an idea is not worth pursuing.
My top three pieces of advice are:
1. Don’t be afraid to change paths in life. Even if the clear path is not visible at the time, your job changes might lead to something much bigger. My own career is a perfect example. I started as a political consultant in the European Union. After three years, I jumped to a fast-paced environment at Rocket Internet leading their global communications during the largest tech IPO in Germany, and then I moved to Dubai to build a startup that I launched and ran for a year.
From there, the Dubai Government headhunted me to be part of their founding team to build the Dubai Future Accelerators. That opportunity was possible only because of my three previous very diverse experiences [that gave me an] understanding of politics, communications expertise, and entrepreneurship experience.
As Steve Jobs said, “You cannot connect dots looking forward, but you can connect dots looking backwards.”
2. Be a leader, not a boss. It is only then that people will believe in you and your vision. In order for your business to be a success, you have to find the right talent — it is imperative that you have the right team around you. You need to hire people who will work very hard . . . as if it were their own business. This requires strong leadership skills and a team focus.
3. Network! This advice needs to be taken seriously, especially by female founders. Men have it slightly easier because of the longstanding traditions of boys’ clubs and other networking opportunities. Often it is during the private networking times that important connections are made that later lead to job or funding opportunities.
People are more likely to invest in those founders to whom they can relate, in whom they might even potentially see themselves. Hence, it’s so important to get more women into the VC space.
We still have to do a lot of work on mind shift and perceptions. As the saying goes, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” It’s of the utmost importance that we get more women in leading positions, on boards, as CEOs and as heads of state and world organizations.
For more on how diversity drives investment results, don’t miss the Women in Investment Management 2019: Opening Doors Conference this September in Montréal.
Image credit: ©Getty Images/ lvcandy
Continuing Education for CFA Institute Members
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Tags: diversity and inclusion, Investment Management Strategies
Barbara Stewart, CFA
Barbara Stewart, CFA, is a researcher and author on the issue of women and finance. She released the ninth installment of her “Rich Thinking” series of monographs on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2019. Stewart uses her proprietary research skills to work as an Executive Interviewer on a project basis for global financial institutions seeking to gain a deeper understanding of their key stakeholders, both women and men. She is a frequent interview guest on TV, radio, and print, and she is a columnist for Golden Girl Finance. Stewart is on the Advisory Board for Kensington Capital Partners Limited in Toronto. All of Stewart’s research is available on Barbara Stewart.
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Tag Archives: flashback structure
Summary of Discussion on Christmas Holiday
Posted on December 19, 2013 by melodramaresearchgroup
The post-screening discussion focused on several areas: suspense and the theme of concealment and revelation; matters of genre and cycles – especially film noir and melodrama; the main female character Jackie/Abigail; the star images of Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly; costume; Somerset Maugham; a few specific scenes; other related films.
We began by examining the film’s flashback structure. While the fractured approach to storytelling was not unusual for the time, especially in film noir, we found the way the film presented the narrative very odd. After the initial framing narrative of Charles Mason (Dean Harens), a Lieutenant on leave who ends up holidaying in New Orleans at Christmas, the main story begins. Jackie (formerly Abigail, played by Deanna Durbin) shares her life story with her new friend Lieutenant Mason. She very quickly reveals the reason for her sadness, and her name change: her husband Robert Manette (played by Gene Kelly) is in prison, serving life for murder.
The fact that Jackie is explicit regarding her husband’s guilt and his crime (though not the motivation for it) so early in the film means that little suspense is created until the shoot-out at the film’s conclusion. Following the first flashback, which shows the consequences of Robert’s crime on family life, further flashbacks are provided. These detail Abigail and Robert’s first meeting, some of their subsequent dates, and Abigail’s introduction to Robert’s omnipresent mother (played by Gale Sondergaard). Suspense would have been generated by just a slight reticence on Jackie’s part regarding the reason for her distressed state and a reordering of the flashbacks so that they occurred largely chronologically: the first date, subsequent dates, the revelation of Robert’s guilt etc.
While flashbacks and voice-over narration are key to film noir (whether we consider it to be a genre or a cycle) we noted that this lack of suspense did not relate to our experience of the genre/cycle. It also did not seem especially connected to melodrama’s often used theme of concealment and revelation. Of course, genre is often hybridised and any attempt to categorise a film as belonging to one genre or another based on whether certain elements are present is fairly restrictive. However we found it useful to relate other aspects of the film – mostly character – to genre.
It is fairly unusual for film noir to contain a female voice-over, to tell, and to show, the woman’s story. Jackie/Abigail is also treated sympathetically, partly because the rottenness of Robert is so evident. She is not a femme fatale. Robert’s mother is far more sinister. She is a malevolent presence throughout (even, or perhaps especially, whilst knitting in the background) despite welcoming Abigail as Robert’s last hope of salvation. However after the court case she provides one of the film’s most dramatic moments. She berates Abigail for her weakness, shouting ‘You killed him’ and slapping her in the face. This is not just dramatic but inaccurate – Robert is soon to be sentenced to life imprisonment, but not to death. It also seems unfair on Abigail when it is clear that Robert’s life has been heavily influenced by his unhealthily close relationship to his mother. This point is also stated in the voice-over when Jackie reveals that it was described by a psychiatrist as ‘pathological’.
The focus on Jackie/Abigail is highlighted by the trailer’s promotion of Durbin playing ‘The Screen’s Greatest Woman’s Role’. This confuses some of the usual (admittedly binary) gender distinctions of noir as being ‘male’ oriented and melodrama as ‘female’ focused – both in terms of character and audience. The melodrama research group has, of course, seen the sheer variety of melodrama over the last year which shows that the narrow view of melodrama as ‘woman’s weepies’ is highly reductive and unproductive.
Another aspect of the film seemed unusual – for both noir and melodrama. The film’s ending is rather hopeful. The recently widowed Jackie/Abigail looks to a sky in which the clouds are parting and there is a suggestion that she might find love with the supportive Lieutenant. We related this optimism to Durbin’s star image. Given her hitherto fairly uncomplicated star image of a happy young girl who likes to sing it is noteworthy that this film allowed her to play two roles: the generally happy young wife and the woman ground down by life’s disappointments. Due to the flashback structure these were juxtaposed throughout the film, allowing for the foregrounding of Durbin’s performance. This means that after our first introduction to Jackie we are continually reminded of her ‘earlier’ self and of Durbin’s ‘earlier’ screen self – a happy young girl in love.
Gene Kelly’s star image was also discussed. While today we primarily associate him with song-and-dance roles, contemporary audiences saw him in a variety of roles before Christmas Holiday. These included musicals (Du Barry Was a Lady 1943) and dramas (For Me and My Girl 1942, Pilot #5 1943, The Cross of Lorraine 1943). (This information on the films’ genres is courtesy of the American Film Institute Catalog and notes some films as ‘with songs’ rather than as musicals: http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/)
We talked quite a lot about the film’s costumes, especially Durbin’s wardrobe. She begins the film wearing a very glamorous and grown-up evening dress. This is striking as it is our first view of Jackie – and indeed of the ‘new’ Durbin. This is delayed, first by the framing narrative and then by the fact that Jackie/Durbin is first glimpsed with her back to the camera, making her way to the stage to perform a song. Her next outfit was especially memorable. As Jackie and the Lieutenant sit talking in a café she is dressed in a light coloured trench coat and coordinating hat. Perhaps because of the film’s noirish elements, this reminded us of the detective figure in many 1940s films, and specifically of Humphrey Bogart. It is an especially interesting costume choice as this relation to the male star who played the protagonist of several noirs also seems to place Jackie centrally. The wisecracking comments made by both Robert and Jackie were commented on. They reminded us of another film pair at times – Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Though it was notable that they did not interact in this way with each other since only Jackie, and not Abigail, has been made cynical by her experience.
The extent of Jackie’s suffering – being forced to turn to prostitution – is unsurprisingly not made explicit in the film. Hollywood’s Production Code meant that reference to this would not have been allowed by the censors. Somerset Maugham’s novel provided more information and it would be interesting to know just how widely the novel circulated in the United States. The trailer certainly foregrounds Maugham’s involvement. We found it fruitful to briefly compare the adaptation of Christmas Holiday with Of Human Bondage (1934) which we watched at the beginning of term. The earlier, pre-code film, was able to mention Mildred’s descent into prostitution. There is a key similarity, however. Both adaptations extract just a small part of the novel, notably the part which deals more with the couple – which often occupies a main position in Hollywood films during the Studio Era.
In terms of specific scenes we noted the connection between the lengthy scene detailing Jackie and Lieutenant Mason’s attendance at midnight mass and the Abigail’s earlier (though shown later in the film) first meeting with Robert in a cavernous concert hall. In the church Jackie is sobbing… we took this as a reference to her feelings of guilt. However she assures the Lieutenant that she is not crying for the reason that he (and perhaps we) think. The Concert hall scene later shows what Jackie had been crying about – her memory of Robert.
We also briefly discussed the director Robert Siodmak’s other films. Similarities in the plots of Christmas Holiday and Edgar G. Ulmer’s Detour (1945) were mentioned.
If you missed the screening, or would like to rewatch it, you can find it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UFSZay18go
After the discussion we watched a more festive Christmas film: Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983). Bunny Mattinson’s short film managed to squeeze Charles Dickens’ novel into 20 minutes, but also managed to explore the relation between melodrama and comedy.
Do log in to comment, or email me on sp458@kent.ac.uk, to add your thoughts.
Thanks to everyone – especially Tamar, Ann-Marie and Geoff – for this week’s entertainment and provisions. Many thanks also to the entire Group for such a productive and fun term. Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!
Posted in Summary of Discussion | Tagged AFI CAtalog, Bunny Mattinson, Censorship, Christmas Holiday (1944), Concealment and Revelation, Costume, Cycles, Dean Harens, Deanna Durbin, Detour (1945), Du Barry Was a Lady (1943), Edgar G. Ulmer, Femme Fatale, Film Noir, flashback structure, For Me and My Girl (1942), Gale Sondergaard, Gene Kelly, Genre, Hollywood, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Melodrama, Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983), Musicals, Of Human Bondage (1934), Pilot #5 (1943), Production Code, Robert Siodmak, Somerset Maugham, Star image, Summary of Discussion, Suspense, The Cross of Lorraine (1943), Voice-over narration | Leave a reply
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History Blog
Dr. Andrew Lewis: September 1943 to October 2017
November 26, 2017 by drb1982
Dr. Andrew Lewis, a long-time member of the Missouri State History Department, died on October 24th. Dr. Lewis specialized in medieval France and taught medieval, Roman, European and world history for over thirty years. At the time of his death, Dr. Lewis was Professor Emeritus.
Dr. Andrew Lewis (1943-2017)
Dr. Lewis’s colleagues recognized him as a meticulous and path-breaking scholar. His quintessential work, Royal Succession in Capetian France: Studies on Familial Order and the State (Harvard University Press, 1981), reshaped our current understanding of the Capetian monarchy by demonstrating that the Capetian royal family must be studied as a powerful noble family. Previous studies had treated Capetian history as purely political history, with an eye toward the growth of French royal power and creation of a centralized territorial state. By reinterpreting Capetian policies within the context of family, noble lineage, and dynastic possessions, his work showed that the primary political goal of the Capetians, from the 10th into the 14th century, had been to enhance familial power and resources, using the same strategies as other contemporary noble families; the creation of a cohesive French kingdom was due more to accident or chance than to policies aimed at national unification.
For this work, Dr. Lewis was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship and the John Nicholas Brown Prize for the best first book in any area of medieval studies. Historian Thomas Bisson noted in his review that Royal Succession in Capetian France was one of “the ablest studies of French kingship every published.” The influence of Dr. Lewis’s work led to a special session at the Annual Symposium of the International Medieval Society in Paris in 2008.
Throughout his career, Dr. Lewis published articles on the Capetian royal family and English and French royal possessions in France in journals such as the American Historical Review, the English Historical Review, Traditio, Mediaeval Studies, and the Bibliothèque de l’école des chartes. These articles were frequently accompanied by editions of previously unpublished charters (some had been unknown to editors of the inventories and collections of French and English royal acts published in the early to mid-20th century; others had been previously published but lacked a critical edition). More recently, Dr. Lewis published a full edition and translation of the chronicle and historical notes written by the French monk Bernard Itier (Oxford University Press, 2012).
Dr. Lewis found great pleasure in the success of his students. He was known for his meticulous standards and uncompromising commitment to intellectual achievement and critical engagement. An “old school” scholar/teacher, Dr. Lewis valued and fostered intellectual curiosity shaped by a rigorous commitment to the standards of evidence and professionalism. He genuinely enjoyed his students and brought to the classroom a sly sense humor. He put off retirement because, as he told the Department Head, he still loved teaching. In his final conversation with a close colleague, he spoke joyously of a student they had in common who had just published his book with a prestigious publisher.
The History Department sends its condolences to Dr. Lewis’s family, friends and students. His love of history and learning made us more curious and more exacting. His sly sense of humor left many of us shaking our heads, smiling and thinking, “oh my.”
Dr. Jessica Elliott
Dr. Kathleen Kennedy
Filed Under: News Tagged With: faculty, History
abidogun Alumni Archaeology award Black History book Brooks Blevins bukola oyeniyi David Gutzke Eric Nelson exhibit faculty History History Day Interships Jaegar John Chuchiak Maps Mind's Eye nelson Ottoman ozarks Phi Alpha Theta Registration research teaching Turkey video Video Games YouTube
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Tax Reform in Iowa is Creating Economic Growth
John Hendrickson and Paul Bachman: It is imperative that the legislature work to continue lowering Iowa’s tax rates to create opportunities, economic growth, and make Iowa more competitive.
Iowa State Capitol Rotunda
Photo Credit: Angelo Mercado via Flickr (CC-By-NC-ND 2.0)
Watch: Final 2018 Iowa 1st Congressional District Debate
Beacon Hill Institute for Public Policy Research,
Iowa Business Climate,
Iowa income tax reform,
Iowa Legislature,
Iowa STAMP,
Iowa Tax Rate,
Co-written with Paul Bachman
Economic growth is a top priority for Iowa. As a nation, we are seeing economic growth because of the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and President Donald Trump’s historic efforts of unshackling the economy from excessive regulations. As a result of these policies, the economy is growing over 4 percent and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reports record small business optimism. Iowa is also experiencing economic growth and is benefiting from pro-growth economic policies. The tax reform law passed by the legislature will only help to continue the momentum of economic growth in Iowa.
According to the Tax Foundation, Iowa ranks as the 11th worst state for its overall business climate. Over the last decade, states have turned to reform their tax systems to make themselves more attractive to business. With federal tax reform and other states working to improve their tax competitiveness, Iowa needed to act in order to compete with other states for jobs and investment. Tax policies matter significantly in determining a state’s ability to provide an environment conducive to economic growth.
A recent study by the Beacon Hill Institute for Public Policy Research has analyzed the growth impact of Iowa’s tax reform using the Iowa STAMP (State Tax Analysis Modeling Program). Iowa STAMP (IA-STAMP) is a state-of-the-art computer methodology that permits its users to evaluate the economic impact of various tax changes. IA-STAMP allows us to provide estimates of the effects of changes in state tax law on job creation, investment, real disposable income, and state tax revenues.
The tax reform law will provide a boost to the state economy in 2019. The measure will generate an additional 4,840 private sector jobs. Iowa households will see their incomes increase by $351 million as measured by inflation-adjusted, or real disposable income.
Initially, the changes to the corporate income tax increase the effective tax rate and will provide a disincentive for firms to invest. However, if all growth targets are met and all the subsequent tax changes are implemented in the first year of eligibility, full implementation of the tax reform law will provide an additional economic boost to the Iowa economy in 2024.
The law will create a total of 8,270 private sector jobs. Iowa households will enjoy a real disposable income increase of $673 million. Full implementation of corporate income tax rate cut will provide an increase to the return on investment and increase investment by $100 million.
Iowa’s tax reform will result in further economic growth, but more work is needed. Tax rates matter, and Iowa will still have high rates even when the tax reform is fully implemented. For example, in 2021 Iowa’s corporate tax rate of 9.8 percent will still be one of the highest in the nation and even if revenues meet the 4 percent trigger our top income tax rate would fall to 6.5 percent. It is imperative that the legislature work to continue lowering Iowa’s tax rates to create opportunities, economic growth, and make our state more competitive.
Paul Bachman is Director of Research at the Beacon Hill Institute, Medway, Massachusetts and John Hendrickson is a Policy Analyst with Iowans for Tax Relief, West Des Moines, Iowa
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Enhanced Penalties for Kidnapping a Child
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Reynolds’ Final Weekend on the Campaign Trail
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Tom Shaw Will Not Seek Reelection to Iowa House
State Representative Tom Shaw (R-Laurens) announced last night that he would not seek reelection in Iowa House District 10.
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Why It's Time for Education Technology to Become an Academic Discipline
Eddie Maloney, executive director of Georgetown's Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship, makes the case for a new academic discipline built around the study of educational technology, learning analytics and instructional design.
By David Raths
As Georgetown University prepares to launch a master's degree program in Learning and Design, a new academic discipline built around the study of education technology, learning analytics and instructional design is starting to take shape. Leaders in the field are "bringing about a set of practices that require a knowledge base, that require an ability to share information and that start to form a set of practices that we can all share — but also resist, test, push back against and challenge each other on," according to Eddie Maloney, executive director of the university's Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship.
In a lively Future Trends Forum video chat last week hosted by consultant and futurist Bryan Alexander, Maloney made the case that now is the time to think more deeply about the role of technology in teaching and learning. Analyzing all the components of the work he and others in the field do around education technology, he said, "We can see it as a way of engaging around a set of problems that we think are important but that we don't think have a single solution. There may be multiple solutions that require research, that require an approach that I think mirrors or suggests the contours of a discipline."
Of course, Georgetown is not alone in this realm. Stanford University has a Learning, Design & Technology master's degree
program, as does Purdue. So why the renewed interest in 2016? Has an accumulation of practice built up gradually, or has something occurred in the last year to make this happen?
Maloney, who is also professor of the practice of narrative literature and theory in Georgetown's Department of English, has observed a trajectory in the discipline of education technology over the last four years. "We saw 2012 as an inflection point regarding the role technology plays in higher education," he said, referring to what The New York Times dubbed "The Year of the MOOC."
As Maloney explained, the "MOOC moment" began to challenge some assumptions about the work educators do, the stability of that work and its location. "Over the past four years, as we have seen that MOOC wave rise, crest and either fall or plateau. We have started to build capacities to think about technology, design and learning as core and central problems," he said. "Once we built that momentum, we started to raise questions about what that role is; about why we need to challenge some assumptions we have about the role of technology in teaching and learning; and how technology, design and analytics are helping us to do that better."
The momentum developed over those four years has highlighted some gaps, Maloney insisted, but also some strengths, continuity and consistency that people focused on this topic can leverage to make sure it is part of the core of institutions of higher education. "We have seen an evolution in the understanding of the impact of the work we do."
Something else that has changed since 2012, Maloney added, is that senior leadership has begun to pay attention to learning as a problem higher education needs to do better at. "Many of us have been talking about this for a long time — that colleges and universities are not just about research and creating new knowledge, and that the practice of teaching needs to be brought back to the center. In some ways you can credit the pressure of technology and online education as pushing learning back to the center of a lot of conversations. Let's leverage that to make sure that in four or five years we don't just retrench back to the place where we were and where we allowed that fear or anxiety about disruption to erupt so prominently."
Video chat participant Josh Kim, director of digital learning initiatives at the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning, asked Maloney if universities would fund new programs to study education technology instead of other initiatives, or whether these new programs have to generate revenue to fund themselves. Where would the money come from?
Maloney noted that colleges and universities are under great pressure to become more efficient and provide increased value. They must look at new tools and approaches to reach students. He said that grant-making agencies are willing to invest in the education technology space because it does address some of the economic issues of the affordability of higher education. "Some of us are finding opportunities to create revenue for institutions while trying to invest in this space," he added. He noted that at Georgetown, his center is not just separating out the revenue-generating piece in schools of professional studies or online programs, but trying to make those an integral part of the discussion about re-centering learning, "so we are not always seeing these as separate activities, but connected activities that we have to pay equal attention to."
Dave Cormier from the University of Prince Edward Island asked Maloney how he would explain to campus decision-makers the difference between learning technologies and scaling technologies.
Maloney responded that high-impact practices and technologies that have a track record for changing the ways students engage with material and encourage deeper learning cost a lot of money to develop. "They are not the tools we can invest in wide-scale," he said, whether they are unique tools or building on platforms in adaptive learning or connecting students with high-impact experiences like living abroad. "Those are the kinds of things we know matter but don't have a good way of scaling," he added. "My hope would be that as we continue to show those edge technologies that are really valuable, they would continue to feed back into the scale technologies. We have seen that happen in many different contexts — things that 10 to 15 years ago were boutique are becoming part of the practice we have. This video chat technology we are using right now is an example. It is a relatively recent tool. Once we get it right, connect it to teaching and learning and build that platform, it can become part of the practice."
In closing, Alexander asked Maloney if indeed educational technology becomes more of an academic discipline, what could that lead to in five years or beyond?
Maloney said educational technologists realize that higher education has to be more flexible. "We can create a community at our institutions that can pivot more quickly than institutions of higher education have been able to pivot," he said. "We have all invested in enterprise tools that have become locked in. You get a course management system, a student information system, and it becomes very difficult to move students and faculty off those tools. The idea that educational technology is the new space that allows people to be agile has not proven to be true. One of my hopes in the work we are doing is not just that we are figuring out what the next tool or pedagogical approach is, but also creating an environment where people feel comfortable being agile. That is a mindset. It doesn't matter whether faculty and students use Apple, Google or Blackboard tools, but that faculty members feel comfortable teaching with one tool one semester and another the next if that is what they know will be more effective for students."
3 Strategies to Engage Students in Online Learning
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Funding, Grants & Awards
Texas A&M Lands $1.6 Million to Study Algorithmic Decision Making
Researchers at Texas A&M University have landed a $1.6 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to investigate algorithmic reasoning.
The researchers are looking into algorithms that use large data sets and machine learning to refine and improve the answers they deliver over time, as they encounter new data and receive feedback about past recommendations.
Sometimes, as in cases where algorithms offer suggestions for patient diagnosis, treatment or chronic disease management, it's important for users to understand why a particular recommendation is being made.
"An end user who understands the 'why' of an algorithm's recommendation is better able to trust its results and use them to confidently make decisions," said Eric Ragan, an assistant professor of visualization at TAMU and co-principal investigator on the project, in a report on the grant. "People don't want to blindly accept a computer's recommendations if they don't understand where they came from."
Ragan and his collaborators are modeling the steps an algorithm performs as it generates a recommendation, and then creating visualizations of those models to help end users understand the process better.
"Our goal is to make simple visual designs like bar charts," said Ragan. "Tentative plans are to test the effectiveness of the charts to show the most important information in the model. Then we'll create graphics to represent data in more detail. Ultimately, we're going to test a variety of representations."
The project is one of 13 that DARPA is funding relating to artificial intelligence and algorithmic reasoning in an effort to help military end users better understand the recommendations of algorithms.
IBM SPSS Statistics for Academic Institutions
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§010.45 Section 1. Budget Matters Deeming Resolution for FY2020; H. Res. 293 (116th Congress)
FY 2020 Budget (116th Congress)
House Deeming Resolution for Fiscal Year 2020 (H. Res. 293)
SEC. 1. Budget Matters.
(a) Fiscal Year 2020.—For the purpose of enforcing the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 for fiscal year 2020, the allocations, aggregates, and levels provided for in subsection (b) shall apply in the House of Representatives in the same manner as for a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2020 with appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal year 2020 and for fiscal years 2021 through 2029.
(b) Committee Allocations, Aggregates, and Levels.—In the House of Representatives, the chair of the Committee on the Budget shall submit a statement for publication in the Congressional Record as soon as practicable, containing—
(1) for the Committee on Appropriations, committee allocations for fiscal year 2020 for new discretionary budget authority of $1,295,018,000,000, and the outlays flowing therefrom, and committee allocations for fiscal year 2020 for current law mandatory budget authority and outlays, for the purpose of enforcing section 302 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974;
(2) for all committees of the House other than the Committee on Appropriations, committee allocations for fiscal year 2020 and for the period of fiscal years 2020 through 2029 consistent with the most recent baseline of the Congressional Budget Office, as adjusted, to the extent practicable, for the budgetary effects of any provision of law enacted during the period beginning on the date such baseline is issued and ending on the date of submission of such statement, for the purpose of enforcing section 302 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974;
(3) aggregate spending levels for fiscal year 2020 in accordance with the allocations established under paragraphs (1) and (2), for the purpose of enforcing section 311 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974; and
(4) aggregate revenue levels for fiscal year 2020 and for the period of fiscal years 2020 through 2029 consistent with the most recent baseline of the Congressional Budget Office, as adjusted, to the extent practicable, for the budgetary effects of any provision of law enacted during the period beginning on the date such baseline is issued and ending on the date of submission of such statement, for the purpose of enforcing section 311 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
(c) Additional Matter.—The statement referred to in subsection (b) may also include for fiscal year 2020, the matter contained in the provisions referred to in subsection (h).
(d) Adjustments.—The chair of the Committee on the Budget of the House of Representatives may adjust the allocations, aggregates, and other budgetary levels included in the statement referred to in subsection (b)—
(1) to reflect changes resulting from the Congressional Budget Office’s updates to its baseline for fiscal years 2020 through 2029; or
(2) for any bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report by the amounts provided in such measure if such measure would not increase the deficit for either of the following time periods: fiscal year 2020 to fiscal year 2024 or fiscal year 2020 to fiscal year 2029.[1]
(e) Overseas Contingency Operations/Global War On Terrorism Adjustment Limit.—The chair of the Committee on the Budget of the House of Representatives may adjust the allocations, aggregates, and other budgetary levels included in the statement referred to in subsection (b) in accordance with the Overseas Contingency Operations/Global War on Terrorism adjustment in section 251(b)(2)(A) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 for any bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report, except that such adjustment shall not exceed $69,000,000,000 for the revised security category or $8,000,000,000 for the revised nonsecurity category.
(f) Adjustment For Internal Revenue Service Tax Enforcement.—The chair of the Committee on the Budget of the House of Representatives may adjust the allocations, aggregates, and other budgetary levels included in the statement referred to in subsection (b) as follows:
(1) In general.—If a bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report making appropriations for fiscal year 2020 specifies an amount in the Enforcement account and the Operations Support account for tax enforcement activities, including tax compliance to address the Federal tax gap, of the Internal Revenue Service of the Department of the Treasury, then the adjustment shall be the additional new budget authority provided in such measure for such purpose, but shall not exceed $400,000,000.
(2) Definition.—As used in this subsection, the term “additional new budget authority” means the amount provided for fiscal year 2020, in excess of $8,584,000,000, in a bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report and specified for tax enforcement activities, including tax compliance to address the Federal tax gap, of the Internal Revenue Service.
(g) Adjustment For The U.S. Census For 2020.—The chair of the Committee on the Budget of the House of Representatives may adjust the allocations, aggregates, and other budgetary levels included in the statement referred to in subsection (b) as follows:
(1) In general.—If a bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report making appropriations for fiscal year 2020 specifies an amount for the 2020 Census in the Periodic Censuses and Programs account of the Bureau of the Census of the Department of Commerce, then the adjustment shall be the new budget authority provided in such measure for such purpose, but shall not exceed $7,500,000,000.
(2) Definition.—As used in this subsection, the term “new budget authority” means the amount provided for fiscal year 2020 in a bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report and specified to pay for expenses associated with 2020 Census operations.
(h) Application.—
(1) Upon submission of the statement referred to in subsection (b), all references to allocations, aggregates, or other appropriate levels in “this concurrent resolution” in sections 5201, 5202, and 5203 of the House Concurrent Resolution 71 (115th Congress), specified in section 30104(f)(1) of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, and continued in effect by section 103(m) of House Resolution 6 (116th Congress), shall be treated for all purposes in the House of Representatives as references to the allocations, aggregates, or other appropriate levels contained in the statement referred to in subsection (b), as adjusted in accordance with this section or any Act.
(2) The provisions of House Concurrent Resolution 71 (115th Congress), specified in section 30104(f)(1) of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, shall have no force or effect through the remainder of the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress except for the sections of such concurrent resolution identified in paragraph (1).
(i) Adjustment For House Passage of H.R. 2021.—Upon passage of H.R. 2021, the chair of the Committee on the Budget of the House of Representatives may adjust the allocations, aggregates, and other budgetary levels included in the statement referred to in subsection (b) consistent with H.R. 2021 as passed by the House.
Counsel Notes
[1] This adjustment is tantamount to a generalized “deficit neutral reserve fund” for anything at any time. While in a technical way this does not qualify as a reserve fund since it does not involve an identifiable policy for which an adjustment is made, it operates much the same way. The policy is simply replaced by the concept of any policy will do. Essentially it renders the allocation and aggregates, for purposes of enforcing any levels at all, irrelevant. The only requirement is that the House Budget Chairman is willing to advise the presiding officer accordingly. As a matter of reality, this comes down to the will of the Speaker, but ostensibly and formally the decision rests with the Budget Chairman.
The deficit-neutrality test resembles the Paygo Point of Order test with an important difference: While Paygo is a six- and eleven-year test, this is a five- and ten-year test. This happens because in the former the “current year” is included and in the latter it is not. This distinction will disappear when the fiscal year is reached on October 1, 2019, since at that point the current year as the year “preceding” the budget year no longer be relevant since after that date it will be the budget year.
FY2020 Budget Resolution
Section 2 (H. Res. 293)
[BCR § 010.45]
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Statute of Limitations for Georgia Car Accidents
Attorneys, Auto Accident, Automobile Collision, Car Accident, Filing Cases, Georgia, Insurance, Liability, Personal Injury, Statute of Limitations, Wrongful Death
How Long Is the Statute of Limitations for a Car Accident in Georgia?
A statute of limitations is a law that sets a deadline for filing a lawsuit. The time in which a lawsuit may be filed is called a “limitations period.” When the limitations period expires, the right to file a lawsuit is lost.
It might seem unfair to cut off the right to file a lawsuit, but limitations periods serve important interests. They encourage people and businesses that have legal claims to resolve those claims promptly, while evidence is still fresh. They also allow people to move forward with their lives without worrying that a lawsuit is on the horizon.
Each state sets its own limitations period for filing different types of lawsuits. For instance, most states allow more time to sue for a breach of contract than for a car collision. The limitations period for a motor vehicle collision depends on the state in which the collision occurred.
Georgia’s Car Accident Statute of Limitations
The statute of limitations for Georgia motor vehicle collisions is found in section 9-3-33 of the Georgia Code. A lawsuit for injuries caused by a car accident must be filed within 2 years after the right to sue “accrues.”
In car accident cases, the right to sue usually accrues on the date of the collision. However, the 2-year window can be “tolled” which means paused pending a criminal investigation or possible investigation up to 6 years. A personal injury lawyer can determine whether any of the exceptions to that rule might cause the right to sue to accrue on a later date.
Georgia’s 2-year limitations period is fairly short, but not unusual. Almost half of all states have a 2-year statute of limitations period for car accident injuries. Other states have limitations periods ranging from 1 to 6 years.
When car accident injuries cause an accident victim’s death, the accident victim’s estate can bring a wrongful death lawsuit. The same 2-year limitations period applies to wrongful death claims.
Exceptions to the Georgia Car Accident Limitations Period
The 2-year limitations period applies to most car accidents in Georgia, but there are exceptions. For example, if the injured driver was driving for work and wants to bring a workers’ compensation claim instead of a personal injury claim (the usual strategy when the accident was caused by the injury victim’s own carelessness), the deadline for making a workers’ comp claim is much shorter. Injury victims in that situation should get advice from both a personal injury lawyer and a workers’ compensation lawyer.
An injury victim who is under the age of 18 at the time of the accident will usually be able to file a personal injury lawsuit at any time before reaching the age of 20. Accident victims who are legally incompetent because of a mental disability when the accident occurs also have a longer period of time in which to sue.
A shorter limitations period applies to claims against counties and to county employees who caused an accident while working. That limitations period is usually 12 months from the date of the accident.
Georgia law also requires injury victims to give formal notice of their claim to the state, county, municipality, or other governmental entities if the claim will be made against the government or its employee. Notice to the state must be given within 1 year and to local governments within 6 months. Notice requirements prior to suing the government are not limitations periods, but they are strictly enforced. The failure to give timely notice may lead to a loss of the right to bring a successful lawsuit. It is essential to consult a lawyer immediately when a car accident is caused by a government employee.
Bringing the Lawsuit in Another State
When a limitations period expires, a personal injury lawyer might explore the possibility of bringing the lawsuit in a state that has a longer limitations period. In cases involving an accident in Georgia between two Georgia residents, the law typically requires the lawsuit to be brought in Georgia, preventing the injury victim from taking advantage of a longer limitations period in another state.
In unusual cases, however, circumstances might allow the lawsuit to be filed in a different state. When the negligent driver was a resident of a different state or was engaged in work-related driving for an out-of-state employer, it might be possible to file the lawsuit outside of Georgia. That isn’t automatically true, so a Georgia personal injury lawyer will need to examine both Georgia law and the law of the other state to determine whether the circumstances permit a lawsuit to be filed elsewhere.
In most cases, however, the expiration of the Georgia limitations period ends the right to sue for car accident injuries that occurred in Georgia. That makes it very important to consult a Georgia car accident lawyer as soon as possible after an accident occurs. The attorney will want to conduct a prompt investigation while evidence is still fresh, and may try to settle the case without filing suit. All of that requires the lawyer to become involved well before the deadline for filing a lawsuit is reached.
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Premature Hospital and Psychiatric Patient Discharge
Attorney Matt Kahn Joins the Butler Law Firm
Motorcycle Accidents in Georgia
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Tag: spinoffs
George R.R. Martin Blasts ‘GoT’s Fanbase Over ‘Toxic’ Reaction to Show’s Ending
According to The Huffington Post, George R.R. Martin, famed creator of A Song of Ice and Fire, which were the basis for Game of Thrones, has had it with the show’s fandom. He admitted he finds a ‘toxic’ atmosphere to online fandoms when he was a guest on ‘Maltin On Movies’ where he commented on the backlash to the ending of Game of Thrones, which was not warmly received by the fanbase (to say the least). He said that the internet has amplified toxic fandom to new heights, which was nothing like the old days of science fiction and fantasy communities. Martin directly said:
The Internet is toxic in a way that the old fanzine culture and fandoms — comics fans, science fiction fans in those days – was not. There were disagreements. There were feuds, but nothing like the madness that you see on the internet.
Image via Variety
The divisive reaction to the show’s reaction has effectively lit the show’s fandom on fire. There have been fan petitions, calling for the entire eighth season to be remade. Cast members such as Sophie Turner have criticized these petitions, calling them ‘disrespectful’ to the show’s creators and creative team. Criticism has been labeled against the show’s final series for ‘bad writing’, a rushed conclusion to the previous seven seasons of buildup, and complaints against decisions such as Daenerys burning King’s Landing to the ground despite the city’s surrender.
Still, the backlash seems to be a bit out of control. Maybe George is right and we should all calm down a little. After all, this IS just a tv show and these are just fictional characters. It may have been bad but that doesn’t negate the wonderful experience and remarkable achievement that Game of Thrones ultimately was. Plus, we have the books still to look forward to (if they ever come out) and more Game of Thrones spinoffs on the horizon, including a series about the origins of the White Walkers starring Naomi Watts.
What are your thoughts on the fandom backlash? Let us know in the comments!
Featured Image Via Deadline
by Jake McDaniel
Fandom backlash
HBO’s Programming President Responds to Fan Backlash to ‘Game of Thrones’ Finale
According to Insider HBO’s programming boss Casey Bloys has absorbed the (somewhat intense) fan reaction to Game of Throne’s finale. Insider sat down in an interview with Bloys, asking him his personal stance on the interview. When asked about the fan backlash to how the show ended, Bloys noted you have to take online reactions with a grain of salt but he noted the show has a ‘passionate’ fanbase and some hated it, while others liked it, and he noted this was normal for any big series reaching its conclusion. Some fans will enjoy the finale, some won’t, and he thinks this is a normal part of the process. He noted the writers, Dave and Dan, had a plan for the very beginning. Some fans didn’t agree where the characters they loved went in the end but he believes they took the landing and managed a very difficult TV show all the way until the end.
Image via Insider
He further noted he was pleased with the water bottle situation, noting that it’s really great that fans are able to notice details like that and keep Game of Thrones in the media by talking about it in massive numbers. He noted the writers, Dave and Dan, were very ‘smart, methodical, and bright’. They had been doing this for a long time and there were no debates about whether the ending was to be changed. Bloys said it was always intended to end this way, even in the early seasons.
Furthermore, he noted production for the spinoff is underway (no word of what the first spinoff will be). The pilot, however, will be shot in June and the script, he noted, looks ‘great’. He did, however, say he didn’t want to overdo it with the spinoffs, noting HBO has much fantastic content beyond just Game of Thrones and he hopes to be developing more original properties to go along with potential spinoffs.
In conclusion, he noted the show wasn’t a juggernaut when it came out and it took time to become a cultural milestone, ending with the highest rated show ever for HBO with this finale. Bloys hopes to find the eventual next big thing but you can’t force it. It just evolves naturally but he hopes to keep the same level of quality in Thrones to all HBO’s other shows.
Casey Bloys
D.B Wise
Dave Benioff
Fan backlash
Fan reaction
Programming president
George R.R. Martin Reveals ‘Game of Thrones’ Spinoffs Are Moving Ahead
All things come to an end. In just a little over two weeks, the biggest tv show in the world will bow out at long last. Doubtlessly, the fanbase will be in tears and we’re extremely sad to see it go but also praying it has the ending we’ve all been hoping for. However, it appears that Game of Thrones content won’t come to an end so quickly and in fact, a whole wave of GOT media will be coming our way very soon!
According to the Huffington Post , George R.R. Martin has revealed plans are in place for the ‘successor shows’ to Game of Thrones and that they are moving ahead quite quickly. The shows will hit HBO in the next couple of years and the programming president hopes they live up to the tremendous high bar set by Game of Thrones. Martin further update fans via his personal blog, revealing several salivating details about the upcoming set of spinoffs!
Image via Hbo
Martin said:
“The one I am not supposed to call THE LONG NIGHT will be shooting later this year, and two other shows remain in the script stage, but are edging closer. What are they about? I cannot say. But maybe some of you should pick up a copy of FIRE & BLOOD and come up with your own theories.”
Based on Martin’s statement, it appears the first spinoff in the works will be perhaps a prequel centered on the White Walkers, detailing their possibly origins and the first ‘Long Night’ that has become myth for the characters in the present era of Game of Thrones. Fire & Blood, meanwhile, details the history of House Targaryan, centered around the era of Aegon and his descendants at the height of their power. Both spinoffs sound very exciting, filling in the gaps of Game of Throne’s detailed history and providing more context for how their events effect the characters today.
Furthermore, it is been revealed that none of the characters from the main show will be in the spinoffs, showcasing that they will be centered around a new cast. However, creators have revealed that the cast will feature ‘strong’ men and women, an ensemble as in the model of the parent show. One star has been announced to appear in The Long Night show, Naomi Watts, although the role she is supposed to play has not been revealed yet. But we’re very excited to see a spinoff chronicling the first clash between humanity and the white walkers. Maybe we’ll even see the origin of the Night King!
Are you looking forward to the eventual spinoffs? What are some ideas you can think of for potential successor shows? And are you sad to see the main show come an end? Let us know!
Featured Image Via The Independent
Aegon Targaryan
Fire & Blood
The Long Night
the night king
Hermione Has a Quarter-Life Crisis in Horrifyingly Real Web Series
You Harry Potter fans are lovely people; you’re always opened to new ideas, spin-offs, and news. So, I hope you’ll be willing to give this a try: Hermione Granger has her own web series… with a twist! Because doesn’t everyone want more Hermione?
Hermione Granger and the Quarter Life Crisis or HGQLC is the fan-created series all about Ms. Granger and her twenty-five-year-old self in a post-Hogwarts world. Black actress, Ashley Romans, plays the witch herself and we’re psyched to have her on board. Never again do we want to see people lash out about a colored woman playing Hermione like they did when Rowling picked the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child cast a couple years ago. We love Hermione no matter what, we just want the story!
So, upon turning twenty-five, she leaves her boyfriend (poor old Ron), quits her job at the Ministry of Magic, and heads to L.A. for a new adventure with some familiar characters (Draco Malfoy! Say what?) and not so familiar. Now is as good a time as any to dive into more Harry Potter fan works, so check out the trailer and catch up on the seasons!
You’ll see very contemporary characteristics and issues dealt with in this show, through both Hermione’s friends and the different journeys they take. Pretty sweet right? We’ve loved Hermione for all these years because of her intelligence, self-assurance, wit, and loyalty. Now, we get to see a vulnerable side; a side that’s a bit more relatable for us muggles. Perhaps there are no spells on how to live the right way; no potions to make the right choice for every decision. The first episode below shows Hermione’s bouncing back from her twenty-fifth birthday.
This series began almost a year ago and has raked in thousands of views and followers. Yet, it’s still funny that no matter how rocky her path may be, we still can count on her being the smartest witch in the room.
Feature Image Via Youtube
by Francesca Contreras
7 Sherlock Holmes Spin-Offs
It’s a rare, but spectacular thing—a fictional character comes to life for millions of readers worldwide. A truly remarkable character, like a catchy song, can be difficult to get out of your head and/or heart. One of the most beloved characters of all time, Sherlock Holmes, has appeared many times outside of an Arthur Conan Doyle novel. He’s been featured in movies, televisions shows, and, of course, books. Here is a list of seven books by authors so taken by the famous detective and his companions that they were compelled to add an episode to the ongoing saga of his life and times.
Mrs. Hudson and the Spirits’ Curse by Martin Davies
Mrs. Hudson is the name of Holmes’s newly appointed housekeeper. Along with Flottie, an orphan girl in her care, Mrs. Hudson takes it upon herself to help Holmes and Watson solve their latest case, which involves, as the title suggests, a curse from beyond the natural world. Yikes!
Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz
Spoiler Alert: Holmes isn’t in this one. Moriarty picks up where the Arthur Conan Doyle books end, with Holmes and his nemesis, the eponymous Moriarty, falling off a cliff. However, this thriller carries on the Holmes legacy by inhabiting the same world and injecting it with dark and urgent matters. A must read for any Holmes fan.
The Final Solution by Michael Chabon
An eighty-nine year old retired detective is the protagonist of this one. Though content in retirment, Holmes’ powers of detection are restimulated by a mute boy, whose parrot is stolen. Because this is written by Chabon, readers can expect a more subtle and emotionally profound story than many of the others on this list.
The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr
The Italian Secretary begins with Holmes in the midst of dealing with a series of assassination attempts on Queen Victoria. Throughout, the book is an interesting mix of darkness and humor. An entertaining read for anyone wanting to spend a little more time with Holmes and Watson.
A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin
A Slight Trick of the Mind, like Chabon’s book, picks up with Holmes in retirement. He’s 93 and living in a remote Sussex farmhouse with his housekeeper and her son. Also like the Chabon novel, Holmes emerges from retirment to solve one final case.
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King
As the title suggests, the beekeeper (Holmes) finds an apprentice named Mary Russel, who is an intellectual equal and helps Holmes solve the story’s mystery regarding the kidnapped daughter of an American senator.
Death Cloud by Andrew Lane
Unique among the novels on this list, Death Cloud, focuses on Holmes’ early years. In this novel, the first in a series, Holmes is fourteen and staying with his uncle and aunt while on break from boarding school. When two locals die with plague-like symptoms, Holmes sets out to discover what really happened.
Of course, Holmes has appeared in more books than the ones listed here. Let us know which ones we’ve missed and which Holmes spin-off is your favorite!
Featured image courtesy of http://bit.ly/1NPx0FP
by Afsheen Farhadi
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(Quincy, Illinois)
For Immediate Release January 28, 2000
BRIEFING BY
CHIEF OF STAFF JOHN PODESTA
Aboard Air Force One
En route Quincy, Illinois
MR. PODESTA: -- try to move on that. I think we've spent time on both sides of the aisle to try to move forward to see if we could find a way to move forward on modernizing Medicare and the prescription drug benefit. It's clear that they have ideas that are different than ours, but we're going to keep pressing the case to have a benefit that is a voluntary, but available to all seniors under the Medicare program and that will provide affordable drugs for them.
The President last fall met with Senator Roth and Moynihan, and Chairman Roth at that time pledged that this would be first order of business. You know, we're looking forward to trying to sit down and see if we can make progress on that.-- you know with regard to, specifically, what's their reaction, what do we - you know, we stayed up late, we got up early and came here, so we'll be doing that really over the weekend, and into next week.
Q Any nibbles on those retirement savings accounts? That's an idea that was run up the flagpole last year. You didn't get anywhere and you came back and you put a lot more into it this year. What's going on with that?
MR. PODESTA: Well, actually, we've kind of redesigned it. We've had about a $250 billion program last year on the USA accounts. This is, I think, a very attractive tax relief aimed at helping people save, create wealth, save for retirement. It's very consistent with ideas that have been put forward by both sides of the aisle on this. So we think we can get some traction on this. I talked to Senator Lieberman yesterday, who's been one of the leading proponents of this IDA concept, which we have expanded into the new retirement security accounts aspect. I think he's very excited, thinks we may be able to find some middle ground together.
Q What's going to make it different this time on that? Why would it be different?
MR. PODESTA: I think that USA accounts was maybe, it was very substantial and I think it was considered more in the context of creating individual - last year on the Hill it was, I think, considered more in the context of creating individual accounts within the Social Security system, itself. This year, I think, it's more clearly separated and we think we need to build and strengthen all the legs of the - of providing retirement security. And I think in that context we actually might get more interest and more support by both Democrats and Republicans.
Q When did you get to bed last night, finally?
MR. PODESTA: About 1:30 a.m., 2:00 a.m.
MR. LOCKHART: What does the White House think about losing Doug Sosnik?
MR. PODESTA: In my emotional farewell this morning - I'm sorry, at the senior staff meeting, in which people were lined up to get tickets in 2001 - (laughter) -- I said to the staff that I think that over the past many years Doug has provided the grease in the joints of the White House; that it would have been a lot of metal rubbing on metal if it hadn't been for Doug. And while probably no one in the room could exactly describe what Doug's job description was, we're going to miss him very, very much. He's been not only a great support to the President and a great advisor to the President, but I think a person whose made the White House staff really hum.
So I keep thinking this is a big trick and he's had so many run-ups to leaving that I decided this is just another head fake by having this Harris story appear in the Post, and it's not for real and I expected - when I heard he was going to Davis I realized he was going to probably be around for the rest of 2000. But they told me they're putting a press release out in New York today, so we're finally coming to grips with the fact that we might actually lose him.
Q How is it the President decided to go to Illinois for the second year in a row after State of the Union?
MR. PODESTA: Well, he likes coming back here. I think that we thought about coming back to a community that he had been to in the '92 campaign, or near a community that he had been to in the 1992 campaign. We looked around, we talked to Senator Durbin. And Quincy seemed like a great place to come and talk about progress that we've made since the President and Vice President came to office in 1993. We have, I think, a community that is very much looking forward to the President's visit. The Mayor just told me - you're already been briefed on this - that the last President who's been to Quincy was Teddy Roosevelt, which we didn't know when we made the decision, but seems sort of fitting, given the State of the Union last night.
Q It's also befitting the weather. Teddy Roosevelt loved going out in this kind of stuff.
MR. PODESTA: I don't think the President will be wearing a buffalo-skin coat - (laughter) - but I think we'll have a good time there today.
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We Used Some of Bill O’Reilly’s Favorite Bands to Bid Him Good Riddance
CLRVYNT Staff
Courtesy of Drew Angerer / Getty Images
It’s been a rough day for Bill O’Reilly, who officially waved sayonara to his beloved Fox News today. We figured that maybe we’d send him a playlist of a few songs, culled from his favorite artists, to help ease the “transition.”
THE EAGLES, "ONE OF THESE NIGHTS"
Cool story.
THE EAGLES, "BEST OF MY LOVE"
Is this a song you dedicate to your wife? Vom.
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG, "TEACH YOUR CHILDREN"
"Teach your children well, their father’s Hell did slowly go by / And feed them on your dreams, the one they pick’s the one you’ll know by"
TOWER OF POWER, "AM I A FOOL?"
On this highlight from the seminal Bay Area R&B outfit’s 1978 effort, We Came to Play!, Michael Jeffries scolds a female addressee for putting him to the test, when he’s just trying to do his best. “It makes me kinda wonder,” he asks, “Am I a fool?” Undoubtedly, O’Reilly’s been asking himself the same thing. The short answer is, no, Bill, you’re not a fool; you’re a chauvinistic pig.
THE DOORS, "ALABAMA SONG"
“Oh, show me the way to the next whiskey bar. Oh, don’t ask why”
LUTHER VANDROSS, "IF ONLY FOR ONE NIGHT / CREEPIN'"
They’re technically two separate songs, but Vandross’ The Night I Fell In Love ballads “If Only for One Night” and “Creepin’” are typically combined into a singular track, and for good reason. Ostensibly, Vandross is speaking about the pain and desperation inherent in a doomed romance on the former track when he coos, “I must be crazy / Standin' in this place / But I’m feeling no disgrace / For asking / Let me hold you tight / Just for one night” — but interpret it through the lens of its admirer’s heinous actions, and it scans as a pitiful proposition, one that the speaker knows is wrong. If only Bill-O thought the same.
THE BEATLES, "HERE COMES THE SUN"
It’s been dark for a very, very, very long time.
HALL & OATES, "OUT OF TOUCH"
The title says it all, in more ways than one.
EARTH, WIND & FIRE, "MOMENT OF TRUTH"
Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Moment of Truth” is a cautionary, semi-apocalyptic tale about coming to one’s senses before the titular cataclysm. (“Better come down / There’s gonna be a fire.”) “Just like you, I’m a guilty one,” Maurice “Moe” White admits, “Thinkin’ bout nothing but having me some fun.” But he also acknowledges that, “We all got to do our part” to turn the tables, urging the listener to “smother it” and “come on down.” It’s a shame the late legend’s words fell on deaf ears.
BROOK BENTON, "RAINY NIGHT IN GEORGIA"
You’ve admitted that this is your favorite song of all time. In light of recent events, take a good hard look at the lyrics and think about if they resonate anymore.
Hoverin’ by my suitcase
Tryin’ to find a warm place to spend the night
A heavy rain a-fallin’
Seems I hear your voice callin’
How many times I’ve wondered
It still comes out the same
No matter how you look at it, think of it
You just got to do your own thing
THE ROLLING STONES, "SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL"
Considering your affiliation with Fox News, you’d think this was about them. But considering the headlines today, we think this is about you.
THE ROLLING STONES, "YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT"
Is this true? Kind of feels like the people did.
BONUS TRACK: THE DIPLOMATS, "DIPSET ANTHEM (FT. CAM'RON, JUELZ SANTANA)"
Let’s be real, though: it wasn’t ALWAYS bad. In fact, I’d venture to say that this Cam’ron video was one of your highlights of all time. So, in honor of your last days, here’s one from the boys. U mad?
On a more serious note, though, this piece is intended to bid “good riddance” to O’Reilly by way of humor and irony, there is nothing funny about sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination in the workplace. This chauvinistic pig was brought down because women rose up and struck out against the systems of power that frequently endanger women in the workplace. If you or someone you know is in a similar position — or if you just want to take action against this sickening (and sadly, prevalent) problem — check out this list of resources, hotlines and organizations devoted to fighting gender-based discrimination, courtesy of the Feminist Majority Foundation.
Start Today: 50+ Artists on Where We Go After Donald Trump
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http://modx.com/
MODX Evolution is the classic codebase of the popular, open source content management system and framework built in PHP. MODX gives designers and developers total creative freedom over the design, content, Manager interface and site structure. In July 2007, MODX was awarded Packt Publishing's Most Promising Open Source Content Management System award. MODX Revolution is the Open Source PHP web content management system that gives you complete control over your site and content, with the flexibility and scalability to grow with your business. With our first release in 2005, you could build HTML5/CSS3 websites, years before the others caught a clue. MODX’s template method doesn’t forc
MODx sites showcase, 1913 sites using MODx
< 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 > Last ›
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Ringwood Family Crest, Coat of Arms and Name History
1) (Barshfield, co. Bants). Ar. a chev. Chequy or and sa. betw. three moorcocks ppr. beaked and legged gu.
2) (co. Norfolk). Ar. a chev. lozengy or and gu. betw. three rooks sa.
3) Ar. a chev. lozengy or and sa. betw. three rooks of the third. Crest—A goat running towards a tree ppr.
4) (Fun. Ent. Ulster's Office, 1679, Margaret, dau. of William Ringwood, and wife of John Golborne, non of William Glborne, Bishop of Kildare). Ar. a chev. chequy or and sa. betw. three martlets az.
Origin, Meaning, Family History and Ringwood Coat of Arms and Family Crest
Ringwood Coat of Arms Meaning
The four main devices (symbols) in the Ringwood blazon are the moorcock, chequy, chessrook and martlet. The three main tinctures (colors) are or, sable and argent .
The bright yellow colour frequently found in coats of arms is known to heralds as Or, or sometimes simply as Gold.1. Along with, argent, or silver it forms the two “metals” of heraldry – one of the guidelines of heraldic design is that silver objects should not be placed upon gold fields and vice versa 2. The yellow colour is often associated with the Sun, and the zodiacal sign of Leo.3.
The Moor cock occurs in a number of coats of arms but always seems to be reference to the family name (e.g. MOORE) rather than having any special significance as a type of bird. 9
Chequy (a word with a surprising number of different spellings!) is what is known as a treatment, a repeating pattern usually used to fill the whole background of the shield with a series of alternately coloured squares 10. These squares are usually quite small (there should be at least 20 in total), giving the appearance of a chess board, but any combination of colours may be used. It can also be used as a patterning on some of the larger ordinaries, such as the pale and fess, in which case there are three rows of squares. Wade, an authority on heraldic meaning groups chequy with all those heraldic features that are composed of squares and believes that they represent “Constancy”, but also quotes another author Morgan, who says that they can also be associated with “wisdom…verity, probity…and equity”, and offers in evidence the existence of the common English saying that an honest man is a ”Square Dealer” 11.
Although we expect to find fierce creatures and fearsome weapons depicted in a coat of arms this is not always the case – sometimes simple household objects are used 12. The Chess Rook is a typical example of this and has been used in heraldry almost from the beginning. The word “rook” comes not from the bird but from the Italian word rocca, a “castle” or “tower”. 13
2 A Complete Guide to Heraldry, A.C. Fox-Davies, Bonanza (re-print of 1909 Edition), New York, 1978, P85
9 A Glossary of Terms used in British Heraldry, J.H. Parker, Oxford, 1894, Entry:Moor-cock
10 A Glossary of Terms used in British Heraldry, J.H. Parker, Oxford, 1894, Entry:Chequy
11 The Symbolisms of Heraldry, W. Cecil Wade, George Redway, London, 1898 P100
13 A Glossary of Terms used in British Heraldry, J.H. Parker, Oxford, 1894, Entry:Chess-rook
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Minimalism, Music
The Early Steve Reich (1965 – 1969)
Part of a continuing installment on Minimalism, in which I take a listen through the history of postmodern classical’s most influential movement.
Shifting phases
The immediate post-war period was over; a modernization of culture had begun. Total serialism and tone clusters no longer holding sway, the next evolution for avant-garde classical music was to turn inward. Back to the basics. Minimalism.
Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians (1978) is the absolute peak of minimalism—an hour-long, ambient trance that elevates the listener to a higher being. To my ears, it contends with The Rite of Spring as Greatest Classical Work of the 20th Century. The man is a genius, pure and simple.
But, Music for 18 Musicians is far more advanced and accessible than minimalism’s murky beginnings in the 1960s. Reich, along with Terry Riley, Philip Glass and La Monte Young, experimented with music that moved at a snail’s pace; exploring the very nature of song and sound through drone and repetition.
Before he began working with orchestras, Reich’s forte was phasing—repeated, looped patterns that gradually shift in and out of unison. With this, Reich was able to explore the very nature of rhythm and melody down to its bare bones. Spoken word or instrumental samples are piled atop each other until they are indistinguishable from the original, creating a symphony of impenetrable and undeniable sound.
The importance of these techniques has been influential beyond belief, but do they still stand up today as enjoyable works of art? That is, can they still be listened to, first and foremost, as music? After all, music is for the makers, not the philosophers—which is why rock and roll was getting pretty popular around this time.
It pleases me to report that Steve Reich’s early works still contain their original, revolutionary fire. The great thing about minimalism is that everything is clear-cut and precise—the vision of the composer is not hidden; the roots of Music for 18 Musicians are plain to see in Come Out. These primitive compositions are postmodern avant-garde at its finest—akin to the greatness behind Yves Klein’s IKB 191 or Kenneth Noland’s Bridge.
Here are my reviews.
It’s Gonna Rain (1965)
A mad black preacher raves about the end of the world. Lo-fi street recordings in the background, the sound of pigeons flying off is even audible. Then, like a CD skipping, the phrase “it’s gonna rain” is frantically stunted and replayed over and over and over again. It becomes warped and looped almost beyond recognition. “Part 1” gets by because of the idea behind it—it’s kind of like repeating the word “wire,” or any random word, over and over again until it loses all meaning, until it becomes absurd. It’s gonna rain, it always has and it always will.
“Part 2” gets by because it switches up the pattern, only this time it maintains interest easier because the new pattern has more words. Simple as that. More words and more tape manipulations, which means a little more bounce and rhythm, as music tends to go. A little more noise, too—by the end, the recurring motif has been transformed into lo-fi scuzz.
It was a highly influential and groundbreaking piece, the philosophy of a new movement bottled up into proto-hip-hop sample-splicing. But DJ Reich is only getting started, still learning the ins and outs. This isn’t essential by any means, only for fans of Reich and minimalism, but since I am a fan of both, I can’t deny a good lark when I hear one.
Come Out (1966)
The voice begins, a black kid’s voice, 19-year-old Daniel Hamm, a member of the Harlem Six: “I had to, like, open the bruise up, and let some of the bruise blood come out to show them.” The phrase repeats. It’s a call to arms, civil rights and fuck tha police. However, the fragmented “Come out to show them”—which is soon the only thing being repeated, ad infinitum—is as mysterious and intriguing a phrase as ever there was.
“Come out to show them. Come out to show them.” The “lyric” is so magnetic and unnerving because of its grammatical irregularities—can you ever recall a time when you have used or heard this particular group of words in this particular order? Semantics be damned. “Come out to show them.” In the full quote, “bruise blood” is what’s coming out, while “them” is the police. But that’s easy to forget. The phrase loses all meaning, but takes on new ones, projecting emotion: it is revolutionary, it is frightening, it is prophetic, it is powerful.
Because of its strangeness, “come out to show them” rolls off the tongue and blankets the ears beautifully—much like the phrase “cellar door,” according to Donnie Darko. A lot of that has to do with the soft-spoken voice, a pleasant contrast when compared to the mad preacher of It’s Gonna Rain. It’s poetic, really. Once the phase shifting begins and the two original loops are doubled, “come out to show them” becomes its own melody, its own rhythm, its own music.
I give credit to Wikipedia here: the widening discrepancies between the repeated loops first produce a reverberation, and, later, almost a canon. After all, this is still classical music, in case you’ve forgotten. Canon in D, anyone?
Reich has perfected early minimalism’s main goal with this piece: marking the transformation from sound to music. Like the best of the genre, Come Out is easy to lose yourself in. But, this is not ambient, by any means; this is process music. Eventually, the piece almost becomes ocean (to quote a more recent, post-minimalist work) and soon there is nothing left but whirring noise. A confidently, inglourious end.
Captain Beefheart quotes it in on Trout Mask Replica, but Come Out was the 1960s’ original My Avant-Garde Gets Me Blues. Certainly, the best of Reich’s early years and probably his second greatest composition overall.
Reed Phase (1967)
OK, so Reich is starting to experiment with actual melody now, along with actual instruments. The magnetic tape stays, though. Reed Phase calls for soprano saxophone and circular breathing, but it doesn’t have the same touch as Reich’s previous works. It’s just a phase.
Piano Phase (1967)
Reich tries out his phasing techniques with live instruments—in this case, two pianos. It’s a success, providing the building blocks for a piece like Music for 18 Musicians. It wears out its welcome—one melody, two pianos, twenty minutes—but it provides some noteworthy insight into the very nature of melody. Even though the same notes remain constant, new melodies are created at the tip of a hat, the flip of a coin, the tempi shift of a phase. From nothing comes something, and from something comes anything and everything.
This one’s a little safer for all my ambient friends; at times, it sounds like it’s raining pianos outside, which is the piece’s greatest accomplishment. A true oxymoron, this work was a huge step in the advancement of minimalism past its primitive stages.
Through repetition comes power. I’m a big fan of Swans and E2-E4. Piano Phase is a monotonous miracle cure. It also has a good ending—concluding loudly with one piano, a confident declaration of purpose. Good luck trying to play it solo.
Violin Phase (1967)
Voice of Fire by Barnett Newman, 1967
Reich touches base with his classical roots thanks to the instrument choice here. I’ll tell you right now, I prefer violin concertos to piano concertos, and this is somewhat a phase-shifting minimalist version of that. Good melody, good spatial acoustics, good emotionless undercurrents. Passes the test for me, but, unlike Piano Phase, I wish it could have gone on longer.
To throw my hat in the ring, I will personally commission ($200) any composer to blend Reich’s early style with my all-time favorite instrument: Pedal Steel Guitar Phase. Make it happen.
Pendulum Music (1968)
We all need a good joke once in a while, and what better joke than a symphony for microphones? Four mics are hung from cables, dangling over speakers, four people each grab one, step about four feet back, release and let gravity do the rest. A feedback loop is created when the mics pass over the speakers and it slows down as the pendulums swing. At the end, the performers come in and pull the plugs.
A good piece of performance art, and another sly twisting of “found sound” into “music.” And, yes, I’m wondering just as much as you are: did Vince Staples sample this for “Norf Norf?”
August 30, 2017 September 17, 2017 colinsreviewArt music, Classical music, Come Out, featured, Minimalism, Music for 18 Musicians, Music review, Piano Phase, Steve Reich, Violin Phase
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prague and nigeria after the world war
Main Forces and Factors Accounting for European Hegemony over the World
Sun Ra Remains to be One of the Biggest and Famous Icons in the Jazz Industry
Prague and Nigeria after the World War II
Prague during the Communist Era and the German Occupation
Prague is known for its cosmopolitan nature. It was occupied by the Jews, Germans, and Czechs. In 1939, Germany took over the city and subjected it to the Nazi rules. It was the time when Jews were eliminated from the city. Most of the Jews were killed during the holocaust, while others fled away from the city. By the end of the World War II, the number of Jews in Prague was extremely low. Prague was under Germany rule until the Soviet Union took it over in February 1948 . As a result, the Soviet Union took charge of the city, and imposed its socialist policies on it. During the occupation of the communists, little effort was done to promote the city. For example, the Soviet Union did not offer incentives to workers in the city. As a result, they fled to find greener pastures outside the city. Apart from that, the Soviet Union did not provided the city with modern heating equipment. The city used coal which made it one of the most polluted cities in Europe.
Nigeria under Corruption of Politicians
Since the inception of the public administration, Nigeria has remained one of the most corrupted states in the world. It is ascribed to the numerous cases when political leaders have been accused of using public resources for their own personal gain. This state boasts of regions rich in natural gas and petroleum oil. Unfortunately, the population of this state remains the poorest due to embezzlement of funds resulting from these valuable commodities. At one point, a politician named Obafemi Awolowo once said that Nigeria is akin to a cow as only a few accesses its huge supply of milk. The high rate of corruption in Nigeria is attributed to colonialism since it resulted for many Nigerians in ignorance and poverty . The Babangida administration is perceived as the major proponent of corruption. During this era, there was the Gulf Windfall of 12.4 billion dollars which were not accounted.
Reasons for Choosing the Two Examples above for Discussion
The two highlighted examples were selected for discussion due to a number of reasons. One of them is that Nigeria was a state that underwent colonialism and globalization at the same time. It was ruled by the British colonial masters . During colonial days, the colonialists controlled the oil regions rich in oil and used the funds from the mines for self-gain. A few Nigerians gained from it since the colonial government did not develop the country using money accrued out of oil business. As a result, people languished in poverty and illiteracy.
Another reason why Nigeria was chosen is because it took part in fighting against colonialism. It occurred when the Nigerians took their weapons to fight colonialists. Having participated in the World War II, soldiers who came back from the war had been exposed. For example, while at the war front, they met people from various regions that had successfully fought colonialism. As they interacted, soldiers learnt from each other ways of ending colonialism. Therefore, when they came back, they mobilized people wage a decolonization war.
Prague was chosen to be a point of discussion in this essay due to its direct interaction with both the communists and the Nazi regimes. It is a city that was cosmopolitan. Therefore, it had various cultures making it one of the most polarized states during and after the World War II. Apart from that, this essay is covering Cold War as one of its aspects. As a matter of fact, under no circumstance can one discuss Cold War without mentioning the events of communism . Having been under the communism rule, Prague certainly is a good example to use for this discussion. From the events, it is factual that Prague was once a colony of Germany. It means that it is a good example to use this essay, given that decolonization is a cardinal aspect that the discourse seeks to dissect. As a consequence, Prague cannot be unmentioned in this particular discussion.
How the Themes of Decolonization, Cold War, and Globalization Played Out
Noteworthy, decolonization is the process that many states engaged in to free countries which were under the colonial yoke. It was a radical process which involved both military engagements and peaceful negotiations that saw a number of African states freed from colonization. Cold War is a kind of strive that does not involve physical engagement. Instead, countries involved in a Cold War strived to outdo their nemesis in terms of socio-economic and political aspects . During the Cold War, two major powers existed. They include the former USSR and the United States of America. Globalization refers to the general growth of states across the sphere.
It involves a scenario where people within the sphere exchange views and ideas regarding social, economic, and political development. It is facilitated through development of communication and transport facilities. From the above-mentioned definitions, it is clear that the theme of decolonization emanates. Since Nigeria was a colony of Britain, there was a time when the people of Nigeria decided to end the colonial era. They went ahead to wage military warfare against the white minority rule. With assistance of independent African states such as Ghana, Nigeria was decolonized. Equally, the occupation of Germany in Prague was a form of colonization. To emancipate themselves from the colonial yoke, residents of Prague waged an uprising known as the Prague Uprising which occurred on May 5th 1945.
Regarding the theme of Cold War, it is clear that the Soviet Union's decision to help Prague overcome the Nazi regime was aimed at finding an ally . That is why, in 1968, the Soviet Union took over the general leadership of Prague. The city offered its support to the Soviet Union in the Cold War with the United States of America.
In terms of globalization theme, one would note that its effect was not exhibited in a great extent. In any case, globalization was extremely suppressed during the early days which followed the World War II. Countries lacked the financial support to promote globalization since they had had their economies crumbled due to the World War II.
The Nature of the World after the World War II
In conclusion, the world after World War II was characterized by suspicion, arms race, and competition to garner allies. Apart from that, the post war era opened up channels to end colonialism. Regarding suspicion, the US and the Soviet Union engaged in rivalry that sparked a series of wars among their allies. For instance, the Vietnam War is attributed to the rivalry between the two . Various states had been weakened by the war. Therefore, they sought for ways of reconstructing their economies. ,Securing areas rich in ,minerals within Asia and West African states were among them. It explains why there has been an endless armed conflict in the Congo basin region. Also, corruption rate in Nigeria is quite high since outside forces have influenced the mining activities in Nigeria leading to unending corruption. In general, the events following the World War II were a concoction of positive and negative ones. The manner in which every affected state reacted and handled such events determined its level of development. It could be the reason why there is a discrepancy in terms of socio-economic development among states six decades down the line.
JSTOR Assignment
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The largest city in Minnesota, Minneapolis teams with its twin, St. Paul, to create the 14th-largest metropolitan area in the United States. The region — which stands behind only Chicago as the largest economic center in the Midwest with iconic Fortune 500 brand names like Target, U.S. Bancorp, Xcel Energy and Ameriprise Financial. Yet the most dominating force in the city is the main campus of the University of Minnesota, which has more than 50,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. Minneapolis is also home to a wide variety of sports and entertainment figures, most notably Grammy Award winner Prince, who has sold more than 100 million records worldwide (led by his 1984 Purple Rain soundtrack). Other entertainment figures associated with the city are Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, folk singer Bob Dylan and television’s Mary Tyler Moore, who is commemorated with a downtown statue. Additionally, Minneapolis has hosted many huge sporting events, from the Super Bowl to the World Series to the NCAA Final Four. In May 2014, the NFL announced that its Super Bowl would return in 2018.
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Leprosy can be wiped out – Expert
By Agencies For Citizen Digital
Published on: January 15, 2016 09:07 (EAT)
Millions of people live with the effects of leprosy and tens of thousands of new cases are reported every year, but the debilitating disease can be eliminated given enough resources, an organisation helping to curb the disease said.
It is one of the oldest known diseases, first mentioned in written records in 600 BC, and affects the poorest and most marginalised communities. If untreated, it can lead to permanent disability.
Although the number of cases has plummeted from 5.2 million in 1985 to about 210,000 a year now, it still exists in more than 100 countries. The majority of cases are found in India, Brazil and Indonesia.
“The last mile is the most difficult one and the most expensive one, and one where you need most innovation and resources,” said Ann Aerts, head of the Novartis Foundation.
The foundation has run leprosy programmes for decades and is working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to reduce the spread of the disease.
“We cannot give up … now that we are almost there,” Aerts said in a telephone interview from Basel, Switzerland.
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The WHO has made free treatment available globally since 1995, initially through the Nippon Foundation, and since 2000 through the pharmaceutical company Novartis and the Novartis Foundation.
In 2000, when the number of cases fell to less than one in 10,000 people, the WHO declared leprosy was no longer a public health problem, and the political and financial commitment to curbing the disease then dropped, Aerts said.
“With that we saw a drastic drop in case detection rate as well, which was definitely not linked to a decline in transmission but most probably a decline in reporting or diagnosing of leprosy,” she added.
Leprosy, a bacterial infection, is curable using a combination of three drugs. But it can only be diagnosed once visible symptoms appear, and this can take up to 20 years.
It is spread through droplets from the nose and mouth, after frequent contact with a sufferer.
One way of stopping the disease from spreading is to trace all contacts of patients and give them preventative treatment.
Because the disease carries a stigma going back centuries, many sufferers are afraid to come forward for help, or are reluctant to let friends and neighbours be contacted for preventative treatment.
People who develop disabilities from leprosy are often excluded from their families and their work, and women may find it harder to marry if they are known to have the disease, Aerts said.
Women are much less likely to be diagnosed than men – they comprised just 36 percent of new cases in 2014, WHO figures show.
Nearly 10 percent of new cases are children, according to the WHO, which is developing a strategy to improve early detection by 2020 and stop all children from developing deformities.
“Children with leprosy don’t get a chance,” Aerts said.
“They start their lives excluded because they have no more fingers or they cannot close their eyes any more, and you see how they suffer because they were not diagnosed in time.”
Adult patients may have been infected years before they were diagnosed, but children catching the disease is a sign the infection is being spread now.
“It’s very worrying that this is still the case,” Aerts said.
“That’s what is driving us to diagnose people earlier, to make sure we see fewer and fewer children with the disease, which would mean … the disease is being transmitted less and less.”
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Kathryn Cramer
Kathryn Cramer lives in Westport, NY. She is an editor of Project Hieroglyph, inspired by Neal Stephenson and sponsored by the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University. Her story “Am I Free to Go?” was published by Tor.com in December 2012.
She is a writer, critic, and anthologist who co-edited the Year’s Best Fantasy and Year’s Best SF series with David G. Hartwell. Her most recent historical anthologies include The Space Opera Renaissance and The Hard SF Renaissance, both co-edited with Hartwell. Their previous hard SF anthology was The Ascent of Wonder(1994).
Kathryn was the P. Schuyler Miller Critic Guest of Honor at Confluence 2008 in Pittsburgh, PA. She won a World Fantasy Award for best anthology for The Architecture of Fear co-edited with Peter Pautz; she was nominated for a World Fantasy Award for her anthology, Walls of Fear. She also co-edited several anthologies of Christmas and fantasy stories with Hartwell.
She was a runner-up for the Pioneer Award for best essay on SF of the year, and is on the editorial board of The New York Review of Science Fiction, for which she has been nominated for the Hugo Award many times. John Clute has called her criticism “spiky” and “erudite.”
She is a consultant for L. W. Currey, Inc., an antiquarian bookseller and for five years, consulted for Wolfram Research, a mathematical software company. She is co-owner of an apple orchard in Westport, NY.
Project Hieroglyph Book Launch: Phoenix, AZ
Enough With Dystopias: It’s Time For Sci-Fi Writers To Start Imagining Better Futures
Posted in Imaginary CollegeTagged imaginary college, philosopher
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You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Cologne Opera’ tag.
Solti 23: Sharing the podium
August 29, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: Angel, Augsburg Opera, Berlin Philharmonic, Carlo Maria Giulini, Chicago Symphony Chorus, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Claudio Abbado, Cologne Opera, Daniel Barenboim, Deutsche Grammophon, Erato, Fritz Reiner, Henry Mazer, Irwin Hoffman, István Kertész, James Levine, Jean Martinon, Kenneth Jean, La Scala, London Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Margaret Hillis, Metropolitan Opera, Michael Morgan, Oakland East Bay Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Ravinia Festival, Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti, Solti 100, Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna State Opera | Leave a comment
During his twenty-two years as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1969 until 1991), Sir Georg Solti shared the podium with several other titled conductors, who served in a variety of capacities.
Irwin Hoffman
Irwin Hoffman was appointed assistant conductor by Jean Martinon in 1964 and was promoted to associate conductor the following year. After Martinon’s departure and before Solti’s arrival, Hoffman served as the CSO’s acting music director for the 1968-69 season and held the title of conductor for the 1969-70 season.
Carlo Maria Giulini was the CSO’s first principal guest conductor, serving in that capacity for three seasons, beginning in 1969-70. A frequent guest conductor, Giulini appeared and recorded (for Angel and Deutsche Grammophon) with the Orchestra numerous times between 1955 and 1978, after which he began his tenure as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. (An excellent biography of Giulini—Serving Genius—was recently published by the University of Illinois Press.)
From 1982 until 1985, Claudio Abbado was the Orchestra’s second principal guest conductor. He also conducted and recorded (for Deutsche Grammophon) with the CSO numerous times between 1971 and 1991. Also during that time, he was music director at La Scala (1968 until 1986), principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (1979 until 1987), music director of the Vienna State Opera (1986 until 1991), and chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic (beginning in 1989).
Henry Mazer
A former protégé of Fritz Reiner, Henry Mazer was appointed by Solti in 1970 as associate conductor, and he served the CSO in that capacity for sixteen years until 1986. He became music director of the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra in 1985.
Margaret Hillis
Founder and longtime chorus director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Margaret Hillis was hired by Fritz Reiner in 1957 and was the first woman to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in November of that year. Of course, she prepared the Chorus for virtually all choral concerts during Solti’s tenure as music director, worked very closely with Solti on countless recordings, and appeared frequently as a guest conductor with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Kenneth Jean
In 1986, Sir Georg Solti appointed two American-born associate conductors, Kenneth Jean and Michael Morgan. Each served the Orchestra until 1993. In 1986, Jean also became music director of the Florida Symphony Orchestra. Morgan was named music director of the Oakland East Bay Symphony in 1990 and music director of the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra in 1997.
István Kertész
At the Ravinia Festival, two conductors served as titled conductors during Sir Georg Solti’s tenure. Fellow Hungarian István Kertész first led the CSO at Ravinia in 1967 and was principal conductor from 1970 until 1972. Prior to that, his posts included: chief conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra in Hungary, general music director of the Augsburg Opera, general music director of the Cologne Opera, and principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.
On June 24, 1971, twenty-eight-year-old James Levine replaced an indisposed Kertész in a performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus at the Ravinia Festival. (He had made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera only a few weeks earlier, on June 5). Shortly thereafter, he was named the festival’s music director beginning in the summer of 1973 and held the post for twenty years, until 1993. Levine has been the longtime music director of the Metropolitan Opera since 1976.
Daniel Barenboim first guest conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1970, and he subsequently was a frequent visitor on the podium and in recording (for Angel, Deutsche Grammophon, and Erato). On January 30, 1989, The Orchestral Association announced that he would become the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s ninth music director, beginning in September 1991 (he had also succeeded Solti as music director of the Orchestra de Paris in 1975). Barenboim was given the title music director designate.
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Insight Sciences
BBC stats review: an ambitious vision for data journalism
September 5, 2016 January 17, 2018 Richard Keen 1127 Views Penny Young
Last week saw the BBC Trust publish an impartiality review about the BBC’s reporting of statistics. Statistics are a fundamental… component of a thriving democracy: helping us understand our lives as citizens, how things are changing, how public services are performing, and whether interventions by authorities are making a difference. And so the BBC’s reporting of statistics are a key part of democratic accountability, since our major public Broadcaster has a unique role in explaining statistics to citizens.
An excellent report…
It’s an excellent report, hardly surprising given the involvement of a former National Statistician, a former Editor of the Times, a professor of public understanding of risk (and next President of the Royal Statistical Society), and the Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
It focuses largely on the BBC’s reporting of others’ statistics, although there are references to the BBC’s commissioning of polls and social experiments.
And it doesn’t bash the BBC, indeed it praises many examples of good work – but it does also highlight where the BBC can do better.
… highlighting where the BBC does well, and can do better
In particular, the report points out how statistics aren’t always contextualised (e.g. through setting them in the context of comparators or long term trends). It urges the BBC to go beyond the headlines, with greater challenge and to do a bit of additional analysis. It found too many examples of the BBC reporting increases/decreases in the level of risk without reporting absolute risk levels; and a tendency to overplay small movements that might not be meaningful or statistically significant.
It paints a picture of the BBC where there are some confident journalists using statistics brilliantly in their work, but where many journalists lack confidence in using statistics and don’t know where to seek support. It identifies action to institutionalise the BBC’s statistics capability, including recommending the reinstatement of the Head of Statistics post in BBC News, developing clear guidance, and continuing with Reality Check.
Making data a “cornerstone” of BBC News coverage…
The BBC’s response accepts all of this. And then it goes much further: “The BBC has a plan to develop data journalism as a cornerstone of its reporting and analysis in all areas of News coverage”.
This is very welcome, although growing a sustainable and institutionally supported data journalism outfit won’t be easy. Many organisations are trying to grow their capability and capacity in data analytics and some of the challenges for the BBC will be resourcing, growing a quantitative unit in a largely literary news culture, getting to know the myriad of sources and developing skills and tools, and of course inculcating news values in the team. A substantive increase in data journalism will also come with an increase in challenges from a wide range of external players and doubtless rows and complaints.
… a bold aim for an ambitious response
In this context, I would just tease the BBC about its response. Given the report has in effect said the BBC can do better on the basics, the plan to develop data journalism as a ‘cornerstone’ of reporting in its response is bold. It’s as if you have been told your long jump would be a bit better if you developed your technique, and you said ‘yeah yeah, but actually, I’m also going to become a brilliant all-round practitioner of the heptathlon’.
Good data journalism looks “beyond the headline”…
But despite the difficulty, it is worth doing. A step change in use of data journalism has the hugely positive potential to change the news agenda for the better. The report mentions an astonishing figure from an earlier review of science in 2011 where Imperial College found that around 80% of its sample of 55 research based stories appeared to emanate from a press release. What’s more, the current review noted “a tendency to report statistics straight from a press release, without necessarily going “beyond the headline””.
…breaking news, not just reporting it
Good data journalism frees you from this PR tyranny – it allows you to decide what to explore, and to break news, not simply to report it. It allows a broadcaster to say ‘this is important’, to be issue led, and less reactive. The public can only benefit.
We’re delighted the BBC is committing to these ambitions…
As the House of Commons Librarian, with a crack team of researchers including data analysts and statisticians who produce detailed data driven analyses of topical and fundamental issues, we’re familiar with many of the issues, and I’m delighted that the BBC is committing to entering this space.
… and wish it the very best of luck
I wish it well as it develops from an institution with a small number of brilliant pioneers in this area to institutionalising the capability, sustaining and exploiting it. If the BBC really does add brilliant data analysis and sourcing to its formidable skills of speed, clarity and storytelling, this will mark a step change for data journalism.
Penny Young is Librarian and Director General, Information Services, House of Commons. Previously she was Chief Executive, NatCen Social Research, which conducts the long running British Social Attitudes survey.
Picture Credit: New Broadcasting House by Alexander Svensson; Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0)
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DZS Press Releases
Pineapple Hospitality Selects FiberLAN from DASAN Zhone Solutions to Provide High-Speed Internet Access for Guests at The Alise Hotel in San Francisco
Low guest disruption during installation of FiberLAN GPON in 100-year-old hotel
Oakland, Calif. – Nov. 1, 2016 – When Pineapple Hospitality, a property management company for boutique hotels on the West Coast, began planning the remodel of its historic hotel property, The Alise, the management team set out to update the Internet infrastructure. They needed to find a high-performance bandwidth solution that would support triple-play services and could be installed in a 100-year-old building. In addition, they wanted the Internet network to be live during the three-month remodel of the hotel, which they kept open for guests during construction. To accommodate these requirements, Pineapple Hospitality deployed a FiberLAN Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) from DASAN Zhone Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: DZSI) at the 93-room boutique hotel in the heart of San Francisco.
“When planning for the remodel of The Alise, our goal was to find a solution that would allow us to maintain Internet services to guests during the remodel period. We realized that we didn’t have a lot of room to install wiring, and we didn’t want to rip up all of the floors and ceilings throughout the hotel,” says David Thomson, chief information officer for Pineapple Hospitality. “We chose FiberLAN because of its small footprint, high-bandwidth, low disruption to guests and its lifespan of more than 25 years – we needed a solution that doesn’t have to be replaced in the near future.”
The Alise hotel building is more than 100 years old, and Pineapple Hospitality’s goal was to maintain the unique character of the historic building, opting not to dismantle the existing floors and ceilings. One necessary renovation was installing a new elevator, which replaced the area that once served as a technology closet. Pineapple Hospitality turned to DASAN Zhone Solutions to evaluate The Alise property and create a network design for the building. To avoid removing the floors and ceilings, the network was designed so that the fiber optic cabling could be installed within a compact pathway that spans from the bottom floor all the way to the roof and then directly to each guest room. The design also included robust bandwidth capabilities and throughput of one gigabit to each guest room.
Because the FiberLAN footprint is small, all the network equipment is housed in one technology closet in the basement, including the DASAN Zhone Solutions MXK-194-10GE aggregation platform. With the new infrastructure, the hotel eliminated additional technology closets on each floor and is now able to use the space for storage and linen closets, improving response times to guests. Each guest room is equipped with a 2624P Optical Network Terminal (ONT) with Power Over Ethernet (PoE) capabilities to guests with high speed Internet access, voice, video and data services.
About DASAN Zhone Solutions, Inc. DASAN Zhone Solutions, Inc., is a global leader in broad-based network access solutions. The company provides solutions in five major product areas including, broadband access, Ethernet switching, mobile backhaul, passive optical LAN (POL) and software defined networks (SDN). More than 750 of the world’s most innovative network operators, service providers and enterprises turn to DASAN Zhone Solutions for fiber access transformation. The IP Zhone is the only solution that enables service providers to build the network of the future today, supporting end-to-end voice, data, entertainment, social media, business, mobile backhaul and mobility service. DASAN Zhone Solutions is committed to building the fastest and highest quality All IP Multi-Service solution for its customers. DASAN Zhone is headquartered in Oakland, California.
DASAN Zhone Solutions, the DASAN Zhone Solutions logo, and all DASAN Zhone Solutions product names are trademarks of DASAN Zhone Solutions, Inc. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective holders. Specifications, products, and/or product names are all subject to change without notice.
Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements that are entitled to the protection of the safe harbors contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including forward-looking statements regarding the timing of the integration, the anticipated benefits, operating efficiencies and cost synergies that may be achieved in connection with the acquisition of Dasan Network Solutions, the degree to which the combined company will alter the competitive landscape in its industry and the combined company’s ability to successfully fulfill its customers’ needs. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed in or contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include the possibility that the intended benefits of the acquisition may not be fully realized, the failure of the combined company to retain key employees, the failure of the combined company to manage the cost of integrating the businesses and assets of Zhone and Dasan Network Solutions, general economic conditions, the pace of spending and timing of economic recovery in the telecommunications industry, the combined company’s inability to sufficiently anticipate market needs and develop products and product enhancements that achieve market acceptance, and higher than anticipated expenses the combined company may incur in future quarters. In addition, please refer to the risk factors contained in DASAN Zhone’s SEC filings, including without limitation, the definitive proxy statement filed on August 8, 2016, DASAN Zhone’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and DASAN Zhone’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2016, as amended. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. DASAN Zhone undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.
DASAN Zhone Solutions, the DASAN Zhone Solutions logo, and all DASAN Zhone product names are trademarks of DASAN Zhone Solutions, Inc. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective holders. Specifications, products, and/or products names are all subject to change without notice.
Head of Global Marketing - DZS
Mario Blandini
mblandini@dasanzhone.com
DASAN Zhone Investor Relations
investor-relations@dasanzhone.com
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Posts Tagged ‘Oscar Charlestown’
Gus Greenlee’s Field In Pittsburgh’s Hill District
Greenlee Field was located at the intersection of Bedford Avenue and Junilla Street in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. From 1932 until 1938 it was the home of the Pittsburgh Crawfords of the Negro National League (the Crawfords joined the NNL in 1933).
Former Site of Greenlee Field, Intersection of Bedford Avenue and Junilla Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Greenlee Field is important not just because it was the home field of arguably the greatest Negro League team of all time – the 1935 Pittsburgh Crawfords – but because it was the first major league ballpark owned and operated by an African American. Gus Greenlee, the owner of the Crawfords, began construction of Greenlee Field in 1931, the same year he bought the team. Greenlee, a WWI veteran, wore many hats. In addition to owning the Crawfords, he was a boxing promoter, nightclub owner (the Crawford Grill), and a pioneer in Pittsburgh’s numbers racket (an illegal lottery).
Gus Greenlee, Owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords (photographer unknown)
Crawford Grill No. 1, which Greenlee opened in 1930, was located at the intersection of Crawford Street and Wylie Avenue at 1401 Wylie Avenue. Crawford Grill No. 1 was destroyed by fire in 1951 and subsequently demolished to make way for the Civic Arena parking lot. Crawford Street was an important part of the Hill District and provided the inspiration for the team’s name, the Pittsburgh Crawfords. At the intersection of Crawford Street and Wylie Avenue also stood the Pittsburgh Bath House and Recreation Center, which was the original sponsor of the then semi-professional Pittsburgh Crawfords.
Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Circa 2006
The building in which Greenlee opened Crawford Grill No. 2, beginning in 1943, still stands in Pittsburgh’s Hill District at the intersection of Wylie Avenue and Elmore Street, just a half mile southwest of the Greenlee Field site.
Crawford Grill No. 2, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Historical Marker for Crawford Grill No. 2, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
In 1933, Greenlee founded the Negro National League and was instrumental in establishing the East-West Classic, an annual Negro League all-star game played in Chicago. During his tenure as owner of the Crawfords, which ceased after the 1938 season, Greenlee stocked his team with many future Hall of Fame players including Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Oscar Charlestown, Judy Johnson and James T. “Cool Papa” Bell. The 1935 Crawfords, which included the above Hall of Famers, except Paige, is considered by many to be the greatest Negro League team ever to play the game.
Historical Marker, Greenlee Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Greenlee Field’s home plate, and the entrance to its grandstand, was located near the intersection Bedford Avenue and Junilla Street.
Entrance to Greenlee Field on Bedford Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Associated Press Photo)
After the 1938 season, Greenlee Field was demolished. Several images of the ballpark in its hey day can be viewed on line by searching “Greenlee Field” in the Teenie Harris Archives, Carnegie Museum of Art (Charles “Teenie” Harris was one of the founders of the semi-pro Pittsburgh Crawfords in 1926). Soon after demolition of Greenlee Field, the City of Pittsburgh began construction of the Bedford Dwellings housing project, which remains today at the ballpark’s former site.
Former Site of Greenlee FIeld, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Greenlee Field’s left field corner was located at what is now the intersection of Bedford Avenue and Barnett Way. At the time of Greenlee Field, Watt Street intersected Bedford Avenue where what is now Barnett Way.
Former Site of Left Field Corner, Greenlee Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Because Greenlee Field was built on a hill, the playing field was located several feet above street grade.
Former Site of Greenlee Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Looking from Left Field Corner Toward Home Plate
Just to the east of Watt Street (which no longer runs through the site) was the Pittsburgh Municipal Hospital, which can be seen in some of the photos of Greenlee Field available in the Teenie Harris Archives.
Team Picture of 1937 Homestead Grays Taken at Greenlee Field With Pittsburgh Hospital Visible Beyond Right Field Fence (photo from diversity.appstate.edu and courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Cooperstown)
A park known as “The Garden of Hope” now sits at the former site of the hospital.
Greenlee Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Looking Toward Former Site of Center Field Corner from Left Field Corner
Greenlee Field’s former infield site is accessible from Chauncey Drive.
Chauncey Drive and Beford Avenue, Near Former Site of First Base, Greenlee Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Where Chauncey Drive makes a 45 degree turn is the approximate location of second base.
Intersection Where Chauncey Drive Makes a 45 Degree Turn, Bedford Dwellings, Near Former Site of Second Base, Greenlee Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Chauncey Drive, Looking West Toward Downtown Pittsburgh, Near Former Site of Second Base, Greenlee Field
Some buildings located along Bedford Avenue date back to Greenlee Field. Three row houses at the intersection of Junilla Street and Bedford Avenue are located across the street from what would have been the home plate grandstand.
Row Houses at 2500-04 Bedford Avenue, Dating Back to Time of Greenlee Field
Three townhouses located 2520-24 Bedford Avenue are located across the street from what was once left field.
2420-22 Bedford Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The townhouse on the corner of Bedford Avenue and Watt Street (Watt Street was relocated after demolition of Greenlee Field) is now a market. With a little imagination, it is not hard to picture what Greenlee Field might have looked like standing at the entrance to that market.
Samba Market, 2420 Bedford Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Just three blocks west of the former site of Greenlee Field, at the northwest corner of Somers Street and Bedford Avenue, was another Negro League ballpark, Ammons Field. The semi-pro Pittsburgh Crawfords played at this field, beginning in about 1926, as did the professional level Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays beginning in 1930. Ammons Field also is notable as the field where Josh Gibson first played baseball for the semi-pro Crawfords in 1928. For more information about Ammons Field and the history of the Crawfords, see James Bankes’ fine book The Pittsburgh Crawfords.
Historical Marker for Ammons Field
The City of Pittsburgh has paid tribute to Ammons Field and Josh Gibson with a historical marker. Located behind the Ammons Recreation Center at Bedford Avenue and Kirkpatrick Street is a youth baseball field dedicated to Josh Gibson.
Josh Gibson Field, Ammons Recreation Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
As noted in the informative website Agatetype.typepad.com, the actual location of the original Ammons Field utilized by the Crawfords was one block east of Josh Gibson Field, the current park. The former location of the modest grandstand and home plate is visible on the bluff beyond Josh Gibson Field’s left field fence.
Josh Gibson Field Looking Toward Former Site of Ammons Field Grandstand and Home Plate at Somers Drive and Bedford Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Former Site of Ammons Field Grandstand and Home Plate, Somers Drive and Bedford Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh’s Hill District, and the former site of Greenlee Field, is located just two miles west of the former site of Forbes Field, and one and a half miles southwest of the former sites of Three Rivers Stadium and Exposition Park, as well as the Pirates current ballpark, PNC Park. If you are a fan of the game and the history of the game, and you find yourself in Pittsburgh on a baseball trip, a stop at the former site of Greenlee Field and Ammons Field, is a must.
Tags: Baseball, Bedford Avenue and Junilla Street, Civic Arena, Crawford Grill No. 1, Crawford Grill No. 2, Greenlee Field, Gus Greenlee, Hill District, James T. "Cool Papa" Bell., Josh Gibson, Judy Johnson, Negro Leagues, Negro National League, Oscar Charlestown, Pittsburgh Bath House and Recreation Center, Pittsburgh Crawfords, Satchel Paige, Tennie Harris
Posted in Greenlee Field, Pennsylvania ballparks | Comments (0)
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Tomb Raider 1+2+3
drm: Free
Tomb Raider is a game that needs no introduction but if, for some reason, you are not familiar with the series, then these games are about the adventures of the beautiful, intelligent, and athletic British archaeologist Lara Croft. You might think that this job is mostly digging holes and dusting old bones. How could a game about that possibly be fun? Well, Lara Croft is anything but an ordinary archaeologist and her life is anything but boring. Lara Croft, tomb raider, occupies an interesting niche between Indiana Jones and Bayonetta: she’s a relic hunter who can kick butt and take names with the best of them. When Lara ventures into ancient tombs in search for legendary treasures and forgotten knowledge, she must keep in mind that those responsible for safeguarding those artifacts didn’t leave them unguarded. The tombs are filled with deadly traps, bizarre monsters, and clever puzzles. Lara is not all looks, though, so she’s ready for the dangers that await. At her disposal is an arsenal of weapons from twin pistols, through all kinds of machine guns and assault rifles, all the way to grenade launchers and bazookas. In the first game, Lara seeks a powerful artifact--the Scion--that seems to be the key to finding the mythical island of Atlantis. In the second game of the series our sexy archaeologist follows the trial of the mystical Dagger of Xian, which is a weapon used by the first Emperor of China, and it is said that by plunging the dagger into one's heart, the bearer turns into a dragon. The third part features non-linear gameplay, meaning you can choose not only the way in which you complete a level, but also your next destination in the story. Here, you fight against an evil corrupt corporation--RX Tech-- that has come into possession of a strange meteorite apparently imbued with unique properties. Fans of action platformers, great stories, and timeless classics: good news! You don’t have to plunder any long-forgotten crypts to pick up the phenomenal Tomb Raider games: get them here on GOG.com instead.
Developer: Core Design
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Grand Western Canal Joint Advisory Committee
Tuesday, 2nd October, 2018 7.00 pm
Contact: Sarah Lees Member Services Officer
Election of Chairman
To elect a Chairman for 2018/19 (the Terms of Reference state that the appointment should be made from the Devon County Council representation for 2018/19).
RESOLVED that Cllr C R Slade be elected Chairman of the Committee for the municipal year 2018/19.
(Proposed by Cllr C J Eginton and seconded by Cllr L G J Kennedy)
Election of Vice Chairman
To elect a Vice Chairman for 2018/19 (the Terms of Reference state that this appointment should come from the Mid Devon District Council representation for 2018/19).
RESOLVED that Cllr L G J Kennedy be elected Vice Chairman of the Committee for the municipal year 2018/19.
(Proposed by Cllr C R Slade and seconded by Cllr R F Radford)
To receive any apologies for absence.
The following members of the Committee had sent their apologies for the meeting:
· Cllr Mrs Heather Bainbridge (Mid Devon District Council)
· Cllr David Cutts (Sampford Peverell Parish Council)
· Cllr Sue Griggs (Mid Devon District Council)
· Mr Andrew Jarrett (Mid Devon District Council)
Public Question Time
To receive any questions relating to items on the Agenda from the public and replies thereto.
There were no questions from the members of the public in attendance.
Members to consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 6 March 2018.
The minutes from the meeting held on 6 March 2018, having been previously circulated, were approved as a correct record and SIGNED by the Chairman.
To consider any matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.
The following matters were raised regarding the minutes of the previous meeting:
· The Public Rights of Way and Country Parks Manager provided an update in relation to Aggregate Industries (AI). She had met AI with the County’s consultants, Jacobs, as well as one of the planners from the County Council. They had gone through the existing agreement to determine whether it was fulfilling what it was supposed to be doing. County had asked for various things to be included in line with the S106 agreement. She had received the draft recommendations from the planners today and would ask the Canal Manager to go through the issues that related to them to see if they met their aspirations. This would provide an opportunity to influence the resulting agreement.
· Mr Dion Howells provided an update regarding the Community Patrol Boat. So far this year they had achieved 120 voluntary hours on the boat. They had spoken to hundreds of people, including cyclists, pedestrians, dog walkers and litter pickers. He confirmed that it was going well and that they hoped to welcome a few more volunteers to join the team in the future.
Chairman's Announcements
To receive any announcements that the Chairman may wish to make.
The Chairman thanked Cllr R F Radford for his Chairmanship of the JAC both during 2016/17 and 2017/18. He stated that he would be relying on Cllr Radford’s knowledge over the coming year and seeking his advice.
Cycling UK
To welcome a representative of Cycling UK and to receive information about their organisation.
The Committee had requested at the last meeting that contact be made with Cycling UK to see if they could attend this meeting to describe what their organisation was about and whether they would like to replace Sustrans as a representative on the Committee.
Mr John Hampshire informed the Committee that Cycling UK was a national independent body founded in 1878. Its membership included people of all backgrounds and physical abilities. They were a campaigning organisation. They worked with people in communities to undertake a change in thinking with regard to cyclists, for example, opening car doors differently so that cyclists did not get knocked off their bikes. Another campaign had included the ‘big bike revival’ encouraging people to get their bikes out of their sheds. They also worked with Halfords providing free bike checks. Funding came from membership fees, grants and legacies. He stated that he was also a Sustrans volunteer ranger for an area that included the canal and that he used it for leisure almost every day.
Mr Hampshire was asked how his organisation differed from Sustrans. He responded by saying that Sustrans did not only represent cyclists but also walkers.
Terms of Reference / Membership Review PDF 89 KB
To consider the Terms of Reference and membership of the Committee (please find attached). Please note the following:
a) There is currently a vacancy for a Burlescombe PC representative due to recent changes on the Parish Council. However, the Parish Council have requested that until the membership of Burlescombe Parish Council stabilises, Mr Adam Pilgrim represent them in addition to Holcombe Rogus Parish Council. The JAC are therefore asked to approve this temporary appointment.
b) Since the removal of Sustrans as a representative (as per the committees request) there is a need to consider representation from an alternative cycling organisation.
Members considered the Terms of Understanding * and Membership of the Committee.
RESOLVED that the Terms of Understanding and the Membership of the Committee be agreed subject to the following amendments:
a) That Mr Adam Pilgrim, as well as being the representative for Holcombe Rogus Parish Council, also become the representative for Burlescombe Parish Council on a temporary basis until the membership of Burlescombe Parish Council stabilises.
b) That Cycling UK join the membership of the JAC and that the contact details of the named representative be forwarded to the Clerk.
(Proposed by the Chairman)
Note: * Terms of Understanding previously circulated; copy attached to the signed minutes.
Progress report PDF 7 MB
To receive a report from the Public Rights of Way and Country Parks Manager (DCC) informing Members of the work that has taken place to date.
Consideration was given to a report * of the Public Rights of Way and Country Parks Manager.
Arising thereon:
Play Park opening
All agreed that this had proved to be a great success and it had brought a lot of life to the Canal Basin.
Weed clearance
The Canal Ranger Team had spent on average 4 days a week operating the weed boat. They had been able to remove most of the water soldier but there would always be some plants that slipped through. Boat owners had reported an improvement.
Green Flag Award
The park had achieved its highest award following a visit by the judges for a full day. The Canal Manager thanked Mr Philip Brind for spending time with the judges on the day.
Dogs on leads in the Canal Basin
Mr Philip Brind explained that following the new rule requiring dogs to be kept on leads in the Canal Basin this had completely changed this area of the canal. Dog fouling was no longer seen and people were staying for longer period. He felt that this had seriously changed the Basin for the good.
Mowing and Strimming
This was the biggest bulk of the Canal Ranger Team’s work but it contributed the most.
Some leaks had been straight forward to repair and some had not.
At the time of the 2012 Breach, various leaks were discovered when the canal was drained to effect the major repair. One was sealed by the contractors undertaking the breach repairs. Recently, in order to provide a more effective seal here, a 10m section of bank was dug back and rebuilt using 16 tonnes of clay before being covered over again with soil.
A leak beside the aqueduct had led to a pool of water filling the cutting below the structure throughout the summer. A leak had been traced in the offside wall, however once water had found a way through it was difficult to seal with clay. The leak on that side had been stopped but there was now a leak on the opposite side. DCC Bridges and Structures engineers were due to undertake a principal inspection of the aqueduct at the end of September and their recommendations were awaited, it seemed likely that some form of relining would be required.
A question was asked as to whether the aqueduct was listed. It was explained that it was not but the engineers had stated that it could be justified as a ‘Brunel structure’ and that listing may take place at a later date.
Most recently a leak beside Swing Bridge had been traced and identified as a possible cause of water rising beside properties on the High Street in Halberton. Working with South West Water the team were working hard to find and repair the leak so that properties were protected. It was further explained that the leaks had possibly been caused by the dry weather over the summer but could also be related to the Breach event. Repairing ... view the full minutes text for item 10.
Dangerous incidents on the canal
To discuss ‘dangerous incidents on the canal’ involving cyclists. Discussion to include consideration of the design and location of warning signs.
Mr Philip Brind had requested that the issue of ‘dangerous incidents’ on the canal, in particular those involving cyclists, be discussed as an item on the agenda.
He explained that the horse drawn barge had had a record number of near misses this year and he was extremely worried about the future of the barge. The issue had been the signage, with one cyclist, who was a solicitor, informing him that the current signage stated that you needed official permission to cycle at all under a bridge, not, as he saw it, that you couldn’t cycle under a bridge. In his opinion signs meant different things to different people. It was impossible to see a horse coming sometimes while going under a bridge. Large numbers of cyclists had encountered the horse on the other side over the past year. Often the cyclists had children riding on the back of the bicycle presenting even more of a danger. He stated that he would be speaking to DCC about the possibility of a horse boat zone to provide an opportunity to inform passengers and users of the canal about the increased risks involved.
Cllr L G J Kennedy stated that he used the Canal daily with his wife and the potential to get knocked over by a cyclist was a serious problem and getting increasingly worse. He circulated an A4 poster showing the international sign, also in the Highway Code, for ‘no cycling’ and suggested that this simple sign would be more visible and a better alternative. He further suggested that, whilst ‘no cycling’ under bridges would be impossible to enforce, 85% of people would comply.
The Canal Manager explained that this issue had been discussed by the JAC on several occasions and agreed that the situation had become serious enough to warrant consideration of alternative signage. The Public Rights of Way and Country Parks Manager stated that legal considerations needed to be born in mind when creating signage but that a version of a simpler more obvious sign might be possible. She also stated that the County worked with organisations that were promoting sustainable travel. They also had social media contacts and perhaps this could be used as a method for encouraging safer cycling on the Canal. She further stated that there were different issues at each end of the Canal and a change in signage would need to accommodate these differences. Changes to signage would need to be managed in a careful and thoughtful way.
A brief discussion took place regarding the Canal now being used for cycle time and track trials which brought a whole new level of potential danger. Some cyclists were very considerate whilst there were an increasing number who were not.
Cllr R F Radford stated that he would be prepared to allocate some of his locality budget to the costs involved of changing signage on the part of the Canal in his area.
It was RESOLVED that a Working Group be established to consider ... view the full minutes text for item 11.
Installation and collection of litter bins
At the request of Councillor Lance Kennedy, discussion to take place regarding the installation and location of litter bins.
Cllr Lance Kennedy had requested that the issue of the installation and collection of litter bins be discussed at this meeting. He stated that, as Ward Member, he was regularly approached by members of the public complaining that litter bins were not being emptied often enough. The Leader of MDDC, who had responsibility for the Environment within his portfolio, responded by stating that careful thought needed to be given to the siting of the litter bins. Emptying would be much easier if they were located in the most used areas, regular emptying along the entire length of the Canal would present some difficulty. He informed the Committee that multipurpose bins were now being installed where the replacement of a bin needed to take place. These could take both dog waste and general litter.
Cllr Kennedy was content that if these ‘any bin will do’ multipurpose bins could be introduced as part of a replacement programme within their existing locations that was a sensible solution.
Enhancement of tourism opportunities as a connected package
At the request of Councillor Lance Kennedy, discussion to take place regarding the enhancement of tourism opportunities as a connected package.
Cllr Lance Kennedy had requested that this issue be brought to the attention of the Committee and for discussion to take place. He stated that regarding potential development at J27, Tiverton had a distinct advantage in that it was far enough away from J27 to maintain its own culture but that it was near enough for it to reap the benefits of increased tourism and the resultant positive effects on the local economy. He suggested that an open dialogue commence with the potential developers so that the benefits to the local area could be given as high a priority as possible as soon as possible.
The Chairman explained that the timing was perhaps a little premature in that the outcome from the Inspector regarding the Local Plan had not yet been received. It might be wiser to wait until a planning application had been received and to talk to the potential developer then.
Philip Brind reminded the Committee that he was Chairman of the Mid Devon Attractions Group and that it was vital to form an alliance with interested parties represented interested in promoting tourism. This Committee could work on making Mid Devon great by such initiatives as reintroducing the raft race and the Tiverton Balloon Festival. He felt that that type of Committee was currently missing but if established could ask any potential developer to have a seat at the table. The Chairman responded by stating that this was a sensible and exciting way forward but was not necessarily an issue for the Canal.
The MDDC Leader informed the Committee that he had attended the Local Plan Hearing in the previous week and had heard that tourist spend in Mid Devon was the lowest of all the Devon districts. The MDDC Chief Executive had plans to address this issue and had been working on the wider area, his expertise would be very useful to any future group looking at this issue. He further reiterated that there was no J27 development at the moment but if it came forward it would be vital to work with the developers to put Mid Devon first, ahead of the rest of the county. He stated that he would further discuss the issues raised with the Chief Executive.
To consider any other relevant business.
The following issues were raised under this item:
· Clarification was sought as to the role of the representative from The Four Villages Environmental Group (Chrissy Parker) who had attended and contributed to the meeting. The representative explained that she had attended the meeting having spoken to the Canal Manager as she and her group were very interested in the issues being raised and wanted to have an opportunity to comment. The Chairman informed her that, although not a member of the JAC, she was most welcome to attend this and future meetings. Philip Brind thanked Ms Parker for attending the meeting and for working hard to generate interest regarding Canal matters in her locality and on the Canal Facebook page.
· The increasing prevalence of cigarette ends had become an issue on the canal particularly between Fossend Bridge to Ebear. Ms Parker explained that on one particular occasion she had had to extinguish a fire. The Chairman responded by stating that although this was criminal offence regulation was very difficult to enforce.
Identification of items for the next meeting
To identify any issues for discussion at the next meeting.
The following was requested to be on the agenda for the next meeting in addition to the usual progress report from the Public Rights of Way and Country Parks Manager:
· An update from the Working Group on cycling signage.
To agree the date of the next meeting as Tuesday 5th March 2019 at 7.00pm in the Exe Room, Phoenix House.
The date of the next meeting was confirmed as being Tuesday 5th March 2019 at 7pm in the Exe Room.
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Breckenridge, Keystone To Open Early For First Time In Nearly 10 Years
Filed Under:Breckenridge, Eldora Mountain, Keystone, Skiing, Summit County
BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. (CBS4)– Breckenridge and Keystone will open early thanks to Mother Nature. Just hours after that annoucement, Eldora Mountain announced it will open on Wednesday as well, a full nine days ahead of schedule.
Up to four feet of snow has fallen in the past week in parts of Colorado’s high country, totaling more than five feet so far this season.
(credit Breckenridge Ski Resort)
This is the first early opening for Breckenridge and Keystone in nearly 10 years due to what the resorts claim are “incredible early season conditions.”
“With more than three feet of natural snow since October 8 and consistently cold temperatures, we are very excited to be opening earlier than we had planned,” says Brent Tregaskis, Eldora’s president and general manager in a statement. “Eldora is fortunate to be the first Colorado resort on the Ikon Pass to open, and one of the first resorts to be open in the country. It’s going to be a great season—c’mon up!”
Both ski areas were set to open Nov. 9 but will open on Wednesday.
“This is the first time in nearly 10 years that either Breckenridge or Keystone will be opening early,” said John Buhler, Breckenridge’s vice president and chief operating officer, in a statement. “It’s been a snowy start to the season and it is official; the skiing and snowboarding season is here. We are thrilled to kick off the winter season this week and anticipate opening up a variety of terrain quickly at the resorts.”
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The Duty to Accommodate: When is the Point of Undue Hardship Reached?
Under human rights legislation, employers have a duty to accommodate an employee’s needs related to a prohibited ground of discrimination to the point of undue hardship. It can often be difficult for employers and their legal counsel to assess when the point of undue hardship is reached.
The authorities establish that the undue hardship standard necessitates that the employer will suffer some hardship in its accommodation efforts, and that undue hardship occurs if an accommodation would create onerous conditions, such as intolerable financial costs or serious disruption to its operations. In practice, it can be difficult to apply these principles with certainty. The assessment of whether undue hardship is reached is very contextual, which results in a degree of uncertainty as to how it will be applied in a particular matter. The same accommodation may constitute undue hardship for one employer, but not for another employer in different circumstances.
A recent case from a Nova Scotia Human Rights Board of Inquiry sheds some insight on when the point of undue hardship is reached. In LeFrense v IBM Canada Ltd, 2015 CanLII 1720, Mr. LeFrense alleged that his employer, IBM, breached its duty to accommodate his physical disability (sleep apnea) by failing to adjust his shifts. Mr. LeFrense worked as an IT maintenance specialist, and he was required to be on-call one weekend every eight weeks and one night every two weeks. Mr. LeFrense requested that IBM accommodate his sleep apnea by relieving him of the on-call requirements of his position. IBM rejected this request, but proposed that Mr. LeFrense would only be required to work a maximum of 8 hours per day on two Saturdays per month. Mr LeFrense made a counter-proposal that he only be required to work one Saturday per month. IBM ultimately took the position that it could not adapt his work schedule as an IT maintenance specialist without suffering undue hardship, and offered him a different position at a reduced salary. Mr. LeFrense accepted this position, but later filed a Human Rights complaint.
The Board of Inquiry noted that IBM’s business was to serve the immediate and pressing technological needs of its customers, and that those employed in the business had to live that reality. It concluded that Mr. LeFrense’s job was not in its nature a “nine to five” position, and that IBM’s customers’ required IT maintenance specialists to be available on evenings and weekends.
Mr. LeFrense was part of an eight or nine person team, and they rotated their on-call requirements. If a person was unable to work an on-call shift, then someone else on the team had to take it on. Accordingly, the Board concluded that if Mr. LeFrense was relieved of the requirement of working the on-call shifts, this would significantly disrupt the other members of Mr. LeFrense’s team.
The Board further concluded that IBM’s requirement of on-call weekend and overnight work was a bona fide occupational requirement within the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act.
In considering whether IBM met the duty to accommodate, the Board indicated that some deference is owed to an employer’s good faith efforts to accommodate an employee:
At some point, it seems to me, we have to defer to an employer’s good faith efforts to accommodate an employee and manage the work place. We do not, I think, want to put ourselves in a position where we are second guessing management’s reasonable and good faith decisions on accommodation, nor do we want to put ourselves in a position where we are fiddling with a return to work plan, saying that one is acceptable, but another with a minor variation is not.
The Board was also critical of Mr. LeFrense’s refusal to try to the modified work schedule proposed by IBM. It suggested that he ought to have tried the proposed accommodation and if it was not workable, then it could have been addressed at that time. It was also critical of Mr. LeFrense’s failure to propose alternate accommodations to IBM. It stated that “[o]ne is left with the impression that he felt entitled to tell IBM he could not work and then expected IBM to adapt itself and the rest of the team to suit his requirements even if this meant burdening his colleagues with his on-call shifts or adding personnel while holding his position open for him.”
Based on all of the foregoing, the Board of Inquiry was satisfied that IBM met its duty to accommodate Mr. LeFrense. It concluded that Mr. LeFrense’s proposed accommodations to his work schedule would have imposed “too great a burden on the rest of the team and on IBM’s needs to manage its work force to service its clients’ urgent and pressing needs.” Therefore, the Board dismissed the complaint.
While IBM was successfully able to establish that it met the point of undue hardship in this matter, it is important to recall that it engaged in significant accommodation efforts before it met this threshold. It paid Mr. LeFrense disability benefits while he was off work for two years, actively engaged in accommodation discussions with Mr. LeFrense and his physician, and ultimately found him a different position within the company. The employer’s accommodation efforts, the effect of Mr. LeFrense’s proposed accommodation on other employees, and Mr. LeFrense’s refusal to try IBM’s proposed accommodation were important factors in the Board’s conclusion. This case serves as a reminder to employers that it is possible to reach the point of undue hardship, but they will typically be required to engage in significant accommodation efforts before taking the position that they have met the duty to accommodate.
Estate Planning Preparation – Checklist
“Everything to each other, and if we both go, to the kids”. Sound familiar? Estate planning is actually far more complicated than this. When preparing for your estate planning meeting with Cox & Palmer there are a number of things to consider. The checklist below will serve as a helpful tool. Estate Planning Preparation – […]
Risk Management Counsel of Canada’s Guide to Litigation in Canada
Cox & Palmer is a proud member of the Risk Management Counsel of Canada (RMC), a national association of independent law firms offering a comprehensive range of legal services to the insurance industry, risk retention groups and self-insureds. RMC has created an informational Guide to Litigation in Canada, which you will find below. This valuable […]
The Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program, an Option for Immigrating to Atlantic Canada
The Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program (“AIPP”) is an excellent option for employers wishing to hire immigrants, and for immigrants wishing to immigrate to Atlantic Canada. The pilot program has now been extended until December 2021.
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Why you should vote for Gary Johnson
November 4, 2012 by Archived posts
By Anthony Lopez |Staff Writer|
This general election make your voice heard and cast your vote for Gary Johnson, the libertarian candidate for president because he is the only fiscally responsible and socially tolerant candidate.
The former governor of New Mexico can balance a budget and has shown an ability to create an environment for businesses to grow.
Yet Johnson is a social liberal who acknowledges the war on drugs is a failure, believes in marriage equality, and opposes the war in Afghanistan.
Even though the employment rate is at 7.8 percent according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are still millions of Americans out of work, and yet our debt is continually growing.
Both the Republican and Democratic candidates have sound bites about reducing the national debt, but it was under the Obama administration the national debt rose to the 16 trillion dollar point from the 10 trillion when President Bush left office, according to the latest posting from the Bureau of Public Debt at the Treasury Department.
Both President Obama and Mitt Romney have supported continuing the war on Afghanistan at least until 2014, as if the Kabul regime would surrender on a time table.
Johnson believes that American military activities should be terminated and that our troops should return home.
A silent but significant issue that has made the US the incarceration capital of the World is our failing drug war.
According to The New York Times the U.S. prison population dwarfs the rest of the world, with only 5 percent of the world’s population having more than 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, more than China.
Beyond the domestic incarceration rates, the failed drug war has led to the deaths of thousands among the cities near the US-Mexican border.
Both Romney and President Obama have ignored this issue, and have showed no intentions to end the drug war during this year’s presidential debates.
On the drug war, Johnson has acknowledged the failures and believes that the best way to stop America’s incarceration addiction is to regulate the sale of cannabis like alcohol.
Regarding marriage, Johnson has also said, “Government should not impose its values upon marriage. It should allow marriage equality, including gay marriage. It should also protect the rights of religious organizations to follow their beliefs.”
If you believe that these issues are the most important problems facing the United States, then Johnson is your candidate.
“I’m the only candidate running for the president of the United States that believes that we are going to suffer a monetary collapse, as a result of borrowing and printing money to the tune of 43 cents for every dollar we spend,” said Johnson at his rally at CSU Fullerton.
Forget about the rants draining America for a moment, and look at where the candidates stand on the important issues.
If you are a conservative when it comes to fiscal issues and a liberal when debating social problems, your choice should be clear: Johnson.
Johnson’s economic stance is a responsible one, standing for a balanced budget, cuts in military spending and implementation of a fair tax.
This Nov. 6, vote Gary Johnson for president because he represents the best of the two major political parties, and your vote sends that message.
Filed Under: Opinions
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Along with its affiliated institutions and other partners, CPN regularly supports different kinds of convenings to advance the study of peacebuilding, to enable networking among peacemaking scholars and practitioners from around the world, and to support and accompany universities, institutions, and organizations working to foster peace in areas beset by violence and conflict. These international gatherings are a vital instrument for CPN to accomplish its aims. They allow peacebuilders to forge solidarity and share best practices, aid the building of capacity by supplying universities and other institutions with training and resources, and provide space for dialogue about the development of a theology of peacebuilding.
See information for past events and conferences.
We were a state that was emerging from conflict. They were there to witness this moment and to be a support to us as the country emerges from war.
-Archbishop Evariste Ngoyagoye, Archbishop of Bujumbura, Burundi, speaking of the Third Annual CPN Conference in Burundi in 2006, comments from a 2008 interview with Gene Stowe of the Catholic News Service
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Author Carly Ayres
Posted in Global Themes, Resources, Playlists
Book List No. 9: Heritage
Photo from Kahakai Kitchen.
This month’s theme is taking us back to our roots. The theme is Heritage, chosen by our organizer our Cape Town, South Africa team and brought to you by MailChimp. It’s a theme that hits home for everyone, as every person has a perspective on heritage uniquely their own
For this month’s book list, we chose stories that tackled topics like identity, discovery, family, and transition— motifs to get you thinking about the power of heritage and the role that it plays in our daily lives. Who knows, maybe these reads will get you thinking about your own memoir..
The Top Ten:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
In her debut memoir, poet Maya Angelou tells a coming-of-age story of growing up in a small Southern town in Arkansas in the face of prejudice, tragedy, and independence. Violated in more ways than one as she moved from childhood to adolescence, Maya perseveres and shares her story.
Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America, by Firoozeh Dumas
Suggested by one of our CreativeMornings/Austin attendees, Funny in Farsi chronicles the life of author Firoozeh Dumas as she deals with the culture shock of moving from Iran to Southern California.
When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, by Gail Collins
New York Times columnist Gail Collins recounts the history of American women over the past half-century in this book, documenting the change in gender roles, expectations, and realities faced by women over the course of a generaton.
My Beloved World, by Sonia Sotomayor
As the first Hispanic and third woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor tells the story of her path, from growing up in a housing project in the Bronx to taking a seat on the Federal District Court.
Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
In Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells the tale of Ifemelu and Obinze, young lovers who are separated when they leave military-ruled Nigeria for the West. They grapple with race and identity in this story, as they each determine what that means for them in their new environments.
Arte Huichol, by Johannes Neurath
Suggested by a member of our community, Arte Huichol displays the beauty of wixarika art: carvings covered with beads and gourds decorated with geometric designs.
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
In this powerful, heart-wrenching book, Khaled Hosseini shares a story of an unlikely friendship between two boys of different social statuses, their fathers, and their homeland.
Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama
Delving into stories of his childhood, Barack Obama depicts the facets of a struggle growing up as the son of a black African father and white American mother. Discovering his own heritage takes Barack back to Kenya to come to terms with his divided inheritance.
When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice, by Terry Tempest Williams
Terry Tempest Williams’ mother was the matriarch of a large Mormon clan in northern Utah, leaving behind a series of journals when she died, telling her daughter to not open them until after she was gone. Opening the journals, one by one, Terry discovered that they were empty.
The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros
Telling the story of Esperanza Cordero through a series of several vignettes, The House on Mango Street tells the tale of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago as she imagines what she will become.
If this list leaves you feeling wishing for more, check out our Pinterest Board, Theme 20: Heritage, which includes even more heritage reads. Read on.
Follow CreativeMornings’s board Theme 21: Heritage on Pinterest.
Have any recommendations? Leave them in the comments below.
Author: Carly Ayres
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Professor Frisby Introduces Composable Functional JavaScript
Create linear data flow with container style types (Box)
Brian Lonsdorf
We'll examine how to unnest function calls, capture assignment, and create a linear data flow with a type we call Box. This is our introduction to working with the various container-style types.
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00:02 What are we looking at here? We have next inaudible our number string. What this does is take a string down here like our number. We could have spaces, comes with user input or whatever. We're going to trim it, parse int, add one number to it, and get the char code from string.
00:15 The point of this function is not the actual functionality. If you look at each of these lines, they're doing different things. We have a method call here. We have a function call here, an operator, and then a qualified class function here. We want to unify it all and compose it in one linear work flow instead of separate lines with lots of assignment and state as we go along.
00:34 How can we do this? Let's run it to see what the output is. It's the capital A. That's because 64 turns into 65, then we get the char code of that which is the capital A.
00:46 If we comment this out, and let's rewrite this in a new way, one thing we can do is say we'll try to compose this up in one big expression functionality. We'll call trim which is the method. The next thing that happens is we parse the int. The next thing that happens is we add a one. We call string from char code around it.
01:08 This is very confusing. It will still work. Let's give it a shot. There it does. It's got a capital A there. If we look at the control flow here, it's totally bogus. It's one expression, very clean, but hard to follow. It jumps all around here, trimming, parsing, and adding one over there.
01:23 Let's borrow a trick from our friend array. The first thing we can do is put our string in a box, and that's it. We put the string in a box. It's just an array with one value.
01:33 Now, we can map our S and trim it. We can keep chaining these maps. We can turn this S into a number by calling parseInt on it. What do we have? We have an I here for an int. We can say I plus one.
01:47 Finally, we'll say I is string from char code. We turn that back into a number. This is very, very nice letter rather. If we run this, we should have A in a box. Indeed, we do. We have A in the array. I'm calling it a box here.
02:01 What happened here? We've captured each assignment in a very minimal context. S cannot be used outside of this little error function in map. Despite calling it the same variable here, we can change this to R or whatever we want to call it.
02:14 The point is, each expression has its own state completely contained. We can break up our work flow, and go top to bottom, doing one thing at a time, composing together. That's key. Map is composition, because it takes input to output and passes it along to the next map. We're composing this way.
02:32 Let's see what else we can do here. Instead of an array with a bunch of maps on it, why don't we make this a little bit more formal? I'm going to make a type called box. Box is going to take an X here. We'll define a map of our own that works exactly the same way.
02:48 We'll take some function F. It will return a box of F of X. It's returning a box of F of X, so we can keep chaining along. If we didn't return the box, we wouldn't be able to call .NET, .NET again and again.
03:00 We're running our function with F on X, and then putting it back in a box. This should be exactly the same thing. We could put this in a box and have this work flow happen here.
03:09 Let's do one more thing, though. Because it's hard to look at this data structure in the output, let's give it a little inspect. This is a nice little trick that allows us to, when we call console.log, we actually see what the data structure is holding and not just the data structure itself.
03:23 It will format the output and the little template there earlier. We need a little comma, and let's give it a go and see if we have ourselves a box of A. Indeed, we do, a box of A. That's very good.
03:34 With this, we can start composing along. We've unified both method calls, function calls, operators, and qualified. We can start parsing int here. We can do a constructor for new number, and so on and so forth.
03:47 If we want to add more functions, we can go ahead and map along, and say maybe I, or what is this? It's a char code now. It's a C here. We'll say C, too, in our case. Now, we have a lower case A in a box.
03:59 What to do with this box? We didn't actually want it in our box. We wanted it outside of the box. We wanted our normal character here. Let's add one more function at the box. We'll call it fold. What this will do is remove it from the box as we run the functions just like map, except it doesn't put it back in the box.
04:15 Down here on our last statement, we can call fold instead of map, which will fold it out. It will remove it from the box as it runs this function. Does anybody have any questions?
04:24 I thought map was supposed to loop over stuff?
04:27 Map isn't so much about iteration as we'll see. It has more to do with composition within a context. In this case, box is our context. We're going to be using a lot of these container-y types to capture different behaviors as we compose. It allows us to compose in different ways.
04:41 Isn't that the identity factor?
04:43 Indeed, it is the identity factor, but we're going to call it box for now so we don't scare everyone.
04:47 That can't be efficient.
04:50 As far as efficiency is concerned, because this is composition in disguise, we confuse this together. As it stands, you'd be hard-pressed to tell any difference at all even in the large-scale application doing all these things unless you are making a pacemaker, doing a bench mark of 10,000 or something like that.
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LED pioneer honoured
When the history of technological development in the late 20th Century is written, the name of Dr. Isamu Akasaki is sure to figure prominently. Everyone who relies on modern communication technology owes a great debt of gratitude to this elderly Japanese professor, and yet publically, he remains a little-known. But hopefully, that may be about to change thanks to an award honouring Dr. Akasaki’s achievements.
What was Dr. Akasaki’s contribution to our modern world? Simply, he was the man that made the blue LED possible. Thanks in large part to his work, we now have high-speed internet communications, high-density data storage (hence the trade name “Blu-Ray”), and a cornucopia of other technological marvels – not to mention today’s full-colour LED screens.
The Inamori Foundation has announced that Dr. Isamu Akasaki will be awarded the Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology for 2009. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the annual Kyoto Prize is an international award honouring “significant contributions to the scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment of mankind.” The award is presented on November 10 each year in three categories.
Dr. Akasaki, 80, will receive the award for his pioneering work that led to the development of the blue LED. A semiconductor scientist, Dr. Akasaki serves both as a university professor at Nagoya University and professor at Meijo University in Japan.
The story of the development of the blue LED is the real stuff of legend: Once generally regarded as impossible, Dr. Akasaki persisted in his research for decades – long after others had given-up, and was eventually rewarded with success; his GaN-based positive-negative (p-n) junctions, making the blue LED practically possible for the first time. This achievement stimulated research on blue LEDs worldwide, and served as the first step toward their eventual commercialisation in the 1990s.
According to the Kyoto Prize press release, Dr. Akasaki’s pioneering research has not only led to numerous and diverse new applications in electronic equipment, but also offers great promise for protecting the global environment as blue LEDs are adopted for general-purpose lighting with superior energy-conserving qualities.
LEDs Magazine – Isamu Akasaki awarded Kyoto Prize for LED work
Leave a Comment » | Commentary, Engineering & Industry | Permalink
Habitat apologises for ‘hashtag spam’
Today’s Daily Telegraph carries an interesting story illustrating just how badly wrong an ill-conceived Social Media marketing campaign can go. Up-market furniture store Habitat has apparently been caught adding inappropriate keywords – called hashtags –to its corporate Twitter feeds.
Tagging marketing messages with keywords like #Iranelection and#iPhone, the firm tried to ensure its messages achieved a much higher ranking in users’ searches than should have been the case. But, it appears the stunt has backfired badly, and the well-known chain has apparently been forced to issue an apology.
The Telegraph reports:
Twitter users reacted with anger to the publicity stunt: “Just read about your hashtag abuses,” wrote Caramboo. “You utter scumbags, I’ll never visit your shop again”, while another user, Brownbare, tweeted: “Naughty, money-grabbing furniture outlet. Bad bad bad. Now I’m glad I can’t afford your overpriced Ikea replicas”.
What is very interesting is just how powerful the inherent democracy of social networks is, and how quickly it can bring the errant marketeer to heel once a breach of “Netiquette” (remember that term?) is collectively perceived. The sanction of this electronic plebiscite is swift and decisive. However Netiquette evolves to encompass Social Media, one thing is for sure; Habitat’s ham-fisted, spammy attempts at manipulation will be long-cited as how not to do it.
Habitat apologises for Twitter ‘hashtag spam’ – Telegraph
Leave a Comment » | Web 2.0, Writing for business | Permalink
Hesitant signs of recovery for Japanese economy
According to some commentators, the Japanese economy is showing signs of turning the corner of recession. The Nikkei 225 stock index recently broke the 10,000 barrier for the first time in eight months, with steelmakers and financial stocks leading the trading.
News of the Nikkei breaching the “ichiman” mark comes after further news reports appear to show signs of recovery beginning. Earlier this month, the country revised its GDP forecast from a 4 per cent contraction to 3.8 per cent. Corporate capital spending in the first quarter fell by a smaller-than-expected 25.3 per cent while bankruptcies dropped last month for the first time in a year.
Data released earlier indicated that Japanese industrial production rose 5.2 per cent in April from the previous month, the fastest rise in more than half a century. The drop in exports also eased in April, falling 40.6 per cent year-on-year compared with a 46.5 per cent decline in March.
But despite the encouraging signs, trading remains difficult. Japanese machinery orders – a key indicator of manufacturing confidence – are still fluctuating, falling unexpectedly in April as manufacturers delay expansion plans because of continuing tough trading outside of Japan. News from China last week showed a larger-than-expected drop in May imports and exports.
The signs are positive, and while the economy still has a very long way to go, there is very real optimism that we are at least on the road to recovery. New technologies – and in particular, “Green” technologies – are looking to become very important contributors to the “new” Japanese economy and we are already seeing Japanese companies like Mitsubishi Electric achieving considerable international success in this field.
Further information can be found here
FT.com / Markets / Asia-Pacific – Nikkei breaches 10,000 level
Shot in the foot by Cupid’s arrow – a cautionary tale of Social Media marketing
It seems that the topic of Social Media is never far from the headlines of the business press. From Twitter to YouTube, debate rages back and forth amongst communications professionals as to the worth – or otherwise – of these sites as valid business communication channels.
Some of the more Ludditic (if there’s such a word) persuasion dismiss it all as a passing fad; others claim with equally unbridled passion that Twitter et al represents a new era of engagement and hyper-responsive communications.
Now – interestingly – a new dynamic has entered the debate in the shape of one Trent Reznor, singer with legendary industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor, formerly an enthusiastic Tweeter and Internet music pioneer, has reportedly closed his Twitter account after his candid, heart-warming posts prompted negative reactions from some of his 600,000 followers.
Writing on Japan Inc, Michael Condon suggests this is an event of far greater significance than it may first appear.
Reznor’s departure from Twitter is interesting for two reasons. Firstly, Reznor is one of the more Web-savvy, forward thinking members of the music industry out there. It should be noted that Reznor was one of the first major artists to take advantage of changing distribution and promotional systems with the Nine Inch Nails release of "Ghosts I IV." Reznor himself has been a prolific "tweeter" with, as mentioned before, over 600,000
followers.
Michael’s second, and most interesting conjecture is that even for die-hard fans of blogging and Social Media, there is a point where “engagement” and interaction becomes a bit too real. Specifically, when the candid reality of Tweeting starts to diverge from the perceived reality of the “brand”, it can only lead to trouble, as Reznor has apparently discovered to his cost.
It seems, among other things, a big problem was that Reznor was, well, in love. HERE are some of the tweets that infuriated angsty fans:
Reznor: "Now that I’m in love and gone all soft on you, can anyone recommend any romantic comedies? Got a weird urge."
Reznor: "I am missing someone. Boo hoo."
Reznor: "Wait – I’m in love and getting married! I’d give you all free tickets if I could. (hugs)"
All sweet and innocent, until you remember that these utterances come from the creator of albums such as "Pretty Hate Machine", "Broken" and "The Downward Spiral." And it seems this romantic epiphany has not gone down well with the band’s more moribund fans.
There were proclamations of "selling out," "going soft" and worlds being turned "upside down."
And so, in the end, Reznor got sick of it all and pulled the plug on his Twitter feed.
For some celebrities – and increasing numbers of corporate marketeers – Twitter is regarded merely as a marketing tool. Yet it was never intended as such. It was always supposed to be much more personal than that. Ironically, in using it as it was originally intended, Reznor appears to have unwittingly undone the marketing work of many years and many record company dollars – at least in the eyes of some fans.
And therein lies a sobering lesson for those considering Social Media as part of their marketing mix. Twitter feeds and Facebook pages might be fine in some circumstances, but not all, and they need to managed with particular care: Social Media is far from being the silver bullet of marketing; and it’s all too easy to get hit by those ricochets.
You can read the original post on Creative Deconstruction here
Leave a Comment » | Commentary, Web 2.0 | Permalink
China economic figures show further signs of recovery
By Myra P. Saefong & Chris Oliver, MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) — Chinese economic data released Friday reinforced the growing perception of an economy picking up steam, with retail sales and industrial production for the month of May coming in stronger than expected, while new bank lending continued at a torrid clip.
Friday’s data capped a week of relatively robust news that dispelled some of the scepticism surrounding China’s recovery, with the world’s third-largest economy now on track to meet its growth targets this year, analysts said.
"Most likely industrial production growth will trend upward, supporting our 8% gross domestic product growth call for 2009," wrote Merrill Lynch economist Ting Lu in a research note Friday.
In March, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao also said the country would expand its economy 8% this year, although it’s not clear that a formal growth target has been set.
Industry reviving
Industrial output climbed 8.9% in May, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday. The result was above expectations for a 7.8% rise, as reported by Dow Jones Newswires, but it matched exactly forecasts by the 21st Century Business Herald and Ming Pao newspapers, whose projections Merrill Lynch said appeared to be "whispered" leaks of the data. See full story on so-called ‘whispered numbers.’
The more upbeat figures follow a fall of 26.4% in China’s exports in May from a year earlier and an import decline of 25.2%, according to Statistics Bureau data released Thursday. Both figures marked their seventh-straight on-year decline. See story on Chinese trade.
"While improving this month, China’s industrial production growth data has been in contrast with expansion in the Purchasing Managers Index," said J.P. Morgan’s China equities chief, Jing Ulrich.
"China’s May PMI of 53.1 represented a third-successive month of expansion in the manufacturing sector, suggesting that managers are cautiously optimistic in their outlook," he said.
The Statistics Bureau also reported Friday that retail sales were up 15.2% in May, compared to a 14.8% rise in April.
Bank lending up
Separately, data from the People’s Bank of China reported that new yuan-denominated bank lending in China totalled 664.5 billion yuan ($97.2 billion) in May compared to 591.8 billion yuan in April.
Money supply, as measured by M2, climbed 25.74% at the end of May from a year earlier, roughly in line with a 25.9% rise anticipated by analysts as reported by Dow Jones Newswires.
"The stabilization in money supply is as expected, considering the record rate of growth at the beginning of the year," said Ulrich. "The rapid pace of credit creation in recent months has had a stirring impact on China’s corporate sector, housing and stock markets."
Myra P. Saefong is MarketWatch’s assistant global markets editor, based in Tokyo. Chris Oliver is MarketWatch’s Asia bureau chief, based in Hong Kong
China data show further signs of recovery – MarketWatch
Leave a Comment » | Business | Permalink
Intel helps shape Japan’s WiMax future
From Businessweek
A Japanese company is planning to launch the world’s fastest wireless broadband services using WiMax technology. On June 7, Intel Capital said it plans to invest $43 million in Tokyo-based UQ Communications, which also has financial backing from Japan’s second-largest wireless operator, KDDI.
In recent months, UQ Communications has been building a network of WiMax transmitters in Tokyo and neighbouring cities of Kawasaki and Yokohama and aims to reach 90% of Japan’s population by 2012. Today, UQ and KDDI formally announced plans to start offering WiMax services to businesses from July 1.
The promise of WiMax isn’t that it offers another phone network for voice calls. Rather the network is expected make wireless e-mail and Internet-surfing available from more places. WiMax resembles Wi-Fi but WiMax can reach up to 30 miles compared to Wi-Fi’s far more limited range of a few hundred of feet. That means anyone with a laptop computer or other portable gizmo that comes with WiMax technology can tap into the Net wirelessly over a zippy wireless network without a Wi-Fi router or a cable connection. (Calls made over online telephony outfits such as Skype are possible but it’s still unclear whether UQ and other WiMax service providers will try to steer users to their own packaged services.)
UQ enters Japan’s market for wireless data-transmission services as manufacturers unleash an array of wireless gizmos: everything from touch-screen mobile phones resembling Apple’s iPhone to netbooks which are smaller than laptops but can tap cellular networks to do e-mail and Web searches. UQ Communications applied 18 months ago for a license to offer WiMax services.
The company won’t have the WiMax sector all to itself. Japan’s number one wireless carrier, NTT DoCoMo, will begin offering similar services—albeit at much slower speeds than UQ’s–in the coming months. UQ will also have to compete against a crop of other companies known as mobile virtual network operators, or MVNOs, that lease the major cellular networks to offer tailored data and voice services targeting specific kinds of users.
The first WiMax-enabled gizmos will be laptops. Three manufacturers–Toshiba, Panasonic and Onkyo—showed off laptops today that will run on Intel chips with WiMax capability when UQ’s services start. WiMax download speeds in Japan will be as fast as 40 Mbps, comparable to Wi-Fi connections already in use and faster than broadband Internet connections over a land-based line in most other countries. (Upload speeds are slower at 10 Mbps.)
Besides Intel and KDDI, other big-name supporters are behind UQ: Kyocera, railway operator JR East, Tokyo Mitsubishi Bank and Daiwa Securities. That should help in landing deals with businesses and perhaps even give UQ a chance to test new services in conjunction with JR East, which runs commuter and bullet trains from Tokyo to major Japanese cities.
Intel Helps Shape Japan’s WiMax Future – BusinessWeek
Leave a Comment » | AV Technology, Business, Web 2.0 | Permalink
The giant screen technology of the future may be closer than we think
US company Nanolumens claims to be well-advanced in its plans to market a giant portable display system that will be less than one millimetre thick and weigh no more than 45kg.
As reported in InAVate magazine, John Wilson, president of the company said: “Nanolumens has a core technology that permits it to bring the best of display technology to a flexible format. We have a fairly extensive patent portfolio, almost 50 patents issued and filed that cover a very innovative set of technologies that allow us to bring flexibility to display technologies”.
The company has already built a number of prototypes based on the technology but plans to market a very large display within a year. Wilson confirms, “It will be very lightweight and large for markets primarily in out-of-home advertising, digital signage, control room and large format business-to-business applications.”
Wilson continues: “Our view is that much of the industry, particularly in the out-of-home advertising industry, is shifting to digital and there’s a great deal of that market that would be perfectly fine for a 42” or a 50” LCD display that is rigid and just put up on the wall.”
“But, there are an incredible number of applications where either a curved wall or a bend around a column or a very large space that is high up and needs a hanging screen. That is the market we are planning to pursue.”
A startling additional feature of the technology – apparently – is its ability to operate as a portable device. “The fact that it continues to operate and run as it’s transported from place to place because it’s actually a portable device is also significant so we’ve been able to share it with both customers and strategic partners.”
Wilson and CEO of Nanolumens, Richard Cope, have an impressive background between them, having run numerous research and development enterprises. “[Cope] was a programme manager for the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency which is one of the premier research agencies in the world,” adds Wilson.
“We view the flexible display world as the start of a new emerging industry.” Wilson concludes. “There are a lot of companies working on the challenges of flexible imaging systems. Some working on small wearable devices or small clothing integrated devices. We chose the large format professional market as we felt was represented higher value and was immediately accessible”
AJ Comments: It may seem too far-fetched to be true, but flexible screen technology as described here is indeed a reality –at least in the lab. It may seem strange that it is a small and hitherto unknown US company that appears to be pioneering this technology as a commercial product, but stranger things have happened and it wouldn’t be the first time that a new technology has burst onto the pro-AV scene from left-field. Watch this space!
InAVate – Flexible screen is less than 1mm thick
Leave a Comment » | AV Technology, Digital Signage, Engineering & Industry | Permalink
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Iran Reported To Be Negotiating With Twitter To Unblock Popular Website
Iran's new communications minister has said that negotiations are under way to stop blocking Twitter, which has been banned for years despite being used by the country's top leaders.
The microblogging platform was barred in 2009 after mass protests broke out against the reelection of former President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.
Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi told the state-owned Iran daily newspaper on August 22 that Twitter was ready to "negotiate to resolve problems."
"Twitter is not an immoral environment needing to be blocked," Jahromi, 36, was quoted as saying.
Jahromi is Iran's youngest minister after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Previously he had lauded the social networking website for being a great tool in public diplomacy and communicating with the people of the world.
Under the Islamic Republic, platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter remain officially banned even as millions use them daily through easily obtained anti-filtering software.
Iran's Supreme Council of Cyberspace, which is headed by President Hassan Rouhani and overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is in charge of blocking websites.
Even so, Rouhani and Khamenei both have Twitter accounts administered on their behalf.
Jahromi told the newspaper that officials were also looking at ways to unblock YouTube while still censoring "immoral content." He said a pilot project would allow universities to access the site.
Based on reporting by AP and AFP
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Yu. V. Prokhorov, RSCC Chief Executive Officer, is commended by the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation
On October 28, 2015, Chief Executive Officer, FSUE Russian Satellite Communications Company, Yu. V. Prokhorov received a letter of commendation for long standing excellent service and a great contribution to the development of information technologies and communications in the Russian Federation from the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
The team of the Russian Satellite Communications Company offers Yury V. [Valentinovich] Prokhorov their wishes on his anniversary year and their appreciation of the high mark of his services to the industry!
Yu. V. Prokhorov has an over 30 years’ experience in the satellite communications industry to his credit. Upon graduation from the Moscow State Institute of Radio Engineering, Electronics and Automation Yuri V. [Valentinovich] has come a long way from an engineer at the Kometa Central Scientific Research Institute to the head of the satellite systems department at M. V. Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center to Chief Executive Officer, Russian Satellite Communications Company.
He led the work to build and operate modern telecommunications systems for the space industry (including at the Baikonur and Plesetsk Cosmodromes) and to build airborne transponders for small communications spacecraft. He headed the effort to create and operate the Russian segment of the Iridium global satellite-based personal communication service.
Yu. V. Prokhorov is a member of the Governmental Commission on Communications and Broadcasting Development and a member of the State Commission for Flight Tests of Public, Research and Commercial Spacecraft.
He holds the title of 'Merited Test Pilot of Spacecraft'.
He is the author of a number of publications and articles on the strategic development of satellite communications and broadcasting in Russia.
Since 2008, Yu. V. Prokhorov has been employed by FSUE Russian Satellite Communications Company. During his employment, he has been part of feasibility studies on the system and technical requirements for the national orbital constellation build-up of communications and broadcasting satellites for civilian applications for scheduled periods until 2015 and 2025. Yu. V. Prokhorov supervised the work to build and prepare launches of Express-AM4/MD2/4R space vehicles; to build and prepare launches of and flight-test and put into service the Express-AM5/6/AT1/AT2/AM7/AM8 space vehicles; to finalize work on the Express-AMU1 space vehicle. During 2012 – 2015, Yu. V. Prokhorov has been directly involved in and led the way for launching into orbit and putting into service communications and broadcasting spacecraft that are currently providing a superior level of satellite communications, television and radio broadcasting services across the Russian Federation.
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Edit Biography: Dean A. Watkins
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President of AIEE, IRE or IEEE (Second term)
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Born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1922, Dean A. Watkins received his B.S. degree from Iowa State College in 1944, his M.S. degree from California Institute of Technology in 1947 and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1951. He served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in both Europe and the Pacific in Worki War II. While a student at Stanford, Dr. Watkins was co-inventor of a low-noise [[Traveling Wave Tube|traveling wave tube]]. Early in his career, he was a design engineer for Collins Radio Company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He spent a year during 1948-49 on the staff of Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Later, he was with the Research Laboratories of Hughes Aircraft Company in Culver City, California, where he designed and tested the first helix backward-wave oscillator. He subsequently became head of that firm's Microwave Tube Department. Dr. Watkins joined the faculty of Stanford University in 1953 when he was appointed Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering. He was advanced to full professorship in 1956 and continued in that capacity until the end of 1963. In December of 1957, he and Dr. H. Richard Johnson co-founded Watkins-Johnson Company to develop and manufacture microwave electronic components. Early successes in traveling-wave tube technology led to steady expansion of the company's product line. Under Dr. Watkins' leadership, the firm became an innovator in the application of solid-state techniques to microwave devices. Today, with Dr. Watkins as its chairman, Watkins-Johnson Company is a medium-sized corporation employing more than 2,800 people worldwide. In addition to microwave components, its products now include integrated assemblies, sub-systems, instruments, test equipment, production furnaces for the semiconductor industry, antennas and complete computer-controlled systems for reconnaissance and electronic countermeasures misssions. His leadership has been recognized by the electronics industry on numerous occasions. In 1957, he was the recipient of the annual Electronic Achievement Award of the Seventh Region of the Institute of Radio Engineers. The following year, he was named a [[IEEE Fellow Grade History|Fellow of the IRE]], now the IEEE. He served as a director and chairman of the San Francisco Council of the Western Electronics Manufacturers Association, now American Electronics Association. He was a consultant on electron devices to the Director of Defense Research and Engineering from 1956 to 1966. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1968. Dr. Watkins was appointed to the Board of Regents of the University of California in 1969 and served as chairman of the board from 1972 to 1974. He is a member and past chairman of the Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. He has served as a director of the California Chamber of Commerce since 1975 and during 1981 serves as its president. He and his wife, Bessie, reside in Woodside, California. They operate a cattle ranch in California and enjoy riding and hunting. Their three sons are, respectively, an architect, a computer engineer, and a zoologist. {{DEFAULTSORT:Watkins}} [[Category:Computing_and_electronics]] [[Category:Electron_devices]] [[Category:Semiconductor_devices]]
Retrieved from "https://ethw.org/Dean_A._Watkins"
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There Are No Plans For Any Star Wars Movies To Be On Disney+ Exclusively
By Damian Seeto
Disney will be releasing its own video on demand service later this year called Disney+.
While several Star Wars TV shows will be a part of the service, there are currently no plans to release any exclusive Star Wars movies on the platform.
Disney CEO, Bob Iger, was interviewed by Barrons and he has no current plan to release high budget movies on the Disney+ streaming platform. You can read what he had to say posted down below.
"We’re looking to invest significantly in television series on a per-episode business, and we’re looking to make movies that are higher budget, but nothing like that. We wouldn’t make a Star Wars movie for this platform. When everybody goes out on the weekend and you have a movie that opens up to $200 million, there’s a buzz that creates that enhances value. We like that. And eventually the movies we’re making are going to [end up on] the service.
Movies are a huge investment and it's more profitable for Disney to release huge movies like Star Wars and Avenger films in cinemas.
After all, both Avengers: Infinity War and Star Wars: The Force Awakens managed to earn over $2 billion at the worldwide Box Office.
That's not to say movies released on streaming services cannot be successful. After all over on Netflix, the movie called Bird Box was seen by over 45 million users worldwide. This could be a future for films that aren't released theatrically.
For now, Disney is busy concentrating on making The Mandalorian TV show which is expected to premiere sometime later this year. After that, Rogue One's Cassian Andor will have his own Star Wars TV show too in the near future.
Wanna read more on this? Check these out: Godzilla: King of the Monsters Gets Blu-ray And Digital Release Date (more); Movie Review: Stuber (more); Hot Toys Reveals New Star Wars Count Dooku Figure (more); Early Rotten Tomatoes Rating Revealed For The Lion King (more).
And here are some more related articles: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker To Introduce The Sith Trooper (more); Spider-Man: Far From Home Receives Its Official CinemaScore (more); Joker 2019 Movie Will Not Follow Any Comic Books (more).
A few more: Movie Review: Spider-Man: Far From Home (more); Jumanji: The Next Level Shows Off Its First Trailer (more).
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Bebe Buell
Beverle Lorence "Bebe" Buell (born July 14, 1953) is an American singer and former fashion model, and Playboy magazine's November 1974 Playmate of the Month. Buell moved to New York in 1971 after signing a modeling contract with Eileen Ford, and garnered notoriety after her publicized relationship with musician Todd Rundgren from 1972 until 1979, as well as her liaisons with several rock musicians over the following four decades. She is the mother of actress Liv Tyler, whose father is Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. Buell was involved with Rundgren when she had a fling with Tyler and gave birth to Liv in 1977; she then resumed her relationship with Rundgren.
Buell at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival
Beverle Lorence Buell
(1953-07-14) July 14, 1953 (age 65)
Portsmouth, Virginia, U.S.
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.[1]
Model, singer
Coyote Shivers
(m. 1992; div. 1999)
Jim Wallerstein
(m. 2002)
Playboy centerfold appearance
Ester Cordet
Janice Raymond
Bust: 35 in / 89 cm
Waist: 24 in / 61 cm
Hips: 35 in / 89 cm
5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[2]
120 lb (54 kg; 8.6 st)
In 2001 Buell wrote an autobiography (with Victor Bockris), Rebel Heart: An American Rock and Roll Journey. The book was a New York Times bestseller. The paperback was issued in 2002.
Buell was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, the daughter of Dorothea (Brown) Johnson, who founded the Protocol School of Washington, and Harold Lloyd Buell, a U.S. Navy officer and World War II veteran.[3][4][5] As her father was not at home at the time of Buell's birth, her mother waited until he got back before naming her daughter. The nurses in the hospital took to calling her "Baby Buell," which is where her nickname of "Bebe" originated.[6] She is of German descent.[7][8]
ModelingEdit
Buell was discovered by modeling agency executive Eileen Ford after high school graduation at age 17,[9] and relocated to New York City at age 18.[1] She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for the November 1974 issue; her centerfold was photographed by Richard Fegley. Describing her early years and modeling career, Buell said, "[I wanted] to be a professional singer [which was why] I came to New York—yes, I was a pretty young girl, so I fell into the modeling thing, and [then] I did Playboy, so then the rock stars came a-hunting, as I like to say."[10]
In 1981 Buell recorded a four-song EP on Rhino Records, produced by Rick Derringer and Ric Ocasek, with the Cars serving as her band on two tracks.[2] The rock band the Power Station began in 1984 when her then-boyfriend John Taylor (of Duran Duran fame) pulled some famous friends together to provide backing for another of Buell's musical efforts. She also formed the band the B-Sides in 1980; it disbanded in 1985.
In 1985 Buell started another band, the Gargoyles, and released a couple of singles. A few large record companies showed interest, but the Gargoyles disbanded when Liv Tyler's paternity became public in 1991. Buell withdrew from performing for six years in the 1990s. She managed Liv's career as an international model and actress. She also represented actress Charis Michelsen.
After Liv left home in 1997, Buell recorded a solo effort with producer Don Fleming, released in 2000. She also performed around New York with the Bebe Buell Band and later with Boston musicians the Rudds and the Neighborhoods' drummer Johnny Lynch, forming a new band for a few shows that also included her husband, James Wallerstein.
In May 2009 Buell released her first recording in ten years, the single "Air Kisses for the Masses". She then recorded a 12-song album that can be downloaded on iTunes or Amazon MP3. Buell played a series of live shows in the New York City area to promote the single.
In September 2011 Buell released Hard Love, an aggressive rock album influenced by grunge and glam rock.[11] It was produced by Wallerstein and Stephen DeAcutis. The 11-track record features original songs alongside covers of Gang of Four's "I Love a Man in Uniform" and "Baby Baby" by the English punk rock band the Vibrators.
Buell has dated many musicians, beginning with Paul Cowsill of the Cowsills when she was 16.[12] She has dated Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Todd Rundgren, Jimmy Page, and Steven Tyler, but she rejects the label "groupie".[13][14]
From 1972 to 1979, Bebe Buell had a longterm, on and off, relationship with Todd Rundgren. In 1976, Buell became unexpectedly pregnant from her brief relationship with Steven Tyler. On July 1, 1977, Buell gave birth to future actress/model Liv Tyler, but Buell initially named her child Liv Rundgren and claimed that Todd Rundgren was the biological father to protect the child from Tyler's drug addiction. Rundgren and Buell ended their romantic relationship shortly after Liv's birth. At age nine, Liv found out that she was Steven Tyler's biological daughter.[15][16][17]
In 1992, Buell married for the first time. She wed sometime-musician and actor Coyote Shivers.[2] They divorced in 1999 after a year-long separation.[18] In 2002, she married musician Jim Wallerstein[13] (aka Jim Walters) of Das Damen.
For his film Almost Famous, music journalist and filmmaker Cameron Crowe developed the groupie character Penny Lane as a composite of a handful of girls he saw backstage in the late 1960s and early 1970s at concerts calling themselves the "Flying Garter Girls". One girl who went by the nickname Pennie Lane is real-life Pennie Lane Trumbull, born in Portland, Oregon, in 1954.[19] Though they were not in the Flying Garter Girls group, various other women have been described as Crowe's inspiration, for instance Pamela Des Barres[20] and Buell. Buell partially inspired Crowe; he named a lead singer character Jeff Bebe.[21]
Buell lived in New York and New Jersey[10] before relocating to Nashville, Tennessee, in 2014.[22]
DiscographyEdit
Covers Girl (1981), 12" 4 song EP produced by Ric Ocasek & Rick Derringer
"My Little Red Book"
"Wild One Forever"
"The Little Black Egg"
"Funtime"
"Hard Love (2011), 11-track album produced by James Wallerstein and Stephen DeAcutis.
"Mother of Rock'n'Roll"
"Devil You Know"
"Heartbeat"
"Got It All Wrong"
"Baby Baby"
"Black Angel"
"Sugar"
"I Love a Man in Uniform"
"Timeline"
"Normal Girl"
"I Will Wait"
"Air Kisses For The Masses" (2009) single iTunes, Amazon MP3, produced by Twinomatick
Free To Rock (2000) produced by Don Fleming with the Bebe Buell Band
Retrosexual, (1994, reissued 2004) for Sky Dog Records France
Little Black Egg (1982), 7" Single/UK for Moonlight Records
with the B-Sides
A Side of the B-Sides (1984), 3 song 12" EP Picture Disc produced by Todd Rundgren
"Mr. Never Forever"
"Windy Words"
"Battle Cry"
with the Gargoyles
Two 45 releases:
"Gargoyle"/"Bored Baby" (1993), 7" Single/Cave Creek Records/Ultra Under
"Jacuzzi Jungle"/"Thirteen Wrong Turns" (1987), 7" Single/Route One Records
Cassette EP, "Bebe Buell and the Gargoyles": "Vibrator"/"Lick it and Stick it"/"Take Me to Your Leader"/"Luv Reaction" (1988), FISHTRAKS
^ a b White, Abby (2014-05-08). "Bebe Buell, rock 'n' roll's most famous girlfriend, on her debut show at The Bluebird". Nashville Scene. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
^ a b c Buell, Bebe and Bockris, Victor. Rebel Heart: An American Rock and Roll Journey. St. Martin's Press, 2001. (ISBN 0-312-26694-4, ISBN 0-312-30155-3)
^ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/134649773/harold-lloyd-buell
^ Morris, Bob (November 21, 2004). "Manners in the Time of Flu". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2013-07-10. Retrieved January 13, 2009.
^ Buell, Bebe (2001). Rebel Heart: An American Rock and Roll Journey (First ed.). St. Martin's Press. p. 349.
^ Juice Magazine: "Bebe Buell - INTERVIEW BY STEVE OLSON" Archived 2018-06-12 at the Wayback Machine September 2009 | Are you an American? Yes. I am. I'm German American. Were you born in the states? Yes. My grandparents were German
^ Buell, 2001, pp. 199, 349 |I'm from strong German stock, so I'm not capable of breaking down completely
^ "About". Bebe Buell. Archived from the original on 2014-04-18. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
^ a b "Indie Power TV: Interview with Bebe Buell". YouTube. Los Angeles, California. 2014-09-03. Archived from the original on 2016-03-16. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
^ "Hard Love - Bebe Buell". Allmusic. Archived from the original on 2016-03-18. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
^ Buell, 2001, p. 1
^ a b New York Magazine: "152 Minutes With Bebe Buell - On a rock-and-roll photo tour with the legendary groupie, who prefers “rock girlfriend,” or now just “rocker.”" By Jada Yuan Archived 2013-11-17 at the Wayback Machine September 25, 2011
^ Reinhart, Ernst; Gillian Cumming (June 1, 2008). "Tyler Liv's life to the full". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Archived from the original on 2013-01-10. Retrieved January 7, 2009.
^ "Liv Tyler Biography". People. Archived from the original on 2012-05-30. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
^ "Hello Magazine Profile — Liv Tyler". Hello!. Hello! Ltd. Archived from the original on 2008-06-13. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
^ Dominus, Susan (June 20, 2008). "Liv Tyler: living for today". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 2009-01-31. Retrieved January 7, 2009.
^ Fox News: "'NCIS' Actress Pauley Perrette's Endless Nightmare Divorce" By Roger Friedman Archived 2013-05-22 at the Wayback Machine September 28, 2006
^ Ammann, Ana (September 7, 2012). "Will the real Penny Lane please stand up?". Oregon Music News. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015.
^ Lecaro, Lina (December 15, 2010). "Zooey Deschanel to Play Original '60s Groupie Pamela "I'm With the Band" Des Barres in HBO Series (NSFW)". LA Weekly. Archived from the original on 2015-01-05. Retrieved 2015-01-05.
^ "Wild Things: Cameron Crowe and Bebe Buell". Talk. March 2001.
^ Polycarpou, Paul. "Q&A: Bebe Buell". Nashville Arts. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bebe Buell.
Bebe Buell at Playboy Online
Bebe Buell on IMDb
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bebe_Buell&oldid=904040209"
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Fiestas Patrias (Mexico)
Find sources: "Fiestas Patrias" Mexico – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Fiestas Patrias (English: Patriotic Holidays) in Mexico originated in the 19th century and are observed today as five public holidays.
Aniversario de la ConstituciónEdit
This day (English: "Anniversary of the Constitution") commemorates the Constitution of 1917, promulgated after the Mexican Revolution on February 5. Article 74 of the Mexican federal labor law (Ley Federal del Trabajo) provides that the first Monday of February (regardless of the date) will be an official holiday in Mexico marking this occasion. This was a modification of the law made in 2005, effective since 2006; before that, it was celebrated on February 5 regardless of the day of the week in which the date occurred.
Natalicio de Benito JuárezEdit
This day (English: Birth of Benito Juárez) commemorates President Benito Juárez's birthday on March 21, 1806. Juárez is popularly regarded as an exemplary politician because of his liberal policies that, among other things, defined the traditionally strict separation of the church and the Mexican state. Article 74 of the Mexican labor law (Ley Federal del Trabajo) provides that the third Monday of March (regardless the date) will be an official holiday in Mexico. As with Constitution Day, the holiday was originally celebrated every year on the same date (March 21), but the federal labor law was modified in 2005 so the holiday is always celebrated on a Monday.
Labor DayEdit
Día del Trabajo (English: Labor Day) commemorates the Mexican workers' union movements on May 1 — specifically, the 1906 Cananea, Sonora, and the 1907 Río Blanco, Veracruz, labor unrest and repression.
Grito de Dolores and Aniversario de la IndependenciaEdit
Main article: Grito de Dolores
Grito de Dolores (on the evening of September 15) and Aniversario de la Independencia (September 16) commemorate Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla's Grito de Dolores — on September 16, 1810, in the village of Dolores, near Guanajuato. Hidalgo called for the end of Spanish rule in Mexico. On October 18, 1825, the Republic of Mexico officially declared September 16 its national Independence Day (Dia de la Independencia).
Mexican Independence day, also referred to as Dieciséis de septiembre, is celebrated from the evening of September 15 with a re-creation of the Grito de Dolores by all executive office-holders (from the President of the Republic down to municipal presidents) and lasts through the night.
Aniversario de la RevoluciónEdit
Main article: Revolution Day (Mexico)
This day commemorates the Mexican Revolution which started on November 20, 1910 when Francisco I. Madero planned an uprising against dictator Porfirio Díaz's 31-year-long iron rule. Article 74 of the Mexican labor law (Ley Federal del Trabajo) provides that the third Monday of November (regardless the date) will be an official holiday in Mexico. This was a modification of the law made in 2005, effective since 2006; before then, it was November 20 regardless of the day, and all schools gave extended holidays if the day was a Tuesday or Thursday. Although November 20 is the official day, the uprising started on different days in different parts of the country.
Confusion regarding Cinco de mayoEdit
Contrary to common misconception in the U.S.,[1][2][3]Cinco de mayo is not Mexico's "Independence Day", but rather commemorates an initial victory of Mexican forces over French forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.
In contrast to Independence Day, described above, Cinco de mayo is observed mostly at a local level (Puebla State) and is a minor Bank Holiday in the rest of Mexico. Many labor unions have negotiated to have the day off, however, since its proximity to Labor Day (May 1) often allows an extended five-day weekend or two consecutive three-day weekends.
Flag flying days in Mexico
Holidays and celebrations in Mexico
^ Lauren Effron (2010-05-10). "Cinco de Mayo:NOT Mexico's Independence Day". Discovery News. Retrieved 2010-09-16. Contrary to popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is not the celebration of Mexico's independence day.
^ Julia Leyton (2003-04-26). "How Cinco de Mayo Works". HowStuffWorks.com. Retrieved 2010-09-16. Lots of us have heard of the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo, but not everyone knows what it celebrates. It is not, as some believe, Mexico's Independence Day.
^ "Cinco de Mayo, Mexican Independence Day, Sombrero, Fiesta coloring page". Retrieved 2010-09-16. Get ready for the Fiesta! Print out our original coloring page for your Cinco de Mayo (also known as Mexican Independence Day) celebration and color the Mexican flag, a sombrero, maracas, a pinata and more!
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fiestas_Patrias_(Mexico)&oldid=871059734"
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Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani
Not to be confused with Hamad bin Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber bin Mohammed bin Thani Al Thani (born 11 January 1958) (Arabic: حمد بن جاسم بن جبر آل ثاني) is a Qatari politician. He was the Prime Minister of Qatar from 3 April 2007 to 26 June 2013, and foreign minister from 11 January 1992 to 26 June 2013.
Hamad in January 2012
4th Prime Minister of Qatar
3 April 2007 – 26 June 2013
Hamad bin Khalifa
Tamim bin Hamad
Abdullah bin Hamad
Abdullah bin Khalifa
Abdullah bin Nasser
11 January 1992 – 26 June 2013
Khalifa bin Hamad
Abdukkah bin Khalifa
Mubarak Ali Al Khater
Khalid bin Mohammad
(1958-01-10) 10 January 1958 (age 61)
Aljohara bint Fahad
Noor Al Subaie
Hamad was born in Doha, Qatar, on 11 January 1958.[1][2] He is the fifth son of Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani.[2] Through his father, he is the grandson of Jabr bin Mohammed Al Thani. Jabr was a younger brother of Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, the founding father of the modern Qatar .
Hamad and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.
Between 1982 and 1989, Hamad was the director of the office of the minister of municipal affairs and agriculture. In July 1989, he was appointed minister of municipal affairs and agriculture and in May 1990, he was appointed deputy minister of electricity and water along with his post as minister of municipal affairs and agriculture, where he supervised several successful projects and developed the agriculture sector.[3]
On 1 September 1992, Hamad was appointed as foreign minister of Qatar by the 8th Emir. He was retained in his post when the Emir's son, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani came to power in a coup in 1995. Hamad played an important role in the overthrow of the 8th Emir. On 16 September 2003, Hamad was appointed first deputy prime minister while retaining his position of minister of foreign affairs. On 2 April 2007, he was appointed as prime minister, following the resignation of Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani; Hamad also continued to serve as foreign minister.[4] HBJ had vast foreign policy goals for Qatar during his tenure. Qatar was said to be "punching above its weight" under HBJ's direction, but the foreign ministry was generally regarded as lacking the necessary infrastructure to live up to his aspirations.[5]
Hamad was reported to have had strong connections with the US government. He serves on the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Institution and chairs the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Doha Center. He has stakes in many strong businesses such as Qatar Airways and the Foreign Investment Company, Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company, The Pearl and Harrods. He is a partner in Project Grande (Guernsey), the developer of One Hyde Park in London, United Kingdom.[6]
Additionally, Hamad held several other key positions including member of the supreme defense council, which was established in 1996; head of Qatar's permanent committee for the support of al Quds, which was formed in 1998; member of the permanent constitution committee, formed in 1999; member of the ruling family council, which was established in 2000; and member of the supreme council for the investment of the reserves of the state, which was established in 2000.[3]
Hamad and British Prime Minister David Cameron in 2011
Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, ruling Emir of Qatar from 1995 to 2013, was the first Arab politician received by Nicolas Sarkozy after the latter's election to the French presidency in May 2007.[7] The French government made of Qatar under Hamad's guidance a strategic partner, and the list of partnerships between the two states includes Total, EADS, Technip, Air Liquide, Vinci SA, GDF Suez, and Areva. France was, under the Hamad government, the primary arms supplier to the Emirate.[8] In February 2009, under the Sarkozy government, France accorded special beyond-OCDE investment privileges to Qatar, its ruling family and its State-Owned Enterprises; one example of the privileges is capital gains exemptions in France.[8]
The US embassy to Doha claimed, in a cable disclosed in December 2010 by WikiLeaks, that "Sheikh Hamad (HBJ) told then US senator John Kerry that he had proposed a bargain with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, which involved stopping broadcasts in Egypt in exchange for a change in Cairo's position on Israel-Palestinian negotiations, and that 'we would stop al-Jazeera for a year' if Mubarak agreed in that span of time to deliver a lasting settlement for the Palestinians."[9]
On 25 June 2013, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani abdicated as Emir of Qatar,[10] and on the next day, 26 June, Hamad resigned from office. Some have questioned whether this was because the new emir pulled him from his post after realizing how much power HBJ had amassed.[5] He was replaced by Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani as prime minister[11] and by Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah as foreign minister.[12] On 3 July, Hamad was also relieved from the post of deputy head of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).[13] HBJ's involvement in so many positions and organizations in Qatar led to questions over his capability to address Qatar's issues with extremism and terrorist financing, a concern for many western nations who deal with Qatar.[14]
It was under HBJ that Qatar began assisting rebels in Syria by supplying them with arms. This move brought criticism upon Qatar, as some questioned whether these arms ultimately ended up in the wrong hands.[5]
Mediation effortsEdit
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Hamad has worked actively to settle political conflicts in both Africa and the Middle East over the last 20 years.
Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani delivers a speech at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East at the Dead Sea in Jordan, May 15, 2009
In 2010, he led the mediation efforts that resulted in the signing of a peace agreement between Djibouti and Eritrea to settle their border dispute and thereby paving the way for broader peace talks to end the six-year conflict in the region. According to the negotiated peace declaration, the two parties pledged to give peaceful means a “strategic priority to settle the conflict in Darfur”, and to take the required measures to create “an opportune environment to achieve a lasting settlement”, including the halting of “inconvenience to the displaced and ensuring the flow of relief aid”. The parties furthermore committed themselves to prisoners swap and the release of those who were detained due to the dispute.
In 2009, he assisted in the settlement agreement between Sudan and Chad. The civil war in Chad began in December 2005. On February 8, 2006 the Tripoli Agreement was signed, which temporarily stopped the fighting. However, hostilities resumed after two months, leading to several new agreement attempts and a final settlement between the two parties in 2009.
In 2009, Hamad participated in brokering a peace agreement to end the conflict in Darfur ("The Goodwill and Confidence Building Pact”) between the government of Sudan and Justice and Equality Movement. The pact also opened up to the rest of factions in Darfur.
He participated in mediation of ceasefire in Yemen between the Government of Yemen and the Houthi Movement in 2007. In 2010, the two parties agreed to activate the agreement after confrontations threatening the ceasefire. The mediation ended a six-year war between the two sides.
In 2007, Hamad helped organize the Lebanese national dialogue and the peace agreement between various Lebanese political groups to end the worst internal fighting in Lebanon since the civil war of 1975–1990. In an attempt to resolve a broader political showdown that had paralyzed the country for 18 months, Hamad summoned the Lebanese government and Hezbollah-led opposition to Qatar for talks. He declared an agreement sponsored by the Arab League to deal with the Lebanese crisis. In the agreement the parties pledged, “to refrain from returning to the use of weapons or violence to realize political gains." The Lebanese government furthermore committed itself to introduce a new electoral law designed to provide better representation in the country's sectarian system of power sharing.
Hamad and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in 2014
Hamad was instrumental in creating the peace settlement between Sudan and Eritrea in 1998. The un-demarcated border with Sudan had posed a problem for Eritrean external relations for most of the nation's existence. He negotiated a peace settlement between Sudan and Eritrea. After the agreement was signed, relations somewhat normalized.
In 1996, he worked to settle a brief war between Eritrea and Yemen over the Hanish Islands. As part of the agreement to cease hostilities the two nations agreed, through the negotiating effort of Hamad, to refer the issue to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in 1998. Yemen was granted full ownership of the larger islands while Eritrea was awarded the peripheral islands to the southwest of the larger islands. Since then relations between the two governments have remained relatively normal.
Hamad facilitated the agreement that led to a unity constitution in Yemen in May 1990, ratified by the populace in May 1991. It affirmed Yemen's commitment to free elections, a multiparty political system, the right to own private property, equality under the law, and respect of basic human rights. Parliamentary elections were held on 27 April 1993.
Hamad also has been involved in ongoing efforts between Fatah and Hamas to achieve Palestinian reconciliation to activate the peace process with Israel.
Of other humanitarian initiatives, he has facilitated the release of prisoners, including the five Lebanese prisoners in Eritrea. He supported the effort to release Mr. Nawaz Sharif, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan from jail, and was instrumental in freeing the Bulgarian nurses in Libya from prison. He has opened Qatar to political refugees in the Muslim and Arab worlds. During the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s, he secured large quantities of food, medicine and other items to the Bosnian population.
In November 2010 he launched the Humanitarian Appeal 2011 in Doha, together with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The initiative is set to help improve the living conditions for millions of people affected by humanitarian crises around the world.
Legal issuesEdit
BAE SystemsEdit
Following courting by Michael Portillo, Qatar entered into an arms deal worth £500 million with BAE Systems.[15] £7 million was transferred into two trusts in Jersey of which Hamad was named as a beneficiary. In an attempt to prevent money laundering, the funds were frozen from 16 July 2000 by the Jersey Financial Services Commission, who then began a court case and investigation.[14] Hamad paid the Jersey authorities £6 million as a "voluntary reparation" as "the structures put in place by his advisers may have contributed to the cost and complexity of the inquiry." The case was then dropped by the Jersey authorities.[5]
Fawaz Al-AttiyaEdit
HBJ is facing a lawsuit brought on by Fawaz Al-Attiya, former official spokesman for Qatar, who says that agents acting on behalf of HBJ imprisoned and tortured him in Doha for 15 months from 2009–2011. Al-Attiya says that he was kept in solitary confinement, only let out of handcuffs to be interrogated, subjected to sleep deprivation, and denied proper access to food, water, and sunlight.[16] Al-Attiya also alleged that he was not adequately compensated for his Qatari land that was expropriated by the state.[17] Documents submitted by Al-Attiya's lawyers state that in 1997, HBJ offered to buy 20,000 square meters of land from Al-Attiya in west Doha. Al-Attiya says that he refused the offer because he felt that the land was worth more than HBJ's offer, a move that angered HBJ. He alleges that HBJ then seized the land and subjected Al-Attiya to “increasing harassment, threats, and surveillance”. A decade later in 2007, HBJ allegedly tried to have Al-Attiya arrested in Dubai. Al-Attiya then moved to Saudi Arabia in 2008 when a series of legal cases were filed against him, including one that alleged that he leaked state secrets during his tenure serving in public office. Court documents state that Al-Attiya was “forcibly taken from Saudi Arabia to Qatar” in October 2009. From then until January 2011, Al-Attiya was held in various prisons around Qatar. Attiya was told by Qatar's assistant attorney during this time that “he was being detained at the behest of the prime minister (Hamad bin Jassim), that there was no intention to release him and that any attempt to secure release through securing a court order…would either be prevented or any such order would not be carried out”. Attiya was ultimately released on orders of the crown prince.[5]
After his release, HBJ filed another case against Attiya claiming that he had forged a check worth 3 million riyals and as a result owed money to Qatar National Bank. This case was also dropped due to intervention by the crown prince.[16]
HBJ denies all claims against him in regards to Fawaz Al-Attiya and says that he has diplomatic immunity and state immunity given his diplomatic position in London, leaving London's High Court without jurisdiction. No decision has been made yet as to whether his diplomatic immunity will extend to this case.[16][18]
Heritage OilEdit
In June 2014, HBJ acquired 80% of Heritage Oil, which was listed as a London exploration and production company. At the same time, he was listed as a “Counsellor” at the Qatari embassy and as such was privileged to legal immunity under the 1961 Vienna Convention. Article 42 of this convention states that “a diplomat shall not in the receiving State practise for personal profit any professional or commercial activity” thereby disallowing the acquisition in which HBJ engaged. The stake, valued at £924 million and dated April 30, 2014, transferred to a “wholly owned subsidiary” of Al-Mirqab Capital, an investment company privately owned by HBJ and his family. HBJ's lawyers maintain that the fact that the company was listed in London is not sufficient evidence to determine that Article 42 had been violated.[19]
ControversiesEdit
A May 2008 diplomatic cable sent by then U.S. chargé d'affaires in Doha, alluded to a dispute between HBJ and the Qatari intelligence officials over a Qatari senior bank official imprisoned for 6 months over his role in funding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), the al-Qaeda mastermind of September 11. The senior bank official was Khalifa Muhammad Turki al-Subaiy who financed KSM while working at Qatar Central Bank.[14]
In November 2016, Pakistani Prime Minister produced a letter from Hamad Bin Jassim to claim that the properties identified as owned by his daughter in Panama Leaks are actually are result of a settlement that happened in 2006. The letter was mostly based on hearsay and soon after the first letter second letter was produced which tried to cover up holes left in the first letter. The properties were purchased by Sharif family from 1992–1996 through off shore companies Nescoll and Nielson. The beneficial owner of those four flats is Maryam Nawaz (daughter of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif) according to leaked Panama papers. If the court calls Hamad Bin Jassim to stand as the witness to prove the worth of his letter, he could be sent to prison for lying. Pakistan will definitely imprison frauds who could help making black money white. It is alleged that Hamad bin Jassim's companies got lucarative LNG deal worth Billions of dollar with Pakistan through his connection with Nawaz Sharif. Hammad bin Jasim was even mentioned in Panama case decision and was praised by justice Khosa who used this information to base his opinion and give one of the historical verdicts in Pakistan.
Paradise PapersEdit
See also: Paradise Papers
In November 2017 an investigation conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism cited his name in the list of politicians named in "Paradise Papers" allegations.[20]
Positions and opinionsEdit
At a 2015 speech at the Chatham House, a London-based think tank, HBJ warned the Israelis, reminding them that they are surrounded by 400 million Arabs, saying “you have the upper hand now but you are surrounded. Accept the 1967 boundaries, the two state solution. Your superiority will not last forever. Solve (the Palestinian question) and terrorism is defused.”[5]
Business and wealthEdit
Al Thani is one of the richest people in the world,[21][22] having overseen Qatar's $230 billion sovereign wealth fund until 2013. He has been named "the man who bought London" by British tabloids; his holdings in London include the Shard, Harrods, and the InterContinental London Park Lane.[23] He also owns football club Paris Saint-Germain.[23]
It was reported that Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani bought Banque Internationale à Luxembourg and KBL European Private Bankers via Precision Capital,[24] making one of the largest banking groups in Luxembourg.
According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, he also owned 3.05% shares of the Deutsche Bank as of 20 August 2015, via Paramount Services Holdings Limited; his relative, HH Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (former emir/ruler of Qatar), via another company Supreme Universal Holdings, owned 3.05% shares as of 20 August 2015. Part of Hamad bin Khalifa's stake was sold by Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber.[25]
In May 2015, Hamad purchased Picasso's Les Femmes d'Alger (Version O) for $179.4 million including fees, a record price for a painting at auction.[26][27] He also owns a super-yacht, the Al Mirqab, worth $300 million.[23]
Titles, styles and honoursEdit
Titles and stylesEdit
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani (1959–1989)
His Excellency Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani (1989–2007, 2013–present)
His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, Prime Minister of Qatar (2007 to 2013)
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2010)
Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from the Lebanese American University (28 April 2010, Lebanon)[28]
In 1982, Hamad married Jawaher bint Fahad Al Thani.[2] He subsequently married Noor Al Subaie, the daughter of the former minister of education, in 1996 as his second wife.
ChildrenEdit
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately.
Find sources: "Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Jabor
Jassim
Anood
Lamya
Sharifa
Tamim
Falah
^ "Who is Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani?". Al Jazeera. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
^ a b c Moore, James (21 June 2013). "Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani: Meet the man who bought London". The Independent. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
^ a b 2006 U.S.-Islamic World Forum Biographies – Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani Archived 5 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine – Brookings Institution
^ "Qatar’s emir appoints new PM", Middle East Online, 3 April 2007.
^ a b c d e f "Smooth operator: Qatar's ex-PM breaks his silence". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
^ "What recession? Flats in Central London go on sale at £5m-plus". The Times. 18 April 2010. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
^ slate.fr: "Comment le Qatar a acheté la France (et s'est payé sa classe politique)", 6 Jun 2011
^ a b lemonde.fr "La France accorde une exonération d'impôts aux avoirs du Qatar", 21 Feb 2009
^ theguardian.com: "WikiLeaks cables claim al-Jazeera changed coverage to suit Qatari foreign policy", 6 Dec 2015
^ The Report: Qatar 2014. Oxford Business Group, 15 Apr 2014
^ Tuttle, Robert (26 June 2013). "Qatar's Emir Tamim Forms Cabinet Lead by Bin Nasser". Bloomberg. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
^ Aboudi, Sami (26 June 2013). "Qatar drops influential prime minister in cabinet reshuffle". Reuters. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
^ "Qatar's former PM loses role at wealth fund". Arabian Business. Reuters. 3 July 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
^ a b c "Banker who financed 9/11 mastermind now funding terrorists in Syria and Iraq". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
^ "Former Qatari PM has eyes on top UN job". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
^ a b c Ramesh, Randeep; Donaghy, Tori (18 October 2015). "Ex-PM of Qatar to invoke diplomatic immunity in UK torture case". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
^ Croft, Jane (12 January 2016). "Qatar's ex-prime minister claims diplomatic immunity over lawsuit". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
^ "Former Qatari PM tries to quash Brit's 'torture' claim". Channel 4 News. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
^ "Qatari sheikh bought UK oil company while bound by diplomatic rules". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
^ "Explore The Politicians in the Paradise Papers - ICIJ". ICIJ. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
^ LaFraniere, Sharon; Haberman, Maggie; Goldman, Adam. "Trump Inaugural Fund and Super PAC Said to Be Scrutinized for Illegal Foreign Donations". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
^ Ramesh, Randeep. "Qatar's former PM invokes diplomatic immunity over Briton's torture claims". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
^ a b c Sayed, Nawal. "Profile Hamad bin Jassim: the man who bought London". Egypt Today. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
^ "Former Qatar prime minister rejoins dealmaking stage". Financial Times. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
^ Deutsche Bank 2014 Annual Report (Form 20-F) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
^ "Picasso's Women of Algiers smashes auction record". BBC News Online. 12 May 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
^ Sherwell, Philip (21 May 2015). "Billionaire Qatari sheikh 'identified' as secret buyer of world record Picasso". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
^ News: LAU honors leader of Qatar with Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters – Official website of LAU
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani.
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani
Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani Prime Minister of Qatar
Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hamad_bin_Jassim_bin_Jaber_Al_Thani&oldid=904333960"
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John B. Forester
For other uses, see John Forester (disambiguation).
John B. Forester (died August 1, 1845) was an American politician that represented Tennessee's fifth district in the United States House of Representatives.
from Tennessee's 5th district
March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1837
Hopkins L. Turney
McMinnville, Tennessee
Jacksonian Anti-Jacksonian
lawyer politician
Forester was born in McMinnville, Tennessee. Although he received a limited schooling, he studied law. He was admitted to the bar, and practiced law,[1] as one of the early lawyers of Warren County, Tennessee.[2]
Forester was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-third Congress and re-elected as an Anti-Jacksonian candidate to the Twenty-fourth Congress. He served from March 4, 1833 to March 3, 1837.[3]
DeathEdit
Forester died on August 1, 1845. The place he was interred is unknown.[4]
^ "John B. Forester". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
^ "John B. Forester". History of Warren County Tennessee. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
^ "John B. Forester". Govtrack US Congress. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
^ "John B. Forester". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
United States Congress. "John B. Forester (id: F000273)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
William Hall Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 5th congressional district
1833-1837 Succeeded by
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Michael Sam
For the English criminal, see Michael Sams.
Michael Alan Sam Jr. (born January 7, 1990) is an American former defensive end in American and Canadian football. He played college football for the University of Missouri and was drafted by the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League (NFL) in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL draft.
Sam holding a souvenir rock from the rock 'M' at Memorial Stadium after a win against Texas A&M
No. 96, 46, 94
(1990-01-07) January 7, 1990 (age 29)
Hitchcock (TX)
NFL Draft:
2014 / Round: 7 / Pick: 249
St. Louis Rams (2014)*
Dallas Cowboys (2014)*
Montreal Alouettes (2015)
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
Unanimous All-American (2013)
SEC Defensive Player of the Year (2013)
First-team All-SEC (2013)
Arthur Ashe Courage Award (2014)
Career NFL statistics
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR
Sam was a consensus All-American and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Defensive Player of the Year as a senior at Missouri. After completing his college football career, Sam publicly came out as gay. He became the first publicly gay player to be drafted in the NFL. The Rams cut him during the final preseason roster cutdowns. He also spent time on the Dallas Cowboys' practice squad before being waived. He signed with the Montreal Alouettes before the 2015 season, and became the first publicly gay player to play in the Canadian Football League (CFL).
High schoolEdit
Sam attended Hitchcock High School in Hitchcock, Texas. He began traveling with the school's varsity football team while in the eighth grade as a water boy. He later became a member of the team, playing defensive end and offensive tackle.[1]
He earned first-team All-District honors as a defensive lineman in all four years of high school, and as an offensive lineman in his junior and senior years.[2] As a senior, Sam drew attention for his strong performance against Michael Brockers in a game against Chávez High School; Brockers, an All-American, had accepted a scholarship to Louisiana State University.[1][3]
Out of high school, Sam was considered a two-star college football recruit by Rivals.com.[1][4] He received scholarship offers from Arizona State University, Colorado State University, and the University of Houston, but he wanted to attend Texas A&M University, and waited for a scholarship offer from it.[5]
College careerEdit
Sam accepted a scholarship offer from the University of Missouri (Mizzou), after he was recruited by Craig Kuligowski, the team's defensive line coach. Kuligowski recruited other players near Hitchcock, which made him familiar with Sam.[5] Sam attended the school from 2009 to 2013. He played for the Tigers, competing in the Big 12 Conference. He redshirted in his first year at Missouri, and recorded 3.5 quarterback sacks, 24 tackles, including seven tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, one interception and one blocked kick as a redshirt freshman.[1][5] In his sophomore year, Sam intercepted a tipped pass in a game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders, which secured a victory to make Mizzou bowl eligible.[6] In 2012, Mizzou transferred to the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Sam registered 3 1⁄2 sacks while starting in nine of the team's games.[7]
As a senior in 2013, Sam recorded 11.5 quarterback sacks and 19 tackles for a loss. He led the SEC in both categories, and tied Missouri's single-season record for sacks.[8] He was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week in two consecutive weeks, after recording three sacks apiece in games against the Arkansas State Red Wolves and the Vanderbilt Commodores.[9] After the season, Sam was named the SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, with C. J. Mosley of the University of Alabama,[10] and a first-team all-SEC selection.[11]
Sam was named a first-team All-American by the Walter Camp Football Foundation, Associated Press, Sporting News, the American Football Coaches Association, and the Football Writers Association of America.[12][13][14][15] He was also named a semifinalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award, the Hendricks Award, and the Lombardi Award.[1][12] Missouri played in the 2014 Cotton Bowl Classic, in which Sam forced a fumble that was returned for a touchdown, securing Missouri's victory over the Oklahoma State Cowboys.[16]
During his college career, Sam accumulated 123 tackles, including 36 for loss, 21 sacks, six forced fumbles and two intercepted passes.[17] He graduated from Missouri in December 2013.[18] He participated in the 2014 Senior Bowl in January 2014; considered too small to play as a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL), he played as an outside linebacker. Sam struggled at the new position.[19]
Professional careerEdit
2014 NFL DraftEdit
Early projections had Sam as a third- or fourth-round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.[20] His performance in the NFL Scouting Combine in February 2014 was seen as disappointing, which lowered expectations about whether he would be taken in the draft.[21] He was considered to be too small to play defensive end and too slow to play outside linebacker.[22] He showed improvement at a public workout a month later, but his pre-draft rankings ranged from 12th to 25th among defensive ends. At the 2013 draft, 33 defensive ends were selected overall, with 23 taken in the final four rounds.[23]
Pre-draft measurables
40-yard dash
10-yd split
20-ss
3-cone
Vert jump
Wonderlic
6 ft 2 in
(1.88 m) 261 lb
(118 kg) 33 3⁄8 in
(0.85 m) 9 3⁄8 in
(0.24 m) 4.91 s 1.75 s N/A s N/A s N/A s 25.5 in
(0.65 m) 9 ft 6 in
(2.90 m) 17 reps N/A
All values from NFL Combine[24]
St. Louis RamsEdit
Sam with the St. Louis Rams during the 2014 preseason
The St. Louis Rams drafted Sam in the seventh round, the 249th of 256 players selected in the 2014 draft. He became the first publicly gay player to be drafted into the NFL.[25][26] In a statement, President Barack Obama said that he "congratulates Michael Sam, the Rams and the NFL for taking an important step forward today in our Nation's journey" and that "[f]rom the playing field to the corporate boardroom, LGBT Americans prove every day that you should be judged by what you do and not who you are."[27][28] St. Louis Rams jerseys bearing his name became the second best selling rookie jerseys at the NFL's website behind Cleveland Browns' quarterback (and Heisman Trophy winner) Johnny Manziel.[29] During the period from April 1 through July 17, Sam's jersey ranked sixth in sales among all NFL players.[30]
Sam made his professional debut on August 8, 2014, during the first preseason game against the New Orleans Saints, where he made one tackle in the game on quarterback Ryan Griffin. During the second preseason game against the Green Bay Packers, Sam recorded his first professional sack where he sacked Matt Flynn. In preseason game 3 against the Cleveland Browns, Sam sacked Manziel. In four exhibition games, Sam recorded 11 tackles and 3 sacks, including a team-leading 6 tackles in the final game. "I believe he can play in this league", Rams coach Jeff Fisher said.[31] On August 30, St. Louis released Sam as part of a final round of cuts to reduce their roster to the league-mandated 53 players before the start of the regular season.[31][32] The Rams, who kept nine defensive linemen, chose to retain undrafted rookie Ethan Westbrooks over Sam.[32] While their statistics were similar, Westbrooks provided the versatility to play all four defensive line positions, while Sam had been playing virtually exclusively as a left defensive end.[33] Of the 41 picks in seventh round in the 2014 draft, only 22 made initial 53-man rosters. Opting to add depth at other positions, St. Louis did not add Sam to their practice squad after he cleared waivers.[34]
Dallas CowboysEdit
On September 3, 2014, Sam was added to the practice squad of the Dallas Cowboys.[35] On October 21, the Cowboys waived Sam to make room for linebacker Troy Davis.[36][37]
2015 NFL Veteran CombineEdit
Sam participated in the first NFL Veteran Combine, running 4.99 seconds in the 40 yard dash.[38][39][40]
Montreal AlouettesEdit
On May 22, 2015, Sam signed a two-year contract with Montreal Alouettes of the CFL,[41][42] which made him the first openly gay player in the league's history.[42]
On June 12, a day before the Alouettes' first preseason game, Sam was granted permission to leave camp for "personal reasons" to return to home to Texas, and was placed on the suspended list.[43] The specific reason for his departure has not been publicized. On June 26, the team announced that Sam had returned to Montreal and would resume practicing with the team on June 30.[44] After sitting out the team's first five games, he made his CFL debut on August 7, 2015, against the Ottawa Redblacks, and became the first publicly gay player to play in a CFL regular season game. He did not record a tackle in the game.[45][46] Sam missed the next game after the team reported he had a sore back. He left the team the following day, citing concerns with his mental health after a 12-month stretch which he described as "difficult". Montreal again placed him on their suspended list.[46] After leaving Montreal, Sam told radio host Dan Patrick on his show that he never wanted to play in the CFL to begin with. "It was a really last call to go to the CFL. I never really wanted to go to the CFL, but I did and I committed to going".[47]
RetirementEdit
On August 14, 2015, Sam announced, on Twitter, he was stepping away from professional football due to mental health reasons.[48] He currently shares his experiences as an author and motivational speaker.[49][50]
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church protest Sam and the University of Missouri.
Student counter-protesters form a wall in support of Sam.
Sam is the seventh of eight children born to JoAnn and Michael Alan Sam, Sr. His parents separated when he was young.[3] As a child, Sam watched one of his older brothers die from a gunshot wound. Another older brother has been missing since 1998,[51] and his other two brothers are in prison. A sister who was born before him died in infancy.[52] At one point in his childhood, Sam lived in his mother's car.[3] He was once accidentally maced by police who were arresting one of his brothers.[53]
Sam argued with his mother, a Jehovah's Witness, over playing football, as she did not agree with those pursuits. Sam often stayed with friends while in high school; the parents of a classmate gave him a bedroom in their house and had him complete household chores.[3] Sam is the first member of his family to attend college.[18][52]
In August 2013, Sam took the opportunity of a team introduce-yourself session to inform his Missouri teammates that he was gay, and found them supportive.[52] He avoided talking to the media to avoid addressing rumors of his sexuality.[5][12] He came out to his father a week before coming out publicly. The New York Times wrote that his father, a self-described "old-school ... man-and-a-woman type of guy", said "I don't want my grandkids raised in that kind of environment."[3] His father told the Galveston Daily News that he was "terribly misquoted", though The New York Times maintained that he was quoted "accurately and fairly."[54]
On February 9, 2014, in an interview with Chris Connelly on ESPN's Outside the Lines, Sam responded to questions about his coming out experience and his status as one of college football's first openly self-acknowledged gay players.[52] At the time, no active NFL player had ever come out publicly.[18][52] Anonymous NFL executives told Sports Illustrated that they expected Sam to fall in the draft as a result of his announcement.[55] Those statements caused National Football League Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith to respond that any team official who anonymously downgrades Sam is "gutless".[56] From jail, his brother Josh said, "I'm proud of him for not becoming like me. I still love him, whatever his lifestyle is. He's still my brother and I love him."[53]
The week after his ESPN interview, Sam returned to Missouri with the Tigers football team to accept the 2014 Cotton Bowl championship trophy at a ceremony held at the halftime of a Missouri Tigers basketball game at Mizzou Arena. Anti-gay activist Shirley Phelps-Roper and about 15 other members of the Westboro Baptist Church, an organization widely considered a hate group, protested his appearance. Students organized a counter-protest numbering in the thousands,[a] assembling a "human wall" in front of the protesters.[60]
After being drafted by the Rams, Sam's emotional reaction to his draft was broadcast live on television, during which he kissed his boyfriend, Vito Cammisano. Reported to have been dating Sam for several months, Cammisano is a fellow alum of the University of Missouri and was a member of the school's swim team.[61] In January 2015, Sam and Cammisano announced their engagement.[62][63][64] However, the couple ended their relationship in June 2015, but remained friends.[65]
In April 2016 Sam spoke with LGBTQ advocacy groups at the Missouri State Capitol against a bill that would enable discrimination against LGBTQ people and personally lobbied state legislators.[66]
Dancing with the StarsEdit
On February 24, 2015, Sam was announced as one of the celebrities to compete on the 20th season of Dancing with the Stars. He partnered with professional dancer Peta Murgatroyd.[67] Sam and Murgatroyd were eliminated in the fourth week of competition and finished in tenth place.[68]
Honors and accoladesEdit
Sam won the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2014 ESPY Awards.[69] He was named one of GQ's Men of the Year,[70] and a finalist for Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year.[71]
Homosexuality in American football
List of LGBT sportspeople
^ Missouri University police estimated around 500,[57] others reported a thousand or more,[58][59] while ESPN.com estimated around 2,000.[60]
^ a b c d e Palmer, Tod (November 7, 2013). "Missouri's Michael Sam rises from small Texas town to national star". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
^ "Former Hitchcock DE, NFL prospect Michael Sam announces he is gay". Texas HS Football. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
^ a b c d e Drape, Joe; Eder, Steve; Witz, Billy (February 11, 2014). "Before Coming Out, a Hard Time Coming Up: Michael Sam's Troubled Upbringing in Texas". The New York Times. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
^ "Michael Sam – Yahoo! Sports". Sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
^ a b c d Staples, Andy (February 9, 2014). "Michael Sam's rise from unheralded recruit to unstoppable SEC force". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
^ Williams, Don (November 19, 2011). "Missouri scores late, saves win on tipped-pass interception: The Red Raiders have lost four in a row after Deoge's last-minute interception. Tuberville said a Tech victory "just wasn't meant to be."". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
^ Aschoff, Ed; Low, Chris (December 20, 2013). "Ten SEC surprise players in 2013". ESPN. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
^ Palmer, Tod (February 9, 2014). "Teammate proud that Michael Sam 'had the courage to come out'". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
^ Palmer, Tod (October 10, 2013). "Singing, joking Michael Sam sets the tone for Missouri's defensive line". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
^ Casagrande, Michael (December 11, 2013). "Alabama's C.J. Mosley, Christion Jones win SEC player of the year awards". AL.com. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
^ Kerkhoff, Blair (December 9, 2013). "Defensive player of the year Michael Sam leads four Tigers on all-SEC team". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
^ a b c Latsch, Nate (December 24, 2013). "Michael Sam's career accomplishments at Mizzou won't soon be forgotten". FOX Sports. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
^ "Michael Sam Named First-Team All-American by Walter Camp: He Becomes the 33rd All-American in Mizzou Football History". mutigers.com. December 12, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
^ "Missouri's Michael Sam is Walter Camp first-team All-American". The Kansas City Star. December 12, 2013. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
^ Eulitt, David (December 13, 2013). "Mizzou's Michael Sam is two for two on All-America teams". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
^ Chatmon, Brandon (January 4, 2014). "Mizzou defends SEC with Cotton Bowl win". ESPN. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
^ "Michael Sam bio". University of Missouri Official Athletic Site. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
^ a b c Branch, John (February 9, 2014). "N.F.L. Prospect Michael Sam Proudly Says What Teammates Knew: He's Gay". The New York Times. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
^ Paylor, Terez A. (January 30, 2014). "Senior Bowl losers: Transition to linebacker tough for Missouri's Michael Sam". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
^ Gregorian, Vahe (February 9, 2014). "Missouri football star Michael Sam announces he is gay". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
^ "Michael Sam still on draft board". ESPN. May 10, 2014. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
^ Chan, Melissa; Schapiro, Rich; McShane, Larry (May 10, 2014). "Michael Sam shares emotional kiss with boyfriend after he's picked by St. Louis Rams in NFL draft: Saturday's selection made Sam the first openly gay player to be drafted into the league and prompted celebrations at gay bars stretching from Los Angeles to Queens". New York Daily News. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
^ Pennington, Bill (May 7, 2014). "Sam and League Share Uncomfortable Scrutiny". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 10, 2014.
^ Nolan Nawrocki. "NFL Events: Combine Player Profiles – Michael Sam". Nfl.com. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
^ Belson, Ken (May 10, 2014). "In Historic Pick, Rams Take Michael Sam in Final Round of Draft". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 11, 2014.
^ Carter, Chelsea J. (May 10, 2014). "Michael Sam makes history: First openly gay player drafted in the NFL". CNN. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
^ "Sam becomes first openly gay player drafted into NFL". Yahoo! News. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
^ "Obama congratulates Michael Sam, first openly gay player drafted by NFL". CNN. May 10, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
^ Boren, Cindy (May 13, 2014). "Michael Sam trails only Johnny Manziel in rookie jersey sales after NFL draft". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 13, 2014.
^ Sessler, Marc (July 21, 2014). "Browns' Johnny Manziel leads NFL in jersey sales". NFL.com. Archived from the original on August 30, 2014.
^ a b Farmer, Sam (August 30, 2014). "Michael Sam, NFL's first openly gay player, is cut by St. Louis Rams". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 30, 2014.
^ a b Wagoner, Nick (August 30, 2014). "Michael Sam cut by Rams". ESPN. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
^ Wagoner, Nick (August 30, 2014). "Sam simply on wrong side of numbers". ESPN. Archived from the original on August 31, 2014.
^ Wagoner, Nick (September 1, 2014). "Sam not on Rams' practice squad". ESPN. Archived from the original on September 1, 2014.
^ "Michael Sam signed to Dallas Cowboys practice squad". CBS News. September 3, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
^ "Cowboys Waive Michael Sam From Practice Squad". Dallas Cowboys. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
^ Curtis, Bryan (December 12, 2014). "The Kiss". Grantland. Archived from the original on December 13, 2014.
^ Weinfuss, Josh (March 26, 2015). "Michael Sam ran 4.99-second 40". ESPN.
^ "NFL to host inaugural Veteran Combine". NFL.com. March 11, 2015. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
^ Sessler, Marc (March 22, 2015). "Michael Sam 'confident' NFL team will come calling". NFL.com. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
^ "D-lineman Michael Sam signs with Alouettes". CFL.ca. May 22, 2015. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
^ a b Campbell, Morgan (May 22, 2015). "Michael Sam joins Alouettes, first openly gay CFL player". Toronto Star. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
^ "Sam leaves Als training camp". June 12, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2015.
^ "Michael Sam returns to Montreal, is expected to rejoin CFL team Sunday". ESPN, June 26, 2015.
^ "Michael Sam is 1st openly gay man to play in CFL regular season game". cbc.ca. August 7, 2015. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
^ a b "Michael Sam Says He's Leaving Montreal's Alouettes". The New York Times. AP. August 14, 2015. Archived from the original on August 15, 2015.
^ "'I never really wanted to go to the CFL': Michael Sam". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
^ Dubin, Jared (August 14, 2015). "Michael Sam, first openly gay player, retires for mental health reasons". CBS.com.
^ Materazzo, Miranda (October 16, 2017). "Former NFL player Michael Sam to be keynote speaker at JCC Leadership Day". Watertown Daily Times. Watertown, New York.
^ Garcia, Michelle (March 25, 2019). "Five Years Later, Michael Sam Is Doing Just Fine, Thanks". Out. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
^ "Julian Michael Sam". The Charley Project. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
^ a b c d e Connelly, Chris (February 9, 2014). "Michael Sam says he's gay". ESPN. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
^ a b Ganguli, Tania (February 14, 2014). "Michael Sam's safe havens: Football, surrogate family kept him off path of siblings who are dead or jailed". ESPN. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
^ "Michael Sam's father denies remarks". ESPN. February 14, 2014. Archived from the original on February 14, 2014.
^ Mellinger, Sam (February 9, 2014). "Michael Sam goes from football star to pioneer". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
^ "DeMaurice Smith rips unnamed general managers who downgraded Michael Sam". espn.go.com. January 1, 2008. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
^ Morrison, David (February 15, 2014). "'Stand with Sam' human wall draws large crowd before Tennessee-Missouri basketball game". Columbia Daily Tribune. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
^ Latsch, Nate (February 15, 2014). "Supporters 'Stand With Sam' to block Westboro Baptist Church protest of former Tiger". FoxSports.com. Archived from the original on February 27, 2014.
^ Bennett, Colette (February 17, 2014). "Mizzou stands with Sam, stands down Westboro protesters with human wall". CNN.com. Archived from the original on February 27, 2014.
^ a b Reilly, Rick (February 18, 2014). "Showing How It's Done Mizzou students protected Michael Sam from seeing church protesters". ESPN. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
^ Beekman, Daniel (May 12, 2014). "Michael Sam and boyfriend Vito Cammisano party in Las Vegas after NFL draft selection". New York Daily News. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
^ Christie, Joel (January 9, 2015). "First openly gay NFL player Michael Sam is ENGAGED to his longtime boyfriend 'after a romantic New Years getaway together in Europe'". Mail Online. United Kingdom. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
^ Webber, Stephanie (January 9, 2015). "Michael Sam Engaged to Boyfriend Vito Cammisano". Us Weekly. United States. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
^ Fieldstadt, Elisha (January 16, 2015). "Michael Sam Confirms His Engagement in a Tweet". NBCNews.com. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
^ "Michael Sam & Vito Cammisano Reunite To Support Spirit Day". Instinct. October 15, 2015. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
^ Michael Sam slams Missouri's religious objections bill
^ "'Dancing With the Stars' 2015: Season 20 Celebrity Cast Announced – ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. February 24, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
^ Stabile, Maria (April 6, 2015). "Dancing with the Stars 2015 results tonight: Michael Sam gets DWTS elimination". Lalate News. Archived from the original on April 11, 2015.
^ "Michael Sam wins Arthur Ashe Award". ESPN. May 7, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
^ "Michael Sam named one of GQ's Men of the Year". Columbia Missourian. November 17, 2014. Retrieved November 19, 2014.
^ Hall, Erik (November 4, 2014). "Sports Illustrated makes Michael Sam a Sportsman finalist". Columbia Missourian. Retrieved November 19, 2014.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michael Sam.
"Michael Sam, DE". NFL.com.
College stats
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For other places with the same name, see Peckham (disambiguation).
Peckham (/ˈpɛkəm/) is a district of South London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south-east of Charing Cross.[1] At the 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720.[2]
Location within Greater London
71,552 (Peckham, Peckham Rye, Nunhead, Livesey and The Lane wards 2011)
OS grid reference
TQ345765
London borough
Ceremonial county
Post town
Postcode district
Dialling code
EU Parliament
Camberwell and Peckham
Lambeth and Southwark
List of places
Peckham was originally part of the parish of Camberwell, which later became the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell, and also included Camberwell, Dulwich, Nunhead, and other London districts.[3]
"Peckham" is a Saxon place name meaning the village of the River Peck, a small stream that ran through the district until it was enclosed in 1823. Archaeological evidence indicates earlier Roman occupation in the area, although the name of this settlement is lost.
Peckham appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Pecheham. It was held by the Bishop of Lisieux from Odo of Bayeux. Its Domesday assets were: 2 hides. It had land for 1 plough, 2 acres (8,100 m2) of meadow. It rendered 30 shillings (£1.50).[4]
The manor was owned by King Henry I, who gave it to his son Robert, Earl of Gloucester. When Robert married the heiress to Camberwell the two manors were united under royal ownership. King John probably hunted at Peckham and local anecdotes suggest that the right to an annual fair was granted to celebrate a particularly good day's sport. The fair grew to be a rowdy major event lasting three weeks until its abolition in 1827.
Peckham became popular as a wealthy residential area by the 16th century and there are several claims that Christopher Wren had local links. By the 18th century the area was a more commercial centre and attracted industrialists who wanted to avoid paying the expensive rents in central London. Peckham also boasted extensive market gardens and orchards growing produce for the nearby markets of London. Local produce included melons, figs and grapes. The formal gardens of the Peckham Manor House, rebuilt in 1672 by Sir Thomas Bond were particularly noticeable and can be seen on the Rocque map of 1746. The manor house was sacked in 1688, as its then owner Sir Henry Bond was a Roman Catholic and staunch supporter of James II. The house was finally demolished in 1797 for the formation of Peckham Hill Street, as the Shard family developed the area. Today Shard's Terrace, the block that contains Manze's Pie and Mash shop, and the western side of Peckham Hill Street represent this Georgian planned expansion.
The village was the last stopping point for many cattle drovers taking their livestock for sale in London. The drovers stayed in the local inns (such as the Red Cow) while the cattle were safely secured overnight in holding pens. Most of the villagers were agricultural or horticultural workers but with the early growth of the suburbs an increasing number worked in the brick industry that exploited the local London Clay.
In 1767 William Blake visited Peckham Rye and had a vision of an angel in a tree. In 1993, at the request of the Dulwich Festival, artist Stan Peskett painted a mural of Blake's vision next to the Goose Green playground in East Dulwich.
19th centuryEdit
Peckham Rye railway station entrance off Rye Lane
At the beginning of the 19th century, Peckham was a "small, quiet, retired village surrounded by fields". Since 1744 stagecoaches had travelled with an armed guard between Peckham and London to give protection from highwaymen. The rough roads constrained traffic so a branch of the Grand Surrey Canal was proposed as a route from the Thames to Portsmouth. The canal was built from Surrey Commercial Docks to Peckham before the builders ran out of funds in 1826. The abbreviated canal was used to ship soft wood for construction and even though the canal was drained and backfilled in 1970 Whitten's timber merchants still stands on the site of the canal head.
In 1851 Thomas Tilling started an innovative omnibus service from Peckham to London. Tilling's buses were the first to use pre-arranged bus stops, which helped them to run to a reliable timetable. His services expanded to cover much of London until his horses were requisitioned for the Army in the First World War.
Before Peckham Rye railway station was opened in 1865 the area had developed around two centres: north and south. In the north, housing spread out to the south of the Old Kent Road, including Peckham New Town, built on land owned by the Hill family (from whom the name Peckham Hill Street derives). In the south, large houses were built to the west of the common land called Peckham Rye and the lane that led to it.
Manze's Eel and Pie House, Peckham.
A map showing the Peckham wards of Camberwell Metropolitan Borough as they appeared in 1916.
With the arrival of the railway and the introduction of horse-drawn trams about ten years later, Peckham became accessible to artisans and clerical staff working in the City and the docks. Housing for this socio-economic group filled almost all the remaining fields except the Rye. In 1868 the vestry of Camberwell St Giles bought the Rye to keep it as common land. Responding to concerns about the dangerous overcrowding of the common on holidays the vestry bought the adjacent Homestall Farm (the last farm in the area) in 1894 and opened this as Peckham Rye Park.
With the influx of younger residents with money to spend Rye Lane became a major shopping street. Jones & Higgins opened a small shop in 1867 (on the corner of Rye Lane and Peckham High Street) that became the best known department store in South London for many years. It closed in the 1980s. In 1870 George Gibson Bussey moved to Peckham and set up a firm described as "Firearms, Ammunition & Shooting” at the Museum Works, Rye Lane, Peckham. The Museum of Firearms was built in 1867. The Ordnance Survey Map of 1868 shows the museum building with a rifle range at the rear extending along the side of the railway embankment for 150 yards.
The late 19th century also saw the arrival of George Batty, a manufacturer of condiments, whose main business stood at Finsbury Pavement. The company's Peckham premises occupied 19 railway arches. It was acquired by the H. J. Heinz Company in 1905 as their first UK manufacturing base.
The southern end of Peckham was the location for the railway line that once served the Crystal Palace in Sydenham. Though the line was eventually dismantled due to the collapse of the embankment into the gardens of Marmora Road it is still possible to see large sections of it. The flats on Wood Vale and the full length of Brenchley Gardens trace its route.
Close by is the Aquarius Golf Club,[5] which is located over the cavernous Honor Oak Reservoir constructed between 1901 and 1909. When it was completed it was the largest brick built underground reservoir in the world[6] and is still one of the largest in Europe.[7] The reservoir now forms part of the Southern extension of the Thames Water Ring Main.
Camberwell Old Cemetery, on Forest Hill Road, is a later example of the ring of Victorian cemeteries that were built to alleviate the overcrowding of churchyards that was experienced with the rapid expansion of London in the 19th century. The Stone House at its main entrance was used as a film location for Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1970), adapted from the Joe Orton play. It was gutted by fire in the mid-1970s and rebuilt some years later. Camberwell Old Cemetery did not have the grandeur of nearby Nunhead Cemetery, which was one of the original London necropoleis, and once nearing capacity it was replaced by Camberwell New Cemetery on Brenchley Gardens.
Brenchley Gardens Park follows the route of the old line to the Crystal Palace culminating at the High Level station. The park runs behind Marmora Road and the remains of the embankment then continues along Wood Vale where flats were built on it. The line was closed in 1954 following a decline in its use after the destruction of the Crystal Palace in 1936 and due to slippage in the structure of the embankment.[8]
Find sources: "Peckham" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
London Borough of Southwark Blue Plaque awarded to famous motorbike designer Edward Turner unveiled in 2009 at his former residence, 8 Philip Walk, Peckham. Turner had run a motorbike shop, Chepstow Motors on Peckham High Street.
In the 1930s George Scott Williamson and Innes Pearse opened the Pioneer Health Centre in Queens Road. They planned to conduct a large experiment into the effect of environment on health. 'The Peckham Experiment' recruited 950 families at one shilling (5p) a week. The members joined something like a modern sports club with facilities for physical exercise, games, workshops and socialising with no mandatory programme. The centre moved into a purpose built modernist building by the architect Sir Owen Williams in 1935.
North Peckham Estate, 1984 (Photograph by Russell Newell)
North Peckham was heavily redeveloped in the 1960s, consisting mainly of high-rise flats to rehouse people from dilapidated old houses. It was popular on its completion for offering a high quality and modern standing of living. However, high unemployment and a lack of economic opportunities led to urban decay and a period of decline in the late 1970s. The North Peckham Estate became one of the most deprived residential areas in Western Europe. Vandalism, graffiti, arson attacks, burglaries, robberies and muggings were commonplace, and the area became an archetypal London sink estate. As a result, the area was subjected to a £290 million regeneration programme in the late 1990s and early 2000s. After the beginning of the regeneration, the estate gained nationwide notoriety in the media when 10-year-old Nigerian resident Damilola Taylor was stabbed to death on the estate on 27 November 2000.[9] A gang operating in the area is the Peckham Boys.[10]
In the early 1990s Peckham was a centre of underground music partly due to a large squat known as The Dolehouse in a disused, 2 floor DHSS building near Peckham High Street.[11] The building was already known for having featured in the cover shot of a 1980s pictorial biography of 1960s' mods, featuring them on their customised scooters outside the then Camberwell Labour Exchange. In 1989 the squatters adopted the name Dole House Crew and along with another local group of squatters called the "Green Circus", held regular gigs/parties in the building. They moved on to many other South East London venues after the Peckham Dolehouse was evicted in late October 1990. A squatted social centre called the Spike Surplus Scheme ran from 1998 until being evicted by the council in 2009.
Peckham was one of the areas where riots took place during the 2011 England riots.[12]
The award-winning Peckham Library (October 2005)
Since the 1990s the European Union has invested in the regeneration of the area; partly funding the award-winning Peckham Library,[13] a new town square and new housing to replace the North Peckham Estate. State funding is being provided to improve the housing stock and renovate the streets. This includes funding for public arts projects like the Tom Phillips mosaics on the wall of the Peckham Experiment restaurant.
1994 saw the completion of the Peckham Arch designed by architects Troughton McAslan and funded in part by a £1m SRB (Single Regeneration Budget) grant.[14] The arch is due to be demolished to make way for 19 flats; the decision was made despite public protests.[15]
The main shopping street is Rye Lane and the large Peckham Rye Park is nearby. Bellenden Road is an area of small independent shops.
Culture and identityEdit
Peckham has never been an administrative district, or a single ecclesiastical parish in its own right, but it developed a strong sense of identity in the 19th century when Rye Lane was one of the most important shopping streets in South London. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.[1]
The area known as Peckham covers a large area of South London and takes in many diverse communities. The British Nigerian community forms a sizeable component of the population of the area, with the area being dubbed "Little Lagos" as a result.[16] A traditional London working class community now coexists with communities that have their origins in Bangladesh, the Caribbean, China, India, Ghana, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey, Eastern Europe and Vietnam. As well as these communities there has been a steady gentrification of some of the areas in the south of Peckham and this has meant an influx of cafés, wine bars, niche shops and artists' studios.
EthnicityEdit
Rye Lane, Peckham's main shopping area shown where it runs perpendicular to Peckham Rye railway station
Peckham is one of the most ethnically diverse areas of the UK. These are the statistics for the ethnic groups in the Peckham ward according to the 2011 Census.[2] This ward is about one-fifth of the place called Peckham, and not representative of the ethnic and cultural distribution in the other four wards.
50.4% Black/African/Caribbean
29.2% White
9.1% Asian
7.1% Mixed/multiple ethnic groups
4.3% Other ethnic group
Peckham in fictionEdit
Find sources: "Peckham" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Muriel Spark's novel The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960) is set in the area.
Peckham was the setting of the television sitcom Only Fools and Horses, although the series location work was filmed elsewhere in its run as a regular series from 1981 to 1991, as well as Christmas specials until 2003. The spin-off, Rock & Chips, was also set in Peckham in the 1960s.
The television situation comedy Desmond's, made by Channel 4, was filmed and set in Peckham. Also, the comedies Meet the Adebanjos and The Tboy Show (both directed by Debra Odutuyo) were set in Peckham.
A 30-minute musical called "We The Ragamuffin" was filmed in Peckham (mainly on the North Peckham Estate). The film used local musicians with an improvised script and was broadcast on Channel 4 in February 1992. The film was written and produced by Russell Newell and directed by Julian Henriques.
Peckham was home of the fictional character Rose Tyler, a former leading character in the British TV show Doctor Who.
The E4 show Youngers is filmed and set in Peckham.
In the television series Foyle's War, Series Eight, Adam Wainright, Samantha's husband, is elected in 1947 as Labour Member of Parliament for the (fictional) constituency of 'West Peckham'.
Transport and localeEdit
Peckham Bus Garage
Nearest placesEdit
East Dulwich
Nunhead
Nearest railway stationsEdit
Peckham Rye railway station
Queens Road Peckham railway station
Nunhead railway station
Bus transportEdit
Peckham bus garage is currently operated by London Central and is situated in Blackpool Road. It opened in 1994 and replaced a similar but larger facility in Peckham High Street on part of whose site the present bus station now stands. A viaduct behind it carries the railway east of Peckham Rye railway station.
References and notesEdit
^ a b Mayor of London (February 2008). "London Plan (Consolidated with Alterations since 2004)" (PDF). Greater London Authority.
^ a b UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Peckham 2011 Census Ward (1237320209)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
^ "Camberwell - British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk.
^ Surrey Domesday Book Archived 30 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Aquarius Golf Club: Golf club and golf course in London,. www.aquariusgolfclub.co.uk". www.aquariusgolfclub.co.uk.
^ "Honor Oak Reservoir" (PDF). London Borough of Lewisham. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
^ "Honor Oak Reservoir". Mott MacDonald. Archived from the original on 9 December 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
^ "Crystal Palace (High Level) – Nunhead". London's Abandoned Stations. Retrieved 17 July 2008.
^ "Changing face of Damilola estate". BBC News. 25 April 2002. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
^ King, Lorraine. "The inside story of gang life in Peckham", The Guardian, 11 February 2007. Accessed 9 August 2011.
^ Frame, Pete (1999). Pete Frame's Rockin' Around Britain: Rock'n'roll Landmarks of the UK and Ireland. Music Sales Group. ISBN 978-0-711-96973-5.
^ "London riots: 'Everyone was very fired up'", BBC News, 9 August 2011. Accessed 9 August 2011.
^ Spring, Martin. "Will Alsop's Peckham library revisited", Building, 20 March 2009. Accessed 9 August 2011.
^ "Peckham Square". mcaslan.co.uk. John McAslan + Partners. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
^ "PECKHAM ARCH TO BE DEMOLISHED AFTER SOUTHWARK COUNCIL APPROVAL". southarknews.co.uk. Southwarn News. Retrieved 12 August 2018. /
^ "London's Little Lagos - A look at Nigerian life in the British capital". Retrieved 1 June 2018.
John D. Beasley, The Story of Peckham, (London: London Borough of Southwark, 1976)
John D. Beasley, Who Was Who In Peckham (London: Chener Books, c. 1985)
H. J. Dyos, Victorian Suburb: A Study in the Growth of Camberwell (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1961)
Joseph Priestley, Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals and Railways of Great Britain (Wakefield: Richard Nichols, 1831)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peckham.
Article about the Peckham Experiment = Pioneer Health Center
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Portal:Current events/2015 September 20
< Portal:Current events
Current events of September 20, 2015 (2015-09-20) (Sunday) edit history watch
Armed conflicts and attacks
At least 14 people are killed as rebels shell a neighborhood in western Aleppo. (AP via ABC News)
Yemeni Civil War
Houthi rebels release six foreign hostages; three Americans, two Saudis, and a Briton. (BBC)
Boko Haram insurgency
Triple explosions kill at least 80 people and injure 150 in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri. (Reuters)
67th Primetime Emmy Awards
The Emmy Awards are held in Los Angeles with Game of Thrones winning the Emmy for best drama series. (ABC News Australia)
After having arrived in Havana, Cuba, the day before, Pope Francis, in the third trip by an incumbent Pope to Cuba, presides over a Papal Mass in Havana's Plaza de la Revolución, and pleads for Colombia and the FARC rebels to make a final peace, also noting the better relations between the U.S., which he will visit next, and Cuba. He holds a meeting with Cuban President Raúl Castro, and meets for a talk and exchange of gifts with former Cuban President Fidel Castro. (ABC), (USA Today), (WSJ), (The New York Times)
Volkswagen emissions violations
Volkswagen halts sales of its 4-cylinder diesel vehicles in the United States following a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency citation that their cars violated U.S. emissions standards. (Auto Guide), (USA Today)
European migrant crisis
Some 26 migrants are feared missing after a dinghy carrying them sinks off the coast of the Greek island of Lesbos. The Greek Coast Guard rescued 20 people who were spotted in the water by Frontex, EU's border agency. (RTE), (AP via WSB-TV2)
At least 13 migrants died when a ferry and their inflatable dinghy collided off the northwestern Turkish port of Çanakkale. Twenty people were rescued while another 13 are still missing. (BBC), (i24 News)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says that the United States will accept 85,000 refugees from the world in 2016, up from this year's 70,000 refugees, and will increase to 100,000 refugees in 2017. (Washington Post)
Austrian officials report 11,000 migrants crossed into the country from Hungary on Saturday, and another 7,000 are expected today. Seven trains are scheduled to transport 3,500 of these travelers to Germany. (CBS News)
Apple's iOS App Store suffers its first major cyberattack. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
Greek legislative election, September 2015
Voters in Greece go to the polls for the third time this year with Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) again winning a plurality in the Hellenic Parliament. (The Guardian), (The Globe and Mail via Worldwide Herald)
Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras, whose resignation last month as prime minister mandated this snap election, says a coalition government will again be formed with the right-wing populist Independent Greeks (ANEL) party. (Sputnik Media), (The Telegraph)
Constitution of Nepal
A new constitution comes into effect in Nepal establishing it as a modern secular state. (Reuters via Daily Mail)
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Standard conditions for temperature and pressure
(Redirected from Standard pressure)
Not to be confused with Standard sea-level conditions or Standard state.
Standard conditions for temperature and pressure are standard sets of conditions for experimental measurements to be established to allow comparisons to be made between different sets of data. The most used standards are those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), although these are not universally accepted standards. Other organizations have established a variety of alternative definitions for their standard reference conditions.
In chemistry, IUPAC changed the definition of standard temperature and pressure (STP) in 1982:[1]
Until 1982, STP was defined as a temperature of 273.15 K (0 °C, 32 °F) and an absolute pressure of exactly 1 atm (101.325 kPa).
Since 1982, STP is defined as a temperature of 273.15 K (0 °C, 32 °F) and an absolute pressure of exactly 105 Pa (100 kPa, 1 bar).
STP should not be confused with the standard state commonly used in thermodynamic evaluations of the Gibbs energy of a reaction.
NIST uses a temperature of 20 °C (293.15 K, 68 °F) and an absolute pressure of 1 atm (14.696 psi, 101.325 kPa). This standard is also called normal temperature and pressure (abbreviated as NTP).
The International Standard Metric Conditions for natural gas and similar fluids are 288.15 K (15.00 °C; 59.00 °F) and 101.325 kPa.[2]
In industry and commerce, standard conditions for temperature and pressure are often necessary to define the standard reference conditions to express the volumes of gases and liquids and related quantities such as the rate of volumetric flow (the volumes of gases vary significantly with temperature and pressure) – standard cubic meters per second (sm3/s), and normal cubic meters per second (nm3/s). However, many technical publications (books, journals, advertisements for equipment and machinery) simply state "standard conditions" without specifying them, often leading to confusion and errors. Good practice always incorporates the reference conditions of temperature and pressure.
DefinitionsEdit
Past usesEdit
Before 1918, many professionals and scientists using the metric system of units defined the standard reference conditions of temperature and pressure for expressing gas volumes as being 15 °C (288.15 K; 59.00 °F) and 101.325 kPa (1.00 atm; 760 Torr). During those same years, the most commonly used standard reference conditions for people using the imperial or U.S. customary systems was 60 °F (15.56 °C; 288.71 K) and 14.696 psi (1 atm) because it was almost universally used by the oil and gas industries worldwide. The above definitions are no longer the most commonly used in either system of units.[3]
Current useEdit
Many different definitions of standard reference conditions are currently being used by organizations all over the world. The table below lists a few of them, but there are more. Some of these organizations used other standards in the past. For example, IUPAC has, since 1982, defined standard reference conditions as being 0 °C and 100 kPa (1 bar), in contrast to its old standard of 0 °C and 101.325 kPa (1 atm).[4] The new value is the mean atmospheric pressure at an altitude of about 112 metres, which closer to the world–wide median altitude of human habitation (194 m).[citation needed]
Natural gas companies in Europe, Australia, and South America have adopted 15 °C (59 °F) and 101.325 kPa (14.696 psi) as their standard gas volume reference conditions, used as the base values for defining the standard cubic meter.[5][6][7] Also, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) each have more than one definition of standard reference conditions in their various standards and regulations.
Standard reference conditions in current use
Pressure (kPa)
Pressure (mmHg)
Pressure (psi)
Pressure (inHg)
Publishing or establishing entity
0 32 100.000 750.06 14.5038 29.530 IUPAC (STP) since 1982[1]
0 32 101.325 760.00 14.6959 29.921 NIST,[8] ISO 10780,[9] formerly IUPAC (STP) until 1982[1]
15 59 101.325 760.00 14.6959 29.921 0[2][10] ICAO's ISA,[10] ISO 13443,[2] EEA,[11] EGIA (SI Definition)[12]
20 68 101.325 760.00 14.6959 29.921 EPA,[13] NIST.[14] This is also called NTP, Normal Temperature and Pressure.[15]
22 72 101.325 760.00 14.6959 29.921 20–80 American Association of Physicists in Medicine[16]
25 77 100.000 750.06 14.5038 29.530 IUPAC (SATP)
25 77 101.325 760.00 14.6959 29.921 EPA[17]
20 68 100.000 750.06 14.5038 29.530 0 CAGI[18]
15 59 100.000 750.06 14.5038 29.530 SPE[19]
20 68 101.3 760 14.69 29.9 50 ISO 5011[20]
20 68 101.33 760.0 14.696 29.92 0 GOST 2939-63
16 60 101.33 760.0 14.696 29.92 SPE,[19] U.S. OSHA,[21] SCAQMD[22]
16 60 101.6 762 14.73 30.0 EGIA (Imperial System Definition)[12]
16 60 101 760 14.7 30 U.S. DOT (SCF)[23]
15 59 99.99 750.0 14.503 29.53 78 U.S. Army Standard Metro[24][a]
15 59 101.33 760.0 14.696 29.92 60 ISO 2314,[25] ISO 3977-2[26]
21 70 101.3 760 14.70 29.92 0 AMCA,[27][b] air density = 0.075 lbm/ft3. This AMCA standard applies only to air.; Compressed Gas Association [CGA] applies to industrial gas use in USA[28]
15 59 101.3 760 14.70 29.92 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)[29]
EGIA: Electricity and Gas Inspection Act (of Canada)
SATP: Standard Ambient Temperature and Pressure
SCF: Standard Cubic Foot
International Standard AtmosphereEdit
In aeronautics and fluid dynamics the "International Standard Atmosphere" (ISA) is a specification of pressure, temperature, density, and speed of sound at each altitude. The International Standard Atmosphere is representative of atmospheric conditions at mid latitudes. In the USA this information is specified the U.S. Standard Atmosphere which is identical to the "International Standard Atmosphere" at all altitudes up to 65,000 feet above sea level.[citation needed]
Standard laboratory conditionsEdit
Due to the fact that many definitions of standard temperature and pressure differ in temperature significantly from standard laboratory temperatures (e.g., 0 °C vs. ~25 °C), reference is often made to "standard laboratory conditions" (a term deliberately chosen to be different from the term "standard conditions for temperature and pressure", despite its semantic near identity when interpreted literally). However, what is a "standard" laboratory temperature and pressure is inevitably geography-bound, given that different parts of the world differ in climate, altitude and the degree of use of heat/cooling in the workplace. For example, schools in New South Wales, Australia use 25 °C at 100 kPa for standard laboratory conditions.[30]ASTM International has published Standard ASTM E41- Terminology Relating to Conditioning and hundreds of special conditions for particular materials and test methods. Other standards organizations also have specialized standard test conditions.
Molar volume of a gasEdit
It is equally as important to indicate the applicable reference conditions of temperature and pressure when stating the molar volume of a gas[31] as it is when expressing a gas volume or volumetric flow rate. Stating the molar volume of a gas without indicating the reference conditions of temperature and pressure has very little meaning and can cause confusion.
The molar volume of gases around STP and at atmospheric pressure can be calculated with an accuracy that is usually sufficient by using the ideal gas law. The molar volume of any ideal gas may be calculated at various standard reference conditions as shown below:
Vm = 8.3145 × 273.15 / 101.325 = 22.414 dm3/mol at 0 °C and 101.325 kPa
Vm = 8.3145 × 273.15 / 100.000 = 22.711 dm3/mol at 0 °C and 100 kPa
Vm = 8.3145 × 298.15 / 101.325 = 24.466 dm3/mol at 25 °C and 101.325 kPa
Vm = 8.3145 × 298.15 / 100.000 = 24.790 dm3/mol at 25 °C and 100 kPa
Vm = 10.7316 × 519.67 / 14.696 = 379.48 ft3/lbmol at 60 °F and 14.696 psi (or about 0.8366 ft3/gram mole)
Vm = 10.7316 × 519.67 / 14.730 = 378.61 ft3/lbmol at 60 °F and 14.73 psi
Technical literature can be confusing because many authors fail to explain whether they are using the ideal gas constant R, or the specific gas constant Rs. The relationship between the two constants is Rs = R / m, where m is the molecular mass of the gas.
The US Standard Atmosphere (USSA) uses 8.31432 m3·Pa/(mol·K) as the value of R. However, the USSA,1976 does recognize that this value is not consistent with the values of the Avogadro constant and the Boltzmann constant.[32]
ISO 1 – standard reference temperature for geometric product specifications
Standard state
Standard sea level
Reference atmospheric model
^ The pressure is specified as 750 mmHg. However, the mmHg is temperature-dependent, since mercury expands as temperature goes up. Here the values for the 0–20 °C range are given.
^ The standard is given as 29.92 inHg at an unspecified temperature. This most likely corresponds to a standard pressure of 101.325 kPa, converted into ~29.921 inHg at 32 °F (0 °C).
^ a b c A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson (1997). IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications. doi:10.1351/goldbook.S06036. ISBN 978-0-9678550-9-7. Standard conditions for gases: ... and pressure of 105 pascals. The previous standard absolute pressure of 1 atm (equivalent to 101.325 kPa) was changed to 100 kPa in 1982. IUPAC recommends that the former pressure should be discontinued.
^ a b c Natural gas – Standard reference conditions (ISO 13443). Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization. 1996.
^ Doiron, Ted (Jan–Feb 2007). "20 °C – A Short History of the Standard Reference Temperature for Industrial Dimensional Measurements" (PDF). National Institute of Standards and Technology. Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-02-17. Retrieved 2016-07-11.
^ A. D. McNaught, A. Wilkinson (1997). Compendium of Chemical Terminology, The Gold Book (2nd ed.). Blackwell Science. doi:10.1351/goldbook.S05921. ISBN 978-0-86542-684-9. Standard pressure: Chosen value of pressure denoted by po or p°. In 1982 IUPAC recommended the value 105 Pa, but prior to 1982 the value 101 325 Pa (= 1 atm) was usually used. [dead link]
^ Gassco. "Concepts – Standard cubic meter (scm)". Archived from the original on October 18, 2007. Retrieved 2008-07-25. Scm: The usual abbreviation for standard cubic metre – a cubic metre of gas under a standard condition, defined as an atmospheric pressure of 1.01325 bar and a temperature of 15°C. This unit provides a measure for gas volume.
^ Nord Stream (October 2007). "Status of the Nord Stream pipeline route in the Baltic Sea" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-02-16. Retrieved 2008-07-25. bcm: Billion Cubic Meter (standard cubic metre – a cubic metre of gas under a standard condition, defined as an atmospheric pressure of 1 atm and a temperature of 15 °C.)
^ Metrogas (June 2004). "Natural gas purchase and sale agreement". Retrieved 2008-07-25. Natural gas at standard condition shall mean the quantity of natural gas, which at a temperature of fifteen (15) Celsius degrees and a pressure of 101.325 kilopascals occupies the volume of one (1) cubic meter.
^ NIST (1989). "NIST Standard Reference Database 124 – Stopping-Power and Range Tables for Electrons, Protons, and Helium Ions". Archived from the original on October 6, 2010. Retrieved 2008-07-25. If you want the program to treat the material as an ideal gas, the density will be assumed given by M/V, where M is the gram molecular weight of the gas and V is the mol volume of 22414 cm3 at standard conditions (0 deg C and 1 atm).
^ ISO (1994). "ISO 10780:1994 : Stationary source emissions – Measurement of velocity and volume flowrate of gas streams in ducts".
^ a b Robert C. Weast (Editor) (1975). Handbook of Physics and Chemistry (56th ed.). CRC Press. pp. F201–F206. ISBN 978-0-87819-455-1. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
^ Extraction, First Treatment and Loading of Liquid & Gaseous Fossil Fuels (Emission Inventory Guidebook B521, Activities 050201 – 050303) (PDF). Copenhagen, Denmark: European Environmental Agency. September 1999. [permanent dead link]
^ a b "Electricity and Gas Inspection Act", SOR/86-131 (defines a set of standard conditions for Imperial units and a different set for metric units) Canadian Laws.
^ "Standards of Performance for New Sources", 40 CFR—Protection of the Environment, Chapter I, Part 60, Section 60.2, 1990 New Source Performance Standards[dead link].
^ Wright, J. D.; Johnson, A. N.; Moldover, M. R. (2003). "Design and Uncertainty for a PVTt Gas Flow Standard" (PDF). Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. 108 (1): 21. doi:10.6028/jres.108.004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-07-21.
^ "What is the difference between STP and NTP?". Socratic. Archived from the original on 2015-11-27. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
^ Almond, Peter R.; Biggs, Peter J.; Coursey, B. M.; Hanson, W. F.; Huq, M. Saiful; Nath, Ravinder; Rogers, D. W. O. (1999). "AAPM's TG-51 protocol for clinical reference dosimetry of high-energy photon and electron beams" (PDF). Medical Physics. 26 (9): 1847–1870. Bibcode:1999MedPh..26.1847A. doi:10.1118/1.598691.
^ "National Primary and Secondary Ambient Air Quality Standards", 40 CFR—Protection of the Environment, Chapter I, Part 50, Section 50.3, 1998 National Ambient Air Standards[dead link].
^ "Glossary". Cleveland, OH, USA: Compressed Air and Gas Institute. 2002. Archived from the original on 2007-09-02.
^ a b "The SI Metric System of Units and SPE Metric Standard (1982)" (PDF). Society of Petroleum Engineers. Standard Temperature (Page 24), and Notes for Table 2.3, (on PDF page 25 of 42 PDF pages), define two different sets of reference conditions, one for the standard cubic foot and one for the standard cubic meter. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-08-27.
^ Air Intake Filters (ISO 5011:2002). Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization. 2002.
^ "Storage and Handling of Liquefied Petroleum Gases" and "Storage and Handling of Anhydrous Ammonia", 29 CFR—Labor, Chapter XVII—Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Part 1910, Sect. 1910.110 and 1910.111, 1993 Storage/Handling of LPG.
^ "Rule 102, Definition of Terms (Standard Conditions)", Amended December 2004, South Coast Air Quality Management District, Los Angeles, California, USA SCAQMD Rule 102[dead link]
^ "49 C.F.R. § 171". Retrieved 22 May 2018.
^ Sierra Bullets. "Chapter 3 – Effects of Altitude and Atmospheric Conditions (Exterior Ballistics Section)". Rifle and Handgun Reloading Manual (5 ed.). Sedalia, MO, USA.
^ Gas turbines – Acceptance tests (ISO 2314:1989) (2 ed.). Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization. 1989.
^ Gas turbines – Procurement – Part 2: Standard reference conditions and ratings (ISO 3977-2:1997). Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization. 1997.
^ ANSI/AMCA Standard 210, "Laboratory Methods Of Testing Fans for Aerodynamic Performance Rating", as implied by http://www.greenheck.com/pdf/centrifugal/Plug.pdf when accessed on October 17, 2007.
^ > Association, Compressed Gas (2012-12-06). Compressed Gas Handbook. ISBN 9781461306733. Retrieved 22 Nov 2017.
^ "Chapter 3, Principles of Flight" (PDF). Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. Federal Aviation Administration. [dead link]
^ Peter Gribbon (2001). Excel HSC Chemistry Pocket Book Years 11–12. Pascal Press. ISBN 978-1-74020-303-6.
^ "Fundamental Physical Properties: Molar Volumes (CODATA values for ideal gases)". NIST.
^ U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1976, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1976.
"Standard conditions for gases" from the IUPAC Gold Book.
"Standard pressure" from the IUPAC Gold Book.
"STP" from the IUPAC Gold Book.
"Standard state" from the IUPAC Gold Book.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Standard_conditions_for_temperature_and_pressure&oldid=901443685"
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Sabre Cook: “I’m proud that I’m able to represent women in motorsport”
Posted on November 18, 2018 November 18, 2018 by Georgia Allen
IndyCar is one of the most famous motorsport series in the world, however it doesn’t stand alone when it comes the single seater racing in the US. Sabre Cook has been aiming to race in IndyCar for many years and this year has competed in the Cooper Tires USF2000 series which runs alongside IndyCar, as well as being a part of the ‘Road to Indy’ scheme. A few weeks ago, she raced in another championship with the United States F4 Championship at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, and the 2 days prior to this was spent completing a prestigious Renault F1 team backed engineering competition at the track. She told me about racing, her love of engineering and balancing the 2 in the car.
Growing up, Sabre had a strong motorsport influence, with her Father racing motorcycles professionally, and it was his love of the sport that lead Cook herself to start driving. “My Dad used to race Motocross and Supercross, but he didn’t really want us racing motorcycles so we got into karting. I drove for the first time when I was 8 and from then on, I had an interest and a passion for racing, especially when I started having success. I also loved maths and science which went well with motorsport,” she told me. With the sport beginning as a hobby, it was 2 years before she began considering it as anything else, however once she started competing, it became clear she had a real and natural talent. “When I got my first kart I didn’t realise I had to slow down to turn the corner and so went full throttle! I spun out and so for the next 2 years, I went pretty slow. One day I was getting teased by some boys and something just clicked. I talked to my Dad and he got me a proper kart. I won my first race by 10 seconds and it was then that I realised it was really something I wanted to do,” Sabre explained.
Following success in local karting events, Cook began racing both nationally and internationally in series such as SKUSA (Super Karts USA), KZ World Championship and Rotax Can-Am Challenge. However, financial difficulties have proved tricky, causing her to spend more years than she would’ve liked karting before she could secure the budget needed to move on to formula and sports cars. This meant when the time came to transition from karting, Sabre found it a little more difficult. “It’s been hard for me because I was in karting for so long because I was never able to get a full budget. Last year was my first season, so that made it a bit harder because it’s harder for an old dog to learn new tricks! The basics are still there, but you have to learn weight transfer and in formula cars you have to trust the downforce. But I think it’s more mental than anything else,” Cook said. Despite this, these years allowed Sabre to create and develop her racing style and skills, something she believes helps in not only motorsport. “If you’ve spent a lot of time karting, you develop your race craft, awareness and reactions and that translates to anything in life. Its easy to go to another series or vehicle with that knowledge, but you have to be open to learning new things,” she said.
Since 2015, Sabre has been involved with IndyCar and the ‘Road to Indy’ programme, having won a scholarship with the scheme that year. This season has been her first racing in an IndyCar paired series with her taking part in the Cooper Tires USF2000 series. With this only her second season in formula car racing, some may expect this to be quite an overwhelming experience, however having been a part of the ‘Road to Indy’ programme has prepared her well. “It wasn’t such as huge difference as some of the karting events I’ve done have been huge. It’s definitely a new platform to get used to, but a lot of the IndyCar and Mazda guys are people I grew up with karting. They do such a great job at putting on this programme for up-and-coming drivers and trying to give us opportunities so we can learn what we need to do to advance,” Cook described. With racing in IndyCar one of her ultimate aims, Sabre had been trying to put together the budget for USF2000 for many years and thankfully she was eventually able to. “Finally, I was able to do it with the support of some key individuals and my sponsors, who have been amazing. It’s difficult because it’s not a cheap series and so I wasn’t able to run all the races this season, but just to be able to do half of them, it was a great experience for me and I learned a lot,” she told me.
Not that long ago, Cook raced in a series that was pretty new to her: United States F4 Championship. As a support race for the United States F1 Grand Prix, she drove the car competitively for only the second time. “The first time I drove the car was at a race in New Jersey a few weeks before. It’s nice going from the USF2000 to this car because the USF car is a little faster and so anytime you go backwards (in speed) it’s a bit easier to adapt to,” she said. However, despite there being an increase in people watching, Sabre was keen to focus on the job at hand.
With the end of the year rapidly approaching, Sabre’s plans aren’t fully confirmed yet, however she has many options on the table, something that can be both a positive and negative. “For next year I’m looking at all my options, continuing in the Road to Indy is a possibility, I’ve considered doing something in sports cars, but for now I’m not totally sure. It can be nerve-wracking (to have all the options), but sometimes it’s hard in racing because it’s like life, nothing goes to plan. With every step forward, there’s an increase in budget and that’s difficult. But I just try to take it one step at a time,” she described. In terms of her future plans, Cook believes it is important to set yourself aims and goals with there being 2 championships she would love to compete in. “I think you definitely have to have a goal set. Ultimately, I would love to race in IndyCar or the World Endurance Championship,” she told me.
Whilst working on her racing career, Sabre has also studied for a Mechanical Engineering degree, graduating at the end of last year. This understanding of the engineering side of the industry has helped her driving, with her saying: “it definitely helps me to understand the changes we make to the car and how I communicate with the team better. Sometimes I can be a little over-analytical as a driver, but I am able to balance the two. I think it helps me more than anything as you to learn about the world around you.” With engineering being such a passion, working in it would be something Cook would consider, however for now she is focussed on the racing. “I would definitely be interested in going into the engineering side of the industry, it’s really something that I enjoy. Right now, I’m pursuing the racing side because now is the time to do it and I can always go and get an engineering job later on,” she said.
Although her focus is for now on the racing, prior to her US F4 race, Sabre took part in a prestigious engineering competition. Speaking ahead of the US Grand Prix weekend, she explained: “I’m doing the Infiniti Engineering Academy which I did a few years ago and made it to the Nationals Finals. I didn’t have any of the key engineering teachings under my belt at the time which I think was what hurt me. The competition is the 2 days before the race at COTA so I’ll do the engineering evaluation, then the exams and competition on the Wednesday and Thursday and then I’m on track racing on Friday and Saturday.” The Infiniti Engineering Academy was created in 2013 in order to find the best talent from around the world, to go onto work in the automotive and motorsport industries. With 7 global regions represented, (Asia and Oceania, Canada, Europe, China, United States, Middle East and Mexico) one participant is selected from each region as the winner with the prize being a 6-month placement with the Infiniti Technical Centre Europe and 6 months with Renault Sport F1 team. Having previously competed in the competition, Cook is hoping this time, having completed her degree, she will have all the knowledge necessary to be even more successful. Speaking of the opportunity she said: “I’m super appreciative that Infiniti came up with the Engineering Academy. It’s amazing that there are teams giving opportunities for drivers to move up through the ranks, but also for engineering talent.” After 2 days of hard work, and previous rounds of competition, Sabre was announced as the US winner of the Infiniti Engineering Academy, meaning next year she will take up the 2 placements with Renault F1 and the Infiniti Technical Centre.
Having raced in multiple series covering karting, sports cars and formula cars, Sabre has had a lot of success throughout her career, however there are some victories and races that stand out to her when she looks back on her racing so far. “The first time I remember thinking ‘this is what I want to do for the rest of my life’ was when I won the TAG USA World Championship. I was 13 at the time and I remember crossing the line and thinking ‘wow’. It was just one of the most amazing feelings I’ve had. That was the moment I knew racing would be with me for a long time,” Cook described, adding: “but I think my favourite win would be in 2012 when I was the first and only female to ever win a National SKUSA Pro title. Everything just came together. I remember when they were giving out the awards and I got a standing ovation and that was probably the moment I felt most blessed. It was like all my hard work had paid off.”
In many of the series she has competed and been victorious in, Sabre has been the first female to take part and to win. As a child this was something that she thought about and, in some cases, would try to ignore, however as she has got older, it is now something she is proud of. “When I was younger I would think ‘I’m not a girl, it’s not a big deal’ and so I would just try and put it out of my mind. Now I’m proud that I’m able to represent women in motorsport with what I’m doing. I know I have to put my best foot forward because you never know who’s watching. I think it’s really important to give young girls the best image that they should strive for because they’re the ones who are going to carry it on,” Sabre told me.
Sabre Cook’s career has not been easy with financial difficulties having been a struggle. However, that hasn’t held back her success, with her holding many titles and having a large number of victories to her name. Speaking of the advice she would give to those wanting to follow in her footsteps, she said: “if you want something and you’re willing to work for it, you can achieve anything you set your mind to. I know it sounds cliché, but once you decide that is what you want to do, you have to work harder than anybody else because you truly can achieve whatever it is that you want.”
Photo credits: Sabre Cook @Sabre_Cook, Infiniti Motorsport @InfinitiMSport and Renault F1 team @RenaultSportF1
Tags: Engineering, INDYCAR, Infiniti Motorsport, Renault Sport F1, Sabre Cook, US Motorsport, USF2000, Women in motorsport, Women in STEMCategories: Engineering, Formula One, US Motorsport
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CHRYSLER FRANCHISES IN DEMAND
Ralph Kisiel
Mercedes-Benz dealers in Europe are beginning to show interest in obtaining Chrysler-Jeep franchises.
So far, out of 106 Mercedes-Benz dealers who are seeking a Chrysler-Jeep franchise in Europe, 10 have been granted a franchise, said Tom Stallkamp, the DaimlerChrysler management board member responsible for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Plymouth.
The majority of the 106 dealers are located in Germany, but there are some in France and Italy.
D/C did not solicit these dealers, and each dealer said they would build a separate Chrysler-Jeep store, Stallkamp said.
'The 10 just fell into place because we didn't have a point there,' Stallkamp said. He wants to grant a franchise to as many of them as possible.
Thomas Marinelli, president of Chrysler Europe in Brussels, is working on dealer territories and determining who will get a franchise.
The Chrysler and Jeep brands set a sales record during April in Europe, aided by the launch of the new Jeep Grand Cherokee. There were 11,276 Chrysler and Jeep vehicles sold in Europe in April, up 16 percent from the same month a year ago.
But year-to-date sales of 34,391 in Europe were down 3 percent compared to the same period a year ago.
'That's disappointing, but unrelated to the merger,' Stallkamp said. The inventory of 1998 Grand Cherokees made in Graz, Austria, was depleted before the launch of the redesigned 1999 model, he said.
The redesigned Grand Cherokee is now in full production in Graz, and the redesigned 2000 Chrysler Neon will be introduced in Europe this summer.
'I think you'll see sales coming back during the second half of the year,' Stallkamp said.
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EVERY CAMPUS A REFUGE®
OUR GLOBAL CALL: FOR EVERY CAMPUS TO HOST ONE REFUGEE FAMILY
About The Refugee Crisis
About the Syrian Refugee Crisis
The Resettlement Process
Becoming a Refugee
Becoming an ECAR Campus
ECAR Chapters
Frequently Asked Questions About the Program
Guilford-College-Process
Community Education and Preparation
Educating Our Communities
Request a speaking engagement or a workshop
The Curricular Component: The ECAR Minor
United Nations Together
Every Campus a Refuge Origins
Re-imagining the University in a Time of Crisis —
Every Campus a Refuge Campaign
By Diya Abdo
The refugee crisis is a perpetual crisis. As long as there has been conflict, there have been refugees. I myself am the child of refugees, their first, born in a country right across the river from the one they fled. We were lucky; my family escaped the drudgeries of the refugee camps to live a life of tenuous citizenry in the “alternate homeland.” Others around the world are not so lucky. Many are settled where they initially arrive, their tents simply morphing into the sturdier, stiflingly close, zinc-roofed rooms of the shantytowns. Still many others never complete the perilous journey. Countless refugees have drowned at sea in capsized boats and rafts, asphyxiated in the cargo holds of otherwise seaworthy and roadworthy vessels, succumbed to the limitations of their bodies, the elements, and the relentless indifference, if not cruelty, of the watching and waiting human race. Indeed, in the past five years, the human race has been doing much watching and waiting as hundreds of thousands of displaced and dispossessed human beings, the highest numbers since World War II, make their way out of the conflict zones of the Middle East and Africa up and across the Arab world and Europe.
And then there was Aylan Kurdi. His little body, very seriously dressed for a dark and serious passage, moored by death on the shores of a resort town in Turkey, broke our hearts. It was visual proof of a horror we knew existed (for the news told us every day) but rarely saw in the media (for when is a violent death so delicate, so gentle, so unassuming, so non-threatening as to be so easily shareable). Europe’s conscience quickened for a brief moment. Hungary, gatekeeping for itself and Western Europe, temporarily eased its chokehold on thousands of refugees trying to make their way north. Germany temporarily accepted with open arms the streaming multitudes. England anemically grumbled about quotas. And the Pope called on every parish in Europe to host one refugee family.
But what do academic institutions do with broken hearts? With the dead and dying bodies? With the endless convoy of humanity trying to make its way from misery to the unknown? What is our responsibility as teachers, students, and administrators of higher learning? What is our complicity as institutions built on the lands of the dispossessed and displaced? Our go-to is to “objectively” educate, raise-consciousness, lift awareness. Surely, these are more than admirable goals, for what is nobler than the desire to impart knowledge, broaden horizons, and engender meaningful, productive and useful conversation – to challenge and engage? Fundamentally, however, these are endeavors firmly grounded in, and ones which facilitate, the detachment and de-politicization of academic institutions. They are ensconced in the life of the (innocent) mind. And if we are lucky, they might extend to the belief that the mind will influence the soul, which will influence the body which will then do.
Please do not misunderstand me. I love teaching. I am the kind of teacher who all but bounces off the classroom walls. Recently, however, my annual post-summer return to the daily routine of college life has been steeped in a malaise that drains, that leadens the legs and keeps them off the walls and on the ground. This deepening sorrow has much to do with how little I am able to do outside my metaphoric institutional walls, for I am getting tired of vigils, of panels and teach-ins, of clicking the button or signing my name (don’t forget your institution!) on an online petition or letter.
Last week, I just wanted to be an Austrian who owned a car, to be part of that not-long-enough convoy of vehicles making its way south to carry back up the thousands-too-long convoy of humans making their way north.
But I was in Greensboro, “The Gate City.”
And then a simple thought circled around. I might not be in Austria with a car, but I am in another popular refugee destination with something even better, a college campus.
And the thought circled in. What if we saw the university or college campus not as a disembodied beehive of thinkers and learners but as a place, as much a body as it is a mind? And of course a campus is a body. It is a body politic, a self-sufficient, self-governing, self-regulating city. The word for a university or college “campus” in Arabic is haram; it means a physical space that is both “sacred” and “inviolable,” a sanctuary, a refuge.
And then the thought settled. If we saw the college and university campus in this other embodied way, could we not then expand our response to the refugee crisis beyond the panels, the food and clothes drives, the vigils? If the EU and the UN have called on European and Arab nations to take in their “quota” of refugees, and if the Pope called on every parish to take in a refugee family, could we not then see the college or university campus as similarly responsible as a “country” or as a “parish” and capable of hosting refugees?
What I am suggesting here is not your average college or university move. I am not suggesting that universities should simply sponsor refugee students to obtain higher education, a limited action, which benefits far fewer individuals, generally those with the least physical and emotional needs. What I am suggesting entails a radical reimagining of what a college or university campus can and should be – a physical place of refuge in times of crisis. If a campus hosts a refugee family, with small children and elders especially, then that homes much larger numbers and ones with greater physical needs. Campuses are organically well-suited for this. They have housing, cafeterias, clinics and plenty of human resources, expertise and connections to provide financial, material, legal, social and political assistance. In fact, a college or university has more human and material resources than most other organizations. And even though this move is not a traditionally educational gesture, it is educational to the core. What better education for the university and college students than direct engagement in caring for their fellow humans rather than simply learning about the crisis or raising funds for it? What better skills than humaneness and principled problem solving? What better values than justice and community? Students can engage this effort in countless ways including helping the family with language acquisition, or the children with homework, or acting as much needed “cultural brokers” as the family navigates its way through the resettlement process. And, very traditionally, refugee family members could also be welcome to attend college classes.
It is an incredible opportunity for everybody involved. Imagine it: a community comes together, drawing on its many skills, resources and expertise (in law, in medicine, in language, in advocacy, in planning.) to give a family that desperately needs a safe home, a safe refuge. However, this has to be done without exploiting or taking advantage of the refugee family. It must be done with intentionally crafted attention to their humanity, needs and integrity. At Guilford College where I teach, for example, where we might righteously see these efforts as an extension of our institution’s core values and our historical legacy as part of the Underground Railroad, we must also rightly see them as necessitated by another legacy we have inherited – that of empire-building, colonialism and global politics which have displaced and dispossessed the indigenous peoples of this land (on which Guilford is built) and others around the globe. As an institution, we must engage in these meaningful acts of solidarity while simultaneously subjecting them to rigorous self-awareness and criticism.
And at Guilford, the Every Campus A Refuge Campaign is indeed under way. Our President has pledged to identify and provide appropriate on-campus housing for a refugee family. In the meantime, a vacant apartment in one of our residence halls has been designated as available space for a refugee family in need of it when they arrive in Greensboro. The College’s Center for Principled Problem Solving has reached out to local organizations whose efforts focus specifically on resettling and assisting refugees in our area to find out what else they will need, and we are mobilizing through “A Call to Action” meeting of students, faculty, staff and administration to sponsor and support (materially and otherwise) refugees coming in to the area. Again, as we do this, we must be ever-vigilant of the potential ethical pitfalls.
The United States is accepting a relatively very low number of refugees who will be entering the country in the next year. All of them will be heading to a place where there are college and university campuses. If every campus in the United States hosted one refugee family, this could mean the relatively quick, easy and inexpensive temporary resettlement of thousands of refugees, and it will give local resettlement organization the needed space and time to do their jobs well. Indeed, such an effort might encourage the United States to increase its quota since concentrated pressures on particular areas and regions would be eased. Imagine if Canada and South America did the same. And then imagine if European and Arab university campuses followed suit.
In the face of this multifaceted disaster, one with deep and far reaching political, social, economic, and psychological damages, the cost of hosting one refugee family on campus grounds is truly minimal, its reward astronomical. Refugees would find a small country whose citizens share the burden, responsibility and joy of giving them a campus – a refuge.
This piece originally appeared on Jadaliyya
Greensboro, NC.
everycampusarefuge@gmail.com
Every Campus a Refuge is a registered 501(c)(3) public charitable organization
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Expeditions 7: Ghosts of Eurasia
Adventure, Adventure, Four Wheel Drive, Overland Journal
Scott Brady / October 19th, 2017
We brought the Land Cruiser to a halt just outside Kadykchan, a modern-day ghost town in the heart of Siberia.
Eurasia, which encompasses nearly 53 million square kilometers, is the largest landmass on the planet. It’s comprised of two continents and 93 countries, and 72 percent of the world’s population lives within its boundaries. From the glaciated fjords of Norway to Lake Baikal, the deepest and most voluminous freshwater lake in the world, the landscapes of this supercontinent were a visual and emotional assault. From the romance of Prague to the industrial squalor of Moscow to the surprising beauty and warmth of Magadan, the cities and people were equally captivating.
Our team arrived in Nordkapp under heavy fog, completing our drive to the northernmost road-accessible point on the globe. We celebrated while considering the contrasts between this place and the northernmost point in North America―Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Nordkapp, as well as the rest of Norway, is so thoroughly modern and organized it makes not only Alaska, but also the rest of the United States feel a bit primitive.
After completing the Scandinavian leg we loaded the Land Cruisers into a ferry at Helsinki, Finland, and crossed the Baltic Sea for Tallinn, Estonia. We particularly enjoyed the old city center and the optimistic outlook of the Tallinn citizens, some of the Eurozone’s newest members. Continuing south, we explored other former Soviet Bloc countries including Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, pausing to capture a few images of the Land Cruisers juxtaposed with a Cold War-era MiG.
The Czech Republic and the city of Prague marked the end of our European segment. Dirty and well lived-in, we pulled the Land Cruisers into the parking lot of a Holiday Inn. Though we often hope the rest of the world, especially seemingly timeless places like Eastern Europe, will strive to retain their aesthetic autonomy, this is not always the case. We enjoyed Europe, but a very different experience lay just beyond the frontier.
One of the great joys of overland travel is camping in the backcountry, and there are few places more remote than Siberia. From striking camp in the snow to starting the morning fire for coffee and messing with travel mates, Expeditions 7 has become a brotherhood for team members. As we made our way to Russia’s Far East, our campsites began to possess an all-encompassing calm, most sounds completely dampened by falling snow and the often dense and nearly impenetrable forest.
The Aldan River is but a tributary to the mighty Lena River, a moving body of water so massive that ocean-going container ships navigate its depths. However, the Aldan isn’t a meandering stream by any measure. The ferry, which equated to a large barge being pushed along by tugboats, took over an hour to cross the river’s expanse. The ramp was operated by a hand winch with rusted shackles and frayed cables, better suited for an ATV than the hulking steel exit platform. We were followed down the ramp by a couple of semi-trailer trucks and a half-dozen UAZs.
Most of the bridges along the old summer Road of Bones to Tomtor were gone, requiring difficult crossings and ingress/egress from the banks. One bridge in particular, which had the appearance of a mogul field rather than a road, was so bowed and damaged I was sure it would not support the weight of our vehicles. However, there was no other option; each board creaked in protest as we slowly crept across.
The highlight of our Asian journey was the opportunity to drive to Tomtor, Russia, known as the Pole of Cold. This route was built by the Gulag prisoners of the Stalin era, when millions of Russians were sentenced, often without a trial, to a life of labor, or death, in one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. It is said that in a single winter up to 25 percent died of starvation or exposure. Life was of such little value that when a prisoner died, they were often buried under the road surface right where they fell. Despite its horrific past, this region of Russia, which is now in a genuine state of renewal, was my favorite.
The road, which began with fording a deep river that had claimed the lives of a family a week prior when their UAZ turned over in the current, was a perpetual challenge. Snow began to fall on our first night’s camp and continued all the way to Tomtor, covering the ground with a veil of white. It seemed appropriate given the town’s namesake.
Different from other ghost towns, Kadykchan, which was built for the workers of the regional coal mine, is a modern relic. In the mid- ’90s coal production had declined, and in 1996 the town’s citywide water heating plant exploded, killing a number of workers. The Russian government determined that the repair cost could not be justified, and literally decommissioned the city. It was abandoned almost immediately, its citizens leaving behind anything they could not carry.
It was an apocalyptic scene―a community of 15,000 souls vanished. In awe of this spectacle, we spent several hours walking through the debris and envisioning not only the prisoners who were forced to build a city in this frozen wasteland, but also the families who lived and worked there. We found the playground particularly haunting, a child’s shoe left mid-step, a sled propped against a playground slide, a swing set rattling in the frigid arctic wind. Stepping into several of the concrete block apartment buildings felt eerie, like we were voyeurs looking into the souls of the past: clothing scattered about under a decaying dresser, water-stained school books in disarray on the floor, and yellowing photos still pinned to collapsing tenement walls. These people, and their dreams, had vanished, and only a few vagrants remained lurking among the shadows.
On our way south from Kadykchan we attempted another section of the Old Summer Road, one recommended by a Polish adventurer we’d met who had a Siberian tiger pelt nailed to his wall. This all-dirt track kept us off the M56 for a few days and provided some of the most stunning scenery of the trip. When our detour rejoined the main track just north of Magadan, we were back on asphalt for the first time in weeks; the hum of the tires now louder than the various rattles and squeaks we’d been listening to for many days.
The Road of Bones crosses numerous rivers, and at times, the road was the river. This often pushed the safe limits of depth for both team and truck.
We had made it, and in the process pushed nearly every boundary and comfort zone we’d previously thought possible. The team counted no less than four near-death instances while driving. Road conditions and other drivers, who were most surely emboldened by vodka, were much more dangerous than any we had encountered during decades of international overland treks. When we rolled into Magadan the relief was palpable, not so much because the adventure was over, but that we (and the Land Cruisers) had survived.
Our good fortune was not the case for countless victims of the Stalinist purges and those who died during the construction of the Road of Bones. On a hill above Magadan stands the Mask of Sorrows, a large concrete memorial in sullen form, the brow creating a cross and tears comprising the faces of the millions lost. From one eye rains tears which are made up of faces, bearing marks of the emotionally distraught. Inside is a replica of a Gulag prison cell; the entire memorial is sobering.
Having completed our circumnavigation of the Northern Hemisphere, we loaded the trucks into a container bound for Australia. The Southern Hemisphere awaited.
Tomtor, Siberia, is one of the coldest inhabited places outside of Antarctica. At minus 71°F, exposed skin will freeze in less than four minutes. The first brush of arctic wind against your face will induce a shiver and early vasoconstriction, which pulls warm blood from the fingers and other extremities back to the body’s core in an effort to protect vital organs. Death can come quickly at these temperatures, and did for many prisoners held captive in Siberian Gulags (Soviet labor camps) and forced to construct the infamous Road of Bones. Known officially as the M56 Kolyma Highway, it threads its way through more than 2,000 kilometers of Russia’s heartland, from the banks of the Lena River transecting central Russia, to the country’s eastern shore.
With our crossing of North America and Iceland complete, we’d turned our attention toward Europe and Asia. Our plan was to travel from the northernmost navigable road in the world, at Nordkapp, Norway, to Magadan, Russia, the easternmost road-accessible city on the Asian continent. While we could easily have taken a southern trajectory and bounced along the warm Mediterranean coastline, which would have still satisfied the objective, our team was excited to keep the wheels turned north―way north. This would entail passing through 17 countries and traversing nearly 20,000 kilometers.
Nordkapp is located at 71°N, and though it was late June when we arrived, snow still covered the coastline. The summer solstice had just passed, and at these latitudes, the sun never really sets. A 6-hour pseudo-sunset teased us as it drifted across the horizon, casting golden rays through a crystalline atmosphere and prompting us to keep our cameras close at hand. In Oslo, we’d unloaded the vehicles from their shipping containers and pushed north for the fog-shrouded cape. It was a greater distance than driving from London to Istanbul, and we quickly realized that distances on this leg of the expedition would be immense. Norway and Europe surprised us. Not only because of the stunning beauty of glaciated mountains and fjords, but the vibrancy of the region’s cities and people. Scandinavia, which is often lauded as safe and nearly sterile, was magical—a stark contrast to what we would encounter in Russia.
We finished the European segment in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where we restocked supplies and arranged for some much-needed service on the Land Cruisers before turning north again towards Estonia. After spending a few days in the ancient walled city of Tallinn, Estonia, where there were 24-hour guards posted in our hotel parking lot, we’d been lulled into a temporary sense of security. It was on the morning of our departure toward Saint Petersburg that our idyllic view of Estonia was shattered…quite literally. Under the cover of darkness, thieves had slid past the guards and between the two Troopies. They smashed out one of the side windows and took several Red Oxx duffle bags full of clothing. Glass was everywhere and the interior was now exposed to a mounting storm. While we were certainly frustrated by the loss of gear, it was the window, which would be nearly impossible to source for the next 12,000 kilometers, which posed the biggest challenge. If there is one thing I’ve learned during my travels, it is to improvise. We taped plastic trash bags over the opening and pushed on (we would later fabricate a plexiglass replacement).
With fresh visas and two Land Cruiser Troopies, we organized our papers, pulled up to the frontier border crossing at Koidula, Estonia, and exited the European Union. Once the heart of the former USSR, Russia is the largest country on earth, and crossing it would prove to be our most ambitious and dangerous drive yet. In Yakutsk, on the banks of the Lena River, we’d pick up the Road of Bones, which would lead us across the semi-frozen reaches of Russia’s Wild East.
Scott Brady
Scott is the publisher and co-founder of Expedition Portal and Overland Journal. His travels by 4WD and adventure motorcycle span all seven continents and include three circumnavigations of the globe. He lives in Prescott, Arizona
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Home > DISSERTATIONS > AAI9947858
Elicitation of awareness for teachability of metacognitive strategies for transfer from L1 to L2 in students' reading comprehension
Tova E Ben-Dov, Fordham University
This qualitative study explored, through a process of elicitation of awareness for teachability, the metacognitive strategies that fifth-grade elementary monolingual English-speaking students in a dual English and Hebrew language program are using in reading comprehension in their first language (English). The study determined the extent to which degree of awareness of metacognitive strategies in a student's first language (L1) leads to transfer of use of these strategies in the second language (L2: Hebrew) in reading comprehension. Seven fifth-grade students, three boys and four girls, from a suburban, Conservative Jewish Day school, participated in this 7-week study. The students represented low, medium, and high levels of reading comprehension on the California Achievement Test (Form E, Level 14, May 1996). Students' metacognitive awareness during reading comprehension in both languages was elicited through two administrations of the Metacognitive Comprehension Index (MSI), a multiple-choice questionnaire, that exposed students to a database of strategies, and two administrations of the Inventory of Reading Awareness (IRA), a semi-structured interview. Two concurrent English think-aloud protocols and two concurrent Hebrew think-aloud protocols were produced by each student in one-on-one settings. All think-aloud protocols were audiotaped, transcribed, and coded by the researcher and two bilingual raters. A 90% intercoder agreement was established. Using the responses on the MSI and the IRA, descriptive data were tabulated for the group and for each student for all items on both administrations of these instruments. Percentages of students, responses were compared for the group and for individual students. Frequencies of strategy use and the range of strategy use were presented as percentages of total protocol for the group and for individuals. The process of strategy use for the group and for individuals was analyzed, generating qualitative patterns of metacognitive behaviors. Findings suggested that: (a) students displayed similar individual patterns of metacognitive strategy use in both L1 and L2; (b) students with low proficiency in second language were frustrated when thinking aloud in Hebrew; (c) thinking aloud was more difficult in Hebrew as L2 for most students; (d) students who gained experience with the think-aloud procedure through practice used a greater range of metacognitive strategies on a new reading task in English; (e) students with moderate reading comprehension and average scores made gains in the number and range of categories of strategies used on think-aloud protocols; and (f) monitoring was the most frequently used category of metacognitive strategy on think-aloud protocols in both languages. Future research should extend the findings to other age groups, ability levels, different types of texts, and different languages. The findings of the present study may lead to the development of instructional methodology and curricula that are designed to increase metacognitive strategies in students' repertoire leading to transfer into the second language.
Bilingual education|Multicultural education|Language arts|Cognitive therapy|Educational psychology
Ben-Dov, Tova E, "Elicitation of awareness for teachability of metacognitive strategies for transfer from L1 to L2 in students' reading comprehension" (1998). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI9947858.
https://fordham.bepress.com/dissertations/AAI9947858
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Car Insurance Proof Of Life After Death Youtube
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GRANITE CITY • Three Madison County residents were killed early Saturday when their car veered off of St. Clair Avenue and struck a tree. The victims were identified as Johnny L. Million, 28, of Colli.
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But in January, Ron lost the love of his life. “We were lucky enough to be placed in Our Lady of Peace. It’s a hospice home in St. Paul,” Ron said. “She was there for 6 weeks and that’s where she pass.
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Patrick Wilson comes undone in the trailer for Zipper
Danette Chavez
The trailer for Zipper shows us Patrick Wilson as another lawman with small-town values, only the mystery he’s trying to solve is how to keep it in his pants. Sam Ellis (Wilson) is a handsome, charming federal prosecutor who’s running for office. He’s got the wife (Lena Heady), kids, and sound bites to be this country’s white knight, a role he seems eager to play. The congressional candidate also has a crack team, including a politico (Richard Dreyfuss) and, in a role he’s well suited for, John Cho as an image consultant.
But Ellis struggles with the pressures of campaigning, as well as a growing attraction to one of his interns (Dianna Agron). In order to avoid a scandal, Ellis has sex with a prostitute; the cure then becomes the disease when he becomes addicted to sex with escorts. Ellis tries desperately to cover his tracks, not just to avoid hurting his family, but also to preserve the fairy tale. “Your mythology is your best asset,” Dreyfuss’ character says at one point, a story Ellis seems to have bought wholesale.
Zipper opens in limited theaters on August 28, when it will also be available on demand.
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Dead Rising Feature Film Coming to Crackle
Posted by Sean on June 20th, 2014 Filed under: Games, Horror, Internet
Now that Jerry Seinfeld’s digital series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee has put Crackle on the map as an original content provider, they are getting ready to dip their toes into the movie business as well. This week they have announced that they will team up with Legendary Entertainment for a feature-length adaptation of the popular Capcom video game series Dead Rising. The movie will debut exclusively on their streaming service before eventually making its way to DVD, VOD and TV and will be penned by Tim Carter, who was a writer on the video game Sleeping Dogs and also a producer on the Mortal Kombat: Legacy web series. It will be the first release from Legendary Digital Media and Tom Lesinski, their president of content and distribution, had this to say about the announcement:
“Dead Rising has a built-in fan base and rich characters and plotlines that are ideal for digital storytelling and on target for Legendary’s brand… Crackle and Content are adept at distributing cutting-edge digital content and we look forward to delivering a highly engaging and cool series for a global audience.”
While it’s interesting to see Crackle getting into the original content game (they also supposedly have a Joe Dirt sequel in the works), I don’t really have high hopes for this project. Zombies continue to be low hanging fruit and, as far as I know, the world of Dead Rising does not have much to set itself apart from the multitude of other zombie properties out there (let’s face it, the first game was heavily inspired by Dawn of the Dead). But hey, maybe it will be better than Amazon’s ill-fated Zombieland TV show. Are you excited by the prospect of a Dead Rising movie?
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Kirkland, Latham and Wilmer Fight Trump's Transgender Troop Ban at SCOTUS
ALM Media January 4, 2019
President Donald J. Trump speaks with reporters. Credit: Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian
National LGBT legal groups enlisted three of Big Law's leading appellate firms to oppose the Trump administration's ban on transgender military members at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Three cases are pending in which the U.S. Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to overturn injunctions that blocked the Trump administration from implementing the new rules. The justices are scheduled to look at the petitions—arising from Washington, D.C., California and Washington state—next week at their Jan. 11 conference.
In the D.C. case, Paul R.Q. Wolfson, co-chairman of appellate and Supreme Court litigation at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, is counsel in Trump v. Jane Doe 2. Wolfson, a former assistant to the solicitor general and clerk to Justice Byron White, has argued 21 cases at the Supreme Court.
Lawyers from the National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, joined by counsel from Foley Hoag and Wilmer, filed the federal lawsuit challenging the ban on behalf of five transgender service members with nearly 60 years of combined military service, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Related: NLJ's 2018 Appellate Hot List
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled against the government, but a D.C. Circuit panel on Friday dissolved the injunction. The D.C. Circuit judges rejected the notion that the Trump policy was a "blanket" ban on transgender troops. The court said the military's new policy "accommodates at least some of plaintiffs’ interests."
Friday's ruling won't alter the course of the cases, but the Justice Department will likely apprise the Supreme Court of the development.
In the California case Trump v. Stockman, Latham & Watkins appellate partner J. Scott Ballenger, a former clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, is counsel of record.
The case, filed originally in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, was brought by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. The two legal groups filed the lawsuit on behalf of Equality California and seven plaintiffs who currently serve in the military or have taken steps to enlist.
Ballenger has argued two cases in the Supreme Court and has been on Latham's legal team in many others, including the affirmative action cases involving the universities of Michigan and Texas.
"Wilmer and Latham have been involved in Doe and Stockman, respectively, since the cases were filed in district court," said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Ballenger and Minter worked together on the Supreme Court case, Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. "We are fortunate to be working with two such great firms."
Meanwhile, a team from Kirkland & Ellis is leading the fight in the third case, Trump v. Karnoski, which was originally filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Kirkland's Stephen Patton, who successfully argued for the plaintiffs in the lower court, is lead counsel. Patton, of counsel in Kirkland's litigation group in Chicago, returned to Kirkland last year after serving as Chicago's top in-house lawyer and senior legal adviser to Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
In July, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction against the Trump ban on transgender troops serving in the military.
Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN filed the lawsuit challenging the ban on behalf of six currently serving military members and three who seek to enlist; the Human Rights Campaign, Gender Justice League and the American Military Partner Association. The state of Washington also challenged the ban and is opposing the Trump petition in the Supreme Court.
"Steve is a truly remarkable attorney," Lambda Legal counsel Peter Renn said. "He was our oralist in the Ninth Circuit and there is a natural synergy for continuing to work with him on issues in which we have developed expertise. We are truly fortunate to have Kirkland going toe to toe with the power of the federal government. They have devoted substantial resources to the litigation and have put their A-team on this case."
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Tag Archives: Investment
Kalopanax septemlobus
Botanical Name : Kalopanax septemlobus
Family: Araliaceae
Subfamily:Aralioideae
Genus: Kalopanax
Species:K. septemlobus
Kingdom:Plantae
Order: Apiales
Synonyms: K. pictus. (Thunb.)Nakai. K. ricinifolium. Acanthopanax ricinifolium. Acer pictum. Acer septemlobus
Common Names:Tree Aralia, Castor aralia, Prickly castor oil tree
Habitat :Kalopanax septemlobus is native to E. Asia – China, Japan. It grows in cool deciduous forests from near sea level to elevations of 2500 metres.
Kalopanax septemlobus is a deciduous Tree growing to 25 m (82ft 0in) at a slow rate with a trunk up to 1–1.5 metres (3.3–4.9 ft) diameter. The stems are often spiny, with stout spines up to 1 centimetre (0.39 in) long. The leaves are alternate, in appearance similar to a large Fatsia or Liquidambar (sweetgum) leaf, 15–35 centimetres (5.9–13.8 in) across, palmately lobed with five or seven lobes, each lobe with a finely toothed margin.
The leaf lobes vary greatly in shape, from shallow lobes to cut nearly to the leaf base. Trees with deeply lobed leaves were formerly distinguished as K. septemlobus var. maximowiczii, but the variation is continuous and not correlated with geography, so it is no longer regarded as distinct.
The flowers are produced in late summer in large umbels 20–50 centimetres (7.9–19.7 in) across at the apex of a stem, each flower with 4-5 small white petals. The fruit is a small black drupe containing 2 seeds.
It is in flower from Aug to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs)Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil.
Requires a deep fertile moisture-retentive soil in sun or part shade. Young shoots, especially on young plants, can die back over winter if they are not fully ripened. Young plants are slow-growing. The tree is widely cultivated for timber in China. A polymorphic species.
Propagation:
Seed – best sown as soon as it is ripe in the autumn in a cold frame. Stored seed probably requires a period of cold stratification and should be sown as soon as possible. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame. Root cuttings in late winter
Edible Uses: Young leaves and young shoots – cooked.
Antifungal; Expectorant; Hepatic; Skin; Stomachic.
The bark contains a range of bio-active constituents, including saponins, flavonoids and lignans. It has antifungal and liver protecting properties. It is used in Korea in the treatment of contusions, beri-beri, lumbago, neuralgia and pleurisy. An infusion of the leaves is used to make a stomachic tea. The root is expectorant. A decoction of the wood is used for skin diseases.
Other Uses: The tree is cultivated as an ornamental tree for the “tropical” appearance of its large palmate leaves in Europe and North America; despite its tropical looks, it is very hardy, tolerating temperatures down to at least ?40 °C (?40 °F) The bark and the leaves are used as an insecticide. Wood is very useful.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalopanax
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Kalopanax+septemlobus
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This entry was posted in Herbs & Plants and tagged Americas, Carica, Caricaceae, Classical antiquity, Computer virus, Dearborn, Ford Motor Company, Ford Super Duty, Fruit, Germany, Internet, Investment, Livonia, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Michigan, Nuclear power plant, Papaya, Plant, South-East Asia on May 19, 2016 by Mukul.
Celtis sinensis
Botanical Name: Celtis sinensis
Family: Cannabaceae
Genus: Celtis
Species:C. sinensis
Synonyms: Celtis japonica.
Common Names: Chinese hackberry, Japanese Hackberry
Habitat: Celtis sinensis is native to slopes in East Asia– China, Japan, Korea. It grows on lowland and hills all over Japan. Roadsides and slopes at elevations of 100 – 1500 metres in China.
Celtis sinensis is a deciduous Tree growing to 10 m (32ft) by 10 m (32ft) at a medium rate.
It’s bark is gray. The fruit is a globose drupe, 5–7(–8) mm in diameter. Flowering occurs in March–April, and fruiting in September–October and the seeds ripen in October. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees.Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils, prefers well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought…..CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES
Succeeds in any reasonably good soil, preferring a good fertile well-drained loamy soil. Succeeds on dry gravels and on sandy soils. Established plants are very drought resistant. Trees prefer hotter summers and more sunlight than are normally experienced in Britain, they often do not fully ripen their wood when growing in this country and they are then very subject to die-back in winter. Trees can be very long-lived, perhaps to 1000 years. This species is closely allied to C. bungeana. Plants in this genus are notably resistant to honey fungus.
Seed – best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame. Stored seed is best given 2 – 3 months cold stratification and then sown February/March in a greenhouse. Germination rates are usually good, though the stored seed might take 12 months or more to germinate. The seed can be stored for up to 5 years. As soon as they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots. The leaves of seedlings often have a lot of white patches without chlorophyll, this is normal and older plants produce normal green leaves. Grow the seedlings on in a cold frame for their first winter, and plant them out in the following late spring or early summer. Give them some protection from the cold for their first winter outdoors. Cuttings
Edible Uses: …Fruit – raw. The fruit is up to 8mm in diameter. We have no further information, but the fruit is liable to consist of a thin, sweet, though dry and mealy flesh around a large seed. Leaves – cooked. The leaves are used as a tea substitute.
Medicinal Uses:…The root bark is used in the treatment of dyspepsia, poor appetite, shortness of breath and swollen feet Leaves and bark are used in Korean medicine to treat menstruation and lung abscess.
Other Uses: As an ornamental plant, it is used in classical East Asian garden design.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtis_sinensis
http://www.pfaf.org/USER/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Celtis+sinensis
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This entry was posted in Herbs & Plants and tagged Ammunition, Computer virus, Ford Motor Company, Ford Super Duty, Germany, Internet, Investment, Nuclear power plant, Ohio, Plant on May 16, 2016 by Mukul.
Celtis reticulata
Botanical Name : Celtis reticulata
Species: C. reticulata
Synonyms: Celtis reticulata. (Torr.)L.Benson.
Common Names: Netleaf hackberry, Western hackberry, Douglas hackberry, Netleaf sugar hackberry, Palo blanco, and Acibuche
Habitat : Celtis reticulata is native to South-western N. America – Kansas to Texas, Colorado and California. It grows on dry hills, often on limestone or basalt, ravine banks, rocky outcrops, and occasionally in sandy soils at elevations of 300 – 2300 metres.
Celtis reticulata is a deciduous Tree. It usually grows to a small-sized tree, twenty to thirty feet (6 to 10 m) in height and mature at six to ten inches (15 to 25 cm) in diameter, although some individuals are known up to 70 feet high. It is often scraggly, stunted or even a large bush. It grows at elevations from 500–1,700 metres (1,600–5,600 ft).
Hackberry bark is grey to brownish grey with the trunk bark forming vertical corky ridges that are checkered between the furrows. The young twigs are covered with very fine hairs (puberulent). The blade of the leaves can be half an inch to three inches (2-8 cm) long, usually about two inches (5-6 cm). They are lanceolate to ovate, unequal at the base, leathery, entire to serrate (tending toward serrate), clearly net-veined, base obtuse to more or less cordate, tip obtuse to acuminate, and scabrous, with a dark green upper surface and a yellowish-green lower surface. The small stalks attaching the leaf blade to the stem (the petioles) are generally about 5 to 6 mm long.
It is in flower in April, and the seeds ripen in October. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees.
The flowers are very small averaging 1/12 of an inch (2 mm) across. They form singly, or in cymose clusters pedicel in fr 4-15 mm. Fruit is a rigid, brownish to purple berry, 5 to 12 mm in diameter, pulp thin.
C. reticulata is often confused with the related species Celtis pallida, the spiny hackberry or desert hackberry, Celtis occidentalis, the common hackberry, and Celtis laevigata, the sugarberry or southern hackberry.
Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils, prefers well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought.
Succeeds in any reasonably good soil, preferring a good fertile well-drained loamy soil. Succeeds on dry gravels and on sandy soils. Established plants are very drought resistant. A moderate to slow-growing tree in the wild. It prefers hotter summers and more sunlight than are normally experienced in Britain, so it often does not fully ripen its wood when growing in this country and is then very subject to die-back in winter. Trees can be very long-lived, perhaps to 1000 years. Considered by some botanists to be no more than a sub-species of C. laevigata. Plants in this genus are notably resistant to honey fungus.
The berries and seeds have long been used as a food source by Native Americans of the Southwestern United States, including the Apache (Chiricahua and Mescalero), both fresh and preserved.
Fruit – raw or cooked. Sweet and fleshy. The fruit can also be made into a jelly or used as a seasoning for savoury foods. It can be dried and stored for winter use. The fruit is about 10mm in diameter, it has a thin flesh with a single large seed.
Medicinal Uses : The plant has been used in the treatment of indigestion.
The leaves are eaten by a number of insects, particularly certain moth caterpillars.A brown or red dye can be obtained from the leaves and branches. Wood is heavy but soft and weak, it is not commercially important. It can be used as a firewood.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtis_reticulata
http://www.pfaf.org/USER/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Celtis+reticulata
Ghosts and tiny treasures
This entry was posted in Herbs & Plants and tagged Associated Press, Commercial vehicle, Computer virus, Dearborn, Detroit, Ford Motor Company, Ford Super Duty, Investment, Michigan, Ohio, Plant on May 16, 2016 by Mukul.
Viburnum lantanoides
Botanical Name : Viburnum lantanoides
Family: Adoxaceae
Genus: Viburnum
Species:V. lantanoides
Order: Dipsacales
Synonyms: Woodland Garden Sunny Edge; Dappled Shade; Shady Edge; not Deep Shade
Common Names: Hobble-bush, Witch-hobble, Alder-leaved viburnum, American wayfaring tree, and Moosewood
Habitat : Viburnum lantanoides is found in the eastern U.S. and Canada from Georgia to the Canadian Maritimes. It grows in rich, moist acidic woods, stream banks, and swamps.
Viburnum lantanoides is a deciduous perennial shrub, growing 2–4 meters (6–12 ft) high with pendulous branches that take root where they touch the ground. These rooted branches form obstacles which easily trip (or hobble) walkers – hence the common name.
The shrub forms large clusters of white to pink flowers in May–June. The flowers on the outer edge of the clusters are much larger (3–5 cm across). The whole cluster is typically 10 cm across. It has large, cardioid leaves which are serrate, 10–20 cm long. The bark is gray-brown and warty and the fruit is a drupe which is red, turning to black when ripened….CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES
The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects.The plant is not self-fertile.
Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. Suitable pH: acid and neutral soils and can grow in very acid soils.
It can grow in full shade (deep woodland) semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil.
An easily grown plant, it succeeds in most soils but is ill-adapted for poor soils and for dry situations. It prefers a deep rich loamy soil in a shady position. Requires a moist acid soil and woodland conditions but without competition from other plants. Another report says that it requires an exposed position. Dislikes alkaline soils. Best if given shade from the early morning sun in spring. A very hardy plant, tolerating temperatures down to about -30°c. Plants are self-incompatible and need to grow close to a genetically distinct plant in the same species in order to produce fruit and fertile seed. Plants are often self-layering in the wild and form thickets. This species is closely related to V. furcatum.
Seed – best sown in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe. Germination can be slow, sometimes taking more than 18 months. If the seed is harvested ‘green’ (when it has fully developed but before it has fully ripened) and sown immediately in a cold frame, it should germinate in the spring[80]. Stored seed will require 2 months warm then 3 months cold stratification and can still take 18 months to germinate. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in a cold frame or greenhouse. Plant out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer of the following year. Cuttings of soft-wood, early summer in a frame. Pot up into individual pots once they start to root and plant them out in late spring or early summer of the following year. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, 5 – 8 cm long with a heel if possible, July/August in a frame. Plant them into individual pots as soon as they start to root. These cuttings can be difficult to overwinter, it is best to keep them in a greenhouse or cold frame until the following spring before planting them out. Cuttings of mature wood, winter in a frame. They should root in early spring – pot them up when large enough to handle and plant them out in the summer if sufficient new growth is made, otherwise keep them in a cold frame for the next winter and then plant them out in the spring. Layering of current seasons growth in July/August. Takes 15 months.
Fruit – raw or cooked. Sweet and palatable, tasting somewhat like raisins or dates. The fruits have a large seed and a thin flesh. The taste is best after a frost. The ovoid fruit is about 15mm long and contains a single large seed.
Analgesic; Blood purifier; Infertility.
The leaves are analgesic. They have been mashed and applied to the head as a poultice to ease a migraine. A decoction of the roots has been used as a blood medicine. The decoction has been used as a fertility aid by women.
Other Uses : The flowers provide nectar for the Celastrina ladon (Spring Azure) butterfly. Mammals and birds feed on its fruit, twigs, and leaves. The large showy flowers are decorative to flower garden.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viburnum_lantanoides
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Viburnum+lantanoides
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This entry was posted in Herbs & Plants and tagged Amazon Rainforest, Amazon.com, Associated Press, Bear, Blood sugar, Brazil, Butter, Canning, Commercial vehicle, Computer virus, Cool Whip, Dearborn, Detroit, Ford Motor Company, Ford Super Duty, Fruit, Investment, Michigan, Ohio, Pizza, Plant on May 12, 2016 by Mukul.
Botanical Name : Abronia fragrans
Family: Nyctaginaceae
Genus: Abronia
Species:A. fragrans
Order:Caryophyllales
Common Names: Snowball Sand Verbena, Sweet sand-verbena, Prairie snowball, Fragrant verbena
Habitat : The native range of sweet sand-verbena extends from Northern Arizona to western Texas and Oklahoma north through the Rocky Mountain and western plains regions of the United States and south to Chihuahua, Mexico. Sweet sand-verbena occurs in prairies, plains, and savannas where it can be found growing in loose, dry, sandy soils.
Abronia fragrans, Sweet sand-verbena, is an herbaceous perennial with an upright or sprawling growth habit, reaching 8-40 inches (about 20–102 cm). It grows from a taproot with sticky, hairy stems growing from 7.1 inches to 3.3 feet (18–100 cm) long.
The flowers consist of 4 to 5 petaloid sepals and sepaloid bracts with a tubular corolla borne in clusters of 25 to 80 at the ends of stems. The blossoms are usually white but may be green-, lavender-, or pink-tinged. The sticky leaves are simple and opposite, up to 3.5″ (8.89 cm) long and 1.2″ (3 cm) wide, and elliptical or linear. The fruits are egg-shaped achenes about 0.1″ (.25 cm) long, lustrous, and black or brown. The achene is enclosed within a leathery top-shaped calyx base which may or may not be winged.
It is in flower from Jun to August. The flowers of this plant open in the evening and close again in the morning, a habit which gives the Nyctaginaceae family its common name of Four O’clocks. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs)Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought.
Prefers a light well-drained sandy soil in full sun. This species is not very hardy in Britain, though it should succeed outdoors in the southern part of the country, especially if given a warm sheltered site. The flowers are produced in terminal clusters, they only open in the coolness of the evening, diffusing a vanilla-like perfume. Seed is rarely ripened on plants growing in Britain.
Seed – sow autumn or early spring very shallowly in pots of sandy soil in a greenhouse. Germination can be very slow unless you peel off the outer skin and pre-soak the seed for 24 hours in warm water. The seed usually germinates in 1 – 2 months at 15°c. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for their first winter. Seedlings are prone to damp off and so should be kept well-ventilated[200]. Plant out in late spring, after the last expected frosts. Cuttings in spring, rooted in sand.
Root – cooked. Dried then ground into a powder and mixed with corn. Use of the root was said by some North American Indian tribes to give one a good appetite and make them fat.The Acoma and the Laguna mix the ground roots with cornmeal and eat the mixture as food.
Cathartic; Diaphoretic; Emetic.
The plant is cathartic, diaphoretic and emetic. The roots and flowers were used by the North American Indians to treat stomach cramps and as a general panacea or ‘life’ medicine. A cold infusion was used as a lotion for sores or sore mouths and also to bathe perspiring feet.
The Ute use as a roots and flowers for stomach and bowel troubles, whereas the Zuni use the fresh flowers alone for stomachaches.
The Indigenous peoples of the Southwest use the plant as a wash for sores and insect bites, to treat stomachache, and as an appetite booster. Among the Navajo, it is used medicinally for boils and taken internally when a spider was swallowed. The Kayenta Navajo use it as a cathartic, for insect bites, as a sudorific, as an emetic, for stomach cramps, and as a general panacea. The Ramah Navajo use it as a lotion for sores or sore mouth and to bathe perspiring feet.
The Keres mix ground roots of the plant with corn flour, and eat to gain weight.
Other Uses: Sweet sand-verbena is grown in gardens for its attractive blossoms and fragrance, and to attract butterflies.The Keres mix ground roots of the plant with corn flour and use this mixture to keep from becoming greedy, and they make ceremonial necklaces from the plant.
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Abronia+fragrans
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abronia_fragrans
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This entry was posted in Herbs & Plants and tagged Associated Press, Commercial vehicle, Computer virus, Dearborn, Detroit, Ford Motor Company, Ford Super Duty, Investment, Michigan, Ohio, Plant on May 7, 2016 by Mukul.
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J A McDonald and FreedomLine
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The Roman Empire and the Shariah Bond
Posted by J A McDonald under politics, religion | Tags: Muslim, Pakistani Christian woman, persecution, religious rites, Roman Empire, second class citizens, Shariah law |
When reading the Daily Mail online about the Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to death for “blasphemous comments” about Mohammad after she was denied water by Muslim women, I couldn’t help but see parallels with the persecution of Christians in the Roman era. It would seem that some of the Shariah law was taken from the Roman empire. There are several parallels seen in the Daily Mail of October 17, 2014.
Misunderstanding abounds.
Christian rituals were privately held in homes and not in public: the felt secrecy of their rituals inflamed the collective imagination of those who did not follow Jesus’ teachings. Indeed, in the early years Christians were accused of being impious atheists.
The Passover feast to remember Jesus’ act on the cross on humanity’s behalf was performed in the homes–thus a private affair. [No public prayers five times a day.] Not being able to do key word searches, the polytheistic population accused Christians of cannibalism due to the terms “body and blood” which actually referred to remembrance of sacrifice of the lamb God provided, not a humanly provided lamb.
The early Christians were also accused of incest referring to each other as “brothers” and “sisters”. Since then, many faith groups refer to other followers of the same faith in this way, Islam inclusive (The Muslim Brotherhood, for example) . The Christians’ refusal to participate in public religion and choose to retain maintain monotheism actually was quite threatening of the status quo since there was a superstition that bad things would befall the society if the public worship of established gods were not maintained.
The fabric of society was the combining of custom and education, that people in Roman society were obliged to revere the religious institutions of their country. Open disrespect of family beliefs by not following them and what they reverenced as true and sacred was deemed renouncing of family and country. Theocratic countries still have these issues. Pakistan’s Shariah law doesn’t help create people with differences to be equal citizens.
The Roman governor’s personal opinion reigned during adjudication. The law was fuzzy about dealing with Christians, just as the definition of blasphemy is just as wooly. An accuser/prosecutor could either be an official or a citizen. A charge of Christianity was enough for a governor to pass judgement. The accuser/prosecutor could be rewarded with some of the accused’s property if he made an adequate case. Indeed, the Daily Mail article side-bar draws attention to that lucrative loop-hole when accusing of blasphemy.
The Roman governor oversaw the trial from start to finish: he heard the arguments, decided on the verdict, and passed the sentence. Christians sometimes offered themselves up for punishment, and the hearings of such voluntary martyrs were conducted in the same way. I feel for Asia Bibi’s sense of fed-up and taking a stand to be treated as an equal human being. The civil rights movement in the United States in the 1960s experienced just such change agents.
Political leaders in the Roman Empire were also public cult leaders. Political and religious life blended. This public religious practice was in their estimation critical to the social and political stability and success of both the local community and the empire as a whole.
Once distinguished from Judaism, Christianity was no longer seen as simply a bizarre sect of an old and venerable religion; it was new and unknown, a superstition laden with connotation of religious practices that were corrosive to society. Following Jesus’ teachings was seen as worshiping a convicted criminal, treason for refusing to “swear by the emperor’s genius, harshly criticized Rome in their holy books” and held their rites in private (Wiki). Merely speaking ill of the dominant Roman way of religion was treasonous.
Jews refused to obey the decree for pagan religious observance as a testament of allegiance to the empire. They were tolerated because they followed their own Jewish ancestral (therefore legitimate) ceremonial law, and as second class citizens had to give a Jewish tax. In a Caliphate Jews and Christians are second class citizens who pay extra tax. That is the best they can hope for.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_in_the_Roman_Empire
retrieved Oct 18, 2014
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2796178/pakistani-christian-woman-sentenced-death-blasphemy-making-derogatory-remarks-muslim-neighbours-loses-appeal.html
Volume 2 LC
http://realjusticeforcanada.wordpress.com/
http://thewholeperson.wordpress.com/why-are-we-here/
Learning and Growing into Wisdom
Learning and Growing into Wisdom Select Month January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 July 2012 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 March 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 June 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007
J A McDonald
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EnvironmentPoliticsUS News
Trump Proposes Opening ANWR To Drilling, Selling Strategic Oil Reserves
Michael Bastasch May 24, 2017
The White House will seek to pay down the national debt and raise federal revenues by opening up areas of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling and selling off about half of the country’s strategic petroleum reserves.
The Trump administration says selling off strategic reserves “would raise $500 million in fiscal year 2018” and “as much $16.6 billion in oil sales over the next decade,” Bloomberg reported Monday.
Opening up ANWR to oil and gas drilling would raise another $1.8 billion over the next decade, according to Bloomberg’s analysis of President Donald Trump’s budget plan. Trump also proposed “ending the practice of sharing oil royalties with states along the Gulf of Mexico and selling off electricity transmission lines in the West.”
ANWR’s 1.5-million-acre “1002” area along Alaska’s Arctic coastline is estimated to hold 12 billion barrels of oil, but reserves could be even higher since researchers took the last resource assessment in 1998.
Alaska Republicans have long pushed for opening up ANWR’s 1002 area to drilling. Republicans argue that it would raise revenues and support local tribes struggling with poverty. ANWR’s 1003 area is less than one percent of the refuge.
Democrats and environmentalists have opposed drilling in ANWR for decades, saying it would damage the region’s fragile ecosystem and contribute to global warming.
Activists are determined to stop many of Trump’s proposals from going through, including a nearly 32 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget.
“Trump’s first budget prioritizes polluters by robbing working Americans of vital protections for their health and environment,” Ben Schreiber, Friends of the Earth’s senior political strategist, said in a statement.
Bloomberg reported that ANWR leasing could raise $100 billion in 2022, but it’s unclear how much interest oil companies will have in Arctic drilling with crude prices hovering around $50 a barrel.
Trump’s proposal to sell half of the nation’s strategic oil reserves goes much farther than past Republican calls for selling off reserves to raise funds. The reserve, originally set up in the 1970s, currently holds “687.7 million barrels of oil in salt caverns and tanks at designated locations in Texas and Louisiana,” Bloomberg reported.
Republicans have pushed legislation in recent years to sell off 190 million barrels from the strategic reserve by 2025, amounting to nearly one-third of the reserve’s capacity.
Trump’s call for U.S.-held oil sell offs comes as OPEC prepares to meet in Vienna this week to discuss continuing holding crude production down to buoy prices.
It also signals that the U.S. is getting less serious about holding onto vast reserves of crude oil. Hydraulic fracturing has driven a U.S. oil boom that’s lessened the need for strategic reserves.
“The U.S. has likely become more sanguine when it comes to having a very large SPR holding, given lofty medium term forecasts for the Permian basin,” Virendra Chauhan, an oil analyst at Energy Aspects, told Reuters.
Now, Trump’s budget plan goes to Congress where it’s likely to see changes before it’s sent back to the White House for a signature.
Article reposted with permission from The Daily Caller
Previous Report: ISIS ‘Predicted’ Manchester Attack Via Twitter Four Hours Before It Happened: “This Is Just The Beginning”
Next New Wifi Tech Can See Through Walls And Map The Inside Of A Building In “20 To 30 Seconds”
Michael Bastasch
Mike Bastasch covers energy and the environment at the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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African mothers 50 times more likely to die after c-section than moms in rich countries, study says
Posted 7:59 AM, March 15, 2019, by CNN Wire
Olga Singo, a 26-year-old from the Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo, gave birth to her first child by cesarean section last year.
“It was unplanned. It came as an emergency. I was told that my baby was big and that she was not in a position to follow through the delivery process,” she said. “I was so scared I thought I was going to die during the process because I did not have enough information on c-section.”
She gave birth to daughter Charlene with few complications, but her fear of the procedure was well-founded, according to a new study.
African mothers who give birth by cesarean section are 50 times more likely to die after the procedure than women living in high-income countries, the research says.
The study, published Thursday in the journal Lancet Global Health, found that the maternal mortality rate in African countries was “substantially higher than expected”: 5.43 deaths per 1,000 operations, compared with 0.1 deaths per 1,000 operations in the UK, the authors said.
Similarly, 1 in 6 African women experienced complications during cesarean surgery, three times the rate of women in the United States.
Bruce Biccard, an anesthesiologist and professor at the University of Cape Town who led the research, said that three-quarters of the women in the study had an emergency c-section. “Women can’t access care easily, and when they do, they end up in a health care facility that’s often inadequate,” he said.
The research studied 3,684 women who had elective and non-elective cesarean deliveries, using data from 183 hospitals across 22 countries in Africa. It formed part of the African Surgical Outcomes Study, which measured the outcomes of all patients who received surgery during a seven-day period between February and May 2016.
Cesarean section is a surgical procedure in which a child is removed through a surgical opening in the mother’s lower abdomen rather than birthed through the vaginal canal. Procedures can be planned, but many occur when unexpected childbirth problems arise, putting the mother’s and/or the infant’s life at risk.
Mothers in sub-Saharan Africa are far less likely to give birth via c-section than elsewhere in the world, where c-sections have been on the rise.
Biccard said it was important to increase access to the procedure in parallel with improving the safety of c-sections in Africa
“Paradoxically, while many countries are aiming to reduce the caesarean delivery rate, increasing the rate of caesarean delivery remains a priority in Africa. In sub-Saharan Africa, the caesarean delivery rate is static at 3.5%, despite an increasing pattern in rates globally. ”
The results of the study underscored the need for more specialist surgical, obstetrical and anesthetics care, Biccard said.
The study found that there was an average of 0.7 specialists per 100,000 people in the countries in the study. Biccard said that figure should be at least 22 per 100,000 people to obtain a safe minimum standard.
The study had some limitations, the authors noted, with a disproportionate number of participating hospitals university-affiliated rather than district hospitals, which act as first-level providers of care for most African women and typically have fewer resources. Also, two-thirds of patients were from middle-income countries, where better levels of care are available than in Africa’s poorest countries.
“The true morbidity and mortality after caesarean section on the continent is therefore likely to be higher than reported,” said Anna Dare of the Centre for Global Health Research, St. Michael’s Hospital and the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto.
“Making childbirth safer for African mothers will require dedicated efforts to make caesarean section much safer as well. This improvement in safety must occur while simultaneously striving to avoid the overuse of caesarean section, which many other countries are now grappling with,” she said in a commentary published alongside the study in Lancet Global Health.
Topics: Africa, C-SECTION, death, study
America just had its lowest number of births in 32 years, report finds
Woman on honeymoon becomes 10th U.S. tourist to die after Dominican Republic vacation
Great-grandmother says boy who died suspiciously begged not to be reunited with birth parents
First baby in U.S. delivered from transplanted uterus of dead donor
World’s smallest surviving baby goes home after 5 months in hospital
‘They took away my little girl’: Woman dies in Dominican Republic after cosmetic surgery
Sisters conjoined at the head are separated after 50 hours of surgery
Many sudden cardiac deaths linked to prior silent heart attacks, study says
Cleveland Clinic performs its first in utero surgery on fetus, repairs spina bifida before baby’s birth
Children in states with strict gun laws are less likely to die, according to a new study
Early humans breastfed their young for a year, study says
What we aren’t eating is killing us, global study finds
Suicide rates in girls are rising, study finds, especially in those age 10 to 14
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Difference between revisions of "Anime News Network"
== Role in Gamergate ==
In June 6, 2018, Anime News Network made a list on some of the unique yet interesting light novels, that are not yet translated.<ref>The Best Light Novels Not Yet in English (ANN/archive) - [http://archive.li/n6MGm]</ref> Kim Morrissy classified some of them through a feminist and Western lens, like "The Witch of Tata" (which was the 24th Grand Prize winner) were she also surmise that the fantasy "isekai was also a social commentary documentary. "And Despite some tacky moments, it's ultimately more thoughtful than you'd expect about the social pressures that face young adults in Japan." Also, label
In June 6, 2018, Anime News Network made a list on some of the unique yet interesting light novels, that are not yet translated.<ref>The Best Light Novels Not Yet in English (ANN/archive) - [http://archive.li/n6MGm]</ref> Kim Morrissy classified some of them through a feminist and Western lens, like "The Witch of Tata" (which was the 24th Grand Prize winner) were she also surmise that the fantasy "isekai was also a social commentary documentary. "And Despite some tacky moments, it's ultimately more thoughtful than you'd expect about the social pressures that face young adults in Japan." Also, stating that a Dengeki Bunko title, "86", was about "a white supremacist nation" that removed the rights and citizenship of minorities and sends them to fight drone. "The plot follows a group of child soldiers, which is commanded from afar by a well-intentioned yet painfully priviled handler."
== Trivia ==
In June 6, 2018, Anime News Network made a list on some of the unique yet interesting light novels, that are not yet translated.[1] Kim Morrissy classified some of them through a feminist and Western lens, like "The Witch of Tata" (which was the 24th Grand Prize winner) were she also surmise that the fantasy "isekai was also a social commentary documentary. "And Despite some tacky moments, it's ultimately more thoughtful than you'd expect about the social pressures that face young adults in Japan." Also, stating that a Dengeki Bunko title, "86", was about "a white supremacist nation" that removed the rights and citizenship of minorities and sends them to fight drone. "The plot follows a group of child soldiers, which is commanded from afar by a well-intentioned yet painfully priviled handler."
Anime News Network has Nina,[2] who was created by Robin Sevakis. The latter made the previous mascot, Jadress, who was with ANN when it first launched in 1998.[3]
↑ The Best Light Novels Not Yet in English (ANN/archive) - [1]
↑ Anime News Nina! (ANN/archive) -[2]
↑ Jadress (ANN/archive) -[3]
Retrieved from "https://ggwiki.deepfreeze.it/index.php?title=Anime_News_Network&oldid=5869"
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Men, masculinity and the persistent nature of gender inequality
Alison Dahl Crossley
Understanding the persistent nature of gender inequality requires an examination of men and women, masculinity and femininity. Too often, when we talk of gender, we talk of women; when we think of race, we think of people of color. The dominant groups—those who hold most power in society, such as men and white people—often go unexamined and unanalyzed.
When it comes to sexual assault, we focus on women to understand its ramifications and solutions. While it is undoubtedly important to focus on women's experiences, because men are most frequently the perpetrators and women the victims of sexual assault, we need to turn our focus to men. This is why we begin our “Breaking the Culture of Sexual Assault” series with a focus on masculinity. To advance discussions about sexual violence, we ask: What role do men play in both perpetuating and halting sexual violence? What are the norms or expectations we have of men that encourage certain behaviors and penalize others? How can men work together, and in tandem with women, to create a more peaceful and just world?
Scholarly research has found that the expectations we have of men are as narrow as they are clear. Men are expected to be leaders, tough, physically strong, dominant, unemotional and assertive, to name a few. This is a limited set of expectations that allow for little deviation. Boys learn from an early age that non-masculine or “feminine” qualities are undesirable in them. These expectations are taught not only from their parents, but also through socialization in schools and media. To be sure, women are also held to restrictive standards of femininity, but men are penalized more than women for violating gender expectations.
According to “Breaking the Culture” symposium speaker Dr. Jackson Katz, these dominant characteristics of masculinity go hand and hand with violence, sexual aggression and sexual assault. When men are taught that dominance and aggression are valued, an extreme manifestation of that is what he calls “gender based violence,” or men committing violence against women. It also means that when men commit such violence, it is largely unremarkable, given its alignment with dominant values and expectations of men. While masculinity standards vary by race and class, they are all versions of these dominant expectations.
Our second symposium speaker, USC professor Dr. Michael Messner, examines how men organize to stop violence against women. He found that over the last forty years, men who are feminists have organized both with women feminists and in all-male feminist groups, to confront and change these standards of masculinity. Messner has interviewed men across the country in a diverse range of communities educating other men. These men are teaching each other to feel more comfortable deviating from standards of masculinity and demonstrating how to stop gender-based violence in their relationships, through activism and through galvanizing other men in their communities.
The equally important yet different approaches to understanding masculinity by Katz and Messner reflect our emphasis on not only understanding the problems perpetuated by masculinity, but also on how many men are leading the way in creating change. We can only break the culture of sexual assault if both women and men are change agents.
Academia Activism Feminism Sexual Assault
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Boating & Safety
Lands & Forests
Honourary Life Members
GBA 100th Anniversary
Membership Mandate & Focus
Our Members & Map
GBA Membership Benefits
OPP, ORNGE & COAST GUARD
Georgian Bay for Everyone
A Guide to Private Buoys in Canada
Committee Mandate:
Cage Aquaculture Issue
Canada Fisheries Act
Blasting & Dredging
Phragmites
Water Committee Mandate & Priorities
Govt. Affairs Issues & Priorities
Assessment and Taxes
First Nations Liaison Committee
Wiikwemkoong Islands Boundary Claim
Hydro One
Ontario Man Convicted of Impaired Operation of a Canoe
Study of Great Lakes Microorganisms Finds 160 New Species
July 14 Water Levels Report
Update Newsletter
eUPDATE Email
UPDATE Schedule & Advertising
GB5 Guide
Georgian Bay Association (GBA)
Georgian Bay Land Trust (GBLT)
Georgian Bay Forever (GBF)
Eastern Georgian Bay Stewardship Council
Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve (GBBR)
Guardians of the Bay
French River Pictograph Project
Water Advocate from Wikwemikong
Explore About GBA
Explore Boating & Safety
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Explore Lands & Forests
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Explore Government Affairs
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Explore News
Explore Our Newsletters
Explore Get Involved
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Explore Guardians of the Bay
Honourary Life Members in the GBA are individuals who the Board of the GBA recognize as having made a meaningful contribution that has significantly advanced the work of the GBA. This contribution could be in the form of one significant deed or a series of actions that have collectively made a big difference. Recipients must have been a volunteer (“whether Board or otherwise”) for GBA and need not have been a former President.
Life Members can be nominated by the GBA Board of Directors or the Membership at large. All nominations will be considered by the Board. The GBA Board will have the final say on who will be awarded an Honourary Life Membership. New Life Members will be recognized at the ensuing Annual General Meeting of the organization.
Current Honourary Life Members
John Birnbaum
John was a long-standing volunteer Director of the GBA before he was hired as GBA’s first paid Executive Director. John took on this role in 1992, at which time he was presented with the first Honourary Life Membership in the GBA in recognition of over 12 years of volunteer service. John was instrumental in evolving GBA from an alliance of local cottage associations to an organization that has successfully taken on large pan-Georgian Bay issues, winning the respect and trust of politicians and civil servants at all levels of government. John was also very involved with the establishment of two other Georgian Bay organizations, the GBA Foundation (now Georgian Bay Forever) and the Georgian Bay Land Trust. And under John’s watch the GBA was also involved in the establishment of the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve and the Eastern Georgian Bay Stewardship Council.
Wally King
Wally is a Sans Souci cottager and a force to be reckoned with. Wally became politically involved at the time the province was considering the future of municipal governance in central and northern Ontario. He spearheaded the effort that resulted in the founding of the Township of the Archipelago. He has been a President of GBA (retiring in 1990) and headed up the committee that organized the celebration of GBA’s 75th anniversary. Wally was instrumental in the founding of the Georgian Bay Trust Foundation (now the GBLT) in April of 1991. And he continues to be a strong supporter of all things Georgian Bay.
Christopher Baines
A member of the Cognashene Cottagers Association, Chris Baines was an active member of the GBA Board of Directors since 1986, serving as President for three years and past President for two. During his Presidency, the Board completed many initiatives, including the launching of its newsletter, GBA UPDATE, a revised constitution, formalized long term planning, the Eastern Georgian Bay Conference, and a wonderful 75th anniversary celebration/art show.
John Hackett
…of Blackstone Lake, was a GBA Director for eight years, serving his last two as vice president. John’s achievements are many: helping organize the first Delawana Conference, chairing Land Use and Planning Committee, and representing GBA on the Massassauga Park planning committee. John’s work was instrumental in the Zoning By-law for the Township of Georgian Bay and the GBA response to the Township of the Archipelago’s Official Plan.
Frank Spangenberg
For ten years Frank has served this Board, for several of them as vice president. Frank was the “father” of the Grey Water cleanup thrust at GBA and of Georgian Bay Township, where he was the Chair of their Clean Water committee. As the principle representative of the Honey Harbour community, Frank has shared their initiatives around septic tank owner educational programs and self-help efforts. His excellent communication skills and his strong persuasive techniques are probably what encouraged more Honey Harbour residents to participate in the 1994 water and sediment testing program. For almost his entire time with GBA, Frank chaired the Environment committee.
Roy Schatz
Roy was named GBA’s sixth Honorary Life Member for over 10 years of outstanding service, including serving as GBA’s Secretary, chair of GBA’s The Township of the Archipelago liaison committee and 2 years as GBA President. Roy went on to found the GBA Foundation (now GBF) and was its first President.
Kathy Sutton
GBA vice president Kathy Sutton, a long-time communications chair, stepped down from the board of directors in 2001 after volunteering for nine years. In recognition of her extraordinary efforts, particularly for transforming GBA UPDATE into its present format, Cathy was named GBA’s seventh Honorary Life Member.
Hugh McLelland
Hugh McLelland, a past president of GBA, stepped down from the board in 2002 after serving as a director for 12 years. Hugh has a deep devotion to the Georgian Bay community and its precious environment. Hugh’s speech at the annual meeting in which he accepted his Honorary Life membership made a strong impression on those in the audience and helped persuade many to get involved in the organization and take up the cause. Hugh went on to be a Board member at GBA Foundation/GBF.
Pat Northey
Pat Northey was President of GBA twice, the fist time in 1993-94 and the second in 1999-2001. When he wasn’t dealing with the myriad of challenges facing the GBA, Pat volunteered his time on a GBA Foundation project pulling together an application to secure Biosphere Reserve status with UNESCO for our East Georgian Bay Littoral zone. Pat became the first (and long standing) President of the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve.
John Pepperell
After serving as president of SSCA, John joined the GBA Board in 2001 and took on a new role as VP Corporate Development which aimed to develop corporate support and secure long-term funding for the GBA. He also saw a need for the GBA to become better at communicating our achievements. By the time John stepped down as President of GBA in 2005 GBA had evolved its newsletter, GBA UPDATE, into a first-class publication with growing corporate advertising support. John later became a councillor for the Township of the Archipelago.
Peter Kelk
Peter has a foot in both 12 Mile Bay and Manitou but came to the Board of the GBA in 1989 as a Director from the former. He served as the Treasurer for GBA and then as a Vice President retiring from the Board in 1997. Peter focussed much of his efforts on First Nation affairs and clean water initiatives. He also played an active role in many area groups including GBA, 12 Mile Bay Association (as President), GBA Foundation and the Georgian Bay Trust Foundation. And last but not least he graciously allowed GBA to hold its Board meetings and other special meetings in his board room at Kelk Industries.
Dr. D. J. Gibb Wishart (Madawaska Club at Go Home Bay)
Dr. Wishart was the founding President of the GBA and continued as President for 18 years until his death in 1934. His passion and hands on involvement in the early years of the Association were so impactful that the Board seriously questioned whether or not the Association could carry on after his sudden death in 1934.
T Urquart Fairlie (Point au Baril)
Mr. Fairlie joined the GBA Board in 1936, was appointed as Chair of the Fisheries Committee in 1938 and served as its President from 1944 until 1954. Under his Presidency the GBA took the initiative to complete a commemoration of Champlain’s 1615 voyage along the eastern shore of Georgian Bay. By 1954 monuments and brass plaques had been installed at the mouth of the French River, Pointe au Baril, Sans Souci, Cognashene and Honey Harbour.
Birnie Hodgetts (Camp Hurontario)
Birnie Hodgetts served as a long term Director of the GBA, was President from 1961 to1966 and remained a Director until 1976. During his tenure the GBA evolved from a relatively sleepy organization that met once per year on average to one that formed working committees, especially the Land Use Planning Committee. His term as President culminated in a successful 50th anniversary celebration for the organization at which he said: “We holiday in one of the most beautiful and unique areas in the world. Let’s get together and do more to preserve it before it is too late!”
A.Y. Jackson was a member of the Group of Seven and frequent visitor to many of the communities that make up the GBA. His art embodies what we all love most about the Bay – its rugged and beautiful landscape. Mr. Jackson was the guest of honour at the GBA’s 50th anniversary in 1965 at which he was elected an Honourary Life Member of the Georgian Bay Association (prior to the current iteration of HLM classifications).
M.C. (Morley) Patterson (Sans Souci and Copperhead)
Morley Patterson joined the GBA Board in 1963 and served as President from 1966 – 1973. This period of time was challenging for the GBA as member interest waned, reflected by the fact that no one was prepared to step up to replace Mr. Patterson when he wished to step down in 1971. Mr. Patterson stayed on to “keep a watch over events concerning the Bay that might affect members” until the Association regrouped in 1974. At the 1974 AGM, Dr. Leuty past Vice-President, spoke of “the many years of tireless and often thankless effort Morley Patterson had put in for the Georgian Bay Association.”
A.J. (Tony) Ormsby (Bayfield-Nares)
Tony Ormsby stepped up to join the GBA Board and become its President in 1974. Under his leadership the GBA was organized into committees and a succession plan was put in place so that the organization would not fall into a suspended state again. Specifically, Tony worked with Ross Gray, Doug Martin and Wally King to initiate a study to support the establishment of the Township of the Archipelago. In the short two years that Tony was President this study was completed, considerable lobbying was executed, and the Township of the Archipelago was well along the way to being formed.
E.D.K (Douglas) Martin (Bayfield-Nares)
Douglas Martin joined the GBA Board in 1963. He took on the role of Land Use Planning Committee Chair in 1966 and Secretary Treasurer in 1974. Early on, wearing his land use planning hat, he was very engaged with the Province as the Province deliberated on the future use of Crown Lands and then regional governance. He was instrumental in working with Norman Pearson on the latter’s seminal report calling for the creation of an island township on Georgian Bay.
Norman Pearson
Professor Norm Pearson advised the Province on the establishment of the North Georgian Bay Recreation Reserve in the early 1960s. On the strength of that work and his intimate knowledge of coastal Georgian Bay, the Sans Souci and Copperhead Association hired Professor Pearson to advise them on local government within the District of Parry Sound. This engagement resulted in the reports titled: “The Georgian Bay Archipelago, Environmental Control, Planning and Local Government”. This report was adopted by GBA in 1975 as “being a proper setting for the course of action which GBA believes should be taken…” and became a major building block toward the founding of the Township of the Archipelago. Professor Pearson continued to advise GBA on planning matters for many years.
Tom Martin (Bayfield-Nares)
Tom joined the GBA Board in 1990 and was an active Board member for 13 years. While he Chaired a long-range planning committee for part of this time, his main contribution was as a member and long time Chair of GBA’s Boating Committee. During his tenure that Committee worked with government and other stakeholders to establish Canada wide boating regulations, an outer boat channel on the Bay and the first Cottagers-Boaters Code of Conduct.
Mary Muter (Wah-Wah-Taysee)
Mary joined the GBA Board in 1996. She became involved in water quality
issues and working with Dr. Karl Schiefer coordinated the Township of Georgian Bay’s Water Quality Monitoring Project, which delivered a comprehensive report in 1999. In 2000 Mary coordinated the first of many “Get Ready for the Bay Days” which invited members to a symposium on environmental issues facing the Bay to learn what GBA was doing about them.
In 2001 Mary was appointed as Vice President and Chair of GBA’s Air and Water Environment Committee, a position she held until 2009. For the first time Mary was able to get both the Ontario and Federal Government Ministries of Environment to begin to monitor Georgian Bay’s water and air quality.
Mary first identified the water levels concerns especially for Georgian Bay wetlands and working with GBA Foundation coordinated the relevant research by McMaster U’s Prof. Pat Chow-Fraser and Dr. Rob Nairn on water levels. That led to GBF’s now famous Baird Report.
Her work then led to the IJC’s International Upper Great Lakes Study and Mary was a member of the Public Interest Advisory Group for 3 years.
Mary is now Chair of the Georgian Bay Great Lakes Foundation.
Bill Davis (Cognashene)
Bill is a long-time supporter and friend of GBA. While never holding a position with GBA, he has always made himself available to provide his counsel, even during the busy times when he was an MPP and then Premier.
Karl Schiefer (formerly of Cognashene)
Karl’s involvement with GBA started in the late 1990’s when he volunteered as an expert advisor on fisheries and water quality issues. In 1999 he helped design the first water test protocol for bacteria for GBA that was subsequently used by both the Township of the Archipelago and the Township of Georgian Bay. Early on he advised GBA’s Fisheries Committee, as they engaged the government on revising recreational fish policies, and recently joined the GBA Aquaculture Committee, as we have tried to get that industry to lessen their environmental impact on the Bay. When water levels bottomed out Karl spoke out on the impact of low water levels on aquatic ecosystems. Karl has been a guest speaker at numerous GBA workshops, including our AGM in 2000 and our 100th Anniversary Symposium. He continues to offer his expertise to GBA when requested.
On June 27, Judge Peter West found David Sillars guilty of impaired operation of a vessel (a canoe) causing death and criminal negligence causing death. The charges were laid as a result of the death of eight-year-old Thomas Rancourt on Muskoka River in April 2017. This case was the first time in Canadian history where a case moved forward to trial where an individual faced charges under the Criminal Code of Canada for impaired operation of a canoe causing death. Judge West made history earlier in the trial when he ruled that canoes are vessels. Sentencing is set for August 15 in an Oshawa court.
A team of scientists from the University of Chicago is undertaking a long term study aiming to better understand what microbes are present in the Great Lakes and what role they play in the environment. Read more about their work here.
Water levels remain high across all the Great Lakes, meeting or exceeding the record high July level. Over the last month, Lake Superior and Lake Ontario have decreased by 1 & 4 inches respectively, Lakes Michigan-Huron and St. Clair have increased by 3 and 4 inches, respectively and Lake Erie is unchanged. Over the next month, Lakes Superior and Michigan-Huron are projected to remain fairly steady, while Lakes St. Clair, Erie and Ontario are expected to decline 3, 5, and 10 inches, respectively. Outflows from Lake Superior through the St. Mary’s River, and Lake Michigan-Huron’s outflow into the St. Clair River, are projected to be above average in July. Lake St. Clair’s outflow through the Detroit River is also forecasted to be above average.
MNRF Fire Education Sessions Now Available
Parry Sound 033 last summer has reminded us that living in a wilderness environment does come with the risk of facing a wildfire. The seemingly drier summer conditions we have been experiencing and an ever increasing population of cottagers, visitors, and development activities can only increase the risk of fire. Many of our members want to know what they can do to lower the risks of fire at their properties and in their communities. That’s where the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) and their FireSmart program comes in. FireSmart is about living with and managing for wildfire. Preparing for the threat of wildfire is a shared responsibility. From homeowners, to industry, to government, we all have the responsibility to lessen the effects of wildfires. FireSmart edu
OPP Kick off "I Got Caught Wearing My Lifejacket" Program
The very popular and successful "I Got Caught Wearing My Lifejacket" marine reward program for children was kicked off at 11:00 am June 26, 2019, at the Penetanguishene Town Dock. OPP marine officers were joined by Command staff members from OPP Central Region Headquarters, federal, provincial and municipal dignitaries, our partners in water safety BoatSMART, all area municipal fire chiefs, Boating Ontario and most importantly, the grade 6 class from Burkevale Protestant Separate School. Area event sponsor Broker Link Insurance was also on hand to see the launch of the program, which is solely funded by private and business donations. The program rewards children who are wearing their lifejacket when the vessel they are in is checked on the water by OPP marine officers. Started in
July 7 Water Levels Report
Over the last week, much of the Great Lakes Basin has experienced warmer than average temperatures with the western and southern portions of the basin being the warmest with respect to their normal values. Most of the basin had near normal rainfall with the exception of the Lake Michigan-Huron watershed which saw a significant storm system track west to east along a line from Milwaukee to Toronto. Temperatures for the rest of this week and into the following week are expected to be near locally normal values for most of the watershed. Continued wet weather on the west side of the Great Lakes watershed, notably the Wisconsin and the western half of the Lake Superior, is expected in the next 7 days. Water levels remain high across the Great Lakes. Over the last month Lakes Superior, Michi
Canada’s New Modernized Fisheries Act is Now Law
GBA has commented on this Act and confirmed our support for the many improvements. However, our submission before the Senate sub-committee also pointed out the extent to which open net pen aquaculture operations in Georgian Bay and the North Channel appear to contravene some of the new provisions that are now in effect. We will be following up with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in this respect. There are many features of this bill that are beneficial to the aquatic biota of Georgian Bay, including the sections on Fish and fish habitat and Biodiversity We also welcome the recognition of the role of Indigenous peoples in this Act, and believe there may now be opportunities for GBA and other stakeholders to work together with our First Nations friends and neighbours to help develo
Ontario Government Shuffles Cabinet and Adds New Ministerial Positions
Strangely at odds with the Ford government’s intention to reduce the cost of government, the addition of new ministerial positions are likely to increase those costs. The several new positions created will increase MPP salary costs, and new support staff will almost certainly be needed. GBA will engage with relevant new appointees as required over the coming months. This is what the new cabinet looks like.
June 30 Water Levels Report
Water levels remain high across the Great Lakes as June draws to a close. The lake levels are expected to exceed average water levels from this time last year by 10 to 15 inches with the exception of Lake Ontario which is forecasted at 28 inches. The level of all lakes is above the June record high. The levels of Lake Superior and Lake Michigan-Huron are projected to increase by 1 inch over the next month. Lake St. Clair is projecting no net change in lake level by July 28th. Lake Erie and Lake Ontario are projected to see a net decrease of 4 and 7 inches respectively by this time next month. Outflows from Lake Superior through the St. Mary’s River, and Lake Michigan-Huron’s outflow into the St. Clair River, are projected to be above average in June. Lake St. Clair’s outflow throu
Georgian Bay Forever Introduces Families For Change
Georgian Bay Forever (GBF) has launched a summer long Families For Change (F4C) initiative. Joining as team, your family can complete a variety of tasks in four different categories including: clean up your shorelines, improve daily choices, choose fashion that matters, and preserve wetlands. There is even a contest your family can enter to win a Patagonia prize pack. Find out how to get started here.
Georgian Bay Forever Parry Sound Microfibre Project Needs More Volunteers
Georgian Bay Forever is studying the impacts of microplastics that enter the water from washing machines and synthetic clothing. This pilot project is the first of its kind in Canada and involves resident volunteers in the town of Parry Sound. GBA strongly encourages more volunteers to come forward for this important study. There is no cost and you will be helping to find a solution to microfibre pollution from clothes washers. Read more…
Persistent wet conditions and high outflows have continued to contribute to exceptionally high lake levels. The water levels for all of the lakes are above their highest monthly average record for June, above last month by 2 to 6 inches, and above last year’s levels by 10 to 15 inches, except for Lake Ontario, which is expected to be 28 inches above its level from last year. Lakes Superior, St. Clair, Erie, and Ontario’s levels are 3 to 5 inches above their record high June average level, while Lake Michigan-Huron is 1 inch above its record high June average level. In the coming month, Lakes Superior and Michigan-Huron are expected to continue their seasonal rise and rise by 2 inches and 1 inch, respectively. Lakes St. Clair, Erie, and Ontario are forecasted to decline by 1, 3, and 7 i
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PLAYING ABOVE THE LINE
Playing Above the Line is an entertaining and thought-provoking podcast that takes a peek into the daily lives of community and business leaders. The hosts of Playing Above the Line are hb&k shareholders, Allen Cave and Dennis Sherrin. As CPAs, they’ve had the unique opportunity to meet many different leaders through their years of partnering with entrepreneurs.
By sharing these stories, we’re uncovering different views of the path to growth, leadership, and achieving success.
Bobby Purvis is the Operations Manager for Daphne Utilities, which means he is responsible for facilities that supply drinking water, treat wastewater and a natural gas distribution to the cities of Daphne, Spanish Fort, Malbis and Montrose. His experiences in leadership lead him to starting not one, but TWO leadership programs within Daphne Utilities which you’ll hear all about through the episode.
Owen Milligan is the owner of Milligan’s Hurri-Clean, which is an emergency service provider for clean up after disasters. On the episode today, you’ll learn more about adapting to working in the unknown, dealing with extremely stressful situations, and the importance of having a network of contacts.
Our guest this week is C.J. Ezell! A business owner for over 21years, his entrepreneurial spirit continues to push him to start new ventures and inspire others to do the same. A frequent speaker at technology events throughout North America, he has a proven track record of industry success. In 2005, he was named one of the top 40 business leaders under 40 by the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce.
Melissa McNichol is the Executive Director of Camp Rap-A-Hope. In this role, Melissa has the opportunity to work with the many volunteers, donors, camp staff members who have made Camp-Rap-A-Hope a 32-year success. Camp Rap-A-Hope is a non-profit organization that offers free fun through year-round programs for families with children who have been diagnosed with cancer. In this episode, you’ll learn about the incredible work Camp Rap-A-Hope does for our community & how Melissa is excited for the future programs they are preparing to offer.
Marissa Thetford is a Mobile Bay native who grew up in Fairhope, Alabama. She runs her own marketing firm called Marissa Thetford Marketing. For more than 10 years, she has worked with both big brands and small companies to create award-winning campaigns. Listen to hear Marissa’s path to solo-preneurship, guarding your yes’s, and how knowing when to ask for help is a sign of good leadership.
Contina Woods serves as Vice President and Treasury Management Officer at Regions Bank. She is responsible for delivering the bank’s full treasury management services to commercial clients throughout the South Alabama and Pensacola markets. In this episode, you’ll get to hear how a journalism major ended up in banking and explore the idea that if you’re not growing, you’re going to become irrelevant.
Frank Shepard is the Business Development Officer for Community Bank in Fairhope, Alabama. Originally hailing from Montgomery, Frank moved to the Eastern Shore over 10 years ago and is enjoying the high quality of life, incredible public schools, and proximity to the water. On this episode, you’ll hear him talk about the importance of networking and how leadership is about doing what’s right, even when no one is looking.
Brad Pitt is the Chief Administrative Officer at Riviera Utilities. In his role, he has spent a lot of time developing the leadership program to allow employees the opportunity to grow. Raised in a blue-collar, working-class family, Brad began his career right out of high school as a construction laborer working at a local investor-owned utility and attended college later in life. Over the course of a 39-year career, he believes that starting at the bottom and working hard to get to the top has been a huge contributing factor in his success. Stay up-to-date with Riviera Utilities on Facebook and Instagram!!
Jeff Phillips is an entrepreneur and business leader. He is currently a Co-Founder and CEO of Accountingfly, an online recruitment platform that matches accountants and bookkeepers with full time, remote and freelance jobs. He is also a partner and advisor to Elefant, a practice management and technology training company for modern accounting firms. He was named among the Top 100 Most Influential People by Accounting Today for 3 consecutive years. Check out his Going Concern blog for accounting industry news!
Dr. Aaron Milner is currently serving as the Superintendent of Saraland City Schools. He has worked in the education system in Alabama through his entire career as a coach, teacher, assistant principal, principal, and Superintendent. He has also served on various educational boards focused on leadership and has provided professional development to school systems in the areas of crisis management and classroom management. To keep up with Saraland City Schools, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
Jeannine Birmingham is the President and CEO of the Alabama Society of Certified Public Accountants (ASCPA). Jeannine wears many hats in this position and leads the team that serves over 6,500 members. The mission of the ASCPA is to enhance Alabama’s accounting profession through advocacy, education and member engagement. Right now, in 2019, they are celebrating their 100th year!
Follow ASPCA on Facebook & Instagram
Spinks Megginson is the executive director of RedZone Group, LLC and serves as its meteorologist for Alabama and northwest Florida. He lives and works in his hometown of Brewton, Alabama. Before starting RedZone Weather in March 2015, Spinks was a youth pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Brewton, Alabama.
RedZone Weather provides real-time weather updates for 12 counties in southern Alabama and norwest Florida. Follow @rzweather on Instagram and Twitter for specialized daily updates!
Tim Wills is the Chief Executive Officer of the Boys & Girls Club of South Alabama. In college, Tim worked for the WSIU Television & Radio Stations as on-air talent doing human interest stories. It was during this time that he was introduced to Boys & Girls Clubs sharing stories on Boys & Girls Club members who were in foster care. Impressed with the organization, Tim became a Club Volunteer and later a Board Member. Upon graduating, he started working for Boys & Girls Clubs. He was named the 4th CEO of Boys & Girls Club of South Alabama in 2016.
Dr. Don Moseley is the Executive Director of the Melton Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (MCEI) at the University of South Alabama. MCEI’s vision is to educate, engage, develop, and impact our entrepreneurial community. The Center actively seeks to build strategic collaboration opportunities to promote the growth and development of the Central Gulf Coast region. He also has extensive experience as a consultant/facilitator for organizations in the public and private sectors and is the co-author of the successful Supervisory Management: Inspiring, Developing, and Leading People (10th ed.) and Management for the Twenty-First Century (1st ed.).
Gia Wiggins is a career Human Resources Professional. After having worked with companies like AT&T, Sears, and Target Corp, she founded her company in 2015 called Morale Resource LLC. Morale Resource LLC helps businesses take care of their most important asset – its people. Offering employee engagement packages and traditional HR services, Moral Resource can help you take care of a range of employee satisfaction and compliance services. Additionally, Gia will receive a Doctorate of Business Administration at the University of South Alabama with a concentration in Management in May, where she currently serves as an Adjunct Instructor.
Mark Kellerman has been in the corrugated box business since 1993 with my current employer Gulf Packaging since 2006. His territory is from east of Tallahassee to the Louisiana state line. Mark has been Involved with Kiwanis since 2001. Previously, he’s served as a Club Secretary, President, Division Lt Governor and Mark is now currently Alabama District Vice Governor. Additionally, he shares time time by serving on the Board for United Cerebral Palsy of Mobile.
To learn more about Mark, please visit his website, Facebook or Twitter!
Casey Gay Williams has been serving as the President of the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce since 2016. After spending 35 years in the banking industry, she brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, enthusiasm, and passion to her role at the Chamber. Casey has dedicated countless hours to service – including some of her current roles serving as Chairman of the National Auburn MBA Advisory Board and President of the Baldwin Humane Society.
To learn more about everything the Chamber does for our community follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@easternshorecc)!
Tune in to listen to the one and only, William Stitt, better known as Bill-E the bacon man! He is the owner of Bill-e’s (recently changed from Old 27 Grill), which a casual dining restaurant and grocery store that makes its own house-cured bacon. If you’re ever on the Eastern Shore of Baldwin County in Fairhope, Alabama, be sure to check it out! In this episode, you’ll learn the story of how Bill-e’s Bacon started as a class project and developed into the best bacon there is around.
For bacon, swag, and pictures that will make you drool, check out Bille’s Facebook page and follow him on Twitter.
Michelle Hodges is the President of SH Enterprises – which holds Meyer Vacation Rentals, Meyer Services, Starr Textile Services and Century 21 Meyer Real Estate. Along with a fantastic story of how George Meyer created the tourism industry in Gulf Shores, you’ll hear Michelle’s explain about how she landed back in her hometown doing the exact job she never planned to do – working in the family business. She shares how she built trust in her co-workers and expertise in the business by starting at the front desk and working up to her current position and explains her current success is due to the talents of her team.
Check out Discover Alabama Beaches for tips on how to save and ways to make your vacation to the Gulf Coast memorable!
Follow @MeyerVacations on Twitter to stay up to date on all their news!
Sandra Wiley is the President of Boomer Consulting, Inc. In this episode, Sandra shares her views on leadership saying it’s not something you can just “get” from a class. In her view, you need to internalize leadership lessons and act what you’ve learned. She explains that leadership is not a stagnant personality trait – it’s something you must develop, and when you make a mistake, you learn and change.
To learn more about Boomer Consulting, Inc. follow them on Twitter @thinkplangrow
Angela Weil is an entrepreneur, CFO and business owner. She is passionate about teaching business development, management, finance, and entrepreneurship. Currently, Angela owns and operates Stone Interiors, a regional countertop manufacturing company with her husband, Dustin. They’ve also developed and own a franchised hospitality enterprise and other real estate development & investments. On this episode of Playing Above the Line, Angela shares more about her successful business model and how as a leader, the way to get yourself out of the weeds is to empower your team.
Visit Stone Interior’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to see their beautiful work & learn more!
In this episode, we’re talking to Rick Miller! Rick has over 30 years experience working in both public and private companies in financial operational and administrative roles. Rick is the founder of Pro365 Consulting, LLC, which provides Executive Coaching and helps organizations improve productivity and increase profitability. Most recently, Rick helped open Hatch in Fairhope, Alabama, which is a resource hub for technology-based entrepreneurs in Baldwin County. Today, Rick talks to us about how through his path, how his methodology and leadership style has done a 180 and now he focuses on PEOPLE – building relationships and focusing on their strengths.
Joining us today is Danny Corte! He is the Executive Director for Mobile Sports Authority, which is responsible for attracting, assisting, and/or managing visiting sporting events which utilize the sports facilities in Mobile County, Alabama. Today you’ll hear how he believes relying on “Blocking & Tackling” basics are really what a leader needs to be successful. Some of those basics Danny relies on are – listening, focusing on small details to create the best overall results, and being accountable to yourself.
Dr. Kenneth Varner is the superintendent of Brewton City Schools. He has a long history of service, beginning with his service to our county in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. He holds numerous leadership roles in civic clubs, community organizations, college advisory boards, statewide education committees, and as a church Deacon. Our interview with Dr. Varner is an engaging look into the lessons he’s learned about leadership through his career. Today you’ll hear his views on getting people on board with your plan, how to balance relationships versus tasks, and how success is achievable as long as you have the two qualities of likability & credibility.
Donna Watts is the President of the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce. She has a long history in being involved in community boards. Donna’s views on leadership focus on the importance of being selfless and listening so you are able to have a true dialogue. She believes one of the most important pieces of reaching success with a team or project is getting the right training. In this episode of Playing Above the Line, you will learn how Donna practices what she preaches in her leadership of the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce and its current initiatives. Check out their Facebook page here.
Vanessa Reyner is the co-founder of Full & Well, a weekly Christian newsletter subscription. In this episode, she describes how an influential shift in her career path happened when she changed her mindset from “a job is something I DO” to “my job is something I do for OTHERS”. She believes being purposeful in her career choices has lead her to greater success and fulfillment. At the end of the episode, Vanessa mentions participating in a Tedx Talk at Spring Hill College – you can now watch that Tedx Talk by clicking here.
Allen Cave
I’m a shareholder at hb&k. Working as a partner with business leaders to help them achieve their goals has been my favorite part of my career. I wanted to start this podcast to give these people a platform to share their stories.
Dennis Sherrin
I’m the managing shareholder of hb&k and have worked with business leaders through my entire career. There are so many how-to books on success and leadership out there, but I’ve always most enjoyed learning about these experiences from people and I am excited to get this chance to talk to so many entrepreneurs and leaders to hear their stories.
Welcome to the show!!
We kicked off with episode 1 on November 27, 2018 and have released a new episode every Tuesday since!! This podcast is meant to provide a space for community leaders and entrepreneurs share their experiences and stories. And for each listener, we hope you learn something new. For feedback, or if you’d like to join us as a guest, please send an email to our producer, Kari Wolfe – kwolfe@hbkcpas.net
Deep Fried Studios
This is where we record & produce our show. Thanks to Johnny Gwin for creating this innovative space where we care share these stories.
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Tag Archives: dawn of the planet of the apes
Action, D, Drama, Science Fiction
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Movie Review
I feel that most filmgoers agree that rebooting franchises is one of the most nauseating trends in modern cinema. Reboots usually contain weak plots, bank on the special effects used in the film to sell tickets, and never live up to the original work. I have yet to meet anyone who claims that they prefer the recent Robocop or Total Recall movies to the originals. Because of this, many people were naturally skeptical when Rise of the Planet of the Apes was released in summer 2011. It didn’t help that an attempt to reimagine this franchise had already failed with Planet of the Apes in 2001, one of director Tim Burton’s few disappointments. Rise, however, was met with both critical and commercial success, so naturally, a sequel was in order. Now we are treated to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which is a sequel to the franchise reboot. The movie also has a new director, Matt Reeves, who has replaced Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt. You can clearly see why I was worried when this film was announced. Continue reading Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Movie Review →
Amanda Silverandy serkiscaesarcharlton hestondawn of the planet of the apesGary Oldmanheavy metalJason ClarkekobaMark Bombackmatt reevesmauriceprequelrebootRick Jaffa
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Miley Cyrus couldn’t recognize one of her own biggest hits during a musical challenge, and LOL
Miley Cyrus has released so many songs throughout her career that she has trouble remembering what they all sound like. During her Thursday, December 13th appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” singer, 26, played a musical game with Fallon and the Roots. Although the task at hand sounded simple—merely identifying a popular song—the band made things difficult by only playing each tune only one instrument at a time.
Struggling throughout the game, Cyrus had only correctly identified two out of five songs before The Roots started playing a melody that the singer didn’t immediately recognize, but quickly made her want to dance. As it became clear to the audience that the song was her massive hit “Party in the USA,” Cyrus continued appearing to have no idea what was going on until the opening guitar chords started playing.
With a smile on her face, she hit her buzzer to identify the song. “It took you that long to get that one,” Fallon replied, breaking out into laughter. “I wish I had a No. 1 song they could play.”
“That I don’t recognize,” Cyrus added. Cyrus also made an exciting announcement on the show: that she’d be releasing a new song at midnight. The track, a cover of John Lennon’s holiday classic, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” was made in collaboration with Mark Ronson and John’s son, Sean Ono Lennon.
Opening up about the new song, which she’ll be performing this week on Saturday Night Live, Cyrus remarked, “We wanted to do a Christmas song and I don’t think anything could speak louder.” As for what it was like to work with Sean, she added, “He’s just such an incredible being to be in the room with because that magic just radiates.”
“I’ve always loved John and Yoko, I’m such a big Yoko fan, so it’s just been amazing to work with him,” Cyrus remarked. “His voice is just so special and I think more than just inheriting the voice or the way he looks, or whatever that is, it’s about the magic that he has and I think that’s what he’s really inherited more than anything.”
.@MileyCyrus announces that she is releasing a special collaboration with @MarkRonson and @SeanOnoLennon at midnight tonight! #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/UNd469XPWx
— Fallon Tonight (@FallonTonight) December 14, 2018
In November, Cyrus and Ronson released “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart,” a futuristic country-tinged tune off of Ronson’s first solo album in four years, Late Night Feelings, which will be released in March. While promoting the track on The Graham Norton Show earlier this month, the pair opened up about how the song came to be, with Ronson explaining that he’d been wanting to work with Cyrus for a long time.
“I saw Miley on the television singing on the Saturday Night Live‘s 40th anniversary—and I knew she could sing and everything—but I saw her sing Paul Simon’s ’50 Ways to Leave Your Lover’ in a way where I was just transfixed. So I got her number, and I started texting her and was like, ‘Hey, if you ever want to make some music.’ And then four days went by, with nothing,” he remarked.
Cyrus, however, had a different account. “This is the part I don’t remember,” she said. “I feel like I must have sent an emoji at least. The broken heart emoji is great because when people say they love the song, you just put the broken heart emoji.”
“I think you would text me back after a few weeks and just write, ‘What’s up?’ ” Ronson remembered. Cyrus agreed, saying, “Probably late at, like, four in the morning.”
Though the idea of working together took years to finally turn into a reality, Cyrus said she thinks it happened for a reason. “I believe…in my family we’ve always talked about timing and trusting the universe and always trusting timing—that everything always works out when it should. And we’ve said it multiple times in the studio that any time before this would have not been right and any time after this would have been too far away,” she revealed. “I think it’s perfect timing with this song, at the time it’s out in the world.”
“It’s just such a timely song for me and my personal life and what’s going on in the world,” Cyrus added, turning to Ronson. “I wouldn’t have it any other way than sitting with you right now, right here.”
By People Magazine
8 of the cutest moments between Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth—because admit it, we're all rooting for them
Cardi B has one big question for Democratic candidates, and she wants to hear your questions, too
Meghan Markle's favorite jeans are majorly marked down for the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale
Pink called out the "parenting police" in an Instagram photo of her daughter
Cardi B clapped back at Jermaine Dupri for calling female rappers "strippers," and she's demanding the respect she deserves
Taylor Swift called out Justin Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun for "bullying" her, and A-listers are taking sides
Sophie Turner once went to great lengths to hit on this Friends actor, and LOL
Chrissy Teigen just got a mid-summer hair makeover, and now we want one too
Reese Witherspoon posted a time capsule picture with Selma Blair, and now we need to watch Cruel Intentions again
Newlyweds Sophie Turner and Katharine McPhee joked about honeymooning together, and can we come too?
Name That Song Challenge
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In Blog,NCHRD News
Submission of Comments on the Data Protection Bill, Ministry Task-Force
In parallel to the legislative process initiated by the Kenya Senate in July 2018, a Task Force constituted by the Ministry of Information, Communication and Telecommunication developed a draft Data Protection Bill which it published for consultation in May of this year.
The National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders – Kenya (NCHRD-K) and our partners Privacy International and the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology (CIPIT) are pleased to have had the opportunity to take part in the open consultative process of the Ministry to seek feedback on the proposed Bill.
We welcome the effort by the Government of Kenya to give life to and specify the right to privacy, already enshrined in Article 31(c) and (d) of the Constitution of Kenya by proposing a draft Data Protection Act.
However, the Data Protection Bill proposed by the Taskforce has a number of significant shortcomings. We recommend that to effectively protect privacy and to meet international standards in protecting personal data, that full consideration be given to the areas of concern and improvements outlined below under each Part of the Bill, which include:
Reviewing some of the definitions outlined in Part 1 and in particular clarify the definition of ‘sensitive personal data’.
Reviewing the material and territorial scope of the law, in particular with the aim of ensuring that the law applies to public entities including law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
Guaranteeing that all data protection principles are included and revised clearly to provide for principles of fairness and transparency, storage limitation, integrity and confidentiality, and accountability.
Guaranteeing that data subjects are provided with rights including the right to suppress or block (restrict), the right to data portability, as well as the protection and enjoyment of their rights in relation to profiling and automated decision making.
Reviewing the current scope of the obligation to notify a data subject about the processing of their personal data.
Providing clarity as to what the legal grounds for processing may be including by defining concepts such as ‘public interest’ and ‘legitimate interest’, and in particular reviewing the legal grounds for processing ‘sensitive personal data’ to strengthen the protection of such data.
Ensuring that any exemptions relating to the different data protection principles and the rights of data subjects must be provided for in the law in a form which is clear, precise and limited to specific necessary and proportionate exceptions rather than broad blanket exemptions, particularly for government authorities.
Reviewing the grounds for processing including ensuring that processing of data which is available to the public or deemed publicly available is not free for all to use without requiring further involvement of the data subject.
Reviewing the clause on the storage of data in Kenya and focus on ensuring the data is protected with the highest safeguards rather than demanding data localisation which may not achieve the purpose of providing a higher level of protection as intended.
Guaranteeing that a strong process is in place to regulate the transfer of personal data including developing a process for assessing adequacy of protection in the receiving country, not only in terms of data protection but also protection of human rights and rule of law.
Ensuring that the protection of the data subject and their data as well as their right of privacy is balanced with freedom of expression under Article 33 of the Constitution for the media, artistic or literary work.
Guaranteeing that the independent authority established by the law, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, has sufficient resources to undertake its mandate, and also that data subjects are given access to an effective remedy and ensuring that the Commissioner has the power to impose penalties, and ensure effective remedies.
Our priority is to ensure that the highest data protection safeguards are encoded in law and effectively enforced so that people in Kenya are protected from undue harm and they are able to fully exercise the enjoyment of their fundamental rights and freedoms.
Access the Submissions here: Submission of Comments on the Data Protection Bill_MinistryTaskForce
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Tag: Berry Gordy
Commemorations, Crossovers, Entertainment, History, Music, News, Pop/R&B/Dance, U.S. June 27, 2018
R.I.P. Joe Jackson, 89, Patriarch of Musical, Legendary Jackson Family
Joe Jackson (photo via latimes.com)
by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)
Joseph Walter Jackson aka Joe Jackson, the patriarch of one of the most famous singing family acts of all time, has died, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was 89. Jackson died at 2:55 a.m. Wednesday at Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas, Clark County coroner John Fudenberg told the Associated Press.
Jackson was born in the tiny town of Fountain Hill in southeast Arkansas on July 26, 1929, to Samuel and Chrystal Lee Jackson. His father was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse; she was one of his students. After the parents separated, Jackson went with his father to Oakland and later joined his mother in Indiana. An early marriage was annulled. He married Katherine Scruse in 1949.
A onetime amateur boxer, Jackson was working as a steelworker in Gary, Ind., when he began relentlessly coaching his children to be singers, plotting a record deal even before it grew clear that Michael, at the time four years old, wasn’t just another voice in the crowd, but would soon become the lead singer of the Jackson 5 on the Motown label and eventually a world-reknowned superstar solo act.
Motown founder Berry Gordy recalled seeing 9-year-old Michael try out in 1968. The boy singer crooned Smokey Robinson’s “Who’s Loving You” like “a man who had been living with the blues and heartbreak his whole life,” Gordy recalled. “I couldn’t believe it.” It was a prelude to future breakout performances.
Who could have imagined what it was like to grow up a poor black man in the South, robbed of dignity, bereft of hope … working long hours in the steel mills? Is it any wonder why he pushed his sons so hard to succeed as performers? – Michael Jackson
The Jackson 5’s first three singles sold millions of copies, and their national television debut in 1969 was a sensation. As time went on, other family members, such as Jermaine and baby sister Janet, had solo musical success. But Michael Jackson’s fame would prove stratospheric. Jackson managed his childrens’ careers until the 1980s.
Joe Jackson is survived by his wife, Katherine, and their children: Janet, Jermaine, La Toya, Rebbie, Randy, Jackie, Marlon and Tito Jackson, as well as several grandchildren. He is also survived by daughter Joh’Vonnie Jackson, his child with longtime girlfriend Cheryl Terrell.
Filed under: Arkansas, Berry Gordy, Cheryl Terrell, Chrystal Lee Jackson, Fountain Hill, Jackson 5, Janet Jackson, Joe Jackson, John Fudenberg, Joseph Walter Jackson, Katherine Jackson, Katherine Scruse, Las Vegas, Motown, Nathan Adelson Hospice, Samuel Jackson
Commemorations, Community, Entertainment, History, Landmarks, Music, News, Philanthropy, Pop/R&B/Dance, U.S. January 1, 2018 January 1, 2018
Motown Museum Receives $500,000 Donation From Hudson-Webber Foundation for Expansion
Hitsville USA in Detroit, MI (photo via wikipedia.com)
by Nigel Roberts via newsone.com
The vision of an expanded space for the world famous Motown Museum is closer to fruition with the donation of $500,000 from the Hudson-Webber Foundation, Business Insider reported.
“Every time we get another one of these significant lead gifts in the campaign, not only does it encourage us as a team, but also sends a message to the rest of the funding community about this project, the importance of this development and also makes clear that this is real,” Robin Terry, chairwoman and CEO of the museum, told the Detroit Free Press when the foundation notified her about the award.
This donation comes after the museum received a $1 million donation from the Fred A. and Barbara Erb Family Foundation. In October 2016, the museum announced plans for a $50 million, 50,000-square foot expansion project. The new space will include more interactive exhibits, a performance theater, recording studios, retail shops and meeting spaces.
Motown Museum Expansion Expansion Artist Rendering (photo via freep.com)
Museum-goers currently only have access to two houses on Grand Boulevard and the funds from the campaign will allow a third house with more exhibits to be built. The expansion will foster job creation and economic growth in Detroit, providing the local community with nearly 250 job opportunities.
“The Motown Museum project will increase the vitality of the surrounding neighborhood and will expand the museum’s ability to serve as an educational and cultural amenity for the city and beyond,” Melanca Clark, president and CEO of the foundation, told the newspaper. “We’re so proud to support an iconic Detroit institution that connects our city to the world.”
Motown founder Berry Gordy’s sister, Esther Gordy Edwards, established the original museum in 1985.
Source: Motown Museum Receives Donation From Hudson Webber Foundation | News One
Filed under: Berry Gordy, Esther Gordy Edwards, Fred A. and Barbara Erb Family Foundation, Hitsville U.S.A., Hudson-Webber Foundation, Melanca Clark, Motown Museum, philanthropy, Robin Terry
Architecture, Commemorations, Community, Entertainment, History, Landmarks, Music, Philanthropy, Pop/R&B/Dance, U.S. November 19, 2016
Motown Museum Garners $6 Million Donation for Expansion from Ford Motor Company
An artist rendering of the expanded Motown Museum in Detroit. (Image courtesy of Ford)
article via eurweb.com
Ford Motor Company and UAW-Ford have announced a $6 million investment towards a planned expansion of the Motown Museum in Detroit, reports Billboard.
The figure makes the auto giant and union the lead donors in a recently announced $50 million upgrade that will create a new Ford-branded theater, space for interactive exhibits and a recording studio at the tourist attraction.
“We are thrilled to play a role in the next chapter of a global music icon,” said Joe Hinrichs, president, The Americas, Ford Motor Company. “The enhanced museum will not only upgrade the visitor experience, it also fits with our commitment to investing in the cultural heritage of Detroit and southeast Michigan.”
As part of the Ford/UAW investment, the expanded Motown Museum will include a new venue to be called the Ford Motor Company Theater, as well as a new interactive activity called the CARaoke Experience that will incorporate music with Ford vehicles. The donation will also fuel educational, music and other programming.
The Motown Museum is located in the Hitsville U.S.A. house where record company founder Berry Gordy launched his music empire in 1959. Scores of stars and hits were created there before the label moved to California in 1972.
To read original article, go to: http://www.eurweb.com/2016/11/ford-donates-6-million-toward-motown-museum-detroit/#
Filed under: Berry Gordy, Detroit, Ford Motor Company, Hitsville U.S.A., Joe Hinrichs, Motown Museum, music history, philanthropy, UAW-Ford
Commemorations, Community, Events, Exhibitions, Gospel/Country, Holidays, Music, News, Pop/R&B/Dance, U.S. January 18, 2015
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum to Host FREE Admission Day with Special Events in Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, OH is hosting its 14th annual FREE admission day in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, January 19, 2015 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Museum will offer a day filled with live performances, education programs and family activities that will highlight how people use music to find their voice and create a sense of community.
Visitors are invited to experience the Rock Hall’s many exhibits that showcase how Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and other artists have used popular music to communicate ideas to a wide audience and bring about social change. The day of events is sponsored by KeyBank.
In addition to free admission, visitors will be able to enter for a chance to win a Museum membership, as five Family Roller memberships will be raffled off during the day. For a list of current exhibits and for more information about this and other Rock Hall events, visit http://www.rockhall.com.
Klipsch Audio stage entertainment lineup:
Jason Walker of Sounds of Entertainment will emcee the events.
The Antioch Spiritual Arts Choir, an acclaimed co-ed choir from Antioch Baptist Church who focus on spirituals, folk and gospel music.
West Side Community House’s Summer of Sisterhood program began in 2010 under the leadership of Ali McClain, youth services director. The program teaches girls ages 10-18 how the power of creative expression can positively change their community and even the world. The girls work intensively for eight week with professional teaching artists to create original songs, music videos, and live performances of their work.
The Distinguished Gentlemen of Spoken Word, a powerful performance arts and spoken word group comprised of adolescent males (age 12-19) from various inner city Cleveland communities.
Inspire *1* One, a band comprised of former students from Cleveland School of the Arts.
Lake Erie Ink, a writing space for youth is a non-profit that provides creative expression opportunities and academic support to youth in the greater Cleveland community. LEI works with youth from different socio-economic, cultural and academic backgrounds, using creative writing to increase literacy and social engagement. The organization offers creative expression workshops onsite and off, to youth of all ages, including an after school program, weekly evening workshops for teens, and monthly weekend workshops and open mics.
Foster Theater Programming:
Programming will be taught by the Rock Hall’s award-winning education staff. Seating is limited. Attendance will be on a first-come first-served basis.
Special Presentation: “Rock and Roll and the Civil Rights Movement”
This program will explore how a range of artists, from Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke to Berry Gordy at Motown and rock and roll pioneer Fats Domino created a popular music that empowered African Americans to take their rightful place in American society. Young people of all races flocked to their performances and embraced their music, which helped to break down the walls and barriers that the Civil Rights movement was fighting against.
Album Spotlight: Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin’ On
This special presentation will focus on the making and impact of Marvin Gaye’s landmark 1971 album, which still resonates for listeners today. The full album will be played, with no interruption, with discussion to follow. Continue reading “The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum to Host FREE Admission Day with Special Events in Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” →
Filed under: "Cleveland is the City", Antioch Spiritual Arts Choir, Berry Gordy, Cleveland, Fats Domino, KeyBank, Mahalia Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr., Martin Luther King Jr. Day, MLK Day, MLK Day events, Motown, Ohio, Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame and Museum, Sam Cooke
Entertainment, History, Media/Internet, TV December 21, 2014
Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Announces a Month-Long Celebration Honoring Civil Rights Legends
OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network recently announced a month-long celebration in January honoring civil rights legends who paved the way as we approach the 50th anniversary of the historic Selma to Montgomery marches led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The network will air the star-studded television event Oprah Winfrey Presents: Legends Who Paved The Way (Sunday, January 18 at 9 p.m. ET/PT) where Oprah Winfrey hosts a gala of events honoring some of the legendary men and extraordinary women of the civil rights movement, the arts and entertainment who made history and redefined what was possible for us all. Honorees include Ambassador Andrew Young, Berry Gordy, Rev. C.T. Vivian, Diane Nash, Dick Gregory, Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., Congressman John Lewis, Rev. Joseph Lowery, Juanita Jones Abernathy, Julian Bond, Marian Wright Edelman, Myrlie Evers-Williams, Quincy Jones, Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte.
On January 4 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, Oprah sits down for a special episode of her popular series Oprah Prime celebrating the life of Dr. King and the Selma marches 50 years later. The episode features an in-depth conversation with the star of the upcoming film Selma, acclaimed actor David Oyelowo who portrays Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., along with the film’s award-winning director Ava DuVernay. The episode will also feature stories of those who were impacted by the march and their reflections today on that time in American history.
The month of special programming begins on New Year’s Day as NBC News correspondent Tamron Hall hosts Race on The Oprah Winfrey Show with Tamron Hall (Thursday, January 1 at 10 p.m. ET/PT) which highlights those trailblazing Oprah show episodes that elicited shocking audience responses and sparked opportunities for growth towards greater connection, empathy and healing.
Other special programming airing throughout the month include special episodes of Oprah: Where Are They Now? (Thursday, January 1 at 9 p.m. ET/PT) which spotlights memorable civil rights newsmakers and Oprah’s Master Class (Sunday, January 4 at 10 p.m. ET/PT) featuring powerful firsthand accounts from iconic “masters” such as Berry Gordy, Cicely Tyson, Dr. Maya Angelou, Diahann Carroll and many more.
In addition, the world television premiere of the OWN original documentary Light Girls will air on Monday, January 19 at 9 p.m. ET/PT featuring an in-depth look into colorism and the untold stories of lighter-skinned women around the globe. The documentary features interviews with notable celebrities including Russell Simmons, Soledad O’Brien, Diahann Carroll, india.arie, Iyanla Vanzant, Michaela Angela Davis, Kym Whitley, Salli Richardson-Whitfield and more.
Continue reading “Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Announces a Month-Long Celebration Honoring Civil Rights Legends” →
Filed under: "Selma", Ambassador Andrew Young, Ava DuVernay, Berry Gordy, Cicely Tyson, Congressman John Lewis, David Oyelowo, Diahann Carroll, Diane Nash, Dick Gregory, Dr. Martin Luther King, Dr. Maya Angelou, Harry Belafonte, India.Arie, Iyanla Vanzant, Jr., Juanita Jones Abernathy, Julian Bond, Kym Whitley, Marian Wright Edelman, Myrlie Evers-Williams, Quincy Jones, Rev. C.T. Vivian, Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., Rev. Joseph Lowery, Russell Simmons, Sidney Poitier, Soledad O'Brien, Tamron Hall
Commemorations, Crossovers, Entertainment, Music, Pop/R&B/Dance November 19, 2014
R.I.P. “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” Singer and Motown Veteran Jimmy Ruffin
NEW YORK — Jimmy Ruffin, the Motown singer whose hits include What Becomes of the Brokenhearted and Hold on to My Love, died Monday in a Las Vegas hospital. He was 78.
Philicia Ruffin and Jimmy Lee Ruffin Jr., the late singer’s children, confirmed Wednesday that Ruffin had died. There were no details about the cause of death.
Ruffin was the older brother of Temptations lead singer David Ruffin, who died in 1991 at age 50.
Jimmy Lee Ruffin was born on May 7, 1936, in Collinsville, Miss. He was signed to Berry Gordy‘s Motown Records and had a string of hits in the 1960s, including What Becomes of the Brokenhearted, which was a Top 10 pop hit. He had his second Top 10 hit, Hold on to My Love, in 1980.
Filed under: "Hold on to My Love", "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted", Berry Gordy, Collinsville, David Ruffin, Jimmy Ruffin, Mississippi, Motown Records, The Temptations
Awards/Honors, Commemorations, Entertainment, Music, Pop/R&B/Dance, Seniors November 20, 2013
Motown Founder Berry Gordy Recipient of Marian Anderson Award
Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, was honored with the Marian Anderson Award at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia on Nov. 19, 2013 (photo: Jerome Dorn)
PHILAPELPHIA – A star-studded gala took place last night in Philadelphia to honor Motown Records founder Berry Gordy. The legendary record producer and songwriter is recipient of the 2013 Marian Anderson Award, which pays homage to critically acclaimed artists who have made a significant impact. Tuesday night’s gala dinner and award presentation at the Kimmel Center was hosted by comedian-actor Chris Tucker. It featured performances by Boyz II Men, Kool and the Gang as well as Tony Award nominee Brandon Victor Dixon, who stars as Gordy in “Motown The Musical.”
R&B icon Smokey Robinson presented a tribute, along with “Philly Sound” songwriting and producing pioneers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Gordy, a high-school dropout who had a short professional boxing career, started Motown Records in Detroit in 1959. The record company is credited for opening doors for African-American performing artists, launching the careers of everyone from Michael Jackson to Stevie Wonder to Diana Ross & the Supremes. “This year we will be honoring an individual who created a new genre of American music that is beloved around the world, by young and old, black and white,” said Award chair Pamela Browner White.
Continue reading “Motown Founder Berry Gordy Recipient of Marian Anderson Award” →
Filed under: "Motown: The Musical", 2013 Marian Anderson Award, Berry Gordy, Boyz II Men, Chris Tucker, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, Kimmel Center, Kool and the Gang, Motown founder Berry Gordy, Motown Records, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Smokey Robinson
Awards/Honors, Commemorations, Entertainment, Music, Pop/R&B/Dance March 12, 2013
Berry Gordy to be Honored by Songwriters Hall of Fame
Berry Gordy poses in the press room during the 27th Annual Rock And Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Public Hall on April 14, 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Berry Gordy will be honored at this year’s Songwriters Hall of Fame gala. The organization announced Tuesday that the Motown founder will receive the Pioneer Award at its 44th annual induction ceremony on June 13 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. The award was established last year to honor people who have “been a major influence on generations of songwriters.” It was presented posthumously to Woody Guthrie.
As the head of Motown, Gordy helped establish careers and hits for Diana Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, and Michael Jackson and The Jackson Five. A Broadway musical about Gordy’s life, “Motown: The Musical,” debuted this week. Previously announced inductees include Tony Hatch, Mick Jones and Lou Gramm, Holly Knight, JD Souther, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press via thegrio.com
Filed under: "Motown: The Musical", Berry Gordy, commemorations, entertainment, Marriott Marquis Hotel, music, New York, Pioneer Award, Songwriters Hall of Fame
History, Music, Pop/R&B/Dance August 31, 2012 August 31, 2012
Paul McCartney Helps Restore Historic Motown Piano
Sir Paul McCartney performs during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on July 27, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
DETROIT (AP) — A damaged 1877 Steinway grand piano used by Motown artists during the record label’s “Hitsville USA” heyday has been restored, thanks to a little help from Paul McCartney, and he’s set to play it when it’s unveiled next month. Continue reading “Paul McCartney Helps Restore Historic Motown Piano” →
Filed under: Berry Gordy, Hitsville USA, Motown, Paul McCartney, piano, Steinway & Sons
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Tag: University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Adults, Arts / Style, Books, Ceremonies, Commemorations, Community, Education, Fine Arts, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Records/Prizes, U.S. September 28, 2017
Northwestern Professor and Poet Natasha Trethewey Wins the $250,000 Heinz Award in Arts and Humanities
Natasha Trethewey (photo via creativeloafing.com)
via jbhe.com
Natasha Trethewey, the Board of Trustees Professor of English at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, has been selected to receive the Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities. The award comes with an unrestricted $250,000 prize. Teresa Heinz, chair of the Heinz Family Foundation, stated that Professor Trethewey’s “writing captivates us with its power and its ability to personalize and fearlessly illuminate stories of our past as a people and a nation. We honor her not only for her body of work, but for her contributions as a teacher and mentor dedicated to inspiring the next generation of writers.”
Professor Trethewey is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry collection, Native Guard (Houghton Mifflin, 2006) and three other poetry collections. She is also the author of Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast (University of Georgia Press, 2010). Professor Trethewey served two terms as poet laureate of the United States. A native of Gulfport, Mississippi, Professor Trethewey is a graduate of the University of Georgia. She holds a master’s degree from Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, and a master of fine arts degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Professor Trethewey will be honored with three other Heinz Award winners at a ceremony in Pittsburgh on October 18.
Source: Natasha Trethewey Wins the $250,000 Heinz Award in Arts and Humanities : The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
Filed under: "Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast", "Native Guard", Heinz Award, Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities, Heinz Family Foundation, Hollins University, Natasha Trethewey, Northwestern University, Pittsburgh, Poet Laureate of the United States, Teresa Heinz, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Awards/Honors, Books, Commemorations, Community, Education, Non-Fiction, Organizations April 3, 2016
Brown University Professor John Edgar Wideman Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters
John Edgar Wideman (photo via abpspeakers.com)
article via jbhe.com
The American Academy of Arts and Letters was founded in 1904 as a highly selective group of 50 members within a larger organization called the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Over the years the two groups functioned separately with different memberships, budgets, and boards of directors. In 1993 the two groups finally agreed to form a single group of 250 members under the name of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Members are chosen from the fields of literature, music, and the fine arts. Members must be native or naturalized citizens of the United States. They are elected for life and pay no dues. New members are elected only upon the death of other members.
This year 12 new members were elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. One of the 12 new members is John Edgar Wideman.
Wideman is the Asa Messer Professor and professor of Africana studies and literary arts at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Before joining the faculty at Brown, Professor Wideman was a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Professor Wideman grew up in Pittsburgh and then enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania where he was an all-Ivy League basketball player. His senior year at Penn, Wideman was named a Rhodes Scholar, the first African American to win the honor in over a half century.
After returning from Oxford, Wideman graduated from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. Professor Wideman is the author of numerous novels, short story collections, and memoirs including Brothers and Keepers (Henry Holt, 1984) and Fatheralong: A Meditation on Fathers and Sons, Race and Society (Pantheon, 1994).
Filed under: "Brothers and Keepers", "Fatheralong: A Meditation on Fathers and Sons Race and Society", American Academy of Arts and Letters, Brown University, Iowa Writer’s Workshop, John Edgar Wideman, National Institute of Arts and Letters, Oxford University, Pittsburgh, Rhodes Scholar, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, University of Pennsylvania
Awards/Honors, Books, Commemorations, Education, News, Poetry, U.S. July 3, 2013 July 3, 2013
Natasha Trethewey Appointed to a Second Term as Poet Laureate of the United States
Natasha Trethewey, the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University in Atlanta, was reappointed to another term as Poet Laureate of the United States. She is also serving a four-year term as the poet laureate of the state of Mississippi.
James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress, stated, “The Library and the country are fortunate Natasha Trethewey will continue her work as Poet Laureate. Natasha’s first term was a resounding success, and we could not be more thrilled with her plans for the coming year.”
Professor Trethewey is the author of four collections of poetry. Her collection, Native Guard, won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize. Her fourth collection, Thrall, was published late last year by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She is also the author of Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast (University of Georgia Press, 2010).
A native of Gulfport, Mississippi, Professor Trethewey is a graduate of the University of Georgia. She holds a master’s degree from Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, and a master of fine arts degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Filed under: "Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast", "Native Guard", "Thrall", African-American Pulitzer Prize winners, Atlanta, Emory University, Georgia, Gulfport, Hollins University, Mississippi, Natasha Trethewey, Poet Laureate of the United States, Pulitzer Prize, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of English and Creative Writing, University of Georgia, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
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Madison’s Nightmare and An Elective Despotism
Posted on October 7, 2014 by gospelbbq
It’s Not Your Founding Fathers’ Republic Any More
Presidents, Congresses, and courts are creating an elective despotism.
by Myron Magnet
How far have we distorted the Constitution that the Founders gave us, and how much does it matter? A phalanx of recent books warns that we have undermined
our fundamental law so recklessly that Americans should worry that government of the people, by the people, and for the people really could perish from the earth. The tomes—Adam Freedman’s engaging The Naked Constitution, Mark R. Levin’s impassioned The Liberty Amendments, Richard A. Epstein’s masterful The Classical Liberal Constitution, and Philip K. Howard’s eloquent and levelheaded The Rule of Nobody (in order of publication)—look at the question from different angles and offer different fixes to it, but all agree that Americans need to take action right now.
Before we scramble, though, we had better understand just what happened. There’s no single villain. As these books show, all branches of government conspired over more than a century to turn the Constitution that the Framers wrote in 1787, plus the Bill of Rights that James Madison shepherded through the first Congress in 1789 and the Fourteenth Amendment ratified in 1868, into something their authors would neither recognize nor endorse.
The signal feature of the 1787 Constitution was its prudent restraint. The Framers learned from hard Revolutionary War experience that their new nation needed a more powerful central government than the Articles of Confederation authorized. But they bestowed the requisite powers with a trembling hand, knowing that the men who would exercise them were not angels but humans, as fallible as all other men—and usually more so, since overweening ambition and self-interest, not patriotism, are the standard spurs to seeking office. Recognizing that electing your officials doesn’t ensure that they won’t become as tyrannical as the hereditary monarchs the colonists had fled, the Framers’ hemmed in and divided government authority, giving Congress only 19 specific powers that mostly concerned raising taxes, coining money, spending it on “the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States” (meaning keeping the country safe), building post offices and post roads (but not turnpikes and canals), regulating the armed forces, and making laws necessary and proper to carry out these limited functions. Constitution architect James Madison, always at the vortex of the fierce disputes over what measures these enumerated powers implied as necessary and proper, concluded—after serving for a quarter-century as a congressman, secretary of state, and president—that the bedrock constitutional principle was simply to ensure that America does not “convert a limited into an unlimited Govt.”
But before the nation started making just that transformation, it took a wrong turn in the opposite direction. Everyone knows that, for all its virtues, the Constitution—which George Washington thought “approached nearer to perfection than any government hitherto instituted among Men”—was nevertheless not perfect. It was born with the congenital flaw of slavery. As was almost inevitable in a nation that believed that all men are created equal but nevertheless allowed some men to hold others in perpetual bondage, it took a war to resolve the irreconcilable conflict, despite the increasingly desperate search for a peaceful compromise that consumed American politics from 1820 to 1850. After that stunningly costly war, the American people also fine-tuned their Constitution between 1865 and 1870 to undo its original sin, ratifying the Thirteenth Amendment to free the slaves, the Fourteenth to assure black Americans citizenship and civil rights, and the Fifteenth to prohibit any state from denying black citizens the right to vote.
[Several benighted Supreme Court rulings subverted the Fourteenth Amendment and crushed President Lincoln’s dream of binding up the nation’s Civil War wounds with malice toward none and charity for all.]
But as early as 1873, the Supreme Court began to subvert the Fourteenth Amendment in the Slaughter-House Cases, in the process shredding the amendment’s key protections of the civil rights of Southern blacks. Going way beyond the particular grievances of the Louisiana butchers before it, the court declared that, while the amendment had indeed extended the Constitution’s protection of the privileges and immunities of citizens from federal infringement to protection against infringement by state governments as well, that new protection did not include all the rights that the amendment’s Framers had meant it to include: to own property; to have access to the courts; to pay taxes at the same rate as everyone else; to vote (subject to the qualifications of your particular state); to live, work, and travel where you want; and, above all, to have the protection of the Bill of Rights against state as well as federal violation. All the additional protection the amendment granted to freed slaves, as well as to other citizens, the court held, according to Epstein’s constitutional-law history (which could have been titled Constitutional Law Versus the Constitution), was the right to travel on interstate waterways and to petition the federal government for redress of grievances.
It’s worth noting, as Epstein observes, that when Chief Justice John Marshall declared in 1803 in Marbury v. Madison that “it is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is,” he didn’t mean that it is the business of the Supreme Court, or a bare majority of it, to make the laws—and to the extent he implied that it might be, Epstein notes, he was wrong. But while the Court made that incorrect implication about its own omnipotence explicit in 1955 in Cooper v. Aaron, it had been moving in that direction for a very long time.
In 1876, United States v. Cruikshank made starkly clear just how unprotected the Supreme Court’s misrepresentation of the Fourteenth Amendment in the Slaughter-House Cases had left Southern blacks. After a Louisiana mob killed more than 100 freedmen and state authorities would not prosecute white murderers of blacks, the Supreme Court threw out the federal indictment of some of the murderers for conspiracy to deprive their victims of their constitutional rights, since the killers had violated no federal rights that extended to the states, the court held, with numerous citations of the Slaughter-House Cases. The decision helped embolden Southern Democrats to enact Jim Crow laws. From Cruikshank, it took but a short step to Plessy v. Ferguson, the infamous 1896 decision in which the Supreme Court obliterated still more of the rights that the Fourteenth Amendment had given blacks, by allowing the Southern states to legislate segregated transportation and schools and to outlaw interracial marriage. So much for Abraham Lincoln’s dream of finishing the work the Civil War had begun and binding up the nation’s wounds with malice toward none and charity for all.
As Madison was forging the Constitution into shape, its democratic character gave him his greatest worry, which he voiced in Number 10 of The Federalist Papers, only to assure Americans that the Constitution’s structure made that fear moot. According to the old, well-known tradition of political philosophy that lay behind the Constitution, the purpose of any government is to protect the citizens’ God-given rights to life, liberty, and property. But in a democratic government—even though the people would directly elect only congressmen, while the supposedly more prudent state legislatures would elect presumably wise and propertied senators and an electoral college, the president—[then] couldn’t the unpropertied majority vote to tax away the property of the small minority of rich citizens and give it to themselves? But that would never happen, Madison argued, because in the extensive republic that the Constitution would govern, so many different factions and interests would flourish that no single-minded majority could form that could tyrannize a minority by expropriating its wealth. Redistributive taxation, therefore, was a chimera.
Moreover, as Madison and Hamilton took for granted in The Federalist Papers, which they wrote (with five by John Jay) to urge ratification of the Constitution, taxes would chiefly take the form of import duties or excises on such commodities as whiskey—and these taxes, Hamilton asserted, were naturally self-limiting because if they grew excessive, people would stop buying the overtaxed article, and overall tax revenues would fall. In the unlikely event of an imposition of any direct tax on everybody, or on citizens’ land or wealth, as opposed to these indirect levies, Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution required that it be levied equally or proportionally, though scholars debate the meaning of that clause. But one thing the Framers never dreamed of was a tax on incomes. And for generations, they were right.
But in 1913, after 20 years of Progressive-era agitation, the Sixteenth Amendment, passed by Congress in 1909, won ratification. It imposed a graduated income tax—a direct tax that did not fall proportionally on all. Indirect taxes such as import duties and excise taxes, the argument went, fell disproportionately on the poor and provided too unpredictable a revenue stream to a federal government that Americans increasingly thought needed strengthening. Though the income-tax rates were but 1 percent for incomes up to $483,826, rising to a modest 7 percent on incomes over $11.6 million, the now-constitutional machinery for the tyranny of the majority that Madison had feared was fired up and ready to confiscate wealth as surely as the Stamp Act confiscated property. And since in 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment—instituting direct popular election of senators—also won ratification, the upper house no longer served, even theoretically, as a brake on the passions of the people.
Today, Madison’s nightmare has become America’s everyday reality. By 2010, according to the latest Congressional Budget Office data, the top-earning 40 percent of households paid 106.2 percent of federal income taxes, while the bottom 40 percent of taxpaying households paid minus 9.1 percent, thanks to such refundable tax credits as payments to those with low earned incomes. In addition, those 40 percent of households received such additional transfer payments from the wealth of their more prosperous neighbors as food stamps and Medicaid, plus Social Security and Medicare payments at a much higher proportion to what they paid in than do richer households. In 2011, according to Tax Foundation data, the top 5 percent of taxpayers paid 58.5 percent of total U.S. income taxes, while the bottom 50 percent paid 2.9 percent. And that’s just taxpayers. Transfers to non-income-tax-paying households on welfare can amount to twice what a minimum-wage job pays.
Much of what the Progressive Era had only hoped for, the New Deal brought into being, transforming America’s constitutional structure in ways that such Progressives as Woodrow Wilson, with his belief that the Founders were antique, bewigged figures with views unsuited to modernity’s more informed and effective age of science, statistics, and professionalism, had urged. Wilson, argues author Freedman, saw “the Founders’ checks and balances as an unnecessary drag on the efficiency of government,” which should be a vast mechanism in which expert bureaucrats with advanced degrees—working altruistically in nonpolitical agencies like the Interstate Commerce Commission, formed in 1887, or the Federal Trade Commission, founded during Wilson’s presidency—would smoothly institute what advances in economics and social science would reveal as the common good. In 1908, Wilson swept the Founders and their cobweb-covered Constitution into the dustbin of history. “No doubt a great deal of nonsense has been talked about the inalienable rights of the individual, and a great deal that was mere vague sentiment and pleasing speculation has been put forward as fundamental principle,” Wilson wrote. By contrast with the Founders’ musty parchment, he continued, “Living political constitutions must be Darwinian in structure and practice.” Can’t get much more up-to-date and scientific than evolution.
And so arose the doctrine of the Living Constitution, which has now infringed nearly every guarantee of the Bill of Rights, from free speech to federalism. “The chief instrumentality by which the law of the Constitution has been extended to cover the facts of national development has of course been judicial interpretations—the decisions of courts,” Wilson wrote. “The process of formal amendment of the Constitution was made so difficult by the . . . Constitution itself that it has seldom been feasible to use it.” So the doughty courts have stepped in and taken over the “whole business of adaptation . . . with open minds, sometimes even with boldness and a touch of audacity,” becoming “more liberal, not to say more lax, in their interpretation than they otherwise would have been.” As Wilson saw it, writes Levin, “the federal judiciary was to behave as a permanent constitutional convention,” making up the laws as it went along. Of course, at that point, as Lincoln had warned almost half a century earlier, “the people will have ceased to be their own rulers.”
And indeed, it was this magic elixir of judicial constitution-making and rule by administrative agencies that Franklin D. Roosevelt employed to transmute the American political system into one that resembled [England’s king] George III’s system of rulers and subjects as much as it did George Washington’s government. The magnitude of the Depression, Roosevelt thought, required the federal government to seize control of the entire U.S. economy: only national rather than state or free-market solutions, he believed, could shake it back to health. The Supreme Court batted down his first attempts to use the Commerce Clause—the power that Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress to regulate interstate commerce—to regulate all commerce, including commerce that never crosses a state line. In 1935, for example, the Court struck down a law mandating retirement plans for railway workers, noting that, even though railways participate in interstate transportation, their workers’ pension plans do not. That same year, the Court declared that Congress had no power, via the National Industrial Recovery Act, to set the wages and hours of Brooklyn poultry workers or to regulate how they sell chickens, since neither the workers nor the chickens leave New York State. Nor, said the Court the following year, could Congress set up commissions to decree coal prices or miners’ working conditions. Yes, strikes interrupt production, influence prices nationwide, and thus affect interstate commerce, but they and the conditions that cause them “are local evils over which the federal government has no legislative control.”
[Though born in the Progressive Era, the administrative state didn’t reach its full power to hobble American enterprise until the reign of FDR, who called its agencies a “‘fourth branch’ of Government for which there is no sanction in the Constitution.”]
But once Roosevelt’s plan for a constitutional amendment to curb the Court’s power scared Justice Owen Roberts into changing his judicial spots, the Nine began to toe the New Deal line. Just as FDR’s Progressive cousin Theodore Roosevelt had blamed the global financial instability preceding the Panic of 1907 on giant corporations—often led, said TR, by “malefactors of great wealth”—Franklin Roosevelt also saw big business as a threat to ordinary individuals, whom only big government could protect. “We have earned the hatred of entrenched greed,” the president accusingly said of corporate America in his 1936 State of the Union speech. “Give them their way and they will take the course of every autocracy of the past—power for themselves, enslavement for the public.”
On cue, in its 1937 Jones & Laughlin decision, the Court upheld the National Labor Relations Act, whose “major function,” according to Epstein, “was to prop up union monopolies in labor relations.” To reach its decision, the Court noted that the big steel company had “far-flung activities” across the nation, so that “industrial strife” in any one of them “would have a most serious effect upon interstate commerce. . . . [I]t is idle to say that the effect would be indirect or remote. It is obvious that it would be immediate, and might be catastrophic.” Hence J&L’s intrastate activities “have such a close and intimate relation to interstate commerce as to make the presence of industrial strife a matter of the most urgent national concern. When industries organize themselves on a national scale, making their relation to interstate commerce the dominant factor in their activities, how can it be maintained that their industrial labor relations constitute a forbidden field into which Congress may not enter when it is necessary to protect interstate commerce from the paralyzing consequences of industrial war?” Further federalizing local economic activity, the Court declared in its 1941 Darby decision—with all the audacity Woodrow Wilson could have wanted—that of course the Fair Labor Standards Act could force firms not engaged in interstate commerce to observe national wage and hour standards, even though they were following the standards of their home states; and of course the FLSA could bar from interstate commerce any product it defined as “produced under substandard labor conditions.”
The logical but lunatic capstone to this line of reasoning was the Court’s 1942 Wickard v. Filburn decision. In accordance with FDR and his brain trust’s belief that the Depression stemmed from a crisis of deflationary overproduction, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, purportedly based on Congress’s Commerce Clause power, directed the Department of Agriculture to establish a crop-quota system, allocating so much production to each state, which would, in turn, prescribe the permitted output for each farm. For exceeding his wheat allotment, Ohio farmer Roscoe Filburn was fined $117.11, or 49 cents per each bushel of excess production. But here’s the rub: agriculture isn’t commerce, as the Founders understood it, and not only did Filburn’s grain not enter into interstate commerce; it didn’t even enter into in-state commerce, since he fed it to his own cows. But even if the grain is “never marketed,” the Court wrote, in true Alice in Wonderland style, “it supplied the need of the man who grew it which would otherwise be reflected by purchases in the open market. Home-grown wheat in this sense competes with wheat in commerce. The stimulation of commerce is a use of the regulatory function quite as definitely as prohibitions or restrictions thereon.” Even if Filburn’s “activity be local and though it may not be regarded as commerce,” the Court ruled, “it may still, whatever its nature, be reached by Congress if it exerts a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce.” The lengths to which free people will go to evade central planners’ price controls!
The New Deal didn’t transform the Constitution only by institutionalizing nine unelected judges with lifetime tenure as a permanent constitutional convention. It also allowed Congress to create, at the president’s request and with the blessing of the Supreme Court, an unprecedented regulatory state, made up of a constellation of administrative agencies, from the Federal Housing Administration and the Federal Communications Commission to the National Labor Relations Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which make rules, enforce them, and adjudicate transgressions of them. “The practice of creating independent regulatory commissions, who perform administrative work in addition to judicial work,” Roosevelt himself admitted, “threatens to develop a ‘fourth branch’ of Government for which there is no sanction in the Constitution.”
That is an understatement. It’s hard to count the ways in which the administrative or regulatory state overturns, abolishes, and replaces the Constitution. As the American Revolution’s tutelary philosopher, John Locke, had pronounced, “The legislative cannot transfer the power of making laws to any other hands: for it being but a delegated power from the people, they who have it cannot pass it over to others.” The legislative branch has the authority “only to make laws, and not to make legislators”—but that’s just what Congress’s establishment and expansion of the administrative state has made its rule makers.
In addition, these are legislators who execute the rules they decree and adjudicate and punish infringements of them, an egregious violation of the “separation-of-powers doctrine under the Constitution” that “dispens[es] with our principal safeguard against autocracy in government,” the American Bar Association warned in 1936, as the administrative state was taking shape. “We should not have some 73 midget courts in Washington, most of them exercising legislative and executive powers. A man should not be judge in his own case and the combination of prosecutor and judge in these tribunals must be relentlessly exposed and combated.” Making matters worse, as even New Deal congressman Emanuel Celler ruefully noted, many of the “experts” staffing these agencies are “mere ‘whipper-snappers’—young students just out of law school—who apparently are given undue authority in originating, if not effectuating, final decisions.”
Worse still, the regulatory agencies may presume anyone they charge to be guilty unless he proves his innocence, and he has but limited standing and scope to appeal the agency’s decision to a real court, effectively “making the commission’s decisions on fact final and conclusive,” the ABA objected. “This sets the wheels of government moving in reverse gear; the servant becomes the master, and the right to earn a living becomes subject to the servant’s whim and caprice as he professes to apply some vague and variable statutory standard.” Little wonder that one congressman warned that “government by committees, boards, bureaus, and commissions will, if unchecked and uncontrolled, destroy the republican conception of government”—or that a senator deemed one of the agencies a “Star Chamber,” the arbitrary, juryless court of Stuart despotism. (These quotations come from a Northwestern University Law Review article by George B. Shepherd, cited in Howard’s book, on the evolution of the 1946 Administrative Procedures Act, “the bill of rights for the new regulatory state,” Shepherd says.)
Freedman sets forth an instructive example of how all this works in practice in a story with an unexpectedly and illuminatingly happy ending. In 2004, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB, or “Peekaboo”) dispatched seven investigators to inspect a tiny Nevada accounting firm, combing over its files for two weeks and asking follow-up questions that took the three-man outfit 500 man-hours to answer. A year later, the board charged the firm with eight accounting deficiencies, demanding a response within 30 days. When the firm’s managing director, Brad Beckstead, tartly replied that such compliance costs and standards would kill small CPA firms, Peekaboo summoned him for three days of questioning, demanded more files plus correspondence and e-mails, and ultimately found nothing to charge the firm with—but not before its profits were down 60 percent.
With the help of the nonprofit Free Enterprise Fund, Beckstead found grounds to sue. The Constitution, he argued, calls for a “unitary executive,” meaning that all executive-branch officials must be responsible to the president, who is, in turn, responsible for their and his performance to the voters. The members of the board—who in 2003 received salaries of $400,000 each, with $556,000 for the chief, and who never have to ask for public funding, since they impose a tax on public companies and can levy fines of up to $15 million—can only be hired or fired by the SEC, and then only for serious cause. The same civil-service rules protect the SEC commissioners from dismissal at the president’s displeasure. So this executive-branch agency enjoys double protection from control by the nation’s chief executive, something that would have horrified Madison, who successfully argued in the first session of Congress that if the president didn’t have the power to fire executive-branch officials at will, that would “abolish at once that great principle of unity and responsibility in the Executive department, which was intended for the security of liberty and the public good.” All such officials, from the lowest to the highest, said Madison, “will depend, as they ought, on the President, and the President on the community.” No more, however, thanks to a then-conservative Supreme Court’s 1933 decision that FDR lacked the power to fire an FTC commissioner at will.
Beckstead lost at trial and on appeal but won in a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling in 2010, with Chief Justice John Roberts making the Madisonian observation that “the Executive Branch . . . wields vast power and touches almost every aspect of daily life,” so it mustn’t “slip away from the Executive’s control and thus from that of the People.” But it was a close call.
For a more up-to-date and less happy example, one need only look at a May 19 Wall Street Journal editorial on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and an accompanying op-ed by William S. Scherman, a lawyer representing subjects—“victims” might be a better word—of FERC investigations. According to Scherman and the paper’s editors, here is an agency that has turned into something like a shakedown racket. It charges participants in the energy market with “impairing, obstructing, or defeating a well-functioning market,” after carrying on secret and ill-documented investigations, the results of which it refuses to share with the subjects, demanding millions of documents, asking thousands of questions in as many as half a dozen interrogations (while refusing to let subjects review their previous testimony), and—worst of all—failing “to adopt a coherent or meaningful definition of market manipulation,” claims Scherman, so that “someone who follows rules created by FERC is somehow committing fraud at the same time.” Little wonder that those whom FERC charges prefer to settle rather than “fight with one hand tied behind their back,” as Scherman puts it. In five years, FERC has collected $1.23 billion in penalties, driven major players from the market, shrunk the market’s liquidity, and made energy more expensive and prices more volatile. The Obama administration now wants to make the commission’s chief investigator the new chairman of this modern-day Star Chamber. Thus are we transforming entrepreneurial into corporatist capitalism.
This same administration has made the regulatory state more unconstitutional than even FDR would have dared, Levin explains. Among the 150 new agencies and commissions that the Obamacare law has created, there is one, the Independent Payment Advisory Board—the notorious “death panel”—that no future Congress can abolish unless it does so within a seven-month period in 2017 by a three-fifths vote in both houses. After that, the people’s elected representatives lack authority so much as to alter a board proposal. In the same spirit, the Dodd-Frank Act sets up a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with a budget that Congress is forbidden to review, and a Financial Stability Oversight Council, whose decisions no affected business may challenge in court, period. And now, while another such agency, the IRS, stonewalls the people’s representatives, the SEC has the gall to sue them.
“The current system is a form of tyranny,” concludes Howard. Like “a giant legal mudslide, [it] has buried both the framework of law and our freedoms.” By no means “is it a government by the people.”
What, then, should we do? Start with Epstein’s solution, slightly different from the others because he is a lawyer trying to mold the thinking of judges and law professors about judging constitutionally. Not only liberal exponents of the Living Constitution but also conservative jurists, says Epstein, tend to think of the American Constitution as analogous to the British: “a kind of Burkean evolution whereby the text itself becomes modified through repeated usage—usually towards big government.” But for a Constitution with a built-in mechanism for change by amendment, such an analogy is mistaken. The accumulated rulings of Supreme Court justices are not part and parcel of the Constitution but often the piling of error upon error, “and the layers of interpretive confusion are so great” that such an approach does “much harm.” But because even erroneous interpretations—and thus modifications—of the law acquire a certain Burkean prescriptive authority, the question that Epstein proposes to answer is: “How should judges respond to perceived mistakes in the prior decisional law?”
My instinct, along with Freedman’s, is to follow law professor Raoul Berger’s definition of constitutional law as “the Constitution itself, stripped of judicial encrustations.” But Epstein is more moderate. To maintain the mystique of “a sound constitutional order” on which governmental legitimacy rests, you can’t just junk generations of rulings with originalist abandon. But you also don’t have to follow blindly the principle of stare decisis (deference to prior rulings) that made the Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education so mischievous for subsequent jurisprudence—because it reached the right result through fanciful reasoning, since the Court lacked courage to overrule explicitly Plessy v. Ferguson’s assertion of the constitutionality of “separate but equal” treatment of the races and to declare that the Fourteenth Amendment doesn’t permit governmental or public-accommodation discrimination by race, period (thus also forestalling affirmative action). Epstein would advise judges to pick and choose what they overrule not by strict originalism but always working to uphold the Constitution’s underlying Lockean, classical liberal “tradition of strong property rights, voluntary association, and limited government,” along with the “protections of the separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism and the individual rights guarantees built into the basic constitutional structure.”
All fine—but only as long as the Court has enough justices able to think in such terms. I’d add that, as long as the Court is willing to consider originalist constitutionalism, the more conservative lawyers, legal foundations, and philanthropists willing to bring and support cases like NFIB v. Sebelius against Obamacare or Citizens United v. FEC, the better.
Rejecting such incrementalism as too little, too late, especially since we could easily end up with another New Deal- or Warren-style Court, the other three authors opt for amending the Constitution to restore its original integrity, using Article V’s provision to allow two-thirds of the state legislatures to call a constitutional-amending convention, since a hidebound Congress, with its emanations and penumbras of lobbyists and activists, would never act to limit its powers and perks. Three-fourths of the states would then have to ratify the resulting amendments in the usual way—though one of Levin’s amendments creates a streamlined process that requires only two-thirds of the states to ratify. The three authors’ 13 very reasonable suggested amendments overlap, so without getting lost in the details, let me set forth the essentials of what they want to accomplish.
All three seek to let two-thirds of the state legislatures repeal the tangle of outdated or unconstitutional laws and absurd regulations by which, as Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, men are “constantly restrained from acting” and that “enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which government is the shepherd.” Some writers suggest a committee, whether of government officials or outsiders, to do the same thing, or at least to recommend action (and a philanthropy-backed, Howard-led group should start the job now, since bland regulatory language often needs careful scrutiny to find power-mad regulatory intent). A sunset law on all legislation and regulation, unless expressly renewed every 15 years, might be another way of cutting through the tangle.
The Environmental Protection Agency—yes, we never stop spewing out New Deal–style agencies—and the Endangered Species Act are prime targets here. These writers can’t see why environmental reviews by the Coast Guard or the Army Corps of Engineers, along with Indian tribes from Nebraska and Oklahoma, should have held up for three years (and still counting) the modernization of a New Jersey bridge that would save $3 billion over the cost of building a new one. They don’t see why the EPA and the Army Engineers can tell a developer not to move sand from one place on his property to another without a permit, because of its potential impact on a navigable waterway 20 miles away—and to seek to jail him for five years before he settled, a shakedown by the federal government’s intrusion into a purely intrastate land-use issue that the Tenth Amendment should have protected him from. Howard says, “I am sometimes asked after speaking, ‘Are you in favor of pollution?’ ” The right answer is no—but if my choice is pollution or tyranny, I’ll take pollution.
To prevent a perpetual caste of rulers, these writers want a term-limit amendment for congressmen, senators, and even (says Levin) for Supreme Court justices, whose rulings in the meantime he’d let a three-fifths majority of both houses of Congress overturn. As another way to stop courts from being a tool of oppression, harassment, and delay, Howard would like an amendment forbidding lawsuits without a judge’s prior determination of their reasonableness. To stop the governmental orgy of taxing and spending, these authors favor a federal balanced-budget amendment, a line-item veto for the president, and perhaps even a constitutional upper limit on the allowable income-tax rate. To get control of the unelected, unaccountable bureaucracy, they recommend restoring the president’s authority to hold apparatchiks to account by firing them—or else face the ire of the voters whom he hasn’t protected from their insolent and often unconstitutional meddling.
To restore federalism and keep the federal government from usurping powers reserved to the states and the people, Freedman and Levin want to return to election of senators by state legislatures—ensuring, they believe, that the senate would safeguard state interests. I can’t help recalling those Gilded Age senators who bought their offices from venal state legislators, but perhaps, given the Founders’ views of human motivation, such senators would nevertheless serve the original purpose of protecting property against the tyranny of the majority. Levin would like to reinforce such protection by amendments explicitly underscoring what Article I’s Commerce Clause and the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, already say — a sad commentary on how thoroughly the Living Constitution has murdered the Founders’ Constitution.
You have to define a problem before you can solve it. We owe each of these four authors a debt for starting a conversation that could forestall a crisis of legitimacy.
Myron Magnet, City Journal’s editor-at-large and its editor from 1994 through 2006, is a recipient of the National Humanities Medal. His latest book is The Founders at Home.
Article from City-Journal.org. See original article @ http://www.city-journal.org/2014/24_3_constitution.html
This entry was posted in All-Encompassing Gospel, Church and State, Worldview/Culture, X-Americana, Z-Uncategorized and tagged authority, Constitution, government, Madison, Myron Magnet, powers, Supreme Court. Bookmark the permalink.
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Michelle Williams to Ridley Scott: I will give you my salary back to re-shoot without Kevin Spacey
By Jessica Bailey
The director recounts the aftermath of finding out his lead actor had reportedly been sexually abusing young men for decades. And his honesty is quite extraordinary
It is true that All The Money In The World director Ridley Scott originally wanted Christopher Plummer to play billionaire tycoon John Paul Getty in his latest film over Kevin Spacey. But part of his job, as he says in a new interview, is to “put bums on seats.” Spacey could do just that until of course the allegations of decades of sexual assault became public. Then, Scott was put in a difficult position: Spacey’s involvement in the project could mean people would boycott the film. But there was only three weeks until the film’s release date so many wondered if he had time to re-cast and re-shoot. As we know, Scott decided to do the latter and re-do Spacey’s scenes with his first choice Plummer.
Yesterday, that decision earned Scott and stars Plummer and Michelle Williams Golden Globe nominations.
But it was the aftermath of what went down when the sordid allegations came to light that are so extraordinary.
“I waited for Mr Spacey to call me up, I expected him to call me up and say what he wanted to say, but I got nothing, not even from his representatives, which left me free to ‘just move forward, dude’,” Scott said.
“So, I got on the phone to the cast. I said, ‘Will you come back?’ They said, ‘Absolutely.’ I said, ‘For how much?’ They said, ‘For free.’ Everyone came back for nothing. That indicates how strong the feeling was. And by the way, there was no persuasion on my part whatsoever.”
To re-shoot the scenes in Italy in The U.K., it was reportedly going to cost AUD $13.2 million – a quarter of the film’s budget. Williams felt so strongly about Scott’s decision she offered back her salary. “When they asked me to reshoot, I said: ‘Absolutely I will do it and if you need the salary back, I will give it to you,” says Williams. “I am angry for the people that he hurt; I am angry on their behalf. A movie is less important than a human life, so they are who my heart goes out to because the tyranny of abuse is that it’s always about [the perpetrators]… But sometimes a brick hits you on the head and you are like, ‘Ow. That hurt,’ but I am glad that the thing is falling down.”
All The Money In The World is in Australian cinemas January 4.
topics: screen, Kevin Spacey, ridley scott, Michelle Williams, All The Money In The World
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Audrina Patridge: “The Hills made me look desperate and always wanting Justin”
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Speech Online
The Dirty Business of Hosting Hate Online
Illustration: Jim Cooke (Gizmodo)
Aaron Sankin
Filed to: speech onlineFiled to: speech online
deplatforming
Move ad slots
Speech OnlineThis week, we’re looking at the state of free speech on the internet, how we got here, and where we’re going.
Sometime in the three years before he murdered nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, Dylan Roof sat down at his computer and typed “black on White crime” into Google. According to Roof’s online manifesto, something about the death of Trayvon Martin sparked his curiosity. Roof knew George Zimmerman, who killed Martin, was the real victim, but he wanted statistics to prove what he felt in his gut.
“The first website I came to was the Council of Conservative Citizens,” Roof wrote. “There were pages upon pages of these brutal black on White murders. I was in disbelief. At this moment I realized that something was very wrong.”
Roof pointed to his discovery of the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens website as the beginning of his journey into radicalization. Its end was a massacre he hoped would spark a race war with millions of white Americans following in his bloody footsteps.
In the weeks leading up to the church attack, the site that inspired Roof featured story after story portraying blacks as uniquely dangerous threats—a “racial spree shooting in Texas,” dozens killed in a single weekend in Chicago, and Jay-Z allegedly “funding violent protests in Baltimore and Ferguson.”
Four years later, the Council of Conservative Citizens’ website is still online, pumping out stories about “black serial murderers.” Those pieces are now slotted between odes to nationalist politicians like Nigel Farage, advertisements for a white supremacist conference at a Tennessee state park, and a widget tracking the progress of a crowdfunding campaign to help build Donald Trump’s border wall.
All of that content is still out there, waiting to be found by the next Dylan Roof. But the people behind the site aren’t able to spread their message without some help: The group’s website is hosted by a Michigan-based company called Liquid Web and registered by web infrastructure giant GoDaddy, a publicly traded company currently valued at over $12 billion.
America is a country without hate speech laws, one built on the premise that it’s not the government’s job to decide what types of speech should be prohibited. In the internet era, that sort of governance is largely left up to the private companies responsible for the technology powering all our digital communications. As spectacular incidents of hate-based violence draw headlines and the web is flooded with extremist content, there’s been an increasing public pressure for companies to take that responsibility more seriously.
While social media giants have received the brunt of the attention for providing a platform to hate groups, firms that enable more basic kinds of services to these deeply controversial groups appear to have largely abdicated that responsibility—or rejected the notion that refusing to do business with certain groups is the right thing to do.
“The people who run these platforms have to make decisions about the greater good—whether they want to or not.”
The Council of Conservative Citizens site is just one of the 391 websites we ran through web-based tools to determine which tech companies are providing services to groups like it. We reached out to a handful of non-profit organizations that work to monitor and counter hate—the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Anti-Defamation League, Hope Not Hate, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, and the Counter Extremism Project. They each provided us a list of groups they see as being involved in the propagation of hate. To this list we added some other sites operated by groups connected to the sites provided by these nonprofits, which we then verified with the groups that provided the initial lists.
The organizations we looked at run the gamut from white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and chapters of the Ku Klux Klan to groups dedicated to stripping the rights of immigrants and LGBT people. There are also some neo-Confederates, black nationalists and racist Odinists in the mix as well. The list includes one website for a white nationalist beer company and a whites-only dating site.
Using this list, we found 151 tech companies currently offering hosting, DNS registration, or content delivery network services to the websites on this list. While the overwhelming majority of companies only worked with one or two sites, some names came up again and again.
GoDaddy and its subsidiary Wild West Domains provided services to the largest number of sites on our list, 130. Cloudflare, which provides protection against distributed denial-of-service attacks, works with the second largest number of sites, 56. They are followed by Tucows (and its subsidiary eNom) with 46 and the companies comprising Endurance International Group with 42.
While the aforementioned companies play major roles in the online ecosystem, most are relatively obscure to the general public. However, there were some big names we found working with sites on our list. Google provided services to 27 sites, Amazon works with nine, and Microsoft works with five.
We reached out to all of the technology companies mentioned by name in this story. Most either did not respond or gave brief statements that they were looking at the sites we highlighted but declined to go into depth about their policies or their relationships with specific sites.
Of all the sites we inquired about, only 29 were either taken down by their hosts, became inaccessible, or deleted all of their content since we reached out to the technology providers in early June.
The only company to take systematic action was Automattic, which runs Wordpress.com. Automattic terminated the pages of 23 of the 24 pages Gizmodo inquired about, including eight pages operated by chapters of the neo-Confederate group League of the South. Two League of the South pages we asked about were allowed to continue operating on Wordpress, as of our check on July 11, but they have since been suspended.
Aside from a few individual exceptions, it does not appear any other company we contacted took significant action.
Some companies gave broad, formulaic responses about how they work to comply with local laws, but insist, like French hosting company OVH, which works with nine sites, that “cloud infrastructure providers cannot be arbiters of morality,” as the company wrote in an email to Gizmodo.
OVH hosts the websites of a chapter of the KKK that features a picture of the incineration of the Jewish star on its homepage as well as a racist far-right German political party whose members shouted “Heil Hitler” and threw bottles at police during a protest in 2015.
GoDaddy did not sever its relationship with any of the 130 sites we inquired about.
“GoDaddy does not condone content that advocates expressions of hate, racism, bigotry,” a GoDaddy representative wrote in an emailed statement. “We generally do not take action on complaints that would constitute censorship of content and limit the exercise of freedom of speech and expression on the Internet. While we detest the sentiment of such sites, we support a free and open Internet and, similar to the principles of free speech, that sometimes means allowing such tasteless, ignorant content.”
GoDaddy is the registrar for two websites serving as fronts for the neo-Nazi music network Blood & Honour. Blood & Honour was founded by lead singer of the British white supremacist metal band Skrewdriver, whose members reportedly advocated for the same sort of violent race war Roof’s massacre was intended to ignite. The group’s penchant for violence goes beyond simply racial animus. In 2011, two Blood & Honour members were sentenced to life in prison for murdering a pair of homeless people in Florida because they, according to law enforcement officials, “considered the homeless to be an inferior class, regardless of race.”
A spokesperson for DreamHost, which worked with 23 sites on our list, broadly defended the company’s decision to stay relatively hands-off when it comes to the content it hosts, stating, “when private companies that control internet traffic begin to weigh in on questions of content, then the very fabric of what we know the internet to be, and how it can be expected to function, is placed at risk.”
However, in the weeks since we reached out to DreamHost about its relationship with the website of the National Alliance for Reform and Restoration Group, the hate group’s page has been taken offline. The National Alliance for Reform and Restoration Group, among the most extreme and dangerous groups we encountered, has explicitly advocated for genocide against all non-whites in the United States since its founding in 1970. In the years since, several group members have been responsible for over a dozen acts of violence—including failed bombing attempts at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Spokane, Washington, and along the highway leading to Walt Disney World.
The Turner Diaries, a book written by the group’s founder, may have inspired over 200 murders since its publication, author and International Centre for Counter-Terrorism associate fellow J.M. Berger estimates, including those carried out by Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVeigh. When three white men in Jasper, Texas, murdered a disabled African American man by dragging him from the bumper of their car, one of them told police after the attack that they were “starting The Turner Diaries early.”
Google hosts three sites for the neo-Nazi terrorist organization Combat 18, famous for a series of nail bomb attacks targeting predominantly non-white neighborhoods of the UK.
Google also hosts the website for the white nationalist podcast network Radio Aryan. One of the hosts on the network goes by the handle Grandpa Lampshade, a reference to likely apocryphal stories about how Nazi made lampshades from the skin of Jews who died in concentration camps. Shortly before murdering 11 people at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, according to police, Robert Bowers shared an anti-Semitic post by Grandpa Lampshade on the alt-right social network Gab. As HuffPost noted in an article that revealed his true identity, Lampshade said in a podcast in the weeks before the shooting that the “answer” to demographic change in America may “involve a whole lotta killin’.”
Representatives from Google did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“Literally, I woke up in a bad mood and decided someone shouldn’t be allowed on the Internet.”
Network Solutions, which is the registrar for 38 sites on our list, provides services to the website of the National Socialist Movement, which the SPLC calls “one of the largest and most prominent neo-Nazi groups in the United States.” While a statement of principles on the group’s website currently tries to project a kinder, gentler face of national socialism (with calls for universal healthcare and self-rule for Native American territories), an earlier version of the document from 2007 tilted more toward advocating genocide. “All non-White immigration must be prevented,” it read. “We demand that all non-Whites currently residing in America be required to leave the nation forthwith and return to their land of origin: peacefully or by force.”
Taylor Michael Wilson had a Nationalist Socialist Movement business card in his possession when he attempted to hijack an Amtrak train traveling through Nebraska last year. Following the attack, Wilson said he has committed the hijacking “to save the train from black people.”
Court documents from Wilson’s trial show that Wilson’s cousin told investigators that Wilson had “joined an ‘alt right’ Neo-Nazi group that he … had found researching white supremacy forums online.”
HostGator, part of the Endurance International Group, hosts the website of the neo-Nazi Vanguard Streaming Network, which has daily podcasts featuring content like interviews with white supremacist politician Paul Nehlen, an online store where visitors can support the operation by buying neo-Nazi merch (like a shirt with a stylized picture of American Nazi Party founder Geroge Lincoln Rockwell or one featuring an alt-right clown meme), and an article entitled “3 Firearms Every White Man Should Own.”
Sometimes these companies work with organizations that, while dramatically more mainstream than unrepentant neo-Nazis, still advocate viewpoints diametrically opposed to their professed corporate values.
Microsoft hosts the website for Alliance Defending Freedom, likely the most influential anti-LGBT legal advocacy group in the country. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represented the Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple and pushed rules to deliberately expose LGBT people to intentional discrimination in dozens of other states. It fought against the decriminalization of gay sex in Texas and has supported efforts to make gay sex punishable with prison time in Jamaica and Belize.
The group published a memo supporting Russia’s “gay propaganda” law, which prohibited providing access to information about LGBT issues to young people. The law has had the effect of shutting down websites that provide information to LGBT youth and, according to a Human Rights Watch report, stopped mental health professionals in the country from directly addressing LGBT issues with their patients.
At the same time, Microsoft positions itself as a corporate leader in pushing for LGBT rights. A 2018 company blog post reads, “Microsoft has a history of supporting and advocating for LGBTQ+ rights: In 1993, it became the first Fortune 500 company to provide same-sex domestic partnership benefits, and it was also one of the first companies to include sexual orientation in its corporate nondiscrimination policy.”
Microsoft is even pushing international efforts to promote marriage equality around the globe, like in Taiwan, yet the company is providing hosting services to an organization that is a primary institutional force fighting against those very efforts.
A Microsoft spokesperson told Gizmodo in an email that its cloud platform, Azur, is “general purpose” and meant to allow “customers to build and run their own cloud services.”
“We believe this core technology should be available broadly and not based on whether a customer’s views align with our own,” the spokesperson said, adding that the responsibility for content on customers websites is on those customers, not Microsoft.
But Microsoft’s stance was less hands-off than some other firms. The company explained that it would, for example, “reserve the right to suspend or terminate the customer’s use of Azure” if that customer failed to remove content from their site that breaks the law or threatens the safety of others.
Technical relationships between these companies can complicate questions about responsibility. For example, MarkMonitor was technically the registrar for 24 sites on the list. However, all of those sites were hosted on either Google’s Blogspot platform or Automattic’s Wordpress platform. A MarkMonitor spokesperson insisted that because its relationships are with those platforms directly, the company’s only option would be cutting off registration service to the entire Wordpress or Blogspot network, thereby taking millions of sites effectively offline—at least until those platforms found a new registrar.
Most of the companies we reached out to declined to seriously engage with our inquiries, or ignored them completely. A rare exception, Cloudflare’s leadership was excited to engage in the conversation. Cloudflare General Counsel Doug Kramer made the argument that his company, which provides technical protection against denial-of-service attacks, deliberately makes an effort to avoid having to be in the business of judging the moral worth of its clients.
“It’s not that we think doing business with these groups is important for the health of the internet as part of some free expression principle,” Kramer said. “Instead, we think that us taking on the role becoming one of the censors of the internet is bad because we don’t think we would do it well. It would distract us from the virtuous things we are able to do, like keeping the internet secure.”
“It’s easy to point at sites you don’t like and make a single decision,” Kramer added. “But to come up with a consistent policy you can apply to the 16 million websites that use us for various services in a predictable and consistent way is very difficult.”
Cloudflare CEO on Terminating Service to Neo-Nazi Site: 'The Daily Stormer Are Assholes'
Internet companies typically take a hands-off approach to offensive content on their networks,…
Cloudflare has put itself in that situation in the past. Amid a flurry of public pressure following the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Cloudflare cut off service to the neo-Nazi site the Daily Stormer, temporarily reversing its previous policy of content neutrality.
In an email to employees, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince expressed ambivalence about giving the Daily Stormer the boot. “Having made that decision we now need to talk about why it is so dangerous,” he noted. “Literally, I woke up in a bad mood and decided someone shouldn’t be allowed on the Internet. No one should have that power.”
One complication, Cloudflare found, was that after kicking off the Daily Stormer, the company got a flood of complaints about the services it was providing to Black Lives Matter sites and the pages of small religious organizations caught in factional disputes. Having made that decision once, the company was being asked to make it over and over again.
Instead of being deliberate about whose business they take, Cloudflare pivoted to providing free services to organizations fighting hate—like Bedayaa, which advocates for LGBTQI rights in Egypt and Sudan. Good speech, the company hopes, will win the day over bad speech without the need for corporate censorship.
Cloudflare insists it is not up to the task of deciding whether it’s acceptable to take the money of Stormfront, a white supremacist bulletin board whose users have been responsible for nearly 100 murders, according to SPLC, or Vanguard News Network forum, a site where the man who killed three people during a 2014 shooting spree at a pair of Kansas Jewish community centers posted over 12,000 times. Vanguard’s motto: “No Jews. Just Right.”
“There are a lot of people who care about freedom of speech and don’t want these companies themselves to be making all the decisions [about what websites are online],” said Oren Segal, the director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. “They’re erring on the side of allowing any extremists to recruit and radicalize because somehow that’s safer than taking some corporate responsibility and curating what’s on their platforms. I think that’s a problem.”
“When you look at a site like the Daily Stormer, how many times did it get whacked, go away, and just reemerge somewhere else?”
Segal agreed tech companies often do a bad job of determining what is truly extremist content and what isn’t. When social media companies like Facebook and YouTube, for example, are faced with deplatforming campaigns aimed at vulnerable minority groups, they end up making mistakes over and over again, further marginalizing already marginalized voices in the process.
However, Segal insists, that difficulty doesn’t let these companies off the hook for the business direct relationship they have with extremists, a relationship that just so happens to benefit their bottom line—both in terms of earning revenue from these sites’ business in the form of advertising and from not having to expend resources to proactively go out and look for hate groups propagandizing on their platforms.
“There are plenty of organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, that can provide information and definitions and perspective on these groups and their activities so they can make more informed decisions,” he said. “They don’t have to be naturally good at these things, but there is a not unreasonable expectation, that they learn what they need to know to create safer products and to have some corporate responsibility. Ignorance only goes so far in this argument.”
In Segal’s experience, payment processors, like PayPal and Patreon, and social networking companies, like Facebook and Twitter, have been significantly more willing to engage with organizations like the ADL for help in going after organized hate groups on their platforms than hosting and registration infrastructure companies have been. But that’s largely because social networks have become the center of the action.
This online ecosystem is currently in the period of flux. In a previous era of the internet, organized hate groups, and their stand-alone web properties, were the key players. Social media platforms gobbling up much of the rest of the internet has triggered a fundamental shift. “The far right is post-organizational now,” explained Nick Ryan of the UK-based anti-racism advocacy group Hope Not Hate. “Most people engaging with extreme right ideologies, memes, views are doing so online and often not part of a formal network, organization or political movement.”
Stand-alone hate group websites have declined in prominence as unaffiliated social media users sharing racist memes have drawn the public’s attention. That shift, according to Segal, allowed companies providing services to those sites to slip under the radar, while those sites still play an important role in spreading hate.
Some of these sites also distribute extremist and white supremacist podcasts, which experts believe have become increasingly influential. “It seems like there is a new one every day,” Segal said. “Many of these are housed on websites, since they’ve mostly been kicked off of mainstream podcast platforms.”
The Anti-Defamation League provided a list of six of the most influential white nationalist podcasts on the internet and the websites from which they are distributed or otherwise do business with Google, GoDaddy, Endurance International Group, Corporate Colocation Inc., Veesp, Public Domain Registry, Cloudflare, Justhost.ru, DNC Holdings, OVH, Internet Domain Service BS Corp, Squarespace, and Epik.
These podcasts, while playing a significant role in the white nationalist ecosystem, generally escape wider public notice. Before being contacted by Gizmodo, a spokesperson for Veesp, a company with servers located in St. Petersburg, Russia, said they had never received any communications from the public about its relationship with The Right Stuff, a white supremacist podcasting network. In an email, a Veesp representative said the company follows the hate speech laws set under the Russian Federation but scoffed at the idea that a company should take any moral responsibility for the business relationships it has with extremist groups.
In a 2016 episode of a podcast on the network, the hosts insisted that an ethnic cleansing to remove non-whites from the United States was their ultimate goal.
Brad Galloway is a former white nationalist who left the movement, which he now combats from the outside through his work with the Organization for the Prevention of Violence. Having spent years using the internet to recruit people into his hate group, Galloway knows full well how deplatforming can be a double-edged sword.
“I believe they’ll try to operationalize any kind of content and websites still play a huge role in how they’re doing things,” Galloway said. “But it’s a bit like whack-a-mole. When you look at a site like the Daily Stormer, how many times did it get whacked, go away, and just reemerge somewhere else?”
If one web hosting company decides to kick a website off its platform, the group behind the site can easily find another company that doesn’t know, or care, what they’re up to. Switching to a different registrar is even easier. Unless a site is actively undergoing a DDoS attack, most of Cloudflare’s services are immaterial to whether a site’s content is accessible.
From the perspective of a company providing web infrastructure services to an organization on this list, not proactively policing their platform makes a lot of sense. Doing the necessary work requires resources and the overall societal benefit is small if a hate group could get back online within a relatively short period of time. As an added benefit, they also get to continue taking neo-Nazis’ money, which is, at the end of the day, still money.
“When we look at it on a one-off basis, [deplatforming a single site] seems useless and not that practical. But what’s the other option, to just do nothing? There’s a collective effort that needs to be done here,” said Segal.
Segal urges the entire industry to start actively making the moral decision of whether they’re going to take the money of a hate group in exchange for giving that group a platform or they’re not.
Those decisions, made one at a time, by hundreds of different companies, can slowly shift the boundaries of what’s generally acceptable online. Should every tech company on the planet immediately decide to cut off every single group put on some list by an extremism-monitoring nonprofit? No, of course not.
But one step in a positive direction would be working with some of these organizations to police their platforms proactively and, on a case-by-case basis, make the concrete and public decision about if they want to take the money of a neo-Nazi group or not. If they want to take the money of an anti-LGBT group or not. If they want to take the money of a white nationalist dating site exclusively for white people or not.
Right now, as hundreds of sites on our list show, that conversation only seems to be triggered when the media spotlight shines on a particular company’s relationship with a particular site. Even then, it’s usually only after an act of senseless violence.
“To just sort of throw your hands in the air because of the volume, I just don’t think that’s an acceptable answer anymore,” said Segal. “The people who run these platforms have to make decisions about the greater good—whether they want to or not.”
Aaron Sankin is a reporter covering technology. He lives in Hong Kong.
Update: 12:05am, July 15: Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), whose website Microsoft hosts, said in a statement emailed to Gizmodo following publication that our “unfounded assertions” about the legal group—which, as stated above, has repeatedly fought in court against LGBTQ rights—are “offensive and wrong.” As mentioned, Microsoft publicly touts its support for LGBTQ rights. ADF’s full statement is below:
Your unfounded assertions about Alliance Defending Freedom are both offensive and wrong. ADF is a nonprofit legal organization that advocates for the free speech and free exercise rights of all Americans. We’re also a respected and successful Supreme Court advocate. We’ve won nine cases before the Court since 2011 and work with some of the finest lawyers in America. Our track record before the highest court in the land speaks for itself.
Mixing ADF in with genuinely violent hate groups smears us, and suggesting that our hosting company should consider withholding service or face reputational damage is an unacceptable attempt to interfere with our legal mission and advocacy. You will fail, and we would urge you to note our track record in defending the speech rights of others via litigation.
We are disappointed but not surprised by this Gizmodo story. In attacking ADF because you disagree with us, you’ve abandoned basic principles of journalism to become partisan.
Update 11am ET, July 16: Automattic, which runs Wordpress.com, told Gizmodo in an email that it has suspended 23 of the 24 sites we inquired about. We have updated the story to relfect the most recent figures.
More in Speech Online
How American Corporations Are Policing Online Speech Worldwide
An Oral History of the Early Trans Internet
Who Has the Most Censored Internet?
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Home » News » 10 INGREDIENTS FOR A LOCAL PEACE ECONOMY
10 INGREDIENTS FOR A LOCAL PEACE ECONOMY
Local Peace Economy
We are ready to transform the usual way of doing things.
By Jodie Evans / AlterNet
Retro style clenched fist held high in protest against grunge concrete wall background indicating revolution or aggression. Graffiti fist.
Photo Credit: Kunal Mehta
This following essay appears as a chapter in the upcoming book, AfterBern (O/R Books).
We have witnessed a unique moment in U.S. political history. Defying the expectations of most pundits and against all odds, a candidate who is a self-professed democratic socialist, a principled senator from the small, mostly rural state of Vermont, won the hearts and minds of millions of Americans, who rallied, campaigned, argued, protested, and voted for him. Out of the sorrow and despair that comes from living with extreme economic inequality and endless war, a powerful movement has continued to grow.
And though Bernie Sanders may not be our next president, he and the growing movement to break the power of the ruling class (the 1%) will not be stopped. The time is ripe. As Croatian activist and philosopher Srecko Horvat reminds us, “a truly revolutionary moment is like love; it is a crack in the world, in the usual running of things, in the dust that is layered all over in order to prevent anything new.”
We have come together in love and created an opening in the status quo. Still united, we are ready to leap through this crack and transform the usual way of doing things.
As Bernie would be the first to say, this movement is not just about one man or one election. He is just one in a long line of leaders, men and women, who have been and are still working for peace, equity, social justice and the regeneration of our planet. His campaign provided a moment of opportunity. Through his campaign, many realized they had more power than they thought. The pillars of his candidacy are values we need to continue building on to develop a true people’s revolution.
1. The Power of Imagination
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” —Albert Einstein
Imagining change is the first step to realizing change. If you can’t imagine a possibility, it will remain “unimaginable.” To imagine the world as we would like it to be is the first step to making the vision come true. When Bernie declared college tuition should be free, the idea began to seem not only reasonable, but possible. Our nation expanded the boundaries of its imagination and thereby took a big step closer to making free higher education possible. It always seems impossible until it is done.
In the same way, Bernie’s campaign helped millions of Americans imagine medical care as a basic human right, higher taxes on the 1%.
As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, our collective imagination shrinks. Those who benefit from the status quo want things to stay the same, and since they control so many major media sources, we get countless messages telling us it will never be possible to change the system that delivers economic injustice and war on a daily basis.
At the same time, the illusion that war and economic exploitation are inevitable goes hand in hand with the illusion that we are powerless. And the feeling of powerlessness at home and abroad contributes to violence and warfare by feeding our despair,a sense of hopelessness that can makes it difficult to organize a mass movement against war and for a more equitable peace economy.
But this vicious cycle can be turned around. The imagination is powerful. If, as John Lennon suggests, we imagine peace every day, war will begin to seem less and less acceptable. Reality is defined by the limits of our imagination.
We have the power right now to imagine peace, justice and equality. But with power comes responsibility.
Fannie Lou Hamer, the great civil rights leader who began her life as a sharecropper, used to tell a story about an old man who was so wise he could answer question that were almost impossible to answer. So two young men decided to trick him. They planned to bring him a bird and ask him if it was alive or dead. Being blind he could not see for himself, so they decided if he said the bird was dead, he would be wrong and if he said it was alive, they would kill the bird. But when they asked him, “This bird we hold in our hands, is it alive or dead?” he wisely answered, “It’s in your hands.”
2. The Power of Desire
“For me, imagination and desire are very close.” —Jeanette Winterson
There is a scene in Oliver Twist, after Oliver is given a meager portion of food at the orphanage, he asks for, “More, please?” Not only is his request denied, but Oliver learns that he is forbidden even to ask.
We cannot suppress our desires for equity, peace and justice or let anything get in the way of our abilities to ask for more. To inquire, demand, or want are all revolutionary acts, the first steps in social and political transformation.
Since we live in an economy that constantly creates trivial or false desires, we all have to dig a little deeper to discover what we really want. Do we want to win the lottery or do we want to sit at the table with dignity and respect, knowing that everyone will be fed and cared for? While the first wish is a long shot that, whether we win or lose, isolates us from others, the second wish, for economic justice, can be achieved, especially if we unite with others to achieve what we all want.
We have witnessed the power of people who come together with a fervent desire for what is just. Desire is contagious, as we take action, we catch the longing for a better world from each other.
3. The Power of Knowledge
“The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice there is little we can do to change until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds.” —R.D. Laing
You may have a very strong wish that every young person, regardless of family income, have access to a college education. But suppose when you call for free college tuition you are told that the government cannot afford it. With the power of knowledge you can dispute that argument. For instance, did you know that the F-35 fighter jet program was budgeted at $1.4 trillion? This is more than enough to fund free college tuition for every college-age person for 25 years.
The systemic and structural racism exposed in Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow has given the movement for black lives, which heightened from the protests these last two years, an irrefutable base to stand on. Alexander’s book gave concrete form to what black Americans have known through lived experience for decades: that the war on drugs and the prison-industrial complex have been used as tools of oppression against people of color and especially black men for decades. By bringing knowledge to bear on the problem, Alexander is informing the solution and empowering the movement working to bring about positive change.
Education is vital especially what we learn outside the structures that are so often designed to serve the ruling class. If we study political theory, history, economics and literature (think of all the injustice that Dickens was exposing) we can take charge of, deepen and advance the conversation. Veterans of successful political movements are also sources of wisdom we need.
Trusting your own perceptions is often the first step toward change. As the best resource we all have is our innate ability to question and dispute authority, call out lies, gather data, express rational arguments, and above all speak out. It is the core of our work at CodePink. We find ourselves in Congress, and many other places of power—consulates and embassies, weapons makers, killer drone bases—disputing the lies that drive us to war almost every day.
4. The Power of Courage
“Knowing what must be done, does away with fear.” —Rosa Parks
If you find your courage failing you, just think of the root of the word. Coeur in French means heart. Courage comes from caring, from the heart. What do you care about: the lives of your children, your family, the survival of your community, peace, justice and global equity? Thinking of this will give you courage.
To start a war might look at first glance like courage. At least it’s sold as that from entertainment to presidential speeches. But in fact, the greatest courage may come from diplomacy, from trying to forge an understanding with “the other side,” the one defined as an enemy, and by finding agreement, stopping unneeded bloodshed. (Remember that less than century ago many of the countries we are in alliance with now, Germany, Italy and Japan, were thought of as enemies.)
By the same token, to speak out against war takes courage. And to ask our nation to abide by international laws regarding attacks against civilians or torture may take even more. But you’ll find the courage to speak when you open your heart to the victims of these acts. Courage isn’t fearlessness. Medea Benjamin and I often find ourselves holding hands and shaking before the disruption of a war criminal. Yes, our act will have consequences, but the acts of those who take us to war on lies fuels our courage and the fear becomes meaningless. When is it time to risk everything in support of change?
5. The Power of Truth-telling
“…all these walls that oppression builds/Will have to go!” —Langston Hughes
And truth has a power of its own. This is something women discovered at the dawn of the second wave of the Women’s Liberation Movement as we met in small groups to reveal angers, sorrows, disappointments, fears and traumas we had been keeping secret. Some women spoke about having had abortions, others about having been raped. Others said they were unhappy or facing abuse in their marriages or at their jobs. Eventually these confessions coalesced into a clear picture of the oppression of women and into a powerful movement to fight that oppression and all oppression. Indeed, whenever any of us speak out we are tearing down the walls of oppression for all of us.
In the last decade, as our nation continues waging perpetual war, we are experiencing another kind of truth-telling, in the tradition of Daniel Ellsberg, who exposed the truth about the Vietnam war. We have whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden revealing the way we’re all being spied upon by our government, illegal torture and acts of war. As Americans it is our responsibility to tell the truth about the injustices committed within and by our political system.
6. The Power of Connecting
“You think you understand one. You think you understand two, because one and one make two. But, you must also understand ‘and.'” —Sufi saying
The power to connect with each other over what we cherish and how we may have suffered is among the most powerful tools we have to organize an effective movement for change. By connecting we learn from each other and in the process enlarge the scope and effectiveness of our efforts many fold.
Because of the traditional roles we’ve learned to play, many women are very good at navigating differences and peacemaking, the skills that include caring, mutual respect, listening, a willingness to look beyond assumptions and stereotypes, a certain measure of selflessness and an ability to connect to the real person, past fame and titles. Nineteenth-century poet Emily Dickinson’s words seem relevant here, “I’m nobody! Who are you?/ Are you—Nobody too/Then there’s a pair of us.”
If we are to have peace in the world, we must all, men and women alike, learn to be relational. But in the meantime let’s promote many more women in the peacemaking process.
The power to connect is also crucial to the way we think about the social and political problems we share. Just as in any ecological community every being affects every other being, the issues we are confronting today are connected. Peace cannot be separated from justice or the economy. Just as wars are fought over resources like oil and water, the manufacturers of arms and the nuclear industry have too much influence over our government. We also need to connect the dots between well over half of our tax dollars going to war and militarism while the needs of our communities, such as healthy drinking water in Flint, Michigan go unmet.
During the protest in Ferguson, Medea and I met a mother from Texas who had also lost her son to police violence. We invited her and a dozen other mothers to Washington DC to tell their stories to Congress, the White House and the Department of Justice. Their fierce truths and unyielding force for justice startled everyone they met. But the most valuable experience was the connections they made with each other, which have nurtured the fight they now continued together.
The more we connect with each other and share our experiences and stories, the more robust our movement can grow and the more we see how everything is connected, the wider and deeper our vision will be. This also means connecting to movements globally.
7. The Power of Commitment
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart, and try to love the questions themselves.” —Rainer Maria Rilke
Revolutions do not appear out of nowhere. Though it may have seemed that the student movement that grew so rapidly in the ’60s came from thin air, it was preceded by countless protests, meetings, writing, legislative efforts, acts of courage that continued throughout the ’50s in protest to McCarthyism and racism. Similarly the women’s liberation movement grew out of and learned from various student, anti-nuclear and anti-Vietnam War movements and civil rights activism.
Even successful movements that appear to have arisen over night have been preceded by continued and patient efforts, efforts that include election campaigns that may have been lost in the short run but that, in the long run, seeded greater change. If you look at the progress of LGBT rights for instance you’ll find some victories and many “failures.” Yet all these efforts ultimately counted not only to widen human rights, but to enlarge our ideas about who we are.
Some issues like demanding an end to nuclear weapons can seem the monster in a nightmare who keeps coming back no matter how many times you vanquish it. Here is where real commitment comes to play. Perhaps, because it may take more than a lifetime to end the production of nuclear weapons, you will not see the change while you are still alive, but all life, the lives of our children and grandchildren are in balance.
Think of what philosopher Martin Buber said when he was asked what he would do if he knew he would die tomorrow. I would plant a tree, he replied. Too often our views are in reaction to what is happening around us. We need to be committed to the deepest values we desire for the planet and the human race and let those in politics choose to compromise.
Tim Carpenter was a deputy in the Brown for President campaign I managed 24 years ago. Like Bernie, Jerry Brown ran a campaign that represented the needs of the people against the rich and powerful. Decades later, it was Tim Carpenter who was relentless in his calls for Bernie to run, and it was at his memorial service after his long fight with cancer that Bernie agreed. It was the power of Tim’s commitment to push Bernie and Bernie’s lifelong commitment to his values that created a force of trust that was potent in building power.
8. The Power of Creation
“We come from the creator with creativity. Each one of us is born with creativity.” —Maya Angelou
If the first step is to imagine, the next is to create and build. And the third is to realize you can’t do it alone. And if you reach out for help, you’ll discover hidden wells of creativity all around you. Creation itself is a collaborative act, if only between your ideas and the material you are shaping, whether it is wood or words, a community or a protest march. If you have ever watched a house being built you’ve probably witnessed a collaborative effort. The architect and the carpenters and the plumbers and electrician, painters, masons and roofers, must all work together, letting each other know their requirements and limits, and accommodating their plans when necessary.
Everyone has unique gifts to contribute. If you ask participants what they can or want to give, you will be surprised by the rich possibilities. And while building anything; you are also building a network. Meeting in person always has at least more than one purpose. The first may be to reach a decision collaboratively. But the second is to build trust and community. This is what peace looks like. (The opposite of war.)
9. The Power of Change
“Forget your perfect offering./There is a crack in everything./That’s how the light gets in.” —Leonard Cohen
As you call for change you are changed. Nothing in this world is static. Any movement for change will change you too. But if it takes courage to challenge the status quo, the challenge can also give you courage. And since change can be frightening, we all need this courage, especially at this moment in history, when because of climate disruption, we are not only going to have to change business as usual but the ways we live. To shift from a war to a peace economy will also require a transformation not only of society but of our own lives.
Is there a way to see each crack in our worlds as letting the light in? If to stop climate change we use less oil for instance, perhaps we will also be removing the cause of endless war over that resource in the Middle East. At the same time ending our perpetual wars would release public funds to help build more egalitarian and cooperative economies in our communities.
When we look at the decades long struggle for justice for the Palestinian people, we see the way the U.S government subsidizes Israel’s occupation and effectively shields Israel from accountability for its violations of international law. A huge change we have seen in the middle of Bernie’s campaign was for the first time in recent memory, a presidential candidate talked sympathetically about the plight of Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza. It was a result of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement which was created to hold Israel to account for its apartheid system, land theft and war crimes.
Not only are boycott campaigns having an impact on public perception of Israel’s occupation profiteering, they are also having profound reputational and economic effects on companies such as Ahava, SodaStream, Airbnb, and RE/MAX. The BDS Movement is growing stronger every day, to the extent that attempts are being made to pass laws that punish those who boycott Israel. Recently New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an Executive Order that will create a blacklist of organizations that support boycott and divestment against Israel, but here again we have an opportunity to broaden support for BDS by showing this to be an attack on the First Amendment and our right to boycott.
10. The Power of Love
“Justice is what love looks like in public.” —Cornel West
“Love is an expression of power. We can use it to transform our world.” —Ericka Huggins
Everything you do is more powerful and lasting when it is motivated by love instead of hate or fear. Love grows a movement. Hate and violence do too, but not in the way you may want. Think about the effect of drone strike on those who have been wounded or lost family members. A strategy meant to instill fear also instills rage.
On the other hand the Marshall plan, American’s contribution to rebuilding Europe after World War II, was responsible for creating decades of peace between European nations.
Bernie cautioned those around not to act from personal hate. Hate injustice, war, climate change, inequality. But let that hate be transformed into a wild fire of love for others, an inspiration to create and grow peace. Trump is the poster child for hate. Let his small-minded and mean-spirited attacks be daily reminders to act from love.
Love and justice are both victims of war. We can turn that around by acting for justice with love while we build a peace economy.
Bringing It Home
“We who believe in freedom cannot rest.” —Ella Baker
Every transaction we make in our daily lives ultimately contributes toward building a peace economy or a war economy, a world of compassion, justice and well being, or a world of indifference and violence. The peace economy model encourages us to reinvest in our local communities and build relationships with the people we live near. It calls for creating cultural, social and economic models that cultivate a sense of respect and self-determination for all our communities. We cannot make these changes without the foundational building blocks of the very peace and justice we are seeking.
The peace economy already exists, it is the giving, sharing, caring, resilient relation economy without which none of us would be alive. We have to start valuing it more than the war economy. The first step is realizing the impact that our daily actions have in local and global communities and change these in a way that reinvest in the people and the earth. Take the macro problem to the micro.
And when facing intransigence, despair, cynicism or doubt, you can disarm your audience with humour. CodePink started in the summer after 9/11 after the new director of Homeland Security had instituted a self-serious method of alerts with a rainbow of colors specifying the degree of danger the USA was facing: code red for a severe level of danger, orange for high danger, yellow for elevated. Almost immediately this became the but of several jokes. At a meeting of women leaders and artists of all kinds, we added our own humor to the mix, coming up with “Code Hot Pink.” Soon this became CodePink.
Of course, we weren’t exactly joking, but hilarity and satire are weapons that oppressed and disempowered people often use to begin to level the field. CodePink has kept the spirit of irreverence alive, giving hawkish leaders a pink slip (taking off and handing over garments hidden under T-shirts to dramatize the moment), circling the White House with women wearing pink, unfurling pink banners to expose the truth during congressional hearings. This garners attention as ways to say what everyone knows but no one has the courage to speak. But it also does something at least equally important. Through laughter we bring down those who are bloated with power and lift our own spirits at the same time.
Your next revolutionary act can be divesting from the unjust, extractive war economy into building a just peace economy for all. (Find out how at CodePink.org.)
Where do you live? What are the problems you and your neighbors face? Is there too much violence in your neighborhood? If we gather together to explore solutions we become more creative and powerful. Then we can find the solutions we truly want. Instead of the militarized police force that so many of our governments offer us, we can work to get guns out of our communities, and at the same time, advocate for shifting the large portion of our federal budget devoted to war to provide better education, after school programs and jobs for our children.
Do you live in a college town? Has that college divested from investments in oil, weapons and Israel? Is it offering programs that serve your community? Is it part of the war or a peace economy?
Are there military bases or munitions factories in your community, or near your water supply? The military is one of the greatest polluters all over the world. Test your water. Find out what toxic waste dumps are in your communities, what has been dumped there, what are the effects of these chemicals on your community’s health.
Can you find locally produced or grown food near where you live? Are there empty lots that can be used to grow vegetables or as the sites for affordable housing?
Is there a way you can support locally produced goods? If you have to use a chain store, does that corporation support unions, have fair hiring practices, pay a decent wage, divest from fossil fuels, sell locally produced and organic products, donate profits back into your community? As a customer you can influence the policies of the businesses you patronize.
You have the right to demand the safe, supportive environments a peace economy can provide.
Remember, it’s in your hands.
Trump administration to approve pesticide that may harm bees
The Case for Declaring a National Climate Emergency
These COTE Top Ten Winners Are Strengthening Their Communities
‘Completely terrifying’: Study warns carbon-saturated oceans are headed toward tipping point — and could unleash mass extinction event
Code Pink
Jodie Evans
Controversial agency relocation slammed as attack on science by lawmakers, employees
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Jussie Smollett Returns to the ‘Empire’ Set 2 Hours After Bail Hearing
By Barbara Sobel on February 21, 2019 No Comment
Following his court hearing on Feb. 21, 2019, actor Jussie Smollett returned to the set of his television show “Empire.”
Smollett was released after posting $100,000 bail. He was charged with disorderly conduct which is a felony. Smollett has been accused of staging his own hate crime attack in January.
The actor was originally scheduled to film his Fox series this week, but in light of his legal issues, his role was cut back.
Throughout the ordeal, Fox stood behind Smollett. Several statements were issued giving their support, even as evidence was being presented that the actor orchestrated the attack. On Feb. 20, Fox released a statement saying they were examining the situation and are evaluating their options.
Even as the legal issues continued to mount, Smollet has supporters at Fox, and the hope was as late as Feb. 19 he would be able to finish filming his part on ‘Empire.’ The series has a little over an episode to film for its fifth season, which is a week’s worth of filming. Smollett was given time off this week to address his legal issues.
Sources have reported Fox has not made any decisions about Smollett’s future on the show. Fox executives are discussing their options.
Variety: Jussie Smollett Returns to ‘Empire’ Set As Fox Struggles to Decide His Fate
People: Jussie Smollett Returns to Empire Set Hours After Being Released From Jail
Page Six: Jussie Smollett could return to ‘Empire’ set after bail hearing
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of YouTube – Creative Common License
Empire, Jussie Smollett, Smollett
Jussie Smollett Returns to the ‘Empire’ Set 2 Hours After Bail Hearing added by Barbara Sobel on February 21, 2019
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Tag Archives: Helen “Carmen Reece” Culver
Ciara confirms details for new album “Beauty Marks”
Ciara has confirmed the details for her upcoming album.
The American singer/songwriter christened her seventh studio collection “Beauty Marks” and will release it on May 10 via Beauty Marks Entertainment.
Current promotional single “Thinkin Bout You” – which was co-written by Ester Dean and produced by Space Primates (aka Marc Sibley and Nathan Cunningham) – is now available via all digital streaming outlets.
Other album contributors include Rodney Jerkins (Brandy, Toni Braxton), Jasper Cameron (Mario, Christina Aguilera), Theron Thomas (Rihanna, Nicki Minaj), Carmen Reece (Ariana Grande, Craig David), Sam Fischer (Arlissa, Lennon Stella) and Jonathan “J.R.” Rotem (Gwen Stefani, Jason Derulo).
See the tracklisting for “Beauty Marks” below.
(1) I Love Myself (f/ Macklemore) / (2) Level Up / (3) Set / (4) Thinkin Bout You / (5) Trust Myself / (6) Girl Gang (f/ Kelly Rowland) / (7) Dose / (8) Na Na / (9) Freak Me (f/ Tekno) / (10) Greatest Love / (11) Beauty Marks
Tags: Beauty Marks Entertainment, Carmen Reece, Ciara Harris, Ester Dean, Helen "Carmen Reece" Culver, Helen Culver, Jasper Cameron, Jonathan “J.R.” Rotem, Jonathan Rotem, Kelly Rowland, Macklemore, Marc Sibley, Nathan Cunningham, Rodney Jerkins, Sam Fischer, Space Primates, Theron Thomas
Categories Albums
Craig David records new music with Gary Barlow
Craig David has recorded new music with Gary Barlow.
The British singer/songwriter and lead singer of pop group Take That previously wrote songs for Alesha Dixon (“To Love Again”), Blue (“Guilty”), Delta Goodrem (“Not Me, Not I”), Atomic Kitten (“Always Be My Baby”), Robbie Williams (“Shame”), Amy Studt (“Testify”) and Lara Fabian (“No Big Deal”).
Barlow’s last studio collection, 2013’s “Since I Saw You Last,” peaked to number two on the UK Albums Chart and spawned three singles in the shape of “Let Me Go,” “Face to Face” and “Since I Saw You Last.”
Meanwhile, David is expected to release his upcoming eighth album later this year via Sony Music Entertainment/Insanity Records.
The follow-up to 2018’s “The Time is Now” reportedly yields further contributions from Fraser T. Smith, Cathy Dennis, Tre Jean-Marie, Jin Jin, Naughty Boy, Rachel Furner, Ed Drewett, Grace Barker, Oliver Heldens, Carmen Reece, Max Wolfgang, Alan Sampson, and Banx & Ranx.
David’s current promotional single “Come Alive” – taken from “The Greatest Showman Reimagined” original motion soundtrack – is now available via iTunes and all other digital streaming outlets.
Stream the audio clip for “Come Alive” below.
Tags: Alan Sampson, Banx & Ranx, Carmen Reece, Cathy Dennis, Craig David, Ed Drewett, Fraser T. Smith, Garly Barlow, Grace Barker, Helen "Carmen Reece" Culver, Helen Culver, Insanity Records, Janee "Jin Jin" Bennett, Janee Bennett, Jin Jin, Max McElligott, Max Wolfgang, Naughty Boy, Oliver Heldens, Rachel Furner, Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan, Shahid Khan, SME, Sony Music Entertianment, Tre Jean-Marie, Yannick Rastogi, Zacharie Raymond
Arlissa recruits Wrabel, Stint for new collaboration
Arlissa has recruited the songwriting and production services of Wrabel and Stint for her upcoming project under Def Jam Recordings.
Besides co-writing and providing guest vocals on Afrojack’s international hit single “Ten Feet Tall,” Wrabel has also penned songs for Ellie Goulding (“Devotion”), Kesha (“Woman”), Galantis (“True Feeling”), Kygo (“With You”) and Backstreet Boys (“Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”).
Meanwhile, Stint (born Ajay Bhattacharyya) is responsible for helming Alina Baraz’s “Feels Right,” Nao’s “Drive and Disconnect,” Jessie Ware’s “Alone,” Sabrina Claudio’s “Unravel Me,” Demi Lovato’s “Tell Me You Love Me,” AlunaGeorge’s “Jealous,” and Zara Larsson’s “Make That Money Girl.”
Arlissa’s current promotional single “We Won’t Move” – which was co-written by Jessica “Harloe” Karpov and produced by Kevin White and Mike Woods of Rice N Peas – appears on the original motion picture soundtrack, “The Hate U Give.”
Her upcoming project reportedly delivers additional alliances with Jesse Shatkin, MoZella, RyKeyz, Jeff Kleinman, Geoffrey Warburton, Martin Sjolie, Sam Fischer, Carmen Reece, Lostboy, Sinai Tedross, Andre Harris, Sidnie Tipton, Martin Terefe, Jonny Hockings, Anita Blay, T-Collar, and Pip Kembo.
Watch the music video for “We Won’t Move” below.
Tags: Ajay "Stint" Bhattacharyya, Ajay Bhattacharyya, Andre Harris, Anita Blay, Arlissa Ruppert, Carmen Reece, Def Jam Recordings, Geoffrey Warburton, Helen "Carmen Reece" Culver, Helen Culver, Jeff Kleinman, Jesse Shatkin, Jonny Hockings, LOSTBOY, Martin Sjolie, Martin Terefe, Maureen “Mozella” McDonalad, Mozella, Peter "LOSTBOY" Rycroft, Peter Rycroft, Pip Kembo, Ryan “Rykeyz” Williamson, Ryan Williamson, Rykeyz, Sam Fischer, Sidnie Tipton, Sinai Tedross, Stephen Wrabel, Stint, T-Collar, Tinashe “T-Collar” Sibanda, UMG, Universal Music Group
Arlissa taps Maureen “MoZella” McDonald, Jesse Shatkin for new collaboration
Arlissa has tapped the songwriting and production services of Maureen “MoZella” McDonald and Jesse Shatkin for her upcoming debut album.
MoZella’s songwriting resume boasts works with Miley Cyrus (“Wrecking Ball”), Charlie Puth (“One Call Away”), Rihanna (“Dancing in the Dark”), Ellie Goulding (“Don’t Panic”), Madonna (“Living for Love”), Rachel Platten (“Speechless”), Tinashe (“Feels Like Vegas”) and Miranda Lambert (“Secrets”).
Besides working with MoZella on songs performed by Kelly Clarkson (“Love So Soft”) and One Direction (“Perfect”); Shatkin is also responsible for co-writing/producing Sia’s “Chandelier,” Rihanna’s “Sledgehammer,” Camila Cabello’s “I Have Questions,” Foxes’ “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now,” Paloma Faith’s “Till I’m Done,” and Charlie Puth’s “Up All Night.”
Meanwhile, Arlissa’s upcoming debut album is expected to arrive later this year via Universal Music Group / Def Jam Recordings.
The still-untitled collection reportedly delivers further contributions from Martin Sjolie, RyKeyz, Jeff Kleinman, Geoffrey Warburton, Sam Fischer, Carmen Reece, Lostboy, Sinai Tedross, Andre Harris, Sidnie Tipton, Martin Terefe, Jonny Hockings, Anita Blay, T-Collar, and Pip Kembo.
Watch the music video for “Hearts Ain’t Gonna Lie” below.
Tags: Andre Harris, Anita Blay, Arlissa Ruppert, Carmen Reece, Def Jam Recordings, Geoffrey Warburton, Helen "Carmen Reece" Culver, Helen Culver, Jeff Kleinman, Jesse Shatkin, Jonny Hockings, LOSTBOY, Martin Sjolie, Martin Terefe, Maureen “Mozella” McDonalad, Mozella, Peter "LOSTBOY" Rycroft, Peter Rycroft, Pip Kembo, Ryan “Rykeyz” Williamson, Ryan Williamson, Rykeyz, Sam Fischer, Sidnie Tipton, Sinai Tedross, T-Collar, Tinashe “T-Collar” Sibanda, UMG, Universal Music Group
Craig David enlists Max Wolfgang for new collaboration
Craig David has enlisted Max Wolfgang for a new collaboration.
The British singer/songwriter (born Max McElligot) has previously penned songs for Kygo & John Newman (“Never Let You Go”), Zayn Malik (“Back to Life”), Paloma Faith (“Loyal”), Kylie Minogue (“Your Body”), Chelcee Grimes (“Just Like That”), Jackson Penn (“Streetlights on Mars”) and Rudimental ft. Ed Sheeran (“Lay It All On Me”).
Signed to Universal Music Publishing Group UK, McElligott has also contributed to the next projects by Dan Caplen, Ella Eyre, Kwabs, Zara Larsson, Birdy, Crystal Fighters, Dolapo, John Legend, Lennon Stella, Mae Muller, Olivia Deano, Stephen Puth, and Zak Abel.
Meanwhile, David is reportedly working on his upcoming eighth album with songwriters and producers including Fraser T. Smith, Cathy Dennis, Naughty Boy, Janee “Jin Jin” Bennett, Ed Drewett, Nile Rodgers, Rachel Furner, ADP, Carmen Reece, Oliver Heldens, Grace Barker, Alan Sampson, and Banx & Ranx.
David’s last studio collection “The Time is Now,” which was released earlier this year, peaked to number two on the UK Albums Chart and spawned singles “Heartline,” “I Know You” and “Magic.”
Stream the audio clip for “Brand New” below.
Tags: ADP, Alan Sampson, Amish “ADP” Patel, Amish Patel, Banx & Ranx, Carmen Reece, Cathy Dennis, Craig David, Ed Drewett, Grace Barker, Helen "Carmen Reece" Culver, Helen Culver, Janee "Jin Jin" Bennett, Janee Bennett, Jin Jin, Max McElligott, Max Wolfgang, Naughty Boy, Nile Rodgers, Oliver Heldens, Rachel Furner, Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan, Shahid Khan, Yannick Rastogi, Zacharie Raymond
Craig David enlists Cathy Dennis for new collaboration
Craig David has enlisted Cathy Dennis for a new collaboration.
The former British recording artist is known for co-writing Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” Britney Spears’s “Toxic,” Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl,” Janet Jackson’s “Island Life,” Rachel Stevens’ “Sweet Dreams My LA Ex,” Livvi Franc’s “Automatik,” and Spice Girls’ “Bumper to Bumper.”
Dennis has also worked with producers including Stargate, Greg Kurstin, Scott Storch, Devonte Hynes, Mark Ronson, Greg Wells, Jack Splash, Rick Nowels, Christopher Braide, Guy Chambers, Harvey Mason Jr., and Future Cut.
Besides regular collaborators Janee “Jin Jin” Bennett and Fraser T. Smith, Craig David has also worked on new music with Naughty Boy, Ed Drewett, Nile Rodgers, Rachel Furner, ADP, Carmen Reece, Oliver Heldens, Grace Barker, Alan Sampson, and Banx & Ranx.
Watch the music video for “Just Another Dream” below.
Tags: ADP, Alan Sampson, Amish “ADP” Patel, Amish Patel, Banx & Ranx, Carmen Reece, Cathy Dennis, Craig David, Ed Drewett, Grace Barker, Helen "Carmen Reece" Culver, Helen Culver, Janee "Jin Jin" Bennett, Janee Bennett, Jin Jin, Naughty Boy, Nile Rodgers, Oliver Heldens, Rachel Furner, Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan, Shahid Khan, Yannick Rastogi, Zacharie Raymond
Craig David hits the studio with Naughty Boy, Ed Drewett
Craig David has teamed up with Naughty Boy and Ed Drewett for a new collaboration.
“Blessed day writing with my brothers @craigdavid and @eddrewett can’t wait for you all to hear what we have created, some songs are made with pure magic in the air, and I’m grateful for this song and for our conversations,” Naughty Boy posted to Instagram on Thursday (15 November 2018).
Besides previously working with David on “Going On” and “Couldn’t Be Mine,” Drewett is also responsible for co-writing Jonas Blue’s “Polaroid,” Little Mix’s “Black Magic,” Louisa Johnson’s “So Good,” Sinead Harnett’s “Do It Anyway,” Britney Spears’ “Hard to Forget Ya,” and Olly Murs’s “Hand on Heart.”
Meanwhile, Naughty Boy’s production resume boasts works with Emeli Sande (“Heaven”), Leona Lewis (“Trouble”), Rihanna (“Half of Me”), Mary J. Blige (“Pick Me Up”), James Arthur (“Supposed”), Marlon Roudette (“Anti Hero”), Tanika Bailey (“Runaway”) and Cheryl Cole (“Craziest Things”).
As mentioned on earlier posts, David has recently worked on new music with Nile Rodgers, Jin Jin, Rachel Furner, ADP, Carmen Reece, Oliver Heldens, Grace Barker, Alan Sampson, and Banx & Ranx.
His last studio collection “The Time is Now,” which was released earlier this year, peaked to number two on the UK Albums Chart and spawned singles “Heartline,” “I Know You” and “Magic.”
Stream the audio clip for “Going On” below.
Tags: ADP, Alan Sampson, Amish “ADP” Patel, Amish Patel, Banx & Ranx, Carmen Reece, Craig David, Ed Drewett, Grace Barker, Helen "Carmen Reece" Culver, Helen Culver, Janee "Jin Jin" Bennett, Janee Bennett, Jin Jin, Naughty Boy, Nile Rodgers, Oliver Heldens, Rachel Furner, Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan, Shahid Khan, Yannick Rastogi, Zacharie Raymond
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State Department Releases New Huma Abedin Documents
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton made the following statement regarding today’s pending 3:00 pm (Eastern) release by the U.S. Department of State of Huma Abedin’s work-related documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that were found on her estranged husband Anthony Weiner’s personal laptop.
This is a major victory. After years of hard work in federal court, Judicial Watch has forced the State Department to finally allow Americans to see these public documents. It will be in keeping with our past experience that Abedin’s emails on Weiner’s laptop will include classified and other sensitive materials. That these government docs were on Anthony Weiner’s laptop dramatically illustrates the need for the Justice Department to finally do a serious investigation of Hillary Clinton’s and Huma Abedin’s obvious violations of law.
In accordance with a court ordered production of documents, a State Department court filing states: “The State Department “identified approximately 2,800 work-related documents among the documents provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” The State Department told the court it expected to complete its review and production of the FBI records by December 31, 2017.
The documents were produced in a May 5, 2015, lawsuit Judicial Watch filed against the State Department (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00684)). Judicial Watch sued after the State Department failed to respond to a March 18, 2015, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking: “All emails of official State Department business received or sent by former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin from January 1, 2009 through February 1, 2013 using a non-‘state.gov’ email address.”
Abedin was former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s deputy chief of staff. Weiner is a disgraced former congressman and New York mayoral candidate who pleaded guilty to transferring obscene material to a minor. Abedin kept a non-State.gov email account that she used repeatedly for government business on Hillary Clinton’s notorious email server(s).
Judicial Watch previously released 20 productions of documents in this case that show examples of mishandling of classified information and instances of pay to play between the Clinton State Department and the Clinton Foundation. Also, at least 627 emails were not part of the 55,000 pages of emails that Clinton turned over, and further contradict a statement by Clinton that, “as far as she knew,” all of her government emails had been turned over to department.
Clinton Emails
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http://www.judicialwatch.org/
The motto of Judicial Watch is “Because no one is above the law”. To this end, Judicial Watch uses the open records or freedom of information laws and other tools to investigate and uncover misconduct by government officials and litigation to hold to account politicians and public officials who engage in corrupt activities.
Migrants from Terrorist Nations Trying To Enter Souther Border At Record Rates
Africans Indicted For Stealing, Selling U.S.-Funded Malaria Drugs On Black Market
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Men's Wearhouse Named One of FORTUNE's '100 Best Companies to Work For'
HOUSTON, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Men's Wearhouse (NYSE: MW) announced today that it has been ranked number 68 on the 13th annual "100 Best Companies to Work For" list. The full list and related stories will appear in the February 8, 2010 issue of FORTUNE, available at newsstands on Monday, January 25, 2010 and now at www.fortune.com/bestcompanies.
George Zimmer, founder and CEO, stated, "I am once again extremely proud of the thousands of employees at Men's Wearhouse who provide our customers with outstanding customer service and reinforce our mission of maximizing sales by providing great value and service to our customers while having fun."
FORTUNE Deputy Managing Editor Hank Gilman says, "The most important considerations for this year's list were hiring and the ways in which companies are helping their employees weather the recession. All 100 companies on our list are currently hiring, many of them aggressively, leading to more than 96,000 open job positions expected in the next year."
To pick the 100 Best Companies, FORTUNE partners with the Great Place to Work Institute to conduct the most extensive employee survey in corporate America. Two-thirds of a company's score is based on the results of surveys sent to a random sample of employees. The survey asks questions related to their attitudes about the management's credibility, job satisfaction, and camaraderie. The other third of the scoring is based on the company's responses to the Institute's Culture Audit which includes questions about pay and benefit programs and a series of open-ended questions about hiring, communication, and diversity.
Founded in 1973, Men's Wearhouse is one of North America's largest specialty retailers of men's apparel with 1,271 stores. The Men's Wearhouse, Moores and K&G stores carry a full selection of designer, brand name and private label suits, sport coats, furnishings and accessories and the Men's Wearhouse and Tux stores carry a limited selection. Tuxedo rentals are available in the Men's Wearhouse, Moores and Men's Wearhouse and Tux stores.
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Home IDF Archive 180,000 Palestinians Treated in Israeli Hospitals This Year
180,000 Palestinians Treated in Israeli Hospitals This Year
Tens of thousands of Palestinians patients benefit from treatments in Israeli hospitals each year
Date: 25/11/2010, 12:12 PM
Humanitarian dilemmas are a recurring issue in the Judea and Samaria region. A terrorist fires at IDF (Zahal) soldiers, is shot and gets wounded. Is an IDF (Zahal) medic to be called to treat him? A building is about to collapse in the heart of Ramallah. Does the IDF (Zahal) enter? Does it jeopardize its soldiers’ lives, or does it call the International Red Cross and risk losing precious time?
To Israel, the answer to these questions is clear. According to Division Medical Officer, Lt. Col. Michael Kassirer, “The treatment of the Palestinian population is first and foremost a moral and professional obligation for every one of us.” Do we treat them? There is no question about it. But what happens in the long run and how? Where do international organizations fit in? How will an independent Palestinian medical body be established and how does coordination between bodies happen in life? These are the real questions.
In order to start answering these questions, a special conference on the topic of humanitarian medicine was held on Monday (Nov. 22), at Hadassah Medical Center at Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. Commanders and medics attended in order to speak and learn, from the most senior, IDF (Zahal) Chief Medical Officer and the Commander of Judea and Samaria Division, to the 19-year-old paramedics serving with the battalions in the region.
“Up until September 2000, a Ramallah resident could have taken his car and driven to Ichilov Hospital [in Israel],” began Commander of Judea and Samaria Division, Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon. “But from September 2000 we’ve been in a state of terror. Hundreds were killed, Jews and Palestinians alike. The battles took place in the heart of the cities, in places where enemies stood side by side with civilians, with difficult conditions and limited ability to evacuate. We could not practice medicine beyond the minimum. In those days, we were on the verge of a humanitarian crisis.”
But today, he says, the situation is different. Thanks to many efforts on both sides, stability has been restored. “The political leadership is able to make decisions not in the context of buses exploding. And now, along with direct military activity – patrolling, arrests, crossings – we are starting a new kind of routine. Medicine is an integral part of it. In today’s reality, we are obligated to do a lot more than the minimum. Our addressing of the situation should be as wide ranging as possible,” said Brig. Gen. Alon.
Thanks to the involvement of the director: “the successes are numerous”
Among the Israeli voices heard speaking, a different accent rang out every now and then. Palestinian doctors and coordinators also came to Hadassah in order to represent their side of the story. Among them was Dr. Tawfik Nasr, Director of the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem and coordinator of all hospitals in East Jerusalem. “I prepared an academic lecture,” he said apologetically with a smile, “so forgive me if there is not much politics in it.”
And indeed, we’ve come to talk about medicine. “The Palestinian security system is composed of two centers: that of the Palestinian government and that of international organizations. It is unclear whether it could function if it was based on just one. In the sector, 25 hospitals from the Health Ministry and 30 hospitals from various organizations are operated. Along with patients treated in these hospitals, there are many people who can only be treated in hospitals outside the sector, starting with those located in East Jerusalem.”
The major challenge for medical service is accessibility, he explains. As the Division Commander said, the days when one could drive freely to Ichilov are over. “We face difficulties in transferring patients, personnel and medical equipment. In too many cases moving freely is not possible. But despite these difficulties, there are also many successes.” He cites as an example of patients coming from Gaza, treated in Jerusalem sometimes over a period of three to four months. They receive a special permit from the director allowing them to stay in Israel so they won’t have to go back and forth and are housed in a special hotel in the Mount of Olives. “All these things are ultimately coordinated by the Israeli Civil Administration. Therefore I want to take this opportunity to thank you. It is particularly important for me to express my deep gratitude to Dalia, who is responsible for organizing everything.”
“In the end of the day you know that you saved lives”
Dalia’s full name is Dalia Basa, medical coordinator of the Civil Administration. In reality, she is the link to everyone who deals with medicine in the territories. In today’s lectures, her name has been mentioned repeatedly, always with respect. In an interview with IDF (Zahal) website, she says pleasantly, “A bond of mutual trust has been created between us. I always tell them the truth. When the Palestinians don’t do what they’re required, I don’t ignore their behavior; but with that, I will always listen. I hear them. I understand their problems.”
The work is twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. There will always be medical incidents. Health is not something one can impose a curfew on or demand to freeze. “I am available around the clock. Even on Shabbat, even at 3 a.m. if needed. There is a constant contact between me and the doctors on both sides, the ambulance drivers and the patients themselves.”
And, unbelievable though it may sound, because of desire and will, it is working. Last year, 180,000 Palestinian citizens entered Israel to receive treatment. 3,000 emergency patients were transferred from Israeli to Palestinian ambulances using the “back to back” method, without warning. “Ultimately, this is a rewarding experience. There is frustration, of course there is. But on the other hand, there are people who see me on the street or in hospitals, hear my name and say ‘You saved my son’s life’. When you get home in the end of the day and examine your life, you know that you saved lives. You know you did a lot of good.”
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The Issuing of Assigned Residence Orders to 15 Administrative Detainees
Two charged for firing at IDF base
The Military Aid Expedition to Kenya
IDF and ISA thwart terrorist cell activity south of Jerusalem
Attack Attempt on IDF Post near the Erez Crossing Thwarted Yesterday.
Operation Cast Lead Investigation
Three firefighting aircraft arrive in Israel
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Visits Israel
IDF Forces Demolish the House of Amjad Abidi in the Village...
In accordance with instructions, the IDF moved into position to evacuate...
The IDF and Civil Administration Grant Permission for Palestinian Civilians to...
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Home Israel Foreign Affairs Peace "Bring the Patient, Bring the Surgeon"
"Bring the Patient, Bring the Surgeon"
Jummana, a young girl from Nablus, was diagnosed and treated through an international collaboration that involved Rambam Health Care Campus, the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH). Rather than bringing only the patient from the West Bank or Gaza, the patient’s surgeon and physician is brought as well.
Copyright: Pioter Fliter
(Rambam Health Care Campus spokesperson)
On January 25, 2016, Jummana successfully underwent a much needed surgery, made complex by her age and the specialized follow-up care required. Jummana had been suffering from a serious endocrine problem. Her physicians in the PA initially referred her to Rambam. She arrived at Rambam wheelchair-bound because of extreme bone pain due to severe hypophosphatemia (extremely low phosphate levels). The cause of her condition left her physicians puzzled. After examining her, endocrinologist, Professor Dov Tiosano, Director of Pediatric Endocrinology in the Ruth Rappaport Children’s Hospital, understood that they were dealing with another hormone FGF23, which is secreted from the bones.
Doctors have only become aware of FGF23 in the past decade. Usually over-secretion of FGF23 is related to a genetic disease – not unlikely since Jummana’s parents were first cousins. However, testing revealed no genetic problems. Professor Tiosano explained there was only one other possible cause: a tumor. Convinced that a tumor had to be there, he contacted a colleague in the NIH. The diagnosis was finally made: a rare tumor only one half a centimeter in size, in her palette, was consuming massive amounts of calcium and phosphorous from Jummana’s bones. Rare in adults, such a tumor in a teen was virtually unheard of.
Diagnosis made, the NIH turned to Professor John A. van Aalst, Director of the Division of Plastic Surgery in Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for advice regarding the best qualified hospital to perform the surgery, made complicated by the patient’s age and the need for complex endocrinologic follow-up. In Professor van Aalst’s opinion, while there were only four possibilities, Rambam was the clear choice when he realized that Jummana’s endocrine exams had already been performed at Rambam. In addition, he had particularly strong connections with the Deputy Director of Rambam’s Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dr. Omri Emodi, and a strong connection with the physicians and surgeons in Nablus. Professor van Aalst shares, "Why did we choose Rambam? Because of all the connections here, it was simpler for the family, and in the end safest, because she had a major endocrine problem that would be quite complicated to treat once the tumor was removed."
Jummana’s doctors in the PA were contacted. They in turn made a referral to Rambam via the PA Ministry of Health. While bureaucracy was being handled, Dr. Emodi set up the multidisciplinary team needed for Jummana’s surgery, which included the patient’s endocrinologist, a hematoncologist, and the preplanning to create the necessary prosthodontics – a lot of preparation for a fairly routine surgery that would only take 1.5 hours. This included bringing her doctors from Nablus to Rambam to observe the procedure and learn more about her condition. This way they could better follow-up with her in Nablus, and just as important, gain valuable knowledge for treating similar problems if diagnosed in the PA.
Professor van Aalst flew over for the surgery as well. "Omri didn’t need me for the surgery, but I wanted to be there. I had a personal sense of responsibility. I said to Omri, you set the date and I’ll be there." Professor van Aaalst’s mother was born in Tulkarem, near Netanya, Israel. With family throughout the PA and West Bank, he is deeply connected to his family and friends in there. He also wants to contribute to the advancement of medicine there.
For the last 10 years Professor van Aalst has been working together with two surgeons from the West Bank – the two who happened to be Jummana’s doctors. In addition, Professor van Aalst was friends with Dr. Emodi. Professor van Aalst explained, "Every six months I have been going to the West Bank and Gaza to operate. At the end of my time there I visit Rambam to work with Omri. Three years ago I introduced the surgeons from the PA to Omri; this is now their third trip here to Rambam."
These connections helped make the whole process go smoothly to the benefit of Jummana. "When we made the decision that Jummana was going to come to Rambam, we invited her Nablus physician to create the medical report; he became the driving force to get her here." Professor van Aalst explained that because the doctors knew each other and were known to the authorities involved, it was easy to make the arrangements for the PA doctors to come with Jummana.
Dr. Emodi and Professor van Aaalst are strong proponents of this new model of medical care. Rather than bringing only the patient from the West Bank or Gaza, the patient’s surgeon and physician is brought as well. The team of doctors all nodded their heads in agreement as Professor van Aalst concluded, "also bringing the surgeon and physician helps with self-sufficiency in the ongoing care of the patient as well as in caring for patients with similar problems in the future. We call this model, bring the patient – bring the surgeon."
Explaining the complexity of Jummana’s follow-up, Professor Tiosano said, "Now that the tumor has been removed, we hope to be able to restore the calcium and the phosphate to her bones. Given that her bone density is extremely low (minus 8 Z-score), building her bones up again is the real challenge. This will be a long journey, but we are on track." He also explained the importance of her ongoing care for medicine in general: "There is a huge interest in Jummana’s recovery. Because of the rarity of the case, one of the NIH Rehabilitation experts will also be visiting during follow-up to see how she is doing and to learn how our intervention is helping her to return to normal bone density and function."
Jummana will soon be released home to Nablus. She still must undergo follow-up at Rambam for her ongoing condition, but her hope for the future is much brighter due to the collaboration and good will of doctors who live and breathe their Hippocratic oath.
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New Israeli-Palestinian regional business development center
Israeli aid to the Palestinians – COGAT update February 2016
Reconstruction in Gaza: Update
48 years since Resolution 242: The Cornerstone of the Arab-Israeli peace process
Israel's statement to AHLC ministerial meeting
Reconstruction in Gaza – Update
PM NETANYAHU DECIDES TO RELEASE FUNDS-14-Sep-97
MULTILATERAL REGIONAL COOPERATION-Jan-92
Workshop on recycled water for agriculture in the PA
Israel-PLO Permanent Status Negotiations-Joint Communique
YOSSI GAL- BRIEFING TO ARAB JOURNALISTS-3-May-93
THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE PEACE PROCESS-01-Mar-95
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Home Seasaw, Chris Koza, Oh My Love
Seasaw, Chris Koza, Oh My Love
High Noon Saloon 701A E. Washington Ave., Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Scotify Studios
Seasaw
press release: Shot during a snowstorm in Madison, Wisconsin’s beautiful Olin park, the video for Seasaw’s "In Spite of Me" takes you to a cold winter night of a love on the brink of collapse. The lyrics of this song "Where are you sleeping tonight, are you just clearing your head or dreaming in spite [of me]" allude to the sometimes monumental foreshadowing and consequences that unfold when someone chooses to sleep on the couch instead of in bed - next to their partner. This simple but profound act is explored in an otherworldly, snow covered dance through Seasaw's "In Spite of Me."
"In Spite of Me" by Seasaw
Seasaw’s latest album, Big Dogs was released on September 7, 2018, and is rooted in a real-life incident that involved derogatory, gender-based language directed at the band. The album’s title Big Dogs is taken from the ridiculous and self-assigned name that some people in power give themselves. Using a few of their aggressor’s own words to their advantage, Seasaw has spun their reaction to the encounter into a sonically beautiful rejection of this outdated term, as well as an urgent response to the world around them.
Seasaw’s next show in Madison is on Friday, April 12 at High Noon Saloon with Chris Koza and Oh My Love. Chris Koza is a Minneapolis based songwriter who will be releasing his seventh solo album, Sleepwalkers, this April. Between performing solo and with his band, Rogue Valley, he has supported artists such as Brandi Carlile, Ingrid Michaelson, and Neko Case. Oh My Love is a Madison based electro-pop duo. After spending a year living in Austin, the Wisconsin favorites have returned back to Madison with a new EP Mend that was released in December.
7:30PM Doors / 8:30PM Show
$10 | 18+
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/325972607920335/
Location High Noon Saloon 701A E. Washington Ave., Madison, Wisconsin 53703 View Map
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Richard D. Risso
RICHARD D. RISSO, Riverside, California, returns for his twelfth Festival season and his eighth year as a Festival Director. During five seasons with the acting company, he has appeared in such roles as Julius Caesar, King Henry V, Aufidius in Coriol-anus, Richard III. Festival audiences also remember him for his roles as Richard of Gloucester in Henry VI, Part Three, and as last season's Hamlet, which he also performed in 1961. Dr. Risso has directed Festival productions of King John, Richard II, Henry IV, Part One;\Macbeth, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, and Henry VIII. He received his M.F.A. degree from Carnegie Institute of Technology, where he held the RCA Fellowships ' his Ph. D. from Stanford. As a Fulbright sci^lar in 1959, he studied for a year at the Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique in Paris. Dr. Risso was actor-director for two years with the Erie Playhouse and has appeared in stock at the William Penn Playhouse in Pennsylvania, and the Lake Whalom and Red Barn Playhouses in Massachusetts. This past season he directed Ann Jelli-coe's The Knack at the University of California at Riverside, where he is Assistant Professor of Drama.
contributor information not available — Added 2008-11-14
RICHARD D. RISSO, Director of King John, returns to the Festival in his first staff position. A three-season veteran of the acting company here, he has created such roles as Henry V, Ferdinand in The Tempest, Tullus Aufidius in Coriolanus, Master Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Fortinbras in Hamlet. He has just completed his graduate work for an M.F.A. at Carnegie Institute of Technology where he held the RCA Fellowship. Mr. Risso spent two years as actor-director with the Erie Playhouse in Pennsylvania and has also performed in stock with the William Penn Playhouse, Pa., the Lake Whalom Playhouse, Mass., and the Red Barn Playhouse, Mass. On KPIX television in San Francisco he played the title role in The Life of Percy Shelley, This September he leaves for Paris to study at the National Academy of Dramatic Arts on a Fulbright scholarship.
Romeo and Juliet (1969, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, USA) .... Mercutio
Richard III (1967, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, USA) .... Richard
King Henry VI, Part 2 (1965, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, USA) .... Cardinal Beauford
Antony and Cleopatra (1959, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, USA) .... Scarus
Twelfth Night (1959, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, USA) .... Sir Andrew Aguecheek
The Tempest (1969, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, USA) .... Director
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Church EditChurch Edit
Media stream provided by UCB
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Parish of Ipsley
Ipsley Parish
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St. Peter's
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Home > St. Peter's > About Us
St Peter's has three different congregations that provide a variety of styles of worship. The ethos of the church is best described as open evangelical. This number of services is possible because of the involvement of many lay people in leading and preaching. St Peter's @ 9:45 is informal with a café style service once a month. The morning service at 11.15 follows common worship and is traditional in style. The Evening Service is a service of the word or communion and aims to provide deeper teaching. A number of people use their musical gifts with a variety of instruments to lead the sung worship. Both organ and more contemporary music are used.
Mid-week and wider activities
A wide range of activities are held during the week. There are house groups, a monthly lunch club, monthly coffee morning and bell ringing group. The practice of meeting for morning prayers each day has developed in recent years and is valued by a number of people. We have links with the community through schools, with clergy regularly taking assemblies at the local First and Middle schools in Winyates. Lay people are involved in running lunch time activities at Ipsley CE RSA Academy. We have been able to promote our Christmas and Easter services at a local supermarket. Much positive contact is made with families through visits relating to baptisms, thanksgivings, weddings and funerals.
Scramblers, a mothers and toddlers group catering for non-church children meets weekly.
St Peter's meets in an attractive church building, which is approximately 700 years old with evidence of an earlier structure dating back 1,000 years. It is a Grade II* listed building. Total seating capacity is about 130. The building consists of a nave and chancel with a west tower. The north and south aisles were taken down during the 19th Century. The Bell Tower has a modern gantry of six bells which are rung mainly at weddings.
In 2008 a new contemporary stained glass window, ´The Holy Spirit´, by Tom Denny, was installed to celebrate the quiet but powerful work of the Holy Spirit, particularly seen in the spiritual and physical growth of the church in the parish during the 30 early years of the Redditch New Town Development. In 2009 the church building was internally refurbished to provide a beautiful, comfortable and welcoming place of worship which speaks of God's love and grace to all people.
A large modern Church Centre, including offices, conference rooms, kitchen and storage was built with a link to the north side of the church in 1993. The premises are extensively used by the church, deanery, diocese and community groups.
The Ecclesiastical Parish Of Ipsley Registered charity 1133862
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I Am Drums
By: Mike Grosso
Buy eBook Now
iBooks/iTunes
“This book is the song of my middle-school heart.”—Michelle Schusterman, author of the I Heart Band! series
Sam knows she wants to be a drummer. But she doesn’t know how to afford a drum kit, or why budget cuts end her school’s music program, or why her parents argue so much, or even how to explain her dream to other people.
But drums sound all the time in Sam’s head, and she’d do just about anything to play them out loud—even lie to her family if she has to. Will the cost of chasing her dream be too high?
An exciting new voice in contemporary middle grade, Mike Grosso creates a determined heroine readers will identify with and cheer for.
Carton Quantity: 1
Mike Grosso
Mike Grosso is a musician and a schoolteacher who keeps a guitar in his classroom. He lives with his wife and son in Oak Park, Illinois. www.mikegrossoauthor.com. Twitter: @mgrossoauthor Instagram: @mikegrossoauthor
"Readers will cheer for spunky Sam..."
"An appealing, goodhearted story for all young people yearning to march to the beat of their own drums. "
—Horn Book
"This is a worthy and entertaining read about how talent develops and what the potential consequences of pursuing it are: drumroll, please, for a fine homage to spirited single-mindedness."
"A great read for middle graders with their own obsessions and dreams."
“Sweet and humorous with a main character you will root for like crazy.”—Randy Ribay, author of An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes
If I had one wish, I’d ask for a headphone jack in my head. Not a pony, or a crazy-fast car, or a big pile of money to waste on ponies and crazy-fast cars. That kind of stuff is predictable. With a headphone jack in your head, you could let anyone plug right in and listen to your thoughts, especially the complicated stuff, like the hisses and hums in your brain. I want people to understand me when I can’t say what’s on my mind.
That happens to me a lot. Most days I say a ton of things that don’t make sense because I don’t know how to say things that do. With a headphone jack, I wouldn’t have to find words to explain myself. I’d just let people plug in and listen.
One of those moments happened today, right after I hit Danny Lenix with my marimba mallet and right before the lunch lady hauled me into the principal’s office.
“Have you lost your mind?” she shouted, and grabbed the mallet out of my hand. I thought it was a rhetorical question until she said, “Say something, Sam! Explain yourself!”
All I could think to say was “I’m not sure I had my mind to begin with.” Like I said, a headphone jack would be pretty handy.
“Of all the?—” she said, before shaking her head and escorting me out of the lunchroom.
She brought me to the person I’m staring at now?—?Dr. Pullman, the tall-and-deep-voiced-to-the-point-it’s-scary principal of Kennedy Middle School.
Dr. Pullman is one of those adults who shaved his head because he was too impatient to go bald. One day his head started to get a little shinier, and then . . . POW! No hair at all! The pitch-black suit he wears makes him all the more eerie.
He looks at me and says, “Take your hat off in school.”
I pull the baseball cap off my head. I wear it so often, I can never remember to take it off when I enter the building.
“Can you tell me why you’re here?” Dr. Pullman asks.
I know what he wants me to say. He wants me to admit that I hit Danny and I’m really sorry for doing such an awful thing and I’ll never do it again. But there’s more to it than that. It’s like I said?—?if only I had that headphone jack.
“A lunch supervisor says you hit Danny with a drumstick,” Dr. Pullman says.
“That’s not true,” I say. “I hit Danny with a mallet.”
Dr. Pullman’s entire head gets seriously red. The bottom of his chin to the top of his head is a cherry tomato. I don’t know if he’s mad or trying not to laugh.
“Is that supposed to be funny?” he finally says. “Do you think you’re still in elementary school?”
“Danny said girls look stupid playing drums,” I say, looking down at the floor. “He said girls have no rhythm and I sound like I’m playing on a garbage can because that’s all my family can afford. People thought that was pretty funny.”
Dr. Pullman sighs. “Well, he shouldn’t have said that. But, Samantha?—”
“Sam,” I say, correcting him. I hate it when people call me Samantha. There’s nothing wrong with the name Sam that can be fixed with an extra two syllables.
“Sam,” he says with emphasis.
“I was minding my own business, practicing with my mallets, and he started saying my rhythm sucks and I ruin every song in band class.”
“I already said he shouldn’t have said that, but you have to learn that there are other ways to solve problems that won’t land you in trouble. You chose to solve your problem by hitting Danny with your mallet, and as a result, it is you in my office instead of him.”
“Danny’s been making fun of me all year. He acts like there’s something wrong with me for playing drums.”
“Plenty of girls play drums. Why would you even let that bother you?”
That’s easy for Dr. Pullman to say. There are plenty of men who work at Kennedy, but I’m the only girl in the percussion section in band.
“I’m sick of him saying I stink at drums when he doesn’t know anything about them.”
“That still doesn’t mean we solve our problems by hitting people or picking fights. You’re in a bigger school now, with bigger consequences.”
I nod, imagining a rubber band stretched from the top of my forehead to my chin, forcing me to bob my head in agreement.
“You’ll have to serve lunch detention with me,” he says, “and I’ll be handing these over to Ms. Rinalli”?—?he holds up the mallets?—?“until I can trust that you will only use them for playing the timpani.”
“They’re not for the timpani,” I say. “They’re marimba mallets.”
“Whatever they are, I’ll make sure?—”
“It’s just that they’re really not the same thing. Two different materials, two different sounds, and they?—”
“I get the point!” he says, louder this time. There goes my mouth, getting me into even more trouble. Why can’t I ever shut up?
“I’m sorry,” I say. “Are you going to talk to Danny? Is he in trouble too?”
“That’s between me and him. It’s none of your business.”
Well, then, I guess that’s that. No point in saying anything else.
“As for you,” he says, “you’ll be coming down to my office for the next few lunch periods. And don’t plan on seeing those drumsticks again until you’re at band.”
“Mallets,” I say. “Marimba mallets.”
“Whatever they are, they stay with Ms. Rinalli until further notice.”
Dr. Pullman writes a few notes and gives me a hall pass to get back to class. I guess our conversation was supposed to mean something, but I’m still in trouble and Danny still made fun of me for playing drums and people still laughed. Serving a few lunch detentions with the principal won’t change any of those things.
I dread going back to class. Almost everybody saw what I did, and those who didn’t have probably heard about it by now. Every...
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Prosthetic arms can provide controlled sensory feedback, study finds
“Losing an arm doesn’t have to mean losing all sense of touch, thanks to prosthetic arms that stimulate nerves with mild electrical feedback.
University of Illinois researchers have developed a control algorithm that regulates the current so a prosthetics user feels steady sensation, even when the electrodes begin to peel off or when sweat builds up.
“We’re giving sensation back to someone who’s lost their hand. The idea is that we no longer want the prosthetic hand to feel like a tool, we want it to feel like an extension of the body,” said Aadeel Akhtar, an M.D./Ph.D. student in the neuroscience program and the medical scholars program at the University of Illinois. Akhtar is the lead author of a paper describing the sensory control module, published in Science Robotics, and the founder and CEO of PSYONIC, a startup company that develops low-cost bionic arms.
“Commercial prosthetics don’t have good sensory feedback. This is a step toward getting reliable sensory feedback to users of prosthetics,” he said.
Prosthetic arms that offer nerve stimulation have sensors in the fingertips, so that when the user comes in contact with something, an electrical signal on the skin corresponds to the amount of pressure the arm exerts. For example, a light touch would generate a light sensation, but a hard push would have a stronger signal.
However, there have been many problems with giving users reliable feedback, said aerospace engineering professor Timothy Bretl, the principal investigator of the study. During ordinary wear over time, the electrodes connected to the skin can begin to peel off, causing a buildup of electrical current on the area that remains attached, which can give the user painful shocks. Alternately, sweat can impede the connection between the electrode and the skin, so that the user feels less or even no feedback at all.
“A steady, reliable sensory experience could significantly improve a prosthetic user’s quality of life,” Bretl said.
The controller monitors the feedback the patient is experiencing and automatically adjusts the current level so that the user feels steady feedback, even when sweating or when the electrodes are 75 percent peeled off.
The researchers tested the controller on two patient volunteers. They performed a test where the electrodes were progressively peeled back and found that the control module reduced the electrical current so that the users reported steady feedback without shocks. They also had the patients perform a series of everyday tasks that could cause loss of sensation due to sweat: climbing stairs, hammering a nail into a board and running on an elliptical machine.
“What we found is that when we didn’t use our controller, the users couldn’t feel the sensation anymore by the end of the activity. However, when we had the control algorithm on, after the activity they said they could still feel the sensation just fine,” Akhtar said.
Adding the controlled stimulation module would cost much less than the prosthetic itself, Akhtar said. “Although we don’t know yet the exact breakdown of costs, our goal is to have it be completely covered by insurance at no out-of-pocket costs to users.”
The group is working on miniaturizing the module that provides the electrical feedback, so that it fits inside a prosthetic arm rather than attaching to the outside. They also plan to do more extensive patient testing with a larger group of participants.
“Once we get a miniaturized stimulator, we plan on doing more patient testing where they can take it home for an extended period of time and we can evaluate how it feels as they perform activities of daily living. We want our users to be able to reliably feel and hold things as delicate as a child’s hand,” Akhtar said. “This is a step toward making a prosthetic hand that becomes an extension of the body rather than just being another tool.”
The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation supported this work.”
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